Tony Pike's Cincy 360 Hour 3 -- 11/25/25

Austin talks college hoops, Trey Hendrickson, checks in with Mo Egger, and more on ESPN 1530!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Tony Pike Sincy three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati,
sponsored in hard by Penn Station East Coast Subs hand
crept It I grilled subs, fresh cut fries and lemonade.
It's all about good taste. Penn Station East Coast Subs
order on mine today. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati

(00:26):
Sports Station.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Hi, Hello, welcome in final hour of Tony Pike Sincy
three sixty. Here on ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Austin Elmore.
You might be wondering where in God's green Earth is Tony.
Tony still here? Are still with us? I should say
he's still employed here. I know everybody has PTSD from
a month or so ago. He's just under the weather
today and Lord knows it's been going around. Mo had

(00:51):
it for a while. I had it for a little while.
I'm still dealing with it. My throat. I just can't
get it to feel comfortable. It's just irritated. And that's
what happens when you talk for a living. It's part
of the deal. But hopefully Tony feels better tomorrow and
he'll be back in the big chair for our final
live show of the week. Prior to Thanksgiving, Black Friday

(01:12):
and the holiday weekend. Want to talk a little bit
of college basketball. I want to talk a little bit
about Trey Hendrickson coming up. At the end of this
hour around two forty five, will check in briefly with
Mo Egger and Joe Burrow is slated to speak with
the media for the first time in a week or so,

(01:32):
So Joe ahead of Thursday night, Thanksgiving Night, supposed to
talk to the media. Will carry it for you live
here on ESPN fifteen thirty, and then we'll probably just
do a natural transition into MO. I expect Joe to
talk well through the end of our show, so Mo
and I'll be on together, and then MO will take
over after Joe begins talking. So that's what you have

(01:56):
to look forward to. Also, as I mentioned, a little
bit of college basketball and Trey Hendrickson and as well.
But we'll start the hour with a phone call. Our
guy Chris in Alexandria wants to talk Bengals.

Speaker 3 (02:08):
What's up, Chris, Hey, Audio, thank's taking my call?

Speaker 2 (02:11):
Yeah, thanks for calling.

Speaker 3 (02:13):
I know you hear this probably more than you care to,
and I think I understand.

Speaker 4 (02:18):
The why of it.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
But your off air voice is terrifying.

Speaker 2 (02:22):
My Oh yeah, when I when I'm screening, the phone calls. Yeah.
I don't know why it does that. We've never been
able to figure that out, but for whatever reason, it's
like our voice is like distorted and it Yeah, it
sounds like something out of a horror movie.

Speaker 5 (02:40):
It does.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
It's like when they're interviewing something someone that wants to
be incognito and one of the murder shows my wife watches.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Mm hmm, Yeah, it's so weird.

Speaker 3 (02:52):
Anyway, Hey, I think you agree with me here. I've
gone back and forth on the Burrow thing when he
first was hurt and it was like December comeback. I
was like, man, if we're out of it, don't play
the guy like there's no need for it. But you know,
there's still a third of a season left, and I
think I'm in your camp that I do want to

(03:12):
watch winning football, like at least last week. Last week
the game was watchable.

Speaker 6 (03:18):
You know.

Speaker 3 (03:18):
It wasn't me and my buddies sitting around sarcastically talking
about how we're going to figure out a way to lose.
It was watching yeah, and it was it was good
to see guys like Flacco out there giving it there
all when clearly, clearly they weren't one hundred percent. You know,
they haven't given up. That's that's something.

Speaker 5 (03:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:38):
And I thought, you know, a game like the Patriots
game after where they after the way they lost to
the Steelers and coming out of the by and all that,
I thought that that was a chance we'd see them
give up, or we'd see some guys quit, or we'd
see a lack of effort, kind of like we saw
from Genostone. But I saw the opposite. I saw a

(04:00):
team that really fought and really played hard. I do
think that's a credit to Zach Taylor.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
Totally agree. You know, I think it's interesting when you
go into a game expecting to lose four touchdown by
four touchdowns and you don't. How I don't leave as
depressed as happy. You think they're going to beat the
Jets and you don't. But then you think, oh, this
one's going to be a blood bath, and you're like,
oh okay, like they're still trying. There's a good at
least watchable football because I like football. Yeah, I want

(04:28):
to watch a good football game. So with the Borough thing, also,
he doesn't he's also if they're putting a ball in
his court and he gets to say he wants to
play football. But also, this would be a third season
ending injury, and I think he doesn't want to be
known as that a guy who missed three full seasons
because of injury and he's going to come back for

(04:48):
a third of a season. And yes, he missed most
of the year, but I think you know, at the
end of the year, at the end of the day,
if he stays healthy for these six games, he will
have played eight games. So he you know, that's more
than half a season. Our plants less than half season.
But you know what I'm saying, So I get that,
I understand all that. That all being said, I'm not
optimistic about Thursday. We do play Baltimore pretty well, and

(05:14):
you know, I think we match up well, and I
don't think Lamar Jackson is himself, But one of the odds,
Burrow comes out hot and Jamar Chase looks good, and
it doesn't look like we're gonna have Higgins. We know
we're not gonna have Hendrickson. And the defense actually plays
the way they played the last two weeks, and our
offense actually plays the way we want them to play

(05:36):
with at least almost a full compliment and Joe Burrow,
it's gonna take a lot of things to go right
for us.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah yeah, And that's kind of where they're at as
a team, Like it takes a lot of things going
their way, a lot of luck, you know, the penalty
goes their way, the balls fumbled in their direction, or
whatever it might be for them to win games. So
I agree with you. I don't know that I go
into Thursday night thinking, yes, Burrow back, We're gonna beat
him by four touchdowns. I'm just like, Okay, let's see

(06:04):
how he looks. Maybe they can pull something off here.
But I don't have a lot of expectations. And it's
tough to go primetime on the road AFC North short week.
We've talked about that a lot. It's just not easy
by any stretch of the imagination. But I'm still like,
I'm mainly in the evaluation modes like, Okay, what do
they got, how does he look, what's the defense look like?

(06:25):
Are there actual signs of improvement? What can we learn
about next year's team through the rest of these these games.
That's kind of where my mind is that.

Speaker 3 (06:33):
I feel the same way. I'm watching the offensive line thinking, okay, okay,
like we've that's been so bad for so long and
now it's not terrible, and you know, we're watching guys
like Miles Murphy put in a little tape and it
feels good. I'm in the same way. I'm kind of
watching players and watching units and seeing how they play.
But I just don't have a lot of expectations, especially

(06:54):
since Zack Taylor's always talking about complimentary football. But man,
if you're losing games where you're run and back kickoff
for touchdowns and you're getting picked sixes for touch you know,
and when you're losing those games, it's real hard to
think you're gonna you're gonna be able to put it
all together. But man, I just hope they show up
and give us, give me something.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
Yeah, I'm right there with you. And Chris, thank you
for the phone call. Man, I really appreciated it. And yeah,
he's right. I mean, they've they've found ways to lose
that they have no business losing. They haven't played complimentary
football just hasn't worked, And there's not a lot of
reason to believe that just because Burrow is back, the
defense is going to play better, or special teams is

(07:34):
going to play better, or other teams are gonna play worse.
It's still a long, long road, a long way to
go for this team to get better. And I mentioned
too to Chris that that I'm in that mode of
like evaluation and trying to figure out what we can
learn about next year's team through this year's team. And

(07:55):
yesterday around this time, when I was talking in Tony's
absence as he was heading to Twin, I was trying
to go through, like my thought process of even if
they're good over these last six games, you should not
allow that to justify in action this coming off season
because this past offseason, Duke Tobin kind of said multiple times,

(08:17):
we just got unlucky. We just got unlucky with a
snap being dropped, a penalty being called, a fumble going
into the end zone and whatnot, or else we would
have been right back in the playoffs. And they reacted
in the off season according to that line of thinking,
which is that they didn't quite do enough. Yeah, the

(08:38):
firing of Louenna Rumo, the hiring of Al Golden, they
got TJ. Slayton, they let Jermaine Pratt go all that
on paper, I could see the vision and it at
least made sense to me. But that plan hasn't worked.
So you cannot repeat that mistake if you were to
have any success over the last six games. And one
of the decisions that they made in the off season

(09:00):
was re signing Trey Hendrickson, And they even though they
went through the drama and the nonsense with Trey throughout
the offseason, one of the things was I believe they
re signed Trey because they truly thought they were that close.
They thought this year, based off the AFC, based off
the team, based off everything I said that they referenced

(09:21):
last year, they could be the number one seed in
the AFC. They thought they could win the Super Bowl. Now,
obviously their projections were off and this season has not
gone to plan, and the Borow injury plays a role
in that. But I've always thought that the Bengals did
that deal with Trey Hendrickson thinking we can get back
to the playoffs, we can get back to the super

(09:42):
Bowl this year, and we can franchise tag him if
he's still productive at a rate that is not ridiculous.
I thought it was a brilliant move by the Bengals.
I thought they fleeced Trey Hendrickson. I thought Mike Brown
and Katie and Troy had finally had won another contract
negotiation because I don't believe that the Bengals believe in

(10:03):
Trey Hendrickson beyond this year, and so they wanted an
out and that's why they didn't negotiate a long term
deal with him. And I've talked ad nauseum about why
I feel similarly, the Bengals have moved on from a
lot of guys once they get to thirty or thirty
one years old. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're wrong. A

(10:23):
lot of times the Bengals have been right. And one
of the reasons I've felt that way about Trey Hendrickson
is that he's not an elite athlete. Yeah, he's a
he takes great care of himself, and he plays really
hard and all that stuff. But he's not a Miles Garrett.
He's not a Max Crosby, he's not a Mic of Parsons.
He's not a complete freak of an athlete. He has

(10:44):
to work his ass off to get to that level,
and eventually your body will break down, and there are
drop offs for players at that position at that age,
and I thought, based off everything I had seen, that
Trey was susceptible to such a drop off. And so
this year he's been injured and he's not really in

(11:05):
a position to feel like he's going to go get
a significant amount more this offseason if the Bengals aren't
a franchise tag him. And because of his displeasure maybe
with the way the Bengals have handled things, and because
of the way this season has gone, and because of
his uncertain future, I think a lot of people are

(11:28):
now under the assumption that Trey Henderson's not going to
play again this season, whether he's healthy or not. And
I find that debate interesting. Tony and I have talked
about how strange it is that Zach Taylor, who is
keeps his cards close to the vest, really doesn't show
too much early in the week, has immediately over the

(11:50):
past couple of weeks, nipped it in the bud the
idea of Trey Hendrickson playing well. He did that again yesterday, Trey,
of course, deal with a hip slash pelvis injury. Charlie
Goldsmith asked Zach Taylor about this. Here's the exchange from Monday.

Speaker 7 (12:09):
One more injury thing. Has she listed Hendrickson has out
doubtful pretty quickly over the last couple weeks. Has he
made any progress?

Speaker 8 (12:17):
Still just recovering from the injury, you know, And so
with the short week, I think it's easy to claim mount.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
That's weird, isn't it still just recovering from the injury.
So with the short week, just to clare amount, I
don't know about that. That doesn't sound right to me.
And you know, Trey didn't travel to Pittsburgh. He was
on the sideline yesterday or Sunday against New England. There's

(12:44):
a lot of this belief that's like, he's not going
to rush himself back, especially if he has a chance
to hit free agency. And I wouldn't blame him. And
there may not be a lot left to play for,
and the Bengals may not be rushing him back because
there's escalators in this contry about playing time in this,
that and the other. I get all that, But where

(13:05):
this all comes to a head is once again in
the offseason, whether or not Trey plays. It's fascinating to think.
And I know Joe Danaman touched on this when we
talked about it. The Bengals have a chance to franchise
tag him at a number that is not ridiculous. It's
between twenty seven and thirty million dollars, And for a

(13:26):
good pass rusher, that's fine. And for a guy who's
at his age and maybe at his production level, you
can justify that. But if Trey Hendrickson is number one,
if they franchise tag him, who's to say he's gonna play?
He very easily could throw a fit and go through

(13:47):
this whole process all over again. They could franchise tag
him at that number and probably get a decent return
for him if they chose to trade him. And also,
are you going to learn anything about your team in
place of Trey Hendrickson over these last six games that
give you a better understanding of the future of Miles
Murphy or the future of Shamar Stewart. You might not

(14:08):
see much with Stuart Miles Murphy has just eclipsed the
one thousand snap threshold and is starting to play like
a first round pick at least over the last couple
of weeks. And I've said many times the Bengals have
plenty of money as of right now, sixty nine million
dollars in cap space going into next season. So let's

(14:33):
say it's seventy and let's say Trey's franchise tag is thirty.
Do you want to take thirty million dollars out of
the seventy that you can spend or in the Bengals case,
they typically spend right up into ten to twelve million
dollars until the cap. So let's say it's sixty million
dollars and thirty million for Trey. Do you want to

(14:55):
spend fifty percent of your available money on an aging
pass rusher who has barely played this year, has not
been that productive when he did, and is at odds
with the team. Talked often about Trey being a leader.
I don't know that he's a leader. You don't hear

(15:16):
much about him. You don't hear much from him. I
don't know that he has that many friends left in
the locker room. I just wonder what the endgame is
here for both sides. The Bengals might look at it
and say, you know what, it's time to wash our
hands of this. We can spend that thirty million dollars
in better places because we believe in Shamar Stewart. Whether

(15:39):
or not they do, that's one thing. But Miles Murphy.
We'll bring him back. We'll bring Shamar Stewart back. Maybe
we'll bring Joseph O's side back. Or we can go
out in free agency and get another pass rusher. We
can get an interior defensive lineman, we can work on
our safety depth, we can work on our cornerback depth,
and you can put that money to good use elsewhere

(15:59):
and instead of voting it in one player who really
sinks the rest of the defense if he's not available,
you can spread that out amongst the myriad of positions
that need help. Or are the Bengals going to look
at it and say, last year was just a tough one.
Twenty seven and a half million dollars is a great

(16:20):
deal for a pass rusher. Let's put that money back
into tray and give him a chance to be a
part of a defense that we can rebuild on a
budget with the rest of the money. But either way,
it looks like we have gotten to a point where
once again the Trey Hendrickson saga will be a big

(16:40):
talking point going into the offseason, because the Bengals reserve
the right to franchise tag him, and because they did
a good enough job in creating that contract to where
it makes sense financially for them to do that, and
they have plenty of cap space. Whether they do it
or don't do it, they deserve credit for the way

(17:02):
they've manipulated the cap I think going into twenty six
and into twenty seven where they have tons of money
to spend. But again, the offseason, it will be centered
around not only how do the Bengals fix their defense,
but if they do and when they do? Or is
Trey Hendrickson a part of fixing the defense. I don't

(17:26):
know that he is, and I don't know that that's
necessarily a bad thing. Take a break and be back.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
From locker room whispers to stadium roars. He's got it all,
Moeger Today at three pm on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (17:45):
What are your tail getting in the park?

Speaker 2 (17:48):
Welcome back, ESPN fifteen thirty. My name is Austin Elmore.
You'll hear from Joe Burrow about twenty minutes from right
now when he meets with the mediahead of Thanksgiving Night
football in Baltimore. I'll talk a little bit of college basketball,
though didn't get a chance to do that. Yesterday obviously
with the Monday midday quarterback and what we're trying to

(18:11):
do this year. We've talked about it is, you know,
just a little whip around what each coach had to
say about their last game, and I want to do
that here, even without Tony. And one of the things
that kind of got swept under the rug over the
weekend of all the stuff that was happening inside the
city of Cincinnati was the fact that Xavier was on
the road sort of. They were at the Shriners' Children's

(18:34):
Charleston Classic down there in Charleston where they played West Virginia.
Xavier beat them by ten seventy eight sixty eight. The
Muskies get to four and three rebounding from that difficult
loss against Santa Clara. Here is what Richard Patino had
to say after the Muskies win over West Virginia.

Speaker 9 (18:54):
Well, certainly a terrific win for our program. I mean,
it's just it all starts with on the practice court.
You know, you saw a shoot around today and it
was one of the hardest practices we had of the year,
and it was early in the morning. These guys are
foaming at the mouth to compete with each other to
get better every single day. The response, certainly from the

(19:16):
Santa Clara loss and how we responded, it looks like
a different team, and I'm proud of them. It's a
very very confident group right now, and they're they're playing
the right way, they're sharing the basketball, they're shooting well,
they're taking good shots, doing a lot of great things.

Speaker 2 (19:30):
Richard Patino after the win over West Virginia Xavier back
in action Friday night. Friday afternoon, five thirty is the
tip off. They'll take on Texas A and M Corpus Christy.
Then on December first, it's Saint Francis. Those are the
two final tune ups before the Crosstown shootout December fifth
at seven thirty pm. How about last night Cincinnati in

(19:54):
action against n j IT the Highlanders the New Jersey
Institute of technolo Ology at fifth Third Arena. Cincinnati trying
to rebound from the loss to Louisville over the weekend,
and they won ninety four to sixty seven at home.
Here is Bearcat's head coach West Miller after the victory.

Speaker 10 (20:13):
You know, it's good to get back on the court
after Friday night. And I think the thing that I
like is we're having high assist numbers, which means we're
sharing the ball and making some good decisions. And so
I look down and there's there's twenty four assists. I
like that tonight, and I think we had nineteen or

(20:36):
eighteen Friday night, So I like that. I was glad
we got to get some extended minutes for some guys
that haven't been able to get them. Like I think
Keishan Tillery is so important to our team this year
as we move forward, and you know, him getting out
there and getting extended minutes and being able to play
through some mistakes. I think that's really important. We're gonna

(21:00):
need him to be confident and ready to compete and
ready to play. And I thought there were some really
good moments for him tonight that he should gain some
confidence from. Same thing Halvin, you know, getting the extended minutes,
and I think doing a nice job with him. He
did some good things on the backboards. So I think
again that those are some of the positives I thought

(21:20):
Jeordie Rodriguez as well, Like I thought he had a
great loose ball that was a bearcat type of play,
and you see that some of these guys that have
been here, they're starting to try to get it. We
had a second or the second the last media time
out the under eight media in the second half, I
really challenged them to just play play Bearcat basketball, to
like play the right way, like no matter what's going

(21:43):
on and who the opponent is or what the score is.
And I thought that group came out for the next
couple of minutes and did that, And I think we're
still learning what that means. But there were some moments
tonight you could see that happening. And that's the good.

Speaker 2 (21:56):
Stuff, Bearcat head coach Wes Miller. After the win. Cincinnati
back at home tomorrow night against Eastern Michigan. On December first,
they'll take on Tarleton State and their final two tune
ups ahead of the Crossdown shoot At the shootout, the
Bearcats are five and one on the season. One other
local team was in action last night. They got the victory.

(22:19):
I'll tell you about them next. This is Sincy three
to sixty on ESPN fifty. Welcome back since e three
to sixty. I'm Austin Elmore. I mentioned there was one
other team that won last night. That would be the
NKU Norse. They were hosting the Eastern Kentucky Colonels. Norse
were actually down two at the half, but outscored EKU

(22:40):
forty nine thirty six in the second half to win
eighty two seventy one. Here is head coach Darren Horn
after the victory.

Speaker 11 (22:49):
And I thought his team really reflected that tonight. I
mean they're down several guys and just came in here
and just competed their tails off. And so I hope
the Colonel Faith will understand how how fortunate they are
to have a guy like a W. Hamilton at the helm.
I mean, that was a tremendous effort by his guys
on the road on a quick turnaround. I mean they
played Saturday and had to bust up here and play today,

(23:11):
and so that that said, I didn't think we were
our sharpest and in a lot of areas, especially down
the stretch. I and I was concerned coming into the
game after playing so well at Central Michigan that we
would be unto our offense and as soon as the
shots weren't going in in the first half, no, we

(23:31):
really let it affect us. And we're not strong defensively,
and you know the difference if you look at the
percentages from first to second half, especially from the three
for them, you know, that was the difference in the game.
And so we still got a lot of guys that
are learning how we win here and that's that that's
with defense and rebounding and and and playing smart, and
so do not do that at the level that we

(23:52):
would like to. That said, really proud because good teams
find a way to win when they don't play their best.
I think our guys did that tonight. And you go
down the box score and it's not one or two guys.
We got four guys, not just in double figures, but
with fourteen or more and different guys stepping up at
key moments throughout the game. And basically we've been on

(24:13):
a ten day road trip. I mean, we haven't been
able to practice in our own facility since like last Tuesday.
We had to bust up early because we don't have
a second gym to practice in. We don't and then
of course with the turn of being hosted here, which
was awesome for our volleyball team, so so thankful for
that and proud of those girls. But we literally have

(24:34):
not practiced in our own gym since last Tuesday. And
so we've been on a week long road trip essentially,
and so for our guys respond the way they did,
and it'd be a collective effort, not just one or
two guys.

Speaker 2 (24:46):
I thought was really good. That is n k U
Norse head coach Darren Horn after the victory last night.
All right, we'll take a break, we'll come back, we'll
check in with Moegger. Then we'll hear from the Bengals
quarterback oh Burrow meeting with the media this afternoon ahead
of Thanksgiving night football. That's next. This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (25:07):
From the brown Heating at tempt It's time for since
the three sixty quick hits on ESPN fifteen thirty looking.

Speaker 2 (25:14):
For I think we found Mo. I believe he's at
Oakley Greens for his typical Tuesday show and Moe joining us. Now, Hi, Mo,
how are you?

Speaker 5 (25:22):
I am well? And I just want to say one
thing about today's show. Okay, guaranteed human, guaranteed human. That's
been that's been the thing around the ESPN fifteen thirty late.
If you if you come to Oakley Greens, you'll you're
guaranteed to see a human me.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
That's true and Drew. Is Drew going to be Is
he going to be parking cars or anything?

Speaker 4 (25:44):
No?

Speaker 5 (25:45):
We we uh you know it's it's Thanksgiving and so
uh Drew has a busy couple of days in front
of him. Sure, yeah, he's a delivering turkeys. Oh that's right,
folks over the next couple of year, dropping helicopter. I believe, Well,
he's just true. He's going door to door.

Speaker 2 (25:58):
Okay, As a Bengals fan, what do you want to
hear from Joe Burrow in his press conference today?

Speaker 5 (26:03):
I am one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (26:08):
That's it.

Speaker 5 (26:09):
That's it, Yes, gonna say, I mean, I'm here to
save the day. We're gonna win these next six I
want to hear, like, is their residual discomfort? How much?
How much at all? Is he going to be compromised
or is he like like he was before the injury?
Like that's to me, that's the most important thing we'll see.

(26:30):
My guess is we're not going to hear him say
I'm one hundred percent. But if there's one thing I
want to hear when he steps to the podium, hopefully
on time, it's I'm one hundred percent.

Speaker 2 (26:40):
Are you not buying that he is one hundred percent.

Speaker 5 (26:44):
I don't know. I don't know. I would be unsurprised
if he wasn't. Just and look, man, I'm not a doctor.
I'm not being asked to examine his foot. Weird if
I but the original timeline for this was best case
is early December. It feels like he is rushed back.

(27:07):
And I mean, I don't mean like he's doing something irresponsible,
like he has worked his ass off to get back.
But is is the fact that he is ready to
play on Thursday reflective of the fact that he is
more willing to deal with pain than perhaps originally thought.
The timeline hasn't been accelerated here, Does that mean he's

(27:28):
he may be pain free and he maybe one hundred percent.
I don't know. But there was a reason he didn't
play two days ago, right, if he was one hundred percent,
why wouldn't he you have played two days ago. M hm,
So it's fair to wonder. And again, man, like I'm
okay with him playing. It's not my favorite thing in
the world because I don't think this team is going

(27:48):
to make the postseason, but all right, they're playing a
game with at least a mathematical chance of making it
what level of risk is being incurred here that he's
that is either equal to or above and beyond the
regular level of risk that every quarterback takes on when
they play an NFL game.

Speaker 2 (28:06):
Yeah, I'm right there with you. What do you have
coming up on your show today? Guaranteed human, guaranteed human,
that's it, just human people as a human man you.

Speaker 5 (28:17):
ESPN college football writer Bill Connelly is gonna be on
the show this guy. We're gonna talk about the big
weekend coming up in college football. Lots of different storylines,
but he is. He's written what I think is the
best sports book I've read this year. Or he takes
on the I think pretty unenviable task of trying to
examine what college football's future is gonna look like. He

(28:38):
still wants to be the Commissioner of college Football. This
has been something he's been lobbying for for eight years.
And so Bill's gonna come on the show with us
at three forty five. It is. You know, we don't
have our show on Thursday, but we're doing our Thursday stuff.
So you got Lee Sterling gonna help us make some
money this weekend. You got Dan Klaskin's gonna help us
with fantasy football. This weekend, we're gonna chat with our guy,

(28:59):
Sean say these Stats and Schemes newsletter. We're gonna spend
some time on the guy that everybody is writing about
as it relates to the Reds. We'll talk about the
current state of affairs with the UC football team and
so much more as we get said for Bengals Ravens
on Thanksgiving evening.

Speaker 2 (29:16):
You mentioned college football. Do you find yourself caring at
all about Lane Kiffin and where he goes?

Speaker 10 (29:24):
No?

Speaker 5 (29:24):
Yeah, I care almost as much about Jordan Hudson and
Bill Belichick as I do Lane Kiffen. Now, I think
the dynamic of a coach leaving his team while they're
in the playoff is interesting, and if we have that,
I never want to hear again anybody complaining about the
players leaving. Okay, you know, because this has been a

(29:46):
thing now for all these players they leave and they Okay,
we got a coach who's gonna leave his team, perhaps
while they have a chance to play for a championship.
So miss me with the whole Well, the players need
to show more loyalty. But no, I I don't. I
did the story, doesn't I don't think Lane Kiffin is
as interesting as everybody else does. He's a good coach,

(30:09):
but I don't find him as fascinating as everybody else.
So I so, no, I don't. I'm not losing sleep
wondering we're Lane, We're Lane Kiffin is going to go?
Nor am I losing sleep worrying about like, is is
Brian Kelly ever going to be allowed to have a job.

Speaker 2 (30:24):
What I find interesting about that is, you know, how
does Ole miss feel? How do their fans feel? If
it feels like an SEC school is a stepping stone
job to just other SEC schools? And if you can't
get someone like Lane Kiffin, are you ever going to
really be able to keep a coach?

Speaker 5 (30:42):
Uh?

Speaker 2 (30:43):
That that I think is it kind of goes into
the conversation maybe that you're going to have later on
about the future of college football. I don't know that
it's ever going to settle down.

Speaker 5 (30:52):
No, everybody. I think any job can be considered a
stepping stone. Yeah, stepping stone to the NFL might be
a stepping stone to retirement. I mean, Brian Kelly left
Notre Dame to go coach at LSU. Would we all
agree Notre Dame's a destination gig. It would you know,
you know, you're not gonna want to hear this, But

(31:13):
like Jim Harvell had already coached in the NFL, but
he went from Michigan to the National Football League, does
that make Michigan a stepping stone job? Like we're talking
about highly aspirational figures here and and just obscene amounts
of money. And I think as long as you have
those two things, you're never going to have many gigs
where the you know, the the coach is going to

(31:35):
be viewed as somebody who stays forever. I also think,
like we when it comes to coaches, we're still thinking
about coaching and stability and very antiquated you know terms.
I'll use UC basketball as a reference. Bob Huggins and
Mick Cronin spoiled us because you see basketball at two
coaches in thirty years. That's not normal. That's that's not normal,

(31:58):
and it's not going to be normal. If Wes ever
gets the program humming, he's gonna get interest and chances
are he's gonna go somewhere. And so what would piss
me off as an Ole Miss fan is we've got
a shot to compete for a national championship and now
you're gonna go. And maybe that's not Lane Kiffin's fault,
and maybe that's not Florida's fault or LSU's fault. But again,

(32:20):
I never want to hear about how the players are
ruining the sport because they could just go wherever they
want any time. When you have a coach who may
abandon his team that has a chance to win a national.

Speaker 2 (32:31):
Championship trying to and waiting for Joe Burrow to come
to the podium, he's already five minutes late at a
conference guaranteed human Joe Burrow quickly your thoughts on UC
last night? What was your biggest takeaway?

Speaker 6 (32:47):
Uh?

Speaker 5 (32:48):
I don't think I had one. They won a game
by thirty points that I thought they would win by
thirty points. I guess my bigger takeaway. Look, the Skyline
Chili Crosstown shootout is fast approaching. I think a lot
of folks viewed that as an inevitability that you see
is going to be xavier. I don't think it is anymore.

(33:09):
I think it's a fifty to fifty game. I think
it's a fifty to fifty game because number one, you
see has got to get Bob and Miller back on
the court. It feels like there's a very distinct possibility
that he will be back on the court next Friday.
But I think he is their best player right now.
I think he's their biggest difference maker. But there's been
nothing overwhelming League and Wes Miller has. I just I

(33:32):
heard you play the postgame comments from last night. He's
trying to be overwhelmingly positive, and I get it, Like,
I don't blame him because the fan base is a
little jaded right now. He's swimming up stream when it
comes to just fans kind of being on board with
his program right now. They did lose a game to
a really good Louisville team, but they lost a game
on Friday. But their performances I don't think have made

(33:56):
you feel like, holy crap, this team wants big twelve
play gets here is going to be a to take off,
and I certainly don't think they've played well enough for
anybody to take the Skyline Chili Crosstown shootout for granted.
And then you look at the improvement that Xavier has
made from what they were doing when they played Le Moyne,
and then obviously the Santa Clara game and to a
degree the end of the first half against Iowa to

(34:16):
how they've played since. I was talking about this with
somebody at U SEE last night, like they're running really
good stuff. There's a talent gap, there's a talent limitation.
But that's always the game that before it happens, it's like,
all right, well, who's gonna win the shootout? Who's gonna
win the shootout? U See does not have history on
its side. That was a game that I think for
months people have looked at it and said, this is
going to be the year where you see wins at

(34:37):
Cintas Center, and they may and my guess is they're
going to be favored. And if you made me pick
who's going to win a game and put a gun
to my head, which would be weird, I would say Cincinnati.
But I don't know that anybody should feel as sure
about that outcome as they did a month ago. And
if the Bearcats do lose that game, oh, it's just

(35:00):
what it's I know what it's gonna sound like. I
know what it's gonna sound like. So that game next Friday,
to me is fascinating for a thousand different reasons.

Speaker 2 (35:08):
We're a couple of days away from Thanksgiving. Do you
have a signature dish that you make at Thanksgiving that
you are responsible for? No? No, no, no. Do you
are you involved at all in the making of the
Thanksgiving lunch or dinner?

Speaker 5 (35:26):
No? Not really? No, okay, no, there's nothing I'm really
I did. I smoked the turkey a couple of years ago,
because I like to smoke stuff, right cigars, I smoked
the turkey. But usually that's my wife, my mother in law.
What I will tell you is this, my mom moved
to Nevada a couple of years ago. Yeah, and every

(35:47):
year I talk about to the people I like that
I eat Thanksgiving with They get mad at me because
all they do is talk about how much I miss
my mom's stuffing. My mom's stuffing is the greatest of
all time. There you go, greatest of all time. And
uh so I wish she would make some put it
on like dry ice and ship it here or drive
it here. But no, I'm I'm not really responsible for

(36:08):
I'm responsible for the Thanksgiving morning mimosas.

Speaker 2 (36:12):
Oh okay, interesting, So you're not running a turkey trot
or anything like that absolutely not.

Speaker 5 (36:18):
I support everybody who is running in this year's Thanksgiving
Day race. That is terrific. But I like a good
holiday breakfast cocktail.

Speaker 2 (36:25):
Okay, sure, so that's.

Speaker 5 (36:26):
That's I'm kind of responsible for those. I'll do tequila sunrise.
I can make a good bloody Mary.

Speaker 2 (36:30):
When's the last time I went for a run?

Speaker 12 (36:34):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (36:37):
Like like like running from a to B or like
running on a treadmill. Like either treadmill this summer. Okay,
we have treadmills on the main floor of our building
at work. The last time I went for a run?

Speaker 2 (36:50):
Yeah, like outside? You know, you threw the shorts on,
you laced them up. You're like, I'm gonna go run however,
long twenty twelve thirteen in Wow, Okay, can I tell
you about the time I almost hit Tom Coughlin as
much as time as you'd like to take as we
wait for Joe Burrow.

Speaker 5 (37:11):
All right, So the Bengals are playing the Giants in
twenty twelve and the cold hour is cold out. I
lived on I lived at eight fifteen Elm. I could
say it now because I don't live there downtown. Yeah,
and I had spent the night somewhere and So Sunday morning,
I wake up at like six thirty seven o'clock and

(37:34):
I'm like fumbling for something. I don't know what I
was doing. But there's a little lot next to the
place I lived in and I go to turn in it,
and I like jam on the brakes and I'm like,
holy crap, I must hit that dude. And it was
New York Giants head coach Tom Coughlin out for a
morning run. I just rolled down the window as he

(37:55):
ran away. I was sorry about that, coach, and he
waved wow. And then I think the Bengals won that
game that day.

Speaker 2 (38:00):
They did. There was a lot of snow, if I'm
not mistaken. Uh, but yeah, I remember that.

Speaker 5 (38:06):
He was out running at his like a Giants like giant,
like a Giants hoodie or long sleeve shirt on. And uh.
But the I can't say the last time I went
for a run. It's been it's been a while.

Speaker 2 (38:16):
There was a similar thing that happened to me once
before a Bengals Sunday night game. I think it was
they hosted the Steelers on a Sunday night and my
dad and I were walking around downtown getting ready for
the game. You know, tailgating and all that, and this
car nearly hit us as we were crossing the street,

(38:37):
slammed on its brakes, whipped around us. It was Ray
mal Luga. Oh way.

Speaker 5 (38:44):
Lots of questions about that.

Speaker 2 (38:45):
On his way into the stadium, license plate said sting
ray r E y Uh. But yeah, And I'm sure
there's plenty of Ray mal Luga's stories similar out there
from people in this area.

Speaker 5 (38:58):
When I first met my wife, his name came up,
oh boy, And again this is many. I met my
wife thirteen years ago and she said to me, oh,
we met ray mal Luga. They were at a bar
like a club, her and her friends. Ray mal Luga
comes over and brings a bottle, oh boy, and drinks
it with them and then left, didn't pay for it.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
Oh okay, Ray mal.

Speaker 5 (39:23):
Luga, I think has reconfigured his life. He has.

Speaker 2 (39:27):
Yes, I was about to say.

Speaker 5 (39:28):
That, and and so good for him for doing that,
because it felt like for a while his life needed
to be reconfigured.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
We have we have Joe Burrow at the post. Let's
go to Joe Burrow.

Speaker 7 (39:39):
Human When when you got hurt, were you told this
would be a three month process? And obviously you cut
it down.

Speaker 13 (39:46):
Yeah, you know, originally it was twelve weeks and then
you know, we'll start to talk about it. But just
like with any injury, you start to learn more about
it and start to ask questions about things you can
and can't do. You know, what do we have to
avoid in certain time periods post surgery, and just kind

(40:08):
of take it as it goes.

Speaker 7 (40:09):
Did you get creative to cut that time down the.

Speaker 4 (40:14):
Yeah, yeah, I guess you could say that. I think
number one.

Speaker 13 (40:18):
I have a physical therapist is Nick and trainers mainly Matt,
that really understood what stress the repair, what we could
and couldn't do in certain time periods, and so we
push it within the limits of what we could do

(40:39):
and kind of just based it on how how I
was feeling, how I was recovering, how it looked the
next day after.

Speaker 4 (40:45):
We push it and just went from there.

Speaker 12 (40:48):
For you, getting multiple full practices and doing.

Speaker 4 (40:52):
That, yeah, it was. It felt good. I needed it.

Speaker 13 (40:58):
It felt good to get some reps, both Scott team
and first team, and I.

Speaker 4 (41:06):
Think that will serve me well this week.

Speaker 13 (41:08):
Having a full week where you know you're expecting to
play and you're going through your preparation like like you're
gonna play and then it doesn't happen. So but it's
good to have that under your belt to to then
go into this week where you're not going to get
a ton of full speed reps because it's a Thursday
night against the team that I played a million times.

Speaker 4 (41:28):
And uh, I think that will service was the unknown.

Speaker 14 (41:31):
Last week as you're pushing I think to play and
you don't know if it's going to happen or not.

Speaker 7 (41:37):
Yeah, that's in that situation.

Speaker 13 (41:38):
Yeah, I've been I've been in that spot before, and
you know, trust the decision makers and trust the medical
people and everybody that was involved in the decision making.
And you know, I thought we made a good decision
and now this week will be rid up ready to go.

Speaker 15 (41:55):
Jude, just to be clear, you're playing on starting on Thursday, correct,
Like that's okay. You said that this would be very
meaningful to come back on Thanksgiving. Why does this carry
so much meaning to come back with this game specifically?

Speaker 4 (42:06):
Number one, it's a division game.

Speaker 13 (42:09):
I got a lot of respect for the people on
the opposite side of the ball, but when you play
people twice.

Speaker 4 (42:15):
A year, it's.

Speaker 13 (42:17):
You you get tired of them, you don't like them,
it's a division rivalry.

Speaker 4 (42:21):
You got respect for him, but it's intense out there.

Speaker 13 (42:25):
It's something I wanted to be out there for playing
on Thanksgivings, something I've always wanted to do that I
pushed for in the past, and the NFL gave it
to us, and then, you know, the injury happened and
thought I wasn't gonna be able to play, and then
as we got closer, I you know, felt like it
was a real possibility. So that's exciting to me. And

(42:48):
it's a national stage to go out and improve yourself
again after not playing for several weeks, and every opportunity
that you get to go improve all the hard work
that you've put in the type of player you are
is something that I try to take advantage of.

Speaker 15 (43:04):
Your second Thanksgiving Day game correct with at lsu A
M was Thanksgiving card?

Speaker 13 (43:09):
Maybe I don't quite, I don't really, I don't. I
don't remember if that was Thanksgiving or not. I don't
remember playing on Thanksgiving before, but.

Speaker 4 (43:18):
Could could be.

Speaker 5 (43:19):
But what what do you like about?

Speaker 10 (43:21):
What? What?

Speaker 16 (43:21):
What's so meaningful about that day? Specifically? Like why have
you always liked to want to play in this say.

Speaker 13 (43:28):
I think just like a lot of kids, you you
grow up going through Thanksgiving, you have your meals with
your family, and then you go and say on the
couch and typically there's not a lot on except football.

Speaker 4 (43:40):
Back in the day it was Lions and somebody.

Speaker 13 (43:44):
You go watch Matthew Stafford throw for three hundred four
hundred some yards with Calvin Johnson and probably lose the game,
but it was fun to watch.

Speaker 4 (43:57):
You know, those are memories that you have, and so
I kind of always wanted to be the person out there.

Speaker 7 (44:03):
You've you've done some really cool things in your career.

Speaker 8 (44:05):
Is are you able to just appreciate how cool it
is to come back from major engage on a prime
time thanks to the game that's particularly it's an increase.

Speaker 10 (44:16):
Yeah. I think.

Speaker 4 (44:20):
Obviously the winning and.

Speaker 13 (44:22):
The division championships that we've won are the most exciting
things that that we've done. But whenever you have an
opportunity like this against a divisional opponent that's one five
straight and you're playing on a on a Thursday night
in front of the world, that's that's an exciting opportunity.

Speaker 8 (44:43):
When did you make us your high and regardless of
what this team's record is or was going to.

Speaker 7 (44:48):
Be that you were going to come back.

Speaker 4 (44:51):
As soon as it happened, I was. I was pushing
to do everything that we could to try to get
back on the field. I'm a football player.

Speaker 13 (45:00):
I get paid a lot of money to go and
play a game with my friends, and we work really hard,
and you know, it's intense and there's jobs on the line,
but at the end of the day, it's a game,
and I've worked hard to put myself in this position
and get as healthy as I can be to go
out and play with these guys, and that's something I
wanted to do.

Speaker 8 (45:21):
What are your thoughts when people say you're the franchise,
you're the most important player in important age, and you
should be protected for next year and going forward beyond that.

Speaker 13 (45:35):
You understand, Yes, I understand why people feel that way,
But if you look at it from my perspective, I'm.

Speaker 4 (45:45):
A football player, and.

Speaker 13 (45:49):
If I get hurt, I'm gonna go through the rehab process,
and then I'm going to let everybody know when I
feel like.

Speaker 4 (45:56):
I can go out there and play. I don't really
know what else to say about that.

Speaker 13 (46:03):
I'm not gonna ever go to somebody and say, yeah,
I'm healthy, But you know, I don't think I don't
think I should go out there and play. That doesn't
make a lot of sense to me. I'm not gonna
live my life and play this game scared of something happening.

Speaker 4 (46:21):
Like, yeah, something's gonna happen. It's football.

Speaker 13 (46:23):
Guys are gonna get hurt, Guys are gonna get concussions.
You're gonna break bones, tear ligaments. It's a physical, intense game.
That's that's part of this. And yeah, I've had injuries.
There's not a lot I can do about that. I
work really hard to have that not happen. But what
I can do is when it does happen, I can

(46:43):
control how I'm attacking my rehab and attacking practice and
doing everything in my power to get back as quickly
as possible.

Speaker 4 (46:50):
That's what I did.

Speaker 9 (46:51):
I change anything about the way you play, like extending
plays and being cautious with that, or you're out there
and you're just gonna play the way you play.

Speaker 4 (47:00):
We'll see, we'll see.

Speaker 13 (47:01):
I think I'm feeling I'm feeling good, good enough to
go out there and move and and extend obviously pick
my spots when when to do that and when not to.

Speaker 4 (47:13):
But I feel confident that in certain moments I'll be
able to do that.

Speaker 6 (47:17):
Sunday probably tough loss for you to have to sit
back and watch, but I mean with Pittsburgh losing as well,
really didn't lose any ground in the division race. So
at this point in time, you know, if you guys
are able to win out, probably a pretty good chance
that you could still get in.

Speaker 16 (47:31):
Are you confident that you guys can run the table
down stretch?

Speaker 13 (47:33):
I think we just got to take you one game
at a time. I think, yeah, like you said, we
have to win every game at this point. The only
way that you're going to do that is by attacking
each week like you have to be want to know
that week and then move one of the next.

Speaker 14 (47:49):
How hard has I know, the rehab and the injury
and all of those things, but watching the team go
through what they've gone through over the past ten games
or nine games about you, how hard does it?

Speaker 12 (47:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 13 (47:59):
It's a It's always tough when when you're not out
there and you can't contribute to when you're losing on
the field.

Speaker 4 (48:07):
That's typically the hardest part about this whole thing. And
so Yeah, it was tough. It was tough to watch
from my position. Obviously, I want to be out there
with everybody, so but that's part of it.

Speaker 7 (48:20):
How much have you picked Flaco's brain and try to
learn from him?

Speaker 4 (48:24):
Yeah?

Speaker 13 (48:24):
I think whenever you have a guy that's played that long,
you can, especially a guy that plays so much differently
than you do, you can you ask him what he
thought in this situation or how how would you react
to this or that? And he's played a long time

(48:45):
and played at a high level. So that's something that
I did take advantage of.

Speaker 15 (48:50):
Going back to the earlier question about play style in general,
just not even injury related, but just having been through
it and once you get back to full strength fully,
is there something that you thought about me, I'd like
to play a little bit differently. Have you assessed how
you might like to play as a quarterback?

Speaker 3 (49:04):
Roverboard?

Speaker 16 (49:04):
Does that change at all? Given what happened with this injury?

Speaker 13 (49:08):
You think about a lot of different things when number one,
you have time to think about them, and you know,
you watch a lot of games across the league, and
you see who's playing well, who's not, what's working schematically?

Speaker 10 (49:20):
What isn't.

Speaker 4 (49:22):
You evaluate everything.

Speaker 8 (49:24):
Joe, what's been your impression of the Running game the
last month, month and a half and how instrumental can
that be and kind of helping you ease your way
back here.

Speaker 13 (49:31):
Yeah, we gotta keep building on that. That's been that's
been a positive of everything that's been going on. I
think we've been physical. I think schematically we've done a
lot of things to get an advantage in that in
that realm, and we've got to keep building on it.
Chases gonna run like he runs, He's gonna make people
miss and have explosive plays.

Speaker 4 (49:53):
He's got to keep blocking the way that we are
in the run game, and I think that momentum will carry.

Speaker 12 (49:57):
I assume it's fair to say that it is not
one hundred percent.

Speaker 4 (50:00):
Where would you put it right now? It's tough to say.
I feel confident that I can go out and do
everything that I need to do to win a game.

Speaker 14 (50:06):
Can you take us through and this is going way
back to the injury, but just take us through the
play or you're looking at.

Speaker 12 (50:12):
Jamar and what was going on through your mind during
that play? Obviously you end up getting hurt on Yeah,
that was.

Speaker 13 (50:19):
Uh, you're trying to get the ball out, and some
unexpected things happen that you can't really let it go,
and then pocket stars collapsed and you try to buy
a little time, and then I just tried to get
myself up and my foot got calm, and then turf so.

Speaker 4 (50:40):
Unlucky.

Speaker 12 (50:40):
Is there anything you could have done differently?

Speaker 14 (50:42):
I mean, he's obviously jammed up, it's not free, you're
trying to hit him right away, like quarterback wise.

Speaker 12 (50:47):
Is there anything that you would have done differently in
that moment?

Speaker 4 (50:50):
Hindsight is twenty twenty.

Speaker 3 (50:51):
You can't.

Speaker 13 (50:53):
You can't play a play or game or a practice
or anything worried about getting hurd or doing anything like that.

Speaker 4 (51:01):
So there's not anything I would have done differently in

Speaker 7 (51:04):
That play safe to say this isn't extremely