9/29/25 - The Tony & Mo Pregame Show - Mo Egger

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
This is the R and L Carriers Pregame Sports Talk,
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(00:46):
transportation provider.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
And now pregame sports talk.

Speaker 3 (00:52):
All right, we are officially yes calling it the RNL
Carriers Pregame Sports Talk. We are presented by your Cincinnati
and Northern Kentucky to dealers on ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm
Moeger broadcasting this afternoon with Tony Pike. We're calling it
the Tony and Mo Pregame Show. Now very quickly, number one.
We are not at twin Peaks this afternoon, by all means,

(01:13):
go to Twin Peaks. We'll be at the Florence location tomorrow,
but not at Twin Peaks because obviously there's a game tonight.
We'll recap it for you on the regularly schedule. Tony
and Mo Football Show tomorrow at Twin Peaks and Florence.
Now Tony is with me, Tony is in Cincinnati, I
am broadcasting from Denver. We obviously have a billion things
to talk about. I would be remiss, though, if I

(01:36):
didn't say publicly how good of a job Tony did
in his Color Analyst debut filling in for Jim Kelly
in a bear Cat's victory. And I heard Kermit the
Frog say this during talkbacks, and I said, you know what, publicly,
we've got to talk about this, Tony first of all,
high second host, hinting job.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
Thank you. I appreciate it, I said on the broadcast.
I grew up. I didn't even want to at the time,
I'll be honest, because I was a kid or a teenager,
I had to listen to every pregame and postgame show
for UC basketball and football because my grandpa wouldn't leave
the car until the pregame show was essentially done, and
then no matter what the score was it could be

(02:13):
tied three minutes left, and basketball could be tied in
the fourth quarter. We were leaving so that we had
time to get back to the car to hear the
start of the post game show. And it was a
part of my UH upbringing and UH to UH to
get to hold it down for UH for the great
Jim Kelly UH until he got back and gets back.
It was awesome and made it even better that the

(02:34):
UH the Bearcats found a way to get an unbelievable win.

Speaker 3 (02:36):
Yeah, great win, which we are going to talk about
a little bit later on. But I didn't say this
to you ad to the game because I didn't see it.

Speaker 4 (02:42):
But nice job. You were awesome. UH. The sprint down
to the UH the categy corner of where we were
calling the game to the locker room, and as I
was running, when I got about halfway there, I realized
Saderfield was still outside of the locker room, so I
had time to to to adjust and UH and slow
down a little bit. But the scenes in the locker
room and the joy, it just felt like and we

(03:04):
talked about coach Sadderfield needing that signature win, it felt
like a weight was lifted off his back in this
team's back and now Mo, Yeah, that Kansas team's gonna
beat some people. Yes, I don't know how well they
are defensively. That's a great offensive team for Kansas. But
all of a sudden, here comes a top fifteen ranked
team into Knippert Stadium. They're want to know in the
Big twelve. You want to get people to talk, find

(03:27):
a way to win Saturday, and we're right there. Yep.

Speaker 3 (03:29):
More on that coming up in just a bit. Obviously,
we're getting said for Monday Night Football tonight, a rematch
of one of the better games of the entire NFL
season last year, Bengals in the Broncos Denver Broncos in Denver.
You'll hear the game tonight on ESPN fifteen thirty. This
is I think in Denver they're looking at this as
the get right game. I believe in Cincinnati it's being

(03:51):
looked at as the sort of get the season back
on track. Game.

Speaker 4 (03:54):
We'll see if the Bengals can do that. Tonight.

Speaker 3 (03:56):
We are going to spend obviously a lot of time
talking about not only the Bengals game this evening, but
everything that went down yesterday. Week four of the NFL.
What's up with the Baltimore Ravens. We've got to start though,
you talk about a locker room celebration. I had a
blast last night just watching all the footage from the
Reds clubhouse. No, they did not win. No, I do
not care. How many times Tony during this season. Would

(04:19):
you have laughed at me or would you have been
laughed at had either one of us suggested that we
would be doing this show today with the Reds in
Los Angeles getting set to play in the playoffs.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
Yeah, we'd have been probably laughed off the station. I
mean the amount of times that this team and we've
set it. Mo and I go back to it because
it sticks out the first day of Bengals training camp
where you and I started our training camp broadcast thanking
the Bengals or thanking the Reds for getting us the
football season, and I felt like I did that five
or six different times. It's one of the most resilient

(04:52):
teams I can remember. It is. It's odd, as we
just said with Austin, at the end of sinty three
to sixty they played, they were forty and forty in
their last eighty Yeah, it's just at times they're maddening
and at times they're brilliant. And the conversation all along was,
man if this team who has some power, star power?

(05:16):
I mean Elie de la Cruz plays better when the
lights of the brightest. We've talked about that before. But
if you could just get in and set your pitching staff,
you give yourself a chance against anybody, and that's what
they've done. But to see them celebrate and to see
social media and pictures and videos from so many people
that I know you almost forget because you get caught

(05:37):
up in it, talking about it every single day, how
much baseball means to the city of Cincinnati. And you
got to see that on display last night.

Speaker 3 (05:43):
Yeah, I mean, okay, so they finished with eighty three
wins like this is the Rob Manford created postseason spot.

Speaker 4 (05:50):
This is not a great Reds team.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
I would stop short of saying it's been a great
red season, but they have shown a level of resiliency
that I think is admirable. I do think they're a
likable team, and you know at there are there have
been so few moments worth celebrating for decades when it
comes to Reds baseball that if you chose to use
yesterday as an excuse to pretend like they just won

(06:14):
the World Series.

Speaker 4 (06:16):
Dude, go for it.

Speaker 3 (06:17):
I also feel like and they have a lot of
work to do this offseason, and we will talk about
all of that once the offseason begins. But if this
team is ever going to become a sustained winner, a
consistent winner, it's got to start somewhere. It had to
start this year at the very least. It starts with
a playoff berth. It starts with the accumulation of postseason experience.

(06:40):
It starts with the experience game from surviving this, you know,
one month dash to the last wildcard spot. And I
give them a puncher's chance. And you know, we've talked
about this all year long. If they could just get in,
and you have a manager who knows his way around
a postseason, and you have a frontline starter in Hunter
Green and another one and Andrew Abbott, you give them

(07:02):
a shot against anybody.

Speaker 4 (07:04):
Now.

Speaker 3 (07:04):
I do wonder what they're gonna do in Game two.
I do worry about going up against the lefty tomorrow.
I do wonder about all the lefties the Dodgers are
gonna have in their newly remade bullpen now that they'll
have some starters there. But I don't know how yesterday,
if you're a Reds fan, you didn't express this just
burst of joy, mainly because this franchise has given us

(07:25):
so few of them.

Speaker 5 (07:26):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (07:26):
And again it was just it was probably the most
Reds fitting way to do it, To do it on
a game where you just don't get enough offensively and
you know that you're kind of relying on somebody else,
but they find a way. Shout out to Austin Hayes'
always been dealing with a back injury. So instead of
the heavier cigar, he just went with the cigarettes from
the postgame celebration. Those are lighter. That's less stress on

(07:49):
his back, which I appreciate, But no, this team deserves it.

Speaker 5 (07:54):
Man.

Speaker 4 (07:54):
You could tell how much it meant to them. And
to have such a young team, you know, I would
imagine how stressful that the stretch run has been because
you are playing meaningful baseball and to do that with
young players, to get that weight off your back, and
we talked about this last week.

Speaker 6 (08:10):
MO.

Speaker 4 (08:11):
To now go into the postseason and kind of feel
like you're playing with house money can make you a
dangerous team.

Speaker 3 (08:19):
Yeah, especially against an LA team. Look, they're judged by
winning championships. They won one last year. If the expectation
is you go to the World Series every single season,
the last thing you want to see is a team
that's playing free and easy. And I kind of feel
like that was kind of the key to their success
this year because I feel like every time we as

(08:40):
outsiders counted them out, this team somehow played more loosely.
This team somehow played freer and easier. Now do they
do that tomorrow? Do things get tight if you know
Blake Snell is sticking it to them to hit or
start to press. Maybe, But I thought that was the
key to their run here in September where multiple times,
multiple times, including just last week where it felt like

(09:03):
the season's about to circle the dream, it felt to
me like they played loose, they played together, and I
think that could be effected this week in LA.

Speaker 4 (09:12):
Yeah, and it's a team over the last three years,
LA's ten and nine against the Reds. So it's not
like the Reds have just been completely overmatched. Is do
they have the better roster? Yes, we talked about this before.
There are certain players that seem to play better for
the Reds when the lights are the brightest and you're
gonna have all the lights you want starting tomorrow night

(09:33):
in primetime at nine o'clock. My recommendation for fans enjoy
the enjoy the Bengals game tonight, get a nap in
after work tomorrow, catch up on your sleep, and then
enjoy playoff baseball because so many people have waited so
long for this, and now not only do you get it,
you get it on a huge stage Dodger Stadium show. Hey,

(09:56):
O Tani, you know the Dodgers, the defending champ. What
else could you ask for going into a three game set?

Speaker 3 (10:03):
Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Blake Snell, sho hee O Tani
is going to pitch last year? Yeah, Clayton Kershaw's final season,
Mary Hart behind the plate mocking the Reds. It's uh,
it's it's gonna be a lot of fun. And watching
them celebrate yesterday, watching the scenes of fans and looking

(10:24):
at people on social media, which is oftentimes a really
dark place, watching Reds fans enjoy something was overdue and
I just for me, I hope it's it's the start
of this, Like I this to me, this has to
become routine and not like you know, being the sixth seed,
but clubhouse celebrations and playoff pushes and eventually, you know,

(10:46):
challenging for the division title and challenging to be a
one or two seed in the National League. It's got
to start somewhere. The hope for me is, regardless of
what happens tomorrow night, Wednesday, Thursday, regardless of what happens
in the coming weeks, that this becomes the start of
something that we enjoy on a regular basis. My fingers
are crossed. That statement deserves skepticism, but that to me

(11:07):
is more than anything what I thought of last night.
This should be the sort of thing that we come
to expect every year.

Speaker 4 (11:14):
Yeah, this should be the norm going forward for the
talent that they have. This should be a push to
the front office to go all in and to add
those pieces that can help make this an every year thing.
I thought it was so cool.

Speaker 7 (11:30):
More.

Speaker 4 (11:31):
You're in Milwaukee yesterday and they're flashing after the game,
and you see all these Reds fans in the stands
just hanging around, yeah, with their phones waiting to see
what happened and shout out to the Brewers. They didn't
have to do that. They put the congratulatory thing out
there for the red so that the Reds could come
back out on the field and celebrate. Worked out well
for the Brewers because they set a franchise record and

(11:52):
wins in the regular season and doing so so it
was awesome all around. Again, the scenes on the field,
the scenes in the locker room, and now a team
that should be able to go without, you know, the
monkey on their back and go play free and again
get an early lead, get Hunter Green in a rhythm

(12:13):
and put a lot of pressure on that crowd at
Dodger Stadium and the Dodgers as well.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
You know, the Brewers yesterday did what once upon a
time the Reds didn't do. So in two thousand and seven,
the Cubs last week end of the year, they clinched
the NL Central at Great American Ballpark, and it was
a similar type deal, though it wasn't the last day
of the season. I think on a Friday night, the
Cubs win their game, and I think the team in
second place was Milwaukee. It might have been Saint Louis,

(12:38):
but you had a lot of fans and this is
you know, technology is much different now than it was
in two thousand and seven. But they turned the scoreboard off,
turned the video board off, told all the fans they
had to leave, and what let Cubs fans stick around.
So good on the Brewers for doing what the Reds
once upon a time, many many, many many years ago,
as would not. Sixteen minutes after three o'clock, Tony Mo

(13:00):
pregame Show. By the way, Tony is going to be
a to Dickman's time. Yes for Monday Night football.

Speaker 4 (13:05):
Yeah, come on down. We got some good prizes, hopefully
some good football, good food, good drinks. Two games tonight,
by the way, two Monday night football games tonight. I
think one's going to be better than the other.

Speaker 3 (13:16):
We will go to Bengals versus Broncos when we come back.
It's the RNL Carriers pregame sports talk show presented by
your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota dealers on the home
of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 8 (13:30):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (13:34):
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Speaker 3 (14:06):
It's the Arnel Carriers pregame sports talk show presented by
Yours Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers on ESPN fifteen
thirty Mulleger Tony Pike together on a Monday, The Tony
and Moe Pregame Show.

Speaker 4 (14:19):
By the way, we are on until six thirty.

Speaker 3 (14:21):
Wayne box Miller takes over with a countdown to kickoff,
and then Dan and Lapp with the game at eight
to fifteen from Denver Bengals and Broncos, a rematch of
a Week seventeen game from last year. We'll do more
on the Reds in the playoffs coming up here in
just a bit.

Speaker 4 (14:37):
What is Tony for you? The central storyline to tonight's
game obviously find in a way offensively we know it's
not going to be easy on the ground. You know,
Zach Taylor didn't really give anything major as to what
it's going to take to get the ground game going
other than it's something we need to figure out, which
I think a lot of us could point to. If
they don't get the ground game going and they are

(14:58):
one dimensional, I don't know how you go on the
road in an atmosphere like Denver against a good defense
and win the game. I think that is squarely what
it comes down to. Can you can you push bow
knicks to make some mistakes? Maybe, But if you look
back to that game last year, to me, there were
two things that stood out. One seven times Joe Burrow
was sacked he was hit another fifteen. And two a

(15:21):
guy that we've not seen make much of an impact
this year for the Bengals, T Higgins was a monster.
Three touchdowns in that game last year put the team
on his back. Jamar Chase had a great game. Mike
Yasicki had ten plus catches as well in that game.
But when I think about that game last year, I
think about the hits Borough took, and I think about
how great T Higgins was in a game where we've

(15:44):
talked about the matchup and how are they going to
defend Jamar Chase t Higgins was the phenomenal phenomenal to me,
if you want to make a run at this and
you want to get things back on track, you gotta
find ways to get the running game going and get
Ti Higgins involved.

Speaker 3 (15:57):
Yeah, I mean to me, and we'll talk about the
wide receiver cornerback matchups in this game, which are going
to be a lot of fun to watch tonight. But
Zach Taylor's in his seventh season, and you could say
that moments of success for the Bengals could be largely
attributed to head coaching, and you could say moments of
failure for the Bengals could be largely attributed to head coaching.

(16:19):
I think sometimes it makes sense to talk about those things.
I think sometimes it's overblown. It's not overblown tonight because
Zach Taylor sat there last Monday and talked about the
need to find success in the running game and having
to essentially go back to the drawing board to figure
out how to do it. And the question you and
I talked about this a week ago, how do you
do it with the same personnel the offensive lineman they

(16:41):
have are probably suddenly not going to turn into great
road grading run blockers. Chase Brown's talents are well established.

Speaker 4 (16:48):
We know what he is.

Speaker 3 (16:49):
The offensive schemes, maybe you can entirely overhaul them. So
within all of that framework, Zach Taylor's responsible and said
this responsible for finding out ways to run the ball
more effectively. If they do, I think this offense can
still take off. If they can't, this offense is probably
going to remain grounded. And so I want to know

(17:09):
what Zach Taylor can do with eight days to prepare
a little bit of extra time. I don't care if
they get the ground game going week twelve, because by
then it's not going to matter. I don't care if
they get the ground game going when Joe Burrow comes back,
because by then it's probably not going to matter. Can
they get the ground game going, Can they have success
running the football? If yes, where does the offense go

(17:30):
from there? If no, how do they win a game
on the road against the quality team, which I think
Denver is.

Speaker 4 (17:36):
And it's such a week to week league. I get that,
but week to week across the NFL, we watch different
teams come up with different ways to have success last
Sunday moment, it felt to me like Minnesota was the
greatest rush defense in the history of football. And then
yesterday they got gassed for four and a half yards
of carry against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who couldn't run it
on anyone. Not a bad matchup game, not a bad matchup,

(17:57):
not a bad matchup run game wise, I would like
to end a game tonight MO a couple times be like, Wow,
that looked like the Lions running a run play right, Like.
I just want to see creativity. I want to see motion.
I want to see We watched the team on Saturday
MO in Kansas. They they shifted and they motioned on
every single offensive snap. Yeah, and it created some problems.
It created havoc. Give me something pre snap, give me

(18:21):
a little flare. Don't just line up and try to
run the ball in between the tackles, because you're not
a team that's built to do that. I need creativity.
I need ways that the run game can mirror other plays,
that can set up a play action or different things
to get the defense moving one way and have a
misdirection come back. It's got to be something because if

(18:42):
you leave this game and you still don't find a
way to run the ball. I don't know how you
find it going forward.

Speaker 3 (18:48):
I'm also interested when I think of that game last year,
I think of how good bow Knicks was, and they
haven't gotten that bow Knicks to the first three weeks
here in Denver. And you know, the Bengals defense, which
we spent the entire offseason talking about, is taking a
back seat to the discussion about the quarterback situation, the
discussion about the grounded running game, of the talk about

(19:08):
the offensive line. Folks wondering should they go and get
another quarterback, don't I think the Cincinnati defensively in the
first game against Cleveland they passed the test. Wasn't a
very hard test, but they passed the test. I don't
think they were awful against the Minnesota Vikings, but they
weren't good. If the Bengals are going to survive with
a backup quarterback, there are going to be games where

(19:28):
the defense has to win it for them. Could tonight
be one of those games? Could they make bo Nicks
have a coming out party on his home field tonight.
I'm as interested in that as anything.

Speaker 4 (19:38):
Well, the thing about Denver, they're the eighth best rushing
team in football right now. So if you're pointing to
what you just alluded to, and I think that's a
point well taken, what would be the idea to get
bow Knicks easier throws, establish a running game, make them
put more guys in the box, set up one on
ones outside. You know that they are running right now

(19:59):
for five two yards per carry, just under one hundred
and thirty yards per game. If you want to help
bow Knicks, then you get the running game going and
make the Bengals commit more to that and then take
your chances. Because they set this team up. It felt
like in the offseason that's what they were doing. You
got JK. Dobbins. I liked the draft pick MO of RJ. Harvey.

(20:20):
I thought I was impressed with him. At UCF. They're
they're sprinkling him in there a little bit. But they
re signed Courtland Sutton. They still have Marvin Mims, who
had a monster game against the Bengals last year. I
think the recipe for Denver is being able to run
the ball successfully and then take some shots to some
home run hitters that they have on the outside. For
bow Knicks, they were able to do that against the
Bengals last year. They've not been able to do that

(20:43):
this year. Bo Nicks again has struggled sixty four percent
completion percentage, five touchdowns to already three interceptions. The good
news for Denver mow and where the Bengals are gonna
have to make an impact as well to make him uncomfortable.
Denver's only giving up three sacks all year, so it's
not been easy to get to bow Nick. They got
to him twice in that game last year. Find ways
to get them in third and long situation. Find ways

(21:05):
to get some pressure on b Nicks and the defense
maybe can lift up the offense.

Speaker 3 (21:10):
Perhaps it's gonna have to happen at some point this year.
You know, the goal posts for the defense I think
have moved because you know, all spring and summer long
it was league average.

Speaker 4 (21:19):
They just gotta be league average.

Speaker 3 (21:21):
A league average defense with a backup quarterback is not
going to be good enough. And so, whether it's tonight,
whether it's next week against the Detroit Lions, at some point,
Al Golden's Unit's gonna have to be an asset. Al
Golden's Unit's gonna have to carry this team to a win.
And you might argue to a large degree, they did
week one against the Browns. That's fine, but can they

(21:43):
do it against a better opponent? Can they do it
against a good play caller. Can they do it against
a good quarterback? Can they do it against a multi
dimensional offense. I'd like to feel better about those answers
through four weeks.

Speaker 4 (21:54):
At the end of tonight, I would like to hear
a postgame press conference and not have to hear the
turn well, just a bad matchup, no, you know, I'd
love to not be able to deal with that. And
they said, well, they just we just don't match up
well the Indianapolis Colts and allbe at Daniel Jones is
playing well. They put up twenty nine points on him.

(22:15):
It's it's you can't hide and go to the matchup
card every single time. It's exhausting. Eventually, regardless of who
you're playing, you're gonna have to find a way to
win football games. It happens across the NFL every single week.
We see it every single week. We saw the New
York Giants with the first time quarterback beat the Chargers yesterday,

(22:36):
who were three to zero and looked like a Super
Bowl team. Watched the Kansas City Chiefs, who look dead
to rights through much of the season. Through the first
three games, dominated the Baltimore Ravens. It happens every single
week in the NFL where teams that maybe aren't expected
to do much show up and not only compete, but
find ways to win the game. If the Bengals want

(22:58):
to hang around and they want to make this interesting,
they're going to have to do that more often than not.
And not falls on the shoulders of Zach Taylor and
the coaching staff, no question.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
Three point thirty ESPN fifteen thirty Bengals and Broncos Tonight
kickoff at eight fifteen. Right here on ESPN fifteen thirty.
We will roll through Tony mentioned, Baltimore and Kansas City.
It was a pretty disastrous Sunday for the Baltimore Ravens,
who are now one in three. We'll roll through the
AFC North when we come back. It's the RNL Carriers
pregame sports talk show presented by your Cincinnati and Northern

(23:29):
Kentucky Toyota Dealers on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (23:31):
Cincinnati Sports Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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Speaker 4 (24:08):
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to yours for life kelseyshev dot com. It's Monday Night
Football on ESPN fifteen thirty as the Bengals are in
Denver to take on the Broncos. Two and one versus
one and two kickoff at eight fifteen. Countdown to kickoff

(24:36):
continues our coverage at six thirty. Right here on ESPN
fifteen thirty. The Denver game with the Bengals starts at
eight to fifteen. There is another Monday night football game Tonight.
The Jets are Remami to take on the Dolphins pu
That game starts at seven fifteen. Meanwhile, reds are in
Los Angeles getting set for Game one of the National
League Wildcard Series Tomorrow. Blake Snell is going to pitch

(24:59):
for Hunter Green for Cincinnati nine to eight. Tomorrow's first pitch.
It's on seven hundred WLW. That is the last game
of four Big day of baseball. Tomorrow American League Wildcard
Series Detroit takes on the Guardians. The other National League
Wildcard Series pitch the Padres and Cubs. That'll be a
Wrigley Field And in New York tomorrow it's a Game

(25:21):
one of the AL Wildcard Series between the Yankees and
the Red Sox. You see Football News Big Twelve honors
for Brendan sorosby Big Twelve Offensive Player of the Week
for his performance in Cincinnati's victory over Kansas, Stephen Rusnak
Special Teams Player of the Week in the Big Twelve,
and Cincinnati's offensive line for the second time this season
named the Big Twelves Offensive Line of the Week. The

(25:44):
Bearcat's getting set to take on Iowa State nationally ranked
i With State Saturday at noon, and if you're looking
ahead the game against UCF a week from Saturday. Kickoff
time for that came out today. That is a noon
kickoff college football polls. Ohio State one number one in
both poles, coming off their road win against Washington in
thei ENDA, ninth in the AP Top twenty five Pole,

(26:04):
ninth in the coaches. Paul, we'll talk about the big
Bearcats victory over Kansas coming up here in just a bit, Tony,
I know you're looking forward to that.

Speaker 4 (26:14):
Can't wait. You want to talk about the Bearcats mill.
How about favorites, Yeah, light favorites at home against the
fourteenth ranked team in the country, Iowa State coming in.
Loved everything about I know we're going to talk about
UC's win, but loved everything about what they're doing offensively.
Right now with Sowersby and Company.

Speaker 3 (26:31):
No question, this is the RNL Carriers pregame sports talk show.
We are presented today by your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
Toyota dealers. We'll get back to the Bengals and Broncos
specifically some red stuff coming up in just a bit.
Right now, Tony, let's look around the AFC North, where
the Baltimore Ravens have very twenty twenty four Bengals vibes.
They're awesome offensively, they can't stop anybody on defense. They

(26:54):
have now given up thirty seven points or more and
all three of their losses as they sit at one and.

Speaker 4 (26:58):
Three and questions. You know, obviously the hamstring right now
for Lamar Jackson, that is something to keep an eye
out on. But what's shocking about the Ravens, mo is
We spent much of the offseason giving them credit because
it felt like they tried to address their problems defensively.
They went and got Malachi Starks in the draft, they

(27:19):
got Jaiyir Alexander, they added to their pass rush in
multiple different ways. It is it's tough to watch that.
And I believe Manta Bouquet is now out for the year, yes,
their defensive lineman. That was announced today, So they've got
a lot of questions. And anytime you start talking about
a hamstring and not really knowing the severity of it,

(27:39):
but it kept him out of the majority of that
second half yesterday, you got to wonder about Lamar Jackson's
mobility and how that affects him one and three. No
matter who you are, that's a tough, tough hole to
crawl out of. And uh, I know the Ravens have
talent and you can make the argument that they can
get out of it. But what a what a rough

(27:59):
one yesterday, And just when we're ready to roll over
and say the Chiefs are done, hmm, you kind of
get the same conversation right here they come again, thirty
seven points at home and Mahomes looked fantastic.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
Yeah, the Ravens started last year zero to two and
they bounced back. And their next three games are at home,
including a Sunday in a game they're heavily favored in
against Houston, and so there's plenty of time for them
to get that season on track.

Speaker 4 (28:22):
They have a good roster.

Speaker 3 (28:24):
They're in the AFC North, where right now the Bengals
are playing a backup quarterback. The Browns are terrible. We'll
get to the Steelers here in just a second. I
do wonder, though, and you and I have talked about
this a little bit. I do wonder with this roster
with a quarterback in his prime, with the regular season
success they've had, but the lack of recent postseason success

(28:44):
that hovers over this franchise.

Speaker 4 (28:46):
I just I wonder.

Speaker 3 (28:47):
I wonder what the conversation would be like about John
Harball and now, look, John Harball, if he got fired,
I think would be out of work for about five minutes,
whether he would go do TV or go go coach
another NFL team. He's got a great resume, he's won
a Super Bowl. He's probably gonna be in Canton one day.
But they've had good rosters. They have a great quarterback,
they have a great structural organization. They've gone and signed

(29:08):
players in free agency. They've overhauled their defense. I know
Hardball's background is not defense, but I do I wonder
if by the end of the season the Ravens are
one of the league's bigger disappointments, what that's going to
mean for their head coach.

Speaker 4 (29:20):
Yeah, with everything that was put on them, they were
the preseason odds on betting favor to it to make
the AFC Title Game and to win the AFC and
represent them in the Super Bowl. Again, there's still a
lot of time left, But I don't know how you
can fix so much defensively that just doesn't work right now,
And maybe it's a lot of new guys and they

(29:40):
start playing better together as the season goes on. But
that's a lot to put on the shoulders of Lamar Jackson.
And again I go back to his health and what
that looks like going forward, because that's obviously a team
built very, very particular for Lamar Jackson's skill set. You
can't just be a pocket passer in Baltimore and have success.

(30:01):
That's not how they're built. Everything kind of circles around
him offensively. I think that's going to be a lot
to watch going forward.

Speaker 3 (30:08):
Meanwhile, in Dublin yesterday morning, the Pittsburgh Steelers get six sacks,
ten tackles for loss, a big day for DK Metcalf.
They also took advantage of the fact that Carson Wentz
played like Carson Wentz and the Steelers do with the Bengals.
Couldn't they beat the Minnesota Vikings twenty four to twenty
one to improve to three and one. How seriously do

(30:28):
you take the Steelers?

Speaker 4 (30:29):
Well, if their defense plays like that, they're a whole
different level of dangerous. Fourteen quarterback hits TJ. Watt finally
checked himself into the statistics sheet with the sack and
an interception But what I think is what is going
to kind of value what Pittsburgh does going forward. Can
they run the ball yesterday? They ran it for four

(30:50):
and a half yards per carry. Kenneth Gainwell did a
great job. They were actually without their starting running back
in the game, and they still found success on the
ground against what we were told to a very good
Minnesota defense. If they can find that success in the
ground and Aaron Rodgers continues to get more comfortable in
that offense, I think they do become a challenger in

(31:12):
the AFC North, especially because of the distance right now
between them and Baltimore and seeing what the Bengals can
do tonight. But any team that has that defense that
starts playing like they're supposed to, that to me is
a dangerous team.

Speaker 3 (31:25):
The Cleveland Browns defense was not a bad matchup for
the Detroit Lions. Now. Cleveland was undone by Joe Flacco
three more giveaways. He has eight so far this season,
the most in the NFL. The calls to play Shador
Sanders are only getting louder and louder. I certainly understand them.
The Browns yesterday had no answer for Aiden Hutchinson, which
few teams do to me, that was more about the

(31:47):
fact that the Lions right now just look like a juggernaut.
The bad news is they're gonna be in Cincinnati in
six days. I don't even know where they go beyond
changing quarterbacks in Cleveland.

Speaker 4 (31:57):
Yeah, I don't know, because you feel like the defense
is always going to be there. I do think if
you're a Cleveland fan right now, you look at Quinn
Shawn Jenkins and you say, Okay, we might have one there.
I think he is a very promising back. I don't
know what you're waiting for at this moment. Though you're
already one in three. You got to make a move

(32:18):
at quarterback to signify to the fan base into the
locker room that you're not going to quit, because right
now they don't believe. I thought their defense eased up
a little bit. I don't think you saw the same
attention to detail from the Cleveland defense in the second
half as you did at the start of the game,
and I worry that that would continue. I will say this, Mo,
it's interesting and it's shocking to see a team go

(32:39):
into a game against Miles Garrett and limit him the
way Detroit did. Oh right, two tackles. Two tackles is
all Miles Garrett had in the game yesterday. Why double
teamed every snap and they ran away from him. It
can be done, especially at the defensive end position. You

(33:00):
can limit, you can quiet players for whatever reason. There
are teams in the NFL that can figure that out,
and there are others that don't figure that out. But
that was one of the few Cleveland brown games I've
ever watched and not noticed Miles Garrett a time. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (33:17):
Interesting, Yeah, it's interesting how that works. And you mentioned
earlier we can't. I can't come out of tonight's game
where we just shrug our shoulders and go bad matchup. Yep,
because I heard it about Minnesota. I heard it to
a degree about Jacksonville, which was a game they won,
and I definitely heard it after their offensive issues against

(33:37):
the Cleveland Browns. If that's something we're gonna do every
single week, this team will have two wins by the
end of the season.

Speaker 4 (33:42):
I'll tell you next week will be a tough matchup.

Speaker 3 (33:45):
The Detroit Lions already installed is nine and a half
point road favorites against the Bengals next Sunday. But that's why, Like,
if you lose tonight. YEP, I know the shine has
come off the Packers. Everybody put them in the Super
Bowl years ago. They should thank the clock operator in
Dallas for having a chance to tie that game last night.

(34:06):
But that's still gonna be a difficult game at lambeau Field.
The Steelers on a short week loom. Pittsburgh is going
to be formidable, even if you're not buying them as
AFC contenders.

Speaker 4 (34:16):
And the Lions look great right now.

Speaker 3 (34:18):
They have moved on from the Week one narrative, which
was they're going to miss their coordinators they lost to
head coaching jobs. If you lose this one tonight, you
start to look at that schedule and it gets for voting.
If you win this one, you've at least built in
a little bit of a cushion, not only against your
own schedule, but against the Baltimore Ravens for what it's worth.

Speaker 4 (34:37):
Yeah, it's incredible mo. As we sit here going into
the last night of Week four in the NFL, there's
only six teams in the AFC with a winning record. Yeah,
the Bengals are one of them. Yes, Kansas City and
New England are five hundred. But listen, if you find
a way to win this game tonight. You're three to
one and you got a head to head victory against

(34:57):
one of the other teams above you and the Jacksonville Jaguars.
So as bad as last week was, be very easy
to turn it around and start on a different conversation tomorrow.
If we see more of what we saw last week
again tonight, then you have to start wondering, Okay, I'm
looking at the schedule. When does this get easier? Right?

Speaker 5 (35:20):
When?

Speaker 4 (35:20):
When when do you find your next win? As opposed to, okay,
they proved some people wrong. Minnesota was more of a
flash in the pan. They have righted the ship and
now they're playing competitive football and they could go beat anybody.
I think this is the game. You know, you said it.
We can say it until we're blue in the face.
This is the game right now that I think decides

(35:42):
the trajectory of the rest of the season. Agreed. The
AFC stinks.

Speaker 3 (35:46):
Yeah, Like if you look at the NFC, I could
talk about how good you know, obviously the Philadelphia Eagles are.
I could talk about how good the Lions are, how
good despite losing yesterday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are, How
how good and interesting.

Speaker 4 (35:59):
The Seattle Sea Hawk Rams.

Speaker 3 (36:01):
How good the Rams are, even you know, how good
Green Bay is, how challenging Minnesota is, how tough of
an out Atlanta is, even the Bears to a degree,
Washington if Jaden Daniels comes back, like there's there's a
lot of teams in the AFC. I think Buffalo's really good.
Pittsburgh I'm still not sure. The Chargers lay an egg
against Jackson Dart the Colts, you know, I'm not buying it.

(36:25):
Jacksonville three and one, not exactly there. The Chiefs are
now trending upward, obviously formidable, the Patriots not totally buying.
You have a chance tonight to extend your lead over
the Denver Broncos to two games with a tiebreaker. The
Ravens have all sorts of issues, like if you win tonight,
I think you can. I don't know, not expect a

(36:46):
playoff berth for the Bengals, but I think that's we
can talk about the season in playoff terms. If you
lose tonight just because of the schedule in front of him,
I think that gets really really hard.

Speaker 4 (36:56):
Yeah, and it it changes how you handle the rest
of the season. Do you then turn into a team,
because there will be people mo that if they lose tonight,
say well, what are you doing holding on to Trey
Hendrickson for Yeah, sure, get him for MAXI amount of value?
Why why didn't you go get a quarter Now? You
find a way to win tonight. Maybe they do something

(37:17):
like you said, maybe they find a way to win defensively,
and then you could spin it and say, Okay, they've
got something there. They need a quarterback, and then maybe
you go address quarterback. But I think that all hinges
on where they are tonight, because if you were to
move on from a Trey Hendrickson, what's the message you
immediately send to the locker room. We're done. Yeah we're
packing this in. But find a way to win. Add

(37:40):
to the roster. Now we're having a different conversation.

Speaker 3 (37:43):
And Jake Browning, the last time he played on Monday
Night football against the Jacksonville Jaguars two years ago was
pretty good. We'll see, we'll see if we'll see if
his skill guys can avoid dropping the football for him tonight.
It is twelve minutes away from four o'clock. He's Tony
Pike on moeger in Form. It's the Tonian Mo pregame
show on ESPN fifteen thirty. Formally it's the Rnel Carriers

(38:05):
pregame sports talk presented by Yours Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
Toyota Dealers on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (38:11):
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 8 (38:13):

Speaker 9 (38:17):

Speaker 6 (38:20):
clinical trials and treatments you won't find anywhere else.

Speaker 9 (38:28):
Call five one three five eighty five. UCCC southbound seventy
one seventy five right lane blocked off from an accident
at two seventy five and Erlanger five to ten minute
delay right now back from Dixie Highway westbound Western Hills Viaduct.
Two right lanes are blocked from a crash over at
seventy five. I'm at Ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 3 (38:49):
Stop settling for See Rnel Carriers pregame sports talk show
presented by Yours Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers on
ESPN fifteen thirty. Moegger joined today by Tony Pike. We
will be at Twin Peaks in Florence tomorrow. We are
not at Twin Peaks today, moving everything back a day
because of Monday Night football, So join us for the

(39:11):
Tony and Mo Football Show, which we will do some
baseball stuff tomorrow as well, from three to six Twin
Peaks in Florence.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
We are looking forward to that.

Speaker 3 (39:20):
I've got a poll question on Twitter thanks to United
Heartland Insurance. When you think about twenty twenty six in
your insurance needs, think about what you might be paying,
and then find out if the folks at United Heartland
Insurance can do better. Check out uhis dot com. It's simple,
who wins and how long does it go?

Speaker 4 (39:40):
Reds in?

Speaker 3 (39:40):
Two Reds and three Dodgers and two Dodgers and three
You you care to vote?

Speaker 4 (39:47):
Have we ever done a Tony and Moe football show
on the same day as a Reds playoff game? No,
I don't think so. It's never happened. It's never happened.

Speaker 3 (39:59):
I'm glad they're not playing during the day because I
not that I thought they would because they'd be on
the West Coast. But that'll be a fun day at
baseball tomorrow. We'll have baseball games while we're on the air.
But I'm glad we're not counterprogramming a Reds playoff game.

Speaker 4 (40:13):
Just for the sheer moment. Give me the Reds in three,
all right, sign me up. They get game one, Dodgers
take two, and the Reds find a way to do
it in Game three against Shoe Heeo Tani. Against Otani,
they beat him up a little bit, get some runs
early on the board, and the pressure of the World
Series expectations way down the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Speaker 3 (40:38):
I put a lot on tomorrow. Oh kay, if you
win Game one, I love their chances. And I again, man,
I don't really know what the pitching plan is going
to be for game too. Terry Francon is going to
talk tonight. The media availability in Los Angeles is taking
place on basically LA time, which you could understand. So
Tito is going to talk tonight. I have not seen

(40:59):
anything indicating who's going to pitch that game, who's going
to start it. It's the one thing about yesterday that
I wish would have gone better, and that's not using
the nick. I understand why he did it. You gotta
win the game. You got to get there. But using
the nick Lodolo bullet, if there's one thing I could
have undone about yesterday?

Speaker 7 (41:18):
Was that?

Speaker 4 (41:19):
Yeah, And based on where the Mets were at, and
I get that, you got to keep it where it was.
It's a hard proposition if you're Terry Francone on what
to do. What I think is even more interesting, Mo
You've done it a certain way from a lineup point
of view all year. If you're Terry Francona, you have
very clearly prioritized defense over anything else. How much does

(41:44):
that change against one of, if not the best offensive
teams in baseball? Because as good as you are pitching wise,
I would imagine there's very few times the Dodgers were
held scoreless this year. Does that change your idea of
let's go more offensive centric early in the game and

(42:05):
then if need be get those defensive replacements in late
Because if you're losing early in the game, it doesn't
really matter who's on your bench offensively, because you're gonna
be with that deficit. Do you try to put your
best offensive lineup out there? Knowing how good this Dodgers
team is, They've scored the second most runs in all
of baseball, they have the second most home runs in

(42:26):
all of baseball, They lead the National League in all
those categories. You've got to look at that differently than
you look at most other teams.

Speaker 3 (42:33):
I'm trying to get a lead early in the game
for a Hunter green, so I'm hoping somebody can run
into one.

Speaker 7 (42:38):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (42:38):
So Sala Stewart plays keep Brian Hayes right now and
frankly maybe moving forward because he's just as brilliant as
he is with the glove, and he is a great
defensive third baseman. Offensively, he gives you next to me.

Speaker 4 (42:53):
Oh, yesterday, in that game they had six hitters, seven,
eight to nine are non factors. You can't do that correct.

Speaker 3 (43:01):
So I want to make it about Sal Stewart and
Tyler Stevenson and Austin Hayes. If Austin Hayes, Austin Hayes
appeared in the game yesterday, they're playing a lefty. Austin
Hayes was acquired because he's supposed to help you against lefties.
If he can't go tomorrow, he shouldn't be on the
playoff roster. If he can't help you. The LA Dodgers

(43:21):
will have as many as five lefties in.

Speaker 4 (43:23):
Their bullpen this series.

Speaker 3 (43:25):
If he can't help you, if he can't be brought
up in a big situation. If he can't ask to
be if he can't be asked to start against a lefty,
then you got to find somebody else Christian and Carnassi,
el Strand or somebody else.

Speaker 4 (43:36):
But I'm with you, Tony.

Speaker 3 (43:37):
I want I want the home run hitters to hit
the ball out of the ballpark in the first three
or four innings, and then we'll adjust based on how
the game goes. Do I use Key Brian Hayes as
a defensive replacement maybe in the middle innings? Do I
wait until the eighth or ninth, But I want to
try to score some runs off Blake Snell. I want
to try to hit the ball out of the ballpark.
I want to stack it with righty's If I can,

(43:58):
I'll sacrifice. By the way, I don't think south Steart's
atrocious defensively was a ball last week against Pittsburgh on
a play that he should have made. Beyond that, it's
been okay. Is he as good as Key Brian Hayes. No,
But what I'm hoping is Hunter Green allows very little
contact and so defense doesn't matter nearly as much, at
least in the early innings.

Speaker 4 (44:16):
Yeah, and I would have to imagine that's what the
pitching staff would like too, right, especially a pitcher that
can throw it by you like Hunter Green. Give me
the best lineup that can give me some run support
and let me take care of the rest. By the way,
the Dodgers were shut out eight times this year. Okay,
so two hundred and forty four home runs on the season,

(44:36):
thirty behind the Yankees who were number one, and gosh,
I don't even want to know where the Reds were
at one sixty seven. So that is a significant dip.
But runs home runs, it's it's an unbelievable offense. There
are star power throughout it. You've got to rely on
the greatness of Hunter Green, and you got to get
him some run support.

Speaker 3 (44:57):
One thousand percent. I want to use a different lineup
than the one the Reds used yesterday. Reds and Dodgers
Tomorrow night, Game one, National League Wild Card Series, first
pitch at nine oh eight. We've got the Bengals and
Broncos tonight. We'll jump back to that when we come back.
It's the RNL Carriers pregame sports talk show presented by

(45:19):
your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (45:24):
History Lives at Cincinnati.

Speaker 1 (45:30):
This is the R and L Carriers Pregame Sports Talk
Sports Talk is brought to you by Skyline Chilly feeling good.
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Speaker 2 (45:55):
Four to four.

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Speaker 3 (46:18):
The official home of the Bengals ESPN fifteen thirty Moegar
with Tony Pike, Tony, you and I spending a lot of.

Speaker 4 (46:24):
Time with each other.

Speaker 3 (46:25):
We've got this show right now, which we're unofficially calling
the Tonian Mo Pregame Show. We're back tomorrow at Twin
Peaks and Florence for the Tony and Mo Football show,
and then you and I because we have a four
to twenty five game on Sunday. It's just you and
I at the Holy Grail for the tonyan Mo pregame
show before the Detroit game.

Speaker 4 (46:42):
Unbelievable line it up, let's go. I'm excited. And we
got to get together on Friday night and watch the
Reds out an establishment, Kansas.

Speaker 3 (46:50):
We did the we were watching, yeah, so that dynamic
was interesting. So we were in the Overland Park, Kansas
for Friday night. Bearcats played KU on Saturday. Obviously a
little bit of an early wake up call for us,
so nothing crazy. But after we had a dinner, we
went and found an establishment where they were showing a

(47:13):
Yankees game on like tape delay. Right the Yankees game
started at seven. I don't know what time we got there,
but it was then like the seventh or eighth. And again,
somebody was so into the game they demanded it be
shown from the top. So we couldn't get them to
put the Reds game on.

Speaker 4 (47:30):
Yes, if it was live, I don't know if they
understand that you can just look something like that up.

Speaker 3 (47:36):
Well, and they they didn't have to deal with what
you and I were dealing with was we were watching
the game on the FanDuel Sports Network, which I was
a little behind. Yeah, right, Like we got the notification
from ESPN that the game had ended while we were
still watching it with one out of the ninth inning.
But we were getting text from people about the game
brutal and what they were seeing was like two hitters ahead.

Speaker 4 (47:56):
Yeah, we had no idea what was coming if those
texts were positive or negative. But yeah, we got to
enjoy all of it in Kansas, no question about it.

Speaker 3 (48:07):
Meanwhile, we're getting said for Monday Night football tonight, the
Bengals and Broncos in Denver kicks off at eight fifteen.
Wayne box Miller continues coverage with a countdown to kickoff
at six thirty, and I believe Austin Elmore will be
on the air until two thirty.

Speaker 4 (48:21):
In the morning. I think so wow, I think so.

Speaker 3 (48:25):
But a gamer, all, an absolute gamer, all to bring
the best coverage to all of our listeners. All we
try to do, no question, All right, A couple of
things about this game tonight. We have more red stuff
a little bit later on. How long should the lease be?

Speaker 4 (48:41):
Today?

Speaker 3 (48:41):
For Dalton Reisner, who's a homecoming of swords for him
against his former team.

Speaker 4 (48:46):
You know, I think if I didn't see Jalen Rivers
and I know last week, he probably didn't grade the best.
I thought Rivers showed a little upside yes when given
the opportunity. Yeah, for me, it would be an extremely
short leash. I know who Dalton is at this point.
He's a terrible run blocker and he's an okay pass blocker.

(49:06):
This team needs to be able to run the ball.
If he can't provide that, then you've got to find
options that can You have to operate If you're the
Bengals with urgency, you know, in the same way we
talked to yesterday with the Reds, well, if Singer gets
into trouble, you got to have a quick leash. I
think that can be held true for a lot of
the guys on the Cincinnati Bengals of how much can

(49:27):
you wait out, how much can you give guys snaps?
And how much do you need the guys out there
they're going to help you the most to win the game.
I don't think it should be a long leash for
Dalton at all.

Speaker 3 (49:38):
I don't either, and it feels like it's not gonna
be Let's say his lack of performance continues and he
did get hurt in the Vikings game, but it's going
to be okay to play tonight. What a damning indictment
on what they've done this offseason at that position. Yep,
you tried the Lucas Patrick thing for a variety of reasons.

Speaker 4 (49:57):
Hasn't worked.

Speaker 3 (49:58):
All right, You go get Dalton right late in camp
when he was out there this entire time, the Internet
made it sound like they were getting the greatest pass
blocking guard of all time. If you have to pull
the plug on that in game four, nothing against Jalen Rivers,
So I'm with you.

Speaker 4 (50:13):
I thought he was okay. You know, he's a mid
round pick.

Speaker 3 (50:16):
The ceiling is maybe not that high for his rookie year,
but I would have no problem putting him in a
game right now. But if you have to do that
in game four and you've tried Lucas Patrick and now
you're admitting the Dalton Reisner thing's not working. What a
damning indictment on what you've done at that position.

Speaker 4 (50:33):
Yeah, and again it was. It's not like it crept
up on anybody. The number one thing we discussed MO
last year on our last Tony and Mo Football Show.
Offensive line has to be better. You got to address
it in the offseason. And if you are already looking
at Jalen Rivers and saying, yep, he's going to be

(50:55):
the guy, it is, it is a brutal, brutal indication
of how bad things are up front and how much
of a failure that would be on the organization to
not address that properly. Staggering, staggering.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
Like and again, if if Zach Taylor and Scott Peters decide, look,
this isn't working, We're putting in someone else. Fine, Like,
you got to do what you can to win the game.
You got to do what you can, you know, to
to figure out ways to tap into something in the
running game that you haven't been into. But if i'm if,
I'm if I own the club and I got Duke Tobin,

(51:28):
and I go all right, So let me get this right.
We needed a guard and so far you're zero for
two at one position. You know, Dylan Fairchild is obviously
still in his career's infancy, but your two, your two
solutions at one guard position have worked out so poorly
that we're now putting in the guy. We took in
the fifth round in Game four, right.

Speaker 4 (51:48):
That's it? Would you use the word it would be staggering? Yes? Yes.

Speaker 3 (51:55):
If Jake Browning performs poorly tonight, I'm sure the calls
for another quarterback will intend.

Speaker 4 (52:01):
How would you feel about that? If he performs poorly
this evening, to me, that would be another indictment on
the organization because they hadn't handled it properly in my opinion,
when the injury to Joe Burrow first happened, right because
you and I both talked about going and getting a
proven guy and not to start right away. But for
the exact issue that we're talking about right now, if

(52:23):
things don't work tonight, it would have been nice to
have a guy waiting in the system for two weeks
getting up to speed. They're not going to have that
because they didn't address that situation with the backup quarterback.
They brought in Sean Clifford, and they brought in Mike White,
and neither of those guys I don't feel like are
going to give you a chance going forward. So you've

(52:44):
wasted two weeks essentially. If it doesn't work out tonight
for Browning, you've wasted two weeks of being able to
get somebody up to speed and play in your system
for the Detroit Lions game. That again would be a
massive oversight, knowing that even if you did have Jake Browning,
you needed to make sure he was protected because of
the current state of the offensive line, among many other things. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (53:09):
I mean to me, if it's okay Jake plays poorly,
Bengals lose, now we're gonna start canvassing for a quarterback.
I feel like to a degree that might almost be
too little, too late. Correct, right, yep, Like if you
should have done that two weeks ago, which which many
said yourself included, go get somebody, get him up to speed,

(53:31):
and that way you can pull the plug on Jake
soon if his performance warrants that, and turn to somebody
else while they's still time. If the big if the
big issue is well, getting a guy up to speed,
you know, getting a guy teaching of the offense chemistry
with wideouts, and you you think that's gonna take time. Cool,
go get a guy now, and then what two three

(53:52):
weeks later, two three more weeks of Jake Browning, then
you put the guy in.

Speaker 4 (53:56):
Yeah, it it wouldn't give the locker room messaging that
I think needs to be sent because right now say
whatever you want, MO, you can still to the locker room,
say Jake's our guy, we believe in it. Uh huh.
If things go south tonight, what is the messaging to
the locker room. Do you think they're gonna buy that
Jake's the guy that can put them on their shoulders

(54:17):
and then they're gonna look to what's next. And you
haven't addressed that, right you have, you should have already
done it. You haven't done it. You don't have the depth,
you don't have the understanding created, and you are going
through a very treacherous part of your schedule with Denver tonight, Detroit,
Green Bay and then Pittsburgh, and you have failed to

(54:38):
make sure that you had a contingency plan in case
it didn't work with Jake Browning. Let's look, this isn't
a po dunk offense. This isn't an offense that's just
kind of thrown together, that's just kind of getting through
the year and then readdress. You're all in on Jamar Chase,
you're all in on t Higgins. Why wouldn't you make
sure you're secure at quarterback regardless of what happens with

(54:59):
Jake Browning.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
Of the names that have been talked about, and obviously
last week Russell Wilson got added to the discussion, who
do you would make the most sense?

Speaker 4 (55:09):
As of last week, I still thought with Kirk Cousins
out there, but then he got thrown in to a game,
and I think Atlanta probably sees the value there. If
you're asking me and I know that you'd be on
the hook for two million dollars and you could get
a former Super Bowl winning quarterback and Russell Wilson. I
know he's quirky. I know he's different. I know he's

(55:30):
going to give chances to those guys in the in
the passing game. I know he's going to put the
ball up in the air and let them go get it.
That to me because it wouldn't cost you much at all, again,
only two million dollars. I think he makes sense because
he's got a pedigree, he's been around the league for
a while, and he understands if he wants a future
in the NFL, he's got to do something. I think
it was Dan Patrick or maybe somebody else last week

(55:52):
but said if he was Russell Wilson, he'd be begging
to go to Cincinnati mm hm to get out another
opportunity because he said that that Russell Wilson's he's playing
himself out of the Hall of Fame right now with
what he's done in the second half of his career.
I would be clamoring with my agent, Hey, let's let's
reach out. Let's see if there's something there with the
Bengals and make that happen.

Speaker 3 (56:13):
Russell Wilson is obviously now bounced around, and he's you know,
ceded to Jackson Dart, who played more than capably I
think for his first NFL action against the Chargers in
two weeks.

Speaker 4 (56:24):
Before four fifty right four against the Bengals last year.
So you've seen it on display. It's just not been
as consistent. I mean, who's the better quarterback, Russell Wilson
or Jake Browning. Russell Wilson.

Speaker 3 (56:38):
The Russell Wilson who played for the first two and
a half months for the Pittsburgh Steelers last year can
win you games.

Speaker 4 (56:45):
I need it for two and a half months.

Speaker 3 (56:47):
If I'm clinging to the idea that Joe Burrow can
come back midway through December, and maybe we shouldn't be
but if they are and you have a chance to
get Russell Wilson, Can I get the guy who played
for the majority of the time he would be trying
to keep this team afloat? Could I get the guy
who played for the Steelers for two months, who was
offering a really nice story before things went sideways.

Speaker 4 (57:07):
Yeah, and you're getting a gui Mo who's got one
hundred and twenty one regular season wins in his career.
I always I flashed back to the locker room. What
message would it send to the locker room if you
signed Russell Wilson that you're trying, You're not giving up,
We're trying. We want to make this work. What message
do you send to the locker room if things go

(57:29):
poorly with Jake Brown and you come out tomorrow and
you say, hey, Jake's still our guy. We're good with
where we're at. Right, you start to lose a little
bit of that validity and then you start to lose
the locker room. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (57:40):
Seventeen minutes after four o'clock, we have in this game
tonight two finalists for a last year's Defensive Player of
the Year award, which Trey Hendrickson didn't win, but Patrick
sir Tan did. We'll spend some time on that here,
and we'll take a look at a player in the spotlight,
including one who is gonna be I think we're gonna
be watch to see what he has for an encore tonight.

Speaker 4 (58:01):
We'll get to that here in.

Speaker 3 (58:03):
Just a few Brendan and Jones on baseball coming up
later on this hour.

Speaker 4 (58:06):
We'll do some more Reds too.

Speaker 3 (58:07):
It's the Tony and Mo Pregame Show aka Arnew Carriers
Pregame Sports Talk presented by You're Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
Toyota Dealers on ESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 8 (58:20):

Speaker 6 (58:23):
Traffic westbound Western Hills by it up the right lane
block from an accident. That's at seventy five on westbound
two seventy five. Another accident, this one on the off
ramp to eleven and roadblocking off the left lane on
the ramp and Vine Street. Another accident Clinton Springs Avenue.
I'm at e Zelick with Treffor.

Speaker 10 (58:42):
This is Football in the NATI, brought to you by
Modern Office Methods on ESPN fifteen thirty, The official home
of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 3 (58:53):
By the way, he speaking of dick Men's. Tony will
be there tonight. You can watch the game with Tony.
You can win a prize. You can have a beer
with Tony, could have dinner with Tony. Yes, you could
high five Tony when the Benals do good things. Talk
about the Bearcats if you want, you can talk. If
you want to ask, because I'm gonna be in Kentucky.
If you want to ask about Mark Stoops, we could
talk about Mark Stoops. We could talk about basketball. We
could talk about why in the Ryder Cup if somebody

(59:14):
withdraws they get a half point. We could do whatever
you want to do. Can you quickly explain that to me?
So I the United States, I guess benefited from this
in the nineteen ninety one Ryder Cup.

Speaker 4 (59:25):
Can you, Because I will be totally honest with you.

Speaker 3 (59:28):
With the baseball and the football, the Ryder Cup yesterday
and really all week and long took a little bit
of a backseat, especially because we were getting clobbered. We
made a great comeback yesterday. Victor Howland gains half a
point for Europe even though he couldn't play because of
an injury.

Speaker 4 (59:43):
Yeah, first of all, it was almost the most historic
comeback in Ryder Cup history. They for a moment had
me believing that they could could cap this comeback off.
But apparently there's a rule in the Ryder Cup that
if you're unable to play due to an injury, then
the result would be both players split the point, which
to me, if I was Europe, why wouldn't I just

(01:00:05):
withdraw every player going into Sunday? Then you get all
the points you need. Why would you even run the risk?
It makes no sense, none backwards as all get out,
And that halfpoint obviously makes it interesting down the stretch
because it would have prolonged the match to see what
those last matches look like. But yeah, I in a
setting like that, if you're unable to compete, then you

(01:00:28):
should have somebody that is able to go in as
a backup, or you forfeit your point because you can't play. Right,
This doesn't give everyone to make everybody happy.

Speaker 3 (01:00:39):
I don't understand. Remarkable, I do not understand. Let's take
a look at tonight's player spotlight. It is brought to
you by Furniture Fair. Get the guaranteed low price and
excuse me, or it's free at furniture fair. Here's what
I'm putting under the spotlight, Tony.

Speaker 7 (01:00:53):
Are you ready?

Speaker 4 (01:00:54):
Yes? T Higgins so Bengals and Broncos.

Speaker 3 (01:00:57):
Last year, Patrick's Patrick's are Tan ended up being the
NFL's defensive Player of the Year. In that game they
played in December, he was matched up against Jamar Chase,
and Jamar had a good game nine catches for one
hundred and two yards. T Higgins was matched up against
Riley Moss and Te torched him, had the game winning grab,
had the game to kind of put the Bengals in
a position for him. That game, had that game winning grab,

(01:01:19):
we all thought it might be his last home game.
He had eleven catches for one hundred and thirty one
yards and three touchdowns, and Riley Moss in that game
had a Pro Football Focus coverage grade of thirty point three.

Speaker 4 (01:01:31):
I want to see tonight with Te has for an encore. Yeah.
They at some point have to get T Higgins going
if this offense is going to start to produce points
like they need him. I think that's one you could take.

Speaker 7 (01:01:42):
Mom.

Speaker 4 (01:01:42):
I'll go a different route. How about a guy that
only played seventy percent of the snaps last week? Logan Wilson.
What a odd storyline up because of everything else, we
didn't spend a lot of time talking about Yeah, and
I assumed when I saw the snap count, I'm like, well,
it's a blowout, you're getting guys in. But if you
listen to what Wilson said after the game, he said

(01:02:03):
it was a coach's decision. He told me about it
before the game. I'm not going to complain about it.
That's what he wanted to do, and that's what we're
gonna do. We'll go from there. It certainly didn't sound
like a happy Logan Wilson to only play seventy percent
of the snaps. It also sounded like that was the
game plan going in even before the game got out
of hand. That is a little concerning to me. That's

(01:02:25):
a little bit questionable to me. He's played really well
this year, But why are you limiting the snap count
of Logan Wilson And do you do it again tonight
against a team who's going to try and establish a
run with JK. Dobbins and RJ.

Speaker 7 (01:02:37):
Harvey.

Speaker 3 (01:02:38):
So Barrett Carter got a lot of those snaps. You know,
after the Browns game. One of the things you and
I talked about was that that was the first time
in a while where as the game was unfolding, I said, hey,
there's Logan Wilson. Because quite honestly, Logan last year he
didn't notice them, right, he didn't you notice a lot
of things about the defense, and maybe that was why.

(01:03:00):
But I didn't think Logan Wilson had played poorly. Now
what was interesting to me about what happened on Sunday
is there was no real explanation because you might say, well,
it's because the game got out of hand.

Speaker 4 (01:03:10):
It was forty eight.

Speaker 3 (01:03:11):
To ten until Logan Wilson said I was told before
the game that was going to be the case. I
don't know why that is. I don't know if it's
rest Logan Wilson. Well, the guy that I watched in
Week one didn't look like he needs many snaps off.
It looks like you could play him ninety to ninety
five percent of your snaps. That to me is puzzling
for a guy that Al Golden has been talking about

(01:03:31):
since the first day he became the Bengals defensive cord.

Speaker 4 (01:03:34):
And are we at the point already in the season
where we're just worried about getting young guy snaps, and
that's what the preseason is for, and maybe if the
game's a blowout, that's what it's for. But to hear
Logan Wilson, who wasn't happy about it after the game,
say that that was the plan going in, that's what
threw me for a loop because at times I'm looking
like Logan Wilson must be getting guys in there because

(01:03:55):
they're getting blown out. No, that was the game plan.
What game plan do you going to a game with
that doesn't involve Logan Wilson?

Speaker 7 (01:04:02):
Right?

Speaker 4 (01:04:03):
That I don't understand. And again, what does that look
like tonight against a team who is eighth in the
NFL and running and is going to try to establish
the run game to try to help get bow Nicks
going as well.

Speaker 3 (01:04:16):
What was also interesting about what they did with Logan is,
you know he tweaked his ankle in the Jacksonville game.
Played every snap, Yeah, played every snap? Was not I
don't think was really on the injury report last week.
It was puzzling, And you're right, all this other stuff
happened in that game. There's so many different other Bengals
issues they're dealing with, and we're talking about right now.
But that was curious to me relative to the offseason

(01:04:39):
conversation about Logan Wilson's importance to the defense, which again
I thought in the first two games we started to
see payoff because I thought he played pretty well.

Speaker 4 (01:04:48):
Yeah, I was taken back a little bit by that.
On the offensive side of the ball was taken back.
Mike Asicki was only out there thirty percent of the snaps.
Mike Kisiki last year against the Denver b MO had
ten catches. I mean, he was a big component in
that regular season finale and down the stretch. He was

(01:05:09):
a huge part of the Bengals game plan and what
they were doing when they were winning those games down
the stretch. And I looked at the game again last
year targeted twelve times, he caught ten of them. He's
been non existent in this. Like everyone talks about the
run game, that doesn't have to just be limited to

(01:05:30):
actual runs. You can have pass plays that are extensions
of the running game because they're just short, quick, easy
throws that you can make to your tight end, to
your slot receiver and make plays that way. And to
kind of to round off what you said about t Higgins, MO,
we spent countless segments of training camp talking about how

(01:05:51):
they were using t Higgins in different ways slot, boundary,
field motion formations. Have we seen any of that? No,
I've not seen him move. No, And that's what that
was a big talking point. T talked about it a ton,
We talked about watching it at training camp. Yeah. I've
not seen the guy go in motion one time in

(01:06:11):
three games. It's maddening.

Speaker 6 (01:06:17):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:06:18):
Let's take a look at the delivery of last week's game,
brought to you by RNL Carriers. Go to RLC dot
com and make RNL Carriers your global transportation provider. Which
of the five turnovers samaj pans fumble delivered the game
ball or Chase's fumble, Jake Browning's picks one of them
run back for a touchdown. I think any of those

(01:06:40):
could be considered the delivery of the.

Speaker 4 (01:06:42):
Game from last week? Have we Has there ever been
five deliveries in a game? Can we use that? I mean,
this is just kind of the show. We're just going
on the fly here. Sure, let's just make that up,
all right, five deliveries of the game. It was gonna
be Brett Rippins, but he got sacked. I was confident,
like here comes the delivery the game, and then he
gets sacked and we didn't get to see it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:03):
Yeah, you know, I'm in Denver. I was told I'm
broadcasting from iHeart in Denver. I am told by one
of the on air personalities in this building that Brett
Ribbon is like a PGA Tour level caliber of golfer.

Speaker 4 (01:07:17):
That's how is the How's he in football? I don't
know what level are we die head into football. I
fear with this offensive line.

Speaker 3 (01:07:26):
Unfortunately, we're We're gonna find out four thirty ESPN fifteen
thirty Countdown to Kickoff starts in two hours with Wayne
box Miller The game tonight at eight fifteen live on
ESPN fifteen thirty, as well sports headlines. Next, it's the
Ternel Carriers pregame sports Talk presented by your Cincinnati and
Northern Kentucky Toyota dealers on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 10 (01:07:48):
You've been listening to Football in the NATI on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 8 (01:08:00):

Speaker 9 (01:08:04):

Speaker 6 (01:08:07):
clinical trials and treatments you won't find anywhere else. Call
five one three five eighty five UCCC westbound on the
Western Hills Viaduct. That is an accident at seventy five
that has got the right lane blocked westbound gal Bread
an injury accident with a motorcycle after vine An eastbound

(01:08:30):
two seventy five slow traffic Leban into Lovelin Madeira Road.
I'm at exelic with traffic.

Speaker 8 (01:08:36):
Looking to earn more with your check at ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Stations.

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
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. Reds are in LN.
They're going to play the Dodgers tomorrow night, Game one

(01:09:03):
National League Wildcard Series. The Reds made the playoffs, or
if you follow any National Baseball coverage, the Mets just
simply collapsed and now the postseason's not even gonna happen.
Nine o eight tomorrow night on seven hundred wl W.
Hunter Green will start against Blake Snell, who no hit
the Reds last year.

Speaker 4 (01:09:23):
I've seen a postseason no hitter before.

Speaker 3 (01:09:27):
Sure have, sure have, hopefully not not tonight.

Speaker 4 (01:09:32):
What else do we have?

Speaker 3 (01:09:33):
Oh, Andrew Abbott, Elidela Cruz, Hunter Green, and Emilio Pagan
have been nominated for the twenty twenty five All MLB Team,
which I'll be honest with you, I didn't know was
such a thing. You said, who Hunter Green and Eli
Dela Cruz and Andrew Abbott and Emelio Pass Not Matt
McLean But I think it was. MLB dot Com did

(01:09:56):
a position by position breakdown, like you know, were the
Reds Dodgers each have advantages advantage Reds.

Speaker 4 (01:10:02):
If you look at the second base production from LA
this year, oh boy, oh boy. But like Wouldn'teddy would?

Speaker 3 (01:10:13):
There would be a few things as cool as Matt
McClain's had a tough year. Like I mean, we've talked
about it almost every single day for months. If if
he got a chance at a cool postseason moment, we'll
see he's gonna be playing close to home. He's an
LA kid.

Speaker 4 (01:10:26):
Okay, So this is the This will go down as
the Matt McClain series, the Matt McClean series. That's wrong
with that?

Speaker 3 (01:10:33):
Elsewhere in baseball. Three other series begin tomorrow Tigers and Guardians,
Padres and Cubs, Red Sox and Yankees. Bob Melvin, the
manager of the Giants, has been fired. Roco ball Deli,
the manager of the Minnesota Twins, has been fired. Meanwhile,
Tonight in Denver, it's the Bengals and Broncos on Monday
Night Football. The Denver's lost two consecutive games. Cincinnati has

(01:10:56):
a chance to improve. The three on one. Bengals are
a seven and a half point dog. Tonight kick off
at eight fifteen Right here on ESPN fifteen thirty College
Football honors for the UC Bearcats Big twelve honors Brendan
Sorosby Big twelve Offensive Player of the Week, Steven Rusnak
Special Teams Player of the Week, and the offensive Line

(01:11:17):
the Offensive Line of the Week. I think that's a
new award you see as won or twice this year.
Ohio State ranked one, as you might imagine in both
major college football polls, Indiana eighth ap ninth in the
Coaches poll, and some UC basketball news. The school announcing
two road game exhibitions, starting with a tilt at Michigan

(01:11:38):
in ann Arbor on Friday, October seventeenth, and then they'll
go play John Kelliperi and the Arkansas Razorbacks in an
exhibition in Fayetteville the following week October twenty fourth.

Speaker 4 (01:11:49):
How about that. Gonna love this. I'm done with exhibitions
because after last year's exhibition against Ohio State, I thought
they were an elite eighteen I really did.

Speaker 3 (01:11:58):
I like it, but I hate and I like it
from the standpoint of, you get a chance to see
what you can do, you get a chance to show
what you are, You get a chance to work some
things out against high major competition. At the same time,
why can't you play these games in the regular season?
Like how cool would it be for UC to play
Arkansas in the regular season, just as it would have
been UC in Ohio State in.

Speaker 4 (01:12:18):
The regular season last year? Yeah, I mean cool. I've
thought for years that would be something like a local
tournament of all the area teams getting together. Makes too
much sense for me.

Speaker 3 (01:12:31):
It's time now for what I think is one of
your favorite segments. Oh, when we do the pregame show
looking at Who's Hot in the NFL.

Speaker 4 (01:12:41):
Oh, I thought we're gonna I thought we're gonna talk
to LEAs Darling.

Speaker 3 (01:12:46):
Not today, Not today. Let's look at who's hot in
the NFL. It is brought to you by a plump,
tight fast response times no services. There are two remaining
undefeated teams in the NFL, the Philadelphia Eagles. We saw
new versions of the Toush push yesterday, right, we saw
Saquon Barkley score a touchdown out of the Toush push formation.
They threw a pass in the second half of that game,

(01:13:08):
Jalen Hurts in that Philly offense allowed Tampa Bay to
get back in it, but still they improved.

Speaker 4 (01:13:12):
Four to zero. Yeah, they're a trained right now, and
they've won in different ways. They've won because of Saquon Barkley.
They've won with the legs of Hurts, They've won with
his his throwing ability and all. While AJ Brown and
DeVante Smith have been pretty quiet throughout the year, they
are they I think remain the favorites in the NFC,

(01:13:32):
but they just seem to hit on all cylinders. They're
well coached in every aspect of the game. They don't
beat themselves, and they they play with a ton of confidence.
They play with a ton of swager. I think they've
won twenty one out of their last twenty two. Yeah,
it's incredible, and they've won.

Speaker 3 (01:13:47):
They haven't won a game this year by more than
seven points, and the one game they won by seven points,
you know, they got that fluke touchdown on the field
goal try that was was blocked and returned with no
time left on the clock. The other team is an
absolute low. Although this game was a little bit closer
than I think a lot of us expected it to be.
A lot of folks had the Bills in their survivor
pool yesterday. Myself included Buffalo and Prus to four and

(01:14:08):
o with a thirty one to nineteen victory over the Saints.

Speaker 4 (01:14:11):
Oddly enough, I don't feel like they've played their best football,
which is crazy to say, because they've put forty one
on Baltimore, thirty on the Jets, thirty one on the Dolphins,
and thirty one on the Saints. And I just don't
feel like they've played their best yet they have given
up some points. I don't know if they're a finished
product defensively. I know they didn't have Milano and had
Oliver yesterday, but they just seem to be able to

(01:14:34):
calmly operate on offense with whatever you want to take
and give them. Whether it's Cook running the ball thirty times,
whether it's Allen with his legs, whether it's Allen with
his arm. They just seem to have a knack to
not allow a defense to dictate what they're going to do.
I was looking at their schedule. When's their loss? Yeah, Patriots, Falcons, Panthers, Chiefs,

(01:14:58):
Dolphins are their next five. I mean they go they
play Tampa, but that's in Buffalo, and then's yeah, the
Chiefs games in Buffalo. Yeah, and then they got the
you know, Texan Steelers, Bengals, Patriots, Browns. It's not until
Week sixteen. They played the Eagles, right, Like, where are
the losses on their schedule right now?

Speaker 3 (01:15:17):
The earliest team has ever clinched a division is Week eleven.
Four teams have done it seven Patriots, four Eagles, ninety
seven nine Ers, eighty five, Bears. The Bills may have
that division clinched by Halloween.

Speaker 4 (01:15:32):
Yeah, they really could.

Speaker 3 (01:15:35):
Maybe mathematically that's not possible. Jets and catching them, No, Dolphins,
they're not catching them. And as much as I like
what Mike Vrabel and the Patriots are doing, and they
played really.

Speaker 4 (01:15:44):
Well yesterday, they're not challenging for that division. No, not
even close. It's their division again. Yeah, how quickly can
they clench it?

Speaker 3 (01:15:52):
Eighteen away from five o'clock Brendanman and Jones on baseball
coming up in just a few minutes. We are getting
said for Monday Night Football tonight again, Wayne Box Miller
countdown to kick off at six thirty, and the game
itself kicks off at eight to fifteen with Dan Horden
Dave Lapham right here on ESPN fifteen thirty with Austin
Elmore doing postgame coverage until two thirty in the morning.

(01:16:14):
Ooh ooh, after he did three hours solo today.

Speaker 4 (01:16:21):
Are you flying out in the morning, Yes, okay, My
flight's at six o'clock in the morning, Denver time. Okay,
Now a flight that early, do you plan to sleep
or do you just go right through the night.

Speaker 3 (01:16:33):
So here's the thing, you know, we're two hours behind, right,
So the game is going to kick off at six fifteen. Figure,
it's over nine fifteen, nine thirty. Even if I enjoy
a refreshing beverage after the game, I'm still in bed
by eleven.

Speaker 4 (01:16:48):
How much is dictated if they were to win the game,
it's a good question. It's a good question. We'll see.

Speaker 3 (01:16:54):
But yeah, I land at one oh nine and we're
in Florence at Twin Peaks. So barring some sort of
travel mishap, which let's be honest, are regular occurrence. Is
barring some sort of travel missing Chase tomorrow, the plan
is for me to be at Twin Peaks and and
the Terren's working on baseball guests for us tomorrow.

Speaker 4 (01:17:15):
Oh, I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:17:17):
So if we'll do the Tony and Mo football show,
and obviously Bengals Broncos is going to be a major focus,
but the idea is to have some baseball folks on it.
Oh all right, it's seventeen away from By the way,
I like this out here. I like central time. Red's
game yesterday started at one o'clock. NFL games began at eleven.
I know that there was a Dublin game that was

(01:17:38):
ongoing by the time I got here.

Speaker 4 (01:17:40):
I like, like, I'll be done here at four yep.
Kind of like your schedule. I like central time. Do
you have your your spot already planned out that you're
going to be heading once we wrap? Uh?

Speaker 3 (01:17:54):
That's TVD, Okay, that's TVD. The guys I'm with have
probably been there since. That's good like noon Denver time.

Speaker 4 (01:18:02):
So nothing better than getting with a group and having
to try to catch up to where they're and you're
the guy who's working. Yeah, nothing better. Hey where are
you at? Where are you at? What are you doing?
You almost done?

Speaker 7 (01:18:13):
Well?

Speaker 3 (01:18:13):
I got up this morning, I wanted to go get
some breakfast, and I left my laptop charger in Kansas,
so I had to go to buy a laptop charger
and then come here and do show prep and get
ready for the show. And they're all like, oh, you know,
we thought you'd hang out, like hang out. Wish I could? Right,
all right, it's sixteen away from five o'clock. Brendman and

(01:18:36):
Jones on Baseball is coming up. It's the RNL carriers
pregame sports Talk presented by your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
Toyota dealers on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 8 (01:18:47):

Speaker 9 (01:18:50):

Speaker 6 (01:18:53):
clinical trials, treatments you won't find anywhere else. Call five
one three five eighty five UCCC down to only one accident.
That is westbound on gal Breath an injury accident after
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(01:19:15):
seventy five between Western Avenue and Fort Washington Way on
that ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:19:21):
For ten years.

Speaker 3 (01:19:22):
The Arnel Carriers Pregame Sports Talk presented by your Cincinnati,
Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers, Mollegger and Tony Pike. We're calling
it the Toni and Mo Pregame Show. The Tony and
Mo Football Show is tomorrow. Twin Peaks in Florence Time
now tony four. Today's Postman Law Injury Report. It is
brought to you by Postman Law. If you're injured, call

(01:19:44):
eight four to four Postman. Others promise Postman delivers all right.
A couple here. Shamar Stewart continues to be out. He's
got that ankle problem. Noah Fant remains in the NFL's
concussion protocol. He is not going to play tonight. Dalton
Reisner good. We talked about how long his leash may be.
Samajp Ryan's same thing after his finger injury last week.

(01:20:07):
Cam taylor Bridge should be back tonight tony.

Speaker 4 (01:20:09):
Okay, all right, need it on the second listen. I'm
thinking more and more as we get closer to kickoff tonight,
the Bengals find a way to win. You can legitimately
make the argument that last week things just unraveled with
the turnovers and that's not who they are, yes, right,
because you are you were going down to try to

(01:20:31):
make that a competitive game. You're driving down the field.
Things unraveled on multiple possessions that led to where it
was fluke plays. If you will that don't happen week
to week. Win tonight and you can just rely on that.
You can literally lean on and talk about like every
other NFL team, Well, the Chargers, just a bad week.

(01:20:51):
They got caught by the Giants. Carolina won thirty to
nothing last week. Just a bad week. But if it continues,
then it becomes the issue. You have a chance to
do what's the most beautiful thing about the NFL, and
that's erased last week by putting something there this week
and you get that opportunity.

Speaker 3 (01:21:08):
Obviously, last week things spiraled out of control and there
were some things that happened during that game that typically
do not Jamar Chase doesn't fumble samajp Ryan doesn't fumble,
like Jake Browning is a more reliable backup quarterback than
he proved last week. I want to buy into everything
you just said, except they really should have lost to
the Browns and they really should have lost to the

(01:21:31):
Jacksonville Jaguars, like they're a a Brian Thomas drop or
a shaky p I call away from losing it home
to the Jags. By the way, Jacksonville is three and
one and they're a which which we do have to
spend some time on, and they're in Andre Schmidt missed kick.

Speaker 4 (01:21:50):
Away from losing to the Browns.

Speaker 7 (01:21:51):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (01:21:52):
Like that.

Speaker 3 (01:21:52):
That to me, it's it's been not so much the
record or the loss. It's how they've played. They haven't
played well enough with or without Joe Burrow. I think
to make anybody feel like this season can be one
that appears to be better, one that's better than it
appears to be trending toward right now.

Speaker 4 (01:22:12):
Yeah, And that to me, and what we said in
the first hour, it's why tonight, I feel like is
the game that kind of sets the trajectory for the
rest of the season. Was last week just a mirage
or was last week more of who this team is
now without Joe Burrow and the deficiencies they have, and
trying to get the running game going, and how they're
holding together the defense and will that be something that

(01:22:33):
falls apart. I just think that tonight is the game
you circle and say, Okay, here's a team that's not
played well in Denver. Here's a team that has some
weaknesses as well. You can't just rely on the bad
matchup card. This is the game that if you want
to be considered as having anything going forward, you'll find
a way to win. Tonight. Could not agree anymore.

Speaker 3 (01:22:56):
We are here for another hour and thirty seven minutes
or yours Pregame Sports Talk presented by your Cincinnati and
Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers. Again, Tony Pike will be at
Dick Ben's tonight. Right now we are getting said for
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Speaker 11 (01:23:10):
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(01:24:04):
and make R and L Carriers your global transportation provider.

Speaker 5 (01:24:08):
And no.

Speaker 2 (01:24:09):
Pregame Sports Talk.

Speaker 3 (01:24:13):
Aka Tony and Mo Pregame show on ESPN fifteen thirty. No,
we are not at Twin Peaks. We'll be there tomorrow
at the Florence location. But by all means, go good
at Twin Peaks right now and have a cold one
get ready for the game tonight. But Tony Pike and
I altogether as we get you said for Bengals and Broncos.
We've done some reds baseball today as well as you

(01:24:33):
might understand. And I guess that's the question. You brought
this up on Quick Hits on Sincy three sixty. It's
been a really fun sports weekend in Cincinnati. Obviously it's
no longer the weekend. But can the Bengals keep the
momentum going or do they pull the rug out from
underneath us?

Speaker 4 (01:24:49):
You know, at some point something's got to give, right.
We talked about this going into the fourth quarter of
the UC Kansas game and said, man, this is a
winnable one. This is a game that's there for the taking.
You can make it a signature win, and perhaps it's
a win that kind of jump starts you into more.
And then the Bearcats got it done in thrilling fashion.

(01:25:10):
And then yesterday, albeit the Reds lost their game, they
still found a way to get in the playoffs that
normally doesn't happen in the life of a Cincinnati sports fan.
Can the Bengals find a way to cap this off?
Can the Bengals find a way to win a game
in which, let's be honest, not many people are giving

(01:25:30):
them a chance to win. Is it playing against what
is going to be like the Lions next week or
the Buffalo Bills shorthanded? No, it's a Denver team that's
one and two. Let's call it what it is. This
is an undefeated Denver. It's not two to one Denver.
It's a team that's got a couple bad losses. They
should have beat the Chargers, they didn't. You could argue

(01:25:52):
they should have beat the Indianapolis Colts, they didn't. This
is a chance not only to get your stuff back
on track, but I put another AFC team at more
than an arm's length away from you in the standings.
Go find a way to win it.

Speaker 3 (01:26:08):
You know, because you have to make you have to
weave the two in with each other.

Speaker 7 (01:26:13):
Right.

Speaker 4 (01:26:13):
By the way, did you.

Speaker 3 (01:26:14):
Just pause because you saw what your guy Jason Kelsey's
wearing on TV.

Speaker 4 (01:26:17):
I did not.

Speaker 3 (01:26:18):
Okay, I have not seen it yet, but now I'm worried.
Now I'm concerned. Okay, So we got to weave the
two in. Right, So the Rads took advantage of the rules.
There's an added playoff team.

Speaker 4 (01:26:30):
Right.

Speaker 3 (01:26:30):
It's more water down than it's ever been. You don't
have to win ninety five games to make the postseason.

Speaker 4 (01:26:35):
You can get to eighty four wins.

Speaker 3 (01:26:37):
You can get to eighty three wins, which is what
the Reds ended up at. Which, by the way, all
season long, I said they were an eighty three win team.
I'll at myself on the back. They had deficiencies. We
knew what they were in spring training. We criticized the
front office for not addressing them to the degree that
they should have. But they found a way. They found
away in September. The New York Mets were complicit. They
had to collapse right on that Friday night, September fifth,

(01:27:01):
when when they beat the Reds to increase their lead
over Cincinnati to six games. It was obviously their race
to lose. But they did. They collapsed, They folded, and
so the Reds took advantage. The Reds did what they
needed to do. They overcame themselves. They took advantage of rules,
they took advantage of a water down regular season, and
they snuck in the AFC. We talked about it before. Stinks.

(01:27:25):
The Bengals have deficiencies. The offensive line isn't very good.
They can't run the ball. They're playing with a backup quarterback.
The defense, and I'm putting it gently, is an unknown.
But it's a seven team AFC playoff. It's never been
more water down. You're in the half of the league
that is worse than the other. Can you find a way.
Can you find a way? The answer can be yes,

(01:27:45):
and I think we start to entertain whether or not
the answer is going to be yes if they win
this game.

Speaker 4 (01:27:50):
If they lose, we're not doing anything close, correct. I
watch it and we talk about this every week. I
watched teams across the National Football League that don't even
have as much as the Bengals do find a way
to win games. Again, I'll go back. The Giants head
a rookie quarterback starting. They lost my leak neighbors yesterday,
and they still beat the Chargers, who a lot of
people were picking as a Super Bowl team after the
start of their season. Right right, look as good as

(01:28:13):
Kansas City has been for years. They stunk the first
three weeks of the year. Their rosters not very good
when you look at it from top to bottom. They
both raced the Baltimore Ravens yesterday. There are ways that
you can get around missing skilled players or talented players
or star players. But guess what, this Bengals team is

(01:28:35):
not void of star power on offense. Chase Brown, I
still believe is the potential to be a star in
this league. Jamar Chase and t Higgins are stars. In
this league is simply just can't fold up shop and
wait out the rest of the games this season. That's
not an option. So you got to find a way
forward that starts tonight. Put last week out of your mind,

(01:29:00):
go play good football, find a way to beat a
Denver team who right now is not world beaters, and
get yourself to three and one and charge start a
different conversation tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (01:29:10):
Let's talk about the Denver defense as we take a
look at how every piece is Important, brought to you
by Denado's Pizza, where every piece is Important. Tonado's the
official pizza of the Cincinnati Bengals. Most coming into the
season expected the Broncos to have one of the best
defenses in the NFL, maybe the best defense in the NFL.
So far, they've done a lot of things really well.

(01:29:32):
They're really good at getting after the quarterback, but they've
struggled closing games. They gave up one hundred and sixty
five yards on the ground to the Indianapolis Colts. They
allowed eight plays of more than forty yards in that game.
So here's what concerns me. Pass rush in Denver is elite.
They lead the NFL, or led the NFL through three games.
In pressure rate and sacks through three weeks, they had

(01:29:53):
the most QB hits in the NFL. So, got to
figure out a way to protect Jake Browning with this
offensive line. I don't know. And this is the important
piece for me because we've talked about, Okay, what do
they do on offense? What can they figure out? You
mentioned this before. Maybe they can't run the ball, but
maybe their run game can be throwing the ball to
Chase brown Two years ago with Jake Browning, they unlocked

(01:30:16):
this screen game that kept them afloat right.

Speaker 4 (01:30:18):
Can you explain what is screen?

Speaker 3 (01:30:20):
So a screen pass is you know, and you might
need a better offensive line to do this, but you
essentially allow the rushers to come after you and then
league's open, right, and you throw the ball. It's a
short pass and now the guy's got some room to
run because the defenders are behind him.

Speaker 7 (01:30:34):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (01:30:35):
So, the Denver Broncos have allowed twelve and a half
yards per attempt when opposing teams throw to the running back.
They have allowed the most plays, more plays than any
team in the NFL, more explosive plays on passes to
running backs than any team in the league. And explosive
play being defined as sixteen yards or more so. Can

(01:30:55):
the Bengals tap into that? Can they protect Joe Burrow
against an elite pass rush but take advantage of what
they don't do well, which is stop offenses when they
throw the ball to their running back. All I heard
for months was how Chase Brown is gonna is gonna
evolve as a pass catcher and they're gonna be able
to take advantage of that. Can they start to tonight?

Speaker 4 (01:31:14):
I'd like to think so. I feel like that is
the way forward. If you can't just run it in
between the tackles, can you find ways to get on
the edges? Their most successful run against the Vikings Mo
was a Jamar Chase Jets sweep for nine yards. How
many Jets sweeps did you remember seeing after that?

Speaker 5 (01:31:29):
Zero?

Speaker 4 (01:31:30):
How many Jet sweeps did they run just to fake
the defense? None? They didn't move them again? Why? I
don't know why. You've got to have different things built
into looks. There should be three or four different plays
in a game that revolve around that jet motion and

(01:31:50):
ways that you can go around it. Can Jamar Chase
bubble and you throw the ball to them? Can you
fake it to them and get it to Chase Brown.
Can you fake to both and say up a play
action pass where you take a shot at t Higgins.
There's got to be more answers than what the Bengals
have rolled out there to this point. Chase Brown, Jamar
Chase T Higgins, Mike ASICKI, I'm sorry. There are teams

(01:32:12):
that would line up across the National Football League for
a piece of the talent that the Bengals have offensively,
from a skilled point of view, find a way to
utilize it. And if you can't find a way to
utilize it, take the approach of your former offensive coordinator
and Brian Callahan and say, hey, I'm not equipped to
call plays with this offense without Joe Burrow. I'm going

(01:32:35):
to let somebody else do it.

Speaker 3 (01:32:38):
This to me, Look, this is not a new topic.
You've talked about it for years. I've talked about it
for years. If by the end of tonight we're hearing
the same excuses about bad matchup, Oh, you know what
they're really good at getting after the quarterback, and it's
the continued ability to function offensively. I don't care if
it's run the ball. I don't care if it's throw

(01:33:00):
short passes. I don't care if it's you know what,
see if if Jamar Chase can can win one on
one against Patrick Certain that's why you paid them all
this money. I don't care if it's heaven downfield to
t Higgins the way they did against the Broncos last year,
or tap into one of those other weapons. If we're
doing the same thing after this game that we've done
after each of the previous three offensively, I don't know

(01:33:21):
how the calls for Zach Taylor to stop calling plays
don't get louder.

Speaker 4 (01:33:24):
Yeah, Like someone asked us on social media, MO, what
if the Bengals lose twenty seven to twenty four? Are
you feeling differently about that type of loss than you
would if they got blown out. I would have to
see how they're scoring offensively, I guess would be my
first answer to that. What I don't think they can
sustain is the defense coming out tonight and giving up

(01:33:45):
like seventeen points and you lose. If that's the case,
there has to be a significant conversation about who's calling
plays going forward. You can't pun on a season in
Week four, No, So no, you've exhausted everything else. You know,
you've moved on from offensive line coaches, you moved on

(01:34:07):
from lou Ana Roumo, You've moved on from others. There's
nowhere else you can point the finger to if this
doesn't get better. Because, again, regardless if it's Joe Burrow
or not, the skill and the talent that this team
possesses a wide receiver, tight end and running back are
greater than many other teams in the NFL. Right find

(01:34:28):
ways to utilize it, find ways to to to stretch
the defense, find ways to create misdirection, find ways to
give your playmakers the ball in space and one on
one opportunities. That has to happen somehow, Mo, every time
I flip on the Detroit Lions, Amadross Saint Brown is
operating in space. Somehow, Jamiir Gibbs is operating in space.

(01:34:52):
Defenses know that those are their weapons, and yet they
operate with them effectively. You could you could pick out
other teams that are successful on the offensive side of
the ball across the National Football League and say the
same thing, and yet they're adapting. Do teams know the
Philadelphia Eagles are going to run the ball? Yes, they

(01:35:13):
still effectively run the ball. Yes, regardless if there's five, six, seven,
or eight players in the box, they run the ball effectively.

Speaker 5 (01:35:21):
Mm hm.

Speaker 4 (01:35:21):
So find answers not just well, defense took that away tonight,
so we had to go to something else. Yeah, they
don't get to take stuff away from your offense when
it has Jamar Chase and T Higgins on the outside.

Speaker 3 (01:35:32):
But that's what was so concerning. I'll go back to
week one. That was what was so concerning about the
Cleveland game. Oh, they're a bad matchup, okay, so you
can't try to see if Jamar can win one on
one or what about T Higgins? Like you're just they
allowed the Cleveland Browns in that game to dictate how
they play, so they had to lean into an area

(01:35:53):
of their team which is not a strength. How do
you do that as a coaching staff? Like they won
the game, so nobody really wanted to talk about it
that much. But they allowed the Cleveland Browns to take
away what they're supposed to be built on, and instead
they had to lean on a part of their team
that they're not good at. That is the antithesis of
what a coach of what the coaching staff of what football.

Speaker 4 (01:36:11):
Is somebody asked Zach Taylor, and I'm just gonna paraphrase,
I don't know the exact quote. They asked him about
the T Higgins usage and how do you find ways
to get him more involved? And Zach's answer was, well,
we'll figure out different ways. But that's also because we're
operating in a lot of twelve personnel. How does that
make sense?

Speaker 3 (01:36:30):
Then?

Speaker 4 (01:36:30):
Why did If you wanted to be a twelve personnel
team and you can't get T Higgins the ball in
twelve personnel for whatever reason, then why did you resign
t Higgins?

Speaker 7 (01:36:39):
Right? Right?

Speaker 4 (01:36:40):
Like we talk all the time about scheme and roster
matching each other. If your response to the media on
why you can't get T Higgins more touches is we're
going to try to, but we've been operating a lot
out of twelve personnel. If you're that dead set on
twelve personnel and you can't get it to T, then
why did you pay the money to keep him? Right?

Speaker 3 (01:36:59):
Those two things don't make it. This is what your
team is built on. It's these two guys, and so
anything that's not that I fail to understand it. I
would understand it if he yielded good results right, but
so far offensively it has not. Nineteen minutes after five o'clock,
He's Tony Pike on mowegor Toni and Mo pregame show
on ESPN fifteen thirty. We are getting you said four

(01:37:20):
Bengals and Broncos. Kickoff is at eight fifteen, just under
three hours away. Right here on ESPN fifteen thirty. Countdown
to kickoff continues our coverage with Wayne box Miller at
six thirty. You are listening to the RNL carriers pregame
sports talk presented by your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota
Dealers on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 8 (01:37:40):
Cincinnati Sports Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (01:37:45):

Speaker 6 (01:37:48):
clinical trials and treatments you won't find anywhere else. Call
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(01:38:09):
at the Western Hills Viaduct. Accident on the right shoulder
and an injury accident westbound galbreathf der Vine on at
Ezelic with traffic.

Speaker 2 (01:38:18):
Nobody has more all wheel drive world.

Speaker 10 (01:38:21):
This is Football in the Natti, brought to you in
part by Postman Law and Vice Skyline Chile on ESPN
fifteen point thirty to the official home of the Cincinnati.

Speaker 4 (01:38:33):
Bengals, Yarnel Carriers.

Speaker 3 (01:38:35):
Pregame Sports Song Show is presented by your Cincinnati and
Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers aka the Etonia MO Pregame Show. Tony,
We've been on the air for two hours and twenty minutes.
We've talked a lot about the Reds. We've talked a
lot about this Bengals game tonight. We have not yet
spent time on Saturday's You see victory at Kansas.

Speaker 4 (01:38:56):
You mean the signature win of the Scott Saderfield era,
without question, so believable, so far, so far, What a win,
What a game against a good opponent. I don't know
how good Kansas is. Defensively, that is one of the
better offenses. You'll see the way they utilize on every snap,
pre snap motions, actual motions, changing their alignment. They are

(01:39:23):
a handful for a team to prepare for. Defensively, and
they put you in a lot of difficult situations. Emmanuel
Henderson was a monster. Jaylen Daniels has seen it all,
he's been in college seemingly eight years. But to come
back from four touchdowns wiped off the board due to penalties,
to come back from the final drive of the game

(01:39:46):
where you've got to to go down the length of
the field and you're staring a fourth down in the face,
and you get a one handed catch from Noah Jennings
to the countless mo first and twenties that they were in,
and they work themselves back to pick up first downs
and continue the drives. Antwine Peak Junior an unbelievable play
at the goal line to not only stop Daniels but
to strip the ball out. So many things went into that,

(01:40:10):
and they did it without Dante Corleone, and they did
it in the second half without Joe Royer as well.
You know the two things about the game.

Speaker 3 (01:40:17):
Number one went into it wondering, Okay, the last time
they played high major competition, nobody could get open. So
let me see something that suggests that's an outlier, that
that's not who they are. Well, between Cyrus Allen and
Caleb Goodie, and then on the play of the game,
Noah Jennings without running one headed catch. I now feel
better about what they have on the outside.

Speaker 4 (01:40:38):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:40:40):
The other one was this team's this team's been really
bad in one score games, you know. I put this
on social media since the start of the twenty twenty
two season, which is Luke Fickles last year. I know
the personnel changed three to twelve in one score games
since the start of the twenty twenty free season, year
one for Scott Sadderfield, year one of the Big twelve

(01:41:02):
two to nine.

Speaker 4 (01:41:03):
So there have been so.

Speaker 3 (01:41:04):
Many games where in the fourth quarter they just couldn't
make the play, and the game on Saturday felt like
it was following a familiar script until Noah Jennings made
that catch.

Speaker 4 (01:41:15):
Yeah. I liked as well what they did coming out
of the BIMO. They started with Walker instead of Prior. Yeah,
and Walker was just bruising all afternoon, and then he
only got six carries. I think ideally they'd like to
give him more if the game played out that way,
But every time Prior touched the ball, it seemed like

(01:41:36):
the defense couldn't make the adjustment to how he runs
versus how Walker runs right. I mean he had six
carries for ninety yards, them going down on the legs
of Evan Pryor right before the half to get three points.
I mean, how many years more we talked about special
teams or plays before the half that tanked this team.
They made the big plays before the half to go

(01:41:57):
get points. They made the plays down the stretch. That
hasn't been the case for this team under Scott Saderfield.
Soresby's playing at an elite level right now. What an
unbelievable play before he got hurt by Joe Royer to
go box out a defender on third and long and
go up and get the ball. Cyrus Allen career day
with eleven catches and gets in the end zone twice.

(01:42:18):
It was so well balanced all the way around. And
an environment like that, sold out crowd against a good
quality Big twelve opponent. I thought that was a marquee
win for the Bearcats and it sets them up now
mo for what should be an unbelievable atmosphere and an
unbelievable opportunity coming up on Saturday.

Speaker 3 (01:42:38):
Yeah, favored against the fourteenth ranked team in the country,
and not to overlook that game.

Speaker 4 (01:42:45):
If you can win at home.

Speaker 3 (01:42:47):
Uc f A is winnable, Oklahoma State has already fired
its coach, Baylor's not great, Utah got crushed at home,
and it's big twelve opener, Arizona's not good, b YU
is TCU. I'm not sure. Yeah, like there's we talked
before State are both home. Uh, yeah, that's big, that

(01:43:09):
is huge. So we talked before the season about how
it's not just six and six.

Speaker 4 (01:43:13):
You gotta get to eight wins.

Speaker 3 (01:43:16):
Not gonna be easy, but it's we could talk about
it now, which is why you and I emphasize the.

Speaker 4 (01:43:22):
Importance of the Kansas game so much. It felt like
it almost felt, in a way more like what we're
talking about tonight with the Bengals. M H like that
the conversation changes based on that win against Kansas as
opposed if it was a loss against Kansas, because what
would he been saying, same thing. They just can't make

(01:43:43):
the plays late in the game to get over the hump.
Now they got to come home against a ranked team
find a way to win. You would have lost that momentum,
you'd have probably lost a little bit of the build
up leading into this week. Instead, all of a sudden
everyone that I run into is talking about the Bearcats again. Yes,
how about the Bearcats. I went to the grocery yesterday,
stopped by Moll to Hey, what a win. Now they're

(01:44:04):
coming home. What an atmosphere, What an opportunity Saturday is
It changes the whole conversation, much like a Benkals win
tonight would. That's what they were able to do on
Saturday against Kansas Iowa State.

Speaker 3 (01:44:16):
It's going to be a noon kickoff, NFA. You didn't
see the UCF game a week from Saturday. Also now
going to be a noon kickoff twenty nine after five
o'clock sports headlines.

Speaker 4 (01:44:25):
Plus we'll head to the Rocky Mountains to one more.
I don't know who was more excited because I got
home and was able to get home and watch the
Penn State organ Yes, I didn't know if you were
more excited once the final gun hit or Dan Lanning
in his postgame interview, was more excited, A little worried
about Lanning you kept it a little bit more professional.

(01:44:47):
I did. Just that was an interesting watching that game,
a great game in itself. Dan Lanning is a different breed.

Speaker 3 (01:44:55):
Man, different cut. So is James Franklin. Gosh, except he
does the same same thing when they play good teams. Yeah,
five thirty sports headlines and we'll head to den for
coming up about fifteen minutes. Toniubo Pregame Show aka RNL
Carriers Pregame Sports Talk presented about your Cincinnati and Northern
Kentucky Toyota dealers on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 10 (01:45:15):
You've been listening to Football in the NATI brought to
you by Cincinnati Tax Resolution powered by Tefe Sheldon on
ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 8 (01:45:29):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic on Harrison.

Speaker 6 (01:45:35):
It is a serious accident west of Everglade Place. Cruise
are directing traffic around that spot northbound seventy five at
the Western Hills Viaduct. Accident on the right shoulder southbound
seventy five after nor Would lateral accident on the left
shoulder on at Ezelk with traffic shake.

Speaker 4 (01:45:52):
Dennison here reminding all fourteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:45:55):
Sports headlines are a service at Kelsey Chevrolet Home of
lifetime powertrain protection guarantee credit approval from their family to
yours for life. Kelsey chef dot com Bengals and Broncos
on Monday Night football. Cincinnati is a seven and a
half point dog. Broncos are one and two coming off
consecutive losses. Kickoff at eight to fifteen this evening on

(01:46:16):
ESPN fifteen thirty. There is another Monday Night football game tonight,
and it's a terrible one. Jets and Dolphins. Good luck
if you're watching that one. Reds are in LA getting
set to start the playoffs tomorrow, first of a three
game series, best of three against the LA Dodgers, Hunter
Green and Blake Snell nine to eight Tomorrow night's first
pitch on seven hundred WL WUC quarterback Brendan soares Bey

(01:46:39):
named Big twelve Offensive Player of the Week, Kicker Stephen
Rusnek named the Big twelve Special Teams Player of the Week.
U SE's offensive line named the Big twelve Offensive Line
of the Week. And a couple of basketball exhibitions announced today,
both on the road. You see at Michigan on Friday,
October seventeenth, and then at Arkansas on Friday, October the

(01:47:00):
twenty fourth, Tony, are you ready to take a look
back at this day in Cincinnati sports history? Please this
is a staple of the pregame show It comes your
way thanks to a Pellow Windows and Doors making life brighter.
Pella Now pay later. September twenty ninth, Tone has been
a very, very active day in Cincinnati sports history.

Speaker 4 (01:47:21):
Are you ready? I didn't know that? Yes?

Speaker 3 (01:47:24):
It was on this date in nineteen nineteen that Arnold
Rostein decided to finance the fixing of the nineteen nineteen
World Series, which the Reds won over the Chicago White
Sox five games to three.

Speaker 5 (01:47:37):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (01:47:38):
Now many will say they would have won it, nonetheless,
but the World Series itself, the fix was in and
the Reds did win. Arnold Rostein financed and then screwed
a lot of people that he promised money to. It
was on this date in nineteen sixty eight, Tony Pete
Rose wins the first of his what would be three
batting championships. He goes one for three in the Reds

(01:48:00):
final game of the season while Pittsburgh's Mattielou goes hitless,
and Pete's three thirty five batting average eclipsed Mattielou's three
thirty two betting average.

Speaker 4 (01:48:12):
It was on this date, you should.

Speaker 3 (01:48:14):
It was on this date in nineteen seventy four, Ken
Anderson threw for a touchdown and ran for a touchdown.
San Francisco quarterback Joe Reid was picked off twice by
the Bengals in a twenty one to three Cincinnati Road
went over the forty nine ers.

Speaker 4 (01:48:28):
I remember that one specifically, I know you do.

Speaker 3 (01:48:31):
It was on this date. Now, this is somewhat topical.
In nineteen ninety, the Reds clinched a division championship despite
losing in a rain shortened game to the Padres because
the San Francisco Giants beat the Dodgers. That gave the
Reds their first NL West title in eleven years.

Speaker 4 (01:48:49):
Nineteen ninety, Yes, wire to wire.

Speaker 3 (01:48:52):
Just like this year's team, they clinch without winning.

Speaker 4 (01:48:58):
It was on this date.

Speaker 3 (01:48:59):
In twoy sixteen, Tony Mike Nugent made five field goals
and the Bengals defense had five sacks of Ryan Tannehill
in a twenty two to seven prime time win over
the Miami Dolphins.

Speaker 4 (01:49:09):
Big Evan Macpherson Night Tonight, Hope So And it was
on this date.

Speaker 3 (01:49:13):
In twenty twenty two, the Bengals scored thirteen unanswered points
in the fourth quarter to come back and beat the
Dolphins twenty seven to fifteen.

Speaker 4 (01:49:23):
How about Dass from September twenty nine, remarkable in Cincinnati
sports history. You know what happened on this day in
two thousand and eight, I have no idea. I had
my surgery, our first of two forearm surgeries. This was
after the akronas. Yeah. We played Akron on believe the
twenty sixth of the twenty seventh, and then I came

(01:49:44):
in on the Monday and had the surgery.

Speaker 3 (01:49:45):
So the Akron game, I think you guys, if I'm
not mistaken, you guys won like fifteen thirteen.

Speaker 4 (01:49:50):
Yeah, something going away, dominant performance over Akron at one
of the worst stadiums I've ever been in. That was
the Rubber Hole. Yes, place was awful. Remember the day.
I remember the game.

Speaker 3 (01:50:01):
I remember the Rubber Bowl, and I remember Zach khlaire
is coming in relief.

Speaker 4 (01:50:05):
That's right. Was it Zach that day? Or was it Chas?
Was it Chas oh Man?

Speaker 7 (01:50:10):
Oh Man?

Speaker 4 (01:50:11):
I don't know that that was he. You guys won
seventeen fifteen. It's like a pulled the box score. This
is good radio right here.

Speaker 3 (01:50:18):
Yeah, Yeah, Zach z that came in only threw four passes. Okay,
so you got hurt late, Yeah, you got a good
day twenty three thirty four, three to twenty a couple
of touchdowns.

Speaker 4 (01:50:29):
Shockingly, we were only up by uh a few points
at that point.

Speaker 3 (01:50:32):
Yeah, you guys needed a field goal with seven forty
five to go to pull off that win.

Speaker 4 (01:50:37):
Crazy how that that happens? And then got boat raced
the start of Big East play that year against Connecticut
forty to sixteen, and then went on to to win
a biggest chanpion. You guys, you guys won your first
Big East game.

Speaker 3 (01:50:54):
You beat Rutgers, Yes, beat Rutgers, and then got Donal
Brown ran for a million yards. Yes, I remember that
crushed crushed so and you still feel the effects of
that surgery sometimes.

Speaker 4 (01:51:06):
Usually late fall, early winter, or occasional airport securities. Well, well, happy,
happy annivers Thank you appreciate it. I wanted to celebrate today.
I want to talk about the Bengals, talk about the
Reds Bearcats, and then head to Dickmans.

Speaker 3 (01:51:20):
It's gonna be fun. Tony will be at Dickmans tonight. Well,
so you can hang out with Tony, have a beer.

Speaker 4 (01:51:27):
Uh no, just have fun. Handout prizes.

Speaker 3 (01:51:30):
I will say this if if the game starts to
unravel like you did last week, you may want to
start doing the giveaways early.

Speaker 4 (01:51:38):
You see if people can hang around to the end
of the game.

Speaker 3 (01:51:41):
Because typically I do him at the end of every quarter.
But like, if you have a game like last week,
just do them a halftime.

Speaker 7 (01:51:46):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (01:51:47):
Let everyone out of here early. It's my piece of
advice for you.

Speaker 3 (01:51:50):
All Right, We're gonna head to Denver and chat with
one of the sports authorities in that fine city when
we come back. He's Tony Piko Moeger. It's the Arnel
Carriers pregame sports Talk show, presented by your Cincinnati and
Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 8 (01:52:07):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (01:52:12):
Traffic avoid the area of Harrison West. Have Everglade place
a serious accident? Their crews are directing traffic around that
spot as well. Southbound seventy five after Norwood Lateral. There's
an accident. This one is off onto the left shoulder.
I'm at Ezelek with traffic.

Speaker 3 (01:52:30):
This is Darnel Carriers Pregame Sports Talk on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (01:52:34):
We are presented today.

Speaker 3 (01:52:35):
Bye You're Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers. We
are closing in on countdown to kickoff. Wayne Box Miller
coming up at six point thirty. The game tonight live
on ESPN fifteen thirty at eight fifteen. This is a
rematch that game last year, and I watched highlights of
it this morning. That game last year, Bengals and Broncos,
you had the emotional backdrop of what we thought was

(01:52:56):
going to be t higgins last game in the Bengals
were last home game int Bengals uniform. You had the
stakes of them trying to scratch and claw their way
into the postseason. He had a back and forth game,
Bo Nicks, Joe Burrow, a memorable game. And I remember
chatting with our next guest before that game about the
Broncos and thought we'd do it again. Now. Our guy
Eric Goodman Mile High Sports, Denver is one and two.

(01:53:19):
More has gone wrong that has gone right? What's gone
wrong most so far?

Speaker 5 (01:53:24):
Well, I'm going to sum it up this way, and
I'm going to ask you a question which is going
to seem like a riddle. Is it possible to lose
a game when you have the lead going into the
fourth quarter and you never lose that lead throughout the
entire fourth quarter. Is that possible.

Speaker 3 (01:53:47):
Mathematically? Yes, because I saw it happen on Sunday.

Speaker 2 (01:53:53):
Right.

Speaker 5 (01:53:54):
The Broncos have led in their last two games going
into the fourth quarter and for the full fifteen minutes
they never trailed, yet lost on a pair of field
goals when the clock hit zero. This team cannot close.

(01:54:15):
That's their biggest problem. They have a great defense, but
they couldn't close. The offense has been stuck in mud
for the majority of the season. And when you have
Sean Payton coming out and saying I believe this is
a super Bowl caliber team, he says that publicly. He says,

(01:54:36):
I've coached many teams. There are six teams going into
the season I felt can win a Super Bowl. This
is number seven. When you come out and say I
think bon Nicks is going to be a top five
quarterback in the next two years. When you say during
the combine before they drafted bone Nicks, we know how
to draft quarterbacks better than anybody in the league. When

(01:55:00):
you say all of those things, you set yourself up for.
Media guys like us to criticize, stop talking, start doing,
show me, don't tell me.

Speaker 3 (01:55:15):
Well said, well, put, we could say some of the
same things about a number of people here. Of those
things that you said that Sean Payton has declared, how
many do you agree with?

Speaker 7 (01:55:27):
Well?

Speaker 5 (01:55:28):
He also talked about we have to get off to
a fast start. That hasn't happened either, So.

Speaker 7 (01:55:33):
What do I agree with?

Speaker 5 (01:55:34):
I think they have the talent to be a team
that can compete in the playoffs, but they certainly haven't
shown it yet. Offense has been a major issue for
this team, and the reason is is the same reason
probably for many of Sean Payton's teams. Now granted he
had Drew Brees. Peyton is the type of guy who

(01:55:59):
wants to show you how great he is, meaning he
wants to throw a lot of different personnel packages at you.
And when you do a lot of when you are
substituting a lot and it looks like a fire drill
every play, you are wasting time on that play clock

(01:56:21):
and you're not giving your quarterback enough time to set
up to read that defense. Those play calls have been
long historically. He said that he shortened it, but in
the opening game. He likes to show off his guys.
When he made that comment about bone Knicks, I personally felt,
why are you putting this type of pressure on Bonicks?

(01:56:42):
Opening game, they barely ran the ball in the first half.
He tried to have Bonnicks win him a game in
the first and second quarter. They passed the ball, passed
the ball, and they look like hot garbage. And he
said after the game, we need to run the ball more.
And I'm thinking, you're the dude calling plays. Man, you
set your quarterback, who you think is going to be

(01:57:03):
top five in the next two years, you set him
up to fail. Now, in all fairness to the Broncos
who are one and two right now, they could very
easily be three and oh. And the two teams that
they just lost to are three and oh. So it's
not like they played bad competition. The Titans are not
a very good team. They're zero to three for a reason.

(01:57:26):
And that was still a one score game.

Speaker 7 (01:57:28):
The biggest problem.

Speaker 5 (01:57:29):
From Sean Payton over the last over this season and
dating back to last season is winning one score games.
Right now their record is two and eight. Do they
need to learn how to win? I guess so I
still don't understand what that phrase means, simply for the
fact that you have guys on your roster who have
won at every level. They know how to win in theory,

(01:57:52):
it's just they commit penalties at the wrong time in
the fourth quarter. They give a big chunk plays in
the fourth quarter, they can't move the offense in the
fourth quarter. So until they solve this riddle, they are
not going to be a Super Bowl contender. I don't
know if they'll be a playoff team. When you look
at their schedule moving forward, it's favorable. They're playing a

(01:58:17):
Bengals team without Joe Burrow and a crappy defense. Then
they have the Giants on the schedule. They have the
Cowboys on the schedule missing Ceedee Lamb. They have the
Texans on the schedule who haven't won a game yet.
So they have a favorable schedule moving forward. But right
now it's been discouraging. At the end of the day,

(01:58:37):
your record is what it is. You are one and
two and you're not a very good football team right now.
But could it be a get right game against Cincinnati. Absolutely,
you should be able to move the ball up and
down the field against the Bengals, but you guys got
slaughtered by a backup quarterback with the Vikings. You would

(01:58:59):
think that Ronco should roll right. But you know what,
the Bengals might be looking at the Broncos as a
get right game.

Speaker 3 (01:59:07):
Yeah, yeah, probably, I don't know. I mean, this is
from our perspective. You get this one, all right, cool,
they got right, lose this one. Then it's Detroit here,
Green Bay on the road, Pittsburgh here, and you really
start to worry bo Knicks. Like Sean Payton's assessment seems ambitious,
and I know he had a nice rookie year.

Speaker 4 (01:59:29):
Give me your assessment of bo Nicks.

Speaker 5 (01:59:31):
Bo Nicks had a great rookie year.

Speaker 7 (01:59:33):
If you take away.

Speaker 5 (01:59:34):
His opening two or three games, which remember he was
a rookie, he was one of the best quarterbacks in
the league, literally one of the just look at the numbers.
He was tremendous for like the final thirteen games. I
think too much is being put on his plate. I
think that Sean Payton needs to simplify the offense for him,
and they need to find a way to consistently run

(01:59:56):
the ball. And that's what they're not doing. And when
I say that's what they're not doing They haven't done
that consistently. Through three games. They scored against the Colts,
they scored twenty eight points. That should be more than
enough for this Broncos defense. But the Broncos defense got
shredded by Daniel Jones and Jonathan Taylor. Daniel Jones threw

(02:00:19):
for three hundred yards and Jonathan Taylor ran for over
one hundred and fifty or ran for one hundred and
fifty and caught over fifty yards, or the passes they
got killed by them. And then you play a Chargers team,
which I think is a serious Super Bowl contender. That
was a close game. So as for bow Knicks, he

(02:00:39):
hasn't played well. Let's just call it like it is.
He has not played well all x. Sometimes expectations lead
to great disappointment. So when you look at bow Knicks
following last season, you're thinking, man, we got a franchise
quarterback right now. He looks like one of the worst
quarterbacks in the league. And I think Sean Payton is
playing a major role in this because of the way

(02:01:00):
he is play calling, and he's making it too complicated.
Simplify it for the offense. Stop stop throwing in personnel packages.
Every other play. I put this as much on Peyton
as I do on Bo Nicks. And oh, by the way,
in the game against the Chargers, he missed three guys
who were wide open for touchdowns because his footwork was awful.

Speaker 3 (02:01:29):
Defensively, why have they, at least to this point of
the season not been as good as they're supposed to be.

Speaker 5 (02:01:35):
Well, I would like to say that the Colts game
was an aberration, and I think it was. I don't
think they're going to be giving up twenty nine points
a game to too many teams. I really don't. They
have a ton of talent. They can get to the passer,
I mean there and one of these crazy stats right

(02:01:56):
win pass rush rate. They're the second best the league.
Nick Benito is a baller. Jonathan Cooper's having a great year.
But the problem is you can run on these guys.
The way the Broncos are going to win games is
if they have leads going into the fourth quarter. Ironically
they did in their last two games. Maybe they need
a bigger league, clearly, and then unleash the dogs on

(02:02:18):
the pass rush. That's where this team will be effective.
But we've already seen in a one score game that
hasn't happened, but they have a ton of talent. They
really really do all right.

Speaker 3 (02:02:30):
That's our guy, Eric Goodman, Mile High Sports. We have
another half hour still to go. If you missed since
the three to sixty earlier today Monday midday Quarterback, then
you missed Austin Elmore's conversation with the Hall of Famer
Troy Yekman. It was outstanding and well aerin for you. Next,
this is the RNL Carriers Pregame Sports Talk presented by

(02:02:50):
your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 8 (02:02:57):
What are your tilgad in fifteen thirty Cincinnati's Board Station.

Speaker 1 (02:03:06):
This is the R and L Carriers pregame Sports Talk
Sports Talk is brought to you by Skyline Chile. Feeling good.
the best and service the rest Encore Technologies visit OnCore

(02:03:28):
dot Tech. Postman Law Injured call eight four to four
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(02:03:49):
transportation provider. And now pregame sports talk.

Speaker 4 (02:03:55):
All right, here we go.

Speaker 3 (02:03:56):
Both has covered, so to speak. It's the RNL Carriers pregames.
We are presented today by your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
Toyota dealers, Moegger and Tony Pike. All afternoon long countdown
to kickoff coming up at bottom of the hour, six
thirty Wayne box Miller has countdown to kickoff and then
eight point.

Speaker 4 (02:04:13):
Fifteen is tonight's kick.

Speaker 3 (02:04:15):
Dan Horde and Dave Lapham with Austin Elmore doing postgame
sports talk until two thirty in the morning. Speaking of Austin,
you will hear his interview with Troy Aikman in just
a second. We've been balancing a lot of different stuff
today getting you set for the Bengals and Broncos. This
is it's cliche three and one and two and two.

(02:04:37):
The difference between the two is pretty big for a
normal team in a normal season, when you have who
the Bengals have coming up when you haven't played well
so far this season, when you're in a division where
the prohibitive favorite before the season seems to be in
free fall, if you can win tonight and stand there
at three and one, I think all things considered about

(02:04:59):
this season, and I think we'll feel okay, maybe not
great about them beating the Detroit Lions, but okay, lose tonight,
and unfortunately, I think it's really going to start to
feel like the season is completely and totally circling the drain.
We've obviously done a lot of Red stuff and we'll
do much more tomorrow. Reds and Dodgers tomorrow. Yesterday, if

(02:05:20):
you're a Reds fan, was the epitome of Catharsis. I
think this team, this franchise, has given us very little
reason to celebrate. Very few scenes like the one yesterday
in Milwaukee where they were pouring beer and champagne on
each other, Brent Souter was doing a dance that I
watched about five hundred times on SportsCenter. It's a cool accomplishment.
It's a necessary step number one for me, at least.

(02:05:46):
The hope is is that yesterday becomes the norm that
we do this on an annual basis that we do
this on a at least a reoccurring basis. Number Two,
I think this series is fascinating. I think why this
series is fascinating is Number one. The Dodgers are one
of the few teams that can claim starting pitching as
good as Cincinnati and maybe have a little bit more
of an advantage because I'm not really sure what the

(02:06:06):
plan is gonna be for Game two. Yesterday, the Reds
made the postseason. But if there's one thing I think
we all wish would have gone differently, it's Brady Singer
would have pitched well enough even if they don't win
the game for them to not have to go to
the bullpen and bring in Nick Lodolo. Now, it feels
like him pitching Game two is not something that's all

(02:06:29):
that likely. Maybe I'm dead wrong about that, but I
think I think the series is interesting from that perspective,
and I think Tito Francona has some interesting decisions to
make about what he's gonna do with his lineup. Is
he gonna start Key Brian Hayes or Sal Stewart. Is
it gonna be Jose Travino or Tyler Stevenson. Is he
gonna try to score some runs early in the game
against Blake Snell, a tough lefty. Is Austin Hayes gonna

(02:06:51):
be okay enough to play because where he excels is
against left handed pitching and the Doctors have as many
as five lefty relievers, or do we see them put
the best defensive team on the field and have some
bullets in the chambers, so to speak? Offensively for the
middle and later innings we will see a lot more

(02:07:12):
on that.

Speaker 4 (02:07:12):
Tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (02:07:13):
We will be at Twin Peaks and Florence for the
Toni and Mo Football Show with a heavy baseball element
Tomorrow three to six on ESPN fifteen thirty. Obviously, Monday
Night Football is an ESPN production. Joe Buck Troy Aikman
are on the Bengals the Broncos call tonight along with
Lisa Salters. There is at another Monday Night Football game tonight,

(02:07:34):
but Troy Aikman, the Hall of Fame quarterback, is on
Bengals and Broncos and joined Austin Elmore earlier today and
one of the things they talked about at the top was,
I think the biggest question about this game, and that's
can the Bengals start running the ball more effectively.

Speaker 7 (02:07:48):
You know, I do think. Look, I think when Joe
Burrow is your quarterback, you do tend to want to
put the ball in his hands. And Zach Taylor certainly
has done that, not just going into this season, but
ever since Joe Burrow team to Cincinnati, and there's no
bigger fan on the planet of Joe Burrows than myself.

(02:08:09):
I also understand as someone who had a great running game,
what that can do for an offense and what that
can do for a quarterback. And now that you don't
have Joe Burrow, it's awfully hard to just turn it
on and say, well, now we're going to be a
running football team. And we've kind of seen that. I
don't think it's going to continue to look quite as

(02:08:31):
bad as what it did last week. I happened to
be a fan of Jake Browning's, but he's got to
get some help. He's you know, he's not going to
be able to do some of the things, of course,
that Joe Burrow does, and he needs better protection and
he does need more of a running game, So there
has to be more of a commitment there. But what's
been surprising to me. I guess over the years is

(02:08:53):
just even as the organization has tried to address some
of the issues that they've had up front, it still
continues to show up. And so for several years now,
this has been an offensive front that has given up
a lot of pressures. That continues. It certainly continued last week.
And I'm not making excuses for anyone's performance, but I

(02:09:17):
thought it was a tough outing, you know, for Jake Browning,
but a lot of it was due to a lot
of the pressure that he was facing. So I'm as
interested as anyone to see what this might look like tonight.

Speaker 12 (02:09:29):
When you talk about it happening repeatedly over the years,
that's a hot button issue here in Cincinnati, and a
lot of people want to blame Zach Taylor for that.
Do you put that on the scheme? Do you put
that on the performance of the players themselves? Is a
mix of both? From your eyes, how do you see that?

Speaker 7 (02:09:46):
I think it's a little bit of both. I think
first and foremost, as far as some of the issues
that maybe they've had run in the football, Like I mentioned,
it's got to be an organizational commitment, uh to do that. Uh.
And then when I've looked at Cincinnati over the years
when we've had them for a lot of these games.

(02:10:08):
They haven't necessarily tried to run the football. They haven't
done a lot to take some of the pressure off
of the the offensive line and the quarterback as well.
What I mean by that is, uh, you know, they're
they're they're towards the bottom of the league and have
been for a number of years. In play action, they
have been in screen passes. They don't run the football.

(02:10:29):
It's really basically Joe Burrow, uh in drop back passing game.
And when you have when you have Jamar Chase and
t Higgins and Chase Brown is the guy who can
come out of the backfield, and Gasiki and Jose Abash
and you know, I get all the things that they have,
but I just think that from my experience and the
success that I had in this league, it sure helps

(02:10:50):
if you're able to run the football efficiently, and they've
had a hard time doing that. They haven't had as
you well know, they haven't had much of a running game,
you know, in the last five six years. So comes
then a real challenge across the board for everybody. I
don't know how much I do like what Zach. I
like Zach Taylor. I know he's a really good offensive mind.

(02:11:12):
Unfortunately for them, some of the things that that kind
of show itself from time to time is in that
offensive front, and they've they've addressed it, they just haven't
been able to clean it up for a variety of reasons.

Speaker 12 (02:11:26):
You mentioned you're a fan of Jake Browning obviously about
to make his I think ninth start in his NFL
career tonight. What do you like about Jake and how
can he rebound from those first couple of games where
he was throwing a lot of interceptions.

Speaker 7 (02:11:41):
Yeah. I saw Jake when he came off the bench
in twenty three and that first start and what he
was able to do that night on Monday Night Football,
and followed him and he did a really nice job,
I thought, kind of holding things together as best you can.
It's it's hard. It's hard on a backup quarterback to

(02:12:02):
be asked to come in and play that many games.
And yet I like what he was able to do,
and so I do believe that it's going to get better.
He's got good players around him. I know this past
week was tough on him. We talked to him just
the other day, and Bill Parcels used to always say,
that's how you find out what you have at that position,
is you know, when you've gone out and you've thrown

(02:12:24):
two or three interceptions and you've lost the ballgame, and
you know, how do you come back in the locker
room the next week and look at your teammates and
how do you practice? And so I talked to Jake
a little bit about that this week, and it's kind
of the first time he's had to experience that in
the NFL. He mentioned he had a bad game back
in twenty three, but it was after he'd strung together
some positive games as well, and they had one some

(02:12:46):
So it's a little bit of a different a little
bit of a different scenario. But I do expect him
to come out tonight play a lot better he as
we've talked about, and as you know, he's going to
do it differently, and he's going to have to have
a more help and he is going to have to
be able to rely on the run game a little bit.
And last week was really tough, as you know, not

(02:13:09):
an easy defense to come in and play against, and
that showed. But tonight it's not any easier this Denver defense.
If you just look at the numbers, they don't look
great compared to where they were a year ago. But
I think this defense is going to be a top
five defense when it's all said and done at the
end of the year, and we may get a look
at that tonight.

Speaker 12 (02:13:29):
Yeah, what specifically about Denver jumps out. I know going
into yesterday they were tied for the league lead in sacks.
They've got good players on the back end, good players
on the front end. From your perspective, what makes their
defense so difficult to go up against.

Speaker 7 (02:13:44):
Well, it's both those things. It's not just you know,
whereas in Cincinnati you've got Trey Hendrickson and then you've
got a collection of some other people trying to pressure
the quarterback with them. They've got great edgressers, they've got
great interior players. They're getting pressure from a lot of
different people, and then you combine that. Usually if you

(02:14:05):
just have usually if you have people who can pressure
the quarterback, then you can do some things in coverage.
If you have great cover guys, then you can do
some things in your pressure schemes in order to get
to the quarterback. They have both those things. They have
great pressure players, and then they have really good corners
and Patzertown, of course, defensive player of the Year last year,
and you know, he gave us some plays week two,

(02:14:27):
but he's still you know, top two, top three corners
in all of football. So it allows their defensive coordinator
Vance shows that to just do a lot of different things.
He's aggressive. I just like everything about that group.

Speaker 12 (02:14:42):
On the offensive side for Denver. Probably not the best
start to bow Nicks in year number two. What have
you seen from him? And how can they improve from
the way that they've played through the first couple of weeks.

Speaker 7 (02:14:54):
Yeah, they're a little like Cincinnati in the sense that
they haven't really been able to get the running game going.
But then they've had some tough losses here over the
last couple of weeks, and I think we're talking about
this team a little differently if they had not lost
the last two games, which came down to the kicks
at the end of those games. And you know, but

(02:15:15):
what I see from bow I'm not overly concerned. There
are some mechanics that I see of him in the
pocket that that's got to get cleaned up. I just
don't think he's really found his comfort level yet through
three games, he's he's he's a little erratic in the
pocket as far as his footwork, and because of that,
he's missed and throws and and he's miss throws that

(02:15:37):
you just simply can't miss if you're going to win
games in this league. And last week he missed a
couple of beat balls that would have given them certainly
a chance. Probably the score looks a lot differently if
they'd hit those. So, uh, he's got to clean that up.
He certainly understands it. It's early. This is a team
of high expectations and and a lot is expected of
him based on what he did last year as a rookie,

(02:15:59):
and so I think he'll get it together. But you know,
he's just got to clean some things up and then
hit some of these passes that have that would have
been big plays if he had been able to hit him.

Speaker 12 (02:16:09):
Final question for Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Troy
Aikman and the analyst on the Call Tonight with Joe
Buck on ESPN Monday Night Football. Joe, I'm going to
ask you her, Troy, I'm going to ask you to
take your analyst cap off put your quarterback and human
being cap on. What advice would you give to Joe
Burrow dealing with another difficult injury after a great offseason

(02:16:32):
and all the hype and all the excitement from last year.
What advice would you give to him? A young man
going through this again. It's got to be difficult on
him with another injury.

Speaker 7 (02:16:41):
Oh my gosh, I can't even imagine. And quite honestly, Austin,
I don't know. I don't know that i'd have any
advice that would be worthwhile for him. And I say
that because he's been through this, you know, and it's
not like the first time he's had to deal with
an injury like this and significant time. And that's the

(02:17:02):
part of it. As I mentioned earlier on this call,
that I'm such a big fan of his. He's my
favorite quarterback in the NFL because of the way he plays.
I think he's very old school. He plays the game
the way that the quarterbacks of my generation really for
the most part, had to play it. You had to
play from within the pocket, and there had to be

(02:17:23):
some semblance of timing and you know all of that.
So I've always enjoyed watching him play I've marveled at
some of the things that he's been able to do
under a lot of pressure, and so I just I
hate that a great career continues to get derailed because
of the injuries that he's endured. And that was what

(02:17:46):
was so disappointing for me, for him, and for Cincinnati
fans in the organization that last year he stays healthy.
If I had to vote the MVP, I would have
given him my vote. That's how good I thought he was.
And yet they failed to make the playoffs and take
advantage of of a healthy Joe Burrow who played like
an m v P. And uh, to me, if I'm

(02:18:07):
in that organization, that's hard to swallow. But Uh, for Joe,
I just think that you know, he'll get he'll he'll
go through the rehab, he'll he'll get ready to go,
and you know, I maybe we'll see him at the
end of the year. I don't know. I think that's
probably optimistic, but you know, hopefully then going forward he
can stay healthy and and and play for a long time.
But uh, yeah, it's a tough deal when you're when

(02:18:29):
the team continues to move on and then you just
have to sit and watch and hope for the best.

Speaker 12 (02:18:35):
Hearing you talk about him in the past, I've gotten
the vibe that you see a lot of yourself in him.
Is that fair to say.

Speaker 7 (02:18:42):
A little bit? I was going to say, I I
I I know that the way that he plays is
the way I had to play, uh and and I
think that when I see quarterbacks like him, uh and
that it is something that I kind of gravitate towards.
And so there's no doubt about that. But in addition
to just the way that he plays, I think it's

(02:19:04):
his whole demeanor. He's got a cool factor that I
that I didn't have and I don't have, you know,
as far as how he relates to everybody. You know,
he just kind of he's got a way about him,
as you know. And I just think that his mentality
when he's on the field, I just think he's an assassin.
And I've said that before in our broadcast. I just

(02:19:25):
you know, he's got this killer instinct and he's so
competitive and plays at such a high level. To me,
at everything that he does, I just have enjoyed when
he's answered questions at difficult moments after tough losses. I
just think the way that he's represented himself and the organization.
I don't know what more he could do.

Speaker 4 (02:19:45):
All Right, there you go. Good stuff.

Speaker 3 (02:19:46):
Austin Elmore with the Hall of Famer Troy Aikman will
put a rap on Arnold Carrier's pregame Sports Talk presented
by Your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers. When we
come back on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 8 (02:20:00):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 6 (02:20:05):
From the UC Health Traffic Center. The UC Cancer Center
offers personalized prostate cancer care, exclusive clinical trials and treatments
you won't find anywhere else. Call five one three five
eighty five UCCC westbound seventy four accident off on the
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(02:20:28):
There's another accident at Walled Avenue, Springfield Pike at Crescentville Road,
an accident there on that eazelic with traffic.

Speaker 3 (02:20:38):
In a few minutes of the r NOO Carriers pregame
Sports Talk presented by Your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers.
Al Mowgard pregame Sports Talk is brought to you in
part by on Core Technologies. Make sure you check out
encore dot tech. A couple of notes really quick. Tonight,
Tony Pike is watching the game of Dickmans. He wants
you to watch it with him. He's got prizes and

(02:20:58):
it's gonna be a lot of fun. Number two, Tony
and I are at Twin Peaks and Florence tomorrow Tony
and MO Football Show three to six. We are looking
forward to that Bengals in Broncos tonight. I think Cincinnati
covers this number. I do not know, after having watched
them for one hundred and eighty minutes with a backup quarterback,
how you pick them on the road against a team

(02:21:21):
with a really, really good pass rush. Tony and I
were talking about it last hour. The Denver defense has
had a hard time against teams that can throw the
ball to their running backs. Can the Bengals do that?
I need to see it before I believe it. And yes,
they've got edges. I think on the outside with T
Higgins and Jamar Chase. The t Higgins Riley Moss matchup
last year, the Bengals won it decisively. That was with

(02:21:43):
Joe Burrow throwing it to them, and I'm not yet
convinced the Bengals defense can win a game for them.
Denver is one and two. This is being viewed as
the get right game for the Broncos. We will see.
My guess is the Broncos win. Bengals back door it
and cover the seven and a half.

Speaker 5 (02:22:00):
Done.

Speaker 4 (02:22:00):
Want to thank the.

Speaker 3 (02:22:01):
Folks here at iHeartMedia in Denver for giving me a studio.
Of course, our thanks to our guy Tarin for producing
the show. We are back tomorrow from three to six
at Twin Peaks in Florence. Wayne box Miller is next
with countdown to kick offf you have been listening to
the RNL Carriers pregame sports talk show presented by your
Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota dealers on ESPN fifteen thirty

(02:22:22):
Cincinnati Sports Station

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