Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
ESPN 1530, Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Damn straight, what's up? Good afternoon, I'm Mo Eggers.
Speaker 3 (00:06):
This is ESPN 1530.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Thank you for listening today.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Hope you're having like the greatest Thursday afternoon ever. It
has been wet and cloudy and I miss the sun already.
I'm ready for football. We're all ready for football, ready
for pro football. Wouldn't kill me if we had a
few more weeks of summer. But talking about the weather
(00:30):
is stupid because you can't do anything about it. Jay
Morrison is going to be on this show in about
10 minutes, 15 minutes. We are looking forward to that.
We also Tony Husband from Apple TV on reeling.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
FC Cincinnati. They are a mess right now.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
There is also a very cool volleyball event happening this
weekend in the tri-state and it benefits the Joe Burrow Foundation.
We'll have what you need to know about that coming
up in about 30 minutes and in just a few.
We've got one poll question out there already on Twitter,
at Mo Egger. We have to get to a second,
(01:07):
and I'll throw it out here in just a few minutes.
Last couple of years on Thursdays, we've been joined on
a weekly basis by our friend Robert Weintraub of Cincinnati Magazine,
who writes not just a weekly Bengals column, but sometimes
writes Bengals features like the one he has on Dexter Lawrence,
which is Uh, fantastic. You can read it at Cincinnati
(01:28):
magazine.com and Robert is with us now. And, uh, he
shares our optimism and enthusiasm and excitement. So it's great
to have him here. How are we doing, sir?
Speaker 1 (01:37):
I just, uh, all I ask for this season, Mo,
as we embark on yet another weekly adventure is that, uh,
you refer to me as sexy Robbie Weintraub for this season.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
How much money, how much money you got?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Not nearly enough in this case. It's made for radio,
and it's perfect that we're doing it in an audio medium.
We'll proceed as such.
Speaker 3 (01:59):
Rob the heartthrob. I mean, you know, we either need
alliteration or something to rhyme.
Speaker 1 (02:05):
Very well done. I'll pass that along to my significant other.
Speaker 3 (02:08):
The Dexter Lawrence piece is terrific, and I encourage folks
listening to go check that out at CincinnatiMagazine.com. I think
there's two different Dexter Lawrence effects. One we'll see starting
on Sunday as it relates to what his impact is
going to be on this defense from an X's and
O's perspective. But his impact on this team from an
(02:30):
emotional standpoint, a mental standpoint, what he's done for the
fan base, the dude hasn't played a meaningful snap yet,
and I feel like he's been here for years.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
It's really amazing, isn't it? And you refer to the piece.
Thank you so much. And that's sort of what I
was trying to uncover when I spent some time with
him over the summer. Uh, just his background. I met
up with Dexter in his hometown, Wake Forest, North Carolina. And,
you know, he had a little football camp there going in,
but mainly it was just, just to see him in
(02:58):
his natural element. And, uh, you know, all his friends
and family were there and everybody was really positive. And
I can't begin to tell you how, you know, how
overjoyed everybody was that he was getting out of New
York and going to play with what they would term
a real quarterback in Cincinnati. And he was so devoted
to it just from day one. I mean, I think
(03:19):
we know, you know, he came there to sign his
contract and he basically didn't leave for weeks after that.
And he's bringing that same sort of You know, what
I saw in him over the summer, which was not
just a really humble, approachable, friendly guy, but somebody who's
really looking forward to, I think, the second act of
his career, who wants to show people that, you know,
(03:39):
as great a person and player that he's been in
New York, you know, the team's there. I think his
overall record was something like 36 and 80 at one time.
I mean, it's a team game, but he wants to
show that he's still got it, you know, and I
think As we've seen all summer, as you mentioned, he
hasn't played a meaningful snap yet. We'll see how it
really shakes out come the actual games. But he's just
(04:02):
had a salutary effect on everybody on both sides of
the ball. He's made the offense sharper because of the
incredible energy and destructive force that he brings as a player.
He's brought the locker room together. Everybody kind of wants
to not only be around him, but I just think
he's so huge that the natural orbit effect comes into play,
you know? And it's really going to be fascinating to
(04:25):
see just what an impact he has, not just in
terms of wins and losses, but just as a leader
on the team and as a player, everybody looks to
really set the standard along with Joe Burrow.
Speaker 3 (04:36):
Amid all the optimism, if there's one reason for hesitancy,
what is it?
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Well, you know, I guess we have to separate out
the fact that just as a Bengal fan, you're naturally pessimistic, right?
Especially guys like you and I have seen a lot
of things. It's like we've been in battle together. We
don't want to talk about the PTSD. But leaving that aside,
certainly anything can happen. You know, I think the Bengals...
(05:03):
If there's one thing I take away from the last
three years is that they're a little overdue for some
good luck, finally. I mean, you know, we've seen a
lot of bad tackling and bad play and bad things happen,
but a lot of bad luck, too, over the last
few years. And I think they're due for some good stuff. Now,
certainly there's some hesitation, some skepticism about various aspects of
the roster. And you look at the linebackers, are they
(05:24):
really going to both in their second year, Barry Carter
and Demetrius Knight, become good players or take a step forward?
Is their depth really cornerback and the offensive line really
not going to come into play at some point this season?
We saw the first game last night and already you've
got a quarterback and a great wide receiver go down
(05:46):
for varying lengths of time. It's inevitable it's going to happen.
Hopefully not to Joe Burrow, but you're going to wind
up testing your reserves. No question about it. Can the Bengals'
reserves stand up to it? I think overall, my main
thing is, as you mentioned a little bit earlier, the
intangibles this offseason have been so good for once, and
(06:07):
the vibes have been so high. And the schedule overall
plays out and looks to be very easy at FTN Almanac.
We mentioned it was the easiest, perhaps, in the league,
but that's on paper. And it's front-loaded. And what happens
to the Bengals if they trip up, as they want
to do? We've sort of put that talking point on
(06:30):
the back burner after they won a couple of September
games last year, finally. But they have Houston and Pittsburgh
and Tampa won't be easy. And the Ravens looming right
after an early bye. What happens if they go 2-4?
And are the veterans that they added strong enough to
offset what could be You know, a shake in the
foundation of those great vibes. I guess that's where I'm
(06:51):
most leery about heading into the season. And we'll just
have to see how it plays out. But, you know,
it's obviously better than in years past when they've, you know,
been coming into seasons with all kinds of bad vibes.
And you're just shaking your head wondering, yeah, we're going
to spend the fall. And it turned out to be
the case.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Robert Weintraub is with us. Mentioned FTN Fantasy, their annual almanac.
If you haven't gotten it yet, Robert wrote the Bengals
chapter on top of some other things. So get that
as well. Read his weekly Bengals column and his Dexter
Lawrence feature at CincinnatiMagazine.com. You look at things through an
advanced analytics lens. And so the whole Joe Burrow going
(07:31):
under center thing, we get it. They want to be
more explosive. They want more play action. They want to
run the ball more effectively. Um, from your perspective, is
this going to work? And if it doesn't at the beginning,
are they really going to commit to it?
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Yeah, that's really the $ 64, 000 question, isn't it? I mean,
whether it's going to work is hard to say. It's
been such a small sample size. It hasn't worked at all.
But they haven't really tried it enough to really make
any determination one way or the other. Joe Burrow is
who he is because of how he plays out of
the shotgun. And the real question going forward is they
(08:10):
spent the whole summer working on it. What's going to happen,
as I mentioned, you know, what happens if they get
off to a slow start? A lot of that could
result or stem from the fact that the office doesn't
play that great. And the under center is a little
clunky early. And they're going to be relying on players
who are either young and haven't done it before or
veterans who are, you know, kind of prized for their
(08:31):
pass blocking and not necessarily their play action. Excuse me,
under center, you know, kind of way that their scheme
is going to play out. We'll see. And it's really
easy to envision a scenario where they don't really love
what they're seeing and just kind of default back into
what's worked in the past. And, you know, that isn't
(08:53):
necessarily a bad thing because they've been so good in
the under burrow in, in shotgun formations, but they spent
so much time and there's been such talk about, you know,
getting more multiple, getting more explosive and trying to finally
get them play action into this offense, which they'd never
really had before. That in and of itself would feel
like a bit of a defeat if they backtrack from
(09:14):
it after a few games. And the only way that
playing under center really works is if you fully commit
to it, right? You can't just tiptoe into it. You've
got to kind of cannonball into the deep end of
the pool. And it's really going to be sort of
a major thing to watch this season, along with how
that newly built defense comes together, is do they fully
commit to this game? new style playing will they go
(09:37):
with a lot of multiple tight ends at once will
they really be under center for large sections of of
the game and if bad things start to happen will
they go away from it just go back to their
comfort zone be very interesting to watch.
Speaker 3 (09:49):
The the fun thing about the preseason was watching the
rookies watching you know players in this draft class make
make make a case to be on the teams certainly
for the guys picked later but you know show some
indication that they might be able to help can this
can this collection of rookies actually help this.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Team Yeah, I mean, you know, they're definitely going to
have to, I think, at some point in terms of
just becoming a better depth than they've had in the past.
A lot of times kind of dip into the practice
squad and sign guys off the street when frontline players
go down. And hopefully that won't be the case. And
(10:27):
I think we've seen, at least in the preseason and
in training camp, a lot of these backend players like
a Landon Robinson or Jack and these might have some
things to offer. If they're called upon, you hope they
don't get up called about too much. I think, you know,
certainly not having, you know, like Dexter Lawrence is sort
of your number one pick, right? So that doesn't really
factor in. He's going to contribute. There's no doubt about that.
(10:49):
Cash is how I don't think there's any question. They're
going to use him as much possible. They're going to
try and find reasons to get him on the field.
And certainly to Kario Davis is going to play regardless of,
you know, what the health looks like in front of him,
they're going to have packages for him. The good news
is they're not going to rely on these guys quite
as much as they had. I mean, remember last year,
they started two rookies on opening day and a third
(11:09):
Barry Carter obviously came in and played quite a bit
for better or worse. You know, you never want to
be in that particular scenario. You want to have like, Hey,
these guys can add something in a limited role in
certain packages and things that we've designed to exploit what
they do best. And not just like they did last
year with Knight and Carter and to a certain extent, Fairchild.
(11:29):
Just throw them in there and it's like, okay, guys,
it's up to you now. Sink or swim. And that's
really the key element is how they contribute and how
little they're really asked to do outside of their comfort zone.
I think they're poised in this particular scenario to do well.
Of course, it's We haven't even played a game yet.
(11:50):
We'll see how that plays out. We'll see how the
front-line starters play in terms of keeping their health. That's
really the key element, as it is for every team.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
Looking forward to talking next week already. Thank you so much,
as always.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Excellent. Thank you, Mo. And let's, let's do it for what?
20 plus weeks.
Speaker 3 (12:09):
We'll be talking about Rob, the heartthrob or whatever we
refer to, but around Valentine's day, it's going to be great.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
Right.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
At Valentine's day would be nice. And my birthday is
the week after I can think of no better birthday
present than to tell you to talk in Superbowl with you, Mo.
That's my dream. Terrific.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Sign me up for that. Robert Weintraub, Cincinnati magazine.com. Read
his Dexter Lawrence feature. You will love it, Rob.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Thank you as always.
Speaker 1 (12:29):
Thank you, Mo. Take care.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
We also love our guy, Jay Morrison. He'll join us next.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
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