Tony Pike's Cincy 360 -- 11/13/25

Tony and Austin talk with John Sheeran, Keegan Nickoson, Brian Grawe, Mo Egger, and more on ESPN 1530!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Tony Pike, Sincy three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati,
sponsored in part by Skyline Chili. Stop by Skyline Chili
for a three way or cheese cony today.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Feeling good, It's Skyline Time.

Speaker 1 (00:16):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Welcome in and happy Thursday.

Speaker 4 (00:26):
You just heard right there at Cincy three sixty and
a service of Skyline Chile. Look, anytime you're feeling good
and hungry, it's always Skyline time. Thanks for joining us,
Thanks for being a part of the show. If you'd
like to further that be more of a part of
the show, give us a phone call, especially here in
our number one today. Phone lines will be open for you.
If I've won three seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty. We

(00:48):
want to hear what you have to say. We have
what we have to say, and we have our guest
line up today on Thursdays, as we know from Ada's Esports,
John Sheeran waiting to join us at one o'clock this afternoon.
Keegan Nicholson of Bearcat Journal dot com. We'll join us
at two. We'll talk Nova care, we'll talk fractures. Around
two twenty we have talkbacks and we have so much more.

(01:12):
It's the Thursday edition of sincey three to sixty. We
invite you to be as much a part of it
as you possibly can. We'll get into some read and
react today as it pertains to the Bengals in the
Steelers this coming Sunday. We'll talk a little more about
UC Arizona on Saturday, and so much more across the

(01:34):
world of sports. Speaking of across the world of sports, Austin,
we've got cy Young winners, cy Young Award winners.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
Isn't it weird? How baseball just like random nights throughout
the week in November they're like, oh yeah, here's our
biggest awards. Sweeps it under the rug. They still haven't
announced MVP yet.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
Everything they do is swept under the rug. Everything they
do is a is a backseat to whatever else is
going on.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Weird, how like they choose not to make it a
big deal.

Speaker 4 (02:04):
Yes, why wouldn't you want to highlight that? Why wouldn't
you want to highlight the best of your sport on
their own night?

Speaker 3 (02:11):
Correct, It's just weird. It's very strange. I don't get it.
But congratulations to Terrek school ball and uh, but what's
his name Paul. Yes, I almost said Pat Mahomes, Paul Skans,
and Trek schooball back to back winners school ball is Yeah,
now skiings Austin. They made it a big deal because

(02:34):
you know, his reaction previously wasn't that great. Much different
reaction this year. They had the whole party go super excited. Yeah,
I mean, congrats to Paul Skeins. He he dominated with
thirty first place votes. It was one I mean, it
was an absolute no brainer. Andrew Abbot got a couple

(02:54):
of votes.

Speaker 4 (02:55):
Andrew Abbott did get a couple vote votes. He got
four votes.

Speaker 3 (02:58):
Yeah, got a fourth place vote, a two fifth place votes,
maybe a sixth place vote if I saw that correctly,
which you know, I didn't realize this until today. But like,
you get bonuses, like from the Players Association, if I'm
not mistaken, if you finish in a certain spot in
those awards. So Paul Sken's got an extra two point

(03:19):
five mil for winning the cy Young if you finish fourth,
you get an extra million dollars. So Andrew Abbott narrowly
missed out on that. But yeah, I do think that's
cool that they reared them with a little extra cash
if you win those awards.

Speaker 4 (03:35):
Didn't mention the Manager Managers of the Year though Steven
Vote for the Cleveland Guardians won it. Yeah, and then
in the National League Pat Murphy of the Milwaukee Brewers.

Speaker 3 (03:48):
Both of those guys won it last year too. How
about Pat Murphy the Brewers, Like everybody loves Pat Murphy.
I think that's part of the reason why he wins it,
just like a likable guy. But like, win a game?
Did they do win a playoff game? Do Brewers fans
feel like it was a success? I mean, they exceeded

(04:11):
probably their preseason expectations. That's fine, But like when you
win ninety six games or whatever it was, you set
a new franchise record, you probably expect to at least
go to the old series. Is there a little disappointment
after that? I was up in Wisconsin at the time
all that was happening, and I was listening to some
of the sports talk radio up there, and I was

(04:33):
astounded by all they seemed to care about was let's
just beat the Cubs. That's all they cared about. Yep,
and they kind of expected to lose to the Dodgers.
I was blown away by that mentality. But what I
one of the things I learned when I was up
there is that there may not be a disdain or

(04:54):
a hatred between two fan bases that is less talked
about than Milwaukee and Chicago. Yeah, and specifically baseball, Like
obviously you got the Bears and the Packers in there
a little bit as well, but Brewers fans hate Cubs fans,
and they especially hate when they come to Milwaukee to

(05:15):
come to games. I learned that. I was blown away
by that. Yeah, it's a random thought.

Speaker 4 (05:19):
It is, but I'm I'm so with you in the
idea of how they go about with.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
Giving away their awards.

Speaker 4 (05:26):
Make it a big deal, like you, Everything about the
game of baseball in recent years has been about what
you utilize your players more, put your best players, you know,
up front and center. Make it a big deal, make
it feel like it's a monumental thing instead, Like we've

(05:47):
talked about this with the Major League Baseball Draft every year,
just it's tucked away on a random day where games
are happening. And now, like, look at what the other
sports do. They make it a production, they make it
an event, they draw it out for TV. At the
same time baseball does none of that is said. How
many how many random sports fans often probably even know

(06:09):
that the awards were now given out this week.

Speaker 3 (06:12):
I mean, I'm pretty plugged in and I didn't even
know that the cy Young Award was happening until I
saw it on Instagram last night. Yeah, it's just it's
it is. But that that's the other thing, Like you
could go live on Instagram, you could go live on TikTok,
you can go live on and you know, in some way,
shape or form and let people know what's happening instead
of putting it on MLB network. And I don't know,

(06:37):
it's just it's it's very strange to me how there
is just a complete disregard for that. Yeah, I mean,
I don't know that you have to do what the
NFL does with the NFL Honors and turn it into
an awards show like the Red Carpet a Los Angeles.
I don't know if you're gonna get that, But can
you find a you know, a time to do that

(06:59):
during football season? I feel like you could.

Speaker 4 (07:01):
If you're baseball, just imagine if you could get in
the same room your MVP finalist Otani Swarber Soto judge Raley,
Jose Ramirez like them in a in a space together.
People would want to watch that because you never get

(07:21):
to see all those guys together in baseball.

Speaker 3 (07:23):
I don't know if they have started to do that
with the MVP Awards or not. I remember a couple
of years ago, I think it was like twenty sixteen
or seventeen, when Vado was ridiculous and the Reds were awful,
and I think he finished second or third in MVP voting.
He was like on he was live from the Reds
Hall of Fame. Yeah, he was just like sitting in

(07:43):
a chair in the museum. And while that was a
cool backdrop, especially if you're a Reds fan, it's like
he couldn't you know, they couldn't put him in you know,
do it in Cooperstown every year wherever. I don't know. Yeah,
it is. Uh. Baseball does a lot of things that
don't make sense.

Speaker 4 (07:59):
Yeah, yeah, I said, I think it's a miss, but
it is. It is what it is.

Speaker 3 (08:05):
At this point, I thought Paul Skeen said some pretty
cool stuff last night about being a pirate and all that.
Do you want to get into this really quickly? Yeah,
So he was asked about you know, there was a
report an anonymous teammate of Paul Skeen said that he
says he wants to play for the Yankees. Anonymous doesn't
want to play for the Pirates, and he was naturally

(08:27):
asked about that and asked about, you know, the Pirates
wanting to win and trying to win. He said, quote,
this isn't my city. I'm not from Pittsburgh. I'm adopted
by this city. The fans that show up for us
when we are winning, I personally love that. If we
are losing, the fans don't show up in the same numbers.

(08:48):
It's not like Chicago or Saint Louis. If you want fans,
you gotta win. They deserve it. I appreciated that from
people now Lewis thing. That's a little pressure on the
organization too. Yeah, the Saint Louis thing is not applicable
anymore because those fans have stopped showing up, and and
good for them for doing so. But I appreciate that

(09:12):
Paul has now multiple times put some pressure on the
organization absolutely to say, okay, listen, man, I can leave.
I will leave if you don't give me a reason
to stay. And I mean if you're if you're a
Pirates fan right now, how do you feel you got
the Rookie of the Year and the Scion back to

(09:33):
back years. You've got the best, arguably the best player
in baseball not named Shoho Tani, and you have an
organization that has flat out disregarded any attempt to win.

Speaker 4 (09:44):
I think it at the most, I think the word
would be hopeless. Yeah, like you have to feel hopeless,
like we we in a sense we talk about it
in Cincinnati a little bit of well enjoy Elle while
he's here. I mean that has to be magnified with schemes, right, Oh,
I mean you're talking about a once in a generational talent. Yeah,
and it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that he's not
going to play on a competitive team in Pittsburgh and

(10:06):
eventually he's going to be gone.

Speaker 3 (10:07):
I mean even O'tani was when he was with the Angels,
they at least tried, like hell, and they made, you know,
changes and brought in guys and they had Trout obviously.
Mean hell, you could even say that the acquisition of
Otani was trying to build around Trout. They tried, they failed.
It would be like O'tani you know, going to the braves,

(10:29):
and the braves just don't try to put anybody around him.
It'd be amazing. Yep.

Speaker 4 (10:34):
Some NFL news that's about the wide receiver position. Antonio
Brown has been released from jail. He is a waiting
and attempted murder trial. Keep an eye on that. And
then what do you make, if anything, about what's going
on with the Philadelphia Eagles and AJ Brown?

Speaker 3 (10:51):
AJ Brown.

Speaker 4 (10:52):
I think he was playing like Madden or a video
game online and essentially told people like, if you've got
me in Fantasy, don't play me anymore. Essentially he's talking
about how how hard it is and how hard this
season has been. You know, nothing Everything you say right now,
I feel like is going to be blown up because

(11:14):
of the world of the media that we're in. AJ
Brown is Yeah. AJ Brown is playing video games and
talking on a video game about, you know, essentially how
hard the season has been. And I don't think he
was doing it to try to create a stir. I
think he was doing it to just have a conversation

(11:36):
with a friend. But that obviously gets taken into context.
And what I what I appreciate about AJ Brown, He's
not apologizing for what he said. No, he said, it's
not solely about my situation. I want to win. I
think if we're really focused on winning and doing our job,
we can keep slopping a band aid over the defense
doing their job and getting us out of trouble. At

(11:57):
what point are we going to pick up our slack
on offense? Obviously he feels like picking up the slack
on offense would be getting him involved, and rightfully so,
he's a very very good receiver. He was asked playing
Madden you know if everything was going well? He said, no,
where have you been? Family's good, everything else. No, it's

(12:18):
a bleep show. Yeah, he shouldn't have to apologize for
that because he's telling the truth.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
He's also been pretty open about this in the media
in the past. He was open about it, you know
at times last year when things weren't going well for them. Listen,
Philly is seven and two. That's the thing, and that's fine.
But I think maybe the point AJ is trying to
make is it's seven and two, but we may not
be good enough to get back to where we want

(12:44):
to go because the offense is not operating, not functioning
the way that it's supposed to. Be and they're not.
That's the thing, correct, He's right, he's not a part
of it. Dude has thirty one catches. Yeah, through nine games,
four yards first in the National Football League. He has
just four hundred yards. That's fiftieth in the NFL. And

(13:04):
so I get where he's that he's upset. I don't
know that always being public about it is the best play. Yeah,
But also you know, I don't blame him for being upset.
I appreciate his honesty. Yeah, And I also appreciate him
saying no, I'm not apologizing for what I said. Yeah,
Like it'd be very easy to be like, ah, that's
my mistake.

Speaker 4 (13:24):
It's whatever. And I don't think he was trying to
be a huge distraction. I just think he's being very
open about where his role is and what's going on
with the Philadelphia Eagles. I don't think there's anything wrong
with that, nor do I think you should respond by
that now. Jalen Hurts was asked about it. His quote,
we got the Detroit Lions this week, so I'm definitely
gonna put a halt to it. The more we drive

(13:45):
to it, the more of a distraction it becomes. And
I think Ultimately it's about the group, and I think
that's a good response from the quarterback as well.

Speaker 3 (13:52):
Jalen his first team all coach speak like that's just
who he is as a guy. I think there are
times where, like I saw a clip yesterday of like
two thousand and seven where t O and Donovan McNabb
or just hashing it out on the sideline, right, two
alpha personalities too, you know, outgoing dudes that are not
afraid to just make their voice heard. Jalen is a

(14:13):
very buttoned up dude. He has a mentality, a focus.
He's focused on the mission. If aj Brown thinks that
complaining about targets or complaining about you know, his the
way the offense works or whatever is going to get
under the skin of Jalen Hurts or forced Jalen Hurts
to change is the way he operates, then he doesn't

(14:34):
really know Jalen.

Speaker 4 (14:35):
Hurts, right, Which maybe that's why he felt like he
could talk about it. Yeah, maybe so, Like I know Jalen,
Jalen knows me.

Speaker 3 (14:42):
It's who we are. I think I can talk about it.

Speaker 4 (14:44):
I view that relationship in that way of both of
them being enough of a professional to get their job done.
Let's take ourselves a break. We're just getting started. Let's
do some read and react when we get back, Austin,
Let's read and react, Bangles Steelers, your phone calls as well.
Five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty at Cincy
three to sixty on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (15:06):
Now your chance to win one thousand dollars Internati, brought
to you by Postman Law on ESPN fifteen thirty, the
official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 4 (15:18):
All right, it's football in the NATI, so let's do it. Austin,
Let's talk about football here in Cincinnati. On ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station. On Thursdays, we like to to do
a little read and react about the upcoming opponent for
the Cincinnati Bengals. And we did what we needed to
do last week. We did some tendency talk, we reacted

(15:38):
to the season up to this point. But now we
can read and react looking ahead to the Pittsburgh Steelers
on Sunday. What do we got today, Well, we got
a few different ones. Let's start with the quarterback, Aaron Rodgers. Hey, Rod,
Aaron Rodgers, Tony has not passed for more than three
hundred excuse me, two hundred and thirty yards in his

(16:03):
last three games. However, the last time he did so
was against the Bengals in Wach seven. In that game,
he had thirty four attempts for two hundred and forty
nine passing yards and four touchdowns. The Bengals are one
of just three teams to allow more than two hundred
and sixty passing yards per game this season. Uh, it

(16:26):
speaks to the complete lack of pass rush that the
Bengals have. I mean, listen, it goes further than that.
Austin what he he had two forty nine against the Bengals,
he has not eclipsed two fifty at all this year.
In the opener against the Jets, he had two hundred
and forty four passing yards. Following that two oh three

(16:47):
one thirty nine, two hundred, two thirty five two nineteen,
two oh three, one sixty one. He's not producing the
big plays that we historically see from Aaron Rodgers. And
at the same time, he's throwing the ball thirty thirty three,
thirty four thirty six times a game, so they're putting
up the passes. It just feels like watching this team

(17:10):
outside of Pat Fryarmuth against the Bengals, that everything is
dink and dunk, that everything's the short passes, there's not
much run after the catch. He's not connecting on the
deep shots down the field. And I think there are
multiple factors to that one. I don't think his footwork
is quite what it was when he was younger. I
still think the arms there, but I don't think it
matches with the footwork, and I think he's struggling to

(17:31):
get that timing down. I also think outside of DK Metcalf,
who everyone now is just going to double team, I
don't think their receiving course strikes a lot of fear
into most teams.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
Well, I think the other thing with Rogers in that
game from a couple of thursdays ago was the fact
that you know, one of those completions was like a
forty yard touchdown to pat Ryermuth. I mean, without that,
the Bengals probably hold him to about that number around
two hundred a in which makes me, you know, wonder
what exactly the plan for Pittsburgh will be in this game?

(18:03):
How about this?

Speaker 6 (18:04):
Well?

Speaker 4 (18:04):
I also one more on Rogers, sure, I also find
it interesting the Bengals were not able to sack him once.
In the three games that have transpired after the Bengals game,
He's been sacked three times in each game. So nine
times since the Bengals failed to get home at all,
Aaron Rodgers has been sacked. Do you remember Austin It

(18:25):
was like his first touchdown pass against the Bengals. They
were in the low red zone. I don't exactly remember
who he threw it to, but they were in the
low red zone day and it felt like he had
ten seconds in the pocket. He scrambled around and it's
like that looked like thirty year old Aaron Rodgers, not
because he moved well, but just he was able because

(18:48):
the pocket was so open to freely move around it.
He's not been able to do that much this year.
You can't allow him to do that again going forward.
The Bengals defense has struggled with tackling this season, missing
one hundred and nine tackles and allowing seven hundred and
seventy eight yards after missed tackles. Both those numbers are

(19:11):
the most seventy eight football league.

Speaker 3 (19:14):
Oh my god. Most of that stems from poor execution
on initial contact as they've converted just seventy one percent
of their first tackle opportunities, the lowest rate in the league. Wow,
you could have told me seven I would have never
guessed they did at seventy one percent. No, man, that

(19:35):
is I know. There's not a ton to say on
that one. We've talked about it a lot.

Speaker 4 (19:39):
But what I think is most interesting on average, when
they're missing a tackle, the other team is getting an
additional seven yards. That's crazy, Like, it's not like you
make the first guy miss and then the cavalry arrives
and you pick up two extra yards. They're they're dangneering
picking up first downs every time they break a tackle. Yeah,

(20:02):
you can't operate. You can operate in that sense. Again,
one one hundred and nine missed tackles for some teams
is not even the number they hit in the full season.

Speaker 3 (20:15):
Well, to continue on to that point, sixty eight point
seven of the Steelers' passing yards this season have come
after the catch, a higher mark than any other team
in the next Gen stats era. Uh uh. They are
the only team above sixty percent in twenty twenty five
uhh DK metcalf three hundred and five and Jalen Warren

(20:38):
two hundred and fifty eight have recorded the most yak
on the team, combining for forty four percent of the
Steelers team total. The Bengals defense has allowed sixty two
point five percent of their passing yards after the catch
this season, the highest rate in the league. So just tackles,

(21:02):
is it you're not in position to It's a little
bit of both. Yeah, not even you know, I think
it's a little bit of both.

Speaker 4 (21:07):
You said sixty two and a half of their passing
yards have come after the catch. That's insane. One that
tells me you're not connected a lot on your on
your back end. You know again, how many times have
we seen a ball completed against the Bengals and you're like, man,
what tight coverage other than DJ Turner? And it makes

(21:28):
sense for the Steelers, Like that's a high number. But
when you just break it down to DK Metcalf and
Jalen Warre and that makes sense, that's a lot of
short get it out of your hands if Aaron Rodgers
and try to get a ball to a guy in space,
and Jalen Warren that can make guys miss and DK
Metcalf who can still run around people that, to me,
paired with the lack of offense, or paired with the

(21:50):
lack of ability to get after the offensive passer, You're
you're You're not gonna have Trey Hendrickson, likely not gonna
have Shamar Stewart. How do you apply pressure to Aaron
Rodgers to not allow them to allow those routes to
develop and not exploit big openings in the in the
back end.

Speaker 3 (22:08):
The last time these two teams met, the Steelers were
adamant on sticking with their man defense, and the Bengals
picked them apart. T Higgins has caught fourteen of twenty
six targets against man coverage for two hundred and seventeen
yards that's eighth most in the NFL and four touchdowns.

(22:29):
He has averaged fourteen point six air yards per target
against man, the ninth most among players with at least
ten such targets. On man coverage targets traveling ten or
more air yards, Higgins has totaled one hundred and eighty
one yards, tied for third most, and two touchdowns. The
Steelers defense has played man coverage on forty two percent

(22:52):
of opponent dropbacks, the third highest rate in the league.

Speaker 4 (23:00):
Some thing's gotta give. Like they can't do what they
did again, right, They can't. You can't it, And to me,
it's it's what I'm looking for right away on Sunday,
Let's say, first series, do they do they try at
least one more series to say, let's see if if
we've got this figured out, or do you just come
out and say we're taking our medicine, we know what

(23:20):
this was last time, and we're gonna play zone this week.
That to me is the most interesting part. We talked
about it a little bit. They have made some adjustments.
Jalen Ramsey's now playing majority at the safety role. That's
different than the last time they were here. Because Jalen
Ramsey couldn't keep up with t Higgins or Jamar Chase.
There's no way you rewatch the tape and see Joe

(23:40):
Flackill pump at twenty three times to Jamar Chase and
and come back out and say, yes, man, coverage makes
the most sense. I just don't see them doing that.
And the only way I would see them doing that
is if their front four were better than what we've seen.
They're not as dominant on their defensive front as I
think A lot of people thought they would be, which
makes it harder to play man because you just covering
for a longer amount of time.

Speaker 3 (24:01):
Well, let's talk about that. Number One makes me think
maybe Zach Taylor dial up a shot first play and
just see what Pittsburgh's thinking. The Steelers defense has generated
quick pressure under two and a half seconds on seventeen
point four percent of opponent dropbacks this season. That's the
fifth highest rate in the NFL. They've averaged a two

(24:23):
point five to three second time to pressure, the quickest
in the NFL. Nick Herbig has fifteen. TJ. Watt has fourteen,
that's ninth and twelfth most in the NFL. They lead
the team in quick pressures, standing as the only Steelers
defenders with ten or more quick pressures this season. That's

(24:44):
what I was gonna go.

Speaker 4 (24:45):
It's just not as balanced along the line as it
has been in years past, and not with TJ.

Speaker 3 (24:52):
Watt. TJ.

Speaker 4 (24:52):
Watt's still a great player. I don't think TJ. Watts
has a big answer for double teams right now. He's
just not been as big of a factor. They did
get to Joe Flacco twice in that previous win for
the Bengals. But to me, Austin, it didn't feel like
Flacco was just under a barrage of pressure the whole game.
It felt like the running game and the quick game
alleviated a little bit a little bit of that from

(25:13):
the Pittsburgh Steelers. I'm a little surprised that their fifth
highest in the NFL at that quick pressure rate because
the first go around with the Bengals, and again credit
Chase Brown, credit Joe Flacco and the ability to get
it out quick. I just didn't see that being a
thing for them. Now if they were to go zone now,
maybe Jamar, Chase and T Higgins don't break free as quick.

(25:34):
Maybe that does allow that defense of the Steelers to
generate some quicker pressures.

Speaker 3 (25:38):
A couple more, Let's go with TJ. Watt. TJ. Watt
needs one sack to pass his brother JJ's NFL career
sack total of one hundred and fourteen and a half.
Both Watt brothers had exactly eleven and a half sacks
in college at Wisconsin, with TJ at one hundred and

(25:58):
fourteen NFL's sacks and JJ at one hundred and fourteen
and a half.

Speaker 4 (26:03):
Yeah, that first go round TJ. Watt one hit on
the quarterback, a half sack, and one total tackle in
the game. He was essentially nonexistent in that first go round.

Speaker 3 (26:14):
He is.

Speaker 4 (26:16):
He's got six sacks this year, so it's not a
terrible terrible number, but if you look at what he's
on pace to do each of the last couple of years,
I mean, he's had a twenty two and a half
sack year, he's had a nineteen sack year, he's had
fourteen and a half, fifteen thirteen. He's just not as dominant.
Only thirty seven tackles to this point, fifteen of those solo,

(26:36):
which is well below what he averaged each of the
last couple of years. You hit on this earlier in
the week, Austin. It is why the Bengals, and rightfully so,
were hesitant in dishing out that type of money to
Trey Hendrickson, because at some point, and TJ. Wat's thirty
one years old, at some point, the production is going

(26:58):
to drop, and it feels like it's dropping little bit
for TJ.

Speaker 3 (27:01):
Watt. Jamar Chase has six and fifty six receiving yards
this year in his career so far, that's the sixth
most receiving yards by a player in their first five
career seasons in NFL history. Chase needs one hundred and
nine receiving yards to pass Jerry Rice for the fourth

(27:24):
most in his first five seasons. The top three justin Jefferson,
Tory Holt, and Randy Moss. Wow.

Speaker 4 (27:34):
I mean, if we're talking about first five seasons and
he's got a legitimate chance to move significantly up that list.

Speaker 3 (27:40):
He's pretty close to be in a Hall of Famer already. Yeah.
Crazy is it can be crazy? Two more years of this,
he'll be in camp.

Speaker 4 (27:48):
Yeah. And again that's through the first five seasons. So
he still got what how many games left this year? Yeah,
I mean a lot of opportunities to climb on that list.
He might get the one hundred nine on Sunday, Let's
be honest.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
Yeah he could. And here's why. How about this last one.
The Bengals have allowed thirty or more points five times
in regulation this season. That's, as you may have guessed,
the most in the National Football League. They are one
in four in those five games. The Steelers defense has
allowed thirty or more points four times, tied for the

(28:23):
second most in the NFL this season. The teams previously
combined for sixty four points when they faced each other
in Week seven.

Speaker 4 (28:33):
Wow, that's the least surprising stat we've done on read
and React to that this defense stinks.

Speaker 3 (28:41):
They're bad.

Speaker 4 (28:42):
We've talked that they're not just league bad, they are
historically bad, tracking to be one of, if not the
worst defense in the history of the NFL. I can't imagine, Austin,
how demoralizing it would be on Monday if we're talking
about a Bengals loss when they score over thirty points
in Pittsburgh. Oh, can you imagine? Because coming out of

(29:02):
the by there is some momentum here. We talked about
Zach Taylor's career numbers on the defensive side of the ball,
and I know much of that was with Luena Rumo
starting in week ten and on during his tenure. We've
talked about the ability to go into a buy and
self scout and correct the things you've needed to do.
Can you imagine? And on top of all that, Joe

(29:23):
Burrow is back practicing. Can you imagine the gut punch
it would be to go to Pittsburgh, put over thirty
on the board and still lose the game. How could
you bounce back from that. I don't think you could.
I honestly don't think you could. You want to keep scoring,
but if the defense comes out and allows this Pittsburgh

(29:45):
Steeler offense to go over thirty again, I don't see
one how you win the game, and two I don't
see how the locker room doesn't fracture. Do you remember
Austin what happened after the Bears game? Remember Jamar Chase?

Speaker 3 (29:58):
I do? Remember Chase? I do?

Speaker 4 (30:01):
And the bye week I think helped a little bit
of that, because why players get away, settle it down,
settle everything down, defensive players not speaking, then coming in
the next day and talking. The bye week helped a
lot of that. If you pick right back up and
you lose a game thirty six thirty three, it is
going to be madness in that locker room, madness going

(30:23):
forward for the Cincinnati Bengals, Read and React is done.

Speaker 3 (30:27):
Read and react, Lartis. We're supposed to be getting some
audio for that sake.

Speaker 4 (30:31):
Clardis five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty. Give
us a call, let's do it. We'll continue on our
number one. John Shearon to kick off our number two
on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (30:41):
You've been listening to football in the NATI on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 7 (30:53):
Hey, it's Moagger. Join me this afternoon starting at three
h five on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 8 (31:00):
I'm doing what Mark Chase plays here ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (31:18):
Here's holiday.

Speaker 10 (31:19):
I'm the center of Pastor Mario Satan Sir Tomahawk, right
hander bringing the heat in New Orleans.

Speaker 3 (31:28):
Chris plays set up. Man, I took your brother away?

Speaker 11 (31:36):
It did?

Speaker 3 (31:39):
Pelicans still have a team one more time.

Speaker 6 (31:41):
Hey, I'm the center of Pastor Mario.

Speaker 3 (31:46):
Dude was in the air for a while. Man, that
was I believe Manduel Sports Network up there in Portland
for the Trail Blazers.

Speaker 4 (31:57):
Shadon Sharp had thirty five. The Pelicans are two and nine.
I think Zion's heart again or something. That's what a
disaster that's been.

Speaker 3 (32:04):
Did I see former Kentucky Wildcat Boogie Cousins say that
you just need to move out of New Orleans. Yeah,
it's all it takes said. There's no fans, players don't
want to play there. Organization hasn't done very good. I
don't know if I agree with them. I don't know
anything about New World. They've not done very well at all.
When Boogie speaks, I think we all tend to listen.

Speaker 4 (32:26):
Mavericks lost again as well, even without Nico Thunder continue
to win their twelve and one on the season either way,
Bulls fall Dude, Pistons without Kay Cunningham, which did open
up about forty five shot attempts for the rest of
the Pistons and maybe that help. Pistons are ten and two.

(32:47):
Bulls are six and five. Trouble for the Knicks last
night as well. They lose, and then Jalen Brunson, after
rolling his ankles seen leaving the facility on crutches. Ooh,
something to watch out for there.

Speaker 3 (33:00):
By the way, Falcons offense or excuse me, Falcons. I
was thinking of Arthur Smith. I still think of the Falcons,
the former head coach of the Falcons. Steelers offensive coordinator
Arthur Smith was asked about Aaron Rodgers' performance last Sunday. Quote,
it's all of us. It's a collective effort. It's never
on one person. I put it on myself. Not the

(33:20):
result you wanted, but you get a chance to come
back and we got to play well. How about Steelers
defensive coordinator Tarrell Austin. He says new cornerback Sante Samuel
Junior is working exclusively at outside corner right now. The
timetable on his inclusion in games is TBD. Oh something

(33:42):
to watch for. I just I can't help but think
of Tarrell Austin and think back to a game in
twenty seventeen or twenty eighteen when he was a defensive
coordinator for the Bengals and the Saints came in with
Drew Brees and they scored on every single offensive possession.
It was fifty two to seventeen I think the final
score was. And if I'm not mistaken, Tarrell Austin got

(34:04):
fired the next day and Marvin Lewis started calling the
Blaze again. Wow, that's that's all I think about when
I think of Tarrell Austin. Man, you think he ever
stretched with the defense? I don't think so. I can't
wait to see what this defense looks like with an
Al Golden stretching out. Now Golden should wear a helmet
on Sunday.

Speaker 4 (34:19):
Yeah, how about this? This is yesterday. Now we'll get
updated today on injury reports as well. Flacco did not
practice with the shoulder. Trey Hendrickson now not only the hip,
They've added pelvis to the injury designation for Trey Hendricksons
hip and pelvis injury. Did not practice.

Speaker 3 (34:39):
Sam A J. P Run pulvis injury.

Speaker 4 (34:41):
No, he did not practice, and Shamar Stewart with the
knee did not practice as well. Pittsburgh yesterday, John Neusmith, TJ. Watt,
cam Heyward all did not practice. That was all non
injury related. Just for Rest now. Alex high Smith, their linebacker,
did not practice with the pectoral injury. Cole Holcomb, another linebacker,

(35:01):
did not practice due to illness. Corey Trice and Darius
Slay both did not practice. Trice with a hamstring and
Darius Slay because of the concussion.

Speaker 3 (35:13):
Yeah, I mean that secondary is they're just trying to
figure it out. Right now, we think they're just trying
to piece it together, which makes me wonder to go
back to our point, if you have guys that you
know you're not all that confident in, Like if if
you're pulling up Asante Samuel off the practice squad, or
Darius Slay can't go, or you got dudes that have
been coming off the the injured reserve list to play.

(35:36):
Are you gonna put them one on one against Tan
Jamar better not. You wouldn't do that, right or not.
That's unfair to those people. It's unfair to most people,
even the good corners in the NFL, to do that. Yeah,
I just can't imagine Mike Tomlin and his staff look
at the film from this last time these two teams
played and said, Yeah, we're gonna stick to this strategy.
So I hope the Bengals are ready for something different.

Speaker 4 (35:58):
They have to be, like, you have to go into
this game expecting you're gonna see some zone, right.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
Omar Flacco said yesterday that he has seen coverages against
t and Jamar that he's never really seen eighteen years
in the NFL. YEP, that's kind of amazing and speaks
to how good those dudes are. That is. It is
remarkable to think about that that.

Speaker 4 (36:21):
Has been a thing and that he's been around this
long and you don't have it yet or he just
hasn't seen it yet. And I think it goes to
show just how defenses are trying anything they possibly can
to make it work against this Bengals offense.

Speaker 3 (36:37):
I think it's going to be interesting to see how
the Bengals use Chase Brown. He was so good that
first time round against Pittsburgh, kind of stifled that pass rush,
opened up some of those passing concepts that the Bengals used.
Can he do that? And also can he be a
weapon in the past game. We haven't seen him like
explode in the past game yet. And I wonder, you

(36:58):
know what if there's some moments where the are in
shotgun or they're under center, doesn't matter, and then they
motion Chase Brown out. Yeah, he goes out to the slot,
he goes out at the edge of the formation. Maybe
he's one on one with the linebacker. I'm gonna bet
on Chase Brown most of the time.

Speaker 4 (37:14):
I would too, And I think there's been times there's
been one or two drops that feels like from Chase
Brown where if he makes a catch, he's gonna score correct. Yeah,
But I do like how how they've used him in
the passing games as well. I think that's just a
I think that's a new addition to this offense. I

(37:37):
think it's another wrinkle. Of course, you know, you go
back to that Bears game, then't the Bears game feel
like months ago? It does? You go back to that
Bears game second half, Mitchell Tinsley met a huge grab,
Noah Fant made a big play, andre Yoshi Vash had
multiple big plays. Like offensively that they were in a bag.

(37:57):
When you're hitting that many different receivers and kind of
what you want, you feel good about where you're at.
It's just can they get one or two extra stops
a game? I think that's what it comes down to.
Let's talk about another football game happening this weekend. The
Bearcats play Saturday against Arizona. We'll talk about that and

(38:19):
we'll take a phone call when we return. ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station. Thanks to our friends at Skyline.

Speaker 12 (38:24):
Chileikwise Cincinnati, make us the number one preset on your
car radio and on the free, new and improved iHeartRadio
ad Free never.

Speaker 13 (38:32):
Sounded so good.

Speaker 14 (38:33):
ESPN fifteen thirty From the Johnson Heating Tempstar webs Our.

Speaker 15 (38:37):
City, our Club, our time, FC Cincinnati Playoff Pride lives here.

Speaker 3 (38:43):
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 4 (38:58):
Welcome back since ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station, thanks
to Skyline Chili. Anytime you're feeling good and hungry, it's
always Skyline time. We're happy to have you along. We
welcome your phone call five one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (39:16):
Give us a call, would love to talk to you.

Speaker 4 (39:21):
I got questions, okay about the Cincinnati Bearcats, all right,
and I don't know if they get answered until Saturday.
I want to know this team's makeup and if it's
different than it was last year. By far, the question

(39:43):
I've received the most from the Utah loss to now
is is it going to be the same issue that
plagued this team last year? Is it going to be
the same thing for this team where they started five
and two and then didn't win another game? Now this

(40:04):
season has felt different. This season has provided I think
more stability in the UC offense in particular. Last year
sores be down the stretch, just the confidence wasn't there.
But for this team, what I want to know is

(40:27):
it different Because the wins they've had at Kansas was
a good win against Iowa State. You got Iowa State
in a moment where they weren't at full strength, they
were playing shorthanded, and you did find a way to
win at home, but at times felt tense down the stretch.

(40:47):
Outside of Kansas and Iowa State, they beat UCF, Oklahoma State,
and Baylor, who just aren't very good this year. The
two best teams they've played, in my opinion on Nebraska
and Utah, and they fell short in both of those
games I've watched now this week enough of Arizona. We

(41:07):
talked to Dan Hord about Arizona yesterday Austin. I think
Arizona might be the third best team they've played. Arizona again,
for what it's worth, they have a win over Kansas State,
they have a win over Oklahoma State Colorado, and they
did beat Kansas just as the Bearcats did, and they
held a very potent Kansas offense to just twenty points.

(41:32):
Their losses thirty one to twenty eight on the road
at Houston. Houston, by the way, is eight and two overall,
five and two in the league. They lost at Iowa State,
their worst game of the year, and then they played
BYU at home, and they led BYU.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
I double digits.

Speaker 4 (41:51):
They at one point, I believe, in the fourth quarter,
and I'm confirming right now, there was a point in
the fourth quarter where Arizona took a twenty four to
fourteen lead. After that, B why you rallied, B why
you tied it, and then B why you eventually wins

(42:13):
it in overtime. Arizona's been good, man. They have a
good quarterback, and they have a good defense. And in
coming off your worst performance of the year offensively in
which you turn the ball over on the nineteen yard
line you through an interception, Swersby never never really got

(42:35):
going in the Utah game. If you look back, Brendan
Sorsby I believe completed thirty three percent of his passes
thirty three percent, eleven of thirty three for two twenty
one with a touchdown and an interception, and of those
two hundred and twenty one yards, much like the friar
Mouth touchdown with Aaron Rodgers Austin, they had Cyrus Allen

(42:56):
for an eighty eight yard touchdown. You take away that
one place. That is a very very poor stat line,
and it still was for Swersby based on who he's been.
The good news for UC they still ran it for
seven yards per carry, but they just didn't get much
going in the passing game. Joe Royer was targeted once,
only made one catch, Noah Jennings, Caleb Goodie, Jeff Cadwell

(43:19):
were all relatively quiet. They played the game without Evan
Pryor'd be interested to see if they can get back
him back to full strength. But it was a comedy
of airs. Offense was inconsistent, defense could not get the
stops when necessary, and a special teams unit who had
been a strength, Stephen Russknack missed his first field goal

(43:41):
of the year and Max Fletcher gave up one big
return and then a return for a touchdown on back
to back punts. So the big news, the big thing
to look for here Austin. Do they look more like
the team that lost the last five down the stretch
last year after a loss or are they a team

(44:02):
that has a different makeup and a team that answers
the bell from a disappointing loss and then moves forward
that to me, not only do I think that defines Saturday,
I think that defines the rest of the year because
if they answer the bell, can you imagine the build
up next week with BYU coming in town, Austin and

(44:24):
what that means and the possibility if you got two
games left, one at home, one on the road, and
if you win both, you're playing for a Big twelve
title in Dallas. Or you lose to Arizona, wheels feel
like they're falling off a little bit. BYU comes into
town and then you've got to go to TCU. You've

(44:45):
built up such a good season, you're in the College
Football Playoff rankings at number twenty five. You can't let
that fall apart. You can't let that crumble because you've
worked so hard to build where you're at. Dante Corleone's health,
Jake golday, Evan pryor the health of this team and

(45:07):
their key players is extremely important. But Austin, we're either
spending time next week talking about a huge matchup at
Nippert Stadium, or we're having the conversation of potentially, oh,
it feels like here we go again and all that
is up for Grams on Saturday at noon in Knippert Stadium.
Should be a great contest, should be a great crowd.

(45:29):
I'm looking here, Austin. We get every morning, we get
a WCPO nine First Warning Forecast presented by Jennifer Ketchmark
kind of left on the desk in here. Listen to
this for Saturday. Yeah, partly cloudy, not getting as cold,
low of forty nine. I'm sorry, that's that's never of mine.

(45:51):
Nu's for Friday night, dude. Read the forecast correctly.

Speaker 3 (45:55):
Okay, you see football game day. It's a warm wedge.
What did you just say? Warm wedge? That's what's listed
on here.

Speaker 4 (46:02):
Mostly cloudy and isolated showers possible, but it won't be
much cooler. Following week is cooler. Saturday's high Austin. This
is a noon kickoff.

Speaker 3 (46:12):
You gotta work on these forecast reads.

Speaker 4 (46:15):
Saturday's high sixty nine degrees. Yeah, can't ask for anything more. Yeah,
I saw it's like eighty one in Lexington today. Yea
seventy one in Columbus and it's like fifty five here.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
How's that work? We're in the Elmo. I don't need
the weather people. It's an Alberta clipper. The Northeaster's coming down, dude,
speaking of northeaster tonight, speaking to northeaster tonight, Thursday night
football the Jets and the Patriots. The Patriots are wearing
their rivalry edition Northeaster.

Speaker 14 (46:47):
You.

Speaker 3 (46:48):
Oh yeah, how about that.

Speaker 4 (46:50):
Did you get a chance to see like the Northern
lights or anything in the last couple nights.

Speaker 3 (46:54):
Uh no, that was the thing. I know it back
where I'm from in Sydney, they were crazy. Que I
live here now that's a little too bright for me
to see it. Okay, man, lights is too bright? Oh man,
my future so braga where shades? You know who else's
future is bright? John Shearon he's a star. I mean

(47:15):
once he started coming up on this show. It's just
he's a star. Moon man him An Armstrong.

Speaker 4 (47:20):
He'll join us next for me Adas Sports Neil John
Shearon definitely not Lance Armstrong. Number two on ESPN fifteen.
Lance Armstrong and Sharon Moore have in common.

Speaker 3 (47:34):
I don't know Lance Armstrong beat Michigan or beat Ohio
State too. They both cheated. Wow, unbelievable. Write that one down.
What an accusation? Accusation? Oh okay, we gotta talk, No,
we gotta talk about this. This is driving me insane.
Number one, you are a freaking psychopath. With the amount

(47:56):
of alarms you have set on your phone, I got
a lot like it's ridiculous how often your alarm goes
off and you have changed it. It used to be
this little diddy. You know.

Speaker 4 (48:12):
Here's what I do at different times throughout the day,
Like a lot of people will write notes to themselves
if they think of something that I know, there's time.

Speaker 3 (48:19):
You have an iPhone and there's a great app on
it called reminders that will not make remind you every
time you open your phone.

Speaker 4 (48:25):
When I when I have a reminder to myself, I
set it for a sense, like normally at twelve fifty nine,
we're in the middle of a break to go to
the next hour. Yeah, and there's stuff that I want
to accomplish over the break or need to do that
next hour. That's my way of telling myself, that's what
just happened. Like, what what is on there that you
had to be reminded of it? Twelve fifty nine, Well,

(48:48):
right now, I wrote down commissions exclamation point where are they?
So I got stuff to work on. We got to
talk to John shared in just a few Mon's ESPN
fifteen thirty, I really did. I wrote to myself dot
dot dot, where are thy?

Speaker 3 (49:08):
Thanks to Americifying, Glasshouse started looking for ESPN fifteen thirty.
Cincinnati Sports station.

Speaker 12 (49:14):
Til Ucky Cincinnati make us the number one pre sent
on your car radio and on the free new and
improved iHeartRadio app free never sounded so good.

Speaker 5 (49:23):
ESPN fifteen thirty Another sight Sincy three sixty about Cincinnati
from Cincinnati, sponsored in part by Cincy Shirts.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
Cincy Shirts, All Cincy, all Day.

Speaker 1 (49:36):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (49:44):
Welcome back, it's our number two.

Speaker 4 (49:46):
It's Thursday on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, which
means we got to thank our friends at Cincy Shirts,
and it means we kick off the hour with our
good friend covering the Bengals from eight his E Sports,
John Shearon with us right now.

Speaker 3 (49:59):
John's going on, fellas doing all right?

Speaker 9 (50:03):
Had a nice refreshing weekend of no football of any
kind except very leisurely watching, giving pleasures. So good to
be back.

Speaker 3 (50:10):
Wait you you barely watched any football at all?

Speaker 9 (50:14):
It was it was it was here there, you know.
I caught some copts, some good moments, caught some bad
moments that made me like, oh yeah, I remember what
that looks like.

Speaker 3 (50:20):
And now now we're back. What's back? What did you
do with your time? Were you doing yard work? Were
your crafts?

Speaker 6 (50:25):
Like?

Speaker 3 (50:26):
What were you doing hanging out with your family? What's
going on?

Speaker 9 (50:29):
Absolutely nothing beautiful about it?

Speaker 4 (50:34):
H what uh, what do you make John, Let's get
to them. Let's dive right into the heart of this
right now. Al Golden was stretching yesterday with the team.
Do you think this is something that they may be
self scattered during the by Do you think this can
translate to better defensive play?

Speaker 9 (50:49):
Hey, any any additional help that they can find on
the ability, you might as well go for it. Right
that that suffs cute to see in August, and it's
kind of annoying to see November a little bit. I
said this yesterday, But yeah, yeah, I don't know what
they're trying to do to galvanize this group of players
that clearly there's not a lot of faith in. But
they got to try something. I don't know if that
means put the defensive corner out there in paths or

(51:10):
anything like that. But no, like right now, we haven't
seen probably as many adjustments as you would like to
see for a defense that is historically bad. And that's
what the Bible is a boutand about self reflection. It's
about recognizing who you have, who probably needs to play
a little bit more, who needs to play a little
bit less. Injuries are probably going to force their hand
in some regards to them in terms of swapping guys

(51:31):
in and out. But right now, their problems in week
ten are very similar to their problems in week three,
and without any new additional answers coming to the door.
It's just about self reflection about what you can do
differently and who you can play more or who can.

Speaker 4 (51:45):
Play less, knowing not knowing no one else is coming
through this door. How can they how can they get
tangibly better now? How can this defense coming out of
a bye be better than what they've been through the
majority of this season.

Speaker 9 (51:58):
I think it starts with the linebackers trying to slow
things down a little bit with what's in front of them,
because right now they're taking bad angles, and bad angles
leads to miss tackles, and miss tackles lead to these
explosive plays. Just trying to get the situation under control
in which you can have second and longs, third and
manageables for defense and how bad effects what the play

(52:20):
calling could be from Al Golden's perspective, because when you're
just going from first down the second and short to
first down, et cetera, et cetera, it limits you as
far as far as which what you can do schematically,
So it's just about guys just knowing where to be
and reading their keys and reading their fits and then
actually making the play when it comes to them, and
obviously having a better pass rush can help with that

(52:41):
when you're dealing with dropback situations. I think the secondary
has done okay relatively the rest of the defense, aside
from some obvious miscues from the safeties and everything like that,
But it's just about very simple, correctible mistakes that need
to be ironed out and hopefully with some reflection and
some time off that can happen.

Speaker 3 (52:58):
Now, you wrote about Cedric Johnson, who got his first
game action a week or so ago prior to the
bye week. I've been a big fan of his, especially
the way he ended last season. What did you see
from him that in your mind warrants more Cedric Johnson
on the field against Pittsburgh.

Speaker 9 (53:15):
I think he just kind of shows up whenever he's
called upon, and there's not incredibly noticeable production, but there's
there's some flashes here and there, like, Yeah, you would
like to see if a larger sample size can translate
into the production that they need more of. I think
from an athletic perspective, he's a little bit on the
shorter and the stock of your side, but there's a
lot of explosion and burst that comes with that. So

(53:35):
I think he can get under the pads of offensive
tackles a little bit easier compared to the likes of
Shamar Stewart and Miles Murphy, in which leverage has always
been kind of an issue with those guys. But there's first,
there's speed around the edge, there's power, and I think
that has translated to some quick wins, or at least
quicker than what we've seen from his contemporaries.

Speaker 6 (53:52):
Right.

Speaker 9 (53:52):
So, Trey Henderson going to be out this week with
his hip injury, Shamar Stewart is now week to week
with the knee injury. He needs three pass issues that
you can rotate it. And now at the defensive end spot,
we know Miles Murphy and Joseph SSI are going to
be handling the line share of that. I think it's
Edric Johnson. It's time to be number three in that
rotation to see what he can do with a larger
sample sizing, with a larger opportunity in a larger role.

(54:13):
If he only played eight three snaps last year as
a rookie. He played sixteen snaps last week and got
three pressures against the Bears. I know that another one
really noticed that because of how the game was going
from a totality standpoint, But I think if you give
him a little bit more opportunity just to see what
he can do, just because he's a draft pick from
last year, you need to see as many of these
guys play as possible to see who's worth keeping around
in twenty twenty six going four. So I think this
is a good week to see what Edric Johnson can do.

Speaker 4 (54:35):
The Joe Burrow news I think shocked everyone this week,
thinking there was a remote possibility that late in the season,
maybe Miami, maybe Arizona, that he would be able, but
you wanted at that point in time, would it even
make sense to come back if you're Joe Burrow now
that timeline has been significantly changed, are you in the

(54:57):
camp of when he's ready to go, you're throwing him
out there, or are you waiting to see what happens
this week, maybe next week, and then make a decision
off of that.

Speaker 9 (55:06):
So I'll have a job on the line here, So
naturally my perspective is going to be different than the
people in the building. I would imagine it's as simple
as if your quarterback. One if your franchise quarterback is
healthy enough to play, not as health enough to play.
If he's as healthy as you could expect him to
be in late November early December, and he's able to play,
then you play the quarterback like it probably doesn't matter

(55:26):
too much what the situation with the playoff scenario is.
I would imagine that they want as many wins as possible,
so thats many people in that building can keep their jobs,
and Joe Burrow does a great job of providing job
security to a lot of people in that building right.
So as well as Joe Flacco has played in recent weeks,
I think these next couple weeks are going to be
very important to see if that continues to be sustainable,

(55:47):
especially against a really good defense in New England, especially
on the road against the team he knows well in Baltimore, Like,
if he has to play in those games, how he
does is obviously not only going to impact if the
Bengals can actually win those games, but also how much
they can need Burrow in case this does end up
being a situation which they're alive for the playoffs and
they can go down the stretch. So yes, it was
a major surprise I think to all of us on

(56:08):
the outside, it's very clear that internally they had this
sort of timeline played out and they weren't necessarily shocked
by it. But I think if Burrow is able to play,
it doesn't really matter about the risk of reinjuring him.
If he's able to play, He's Joe Burrow. He's gonna play.

Speaker 4 (56:23):
Is there any concern coming out of the buy? I mean,
we're at a point where Joe Flacco is not thrown
the first couple of days, he's expected to throw today.
But is there a concern of you know, Mo has
used the term this week of Joe Flacco of eventually
turning back into a pumpkin. Is there a concern for
you at some point that it's just not going to
be as smooth as what we've seen.

Speaker 9 (56:46):
Yeah, I mean that's possible, right, Like I think because
of just who Joe Flax has always been in his career,
you would naturally expected those tendencies of the up and
down nature of going through the season with him. It
would eventually catch up to him, especially at this point
in his career. I think it definitely benefits the fact
that he has wide receivers that win so quickly on
the outside that he doesn't have to deal with pressure

(57:08):
and therefore he's taking pure hits. But of course in
this scenario, we still ends up ends up getting demmed
up a little bit, and that's why he's not throwing
as much during the week, right So it is very
possible that he could turn back into a Pumpkins, as
pointly pointed out, which is why I think they wanted
to see what Burrow can do over these next couple
of weeks, just to prepare for that. I think right
now they just envisioned themselves as not being out of

(57:31):
you know, out of the woods yet, and like they're
very much in this and how the quarterback plays is
going to be so dependent upon if that continues to
be the case. So I think we can expect, we
should expect anything and everything from Joe Black at this point.
It's been amazing to see him in the past four weeks,
but you know, there's a reason why he was able
to be traded in the first place. So we're gonna
see this is.

Speaker 3 (57:49):
Sustainable second matchup coming up against the Steelers this weekend.
It's always tricky the second time around. What do you
make of Pittsburgh in the week's following their loss to
the Bengals, and how do you expect them to try
to maybe play Cincinnati differently this time around.

Speaker 9 (58:07):
They're pretty disjointed for a Mike Tomlin team would like.
I would imagine there's not a lot of positivity going
on into that locker room right now, especially after what
they just did against the Chargers. Aaron Rodgers his efficiency
has dwindled dramatically since playing the Bengals back in Week seven.
He's taking three sacks a game over the past three weeks. Obviously,
his offense and around him is not what it probably

(58:29):
should be to support a quarterback at that stage in
his career. It's just DK Metcalf and a bunch of
guys and the offensive line is not necessarily playing well either, right,
So it's not looking great for them. And I think defensively,
they have put together this group of players that they
maagine to play a certain style of defense, and clearly
it's not a style that's going to work against the Bengals.

(58:50):
So how they address with that and how they make
sure they give safety help over the topage more. Chase
is going to be imperative there. But you know, they're
the Steelers and somehow they find answers to some of
these tough games. That's always gonna be something I count
on when whenever Mike Tomlin is coaching that team. But
you know, if they're looking for a bounce back game,
I can find a lot of other teams that wouldn't
be as ad for that than than the Bengals right now.

Speaker 4 (59:12):
The bye week allows for self scout for a team.
It also provides, you know, a chance to look at
tendencies and different things like that. When you look back
at where this team is at, how do you evaluate
the offensive line as a whole at this point through
the year, it's been.

Speaker 9 (59:30):
A mixed bag. I think considering the fact that they
just stumble their way to the star position, I think
it's okay with where it's at now. I think you
have a piece in Dylan Fairchild that you can go
into next year hoping that he can progress. We haven't
really seen that progression from ma Marius mmms, but I
think he's still been good enough to be like Okay,
you can keep him out there and he can continue

(59:50):
to grow. He just turned twenty three years old, right,
so he's still very young. Orlanda Browns Junior, I think,
is firmly in the back half of his career at
this point, and there's going to be more weeks than
you would like where he's just not really playing well
and he's losing the speed. And then Ted Carrish is
still holding on at center. So it's a weird composition
of players at different points in their career. But I
think they're all playing okay as a union, and it's like, yeah,

(01:00:13):
we're in the heart of the season. We're not really
talking about the offensive line as a major glaring issue
for this team, and I think relative to the history
of the recent history of the Bengals, that's a massive win, right,
But there's always more that they can do. I think
they need to see a little bit more out of
Jalen Rivers to be comfortable with having him in the
competition for next year at right guard. So these finally
are going to be really big for him. So it's

(01:00:34):
very much a mixed bag, I would say, but it's
not definitely not the worst of the world.

Speaker 4 (01:00:38):
How much more can they unlock with Chase Brown. It
just feels so directly tied to Joe Flacco's ability to
go under center. How can they unlock more out of
Chase Brown?

Speaker 3 (01:00:49):
Now?

Speaker 4 (01:00:50):
Going forward with the assumption that a team like Pittsburgh
is going to say, we're not going to let you
throw twenty three passes to Jamar Chase and complete sixteen
of them.

Speaker 9 (01:00:59):
Many Really, we're close to doing that a couple weeks
ago before he dropped that pass that would have been
a touchdown, right. I think they've had opportunities to feature
him more in the past game, but unfortunately under Zach Taylor,
they've never been a great offense with executing screens, and
partly has to do with the offensive line not being able
to get out in space and things of that nature.
But I think he is a very capable pass catcher,

(01:01:19):
and I feel like that's just the next step of
making sure that you're utilizing him in that sense where
it's not just you know, it's in garbage time against
the Bears and you're just trying to catch up and
you just dump off after dump off with him. I
think there's still ways that you can utilize him in
the past game that compliments what he can do in
the wrong game. I'm very encouraged by what I've seen
from the wrong game. You're right, and I think part
of that is just making sure that the second level

(01:01:40):
continues to be open so he gets in space to
make guys miss and obviously use that acceleration that he has.
So there's been progress there, and I think just making
sure that you utilize the full flex of his abilities
as a well rounded player, making sure that he's still
involved in the past game that can continue to compliment
with what they're doing.

Speaker 3 (01:01:54):
In the rung game.

Speaker 4 (01:01:56):
I wonder you know, we mentioned the path forward and
the Bengals start believe in the past. John, as we
sit here today, in your view of this team, do
you view this as a team that that still has
one final run left in him, that can take the
Joe Burrow news and and and that adds enough spark
to this locker room? Do do you see or feel
a run left in this in this Bengals team this year?

Speaker 9 (01:02:18):
I'm not going to count them out because I've just
seen them do it a couple you know enough in
recent years under this coaching staff, So that's always in
playing you always expect the Bengals to play their best
when October turns to November and the game has become
even more important. And I think that's honestly a really
strong test or a testament to see how together this
locker room remains to be. I think it was really

(01:02:40):
notable last week how offensive and defensively, how those players
responded to that win, and how they're going to come
back now and regroup and try to just work together
as a collective locker room to do what they've tried
to do over the past two years and just take
the lot, take the first two months of the season,
throw it in the trash. It's a new season. Obviously,
the opponents are gonna be tougher within these next five weeks,

(01:03:02):
which is why my authorism is not necessarily great, because
let's be honest, like the teams in front of them
for the next five weeks are all better than the Bengals.
They're gonna be underdogs in every single one of those games,
and then you probably need to win most of them
in order to keep this postseason hope alive. So this
is a really strong test and I'm not not counting
them out because I've seen him to do it before,
but I've also seen him do it Joe Burrow, and
he's not walking through that door just yet.

Speaker 4 (01:03:23):
Awesome stuff as always, John Sharon a is E Sports.

Speaker 14 (01:03:27):
What are you?

Speaker 3 (01:03:28):
What are you working on?

Speaker 4 (01:03:29):
And what's the easiest way for folks to follow along
with everything you got?

Speaker 6 (01:03:33):
Well?

Speaker 9 (01:03:33):
Like Austin said, there's an article about Cedric Johnson, not
right now. There's a couple of other articles about Joe Flacco,
about the importance of this game, things of that nature.
All on eight of the Sports dot Com back Slash
Cincinnati and all your short form content on TikTok Instagram.
YouTube eight is the Sports Cincinnati follow us for the
final eight weeks of the season. There you don't want
to miss it.

Speaker 4 (01:03:50):
John, We appreciate your time. Do the Bearcats get back
on track as well?

Speaker 3 (01:03:54):
I will be here.

Speaker 4 (01:03:56):
Listen you throw out the tape for the Utah game.
I know last thank the team they got the five
and two and then things fell apart. Was there anything
you saw against Utah that worries you're going forward? Or
do you think they use the buy and they get
back on track?

Speaker 6 (01:04:11):
Listen?

Speaker 9 (01:04:11):
I was not a fan of what Utah was trying
to do offensively, I was not a fan of I
was working so well against the Bearkats defense. So yes,
that's tape is being thrown into the into the cerator
regroup against Arizona. See if you get a win, stay
in the college football playoff rres. We'll see what happens.

Speaker 3 (01:04:24):
Awesome, John, Thank you so much.

Speaker 6 (01:04:25):
Man.

Speaker 3 (01:04:26):
We appreciate your time. We'll talk again next week.

Speaker 9 (01:04:29):
Thanks.

Speaker 4 (01:04:29):
Hello, there he is John. Shearon Height is the sports
covering the Cincinnati Bangal the incinerator. He said, I love it.
I'd like to put all the Demetrious Knight and Shamar
Stewart tape in the incinerator.

Speaker 3 (01:04:39):
Oh do you think you can? Do you think maybe? Maybe?

Speaker 4 (01:04:42):
Maybe That's what they did during the Bubby that was
part of their tendencies. It's a lot of smoke coming
from Peycorps over the last couple of days.

Speaker 3 (01:04:49):
We'll take a break. When we come back.

Speaker 4 (01:04:51):
It's your Talkbacks hour number two ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (01:04:56):
Now your jettis go and record message.

Speaker 13 (01:05:01):
Just hit that microphone.

Speaker 3 (01:05:02):
Please keep it clean and don't be mean.

Speaker 16 (01:05:06):
And thosequel sprinkle drift drifts.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
It's at Tuskert top bags.

Speaker 16 (01:05:11):
It's suck favorite party since e three sixty. So Austin
buddy played those funk backs on your schien and please
drive down to sabotage it.

Speaker 4 (01:05:23):
Here we go, Here we go, the Thursday edition of
your Talkbacks thanks to sin t shirts.

Speaker 3 (01:05:29):
Uh yeah, yeah, that's what it's called them trying to
uh a little bit of time. Oh it doesn't seem
to be working properly. Now we go.

Speaker 6 (01:05:42):
I knew it. I knew it.

Speaker 3 (01:05:44):
I knew it.

Speaker 7 (01:05:45):
I knew there was a cheating university up in the
state of Michigan.

Speaker 9 (01:05:51):
How dare you, Michigan State?

Speaker 7 (01:05:54):
Unbelievable, reprehensible, you cheating dogs.

Speaker 3 (01:05:59):
You that is unacceptable.

Speaker 7 (01:06:02):
If you have any questions, call your big brother bye bye.

Speaker 3 (01:06:08):
Absolutely disgusting. There's one thing about the state of Michigan.
Them folks know how to cheat, man, They really really do.
I didn't even plan that your own more joke just
jumps just kind of was right there. Yep, this is
Mike and Independence here we talk that.

Speaker 7 (01:06:25):
More water into our hands and drinking like you're in
a lake or something.

Speaker 3 (01:06:32):
Don't you have a cup? Not now, actual cups? What
about all those cups in the closet.

Speaker 13 (01:06:39):
We have cups.

Speaker 7 (01:06:41):
I will I will probably not outlive our cup supply.

Speaker 13 (01:06:44):
That's how many cups we have.

Speaker 7 (01:06:46):
And it is glorious just over the sheer volume of cups.
And I just I wanted to get that out of
the way.

Speaker 4 (01:06:52):
Can we say that and just play it back to
get Moe's reaction today. Sure, I think someone's going through
a lot of time. Yeah, to make those together soundboard,
it sounds. I appreciate them. That's that's good time.

Speaker 3 (01:07:03):
STOs Man, that's good Austin.

Speaker 17 (01:07:05):
It's the Lord.

Speaker 3 (01:07:06):
Hello, Lord.

Speaker 17 (01:07:06):
I heard that you had an issue with taking off
in airplanes and you wanted to come to peace and
talk to the Lord about it. Just so happens to
be I have an opening today and we can talk
about this issue and get it resolved.

Speaker 9 (01:07:22):
Wow.

Speaker 17 (01:07:23):
Just let me know, give me a call.

Speaker 3 (01:07:25):
From my understanding, you have a lot of openings. How
about this.

Speaker 11 (01:07:29):
There's that car Whether we are doing an event, we're
gonna be bad, and I don't know, we knew it
was gonna make it as bad, and I'm kind of
a wonder and maybe then, folks, there's kind and I
knew how bad it was gonna be because they didn't
bother making any of them defense or players into unbottlehead.

Speaker 3 (01:07:48):
All right, man, thank you. Hello. This is James from
an unincorporated Butler County, Austin.

Speaker 9 (01:07:55):
Your story doesn't add.

Speaker 3 (01:07:56):
Up, it doesn't make sense.

Speaker 18 (01:07:58):
And I've acquired a source I don't anonymous source.

Speaker 3 (01:08:01):
That works in the building well close by. He works
a fusion sushi but it's very close. He hears things.

Speaker 18 (01:08:06):
Anyways, he has information that's key to this investigation.

Speaker 19 (01:08:13):
Release the tapes, Austin.

Speaker 18 (01:08:16):
The talkback world deserves to know what happened to Mike.
Release the tape.

Speaker 3 (01:08:23):
I hope Mike is okay. I hope Mike is doing
well and we miss.

Speaker 20 (01:08:26):
Himsh good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen on behalf of SINCY
three sixty all of its wonderful listeners, sponsors and talkbackers.
I would just like to be the first to congratulate
one Mo Egger on winning the Tony Pikes iHeartMedia.

Speaker 3 (01:08:43):
Employee of the Year Award.

Speaker 20 (01:08:45):
Yes, congratulations, Mo, you now wear the crown. I have
the best bald headed radio host inside. They keep up
the good work and good luck in twenty twenty six.

Speaker 3 (01:08:56):
Now be careful, you can't make fun of the name anymore,
else you get called to the principal's office a hard thing,
told to stop.

Speaker 4 (01:09:02):
I don't know anymore when most I didn't know if
he was serious at first or what.

Speaker 3 (01:09:07):
I don't know. I award happens, but I hope it's him.
I've told him before, like, dude, I cannot read you. No,
I'm like really good at reading people. I can never
figure awful. He probably would have won some money off
those cheaters in that poker contest.

Speaker 18 (01:09:25):
Hey, Bud, it's Brad in the ba blush. Anyways, Donny, Donny, Donny.
I think I got a bad feeling, a little sneaky,
little dicky dicky sneaky feeling bad beingd that you c
is gonna take the out against University of Arizona, Tucson,
and then I think we're gonna follow that up with

(01:09:47):
that even worse a pharaoh soaking by b Yu provo.

Speaker 4 (01:09:54):
Okay university, Hey Bud, b why you provo?

Speaker 10 (01:10:01):
This is Ronald Higgins talkback on Tony Pike's sin Z
three to sixty featuring Austin Elmore Well Fellas. As a
long suffering Ohio sports fan, all I can think about
is contraction. That's our only hope. Let's combine some of
Ohio's teams and see how we fare. I'm all in
for the Red Guardians. How about the Brown Bengals, And

(01:10:25):
of course you'd have the Ohio State Buckcats.

Speaker 4 (01:10:29):
Oh I'd be the Ohio State Bearcats. And if that
were the case, then Ohio State would win a national
title this year. If they took the best of UC
and the best of what they currently have, they would
win it all.

Speaker 3 (01:10:39):
How many players you see right now would start at
Ohio State do you think? I mean, that's a serious question.
I don't know Royer, although Max player is really good.
Claire's been good, but Royer would challenge him, for sure.
Uh Dante blugging up that notes that would be a competition. Yeah,

(01:11:00):
Golday is old day, absolute freak. You would think he'd
be in that kind.

Speaker 4 (01:11:03):
And I would imagine someone I mean, you see his
offensive line is ridiculous. Someone on that offensive line or
two would be on there.

Speaker 3 (01:11:10):
I didn't mean that in a bad way. Max Fletcher elite, Well,
we don't punt. Well if you need to.

Speaker 21 (01:11:17):
Hey, thirsty Thursday tone.

Speaker 3 (01:11:20):
By the way, you guys should be really careful making
fun of the name. Definitely, don't keep doing that. It's
really don't. Don't do that. Someone's gonna get someone's gonna
have to answer for it. Hey by that, I mean,
you know, hey.

Speaker 21 (01:11:32):
Thirsty Thursday, Tony in Austin. This college basketball Scott has
got me wondering is Austin and Ohio State basketball fan two?
Or is he like most of the fans and a
Duke basketball fan?

Speaker 3 (01:11:49):
First of all? How dare wow? I grew up a
North Carolina fan, but I shifted my allegiances to n
KU and Ohio State.

Speaker 21 (01:11:58):
Hey, the double dip here got a wonder what are
we gonna see for us Ann Rogers's wife Brittany or.

Speaker 3 (01:12:06):
Joe Burrow on the field.

Speaker 4 (01:12:08):
Wow, that's a hard one, Like there are people I've
seen like that, even like wives on the team have
never seen Aaron Rodgers.

Speaker 3 (01:12:16):
Yeah, well, it'd be a great weekend for her to
make her first appearance. Why not? Then Rogers would throw
for like five hundred yep?

Speaker 22 (01:12:24):
Random thought? Do you guys think that the Bengals players
or coaches listen to you guys or other national media
folks and just get an understanding of how terrible their
defense is?

Speaker 3 (01:12:41):
They I hope. So Okay.

Speaker 6 (01:12:43):
Side note, I have not.

Speaker 22 (01:12:45):
Missed Mike's la chatter.

Speaker 3 (01:12:48):
Sorry not sorry.

Speaker 4 (01:12:49):
Let's call it what it is. What the defense was,
not who they are. Al Golden now stretches with the defense.
So let's give them a chance, because he's not done
that yet. Let's give them a chance to see how
they look. I don't know if coaches do. I can
assure you someone from that organization listens.

Speaker 3 (01:13:06):
Oh I know if people in that organization do listen.
I don't. I don't. I don't think they take what
we say. I don't run it up to Duke.

Speaker 4 (01:13:12):
I imagine the players listen to they talked about this
today and I kind of like this idea, What do
you think about?

Speaker 3 (01:13:20):
It? Is really funny though, to picture like Duke Tobin
instead of like he hops in his car to go
get lunch at Skyline across the river and he turns
us on, Oh, here we go again. That's a funny
visual random talk. Oh my god.

Speaker 4 (01:13:40):
If he leaves the facilit you this has been read
and react, Read and react brought to you by it from.

Speaker 11 (01:13:50):
A read and react.

Speaker 3 (01:13:52):
That's what I'm hoping to get. Hey, guys, apparently tackling
dummy just scrambled eighty five yards for touchdown. What is
that sound? Can you tell me that sound? I need that? Hey, guys,
uh Eric, Eric, can you please tell me where you

(01:14:14):
found that sound?

Speaker 6 (01:14:17):
What's up?

Speaker 9 (01:14:17):
Fellas?

Speaker 23 (01:14:18):
So I know the narrative with Burrow coming back is
that it doesn't really matter because the defense stinks. But
I'm looking at time of possession percentage last year with
Burrow starting all the games, it was fifty last game
versus the Bears is forty three percent with Flacco because
I think he has a tendency to score quicker than Burrow.

(01:14:40):
So maybe that eight percent difference means you keep the
defense off the field a bit more.

Speaker 4 (01:14:46):
Okay, maybe I would say that's possible for anything to
keep the defense off the field.

Speaker 3 (01:14:51):
I would also challenge that part of the reason it's
for the defense.

Speaker 24 (01:14:56):
Rep in the city out here. Sonny boys on, you
got lumpy your thowg. But you know what I feel,
you thiss on? A team worries me. They run the
ball good? They six and three, they should be eight
and one. Stop the run and feature Joe Royer in
this offense this weekend and only Poe that matters is
the college football playoff pole, not that top twenty five pole.

Speaker 13 (01:15:17):
That poll is irrelevant.

Speaker 24 (01:15:18):
Now bear Cass, this is your time to take the
city this weekend, Coach Sat, get this win and prove
everybody that we can win big games.

Speaker 25 (01:15:26):
Come on, Hey, yeah, guys, if Joe Burrow is healthy,
he plays okay, period. Yeah, he's the leader of this
football team. And how are you going to expect other
guys to go out there, especially if they're a little
dinged up and give it all they got if your
leader is healthy and not playing, So to me, it's
a slam dunk. If he is healthy, he needs to

(01:15:47):
be out there. Who they Okay? Feel that.

Speaker 4 (01:15:52):
Take position? What Let's say let's say Chase Brown was injured,
and let's say p has put up the numbers that
Chase Brown has over the last three games, and then
Chase Brown's healthy. Would you be saying we'll give Chase
Brown back his starting role? Would you want to see
or continue to see?

Speaker 6 (01:16:10):
What?

Speaker 14 (01:16:10):
Like?

Speaker 4 (01:16:11):
Does that theory Burrow's healthy he plays, Does that ring
true of every position? Or just because it's Joe Burrow? No,
I don't think so, just because it's Joe Burrow.

Speaker 26 (01:16:20):
Yeah, I'll tell you when Joey D's on the show,
he brings some class with them. Shout out to the joker.

Speaker 3 (01:16:32):
Yeah a j Brown.

Speaker 26 (01:16:33):
I like how he he speaks his mind. I mean
sometimes he might be too aggressive, but you know he's
honest and straightforward, which that's good in the sports world
these days, not just blah blah blah.

Speaker 3 (01:16:47):
Yep makes a lot of sense. Well said, makes a lot.
Joey D Does bring a lot to this.

Speaker 13 (01:16:52):
Guru here in well Audie.

Speaker 27 (01:16:54):
I tell you what Tony's phone got me excited earlier.
I heard d me and I thought there was breaking
news on red signing some minor leaguers.

Speaker 9 (01:17:06):
Has been somewhere.

Speaker 4 (01:17:08):
That was actually the breaking news sound of the tackling
dummy that had just gotten loose at practice.

Speaker 3 (01:17:14):
Well, the Reds did make a move today. Whoa They
have named Oscar Marien bullpen coach on the major league staff.
The pitching has been the pitching coach for the Pittsburgh
Pirates with a guy by the name of Paul Skeens
for the last five or six years. Didn't they claim
someone off waivers from the Dodgers as well?

Speaker 11 (01:17:34):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (01:17:34):
Yeah, Ben rorv Ststead or something.

Speaker 4 (01:17:38):
See now, I need Mike to let us know about Ben.

Speaker 19 (01:17:44):
Whatever happened to Harry Carey, whatever happened to Hank Hill
and the guy that the one time left the Robert F.

Speaker 3 (01:17:53):
Kennedy junior.

Speaker 11 (01:17:56):
Man.

Speaker 4 (01:17:56):
Going into the cold and flu season, I feel like
we need to hear from Robert.

Speaker 3 (01:18:01):
Yeah. Especially I feel like he's just dealing with something.
This week. Did you see there was this hilarious video
of him And I'm honestly, God, I'm not trying to
get political. They were doing they were doing, they were
you were doing a thing in the White House about
like a health and safety thing in the Oval Office.

(01:18:22):
And it was the day that guy passed out, which
I find that stuff funny when people pass out. This
guy passes out and you see r F K. He's
like on the other side, he like turns and sprints
out of the room. Didn't offer to help at all.

Speaker 7 (01:18:39):
He just.

Speaker 3 (01:18:43):
Everyone else like goes to help.

Speaker 20 (01:18:45):
This guy's I'll tell you what Mondays through Fridays noon
to three.

Speaker 6 (01:18:51):
Man, you guys are my buds.

Speaker 20 (01:18:53):
Just want to let you know that, Ah take care
of Bud.

Speaker 3 (01:18:57):
Oh thank you. That's I mean, that's heartwarming to you,
isn't it. Man? Yeah, all right, that speaks right to me.
That was our last one. All right, we got football
in the NATI.

Speaker 4 (01:19:09):
Next ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station thanks to CINTI shirts.

Speaker 7 (01:19:17):
Saturday, We're away Kentucky football.

Speaker 15 (01:19:21):
Their cats are hungry for another victory and they're ready
to do some bird hunting. Tennessee Tech Golden Eagles and
your Kentucky Wildcats. UK coverage starts Saturday morning at eleven
thirty on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:19:42):
In the NATI, Brought to you in part by Blood
Light and by Oakley Greens on ESPN fifteen thirty, the
official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 3 (01:19:53):
Welcome back football in the NATI.

Speaker 4 (01:19:54):
Hour number two coming up in our number three, Kegan
Nicholson of Bearcat Journal dot com will you and we'll
talk some Novacare injury concerns going forward, Moagger's here and
so much more. But we do have a football in
the NAUGHTY right now, Austin, what do we have?

Speaker 3 (01:20:08):
How about this? This is from Seth Wickersham and Don
Van Knotta, Junior of ESPN. Seth, the NFL filed a
grievance against the NFL Players Association, asking the union to
stop its annual team report cards, saying the exercise violates

(01:20:30):
the CBA by airing public criticism of teams. According to
documents obtained by ESPN, the league claims the report cards,
which pole players on various aspects of working conditions, violate
a CBA clause that says NFL owners and the union
must use reasonable efforts to curtail public comments by club

(01:20:51):
personnel or players which express criticism of any club, its coach,
or its operation and policy. Wowly the person behind this.
You want to take a guess which NFL owner was
leading the charge against this. Which one that would be
one Woody Johnson of the New York Jets. He called

(01:21:12):
the survey quote totally bogus, shocker. So that's one of
my favorite days of the year on this show. Yeah,
to go through that, it's it's I think this is
soft by the NFL, but feel a little soft. But

(01:21:33):
if it does violate the agreement, well then no one
to blame but yourself if you're the NFLPA, Right, Yeah,
those report cards on fun, though, We have a lot
of fun with them. After months of discussions with the
league after the letter, the NFLPA alerted its players to
the grievance last week and said, quote, it's moving ahead

(01:21:53):
with this year's survey.

Speaker 4 (01:21:56):
One owner told ESPN the quote, the only owners who
don't care for what are the ones who gets subpar grades.

Speaker 3 (01:22:01):
That's true. We have responded to the grievance with our
intention to fight against this action and continue what's clearly
become an effective tool for comparing workplace standards across the
league and equipping you to make informed career decisions. The
NFLPA wrote in an email to its players that is.

Speaker 4 (01:22:24):
Incredible, says it could make you better, but they don't
share how. They just take snippets to embarrass people. M okay, well,
I think I enjoy them. Speaking of Woody Johnson, this
team's an action tonight, that's right, Old Woodrow Jets Patriots.
Any chance, any chance the Jets can shock the Patriots? Yeah,

(01:22:45):
there's always a chance. It's national fourteen and a half
is the number? Oh, my lord, thirteen and a half.
There's always a chance. Man, it's a National Football League.
I think Drake May is now the odds on favor
to win MVP?

Speaker 3 (01:22:56):
Are they? I think so? Did I see today? I
think it was? I want to say kay Adams was
posting this that the Chiefs have become the favorite to
win the Super Bowl on on Fandel Is that real?
Did I make that up? I could have dreamt that,
you well, you might have dreamt it.

Speaker 4 (01:23:14):
The problem is like when if I dream of something
like that, I wake up and I put it on
an alarm on my phone.

Speaker 3 (01:23:19):
Have you like, have you ever had any try that?
I have this iPad with me all the time. I'm
always writing stuff downs. Have you ever gone through like
a period of sleep in your life and I know
you're sleep scheduled last week monk crazy. You ever like
lay down and feels like you're asleep for five minutes? Yes,

(01:23:41):
and boom, it's six o'clock in the morning. Yes, that
has been like the last two weeks for me. I
feel like I took a five minute nap and you're
back and it's six am.

Speaker 4 (01:23:52):
According to Draft Kings, as of today, Matthew Stafford is
the odds on favorite to win the MVP plus two sixty.

Speaker 3 (01:24:02):
What about Super Bowl?

Speaker 4 (01:24:03):
Drake may is plus two seventy five. So those are
your top two? Let's figure out a Super Bowl? Yeah,
right now, Chiefs plus six hundred are the betting favorites
to win the Super Bowl.

Speaker 3 (01:24:16):
Plus six hundred is pretty good value. I feel like
Ram could be worth a sprinkle.

Speaker 4 (01:24:20):
Plus six fifty, and then the Eagles at plus seven fifty,
tied with the Lions.

Speaker 3 (01:24:26):
I don't know if I'm all in on the Eagles.
Going back to back.

Speaker 4 (01:24:29):
The AFC team, the Chiefs are the number one of
the highest odds, and then it's four NFC teams, Rams, Eagles, Lions, Seahawks,
and then you get the Colts and Bills. Ravens are
plus thirteen hundred. The Ravens have better Super Bowl odds
right now than the Patriots, Packers, Broncos, Bucks, Chargers, Niners,
and Bengals. What's Tampa's Tampa plus twenty five hundred. That

(01:24:53):
ain't bad for a sprinkle.

Speaker 3 (01:24:54):
I like that a lot. Bengals plus thirty thousand. What
about Detroit? What are they seven fifty?

Speaker 4 (01:25:01):
Oh man, I'm gonna use bet ten dollars on the
Bengals to win the Super Bowl and you can win
three thousand.

Speaker 3 (01:25:07):
Does the Super Bowl winner hunter come out of the
AFC or the NFC.

Speaker 4 (01:25:12):
As of right now, I'm going to say the AFC
because I think the NFC is going to beat each
other up more in the playoffs.

Speaker 3 (01:25:16):
Okay, interesting, I'll take the other side. I got the NFC,
all right, marinate on that for a second. We'll be
doing let's call it gets get hurt her.

Speaker 4 (01:25:24):
Let's get her the on the on the line. It's
conferences right now, so the kids are at home. Conferences
are a great day. Conferences. Ain't no commissions around? Where
are they couldn't tell you we did have conferences today.
Big day in the Pike House, Wilder and Wesley's conferences.
We'll take a break, we'll come back. We'll put a
bowl on our number two. Next ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati

(01:25:46):
Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (01:25:47):
You've been listening to football in the Natti on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 4 (01:26:05):
Welcome back Sincy three sixty ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station,
thanks to Cincy shirts. Kegan nickoson Bearcat Journal dot Com
will join us in our number three. Kegan is uh
is set to talk all things Bearcats basketball, some Bearcats football.

Speaker 3 (01:26:24):
We look forward to that each and every Thursday. He's
my favorite. Nickoson second favorite, but you know he's my
favorite that's fine. That's to each their own. I was
told I'm his favorite elmore So, we'll also talk to
Brian Growie of Nova Care. In our number three, we'll
get to Moeger. Of course.

Speaker 4 (01:26:42):
Evan on ex Austin came up with the idea for
a discussion topic. Okay, should the Bengals start kicking an
on side kick every time they score? Feels like the
percentage of recoveries and the defense getting to stop is
about the same.

Speaker 3 (01:26:56):
Your thoughts, Yeah, you know, I see, like that crazy.
It's really not that crazy. Desperate times call for desperate measure,
not that crazy. I don't. I don't hate the idea.
I mean, they're one for one on on side kicks
this year. That's one hundred percent, by the way saying,

(01:27:16):
But yet I think I'd go for it. Might help
with the time of possession issue we discussed earlier.

Speaker 4 (01:27:20):
Time of possession would be helped drink the field strength field.

Speaker 3 (01:27:24):
Yeah, if they're going to give up touchdowns, might as
well not give up yards.

Speaker 6 (01:27:28):
I love it.

Speaker 3 (01:27:29):
You win the time of possession, you win the total yardage.
Can you imagine you can put up banners for that
if you do, like, let's say, you recover one a game.
I know that's a tall task, but is you steal
one extra possession? Again?

Speaker 4 (01:27:42):
I mean, DEFENSI philosophy is the same. Anyway, you're going
to give up yards and hope to hold them to
a field goal instead of a touchdown, So might as
well just get them closer to that field goal to
start the drive.

Speaker 3 (01:27:50):
Well, I guess we'll find out if they listen to
us at pay Course Stadium or not. Can you imagine
Zach in his office right now?

Speaker 4 (01:27:55):
I don't think Zach, but imagine someone listening and being
like I would imagine Gosh.

Speaker 3 (01:28:00):
Would imagine Zach listens his friends probably tell them, Hey,
there's only one guy in this city who actually gives
you the benefit of the doubt.

Speaker 4 (01:28:05):
His named Austin Olmore. Exactly, you're not gonna believe this.
There's this dude Evan on social media and he tweeted
it Tony and Austin. You know, since he three to
sixty Tony in Austin, and he said, wouldn't be a
bad idea to kick on sides every time after you score?

Speaker 3 (01:28:18):
Odds are about the same. What do you think? You know?
What's actually crazy? Is I wouldn't put it past Darren
Simmons to actually come up with this idea. Imagine like
a coaches meeting. Simmons is like, I gotta hear me out.
I gotta hear me out. Man. We're solving issues right now.
I don't think it's not the worst idea right here,
right now. That's good for Evan. By the way, thank you, Evan. Uh.

Speaker 4 (01:28:41):
Shout out to Evan man, Evan for giving us a discussion.
Shout out to f We'll take a break, Keegan nickoson net.
Evan might know ball, He's a ball. Numb might be
a ball. No, he's a ball. Number ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station. Life's biggest moments deserve as.

Speaker 2 (01:28:57):
Tony Pikes since Greece.

Speaker 1 (01:29:00):
Six About Cincinnati from Cincinnati, Sponsored in hardby Penn Station
East Coast Subs. Handcraft it hot grilled subs, fresh cut fries,
in lemonade. It's all about good taste. Penn Station East
Coast Subs orderum line today. This is ESPN fifteen thirty,

(01:29:20):
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (01:29:24):
Thank you to Penn Station.

Speaker 4 (01:29:26):
As we get underway here our number three ESBN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station let's talk Bearcats. A huge one at
Nippert Stadium on Saturday, Bearcat basketball plays on Sunday, and
then of course a huge matchup against Louisville at Heritage
Bank Arena next Friday night, and then BYU comes into town.
So picking up here for the Cincinnati Bearcats. So let's

(01:29:49):
spend time talking about said Bearcats. Austin's favorite, my second favorite, Nickoson.
It's Keegan Nickoson joining us right now from Bearcat Journal
dot com.

Speaker 3 (01:29:57):
Hi, Keegan Hike, can you sound healthy? You sound well?
You sound much better than the flu game that you
had to push through.

Speaker 28 (01:30:08):
Well, that's ironic because I actually had food poisoning yesterday.

Speaker 6 (01:30:12):
So I'm I'm really uh. My recovery rate is very
good in terms of them being out for a day.
But I'm doing solid.

Speaker 3 (01:30:21):
Do you know, like what it was that you ate?
You don't have to give like a name brand or anything,
but do you know what it was?

Speaker 6 (01:30:30):
There's no one in this world I fear more than
Zack Stipe, So I'm not going to bring it up.

Speaker 3 (01:30:40):
I'll take that and run. Kagan.

Speaker 4 (01:30:43):
Let's let's talk about what was at Fit Third Arena
against the Dayton flyers, because I feel like you could
be on both sides of this one sloppy twenty four
turnovers Dayton makes seven percent of their three, But on
the other end, you still find a way to win
the game by twelve points, and talking about a win

(01:31:06):
while having things to fix is a lot better than
a loss. How did you view the I would say,
how do you view the effort that you saw from
this Bearcat team against Dayton?

Speaker 28 (01:31:20):
I think you see was just the better team at
the end of the day. I think they were bigger
and better And basically I would say every facet except
for turnovers, and you know, if you want to put
a spin zone on it, you can say, well, we
know the one thing they have to work on over
three games, because the turnovers have been like that kind
of really bright flashing warning sign.

Speaker 6 (01:31:42):
And I think it's mainly due to the fast pace
that they're playing with.

Speaker 28 (01:31:46):
It's different than what you see's played with in the
past two years. And Wes Miller is not someone who
is going to see the struggles with the pace and
then just kind of change course.

Speaker 6 (01:31:59):
He sounds like he's really committed to it. So it's
definitely something that they had to flesh.

Speaker 28 (01:32:06):
Out with that kind of increased chemistry. But maybe the
turnovers are just something that it's not going to be
twenty four is I think how many they had against Stayton.
It's not going to be like that every night. But
that could be a weak spot for this team. But
when you get to that eight minute mark of a
second half and you're wearing down the opposition, that's when

(01:32:26):
they can kind of take over.

Speaker 6 (01:32:28):
And that's what you saw against Dayton. So they played well.

Speaker 28 (01:32:31):
I think they shot it pretty well when they actually
couldn't shoot the ball and didn't turn it over because
I think at some point they had turned it over
in twenty or fifty possessions, which isn't.

Speaker 6 (01:32:42):
Great, but you know they I think they were just
more talented.

Speaker 3 (01:32:47):
The talent level is high on this team.

Speaker 4 (01:32:49):
What do you make of the style in which they've
been able to play through the first three Again, the
level of competition will pick up, but it does feel
like a team last year they were just searching. At times,
you could see the possession unfolding where there wasn't much
ball movement. It became a rough shot at the end.
I thought at times against Dayton they might have had
one or two passes too many. But it does feel

(01:33:12):
different the way this team operates offensively in trying to
push it if it's not there.

Speaker 3 (01:33:16):
They do share the ball.

Speaker 28 (01:33:17):
Well, yeah, there's a lot of ball movement, definitely more
than what I've seen in the past couple of years.

Speaker 6 (01:33:23):
And that really starts with per Crisa.

Speaker 28 (01:33:26):
And you even see him kind of making those no
looks behind the back passes that end up going straight
out of bounds because he's expecting a teammate a teammate
to be somewhere that they aren't. But I think when
you talk about talent, you talk about style, you have
to go to Seanabia and Baba.

Speaker 6 (01:33:43):
Miller, those two guys that are kind of.

Speaker 28 (01:33:46):
Raising the roof and getting the fans really excited. A
Baya hits two turnaround threes, one while he's getting found
and literally falling into the lap of someone that was
sitting in half court, just like really really great play,
and Baba Miller's reaching all the way back and getting
an al oop.

Speaker 6 (01:34:05):
I think, and I've.

Speaker 28 (01:34:06):
Mentioned it before, but those three players and Miller, Abiah
and Sham are gonna be kind of the catalyst of
what the Cincinnati team can be. Sham's kind of struggled
a little bit, at least offensively, but you see his
ability on the defensive end, kind of similar to his
E's mandego, where you just see his arm reach out
and you wonder, I don't know how anyone shoots over.

Speaker 6 (01:34:28):
That guy.

Speaker 28 (01:34:30):
Hasn't wrapped up the blocks as many as people might
have thought that he would so far, But I think
that you'll start to see that kind of increases he
gets more comfortable.

Speaker 6 (01:34:39):
But yeah, those three are great. Kerkkrisa been really good.

Speaker 28 (01:34:44):
And then another guy who isn't getting into a lot
of notice is Jalen Celesting, but he just comes in
and he hits those few threes and big spots, and
he hit one that kind of barked a run and
gave him some momentum when they were struggling against.

Speaker 6 (01:34:57):
Dayton and it helped the time.

Speaker 4 (01:35:00):
Is there anything you can do, personally, Keegan to help
this team with their free throw shooting?

Speaker 28 (01:35:06):
You know, I really don't think so. You kind of
almost have to bake in that they're going to make
under sixty five percent of the free throws in the
game plan, so you have to go somewhere else.

Speaker 6 (01:35:16):
Wes Miller was actually talking about it at his radio
show last week, and I think it was after the
Western Carolina game. He turned around to Dan Horde and
Terry or it might have been Dan Hord know during
that game and said, is there like a curse on
the Cincinnati free throws?

Speaker 28 (01:35:34):
And I think that he kind of just didn't believe
it after the first four years, but now that it's
been five, he's like, Okay, this is actually like out
of our control. So I'm not sure when guys like
Shanabaya or missing them Bass, when it's more obvious because
he's supposed to be like one of the best shooters
Jeordie Rodriguez, other guys who are just supposed to be

(01:35:55):
really really good shooters, it almost feels like.

Speaker 6 (01:35:57):
There's a curse.

Speaker 28 (01:35:58):
But you know, I I think it was the first
player to make all at least ten of their attempts
make all of them.

Speaker 6 (01:36:07):
Dayde Thomas did it against Dayton. The other time was
in twenty twelve.

Speaker 28 (01:36:11):
Yeah, so when you don't have that kind of consistency,
maybe there's some voodoo or crazy stuff going on.

Speaker 4 (01:36:18):
I have to ask because this is always fascinating to me,
and I know early in the season, you play a
lot of guys when all is said and done with
this team, like we saw, Jordi Rodriguez and Keishan Tillery's
minutes were eliminated in the second half against Dayton, and
they did not play particularly well. Both had two turnovers
in a short amount of time in the first half.

(01:36:38):
When all is said and done, what do you think
the ideal number is for a rotation in the Big
twelve to have the most success.

Speaker 28 (01:36:47):
I think Wes has actually said before that the rotation
actually needs to grow instead of shrink when you get
to conference play. I think it needs to be around nine,
but that has to be nine guys who can really
really compete and help you. Like, it's not putting someone
on the floor that's going to struggle just for the

(01:37:08):
sake of having a longer rotation that gives some guys,
some breeders and some breaks. I think it's nine to ten,
and you know, I don't really know it's weird.

Speaker 6 (01:37:21):
I would go with nine to ten and then just
kind of always try to have your best players on
the floor as much as possible, because you've seen how
that's worked for Uce. So yeah, I would go nine
to ten.

Speaker 4 (01:37:35):
The matchup against Louisville. Louisville's a great basketball team. We
just watched what they did to Kentucky on Tuesday night.
Everyone knows Pat Kelsey's got a very talented team. How
far could a win next Friday go for Wes Miller
and this team and the trajectory because it feels like
one of those wins against an opponent that has just
eluded Wes Miller. You're essentially playing it at your backyard

(01:37:57):
at Heritage Bank. But how far would it go to
find a way to win that game on Friday night?
For not only this team, but for Wes in general.

Speaker 6 (01:38:06):
It would be absolutely huge.

Speaker 28 (01:38:08):
I think it would do a ton for their kind
of their trendiness around the country and what people think
of this team because you know, they're not ranked in
the AP top twenty five. They're around like thirty six
or thirty seven in terms of Ken Palm where he's
looking at him. So I think it would do a ton.

(01:38:28):
Louisville is legitimately.

Speaker 6 (01:38:30):
A Final four contender. I mean, that's how good that
team is.

Speaker 28 (01:38:33):
And you saw what they did to former Bearcat Eric
Martin South Carolina State team.

Speaker 6 (01:38:37):
I think it was like some like fifty to like
eight at halftime or something like that. Just a blowout.

Speaker 28 (01:38:46):
And I mean, Pat Kelsey's a great coach, Michael Brown
is a really really good guard who a lot of
people are talking about as a lottery pick.

Speaker 6 (01:38:55):
But this is a game where Cincinnati just kind of
has to establish identity.

Speaker 28 (01:38:58):
If you're going to be a team that plays with
a ton of pace, go and wear Louisville down for
some mistakes and have a really good shooting night.

Speaker 6 (01:39:06):
Maybe have a really good shooting night from the free
throw line once in your life, and just kind of
wear away at that Louisville team.

Speaker 28 (01:39:14):
But you know, it'd be a great thing to kind
of get people back on West's side. A lot of people,
including myself, don't really know what this team's gonna be,
and through three games, we don't have that much more clarity.
We've got some kind of like you know, Shana Bay,
It's been pretty consistently good. Baba Miller could be one
of the better players in the entire Big Twelve.

Speaker 6 (01:39:35):
But beating that Louisville team, especially in like an old
rivalry type game, it would put Cincinnati on the map,
especially in front of your home crowd, even though I
would expect it to be close to fifty to fifty,
if at the very least sixty forty. With Louisville fans.

Speaker 4 (01:39:52):
Talk a little bit, let's switch to the football side
a few more minutes. You with Keegan nickoson Bearcat journal
dot com. Everyone asked over the bye Kegan, what's different
about this year's team compared to last year's team, the
team that started five and two and then lost their
final five. I thought, I don't know if it was
much as being exposed against Utah, but receivers struggled at
times to get open. Brendan Swarsby didn't have his best day.

(01:40:14):
The special teams unit resorted back to what we've seen
in the past, and that was not great defense, couldn't
get the stops when necessary. What gives you more confidence
that the Utah game was more of just a one
off and not something that's going to be the norm
going forward.

Speaker 6 (01:40:31):
Yeah, I don't really know about that game being a
one off.

Speaker 28 (01:40:36):
If I'm being completely honest, if they play Utah on
a nutral site, hypothetically, I think Utah probably wins, and
probably wins by seven to ten. Like, I didn't take
much from that game to be like, oh this is
this is kind of fluky. Now you saw the special
teams lapses, you saw the fumble in the in the
red zone after a big play, which that's where you

(01:40:59):
can look at it. But you know, Utah just dominated
them up front.

Speaker 6 (01:41:04):
They brought a ton of pressure and they played really
tight man.

Speaker 28 (01:41:08):
And if I'm being completely honest, if a team's gonna
do that, and they're gonna be able to do that,
like Arizona, I think they're playing on playing a lot
of man, but I don't know if they have the
horses that Utah has. If a team's gonna do that,
U see is gonna have trouble in all honesty, And
it's not because they're not a talented team, but I
just don't know if they're up to that level of talent.

Speaker 6 (01:41:30):
That the Utahs and Texas Tech have so far.

Speaker 28 (01:41:34):
So I'd be really interested to see what if Texas
Tech versus u SE showdown would look like in Dallas.

Speaker 6 (01:41:40):
That's a big twelve championship because it's kind of the
that's kind of what everyone is looking forward to. It's
the most likely scenario. But yeah, I don't know if
that was fluky.

Speaker 28 (01:41:50):
I still think that they're gonna go free and o
in these last three games and they're gonna play for
Big Twelve championship. Despite I think k Ford today said
there's an eighty five percent chance they go one and.

Speaker 6 (01:42:02):
Two down the stretch.

Speaker 28 (01:42:04):
But I think this is a really, really good Cincinnati team.
Just other certain teams in the Big Twelve offer a
matchup that don't really give them a great chance to
be able to come out victorious health wise.

Speaker 4 (01:42:16):
Does it feel like they're close to back being where
they need to be? Golday was banged up, Dante Corleone's
been banged up, Evan Pryor didn't play coming out of
the by. Does this team feel healthy?

Speaker 28 (01:42:27):
Evan Pryor was questionable and Caleb Goodie was questionable on
the latest availability report, So we're going to be looking
up for those guys and seeing if they're playing at
least in the game day update.

Speaker 6 (01:42:40):
So I think that they're.

Speaker 28 (01:42:41):
Definitely getting healthier. Golde is fine, and I think Dat
Day Crolyon is.

Speaker 6 (01:42:46):
I actually think Datae Croleone is going to really pop
off in these last three games.

Speaker 28 (01:42:51):
I think he's going to have kind of that that
mindset of these are my last three games as a Bearcat,
We've got everything in front of us to kind of
etch our name down in history and get to that
Big twelve championship game, be the first team to get
to a Big twelve championship game. So I think I
think he'll have a big three games. Maybe he gets
to one hundred percent health. And like I said, Goade

(01:43:13):
is one hundred percent healthy. So I think they're trending
in that direction. But those two question marks of Goody
and Evan Pryor, those are two big games that we're
going to be looking out for on Saturday.

Speaker 4 (01:43:24):
So many people all they want to do is talk
about the BYU game next weekend. And here comes an
Arizona team that took BYU to overtime. They had a
ten point lead in the fourth quarter, lost eventually in
ot Houston beat him at the gun at Houston. Houston
is eight and two. They have a loss at Iowa State.
This is a good defense in Arizona. It's a quarterback

(01:43:45):
in Noah Fafida who's got over twenty two hundred yards
passing in twenty three touchdowns with only four interceptions. I
caution I have cautioned a lot of Bearcap fans that
this is a good Arizona team. How much of a
challenge does this team possess this Cincinnati bearcatch group on Saturday.

Speaker 28 (01:44:04):
Yeah, if I'm completely honest, I think they have a
better chance of losing to Arizona at Bold than they
do of losing to TCU on the road. Like Scott
Saderfield said it, Jason Sheer, who covers Arizona for two
poor seven, I talked to him and he said it.
This team's six points from being eight and one. Like
a lot of fans have talked about UC over the

(01:44:26):
past couple of years and then those one score games,
just how close they were. This team is that close
to being tied with Texas Tech and Cincinnati for the
lead in the Big twelve and BYU And it's those
close games.

Speaker 6 (01:44:42):
It's the last second things, it's the small plays.

Speaker 28 (01:44:48):
So I think Noah Flafida is a veteran quarterback who's
having a really, really good year despite losing Teedo McMillan,
which is probably one of the best wide receivers in
Arizona history, who playing with.

Speaker 6 (01:45:00):
The Carolina Panthers now and having a really great rookie season.

Speaker 28 (01:45:03):
The defense is I think number nineteen in points per
game and number thirty in yards per game, so they're
playing really well and the offense is around the same numbers.

Speaker 6 (01:45:13):
So it's a really really good team. The weakness is
the rush defense, and that's where.

Speaker 28 (01:45:18):
I'm going to look for Scott Saderfield to establish the
run game on Saturday and then hit those play action shots.

Speaker 6 (01:45:25):
So what I'm looking for is defense, step up, get
a couple.

Speaker 28 (01:45:30):
Stops to start the game, and then the offense just
takes that traditional two possession maybe even three possession lead
at halftime, and then the opposition is obviously gonna like
come back and call back and they're going to I
think Arizona will be in a spot where there it's
turnover away from maybe time to game, like we've seen
against UCF in Iowa State. But that's where Brendan Soworthy's

(01:45:54):
talent and how good he's playing comes in. And then
you see feels at thirty four or twenty four victory.

Speaker 4 (01:46:00):
Higher likelihood you see winning the final three in football,
or uc beating Louisville next Friday.

Speaker 6 (01:46:07):
Night winning the final three in football.

Speaker 28 (01:46:11):
Okay, and that's not me saying that you see is
not a good basketball team, because I think they are.

Speaker 6 (01:46:18):
And if I had to pick right now, I think
that they would make the tournament.

Speaker 28 (01:46:22):
But I think Louisville is a legit Final Four contender,
and I think they're gonna have a really, really good season.

Speaker 6 (01:46:27):
They're well coached and they have a ton of talent.

Speaker 4 (01:46:30):
Kegan, you're the best, well, you're the second best out
of your family. But we enjoy your time here for
Bearcat journal dot com. What's the easiest way people can
follow along with everything you got coming out?

Speaker 6 (01:46:41):
Follow k Nicholson forty two on Twitter, and then also
make sure you subscribe to Barricutt Journal. Check out my
story I did.

Speaker 28 (01:46:48):
On Jack Grant and Jack Griffith and the football teams
player personnel Department, one of my favorite stories I've ever
written at DCJ. Those two are great and they've done
a great job of flipping the football since they took over.
So had a ton of sun right now, real.

Speaker 4 (01:47:03):
Real quick on that, just a brief overview because I
saw the piece. I don't think people realize the detail
that they've brought to their jobs at the University of Cincinnati.
Just tease that piece a little bit for people that
may not be familiar.

Speaker 28 (01:47:18):
Yeah, it's basically centered around the how they attacked the
transfer portal and how they're doing it differently than other schools,
kind of like a in a moneyball aspect of if
we look at the transfer portal like Georgia and Ohio
State and LSU, it's not going to be good.

Speaker 6 (01:47:35):
So we have to do something.

Speaker 28 (01:47:36):
Differently to find a different approach. And basically their biggest
thing is time on task and watching filmy. They evaluated
and scouted twenty two seventy eight players from the end
of the twenty twenty four season, or from the beginning
of the twenty twenty four portal to the end of
the twenty twenty five portal. When they took twenty one

(01:47:58):
of those players. Wow, and now two thousand Boston College
twenty two thousand. So they watched the tape and that
now you had Boston College's head coach Bill O'Brien going
in from the media and saying, yeah, the portal is
really hard.

Speaker 6 (01:48:12):
You don't really know how to attack it.

Speaker 28 (01:48:14):
You don't, I mean, there's just no way to really
get a gauge for anything. And then sinc Natty sees
that and says, you could just work really really hard,
and then if someone happens to go on the portal,
you know that this is a guy you can attack
and watch.

Speaker 6 (01:48:28):
So that's basically the long and short of it. It
was a ton of fun. Those guys are great, and
make sure you try to go read.

Speaker 3 (01:48:34):
That awesome, awesome stuff. Keegan.

Speaker 4 (01:48:35):
We're always appreciating your time, man. I look forward to
seeing you this weekend. Have a great rest of the week.
Careful what you eat.

Speaker 6 (01:48:42):
Yeah, thanks, Sonny, I'll try.

Speaker 4 (01:48:44):
Thanks Keegan. That's Keegan nickoson Bearcat journal dot com.

Speaker 3 (01:48:47):
That's cool man. How about that though, have you ever
had food poisoning? Yes, it's the worst.

Speaker 4 (01:48:52):
How about twenty two thousand players in order to get
what twenty one or twenty two of them?

Speaker 3 (01:48:57):
That's very impressive. That's a ton of work man, and
it is.

Speaker 4 (01:49:00):
It's true like you don't have the resources that the
top dogs have, so the only way you're gonna do
it is to work harder.

Speaker 3 (01:49:05):
Yeah. Good on them for trying to come up with
a plan that works to their advantage and you know,
fits kind of their style of play. I wonder if
Nick Crawl was consolable Get crawled, Get Crawled, Maybe WHITTBA.

Speaker 4 (01:49:19):
We come back. Let's keep the ball rolling. It's Thursday.
Our friends at the University in Cincinnati and novacare always
willing to help us out talk some injury things happening
across the National Football League. Brian Growie of Novacare joins
us next on the home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 13 (01:49:42):
Welcome back.

Speaker 4 (01:49:43):
It is since e three to sixty hour number three
on a Thursday afternoon, rolling right along on ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Let's spend some time on the
injury front, and let's do so with a guest from
our good friends at Novacare. Brian Growie is joining us
today on behalf of Novacare and Brian, first of all,

(01:50:05):
how are you doing.

Speaker 14 (01:50:07):
I am doing very well, Tony, Thanks for having me today.

Speaker 4 (01:50:09):
Absolutely absolutely the world of football, we are always seeing
injuries throughout the game, and we saw a pretty nasty
one with the injury to Jaydeon Daniels a few games
ago and got me thinking a little bit about something
that I've went through. I've fractured my arm twice when

(01:50:29):
I was at the University of Cincinnati. Let's talk a
little bit about dislocations or fractured dislocations and just what
that looks like to a trainer when you initially get
that diagnosis.

Speaker 14 (01:50:42):
Absolutely, it's one of those injury patterns that I would
say is fodder for clickbait. It always looks gruesome, and
you know, it's one of those things where you don't
want to look at it, but you also don't want
to look away. When people end up injuring their joint
and dislocating it, the number one thing is trying to
get the joint back in place, and that's exactly what

(01:51:03):
you know an athletic trainer or a physician is going
to do.

Speaker 2 (01:51:05):
On the sideline those ones.

Speaker 14 (01:51:07):
That are the elbow fractures and or dislocations, you know,
they can come in different varieties. You can either have
a dislocation or you can have a dislocation with a fracture,
and typically those are going to be the ones that
we discuss getting reduced and even sometimes needing surgery.

Speaker 4 (01:51:25):
When you think about not only the need for surgery,
but what else are you concerned with when you see
a dislocation, About that not only with the fracture itself,
but maybe what's.

Speaker 14 (01:51:33):
Around that you know, Tony, that's a great question in
regards to injury to any extremity, especially the dislocation.

Speaker 3 (01:51:43):
The first and.

Speaker 14 (01:51:44):
Foremost thing, we want to make sure that the patient
has a pulse. Do they have an injury to a
neurovascular structure, because we want to make sure that the
patient gets sent to the right place at the right time.
Do we need to send them to the hospital. Do
they have an injury to an artery? Do they have
an injury to a nerve? Especially if you're traveling you know,

(01:52:05):
as you know with collegiing or professional athletics, those doctors
and those athletic trainers could be on the road and
they may need to send them to an outside hospital
to be sure that the limb is okay.

Speaker 4 (01:52:18):
So with Jade and Daniels a couple of weeks ago,
obviously the worry is at first how gruesome it looks,
and then you're making sure to test the ligament damage.
And for Jadan Daniels did not have any ligament damage,
so he avoided a seizon ending injury. Obviously still going
to be out quite some time. But how different of
a rehab process, how much more severity are you adding

(01:52:39):
if there were ligament damage around that fracture.

Speaker 6 (01:52:43):
Yeah.

Speaker 14 (01:52:43):
I mean when guys dislocate their joints and have ligament damage,
typically that does occur. It's those fractures that actually get
a little bit more tricky in terms of idiosyncrasies associated
with do you need surgery do you not need surgery?
But thankfully, when guys have the dislocation and do not
end up with any sort of ligamentous injury that would

(01:53:04):
affect their position. You know, because we're personalizing this with
everybody time and place, you know, what's your position, what
do you need to do to compete? What do you
need to do to compete at the highest level. But
I would say a good timeline associated with the dislocation
is first getting the range of motion back over the
next cup, over the first few weeks, getting the swelling down,

(01:53:27):
and then getting their strength back over the next few
weeks after that, and typically we're looking at four to
six weeks on on most dislocations that do not require
surgery when.

Speaker 3 (01:53:37):
You're talking about getting back.

Speaker 4 (01:53:38):
I think one of the unique things with injuries, there
are some injuries that feel like you run the risk
of re injuring that same area, and there are some
injuries you're healed and you never think about it again.
When you talk about a fracture, you talk about something
as we're discussing here, is there a inherent risk at
suffering some type of re injury at some point.

Speaker 14 (01:54:01):
Yeah, that's another great question when we look at guys
that play contact sports like football, because you know, they're basically,
you know, getting into a car accident multiple times during
a game, and they're putting their bodies at risk. When
we're talking about fractures, I think we usually try to
dicotomize them between you know, weight bearing and non weight bearing.

(01:54:22):
You know, is it part of your extremity that you're
running on or is this more a situation where it's
a smaller bone like a finger. And I think all
of them run the risk of being reinjured. And then
I think it just depends upon, you know, risk to
the player and what they're willing to undergo to get
back onto the field. But you see it all the

(01:54:42):
time and guys they break their collarbone, they go back
too soon and then they rebreak it. Or we see
guys with a fibular fracture down at their foot or
ankle area and they break that and then they're back
in six weeks and they're good to go. So we
try to personalize it again based upon sort of the
what the risk is and then what does that mean

(01:55:03):
if they rebreak it, does that mean then they're going.

Speaker 6 (01:55:05):
To need surgery and then they're going to be out
the season. So it's a balance.

Speaker 4 (01:55:09):
I know there are some injuries that you take on
and you can maybe even play before you're back to
one hundred percent. You could pad it up, you could
play with some type of brace, depending on obviously where
the fracture or the dislocation would happen. Is this the
type of injury that you could protect in a certain

(01:55:29):
way and get back for a quarterback, Let's let's say
a right handed quarterback that hurts his left arm, or
are you making sure it's one hundred percent healthy before
you're getting back out there.

Speaker 14 (01:55:41):
So in my opinion and in my experience, I would say,
especially with these higher level athletes, that when you get
into the NFL, they want to be out there.

Speaker 6 (01:55:50):
A lot of these guys just love.

Speaker 14 (01:55:52):
Playing the game and it's what they've dreamed of doing
and are really trying to be aggressive about trying to
get back on the field, and even in the all
the way down to the high school athletes. You know,
sometimes as medical professionals, the athletic trainers and the doctors,
you know, we're protecting them from their cells, from themselves
as much as anything else. In regard specifically to an

(01:56:12):
elbow injury like that that you're describing, I would say,
you know, even in the throwing arm, that would be
a pretty low likelihood that you would redislocate it once
it kind of heals up over the first couple of weeks.
So as long as they can compete in their position
and protect themselves out on the field, I would be
pretty bullish about getting that quarterback back onto the field.

Speaker 4 (01:56:35):
Awesome stuff, man, Brian, this was so helpful for us.
We can't thank you enough for your time. We appreciate
certainly the University of Cincinnati and Novacare, and again, thank
you for your time. I look forward to catching up
again soon.

Speaker 14 (01:56:49):
Thanks, Tony.

Speaker 6 (01:56:50):
Have a great day.

Speaker 4 (01:56:51):
Absolutely that is Brian growie with our good friends at Novacare.
From traveling to the game, walking to your seats, and
partaking in postgame celebration, your body can take a bat
from all the activity on game day at Novacare Rehabilitation.
They understand how important it is for fans to be
there to root for their team. Through the power physical therapy.
You don't need to let as pains or injury keep
you from the game. Find a center near you at

(01:57:12):
novacare dot com. Today we're moving right along. Cinty three
sixty hour three on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports.

Speaker 2 (01:57:18):
Station, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (01:57:30):
Welcome back Cincy three sixty thanks to Penn Station on
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station. Thanks for listening, Thanks
for being a part of our afternoon here each and
every day, Friday edition. Sad to say, Austin, we don't
get Tommy G.

Speaker 3 (01:57:45):
Tomorrow. I'm told load management, load management season for Tommy G. Tomasclaric.
All right, he's earned it, all right, he's earned it.
I mean, you can't make fun of him. I got
none to say it took a whole week off earlier,
like last two weeks. I thing a couple of weeks,
so now I'm paying for it. And many ways. What

(01:58:05):
else we got going on today?

Speaker 6 (01:58:07):
Uh?

Speaker 3 (01:58:08):
In a few minutes, me to go to my notes
here see what ELSEO had written.

Speaker 4 (01:58:11):
What do you doing the rest of your afternoon? What's
that look like? It's a nice day outside, whether you know,
you get to enjoy a little bit of the weather.

Speaker 3 (01:58:17):
No, okay, go down the hall and produce another show.
Then what on another station? Then what? And then I'm
gonna go home, and you know, I'll be honest. I
neglected my apartment a little bit, so that easy to
be cleaned up, okay, And after that, I just wait
for football to come on. Okay, I might play some

(01:58:39):
video games. I've been playing Battlefield six with my friends.
So you're done with uh, you're done with Madden? Your
Madden League over? Well, I'm on a bye week. Oh yeah,
we're nine and one at the bye week. Okay, yeah, okay,
just disposed of a couple of good teams. You know,
you got to be careful when you don't address things
at the house for a while. Yeah, And I have

(01:59:00):
done that for I think since we moved in, basically
to where like I have a pile of clothes, Yeah
that are clean, but they're just kind of laid there.

Speaker 4 (01:59:10):
Yeah, so mayor mayor has this thing since we've moved in,
we just had we we we brought way too much junk.
I'm kind of what they call a hoarder. Oh Mayor
is not. I wish mayors not. She despises the hoarding.
I don't throw stuff away. And I think since we

(01:59:31):
moved into our home, Mayor has done two things. She's
constantly looking at houses and what other houses do to
their interiors. Sure, and then like once, I would say
every other week for probably two years, she has texted
me about getting a dumpster for our yard to just
throw crap away.

Speaker 14 (01:59:50):
And I.

Speaker 4 (01:59:52):
Finally broke down and got a dumpster. And you know
what today is dumpster day. Oh so you got to
clean the house out. Oh my god, I'm not looking
forward to it. We have we have two main areas,
so our basement, like our storage in the basement is
full of garbage, not like food guard like just stuff
we don't use anymore. In our garage. I'm not worried

(02:00:14):
about the garage, but the stuff in the basement that
you're gonna like carry up steps and out the front door,
I don't even I don't want to do it today.

Speaker 3 (02:00:21):
I know that you have a nice piece of Ohio
state memorabilia that might already be in the dumpster in
your basement. Yes, that doesn't have a place on the wall.
It doesn't. I'll take it off your hands.

Speaker 4 (02:00:33):
Okay, it might be the thing dumpster. Let this be
my contribution. Okay, Well your contribution would probably be coming
over and help load the dumpster.

Speaker 3 (02:00:42):
Well I have to be paid to do that. You'd
be paid with memorabilia. Oh it's bad.

Speaker 4 (02:00:50):
Like you send a couple of text out like family
members and they just none of them text back. Yeah, no,
hell okay if anyone's got any time, and then it's
just silence. Yeah, you don't hear a thing from anybody.
I do have won this day in sports history?

Speaker 3 (02:01:02):
Are you ready for? It was on this day in
nineteen seventy oh that the Sydney Yellow Jackets completed their
run of dominance oh thirty consecutive victories. The Yellow Jackets
and the seniors in that class didn't lose in the
eighth grade, so they went something like forty games in

(02:01:25):
a row. That's crazy without loving, that is insane. So today,
right now, Sydney Memorial Stadium thirty and oh field is
where all the games are played, named after those great teams.
It's field. No, it's not, Yes, it is Sidney Memorial
Stadium thirty and oh Field, Oh my gosh. And it's

(02:01:47):
uh write this down. Oh, that's got to be a lot.
No Sydney Stadium, Sydney Memorial thirty and oh Stadium thirty
and oh Field, Oh, Sydney Memorial Stadium thirty and oh Field. Okay,
what's wrong with that? Nothing? Honor the legacy, live in
the present. Man. That would never happen at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Yeah,

(02:02:12):
you're just talking about veterans.

Speaker 4 (02:02:13):
Oh, we weren't talking about what the teams did and
this and that. Just anyway, congratulations, happy anniversary, this day
in sports history.

Speaker 3 (02:02:20):
Shout out to the Shout out to Sydney Man seventy
team who went to Sydney Memorial thirty and oh Fields. No,
Sydney Memorial Stadium at thirty and oh Field. It's like
Geha Field at Arrowhead YEP, I got it now. Yeah,
I'm gonna use that going forward. I don't know that
we've gotten thirty wins since nineteen seventy.

Speaker 4 (02:02:41):
Mo is waiting to join us for Quick Hits next
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station y.

Speaker 12 (02:02:47):
Cincinnati Mids Time for Cincy three sixty quick hits on
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (02:02:53):
Was looking for mo. Moe's in the house.

Speaker 4 (02:02:55):
He's getting ready for the Mo Legger Show, ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (02:02:58):
How you doing, Mo, I'm really good. I'm really good.
How about you, guys?

Speaker 4 (02:03:02):
Okay, you can turn the ball, Jalen Brunson, I am
any good reports Yet he was.

Speaker 7 (02:03:08):
Seen exiting Madison Square Garden wearing crutches. He should not
have been in the game when he got hurt. They
should have pulled him. Next those last night, first time
at home all year long. Next have lost bulls have
lost a lot. Yeah, Shine's coming off that a little
bit as well.

Speaker 3 (02:03:20):
So nothing from you guys about my big news on LinkedIn?
Checked LinkedIn yet? Just what happened? Are you something about
employee of the Year something?

Speaker 22 (02:03:32):
What?

Speaker 7 (02:03:33):
I have been named vice president of strategic content for
the Moegger Show.

Speaker 3 (02:03:39):
Really? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (02:03:41):
Who's the president? Well, we haven't figured that out yet. Okay,
we did get a talkback from you. Oh can we
just share? Someone is going through audio clips of you.
This is the second time he's done it and putting
together conversations and talk back for him.

Speaker 3 (02:03:56):
I can't wait to hear this. This is Mike and
Independence here with talkback Mode. We pour water into our
hands and drink it like you're in a lake or something.

Speaker 16 (02:04:11):
Don't you have a cup?

Speaker 7 (02:04:12):
Not?

Speaker 3 (02:04:13):
I not now? Actual cups? What about all those cups
in the closet.

Speaker 13 (02:04:18):
We have cups?

Speaker 7 (02:04:20):
I will I will probably not outlive our cup supply.
That's how many cups we have. And it is glorious
just over the sheer volume of cups. And I just
I wanted to get that out of the way.

Speaker 4 (02:04:30):
This gentleman is just randomly going through and splicing conversations
you've had. So maybe that's your content guy.

Speaker 3 (02:04:38):
What's the could be? He could be the president of
strategic content, not just content. Independence is putting time into
this all right. We also had a talkbacker today mode
that wanted to congratulate you for being named a finalist
for the Tony Pikes iHeartMedia Employee of the Year Award.

Speaker 7 (02:04:54):
Well, I'm pretty I'm pretty stoked about this. We find
out on December the third at the the Christmas party
here if I've won the award.

Speaker 3 (02:05:00):
I told you yesterday. I've been nominated twice. Okay, who's
won it the previous years?

Speaker 7 (02:05:03):
Oh, Ryan Seacrest won it one year and Clay Travis. Okay, yeah,
so I'm I'm do you know against I haven't really
seen everybody that I'm up against, but it's a it's
a prestigious honor. They're waiting to see if the people
who have been nominated are still work here very good,

(02:05:25):
I mean doing, guys, what you got on your show today.
Let's see, we're gonna talk about Saturday. We were just
having this conversation off here. You see plays b YU
a week from Saturday. A lot of folks seemingly glossing
over the fact that Bearcats do have a game this
Saturday against Arizona. I am worried about this game because
I hated how the Bearcats played against Utah. Now you

(02:05:47):
could say, well the Utes, remember bad matchup? Yeah, terrible
match When a team loses, bad matchup, Okay, I thought
the Bearcats got in their own way. I am concerned
that that is going to be the norm moving forward.
I think a lot of folks are overlooking Arizona. We're
gonna spend some time on that. I want to know
if al Golden can satisfy a very basic request, very

(02:06:09):
basic and simple request. I will tell you what that
request is, and I'm gonna see if I can get
a job on the Reds coaching staff.

Speaker 3 (02:06:16):
Well, that's it's not the hardest thing to do.

Speaker 7 (02:06:18):
The Reds have fifteen coaches listed on their coaching staff.
They have an assistant bench coach.

Speaker 3 (02:06:23):
Got to use that money somewhere.

Speaker 7 (02:06:25):
What does the assistant is assistant bench coach like euphemism
for bat boy? What is the assistant bench coach to
We're paying Terry Francona like five million dollars. He's got
a bench coach. Okay, assistant bench coach? Does he keep
book the bench the bubblegum bucket? So I hear a
lot about job numbers and the economy is not great.

(02:06:47):
I'll tell you what job market's really good if you're
a baseball coach anywhere near Cincinnati. So we'll riff on
that a little bit too. Plus, uh, Lee Starling is
gonna join us running Chad Brendle, Robert Wyan, Trump, Dan Klaskins,
Jay Morrison, and we're going to talk about Joe Burrow
with one of the experts from Ortho Sinsey as well.

Speaker 3 (02:07:07):
Okay, what do you make of the NFL wanting the
union to stop with the report cards.

Speaker 7 (02:07:12):
As many have speculated and said, rich people don't like
being made fun of.

Speaker 3 (02:07:16):
Crazy, right, yeah, crazy. If you don't want failing grades,
don't fail.

Speaker 7 (02:07:22):
Right. If you don't want an F from your players,
Woody Johnson, If you don't want an F. If you
don't want bad grades from your players, from your coat,
from your workers, treat them well.

Speaker 4 (02:07:30):
Yeah, it's crazy, one oder one owner tot ESPN. The
only owners who don't care for it are the ones
who get the subpar grades.

Speaker 7 (02:07:37):
Correct.

Speaker 3 (02:07:38):
Funny how that works.

Speaker 4 (02:07:39):
It is interesting how that the owners told take care
of everything, or like, yeah, fine, give the report cards exactly.

Speaker 3 (02:07:43):
Yeah. It could also be like a really good thing
for them. Yeah they if they did it, like you know,
they don't. Nobody looks at it that way.

Speaker 4 (02:07:52):
We also had the discussion schemes skewball when Cy Young?
Why does major League Baseball continue to just take the
back seat to everything, Like why not have a true
award show? Like it's just it's always an afterthought. The
draft is an afterthought. Everything they do just seemingly falls.

Speaker 3 (02:08:09):
Would you watch a baseball award show?

Speaker 4 (02:08:11):
I think if you had, if you had Otani and
judge and the MVP candidates in the same room. I
would probably tune in and listen to some of it.
What about like on a night like last night, watched.

Speaker 3 (02:08:22):
The Football Awards. I don't watch award show A slow
night a Wednesday, no hoops on.

Speaker 7 (02:08:29):
I mean Major League Baseball MLB newere did do like
an award show for those individual awards and had all
the finalists interviewed. Would you really watch a baseball award.

Speaker 3 (02:08:39):
Show based on what was on last night? Probably Miami
Toledo football. The Knicks were on. That was a bad game,
Miami back to back MAC losses. I feel like if
they presented it kind of like the way that the
NFL does, where it is like a big production.

Speaker 7 (02:08:52):
But the everybody because everybody goes to the Super Bowl.
Everybody's there for the Super Bowl. I know, like if
they had either to do that Vegas and handout American
League Young Award. Yeah, here's Olivia Rodrigo handing out the
I don't know why. Here's Sidney Sweeney, She's got the
Manager of the Year award. Really we want a baseball

(02:09:13):
award show.

Speaker 3 (02:09:14):
It would be pretty funny to see Terry Francona accept
an award from Sydney show.

Speaker 7 (02:09:18):
What d list celebrities would they jets? Here's doctor Oz.
Doctor Oz is gonna be presenting to the National League rookie.
That would be the level of celebrit you would get.
You would get like these hack like you know pop
artists from the early two thousands, right, that's what you
would Here. Here are the guys from bb MAC a
couple of handing out the American League MVP Award. You

(02:09:43):
guys think there would be a baseball award show that
anybody would?

Speaker 3 (02:09:47):
I love baseball.

Speaker 7 (02:09:49):
In the middle of November, We're gonna get all these
baseball players together in the middle of their offseason and
get together to hand out each hand each other hardware.

Speaker 3 (02:09:56):
Why do they separate it out to like week to
week to week.

Speaker 7 (02:10:00):
I don't know, I have, I have absolutely so sorry
to throw cold water, never mind, never mind.

Speaker 3 (02:10:08):
Fight for your idea, Tony, come I did. I thought
I'd just watch it.

Speaker 7 (02:10:12):
Geez, here comes Ta Leoni as she presents the National
League Comeback Player of the Year.

Speaker 3 (02:10:21):
Most Valuable Player. Why do we have two m vps?
We don't agree with that.

Speaker 7 (02:10:25):
We don't have we don't have Eastern Conference m v
P in the NBA, we don't have AFC m VP
and football. It's another outdated It is an outdated thing.
We don't really have American League and National League as
separate entities. Why do we have two m vps?

Speaker 3 (02:10:38):
Good?

Speaker 7 (02:10:39):
But I guess if you're gonna have an award show,
you need more. Award care do we have to come
up with more? I guess need more? Here is the
pinch Hitter of the Year, could sell it, could sponsor it,
presenting the awarded from Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Speaker 4 (02:10:55):
Uh, your money right now? Who you take to win
the Super Bowl? That's a terrific and are you surprised?

Speaker 3 (02:11:01):
Are we allowed to do that? Locks of the Night?

Speaker 4 (02:11:03):
Well, the odds on favor right now is Kansas City,
not even right now and not even in the playoffs.
They are right now the betting favorite to win the
Super Bowl.

Speaker 7 (02:11:11):
La rams I said the other day win thelus seven hundred. Yeah,
I would take LA plus seven hundred, win the whole.

Speaker 3 (02:11:15):
Thing, Tampa Bay plus twenty five hundred enticing.

Speaker 7 (02:11:18):
That's really good value. Yeah, that's really good plus getting
a little bit healthier this week.

Speaker 3 (02:11:22):
Yeah. In Tampa Bay Bengals are what plus thirty thousand.
Is that to win Sunday?

Speaker 4 (02:11:26):
But that happened before Ol Golden was seen stretching yesterday,
It is true. I would imagine that Plummets, burrowback, Golden stretches,
Bengals are back in it.

Speaker 3 (02:11:36):
I want to mention more celebrities that your pretending Baseball
Awards shows you got.

Speaker 4 (02:11:41):
Oh Moe's rocket a Baseball is Fun shirt today, trying
to make it more fun.

Speaker 7 (02:11:47):
Now to present these second basement of the year in
the National League West, it's Jenna Elfman from Darma and Greg.

Speaker 3 (02:11:55):
Everybody gather in Portland, Oregon for the highest ranking celebrity
they could get, so like Ray Romano.

Speaker 7 (02:12:03):
Ray Romana would be like a Good or his wife
from that show he was on. Yeah, everybody loves Rag
Jimmy Fallon with the Yankees hat. Yeah, no, you're not
getting a listers to come to the November Baseball Awards
show in Albuquerque or wherever they would have it.

Speaker 3 (02:12:17):
I bet Mary Heart would a do an award. That
would be okay. I would be alright with that. I
like ok Frey Good, k Frek who Kevin Fraser, Oh, Kevin.

Speaker 7 (02:12:26):
Former UC basketball announcer Kevin Fraser from entertainment tonight.

Speaker 3 (02:12:31):
Yeah, Okay, I'm done. I have a great show. Sorry.

Speaker 4 (02:12:35):
In fifteen thirty, Cincinnati sports station Mullagger's next.

Speaker 13 (02:12:37):
Have a great Thursday, So KHY Cincinnati.

Speaker 12 (02:12:53):
Make us the number one pre set on your car
radio and on the free knew it improved, iHeartRadio app
free never sounded so good.

Speaker 3 (02:13:00):
At ESPN fifteen thirty, more than an