Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Waiting in the Natty brought to you and Guy Postman
Law and Vice. Skyline Chile on ESPN fifteen thirty is
the additional home of the Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Bet He's with Local twelve and Local twelve dot com.
He he joins us on Wednesdays Bengals play the Steelers
on on Sunday, Skinny is here. How's it going?
Speaker 3 (00:22):
It's going? I mean Monday was the thing A couple
of us on the beat, I think believe when we
were asked to come down there a little bit early,
want to cut from moved up Zach Killer press conference
if someone was getting fired, and boy were we wrong
in the news that we did get should have been
met with more than the shoulder shrug that I gave it. Like, Okay,
I mean, you know, I Joe Burrows great and all,
(00:43):
but U and bust somehow this defense gets better? Does it?
Is it gonna matter record wise? And does it matter
at all? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (00:51):
And that's that's not your fault for shrugging your shoulders.
It's not my fault for shrugging my shoulders. It's the
fault of this defense.
Speaker 3 (00:58):
Yes, no, no, nout. I mean that's the thing. So
here in the second year, second half or after the
bye week. What's changing for the better. It's actually kind
of changing maybe for the worse. If Trey Henderson doesn't play.
He's already been announced as doubtful by Zach Taylor, which
what means he's not going to play. So can the
(01:19):
rookie linebackers take a step forward? Okay? Yeah? Maybe? Can
Miles Murphy show a pulse? Okay? Maybe can Geno Stone
and Jordan battle tackle? Okay? Maybe can Al Golden find
a magic elixistematically for his island of missed toys? Okay? Maybe? Boy,
that's a lot to hope for man and as we
always know, hope is hope is is not a plan.
(01:41):
So again, I'm all for Joe Burrow coming back. I
just hope he's not coming back quarterbacking the three and
eight or if he comes back to the Buffalo game
a three and nine team and playing at the string
in a losing season. At that point, all the thrill
of that wears off because guess what, that lingering issue
of this defense being awful lingers into the offseason, and
as I think we all know, this is not a
(02:02):
one off season SIXE.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
At that point should he even play.
Speaker 3 (02:07):
I say, yes, it's what he does for a living.
If he's fully and again i'll give you a caveat.
He's got to be fully healthy, not like I feel okay,
I feel good, I feel like I can play through this. No,
you feel one hundred percent fine and you go out
there and play. I I guarantee you if when he
if and when he does that, and I do think
he does that at some point, whether it's Buffalo game
or you know he's targeting that Thursday night Thanksgiving game.
(02:31):
I think for him it's just he's just so darn competitive.
He wants to play, but you gotta. And if there's
no guarantee, I mean, the guy can tell you I
feel great, and he shows himself great. He's not limping
around because he's gritting his teeth. You know, hopefully doctors
can figure out if he's one hundred percent and he
can be honest. I think he needs to be honest here.
I'm one hundred percent, man, I'm good to go. I
don't think he was ever honest with the cast situation,
and it lingered for a while, and so just be
(02:53):
honest here. If you're not good to go, and it's
a lost season. You don't need to push it. Man.
We'll pick this into the offseason and get you a
hundred percent by next year. But if he feels one
hundred percent and he wants to put four or five
games more under his belt, more power to him. I
don't think anybody should blame him for that.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Would they use any of that time to change how
they play offensively?
Speaker 3 (03:12):
That's a good question too, because it you know, we
talked about this when Jake Browning came in twenty twenty
three and went under center more and they did some
more play action stuff and some more bootleg stuff, and
they ran the ball better and all those things. I
sure hope. So you know, I know what he loves.
I get that you want to cater to what he loves.
I mean, cater to what he loves. Got you almost
(03:32):
five thousand yards passing in forty three twenty sept the
last year. So that was great. And the offense isn't
the issue. And I think that's the thing. The offense
isn't the issue. It hasn't been the issue. Can it
be an issue in a single game occasionally? Sure? Can?
Can Joe being in the shot dollar time mean it
be a problem occasionally, sure, But when you're putting up
those kind of numbers and you know, you score thirty
three points or more and lose four games last year,
(03:55):
it's the defense man, that's what That's what is. I
just I wrote that today. This is all about, This
is about anything other than what does this defense show
us this week? What does it show us that it
does better? Does it tackle better? Does it watch the
passer better? Does it have to run better? And by better,
I mean I'm not talking about holding the Steelers to
ten points. By better, I'm just talking about keeping you
in the game for goodness sakes, and the offense not
(04:15):
having to go out and put up thirty five points
to forty points to win. Because that's as great a
Joe Flacko was playing, That's just not sustainable for any team. Again,
we saw this last year with Joe Burrow playing quarterback.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Is it time to refer to Shamar Stewart's rookie season
as a wash?
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Yeah? I thought you were gonna use the word bus
and I hate to do that, Earli, so I'm glad
you didn't. I think the wash is a good word
for that. I don't think he's gonna play this week,
and who knows how long that's gonna be. I mean,
Zach said today, it's it's a week the week thing.
But he's played in five games, and in five games
he has six tackles, two of them solo. Good for him.
(04:52):
He got two solo stops in five games, no quarterback sacks,
and one quarterback hit. Wash is a good word. I
just hope that we're not talking about him in terms
of Miles Murphy as next season Lingers and then then
season after that and we want to give it one
more old good college try. I just hope we're not there.
But I mean, again, this was this is the fear
(05:12):
for everybody of freak on tape can be freakish at times,
and things he does but just doesn't produce. I mean,
why would you go against what he did in college
and go, yeah, but he's got these traits. Okay, that's
all well and good. I love the traits too. I
love the traits in the third and he had a
first round grade, so I shouldn't ding him for that.
He did have a first round grade from a lot
of people. But at what point you go, well, he
(05:33):
had a sack against Bowling Green in a sack against
Arkansas State or whoever it was. Boy, he's gonna sack college,
or if he's gonna sack NFL quarterbacks if he ain't
getting home in the SEC. And it's hard to get
home in the SEC, right, I mean, the NFL dudes
all over the place. What makes you think you're getting
home in college? I mean, excuse me in the pros.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
So you know, we talk a lot about the fact
that Duke Tobin has in everybody cross and everybody's cross hairs,
and folks want to see.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
I thought he was the one o'clock I thought he
was the one o'clock call. I really, you did, my
witness mow. I thought he was the one o'clock call.
Speaker 2 (06:03):
You thought when when he got the call to come
down there that the Bengals had an announcement, you thought
it was going to be Duke Tobyn get let go?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I did.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Does that mean that you believe that is on the
table when the season ends?
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I it means I think it should be. I think
I know I've written the piece that that's kind of
called for his head and pointing the finger of blaming
him and night. I get you. You can people on
the flip side, can argue, you know, he built some
pretty good rosters in in you know, under the Marv,
in the Marvin Lewis era. I think Marvin had a
little more say so than Zach did when it came
to to draft and personnel and those things, and I
(06:39):
think he wrestled some of that away when Zach became
the head coach. And in fact, we had a coach
told us a couple of weeks and this wasn't off
the record, this is on the record that you know,
we asked where does the buck stop when it comes?
He goes, well, the buck stops at Duke Okay, that's
that's that's where the buck stops. We're gonna go with that.
The buck stops at Duke Tobin. So at what point
do you say, yeah, man, we got to really fix
this defense, and we're gonna let you be the guy
(07:01):
to try to fix it. No, you've done all these
recent drafts have been with the knowledge that you're superstars
and you knew who they were Tea and Jamar and Joe,
and then you signed Orlando Brown for a nice piece
of change because you didn't have a left tackling I'm
fine with that, you went to the free age and
murder got probably the best guy available at the time,
and you're paying him accordingly. You started drafting on the
other side of the ball, knowing we gotta have guys
(07:23):
on rookie contracts before me, and none of them are
for the most part other than DJ Turner, and to
a degree that's still none of them, or in fact,
in some cases they're an unmitigated disaster. I'm not a
huge PFF guy. It has its place, right, but Demetrius Knight,
when I wrote a piece last week, was ranked eightieth
eighty two linebackers in the league from PFF, and Brett
(07:44):
Carter was ranked eighty two. You know, and your eyeballs
kind of see that, right, like, yeah, they're struggling. And again,
I'm gonna give him benefit of that. Two rookie flags
side by side. That shouldn't happen. Honestly, that shouldn't happen.
It did by default, and here we are. They have
to play few mistakes now again, that's the one that's
my one grown hope is that, Okay, these guys have
seen a bunch of things. They've had a week to
(08:06):
decompress where it's not prep, Prep, Prep, prepp. Let's go again,
Prep prep, prepp, Let's go again. So a week to
maybe even look at their own stuff and go, man,
I'm a mess, dup and this and this and this,
I'm capable of fix it. That's my one small hope
on defense is those two guys finally start to get it, because,
like I said, i'd like to see Jordan battle and
Gino Stone tackle. I've got two seasons worse of evidence
to shows they just are not going to do it. It
(08:27):
just doesn't happen.
Speaker 2 (08:28):
Correct.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
So, uh, you know, I've seen this pass rush look
like literally velcro where they rush and they get stuck
on dudes, and it's not like a series here and
a down there and a series there and a series here.
They just get stuck. And oh, by the way, they're
out their best pass rusher this week in all likelihoods.
So what makes me think that's going to be better?
I hope it is. I mean, don't get me wrong,
I know you hope it is. But I think we've
got a pretty good level of evidence, not over nine games,
(08:51):
but over two seasons worse that it's a lot of personnel.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Issues, correct. So what I was gonna ask, is you
mentioned looking at Shamar Stewart not seeing any production but
taking him because you love the measurables. If Duke Tobin
is still running things this offseason, could you see a
philosophical shift where they want to emphasize a little bit
more of what a guy actually does when he's on tape.
Speaker 3 (09:18):
I sure, hope. So, I mean, I think you're starting
to get mounting evidence that traits don't don't really win
a lot of times here that yeah, you gotta have try.
I mean, just because you had sixteen sacks at Army
per se as a six to two hundred and forty
five pound end, doesn't mean I need to take you
as a six two hundred and forty five pound end.
There was a kid a couple of years ago that
everybody fell in love with and he was a great
story and he had a bunch of sacks at Army,
(09:38):
but it's like too small, man. I get what he's done,
but he's just too small. That the flip side of
that is, though you know the pace kids from you see,
I mean, he was a munster, productive player in college
and then all of a sudden every day and I'm like, yeah,
but he doesn't have any measurables whatsoever. And in some cases
that's fine. I'm brought a blank on the linebacker from
(09:59):
Miami many years ago. It was was a tackling machine,
was like five foot eleven. But I mean I should
remember the name. I just don't. And sometimes the measurables
you outplay the measurables, and those are the guys I'd
rather risk taking on the guys that outplay the measurables
and the guys that have the measurables and don't play
to that level. What makes you think they're gonna do
at a level higher.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
It's a great question. I don't have the answer, but
thank you as aller man.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Hey, by the way, you see turn you see to
turn the ball over again? That's one what you know?
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Oh thanks, that's uh yeah, that's last night.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah, let's yeah. No, hey, listen, you win turn the
ball over twenty four times by by a dozen points.
Good for you, Good for you.
Speaker 2 (10:38):
That's right, skinny, thanks so much.
Speaker 3 (10:40):
You bet think it much.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
That's our guy. Richard Skinner from Local twelve and Local
twelve dot com. Sports headlines are next on ESPN fifteen
thirty