10/20/25 - The Mo & Tony Football Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 3 (00:09):
This is the Tony and Mo Football Show Live from
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on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
It is awesome to be here at Twin Peaks in
Florence for the Tony and Mofoot Show on ESPN fifteen thirty.
This show airs every Monday and has for the last
ten and a half years, with a handful of exceptions,
one of them being last week. Tony took the week off,
enjoyed the vacation, spend some time away, got a break

(01:16):
from me.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Yeah, and now he is back.

Speaker 4 (01:18):
Didn't golf and normally mestered. Good to be back here.

Speaker 5 (01:25):
It is.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
It is great to have you. We're a twin peaks
from Florence for the first to back to back weeks.
Right off I seventy five, you can get off at
the Turfway Road exit. You can get off at Route
eighteen and either way you'll be here in minutes plus.
Today we have Nate Bargatzi tickets to give away. One
lucky person is gonna win a pair of tickets to
this Sunday night show at the Heritage Bank Center. Yes,

(01:48):
you must be present to win, so come on out.
Sign up for that, Get a nice cold beer, get
something to eat, hang out. We have a lot to
discuss the Bengals and they're reversal of fortunes since you
and I lasted a show, the Bearcats and Bowl eligibility,
everything that went down in pro and college football.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
I'm not going to.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Relitigate all the reasons why you weren't here last week.
That's water under the bridge.

Speaker 4 (02:14):
If I was here, if this was the same circumstances,
could I have been eligible to win the Nate Bargatti tickets.

Speaker 1 (02:20):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
What the terms of your agreement with human Resources were,
so I can say, but I would have given them
to you. Huh as far as I'm concerned, Yes.

Speaker 4 (02:29):
Great, but I can so you should come win them today.

Speaker 1 (02:32):
That's right. It's good to have you here.

Speaker 4 (02:33):
I'm happy to be here.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
It's nice to do the Tony and Mo Football Show
with Tony it is. It felt different last week. You think,
for so many years my Mondays during football season have
been this, and then they weren't, and I didn't know
what to do about it, And thankfully I'm back here.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
What did you do last Monday?

Speaker 4 (02:56):
A lot of nothing. I'll shout out to my dad.
We we went to uh, my parents' house and kind
of just had like a pizza night and we're just
kind of hanging around and pizza gets delivered, you know,
and I I was in a I was in a
rough spot for for a few days. And as the
pizza guy's leaving, my dad yells at him. He says, hey, sir,
we're all sitting a und He say, are you guys hiring?

(03:19):
And I'm just like man. So there was a point
I thought about maybe reinventing the pizza delivery game. You
know you can still do that, deliver pizzas and.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Talk ball oh.

Speaker 4 (03:31):
For an extra feet good? But yeah, I was Uh,
I was just sitting around and uh thinking about, Man,
what would I have talked about with that Packers game?
Had you know, had that the Tony and Mo Show
happened the second half signs of Life from Joe Flacko
on the Bengals, how can they pick up where they
left off against the Packers and fast forward that ahead

(03:54):
to what they're gonna do against the Pittsburgh Steelers And
it would probably have started, yeah, with something along the
lines of get Jamar Chase touch, which they did, man
or man they did.

Speaker 1 (04:02):
So it's awesome to have you back.

Speaker 2 (04:06):
I know a lot of folks reached out to you
when we found out that you weren't going to be
a part of our radio station anymore. A lot of
folks have reached out since noon today when you let
everybody know that you're.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Back a part of the radio station.

Speaker 2 (04:18):
So I hope you got a kick out of that,
and yeah, we're going to talk about football.

Speaker 4 (04:25):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 1 (04:26):
It was.

Speaker 4 (04:27):
I guess if there was any good that could have
came out of what happened, it was getting a little
bit of the gratification that at least what I had
been trying to do was working. That people have enjoyed listening,
and now that they can continue to enjoy listening is exciting.

Speaker 2 (04:47):
The day that I found out you were unemployed is
the day we found out the Bengals had.

Speaker 1 (04:52):
Acquired Joe Flacco.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
Man, and I said often, Gee, if only there was
a former quarterback we could get on to talk about
Joe Flacco coming to Cincinnati.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
And so you and I have not had a chance
to talk about him.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
But you mentioned the Green Bay game, and I'll start
there because I thought they won the game in many
respects on Thursday last Sunday. Yeah, I thought the Seeds
were planned last Sunday. And you know, my take on
that game was, that's a preseason game. They acquired Joe
Flacco on Tuesday night, he gets to know his teammates.
On Wednesday, it's hurry up and learn the offense. They

(05:26):
were probably not going to beat the Green Bay Packers,
and so use that game to get some on field
reps and then maybe there's a payoff on Thursday night.

Speaker 4 (05:34):
Yeah, and boy was there man. It felt like Flacco
got a good understanding of the greatness of Jamar Chase
and T Higgins in the second half against Green Bay
because I stayed up Thursday night after the win and
Joe Flacco's on set with Jamar Chase and he's talking
and like the authenticity of Flacco who's been around the
league and see everything, talking openly, like, man, that second

(05:57):
half happened. And I spent the week on the phone
with my brothers and my friends and I'm telling those
guys like, man, these guys are incredible, like you wouldn't
believe this. And I'm like, that's how I would talk.
Like if you've got Jamar Chase and you've got T Higgins,
how exciting as a quarterback is it to have those
guys at your disposal? And what he was able to

(06:18):
do in the second half against Green Bay was impressive.
I think it's almost even more impressive what he did
on Thursday, because you come in and you just get
thrown as much as possible for the Green Bay and
then you scrap a ton of that and build a
new game plan for Pittsburgh on a short week. I
think what he's been able to do is is incredible.
But make no mistake about it, he understands the greatness

(06:40):
of what's around him. Forty seven attempts, thirty three of
them went to Jamar Chase and t Higgins. I mean,
it doesn't take rocket science to realize those guys are
really good at what they do. I'm going to throw
them the ball as much as possible.

Speaker 1 (06:52):
You know.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
That was my whole take when they acquired Joe Flacco.
It was one, he's going to be a quick study
because he's done this before, He's played eighteen years in
the NFL. There's not gonna be an offensive term, a
route concept that's new to him. Number Two, Nothing the
opposing defense is gonna do is gonna surprise him or
trick him or fool him.

Speaker 1 (07:11):
Or anything like that. No.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Number three, he's gonna understand the basic assignment, which is
I've got number one and I've got number five, and
those dudes are gonna be open.

Speaker 1 (07:21):
It's up to me to.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Get it to him, which the previous guy, for whatever reason,
just either couldn't figure out or couldn't do.

Speaker 4 (07:28):
But as semblance of the running game helped, well.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
We're gonna talk about well.

Speaker 2 (07:32):
Sentlance of a running game helped, relatively speaking, good pass
protection helped. It was the perfect storm of stuff happening.
But first and foremost, Joe Flacco knew who to throw
the football to. And my biggest gripe about Jake Browning
was just that.

Speaker 4 (07:49):
There there was a point again in that in the
post game as well, where he was kind of like
there were times where I I couldn't even understand what
Zach was telling me, m or I couldn't figure it out,
so I just did whatever. Yeah, And I'm like it
almost looked at times like, hey, I don't even know,
I'm just gonna I'm gonna hit you on this one.

Speaker 1 (08:05):
Yeah, get open. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (08:07):
But what was more impressive to me there were two
things that stood out. He made the one opposite hash
deep out where he threw the ball well before Jamar
Chase was out of his break and Jamar caught it
on the sideline and Toe tapped. That takes years to
develop with the receiver, and he developed it in a
span of ten days. Second, the ability the one snap

(08:30):
in the second half where Pittsburgh bracketed Jamar and T
so they essentially double teamed Jamar Chase and t. Higgins
and Flacco openly talked about we knew that when they
tried that, I was gonna have a chance to hit
andre Yoshi vas down the middle, and he hit Yoshi
for the thirty seven yarder and caught it. And he
caught it. But for me, it's like, man, so one,

(08:52):
the timing is insane already, and two, he knew that
if they give that bracket look, he's gonna get a
shot to hit Yoshi. And it's one thing to know
you're gonna get the shot. He dropped the ball in
on a dime over the defender's shoulder. But to be
that aware of the offense already to say, okay, bracket, bracket,
I know where I'm going with this, I think bodes

(09:13):
so well for this team going forward. I don't know
what Pittsburgh was doing in the sense that they didn't
adjust at all in the second half. I don't know
how you don't go more zone and try more of that.
I'm thankful that they that they weren't able to do it.
But the weirdest thing about Flackomo he was here for
a game against Green Bay and when Pittsburgh scored.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
I was like, huh, I think we're gonna be fine.

Speaker 4 (09:38):
They've got plenty of time because I hadn't stopped them
all night and he went right back to picking them apart.
Like that to me the feeling I had spoke more
about what I saw on the game because no offense.
If that's Jake Brown in that situation, you're probably like,
h yeah, seasons, seasons kind of breaking here. I just

(09:58):
I looked at the clock and I'm like they're good. Yeah,
Like they're not going to stop what Flacco has right now.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
I said last Thursday, and I'll double down on it
now since he has won a game. I don't know
how this is gonna go moving forward. They have defensive issues.
We certainly saw them play themselves out on Thursday. They
need to repeat of what they did on the ground.
They need to repeat of the way the offensive line
pass protected.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
There's a lot that's gonna have to go right.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
But I'm a Joe Flacco fan for life now because
number one like.

Speaker 4 (10:29):
A Brown fan.

Speaker 2 (10:31):
Andrew Berry I asked on Twitter, like what's his favorite
charity I'll donate.

Speaker 4 (10:35):
I didn't understand at first, Tom when I'm like, quit crying, yeah,
and then that game happened and I'm like, oh, I get.

Speaker 1 (10:40):
It now, yep.

Speaker 2 (10:41):
But like Joe Flacco showed up on Tuesday night, he
does the the interview session on Friday, and just had
this expression on his face like, look, this is absurd. Yeah,
I understand it's absurd. I'm gonna make the most of it.
I'll have fun with it. But it's also an opportunity
to being ready to play against Bay to then doing
what he did on Thursday, Like, yeah, dude, I've never

(11:05):
felt strongly about Joe Flacco because he hasn't really given
me reason to feel strongly about him.

Speaker 1 (11:09):
Yeah, do no.

Speaker 4 (11:10):
And I like the part again I mentioned how Thursday
was more difficult. He already played against the Packers this year,
so he was probably a little bit better equipped to
go against them than he would have been to go
against the Pittsburgh Steelers and all the money that Pittsburgh
spent to revitalize that defense. And you're right, there are
things we again, we'll talk about the running game, we'll
talk about the old line, talk about what to do

(11:34):
on the defensive side of the ball. But all that
being said, Thursday night, for me and I know a
lot of people, was labeled as a must win because
it felt like if you lose, you're out of the
race this year. If you win, now you think of Jets, Bears,
get to the bye. If you're at the buy at
five and four in this wide open AFC right now,
you legit start to be able to give yourself a chance.

(11:56):
And if you get there at the buy, you probably
start to look ahead and peek forward to how's Joe doing?
How's the Telly? Some time by December? Okay, who do
we got between now and then? Ravens look a lot
different than what we thought they would be right now.
Patriots are a good team, but they come here like
you start to be able at least have those conversations again.
And if you lost, that's done. If you lose, we're

(12:17):
talking about who should they sell? Who should they move
on from?

Speaker 1 (12:20):
Now it's who could they acquire?

Speaker 4 (12:22):
Can they acquire someone? They did so last week without
Trey Hendrickson, Like, there's a lot of good that came
out of Thursday night. More than anything is the ability
to keep this season alive.

Speaker 2 (12:32):
I mean to me and talked about it a lot
last week. It was game on versus game over, Game on.
You start to do the math, You start to look
at the schedule. This week, favor against New York that
the Bears have won four straight games. That game is
going to be a little bit more difficult than people
might expect. Same for the New England game. We're not
doing any of that. At two and five, when you're

(12:52):
right the conversations about who do they unload and maybe
who they fire and instead, it's at least fun to
talk about the possibilities, even if those possibilities, some of
them may still be remote. It's at least fun to
entertain the possibilities. Eighteen minutes after three o'clock, we're at
Twin Peaks in Florence, the Tony and Moll Football Show
until six o'clock. There is a ton of ground to

(13:13):
cover between now and then. On ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (13:18):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the.

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UC Health Traffic Center, Mamma Graham Saved Lives. Call five
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The right lane is blocked on the ramp northbound seventy one,

(13:45):
another disabled vehicle off on the right shoulder at Ronald
Reagan Highway, and an accident observatory at Michigan on that
ezelic with traffic as.

Speaker 1 (13:54):
For three o'clock.

Speaker 2 (13:55):
This is ESPN fifteen to thirty Molegger with Tony Pike
Football Show where at twin Peaks in Florence until six
o'clock tonight. Bengals beat the Steelers on Thursday Night Football
thirty three to thirty one. There was so much in
that game. Let's talk about the wide receivers from a
few different perspectives. Number One, T Higgins makes a play

(14:19):
that sets up the game winning field goal, and he
could have gone in for a score. Instead, he decides
to slide. What did you make of that decision by
T Higgins?

Speaker 4 (14:29):
I just one of the smartest, most unselfish decisions you
can make. Yeah, you know, in a world where you
know gambling is as prevalent as it is in fantasy football,
probably so many people mad at him for it. But
if you look at just the landscape of the game, though,
if Rogers gets the ball back with that much time,
how do you feel?

Speaker 1 (14:50):
Not great?

Speaker 5 (14:50):
No?

Speaker 1 (14:51):
No, so score too quickly again?

Speaker 4 (14:53):
If this defense is playing better, all right, you're down up,
go get it, give yourself the lead. The way the
defense was, I would have been very uneasy with Rogers
getting the ball back. The way he was playing at
that point.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
It is.

Speaker 4 (15:06):
It's the type of veteran play that the game happens
and you're like, man, that was smart and a couple
of days ago by and you're like, you forget about it. Yeah,
but that outcome could have been different had he just
taken that into the end zone, and selfishly he could have. Yeah,
but to have the understanding of what that meant and
what that put him in line for just I think

(15:26):
speaks volumes about t Higgins.

Speaker 2 (15:28):
T Higgins makes a great play, has a terrific game,
six catches, ninety six yards.

Speaker 1 (15:33):
That catch we just talked about.

Speaker 2 (15:35):
He also scored a touchdown, and it takes a backseat
to Jamar Chase.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
And this is why I love t Higgins.

Speaker 2 (15:42):
Yes, he is being paid a lot of money, but
dudes want to be the man he knew when he
signed up here. Okay, I'm signing up to catch patches
from Joe Burrow or in this case, Joe Flacco. And yeah,
maybe I can win here, and I am beloved here,
and yes they're gonna pay me a lot of money,
but there's a very good chance instead, even when I'm
at my best, I'm gonna be a footnote.

Speaker 4 (16:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (16:04):
Now it's a stretch to say that T Higgins on
Thursday night was a footnote, but Jamar Chase is all
anybody talked about on Friday morning, and understandably so. I
love the fact that the Bengals had a guy who's
okay in that role because.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
There's a lot of guys who aren't close to as
good as T.

Speaker 2 (16:20):
Higgins would have said I need out of his shadow,
and instead he signed up to to a degree, staying
it for the duration of his prime years.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
Yeah, and again I credit that the tee.

Speaker 4 (16:32):
I credit that the Flacco and Jamar as well, because
you look at what Jamar Chase over the sixteen catches
and twenty three targets. Not a ton down the field, right,
a lot of over the middle, a lot of tough
catches where you're in traffic that you're gonna make a
catch and take a hit. Jamar Chase, I think has
emerged in the absence of Joe Burrow as one of

(16:54):
the true leaders of this team. Agreed he did so
with Jake Browning and talked about when the dudes that
are gonna come in and be angry and be upset.
And I think he's kind of spearheaded that when things
were spiraling worse for this team, and now he comes
out of it. It's one thing to say, feed me.
It's another thing when you get fed and you make
the place. And he did it against Green Bay. He

(17:15):
surely did it against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I would
assume he's going to be fed heavily going forward by
Joe Flacco as well.

Speaker 1 (17:24):
You would like to think so, I think with and.

Speaker 4 (17:26):
To one other point with T. If youre T, you
do now say, okay, if I'm the Jets, I'm not
gonna let Jamar Chase catch sixteen passes.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
Here we go.

Speaker 4 (17:35):
What's that do for Tea? All of a sudden, now
you are getting more targets because now more attention goes
to Jamar, and T has shown the ability in his
career multiple times. If Jamar is getting the double team,
he's going to win the one on one battle and
so if your tea, you do it. There's a little
give and take there. Of yeah, I'm not going to
be one A. But when attention has to go to

(17:56):
one A because of what he's doing, that's a lot
more to me.

Speaker 1 (17:59):
I think with Jamar Chase, you could look at the numbers.

Speaker 2 (18:03):
You could look at the numbers on Thursday and go, wow,
he had a good game, sixteen.

Speaker 1 (18:06):
Catches, one hundred and sixty one and a touchdown. Great game.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
You could look at his numbers and go the guy
was the Triple Crown winner last year. I think there
are some players that you actually have to watch and
watch closely to fully appreciate, and I think Jamar Chase
is one of them. My favorite play on Thursday night
was a block that he threw where he makes a block,
Chase Brown is running down the sideline, Jamar Chase catches

(18:33):
up with the play and throws another block. Now you
and I both know there are okay receivers who don't
do that much less guys who are in the conversation
is the best in the NFL.

Speaker 1 (18:44):
I said this his rookie season.

Speaker 2 (18:46):
He had that game against the Kansas City Chiefs and
the regular season that to this day is the best
game I've ever seen a wide receiver play. You could
look at the numbers and go, man, Jamar was good.
You had to have seen it. You had to have
seen the degree of difficulty, had to have the double
teams had You had to have seen the situations he
was in in terms of the game itself, the way

(19:08):
that the Chiefs were playing him that night. I think
he's a guy, and I would say this about Thursday.

Speaker 1 (19:14):
You had to have watched Yep.

Speaker 2 (19:16):
You had to have seen him play against Pittsburgh to
really understand how good he was.

Speaker 4 (19:21):
And we talked about the leadership before there was a
play I specifically specifically remember Mo against Minnesota where it
looked like he kind of just made a business decision
over the middle him on a block, just kind of
stood there, and then you see him speak up. Then
you see the leadership take over, and then ultimately we
saw what we saw the other night again to your point,

(19:42):
not just the catches, but the ability to throw a block,
the ability to have a great game and still have
a couple drops that you probably wish you had back
because you could have had even more. The way that
that that game was going, he could have probably finished
with eighteen or nineteen catches on those three attempts. But
I think it's more to me about the role of

(20:03):
the leadership that he's now embarking on. Here's where the
locker room's at. Yeah, here's where the team's at. Okay,
I need to be more of that guy, and I
think that's vital, and I don't think that gets stated enough.
I also think there's something too, and people may think
it's small Joe being on the sideline, Having Joe Burrow
on the sidelines talking to Joe Flacco in between series,

(20:26):
I think that pays dividends as well, you know, to
talk to receivers, to talk to everyone else. I think
that goes a long way as well for the whole
team to come together and get a win. Like Thursday night.

Speaker 2 (20:36):
Twenty nine away from four o'clock, there's lots of other
stuff from that game that we've got to talk about.
Bengals have made some pretty significant lineup changes. Tony and
I have not had a chance to discuss them. We'll
do that when we come back, and a guy who
I'll go ahead and say is on my list, I
will make that make sense a little bit later on
when Peaks and Florence a good list, Yeah, sports headlines

(20:59):
are in. My bad list is long right now. Sports
headlines are next. We're at Twin Peaks in Florence. It's
the Tony and Moe Football Show on ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (21:08):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (21:13):
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(21:34):
that ramp, also northbound seventy one. Another disabled vehicle on
the right shoulder at Ronald Reagan Highway, and a crash
Westwood Avenue between White Street and Quebec Road A at
Ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 3 (21:46):
This report is the Bengals are looking to install a
no fly zone. When the Jets touchdown in Cincinnati and
the Orange and Black ground, the Green and White Poor
will New York take off with a win. Thing I
do know turbulens is guaranteed. I don't doo will with turbulence.
I may need a parth bag. Coverage begins Sunday at

(22:10):
nine am, stream for free on the new and improved
iHeartRadio app for ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of
the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (22:21):
Sports headlines are a service to Kelsey Chevrolet, home of
lifetime powertrain protection and guarantee credit approval from their family
to yours for life Kelsey chev dot Com. All quiet
on the Bengals front as they set their sights on
Sunday's tilt against the New York Jets. One o'clock kickoff.

(22:41):
You'll hear the game live on ESPN fifteen thirty. Pre
game coverage begins at nine am. There is a Monday
Night football doubleheader tonight on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. You've
got the Bucks and Lions in Detroit, and then the
Texans and Seahawks in Seattle.

Speaker 1 (22:58):
How about the Sports Night in Seattle?

Speaker 2 (23:00):
Monday Night Football and the Mariners in Game seven of
the National League Championship Series. Obviously all tied up at
three Toronto hosting Shane Bieber on the Hill for the Jays.
George Kirby for the MS winner takes on the La
Dodgers in the World Series. College Football, UC twenty first
in both major polls. Ohio State retains the top spot

(23:22):
in both major polls. Indiana second in both major polls.
Louisville nineteenth in the AP Top twenty five and twenty
second in the coaches poll. FC Cincinnati's Evander named to
Team of the Match day for his performance that included
a goal and an assist in Saturday's three nothing regular
season concluding victory over Montreal. The Orange and Blue will

(23:43):
take on the Columbus Crew in the best of three
series that begins a week from tonight at the stadium
on the West end of Cincinnati.

Speaker 4 (23:50):
What about this weekend here? Hall of Fame ceremony Friday night,
Oh for Mike Mickins. Mike Mickins in the town, Saturday
homecoming parade. Yeah, Saturday, U see Bearcats, Sunday Bengals Sunday
Night Nate Bargatzi tickets. You can win if you come
here today and fill out the form. Ring of Honor,

(24:11):
Ring of Honor. Yep, Monday, Hell is real, best of three?

Speaker 1 (24:16):
It's fun.

Speaker 4 (24:17):
How about that?

Speaker 1 (24:18):
Good time?

Speaker 4 (24:18):
Can I ask you what you you mentioned the Monday night? Yeah,
can I There's been a lot of chatter that I've
seen in the last twenty four hours. People were big
mad about the NFL slate yesterday, and the conversation is, well,
you do, big man, big mad. They said, the slate's stunk,
the games weren't any good. So what do you make
about the NFL?

Speaker 1 (24:37):
You watch?

Speaker 4 (24:38):
What do you make about the NFL?

Speaker 1 (24:39):
Do something else? Don't watch you The games were really
good yesterday.

Speaker 4 (24:43):
Actually, you're gonna have now they eventually want to have
an international team. Yes, you're gonna have a ton of
international games every year.

Speaker 1 (24:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (24:52):
Is it messing with the product when you continue to
do like these double header Monday nights.

Speaker 1 (24:58):
Monday doesn't bother me. You're as much can you get?

Speaker 4 (25:01):
Like, okay, so there's an extra game Monday night, then
there's the early game, so it takes away from maybe
that the main part of Sunday, which you think about
with football. I don't think the international games are ever
any good.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
No.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
I watch those and I'm like, We're never good. I mean,
even as good as Stafford was yesterday, watching that was.

Speaker 1 (25:17):
Tough, Jags. How many good London games have there been.

Speaker 4 (25:21):
Yeah, Legitimately they're either sloppy or they are non competitive.

Speaker 1 (25:26):
So I have a bigger problem with those.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
Ay they take a home game away from fans who
have built those stadiums, be the product is rarely good.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
I like the Monday night football double header.

Speaker 2 (25:38):
You can't always do that like they did it last week,
but the games were basically an hour apart away from
each other.

Speaker 1 (25:44):
I like the double header sometimes.

Speaker 2 (25:48):
The Sunday slate is surprisingly good. I thought yesterday was
pretty entertaining.

Speaker 4 (25:52):
Yeah, I thought I thought, like on paper they were
games that I was like, but I talked about that
satur Yeah, but the way they played out, I'm like, Okay, yeah,
this is this is good.

Speaker 2 (26:03):
I've gotten used to Thursday night football, and I think
the Thursday night product, because teams have figured out how
to do it, has gotten better.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
Yeah, International still's top.

Speaker 2 (26:11):
Also, more divisional matchups on Thursday, like it's they've made
that as good as possible. That The London games are
never good. Yeah, they're not going to be good when
they go to Madrid. They're not going to be good
when they go to Amsterdam. They're not going to be
good when they go to poll end, Like I expect
an NFL game on every continent, right, they're not going
to be any good. Having two games on a Monday
doesn't bother me. I also don't subscribe anymore to Sunday

(26:34):
Ticket right where I feel like you're taking a game
away from me. Yeah, Like I just watched red Zone
now like yesterday it was Red Zone all day for
the most part.

Speaker 4 (26:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (26:42):
When I was a Sunday Ticket subscriber, I felt like, well,
you're taking more games away from me and putting it
somewhere ou.

Speaker 4 (26:47):
And for I get for home fans too.

Speaker 1 (26:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (26:49):
Wait, so we're paying for the stadium. Yeah, and we're
losing on home.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
My biggest issue with the international games is exactly it.
Seventy five percent of NFL construction this century has been
from public money. So we're gonna build a stadium. All
we ask is you play all your home games here
and now we take them to London. Now I'm a
hypocrite because both times the Bengals have gone to London,
I've gone and had a great time. There is a

(27:14):
part of me, as somebody who also loves baseball, that
a game seven tonight is dwarfed by two NFL games. Yeah,
there's nothing baseball I guess can do about that. But
there is a part of me that goes, you know what,
it's game seven of an ALCS and it's just it's

(27:34):
obscured by having two Monday night football games.

Speaker 1 (27:36):
That's just how it is. Yep, you mentioned this.

Speaker 2 (27:40):
One thing that stood out on Monday was how successfully
they ran the ball Chase Brown nearly ten yards of carry.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
Why were they so good running?

Speaker 4 (27:48):
I don't know, and I think Dalton Reisner and Jalen
Rivers get credit too. Yeah, I mean that was a big,
big thing of well. Lucas Patrick's healthy, scratch, Dylan Fairchild
practiced all week. He's healthy. They're not starting, so I
think they made moves that feel urgent to me, which
I think is good, and I know that we drive

(28:10):
it in time and time again, Flacco is comfortable going
under center. I think that does make a difference, and
Austin brought it up today as well. Flacco is also
willing to go under center and do it typical five
step drop, which is almost ancient in today's NFL, the
five and seven step drop. He's comfortable with that, and

(28:32):
I think it gives defenses a different look. That to
me is one of my bigger questions going forward with
Joe Burrow because last time Browning had to come in
and we talked about the four that he won. The
common denominator was the running game and then Flaco the
other night. As good as it was with the receivers,

(28:52):
when you're handing it off to a guy that's getting
over ten yards of carry, that helps out you in
the passing game. And the common denominator has been going
under center. If you go back to twenty nineteen, there
are articles after articles written about Joe Burrow's dominance and
how he prefers shotgun. I think there was a handful
of snaps in his senior year that they had to

(29:13):
go under center, short yardage gun, goal line gun. He's
comfortable with that, and I think what's going to be
the biggest clash now going forward is when he is healthy.
Zach Taylor, whatever you think about him as a play caller,
I think his system is more designed to do under
center runs, play action, move the pocket a little bit.

(29:35):
When Joe gets healthy and Zach sits down and says, look,
we have found ways to run the ball, it requires
you to go under center and if Joe says I
don't want to go under center, how does that conflict
get resolved?

Speaker 2 (29:49):
I would like to think that if you present Joe
evidence of our system working when the quarterback does it
this way.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
But they had to have done that in the pasture.

Speaker 2 (30:00):
If you're Joe Burrow, you go, Okay, I'm never going
to play exclusively under center, no quarterback is. But maybe
there's an adjustment that I can make that helps the
team perform better. Yeah, on the ground, which is only
going to enhance my ability to make the offense work
when we're throwing like, because.

Speaker 1 (30:19):
It's felt at times I gets the opposite to me.

Speaker 2 (30:21):
If if Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor truly have a
great working relationship, then it's not a big deal.

Speaker 1 (30:26):
It could be a tough conversation. It could be a
series of conversations.

Speaker 2 (30:29):
But since Joe got here, what I've heard is Joe
and Zach have a great working relationship. Okay, great working
relationship means, hey, here's a thing, here's a problem. We
have to solve it, and the solution might lie in you,
Joe making adjustments.

Speaker 4 (30:45):
Well, we've seen already there's been frustration from Joe with
how slow the plays come in at times. Sure, we
have seen at times Joe changing a lot of the
plays at the line of scrimmage. Right, I just I'm
so curious in the d dynamic of one of the
games best quarterbacks having to do something he doesn't want
to do. And is Joe's dynamic saying you can call it,

(31:08):
I'm checking out of it, or is Joe's dynamic Okay,
let's try this, because look, if you're a quarterback, you
are a creature of habits. Sure, I'm not comfortable turning
my back to the defense when I go under center. Okay,
are you willing to get comfortable or are you saying
that that's a non start for you? Because if it is,

(31:31):
then Zach has to redesign everything he's doing, and we've
seen the inability to do that. They don't run the
ball well out a shotgun unless Joe Flacco's pulling on
an RPO and carry it for eleven yards, which is
one of the craziest things I've still ever seen. But
I'm just I'm interested if let's say they replicate that

(31:51):
for a couple more games under center runs and it
opens up more in the passing game. Is Joe's nature
of I'm not doing that, or is it okay, I'll
try it more.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
I would like to think that Joe, if handed an
extensive amount of evidence that our offense works better when
we do it this way, goes okay, It's up to
me to adjust.

Speaker 1 (32:15):
I would like to think that he would do that.
I will give him the benefit of the doubt to
suggest he'll do that. What I would lose my mind
over is Zach Taylor just saying, uh huh, I'm not
gonna bring this to Joe and we're just gonna do
it his way right in the face of something else
that works.

Speaker 4 (32:30):
But I could almost see that happening at times too,
because that's your star. Yeah, I'm not I don't want to.
If I'm Zach, my wagon's hitch to him.

Speaker 1 (32:38):
Sure, but I don't want to.

Speaker 2 (32:41):
At the end of the day, a coach and a quarterback,
if he's an offensive play caller, if they have this
great collaborative working relationship, they sit down and explore areas
where they can get better or they find a way
to solve problems, and to do that requires input from
all sides, but open mindedness too by the coach and
by the quarterback and by everybody else involved.

Speaker 4 (33:01):
And you talk about the O line, that's what helps
you O line. If you can go under center and run,
that slows down the pass rushing a little bit. And
if you can go under center and actually drop back
in pass, now the D line has to make a decision.
Now they've got to be a little more hesitant at
times because you're changing up the looks constantly.

Speaker 6 (33:15):
You know.

Speaker 4 (33:16):
It's what we've talked about the Lions and these elite
teams offensively, it's what they do. They move the pocket,
they give you a bunch of different looks. I mentioned
on the UC broadcast Saturday night. UC runs three plays
that look exactly the same over the course of a game,
and they all branch to different avenues. Right. A lot
of that starts because you're able to run all three
of those plays successfully. And for Joe that would start

(33:38):
with having to line up under center.

Speaker 1 (33:39):
All right, So two things along these lines.

Speaker 2 (33:43):
One, when you were on vacation last week, I talked about,
how would I like so much about Joe Flacco against
Green Bay was it wasn't clunky, They didn't have a
delay of game penalty, there was nothing pre snap that
made you feel like nobody's on the same page. They
got the play call in, they executed it sometimes well,
sometimes not so well, but it wasn't clunky. Before Joe

(34:03):
got hurt, you and I were wondering, why is this disjointed?
Why are they having a hard time? So there's that,
Then there's Jamar Chase got targeted twenty three times. This
is the same wide receiver that with Joe Burrow playing quarterback,
we let the Cleveland Browns take out of the game.
So from those two perspectives, I think Joe Burrow, whenhealthy,

(34:23):
is the best quarterback in the NFL. That said, I
can't help, but wonder are there things he can learn
to do better watching Joe Flacco execute his job.

Speaker 4 (34:35):
Yeah, I just I think you go back to the
old kiss method. Keep it simple, stupid, right, Like, I
think that's what they did with Joe Flacco. Here he comes,
you're gonna try to load the throw the whole playbook
in and used into the basics. Do you want Joe
Flacco at the line of scrimmage having to check through
ten different things? No, just call it and run it. Yeah,

(34:55):
go do it. And I think there's something to that
what's Joe doing at the line of scrimmage? Everything adjusting,
come into motion, bringing the receiver or bringing the running
back back into the backfield, bringing a tight end back
for extra protection. What's Flocko doing? Call to play and
go run it? And if I don't know what I'm doing,
then I will keep it simple and I'll just throw

(35:16):
it the number one and I'll give him a target.
Want double team, single covered? I don't care. And when
they change their look on defense, do I have an answer?
That's all you need? And again, eventually does that catch
up with you? That's what I think is gonna be interesting. Happen?
It happened one week. Jets they're ow and seven, but

(35:38):
they're not dumb. What's Aaron Glenn saying, We're not gonna
let Jamar Chase catch sixteen passes? So now that a
team adjust, what can you add? What wrinkles can you
throw in to find that success? It's great to do
it for one week. It's fun, it's impressive. Teams are
going to say, like they've done in the past, we
need to limit Jamar Chase. Can they still find ways

(35:59):
to get it to them fifteen times in a game?

Speaker 1 (36:01):
You mentioned Jalen Rivers.

Speaker 2 (36:02):
I want to spend some more time on him and
some of the lineup changes coming up after the top
of the hour. We're here till six o'clock Twin Peaks
in Florence. It's the Tony and Mo Football Show till
six on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (36:16):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (36:21):
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(36:42):
Reagan Highway, a disabled vehicle off onto the right shoulder,
and northbound seventy five traffic slow between Fort Washington, Waite
and Freeman from an earlier accident. I'm at Ezelk with traffic.

Speaker 1 (36:54):
It's your chance to win one thousand dollars entered this
station wide keyward on our website. Credit and that's credit
and enter it now.

Speaker 3 (37:03):
This is the Tony and Mo Football Show Live from
Visit OnCore dot Tech pen Station, East Coast Subs Penn Station.
It's all and good taste, Honda East and Honda East
Power Equipment Dealer, First State Bank, built on belief. R

(37:23):
and L Carriers. Visit RLC dot com and make R
tri stage Chevy Dealers, Chevrolet the number one selling brand
in Cincinnati for the past eight years. Chevrolet Together, Let's
drive on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the

(37:45):
Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (37:46):
If you weren't with us at the top of the show,
if you didn't listen to Monday Midday Quarterback from noon
to three, Tonypike is back from here. It's the Toni
and Lo Football Show at Twin Peaks and Florence. We
are here six o'clock, back to back weeks in Florence.
By the way, today we have a Nate Bargatzi tickets
to give away. If you want to go see him

(38:07):
on Sunday night, you can win those tickets here.

Speaker 4 (38:10):
Now I am I'm not employed by Nate Bargatzi. Okay,
best comedy show I've ever seen, ever, ever, really ever,
He's phenomenal. Advertisement, He's phenomenal. I'll be there Sunday night. Wow,
I didn't win the tickets here, but I'm going Sunday night.

Speaker 1 (38:25):
You might be sitting next to our winner.

Speaker 4 (38:27):
How about that? You know, potentially our winner is someone
we met over the break from Australia. Could be Yeah,
Bengals fans down Under?

Speaker 1 (38:36):
How about that? Who day nation isn't just confined to
this nation?

Speaker 4 (38:41):
Told us that they will get up at three am
to watch a normal Sunday game for the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (38:46):
Like a pay service.

Speaker 4 (38:47):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (38:48):
So when it's one o'clock here, it's three o'clock in
the morning in Australia on Monday.

Speaker 4 (38:53):
So he's getting up with a group of friends too
get up and watch the game. Did like the pub
stay open?

Speaker 1 (39:00):
Do the pub stay open? No? So just watching it? Okay? Man?

Speaker 4 (39:07):
You imagine you then.

Speaker 2 (39:08):
Just stay up and plow through for the rest of
the day. You go back to sleep for a bit.

Speaker 4 (39:11):
I'll say, like, do you come over and like Bengals gear?
Do you just wear pajamas? I mean, this is incredible.

Speaker 2 (39:17):
You put back a couple of cold ones at three am.
Watch the Bengal one.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
Yeah, yeah, very good.

Speaker 4 (39:24):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (39:24):
That's pretty cool.

Speaker 4 (39:25):
Bengals fans down on it.

Speaker 1 (39:26):
And you listen to this show in Australia. Unreal? Is
that even? Is that legal?

Speaker 2 (39:32):
Do you do that through legal methods? The iHeartRadio app
works in Australia.

Speaker 4 (39:36):
Wow.

Speaker 1 (39:37):
Unbelievable.

Speaker 4 (39:38):
Wow, not just here in the States, not at all. Unbelievable, sir,
Thank you very much, Yes, very kind. This is unbelievable.
Friends brought us a gift today.

Speaker 1 (39:48):
Get fired more often.

Speaker 4 (39:50):
I know that means I get folks.

Speaker 1 (39:52):
Flying from Australia. People bring presents.

Speaker 4 (39:54):
Yeah, this is great. Unbelievable, it's really nice. All right,
Well see it two weeks from now, best career move
you ever made.

Speaker 2 (40:03):
Crazy Bengals win. We're gonna get to the Bearcats a
little bit later on. We'll talk about the arrest of
the AFC North as well, and we'll discuss some of
the defensive issues. But you talked about we were discussing
running the football on Thursday. Jalen Rivers played, Dylan Fairchild
did not. Dalton Reisner played as well. Those two guys

(40:23):
got one of the snaps at their respective guard positions.
First of all, with Jalen Rivers, I think they may
have something.

Speaker 4 (40:31):
Yeah, the only blemish was a holding penalty, but I
don't even put that on him. The defender jumped the
snap count and the only thing he could do to
prevent Flacco from getting hit was tackle him, and that's
what you're taught to do, so I don't even put
that one on him. I think the best compliment you
can give offensive lineman is you don't notice him. Yeah,
and you didn't notice much of Jalen Rivers, which is

(40:52):
a good thing. I thought mims on TJ. Watt held
up more than well fantastically. There was just a lot
of good that came from that, and late in the
game you started to see a little bit of penetration.
Cam Heyward started getting home a little bit. TJ. Wat
got there. But for the most part I got the

(41:13):
offensive line played good, and we've not talked about that
enough this year. Again, different factors play into that, running
the ball, getting the ball out quick, everything plays into that.

Speaker 1 (41:23):
To me.

Speaker 4 (41:25):
Because it's a one game sample size, can they replicate it.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
I thought the pass protection in the second half against
Green Bay was good too, so you know that to
me was something to build on. They took another step
against Pittsburgh. We'll see if it continues. I do like this,
you know, while you were on vacation last week, we
talked about Logan Wilson. Logan Wilson still played forty six
percent of the snaps. I think there were folks who
added like Logan Wilson was never going to play for

(41:48):
the Mangles again. He still had an active role in
the game, but they did effectively swap him out for
Barrett Carter. Dylan Fairchild didn't play the other night Dave
benched Cam Taylor Brow. It does feel like, in regards
to making personnel changes, the coaching staff this year is
being a little bit more proactive now. They were not

(42:11):
with Gino Stone, who we have to talk about, and
they were not with the roster this offseason to the
extent we would have liked. But like the Logan Wilson
thing last week, my take on it was like, I
don't know how much better the defense is gonna be
with Barrett Carter, but it would be just like the
Bengals to stay with the status quo. They didn't and said, Barrett,
you're gonna be the guy at guard with Dylan Fairchild.

(42:32):
My guess is he still gets plenty of opportunities. He
was on the report last week, but it's not like
he's been awesome and Okay, he's gonna get other chances.
But it would have been easy for them to say, well,
Dylan was the starter. He has been the starter, and
so he's gonna start against Pittsburgh. That didn't happen, Cam
Taylor Britt. It is hard to be in a doghouse
more than Cam Taylor Britt has been. Where notally scratch

(42:54):
was he bench during a game against Denver? He was
a healthy scratch on Thursday. Does it feel to you
like there's a little bit more proactivity as it relates
to making personnel and lineup changes for the most part.

Speaker 4 (43:05):
When I first saw the term that I immediately went
to as urgency, feels like they're not waiting around for it.
To your point, proactive, you know, I think there's an
understanding of how quickly this was slipping away, and so
it's like, all right, let's just give Dylan another chance. No,
you get your chances, you get your opportunities. You either
make the most of them or you're out and that's it.

(43:27):
And again you can learn a lot about a player
how they respond to something like this. You know, does
Dylan Fairchild roll overs, he feel sorry for himself? Does
he tank or does he start to work his tail
off even harder? Does Kam Taylor brit work harder? Or
do you just say all right, I'll be I'll be
inactive whatever. I think that's gonna say a lot about them.
But two things. One get more youth in there. I'm

(43:50):
good with two to me. It at least shows that
they're trying to fix it. They're trying to find ways
instead of just banging your head against the wall and
running the same guys out out there and just trying
to make adjustments or hope things go better. You're at
least showing that, hey, I'm I'm willing to say we
might have been wrong on this one. Let's fix it
with urgency and see if that gives us a better

(44:10):
chance to win.

Speaker 2 (44:11):
I would like to see this theme continue because I
want to see any other living human being at safety
rather than Geno Stone. I can't anymore man but to
play with Pat Fryermuth at the end of the game
that nearly cost him like I can't with Gino anymore.

Speaker 1 (44:30):
I can't tell me I don't have to both.

Speaker 4 (44:33):
On the third and eighteen, third and seventeen touchdown and
the second and twenty touchdown was cover two. Yeah, your
job in cover two is to cover a deep half
of the field. How can you cover the deep half
if you're on the numbers. I've never seen a safety
wider in cover two in my life.

Speaker 1 (44:49):
Ginostone is a sixty year pro.

Speaker 4 (44:51):
I've never So it's like, is that the coaching because
it's not like it was the end of the game,
where like you're trying to force the ball into the
middle so that they run time right. I've never seen
a safety wider in the NFL. I mean think about
if think about if one safety is covering the deep
half and he's split in the difference between the half
of the field and the sidelines, and then the other

(45:12):
safety is over by the numbers. Just think of that
window for a quarterback and you got beat twice on
it and the same coverage over the course of a game.
There is no excuse for that. There's no play design
that pulls you out that way. That is it's malpractice.
Like I've never seen anything like that before, and to
see it twice in a game was maddening.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
From a guy who continues to make mister rookie that yeah,
first of all, not a rookiees in his sixth, sixth
NFL season, we continue to watch what seemed to me
to be poor angles on tackles, misstackles, coverage mistakes. I
don't trust him, not around the ball enough. Like I'm sorry, man,

(45:57):
I'll take anybody else.

Speaker 4 (45:58):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (45:58):
Dejohon Anthony and by the way, Jordan Battle had a
good game.

Speaker 4 (46:03):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (46:03):
Geno Stone is atrocious. Man.

Speaker 4 (46:05):
It's it's crazy because it feels like some players are
turning the corner a little bit. Like Kirk karb Street
said on Thursday night that DJ Turner's playing as good
as anyone in the NFL at corner, so I think
he is.

Speaker 1 (46:17):
I've done this topic.

Speaker 2 (46:18):
I don't know if I've done it with you, but
I know I did it with James last week. I'm
trying to identify like five to ten players I want
to move forward with DJ Turners.

Speaker 4 (46:27):
Yeah, we did that before vacation. Yeah, yeah, he would
be one that I'm circling now.

Speaker 1 (46:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (46:32):
The play he made where he takes the ball away
from DK metcalf Is. That's one of the best plays
you'll see a DV make all year long. There are
some players wasn't on your list. I don't want to
watch Genostone play Sunday, like literally anybody else?

Speaker 4 (46:46):
Yep. Could justin Fields play well against Genostone?

Speaker 1 (46:51):
Well?

Speaker 4 (46:51):
Could Tyrod Taylor?

Speaker 1 (46:53):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (46:53):
Yes? Is von Bell doing anything not on an NFL team?

Speaker 1 (46:58):
Is he?

Speaker 4 (46:58):
I don't think so.

Speaker 1 (47:00):
Anybody?

Speaker 4 (47:00):
Yep. And that's the thing.

Speaker 1 (47:03):
So that was bullish on that signing.

Speaker 4 (47:05):
But that, to me is what's interesting. We watched a
whole baseball season where it felt like the Reds had
no problem trotting folks down and backup if they weren't performing,
unless it was about Matt McClain.

Speaker 1 (47:18):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (47:19):
So, if you're the Bengals and Cam Taylor BRIT's a
healthy scratch and fair Child's a healthy scratch, and you're
not giving other guys opportunities and Stone keeps playing like that,
are you gonna keep running him back out there? Are
you gonna keep running Gino Stone out there? Are you
gonna say, well, if it wasn't good enough for Cam
Taylor Britt, then we're taking ginostone out. Can you just

(47:41):
play Logan Wilson at safety Tampa two, drop him in
the middle.

Speaker 2 (47:47):
I'm no expert on safety play. I've been watching this
sport for a long damn time.

Speaker 1 (47:51):
Though he literally may be the worst safety I've ever hear.

Speaker 4 (47:53):
But again, if you're Cam Taylor Britt and you're sitting
back taking your medicine, you're like, all right, I'm not
been playing well, I get it. But then you watch
the film and you're like, what are you doing with
this guy?

Speaker 1 (48:04):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (48:05):
And if you keep putting him out there as a starter,
what messages that's send in the locker room? Right, certain
guys are held accountable, but de olers aren't. There is
no chance he should be the starter on Sunday against
the Jets and take it. Look, and again it blows
up in our face. If the Jets come in here
and win, Tyrod Taylor or Justin Fields would would not
be the worst game to let a safety get more
reps back there, and so let a young safety take

(48:27):
more reps and get game action against a team that's
not gonna throw it for six hundred yards.

Speaker 2 (48:31):
So we're gonna make this about the trade deadline when
we come back from the break.

Speaker 1 (48:35):
But I mean, this is okay. They won the game, awesome.

Speaker 2 (48:38):
The Flacco thing is great, Chase and Higgins terrific offensive line,
very good running game re emerged.

Speaker 4 (48:46):
Sound like you're talking about the Bearcats.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
None of those things are a story. If Evan McPherson
doesn't make the kick, if maybe T Higgins doesn't make
that catch, if Joe Flacco doesn't you know, become a
Bengals legend in the final two minutes in that game,
the story is how the defense, yet again, couldn't get
stops in a close game, yep, with the game hanging
in the balance, and.

Speaker 4 (49:07):
Not even get stopped. Offer any resistance, right, any resistance?

Speaker 1 (49:13):
All right.

Speaker 2 (49:14):
We'll spend some time looking around the AFC North. Coming
up at about fifteen minutes, we'll get to the Bearcats, the
twenty first ranked Bearcats, coming up in the five o'clock hour.

Speaker 1 (49:23):
He's Tony Pike Mawegar.

Speaker 2 (49:25):
It's the Tony and Mo Football Show at Twin Peaks
in Florence on ESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati Sports Station Cincinnati's
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (49:37):
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Call five one three to five eighty four pink two.
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That's five one three five eighty four pink. On eastbound
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(49:58):
one at Ridge. There's a another accident southbound on seventy one.
One more accident past Tap Road that is off on
the left shoulder on that ezalk with traffic.

Speaker 3 (50:09):
Bos are looking to install a new fly zone when
the Jets touchdown in Cincinnati. Can the Orange and black
ground the green and white? Or will New York take
off with the wind? One thing I do know, turbulus
is guaranteed. I don't do well with turbulence. I may
need a barf bag. Coverage begins Sunday at nine am,

(50:31):
stream for free on the new and improved iHeartRadio app
or ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 5 (50:41):
This is Football in the NATI, brought to you by
Beltera Casino and Balterra Park on ESPN fifteen thirty, the
official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
Everybody is having fun at Twin Peaks.

Speaker 4 (50:56):
What happens when you win.

Speaker 2 (50:57):
Everybody is having a blast. Everybody is getting along. This
is why this is a great place for fellowship, family football,
the three.

Speaker 1 (51:09):
Everybody just gets along, enjoys each other's company.

Speaker 4 (51:13):
You ever watch semipro Jackie Moon. Everybody love everybody.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
That's that's what happens here at a Twin Peaks, with
the exception of one gentleman who just basically announced his
departure to everybody. That's why you gotta come the Twin Peaks.

Speaker 4 (51:29):
That and you can win Nate Bargatti tickets. And you
could hear us and see.

Speaker 1 (51:34):
Us that guy got his money's worth.

Speaker 4 (51:38):
He did you You could kind of use that as
like when a coach gets tossed and they dig in
a little bit to make sure they get their money's worth.

Speaker 1 (51:46):
Huh.

Speaker 4 (51:47):
I think that's what we just witnessed.

Speaker 1 (51:49):
It's called going out in a blaze of glory.

Speaker 2 (51:51):
That gentleman's catching the rest of this show in his car.

Speaker 4 (51:55):
Yep, if you're listening, thank you for the entertainment.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
The trade deadline is November fourth, oh, nearly two weeks away,
so they won Thursday, which means tap the brakes on,
you know, trading Trey Hendrickson. I guess, first of all,
get him healthy and get him on the field. Now
the conversation shifts though to who can they acquire to
make a run at the deadline. If if they can

(52:22):
only get one player in one position group, what would
you like to see them address?

Speaker 4 (52:27):
You know, it's crazy because since we talked last offseason,
I've been on offensive line as a whole, and I
give our guy, our guy, Mike from LA before the
season told us or told me Jalen Rivers could be
a guy. Told me that might have been right, and
he might have been right. Yeah, and so I'm almost
at a point now moment by the time he got
a prediction right, I'm almost at a point now. I'm

(52:49):
willing to at least see what Jalen Rivers can do
for another week or so. If it's pressing right now,
the d line is still non existent. Yeah, like there
are they? What did Shamar Stewart do in the game
on on Thursday.

Speaker 1 (53:03):
Lay twenty two snaps? Didn't do a.

Speaker 4 (53:05):
Damn did not register a thing. And my thought is
here's your shot. Yes, Thursday Night Football. Trey Hendrickson's out
go show the world why we got you. I didn't
notice him once. I didn't notice him once he took
a terrible angle on a three man rush that allowed Rogers,

(53:26):
one of the most elusive quarterbacks at his age, to
escape the pocket and continue a play unto a touchdown.
If you aren't going to show up when you're down
your best player on defense, what are we doing?

Speaker 1 (53:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (53:40):
So, as much as I still want to improve offensive line,
if I'm pressing on how this team can be any
better right now, then it has to be defensive line.

Speaker 1 (53:51):
Well.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
I did just talk about my disdain for watching Gino
Stone and so if they acquired a safety, fine, But
I'm with you. They have been trying to make the
pass rush better for years. They drafted Miles Murphy, it
hasn't worked. They've tried to develop Joseph Osi into a
reliable pass rusher, hasn't really worked. Shamar Stewart may be terrific,

(54:16):
not sure you can count on him. The reason they
brought back Trey Hendrickson is everything else they've tried has failed. Yep,
Like they clearly have no concrete desire to make him
a Bengal in twenty twenty six. I think they would
be happy to move on if some of the other
solutions panned out. Nothing has panned out, so why not

(54:40):
continue the website since Hejungle dot Com goes through some
possible trade deadline acquisitions and they do it at every
position group. But they referenced Bradley Chubb and Jalen Phillips
both of the Dolphins, Kevon Thibodeau the Giants, Jordan who's

(55:01):
old but could still be had by the New Orleans
Saints on the inside of the defensive line, Jeffrey Simmons,
which signed me the hell up for that. Kalais Campbell
is still out there.

Speaker 4 (55:12):
Go get Dexter Lawrence while we're at it.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
Thirty eight years old with the Cardinals.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
They they need they need help upfront and especially like
all right, Trey may be trending toward playing on Sunday.
He is an older player. Now we've seen hip, we've
seen back. If Trey has to miss more time, than
what do you got?

Speaker 4 (55:32):
And it's the worry to when Trey comes back for
the year. Are you playing through different types of injuries?

Speaker 1 (55:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (55:39):
Sure you know. And what I do think if you
if you combine this in the segment we just did,
there is a slippery slow that if things trend in
the right direction and you're back to competing, great. If
things fall back apart, then you're looking at it and saying, well,
they've already moved on from the third round pick this year.
The linebacker play isn't what we hoped for. Shamar Stewart's

(56:01):
not producing. McKinley Jackson and Jermaine Burton are healthy scratches
each and every week. Cam Tyler BRIT's now a healthy scratch.
Like if it goes back south and the urgency doesn't help, well,
then you're talking about even more roster spots needing to
be filled, right, Like, that is a slippery slope to
be on.

Speaker 2 (56:19):
So four thirty, the AFC North tightened because of the
Bengals went over the Pittsburgh's dealers. We'll talk about everybody
else in the division when we come back. Twin Peaks
in Florence, Tony and Moe Football Show on ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (56:34):
You've been listening to Football in the NATI on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Cincinnati's
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (56:50):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. Mamma Graham Sabe
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five eighty four pink on eastbound two seventy five. Still
got that accident approaching Montgomery Road. It has got the
left lane blocked off northbound seventy one at Ridge. There's

(57:12):
another accident southbound on seventy one one. More accident past
tapped road that is off on the left shoulder. I'm
at Eazelic with traffic.

Speaker 3 (57:22):
Nicety, Cincinnati's sports station.

Speaker 2 (57:26):
Sports headlines are a service to Kelsey Chevrolet, home of
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Speaker 1 (57:36):
Kelsey chef dot com. Yeah here today, it's amazing. No
real Bengals news, which is good.

Speaker 4 (57:44):
No news is good news.

Speaker 1 (57:45):
No news is good news.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
A pair of Monday night football games tonight. You got
the Bucks and Lions in Detroit. That is on Fox
Sports thirteen sixty, followed up by the Texans and Seahawks
in Seattle. Baseball tonight Americalyampionship Series Game seven in Toronto Mariners,
Blue Jays George Kirby for Seattle, Shane Bieber for the Jays.

(58:08):
You and I were watching on Friday night when sho
hey O Tani authored the greatest single game performance ever.
Three bombs, ten strikeouts in a series clincher.

Speaker 4 (58:19):
Yeah. Kind of selfish of them because he tried to
outshine what our friend of you, Henneo Suarez did for
the Mariners that night.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
Two homers a Grand Slam, Yeah.

Speaker 1 (58:27):
In a game that at the time gave them a
three two league hit.

Speaker 4 (58:30):
A baseball night, though, Like you and I were talking,
cal Raley comes up in the eighth down one. Yeah,
HiT's a bomb, Yeah, Suarez, unbelievable stuff. So much fun.

Speaker 2 (58:40):
College football you see up the twenty first in both
major polls. The Bearcats will host a Baylor at four
o'clock on Saturday. By the way, the kickoff time for
the Utah game is not going to come out until Sunday.
The Utah game is on November the first. Ohio State
still first in both poles, Indiana second in both poles,
Louisville nineteenth, and the ap Pole twenty second in the

(59:01):
Coaches Poll. Evander for the eleven time this season, named
to the MLS Team of the Match day for his
performance in FC Cincinnati's regular season concluding three nothing victory
over Montreal. The Orange and Blue away to Columbus Crew
best of three series starting at the Soccer Venue on
the West End a week from tonight.

Speaker 4 (59:20):
Hell is real.

Speaker 1 (59:22):
That's gonna be fun. Now FC Cincinnati and Columbus.

Speaker 4 (59:26):
The Crew knocked him out last year.

Speaker 2 (59:27):
Yeah, beat him in the Eastern Conference Final two years ago.
It's a legitimate rivalry. And I also like the fact
that game one is not opposite football.

Speaker 4 (59:38):
Yeah smart, Yeah smart.

Speaker 2 (59:40):
Now Game two is gonna be in Columbus on Sunday night,
like a six thirty game. The Bengals play at one o'clock,
and then Game three would be on the eighth, which
is a Saturday.

Speaker 1 (59:50):
But yeah, that should be That should be a lot
of fun.

Speaker 4 (59:53):
Get it done.

Speaker 2 (59:55):
What did the game on Thursday tell us about the
Pittsburgh Steelers? By the way, if you're just joining his
Tony's back, what did the game on Thursday tell us
about the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Speaker 4 (01:00:06):
That they're okay? I thought I learned the most is
that they are a team that has to operate with
the lead or within one possession. I mean, I've never
seen a game where more graphics were thrown out about
weight of offensive linemen in my life. I mean just
every time that they ran the ball, and you see
why with their tight end. I mean, I've never seen it.

(01:00:27):
They don't even put his exact weight for Washington, they
just kept saying three hundred plus.

Speaker 2 (01:00:32):
Yeah, they his exact weight, so they officially list him
as two ninety four.

Speaker 4 (01:00:38):
But like you see, when they use him in motion,
they're very successful. They want to run the ball, they
want to hit the tight ends. They'll take shots with metcalf.
I just don't think they're able to operate if they're
down a couple scores and have to get quick scores
unless they're playing against Geno Stone that they're able to
do that. Also, defense looks average. Yeah, they spent a

(01:01:00):
lot of money on that side of the ball. Yeah,
didn't really notice much from up front.

Speaker 2 (01:01:06):
Well, I didn't understand why they just insisted on playing man.
I also didn't think that defense looks exceptionally quick. Yeah,
now they have dudes who can get after the quarterback.
What Hayward her big high Smith when they blitz and
can get after the quarterback. I have felt all year
long like the Steelers are a team that week to
week is tough to play.

Speaker 1 (01:01:26):
And look, they nearly won that game.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
I do not take them seriously as AFC title contenders,
and that game on Thursday, for me, was a chance
for them to start at least to change my mind.

Speaker 4 (01:01:37):
Well, what was the talk. The talk was they essentially
could wrap up things. Yeah, sure if they win that game.
And now we're talking about life here. I would imagine
they're talking about life in Baltimore. Yeah, and with opportunities
that'll present themselves. So Pittsburgh did themselves no favors, They've
opened up the window for this conversation to happen.

Speaker 2 (01:01:56):
Pittsburgh is plus one twenty to win the division, Baltimore
plus one forty.

Speaker 4 (01:02:01):
Five crazy at one in five crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:02:04):
So their game against Chicago this week feels like the
elimination game. Yeah, if you're one and six, they get
the AFC North from hard time convincing me they make
the postseason two and five, it's.

Speaker 4 (01:02:19):
Yeah, it's it's just obviously they've been decimated by injuries
as well. But even when they were healthy. The defense
was still awful. Yeah, they're giving up a ton of points.
It just it felt it didn't feel like the same
aura around the Ravens. Yeah, and kind of the Pittsburgh

(01:02:40):
Steelers too.

Speaker 1 (01:02:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:02:41):
It wasn't as physical as it normally felt. The crowd itself.
Credit to the crowd here because you didn't see much yellow,
no sprinkling through all the white man it was. There's
still a lot to be desired with those two teams.

Speaker 2 (01:02:53):
Bengals are plus four fifty, the Browns are plus twenty
five hundred. But could I tell you what, I'm grateful for.

Speaker 4 (01:03:00):
Having to play them right now.

Speaker 2 (01:03:01):
Not having to play against them with Quinn h Quinhawn
judkins Man.

Speaker 4 (01:03:06):
We've talked about this before. We've talked about this before.
Though their rookie class, they're building that that rookie class
has one to build around. Mason Graham has been really good.
Quinchewn was awesome. They are. I don't think they're as
far off as people assume that they're going to be.
I mean, they're out of it this year, but I

(01:03:28):
don't think there as far off in the future as
maybe people think.

Speaker 2 (01:03:31):
No, I don't know what their quarterback situation is gonna
look like next year.

Speaker 4 (01:03:35):
But I need like a Flacco type player m Ifunily,
they didn't give away a Flaco type player for nothing.
Can I say one thing about the AFC?

Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
Yeah, I was going to go there. Next go ahead.

Speaker 4 (01:03:52):
It feels like we're right back to the conversation about
the Chiefs.

Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
I hate to say you're right, but you're right.

Speaker 4 (01:03:56):
It's like they get Rice back and all of a sudden,
like their offense makes a ton of sense. Rice, Hollywood, Brown,
Juju Smith, Schuster's catching passes now all over the field,
Xavier Worthy, Travis Kelsey, the Checko's running the ball well.
Mahomes Is I think one of the leaders now in
MVP voting. I think he's currently their defense pitch to

(01:04:19):
shut out. Their defense is playing better. It's so crazy
how every year more and more people are starting to like, well,
you know, you and I had the conversation they might
finish under five hundred. Yeah, And now, all of a sudden,
to me, I trust them more than anyone else in
the AFC.

Speaker 1 (01:04:35):
I do too.

Speaker 4 (01:04:37):
I think New England's better Buffalo had a bad loss.
They did not look dominant.

Speaker 1 (01:04:41):
I think New England's really interesting.

Speaker 2 (01:04:43):
I think the Chiefs what they did against Detroit was impressive.
What they did against Baltimore, even though Baltimore hasn't played
like everybody expected impressive. They do have to side step.
We'll see what happens with Jalen Daniels. But their next
four are wash at Buffalo, at Denver with a remarkable
comeback yesterday, then home for the Colts, who I think

(01:05:06):
we both believe are for real, and then they gotta
go to Dallas on Thanksgiving and what's going to be
the highest rated Thanksgiving game of all time. And that
Cowboys offense is terrific, so they're going to be tested.

Speaker 1 (01:05:17):
But I think after those after they beat.

Speaker 2 (01:05:21):
The Giants week three, they were one and two and
we said, like, better bury him now, and then Baltimore
didn't and that kind of gave him life. And I
know they they lost to Jacksonville in there.

Speaker 1 (01:05:33):
But Detroit didn't it it it does.

Speaker 4 (01:05:37):
I was like, I was as impressive as a win
that I've seen in the NFL, and sometime the Detroit game,
the one yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:05:44):
Yeah, no brock Bowers, but yeah, there is a it
looked the division's good. Denver's five and two for what
it's worth. The Savannah Bananas, I'm sorry. The LA Chargers.
I'm not really sure what to make of them, but
they're is a like the AFC Norre. It feels like
the weaker of the two conferences. And I'm not bailing

(01:06:05):
on Buffalo yet. I'm not still sure what to make
of Denver. I believe in the Colts offensively. I think
the jag showed yesterday. If you were getting excited about
them the defense, that might have been fools.

Speaker 4 (01:06:17):
Gold Yeah, which conference do you has more Super Bowl
legitimate contenders?

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
So I'll do this off the top of my head.

Speaker 4 (01:06:30):
Like, I don't know who's a legitimate contender outside of
Kansas City and Buffalo in the AFC. Like, do you
think Indy can win a Super Bowl right now?

Speaker 1 (01:06:37):
No?

Speaker 4 (01:06:38):
Denver? No, I don't either. I think I don't. I
don't know two. I think it's two. But if I
look in the NFC right now, I would think I
think Tampa can compete. I think I think Green Bay
can compete. I think Philly can still compete. Do I
think Detroit can compete LA? I think the Rams can compete?
There are I mean, that's five, right, there that I
think have a stake that say, hey, we can win

(01:06:59):
a title.

Speaker 1 (01:07:00):
San Francisco a ton of injuries.

Speaker 4 (01:07:02):
I think the injuries eventually catch up to him. I mean,
I saw a Lobsky today said that Seattle's got a
championship capable team. I don't think I'm there yet.

Speaker 1 (01:07:09):
I'm not there. No, But.

Speaker 4 (01:07:12):
And that's not I mean, we're not even talking about Washington,
who is now three and four.

Speaker 2 (01:07:15):
Chicago's won four s three games. The Cowboys can score. Yeah,
I don't think they're gonna stop anybody but dangerous team Atlanta.

Speaker 4 (01:07:23):
I thought missed an opportunity last night because I was
kind of waiting to see, like, is Atlanta getting there?
And then they take a big step back. But I
think by far, if you're talking about who can win
a title, there are more teams in the NFC pool
than the AFC pool.

Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
I'm gonna ask you a question that the great Dan
Horde asked you two UC games ago, about Joe Flacco
coming up at five oh five.

Speaker 1 (01:07:46):
It's quarter to five. We're at Twin Peaks in Florence.

Speaker 2 (01:07:49):
It's the Tony and Mo Football Show till six on
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (01:07:55):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty from.

Speaker 6 (01:08:01):
The UC Health Traffic Center, Mamma Graham Saved Lives CAMM
five one three, five eight four pink to schedule your
annual Mammo Graham with the UC Help's expert team. That's
five one three, five eight four pink. On eastbound two
seventy five past Montgomery Road, the left lane blocked off
from an accident right now, Traffic backed up from Mostellar Road.

(01:08:21):
Delays up to twenty minutes over On the westbound side
of two seventy five accident past the Loveland Madeira Road.
That's off on the left shoulder. I'm at ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 4 (01:08:32):
This report is sponsored by eleven Away.

Speaker 2 (01:08:34):
From five o'clock, the Tonian MoU Football Show on ESPN
fifteen thirty, we are broadcasting from Twin Peaks in Florence
until six o'clock.

Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
Well we're done. You'll hear the Mark Stoopes.

Speaker 2 (01:08:47):
Radio show Almost be Texas, Almost Stoopsy.

Speaker 1 (01:08:53):
Here's some good Mark stoops stories. Over the weekend. We did.
We did.

Speaker 4 (01:09:00):
A good weekend.

Speaker 1 (01:09:00):
We had, really did.

Speaker 2 (01:09:02):
I can't speak highly enough for Oklahoma City. How much
credit does Zach Taylor get. For what Joe Flacco has
done in a start and a half.

Speaker 4 (01:09:13):
I think a fair amount. I mean I I think
there's something to simplifying things, you know. I think Flacco
and has comment you know, on on set after the
game of you know, there are times I couldn't even
understand what was being called or it came in a
little late and I just went with something. I think
there's a lot to Joe Flacco. That's like, man, I've
been around so long, I know what I'm gonna do. Sure,

(01:09:35):
but you also give credit to Zach because they found
ways to get the running game going, and that's been
one of I think that the key problems in this league.
It's not a one week league. It changes so much.
You got to see a little bit more consistency. But
if they can find ways to run the ball again
against the Jets, then I start to think, you you
build a little bit of that confidence and optimism in

(01:09:55):
what Zach's able to do.

Speaker 1 (01:09:59):
Yeah, I mean, I'm not jumping across the table yet.

Speaker 4 (01:10:02):
No, no, no, I'm gonna wait and I wanna wait and
see it for a for a game where they were
backed up against the wall and essentially calling him must win.
They found a way to do it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:13):
Sure, they threw the ball to Jamar Chase and he
caught sixteen passes and luck man, every Bengals.

Speaker 4 (01:10:21):
If I was a play caller as well, should be
the game plan every week.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
I don't care who the quarterback.

Speaker 4 (01:10:25):
That's what I think is crazy about it. This isn't complicated.

Speaker 2 (01:10:28):
I guess what I want to know is okay, And look,
every team goes, okay, well, you know.

Speaker 1 (01:10:34):
That dude's a problem.

Speaker 2 (01:10:35):
How do we figure out a way to keep that
guy from just you know, crushing our defense? But if
there is a game, I don't know if it's the
Jets are capable, but if there is a game where
for whatever reason, the passing game is stuck in the mud,

(01:10:57):
let's just make it look like the Cleveland game where
sticky corners, whatever you want to say, bad matchup. They
couldn't throw it right, that was with Joe Burrow. But
also after that first drive they couldn't run it either.
So what I want to know is on a day
that looks like that, where your forty plus year old
quarterback just doesn't have it that day, can you win

(01:11:19):
a game running the ball? They supplemented what they were
doing with a very good run game, but they had
Joe Flacco drop back forty five times. They won it
because they threw it. They want it because they threw
it exceptionally well, and because Chase and Higgins or otherworldly
and Flacco's a quick study and knows how to get
the ball to those guys and has a good arm.

(01:11:39):
But to me, the running game has turned the corner.
When they can lean on it bad weather, or when
they could lean on it to put away a game
in the fourth quarter, that sort of thing where you
know they're going to run the football, yep. So that
to me was a great step in the right direction.
Chase Brown was terrific, the offensive line had a very night.

(01:12:01):
But what I want to know is what happens when
they have to lean on it, because the last time
they needed to it didn't work.

Speaker 4 (01:12:11):
I guess for me, it's the biggest question of what's next.
Because the Jets are zero and seven. You don't think
Sauce Gardner's excited for this opportunity. Sure, you don't think
he's pumped up for a chance to go against Jamar
Chase and see where he levels up and if you're
the Jets, I'll still contest it.

Speaker 1 (01:12:28):
MO.

Speaker 4 (01:12:29):
If you're the Jets, how do you not come into
the game and say, okay, show us you can run
it again, show us that that wasn't a fluke, Show
us you can run it against us, and then we'll
see where we're at. Because I genuinely I don't know
if Pittsburgh is maybe just not as good upfront. I
don't know if they were surprised, but I would be.

(01:12:50):
I would be shocked if Detroit comes into this game
and one doesn't play more zone, doesn't send more attendant
to Jamar Chase and doesn't say, look, if you're gonna
beat us, hand the ball off thirty times into it,
We're not gonna let you beat us by throwing twenty
three passes to Jamar Chase.

Speaker 1 (01:13:03):
So that was the frustrating thing. Again.

Speaker 4 (01:13:04):
They won the game, right, that was the frustrating thing
about But have you Yeah, can you figure anything out
from that? Does unlocking more under center stuff change that
for Zach Taylor or do you get to the point
where it just feels like they're just spinning their tires
and there's no answer.

Speaker 2 (01:13:16):
Now, I do have a piece of good news for you.
So I was listening today from noon to three. You're
first showback. It was awesome to hear you, but you
guys couldn't do talkbacks. Yeah, there's apparently a talkback out.
And what I had heard was, hey, look, the message
is clear. You can have tony yeah, or you could
have talkbacks. And I guess we said tony. Well, apparently

(01:13:39):
the talkback issue has been resolved.

Speaker 1 (01:13:41):
Oh good, just got.

Speaker 2 (01:13:44):
My email from digital support. So tomorrow what a day
on since he three sixty Yeah, talkbacks talkbacks are back,
will make their return as well, and then it will
truly feel like everything is back to normal.

Speaker 4 (01:13:55):
Yes, I can't wait, because if I if.

Speaker 2 (01:13:58):
I have to go another day without hearing from Kerment
the Frog and yeah, Ronald Reagan, God and God.

Speaker 4 (01:14:03):
It was crazy because you didn't leave a talk back today.
But God called, I said, where have you been the
last ten days? And I haven't answered anything from me?

Speaker 1 (01:14:13):
Well today he did, he did.

Speaker 2 (01:14:15):
But to listen to the show today and here you
was great, but my excitement was compromised a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:14:21):
By yeah talkback couldn't couldn't get the talkbacks.

Speaker 4 (01:14:24):
Yeah, So tomorrow I'm glad they're back I can pencil that.

Speaker 2 (01:14:28):
We're glad you're back. Five away from five o'clock. We're
at Twin Peaks in Florence Today. It's the Tony IMO
Football Show.

Speaker 1 (01:14:35):
Uh. Joe Flacco leads the Bengals to a win. More
on that.

Speaker 2 (01:14:39):
Brendan Soresby and Scott Saderfield leave the Bearcats to a win.
On Saturday. We'll talk some UC football in the five
o'clock hour as well.

Speaker 1 (01:14:46):
Right now, I'm gonna eat some chicken tenders.

Speaker 2 (01:14:48):
Here are at Twin Peaks in Florence on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station. From now, your chance to win a
thousand dollars entered this nationwide keyword on our website.

Speaker 1 (01:14:58):
Dollar. That's dollar. Answer it now.

Speaker 3 (01:15:02):
This is the Tony and MO Football Show, Live from
Visit OnCore dot Tech pen Station East Coast subs penn Station.
It's all and good taste Honda East and Honda East
Power Equipment Dealer, First State Bank. Build on belief. R

(01:15:22):
and L Carriers. Visit RLC dot com and make R
tri stage Chevy Dealers Chevrolet, the number one selling Brandon
Cincinnati for the past eight years. Chevrolet Together. Let's Drive
on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 1 (01:15:46):
The Power Hour.

Speaker 2 (01:15:48):
Of the Tony and Mo Football Show. On ESPN fifteen thirty,
we are broadcasting from Twin Peaks in Florence, Moulegar with
Tony Pike. Yes, what you are listening to is live
Mayor Tony is back here after a nearly two week vacation. Yep,
it's awesome to have you here at Twin Peaks. Twin Peaks,

(01:16:08):
by the way, if you're thinking, man, tonight, I want
to watch both Monday night football games and Game seven
of the National of the American League Championship Series. And
h I want to be out and about doing it
watching here.

Speaker 1 (01:16:20):
TV. Situation is terrific. Uh.

Speaker 2 (01:16:23):
The staff here at Twin Peaks is second to none.
We have Navilla taking care of us today. The beer
is cold, the food is good, the vibe is great.
Twin Peaks. We're back here next week. By the way,
we are giving away a pair of Nate Barkers tickets.

Speaker 4 (01:16:40):
And when do we do that drawing?

Speaker 1 (01:16:41):
We'll do that drawing at if you remind me at like.

Speaker 4 (01:16:44):
Five, must be here to win, yep. If not, they
go to you and I.

Speaker 1 (01:16:51):
Pair of tickets. Yeah, we're already going.

Speaker 4 (01:16:53):
Yeah, take along, man.

Speaker 1 (01:17:00):
I've been the third wheel before that life.

Speaker 2 (01:17:02):
That's that's a role that I play. Well, we'll draw
them at at five forty five. You must be here
to win. Bengals win, Bearcats win. We haven't touched on
UC yet, but we will. You you were a little
busy the day we found out the Bengals acquired Joe Flacco. Yes,
but when you processed that Joe Flacco was the guy.

(01:17:25):
And I'm asking you this because this is the first
time you've had a chance to talk about this. When
you saw that Joe Flacco was the solution the quarterback,
or the their attempt at a solution at quarterback, what.

Speaker 1 (01:17:36):
Were your thoughts.

Speaker 4 (01:17:37):
I wish that had done it earlier for reasons we outlined.
My initial concern was him behind the offensive line. I
had seen throughout the point of the season up to
that point. How is he going to hold up right?
Not as mobile? But the upside I thought far outweighed
the downside of it because of just the understanding he

(01:17:59):
has of NFL offense, and it says the understanding he
has of NFL defenses, he's been at the mountaintop and
won a super Bowl in the National Football League, And
if anyone values those guys around him, the skill players
which we've been bagging, get the ball to the skill players.
I viewed him as someone that will feed the ball
to the skill players. And it took a half. I mean,

(01:18:20):
the first half at Green Bay was clunky, and rightfully so,
but you started to see glimpses in the second half
and he's given to, like you gomost see his confidence
because he's all right, let me give him a chance
on this. Let me give him a chance on this.
And when you as a quarterback give a guy that
chance and then they come through. All right, I'm gonnave
him another one. Let me see what else he can do.

(01:18:40):
And you're, like you mentioned earlier, it's almost like a
pre preseason game because you're almost seeing everything you can
do and how your guys around you respond, and everything
that he gave him, he's like, okay. Like, So that's
I think where the greatness of him for this system
comes in. Never something he's not seen on an NFL field,

(01:19:01):
He's seen most defenses that are playing right now because
he's been around for so long, He's familiar and he
values and understands like at this point in his career,
he's not gonna be scrambling a bunch. He's not gonna
be running a bunch. He doesn't want to take a
bunch of hits. How do you leave it all that,
get it out and get it to the playmakers? And
I think he was best equipped to do that.

Speaker 1 (01:19:24):
Did you Were you okay with him starting that game?

Speaker 2 (01:19:27):
Because there were a lot of folks who thought that's
not fair to him, it's not gonna work. Maybe play
him against Pittsburgh, but let Jake be the guy against
green Bay. My take on it was, no, get him
out there and get him on the field in a
game atmosphere, working with his guys, and you know, you
might know in the back of your head you're not
winning that Green Bay game, but let's work on some

(01:19:47):
stuff we could use against Pittsburgh, which is gonna feel
like a must win. What was your take kind of
before everything unfolded with regard to what they chose to do.

Speaker 1 (01:19:56):
Start him right.

Speaker 4 (01:19:56):
Away, And I think if Browning had played any better.
You could have a conversation. It was so bad with Browning,
and you kind of knew just watching him on the field.
He was just shell shocked the rate in which he
was turning the ball over. If you would have signed
Flacco and still ran Browning out, I feel like you
really lose the locker room as opposed to the other side,

(01:20:19):
where you just see some good things happen and then
you build momentum into Pittsburgh, because if not, you'd just
wasted the green Bay game, and then the Pittsburgh game
would have been his first game atmosphere and he would
have been doing all this stuff we talked about in
the second half, given guys opportunities, seeing what he can
get away with. He used the green Bay game to
do that, and then he was able to settle in
and find the success against Pittsburgh as soon as you
brought him in. He had to be the guy.

Speaker 2 (01:20:41):
You were doing a bearcat game with Dan Horde this
Saturday before he made before Joe Flacco made his Bengals
debut against the Packers, and Dan asked you during a
break in the action, how difficult is what Joe Flacco's
being asked to do.

Speaker 1 (01:20:59):
How difficult is that same question?

Speaker 4 (01:21:01):
Almost impossible from to go.

Speaker 2 (01:21:03):
From Tuesday he's in a car learning the offense over
the phone. Yeah, on the practice field to act. Jamar
Chase had to go and leave late that week because
he was sick. To go from finding out about the
trade on Tuesday to playing on the road against a
good team on Sunday to then having to come back
and play again on Thursday against a team with a

(01:21:25):
veteran defense.

Speaker 1 (01:21:26):
Yeah, describe for.

Speaker 2 (01:21:28):
Me, from the position that you've been in, which is
somebody who's played it played the position, how difficult that was,
even for somebody of his experience.

Speaker 4 (01:21:36):
It's almost impossible. And throwing in the fact that Jamar
Chase was sick makes it even harder. But it's just
it's not even about the physical play. It's the mental.
It's because in your mind you're trying to rationalize you've
ran a similar place, but you've been conditioned that they're
called something different. So it's one you're getting what the

(01:21:56):
play is and in your mind you're thinking, Okay, this
looks like play, but then it's a new verbage. That's
hard because you're you're constantly trying to Mesh and Marry
the two. That's the harder part. The mental side is
the harder part. And I contest that what he did
Thursday was harder than what he did against green Bay
because he came in on Tuesday. That's the start of

(01:22:18):
a normal work week. Anyway, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, travel play Sunday.
Then he played Mine's got to be racing, and then
it's turnaround, get back to Cincinnati Thursday night game. It's
a whole new playbook. It's a whole new game plan. Yeah,

(01:22:39):
Like you just feel like you're getting the grasp and
they say, well, we ran not against green Bay, but
we're running this stuff against the the steel Like we
talked all camp, like what's happening in training camp. You
put the whole playbook in and then you go back
during the year and you just pick parts of that
playbook out for each week. So he learned a playbook
for green Bay without any prior knowledge, and then he

(01:23:02):
dumped most of that and learned what the game plan
was against Pittsburgh on a short week.

Speaker 2 (01:23:07):
When you have played that long, is there really a
new play or a new offense, because it's not this
He's played for the Ravens with different offensive coordinators, the Jets,
the Broncos, the Browns, and the Colts, so he's played
for multiple organizations.

Speaker 1 (01:23:25):
I know, the verbage changes from.

Speaker 4 (01:23:26):
It's just the verbage, like there's only so many route
combinations you can run. It's the verbage, and it's what
you're meshing it with. You know, Okay, well we'll running
a smash concept which is a hitch and a go
route on the right side, and then we're just gonna
run double slants on the left and that's called this
as opposed to now, okay, well now it's slants on
the left, but they're running double outs or they're running

(01:23:46):
a flood concept on the right. So that's what's different.
The routes you are the same route you've always been running,
you know. It's it's can you get the most out
of those routes, which again the mental side that that's
what's so like for me, like a rookie in the NFL,
it's tough because now you're throwing everything away. You've never
seen this stuff before, and you're adding it. Right, he's

(01:24:08):
seen everything, he's done everything, He's thrown every route possible.
There's not new throws that he's making. It's how do
I get to them? And quite frankly, I wouldn't be
surprised if there were points in the game where he
broke the huddle and just said, hey, Jamar running out right? Yeah,
of course, like I would think with him, like I
might not be sure this, Just run a stick like,

(01:24:30):
do something like that to make sure he knew he
was covered. Yeah, And when you pump into a guy
twenty three times, that's probably why.

Speaker 1 (01:24:36):
Yeah. And it also I.

Speaker 4 (01:24:37):
Don't think you can I don't think you can overexaggerate
that he's just played against the Steelers a bunch sure, right, Like, yeah,
not his first time facing that defense, not his first
time the AFC North rivalry type battles. He's been in
AFC North games with the Browns, He's been in AFC
North games with the Ravens, So I think there's a
level of comfort there as well. But it's no, it's

(01:24:58):
not the physical side. It's men tell you what he's
got to do.

Speaker 2 (01:25:01):
When you're running Joe Burrow's offense and Joe Burrow is
on the sideline, What are those conversations like between possessions?
What is do you if you're Joe Flacco, do you
tell Joe Burrow, Hey, here's what I want you to watch.

Speaker 1 (01:25:17):
It's yeah, hey watch this for me.

Speaker 4 (01:25:19):
Hey keep an eye on this or you know it's
it's it's almost weird as a backup because I'm very,
very comfortable in that role that you're there to offer
help if they need it, right, like the last thing
a quarterback needs. Like let's say you run off the
field and I'm like, hey, on that second down, they
ran too this and you should have like no one
wants to hear that.

Speaker 1 (01:25:39):
From the backup. From the backup. But if it's Joe Burrow, right,
But if if if.

Speaker 4 (01:25:42):
Joe comes, if Flacco comes off the field and says, man,
that combination they rolled to a cover three, Look, what
are you looking for there? Then obviously Joe's valuable in
that or you know, route different like maybe Jamar runs
his route at an eight yard route to ten where
he starts his breaking and gets to ten and t
gets it to ten and cut straight across it. Like

(01:26:03):
just little intricacies there where Joe can help him out.
But I would I would view it more as Joe
Flacco saying to Joe Burrow, Hey, you know keep an
eye on this for me, or what are you do
in this situation? Very rarely is a backup when you
come off the field, like hey, come here, sit down,
what are you what are you looking at? What are
you doing? You gotta be you gotta be particular now,

(01:26:26):
And you also have to kind of diffuse other things,
like it might not just be for Burrow to talk
to Flacco. It might be Burrow after a series to
go talk to Yosi Vash like, hey, that third down,
you got to get your depth, Like you need to
get here because Flacco's got so many things going on
that he can't make his rounds. Like someone the Green
Bay game, someone had had taken a picture mentioned like man,
Flacco's just sitting there by himself. Yeah, well yeah, because

(01:26:49):
he's trying to figure out what in the world he's doing.
So like for him to come off and kind of
decompress and either say, hey, Joe, what do you see
on that? Or did you see that blitz they ran?
What are you checking?

Speaker 1 (01:27:02):
Like that?

Speaker 4 (01:27:03):
As opposed to if he comes off and doesn't need
Joe then joking over and say hey, Jamar, what do
you guys see him? And then maybe he can take
that and go back to Flacco and help. Hey, you
know Chase is saying that that they're rolling coverage late.
You know, he thinks that he can win on this
route something like that, but you're not You're not doing
much of that as he comes up the field unless

(01:27:23):
he's kind of leaning into.

Speaker 1 (01:27:24):
You could could Jake Browning at any I don't think Jake.

Speaker 4 (01:27:29):
I don't think Jake said much. I think Jake is
just kind of like got up a couple of times
and through there was one point where I think like
Jake was in the middle of Joe and Joe and
I'm like, move, what do you move that way?

Speaker 1 (01:27:43):
Get them something to drink, like, let them sit next
to each other.

Speaker 2 (01:27:50):
Uh, Jake brown We didn't have a chance to talk
about this either. Jake Browning when he made his last
start looked and sounded like somebody who realized he just
coughed away. Yeah, an opportunity to prove that he can start.

Speaker 4 (01:28:07):
I would say, like the term deer in headlights, Yeah,
that type of look was what you saw yea like
as he was just trying to rationalize the game that
just happened.

Speaker 2 (01:28:16):
Like I'm not talking about during the game, the media
Is that's.

Speaker 4 (01:28:19):
It for me? Yep, you know that that was my opportunity.
And again, there are plenty of opportunities for good backups
in the NFL. But you know, I think the thought of, well,
you know, Jake could start on some other teams, I
think that went out the window with with everything he.

Speaker 1 (01:28:38):
Did seventeen minutes after five, how.

Speaker 4 (01:28:40):
Much lessing on this? How much more Flacco got? Like,
is there a scenario where Joe can come back this
year and next year? You make it work that Flac
goes his back up just in case? Yes, Like, as
long as he wants to keep playing, Yeah, why not?

Speaker 2 (01:28:56):
He's not going to be any less immobile or not.
He's not going to be any more immobile.

Speaker 4 (01:29:00):
Right, I just watched I mean I'd watch Rogers still
the ball sixty nine yards in the air at the
end of the game. So arms strength isn't going to
be a problem. Like if I imagine, if you're Joe
Burrow and you're coming off the field and you can
talk to Flacco if you need something, right, no offense
to Jake Browning, Right, which one would you rather talk
to me?

Speaker 1 (01:29:15):
Like?

Speaker 2 (01:29:16):
I don't even have to answer that, But if if
you're Joe Flacco, it's nobody is going to sign him
to be the starter. Now he may be a placeholder, sure,
like he was in Cleveland, and hey, the rookie's gonna
take over.

Speaker 4 (01:29:30):
But there's a track record of injury with Joe Burrow.

Speaker 2 (01:29:33):
So if you're Joe Flacco, yeah, does it not make
sense if I want to keep playing and keep being
a part of an NFL team and have.

Speaker 4 (01:29:40):
I'll be the backup here and oh if I need to. Yeah,
But since I'm here, I know, I know Jamar and
t are going to be here. Sure, sure, And I'm
behind Joe who does have an injury history, so I
can get in and play if I need be. But
I'm not going to be the guy right throughout the
off season. What better unless you're just ready to be like,
I'm done, I'm going to be the fan guy right then,

(01:30:01):
then you've obviously earned that. If he wants to keep playing,
how do you? How can you find a better backup?

Speaker 2 (01:30:09):
You cannot boom nineteen months, extend him, extend him nineteen
minutes after five o'clock, He's Tony Pike on Mollwager Tony
and Mo Football Show. Here at Twin Peaks in Florence
on ESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati Sports Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:30:28):
Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. Mamma Graham Saved
lives CAMM five one three, five eighty four, pink two.
Schedule your annual Mammo Graham with the UC Health's expert team.
That's five one three, five eighty four pink. Northbound seventy
five at Town. The left lane blocked off from an accident.
Another crash on southbound seventy one. That is after tapped road.

(01:30:49):
It is onto the left shoulder, and northbound on seventy one.
A disabled vehicle at Ronald Reagan Highway. That one off
on the right shoulder. I'm at ezelic with.

Speaker 5 (01:31:00):
This football Queen, then Natty brought to you in part
by Postman Law and Vice. Skyline Chilly on ESPN fifteen
thirty to the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:31:13):
Five after five o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Moeggar
with Tony Pike. It's the Tony and Mo Football Show.
Here at Twin Peaks in Florence. A gorgeous Monday afternoon beautiful.
Tony is back. I think the Bengals maybe as well.
You see football is oh man that coming up in
just about ten minutes. I have one more question to

(01:31:33):
ask you about Bengals Steelers related issues. And to me,
this is truly why this show is important. It's to
have you to answer this question. So I had on
my show last week a guy by the name of
Andrew Philipponi, Yeah, sports talk radio hosts in Pittsburgh, who said,
and he didn't say this on my show, but he

(01:31:55):
said it. I guess on his that if the the
Bengals lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, he would pierce his nipples.
Ryan Day, Yeah, do you understand why somebody would do that?

Speaker 1 (01:32:09):
No, in today's football Now, if.

Speaker 2 (01:32:13):
You want to do that to your body, by all,
I'm sure there are folks listening or with this right
now who have done that to their body, and that's fine.
What I don't understand is the if this happens in
this sports game, I'm gonna do something like this that
I ordinarily wouldn't do.

Speaker 4 (01:32:28):
What I don't understand in those settings. The only time
that comes close to anything is if like your friends
are betting you something, right, and like, Okay, what if
if they win?

Speaker 1 (01:32:38):
You do this?

Speaker 4 (01:32:39):
From the way I took it, he was just openly
throwing it out there. Yeah, like, hey, if the Steelers win,
they win. If they lose, I'll just I'll get my
nipples peers, right, Like I I've been around some good teams.
I don't know if I've ever been not confident in
a team that I root for, never knowing how much
can go wrong in a game. I'm good.

Speaker 1 (01:32:58):
If you're gonna do something extreme.

Speaker 4 (01:33:01):
The only way I've ever done that was against Northwestern
State for the Bearcats.

Speaker 1 (01:33:04):
Okay, we'll keep that in mind during next year's FCS game.
If you're gonna do that, do something that benefits someone else,
Like who gains from that? Guy?

Speaker 2 (01:33:16):
Andrew Philipponi, No, right, dude, I mean we don't want
each other's shows. Like if if you're gonna I'm gonna
do X, if Y happens, then X should benefit somebody.
Nobody has benefited.

Speaker 4 (01:33:28):
From the piercing. What are they called parlors? Is a
piercing parlor? You know, where do you go to get pierced?

Speaker 2 (01:33:37):
I have no idea. One day my daughter says she's
gonna get her ears pierced. We have yet to make
the leap. I don't know. I went to a piercing.
I was went to get a pretzel at the Kenwick
Town Center remembers I called your show was act. I
was looking for Leel Collins, I think, And there was
a little baby getting her ears pierced. And I came
this close to like taking that baby, and and like

(01:33:59):
your life is not gonna go well, no, get out now,
you clearly don't want to do this and mom is
making it. Yeah, so my daughter's eight, Like we've talked
about it. If you want your ears piers cool, it's
probably gonna hurt.

Speaker 1 (01:34:11):
I don't know. I don't have any piercing.

Speaker 4 (01:34:13):
But there are like there are other things, Like I
did something years ago. I think it was like Saint
Baldrick's Foundation where I took part and I shaved my
head hu. But like that goes to research and you
get money to raise it. Like yeah, if you're gonna
do something like that and be like hey, I'm gonna
shave my head, yeah, or I'm gonna take donating. If
I get this many donations, I'll pierce my nipple because
I'm gonna donate the money to this.

Speaker 1 (01:34:34):
Yeah, just write the check.

Speaker 4 (01:34:35):
Yeah, Like, if you're gonna do something, he has he
followed through yet.

Speaker 1 (01:34:39):
Yes, he's gotten he's gotten.

Speaker 4 (01:34:41):
The work done, because in today's world, you can't put
anything on social and then back away from it.

Speaker 1 (01:34:46):
No, not at all.

Speaker 2 (01:34:47):
I give him credit for at least living up to
what he said he was gonna do. And we'll have
him back on the show in a few weeks because
the Bengals play the Steelers Stillers, like on November the thirteenth.
But I saw that, and I'm like, Pony, like, what's why.

Speaker 4 (01:35:01):
Yeah, I just I wonder like was that just out
of sheer confidence from him? Was that friends that were
pushing him to do it? Like, I don't know. With family,
I just have a hard time believing, Like like I
know Molly, you know Mayor, Yeah, I have a hard
time for them being like, don't ever tweet something like

(01:35:22):
I don't think Mayor would jump behind that for me.

Speaker 2 (01:35:24):
I think Molly would just say, like, your stupid. You
don't know if you just do something, what are you
doing again? If you're gonna make the guarantee, right, did
you do something that helps someone beyond the person who
drove the two holes into his nipples.

Speaker 1 (01:35:36):
Nipples. I don't know who was helped by this. Yep,
aren't you glad you're back?

Speaker 4 (01:35:40):
I think this is our first nipples segment.

Speaker 1 (01:35:42):
Talk about I couldn't have done that with James last week.

Speaker 4 (01:35:45):
Yeah, James posted a shirtless pick with it, and now
he did it with his daughter. Yeah, daughter's adorable, But
James posted one You've got a lot of lettuce. He's
got a lot of a lot of chest lettus.

Speaker 2 (01:35:57):
I'll say this this summer, I was on vacation, yeah,
Saint George Island with my family, and I took a
picture of myself smoking a cigar and I had like
my feet up the ocean in the background, and he commented,
and nobody wants to see your feet. Oh valid, fair,
valid point. And then my guy decides to go shirtless.
Now he had his beautiful daughter Quinn with right, which

(01:36:19):
saved the photo. If you're gonna criticize me for a
feet pick.

Speaker 4 (01:36:24):
Especially when you get that, I need to see your man.
I just never viewed James because I clean cut short hair,
and then it's like boom, he's got hair all over
his chest.

Speaker 1 (01:36:35):
Can we talk about the bearcats.

Speaker 4 (01:36:38):
And then he posted a picture that night at the game. Yeah,
and he's like button out and I'm like, listen, if
you're gonna tease the chest hair, it let a little
bit of a hangout.

Speaker 1 (01:36:46):
Let it go.

Speaker 4 (01:36:46):
Let a little hangout. It's a different role for him.

Speaker 1 (01:36:50):
I'm really sort of sorry I introduced this topic.

Speaker 4 (01:36:53):
Yeah, let's talk about the Bearcats next.

Speaker 2 (01:36:57):
On The Tony and Mo Football Show on esp HAD
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (01:37:02):
You've been listening to Football in the NATI, brought to
you by Cincinnati Tax Resolution powered by Tefe Sheldons on
ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:37:19):
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Speaker 4 (01:37:52):
This report a sponsored.

Speaker 2 (01:37:54):
Sports headlines our a service at Kelsey Chevrolet, home of
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to yours for life kelseyshev dot Com. Bengals are now
setting their sights on the oh and seven New York Jets,
who will either start Tyrod Taylor or Justin Fields at quarterback?

(01:38:15):
Is that the NFL status franchise.

Speaker 4 (01:38:17):
Gotta be Poor Aaron Glenn, Poor Aaron Glenn. I'll probably
just get canned and get a multimillion dollar buyout too.

Speaker 2 (01:38:26):
The game is on Sunday at one o'clock on ESPN fifteenth.
Pre camp coverage starts at at nine am. Now there's
two Monday night football games Tonight. Fox Sports thirteen sixty
has them both Bucks and Lions and Detroit Texans and
Seahawks and Seattle Baseball. Tonight, America League Championship Series Game

(01:38:47):
seven in Toronto, Blue Jays hosting the Mariners. George Kirby
for Seattle, Shane Bieber for Toronto. Winner takes on the
La Dodgers. Winner will be rooted for by pretty much
everybody college football you see twenty first in both major
polls and bowl eligible. Ohio State retains the top spot
in both major polls, Indiana second, Louisville nineteenth, and the

(01:39:09):
AP twenty second in the Coach's poll. Evander named to
a Team of the Match day for his performance in
FC Cincinnati's went over Montreal on Saturday night.

Speaker 1 (01:39:17):
He had a goal and an assist.

Speaker 2 (01:39:20):
FCC will host the Columbus Crew in game one of
their best of three series a week from the seven.
Tony Pike is here. It's The Tony Football Show on
ESPN fifteen thirty. The UC Bearcats on Saturday night. Offensively,
for much of the game looked like the greatest and
most well coached offensive team I've ever seen. That might

(01:39:42):
be a slight exaggeration, but only Slider.

Speaker 4 (01:39:46):
They're fun, man, They're fun Offensively. I don't know. I
don't know where the weakness is. We can talk about
the defense. When you talk about the yards given up, Yeah,
back to back games, it's felt like they've gotten gashed.
They gave up eleven and seventeen points. If you do
that with this offense, you're gonna win. They need to
tackle better, but they are like we throw the term

(01:40:09):
out there, ben, but don't break. That's them. That is
their defensive philosophy. They'll give up yards and then inside
the twenty they're gonna shrink things down. Special teams are
elite offensively, Mo.

Speaker 1 (01:40:20):
You can't fair catch the ball at the three yard Yeah.
Beyond that, yes, team.

Speaker 4 (01:40:24):
I can't say lee yet of Especial teams are great.

Speaker 1 (01:40:26):
It markedly improved, yes, from.

Speaker 4 (01:40:28):
Where they were. But to me, it's about the offense
because we could talk about any of the wide receivers.
We could talk about Joe Royer, who is now showing
why he's one of the best tight ends available that
coming into this draft. He run blocks, he passed blocks,
he catches passes. He's strong, he has an understanding, and

(01:40:51):
you saw that the other night. Third and eight, he
catches the pass, he gets right upfield, knows where the
first down is. But then in another pass he makes
a move and scores a touchdown. We've seen long runs
after catch like he's just everything you want as a quarterback,
as a safety net. And then you've got this dual
threat running game. With Walker and Pryor, who hitch in

(01:41:15):
so many different ways. Swarsby's a threat to run. He's
throwing the ball as confidently as anyone else in the country.
And oh, by the way, they're not doing it around
a makeshift oh line. They're doing it around an O
line who's been the best offensive line three weeks now
in the Big Twelve, the best. It's one of the
best in the country. So what they're doing on offense,
they have ways. Like a lot of offense, you come

(01:41:37):
in and say, well, I'm just gonna take this away.
What do you want to take away? Because you're gonna
be susceptible on the other side. And Oklahoma State did
that first drive of the game. They kept two high
safeties back, ran the ball down the field, they brought
a safety up, they make a throw touchdown like it's
just hard to it's hard to go against them. The
best thing you can do, and the the Achilles heel

(01:41:58):
of this team is because they've been but don't break.
They are susceptible to fifteen play drive and it just
keeps you off the field.

Speaker 2 (01:42:05):
That's the thing I think from an offensive perspective, what
I like is where it starts.

Speaker 1 (01:42:10):
That offensive line is terrific, you know.

Speaker 2 (01:42:13):
And let's be honest, like two years ago in the
Big Twelve, that was an area the team that was
quite good.

Speaker 1 (01:42:17):
They ran the ball very effectively.

Speaker 2 (01:42:18):
This unit is is much better, much better equipped for
the Big twelve. I also, they were really good in
the first half on Saturday, hit a rough spot in
the third quarter, and then help put the game away
in the fourth quarter. I like the fact they don't
turn it over. Yeah, one turnover in the last five games.

(01:42:39):
Soresby doesn't make every throw, but he doesn't make mistake.

Speaker 4 (01:42:42):
But with him he can miss a couple. And then
he starts the fourth quarter with a third and eighteen. Yeah,
just perfect throw.

Speaker 2 (01:42:49):
It was third and sixteen or third eighteen sixteen, third
and sixteen throw to call it?

Speaker 1 (01:42:53):
Well, yep.

Speaker 2 (01:42:54):
First of all, it's an eleven point game. Their sideline
is starting to feel it. You and Dan were talking
about it, the crowd starting to feel it. That is
if that's if that first down isn't made.

Speaker 4 (01:43:06):
Yeah, it's a little bit uneasy.

Speaker 2 (01:43:08):
Doors open that throw. Forget the fact that they scored,
forget the fact they wouldn't got to pick six. That
throw felt like it shut the door. Yeah, and the
degree of difficulty involved.

Speaker 4 (01:43:17):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (01:43:19):
Defensively, you're it's just the length of the opposing drives.

Speaker 4 (01:43:24):
Yeah, that's my only worry. Yeah, My worry is that
a team can come in and control those drives multiple times,
and then all of a sudden, as an offense, you
start to counter possessions like you might not be in
a rhythm, but then you start thinking like, well, if
this keeps up, only going to get the ball four
more times, and then you start pressing a little bit
and that's when you turn the ball over. What I

(01:43:44):
worry to make something happen here.

Speaker 1 (01:43:46):
What I worry about is if they have to come back.

Speaker 4 (01:43:48):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:43:48):
Now, the Kansas game was a comeback win, but like
the other team gets it. First two drives are long,
and it's fourteen nothing, and you've got to make up
a deficit all offensively, and you might have to do
it on minimal possessions because the other team is good
at possessing the ball. Yeah, that's what I wonder about.
But you look, Scott's Saddlefield has his critics. I think

(01:44:12):
he'd be the first to tell you that over the
course of his first two seasons, he deserved a lot
of it. You always talk about play design, like there
was some nifty stuff, yeah, and some really good play
calls on Saturday Night.

Speaker 4 (01:44:24):
It just it's fun. Like they come out and they
score a touchdown on a RPO where Swersby reads the end,
he pulls it and then he's got Cyrus Allen behind
him and they run it into an option, and then
they score on the option. And then two series later
they come back and run that same look and then
they fake the option pitch and Sworsby sets up for

(01:44:46):
a deep shot down the field. Like they just do
so many things that look exactly alike that are completely
different to an opposing defense. I think they're so hard
to prepare for. I think there's a little caution with
Saturday's game coming up. Yes, if you just look at
Baylor at four and three, they scored twenty four against Auburn,

(01:45:06):
They scored forty eight at the time against seventeenth rank SMU.
They scored forty two on Sanford. They lost by three
to Arizona State. They hung forty five on Oklahoma State.
They beat Kansas State thirty five thirty four. They lost
forty two to thirty six over the weekend. They can score. Now,
their defense isn't great, which helps you see, but their

(01:45:27):
offense can go with anybody, and you've got to find
ways to sure things up. And to your point, you
can't let Baylor come in and take a multi touchdown
lead early because we just haven't seen that yet. But man,
they're exciting to watch, and you start to kind of
you know it's weak to week, but you can't help

(01:45:47):
but start to peek ahead.

Speaker 1 (01:45:48):
Yeah, you know, it's.

Speaker 4 (01:45:50):
At Utah and then Arizona's here, BYU's here, You're at
TC like there's a path, Like I looked at the
big twelve standings, BYU's ahead of them. But then you
have Arizona State, Texas Tech, Houston, Iowa State. What of
those teams have in common? You don't play any of them.

(01:46:10):
They're all off your schedule. So meanwhile, BYU's now got
to go to what they go to Iowa State and
then they got to go to Texas Tech. Not an
easy road. So you're starting to get in the mode
of take care of the next couple weeks and you're
in the driver's seat to play in Dallas. They're six
and one, and it doesn't feel like they've played their best.

Speaker 1 (01:46:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:46:33):
I mean we talked about third quarter they disappeared Iowa State,
the offense went away. Doesn't feel like they've been complete yet.

Speaker 2 (01:46:41):
I think it's fun to think about where this team
can go. The Big twelve does feel wide open. Folks
are going to bring up last year. Look at this stage.
Last year they were five and two. I played the
audio and the pregame show on Saturday. Dante Corleone, among many,
has been emphatic this isn't like last year.

Speaker 1 (01:47:02):
And I agree because I just think they have more
Big twelve dudes.

Speaker 2 (01:47:04):
And their biggest issue late last season was offensively lack
of explosiveness.

Speaker 4 (01:47:09):
Yeah, they have it.

Speaker 1 (01:47:10):
They have it this year. You know one.

Speaker 4 (01:47:12):
I think there's two things. Scott Suderfield deserves a ton
of credit because he took a ton of heat by
a lot of people. He's in charge of the offense,
and the offense is operating a high level. Not only that,
say what you want about how last year went. Royer
decided to come back, Corleone decided to come back, Gold
stayed Soreersby State, like a lot of their key players

(01:47:32):
probably had offers to go elsewhere and they said no.
We want to come back because they like I'm in
the locker room after the game. They love Soaderfield. The
players love him and you can see that in the
way they play.

Speaker 1 (01:47:43):
Two.

Speaker 4 (01:47:44):
You hear players talk like every team, no matter who
you are, every team says the beginning, we want to
win a championship. We want to win a bit. It's
one thing to say it. It's another team when you
see It's another thing when you see a team starting
to believe it. I see a team that works butt off,
but they also are confident, like they know that they
have a legitimate chance to get It's not window dressing.

(01:48:06):
They can go win it. And I think confidence makes
teams dangerous.

Speaker 2 (01:48:12):
I think they're a dangerous team. You know, you said
it on the broadcast on Saturday. You're trying to find
I think they have weaknesses. I don't think they have holes.
Like defensively, they could be better. They could be a
better tackling team. They finally got a pick, could be
better at ball disruption, could be better you know, at
just not letting teams author twelve fourteen to fifteen play drives.

(01:48:34):
But I'm not sure there's a glaring hole now. The
way they've used Dante Corleone. It is kind of interesting
because they're a different team when he's not on the field.
But when Dante Corleon's on the field, they have a
very good front three. The linebacker group is as good
as anybody. I think the secondary has checked every box.

Speaker 1 (01:48:53):
That you might have put in front of him. Before
the season started.

Speaker 4 (01:48:55):
We'll see they got to play deep balls better.

Speaker 1 (01:48:57):
They've got to play deepen your head around And.

Speaker 4 (01:48:59):
The only other saying, I'm wonder because it's now deep
into the season and regardless healthy or not, Corleon is
not gonna play one hundred percent of the snaps. I'm
close it is Mo. It's so unbelievably night and day
when he's in verse when he's nine And I wonder,
if you're Tyson invite if you can go multi looks more,

(01:49:22):
meaning if Corleone's not in can you go down to
a more traditional fore man and prevent the middle of
the field, Because what Corleone's great at is he takes
on multiple blocks. You can't single block him. If you
could single block the nose in a three man front,
well then you get up to the second level easy.
And so I wonder if you put two in there

(01:49:42):
and a four man front. That's harder to get to
the second level in the running game because if Corleone's
not in, this team is susceptible to getting gassed on
the ground. And when you're getting gashed on the ground,
not for twenty thirty yards, but for six seven yards,
then all of a sudden, you're off the field for
nine minutes, and that becomes an issue.

Speaker 2 (01:50:01):
Luke Fickle not only is still employed at Wisconsin after
another shutout loss at home, this time to Ohio State
with the fans channing fire Fiddle. Not only is he
still employed, the athletic director has written a letter to
Badger Nation Yeah, showing confidence in the coach, but looking

(01:50:22):
for more financial resources for him.

Speaker 4 (01:50:24):
Need more, by the way, go to Oregon this week. Great,
it's a bizarre scene. I said this earlier today. Though.

Speaker 1 (01:50:33):
There is no way he's the coach next year.

Speaker 4 (01:50:35):
Can't be. I can't figure out how he's not gone
all right?

Speaker 1 (01:50:38):
I root for him, man, I'm not that guy who's
been like I want him to have success.

Speaker 2 (01:50:42):
He has had none. There is no way that school
could bring him back next year.

Speaker 1 (01:50:46):
None.

Speaker 4 (01:50:48):
College football in itself feels like it's Ohio State and
then a big gap.

Speaker 1 (01:50:53):
Yes, it does.

Speaker 4 (01:50:54):
I mean we watched the number two team get beat
in Miami on Friday night, Old Miss. They were top five,
not surprised there, and Indiana's really good. They're not on
Ohio State's level. No, it doesn't feel like there's another
team on the level of Ohio State.

Speaker 1 (01:51:11):
No.

Speaker 2 (01:51:11):
I like Julian saying, yeah, I mean, look what a
hacked defense. To man, what hangs over the program is
the Michigan game.

Speaker 1 (01:51:18):
But it does. And the way you could tell is
how little they're talked about.

Speaker 4 (01:51:23):
Yep.

Speaker 2 (01:51:24):
I mean nationally, nobody's really talking about the number one
team in the country because.

Speaker 4 (01:51:29):
It's just that dominant.

Speaker 2 (01:51:30):
They don't play an extraor they did against Texas, but
they don't play an extraordinarily competitive games.

Speaker 4 (01:51:37):
Let me give you an over under. Yeah, Tyrod Taylor,
if he starts Sunday over under yards that he had
at the Orange Bowl.

Speaker 1 (01:51:46):
How many you have?

Speaker 4 (01:51:48):
Ninety nine less than I did? Does he throw for
more than one forty on Sunday if he starts.

Speaker 1 (01:51:55):
Yeah, have you seen the Bengals defense? Yes, answer is yes.
To go Tony, great to have you back, great to
be here, Tony returns for Sincy three sixty tomorrow.

Speaker 2 (01:52:04):
Yeah, we are back here in Florence a week from today.
I returned tomorrow at three oh five thanks to Mike Mills. Oh,
we gotta do the giveaway. Yeah, yah ya, Yeah, we're gonna.

Speaker 1 (01:52:15):
Do it off air. Yeah. Anybody who can wins here. Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:52:18):
I want to thank Mike Mills for producing on site
our guy tarn Beck and Kenwood as well. The Mark
Stoop Show is next. Talk about a guy still has
a job and I'm not sure Mark Stoop Show is next.
Have a great night. Thank you for listening. Thanks to
the staff here at Twin Peaks two. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 5 (01:52:35):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the UC Health
Traffic Center. Mam mc graham saved Lives. Call five one
three five eight four pink to schedule your annual Mamma

(01:52:55):
Graham with the UC Helps Expert team. That's five one
three five eight four pink. Northbound seventy one seventy five
at Kyle's Lane. It's an accident off on both shoulders.
Traffic is backed up from turf Way up to a
fifteen minute delay. Northbound seventy one past Smith Edwards. It's
an accident. This has got the right lane blocked off.

(01:53:16):
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