May 20, 2025 • 25 mins
Tony and Austin talk Bengals and Reds with Joe Danneman from FOX19, on ESPN 1530!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
About Cincinnati from Cincinnatis, spontered 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 (00:21):
Welcome back. It is the third and final hour of
the Tuesday edition of Sincy three to sixty thanks to
Penn Station. Let's get right into it. We have the
opportunity on Tuesdays at one o'clock to talk to Joe Daneman.
We had Joe Burrow, We had Zach Taylor speaking today,
so Joe got moved back to two, which works perfectly
because Joe was there as Zach and Joe were both
talking and he joins us right now, joey day, what's
(00:43):
going on?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Can I tell you something funny? Yes? So of everything
I do. And I texted this to Austin last week,
and I think about now our expanded sports department, our
bigger footprint on the Bay with our flagship partnership, we're
now showing Reds games on Fox nineteen. Now we had
(01:05):
a partnership with the Big East at being on Fox
whenever anybody stops and asks me anything about my job anymore.
They asked me about my appearance on Sincy three sixteen
on Tuesdays with Tony and Austin, which I think is awesome.
I think that's great, and I'm glad that they come
(01:26):
up to me and talk to me about that, because
I take it seriously. I get prepared every week for
this twenty minute discussion, and we have a lot to
talk about today, so I'll stop hijacking the segment.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
First of all, that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
And second of all, if you could relay that to
our bosses, that would be oh yes, absolutely, next time
you see him a well.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
I know your bosses, so I can do that very easily.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Let's start, because we heard from Joe Burrow first, and
you know he went all over the map with primetime games,
with an international game, with flag football, with the Netflix
documentary getting off to a faster start. He talked about
Trey Hendrickson and what from a Joe Burrow standpoint stood
out to you the most in the time where he
spoke today.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
But I thought it very interesting because this is the
first time we've seen Joe Burrow since the end of
the season, and if you think back to last season,
the version of Joe we got at press conferences, whether
they were midweek or after games, was oftentimes a guy
who was frustrated, stressed, angered, whatever the word is that
would describe what last season was and how well he
(02:34):
played and how poorly his team sometime performed and not
making the playoffs. So to get a refreshed Joe Burrow,
one who was willing to really talk about anything today
and really reveal a lot about his offseason, especially going
to the met Gala and now talking about some of
the episodes he's seen of the upcoming Quarterback series on Netflix.
(02:58):
It was just refreshing to see Joe look refresh. And
I've often said this about Joe Burrow, and we've talked
about it on this show, that when you get to
this point in his career and look he said today,
he's still working on getting better and the great ones.
No matter what it is, your job is, you're always
trying to up your game, add to your bag, whatever
(03:20):
it is, and he's trying to do that. And I
think if you go look at some of the videos
I posted today on Twitter, you can find some of
the things he is working on here at Bengals practice
in the offseason. But I find that this calmness to
Joe Burrow that when he's at this level, now that
he's at the height of his powers, I've often equated
it to Luke Skywalker. It almost feels like Neo and
(03:42):
the Matrix when he when he finally gets it, when
everything is clicked and he understands his power, in his place,
in his influence, and there's this confidence in this calmness
to him that he brought to the podium today, And
it was good to see that again after what he
experienced last year of playing great football, having his best
(04:04):
statistical career or a year of his career, but the
team not performing the way he wanted to. So to me,
all of the questions and all of the answers and
this hodgepodge of different topics we hit Joe Burrow with
to see him again just look refreshed. I thought was
refreshing for us and what we do. But I'm sure
also for Cincinnati Bengals fans.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
What did you make in particular what he's had to
say about Trey Hendrickson that's obviously dominated the news in
the last week or so. Anything that Joe Burrow said,
do you take in away of him putting any pressure
on the front office or just what you would expect
any good teammate to say about another player on the team.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I think more of that of just being a good teammate,
of what anybody would say in this situation. I found
it interesting that he spoke at such length at times
about Jamar and Tea, and spoke at such lengths at
times in the offseason and about them, and also so
lumpedon Trey Henderson. He was very brief in what he
said about Trey today. I think it was only a
(05:05):
twenty to twenty five second sound by but him saying
he should be paid what he deserves and get paid
what he wants, and that's what the market is for
his position, and certainly the numbers that he puts off.
It was short, sweet, but I think a point that
Joe Burrow wanted to make for a teammate that he respects.
There's no doubt listening to Joe Burrow today, listening to
(05:26):
Joe Burrow last season talk about it, listening to Joe
Burrow in the offseason talk about it, there's a lot
of respect for Joe, for Trey Hendrickson and what he
brings to the team. Joe understands, and I think anybody
who was at practice today. But when you see the
Bengals line up and their number one defensive line today
and understand that DJ Hills in a walking boot, and
(05:47):
Jamar Stewart isn't signed, and Trey Hendrickson we don't know
what his future is. When you see a starting defensive
line of Joseph Osai, Chris Jenkins, TJ. Slayton, and Miles Murphy,
you understand the urgency of having a guy with Trey
Henderson's talent being back on the field and being lined
(06:07):
up with those guys that just doesn't look formidable. But again,
they're gonna add guys in Schamar is going to be here.
Bjy's going to be ready. We don't know about Trey,
but I think Joe understands the value. And I think
Joe also set a bit of a tone to at
the beginning when he said he hoped he didn't have
a lot of influence over these decisions, because I don't
think he wants to be looked at as a guy
(06:29):
who has to oftentimes or all the time go to
back for teammates. And I also think he wants to
be the kind of guy who has a front office
who understands value, who understands the value of players like
he and Jamar and doesn't need to hear that from
his quarterback for them to sign them and keep them
long terms. So I think Joe sent a couple of
messages today, the overwhelming one being that he doesn't want
(06:51):
to be a part of this in the future, but
also understanding he wants Trey. But I think in the
back of Joe's mind he understands the team's in a
bit of a pickle or what Trey Henderson going forward.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
I'm glad you said that, because to me, that was
the biggest takeaway. That was probably the biggest message sent
in the way that he said it, like I don't
want to be involved in this, and that can maybe
be sent to Trey as in, don't count on me
for everything, and also sent to the organization as if
to say, I shouldn't have to do this for you.
When you heard the numbers that were that came out
(07:22):
the other day, twenty eight million, what was your reaction
to that in terms of the number that Trey has
apparently been offered according to Pro Football Talk.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I think it's probably a number that my reaction is
this Austin is it's not going to be a number
he likes, but it's probably the number that's accurate to
be offered considering what he's supposed to make this season.
And the quote unquote promises that he was given last
year if he performed at a level going forward, and
(07:55):
he did. He went out led the league in sacks,
and that the Bengals made promises. That's certain me a bump,
that's a boost, and that checks the box to me
of a realistic bump in pay, but also protecting the
future of whatever this team wants to do financially going forward.
They can't break the banquet that there's just not enough
(08:15):
there for this team. And I know people will say, look,
they've got all this money to spend. Just because they
have the money to spend doesn't mean they're going to
spend it. It's just how they work, it's how they
do things. I thought it was fair. I think that's
a fair number for Trey Hendrickson. Whether or not he
would come to that number or come back to that
number remains to be seen. But considering what he's supposed
(08:38):
to make and the rhetoric of what happened on the
field last week and the scene he made, and I
think we can call it what it was. It was
a scene here at pay Course Stadium. I think that
number's fair. I think that would check the box of
the team coming through on their promise of taking care
of him if he performed at a certain level. And
he did, and so when I saw the number, my
(09:00):
first reaction was, I think that's fair, But I don't
think Trey's going to accept it.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
One more thing on Joe Burrow. We often talked last
year about the transition that Joe Burrow is making because
there were so many leaders on the team the year
before that he didn't have to be really the vocal guy.
And now all of a sudden, it's your team. You're
the guy everyone's looking to you. And I think that
took some time to get adjusting to to Joe Burrow.
And you heard a little bit of that today. He
(09:25):
mentioned going to the met gal and he said he
enjoyed it because, you know, he just kind of gets
to be himself. You could tell that he still loves
that part of just being out to be himself. But
when he's talking about international and growing the game and
the leadership mentality and what he wants to be, do
you sense that he's just much more comfortable now in
(09:45):
the role of being that for this organization.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I mean, you rewind two years ago, Tony he said
he would never do the Quarterback series on Netflix. Yes,
and here we are in May of twenty twenty five,
and he's going to debut as one of the stars
when it hit Netflix in a couple of months in July.
And I know he spoke to the influence that Peyton
Manning had on this, and that Peyton Manning is one
of the executive producers, spoke to him and said, look,
(10:11):
we're not going to harm you or the team in
any way, and Joe took his word at it, and
I believe Joe. I believe Joe and saying that Peyton
Manning was a big influence on this. But no matter
who the influence is, this is still Joe stepping out
of a comfort zone, right and doing something like this
that he said two years ago he wouldn't do. Now,
(10:32):
we asked a little bit about the idea of the
logistics of what it looked like, and he said it
was no different than Hard Knocks. In fact, Zach Taylor
said after the fact that I don't think anybody on
the team realized that the Netflix series was being shot
on Joe. They just thought it was more Hard Knocks.
Cameras just following around the quarterbacks, so they weren't invasive.
(10:53):
There was a promise that they would do Joe right
in this series. And I think it's interesting too, going
back to your idea of leadership of us maybe getting
a closer look of what that looks like on a
daily basis during this series, because when we were asking
just what does this look like? What is this highlight?
Why did you want to do it? And Zach Taylor
(11:14):
also echoed, this is getting an understanding of what these
guys have to do on a weekly basis to get
themselves and to get their team in the best position
to play winning football on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, whatever day
they played that week. So I think it's interesting that
you're seeing a guy who you know, went to Paris,
(11:35):
went to the met Gala, did the Netflix show, and
this is all coming while right his privacy was was
disrupted with his health being broken into and you can
see anybody that would might go into a show if
something like that happens. Joe hasn't done that, and we've
seen him step out a little bit out of his
box that he said he wouldn't do just a couple
(11:55):
of years ago. So I find it interesting. Look, I
think fans of the organization and fans of Joe Burrow
have an insatiable appetite to learn more about this guy
for a connection on somebody that they follow on a
daily basis, they cheer for every time he plays, and
I think Joe opening a small window into what makes
(12:16):
him tick, even if it's just football in this quarterback series,
I think it's important for him, and I think it's
important for fans of Joe Burrow just to get a
deeper look at everything this guy does to be successful
on Sundays, because I think it might wow people when
they see Joe Burrow at work on a series like
this coming up on Netflix.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
As far as it pertains to Zach Taylor and his
meeting with the media today, from just a tone standpoint,
I think Austin used the term urse it felt terse
from a statement from Zach Taylor, did you get a
sense of that. Did it feel like, I don't want
to say perturb but when he was up there, especially
early talking about Trey Hendrickson, did it feel different coming
(13:01):
from Zach.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yeah, that's it. I think the beginning felt different just
because and look, you go into a situation like that
when you're a head coach of a football team in
the NFL, you understand what what's going to be asked
of you, especially right off the top. And so there
were a lot of questions about Trey, very short answers. Certainly,
(13:23):
we all wanted to know more about the text message,
and Zach said, you know that that's just kind of
his process. I did find it interesting, and you know,
it's one of those things that did do you believe
him or is he just taking the grenade for the
organization that he said that the text came from him
and that it wasn't anybody else's idea, but he just
wanted to be upfront with Trey about the money, about
(13:46):
the possible fines, and we'll see if he's here at
mandatory Mini camp. But he did double down and say
it was his decision to send that text message. But
outside of the Trey Hendrickson situation and the Trey Hendrickson questions.
I thought it was normal, Zach. Certainly, there's been a
lot of talk about the faster start, and you can't
go any session anywhere, right, you go all the way
(14:09):
back to the combine, you go to the practice fields,
you go to press conferences. Everybody's going to be asking
about these fast starts. And certainly there's a little bit
more information now with us having the schedule in front
of us and knowing that it's Cleveland, and knowing that
it's Jacksonville, and knowing that it's Minnesota weeks one, two,
and three. By the way, I'm gonna car, guys, and
we're getting rained on.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
You, as it sounds to me, Are you doing a
live driven right now?
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I am a storm tracker, but I'm outside of the
stadium because I have live shots coming up here in
a couple of hours. It's going to do my editing
here in the car before I pop out and do
some TV. If it gets too loud with the loud range,
to toller at me and I'll scream louder. But I
thought Zach was his normal self and outside of the
Trey Hendrickson stuff, and we keep asking questions about fast
(14:57):
starts and what can be different. I would love someone
to give us just a little bit more of the
blueprint of what's going to be different here in the
offseason and training camp and going forward. Zach talked about
it today, Joe talked about it today, The idea that
these guys might play more in the preseason. That stuff's
not hashed out, it's not finalized just yet, But we
(15:18):
don't have a lot of the blueprint of what's going
to be different or what is different right now for
this team to get off to a faster start. But
to answer your question, I thought Zach Yeah, was very
terse at the beginning with Trey Hendrickson's stuff, even though
he knew that was coming. Outside of that, I thought
it was normal.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Guy, you mentioned the scheduled. Does it seem like I mean,
Joe talked about it. Obviously, it's the first time we
guys talked to him. But do you get the feeling
the Bengals are pretty pissed about the way the schedule
worked out for them again having to go to Baltimore
on a Thursday night and for the fourth year in
a row in primetime.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Yeah, I do. And how couldn't they be right? It's
a bit ridiculous that they're doing this for the fourth
year in a row, and for Joe Burrow to single
that one out when asked just generically about the schedule,
that's the first one he pointed to was that game
and having to play there a fourth year in primetime
in a row. Zach Taylor's different, you know, Zach Taylor
(16:16):
typically tries to play the company line, tries to live
by the NFL shield and says he accepts the challenge,
loves primetime road games, even he hinted that he's loved
to have some more at home because of how much
he feels energized by the home crowd on a primetime game.
But how could the Bengals not be at this point angered,
(16:39):
ticked off whatever the word or phrase you want to
use for this of having to do it four years
and it's a bit ridiculous for this to happen like
this consecutively four times in a row. But it is
what it is, and the schedule is what it is,
and to me, it's it's not necessarily just about going
to Baltimore a fourth year in a row on a
Thursday night. It's it's that three game schedule late in
(17:01):
the season of Baltimore, Buffalo Baltimore that that feels even
more ridiculous to me than having to play in Baltimore
a fourth consecutive year.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
We heard Zach use the words of hunger and urgency
when talking about Al Golden in this defense. Yeah, you
had practice today, Phase two underway, but not at practice
is bj Hill because of the foot injury. Trey Hendrickson
is obviously not there. And then there is just this
(17:31):
ongoing situation with Shamar Stewart. And I don't think I
don't think the Shamar Stewart thing is an issue right
now because I'm not worried that he's never gonna sign.
He's going to sign. But when you look at what
Al Golden is being tasked to do and to not
have you mentioned the defensive line that was out there today,
how important is it and what is the hold up
(17:52):
at this point to get Schamar out there? If nothing
more than did you get these reps on the field
in such a crucial part of the offseason.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Yeah, And to add to it, what what's gonna happen
with Jermaine Pratt is the other question to ask too.
And then you look out there today and the starting
linebackers or Logan Wilson and Demetrious Night, and that's interesting.
It's just it's just different to see h someone else
running around out there at that position other than Jermaine
Pratt who's been running with Logan Wilson now for several years.
(18:22):
And and you go back to those buzzwords of hunger
and and urgency, the great buzzwords, right, and everybody wants
to hear those things. Uh, but but what about the tackling?
You know, what about the speed, what about the talent,
and what about the chemistry? Because that that's the kind
of stuff. Going back to Al Golden's original press conference
when he took the job here in Cincinnati, and it
(18:42):
was fun to hear him talk about, you know, coming
back home and and you know, and and coming down
the highway and seeing the stadium and his eyes lighting
up and feeling like he's back home. But you know,
he also talked about the idea of again going back
to this fast start, and he mentioned how important it
was at O and in each phase of guys understanding
(19:04):
that that's where the fast start begins. And there's a
lot of new parts there are a lot of guys
who have to prove they can play in new roles.
And when you don't have Dj Hill and Shamar Stewart
and Trey Hendrickson and what's gonna happen with Jermaine Pratt
and you have new guys playing new positions on this field,
chemistry matters. Being around each other matters. You know, Shamar Stewart,
(19:28):
I can tell you I watched him closely today. He's
paying close attention to what's happening. He's he's right there,
he's asking questions, he's involved, but he's not doing anything physically.
And what's interesting is, you know, Jerry Montgomery's working with
these young guys like Miles Murphy and Joseph Osai and
they're going through these reps and it's rep after rep
after rep. And these guys got like five or six
(19:50):
reps in a row, which is unique. It's typically one
two and then they switch out. And but these younger
guys are getting a lot and he's stopping them after
each rep and coaching them on what they did well,
what they did wrong. And Shamar Stewart's not getting that
that that's not it's it's not good it's there's there's
(20:11):
no other way to put it. Certainly, I don't think
it's gonna set Shamar Stewart back in his career. The
guy obviously still has everything he wants to accomplish in
front of him. But it's it's not advantageous for this
team for him to be in a jersey watching from
the sideline, taking mental reps instead of physical reps, especially
considering there are question marks about his production. There's you
(20:33):
can't run from that. That's just part of his story
as he enters his NFL debut in his rookie season
this coming year. So I don't think it's you know,
I don't want to make a mountain out of such
a small thing at this point. But these these things
do matter. They do add up for a defense that
has a new coach and a lot of new parts
and a lot of guys that they're counting on to
(20:54):
step up and be more productive at at all three
levels of their defense. And so, yeah, hunger urgency great,
but what about everything else? What about the chemistry and
what about the ability of these guys to go out
there and do it?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Before I let you chase this upcoming storm. The Reds
are on a five game winning streak. Will Benson has
been phenomenal. He's such a fun and easy guy to
root for from the outside, But being around this team
in the way that you have been, does that translate
to the locker room as well? Is he just a
guy that you want to root for and is the
(21:30):
same guy you kind of get to see when he's
going through these stretches that make you want to root
for him?
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Did Austin put you up to this? No? I know
he did. No. Well, I say that because I say
that Tony in Austin listening. I say that to be
totally transparent, Austin. I was sending Austin text messages this
week about Will Benson and how much of a skeptic
I am, and I think I don't think it's wrong
to be skeptical of Will Benson at this point. Right Like,
(21:55):
we saw what he did in twenty twenty three, and
he proved then that he deserved to go into twenty
twenty four with a role he thought with a pretty
decent role. But then we saw what he did last year,
and you saw this year why he deserved to be
looked at critically. And I understood why he didn't start
the season with the big league club. Then he gets
(22:16):
to call up, he strikes out four times and you
almost feel like, Okay, Will Benson's running out of chances here.
So I think to your original point about having a
guy to root for, when you see someone who's who's
done everything right, he's done everything the right way. Correct
that he said everything right. He works hard, he plays
the game the right way. He went to the minor leagues,
(22:38):
he made adjustments, and now he's seeing success. I don't
care what if you like the team, if you cover
the team, if you don't like the team, if you
can't be happy for someone who's been given a challenge,
who's maybe down to the last chance and comes out
and takes advantage of it and check your pulse kind
of thing. Right. So that's where I am with Will Ben.
(23:00):
And now I'm still skeptical of what he can do,
but good for him for going out and proving a
lot of people wrong, even if it's just for a
week or two. I would love to see Will smile
a little bit more. Even after Sunday, after his two
home run game and hitting five and four games, it
was like, this guy's trying to maintain this level of
composure even though he's having the greatest week that he'll
(23:24):
ever have, or maybe anybody in that room will ever have,
maybe outside of Elie de la Cruz, and and he's
still just not yet looking like he's ready to show
the kind of emotion that we would expect from Will
Benson and the guy like this to have. But good
on him. There's a lot of doubters, there's a lot
of skeptics, and you can throw me right in there
with all of them. I'll be very transparent about that.
(23:45):
But this guy is taking what might be his last
chance and run with it. And good on Will Benson
for doing it.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
I did not put Tony out to that, but kudos
to you for and being business yess Joe, you're.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
The apps best. What's coming up next on on Fox nineteen? Boss?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Okay? Two things? We have the Red on Fox nineteen
now tonight. Okay, so the Reds are in Pittsburgh. You
can watch the game right there on Fox nineteen, don't
have to move the channel. And then starting Thursday, Charlie
Goldsmith and I will be debuting once a week a
streaming podcast hybrid that'll be on all of our streaming
(24:24):
services that'll hit on Thursday debut. We need a name,
So if you can brainstorm and name for myself and
Charlie and our segment, holler at me. I'm easy to
find love it.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
I'm guessing by the way I slid that in there,
you would rather be called Boston Guy.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yes, always coffee Okay, dot is so bad, it's so bad.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Just making sure.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Will you guys be breaking down the pigeon incident in
your show?
Speaker 3 (24:52):
How good is that is?
Speaker 2 (24:54):
The pigeon has he been taking?
Speaker 3 (24:58):
I need to I need to check in with Charlie
here and see if he's got the boots on the
ground for Fox nineteen in Pittsburgh to see if the
pigeon has made it.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Oh, you're the best, Joe, Joe, thank you so much. Man,
We appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Thanks the boys. There he is.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I think we're losing the boss man, Joe Daneman, Fox nineteen. Uh,
what a way to kick off our three of since
he three sixty Thanks to Penn Station on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Now your chance to win fl
About Cincinnati from Cincinnatis, spontered in part by Penn Station
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
Welcome back. It is the third and final hour of
the Tuesday edition of Sincy three to sixty thanks to
Penn Station. Let's get right into it. We have the
opportunity on Tuesdays at one o'clock to talk to Joe Daneman.
We had Joe Burrow, We had Zach Taylor speaking today,
so Joe got moved back to two, which works perfectly
because Joe was there as Zach and Joe were both
talking and he joins us right now, joey day, what's
(00:43):
going on?
Speaker 3 (00:45):
Can I tell you something funny? Yes? So of everything
I do. And I texted this to Austin last week,
and I think about now our expanded sports department, our
bigger footprint on the Bay with our flagship partnership, we're
now showing Reds games on Fox nineteen. Now we had
(01:05):
a partnership with the Big East at being on Fox
whenever anybody stops and asks me anything about my job anymore.
They asked me about my appearance on Sincy three sixteen
on Tuesdays with Tony and Austin, which I think is awesome.
I think that's great, and I'm glad that they come
(01:26):
up to me and talk to me about that, because
I take it seriously. I get prepared every week for
this twenty minute discussion, and we have a lot to
talk about today, so I'll stop hijacking the segment.
Speaker 4 (01:38):
First of all, that makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.
And second of all, if you could relay that to
our bosses, that would be oh yes, absolutely, next time
you see him a well.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
I know your bosses, so I can do that very easily.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Let's start, because we heard from Joe Burrow first, and
you know he went all over the map with primetime games,
with an international game, with flag football, with the Netflix
documentary getting off to a faster start. He talked about
Trey Hendrickson and what from a Joe Burrow standpoint stood
out to you the most in the time where he
spoke today.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
But I thought it very interesting because this is the
first time we've seen Joe Burrow since the end of
the season, and if you think back to last season,
the version of Joe we got at press conferences, whether
they were midweek or after games, was oftentimes a guy
who was frustrated, stressed, angered, whatever the word is that
would describe what last season was and how well he
(02:34):
played and how poorly his team sometime performed and not
making the playoffs. So to get a refreshed Joe Burrow,
one who was willing to really talk about anything today
and really reveal a lot about his offseason, especially going
to the met Gala and now talking about some of
the episodes he's seen of the upcoming Quarterback series on Netflix.
(02:58):
It was just refreshing to see Joe look refresh. And
I've often said this about Joe Burrow, and we've talked
about it on this show, that when you get to
this point in his career and look he said today,
he's still working on getting better and the great ones.
No matter what it is, your job is, you're always
trying to up your game, add to your bag, whatever
(03:20):
it is, and he's trying to do that. And I
think if you go look at some of the videos
I posted today on Twitter, you can find some of
the things he is working on here at Bengals practice
in the offseason. But I find that this calmness to
Joe Burrow that when he's at this level, now that
he's at the height of his powers, I've often equated
it to Luke Skywalker. It almost feels like Neo and
(03:42):
the Matrix when he when he finally gets it, when
everything is clicked and he understands his power, in his place,
in his influence, and there's this confidence in this calmness
to him that he brought to the podium today, And
it was good to see that again after what he
experienced last year of playing great football, having his best
(04:04):
statistical career or a year of his career, but the
team not performing the way he wanted to. So to me,
all of the questions and all of the answers and
this hodgepodge of different topics we hit Joe Burrow with
to see him again just look refreshed. I thought was
refreshing for us and what we do. But I'm sure
also for Cincinnati Bengals fans.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
What did you make in particular what he's had to
say about Trey Hendrickson that's obviously dominated the news in
the last week or so. Anything that Joe Burrow said,
do you take in away of him putting any pressure
on the front office or just what you would expect
any good teammate to say about another player on the team.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
I think more of that of just being a good teammate,
of what anybody would say in this situation. I found
it interesting that he spoke at such length at times
about Jamar and Tea, and spoke at such lengths at
times in the offseason and about them, and also so
lumpedon Trey Henderson. He was very brief in what he
said about Trey today. I think it was only a
(05:05):
twenty to twenty five second sound by but him saying
he should be paid what he deserves and get paid
what he wants, and that's what the market is for
his position, and certainly the numbers that he puts off.
It was short, sweet, but I think a point that
Joe Burrow wanted to make for a teammate that he respects.
There's no doubt listening to Joe Burrow today, listening to
(05:26):
Joe Burrow last season talk about it, listening to Joe
Burrow in the offseason talk about it, there's a lot
of respect for Joe, for Trey Hendrickson and what he
brings to the team. Joe understands, and I think anybody
who was at practice today. But when you see the
Bengals line up and their number one defensive line today
and understand that DJ Hills in a walking boot, and
(05:47):
Jamar Stewart isn't signed, and Trey Hendrickson we don't know
what his future is. When you see a starting defensive
line of Joseph Osai, Chris Jenkins, TJ. Slayton, and Miles Murphy,
you understand the urgency of having a guy with Trey
Henderson's talent being back on the field and being lined
(06:07):
up with those guys that just doesn't look formidable. But again,
they're gonna add guys in Schamar is going to be here.
Bjy's going to be ready. We don't know about Trey,
but I think Joe understands the value. And I think
Joe also set a bit of a tone to at
the beginning when he said he hoped he didn't have
a lot of influence over these decisions, because I don't
think he wants to be looked at as a guy
(06:29):
who has to oftentimes or all the time go to
back for teammates. And I also think he wants to
be the kind of guy who has a front office
who understands value, who understands the value of players like
he and Jamar and doesn't need to hear that from
his quarterback for them to sign them and keep them
long terms. So I think Joe sent a couple of
messages today, the overwhelming one being that he doesn't want
(06:51):
to be a part of this in the future, but
also understanding he wants Trey. But I think in the
back of Joe's mind he understands the team's in a
bit of a pickle or what Trey Henderson going forward.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
I'm glad you said that, because to me, that was
the biggest takeaway. That was probably the biggest message sent
in the way that he said it, like I don't
want to be involved in this, and that can maybe
be sent to Trey as in, don't count on me
for everything, and also sent to the organization as if
to say, I shouldn't have to do this for you.
When you heard the numbers that were that came out
(07:22):
the other day, twenty eight million, what was your reaction
to that in terms of the number that Trey has
apparently been offered according to Pro Football Talk.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I think it's probably a number that my reaction is
this Austin is it's not going to be a number
he likes, but it's probably the number that's accurate to
be offered considering what he's supposed to make this season.
And the quote unquote promises that he was given last
year if he performed at a level going forward, and
(07:55):
he did. He went out led the league in sacks,
and that the Bengals made promises. That's certain me a bump,
that's a boost, and that checks the box to me
of a realistic bump in pay, but also protecting the
future of whatever this team wants to do financially going forward.
They can't break the banquet that there's just not enough
(08:15):
there for this team. And I know people will say, look,
they've got all this money to spend. Just because they
have the money to spend doesn't mean they're going to
spend it. It's just how they work, it's how they
do things. I thought it was fair. I think that's
a fair number for Trey Hendrickson. Whether or not he
would come to that number or come back to that
number remains to be seen. But considering what he's supposed
(08:38):
to make and the rhetoric of what happened on the
field last week and the scene he made, and I
think we can call it what it was. It was
a scene here at pay Course Stadium. I think that
number's fair. I think that would check the box of
the team coming through on their promise of taking care
of him if he performed at a certain level. And
he did, and so when I saw the number, my
(09:00):
first reaction was, I think that's fair, But I don't
think Trey's going to accept it.
Speaker 2 (09:04):
One more thing on Joe Burrow. We often talked last
year about the transition that Joe Burrow is making because
there were so many leaders on the team the year
before that he didn't have to be really the vocal guy.
And now all of a sudden, it's your team. You're
the guy everyone's looking to you. And I think that
took some time to get adjusting to to Joe Burrow.
And you heard a little bit of that today. He
(09:25):
mentioned going to the met gal and he said he
enjoyed it because, you know, he just kind of gets
to be himself. You could tell that he still loves
that part of just being out to be himself. But
when he's talking about international and growing the game and
the leadership mentality and what he wants to be, do
you sense that he's just much more comfortable now in
(09:45):
the role of being that for this organization.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
I mean, you rewind two years ago, Tony he said
he would never do the Quarterback series on Netflix. Yes,
and here we are in May of twenty twenty five,
and he's going to debut as one of the stars
when it hit Netflix in a couple of months in July.
And I know he spoke to the influence that Peyton
Manning had on this, and that Peyton Manning is one
of the executive producers, spoke to him and said, look,
(10:11):
we're not going to harm you or the team in
any way, and Joe took his word at it, and
I believe Joe. I believe Joe and saying that Peyton
Manning was a big influence on this. But no matter
who the influence is, this is still Joe stepping out
of a comfort zone, right and doing something like this
that he said two years ago he wouldn't do. Now,
(10:32):
we asked a little bit about the idea of the
logistics of what it looked like, and he said it
was no different than Hard Knocks. In fact, Zach Taylor
said after the fact that I don't think anybody on
the team realized that the Netflix series was being shot
on Joe. They just thought it was more Hard Knocks.
Cameras just following around the quarterbacks, so they weren't invasive.
(10:53):
There was a promise that they would do Joe right
in this series. And I think it's interesting too, going
back to your idea of leadership of us maybe getting
a closer look of what that looks like on a
daily basis during this series, because when we were asking
just what does this look like? What is this highlight?
Why did you want to do it? And Zach Taylor
(11:14):
also echoed, this is getting an understanding of what these
guys have to do on a weekly basis to get
themselves and to get their team in the best position
to play winning football on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, whatever day
they played that week. So I think it's interesting that
you're seeing a guy who you know, went to Paris,
(11:35):
went to the met Gala, did the Netflix show, and
this is all coming while right his privacy was was
disrupted with his health being broken into and you can
see anybody that would might go into a show if
something like that happens. Joe hasn't done that, and we've
seen him step out a little bit out of his
box that he said he wouldn't do just a couple
(11:55):
of years ago. So I find it interesting. Look, I
think fans of the organization and fans of Joe Burrow
have an insatiable appetite to learn more about this guy
for a connection on somebody that they follow on a
daily basis, they cheer for every time he plays, and
I think Joe opening a small window into what makes
(12:16):
him tick, even if it's just football in this quarterback series,
I think it's important for him, and I think it's
important for fans of Joe Burrow just to get a
deeper look at everything this guy does to be successful
on Sundays, because I think it might wow people when
they see Joe Burrow at work on a series like
this coming up on Netflix.
Speaker 2 (12:37):
As far as it pertains to Zach Taylor and his
meeting with the media today, from just a tone standpoint,
I think Austin used the term urse it felt terse
from a statement from Zach Taylor, did you get a
sense of that. Did it feel like, I don't want
to say perturb but when he was up there, especially
early talking about Trey Hendrickson, did it feel different coming
(13:01):
from Zach.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Yeah, that's it. I think the beginning felt different just
because and look, you go into a situation like that
when you're a head coach of a football team in
the NFL, you understand what what's going to be asked
of you, especially right off the top. And so there
were a lot of questions about Trey, very short answers. Certainly,
(13:23):
we all wanted to know more about the text message,
and Zach said, you know that that's just kind of
his process. I did find it interesting, and you know,
it's one of those things that did do you believe
him or is he just taking the grenade for the
organization that he said that the text came from him
and that it wasn't anybody else's idea, but he just
wanted to be upfront with Trey about the money, about
(13:46):
the possible fines, and we'll see if he's here at
mandatory Mini camp. But he did double down and say
it was his decision to send that text message. But
outside of the Trey Hendrickson situation and the Trey Hendrickson questions.
I thought it was normal, Zach. Certainly, there's been a
lot of talk about the faster start, and you can't
go any session anywhere, right, you go all the way
(14:09):
back to the combine, you go to the practice fields,
you go to press conferences. Everybody's going to be asking
about these fast starts. And certainly there's a little bit
more information now with us having the schedule in front
of us and knowing that it's Cleveland, and knowing that
it's Jacksonville, and knowing that it's Minnesota weeks one, two,
and three. By the way, I'm gonna car, guys, and
we're getting rained on.
Speaker 4 (14:31):
You, as it sounds to me, Are you doing a
live driven right now?
Speaker 3 (14:36):
I am a storm tracker, but I'm outside of the
stadium because I have live shots coming up here in
a couple of hours. It's going to do my editing
here in the car before I pop out and do
some TV. If it gets too loud with the loud range,
to toller at me and I'll scream louder. But I
thought Zach was his normal self and outside of the
Trey Hendrickson stuff, and we keep asking questions about fast
(14:57):
starts and what can be different. I would love someone
to give us just a little bit more of the
blueprint of what's going to be different here in the
offseason and training camp and going forward. Zach talked about
it today, Joe talked about it today, The idea that
these guys might play more in the preseason. That stuff's
not hashed out, it's not finalized just yet, But we
(15:18):
don't have a lot of the blueprint of what's going
to be different or what is different right now for
this team to get off to a faster start. But
to answer your question, I thought Zach Yeah, was very
terse at the beginning with Trey Hendrickson's stuff, even though
he knew that was coming. Outside of that, I thought
it was normal.
Speaker 4 (15:34):
Guy, you mentioned the scheduled. Does it seem like I mean,
Joe talked about it. Obviously, it's the first time we
guys talked to him. But do you get the feeling
the Bengals are pretty pissed about the way the schedule
worked out for them again having to go to Baltimore
on a Thursday night and for the fourth year in
a row in primetime.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
Yeah, I do. And how couldn't they be right? It's
a bit ridiculous that they're doing this for the fourth
year in a row, and for Joe Burrow to single
that one out when asked just generically about the schedule,
that's the first one he pointed to was that game
and having to play there a fourth year in primetime
in a row. Zach Taylor's different, you know, Zach Taylor
(16:16):
typically tries to play the company line, tries to live
by the NFL shield and says he accepts the challenge,
loves primetime road games, even he hinted that he's loved
to have some more at home because of how much
he feels energized by the home crowd on a primetime game.
But how could the Bengals not be at this point angered,
(16:39):
ticked off whatever the word or phrase you want to
use for this of having to do it four years
and it's a bit ridiculous for this to happen like
this consecutively four times in a row. But it is
what it is, and the schedule is what it is,
and to me, it's it's not necessarily just about going
to Baltimore a fourth year in a row on a
Thursday night. It's it's that three game schedule late in
(17:01):
the season of Baltimore, Buffalo Baltimore that that feels even
more ridiculous to me than having to play in Baltimore
a fourth consecutive year.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
We heard Zach use the words of hunger and urgency
when talking about Al Golden in this defense. Yeah, you
had practice today, Phase two underway, but not at practice
is bj Hill because of the foot injury. Trey Hendrickson
is obviously not there. And then there is just this
(17:31):
ongoing situation with Shamar Stewart. And I don't think I
don't think the Shamar Stewart thing is an issue right
now because I'm not worried that he's never gonna sign.
He's going to sign. But when you look at what
Al Golden is being tasked to do and to not
have you mentioned the defensive line that was out there today,
how important is it and what is the hold up
(17:52):
at this point to get Schamar out there? If nothing
more than did you get these reps on the field
in such a crucial part of the offseason.
Speaker 3 (18:00):
Yeah, And to add to it, what what's gonna happen
with Jermaine Pratt is the other question to ask too.
And then you look out there today and the starting
linebackers or Logan Wilson and Demetrious Night, and that's interesting.
It's just it's just different to see h someone else
running around out there at that position other than Jermaine
Pratt who's been running with Logan Wilson now for several years.
(18:22):
And and you go back to those buzzwords of hunger
and and urgency, the great buzzwords, right, and everybody wants
to hear those things. Uh, but but what about the tackling?
You know, what about the speed, what about the talent,
and what about the chemistry? Because that that's the kind
of stuff. Going back to Al Golden's original press conference
when he took the job here in Cincinnati, and it
(18:42):
was fun to hear him talk about, you know, coming
back home and and you know, and and coming down
the highway and seeing the stadium and his eyes lighting
up and feeling like he's back home. But you know,
he also talked about the idea of again going back
to this fast start, and he mentioned how important it
was at O and in each phase of guys understanding
(19:04):
that that's where the fast start begins. And there's a
lot of new parts there are a lot of guys
who have to prove they can play in new roles.
And when you don't have Dj Hill and Shamar Stewart
and Trey Hendrickson and what's gonna happen with Jermaine Pratt
and you have new guys playing new positions on this field,
chemistry matters. Being around each other matters. You know, Shamar Stewart,
(19:28):
I can tell you I watched him closely today. He's
paying close attention to what's happening. He's he's right there,
he's asking questions, he's involved, but he's not doing anything physically.
And what's interesting is, you know, Jerry Montgomery's working with
these young guys like Miles Murphy and Joseph Osai and
they're going through these reps and it's rep after rep
after rep. And these guys got like five or six
(19:50):
reps in a row, which is unique. It's typically one
two and then they switch out. And but these younger
guys are getting a lot and he's stopping them after
each rep and coaching them on what they did well,
what they did wrong. And Shamar Stewart's not getting that
that that's not it's it's not good it's there's there's
(20:11):
no other way to put it. Certainly, I don't think
it's gonna set Shamar Stewart back in his career. The
guy obviously still has everything he wants to accomplish in
front of him. But it's it's not advantageous for this
team for him to be in a jersey watching from
the sideline, taking mental reps instead of physical reps, especially
considering there are question marks about his production. There's you
(20:33):
can't run from that. That's just part of his story
as he enters his NFL debut in his rookie season
this coming year. So I don't think it's you know,
I don't want to make a mountain out of such
a small thing at this point. But these these things
do matter. They do add up for a defense that
has a new coach and a lot of new parts
and a lot of guys that they're counting on to
(20:54):
step up and be more productive at at all three
levels of their defense. And so, yeah, hunger urgency great,
but what about everything else? What about the chemistry and
what about the ability of these guys to go out
there and do it?
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Before I let you chase this upcoming storm. The Reds
are on a five game winning streak. Will Benson has
been phenomenal. He's such a fun and easy guy to
root for from the outside, But being around this team
in the way that you have been, does that translate
to the locker room as well? Is he just a
guy that you want to root for and is the
(21:30):
same guy you kind of get to see when he's
going through these stretches that make you want to root
for him?
Speaker 3 (21:35):
Did Austin put you up to this? No? I know
he did. No. Well, I say that because I say
that Tony in Austin listening. I say that to be
totally transparent, Austin. I was sending Austin text messages this
week about Will Benson and how much of a skeptic
I am, and I think I don't think it's wrong
to be skeptical of Will Benson at this point. Right Like,
(21:55):
we saw what he did in twenty twenty three, and
he proved then that he deserved to go into twenty
twenty four with a role he thought with a pretty
decent role. But then we saw what he did last year,
and you saw this year why he deserved to be
looked at critically. And I understood why he didn't start
the season with the big league club. Then he gets
(22:16):
to call up, he strikes out four times and you
almost feel like, Okay, Will Benson's running out of chances here.
So I think to your original point about having a
guy to root for, when you see someone who's who's
done everything right, he's done everything the right way. Correct
that he said everything right. He works hard, he plays
the game the right way. He went to the minor leagues,
(22:38):
he made adjustments, and now he's seeing success. I don't
care what if you like the team, if you cover
the team, if you don't like the team, if you
can't be happy for someone who's been given a challenge,
who's maybe down to the last chance and comes out
and takes advantage of it and check your pulse kind
of thing. Right. So that's where I am with Will Ben.
(23:00):
And now I'm still skeptical of what he can do,
but good for him for going out and proving a
lot of people wrong, even if it's just for a
week or two. I would love to see Will smile
a little bit more. Even after Sunday, after his two
home run game and hitting five and four games, it
was like, this guy's trying to maintain this level of
composure even though he's having the greatest week that he'll
(23:24):
ever have, or maybe anybody in that room will ever have,
maybe outside of Elie de la Cruz, and and he's
still just not yet looking like he's ready to show
the kind of emotion that we would expect from Will
Benson and the guy like this to have. But good
on him. There's a lot of doubters, there's a lot
of skeptics, and you can throw me right in there
with all of them. I'll be very transparent about that.
(23:45):
But this guy is taking what might be his last
chance and run with it. And good on Will Benson
for doing it.
Speaker 4 (23:51):
I did not put Tony out to that, but kudos
to you for and being business yess Joe, you're.
Speaker 2 (23:59):
The apps best. What's coming up next on on Fox nineteen? Boss?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Okay? Two things? We have the Red on Fox nineteen
now tonight. Okay, so the Reds are in Pittsburgh. You
can watch the game right there on Fox nineteen, don't
have to move the channel. And then starting Thursday, Charlie
Goldsmith and I will be debuting once a week a
streaming podcast hybrid that'll be on all of our streaming
(24:24):
services that'll hit on Thursday debut. We need a name,
So if you can brainstorm and name for myself and
Charlie and our segment, holler at me. I'm easy to
find love it.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
I'm guessing by the way I slid that in there,
you would rather be called Boston Guy.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Yes, always coffee Okay, dot is so bad, it's so bad.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Just making sure.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Will you guys be breaking down the pigeon incident in
your show?
Speaker 3 (24:52):
How good is that is?
Speaker 2 (24:54):
The pigeon has he been taking?
Speaker 3 (24:58):
I need to I need to check in with Charlie
here and see if he's got the boots on the
ground for Fox nineteen in Pittsburgh to see if the
pigeon has made it.
Speaker 2 (25:07):
Oh, you're the best, Joe, Joe, thank you so much. Man,
We appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Thanks the boys. There he is.
Speaker 2 (25:13):
I think we're losing the boss man, Joe Daneman, Fox nineteen. Uh,
what a way to kick off our three of since
he three sixty Thanks to Penn Station on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
Now your chance to win fl
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