5-13-24 - Mo Egger with Sam Hubbard

Bengals DE and Local Product Sam Hubbard Joins The Show

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Sports headlines are a service of Kelseychevro La home of lifetime powertrain protection and
guaranteed credit approval from their family toyours for life, Kelsey chef dot com.
I'm not allowed to talk about whyI'm laughing. Red's road trip continues
first of three tonight against the dBacks or as some call them, the
Diamondbacks. Graham Ashcraft and left JordanMontgomery on the hill tonight, nine to

(00:25):
forty, first pitch, seven hundredwl W. The starting lineup is not
yet out tonight. Also, noupdate on TJ Friedel, who left after
taking a ball off the left.What has happened to me? He got
hit by a pitch on his leftthumb. There was a weird in game

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report that they're in the clear,and then actually not so much in the
clear. He came out of thegame after the top of the first inning
yesterday and they originally announced the injuryas a left thumb contusion. The X
rays came back inconclusive, and sohe is going to have imaging done today
in Arizona with a hand specialist takinga look. So there you go.

(01:11):
TJ. Friedel, who Reds werewithout for most of the first six seven
weeks of the season, came backand now we'll see if he's gonna have
another stint on the injured list.According to a John Rothstein of CBS Sports,
the twenty twenty four twenty twenty fiveSkyline Chili Crosstown Shootout will take place
on December fourteenth. This meshes withwhere the game has been on the calendar

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for the last couple of years.The game this year hosted by the University
of Cincinnati Bearcatz trying to break afive game losing streak in the series.
The NFL schedule release is on Wednesday. We have a schedule release show.
It's gonna air down the Hall.It's gonna be at Bad Tom Smith.

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We have four people hosting it,Lance, Tony Austin, and myself seven
to ten on Wednesday night on sevenhundred WLW Bad Tom Smith. Join us.
It's going to be a blast.The NFL didn't announce that the Kansas
City Chiefs will open up their SuperBowl defense at home, which you knew,

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against the Baltimore Ravens. That gamewill be played on September the fifth.
All right, more thoughts on thatcoming up in just a second.
But first let's let's get to ourguest, excited to do this. You
have a chance, and we're goingto find out how this works to run
a ninety six yard touchdown return atpay Course Stadium and try out in front

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of a hometown favorite, guy whoauthored one of the most iconic players in
Bengals history, a guy who's obviouslyhoping for a healthier twenty twenty four to
a guy who is joining us onbehalf of Miller Lite. And what we
always love when guests call in early. Sam Hubbard is with us. Sam,
it is good to have you.Moeger hear what's going on? Not

(03:00):
much. Thanks for having me on. I appreciate you doing this. Let's
start with the health health wise,how are you doing, How is everything
going? Give me an idea howthe offseason is unfolded, going really well.
I'm back on the field with therest of the d line going through
individual feeling pretty one hundred percent.And you know, I'm still a week

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or two, a couple of weeksahead of schedule, close to being cleared.
So I'm really happy with how it'sprogressed these last three or four months.
But the rookies were in there todayfirst day with them and then the
off season's going fantastic. Yeah,I kind of want to know. I'm
you know, I read a pieceon Bengals dot Com about a month ago,
and I knew this, but seeingit on the screen made it hit

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home. Where you were referred toas the dean of the Bengals, the
only remaining guy who was here preZach Taylor. And so it's hard for
a lot of us to believe it. It's not like you're an old player.
As you've watched the rookies show upand they're going through everything that the
NFL throws at them, and thisis even months before training camp. What
what advice do you have for thoseguys? You know, I see them

(04:09):
come in every year and you know, there's not much to talent because they
don't know anything. They you know, it's gonna be a learning curve no
matter what, no matter where youcame from. And the best thing that
they can do is just kind ofkeep quiet, follow the old veterans and
the position group and just be eagerto contribute in any way they can and
work hard. And uh, that'sreally what I saw. I think we

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got a really good group of rookies. They're really you know, bright eyed
eagert uh listening to what we hadto say when we coach them up,
and you know that that goes wellfor their future. What do you remember
about twenty eighteen when you went throughthe same process. I remember a couple
guys reaching now Michael Johnson, VinnyRay, Carlos dunlap Gino Atkins definitely,

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you know, giving me pieces ofadvice here and there that I they took
and ran with on how to bea pro and that that went a long
way for me and I try todo the same thing to the rookies every
year. The draft yielded three newdefensive linemen. Have you come to know
anything about those guys? Have youhad a chance to chat with any of
them that sort of thing? Notyet. I'd say it was our first

(05:18):
day they're in there. They hadtheir rookie mini camp this past weekend,
but you know, just spending thefirst meeting with them, you know,
I'm excited to get to know thoseguys. A lot of a lot of
focus on the defense being better thisseason than it was last year. Let
me ask you about a guy whoI think on the defensive line. As
the end of last season Unfolded reallyshowed some flashes. What did you see

(05:42):
from Miles Murphy last year that wouldgive you even more reason to think he's
ready to go and have a bigsecond season. Yeah. He progretts really
well throughout the last season, youknow, getting better each week, getting
more comfortable, you know, understandthe defense, his his own game plan,
his rush plan, really giving himselfa really good setup to have a

(06:05):
big year two and help us ina lot of ways. And we're gonna
be counting on them big and youknow, I'm excited for him, happy
to have him on our team forsure. What makes you think this defense?
And look last year there were alot of different factors. The guys
you didn't have in the secondary,You went through injuries last year. DJ

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Reader didn't gets injured toward the endof the season. You guys have to
be better on the defensive side ofthe ball this season. Give me one
or two things that make you believethat that's going to happen in twenty twenty
four. Yeah, first things thatwould be my house. You know,
playing last year through that injury basicallyon one leg was not That was a
tough year that went through a lotof adversity that I'm glad I got to

(06:48):
fix. Glad I'm feeling better.That's going to pay dividends for sure.
And then I think having von Bellback is huge for our young secondary in
the community. Cation back there again, everything squared away in the meeting room
and communication wise. There's other things, but I guess that's too. Sam

(07:10):
Hobbard is with us on behalf ofMiller Lite. You know last season you
talked about you came back after missinga couple of games and you gutted through
it. And it was admirable because, look, there's a lot of guys
in your position that would have said, I'm just I'm going to have a
procedure, I'm gonna move on.I'm going to hit the fast forward button
and get as healthy as I canfor next year. You gutted through,
you know, as you said,basically playing on one leg. How do

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you even begin to describe what itwas like playing with an injury that would
end up requiring pretty complicated surgery.Oh yeah, nothing you can really describe.
At the moment, I didn't knowI was gonna need touch big surgery
because we had to do a lotof evaluation afterwards, but you know,

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I knew something wasn't right. Andyou know, when Joe goes down,
there's a lot of you know,chaos, a lot of you know,
a lot of stuff going on.But you know, I just wanted to
be a part of the solution,keep everything together, keep the guys together,
focus on the same mission of gettingthat we still had a chance in
the playoff spot and we all wantedthat in the locker room, and we're

(08:16):
all hands on deck to try andget there, and that was the task
at hands. And you know,we ended up getting a winning season.
And uh, you know now herewe are reloaded, healthy, ready to
roll. The schedule comes out onWednesday. Is that something that as a
player you even pay attention to oris it a matter of Look, just
tell me who he played week oneand we'll be ready. Yeah. I

(08:39):
definitely like to see where bye week'send up. How who played late in
the year. But obviously, onceyou see that, no need to spend
too much time on you focused onweek one and uh, you know that'll
that'll be what the majority of oneof my folks is. All Right,
it's been a busy offseason. You'rerecovering you're trying to get back to health.
We need you all in the field. You also got engaged walk us

(09:01):
through that process. Yeah, Idid. I mean, you guys want
to play by play. I didit out there. I did it out
in Arizona and went very smoothly.She was surprised, which is obviously the
goal, and we're really happy.It's exciting. All right. You've been

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working with Miller Lite for a while, so give us an idea here.
So you're looking for athletes who couldtry out with you in attendance at pay
Corps Stadium, and you're handing outhonorary rookie contracts, which involve a rookie
salary, personalized swag, bragging rightsthat you've made the team. This is
all through Miller Lite. How doesthis work? Yes, I'm we're trying

(09:46):
to see if we got ohioans thatare grouped for the Big League. You
know, we're going to be hostingthat child you mentioned to see if you
can run ninety six yards for theninety six calories and Miller Lite I will
be there coaching and showing them aredoing some drills. You can enter it
now. It's opened out by submittingon social media a post with your Bengals

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or Meller Light Pride tagging either andlike you said, the winner gets to
honoree Bengals contract tag at Miller Litewith hashtag proudly brewed in Ohio, and
you might get called up to tryin person in front of a guy like
Sam Hubbard. By the way,I get it, ninety six yards ninety
six calories, but you're always goingto be able to hold over whoever that

(10:31):
you're run against. Ravens was ninetyeight yards. I know, I know.
I thought it was going to atypo at first I saw it.
But yeah, for the ninety sixcalories. Does the average person know what
would happen to them if they triedto run tried to sprint ninety six Like,
I know what would happen. Iwouldn't make it. I'd make it

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maybe thirty six yards. Do youthink the average person has any real idea
how long that is to run?I guess we'll have to find out and
be that's a good answer, allright? Your chance to become an honorary
player, good a rookie salary,personalized swag, bragging rights that you made
the team again, make your caseat Miller Lite. Use hashtag proudly brewed

(11:16):
in Ohio. You can get calledto try out in person in front of
Sam Hubbard at pay Course Stadium andreturn a ninety six yard touchdown. We'll
see if you're up for it againat Miller Lite hashtag proudly brewed in Ohio.
Sam, awesome to catch up withyou. Get that ankle. Better
have a great offseason and we'll talkto you this summer. Man, Thanks

(11:37):
so much. All right, thanksfor having me. There you go,
Sam Hubbard on behalf of Miller Lite. Sam called early. The guest never
calls early. Pretty good, bythe way, I was quick, quickly
going to do this on the schedule. Lease. So the Bengals, I
think most of us expect them toopen the season at home. The Reds

(11:58):
are on the road that for NFLweekend, which would be Sunday the seventh,
if I'm not mistaken, Sunday theeighth, you know, if only
I had access to a calendar,So the Reds are on the road that
first weekend. Typically, when that'sthe case, the Bengals open up at
home. Many wondered with the Chiefswinning the title again hosting the annual regular

(12:24):
season opener on Thursday Night, whichthey did last year and lost to the
Detroit Lions. Bengals being on KansasCity schedule this year, would would NBC
pair two teams that I think makeup, if not the best rivalry right
now in the NFL, I thinkcertainly one of the best. I am
more than happy to avoid that anunderstanding like, there's a very good chance
the Bengals get a tough opponent,maybe an AFC North opponent in the first

(12:48):
game, but it is a teamthat over the last couple of years has
gotten off to slow starts. Itis a quarterback who is going to be
in his first real game action sincehe got hurt. I am more than
okay with not adding to his plateand adding to the Bengals plate opening night

(13:09):
in Kansas City. And also froma pure football fan perspective, what has
made those Bengals Chiefs regular season gamesso good, including the one on New
Year's Eve this past season, hasbeen the fact that they've been played late
in the year, when you havea better sense of what they're going to
mean for the postseason. Now,Bengals and Chiefs may still play in September,
and if they do, I'm sureit's going to be a great game,

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but there's a lot on this teamto start quickly, right They've not
done that the last couple of years. There's a lot on Joe Burrow to
start quickly, and hopefully he physicallyis in a place where he could do
that. There's a lot on thisteam to just quickly turn the page from
last season. I'm okay not addingthe added stuff that comes with playing on
opening night, even though Kansas Citylost the first game of the season last

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year at home against a Lions.I'm okay with not adding the extra stuff
to a franchise that has to figureout a way to come out of the
gate stronger than it has the lastcouple of years. We are way late
now. Sam called early, sonow we're late. Nine minutes away from
four o'clock. We are going toget to a europhone calls five point three

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seven, four nine, fifteen thirtyeight six six seven oh two three seven
seven six. We're gonna do somethingat four oh five for the last time.
I'll explain on ESPN fifteen thirty CincinnatiSports Station. I'm still going for
it, even with higher