December 3, 2024 • 28 mins
Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic and The Growler Podcast joined us to discuss the Cincinnati Bengals' most recent loss, Lou Anarumo's futures, "business decisions," and more.
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Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's going down in Big d.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Oho, spikes the ball at the back of the outside.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Sag Taylor's Orange and Black march into Texas for a
lone star showdown with the Cowboys, Ya Tavahak Chops under
the ground, the Bengals high flying offense overpower the Dallas.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Defense secured a two per BacT check.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Get a cool from Dangerous Dan Hood and Mighty Dave.
Coverage begins Monday at three on ESPN fifteen thirty, the
official home of the Bengals.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
What's up, Good afternoon on a legger. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Hopefully you're having a great Tuesday.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
After good We are back in Hamilton at Buffalo Wild Wings, Bridgewaterfalls.
We broadcast from here about two months ago and had
a great time to staf here. Very hospitable, a large room,
a great room, and you can take advantage of all
sorts of stuff like the six for nineteen ninety nine
deal right, you've got two entrees, two two fountain drinks
(01:01):
for nineteen ninety nine. You could get by one, get
one half off traditional Wings. You can get a five
dollars bud light tall. You could take advantage of all
sorts of bud Light specials. You could win a prize
thanks to our friends at bud Light. And all you
gonna do is is get here between now and six o'clock.
Very easy to get to if you're in the Hamilton
Fairfield area. Come on out and see us maybe when
(01:22):
you get off work. We are here till six o'clock.
We have a lot of ground to cover and a
lot of Bengals stuff today, some college football, some college hoops.
Jesse Winker, I guess might come back and play for
the Reds in an effort to redo the twenty twenty
one team. I'm in favor of this though, and I'll
explain why. Two words for you. I'll tell you what
they are in the four o'clock hour. And I want
(01:44):
Ohio State to win the national title. I'll explain why
coming up in just a bit. We also have to
have a tough conversation about a Bengals player.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
But first, our buddy Paul Danner Jr. Usually joins us in.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Person on Tuesdays, whether we're in studio or here in
Buffalo Wild Wings. He has personal obligations so not able
to sit next to me here at Buffalo wild Wings,
but kind enough to give us a few minutes on
the phone. He's with the Athletic dot Com. He's with
the Growler podcast. He is the host.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Latest edition Balls Don't Lie came out a short while ago.
Go get that. Follow Paul on X at Paul Danner Jr.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
How you doing doing good?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
No?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
I always feel empty not sitting next to you. We
don't get our time together, and I feel a bit lost,
but I'm I'm still happy to be here. So I'm
is the cooler? Do you guys giving away the cooler
or what's the what do you got over there to do?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Well?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
You know the way it works. I'll pull back the curtain.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
If there's the the upcoming Sunday there's a Bengals home game,
we give away tickets. And if the upcoming Sunday is
not a Bengals home game, which obviously this one is not,
it's it's the cooler, and so the cooler right now
probably a hotter commodity than the tickets.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
It's a nice cooler. I would say, the value with
its certainly rising pass the tickets pretty quickly. It's a
nice cooler.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
We took our I got one of those coolers.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
We took it to my sister in laws for Thanksgiving,
and I probably could have sold that for like four
hundred bucks, so I didn't because then I would have
had all the stuff. But I mean, yeah, that's that
cooler is a a hot commodity. Uh where do you
want to begin?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, you want to you want to talk about the
game itself on Sunday? You want to talk about who's
gonna get fun? I mean, what, like, there's lots of
different directions we can go in.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
I didn't know if you were chomping at the bit
to like just go into one one specific area.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
I'm I'm not chomping at the bit. Today's podcast is
an hour and twenty minutes. You know, we've just kind
of gone all over this, and I've written multiple pieces
sort of about the defense that we've been talking about
it four months. It was kind of I guess maybe
(03:56):
the crescendo a little bit, wasn't it of this defensive
storyline over the course of this year for it to
be Russell Wilson and Pittsburgh and all of that. So
I'm happy to continue going in on the defense because
I'm pretty sure there's very few aspects of it that
I haven't got my thoughts together on at this point.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Well so for me, I think there are good conversations
to have about lou Anarumo and Sunday really felt like
the bottoming out for him as DC. And when there's
a bottoming out, typically there's a goodbye, right, there's a
dismissal and a search for a new defensive coordinator. But
I fear that if I focus on that too much,
(04:36):
it ignores what you and I talked about on your
podcast today, which is a defense that just doesn't have anybody.
And I was listening after the game and you were
busy going down to the locker room. I was listening
to Dan Horde's postgame comments on the radio network with
Wayne box Miller, and he was just talking about the
lack of difference makers, and all due respect to Dan,
I'm like difference makers. I just want guys I can
(04:57):
put out there that aren't gonna screw up, And that
to me, is what Sunday was about. We'll talk about
lou and he talked at length with you guys yesterday,
but if you needed, if you needed evidence more evidence
that defensively, the cupboard is about bear just put on
the tape of Sunday's game.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Yeah no, And I think that's where the ultimate decision
and the conversation about lou Ana Rumo will come from,
is what is this What is the root of this problem?
Is this the root of a problem where the players
just aren't good enough that you're asking a coordinator who
is been accomplished, who has done great things here, who
(05:42):
has turned out some of the best defenses that you've
had in terms of individual runs to the Super Bowl,
in terms of really totality of that twenty two season,
and you're gonna tell me that he doesn't know what
he's doing right now. There's a lot of different ways
you can go in there, but the end of it
is are the players that bad or were the players
(06:05):
put in front of him struggling to develop because there's
some kind of a disconnect there. I mean, the answer
that the Bengals front office or Zach Taylor or a
combination of all of them comes up with in regards
to that topic is probably where you get your decision
of what ends up happening there. But to me, you're right,
(06:26):
I mean, at face value you're looking at right now,
you know you don't have piece think about how many
different people made plays in that time frame that we're
talking about for this defense in twenty one, in twenty
two when they were I mean, you would have Trey
hendrickson one day, you'd have a Jesse Bates pick. You'd
(06:47):
have Von Bell popping the ball out in New England.
You'd have Logan Wilson was all over the place, he
had all these interceptions, and you'd have twa Use was
playing like a number one shutdown corner. And you know,
Mike Hilton was the best slot in football, and Sam
Hubbard was doing it all and DJ Reader might be
(07:08):
the best defensive tackle there is. Like those were every
single week. I used to call that team they were inevitable,
right like they were gonna find some kind of a
way because they had so many guys that wanted to
make that play and could make that play. This team
has nobody that can make that play right now, Nobody,
at least nobody that is making that play outside of
(07:30):
the guy that wears number ninety one and sees three
different blockers in front of him every time he tries
to go to the quarterback. So you're just in an
impossible spot. You at some point you have to have
somebody who can go out there and win one on one.
This is a This is a player's game. Man. You
can scheme all you want and be a wizard all
(07:51):
you want. You're doing that to create one on ones.
You know, you know you're gonna get a free runner
a couple times a game, and they can't win. They
can't create enough of them. And there's clearly a disconnect
in understanding situations in the game, awareness of angles, of
(08:11):
what they're supposed to be doing, and then you throw
in some of the stuff that you know they might
contend otherwise. I see poor effort on tape. They don't
see it as much. That's fine, I know what I
am looking at. You know all of that together, you know,
there's blame everywhere. Everybody's got their hand in the cookie jars.
(08:33):
Kind of been my line this year. There's there's nobody
that doesn't have a part in this. But you know
it's I think inevitably there is a lot of like
for whatever reason it is, certainly they don't have anywhere
near enough good players on that side of the wall.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
So you you reference the E word, and I will
admit to you I'm I'm always very hesitant to question
a professional athletes effort because it's what they do, and
I think that is sometimes the easy default that people take,
and I think it's lazy and I think it's unfair
in many cases. You know as well as anybody, how
(09:12):
hard these guys work, what it means to them. They're professionals,
and don't I don't love questioning a professional's effort, but
a lot of people have gone there. How much is
effort of problems, specifically on defense.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
I don't think it's a problem for this defense. I
thought it showed up at times on Sunday and by effort,
I think there's an extra level. DJ Reader he used
to call it that strain, that extra that you were
willing to do that you knew the guy across from you, wasn't.
I love talking to DJ Reader all the time. I
missed him. I missed your DJ.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I miss him.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
He would talk Yeah, I know, yeah, some are the
guys that used to play next to him, but he
would he would talk about that extra strain, and that
became such a personality of the defense. Right when he
was there, they all had that. They were flying to
the ball constantly, and you look, we've seen some of
the plays this year. I mean the game in Baltimore
(10:12):
where you've got the like chasing lay half push out
the side. I mean, we've seen these plays. So it's
not that there don't care or they're not trying. It's
that strain. It's that extra effort. It's that every little
bit to the last second by all eleven guys out there.
And I'll go I'll go back to von Bell and
(10:34):
something that leuen Orromeau referenced yesterday about how von Bell
helped build this thing and talking about not just the
Ac Chamison game but the hit on Juju Smith Schuster.
It's just from a personality, from an attitude of that
extra strain to make that big hit, to chase it
down to be just tenacious, where every player is showing
(10:57):
that every play. And I just don't think you see
that at all out of this defense. So it's not
that they're not trying or they don't want to. And
and they you know this, certainly Loui yesterday via me
Lea disagreed with any idea that there's a missing want
to or that his message isn't getting through. But like
that strange stuff, that extra level of everyone doing that
(11:19):
every play. I mean, you're not seeing that right now,
and I think that's a big difference, uh, when you
talk about the difference between those teams and where this
team is at right now.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
I have taught you very little, and you've taught me
a lot about the Bengals about football. But if there's
one thing I have taught you, it's that the most
basic radio trick is if you want the guest to
stick around for a segment, you ask them on the
air because I gotta I gotta get a break in. Typically,
if you're with me in studio or here at beat ups,
(11:51):
you know you're here for an hour and so we
just talk for an hour, but you know you're you're
on the phone right So it's I've got to ask
you to stick around for another segment. But you know
the trick I'm employing here because whenever you ask the
guests on air to stick around for another segment, they're
compelled to say yes because they don't want to be
the bad guy. They don't want to create an awkward conversation.
So I know I'm doing that, but I have a
(12:13):
lot more that I want to ask you. So do
you mind sticking around?
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Well, this does challenge my my core belief that the
next time this happened to me, I really wanted to
be the one to be the bad guy and be like, look,
I clearly have better things to do, but I won't.
I know, I mean, I would be happy to. It
would be my joy and pleasure to come back for
toms you want.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
When you're on with the guys down the Hall, do
they ever ask you to stick around for another segment?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Say no to them.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
I will. I will make sure to do that. That's
officially on my list.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Now, hang tight. Paul Danner Jr.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Covering the Bengals for The Athletic and the Growler podcast.
Latest episode Baalds Don't Lie, by the way, and you've got.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Like an extra episode now which Charlie go Smith.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Yeah, yeah, Charlie is doing a rewatch reaction show with
me on Mondays where he go We got to pour
through what we are reactions to the initial rewatch, which
is what we used to do just hanging out inside
of the media room on Mondays. So now we're just
going to report it while we do it.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
That popped up in my YouTube feed last night and
was a pleasant surprise, So go catch that and then
watch balls don't lie too.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
It is twenty minutes after three o'clock. Paul Danner Junior.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
I'm here at Buffalo Wild Wings in Hamilton, Bridgewater Falls
here till six on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Twenty five after three.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
This is esp AND fifteen thirty broadcasting today from Buffalo
Wild Wings.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
In Hamilton in Bridgewater Falls. I love coming up here.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Woman's applauding, so we've managed to keep her interested for
twenty five minutes, which is a minor miracle.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Paul Danner Junior is here.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Covers the Cincinnati Bengals for the Athletic and Theathletic dot
Com and hosts of the Growler podcast and uh on
x at Paul Dander, Am I leaving anything out with you?
Speaker 4 (14:06):
No? Thank goodness, O, thank goodness. I mean, I don't
think there needs to be any more than there already is.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
You know, there are some folks I have on the
air where it's like I mentioned all like five or
six things they do, and invariably I leave something else
I didn't. I didn't want to do that with you.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
No, I'm not offended. No, you've covered it all, and
I don't I don't plan on adding anymore anytime soon.
Very good?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Is this it for Lui Ana Romo?
Speaker 4 (14:34):
It sure feels like it, right, I mean it does.
It's hard to see a world where you just say
run it back. You know, you got to look at
the situation and the standard disclaimers of why this place
is different than most. This coaching staff has benefited from
(14:55):
patients with them over the years, and and and pointed
out that, you know, there's not a lot of places
that would have given it to them, and they paid
they felt like they paid it off back in after
the nineteen and twenty seasons. That's obviously a very different
situation than this one. That was them building from scratch
something that was going to take time. This is they
(15:18):
have been the builders for a long time now, this
is their house, and and so it just makes it
certainly feel different. I we've seen many years, Mo, You've
been around here as long as I have, where it
seems like there's no path for anybody, whether it be coach, player, assistant,
head coach, whatever. And all of a sudden, a couple
(15:40):
of games at the end of the season and there's
a thought that figured it out and things are trending
in the right direction, and turn it around and next thing,
you know, there's continuity and and and we know how
that has traditionally turned out. So I'm certainly I don't
think anything is definitive. I don't think any is decided
(16:01):
or maybe even thoroughly talk through at this point. But yeah,
I think it does feel like it seems really hard
when you consider how bad, how historical, how frustrating it's
been for Joe Burrow to see this all happen. There's
just there's just no way there isn't some version of
(16:24):
a fall guy here. And when you have all of
these picks, you know, we continue to reference, you know,
these nine top one hundred picks that they've given them
over the last few years, and really getting very little
out of any of them, you know, it just feels
like all of that needs some sort of a new
(16:44):
voice and new direction and just a true blow it up,
fresh start. That doesn't mean that that's where this ends,
but it sure seems like it's trending pretty hard in
that direction.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Will he be one of these defensive coordinators that's like
out of job for five minutes and just be fielding
a whole slew of offers.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Boy, I gotta tell you if I was, if I
was a head coach in the AF two s H,
I would certainly be considering. I don't. I think he
should have plenty of offers. I think he has proven
himself as understanding how to run a defense in this league,
how to do it at a high level, how to
win you games in the biggest spot, and how to
(17:27):
slow down Patrick Mahomes, amongst others. Right when he's when
he's had when he's had the firepower on his side,
when he's had it to play with, man, they they've
just been great. I mean, and had a legion of
players that believe in and at every stuff that he's been.
So yeah, I I certainly would be stunned. I mean,
(17:49):
he was rightfully up for head coaching jobs very recently.
I mean, that wasn't a thing that was that was
made up. There were multiple teams pursuing and pursuing hard.
There's so much turnover in this league from a coordinator's side,
offensive and defense every year, and it feels like every
year or two half the league has already turned over.
(18:10):
There's gonna be lots of spots, and if you're looking
for somebody that knows what they're doing, that has a
recent history of success and success against the people that
you probably are most interested in beating. Yeah, I would
have a hard time seeing that he wouldn't quickly be
a coordinator again.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
So we've watched players move on where it felt like,
you know what, it's time to move on, and then
they go and succeed elsewhere, and then we rip them
for letting that player walk.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
So like lu Go go somewhere else.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
And he's Loana Roumo again and he's coaching the defense
up and it's achieving good results.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
We're not going to do the same thing with him.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Yeah we are. You know it would. It's part of
the reason you do is because of what's currently happening.
And you know, like you talked about this for when
the Lord knows how many times we've all talked about
this before. Whether you're talking about Jesse Bates, you're talking
about Andrew Whitworth, you're talking about DJ Reader, it's not
about them leaving. It's about the lack of what happens
(19:09):
from their replacements. And if lou leaves and the defense
still struggles with the current group of players or whatever
reconstructive group they put together. Yeah, it shows that it
was the players. The conversation we started this with back
in the beginning of this hour, like what is it?
Is it the players, is it the coach? Is it
the combination of both? Well, it certainly could be very
(19:30):
possible that whoever comes in next looks at it and says,
what is this and doesn't get what he needs and
suddenly we're saying, well, I guess it was the players,
and so yeah, of course, I mean that's very real possibility.
And well you have to see how it eventually plays out,
but you could see that.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
So a few more on that'lllectch run.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
This is the time of year now because the Bengals
have a four and eight record, we have to start
talking about business decisions. I have a business decisions question,
all right, So if your bow knicks, do you tell
Sean Payton like, Hey, I'm not feeling it because you
want to set out these next two games to ensure
that you're healthy when you play the Bengals week seventeen.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Yeah, that's the business decision you're talking about. Is everybody
just changing their entire setup to make sure that they're
rudy for their big Bengals game.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Did you see some of the throws that kid?
Speaker 4 (20:26):
You see?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, do you see some of the throws that dude
was making last night?
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Like I'm watching that going Gino Stone will be there
to make that play, and you know, Cam Taylor Brett,
they'll be over there to make that. Black guy's gonna
throw for eight hundred yards. If I'm bow Knicks, I'm
telling Sean Payton, like I got this.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
We'll be good.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
I'll go there. We'll score fifty six points even if
we lose these next two. But I need to be
on the field in Cincinnati to play against that secondary.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
But some of his throws won't be as impressive when
there's actually no one even in the area, right, Like
some of the stuff that made those throws impressive was
that the windows were small, and he you know, avoided
a bunch of you know, potential stacks in order to
make the play. Well, when you don't have to worry
about that, it just looks like almost like you're just
out there doing routes on air in August. So it's
(21:11):
not going to be quite as impressive as you think.
And a bonus, when do they stup like Bonix only
puts up like, you know, three hundred and fifty yards
pass and you're like, yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Mean Russ went over four hundred mm hmm, yeah with
that screen game that apparently nobody had ever employed before.
In all seriousness, when when do the business decisions begin?
Because he here's where we were at the point that
we talked about the Bengals hopefully not being at this
past summer as it relates specifically to T Higgins, and
(21:43):
maybe you could apply this to Jamar Chase and perhaps
a handful of others as well. Right, Like, there were
those wondering about T Higgins, like, you know, is he
is he gonna make a business decision, which, by the way,
have come to loathe that term.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
But is he suddenly going to come up with an injury?
Speaker 3 (21:57):
And people were doing that when he you know, pulled
up lay right before the opener, I felt that was
drastically unfair. And you and I talked about this, and
you know, my take was T Higgins has always been
a gamer. T Higgins always been a guy that you know,
I'd go back to New Year's Eve last year putting
himself back on the field when he was obviously not one.
But that game meant everything. These games moving forward me nothing.
(22:18):
So here we are, do the business decisions.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Begin, the discussion of them rightfully begin, and and and
if you're T Higgins again, and we've we've said this,
what he has every right. Uh, if this season doesn't
mean anything, and there's two games left and he's looking
at an off season of his life in front of him,
(22:42):
and the team that didn't want to pay him wants
him to play, he doesn't have to do that, and
no one should would probably fault him otherwise, Certainly the
other thirty one teams would not care. It would not
affect his evaluation in free agency one dime if he
chose to that. And so that's gonna be probably the
(23:05):
biggest one. I think that that you would that you
would look at and I don't think anybody would fault him.
That's what you get when you don't pay a guy
when you could have, and you didn't value him at
the level that he felt like he was valued. And
now the season doesn't mean anything and he doesn't gain
anything out of it anymore. Yeah, I think that's rightful.
I don't know what he'll do. I don't know that
he knows what he'll do. I probably has some thoughts
(23:27):
on it, but you know, I think, yeah, once you
get to the last couple of games of the season
and you feel like you've done what you wanted to do,
I could see somebody like him certainly the rest. I
think there's a lot of people that are still have
things that they're playing for, whether it be positions, whether
it be proving a point, whether it be stats. There's
stuff there.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Yeah, like what's what's the what's the Bengals record for
most mistackles in a season?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Because Gino Stone might chase it, chase it down?
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Yeah, absolutely, no for it.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, do you think they would like you?
Speaker 4 (23:57):
But or or the or the really the battle for
most misstackles on this team. I mean you talk about
man as the best. I mean, if you can beat
out Jermaine Pratt, who's right on his heels right now,
or whoever to to take that crown, that's one where
you say, man, I was the worst tackler on one
(24:18):
of the worst tackling teams that we've ever seen in
franchise history. Like, you know, trophy trophy up high.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Is that something like are you're still ahead of the
Pro Football Writers Chapter here, right.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
I'm I'm I'm part of it.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
So you could like commission like a statue, like if
a guy like lunging and missing a tackle, and like
the yeah we have like.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
The Media Cooperation Award formerly known like the Good Guy Award,
there's a plaque. Right. I would be definitely for the
the with Tackle Trophy if we could find a way
to make that happen. That feels very possible. It's certainly
something I'd be willing to invest in.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Well, if ginos Stone, let's say it was a home
game and he breaks this the franchise record for most
mistackles in a single season, would would they like?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Would they stop the game? Would it be something on
the video board?
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Like? How would that work? That would be great? Could
we two minute montage of all of the mistackles in
slow motion with like one shining moment playing in the
background for this? I think we're onto something right here.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
And and one more thing really quick, so you know
the they brought the ping pong table back into the
locker room last week.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
It didn't work. So I was on a website about like.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Corporate team building activities, and I found the four that
I liked the most, and I put it as a
poll question, but I wanted your input on what the
next team building exercise slash Gimmicks should be. A giant
jigsaw puzzle, show and tell, have everybody untangle a human
(25:59):
knot or a cooking class.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
Wow, wow, I would say, yeah, I think the uh oh, well,
that's a really hard one. I think the giant jigsaw puzzle.
That's what I want to see. And I want to
see the offense and defense all have to work together,
you know, right and and and then like you know,
(26:23):
the defense is in charge of the edges, but like
can't finish it, and the offense is mad because they
finished the middle, but they got nowhere to hook it
up to, right, Like, you get all of that and
they can start working out their problems that way. I like.
I like the idea of that. I think that's the
things where you I think that's where you go. I
like it.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
All right, very good.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Uh well, that's what we mark you down for giant
jigsaw puzzle. Awesome stuff. As always, I do appreciate the time,
and we'll see you next week.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
What are the results of that pull? By the way,
do you do you know what though? I'm really curious
where people are pulling.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
On that pretty lopsided.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Fifty five point two percent say have the team take
a cooking class? Uh? Yeah, nineteen point six percent say
show and tell, uh, fourteen percent say untangle a human knot,
and just over eleven percent say giant jigsaw puzzle.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
Wow. I'm in the full minority. Nobody else thinks the
giant jigsaw puzzle is fun or interesting. What's interesting about
them taking a cooking class together.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
That's the thing I don't understand.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
I was reading this woman's website and she's like, Yeah,
something you could do for bonding is you know, everybody
takes a cooking class, but then everybody has to, like,
you know, help cook.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
It's like a giant holemech project.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
And uh maybe because we have young kids, I've done
a lot of jigsaw puzzles over the last seven years,
so I'm kind of pro jigsaw puzzle too.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Yeah, I am, I am as well. Well. Anyway, I'm
I appreciate that. That's a great question, and I look
forward to seeing if the results may be change after
after this really influential discussion of it. All right, man,
thank you, as always, everybody.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Paul Danner Junior covers the Bengals four, the Athletic.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
He's got a podcast, and like a good one, not
like you know how everybody has a podcast and then
only a few people have good ones.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Paul is a good one. The Growler.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Go get it where you get your podcast, including the
iHeartRadio app, and of course follow him on x at
Paul Danner Junior.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
We are way late, twenty minutes away from four o'clock.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
We're at Buffalo Wild Wings in Hamilton, home of the
six for nineteen ninety nine deal which I am taking
advantage of before six o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati
Sports station
It's going down in Big d.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Oho, spikes the ball at the back of the outside.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Sag Taylor's Orange and Black march into Texas for a
lone star showdown with the Cowboys, Ya Tavahak Chops under
the ground, the Bengals high flying offense overpower the Dallas.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Defense secured a two per BacT check.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Get a cool from Dangerous Dan Hood and Mighty Dave.
Coverage begins Monday at three on ESPN fifteen thirty, the
official home of the Bengals.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
What's up, Good afternoon on a legger. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty. Thank you so much for joining us.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Hopefully you're having a great Tuesday.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
After good We are back in Hamilton at Buffalo Wild Wings, Bridgewaterfalls.
We broadcast from here about two months ago and had
a great time to staf here. Very hospitable, a large room,
a great room, and you can take advantage of all
sorts of stuff like the six for nineteen ninety nine
deal right, you've got two entrees, two two fountain drinks
(01:01):
for nineteen ninety nine. You could get by one, get
one half off traditional Wings. You can get a five
dollars bud light tall. You could take advantage of all
sorts of bud Light specials. You could win a prize
thanks to our friends at bud Light. And all you
gonna do is is get here between now and six o'clock.
Very easy to get to if you're in the Hamilton
Fairfield area. Come on out and see us maybe when
(01:22):
you get off work. We are here till six o'clock.
We have a lot of ground to cover and a
lot of Bengals stuff today, some college football, some college hoops.
Jesse Winker, I guess might come back and play for
the Reds in an effort to redo the twenty twenty
one team. I'm in favor of this though, and I'll
explain why. Two words for you. I'll tell you what
they are in the four o'clock hour. And I want
(01:44):
Ohio State to win the national title. I'll explain why
coming up in just a bit. We also have to
have a tough conversation about a Bengals player.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
But first, our buddy Paul Danner Jr. Usually joins us in.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Person on Tuesdays, whether we're in studio or here in
Buffalo Wild Wings. He has personal obligations so not able
to sit next to me here at Buffalo wild Wings,
but kind enough to give us a few minutes on
the phone. He's with the Athletic dot Com. He's with
the Growler podcast. He is the host.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
Latest edition Balls Don't Lie came out a short while ago.
Go get that. Follow Paul on X at Paul Danner Jr.
Speaker 4 (02:19):
How you doing doing good?
Speaker 3 (02:22):
No?
Speaker 4 (02:22):
I always feel empty not sitting next to you. We
don't get our time together, and I feel a bit lost,
but I'm I'm still happy to be here. So I'm
is the cooler? Do you guys giving away the cooler
or what's the what do you got over there to do?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Well?
Speaker 2 (02:37):
You know the way it works. I'll pull back the curtain.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
If there's the the upcoming Sunday there's a Bengals home game,
we give away tickets. And if the upcoming Sunday is
not a Bengals home game, which obviously this one is not,
it's it's the cooler, and so the cooler right now
probably a hotter commodity than the tickets.
Speaker 4 (02:57):
It's a nice cooler. I would say, the value with
its certainly rising pass the tickets pretty quickly. It's a
nice cooler.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
We took our I got one of those coolers.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
We took it to my sister in laws for Thanksgiving,
and I probably could have sold that for like four
hundred bucks, so I didn't because then I would have
had all the stuff. But I mean, yeah, that's that
cooler is a a hot commodity. Uh where do you
want to begin?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah, you want to you want to talk about the
game itself on Sunday? You want to talk about who's
gonna get fun? I mean, what, like, there's lots of
different directions we can go in.
Speaker 3 (03:30):
I didn't know if you were chomping at the bit
to like just go into one one specific area.
Speaker 4 (03:36):
I'm I'm not chomping at the bit. Today's podcast is
an hour and twenty minutes. You know, we've just kind
of gone all over this, and I've written multiple pieces
sort of about the defense that we've been talking about
it four months. It was kind of I guess maybe
(03:56):
the crescendo a little bit, wasn't it of this defensive
storyline over the course of this year for it to
be Russell Wilson and Pittsburgh and all of that. So
I'm happy to continue going in on the defense because
I'm pretty sure there's very few aspects of it that
I haven't got my thoughts together on at this point.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Well so for me, I think there are good conversations
to have about lou Anarumo and Sunday really felt like
the bottoming out for him as DC. And when there's
a bottoming out, typically there's a goodbye, right, there's a
dismissal and a search for a new defensive coordinator. But
I fear that if I focus on that too much,
(04:36):
it ignores what you and I talked about on your
podcast today, which is a defense that just doesn't have anybody.
And I was listening after the game and you were
busy going down to the locker room. I was listening
to Dan Horde's postgame comments on the radio network with
Wayne box Miller, and he was just talking about the
lack of difference makers, and all due respect to Dan,
I'm like difference makers. I just want guys I can
(04:57):
put out there that aren't gonna screw up, And that
to me, is what Sunday was about. We'll talk about
lou and he talked at length with you guys yesterday,
but if you needed, if you needed evidence more evidence
that defensively, the cupboard is about bear just put on
the tape of Sunday's game.
Speaker 4 (05:19):
Yeah no, And I think that's where the ultimate decision
and the conversation about lou Ana Rumo will come from,
is what is this What is the root of this problem?
Is this the root of a problem where the players
just aren't good enough that you're asking a coordinator who
is been accomplished, who has done great things here, who
(05:42):
has turned out some of the best defenses that you've
had in terms of individual runs to the Super Bowl,
in terms of really totality of that twenty two season,
and you're gonna tell me that he doesn't know what
he's doing right now. There's a lot of different ways
you can go in there, but the end of it
is are the players that bad or were the players
(06:05):
put in front of him struggling to develop because there's
some kind of a disconnect there. I mean, the answer
that the Bengals front office or Zach Taylor or a
combination of all of them comes up with in regards
to that topic is probably where you get your decision
of what ends up happening there. But to me, you're right,
(06:26):
I mean, at face value you're looking at right now,
you know you don't have piece think about how many
different people made plays in that time frame that we're
talking about for this defense in twenty one, in twenty
two when they were I mean, you would have Trey
hendrickson one day, you'd have a Jesse Bates pick. You'd
(06:47):
have Von Bell popping the ball out in New England.
You'd have Logan Wilson was all over the place, he
had all these interceptions, and you'd have twa Use was
playing like a number one shutdown corner. And you know,
Mike Hilton was the best slot in football, and Sam
Hubbard was doing it all and DJ Reader might be
(07:08):
the best defensive tackle there is. Like those were every
single week. I used to call that team they were inevitable,
right like they were gonna find some kind of a
way because they had so many guys that wanted to
make that play and could make that play. This team
has nobody that can make that play right now, Nobody,
at least nobody that is making that play outside of
(07:30):
the guy that wears number ninety one and sees three
different blockers in front of him every time he tries
to go to the quarterback. So you're just in an
impossible spot. You at some point you have to have
somebody who can go out there and win one on one.
This is a This is a player's game. Man. You
can scheme all you want and be a wizard all
(07:51):
you want. You're doing that to create one on ones.
You know, you know you're gonna get a free runner
a couple times a game, and they can't win. They
can't create enough of them. And there's clearly a disconnect
in understanding situations in the game, awareness of angles, of
(08:11):
what they're supposed to be doing, and then you throw
in some of the stuff that you know they might
contend otherwise. I see poor effort on tape. They don't
see it as much. That's fine, I know what I
am looking at. You know all of that together, you know,
there's blame everywhere. Everybody's got their hand in the cookie jars.
(08:33):
Kind of been my line this year. There's there's nobody
that doesn't have a part in this. But you know
it's I think inevitably there is a lot of like
for whatever reason it is, certainly they don't have anywhere
near enough good players on that side of the wall.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
So you you reference the E word, and I will
admit to you I'm I'm always very hesitant to question
a professional athletes effort because it's what they do, and
I think that is sometimes the easy default that people take,
and I think it's lazy and I think it's unfair
in many cases. You know as well as anybody, how
(09:12):
hard these guys work, what it means to them. They're professionals,
and don't I don't love questioning a professional's effort, but
a lot of people have gone there. How much is
effort of problems, specifically on defense.
Speaker 4 (09:26):
I don't think it's a problem for this defense. I
thought it showed up at times on Sunday and by effort,
I think there's an extra level. DJ Reader he used
to call it that strain, that extra that you were
willing to do that you knew the guy across from you, wasn't.
I love talking to DJ Reader all the time. I
missed him. I missed your DJ.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
I miss him.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
He would talk Yeah, I know, yeah, some are the
guys that used to play next to him, but he
would he would talk about that extra strain, and that
became such a personality of the defense. Right when he
was there, they all had that. They were flying to
the ball constantly, and you look, we've seen some of
the plays this year. I mean the game in Baltimore
(10:12):
where you've got the like chasing lay half push out
the side. I mean, we've seen these plays. So it's
not that there don't care or they're not trying. It's
that strain. It's that extra effort. It's that every little
bit to the last second by all eleven guys out there.
And I'll go I'll go back to von Bell and
(10:34):
something that leuen Orromeau referenced yesterday about how von Bell
helped build this thing and talking about not just the
Ac Chamison game but the hit on Juju Smith Schuster.
It's just from a personality, from an attitude of that
extra strain to make that big hit, to chase it
down to be just tenacious, where every player is showing
(10:57):
that every play. And I just don't think you see
that at all out of this defense. So it's not
that they're not trying or they don't want to. And
and they you know this, certainly Loui yesterday via me
Lea disagreed with any idea that there's a missing want
to or that his message isn't getting through. But like
that strange stuff, that extra level of everyone doing that
(11:19):
every play. I mean, you're not seeing that right now,
and I think that's a big difference, uh, when you
talk about the difference between those teams and where this
team is at right now.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
I have taught you very little, and you've taught me
a lot about the Bengals about football. But if there's
one thing I have taught you, it's that the most
basic radio trick is if you want the guest to
stick around for a segment, you ask them on the
air because I gotta I gotta get a break in. Typically,
if you're with me in studio or here at beat ups,
(11:51):
you know you're here for an hour and so we
just talk for an hour, but you know you're you're
on the phone right So it's I've got to ask
you to stick around for another segment. But you know
the trick I'm employing here because whenever you ask the
guests on air to stick around for another segment, they're
compelled to say yes because they don't want to be
the bad guy. They don't want to create an awkward conversation.
So I know I'm doing that, but I have a
(12:13):
lot more that I want to ask you. So do
you mind sticking around?
Speaker 4 (12:16):
Well, this does challenge my my core belief that the
next time this happened to me, I really wanted to
be the one to be the bad guy and be like, look,
I clearly have better things to do, but I won't.
I know, I mean, I would be happy to. It
would be my joy and pleasure to come back for
toms you want.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
When you're on with the guys down the Hall, do
they ever ask you to stick around for another segment?
Speaker 2 (12:40):
Say no to them.
Speaker 4 (12:43):
I will. I will make sure to do that. That's
officially on my list.
Speaker 2 (12:46):
Now, hang tight. Paul Danner Jr.
Speaker 3 (12:50):
Covering the Bengals for The Athletic and the Growler podcast.
Latest episode Baalds Don't Lie, by the way, and you've got.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Like an extra episode now which Charlie go Smith.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Yeah, yeah, Charlie is doing a rewatch reaction show with
me on Mondays where he go We got to pour
through what we are reactions to the initial rewatch, which
is what we used to do just hanging out inside
of the media room on Mondays. So now we're just
going to report it while we do it.
Speaker 3 (13:17):
That popped up in my YouTube feed last night and
was a pleasant surprise, So go catch that and then
watch balls don't lie too.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
It is twenty minutes after three o'clock. Paul Danner Junior.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
I'm here at Buffalo Wild Wings in Hamilton, Bridgewater Falls
here till six on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Twenty five after three.
Speaker 3 (13:37):
This is esp AND fifteen thirty broadcasting today from Buffalo
Wild Wings.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
In Hamilton in Bridgewater Falls. I love coming up here.
Speaker 3 (13:45):
Woman's applauding, so we've managed to keep her interested for
twenty five minutes, which is a minor miracle.
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Paul Danner Junior is here.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
Covers the Cincinnati Bengals for the Athletic and Theathletic dot
Com and hosts of the Growler podcast and uh on
x at Paul Dander, Am I leaving anything out with you?
Speaker 4 (14:06):
No? Thank goodness, O, thank goodness. I mean, I don't
think there needs to be any more than there already is.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
You know, there are some folks I have on the
air where it's like I mentioned all like five or
six things they do, and invariably I leave something else
I didn't. I didn't want to do that with you.
Speaker 4 (14:21):
No, I'm not offended. No, you've covered it all, and
I don't I don't plan on adding anymore anytime soon.
Very good?
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Is this it for Lui Ana Romo?
Speaker 4 (14:34):
It sure feels like it, right, I mean it does.
It's hard to see a world where you just say
run it back. You know, you got to look at
the situation and the standard disclaimers of why this place
is different than most. This coaching staff has benefited from
(14:55):
patients with them over the years, and and and pointed
out that, you know, there's not a lot of places
that would have given it to them, and they paid
they felt like they paid it off back in after
the nineteen and twenty seasons. That's obviously a very different
situation than this one. That was them building from scratch
something that was going to take time. This is they
(15:18):
have been the builders for a long time now, this
is their house, and and so it just makes it
certainly feel different. I we've seen many years, Mo, You've
been around here as long as I have, where it
seems like there's no path for anybody, whether it be coach, player, assistant,
head coach, whatever. And all of a sudden, a couple
(15:40):
of games at the end of the season and there's
a thought that figured it out and things are trending
in the right direction, and turn it around and next thing,
you know, there's continuity and and and we know how
that has traditionally turned out. So I'm certainly I don't
think anything is definitive. I don't think any is decided
(16:01):
or maybe even thoroughly talk through at this point. But yeah,
I think it does feel like it seems really hard
when you consider how bad, how historical, how frustrating it's
been for Joe Burrow to see this all happen. There's
just there's just no way there isn't some version of
(16:24):
a fall guy here. And when you have all of
these picks, you know, we continue to reference, you know,
these nine top one hundred picks that they've given them
over the last few years, and really getting very little
out of any of them, you know, it just feels
like all of that needs some sort of a new
(16:44):
voice and new direction and just a true blow it up,
fresh start. That doesn't mean that that's where this ends,
but it sure seems like it's trending pretty hard in
that direction.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
Will he be one of these defensive coordinators that's like
out of job for five minutes and just be fielding
a whole slew of offers.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Boy, I gotta tell you if I was, if I
was a head coach in the AF two s H,
I would certainly be considering. I don't. I think he
should have plenty of offers. I think he has proven
himself as understanding how to run a defense in this league,
how to do it at a high level, how to
win you games in the biggest spot, and how to
(17:27):
slow down Patrick Mahomes, amongst others. Right when he's when
he's had when he's had the firepower on his side,
when he's had it to play with, man, they they've
just been great. I mean, and had a legion of
players that believe in and at every stuff that he's been.
So yeah, I I certainly would be stunned. I mean,
(17:49):
he was rightfully up for head coaching jobs very recently.
I mean, that wasn't a thing that was that was
made up. There were multiple teams pursuing and pursuing hard.
There's so much turnover in this league from a coordinator's side,
offensive and defense every year, and it feels like every
year or two half the league has already turned over.
(18:10):
There's gonna be lots of spots, and if you're looking
for somebody that knows what they're doing, that has a
recent history of success and success against the people that
you probably are most interested in beating. Yeah, I would
have a hard time seeing that he wouldn't quickly be
a coordinator again.
Speaker 3 (18:26):
So we've watched players move on where it felt like,
you know what, it's time to move on, and then
they go and succeed elsewhere, and then we rip them
for letting that player walk.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
So like lu Go go somewhere else.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
And he's Loana Roumo again and he's coaching the defense
up and it's achieving good results.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
We're not going to do the same thing with him.
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Yeah we are. You know it would. It's part of
the reason you do is because of what's currently happening.
And you know, like you talked about this for when
the Lord knows how many times we've all talked about
this before. Whether you're talking about Jesse Bates, you're talking
about Andrew Whitworth, you're talking about DJ Reader, it's not
about them leaving. It's about the lack of what happens
(19:09):
from their replacements. And if lou leaves and the defense
still struggles with the current group of players or whatever
reconstructive group they put together. Yeah, it shows that it
was the players. The conversation we started this with back
in the beginning of this hour, like what is it?
Is it the players, is it the coach? Is it
the combination of both? Well, it certainly could be very
(19:30):
possible that whoever comes in next looks at it and says,
what is this and doesn't get what he needs and
suddenly we're saying, well, I guess it was the players,
and so yeah, of course, I mean that's very real possibility.
And well you have to see how it eventually plays out,
but you could see that.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
So a few more on that'lllectch run.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
This is the time of year now because the Bengals
have a four and eight record, we have to start
talking about business decisions. I have a business decisions question,
all right, So if your bow knicks, do you tell
Sean Payton like, Hey, I'm not feeling it because you
want to set out these next two games to ensure
that you're healthy when you play the Bengals week seventeen.
Speaker 4 (20:15):
Yeah, that's the business decision you're talking about. Is everybody
just changing their entire setup to make sure that they're
rudy for their big Bengals game.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Did you see some of the throws that kid?
Speaker 4 (20:26):
You see?
Speaker 2 (20:27):
Yeah, do you see some of the throws that dude
was making last night?
Speaker 3 (20:30):
Like I'm watching that going Gino Stone will be there
to make that play, and you know, Cam Taylor Brett,
they'll be over there to make that. Black guy's gonna
throw for eight hundred yards. If I'm bow Knicks, I'm
telling Sean Payton, like I got this.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
We'll be good.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
I'll go there. We'll score fifty six points even if
we lose these next two. But I need to be
on the field in Cincinnati to play against that secondary.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
But some of his throws won't be as impressive when
there's actually no one even in the area, right, Like
some of the stuff that made those throws impressive was
that the windows were small, and he you know, avoided
a bunch of you know, potential stacks in order to
make the play. Well, when you don't have to worry
about that, it just looks like almost like you're just
out there doing routes on air in August. So it's
(21:11):
not going to be quite as impressive as you think.
And a bonus, when do they stup like Bonix only
puts up like, you know, three hundred and fifty yards
pass and you're like, yeah, I.
Speaker 3 (21:21):
Mean Russ went over four hundred mm hmm, yeah with
that screen game that apparently nobody had ever employed before.
In all seriousness, when when do the business decisions begin?
Because he here's where we were at the point that
we talked about the Bengals hopefully not being at this
past summer as it relates specifically to T Higgins, and
(21:43):
maybe you could apply this to Jamar Chase and perhaps
a handful of others as well. Right, Like, there were
those wondering about T Higgins, like, you know, is he
is he gonna make a business decision, which, by the way,
have come to loathe that term.
Speaker 2 (21:55):
But is he suddenly going to come up with an injury?
Speaker 3 (21:57):
And people were doing that when he you know, pulled
up lay right before the opener, I felt that was
drastically unfair. And you and I talked about this, and
you know, my take was T Higgins has always been
a gamer. T Higgins always been a guy that you know,
I'd go back to New Year's Eve last year putting
himself back on the field when he was obviously not one.
But that game meant everything. These games moving forward me nothing.
(22:18):
So here we are, do the business decisions.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
Begin, the discussion of them rightfully begin, and and and
if you're T Higgins again, and we've we've said this,
what he has every right. Uh, if this season doesn't
mean anything, and there's two games left and he's looking
at an off season of his life in front of him,
(22:42):
and the team that didn't want to pay him wants
him to play, he doesn't have to do that, and
no one should would probably fault him otherwise, Certainly the
other thirty one teams would not care. It would not
affect his evaluation in free agency one dime if he
chose to that. And so that's gonna be probably the
(23:05):
biggest one. I think that that you would that you
would look at and I don't think anybody would fault him.
That's what you get when you don't pay a guy
when you could have, and you didn't value him at
the level that he felt like he was valued. And
now the season doesn't mean anything and he doesn't gain
anything out of it anymore. Yeah, I think that's rightful.
I don't know what he'll do. I don't know that
he knows what he'll do. I probably has some thoughts
(23:27):
on it, but you know, I think, yeah, once you
get to the last couple of games of the season
and you feel like you've done what you wanted to do,
I could see somebody like him certainly the rest. I
think there's a lot of people that are still have
things that they're playing for, whether it be positions, whether
it be proving a point, whether it be stats. There's
stuff there.
Speaker 3 (23:46):
Yeah, like what's what's the what's the Bengals record for
most mistackles in a season?
Speaker 2 (23:49):
Because Gino Stone might chase it, chase it down?
Speaker 4 (23:53):
Yeah, absolutely, no for it.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Yeah, do you think they would like you?
Speaker 4 (23:57):
But or or the or the really the battle for
most misstackles on this team. I mean you talk about
man as the best. I mean, if you can beat
out Jermaine Pratt, who's right on his heels right now,
or whoever to to take that crown, that's one where
you say, man, I was the worst tackler on one
(24:18):
of the worst tackling teams that we've ever seen in
franchise history. Like, you know, trophy trophy up high.
Speaker 3 (24:25):
Is that something like are you're still ahead of the
Pro Football Writers Chapter here, right.
Speaker 4 (24:31):
I'm I'm I'm part of it.
Speaker 3 (24:33):
So you could like commission like a statue, like if
a guy like lunging and missing a tackle, and like
the yeah we have like.
Speaker 4 (24:40):
The Media Cooperation Award formerly known like the Good Guy Award,
there's a plaque. Right. I would be definitely for the
the with Tackle Trophy if we could find a way
to make that happen. That feels very possible. It's certainly
something I'd be willing to invest in.
Speaker 3 (24:59):
Well, if ginos Stone, let's say it was a home
game and he breaks this the franchise record for most
mistackles in a single season, would would they like?
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Would they stop the game? Would it be something on
the video board?
Speaker 4 (25:12):
Like? How would that work? That would be great? Could
we two minute montage of all of the mistackles in
slow motion with like one shining moment playing in the
background for this? I think we're onto something right here.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
And and one more thing really quick, so you know
the they brought the ping pong table back into the
locker room last week.
Speaker 2 (25:33):
It didn't work. So I was on a website about like.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Corporate team building activities, and I found the four that
I liked the most, and I put it as a
poll question, but I wanted your input on what the
next team building exercise slash Gimmicks should be. A giant
jigsaw puzzle, show and tell, have everybody untangle a human
(25:59):
knot or a cooking class.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
Wow, wow, I would say, yeah, I think the uh oh, well,
that's a really hard one. I think the giant jigsaw puzzle.
That's what I want to see. And I want to
see the offense and defense all have to work together,
you know, right and and and then like you know,
(26:23):
the defense is in charge of the edges, but like
can't finish it, and the offense is mad because they
finished the middle, but they got nowhere to hook it
up to, right, Like, you get all of that and
they can start working out their problems that way. I like.
I like the idea of that. I think that's the
things where you I think that's where you go. I
like it.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
All right, very good.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Uh well, that's what we mark you down for giant
jigsaw puzzle. Awesome stuff. As always, I do appreciate the time,
and we'll see you next week.
Speaker 4 (26:49):
What are the results of that pull? By the way,
do you do you know what though? I'm really curious
where people are pulling.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
On that pretty lopsided.
Speaker 3 (26:56):
Fifty five point two percent say have the team take
a cooking class? Uh? Yeah, nineteen point six percent say
show and tell, uh, fourteen percent say untangle a human knot,
and just over eleven percent say giant jigsaw puzzle.
Speaker 4 (27:15):
Wow. I'm in the full minority. Nobody else thinks the
giant jigsaw puzzle is fun or interesting. What's interesting about
them taking a cooking class together.
Speaker 2 (27:24):
That's the thing I don't understand.
Speaker 3 (27:25):
I was reading this woman's website and she's like, Yeah,
something you could do for bonding is you know, everybody
takes a cooking class, but then everybody has to, like,
you know, help cook.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
It's like a giant holemech project.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
And uh maybe because we have young kids, I've done
a lot of jigsaw puzzles over the last seven years,
so I'm kind of pro jigsaw puzzle too.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
Yeah, I am, I am as well. Well. Anyway, I'm
I appreciate that. That's a great question, and I look
forward to seeing if the results may be change after
after this really influential discussion of it. All right, man,
thank you, as always, everybody.
Speaker 2 (28:03):
Paul Danner Junior covers the Bengals four, the Athletic.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
He's got a podcast, and like a good one, not
like you know how everybody has a podcast and then
only a few people have good ones.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Paul is a good one. The Growler.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Go get it where you get your podcast, including the
iHeartRadio app, and of course follow him on x at
Paul Danner Junior.
Speaker 2 (28:19):
We are way late, twenty minutes away from four o'clock.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
We're at Buffalo Wild Wings in Hamilton, home of the
six for nineteen ninety nine deal which I am taking
advantage of before six o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati
Sports station
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