Tony Pike's Cincy 360 -- 12/18/25

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Tony Pike since he three sixty about Cincinnati
from Cincinnati, sponsored in.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Part by Skyline Chili.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Stop by Skyline Chili for a three way or cheese
cony today. Feeling good, It's Skyline time. This is ESPN
fifteen thirtie Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (00:20):
Hi, Hello and welcome in to Tony Pikes Sincy three
sixty here on ESPN fifteen thirty. My name is Austin Ellmore.
I'm not Tony Pike. The big fella is out today.
He'll be back tomorrow. Looking forward to a Friday football frenzy,
one of our final ones of the year as we
reached the final three weeks of the NFL regular season.

(00:43):
Bengals are on the road at Miami this weekend. And
while there's there's not really a lot to talk about
when it comes to the x's and the o's and
the execution of the game and how you know, game
plans are formulated and what the strategy might be against
Quinn and Jalen Wattle and Devin a Chan. I think

(01:03):
that's lost on a lot of people now with the
game not having any playoff ramifications for either side, I
think both organizations are now into evaluation mode, and I
think for the Bengals, it's more about what do we
learn about this team that can be applied to the
offseason and applied to future Bengals teams. I think that's

(01:27):
what the rest of this season is about. So when
it comes to what's actually going to happen on the field,
as long as Joe Burrow doesn't get hurt, as long
as the Bengals don't get embarrassed, I think that's kind
of the number one thing that people are looking for.
I'll be watching on Sunday. I look forward to it.
We'll talk a lot about what Joe Burrow had to

(01:47):
say yesterday, including in this first segment. You'll hear from
the Bengals quarterback. You're gonna hear from him throughout the
show because he spoke for twenty minutes yesterday about a
lot of different stuff. It was the exact opposite think
of the press conference that took place a week ago yesterday,
which sent the national media into a frenzy about the

(02:09):
future of Joe Burrow. We'll talk about that as well,
coming up in football in the Natty, and we'll talk
about Zach Taylor and rehash what he said yesterday, and
in particular in exchange that he had yesterday with a
reporter about his contract. That's all coming up in just
a minute, but our typical Thursday show, we'll talk to

(02:29):
John Sheeran from A to Z Sports covering the Cincinnati Bengals.
Wrote a great piece today that really centers around my
number one topic, which is this offseason. I do think
the Bengals are closer than we think. I'll explain why
a little bit later on. We'll get John's perspective at
one o'clock. We'll have our talkbacks as we normally do
at one twenty. At two o'clock, Keegan Nickoson from Bearcatjournal

(02:52):
dot com will join us. I've got questions about how
we got here with Jisel James and how we got
here with the bear Cat football program. They've made a
couple of moves in recent days to try to sustain
what they have been doing. We'll talk to Keegan about
all of that. We'll do a college basketball whip around.
Following that, you'll hear from Richard Patino, from Darren Horn,

(03:15):
from Wes Miller in our number three as well, and
we'll also talk to Chad Brindle. Chad is in for
Moegar this afternoon from three to six. Chad will stop
by four quick hits at the end of the show.
What happened last night, though, Well, let's start with the
college hoops. The Bearcats beat Alabama State eighty eight fifty
one at Fifth Third Arena. Big night from Bob. Bob

(03:38):
Miller twenty six points on eleven of twelve from the
field at fourteen rebounds as well. He was spectacular as
the Bearcats get right against one of the worst defensive
teams in the country. Bob, as i mentioned, had twenty
six Gisel James off the bench twenty minutes of action
had sixteen points for Cincinnati. We'll talk more about Jigsele

(04:00):
as the show goes along. Xavier got smoked in their
Big East opener. They were at home at the Centas
Center against Creighton, and Creighton whooped them ninety eight to
fifty seven. Muskies are now eight and four. They traveled
to Georgetown on Saturday.

Speaker 4 (04:15):
Again.

Speaker 3 (04:15):
You'll hear from Richard Patino later on in the show.
NK you lost as well. In Horizon League play. They
lost to Oakland eighty two seventy seven. The Norris are
nine and four, but They're one and two to begin
Horizon League play. They host Charleston on Sunday. You'll hear
from Darren Horn later. If you're wondering about Kentucky, they've

(04:35):
got like a whole week off. They beat Indiana over
the weekend and they don't play again until Saturday against
Saint John's. That is eleven AM coverage beginning right here
on ESPN fifteen thirty circling back to the Horizon League.
I don't know if you saw this, but Doug Gottlieb,
the head coach at Green Bay and also the host
of the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio, he

(04:58):
announced that he's taken a break from his radio show.
He's stepping away to put more into being the coach
of the green Bay Phoenix.

Speaker 5 (05:07):
So that's interesting.

Speaker 3 (05:09):
Other college sports news, Ohio University fired their head coach
Brian Smith over quote serious misconduct. To be the second
year in a row that OU will be looking for
a new head football coach. Coming up tonight Thursday night football, huge,
huge game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks.

(05:30):
This game is in Seattle at Lumenfield, home of the
twelfth Man and both these teams have eleven wins. This
is basically the NFC West Championship game, and more than likely,
whoever wins it is going to have the number one
seed in the NFC. A couple of big injuries, Seattle
will be without their starting left tackle and best offensive lineman,

(05:50):
Charles Cross. Meanwhile, the Rams have listed DeVante Adams as
doubtful with that hamstring injury he suffered on Sunday and
has been dealing with for most of the season. I
believe will be a game time decision, but unlikely that
he will play tonight. If you're wondering about the gambling
side of things, well, as of this morning, Seattle favored

(06:11):
by a point and a half. More on all of
that a little bit later on. Let's start, though, with
what happened yesterday and the Zach Taylor press conference and
the Joe Burrow press conference. Everything this week with the
Bengals had been centered around what's going to happen this offseason,
whether it's Zach Taylor getting fired or Duke Tobin getting

(06:34):
fired or somebody please got anybody getting fired. That's kind
of what it felt like Bengals fans wanted out of
this season. And once we got to this level and
all the failures that have happened, Okay, who's going to
pay the price to this? Are any heads going to
roll because of the failure that has been the twenty
twenty five season in the answer to that question, basically

(06:57):
as reported by Paul dayan Or Junior earlier this week,
is nu And so my question has been, Okay, well,
if they aren't going to fire anyone, what about your
process is going to change so that you can fix it.
But there's been something that I don't quite understand that
happened yesterday and I still don't understand it today. So

(07:20):
Dayner reports that Zach Taylor had a contract extension given
to him after the twenty twenty two season. The Bengals
went to the AFC Championship Game, had a chance to
win that game and lost, and Zach has given another
one year extension on his contract. It's not reported at

(07:41):
the time, it's not announced by the team at the time.
No one knows that this happens until Paul reports it
a couple of days ago, and so I think it's
strange that it was never reported. If you're the Bengals,
why not when you give your coach a contract extension,

(08:03):
announced that he's gotten a contract extension. Especially at that point,
vibes were at an all time high for this franchise. Yeah,
they had lost the AFC Championship game, but still they
had gone to back to back AFC Championship games. The
new standard had been set. This is our guy, we
believe in him. We've given him another contract extension. We've

(08:26):
added a year on. Why you wouldn't explain that or
announce that. I don't understand, And let's say that you
do it, And everyone's like, hey, we don't want to
make a big deal of this. I don't want anybody
to know about this, blah blah blah. Okay, well news
dump it on a Friday afternoon in January before the
Super Bowl at five point thirty in the afternoon. Oh yeah,

(08:49):
by the way, we added a year on to Zach Taylor. Okay, cool.
Nobody would have said a word about it then. Instead
it becomes now a talking point because of the failures
later on. It would have shifted the entire perspective of
this season for a lot of people. Had we all

(09:11):
known that Zach had two years left on his deal. Now,
I don't know that it should. If you're underperforming, you're underperforming.
If you're the reason the team is losing, you're the
reason the team is losing, and your job should be questioned.
I don't know that that Zach is the main reason
for the failures this year, but it is without question

(09:32):
he's played a role in it. It's harder to justify
firing a guy with two years left on his deal
than one. And so because that was not known, it
shifted and shaped the conversation around Zach Taylor. And so
you fast forward to this week and you have Paul

(09:52):
Danner Junior, who is as trusted and like as good
as it comes when it comes to covering a team.
This is a dude who knows his stuff. He's been
doing it for a long time. He's got great relationships
in the organization. If Paul reports it, it's true. This

(10:13):
is dude, a dude that is very well respected, reports it.
Why does Zach Taylor act like he doesn't want to
talk about it. What purpose does it serve Zach Taylor
to not confirm this report?

Speaker 5 (10:32):
What purpose does it serve?

Speaker 3 (10:34):
How does it help him to say, uh, I don't
want to talk about that. How does it hurt him
to say I don't want to talk about that. What
is the harm in admitting that your contract has an
expiration date in twenty twenty seven. We're not asking you
to pontificate about the deal, not asking you to explain

(10:59):
you know how it happened to Bob, but just say, hey,
when's when's your contract actually up?

Speaker 6 (11:03):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (11:03):
Twenty twenty seven? Okay?

Speaker 3 (11:06):
Why is that hard for Zach Taylor to admit? I
struggle to understand the purpose of hiding that, of covering
that up. In case you missed it yesterday, here was
the exchange with Zach Taylor and uh I believe it
was Mike Petralia yesterday during Zach's press conference.

Speaker 7 (11:24):
You don't get a chance to talk to ownership or
do we don't get that opportunity.

Speaker 4 (11:29):
What kind of assurances have you been given from Hong?

Speaker 7 (11:32):
We just talk every week.

Speaker 4 (11:33):
Every week you've talked about your contractor.

Speaker 7 (11:35):
Every week we talk about everything.

Speaker 4 (11:38):
When was the last time spoken about your contract?

Speaker 7 (11:40):
And sass, that's not really part of our conversation. It's
every week. We're just trying to create together a great
plan to win football games and make sure our team's
ready to go. Make sure I'm ready to go. So
I know that's of curiosity to you guys, but we're
just focused on being the Dolphins. Fair to say that's
reassessed after the season every year you invest them.

Speaker 4 (12:00):
Yeah, yeah, we don't get a chance.

Speaker 5 (12:01):
Okay, Well I'm sorry, Okay.

Speaker 4 (12:04):
I'm just being straightforward with that.

Speaker 8 (12:06):
We would ask them, Oh, we don't get them, Okay.

Speaker 3 (12:11):
I didn't love that those questions came because Zach denied
confirming that his contract was up in twenty twenty seven,
that he had signed that extension following the AFC Championship game,
And that little snippiness, that little arrogance, that little smile

(12:32):
on the face of Zach Taylor, while Trags is just
doing his job and asking the right questions and fair
questions about it and making sure it's known to Zach,
not that Zach needs to be reminded that, Hey, you're
the one who has to answer these questions because we
don't get to talk to anybody else. And I just

(12:54):
felt like, to me an avoidable thing, just say I
don't want to talk about my contract. I sign an
extension and after the AFT Championship game it's up in
twenty twenty seven. But I know that we're focused on
getting getting ready to beat the Miami Dolphins and turning
this thing around.

Speaker 5 (13:09):
It could be that simple.

Speaker 3 (13:11):
But yet again there's a complicated inefficiency to the communication
of this franchise, unnecessary complications to the communication.

Speaker 5 (13:25):
It happens repeatedly.

Speaker 3 (13:28):
Over and over and over and over again, and in
a season that has already been stained by the failures
on the field and stained by the nonsense of the
contract situations off of it. Whether it was early in
the year dragging it out with t and Jamar, or

(13:48):
the Shamar Stewart thing, or the Trey Hendrickson thing, and
now the Zach Taylor thing, there is very little alignment
on the clear messaging by the organization other than Zach's
gonna be the guy who stands up there and takes
all the arrows. And this will be in the news

(14:10):
cycle for a couple of days and then it'll go
away and everybody will forget after we play another game.
I just don't understand why there cannot be more transparency
or understanding of what is or is not the truth
and what the plan is for Zach Taylor. And I

(14:34):
don't understand why Zach can't just say yes, this is
my contract status. It is again at least in my mind,
and it may not be talked about by anybody in
that organization. Just another unnecessary conversation, Another unnecessary distraction.

Speaker 5 (14:52):
Here we go again.

Speaker 3 (14:53):
Here's something that doesn't actually pertain to football that's being
talked about.

Speaker 5 (14:59):
How is that helpful to anybody?

Speaker 3 (15:01):
But based off the way they played on Sunday, maybe
you don't want to talk about football. I can understand
that as well. Five one, three, seven, four nine, fifteen
thirty is the phone number. We'll take some calls later
this afternoon. If you want to call in be a
part of the show. You can also tweet at me
at Audi elmore aut y E L M O r EM.

(15:23):
Coming up next, Football in the NATTI. The Bengals, I
think are at a crossroads this offseason, but they're at
an intersection they've been to before. I'll explain next. ESPN
fifteen thirty, Hey, Alexi.

Speaker 1 (15:39):
Is Football in the NATI, brought to you by Postman
Law on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the
Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 3 (15:49):
Football and the NATI here on Tony Pike since e
three to sixty I'm Austin Ohmore, no Tony Pike today,
but I've been thinking a lot about the twenty twenty
five Bengals and who they remind me of. They remind
me of the twenty twenty Bengals. That was a team
that undoubtedly had some talent. They had some dudes that

(16:11):
could play. You might remember Gino Adkins was on that team.
What about AJ Green? He was there, Tyler Boyd was
at the top, maybe the peak of his powers as
the best slot receiver in the NFL. There were some
good young defenders, like there was you know, there was
something on that twenty twenty team, but they won just

(16:32):
four games. Joe Burrow rookie quarterback that year, coming out
of COVID, going through the whole nonsense that was that
at the time. And so it felt like repeatedly over
the course of the twenty twenty season, the Bengals couldn't
really get out of their own way all right, Like
they were competitive, but something would go wrong and they

(16:52):
just would snowball and they just weren't that good, and YadA, YadA, YadA.
It just felt like it was never going their way.
And I feel like there's a lot of similarities to
the twenty twenty team and this team right now. The
Bengals are four and ten. The twenty twenty team finished
four eleven and one, and that season they won two

(17:16):
of their last three games. They did it without Joe Burrow,
who you might remember, right before Thanksgiving had his knee
blown out in Washington, and so two of the final
three games they win with Ryan Finley at quarterback, the
Steelers Monday Night game and a game at Houston in
which the offense was incredibly efficient and T Higgins and
samaj p Ryd and those guys were sensational. But the

(17:42):
Bengals weren't that good. They had had a tough season.
Nothing really seemed to go their way. And we often
look back on that Steelers game in twenty twenty as
like a turning point, a needle mover, a cornerstone event
in this franchise, as being the moment, like the culture changed.

(18:05):
And while I agree that the wins in two of
those final three games were helpful to the culture in
the locker room, I think the culture was really curated
in the off season following the twenty twenty year, and
I've been digging into that off season and this upcoming
off season and the similarities between them so going into

(18:30):
the twenty twenty one season. So the twenty twenty off
season into twenty twenty one, the Bengals had about sixty
million dollars in cap space. Right now, they have a
little more than sixty million dollars in cap space going
into twenty twenty six. And while the wins at the

(18:51):
end of the year helped create the culture, it was
curated by a free agent class that featured Cheetabaya Woozie,
Trey Hendrickson, Mike Hilton, Larry Ogan, Jobi Riley Reef, and
Eli Apple. Now you might think of Reef and Apple
as a couple of guys who didn't do much, but

(19:13):
they did play a role, albeit minor, on a small
on a good team on good teams for two years
in a row. That is a big, impactful veteran free
agent class that came in and helped establish the culture.
You might remember the year before is when they signed

(19:35):
Von Bell and DJ Reeder. They had invested in the
veteran leadership for a young team, and in twenty twenty
they maximized as much as they could that offseason. Going
into twenty one, their salary cap. As I said they
had sixty million dollars to spend, they spent fifty seven million.

(19:59):
Of The Bengals had three point eight million dollars in
cap space by the end of twenty twenty one, or
by the end of that season. They spent all the
way up to the cat for the most part. They
also drafted Jamar Chase, Joseph Osai, and Evan McPherson. Now,

(20:20):
three good draft picks is not ideal, but you'll still
take three good hits in the NFL draft anytime. And
obviously Jamar Chase, it goes without saying the impact that
he's had on this franchise. Evan McPherson was a big
part of that as well. Joseph Osai has been an

(20:41):
impactful role player on this team. I think we're still
waiting for more from Joseph, but it makes me think
that offseason the Bengals also extended one of their young
pass rushers god by the name of Sam Hubbard. Could
Joseph Osai be this year Sam Hubbard? And then in
training camp they got creative. They traded for a defensive

(21:04):
lineman by the name of bj Hill. So think about
that one off season. Going into the Super Bowl year
with sixty million dollars in cap space to spend, they
acquired bj Hill and Larry Ogunjobi and Trey Hendrickson. They
reworked their entire defensive line. They added two cornerbacks, Mike

(21:26):
Hilton and Chida Beya Woozier. They got veteran experienced locker
room leaders that they added to a young team that
needed it. One of the biggest misconceptions about this franchise
right now is that they don't have money to spend
because of Burrow, because of Chase, and because of Higgins.

(21:50):
That's not true. They have the money, and they have
the blueprint. They've done it before.

Speaker 5 (21:58):
Now.

Speaker 3 (21:59):
Is it realistic to expect that the Bengals hit on
five or six free agents.

Speaker 5 (22:07):
I don't know that it's realistic to feel that way.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
I don't know that it's realistic to expect him to
hit on all six draft picks. Maybe, like Zach said yesterday,
but to act as if they can't do it because
of financial constraints is simply wrong. It's not true. And
as much as we want to dump on Duke Tobin
and he deserves it, this was his director, his player,

(22:34):
personnel department that led this to happening, led this charge,
led this free agent push. Now, they weren't perfect in
those years. They missed on Trey Wains, they missed on
McKenzie Alexander, they missed on free agents. Everybody does. But
to look at this and say, Okay, they know how

(22:54):
to do it, They've done it, we know what it
looks like. And oh, by the way, at any point,
they can restructure Joe Burrow's contract and they can easily
create more cap space if they want to cut a
few guys here, move a few guys there, restructure this that,
blah blah blah. You could be looking at eighty million

(23:15):
dollars before you know it. That's more than enough in
a salary cap that will almost certainly go up again
this offseason for the Bengals to get right back. In contention,
Joe Burrow was asked yesterday about why he thinks the
Bengals are not that far away. Here's the conversation with

(23:36):
the Bengals quarterback on Sunday.

Speaker 9 (23:37):
You said not that far when asked how close this
organization was to getting back to.

Speaker 5 (23:42):
Those big stages. Why do you think you guys are.

Speaker 10 (23:46):
Not that far.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
Well, we have young guys that are getting better.

Speaker 9 (23:51):
I think we have really smart coaches. We have a
lot of highly talented people that go out and perform
at a high level on Sundays, weekend and week out.
You know, it's hard for me to it's hard for

(24:12):
me to talk about the totality of the season this
year because I was removed from it for so long,
and you know, I really I haven't had a season.
I've played four games and that's frustrating to me, and
kind of it made me feel like I was on
the outside looking in for a lot of it because

(24:33):
that's what happens. And so I'm just getting my feet
wet again with all this and it feels good. But
you know, I feel confident in the people that we
have that we have here.

Speaker 5 (24:44):
There you go.

Speaker 3 (24:44):
That's from the quarterback himself, and everybody wants to hyper
analyze everything that he says. And if it's true that
everything he says is measured and there's a purpose behind it,
well then I'm sure he wouldn't just loose lipped say
we're not that far away. Tony and I debated this
earlier this week. I've been saying it for most of

(25:07):
the season for all the reasons I just outlined, and
by looking at the Bengals schedule next year, I really
don't think that they are that far away. Now, let's
just quickly go through that for a moment. Next year,
they'll play the third place team in the AFC West,
which is gonna be the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs

(25:27):
go into this offseason with Mahomes fresh off of surgery,
probably gonna be without Travis Kelcey, and they're over forty
million dollars forty million dollars over the cap. That's gonna
be a different looking Chiefs team than what we've seen
in the past, but you still expect them with Mahomes
and Reid to be formidable. They're gonna have the Jacksonville

(25:48):
Jaguars at home, obviously a good team, a team that
played them tough, but not a team that keeps you
up at night. The Tennessee Titans will be in Cincinnati
next year, the New Orleans Saints, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
and then of course the AFC North. That's a pretty
favorable home schedule. The Bengals traditionally are pretty good at

(26:12):
pay Court Stadium under Zach Taylor. Then you look at
their road schedule. They play the AFC East team that
finishes in third place, which will be the Miami Dolphins. Okay,
anything about that team, Scarret probably gonna be with a
new head coach, might be with a new quarterback.

Speaker 5 (26:34):
No Tyreek Hill. More than likely.

Speaker 3 (26:36):
They're also going to play an NFC East team who
finishes in third place. That's more than likely going to
be the Commanders. That team is gonna be dealing with
a lot of turnover. They have to go to Houston,
not gonna be easy. They got to go to Indianapolis,
probably not gonna be easy. They traveled to Atlanta and
Carolina and the rest of the AFC North. That is
not a schedule that has you struggling to find wins.

(26:59):
If you do what you're supposed to do in the
offseason to supplement your roster and build around your quarterback,
it's not that crazy. I'm not trying to be the
glass half fool guy. I'm not trying to do this
is truly what I feel. If you spend the money
the way you're supposed to, if you're aggressive in hunting

(27:21):
down the pieces that you need, and if you can
do anything about your process when it comes to drafting.
That gets you back closer to what you did in
the twenty twenty draft and in the twenty one draft.
You will be competitive in this conference again next year,
so long as everybody stays healthy, and that's a big
if across the entire National Football League. But to act

(27:43):
as if the Bengals are so far away, I simply
don't believe that, and all the other nonsense around this
organization right now, I think is distracting us from the
fact that, like, oh yeah, they really could be good,
sooner rather than later. They don't have to strip this
thing down. We'll talk next segment about this Burrow conversation

(28:09):
and Carson Palmer and Andrew Luck and all this other hogwash.
It's it's people that aren't really looking at the bones
of the operation here and saying, Okay, how can they
actually get back to being good? What are the changes
that can be made? That's what I'd like to know.
We'll take a break, we'll come back. This is Tony Pike.

(28:31):
Since he three to sixty on ESPN.

Speaker 1 (28:33):
Fifteen thirty, you've been listening to Football in the NATTI
on ESPN fifteen thirty. The official home of the Cincinnati
Bengalsteen thirty.

Speaker 11 (28:50):
Jada Thomas into the left corner for Celestie under the.

Speaker 12 (28:53):
Hoop bounce pass from Zella to Baba Ed Miller dumps
it and again.

Speaker 13 (28:58):
There Baba Miller out here playing with little bitty boys
out here.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
He's just he's like.

Speaker 13 (29:03):
A big breath from the backyard right now.

Speaker 4 (29:06):
Just throw it in there as you can't stop.

Speaker 3 (29:08):
Dan Horde Steve Logan on the call last night as
the Bearcats whoop up on Alabama State at fifth third Arena.
More on that coming up later on in our number three.
Baba went cuckoo with twenty six points fourteen boards for
U se Uh in that game last night. We'll hear
from Kegan nickoson at two o'clock. He was there covering

(29:30):
the game and the return of Gisel James. That's coming
up later on in the show. I want to get
to uh, the Joe Burrow conversation and the national media
fanning the flames on such a thing in a moment.
But first let's go to the phones five one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty. Let's go to Fort Thomas and talk to Brian. Brian,

(29:51):
what's up, hi?

Speaker 14 (29:53):
Audie. I agree about about them having a chance to
turn it around. NFL is the most competitively, the most
evenly matched in in the United States, so it's not
it's not unheard of to come back and you know,
change things around very quickly. As look at Denver. Denver

(30:14):
was garbage two years ago. Right now they probably one
of the favorite Super Bowl And I think as a fan,
I'm not as freshly about this year. I'm more flusher
about last year. Like last year was just a wasting
opportunity and like Joe got a freak injury this this year,
sure got hurt, team played terrible, whatever, But last year,
like if they would have went on a you know,

(30:36):
a playoff, made the playoffs and won a couple of games,
just wouldn't be as upsetting as a fan. But I
feel like we're just we'll it's just being wasted right now.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
Yeah, that's a great point, and that's I think that season.
I mean, if if we get to this the end
of this thing and we never see the Bengals get
back to you know that that level of contending in
the AFC, We're gonna look back on the twenty four
season and think, golly, what could have been with the
season like that with Joe and Jamar and they just

(31:07):
didn't do enough to follow it up in the offseason.

Speaker 14 (31:11):
Yeah, it's it's and so it's I think as a fan,
I think we're at least me personally, I'm just I'm
just frustrating. Just I want to have a chance to win.
And in the NFL, if you got a quarterback, which
everybody knows we do, yeah, you can win.

Speaker 15 (31:27):
You can win. You can win it all.

Speaker 14 (31:28):
And that's you know, we just were dying to win.
We want a parade. That's that's it. This whole city
just wants the parade.

Speaker 3 (31:35):
Yeah, I'm right there with you, Brian. Thank you for
the phone call. And you know, you bring up a
good point. It's actually kind of a good segue. Part
of the reason why things went south between Carson Palmer
and Mike Brown was because Carson did not believe that
Mike was committed to exhausting every avenue to make the
team better, to turn it into a championship contender. And

(31:59):
I think before we get into this conversation, I would
like to note I am not comparing Carson Palmer to
Joe Burrow. Joe is the best quarterback I think that's
ever played for the Bengals. I think he is the
most talented quarterback that's ever played for the Bengals. And
I think he has a very different personality than that
of Carson Palmer. I think he's a much better player

(32:21):
than Carson Palmer. And this with Carson all happened fifteen
years ago. It's a lot different world now than it
was then. But the fundamental disagreement between Mike Brown and
Carson Palmer was that they weren't doing enough to compete
for a Super Bowl and Carson it just didn't sit

(32:44):
well with Carson. He felt like the Bengals could be
doing so much more than they've done. The Bengals have
changed a lot since then, and they have been more aggressive,
they have spent more money, They have evolved so much
more than I think a lot of people are willing
to give them credit for. And I don't think that

(33:05):
the place they're at right now with Joe Burrow is
even remotely close to where they were at with Carson Palmer.
I'm not trying to compare the two situations. What I'm
trying to explain is this thing with Burrow. To me,
when you go back to his press conference last week,
to all the conversation this week, all of it. The

(33:28):
flames are being fanned by the national media. They're pouring
gasoline on the fire. The reason it's happening is because
there's precedent. The precedent has a direct impact on the narrative.
If the Carson Palmer and Mike Brown thing had never happened,
this wouldn't be a conversation with Joe Burrow wanting to

(33:51):
leave the Bengals when they drafted him in twenty twenty.
There was a narrative out there that Joe wouldn't want
to play for the organization. That wouldn't have happened if
not for the Eli Manning thing that it happened years before.
Joe keeps getting injured, and then the Andrew Luck thing
gets brought up because we've seen it happen before. Because

(34:12):
there is precedent with Palmer and Brown, that leads to
people who maybe don't follow this closely, or don't know
Joe that much, or don't know exactly what's going on
within the organization to try to connect the dots and
come up with a hot take to say, Okay, this
is what's gonna happen again in Cincinnati, because that's the
way the Bengals do business. The Bengals have evolved, maybe

(34:35):
not as much as they should, and Joe is not
there even close to being the same type of person
that Carson Palmer is. But I just want you to
know this conversation is happening because of the precedent that
was set by the actions of Carson Palmer and Mike
Brown previously. That's why this is happening. And I'm not

(34:57):
dismissing what Joe has said or the wa that he
said it. Now, I stand by my belief that I
think last week Joe was having a bad day and
it came across that way and people ran with it,
and I think that made things worse, and whatever he
was going on in his life, clearly he wasn't all
the way there on Sunday. Had mental mistakes, had protection mistakes,

(35:18):
was not accurate with the football. There's a myriad of
reasons why that could happen. I have enough banked memories
of Joe Burrow playing over the last six years that
I don't think that's gonna happen again. And I don't
think there's a trend that's about to start, but I
do at least know the way he has talked. He's

(35:41):
unhappy with the way the organization has approached last season
in this season.

Speaker 5 (35:47):
And he should be. Every person in that organization should
be unhappy with the results of last year and with
this year. And I'm sure.

Speaker 3 (35:56):
Joe, to an extent, and kind of like you heard
in that clip in the last segment, wonders how much
he can say because of his injuries and feels in
a way like he's on the outside looking in. We'll
talk more about what Joe said about his opinion being heard,
but here's Joe yesterday talking about his future with the Bengals.

Speaker 5 (36:18):
How much do you love?

Speaker 9 (36:19):
Like a body ever thought about that, You think about it,
but you think about a lot of different things, and
in your life, just like everybody does. You think about
all different possibilities that could happen. I'm gonna be playing
for a long time. I expect to play for a

(36:40):
long time, and I expect to play well and consistently
great for a long time.

Speaker 5 (36:45):
So much speculation is there?

Speaker 4 (36:48):
Ever?

Speaker 8 (36:48):
Is there any world in your mind where you're not
the quarterback of the Bengals next year?

Speaker 4 (36:54):
I could I couldn't. I can't see that now.

Speaker 8 (36:57):
I didn't you ever both thought about the possibility of
not being the quarterback here.

Speaker 4 (37:00):
During your career, or.

Speaker 9 (37:03):
You think about a lot of things, and when you.

Speaker 8 (37:06):
Look at quarterbacks over the course of their time, great ones,
Haydon Brady, do you kind of have to understand that you.

Speaker 4 (37:14):
Never know what this legal bringing.

Speaker 5 (37:15):
What did you learn from watching how their career is
on fold of time?

Speaker 9 (37:19):
Yeah, A lot of crazy things happen every year. Michael
Parsons got traded right before the right before the season.

Speaker 4 (37:29):
I think this year.

Speaker 9 (37:32):
That is a something I haven't seen in a long
time in the NFL. So crazy things can happen.

Speaker 3 (37:41):
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, He's right, crazy things can happen
in the NFL. But he wants to play for a
long time. He expects to play for a long time
and at a high level for a long time, and
also understands that life in the NFL you never know
what's going to happen, which furthers the point that the

(38:03):
Bengals should be exhausting every avenue to aggressively pursue a championship.
Now again, looking forward at the next couple of years.
The opportunity is right there in front of you. You've
got the money, you've got the cap space, you've got
the quarterback. You don't have any more excuses. Five one, three, seven, four, nine,

(38:24):
fifteen thirty. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (38:28):
Tony Pike since E three sixty on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (38:40):
A little bit of time here before we talk to
John Shearon, a is Z Sports covering the Cincinnati Bengals.
This is Tony Pikes since E three to sixty. Let's
go to Minneapolis and talk to Charles. Charles, what's on
your mind?

Speaker 4 (38:54):
Hey?

Speaker 10 (38:54):
How are you just quickly? You know, back on the
whole ownership. Being lifelong Bengal fan here, only team ever liked.
I know you mentioned earlier about there being president and
sort of anchoring it to the Carson Palmer issue, but
there's actually precedent beyond that. He was TJ. Housman's job, obviously,
you know him was on an interview and he said

(39:17):
when he first got the Cincinnati speaking of president, there
was no water and gatorade in the locker room.

Speaker 5 (39:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 10 (39:25):
I mean, so there's precedent for so many things that
this team had, hopefully inadequate by any stretch of the magic,
by any standard considering themselves to be a professional organization,
and as such, we continuously come to this point. There
shouldn't even have been a need for Mike Brown to
come out and say we're going to do everything we

(39:47):
can to sign Joe Duh. Like you know, at the time,
he said, why would he need to say these kinds
of things. Why because the precedent has always been with
this organization that they're awful.

Speaker 3 (40:00):
Yeah, that's my point. Now, the good thing is they've
they've changed. They don't do the stuff that they did
twenty years ago when TJ was here. That's all changed, thankfully.
But you're right, the precedent has led to the narrative
and until you do something to change the narrative, that's
what people are going to fall back on and that's
their fault.

Speaker 10 (40:19):
Yes, thank you, thank you for your time, love the show.

Speaker 5 (40:22):
Charles, thank you man, appreciate it. Thanks for the call.

Speaker 3 (40:25):
Yeah, I mean, without a doubt, until you do something
to change the narrative, the narrative is going to exist.
It is the unfortunate reality. And the Bengals are often
a day late and a dollar short when it comes
to doing that. They've made strides, but they're often too late.

(40:47):
They were too late and signing Jamar Chase. They cost
themselves a lot more money. They were too late in
signing t Higgins. They cost themselves a lot more money.
They often create bigger headaches for themselves because they're reactive
instead of proactive. That's something they need to improve on.
This is an off season where you have a chance

(41:09):
to do that. You have a chance to say we're
going to be proactive in our our pursuit of better
defensive players, of changing our draft strategy, of whatever it
might be. When we come back, we'll talk to John
Sharan covering the Bengals. Eight to Z Sports. This is
Tony Pike's Sincy three to sixty on the home of
the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (41:28):
Having insurance isn't the same as having state farm.

Speaker 1 (41:30):
This is Tony Pike since he three sixty about Cincinnati
from Cincinnati, sponsored in part by Cincy Shirts.

Speaker 2 (41:40):
Cincy Shirts all since E all Day.

Speaker 1 (41:43):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (41:49):
Hi, Hello, welcome in our number two of Tony Pikes
since E three to sixty here on ESPN fifteen thirty.
My name is Austin Elmore. No big fella today, tone
is out. He'll be back tomorrow one hour from right now,
we talked to Keegan Nickoson from Bearcat Journal dot com.
Keegan just now talking of tweeting about a couple of

(42:10):
Bearcat offensive linemen that have decided to come back for
next year. We'll get an update on the transfer portal
happenings and all that with the Bearcats, what happened last
night on the hardwood as well. But right now we
keep talking football with a guy that I can't believe
I just now thought of this. I'm gonna start calling
him this from here on out, Johnny Football. John Sheeran

(42:31):
from A to Z Sports covering the Cincinnati Bengals. Hi,
Johnny Football, how are you?

Speaker 6 (42:36):
I feel like we could worshop this kind of the
stigma with that name, you know, like you know, someone
else had it and he got kind of embarrassed by
the Bengals, and I kind of embarrassed the Bengals and
said the other way around.

Speaker 3 (42:45):
So you know, yeah, well you could be the reason
for change with the Johnny Football nickname. We'll work on it.
We'll work on it. What do you make of the
last two weeks of the Joe Burrow narrative about him
and his future and not seeing eye to eye with
the organization and what he said yesterday and last week

(43:07):
sum it all up for me. What's your general feeling
and consensus about Joe Burrow in his relationship with the
Bengals right now?

Speaker 6 (43:15):
We love hearing Joe talk because he is very calculated
about what he says, and he said that I think
forbade him, but typically when he says something of substance,
it's because he means it. And also he's just he's
just a very smart individual, so he thinks about more
than just what is directly in front of him. And
of course, you know in the media nowadays, you typically

(43:38):
only look at what's right in front of you, and
that's what generates the headlines. Right So, when Joe is
thinking about a lot of things beyond just the last
week or so of football, and it sounds like, oh,
he's thinking very big picture and it doesn't sound very good,
it leads to I think a lot of the reactions
that we've seen from the past couple of weeks. But
I think when you have to try to figure out

(43:59):
what is going on in his mind. You have to
think about every single angle from every single avenue about
what everything that is encapsuling what it could possibly be
going through his mind right now, which is again coming
back none from another injury, and thinking about how long
he's capable of playing, how long he wants to play,
and how that all of that ambition and planning is
being deterred by what has happened over the past handful

(44:22):
of months here, all on top of being on a
team that, just like he says, is a bad football
team that hasn't done enough and needs to continue doing
things differently and needs to continue evolving and in his
own words, thinking outside the box. So I think it's
it's it's everything from just him thinking about his own ability,
his own durability, his mortality in the game, but also

(44:44):
where he stands with this team and what the team
needs to do going forward around him. So it's it's everything.
It's not just like, oh, like he's thinking about hanging
it up and leaving the Bengals. No, like, there's there's
thoughts about that that naturally pop up when you're thinking
about your future, shuring your career and everything like that.
But I think to boil it down to just one
or two things is not doing a justice to someone

(45:05):
who clearly thinks about a lot more than that.

Speaker 5 (45:08):
Do you think he should play the final three games?

Speaker 6 (45:11):
I think there's a reason too, because of how he
played this past week. I think it would be not
the greatest for his psyche to enter the off season
after just having one of the worst games of his career,
especially considering the fact that he just hasn't played that
much this year. I think having him giving him the
opportunity to at least enter the actual offseason on somewhat

(45:32):
of a high note, can be kind of good for him,
because if he only played what four or five games
this year, and again one of them was terrible and
they eliminated him for the playoffs, I would imagine that
wouldn't be necessarily the best for his mental health, especially
because that's been such top of conversation for over the
past ten days or so. So I think it was
valuing him playing, and if you want to talk about

(45:53):
like draft positioning and keeping him healthy, like he needs
to prove that he can stay healthy. And I think
regardless of whoever's a quarterback for the Bengals. Now they're
not a guaranteed the winner lose any of these games
just because of the verse of the team around the
quarterback position.

Speaker 3 (46:06):
When you saw the report this week from Paul Dayner
Junior that Zach Taylor actually had two years remaining on
his deal and that Duke Tobin and Al Golden are
also unlikely to be let go, what was your reaction
and how does that shape your view of this upcoming offseason.

Speaker 6 (46:23):
Oh, yeah, the Bengals are. They may not be exactly
the same organization as they were loose, but they're still
the organization that it's not going to fire head coach
with two years left of guaranteed salary left on his deal.
That it was a complete game changer in my opinion
about Zach's job security and the fact that it probably
hasn't been questioned at all this year, and that's it's

(46:43):
always about the same around, you know, when the Bengals
are bad and it's entering December, like, yeah, like maybe
there's some conversation about the head coach, but in reality,
the front office doesn't really see it like that at
this point in time. And that was kind of the
sentiment this year, but hearing that in the fact that
he has a two years left of guaranteed, like it
doesn't matter, Like he could be coaching somewhere else in

(47:05):
twenty twenty seven, the Bengals would still to be paying
him the salary that they owe him and that they
gave him. I guess under the table, and I don't like. Again,
it's not standard practice for teams to officially announce these contracts.
Sometimes it does kind of go under the radar. An
example brought to me, brought to my attention over the

(47:25):
past couple days, the Green Bay Packers extended Matteli Sluer
and a GM and their vice president of football operations,
but really early in the twenty twenty two offseason, and
it didn't get reported on until July, like during their
annual meeting with the media and everything like that. So
sometimes it does happen. But again, like if you're the
Bengals and you just came off with back to back games,
the championship games, the sentiment of rounds that kid was

(47:47):
so high. Yeah, I don't really know why they wouldn't announce,
whether it was a separate five year extension or just
a one year extension. On top of the five year
contract that he signed in twenty twenty two. It doesn't
make a lot of sense to me why they kept
that a secret, and I can't imagine that because they've
had the last three years unfolded. Maybe it was their
best interest and I let that be known, But it
definitely did change how I view like, what's going to

(48:07):
happen in this obvious because again, I just don't think
we're going to fire head coach with two years left
on the deal.

Speaker 5 (48:11):
What did you make of the way Zach talked about
it yesterday and not wanting to talk about.

Speaker 6 (48:15):
It and he can say that it's going to make
any of the situation better. I understand him saying like,
I'm not going to comment on it because he wants
to continue the solution that like, oh, like I'm coaching
for my job. We know you're not man like it
is what it is like, That's just not how this
organization goes. And I appreciate the media for still pushing
it regardless, because at the end of the day, he

(48:35):
is again the only vessel of information that we can
that we can garner any information from with this organization
because the other powers that be are silent for three
hundred and sixty three days of the year, And yeah,
it's unfortunate that we can't that any one in the
media can't talk to the people who actually employ Zach
and everything has to come through him, And it was
kind of a weird Chippy responds to me like, oh,
I'm sorry that you can't talk to them, Like, yeah, dude,

(48:57):
like it is unfortunate, but that's the problem with the
live transparency with this organization, And yeah, it does. It
is unfortunate that Zach is being put into the situation.
Sometimes there is a lot of responsibility that he has
with that coach and this doesn't seem like something that
should be his responsibility to talk about his job security.
But yeah, I think he just speaks to the lack
of transparency in the fact that there are some definitely

(49:18):
things that need to change in which the way that
this organization runs.

Speaker 3 (49:21):
Talking to John sheeran Ada is the sports I made
the point earlier. I think there's a lot of similarities
in this upcoming offseason to the ones following the twenty
twenty season in terms of cap space, in terms of needs,
and the way that they did kind of go outside
the box and signing a big free agent class, trading
for bj Hill, extending Sam Hubbard to try to build

(49:42):
some veteran presence and some talent on the defensive side
of the ball. You mentioned outside the box thinking for
this offseason. What's an example of something that they could do.
Do you agree that it's similar to the season following
the offseason following the twenty twenty year, and do you
feel like they can actually turn this round in one
offseason based off of what they have at their disposal.

Speaker 6 (50:07):
But it just depends on how aggressive they want to
they want to go about it. I think they I mean,
we know this by heart, right, they limit themselves in
which how much better that they can get a certain
period of time because they like to take things in
terms of value opportunities, in terms of sometimes the right player,
it comes at a greater cost of what they're willing
to end up paint up. So they ended up sacrificing

(50:30):
the quality of players that they go after. And that's
beyond just the draft. Is also in a free agency,
I think if they want to identify what they need,
then they then the evolution of thinking outside of the
box in this case is to not letting anything stopping
them from going after and getting the players that whatever
out Golden, whoever out Golden wants, with whoever Zach Taylor wants,
whoever Duke Tobin wants, whoever. If you identify that the

(50:51):
coaches in the personnel department are not the issue here
and it is a player and a roster problem, then
make sure that nothing is holding you back from getting
the roster as good as it needs to. And that
was definitely an issue last year in which they weren't
aggressive enough. They were sitting on their hands in the
first week of free agency because half of the personal
department was figuring out how to extend Jamar Chase and
Tegans the contracts that should have been signed months prior
to freegency even beginning in the first place. So that

(51:13):
cannot be repeated again. They need to be extremely more
active and aggressive in freegency and not letting anything hold
them back. And if that means that you're sacrificing your
principles of guaranteed money and guarantee teacher salaries and contracts,
so be it. That is the outside of the box
thinking that they need. If they're not going to pin
any of this on the actual decision makers of this organization.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
When it comes to these final three games and looking
for some of the answers to you know, the questions
of the offseason. What exactly are you looking for in
terms of evaluating some of these players on this roster
and trying to figure out what they have going into
the off season over the final three games.

Speaker 6 (51:49):
Yeah, I think that is for me, honestly, kind of
started when once Burrow got back, because I think it's
important to see what the team as a whole looks
like when you have the main quarterback at play under center.
That that's when you know, like all the operations are
going in the way that they would like them to go.

Speaker 4 (52:05):
I think on.

Speaker 6 (52:06):
Defense, you still wants to see different ways in which
some of these players are used. Like you saw some
of that evolution with Demetrius Knight Junior against the Baltimore Ravens.
He saw them make a little bit more plays adding
behind the line of scrimmage. He saw you know, Berek
Carter continuing to be who he is. He saw Miles
Murky continuing to take to take those steps as a
pass rusher. So just giving these guys is more it
sounds cliche, but just giving them more reps in positions

(52:28):
in which they will probably be counted on to play
next year. Like that, that's all it is. It's just
a piling up of experience and reps and making sure
that you have as much of an evaluation on them
as possible. And that goes for both sides of the ball.
And you know, I'm interested to see if there's any
change up along the lines of the defense, and with
all these injuries that they're incurring, that like eight guys

(52:49):
who have ankle injuries right now, so maybe you'll see
some new players play against the Dolphins and the Cardinals
and the Browns. But yeah, it's just about getting as
much tape out there as possible and putting these guys
in the positions that they should be to play next year.
Because of the coaches, that isn't going to change.

Speaker 3 (53:03):
Who do you think outside of Miles Murphy and DJ
Turner has made the most progress this year on defense?

Speaker 6 (53:10):
That's right. I still I'm still wondering, like it is
progress the word that you would use with Jordan Battle,
because if for every great play that he makes, there's
a player like oh, there is probably reason why you
shouldn't be starting out there I think battle at least
I feel like I have a better idea of who
he is. He's a guy that I would want on

(53:31):
the field if the rest of the defense is figured out,
just because he's such an exactor in terms of just
finding the ball and being around the ball. And I think,
just at least for his sake, identifying that quality of
him as a player now that he's a full time starter,
I think that's useful information to know. Again, I don't
know if he's really made a big of a jump
that you would want to be like, oh, like I

(53:52):
want this guy for sure starting next year in twenty
twenty six. But at least there's more information about him.
I would have liked to see more of that from
dak Silas. But I think the fact that he's been
playing on the boundary when he was you know, being
you know, trained to be in the nickel this year
all the time, and the injury that came to the
I don't think that's necessarily helped him. But I still
think that he was showing some progress in some science

(54:12):
and consistency in the role that he was probably meant
to play. And then again, like, I think there's been
some flashes here or there from Chris Jenkins and McKinley Jackson,
but not quite enough to the point where, like, yeah,
they are definitely the level of Turner and Murphy. So
I really do feel like it's just those two and
everyone else's kind of in the tier of their own.

Speaker 5 (54:27):
Tony and I debated earlier this week, you know, when
you're trying to build a culture that wins are sometimes
more important than draft picks. Do you feel like the
Bengals need to build on and work on their culture
and wins can help that, or do you think they're

(54:48):
so far gone that the draft pick is the most
important thing and it really doesn't matter whether or not
they win games over the final three weeks.

Speaker 6 (54:56):
In general, I'm a firm believer that tanking for any
sort of draft pick that isn't gonna be used on
a quarterback, it's not necessarily in your best interest because
at the end of the day, like, yeah, like, there
have been examples of top sixteen picks that completely revolutionize
one side of the ball at Jamar Chase can be
an example of that, right, Kyle Hamilton example of that

(55:17):
for the Ravens. Right, maybe there is that player that
the Bengals could draft nine rather than maybe picking like
thirteen and fourteen. Right, But at the end of the day,
when you have the quarterback, you don't need a plethora
of superstars around him. You just need solid quality players
and you can find that whether you're picking at eight
or fourteen, as long as you know what you're looking for.
So I'm a believer that, yeah, this team definitely needs

(55:40):
to learn how to win again and learn what winning
feels like, and learn how to win games of this
part of the year, because that was something that was
assumed that would happen again this year, winning in December,
and clearly that has definitely fallen off the map. So
I think building wins, if you're going to keep all
this together, what winning is definitely more important than having
maybe a couple bull spots in the draft order picked up.

(56:01):
Because again, people are worried about the Bengals picking and
the teams because they haven't had that much success. But
I don't think that that, again, like a handful of
draft spots is really going to make that large of
a difference, especially if they especially if they evolve their
draft process the way that they need to.

Speaker 3 (56:18):
When do you start like digging into draft stuff. When
do you start, you know, start reading about prospects and
mock drafts and all that. When does that process start
for Johnny football?

Speaker 6 (56:29):
For Johnny Football, it's really just about after these guys declare,
because I've been burned too many times about learning about
underclassman who, obviously, like are the guys that you want
drafts early on, like the guys with the most potential,
the guys who produce the most, and sometimes some of
those guys end up going back to school. So I
don't want to get burned about guys, you know, coming back,
And obviously that's more prevalent now than ever with nil
and the opportunity for these guys to make money. So

(56:49):
once they declare, I'm pretty much full full of full
steam ahead for the Senior Bowl and around that time
of the year.

Speaker 5 (56:54):
Do you have any comments on Gisel James returning to
the Bearcat lineup last night?

Speaker 6 (56:59):
I think Moeger said it best and how like his
return could alter the team's chemistry or chemistry any talent
that you can get there and make west Miller less
important for the actual on field on core performance.

Speaker 3 (57:10):
Oh my goodness, great stuff, John, what are you working
on for Bengals fans to follow along.

Speaker 6 (57:16):
Yes again, it's it's you know, the last few weeks
of whatever this this season has been. I guess if
you want to continue following along or at a Sportscincinnati dot
com A is the Sports Cincinnati for your short form
video on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram. Doing live streams on all
those platforms as well once a week check us out
there to see how the season ends.

Speaker 3 (57:37):
Great stuff, John, Thanks for making some time for me.
Have a great holiday. We're not going to talk next week,
but enjoy your holidays. Man, appreciate all your help this season.

Speaker 6 (57:46):
Happy All that is awesome.

Speaker 4 (57:47):
Thank you.

Speaker 3 (57:47):
That is John Shearon You heard him. Eight is e
Sports one of my favorites. Go follow him John Underscore
Underscore Sharon on X A lot of great stuff.

Speaker 5 (57:57):
Uh did I say X? Who have I become? That's
not me? It's Twitter. Gosh, I can't believe I just
I'm disappointed in myself. I can't believe I just said that.
All right, it's Uh, it's Twitter. That's where it's at.

Speaker 15 (58:09):
All right.

Speaker 3 (58:10):
When we come back, talkbacks. If you haven't left to
talk back, there's still time. Go to the iHeartRadio app.
When you search ESPN fifteen thirty, there's a little microphone
next to the play button. Just tap that microphone, leave
me a thirty second message and we'll play it. I'll
play it when we come back. Talkbacks are next right
here on the Home of the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 16 (58:31):
Thirty episode of since e three sixty Here every show
at ESPN fifteen thirty dot com.

Speaker 17 (58:40):
Here's that pipe for talk facts that microphone and record
a message.

Speaker 1 (58:45):
Oh Hussie, i'd be remission a nut keeper this.

Speaker 2 (58:51):
Oh you better not be naughty.

Speaker 4 (58:53):
That's kind of here's that type for talk facts.

Speaker 2 (58:56):
It's the post wonderful time.

Speaker 6 (58:59):
Of the show.

Speaker 4 (59:01):
Austin forty.

Speaker 14 (59:02):
Well, if you guide this very slate today and try
not to sabotage.

Speaker 3 (59:09):
Very christ bug, rude, Rudol, Welcome back in too Tony
Pikes since e three sixty Here on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (59:18):
I'm Austin.

Speaker 3 (59:18):
No more time for talkbacks. And if you haven't left
the talk back yet, you still have time to do that.
Tap that little microphone next to the play button on
the iHeartRadio app and leave.

Speaker 5 (59:29):
Me a message.

Speaker 6 (59:30):
Everton College Subjack Austin. I need you to put up
a pick of you and that shisty. I know you
look like buzz Lightyear. I did.

Speaker 5 (59:37):
I put up a pic.

Speaker 3 (59:38):
It's on my Instagram at audio more a U T
y E L M O r E shameless plug right
now from my Instagram.

Speaker 5 (59:45):
Go follow it.

Speaker 3 (59:46):
It's in my latest post. I think it's slide number
What slide is this? Slide number six? Me and the
sisty and I do I do look a little bit
like buzz Lightyear. I'm gonna take that as a compliment.

Speaker 18 (59:59):
Hey guys, pre Merry Christmas to you guys.

Speaker 4 (01:00:03):
Thanks man.

Speaker 18 (01:00:04):
I'll send my sentiments next week. Bankal Jerseys, let's do
a stark bench cut, all right, black pants, orange pants,
white pants.

Speaker 3 (01:00:22):
I'm gonna start the black pants. I'm gonna bench the
white pants. I'm gonna cut the orange pants.

Speaker 4 (01:00:28):
Ron DC.

Speaker 12 (01:00:30):
Hello, huge shout out to Sincy Shirts. You see. I
had a last minute idea for the ugly Christmas sweater
contest to Abe Lincoln was putting on. I showed up
at the Fort Mitchell location unannounced with a picture of
ugly old Abe that they put on a sweatshirt for me.
I ended up winning the contest. Abe took it pretty well.
In fact, he personally gave me a Nancy the first

(01:00:51):
place prize of two tickets to see it play at
Ford's Theater.

Speaker 5 (01:00:55):
Oh my gosh, good, golly, gosh, Hey, guys, who's a
bride in the RBA?

Speaker 15 (01:01:03):
Boy? Anyway, I want.

Speaker 5 (01:01:06):
To make myself perfectly clear.

Speaker 19 (01:01:08):
Every day I leave a talkback as if it would
be the last one I ever do. I've been going
there since twenty twenty two, and I've been through the
highs of being on the top five talk back yes
to the lows when the post got fired. Every day
it's about putting the work. It's about leaving a talkback back.

Speaker 3 (01:01:31):
Yeah, well said well said uh Brad and the BA
who Yeah. Consistency that is true. He has been consistent.

Speaker 4 (01:01:39):
I listened.

Speaker 20 (01:01:39):
Does Zach Taylor talk to the media yesterday? Boy, that
was exciting. My two biggest takeaways. Number one, note to self,
don't ever ask Zach Taylor any questions about his contract.
If you do, he'll suddenly go combative X wife on you.
Number two, according to Zach Schamor, Stewart pays attention during
team meetings. Dude hits in the front row. He looks

(01:02:01):
at Zach, and Zach looks at Chamar, and Chamar is absorbing.

Speaker 21 (01:02:05):
The information he's staring at Zach.

Speaker 13 (01:02:07):
Zach's looking at.

Speaker 3 (01:02:10):
He was very complimentary of Shamar Stuart. I think Samar
is trying to like change a bit of a narrative
about it. He got off on the wrong foot. I
hope that this offseason he's healthy, there's no distractions, and
he can, you know, adequately prepare for an NFL season
and hopefully be better. I mean, obviously the Bengals are
going to need him to be better, But it does

(01:02:33):
feel like to me like Shamar Stewart is like, okay,
let me let me work on my image here, because
we clearly didn't get off on the right foot, and
a lot of Bengals fans are already out on Shamar Stewart,
and I think that's unfair.

Speaker 15 (01:02:44):
Yeah, Zach is.

Speaker 20 (01:02:45):
Looking at Shamar and Chamar making good eye contacts, staring
right back at Zack, and Zach is staring at Shamar.
They're staring at each other like a couple of love
sick teenagers. The future looks bright, Chamar's the sky's the limit.

Speaker 4 (01:03:03):
Let's go.

Speaker 5 (01:03:04):
Yeah, thank you.

Speaker 11 (01:03:05):
We were talking earlier about why the communication of the
Bengals is there and why can't they tell us is
because I don't think they know.

Speaker 5 (01:03:12):
I don't think they have.

Speaker 11 (01:03:13):
A clue because I remember a couple of years ago
during the draft, you guys asked Duke togn who are
you going to draft? They said, we don't know yet.

Speaker 4 (01:03:19):
We don't know.

Speaker 11 (01:03:20):
We don't have anyone specific. We just go by who's
best on the board. I think they just wing n
So when they say about the contract, they probably still
don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:03:31):
Well, I mean, if the contract's been signed, you know
what the contract is. And also I don't know that
that's the best analogy. There's never going to tell you
who you're gonna draft. Every GM in the NFL would
answer that question the same way, But I think there
might be a little bit of truth to that, as sad.

Speaker 22 (01:03:45):
As that might be up guys, but cahun in Kentucky.

Speaker 5 (01:03:48):
So maybe I'm in the minority here. But I don't
know all the NFL rules.

Speaker 22 (01:03:52):
But if the Bengals aren't doing anything against the rules
like talking to the media disclosing contracts, if that's not
the rules that they have to do it, then why
are people the media and why are some of the
fans THO tour up about not knowing? It ain't none
of our business. It's their team. They're the owners. They
can do what they want.

Speaker 5 (01:04:09):
If you don't like it, go route for Cleveland or Tennessee.

Speaker 3 (01:04:16):
Yeah, I mean, I don't know that there's there's anything
that says they have to disclose whether or not a
contract extension has been signed.

Speaker 5 (01:04:23):
No, there's not. They don't have to.

Speaker 3 (01:04:26):
But after a report comes out, I think it's strange
to not really acknowledge it. That I just think is weird.
And as far as I'm concerned, I'm always in favor
of transparency and truth seeking, and I don't think there's
enough of that.

Speaker 23 (01:04:42):
Hey, Audie TJ. Marvin was asked to go five in
the playoffs. We was going to do different that year
to prevent another early exit. In true Marvin smugness, he says,
we're not going to do anything different. Why did I
do that? You know the results after that. Zach is
in the same comfortable and unaccountable position. Now I did
some digging. He's one of the always paid coaches in
the league. It doesn't matter if he's the right man

(01:05:03):
he's the right price. This organization simply has bass act
words priorities. So let's start talking about how great next
You is going to be?

Speaker 4 (01:05:10):
Who day. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:05:11):
I also don't think Zach's money has ever been officially
out there, so that would be a rumor in and
of itself, but it's probably true. And yeah, I think
one of my biggest issues with the Marvin Lewis eraw
was that, and you can equate this to the Palmer
thing as well, is that they would be good enough

(01:05:31):
to get to the playoffs every year, but they would
never go above and beyond in the off season.

Speaker 5 (01:05:35):
We bitched and moaned about this forever.

Speaker 3 (01:05:37):
Is that there was a lack of aggression in the
off season in free agency and trying to get people here.
And it was a stain on the organization. It was
a stain on Marvin Lewis, It was a stain on
Mike Brown. They have gotten better at that, but then
you look at an offseason like last year, where they
chalked it all up to bad luck. The off season
last year was similar to that of the Marvin Lewis era,

(01:05:58):
which is we'll get a couple low level guys, but
we're good enough to get back to the playoffs. Well,
it turns out you're not, and it's more than just
bad luck. You don't have the depth, you don't have
the good enough you know, horses to lead this thing.
So I think you're right that sort of comfortability is
not a good thing. I don't know if Zach is

(01:06:20):
the same personality as Marvin when it comes to that.
I don't know if I would equate those two.

Speaker 24 (01:06:28):
They did like Big Brother, iHeartRadio Cincati Edition.

Speaker 6 (01:06:32):
Who do you think would weigh.

Speaker 5 (01:06:35):
M that's a great question, Big Brother, I would like
I like my odds personally. Who else would be good
at that? Around here? Mo would be great. I think
stephan our president, would be wonderful at that.

Speaker 3 (01:06:54):
Scott Sloan I would actually, I'd probably put I'd probably
put Sloaney as the favorite.

Speaker 5 (01:06:58):
I'd put Scott's Loan is the favorite there.

Speaker 25 (01:07:02):
Yeah, I want to give a shout out to Sandy
and Tracy, to die hard Bengals fans. They bleed orange
and black like you're suffering with the rest of us.
Hell yeah, I like how Patinas said he didn't have zabe.

Speaker 5 (01:07:16):
You're ready to play last night?

Speaker 25 (01:07:18):
Well you lose by forty five.

Speaker 5 (01:07:19):
I guess not.

Speaker 25 (01:07:22):
They couldn't beat Wes Claremont last night.

Speaker 5 (01:07:27):
Yeah, I guess that's true.

Speaker 4 (01:07:29):
Austin A really good perspective on the Bengals.

Speaker 26 (01:07:32):
There.

Speaker 6 (01:07:32):
I actually feel better about the next season with.

Speaker 4 (01:07:37):
Looking at the schedule and.

Speaker 5 (01:07:40):
Hoping that they will do what they need to do
finally to get this done.

Speaker 4 (01:07:46):
Poor Joe and the fans. So whode go Big Blue
and go rid.

Speaker 3 (01:07:53):
Thank you, Ken, I'm glad that you appreciate that perspective.
I'm not, I will say, I'm not trying to make
people feel better. I'm just trying to, like, I get
where you're coming from. You have every reason, every reason
imaginable to be skeptical. I get it, and I am too,
because I, to quote Marvin, I see better than I hear.
But I'm just trying to look at it from a

(01:08:15):
fifty thousand foot view and say, Okay, what's true, what's not,
and what could be a potential path.

Speaker 5 (01:08:22):
And that's what I came up with.

Speaker 4 (01:08:24):
And I might be wrong.

Speaker 5 (01:08:26):
I'm allowed, Lord knows I've been wrong before.

Speaker 13 (01:08:29):
You know.

Speaker 17 (01:08:30):
All I wish is that Mike Brown and the Bengals
would realize that they could just go all in, spend
a ton of money all at once, and just nail
this thing for the next couple of years, get ourselves
a parade, and then they could spend the next fifteen
years pinching pennies and going into miser mode and losing fifteen,

(01:08:54):
sixteen seventeen games a year, and no one would care
because we had gotten our parade.

Speaker 6 (01:09:00):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:09:00):
I think that's it's a fair way to look at it.

Speaker 3 (01:09:04):
I've on the flip side of that, you could say, well,
they did that in twenty twenty. They spent all the
way up to the cat basically and they failed. And
now what Just to play Devil's advocate there, But I
agree with you. There's an old saying out there. You
gotta spend money to make money.

Speaker 27 (01:09:26):
Hey guys, it's Duke Tovin. I just want to let
you know we're working on an extension with Gino Stone. Yeah,
he'll be our starting safety next year.

Speaker 5 (01:09:39):
Yeah, that would be It would be a dark day
in Bengaledom as it's known.

Speaker 6 (01:09:44):
Austin Tony.

Speaker 24 (01:09:46):
I wish I could sneak into the Bengals stadium and
put on the loud speaker the Black Sabbath song changes right,
when Mike Brown is doing his walk in the mornings, goes.

Speaker 15 (01:10:03):
Like going, me changing, Yeah, yeah, I like that.

Speaker 5 (01:10:12):
I'm sure Mike would like. I bet Michael listened a
little Black Sabbath. I could imagine that. You imagine Mike
cruising down seventy one listening to Black Sabbath. You think
Mike Shedde's here when Ozzie died.

Speaker 28 (01:10:24):
Hey, Patty, Patty here, I just want to say Merry Christmas,
Happy Holidays to everyone. Won't be able to listen next
week at all. Our family's coming into town from Charleston,
including our grandson, and we are going to have a
house full including two dogs. It's going to be crazy
and chaotic, but wonderful. So just thinking about all you
guys and grateful for you all, and thanks Austin and

(01:10:46):
Tony for entertaining us. So blessings to you all. Merry Christmas, well.

Speaker 5 (01:10:51):
Thank you, Patty, and Merry Christmas to you and to
your family.

Speaker 4 (01:10:54):
Yeah, the.

Speaker 3 (01:10:56):
The schedule for next week, excuse me, Tony and I
are here on Monday, and I believe that's it. Tuesday
we are bumped due to Kentucky basketball, and I will
be on the Roundtable show with Lance Tuesday night, But
then we are off the rest of the week and
back Monday Tuesday, the twenty ninth and thirtieth, if I'm

(01:11:19):
not mistaken, and and then we're off again. But yeah,
we are only here on Monday next week.

Speaker 29 (01:11:26):
Hey, Jeffer Casey here talking about Zach's compensation. If he
is one of the lowest paid coaches in the league,
I would say that's probably accurate. It's probably based on
his performance, along with the Bengals being a cheaper organization.
What's his overall record, he probably deserves to be towards

(01:11:46):
the bottom of the coaching pace. Goood, Yeah, I'm sure
a lot of people would agree with you.

Speaker 30 (01:11:52):
Shamar Stewart had a standout performance at the twenty twentive
Senior Bowl, significantly boosting his draft stock. He dominated early
practice sessions with his rare domination of size, six feet.

Speaker 5 (01:12:01):
Five inches, two one pounds yeah and speed.

Speaker 30 (01:12:04):
Notably forcing a stripsack against LSU tackle Emery Jones Junior.
His performance was so impressive that he withdrew from the
remainder of the week after just two days, having already
solidified himself as a first round prospect.

Speaker 5 (01:12:16):
This momentum event thank you we knew all that information
about Schamar, but thank you.

Speaker 31 (01:12:24):
A forty one point loss to crighton that home forty
one points, yeah, Craighton man fire, Wes Miller, Hey.

Speaker 4 (01:12:40):
Audy, great job on the show. Thank you. Sorry to
double dip.

Speaker 5 (01:12:45):
So evidently we're talking about practice.

Speaker 6 (01:12:48):
Samar Stewart dominated practice.

Speaker 3 (01:12:51):
Yeah, he dominated a senior ball practice. Yeah he I
mean we listened Shamar Stewart. We've talked extensively about his
lack of production in games in college. He clearly is
not produced in the NFL and his limited snaps. I
would love to see over the final three weeks as

(01:13:12):
much Samar Stewart as I possibly can, as much McKinley
Jackson as I possibly can, as much Demetrious Nite, as
much Barrett Carter, as much of.

Speaker 5 (01:13:22):
All those dudes.

Speaker 3 (01:13:24):
And listen, you don't want to look back at last
year in those the final five games, they didn't play
a bunch of great quarterbacks and the defense played a
little bit better. You don't want that to carry a
bunch of weight going into the offseason. But I do think,
and based off Paul Danner's reporting earlier this week, these
games do carry weight when it comes to evaluating going

(01:13:45):
into the offseason, and so that to me puts meaning
meaningful snaps on the field for this team, and I
think we can learn and get a peak maybe into
what their plans might be based off of the way
some of those young guys perform. And I listen, Schamar
is going to be a part of the story, whether

(01:14:06):
you want him to or not. And it would be
great for the Bengals to, you know, finally hit on
one of these defensive players that they've spent all these
top one hundred picks on. It would be great and
it would be nice if Shamar Sewart was one of
those guys, and hopefully we see something out of him
over the final three weeks and hopefully he's able to play.

(01:14:26):
That was it for talkbacks. Speaking of playing over the
final three weeks, Joe Burrow was asked about it and
Travis Kelcey talked about it now that the Chiefs have
been eliminated. I thought both of their answers were interesting.
You'll hear that next on Football in Natti. This is
Tony Pikes since he three sixty on the whole of
the Bengals ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:14:46):
As players fight through them Forminnati.

Speaker 1 (01:14:48):
Grunch You in part by bud Light and by Oakley
Greens on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the
Cincinnati Bengals, Welcome back in.

Speaker 6 (01:14:59):
You know.

Speaker 3 (01:14:59):
A lot has been made about whether or not Joe
Burrow should play in the final three games of the season.
And I think it's a fun debate because kind of
what we talked about earlier this week, is winning all
that important when you have the needs and the holes
and the issues that the Bengals have, And should you

(01:15:19):
risk Joe Burrow potentially being injured. I've always stood by
the idea that you should not go through life scared,
and if a player who has paid well wants to
play football, then he should be allowed to play football,
whether or not the games have playoff implications or not.
Zach Taylor was asked why is Joe playing the final
three games? And Zach said, because we want to win.

(01:15:41):
And I can't sit around and say that the standard
is the standard and you should always be trying to
win and winning should be the most important thing, and YadA, YadA, YadA,
and then just be like, Joe shouldn't play the last
three games if it's about winning. And if it's about
having a standard, and if it's about meeting a stand
and if it's about getting young players to understand what

(01:16:03):
the standard is, then that means you don't just pack
up and go home when you get eliminated. It doesn't
mean you give up on the season. Now, if you
got a knee injury, if you got an ankle injury,
if you got something going on, there's no reason to
risk it.

Speaker 5 (01:16:18):
I get it.

Speaker 3 (01:16:19):
But at the same time, like there's got to be
a culture, a standard, something here to build off of.
And maybe the momentum going into the offseason, maybe that
whole idea is maybe that's overrated, and I think there's
probably some validity to that. But is it not about

(01:16:39):
winning at all costs all the time, And isn't it
always a good thing to win? And when I think
of it, like my favorite players are playing for my
favorite team, I want to watch them play football. I
want to watch Joe Burrow play football. I want to
watch Jamar Chase play football. Joe was asked about it
earlier this week, actually just yesterday, was asked about why

(01:17:02):
he wants to play the final three games of the year.

Speaker 8 (01:17:04):
Playing the last three weeks so important act. Why doesn't
matter to you even though you guys are illuminating.

Speaker 9 (01:17:13):
I want to play football for the same reasons that
I wanted to push to comeback from injury. Some reasons
I want to play this week.

Speaker 4 (01:17:25):
It feels like.

Speaker 9 (01:17:27):
Everything everybody's trying to do everything in their power to
make me not play football, and I feel like I'm
fighting it, like fighting everybody.

Speaker 4 (01:17:34):
Else, Like I just want to play. I just want
to play ball.

Speaker 10 (01:17:36):
That's all I want to do.

Speaker 3 (01:17:38):
It's pretty simple, right, I just just want to play football.
I'm paid to play football. You know, we all propped
up Joe for saying what he said prior to the
Thanksgiving game, and people were asking, why do you want
to come back? Why do you want to play? And
he's saying, we are paid a lot of money to
play a kid's game.

Speaker 5 (01:17:58):
Why would I not? It can be that simple, can't it.

Speaker 3 (01:18:02):
Travis Kelcey is going to be playing for the Chiefs
and they're going to be eliminated from postseason contention during
this game. Chiefs haven't missed the playoffs since twenty fourteen.
Patrick Mahomes has never taken a snap in which the
Chiefs aren't in contention for the playoffs. It's been a
long time for Travis Kelcey. On the New Heights Show

(01:18:26):
or the New Heights Podcast or whatever that thing's called
that he does with his brother Jason, Jason asked him about,
you know, how do you approach the last three weeks
of the season, And here's Travis's response.

Speaker 5 (01:18:37):
Yes, how do you approach the rest of the season.

Speaker 21 (01:18:39):
Yeah, it's kind of unfamiliar territory at this point for
a lot of guys in the building, guys that have
been there, and I'm the only one that's been on
the team long enough to see us not make the playoffs.
There's an integrity thing here that you know, when you
sign up for the gig, you're living out your dreams.
You're living out a kid's dream that never got a
chance to do this. You're living out you know.

Speaker 24 (01:19:06):
Man.

Speaker 21 (01:19:07):
Yeah, you're uh, you're playing this game obviously to win
Super Bowls. You're playing this game to be in those
playoffs scenarios and stuff. But at the end of the day, man,
you're playing in the NFL. Yeah, And that's a blessing,
that's an honor. It's an honor to be out there.
It's an honor to feel the soreness after a game
because you're actually out there doing it. Yeah, And no

(01:19:31):
matter if you're getting the ball throwned you, no matter
if you're if you're blocking your tail off and you never,
you know, see the pill. It's it's an honor to
be out there in a uniform, playing for the for
the guys around you, playing for your family, playing for
the people back home that are watching you, that have
known you since you were a little kid, dreaming about
this moment, dreaming about these moments being in the NFL.

(01:19:54):
And I'll tell you what, man, if if there's a
game to be ad, baby, I'm gonna go out there
and I'm going to love playing in it, no matter
if it's a game that in the playoffs or gets
us in the playoffs, or a game that you know,
seems like it doesn't have any implications of that.

Speaker 4 (01:20:10):
And that's the integrity. You gotta go out there with.

Speaker 3 (01:20:13):
Travis Kelce obviously in a much different point in his
career than Joe Burrow is, but the point remains the same. Like,
these dudes are living out their dreams and why you
would willingly step away from that, I think is I
just don't understand. And there's already an attitude out there

(01:20:37):
about professional athletes that they only do it for the money. Well,
there's an example of a dude that doesn't need another
dime the rest of his life, and he's getting emotional,
choked up about the idea of not being able to
play anymore. Joe Burrow was emotional after the Baltimore game
in the thought of his football mortality in the game

(01:20:57):
being taken away from him. Like, we are allowed even
though we are not. I'm not you might not be
a professional athlete that makes millions of dollars. We're allowed
to empathize with these guys. We're allowed to understand that.
You know, this can be hard on them too, And
sometimes they just want to play a game. They get
paid to play football. So I want to play football.

(01:21:20):
I mean, that's what I would want to do. I
just think it can be that simple. Sometimes we'll take
a break, we'll come back.

Speaker 15 (01:21:28):
This is.

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Speaker 5 (01:22:08):
Been a while since we heard this.

Speaker 3 (01:22:13):
I said it earlier this week with Tony when's my
guy Chris Stapleton' gonna come out with a Christmas album?
So I've been listening to iHeart Christmas. I hope you
have been too, And I can only imagine something like
let It Snow by Chris Stapleton.

Speaker 5 (01:22:32):
Or Please Home? What's that so please come home for Christmas?

Speaker 4 (01:22:34):
Whatever?

Speaker 5 (01:22:35):
That is just a little Chris Stapleton Christmas music. I
can't wait. Somebody get Chris to do that.

Speaker 15 (01:22:42):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (01:22:42):
Wrap it up our number two here on since E
three sixty Uh coming up in just a couple of minutes.
We'll talk to Keegan nickoson Bearcat Journal dot com. How
did we get to this point? With Gisel James returning
to the Bearcat's big win for UC last night. We'll
also talk to him with the latest in the transfer
portal for the football team. Quick update on the Bengals.
Bengals are starting practice right now. T Higgins, according to

(01:23:06):
Ben Baby, not spotted Higgins still going through the concussion protocol.
He did not practice yesterday, and Joe Burrow was on
the injury report yesterday. He was listed with a knee
injury but was a full participant. He did say yesterday
is just a little bit sore, so I don't know
that that's anything significant, but it was on the injury

(01:23:28):
report yesterday. Cincinnati had a ton of guys on the
injury report and Joe was one of them. But T
Higgins not spotted at the start of Bengals practice today
talking bear Cats with Keegan Nickolson. Next, this is Tony
Pikes since he three to sixty on the Home of
the Bengals, ESPN fifteen to thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:23:48):
You got This is Tony Pikes since he three sixty
about Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored in part by Penn Station
East Coast Subs. Handcrafted grilled subs, fresh cut fries in lemonade.
It's all about good taste. Penn Station East Coast Subs

(01:24:08):
order on mine Today. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's
Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (01:24:14):
Hi, Hello, welcome in our number three.

Speaker 3 (01:24:16):
Tony Pikes since e three p sixty here on ESPN
fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:24:20):
I'm Austin O.

Speaker 3 (01:24:20):
Moore, No big Fella today, Tony Beck tomorrow for a
Friday football frenzy. And it's been a frenzy, that's for sure.
Whether you're talking football or basketball, Bengal dumb or Bearcat Land,
there's a lot going on. I always think back to
what Moegar says, be good or be interesting. Well, the

(01:24:41):
Bengals and Bearcats have not been good, but they have
been interesting. And you see, last night got a little
bit more interesting. So we go to Bearcat Journal dot
COM's Keegan Nickoson to join us now and talk about
the Bearcats. Keegan, are you keeping up with all the
stuff going on in Bearcat world right now?

Speaker 4 (01:25:00):
I'm hanging on by a string. I don't know if
anyone can is capable of keeping up with everything that's
going on at the moment.

Speaker 3 (01:25:08):
Let's start with last night. Jigsel James returns. I think
my question is simple, how did we get here with
Gigsel James?

Speaker 4 (01:25:18):
Yeah, I mean he was dismissed from the team in
August and then he spent a lot of time in
Houston training at the John Lucas Facility, which kind of
specializes in rehabbing NBA and college players, and I think
he got back into town around Louisville the Louisville game.

(01:25:41):
And then ever since that Louisville game, you've had some injuries,
some guys who haven't been able to stay healthy. And
even before that, you lost Jalen Haynes for the year.
Lucas Atari from I believe he's from Brazil came to
campus and didn't pass the physical because he had a
knee issue. So all of a sudden, you're looking at

(01:26:02):
this roster that is both struggling and unhealthy. And then
Jisel was told that he wasn't going to play this year,
and he still told Wes Miller that he wanted to
come back and be a part of the team and
just be around the guys and get ready for next season.
But then Wes Miller is kind of putting this impossible

(01:26:23):
situation where he has this talented player around the team
who he can play this year if he can kind
of figure out a way to make it happen. And
then ultimately he did. Jizill kind of reconcile with his teammates,
earns the trust back of the coaching staff and his teammates,
and ultimately goes back on the floor. So it's been
a really, really long road and I wouldn't blame anyone

(01:26:47):
who said it's a desperation play by Wes Miller, but
there was a lot more that went into it to
make sure that it was a decision that he could
make that was in the best interest of both his
team and Gisel James.

Speaker 3 (01:26:58):
Well, that's what I was about to ask you, because
that's the word I've seen the most, is desperation for Cincinnati,
and I think it's fair to say, based off the
way the season has started, that there's a little bit.

Speaker 5 (01:27:08):
Of that in the air.

Speaker 3 (01:27:09):
Do you think it's a desperation move and how much
from a basketball standpoint, how much of a difference can
he really make or do we not know?

Speaker 4 (01:27:19):
I do think it's a desperation move at this point
in the season. Like Tyler McKinley didn't play and he's
not a guard, but he's struggling with kind of I
think it's a bone bruise issue. Shouldn't be long term.
Kerr Crease is shooting under thirty percent from three. I
think he just went one for eight last night. He's
averaging something around seven points a game. Keishan Tillery hasn't

(01:27:42):
been playing a ton. He's not really living up the expectations,
which moving the goalpost isn't really fair because he wasn't
expected to play this year a ton in the first place,
so Jisel and Kerr were supposed to be the point
guards for you see, and then all of a sudden,
you throw this true freshman into a really tough situation
into your Harris is struggling with the back issue, and

(01:28:02):
it seems like data Thomas is the only guy who's
kind of completely healthy, so he didn't really have a choice,
which I guess means that it's a desperation play. But
it's not just this thing where Gisel was away from
the team and had no interest in coming back, and
then he was offered this opportunity because Wes just like

(01:28:24):
was begging him to come. He had to come back
and go through the right processes and take the necessary
steps to assimilate back and back with the team, or
I'm pretty confident that he wouldn't be playing right now.

Speaker 5 (01:28:35):
By no means.

Speaker 3 (01:28:36):
I am not a basketball expert, but it feels like
in the West Miller era offense has always been a
struggle and consistent offense has always been a struggle.

Speaker 4 (01:28:46):
Why do you think that is, Well, that's some million
dollar question or like ten million dollar question. I really
I don't know. I think his best offense was year
two when he had Landers Dollie and David de Julius
and Landers Knowlledge just kind of went absolutely bonkers from three,

(01:29:08):
made a ton of shots, and then you have a
point guard who can go and get you a bucket.
And even that offense, I think it was in like
the seventies or eighties according to Ken palm Like it
was by no means the top offense in the country,
but they had a solid enough defense to have a
pretty good season. I think a lot of it is

(01:29:32):
players just not panning out and not being able to
take the next step. And that's on coaching. That's not
me throwing the players under the bus. If the players
aren't getting better from year to year, it's on the
people who are supposed to be developing them. You think
Dan Skillings goes to a baseball game and gets on
an interview between innings and says, Yeah, I'm gonna play

(01:29:53):
one more year at Cincinnatian and go to the NBA,
And then he has a really bad year and makes
a a couple of million dollars to go to Baylor.
And you think of Jessel James, who was supposed to
be the best player of the team last year and
he really struggles. Dylan Mitchell didn't have a great offensive
season last year. Simos Dukosias started the season shooting like
forty eight percent from three, but then really really struggled

(01:30:17):
and just couldn't put together a consistent season. So I
don't know if it's the assistant coaches or there isn't
just a great offensive plan, but it seems like there's
been a decent amount of stuff thrown out the wall
and it just hasn't hasn't stuck. Like you're kind of
counting on Kerkcresa and saying, Okay, his last year at

(01:30:37):
West Virginia he was good, and then he goes to
Kentucky and gets hurt and he plays nine games. If
we can get that West Virginia kerkkrisa, everything will be fine.
But then you don't get them. And John Celestin has
had a decent year but also hasn't been great. And
then Sean Obaia, who's supposed to be maybe your best
shooter on the team him battling with Celestine is also

(01:31:00):
kind of struggling from the from the free throw line
and the free point line, and now to a point
where Dade Thomas is kind of your most most efficient shooter,
which no one would have pictured two years ago. So
I think a lot of it is it's development, and
a lot of it as players just not panning out.
I wouldn't say that they're constantly getting bad shots. A
lot of it is just you're not making shots, and

(01:31:22):
that's going to go back to what what are you practicing,
what are the drills they're doing, and just how locked
interview on those things.

Speaker 5 (01:31:30):
How would you assess the season that we've seen from
Shannabaiah this year.

Speaker 4 (01:31:37):
I think I unfairly kind of saw him being one
of the highest rated recruits to come to Cincinnati and said, Okay,
well he's just going to be the best player on
the team, and I kind of expected him to do
much more, knowing that he was a really really high
four star of five star by some outlets, and then
you just kind of think about that and you say, Okay,

(01:32:00):
this kid's going to be a stud. I think he
definitely has to play better, and I think if anyone
asks him if he's played up to his standard or
what he believes he can play to. If you ask
Wes Miller, both of them would say no, and that
he needs to play better and that he will play better.
I mean, Wes Miller said last night he's going to
shoot the ball well this season. Take that to the bank.

(01:32:21):
And you know, Wes has also said that about free
throws and it hasn't really come true. So I don't
know how much credence you can give it. But I
think he's a really, really talented player. I think he's
a smart player. I liked seeing him against Alabama State
be aggressive on takes to the rim and then kind
of pass out or draw some foul shots or get

(01:32:41):
some layups and not just settle for threes. Because he's
been a very, very high volume three point shooter. So
I'm expecting him to play much better. But I wouldn't
argue with anyone who says, you know, we saw the
Michigan game in the exhibition when he scored I think
fifteen points and looked great, and you're not just seeing
that now, So he's going to be really really tested

(01:33:02):
at the start of Big Twelve play the season he
can kind of come along.

Speaker 3 (01:33:04):
Talking to Kegan nickoson Bearcat Journal dot Com, let's flip
over to football. There's a lot going on as the
Bearcats get set for the Liberty Bawl. The big news
this week, of course, Brendan Soorsby going into the transfer portal.
What did we learn from Scott Saderfield when he talked
earlier this week about Soorsby and about what the plan
might be to replace him.

Speaker 4 (01:33:28):
Yeah, I mean what we learned is that Cincinnati put
together a very competitive package and finance wise to compete
with other schools. But at the end of the day,
I just think this was I think Brendan Soorzy wanted
to play somewhere else. I don't think it was a
thing where he was willing to come back and kind

(01:33:50):
of in a sense start over offensively because of all
the players that they're losing. I know for a fact
after last season he turned down higher paying offers because
he saw what they were building. He saw Joe Royer,
he saw the wide receivers they could bring in, and
Sire sal and Jeff Caldwell with Caleb Goody, he saw
Evan Pryor the offensive line, and he knew that he

(01:34:12):
had something to build around, and then you know, kind
of just looking at the situation and going in the
next year, you have to think, you know, how much
better can I get? How much can I raise my
stock for the NFL? And at this point, he thinks
he's either going to go to the NFL or he's
going to trainsfer somewhere else and try to raise that
stock even more. A school like Texas Tech, who has

(01:34:34):
a forty million dollar rosster this year and has a
ton of money. Maybe Indiana, where he played for multiple
years and that's where you see got him out of
after a successful stint. I've heard some Tennessee, I've heard
some Miami, but I ultimately think it's going to come
down to Texas Tech in Indiana if he doesn't end
up going to the draft. So yeah, it's it's tough.

(01:34:58):
Scott Saderfield basically said, look, we couldn't afford him, and
you know, I don't think anybody should be surprised by that.
He's one of the best quarterbacks in the country, especially
when you look at who's coming back for next season.
He's going to be one of the most sought after quarterbacks.
So you know, you see, he's in a tough spot
and they're going to have to replace him with a

(01:35:18):
transfer quarterback. He's going to have to come in and
really battle for a starting spot next year.

Speaker 3 (01:35:22):
Not only is their roster turnover, but there's turnover on
the people that help build the roster. They've lost a
couple of guys in their player development and the portal
operations and all that stuff. What is the latest on
replacing them so that they can continue to acquire talent
through the portal and otherwise.

Speaker 4 (01:35:42):
Yeah, it hasn't been officially announced yet by Cincinnati, but
they're replacing Jack Griffith with Nick Lamatina from Western Kentucky.
He was an intern at Western Kentucky under Zach Grant
and I believe twenty twenty and then he's been there
since and he was one of Helton's like biggest player
personnel guys. He actually was a lead guy in replacing

(01:36:06):
a team that won eight games and then lost sixty
players after the twenty twenty four season, and then they
replaced the sixty players that they lost and then won
eight more games this past year. So he knows about
roster turnover, he knows how to evaluate talent. They sent
defensive linemen to I think Auburn, Florida State, Wake Forest,

(01:36:26):
and Alabama after the last season, so he's been involved
in all that kind of stuff. Everything I've heard from
everyone is that he's a stud. And you know, I'm very,
very high on Jack Griffith. I think he was one
of the best portal evaluators and hardest working guys in
college football, and it sounds like they got a guy
that kind of rivaled that or at least get close

(01:36:48):
to it, especially when we're only a couple weeks away
from the portal here.

Speaker 3 (01:36:52):
Speaking of the portal, it feels like there's a thousand
Bearcats in it right now. I say this like jokingly,
but also not like are there going to be enough
people to play in the Liberty Bowl against Navy, especially
in the defensive side of the ball.

Speaker 4 (01:37:08):
The defensive backfield might be a question, but we're going
to be seeing a lot of true freshmen and red
shirt freshmen who haven't seen a lot of snaps in
their Cincinnati careers. We actually talked to Tyson Bite today
after practice and he said to look out for Patrick Williams,
a corner from Florida who's a true freshman who has
really taken on that mantle and taken the opportunity to

(01:37:29):
get those extra snaps, and he's taken advantage of it.
You saw Michael Coleman into the portal today. He hasn't
been at practice, but yet they're going to have enough guys.
It just might not be the usual product that you
saw at the end of the year from an experience perspective,
But I would say that a lot of Cincinnati fans

(01:37:51):
weren't very satisfied with what they saw in the first place.
They seeing some new blood out there against Navy might
be a good thing.

Speaker 3 (01:37:57):
Well, like going up against a team like Navy and
with everything you just mentioned and the inexperience and all
the turnover, Like how much can you really get from
the Liberty Bowl? Like does does winning it matter that much?
Do those snaps matter that much? Like how much are
you actually getting out of this game?

Speaker 4 (01:38:17):
I don't know. I mean, there's a few names that
I'm interested in. Zion Johnson, a running back, is one.
What does he do as possibly a starting running back?
I think Evan Pryor's status for whether Hill player or
not is kind of up in the air. Zion Johnson's
a really really fast, true freshman who's expected to have
a big role on the team in the future, So

(01:38:37):
I'm going to be watching him Sadderfield said that both
quarterbacks Brady Littenberg and Samaje Jones will play, and I
think this is a great chance for Samage Jones to
prove to the coaching staff whether he can compete for
the starting job next year. How aggressive do they have
to be in the portal going after a guy? And
you know, Navy isn't like the most talented team in

(01:38:58):
the country, but they're gonna played discipline and they're gonna
play really, really hard and really aggressive brand of football.
So it'll be a good test for the quarterbacks. Other
than Thatt I'm looking at I'm looking at dB like
I mentioned earlier, how does Patrick Williams play? How to
CJ krit play? A safety who I'm really intrigued by.
They brought in some true freshmen last year with some

(01:39:19):
length and size, which is what Scott Saidisfield said they
needed to get in the offseason. So just looking at
those kind of things red shirt freshmen and true freshman
who could possibly have an impact next year. And also
like the offensive line is looking like it's going to
stay together pretty well, as they just announced that they're
all coming back next year. So see how those guys

(01:39:39):
can continue to gel against the Navy defensive line.

Speaker 3 (01:39:43):
Good stuff, Keegan, appreciate your time before I let you go.
What are you working on and how can people follow along?

Speaker 4 (01:39:50):
Yeah? I got a bunch of portal stuff coming. It
opens on January tewod and then going to continue to
have Bowl game and basketball coverage coming. Make sure to
subscribe to barkat Journal, follow me at k Nickison forty
two on X and you should see all my stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:40:06):
Awesome Keegan, we'll talk to you in a couple of weeks. Man,
Thank you and having merry Christmas.

Speaker 4 (01:40:11):
Thanks autin you too.

Speaker 5 (01:40:13):
That is Keegan.

Speaker 3 (01:40:14):
Nickoson Bearcat journal dot com. About half an hour from
right now, we'll be talking to the head hount show
of Bearcat Journal dot com. Chadbrindle is going to stop
by for quick hits because Chad has most show this
afternoon from three to six. It'll be the Chad Brindle
Show on The Moegger Show. Got an update from Bengals
practice when we get back, and we'll do a quick
whip around college basketball. Here from Wes Miller, from Richard Patino,

(01:40:37):
from Darren Horn all after games last night here in
the Cincinnati area. This is Tony Pikes Sincy three sixty
hour three continues next on the Home of the Bengals,
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:40:49):
Is it possible soon?

Speaker 3 (01:40:55):
The phone line's still open at five one, three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty if you want to call in
any last minute thoughts to share, you're welcome to. Thank
you to those of you who followed me on Instagram
earlier talked about me looking like Buzz Lightyear in a
sisty Well you can see it, and many of you
did follow me, so thank you. Still trying to turn

(01:41:17):
this into something and cool to see people following. I
do appreciate that quick update from Bengals practice. Earlier I
told you've been baby reporting that T Higgins was not
spotted at the start of practice. Well, Higgins about fifteen
minutes later arrived with a helmet on for the last
minute of open portion of practice to the media. He
was with trainer Joey Bose as they were getting set

(01:41:42):
kind of off to the side there. So certainly I
would assume some good news that T has his helmet
on and was at least spotted at practice. He was
officially listed as limited on the injury report yesterday. We
will obviously get another update on that injury report later
on this afternoon. A lot of college basketball being played

(01:42:02):
in the area. Last night, we had Xavier in action,
Cincinnati in action, and n KU in action. The Norse
fell to Oakland last night. NKU now one and two
in Horizon League play. Not a great showing for them.
Here is Darren Horn, the head coach of the Norse,
following last night's loss to Oakland.

Speaker 13 (01:42:25):
I mean, this felt like a March level game, right
to two teams in our league that have been pretty
good over the years. We're really battling it out possession
for possession. And give Oakland credit. I thought they were
really aggressive and physical, and you know, they made place
when they needed to make them. And that's a lot
of what these kind of games come down to. You

(01:42:46):
can you make the right plays and you know, if
you scored seventy seven points at home and have fifty
points in the page, you need to win. And so
the message that I've been giving up here after so
many games, even when we were winning, that we are
not where we need to be defensively to win games
like this. I think showed tonight in general good defensively.
You know, you look at the numbers in terms of

(01:43:07):
percentages and all that, but so many poor plays, just
lack of poise, quite honestly, stupid basketball plays to give
them open looks. They had four to threes in the
second half. Three of them we literally just left a
shooter for them to throw the ball to them wide
open and then them get clean looks. And you know,
those are things that we haven't done in practice in

(01:43:28):
two weeks. You know, we've been getting better, but we've
got to play with a greater level of poise and
discipline on the defensive end. You know, if you give
up twenty nine free throws in a game like this,
it's going to be hard to win. And that's again,
and I think our challenge is it's not one or
two guys, it's it's multiple guys, and it's throughout the game.
And so we've got to really get better in that area.

(01:43:50):
And we've got some guys quite honestly, that need to
tough en up and grow up a little bit. And
you know, the games are not going to get any easier.
Get a brutal non conference game coming in here Sunday
with Charleston, and then you know, league plays is gonna
be like this every night. So we've got a tough
en up and grow up a little bit and get
a little bit more disciplined on the defensive end.

Speaker 3 (01:44:09):
Damn, how about that from Darren Horn said, quite honestly,
some stupid plays. We've got a tough en up. We
gotta be better. I mean that's talk. You want to
talk about putting a cheese on the cracker. I mean,
that's doing it right there from Darren Horn. I appreciate
that sort of honesty from a coach post game. So
NKU now nine and four on the season. As I mentioned,

(01:44:30):
one and two in the Horizon League. They host Charleston
on Sunday. Xavier was also in action. They were getting
underway with Big East play hosting Creighton, and Creighton gave
him the business. Creyton beat him ninety eight fifty seven.
My apologies for that. Ninety eight to fifty seven was
the score. Last night, Xavier falls to eight and four.

(01:44:52):
Here is Richard Patino and his opening statement following last
night's loss.

Speaker 32 (01:44:57):
Well credit to Crayton they were really really good. I
thought they were better than the way they'd been playing.
They responded in a big way. But you know, we
were as bad as we've been all year. We've been
practicing well, we had been playing well, and everything that
got us to that we totally abandoned. So really really

(01:45:18):
disappointed in myself to allow that to happen.

Speaker 5 (01:45:22):
You know, we're gonna have to.

Speaker 32 (01:45:25):
Really really swallow our pride tomorrow and watch this film
and we're gonna have to learn from it. So certainly,
very very disappointed, appreciative of the fans. Apologized to them
that they didn't show up to watch that, but there's
nothing we can do about it besides learn from it
and get back to work.

Speaker 3 (01:45:43):
Xavier head coach Richard Patino. Following Xavier's loss, the Muskies
are back in action. On Saturday, they traveled to Georgetown
to take on the Hoyas and finally, last night, Cincinnati
the only team in the area to win and took
down Alabama State. And Alabama State is one of the
worst defensive teams in the country, but who cares. If

(01:46:06):
you need a get right game, the Bearcats got one
last night. The return of Gisel James a great performance
from Bob Bob Miller. Here is Wes Miller's opening statement
following a Bearcat victory.

Speaker 10 (01:46:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 33 (01:46:20):
I thought we talked to the guys about taking a
step as a team tonight, and I thought the guys
prepared the right way, and I thought for the most
part they did that. There's always things as a coach
that you can nitpick that you want to be better.
But I liked the way that we approached it tonight.

(01:46:40):
I liked some of the things that happened. I thought
we took a step. Alabama State played in this tournament
last year. They'll play in it again this year. I
was concerned about the game. You know, they went at
UAB and everybody here knows.

Speaker 5 (01:46:55):
Andy Kennedy's a really good coach. Everybody knows him around here.
And they go win at UAB.

Speaker 33 (01:47:01):
Mike Roberts, who is probably my best friend in coaching,
is an assistant at New Mexico, and New Mexico's really
damn good. And they go into the pit and they
had a lead for thirty eight minutes or something like that,
and to almost get a win at New Mexico, I
think as an eight point game in Missouri, this weekend,
and so I have a lot of respect for Alabama State,

(01:47:24):
and I think they're a really good team. And I thought,
you know, we played well enough that it didn't appear
that way at times tonight. We were able to take
them out of things. So for that reason, I'm pleased to.

Speaker 5 (01:47:38):
Boba Miller.

Speaker 33 (01:47:40):
You know, when he's playing with the right intention and
the right mentality, he's pretty special. And I thought he
strung together twenty six minutes of playing the right way tonight.
And I challenged him a little bit this morning about
being consistent with the things that matter.

Speaker 5 (01:47:56):
So it's really good to see it.

Speaker 33 (01:47:57):
But you look down in twenty six and fourteen guys,
I mean that's that's something else and eleven for twelve.

Speaker 5 (01:48:03):
From the field, and it was good to see he
can shoot. He can shoot.

Speaker 33 (01:48:06):
I mean he shoots like over seventy percent in our
practices in all our shooting drills, but.

Speaker 5 (01:48:12):
He hadn't made them to start the year.

Speaker 33 (01:48:13):
And you know, it was great because the first one
came inside out, and I think when you when you
get to the basket and you get to the paint,
the ball comes out, those are easier shots. And it
was a nice inside out play for MoU and it
was good to see one go down and good to
see him make some free throws.

Speaker 5 (01:48:28):
But I thought Bob's performance was great.

Speaker 33 (01:48:31):
I love twenty five assists. That they're a really good
rebounding team, and in other high major games they've been
effective on the board, and you know, if that was
something we challenged.

Speaker 5 (01:48:42):
I'm glad we won the board. I'd like us to
win it more significantly.

Speaker 33 (01:48:45):
I don't like their seventeen offensive rect they got three
in one possession, for God's sakes in the second half,
but that was something we were talking about a lot.
And then I don't know if I said it yet,
but twenty five assists.

Speaker 5 (01:48:55):
That's always a good thing.

Speaker 3 (01:48:56):
When you see that Bearkatz back in action against Clemson
on Sunday. That is the Greenville Winter Invitational game being
played in Greenville, South Carolina. Up against the Tigers. They
are nine and three this season. We'll take a break,
we'll come back. We got John in Boston, we got
Mike in LA. We got time for you. Five one, three, seven, four, nine,
fifteen thirty Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty Home

(01:49:20):
stretch of a third hour here on Tony Pike since
he three sixty on Austin on more time for phone
calls before we go to Chad Brindle for quick hits. Chad,
of course in FROMO this afternoon. Let's start up in
Boston and talk to John. John, you're on the program.

Speaker 5 (01:49:34):
What's up dude, Good afternoon, Austin. How are you, wonderful man?
What's on your mind?

Speaker 4 (01:49:39):
Sounds good?

Speaker 15 (01:49:40):
Well?

Speaker 34 (01:49:40):
I think first of all, what we have to look
at is down the stretch is the health of Joe Borrow,
making sure that he's upright and healthy going into next season.
That goes without saying I think we can all agree
with that, but I'd love to see him kind of
come back and get that draw back to playing football.
And the only thing I could take away from it
is he's such a competitive guy and really cherishes winning.

Speaker 15 (01:50:00):
Thank you so much.

Speaker 34 (01:50:01):
Look back at his career, I think he lost one.

Speaker 15 (01:50:03):
Game in high school.

Speaker 34 (01:50:04):
I think while he was at Ohio State, although he
didn't play much, they only lost five games in three years,
and then four games at LSU. So when he came
into the NFL, he's only been ten losing games, and
this year the Bengals of four and ten, So that
has to.

Speaker 15 (01:50:16):
Wear on him.

Speaker 34 (01:50:17):
I'm so old to remember that Larry Bird when he
went undefeated and he had a state in nineteen seventy nine,
lost the championship game for Magic Johnson, and then he
came to the Celtics to turn them around. They won
sixty plus games, And a question that was asked to
him after the season when it was the toughest pride
adjusting from college to pros. Just losing this much, nearly
lost like twenty games in a basketball season. Those types

(01:50:38):
of guys who are really competitive, I think it just
wears on them after a while. So that to me
is really what I would love to see happen in
the last three weeks. Keep him healthy and make sure
that you know he's back to being himself, because we
could sit here and talk about offensive blind and linebackers
and everything else. If he's not all in and he's
your guide, then you've got to start back at square one.

Speaker 3 (01:50:58):
Yeah, And I think part of it too is now
two years in a row in which you're missing the playoffs.
I know it's ultimately three years in a row. The
first year they were playing pretty good, and that was
just like a crazy injury and then to play as
good as he did last year. I think there's at
least okay, I can hang my hat on. I had
an awesome season, but we just didn't have the horses.
And now it's like I got hurt again. I feel

(01:51:19):
I still feel like I'm good enough, and it feels
like we're further away on defense than we were a
year ago. And that's got to be difficult for him
to deal with, especially losing the way they did at Buffalo.
So I'm sure, yeah, that losing just wears on you.
And when he is responsible and a lot of people
felt like he was for the way that things went
in Buffalo and then responsible for the way things win

(01:51:41):
against Baltimore, it's just a tough few weeks.

Speaker 5 (01:51:43):
For the guy.

Speaker 12 (01:51:44):
Sure.

Speaker 6 (01:51:44):
Absolutely.

Speaker 34 (01:51:45):
In that Buffalo game, you got nine minutes left, he's
giving you a twenty eight to eighteen lead, and then
you let Buffalo score a touchdown on four plays, a
forty yard touchdown run by Josh Allen. He's probably like,
can we do better than that? I mean, he's going
to probably score touchdown there, Josh Allen, but let him
go nine, ten, eleven plays like you and Tony talked
about right after the game. Let's not make it look
like a maddens I think, uh. And then all of

(01:52:06):
a sudden, the bad read and then the pick pass
and it all falls on him like it always does.
He almost has to play perfect, the one he has
to play perfect for them to win. That's an incredible amount.

Speaker 4 (01:52:15):
Of pressure on one person, it is.

Speaker 3 (01:52:16):
And John, thank you for the phone call. And I agree,
like if you're if that's part of the pressure, you
know that that can wear on someone as well.

Speaker 5 (01:52:24):
And you know he's a human being just like the
rest of us. Let's go to Mike in LA. What's up, Mike.

Speaker 15 (01:52:31):
I hope my buddy John's still listening up in Boston.

Speaker 5 (01:52:35):
Boston.

Speaker 6 (01:52:35):
Yeah, the God.

Speaker 12 (01:52:39):
John.

Speaker 15 (01:52:39):
I've learned to like you, but typically I don't like
any Celtics fans. I hate the Celtic fans and the
bull crep Shenanigans. You folks used to pull up there
in the garden with the crappy little dressing rooms and
turn off the air conditioning. Just a bunch of hoodlums
in Boston. I'm sure you're not one of them, John,
But have a great Christmas.

Speaker 5 (01:53:01):
Well, you know that you know how it is up there.

Speaker 3 (01:53:02):
You know the Belichick stuff, you know, cheating Football's spygate.

Speaker 5 (01:53:08):
That's just what they do up there, Mike.

Speaker 15 (01:53:10):
They're all paranoid.

Speaker 24 (01:53:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 15 (01:53:16):
Sorry, John, I'm sorry, buddy. We love you, John. I'll
tell you what. We whipped a dreaded hornets about him
the State with.

Speaker 4 (01:53:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:53:26):
I think like I think they're like three and nineteenth
on the kin Pom defensive rankings.

Speaker 15 (01:53:32):
So and Wes Nollerd does really a pretty good rebounding team. Yeah,
when they played, when they played in JV teams or whatever.
But I'll tell you I still follow Nick Cronin because
I just love Nick. And he's finally got some shooters
out there now, and he has really never had many shooters,

(01:53:53):
so he finally got some shooters. And of course he
always you know, his team's always played good DSA. They
whipped a snot out of air in the State, which
is a pretty good team last night. So I just
always root for Mick. And you should like Mick. He's
in the ball club, brother.

Speaker 3 (01:54:07):
That's right, we got our bald brothers, got to stick together.
I got no beef with Mick.

Speaker 5 (01:54:10):
I like Mick.

Speaker 15 (01:54:13):
Old school man. I loved it. Dude, if you had
to pick now, who would be your Super Bowl picks.

Speaker 5 (01:54:21):
I would say, right now, I'm gonna say Seahawks and Bills.

Speaker 14 (01:54:28):
Wow.

Speaker 15 (01:54:29):
Well, I can understand that completely. And the reason you're
picking Buffalo over h Denver is because of the offense, right.

Speaker 3 (01:54:39):
Yeah, I'm just gonna trust Josh Allen And that's tough
because that, I mean, that defensive front in Denver is
so good. Sean Payton obviously is experienced, but I feel
like maybe just the year that Buffalo gets over the
hump and then you know, I'm assuming Seattle is gonna
win tonight. So if Seattle wins tonight, I think they
have the easiest pass easiest pass the Super Bowl.

Speaker 15 (01:55:00):
Yeah, I think without DeVante that is going to make
a difference for them tonight. Do you think Houston front
four is better than Denver's? Do you think Houston's is
the best in football?

Speaker 6 (01:55:10):
I do.

Speaker 5 (01:55:11):
I don't know that.

Speaker 3 (01:55:12):
I think it's a pretty close, uh comparison, but I
do think I would give it to Houston by a couple.

Speaker 15 (01:55:20):
And actually the Rams front for is pretty good. It's
a miracle how they got both those kids out of
Florida State in the same year verse and fisk.

Speaker 5 (01:55:27):
Yeah verse.

Speaker 15 (01:55:30):
Verse is a beast, isn't they? But that doesn't happen
too often, does it?

Speaker 4 (01:55:33):
Awes work.

Speaker 15 (01:55:34):
We'll take two linemen in the same draft. Oh, that
was another sparkling conversation on my behalf. So you have
a good thing.

Speaker 5 (01:55:42):
I enjoyed it.

Speaker 3 (01:55:42):
Mike, Thank you, buddy. That is our guy, Mike in
Los Angeles. We'll go from one sparkling conversation to another.
We go from Mike in LA to Chad Brindle, Bearcat
Journal dot Com and sitting in the big chair for
Moeggar this afternoon. He's next for quick hits right here
on the Home of the Bengals ESPN fifty There.

Speaker 5 (01:56:01):
Wck LII, Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (01:56:03):
Now it's time for a quick hits on Tony Tykes
since three.

Speaker 3 (01:56:09):
Yes, indeed it is. Normally we'd be looking for MO,
but now we've got Chad Brindle. Chad in the seat
for MO this afternoon for the moegger Radio Show. Hi Chad,
how are you?

Speaker 5 (01:56:22):
I'm delightful.

Speaker 26 (01:56:23):
I feel like it's been a long time since I've
seen you. I haven't been around much likely and it
feels like the days like we've missed each other.

Speaker 5 (01:56:30):
You guys are out or you're you know, well, some
would say at this time of the year, you're busier
than a one armed wallpaper hanger. It's crossover. Season is
a lot.

Speaker 26 (01:56:39):
It's a lot, but you know it's you make up
for it, like in the summer when you can go
do things and have a little bit of a life.
Not a lot of a life, but a little bit
of a life. You pay for it and ever sure, yeah,
did we like learn anything about the Bearcats last night?
I mean, Alabama State stinks, but like, probably not. How

(01:57:00):
much of a difference does Jiggle James make? Look do
we know it makes a difference. I don't know how
much yet, But let's let's be honest about something.

Speaker 5 (01:57:10):
Austin.

Speaker 26 (01:57:11):
You know where they rank in the Big twelve and
two point field goal percentage? Probably not not at the top. Last, Oh,
you know where they rank in the Big twelve and
three point field goal percentage.

Speaker 5 (01:57:20):
I'm gonna say last. Last.

Speaker 26 (01:57:21):
You know where they rank in the Big twelve and
free throw percentage? Last, definitely last. You know where they
rank in turnover percentage?

Speaker 5 (01:57:29):
First?

Speaker 26 (01:57:29):
Last, Oh, they turn it over more than anythy in
the Big twelve, Like this offense stinks. Yeah, so if
you can bring back your leading scorer from last year,
it helps. How much like my biggest concern with Jiggle
Jigsel James all along James.

Speaker 5 (01:57:45):
No, I like that. Yeah, that's better than.

Speaker 26 (01:57:50):
Jingle James. It's his efficiency. He has not been, to
this point in his UC career an efficient player. He
shoots under thirty percent from three, He loves long twos,
he doesn't get to the free throw line. So those
are all like, yeah, other than that, how is the
play missake?

Speaker 4 (01:58:10):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:58:10):
Exactly. So there are still concerns. But you add another guy.

Speaker 26 (01:58:15):
That can get you fifteen twelve, fifteen points a game
on average, with as bad as the offense has been,
it's gonna help some What if.

Speaker 5 (01:58:25):
Bob Bob goes for twenty six and fourteen every night,
If he gets eight dunks and goes eleven to twelve
from the field, I feel pretty good about eight dunks
is a pretty good night.

Speaker 4 (01:58:33):
Pretty good.

Speaker 26 (01:58:34):
That's one thing I do love, you know how like
fans generally don't grasp the concept of like you're playing
really high level basketball, you don't get just dunk it.
Bob Out genuinely is one of those guys that does
what fans want to do. He trish to dunk in
at every opportunity. I can appreciate that. So he did

(01:58:54):
it last night. Eight dunks is usually pretty good. I
said last night on the aftermath our postgame show, He's
probably not gonna have eight dunks in the game the
rest of the year, And Aaron said, why not, Well,
it's hard to have eight dunks in the gamer, so
everybody would do it. Yeah, but but it was at
least for a night. Look, man, they got twenty games left, right.

(01:59:14):
Eighteen of them are big twelve games. One of them
is Clemson on Sunday. The other is lipscumb who gave
Duke fits the other night. So you got twenty difficult
games left. We might not get to have a whole
lot of happy postgame shows. Sure between here and the
end of the season. I'm gonna enjoy it for a day.

Speaker 5 (01:59:34):
Have you, at any point in your life ever been
able to dunk on a ten foot room?

Speaker 33 (01:59:39):
No?

Speaker 6 (01:59:39):
I could.

Speaker 5 (01:59:40):
Back in the day, I could, Like fingertips, I could.
I could. What's your single greatest athletic accomplishment? A laser
time four three nine? Really? You was picking them up
and laying them down.

Speaker 26 (01:59:52):
I was really fast, especially short like like a hundred
when you ran one hundred meters.

Speaker 5 (01:59:58):
Sure, the guys with the long legs would eventually.

Speaker 26 (02:00:01):
Overtake me at about eighty meters, but off the start
and to like the halfway point, I could pick them
up and put them down.

Speaker 3 (02:00:09):
I never got caught stealing a base respect in baseball. Now,
how often did you get the first base? Were you know,
like a Billy Hamilton thing or not?

Speaker 13 (02:00:17):
You know what I was?

Speaker 26 (02:00:18):
I was a master bunter. Oh, I could bunt to
get pause there, yeah, master bunter.

Speaker 5 (02:00:26):
I could.

Speaker 26 (02:00:26):
I could put it third, short, second, first, like where
I felt the advantage was. Baseball was your sport. Yeah,
oh I did not want to. I want to not
hoole city championship. Did you really that's a big deal
in the master jewelers. Oh my gosh, master bunters, masters,
master jewelers.

Speaker 35 (02:00:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (02:00:42):
I had one home run in my whole career.

Speaker 26 (02:00:45):
I hit it into the wind at CUVCAF High School
and we were playing like our rival.

Speaker 5 (02:00:50):
It was like our big rival. Yes, and you know
it's kids, you know, on both.

Speaker 26 (02:00:56):
Teams, and literally everybody in the entire place When that
ball went over, the including me, looked at each other
and went, what just happened?

Speaker 4 (02:01:02):
What?

Speaker 6 (02:01:03):
What?

Speaker 30 (02:01:04):
What?

Speaker 26 (02:01:05):
That's awesome? What do you got coming up on the
show this afternoon. We're gonna talk some We're gonna talk
some bear Cats, talk some Muskies. Look, man, Mama said
there'd be days like that. There's these They're just not
great teams, either of them. So there are gonna be
nights that that nothing goes right correct, and last night

(02:01:25):
was a nothing goes right night for Xavier.

Speaker 5 (02:01:28):
You gotta kind of roll it up and throw it away.
This is what I will say.

Speaker 26 (02:01:33):
What have we seen so far through the first thirty
plus percent of the season for Xavier?

Speaker 5 (02:01:39):
Richard Patino's had some answers.

Speaker 15 (02:01:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 26 (02:01:41):
True, He's been able to course correct, He's been able
to get him back on track.

Speaker 5 (02:01:46):
Last night was frustrating. Last night.

Speaker 26 (02:01:48):
I didn't get to see it because I was obviously
at the return of Jiggle James m but just from
the sounds and reading everything about it, just a night
where absolutely nothing went your way.

Speaker 5 (02:02:04):
And sometimes that happens. So we'll talk about that. I've
got to. I've got to.

Speaker 26 (02:02:08):
I'm interested to hear your your take on this, We've
heard a lot about the the inner workings of Joe
Burrow's brain and what it means in terms of the
Bengals and the front office and what he's happy with
and what he's not happy with.

Speaker 5 (02:02:25):
How much of that do you think is Joe going
some of it me.

Speaker 26 (02:02:29):
I've asked for a lot, They've given me everything I've
asked for, and this ain't exactly working the way that
it should. Do you think some of that introspection is
him dealing with I'm not a general manager, I'm not
a coach, I'm a quarterback.

Speaker 3 (02:02:46):
I'm sure that there is self reflection at all levels.
We haven't talked about that quarterback, Yeah, we haven't. And
I think there's a lot of people out there that
don't know Joe Burrow, that think they know Joe Burrow.
That has led to a lot of this conversation and
nobody really knows him.

Speaker 5 (02:03:00):
But it's good stuff. We'll be listening this afternoon. Thanks Chad,
Thank you. Austin.

Speaker 3 (02:03:05):
Tony's back tomorrow for a Friday football frenzy on the
home of the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Tony Pikes.

Speaker 5 (02:03:11):
Since he thirst.

Speaker 35 (02:03:16):
Tony rint Friend, I don't know what to.

Speaker 36 (02:03:27):
Do Downy Rintz fight stubborn odors in just one wash
when impossible odors get stuck in Prince

Speaker 5 (02:03:42):
Cincinnati's family sports grill is

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