ESPN 1530 NFL Schedule Release Show w/ Austin Elmore -- 5/14/25

Austin Elmore reacts to and breaks down the Bengals 2025 season schedule on ESPN 1530!

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is the ESPN fifteen thirty, a Duran Window Orange
and black scheduled breakdown show by E dooran Window. We
sell the best and service the rest. We're live at
Smoke Justice on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of
the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
Hi, Hello and welcome in. The conversation continues surrounding the
Bengals twenty twenty five schedule and the schedule release. My
name is Austin Elmore and no, I'm not at Smoke Justice.
That's where Lance and Tony were for the last three hours.
I am here at the studios in Kinwood because where

(00:41):
else would I rather be on a night like tonight
than right here getting the chance to talk with you
on the AE Door and Window where we sell the
best and service the rest. NFL schedule release show live
from our iHeartMedia Cincinnati Studios. Well, you've had an hour
to digest the Bengals schedule. We're gonna go through it

(01:02):
over the next three We'll also look around at the
schedules for the national TV games across the league on
Thursday night, Sunday night, Monday night. The holiday schedule, which
has become a big deal across the National Football league.
We'll also look at the AFC North. The Cleveland Browns,

(01:22):
who the Bengals will open the season with, are one
of three teams without a primetime game in twenty twenty five.
We'll talk a little bit about that. We'll talk about
the AFC North, and I want to hear your phone calls.
I want to hear your thoughts, your opinions on the schedule,

(01:43):
on where this team might possibly go in twenty twenty five,
how far they can go in twenty twenty five. We'll
try to break down a little bit about each and
every one of these games, each and every one of
these opponents, how they line up up on the schedule,
and certainly what the internal reaction to such things might

(02:05):
be inside pay Corp Stadium as the Bengals look to
get back to the playoffs and hopefully back to the
Super Bowl in twenty twenty five. Again, my name is
Austin Elmore and I will be with you up until
midnight tonight right here on the Home of the Bengals
ESPN fifteen thirty. Phone lines are open at five, one, three, seven,

(02:27):
four nine, fifteen thirty. You can also tweet at me
at audielmore Au t Y e L M O R E.
So the schedule comes out, and you know, it had
been rumored for the last couple of days that the
Bengals were going to start their season on the road
at Buffalo on Sunday Night Football, and I was like,

(02:49):
you know what, I like that idea. I like the
idea of the Bengals having a huge game week one
playoff implications because we have talked intensively, incessantly, non stop,
annoyingly about this team's inability to start fast, especially in
the Zach Taylor era, and they so desperately need to

(03:12):
have a motivated, ready prepared group going into this season
so that they are not digging themselves out of a
hole at the midway point, especially when you look at
the schedule this year. If they start slow, this thing
could be over by the bye week. We'll get to
that in a little bit. So I was kind of

(03:34):
rooting for a big matchup. I was rooting for a
Baltimore or a Buffalo or a Detroit or somebody that
the Bengals would really really need to get up for,
get ready for for Week one, so that there is
an emphasis on not a sleepy, snoozing start to the season,

(03:56):
like we saw a year ago against the New England Patriots,
and well we got kind of a sleeping snoozing start.
The Bengals, for the second time in three years, are
going to open the season in Cleveland against the Cleveland Browns. Now,
if you remember a couple of years ago, the Bengals
started the season there and it was this wet, soppy,

(04:19):
oh my dreary, down, poor game in Cleveland. I was
at that game. It was absolutely miserable, and the Bengals
were nursing a bad calf from Joe Burrow and they
looked awful and got their face bashed in by the
Cleveland Browns. This is going to be the tenth time
now that the Bengals will open against the Browns, and

(04:40):
it'll be the fifth time they will open the season
in Cleveland against the Browns. And it happens to be
on the one hundred and seventeenth birthday of Paul Brown,
so that's kind of cool. The Browns will book ind
the season. The Bengals will see them week one on
September seventh. They won't see them again until the final
game of the regular season in Cincinnati. That game still

(05:04):
obviously TBD because the NFL likes to flex things around
in that final week of the season, but AFC North
matchups in week one, Week seven, Week eleven, Week thirteen,
Week fifteen, and Week eighteen. What's notable about that is

(05:29):
that they don't play Baltimore at all until Week thirteen,
and then they play them twice in a three week span.
The most important part here is that the Bengals are
returning to Thanksgiving Football, and they are doing so in
the primetime slot Thanksgiving Night against the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore.

(05:53):
This marks now the fourth year that the Bengals have
played a primetime road game in ball Baltimore in a row.
They've played a Sunday night game there a few years ago,
and for the last three seasons. Coming up on this year,
it will be three straight Thursday night games in Baltimore.

(06:14):
How that happens, I really don't know. I do think
that the Bengals have a legitimate beef with having four
primetime games this year and only one of them are
at home. I think they have a legitimate beef, especially
when you consider the idea that they have done a
lot of work into redoing their entire game day operation,

(06:42):
like the whole thing. They have completely done it over
and it's now a spectacle. It's an event, it's something
you want to see. It's a great atmosphere, and the
Bengals have had the opportunity to showcase that a couple times,
whether that be the White Tiger or the Ring of
Honor game, or the Stripe, the Jungle, whatever it is.

(07:04):
The Bengals have done a really good job of turning
that into a thing. And I would imagine that internally
at pay Corp Stadium, they are extremely frustrated that they
only get one home primetime game. It's gonna be in
mid October against the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's gonna be on
a Thursday night when the Bengals will play Pittsburgh. Overall,

(07:27):
I'll go through it quickly in case maybe you're just
tuning in and you are like many people who are
leaving Great American Ballpark because the Reds can't score. Oh
they scored, look at that, Okay? Anyways. Week one at
Cleveland one pm. Week two at Jacksonville home opener one pm.
That will be the open in Orange game for Cincinnati.

(07:49):
Week three at Minnesota one pm. Week four at Denver Monday,
Night football. Then Week five against the Detroit Lions for
the first time in sixteen years. I think they will
be the game of the week at home against the
Detroit Lions. Now that's basically a primetime game. The entire

(08:09):
country is going to get that game. You know, Tom
Brady will be on the call. Then in Week six
they'll have another four to twenty five game. This one
will be in Green Bay against the Green Bay Packers.
Now me personally, this is my favorite game on the
schedule because I am gonna go to lambeau Field. I'll
talk about that coming up in just a little bit.

(08:31):
Week seven is that home Thursday night game against the
Pittsburgh Steelers. Week eight is home against the New York Jets.
Week nine is home against the Chicago Bears. So if
you're counting, Week seven, eight, and nine are all home games,
followed by a Week ten by. Then out of the

(08:51):
by the Bengals go to Pittsburgh for a one pm game,
are back home against New England at one pm before
they begin these row of weeks thirteen through sixteen. Week
thirteen at Baltimore Thanksgiving Night eight twenty, Week fourteen at
Buffalo in December four twenty five PM, Week fifteen home

(09:15):
against Baltimore at one pm, and then Week sixteen at
the Miami Dolphins on Sunday Night Football. The final two
games of the season Week seventeen against the Arizona Cardinals
and Week eighteen at home against the Cleveland Browns. Those
are TBD. So all in all four primetime games, the

(09:38):
Week four matchup at Denver, the Week seven matchup against Pittsburgh,
the Week thirteen matchup at Baltimore, and the Week sixteen
game at Miami, So two Thursdays, a Monday, and a
Sunday night. There are three quote unquote game of the
week games those four to twenty five national slots, which

(09:59):
would be Week five against Detroit at home, Week six
at Green Bay, and Week fourteen at Buffalo. To me,
there's a couple of easy stretches. There's one really really
hard stretch in the season, and we'll take a look
at that also coming up at ten oh five tonight,
we're gonna be joined by Paul Dayner Junior, who covers

(10:20):
the Bengals for the Athletic. I'm gonna ask him about
his immediate reaction to the schedule release and also his
thoughts on Trey Hendrickson. We'll get into some Trey Hendrickson
conversation as well, because why wouldn't we. That's the story
surrounding this franchise right now. Thank you so much for
listening to the AE Door and Window where we sell

(10:40):
the best in service the rest NFL Schedule Release show.
My name is Austin Elmore, Live from our iHeart Studios
in Kinwood on the Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (10:53):
Loegger, there was some pooling of the team last night
when it housed to sports.

Speaker 1 (10:58):
He's got something to say, just natural byproducts and plenty
of it. A poor play Roegger tomorrow with three on
ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 2 (11:07):
Point thirty maxed out on credit card. Ah, Yes, it
won't be long now. We'll be hearing this sound the
sign of training camp. We're just a couple of months away,
the end of July. I'll tell you what, shout out

(11:28):
to the Reds for getting us to the schedule release.
They couldn't even get us to Memorial Day. Gosh, that
franchise is in a dark spot. I'll tell you one
that's not in a dark spot. That's the Cincinnati Bengals. Yes,
they haven't made the playoffs for the last couple of years,
but they got one of the four best quarterbacks in
the world in my mind, one of the two best

(11:49):
quarterbacks in the world, and he plays for the Bengals.
So because of that, the window is always open. Those
are his words, and the Bengals have a window this
this year with this schedule. Well, I think it's not
as bad as some might say, but I want to get.
Want to get your reaction five to one to three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty. That's the phone number. You can also tweet

(12:11):
it me at Audie elmore au T y E L
M O R E your immediate reaction to the Bengals
twenty twenty five schedule. Let's go out to Los Angeles.
Brian is checking in from the West Coast. They call
it the best coast. Brian, what's going on out there?
What are your thoughts?

Speaker 4 (12:28):
Ooh Audi, when you just played that music got me
pumped up for the season. Absolutely, Jack, I listen to
every day to Sincy three sixty. Unfortunately, with the West
Coast time, I don't ever get to call in, But
now that I'm on my way home from work, I
get to listen and call and it's nice. But to
this schedule, I actually think it's a pretty favorable schedule. Yeah,

(12:49):
there are some big there are some big team names
like Vikings Packers, but Vikings quarterback situation, we don't really
know how that's going to plan out, true, uh Packer,
Like Tony was saying, do we really know what Jordan
Love is?

Speaker 2 (13:03):
Like?

Speaker 4 (13:04):
They are good Josh Jacobs. Obviously, our run defense it's horrible,
so he could have a million yards on us. But
I think if we go at least one in three
in that stretch between the Ravens, Bill's Ravens, if we
just go one in three and then we you know,
we're at least eighty On all the other games, which

(13:28):
are we have a good chance of winning, those are
all winnable games. I think we get at least eleven wins.
I'm not as optimistic as twelve to thirteen wins like
our boys said before us, But I think it's a
good if our defense is just okay, what do you
think about that?

Speaker 2 (13:44):
Yeah, that's the thing, Like you're not asking the defense
to come in and be the eighty five Bears. You're
not asking him to be the legion of boom. Can
you be halfway decent against the run? And if you are,
if the offense performs even at a fraction of what
they did last year, you're going to win games. You
mentioned it though, being able to stop the run. If

(14:05):
there is one part of this team that I think
is actually much better, it is how they are or
how they match up against the run. Acquired TJ. Slayton
from the Green Bay Packers. I saw some good stuff
out of Chris Jenkins and McKinley Jackson. BJ Hill against
the run last year was improved. You got the best

(14:26):
run stopping linebacker available in orin Berkson free agency. You
got a couple of good run stopping linebackers in the draft,
and Al Golden's defense, in and of itself, I think
lends to a little bit better of a run stopping defense.
If you just start with that and look at the
ways you can win in the margins, that in and
of itself will help them maybe win a game more

(14:48):
than they did last year, and hell, that would have
got him in the playoffs.

Speaker 5 (14:52):
I absolutely agree with you.

Speaker 4 (14:54):
I'm actually higher on our defense because I do think,
like you said, all of our defensive line there's a
bunch of young guys, and I don't think they got
enough playing time under Anararumo, and I think putting them
into the fire, I think that our new d coach
is gonna get them ready. Hopefully. I mean we also
said them about Tito and the Reds.

Speaker 2 (15:14):
But.

Speaker 4 (15:16):
Hopefully hopefully they can get all these young guys in there.
And honestly, I everyone really that I've seen on social
media a lot of people want them to give Trade
Hendrickson the money. Honestly, if he doesn't want to be
here and play for I see, I would be okay
with paying him twenty two to twenty four million and
then being able to allocate some on another safety, because

(15:39):
you know, Stone is really like the only person on
the team that I'm just like very iffy about. But
get another safety. I think we're gonna be okay at
defense this year. And honestly, as long as we're okay,
our offense is gonna put up forty a game anyway.
So that's okay.

Speaker 2 (15:55):
Yeah, that works out just fine. Brian, thank you for
the phone call. Safe travels, I shit the kind words.
Thanks buddy, have a good night you too. That is
a Brian checking in from La yeah, listen. You know,
another kind of unintended side effect of Trey Hendrickson losing
his marbles is that he's not that good of a
run defender. He's a below average run defender, and that

(16:19):
is an opportunity where with the return of Cam Sample
who was lost last season due to a knee injury,
and Shamar Stewart and his ability to bump inside at times,
and maybe this in general, the positional versatility of the
defensive line with a new defensive line coach and Jerry Montgomery,

(16:41):
you look at it all of a sudden you're like, Wow,
maybe this can be a unit that turns around a
lot quicker than we thought. And if it is, there's
a trickle down effect on the rest of the team,
most notably that secondary. You don't have to cover for
as long you know what's coming in in third and

(17:01):
four situations, and there's more passing down. It's easier to
predict what the offense is going to do when you
have some of that positional versatility and you're generating pressure
and stopping the run at the front on the front level,
the defensive line level of the defense. I don't know

(17:21):
what I was saying, right there at that part, but
you get the point when you're good up front, that
has a trickle down effect to the rest of the
defense and when it comes to the schedule specifically, I
do think it's beneficial when you think of the idea
of starting fast, right Zach has talked about this a lot.
We've talked about it a ton. Cleveland has maybe the

(17:44):
most messed up quarterback room in the NFL. Joe Flacco
is seventy six years old. Joe Flacco, I think, used
to be teammates with Pete Rose on the Big Red Machine.
Joe Flacco is probably going to be the starting quarterback
with the Cleveland Browns and they essentially did nothing this offseason.

(18:06):
They're slightly better against on defense, I would say, But
Miles Garrett was like, dude, screw this. I don't want
to be here anymore. They're like, please, Miles, don't go.
We'll give you forty million dollars and he's like, okay,
forty million, which you know, you have a whole conversation
about how Miles Garrett's two face for that. He said
he wants to win Super Bowls and it's not all
about money, and the Browns are like uh, we'll give

(18:27):
you forty million. He's like, okay, I'll stay Okay, Miles.
Then week two Jacksonville, right a first time head coach
in Liam Cohen, a quarterback that's been banged up, and
there are question marks about with Trevor Lawrence and adjusting
to a new offense. And oh, by the way, Jacksonville,

(18:47):
you have to come here for the home opener, the
open in orange game. Good luck. Then week three you're
at Minnesota. That's a difficult place to play, really difficult
place to play, but you're playing it late September, week
three of the season, one PM game. It's gonna be
noon up there. And that's another team with quarterback questions, right.

(19:13):
JJ McCarthy, their first round pick a year ago, didn't
take a snap in the NFL last year, lost his
season due to a knee injury. The Vikings had a
chance to go and get Aaron Rodgers. I think Aaron
Rodgers wanted to be a Minnesota Viking because he for
some reason wants to be like Brett farv but he
wanted to be a Minnesota Viking. In Minnesota kicked the

(19:34):
tires on that idea for a minute. But they've kind
of been pushing their whole franchise in the direction of, Hey,
we're gonna give the keys to the of the franchise
to this quarterback in JJ McCarthy. Now, by the way,
I'm an Ohio State fan, so I don't like JJ McCarthy.
I don't think the guy's all that good, and I

(19:55):
especially don't think he's going to be all that good
when he doesn't know the answers to the test because
they don't cheat in the NFL like they do at Michigan.
So this is gonna be his third career start. I
like that idea of the Bengals having a three game
start to the season that can really set them up
for the next three if you just kind of segment

(20:15):
this season up three games at a time, if you're
able to go three and one or three and oh
in that stretch, and I don't think that's out of
this realm of possibility at all. Minnesota's really good. Minnesota
has certainly built up their trenches. They're better on the
interior both sides of the ball than they were a

(20:36):
year ago. They're the best out of those three. But again,
quarterback is the most important position in sports, and Joe
Burrow and Jamar Chase still exist, and t Higgins as well,
and Mike Gasicki as well. So I look at that,
I'm thinking the Bengals could easily be three and oh
right there, right okay, And then here comes at Denver

(20:56):
on a Monday night home against Detroit and at green Bay,
three playoff teams. Right there, Denver took you to the
brink a year ago late in the season and what
was one of, if not the most entertaining games in
the NFL season a year ago. Detroit won fifteen games

(21:18):
last year, but even then, they lost both coordinators, they've
gotten a little bit older, they've changed some pieces around
this secondary. And then green Bay is a solid team
that really didn't do anything this offseason. Can you win
two of those? I would think you can, especially with

(21:40):
one of them being at home in the Detroit Lions.
I would say that's feasible, Mark. And then you get
another three game stretch where you have a home AFC
North primetime game against Pittsburgh and then two teams that
stink with the New York Jets and the Chicago Bears.

(22:00):
All of a sudden, All of a sudden, I should
say you could easily be seven and two in the
first nine eight and one. I think the bare minimum
I think you would say is six and three. You'd
sign up if you had the option right now I said, hey,

(22:21):
we're gonna be six and three going into the by
You wouldn't love it, but you'd take it right considering
where this team has been for like the last four years,
the Bengals have been four and five after the first
nine nine games of the year. I would do nearly
anything for six and three. That's a real possibility here again,
so long as everyone stays healthy. And by the way,

(22:43):
I think that's a real possibility. With or without Trey Hendrickson.
We'll get into more Trey talk as it goes. We'll
take a break right now. I have a stat for
you actually about the AFC North home primetime games. It's
kind of amazing, actually that this is as bad as
it has been and as skewed as it has been

(23:05):
in one particular direction. I'll tell you about that. Next.
Phone lines are open five, one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty. You can tweet at me as well at audio.
More this is you are listening to Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen
thirty the AE Door and Window where we sell the
best and service. The rest NFL Schedule Release Show, Live

(23:27):
from our iHeart Studios in Kinwood on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (23:32):
Sincy three sixty starring Tony pike Man.

Speaker 2 (23:36):
That's a great question.

Speaker 3 (23:37):
And Austin Elmore, I'll take.

Speaker 2 (23:39):
That with me to no one can ever take that
away ever.

Speaker 1 (23:41):
Sincey three sixty tomorrow which well noon on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (23:48):
I want you to ask, if there's one thing about me.
I love those NFL films, Bumpers, old school, frozen Tundras,
slow motion, big time plays. It's all happening coming up

(24:11):
this season for the Bengals. We are live with the
AE Door and Window, where we sell the best and service.
The rest NFL Schedule Release Show. We are at the
studios in Kinwood. No longer at Smoke Justice, but Tony
and Lance did a great job earlier tonight. I saw
they got to try out the new menu out there
at Smoke Justice. So shout out to the guys at

(24:33):
Smoke If you've not been there, you are missing out.
You are absolutely missing out. Everything I've ever eaten there,
and I've eaten there a lot has been superb, Absolutely superb.
So shout out to them as well, and obviously our
friends at a door and window. My name's Austin Elmore
with you until midnight tonight, talking Bengals and the Bengals schedule.

(24:56):
Let's pick up where we left off. We were segmenting
the schedule into three different spots, right at, three games
at a time, and you got Cleveland, Jacksonville, Minnesota. You
feel good about the Bengals' ability to win all three
of those games. But let's say they're two and one,
and then you've got Denver, Detroit and green Bay. That's
a tough stretch. Let's say again they go to and one,

(25:18):
and then you're home against Pittsburgh and then home against
the Jets and the Bears. Three straight home games for
the Bengals. Now, at ten oh five tonight, thirty minutes
from right now, we're gonna talk to Paul Dayner Junior
from The Athletic. He covers the Bengals. He wrote a
story this week about the importance where really the nuances

(25:40):
behind the Bengals schedule and the importance of AFC North
primetime road games. Now it's not gone well for the Bengals.
We know that, but when he posted the actual numbers
here I couldn't believe it was this skewed. Listen to this.

(26:02):
This is again from Paul Danner Junior in the Athletic
Over the last six seasons, AFC North teams are three
and thirteen overall in divisional road primetime games and five
and eleven against the spread six years of This is
not a coincidence, it's a clear trend. So when you

(26:25):
look at the numbers the results here. The Bengals have
played seven prime time road divisional games since twenty nineteen seven.
They are one in six in those games. The Pittsburgh
Steelers have played the next closest with five. They are

(26:49):
one in four in those games. The Cleveland Browns have
played three. They are zero to three in those games.
And the Baltimore Ravens have played one primetime divisional road
game over the last six seasons and they won it.

(27:13):
How is that possible? Again, this stretch that the Bengals
have later in the season, when they go to Baltimore
on Thanksgiving Night, that is going to be the fourth
year in a row Cincinnati has played in Baltimore on primetime.
I think the last time Baltimore was here in a
primetime game. I want to say was the twenty seventeen season,

(27:37):
might have been the start of the twenty eighteen season
where the Bengals beat them on a Thursday night. But anyways,
the Steelers are coming in Week seven for Thursday Night
Football as the first time the Bengals have played the
Steelers on a Thursday since two thousand and eight. If
I'm not mistaken, and you just heard the stat right there,
in five of those games for Pittsburgh since twenty nine eighteen,

(28:00):
they are one in four, I would anticipate that that's
probably going to be either the White Bengal game where
the Bengals where they're all white uniforms, or it's going
to be the Ring of Honor game, which I think
we're gonna hear more about that in the next couple
of weeks or a month or so about what the
Bengals plans are for the Ring of Honor. But either way,

(28:25):
that's gonna be a crazy game, a crazy atmosphere. Pittsburgh
coming here on a primetime road game just doesn't happen,
and the numbers and the data suggest that that's gonna
be a chance for the Bengals to win and not
on top of that, I mean, you want to talk
about bad quarterback rooms. Mason Rudolph is the Steelers quarterback

(28:46):
right now. They drafted Will Howard out of Ohio State.
But I don't know if I could name another quarterback,
to be honest with you, I'm looking it up as
we speak. I don't know how many quarterbacks these guys
actually have that are any good. At least they have

(29:07):
Will Howard, Mason Rudolph, Skyler Thompson. They traded away their
best deep threat in George Pickens. Now, they did acquire
dk Metcalf over the course of the offseason from the
Seattle Seahawks. But man, in that game, I like the Bengals.
Odds for sure, it is going to be the first

(29:31):
time that the Bengals are playing the Steelers in a
pay Corps primetime game since the Von Bell Culture Game
as it's known in December of twenty twenty. If you remember,
I remember that game as like the game that changed everything.
The Steelers were like I want to say ten and

(29:52):
two at the time, maybe or eleven and two, something
like that. The Bengals their season was over and Burrow
was already hurt. He was done for the year. And
they came on a Monday night and there was like
seventy five people there because it was still during COVID
and the Bengals were their orange uniforms with the black
pants and juju. Smith Schuster was making tiktoks and it

(30:12):
was a Monday night football game. And he came across
the middle and Von Bell laid him out, knocked the
ball loose. I think, gosh, it was his name, Jordan's
something that linebacker Jordan Evans from Oklahoma recovered the ball,
if I'm not mistaken, and that was a turning point.

(30:33):
Everything was different after that. Bengals won that game behind
Ryan Finley. I think Ryan Finley threw like eight passes
something ridiculous like that. That's the last time the Steelers
were here in primetime. That's pretty amazing. And you know
the other thing with Pittsburgh, there's a chance it's Aaron Rodgers.
How do we feel about that? How do you feel

(30:55):
if it's Aaron Rodgers the quarterback in Pittsburgh. Now, Rogers
and Borrow have played some great games in the past.
There was a game with the Packers here just a
couple of years ago where they were going back and forth,
went to overtime, one of the most entertaining games I've
ever seen. I would love to know if Aaron Rodgers

(31:20):
is seriously considering the Pittsburgh Steelers. I guess that's really
the only viable option left for him unless somebody gets
hurt between now and then. I don't know, but that's
where we are with the schedule Pittsburgh, New York Jets,
Chicago Bears. More details on them a little bit later.

(31:40):
Here is one thing that is good about the Bengals
and about the schedule that they've been given by the NFL.
They have a midseason bye week Week ten. They played
nine games before the bye, they play eight games after
the bye. That team that they play out of the
bye is once again the Pittsburgh Steelers. You know what's

(32:02):
interesting about Pittsburgh too. If you remember a couple of
years ago, Seattle came here and it was a chess
match between Cam Taylor Britt and DK Metcalf, And you know,
Cam Taylor Britt is one of those players that I
don't think we've talked about enough. And I know it's
May fourteenth, and there's a disgruntled defensive end that everybody's
all honked off about. But Cam Taylor Britt's in a

(32:24):
contract year here. This dude's got a lot of money
on the table. It's got a lot he's trying to prove.
And you know, the Bengals just re upped to the
fifth year option on Dax Hill and they have spoken
very highly of him. Cam Taylor Britt was very up
and down last year, very up and down, incredibly inconsistent

(32:46):
at times, looked like he'd never played football before. But
he's an incredibly athletic player with huge upside. Him and
DK Metcalf in that game against Seattle a couple of
years ago, they were all over each other and Cam
Taylor Britt shut him down, held him to four catches
for sixty nine yards on ten targets, and he drew

(33:09):
a fifteen yard penalty when DK Metcalf got mad at
him for john and locking him up. Man, that was awesome.
That was a great game. Bengals won that game seventeen
to thirteen. But you know, again, the season is, you
got the games, and you got the times, and you
got the networks, and that's all cool, but really there's
matchups in each game. Individual matchups, positional matchups, certain players,

(33:34):
certain moments, certain thoughts, you know, schemes of how a
player is going to be attacked. One of the storylines
to that season or this season is going to be
not just how the defensive line shapes up, but how
the defensive backs shape up as well. Because the Bengals

(33:56):
have spoken highly of and believe in Dax Hill, DJ
Turner and Cam Taylor Briddard two serious question marks still
and there's some good receivers in this division now Dk
Metcalf joining the Steelers. Jerry Judy was really really good
for the Cleveland Browns last year. Zay Flowers was marvelous

(34:21):
for Baltimore. Now there's there's some good, good receivers that
they have to face. Not to mention, you know, Miami
is on the schedule as well this year with Tyreek Hill.
Arizona is on the schedule this year with Marvin Harrison Junior,
Detroit with Aman Ross Saint Brown, the Jets with Garrett Wilson,

(34:44):
the Bears with Roma Doonza and Dj Moore. Like there's
and obviously Minnesota with Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, which
might be the second best wide receiver duo in the
NFL outside out of Higgins and Chase. So just the
little parts, little matchups, a little things that go into

(35:06):
a season that you really have to pay attention to.
In some of these matchups, we'll take a break. We'll
keep kind of going through it line by line a
little bit here, and I want to hear from you
your thoughts, comments, concerns, reactions, questions, anything you have about
the Bengals and their twenty twenty five schedule. You are
listening to Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. This is the AE

(35:29):
Door and Window where we sell the best in service
the rest NFL Schedule Release Show on the Home of
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Speaker 2 (35:57):
This is the AE Door and Windows where we sell
the best service the rest NFL Schedule Release Show live
from our studios in Kinwood, High My name's Austin Elmore,
with you until midnight tonight right here on the Home
of the Bengals ESPN fifteen to thirty NFL schedule release night,
by the way, and I didn't mention this earlier. I

(36:17):
don't know if Tony and Lance talked about it the
three preseason games. I know a lot of people don't
really care about the preseason, but I guess it is noteworthy,
of course, to talk about the three preseason games. The
Bengals will play two of their three on the road.
This is common because the Bengals have one more home
game in the regular season than they do road games,

(36:39):
so it's this their turn to have two road preseason games.
They will start the preseason in Philadelphia on August seventh.
That is a seven to thirty PM game. So the
first time the Eagles will play a game after winning
Super Bowl fifty seven. It will be was it fifty

(37:00):
seven or fifty eight? I'm getting old. It's like it
was fifty nine?

Speaker 5 (37:04):
Was it?

Speaker 7 (37:04):
What?

Speaker 2 (37:05):
I'm getting old? What was it? It doesn't matter, nobody cares.
They'll play the Bengals on August seventh at seven thirty pm.
Then the Bengals will stay in the NFC East and
go to Washington to play the Commanders. That is an
eight PM game. On August eighteenth, that's a Monday night

(37:26):
football game. So that'll be a nationally televised preseason game
against the Commanders. And then on August twenty third, the
Bengals are back home for a one pm preseason game.
I cannot remember. They're gonna be playing the Indianapolis Colts.
I cannot remember a time in which the Bengals played

(37:49):
a one pm home preseason game. I might be wrong
on that. I don't know if anybody else remembers it.
I know the Colts usually always do one on game.
But that's gonna be Saturday, August the twenty third, a
home one pm preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts. So

(38:10):
those are your three preseason games. Eagles at Eagles at
Commander's Home, against the Colts in that one, all right,
what else? What else? What else? What else? Were we
talking about? So after the bye week, you go up
against Pittsburgh and then you play the New England Patriots,
and you would think that that's a game that some

(38:33):
Bengals have circled because that's the team that really screwed
up the Bengals season last year. Comes into the Bengals
on Opening Day and just finds a way to win
Cincinnati looked like a team that was unprepared. They look
like a team that was distracted. They look like a

(38:55):
team who hadn't practiced together very much, and New England
just kind of found a way to win. And now
you look back on it, that game cost the Bengals
a playoff spot, and it cost the Patriots the number
one pick in the draft. It's kind of amazing. And

(39:16):
the Patriots have kind of had a complete rebuild ever since.
They've brought in Mike Vrabel, who was an assistant in
Cleveland last year, to be the head coach. Vrabel is,
of course a long time Patriot, Ohio State guy who
is actually in the Patriots Hall of Fame and is
a guy who establishes a tough culture, a tough football team.

(39:37):
But I'll tell you what, he's a guy who Zach
Taylor has gotten the better of. Mike Vrable in his
career is one in three against Zach Taylor. That includes
a playoff game in Nashville when the Bengals beat them
en route to the AFC Championship Game and eventually the
Super Bowl. That was the game that Burrow got sacked
eight or nine times. If I'm not mistaken And yeah,

(40:01):
so I think that's an interesting one to keep an
eye o on. Just you know, again looking at the
different matchups, that's a coaching matchup that you kind of
want to keep an eye on. And then things get ugly.
Week thirteen at Baltimore, Week fourteen at Buffalo, Week fifteen
home against Baltimore. How do you feel about a Thanksgiving

(40:25):
Night Bengals game? How do we feel about holiday Bengals
games in and of itself? What do you think about that?
I'm not sure what to think about it. You know,
I remember when the Bengals played the Jets in twenty ten.

(40:45):
That was a that was a Thanksgiving night game. It
was the eight to twenty game. I think it was
an NFL Network exclusive if I'm not wrong. You know,
I hated my life that year because I was stuck.
I was a busboy at a Perkin and I couldn't
believe that Perkins was open on Thanksgiving night and I

(41:06):
couldn't believe that I had to work and I had
to miss the Bengals. Now, that Bengals team, by the
time Thanksgiving rolled around, they stunk. They stunk out loud.
That was the Tarrell Owens year. With Ocho Cinco the
Batman and Robin with the Batmobile that whole nine yards. Yeah,
that game didn't go well. If I'm not mistaken, they lost.

(41:29):
But I don't I'm not a big fan of it,
to be honest. I know that the Bengals have tried
to get the NFL to make them like the Black
Friday team, trying to like establish a brand. The NFL
has told them to pound sand with that. Basically, they've
kind of told them to pound sand with a lot
of this when you look at their schedule. I think

(41:52):
some of the trends would suggest that the NFL and
I saw someone on Twitter I think it was Joe
Goodberry described the Bengals is like the traveling circus that
the NFL can kind of send around to different cities
and you'll get a great game and you'll sell out
the crowd or whatever it might be. And that's kind
of does is kind of what it feels like. So ultimately,

(42:16):
it is only the second time in history that the
Bengals will play on Thanksgiving. That other time was in
in the Meadowlands against the Jets. So I don't like it.
I'm not a huge fan of it, to be completely
honest with you. But I think that's an easy one
to get up for. It's an easy one to get

(42:37):
excited for. You kind of know what's going on, and
you will play a home Sunday one PM game before
that against a team that you're supposed to beat. And
hopefully that doesn't mean that we're talking about the Patriots
as a trap game. A couple of weeks or a
couple of months from now that we're talking about the

(42:58):
Patriots as a trap game. All right, we'll take a break.
We'll come back when we do. Paul Dayner Junior from
the Athletic is going to join me. We'll get his
thoughts on the schedule, his thoughts on Trey Hendrickson, and
so much more. You're listening to the AE Door and Windows,
where we sell the best and service the rest NFL
schedule release show on ESPN fifteen thirty.

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Your host is he rose Bill Derivaca with the first Jim.

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Along the laiting Jim Hickman and right another stead looking
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And Pete Rose ends it with an iconic moment.

Speaker 1 (44:00):
Carol and the Ray Pawky.

Speaker 8 (44:02):
He was bowing getting.

Speaker 9 (44:03):
Up, Charlie Hudg bless you call him p Rose, but
everybody calls him. It looked like he was gonna fly
at first, head first and looked up and so the
cat you had to play a block and you just
can't fly a headfirst into those shin guard. So at
the last minute he just sort of hit Foty with
a body block and broke off the play and did
not let thought to even cag the ball and then

(44:24):
just fell down and eat put them on the place.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
Listen for more on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (44:31):
This is ESPN fifteen is the ESPN fifteen thirty A
dooran Window, Orange and black schedule breakdown show by E
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Speaker 3 (44:41):
We sell the best and service the rest.

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We're live at Smoke Justice on ESPN fifteen thirty, the
official home of the Bangles.

Speaker 2 (44:50):
We're not live at Smoked Justice anymore. That was Tony
and Lance a couple of hours ago. They must have
forgotten about me when they made the billboards. But that's
nothing new. Well, well, come in our number five now
of NFL schedule release coverage here on the Home of
the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty. My name is Austin Elmore.
Quick update for u FC. Cincinnati wins one nothing tonight

(45:14):
against Toronto in Toronto, and the Reds fall flat on
their face again for two losers to the Chicago White
Sox on Pete Rose Night, and that franchise continues to
fall further and further from grace, and they are an
embarrassment in a lot of different ways to this city.
One team that's not, though at least I don't think so,
is the Cincinnati Bengals. And one man that certainly is

(45:35):
not an embarrassment to this city is Paul Danner Junior.
He covers the Bengals for The Athletic and he joins
us now making some time for us at ten o'clock
on a Wednesday night in May Hi. Paul, how are you.
I'm doing great.

Speaker 5 (45:50):
I enjoyed you kind of just matter of factly running
through the red situation of views and just pointing out
that almost as if it's part of the news that
they're in embarrassment city.

Speaker 2 (46:00):
Many different Yeah, I mean this is this is just
how you have to go an hour five Yeah, yeah,
pretty much. And also the last thirty years of my
life the Bengals. The Bengals schedule was released. What did
you think? What was your first reaction the first thing
that stood out to you when this schedule came out.

Speaker 5 (46:21):
It was the first thing I was looking for, because
it's the only thing I I I am belaboring the
point over the course of the last four years, and
I understand this, and I understand that this.

Speaker 2 (46:32):
Has become like a thing that I will not let go.

Speaker 5 (46:34):
That's because it continues to happen and I just don't
understand it, and it's I can't believe they did it
again once more. For a fourth straight year, they go
to M and T Bank in Baltimore and have to
play an AFC nors road primetime game against the Ravens,
while the home version of that is at one o'clock

(46:58):
on a Sunday, Foxecutive seasons. The defining rivalry in this
division has given a very unnoable advantage YEA to the
Baltimore Ravens.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
And I you know, this is most of the.

Speaker 5 (47:15):
Schedule stuff is really stupid, like and I want to
emphasize really stupid. It's it's we're talking deep into the
weeds of the margins.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
This is not like this is a This is a.

Speaker 5 (47:30):
Real thing, and whether you want to admit it or not,
the facts are the facts, and the facts are since
twenty nineteen, AFC North Divisional Road primetime games are not
something that the.

Speaker 2 (47:44):
Road team wins.

Speaker 5 (47:46):
They're three and thirteen in them, They're five and eleven
against the spread.

Speaker 2 (47:50):
This is it's a tough thing.

Speaker 5 (47:52):
To do and on a short week, the numbers are
worse on Thursday's number of worse.

Speaker 2 (47:56):
And this is three straight years.

Speaker 5 (47:58):
Now that the Bengals have had to go Baltimore and
play on a thursdays from being on Thanksgiving. Since it
started twenty nineteen, the Bengals now have eight Afcnors Divisional
Road primetime games the.

Speaker 2 (48:09):
Ravens have won. That's seven had to do it since
twenty twenty.

Speaker 5 (48:14):
And it's and you know that's not I'm not going
conspiracy theory on this. I don't think anybody in the
league hates the Bangal. It's something that has been brought
to the league's attention. I can tell you that I
know that for a fact. I know they bristle at
it over certainly in the marketing offices at pay Corps,

(48:34):
where they'd love to have one of these games at home,
these feature games, and instead they have to deal with
going there again, and then on top of it, to
kind of pile it on a little bit. One year
after setting the NFL record for most road primetime games,

(48:54):
they have four primetime games and three of them on
the road, only one at home. So I get them
feeling a little frustrated from a like, can we just
have a couple of these games at home, please, Like,
we want to sell tickets too, we want to give
to our fans too. We don't want to have five
of our home games be Sunday at one. We want
the primetime We want those main slots for our home games,

(49:16):
not just all these games in other people's places. I
understand them feeling frustrated by that.

Speaker 2 (49:21):
You mentioned kind of the internal reaction in the marketing office.
The Bengals deserve credit because they've turned home primetime games
into a spectacle into like Musty TV. They've done real
work to improve the stadium experience and they're not getting
rewarded for that. Like, what's the process like to complain
to the league? Did they just call and be like, hey,
this sucks? Like, well, what do they do? Because I

(49:44):
don't know how to go about it. I think there's channels.

Speaker 5 (49:46):
I think there's channels that you end up in where
you're just saying like, hey, we want to make sure
you guys know this, because I think a lot of
times that stuff can get overlooked and you end up
in these net it's it's there. You're a battle of
networks sometimes that are choosing what they want and perhaps
these networks are just looking at, well, we want to
pick one of the Bengals Ravens games, and we prefer

(50:08):
doing the games in Baltimore for whatever reason.

Speaker 2 (50:10):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (50:11):
I can't tell you why that is, but I do
know that there's a you know, all you can do
is make that make sure that they're aware of the
trend and and what you know, because because I do
think the NFL cares about trying to find some kind
of competitive balance, but you know, what they care about
more that money.

Speaker 2 (50:27):
Baby, They care about that.

Speaker 5 (50:29):
TV contract, so they're gonna let those TVs t TV
contracts play out however they need to play out. And
if the Bengals take it on the chin, the Bengals
take it on the chin inevitably, though, they need to
start to find ways to beat Lamar Jackson and not
care about where it's at.

Speaker 2 (50:45):
Yeah, that ultimately is what it comes down to. And
to kind of reiterate your previous point that a lot
of the schedule stuff is stupid. That obviously is a negative,
although I think playing at Thanksgiving could be pretty cool
for the team and for that experience. What is the
biggest positive of the schedule in your mind?

Speaker 5 (51:07):
You know, I think there's a couple of spots where
you can see where they can kind of make a run.
That has been a little bit of their signature. I mean,
these mid season runs after the slow starts has kind
of been their thing. And you granted, you know, it's
hard not to look at weeks three through seven and say,
whoa baby, they got to hold on tight through that one.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
But I think you can see that middle of the.

Speaker 5 (51:32):
Season where you have four out of five games at home,
you know, a bunch of teams that you should feel
like you should beat with Joe Burrow as your quarterback.
We're talking about. You get Pittsburgh at home on Thursday
night football. Everything we just talked about. They did get one,
ANFC North Road brin time game. They did get it
to finally go in their favorite even it out a
little bit, so they got that there. You know, the

(51:53):
Jets are going to be a mess Chicago. Maybe Ben
Johnson gets them going. I don't know, Pittsburgh again, New
England with Rabel and May and I mean and for
those five at homes, I think you can see them
start to catch momentum in that section of the schedule.

Speaker 2 (52:08):
And we know what they have.

Speaker 5 (52:10):
Done with catching momentum at that section of the schedule
before if they could get it going, So I like that.
I think you like the fact that it finishes in
an advantageous way with three air last four at home,
with Arizona coming from the desert in the end of December.
Here a Cleveland team that's gonna be kind of tracking
the Jaguars draft picks probably at that point on the

(52:31):
last week of the season.

Speaker 2 (52:33):
So you like that.

Speaker 5 (52:35):
I think to have that and use a possibility to
be hot again at the end of the year.

Speaker 2 (52:39):
But it's hard.

Speaker 5 (52:41):
It's hard to look past the topic that everyone has
been spending so much time talking about this offseason, and
we'll spend a lot of time talking about in the
week's leading up to Week one.

Speaker 2 (52:51):
And that's man.

Speaker 5 (52:53):
If those first two weeks where this team has struggled
and they only have one win in the first two
weeks of the season, Zach Taylor and we know what's
happened lately, and we know last year with the New
England debacle and everything else. If we know all that
that history and how much they've emphasized it, I mean,
they have been everywhere we go, whether I'm talking talking
at the combine, we were talking about at pakor or

(53:15):
on Palm Beach or everywhere we've gone and talked to them,
they have emphasized we're going to change things. We know
we got to start faster. Every player says it, Well,
your first two weeks of the season are games that
are very winnable games. You got Browns and Jags, two
of the lowest wind projections on your schedule. If you
have the same problems that you've had, the entirety of

(53:38):
Zach Taylor's tenure here and then you have to go
down that absolute gauntlet from weeks three to seven, and
then you've got to try to come out of Minnesota, Denver, Detroit,
Green Bay and Pittsburgh alive. You can be facing the
same things that we have talked about with this franchise

(53:59):
for a long time of digging themselves out of holes.
To me, I look at coming out of that Pittsburgh game,
are they over five hundred is gonna be a massive
question on this season because if they are, they're in
great position off they go. I feel like they could
have said they could have killed the slow start. Demons,

(54:20):
have favorable matchups in front of them. You get Joe
Burrow in November and December where he's been a special player,
and you can feel really good. But getting to that
point could be the is the challenge here because it
challenges who they what they traditionally have not.

Speaker 2 (54:36):
Been talking to Paul Danner, Junior of the Athletic Paul,
you guys have been down there, I think once a
week for the last couple of weeks with the voluntary workouts.
Have you picked up on anything? I know it's may
I'm not trying to read too much into it. But
have you picked up on anything that would signal a
bit of a change in the way the Bengals are
going about the off season process to fix those slows starts. No,

(55:04):
it's good, it's great. No, I'm not yet yet.

Speaker 5 (55:07):
I think I think that the thing is that the
changes that they are kind of putting out there that
they're gonna make are going to be more of what's
gonna happen in August. They're not changing the way they're
approaching the off season. You know, they're still you know,
the team that did the one day of mini cap,
and so they're using all of them. Either they're not

(55:29):
going to be out there getting after it and as
much as they can in some of these OTA practices,
they use these to try to install and get repetitive
work of everybody knowing the system, so that when it
comes to training, can't time they didn't feel like they
can be expected to hit the ground truly running and judge. Now,
when that happens is when I think we're gonna see

(55:51):
the difference. I think they're looking for ways to add
more physicality, looking for ways to add more true game training.
They're gonna see them play in the preseason more. That
feels like almost a certainty now barring you know, everyone
in Cincinnati put knocks.

Speaker 2 (56:07):
On wood together.

Speaker 5 (56:08):
Now that you don't have a Burrow injury situation that
keeps him out, but you're gonna see him playing the
preseason if they can get him there healthy. I think
they feel bad. That's where the changes, though, will come.
Right now, it looks the same. Right now, it looks
like it always looks it sounds like it always sounds.
It's kind of a big, fun country club, happy time hour,

(56:31):
and that's kind of what they're trying to build. That chemistry.
The chemistry was bad last year. I think they felt
like they didn't really build it. Feel like they felt
like they started the year on a bad foundation. Yeah,
and they're trying to fix that by having everybody there,
getting everybody in the room and wanting to be together.
And that's something the guys are talking about. So that

(56:52):
part is different. But you know, we'll see how much
of that translates. It's either easy to have good vibes
in the summer when you haven't lost the game.

Speaker 2 (57:01):
Well, everybody was there the other day, including a certain
disgruntled defensive end. I have to ask you about Trey Hendrickson.
My question is simple, what did he accomplish yesterday?

Speaker 5 (57:15):
Your attention to himself in a situation, and if that
was the objective, I think he got it. I think
if he's playing the public perception game, he's not winning
anything with the Bengals. He's maybe losing ground with the
Bengals with that. But if he's playing the public perception
game for whatever reason, or maybe he's just gaining his

(57:39):
own sense of I have to go say something. And
he talked often about that about you know, I want
to do with something that I feel like I can
be proud of, or my son can be proud of,
or my wife can be proud of, or the Lord
can be proud of. All the people that were in
that conversation, like he was trying to feel like this
is the right thing that he should do, is to
speak his truth and that you know, his point is

(58:03):
that he feels like he has gone the quiet route
before and it has clearly not worked. His words, not mine,
and so I think he sounds like a guy that
feels like he's losing it because nothing's working and he
just wants to feel like he gets paid what a
lot of people are getting paid, and what his value is.
I feel for him. I'm empathetic towards his situation. Right,

(58:27):
He's not gonna beat the Bengals with that, Like that
ain't working here. There are a lot of places or
something like that might have an impact. It might have
Mike Tomlin in front of the microphone tomorrow saying, you know,
we we don't want we want volunteers, not hostages, right,
And but the Bengals are like, hey, we're okay with hostages,

(58:47):
but you know, we.

Speaker 2 (58:49):
Kind of do hostages here sometimes.

Speaker 5 (58:51):
But this is this is, this.

Speaker 2 (58:54):
Is may We do this stuff all the time.

Speaker 5 (58:57):
And so I just feel like it's this is not
the place where that works. But I also understand Trey
just feeling like everything's being mis represented. What he thinks,
what he feels, what he wants to say. He wanted
to show his face, he wanted to say whatever he
wanted to say, and so he did. And you know,

(59:19):
maybe it makes him feel better and maybe it won
him over some public perception. I don't know, but I
don't think it won over anybody or made any difference
inside the front office.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
Yeah, and that ultimately is the big goal. You know,
last year it felt like the Jamar Chase situation had
a negative impact on the locker room and ultimately on
the result at least early. Do you think that same
thing can happen with Trey Hendrickson and this sort of
attention being put on him. No, I don't.

Speaker 5 (59:51):
I think his teammates think this is the Trey Hendrickson experience.
This is what has been happening for years. I mean,
he he says to them stuff, I've been doing this
for four years. I don't want to have to do
this again. And so if you're one of Trey Hendrickson's teammates,
every year, this time of year or leading into camp,
you got it. You hear about or you know about

(01:00:12):
his frustrations with his deal or threats or whatever that's happened,
and they've become more public in recent years, but they
were happening behind the scenes before that, all the same.
And so if you're one of his teammates, this isn't
anything you're surprised by. This isn't anything that's new. I
don't think it really affects you. I think last year

(01:00:36):
definitely did. It's different when it's Jamar and it's te
and they are there. They've never done this before. It's
the true leaders, and they're in a real fight with
the organization and they're unhappy. Like these are the guys.
And I'm not saying Trey hasn't done things the right way,
but this this was a one, you know, one time,
and it was both of them and Burrows involved, and

(01:00:59):
like that's just a different level than when those guys
have been taken care of. So it's not like no
one's been taken care of and you just have the
one guy who, for better or worse, has always kind
of been unhappy who is now unhappy. So I don't
think that that has the same pervasive effect on a
locker room than what was happening last year did have

(01:01:21):
on it.

Speaker 2 (01:01:22):
Last couple of questions for you here, Paul, the road
trips that the Bengals have this year on the schedule.
What is your personal favorite road trip coming up this year? Minneapolis?
What a great spot?

Speaker 5 (01:01:35):
What a great spot for Minneapolis? So I think it
is an awesome American city. That is when it's won
out obviously, and you get it in a good spot,
get it in week three. I have never been to
the Target where the Twins play, Target Field Field, Yes,

(01:01:56):
thank you. I've never been there, and I've heard it's
unbelie so I'm excited. The Twins are home that weekend,
so I'm excited for a Twin game. There are a
bunch of concerts, there're some like comedy shows. It's a
real busy weekend in Minneapolis for whatever reason. And then
you get unbelievable venue. I mean, anybody that's ever I've

(01:02:19):
actually not been. I actually the last time they went,
I wasn't able to make it. And so but I
have heard from everybody that it is a truly top
top NFL stadium to go catch a game in. And
so a great weekend in a great city. I'm already
I'm going early and I'm booked, So I'm excited. I'm
excited about Minneapolis. I think it's gonna be a ton

(01:02:41):
of fun. And it's mostly because it's not one that
I've spent a ton of time, and I've always wanted
to spend more time in Minneapolis, So I'm excited about that.

Speaker 2 (01:02:51):
I asked this final question, this is personal, this is
for me. I also am booked. I've already bought the
flight the hotel, the rental car, everything for green Bay.
Going my first time to lambeau Field. Do you have
any recommendations?

Speaker 5 (01:03:09):
Don't stay in green Bay yet a hotel?

Speaker 2 (01:03:12):
You got a hotel? Yeah, not not in green Bay though, Yeah,
well Appleton maybe Appleton, Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:03:21):
Congratulations on that. I guess my recommendation would be to
stay in Milwaukee.

Speaker 9 (01:03:26):
Uh uh.

Speaker 5 (01:03:28):
If Milwaukee's awesome, of course, and it's not that far
of the drive, especially when you have a later tick,
you don't have to worry about getting up that early.
Stay in Milwaukee. Otherwise you're gonna find yourself looking for
something to do in Appleton, which is not going to
be as easy.

Speaker 2 (01:03:42):
As you think it might be.

Speaker 9 (01:03:44):
Uh.

Speaker 5 (01:03:44):
So you could have plenty to do and then give
yourself get up there really early to lambeau and and
take in the tailgate, take in the fact that it's
just all of a sudden, this massive stadium is in
this little town, and and spend the day up there.
But don't think that like your Saturday is gonna be
hopping in Appleton. Okay, no, no, no, I mean I'm

(01:04:06):
gonna do the tour.

Speaker 2 (01:04:07):
I'm gonna do the tour of the Lambeau Fiel'm gonna
do the Hall of Fame, do that whole nine yards,
and then I'm just gonna explore. We'll see what happens.

Speaker 4 (01:04:14):
You know.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
It's just what Mecca.

Speaker 5 (01:04:16):
Man, it's very much wriggly vibes. When you get trying
to feel the history. It's very cool and uh you know, uh,
maybe have some something soft and padded to go underneath
you on those bleachers.

Speaker 2 (01:04:28):
Stuff. That is a great tip. That is a great
tip right there from Paul Danner Junior to the Athletic Paul,
can't thank you enough. Thanks for giving me some time.
I really appreciate it. Man, have a great night, all right,
you too. Awesome that is Paul Danner Junior wrote some
great stuff about the the Bengals schedule and uh everything

(01:04:48):
going on. Of course with that, you can also follow
his Growler podcast as well with I know Mo makes
some appearances on there. That was great, good stuff from Paul,
and I'm sure the Bengals are not happy about the
current state of the schedule. And another primetime AFC North
Road game. We'll take a break, we'll be back. This
is the AE door and Window where we sell the

(01:05:10):
best in service to the rest NFL Schedule Release show
on the Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
SINCEY three sixty, give us some suggestions. I need suggestion,
three massive sixty min segments.

Speaker 2 (01:05:22):
Is this the correct way to do it?

Speaker 5 (01:05:24):
Uh?

Speaker 4 (01:05:24):
No?

Speaker 1 (01:05:24):
SINCEY three sixty tomorrow which twelve noons on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:05:31):
Spring is here. Welcome back the AE door and window
where we sell the best and service. The rest NFL
schedule release Show. My name's Austin Elmore with you up
until midnight tonight. Have a short segment here, and we

(01:05:54):
went a little bit long with Paul there. Did you
know there are three NFL teams this year year, this
season that do not have a primetime game three. One
of them is the Cleveland Browns. One of them is
the Tennessee Titans, who just had the number one pick

(01:06:15):
in the draft cam Ward, And the other is the
New Orleans Saints. That's kind of amazing, right, three teams without.
I mean, in years past, they'd find a way to
give each team one, you know, maybe like an early
season crappy divisional rote. You know, they do, like the
Saints and the Falcons for whatever reason, they would put

(01:06:37):
them on a Thursday night do something like that. The
Saints don't have a single primetime game, nor did the Titans,
nor did the Browns. Titans had a number one pick,
they got cam Ward. They don't have a number. They
don't have a primetime game. Man, that kind of stinks.
Speaking of primetime, the Bengals do have two of the

(01:06:58):
quote unquote NBC primetime games. Now, listen, we all know,
you and I both know, and it's all about ESPN
fifteen thirty. Every single game will be right here on
the official home of the Bengals. But when you look
at the NBC Sunday Night football schedule, it's gonna be
the NFL kickoff weekend on September the fourth between the

(01:07:20):
Cowboys and the Eagles. And then Week one, you got
a banger right away, Baltimore at Buffalo, a rematch of
the Divisional playoffs last year where Baltimore lost. Week two
is Falcons at Vikings. Week three is going to be
Chiefs at Giants. Week four is Packers at Cowboys. Week

(01:07:41):
five features the Patriots at the Bills. Week six is
Detroit at Kansas City. That's gonna be a great one.
On October nineteenth, week seven, it's gonna be Falcons at
forty nine Ers. On October the twenty six, it'll be
Packers at Steelers, an old Super Bowl rematch there. November
the second. Week nine, it'll be Commanders hosting the Seattle Seahawks.

(01:08:04):
The Commanders have a ton of national exposure this year
after their playoff run last year and Jade and Daniels
explosion onto the scene. Week ten, the Steelers will go
out to LA and play the Chargers on Sunday Night Football.
In Week eleven, it will be the Lions and the Eagles.
Week twelve features the Buccaneers and the Rams. The Bengals

(01:08:24):
and the Ravens will be the Thanksgiving Night game on NBC.
Week thirteen after that will be Denver and the Commanders.
Believe that's another Super Bowl rematch from years past? Two,
isn't it? Did I make that up? Week fourteen Texans
at the Chiefs. Week fifteen as Vikings at the Dallas Cowboys.
Week sixteen features the Bengals in Miami to take on

(01:08:45):
the Dolphins. Week seventeen will be the Bears and the
forty nine Ers. That's the other good thing about the
Bengals schedule. Week sixteen in December, they get to take
a trip down to Miami. You get to get out
of the car for a little bit, go play a
warm weather game against the Dolphins, most likely on a
Sunday night. Now late in the season, that's when he

(01:09:07):
gets into flex rains like what if the if the
Dolphins aren't very good or if the Bengals struggle, then
maybe it'll get flexed out. But either way, a December
trip to Miami, I'm sure will be a welcome reprieve
for the Bengals as they deal with the cold back
here in Cincinnati. We'll be looking at the rest of
the schedule, going over some of the teams and a
whole bunch more. By the way, phone lines are open

(01:09:29):
if you're listening five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty,
you can also tweet it me at Audiel Moore A
U T y E L M O r E. We'll
go through game by game and give my predictions. Coming
up in just a little bit, we'll see if I
have them going seventeen and oh or not. I don't
know if I will have them that well. I know

(01:09:50):
Lance and Tony were basically you know, calling them Super
Bowl champions, earlier. I don't know if I'm gonna go
that far, but it's possible. You never know. This is
ESPN fifteen thirty, the eight e Door and Windows where
we sell the best and service. The rest NFL schedule
Release Show on the Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty,
So you.

Speaker 6 (01:10:07):
Sky Cincinnati, make us the number one pre set on
your car radio and on the free new and improved
iHeartRadio app. Free never sounded so good, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:10:27):
Welcome back in a door and Windows where we sell
the best and service. The rest NFL schedule release Show.
My name is Austin Omore. With you until midnight tonight
phone lines open five, win, three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty.
Bengals schedule is out. A moment ago, I gave you
the Sunday Night Football schedule, the primetime matchups for the

(01:10:52):
Sunday Night slate. How about the Monday night slate. I'm
curious to know what people think about this. There are
so many double headers this year. The Bengals will once
again be featured in a Monday night doubleheader. So the
season opener on Monday Night Football will be September eighth.

(01:11:14):
It'll be just one game. The excuse me, the Minnesota
Vikings in Chicago to take on the Chicago Bears. That's
the thing about the Bears, and I have this written
down because I know they're one of the Bengals opponents.
Will go through it a little bit. The Bears are
like four time off season champs, like they've They've always

(01:11:39):
seem to win the offseason, but never in the actual season.
So Vikings Bears to start the year on Monday Night Football.
Then you have a doubleheader Week two September fifteenth, Buccaneers
at Texans on Monday Night Football and Chargers at Raiders
that want to be kind of spicy Pete Carroll of
course and Jim Harbaugh longtime rivals. September twenty second, you

(01:12:05):
will have a standalone Monday night game when the Detroit
Lions go to Baltimore to take on the Baltimore Ravens.
September twenty ninth, you have a double header. The first
game is the Jets and the Dolphins Snoozefest. The second
game is the Bengals and the Broncos. So September twenty

(01:12:27):
ninth in Denver on Monday Night Football will be the
Bengals in the Broncos. October sixth will be the Chiefs
at the Jags. That sounds awful. That's a Monday night
game in Week five. Week six has another double header.
It's the Bills in Atlanta to play the Falcons and

(01:12:48):
then the Bears in Washington to play the Commanders. How
do you feel about doubleheaders Monday night? I don't know.
I don't know if I like them, I don't know.
October twentieth another double header. It is the Buccaneers at
the Lions and the Texans at the Seahawks. October twenty

(01:13:08):
seventh features the Commanders in Kansas City to play the Chiefs.
They're all standalone games moving forward. November three is the
Cardinals in Dallas to play the Cowboys. Week ten. November
tenth is Eagles at Packers. November seventeenth, the Week eleven
matchup will be the Cowboys at the Raiders. On November

(01:13:29):
twenty fourth. How about this, the Carolina Panthers have a
Monday night game. They play the San Francisco forty nine
ers on December first. It'll be a multiple Super Bowl rematch.
It'll be the Giants at the Patriots on Monday Night. Football.
December eighth will be Eagles at Chargers. December fifteenth is
Dolphins at Steelers. December twenty second is forty nine Ers

(01:13:53):
at Colts. For whatever reason, I love Monday night games
in Indianapolis. They take me back to my childhood with
Peyton Manning and that building is awesome. If you've never
been to a Colts game at Lucas Oil Stadium, that
place is unbelievable. And then December twenty ninth, the final
regular season matchup until the they do they have a

(01:14:16):
TBD doubleheader. You know how the NFL moves games into
Mondays now at the end of the year. So January
thirty third, Week eighteen, that's not announced yet, but it's
going to be a double header. December twenty ninth, Week
seventeen will be Rams at Falcons. So Falcons have a
couple of Monday night games they always do for some reason.

(01:14:36):
The Rams have only one and the Bengals have just
one Monday night game this season. Also of interest and
of note for the Bengals, they travel the least amount
of miles of any team. Any team this season, the
Bengals travel the least, so the Chargers will have thirty

(01:15:01):
seven thousand miles that they travel this season. The Rams
thirty four, the Seahawks thirty one. Now, those teams are
typically towards the top just because of their geographic location.
Jacksonville the same twenty nine thousand, But the Bengals. The
Bengals have a total travel distance of eight thousand, seven

(01:15:26):
hundred and fifty three miles. The next closest is Buffalo
and Baltimore, and they're just over ten and a half
thousand miles. So the Bengals are the only team in
four digits eight thousand, seven hundred and fifty three miles.
Everybody else is five digits plus. That's crazy, and you

(01:15:49):
think about it, they really don't have to go anywhere
crazy on the road. I guess the longest road trip
is out to Denver. Minnesota's close, Cleveland's close. Detroit is
a super easy one, even though they're staying in Cincinnati.
Green Bay is not that far. Baltimore not that far,
Buffalo not that far. Miami. I guess Miami, Green Bay,

(01:16:12):
and Minnesota are probably the three longest trips. You don't
have a bunch of time zones that you're going through
that screw up the body. You don't have to go
out through these dumb international games. I'll tell you. I
know some people really wanted the Bengals to get those
international games, but I did not have any interest in that.
I don't know about you. I did not have a
lot of interest in the Bengals being in any of

(01:16:33):
those international games. I'm not a big fan of the
international games to begin to begin with, and there's a
bunch of those games. But that is definitely a built
in advantage for the Bengals just geographic location the teams
that they play. Obviously they play the AFC East and
the NFC North this year, and with that they play

(01:16:54):
are they only travel eight thousand, seven hundred and fifty
three miles this season, so there's that. When we come back,
we'll also do the Thursday Night football schedule as we
go through each and every one of the primetime schedules,
and I will take a look at those holiday schedules

(01:17:17):
as well. Why are we talking schedules, Well, this that's
because you're listening to Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty in the
A door and window where we sell the best in service.
The rest NFL schedule release show live from our studios
in Kinwood on the home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen
thirty Loegar players are allowed to have bad games.

Speaker 3 (01:17:38):
He's a man with a one track mind.

Speaker 2 (01:17:40):
Good players are allowed to have bad games.

Speaker 3 (01:17:42):
Where should I say us sports track mind?

Speaker 1 (01:17:45):
It happens Loeger tomorrow with three on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (01:17:51):
Nday has made a commitment that terrifsm man. Time flies
when you're having fun. Nearly two hours down already here
on the AE door and windows where we sell the
best in service. The rest NFL schedule release show on

(01:18:13):
ESPN fifteen thirty High My name is Austin Illmore, Thanks
for being here breaking down the Bengals and their twenty
twenty five schedule as the schedule was released tonight. The
Bengals bookending the season with Cleveland. They have a stretch
where they play Baltimore two times in three weeks, including

(01:18:34):
on the road Thanksgiving Night. They play Pittsburgh on a
Thursday night at home for the first time since two
thousand and eight, and they've got a stretch of games
that include three straight home games followed by a bye
week that means at one point in the schedule the
Bengals go more than a month without a road game.

(01:18:58):
That's kind of amazing. That doesn't happened very often. You
want to talk about the NFL doing you a favor,
that's a good favor. We've been going over the primetime slates.
We did Sunday Night football, we did Monday Night Football.
Let's do Thursday night football. So the first Thursday Night
game of the year will be Week two, September the eleventh,

(01:19:19):
it'll be the Commanders at the Packers. Are you sensing
a theme yet? There's a lot of Washington Commanders. September
eighteenth will be the Dolphins at the Bills. September the
twenty fifth will feature the Seahawks at the Cardinals. It'll
be the Niners at the Rams on October second, that's
Week five. In Week six, it'll be Eagles at Giants.

(01:19:40):
That's October ninth, October sixteenth at pay Corps Stadium. Week seven,
it'll be the Pittsburgh Steelers up against the Cincinnati Bengals.
On October twenty third, that's Week eight. It'll be the
Vikings and the Chargers. The Ravens will go to Miami
in week nine on October thirtieth, so right before Halloween.

(01:20:00):
On a Thursday night, short week down in Miami. The
Raiders will go to Denver in November. That's November the
sixth week ten, November thirteenth, Week eleven will be Jets
at Patriots. November twentieth will be Bills at Texans. That's
a Week twelve game, by the way. November twenty eighth,
Black Friday, it will be the Chicago Bears up against

(01:20:23):
the Philadelphia Eagles. And on December the fourth, it'll be
the Cowboys and the Lions. That's pretty typical for them
because both those teams play on Thanksgiving Day. The Falcons
will play the Buccaneers on December the eleventh. It'll be
December eighteenth when the Rams and Seahawks meet, and Christmas Night,

(01:20:44):
December the twenty fifth, Christmas Night, it'll be the Broncos
and the Kansas City Chiefs. And there you have it
right there, the full Thanksgiving slate. I did not see.
I'm looking it up right now. I did not see
who the Lions play, and of course sits the Green
Bay Packers. So the Thanksgiving Day slate, which the NFL,

(01:21:06):
I think, in recent years, has done a marvelous job
at turning it into the John Madden Thanksgiving and kind
of honoring John Madden his legacy, and you know how
much he loved Thanksgiving. I love Thanksgiving games, I really do.
I don't know if I'm excited about this, you know,

(01:21:26):
because I don't want I don't want a Bengals game
to ruin my Thanksgiving, but it could make me a
pretty happy cat if if they win. So the Thanksgiving
Day slate will be one pm, Packers at Lions. That's
a little bit later of a start than normal. I
don't think it's normally start at twelve thirty or twelve
forty five. So one pm Lions host the Packers. At

(01:21:49):
four point thirty PM, it'll be the Chiefs at the
Dallas Cowboys, and at eight twenty the Cincinnati Bengals at
the Baltimore Let's see what the Christmas Day games are
in the NFL. You will have the Dallas Cowboys up
against the Washington Commanders on Christmas Day. That's a one

(01:22:12):
PM game. At four point thirty, it'll be the Detroit
Lions up against the Minnesota Vikings on Christmas Day. And
as I said, just a moment ago, Denver at Kansas
City on Christmas Night. So you have a Christmas Day
double header that of course a Thursday this year, so
a little bit more of a normal schedule for those guys. Cowboys, Commanders, Lions, Vikings,

(01:22:36):
and Broncos Chiefs. All Right, there you go. I mean,
I think we've got pretty much everything covered up until
this point as far as all the different schedules and
ways we can look at it. We'll have to take
a look again at the AFC North schedules because Baltimore
has a really difficult schedule, especially starting up their season.

(01:22:59):
The Angles have a little bit of a lighter schedule Pittsburgh.
They open the season with the New York Jets, and
you can kind of look and see in a couple
of the Pittsburgh games the NFL is kind of like
banking on them to sign Aaron Rodgers, and most notably
Week one against the New York Jets, Rogers former team,

(01:23:22):
they play the Packers in a primetime game as well,
So it just kind of makes sense what the NFL
is trying to do there, which is get Aaron Rodgers
or hope that Aaron Rodgers signs with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
All Right, once more, if you're just now tuning in
here's how the Bengals schedule goes for the twenty twenty

(01:23:42):
five season. Week one at Cleveland one PM. Week two,
home opener Jacksonville Jaguars, one pm. Week three at Minnesota
Vikings one pm. Week four at Denver Broncos Monday Night Football.

(01:24:02):
Week five home Detroit Lions, four twenty five pm Week
six at Green Bay Packers four twenty five PM Week
seven home Thursday Night Football Pittsburgh Steelers. Week eight home

(01:24:23):
New York Jets one pm. Week nine home Chicago Bears
one pm Week ten, by week Week eleven at Pittsburgh
Steelers one pm. Week twelve home New England Patriots one pm.

(01:24:44):
Week thirteen at Baltimore Thanksgiving Night. Week fourteen at Buffalo
four twenty five PM Week fifteen home Baltimore one pm.
Week sixteen at Miami Sunday Night Football. Week seventeen home

(01:25:06):
Arizona Cardinals TBD and Week eighteen home Cleveland Browns TBD.
So there you go, four primetime games, three slots that
are the game of the week slots, the Detroit, Green
Bay and Buffalo games. One stretch that I consider to
be pretty easy, quote unquote, and that's the first three

(01:25:28):
weeks of the season Cleveland Jacksonville, Minnesota, and then week
seven through ten, which is the Steelers at home on
a Thursday night, the Jets, the Bears, and a bye week,
and then one really really hard stretch which is week
thirteen through sixteen at Baltimore at Buffalo home against Baltimore,

(01:25:49):
and then a primetime road game in Miami. That is
a difficult, difficult stretch for the Bengals. Also talk a
little bit coming up in the final hour of the
other AFC North schedules. I'll go through this and give
my official win loss prediction. I've kind of been simmering,
kind of been waiting on it for a little bit,

(01:26:09):
trying to come up with something when it comes to
my win loss prediction. So we'll do that as well,
all right. So that's what's coming up. By the way,
quick update, The Reds lost tonight on Pete Rose Night
by a score of four to two. I think the
Reds are twenty and twenty four now, if I'm not mistaken.

(01:26:31):
They just can't hit. They're not a very good team,
and that's frustrating. They are twenty and twenty four, fourth
in the NL Central. They have just lost a series
to the Chicago White Sox, who are awful. The Reds
cannot score. FC Cincinnati can score, though they won one
nil tonight up in Toronto, they took down Toronto FC.

(01:26:54):
FC Cincinnati stands at the top of the Eastern Conference
standings and looming coming up this weekend is the hell
is Real derby in Columbus between FC Cincinnati and Columbus.
Very much looking forward to that. All right, we'll take

(01:27:15):
a break, We'll get a sports center here at the
top of the hour, we'll come back. We'll do the
full prediction. We'll check out the AFC North schedules and more.
By the way, if you want to be a part
of the show, you can call in five point three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty. This is the AE Door and
Windows where we sell the best and service the rest.
NFL schedule release show live from our studios in Kinwood,

(01:27:36):
right here on the Home of the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 1 (01:27:40):
Thirty, SPN fifteen thirty A dooran Window, Orange and Black
scheduled breakdown show.

Speaker 3 (01:27:48):
Hey, E dooran Window. We sell the best and service
the rest.

Speaker 1 (01:27:52):
We're live at Smoke Justice on ESPN fifteen thirty, the
official home of the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:27:59):
We most certainly are not live at Smoke Justice anymore.
That was from six to nine. That was Tony Pike
and Lance McAllister. They didn't make a billboard for me
for some reason. But I'm hearing our studios in ken
Wood breaking down the Bengals schedule, and I'll be doing
so for the next fifty five minutes or so. We've
already been here for two hours. We've got one hour

(01:28:21):
left to go. I've had a blast so far. I
hope you are having fun as well. And a sweet
reprieve for some of us who don't have to talk
about the Reds anymore. We talk a little bit of football,
and you know, I thought one of the great parts
about the NFL schedule release is all the different videos

(01:28:41):
that are released. And the Bengals released a really funny
kind of short film features a bunch of different players
and has little subtle jabs at one another and the
other teams and so on. It's really really great. In
a moment, I'm gonna read for you what they put
in the in the credit of this quote unquote short

(01:29:02):
film that features a sentence and essentially a shot at
every opponent that the Bengals play this year. It's really funny.
I'll get to that in a minute, but first, let's
go game by game and let's come up with a
schedule prediction. Let's come up with a win and a

(01:29:23):
loss column for the Bengals in twenty twenty five. I'm
normally a glass half empty guy because I'm thirty years old,
about to be thirty years old, and my teams have
for the most part, done nothing but rip my heart
from my chest, throw it on the ground, and stomp

(01:29:43):
on it. The Bengals, however, they've done that a lot.
But they are and have been by far, the most
successful team that I've cheered for and root for in
my lifetime. So I do believe in them. I believe
in Joe Burrow, I believe in Jamar Chase, and for
that reason, I'll probably end up giving them more wins

(01:30:06):
than I should during this exercise. So let's start Week
one at Cleveland one o'clock game. Last time the Bengals
played in Cleveland at one o'clock to start the season,
it was ugly, it was rainy, it was gross. Burrow
was hurt. I'm gonna say they win this game, if
nothing else, for the fact that the Bengals are just
a much better team. Cleveland has quarterback questions, and although

(01:30:28):
they're maybe mildly better on the defensive line, I don't
know where they really got better anywhere else. If you
look at the Browns last year, they were three and fourteen.
Their over under win total for this year is four
and a half, so they're not expected to be that
much better. Pro Football Focus grated the Browns offseason as

(01:30:48):
a sea Some of the top storylines of Browns went
through this year. They avoided a trade for Miles Garrett
just by giving him a bunch of money forty million
per year. The quarterback room is a disaster. You may
have forgotten Deshaun Watson's hurt. He's not going to play
this year. He re ruptured his achilles while rehabbing his achilles,
so he's out. They also just put Jeremiah Owusu Koramo,

(01:31:12):
one of their best defenders, on the pup list, meaning
he's out for the twenty twenty five season as well.
He's dealing with a personal injury, and I think they're
being careful about the way they're handling that. You've got
the Shadoor Sanders circus, the Dylan Gabriel circus. Nick Chubb
is gone, one of those locker room leaders. They haven't

(01:31:33):
gotten much better. The Bengals were two to zero against
him last year. I think they'll win the opener against
them in Cleveland, then week two at her home against
Jacksonville the Open and Orange Game. The Bengals simply cannot
and will not perform as poorly in their home opener

(01:31:54):
in twenty twenty five as they will or as they
did in twenty twenty four against the New Dad Patriots.
The Jags were four and thirteen last season. They've had
a pretty solid off season. Pro Football Focus gives them
a B plus, and they're over under win total for
twenty twenty five currently stands at seven and a half.

(01:32:15):
They traded a ton of draft capital to Cleveland to
get the Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter, but they have
a first time head coach in Liam Cohen. The former
OC in Los Angeles and Tampa worked with Baker Mayfield.
I think he can be a positive for Trevor Lawrence,
but I think they have a long way to go.
The Jags also fired Trent Balki, their longtime GM, So

(01:32:39):
it's a complete organizational rebuild in Jacksonville. Getting them this
early is a good thing for the Bengals. I'll take
the Bengals to win that and start the season two
and zero, finally eliminating eliminating the issues that are the
fast starts and the slow starts. Let's go Week three

(01:33:01):
at Minnesota. Tough road environment, really good team. Won fourteen games.
A year ago, they were fourteen and three. They're expected
to take a step back this year. They're over under
win total for twenty twenty five eight and a half.
PFF rated their offseason graded their offseason as a B plus.

(01:33:23):
But the big story is Sam Darnold is out. JJ
McCarthy is in, and JJ McCarthy has not taken an
NFL snap. However, he's surrounded by great weapons. Jordan Addison
blanking on the long haired tight end they got there,
used to play for the Lions. Can't think of his

(01:33:43):
name at the moment. Somebody will figure it out, justin Jefferson,
Jordan Addison, and they've revamped their trenches. I think they're
a better team in the trenches. I am very very
high on their head coach, Kevin O'Connell I think he
has TJ. Hockinson the tight end. I think he is
the best offensive coach in the National Football League, and

(01:34:07):
I still have some doubts about the Bengals defense. So
I'm going to say the Bengals lose Week three at Minnesota,
so that'll put them at two to one going out
to Denver for Monday Night football. This game last year
was an absolute treat. Denver was a fun team and
bow Knicks was awesome, and they took advantage of the

(01:34:28):
Bengals secondary in the lack of pass rush. This was
one of those games where we didn't hear that much
from Trey Hendrickson and bow Knicks played really really well,
so for me looking at this, Denver was ten and
seven a year ago they lost in the wild Card round.
Their over under win total this year is nine and
a half, so not much of a change from a

(01:34:49):
year ago. Although PFF graded their offseason and a the
Broncos had maybe the best all around defense last year.
They had the defensive player of the year, Patrick certan
great lockdown corner who really gave Jamar Chase some fits
when these two teams met the first time, but that's
when t Higgins had his moment his game, they basically

(01:35:09):
solidified that he was going to come back next year.
They're spending money on defense Denver Is they're building on
the while They've got Bo Nicks on a rookie contract
Sean Payton another year. Makes them formidable. I think this
is really close. I'll say the Bengals win it on
an Evan McPherson walk off, and they finished the first

(01:35:31):
four games at three to one. Then short week coming
back home to play the Detroit Lions, who I think
are really really good. Even though they've lost both of
their coordinators to head coaching jobs Aaron Glenn now with
the New York Jets and Ben Johnson now with the
Chicago Bears, they still have the core of who they've

(01:35:53):
been that have won them a bunch of games. They
won fifteen games a year ago, including in the Divisional Round.
They lost in the Visional Round last year. They've been
driven a B minus grade. They're over under win total
for this season is ten and a half. They kind
of replaced one of the better players, Kevin Zeitler, with
Tate Ratledge, who was a target for a lot of

(01:36:13):
Bengals fans in the draft. So maybe there's some inconsistency there,
But I just look at Detroit and their physicality and
the way that they run the football, and I think
that's gonna be a big test for the Bengals to
find out if the Bengals are ready or not when
it comes to being able to stop the run. I'm
gonna say Detroit wins that game and the Bengals are
four and two, or excuse me, are three and two.

(01:36:38):
Then Week six they go to Green Bay. I'm gonna
say the Bengals win this game and get to four
and two. The main reason, because I'm going to the games,
that's my most scientific reason, is I'll be going to
this game. Green Bay was eleven and six last year
they lost in a wild card round. They did something
in the draft this year they haven't done in twenty years.
They drafted a wide receiver in the first round on

(01:37:00):
Matthew Golden out of Texas. I think some people are
still wondering who Jordan Love is and what he consistently
can be in the National Football League. They're still dealing
with a contract dispute with their star corner JayR Alexander,
but it looks like it's trending in the right direction. Overall,
Green Bay's just a solid team. They're over under win

(01:37:21):
total in twenty twenty five, though is nine and a half,
so a slight step back, and their offseason great according
to PFF, was a C minus. All these reasons tell
me they're a solid team. They're well coached, but they
didn't do much to make themselves all that much better.
The Bengals would go on the road and beat Green
Bay to go to four and two. Then they come

(01:37:41):
home short week Thursday night football against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
I gave you the stat earlier in this division, teams
don't win road primetime short week games, especially Thursday nights.
I'm going to take the Bengals to beat the Pittsburgh
Steelers in that game and get to five and two.
Going to take them to win the next two Week

(01:38:02):
eight and Week nine against the New York Jets and
against the Chicago Bears, both one PM games. You got
the mini by following the Thursday night game against Pittsburgh,
the Jets are still a bit of a disaster, a
bit of a mess. I think the Bengals win both
those games and they go into the by on a
four game win streak. That's how I have the Bengals

(01:38:22):
through the first nine weeks, ten weeks of the season.
We'll take a break. When we come back, we'll finish
it out. Who are the twenty twenty five Bengals going
to be right now? I've got them through the first
nine at seven and two. We'll find out more when
we come back. This is the A Door and Windows
where we sell the best and service the rest NFL

(01:38:45):
Schedule Release Show, Live from our studios here in Kinwood.
I'm Austin Omore on ESPN fifteen thirty Loegar.

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Let's pretend that today is the day after the Bengals.

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At the American Psychiatric Association Founding, Welcome back to the
AE Door and Window, where we sell the best and
service the rest NFL Schedule Release Show. My name's Austin Elmore,
happy to be with you. About forty minutes left to
go on the show. We'll turn things over to Sports
Center at night. By the way, NBA playoffs if you're
looking for those. Update. The Tea Wolves are leading Golden

(01:39:37):
State eighty to sixty two with four and a half
minutes to go in the third quarter. Minnesota, of course,
leading that series three to one. It is not looking good.
Minnesota is up comfortably and Anthony Edwards has got nine points,
five boards, few assists, not like he's lighting it up,
but Steph Curry's absence shortainly looming law large for Golden State. Anyways,

(01:40:02):
back to the Bengals. I got them at seven and
two through the first nine games. We're in week ten.
It's the bye week, all right. Here we go coming
out of the by heading to Pittsburgh AFC North Football.
I got them losing this game because they always lose one.
They're not supposed to lose fresh off of bye against

(01:40:23):
the team that you're better than. A big let down
after winning a few in a row. I got them
losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's a tough one to swallow.
But the Bengals are seven and three through ten. You
can live with that, right, You're still in a really
good spot. How about Week twelve, back at home, New

(01:40:44):
England Patriots revenge game from a year ago. The Patriots
are young. They've got a lot of stuff, but they
don't know how to use it yet, and they're still
a couple of years away. Bengals win this game, that
puts Cincinnati in my mind at eight and three through

(01:41:04):
eleven games eight and three, then you got week thirteen
at the Baltimore Ravens Thanksgiving Night primetime, so a short week,
you got to go on the road AFC North. We've
talked about it. It's impossible. It feels impossible to win
those games. Certainly has felt like that in recent years

(01:41:25):
in Baltimore. Is still formidable. Baltimore twelve and five last year.
Their over under win total this year is still pretty high.
I don't know that I have that one written down,
but their offseason grade was an A minus. They just
gave Derrick Henry an extension. Other than cutting Justin Tucker,
it's been a relatively drama free offseason for them. They

(01:41:48):
did get Malachi Starks to pair with Kyle Hamilton the
back of their safety group there, which it felt like
was a bit of a pick to help them beat
the Bengals, right because they got to deal with Itiggins
and Chase for the next few years. So let's go
get these guys that can help us over the top.
Because they gave up a lot of yards to Chase
and Higgins and Burrow the last couple of years. So

(01:42:11):
maybe they're building that group. Maybe they're building parts of
their teams to fend off the Bengals. The Bengals were
zero to two against them last year. You know, the
opposite side of you always lose one you're not supposed
to lose, is you always win one you're not supposed
to win. Bengals win on Thanksgiving Night in Baltimore. Joe

(01:42:33):
Burrow becomes the NFL MVP favorite based off this performance.
So at that point, then I've got the Bengals at
nine and three through twelve. I like the way that sounds.
Then they go to Buffalo Week fourteen, four to twenty five,

(01:42:53):
cold December. You got a mini buy right after the
Thanksgiving game, and you've all matched up well against Buffalo.
But Buffalo is a different team now. Josh Allen in
the way that he led that team last year and
the way that they molded it, in the idea of
Joe Brady for Josh Allen, and Josh had to stop doing.
He didn't have to do everything. He was able to

(01:43:16):
just kind of do enough, and with that he flourished.
He didn't have a diva wide receiver. The Bills were.
They were thirteen and four last year, thirteen and four.
They had an offseason great according to Pro Football Focus
of a minus, they kind of surprised some people last year.
I didn't think they'd be as good as they were,

(01:43:36):
but Josh Allen carried him. He's great. And they are
a run the football team. They like to run the ball,
whether that's with Josh or that's with James Cook. They're
a play action team. I don't think they're a good
matchup for the Bengals anymore. And so because of that,
I've got the Bengals losing at Buffalo in Week fourteen,

(01:43:59):
so that puts them at nine and four. Then I
have them losing Week fifteen at home against Baltimore. Now
they're nine and five. Now they've lost two in a row.
Now you're getting a little bit scared. How do you
finish out this season? You've got another game looming on

(01:44:23):
Sunday night football on the road, and then you've got
two more against Arizona and Cleveland nine and five, back
to back losses to Buffalo and Baltimore through Week fifteen.
I think the Baltimore games truthfully are a coin flip
this year. If the Bengals defense just plays even slightly better,
they'll be fine. So Week sixteen at the Miami Dolphins,

(01:44:45):
I think I think Miami is gonna stink this year.
They were eight and nine a year ago. Their offseason
grade this year was a C plus. They kind of
feel stuck in the mud. Can to us stay healthy?
They've had drama with Tyreek Hill and Jalen Ramsey. How
long is the stick with Mike McDaniel kind of being

(01:45:06):
the weird coach gonna last? Who really are the Dolphins?
I don't believe in them. I think this game gets
flexed out of Sunday Night Football and it'll be like
a four to twenty five or a one o'clock game
in Miami and the Bengals will win it. That would
have them at ten and five through Week sixteen. I
think you'd be thrilled with that. I think you're probably

(01:45:28):
thinking you're going to the playoffs. Two games to go,
both at home. Week seventeen, Arizona Cardinals. Cardinals were eight
to nine last year, a little bit better than the
year before. Offseason grade of B plus according to Pro
Football Focus. They've reworked their defensive line. They drafted Walter
Nolan just ahead of the Bengals, and it all kind

(01:45:51):
of comes down to Kyler Murray. Who's Kyler Murray? Can
he consistently be the guy you need him to be?
Marvin Harrison, junior out of Ohio State, A little bit
disappointing year. Last year he was fine, he was not
as dominant, a little bit underwhelming, but warm weather team
in Cincinnati late December. I'll take the Bengals that has

(01:46:15):
him at eleven and five. Then Week eighteen, Cleveland will
be playing for nothing. They'll be watching the Jags and
their draft picks. Cleveland's just going to be playing for
draft position like they always are. In January, the Bengals
will roll over them. They'll smoke them with their second string.
Jake Browning will probably get some run in this game.

(01:46:37):
Bengals will be resting starters. We'll see, you know, Taj
Brooks get a lot of run in this game. Cincinnati wins,
Bengals go twelve and five. That's my prediction. That is
my official prediction for the Bengals and their schedule. Bengals
go twelve and five. Do they win the AFC North?

(01:46:59):
I don't know. We can talk about those schedules in
a minute, but I think they are returning to the
playoffs at the very least. You know, the other thing
I was talking about how this is like the super
Bowl for the digital teams, the social media teams across
the NFL, is how they released the schedule to their fans.
So the Bengals posted one. It's like a short film.

(01:47:23):
It's like they recorded something and then they put the
camera down and they left it rolling, and you see
all the stuff that's like happening around the around the
facility there. It's pretty funny. It's cheeky, it's clever, it's funny.
And so they have like a rolling credit scene afterwards,

(01:47:44):
and it says the following It features a sentence about
each of the Bengals opponents in twenty twenty five, and
I wanted to read it for you. This is what
the Bengals put on their video announcing the schedule. It
says the views and opinions expressed in this film are
protected under the laws of the National Football League and
the Cincinnati Bengals. The characters and events in this film

(01:48:07):
are scripted. Any similarity to actual persons living or dead
is not a coincidence, but a very accurate but very
accurate just like the following statements. The Factory of Sadness
nickname wasn't made up by arrival. It was born in Cleveland.
Jaguars are known to hide in trees and are considered loaners.

(01:48:33):
Real Viking helmets didn't actually have horns. A Bronco horse
has less horsepower than the vehicle in a one on
one fight. A tiger is considered to have the advantage
over a lion. The name Packers originated from a meat
packing company. The Pittsburgh mascot is named Steely mcbeam and

(01:48:58):
is rumored to be friends with Body McBoatface. Fighter jets
don't have an ignition key beare Hibernation schedules coincide with
football season. There were more chests of tea thrown into
the harbor than there were passing yards in any Patriots

(01:49:20):
game last season. A raven's call is commonly referred to
as a gurgling croak. There are no buffalo native to
buffalo bottlenosed dolphins are known to enjoy looking at themselves
in the mirrors. In mirrors. Northern cardinals are native to

(01:49:45):
eastern Canada and are rarely found in the desert. That
is great stuff from the Bengals, very clever, very funny,
cheeky taking some shots at your rivals. That's great stuff
from the bank credit to them, very funny. We'll take
a break, we'll come back. We'll take a look at
the AFC North and their schedules. This is ESPN fifteen

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thirty The AE Door and Window where we sell the
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Welcome back, ESPN fifteen thirty. AE Door and Window where
we sell the best and service. The rest NFL's schedule

(01:50:53):
Release Show. My name is Austin Elmore. We've got about
twenty five minutes remaining. Let's talk AFC North. Take a
look at these schedules for the Bengals rivals. I mentioned
earlier that the Browns do not have a single primetime
game on their schedule this year. Kind of hard to
believe in a way. Maybe not, but there's not a

(01:51:15):
lot of high expectations for Cleveland. I don't think the
league feels very highly about them with everything. So Cleveland
does not play a primetime game. Here's how their schedule goes.
Week one, they host the Bengals. Week two, they are
at the Ravens. Week three hosts the Packers. Week four

(01:51:36):
at Detroit. That is a very difficult start for the
Cleveland Browns. Doesn't get any easier. Week five in London
against the Vikings. All of those teams, with the exception
of the Bengals, playoff teams last year, and the Bengals
were barely not a playoff team. The Bengals smoked them
twice last year. Week six they are in Pittsburgh. Week

(01:51:59):
seven their home against the Dolphins. Week eight they are
on the road in New England. They have a Week
nine bye week. They come out of that and play
the Jets in New York. They are home against the
Ravens in week eleven. They are at the Raiders week twelve.
Then they have two home games in a row against

(01:52:19):
the forty nine Ers and Titans before going to Chicago
on December fourteenth, and finish the season Bills Steelers Bengals
Week sixteen, seventeen, and eighteen for the Cleveland Browns. That is, not,
by any stretch of the imagination, an e easy schedule.
I do not think the Steelers will have or the

(01:52:40):
Browns will have a great season. Speaking of the Steelers,
here's how they will start and play their twenty twenty
five schedule. They open Week one on the road at
the New York Jets, so obviously paying close attention to
if Aaron Rodgers comes to Pittsburgh. That's one o'clock game.

(01:53:00):
Then they play the Seattle Seahawks at home in their
home opener on September fourteenth. Obviously DK metcalf against his
old team. Week three, they are in New England to
play the Patriots at one pm. Week four, they are
in Ireland to play the Vikings in Dublin. They are

(01:53:22):
immediately following that up with a Week five bye week,
So the Steelers have the earliest possible buye then. Week
six they are at home against Cleveland. Week seven, they're
here for the Thursday night game. In week eight, they
play a home Sunday Night football game against the Green
Bay Packers. In week nine, they're home against the Colts.

(01:53:45):
In Week ten, they're on Sunday Night Football in Los
Angeles against the Chargers. Week eleven home against the Bengals.
Week twelve, they are in Chicago to play the Bears.
Week thirteen they host the Buffalo Bills. Week fourteen, they
are in Baltimore. Week fifteen a Monday night home game

(01:54:05):
against Miami. Week sixteen they are on the road at Detroit.
Week seventeen on the road at Cleveland, and week eighteen
at our home against Baltimore. So they do host the
Buffalo Bills this year, they don't have to go up there,
but they do have an international game against Minnesota. Overall,

(01:54:29):
it's a relatively fine schedule. I think it's very similar
to the Bengals schedule. They had similar records. So that's
the big one. They obviously have to go to Detroit.
That's not easy all the way out on the West
Coast against the Chargers On a primetime late Sunday night game.
That's not easy. That's a tough schedule, all right. The

(01:54:50):
one we probably care about the most is the Baltimore
Ravens and they have a brutal and I mean ruteal
start to their season. Baltimore starts Week one on the
Sunday night football opener. They play at Buffalo to start

(01:55:11):
the year. Week two is their home opener against the
Cleveland Browns. Week three they have a Monday night home
game against the Detroit Lions. In Week four they have
to travel to Kansas City. In Week five they are
at home against the Houston Texans. So in the first

(01:55:32):
five weeks you play all playoff teams except Cleveland. Then
in Week six they play the Rams, another playoff team
that is a home game at one o'clock. The Ravens
bye week is week seven. In Week eight they are
home against the Bears. So they also have a stretch

(01:55:52):
there of three home games in a row with a
bye week kind of squeezed in the middle. Then they
go on a short week to Miami to play the
Dolphins on Thursday Night football. The Dolphins are playing every
AFC North team except they're playing the Browns. Excuse me.
The Dolphins are playing the Bengals, Ravens, and Steelers all

(01:56:14):
on primetime Good Luck Week ten. The Ravens traveled to Minnesota.
Week eleven, they are at Cleveland. Week twelve, they are
home against the Jets, so a bit of a reprieve
in the schedule here for Baltimore. Week thirteen, they host
the Bengals on Thanksgiving Night, then they host the Steelers

(01:56:35):
right after that and at the Bengals after that, followed
by a home game against the Patriots, and back to
back road games week seventeen at the Packers. So it
could be the frozen tundra of lambeau Field where the
Ravens might have to go win a game, and they
are at the Steelers to end the season, so obviously

(01:56:56):
a bunch of playoff games to start. It is an
absolute gauntlet for the Ravens. Out of the shoot they
have a tough one at green Bay at the end
of the season. They have that same stretch with the
Bengals twice in three weeks and obviously have to go
to Minnesota as well. That is a tough schedule for
the Baltimore Ravens and an absolute brutal first half. A

(01:57:19):
first half schedule that's similar quite frankly to what we
saw the Bengals get, or excuse me, the Steelers got
the second half schedule last year that was just absolutely brutal.
So pretty similar as far as that's concerned. I really
think the AFC North is going to be a two

(01:57:41):
horse race. I think it's going to be between the
Bengals and the Ravens. I think the Ravens are a
better team, but I don't know if they are. It
just doesn't feel like they're ever gonna get over the hump.
I don't know if that's an indictment on John Harball.

(01:58:02):
I don't know if that's an indictment on Lamar Jackson.
But now they're about to be without two of the
guys that have been there for a long time, and
Mark Andrews and Justin Tucker. Say what you want about them,
they were locker room leaders. They were foundational pieces in
that locker room for quite some time. They are getting

(01:58:23):
younger and their secondary has needed some help, and I
do think it's slightly better, especially adding Malachi Starks. But
can they ever get over the hump? Can they win
the big one? With Baltimore, the story is not really
about the regular season. The regular season, you expect them

(01:58:44):
to win eleven or twelve games and be in the
conversation and have a legitimate shot to get the number
one seed in the AFC. You think back to those
games against the Bengals a year ago that the Ravens played.

(01:59:04):
You know, Lamar made that great play where he shoved
Sam Hubbard to the ground, throws the ball, scores the touchdown,
then he fumbled a bad snap in overtime. They tried
to give that game to the Bengals. I think Justin
Tucker missed a kick in that game, which never happens,
and it was Evan McPherson and the kicking operation. They
dropped the snap kick misses. I remember, you know, going

(01:59:29):
over Zach Taylor's play calling in that sequence. That was
a game where it felt like Burrow also threw a
bad interception. It was. That was a game where it
felt like the Bengals beat themself. And the Thursday night
game in Baltimore was a game where it felt like
the Bengals got screwed by the officials missed multiple calls,

(01:59:53):
especially on the last play of the game, and I
thought a play call or decision by Joe Burrow. Either way,
you can blame Zach or Joe on the two point
conversion that was not adequate. On top of that, multiple
missed calls over the course of the game, So that

(02:00:14):
was one where Bengals kind of beat themselves, but it
also kind of felt like it was stolen from them.
They also could not tackle in that game, So I
think the margin of error there is very thin for
the Bengals in those games. And I think the Bengals
will tell you, and they've kind of hinted at this

(02:00:35):
a couple of times, you know, Duke talked about it
at the combine as well, that they really think they
were a lot closer than maybe we thought they were.
And I think that's why there hasn't been as much
movement on the defense as maybe you thought. I mean,
bj Hill, they re upped him. He had a really
he had a good season, He had a solid season.

(02:00:58):
They re upped him. They spent two top draft picks
on McKinley Jackson and Chris Jenkins a year ago. They
still believe in Miles Murphy. They're putting a lot of
the blame from last year on a couple of fluke
plays and a bad defensive coordinator. That's what the offseason suggests, right.

(02:01:18):
All their actions kind of suggest that they're putting this
year on a bad offensive coordinator or excuse me, a
bad defensive coordinator and a couple of fluke plays. Tanner
Hudson fumbles the ball going into the end zone Week
one against New England, the box snap on the field

(02:01:41):
goal tip attempt against Baltimore, the two point conversion in
the mist calls in that game against Baltimore, the repeatedly
just like the comeback against the Chargers that just fell
short because of like one third down where they weren't
able to get a stop, the inability to stop the

(02:02:06):
checkdowns from the Steelers the first time around. They look
at that, and they look at that five game stretch
they went on at the end of the year, and
I think the Bengals truly think they were not that
far away. Whether you agree with that or not, I
think that's the way they have approached this offseason, and

(02:02:27):
I think that they feel confident in their ability so
long as they stay healthy, to be in the conversation
in the AFC North. But my problem with that is
I don't think you can bank on health, especially on
the offensive line. The offensive line was terrible man Alex Kappa,

(02:02:49):
Quotel Volson. Those guys were bad. And I don't feel
like any of the proposed solutions to this point are
that much better. So I'm kind of putting a lot
on a new offensive line coach in Scott Peters, and
you're putting a lot on a new defensive line coach
in Jerry Montgomery to get the most out of your
defensive line, and a new defensive coordinator in Al Golden.

(02:03:14):
You're gonna be asking a lot of some young players
on defense to step up, learn how to tackle, and
fix this defense. They're giving Al Golden the keys here.
They're saying, Hey, Lou and Arumo didn't get enough out
of our young players, and we have a disconnect in

(02:03:34):
how we can acquire and what we want out of
those players, and the message is getting stale. So we're
going to can louin a remo, and we're going to
trust that if you can just get our defense up
five or six spots, seven to eight spots from thirtieth
or thirty second to early twenties, that our offense is

(02:03:55):
good enough that's going to be a difference maker, and
we're going to win a lot more games. That's what
the actions of the Bengals this year indicate about their
plans in the future. The way they've approached the off season,
the way they've approached the draft, that's what it tells you.
Whether you agree with that is an entirely different story.

(02:04:18):
I think in a lot of ways, that's a little
bit too simple. But I also have a little bit
of a belief in that theory, especially on the defensive
side of the ball, that Al Golden maybe can get
more out of them. But I also know that NFL
teams are sitting around all off season studying what the

(02:04:38):
Bengals did, studying how Jamar Chase made all those plays
and won that triple crown, and they're coming up with
ways to stop that. And I hope the Bengals are
doing the exact opposite in the sense of they're coming
up with new ways to build off of all the
good things they did last year. I hope the Bengals

(02:05:01):
don't show up to training camp thinking we're good man,
there's nothing we need to do on offense, because there is.
You've got to figure out that offensive line, You've got
to find a way to be consistent and dependable running
the football. You don't have to be a run first team,
but you have to be consistent and dependable when you

(02:05:23):
do run to set up number one, to drain the
clock a little bit, give your defense a chance, and
to set up the other ways you can branch off
on your offense through play action or different motions or
different looks or whatever it might be. Because of the simple
threat of the run and the other thing, you've got

(02:05:44):
to get more out of your pass rushers. And that
I think is what is the most interesting part of
his team right now. Trey Hendrickson, he doesn't He's not happy,
and he's throwing a fit. And I don't think Trey
wants to be here anymore. And I get where he's
coming from. But at the same time, I don't have

(02:06:05):
any sympathy for him. You know, we talked to Paul earlier.
Paul says he empathizes with Trey Hendrickson. I don't you
either want to be here or you don't. And I
get that the Bengals, you know, probably didn't maximize what
they told him they were going to do. But Tray,

(02:06:27):
I think is foolish for trusting them just because they
said something or did something. This team and this organization,
they're bad communicators and they don't really care about your feelings.
And as you know, Paul said that they're open to hostages.
They don't care about volunteers or whatever. They they're open

(02:06:50):
to hostages. And Trey should have done a better job
negotiating contracts that would have better taken care of him
in these moments. He has and is mostly at fault
here more than anything else. And I think there's a

(02:07:11):
chance he retires. I think there's a chance he doesn't play.
I don't think the Bengals are going to blink. And
if so, that makes this season massive for Shamar Stewart,
the first round pick, for Miles Murphy, another guy in
a contract year, for Joseph Osai who signed a one
year deal to come back to Cincinnati. For Cam Sample

(02:07:32):
coming off of an injury, for Chris Jenkins to show
he can rush the pastor for Bill for bj Hill
to show that he's not washed up. This Seamon has
a long way to go on that defensive line. And
I don't think that Trey necessarily not being here is
the worst thing. Are they a better team without him? No,

(02:07:56):
probably not, but I think the upside is there, and
I don't think he's gonna play for the Bengals this year,
so you better come up with a plan to maximize
the guys that you do have. This has been the
AE door and window where we sell the best and
service the rest NFL schedule release show. Thank you so

(02:08:16):
much for listening. My name is Austin Elmore. Thank you
to those who came out to Smoke Justice earlier this
evening to check out Lance and Tony. Shout out to
those guys for doing a great job. Shout out to
you for listening or callers. People that have tweeted at me,
really do appreciate it. If you liked what you heard,
you can hear me twelve hours from now. I co
host the show with Tony Pike on ESPN fifteen thirty

(02:08:39):
right here. It's called since E three sixty and we'll
be live in twelve hours in six minutes from right now,
and I hope you'll listen. You can also follow me
on Twitter at Audiel more Au, t Y E. L.
M Ori. Thank you so much for listening, and I
guess that's it. I guess that's the end of the show.

(02:09:01):
You've been listening to Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty The AE
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