8/5/24 - The Mo Egger Radio Show

It's time to have the David Bell conversation, Zac Taylor speaks and live training camp reports from our guy Tony Pike.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, week is off to a man start. Here's
why it's a five after three. This is ESPN fifteen
thirty onm Oegger. Week is off to a bad start
because the show starts and I forget to turn the
microphone off. That's not a good omen. That's not a
good omen for what's ahead. I hope you had an
awesome weekend. Hopefully your week is off to a great start.

(00:22):
We're gonna go back to Bengals training camp. Tony Pike
is there. Three forty five, four five, five forty five.
Latest on the Bengals. A very heavy rest day for
a number of veteran players. No surprise, no Jamar Chase
the news. We feared it wasn't gonna be good for
Cam Sample. Unfortunately, Zach Taylor confirmed it. We'll hear from

(00:45):
the Bengals head coach throughout the afternoon, including coming up
at three thirty five camp. Sample has a torn achilles,
which is awful for him. It's not good news for
the Bengals and hurts them in a position that they've
been hurt at often so far. Here during camp, we
are trending towards Saturday Night Bengals Bucks Live on ESPN
fifteen thirty preseason opener at home for Cincinnati. We'll talk

(01:09):
about it all week long. Red's over the weekend, lose
two out of three. They get no hit on Friday,
which I'm not gonna give him a pass for getting
no hit, but I will say something about the game
on Friday night that, well, maybe you're not gonna like
we're gonna have a David Bell conversation today.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
Let's do it.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
Let's have a David Bell conversation today that coming up
in the four o'clock hour. I was talking about this
with Tony. There are two things I really love about
what I hear and what I read from Bengals training camp.
The Amrius Mims thing is not insignificant, and it's been
aided by the fact that, well, Trent Brown has missed

(01:49):
some time and didn't really go through offseason workouts and
he's still a Marius is listed as number two on
the depth chart, which, as Tony pointed out, don't put
any stock into that. First of all, it's August fifth,
second cam sample is still on it. He's not gonna
play this year. Forget about the depth chart, the a
Marius Mims pick. I never pretended back in April and
may that I was like this expert on offensive line player,

(02:12):
this expert on a Marius Mims and what he did
at Georgia. What I was willing to do is ignore
the fact that he had only started eight games as
a college football player, and let's take a look at
what he did during those games that he played. Let's
take a look at the physical profile. Let's see what
he's actually put there on film and figure out how
we can build upon it in order for him to start,

(02:33):
excuse me, for the Bengals in twenty twenty four. So
the early returns have been awesome, and let's let's let's
emphasize this when we say earlier returns, like, he hasn't
played in an NFL game yet, and he is a rookie,
and there are probably gonna be times where he does
rookie stuff, and there are probably gonna be times where
the lack of overall experience in the NFL maybe catches

(02:57):
up with him. But like, I love everything I read
about his preparedness, his readiness, his willingness to learn, his maturity,
his understanding that he does have a little bit of
an experience gap to make up. Tony has talked about
him a ton. I love everything I read and hear

(03:18):
about Amarus Mims, and you should be rooting for him.
Obviously you're rooting for him if you're a Bengals fan,
but you should be rooting for him to be the
starting right tackle because he's not going to win the
job by de fall.

Speaker 2 (03:30):
In all likelihood, he will have beaten out an established player.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
He will have beaten out a guy who's accomplished some
stuff in this league. He will have beaten out a
guy that the Bengals prioritized in free agency. To do that,
you got to show, You gotta show something, you know.
We talked about this back in during the draft. In
the run up to the draft. The idea here is
at some point to build an elite offensive line, which

(03:59):
the Bengals haven't had, probably since twenty fifteen. The idea
isn't to build a league average offensive line. It's not
to build a slightly above league average offensive line. It's
to build an elite offensive line. That's only going to
happen via the draft. That's only going to happen if

(04:22):
the lineman they take in the draft end up performing
at a really, really high level. Now, the Bengals, regardless
of who the starting right tackle is this year, are
let's face it, probably not going to have any elite
offensive line.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
Last year it was kind of below league average.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
I think we're all expecting that at this season, everybody
stays healthy, that it's maybe maybe about a league average
offensive line. And if that's the case, this offense is
probably still going to take off because of the weaponry
and because of Joe Burrow and the continuity and assuming
he plays, which I do, Jamar Chase, But you're drafting obviously,

(05:01):
you're drafting for the short term, but the draft is
done with the future in mind, and so the idea
here is for one day for the Bengals to start
the season with like a legitimately elite offensive line, a
great offensive line, and Marius Mims having a couple of
good training camp practices doesn't tell you that he's going
to be elite or that the Bengals one day will
have any elite offensive line.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
But if you viewed the.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Draft and what they did with their first round pick
in the draft as the first building block toward one
day having a high end offensive line, well, then the
returns on Amarius Mims so far are really really good
and in the short term, like Trent Brown's been a
good player in this league. First of all, if that

(05:46):
guy ends up, assuming he still makes the team, if
that guy ends up being a backup or a swing tackle,
first of all, holy hell, that's really good. Secondly, I'm
kind of led to believe that the upside for a
Marius Mems is higher than the upside for Trent Brown.
Trent Brown's established, you know what he is, Marius Mims.

(06:06):
If he could start to realize that potential in year one,
then the unit as a whole has the potential to
take a major, major step forward, which to me is
really exciting. Twelve minutes after three o'clock show preview video
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(06:28):
week from today is the Emory Federal Credit Union Golf Outing.
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Jamar Chase absence today, I don't know. I have nothing
new to say, even the Tyreek Hill him getting a

(06:50):
revised deal done with the Dolphins. My question last week
remains is he willing to miss games? And plural too?
Is he willing to miss games? Don't want him to,
hope he doesn't, But that's really the only question that
matters here. I said it last week. My take hasn't
changed over the weekend. It's not going to change this week.
I have no idea if he's ever going to practice

(07:12):
during camp. I have no idea if he's ever going
to be available to the team when they play in
preseason games.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
Who knows who has any idea.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
I admit the topic has kind of gotten old, but
whenever it's brought up, I'll counter with the same exact
question I've had all along.

Speaker 2 (07:25):
Is he willing to miss games? And again, games means KC.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Week two, it is going to be interesting with the
defensive line to see if the Bengals go the veteran
route to address the position, which you know, the preseason
and training camp are a little bit different than the
regular season. In the regular season, we have injury reports,
and so the Bengals have to put on the injury

(07:51):
report guys who are compromised, who are hurt or are
sitting out of practice. You have no obligation to do
that during preseason and training camp. So there's not a
lot of specifics as they relate to train Hendrickson and
Sam Hubbard. The specifics with Sam that we saw a
week ago last night where him being carted off. Beyond that,
there's not a lot there. But it has been a

(08:13):
unit where injuries have become the story. There are obviously
still some veteran defensive lineman out there. It's going to
be interesting to see if the Bengals dip their toe
in that water.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
So to speak.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
Speaking of things I love about training camp, Charlie Goldsmith's piece,
and you talk about somebody who does an unbelievable job,
Charlie Goldsmith on both the Reds and the Bengals, and
the volume of stuff and the quality of stuff.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
Writes a piece and it at face value might come off.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
As one of those, you know, obligatory everybody's working hard,
and everybody's really intense and everybody's urgent pieces that you
get with a lot of training camps and get it
sometimes during spring training with baseball teams. But you know,
let's be honest, the central story of the summer. For

(09:09):
a lot of us, the Jamar Chase thing is a story,
and it's always a story when you're talking about Joe
Burrow because you heard last year. Although everything that I've
seen so far, at least recently, looks really good and
there's different camp battles and the camp sample thing, this
central theme to the entire offseason and thus the entire summer,

(09:31):
at least for me, is this team.

Speaker 2 (09:34):
Going to be ready to hit the ground running week one?

Speaker 1 (09:37):
Now they play a team with a new coach and
a team with a rookie quarterback who, by many accounts
has been terrible, And so the NFL is giving the
Bengals a Week one win. But can the Bengals hit
the ground running to start the season, avoid the zero
to two start and play from ahead, play from ahead
of Kansas City, and maybe play from ahead against Baltimore,

(09:58):
who they obviously play WE five and so I love
his piece.

Speaker 2 (10:03):
Go read at.

Speaker 1 (10:04):
Cincinnati dot Com on the focus being a more intense camp,
a quicker start to the season, and having a team
that's not having to spend a huge chunk of the
middle trying to play catch up after an zero to
two or a one to three start. It is still
we said this the moment last season and the two

(10:25):
major storylines Joe Burrows rehab and recovery. So far, so good,
and can this team figure out a way to balance
keeping everybody healthy with being better equipped to play really
well to start the season. And that comes back to
guys playing during the preseason, including on Saturday night. Don't

(10:46):
forget Bengals and Bucks live on ESPN fifteen thirty Saturday
evening at seven o'clock. We've got it live live on
ESPN fifteen to thirty. Lots of Bengals coming up. Zach
Taylor part of his press conference. In just about twenty minute,
It's Tony Pike from Bengals training camp. In thirty minutes,
Red's over the weekend, they got no hit, they got
another great start from Hunter Green, then the wheels fell

(11:09):
off yesterday. We'll discuss next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 3 (11:15):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 1 (11:19):
Thirty And can send me a tweet or an ex
sad Moegar. Thanks to Delta Dental, Delta Dental is building healthy, smart,
vibrant communities for all everywhere. Go to Delta dentaloh Dot
com Zach Taylor talked today. You'll hear part of that
coming up in just about ten minutes. I know you
can't wait for that. Tony Pike from Bengals practice lots
on the Bengals today, Bengals Bucks on Saturday night, the

(11:43):
no hitter on Friday. I am not an expert on anything,
literally anything, but it was interesting I had. I was
watching the game on TV on Friday night, Blake Snell
throws a no hitter, and that was the first time,
the first time in almost fourteen years, that I had

(12:05):
the feeling I had after watching Blake Snell toy with
the Reds over the first two innings. The last time
I had that feeling was watching Game one of the
twenty ten NLDS, when Roy Halladay no hit the Reds
in Cincinnati's first postseason game in a decade and a half,

(12:26):
which it's almost hard to believe. It's almost hard to
believe it's it's nearly been as much time between then
and now we're still waiting for the Reds to advance
in the postseason. I remember watching that game Game one
so much excitement. A better Reds team than this one.
Although let's be honest, not a great offensive lineup, but
you watch them the first two innings, and that was

(12:46):
twenty ten, so the idea of a guy, you know,
throwing a complete game was maybe a little bit more
realistic than two and twenty four. Blake Snell had never
thrown one before Friday. But I remember being with people
watching that game against the Phillies, which started at like
five or six o'clock late afternoon, early evening, and saying
out loud like this, dude may do something.

Speaker 2 (13:10):
And I had the exact same film.

Speaker 1 (13:12):
I'm not going to tell you that, I said to
anybody who would listen, which that audience was my wife
and daughter. Hey, Blake Snell made no hit the Reds,
but there was just a sense of oh, boy, like this,
this this could be. This is going to be difficult,
and it could be special. He ends up throwing a

(13:32):
no hitter. Look the starting lineup on Friday night. We
made fun of this. On Friday afternoon. The starting lineup
included a cleanup hitter who has DFA the week before.
Ty Franz batted leadoff on Friday. That is partially reflective
of the lineup the Reds put out there. This is
not a good offensive team. Blake Snell's been a very

(13:54):
good pitcher for a while, and to me, what he
did on Friday was more about him, frankly, than what
the Reds did do. Look good teams have gotten no
hit before. This is a bad offensive team, and so
maybe Friday night amplified how bad they are offensively. But again,
to me, just watching Blake Snell, that was more about

(14:15):
what he was able to do than it was what
the Reds aren't or what they don't have or what
they can't do. They bounce back on Saturday, Hunter Green
was again awesome. The real shame in what's happened here
over the last couple of weeks. The Reds went three
on three on the homestand that's not good enough. Not

(14:35):
when you're trying to convince people you can still make
a run, not when you played two losing teams at home,
not when you went into yesterday's game with a chance
to have a winning Homestand.

Speaker 2 (14:44):
That's not good enough.

Speaker 1 (14:45):
Like if the Reds play five hundred ball the rest
of the way, that's not good enough. But as the
second half has unfolded, as Hunter Green has continued to dominate,
it's almost it's becoming a footnote, which stinks, but it's
it's becoming a footnote. You know, he pitched in the

(15:08):
All Star Game, and he didn't pitch well in the
All Star Game. I still heard people wonder, like, well,
why is he an All Stars? He an All Star
only because somebody he was an All Star because he
deserved it. Since the All Star Game, which again he
didn't pitch well in that one inning, he has been unbelievable.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
And that's probably putting it mildly.

Speaker 1 (15:29):
Dude hasn't given up a run since Hunter Green is
one of the best pitchers in baseball. Hunter Green, as
of right now, wouldn't win the National League Cy Young Award.
You could not vote on it without at least considering
his candidacy, and who knows he's gonna have ten to
eleven more starts. What's frustrating is and they won the game.

(15:52):
Obviously they lost yesterday. But like some cool stuff that
has happened, not the least of which is one hundred,
Green's ascension quite quickly by the way, into being one
of the best pitchers in all of baseball is understandably
being ignored. And I say understandably because how could you

(16:14):
watch this team over the last few weeks. How can
you sort of break down where they are and lead
with a guy who's been really good when a lot
of the stuff happening around him hasn't been his last
eighteen starts, which we use that line of demarcation because
that started with his fifty first big league start. That's

(16:35):
when on this show we talked about how he's got
a kick it into gear and those eighteen starts. Since
dudes are hitting a buck seventy one, the opposing batter
ops is below six hundred. He's given up eight homers
in nearly one hundred and ten innings. He has been awesome.
He has been awesome. The Reds have still lost ten

(16:58):
of those eighteen starts. It's a gross oversimplification to say
that they're wasting.

Speaker 2 (17:04):
It, but they are. I mean, it's it's they are
that they're wasting better.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
Than league average starting pitching, in some cases league average
starting pitching.

Speaker 2 (17:15):
And I mean, if I would have said a year.

Speaker 1 (17:18):
Ago, at this time, when we were still wondering if
is Hunter gonna come back? And if he comes back,
how good is he gonna be? If I would have
said it in a year, we're gonna be talking about
Hunter Green being one of the best pitchers in baseball,
and we're gonna wonder if he could maybe put himself
in a serious sy young conversation. You would have said then,
along with that, the Reds are at least in the hunt.

(17:41):
Instead they're not, And so Hunter Green's season is becoming
a footnote and I hate that. He might say, well, Mo,
it's up to you to talk about him more. I
guess so. But after this weekend where they lose two
out of three, where Fernando Cruz continues to turn into
a pumpkin, where David Bell presses the wrong button again,

(18:01):
where they put out their bad offensive lineups, it's hard
to lead with the positive of Hunter Green. So I've
chosen to spend at least a few minutes on it.
But it's the shame of the season. Hunter Green should
be talked about more, but it's hard to focus on
someone like him when he's toiling in relative obscurity, because
where the Reds are right now, frankly is obscurity free.

(18:25):
Thirty at Molegger on Twitter. By the way, we are
broadcasting today from the ESPN fifteen thirty studios powered by
Greater Cincinnatis roofing and exterior restoration experts Madewell Restoration. Learn
more at Madewell Restoration dot com. Zach Taylor talked a
short while ago. We'll have some of it for you

(18:46):
next on ESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati's sports headlines service to
Kelsey Chevrolet, home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit
approval from their family to yours for life. Else chew
dot com. Bengals practicing right now. A whole bunch of
veterans not going today. Jamar Chase isn't practicing. Neither is

(19:08):
cam Sample, which is not a surprise. Unfortunately, he is
done for the year with a torn achilles that according
to Zach Taylor, who you'll hear coming up in just
a second. Don't forget Saturday night Bengals hosting the Bucks
live on ESPN fifteen thirty. Pre game coverage starts at
three pm. Red start a seven game road trip tonight,
with the first of four against the Miami Marlins. On

(19:32):
his birthday, Nick Martinez will be the first on the
mound for Cincinnati six forty this evening on seven hundred WLW.
Hopefully David Bell's lineup tonight is made well. Your home
deserves to be made well. Good to made well restoration
dot com. Are you ready for it? Here it is
get your scorecards. Score India is playing second base, leading

(19:53):
off Ellie's at short, Spencer Steer and left, TJ. Friedland center,
Stevenson behind the plate. Jamer Candelario is the aging Ty
France at first base. Freelian right. Noelve Marte is playing
third base and batting ninth again. Tonight's first pitch. Four
night games, six forty this evening, you'll hear it live
on seven hundred W l W Florence Yalls are off tonight.

(20:19):
FC Cincinnati is not they play in the League's Cup.
This is still the group stage. Even though they have
clinched a spot in the knockout stage of the League's Cup.
They're still gonna play tonight against New York City FC.
Game at eight o'clock. It's last time they had a
Monday game. Soccer stadium on the West end of Cincinnati.
Eight o'clock tonight live on ESPN. Fifteen to thirty College

(20:42):
Football Coaches Poll out Preseason Coaches Poll Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas,
Alabama one through five, Kentucky got twelve votes, enough to
finish thirty seventh. The Miami RedHawks got a vote, my
beloved Bearcats did not, And there you go. I think

(21:02):
that's it for your local sports headlines. Tony Pike in
just a few minutes from Bengals training camp practice. Awesome
listening to him broadcast from a training camp today from
noon to three. No practice tomorrow, so Tony will be
back in studio and then they'll broadcast from a training
camp on Wednesday. Since he three sixteen noon to three

(21:23):
on ESPN fifteen thirty. As Zach Taylor talked today, and
we don't have the regular season obligation to carry the
press conference in its entirety, so that's good, but we
still feel an obligation to you to carry and share
with you some of the stuff that Zach Taylor had
to say, and he started with the unfortunate news of

(21:45):
Cam samples achilles injury.

Speaker 2 (21:47):
Go ahead and hit it.

Speaker 4 (21:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (21:49):
Consistent player, consistent person. You know, he's a top notch
human being, affects everybody the right way, has always embraced
his role, kind of been a whatever I can do
to help the team win type of guy.

Speaker 4 (22:01):
Since we drafted him.

Speaker 5 (22:02):
You know, I remember I remember watching him at the
Senior Bowl, watching his Tulane tate, so excited to have
him once we got him in the draft. He's been
what we hoped, you know, played a lot of different
roles for us, and a lot of different defensive looks
and and uh, playing some huge games for us and
been a big part of what we've achieved as a
team plan.

Speaker 4 (22:27):
Out you know what I mean.

Speaker 5 (22:28):
It's it's you got guys that have been around like Joseph,
and you got Miles and some young guys competing for
time right now, and so I think there's a lot
of opportunity there, and and there's still plenty of training
camp for for guys to step up and take hold
of some of those spots and in roles and how
much time and what role you're playing, And there's still
a lot of opportunity there. I think there's you know,

(22:58):
the offense and the defense. I both expect both sides
to play, but we'll look at what it looks like
on both sides, you know, because obviously we're down a
few more bodies on defense, and so we'll all offer
some flexibility there as we get closer to the game
to see how it all shakes out. Trent will do
individual today. Yeah, so, well, he's him back in. He's

(23:19):
a veteran player, he's a big guy obviously, so we
were mindful of how we get him back into training camp.
But he's done everything. We've been on the same page
and he's done a great job. And today was kind
of a day we'd set, you know, probably a week
and a half ago to start to get him back
into work, and so he'll do individual today. It's a
it's predominantly a special team's practice today, so you'll see

(23:40):
more Darren and Ben working today, and guys that are
in the the O line, D line, some skill guys
that are starters, kind of doing more individual stuff. Second
half of practice, in the games. You know, we'll just
take it one day at a time and see see
kind of where we're at. Is it talks about practice.
I've got enough game tape to know what type of

(24:02):
player he is. If he doesn't end up playing in
a preseason game, that's not the end of the world
for me. But again, it's too early to say all
that stuff.

Speaker 1 (24:12):
There he goes Zach Taylor from earlier today kind of
outlining the plan for Saturday night. This was a big
talking point, you know, late last week. I h.

Speaker 2 (24:24):
I wish things were different. I mean, I.

Speaker 1 (24:27):
Wish things were different as it relates to how the
Bengals have started the season in recent years.

Speaker 2 (24:31):
But it's not.

Speaker 1 (24:33):
And so there is you know, there's a huge part
of me that wants the Bengals to win so much
that the preseason is a throwaway, and you go, you
know what, these guys have earned the benefit of the doubt,
and the staff has earned the benefit of the doubt,
and they're going to start the season and hit the
ground running no matter what. Unfortunately, the recent track record

(24:54):
isn't that they're capable of doing that with the way
they had handled the preseason and training camp before. So
they're making it a adjustment and I can appreciate it.
I don't love I am I'm I'm looking forward to
the game on Saturday because I always think there's interesting
things in games like this. One of them, and I
know I beat this to death last Friday is I'm

(25:14):
excited to see how the Bengals execute the new kickoff,
but you know, I'm not looking forward to watching starters
play in a game that doesn't count. But when you
have had a hard time starting the season and you
have not been able to hit the ground running and
you've looked as clunky as the Bengals have. I think
you have to change your approach. Bengals are changing their approach.
Good for them for doing so. Good for us because

(25:37):
Tony Pike joins us from practice next.

Speaker 4 (25:39):
Hey, if you're listening to me right now, I have
one thing every business needs more report.

Speaker 6 (25:44):
Brook to you by Kimball. Credit you of ESPN fifteen thirty,
the official home of the Bengal He's.

Speaker 1 (25:52):
Been there since before twelve o'clock today because he did
since he three sixty from Bengals training camp and he's
with us at three forty five four and giving us
hourly live Bengals training camp updates. Our guy Tony Pike. Hi,
Tony him. What's happening in football practice today?

Speaker 7 (26:14):
Well, special team emphasis today, which is never the most
exciting practice. But I will say, you know, we we
talked at the end of seventy three to sixty about
the cam sample injury and kind of what's going what
that means for the rest. They did a series just
as we were going off airon you were coming on
air where they were they were going out, so starting

(26:35):
backed up in the red zone going out, and it
was as close to a live period as you can
get without legitimately tackling guys. And I thought Joseph Osai
had his best practice session of camp that I've covered.
I mean, he was dominant. He dominated Orlando Brown Junior,

(26:56):
he dominated with power, he dominated with speed. Miles Murphy
had a nice play against Mario's mims to cause some
problems in the backfield. But it was a smaller sample size,
but I thought Joseph Osai had had the best period
of practice that I've seen him have in a very
long time. As a whole mo it felt almost like
the coaches told the defense that they could go live,

(27:18):
but didn't tell the offense that they were going to
go live. It just felt like the offense was slower
than the defense. Jermaine Pratt, Logan Wilson for the first
time really a camp watching practice, like man, the defense
just looks staffed right now. That's pretty much the extent
of the team stuff they did today. And then it
went to specialty.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
You know you mentioned and we talked about it when
you were wrapping up your show Joseph Osaigh and how
important of a camp this is for him. It feels
like his, at least his Bengals career is kind of
hanging in the balance.

Speaker 2 (27:49):
I am really excited.

Speaker 1 (27:50):
I am really excited starting with preseason games, but you know,
obviously mainly when the real games get here, to see
what Miles Murphy's second season looks like. Because I think
there's a lot of folks who admitted all the stuff
that was going on last year really don't realize how
good he was toward the end of last season.

Speaker 7 (28:07):
Yeah, I thought he took two steps and look, we
said this with a sigh earlier. It felt like, and
James Rapine talked about this, it felt like that Joseph
Osai was going to be battling to make the fifty
three man roster because of the production they got at
the end of last year, because of the additions that
they made to help this team on the interior side.

(28:28):
So you know, I think I don't want to hit
the paint cam sample is a bigger loss than people think.
He has played in forty seven of the fifty one
game since he has been drafted here. But if you
trust this team's evaluation, if you trust this team's development process,
then you don't have to look outside this roster to think, Okay,

(28:48):
these are players or these are guys that I think
can fill in in the defense not miss a beat.

Speaker 1 (28:54):
So it's a heavy emphasis on special teams.

Speaker 2 (28:58):
Today.

Speaker 1 (28:59):
We haven't talked about the big punter battle. Does that
mean that's something we're going to talk about this afternoon?

Speaker 7 (29:05):
You know, we might have to get to it, though,
I don't know certainly. Since I've been covering camp, I've
never seen a three punter battle that has gone this
long in the camp. So all three punters are still punning.
All three punters were able to I don't know if
if they're just letting two punters battle it out and
then those two the winner faces Brad Robbins and the
ultimate pun off. I don't know how this ends, but

(29:28):
I do know that this team has a roster thoughts
that he needs, that they need to fill in the secondary.
There are wide receivers pushing to make the end of
this roster. So you can't evaluate and finish that evaluation
process if you're going to continue to carry three even
two punters to this point.

Speaker 1 (29:45):
And so and then also this gives us a chance
today to talk more about the new kickoff rule.

Speaker 7 (29:51):
Oh man, so we get you're talking punning and new
kickoff rule.

Speaker 1 (29:56):
Man, this is everything I ever could have asked for
on a Monday afternoon.

Speaker 7 (30:01):
Yeah, especially though with the vauted off day coming tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (30:06):
What was the bigger deal for the Bengals as an
organization having you broadcast three hours from training camp or
having Kay Adams in yesterday?

Speaker 7 (30:14):
Uh, it's probably a lot, you know, close, closer than thought.
But I think it was more for k just because
you know, she got the interviewed Joe Burrow and while
I had James Rapeena on the show today very.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
Similar said James birthday.

Speaker 1 (30:27):
I mean, yeah, yeah, all right, I'll say this.

Speaker 7 (30:32):
I will say I feel bad. They did a special
team's emphasis and they never left the practice field closest
to the entry gate. The unfortunate thing is for all
the fans that came down to sit in those bleachers,
they barely even used the other field today, So it
wasn't the most fan accommodating practice. It was still an
unbelievable amount of fans that came out, and there will

(30:54):
be on Wednesday as well, But a little bit shorter today,
and obviously the special teams have.

Speaker 1 (30:59):
All right, But but did the players still sign autographs
and stuff like that.

Speaker 7 (31:02):
Yes, yes, they signed autographs.

Speaker 2 (31:04):
That's all the counts.

Speaker 1 (31:06):
Yes, that's all the counts. Yeah, that's all I mean.
For a lot of especially kids, that's what they're there for.
So as long as the players, and you know this,
we've talked about this, the players are typically very accommodating.
As long as they as long as they do autographs,
who cares.

Speaker 7 (31:22):
Which again, you made the key point for kids. For
kids meant for kids to get autographs down here, not
the adults screaming at players. And to also have the understanding.
There was a gentleman last week that was mad that
Joe Burrow wasn't signing. You also have to have the
understanding in coming down here. You feel how hot it is.

(31:43):
These players have had a long day, they're getting done
with practice. If they can't stick around for thirty minutes
in time and it's only ten minutes, you just got
to kind of take that and go with it.

Speaker 1 (31:52):
Well, and what I always love is the player and
overwhelmingly so you're down there every day. The guys are
really really good about signing but sometimes I do feel
bad because you might have a guy who's like, all right, fine,
I'll sign for ten minutes, and he gives everybody waiting,
and then he's got to go, And then he gets
somebody who's mad because they're the one guy who didn't

(32:12):
get a chance to get the autographs.

Speaker 7 (32:13):
They might have a meeting, they might have training, they
might have to get like, there's other reasons they gotta leave.

Speaker 1 (32:19):
Yep, all right, well, if you sign any autographs between
now and four to forty five, let us know. Okay, Tony,
here you go, Tony Pike giving us hourly updates. By
the way, this piece of NFL news is not insignificant.
So we've talked obviously a ton about Jamar Chase. What's
gonna happen with Jamar Chase? Is he gonna come to practice?

(32:43):
Is he gonna sit out games? Are they gonna give
him his new deal? Are they gonna bend over backwards
to pay him? Like Mike Brown said, well, there's another
guy from that draft class who is also eligible for
a contract, and he doesn't have the fifth year option
because he's not a first round that's obviously Evan McPherson.
So Adam Schefter. I don't know if he was first

(33:05):
on this, but it was the first that I saw.
Adam Schefter reports that the Chiefs are signing Harrison Bucker
to a four year contract extension twenty five point six
million dollars and includes seventeen point seven million dollars guaranteed.
It ties Bucker to the Chiefs through the twenty twenty
eight season. Obviously, Harrison Bucker made a lot of off

(33:26):
field news, that's not what this is about. He is
a guy who has made some of the biggest kicks
in recent NFL history. He's really good at what he does.
He becomes the highest paid kicker in the NFL on
a per year basis, eclipsing Justin Tucker by about four
hundred thousand dollars. I don't know what this means specifically

(33:46):
for Evan McPherson, but this was one of the contract
extensions we did talk about when the offseason began. Here's
what can get done, and one of them that can
get done would be Evan McPherson. There's no reason to
expect I guess that the Bengals won't lock it. I mean,
they use a draft choice on him, which tells you

(34:06):
they value him and he has been very good. I mean,
he's you're talking about making some of the biggest kicks.
Evian McPherson has authored some of the biggest moments in
this franchise's history. So one would suggest one would imagine
that with a year to go on the deal, that
they're not gonna want a franchise tag Evan McPherson next season,
that well, they're gonna want to get a deal done.

(34:27):
What this does for that, I don't know, but it
does feel like, as Kelsey Conway the Inquirer tweets today,
the clock is ticking on a deadline to get a
deal done before the season begins. Obviously that's still a
little bit more than a month away. But for what
it's worth, a box does get checked. Harrison Butcker gets
his extension with the Chiefs seventeen point seventy five mill guaranteed.

Speaker 2 (34:49):
What this does for Evan McPherson.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
If Evan McPherson was waiting for the Butcker deal to
get done, I have no idea. But the Butcker deal
is done. Now We'll see if the Bengals get a
deal done with Evan make Pearson by the way. Our
phone numbers are five one, three, seven, four nine, fifteen
thirty and eight sixty six, seven two, three, seven, seven six.
Last week was awesome. Last week was an awesome week
for phone calls, really good stuff. We are guests free

(35:14):
between now and Tony coming up in four forty five. UH.
The Reds lost two out of three over the weekend.
David Bell didn't have a great day yesterday, UH and
in large part because his bullpen failed him. Fernando Cruz
has remember when he had like the world's most unhittable pitch.
He's kind of turned into a pumpkin. And so now

(35:36):
now with the deadline behind us, and with the Reds
having emerged from the deadline by losing three out of
four games, it is put a heightened focus both on
next season but also the performance and long term job
status of David Bell. For a large chunk of the

(36:00):
last five and a half years, I have thought that
David Bell was either inconsequential or a positive, a net
positive when it comes to whatever it is at the
moment the Reds were trying to do, or trying to avoid,
or trying to be. But there's something about twenty twenty

(36:22):
five that we have to consider, and so we're gonna
do that when we come back at Moegar on Twitter.
Anything you might miss, go get on the iHeartRadio app
podcast page of ESPN fifteen thirty as well podcast of
the show. A service of Long Necks sports grills coming
up on four o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports station.

Speaker 3 (36:42):
This report is sponsored by Oreillanto Parts.

Speaker 6 (36:46):
For ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's sports station.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
It's up. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (36:55):
As that guy just said on Moeger's Glad You're here,
or from Zach Taylor in maybe thirty minutes, more from
Tony Pike in forty minutes, Brennaman and Jones on baseball,
and I thought on today's Big College Football News that
I'm not sure is big college football news.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
Probably get to it anyway.

Speaker 1 (37:23):
I have tried in recent years to not necessarily form
talk radio segments around what people are losing their minds
over on social media for two different reasons. One, oftentimes,
when people are losing their minds over on social media
goes away by the time I start my show. Number two,

(37:46):
whenever there's like three people losing their minds over something
on social media. It's I think a bad idea to
kind of use that as a reflection of what a
lot of people are saying and thinking. But perhaps because
we're post deadline, perhaps because the job performance of the
manager is coming into sharper focus now that the front

(38:08):
office has essentially said that for twenty twenty four the
onus is on the on field product, or maybe there's
just an exasperation with the way he manages.

Speaker 2 (38:18):
It does feel like.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
David Bell is taking sharper criticism than maybe at any
point during his time in Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (38:27):
You know, yesterday's game, I'd.

Speaker 1 (38:30):
Be lying if I told you I had a major
issue with him bring Inspiers out for the sixth inning.
But whatever button David Bell pushed in the second half
of yesterday's ballgame didn't work. And I've said this often
over the last two months, I have found myself questioning
individual decisions by the Reds manager at a more frequent

(38:53):
rate than really at any point since I started doing
this show, which was quite a while ago. So let's
let's do let's do the David Bell conversation. To me,
there's one question that matters above and beyond any else
as we look at twenty twenty five when it comes

(39:14):
specifically to the Reds manager, is this the guy who,
in his role gives us the best chance.

Speaker 2 (39:22):
To win the World Series.

Speaker 1 (39:25):
You probably heard me just say that, and you made
a face and you looked at whatever you're listening to.
What world World's Yeah, World Series like this plan that
the Reds are engaged in, which you may credit them
for sticking with or you may criticize them for not
changing a little. This plan only really works if at

(39:51):
some point it results in at least at least having
the sort of team that could be considered genuine World
Series contenders. And above and beyond that, you might argue
it really only works if you win the World Series.
Like that's that's what everybody's working toward here. I mean, yeah,
there's sustained excellence, and there's peaks and valleys and getting

(40:13):
rid of them and trying to not go through those
long lulls like the Reds have dragged us through where
they're terrible year after year after year after year. But
at some point you've you've got to go from you know,
kind of being stuck in the middle of the pack
and drifting aimlessly and being hard to distinguish from like
ten or twelve other teams.

Speaker 2 (40:31):
To a team that's genuinely elite, to a team that's genuinely.

Speaker 1 (40:34):
Considered to be among the best, and then at least
has a chance, a puncher's chance to win the whole thing.
So I mean, if that's not what we're asking about
twenty twenty five, then then then when do we right, then,
when do we legitimately talk about like winning.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
The whole thing? Not twenty twenty five, then win.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
So you've got a manager who's been here through five
five and a half years, and that hasn't always been
the primary question as it relates to David Bell when
they first hired him in October of twenty eighteen. Remember,
the Reds had a long run up to hiring a
new manager because they got rid of Brian Price after
eighteen games, and so they played one hundred and forty

(41:24):
four games that season with nobody having any idea who
the manager the following year was going to be, and
what we knew about that was, Okay, this is going
to be a long drawn out, exhaustive, comprehensive, thorough search.
So my question in April of twenty eighteen, the same

(41:45):
as April of or I'm sorry, August August, October of
twenty eighteen, who's the guy that emerges as the best,
most qualified candidate at the end of a long drawn
out search, And for Dick Williams, who was still running
the club at the time, the answer was David Bell.
And then after that first year, the Reds decided to

(42:05):
try to win twenty twenty and so the question was,
all right, year two, this is the guy who's best
equipped to manage this team with its veteran players and
a significant free agent presence and massage the waning years
of the Joey Vado thing. David Bell, and then in
twenty twenty one, in twenty twenty two is really going

(42:28):
to be sort of all about who's the guy to
kind of best be in place when we start to
hit the ejec button, which, even though the team in
twenty twenty one had a winning record, that process started
before the twenty twenty one season, and then going into
twenty twenty two, it was all right, we're starting fresh,
we're gonna go young, we're gonna try to accumulate talent.

(42:51):
Twenty twenty three, we're gonna be young The question was
who's best for developing a certain culture for these young
guys to operate in, who's best for their development on
the field.

Speaker 2 (43:05):
Who's best for David Bell? Well, now the question.

Speaker 1 (43:08):
Is a little bit different For me at least, what
can you best do in that role of manager to
win the World Series in twenty twenty five? I don't
know that I'm equipped to tell you that right now?
The answer is, or isn't David Bell? I am equipped

(43:31):
to tell you that over the last few weeks, just
when it comes to the minution and the in game
maneuverings and all that stuff, he has come into sharper
focus to me than at any point during his time
in Cincinnati. I think in twenty twenty five, you have
to explore every conceivable option, and you have to look

(43:52):
at every facet of your organization, every single one player, development,
minor league, scouting, international, each position, group, front office roles,
coaching staff, manager. What's not of any interest to me
at least is well, he's a good guy. Like he is.

(44:17):
Dave Bell's a good dude. Can't find anybody who will
disagree with that. What it can't be is well, it
would be unfair to move on from him, because you know,
he's been the guy through all the different ups and
downs of the last six years. Not interested in what's fair,
interested in having the best possible people in every possible role,

(44:40):
the best possible people in every possible role. I'm not
interested in scapegoat. I'm not in You know, this isn't
like when the Reds loss in the playoffs in twenty
twelve and people just wanted Dusty Baker to be let
go because they wanted a scapegoat, and they let him
go at the end of twenty thirteen because well, they
needed someone in a scapegoat after they I kind of
fell short and lost to the Pirates on the wild card.

(45:03):
Not interested in escapegoat. Interested in as we kind of
move into whatever is next, which is going to be
trying to win with the core players they have, everybody
in every role being considered the very best among all
the other possibilities. I think you have to legitimately look
at the manager's role and ask could we be better

(45:28):
off with someone else? And if the answer is yes,
can you get that guy? And if the answer is no,
and be comfortable with the criticism that's going to come
your way. And then you'll ultimately be judged by the
results of David belichieves, But I don't think there's anything wrong,
even though he does have two more years left on

(45:49):
his deal, which would suggest quite strongly that he is
going to be the manager on opening day in twenty
twenty five. I don't think there's anything wrong with just
sort of taking stock of what you have in regard
to the guy in the duckout, what are his strengths
and weaknesses and he is he the guy best equipped
to take what we have and what we've done and

(46:13):
achieve better results with it. Is this a World Series manager?
And if the answer is no, find someone else.

Speaker 2 (46:26):
Now. If the answer is, well, I want.

Speaker 1 (46:28):
To get rid of David Bell because somebody's gonna be punished,
I'm not interested in punishing anybody. The answer is get
rid of David Bell because I want to hire want
them to hire my favorite read from when I was
a kid. I'm not interested in that. The answer is
get rid of David Bell because I want to hire
my favorite former player who's in the broadcast booth, and
I'm not interested in that. I'm not interested in hiring
someone because they used to play for the team or

(46:49):
grew up. I'm interested in finding the very best of
what they do, who's interested in the job. The motivation
behind looking at manager is fine, that person I'm in.
I don't I where folks lose me every time this
conversation comes up, regardless of who the Reds manager has been,

(47:11):
is when it automatically defaults to you know, some of
the same. Nothing against Barry Larkin's candidacy, but will hire
Barry Larkin?

Speaker 7 (47:19):
No?

Speaker 1 (47:19):
Do do a search, do a search, do something comprehensive.
Let's go find the best at what they do and
bring them here. But I completely think it's reasonable after
a six year body of work, with some some things
that he has been credited for that he should be
credited for, and some failures, and some some moments where

(47:40):
things have fallen short, Like.

Speaker 2 (47:43):
If if things are really going to.

Speaker 1 (47:46):
Advance in twenty twenty five, don't you have to take
stock of every facet of your team, every facet of
your organization, regardless of whether someone in a particular role
is under contract or not. So yeah, Like, I'm all
for an examination as to whether or not David Bell's
the right guy. I'm all for exploring whether or not

(48:09):
it makes sense for someone else to take over and
take the work that David Bell has done, and take
the work that the Reds have done to this point
and see if they can achieve better results guys had
six years.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
Now.

Speaker 1 (48:24):
The Reds have changed managers twice in the last eleven years.
They moved on from Brian Price in April of twenty eighteen,
and it just sort of felt like an inevitability and
it was unfortunate because that guy was never really set
up to succeed. The previous time they had moved on
from a manager was Dusty Baker, and that was at

(48:44):
the end of the twenty thirteen season when they fired him,
and then the front office basically took the next five
months off. And I remember when they moved on from Dusty,
not to relitigate something that happened almost eleven years ago,
but going you know, like, if the idea is to
to really achieve better results, don't you have to do
more than just let the manager go. And so we

(49:08):
can talk about moving on from David Bell, We can
talk about firing him, replacing him with somebody else, replacing
him with someone who's from here, replacing him with someone
who's from the outside, replacing him with someone who's sort
of outside the box. But where you're also going to
lose me is if the suggestion is that the biggest
problem is David Bell, and so let's change the manager,

(49:31):
wipe our hands, and then just bring everybody else back,
not really tweak the roster all that much, not really
change anything else, and let's just the manager is going
to get us over the top.

Speaker 2 (49:44):
If that's it, that ain't it?

Speaker 1 (49:47):
What is it for me is an examination of everyone's role,
understanding that a lot of people have helped this team
and helped this franchise get better from what it was
two and a half years ago, but maybe aren't the
best get it to whatever's next, which is to win
the World Series? Can you win a World Series with
David Bell? And if you even have an inkling that

(50:09):
the answer is no, how do you not explore other options?
I don't want to fire someone just to punish them.
I don't want to fire someone just to So there's
someone's head on a stick. With the people in the
important positions to be considered the absolute best in the
world at what they do. David Bell the best in

(50:30):
the world at what he does. It's eighteen minutes after
four o'clock. Five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty
is our phone number at moeger on X thanks to
Delta Dental. More from Zach Taylor coming up in fifteen
minutes on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 3 (50:49):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN.

Speaker 1 (50:52):
For after form Zach Taylor. More from him in ten minutes.
I already looking ahead of the weekend. Don't forget. We
have Bengals Bucks Saturday Live on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
Kickoff at seven o'clock.

Speaker 1 (51:08):
Pregame coverage starts at three. Let's see here, Mike, go ahead.
You're on ESPN fifteen thirty afternoon.

Speaker 2 (51:17):
What's up?

Speaker 8 (51:19):
Don't know?

Speaker 9 (51:19):
Do you have a good weekend?

Speaker 2 (51:21):
I had an awesome weekend, Mike, what's new?

Speaker 9 (51:25):
Well, I say, I had an interesting experience today.

Speaker 8 (51:28):
Thanks they took some of us vets that are in
an alpahastics for am.

Speaker 9 (51:36):
Drive up to Santa Barbara.

Speaker 2 (51:37):
Okay, Along the way.

Speaker 9 (51:40):
To Santa Barbara, if you're traveling Pacific Coast Highway, you
go past a town called Oxnard, and that's where the
cowboys And I'm no Cowboys fan, I hate them, but
that's where they've had their training camp for years and years.
It's on Ventura Boulevard there break down by the ocean.

Speaker 7 (51:58):
Mo.

Speaker 9 (51:58):
This place is in credible. We've got they'd let us
take a tour because we were veterans. This place was unbelievable.

Speaker 8 (52:06):
I mean, I don't know how many millions or billions
they spent on this thing, but it's audacious.

Speaker 9 (52:11):
It's almost too much really really.

Speaker 8 (52:13):
I mean it looks yeah, it looks like a temple
and it's crazy, but boy, they take care of them
fellas in there. It looked like to me because we
were all shocked and almost everybody that was on the
ride was a sports fand and we were shocked at
how uh, you.

Speaker 9 (52:32):
Know, elegant it is. And it was just almost too much.

Speaker 1 (52:36):
Really, So did you did you get a chance Did
you get a chance to be there while the cowboys
were practicing?

Speaker 10 (52:42):
Yeah, they let us watch for about half hour. And
of course it's always see nice and cool there along
the ocean. So it was in the upper sixties. I
guess that's pretty cool. Yeah, and it was nice and
they got Yeah, we got to watch some guys, but
you know, it's kind of rushed, so it wasn't like
we could really just little mixed and sit back and
try to absorb much of it.

Speaker 9 (53:03):
It was kind of a rush rush.

Speaker 10 (53:04):
But we did eat there. Man, those guys eat good.
I had steak and lobster for lunch.

Speaker 1 (53:09):
Really, guys, So so you get to go to Cowboys
training camp and they give you steak and lobs a
little surfing turf.

Speaker 10 (53:18):
Yeah, I guess that's what the players are eating for
lunch today or something.

Speaker 2 (53:23):
I love you well deserved.

Speaker 10 (53:27):
We just walked out, you know, but we were all
surprised and it wasn't even really planned. That was the thing.
We were supposed to go up to Santa Barbara for
some activities up there, but I wanted to share that
with you. I have a question for you. Yeah, Well,
is Chase Brown a good or great pass catcher or
just adequate?

Speaker 6 (53:48):
Um?

Speaker 1 (53:49):
I mean I would stop well short of saying great,
because he hasn't proven that he's great.

Speaker 2 (53:53):
I think he's good.

Speaker 10 (53:57):
Was he known that the Illinois for that.

Speaker 2 (54:00):
As as a like a pass catcher pass catcher?

Speaker 10 (54:03):
Yeah, the backfield type thing.

Speaker 2 (54:04):
Yeah, I mean you know, I mean was he was
he a pass catcher?

Speaker 10 (54:10):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (54:11):
It was impossible to look at that speed and and
not you know, think about his his ability, uh to
take a pass and and and go with it.

Speaker 10 (54:22):
Well, this certainly was promising preseason we've got in the
running back spot when you're saying quite a few years.
I mean, I'm very excited about about him and the
other guy that got from Indianapolis, Zach Moss.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
Yeah. I mean, look, I look at it in terms
of explosiveness and ability to keep guys on the field
when they could do you know, multiple things. With Joe Mixon,
for all of his for all of his accomplishments, and
for as good as he was here, you didn't want
him on the field on third down because he wasn't
good at pass protection. And as Tony is often mentioned,

(54:56):
well when he wasn't on the field, and that kind
of told you what they were going to do. You know,
he wasn't great at that. He was not the guy
they had in the field in two minutes. And you know,
the Bengals were like seventeenth or eighteenth in the NFL
last year and runs by running backs over ten yards
and so this is it should never be the sort

(55:17):
of team that is a quote running football team. Right
when the Bengals run the ball. They're doing what the
other team's defensive coordinator wants. But when you do run it,
you want to be able to get a little bit
more out of it. And so, you know, the combination
that we saw from what we saw from Chase Brown
last year was really encouraging.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
It was interesting his usage sort of.

Speaker 1 (55:36):
Spiked before the season was over and then they went
back to kind of forgetting about him. And I think
Zach Moss is probably in the grand scheme of things,
close to a league average running back. But I'm looking
for guys who, when they get it, have a chance
to break longer runs. And I get the sense that
that can be the case. And then you add, you know,

(55:57):
you asked about Chase Brown at Illinois. I mean he
he was a guy who carved out a reputation of
the draft for what he did running the football. He
had a sixteen hundred yard season running the ball. His
receiving ability complimented what he did as a pure running back,
but it wasn't like he put up insane numbers as
a pass catcher. That said, in this offense, when you

(56:19):
look at Chase Brand's athleticism and his raw ability, you
can't help, but wonder how can they take advantage of
his ability and his pure athletic ability in the passing game.
I'm excited. I'm excited about those two guys at that position.
I still can't help, but wonder, as many of us have,
is there going to be a veteran back that they
bring in to effectively serve in the Samaj pteron roll

(56:43):
and could that player end up actually still being samaj
p Ry himself.

Speaker 10 (56:48):
That was the way I think everybody would love that.

Speaker 9 (56:51):
Well.

Speaker 10 (56:51):
I appreciate the time, that's all. I were you going
to do a show before the actual regular season starts
and kind of talk about individual different teams in the
Bengals you think, and kind of break things down team by.

Speaker 2 (57:04):
Team one hundred Mike, Absolutely, okay, because.

Speaker 10 (57:08):
I want to be your West Coast correspondent on the
Rams and the Chargers, because I'm warning the Rams are
so excited about Rams.

Speaker 2 (57:17):
Chargers are now cowboys.

Speaker 10 (57:19):
Yeah cowboy right. I can't do it for the cowboy.
That's all I ever gonna say about the Cowboys. They
can go to hell all like, okay, okay.

Speaker 1 (57:27):
Very bad, So I may wait, hang on, so they
serve you steak and lobster, and you still say, to
hell with them.

Speaker 10 (57:34):
Yeah, I'm not going to be a Cowboys. Then they
could have gave it a couple hundred thousand, and I, well,
I would have done it, but I'll just switched for
a couple.

Speaker 1 (57:41):
Here's the thing, If if, if, if a football team
wants to pay me a cup, Mike, thank you. If
a football team wants to pay me a couple hundred thousand,
my my rooting allegiance could be for sale. Twenty nine
away from five o'clock five, three, seven, nine, fifteen. More
more press conference excitement from Zach Taylor is coming up

(58:04):
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (58:08):
Cincinnati's ESPN You ready for some footballs?

Speaker 6 (58:12):
The Orange and Black kick off their preseason schedule against
Tampa Bay.

Speaker 2 (58:16):
What incredible catch.

Speaker 6 (58:18):
It's the Bengals and Buccaneers in a pigskin season preview.

Speaker 2 (58:22):
The second effort get the bag of the cutdown.

Speaker 6 (58:26):
Look, Zach Taylor's men prove they're ready for a super
Bowl bound season. Down the Ball from Dan Ord and
Dave laff A. Coverage starts Saturday at three on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the apportionate home of the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (58:40):
That's a regular season promo for a preseason game.

Speaker 2 (58:42):
That's what we do.

Speaker 1 (58:44):
Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet Home of
lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family
to yours for life kelseyshev dot com. Zach Taylor confirmed
today cam Sample has the torn achilles unfortunately his two
twenty four over before it kids underway. Bengals practicing today

(59:04):
a special teams heavy practice. More from Tony Pike coming
up in just about eight minutes. Meanwhile, tonight Reds and
Marlins first of four in Miami six forty at whatever
they call their ballpark, India. Leading off playing second, Elliott
short Steer and left Freedom and center Stevenson behind the plate.
Jaymer Candelario is dhing Ty France at first, Freileyan right

(59:27):
Marte at third base. Birthday boy, Nick Martinez, you should
get a wider strike zone on your birthday. He is
the first man on the mound for the Reds Tonight
six forty this evening, seven hundred WLW. We're gonna do
that right, the whole thing where it's like, well, you know,
here's the week. This is the defining week because They're
playing the Marlins, who were awful and four times than

(59:50):
to go to Milwaukee.

Speaker 2 (59:54):
League's Cup.

Speaker 1 (59:55):
Group stage play continues tonight for FC Cincinnati, even though
they've already advance to the knockout stage, they had to
play NYCFC tonight. The game from the Soccer Venue in
the West End of Cincinnati at eight Pregame coverage seven
thirty on ESPN. Fifteen thirty college football Coaches Poll Georgia,
Ohio State, Oregon, Texas, Alabama one through five, Kentucky enough

(01:00:19):
votes to finish thirty seventh for Mark Stoops. Kentucky had
to vacate wins in twenty twenty one. Mark Stoops will
never have to vacate an appearance on our show because
he refuses to make one. And Chuck Martin's club, the
Miami RedHawks, got to vote. Gotta vote in the coaches pull.
Here's more from Zach Taylor. Are you excited to hear

(01:00:41):
from Zach Taylor? The head coach of the Bengals practice today.
Zach met with the media. Here is the head coach
of the team on where his team is heading into
the preseason game on Saturday, what he wants to see
from Joe if Joe Burrow does play on Saturday night,
and here he is with also some odds on the
aforementioned Chase Brown.

Speaker 5 (01:01:03):
Yeah, it's still training camp. Yeah, we're not there yet.
We saw a lot of work to do from I mean,
we're we're really just getting into like football practice where
we're sustaining long drives and getting feeling like we're in
football shape. And now we're we're trying to simulate the
games as best we can this week in practice, starting
with yesterday, today's special teams, but Wednesday and Thursday will

(01:01:23):
be good practices and then and then we're ready to
go on Saturday. So there's still a lot of work
to be done, and in terms of shaping it like
a game week, we're still several weeks away from that.

Speaker 4 (01:01:31):
The things you've been excited year practice.

Speaker 5 (01:01:37):
Yeah, I mean we're we're now we're into the next
phase of the offense. You went through the install phase
and now you get a chance to everything's available, which
can be overwhelming for young players because a game week
is so much easier. You have a game plan that
you're presenting to the players. They're getting it by Tuesday
and they can study that all week and and they
know the formations in the play. This there's I mean,

(01:01:59):
that's that and right now we have this and so
you can see a lot of the players we're pulling
from everywhere and they got to be able to respond
and nursing the concept and our our veteran players get
it and they're playing fast. And so with Joe you're
able to fine tune all this stuff we've been working on.
And you know, so again his his feedback is invaluable
there on how to how to perfect the scheme that

(01:02:21):
we're we're maybe toying with a little bit, and his
feedback has been really good and it's good to have
him out there and reponant.

Speaker 4 (01:02:28):
Does exactly what.

Speaker 5 (01:02:33):
Yeah, I mean, we want to see efficiency on offense.
That's certainly what we want to see. But it is
more just about getting coaches and players off the field.
There's fans around just the eleven guys, uh you and
the other ten guys in the huddle communicating and going
through it together to try to simulate a game environment.
And so I think that's just that's it's more the

(01:02:55):
U I don't know if intangible stuff is the right word,
but it's more of that chemistry and being out there
by yourself and having to work through it as opposed
to how we work straight to practice.

Speaker 4 (01:03:10):
The consistency.

Speaker 5 (01:03:11):
You've heard me say this word over and over because
it's my favorite training camp word, but consisten. Chase has
been very consistent and and that's what we're counting on
from him. And he didn't get a ton of opportunity
last year, and so now is the first time he's
really getting a bunch of reps.

Speaker 4 (01:03:27):
Man.

Speaker 5 (01:03:28):
I like how consistent he's been and independable he's been.
You just feel it, you know, as a as a
play caller, your your quarterback feels it, The play caller
feels it. Getting in phase with the line in the
run game, getting understanding who to protect in the past game,
understanding where to be when you don't have protection on
a shutdown. I really liked what I've seen. He's done

(01:03:51):
the right things there. And so how do you measure it?
You just there's not errors being made and that's a
positive thing.

Speaker 10 (01:03:58):
Hi.

Speaker 1 (01:03:58):
There you goes Zach Taylor on a Chase Brown, Joe
Burrow his team in consistency as they get closer and
closer to Saturday night, Bengals and Bucks live on ESPN
fifteen thirty. Tony Pike has been at the venue originally
known as Paul Brown Stadium all day. He joins US
next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station Book.

Speaker 6 (01:04:18):
At ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Bengals.

Speaker 1 (01:04:22):
Pike broadcast today from Bengals training camp his show noon
to three. Since he three sixty on ESPN fifteen thirty,
and now he's there with us in the afternoon on
ESPN fifteen thirty, giving us hourly training camp updates at
three forty five, four forty five, and five forty five
A Special Teams heavy Bengals training camp practice.

Speaker 2 (01:04:42):
Hi, Tony, Hello, how are you? I'm wonderful.

Speaker 1 (01:04:45):
What did we learn about Bengals Special teams play today?

Speaker 7 (01:04:49):
We learned that they still have three punters on the
roster and that Evan McPherson is still good at football. So,
you know, the main thought, and I guess those holding
out hope that Brad Robbins wins the The conversation was, well,
you know, can you mess with Evan McPherson's holder, And
from the looks of it, Evan McPherson is just as
dynamic no matter who's holding the football for him right now.

(01:05:11):
So we have that, we've got a little bit from
an understanding of the new kickoff rule in place. And
you know, because it was a special team's heavy practice mo.
You know, the last time we were talking practice was
just about wrapping up. For the first time throughout camp
to this point. Now he has stayed after and run
some sprints, but for the first time this point of camp,

(01:05:32):
Joe Burrow stayed after Ransom sprints and also did some
extra throwing drills. So whether that's because he's feeling good,
whether it's because he wanted to get the throws he
didn't get it practice, or because it's essentially a game
week with some of the starters playing on Saturday night.
Good to see Joe Burrow getting the extra work as well.

Speaker 2 (01:05:48):
How did he look throwing?

Speaker 7 (01:05:51):
He's been better, I mean.

Speaker 10 (01:05:52):
The last week.

Speaker 7 (01:05:53):
He still is at times doesn't have the drive. You
see that in some of the red zone passes that
he makes. He still needs to get the velocity and
the spiral goes every now and then. But I don't
think there's a question in strength me. He rolled out
over the weekend and through the ball fifty yards in
the air. I don't think anyone's questioning can he push
it down the field? The smaller window throws I think

(01:06:15):
still need to take a step forward. But all in all,
I think from where he was to where he's at now,
I think Joe Burrows in good shape.

Speaker 1 (01:06:24):
This is a broad question, it probably requires a broad answer,
and we can talk about it as the week unfolds.
Let's assume he plays on Saturday. What do you want
to see.

Speaker 7 (01:06:38):
Consistency from just the snap standpoint of just getting guys
in and out of the huddle. You're not going to
have Jamar Chase, so you've got younger players in there.
Can you just get a situation where you're lining up
in the right spot. Obviously you have to avoid any
major production protection breakdowns which push him in a bad situation.

(01:06:59):
But I think in hearing Zach talk and following along
with Joe, I think they want to score. You know,
they want to go down the field, they want to
move the ball, get some easy completions for Joe Burrow
and find a way to go put points on the board.
But above all, one you can't have a turnover, and
two can you avoid pre snap penalties or just overall
sloppiness of getting lined up correctly and things like that.

Speaker 1 (01:07:22):
Yeah, I want to see a Chris drive, right, That's
what we don't see when the regular season begins, right,
so let me let me just see a Chris drive.

Speaker 7 (01:07:30):
And I think with that that would probably dictate how
long the starters go. Look if they come out and
they go three and out and it's sloppy, probably send
them back out again. If they don't, if they go
down the field, they march down, then then pull them
after the series. But I think what's also overlooked a
little bit mo you know, yes, the starters are going
to play. Most of them are going to play, you

(01:07:51):
would think on Saturday night. Let's not forget though, they're
gonna get to go ones versus ones because they got
a joint practice with the Bears and they also have
a joint practice for the Indianapolis. So by the time
preseason is all said and done, that's three different opportunities
in controlled settings on the practices to get ones versus
ones of another team. And I think that's vital for
this team wanting to start fast.

Speaker 1 (01:08:12):
In a really tight amount of time too. That's what
stands out to me. Right, So you have within within
a thirteen day period, three games and two joint practices.
I'm not sure I've ever seen a preseason calendar like that.

Speaker 7 (01:08:25):
Before, correct, And what I'm interested in, because we've seen
so many players not practice for the Cincinnati Bengals, is
that why are they gearing up to really get these
guys going towards the end of camp. Zach Taylor spoke
today and said, look, we're just now getting into the
stage of camp where you know, it feels like football,

(01:08:45):
where's it's pads and you're hitting and the days start
to drag on. So is that why maybe we're seeing
the influx of guys that aren't practicing early in camp
to make sure they get reps in those meaningful practices.

Speaker 1 (01:08:57):
Tony, we'll talk again, coming up in five forty five.

Speaker 2 (01:08:59):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 1 (01:09:01):
All right, Well, Tony Pike broadcasting since e three to
sixty this week from the venue originally known as Paul
Brown Stadium and giving us training camp updates once an
hour forty five pass Wi Chaut with him again coming
up at to five forty five. Right now, it's time
for Breneman and Jones on baseball.

Speaker 3 (01:09:18):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 11 (01:09:23):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. Nearly sixty percent of
Americans waiting on an organ transplant are from multicultural communities.
Give the Gift of Life. Sign up today to be
an organ donor. There's some stop and go traffic if
you need to travel southbound four seventy one between Columbia
Parkway and Southgate and expect a five minute delay. If
you're traveling westbound two seventy five from Springfield Pike to

(01:09:45):
Winton Road. And we have a five minute delay on
northbound seventy one between Kennedy Avenue and Stuart Road. I'm
Nicoll with traffic. This report is sponsored by Murdy, Cincinnati
Sports station.

Speaker 1 (01:09:58):
Yeah, it's the michelob Ultra of five o'clock Happy Hour
on ESPN fifteen thirty. Glad that you are here, hopefully, Hey,
you had a great weekend. Be your week is off
to a good start.

Speaker 2 (01:10:11):
See even if.

Speaker 1 (01:10:13):
You're a week is gone off to a great start,
you can enjoy the Michelo Ultra Happy Hour. Well, I
was called Nick Ultram.

Speaker 4 (01:10:20):
I think that's something.

Speaker 1 (01:10:22):
We got some in the fridge. We had some on Friday.
Tarren This is what you missed like going to Summer Slam.
Is that you were at Summer Slam?

Speaker 4 (01:10:31):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (01:10:32):
How was it amazing? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:10:35):
Paycurk could easily hope something like that?

Speaker 2 (01:10:37):
Did they They had at the brown Stadium? Yes, it
was cool.

Speaker 4 (01:10:40):
Yes, in their stadium. Isn't all that?

Speaker 1 (01:10:44):
It's very okay? Yes, I went to the Bengals Browns
game last year. I went to the I saw the
Rolling Stones back in June. It's not bad by any
stretch it is. It is very okay. It's a very
okay stadium.

Speaker 7 (01:10:58):
All right?

Speaker 1 (01:10:58):
Who was who was the big winter at Summer Slam?
Who won the main event?

Speaker 4 (01:11:03):
The American Nightmare? Cody Roads? Very good? But that's not
the story.

Speaker 1 (01:11:07):
What's the big story from SummerSlam?

Speaker 4 (01:11:09):
That the original tribal chief Roman Rains.

Speaker 2 (01:11:11):
Is back, Roman Reigns. I didn't know he left. Yeah,
he's back with the wrestling.

Speaker 4 (01:11:16):
Yeah he returned this Saturdays. Very good?

Speaker 2 (01:11:18):
Awesome? Was it a two day event?

Speaker 7 (01:11:20):
But no?

Speaker 4 (01:11:21):
Just one day?

Speaker 2 (01:11:21):
Wasn't WrestleMania a two day event?

Speaker 4 (01:11:23):
Yes? But next year SummerSlam in Minneapolis will be two days.

Speaker 1 (01:11:27):
So why can't we have Summer Slam here like a
two day event at the Bengal Stadium. Why can't we
do that? If they can have it in Cleveland, we
can have it here, right. I'm all for many as
many events as we can have downtown. So let's do it. SummerSlam.

Speaker 4 (01:11:41):
Would you attend at least one day?

Speaker 2 (01:11:44):
Would you take me? Sure? Okay? Yes?

Speaker 1 (01:11:47):
If we get Summer Slam, I pledged to go for
at least today. Is that a daytime thing or a
nighttime thing? About seven o'clock at seven o'clock? All right,
it sounds like a concert, like a one o'clock in
the afternoon in August. I'm baking my brain out of
a wrestling match.

Speaker 4 (01:12:01):
Je Sure, well, he was there at this past Saturday.
He say, God bless America.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
Oh that's cool. Yeah, okay, very good. There you go.

Speaker 1 (01:12:11):
There's your Summer Slam update from Tarren Blam. But you
because you were at Summer Slam, you missed we mic
Ultra on Friday. But you know what, the good news
is I hear this Friday, so stand by.

Speaker 4 (01:12:22):
I mean, I canna have one right now. There's still
three in fridge.

Speaker 2 (01:12:25):
You know what, There's nothing that says you can't, nothing
that says I can't either.

Speaker 1 (01:12:30):
What do we have so the the big Bengals news
and we'll talk about it in greater detail with Tony Pike.
This is cam sample's a nice sort of complimentary piece
to that defense. I think we all feared the worst
when we saw that he left practice with a lower
body injury. It's been confirmed by Zach Taylor and Achilles issue.
We've talked a lot about Joseph Osai. This is a big, big, big,

(01:12:51):
big training camp for Joseph Osai. At some point we
have to stop hearkening back to that preseason game in
twenty twenty one when he broke out and sacked Tom
Brady and then he got hurt in that game. And
it's been a series of starts and stops during the
Bengals career of Joseph Osi. And so I hate to

(01:13:12):
say this is a a cam sample. At Joseph A's side,
there was room for both on this team. But maybe
it amplifies the importance of him having a productive camp
and being on the club and actually.

Speaker 2 (01:13:23):
Being good this year.

Speaker 1 (01:13:24):
More from a Tony Pike and a bent reds Over
the weekend, lose two out of three, They get no
hit on Friday Night, Blake Snell was terrific the game yesterday.
If David Bell presses a button in that game, it
goes poorly. I did enjoy that stretch of time where
Fernando Cruz was like the most unhittable pitcher in baseball.

(01:13:48):
He's not now. Reds lose two out of three, they
go three and three on the homestand they're in Miami
tonight for the first of four against the Marlins. Let's
do what we're not supposed to do and start the
hour by taking a phone call. Pat, You're on ESPN
fifteen thirty, Good afternoon, Pat, You're on ESPN fifteen thirty

(01:14:10):
Good afternoon.

Speaker 12 (01:14:11):
Hey Mo, good afternoon. Sorry I missed you Friday. My
happy hour started considerably earlier than yours did first, and
I apologize to Terror.

Speaker 4 (01:14:23):
I might have fived to him.

Speaker 12 (01:14:24):
I wanted to answer Mike's question because I've never been
able to answer one of his questions, and I feel
very proud of myself for coming up with this. Chase
Brown fifty eight receptions in forty nine games played in college,
five hundred and twenty yards. So the short answer is no,
not a non exceptional catcher out of the backfield. No.

Speaker 1 (01:14:44):
At twenty seven his last year, twenty seven receptions, but
he gained sixteen hundred yards yards sixteen hundred yards rushing
the football.

Speaker 12 (01:14:52):
And if you can run it like that, there's no
need to throw it to you. And truthfully, with the Bengals,
they're going to throw it to Jamar Chase. And you
know their their receivers for you know, those those kind
of what used to be considered I guess checkdown passes anyway,
of course, if they pay Jamar Chase.

Speaker 7 (01:15:13):
You know.

Speaker 12 (01:15:15):
And and no, I keep bringing that up because here's
the thing. I get home and my wife has a
question and a comment for me every.

Speaker 2 (01:15:23):
Day, only one.

Speaker 12 (01:15:26):
She starts with a question and a comment every day,
and uh it is did the Bengals Pagemar? And recently?
Uh no, no they haven't. And she says, what does
that mean that T Higgins this day? Okay, I'm a
T Higgins guy, Ben A T Higgins loved him as
a rookie. I think it was very evident as a

(01:15:47):
rookie that he was bound to have a really good
career in the NFL. You know, she's an even bigger
T Higgins guy, and I'm sure it has more to
do with his put work off the line and is
run blocking technique than it does to do with the
fact that he is a twenty seven, twenty something year
old with you know, in the best shape of his life.

Speaker 1 (01:16:09):
I just want to know how she's an Instagram guy
or how she's a T Higgins guy. Apologies, right, you're right,
because now she's going to have, if she's listening, and
even a larger series of questions for you.

Speaker 12 (01:16:28):
I'm equip to answer those. I think good. But on
the Reds, something that you mentioned in the last hour
was that, and I think you said it, perhaps a
little tongue in cheek, that this was a defining week
for the Reds. Sure, I think I understand where you're

(01:16:49):
coming from, but there is something to it. One is,
we'll start with the second half of the week, and
that's the Brewers the Reds. Uh And in recent memory,
and my memory is not great, but in recent memory,
the Reds have struggled mightily against the Brewers and just

(01:17:09):
just to show some sort of I don't know, gumption
to win a series off of them, I don't know
when the last time that happened was. It seems like
it's been forever But bigger than that, I think is
the difference in Ellie de la Cruz versus good teams

(01:17:34):
compared to against bad teams. He the Dodgers, the Braves,
the Yankees. He is amped up for that. His play shows,
and he's been you know, he's been moderately consistent this year.
And and the the thing that that I wonder is,
has anybody informed Ellie that if they win these games

(01:18:00):
against the bad teams like they're supposed to, or like
we feel that they're supposed to, that they get to
play that those good teams and those big, big environments,
and you know, the games where he seems to be,
I mean among the best players in the game.

Speaker 1 (01:18:19):
Yeah, I mean, I mean, you know, statistically, I mean,
you know, he he went he batted one ninety two
this year against the Dodgers. He's hitting four to seventeen
against the Marlins. He's betting five seventy very small sample sizes.
But he went four for seven against the Angels and
had a bunch of walks. I mean, you know, he's

(01:18:40):
he's he's had series against bad teams this year where
he's done quite well. I mean, he's you know, he's
also hitting one sixty seven against the White Sox, who
might end up being the worst team of all time.

Speaker 12 (01:18:53):
Obviously, I understand that what these guys do is a
seriously demanding job, and I you know, I'm I'm calling
you know, I'm calling you today. I'm not working on
my swing to prepare for the Marlins, but I just, uh,
you know, it would be great to see is just

(01:19:14):
to see the team, you know, show us something over
this next week, show that they can beat the Marlins
or sweep even you know, is that too much to ask?
They they traded their roster. I feel like maybe that's
a you know, an advantage for for the Reds, But

(01:19:37):
you know, I don't. I don't think that this week
is going to decide their season. I think their season
has already been decided. Obviously, strange things can happen, but
the the the future of the organization, I think to
some extent does kind of it's in the balance in

(01:20:01):
terms of what they do, what they do this week
with the you know, the Marlins not great and the Brewers,
who you know, they're going to have to de thrown
at some point if they're going to be the team
that we think they can can be. And again, I
don't know where you got that where you got that

(01:20:21):
line the victims of expectation, but that was great And no, no, oh.

Speaker 1 (01:20:30):
Okay, any who, I just you know, here here, here's
I'll piggyback off what you said.

Speaker 2 (01:20:39):
I the red season has been decided. It is. It is.

Speaker 1 (01:20:43):
It is really, really, really hard to just look at
it mathematically and go a team that's six and a
half games out of the wildcard, that has five teams
between them and the team that occupies a last wild card.
It's it's really hard for me to imagine that in
fifty one games they're going to make all that ground.
It's hard for me to imagine that a team that
hasn't been above five hundred since the first month is

(01:21:05):
going to play well over six hundred baseball so the
season their playoff hopes are almost non existent. And if
I prove to be wrong about that, then they will
have authored one of the greatest comebacks in franchise history.
Outstanding that said, look, man, we want to feel better
about next year, we want to feel better about twenty
twenty five.

Speaker 2 (01:21:25):
Has that going to happen?

Speaker 1 (01:21:26):
It's gonna happen if well, some of the younger pitchers
continue to or start pitching well again, like Nicko Lodolo.
It's going to happen if some of the young players
start to perform better than they have. You know, look,
they're not giving up on Noelve Marte. Unfortunately he's had
a rough go of it. He gets fifty plus games
to show. You know what, the player that I was

(01:21:47):
immediately coming off the suspended list is not who I am,
and who I am is closer to the guy that
did nothing but hit last September. Maybe Matt McClain plays
baseball this year. I'm still very skeptical. But if he does, boy,
you'd like to feel good enough about how he plays
over the course of however many weeks he actually plays
to think about him being a positive influence on the

(01:22:09):
team next season. If the team plays really poorly down
the stretch, all that's gonna do is amplify already built
in questions. And if the team plays well down the stretch,
you might feel good about some of the individual parts
who are gonna be a part of the equation in
twenty twenty five. To me, that's not so much a
conversation about this week as it is a conversation about

(01:22:30):
the next six seven weeks in front of them.

Speaker 12 (01:22:33):
That's fair, that's very fair.

Speaker 2 (01:22:35):
You know, I don't want to see them play.

Speaker 1 (01:22:38):
I want to see them play well because if they're
playing well, young guys are playing well, and for this
thing to work, those young guys have to prove to
be good players. In terms of what these games mean
for the standings. Call me when the wins outweigh the losses,
and I don't think that's gonna happen at any point
this year. And even if it does, they're still gonna
have a lot of ground to make up. But you

(01:22:59):
know the other side of this is over the final
fifty games, things really go sideways, and you know, suddenly
they're a ninety lost team. Suddenly they're a ninety two
or ninety three loss team, and this thing will have
gone in reverse compared to last year. I don't think
that does anybody any good. I don't think that does
anybody any good, whether it's the manager, the GM, the

(01:23:22):
President of Baseball Ops, any of the players or fans.

Speaker 2 (01:23:25):
So I'm not I'm not going.

Speaker 1 (01:23:28):
To minimize or completely downplay the importance of what they
have in front of them, because I think there are
some things that can be gained. Unfortunately, I don't think
they can gain enough ground to be playing in October.

Speaker 12 (01:23:41):
Well, certainly not. No, And I have just a quick
question based on Tony's interview I think it was with
Rob Dibble last week. Did I hear that correctly?

Speaker 2 (01:23:50):
Yeah?

Speaker 12 (01:23:51):
Awesome get And I'm haven't checked him out on his
Connecticut sports you know, but good for him. And he
mentioned of the things that the Reds aren't doing well
are things that when you know, when when he was
with the club, those were things that the players were, uh,
we're checking, you know, they were getting that in line.

(01:24:13):
And I'm I just I just wondered, who on this
roster right now is that guy that's willing to step
up and say we don't do that here. I saw
the Aaron Aaron judge, you know, uh, and I think
it was Juan Soto maybe didn't run out of ball
that he already hit out. Excuse me, yep, yep, that's right,

(01:24:34):
and he said we don't do that here. Who's saying
that in the Reds dugout? And maybe it's happening because
I don't watch the games, I listened to them. I
like Tommy and the cowboy that they're they're excellent.

Speaker 7 (01:24:42):
M h.

Speaker 12 (01:24:44):
Who's who's doing that for the for the Reds right now?

Speaker 1 (01:24:46):
You know, it's it's interesting you bring that up because
last week we have the situation where Ellie Dela Cruz
got thrown out trying to steal third base with two
outs in the fifth ending of a six run game.

Speaker 2 (01:24:56):
And uh, we talked about it a little bit.

Speaker 1 (01:24:59):
Are My colleague Lance McAllister talked about it it very extensively,
had a poll question and kind of revolved his show
around that, and the question was should David Bell have
benched Ellie Dela Cruz? And I was talking about that
the next day on my show and a buddy of
mine sent me a text and said, isn't the problem
that there isn't the problem? Isn't the problem that there's

(01:25:20):
no player on the team to pull Ellie aside and go, dude,
that ain't what we do here. Now, maybe someone does,
but you know, we discussed that earlier this season when
this team was really struggling, like do they miss that
Vodo presence, Not Joey Vado the player, but that veteran
guy that can pull somebody aside and maybe with the

(01:25:40):
benefit of being a peer, say hey, look, man, six
run game, two outs in the fifth, you can't be
thrown out at third base and address it in a
way that doesn't have to get to the manager.

Speaker 2 (01:25:51):
I don't know who does that. I don't know that someone.

Speaker 1 (01:25:54):
Doesn't do it, but I'm not exactly convinced that someone
does do it. And then that situation in New York,
Aaron Boone, poll Labor Torres, and Aaron Judge had a conversation.
To Torres' credit, he watched the rest of the game
in the dugout, and then you could see Aaron Judge
sitting with him going, look, dude, this isn't how we
do things here. I don't know who does that on this.

Speaker 12 (01:26:12):
Club and it's possible that it's happening in the clubhouse
out of our eyes. It seems like, you know, just
based on David Bell's answers and his commentary in you know,
his media appearances, he seems to play very close to
the vest, you know, not giving us everything that he's
telling the team, and that's you know, I respect that.

(01:26:34):
So it's very possible that that is happening once they
get back into the you know, end of the locker,
the clubhouse. But as just as someone who watches or
at least listens, I don't see it.

Speaker 8 (01:26:49):
No.

Speaker 1 (01:26:49):
When you see, Pat, thank you very much, when you
see a lot of the same, continued mistakes. And I
think for a lot of us, that's been the frustrating
thing about the season.

Speaker 4 (01:26:58):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:26:58):
The results have been limited, but it also feels like
a lot of stuff doesn't get corrected. When stuff's not
getting corrected, you wonder if anybody's doing the correcting.

Speaker 2 (01:27:08):
Huh.

Speaker 1 (01:27:08):
Twenty two after five. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (01:27:12):
Station, Bengals and Buccaneers banging out in their first preseason
game that would start Saturday at three on ESPN fifteen thirty,
the official home of the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:27:22):
Why can't they just play football?

Speaker 1 (01:27:24):
Paul Danner Junior is going to be here tomorrow, so
you have that to look forward to three o'clock hour.

Speaker 2 (01:27:28):
Excited for that, you know our guy?

Speaker 1 (01:27:32):
Before the break, Pat mentioned Tony Pike's chat with Rob
Dibble last week. If you missed that conversation, go get
it on the iHeartRadio app absolutely free. One of the
three Nasty Boys. That was terrific. They talked in great
detail about the Reds. We've been pretty Bengals focus today,
you know, sandwiched in between the Reds getting no hit

(01:27:54):
and then the bullpen melt down. Yesterday they win on Saturday,
Hunter Green was awesome. That to me is like one
of the sort of crummy I'm going with crummy, one
of the crummy things about how the last few weeks
have unfolded where you know, I think I was gonna

(01:28:15):
say us, I think there was a lot of time
this summer spent thinking okay, turnarounds.

Speaker 2 (01:28:20):
IM in it right any day now because.

Speaker 1 (01:28:23):
We're, uh, we're putting a lot of stock and stuff
like run differential, which, like the run differential thing is
something I like making fun of. I'm not going to
discount it as something that you could use to determine
really how good a team is or maybe how unlucky
it is. But things have taken a relatively sour turn
all of these moments.

Speaker 2 (01:28:43):
Where we thought like, okay, here we go.

Speaker 1 (01:28:45):
It kind of feels like ever since the the sweep
in New York of the Yankees, nothing really has gone right.
The deadline put a sour taste in everybody's mouth, and
then amid all of this, Hunter Green has been awesome.
And I think like if I would have said a
year ago that it's gonna be August of twenty twenty

(01:29:07):
four and Hunter Green is going to be a National
League SAW Young Award candidate, you would have said, there's
no way. And if that happens, it's gonna mean that
team's success will accompany that individual success. And yet hunter
is at least as of this moment, he wouldn't be
considered the favorite to win it. But would you have
to vet his candidacy. Yes, And by the way, he

(01:29:29):
still has like ten starts to go in the season.
Who knows what he can do, but who cares about
the award? The reality is he has been awesome his
last eighteen starts, he has been awesome, and he was
awesome on Saturday. He hasn't given up a run since
the All Star Game. And yet, because of all the
stuff surrounding the Reds and the deadline and the losing

(01:29:53):
and the sense of helplessness and the very real sense
that this franchise is just sort of drifting aimlessly at
the moment, whether that's fair or not, the Hunter Green's
success that we are watching him enjoy has become a footnote.
And that's not how it should be, but it's how

(01:30:15):
it is. Sports headlines and more Next ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 4 (01:30:24):
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati's sports station.

Speaker 1 (01:30:28):
Sports Headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, home of
be Clear in My Throat, a lifetime power train protection
and guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours for
life Life Kelsey chev dot com. Bengals confirmed Zach Taylor

(01:30:49):
did cam samples season. Unfortunately over before it begins. Achilles
injury suffered in practice last week. That ain't good.

Speaker 2 (01:30:59):
What is it is?

Speaker 1 (01:31:00):
The Bengals play the Bucks on Saturday, preseason opener live
on ESPN fifteen thirty, kickoff at seven. No practice tomorrow.
They're back at it on Wednesday afternoon. The Rads are
back at it tonight. Seven game road trip starts this evening,
first of three between Cincinnati and the Miami Marlins six
forty this evening on seven hundred WLW. Happy birthday to

(01:31:22):
Nick Martinez. He gets the ball first tonight for Cincinnati
starting lineup thanks to Madewell Restoration. Not sure what your
home needs? Go to Madwell Restoration dot com. John Indy.
I call him John John Indya is leading off, playing
second base. Lli de la Cruz at short, Spencer's steer
and left.

Speaker 2 (01:31:38):
TJ.

Speaker 1 (01:31:38):
Friedel in center field. Tyler Stevenson bat's fifth. He's behind
the plate. Jemer Candelario is dhing Ty France at first,
Jake Frayley in right field, and Noelvee Marte is playing
third base and batting ninth. Excuse me, Florence Yawls are
off tonight. FC Cincinnati plays the rare Monday Night Tilt,

(01:32:00):
hosting NYCFC in the League's Cup.

Speaker 2 (01:32:04):
They're still in the group stage.

Speaker 1 (01:32:07):
They've already advanced to the knockout stage, but they have
to play another group stage match. This is I guess
for seating. Tonight at eight o'clock. You'll hear the match
live on ESPN fifteen thirty. Pregame coverage starts at seven thirty.
College football coaches pull out Georgia, Ohio State, Oregon, Texas,

(01:32:28):
Alabama one through five, the Kentucky Wildcats with enough votes
to finish thirty seventh, and Chuck Martin's Miami squad gotta vote.
They gotta vote. So there you go about that. There
you go with that.

Speaker 2 (01:32:45):
Else I had something else.

Speaker 1 (01:32:46):
Michigan football coach Sharon Moore violated NCUBA rules according to
NCAA rules. In a draft from the NCAA's notice of
allegations obtained by ESPN, More, who obviously has taken over
on a full time basis for Jim Harbaugh and Arbor,
could face a show caused penalty and possibly a suspension

(01:33:08):
for allegedly deleting a thread of fifty two text messages
with former Michigan staffer Connor Stallions on the same day
that media reports revealed that Stallions was leading an effort
to capture the play calling signals of future opponents. They're
not going to vacate the national championship. If you have ever,

(01:33:33):
if you've been a fan of any team in any
college program that has been forced to vacate wins, do
you not claim those wins? Do you not claim those titles?
Of course you do, right or wrong. Michigan won the
National championship last year. For what it's worth, Jim Harbaugh,

(01:33:54):
Chris Partridge, Denard Robinson, and Stallions are accused of committing
Level one violations, the most serious category in the NCAA's
enforcement process.

Speaker 4 (01:34:03):
There you go, there you go.

Speaker 1 (01:34:06):
Nineteen away from six o'clock. One other NFL note, Harrison Butcker,
the Chiefs signs the richest contract of any kicker in
NFL history. On the list of things the Bengals could
still get done this offseason is get a contract extension
done with Evan McPherson. What the Butcker deal does for Evan,

(01:34:29):
I don't know. And they still obviously have more than
a month between now and the season. If they're not
going to negotiate with Jamar Chase during the season, I'm
gonna guess they're not going to negotiate with Evan McPherson
during the season. Evan McPherson has one year left in
his deal, Jamar Chase has two because of the fifth
year option. But I guess to a degree that's gonna

(01:34:49):
be worth paying attention to. It's also worth paying attention
do we talk on Saturday Night? Like every piece I've read,
everything I've seen about Marius Mimms has been awesome. It's
very encouraging. I can't wait to watch him on Saturday
Bengals Bucks Live on Saturday Night on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Tony Pike one more time from Bengals training camp practice next.

Speaker 6 (01:35:10):
We need it's skyline und ESPN fifteen thirty, the official
home of the Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:35:16):
Yeah, he has been there all day.

Speaker 1 (01:35:19):
He'll be back tomorrow for us, then back doing since
he three sixty when the Bengals are back at work
on Wednesday, Tony Pike, let's start with I guess the
news of the day not really all that surprising. Cam
Sample season is over before it begins. Zach Taylor confirmed
he has torn his achilles. You said this to me before,
but it bears repeating. That is a bigger deal than
I think some might realize.

Speaker 7 (01:35:41):
Yeah, well, he's played since he was drafted in forty
seven of the fifty one games he's been a Cincinnati
Bengal now twenty percent of the snaps, thirty percent of
the snaps. But talk to James Arpene earlier. James said
that that they feel like he's almost a Sam Hubbard
two point out what he is in the locker room.
He's good against the run, get after the passer for

(01:36:01):
a defense. And I think if you rewind Mow and
go back to the end of last season and say, okay,
what does this team need to improve, Well, they give
up four point seven yards of carry on the ground.
Last year, they were terrible at getting after the passer.
Cam sample helped in both of those categories. That's a
big loss for this Cincinnati Bengals team. I think, bigger
than a lot of people realize. In a in not

(01:36:23):
a household name in cam.

Speaker 1 (01:36:24):
Sample, it does maybe open the door a little bit
more for a guy like Joseph Osai.

Speaker 7 (01:36:31):
Yeah, you know, he's a guy that people had on
a started camp as one of those players that may
not make the cuts, may not make the fifty three
man roster. And you said this to me going off
air of since he three to sixty today, what an
opportunity for Joseph Osai to finally say, Okay, it's now
or never. And it was only a condemn It was
one period. But I thought josephsie had the best period

(01:36:53):
I've seen him have as a Cincinnati Bengal. In practice
he dominated Orlando Brown junior and much of that. On
the other side, Miles Murphy had had a great practice
and you know that position as a home mo it's weird, right,
Sam Hubbard, legitimate injury scare people were there, they saw it.

(01:37:13):
We talked a lot about Jamar Chase ten straight practices
he's missed. Do you know who's missed nine practices in
a row? Trey Hendrickson. And there hasn't been much conversation
around it, right Trey Henderson unhappy in the offseason, threatened
to retire, wanted to be traded. Trey Hendrickson came out
the first practice of camp, practiced and has not been
back in Pad since. So that's a very interesting position

(01:37:37):
to watch and continue to watch going forward.

Speaker 1 (01:37:39):
He did look good shotgunning that beer at Luke Colmbs
on Friday.

Speaker 2 (01:37:42):
This was nightly, very very healthy.

Speaker 1 (01:37:44):
This was a very today, very special team's focused workout.
And you and I have talked about the new kickoff rule,
and we talked before about having three punters, but what
are the overarching themes to this season? And Darren Simmons
would be the first to acknowledge this. Bengals special teams
play in general as a whole has to be better

(01:38:04):
in twenty twenty.

Speaker 7 (01:38:05):
Four one hundred percent. You know, you could argue that
it's cost them their season. You know, the Drew Christmin
punt against Kansas City. I know it doesn't come down
to one play, but special teams you go back to
the Super Bowl run. Special teams was in large part
how they got to the Super Bowl. Special teams can
also do the other It can hold you back from
reaching your ultimate goals. And Darren Simmons has been as

(01:38:28):
good as it comes as a Cincinnati Bengals special teams coach.
But he would, like you said, he'd be the first
to tell you this special teams unit has to be better.
Maybe that's why there's three punters in camp right now.
They're putting an emphasis on a new kickoff rule. That
is an area of the game that this team has
to get cleaned up this year. I'll go back to
the Super Bowl. Well, it felt like the Rams were

(01:38:49):
starting on the forty every time and the Bengals were
starting on the fifteen yard line. I mean that the
hidden yardage was unbelievable, and special teams is such a
big part of.

Speaker 2 (01:38:57):
That, No question about that.

Speaker 1 (01:38:59):
Tony back with me tomorrow afternoon, and of course since
E three sixty noon to three, and then since he
three sixty on Wednesday from Bengals training camp on Wednesday
afternoon and off day tomorrow. Don't forget Saturday Night Bengals
Bucks Live from what used to be called Paul Brown
Stadium on ESPN fifteen thirty, kickoff at seven o'clock. Pregame
covered starts at three special teams play has to be better.

(01:39:21):
You know, we started the show by talking about a
Marius Mans. Are two things I love right now about
the dispatches from Bengals training camp. Tony has hit on
these two themes often. Number one is the acknowledgment that
things every team's going to talk about urgency, every team's
going to talk about wanting to get off to a
fast start. I think everything you hear from the Bengals

(01:39:42):
would suggest they understand that they have limited themselves the
last two years because of how poorly they have started.
There are reasons for those poor starts, and you might
argue some of those reasons or anything beyond the Bengals control.

Speaker 2 (01:39:56):
But if you're if you're going.

Speaker 1 (01:40:00):
Into a season thinking we got a shot to win
the whole thing, you're trying to get the one, You're
trying to play as few playoff games as possible, You're
trying to never have to go on the road in
the postseason, Well, there are chances of getting that diminished
significantly by how they started two years ago. And then
you know last year, starting one and three again, there
are a lot of mitigating circumstances involved in the first

(01:40:23):
month of the season, but man, they've looked clunky, they've
grounded themselves, they've looked uneven, they've looked like they've lacked chemistry.
They've started slowly, and it has two different degrees caught
up to them each of the last two years.

Speaker 2 (01:40:42):
You might argue, well, wait.

Speaker 1 (01:40:43):
A minute, they won the division in twenty twenty two.
They did, they still had to go on the road
and play in the playoffs twice, and you know, they
played themselves back into contention and we're alive up until
week seventeen.

Speaker 2 (01:40:57):
Last year, that is true.

Speaker 1 (01:40:59):
Can you imagine how things might have unfolded had they
started better again, Joe wasn't himself either of the two openers.
But we talked about this often in September, the need
to balance getting everybody to the post, getting everybody healthy
best as best you can, protecting availability, but being better

(01:41:22):
equipped to look the part to start the season. I
think there has been an acknowledgment we've got to be
better at that. I think Zach saying the guys that
the key players are going to play in the preseason
is a very clear acknowledgment of that.

Speaker 2 (01:41:37):
And then I love reading about a Marius Mims.

Speaker 1 (01:41:42):
If the Bengals are going to have an elite offensive
line at any point during Joe Burrow's tenure, it's going
to occur in the shoulder of draft of draft picks.
To me, you know, as we debated all the different
directions the Bengals could go in leading up to the draft,
that was the big takeaway for me. You want an
elite offensive line, you're gonna have to one via the draft.
That's got to start with a guy like a Marius Mims.

(01:42:04):
The early returns are awesome. The early returns might not
suggest he's going to be a great rookie, might not
even suggest he's going to start as a rookie. But
if the biggest concern that everybody had about him during
the draft was the relative lack of college experience, and
the key word there by the way, is relative. If

(01:42:25):
that was the big concern, then it doesn't really seem
to be a pressing.

Speaker 2 (01:42:30):
Issue right now. Does he need seasoning, sure, does he
need game reps? Sure? Does he need experience? Sure?

Speaker 1 (01:42:37):
What rookie couldn't you say those things about but you know,
I remember talking about this and having conversations with people
who had watched Marius Mims like this wasn't a project.
It was merely a guy with high end talent, obviously
a massive frame, who was just a little shy of experience.
This wasn't a project. A project is a guy that

(01:43:00):
you're teaching how to play. I never got the sense
that anybody had to teach Amarus Mims how to play,
and the return so far during training camp would.

Speaker 2 (01:43:10):
Suggest that we have to go.

Speaker 1 (01:43:12):
Danner joins us for the three o'clock hour tomorrow, obviously
more from Tony Pike at Bengals training camp and break
down whatever the Reds do tonight in Miami and whatever
FC Cincinnati does tonight in the match that means very little.
Have an awesome night. Thank you for listening. Thanks to
Taran for producing. This is the official home of the Bengals.
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (01:43:51):
This report