TalkBacks -- 12/18/25

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Episode of since He three p sixty here every show

(00:02):
at ESPN fifteen thirty dot com.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Is that type for talkbacks?

Speaker 3 (00:11):
With that microphone and record a message, Oh.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Hunters of bissile Toe, I'd be remission to not keep
for this, so.

Speaker 4 (00:20):
You better not be naughty.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
That's kind of a silly Is that type for talkbacks?
It's the most wonderful time of the show, Austin and Hodi, Well,
you guide this very slay today and try not to sabotage.

Speaker 5 (00:35):
As very cru Rudo Rudo, welcome back in to Tony
Pikes since he three sixty here on ESPN fifteen thirty
on Austin, no more time for talkbacks.

Speaker 3 (00:50):
And if you haven't left the talk back yet, you
still have time to do that. Tap that little microphone
next to the play button on the iHeartRadio app and
leave me a message Sophos jack everon coach subject. Oh
so I need you to put up a pick of
you and that shisty I know you look like buzz Lightyear.
I did I put up a pic. It's on my
Instagram at audio more a U T y E L

(01:10):
M O r E shameless plug right now for my Instagram.
Go follow it. It's in my latest post. I think
it's slide number What slide is this slide number six?
Me and the sisty and I do I do look
a little bit like buzz Lightyear. I'm gonna take that
as a compliment.

Speaker 6 (01:28):
Hey guys, pre Merry Christmas.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
To you guys.

Speaker 6 (01:31):
Thanks man, I'll send my sentiments next week. Bankel Jerseys.
Let's do a start bench cut all right, black pants,
orange pants, white pants.

Speaker 3 (01:50):
I'm gonna start the black pants. I'm gonna bench the
white pants. I'm gonna cut the orange pants. Ron DC Hello.

Speaker 7 (01:59):
Huge out to Cincy shirts. You see, I had a
last minute idea for the Ugly Christmas Sweater contest that
Abe Lincoln was putting on. I showed up at the
Fort Mitchell location unannounced with a picture of ugly old
Abe that they put on a sweatshirt for me. I
ended up winning the contest. Abe took it pretty well.
In fact, he personally gave me a Nancy the first

(02:20):
place prize of two tickets to see you play at
Ford's Theater.

Speaker 3 (02:24):
Oh my gosh, good golly.

Speaker 8 (02:29):
Gosh, Hey guys, who's a bride in the NBA boys?

Speaker 9 (02:33):
Anyway?

Speaker 8 (02:34):
I want to make myself perfectly clear. Every day I
leave a talkback as if it would be the last
one I ever do. I've been doing this since twenty
twenty two, and I've been through the highs of being
on the top five talk back yes to the lows
when the post got fired. Every day it's about putting

(02:56):
in the work. It's about leaving a talkback back.

Speaker 3 (02:59):
Yeah, well said, Well said Brad and the BA who Yeah. Consistency,
that is true. He has been consistent. I listened.

Speaker 10 (03:08):
Does Zach Taylor talk to the media yesterday? Boy, that
was exciting. My two biggest takeaways. Number One, note to self,
don't ever ask Zach Taylor any questions about his contract.
If you do, he'll suddenly go combative X wife on you.
Number two, according to Zach, Shamar Stuart pays attention during
team meetings. Dude sits in the front row. He looks

(03:30):
at Zach, and Zach looks at Shamar, and Schamar is
absorbing the information He's staring at Zach, Zach's looking at.

Speaker 3 (03:39):
He was very complimentary of Shamar Stuart. I think Shamar
is trying to like change a bit of a narrative
about it. He got off on the wrong foot. I
hope that this offseason he's healthy, there's no distractions, and
he can, you know, adequately prepare for an NFL season
and hopefully be better. I mean, obviously the Bengals are
going to need him to be better. But it does

(04:01):
feel like to me like Shamar Stewart is like, Okay,
let me let me work on my image here, because
we clearly didn't get off on the right foot, and
a lot of Bengals fans are already out on Shamar Stewart,
and I think that's unfair.

Speaker 4 (04:13):
Yeah, Zach is.

Speaker 10 (04:14):
Looking at Shamar, and Shamar making good eye contacts, staring
right back at Zach, and Zach is staring at Shamar.
They're staring at each other like a couple of love
sick teenagers. The future looks bright, Schamar's Stewart. The sky's
the limit.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
Let's go. Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 11 (04:34):
We were talking earlier about why the communication of the
Bengals is there and why can't they tell us is
because I don't think they know.

Speaker 12 (04:41):
I don't think they have a.

Speaker 11 (04:42):
Clue because I remember a couple years ago during the draft,
you guys asked Duke Togan, who are you going to draft?
They said, we don't know yet. We don't know, we
don't have anyone specific. We just go about who's best
on the board. I think they just wing so when
they say about the contract, they probably.

Speaker 9 (04:58):
Still don't know.

Speaker 3 (04:59):
Well, I'm I mean, if the contract's been signed, you
know what the contract is. And also, I don't know
that that's the best analogy. There's never going to tell
you who you're gonna draft. Every GM in the NFL
would answer that question the same way, But I think
there might be a little bit of truth to that,
as sad.

Speaker 13 (05:14):
As that might be up guys the Cahuna in Kentucky.
So maybe I'm in the minority here, But I don't
know all.

Speaker 3 (05:19):
The NFL rules.

Speaker 13 (05:20):
But if the Bengals aren't doing anything against the rules,
like talking to the media disclosing contracts, if that's not
the rules that they have to do it, then why
are people the media and why are some of the
fans so tore up about not knowing? It ain't none
of our business. It's their team. They're the owners.

Speaker 9 (05:36):
They can do what they want.

Speaker 13 (05:38):
If you don't like it, go rout for Cleveland, Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah, I mean, I don't know that there's there's anything
that says they have to disclose whether or not a
contract extension has been signed. No, there's not. They don't
have to, But after a report comes out, I think
it's strange to not really knowledge it.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
That.

Speaker 3 (06:01):
I just think is weird. And as far as I'm concerned,
I'm always in favor of transparency and truth seeking, and
I don't think there's enough of that. Hey, Audie TJ.

Speaker 12 (06:11):
Marvin was asked to go five in the playoffs what
he was going to do different that year to prevent
another early exit, and true Marvin smugness, he says, We're
not going to do anything different. Why did I do that?
You know the results after that? Zach is in the
same comfortable and unaccountable position. Now I did some digging.
He's one of the lowest paid coaches in the league.
It doesn't matter if he's the right man, he's the

(06:32):
right price. This organization simply has bass act words priorities.
So let's start talking about how great next is going
to be?

Speaker 3 (06:39):
Who day? Yeah. I also don't think Zach's money has
ever been officially out there, so that would be a
rumor in and of itself, but it's probably true and yeah.
I think one of my biggest issues with the Marvin
Lewis era was that, and you can equate this to
the Palmer thing as well, is that they would be

(06:59):
good enough to get to the playoffs every year, but
they would never go above and beyond in the off season.
We bitched and moaned about this forever. Is that there
was a lack of aggression in the off season in
free agency and trying to get people here. And it
was a stain on the organization. It was a stain
on Marvin Lewis, it was a stain on Mike Brown.
They have gotten better at that, but then you look
at an offseason like last year, where they chalked it

(07:21):
all up to bad luck. The off season last year
was similar to that of the Marvin Lewis era, which is,
we'll get a couple of low level guys, but we're
good enough to get back to the playoffs. Well, it
turns out you're not, and it's more than just bad luck.
You don't have the depth, you don't have the good enough,
you know, horses to lead this thing. So I think

(07:42):
you're right that sort of comfortability is not a good thing.
I don't know if Zach is the same personality as
Marvin when it comes to that. I don't know if
I would equate those two if they did.

Speaker 4 (07:57):
Like Big Brother, Iheartradios edition. Who do you think would weigh.

Speaker 3 (08:03):
M that's a great question, Big Brother, I would like.
I like my odds personally. Who else would be good
at that? Around here? Mo would be great. I think
Stephan our president, would be wonderful at that. Scott Sloan

(08:24):
I would actually, I'd probably put I'd probably put Sloaney
as the favorite. I'd put Scott Sloan as the favorite there.

Speaker 5 (08:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 14 (08:30):
I want to give a shout out to Sandy and
Tracy too, die hard Bengals fans.

Speaker 9 (08:37):
They bleed orange and black like suffering with the rest
of us.

Speaker 14 (08:40):
Hell yeah, I like how Patinas said he didn't have
XAVI you're ready to play last night?

Speaker 9 (08:46):
Well, you lose by forty five. I guess not. They
couldn't beat Wes Claremont last night.

Speaker 3 (08:55):
Yeah, I guess that's true.

Speaker 15 (08:57):
Austin a really good perspective on the Bengals there. I
actually feel better about the next season with looking at
the schedule and hoping that they will do what they
need to do finally to get this done, poor Joe
and the fans.

Speaker 3 (09:17):
So whode go Big Blue and go rid. Thank you, Ken,
I'm glad that you appreciate that perspective. I'm not, I
will say, I'm not trying to make people feel better.
I'm just trying to, Like, I get where you're coming from.
You have every reason, every reason imaginable, to be skeptical.
I get it, and I am too, because I, to

(09:38):
quote Marvin, I see better than I hear. But I'm
just trying to look at it and from a fifty
thousand foot view and say, Okay, what's true, what's not,
and what could be a potential path. And that's what
I came up with. And I might be wrong. I'm allowed.
Lord knows I've been wrong before, you know.

Speaker 1 (09:58):
All I wish is that Mike Brown and the Bengals
would realize that they could just go all in, spend
a ton of money all at once, and just nail
this thing for the next couple of years, get ourselves
at parade, and then they could spend the next fifteen
years pinching pennies and going into miser mode and losing

(10:22):
fifteen sixteen seventeen games a year, and no one would
care because we had gotten our parade.

Speaker 3 (10:28):
Yeah, I think that's it's a fair way to look
at it. I've on the flip side of that, you
could say, well, they did that in twenty twenty. They
spent all the way up to the cat basically and
they failed. And now what just to play Devil's advocate there,

(10:49):
But I agree with you. There's an old saying out there.
You gotta spend money to make money.

Speaker 16 (10:54):
Hey guys, it's Duke Covin. I just want to let
you know we're working on an extension Gino Stone. Yeah,
he'll be our starting safety next year.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
Yeah, that would be It would be a dark day
in Bengaledom as it's.

Speaker 7 (11:10):
Known Austin Tony.

Speaker 4 (11:15):
I wish I could sneak into the Bengals.

Speaker 7 (11:19):
Stadium and put.

Speaker 4 (11:21):
On the loud speaker the Black Sabbath song changes right
when Mike Brown is doing his walk in the mornings,
goes like, go with me changing?

Speaker 3 (11:39):
Yeah, yeah, I like that. I'm sure Mike would like.
I bet Mike listened a little Black Sabbath. I can
imagine that. You imagine Mike cruising down seventy one listen
to Black Sabbath. You think Mike shedd it here when
Ozzie died.

Speaker 17 (11:52):
Hey, Patty, Patty here, I just want to say Merry Christmas,
Happy Holidays to everyone. Won't be able to listen next
week at all. All our families coming into town from Charleston,
including our grandson, and we are going to have a
house full, including two dogs. It's going to be crazy
and chaotic but wonderful. So just thinking about all you
guys and grateful for you all, and thanks Austin and

(12:14):
Tony for entertaining us. So blessings to you all. Merry Christmas, well, thank.

Speaker 3 (12:19):
You, Patty, and Merry Christmas to you and to your family.

Speaker 4 (12:22):
Yeah, the.

Speaker 3 (12:25):
Schedule for next week, excuse me, Tony and I are
here on Monday, and I believe that's it. Tuesday we
are bumped due to Kentucky basketball and I will be
on the Roundtable show with Lance Tuesday night. But then
we are off the rest of the week and back
Monday Tuesday the twenty ninth and thirtieth, if I'm not mistaken,

(12:48):
and then we're off again. But yeah, we are only
here on Monday next week.

Speaker 18 (12:54):
Hey, Jeffer Casey here talking about Zach's compensation if he
is one of the lowest paid coaches in the league.
I would say that's probably accurate. It's probably based on
his performance, along with the Bengals being a cheaper organization.
What's his overall record, he probably deserves to be towards

(13:15):
the bottom of the coaching pasco hood.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Yeah, I'm sure a lot of people would agree with you.

Speaker 19 (13:20):
Shamar Stewart had a standout performance at the twenty twenty
five Senior Bowl, significantly boosting his draft stock. He dominated
early practice sessions with his rare combination of size, six
feet five.

Speaker 3 (13:30):
Inches, two hundred and eighty one pounds yeah, and.

Speaker 19 (13:32):
Speed, notably forcing a stripsack against LSU tackle Emery Jones Junior.
His performance was so impressive that he withdrew from the
remainder of the week after just two days, having already
solidified himself as a first round prospect. This momentum event.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
Thank you. We knew all that information about Schamar, but
thank you.

Speaker 20 (13:53):
A forty one point loss to crate in that home
forty one points yeah, Crayton Man fire, Wes Miller, Hey.

Speaker 8 (14:09):
Audy, great job on the show. Sorry to double dip.

Speaker 17 (14:13):
So evidently we're talking about practice.

Speaker 15 (14:16):
Samar Stewart dominated practice.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Yeah, he dominated a Senior Bowl practice. Yeah. He I
mean we listen, Shamar Stewart. We've talked extensively about his
lack of production in games in college. He clearly has
not produced in the NFL and his limited snaps. I
would love to see over the final three weeks as

(14:40):
much Shamar Stewart as I possibly can, as much McKinley
Jackson as I possibly can, as much Demetrius Knight, as
much Barrett Carter, as much of all those dudes. And listen,
you don't want to look back at last year in
those the final five games, they didn't play a bunch
of great quarterbacks. The defense played a little bit better.

(15:01):
You don't want that to carry a bunch of weight
going into the off season. But I do think, and
based off Paul Danner's reporting earlier this week, these games
do carry weight when it comes to evaluating going into
the offseason. And so that to me puts meaning meaningful
snaps on the field for this team, and I think

(15:24):
we can learn and get a peak maybe into what
their plans might be based off of the way some
of those young guys perform. And listen, Schamar is going
to be a part of the story, whether you want
him to or not. And it would be great for
the Bengals to, you know, finally hit on one of
these defensive players that they've spent all these top one

(15:44):
hundred picks on. It would be great and it would
be nice if Shamar Sewart was one of those guys.
And hopefully we see something out of him over the
final three weeks and hopefully he's able to play. That
was it for talkbacks. Speaking of playing over the final
three weeks, Joe Burrow was asked about and Travis Kelcey
talked about it now that the Chiefs have been eliminated.

(16:05):
I thought both of their answers were interesting. You'll hear
that next on Football in Natti. This is Tony Pikes
since he three p sixty on the hold of the
Bengals ESPN fifteen to thirty. As players fight to a