Cincy 360 w/ Austin Elmore -- 10/16/25

Austin Elmore talks about the Bengals / Steelers game, Trey Hendrickson's injury, chats with Brooke Pryor and John Sheeran, takes your calls and TalkBacks and more on ESPN 1530!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Skyline Chile. Since he three to 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 (00:21):
Come on now, it all comes down to tonight, the
season on the line, with the entire world, at least
those with streaming services watching Thursday Night football. It's the

(00:45):
Bengals and the Steelers right here on ESPN fifteen thirty. Hi, Hello,
and welcome in ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Austin Elmore, and

(01:06):
our live coverage goes for the next twelve and a
half hours right here on ESPN fifteen thirty, starting with
Cincy three sixty. I'm here until three o'clock. From three
to six thirty this afternoon, it'll be Lance McAllister moe Egger,
and Rocky Boyman live from the Holy Grail ahead of

(01:27):
Bengals Steelers tonight, the White Bengal game at pay Corp Stadium.
We'll turn things over to network coverage beginning at six
thirty with Wayne box Miller, Dan Hoor Dave Lapham for
Bengals Steelers, and then after the game from twelve thirty
am until two thirty am, yours truly is right back

(01:47):
in the seat, getting you set with all the postgame coverage,
all the postgame coverage of Bengals Steelers on Thursday Night Football.
Then right back here tomorrow at noon for a typical
Friday show Charlie Goldsmith at one o'clock he'll be breaking
it all down with us as well. So the next
twenty four hours are gonna be fun. The next twelve

(02:08):
and a half especially, are gonna be fun, and I
hope we have a lot of fun for the next three.
Phone lines are officially open as of right now five
p one three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty. I'm asking
for your participation in talkbacks today. I want to know
your official prediction. How are you feeling about this game?

(02:28):
Are you confident? Are you not confident? What do you
think happens tonight at pay Corp Stadium? And based off
of that outcome that you predict, what's going to be
the fallout if they lose? What happens? Does Trey Hendrickson
get traded? Does Zach Taylor get fired? If they win,
do the Bengals become buyers. Are they all of a

(02:48):
sudden back? What are you looking for tonight at pay
Corp Stadium. Go to the iHeartRadio app, tap that little
microphone next to the play button on ESPN fifteen thirty
and leave me a talk back. We'll get to our
talkbacks at one twenty this afternoon, as we normally do.
Show set up for today one o'clock every Thursday. John

(03:09):
Sheeran eight of Z Sports in the Orange of Black
Insider podcast, he's going to join us. He wrote about
the Bengals report card so far through the season. We'll
talk to him about that. And then at two o'clock
ESPN NFL reporter Brooke Pryor covering the Pittsburgh Steelers is
in town and she's going to join us to give
us the Steelers perspective ahead of tonight's game. But the

(03:32):
biggest news I think happened an hour or two ago,
maybe three, on Good Morning Football, when Ian Rappaport was
giving the injury updates ahead of tonight's game. And here
is what Ian had to say about the Steelers injuries
and the Bengals injuries going into Thursday Night Football.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
Calvin Austin, one of the young young receivers for the
Pittsburgh Steelers. He is not going to play tonight. He's
doing his shoulder and he has not practiced at all
this week. He has been ruled out no surprise. Probably
means you're gonna see obviously, you're gonna see plenty of
dk Metcal, plenty of Roman Wilson, Scottie Miller also there
as a depth piece of the Steelers should be fine.

(04:13):
On the other side, another I would say mildly young
player Mikeasicki, one of their tight ends who has been
dealing with a pectorial injury, a torn peck. He was
placed on injury reserve this week. He is out for
this game and he is out the next four weeks.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
We'll see if he's able to come back.

Speaker 3 (04:29):
Sounds like the mrin maybe came back a little better
than they expected, so time will tell if he is
able to return this season and then the big one
for tonight. Trey Hendrickson, the star pass rusher for the
Cincinnati Bengals, one of the best pass rushers in the
NFL and certainly one of the.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
Big stories of the offseason.

Speaker 5 (04:46):
He is eventually.

Speaker 3 (04:47):
Questionable with a hip injury, was ruled out of the
game with a back injury, now questionable with a hip injury.
My understanding is, despite the fact that he is really
pushing to play, he's considered a bit of a long shot.
It's just such a quick turnaround from Sunday to Thursday.
I'm not saying he's got no chance, but it's not
a great chance. If no, tre Hendrickson well is absolutely

(05:10):
dying to be out on the field.

Speaker 2 (05:11):
So we'll see. So we're starting the day a little
bit behind the eight ball. Trey Hendrickson, according to Ian Rappaport,
a long shot to be able to play tonight. That
obviously hurts the Bengals chances. Especially hurts the Bengals chances
when you consider Aaron Rodgers, who's playing fine so far
this season, has not been good against pressure, and especially

(05:34):
when you look at the beginning of that update when
they talked about how Calvin Austen is not going to
be playing tonight. So if you remove one of Aaron
Rodgers' top targets, the number two receiver in Calvin Austin,
and you add to the equation Trey Hendrickson being able
to play, that makes things considerably tougher on the Pittsburgh offense,

(05:55):
and obviously Shamar Stewart, coming off of an ankle injury,
hasn't played in a few weeks. Don't know exactly what
you're going to get. And it goes without saying that
the rest of the guys in that position group, Miles Murphy,
Joseph Osai cam Sample and others have been pretty hit
or miss. Everybody knows a game without Trey Hendrickson is
not going to be an easy one to win. He's

(06:17):
your best defensive player. He causes the most havoc. He
creates opportunities for the defense if nobody else will. Trey
is at least going to put pressure on Aaron Rodgers,
and so that becomes quite a problem for Al Golden
to try to figure out how to solve. And you know,

(06:38):
a lot of times with these great quarterbacks, you don't
want to pressure them because they're fast, they process, they
get the ball out quickly, and you can easily kind
of pick a part of defense if you're bringing multiple
guys to blitz well. The Steelers offensive line has not
been wonderful this year. They've been just okay. They haven't
run the football very good either. But Aaron Rodgers is

(07:01):
starting to trend in the right direction. And last week
against Cleveland, with a great pass rusher and Miles Garrett
coming at him, Aaron Rodgers got the ball out extremely,
extremely quickly, and that kept the Steelers offense ahead of
the chains. How is Al Golden going to defend Aaron
Rodgers and that Steelers offense without Calvin Austen and without

(07:25):
Trey Hendrickson, That to me becomes the matchup of the night.
Because if you want to win these games, you have
to get to the quarterback period, point blank. You can
throw everything else out the window. You can throw the
Steelers record out the window, the Bengals record out the window,
what DJ Turner has been doing. You can throw Joe
Flacco in the second half out the window. Mike Tomlin

(07:47):
on Thursday nights. You can get rid of all of it,
because if you don't put pressure on the quarterback, Aaron
Rodgers will eat you alive. We've seen it plenty of
times over the course of his career. Rogers is that
good and he can do that. On top of that,
the other note that Ian Rappaport had in that update

(08:08):
was that the MRI on Mike Giseki came back a
little bit better than they expected. Now, we haven't heard
this anywhere else. This is the only time I've heard
this came from Rapaport So seems like maybe it's not
going to be a season ending injury for Mike Gaziki.
He is on the injured reserve list for at least
four weeks with that peck injury. Hopefully that's something that

(08:30):
he can come back from sooner rather than later. Although
Kaseki wasn't having that much of an impact on the offense,
we all know the Bengals offense has been atrocious, but
he does at least give you some opportunities in some
matchup problems. I'm curious to see what the offense looks
like tonight without him, and no offense has been pretty good.

(08:52):
Are you able to add some wrinkles into the offense
where Nofan is in that Mike Gaziki role is as
good as a receiver as Mike GIESICKI I think, and
you can still be productive from that position. The other thing, though,
is the drop off because Tanner Hudson is not going
to play in this game. He suffered a concussion against

(09:12):
the Packers last week, so he's already been ruled out,
which means your tight ends are going to be Drew Sample,
Noah Fan and Cam Grandy. You get ugly quickly right there,
especially the way that Sample and Grandy have played this season,
which is not good at all. Who else on the
injured list injury report from yesterday Tanner Hudson, As I mentioned,

(09:36):
Charlie Jones is officially listed as questionable with a rib injury,
and Lucas Patrick, who is still technically on IR, is
listed as questionable with that calf injury that he suffered
in Week one against the Cleveland Browns. There is a
developing situation with the Pittsburgh Steelers. We'll talk to Brooke
Pryor about this coming up at two o'clock, and that

(09:57):
is that star safety to Sean Elliott missed practice yesterday
and did not travel with the Steelers due to a
personal injury in a family situation that's going on with
the sewn Elliott and his family. He is a huge
part of their defense. He's one of those tone setter guys.
He flies around the field, has a knack for the
football is really really good, and so if he's unable

(10:20):
to go based off what we've seen from the Bengals,
at least in the second half against the Packers, that
could work to their advantage. It really could. The other
thing that has stuck out to me as I'm going
through all the numbers, and today is going to be
a big day about numbers. We're going to try to
give you as much context as you possibly can going
into this game tonight between the Bengals and the Steelers.

(10:43):
When you think of Pittsburgh Steeler football, you often think
of defense and running the football, and that's really what
you're supposed to think about when you think of the
AFC North as a whole right, defense and run the
football well. The Bengals don't play defense or run the
football well, and the Steelers don't run the football well
at all. How about this, Pittsburgh is ranked twenty ninth.

(11:06):
Let me make sure I got this stat correctly with
my handy notebook here. Pittsburgh is ranked twenty ninth in
yards per game rushing the football eighty four yards per game. Now,
the Bengals are dead last. There are thirty second in
the NFL, averaging fifty six yards per game. I saw

(11:28):
a stat yesterday that the Bengals are on pace as
a team to rush for less than a thousand yards.
That is absurd, right, Like, that can't possibly happen. Somebody's
gonna have a one hundred and fifty yard game on
accident at some point, wouldn't they break an eighty yard run.
That's gonna happen eventually, Right, Well, Pittsburgh is averaging eighty

(11:50):
four yards per game on the ground. That's twenty ninth.
The Bengals are averaging fifty six. That's thirty second. Even
that is a pretty significant difference twenty eight yards between
the two, So that's something to keep an eye out on.
And then when it comes to defending the run, Pittsburgh
is right in the middle at sixteenth in the NFL,

(12:11):
but they're still giving up over one hundred and ten
yards per game on the ground. So if there's ever
been a time for the Bengals to get their run
game going, it would be tonight. You've got to be
able to understand Pittsburgh sixteenth in the NFL. That's not
a pushover by any stretch of the imagination. But if
you're averaging one hundred and ten yards on the ground,

(12:32):
at the very least you've got to be able to
get something going to control the clock, to give your
defense a chance if you're going to beat the Pittsburgh
Steelers tonight. I'm fired up about it. I mean, I
know everybody's calling it a bunch of different things, the
Unk Bowl, the unctionin the Icy Hot Bowl between Aaron
Rodgers and Joe Flacco. But I do think there's a

(12:52):
chance that this could be a track meet. I'll give
you some more numbers on that a little bit later
on Pittsburgh's four and one will go over there schedule shortly.
This line opened up at five and a half in
favor of Pittsburgh. It is now down to four and
a half in favor of Pittsburgh, so a full point
has dropped. The over under opened at forty two and

(13:14):
a half. It's now up to forty four and a half.
And the Bengals were minus one fifteen at the or
excuse me, the the Bengals were, I believe, at one
point minus one ninety eight money line, now up to
plus two hundred money line are the Bengals for tonight's
game at eight to fifteen. White Bengal, White Bengal is

(13:36):
the theme for tonight and I think for a lot
of fans, this is the last shot. I talked about
this a little bit earlier. This week is like, Okay,
with all the stuff going on with season ticket renewals
and players being hurt like Joe Burrow, and the national

(13:56):
spotlight being on the Bengals and all that going into
the hollow season, It's like, Okay, this is the last
chance the Bengals have to legitimately compete this season, and
I think it's the last chance a lot of fans
will give them this season as well, because understandably, there's
doubt about their abilities without Joe Burrow, and there would

(14:19):
be doubt about their ability if they lose this game
to be able to recover and even make things interesting
if Joe were to come back in the second half
of the season or late in the season and potentially
for the playoffs. It starts with tonight, and the way
the dominoes would fall afterwards if they were to lose

(14:40):
or if they were to win, creates a really interesting
stretch for the Bengals with the Jets and Bears coming
before the bye week. What's going on tonight, Well, they're
going to light it up. They're going to light up
the jungle during the player intros. Should be an awesome
environment there. When I was coming home Monday night, I

(15:00):
landed in Cincinnati and I'm driving through the cut in
the hill and they're doing the light test at pay
Course Stadium. It was really cool to see that from
that angle and to drive by it. So that should
be cool and if you've never been, it's worth it.
Craig Morgan country music singer, is going to be the
national anthem singer. Andrew Whitworth will be the Ruler of

(15:22):
the Jungle, and Eli Mamon I think I'm saying that correctly,
will be the rock and rule guitarist. Eli, of course
from Walk the Moon Cincinnati band. I had the idea
that the Bengals should have Joe Burrow be the surprise
ruler of the Jungle tomorrow night or tonight. I would
expect to we'll see Joe Burrow today at the stadium.

(15:44):
I would assume we've reached that point where Joe will
be there, especially on a short week game like this.
Don't know if he's going to be on the sideline
or in the booth or what exactly, but I would
assume we'll see Joe I've been a little bit surprised
how much people care whether or not he's there or
on the sideline or in the booth, or what his
whereabouts are. I know he's there, I know he's participating

(16:06):
in meetings, I know he's also rehabbing. I know he's
doing his part. But whether or not you see him
on game day, whether he's in the locker room or
in the booth, or in his suite or on the sideline,
I'm not sure why people get so bothered about that.
It doesn't really matter to me if he's doing all
the stuff throughout the week, especially if there's not that

(16:30):
much he could do during the game. I do get it, like, yeah,
you want him there and you want him to be helpful,
but also if there's any risk of him getting rolled
up on or anything happening to him, why he's on
the sideline. What's the point. If you are going to
have a chance to come back later on this year,
you want to prevent any of those situations at all

(16:52):
from happening. So that's the itinerary for the Bengals and
Steelers tonight, with kickoff set for eight fils. Phone lines
are open five point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty.
If you want to talk about the game, and I'm excited,
I'm getting fired up now. I love it when the
Bengals play on Thursdays. I generally don't love Thursday night games,

(17:13):
but when the Bengals play on Thursdays, you don't have
to wait, especially get that bad taste out of your
mouth after a loss, like, let's just get right to
it and get it over with. And especially when you
have a home inter division primetime game, you should be
excited about that. Well, take a break, we'll come back.
Hour one of Sincy three to sixty brought to you

(17:34):
by our friends. It's Skyline Chili, by the way, gotta
drop yesterday. The Skyline Chicken Chili sensational.

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(18:07):
Take a break, We'll come back. This is Sincy three
sixty on the Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

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This is Football in the NATI, brought to you by
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Speaker 10 (18:33):
Ah.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
Yes, indeed, it is Football in the NATI, the first
of three Football in the natties that we have today scheduled.
Jumbled up a little bit with Moe and Lance and
Rocky on this afternoon from the Holy Grail for pregame
sports Talk. Looking forward to listening to that. Andrew Whitworth

(18:55):
is the ruler of the Jungle tonight. He's a part
of the Amazon Prime. He does pre and post game
with them. And not the first time that Big Wit
has been back in Cincinnati with the Prime crew. But
you know, I appreciate how Andrew Whitworth is not afraid
to tell it like it is. He's been very critical
of the Bengals. We've played the audio here not that

(19:18):
long ago about the way he viewed their offensive line
and the way that they do business, and he's not
been afraid to share his side of the story with
a lot of things in recent years. And I've always
really appreciated that about Andrew Whitworth, because the more people

(19:40):
you know, have that mentality and not being afraid because
you know, I had the conversation last week, or it
might have been earlier this week, and I remember about
how there's so many we's and uses and like that
former player bias that happens that I'm not a huge
fan of. In sports media these days, it's not often

(20:04):
that you get the raw, clear honesty and truth coming
from a former player about an organization, especially an organization
that they hold in high regard. And while I will
always believe that Andrew Whitworth felt slighted by Mike Brown

(20:26):
and by the Bengals, he has at least been consistent
and fair in the criticism of them. And when a
legendary player has things to say about your organization, it
makes that it carries more weight, especially if they're being critical,
because everybody can get up there and be positive and say, oh,

(20:46):
I love the Bengals, and I love the city and
the fans are great and blah, blah blah blah blah.
But it's a different level if you're out there and
you're saying they aren't good enough, their style of team
building is flawed, this isn't working. I don't know why
they keep doing this, and that can sometimes make those

(21:06):
relationships complicated. It can sometimes create some tension. It can
make it a little bit awkward. Hell boomer a siasin
a couple of I was out this day. I forget
exactly what day it was, but aired the dirty laundry
of the Bengals not paying for airfare and hotel rooms
for the Ring of honor people and eventually got changed.

(21:30):
This is a good thing when you hold your organization,
whether you're a former player or a fan or a
sports talk radio host or whatever it is, when you
hold that organization to a standard into an account and
you hold that accountability like these are the easy things
that they should be able to get right, and sometimes

(21:53):
you need to embarrass them to get the message across,
because if not, you just kind of sleep walking through it.
And I've said this before, the Bengals care more about
the external perception of them at this point than they
ever have in the history of the franchise. And I
think a lot of that has to do with Elizabeth

(22:14):
and Caroline Blackburn and the marketing and the relationship and
the partnership activation and all the stuff that those girls
are working on. Those women are working on to make
the Bengals a top of the line franchise. And they've
done a wonderful job with a lot of it, but
there's still parts that they need to fix. And when

(22:36):
your best players and your historic players and your Ring
of Honor players are out there and not afraid to
tell you you screwed this up, that's a good thing.
That's what holding an organization to a standard and to
an account looks like. And good on the Bengals for
still inviting Andrew Whitworth to be the ruler of the

(23:00):
Jungle now? Is what he said? That bad? No? Probably not,
but he's not been afraid to talk about it, and
that's important. And the Bengals saying, yeah, we still want
you here, we want to celebrate your eleven years here
with Cincinnati, and we know the fans love you and
you're gonna be here. Let's do it. And so I

(23:23):
had posted earlier this week on my Twitter at audio
More that Andrew Whitworth was gonna be the Bengals ruler
of the jungle. And instead of people saying, oh, that's cool,
that's exciting, like love that good to see big Wit,
that's gonna be lit, I said, despite being very publicly
critical of the Bengals shortcomings, Whitworth will be the ruler

(23:44):
of the jungle. That's a good thing. All of the
replies are saying, oh, well, the Brown family just gets
to save a few bucks on a plane ticket because
he's already traveling here. That's the first reply. Big game legend,
coming back, new tradition that most people seem to love,

(24:07):
trying to get the fans fired up, huge game against
a division rival. Conversation remains, Bengals are cheap if you're
the Bengals. Do you not want to dispel that narrative? Like,
I get it, it is part of it. In his schedule,
I'm sure is difficult. And I would assume this is

(24:29):
the only time it made sense for him, who lived
you know, lives out on the West Coast, the only
time it makes sense for him to be able to
do it while he's already here working the game. And yeah,
I'm sure they do save a few bucks on hotel
and airfare if it's under Amazon's dime, But who cares.
If they're getting the guy here to do what they're

(24:49):
asking him to do, it doesn't matter whether or not
they paid for it. But again, the narrative around the
Bengals is not that they are an elite football operation
that is an aggressive pursuit of a championship. It is
instead ah same old cheap Bengals. And doesn't that if

(25:09):
you are the Bengals drive you insane? It would drive
me insane if I'm trying to build a brand, if
I'm trying to get this organization leveled up, if I
was Elizabeth and Caroline, it would drive me nuts that
even though we've done all these good things, and you
understand you have a long way to go, still the

(25:29):
only thing people care about is this perception that we
are cheap. Meanwhile, there are things happening in the way
that the football team is being built and operated that
suggest we have turned a corner. Moe was talking about
this yesterday, the benching of Logan Wilson. It's very Unbengal

(25:50):
like we're Moe's words, He's exactly right. It's a good thing.
When the Bengal like things start happening that are Unbanngal like.
When that starts happening, that's a good thing. That's an
indication that the organization has turned a corner. What do
we always say about in season trades, Ah, Bengals just

(26:11):
don't do that. They never do that. Nope, never do it. Well,
they've done it twice in the last two seasons. They
traded for Khalil Herbert and they traded for Joe Flacco.
And whether or not those moves worked out, and Khalil
Herbert was fine. He fumbled his first carry, but he
was fine, and they needed to do it, and they
needed to do this for Joe Flacco. The fact of

(26:32):
the matter remains, they did something instead of sitting on
their hands and watching the thing fully explode, they did something.
And while they screwed up the way they went about
the Chase and Higgins contracts, they did something. They signed
those players, they gave them that money, they met those guarantees.

(26:54):
They added a void year to the Trey Henderson contract,
which they never do. The first time they ever put
a void year in a contract was Riley Reef a
few years ago. The offensive tackle they signed from Minnesota.
They're so slowly starting to get with the rest of
the league, and yet the narrative remains that they're cheap

(27:14):
and that's all people ever want to talk about. And
I get it, and there is a long history of
such to tell you that and for people to bank
on in the stadium deal and all of it. Like
I hear you one hundred percent. The Bengals objective in
two operations, two different parts of the operation here in
football operations is and should be to be aggressive in

(27:36):
the pursuit of a championship and to not sit on
their hands under any circumstances. And on the business side
of things should be, hey, look at what we're doing
over there. We're trying our ass off and we've turned
the corner to be an elite organization. Now, those two
things have to work together. And as I said yesterday,
when you do stuff like the White Bengal and your

(27:58):
team isn't good enough and you get embarrassed on national television,
it shouldn't mean that you stop doing the White Bengal.
It should mean that the product on the field has
to meet the business off the field, because if the
product on the field doesn't, it hurts the business more
than anything else. Fans go running, season tickets don't renew,

(28:22):
nobody starts to take you seriously, and all that talk
about all the good stuff you've done in the last
couple of years is just to flash in the pan.
And the same can be said about employing coaches or
gms or front office members for too long. Nobody thinks

(28:43):
the Bengals are going to fire Zach Taylor. Why Ah,
the Bengals don't do that. Marvin Lewis was here for
sixteen years now. There's a couple of times they should
have fired Marvin and they didn't. The narrative is that
the organization is too stubborn and too cheap. And while
while I have been touting for a long time now
that that narrative has started to shift and the Bengals

(29:05):
are doing a lot of things the right way, I
still acknowledge that they're further away. They're still far away
from where they need to be. And while you know,
Whitworth being the ruler of the jungle maybe is not
really that indicative of where they're at, nor does it
have that much bearing on what happens on the field.
I understand that it is at least an acknowledgment. Acknowledgement

(29:28):
from the Bengals is like, hey, just because you're mad
at us, or just because you've criticized us, we're not
going to shun you. That's smart, that's a good thing.
They should not do stuff like that, and I'm glad
they aren't. And to circle back just to the point
I made just a second ago, the narrative around the

(29:50):
coaching staff and around the organization and all of that,
I've said, and I stand by that, I don't think
Zach Taylor should be the head coach of the Bengals anymore.
I think that you know it's finished. I don't know
that there's going to be something that happens between now
and the end of the year that's going to change
my mind. But I also acknowledge that that's not entirely

(30:14):
Zach's fault. And if you really want the narrative to shift,
you'll can the guy who's been there for twenty years
and accomplish nothing in Duke Tobin. If you are serious
about being all in in the window that Joe Burrow
has offered you in his career, you need desperately a

(30:35):
breath of fresh air in the personnel department. Duke Tobin,
while I think is a relatively good guy, and I
don't know him personally, but I do know that he
doesn't talk, he doesn't answer for what he does, and
he has failed miserably over and over and over and
over again. And if you want the narrative to change

(31:00):
and to let people know that you're serious about winning,
it's not just firing a head coach. It's not just
trading for a forty year old quarterback. It's holding the
people within the organization to a standard as well. Much
like you hold a player to a standard, you hold
your own people to a standard as well. And tonight

(31:23):
and today is not about firing Zach Taylor and firing
Duke Toben. But these are the points in the season
where you start to investigate. And you're not really investigate,
but you really start to look at where the organization
is at. Because, as I've said several times before, this
is a turning point. This is when the magnifying glass
comes out. This is when all the eyeballs are on.

(31:46):
How does the team respond, how do they perform? And
based off the result, how do you pivot? This is
a big, big moment. For this organization starting tonight. Phone
lines open five point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty.
I'm Austin Elmore. This is our one since he three
to sixty. Right here on the Home of the Bengals,
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (32:07):
You've been listening to football in the NATI on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Fay
shuddon ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (32:27):
Welcome back since e three sixty, since beautiful day in Cincinnati.
Gonna be a beautiful night for football. Feels like football
weather at pay Corps Stadium tonight Bengals Steelers eight fifteen.
Phone lines open at five one three seven four nine,

(32:50):
fifteen thirty. Let's go to the phones. Let's start with
our old friend John Michael. Hi, John, How are you?

Speaker 11 (32:57):
Hi?

Speaker 12 (32:58):
Often?

Speaker 13 (32:58):
How you doing?

Speaker 2 (33:00):
Wonderful man? How have you been.

Speaker 14 (33:03):
Well?

Speaker 15 (33:04):
I'm going through a little little Spotter depression. I don't
really need to say why, but I think we all know.
I mean, you know, I took that all that stuff
really hard and everything. But you just said about Duke Tobin,
who has been the face of the franchise for like,
not the face, but the decision maker for twenty years,

(33:25):
and he doesn't have to. He doesn't have to like
like people are asking, like what's going on, he doesn't
have to speak for it. And it kind of sounds
like I've got this new thing I'm doing.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
I'm going to give you a promo here.

Speaker 15 (33:39):
It kind of sounds like Dick Tuban is like the
same guy that runs iHeartMedia.

Speaker 16 (33:45):
Here it goes back back back, Moode.

Speaker 2 (33:57):
I don't know how to respond to that, John Michael.

Speaker 17 (34:01):
You think I was pretty good now the.

Speaker 2 (34:03):
Air horn specifically, you did a great job, did you
did you say did you say fax mode F A
C T S fax mode?

Speaker 15 (34:15):
Yeah, facts mad machine.

Speaker 18 (34:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (34:17):
I was just making sure everybody was clear on that.

Speaker 15 (34:21):
Yeah, because the people at a Heart don't have to
answer for their miscalculations either.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
I hear what you're saying.

Speaker 19 (34:28):
You know what I'm saying.

Speaker 2 (34:29):
I hear what you're saying.

Speaker 12 (34:30):
But you you went up to that.

Speaker 15 (34:32):
Green Bay and everything I was there, like I don't know,
like eight years ago. It was like the hottest game
ever in green Bay history. And they is the most gentle,
nice people of all time, the green Bay fans, and
it's like a it's like a little community. I mean
when you say it's right in the middle of a neighborhood,

(34:52):
people are like, oh, that's kind of weird. It's like
it's elder or is that Lasal No, it's it's the
Green Bay Packards Lamby.

Speaker 2 (35:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 15 (35:01):
Like we was just walking through. Me and my mom
was walking through, and people was like, hey, you guys
are mangles fans. My mom was like, yeah, Wes bangle
fans and I was like, yeah, we use mangle fans.

Speaker 20 (35:12):
She spoke for both of us, and.

Speaker 15 (35:14):
There was like would you like to hold my baby?
And I was like I've never held a baby in
my life. And they wanted to picture all my mom
and I was like, this is weird. But I look
like somebody that would hold somebody else's baby. I mean,
you've seen me.

Speaker 2 (35:27):
I look approachable that way, right, Oh yeah, And that's
just how the good folks of Green Bay are man
and nicest people I've ever met. Well, I appreciate that.
You know who's not nice?

Speaker 15 (35:42):
Those dudes up there in ann Arbor.

Speaker 2 (35:44):
No bad people, really mean people. I mean that's it.
I was not treated well when I when I went
up there wearing some some scarlet and gray.

Speaker 15 (35:57):
Well, it's just a T shirt. Man, it's laundry, right.
I don't, I don't, I don't. I don't do a
whiz on somebody just because they're at the laundromat and
they it's like, man, that's your somebody else's underwear. Man, like,
get out here. But I love you so much and
you're doing a great job and I think he's gonna
take off and everything like that with this program, and

(36:17):
you has always been really calm to me.

Speaker 12 (36:20):
I've sent you some side texts.

Speaker 15 (36:22):
Even though you haven't answered in the last like two
and a half months.

Speaker 12 (36:25):
I get that.

Speaker 15 (36:26):
I understand that, like maybe like a thumbs up emoji,
whether it's a yellow hand or just like a you know,
but I appreciate that, and I understand what you're going
through working with that guy side by side for as.

Speaker 20 (36:41):
Long as you did.

Speaker 15 (36:42):
And you, you guys built this program, not that that
James Rapping guy. You guys built this program. And I
appreciate everything you do for us as listeners. And when
you talk about green Bay being the nicest fans in
the world since the three sixties, community has been the

(37:03):
absolute most amazing community I've ever been a part of.

Speaker 2 (37:07):
In my entire life.

Speaker 15 (37:09):
And I thank all the callers, all the tallbackers, everybody,
even Mike in la Hey School.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
I love that guy too.

Speaker 5 (37:18):
Well.

Speaker 2 (37:19):
That is unbelievably kind of you, John, and I appreciate
all your support over the years. I appreciate your text
even if I don't always respond to them or give
you a thumbs up, but uh, thank you.

Speaker 15 (37:30):
And just to all the callers now, I've been on
hold for three and a half weeks.

Speaker 21 (37:34):
I love you guys.

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Thank you John. It's uh John, Michael. You know, as
we were talking to John there, I got a little
bit of breaking news here. I'm gonna have to investigate this.
Kay Adams was apparently just talking to Chris Collinsworth on
her show, and Collinsworth apparently said that Michael Jordan, the Great,

(37:58):
Michael Jordan, the basketball Michael Jordan is a Bengals fan.
This would be news to me. I know when Mike
was was growing up in North Carolina, there was no
NFL team over there. I don't know if there would
be any connections to Michael Jordan on the Bengals, and

(38:19):
don't know that there's any Jordan athletes on the Bengals.
He was at an Eagles game earlier this year. Jalen
Hurts is kind of the face of Jordan in the NFL.
Does anybody know anything about this? Because this would change
my life significantly. There may not be an athlete that
I adore more than Michael Jeffrey Jordan. If anybody knows

(38:42):
anything about this, let me know. Five one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty. We got time for another quick phone call.
Let's go from John Michael to Dick in Dayton. What's up, Dick?

Speaker 21 (38:51):
Where do you say, Austin?

Speaker 2 (38:52):
You know what, It's a beautiful day. It feels like
football outside Richard.

Speaker 21 (38:57):
Yes it does, Yes, it does.

Speaker 2 (39:00):
Did you ever play football growing up? Dick?

Speaker 22 (39:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 21 (39:02):
I did one year and never again.

Speaker 3 (39:05):
I start.

Speaker 21 (39:05):
You know, I played in the Centerville Marching Band, but
I played Clarnet, but I'd rather played what remember one, David?
I saw you. But Austin, I don't think we realized.
You know what happened about Joe Burrow. That's so sad.
But Flacco last week for coming in there, Austin, I
thought looked pretty good on those drives. You don't yeah

(39:28):
any good.

Speaker 2 (39:29):
He took care of the ball, he didn't turn it over.
And in the second hand he started throwing it. Our
second half, he just started throwing it up to Jamar Chase.

Speaker 21 (39:38):
Yeah. And I know over the years, Austin, I could
remember in college, I don't I forget. I know, the
Bengals beat them one year and they were like, oh,
I forget when they kidding. They never had back in
the seventies eighties much luck. So I think Boomer came
because they lost, like the Browns did so many in

(39:59):
that stadium. But the defense has to play good tonight, Austin. Yeah,
the defense has to play pretty good, don't you think.

Speaker 2 (40:06):
Yeah, I'm right there with you. I mean you got
to be able to slow down Aaron Rodgers a little
bit and get off the field a little bit. Dick.
Do you have a prediction for tonight's game.

Speaker 21 (40:16):
Yeah, I'm going to take the Bengals twenty seven to
twenty four.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
All right, perfect, Dick, I will write that down. Thank
you for the phone call.

Speaker 21 (40:24):
Yeah, good talking to you.

Speaker 20 (40:25):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
Likewise, a bit of a Friday field here on a
Thursday on Sincy three to sixty Sekiincinnati. He's going on
in the NFL.

Speaker 9 (40:36):
Getting ESPN fifteen thirty from iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (40:44):
Since a three sixty ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Austin Elmore
just a couple of minutes before we take a break
and start our number two with John Shearon from a
hiss E Sports and the Orange and Black Insider podcast.
John gave his report cards and talked about a couple
of players that I'm interested in talking to him about,
including DJ Turner, who quietly has turned his season around

(41:09):
and hopefully his career around the way he's played over
the last month or so and had a wonderful performance
on Sunday in Green Bay. Going to be a bit
of a different challenge tonight against DK Metcalf, who is
just a bigger, more physical wide receiver. And one of
the things I'm going to be looking out for tonight

(41:30):
is YAK that would be yards after catch. This is
where the Bengals and the Steelers are polar opposites in
a way. The Bengals. No team in the NFL has
allowed more YAK than the Cincinnati Bengals. That's not a
surprise because number one, they're not good tacklers, and number two,

(41:51):
the defenders are normally nowhere near the wide receiver when
they catch the pass. There's a lot of open runners
and easy separation in the Bengals defense. And secondly, the
Pittsburgh wide receivers number one in the NFL in YAK.
Pittsburgh receivers are averaging seven point seven yards after catch

(42:13):
per catch. That's the best in the NFL by far. Now,
one of those was a long eighty yard touchdown to
DK Metcalf and that obviously will skew the numbers a
little bit, but goes without saying one of the Pittsburgh
strengths is their ability to create separation and catch the
ball and get yards after catch, and one of the
Bengals weaknesses is allowing said yards after catch and the

(42:39):
inability to tackle. So gonna be curious to see how
that shakes out tonight and if the Bengals are able
to be a little stickier in coverage, and if so,
if that's gonna cut down on some of that YAK
and maybe improve some of the tackling issues that the
Bengals have had over the last couple of weeks and
really all season long. When we come back, John Sharon

(43:01):
joins us as he does every Thursday at one o'clock
to talk Bengals and Steelers. This is the home of
the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (43:09):
WCKY, Cincinnati.

Speaker 7 (43:10):
Make us the number one pre set on your car
radio and on the free new and improved iHeartRadio app.
Free never sounded so good.

Speaker 2 (43:17):
ESPN fifteen thirty at Genesis Done.

Speaker 1 (43:20):
Cincy Shirts Cincy three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored
in part by Cincy Shirts. Cincy Shirts, All Cincy, all Day.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (43:34):
No better place to get geared up for a white
Bengal night than at Cincy's Shirts. Check them out each
of their retail locations. You can get a shirt custom
made on the spot at Cincy Shirts. Go check them
out ahead of tonight's game. If you need to get
something white, like our guy Moegger most still looking for
something white. He does this every single year. Figure it out.

(43:56):
You're a grown man. Another grown man is joining the show.
Now our guy On Sheeran who talks Bengals with me
every single Thursday, and he joins us. Now I had
a Thursday night football, John, You got you got any
white on? You got any white Bengal gear for you?
Just watch the game? Or what are you going to
the game. What's going on? John, don't know what's good?

Speaker 14 (44:13):
Said?

Speaker 8 (44:14):
I appreciate you asking, Austin, because I am going to
the game. Let's go in the game with another I'm
going to the game with another girl. Man whose name
is my dad, and he also forgot to wear white today,
and I'm like, come on, Dad, like everyone knows what
this game is.

Speaker 2 (44:25):
So I'm actually in.

Speaker 8 (44:26):
The parking lot of Dick's Morning Goods about to get
him like a cheap white shirt so.

Speaker 5 (44:29):
You can wear it tonight.

Speaker 2 (44:30):
That's awesome and it sounds like something my dad would
do as well. So let's start with the matchups tonight
this game. When you think Bengals Steelers, when you think
about this game, what's the first matchup that comes to
mind in what will determine the outcome?

Speaker 8 (44:48):
It's always the Pittsburgh defensive line, is it not. It's
been the staple of them for how many years?

Speaker 2 (44:53):
Fifty?

Speaker 5 (44:54):
Yeah, something like that.

Speaker 8 (44:55):
They've always had good pass rushers, right, They've always had
good guys up front, and the Bengals offensive line has
always struck against them no matter what the personnel is.
I remember, you know, in the last years, the Jonah
Williams this year like he got you know, beaten like
a ren and mule against Alex Highsmith and company. Alex
Highsmith is still there, and I think that's a really
good matchup for Pittsburgh against Ronanda Brown Junior, who's not
having a really good season, and I think he's the
type of pass rusher that can get under your pads,

(45:16):
you can win around the edge, and that's always been
the player archetype that is, you know, Caused Orleon Brown,
You're going to struggle. So when you're talking about Steelers
defensive line that has not just Alex Heismith.

Speaker 5 (45:25):
Obviously t J. Watt and Cameron Hayward are the main
guys there.

Speaker 8 (45:28):
And Cameron Hayward, you know, baptized as a rookie guard
for the Bengals basically every single year, and now you
have two of them, and Dylan Fairchild and Jalen Rivers
going up against them for the first time. That's just
the grown man in Cam Hayward, who's thirty six years
old and still is one of the very best players
in this position. So it's always been a mismatch for
the Bengals up front trying to block these guys and
now that you have a quarterback and Joe Flacco who
should be more a little bit more comfortable in his

(45:49):
offense after being here for a week instead of just
a handful of days. But still I'm interested, just like
I was last week, and how Flacco handles the pressure,
and how the Bengals office line make sure that they mitigate,
you know, the obvious mismatches there to make sure the
ball gets out, make sure that the defensive lineman don't
ruin the game like they typically normally do in this matchup.

Speaker 2 (46:05):
Now, I did think that Flacco looked a little bit
slow when he was trying to avoid the rush against
Green Bay, but I also thought that was okay, Like
that was good enough of a performance. There's something there.
What did you like about what you saw from Flacco
against the Packers?

Speaker 8 (46:23):
I mean, you needed to see what he did in
the second half, right, because the first half obviously wasn't
good enough. This team still hasn't scored the first half
touchdowns since Week two. Right, Joe Burrow was in there,
and you'd like to see him get into rhythm and
just just trust the playmakers on the outside. I think
the majority of his targets went to Jamar Chase and Tiggins,
and with Mike a. Seki out for the foreseeable future,
that should remain the case, especially with andre Yosabatch not

(46:45):
necessarily having a good season on his own, but taking
advantage of one on one matchups when you get it
with Chase and Higgins on the boundary. If Flaco still
trusts his arm, he's still accurate enough to get the
ball where it needs to go, and he's been a
lot more efficient with getting the ball out under two
a half seconds. I believe Paul and her Junior had
pulled up some great stats in this last article with
The Athletic about how much more effiching the offense is
with Flacker getting the ball out within the first few

(47:06):
half seconds compared to Jake Brownie. And that is going
to be the base of this offense because again, you
can't trust pass protection against matchups like this, So Flacco
needs to be sustained rhythm to identify, you know, where
the matchups are at his disposal, and just take advantage
of Jamar Chase and Tiggins because they're going to be
advantages against most quarterbacks that they play, especially tonight like
Darius Slay Junior and Joey Porter Junior and Jalen Ramsey.

(47:28):
They're all really good quarterbacks, but you still don't want
to take advantage of Jamar Chase when you have them,
and I think seeing that connection grow last week against
the Packers that was a really promising sign.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
Yeah, I agree with you one hundred percent. The other thing, too,
is being able to run the football. They weren't great
against the Packers. They haven't been great all season. The
Steelers sixteenth ranked run defense, allowing over one hundred yards
per game on the ground. Do you feel like tonight
is a chance for them to get it going at all?
Even though that Steeler defensive line is good, Like you mentioned, it's.

Speaker 8 (48:00):
Really tough to imagine at this point they are on
track to maybe one of the worst rushing offenses in
the history of the league. And it's troubling to see
how Chase Brown can't get anything going in front of him,
and the fact that they can't utilize his athleticism and
his bursts and everything like that. It still remains a
really porous scheme, and I think the stunts and the

(48:20):
games that the Steelers defensive line typically run it makes
things a little bit more complicated like that there are
high risk, high reward opportunities when defensive linemen kind of
slant in the rushes a little bit and screes up
some gaps. But if you don't have the confident bodies
up front to give them out of the way and
displace them, then it ends up disrupting you more times
than not. So it's always been tough to run against
the Steelers. Again, they cause a lot of chaos up front,

(48:42):
and I just there's not a lot of confidence right
now for me.

Speaker 5 (48:45):
In the personnel upfront for blocking to these guys.

Speaker 8 (48:48):
You like how hard some obop around runs, and you
like the fact that Chase Brown he can't get a
full head of scene when he have a little bit
of space, But there's just not a lot of space
to be found, and it's hard for me to see
any space being found tonight.

Speaker 2 (48:58):
How do you expect the to change, if at all,
with Mike Giseki being out.

Speaker 8 (49:05):
Yeah, I think we saw how Tanner Hudson could fill
that role a little bit. He caught the touchdown last week,
but now he's in the concussion protocol, right, So you
go from an offense that had five fight ins at
the disposed of down to three, and with Kaseki out
that does mean that yose Vass is going to play more.
You could see more snaps for a guy like Mitchell Tinsley,
who's now wide receiver for Charlie Jones is still dealing
with an injury, and Jermaine Burden he's in limbo obviously,

(49:27):
so you would expect to see, you know, more usage
deeper into the wide receiver group for the guys who
are active. I would like to see Noah Fan get
some more opportunities as well. It seems like in the
game three he's involved. He's always ad at least four targets,
which I think is a little bit more than even
I expected for a guy who was signed so late
in the offseason. But you know, this is an interesting
night to see who Flacko trusts in those opportunities. Because

(49:48):
obviously Drew Sample and Cam Grandy, we know who they are.
They're just in there to block and catch and catch,
you know, short passes and try to run after the catch.
But no Fan, I think needs to take another step up,
and I'm interested to see if Flacco trust enough.

Speaker 2 (49:58):
To do that. Talking to John Sharing covering the Bengals,
a to the Sports Johnny wrote your Bengals report card,
and you mentioned DJ Turner as being a pleasant surprise,
and especially the way he's played over the last month
and the way he played against Green Bay. What have
you seen from him that makes him or has led
to a little bit more consistent and an uptick in

(50:19):
his level of play.

Speaker 8 (50:21):
I think when you have an elite athlete like DJ Turner, right,
the number one thing for him at qrarnerback is to
control that antholicism and matching mirror the speed of the
guys that he's going up against, because that allows him
to stay in position to make plays in the ball.

Speaker 18 (50:33):
Right.

Speaker 8 (50:33):
It's one thing to be fast enough to be able
to stay with a guy on a vertical round, right,
but your changing the direction, your balance, your ability to
stay in the hip hocket these guys and be physical.
I think Dj has shown pretty much all of those
qualifications and all those attributes, and now he's finding the
ball out better. Like you don't get five pass the
defense in one game out of pure luck, right, like
quarterbacks are obviously testing you. But I think DJ really

(50:55):
showed a lot last week and not only staying with
guys but then finding the ball making a play on the bable.
That's Those are the impact plays that you don't always
see from this secondary, and you haven't really seen from
a cornerback in the secondary in a while. You saw
a little bit flashes with that of Cam Tilbert when
he was on his game, but obviously he hasn't been
on his game for quite some time. So it looks
like Turner is the guy that they would trust the
most going up against you know whoever the opposing number

(51:18):
one receivers this week. Is really interesting because DK Metcalf
is a you know, physical freak who definitely outsizes DJ
turning that reguard, But they may have the most trust
in Turner to stay with him and try to make
plays in the ball because he's doing that better than
anyone in the secondary right now.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
Yeah, I was gonna ask, like, would you imagine he
would he would follow Dk Metcalf around? I know the
Bengals don't do that often, but if Calvin Austin is
out and that's their best weapon and maybe their best
performing corner, do you think they would do something like that.

Speaker 5 (51:46):
I'm really interested to find out.

Speaker 8 (51:48):
I think this is this would be such an opportunity
for Cam Tibert to earn back trust. I think back
to two years ago when he played DK Metcalf for
the Seahawks. That was one of his best games ever.
He really got into his head. He got the interception
and everything like that. Of course, you're gonna give up
big plays for Metchcalf because he's playing like one of
the best receivers in the NFL and he's basically like
the entirety of that Pittsburgh passing game is running through
him right now. So you know they're gonna feature him

(52:09):
and involve him. So I think it comes down to
just more than just one guy for the Bengals. I
don't think you want to have DJ Turner following in
a round for six.

Speaker 5 (52:15):
He plays the game.

Speaker 8 (52:16):
I think this could be a situation where quarterbacks stay
on their sides and you just maybe try to bracket
Metcalf a little bit, get some help from the safeties.
But yeah, if it's gonna be DJ Turner against Metcalf
all night, like, there's gonna be some goball opportunities and
Metcalf is gonna try to use his size to win
that matchup for sure.

Speaker 2 (52:30):
Logan Wilson was benched against the packers in favor of
Barrett Carter. He handed it really well. I don't know
that it entirely makes sense. What do you make of
Logan Wilson's benching.

Speaker 5 (52:42):
It's very interesting.

Speaker 8 (52:43):
I think it would make more sense, like he said,
if the rookies were playing significantly better than him. And
I just don't think there's anyone really in that position
group that is standing out above the rest. I think
identifying and drafting two linebackers in the first four rounds
it definitely means more now than maybe what it did,
you know, back when the draft was happening, and you
think that Brek Carter is just going to be this
long term replacement for Logan Wilson. It's not like Logan

(53:06):
Wilson is playing significantly great. Obviously, he's playing less for
a reason. But I just don't I don't see why
this makes sense other than the fact that just giving
the young guys a lot more reps to prove themselves
unless there's things in practice that we're not seeing. And
there's a lot of flashes and a lot of promise
from Breck Carter, you know, between Monday and Saturday, right
and they want to give him a chance to prove
that on Sunday.

Speaker 5 (53:26):
But at the same time, you're paying a lot for
Logan Wilson.

Speaker 8 (53:29):
I don't think he's that much different of a player
than what you would have expected them to be. So
it just seems like a really aggressive move by this
coaching staff to really see what their return on investment
for these rookies are. And if it works out, it
works out great, then they have Bearck Carter for the
next handful of years and then they cancide with what
to do with Wilson. But if you're not seeing it
from Carter yet in terms of just a consistent player,
I'm not sure it makes entirely a lot of sense.

Speaker 2 (53:49):
Ian Rappaport reported this morning it's a long shot for
Trey Hendrickson to be able to play short week with
the hip injury. If he doesn't, how can the Bengals
dial up some pressures against Aaron Rodgers? What would be
the plan for Al Golden do you think?

Speaker 12 (54:03):
Well?

Speaker 8 (54:04):
He said that Schmart Stewer is going to play a
ton and I think the more that you move him
around and the more that you get him maybe almost
in the two point stands to just use as much
speed and explosion that you can. I think that's the
best way to compensate for not having your true difference
maker out there. I think Golden saying that about Stewart
was kind of foreshadowing how he felt about Trey in

(54:25):
this game and whether or not he plays or not,
he may not be able to play.

Speaker 5 (54:28):
The whole game even if he is active.

Speaker 8 (54:29):
Right, So, Miles Murphy's probably going to start Schmart Stewart's
probably gonna be that third edge.

Speaker 5 (54:33):
He's going to be not only lying up on the edge,
but he's also going to be inside.

Speaker 8 (54:35):
They're gonna use him on all three downs because he's
really good and really chaotic against the run.

Speaker 5 (54:40):
So it's gonna be tough.

Speaker 8 (54:42):
You definitely need to do things differently because you just
can't expect the past versus that you have to win
every single one on one matchup when really only Trey
Hendrickson could do that consistently.

Speaker 2 (54:50):
How good are the Steelers really like? Are they legit
contender in the AFC? Are they a product of their schedule?
How do you view the Steeler.

Speaker 8 (55:01):
I think the Steelers have some different faces every single year,
but they always are pretty much the same team, and
sometimes they start the season really slow, and then they
entered the playoff race in November December, and they make
it into nine and eight. Sometimes they started in this
in this case form one and then they fall back
down to nine eight, but they always end up around
nine to eight. Ten and seven are always in the conversation.
They're always physical, they don't make a lot of critical mistakes,

(55:23):
and they typically have an offense that's just barely good
enough to complement their defense, and I think that's pretty
much been the case this year. I think Aaron Rodgers
is about the quarterback that the Jets should have expected
at thirty nine to forty years old at this point.
And obviously he was a tremendous disaster for the Jets,
but he clearly still has just enough to be a
competent quarterback and run a competent offense. But you know

(55:45):
that passing offense again is entirely run through DK Metcalf.
They're really desperate for maybe a guy like George Pickens
if they had him. They don't have a ton of
great success with running the football right now, and that's
a little bit different compared to years past.

Speaker 5 (55:56):
But I think they're just a solid team.

Speaker 8 (55:58):
They're obviously not I think going to be finished with
more than like ten or eleven wins necessarily, but definitely
serious enough to make the playoffs and definitely win this
game for sure.

Speaker 2 (56:08):
Let's say that the Steelers do win the game. Do
you anticipate any dominoes falling for the Bengals afterwards, like
a coach losing his job or a Trey Hendrickson potentially
getting traded. What dominos do you anticipate to fall if
the Bengals can't win tonight?

Speaker 8 (56:26):
You know, the Bengals are never the sellers, right, They're
never the ones that want to just liquidate assets for
the sake of liquidation, for the sake of a last season.
I think the fact that they traded for a quarterback
not even two weeks ago it means that they still
feel like they can do something with the season. I'm
not sure if two and five in this AFC climate
is going to make them immediately feel that. I think

(56:48):
the only reason we're talking about is because A, this
is a divisional game against the divisional leader. In B
because it's going to be a long week of rest
after the Thursday night game, so that that's naturally a
time could make changes, But I don't think you're going
to see a coach firing after this game. I think
it's still a little bit too early in the season
for that. And the one thing I am curious though,
is that if Logan Wilson is truly just a ten

(57:09):
snaps a game guy, how much injuries could you get
for him on the trade deadline, Because at the end
of the day, you're paying a lot of money for
guy who's not playing a lot.

Speaker 5 (57:16):
So that could be an interesting domino based on how
the next two weeks ago.

Speaker 8 (57:19):
But I don't think anything significant is going to happen
from this game, specifically.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
On the flip side of that, if they do win
and obviously perform the way they are expected to at
least against the Jets and maybe the Bears, could you
see them dipping their toe into the trade waters again.
Could you see them be a little bit more aggressive
if they feel like there's a chance to get you know,
back in it in this conference with Burrow coming back
later on.

Speaker 8 (57:42):
It has to be the right deal, right, It has
to be potentially like a player for player trade or
another pickswap, like they've already sacrificed a little bit of
draft capital a little bit. Draft capital for them is
a lot of draft capital for them, so that's always relative,
and it may depend on any other injuries that they
may suffer. I think they expect to get healthier as on.
Obviously the Kaseki injury kind of ruins that a little bit.
But I think they have well what they feel like

(58:05):
is quality depth at that position room and once Tanner
Hudson comes back, that's someone that they trust.

Speaker 5 (58:09):
So I'm not really foreseeing them being buyers. Again.

Speaker 8 (58:11):
I think Flacco is probably the biggest splash that you're
gonna get because they did feel the pressure in the
urgency to do something other than Jake Browning. But yeah,
the next handful of weeks are going to be very
interesting with that.

Speaker 2 (58:20):
His name is John Shearon, covering the Bengals for eight
to Z Sports and also the Orange and Black Insider podcast. John,
thank you so much, man, really appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (58:29):
Thanks guys.

Speaker 2 (58:30):
That is John Shearon from A to Z Sports. Good stuff,
Good stuff there. He about to go get some white
Bengal gear going to the game tonight. You can do
that too at Sincy Shirts, Cinty Shirts app and obviously
their stores as well. Get your custom shirt made. You're
gonna get Flacco shirt ahead of tonight's game. Get that

(58:52):
in white for the white Bengal night. All right, we'll
take a break, we'll come back talkbacks, Yes, talkbacks. I
asked for your prediction about what's going to happen tonight
at Pey Course Stadium. I can't wait to see what
all of you are predicting on talkbacks. That's next. This
is Cincy three to sixty Hour two, brought to you
by Cincy Shirts on the Home of the Bengals, Cincinnatis,

(59:12):
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (59:14):
Now Cincy three sixty Here every show at ESPN fifteen
thirty dot com.

Speaker 2 (59:49):
Talkbacks Hour two brought to you by Cincy Shirts. It's
a game day here in Cincinnati. I asked for your scores,
your predictions, and more. Let's get to it with talkback,
starting with the first one of the day. Came in
at nine to twenty one. Am.

Speaker 23 (01:00:06):
Hey, Austin ken from alex Here. Buck out to Kevin
from Northern Kentucky for my shout out yesterday. Yes, I
was on Moe's show a couple of days ago and
I mumbled and fumbled my way through my comments. But
moe By and the pro that he has bailed me out. Also,
I'd like to put in my recommendation as for Drew

(01:00:28):
as your producer. He's an articulate and a nice guy. Also,
hope they gave you a raise.

Speaker 2 (01:00:35):
Thank you, Ken. I appreciate that. Yeah, I love Drew.
Still trying to figure out what exactly that's going to
look like. Hopefully that's figured out by Monday, but yeah,
I appreciate that. And speaking of stumbling and bumblin, did
you hear me try to ask John Sheer in the
first question that was maybe the worst I've ever actually
stuttered and stumbled on the radio. So that's good start.

Speaker 4 (01:00:56):
Or to Austin, Jeff and you rich Man?

Speaker 19 (01:00:59):
What up?

Speaker 18 (01:00:59):
Je to you?

Speaker 4 (01:01:01):
Happy who Day?

Speaker 18 (01:01:02):
Game Day?

Speaker 4 (01:01:03):
Yes, I'm gonna take the Bengals tonight. Let's go twenty
four to twenty one. I think Evan gets a field
goal at the gun and gives us the win. I
just have the feeling tonight's gonna be different. Okay, So
we'll see what happens. Hopefully we'll be able to celebrate
it all tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (01:01:21):
Have a great day.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
Thank you, Jeff. Yah Victory Friday would be much needed.
Much needed for the vibes.

Speaker 5 (01:01:29):
Hey, Audi, I'm excited. I think the Bengals will do
well tonight.

Speaker 22 (01:01:32):
I'm gonna call it Bengals twenty four Steelers twenty one.

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
That's two in a row. That's two in a row,
twenty four to twenty one Bengals. That might be the
common theme.

Speaker 5 (01:01:41):
Audie, what up? Jacob here?

Speaker 2 (01:01:43):
What's so Jake?

Speaker 24 (01:01:44):
I'm thinking that the Bengals are gonna build off of
that second half in Green Bay from last week.

Speaker 14 (01:01:49):
We need the offense to get in the rhythm, move
the ball, hopefully to night.

Speaker 5 (01:01:53):
Tamar Stewart's coming out party.

Speaker 19 (01:01:54):
Yes, I don't think the Bengals win by big margin,
but I think they win.

Speaker 5 (01:01:58):
Let's go get that dubbed who day Baby, Let's go all.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
Right, Shamar Stewart coming out party. I would sign up
for that.

Speaker 25 (01:02:06):
Hey, Artie, Remember you asked what I think is gonna happen,
not what I want? Yes, and what I think is
gonna happen is the Bengals may surprise people who I
think They're gonna come out start fast. They might even
jump out to a ten or fourteen point lead, two scores,
something like that. Okay, but regardless at some point Zach
Taylor is gonna go painfully conservative now out of them

(01:02:28):
back into the game, and the Bengals are gonna lose
a heartbreaker by two or three points.

Speaker 26 (01:02:32):
Oh that but proper true.

Speaker 2 (01:02:35):
I appreciate honesty that it is important what you think
is going to happen, not what you want to happen.
And I do appreciate that honesty.

Speaker 23 (01:02:44):
What PARTI What do I want to see tonight in
a forty something ball?

Speaker 19 (01:02:47):
I want to see the office put up points.

Speaker 2 (01:02:49):
In all four quarters.

Speaker 17 (01:02:51):
I want to see the defusk you get off the.

Speaker 5 (01:02:53):
Field on third down. I'm gonna say, younes he go
off tonight.

Speaker 20 (01:02:57):
I want to see.

Speaker 2 (01:02:58):
Yo o yo actual yeah, I want to see this
team get the dub.

Speaker 5 (01:03:07):
Well, you need it. I gotta free and they own
a prescription.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
It's a good one from Kevin. He said, we need it.
You know, I was before the show today. I normally
in the last ten or so minutes will go sit
in the newsroom just to kind of clear my head
and go banter with the folks in the newsroom, and
our buddy Nick Rick yu Chino was saying, we need this,
like I need this, just mentally need a Bengals win today.

(01:03:33):
I think a lot of people are in that boat.

Speaker 27 (01:03:35):
Hey, Austin, George on the valley fired up from the
game as as well. I just wanted to you know, uh,
such that Tony's gone, But in reality, I think what
they heard was the talent you have. I'm not trying
to blow your head up here, but I mean that's
what it is. Tony was on the radio with you
and that just wasn't a good place for him to be.
You're abound to get your own show anyway.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
Good luck to Tony. We all love them who who
day It.

Speaker 27 (01:04:00):
Would be a fun night tonight. The Jungle Boys.

Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
Well, George, that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me.
I do appreciate that.

Speaker 28 (01:04:07):
Yea audiot's joan case here. I just wanted to say,
I hope you're able to take advantage of this opportunity,
even though it's not under the circumstances you want, just
like I'm hoping Osai and Shamar Stewart are able to
take advantage tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:04:19):
Make the job.

Speaker 28 (01:04:21):
I really wish you had not gone over. Those rushing
stats at the beginning of the game makes me feel
like the Steelers are going to rush for two hundred
yards tonight, just because that's what we do. And my
heart won't let me pick anybody but the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:04:35):
All right, fair enough, heart wants what it wants.

Speaker 26 (01:04:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 29 (01:04:39):
I like the jury update Austin, their number two receiver,
not playing their safety, probably not playing Hendrickson, probably not
playing some good knowledge there.

Speaker 22 (01:04:52):
I don't know.

Speaker 29 (01:04:52):
I want the Bengals to win so so bad. I
think that just might be a bad sign. But hopefully,
hopefully we'll get to w.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
When you go a month without winning, it's hard. Man like,
time moves slower, coffee doesn't taste as good. It's difficult.

Speaker 30 (01:05:12):
I turned off since he three sixty, I was feeling
my half past dead. Yeah, I just need it. Sounds
FIG's right to clean my head. Hey, Oddie, can you
tell me now the team he's gone to tomp backstall.

(01:05:35):
He just grinned and shook.

Speaker 2 (01:05:37):
My hand and no was all he see him beautifully
dog Jack a load doll body.

Speaker 30 (01:05:49):
He's earned the trust in you and me, Dick a
lot doll roll anmal Sancy three sixty.

Speaker 24 (01:06:06):
Wow, thank you, Hey, Audie. TJ E Side. It was
out last week during the Tony fallout. Some guy named
Drew didn't play my talkback or I compared you and
Tony to the great dues of all time. Tony, You're
gonna do great, Austin.

Speaker 26 (01:06:20):
When I first started listening, I thought.

Speaker 24 (01:06:22):
Some of your opinions were really sucks. But you all
defended him with a stute, rational and good logic. I
always appreciate that and respect it as a listener. Well done,
keep up the good work. Go who Days. But if
we lose to Night Zach and Tobin gotta go.

Speaker 2 (01:06:36):
Who Day, Well, thank you. I appreciate that. Yeah, it's
if you're gonna have an opinion that you know it
may not be that popular, or you know, we'll ruffle
some feathers, you gotta at least have a good reason why.
And I always tried to do that.

Speaker 30 (01:06:52):
Shut up, man, Why.

Speaker 31 (01:06:57):
This when we can go this color run? Joe Hoday
Hodaydaydayday Wydaydayday Show.

Speaker 2 (01:07:20):
Wow, you're on a heater today.

Speaker 32 (01:07:24):
It's the Lord?

Speaker 26 (01:07:26):
What up?

Speaker 32 (01:07:27):
Happy Thursday? Talkback Nation is great? Hearing Eddie z yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:07:32):
He's hilarious.

Speaker 32 (01:07:33):
He should be talkback President. Hey, Austin, is there any
truth about the Bengals Looking at Derek Carr as a
quarterback option. Yes, Bengals twenty Steelers sixteen.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
Yeah, thank you for that prediction.

Speaker 20 (01:07:53):
I like that.

Speaker 2 (01:07:54):
The list was revealed by Albert Breer in Sports Illustrated
earlier today. He said that the full list that the
Bengals reached out to are considered were Stetson Bennett, Derek Carr,
Kirk Cousins, Tommy DeVito, Joe Flacco, Jimmy Garoppolo, Josh Johnson,

(01:08:15):
Drew Locke, Tanner McKee, Davis Mills, Anthony Richardson, Russell Wilson,
and Jameis Winston. They ended up landing on.

Speaker 14 (01:08:23):
Flacco still wrapping the city out here in Sonny hots
On and what up, Hoddy?

Speaker 2 (01:08:27):
Y'all real talk.

Speaker 14 (01:08:28):
Not only are the Bengals under pressure, I'm under pressure,
oh being he only since he fan at.

Speaker 2 (01:08:33):
My job, got everybody in the world at my job.

Speaker 14 (01:08:35):
Asking me questions, tonight, are you ready for his nice game?
Do you think the Bengals gonna win? Got a call
from the boss man to come to the office. He
asked me questions about tonight's game. How you putting money
on the Bengals tonight? I looked at him like he
was fourteen karat crazy, but I ain't telling him that. Oh,
since he throwed that me down. I want to come
to work tomorrow. Catstrutting on these clowns, You feel me?

Speaker 2 (01:08:52):
Who they? That is the tough part about wearing your
team's hard on your sleeve. They're rotting round. Everybody wants
to piece of you.

Speaker 17 (01:09:01):
All right, Mike from LA You heard John Michael's impersonation
of you? Oh no, let's hear your version of him.

Speaker 19 (01:09:10):
What's up, Austin Joe and Baltimore Joe. My prediction for
tonight Cincinnati twenty eight Pittsburgh twenty four.

Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
Okay, sake.

Speaker 19 (01:09:22):
Placo leads a late fourth quarter touchdown drive to steal
the game. Jamar's over one hundred yards receiving, and Chase
Brown has his best rushing game of the year.

Speaker 2 (01:09:38):
Just open, all right, bang, all right?

Speaker 22 (01:09:41):
I got you.

Speaker 26 (01:09:42):
This is a guaranteed prediction for tonight's game. At some
point during the game, somewhere near midfield, the Steelers will
do some type of misdirection trick play that will end
up being wide open, and it'll either steal the game
or it'll put them up by at least two scores.

(01:10:06):
Who Day Pittsburgh does this every fricking time.

Speaker 22 (01:10:11):
That's a man that's been hurt and broken, right there,
Austin gets from lovel Great job so far running the show.
My predictions for tonight Steelers twenty seven Bengals fourteen hikes
and just a side note, little sprinkle, sprinkle, drip drip.

(01:10:31):
I got Noah Offense plus one seventy four at five receptions. Okay,
I think that's easy money. All right, there's a little
lock of the night for you. Five or so over
four and a half receptions for Noah Fense.

Speaker 18 (01:10:44):
Okay, did you guys see Wes Miller saying that the
team's not ready to play today? Is he already setting
U see fans up for a failure of a season?

Speaker 32 (01:10:57):
Oh?

Speaker 2 (01:10:58):
Go, Muski's Well, it's a good thing you don't he's
not ready to play today because they don't have to
play today. So first of all, Second of all, my
favorite thing about yesterday was that Xavier announced this new
beer called the Musky Logger. If I have that correct,
and the branding and everything is awesome. It's very similar
to like Ryan Geist and the Sinsey Light thing and

(01:11:20):
just doing the same thing. It's for the all for one,
fun for Xavier and just seeing UC fans get so
mad about it was awesome. I love that rivalry so much.
I love how petty each side is. Yeah, Xavier kind
of rips off Cincinnati with the beer thing, and then
Cincinnati fans are all mad about it. I just I
love that rivalry so much. I cannot wait for December.

(01:11:48):
Bengals win by three? Boy, all right, Bengals by three.
I'm in favor of that.

Speaker 5 (01:12:00):
Hey, Audi, Mic and Independence.

Speaker 33 (01:12:02):
What am I prepping for this.

Speaker 34 (01:12:03):
Seafood ball we got going too, starting at four o'clock today,
everybody swing on by a lot one if you want
to partake in the goods. We're going with twenty four
to sixteen for the score today.

Speaker 2 (01:12:17):
Who day, that's a favorite the Bengals. Baby, all right,
BEng seafood boil Mike with lot in lot one going
to Bengal victory.

Speaker 35 (01:12:24):
Hey, Austin Paul from leaves here, I'll actually chime in
and give you my two cents worth on the game tonight.
I think the Bengals won twenty eight to ten or
thirty one to ten. I don't think it's even going
to be close. I think the biggest issue is gonna
be turnovers for the Steelers. I don't think they're gonna
be able to handle the ball. And uh yeah, I'm
pretty I'm pretty sure that the Bengals are gonna come

(01:12:46):
out and uh they're gonna come right out and drive
the field and score the.

Speaker 2 (01:12:50):
First hushed out. So whoday? Okay, all right, I mean
the twenty eight to ten, thirty one to ten will blowout. Okay,
let's do it.

Speaker 5 (01:12:58):
Yeah, I mean I think we got all of them.

Speaker 36 (01:13:00):
I think that with Flaco now feeling more comfortable and
there's gonna be the unknown about our defensive line that
Rogers isn't going to be able to anticipate. I mean,
this could be a really, really good night.

Speaker 2 (01:13:12):
For the Bengals.

Speaker 36 (01:13:13):
As for my prediction, I'm thinking it's probably gonna be
forty two to twelve Steelers.

Speaker 2 (01:13:24):
Oh that's the beautifully jaded Bengals fan game fan base
hot take.

Speaker 6 (01:13:30):
As an in person fan, a white out is the
worst spent eighty five dollars on a Bengals pullover and
all day you risk the chance of spilling beer or
skyline dip on.

Speaker 2 (01:13:43):
Yourself and just looked like a slob. Yeah, but on
TV it'll look great, you know. I hear you. A
pro move though, is you gotta go? You can't put
it on until you get in your seat. Basically, you
carry it with you, you keep it in the car whatever.
Nobody cares if you're wearing white when you're tailgating. Once

(01:14:03):
you get in your seat, though, like then it has
it should be on.

Speaker 5 (01:14:06):
So I hear you, though, what up body space monkeys?

Speaker 2 (01:14:10):
What's up? Space?

Speaker 5 (01:14:11):
A w tonight?

Speaker 18 (01:14:13):
One?

Speaker 2 (01:14:13):
Another one?

Speaker 5 (01:14:14):
We get back on track when next week? Move on
to four and four?

Speaker 23 (01:14:18):
Okay, seasons back, baby, let's go good.

Speaker 2 (01:14:22):
I'm smelling what you're stepping in. What up, Boston Ryan start?
Two sacks? Oh babys twenty three twenty one? Oh baby,
all right, let's do it. I'm in favor of that.

Speaker 11 (01:14:39):
Potty. I think I think Flacco's gonna find his find
his rhythm tonight. Okay, two weeks into the offense. Uh,
he's got a little bit more time to work with
all the boys, and I'm predicting a Bengals win.

Speaker 2 (01:14:59):
Thirty one twenty one. Okay, hood offensive explosion thirty one
to twenty one.

Speaker 33 (01:15:05):
All right, Well, you're sitting down watching the Bengals game
and Joe Burrow gets sacked. He's got the turf toe
and he's gonna miss time since the nationists screaming fire
zac o QB's of must backup is a bust time
four Oh Joe Flaco.

Speaker 2 (01:15:28):
Beautifully done there by.

Speaker 26 (01:15:29):
Mark Hey Austin.

Speaker 10 (01:15:31):
I wanted to get your thoughts on what your conversation
was at the top of the hour with the Bengals
not being able to do anything with their front office
and compare to the Tennessee Titans and their rotating door
and the Baltimore Ravens and how they always seem to
do things right but seem to be in the same,
if not worse situation than the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:15:52):
Yeah, the NFL is difficult and there's not really an
exact science. I mean, the way the Chiefs have built
their dynasty is not the same is the way that
Eagles have kind of built over the last couple of years.
And the Eagles in the middle of struggles and they've
dealt with coordinators leaving and all this other stuff. And
Baltimore has been the model of consistency for a long
time and it's gotten them close but never over the hump.

(01:16:15):
And even Cleveland has had the same people in place
for a long time, and they just kind of keep
spinning their tires and going nowhere. And the Bengals have
They've changed a little bit here and there, and they've
done a few things differently, but mostly it's still the
same process. And the Bengals, for the most part, are
always competitive. They're at least you know, in it, and
I believe are a well run organization. It's just that

(01:16:37):
there's no exact science to it. It's difficult. Like even
if you look at San Francisco, I think John Lynch
and Kyle Shanahan are a great example of like what
a quarter or what a coach and a GM relationship
should be. And yet they just get ravaged by injuries
every year and it's held them back. Even in a

(01:16:57):
year like this year where they're supposed to be competitive,
their injuries are killing them. I look at a team
like Tampa where just Jason light I think is our gosh,
what's the GM of the Bucks. I'm blanking on his
name right now, but he has full autonomy and full

(01:17:18):
control and again just feeds these players to develop into
Todd Bowles. Like there's all these different ways to do it.
Some teams are really good at it, some teams are not.
There is no exact science, and you know it's it's
easy to compare, but it's not really easy to execute.
All right, that was our last talk back. We'll take
a break. Phone calls are open five one three. Phone

(01:17:39):
lines are open to five one three, seven, four nine,
fifteen thirty. We'll take a break. We'll come back. Get
little football in the Nattie and more. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (01:17:49):
Oh in the Natty drugs You and Hard by bod
Light and by Oakley Greens on ESPN fifteen thirty, the
official home of the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:18:01):
Yes, indeed it is football in the Natti, ESPN fifteen thirty.
I'm Austin Omore. Welcome back. Let's go to the phones
quickly for another score prediction. If I'm not mistaken. This
is Northern Kentucky Orange cab who says he has a prediction.
What do you got?

Speaker 12 (01:18:21):
Wow?

Speaker 17 (01:18:21):
Black lives own for stillers and the head coaches may
about the tree and the Bengals fifty nine the threwer
seventeen apparent for fire hundred and eighty yards and seven touchdown.

Speaker 2 (01:18:34):
Oh my gosh. Five eighty seven touchdowns, setting records and
fifty nine points. All right, I'm down.

Speaker 12 (01:18:40):
Thank you. I will call you back tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (01:18:43):
I'll talk to you then. Thank you very much. If
that were to happen, Oh my goodness, I really do.
I kind of want I want it to be a
track meet, like I just want the old heads to
just get after it and just start, you know, going
back and forth, high scoring and see what happened. Got
time for another phone call. I don't know who this
person is, though, caller. If you can hear my voice,

(01:19:05):
you're on the air. What's your name, Robert? What's up, Robert?
What do you want to talk about?

Speaker 12 (01:19:10):
Man?

Speaker 20 (01:19:11):
Hey Austin. Yeah, just a quick uh train of thought
on the on the hope, on the Bengals issues and
helped and your help and uh, you know, make it
some sense of it if you will. So my my
thought is, you know, I guess in today's NFL want
to be in such big business and everything, the uh

(01:19:33):
general managers and all are just becoming more and more
significant in the equation, uh, you know, for for some
of the reasons that you talked about on the regular basis.
But then coaches, of course, you know, the face of
the franchise to most of the rest of us. So anyway,
the thought is, you know, I didn't do the research.

(01:19:54):
Uh so hopefully you can help me with that too.
But like the three the three Super Bowls that we've
been to Forrest, Greg, of course, Zach and.

Speaker 2 (01:20:05):
Then who was again Sam Weish?

Speaker 20 (01:20:08):
Yeah, Sam, Yeah, weren't they all within like their first
two or three years? And is there anything to that?
That's all I got.

Speaker 2 (01:20:15):
Thanks for letting me all right, Yeah, thank you Robert
for the phone call. Don't I don't know if there's
anything to that. I think the biggest thing is that
those two those coaches all had MVP caliber quarterbacks Ken
Anderson with Forrest Gregg, Boomera SiZ In with Sam Weish,
and obviously Joe Burrow with Zach Taylor. But you're right,

(01:20:35):
it was Forrest Gregg's second year with the Bengals that
he went to the Super Bowl.

Speaker 12 (01:20:42):
It was.

Speaker 2 (01:20:44):
Zach Taylor's third year with the Bengals that he went
to the Super Bowl.

Speaker 26 (01:20:48):
And it was the.

Speaker 2 (01:20:52):
Fourth season for Sam Weish that they went to the
Super Bowl. I don't know if there's something to that
or not. Maybe that's something we'll look into. Yeah, I
don't know. It's good thought, it's fun thought. I want
to finish up the football in the Natti segment with

(01:21:13):
something I talked about earlier, there was this word coming
from Chris Collinsworth, the Bengals legend that Michael Jordan, the
six time NBA champion, the goat, the greatest basketball that's
ever played, basketball player that's ever played the game, was
a Cincinnati Bengals fan. And this was apparently told on

(01:21:36):
Ky Adams Show, and I've obtained the audio. Here is
Chris Collinsworth telling the story of Michael Jordans saying he's
a Bengals fan.

Speaker 37 (01:21:49):
Yes, So I was sitting there.

Speaker 20 (01:21:50):
He was great.

Speaker 37 (01:21:51):
So we're at NBC and we just played his golf course.
And so we're there and Michael was there, and all
the brass from NBC is, you know, literally begging him
to try and come work for NBC. So I went
up and just sat down. Well, another one of my
bosses came along. I won't say who, John, but he
came by and he was like, Chris, we've got a

(01:22:12):
table for you down here. And I was like, oh, okay,
you don't want me sit with my Okay, no problem.
So I get up and I walk down to the table.
As soon as I walked away, apparently Michael said to
the group, you know, I grew up a Bengals fan
back in that era and we used to watch them
all the time. So now my friend had to come
back and say, hey, we really want you to come

(01:22:32):
back here with Michael's I almost said, Nope, can't do it.
Yeah means sorry, not made, can't do it.

Speaker 2 (01:22:41):
A very Chris collins Worth like story. But how in
the hell did that happen? If I got to interview
Michael Jordan, that would be the first question, Why on
God's Green Earth did you grow up a Bengals fan?
How did that happen? And how are we just now
finding out about it? Lord knows, Michael was doing other

(01:23:01):
things in the nineties, so he thankfully probably didn't have
to watch some of those series or seasons that the
Bengals were going through in the last decade. But I
want to know everything about this because Jordan's at North
Carolina when the Bengals go to the super Bowl the
first time, he's in Chicago when they go to the

(01:23:21):
super Bowl the second time in the eighties. I mean Okay,
I mean they were good in the seventies. They went
to the playoffs a few times in the seventies when
Jordan would have been a kid. Okay, all right, Michael Jordan,
one of us. Let's go. This is since E thirty
sixty on esp AT fifteen to thirty.

Speaker 9 (01:23:41):
You've been listening to football in the NATI on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati BENGALSKISE.

Speaker 1 (01:23:54):
Sincinnati sixty continues on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (01:24:01):
I can't get over this. Michael Jordan, the greatest there is,
the greatest there was, the greatest there ever will be.
Cincinnati Bengals fan Mike Jordan, his airness, Michael Jeffrey Jordan. Wow,
Michael Jordan should be the rule of the jungle next week, or,

(01:24:22):
as our guy Ryan points out on Twitter, Michael Jordan
should be the rule of the jungle against the Chicago
Bears in two weeks. No excuses for this, Bengals. You
gotta know somebody that knows somebody that knows somebody. You
can get Mike Jordan the ruler of the jungle. And
then if we could collaborate with Jordan brand to get
some Bengals Jordan gear, I will be the first in line.

(01:24:45):
You can have my money. Whatever it is you can,
you can have it. This is the coolest thing ever.
I'm freaking out right now. This is me, by the way,
this is who I am. I love Michael Jordan and
this sort of stuff. I am enamored with Michael Jordan
being a Bengals fan.

Speaker 10 (01:25:03):
I want.

Speaker 2 (01:25:04):
I have so many questions. And that, by the way,
is like, if there's one guy I would want to
interview one person on planet Earth, it would be Michael Jordan.
And I know that's that's not a hot take by
any stretch of the imagination, but what a guy and
a crazy life.

Speaker 12 (01:25:23):
Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:25:23):
Anyways, can I update you a little bit on baseball
before we talked to Brooke Pryor here in a couple
of minutes. Last night, it was the Blue Jays all
over the Seattle Mariners in Seattle, thirteen to four, the
final score for Toronto. They still trail the Mariners by
a game, two games to one in the ALCS. Both

(01:25:44):
series in action tonight, six oh eight. First pitch will
be Brewers and Dodgers. The Dodgers lead that series two
games to none, and then at eight thirty three it
is Blue Jays Mariners from Seattle. Obviously, nobody in Cincinnati's
gonna be watching that because of the Bengals game. But
I was reading about the series between the Brewers and
the Dodgers, and sho Hey Otani is in the midst

(01:26:08):
of a slump right now. He took batting practice at
Dodger Stadium Tuesday for the first time since he became
a Dodger in twenty twenty two. How ridiculous is that
show's show? He's been there for three years. He never

(01:26:30):
took batting practice at Dodger Stadium until this NLCS. How
is that possible? That's got to be a typo, right,
But I read that from a source I trust. Since
the Wild Card Round, show Hey is two for twenty
five with twelve strikeouts. His RBI single in Game two

(01:26:50):
of the NLCS snapped a fifteen at bat hitless streak.
So sho Hey Otani actually is human and is struggling
right now, and UH could hopefully get back on track
coming up in this game against the Brewers. Other Major
League Baseball news, Albert Poolholse's name continues to circulate as
a potential manager across Major League Baseball. The Padres are

(01:27:13):
looking for a manager. The Angels, where pool Hols used
to play, have certainly expressed interest in that, and also
the Baltimore Orioles expressing interest in Albert pool Hols, which
I think is interesting, and I believe he is the
manager of one of the World Baseball Classic teams. Blanking
on which which country he's managing. It might be Puerto

(01:27:36):
Rico or Venezuela, not entirely sure, but that's that. And
then a shakeup to the Reds coaching staff. Jr. House,
the Reds third base coach and catching coordinator, is leaving
the Reds to join the Arizona Diamondbacks in the same role. Jr.
House said that it just became too much going back
and forth to Arizona. He lives in Arizona, he used

(01:27:58):
to play for the Diamondbacks. His family is there, and
so it was opportunity for him to go home and
to spend more time with his family. So because of that,
he is leaving the Reds, and so the Reds will
be in the market for a new catching coordinator and
a new third base coach, with Jr. House heading out
West All right, we'll take a break. We'll come back.
When we do, we'll talk to Brooke Pryor covering the

(01:28:21):
Steelers for ESPN. That's next right here on the Home
of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:28:27):
In eastco Subs since e three to sixty of bout
Cincinnati from Cincinnati, puntered in part by Pennstation East CoA 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 (01:28:49):
Hi, Hello, welcome in our number three of Cincy three
to sixty on this game day, Thursday night football at
paid Corpse Stadium tonight in a division run coming to town,
the Cincinnati Bengals hosting the dreaded Pittsburgh Steelers. And to
get the Steelers perspective on tonight's game, let's talk to
the person covering the Steelers for ESPN. Friend of the show,

(01:29:12):
been on many times, our friend, Brooke Pryor, joining us now, Brooke,
welcome back? How you doing?

Speaker 26 (01:29:18):
Are you?

Speaker 2 (01:29:18):
Do you get amped up on game day? Do reporters
get amped up?

Speaker 16 (01:29:22):
I get amped up, and then I have to remind
myself that, like the players, this is a long day,
especially your primetime game.

Speaker 13 (01:29:30):
Like it's bizarre for me to sleep.

Speaker 16 (01:29:32):
In until like nine am in the middle of the week,
but I have to remind myself, Okay, no, this is
a marathon and also kind of a sprint.

Speaker 13 (01:29:41):
So I've had one coffee today. I am positive I
will have many more.

Speaker 2 (01:29:47):
You and me both. I have to be on the
air until two thirty this morning, so I certainly know
the long, long game here. Okay, let's talk about the game.
When you think of this game Bengals Steelers, the first
matchup or the most important matchup on the field that
comes to mind as what.

Speaker 13 (01:30:06):
Ooh, that is a great question.

Speaker 16 (01:30:08):
I'm gonna go, oh man, because there are many important
match ups.

Speaker 13 (01:30:14):
I kind of think it might be Mike Tomlin versus
Joe Flacco.

Speaker 16 (01:30:17):
And I know that Mike Tomlin is not on the field,
but this week, the way that Mike Tomlin kind of
called out the Browns for trading Joe Flacco to me
put some extra heat on this matchup. Mike Tomlin knows
Joe Flacco very very well. He has faced him twenty
two times in the regular season and is eleven and

(01:30:38):
eleven against him. I believe Joe Flacco ten and eleven
when he's been a starter. The last time they faced
them was in Indy when he came in for an
injured Anthony Richardson, and Mike Tomlin and deeven sub coordinator
Tarrell Austin both said this week that when they were
preparing for that Indianapolis game that they did not want
to see Joe Flacco. They were so clear about that,

(01:31:00):
and he came in and we saw why they did
not want to see him through two touchdowns, almost two
hundred pass in the yards, just a really calm, veteran presence,
still has a big arm despite being forty years old.

Speaker 13 (01:31:12):
So I think that's that's what I'm going to be watching.

Speaker 16 (01:31:15):
I guess the better you distillation of that is the
Steelers defense against Joe Flacco. But Mike Tomlin is the
architect of the defense, so I think it comes down
to Mike Tomlin versus Joe Flacco in this one.

Speaker 2 (01:31:27):
I was glad that Tomlin said what he said number one,
because I felt like the game could use a little
bit of juice. And number two, I think the division
in and of itself needs a little bit of juice.
What have you learned? Like, where did that come from?
Was it strictly I don't want to face Joe Flacco.
Was it a shot at the Browns? Is there something
there because it kind of seemed out of left field.

Speaker 16 (01:31:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 13 (01:31:47):
I do think it's a little bit of both.

Speaker 16 (01:31:49):
I think that there is some frustration with how the
Browns are doing business that they helped out an inter division.

Speaker 13 (01:31:55):
Team at the most crucial position.

Speaker 16 (01:31:59):
I think that it also is just a reflection of
how he views football and how he views you know,
gms and things like that.

Speaker 13 (01:32:07):
Like he's not a map guy.

Speaker 16 (01:32:08):
So where Interberry sees that he got an advantage in
the pick swap and was able to get something in
return for Joe Flacco, Mike Tomlin looks at that and thinks, Okay,
but you're hurting yourself this year and you were helping
another team in this division this year. Mike Tomlin is
not a plan for the future type of head coach.
He is worried about the here and now. I mean

(01:32:30):
he said it himself a couple of weeks ago. He's
not a big picture guy. So I think that's just
a difference in philosophies, and I think there's something to
be said for if you look at how Jake Browning
was playing, he would probably rather fake Jake Browning than
Joe Flacco for the trilliance time. So I think that
now he sees a veteran quarterback who is pretty good
at getting Jamar Chase and t Higgins the ball last

(01:32:52):
week in his first start, So I think it's.

Speaker 13 (01:32:55):
A little bit of both.

Speaker 2 (01:32:56):
Yeah, it's not hard to see why the Bengals didn't
want Jake Browning playing anymore and why anybody else would have.
Let's go to that matchup. Though. The Steelers defense they've
been fine. I don't know that anyone would say they've
been great. What's your assessment of the defense for Pittsburgh
to this point and how do you expect them to
attack Joe Flacco tonight?

Speaker 16 (01:33:17):
You know, I do think that they've been a lot
better in the last two weeks, last three weeks, kind
of starting with that Patriots game where they forcibly five turnovers.
They didn't necessarily completely limit Drake may but that was
kind of the starting point for this defense at the
turning point, and then last week against the Browns, is
actually the first time all season that all of their

(01:33:38):
starters have been healthy and playing, or at least healthy
enough to play. And I think that that's where you saw,
you know, Jayalen Ramsey coming in on the blitz and
having those two stacks, the pass rush looks better. The
secondary as a whole was really well, was playing really well.
I think that that was just the defense playing in
concert with each other, and that's what they've been looking
for all season and that is what they did not

(01:34:00):
have in the first two weeks of the season, where
it really looks like the stefense could be a train wreck.
But I think that is a combination of health and
also comfortability and health at the most important position, specifically
looking at Deshaun Elliott coming back and playing, because he's
a huge communicator in the secondary and plays with a

(01:34:20):
fearlessness and a recklessness that is so good.

Speaker 13 (01:34:23):
For the Steelers.

Speaker 16 (01:34:24):
Maybe not great long term for his body or the
opposing team, but he's he's great in coverage, he's great
as a run stopper, great tackler.

Speaker 13 (01:34:33):
But he is a little bit of a question mark.

Speaker 16 (01:34:35):
For this game because he has looked as questionable for
personal reasons. I understand there's a family situation going on,
and he did not travel with the team yesterday, so
that is a really important position to keep an eye on.
But I think the Steelers plan is going to be
to try to make Joe Flacco as uncomfortable as possible.

Speaker 13 (01:34:54):
I think that you know, look for for TJ. Watt
and Nick Herbig.

Speaker 16 (01:34:58):
And Alex Tismith, looks for that free linebacker package. They
really liked the flowing that last week when Alex Heismith
was finally healthy. But I think the key here is
going to be to really try to overwhelm Joe Flacco
early and get his rill and make some of those
passes a little bit more impossible because they're not giving
him much time to throw and lets those plays develop.

Speaker 2 (01:35:18):
Talking to Brooke Pryor covering the Pittsburgh Steelers for ESPN
ahead of tonight's game, let's go from one forty year
old quarterback to another. How would you assess the play
of Aaron Rodgers to this point for the Steelers offense?

Speaker 16 (01:35:32):
You know, it's kind of similar to the defense, although
I don't think that he started off at quite a
bad spot is the defense early on? But I do
think that the Aaron Rodgers is coming around and playing better.
I think that last week against the Browns was the
best game that he's played this season and in a while,
and he said himself that he felt better, he felt
more mobile. A lot of that he gave credit to

(01:35:54):
working with his bodywork guru over the bye week.

Speaker 13 (01:35:58):
And you know, staying lose and things like that. And
you could see that in the brown game he was
on the move a.

Speaker 16 (01:36:04):
Little bit more. He was making some of those signature
Aaron Rodgers throws back across his body. I mean the
touchdown to Connor Hayward is a big one that I
think about on the scramble drill that he just wasn't
doing things like that early in the season. But I
think that you're seeing a conquerability with him in this offense,
and I think that, you know, his body so far

(01:36:24):
is holding up pretty well. I also think the emergence
of Darnell Washington and how they are using him both
as an extra blocker and then also as this just
mismatch receiving threat has been really big for Aaron Rodgers
and for this offense. I think that the Darnell Washington
emergence is one of the most fun things to see

(01:36:46):
in this offense because he just doesn't make sense.

Speaker 13 (01:36:49):
He is a unicorn of a player. I mean, I
think it was.

Speaker 16 (01:36:52):
Arthur Smith said this week that when he's watching film,
he thinks that Darnell Washington is bigger than Troy Faton
and Roder Jones. They're two tackles, and yet he can
get out.

Speaker 13 (01:37:03):
In space and catch the ball and make things happen
on the run, and it just it doesn't.

Speaker 16 (01:37:11):
You just can't comprehend how physics make that work. And
yet he, I think has been a really a really
good thing for this offense and Aaron Rodgers. So I
think that that the offense is a sending at this
point when it.

Speaker 2 (01:37:26):
Comes to running the ball. Pittsburgh twenty ninths in the
NFL and rush yards per game. Why hasn't that worked?

Speaker 10 (01:37:35):
You know?

Speaker 13 (01:37:35):
I think a lot of it is the offensive line.

Speaker 16 (01:37:38):
The guard play has been a little subpar. Isaac Samalo,
the veteran, just has not really done a great job
this season. He's been pretty mediocre. I do think that
the last two weeks again, there's been an uptick in
their production. Can it gaine well against the Vikings in Ireland?
And then Kalen Warren coming back last week. I think
that they're starting to move out in space, and a

(01:37:59):
big key to that is not only adding Darnell Washington
as an extra blocker, but also guard Spencer Anderson adding
him as an extra alignment. So they're they're going into
these like jumbo and super jumbo packages and really opening
things up. But I think early on they just weren't
getting enough space, weren't getting enough push. But I think
that they're also starting.

Speaker 12 (01:38:19):
To get there.

Speaker 2 (01:38:20):
Calvin Austin not going to be able to play tonight,
how is that going to change the Steelers offensive plan
without him on the field.

Speaker 16 (01:38:29):
Yeah, I mean, I think that he takes away a
deep threat option. He's just he's been really good, you know,
as a guy that has a lot of speed on
the outside. He's built like a slot receiver, but he
plays all over the field, and I think that he does.
When you don't have him, you do lose one of
those deep threats. But I would kind of look to

(01:38:50):
Scottie Miller to replace some of that, at least a
snap count, not necessarily the production.

Speaker 12 (01:38:55):
You also lose a.

Speaker 16 (01:38:56):
Guy that it sounds again like a mismatch and it is.
It doesn't make any sense on paper, but he's been
really good at downfield blocking. He was one of the
reasons that DK Metcalf was able to score that eighty
one yard catch and run touchdown in Ireland. Calvinopson was
down there out in front of him blocking his past
to the end zone and kind of threw that last
crucial block to get him across the goal line, which

(01:39:19):
again is crazy because Calvin Nottson is so much smaller
than DK.

Speaker 13 (01:39:23):
Metcalf, but it just works.

Speaker 2 (01:39:25):
So that's what you lose, and you don't have him
on the field wrapping things up here with Brooke Pryor
covering the Steelers for ESPN. Do fans in Pittsburgh get
the vibe that this is supposed to be an easy
win for the Steelers tonight? Is there a lot of
confidence going into this game?

Speaker 26 (01:39:41):
You know?

Speaker 16 (01:39:41):
I think there would be if Mike Tomlin wasn't zero
to six in Thursday night divisional games on the road.
I think that that kind of gives Steelers fans some pause,
and they have watched a lot of inexplicable Thursday night losses,
whether at home or on the road. Mike Tomlin is
not great on a short week, especially on the road.

(01:40:02):
So I think that, you know, again, on paper, the
Steelers should be an overwhelming favorite, but weirder things that happened.
I don't think this is going to be a blowout.
Although I am generally pretty pessimistic about the Steelers until
I see it. I'm very much a see to believe
kind of person, even when you know, all signs kind

(01:40:22):
of point to this should be a big it should
be a pretty significant win because they have so many advantages,
but there's.

Speaker 13 (01:40:29):
Just some intangibles that I don't know.

Speaker 16 (01:40:31):
Again, the Thursday night, I think Deshaun Elliott, yeah, status
being somewhat in question.

Speaker 13 (01:40:38):
And also even though Jalen Rams.

Speaker 16 (01:40:40):
Did play incredibly well on Sunday, coming off that hamstring injury,
he really pushed to return, He's now having to turn
that around on a short week. He's an older player.
I think that he's going He's going to play, but
I'm interested to see how his hamstring has responded on
just a.

Speaker 12 (01:40:57):
Couple of days rest.

Speaker 2 (01:40:58):
Yeah, that's a good point and certainly something to keep
an eye out for. Brook. Thank you so much for
your time today. No, it's a busy day for you.
Where can people follow along with your coverage going into
Thursday Night football tonight.

Speaker 16 (01:41:10):
It will be on Twitter or x at Vee Pryor
also on ESPN dot com. And I've got a story
up right now about John new Smith, one of the
Steelers tight ends, and his brother who will be getting
to watch him on Thursday Night football on the local
broadcast in Pittsburgh from the prison where he's incarcerated forty
five miles outside of Pittsburgh, and about how John hu

(01:41:31):
has worked to get his brothers sat introduced. He's now
being released next year, and just last week John who
took a group of Steelers to the prison to do
some prison outreach. So it's a pretty cool story. So
definitely check that out.

Speaker 2 (01:41:43):
That's interesting. Thanks so much, Brooke, really appreciate.

Speaker 13 (01:41:45):
It absolutely Thanks for having me.

Speaker 2 (01:41:48):
That is Brooke Pryor from ESPN covering the Pittsburgh Steelers.
So I'll have to check out that story about the
John new Smith. I didn't know about that, but yeah,
I thought that point that she made at the very
end is interesting. I had heard a little bit of
conversation about this at the beginning of the week, but
didn't really hear much about it otherwise, and that was
that the hamstring injury that Jalen Ramsey was dealing with

(01:42:09):
didn't get as tested as much against Cleveland because of
the way that they won was on a bit of
a pitch count. And then you turn it right back
around for a short week game in Cincinnati, and there's
a history between the Bengals wide receivers in Jalen Ramsey.
You may remember Super Bowl fifty six. Moe and I
talked about it yesterday. T Higgins and Jalen Ramsey going

(01:42:30):
at it, Jamar Chase and Jalen Ramsey going at it.
And part of the reason why the Steelers are built
the way that they are built is to defend T
Higgins and Jamar Chase, whether that's with Joe Burrow or
without Joe Burrow. So to me, yes, the matchup of
Tomlin versus Flacco, like brook outline, Yes, really important, really interesting,

(01:42:51):
especially considering Tomlin's history on Thursday nights. But also the
only life that the Bengals had Sunday was when Joe
Flacco said, fitt Jamar down there somewhere, or I'm throwing
this ball to T Higgins and see what happens. That
is in a way the lifeblood of the offense. Without
Joe Burrow there and with no run game whatsoever, that

(01:43:14):
matchup is really interesting, especially if for whatever reason Ramsey
would have to leave the game, or if Ramsey is
on a pitch count. Can the Bengals identify that and
take advantage of whatever weakness? And the other part there,
Deshaun Elliott is he gonna play? Not traveling with the
team yesterday. I haven't heard anything later any news lately

(01:43:36):
about what might happen with him. That would be a
huge loss for them, And all of a sudden you
feel better about, if nothing else, the Bengals at least
being able to keep up with the Pittsburgh Steelers on offense,
and especially if Trey Hendrickson's not going to be able
to go. Can you keep putting points on the board.
Can you score a little bit? Can you put the
pressure back on that Steelers offense and allow your crowd

(01:44:01):
to get into the game, allow that to have an
effect on third downs and in communication, all of that.
These are the things that the Bengals got to be
ey in to use everything you possibly can to your
advantage for tonight's game. All Right, we'll take a break,
We'll come back outur three of Sincy three to sixty.
Roll it right along on this game day, Our three

(01:44:21):
brought to you by Penn Station on the Home of
the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty. Now your chance to win up.

Speaker 9 (01:44:28):
This is Football in the NATI, brought to you in
part by Postman Law and by Skyline Chilly on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:44:42):
Well, we have some not so good news to report.
You heard at the top of the show at twelve
o'clock Ian Rappaport reporting that Trey Henderson would be a
long shot to be able to play tonight. Well, Jeremy
Fowler of ESPN has confirmed it. He is reporting Trey

(01:45:05):
Hendrickson will not be able to play tonight. He wanted to,
He tried, but too tough on the short turnaround. Hopeful
for next week. So the Bengals will be without They're
all pro defensive end Trey Hendrickson. Not that much of
a surprise, but we're hoping we'd at least have a
chance or see how he would feel in pregame warmups.

(01:45:27):
But the Bengals are going to be without Trey tonight
on the flip side, just talking to Brooke Pryor about
the Shawn Elliott. While that was happening, Deshaun Elliott arrived
in Cincinnati and the Steelers announced that he will play tonight.
He will not have a designation going into Tonight's game.
So the Bengals lose their best defensive player, the Steelers

(01:45:47):
gain one of their best defensive players ahead of tonight's
kickoff at pay Court Stadium. That obviously stinks, and you know,
it's unfortunate. Trey, to my knowledge, I believe, had started
forty two consecutive games, or at least played in forty
two consecutive games, and had become a durable and obviously

(01:46:10):
extremely productive piece of the Bengals defense. And when he's
not in the game, it's ugly. You saw it in
the second half against Green Bay. Joseph Osai couldn't show up.
Camp Sample couldn't show up, Miles Murphy couldn't show up.
Those guys just don't get anywhere near the same amount
of pressure or disruption in the offensive line that we

(01:46:34):
are used to seeing and have become accustomed to seeing
with Trey, and so without him, it's a really it's
even more of an uphill battle.

Speaker 12 (01:46:43):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:46:43):
Pittsburgh's offense is not, you know, the greatest offense of
all time. It's not the greatest show on turf. But
they're good, and they're good after the catch, and they've
got an all Pro Hall of Fame quarterback leading them
who's starting to get a little bit more comfortable in
the offense as things go along. And I would expect
that Pittsburgh looks at this week and says, Okay, this

(01:47:04):
is a week for us to get our run game going.
We'll try to control the clock. We'll take some deep
shots down the field because we feel like we can
expose those defensive backs and safeties of the Bengals. And
also we're missing a wide receiver. There's a lot of
different ways that the Steelers can go. They also love
to deploy multiple tight ends more than just about anybody

(01:47:24):
in the NFL. That's an Arthur Smith staple. I would
expect them to go a lot of tight end sets
and especially attack the edge that Trey Henderson is no
longer going to be. They're not, like Trey is an
elite run defender to begin with, but they're going to
be running away or either right at Shamar Stewart into
the teeth of that Bengals defense to try to get
their run game going. And on the backside, it makes

(01:47:47):
Joe Flacco's job a lot more difficult when Deshaun Elliott
is on the field, makes things more difficult for Tea
and Jamar as well. So so far as we reach
the just under six hours until kickoff mark, things not
going well for the Bengals with the injury front Trey
Hendrickson not playing tonight. According to Jeremy Fowler of ESPN,

(01:48:12):
normally on Thursdays, back when we still had Tony, we
would do read and react, where I would try my
best to get our insights from our friends at NFL
Pro and the good folks at Next Gen Stats and
use some of those insights to kind of paint the
picture of the game tonight. So I want to read

(01:48:34):
a couple of those for you, and we'll get to
a Flacco and Rogers comparison. But I haven't said the
name TJ. Watt at all today, which is a little
bit surprising because the conversation with the Steelers used to
start with TJ. Watt and he is still productive and
still a beast but you just haven't heard his name

(01:48:55):
as much. And this is from next Gen stats. TJ.
Watt has faced a league high sixty eight chip blocks
on one hundred and sixty two pass rushes this season,
so forty two percent of his pass rushes he's been chipped.
That's eighteen more chips than the next closest defender. Despite

(01:49:16):
the added attention, he's recorded eight pressures, most in the
NFL and two sacks, tied for the most when he's
chip blocked. That dude is a beast. What has seen
his chiplock chip block rate climb every year of his career,
from just nine and a half percent and twenty eighteen

(01:49:38):
to twenty eight point two percent last year, and since
twenty eighteen, he's encountered six hundred and fifteen chip blocks.
He's the only defender with more than five hundred over
that span. Meanwhile, the Bengals have chipped opposing pass rushers
eighty four times this season, the eighth most in the NFL.

(01:49:58):
I would expect to see samajp Ryan throwing some chip
blocks at TJ Watt this season or tonight. Another note
on the Bengals offense, despite facing just six point one
defenders in the box per play, which is the second
lowest or second fewest, and a light box sixty nine

(01:50:21):
percent of downs. The Bengals have rushed for only zero
point three yards before contact per carry, that's the second fewest,
and have had their running back hit before reaching the
line of scrimmage on forty eight point one percent of
their carries. That's the third highest in the NFL. That's
amazing like that, that's hard to fathom that you are

(01:50:44):
that bad and you face a light box on sixty
nine percent of the downs that you have the football.
I mean, that is unbelievable. Looking ahead to this, try
to get after Aaron Rodgers scenario that the Bengals now
faced without Trey Hendrickson. Aaron Rodgers has averaged a time
to throw of two point five to seven seconds this season.

(01:51:08):
That's the second quickest in the NFL and the quickest
in a season since at least two point since at
least twenty sixteen. So Aaron Rodgers is getting the ball
out of his hands quickly. His quick throw. His quick
time to throw has led him to being pressured on

(01:51:28):
just twenty eight and a half percent of his dropbacks
this season, which is the fifth lowest in the NFL.
On passes under two and a half seconds, Rodgers has
completed eighty one percent of his attempts, that's the sixth
highest in the league, and averaged eight point two yards
per attempt, second most. Meanwhile, the Bengals defense has allowed
a league high seven point seven yards per attempt on

(01:51:50):
quick passes this season, including eight touchdowns, which is the
second most. All of this, if it's going the Bengals direction.
None of it, None of it is going the Bengals direction.
Take a break, we'll come back. Let's talk a little
bit about the Unk Bowl, the Icy Hot Bowl, Joe Flacco,

(01:52:13):
Aaron Rodgers tonight at pay Corp Stadium. Our three brought
to you by Penn Station on the home of the Bengals,
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (01:52:21):
You've been listening to football in the NATI Brought to
you by Cincinnati Tax Resolution powered by Tofe Sheldon on
ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:52:34):
Hey, It's small Wagon, fifteen thirty. Welcome back since e
three to sixty. ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Austin Elmore. In
case you missed the news, Trey Hendrickson, according to Jeremy Fowler,
not playing tonight against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Meanwhile, Deshaun Elliott,

(01:53:01):
the Steeler safety who had missed practice and travel yesterday
due to a family issue, has arrived in Cincinnati and
will play tonight against the Bengals. On the back end
of that Pittsburgh secondary The storyline tonight, though, is the
fact that you've got two forty something year old quarterbacks,
Aaron Rodgers and Joe Flacco going at it. Flacco has

(01:53:24):
thrown a touchdown pass to sixty seven different receivers that
is the fifth most in NFL history. Rogers has thrown
a touchdown pass to sixty different receivers, the tenth most
in NFL history. Now, despite the fact that these two
have been in the league together for a long time,

(01:53:45):
they've only faced each other three times, and in those
three games, their total statistics are not very good. It's
kind of surreal. So Rogers in three games against Flacco
led teams is sixty for one oh one, that's just
fifty nine percent completion percentage and thrown five touchdowns in

(01:54:07):
three interceptions. While Joe Flacco against Aaron Rodgers led teams
is fifty five for ninety nine. That's fifty five percent
of his passes, three touchdowns, and four interceptions. That's kind
of weird, right, two guys that were pretty good quarterbacks. Obviously,
Aaron's a Hall of Famer for as long as they
have played. Not playing well when they play each other,

(01:54:31):
that's kind of surreal. Check out the career comparison. Rogers
has played in two hundred and fifty three games and
has sixty three thousand, nine hundred and seventy three passing yards,
five hundred and thirteen touchdown passes, and one hundred and
nineteen interceptions. Flacco has played in two hundred and one games,

(01:54:52):
with forty six thousand, seven hundred and thirty one passing yards,
two hundred and sixty one touchdowns, one hundred sixty eight interceptions.
All together, they have combined for four hundred and fifty
four NFL games and over one hundred and ten thousand
passing yards, seven hundred and seventy four touchdowns, and two

(01:55:15):
hundred and eighty seven interceptions. That's like sixty miles worth
of passing yards. That's unbelievable. Uh, And it is kind
of cool that those two guys are going at it
tonight against each other on Thursday Night. Football kind of
talked earlier about the Steelers' schedule, and I'm not entirely sure,

(01:55:37):
you know, are the Steelers that good, Like, yeah, they're
good enough to win this game, but when you look
at their schedule, I think it's fair to be a
little bit confused, a little bit cautious in terms of
jumping all over them. They won Week one in a

(01:55:57):
shootout against the Jets thirty four to five thirty two,
which no defense was played at all, and you could
make the argument that the Jets should have won that game.
And then in Week two and the best team that
they faced, Seattle, came into Pittsburgh and whooped them thirty
to one to seventeen. That's their only loss. They then
played New England at New England and forced five turnovers

(01:56:21):
of Drake May. Some of them were some real brain
dead operational stuff by Drake May. But they turned the
ball over five times, did the Patriots. And still, even
though they turned the ball over five times, the Patriots
only lost to the Steelers by seven points, so that's

(01:56:41):
a little bit strange. Then they go to Dublin to
play Minnesota in the International Series game in Ireland, and
Mike Tomlin did everything in his power to lose that game.
They allowed Minnesota to hang in there and hang in
there and hang in there with Carson Wentz by the way,
and they won that game Pittsburgh twenty four to twenty one,

(01:57:03):
a very thin margin of error there. And then last
week against Cleveland in Pittsburgh, they beat them twenty three
to nine in a game where Pittsburgh I think was
just a better team and DK Metcalf had another good
game in that one. So I'd look at that and
I'm like, Okay, how many really good teams have the
Steelers played. I think Seattle's a good team. I think

(01:57:26):
New England's a good team. I don't know that either
one of those two teams are really good. I also
wouldn't say the Bengals are really good. I just I
don't know anybody that would say that. But I might
look at the Steelers four in one record and say, Okay,
maybe that's a little bit misleading, maybe that's not entirely

(01:57:46):
who they are. And you talk about this being a
gateway game or a pivotal, pivotal game for the Bengals,
It's also a big game for Pittsburgh because after they
play Cincinnati, they're home against Green Bay, home against Indianapolis,
at the Chargers, home against the Bengals, at the Bears,
home against the Bills. That's a tough stretch right there.

(01:58:09):
I mean, obviously the Bengals are in there twice, but
you play Buffalo, the Chargers, the Colts, the Packers, all
those teams expected to be playoff teams. So this is
a game where they can get a little bit of
a cushion, a little bit of a breathing room or
a little bit of a breathing room, and a chance
really to set themselves up nicely in the AFC North.

(01:58:31):
So I think they understand the importance of that as well.
Talking about Rogers specifically his stats on the season, they're fine.
He's thrown for one twenty one yards, He's completing sixty
eight percent of his passes, has ten touchdowns and three interceptions,
and that's a Rogers staple. He takes care of the football,
has got the greatest touchdown interception ratio of any quarterback

(01:58:53):
who's ever played the game. DK Metcalf has nineteen catches
for three hundred and fifty yards and four touchdown to
lead them. No other receiver has more than one hundred
and fifty more than one hundred and forty yards. Their
next leading receiver is actually their running back Jalen Warren,
who has three hundred and fifty or one hundred and
fifty three yards, which is kind of crazy to think about.

(01:59:16):
Nick Herbig is their leader in sacks. He's got four
and a half. The TJ Watt has three and a half.
Derek Harmon, the rookie d tackle a lot of Bengals
fans won and out of Oregon, he has two. And
how about Jalen Ramsey, the cornerback we talked about earlier.
He had two sacks last week. So Pittsburgh got a
little exotic. With former Bengals defensive coordinator Terrell Austin calling

(01:59:37):
their defense, Jalen Ramsey dialed up a sack or two.
All right, we'll take a break, we'll come back. We
don't have mo today because Moe and Lance and Rocky
have pregame sports talk from Holy Grail that'll be on
this station and on seven hundred WLW, So they are
getting ready for that down at the Holy Grail. When
we come back, we'll take a phone call and wrap

(01:59:58):
things up. This is since he three to sixty on
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (02:00:02):
See three sixty continues on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station.
It's time for Sincy three sixty quick hits on ESPN
fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (02:00:13):
I was looking for Mo. Well, Mos not here. He's
getting set for the broadcast with Lance and Rocky for
pregame sports talk at the Holy Grail. So that'll be
coming up next from three until six thirty. Then we'll
turn things over to Wayne box Miller and the Bengals
for Bengals Steelers, and then I will be right back
here from twelve thirty am to two thirty am Friday

(02:00:35):
morning with full postgame coverage on the Tri State Chevy
Dealers postgame Sports Talk Show. And I invite you to
join me into the wee hours, especially if you're on
your way back home from the game. We've got time
for a phone call before we wrap things up. Let's
talk to our guy Mike in La. What up, Mike,
my brother?

Speaker 12 (02:00:54):
What's not a whole lot?

Speaker 9 (02:00:56):
Good?

Speaker 12 (02:00:56):
Thank you in the neighborhood. Yeah, you get a long
one going.

Speaker 5 (02:01:00):
Would either go.

Speaker 12 (02:01:01):
Home and take a nap or his. I don't take naps.

Speaker 2 (02:01:03):
Well view, I don't normally. I'd always try to sleep
in as late as I can today, so I did.
I need to get some laundry done, but I am
going to try to sneak in a nap.

Speaker 12 (02:01:16):
Yeah probably. Well, the older you get, the more critical
naps are. But I still can't seem to do it.
I'm just too wired, too tight. Yeah, psychological fans. I'd
like to quickly say hi to my old friend Jeff
from Virginia and my new friend Joe from Boston. And
I got a quick one for you.

Speaker 2 (02:01:34):
If Mike Mike his name is. His name is John,
John from Boston.

Speaker 12 (02:01:39):
I meant John, I said, Joe, Yeah, typical. Sorry John.
I was on my way once. It is a quickie.
I was on my way to Queen's one time years ago,
and I ended up going through an area called the
combat Zone in Boston and got robbed for three hundred
and twenty three dollars.

Speaker 2 (02:01:58):
Oh my god.

Speaker 12 (02:02:00):
So don't Joe or John tell us about the combat
zone next time if it's still there. I know we're
talking football today appropriately, but uh, you know, we got
a big game tonight with the Dodgers and the Brewer.
I do not know how in the hell Milwaukee won
ninety seven games with that pitching staffe. I don't understand it.

Speaker 2 (02:02:25):
Yeah, and they did it, did it without their their
best group really for the most part. And they've been
kind of patchworking it up like the Dodgers for a while.

Speaker 12 (02:02:34):
Yeah. But what happened with the Dodgers was glass Now
was out good portion of the year, Snell was out
a good portion of the year, Yamamoto was that. So
these guys are kind of fresh, oddly enough. So tonight
we've got glass now where three point one nine going
against Alan Ashby. He's a lefty. But anyway, I think,

(02:02:56):
uh again, I don't know how the Brewers won that
many games. I just don't get it.

Speaker 2 (02:03:02):
Yeah, I'm right there with you. And it feels like
maybe the Dodgers are hitting their stride a little bit
as well.

Speaker 12 (02:03:09):
You just wonder if some of these teams, and I'm
sure it happens in baseball, like in pulling football too,
but especially in baseball with that long season, guy starts
probably in all of this and late July they start
getting a little burnout, and you wonder about their apport
level and stuff like that because they're you know, they're
tired of doing it every day, probably right.

Speaker 2 (02:03:32):
Yeah, I'm sure they are. I mean this is the
grind man like, and I think there's like a certain
level of juice and like excitement that comes with being
in the playoffs that makes it easy with the adrenaline.
But at the same time, your body is just exhausted.

Speaker 12 (02:03:52):
And Aaron Rodgers scares me tonight. Those numbers you gave
on Aaron Rodgers for his age are remarkable, ass and
they're remarkable.

Speaker 2 (02:04:01):
Yeah, he's just a monster. I'm afraid. I'm afraid of
every quarterback that plays the Bengals. I've learned that lesson
too many times. It doesn't really matter who it is
they can torture.

Speaker 12 (02:04:17):
Do they have any good why I haven't kept up
with the Steward they have any good whiteouts at all?

Speaker 20 (02:04:22):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (02:04:22):
They have DK Metcalf. They traded for him, uh this
offseason from Seattle. Yeah, he's having a good season.

Speaker 12 (02:04:29):
But that's the only one right of any notoriety.

Speaker 2 (02:04:31):
Yeah, because they traded George Pickens to the Cowboys and
Calvin Austin is hurt tonight. So yeah, that's the main one.

Speaker 12 (02:04:38):
So what's what's the key? I know you've probably said
it during the show and I was having a procedure
and I missed it. What's your synopsis of how the
Bengals can win the game tonight? That all hang out.

Speaker 2 (02:04:50):
I kind of feel like it has to be a
track meet. I don't trust the defense, and especially don't
trust the defense without Trey Hendrickson. So as far as
I'm concerned, it's can you keep up with Aaron Rodgers?
And that that ultimately is going to be the thing
with me. And obviously I keep harping on them being
able to run the ball. I don't know if that's
gonna change Pittsburgh's league average right in the middle when

(02:05:13):
it comes to defending the run. But for me, it's
can you keep up with Aaron Rodgers?

Speaker 12 (02:05:19):
Have they lost they Have the Bengals lost faith in
Chase Brown? Or is it strictly because the offense line
just isn't good enough?

Speaker 2 (02:05:26):
I think it's I think it's that the offensive line
isn't good enough to be honest.

Speaker 12 (02:05:31):
Okay, thank you all, Austin. Try to enjoy yourself.

Speaker 2 (02:05:34):
Thank you, Mike. I appreciate it. I will good to
hear your voice. That's our guy Mike in La. Yeah.
I'm on twelve thirty to two thirty early Friday morning
after the game for the Tri State Chevy Dealers postgame
sports talk show. Coming up on tomorrow's show, as far
as I know, business as usual, talk to Charlie Goldsmith
at one pm. We'll check in a little FC Cincinnati

(02:05:55):
with Tommy g as well, and of course full reaction
to what happened tonight at pay Corpse Stadium between the
Bengals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. We'll also look ahead a
little bit to the college football slate. We haven't gotten
too much into the Bearcats this week, but I've been
saving it for Friday. Scott Centerfield met earlier this week.

(02:06:18):
We've got the availability reports for their game against Oklahoma States.
Bearcats are heavy favorites in that game. I think the
expectation is for UC to go out to Stillwater and
roll up against Oklahoma State. So that's my expectation at least,
and this weekend there's a little bit of Bearcat basketball

(02:06:38):
as well. Wes Miller and the Cats looking to go
up to Michigan to play the Wolverines. I know Xavier
has a scrimmage this weekend as well. And yeah, so
this is getting to that time of the year where
things start happening and it kind of all happens at
once because they're coming back from the international break shortly

(02:06:58):
for soccer. And yeah, one last thing I want to
leave you with before I go. I saw this from
Nick Mangold, the former New York Jets Center and Ohio
State legend. He posted in on his Twitter page that
in two thousand and six he was diagnosed with a
genetic defect that has led to chronic kidney disease and

(02:07:23):
after a rough summer he was undergoing dialysis and looking
for a kidney transplant. He thought he had more time,
but it has deteriorated. And if you go to his
Twitter page at Nick Mangold nick m A N Gold,
he posted out there that he's looking for someone with

(02:07:46):
type O blood who might be willing to be a
kidney donor. He posts the link how you can check
if you're interested. And yeah, I mean Nick Mangold is
an absolute legend. He's a Jets Ring of Honor member,
He's an All American at All State first team, all
good guy. And if you know anyone that could help,
or if you're interested in helping. I retweeted it as

(02:08:06):
well at audio More. Definitely a tough, tough story there
for uh Nick Mangold and wish him all the best.
All Right, that does it for today. Thank you so
much for listening. If you missed anything, you can find
it all on the iHeartRadio app Just search ESPN fifteen thirty.
Search since e three sixty. Everything's up there. Interview with

(02:08:27):
Brooke Pryor, Today's talkbacks, talking with John Sheeran, the full
show from yesterday, everything We'll be up there on the
iHeartRadio app. Just search, ESPN fifteen thirty. That's also how
you can leave me a talkback. Thanks again for listening.
Lance McCallister, Rocky Boyman, mo Egger. They are all next

(02:08:48):
right here on the Home of the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN
fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (02:08:56):
Kwise Cincinnati, make us the number one pre set on
your car radio and on free Knew and Improved iHeartRadio App.
Free never sounded so good, ESPN, fifteen thirty