September 3, 2025 • 10 mins
Andrew Siciliano is the Voice of the Cleveland Browns. The Bengals play them on Sunday. You probably knew that. Andrew joined us on ESPN1530.
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Follow on X: @MoEgger
Instagram too: @MoEgger
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
ESPN fifteen thirty.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Cincinnati's Smith lay, I have the tracker up in studio,
Joe Burrow eight minutes late, so we're late for sports
outline service at Kelsey Chevrolet, home of lifetime powertrain protection
and guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours for
life Kelsey chef dot com. You know how in recent
years the Bengals have gotten off the slow starts, and
I then the injuries. Then the guys are hurt well.
(00:25):
Zach Taylor today said, no player limited in practice. This
is as healthy as you could ask a team to
be at any point in the season. Bengals and Browns
on Sunday at one, live on ESPN fifteen thirty. Bengals
game plan tonight at six on ESPN fifteen thirty. As
soon as we are done, Reds and Blue Jays again tonight,
Zach Lettel Shane Bieber on the Hill six forty. Tonight's
(00:46):
first pitch seven hundred WLW Tyler Stevenson has been shipped
off to a rehab assignment at Louisville. Lyon Richardson up
from Triple A reverse. San Martin is being sent to Louisville.
Reds are getting some help Tigers trying trying to avoid
getting swept at home by the Mets. They have scored
three in the bottom of the seventh inning to extend
their lead to six to two. Game is actually now
(01:08):
headed to the top of the ninth inning, Detroit on
top of New York by a score of six to two.
If that score holds, the Reds will take the field
four and a half games behind New York and the
hunt for the last wildcard. So will the San Francisco Giants,
who are even with the Reds. They take on the
Colorado Rockies tonight. There you come, Bengals and Browns on
Sunday at one. Andrews Celiano, the longtime host of NFL
(01:31):
Red Zone on DirecTV who was awesome at that, is
now the voice of the Cleveland Browns, replacing the legendary
Jim Donovan who passed away last year. Andrew, it's awesome
to have you. Most have the Browns finishing in last place.
If that doesn't happen, and if this team surprises people
and wins more games than everybody expects, what will have
(01:53):
gone right that everybody expects to go wrong.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
I would have to say that Joe Flackow and the
Browns defense collect to Lee would have to rocket like
it's twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Joe flashout four consecutive.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Three hundred yard passing days end the season. I believe
he's the only Browns quarterback in history to do that,
and that defense was the number one defense in football.
They need to play that style of ball. They need
to run the ball, they need to get back to
the play action where it's actually effective, and the defense
needs to remember who the heck they were this defense.
(02:29):
They've been hesitant to go back and say, oh, we
could be twenty twenty three again because they don't want to. Hey,
they don't want to. I don't know, make promises, But
that was two years ago. It wasn't two weeks agos
two years ago. But mo I can tell you that
their defensive line, not just the first team, but the
second team and even the third team that has a
former first round pick like Joe try and Schoyanka has
(02:51):
been wrecking practice through camp and wrecking practice when we
are in Carolina for a joint practice or for two
days in Philadelphia against both Jordan Malata and Lane Johnson.
They think this defense is legit. Now, the injury to MJ.
Anderson is beyond heartbreaking, and especially coming up this week
against Joe Burrow. You're only as good as your weakest corner,
(03:13):
so that will be a challenge. I can't sit here
and promise ten games for all these people that think
they're going to go two and fifteen.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I laugh at him.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
You mentioned Miles Garrett, so, as you know, we spent
an entire offseason talking about a great defensive player who
wasn't thrilled with his contract, and for a while we thought, well,
the Miles Garrett thing may have an impact on Trey
Hendrickson if they trade Miles Garrett, which is kind of
the direction that felt like it was going. Since then,
he's back with the Browns. He signed a massive contract.
(03:43):
When that happened, Were you surprised?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
So?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I wasn't surprised that they held steadfast in their result
that they were not going to trade him. They never
wanted to trade him. They made it very clear to him.
Miles obviously said what he said and gave his interviews
at the Super Bowl and that resonated. But even at
the super Bowl, they were steadfast, both publicly and privately,
that they were not going to trade him. I think
(04:10):
when it went down, I was surprised. It was not
something that I knew had been brewing in the last
forty eight hours. And I was in Austin, Texas for
south By Southwest. I looked at my phone and went,
oh boy. And then you look at the numbers and
you go, wow, those numbers are just a massive leap
from where anyone thought they would land. Therefore, because remember
Jamar Chason come int of what thirty five or Justin
(04:31):
d No, Justin Jefferson had come int of thirty five,
the idea that we're going to forty for anybody seemed ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
But look since then, and that was March when it happened.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
We're five months later and those numbers have been surpassed
multiple times. So look, the other way to do it
was you trade miles. You do the Michael Parsons trade
that the Cowboys just did. You do it back in March.
And this is a total tear down and rebuild. That
is not the case, because they do feel and listen,
they're kind of stuck in in no man's land, especially
(05:02):
when it comes to quarterback. They're not rebuilding yet. They
have ten to twelve rookies on this team, including a
number of undrafted free agents, and they brought in Isaiah Bond,
who was a guy that would have been a second
or third round pick, but he fell obviously because of
his those legal issues. They're kind of stuck in the middle,
and that's what they're trying to do is make that
transition without tearing it down.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Andrew Siciliano, voice of the Cleveland Browns, is with us.
How would you describe the quarterback battle that waged all
throughout training camp?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
It really wasn't much of a battle because Kenny Pickett
got hurt.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I think if he had been healthy, there.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Was a legitimate shot for him to win the job
and it would be Kenny Pickett's starting week number one
on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
But we never saw it.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
I mean, he heard his hamstring and what thought might
be a couple you know, it was thought, maybe it's
a day or two. I thought, all of a sudden,
it turned.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Into multiple weeks.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
The Browns really like Kenny Pickett. I'm not saying he
was going to have a Sam darn Old kind of
revitalization to his career, but if you look at him,
and I know quarterback wins losses are a debatable stat.
Some say that stat is worthless, but he is fifteen
and ten in his career as a starter. He has
eight fourth quarter comebacks, and he had Matt Canada at
his offensive as his offensive coordinator with a suspect offensive line,
(06:14):
and god knows what was happening in Pittsburgh there on
that side of the ball. The brown saw they had
a ball of clay that they really could mold with
a different play caller and a different offensive line and
a better run game. They thought they had something. It
never materialized. And then it was Joe Flacko because he
has clearly been the best quarterback in camp.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
And look at the Browns first six weeks.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
It's Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Jordan Love, Jared Goff and
the Vikings in London been at Pittsburgh without.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
A buyer, Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
There's real way you're starting a rookie, not a third
round pick, and not a fifth round pick.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
So it's Joe flatcough.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So they draft Shador Sanders, they take Dylan Gabriel. I
just I've described it from afars. It's a weird quarterback
situation because of the mix of rookies and veterans, and
Flacco was out of the league for a while and
the laughed after leaving the Browns to the postseason and
he comes back. It's just there's a lot there. I
think there's a lot of folks who expected the quarterback
thing to be a circus. From where I sit, it
(07:09):
just it felt like not a normal quarterback battle. But
it didn't feel that abnormal. Is that a good way
of putting it.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So it four is a bit too many, and they
did their best to make certain that the quarterbacks got reps,
but you could only divide up the reps so many ways,
even when you're two spotting, and even when you have
ninety players, and even when you're doing a joint practice
with both the Panthers and the Eagles. So that part
of it was difficult. But the only circus was on
(07:38):
television and on Twitter. That's where the circus was. There
was absolutely no circus within the building. Everybody got along
grace right, you laugh, you like it's Joe Flacco, the
old man telling the stories in the in the in
the meeting room at Shador and Dylan Gabriel trying to
impress Joe Flacco like he's there, like he's an old uncle,
(07:59):
right who tells funny jokes and complains about TikTok and
social media. And then there's can't you pickt the guy
kind of stuck in the middle between the two kids
and the old man who's only twenty seven years old.
The circus was people screaming on TV with their hot
takes no names. I mean, it was all over the map.
Everyone knows every channel, no matter where you turned, without
(08:21):
any knowledge of what was happening day by day and
going off you know, stat trackers, reporters, and look, I'm
as guilty as anyone breathlessly writing down how many completed
passes each of these guys had, without any context about
drop passes or installation or what the goal of any
particular drill in any particular day was.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
It was. It was just comical.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
And then the vitriol on Twitter for people that have
no clue what the heck they're talking about made it worse.
But that was never felt. I mean, we laughed about it,
but I can't say that it ever truly affected anything
within the building.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Android can't thank you enough. I know you have a
lot going on, man, have a great call on Sunday.
We appreciate you doing this. Awesome to have you. Thanks
so much.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Hey Mo, happy to do it. Sorry for my long
winded answers.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Looking forward to week one, It's like Matt Lafleur just said,
Week one is like the closest thing to a playoff
atmosphere that you can get because everyone's hyped up. So
Brown's Bengals, AFC North, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Sign me up, Andrew, You're the best. Thanks man, Thanks dude.
Andrew Ciceliano, the voice of the Cleveland Browns Bengals Browns
Sunday at one Live on ESPN fifteen thirty. By the way,
the Tigers managed to win that ball game six to
two over the Mets. Of the Mets now lead the
Reds and the San Francisco Giants by four and a
(09:44):
half games. Well, discuss last night. I'm going to try
to do what I I'm going to try not to
do what I don't want to do, but I'm probably
gonna fail. Next on ESPN fifteen.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
UC Health Traffic Center. At UCE Health, you'll find comprehensive
care that's so personal it makes your best tomorrow possible.
That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more at UCHealth
dot com. Northbound seventy five after Paddock, the left two
lanes blocked off from an accident. Delays back from Mitchell
Avenue about fifty minutes at the moment. Also on northbound
(10:23):
seventy five, the right lane blocked off at Norwood Lateral.
That is from a disabled vehicle. I'm at exelic with traffic.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
This report is sponsored by Mattress firm.
ESPN fifteen thirty.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Cincinnati's Smith lay, I have the tracker up in studio,
Joe Burrow eight minutes late, so we're late for sports
outline service at Kelsey Chevrolet, home of lifetime powertrain protection
and guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours for
life Kelsey chef dot com. You know how in recent
years the Bengals have gotten off the slow starts, and
I then the injuries. Then the guys are hurt well.
(00:25):
Zach Taylor today said, no player limited in practice. This
is as healthy as you could ask a team to
be at any point in the season. Bengals and Browns
on Sunday at one, live on ESPN fifteen thirty. Bengals
game plan tonight at six on ESPN fifteen thirty. As
soon as we are done, Reds and Blue Jays again tonight,
Zach Lettel Shane Bieber on the Hill six forty. Tonight's
(00:46):
first pitch seven hundred WLW Tyler Stevenson has been shipped
off to a rehab assignment at Louisville. Lyon Richardson up
from Triple A reverse. San Martin is being sent to Louisville.
Reds are getting some help Tigers trying trying to avoid
getting swept at home by the Mets. They have scored
three in the bottom of the seventh inning to extend
their lead to six to two. Game is actually now
(01:08):
headed to the top of the ninth inning, Detroit on
top of New York by a score of six to two.
If that score holds, the Reds will take the field
four and a half games behind New York and the
hunt for the last wildcard. So will the San Francisco Giants,
who are even with the Reds. They take on the
Colorado Rockies tonight. There you come, Bengals and Browns on
Sunday at one. Andrews Celiano, the longtime host of NFL
(01:31):
Red Zone on DirecTV who was awesome at that, is
now the voice of the Cleveland Browns, replacing the legendary
Jim Donovan who passed away last year. Andrew, it's awesome
to have you. Most have the Browns finishing in last place.
If that doesn't happen, and if this team surprises people
and wins more games than everybody expects, what will have
(01:53):
gone right that everybody expects to go wrong.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
I would have to say that Joe Flackow and the
Browns defense collect to Lee would have to rocket like
it's twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Joe flashout four consecutive.
Speaker 3 (02:05):
Three hundred yard passing days end the season. I believe
he's the only Browns quarterback in history to do that,
and that defense was the number one defense in football.
They need to play that style of ball. They need
to run the ball, they need to get back to
the play action where it's actually effective, and the defense
needs to remember who the heck they were this defense.
(02:29):
They've been hesitant to go back and say, oh, we
could be twenty twenty three again because they don't want to. Hey,
they don't want to. I don't know, make promises, But
that was two years ago. It wasn't two weeks agos
two years ago. But mo I can tell you that
their defensive line, not just the first team, but the
second team and even the third team that has a
former first round pick like Joe try and Schoyanka has
(02:51):
been wrecking practice through camp and wrecking practice when we
are in Carolina for a joint practice or for two
days in Philadelphia against both Jordan Malata and Lane Johnson.
They think this defense is legit. Now, the injury to MJ.
Anderson is beyond heartbreaking, and especially coming up this week
against Joe Burrow. You're only as good as your weakest corner,
(03:13):
so that will be a challenge. I can't sit here
and promise ten games for all these people that think
they're going to go two and fifteen.
Speaker 1 (03:20):
I laugh at him.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
You mentioned Miles Garrett, so, as you know, we spent
an entire offseason talking about a great defensive player who
wasn't thrilled with his contract, and for a while we thought, well,
the Miles Garrett thing may have an impact on Trey
Hendrickson if they trade Miles Garrett, which is kind of
the direction that felt like it was going. Since then,
he's back with the Browns. He signed a massive contract.
(03:43):
When that happened, Were you surprised?
Speaker 4 (03:47):
So?
Speaker 3 (03:47):
I wasn't surprised that they held steadfast in their result
that they were not going to trade him. They never
wanted to trade him. They made it very clear to him.
Miles obviously said what he said and gave his interviews
at the Super Bowl and that resonated. But even at
the super Bowl, they were steadfast, both publicly and privately,
that they were not going to trade him. I think
(04:10):
when it went down, I was surprised. It was not
something that I knew had been brewing in the last
forty eight hours. And I was in Austin, Texas for
south By Southwest. I looked at my phone and went,
oh boy. And then you look at the numbers and
you go, wow, those numbers are just a massive leap
from where anyone thought they would land. Therefore, because remember
Jamar Chason come int of what thirty five or Justin
(04:31):
d No, Justin Jefferson had come int of thirty five,
the idea that we're going to forty for anybody seemed ridiculous.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
But look since then, and that was March when it happened.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
We're five months later and those numbers have been surpassed
multiple times. So look, the other way to do it
was you trade miles. You do the Michael Parsons trade
that the Cowboys just did. You do it back in March.
And this is a total tear down and rebuild. That
is not the case, because they do feel and listen,
they're kind of stuck in in no man's land, especially
(05:02):
when it comes to quarterback. They're not rebuilding yet. They
have ten to twelve rookies on this team, including a
number of undrafted free agents, and they brought in Isaiah Bond,
who was a guy that would have been a second
or third round pick, but he fell obviously because of
his those legal issues. They're kind of stuck in the middle,
and that's what they're trying to do is make that
transition without tearing it down.
Speaker 2 (05:23):
Andrew Siciliano, voice of the Cleveland Browns, is with us.
How would you describe the quarterback battle that waged all
throughout training camp?
Speaker 3 (05:31):
It really wasn't much of a battle because Kenny Pickett
got hurt.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
I think if he had been healthy, there.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Was a legitimate shot for him to win the job
and it would be Kenny Pickett's starting week number one
on Sunday.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
But we never saw it.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
I mean, he heard his hamstring and what thought might
be a couple you know, it was thought, maybe it's
a day or two. I thought, all of a sudden,
it turned.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
Into multiple weeks.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
The Browns really like Kenny Pickett. I'm not saying he
was going to have a Sam darn Old kind of
revitalization to his career, but if you look at him,
and I know quarterback wins losses are a debatable stat.
Some say that stat is worthless, but he is fifteen
and ten in his career as a starter. He has
eight fourth quarter comebacks, and he had Matt Canada at
his offensive as his offensive coordinator with a suspect offensive line,
(06:14):
and god knows what was happening in Pittsburgh there on
that side of the ball. The brown saw they had
a ball of clay that they really could mold with
a different play caller and a different offensive line and
a better run game. They thought they had something. It
never materialized. And then it was Joe Flacko because he
has clearly been the best quarterback in camp.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
And look at the Browns first six weeks.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
It's Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson, Jordan Love, Jared Goff and
the Vikings in London been at Pittsburgh without.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
A buyer, Aaron Rodgers.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
There's real way you're starting a rookie, not a third
round pick, and not a fifth round pick.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
So it's Joe flatcough.
Speaker 2 (06:47):
So they draft Shador Sanders, they take Dylan Gabriel. I
just I've described it from afars. It's a weird quarterback
situation because of the mix of rookies and veterans, and
Flacco was out of the league for a while and
the laughed after leaving the Browns to the postseason and
he comes back. It's just there's a lot there. I
think there's a lot of folks who expected the quarterback
thing to be a circus. From where I sit, it
(07:09):
just it felt like not a normal quarterback battle. But
it didn't feel that abnormal. Is that a good way
of putting it.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
So it four is a bit too many, and they
did their best to make certain that the quarterbacks got reps,
but you could only divide up the reps so many ways,
even when you're two spotting, and even when you have
ninety players, and even when you're doing a joint practice
with both the Panthers and the Eagles. So that part
of it was difficult. But the only circus was on
(07:38):
television and on Twitter. That's where the circus was. There
was absolutely no circus within the building. Everybody got along
grace right, you laugh, you like it's Joe Flacco, the
old man telling the stories in the in the in
the meeting room at Shador and Dylan Gabriel trying to
impress Joe Flacco like he's there, like he's an old uncle,
(07:59):
right who tells funny jokes and complains about TikTok and
social media. And then there's can't you pickt the guy
kind of stuck in the middle between the two kids
and the old man who's only twenty seven years old.
The circus was people screaming on TV with their hot
takes no names. I mean, it was all over the map.
Everyone knows every channel, no matter where you turned, without
(08:21):
any knowledge of what was happening day by day and
going off you know, stat trackers, reporters, and look, I'm
as guilty as anyone breathlessly writing down how many completed
passes each of these guys had, without any context about
drop passes or installation or what the goal of any
particular drill in any particular day was.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
It was. It was just comical.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
And then the vitriol on Twitter for people that have
no clue what the heck they're talking about made it worse.
But that was never felt. I mean, we laughed about it,
but I can't say that it ever truly affected anything
within the building.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Android can't thank you enough. I know you have a
lot going on, man, have a great call on Sunday.
We appreciate you doing this. Awesome to have you. Thanks
so much.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Hey Mo, happy to do it. Sorry for my long
winded answers.
Speaker 3 (09:11):
Looking forward to week one, It's like Matt Lafleur just said,
Week one is like the closest thing to a playoff
atmosphere that you can get because everyone's hyped up. So
Brown's Bengals, AFC North, let's do it.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Sign me up, Andrew, You're the best. Thanks man, Thanks dude.
Andrew Ciceliano, the voice of the Cleveland Browns Bengals Browns
Sunday at one Live on ESPN fifteen thirty. By the way,
the Tigers managed to win that ball game six to
two over the Mets. Of the Mets now lead the
Reds and the San Francisco Giants by four and a
(09:44):
half games. Well, discuss last night. I'm going to try
to do what I I'm going to try not to
do what I don't want to do, but I'm probably
gonna fail. Next on ESPN fifteen.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Thirty, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from the.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
UC Health Traffic Center. At UCE Health, you'll find comprehensive
care that's so personal it makes your best tomorrow possible.
That's boundless care for better outcomes. Expect more at UCHealth
dot com. Northbound seventy five after Paddock, the left two
lanes blocked off from an accident. Delays back from Mitchell
Avenue about fifty minutes at the moment. Also on northbound
(10:23):
seventy five, the right lane blocked off at Norwood Lateral.
That is from a disabled vehicle. I'm at exelic with traffic.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
This report is sponsored by Mattress firm.
Mo Egger News
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