Cincy 360 Hour 3 -- 10/1/25

Tony and Austin react to Zac Taylor, talk with Mo Egger, and more on ESPN 1530!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnatis, spuntered in part by
Penn Station East Coast Subs, handcrafted hot grilled subs, fresh
cut fries, and lemonade. It's all about good taste. Penn
Station East Coast Subs. Order online today. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
All right, welcome back, Penn Station, our number three, ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Speaking of Penn Station, Austin,
I went in earlier today. I walked right across the
street here to get Penn Station. Yeah, I didn't know that.
There's a group of gentlemen, all retired that gather on

(00:43):
Wednesdays at Penn Station to eat and play cards. Oh really,
and they they play I do ask. I think they
have a little yuker going on. Okay, they're so nice,
professional about it. They bring pads to put on their seats. Oh,
because they know they're gonna be there. They're gonna be
there a lot nice. Got to go see what the
Mega cheese steak was about today? What cheese The mega

(01:05):
cheese steak, Mega yep more steak. You said, Mega mega
Mega cheese steaks. Okay, gotcha At Penn station, and I
got you talked to the station. Now they they all
listened to the show, so shout out to them if
they're listening right now.

Speaker 3 (01:20):
I don't there still playing. Uh no, oh no. There
was just a big group of them, just group of men.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
It was. It was a group of them and they seven,
Oh my gosh, and they they they all came up
in like a pack. It was a pack of wolves.

Speaker 4 (01:37):
And uh.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
They said that they listened to the show, So shout
out to them. And I hoped their Penn station and
their card game went well. Penn Station went well as well.
You didn't bring me anything back. No, that was kind
of a little bit rude. No, No, I should. I
should find a way to maybe make some of that happen.

Speaker 5 (01:55):
This.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
I've only seen one quote from this press conference, and
it was the quote I did not want to read.
So here for your listening enjoyment is Zach Taylor's press conference,
which happened at the beginning of one o'clock.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
Yeah, about an hour ago, all right, And it starts
with with Zach being asked about any injury updates following
the Monday night game.

Speaker 6 (02:19):
I think overall, we came out pretty clean and so
we'll just we'll manage your day to day. But I
didn't come away thinking we're going to be losing anybody
after last game, So feel good about it.

Speaker 7 (02:29):
Can't tell at limited and his availability on No.

Speaker 6 (02:32):
I mean, he dealt with a hamstring early last week,
but I thought he fell through everything. Okay, we got
some corners we can rely on, so we're not afraid
to rotate this guest through.

Speaker 7 (02:43):
Was that just performancing?

Speaker 6 (02:45):
That that you were just always trying to find find
the guys that are performing the best in the moment,
and I feel like we have some good options. There
has a chance, we'll see, we'll manage through the week.
But he's progressing along. We'll see if he can go
this week. I couldn't give a great answer on that
one right now. Uh No, he won't practice to day.

Speaker 7 (03:05):
Joyer is that Charlie Joyer Jones?

Speaker 6 (03:10):
Sorry, he won't practice today.

Speaker 7 (03:14):
Well, we'll get him through the week and see where
he's at. Fact, what can you do as a coaching
staff to help Jake? And maybe what can Jake do
to better help himself?

Speaker 6 (03:22):
Yeah, but I think first and foremost is my job
to help Jake and find ways to give our give
our guys the best chance to help Jake as well.
So I know that's a that's a very broad answer,
but each defense is a little bit unique. I think
it's gonna be a nice plan at home. Being able
to use our verbal cadence allow us to do some

(03:43):
things that that maybe is a little more difficult to
utilize on the road, knowing you're gonna be late with
the play call and all that kind stuff getting the
Finn scrimmage. So I'm optimistic right now that we put
together a really good plan. I'm excited to get to
work practice today. We're all accountable that three points isn't
good enough, ten points isn't good enough. Our expectations that
we have to score a lot to take pressure off

(04:03):
our defense, put pressure on the opponent. We have not
done that the last two weeks in particular. And it
really starts with me on offense, getting those guys in
a rhythm, create some momentum again.

Speaker 7 (04:16):
So our defense isn't isn't out there all there?

Speaker 8 (04:18):
Zach After watching the film Monday night, what is the
best starting point for getting to the root cause of
all the.

Speaker 6 (04:25):
Penalties, Well, you got to look at each one of them, individually.
One of them was a fourth and two they called
on ted first head bob that only comes up on
the road. Sometimes that will be called, sometimes it won't.
One of them was an illegal formation with the tackle
being back. That's something that they're they're on every single rep,

(04:47):
every single tackle. We have to do a better job
playing within the lines. There two were false starts by
a rookie guard that we got to clean that up.
That's something we can't allow us to set ourselves back.
And then one of them was a procedural third and
long we got We got stuck in the wrong formation
on third, so we took the delay game instead of

(05:07):
trying to make it right on a third fifteen or
calling the time out, we took change. Whether it was
their call, came in the huddle call, whatever it was.
When we lined up, we could see we weren't right,
and so instead of banging a tight out tight end
on third and fifteen, time out, on third and fifteen,
we took the delay. So those were, to my recollection,
all of them, the fall starts we can't have. We

(05:30):
have to line up appropriately with our tackles again, something
something every team's warned about every game. It's a big
point of emphasis the league right now. So those are
things that are nothing to do with Denver, nothing to
do with Detroit. All things we have to do better at.
We prided ourselves on being a disciplined team. There's been
exceptions in the past where we haven't been, but I

(05:50):
would say through and through we've been a very disciplined team.
And too many penalties on unforced stuff the other night.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
Coach, those are two tough losses in a row.

Speaker 8 (05:58):
You're a dad, you do what do you say to
these guys to keep them up and ready to go?

Speaker 4 (06:04):
Well?

Speaker 6 (06:05):
I mean, this is part of playing the NFL is
dealing with adversity. Every team at some point is going
to face in the adversity. We're facing it early the season.
We've done this before and so that's part of our
job is to is to come to work ready to
roll given our best habit, sans of urgency, not hanging
our heads because we've lost two games. That's unacceptable to me.

(06:28):
Urgency is the word I would say it. Has our
standard been acceptable on every single play in the last
two games, I would say it hasn't been. So you
got to look within yourself, is my standard acceptable what
I Hey, it wasn't that bad, but that bad is
not good enough.

Speaker 7 (06:43):
It's got to be great.

Speaker 6 (06:44):
And this week, on a short week, I expect our
guys to hold themselves at standard, all hold them to
that standard, hold myself that standard.

Speaker 7 (06:51):
That we have to be great. Can't We can't.

Speaker 6 (06:53):
Anything less than that is unacceptable right now where we're at,
we just got to find a way to get our
third win and get it quickly and and build on
that momentum from that. Jake Browning, I think it's it's
it's not an evaluation Jake Browning's evaluation of all of
us on offense. We all have to do our part
to put ourselves in the best position possible to go
score points. And that's that's me giving Jake everything he needs,

(07:16):
give an alignment everything they need, really first and foremost
as the head coach. It's not a reflection one player.
It's it's on me and and so I've got to
get ourselves in a better position to.

Speaker 7 (07:29):
Be able to go.

Speaker 6 (07:33):
I don't I'm not giving a grade on a single player.
I'm just saying I think we can all support our
quarterback a little bit better.

Speaker 9 (07:39):
To that Zach there's a lot of talk about it
proven the running game going into tenver uh and and.

Speaker 7 (07:45):
Wanting to have more balance and whatnot. Based on what
you have seen? What is this?

Speaker 5 (07:52):
What?

Speaker 7 (07:52):
What did you see from the line?

Speaker 6 (07:54):
I thought our guys came off the ball. I think
they gave us some opportunity. There weren't explosives that we
gained there. I felt better about it coming out of
that game than I had the previous game. And so again,
we just got to continue to make improve it each week.
Each team's going to present some different structures. We got
to deal with a different personnel you got to deal with,
so the scheme can evolve a little bit each week.

Speaker 7 (08:14):
But I felt like there was improvement there.

Speaker 6 (08:17):
I don't again kind of talking about the standard where
we should be in order to do all the things
that we set up to do before the year. We're
not there yet, and I'm not gonna say that there's
time to do that, but we do need to continue
to prove every single week so that as this thing
gets going, we're rolling feel really good about that.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Do you do you feel like you need to add
competition at quarterback for Jake.

Speaker 7 (08:37):
At this point?

Speaker 4 (08:38):
I don't.

Speaker 6 (08:38):
I think with every position, we're always assessing. That's Duke's job,
that's the personnel department. They do a great job of
that presenting us options when Joe went down, of other
guys we can bring in the room as well, so
we throw the leaguers aust that. I've got a ton
of confidence in Jake. I'm unwavering in that I've seen
the best of Jake. I know that we can we
can do a great job supporting him to where he
can go win the games for us. So I feel

(09:00):
extremely confident.

Speaker 7 (09:01):
Jake Browner, how did you think Jalen played one day
and at least started in this week? Yes, he will.

Speaker 6 (09:06):
I felt like he did some good things for us
against a really, really difficult front. I mean, he's got
some all pro players up there that he had to
do battle with. And again, I'm not gonna say that
anybody played at a Pro Bowl level for us, but
to say, in his first start on the road in
Denver against that front, I was pleased with what Jalen did,

(09:27):
and I think he continued to build off of that,
and I was I really liked his demeanor throughout the game.
You know, I spent time over there with those linemen,
and I was really pleased with the demeanor that he had,
and we just got to continue to build off of that.

Speaker 4 (09:38):
They said, when when you guys Wrath and I'm cap
you see the first couple of weeks people said he
acted like a ten.

Speaker 6 (09:44):
Year There's a maturity to him, certainly when you meet him,
when you just watch him go about his business. Obviously
it's the first year in the league, but there's certainly
a maturity to Jaalen that you appreciate, that you feel
like when you give him a coaching pointer or instruction,
he's Okay, I got it, and not something you're gonna

(10:05):
have to remind him about ability to self correct when
something doesn't go right. I think instead of giving him
and hey, this is what it should have been. Differently,
he can he can speak it very quickly on what
he can do to better himself.

Speaker 7 (10:17):
And so he's a.

Speaker 6 (10:18):
Guy that's that's over this time here already has played
a lot of different spots for us.

Speaker 7 (10:22):
We're trying to let him settle in.

Speaker 6 (10:23):
At Guard, and I'm pleased with the progress that he's
making and the direction that he's in right now. I
don't my number one most hated thing on Planet Earth
is pre game on the field, so you that's if
you ever watched me, it's I let the players do
their things. I don't ever read into a guy I

(10:44):
had a great pre It's like when I was an
eighth grade shooting threes before a game. My guy might
be red hot and stinking the game and might miss
one hundred and and pre game and be awesome once
I get to the game. So I've always since since
eighth grade, at a tournament, I can remember specifically what
I'm talking about. I've stopped reading into warm ups. How
guys you or don't do I pay very little attention
to it. Somebody has an injury issue, it's brought to

(11:04):
my attention. But if you ever watched me a pregame,
I'm doing everything I can to just think about the
game ahead and let the players do one thing, and
I don't pay much attention to it. You got me
on a rant there, because pregame's like my arch nemesis.

Speaker 7 (11:19):
No, you're good, that's good schedule, Zach. And you knew
that Detroit would be on a short week.

Speaker 1 (11:25):
That's where kind of basically sure, if you're preparing for
an offense like Detroit.

Speaker 7 (11:30):
The explosiveness they're capable on a short week. The biggest
challenge that should need to address.

Speaker 6 (11:35):
Well, the physical part is difficult this week because we
got to be mindful getting back at five in the
morning and making sure these guys are rested and we
get the above the neckwork we get today. So that's
what you'll see today. More in the field, there's a
lot on the players there. You know, it is a
tough task. I've got a lot of respect for the
job Dan and the staff do on offense. Jared co

(11:56):
shared for two years, got a ton of respect for him,
and so it's it's tough to ask. There's going to
be some above the next stuff early in the week.
Our guys have to have to own it. So anyway,
with the physical reps tomorrow or Friday, we make the
most of them because it'll be less this week than normal.
I trust our guys will be able to do that.
We just got to be able to They got to
do it on Sunday. So I'm excited to watch how
to handle the week, and I think in past years

(12:18):
they've handled this week very well and so we just
we got to do more of the same.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
After the last couple weeks as you process look this
week in terms of you know, actually it's a play
caller and.

Speaker 6 (12:27):
How you've won the offense to look what you have
the week call the last couple of weeks that you did.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
What's that more quiet as you get preach for them
for Sunday.

Speaker 6 (12:33):
Well, I think it's a unique week again because we're
short today, so you're really you got a lot of
work to do and not as many hours. And our
guys have done a great job over the weekend trying
to prepare for this. I get up to speed more yesterday,
not so much before the Denmer game. So again, we
haven't changed a lot to our process. It's process, I

(12:55):
believe in. Whether people want to hear that or not,
served us well over the years. And just because we
face them for and having done our best the last
two weeks, doesn't mean we're going to scrap everything and
do a whole new operation. We do have to find
the things that we can hang our hat on to
do well that give us confidence how to feature our
best players, and so again that's no different than what

(13:15):
we've tried to do these last couple of weeks. We
just haven't been a successful. But again, I've got a
lot of faith in our staff and our players that
will come together and create some momentum for ourselves.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
How much fun is this matchup for you?

Speaker 4 (13:26):
Just personally go knowing Dan as long as you have.

Speaker 9 (13:29):
Kind of don't go back to Miami life.

Speaker 4 (13:32):
How you ever, back and reflect.

Speaker 2 (13:33):
I hope it's not going off.

Speaker 6 (13:35):
Yeah, no, no, I mean that those are. I have
tremendous memories with Dan. I mean, Dan and I go
back further than anybody would ever realized. But got a
lot of respect for him. He's done an unbelievable job.
I do reflect back on in twenty twenty one when
we went up there his first year. I don't think
they'd won a game yet. I could be wrong. Maybe
they'd won one. I don't think they'd want any but

(13:57):
knowing what they were building, you could tell they played
with a lot of undrafted free agents on defense, and
you could just tell they had the identity of their
coaching staff, their head coach, the way that they played,
and they might have had all the talent in the
world then and we got the best of them that day,
but you could see something that was building in the future,
whether whether people believed that at the time or not
was very clear. And so now you're here in twenty

(14:18):
twenty five and they've had the success they've had over
the years. They have the success they've had this year,
winn three in a row. It's a really good football team.
I love personally playing these types of games. These are
my favorite games to play. This is why we do it.

Speaker 7 (14:32):
Again.

Speaker 6 (14:32):
Our backs against the wall. A little bit going in
this game off of two losses. That's perfect, you know,
I'd like to see how everybody responds, who lives in fear,
who thrives in the adversity. It's a great opportunity for
a coach to really assess what guys are made of,
myself included. And so again it's a tremendous opportunity that
we are not running from.

Speaker 7 (14:51):
We are running directly into.

Speaker 2 (14:53):
When the offense is struggle on the way you guys
are right now, how much of that leeds into the
defensive game plan? You need be a little more conservative.

Speaker 7 (15:01):
Yeah, no, it doesn't. It doesn't need to bleed into
the game plan.

Speaker 6 (15:05):
I'll be foolish if I don't think at some point
in the second half of a game, when when the
offense isn't doing it, and you're having to go out
there on the field again and again.

Speaker 7 (15:13):
At some point it wears you out, you know. And
so I thought, particularly to start the second half.

Speaker 6 (15:18):
And we got the ball, our guys got them to
punt several times in a row, and then finally that
last drive we got worn down a little bit and
have a mental area there at the very end and
they score seven points. But when you talk about playing
complimentary team football, that's.

Speaker 7 (15:32):
What I'm talking about.

Speaker 6 (15:32):
Like, we've even if we're not scoring touchdowns necessarily we're
kicking a field goal, we're possessing the ball and driving
and giving those guys a break so they can come
out with some confidence and energy.

Speaker 7 (15:43):
And so again, I.

Speaker 6 (15:44):
I know that offensively, we've put the defense in a
tough spot, you know, particularly these last two weeks with
the turnovers and giving them short fields and not giving
them something to Okay, offense went down, score a touchdown.
Now let's go and do our job and get this stop.
So we'll come together. It's still early in the season.
And again there's the nice thing about a locker room
is there's no finger pointing. Everybody takes accountability. What can

(16:05):
I do better and we'll find a rhythm and being
a shit.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
Okay, that is Zach Taylor from about one o'clock this afternoon.
Let's break, let's come back, and let's react. You need
a moment to collect yourself to some of what we
heard there from the head coach of the Cincinnati Bengals
on this the Home of the Bengals. Yeah. ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 9 (16:28):
Now welcome back since he three to sixty ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station thanks to Penn Station.

Speaker 2 (16:43):
We just heard from Zach Taylor just a couple of
minutes ago, and we'll take some phone calls if you
want to react to anything Zach Taylor had to say today.
A couple of things. Austin and I wrote down one
Kam Taylor britt not injury related, that he was taken
off the field. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:01):
I also saw that Al Golden said this has to
be a turning point for him. Yeah, the for him
being gam Taylor Bred.

Speaker 2 (17:08):
The folks at Gridiron Grading tweeted out the Bengals picks
since twenty twenty one, when they picked between ten and
sixty Jackson, Carmen, Dax Hill, Cam Taylor Brent Miles, Murphy,
DJ Turner, Amarius Mems, and Chris Jenkins. A lot of

(17:30):
swings and misses right there. Normally, when you're picking between
ten and sixty, you're picking on guys they're going to
impact the team. How many of those guys have an impact?
I thought Dax Hill was one of the two players
that played well on Sunday.

Speaker 3 (17:40):
Yeah, I think there's been more positive than negative for
Dax and Mems, but mostly a negative impact from all
those other guys.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
Yep. Chris Jenkins maybe a little still unknown, but I
think of all of those, it's Dacks at a starter
level that you're getting mentioned. Mims has not been great,
so Cam Taylor britt not injury related. Something's gonna have

(18:12):
to flip quickly with him. Zach also talked about urgency.
Do you see any urgency when you watch this team? No,
not really in any way that they operate. No. He
also talked about the standard. What is the standard? Right?
Could you define the standards? Please define what the standard is,

(18:33):
because there's no way anything has been lived up to
in the last couple weeks. And I'm talking about the
standard on Sundays and I'm talking about the standard on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday,
anytime you're getting together, what is the standard? And how
short are you falling of that?

Speaker 3 (18:47):
Yeah, because the standard is not standards. A standard false
starts right, it's not lining up in the wrong formation,
it's not you know, being too far off the line
of scrimmage when you know it's a point of emphasis.
That stuff. That is day one stuff. And it to
me that the whole run of the last two weeks

(19:10):
feels like a complete lack of focus by the team.
And maybe that festers and you don't realize it after
the loss of Burrow, and everybody is just kind of like,
oh crap, And you go into the week with a
bad attitude and it's snowballs the way it did against Minnesota,
and then you might be a little bit tight going

(19:30):
into Denver and it's snowballs against Denver. Now, how do
you respondep, And it's the standard? The standard has not
been met. It's not the standard I live by as
a fan? What is the standard ball team? What is
the standard? Should be able to do the little stuff right?
Shouldn't you at least at the bare minimum?

Speaker 2 (19:49):
At least? That confused me but nothing confused me more, Austin,
Nothing confused me more than use of words and talking
about Jake Browning utmost confidence in Jake Browning. He went
on to use the term unwavering confidence. I broke down

(20:11):
six plays, just six plays from the game I watched
Jake Brownan against Minnesota. I watched Jake brown against Denver thoroughly.
How can you sit up there with a straight face
and I get its coach speak and say that you've
got unwavering confidence in Jake while also acknowledging that Duke
Tobin and the scouting staff have put options together and

(20:33):
presented them with options of quarterbacks that could be available,
and the conversation remains unwavering confidence in Jake Browning.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
Kind of felt like the first time I've ever heard
Zach say that is Duke's job, which I thought was interesting.
But yeah, I mean, I don't know what's more helpful
to tell Jake Browning in the media that you have
unwavering confidence in him, or to say though that they

(21:05):
hit that the locker room does, or to go out
and say, Jake cass to play better.

Speaker 2 (21:11):
I think very easy to say Jake cast to play better,
and we are going to keep our options available and
make sure that we're turning over every stone to make
sure that we're giving our team the best chance to win.
What damage does that do?

Speaker 3 (21:23):
Yeah, I mean that's that's what Duke Tobin is supposed
to say, But Duke doesn't talk.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
How can you be considered authentic if you're going to
say you've got unwavering confidence in the quarterback we've seen
for the last two weeks. I don't get that.

Speaker 3 (21:38):
You're not taken seriously by anybody by saying that.

Speaker 2 (21:41):
No, you're you're putting more questions on yourself.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
Yeah, you're shouldering more of the load, which I can respect.
Zach said it starts with me, it's on him Rich
We've been saying that, and I think you know he's
not naive enough to say that. You know, all collectively,
we all got to do better. It's not just me.
He at least takes the accountability from it in that sense,
which is good. But you're making it worse on yourself

(22:06):
by saying, you know, we have complete faith in Jake. Okay, well,
unwavering faith in Jake. Well, now, there's unquestionable, unquestionably no
faith in you. Right off of the way that he's
performed the last couple of weeks.

Speaker 2 (22:23):
Yeah, I to me, it just doesn't add up. It
does not make much sense as to who and what
this team is and the direction they're going. Because right now,
it's my opinion, Austin, that the folks in that locker
room are looking and paying very close attention to what's happening.
We're gonna make any moves? Oh Like, let's be honest,

(22:47):
true serum, what do you think Jamar Chason T Higgins
are thinking? I don't know if Zach gets up there
and says we've got on wavering confidence in Jake, what
do you think those guys are thinking, We're not We're
not gonna win another game? What are we doing? What?
What do we Why are we not adding? Why are
we not why are we not adding pieces? Why are

(23:08):
we not trying to go all in on this thing?
Because again, my thought going into today was one of
three options. Buy make an addition or two sell see
what you can get in return for some players, or
just keep status quo and say, hey, we're good with
where we're at. We just got to play a little better.

(23:31):
The standard is the standard. We got to use some
emergency but we have confidence in Jake and what we're doing.
Show me an instance consistently in the last two football
games where there's been confidence in what you've seen at quarterback.
I can't find it. And it goes across the term

(23:56):
of just coach speak when you're up there saying that,
and again Austin and he didn't have to get up
there and say, Jake Browning has been terrible, we need
to get a new quarterback. But he could say the
product we've put out there in the last two weeks
is unacceptable for our standard, and we're going to exhaust
every avenue to make sure we're giving this chance or

(24:16):
this team the best chance to win. What would be
wrong with that? Because it doesn't shut the door in
the addition, but it also doesn't throw Jake under the bus.
What's been done the last two weeks by all levels
has been unacceptable and we will always exhaust options to
make sure we're putting the best group out there to
give ourselves a chance to win. Not we've got unwavering

(24:41):
confidence in our guy, Jake Browning. That's crazy to me,
That is absolutely crazy, and I think malpractice because you
can't watch these last two games and have unwavering confidence
in that.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
I put up on Twitter last night, will we have
a Bengals players only meeting this week that we'll find
out about. That's obviously normally a sign of things are
not going well and perhaps division between the players and

(25:19):
the coaching staff. I feel like if Browning comes out
again this week and plays poorly, it's one thing if
you just get beaten by another by a good team
and Jake goes twenty five for thirty two for two
hundred and forty yards and two touchdowns, it's another thing
if you leave a bunch of plays out there, you

(25:41):
punt several times, you're completely non competitive. Again, yep, that
you can't have faith anymore, You can't have unwavering faith
in the guy. And again, we all know that this
is bigger than one player and one quarterback right now,
without a doubt, but you saw it, you outlined it,

(26:02):
We've talked about it. There were plays that were left
out there against Denver that could have at the very
least made that game competitive. It's gonna be an even
tougher hill to climb this week against Detroit. And so
at what point does it get to where there is
that division and there is that conversation, and you know,

(26:25):
does Jamar Chase is he the guy to say it?
Because I'm looking around the locker room is devoid of
the leadership of the past. Von Bell's gone, Mike Hilton's gone,
Sam Hubbard's gone. Those dudes aren't there anymore. And I
think they carried a lot of that locker room leadership

(26:45):
type of stuff. And Joe being hurt, it's not the
same from him. Trey Hendrickson, I don't think is somebody
that a lot of players connect with, are great friends with,
or are you know, really close with. And he doesn't
really seem to me as the type of locker room
leader like maybe a Sam Hubbard is. And maybe I'm
getting that entirely wrong about Trey Henderson, but he talked

(27:07):
about wanting to be a leader, wanting to be a captain,
and who's gonna step up and be the leader?

Speaker 2 (27:14):
Right?

Speaker 3 (27:15):
It's tough for Ted Carris and Orlando Brown to do that.
I mean, they, to their credit, have taken accountability in
the media, but they've played awful, both of them.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
Yep. By the way, he played for the Houston Oilers
in nineteen sixty nine and nineteen seventy two, spent as
stem with the Bengals from seventy two to seventy five,
and then San Diego Chargers nineteen seventy.

Speaker 3 (27:36):
Sixty Hall of Famer Charlie Joyner. How much could Charlie
Joyner help this team? Tim Brace seems to think quite
a bit.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
We'll take a break, take a couple of years.

Speaker 3 (27:46):
Is Isaac Curtis playing on Sunday for the Bengals next?

Speaker 2 (27:49):
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Thanks to Penn Hill,
Cincinnati to make us in fifteen thirty book them back
since six Thanks for listening on the Home of the
Bengals ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, thanks to our
friends at Penn Station. Uh, we got time for a
couple of phone calls and we're gonna go check in
with Mowegor, who's at Oakley Greens today for the Moegger Show.

(28:12):
Looking for Mo. We're looking for Mo right now. We're
looking for Jay. What's up?

Speaker 5 (28:15):
Jay? Hey, what's up? Guys? You know I just heard
what you said and of the coach of the Bennis
says he's got the most confidence and uh, get back
up quarterback? What is he looking at right. This guy's
he's been around football long enough to know either you
got it or you don't have it. And I'm telling
you I from looking at this guy, he doesn't have it.

(28:37):
So move on, go out and get somebody, you know,
don't stay with something. They ain't working. The receivers they're
telling you it ain't working. The guy can't get in
the ball. So you know, chases numbers are dropping off.
You know, hey, they got to make the changes they
want to salvage anything in this season.

Speaker 2 (28:55):
Yep, all right, hang up, Jay, thank you man. I
appreciate it you. That to me is the the biggest thing.
The question I have going forward, Austin is about the
culture in the locker room and how good is it
for culture If guys in the locker room watch the
tape like that's not very good. We're missing on a lot.
And then you come out and you say you got

(29:15):
the utmost confidence in him, unwavering. What would it take
for that confidence to waiver? Yeah, again, this is very simple.
The standard has not been met in each of the
last two weeks. It's our job to make sure we
get to the standard and put the best eleven out there.

(29:38):
We have to compete. We have to evaluate, and if
that means we bring someone in to compete, so be it.
But we are exhausting every option. That's the talking point.

Speaker 3 (29:48):
How much of that is in Zach's control. Though he
could say we're gonna give Mike White a shot, I
don't even tell an even because that's the guys that
are on the roster.

Speaker 2 (29:58):
Yeah, I don't even need him to say we're going
to give someone a shot. I just want to say, hey,
we're going to evaluate things throughout the week and make
sure that we have the best options out there to play.
Don't have to throw Jake under the bus. But to
come out and say unwavering confidence, that to me is
crazy because the guys in the locker room, there's no
way they can believe that. What if it is.

Speaker 3 (30:19):
Saying that he only has confidence in Jake and that
it's Duke's job to find somebody.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
Better that see That to me was interesting about what
he said because he he kind of spun off and
he said, you know, Duke Tobin and his staff have
done a great job of putting options in front of
us of players. Does that mean you have the ability
to get those players if you want or is that
their decision.

Speaker 3 (30:40):
That to me is a because you know, Duke is
the one who should be saying we're turning over everything correct.
Duke is the one who should be saying, yeah, we're
thinking about calling we've called teams, we've called quarterbacks, and
blah blah blah blah blah. But Duke doesn't talk right.
Makes it tough, It makes it does make it tough
on on Zach. I am not making excuse for him,

(31:00):
because I do think at the bare minimum, you should
take a look at Mike White, right.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
He comes from.

Speaker 3 (31:05):
It from an offensive system in Buffalo and played pretty
well in the preseason from what I remember, and has
some NFL experience and maybe has played better in his
NFL experience than Jake Browning. I mean, the the least
can't be that much longer, can't I can't imagine. I
also thought it was funny talking about he was asked
about Dan Campbell. He came up with Campbell in Miami,

(31:25):
and he talked about when they went up to Detroit
in twenty twenty one and the Lion's stunk at that point,
but he said you could tell that the Lions reflected
the personality of their head coach, and you know standard
our guy Jason tweeted this at US. He said, it
makes sense because the Bengals have Zach's personality nice and lost.

(31:46):
I think Zach's personality is like this, calm, controlled and confident.
I think Burrow is also like that. But I don't
think the team right now reflects either of their personal.

Speaker 2 (31:57):
But if you're gonna have someone like that, you have
to have someone else that can jump jump these guys
if you need to, and they have who does that?

Speaker 3 (32:04):
You know Who's who's not there anymore? Mark Duffner remember him?

Speaker 2 (32:08):
I do.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
He was the guy who said they got to play
s a lot of times. He was like, tough dude,
He's not there anymore. Is Al Golden that type of guy?

Speaker 2 (32:20):
I don't know. Not in his defense, his defense just
sits back. They don't pressure. Uh, Mark, let's take your calls. Well,
what's up, Mark?

Speaker 4 (32:29):
Hey?

Speaker 8 (32:29):
I think Zach Taylor just just showed you what's wrong
with the Bengals in this press conference. He just admitted
that he's not paying any attention to the team in
warm ups. He doesn't pay any attention to the preseason.
You know, one of the big problems with Jake Browning
has he got very little time with the starting lineup
and he's thrown to the Wolves and and we you

(32:52):
know halfway through week two. Uh, Zach Taylor just admitted
it in this press conference. And it's the whole thing
about a coach not looking at his players and shoot
arounds in a basketball game. You think if Steve Curry
is watching Steph Curry and warm ups and Steph Curry's
banging threes from all over the court, that he's not

(33:13):
going to pay attention to that.

Speaker 5 (33:15):
I mean, come on, we need a coach.

Speaker 8 (33:19):
Jake Browning proved that he's a good quarterback last year.
I'm not blaming this on Jake Browning. He's lost because
he was never given any practice with this starting lineup.
He was playing with the second and third string in
the preseason, and you're throwing him into the middle. You know,

(33:40):
let's go to Denver and play a mile high against
one of the best defenses in the NFL, and fans
think that he's going to go out and be like
Joe Burrow and score twenty eight thirty two.

Speaker 2 (33:53):
Pot.

Speaker 8 (33:53):
It's not going to happen with somebody who's never even
had any practice time with that team. This is all.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
I mean, He's had plenty of practice time with those guys.
He played seven games with most of those guys just
a couple of years ago.

Speaker 2 (34:07):
Well that's a lot of different faces though.

Speaker 5 (34:09):
Since then, since then.

Speaker 2 (34:11):
But still, I mean, he's still been around quite a bit.

Speaker 3 (34:14):
I mean, and he's also been practicing with them for
the last two weeks and engineered a game winning comeback
with him against against Jacksonville just a couple of weeks ago.
I mean, so it's not like it's impossible. I mean,
you can't take all the blame from Zach here. Zach
deserves a lot of it. He can't say that Jake
Browning isn't without blame. Like, of course, he did not

(34:36):
play well against against Denver.

Speaker 8 (34:38):
No, he didn't. He didn't really play well against Jacksonville.
He got lucky, threw three interceptions too. But I'm saying
he had no reps with these guys. All his reps
in preseason were with the second and third string.

Speaker 5 (34:52):
He got he didn't get it.

Speaker 8 (34:54):
He's he's obviously not in rhythm with him right now.
But we know that he capable of it because we've
seen it. We saw it when he came in for
Joe Burrow. The last time he did a good job.
He was he was a good quarterback at serviceable NFL
quarterback as a backup.

Speaker 5 (35:13):
Uh.

Speaker 8 (35:13):
Yeah, I think they should go out and maybe get Wilson. Uh,
because you need somebody with experience.

Speaker 3 (35:21):
To step in.

Speaker 5 (35:23):
You know, you got to.

Speaker 8 (35:24):
You got this this powerful offensive machine, but there's nobody
driving it, including the coach. All the penalties, all the
and to admit that you don't pay any attention to
your players and warm ups. What if the player's tripping
all over himself and warm ups, you're not going to

(35:44):
take that into account. I mean, that's I just think
that was a ridiculous thing for him to admit that
that I don't pay any attention to the warm ups.

Speaker 2 (35:53):
That's that's fair. Mark, Thanks for your call.

Speaker 4 (35:56):
Listen.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
I'll say this, I would pay attention to more. Yes,
practice wise, Austin. In the NFL, if the starter wants
every single rep, they get every single rep correct Like
Peyton Manning and notorious the number two in Denver or
Indy never got any practice reps because he wanted every
single practice rep to get every look and make sure

(36:18):
he felt good. Going into the game. Right, you can,
as a head coach in the NFL like you can't
during the week, say okay, Joe, good set, but I'm
gonna give Jake these last three plays, and Joe gets
as many as he wants.

Speaker 3 (36:29):
Right, And keep in mind, you know, after the twenty
three season, which Jake played seven games or whatever, or
the twenty three season, he got all the training camp
reps while Joe's caff was hurt, he played seven games
with them. And while there are some new faces, the
offense is pretty much the same, the players are pretty
much the same. I understand he didn't play that much

(36:50):
last year, and I get that that whole situation, But
to act as if those reps mean nothing, I think,
is that's nonsense.

Speaker 2 (36:57):
We got to get to Mo Movigers at Oakley Greens.
He'll join us next for quick kits on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (37:02):
From the Clement Sincy three sixty continues on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. It's time for Sincy three sixty
quick kits on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (37:17):
Wrong button, that's not the right button. I was trying
to press this one was looking for Mo.

Speaker 2 (37:21):
Yes, I think we found Mo at Oakley Greens right
now for quick kits.

Speaker 4 (37:24):
Hey, Mo, it's not Oakley Greens, guys. Oh Oakley Reds.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
Oh that's fair.

Speaker 3 (37:32):
I saw the sign. That's true. That's fair Oakley Reds.

Speaker 4 (37:36):
Where we are getting ready for Reds baseball tonight game
two Reds and Dodgers unless you know, it's interesting. On Monday,
I asked a pole question, who's going to win and
in how many games? And the majority of people said
Reds and three. So we're giving up on that. Oh
one hundred. Read's not going to pitch the night so
they have a chance.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
That's true. Oh honey, long balls. We've talked about this
pitching staff all year, and you knew it eventually was
going to come down to a loser go home game
with Zach Ltel.

Speaker 4 (38:06):
We you know, I remember we talked back in May
if they could just get Zach Ltel because that's the
guy you want on the bump and any sort of
do or die game, and so and so here we are.
I just here's what I hope. You know. Hunter Green
has put the Reds on his shoulders so many times
that if there's a guy who's allowed a Mulligan a
bad day, so to speak. It's my guy. So now
it's up to Hunter's teammates to do what he has

(38:28):
done for them so many times and give him a
chance in Philadelphia to redeem himself in I guess it
would be Game two on Monday, So give Hunter. A
lot of great pitchers have had bad postseason starts. Trust
me as the Hunter Green apologist. I spent a lot
of time this morning looking them up. I found a
game where Tom Glavin once gave up eight runs in
one inning. That guy's in Cooperstown. So but the deal

(38:52):
is his team gave him opportunities to pitch in the postseason.
So can the Reds do Hunter Green a solid like
he has done them aside at so many times, and
give him a chance to redeem himself against the Phillies.
I guess we'll start to find out tonight.

Speaker 2 (39:05):
A lot on the Reds. What else do you have
coming up on the show today?

Speaker 4 (39:08):
Uh? Well, Charlie Joyner and the Bengals have a game
on Sunday against the Detroit Lions.

Speaker 2 (39:15):
Barry Sanders and the Lions.

Speaker 4 (39:17):
Is the Billy Simms, is Eric Kramer? Calvin Johnson is
there anybody who's not expecting a blood bath. Well, i'd
be honest.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
Zach Taylor because he's got unwavering confidence in Jake Browning.

Speaker 4 (39:31):
Okay, I don't believe him.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
I don't either.

Speaker 4 (39:35):
I do not for a second believe that Zach Taylor
has unwavering confidence. And how could you?

Speaker 2 (39:40):
But what would be what would be wrong though? With saying, look,
what's been done the last two weeks is not our standard.
We need to exhaust every opportunity to make sure we're
giving ourselves the best chance to win, whatever that may be.
And that's how we're gonna operate going forward.

Speaker 4 (39:54):
Jake has to be better.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
That's fair.

Speaker 4 (39:57):
Quarterback play. The level of quarterback play on Monday was
not up to snuff, was not good enough. And if
it continues, there's there's gonna be a change, many will argue,
And I think we have the change either should be
happening right now or should have already happened. But I don't.
I don't believe him. I don't. I don't believe Zach Taylor.

(40:18):
And I just you know, everybody always talks about, well,
what Joe Burrow gonna think? What do you think? Joe
Burrow is thinking right now, like, really, yeah, my toe,
my toe herds, my knee hurts. Really, I mean that bad.
You guys can't be competent. So we're we're gonna spend
some time on that. Paul Danner Junior is usually with
us on Tuesdays. He's not gonna join us at Oakley

(40:39):
Greens because today is a big work day for him
and the folks that cover the team, but he is
gonna join us. Richard Skinner's gonna join us. A lot
of our typical stuff we do during the week in
between all the baseball. You know, it's interesting if in
early September I was told Mo, don't talk baseball, talk Bengals.
Oh we did, and it's like Mo White talk and
Bengals talk reds now. The Reds are down, So.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
Perhaps why not talk Bearcats.

Speaker 4 (41:04):
We turn our attention to a team that is trending
upward that I think right now can be considered a
dark horse ink and some I've heard rumblings national championship
dark horse. Do you see Bearcats?

Speaker 2 (41:20):
Wow?

Speaker 3 (41:22):
All I know is if the if the Bearcats make
the college football Playoff and they have a first round
game against Penn State, I'm taking the Bearcats.

Speaker 4 (41:30):
Is there a more universally disliked college football coach active
college football coach right now than James Franklin.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
Maybe Dabbo and Brian Kelly.

Speaker 4 (41:44):
Maybe, I guess, But like, well.

Speaker 2 (41:47):
If you asked this question in Madison, maybe it's somebody different.
I love James Franklin as the highest station.

Speaker 4 (41:53):
I like Brian Kelly. Those guys have one big true
James Franklin's won big ish. Yeah. I think James Franklin
could be a six and six coach and people would
dislike him. I think if Daboswiney and Brian Kelly were
six and six coaches, people would just kind of forget
about him. I don't know, maybe I'm wrong about that,

(42:13):
but Saturday night and I would admit I was one
of them. People took like sheer delight in James Franklin
losing that. I don't think happens like people getting excited
Austin when Ohio State loses, right, Sure, but they don't
go man, I'm glad Ryan Day lost, right. People didn't
care about Penn State. They were glad James Franklin lost. Yeah,

(42:34):
And I'm kind of curious as to why that is.
But Yeah, give me a first round matchup Kats versus
Nitny Lions at Nippert State duel.

Speaker 2 (42:41):
Fan base is being asked to stripe. There's respective stadiums
MO the Bearcats on Saturday, the Bengals on Sunday. Which
fan base pulls off the more successful striping?

Speaker 4 (42:51):
Well, Iowa State has red in their color scheme. The
Detroit Lions.

Speaker 2 (42:55):
Do not have Honolulu blue, do.

Speaker 4 (42:57):
Not have orange. It's gonna be a lot of blue
and silver in the park on Sunday four twenty five.

Speaker 3 (43:04):
Last I saw standing room only tickets for Bengals Lions
were two hundred and fifty dollars.

Speaker 4 (43:10):
Gosh, what would that have been had the Bengals won
on Monday?

Speaker 2 (43:14):
What had been right if Joe Burrow was playing?

Speaker 4 (43:17):
Yeah, but like that's the thing, all right, when they
got past the can they get off to a good
start thing? You were looking at these games that felt
like they had the potential to be monster games, Detroit,
Green Bay, Pittsburgh perhaps, like you were looking at these
games that had a chance to be like just monster games.

(43:37):
And now who's looking at Sunday from our perspective with
any amount of excitement?

Speaker 2 (43:42):
Right, it's not much I'm more excited about what you
got coming up from three to six mo. It's gonna
happen on ESPN fifteen thirty, or go see Mo at
Oakley Reds.

Speaker 4 (43:51):
We're gonna put our faith in Zach Lttel and we're
gonna hope that he and his teammates can force a
game three. And then Andrew Abbott can say to Hunter Green, Hunter,
I will give him you a chance to redeem yourself,
just the way you've given our team a chance to
remorre self time and again.

Speaker 2 (44:07):
More confidence than Zach Lateel tonight or Zach Taylor on Sunday. Okay,
there we go.

Speaker 4 (44:13):
Confidence in Zach Taylor to do what put his pants
on for the game.

Speaker 2 (44:16):
He's got the most confidence in these guys.

Speaker 4 (44:19):
Good confidence to time.

Speaker 2 (44:23):
That's a lot to ask some players as well. Zach
should be fresh.

Speaker 3 (44:26):
I have a chance to sleep in, get caught up,
clear mind, an opening script, and then we'll put it time.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
As a dad, he's got those responsibilities. Oh my god,
thanks man. Have a great show. Charley Early Joiner joining
the show later with Mo as well. ESPN.

Speaker 3 (44:42):
Tony has a dad. How do you plan to uh?
I'll tell you tomorrow how do you plan to do
the show tomorrow as a day I'll tell you tomorrow.
Brendan Sores be going to join us at twelve thirty tomorrow.
Make sure you're here for that and uh everything from
noon to three. Moe's Next on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 10 (44:56):
Thirty WCKY, Cincinnati. Make us the number one preset on
your car radio and on the free, new and improved
iHeartRadio AD Free never sounded so good.

Speaker 7 (45:17):
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (45:18):
Hey, it's Ma Lagger. You've heard me talk about OTR
premium cigars, right,