Bengals Pregame Sports Talk With Mo Egger -- 8/13/26

Mo Egger gets you set for Bengals/Lions Week 1 Preseason game.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Where Bengals Nation lives.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
US is the R and L Carriers.

Speaker 3 (00:04):
Pregame Sports Talk presented by your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
Toyota Dealers. Pregame Sports Talk is brought to you by
Skyline Chili feeling good. It's Skyline Time, a Duran window company.
They sell the best.

Speaker 4 (00:18):
And certainly the power went out in the Home Radio booth.
It has also gone out in the room that I'm in,
which is the National Radio Booth. And so the plan
was to do today's show from inside the Home Broadcast
booth where tonight Dan Horde, Dave Lapham and Tony Pike
have Tonight's Bengals Lions game pregame at five thirty with

(00:40):
Wayne box Miller countdown to kickoff.

Speaker 5 (00:42):
I will take you till then. And this is a.

Speaker 4 (00:47):
Very inauspicious way to begin the Bengals season, right And
let's be honest, not that you or anybody else cares,
but let's see, we had rain all day yesterday and
Mason for the Cincinnati Open. We had the Tonyan Mode
training camp show earlier this week.

Speaker 5 (01:07):
Was that on that was on.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
Tuesday that send us send us North to Kenwood. After
about five minutes and that after the four hour and
forty five minutes show on Friday, that we spent waiting
for a practice to start that started, and then by
the time it started we had to leave for NFC
Cincinnati game.

Speaker 5 (01:27):
So bear with us.

Speaker 4 (01:29):
This is a live radio This is the best we'll
set the scene for tonight Bengals and Lions coming up
this evening preseason opener. I have seen some pretty ominous
warnings about the forecast. What I could tell you is tonight,
I don't know. Today at three eleven in the afternoon,

(01:49):
the skies are mostly sunny, the field is sun splashed,
it is dry, the flags atop the goalposts are not moving.
And so if they were to start playing football right now,
I think we would be okay. Obviously, it being a
preseason game. If they have to bag this thing, they will.
If they have to stop it midway through and not

(02:10):
come back and end the game prematurely, they will. Ideally,
that is not what they do tonight. Let's talk about
some things that we're looking for this evening. Let's be honest.
The preseason for a team like the Bengals should be
about one thing, should be about death. This off season
for the Bengals was almost entirely about defense, right, and

(02:31):
so I'm gonna start there. Yes, Joe Burrow was gonna play.
How extensively he plays remains to be seen. T Higgins
is gonna play, Jamar Chase is gonna play. We're expecting
to see starters Dexter Lawrence as well, though I can't
imagine we're going to see him for more than a
handful of snaps. But this offseason was about the defense,
and so I'm starting there.

Speaker 5 (02:53):
Defense and depth. The Bengals didn't.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
Go six and eleven last season merely because of their offense.
Offensive wolves contributed. They got shut out in a game
last year. They got shut out in a game that
Joe Burrows started at home against the Baltimore Ravens. But
they had games where they scored tons of points and
still lost some of the Joe Flacco games. It's been
a theme over the last couple of years, wasting great

(03:19):
offensive performances.

Speaker 5 (03:21):
Why was the defense bad? Lots of different reasons.

Speaker 4 (03:23):
The thing that stood out to a lot of us
as the season unfolded not that different from twenty twenty
four tackling. Where did the tackling issues start? Okay, Gino Stone,
but they continued with Demitrius Knight and Barrett Carterner. So
first things first, I'm starting with those two players. We've
had those guys under a microscope during the training camp
practices and they have for the most part been good.

(03:47):
Demitrius Knight has shined in coverage. Barrett Carter has been
used on blitzes. Neither guy has stood out for making
glaring mistakes. But let's face it, in preseason games, they're
not really tackling thudding.

Speaker 5 (04:01):
So I'm just gonna start there. Do we see a
defense that has those.

Speaker 4 (04:05):
Two guys in the middle of it making tackles and
then it's about depth and we can apply this to
offense as well. But we're gonna get an extended look
and a lot of guys lower on the depth chart.
We're gonna get a look at some guys, especially on
the defensive line, that still have a lot to prove.
Dexter Lawrence is gonna play. We know what Dexter Lawrence

(04:26):
can be. We at least know why they acquired that boy.
Mafees had a good camp cash as Hall has had
I think for a lot of folks in eye opening camp.
But there's some guys on this team who either need
to earn roster spots or maybe earn a little bit
more playing time and have a chance tonight to show
some of the things they can do on the interior
of that defensive line. And then the depth piece will

(04:48):
make it about wide receiver as well. There's been an
interesting I don't know if battle is the right word,
but there's been an interesting competition we'll call a competition.
There's been an interesting competition that unfolded in training camp,
involving Andrey Yoshavas, who's had his ups and downs, Kobe Young,
who so far has looked terrific in camp and has

(05:08):
done a lot of things to make you feel like
over the course of the season he'll end up being
the third wide receiver, and then a lot of guys
lower on the depth chart who have stood out in practice.
It's one thing to stand out in practice, can you
make plays in games? Mitchell Tinsley has stood out in
practices before, but what put him on everybody's radar last
summer was how he played in games. Do we see

(05:31):
someone emerge from that bunch of wide receivers that we've
talked about a lot, but hopefully we see a little
bit more of tonight.

Speaker 5 (05:38):
There's also a message. There's also a.

Speaker 4 (05:41):
Message that I'd like to see sent tonight, and we'll
get to what that message is when we come back
broadcasting from a paid course stadium. The Bengals are getting
set to take on the Detroit Allons tonight, a matchup
between two teams that played against each other in the
regular season last year. Pretty disappoint winning Cincinnati loss at home.
Hopefully the Bengals can get the preseason off to a

(06:03):
great start. We are here till five thirty. Wayne box
Miller has countdown to kickoff, and then Dan Horde, Dave
Lapham and making his Bengals Radio Network debut, Tony Pike
with the call. Kickoff scheduled for seven o'clock tonight, and
don't forget Austin Elmore with postgame sports talk all the
way until one thirty Tomorrow morning, sixteen minutes after three o'clock.

(06:24):
Lots of ground to cover between now and five thirty
on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (06:29):
Cincinnati Year fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 4 (06:34):
Nineteen minutes after three o'clock. This is the RNL carriers
pre game sports talk show. We're presented today by your
Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota dealers. I'm Mall Leger taking
you to countdown to kickoff at five thirty with Wayne
box Miller Bengals and Lions tonight preseason opener.

Speaker 7 (06:50):
We're back.

Speaker 4 (06:51):
We're back in running as we should here sitting in
the back of the broadcast booth here at pay Corpse Stadium.
My thanks to Dave Abbott are our technical expert Ore
Maven for a figuring out a way to get us
on the air. There was a brief power surge that
went through some of the booths here at pay Court Stadium.
But we are back, we are up and running and

(07:12):
we are ready to go. Bengals and Lions tonight will
tell you that the Reds on getaway day in Chicago
and they're expecting bad weather there because they moved the
game up an hour. Right now, So far, so good.
Cincinnati leads the White Sox by a score of nine
to five, a game that involved a benches clearing incident.
I would stop short of calling it a fight, but

(07:33):
centered around a heated exchange between Sal Stuart and Davis Martin.
My money for what it's Worth would be on Sal Stuart.
Martin hit Sal Stuart after buzzing him high and tight,
and I was catching a lot of this on the radio,
so I haven't even had a chance to see see

(07:54):
the highlights in great detail. But nonetheless, Cincinnati has hit
the long ball today, which is what they have to
do because that's how they score runs. Soarez, Stevenson Stewart
have each gone yard. Not a great start for Andrew
Abbatch as four and a third, but so far the
bullpen has done a nice job. Brock Burke and tj
antone nine to five. Reds headed to the top of
the seventh inning on a getaway day in the South

(08:16):
side of Chicago. We'll update you on that as things unfold,
and obviously the big Reds news of the day Hunter
Green Tommy John surgery out for all of twenty twenty
six and unfortunately out for all of twenty twenty seven.
Let just take a look at tonight's player spotlight. It
is brought to you by Furniture Fair. Get the guaranteed
low price or it's free at Furniture Fair. I'm gonna

(08:39):
put three players under the spotlight. One is two are
are a couple of guys that we talked about before
the break, Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight. The Bengals cannot
afford another year of mistackles being an issue. It was
a problem in twenty twenty four. Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight.
We're not here. It was a problem in twenty twenty five.
Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight were here as rookies. Those

(09:04):
guys were thrown to the Wolves. And it is remarkable
to a degree that I am sitting here with the
first game, the first preseason game, less than four hours away,
and we're talking about an offseason where the Bengals did
as little as they did at linebacker. And I know
I've gone down this road before, But if I would

(09:25):
have said at any point during the waning days of
the season or right after the season ended, that we'll
be talking about before the Bengals played their first preseason
game with Barrett Carter and Demetrius Knight having their roles
go unchallenged, you would have said no way.

Speaker 7 (09:42):
I would have said no way. And yet here we are.

Speaker 4 (09:45):
To their credit, both players have said all the right
things and being in practice the way we have, both
players have done all the right things. The bottom line
is this, those two players combined for thirty four miss
tackles last year. Both guys had mistackle rates of fifteen percent,

(10:06):
both numbers among the bottom quarter of the NFL. The
tackling has to be better. That, obviously, is something we
could say about a lot of different positions. We expected
from safety because though he's not going to play tonight,
Brian Cook is a great tackler. Geno Stone is not.
Bengals didn't replace Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter. Now, both
guys have been near the ball. Both guys have, especially

(10:29):
Demetrius Knight, have have looked really good in coverage. But
at the end of the day, you got to get
the dude with the ball to the ground. Do those
two guys do that tonight? The other that I'll put
under the spotlight, And this is very very easy, but
I'm going to do it nonetheless, but put Joe Burrow
into the spotlight. Now every single Bengals game, Joe Burrow
is under the spotlight. He's going to be under the

(10:51):
spotlight tonight for probably not a very long amount of time.
But you know, I feel like with Joe Burrow, we
have spent a lot of time this season, and more
listening than talking, but hearing about everything when it comes
to Joe Burrow except how good he is. Like God knows,

(11:11):
there have been endless takes on you know, whether or
not Joe is going to try to engineer his way
out of Cincinnati. I even saw and I'm not even
sure who was responsible for the content because I didn't
consume it, but I saw something that popped in my
feed where it was a commentator wondering is Joe Burrow
going to be the quarterback of the La Rams in
twenty twenty seven. There have been There have been a

(11:35):
lot of a lot of column inches and a lot
of space on social media, and a lot of time
on podcasts and NFL shows where people have wondered about
the relationship between Joe and the Bengals, which I think
if you've paid attention to what Joe has had to
say during the second half of the off season, certainly
feels like he's in a really good place. But I

(11:56):
feel like we've talked about so much about Joe Burrow
that has very little to do with how good he is.
That tonight, it would be fun if he could just
remind everybody, oh, yeah, he's still pretty good.

Speaker 7 (12:10):
Now.

Speaker 4 (12:10):
Look, their game plan tonight might be to have him
hand the ball off a couple of times, operate under center.
Fans get to see him, he jogs off, he plays
a series, he plays two series. He doesn't do anything
necessarily noteworthy. Although in the first preseason game of the
year last year against the Philadelphia Eagles, if you go
back and watch and frankly not sure why, you would

(12:31):
played pretty well. I just think it would be fun
because I've done this topic where I've talked about Joe
when he came back last year and he had a clunker.
That game against the Baltimore Ravens was troubling for a
thousand different reasons, but one of them was Joe played
extraordinarily poorly and frankly at times look checked out. But
beyond that, Joe Burrow put up numbers last year that

(12:53):
weren't that far off from the numbers he puts up
when he's an MVP finalist, which he's been at the
end of each of his last two full seasons. And
so I think you kinda have to remind people at
times like Joe played last year, and while he might
not have been as awesome as he typically has been,
he was still often really really good, albeit at times

(13:13):
against bad opponents or in games that didn't count for anything.

Speaker 7 (13:17):
Toward the end of the year.

Speaker 4 (13:18):
I just think even it's like this offseason, you know,
we've spent more time I think talking about Hollywood Joe
and Joe off the field and his outside interests, and
I have no issue with him having any kind of
outside interest. I think it would be fun tonight. Maybe
this happens, maybe it doesn't, if he just gave us

(13:38):
a small reminder. Maybe it's a throw, Maybe it's his
performance during a series. Maybe it's engineering one or two
touchdown drives. Maybe it's operating in an offense that's showing
you some things that you typically might not expect an
offense to show you during the preseason.

Speaker 7 (13:58):
I just think it would be cool as.

Speaker 4 (13:59):
Hell if Joe could sort of remind everybody through his play.
Oh yeah, as the kids say, I'm him. There's a
reason why my peers and people in the NFL voted
me a Tier one quarterback. There's a reason why I'm
a good value bet to be the NFL's MVP. There's
a reason why people are bullish on the Bengals, And yes,

(14:21):
it's Dexter Lawrence and Brian Cook and all the defensive additions,
but it's still because they have Joe Burrow elite offensive weaponry,
and on that side of the football, unprecedented continuity and
what should be the best offensive line he's ever played behind,
among all the things that could unfold tonight, and I
would be more than happy if Joe didn't play, because

(14:42):
I don't think you can go far enough to protect
your biggest investment. But if he is going to play,
how about just a little reminder. I'm still freaking good,
and there are reasons to talk about me that have
nothing to do with whether or not I'm gonna ask
for a trade, or whether or not I'm gonna try
to work my way out of here, or how happy

(15:03):
I am or where my mental state is. It's let's
let's talk about how good I am, and and maybe
maybe tonight there can just be a small reminder for
those who maybe have forgotten. We will see twenty eight
minutes after three o'clock, we're gonna go to Detroit. Coming
up at four to twenty tonight, talk a little bit
about the Detroit Lions, Tony Pike is going to join

(15:24):
us in about fifteen minutes for the first of two
training camp reports. We do the normally three forty five,
four forty five, and five forty five. We are not
going to have a five forty five training camp report
because well, Wayne box Miller is going to be on
the air with countdown to kickoff. We do have a
lot of stuff to get to between now and five
thirty this afternoon. I do want to talk about a

(15:46):
guy who has been in Joe Burrow's position. We'll spend
some time on that and a lot more on what
we're looking for this evening. As the Bengals get set
to play preseason game number one, sports headlines are coming
up minutes after three o'clock. Broadcasting from Paycorp Stadium, the
RNL carriers pregame sports talk show presented by Your Cincinnati

(16:07):
and Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers on the official home of
the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (16:14):
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 8 (16:19):
From the uc Hell Traffic Center Dome.

Speaker 4 (16:21):
Service of the Kelsey Chevrolet Home of Lifetime Powertrain Protection
and Guarantee Credit approval from their family to yours for
live kelseeshev dot com. We expect to see some starters
tonight as the Bengals open up the preseason against the
Detroit Lions at seven o'clock live on ESPN fifteen thirty.
Hopefully the weather cooperates, we will see countdown to kickoff.

(16:44):
Continues our coverage at five thirty one. Other area of
football note, congratulations to Jason Kelce the University of Cincinnati
today announcing that he has been selected for the fiftieth
anniversary class of the James P. Kelly Athletics Home Hall
of Fame at the University of Cincinnati. That induction ceremony
and it is a crowded class, will be on Friday,

(17:07):
October the twenty third. Meanwhile, Southside of Chicago Reds have
a nine to five lead over the Chicago White Sox.
Cincinnati got three runs in the first inning a Uhaneo
Suarez and Sal Stewart each homeward, not in that order.
They then proceeded to give away that lead and then some,
but they have roared back Cincinnati with three long ones

(17:29):
on the day. Suarez, Stewart also Tyler Stevenson. Reds are
up nine to five. They entered play today, five and
a half games out of the last wildcard. Redsby home
tomorrow to host the Miami Marlins. By the way, one
of the teams the Reds are chasing is in the
Field of Dreams game tonight in Iowa Phillies and Minnesota
Twins the Big Reds news of the day, however, Hunter

(17:51):
Green did undergo Tommy John surgery. He will obviously miss
the rest of twenty twenty six and certainly likely that
he'll miss the entire twenty twenty seven season. Florence Yall's
host Lake Erie tonight Cincinnati Open. They're playing tennis today
in Mason. We were there yesterday. Unfortunately no tennis was played,
at least while we were there. They played some matches

(18:12):
late in the night without fans. JJ Wolf advanced to
the main draw. Cincinnati's Katie McNally will play tonight against
McCartney Kessler. It is twenty five away from four o'clock.
Let's take a look at what happened on this date
in Cincinnati sports history. It is brought to you by

(18:33):
Pello Windows and Doors, proud sponsors of the Pellow Windows
and Doors Drone Show at the upcoming Western and Southern
WEBN fireworks twenty years ago today. With Carson Palmers still
not quite ready to come back from the debilitating knee
injury he suffered in the previous year's playoffs, Anthony Wright

(18:56):
started a quarterback for the Bengals and they beat the
then Washington Redskins had what was Paul Brown Stadium nineteen
to three, twenty years ago. August thirteenth, two thousand and six.
We have a lot more baseball stuff happening on August
the thirteenth. It was on this date in nineteen thirty
one Red second baseman Tony Cucinello went six for six

(19:18):
at the plate against the Boston Braves. He had a triple,
two doubles, three singles, drove in five in a lopsided
massive seventeen to three reds victory. It was on this
date in nineteen sixty three Jim Maloney threw a complete game,
two hit shutout to be one Marischal in the San
Francisco Giants. Frank Robinson Invader Pensive both homered to back

(19:38):
Maloney's gem. Nineteen sixty nine, August thirteenth, Johnny Bench might
have heard him eleventh in Graham slam off of Montreal
reliever Elroy Face, breaking open a tie game to lift
the Reds to an eight to three victory. It was
on this date nineteen eighty three Cincinnati native Jeff Russell
made his Major League debut for his hometown team, pitched

(19:59):
a three hit beat the Padres three to one, and
helped his own cause with an RBI double. It was
on this date in nineteen sixty one Reds blew out
the San Francisco Giants eight to one, crucial victory inch
them toward the National League pennant. They would obviously end
up playing in the World Series, falling to the New
York Yankees. Nineteen seventy one, August thirteenth, Don Gullad and

(20:20):
Wayne Granger combined to throw a dominant one hitter against
the Cubs at Riverfront Stadium. Only Chicago hid came with
two outs in the eighth inning. Reds won the ball
game eight to two. And one year ago today, Hunter
Green pitched six sharp innings and Miguel Andrew Hard, the
newly acquired Miguel Andrew Hard, launched a grand slam. Reds

(20:40):
beat the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of eight to nothing.
Let's bend just a minute or so on. Hunter Green
mentioned the news earlier Tommy John surgery. We knew he
was done for the rest of twenty twenty six. They're
calling in a timeline of twelve to eighteen months. So
maybe on the most optimistic end of that, he comes

(21:03):
back and pitches at the very very end of last season.
That certainly doesn't seem likely. Look, you could be exasperated
with Hunter Green. I share that exasperation. You could be
mad at Hunter Green. I don't know why you would
be mad at him. You could be tired of hearing
about him. Whatever it is, which you can't deny is.

(21:25):
Since the Reds took him with the second overall pick
in the twenty seventeen draft, he has been thought of
as a cornerstone of this organization, and whether it's been
when the Reds hit the rebuild button a reset button
in twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, whether it was
last year, whether it was spring training this year, or
even as recently as a week ago, he has been

(21:47):
viewed as one of the foundational core pieces of this franchise,
and replacing foundational core pieces of any franchise is not easy,
and that's something the Reds are going to have to
figure out because the strength of this team, yes, Elie
Dela Cruz is terrific, and yes Sal Stewart should be
and I think it's going to be the National League

(22:08):
Rookie of the Year having an awesome rookie season. And
they do have some other pieces. I would include obviously,
you know Chase Burns. That goes without saying I would
include Andrew Abbott. Maybe there's a case for one or
two others. But the strength of this team, regardless of
who you like the most, the strength of this team
is supposed to be it's pitching depth. The pitching depth

(22:30):
has been compromised this season. Ra At Louder has been
at times ineffective, Brandon Williamson has barely pitched, Nicolodolo has
spent time on the injury list, Hunter Green has pitched
in five games. We're already talking about next year's pitching
depth being compromised. That's not something that happened in spring
training next year. It's not something that happened during the

(22:51):
off season. Something happening now. And you might go, well,
that's cool because you have a little bit more time
to prepare. You have a little bit more time to plan,
but still like you are the found day of the Reds.
If they were being completely honest and told you, like,
here's how we are best positioned to win in twenty
twenty seven, it probably involves a starting rotation that includes

(23:12):
Hunter Green and him being at or near the top
of that starting rotation. That's a hard guy to replace.
You've got to figure out a way to replace what
Hunter Green is supposed to be. You could argue he's
not that what he's supposed to be often enough, and
you can get again, he's going to be frustrated with
him whatever. He'd be frustrated with his body, whatever it is.
But like, what Hunter Green is supposed to be at

(23:33):
this stage in his career is legitimate staff as a
guy who you given the ball to every five days
and feel like you're gonna win most of those games.
A guy who's supposed to eat up innings for you,
and you're not getting any of that. You gotta replace
what he is supposed to be, which is not going
to be easy. And yeah, man, you could talk about
all the other starting pitching depth they have, but most

(23:53):
of the guys are gonna mention are guys who are
either very inexperienced.

Speaker 7 (23:56):
Or who are also always hurt.

Speaker 4 (24:00):
Oh and by the way, just because Hunter Green's not
going to pitch for the team next year, while his
salary next season is comparably low, you still got to
pay him next year, so you're gonna have to figure
out a way to replace him. But you're not using
the money he's making or is due to make. It's
not an easy place to be. What Hunter Green is
supposed to be is one of the very best pitchers

(24:21):
in baseball. That's what the Reds are built around, having
some of the best pitchers in baseball. That is, they're
building the team around pitching and defense. It is more
difficult to build the team around pitching in defense when
one of your best pitchers will not throw a pitch
for you for an entire season. Nineteen four o'clock, they're
practicing the national anthem behind us at pay Course Stadium.

(24:46):
I guess I should stand and remove my hat. Tony
Pike is going to be in this broadcast booth tonight,
making his Bengals Radio Network debut. He joins US with
his first training camp report next on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (25:00):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty traffic.

Speaker 8 (25:06):
Well, do you see health traffic center. Don't wait for
answers for a cancer diagnosis. After you see cancer center,
rapid diagnos the clinic, you can be seen within two
days Call five paid five you see see see seventy one.

Speaker 7 (25:20):
Tony Pike is with us.

Speaker 4 (25:22):
He is going to be in the booth tonight with
Dan Horde and Dave Lappa, making his Bengals Radio Network
broadcast debut. But he still has to do these training
camp reports with me once an hour. Let's talk about
the game plan tonight, because I think it's going to
run counter to what we've seen during training camp practices
where we've seen the Bengals experiment. They have a lot
more Joe Burrow under center. They're moving guys around, lots

(25:44):
of motioning, lots of shifting. Zach Taylor says, we're not
going to see nearly as much of that tonight. Yeah,
he mentioned in his press conference earlier in the week.
Simplify the game plan and clean execution. You have installed
so much of a catalog to this point. And while
I think that first group it would be advantageous to

(26:05):
run some under center runs just to get that look.
When Joe Burrow leaves the game, I expect to see
a very simple game plan on both sides of the ball.
And that's when you get into the preseason. You're not
trying to out execute the other team. You want it
simple because you want guys playing fast and confident because
they know what they're doing. That way, when you watch

(26:27):
the tape, you can evaluate, hey, here's a player. They
understand what they're being asked. Can they win their one
on one battles? Can they execute offensively and defensively tonight?
That's what it's about. Give guys opportunities on the defensive
side of the ball. You know what the base coverage is,
you know what the base alignment is. Can you go
make a play one on one?

Speaker 9 (26:45):
Then you watch the tape and then you see, Okay,
here's a guy that we can build into more. Maybe
here's a guy that's not quite ready yet.

Speaker 7 (26:51):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (26:51):
And to me, that's gonna start with the depth on
the offensive line, which you and I have talked about.
I'm not looking for them to run crazy pass protection
schemes or do exotic things in the run game. I
want to see if those guys can just simply block
the dude in front.

Speaker 9 (27:03):
Of him, and can you block a second and third
string guy from the Lions because the Lions are not
going to play their starters in this game. I want
guys who can win one on one battles. Offensive line,
to me, is still one of the major question marks
at camp. We just haven't seen a lot know what
the We know what the starting five is. Everyone's pretty
comfortable with that. Joe Burrow gets the contingency from that group.

(27:28):
What happens if they need to fill one of those
spots for a game or a quarter or multiple games.

Speaker 1 (27:34):
Do they have that on the roster?

Speaker 4 (27:35):
And the wide receiver position is interesting because Andre Yoshavas
is holding off some challenges, you know, and it's it's
worth mentioning Mikekasiki is basically a wide receiver. Chase Brown
as utilized as a wide receiver a lot. With all
the different things we've seen the Bengals do in training
camp practices, pretty much anybody can be a wide receiver,
but at that position specifically, is guys listed as wide receiver?

(27:58):
From Kobe Young down, been some interesting things happening during camp.
I want to see how that translates into the game tonight.

Speaker 9 (28:04):
Think of the names that have flashed or we've talked
about during training camp. Obviously we've talked a lot about
Kobe Young. What about Charlie Jones his impact also on
special teams, Mitch Tinley, Mitch Tinsley, Kendrick pryor we've talked
about Dante Myers, Noah Brown and what his role or
Noah Thomas, I'm sorry, and what his role could possibly be.

(28:26):
So they are deep at wide receiver outside of just
the top two guys, and Andrey Yoshibosch and what he
can be. I'm interested to see who now in a
game setting, can translate what they've done on the field
and go make some plays with the lights on. I mean,
that's the thing tonight too. For these rookies. You could
call it preseason all you want. These guys have gone

(28:47):
their whole life with the goal of getting to the NFL.
This is the first chance they get to run out
of pay Corpse Stadium with fans in a game that matters.

Speaker 4 (28:55):
Tony here in about forty five minutes or so, maybe
a little bit longer than that. Tony in the booth
tonight with Dan Horden, Dave Lapham, Bengals Radio Network kickoff
at seven o'clock. Tony joins us all throughout training camp,
all throughout the preseason three forty five, four forty five,
and five forty five. This is the RNL Carriers pregame

(29:18):
sports talk show. We are presented by your Cincinnati and
Northern Kentucky Toyota dealers. Let's take a look at the
delivery of the game. It is brought to you by
RNL Carriers. Go to RLC dot com and make RNL
Carriers your global transportation provider. Now, the highlight of the
game during the pregame show is obviously a reference to

(29:40):
the delivery of the game from the previous week. Bengals
didn't play a game last week. This is preseason game
number one. So let's talk about a guy that we
expect to have a lot of deliveries as the game
start to unfold, certainly beginning on September the thirteenth, and
that's Chase Brown. Chase Brown toward the end of the
season was awesome, terrific year last year's third NFL season,

(30:02):
fourteen hundred and fifty six yards from scrimmage, and he
was on fire. Late had six touchdowns in the bengals
last three games. You could say which of one about
the quality of the opponents they were playing. You could
say which of one about the relative meaninglessness of the games.
Chase Brown was awesome and among the many things I'm
looking forward to seeing this year, and I would imagine

(30:24):
you would agree would be kind of season. Does Chase
Brown have number one to contract year form. There's certainly
a world where the Bengals give him the franchise tag
and don't let him hit free agency, but it is
a contract year form. There's always you would expect a
little bit more motivation from a player who'se a deal
is set to expire. There's a lot of money out

(30:44):
there to be made for Chase Brown, but it's also
an offense that could emphasize the run a little bit more.
Chase has gone out of his way, and he talked
about this with us during one of our training camp interviews.
He has gone out of his way to not only
improve as a pass catcher, where he's done wide receiver
drills and he's gone through drills in practice where he's

(31:05):
working out with the wide receivers, but also he's improved
tremendously in pass protection and so like there's no real
reason to ever take him off the field. A guy
like Chase Brown in this offense, Chase Brown in any
offense is a hell of a weapon.

Speaker 7 (31:21):
But given the way last season unfolded.

Speaker 4 (31:24):
For him, given the sort of work in progress nature
of the Bengals offense as they try to operate in
a way that is different than you normally expect the
Bengals to operate, and then the added dose of motivation
for Chase Brown because of where he is in his career,
the kind of coin he looks to make maybe beyond
this season. We're expecting a lot of big things from

(31:46):
the Bengals offense, and we're expecting obviously a lot of
big things from some of the individual players. I think
we're all expecting an enormous season from Chase Brown, where
I don't think it would be stunning at all if
he surpassed fourteen hundred and fifty six yards from scrimmage,
which was the number he had last year. He was
on fire at the end of the season last year.

(32:08):
Really looking forward to seeing how he gets going when
the Bengals take on the Buccaneers a month from today.
There's a lot of other ground to cover. I We've
got Bengals and lines that we're gonna get to tonight.
We're gonna go to Detroit talk about the team, the
Bengals plates tonight coming up at four twenty.

Speaker 7 (32:24):
We're looking forward to that.

Speaker 4 (32:25):
We'll put a bow in the Reds game when it
comes to an end, maybe have some reaction from Chicago.
There's an NFL story that I think is interesting because
I think it I don't know. I think it gives
us a chance for a little bit of a lesson,
and it involves somebody who is often compared to Joe

(32:46):
Burrow and who actually once had the job that Joe
Burrow had before he came to Cincinnati, and that's Jayden Daniels.
The Jade Daniels nil slash jersey number controversy is something
we're gonna have to spend a little bit of time
on coming up in the U in the four o'clock hour.

(33:07):
In terms of other stuff to watch for, I think
you've always look for themes of the preseason to continue
once the games begin. And this hasn't just been a
theme of the preseason or training camp, but it's been
a theme in the last seven months. Duke Tobin had
a press conference shortly after the Bengals season ended. Remember
it was this big c civic event, this big press

(33:28):
conference where you know, yet you had all the non
sports people covering it, and we carried it live, and
it was this big deal about Duke Tobin speaking on
the record publicly in that forum for the first time ever.
If there is one thing, if there is one thing
that stood out from that press conference, it's this quote,

(33:51):
pass rush is king.

Speaker 7 (33:55):
Pass rush is king.

Speaker 4 (33:58):
Now, obviously what's followed is is the acquisition of Boye Mafe,
the acquisition of Dexter Lawrence, the drafting of Cash's Howell.
Uh An emphasis on getting a better pass rush despite
not having Trey Hendrickson anymore, from a volume of guys,
having the overall accumulation of players they have up front,

(34:20):
uh to to be able to do a better job
getting after the quarterback. Let's see of that theme which
every single day during training camp we have been talking
about somebody winning up front, somebody disrupting Joe Burrow, somebody
making him uncomfortable, somebody wreaking havoc, somebody blowing up an
offensive lineman, somebody embarrassing an offensive lineman. Kind of curious tonight,

(34:43):
whether it be from one of the bigger names that
we've talked about, or maybe from somebody who's a little
bit off the grid. Let's see if that off season
theme and that training camp theme continue tonight.

Speaker 7 (34:56):
Pass Rush was king in February? Was King?

Speaker 4 (34:59):
And mar April? It's certainly been King in late July
and early to mid August.

Speaker 7 (35:05):
Is it King tonight?

Speaker 4 (35:07):
Because if it's King tonight, then the theme of the
training camp becomes the theme of the preseason, and then
obviously we'll soon start talking about the theme of the
regular season. That to me, biggest question I think a
lot of us have on defense is are they going
to be able to make tackles? Is their faith in
guys like Barrett Carter and Demetrius knighting to be paid off?
But is this team better at getting after the quarterback?

(35:30):
Remember this is something they've been trying to address for
a while. Go back to when Miles Murphy was drafted.
That is twenty twenty three, that is forever ago. So
even while they had Trey Hendrickson, even while Trey Hendrickson
was leading the league in sacks, they were trying to
upgrade their pass rush. Feels like they've done it so
far this offseason. Feels like those offseason additions are paying

(35:56):
dividends so far during training camp. Does that theme contin
you into a game tonight? We'll find out starting at
seven o'clock. A lot of ground to cover between now
and five thirty. Reds and White Sox are playing right now.
That ballgame right now is in the bottom of the
eighth inning, and Chicago has scored twice and is threatening

(36:17):
its nine to seven Reds in the bottom of the
eighth inning on getaway.

Speaker 7 (36:21):
Day on the South side of Chicago.

Speaker 4 (36:24):
We'll starting to keep you up to date as that
game unfolds, and a lot more to come from Peai
Course Stadium as we get set for the Bengals and
the Detroit Lions. Countdown to kickoff comes your way at
five point thirty. The game at seven o'clock on the
official home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
Thirty No Carriers.

Speaker 3 (36:41):
Pregame Sports Talk presented by your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
Toyota Dealers. Pre Game Sports Talk is brought to you
by Skyline Chili. Feeling good, It's Skyline Time. Eighty during
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Encore Technologies visit Encore dot Tech. Our Cincinnati and Northern

(37:01):
Kentucky Toyota dealers visit Toyota dot com for all Toyota hovers,
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Visit RLC dot com and make R and L Carriers
your global transportation provider.

Speaker 4 (37:16):
No.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
Three Games Sports Talk.

Speaker 7 (37:19):
That's us Good afternoon, three minutes after four.

Speaker 4 (37:22):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty on Moegar, broadcasting from the
home radio booth at Pey Course Stadium. This is the
RNL Carriers pregame sports talk show. We are presented by
your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota dealers on Moegor. We're
getting you set for the Bengals and Lions tonight. Kickoff
is just about three hours away. Wayne box Miller has

(37:42):
countdown to kickoff at five thirty and then the game
at seven pm with Dan Horde, Dave Lapham, and Tony Pike.
Our postgame coverage will go until about one thirty in
the morning. Austin Elmore has postgame sports Talk. I am
in the back of the broadcast booth it is. There's
a little bit of a I'll call it a sun

(38:03):
and cloud mix. I'm seeing the sun hit off the
seats in the upper deck on the east side of
the stadium. I have completely and totally given up on
being able to forecast or predict weather. I'm a dumb
sports guy and barely that. I'm not going to pretend
to be a meteorologist. But I do know that I've

(38:25):
seen a fair number of I've seen some speculation that
weather could be something that impacts the game tonight. Maybe
there's a delay. Preseason games are not handled like NFL
regular season games, and we've seen this before where the
rain comes, the lightning hits, and instead of waiting thirty minutes,
they just banged the thing. We will see if there's

(38:48):
any sort of impact on the game tonight. Hope not
Bengals Allions. It was striking to me I was in
this booth that I'm in right now six days ago
with Tony Pike and the Bengals were supposed to practice
inside the stadium at six o'clock. The gates were supposed
to open at four point thirty. Because of the severe weather,

(39:09):
the gates didn't open. I think until about five point
forty or five forty five, I saw pictures on social
media of the the outdoor concourse, you know, where people
wait to get in, and I don't want to say
it looked like a regular season game, but it didn't
look like people were showing up to watch a practice.

(39:31):
And they opened the gates and a lot of those
folks with nothing going on in here. It's not like, well,
the team wasn't practicing, but they were. They had something
happening on the field or on the video board. Was
nothing going on in here? Really, the only thing happening
in this stadium was Tony and I doing a radio
show in this booth. And then the team obviously took
a went took gut on buses and went down to
the practice bubble and they got some work in and

(39:53):
then like about seven fifteen or so, they announced that
the shelter in place is over and you can go
to your seats. And before the team even got here,
and they came back and worked out for I don't know,
twenty five maybe thirty minutes.

Speaker 7 (40:12):
It was.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
Not surprising is maybe the wrong word, but it was
striking how many people were here. It was it was
striking to me how many people waited out the rain,
waited out the uncertainty of whether or not we were
gonna have any kind of practice, and hung around and
watched and if you saw a photo of it, or
if you saw any footage, they weren't going to have
sixty five thousand people here, but still to have what

(40:36):
they had, I thought was pretty awesome. And so you
got a lot of folks who been waiting a long
time to see a glimpse of the Bengals tonight and
hopefully that that goes, that happens and it's uninterrupted Bengals
and Lions coming up at seven pm. Let's take a
look at how every piece is important. It is brought
to you by Denado's Pizza, where every piece is important.

(40:59):
Donado's the official pizza of the Bengals. Let's talk about
a couple of different pieces. One is just the collective
wide receiver battle, because it feels like they're really good there,
and that clearly starts at the top of the depth
chart with Jamar Chase and t Higgins. But like even
lower on the depth chart, Charlie Jones has carved out

(41:20):
of place as a solid return man. But he's being
challenged a little bit because of what we saw late
last year by Keishawn Williams, Mitch Tinsley, won Danna and
I always joke about the Moeggers Show award. The wide
receiver on the depth chart who gains the picks up
a lot of buzz and people start talking about and

(41:43):
kind of comes off the grid, and you know, he
becomes almost a part of the everyday conversation. Can Mitch Tinsley.
Kendrick Pryor has has shown some things. Dante Myers has
had some of the highlight catches of training camp. Noah Thomas,
you could say the exact same thing, obviously. Andrea Yoshavas

(42:04):
is fending off a challenge from Colby Young. I don't
know how much of Jamar Chase and t Higgins we're
gonna see tonight. I would be unsurprised if they try
to throw one long pass down the field to one of.

Speaker 7 (42:15):
Those two guys.

Speaker 4 (42:16):
I think we'd be all unsurprised if neither guy came
close to catching a pass. Because Joe Burrow took the field,
they called three running plays and all the main guys left.
But I do think there's some interesting things happening lower
on the depth chart at receiver. Let's be honest, that
was sort of a sneaky under the radar, maybe not need,
but an area that we talked about the Bengals maybe

(42:38):
needing to address being better at the number three spot
that was supposed to be Jermaine Burton. It's become Andrea Yoshavas,
is it Colby Young by the time we get to
the middle of the season, and then how do the
spots beneath Andre and Colby hout of those position battles
play out. The other piece that's important is the third

(43:01):
slash nickel corner spot. Handful of spots that I think
we spent this offseason wondering should the Bengals address it,
Should they be more aggressive? Swing tackle is one, linebacker
is another, and then obviously nickel corner. Jalen Davis. I
don't know if he has done anything to make anybody
believe that he shouldn't be the leader for that position.

(43:24):
But you know, it's one thing to show it in practice.
It's something else to prove it in games. And so
we'll see how long he's on the field for. I
don't know that any of the other guys who are
perhaps in competition for that spot have done anything to
distinguish themselves. I think just here Taylor has had a

(43:45):
relatively quiet camp. Braylin Lux, I think has had a
relatively quiet camp. And we've heard and read more about
Josh Newton being in the doghouse than him being able
to necessarily do anything. So I'm curious with I think
a lot of us wondering is that a position they're
going to look at addressing on cutdown day? Fine guys

(44:05):
who have been let go by other teams. What does
Jalen Davis show us in the first preseason game at
a position that I think a lot of felt like
the Bengals should be a little bit more aggressive in addressing.
We'll see starting tonight ten minutes after four o'clock ESPN
fifteen thirty. There's been something I think really impressive about

(44:27):
the last few weeks, and Tony Pike and Austen Elmore
touched on this during their show yesterday at the rainy
Cincinnati Open up there in Mason, and it's about continuity
in messaging and connectivity in messaging. I think one of
the things that's been really interesting about listening to some
of the new guys talk and we've been lucky enough

(44:48):
to have on Jonathan Allen, and we've had on Brian
Cook obviously players who came from elsewhere. I've listened to
boy A Mafe talk about this as well. You know,
we talked a lot about the tone being set by
Joe Burrow and where his head is and how he
feels about the direction of the team, and I feel
like it's easy for a lot of the returning players

(45:10):
to kind of take his lead. That one of the
talking points of camp has been the vibe and the
urgency and the physicality and the intensity of it, and
the fact that this team has a little bit of
a collective chip on his shoulder because Zach Taylor has
reminded them that they were six and eleven last year.
One thing that has stood out to me in listening

(45:31):
to and talking with players who weren't here last year
is it feels like a lot of those guys have
bought in. I know I've said this on a number
of occasions that one of the really impressive things about
Dexter Lawrence to me was when he got traded on
a Saturday, he practiced here on a Monday and that
was during that was at the very beginning of the

(45:52):
voluntary portion of the Bengals offseason. Got traded on Saturday,
we got a physical onsign day, met with the media
on Monday morning, and then when I think he could
have been excused and had no obligation, no requirement to
be here for that day's practice.

Speaker 7 (46:11):
Was here and he worked out.

Speaker 4 (46:14):
And I don't know if he missed one or two
of those sessions, but it felt like he was here
for almost all of them. And Duke Tobin also talked
about this with us, and if he didn't listen to
Duke with our show last week that is available on
the iHeartRadio app. I think when Zach Taylor got here
in twenty nineteen, you could it was easy to roll
your eyes at all the talk of changing the culture.

(46:35):
But it really did feel like by the time twenty
twenty one, twenty twenty two rolled around, like they they
had the right type of guys, They had the right
type of people. I don't think you really had to
question who the leaders were. You certainly didn't have the
question if this team was being led by anybody on it.
Last year felt different. The last couple of years have
felt different the last couple of years, it has felt like,

(46:55):
especially on defense, like maybe maybe there's got to be
somebody who's steps up in leads and that person never
really emerged. Feels like they got those sorts of dudes Dexter,
Lawrence boy A, Mafe, Brian Cook, Jonathan Allen also somebody
we talked to Uber Uber impressive, and so it feels

(47:17):
like they've accomplished a couple of things here. They've they've
gotten guys who have filled specific sort of x's and
o's roles that were lacking last year. Guys who could tackle,
guys who could cover, guys who could get after the quarterback.
But they've also like identified guys who can establish a
tone and maybe provide this sort of leadership that this

(47:38):
team was lacking last year. It also feels like they
have been able to acquire guys who, even though they
weren't here for six and eleven, are pissed off about
six and eleven. And I don't think that's insignificant by
any stretch.

Speaker 7 (47:53):
Like it.

Speaker 4 (47:54):
Duke Tobin talked about that getting the right kind of guys.
It looks like they target players who have won. Looks
like they have targeted players who are I think, willing
to kind of act like they were here last year,
even though they had nothing to do with last year's failures.
What does that mean for tonight? Probably absolutely nothing, but

(48:16):
it has been I think it's been pretty significant. Nonetheless,
excuse me. Quarter after four ESPN fifteen thirty. Detroit Lions
last year went sideways and injuries were a huge factor.
I think after the way the previous two postseasons unfolded
for them, I don't know that last year was a

(48:36):
huge surprise. Plus, the NFC North was hillatious. We're not
going to see most of their main guys tonight, but
I think they're kind of an interesting team, and I
think our next guest will tap into that. We'll go
to Detroit talk to one of the best in the
business at what we do up in Motown. He'll join
us when we come back quarter after four. By the way,
we do have a phone line. I could throw it

(48:58):
out there five point three seven four nine, fifteen thirty.

Speaker 7 (49:00):
Also for what it's worth.

Speaker 4 (49:02):
And it doesn't look like like if you go watch
right now on Twitter or YouTube, it doesn't look like
I'm in a broadcast booth because up in the front
of it. They're preparing for a broadcast Hoarde Lapham Pike,
Wayne Boxmeller, so they were kind enough to accommodate me here.
But I'm in the back of the broadcast booth. And

(49:23):
if you're watching on Twitter, if you're watching on YouTube,
you'll it looks like it looks like I'm just I'm
in a room, like a conference room or something. There's
a garbage can behind me. But if you were watching, Taren,
what was that about? Thirty minutes ago, Anthony Munhoz popped
in and handed me a cigar.

Speaker 7 (49:42):
That was cool. I don't know what he was doing
behind me. I don't know.

Speaker 4 (49:48):
I didn't even notice him until he tapped on my
shoulder and put a cigar in my hand. So that
was if you were watching, you got a chance to
see a pretty damn cool moment for yours.

Speaker 1 (49:57):
True.

Speaker 4 (49:58):
All right, let's go to Detroit. When we come back
in it's RNL Carriers pregame sports Talk. We are presented
by your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota dealers from pay
Corps Stadium on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (50:10):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic zat for for This.

Speaker 4 (50:16):
Is ESPN fifteen thirty on Moegger from pay Corps Stadium.
It's RNL carriers pregame sports Talks presented by Cincinnati and
Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers. By the Way, Final on the
South Side of Chicago, Reds hang on to beat the
White Sox nine to eight.

Speaker 7 (50:32):
They take the series.

Speaker 4 (50:34):
Cincinnati is now five games out of the last wildcard
that you know that that helps out the Detroit Tigers,
which is one of the teams that our next guest
talks about. This guy's one of the best. Ninety seven
won the ticket in Detroit host Lions Network Radio our
guy Mark Ryan.

Speaker 7 (50:49):
I think he just got off the air.

Speaker 4 (50:50):
He's got to be on the air tonight, and so
he's squeezing us in and I can't thank him enough.

Speaker 10 (50:54):
What's going on, mo, I will always make that happen
for you, my man?

Speaker 11 (50:59):
What is good? I gotta tell you.

Speaker 10 (51:01):
I am a proponent of how your head coach handles preseason.

Speaker 11 (51:05):
I am tired of starting season.

Speaker 10 (51:07):
I'm tired of it taking a month to get going
because no one is really in the groove yet. And
I think Zach Taylor rewarding the fans tonight is doing
the right thing.

Speaker 4 (51:17):
Yeah, you know, I think it's gonna be interesting. I
think it might just be a take the field and
wave and hand the ball off a couple of times,
but we will see. Give me, give me an encapsulation.
How would you describe the Detroit Lions offseason?

Speaker 10 (51:32):
A good offseason. Drew Petson comes over from Arizona.

Speaker 11 (51:36):
This is a guy.

Speaker 10 (51:37):
Look, man, They've had the ninth most rushing yards in
the NFL over the last three years.

Speaker 11 (51:41):
You have a reworked offensive line.

Speaker 10 (51:43):
The big acquisition in the offseason, Cade Mays.

Speaker 11 (51:46):
Now injured a wrist injury.

Speaker 10 (51:48):
He's going to be out eight to ten weeks, but
not of the regular season. He'll be back probably after
the bye week, probably after five games.

Speaker 11 (51:56):
What I like about this offseason for the Lions mot
is that.

Speaker 10 (52:00):
Nobody's really talking about nobody's really mentioning them among super
Bowl contenders, and the last time that happened, they came
one half of football from going to their first Super
Bowl ever.

Speaker 11 (52:11):
They have the easiest schedule.

Speaker 10 (52:13):
In the National Football League if they can just avoid
one position group being completely blown out as is what's
taken place the last two years. Right, the defensive line
in twenty twenty four, the secondary in twenty twenty five.
They've got to be patient a way to get Kirby
Joseph back, Brian Branched back. The secondary has been a

(52:34):
big bugaboo for these guys. I think that is the
key point of concern, along with getting everyone healthy and
accommodated to new positions, new faces, and new places along
the offensive line.

Speaker 4 (52:47):
So you mentioned Drew Petsing. They had Ben Johnson, Obviously
he's not there. John Morton took over. That didn't work out.
What is Drew Petsing's offense expected to look like?

Speaker 10 (52:57):
Yes, a lot of under center, a lot of play action.
That was square peg round hole with Kyler Murray. That
is exactly the way that Jared Goff wants to play.
And when you consider how the players are talking about
this offense. Look, everybody's happy in the preseason. Everybody's happy
at Trannon camp. You've got thirty two quote unquote eventual

(53:18):
Super Bowl winners.

Speaker 11 (53:19):
Everybody's convinced.

Speaker 10 (53:20):
But the reality is, the early returns are that this
is an offense that is really going to maximize the
strength of the talents of this team, which is immense.
You get Penny Steel moving over to left tackle, you
have the highest paid running back in the NFL. You've
invested heavily in the wide receiver position. I'm on Ross
and Brown thirty million dollars plus Samis and Williams twenty

(53:42):
nine million dollars plus third round pick Isaac Tesla. You
guys know as well as anybody what it's like to
invest heavily in the wide receiver position.

Speaker 11 (53:50):
But certainly the weapons are there.

Speaker 10 (53:52):
Is the offensive line, which ranks fourteenth by.

Speaker 11 (53:55):
Pro Football Focus a year ago. Is it going to
be good enough?

Speaker 10 (53:59):
Are they gonna have players up and into roles? And
can the secondary hold up? Those are the major questions
heading into this season.

Speaker 4 (54:06):
What is talking about and covering a team coach by
Dan Campbell.

Speaker 10 (54:09):
Like it's incredibly casual, Mo, and I bet you could
tell me a lot about the personality of your city.

Speaker 11 (54:19):
There has never been a there's never been a better.

Speaker 10 (54:22):
Fix between a coach and a city in terms of
the character of the head coach. No frills, no nonsense,
no excuses. I mean those those are the hallmark statements
everyone says about Detroit, right, blue collar, so on and
so forth. He is a perfect mix for this city.
Question is there's a lot of pressure on these guys

(54:44):
this year. There's a lot of pressure on your guy,
Zach Taylor, Mo Dan Campbell, Zach Taylor, who's under more pressure?

Speaker 4 (54:50):
Yeah, I think it's zachin. I think it's Zach. You know,
three years no playoffs, Burrow in his prime, swapped out
defensive coordinators. They've spent money on defense, and the arrow
is pointed at the head coach. What's the dynamic with
Dan Campbell?

Speaker 11 (55:05):
Yeah, so the dynamic with Dan Campbell is the owner.

Speaker 10 (55:08):
Sheila ford hamp who has been very supportive, was incredibly
disappointed with a performance last year. How could you not
be two losses to the Vikings, a loss on Christmas
Day to Max Brosmer and the Vikings, despite the losses
to the in the in the position group in the
secondary that fell well short of expectations.

Speaker 11 (55:31):
This year, she met with them in the offseason.

Speaker 10 (55:33):
There is no sort of gautlet being laid down like
Carly urse Gordon did with the Colts, saying she's going
to bring them back one year. We don't have that
sort of ultimatum. But she did come out and say
they know how disappointed I was with the results of
last season. So if there isn't, if their feats are
not feeling warm from the fire, they darn well should

(55:55):
because to who much is given, much is expected. This
is a team I think ownership expects to contend this season.

Speaker 4 (56:03):
Mark Ryan ninety seven won the ticket in Detroit, Lyons
Network Coast. If I'm watching this game in the third
and fourth quarter, obviously from a Bengals perspective, we're sifting through,
you know, back of the depth chart, guys unfamiliar with them.
Give me one or two players I should be watching
on Detroit.

Speaker 11 (56:20):
Well, first of all, they just added Joshua Dobbs.

Speaker 10 (56:22):
Who's in all those backup to commercials rights, It's I'm
always you know, it tells you a lot about a
guy if he's willing to do those. But I think
that I think that's great. Luke Altmeyer out of Illinois
is a quarterback who is really really trying to make
this team. Remember the quarterback Malie Cunningham out of Louisville. Yeah,
has turned some heads in camp, as has Ahmed Hassenin

(56:44):
on the defensive line, big and slash tackle out of
Boise States are a guy we're going to be keeping
an eye on as well. And then Keith Abney, the
third fifth round pick out of Arizona State, was one
of those guys that you were thrilled to get because
he was a top one hundred player on most draft
boards and was sitting there for a team with dire

(57:04):
cornerback need. Remember Tarry and Arnold arrested and guided Terry
and Arnold released from the Detroit Lions. That's a first
round pick from just two years ago. The second round
pick from two years ago, Ennis Rakestraw Junior has also
not played a lick. How many teams can afford to
get nothing out of their first and second round pick
within the last three years. So you're gonna be looking

(57:27):
for those guys, the younger players who can step forward
and really make an impact on this team.

Speaker 4 (57:32):
This season should be interesting to watch two teams that
I know have high hopes. I appreciate the time. Mark,
thanks so.

Speaker 11 (57:38):
Much always, Mo thanks so much to you as well.

Speaker 4 (57:42):
One of the absolute best in our business. Mark Ryan
ninety seven to won the fan host of the Detroit
Lions radio network Bengals and Lions Tonight seven o'clock on
ESPN fifteen thirty. I mentioned at the top of the
segment Red's hang on to win nine to eight wild
game in Chicago. Will put a bow on that bad
news for a Hunter Green and continue to get you

(58:05):
set for Bengals and Lines tonight, which is just about
two and a half hours away. Twenty eight minutes after
four o'clock. Pregame sports talk is brought to you in
part by Encore Technologies. Visit Encore dot tech. This is
the RNL Carriers. Pregame sports talk show are presented by
Your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers on ESPN fifteen

(58:27):
thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (58:28):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 4 (58:35):
ARNEL Carriers Pregame Sports Talk presented by Your Cincinnati and
Northern Kentucky Yota Dealers Sports Headlines Service at Kelsey Sheffil
Lamb and the broadcast booth here at Paikwort Stadium. Watching
be two, I don't know if there are editions. Joe
and nineteen have been flagship home of the Bengals on
TV for a while, but watching these two new editions
with their expanded roles talk with each other, it's it's

(58:59):
look at their they're on.

Speaker 7 (59:00):
It's unbelievable. Here the background, Yeah, yeah, there they are.
There's there's Tony Joe. Tony says he's nervous for tonight.
Are you nervous you're nerve for what? Something new?

Speaker 5 (59:13):
Yeah?

Speaker 7 (59:14):
This is good, it's good radio. Yes.

Speaker 4 (59:19):
No, you're the dean of Cincinnati sportscasters. I told the
audience yesterday I grew up watching you, and uh, there's
no doubt in my mind it's gonna be The three
to six spot on Fridays has always been better than
Monday through Thursday, so it's now even better. Legends Legends good.

(59:42):
Thanks Sports Headlines, our service of Kelsey Chevallet, home of
lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family
to yours for life, Kelsey chev dot com, Bengals and Lions.
Tonight at seven o'clock, you heard our last guest Mark
Mark Ryan talking about the starters being expected to play
for Cincinnati.

Speaker 7 (01:00:01):
We'll see how extensive that.

Speaker 4 (01:00:03):
I have a feeling like you're gonna see Dexter Lawrence
take like two snaps and kind of throw up deuces and.

Speaker 7 (01:00:08):
Call it a night.

Speaker 4 (01:00:09):
We will see Wayne box Miller countdown to kickoff at
five point thirty the game with Dan Lapp and Tony
at seven o'clock. The Reds win nine to eight over
the Chicago White Sox. Cincinnati takes the series. They've now
pulled it within five games of the wild card Cincinnati.

(01:00:31):
This was a kind of a crazy game. Not a
great outing for Andrew Abbott. They scored him some runs
early three in the first homers off the bats of
Sal Stewart and Uhaneo Suarez. Chicago took a four to
three lead, but the Reds kept hitting. Tyler Stevenson went deep,
and then the Reds had to hold off a late
Chicago charge. We're gonna hear from salth Stewart in just
a second to talk about the benches clearing incident in

(01:00:53):
the third inning. In just a second. Reds are home
tomorrow Miami Marlins in town Hunter Green. Tommy John surgery
done for all of twenty twenty six, which we knew
also done in all likelihood for all of twenty twenty seven.
Florence Yawls will host Lake Erie tonight. College Football News
UC News. More specifically, Jason Kelsey has been selected for

(01:01:15):
the James P. Kelly Athletics Hall of Fame at the
University of Cincinnati, loaded class that includes, among others, Connor
Barwin and Bob Huggins. And when I say, among others,
many many others, that induction ceremony will take place on Friday,
October the twenty third. Jason Kelsey goes from walk On
to Hall of Famer. And this ain't going to be

(01:01:37):
the last Hall of Fame. He's inducted into Cincinnati Open.
They're playing tennis in Mason Katie McNally, local product will
take on McCartney Kessler.

Speaker 7 (01:01:46):
Later this evening.

Speaker 4 (01:01:49):
The ball game itself, and we got a lot of
Bengal stuff to get to, but the ball game itself.
There was a benches clearing incident in the third inning.
Top of the third inning today when Chicago startered, Davis
Martin hit Sal Stuart and he hit him in the head.
Stuart took an exception to it umbrage and started motioning

(01:02:11):
toward the mound, started walking toward the mound, started yelling
at Davis Martin. The pitch prior was up and end
went to the backstop. Stuart kind of looked at him
for what it's worth. In the first inning, Stuart hit
a bomb four hundred and nineteen foot home run, and
after he brushed Stuart back, Martin was trying to motion

(01:02:35):
to Stuart that hey, I didn't mean anything by it,
and then he he drilled him on the very next pitch.
Here's Sal Stewart talking about the incident after the game.

Speaker 1 (01:02:46):
Did you take us through the third hit by the pitch?

Speaker 12 (01:02:49):
How it unfolded in your eyes?

Speaker 13 (01:02:55):
Can't really tell you kind of black out a little
bit when they go up at the head, you.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
Know, you know what happens. You know, maybe I'm not
too sure.

Speaker 13 (01:03:05):
I can't really tell you, but I know he apologized
after the first one, and you know, things happen, you know,
maybe it slipped, but then the very next pitch just
came right back at my face. So more than anything,
it was just kind of scary moment.

Speaker 14 (01:03:18):
And yeah, what was said in that exchange clearly heated
what was said there and would say to see the
support of your teammates to get.

Speaker 1 (01:03:29):
Up and defend you like that.

Speaker 7 (01:03:31):
You could see what was said.

Speaker 1 (01:03:32):
I mean, it was in the heat of the moment.
I'm happy that my team was there.

Speaker 13 (01:03:37):
I don't want to make this a big deal, man,
I really don't.

Speaker 1 (01:03:40):
You know, when you play one hundred and sixty two games, a.

Speaker 7 (01:03:42):
Lot of things happened.

Speaker 13 (01:03:43):
I'm not sure exactly what happened, but it's scary when
two balls are coming up and then.

Speaker 1 (01:03:47):
So that's all I have to say about it.

Speaker 12 (01:03:49):
The best way to answer that is what you did
in your next that bad?

Speaker 1 (01:03:54):
Yeah, I guess, So did you think anything?

Speaker 2 (01:03:58):
How did you do with that first inning?

Speaker 8 (01:04:00):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (01:04:01):
I don't think so.

Speaker 13 (01:04:01):
I mean I didn't, I didn't do nothing, So I
don't think so enough.

Speaker 1 (01:04:06):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
I don't know.

Speaker 11 (01:04:08):
Just talk about winning today's game and then of course
taking this series.

Speaker 13 (01:04:11):
That's the question I want to hear. Good win, good
series win. I'm happy with our guys. There's a good game.
They're a good team, and there was a great series one.

Speaker 7 (01:04:20):
All right.

Speaker 4 (01:04:20):
There's a Sal Stewart with reporters after the ball game
in Chicago, and it was mentioned what he did in
his next at bat. What he did in his next
at bat was a drive in the tying and go
ahead run in the fourth inning with a single that
scored key Brian Hayes, and uh and I'm sorry.

Speaker 7 (01:04:36):
It did it?

Speaker 4 (01:04:37):
It It gave the Reds a lead, they they were
already tied. Sal Stewart got to hit his next at bat,
Reds took the lead, never relinquished it. Yes, his next
at bat, he came up and and got the job done.
Salin understands how this work. How this works. You you
come after the pitcher, the bench is empty, those are
the questions you're going to get. I think in that instance,

(01:04:59):
he handled the questions diplomatically. I've never been hit in
the head by a major league pitchers pitch. I would
imagine that it doesn't feel great. I would imagine it's
gotta be a little scary, and especially when you hit
a home run in the first inning and then your
next at bat, the previous pitch comes in at you

(01:05:21):
in sales to the backstop and then you get hit
in the head like, I don't know, man, I think
it's a very human reaction to go basically like WTF.
He didn't run out, he didn't come out and pummel
the dude. He didn't start a fight. But I think
a lot of hitters in that set of circumstances probably
would have done exactly what Sal did. He didn't get ejected,

(01:05:45):
Davis Martin did. Sal Stewart's team won the game. Davis
Martin's didn't. Sal Stewart is going to win the National
League Rookie of the Year enough Davis Martin's ever gonna
win an award, But nonetheless, Reds win the ballgame nine
to eight, again, five games out of the last wild
card spot. Twenty minutes away from five o'clock, we're broadcasting

(01:06:06):
from a pay Corpse stadium today. It is a little
cloudier than it has been for much of the afternoon,
and unfortunately with the weather we have been having, and
my wife and I have been lucky. Our power has
never gone out at our house, but we know folks
who are still without power. Hopefully that's not you, but

(01:06:29):
I feel like ever since Friday, we've had to keep
one eye on the weather while we're talking about sports.
And I don't know my show's done at five thirty.
I don't know that that is going to change all
that dramatically. Tonight we will see nonetheless, Bengals and Lions
set to us start at seven o'clock, with countdown to

(01:06:49):
kickoff coming your way at five thirty. Nineteen minutes away
from five o'clock, we talk with Tony Pike training camp update.
He joins us next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 6 (01:07:03):
Station Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.

Speaker 1 (01:07:10):
From the UC Health Traffic Center.

Speaker 3 (01:07:11):
Don't wait for the USPN fifteen thirty if with the
latest from Bengals training camp, brought to you by Hollywood Casino.
Lawrenceburg on your official home of the Cincinnati Bengals, ESPN
fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (01:07:27):
Tony, we had a pretty offensive, heavy discussion about an
hour ago talking about tonight's game Bengals and Lions. Now
let's talk about some things on defense. I'm gonna start here.
So the Bengals have a lot of defensive linemen that
we're really excited about. Pass rushes can but at the
bottom end of the depth chart, they either have a
rookie like Landon Robinson or players who are hanging on

(01:07:49):
and just trying to make the team and show that
in their third year they can contribute in guys like
Chris Jenkins and McKinley Jackson. Yes, we want to see
the new guys up front. Dexter Lawrence is going to
play a handful of plays tonight. Boy a Mafi, I.

Speaker 1 (01:08:01):
Don't mean to see him much.

Speaker 7 (01:08:02):
I'm good.

Speaker 4 (01:08:03):
I am curious, like for those dudes at the bottom
end of the chart, at that position, what do we see?

Speaker 9 (01:08:09):
And I think we separate them instead of just like
the whole defensive line, the interior of the defensive line
as you mentioned, like it'll be great to see boy
A Mafey out there, It'll be great to see Casius
Howell out there. I think Cedric Johnson has an opportunity
to get some key reps in a game like tonight,
But you mentioned it so much talk about Dexter Lawrence.
You and I have been blown away with Jonathan Allen

(01:08:29):
and the chance to talk to him when BJ Hill
gets healthy after that.

Speaker 7 (01:08:34):
TJ.

Speaker 9 (01:08:34):
Slayton has flashed multiple times at training camp. But does
Chris Jenkins or McKinley Jackson make a step or does
Landon Robinson have a chance to supplant one or both
of them on the depth chart. I mean it's it's
an opportunity when you look at the draft class as
a whole, that you could realistically see every draft pick
they made with a chance to make the roster supplant.

Speaker 7 (01:08:57):
Will you use that on the radio network tonight?

Speaker 4 (01:09:00):
I could try, Okay, see if you can work and
if I get that in other thing for me on
defense is very simple. Barret Carter Demetrious Knight have looked fine,
but they haven't had to tackle anybody. Last year they
had our hard time tackling anybody. So tonight do they
tackle anybody? It's a great question, and you know it's uh.
We had Joe Danoman on the show earlier in the
week and he described Demetrius Knight and Barrett Carter as

(01:09:23):
kind of like the Matt McClain preseason right, Matt McClain
five h nine dominated, Yes, and you thought, okay, he's
gonna make the jump to you and I we've both
seen it. Barrett Carter and especially Demetrius Knight have looked great.

Speaker 7 (01:09:35):
Yes, great.

Speaker 1 (01:09:37):
Can they now make the tackle right because they couldn't
last year?

Speaker 7 (01:09:40):
Play?

Speaker 1 (01:09:41):
Can they finish the play?

Speaker 9 (01:09:42):
And if so, then you move on and you start
to ask, Okay, now that position group feels solidified, what
do you look to next on defense?

Speaker 7 (01:09:50):
All right, Tony, awesome stuff.

Speaker 4 (01:09:52):
Tony has the call with Dan Horde and Dave Lapham.
Tonight kickoff at seven o'clock. Pregame coverage from the BEng
Radio Network begins with countdown to kickoff in just about
forty minutes.

Speaker 7 (01:10:05):
I'm Oeger.

Speaker 4 (01:10:06):
This is the RNL Carriers pregame Sports Talk, presented by
your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota dealers. Glad you're with
us this afternoon. As we get said for the Bengals
and Lions tonight, we are at pay Corpse Stadium where
it is overcast but not raining, and that is a
good thing. We played some audio before of Sal Stewart
talking about the incident in the third inning where he

(01:10:29):
got hit in the head. Davis Martin got chucked out
of the game. Reds did hang on to win the
ballgame nine to eight, a inch slightly closer in the
wildcard hunt, now five games behind. Here's Terry Francona meeting
with reporters after today's Cincinnati victory.

Speaker 1 (01:10:46):
How's your heart after that one?

Speaker 7 (01:10:47):
That was kind of hold on.

Speaker 15 (01:10:48):
That was just how we drew it up. That was
a lot going on there, but we hung on and
it would have been a really tough loss.

Speaker 1 (01:10:57):
But it's not.

Speaker 12 (01:10:58):
So it's a good win is begone. Was he not
available there in the ninth.

Speaker 15 (01:11:02):
He's got some hand soreness and we're gonna get him
looked at tomorrow morning and he really wanted to pitch.
I got a hard time sending him out there unless
we're gonna get him looked out in the morning and
if he checks out, good, but just want to make
sure he's okay.

Speaker 12 (01:11:17):
Earlier on in the game, Sal gets hit by a pitch.
Have you in your history have you known that kind
of wakes a team up a little bit?

Speaker 15 (01:11:26):
I certainly hope so, because I thought that was extremely
blatant and you can't throw two balls like that had
high you kill somebody. I thought that was terrible.

Speaker 12 (01:11:37):
How about the conditions today? One, are you surprised you
got the game in? Moved it up an hour would
certainly help. But it was a grind it out from
both sides, was it?

Speaker 7 (01:11:45):
Yeah?

Speaker 15 (01:11:46):
But you know what, both teams played, and you know
both teams pitching staff had some troubles, but we got
the game in. What I care about is we won
and we can go home and see if we can
god some more rain.

Speaker 4 (01:12:03):
Terry Francona after the game with Jim Day. We stole
that from Red's TV. So a couple of things you
heard him mention Amelia O. Pagan dealing with hand soreness.
He didn't pitch the ninth inning. Julian Garcia did picked
up his second save, second big league save, reds when
the ball game nine to eight. It was a day
where brockberg, tj Anton, Luis May, Sam Mall, Pierce Johnson,
and Garcia each had to pitch. Not a very good

(01:12:26):
outing for Andrew Rabbitt, who couldn't get out of the
fifth inning. On the Sal Stewart incident. Maybe you have
seen it, maybe you have not. South took exception the
pitch before the one that hit him sailed behind him
and hit the backstop.

Speaker 7 (01:12:40):
Stuart then got digged in the head.

Speaker 4 (01:12:43):
And you know, Terry Francona is obviously always going to
have his guys back.

Speaker 7 (01:12:47):
This is a dude who's been in the game for
a very long time. This is a beloved figure in
the sport.

Speaker 4 (01:12:53):
You may have issues with him as a manager, I
don't know that he is the kind of guy who's
gonna call something blatant if he doesn't genuinely believe that
it is. And if Terry Francona says that something like
that is blatant, I'm on Terry Francona's side, like he's
been a big league manager for a very long time.

(01:13:14):
He's been in this game for a very long time.
That is that is a skipper who if he says, yeah,
we think that was blatant. We think that was intentional.

Speaker 7 (01:13:23):
I I know.

Speaker 4 (01:13:26):
These things turn into he said, he said, and you know,
it's hard to prove intent. He did get kicked out
of the game. Davis Martin Terry Francona says it's blatant.
It probably was. If there's anybody in the sport who
knows it's him, and he's been the manager now for
nearly two full seasons. I don't know that I've ever

(01:13:46):
heard him accuse anybody on the other team of trying
to injure one of his own guys. And frankly, when
you throw at somebody, you're trying to injure them. I
know there's gonna be many who disagree who say that,
you know, hitting guys is a part of the game.
I don't think it has to be. And salth Stewart
didn't do anything in the first inning when he hit
his home run four hundred and nineteen foot blast, did
not do anything in the first inning to Warren being

(01:14:09):
thrown at. And if you're gonna throw it a guy,
don't throw at his head. He got dinged in the head.
I think with the way the entire rat bat went down,
it is extraordinarily easy to conclude that the pitcher in
question here, Davis Martin, was trying to hit salth Stewart,
So maybe there's a suspension. We will see Reds and

(01:14:32):
White Sox obviously are I'm playing against each other the
rest of the season. Cincinnati will host the Miami Marlins
tomorrow night. It is seven away from five o'clock. Meanwhile,
we're here at Peikor Stadium, the Bengals getting set to
host the Detroit Lions. And it's interesting. We were talking
thirty minutes ago with Mark Ryan from Detroit, who talked
about Dan Campbell and the pressure on him. Dan Campbell's

(01:14:54):
been there for a while, has sort of molded the
team in his image, has had some wonderful regular season success,
they've had some extraordinarily frustrating and heartbreaking postseason losses. It
feels like maybe the hot seat isn't the right verbiage,
but it feels like there's a little pressure on him

(01:15:14):
given how long he's been there. At this point, there's
a lot of themes to this season for the Bengals.
There have been a lot of themes to training camp.
There are some themes tonight, but as the next month unfolds,
I think that's the one that we're going to be
talking about as much as any And that's a season
where Zach Taylor, I think, for the first time you
could conclude is coaching for his job. Now, what does

(01:15:37):
that look like? Do they have to win the Super Bowl?
I'm gonna guess the answer is no. But I'm also
going to guess and concluding that any Bengals head coach
is on his way out if the team doesn't meet expectations.
That's a little bit of a fool's errand, as my
dad used to say, but I think it's reasonable to

(01:15:58):
I think it's reasonable to a zoo that there's at
least a high probability of the Bengals looking for a
new head coach if they're on the outside of the
playoff pitcher looking in, and certainly if they have a
losing record. You just as a head coach, don't get
to swap out coordinators that many times. You don't get
to swap out assistant coaches that many times. And you

(01:16:21):
really don't get a chance to miss the postseason or
waste that many years of a quarterback's prime the way
Zach Taylor has wasted three years of it. Now, I
put that on Zach Taylor because it's a conversation about him.
Bengals missed the postseason the last three years, and there's
a lot of reasons, and many of them are independent
of coaching.

Speaker 7 (01:16:39):
But that's I think as people talk.

Speaker 4 (01:16:42):
About the Bengals around the NFL, that's gonna be the
storyline they focus on more so than last year. More
so maybe that at any point during his tenure, And
I I also believe like as much as maybe he
didn't want the Bengals to bring Zach Taylor back, maybe
their patients with head coaches is is frustrating to you
and exasperating. It's not like they haven't talked about his

(01:17:05):
future before. It's not like they haven't at least internally
discussed whether it's time to move on before. This is
a season where I think the head coach of the
Cincinnati Bengals is coaching with as much pressure as any
has coached.

Speaker 1 (01:17:17):
With in quite a while.

Speaker 4 (01:17:20):
It is four minutes away from five o'clock. Countdown to
kickoff is coming up in just about thirty five minutes.
Wayne box Miller, who is delivering cookies to me as
we speak, has countdown to kickoff. Dan Horne, Dave Lapham,
and Tony Pike, who this evening will be making his
Bengals Radio Network debut here at Pey Corps Stadium. They'll

(01:17:40):
have the Bengals and Lions and don't forget after the game.
Austin Elmore will have postgame sports talk all the way
until one thirty on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station SMOOP.

Speaker 6 (01:17:52):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station jud.

Speaker 2 (01:17:58):
Stacey, R and L Carrier.

Speaker 3 (01:18:00):
Pregame Sports Talk presented by Your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky
Toyota Dealers. Pregame Sports Talk is brought to you by
Skyline Chili Feeling Good. It's Skyline Time Adoring Window Company.
They sell the best and service the rest on Core technologies.

Speaker 2 (01:18:17):
Visit Encore dot Tech.

Speaker 3 (01:18:19):
Your Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Toyota dealers visit Toyota dot
com for all Toyota offers, Toyota Let's Go Places, and
by R and L Carriers visit RLC dot com and
make R and L Carriers your global transportation provider.

Speaker 2 (01:18:35):
No pregame sports Talk.

Speaker 4 (01:18:39):
Good afternoon on Mawegger, broadcasting from a pay Corp stadium
four minutes after five o'clock. This is the RNL Carriers
pregame sports Talk. We are presented by your Cincinnati and
Northern Kentucky Toyota dealers. We are closing in on kickoff
as we get set for the Bengals and Lions in
the preseason opener for both teams. Count down to kickoff
with Wayne box Miller comes your way at five thirty

(01:19:02):
and then Dan Horde and Dave Lapham will be joined
by Tony Pike for the game at seven pm. Don't
forget after the game, Austin Elmore has postgame sports talk
all the way until one thirty in the morning. We
are coming up on two hours away from kickoff in
the first game of the preseason, and that means we

(01:19:23):
got to thank AE Door and Window. Two hours away
from kickoff. AE Door and Window Company, they sell the
best and service. The rest are thanks to Adam Weber
for his continued support of the Bengals all these many years.
Weather has obviously been a topic of conversation throughout Greater Cincinnati,
and hopefully either your power is on or if you're

(01:19:44):
among those still waiting, your power is turned on here
very very shortly. If you've had any storm damage, hopefully
that has been minimal. So we've had to pay attention
to the weather for a lot of different reasons, and
we had to pay attention to the weather on Friday
for the open practice here inside the stadium, had to
pay attention to the weather for the final training camp
practice before the preseason started on Tuesday. Right now, it

(01:20:08):
is overcast, the sun is not out. It is cloudy,
but it is not very windy, and I'm not seeing anything.
I am not one of these folks that will look
at weather radar and pretend that I know really what
I'm looking at. But it seems like we got a
pretty decent chance to have a night that is free

(01:20:29):
and clear of any weather issues. So that is a
good thing. Will also be a good thing if the
Bengals can get off the field with no major injuries.
And look, that to me is among the many, among
the many reasons why the vibes right now around the
Bengals seem so good. Is They've gotten through the first
couple of weeks of training camp and there hasn't been

(01:20:50):
a catastrophic injury. Now, there's been some things, obviously, Shamar
Stewart still waiting on a timeline for his return. Bj
Hill started the season on the pup lift. Handful of
guys not gonna play tonight. Dax Hill's been dealing with
a soft tissue issue, same for Brian Cook. But if
you look around the NFL and every single day I

(01:21:11):
go to Pro Football Talk dot com or I'll look
at the main NFL page at ESPN dot com, and
you're seeing a story about an injury that might not
completely derail a team season, but certainly is unhelpful. So far,
the injury news for the Bengals has been really good.
This was an off season that wasn't dominated by us
talking about a major player returning from an injury. And

(01:21:33):
that's apologies to Eric Hall, who's obviously coming back from
an injury that cost him his entire twenty twenty five seasons.
So this is a long winded way of me saying, like,
first and foremost, I watch these preseason games through a
lens of let's make sure the vibes don't change because
of a major injury. Joe Burrow is gonna play tonight.
Jamar Chase is gonna play tonight. T Higgins is gonna go.

(01:21:56):
We're gonna see Dexter Lawrence at least for a little bit.
I know we have spent a lot of time in
recent years talking about the value of playing in the
preseason and maybe the necessity of having the guys who
matter the most play in the preseason because of all
of these slow starts the Bengals have gotten off to
in recent years. I would be okay if the main
guys didn't play. I'll be holding my breath as they do.

(01:22:18):
But that's storyline number one for tonight and for these
next three preseason games. What happens in them that sort
of dumps cold water all over the positive vibes emanating
from Bengals training camp. Let's talk about some storylines for
the game this evening. This has been an off season
that's been all about really one thing. It's been about

(01:22:42):
the defense, and the theme in training camp that's carried
over most days. The defense has been ahead every day,
the defense has been competitive, and on some days the
defense has been dominant. What does that tell us about
how good they're going to be once the real game start.
Maybe not much, but maybe we get a little glimpse

(01:23:03):
into what this team's defense can do and how much
better it is compared to last year. That starts with tackling.
So let's take a look at tonight's player spotlight, brought
to you by Furniture Fair. Get the guaranteed low price
or it's free at Furniture Fair. Let's put Barrett Carter
and Demetrius Knight in the spotlight. Because Bengals made changes

(01:23:26):
up front. We know who they are, boy A, Mafe, Dexter,
Lawrence Jonathan Allen, drafting cash Is Hall, et cetera. Made
changes in the secondary. Brian Cook obviously a huge acquisition,
I think a sneaky good acquisition. By the way, is
Kyle Dugger exactly the kind of player I wish they
would have had last year? But they left linebacker go untouched?

(01:23:49):
What was the big issue with linebacker play last year?
Miss tackles? Barrett Carter Demetrius Knight combined for thirty four
last season. Let's to a game from your starting linebackers.
Both had a mistackle rate that have made them among
the worst in the NFL now. So far during training camp,
both have played pretty well. Eric Carter's been used on
some blitz packages. Demetrius Knight has been really good in coverage,

(01:24:11):
but neither guy has been asked to bring anybody to
the ground tonight. Let's see if those guys can bring
people to the ground. Because for all of the improvements
they've made, and all the talk of the Bengals having
a defense that's not just slightly better this year, but
significantly better, none of it amounts to anything. If the
Bengals aren't better at tackling, do we see that tonight?

(01:24:32):
Key for any preseason game? And the Detroit Lions aren't
expected to play anybody of notes, So we're gonna see
a lot of twos and threes from Detroit. We're gonna
see a lot of twos and threes from the Bengals.
And so much has been made of the roster, the
quality of the roster, the upgrades. Joe Burrow has equated
this team's roster to twenty twenty two. A lot of
outsiders have said this is the best Bengals roster since

(01:24:55):
that last year where the Bengals made the postseason and
advanced to the AFC Championship. But really what makes up
a quality roster is depth. So let's look at that tonight.
This is probably the best offensive line to start the
season that Joe Burrow has ever played behind. But one
of the frustrating things about last year was felt like

(01:25:16):
the Bengals wasted really good offensive line health and year
to year that tends to not carry over. So what
do we learn tonight about the Bengals offensive line backups?
Brian Parker, Cody Ford. We're not going to see Connor
lut tonight, but as the offseason or the preseason unfolds,
we'll learn a little bit more about him. Let's face it,
For as productive as the Bengals were in the offseason,

(01:25:39):
a lot of us wondered could they have done a
little bit more, specifically at swing tackle. Does tonight do
anything to change that conversation or does tonight do something
to kind of amplify that conversation. We talk about depth upfront,
the Bengals should be dramatically better. Dexter Lawrence, Jonathan Allen

(01:25:59):
boy A cash as hell has shown more than glimpses
in training camp of things that should should make you excited.
But they've also got some guys that on the interior
of that defensive line have a lot to prove. Landon
Robinson has been talked about a lot because he went
to Navy. He felt like he was kind of earmarked

(01:26:21):
for the Bengals weeks before the draft even unfolded. But
he's gonna get a chance tonight in an NFL game
to prove that, you know, the seventh round pick should stay.
Chris Jenkins so far has been a disappointment as a
former second round pick. McKinley Jackson same thing as a
former fourth round pick. We talk about that position group
and how deep it is. I don't know that we

(01:26:43):
talk as much about the guys lower on the depth chart.
What do we see from those players tonight? What do
we see from some of the guys in the secondary.
And then I'll switch it back to offense here very quickly.
The Bengals at wide receiver have been very interesting so far.
Here during training camp, ra Yoshavas has had some days
where it's felt like they've made a point to throw

(01:27:03):
them the football and he's caught it. It's also I
had some days, one in particular, where it felt like
he had a hard time hanging onto it? Does he
have an easy time hanging on to his spot as
the team's number three wide receiver? Can he hold off
a challenge from Colby Young? Tony Pike and I have
broadcast from all but two Bengals training camp practices, and

(01:27:24):
among the wide receivers, the guy who every day, and
I'm taking Jamar Chase and t Higgins out of the
equation for a second, the guy who almost every day
has stood out for making a play has been Colby Young.
It feels like they have something there. Can Colby Young
push Andrey Yoshavas? And then what happens in the competition

(01:27:48):
for the return man spot? Charlie Jones? We know how
good of a return guy he's been. Keishawn Williams, we
certainly saw glimpses from him late last season of what
he's capable of doing. Can Mitch Tinsley have this sort
of preseason we saw him have last year? What about
Kendrick Bryor? And then, if you've followed at all what's

(01:28:11):
been happening during training camp, you have either read or
heard the name Dante Myers, and you have read and
heard the name Noah Thomas. Those guys have made plays.
It's one thing to make plays in a practice setting.
It's something else to make plays in a game setting.
They will have opportunities. Tonight, thirteen minutes after five o'clock

(01:28:34):
RNL carriers pregame Sports Talk presented by your Cincinnati and
Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers. I mentioned that Tony and I
have been broadcasting from Bengals training camp every single day,
and you'll hear from Tony in just about ten minutes,
shortly before he makes his Bengals Radio Network broadcasting debut.

(01:28:54):
We have had an opportunity to talk to t Higgins,
Jonathan Allen who was terrific, Brian who was awesome, Jordan Battle,
who's a player. Talk about a guy who has a
lot to prove. Jordan Battle at safety has a lot
to prove. Chase Brown joined our show. We had an
extended conversation with Duke Tobin last Friday as well. If
you missed any of those conversations, just search Moegger on

(01:29:18):
the iHeart radio app. You can also search for ESPN
fifteen thirty on the iHeart radio app and you.

Speaker 7 (01:29:24):
Could listen to him.

Speaker 4 (01:29:25):
I don't know specifically what the Bengals plan on doing
offensively with Joe Burrow Tonight, Tee Higgins is gonna play,
Jamar Chase is gonna play. We've seen Joe Burrow play
in the preseason and play extensively as he did last
year against Philadelphia and Washington. We've also seen Joe Burrow
play in the preseason where it's a couple of handoffs
and a quick screen pass and he's he's out of

(01:29:46):
the game. One of the things that's been one of
the things that's been interesting about the Bengals during training
camp has been that they're the way they play offense.
They're trying to They're trying to evolve by having Joe
play on your center a little bit more frequently, by
having him operate and offensively and operate at quarterback in

(01:30:07):
ways that he's really not used to, in an effort
to well keep him healthier, maybe make the offensive lines
job a little bit easier, make them a more effective
running team, and maybe make them a team that runs
the ball more frequently. I am sort of curious tonight,
is there any sort of wrinkle we see in a

(01:30:28):
setting where you typically expect the offense to be kind
of vanilla. If you listen to Zach Taylor this week.
I think the expectation is vanilla, but I'm curious as
to whether or not we see one of those wrinkles tonight.
There's also something else about Joe Burrow this evening. And again,
he may not throw a pass. He may throw a
pass and it's a quick four yard dump off and

(01:30:49):
he leaves the field. Who knows, but Joe Burrow gets
talked about a lot, sort of gets talked talked about
a lot here. And if you follow, you know, any
amount of national NFL coverage, or watch those shows on
ESPN and the like where they yell at each other
about sports. If you listen to ESPN Radio, Joe Burrow

(01:31:13):
gets talked about a lot, and he gets talked about
a lot for you know, reasons that I think we
all understand, Like, you know, how is Joe doing, how's
his relationship with the team?

Speaker 7 (01:31:26):
Is he going to ask to be traded?

Speaker 6 (01:31:28):
You?

Speaker 4 (01:31:28):
And I know those things kind of dominate the discourse,
right There's ever since Joe, before Joe was drafted by
the Bengals, You've had people who have wondered, you know,
is he ultimately going to try to leave Cincinnati? And
we did our fair share toward the end of last
season of psychoanalysis and trying to figure out where Joe's
head is. And I feel like we spent a lot
of time talking about Joe Burrow for reasons that have

(01:31:51):
nothing to do with how good he is. And in fact,
it's interesting. Mike Sando, who is a terrific NFL writer
for The Athletic every year separates NFL quarterbacks into various tiers,
and he does this not arbitrarily, not on his own,
but he does this based on feedback from NFL executives

(01:32:12):
and coaches. Joe Burrow, among NFL executives and coaches, was
still a Tier one quarterback, and I would imagine you
would agree, certainly, if you're a Bengals fan, maybe you're
thinking is a little bit skewed. I I think Joe
Burrow is the best quarterback in the NFL as far
as I'm concerning him. Not playing half the season last
year doesn't dissuade me at all from feeling that way.

(01:32:34):
But it is interesting when he was ranked as a
Tier one QB. I'm folks who asked me in other
markets other cities like, really, are you surprised? And I
go no, because I know how good he is. I
think it would be awesome tonight if after an off
season where Joe has been talked about for a lot
of different reasons, whether it be wondering if he's gonna

(01:32:55):
ask to be traded. There was a segment and I
didn't watch it. I saw the tweet linking to it.
I'm exasperated with content that related to Joe trying to
leave or wanting to leave. But the folks were wondering
if Joe is going to be the quarterback of the
La Rams in twenty twenty seven. I feel like we
talk about Joe Burrow for all those reasons. I feel
like we talk about him for reasons that have, you know,
more to do with where he's going during the offseason

(01:33:19):
and what he's wearing and maybe who he's dating. Tonight,
it would be awesome, maybe for just to play, maybe
for just a throw, maybe for an entire series. I
think it'd be awesome if Joe Burrow can send a
little bit of a message, and the message being dude,
talk about me for how good I am. Because we're

(01:33:39):
only a season or removed from him having maybe the
greatest single season statistically of any quarterback in the history
of the franchise. We talk a lot about him being
hurt and that you know that comes with the territory.
It's like Hunter Green, when you're hurt all the time.
We talk about how you're hurt all the time. I
think it'd be awesome if tonight, and I don't know

(01:34:01):
that we're gonna get a crack at this, I think
it'd be awesome if tonight.

Speaker 7 (01:34:05):
Maybe it's a throw, maybe it's a.

Speaker 4 (01:34:08):
Touchdown pass, Maybe it's one moment, maybe it's a drive
or two where he delivers a message guys, I'm still really,
really good, and yes I'm still a Tier one quarterback.
We'll see that to me if he's gonna play, and
I'm among those who would be okay if he didn't.

(01:34:28):
But if he's gonna play, why not send a message
while you're playing. Nineteen minutes after five o'clock, Tony Pike.
In just a few minutes, we'll talk about some things
to look for from the Bengals offense. This evening, we're
not gonna see Brian Cook tonight. We are not gonna
see DA's Hill. This evening mentioned that Connor lou is

(01:34:51):
not gonna go it will be interesting to see how
some of the battles lower on the depth chart start
to unfold. And you know, really, we've also got to
focus a little bit on the third cornerback position as well,
because I think as the off season came and went,
a lot of his focused on swing tackle, linebacker and

(01:35:12):
slot slash nickel corner as positions where you wondered if
the Bengals couldn't have added somebody from the outside. That
is Jalen Davis's spot right now. I don't know that
he has done anything during training camp that would make
anybody believe he should relinquish that spot, but I think
he's going to be under the microscope tonight and will
certainly be watching him on top of dj Ivy, who

(01:35:35):
also one of the fun things about this sport is
sometimes there is a player who's been a part of
the team for a while that, as you know, seven
months of offseason stuff comes and goes you never focus on,
and then training camp starts and the guy starts making
plays in training camp. Dj Ivy has made a lot

(01:35:56):
of plays. Wayne box Miller is a state by for
a countdown to kickoff every hour during our show, Tony
Pike joins us for a training camp update, and he's
so dedicated to his craft that, moments before he makes
his Bengals Radio Network debut with Dan and Lapp, he
gives us a training camp report, even though today really

(01:36:19):
isn't technically training camp, it's the preseason. Tony joins me next,
I'm owegar glad you're with us this afternoon from pay
Corpse Stadium. This is the RNL Carriers pregame Sports Talk.
We are presented today by your Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky Toyota.

Speaker 6 (01:36:35):
Dealers, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic fro thing.

Speaker 8 (01:36:42):
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Speaker 4 (01:36:57):
He is going to be in the booth tonight with
Dan Horde and Dave Lappa, making his Bengals Radio Network
broadcast debut, but he still has to do these training
camp reports with me once an hour. Let's talk about
the game plan tonight, because I think it's going to
run counter to what we've seen during training camp practices
where we've seen the Bengals experiment. They have a lot
more Joe Burrow under center. They're moving guys around, lots

(01:37:20):
of motioning, lots of shifting. Zach Taylor says, we're not
going to see nearly as much of that tonight. Yeah,
he mentioned in his press conference earlier in the week.
Simplify the game plan and clean execution. You have installed
so much of a catalog to this point. And while
I think that first group it would be advantageous to

(01:37:40):
run some under center runs just to get that look.
When Joe Burrow leaves the game, I expect to see
a very simple game plan on both sides of the ball.
And that's when you get into the preseason. You're not
trying to out execute the other team. You want it
simple because you want guys playing fast and confident because
they know what they're doing. That way, when you watch

(01:38:03):
the tape, you can evaluate, Hey, here's a player. They
understand what they're being asked. Can they win their one
on one battles? Can they execute offensively and defensively Tonight,
That's what it's about. Give guys opportunities on the defensive
side of the ball. You know what the base coverage is,
you know what the base alignment is. Can you go
make a play one on one?

Speaker 9 (01:38:21):
Then you watch the tape and then you see, Okay,
here's a guy that we can build into more. Maybe
here's a guy that's not quite ready yet.

Speaker 7 (01:38:27):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:38:27):
And to me, that's gonna start with the depth on
the offensive line, which you and I have talked about.
I'm not looking for them to run crazy pass protection
schemes or do exotic things in the run game. I
want to see if those guys can just simply block
the dude in front of them, And can you block
a second and third string guy from the Lions.

Speaker 7 (01:38:43):
Yeah, at Paikwers Stadium, along.

Speaker 1 (01:38:45):
Stadium with fans in a game that.

Speaker 4 (01:38:47):
Matters, Tony, Thank you very much. Tony Pike joins me
every hour with live Bengals training camp reports. He is
making his Bengals Radio Network debut tonight in the booth
at Paikwers Stadium alongside Dan.

Speaker 7 (01:39:00):
Hoard and Dave lap him. We got to get out
of the way.

Speaker 4 (01:39:04):
I want to thank Dave Abbott for setting me up
with a chance to broadcast from a pay court stadium.
Bengals and Lions are coming up at seven o'clock after
the game, all the way until one thirty in the morning,
Austin Elmore will have postgame sports talk looking forward to
that after the Locker Room Report, hosted by Wayne box Miller.

(01:39:25):
Speaking of Box, he is standing by countdown to kickoff
is moments away. This has been the RNL Carriers pregame
sports talk show. My thanks to Taran Bland for producing.
Of course, we are presented by your Greater Cincinnati and
Northern Kentucky Toyota Dealers.