September 10, 2026 • 7 mins
Kelsey Conway of Cincinnati.com joined us to discuss the Cincinnati Bengals and five bold predictions for the Bengals season.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Quarter to six. This is ESPN 1530 Mo Egger broadcasting
from the Anthony Munoz Foundation Topgolf Tailgate. On Wednesdays, we
chat with our friend from The Enquirer and Cincinnati.com, Kelsey Conway,
covering the Bengals, host of Beyond Sunday, and with us now.
What's going on? Hey, Mo.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I'm well. I just read you and Pat and your
bold predictions for the season, and I would like to
talk about them. Okay. Okay. What do you got? I'm
not going to give them all away. I want folks
to read it. But I want to talk about two
of them. One is yours. One is Pat's. One I like.
One I don't. Are you ready? Yes. Amarius Mims is
going to be a pro bowler. I'll one-up you. I
(00:44):
think he's going to be all pro.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Wow. Well, on Amarius Mims today, we actually had a
chance to talk to Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher. And
at the end, right before he was done talking about
the Bucs and the offense, I said– who has been
the most improved offensive player, including, like, the starters and
the players that see most of the reps from the
(01:10):
conclusion of the season last year to right now? And
he answered pretty quickly, and he said Amarius Mims. And
he said that he... Because of how highly he thinks
of him and just he likes the way that he's
attacked this camp. They like his mentality this year. He's healthy.
He's got a new level of confidence in him because
(01:32):
he knows who he's playing next to at guard and
across the board. When you talk to multiple people here,
everyone is glowing about Amarius Mims and what he can
be for the Bengals this year.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I can't talk about a tackle without asking about the backups,
and the good news is, from a Bengals perspective, if
that's your most glaring question, that's pretty good. Like, who's
the backup tackle at the same time? Boy, if either
of those dudes has to miss even a snap, I'm
not sure I have any confidence in who charges out
on the field to replace them. Should I feel better
than I do?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
No, I don't think you should. And we tried to
get an answer out of that. And, you know, I'm
not expecting the coaches to tell us who would be
the swing tackle at this point. But we did ask
and we got a no comment on who exactly is
going to be. there. It'll either be Javon Foster or
Jalen Rivers, in my opinion, at this point, if it
(02:25):
were to happen in game one. I just don't think
any of the new guys that they have right now
would necessarily be ready. So those two names would be
ones to keep an eye on when I've asked about it.
Those are two names that I've repeatedly got when asked
about that question.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
All right. Another bold prediction from the five that you
and Pat have right now at Cincinnati.com, and I believe
this is Pat's, that the Bengals linebackers aren't going to
necessarily work out to the degree that we would like.
I don't want to believe this, but I kind of do.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
That is, you know, of all of the questions, which,
as you kept saying, is a good problem to have, right?
The team has done so much on the defensive side
of the ball to eliminate questions at key positions. The
one real thing we haven't been able to gauge, and
you and I talked about this when I came on
your show before camp, is with the limitations on what
(03:19):
players can do tackling-wise, it's just... Yes, you can see,
are they moving faster? Is their recognition, is their communication better?
Are all of those things better? You've heard that from
Zach Taylor and Al Golden that it is better. But
at the end of the day, all anybody wants to
see is that those two are tackling better and that
those two are playing better. And you can't see that
(03:41):
until they take the field on Sunday against the Bucs.
So it remains the biggest question, in my opinion, that
this team faces at this point in the season. And
the good news is we'll find out pretty quickly if
that is going to be a question that's answered and
it has a positive answer or if it's going to
be the comment of the year, well, we knew this
(04:01):
was coming. Why didn't they do anything to address that?
And we won't be able to figure that out until
we see them try and tackle the Bucs running backs
and we see what they can do out on the field. But...
As it was last year, everything is all positive at
this point, and you find out some of these answers
pretty quickly here when the game actually starts to be played.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Three players on the injury report, each of them full
go today, Shamar, Jamar Chase, and T. Higgins. Is this
the healthiest they've been going into week one since you
started covering the teams? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And I actually was just thinking that I didn't know
if Jamar and T and Jamar would be like limited
on Wednesday. It's not uncommon the NFL for the first
day of the Wednesday to be when that's really their
first install day of the game plan for players to
be limited to Thursday is really their heavy day of practice.
And I think it's a really great sign that all
(04:59):
three players were full participants in practice today. It seems
like Jamar and Tee are going to be all good
to go. The only player that it seems that Decker
was unwilling to really give an extreme vote of confidence
as far as their availability on Sunday right now is Jamar.
He said that they want to see how he responds
throughout the week. I think that if he is able
(05:22):
to play, it'd probably be in a limited role. I
think that Cassius Howell is going to be the player
right now who's really their rotational edge player that would
probably get the reps over Shamar just simply because he's
only been able to practice for a week. But I
think it's a really positive sign that he was a
full participant in practice today. And you're right, this is
the healthiest the Bengals have been. In addition to being healthy,
(05:45):
this is the most drama-free, well-cultured, top-notch leadership locker room
that I have seen this team have since 2021. It's giving,
and you've heard that from a lot of people, and Mo,
you were down here, you've interviewed these players every day
during training camp. This team has A lot of guys
(06:09):
of high character, and Zach Taylor even talked about it,
like the fact that the three players who didn't get
a contract extension, you didn't hear a peep out of them.
They practiced every day. Everything about this from the injuries
to just the improved leadership, to the improved talent, to
just the camaraderie in the whole building, it's just setting
things up for this to be a really special season
(06:30):
in Cincinnati. And it's just been a really, really positive
training camp and preseason.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, it certainly was from my perspective as well. Can't
thank you enough. We'll talk to you next week, Kelsey.
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Read Kelsey's work, Cincinnati.com. Check out the Beyond Sunday podcast.
And of course, read her in the Cincinnati Inquirer. We
are done. A special thanks to the folks with the
Anthony Munoz Foundation for rolling out the red carpet for us.
They are always so awesome. All the former players we
talked with, absolute first class. Our thanks to Dave Abbott
for producing on site. Of course, Taryn Bland back in Kenwood.
(07:07):
We're back at it tomorrow in Studio 305. Have a
great night. Bengals game plan is coming up next after
we're done and then the season opener tonight, Seahawks and Patriots.
Have a great night. This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
Quarter to six. This is ESPN 1530 Mo Egger broadcasting
from the Anthony Munoz Foundation Topgolf Tailgate. On Wednesdays, we
chat with our friend from The Enquirer and Cincinnati.com, Kelsey Conway,
covering the Bengals, host of Beyond Sunday, and with us now.
What's going on? Hey, Mo.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
How are you doing?
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I'm well. I just read you and Pat and your
bold predictions for the season, and I would like to
talk about them. Okay. Okay. What do you got? I'm
not going to give them all away. I want folks
to read it. But I want to talk about two
of them. One is yours. One is Pat's. One I like.
One I don't. Are you ready? Yes. Amarius Mims is
going to be a pro bowler. I'll one-up you. I
(00:44):
think he's going to be all pro.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Wow. Well, on Amarius Mims today, we actually had a
chance to talk to Bengals offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher. And
at the end, right before he was done talking about
the Bucs and the offense, I said– who has been
the most improved offensive player, including, like, the starters and
the players that see most of the reps from the
(01:10):
conclusion of the season last year to right now? And
he answered pretty quickly, and he said Amarius Mims. And
he said that he... Because of how highly he thinks
of him and just he likes the way that he's
attacked this camp. They like his mentality this year. He's healthy.
He's got a new level of confidence in him because
(01:32):
he knows who he's playing next to at guard and
across the board. When you talk to multiple people here,
everyone is glowing about Amarius Mims and what he can
be for the Bengals this year.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
I can't talk about a tackle without asking about the backups,
and the good news is, from a Bengals perspective, if
that's your most glaring question, that's pretty good. Like, who's
the backup tackle at the same time? Boy, if either
of those dudes has to miss even a snap, I'm
not sure I have any confidence in who charges out
on the field to replace them. Should I feel better
than I do?
Speaker 2 (02:04):
No, I don't think you should. And we tried to
get an answer out of that. And, you know, I'm
not expecting the coaches to tell us who would be
the swing tackle at this point. But we did ask
and we got a no comment on who exactly is
going to be. there. It'll either be Javon Foster or
Jalen Rivers, in my opinion, at this point, if it
(02:25):
were to happen in game one. I just don't think
any of the new guys that they have right now
would necessarily be ready. So those two names would be
ones to keep an eye on when I've asked about it.
Those are two names that I've repeatedly got when asked
about that question.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
All right. Another bold prediction from the five that you
and Pat have right now at Cincinnati.com, and I believe
this is Pat's, that the Bengals linebackers aren't going to
necessarily work out to the degree that we would like.
I don't want to believe this, but I kind of do.
Speaker 2 (02:58):
That is, you know, of all of the questions, which,
as you kept saying, is a good problem to have, right?
The team has done so much on the defensive side
of the ball to eliminate questions at key positions. The
one real thing we haven't been able to gauge, and
you and I talked about this when I came on
your show before camp, is with the limitations on what
(03:19):
players can do tackling-wise, it's just... Yes, you can see,
are they moving faster? Is their recognition, is their communication better?
Are all of those things better? You've heard that from
Zach Taylor and Al Golden that it is better. But
at the end of the day, all anybody wants to
see is that those two are tackling better and that
those two are playing better. And you can't see that
(03:41):
until they take the field on Sunday against the Bucs.
So it remains the biggest question, in my opinion, that
this team faces at this point in the season. And
the good news is we'll find out pretty quickly if
that is going to be a question that's answered and
it has a positive answer or if it's going to
be the comment of the year, well, we knew this
(04:01):
was coming. Why didn't they do anything to address that?
And we won't be able to figure that out until
we see them try and tackle the Bucs running backs
and we see what they can do out on the field. But...
As it was last year, everything is all positive at
this point, and you find out some of these answers
pretty quickly here when the game actually starts to be played.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
Three players on the injury report, each of them full
go today, Shamar, Jamar Chase, and T. Higgins. Is this
the healthiest they've been going into week one since you
started covering the teams? Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
And I actually was just thinking that I didn't know
if Jamar and T and Jamar would be like limited
on Wednesday. It's not uncommon the NFL for the first
day of the Wednesday to be when that's really their
first install day of the game plan for players to
be limited to Thursday is really their heavy day of practice.
And I think it's a really great sign that all
(04:59):
three players were full participants in practice today. It seems
like Jamar and Tee are going to be all good
to go. The only player that it seems that Decker
was unwilling to really give an extreme vote of confidence
as far as their availability on Sunday right now is Jamar.
He said that they want to see how he responds
throughout the week. I think that if he is able
(05:22):
to play, it'd probably be in a limited role. I
think that Cassius Howell is going to be the player
right now who's really their rotational edge player that would
probably get the reps over Shamar just simply because he's
only been able to practice for a week. But I
think it's a really positive sign that he was a
full participant in practice today. And you're right, this is
the healthiest the Bengals have been. In addition to being healthy,
(05:45):
this is the most drama-free, well-cultured, top-notch leadership locker room
that I have seen this team have since 2021. It's giving,
and you've heard that from a lot of people, and Mo,
you were down here, you've interviewed these players every day
during training camp. This team has A lot of guys
(06:09):
of high character, and Zach Taylor even talked about it,
like the fact that the three players who didn't get
a contract extension, you didn't hear a peep out of them.
They practiced every day. Everything about this from the injuries
to just the improved leadership, to the improved talent, to
just the camaraderie in the whole building, it's just setting
things up for this to be a really special season
(06:30):
in Cincinnati. And it's just been a really, really positive
training camp and preseason.
Speaker 1 (06:35):
Yeah, it certainly was from my perspective as well. Can't
thank you enough. We'll talk to you next week, Kelsey.
Thanks so much.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
Thanks so much for having me on.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Read Kelsey's work, Cincinnati.com. Check out the Beyond Sunday podcast.
And of course, read her in the Cincinnati Inquirer. We
are done. A special thanks to the folks with the
Anthony Munoz Foundation for rolling out the red carpet for us.
They are always so awesome. All the former players we
talked with, absolute first class. Our thanks to Dave Abbott
for producing on site. Of course, Taryn Bland back in Kenwood.
(07:07):
We're back at it tomorrow in Studio 305. Have a
great night. Bengals game plan is coming up next after
we're done and then the season opener tonight, Seahawks and Patriots.
Have a great night. This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
Mo Egger News
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