October 1, 2024 • 24 mins
Tony and Austin chat with Joe Danneman from FOX19 about Pete Rose, the Bengals, and more on ESPN 1530!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sponsored in part by Cincy Shirts. Cincy Shirts all Cincey,
all Day. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Thank you to our good friends at Cinti Shirts. As
we get our number two underway on the home of
the Bengals, Cincinnatis, ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. We
get the opportunity and it's a gift, really Austin to
talk to our next guest each and every Tuesday as
the football season continues to roll on from Fox nineteen,
(00:32):
the Dean himself, Joe Daniman, joining us right now.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Joe, what's up, gentlemen, would you like a funny story? Please? Okay,
I think Cincinnati needs a little moment of levity here
of a funny story. So this was before last week.
I didn't get a chance to relay this story because
we jumped right into some heavy Bengals talk before they
had a win like they did on Sunday against the
(00:56):
Carolina Panthers. So I always listen to you guys while
I'm getting ready for work, and that's usually in the
one o'clock hour, So I'm in my bathroom and I
actually listen to you guys. Now we're big reveal here, guys,
I listened to you guys while in the shower sometimes
as well. And so the kids are at school, my
wife at home. I'm in the shower and talkbacks are on,
(01:20):
and one of the talkbacks is the Kermit the Frog talkback.
So my wife must have been walking down the hall
and heard the talk back. She comes and knocks on
the door and says, what the hell are you listening?
It's the showers. I said, this is the sinty three
(01:40):
sixty experience right here. I'm not watching the Muppet Babies.
I'm listening to Tony and Austin and Cincinnati's great talkbackers.
And I've had I've been getting a kick out of
that for a week.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Shower Man, nothing like it. Dammit, have you ever been
a shower beard type of guy?
Speaker 1 (02:00):
So I have a great story. Okay, So my freshman
year of college at Syracuse. As kind of an icebreaker,
you know, all the frats are always looking for young
people to join their fret to pledge the frats. So
they threw one of the frats in Syracuse through a
flag football tournament the opening weekend we were there. So
we're talking like six flag football games in August on
(02:24):
an August afternoon on a weekend in Syracuse. Our quarterback
happened to be a guy who lived on my floor,
and we became friends quickly the first week I was there,
and he ended up being a walk on the Syracuse
basketball team, so he was the next level athlete. He
played quarterback for us. We won the whole thing. We
(02:44):
were so exhausted at the end of the day. The
frat provided us, all eighteen and nineteen year old of
us with some prizes, yes, with a little congratulations that
they came in in the form of a twelve pack.
We were so exhausted, we all like took chairs to
(03:05):
the shower and we sat in the shower. Each had
our own little solid a chair and a nice shower
beer to celebrate our victory as freshman.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
That's a that's a different type of similar most weekends,
the shower beer. So you've always grabbed quarterbacks have just
always gravitated towards you, Joe, is what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
That's right. They're like to throw darts to me kind
of like you.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yep, you are officially in the crew. Obviously, we have
a Bengals wind to get to before we get to that.
I know it's it's hectic and probably happening all over
the place. Do you have a Pete Row in your
time of covering sports here in Cincinnati and what you've
been a part of. Do you have a Pete Rose
story that sticks out?
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Yeah? I do, And it's interesting because you know, being
from here. Look, my first memory of sports, and this
is the God's honest truth, was September eleventh, nineteen eighty five,
to night Pete Rose broke the record. I've had in
the back of my mind, this fuzzy memory that Joe
Morgan toasted Pete with a beer live on the air
(04:07):
the night he broke the record. And I went back
and watched the game broadcast last night when I got
home from Wark to see if my memory was right,
almost forty years later, and sure enough, there's Ken Wilson
and Joe Morgan saying this bud for you after Pete
broke the record. And I think it's interesting that you
know my generation, our generation, Johnny, I'll throw you in.
(04:28):
My generation, we saw Pete as the adult with the controversy,
with the gambling and then welcome back in Cincinnati into
the Hall of Fame. Here at Great American Ballparks and
then the franchise four at the All Star Game. That's
the Pete we saw. My dad's generation. The generation before us,
(04:49):
they saw Pete the baseball player, and that generation has
a different view of Pete. And I think that's what's
interesting about Pete is it's how different everyone's perspective is
given on what they experienced, and that's what makes him
so unique in Cincinnati. He's he's like a He's like
a beautiful model with a broken nose, right. You know,
(05:10):
he has all these things that everybody loves, but there's
always that one bit of this his bio that's always
going to follow him. But one thing that's generational for Pete,
whether you grew up as a Pete baseball fan or
you're in my generation, you experienced Pete as the player
manager and then ultimately with the controversy with the gambling,
was Pete's personality led him to be one of the
(05:33):
all time great baseball storytellers. And that's to me my
memory at Pete Rose and the job I did and
getting the chance to be around him. Whenever there's is
the Hall of Fame weekend for when whatever red legend
went into the Hall of Fame or these legendary callbacks
to Great American Ballpark. You know, Pete was at the
ballpark last summer when Bronson Arroyo went in, and some
(05:55):
of his stories were great, And the one that always
sticks with me that are heard him tell multiple times
is a great story. It's when his son, Pete Junior,
was going through a slump and he was like two
for thirty and needed advice, and he called Pete, his
dad at for advice on how to get out of
a two for thirty slump. And Pete, in delivering one
(06:19):
of the great punchlines of all times, said how would
I know how to get out of the thirty slumper?
I was never in one. He said, call Conceptsionne. He
can help you with that answer. So that was the
one that Pete said a lot that I heard, a
lot that always stuck with me, that always got a
great laugh from whatever crowd he was speaking to.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Uh, Joe, Let's let's switch gears. Let's talk about this
Cincinnati Bengals team, because you know, for the first time
we've got to talk after a game this year, we're
talking about a win. And yet because of the circumstances.
I still think people feel differently about it. Look, because
they started zero to three, there was never a win
(06:57):
win moment to go to Carolina and win. It was
as if you lose, the season is essentially over. If
you win, okay, you were supposed to win, but at
least it sets you up with the opportunity now against
the Baltimore Ravens to try to get this thing back
on track. When you look at that win on Sunday,
what is it about that performance that stands out to you?
Speaker 1 (07:16):
I think that's a great point. And I was curious
how Cincinnati would digest that win, whether it be just
the blanket joy of getting a win, or would there
be concerned again the way it looked. I'll say this
from what I experienced inside the Bengals locker room, and
I didn't know what to expect from a group that
through the first months had only come away with one win.
(07:38):
There wasn't a sense of relief, and that's kind of
what I expected when I walked in, that that would
be the natural emotion, that the team would just be
relieved they got one and maybe now they can start
stacking and building on it. The energy was certainly different.
The music was louder, there were smiles, the voices were louder,
But relief definitely is not word I would use. It
(08:01):
was a sense of we have a lot of work
to do, we have a big hole to get out of,
and this is just the start of that. And I
think to your point, I think a lot of people
can sense within the locker room that even though they
won Sunday, it's still not good enough, especially on the
defensive side of the football. And I'm sure that's where
(08:23):
a lot of this conversation will go. But just the
general tone of the locker room was a little different
than I expected. I expected them to be relieved. What
I walked away was with a team that still understands
it has a lot of work to do and has
a mountainous challenge in front of them, considering who they're
(08:43):
playing this coming week in the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Let's start on the defensive side of the ball, because again,
it wasn't you know, a performance to ride home about
the defense still struggling. Now, they did find a way
to force the turnover, they did find a way to
get the fourth and one goal line stop. All that
being said, they still gave up over five yards of
carry Cam Taylor Britt struggled, The defensive line struggled at
(09:06):
times that the whole defense has struggled outside of Logan
Wilson and really Trey Hendrickson. Are you at a point
now where it feels like this is just what this
team is going to be? I don't know what the
fix is at this point when you talk about this
Bengals defense as a whole.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
The one pushback I have on saying and just conceding
this is what it's going to look like is the
way it looked in Kansas City. And you and I
talked about this, what's the difference between this team and
the way they played in Kansas City and then every
other week they played so far this year? And I
think it can be peeled back and talked about in
(09:46):
different ways. And I think obviously the familiarity in the
field that lou An Arumo has for Patrick Mahomes led
the Bengals to having a good performance in Kansas City.
But also that day they had Sheldon Rankins, they had
BJ Hill, and they had Trey Hendrickson play like an
all Pro that he can be. And I quite honestly,
he might be this season. So is that the ceiling
(10:10):
for the Bengals? Can can they play like that again
if they have their full complement of guys? When will
they have their full compliment of guys again? Or is
that just one outlier and Patrick Mahomes just didn't play
well that day and just doesn't play well against the
Bengals and maybe it was misleading that the defense can't
perform like that. To me, it just goes back to
(10:31):
right now, I don't think they have the personnel defensively
even to be good enough for this offense to then
go do what it does and win games. I still
think that it's going to be an Achilles heal for
this team. And Sundays Sunday to me is it's kind
of my waterloot with this defense. Okay, Like, if you're
(10:52):
gonna show me that you can, this is gonna be
the Sunday to do it. Because what they did against
Washington still stands in the back of my mind. And
when you think about what Baltimore is, Baltimore is just
Washington on steroids. It's Jayden Daniels is now Lamar Jackson's
Brian Robinson is now Derek Henry and guess what Baltimore
has that Washington doesn't. That's a functional defense who can
(11:14):
make some plays and knows how to play winning football.
The one thing I will say to wrap this thought is, look,
the NFL is such a week to week league. You
never know what a team is going to look like
on a given week. But outside of one bad quarter
against the Raiders and one half inch of a tow
(11:35):
against the Chiefs, Baltimore's probably looked as good as anybody
through the first month of the season. I know what
Minnesota is doing, but is that sustainable. We'll see. Given
their pedigree, their track record, and how they played outside
of that one quarter against the Raiders, this is as
good as the NFL's got. It's coming to Cincinnati on Sunday,
(11:56):
and a defense that needs to get right is about
to be tested by the kind of offense that it
probably doesn't want to see that forces them to read, react,
tackle in space, and play fast. Those are challenges the
Bengals have not met so far this year, and now
they get it in one of the bigger games of
the season on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
You sound like my Bearcats right now. One bad quarter
and a couple of plays away from being undefeated. So yeah,
we're in the same spot here. Listen the defensive side,
we saw they made the move and they got DJ Turner.
More snaps on that game on Sunday, and DJ Turner
played really well. I was a little taken back by
Anna Rumo's comments on Jordan Battle, But knowing how the
(12:37):
defense is played at this point, do you think that
the trigger will be a little quicker. Do you think
that they will be more apt to try to find
new pieces to fit in there to see what works,
knowing that they are now playing with their backs against
the wall.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I think it should be. I think it better be.
You know, Jordan Battle needs a shot and it doesn't
make sense why he hasn't gotten it yet from what
the Bengals have seen from the two players playing their position.
And you know, you can go back in your archives
and pull this up. This is not and I told
you so, but it's It was a concern for me
having Geno Stone and Vonbo in the back end of
(13:15):
a defense. They could they run and react to the
point where they could be difference makers in the four
to six seconds of a snap. We all knew the
first you know the thirty seconds leading up to the
snap that those two might be able to help this
team communicate better, get lined up better, and therefore maybe
perform better. But could they when the balls in play
(13:37):
those four to six seconds play better? And certainly they
haven't played well enough for this team not to give
Jordan battle a shot at that position. You made a
great point. Why are they so adapt to giving DJ
Turner a shot and going to this rotation at corner
and not doing the same thing at the other position
(13:58):
on defense that the peers it needs some help or
at least someone deserving a shot. So yeah, I think
to your point, I think it better. I think you
better give them a look because right now what they
have out there isn't good enough. And if they're going
to do that with DJ Turner and Cam Tail their
bread in the cornerback rotation, why wouldn't they do the
same thing at rotation at safety and give Jordan Battles,
(14:20):
still a young player who probably needs more time, more
tape for them to fully evaluate who he is. Why
not give him that shot because right now what's out
there just isn't performing as it should.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Is it sustainable? Joe on the offensive side of the
ball for them to find ways to win and having
to play that great each time they take the field.
I just I think about the pressure that would eventually
build in the offense knowing you know that that feeling.
You know, I equated this a lot, and I know
it's not the same, but I talk a lot about
(14:53):
when high school sports, when I was growing up with
Cole rain when they were really good and they ran
that triple option, and you knew, as as opposed offense,
you're only going to get so many opportunities because they're
going to possess the ball. For the Bengals, yep. You know,
as an offense, are you going to start pressing to say, man,
we have to score on nearly every drive because of
how the defense is playing. And is that sustainable for
(15:16):
an offense over a season.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
No, that's not sustainable for an offense to play to
that standard every single week. You look back to last year,
even when the Bengals got humming, right when they went
to San Francisco and got the win, and then you
look at how Burrow played against the Texans. He didn't
play up to his standard. That that just happens. Good players,
good teams, great offenses don't play great every week. Now,
(15:39):
I think it's sustainable that they can have one of
the three, four or five best offenses in the NFL.
In fact, I think that should be the expectation for
this offense. The way they looked, especially with the Marius
Men's coming in and looking like he can settle into
that spot at right tackle and dude just fine. And
then you saw the chemistry of Joe Burrow and t Higgins,
and then the big playability of Jamar Chase and then
(16:02):
now you're seeing Zach Moss and Chase Brown, and I
get it it was Carolina, but you're starting to see
how they can deploy those two and use those two
as weapons for this offense to be effective. So certainly,
I think the expectations should be that they do sustain
a level where they are one of the four or
five best offenses in the NFL for the rest of
(16:22):
the season. However, to expect them to have to do
that every single week is not going to happen. It's
unfair for the expectation. You know, Joe Burrows is as
good as he is, and right now he's probably a
sneaky back door Betley for MVP, considering his numbers and
the way he's taking care of the football and what
(16:43):
he's probably going to have to do to carry this
team to a good season and ultimately a playoff season.
But yeah, the expectation for this offense now has to
be that they perform at the level where they can
carry the defense, because I don't have faith of the
defense can even get to where what we said before
the season was just be okay, just be fine and
(17:05):
let the offense do what the offense does and win
you football games. I don't have the confidence that this
defense can even get to that point where they're just okay,
that they can have the offense do what the offense does.
So I think it's unfair for the offense to have
to play with this kind of pressure where they have
to feel like they're perfect. There will be Sundays and
Mondays and Thursdays when they are able to do that
(17:28):
and they can carry a team, but there's going to
be games like the Texans game last year where Joe
just misses a couple of throws. There isn't perfect and
has an off game, and a defense has a good
scheme and the Bengals offense just can't do what it
can to carry the defense, and the Bengals are going
to take some els, and right now this team doesn't
have a long enough leash to take the kind of
(17:51):
ls that they might have to because of the current
state of the defense.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
What's the next step the offense can take her? Where
can the offense be better?
Speaker 1 (17:59):
In your opinion, tough man, that's a tough one. Certainly
you're starting to see right now it's becoming Jamar Chase
and t Higgins and the running backs that they want
to feature. Andrea Yoshibas had the one play and it
was a heck of a play by him in a
great throw by Joe Burrow. But certainly you saw this
week and even back to Washington, you know, Andre had
(18:22):
some plays late in the game where he got open,
made some plays down the field. I still wonder if
they're able to find a third receiving option to go
with the top two. Mikasicki has taken a step back
the last couple of weeks in his production. Like I said,
Andrea only had the one catch, But if Chase Brown
and Dak Moss are going to get thirty combined touches
(18:44):
a game, You're still going to want to get te
his eight to ten targets, Jamar his ten targets, and
then you start running out of places you can go
with the football. But I have no issues with what
the offense is doing right now. What's another level for
the offense? What is it? At one point they had
gone twelve straight possessions where they had scored on eleven
(19:06):
of those twelve possessions. Now I will say this, that's
against Washington, that's against Carolina. Baltimore comes to Cincinnati with
a very functional defense and a pedigree of playing well
on that side of the ball. They know how to
play winning football. They played winning football on that side
of the ball for a long time. Sunday is going
to be interesting to me, not only for what Baltimore's
(19:29):
defense can do against the Bengals offense, but obviously what
the Bengals defense can do against that offense. It's going
to be really interesting. I think, a good measuring stick
game for us to watch his fans. Look, the Bengals
are not in a place where this is a measuring
stick game. They've got to win the game. They've lost
the margin of error to drop all these AFC North
(19:49):
games like they typically do and then feast on everybody else.
But for us people who observe, people who talk about
the team, this is a moment where you see them
go up against a championship caliber offense and defense and
really get a better feel for what they've got outside
of going to Carolina and beating them and then also
torching Washington's very poorous defense on the Monday night, Joe.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Before I let you go, you know, we talk about
needing a win on Sunday because one and four, Let's
just face it, it feels a lot different At two and three.
You start looking, Okay, here's where everyone sits in the AFC.
North Cleveland is not going places you've tied yourself with Baltimore.
That's a great opportunity, and Pittsburgh doesn't look like it
has the offense to run away with anything. Just talk
(20:34):
to me about the different feel of two and three
and one and four. Albeit it's early in the season,
but that is a completely different feeling knowing that you
got the giants in the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
After that's right, it kind of sets itself up as
a runway, you know, And the word momentum is such
a funny thing in sports, but we've seen this team
in the streets. They can go on, and especially when
you start looking at the teams who have gone from
zero to three to the playoffs, they have a chunk
of the season where they get hot and they just
(21:07):
win a lot of games in a row and good feelings, goodbyes,
good energy. That kind of momentum can carry a team
from week to week. I truly do believe that. And
so now you're having a win in Carolina. It didn't
look great from the defensive side of the ball, but
if you're able to win that game like they did,
and then you do beat Baltimore, then you got a
(21:28):
shot to go to New York and then beat Cleveland
two games that if the Bengals aren't favored, it's going
to be a game that we all believe here in
Cincinnati that if they play well, they can and should win.
Even though Cleveland's had the Bengals matter, especially with Joe
Burrow as quarterback. But I think there's a moment here
right There's going to be a moment in the season
(21:48):
where the Bengals have to reel off and rip off
some wins. And this still feels like the moment in time,
even though Baltimore's on the schedule where there's some vulnerability
for them to make the kind of run where two
and three and one and four feels different, that they're
gonna have to have a streak at some point, they're
gonna have to go on a streak of winning four
in a row, winning five in a row, winning four
(22:08):
out of five. Is this the moment where they do it?
And then you get this thing right quickly, and then
look towards the rest of the season, because one in four,
with still some of the games they have left on
the schedule, including five AFC North games after this Sunday,
then you're still looking at a really daunting task of
digging out of a hole and getting yourself back to
(22:30):
the playoffs. And what is looking more and more like
again another year where the AFC can be won by anybody,
considering what's going on in Kansas City with the injuries,
considering what Buffalo looked like in Baltimore, and then considering
what Baltimore's history is in the playoffs, the Bengals can
just get themselves in by that point of the year,
(22:51):
maybe some of the younger guys on defensive stepped up
the Chris Jenkins of the world. Maybe Jordan Battle's playing
and playing well at that point. Maybe it's a different
looking team in January than it is in September.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Danaman, you're the man. Cannot thank you enough. Always appreciate
your time, always looking forward to Tuesdays here and catching up.
Enjoy the rest of your week. We'll talk next week.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Boy, send me some texts. Yeah, getting text from you guys.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Yeah, Oh you've You've just opened up a door that
you don't want to go.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
You don't want to You don't want that.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Joe, have you seen the McMahon documentary, Joe.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
No, I've only seen clips on online on Twitter. It's
on a backload of things I need to watch and
my wife. My life has been pretty hectic these days,
but I always squeeze in talkbacks and a little bit
of Kermit the Frog while taking my shower getting ready
for it.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Grab a quick shower, flip it on and we'll get
the talkbacks when we get back. Thank you, Joe, See
boy there he is the Dean Joe Danaman, Fox nineteen.
Always appreciative, hit time. We gotta take a break. We
come back your talkbacks next on the home of the Bengals.
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Now your chance to win one thousand dollars. Enter this
nationwide keyword on our website, cran. That's Cran. Enter it now.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Hey, it's Tony Pike. If you're looking for a spot
to grab a bike, to eat with the family and
catch the game at the same time, head to Miamiville Traiyard.
They have gourmet burgers, wings, salads, twenty beers on tap.
They've got a huge patio, fireside seating available, and scenic
views of the Loveland Bike Trail. It's perfect for the
Pike crew and it's perfect for yours as well. Check
(24:31):
out the yard on the trail at Miamiville Trailyard dot com.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Hey, Alexa, what's the late
Sponsored in part by Cincy Shirts. Cincy Shirts all Cincey,
all Day. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:10):
Thank you to our good friends at Cinti Shirts. As
we get our number two underway on the home of
the Bengals, Cincinnatis, ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. We
get the opportunity and it's a gift, really Austin to
talk to our next guest each and every Tuesday as
the football season continues to roll on from Fox nineteen,
(00:32):
the Dean himself, Joe Daniman, joining us right now.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Joe, what's up, gentlemen, would you like a funny story? Please? Okay,
I think Cincinnati needs a little moment of levity here
of a funny story. So this was before last week.
I didn't get a chance to relay this story because
we jumped right into some heavy Bengals talk before they
had a win like they did on Sunday against the
(00:56):
Carolina Panthers. So I always listen to you guys while
I'm getting ready for work, and that's usually in the
one o'clock hour, So I'm in my bathroom and I
actually listen to you guys. Now we're big reveal here, guys,
I listened to you guys while in the shower sometimes
as well. And so the kids are at school, my
wife at home. I'm in the shower and talkbacks are on,
(01:20):
and one of the talkbacks is the Kermit the Frog talkback.
So my wife must have been walking down the hall
and heard the talk back. She comes and knocks on
the door and says, what the hell are you listening?
It's the showers. I said, this is the sinty three
(01:40):
sixty experience right here. I'm not watching the Muppet Babies.
I'm listening to Tony and Austin and Cincinnati's great talkbackers.
And I've had I've been getting a kick out of
that for a week.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Shower Man, nothing like it. Dammit, have you ever been
a shower beard type of guy?
Speaker 1 (02:00):
So I have a great story. Okay, So my freshman
year of college at Syracuse. As kind of an icebreaker,
you know, all the frats are always looking for young
people to join their fret to pledge the frats. So
they threw one of the frats in Syracuse through a
flag football tournament the opening weekend we were there. So
we're talking like six flag football games in August on
(02:24):
an August afternoon on a weekend in Syracuse. Our quarterback
happened to be a guy who lived on my floor,
and we became friends quickly the first week I was there,
and he ended up being a walk on the Syracuse
basketball team, so he was the next level athlete. He
played quarterback for us. We won the whole thing. We
(02:44):
were so exhausted at the end of the day. The
frat provided us, all eighteen and nineteen year old of
us with some prizes, yes, with a little congratulations that
they came in in the form of a twelve pack.
We were so exhausted, we all like took chairs to
(03:05):
the shower and we sat in the shower. Each had
our own little solid a chair and a nice shower
beer to celebrate our victory as freshman.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
That's a that's a different type of similar most weekends,
the shower beer. So you've always grabbed quarterbacks have just
always gravitated towards you, Joe, is what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
That's right. They're like to throw darts to me kind
of like you.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yep, you are officially in the crew. Obviously, we have
a Bengals wind to get to before we get to that.
I know it's it's hectic and probably happening all over
the place. Do you have a Pete Row in your
time of covering sports here in Cincinnati and what you've
been a part of. Do you have a Pete Rose
story that sticks out?
Speaker 1 (03:46):
Yeah? I do, And it's interesting because you know, being
from here. Look, my first memory of sports, and this
is the God's honest truth, was September eleventh, nineteen eighty five,
to night Pete Rose broke the record. I've had in
the back of my mind, this fuzzy memory that Joe
Morgan toasted Pete with a beer live on the air
(04:07):
the night he broke the record. And I went back
and watched the game broadcast last night when I got
home from Wark to see if my memory was right,
almost forty years later, and sure enough, there's Ken Wilson
and Joe Morgan saying this bud for you after Pete
broke the record. And I think it's interesting that you
know my generation, our generation, Johnny, I'll throw you in.
(04:28):
My generation, we saw Pete as the adult with the controversy,
with the gambling and then welcome back in Cincinnati into
the Hall of Fame. Here at Great American Ballparks and
then the franchise four at the All Star Game. That's
the Pete we saw. My dad's generation. The generation before us,
(04:49):
they saw Pete the baseball player, and that generation has
a different view of Pete. And I think that's what's
interesting about Pete is it's how different everyone's perspective is
given on what they experienced, and that's what makes him
so unique in Cincinnati. He's he's like a He's like
a beautiful model with a broken nose, right. You know,
(05:10):
he has all these things that everybody loves, but there's
always that one bit of this his bio that's always
going to follow him. But one thing that's generational for Pete,
whether you grew up as a Pete baseball fan or
you're in my generation, you experienced Pete as the player
manager and then ultimately with the controversy with the gambling,
was Pete's personality led him to be one of the
(05:33):
all time great baseball storytellers. And that's to me my
memory at Pete Rose and the job I did and
getting the chance to be around him. Whenever there's is
the Hall of Fame weekend for when whatever red legend
went into the Hall of Fame or these legendary callbacks
to Great American Ballpark. You know, Pete was at the
ballpark last summer when Bronson Arroyo went in, and some
(05:55):
of his stories were great, And the one that always
sticks with me that are heard him tell multiple times
is a great story. It's when his son, Pete Junior,
was going through a slump and he was like two
for thirty and needed advice, and he called Pete, his
dad at for advice on how to get out of
a two for thirty slump. And Pete, in delivering one
(06:19):
of the great punchlines of all times, said how would
I know how to get out of the thirty slumper?
I was never in one. He said, call Conceptsionne. He
can help you with that answer. So that was the
one that Pete said a lot that I heard, a
lot that always stuck with me, that always got a
great laugh from whatever crowd he was speaking to.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Uh, Joe, Let's let's switch gears. Let's talk about this
Cincinnati Bengals team, because you know, for the first time
we've got to talk after a game this year, we're
talking about a win. And yet because of the circumstances.
I still think people feel differently about it. Look, because
they started zero to three, there was never a win
(06:57):
win moment to go to Carolina and win. It was
as if you lose, the season is essentially over. If
you win, okay, you were supposed to win, but at
least it sets you up with the opportunity now against
the Baltimore Ravens to try to get this thing back
on track. When you look at that win on Sunday,
what is it about that performance that stands out to you?
Speaker 1 (07:16):
I think that's a great point. And I was curious
how Cincinnati would digest that win, whether it be just
the blanket joy of getting a win, or would there
be concerned again the way it looked. I'll say this
from what I experienced inside the Bengals locker room, and
I didn't know what to expect from a group that
through the first months had only come away with one win.
(07:38):
There wasn't a sense of relief, and that's kind of
what I expected when I walked in, that that would
be the natural emotion, that the team would just be
relieved they got one and maybe now they can start
stacking and building on it. The energy was certainly different.
The music was louder, there were smiles, the voices were louder,
But relief definitely is not word I would use. It
(08:01):
was a sense of we have a lot of work
to do, we have a big hole to get out of,
and this is just the start of that. And I
think to your point, I think a lot of people
can sense within the locker room that even though they
won Sunday, it's still not good enough, especially on the
defensive side of the football. And I'm sure that's where
(08:23):
a lot of this conversation will go. But just the
general tone of the locker room was a little different
than I expected. I expected them to be relieved. What
I walked away was with a team that still understands
it has a lot of work to do and has
a mountainous challenge in front of them, considering who they're
(08:43):
playing this coming week in the Baltimore Ravens.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Let's start on the defensive side of the ball, because again,
it wasn't you know, a performance to ride home about
the defense still struggling. Now, they did find a way
to force the turnover, they did find a way to
get the fourth and one goal line stop. All that
being said, they still gave up over five yards of
carry Cam Taylor Britt struggled, The defensive line struggled at
(09:06):
times that the whole defense has struggled outside of Logan
Wilson and really Trey Hendrickson. Are you at a point
now where it feels like this is just what this
team is going to be? I don't know what the
fix is at this point when you talk about this
Bengals defense as a whole.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
The one pushback I have on saying and just conceding
this is what it's going to look like is the
way it looked in Kansas City. And you and I
talked about this, what's the difference between this team and
the way they played in Kansas City and then every
other week they played so far this year? And I
think it can be peeled back and talked about in
(09:46):
different ways. And I think obviously the familiarity in the
field that lou An Arumo has for Patrick Mahomes led
the Bengals to having a good performance in Kansas City.
But also that day they had Sheldon Rankins, they had
BJ Hill, and they had Trey Hendrickson play like an
all Pro that he can be. And I quite honestly,
he might be this season. So is that the ceiling
(10:10):
for the Bengals? Can can they play like that again
if they have their full complement of guys? When will
they have their full compliment of guys again? Or is
that just one outlier and Patrick Mahomes just didn't play
well that day and just doesn't play well against the
Bengals and maybe it was misleading that the defense can't
perform like that. To me, it just goes back to
(10:31):
right now, I don't think they have the personnel defensively
even to be good enough for this offense to then
go do what it does and win games. I still
think that it's going to be an Achilles heal for
this team. And Sundays Sunday to me is it's kind
of my waterloot with this defense. Okay, Like, if you're
(10:52):
gonna show me that you can, this is gonna be
the Sunday to do it. Because what they did against
Washington still stands in the back of my mind. And
when you think about what Baltimore is, Baltimore is just
Washington on steroids. It's Jayden Daniels is now Lamar Jackson's
Brian Robinson is now Derek Henry and guess what Baltimore
has that Washington doesn't. That's a functional defense who can
(11:14):
make some plays and knows how to play winning football.
The one thing I will say to wrap this thought is, look,
the NFL is such a week to week league. You
never know what a team is going to look like
on a given week. But outside of one bad quarter
against the Raiders and one half inch of a tow
(11:35):
against the Chiefs, Baltimore's probably looked as good as anybody
through the first month of the season. I know what
Minnesota is doing, but is that sustainable. We'll see. Given
their pedigree, their track record, and how they played outside
of that one quarter against the Raiders, this is as
good as the NFL's got. It's coming to Cincinnati on Sunday,
(11:56):
and a defense that needs to get right is about
to be tested by the kind of offense that it
probably doesn't want to see that forces them to read, react,
tackle in space, and play fast. Those are challenges the
Bengals have not met so far this year, and now
they get it in one of the bigger games of
the season on Sunday.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
You sound like my Bearcats right now. One bad quarter
and a couple of plays away from being undefeated. So yeah,
we're in the same spot here. Listen the defensive side,
we saw they made the move and they got DJ Turner.
More snaps on that game on Sunday, and DJ Turner
played really well. I was a little taken back by
Anna Rumo's comments on Jordan Battle, But knowing how the
(12:37):
defense is played at this point, do you think that
the trigger will be a little quicker. Do you think
that they will be more apt to try to find
new pieces to fit in there to see what works,
knowing that they are now playing with their backs against
the wall.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
I think it should be. I think it better be.
You know, Jordan Battle needs a shot and it doesn't
make sense why he hasn't gotten it yet from what
the Bengals have seen from the two players playing their position.
And you know, you can go back in your archives
and pull this up. This is not and I told
you so, but it's It was a concern for me
having Geno Stone and Vonbo in the back end of
(13:15):
a defense. They could they run and react to the
point where they could be difference makers in the four
to six seconds of a snap. We all knew the
first you know the thirty seconds leading up to the
snap that those two might be able to help this
team communicate better, get lined up better, and therefore maybe
perform better. But could they when the balls in play
(13:37):
those four to six seconds play better? And certainly they
haven't played well enough for this team not to give
Jordan battle a shot at that position. You made a
great point. Why are they so adapt to giving DJ
Turner a shot and going to this rotation at corner
and not doing the same thing at the other position
(13:58):
on defense that the peers it needs some help or
at least someone deserving a shot. So yeah, I think
to your point, I think it better. I think you
better give them a look because right now what they
have out there isn't good enough. And if they're going
to do that with DJ Turner and Cam Tail their
bread in the cornerback rotation, why wouldn't they do the
same thing at rotation at safety and give Jordan Battles,
(14:20):
still a young player who probably needs more time, more
tape for them to fully evaluate who he is. Why
not give him that shot because right now what's out
there just isn't performing as it should.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
Is it sustainable? Joe on the offensive side of the
ball for them to find ways to win and having
to play that great each time they take the field.
I just I think about the pressure that would eventually
build in the offense knowing you know that that feeling.
You know, I equated this a lot, and I know
it's not the same, but I talk a lot about
(14:53):
when high school sports, when I was growing up with
Cole rain when they were really good and they ran
that triple option, and you knew, as as opposed offense,
you're only going to get so many opportunities because they're
going to possess the ball. For the Bengals, yep. You know,
as an offense, are you going to start pressing to say, man,
we have to score on nearly every drive because of
how the defense is playing. And is that sustainable for
(15:16):
an offense over a season.
Speaker 1 (15:19):
No, that's not sustainable for an offense to play to
that standard every single week. You look back to last year,
even when the Bengals got humming, right when they went
to San Francisco and got the win, and then you
look at how Burrow played against the Texans. He didn't
play up to his standard. That that just happens. Good players,
good teams, great offenses don't play great every week. Now,
(15:39):
I think it's sustainable that they can have one of
the three, four or five best offenses in the NFL.
In fact, I think that should be the expectation for
this offense. The way they looked, especially with the Marius
Men's coming in and looking like he can settle into
that spot at right tackle and dude just fine. And
then you saw the chemistry of Joe Burrow and t Higgins,
and then the big playability of Jamar Chase and then
(16:02):
now you're seeing Zach Moss and Chase Brown, and I
get it it was Carolina, but you're starting to see
how they can deploy those two and use those two
as weapons for this offense to be effective. So certainly,
I think the expectations should be that they do sustain
a level where they are one of the four or
five best offenses in the NFL for the rest of
(16:22):
the season. However, to expect them to have to do
that every single week is not going to happen. It's
unfair for the expectation. You know, Joe Burrows is as
good as he is, and right now he's probably a
sneaky back door Betley for MVP, considering his numbers and
the way he's taking care of the football and what
(16:43):
he's probably going to have to do to carry this
team to a good season and ultimately a playoff season.
But yeah, the expectation for this offense now has to
be that they perform at the level where they can
carry the defense, because I don't have faith of the
defense can even get to where what we said before
the season was just be okay, just be fine and
(17:05):
let the offense do what the offense does and win
you football games. I don't have the confidence that this
defense can even get to that point where they're just okay,
that they can have the offense do what the offense does.
So I think it's unfair for the offense to have
to play with this kind of pressure where they have
to feel like they're perfect. There will be Sundays and
Mondays and Thursdays when they are able to do that
(17:28):
and they can carry a team, but there's going to
be games like the Texans game last year where Joe
just misses a couple of throws. There isn't perfect and
has an off game, and a defense has a good
scheme and the Bengals offense just can't do what it
can to carry the defense, and the Bengals are going
to take some els, and right now this team doesn't
have a long enough leash to take the kind of
(17:51):
ls that they might have to because of the current
state of the defense.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
What's the next step the offense can take her? Where
can the offense be better?
Speaker 1 (17:59):
In your opinion, tough man, that's a tough one. Certainly
you're starting to see right now it's becoming Jamar Chase
and t Higgins and the running backs that they want
to feature. Andrea Yoshibas had the one play and it
was a heck of a play by him in a
great throw by Joe Burrow. But certainly you saw this
week and even back to Washington, you know, Andre had
(18:22):
some plays late in the game where he got open,
made some plays down the field. I still wonder if
they're able to find a third receiving option to go
with the top two. Mikasicki has taken a step back
the last couple of weeks in his production. Like I said,
Andrea only had the one catch, But if Chase Brown
and Dak Moss are going to get thirty combined touches
(18:44):
a game, You're still going to want to get te
his eight to ten targets, Jamar his ten targets, and
then you start running out of places you can go
with the football. But I have no issues with what
the offense is doing right now. What's another level for
the offense? What is it? At one point they had
gone twelve straight possessions where they had scored on eleven
(19:06):
of those twelve possessions. Now I will say this, that's
against Washington, that's against Carolina. Baltimore comes to Cincinnati with
a very functional defense and a pedigree of playing well
on that side of the ball. They know how to
play winning football. They played winning football on that side
of the ball for a long time. Sunday is going
to be interesting to me, not only for what Baltimore's
(19:29):
defense can do against the Bengals offense, but obviously what
the Bengals defense can do against that offense. It's going
to be really interesting. I think, a good measuring stick
game for us to watch his fans. Look, the Bengals
are not in a place where this is a measuring
stick game. They've got to win the game. They've lost
the margin of error to drop all these AFC North
(19:49):
games like they typically do and then feast on everybody else.
But for us people who observe, people who talk about
the team, this is a moment where you see them
go up against a championship caliber offense and defense and
really get a better feel for what they've got outside
of going to Carolina and beating them and then also
torching Washington's very poorous defense on the Monday night, Joe.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
Before I let you go, you know, we talk about
needing a win on Sunday because one and four, Let's
just face it, it feels a lot different At two and three.
You start looking, Okay, here's where everyone sits in the AFC.
North Cleveland is not going places you've tied yourself with Baltimore.
That's a great opportunity, and Pittsburgh doesn't look like it
has the offense to run away with anything. Just talk
(20:34):
to me about the different feel of two and three
and one and four. Albeit it's early in the season,
but that is a completely different feeling knowing that you
got the giants in the Cleveland Browns.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
After that's right, it kind of sets itself up as
a runway, you know, And the word momentum is such
a funny thing in sports, but we've seen this team
in the streets. They can go on, and especially when
you start looking at the teams who have gone from
zero to three to the playoffs, they have a chunk
of the season where they get hot and they just
(21:07):
win a lot of games in a row and good feelings, goodbyes,
good energy. That kind of momentum can carry a team
from week to week. I truly do believe that. And
so now you're having a win in Carolina. It didn't
look great from the defensive side of the ball, but
if you're able to win that game like they did,
and then you do beat Baltimore, then you got a
(21:28):
shot to go to New York and then beat Cleveland
two games that if the Bengals aren't favored, it's going
to be a game that we all believe here in
Cincinnati that if they play well, they can and should win.
Even though Cleveland's had the Bengals matter, especially with Joe
Burrow as quarterback. But I think there's a moment here
right There's going to be a moment in the season
(21:48):
where the Bengals have to reel off and rip off
some wins. And this still feels like the moment in time,
even though Baltimore's on the schedule where there's some vulnerability
for them to make the kind of run where two
and three and one and four feels different, that they're
gonna have to have a streak at some point, they're
gonna have to go on a streak of winning four
in a row, winning five in a row, winning four
(22:08):
out of five. Is this the moment where they do it?
And then you get this thing right quickly, and then
look towards the rest of the season, because one in four,
with still some of the games they have left on
the schedule, including five AFC North games after this Sunday,
then you're still looking at a really daunting task of
digging out of a hole and getting yourself back to
(22:30):
the playoffs. And what is looking more and more like
again another year where the AFC can be won by anybody,
considering what's going on in Kansas City with the injuries,
considering what Buffalo looked like in Baltimore, and then considering
what Baltimore's history is in the playoffs, the Bengals can
just get themselves in by that point of the year,
(22:51):
maybe some of the younger guys on defensive stepped up
the Chris Jenkins of the world. Maybe Jordan Battle's playing
and playing well at that point. Maybe it's a different
looking team in January than it is in September.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
Danaman, you're the man. Cannot thank you enough. Always appreciate
your time, always looking forward to Tuesdays here and catching up.
Enjoy the rest of your week. We'll talk next week.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
Boy, send me some texts. Yeah, getting text from you guys.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
Yeah, Oh you've You've just opened up a door that
you don't want to go.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
You don't want to You don't want that.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Joe, have you seen the McMahon documentary, Joe.
Speaker 1 (23:25):
No, I've only seen clips on online on Twitter. It's
on a backload of things I need to watch and
my wife. My life has been pretty hectic these days,
but I always squeeze in talkbacks and a little bit
of Kermit the Frog while taking my shower getting ready
for it.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
Grab a quick shower, flip it on and we'll get
the talkbacks when we get back. Thank you, Joe, See
boy there he is the Dean Joe Danaman, Fox nineteen.
Always appreciative, hit time. We gotta take a break. We
come back your talkbacks next on the home of the Bengals.
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 1 (23:59):
Now your chance to win one thousand dollars. Enter this
nationwide keyword on our website, cran. That's Cran. Enter it now.
Speaker 2 (24:09):
Hey, it's Tony Pike. If you're looking for a spot
to grab a bike, to eat with the family and
catch the game at the same time, head to Miamiville Traiyard.
They have gourmet burgers, wings, salads, twenty beers on tap.
They've got a huge patio, fireside seating available, and scenic
views of the Loveland Bike Trail. It's perfect for the
Pike crew and it's perfect for yours as well. Check
(24:31):
out the yard on the trail at Miamiville Trailyard dot com.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Hey, Alexa, what's the late
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.