Cincy 360 w/ Tony Pike & Austin Elmore -- 9/24/25

Tony and Austin talk with Chris Welsh, John Sheeran, Mo Egger, and more. Plus, they debate the Reds loss and a Bengals roster move, on ESPN 1530!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Skyline Chile Cincy three to sixty about Cincinnati
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Speaker 2 (00:21):
Good afternoon, Happy Wednesday. Welcome in the latest edition here
of Cincy three sixty. You're listening on the home of
the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. A service
here and now our number one of our good friends
at Skyline Chile. Anytime you're feeling good and hungry, it's
always Skyline Time. Thanks for joining us. Look forward to
you being a part of the show today. Five one, three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty. That's the number for you to

(00:42):
call in to be a part of the show. If not,
use the iHeartRadio app, hit that microphone button, leave us
a talkback. We'll get to those talkbacks in our number
two today. Speaking of our number two, that's going to
kick off with our good friend Chris Welsh. We'll talk
reds with Chris and normally our Thursday guest, but because
the Bengals play on Monday, their schedule gets moved around. Normally,

(01:05):
Zach Taylor would would speak today, That'll happen tomorrow. John
Sharon normally joins us tomorrow, So that's gonna happen today.

Speaker 3 (01:14):
That makes sense.

Speaker 2 (01:15):
Chris Walsh at one o'clock, John Sharon at two o'clock
eight is e Sports covering the Cincinnati Bengals. In between
all of that, We've got a lot more on the
Cincinnati Bengals to discuss, including the quarterback conversation that we
didn't get a chance to dive into much yesterday. It's
a huge college football weekend, some big marquee games happening,
and we'll talk you see Kansas a little bit more tomorrow.

(01:37):
A big one for FC Cincinnati on Sunday, hosting Orlando City.
They are two points behind Philly and the race for
the supporter shield in the top overall seat in the
Eastern Conference standings. We'll discuss that. We have a ton,
a ton to discuss with the Cincinnati Reds from last
night and moving forward, and I am pumped. Austin, do

(02:01):
you have plans for Friday? Yeah, Friday morning, seven twelve am.
Do you have any plans Friday morning?

Speaker 3 (02:07):
At seven twelve am, Yes, I don't think I have
anything scheduled. Why, well, that's when the first grouping goes
out in the Ryder Cup. Oh, Beth page Black.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
I am. I always look forward to the Ryder Cup.
The way the European media is handling this right now
has me even more excited for the Ryder Cup. Someone
was interviewing Tommy Fleetwood yesterday and they asked, Tommy Fleetwood,
do you have any fear for your family's safety as
they follow you around the course because of the raucous environment.

(02:40):
This is the Ryder Cup. This is what it's about,
the pride of the Red, white and blue on home soil.
It is one of the best events of the year,
not just golf wise, but sports wise. In my opinion,
if you're an American and you bleed Red, White and

(03:01):
Blue seven twelve Friday morning, that first tea box, that
place will be going nuts with USA chance and there's
a ton a ton of storylines that will surround the
Ryder Cup. Of course, USA has come out on the
wrong side now for a couple of years in a row,
so a big one starting on Friday. Yes, that's Page Black. Now,

(03:23):
I do wonder how racous the crowd will be Austin.
I look today, I think, like a beer, just a
beer is like nineteen dollars. That's ridiculous. Tickets where seven
hundred and fifty bucks starting?

Speaker 3 (03:34):
Don't the players like? The players don't even get paid,
do they? Well this year they do.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
Oh and a lot of the players are donating that
back to different charities and initiatives. But I think each
player gets like a two hundred thousand dollars stipend. Why
are they charging so much for beer? Exactly?

Speaker 3 (03:50):
I don't get it.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
It's a seven fifty for the cheapest ticket, twenty bucks
per beer?

Speaker 3 (03:55):
Oh boy, yeah, oh kidding.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Tell you what, though, that scene on Friday morning is
going to be unbelievable. I cannot wait to watch the
Ryder Cup all weekend long. The MLB slate last night
Austin was not kind to the Cincinnati Red Legs. We'll
discuss the loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates, but on top

(04:19):
of that, Shoheo Tani was fantastic for another start last
night for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Unfortunately, the bullpen, as
they say, taking on water right now. For the Dodgers,
the bullpen of the Dodgers came in and abruptly gave
up a four nothing lead, and the Diamondbacks scored three

(04:42):
in the seventh, two and the ninth. They beat the
Dodgers five to four. And if that wasn't bad enough
to make things tighten up just a little bit, the
New York Mets last night at Wrigley Field erased a
five to one deficit and came back and beat the
Chicago Cubs. And all of a sudden, Austin, all that

(05:06):
talk about controlling your own destiny, you can throw that
out the window, because the Reds are now tied with
the Arizona Diamondbacks, who are both looking up now at
the New York Mets with five games remaining. Five games remaining,
doesn't help that the Cubs have now lost five in
a row. Could use them winning maybe the next two
against the Mets. Good for nothing, Chicago Cubs, yep, win

(05:31):
a game unbelievable, especially when you're up five to one.
So not a good night for the wild Card. How
about the American League? What's going on right now, Austin.
The Yankees clinched their playoff berth. They're still in line.
By the way, there is still a shot that the
Yankees can catch the Toronto Blue Jays. They are one
game behind them in the American League East. The Seattle

(05:52):
Mariners clinched the playoff spot last night. They can. I
think their magic number is one against the Houston Astros.
They've won five in a row, nine out of ten.
But how about this in Cleveland, with skewball on the mound,
the Cleveland Guardians have completed the comeback. They are now
atop the Detroit Tigers in the American League Central. And

(06:16):
here's what's even more interesting for the Tigers Austin, They're
not in They are now one game clear of the
Houston Astros. You want to talk about playing wrong at
the wrong time. Detroit's lost seven games in a row
and nine out of ten. Houston, which does obviously not
want to win the wild card either, has lost four
games in a row. But things are tightening up all

(06:38):
around Major League Baseball right now. Playoff, playoff baseball, and
a scary moment last night in Cleveland, as Guardian's designated
hitter David Frye squared around to bunt and was hit
square in the face by a ninety nine mile an
hour fastball by Terry scuball scary moment, uh for I

(07:01):
was expected to be hospitalized overnight, but a scary moment
last night in Cleveland. Those teams obviously were both visibly
shaken from that. But what a time in Major League
Baseball and what a moment an opportunity lost last night
at Great American Ballpark.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
You were there, I was there, I was Moe was there.
Doesn't really count for you if you were there at
like if you left it like in the fifth Inny. Well,
we got we got through the fifth. When did you
get there? We got through the fifth? You got there
at the fourth and left in the fifth.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
No, we got there just in time to watch uh
Brady Singer get rocked.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
So that was the fourth? Was it the fourth inning
where he gave up all the runs? Yeah, well we
got there and we got there. Now they give us
a second inning, Well, the second inning is o where
all the runs were scored right the second inning.

Speaker 2 (07:54):
We were there by the second and left in the fifth,
left at the start of the sixth.

Speaker 3 (07:59):
That's crazy.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
We saw in the bottom of the first Gavin lucks
At a battle of the warning truck wtp yeaph also
didn't help. It was a the lines for the escalator.
It was like a fifteen minute wait to get up
the escalator.

Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, I saw the kids, I went up the I
went up the stairs, up and down the stairs yesterday
due to the escalator lines. That's the only thing that's
a bit of an issue for the three two one
nights is the length of the lines. Yeah, And I
don't know if there's a way for them to improve
that in the future where more of the stands offer that,

(08:33):
I don't know. I don't know if that's even logistically possible.
I would imagine it would be difficult. But that's the
only thing that's like, you know, the lines in the
ballpark sometimes can be a little tough, and that's why
it was a late arriving crowd. That and the traffic
yesterday was miserable. Oh my gosh. I mean, you know,

(08:53):
people don't know we're located right here on seventy one
in Kinwood, right off the exit. The traffic was so
bad when I left here at six o'clock yesterday when
I get off work, and it took me all the
way to seventy five into downtown to go to the game.
And even that was all screwed up. I completely abhorre

(09:13):
six forty starts. Yeah, I was still just gonna like
them a lot more. With the pitch clock and everything
that goes on, these games are so much shorter now
than what they used to be. Every game should start
at seven o'clock.

Speaker 4 (09:26):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (09:27):
That's the perfect middle ground between your normal seven to
ten or seven fifteen. In the sixth forties, every game
should start at seven. Yeah, but that's just me personally.
I know there's people that work early in the mornings
at like the earlier starts in school, and I get old.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
We were eating dinner last night at like five point fifteen,
and I looked at Mayor and I'm like, screw it,
we gotta take the I gotta take the kids down
there tonight, like this is this is a playoff atmosphere.
Mayor didn't go. She's like, I'm not going down there.
It's too late of a notice.

Speaker 3 (09:55):
Whatever.

Speaker 2 (09:56):
So I I managed to get all three kids to
the game. The traffic itself was awful, and then trying
to park is a nightmare. I typically don't have any issues.
The parking was well. I tried to get a little
closer just because I didn't want to carry the kids,

(10:16):
but the parking was insane. It wasn't bad getting into
the game. There are a lot of people Austin that
are talking today about the crowd last night, and I
will admit, when we got there bottom of the first
I was surprised that there wasn't more fans in the stands.
But by the fourth fifth inning, I thought it filled
in pretty nicely.

Speaker 3 (10:36):
Because of the traffic and because of the lines for
three to two one night, the first two innings are
often not an accurate indication of the actual crowd, and
I think they finished last night with twenty nine to eight, Yeah,
which is more than you would typically see on a Tuesday.
So fans did show up, yep. But you know, I

(10:58):
also think it's important to note, and this is nothing
against you know, the people that work really hard marketing
the Reds and all that, but fans don't owe the
Reds anything they don't and so if it had been
last night where twenty thousand people showed up, I would
not have blamed them whatsoever. Sure, I'm glad that more

(11:19):
fans decided. You know what, the players themselves asked us
to come, So we're gonna come, and the Reds to
their credit put tickets on sale extended the three to
two one just makes sense.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
Yeah, how had the Dave Parker tribute been planned for
a long time?

Speaker 3 (11:36):
I believe so. I just had fun about it because
once it was announced he was getting into Cooperstown. Yeah,
and then like that final series against Pittsburgh. I think
that was part of the plan.

Speaker 2 (11:50):
I just hadn't followed along as much, but I thought
that was I thought the tributes they did last night
were awesome. It was very cool in and out of
the innings painted the big thirty nine and the nine
in center field. I tell you it works because Wilder,
my son, probably asked me every inning about Dave Parker
and wanted to know more about him. For whatever reason,
Wilder has this love for Pete Rose as well. So

(12:14):
we can't go to a Reds game without going and
seeing the Pete Rose statue and him taking a picture
with it. But it's what kind of father, I don't know.
I don't know, but like, we couldn't leave last night.
He was like, can we go? And I'm like, you
want to leave? He said, no, I want to go
see the Pete statue. I'm all right, And we stopped
and we saw the statues on the way out, but

(12:34):
there was a lot of a lot I saw on
social media about the crowd. I thought by the time
everyone filled in, it was a good crowd. But also
the way the game played out after the Elle home run,
it felt like every inning the crowd was just waiting
for something to go with.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
Energy was great, and the Reds kept putting players or
putting runners on base. Yep. But it it obviously never
worked out. But the the juice in the crowd was great,
like the vibe, the energy everyone kind of on the
edge of their seat was good.

Speaker 4 (13:06):
YEP.

Speaker 2 (13:06):
I thought like from a playoff baseball standpoint, that's what
you want. And had they been able to capitalize on
some of those opportunities, it felt like the roof was
gonna come off. You were just ready and waiting, especially
as you're watching along like man the Mets metro down
five to one, Otani's pitching to night, this could really
do some separation and instead now we look today, you're

(13:28):
looking up again at the Mets. That diamondbox are right there,
and uh oh, by the way, Paul Skeins is on
the mountain today.

Speaker 3 (13:35):
And I will say, you know, feeding off that energy
and off a big game, Ellie day La Cruz showed up.
Oh boy. You know, obviously Ellie's been going through some
tough stuff, whether it be baseball or otherwise. And for
him to launch a homer the way that he did
and to admire it, and to have another base hit
and a walk, and you know he tried to steal

(13:56):
before McClain grounded into that double play ball was fouled off.
I mean, Ellie a great bare handed defensive play as well.
And you know he had that great play the other
night too, were charging the mound and you know, making
that play. So hopefully whatever has been ailing Ellie is
behind him in these big moments. He's able to show

(14:17):
up because we've seen that, you know, at Dodger Stadium,
at Yankee Stadium, in these big games, Ellie has showed
up in the past. I hope that continues the next
couple of weeks. It just the next week, ye five days.

Speaker 2 (14:28):
It just felt as that game went on last night
and Ellie did that in the first inning, especially late
in the game, You're you're not going to give him
anything near the zone. He made some good swings to
go three for three on the night. Obviously the walk
late in the game. But if you're pitching against him
right now, are you worried about Matt McClain behind him.

Speaker 3 (14:50):
Yeah. That's probably the biggest issue that most fans have
with yesterday was the way that the Reds constructed that
line up. I mean, they wanted nothing to do with
Ellie in the night that Francona constructed that lineup, which
you know that in and of itself is crazy. That
you would shows how much disrespect they have for Matt
McClain that they pitch around Ellie day la Cruz and

(15:11):
see if he'll get himself out and then bring McClain
the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning.
I see on paper the vision for putting McClain sixth.
You squeeze him in between De la Cruz and Benson
and maybe provide him a little bit of protection. And
on top of that, Travino and Hayes at eight and
nine have been completely useless at the dish, so I

(15:33):
can understand where he's coming from. I did not like it.
I did not like the way he handled the lineup,
especially in the sixth inning when he allowed McClain to hit.
Then I did not like that, And I'm very curious
to see what the lineup looks like tonight because key
Brian Hayes in the midst of a slump, as like

(15:54):
four for his last forty one or something ridiculous like that.
I know, oh for his last twenty something. Defense is
incredibly important, I hear you. But should he be starting games?
I don't know if he should be with will their
bat Right now, we'll discuss more from last night. We'll
look ahead to today, which is gonna be a tough one,

(16:15):
and what everyone else did? One more side.

Speaker 2 (16:18):
So I've been going back and forth, and I know
that a lot of the conversation has been on the
crowd the eight dollars tickets playoff atmosphere should because I
get your point to it as well. And I think
this Reds fan based Austin. I think they've wanted to
believe and buy in so many times and they've been

(16:38):
hurt like they were last night. So I think there
is a a cautiousness to it when they're like, oh,
should we go to the ballpark? Should we head down
the night and just watch it on TV? I was
expecting thirty five thousand or so last night and again
it got up to what just under thirty drinks, hot

(17:01):
dog ice cream. The tickets. I thought they'd get thirty
five or more, but I'm not. I'm not lashing at
it fans that didn't show up because it's been such
a it's been such a difficult year I think around
the team, but it's it's it was interesting, nonetheless, but
so many people that that did push back about. Man,

(17:23):
it's disappointing that not enough people came out.

Speaker 3 (17:27):
Yeah, I'll never tell people how to spend their money,
and I have no problem with Reds fans who believe,
you know that this team and the organization have not
earned that from them. I totally understand that. So I
didn't expect a big crowd at all. But I did
appreciate when the players themselves were like, hey, I wish

(17:50):
more people would come to the ballpark, because ultimately, fans
issue is not with the players. Sure, it's with the
people above the players, and I understand that. So, you know,
for me, I originally did not want to go to
the game last night, but a buddy said, hey, would
you come, you know, and I was like, you know what, Sure,
I'll go to the game. And you know, I've been

(18:12):
to a ton of games this year, so I didn't
really expect a ton of fans there on a Tuesday night.
I don't really care that they didn't pack it, you know,
I didn't expect it.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah, it'll be a big one to night. We'll discuss
that more here and our number one. But when we
come back, we've got a football in the NATTI. Let's
look ahead to some top storylines happening right now in
the National Football League. We've got more Bengals and our
number three. More Reds in our number one. Here Chris
Welsh to kick off our number two and your phone
calls coming up here in a couple segments on ESPN

(18:44):
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station, thanks to Skyline Chili.

Speaker 5 (18:48):
Excuse football in the NATI, brought to you by Hey
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of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (18:59):
Well come back, it is football in the nat He
sents he three sixty thanks to Skyline Chili. A couple
of minutes here on some NFL storylines. We'll get back
to the Reds here for our number one, and your
phone calls five one, three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (19:17):
CJ.

Speaker 2 (19:17):
Gardner Johnson Austin. Would he do anything for you as
a Cincinnati Bengal.

Speaker 3 (19:24):
M I guess yeah, why not? Yeah, goodest. I'm just
I'm just a lunatic, but he is, he is.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
I'm just trying at this point to rationalize because the
biggest question that I've got is how do the Bengals
handle the rest of the season and what is the
message that you send with that? I saw when when
I got in this morning, Tom Brenneman was here and
he walked into the studio after I was here for
a couple of minutes, he said, Man, go get Russell Wilson,

(19:53):
Go get Russell Wilson and send the message to the
locker room that you want to win and you're trying
to win. And so yeah, I agree. I I think
they need to do something like that. But I think
for the organization, they're just in a weird spot right now.

Speaker 3 (20:06):
Is the locker room is the locker room's problem with
Jake Browning.

Speaker 2 (20:13):
They I truly believe that the core of that locker
room they don't feel like they can make.

Speaker 3 (20:20):
A run with Jake Browning. I disagree with that. They
are a lot of guys from two years ago that
are still on this team, that believe in Jake. I
think believe in Jake. I don't even think that the
locker room thinks that the season is over. I don't
think that they've quit. I don't think that they've given up. Like, yeah,

(20:40):
they got their face beat in on Sunday, but they
also lost an ugly game to Pittsburgh, Jake's first game
after Joe got hurt. Now, obviously, in that situation, the
season was a little bit further along. But I don't
know that they look around and say it's impossible for
us to win a game or go on a run

(21:01):
over the course of the season with Jake Browning. I
just don't see that as I don't see how that's possible.
The defense is playing with confidence. Now, have they been great? No?

Speaker 2 (21:13):
What was the difference in the wins in twenty twenty
three when Jake Browning played?

Speaker 3 (21:18):
Tell me they ran the ball? Okay, Jack Browning? They
were an effective running team? Okay, So is the issue
Jake Browning?

Speaker 2 (21:26):
Are there quarterbacks in the NFL that can succeed if
they don't have a running game?

Speaker 6 (21:31):
Sure?

Speaker 3 (21:31):
Okay, then can he maybe?

Speaker 2 (21:35):
I don't know, because there is a constant if you
go back to twenty twenty three and look at the
games that they won, the Jacksonville game, the Indianapolis game,
the Minnesota game. In the Cleveland game in the final
week of the season, they got good contributions from Joe
Mixon and the running game as a whole.

Speaker 3 (21:50):
And Jake also made some big plays in that game,
big throws. Jamar, Chase and Tiegans are still there. I
think I don't think anybody's given up on Chase brown
I think the locker room's issue is with the fact
that they can't protect Jake Well, they can't protect and
they can't run the ball. I don't exactly the issue

(22:11):
is with the offensive line and subsequently the front office.

Speaker 4 (22:17):
So is.

Speaker 3 (22:20):
Putting a different quarterback back there change the run game?

Speaker 2 (22:23):
What do you think happens in the locker room? If
the offense were to struggle and they lose by fourteen
or three scores this weekend on Monday.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
It's not going to be good. But is it because
Jake Browning through three more interceptions right now? He does?
Is it because Jake Browning through three more interceptions or
is it because Chase Brown had ten carries for two yards.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Correct, But I'm just from right now. In a six
quarter sample size, he leads the NFL in interceptions. Correct,
They as a team have turned the ball over too much.
They can't run the ball. At times like that, you
may need a quarterback that, if capable, can get over
the lack of running game or the different looks that

(23:10):
they're gonna be getting. Russell Wilson, albeit is not what
he used to be. He's been at the mountaintop of
the National Football League. I still think he has some
left in him. I also said the same thing with Jamis,
although if I could have my choice in the two,
Russell Wilson has started a lot more games in the NFL,
and he's seen a lot more in the NFL. I

(23:31):
just my biggest worry about the team right now is
if things don't go well Monday and you're staring at
Detroit in Green Bay coming up, what does the locker
room culture start to turn into?

Speaker 3 (23:46):
Because I've been on both.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
I've been in one where things are going well, let's
ride this wave, and maybe someone's not getting the touches
or maybe someone's not putting up the numbers, but you're
still winning, so you go with it. I was on
the worst team the NFL in twenty ten. I can
assure you that that locker room can turn quickly, that
the receivers can turn very quickly. And that is my

(24:11):
biggest worry because you still say, Okay, there's such a
big sample size left. The door's not shut on the
season yet, let's go from that.

Speaker 3 (24:19):
So for the last two days, it's been the offensive
line in Zach Taylor's fault, and today is Jake Browning's.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
Has what has Joe Burrow been able to do since
he arrived here? Everything I have said, it's been Zach
Taylor for six years, No, I know. I think Joe
Burrow has masked all of that, and I think there
are very few quarterbacks in the league that can mask
all of that. I don't think Russell Wilson can mask
all of that. I think he can hide it, maybe
a little better than Jake Browning. That would be my

(24:47):
overall thought in the process because of what he's been
able to do since he's.

Speaker 3 (24:51):
Been And you think the locker room agrees with that sentiment?

Speaker 2 (24:54):
In my opinion, yes, they would, okay, But again, would
the locker room get behind a CJ. Garner Johnson, would
they get behind any type of move. I think the
locker room right now is in a weird spot because
I think there are players in there that know this
is going to be an uphill battle, and I think

(25:15):
there are players in there that are waiting to see, Okay,
what's going to happen. And whether it was a quarterback,
whether it's an addition in the secondary, whether it be
an offense, I don't I don't care where it would be.
But if you add someone to the team, I think
the messaging in the locker room would come across as Okay,
they still believe something can happen here, and they're trying

(25:36):
to build the team to be better whatever position that
may en. That's just not exclusive to quarterback. But I
think if you have guys in the locker room that
are just kind of waiting and seeing, okay, well what's
going on and if things go poorly against Denver, then
they say, what are we doing here? Are we going
to do anything about these deficiencies? Then I think it
becomes a little bit more on edge. But I think

(25:58):
that the same could be said about adding to any
deficiency on the roster. I think that is what the
players would sit back and say, Okay, we're gonna try
something here, you know, instead of just let's wait it out,
let's see what happens. I don't know what that would
look like.

Speaker 3 (26:14):
I think the players already do not trust the front
office or believe that the front office has their best
interest in mind. I think that's already a belief based
off of the way that things have gone for the
last couple of years, whether that betray or waiting around
on Jamar and the riff that that caused or whatnot.
I also believe players in the NFL, and I'm not one,

(26:36):
and I don't know many. I don't know that there
is a sentiment out there that Russell Wilson is a
game changing quarterback. I think if you asked anonymously one
hundred NFL players, they would say Russell Wilson is washed
now Jameis Winston. Maybe that's entirely different, an entirely different.
Energy infusion, youthfulness has one games consistently recently. Maybe there's

(27:01):
something to that. I don't know. I don't know that
this can be fixed by the acquisition of a single player.
When it comes to the team's attitude, toward the front office.
I think it would you agree that there's a level
of distrust between the players in the front office, absolutely, okay, So.

Speaker 2 (27:23):
But if you add a player that's got one hundred
and twenty regular season wins in the National Football League
and one hundred and thirty over his career, that at
least gives you Okay, they're trying something, and I think
that bridges the gap of distrust a little bit. I
think the I think the worst case scenario is to
sit back and just hold and to do nothing, because

(27:47):
I think you have guys that just wait and say, oh,
what are we doing? What is now the answer? No team,
no team in the National Football League is going to
thrive if they're starting quarterback. All world quarterback goes down. Sure,
but there are conversations already, talk already happening in the

(28:08):
National Football League around different teams. The Kansas City Chiefs
three games in the conversation is people expect them to
be aggressive and add to their roster. There are conversations
around the forty nine ers, who are somehow without Rock
Party for the last two weeks and losing guys defensively.

Speaker 3 (28:25):
They're three to oh.

Speaker 2 (28:26):
The conversation is people expect San Francisco to go ad
in losing Nick Bosa to add to that team. I
think there are other teams that would view it that way.
I think the thought here in Cincinnati is probably will
we just don't do things like that? And I think
maybe doing something like that could find a spark in
a locker room that needs one. We need a break

(28:46):
when we come back. Uh, because we got Chris Welsh
at one o'clock. We'll talk a little bit more Reds.
We'll grab some phone calls. Five one, three, seven, four nine,
fifteen thirty. It is sincey three to sixty, thanks to
our friends at Skyline.

Speaker 5 (28:56):
Chilly, you've been listening to football in the NATI on
ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 3 (29:11):
All right, I'm them thirty. Welcome back.

Speaker 2 (29:22):
Since he three sixty ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station,
a service of Skyline Chile. I want to get to
a couple thoughts on the Cincinnati Reds here in just
a few minutes. Before we get to Chris Welsh, let's
take let's take a couple of phone calls here while
we have a chance.

Speaker 3 (29:36):
I got John Michael's calling in.

Speaker 7 (29:37):
Hey John Michael, Hey Kenny, how you doing good?

Speaker 8 (29:42):
How are you?

Speaker 9 (29:44):
I'm just sitting here. I was waiting on hold, just.

Speaker 10 (29:48):
Doing the immaculate grid on the MLB app that I got.

Speaker 9 (29:51):
My friends sent it to me. I got nine to nine, No, man,
I got a one thirty eight Scots and a big.

Speaker 3 (29:56):
Deal that's essentially like a perfect quarterback. Then the grid
every day.

Speaker 11 (30:03):
Yeah, I do it every day right now.

Speaker 10 (30:05):
I'm in probably like ninety nine percent on all of them.
You know, I know, I know baseball really good and
everything like that.

Speaker 3 (30:14):
I thought, if I'm not mistaken, John, I heard you
had a collection of autograph baseball. Is that true?

Speaker 12 (30:22):
I do? I do.

Speaker 10 (30:24):
I think my favorite one that I have, I've got. Yeah,
I've got an autograph cool Papa Bellball. That's really cool
and it comes from his family. So I got the
envelope and from where it got mailed from and everything
like that. Yeah, I got some you know, I got

(30:45):
you know, little tem Williams, a guy, baby Ruth damn.

Speaker 4 (30:51):
Yeh.

Speaker 2 (30:51):
John Michael is as a certified baseball knower like yourself.
Would you have thrown Hunter Green last night or held
him to today?

Speaker 10 (31:00):
I would have held him to today, honestly. I mean,
and I understand what the what the thinking is and
everything like that. Like pitching yesterday, you know you're going
up against Paul Skins.

Speaker 7 (31:12):
But at the end of the day, if he was.

Speaker 10 (31:13):
Trying to win a playoff game, he's gonna be going
up against really good guys anyway.

Speaker 9 (31:18):
Okay, that's that's my.

Speaker 10 (31:20):
Thinking, and I would take the over on both those
guys on strikeout snunt.

Speaker 2 (31:25):
Smart man, smart man. How's everything else been, John Michael.

Speaker 9 (31:32):
Really really really been doing really well.

Speaker 10 (31:34):
I got disinfection in my foot. I think I kicked
something and I didn't pay attention to it and then
I got infection.

Speaker 9 (31:41):
But everything else has been really good.

Speaker 4 (31:44):
I do have a question.

Speaker 9 (31:45):
Now that Jermaine Burton or whatever.

Speaker 10 (31:49):
Yeah, like everybody like bangs on him like this dude
ain't gonna play I'm like, he's got money, he doesn't need.

Speaker 9 (31:56):
To play football because what.

Speaker 10 (31:59):
Like his dad, Jermaine Burton did the reading rainbow, he
can do.

Speaker 12 (32:11):
Thanks to the pleased grow reading dream.

Speaker 13 (32:16):
And that.

Speaker 14 (32:17):
I was like, you know, don't you know he's got
gold train and everything like that. That's cool.

Speaker 3 (32:22):
I didn't know you could sing like that.

Speaker 10 (32:24):
John, I didn't either, Man, I had to. I had
to grip something real quick.

Speaker 9 (32:33):
And then, uh, I do have I got two.

Speaker 10 (32:36):
More things I got, I got one thing that I
really want.

Speaker 9 (32:39):
Well, two things. I really want to ask you.

Speaker 10 (32:41):
You know, I had an impression if somebody calls in
all the time, and I just want to see what
you guys saw about my impression.

Speaker 4 (32:48):
But the first thing is.

Speaker 10 (32:52):
I really want the Bangles to get Jameis Winston, and
the reason being and and and here hear me out.
I'm I'm not gonna sit here and say that Jamar
Chase and T Higgins or future Hall of Fame wide receivers.
I'm not gonna say that at all. But in ninety
eight it worked out for the Vikings. They had that

(33:12):
Chris Carror and that Randy Moss, and they dropped in
that Randall Cunynham.

Speaker 15 (33:18):
And Randall Cunne.

Speaker 14 (33:19):
You know that Randall Cneyham.

Speaker 4 (33:21):
He was really he was good.

Speaker 9 (33:22):
I had a.

Speaker 10 (33:23):
Poster of him and everything for Nike and and stuff
like that.

Speaker 7 (33:26):
But he was really he was you.

Speaker 9 (33:28):
Know, he just aired it out. Jameis Winston. What does
that guy do? He AARs it out and he eats.
He eats w's that are actually people's fingers.

Speaker 3 (33:39):
What difference between James Jameis Winston and uh Jake Browning
in terms of they're just throwing it up there?

Speaker 9 (33:49):
Yeah, once got more loft. I think there's more loft
on one.

Speaker 10 (33:53):
Okay, yeah, and the and the other one is just
straight to the other guy. I mean it's well, I
mean they're both really beata interceptions stuff like that. But
I was just doing a comparison and I just got
shot down. And it's, you know, that's kind of what
you do, Austin. I appreciate you like that, and.

Speaker 3 (34:13):
Then you shoot you down. I just asked you a
question about the way you see the quarterback position.

Speaker 9 (34:20):
I just like James Winston, man, how about that.

Speaker 10 (34:22):
I just like him. He's a trucking winter, you know.
And I'm you know, I'm fine with Jake brown and
being the starting quarterback of the Bengals because I got
I got TikTok and yeah, it's like every weekend I
can like his girlfriend and everything in nice outfits and
she's like she's real pre girl and everything.

Speaker 9 (34:41):
I don't it's just like, I don't know, that's not
my taste. But I still watch it because it's like
a train wreck.

Speaker 10 (34:48):
So another state, I was gonna do this impression? Can
I do one impression real quick?

Speaker 4 (34:55):
All right?

Speaker 11 (34:57):
Can you all right?

Speaker 4 (34:58):
Tiny?

Speaker 9 (34:59):
Be like Mike? How are you do it?

Speaker 16 (35:03):
Real quick?

Speaker 3 (35:03):
Mike? How are you you know?

Speaker 14 (35:08):
I'm not I'm not doing that bad attorney? Uh, I
just got a really quick question. Uh yeah, what about
the Dodgers? Man, you think show is going to be?
Like I was thinking maybe putting the closers, save the
Ennis and stuff like that, and then you know, it's
just thanks John, I love you.

Speaker 2 (35:32):
I think there's only one way to go from there. Yeah, Mike,
what's going on?

Speaker 7 (35:37):
That was pretty good John Michael.

Speaker 2 (35:40):
Imitations of the highest form of flattery. They say, it's true.

Speaker 17 (35:44):
Yeah, it's hard to imitate a mundane run of the
mill boys like mine. Job, good job, John Michael, really
talented individual. Plus, keep grabbing whatever you're grabbing to hit
them falsetto notes. Okay, man, it's working for you.

Speaker 7 (35:59):
Beautiful having that set.

Speaker 11 (36:01):
Keep grabbing it.

Speaker 7 (36:04):
And John Michael. By the way, te Higgins ain't no
Hall of Famer.

Speaker 3 (36:07):
He's got a long way, He's got a ways to go.

Speaker 4 (36:11):
Yeah, he got a long way to go.

Speaker 7 (36:15):
That should me, should should lose tonight. So the problem is,
I tell you if if Hunter was pitching against anybody
but Steens throw But boy, I'll tell you this, should
the this matchup doesn't turn then the Fans turned out
pretty good last time. Problem, boy, if you don't pack
it their schemes and Green, you ain't gonna have a package.

Speaker 2 (36:36):
The problem with this, Mike, The Reds are zering for
all time against Paul Skins. They've been outscored twenty to
one in those games.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
The Pirates.

Speaker 2 (36:44):
The Pirates are seven and one against Hunter Green and
have outscored the Reds twenty four to fourteen. So so
we're due. The Pirates have had success. But maybe something
gives tonight.

Speaker 7 (36:56):
Yeah, maybe they're just so bad. They come up, they're relaxed,
they're not worried about they're not.

Speaker 4 (37:00):
In the scheme of things.

Speaker 7 (37:01):
They just want to ruin the party for the Reds,
and if it happens, it happens. If they don't, they
don't care. That's an interesting stat Tony good, good, good research,
real good. You impressed the hell out of me with that.
But tonight's the Mets got this bum named Jonah Tom
pitch and he's six point zero almost you are, But
Boyd's pitching for the Cubs lefty three point two oh

(37:23):
thirteen and eight. So the Kubby should win that game tonight.

Speaker 3 (37:27):
Yeah, you had to hope.

Speaker 2 (37:30):
So at this point, I think the Reds need to
win for the next five. I think for the next
five gets him in.

Speaker 4 (37:37):
Yep.

Speaker 7 (37:38):
But you're right, they got to win for the next five.
I mean unless the Mets just implode again. Yeah, but
I can't. They can't keep playing as bad as they're
starting to come around a little bit.

Speaker 4 (37:48):
But we'll see.

Speaker 7 (37:49):
But I thought your guys comments were interesting on the
attendance last night. Yeah, so you were surprised and Austin
wasn't surprised or didn't care at one or the other.

Speaker 4 (38:00):
I'm not quite sure whatever the thing was on it.

Speaker 7 (38:05):
So what's the backup quarter back saying? And the Russell Well,
I'm open for any ideas. It just seems like Browning
did so well a couple of years ago. Why wouldn't
he be able to do it again?

Speaker 2 (38:16):
To Yeah, the games that they won before they won,
they they did have the ability to run the ball.
They ran the ball extremely well in those games. I
think that is the missing ingredient. And if you can't
run the ball, you're going to ask a quarterback to
maybe do more than what they're able or capable of doing.

Speaker 3 (38:34):
I don't know if that's the case.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
That would just be my early indication with how bad
they looked on Sunday against the Vikings. But the issue
is it doesn't It doesn't get any easier. The Denver defense,
the Lions defense, the Packers defense, the Steelers defense. It's
not getting easier anytime soon. And if you just put
it off and wait until the schedule gets easier, you're
going to be out of it by then anyway. So

(38:57):
I think there is I think there is a problem
in waiting right now that you might just weight yourself
out of it.

Speaker 7 (39:05):
Do you think the Reds would enhance their overall offensive
picture if they did get a guy like Russell that
could scoot out there and run a couple of things up.

Speaker 3 (39:14):
You could play some baseball with them as well.

Speaker 4 (39:17):
Exactly.

Speaker 7 (39:18):
Yeah, he could come over and play pin ship for
the Reds. But you know, golf kind of change the
paradigm now with the running quarterback of potential for running
quarterback with you know them smacking around the Ravens the
way they did the other night. But you guys hit
it on the head. They had that scout on. They
did not let Jackson get outside to go do anything,

(39:41):
didn't they And that team that he always gets in,
they just shut that bad boy down.

Speaker 2 (39:45):
They kept the edge pressure and then they spied him
in the middle, so anytime he tried to push up
in the pocket, there was someone standing right there that
didn't allow him to wiggle out of it and extend
the play. I thought it was a brilliant game plan
to limit Lamar as a runner.

Speaker 7 (40:00):
It was Hey, thanks you guys. I appreciate it. Take
care of buddy.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
Yes, Sir Austin, I am interested, and we'll get to
a little more red when we come back. Last year,
Skemes pitched one hundred and thirty three innings. This year
he's already at one hundred and eighty one and two thirds.
They have talked about managing his workload to stay safe.
He went three and two thirds in his last outing.

(40:25):
Do you do you foresee any situation where, even if
he is on tonight, they maybe only keep him in
there three or four innings.

Speaker 3 (40:37):
I guess it's possible.

Speaker 2 (40:38):
I mean he was roughed up a little bit in
his last outing three and two thirds, seven heads, three runs.

Speaker 3 (40:43):
I mean I remember reading that like the plan was
to like not exceed two hundred for him on the season. Yeah,
so that way under that. Obviously he'd be under that.
So maybe they would feel fine with letting him go. Yeah.
So I don't know, but I guess if if there's
a inning where he throws twenty twenty five pitches, yeah,

(41:03):
then they might just hit it on it. All right,
We're done, yeah, because we don't need you, you know,
you know what I'm saying. Yeah, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (41:08):
We'll finish this conversation and maybe one more quick call
when we get back before we get to Chris Welsh,
who can help us out with a lot of these questions.
Right here on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station thanks
to Skyline.

Speaker 18 (41:19):
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on your car radio and on the free new and
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Speaker 2 (41:30):
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Speaker 19 (42:06):
From the Durban Heating temp Star Weatherson, what's going on
in baseball?

Speaker 5 (42:10):
Getting ESPN fifteen thirty from iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (42:19):
Welcome back since he three p sixty ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station. A service at Skyline Chili, Austin. Can't
you just think, like, Whoda Nation, let's ride. I can
think he could do something special with that.

Speaker 3 (42:34):
I've been thinking about this because I'm the guy who's
always like I'm the guy who's always say be an
aggressive pursuit of a championship like, that's that's how I feel,
and that is me at my core. So for you
to come up with an idea to get a super
Bowl winning quarterback who has played at a very high

(42:55):
level in the past, yeah, at a good enough price
that makes sense. And for me still not to feel
a twinge in my heart, that's I think that says
everything about how I feel. But I appreciate your idea
because in these situations, US and the Bengals should be
exhausting every avenue and every opportunity to try to make

(43:17):
the team better. So Whoday Nation, Let's ride. It would
be funny after every press conference. Thanks guys.

Speaker 2 (43:25):
They we got a minute before we're gonna get to
Chris Well sharing a few mark what's going on?

Speaker 16 (43:35):
Yeah, I was at the game last night. Far I
make my point.

Speaker 15 (43:40):
Once upon a time at Riverfront Stadium, the game started.

Speaker 4 (43:43):
At atal five.

Speaker 20 (43:44):
It's crazy, and then later on then it was.

Speaker 15 (43:48):
Seven forty, and then it is what it is now.
I think when they made these ballparks more kid friendly,
I think that's why the game started a little earlier.
Get the kids home, back and dead. But it sucks
because people are getting off of work at that time,
so I mean, that's a trade off. But as far

(44:10):
as the game last night, I was there, I had
a feeling they was gonna lose that game when I
saw that lineup Gavin Lux baton third. Okay, I lost
my mind on that one, Okay, because I done said
it before. If you're gonna have him in the lineup,
you use your back and second.

Speaker 4 (44:26):
Okay. But what the.

Speaker 15 (44:28):
Killer was Matt mccleain Batton six because when when it's
men on base, he grounds out.

Speaker 4 (44:36):
You know, hey, short stop on him.

Speaker 15 (44:38):
Because here's the thing, here's what I've seen about him
this season. You got a whole season to figure out
a baton lineup, because players show you what they are
during the season when when there's nobody on base, he'll
go the other way.

Speaker 4 (44:56):
He'll hit the.

Speaker 15 (44:57):
Ball the center or right center field. But when his
guys on base, he didn't want to pull everything. That
to me, that's the problem. And to my other point,
it's like, you got one hundred and sixty two games
to figure out what your lineup should be based on
what the guys are doing throughout the season, and it

(45:18):
looks like to me at this point, this is what
we come up with Last.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
Night, he batted behind Ellie last night. Mark on the season,
one hundred and four played appearances with runners in scoring position,
twenty hits. He's hitting point one, okay, point, and that's
your go to last night in the sixth hole in
the biggest game of the season.

Speaker 3 (45:40):
That's baffling to me.

Speaker 15 (45:42):
Okay, who between Francona and the front office, whoever makes
these lineups out.

Speaker 4 (45:47):
Who gets hired?

Speaker 15 (45:49):
That's what I want to know, because you should know
better at this point in the season. And then you
had two bats on the bench. You had Salve Stewart,
you have that and dow hard guy. Yeah, okay, Okay, Hayes,
you play a good d you play a good third base,
but your bad sucks.

Speaker 2 (46:08):
At that point, you're not up to which makes sense
for Haz You're down to You need offense.

Speaker 15 (46:13):
Okay, in it, and I'll make my last point and
get off. I would have started hunting Green last night
because I would have wanted to start side of him.

Speaker 20 (46:22):
Before the end of the year, sir, just in.

Speaker 15 (46:25):
Case you need that just to get in the playoffs,
and then I'll worry about my rotation in one game.

Speaker 2 (46:31):
I thought, if you if you started him last night,
and one. There's no guarantee that he had to start
one sixty two, but he'd be available for one sixty two.
If you took care of business before then, then you
obviously rest him and he doesn't need to pitch. But
if it comes down to one sixty two, you want
to have that in your back pocket, and they're not
going to have that. I think that makes it tough.
Let's talk to Chris Walsh about that and more with

(46:52):
the Reds when we come back. ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati
Sports Station. Thanks to Skyline, Chilling.

Speaker 16 (46:59):
Kept your business.

Speaker 21 (47:00):
Cheek Browning and his Big Bend Bengos put it all
on the line when they face Bull Mix and his
Denver devotees on Monday Night Football. Can the Orange and
Black break the Broncos? Will Cincinnati's aerial assault leave the
Stallions stunned? Find out when you get the call from
Dangerous Dan Wood and Mighty Dave Lackman.

Speaker 16 (47:20):
Cover it starts Monday at three pm.

Speaker 21 (47:23):
Stream for free on the new and improved iheartradiof or
ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of a Cincinnati Bengals Chrissage.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
Here this is Cincy Shirts Cincy three sixty about Cincinnati
from Cincinnati, sponsored in part by Cincy Shirts.

Speaker 22 (47:41):
Cincy Shirts, All Cincy, all Day.

Speaker 1 (47:44):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
Welcome back Cincy three sixty hour number two thanks to
Cincy Shirts on the home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. But we're not kicking off our
number two talking about the Bengals. We're kicking off our
number two talking about a playoff race for the NL
wild Card last spot available. Unfortunately, with last night's loss,
couple with a Mets win, the Reds now looking up

(48:10):
at the Mets with five games to play, they do
hold the tie breaker. Let's talk more Reds. Let's talk
more reds Pirates with our guy Chris Wells, who joins
us right now.

Speaker 3 (48:18):
Chris, what's up?

Speaker 4 (48:20):
All right? Guys? How are we doing?

Speaker 11 (48:22):
The Reds are up right now, right, at least unofficially,
by half a game, even though the standings say that
they're tied.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
Yes, yes, let's discuss it. I want to get into
some pitching conversation. But since he's been a Cincinnati read,
Chris Ellie de la Cruz, somehow, some way, it feels
like when the lights are the brightest, he plays his best.
And last night in the most important game of the year,
you saw the Elie de la Cruz that so many

(48:49):
are so fond of him. Why they think he's got
superstar ability? What is it about the big moments that
we get the best version of Ellie like we did
last night.

Speaker 11 (48:58):
Well, you could say that the most important game of
the year happened every day for the last two weeks, right,
So I'm not so sure that that a player actually
is able to switch the switch on, especially when he's
only twenty three years old. But you know, he's got
immense talent. We know that, and I think our expectations
for La are so high because he's got this great

(49:18):
god given talent that you know, you expect them to
go out there and be a superstar player. And you
have to remind yourself he's twenty three years old, so
he's going.

Speaker 4 (49:25):
To grow through you know.

Speaker 11 (49:26):
Cold, cold times and hot times, and you kind of
have to ride the way with him. And you know,
for La, I think that he falls into the same
slumps that every other hitter does.

Speaker 4 (49:36):
You know, you start.

Speaker 11 (49:37):
Guessing too much at the play and then you take
pitches right down the middle for strike three, and then
you start trying to hit your way out of the slump,
so you start.

Speaker 4 (49:45):
Chasing pitches out of the zone.

Speaker 11 (49:47):
I mean, it happens to everybody, and I think that
right now he's beginning to see a little bit. He
looks more relaxed at the plate, his swing is a
little bit better, and I think a little bit of
that has to do with him being moved around in
the lineup a little bit, because he's now adjusting. You know,
he went to number three all year long, down to
the bottom of the order, close to it, and now
he's worked his way back.

Speaker 4 (50:07):
Up a little bit.

Speaker 11 (50:07):
And you know, a little bit of fooling around like
that by Terry Francona may have a positive effect.

Speaker 2 (50:14):
I wonder you mentioned the youth of Eli day of
the Cruz. This is a young team with a couple
veterans mixed in. Talk about the playoff pressure that you
go through as a hitter. Maybe sometimes and maybe you
do press in situations like that. There's more fans, there's
more build up, there's a tenseness about the ballpark. Is

(50:34):
that real? In Major League Baseball? When you do have
young players that are playing in a game that feels
like it does have more meaning, like it has down
the stretch, and how much in those situations do you
rely on a guy like Terry Francona.

Speaker 11 (50:48):
I think that it applies to everybody, whether you're a
veteran or not. I mean, unless you're a guy that
has been in the World Series, you know six times,
you're gonna get a little nervous around these games, and
you should. I think the difference, however, with the Reds
this year, everybody in that clubhouse knows how what a
struggle that has been to score runs. I think somewhere

(51:09):
around fifty times this year they've scored, you know, one
run or few were in a ballgame. And so when
that happens, guys tend to go to the plate and
they try to do too much. They get outside of
their own ability level, and you know, they start chasing
pitches and.

Speaker 4 (51:24):
They start making bad decisions at the plate.

Speaker 11 (51:27):
Instead of knowing that the guy behind me can can
pick me up, they try to do too much themselves.
And I think that is really the case that happens
even more with a young team that has never been
through it before. But I don't think this team's nervous.

Speaker 16 (51:40):
I really don't.

Speaker 11 (51:40):
I think that they feel like they're playing with house
money right now because no one really expected them to
be this close to the playoffs, but their pitching staff
has carried them there and they realize now that it
is within reach.

Speaker 2 (51:52):
Chris, A lot of the conversation the last day or
so was around how you navigate the pitching matchups. Do
you throw Hunter Green last night and maybe allow him
to be available for Game one sixty two if needed.
Do you hold him for tonight's game against Paul Skeins.
How do you view that back and forth? And do
you believe that that it is the right choice to

(52:12):
hold Hunter Green for tonight against Skeenes.

Speaker 11 (52:15):
Well, you know, it's one of these things where you
have to balance how a pitcher feels to your matchups.
And I think you're always going to see Terry francona
favor how the pitcher feels. If he feels like maybe
Hunter Green would be better with an extra day off
and be stronger going into the game tonight rather than

(52:36):
pitching him last night, that's the way he's always.

Speaker 4 (52:38):
Going to go.

Speaker 11 (52:39):
Terry Francone is never going to be accused of using
a picture when the pitcher feels like he's fatigued, or
whether he sees something in him and that you know,
a lot of this has got feeling because you can't
find the answers in a spreadsheet for this kind of stuff.
And I think that's where Francona really excels. He listens
to his players and he's able to actually make decisions

(53:01):
based on that. So you know, this isn't really an
ex's and o's decision by Frank COONa. It's x's and
o's and then human being involved too.

Speaker 3 (53:10):
Chris, you talked about the struggle to score runs a
little bit. Obviously defense is important in these tight games,
but how do you balance maybe the defensive value of
a key Brian Hayes with the offensive value of a
salth Stewart or maybe even include Matt McLean in that conversation?
How difficult are those decisions for Francona to make just
because of how much they need to score runs.

Speaker 11 (53:34):
Well, we watched this team all year long, right, and
you know that they have a problem scoring run. So
if you have a problem scoring runs and you have
a what a twenty two or twenty one year old
in South Stewart sitting in the sideline stick and that
he can be the difference maker, or do you do
what you know has gotten you there, which is run prevention.
And I think that if you're going to hang your

(53:55):
hat on pitching, and the.

Speaker 4 (53:56):
Reds have to do that.

Speaker 11 (53:57):
And this one reason why nobody wants to base the
Reds in the playoffs, because they're starting pitching, you have
to continue to go with run prevention. And I think
what Kee Brian Hayes has brought to this ball club
is just a certain amount of stability at third base
that they haven't had. They had a revolving door down there.
They had guys that you may have been matched up

(54:17):
in the lineup because of offense, but they didn't have
anybody on this ball club that they was there only
because of defense, with the exception of Espinal and I
don't think that he's the guy that they figured as
an everyday player. So when Key Brian Hayes comes over,
now you've got some stability on the left side of
the enfield. Hopefully you think it would make Eli dal
La Cruz a little bit better. I think it has.

(54:38):
But you've got to continue to play the way that
you got there, which is by run prevention.

Speaker 2 (54:43):
Obviously, Paul Skeens is a landslide favorite to win the
Cy Young and he has had a great amount of
success in his career against the Cincinnati Reds twenty three innings,
just one on run. If you're putting on your hitting
cap or or talking to players, how do you even
go about trying to approach a guy like Paul Skins

(55:04):
in such a meaningful game.

Speaker 11 (55:07):
Well, you know, the guy has not only owned the Reds,
he's owned other teams as well.

Speaker 4 (55:11):
But he's just that good.

Speaker 11 (55:13):
I mean, you know, there's a mediocre player and then
a few steps up there superstar players, and then you
have these guys like Schemes who are having the kind
of year that he's having, which is basically unhittable. So
what you do is you go up there and you
battle every pitch. I can't get hitting advice. You know,
my best advice to hitters all along is the former pitcher,
is swing down and run hard against against schemes. You know,

(55:36):
you just battle, And the key I think is this,
you play great defense and you take advantage of whatever
they give you on the base paths. If schemes can
be run on, then you run. If you need the bunt,
then you bunt. But you've got to put some pressure
on him somehow, because, you know what, he's not used
to giving up runs against the Reds. If the Reds
are able to tag him for a couple of runs

(55:56):
early on, he may change his whole demeanor. Now here's
the part of that. Schemes was taken out after his
last start, to think, after three innings, so he's probably
not going to be out there, you know, six seven
or eight innings tonight. I think that they want to
make sure that he that he stays healthy through the winner.
They want to make sure that he wins a Scion Award,
and I think it's going to be kind of a
cameo appearance for him tonight.

Speaker 3 (56:19):
How many hits did you have in your big league career, Chris.

Speaker 11 (56:23):
I don't know. I had one that left the ballpark
and Pete Rose met me at home play, but that's
about the one that I remember.

Speaker 3 (56:29):
The boats, Yeah, I just looked it up here. I
got you for twenty six career hits, including a big
fly that ain't too bad.

Speaker 4 (56:39):
You know.

Speaker 11 (56:39):
One year I did hit two sixty three and I
drove in eleven runs. So you know what my philosophy was,
don't strike out. When I got two strikes on me,
I choked up so much that there was hardly.

Speaker 4 (56:50):
Any of the batch showing. But I just wanted to
boop him in there, and basically that's what I did.

Speaker 3 (56:55):
I think we need more of that with the Reds.

Speaker 2 (57:00):
How do you view and how do you think in
a game like this, you got five opportunities left. Every
game is going to be played like a playoff level
atmosphere with Matt McClain, and we've seen the struggles and
those struggles were unfortunately on display last night with some
runners in scoring position. How do you balance a guy
who's still so young and fresh in his career and

(57:21):
you don't want to take away the confidence. You want
to give him those opportunities, but also find the best
ways to construct this lineup. How hard does that become
with a guy like Matt McLain.

Speaker 11 (57:31):
You know, I don't know if Matt could reach a
lower point with his confidence this year. This kid is
a good player. He's a gutsy player. He's really a
hard nosed guy on the inside. And this is you know,
you're you're eating a lot of humble pie. You know,
there's a thing in baseball that I like to steal
from a buddy of mine, Tim Flannery. He used to
say that there are two kinds of players in baseball.

(57:52):
There are humble players and those that are about to
be humbled. And I think that McClain has lived that.
I mean, he thought that after having what ninety days
of a really good rookie season, he was going to
come back and take off from there, and it just
doesn't happen all the time. And last night was a
perfect example of him chasing some pitches out of his zone,
not being prepared for pitches that come down the middle,

(58:13):
and that's what you have to do.

Speaker 4 (58:14):
Well.

Speaker 11 (58:14):
I remember facing really good hitters. What I found is
that they every good hitter has a zone that if
you throw that ball in that zone, he doesn't miss.
And McClain is fouling those off for taking those pitches.
This year, he's going to come around. I'm not so
sure it's going to happen, you know, overnight, but he's
going to be a good player, really good player.

Speaker 4 (58:33):
Down the road. And let's just hoping that he can
relax a little bit and do.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
What he can do the Cubs are in a downward
free fall. They need to find a way to get
a win today against the Mets tonight. Atmosphere wise, with
everything that's on the line at Great American Ballpark and
three two one night and ticket tickets for eight dollars
up top, and you get Paul Skeens and Hunter Green
on the mound, what are you expecting just from a

(58:59):
sheer atmosphere standpoint at Great American Ballpark tonight.

Speaker 11 (59:03):
It's going to be like playoff atmosphere because the pitching
matchup alone is worth the admission. I can tell you
that even he then double the admission. Yeah, because you
don't get this kind of talent on the mound very
often at all, maybe once a year. And these two
guys budding just in. I mean they're one hundred mile
an hour plus guys.

Speaker 4 (59:22):
I mean, this is not.

Speaker 11 (59:22):
Going to be a good night for hitters. Uh Now,
A lot of it may depend on what the weather holds,
you know, when when pitchers can come in there warm up,
when they're going to be maybe a rain delay. All
those things are going to be factors into this ball game.
But this ought to be a playoff atmosphere and I'll
tell you I I just can't wait to watch Chris.

Speaker 2 (59:42):
Cannot thank you enough for joining us. We appreciate you
taking the time today and enjoy the guaranteed last five
down the stretch here.

Speaker 11 (59:50):
Well, thank you guys. I enjoy your work very much.

Speaker 16 (59:53):
And hey go Red Chris.

Speaker 2 (59:55):
Thank you so much. Man man, that is Chris Welsh. Awesome,
awesome U to get his time today.

Speaker 3 (01:00:01):
I did not know that Chris Welsh, the crafty left hander,
had twenty six knocks, six of which were doubles, eighteen
runs batted in in a big fly.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
Over the course in his career with runners in scoring position.
Was it higher than Matt McLain right now? Uh, give
me just a second. Mat McClain has won ninety two
this year. Give me one second to look that up. Chris,
top that.

Speaker 3 (01:00:26):
Standby base is occupied with runners in scoring position. That's
what we're looking for. Yes, you said, Matt McClean is
hitting what this year one? Chris Welsh in his career
had runners in scoring position forty one times. When he

(01:00:47):
was at the dish he hit one ninety five. Oh
that is better. So you could make an argument that
well should be in the six hall tonight. Now, he
mentioned that season that he hit two sixty two and
had eleven runs batted in. That was nineteen eighty two
with the San Diego Padres. That season, with runners in

(01:01:10):
scoring position, Chris Wells hit four fifty five. He was
eleven for or excuse me, he was five for eleven,
four runs a double, ten runs batted in, He walked once,
only struck out twice. Unbelievable. That is incredible, man. I honestly,

(01:01:31):
I had never looked that up before. I mean, I
knew Chris had a good career, but I didn't think
he had many at bats as a relief pitcher.

Speaker 20 (01:01:39):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:01:39):
That's pretty damn good. And he went deep. That's awesome, man.
I love it. That is cool. I love it. So
take the over to nine is what we're thinking. Six
and a half. What if we just touch him up
for like six runs? Man?

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
What if we just shoot down Hissa young helps? What
if we get him for like twelve?

Speaker 3 (01:02:00):
Now? How much does the does Livy don play a
role in this great question? She's here? Yep, I just
saw that she posted. She's in Cincinnati. Yeah, she's playing
chess with Paul this morning. Okay, is that what he
does every game. Maybe maybe breakfast with Livy, game of chess,
get the mind right, and then just go throw about
one hundred and four down the pipe.

Speaker 2 (01:02:21):
Aaron Judge is hitting three twenty five this year with
runners in scoring position. Chris Welsh crushed that number. Oh yeah,
crush that number. Oh yeah. I was asked something over
the break yeah uh in one of my group chats,
and I think this question becomes different right now because
of where the franchises are right now the offensive line.

(01:02:43):
We talked about the struggles with where the roster is
for the Bengals and where the reds are at. We
were asked, not counting this year, who makes the playoffs next?

Speaker 3 (01:02:54):
REGI Bengals, not counting this year? Yes, take this year
out of it, Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
You still go Bengals, Okay, you don't. I think it
would have been a landslide before the season if you
asked me that question. Seeing where this team is out
on the offensive line right now, on the defensive side
of the ball, it makes me worried that they're way
further off than we thought. With the Cincinnati Bengals, I

(01:03:23):
still think I lean Bengals.

Speaker 3 (01:03:24):
What about when it's close trade Tray and get a
first round pick. Now we're talking. Now we're cooking with
them in a draft. I don't know a left tackle
move Orlando Brown to guard. We should just do like
a flip Fairchild the right guard, Matt Lee or Seth
McLaughlin take cares the spot. Amarius Mims as sins bang,

(01:03:47):
I like that. Speaking of Amarius Mims, spotted last night,
oh Kenwood Mall at Great American Ballpark. Oh, I saw
two Bengals offensive lineman and I thought to myself, Well,
you know, I've been talking ill of these guys. I've
been calling him soft. So if they've been listening to
the show, they might confront me. I'd be I'd be screwed.

(01:04:10):
Uh No, they didn't. It was a Cody Ford who
I mean at this point, hell, give him a chance.
And I saw him. Oh, I saw him when the
Marris Mems went out of the gong. I mean, not
at tackle. Don't put him at tackle. H Cody forded
and Marius Mems I saw at the game last and
Barrett Carter throughout the first bitch.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
Okay, we just turned this into a whole segment of
text we've received. I have one more question, Okay, can
I throw it at you?

Speaker 3 (01:04:33):
Are these? Am I getting these two? Or I haven't
looked at me? Can I throw you one more?

Speaker 16 (01:04:37):
Sure?

Speaker 2 (01:04:37):
Matt McClain stinks stinks defensive or stinks offensively. He's been
okay defensively in a game like this tonight. Would you
think about south Stewart starting over McClain?

Speaker 3 (01:04:47):
Yes, I just had that conversation with some of our
guys in the sales room. Yeah, I mean you got
to consider that. Why not him and the two with
McLain and or uh key Bryan Hayes.

Speaker 2 (01:05:00):
Yeah, I would almost lean getting him in from a
clean Now, I agree getting him there and put him
in the two hole Marte to three and you kind
of back everyone up after that, Or you put south
Stewart batting six after Eli Dayly Cruse and you give
him a little more protection. Perhaps at least there's a
thought that he could leave the yard.

Speaker 3 (01:05:20):
If your pul schemes, do you just kind of line
up and throw it until I prove they can hit
it tonight? Yes, Like here's the heater, dude, hit it.

Speaker 2 (01:05:29):
Come get it. He's gonna go up and get it
and come back with it.

Speaker 3 (01:05:33):
If I were him. In the first two innings, I
would throw nothing but heaters. Yeah, and then the next
two innings, I throw nothing but sliders. Man, good luck, dude,
just look completely completely out of sorts. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
Twenty three innings, thirty three strikeouts against the Reds. That's incredible.
Twenty three innings, thirty three strikeouts, seventeen hits in one run.
All right, wasn't it his last doubting against the Reds
with the red seat opportunities early and.

Speaker 3 (01:06:04):
Failed to capitalize. Sounds right, Yeah, sounds about right.

Speaker 2 (01:06:08):
Your talkbacks are next on this the Home of the
Bengals ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station. Thanks to Cinti shirts.

Speaker 23 (01:06:18):
Dan Horde joined Dave lapoman Me for Bengals game plan tonight,
starting at six on the official home of the Bengals,
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 24 (01:06:28):
Is the Temple to suppressed the microphone precordial message for
a stand and don't keep it clean.

Speaker 25 (01:06:41):
A sprinkles.

Speaker 3 (01:06:43):
Oh wish that temple to be.

Speaker 26 (01:06:46):
It's our favorite part of S three sixty. Well, you
played at the backs on your screen and trying not
to sanitize it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:00):
All right. I don't think we've been sabotaging much anymore.
I don't sabotage. I just don't play stuff that doesn't
need to be played.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
I don't think that's been around for a while. But nonetheless,
thanks to Sincy Shirts, we got a gift card to give.

Speaker 3 (01:07:13):
Away, so we're clear there was never any sabotaging. There
was a time where it felt like there was no,
but it's been kind up. If if you call sabotaging
doing what's best for you and me and the show,
well then yeah I'm a saboteur.

Speaker 27 (01:07:29):
Tony Austin, jeffrom As would all right, Jeff, I'm tired
all the talk about how bad the Bengals were last week.

Speaker 16 (01:07:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 27 (01:07:38):
Humbling, humble, lean is what they got. That's what they needed.
We go to Denver, we win this one or three
and one, yeah, first place, first place or at least
a tie. Come on, now, go Bengals. Okay, tired of
all the talk?

Speaker 3 (01:07:56):
All right, all right, okay, Jeff, Sorry man.

Speaker 28 (01:08:00):
It was like many others, I was definitely sad to
hear about the news that Rudy Johnson passed away yesterday,
one of my favorite Bengals, and just a sad deal.
Like you all said, let people have had mental health
issues know that you're here for them.

Speaker 16 (01:08:11):
Yeah, check in on them.

Speaker 20 (01:08:13):
I don't know that you care.

Speaker 16 (01:08:14):
I don't know that the matter.

Speaker 28 (01:08:15):
Let them know that you're here just to listen to them,
and just just reach out to those people. And there's
nothing wrong with saying that you need help. Folks take
care of yourselves and take care of each.

Speaker 3 (01:08:26):
Other too, well said. Thank you, Kevin.

Speaker 25 (01:08:31):
It's greg to not give the ball to Hunter Green.
Your ace, who's been pitching lights out and who was
on regular rest, has gotta be Tito's dumbest move over
the year.

Speaker 3 (01:08:47):
Mm hmmmm.

Speaker 16 (01:08:50):
Here's my hot tape for the day.

Speaker 29 (01:08:51):
The Ryder Cup is slowly but surely turning into the WWE.

Speaker 25 (01:08:55):
Too much lead up to talk and just go out.

Speaker 3 (01:08:58):
To the first TA on Friday and start playing golf. Guys,
Is that a bad thing? I don't think so. I
don't know if I love it for golf. I'm a
golf I'm a WWE hater. I don't know if it's
a bad thing. The environment, man, it's so good.

Speaker 30 (01:09:13):
Hey, Tony, the Hall of Famer in Austin, give me
more elmore.

Speaker 29 (01:09:16):
This is Mike Delhi and I've been thinking a lot
about this turf toil injury from Joe, and I found
the statistic to be alarming that I found out about today.

Speaker 31 (01:09:25):
Eighty three percent of all turftoe injuries happened on artificial turf.

Speaker 3 (01:09:31):
That's why it's called turftow.

Speaker 16 (01:09:32):
Can we not get grass?

Speaker 31 (01:09:34):
Can we not get grass?

Speaker 3 (01:09:35):
At Paul's a grass? Okay? Well, that is actually part
of the reason why it's called turf toe, just because
of artificial turf causing it so much. The last time
the Bengals tried to have grass down there, it did
not go well. It went very poorly. I don't know
why or what or how they couldn't, especially with the

(01:09:55):
advantage of technology in the twenty years since then, that
they couldn't do it again. Most places now have turf
because of the multi use facilities and the concerts and
the other things. The Bengals rarely do other stuff. It's
part of the point of contention with Hamilton County over
the summer. If you remember at that stadium. I think

(01:10:18):
I would love it if it was a natural grass.
I wish it was natural grass. I don't know that
we're gonna see that for the rest of the life
at Bankoorse Stadium.

Speaker 30 (01:10:26):
I don't think, Hello, this is former President Ronald Reagan
and well, what's wrong with the Bengals reads like a
list of side effects from weiser and no amount of
tailand all will help this cooday headache go away. Perhaps
the Reds can provide the much needed remedy for our
Bengal blues. Well, now it's off to fencing class with

(01:10:46):
Nancy on guard.

Speaker 3 (01:10:53):
You take a lot of tilan alto No, I don't, okay,
sure you do?

Speaker 28 (01:10:56):
You know, after last night's Reds loss, I got me
thinking it's that and the Bengals and Cincinnati with our proteins.

Speaker 3 (01:11:04):
It feels like US fans.

Speaker 20 (01:11:05):
Deal with a lot of opium and a lot of copium.

Speaker 3 (01:11:08):
You can fign which one goes with what teams go right?
I think the Reds still have hope. Yeah, I think
the Bengals it's copium. People trying to justify Russell Wilson
about who the lusion?

Speaker 4 (01:11:21):
Tony?

Speaker 32 (01:11:21):
You complaining about parking man, I mean how long you
lived in Cincinnati, dude? Just buy a parking pass for
the East Garage. They're seventeen bucks.

Speaker 3 (01:11:33):
Let me tell you something pregame.

Speaker 20 (01:11:36):
Man, let me tell you something online, and then.

Speaker 32 (01:11:39):
You pull up, you park, and you walk your happy
ass in.

Speaker 4 (01:11:43):
It's like a two.

Speaker 2 (01:11:44):
Minute walk if it was He's right, if it were me,
I'd park and walk my happy ass from Fountain Square.

Speaker 3 (01:11:51):
That's what I do.

Speaker 2 (01:11:52):
When you got a four or five and a one
year old, it becomes a little bit different.

Speaker 3 (01:11:56):
How So there you got young legs when you're not
even walking. Just can't take a stroller in. Just kidding.
Kids are tired. Blame it on the kids. They're wagging behind.
Blame it on the kids. So the other night, was
it Friday night? I go to the game, and I

(01:12:16):
typically park a Fountain Square just because it's the cheapest
and the walk is not hard. But when you time
it up correctly, you can hop on the connector and
come right down to the Bakho. So that's what I did.
Hop on the connector and it goes one block south
and stops. Oh, and this thing's packed full of people

(01:12:38):
going to the Reds game, and full of October Fest
people too, wearing all their stuff. And the driver gets
on there and makes an announcement, I have a flashing
red light. I cannot move until my supervisor gets here.
I need everyone to leave the train somewhere in the
middle of the street. Have the flood out of this connector.

(01:12:59):
We went one block, you got to go.

Speaker 33 (01:13:01):
Yeah, it's the Lord on a Wednesday. Got another star
bench cut for quarterbacks? You think we should sign plus
co Jamis, Winston, Russell Wilson, Kirk Cousins.

Speaker 2 (01:13:15):
If money were not an option, I'd start Cousins. Yeah,
I'd sit Ross and I'd cut Jamis.

Speaker 3 (01:13:20):
I guess I agree with that.

Speaker 31 (01:13:22):
What's up, Feathers move from out healthy, just sitting here
thinking about the Bengals in their current state. The state
is that they haven't improved since their Super Bowl year.
They've actually gotten worse. They've lost depth and a lot
of key defensive players. So I think the thing is

(01:13:43):
all the draft picks that they missed on have come
home to roost.

Speaker 3 (01:13:48):
Yeah, I mean that's certainly helped. That certainly hurts you. Yeah,
I mean it's something we've talked about a lot. They
got they got old fast on defense, and the young
guys just weren't there to supplement it. And I think
that's one of the biggest issues. I think often about
the got the ball back trailing chance to win the

(01:14:08):
game in the AFC Championship Game in January of twenty three,
and they had to punt. Yeah, that one. I think
we give them too much of a pass on it.
That one hurt.

Speaker 34 (01:14:24):
Hey, Tony and Austin always in the game last night too,
and I was I was pretty impressed with the crowd.

Speaker 16 (01:14:29):
Uh it was.

Speaker 34 (01:14:30):
It was late coming in. I didn't have any problem
because I got there early. But man, what a downer
when they hit in three straight endings of ending inning
double plays, especially that last one at the end.

Speaker 15 (01:14:45):
I don't know.

Speaker 34 (01:14:46):
Maybe they can get it together. We'll see. We need
a miracle. Go Ridge, go Blue?

Speaker 3 (01:14:51):
And who did go what? Ken? He said? Go Blue?
Better be big Blue, go big Blue? And Gay Let's
go Cubs go Yeah, Go Cubs go Yeah.

Speaker 35 (01:15:00):
What a rough night in Red's Land.

Speaker 22 (01:15:02):
You think they're gonna win?

Speaker 35 (01:15:04):
Fucking Diamondbacks meds come back from huge deficits. I don't
think the Tigers or my Astros are ever gonna win again.
The Guardians have been unbelievable. Boy, the Bengals, it's hard
to envision them winning Monday night. I hope this offensive
line can do something Monday night.

Speaker 3 (01:15:26):
Yeah, I agree with that.

Speaker 16 (01:15:28):
Man.

Speaker 32 (01:15:29):
Listening to how condescending Austin is towards Tony's opinions is
out ridiculous. Man, it's so hard to listen to Austin
to the NFL.

Speaker 3 (01:15:42):
Dude, I think he didn't play.

Speaker 16 (01:15:45):
Unbelievable.

Speaker 3 (01:15:47):
You didn't play, so just because Tony played, we should
accept his opinions as truth. I think everyone's opinion matters.
I think everyone is. I think it's good radio than
when I pushed back on the opinions. I'm just playing
a little devil's advocate. Sometimes I agree with Tony, Sometimes
I don't.

Speaker 36 (01:16:04):
Yeah, I think Tito did a poor job of forcing
the issue last night, giving the statistics on the Pirates
Catcher throwing runners out. This team's not good enough offensively
to sit back and wait. They have to force the issue,
especially if it's there for the taking. So hopefully to
night'll be a different story.

Speaker 3 (01:16:20):
It's a good point Red's got runners on and what
the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, to eighth the nights, I
think it's hard to like.

Speaker 2 (01:16:27):
I get the defensive mentality, but when you go down
early in the game and you're so deficient offensively, I
think you need to go to those changes quicker.

Speaker 3 (01:16:33):
By the way, yes, real quick. I didn't realize the Guardians.
I don't want to talk about it. And the Tigers.

Speaker 2 (01:16:42):
It was a fifteen and a half game lead on
July eighth, twelve and a half on August twenty fifth.

Speaker 3 (01:16:47):
Ye, that's unbelievable. Wow awful. And then they might play
each other in the playoffs first round. They got to
get there first.

Speaker 37 (01:16:56):
Hey, guys, Jeff and new Richard, listen, as far as
the Bengals go, we have the two biggest narcissists in
the world that are the faces of the organization, and
Zach Taylor and Duke Tobin. They've never been wrong in
their lives, just ask him. And this organization has always
been reactive, not proactive. They're not going to sign a quarterback.

(01:17:19):
They've got four of them. So anyway, if you fire
Zach crue, you're going to.

Speaker 3 (01:17:24):
Get exactly where are you gonna go? I believe Zach
Taylor's the problem. He's the common denominator.

Speaker 38 (01:17:32):
When Browning had success in the past, it was with
Brian Callahan calling the plays and burrow Is dragged and
carried this team to all success under Zach Taylor. And
if Zach Tayl doesn't want to give up to play calling,
then he should leave. And I would like to see
John Gruden come in.

Speaker 3 (01:17:49):
As the new head coach.

Speaker 38 (01:17:51):
Oh, Derek Carr even selling Dan Patrick he was successful?

Speaker 3 (01:17:55):
Oh well. First of all, Brian Callahan never called the
place Zach always called to play. Second of all, I
don't know that. I didn't vote the name of Brian Callahan.
Right now, things aren't going great. Third of all, I
think you're it's a fair point.

Speaker 39 (01:18:10):
This is DJ Tony listen to Ottie. Yeah, I'm all
all for not standing Pat, but bringing in just an
old quarterback who's gonna fall down when the line collapses
is not gonna fix anything. Yeah, if you can find
a running quarterback or some of them will roll out that,
I'm good with that. But this team is too broken.

(01:18:31):
If that one change was the whole offensive line, I'm
all for it.

Speaker 3 (01:18:34):
Well, I'm not listening Austin. He didn't play football. Not true.
Did you see my post last night? The tape job
on the left hand.

Speaker 4 (01:18:43):
This is Chris go all right.

Speaker 40 (01:18:46):
I know we can't hold on to the twenty twenty
two Super Bowl, but I was just wondering, like, after
we win that Super Bowl? If we win that Super Bowl,
do we build a statue of mar Chase and Joe
Burrow in.

Speaker 4 (01:19:03):
God Bless Probably.

Speaker 3 (01:19:06):
I don't know that the Bengals would build it, the
city would fund. I don't know that there's going to
be any statues then till long after current members are gone.

Speaker 2 (01:19:14):
You think a Hamilton County would have to get together
and fund it.

Speaker 3 (01:19:17):
I think it would have to be a fan funded statue.
There should be three statues. There should be everybody who's
Pro Football Hall of Famer, so Ken Riley, Anthony Munio's,
Paul Brown. After that, I don't know who would be
the most deserving of a of a statue. Who does

(01:19:38):
anybody come to mind? I don't know. I don't know
the Hall of famers. Like you said, for sure, Chad,
it would be difficult to say no to yeah, because
statues are so much too about just the fans and
the fans that embrace them. And who better than Chad?

Speaker 29 (01:19:54):
So has Zach Taylor explored all options to this point,
changing the scheme the plays. Do you remember when they
played the Colts? I think it was a couple of
years ago. I can't remember if it was Mick Center
or Brown. They torched the Colts just running a screen
because I don't think they could run the ball then either,
So I'd like to see him try that. I'm sure

(01:20:15):
what else do we have to lose? This is gonna
get bad, real, real bad.

Speaker 3 (01:20:21):
Yeah, glad he brings this up. I was listening to
Paul with Moe yesterday. You know that play where the
Bengals had a undercenter play action screen to Chase Brown
and he took it to the house. He had like
twenty one miles per hour on that. Do you know
how many under center play action screens to Chase Brown
the Bengals have run since that day? In late twenty

(01:20:42):
twenty three too zero? Oh they run one from Pistol
and it got twelve yards. I feel like so twice
in those two years.

Speaker 2 (01:20:52):
I feel like the most I hear from people, they
talk about the lack of screens. Yeah, run more screens.
I don't know why they don't.

Speaker 41 (01:21:03):
After the worst case scenario last night, is it a
too much to ask for? Maybe like a rain delay
happening after the first inning. That way, Skeens is pulled,
and then maybe Hunter Green is available for Sunday.

Speaker 3 (01:21:22):
I don't hate it, but my fear would be Brent
Suiter pitches tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:21:26):
Yeah, oh gosh, so get through the first rain pours down,
fifty minute delay. You can't roll skins back out like
a two hour and forty minute though. Okay, yeah, okay,
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:21:42):
Okay, Hey, guys, I mean, if Chase Burns can restart
the Bristol game, why can't Hutter restart a game tonight?
That's true? Hey, guys, how you going listen?

Speaker 4 (01:21:50):
What up?

Speaker 42 (01:21:51):
This season's over? Wilson ain't gonna help. Wilson ain't gonna help.
You're not gonna win it all with those guys. They're
just not gonna.

Speaker 3 (01:21:58):
Do it, joking company.

Speaker 42 (01:22:00):
This season needs to be used as a rebuild. And
here's how you rebuild, Coach, your strategy didn't work. Your
trade t your trade tray. You get number ones for
both of them. You have three number ones next year
and a ton of cap room. You'll be content as
instantly next year when Joe comes back.

Speaker 3 (01:22:17):
Who day? Okay, wonder if you get to the playoffs
and Joe comes back. You know you, guys, I'm like
old buddy from Castaway Tom Hanks just crying about Wilson
all the time. Wilson, That's what I'm gonna start turning into.
If Zach is fired the next few weeks, who on
the staff do you think would take over as interim
coach Darren Simmons Either be Darren Simmons or Al Golden

(01:22:40):
I would assume just because of their head coaching experience. Golden,
of course in college. Darren Simmons has been here for
one hundred and fifteen years.

Speaker 24 (01:22:48):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:22:49):
Maybe Dan Pitcher, but I would doubt it.

Speaker 16 (01:22:52):
Good afternoon, gentlemen.

Speaker 43 (01:22:54):
Seems to me that we've had three offensive line coaches
under this lustrious head coach of ours, and they seem
to keep getting the same kind of results, and we
keep complaining about the offensive line coaches and the offensive line.

Speaker 7 (01:23:05):
No.

Speaker 43 (01:23:06):
Last year I was total was probably the personnel, and
our personnel was better than what he dealt with in
New England, and it'll be better here.

Speaker 3 (01:23:12):
I'm starting to wonder is it the.

Speaker 43 (01:23:14):
Scheme of the head coach of his offensive ideas I meant.

Speaker 3 (01:23:18):
I means he's leaving a talkback that asking about what
has been the number one topic on this show for
the last three days.

Speaker 44 (01:23:26):
Yeah, I have no idea what Francona is doing not
starting Hunter Green last night. Like like it's been said,
if you're starting last night, then you had him available
for the last game of the year if you need it.
If you don't and you got to you know, a
game lead because it's a tiebreaker, then you don't pitch
him and you still got to bail.

Speaker 3 (01:23:47):
For game one of the playoffs.

Speaker 45 (01:23:49):
But if you if you're trying to save him for
game one, you might not get to the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (01:23:52):
It makes no sense.

Speaker 45 (01:23:53):
It's like he's been infected with this disease that this
franchise has.

Speaker 2 (01:23:57):
And my thought last night was every one said, if
you start him last night, he's available for one sixty two,
that is, if you needed him in one sixty two.
If not, then he has a couple extra days rest
before the playoffs. But to just houle home throw Brady
and Brady Singer's been really good and he had one
bad inding two point one and one bad inning last night.

Speaker 3 (01:24:19):
I get that as well. Listen into July. It's just.

Speaker 13 (01:24:25):
Anyway that coaching carousel is a rocking and when the
job openings are a racking, Yeah, coach sata Fansel a knacking.
I'm telling you boys, he's not here.

Speaker 3 (01:24:43):
We're gonna get rid of him.

Speaker 13 (01:24:45):
He speak one of these big time jobs.

Speaker 3 (01:24:47):
Somebody else will.

Speaker 37 (01:24:48):
And he'll sneak his way into a mid major guarantee.

Speaker 3 (01:24:51):
Bah, thank you Brett.

Speaker 46 (01:24:55):
Hey, guys, quick question for you. Anybody who's washed McLean
obviously knows he struggled all season. But one thing I
noticed is that the guy consistently struggles to hit breaking
balls away.

Speaker 31 (01:25:06):
And he's a.

Speaker 46 (01:25:07):
Shorter player with shorter arms. I just been frustrated as
to why he doesn't make any adjustments, either moving closer
to the plate or humping the box to try to
hit that pitch. We've seen the same swing and approach
the entire season.

Speaker 9 (01:25:21):
Isn't that a diapeen on the.

Speaker 3 (01:25:23):
Hitting coach Chris Laka? Yep, good question, Ton Austin balling
ain't easy.

Speaker 9 (01:25:30):
Yeah, the mirror mortals are taking over.

Speaker 3 (01:25:32):
To an American ballpark.

Speaker 7 (01:25:33):
Fall probably gonna.

Speaker 9 (01:25:35):
Go bother Austin in the bow tie bar. I don't know,
get into some trouble.

Speaker 13 (01:25:40):
I might wear a full red uniform.

Speaker 3 (01:25:41):
Did you see our guy balling was in full uniform
a couple of weeks?

Speaker 2 (01:25:44):
Yes, I did. I respect the heck of it. I
also saw that he kind of gave up on the
season on Twitter, Yeah, which I respect. I did too,
and I'm surprised he's now going to show his face again.
I did too, But he is. He's just a mere
mortal falling. I'm not going to be there tonight, so
have a couple for me.

Speaker 3 (01:26:00):
He's just immortal.

Speaker 45 (01:26:01):
Tar of all that niggative Bengal talk. I'm tired of
all the real listic people out there being honest. Need
you guys to lie about this Banks team?

Speaker 3 (01:26:12):
You know, wasn't your fault. They lost forty eight to ten.

Speaker 4 (01:26:15):
The Carson Wentz No.

Speaker 3 (01:26:18):
Tired of all this talk, man.

Speaker 45 (01:26:21):
Even though they lost third quarterback for the third time
in six seasons.

Speaker 3 (01:26:24):
They ain't got a shot in hell.

Speaker 16 (01:26:26):
I don't want you guys talking about him like that.

Speaker 3 (01:26:30):
Dang tough times, man, All right, we're done. It's tough times.
We got a football in the Natti coming up, Yeah,
we do.

Speaker 2 (01:26:37):
Yeah, let's get pumped about the football in the Natti
next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (01:26:44):
Thanks to CINTI Shirts, Eddie.

Speaker 5 (01:26:46):
Grunts You in part by Bud Light and by Oakley
Greens on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the
Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:26:56):
Okay, welcome back since he three to sixty ESBN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station Football ind NATI. Let's look here quickly,
Austin Week four games coming up? How about the Thursday
night football one Tomorrow Night Seahawks Cardinals.

Speaker 3 (01:27:12):
I think on paper, you're like eugh, but there's actually
some interesting storylines there.

Speaker 4 (01:27:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:27:17):
How many drops from Marvin Harrison Junior? Yeah? Not great?
How well is Jonah Williams gonna play? Oh? Great? Point?
Sam Darnold playing a pretty high rate. Is this the
first game where we see the rivalry uniforms? I don't know.
I think I could have made that up, but I
thought this is when Arizona's gonna play where they're like

(01:27:38):
sand Gray whatever.

Speaker 2 (01:27:41):
Some other Week four matchups. Viking Steelers, that's in Dublin.
I think that's an interesting one. Commanders Falcons. Interesting with
the Falcons now because they pulled Pennix last week in
a thirty nothing beating up by Carolina. Now you go
back to him, he's your quarterback going forward. Baffles me.
They can't find more ways to get Bejon Robbinson the ball.

(01:28:03):
I feel like they do have weapons, but they just
can't figure it out. Biggest spread of the weekend and
a team that is on a collision course to the
worst record all the football. The Saints are going to
get sixteen and a half from the Buffalo Bills in
Orchard Park's.

Speaker 3 (01:28:16):
Crazy, that's gone up. Yeah, it was fifteen and a
half last time I saw it.

Speaker 2 (01:28:20):
Lions, Brown's eight and a half. Brown's defense is just
on another level. Yeah, I don't know if I'm crazy
about that number. Yeah, Detroit short week, maybe you know,
let down a little bit after a big win over Baltimore.

Speaker 3 (01:28:37):
Cleveland is just wrecking havoc on people. Even though Detroit's
strength is their offensive tackles, still cleveland strength is their
defensive line. I expect Detroit to win, but I don't
know if they go running away with it. Chargers, Giants,
Jackson Darts first start. Yeah, good luck kid.

Speaker 2 (01:28:54):
Eagles, Bucks, I'm all for this one. Give me everything
with this.

Speaker 3 (01:28:58):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:28:58):
It loses a little bit because my Evans is out
I think four to six weeks, which is disappointing.

Speaker 3 (01:29:03):
Godwin's still not back.

Speaker 2 (01:29:04):
Yeah, something's got to give. Titans Texans both are zero
to three. Titans already gave a little bit. Brian Callahan's
not calling plays anymore. See how that pans out. He
might get canned if they lose that one. How about
the conversation around uh C J. Stroud He's I told
you all this.

Speaker 3 (01:29:19):
Listen. He's going backwards. Yep. He has no offensive lineman.
One of his receivers is still recovering from a knee injury.
He's out for the whole season. Is running back starting
running back Joe Mixon. He's hurt? Yep. I knew that
team would stink.

Speaker 2 (01:29:33):
Colts keep it going against the Rams or the Rams
bring the Colts back down to reality.

Speaker 3 (01:29:37):
I think the Rams are like, uh, yeah, we got you.
How about the battle of one and two teams. Sean
McVay might embarrass Louis Arumo.

Speaker 2 (01:29:44):
One and two Kansas City hosting one and two Baltimore, Yeah,
what gives in that one?

Speaker 3 (01:29:50):
I would imagine it's going to be Baltimore blowing him out.
Micah Parson City does not look good.

Speaker 2 (01:29:54):
No, Michah Parsons returns to Dallas on Sunday Night Football
and then a pair of Monday night games Sunday night
game Bengals, Broncos, Jets, Dolphins, Your Monday Night football, that's
your Week four.

Speaker 3 (01:30:07):
You know we were talking about uniforms. Have you seen
the uniform matchup for the Bengals on Monday Night. Bengals
are going orange helmets, white jerseys, orange pants, white socks,
so they're gonna have them orange bridges on, which made
me say Halloween. Look, if the Bengals are going with
them orange bridges, that probably means Denver's not gonna wear
their orange jerseys. And I've been proven correct. The Broncos

(01:30:31):
going with their midnight Navy all blue for Monday night
football midnight against the Bengals. That kind of sounds tough.
Yeah it does. Did you know that the Eagles official
color of green is called midnight Green?

Speaker 2 (01:30:44):
Oh yeah, okay, we'll be back a touch and go.
We'll get us to our number three. John shearing A
is e Sports covering the Bengals. We'll kick off our
three with us coming up on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati
Sports Station. Thanks to our good friends at SINTI Shirts.

Speaker 5 (01:30:58):
You've been listening to foot All in the NATI on
ESPN fifteen thirty. The official Home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 6 (01:31:10):
Hey, it's Maulager. Join us.

Speaker 22 (01:31:12):
This is Pennstation EASTCA.

Speaker 1 (01:31:13):
Subs since e three to sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati,
sponsored in part by Penn Station East Coast Subs. Handcrafted
hot grilled subs, fresh cut fries and lemonade.

Speaker 22 (01:31:24):
It's all about good taste. Penn Station East Coast Subs
order online today.

Speaker 1 (01:31:30):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (01:31:34):
All right, welcome back our number three, thanks to Penn Station.
Thank you for listening on the Home of the Bengals.
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Move the schedule around
a little bit this week. Normally on Thursdays, we talked
to our guy John Scheron from Ajazy Sports because Zach
Taylor speaks on Wednesdays. That's getting flipped this week because
of the Monday night football game. So joining us here
to kick off the third hour is our good friend

(01:31:55):
John Sharon. John, what's going on?

Speaker 20 (01:31:58):
You know, Tony, I've had better weeks covering team. I'll
tell you that much.

Speaker 47 (01:32:01):
From a lot of different angles, both serious and non serious.

Speaker 20 (01:32:04):
It's been a better rough a couple of days.

Speaker 2 (01:32:06):
I understand that completely. Let's start with one of the
more startling things about this team, and that is the
inability to run the ball at all. Is it something
in your opinion, that is fixable, And in your opinion,
what has gone into the lack of running ability right now?

Speaker 47 (01:32:25):
Yeah, we talked about it last week, right, It was
my number one concern with this team going forward, and
I didn't think it would actually end up getting worse,
but somehow it did because again, like I mean, we've
we've all been watching football a long time. I don't
think we've ever seen a game in which the interior
of the offensive line gets moved backwards so consistently when
you first supposed to fire off the ball and displaced guys. Right,

(01:32:48):
that was somehow a common talking point with this team
over the past couple of days. And it's like, how
is this a problem for an NFL team? And the
reason why I'm skeptical about the fixes is because they're
not necessarily like dal Reisner and Ted Carriss, they're not
young players, right like, they kind of are who they are,
and there's limitations athletically there, but even still, like that

(01:33:10):
is the scenario which they need to just kind of
execute the force that they have as athletes, and if
they can't do that even in obvious running situations, it's
very tough to see how that changes other than them
just buckling down and just locking in in that phase
of the offense. I think there are some ways in
which you can counter this. You can get guys moving
a little bit horizontally on some counters, on some power plays,

(01:33:34):
things of that nature, right, trying to catch the defense
off guard with some draws and whatnot.

Speaker 20 (01:33:38):
There's some schematic things you can do.

Speaker 47 (01:33:40):
But what we saw Sunday was so startling just from
an execution standpoint, where it's like, like, I don't know
if these guys just have what it takes to just
execute the simplest concepts. So that was really startling to
see against again a pretty well defensive front and well
coached defensive front for the Vikings. But it was it
was even worse than what I would have thought, and
that's why I'm not feeling too great about it.

Speaker 2 (01:34:02):
It is the third offensive line coach under Zach Taylor.
They're now on their second offensive coordinator and the first
offensive coordinator. Brian Callahan, the head coach of the Tennessee Titans,
just gave up play calling duties in Tennessee to try
to get something going. We've exhausted. It feels like a
lot of different avenues. And I've had the conversation now
for a couple of years about Zach Taylor as the

(01:34:23):
play caller. Is this a conversation that needs to be
happening more as it pertains to the Bengals and how
they're operating offensively.

Speaker 47 (01:34:32):
Yeah, I mean it has been a conversation for a while,
and I think right now is the first time I
think it actually has a good amount of weight because
right at this moment, when you have a backup quarterback
in there, so much is relying on the coaching staff
and the play caller to put him in the best
possible snare because obviously you know Jake Browning who he
is right now, He's not a guy that you can

(01:34:53):
rely on to win you a game as a dropback pass.

Speaker 20 (01:34:55):
Necessarily. He needs help. And I think what gave z.

Speaker 47 (01:35:00):
A lot of I think we gave Zach a lot
of credit for how he and Brian Callahan and Dan
Pitcher the brain trust that offense, how they evolved the
offense after Jake Browning's first start the last time in
twenty twenty three. We're at the same point now where
he just came in for Burrow. He had a terrible
first start, but then things started to get better and
they started to have a more cohesive plan about what
to do moving forward in the second week. We're at

(01:35:22):
that point right now, and if we don't see any
progress in that regard in terms of them getting on
schedule and then finding a way to just get easy
yards for once in their life, just finding a way
to make it look easy with the skill players that
they have. If they can't do that now, I think
the clock really does start for them to try to
find something different in the form of a different process.
I don't know for a fact if it's going to

(01:35:44):
change significantly if they give it over to damn Pitcher,
but at some point you just can't keep running into
a brick wall, both figuratively and literally.

Speaker 3 (01:35:51):
Do you think it would change things significantly if they
gave it over to a different quarterback? Tony and I
have been kind of butting heads about this a little bit,
like Russell Will or someone like that, would you go
after him?

Speaker 47 (01:36:04):
I think russ is interesting, like the Giants, I think
made an announcement saying that he's officially quarterback too, whereas Jamis Winston,
on the other hand, is kind of up in limbo.
I'm not necessarily against Russ, considering that his arm is
just notably better than Browning. I think if you were
to go after a different quarterback like Russ, you would
have to make significant changes to the offense, and maybe

(01:36:24):
that's probably maybe a positive thing, right Maybe that everything
that they're trying to do right now has been really
stale and clearly it's just not connecting with the rest
of the players.

Speaker 20 (01:36:32):
So I'm not totally against it, obviously.

Speaker 47 (01:36:35):
I kind of think in the sandbox of who the
Bengals are, and that's typically a very anti thing for
them to do, even though they're in this position that
right now where they don't have a stable solution a quarterback,
but they've always relied on the guys in their house.
And the only reason why I would kind of support
it is because it would probably garner more significant changes
from a schematic standpoint, and they could use any sort
of changes right now.

Speaker 2 (01:36:55):
Defensively, A lot was made after the game about the
limited amount of snaps Logan Wilson got and Originally I
just assumed John that it was a blowout, you're getting
a lot of guys in, but hearing from Logan Wilson,
this was something communicated him before the game that they
were going to rotate a lot of guys through there.
What are your thoughts on how they're utilizing and rotating

(01:37:15):
some guys defensively.

Speaker 47 (01:37:18):
Yeah, I think like Oron Burks for example, Like he's
been pretty good in these first three few weeks, and
I'm not opposed necessarily beginning him on the field a
little bit more if that means that you're kind of
picking your spots as to when to play Logan Wilson,
who I think is still your best all around linebacker,
but if you're not trying to expose him maybe some
situations where he's maybe not as good as he was
a handful of years ago. I'm not necessarily opposed to that,

(01:37:39):
but I think that it needs to be you know,
make sure that he's on the same page and he's
comfortable and supportive of the plan. And if that is,
if there's a disconnect there, then there's probably an issue
with this new coaching staff and everything like that. But
I think they really value the depth that they have
at linebacker. I think they want to give Barry Carter
Moore exposure as well. But Aaron Burks definitely has value
to this defense and as a blitzer, and he's already
shown some prom So as long as that they're maximizing

(01:38:02):
who they have, I think it's fine. But you obviously
don't want one of your actual captains and leaders to
be disgruntled about the plan because obviously we saw that
the last time that there was a new defense coordinator
Town and everything that happened carls den Up. I'm not
saying that's going to happen Logan Wilson, but you don't
want to end up going down that road where you're
not making sure that you're putting your guys in positions
where they're comfortable.

Speaker 2 (01:38:19):
I feel like it's so hard in a game that
gets away from like Sunday did, to evaluate specifically the
defensive side of the ball. But through three weeks, how
do you evaluate the defense as a whole?

Speaker 3 (01:38:29):
Under Oul Golden.

Speaker 47 (01:38:31):
Yeah, I think that they were the like the only
semblance of a positive thing on Sunday because once after
the first couple of drives, they seem to kind of
settle in and then obviously, like you said, the game
kind of went away from them and it was hard
to really evaluate that. But I think that they're finding
out how they can stimulate some pressure and now again
has been my biggest concern with them in terms of
just gaining some consistency and confidence. You saw a little

(01:38:54):
bit of flashes from Chris Jenkins. I think Dax Hill
has been exactly who I hope that he was going
to be, and now these fully healthy and in that
natural position at slock cornerback. You're seeing some flashes from
DJ Turner. Jordan Battle is always around the ball, so
that's that's good as well. So there's definitely positives to
take away from that unit. You just want them to
be in a position where again they're not having to
rely on turnovers, but also that the offense actually helps

(01:39:15):
them out because the zero help from them this past week.
So I think that there's slow but steady progress being
made a lot with individual guys, but I think the
more that you see that, the more that they will
continue to come together as a unit. And as long
as that they're getting those flashes from pass rushers outside
of Trandrickson, there should be some more promise there.

Speaker 2 (01:39:32):
The term business decisions gets thrown around when games like
Sunday happen. And one of the concerns that I have
now John going forward is that culture in the locker room,
which has always been very strong under Zach Taylor. But
it's a little easier to get over a low production
game or not having the output if you're winning games.

(01:39:52):
If you're losing games and you're losing in the fashion
where the game isn't close, I feel like it's a
lot harder to keep a locker room and a culture
to get the other How much of that are you
now paying attention to going forward with where this team
is at, because they still are two and one, you're
still leading the AFC North, But it's just not a
good taste in your mouth after Sunday.

Speaker 20 (01:40:13):
Isn't that crazy?

Speaker 47 (01:40:14):
They were going through last year and we were still
having these same conversations.

Speaker 20 (01:40:17):
Now they're two and one, right, so you never really
know how this is going to go.

Speaker 47 (01:40:19):
But that's why this week is so freaking important, because
getting punched in every part of your body last Sunday,
like you need to respond in some way, shape or form.
You don't necessarily need to win against Denver because I
think there's some things that Denver just does well better
than the Bengals right now. But you need to respond
and showcase some competency and showcase some fight, right. I

(01:40:39):
don't blame some of the things that we saw when
the game was well out of reach by some of
the stars and everything like that. Like those weeks are rare,
but they do happen, and you just have to move on.
But you can't let it compound, because you're right. The
one thing that Zach has in his back pocket in
terms of why he should remain here is because he's
always cultivated a great culture of God that just completely

(01:41:01):
buy in, and once you lose that, it's pretty much
impossible to get back. Right, So beyond just him as
the play caller, him as the leader really needs to
exhibit the leadership and the management style that he's been
so accustomed of really cultivating here. And if that, if
that starts to lose now, then then you're talking about
him really being on the clock. It's more than just
him just as a play call at the backup quarterback.
It's making sure that these guys don't completely lose sight

(01:41:23):
of what's important here when rolling in September.

Speaker 3 (01:41:25):
Looking ahead to the Broncos, I don't know that they've
necessarily been who most people have expected them to be
up into this point. How do you think they match
up with Cincinnati on Monday Night?

Speaker 47 (01:41:38):
Yeah, this was such an intriguing matchup when Burrow was
healthy because last year you saw how they were able
to kind of pick on the other side of the ball,
the other side of the formation from where Patrick's certain
was when he was going up against Jamar Chase. But
now you're probably trying to feature Jamar Chase as much
as possible with Jake grinning because you're just trying to
utilize your playmakers. So how they move around Chase compared
to Certain, they obviously had more pieces in the secondary

(01:42:00):
defense is still really solid. Nick Potonio, the right edge
rushery He was shut down last year by Landa Brown
junior when Aleandon Brown Jingi was on one knee. So
if they can replicate that, if they can continue to
limit their best pass rusher and work around Certain, then
there's a chance that this offense can can kind of
fight back. But you know, giving up thirty something points

(01:42:20):
for the Broncos last year, was an anomaly. That's what
the Bengals were able to do and that's why they
won that shootout late last year. So you're probably not
expecting that with where this offense is right now. But
fortunately bo Nicks, even without pressure, he's not the best
decision maker right now, but with pressure, he's the worst
quarterback in the NFL.

Speaker 20 (01:42:36):
So how this.

Speaker 47 (01:42:37):
Defense continues to stimulate the pressure that they are with
the blizz packages, with the linebackers up the middle, that's
going to be important to get bo Nicks off schedule
because if you give him time though, like you saw
last year, he's capable of great throws that can definitely
pick apart the secondary.

Speaker 2 (01:42:52):
What's your biggest concern if things don't go well on
Monday Night and they don't keep it competitive, because that
to me, if you go in, like you said, you
compete your tail off, you're on the wrong side of
a tough game, maybe even find a way to win.
We're not having the conversation. But if things go sideways,
if you see something similar not to the extent of
what Sunday was, but more similar to that, where do

(01:43:15):
you turn after that? Because the Lions come in, then
you go to green Bay and then it's the Pittsburgh Steelers.
How concerning does it become if it gets away from
you on Monday night?

Speaker 20 (01:43:24):
Yeah, I think you can underestimate it.

Speaker 47 (01:43:26):
I think at that point, you have two weeks of
this team post Joe Burrow injury. He's not walking through
that door for the next two months of the absolute earliest,
and you probably don't have a lot of confidence that
you can compete with pretty much anyone.

Speaker 20 (01:43:42):
Maybe like the absolute bottom of the league.

Speaker 47 (01:43:43):
But at that point it's harder to look at yourselves
as not being at the bottom of the league. If
you if you continue to get to get your doors
bullon off of you, so it it probably isn't good
at that point. And I think what compounds that is
that you just don't expect the decision makers of this
team to make an aggressive move in the middle of
the season to kind of spark anything like a Khalil
Herbert trade is not going to change this team like

(01:44:04):
they tried to think it changed last year, right, So
something drastic would need to change in terms of the
philosophy to try to spark things up. I think they
would just try to rely on the interest that they
have in the building and and try to hope for
the best, to see if things could turn around. But yeah,
it's it's a scary scenario in which you just don't
have confidence in who is leading your team to that
point and things can downspoil really quickly. So which is

(01:44:25):
why being competitive at the very least some Monday night
is so important.

Speaker 2 (01:44:29):
John, you're the best, man. I can't thank you enough
for switching things up and joining us today instead of tomorrow.
I know there's a lot of things going on at
a diz Sports, including I know they put together their
top twenty five is voted on by the stayff. How
close were the Bearcats to receiving some top twenty five
votes this week for eight dizy Sports.

Speaker 47 (01:44:48):
You know, I'm not really a part of that, so
my half vote actually didn't count.

Speaker 20 (01:44:51):
So I think there's still I think it's still at
a goose.

Speaker 3 (01:44:53):
At twenty seven. I think they're twenty six twenty seven.

Speaker 20 (01:44:56):
Yeah, thirty seven, forty seven. What's the difference?

Speaker 3 (01:44:59):
All right, all right, you're the best.

Speaker 2 (01:45:01):
What is the easiest way to follow along with your
coverage of the Bengals, very important coverage of the Bengals
right now?

Speaker 47 (01:45:07):
Absolutely eight is sports dot Com backs Lesson Sinnati. I
ended up writing about, unfortunately, the passing of Ridy Johnson.
I just want to say, amazing player to watch, amazing
person to follow.

Speaker 20 (01:45:18):
Growing up, one of my heroes growing up. So rest
in peace to Reedy Johnson.

Speaker 2 (01:45:21):
John Man, thank you so much and look forward to
talking again next week.

Speaker 20 (01:45:25):
Thank you guys.

Speaker 3 (01:45:26):
Yes, sir, that is.

Speaker 2 (01:45:27):
John Sharon aight is e Sports covering the Cincinnati Bengals,
kind enough with his time normally on Thursdays, moved it
around because of Zach Taylor speaking tomorrow. We have plenty
more to go today, including uh, you will open up
the phone lines five, one, three, seven, nine, fifteen thirty.
If we weren't able to get to your call earlier,
we can get it between now and when we joined
Mowager for quick hits on the Home of the Bengals

(01:45:49):
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station thanks to Penn Station.

Speaker 21 (01:45:54):
Going to get your business Browning and his big bed
Bengals put it all alone line when they face Bone
Mix and his Denver Devo Jays on Monday Night Football.
Can the Orange and Black break the Broncos tho Cincinnati's
aerial assault, leave the Stallions stunned. Find out when you
get the call from Dangerous Dan Wood and Mighty Dave Latman.

(01:46:16):
Cover It starts Monday at three Pmlet stream for free
on the new and improved iHeartRadio app for ESPN fifteen thirty,
the official home of US Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 3 (01:46:29):
It's your season and now your shot.

Speaker 2 (01:46:32):
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Speaker 1 (01:47:37):
Do CROM's disease back on ESBN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (01:47:53):
Welcome back since E three to sixty thanks to our
friends at Penn Station. On ESBN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
Reds Pirates Tonight, Hunter Green, Paul Skeins, must win, must win.
In my opinion for the Cincinnati Reds, I think at
minimum they need four to the next five. Five out
of five would be a great way to end the

(01:48:13):
year as well. More of the same from ELI Day
of the Cruz would go a long way. But how
about this statistic from Charlie Goldsmith earlier today Austin All
Star pitchers against the Cincinnati Reds this year boast an
era of two point six y nine. The good games
for the Cincinnati Reds, Charlie Goldsmith alluded to, they scored

(01:48:35):
five runs in a game versus Garrett Crochet, four four
runs in a game versus Boyd, five runs in a
game against Jacob Mizerowski, and four game four runs in
a game against Peterson. Here's the bad news, Austin. In
the fifteen other games that the Reds played against All
Star pitchers, fifteen total runs one or zero runs versus

(01:48:57):
All Star pitchers in twelve of the nineteen opportunities we know.
Obviously the offense has been an issue. I think that
pushes a little bit to the extent of how much
of an issue that it's been against all star pitching
for the Cincinnati Reds. Of course, not only are they
facing an All Star tonight, they are facing who is
going to be named the nl CY Young Award winner

(01:49:19):
in Paul Skins. Crazier things have happened. Maybe Skeens just
has an off day, Maybe some of.

Speaker 3 (01:49:28):
It, didn't He just used one of those up last
time out.

Speaker 2 (01:49:30):
Yeah, maybe some of the hotel food doesn't sit right
with him. Maybe Livy dominated him in chess and he's
just mentally not there.

Speaker 3 (01:49:37):
I'm glad you said chess. I was scared where you
were going with that.

Speaker 2 (01:49:40):
He's just mentally not there because he lost a chess
match against Livy this morning.

Speaker 3 (01:49:43):
Okay, maybe he just had a little under the weather.
Should hesitate to say this? Should we come up with
some sort of chant for Paul to maybe get in
his head? You know how the Pirates did to Johnny Cueto?
Should we I just tough ski tough scenes, Paul Skins.

(01:50:04):
Tough scenes all und like a rock chalk jayhawk, but
the Skins maybe. But it's got to be like scenes.
It's gotta be like ominous all. It's gonna make it
feel like something bad is happening. Yeah, well then you
probably want to get there early. Yeah, you're gonna have
to do it before he takes the mount in the

(01:50:24):
bottom of the first correct, because once, if if he
starts throwing pitches before that chant, we're done. You ain't
got a chance anyway. Correct.

Speaker 2 (01:50:31):
Tough scenes, poullly. That'd be cool in the in the
in the ballpark.

Speaker 3 (01:50:37):
What're about pay? Oh yeah, I don't know. I don't.
I don't want to bring up any memories of that
quato performance. So we've would try to get our lick
back for ten years. Yep. Maybe now's the time. More
than that.

Speaker 2 (01:50:50):
Yeah, Pittsburgh just keeps punchingly. I like the tough scenes.
Paul Skins reverberating through the walls of Great American Ballpark.

Speaker 3 (01:51:00):
The first baseline says tough scenes. Yeah, third base yep,
just shoving.

Speaker 4 (01:51:10):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:51:11):
Nine pitches, nine strikes, three strikeouts. Goodness, Uh, John, what
do you got going on?

Speaker 8 (01:51:16):
Man?

Speaker 3 (01:51:17):
What's up?

Speaker 9 (01:51:18):
Well?

Speaker 48 (01:51:18):
I was planning on betting that dua Leapo would be
the halftime show of the Super Bowl. But after hearing
you guys singing I gotta go with you guys.

Speaker 3 (01:51:26):
Thank you, thank you. Pretty good? That was that. We
didn't even talk about that either.

Speaker 48 (01:51:32):
Yeah, and you know how good my bets are. I mean,
I'm sure would love to hear that. I'm betting her
to play Super Bowl of Death. John, Yeah, she'll end
up with Laren Dregus or something.

Speaker 4 (01:51:42):
You got Three days before.

Speaker 48 (01:51:43):
The Super Bowl, but pretty interesting stuff. A quick story
about trying to control these great pitchers. So two thousand
and seven American League Championship Series, Josh Beckett pitching for
the Red Sox. The Red Sox are down three games
to one, Game five in Cleveland, and the Indians, bringing
his former girlfriend to sing the national anthem while YadA YadA.
The next three games, the Red Sox win and go

(01:52:03):
one and beat the Colorado Rockies in the World Series.
So be careful what you wish for it. Don't get
him too riled up, credible, be nice.

Speaker 4 (01:52:13):
To him, and maybe he'll be nice to you.

Speaker 48 (01:52:14):
Yes, what I was gonna do today is I don't
want to mention the offensive line or the defensive line
coaches names because I do that too often. So we're
gonna stay away from that. But the thing is that
I'm kind of like the King of straw Man arguments,
but the national narrative of how much that look.

Speaker 16 (01:52:31):
We love Jama Chase.

Speaker 48 (01:52:32):
He's one of the two best receivers in football, but
he obviously is not the same receiver without Joe Burrow.
Here's the statistics in seven games with Jake Jake Browning
as a starting quarterback thirty four receptions, four hundred and
thirty three yards twelve point seven yards per catch, one
touchdown in seven games. His average game with Jake Browning

(01:52:53):
is five receptions, sixty four yards and.

Speaker 16 (01:52:57):
One touchdown in seven games.

Speaker 48 (01:52:59):
So that narrative that the receiver makes the quarterback I
always find kind of laughable. I think it's always the
other way around. But here's my vote, guys, Jameis Winston would.

Speaker 16 (01:53:08):
Be a blast.

Speaker 48 (01:53:09):
I mean it'd be fun because yeah, because you know
what it is.

Speaker 15 (01:53:12):
He'll give you.

Speaker 48 (01:53:13):
Three games you win, well, he'll connect with Jamar Chason
t Higgins and he'll put thirty four on the bard.
He hopefully doesn't turn them all over, but you know,
and maybe he gives you some entertainment. But he also
his height is greater than Russell Wilson, so I would
go with him more than Russell Wilson. I think Russell Wilson.

Speaker 3 (01:53:30):
Is a shot.

Speaker 48 (01:53:31):
But again, the hope is, maintain as much as you
can and maybe, just maybe, maybe our quarterback comes back
sooner rather than later, which would be awesome.

Speaker 3 (01:53:40):
Yeah, it is.

Speaker 2 (01:53:43):
It's hard to expect that type of production from any
star wide receiver when their quarterback is gone, but there
has to be at least we've seen it consistently. A
guy like Jamis or Russell Wilson. They're going to give
opportunities down the field. They're going to target a Jamar
Chase fifteen times a game if they have to. It's

(01:54:05):
just again, it's it's a tough situation for the Bengals.
They they seemingly are are set with Jake Browning. I
just wonder if there's another performance on Monday like there
was on Sunday, how the culture and how the locker
room continues to feel going forward.

Speaker 3 (01:54:22):
That would be my biggest.

Speaker 48 (01:54:23):
Worry, Yeah, without question, because I mean, if they could
eke out a win here, and look, the Broncos are
one and two, they're nothing great. But if you can
eke out a win, now you're head to head in
an advantager's position against Jacksonville. Yeah, Edinburgh, Cleveland, if they
get into the race. We know how Cleveland's defenses at home, yep,
at home the probably the best defense in football. On
the road, for some reason, they can't play as well.
So if you could kind of eat out one of those,

(01:54:45):
then obviously going to play those two big bears in
the NFC North.

Speaker 3 (01:54:48):
And then Pittsburgh comes down.

Speaker 48 (01:54:50):
But just kind of like hold serve as much as
you can, yep, and just even if you're five hundred
late in the year, and again hope for a miracle
that kill Burrow comes back, which I you know, kind
of hold out hopeful because from everything we hear, he's
gonna work his butt off and he's a quick healer,
and you know, maybe good things happen to good people.
So that's that's what you gotta maintained. But Jamis would
be a blast to watch. I mean, he's just he

(01:55:12):
talk about the elevat trick or tree quarterback. It's Jameis Winston.

Speaker 2 (01:55:15):
Yeah, John, thank you for the call. Man, have a
great day you too. It would be interesting. I'll give
it that. Rodney is also calling it.

Speaker 6 (01:55:25):
What's up?

Speaker 3 (01:55:26):
Rodney?

Speaker 12 (01:55:29):
Hey, Tony love the show.

Speaker 3 (01:55:31):
Thank you.

Speaker 49 (01:55:32):
So that's what I got.

Speaker 12 (01:55:34):
Either since you're a quarterback or we're a quarterback, I
find you being a little I find you being a
little bit unfair to Jake, just because I would give
him a lease and maybe you're just saying, hey, we
need to get ready in case he's not the man.
But to me, I just want to see some moxie.
I don't know why he doesn't run the ball.

Speaker 49 (01:55:55):
I mean, there was some times on early on on
Sunday where he had at least keen yard running get down.
But I don't know me if he just kind of
I don't I don't know the word. I want to
see some fire, you know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (01:56:11):
I I don't For the record, I don't think that
you would sign a guy like a Russell Wilson and
then he starts right away. But the fear for me
is that there's another performance or two that are too
similar to Sunday, and then you you want to pull
the trigger, but it's too late because you don't have
somebody up to speed. I just think you're doing your
due diligence if you were to get somebody in and

(01:56:34):
and get them ready if if the time came.

Speaker 49 (01:56:37):
So you just want to so you're just you're just
talking about okay, let's give him another shot. Yeah, But
I just want to have us to have an insurance policy.

Speaker 2 (01:56:46):
I would rather if things go bad Monday, that you
had someone in for two weeks that you could bring
up the speed and then throw them in there, because
if you wait and things go bad, Monday. Then you're
on a short week, you can't get somebody up to speed,
and then you just lose another week. I just thought
it was something maybe to do your due diligence and
make sure you have a capable backup in case you
need to go that route.

Speaker 4 (01:57:08):
Okay, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 49 (01:57:09):
And then the last point is, so why don't we
run into quarterback draws, wide receiver screens motion. I mean,
if you looked at Detroit the other night, let's just
take I mean one or two of their plays. I'll
listen to you later.

Speaker 3 (01:57:22):
Thank you, Ronnie, appreciate that. I hope you listen right
now as well.

Speaker 2 (01:57:26):
Yeah, I don't think you're gonna run Jake Browning on
many quarterback draws just because they don't have the backup
that that's capable right now. But yes, I'm all for
piggybacking and copycating what some of the league is doing
on screens or run techniques or anything like that.

Speaker 3 (01:57:40):
Let's get one more in and then we'll get a break.
At is calling in? What's up?

Speaker 7 (01:57:44):
Ed?

Speaker 4 (01:57:45):
Hey, how's it going, Tony?

Speaker 3 (01:57:47):
What's up?

Speaker 7 (01:57:48):
I just just wondering, if you how you went about
going in.

Speaker 14 (01:57:53):
The film room and seeing your offensive line.

Speaker 10 (01:57:57):
I don't know if you ever had it like it
was on Sunday, but had your just look back and
see your offensive line just staring at you on the
ground every.

Speaker 20 (01:58:07):
Play, just looking backwards.

Speaker 3 (01:58:09):
It's just crazy to me.

Speaker 4 (01:58:10):
I've never seen nothing like it. I'll let you get
back to it.

Speaker 3 (01:58:13):
Thank you, Thank you man. It's tough that.

Speaker 2 (01:58:16):
That's the biggest I think unknown for me Austin is like,
how did the lineman watch the film and then go
about a normal day?

Speaker 3 (01:58:27):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (01:58:28):
Like, there has to be an embarrassment to make you sick.
There has to be an anger there, and I'm sure
there's an anger from other position groups that watch the
film as well.

Speaker 3 (01:58:37):
It is.

Speaker 2 (01:58:37):
Ah, it's fascinating. It's it's something I wish one of
those situations where you could be a fly on the
wall inside of the organization and and and find out
what those conversations are.

Speaker 3 (01:58:49):
Like, Uh, let's take us a break. When we come back.

Speaker 2 (01:58:53):
There is a huge week Austin, huge week of college football,
one of the bigger college football weekends of the season ahead.
We'll look at some of those games when we come back,
and we'll get to Mowaiger soon as well ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (01:59:06):
Thanks to Penn Station, this Isn't just a game.

Speaker 23 (01:59:09):
Dan Wharde joined Dave Lapham and me for Bengals game
plan tonight, starting at six on the official home of
the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:59:26):
Welcome back since he three to sixty. ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station. Did you know, Austin, fifteen years ago
today a worldest Chapman through the fastest pitch in MLB history?

Speaker 3 (01:59:37):
Wow? In San Diego one h five point eight. It
was in Cincinnati at the time. Oh, I thought that
game was in Sandie They were playing against the Pirates
of all teams. It was a nine to one game
when he did it.

Speaker 2 (01:59:48):
Oh boy, of course if you remember for oldest Chapman
just found out how to locate his fastball and has
been even better. But yes, fifteen years ago today that
Chapman's still going strong. In Major League Baseball college football.
This is one of the weekends Austin that you circled

(02:00:08):
going into the season, not only because it's an NFL weekend,
not only because playoff baseball and the races are are
heating up for those last playoff spots. Not only do
you get the Ryder Cup, you get some really good
football over the weekend as well. There's a top twenty
five matchup early in the day USC Illinois. Now Illinois

(02:00:29):
trending in the wrong direction. I don't know how they're
still in the top twenty five. After you get beat
by Kurt Signetty like that you googled him. He did
pretty well. USC's four and h very quiet, no real mark.

Speaker 3 (02:00:42):
He wins.

Speaker 2 (02:00:43):
Ohio State doesn't have to play a noon game Austin.
They play at three thirty in Washington. Yeah, and I
saw the day.

Speaker 3 (02:00:48):
Also have a home night big ten game Wow coming up,
which is very rare when they play in Minnesota. How
about the line only eight and a half in that
for Washington O High. Yeah, that's gonna be a tough game.
Ohio State coming off of bye week, traveling across the country,
tough place to play, Julian saying, didn't look great. So

(02:01:10):
I love the I love the well, I'm not even
gonna go there say it. Nope, say what you were
gonna say.

Speaker 4 (02:01:14):
No.

Speaker 2 (02:01:15):
LSU, the fourth rank team in the country, travels to
uh Oxford to take on Old Miss thirteen, verse number four.
That's how about this old miss is favored in that
game against the number four team in the country.

Speaker 3 (02:01:30):
I think people are all aboard the idea that the
LSU Tigers are from to Well, it's hard not to.

Speaker 2 (02:01:40):
When you looked at what I thought was an impressive
win at the time over Clemson and now Clemson's rock bottom.

Speaker 3 (02:01:46):
People are wondering a little bit. I think that's fair.

Speaker 2 (02:01:48):
But a top four team against the thirteenth ranked team
in the country, that is a good one.

Speaker 3 (02:01:52):
Auburn, Texas A and M is a fun one.

Speaker 2 (02:01:55):
Indiana, off a huge win, number eleven in the country,
travels to Iowa Tennessee versus undefeated Mississippi State. Arizona is undefeated.
They go to fourteenth ranked Iowa State. How about Beaver Stadium?
Seven thirty Oregon at Penn State number six, verse number three.
First time all year Penn State will be at all
tested and wins against Nevada, Florida International, and Villanova. What

(02:02:20):
do you make of this one? Is this Drew Aller
all day against the Oregon Ducks. I would think so,
But I mean Dante More is getting some Heisman consideration.
Heisman buzz for.

Speaker 3 (02:02:36):
Oregon, They've not been tested at all. Yeah, so it's
hard to say has Oregon been tested at all? That
I don't know. I actually don't know anything.

Speaker 2 (02:02:45):
So they boat raced Oklahoma State sixty nine to three.
They beat Northwestern and then they just crushed Oregon State
as well.

Speaker 3 (02:02:52):
And this game's at Penn State, right, yes, so even
easier for State Penn.

Speaker 2 (02:02:56):
Also, some people say, yeah, Alabama Georgia. Think of all
the games, this is the one I'm hearing the least
amount about Georgia, number five in the country where you
want to talk about Alabama and trying to make a
statement win. I think Georgia's won thirty three straight at
Sanford Stadium. Caitlin de Bor can do himself a favor

(02:03:16):
if they beat Georgia. I don't know that it happens,
but a lot of close spreads. The Penn State and
the Georgia spread exactly the same, minus three and a
half on both accounts. And of course the Bearcats at Kansas,
what's the spread there. It's been all over the map. Honestly,
I've seen some books headed up to like seven and
a half. I saw some head it at three. Right now,

(02:03:40):
ESPN has it at four and a half in favor
of the Jayhawks. Are we going to do our picks
in the first hour on Friday? We're gonna have half
the bail We're gonna have Tokay. Yeah, heading to uh
to Kansas now easy travel for the Bearcat They're we're
staying at the exact same place we stayed when they
opened against Nebraska, same hotel and everything.

Speaker 3 (02:04:01):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (02:04:02):
Just heading to Lawrence, Kansas for the game on Saturday.
That is an eleven am local time start twelve noon
here for the Bearcats. I don't know who else, who
else goes? I don't know who the red Hawks have.
I know the RedHawks suffered a brutal, brutal loss. Miami
plays Lyndon Wood. Miami's gonna get their first win of

(02:04:22):
the season. They were outscored seventeen to nothing by UNLV
in the fourth quarter, not only to lose, but to
not cover the two and a half points spread as well.

Speaker 3 (02:04:32):
Tony's speaking of spreads.

Speaker 50 (02:04:34):
Oh and he unloads and hammers it. Yeah, very deep
and very gone out of here to right a two
run blast for Elie de la Cruz.

Speaker 3 (02:04:51):
Boy, that is.

Speaker 27 (02:04:52):
Some kind of big momentum lifter.

Speaker 28 (02:04:54):
For the Reds, especially especially after the Pirates dropped four
in the top of the inning.

Speaker 3 (02:05:00):
How to get you back on your feet? Very gone?
Was that one? Yeah, and I thought the same thing
that the Cowboys said.

Speaker 2 (02:05:06):
Okay, they they weathered the punch for the four run
inning and they got half of it back. Now let's
play some baseball. Nothing else happened. That's our call of
the day, brought to you by wind Shulers. The four
great flavors of wind Shulers. Cheese spreads are perfect for
any tailgate or any get together that you have, so
it's awesome. It's hard to pick a favorite, almost like

(02:05:26):
your favorite football team, so what I would suggest is
have plenty of each on hand for your party or
family get togethers. Thanks to our friends at win Schulers.

Speaker 3 (02:05:34):
Would you like a Reds lineup for tonight before we
go to Moegar if we are able to reach Moeger please.
My sources are telling me that we're having a bunch
of problems, okay systems, so hopefully, uh we're able to
Let's do.

Speaker 2 (02:05:49):
This so we give Moe a little extra time that
he can get connected.

Speaker 3 (02:05:54):
Here's how the Reds will line them up tonight up
against the big right hander and Cy Young favorite Paul
screen schemes. Oh, thinking about those screens to Chase Brown
leading off, the center fielder TJ. Friedel batting second, the
right fielder Noel v Marte. Third batter is the DH
Gavin Lux. The cleanup pitter is first baseman Spencer Steer.

(02:06:16):
The shortstop and fifth batter is Ellie de la Cruz.
The third baseman and sixth batter is Sal Stewart O.
The seventh batter is the catcher Tyler Stevenson. The eighth
batter is left fielder Will Benson batting ninth playing second base.
Matt McClain for Cincinnati on the mound once more, it's

(02:06:39):
Freedol Marte, Lux, Steer, De la Cruz, Stewart, Stevenson, Benson,
McLain with Green on the mound.

Speaker 2 (02:06:48):
There we go, bang, let's go. I like that much
better than Ellie being protected by Matt McClain. Yeah, this
south Stuart got the ability to run into one. Yeah,
we'll talk to that. We'll talk about that with Mo
maybe when we get back for quick Hits right here
on Cincy three sixty thanks to Penn Station ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati sports station.

Speaker 16 (02:07:10):
Trying to get to business.

Speaker 21 (02:07:12):
Jeeke Browning and his Big Bed Bengos put it all
on the line when they face Bull Mix and his
Denver devotees on Monday Night Football and the Orange and
Black Break the Broncos. Will Cincinnati's aerial assault leave the
Stallions stunned? Find out when you get the call from
Dangerous Dan Wood and Mighty Dave lappin cover.

Speaker 16 (02:07:33):
It starts Monday at three pm.

Speaker 21 (02:07:34):
Match Scream for Free are the new and improved iHeartRadio
app or ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of US
Cincinnati Bengals.

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Speaker 19 (02:08:31):
From the Wyoming Air temp Star Webstey continues on ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station.

Speaker 1 (02:08:39):
It's time for since E three sixty quick Hits on
ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 3 (02:08:44):
Yeah, we got mo.

Speaker 2 (02:08:45):
He's at the Holy Graild today getting ready to broadcast
right across the street from the ballpark a huge one tonight,
Hunter Green versus Paul Skins.

Speaker 3 (02:08:51):
It's quick hits. MO is with us? What's going on?

Speaker 35 (02:08:54):
MO?

Speaker 8 (02:08:56):
You know I'm gonna I'm gonna do something here that's
gonna sound maybe hoki, okay, corny. Yeah, last night did
not go well. Three double plays in each of the
last three innings, or I guess one double play in
each of the last three innings.

Speaker 6 (02:09:10):
Brady singer put the team behind.

Speaker 9 (02:09:12):
The eight ball.

Speaker 8 (02:09:13):
Last night, Reds lose, Cubs blow a six to one
lead to the Mets, Dodgers, trash can, bullpen, falters again,
Diamondbacks come back. So it's put the Reds in a
position tonight. I think it's a must win game because
you cannot.

Speaker 6 (02:09:25):
Lose any ground.

Speaker 8 (02:09:27):
It's it's okay if you don't gain ground tonight, but
you can't lose any more ground. The only way you
lose ground is if you lose the game. And yet,
you know, whenever a Cincinnati Sports team loses. If there's
anything we've learned through one hundred and fifty seven games,
it's that this team has bounced back ability. He would
have thought last night end of the season. It was deflating.

(02:09:48):
I'll grant you that. Like I walked out of the
ballpark last night. That crowd, which seemingly a lot of
people really want to talk about, Yeah, that crowd was
ready to explode. And because of all the double plays,
all the missed offensive opportunities that never got a chance
to But I'm walking out of the ballpark last night.

Speaker 6 (02:10:05):
I've walked out of there after losses that ended the season.
It felt like that if there's one thing this team
this season deserves, it's for us to not behave that way.

Speaker 8 (02:10:14):
Now, lose tonight and then the Mets win again, and
maybe the Diamondbacks win, it might start to feel that way.
It should not feel that way right now. So today
at the Holy Grail, we're gonna be festive. We're gonna
get excited for this pitching matchup. Yeah, we're gonna talk
about how the Reds have two opponents tonight.

Speaker 6 (02:10:31):
One is the Pirates, the other is the weather.

Speaker 8 (02:10:34):
We're gonna put our hopes on the shoulders of my
guy Hunter Green to outdo Paul Schemes.

Speaker 3 (02:10:40):
Could you consider it three opponents when you consider themselves
that they have to face?

Speaker 6 (02:10:44):
Very fair point.

Speaker 8 (02:10:46):
Although I was encouraged when I saw the starting lineup
because we put some guys in that can hitting long ball.

Speaker 2 (02:10:51):
The only thing I'll ask you about the starting lineup
seeing what we saw last night, would that have been
enough to warrant Ellie moving back?

Speaker 3 (02:10:57):
Are you good with where he's out in the lineup.

Speaker 6 (02:11:01):
I'm okay with.

Speaker 8 (02:11:02):
Where he is because I like who's hitting behind him. Yeah,
I think, dude, it's been a big leaguer for three
and a half weeks. I think he adds a level
of protection that Matt McLain last night was not capable of.
But Ellie de la Cruz was awesome last night, made
a couple of really nice plays in the field, great
at bad of the ninth inning, was patient, hits long,
Bog gets on base every time. I would have no

(02:11:24):
issue with moving him up, just because it increases the likelihood.
Like Ellie has had an underwhelming season relative to what
the team has needed all year long. I think it's
fair to say that people get mad at me when
I say it. Still, if you're telling me I can
have him one more time per game as opposed to
almost anybody else, I'll take it. So Yeah, let's say

(02:11:47):
it's a situation like the eighth inning last night. I'd
rather have Ellie there then maybe have to wait to
the ninth inning. Your better guys should hit higher. I
wouldn't have an issue with it. But the bigger thing
for me is how do they protect him. I think
he's better protected tonight with Stuart hitting behind him instead
of Matt McLean.

Speaker 2 (02:12:04):
We often talk about sporting events throughout the calendar year,
those that come around every so often where do you
rank the Ryder Cup on sporting events for your enjoyment?

Speaker 3 (02:12:13):
I like it.

Speaker 8 (02:12:13):
I just it sucks that it's very opposite a whole
bunch of other stuff that I love more. Right, Like,
the fun thing about the Masters is it's not a
lot going on, right and weekend baseball games.

Speaker 6 (02:12:25):
Fun thing about the US Open.

Speaker 8 (02:12:27):
Fun thing about all the majors is they're not competing
for your attention with all this other stuff this weekend,
good college football, slate, NFL playoff baseball, playoff race baseball.
So I like it, but it just it it doesn't
get as much of my attention because there's this other
stuff I love more.

Speaker 2 (02:12:45):
I don't think once we spoke about it on Monday,
that we expected it to happen from the Bengals, but
should in your opinion, the Bengals have brought in another
quarterback by now, how do you not? Yeah, and again,
it's not a quarterback to start right now, but it's
a quarterback. You better make sure you have up and
ready if you need to go that route.

Speaker 8 (02:13:07):
I mean, the leash for Joe Burrow is the longest
in the NFL. The leash for Jake Browning does not.
He does not deserve for it to be very long,
but the LEAs shortens if you have a viable alternative.

Speaker 6 (02:13:19):
And so the question for me.

Speaker 8 (02:13:20):
Is, is quarterback X whoever that is a better option
than Brett Rippon or as I heard on Saturday morning,
Brett Ripen.

Speaker 6 (02:13:31):
And so the answers is, yes.

Speaker 3 (02:13:32):
Is Mike White better than Brett Rippin?

Speaker 2 (02:13:34):
I don't know, but he had that one game. He
had that one game against the Bengals.

Speaker 6 (02:13:39):
I don't know.

Speaker 8 (02:13:39):
But like their biggest issue for me isn't who the
quarterback is right now, it's figuring out a way to
have an offense that's better for who the quarterback is,
if that makes sense, right, Like, the actual human being
playing QB matters less to me than what Zach Taylor
in the offensive coaching staff does to enhance a ground game,

(02:14:00):
which because it's not Joe Burrow, they need more than
ever before. And I'm very skeptical that they're gonna be
able to come up with the answers.

Speaker 6 (02:14:07):
They haven't been.

Speaker 8 (02:14:07):
Able to for quite a while. And you know, we
haven't talked that much about the defense. The defense has
been okay, but if your offense, if you're acknowledging limitations
because we're already starting at guys. You know Week one
it was bad matchup, sorry, bad matchup. And then you
know Sunday was you know, Brian Flores, bad matchup. And

(02:14:30):
I'm already hearing like with the Denver broncos Man that
defensive front, tough matchup. So we're acknowledging like the Bengals,
which they already have a way below league average offense,
we're making every defense they play seem like the eighty
five Bears. So the onus is on al Golden's defense
to do more to win. And that's the unit that
we said, boy, you just got to be league average.

(02:14:51):
I wonder can they be better than league average? And
again you're being fair if you think the answer is no.
I think it's going to be really interesting. You know,
they lose the game in Minneapolis, Okay, they're still two
and one.

Speaker 6 (02:15:05):
How's this gonna feel if they lay another ege in Denver?

Speaker 8 (02:15:07):
And I've been talking about turning it over a bunch
of times away they did. Just they lose in Denver.
Now you're staring at that gauntlet of you know, Lions, Packers, Steelers,
Uh oh, this three and one? You feel like all right,
we survived. At least we're coming home. You know, maybe
there's something to build on two and two. When they're
really right now two plays away from being zero to three,

(02:15:27):
then I really fear it could it could start to
inspire a lot of control.

Speaker 2 (02:15:32):
For the next three hours, Mowager will have his Paul
squarely on the city of Cincinnati. You had the monumental
clash between Paul Skeins and Hunter Green taking place at
Great American Ballpark. Make sure you listen to that. Mo
Thanks for joining us, have a great show.

Speaker 6 (02:15:44):
Thank you guys.

Speaker 2 (02:15:45):
That is Mulager. This has been since he three sixty.
He's Austin Elmore. I'm Tony Pike. We'll do it again tomorrow.
Until then, have a great rest of your Wednesday. Thanks
for listening on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 22 (02:16:20):
Ucky Cincinnati.

Speaker 18 (02:16:22):
Make us the number one pre set on your car
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Speaker 22 (02:16:29):
ESPN fifteen thirty