December 24, 2025 • 14 mins
Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic and The Growler Podcast joined us to discuss the Cincinnati Bengals, since that's the team he covers.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
We got to get right. So we're at Bockley Greenstuld
six o'clock, thrilled to be here at pub Life five o'clock.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Happy.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
How Paul Dana Junior Brump, the Athletic and the Growler
Podcast is with us, Paul awesome. We have a lot
to talk about. First of all, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Merry Christmas. How are you doing tho, I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I'm you know, I'm doing better than expected, especially because
this Bengal season has been miserable. Here's what I'm excited about.
I get a couple of days away, and you do
as well. From doing the psychoanalysis of Joe Burrow, and
that's what Sunday's win provided. A respirate from psychoanalysis.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yes, we don't have to take the temperature of how
Joe Burrow is feeling, which is happiness scale today.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
And we can just kind.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Of enjoy a day where everybody was definitely happy. Everything
looked the way that you would expect it to look.
They played like an offense that is built to win
a lot of games, even though it hasn't won many
this year, and you can just sort of accept that
for what it is right now.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
So what is the best way to process Sunday?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
You know, bittersweetness? This is what it could have been,
This is what it can be. Is that they're going
to use late season success to cloud their decision making,
is that they're going to screw up their draft positioning.
How should I process Sunday?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well, I think there's different aspects to all of that.
The draftsitioning thing you can miss me with that I
don't really like. First of all, the draft is not
that great in the top ten anyway, so you're going
to be seeing a lot of similar prospects in the
middle and come on, man, these guys need to go
win games.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
There's too many. I'm just I'm not doing that.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
But I will say I think the lens it is
bitter sweet because this is what it was supposed to
look like. I mean, the Bengals, even in their best times,
haven't eviscerated teams like that. I mean, that's that is
the way they played offense, defense. Special to all of
it together is the way it's supposed to look on
a team that is capable of making.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
A run in January.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
And here they are at the end of December looking
like a team capable of making a run in January,
but none of it matters because everything that happened over
the course of the season, and that is bittersweet and
that's a little hard to swallow. But I will say this,
I don't think it's meaningless. You do worry. What you
mentioned is the biggest concern of all of this is
that it's like, well, I see all of these players playing, well,
(02:27):
they're coming along. We're just gonna bet on them next
year and run the whole thing back. I mean, I
think there's very clear positions linebacker, defensive line that have
to have significant, you know, a raising of the boats
happening there. Like there's got to be some higher level
play veterans brought in that can be reliable and bring
(02:51):
you some juice and let the players that are currently
here either find a way to play above them or
b role players, which is probably kind of where they
They just need a couple more starting level players in there.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
That said, this entire year was going to be.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Based on the development of all of these young defensive players,
and it had to happen at some point, and here
we are.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
It didn't happen fast enough.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Everything that happened in the first ten games of the
season or whatever happened.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
There's no way around that.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
But I think the important element to look at it is, look,
you're seeing these young pieces start to actually look like
they are individually developing and taking a next step. And
that's not just from one game, that's from a continued
trend this whole second half of the season.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Did Duke Tobin actually oversee a successful twenty twenty three draft?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
It's like you're reading my notebook right now.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I have a whole story, a whole story that is
I'm a about to have published for tomorrow on the
success of the twenty twenty three draft and more importantly,
the opportunity to affords the Bengals to change how they
operate and to look at things differently. Yes, they absolutely
had a successful twenty twenty three draft. I mean, if
(04:14):
you're talking about what constitutes a good draft, you're talking
about what you want to get three starters out of it,
and that's like, man, that's a good draft. You know,
that's just the way that. However, you got to find
a way to do that. They have far more than that.
I mean you're talking Miles Murphy, DJ Turner. I mean
they look like real, solid level pieces. Jordan Battle is
(04:37):
a part of this team's future. Certainly he seems undeniably
going to be a starter for them next year. Chase
Brown is a top running back in this league. Andre
Yosubasi is a solid three or four receiver, however you
want to view him. Like to find those pieces that's
real value. I mean, that is a good draft. It
(05:00):
took till year three. Sometimes it takes to year three
for guys to come around, but yeah, I think you
looked at that way. But now their extension eligible, Now
you're gonna see this. How are they gonna do this?
Is it gonna look like t Higgins and Jesse Bates
and the Jamar Chase stuff? That was all the off
field drama and trade requests and bickering over how good
(05:23):
they actually are or are we going to see an
Eagles style early investment in some of these guys.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
These are hits. They look to be coming together, like
you're seeing that.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Go out and pay these guys before next season starts
and get those done and avoid all of the bickering
and off.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Field stuff that happens. I think what we have now
is an.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Opportunity for them to say, hey, look, we are doing
some things differently.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Now, will that happen? I'm probably not holding my breath.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
On a lot of it, but I do think it's
a great opportunity to do some of the things that
maybe Joe Burrow is referencing, do things a little differently,
little more creative. This would seem to maybe be an
opportunity to do some of that with a couple of
these guys from that track.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, man, you know to me this this certainly doesn't
let Duke Tobin off the proverbial hook. Whatever amount of
criticism he has gotten, I believe he is deserved. I
certainly believe his role with the organization should be examined.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
But I'm also a.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Believer in giving credit words to and admittedly it's taken
Miles Murphy longer than a lot of us would like.
It's maybe taking Jordan Battle longer than a lot of
us would like. I certainly wouldn't use him as you
know somebody that, hey, we're not going to take a
safety because we have Jordan Battle. But he's played well.
Chase Brown is terrific. DJ Turner should be a pro bowler.
Andrea Yoshabas for a sixth rounder from Princeton was an
(06:42):
excellent pick or all five of those guys players that
could still be here in twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
I you know that to be seen, I think it's possible.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
You get I mean, you get into the dynamics of
can you pay everybody?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
How much do they want? Wantuh?
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Is there going to be a franchise tag decision of
all of those things? You know, Miles Murphy, if your option.
There's a lot of dynamics and ways to go about it,
and so all of them, I mean, yeah, I think
I think a good amount of them. I think they've
got to find a way to do draft, develop Britain
and still be about that and prove it they're about
that and this is the best way to do it.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
There's a I mean a long way.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
To go to get to that, right certainly, and a
lot of things that happened, But I do think that
they have the ability to do it, and it's a
chance for them to prove what they really want to
be about in terms of how they build their roster
by making sure that a vast majority of those guys
are around for the long haul.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
All right, So I read your mind. I know what
you're going to write about now, I want to talk
about what you did write about. I didn't think and
I you know, the big takeaway for me after the
Denver game, same basic point in the season last year,
though they were playing for something, was T Higgins is
cemented as able love figure forever. That's before he signs
in the second contract. That's before we see him do
(08:04):
what he did this past week, culminating with his performance
on Sunday. I think there's a good conversation about whether
or not he should have been out there. That's fine,
But the fact that in the game that had no
bearing on the playoff race, in a season that has
gone awry, you have a dude doing everything he can
to get on the field and then contributing and playing
his ass off like.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
This is I've said this before.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I'm not sure there's a more beloved player than T
Higgins and I've had people say really, and I go, dude,
you it's it's not just that he's good, it's it's
dragging himself on the field against Kansas City in the
game they had to have a couple of years ago.
It's willingly playing second banana behind Jamar Chase which a
lot of guys wouldn't do. It's what we saw this
past week, culminating with his performance against Miami.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, I mean just talking to him afterwards and him
discussing the process and how hard it was. You know,
I just sort of asked him because I can't imagine
what it's like to be getting on a plane flying
to Pittsburgh knowing that you're about to see a concussion
specialist and wondering what they're gonna tell you, and how
(09:11):
hard that must be to go through, and to go
through it all with the idea of wanting to go
be out there and playing the seemingly meaningless game, and
then to go out there and do it like that,
to be thankful to even have been a part of it,
to have played well, and to care about being out
there and being.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
A part of this.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
These are the type of guys you invest in. These
the type of guys you want their locker room. It's
topic guys they don't have probably enough of that. The
team matters that much, being a good teammate, being accountable,
being available matters that much to Tea and doing it
the right way like this was not haphazard. I'm going
(09:51):
to go out there and try to play through it,
because I don't want to ever diminish. It's very murky
waters talking about that, but going through it and making
sure everybody, including the top specialists in that field, has
said it's okay, and going out there and then embracing
and saying I want to go do it. Nobody and
guys said this afterwards. Nobody would have given I would
(10:13):
have cared at all if he would have said, I'm done,
I'm done with this year.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I've got these concussions.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I just want to make sure I'm right, and no
one would everyone would totally understand it. But the fact
that he did do it, I think proved how much
he is about this team, how much he does care
about their success, and how much he cares about being
a good teammate, and that wins you games.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Read Paul's piece on t Higgins in the aftermath of
that game on Sunday The Athletic dot Com. Paul Danner
Junior from The Athletic and the Growler podcast. I am
going to make, admittedly a very clumsy transition to something
that is unfortunately not anywhere close to as fun as
what we have been talking about. You guys on the
Bengals Beat are really close knit and you compete with
(10:55):
each other, but you enjoy each other's company, You help
each other, you do each other's podcasts. It's awesome to
watch and I think we as fans get to benefit
from it. Your podcasting partner and your close friend, Jay
Morrison is going through something right now that Zach Taylor
was classy enough to reference during his press conference yesterday.
And I want to spend a few minutes on Jay
(11:16):
lost his wife and this was totally unexpected. Jay covers
the Bengals for Bengals Talk dot com. He's part of
the Growler podcast with Paul. You guys are kind enough
to let me join you guys, and I don't really
add anything, but it's fun to be with you. Jay
is a sweetheart of a human being. I know fans
who read his work and listen and watch listen to
(11:36):
and watch his work our heartbroken for him. You're very
close to him. He's going through an awful time. This
is a long winded preamble into me asking you to
just spend a few minutes talking about Jay and what
he and his family are going through right now.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I mean it's I've yeah, I mean I've known Jay
for so long I can't even tell you when I
first met him.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
But when you met him, you knew how in love
he was.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Like we always you know, there's always like a joke
you could make about you know, you see some couples
out here and yeah they're married, but man, they're they're
faking it right, Like that's not that's not a real one.
And and and but that was never the case with
Jay and Nikki. I mean these were best friends, partners.
They did everything together.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
They went out.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You know, we would always talk about all the concerts
and that became a running gag of what show they
were going to and where they were because they loved
each other's company and they were really truly there for
each other. And so for something like this unexpected to happen,
it's just at any time, it's heartbreaking. But for it
(12:45):
to be like this, you just feel for Jay, who
was literally someone who would do anything for anyone. I mean,
this is the guy who will go and he'll take
care of his friends when they're sick or their moms
are cut cut grass, and for forbody who can't do
it right now or like literally anything you would ever need,
he would go above and be on to do anything
(13:06):
for you.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
It just makes it hurt all that much more.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
And he's just such a good dude, and and you
just are You're broken for him.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
We all are. It's it's a it hits all of
us hard.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Because we we knew Nikki, we knew how much in
love they were. So it's it's tough where you know
what we we this is why I love Cincinnati, man.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
We rally around our people, man.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
And what we have seen and heard and the support
that has been directed towards Jay from people just in town,
people that are in the NFL, people that that listen
to our program and just feel connected to it, it
has been overwhelming, and I'm so happy to see it.
And I can't wait for us to, once the dust
settles on this, come up with a way that we
(13:54):
can find a way to really support even further.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
But it's so amazing to see the amount.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Of support that he has out there, because it is
it's it's just it's it's just awful in every way imaginable.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Right now.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, I hope in some way he's he's comforted by
the outpouring of support and the outpouring of love that
he is getting from folks that he knows and folks
that simply know him.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Uh, hope you.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Have a great Christmas. Thanks for everything, and uh we'll
talk next week. Man, thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
May Christmas Mo
We got to get right. So we're at Bockley Greenstuld
six o'clock, thrilled to be here at pub Life five o'clock.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Happy.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
How Paul Dana Junior Brump, the Athletic and the Growler
Podcast is with us, Paul awesome. We have a lot
to talk about. First of all, Merry Christmas.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
Merry Christmas. How are you doing tho, I'm doing well.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
I'm you know, I'm doing better than expected, especially because
this Bengal season has been miserable. Here's what I'm excited about.
I get a couple of days away, and you do
as well. From doing the psychoanalysis of Joe Burrow, and
that's what Sunday's win provided. A respirate from psychoanalysis.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Yes, we don't have to take the temperature of how
Joe Burrow is feeling, which is happiness scale today.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
And we can just kind.
Speaker 2 (00:46):
Of enjoy a day where everybody was definitely happy. Everything
looked the way that you would expect it to look.
They played like an offense that is built to win
a lot of games, even though it hasn't won many
this year, and you can just sort of accept that
for what it is right now.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
So what is the best way to process Sunday?
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Is it?
Speaker 1 (01:09):
You know, bittersweetness? This is what it could have been,
This is what it can be. Is that they're going
to use late season success to cloud their decision making,
is that they're going to screw up their draft positioning.
How should I process Sunday?
Speaker 2 (01:24):
Well, I think there's different aspects to all of that.
The draftsitioning thing you can miss me with that I
don't really like. First of all, the draft is not
that great in the top ten anyway, so you're going
to be seeing a lot of similar prospects in the
middle and come on, man, these guys need to go
win games.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
There's too many. I'm just I'm not doing that.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
But I will say I think the lens it is
bitter sweet because this is what it was supposed to
look like. I mean, the Bengals, even in their best times,
haven't eviscerated teams like that. I mean, that's that is
the way they played offense, defense. Special to all of
it together is the way it's supposed to look on
a team that is capable of making.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
A run in January.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
And here they are at the end of December looking
like a team capable of making a run in January,
but none of it matters because everything that happened over
the course of the season, and that is bittersweet and
that's a little hard to swallow. But I will say this,
I don't think it's meaningless. You do worry. What you
mentioned is the biggest concern of all of this is
that it's like, well, I see all of these players playing, well,
(02:27):
they're coming along. We're just gonna bet on them next
year and run the whole thing back. I mean, I
think there's very clear positions linebacker, defensive line that have
to have significant, you know, a raising of the boats
happening there. Like there's got to be some higher level
play veterans brought in that can be reliable and bring
(02:51):
you some juice and let the players that are currently
here either find a way to play above them or
b role players, which is probably kind of where they
They just need a couple more starting level players in there.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
That said, this entire year was going to be.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Based on the development of all of these young defensive players,
and it had to happen at some point, and here
we are.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
It didn't happen fast enough.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
Everything that happened in the first ten games of the
season or whatever happened.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
There's no way around that.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
But I think the important element to look at it is, look,
you're seeing these young pieces start to actually look like
they are individually developing and taking a next step. And
that's not just from one game, that's from a continued
trend this whole second half of the season.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
Did Duke Tobin actually oversee a successful twenty twenty three draft?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
It's like you're reading my notebook right now.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
I have a whole story, a whole story that is
I'm a about to have published for tomorrow on the
success of the twenty twenty three draft and more importantly,
the opportunity to affords the Bengals to change how they
operate and to look at things differently. Yes, they absolutely
had a successful twenty twenty three draft. I mean, if
(04:14):
you're talking about what constitutes a good draft, you're talking
about what you want to get three starters out of it,
and that's like, man, that's a good draft. You know,
that's just the way that. However, you got to find
a way to do that. They have far more than that.
I mean you're talking Miles Murphy, DJ Turner. I mean
they look like real, solid level pieces. Jordan Battle is
(04:37):
a part of this team's future. Certainly he seems undeniably
going to be a starter for them next year. Chase
Brown is a top running back in this league. Andre
Yosubasi is a solid three or four receiver, however you
want to view him. Like to find those pieces that's
real value. I mean, that is a good draft. It
(05:00):
took till year three. Sometimes it takes to year three
for guys to come around, but yeah, I think you
looked at that way. But now their extension eligible, Now
you're gonna see this. How are they gonna do this?
Is it gonna look like t Higgins and Jesse Bates
and the Jamar Chase stuff? That was all the off
field drama and trade requests and bickering over how good
(05:23):
they actually are or are we going to see an
Eagles style early investment in some of these guys.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
These are hits. They look to be coming together, like
you're seeing that.
Speaker 2 (05:35):
Go out and pay these guys before next season starts
and get those done and avoid all of the bickering
and off.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Field stuff that happens. I think what we have now
is an.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Opportunity for them to say, hey, look, we are doing
some things differently.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Now, will that happen? I'm probably not holding my breath.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
On a lot of it, but I do think it's
a great opportunity to do some of the things that
maybe Joe Burrow is referencing, do things a little differently,
little more creative. This would seem to maybe be an
opportunity to do some of that with a couple of
these guys from that track.
Speaker 1 (06:05):
Yeah, man, you know to me this this certainly doesn't
let Duke Tobin off the proverbial hook. Whatever amount of
criticism he has gotten, I believe he is deserved. I
certainly believe his role with the organization should be examined.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
But I'm also a.
Speaker 1 (06:18):
Believer in giving credit words to and admittedly it's taken
Miles Murphy longer than a lot of us would like.
It's maybe taking Jordan Battle longer than a lot of
us would like. I certainly wouldn't use him as you
know somebody that, hey, we're not going to take a
safety because we have Jordan Battle. But he's played well.
Chase Brown is terrific. DJ Turner should be a pro bowler.
Andrea Yoshabas for a sixth rounder from Princeton was an
(06:42):
excellent pick or all five of those guys players that
could still be here in twenty twenty seven.
Speaker 3 (06:50):
I you know that to be seen, I think it's possible.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
You get I mean, you get into the dynamics of
can you pay everybody?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
How much do they want? Wantuh?
Speaker 2 (07:00):
Is there going to be a franchise tag decision of
all of those things? You know, Miles Murphy, if your option.
There's a lot of dynamics and ways to go about it,
and so all of them, I mean, yeah, I think
I think a good amount of them. I think they've
got to find a way to do draft, develop Britain
and still be about that and prove it they're about
that and this is the best way to do it.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
There's a I mean a long way.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
To go to get to that, right certainly, and a
lot of things that happened, But I do think that
they have the ability to do it, and it's a
chance for them to prove what they really want to
be about in terms of how they build their roster
by making sure that a vast majority of those guys
are around for the long haul.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
All right, So I read your mind. I know what
you're going to write about now, I want to talk
about what you did write about. I didn't think and
I you know, the big takeaway for me after the
Denver game, same basic point in the season last year,
though they were playing for something, was T Higgins is
cemented as able love figure forever. That's before he signs
in the second contract. That's before we see him do
(08:04):
what he did this past week, culminating with his performance
on Sunday. I think there's a good conversation about whether
or not he should have been out there. That's fine,
But the fact that in the game that had no
bearing on the playoff race, in a season that has
gone awry, you have a dude doing everything he can
to get on the field and then contributing and playing
his ass off like.
Speaker 3 (08:26):
This is I've said this before.
Speaker 1 (08:28):
I'm not sure there's a more beloved player than T
Higgins and I've had people say really, and I go, dude,
you it's it's not just that he's good, it's it's
dragging himself on the field against Kansas City in the
game they had to have a couple of years ago.
It's willingly playing second banana behind Jamar Chase which a
lot of guys wouldn't do. It's what we saw this
past week, culminating with his performance against Miami.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Yeah, I mean just talking to him afterwards and him
discussing the process and how hard it was. You know,
I just sort of asked him because I can't imagine
what it's like to be getting on a plane flying
to Pittsburgh knowing that you're about to see a concussion
specialist and wondering what they're gonna tell you, and how
(09:11):
hard that must be to go through, and to go
through it all with the idea of wanting to go
be out there and playing the seemingly meaningless game, and
then to go out there and do it like that,
to be thankful to even have been a part of it,
to have played well, and to care about being out
there and being.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
A part of this.
Speaker 2 (09:31):
These are the type of guys you invest in. These
the type of guys you want their locker room. It's
topic guys they don't have probably enough of that. The
team matters that much, being a good teammate, being accountable,
being available matters that much to Tea and doing it
the right way like this was not haphazard. I'm going
(09:51):
to go out there and try to play through it,
because I don't want to ever diminish. It's very murky
waters talking about that, but going through it and making
sure everybody, including the top specialists in that field, has
said it's okay, and going out there and then embracing
and saying I want to go do it. Nobody and
guys said this afterwards. Nobody would have given I would
(10:13):
have cared at all if he would have said, I'm done,
I'm done with this year.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
I've got these concussions.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
I just want to make sure I'm right, and no
one would everyone would totally understand it. But the fact
that he did do it, I think proved how much
he is about this team, how much he does care
about their success, and how much he cares about being
a good teammate, and that wins you games.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Read Paul's piece on t Higgins in the aftermath of
that game on Sunday The Athletic dot Com. Paul Danner
Junior from The Athletic and the Growler podcast. I am
going to make, admittedly a very clumsy transition to something
that is unfortunately not anywhere close to as fun as
what we have been talking about. You guys on the
Bengals Beat are really close knit and you compete with
(10:55):
each other, but you enjoy each other's company, You help
each other, you do each other's podcasts. It's awesome to
watch and I think we as fans get to benefit
from it. Your podcasting partner and your close friend, Jay
Morrison is going through something right now that Zach Taylor
was classy enough to reference during his press conference yesterday.
And I want to spend a few minutes on Jay
(11:16):
lost his wife and this was totally unexpected. Jay covers
the Bengals for Bengals Talk dot com. He's part of
the Growler podcast with Paul. You guys are kind enough
to let me join you guys, and I don't really
add anything, but it's fun to be with you. Jay
is a sweetheart of a human being. I know fans
who read his work and listen and watch listen to
(11:36):
and watch his work our heartbroken for him. You're very
close to him. He's going through an awful time. This
is a long winded preamble into me asking you to
just spend a few minutes talking about Jay and what
he and his family are going through right now.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I mean it's I've yeah, I mean I've known Jay
for so long I can't even tell you when I
first met him.
Speaker 3 (11:58):
But when you met him, you knew how in love
he was.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
Like we always you know, there's always like a joke
you could make about you know, you see some couples
out here and yeah they're married, but man, they're they're
faking it right, Like that's not that's not a real one.
And and and but that was never the case with
Jay and Nikki. I mean these were best friends, partners.
They did everything together.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
They went out.
Speaker 2 (12:24):
You know, we would always talk about all the concerts
and that became a running gag of what show they
were going to and where they were because they loved
each other's company and they were really truly there for
each other. And so for something like this unexpected to happen,
it's just at any time, it's heartbreaking. But for it
(12:45):
to be like this, you just feel for Jay, who
was literally someone who would do anything for anyone. I mean,
this is the guy who will go and he'll take
care of his friends when they're sick or their moms
are cut cut grass, and for forbody who can't do
it right now or like literally anything you would ever need,
he would go above and be on to do anything
(13:06):
for you.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
It just makes it hurt all that much more.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
And he's just such a good dude, and and you
just are You're broken for him.
Speaker 3 (13:16):
We all are. It's it's a it hits all of
us hard.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Because we we knew Nikki, we knew how much in
love they were. So it's it's tough where you know
what we we this is why I love Cincinnati, man.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
We rally around our people, man.
Speaker 2 (13:33):
And what we have seen and heard and the support
that has been directed towards Jay from people just in town,
people that are in the NFL, people that that listen
to our program and just feel connected to it, it
has been overwhelming, and I'm so happy to see it.
And I can't wait for us to, once the dust
settles on this, come up with a way that we
(13:54):
can find a way to really support even further.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
But it's so amazing to see the amount.
Speaker 2 (13:59):
Of support that he has out there, because it is
it's it's just it's it's just awful in every way imaginable.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Right now.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Yeah, I hope in some way he's he's comforted by
the outpouring of support and the outpouring of love that
he is getting from folks that he knows and folks
that simply know him.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Uh, hope you.
Speaker 1 (14:18):
Have a great Christmas. Thanks for everything, and uh we'll
talk next week. Man, thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (14:23):
May Christmas Mo
Mo Egger News
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