Tony Pike's Friday Football Frenzy -- 11/21/25

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is Tony Pike's Friday Football Frenzy Show, brought to
you in part five fellow Windows and door making life
writer pelenal Hey later Skyline Chili. Feeling good, It's Skyline time.
Encore Technologies, visit OnCore dot Tech, hunts an Oil, healing champions,
on and off the field, Game Day, men's health, Start

(00:25):
your best life today, and by the Creation Museum. It's
more than a museum. Visit Creation Museum dot org. Today
on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official Home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
All right, let's go.

Speaker 3 (00:42):
It's the Friday Football Frinds the ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station. Thanks as one to our friends at Skyline Chili.
Thank you for listening on the Home of the Bengals
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Also listen via the
iHeartRadio app. If you're listening via the app, go ahead,
hit that microphone. Leave us a talkback. We'll get to
that in our number two. Let's cut right to it.

(01:04):
It's a shorter show today. We finish at two thirty.
Kentucky basketball plays early. They have a longer pregame show
that bumps everything else on the schedule up, so we
are out at two thirty this afternoon. Tom Gallader will
preview FC Cincinnati and enter Miami at two o'clock this afternoon.
Charlie Goldsmith will join us at one o'clock. We will

(01:25):
do talkbacks after Charlie, and at the end of our
number one we'll make our high school, college, and NFL picks.
And when I say we, I mean myself and Drew
Drew in for Austin today.

Speaker 2 (01:37):
Drew, how are you.

Speaker 4 (01:38):
I'm fantastic, Tony. Happy Friday to you.

Speaker 3 (01:41):
Happy Friday. I am ready to run through a wall
with snot bubbles. That's right as a guy that shickster
would say. As Wes Millard said, I got goosebumps just
thinking about it. When it comes to this particular Cincinnati
sports weekend. If you've been living under a rock this week,
allow me to elaborate. The mecca of high school football

(02:05):
in Ohio takes center stage at pay Corps Stadium tonight.
They are nearing twenty thousand tickets already sold for Elder
and Saint X taking place at pay Corps this evening.
As if that's not big enough for downtown Cincinnati, how
about Cincinnati and Louisville a team in Louisville coached by

(02:29):
former Elder panther Pat Kelsey, who brings in the six
rank Louisville Cardinals, who I believe have a legit chance
to cut down the nets in March. They are final
four national championship. Good you see, and Wes Miller look
for his biggest win of his tenure. It could be
the marquee win of the West Miller tenure. We'll see

(02:52):
what happens tonight. Right now, Louisville installed. It opened at
seven and a half. It's up to nine and a half,
a nine and a half point favorite. All are the
Louisville Cardinals. I believe Drew, that Jonas Brothers are in
town over the weekend as well as if things aren't
busy enough, the Jonas Brothers are in town. I'm sure
I've got friends in my group chat that are going

(03:12):
to the Jonas Brothers outside of anything else this weekend. Pat,
I'm talking to you Saturday. How about Big Noon Kickoff, Drew.
Big Noon Kickoff takes place Saturday. That's in the morning,
and then you gotta wait until the evening. It's called
nip at night. It's Senior Night. It's the eleventh rank

(03:33):
BYU Cougars, coming in as a two and a half
point favorite to the Cincinnati Bearcats. Bearcats losers of two
in a row and outside chance. The window is still
cracked for the Bearcats to make the Big twelve title game.
They don't control their own destiny, but they have a
shot to upset BYU Tomorrow night at Nippert Stadium. And then,
of course, the eyes of the sports world, the football world,

(03:53):
whether it's football or football that you're interested in, you
got FC Cincinnati hosting what some believe to be the
greatest soccer player ever to grace the.

Speaker 2 (04:02):
Pitch in leonn l. Messi.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
He comes to town Sunday night, and then on Sunday
afternoon at pay Corp Stadium, the Bengals host the hottest
team in the National Football League, winners of eight straight games.
That's tied with the longest streak in the National Football
League with the Denver Broncos. Drake May, according to many,

(04:25):
a co favorite to win the MVP. His Patriots come
into pay Corp Stadium and of course Drew. The conversation
now shifts to what about Joe Burrow.

Speaker 5 (04:35):
Things are moving quickly on that front. Apparently there are
some betting props you can put out on Joe Burrow
right now.

Speaker 3 (04:41):
Now, I'm one to believe that Vegas usually knows what's
going on.

Speaker 4 (04:45):
They usually do.

Speaker 5 (04:46):
So where there's smoke, there's fire, and all signs are
indicating that Burrow is going to get cleared and is
going to play what about four games earlier than originally projected.

Speaker 3 (04:56):
Now, what's interesting, Fandel right now has betting on Joe
Burrow to forty three and a half is the number.
So you can actually make prop bets on Joe Burrow
this weekend. But Drew Kelsey, Conway and others are reporting
as they are at the open media portion of practice
that Joe Burrow didn't go through.

Speaker 2 (05:16):
Team stretch with the team.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
Oh now, he was by himself with a helmet on,
doing work on the other side of the field. Joe
Flacco and the rest of the quarterbacks are stretching if
you look around to others. Paul Danner Junior ads that
Joe Burrow did, however, participate in the low red zone
drill that was starting as the media was asked to

(05:39):
ask to exit practice. Now, Zach Taylor will speak to
members of the media within thirty minutes from now, so
we'll have a little bit more of a clear understanding
as to what's happening. But as of right now, we
got a lot going on this week.

Speaker 4 (05:58):
Interesting.

Speaker 5 (05:59):
Is Zach Taylor trying to play the curtain game, like
are we going to start Joe Burrow or not? Is
that a shrink up Zach taylor sleeve this weekend?

Speaker 2 (06:09):
Maybe they're maybe they're trying to throw something to Mike Rabel.

Speaker 4 (06:12):
Some tells me Mike Vrabel has been letting his guys know.

Speaker 2 (06:14):
Hey, Burrow, I pready think there's any hiding.

Speaker 4 (06:18):
Yeah, I don't know what's happened. Don't think. I don't
think you're gonna sneak one by Vrabel.

Speaker 2 (06:21):
So look, I'll give I've done it.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
This week, I'll give my final thoughts on the Joe
Burrow situation, and we'll update you with anything else we need.
Charlie Goldsmith will have some clarification at one o'clock. Here's
my thought. I put my trust the training staff. I
would not have made it to the levels that I
made it if not for Bob man, Jean and the
other trainers at the University of Cincinnati because everyone when

(06:45):
it gets to a point, is pushing you to play.
Everyone is in your ear, players, coaches, are you playing?

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Can you go? We need you? Blah blah blah. It happens.

Speaker 3 (06:54):
I counted on my support staff and the trainers to
let me know is it safe for me to go play.
I'm good with dealing with pain. Pain management is fine.
There are ways to mitigate that as well. Can I
do any further damage if I go play? That's what
I needed from the trainer. That is what Joe Burrow
needs from the trainer. If I'm Joe Burrow, I'm saying,

(07:18):
if a three hundred pound defensive lineman steps on my toe,
what will happen? Will I be okay? And if the
answer is yes, and it's just about dealing with pain,
go play. If it's a cloudy yes, or you can
play but you can't really do any under center stuff
or you can't push off, then I have to take

(07:38):
into consideration, Drew, that you're also playing this game without
Jamar Chase, which means, in all likelihood you're gonna be
asked to hold onto the ball a little bit longer
than normal. You're also gonna do a quick turnaround you're
gonna play Sunday and then you're gonna play the following
Thursday on the road. That is an extremely tough schedule,
especially for someone coming off an injury. So all I

(07:59):
need to know, well, is Joe Burrow healthy and he's free?
Is he free of limitations and free of suffering a
major set back to the toe? And also and also
in rehabbing the toe, are there other parts vulnerable? Is
calv vulnerable because he's put more time on the foot.
If those things all check out, then go play. But

(08:21):
if there's a question, I think you gotta be really
careful how you navigate the next few hours.

Speaker 5 (08:26):
Agreed, And you know, it's not an exact comparison because
Pardy's injury was a little bit different than Joe's. It
wasn't quite as serious. But Brock Purdy has missed eight games,
Joe's miss nine. Yeah, so Joe had surgery. Yeah, Joe
had surgery. So he's either you know, he's really pushing
and he's done a really good job of taking care
of himself. And he's a phoenix and yeah he's the wolverine.

(08:48):
Basically he's got regenitive powers. It seems like so, but
it'll be interesting to see. I just I can't get
past the feeling of, you know, if I was a
Bengals fan and I would want Joe Burrow to play,
and but I can't get past the thought and the
visual of him going out there and something going wrong

(09:10):
and how catastrophic and how second like second guessing everyone
would be of this entire situation. But it's ultimately up
to Joe, like, if he feels like he can play
and he's healthy enough to play, and he'll, you know,
he makes the team better than you know. He's gonna
go out and play. That's who he is. That's how's
who he's always been. So it'll be interesting to see

(09:32):
how it goes. I hope he stays healthy because I
I think football is more interesting when Joe Burrow's playing football.
I enjoy watching him play football. So you know, hopefully
he goes out, plays well, stays healthy, and makes it
to that Thanksgiving Night game, because all of a sudden,
that game becomes way more interesting if it's Joe Burrow
versus Lamar Jackson on Thanksgiving Night.

Speaker 3 (09:52):
A massive, massive weekend ahead, we'll talk more about the Bengals.
We'll talk about their path to victory. We'll talk about
the importance of tonight and tomorrow night for you. Sports
quick note Thursday night football hand up, Drew. I'll give
credit to the Houston Texans. I knew they were a
good defense. I was not familiar with that style of
defense in which they played with against Josh Allen last night.

(10:15):
The Bills could not get comfortable last night, eight sacks.
A lot of people viewed Josh Allen as a mobile
quarterback that can avoid pressures. Josh Allen last night two
interceptions and eight sacks. Davis Mills and the Houston Texans
move on to six and five with a win against

(10:36):
the Buffalo Bills twenty three to nineteen. That to me,
was all about how dominant that Texans front is, how
relentless that defense is. With the Houston Texans, kudos to them.
That was an impressive win on Thursday night football.

Speaker 5 (10:50):
Hold on, I'm just receiving word that Josh Allen has
been sacked again again by will By Will Hint.

Speaker 3 (10:55):
Again, and it does nothing but muddy up the AFC
playoff picture even more.

Speaker 5 (11:04):
Yeah, the AFC playoff picture is pretty pretty muddied up
right now. As you were saying, currently outside looking in.
The Texans off of that win last night, are the
eight seed, the Chiefs, and the Ravens.

Speaker 2 (11:18):
Unbelievable.

Speaker 5 (11:18):
Those are probably you're in the hunt teams. Yes, because
the eleventh seed is the Dolphins. Their current playoff probability
is one percent. So your playoff teams as it stands now,
the Broncos and Patriots tied at nine to two. Broncos
have the one seed currently, the Colts at eight and
two leading the AFC South.

Speaker 2 (11:35):
They play the Chiefs this week.

Speaker 5 (11:37):
They do the Steelers at six and four leading the
AFC North. Your three wild card teams are the Chargers,
the Bills, and the Jaguars.

Speaker 4 (11:44):
So those you.

Speaker 5 (11:45):
Got ten teams or ten teams here, you're in the
hunt teams Texans, Chiefs, Ravens. If you had to pick
one team of these five, the Bills, the Jaguars, the Texans,
the Chiefs, and the Ravens, who will be on the
outside looking in come.

Speaker 3 (12:02):
The end of week eighteen, I think it's the Chiefs. Really,
They got to play the Colts this weekend. They still
have to play at Dallas. Who's playing better? They have
to play that Texans defense that I watched last night
they still have to play the Chargers in the Broncos
and they're sitting at five and five. Yeah, like that
that to me, as crazy as it sounds, there are

(12:23):
a lot of teams above them. The margin for air
is minimal for the Kansas City Chiefs right now, and
I just don't know if they're that good.

Speaker 5 (12:30):
And according to the NFL dot Com Playoff picture, their
playoff probability if they lose this week is twenty seven percent.

Speaker 3 (12:36):
Yeah, which is crazy because there are still a lot
of people out there as view them as one of
the top two or three favorites to win the Lombardy.

Speaker 4 (12:46):
Yep. It is one of those things that if they
sneak in, they.

Speaker 2 (12:49):
Watch out, watch out without a doubt.

Speaker 3 (12:52):
NFC is also an interesting playoff race right now because
I think a team that can win at all. The
Detroit Lyons on the outside looking in. Detroit is an
eight seed. Carolina at six and five is a nine seed.
You still have the Bears seven and three, Tampa, Seattle,
Green Bay, San Francisco, the Rams, the Eagles. NFC is loaded.

(13:15):
There is going to be a good team, a legitimate
title contender that is not going to make it in
the NFC because that is such a good conference.

Speaker 4 (13:24):
That's right.

Speaker 5 (13:24):
Detroit's got work to do, and they've only got so
many you know, like we were talking about before the show,
they're gonna run out.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
Of weeks here, They're running out of chances.

Speaker 5 (13:31):
They get the Giants this week, then green Bay Dallas,
they still got to play the Rams, the Steelers, and
then two they finish up with two road games at
Minnesota and at Chicago buckle in. So you know, Detroit's
kind of got to get it in gear here a
little bit. And if they want to make the playoffs.
Now you're looking at the probabilities here, and I know
people don't really like probabilities. I'm just using it for

(13:52):
a point of reference. The Bears are currently at a
fifty nine percent chance to make the playoffs at the
three seed. If they lose this week to the Steelers,
that drops to forty seven. So I think a lot
of people are expecting the Bears to kind of be
the one that drops, yeah, regress to the mean, and
be the team that probably drops out of there and
gets the lines begin.

Speaker 3 (14:12):
Let's take a break our first of the day. It
is a busy Friday, It's a condensed show, which means
we got a lot to fill in between now and
two thirty. Stick with us since e three sixty. The
Friday Football Frenzy on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (14:27):
School is in session when the Bengals look to take
New England to task. Who new history class could get
this violent? Speaking of the Patriots, I wonder how I
would look in a powder day. Probably not good. Coverage
begins at nine am Sunday, stream for free on the
new and improved iHeartRadio app or ESPN fifteen thirty, the

(14:50):
official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 4 (14:54):
Do you own a small business aside in the Natti?

Speaker 6 (14:57):
Brought to you by Ay during Window Anthony on ESPN
fifteen point thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 3 (15:08):
All right, welcome back Friday Football Frenzy, thanks to Skyline.

Speaker 2 (15:11):
Chilly here and now remember one.

Speaker 3 (15:12):
Thank you for listening on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
All right, I if I had to make the call
right now, I think Joe Burrow is gonna play and
we'll hear and we'll get more of an understanding when
we do hear anything from Zach Taylor but let's assume
for this conversation here drew that Joe Burrow is going
to play on Sunday. If so, what is then the

(15:37):
path to victory against the New England Patriots. Like I
I've watched enough of the Patriots this year. The most
impressive thing about Drake May is his ability to slide
and move and keep plays alive in the pocket, almost nonchalant.
He's just he's so good it's it's not even teachable
what he does in the pocket. And they are so

(15:58):
effective and how they operate on the offensive side of
the ball. They're also effected because of what they've done.
They drafted Will Campbell on the offensive line this year.
They drafted Jared Wilson on the offensive line.

Speaker 2 (16:12):
This year.

Speaker 3 (16:12):
They went and got Trevon Henderson, who has been dominant
in the last couple of weeks for the New England Patriots.
They drafted well. They were aggressive in the offseason in
free agency, and they've built their roster in a way
that it just feels like everything in their personnel matches
the scheme in which they want to play with. They
also moved on from assets during the season. They moved

(16:34):
on from Kyle Duggar, who just scored a touchdown last
week for the Patriots. But they have identified who's with us,
who's not part of the plans? What can we get
in return? And they are moving in the right direction
and they are well ahead of schedule.

Speaker 4 (16:46):
They sure are.

Speaker 5 (16:46):
And Drake May has been outstanding this year. Absolutely, it's
hard to fathom that you and this goes back to
just week one being wacky, the seam loss of the
Raiders that feels like a century ago, yep. But have
looked really, really good the last several weeks. Drake May
is playing at a high level, and Traveon Henderson obviously
is really starting to get going. With the injury to

(17:08):
Ramond Dre Stevenson. I think the path the victory for
the Bengals is, you know, pointing the obvious here, but
you got to protect Joe, give Joe a chance, keep
keep running the ball the way you have these last
several weeks. Feels like Chase Brown has really started to
find a rhythm in the running game. The line's been
playing better, so you know, kind of ball control, take

(17:28):
care of it, don't turn it over. I feel like
the Pats are a good team at creating takeaways. So yeah,
and then obviously, you know with this Bengals defense, it's
easier said than done, but you just you gotta contain
the Pats run game. They're twentieth in the NFL and running,
but I feel like in the last several weeks, with
the breakout of Traveon Henderson, they've been much better. So

(17:49):
and when the Pats get their run game going, that
is when Drake May can really start to get into
a risk of plaction past are stefant. He's starting to
develop that rapport with us to Von Diggs and the Patriots.
Other skill guys are starting to step up as well.
Mccollins is a deep ball threat. So just well rounded, Yeah, rounded,
well coached, well round coached, especially well coached.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
For me, it's can you limit the possessions that the
defense is going to be on the field. Yeah, If
Joe Burrow is going to play, can you protect them
a little bit more? Can you run the ball effectively
even if you're not going to be under center? Which
worries me because this team under center has been successful,
They were not a successful running team when they were
in shotgun. Does Joe's toe if he plays, limit how
much this team can go under center. That worries me.

(18:34):
If you think about how he's got to push off
that toe. That could be an issue for Joe Burrow
going forward. That to me is a worry. And look,
I know that it was a loss, and I know
it got out of hand, but against Pittsburgh at times
the defense did get stops in the first half. Can
you bottle that up? Can you tackle better? Can you
play a little bit more aggressive? If you take away

(18:57):
the points last week that were scored on the defensive
side for Pitcher, the defense gave up twenty points in
that loss to the Steelers. Can you bottle any of
that up and get that moving going forward and give
yourself a small, small chance to win this football game?

Speaker 5 (19:11):
And another thing is is when you have that chance,
like if you keep this game close, like say the
Pats are up six in the fourth quarter with about
ten minutes to go and Drake May comes onto the
field and it's one of those moments where can your
defense get a critical stop in a critical situation of
the football.

Speaker 4 (19:30):
Game which they couldn't which they couldn't do against Pittsburgh.

Speaker 5 (19:33):
You know, they they come out the down eight Pittsburgh
as the ball and they go on a long, lengthy
scoring drive. Convert on a couple third and long earn
eleven third and sixteen third and seven that when you
get into that situation, can you get your get them
off the field to get the ball back into your
quarterback's hands to potentially take the lead with four or
so minutes to go. And if you do that, then

(19:55):
you have to do it again. You have to get
that another stuff. You got to prevent them from getting
into field goal range because you know, all they need,
all they would need is a field goal in that situation.
So it's can the Bengals defense make that critical stop
within the football game to give themselves a chance to win.

Speaker 3 (20:11):
That Bengals defense, by the way, has allowed twenty seven
points or more in nine consecutive games. That is tied
with the nineteen sixty four Broncos and the twenty twenty
Chargers for the longest single season stretch in NFL history.
So twenty seven or more from the Patriots adds another
record that this Bengals defense is on pace to shatter
as well. Let's take a break, let's come back. More

(20:34):
of the Friday Football Frenzy next on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (20:39):
You've been listening to football in the NATI on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 4 (20:52):
Hey Alexa, who got cut?

Speaker 6 (20:54):
Getting ESPN fifteen to thirty from iHeartRadio.

Speaker 4 (20:59):
Here for the latest on FC Cincinnati's chased for the Cup.
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 7 (21:11):
Flee to Bellamy stolen by Rice.

Speaker 8 (21:14):
There's still time left. It's Marsh for the wind.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
Unbelievable scenes last night? Was that Troy?

Speaker 4 (21:31):
Troy and USC?

Speaker 5 (21:33):
How about that Jordan Marsh hits the game winner in
triple overtime for the Trojans.

Speaker 2 (21:38):
Unbelievable stuff late night.

Speaker 5 (21:40):
If you were if you were up for that one
on the East Coast, credit to you. You're having a
rough day of work today.

Speaker 3 (21:45):
Shout out to that awesome, awesome stuff. That's our Win
Schulers call of the night. Thanks to our friends at
Win Schulers. Therefore spreadable cheese flavors. You cannot go wrong
with any for your next tailgate or get to together
over the holiday season. Thanks to Win Schulers. We have
an update from Zach Taylor from pay Course Stadium. Here,

(22:06):
Drew Zach Taylor says sounder no, because it's not a
huge one. Zach has said that no decision has been made.
Of course, on Joe Burrow. He'll be listed as questionable
versus the New England Patriots. I believe that means he
has up until four pm on Saturday to be moved
to the active roster. Zach Taylor did say that Burrow

(22:28):
has done everything he can to get back and limited
today is split reps with Joe Flacco. Zach Taylor is
comfortable waiting as long as possible to make the official decision.
Do with that what you want. I still think he's
gonna play. But that is the latest update as it
relates to Zach Taylor. We'll get more on the Bengals

(22:49):
from Charlie Goldsmith as we go along. We got a
few minutes here to take a phone call. Let's do
so John is calling in.

Speaker 9 (22:56):
Hey John, Hey Tony, Hey Drew Friday. How are you?

Speaker 4 (23:01):
John?

Speaker 2 (23:03):
All right?

Speaker 9 (23:03):
I think he's definitely gonna play. And I think, first
of all, he's a lunatic and associate path that. I
mean that as a compliment, right, because you know Tony,
how your quarterbacks are wired. You know you're stubborn, you
want to get out there, you want to play. This
is his team, and I think there's a lot of
reasons why he wants to play against the Patriots. And
I kind of mentioned it a couple of weeks ago
when he called that Albert Breer was on the morning
show in Boston and kind of hinted that he was

(23:25):
going to.

Speaker 10 (23:25):
Play this game.

Speaker 9 (23:26):
First of all, the loss that he talks about the
most from last year was against the Patriots sixteen to
ten in the season opener. He blames himself for that loss.
Of course, he blomes himself every loss. That's the way
he leads, and that's why he's an awesome quarterback. He
wants to exact revenge against the Patriots. Also, you know,
I think these veteran quarterbacks and now he's a veteran,
established great quarterbacks like Burrow Mahomes, Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson.

(23:51):
They see Drake May as the young gun that's getting
a lot of love of the NFL, and they're like, hey,
wait a second, we're still you know, we're still pretty
dying good.

Speaker 4 (23:58):
We're going to show you that.

Speaker 9 (24:00):
That we're still at our level and then hest to
show Drake made that he's still the boss. We saw this.
I remember thirty years ago Dan Marino came back from
an injury. He played Drew Bledsoney. He outgunned him, yea,
and they were about ten years of pionage. So I
think that that's in his mindset as well. Also, there's
also it he'll be quick with this. There's a narrative
out there that Mike Drabel owns Joe Burrow, which is false.

Speaker 11 (24:21):
Borrows three and.

Speaker 9 (24:21):
One, including a playoff win against Tennessee when Frabel was
that coach. And I also think he wants to just
show leadership. He can't be happy with what Jamar Chase did. Like,
here's a guy who's a month ahead of schedule, Jamar Chase.
Another captain is spitting at someone gets suspended. Where the
hell of Trey Henderson? Has anybody's seen him? Another captain
that seems to have, you know, punted on the season.
And I think that right now Barrow wants to show

(24:42):
this is what leadership is about.

Speaker 10 (24:44):
You work your butt off, you get out there.

Speaker 9 (24:45):
And also the fact that people say that he is
a product of Jamar Chase. Well, in twenty twenty two
he played four games without Jamar Chase, the Bengals went
three to one. He threw for eleven hundred and twenty yards,
eight touchdowns, two interceptions, seventy percent completion percentage, a one
oway passer. He's just fine with whoever's out there.

Speaker 2 (25:02):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (25:02):
It feels like and John, I appreciate your phone, can
have a great weekend. It feels like this is an
opportunity as well for Joe Burrow to say, hey, I
know a lot of people are talking about Drake May,
don't forget about me. And to John's point, the leadership
does become a big part of this as well.

Speaker 5 (25:18):
Yeah, and it's it's amazing how time flies. Joe Burrow
and he rattled off Alan Lamar Burrow and Mahomes like
those guys are the established vets. It does not feel
like very long ago where those guys were the young guns, yep,
making their way up. And you know, Drake May, does
you know I actually think that that quarterback class, those
guys in their second year, Daniels, Williams and May. I

(25:40):
think those three guys are going to have long careers
in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (25:43):
Yeah, I am, I'm one hundred percent with you. Brian
is also calling in.

Speaker 2 (25:47):
Hey, Brian, Hi, Terry.

Speaker 7 (25:50):
How are you doing, sir?

Speaker 10 (25:50):
Good?

Speaker 2 (25:50):
How are you all doing well?

Speaker 10 (25:53):
It's a good day to be a duck.

Speaker 4 (25:54):
I can tell you that that's right.

Speaker 8 (25:58):
So my call.

Speaker 7 (25:59):
I'm not going to talk about Zach Taylor. I mean,
there's nothing to say but there. But can you believe
I mean, we're Tesse's ownership groups thinking with Mike Rabel's
success and then getting moving on from them, and they're
just an absolute gumbster fire of a team, Like how
could I mean, they didn't realize that Mike could coach

(26:19):
like he was really good for a number of years
and I don't know exactly what happened why he lost success,
but I'm sure as injury related and they moved on
and they gotta be kicking themselves in the teeth.

Speaker 3 (26:30):
I would think, Yeah, I was gonna say, probably probably
kicking themselves a little bit for where things have gone.

Speaker 2 (26:36):
It is.

Speaker 3 (26:36):
It's Brian, I appreciate you. It is crazy to see
the career trajectory of what Vrabel was able to do
in Tennessee and then to see them move on from
him and have just failed since then. Rabel just felt
like the perfect fit for so many different reasons. With
the New England Patriots. I mean, it just feels like
everything about that New England team is Mike Vrabel kind

(27:02):
of bottled up into one.

Speaker 5 (27:03):
Yeah, it's it's pretty remarkable that the NFL is a
whole allowed for able to get back to New England
to become the head coach there. It feels like it
doesn't He's not doing things the same way that Belichick did.
He's got his obvious, you know, his own spin, and
he's done this before in the NFL. But man, it
just gives you that pit in your stomach that the
Patriots are going to be around again here for the

(27:25):
next decade.

Speaker 2 (27:25):
Yep, it is.

Speaker 3 (27:28):
It's a credit to them for what they've built. And
I give credit to them. They won in the off season,
they won in the draft, and they've not been complacent
with success. They are continuing during the season to continue
to make moves knowing that, yes, they are in a
great position now, but they're also in a great position
going forward with Drake May as a rookie quarterback to
build a legitimate title contender for the foreseeable future. And

(27:50):
they have capitalized on that. Speaking of capitalizing on opportunities.
You'd like to think that the Bearcats can do that tonight.
This is Wes Miller's great chance to capitalize on a
marquee win that happens at Heritage Bank Arena tonight. It's
a six thirty start, it's a good team in Louisville
coming in. It's going to be an uphill battle. But

(28:14):
the importance of this to wes Miller you can't just
continue to fall flat in the big games. You can't
win the games you're supposed to win and never find
a way to win a big game or a game
that maybe you're not supposed to win. That that has
to change for Wes Miller. And he got a little
bit of the monkey off his back against Xavier last

(28:34):
year with the win. He has to find a way
to win. This team can't turn the ball over a
bunch tonight. They've got to be able to shoot the
ball at a high level, and they've got to rely
on a defense that's been pretty good throughout the year
to slow down a Louisville team that has scored one
hundred on everyone except Kentucky, and they were in the
high nineties against Kentucky. For the Cincinnati Bearcats tomorrow. I

(28:54):
think it's even more important Drew for Scott Saderfield agreed.
Here's a guy last year that they collab down the stretch.
They finished five and seven. A lot of people came
into the year without high expectations and wondering is Sadderfield
the guy. They lose the opener to Nebraska, and then
they win seven straight and then they get undressed a
little bit on the road at Utah, and then from

(29:17):
Utah it's a bye week into a failure against Arizona,
where they just looked unprepared for everything that they had
coming at them, and that, to me was the toughest part.
I get losing on the road, I get it. You
lose on the road, you move on from it. But man,

(29:39):
the way in which they lost to Arizona, a lot
of the same things that crept up against Utah crept
up again against Arizona. I would expect b Yu was
going to come in and try to do the same thing.
So this is an important game for Scott Sadafield. You
win this, you get your season right back on track.
Your still at an outside chance to make the Big

(30:03):
twelve championship game. But more importantly, you've then got a
chance to finish the season at nine and three.

Speaker 5 (30:08):
Yeah, and as you see, he's got everything working for
him this weekend. You know, big noons in town, nip
at night, coming off a tough loss. You know, I do,
I use a good football team, but it's still a
true freshman coming in to play quarterback who wears number
forty seven, which is the craziest thing I've ever seen.
You got everything working for you this weekend, and you

(30:29):
gotta capitalize if you find yourself in the position early
where you can bury him like you see did last week.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (30:35):
You know they were up, and they were.

Speaker 2 (30:37):
That first seven and got four possessions with the.

Speaker 5 (30:39):
Lead, correct, and you gotta be able to capitalize on
those situations. And Brendan Sorosby, you know, being blunt here,
he's got to play better. Yep, he's got to play better.
I know he got shook up a little bit last week,
but you gotta have a better game out of your
veteran quarterback if you want to win, if you want
to win on Saturday night. I think he is going
to bounce back. I feel good about the Bearcats this week.

(31:00):
We'll talk about it more in the Pickham segment.

Speaker 3 (31:01):
Here we go, speaking of the Pickham segment. That's next
Drew on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, thanks to
our friends at Skyline Chile.

Speaker 2 (31:09):
Hey, it's welcome about our number.

Speaker 3 (31:13):
One as we roll along the Friday football frenzy ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station thanks to Skyline Chile. As
mentioned earlier, we are shortened today because of Kentucky basketball tonight,
So that means being done at two thirty. Our Pickham
segment has to slide into the end of our number
once we can get it in between Drew and myself.

(31:33):
Let's dive in, Drew, Let's start the high school slate.
Some really good football games tonight, culminating at pay Course Stadium.

Speaker 2 (31:41):
Let's run through these. Middletown against Wayne. Who do you
like and.

Speaker 4 (31:47):
Why I will take the Wayne Warriors?

Speaker 5 (31:50):
Oh, because I'm just a little more familiar with them,
being a Northern Ohio person. Okay, Middletown though, although Kyle
Schwarber's in town yep, my sources are telling me he
may be at the game tonight.

Speaker 2 (32:02):
Wow.

Speaker 4 (32:03):
So if that's the case.

Speaker 2 (32:04):
Wow, This change is things.

Speaker 4 (32:06):
Does change things. I think I'm gonna stick with the
Wayne Warriors night.

Speaker 3 (32:09):
Well, you just sold me on on Middletown the Middies.
Here we go, Kyle Schwarber, what's the what's the UFC
fighter is it? Kayla Harrison?

Speaker 4 (32:17):
Well, that's not a question.

Speaker 3 (32:18):
She's also a Middletown MIDI I saw a video she
posted wishing Middletown good luck. Give me Middletown to take
the win against Wayne. Indian Hill, the pride of the
Cincinnati Hills League, Drill the chl is gonna take on
Valley View.

Speaker 4 (32:37):
Let's see, I'm gonna go with Indian Hill.

Speaker 5 (32:39):
Okay, I circled Valley View and then changed my mind
at right at the last second.

Speaker 4 (32:44):
Give me Indian Hill to win the football game.

Speaker 3 (32:47):
I think Indian Hills win and able to hold on
over Taft. It's one of those things that just kind
of feels like destiny. Taft was ready to win that game,
they fumble it away. Indian Hill advances. I think they
carry that momentum. I think Indian Hill gets this win
as well. What about London and Tip City, Old Tip
a Canoe. I know this one's a little bit personal,

(33:08):
a little bit our guy Austin's not here.

Speaker 2 (33:11):
Now.

Speaker 3 (33:11):
I I'm a fan of Tip City. I've got friends
in Tip City. But what Tip City did to Sydney
this year they didn't call off the dogs drive, they
did not, and then they did the same thing to
my Taliwanda squad with Dominic Goodman as the offensive coordinator.
London here's the thing. London, home of the famous Dick

(33:32):
Leabou and many others. I have a friend in London,
a good friend of mine, and he's a little un
the unsure. He's uneasy about this game which wanted me
to lean into the area of Tip a canoe. But
I'll say this, I've got new listeners in London. I've
got new friends in London. And to those listening in
London today, even though someone from London I know may

(33:55):
have not had the faith that I do, I still
have the faith. Give me London to London Tip City tonight.
I'll ride with London.

Speaker 5 (34:05):
I'm not scared, all right, Well, I'm gonna take Tip City.

Speaker 4 (34:08):
Wow.

Speaker 5 (34:08):
Burdbocker is a heck of a coach. Coached at Minster
up up my way back back in my day. Great
great football coach, great team. Uh yeah, and they, boy
did they do some some gnarly things to the Sydney
Yellowjackets this season.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
Give me tip.

Speaker 3 (34:22):
You know what's interesting is is so many people are
focused on Elder Sinex and I get why. But Anderson
and Trotwood Madison gonna be an awesome game. Might just
be the game of the weekend. This game is being
played at Lakota West. I'm back and forth on this one.
Anderson has been unscathed throughout the year. Trotwood's hit a

(34:43):
couple of games that have gone against them, but their
schedule is ridiculous. They're playing their best football right now.
In a close one. I'm gonna take the Raptors from Anderson.

Speaker 4 (34:54):
I'll take the Rams, then Trotwood.

Speaker 5 (34:56):
Okay, Trotwood Madison making the trek thirty five minute drive
down seventy five ooh, a nasty trek in the conditions.

Speaker 2 (35:04):
Do you think the trek changes things?

Speaker 5 (35:06):
Not really? Okay, not really. I think it's a thirty
minute car ride basically. So give me Trotwood.

Speaker 3 (35:12):
The game that obviously everyone is discussing that has been
moved to pay Corp Stadium. I know last night there
was just south of eighteen thousand tickets sold. I'm assuming
This number is going to be over twenty thousand people
in attendance at pay Corp Stadium tonight to watch Elder
and Saint Xavier. It is going to be fancy. It

(35:33):
reminds me of growing up when they used to play
these games at Knippert and I would go and think, man,
they are They're drawing more games at Knippert for high
school than they are for the college at the time.

Speaker 2 (35:43):
That's what we're happening.

Speaker 3 (35:44):
I was growing up, there would be more that would
go to Elder, Coleraine, Elder, Mullet, these types of games.
This is everything about what makes high school football in
Cincinnati and Ohio so awesome. But if you listen at
all to this show, and you're listen every week, you
know what Friday is for me. It's all Tiora. It's
purple Friday. Elder, Elder, Elder, give me Elder to advance

(36:07):
over Saint.

Speaker 4 (36:08):
X It is gonna be a great game, gonna be
a cold one stadium tonight. Uh.

Speaker 5 (36:16):
Elder apparently is battling some injuries, little banged up, well
banged up, But Uh, I'm gonna take the Panthers. Okay,
I'm gonna take Elder they continue. I think they're gonna
ride the momentum of that insane comeback last week. Crazy,
you know, second life, you know, playing with house money.
They probably feel like, so I'm gonna take the elder
Panthers as well.

Speaker 3 (36:36):
Right here we go to the college slate, Drew, these
are spreads involved now Rutgers, Greg Ciano, He's gonna start
chopping wood on the sideline. That's no longer a figure
of speech. They're actually physically gonna start chopping wood on
the Rutgers' sideline to be somewhat productive.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
In these games.

Speaker 3 (36:53):
Because outside of that, they've been terrible. They are making
I mean, they're they're doing nothing good for the Todd
Fraser name coming out of Rutgers. They've got to figure
this out. Thirty two and a half. It's a huge number.
I know there's some questions at wide receiver right now
for Ohio State. What do you like in this game
with the spread being that high.

Speaker 5 (37:10):
I think Rutgers is gonna chop more wood than they
score points. Oh give me the Buckeyes minus thirty two
and a half.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
Yeah, I think this is Ohio State. This is something
like forty two to seven or something like that Ohio
State roles as the prohibitive favorite in college football. Not
many Top twenty five matchups this weekend, but there is one,
or there's two happening. Missouri number twenty two at Oklahoma.
The number is only seven and a half. Oklahoma has

(37:39):
done a lot to get themselves back in the conversation
at eight and two. I think that's enough to carry
them through. I got Oklahoma at home to cover the number.

Speaker 5 (37:51):
That's a tough you know, when you see those spreads,
you just go, gosh, darn it, that is the right line,
because it just feels like the right line. I'm gonna
say Missouri stays inside the number, but Oklahoma wins the game,
and yeah, okay, it's.

Speaker 4 (38:05):
A tough one. It's a toss up. I could go
either way on that. I think I'll take Missouri now.

Speaker 3 (38:09):
Earlier in our pre show meeting, I had my geography
messed up between USC and Oregon. Did this isn't a
tough road trip. It's not a cross country flight. For
in my mind, I keep thinking about the West Coast
teams that complain about the Big Ten travel correct and
I'm like, oh, Otson Stadium, that place is gonna be
a literally and figuratively zoo. But it's not a tough

(38:32):
trip for USC. That being said, Oregon has way more
to play for in this one. I think their offense
finds its rhythm. It's an underrated defense. I think for
the most part, give me Oregon nine and a half.
They cover the number at home.

Speaker 5 (38:45):
Yeah, it feels like this is a fade the public
play here. Feels like a lot of people are gonna
see that nine and a half with number fifteen USC
and take that candy. So I'm gonna fade the public here.
I'm gonna go with Oregon as well. Take the candy. Okay,
you to take the candy. Kentucky. Now UK's played better.

(39:05):
Mark Stoops has his team getting some some better football.

Speaker 3 (39:09):
They made the change at quarterback that has paid off,
and Vanderbilt has just kind of lost a little bit
of the shine. I'm over Diego Pavia. His antics are
now becoming annoying for me. So I will take the
Kentucky Wildcats. After beating Auburn and Florida and Tennessee Tech.

(39:29):
I don't know if they win at Vanderbilt, but I
think they cover eight and a half.

Speaker 4 (39:34):
Yeah, I'm with you. I'm gonna say I'm gonna take.

Speaker 5 (39:36):
The Wildcats as well, playing pretty good football in their
last three since getting absolutely dump trucked by Tennessee back
in October.

Speaker 4 (39:44):
Uh yeah, and I'm I am with you on Diego Pavia.

Speaker 5 (39:46):
Actually I was early on the Danga Pavia kind of
stinks train.

Speaker 2 (39:50):
Yeah, so yeah, it's fun for a while.

Speaker 5 (39:52):
It was when you know, when he beat Alabama last season,
it was, uh, it was a fun story. And then
I watched the sec Netflix show and I was like, God,
this dude is unbearable.

Speaker 3 (40:03):
I'm out Wisconsin is gonna host Illinois. Wisconsin get the
monkey off their back. A couple of weeks ago and
Luke Fickele got his first top twenty five win since
being at Wisconsin at Wisconsin, and he did so by
losing the vest So I thought, Okay, they're onto something.
And then they got boat raced by Indiana. They come
back home, the line is only seven and a half vestless,

(40:26):
Luke fickel getting seven and a half at home. I'll
still take Illinois.

Speaker 5 (40:31):
Feels like it's gonna be a quintessential Big Ten football games.
One low scoring, you know, a lot of hitting. Give
me Illinois, though I think they win by ten.

Speaker 3 (40:41):
All Right, finally it's big noon kickoff and then you
gotta wait till eight pm for the actual kickoff. Nip
at Night Senior Night Bearcats Cougars of BYU.

Speaker 12 (40:53):
Drew.

Speaker 2 (40:54):
You go first, Give me the Cats, love it.

Speaker 5 (40:56):
Give me the Cats coming off its tough loss against Arizona.
They get the night that they so coveted in a
prime time spot BYU. I've watched BYU quite a bit
this year because they're on late a lot of Saturdays,
and I just I've watched them. I go they're a
good football team, but man, I'm just not sold on them.
So I think the Bearcat offense gets rolling. I think

(41:17):
Sowersby has a good day, and I think the Cats
go out a winner at Nipper Stadium for the year.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
And that TCU game is not a noon kickoff for you,
Thank goodness. That's that's my hope. Here's my other hope.
This team cannot lose four in a row to finish
the regular season.

Speaker 4 (41:33):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
And I really feel how tomorrow goes will be how
TCU goes. I feel like if they lose tomorrow, it's
snowballs and they lose at TCU if they write the
ship tomorrow. We're talking about a team that finishes nine
to three, and right now the door is not completely
slammed on them making the Big twelve championship game. I
know things have to happen, but there's still a chance
for the Bearcats. I look at BYU. The game against

(41:57):
Utah Utah was banged up. That was a good win,
but outside of that, not a ton of marquee wins
for BYU. They barely got by Colorado. They took a
ten point deficit against Arizona before winning that in overtime.
This team can be had. They're coming off a loss
a couple of weeks ago to Texas Tech. I think
since he gets a marquee win for Scott Souderfield, as

(42:18):
we discussed earlier, give me the bear Cats as well.
Let's move to the NFL slate. We'll pick it up here.
Steelers at Bears Bears minus two and a half Drew,
Who do you.

Speaker 5 (42:27):
Like dubb Bears? Give me the Bears. They just Ben Johnson.
I don't the Bears are a fascinating team to me? Yeah,
because they don't think they're bad. But I also don't
think they're good. I think they are like the median
team in the NFL, and I think the Steelers are
a little bit less than that. Bears find a way
to win these games late. I'm gonna say they kick
a field goal late to win.

Speaker 3 (42:46):
I'm gonna say the luck runs out. This just feels
like the type of win that doesn't feel like they
have any business winning under Mike Tomlin, and they find
a way to do it no other reasoning other than
this is a Mike Tomlin special. They find a way
to win. Colts at Chiefs. This is the same thing
for me. If the Chiefs lose this game, you might
start talking about the actual nature of having a playoff

(43:09):
postseason football in the AFC without the Kansas City Chiefs.
I don't think they let that happen. They're coming off
the b or the culture coming off the buy. I
like the Chiefs at home with spags in that defense
to write the ship in Kansas City.

Speaker 5 (43:22):
I think Kansas City wins the game. I think the
Colts stay inside the number. Okay, I'm gonna take the
three and a half with Indianapolis off of by Daniel
Jones because I've been great his last couple games, So
be interesting to see what the Colts. I think with
that bye week, they can kind of integrate their new
pieces together. I'm gonna take the Chiefs to win the game,
but the Colts cover the number.

Speaker 3 (43:42):
Another team on the outside looking into the Baltimore Ravens,
but they are trending in the right direction. The numbers
thirteen and a half. That's a lot to lay, but
I think they make another statement, not only on the
offensive side, but on the defensive side as well. I'll
take the Ravens to cover a large number.

Speaker 5 (43:59):
Yeah, I'm gonna take the Ravens here as well. They
did not play well last week in Cleveland, lucky to
get out of there with a win. And it just
feels like when teams like that have those bad games,
but they find a way to win, they usually turn
it on the next week. So I think that's what's
gonna happen with the Baltimore Ravens. Thirty and a half
a lot of points, but they're at home. I'll take that.
I'll take that.

Speaker 3 (44:18):
Shador Sanders gets his first start on the road.

Speaker 5 (44:21):
At Raiders minus four. I guess yep, easy, we're an
agree with Raiders minus four. I'm interested to see how
it's gonna go. With a week of preparation, Yeah, you know,
full week of practice. The chador army doesn't get the well,
he hadn't had any reps and he got put into
the game in the middle of the game. Excuse he
gets a full week of practice. He knows he's the starter,
So you know what, let's go out and see it.

(44:41):
I don't think it's gonna go well, but maybe he'll
bruk me wrong. I think he's one of the Raiders
minus four.

Speaker 3 (44:46):
I think he's one of the most hated on quarterbacks.
For an eight and two team that doesn't turn the
ball over and they're fantastic in the red zone. This
feels like a game Jalen hurts against a bad Cowboys
defense shuts up a lot of these doubters. The Eagles
are eight and two for a res I know the
Cowboys are playing for a lot here on Sunday, trying
to get themselves back in the playoff race, but I
think the Eagles are too much. Give me the Eagles

(45:08):
plus three and a half minus three and a half
against the Cowboys.

Speaker 5 (45:11):
Yeah, that feels right. I circled the Cowboys. I wanted
to take the Cowboys. But just the more and more
I looked at it, the more and more I went,
I can't do it.

Speaker 4 (45:20):
Give me the Eagles. I'm with you.

Speaker 5 (45:22):
I think the Eagles offense gets on track, so to speak,
and they win the game to cover the spring.

Speaker 3 (45:26):
Buccaneers are just banged up. They're such a full story.
They've got to get healthy. It does not get any
easier for him, though they go against the Rams. Rams
are my top team in the NFC right now. Matthew Stafford,
if the season ended today, is my MVP of the
National Football League. Seven is a big number, though this
feels like a Baker Mayfield late touchdown that makes it

(45:47):
a five or six point game.

Speaker 4 (45:49):
Knock at the back door.

Speaker 3 (45:50):
Rams win, Buccaneers kick open the back door. I'll take
the Bucks to cover the number. I'll take the Rams
to cover the number. Then I'm with you. I think
the Rams are really good. I'm with you on the
Stafford MVP as well. Matthew Stafford. A lot of is
made about whether he'll be a Hall of Famer. I
think it's I think he's a no doubter, no doubt.
A sneaky, good Monday night football game drew the six
and five Carolina Panthers versus seven and four forty nine

(46:13):
Ers who just keep finding ways to win. You talk
about a team that's dealt with injuries, the line is seven.
I'll ask you, does the back door open for the Panthers.

Speaker 5 (46:21):
I think the back door opens for the Panthers. I
think they cover the number here. Rock Perty looked good
last week, looked healthy coming off his toe injury. So
it'll be interesting to see how this game plays out.
The Panthers are, They're an interesting team. They they will
find themselves in these games and win these games close,
and then they will have those weeks where they just
get blown off the field. So is that gonna be

(46:44):
one of those weeks? Cross country flight? It is a
cross country flight, and that is a cross country flight.
I'm gonna take the Panthers, but don't feel great about.

Speaker 3 (46:54):
It all right, for all those reasons, I'm taking the
forty nine ers. Either said, I just laid them out
for I think the forty nine ers have too much.
I think they're playing and trending in the right direction.
They are fully fully operating with Christian McCaffrey, who goes
against his former team and I think he has a
monster game. Give me the forty nine ers. How about

(47:15):
our Win Shulers Cheesy Spread of the Week. Thanks to
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This line has been all over the place, yep. Between
the Bengals and the Patriots, my head has been spinning.
Joe Burrow now has passing props. As we mentioned earlier

(47:38):
listed on Fandel, I'm operating in the sense that Joe
Burrow's playing. I'm also operating in the sins drew that
Jamar Chase is not playing and that Joe Burrow is
not able to play on the defensive side of the ball.
I think the Bengals make it interesting early. I think
the Patriots pull away late. I'll take the Patriots in
Cincinnati to beat the Bengals.

Speaker 11 (47:56):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (47:56):
I'm going to take the Patriots as well.

Speaker 5 (47:57):
Feels like they are playing some of the best football
in the NFL right now. Drake may is operating at
high high efficiency. Travion Henderson has gotten going here in
the last couple of weeks, facing a terrible Bengals run defense.
Uh yeah, just I think too much, too much from
New England, regardless of who starts a quarterback for the Bengals,
even if it's Burrow, and you know, Bengal Nation, just

(48:18):
kind of cross your fingers if Joe Burrow goes out
on that field on Sunday, because you got Baltimore on
Thanksgiving night and the NFL's turn around. The NFL is
going to be doing the same because man, I Burrow
can't go on that Thanksgiving game.

Speaker 4 (48:30):
Thanksgiving game, that's not good.

Speaker 3 (48:33):
I feel a bonus came in before we break and
before we get to Charlie Goldsmith to kick off the
second hour. These six ranked Louisville Cardinals, I think drew
a team that can legitimately cut down the nets at
the end of the year. They are Final four good.
I think they're national title good. Guard play is what
it's all about when it gets to March, and they've
got some of the best guards that you can find.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
I am.

Speaker 3 (48:55):
I'm struggling to find the path for UC to win
this game tonight. I'm struggling to find the path for
you see to cover the number. It opened it seven
and a half, it's been up to nine and a half.
I've got it right here at eight and a half.
What do you think?

Speaker 5 (49:07):
Yeah, the path to winning is Louisville shooting two of
twenty seven from three and maybe you see turning the
ball over twenty four. No, if you see turns the
ball over twenty four times to night, that's gonna get
ugly quickly. I'm gonna take Louisville. I'm with everything you
just said there. They're really good, they're national title good.
They could cut down the nets.

Speaker 3 (49:24):
George, I have this issue, drew or far too many
times in life I bet with my heart instead of
my head.

Speaker 4 (49:31):
I hear you.

Speaker 2 (49:32):
I do it all the.

Speaker 3 (49:33):
Time, listening to everything you're saying. I listened to everything
we've already talked about, and somewhat some way, I keep
thinking that Wes Miller's gonna get his marque win at
some point. Why not tonight?

Speaker 5 (49:43):
Why not tonight Wes Miller's Markey win. If you see,
find a way to get it, to get it done.

Speaker 3 (49:48):
And the conversation around this team completely shifts going for you.

Speaker 5 (49:52):
Know what, this is the first time that you see,
you can say we're coming into a game as an underdog. Yep,
so they can play with that chip on their shoulder
mentality and go out there and letter rip. Give me
the Bearcats, Baby, give them the Bearcats. I'm still taking Louisville. Okay,
We're done, not for the show, but for the hour.
Charlie Goldsmith is next on the Friday Football Frindsy ESPN
fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (50:10):
Cincinnati Sports Station Sky Cincinnati.

Speaker 13 (50:14):
Make us the number one pre set on your car
radio and on the free new and improved iHeartRadio app
Free Never Sounded So Good, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 4 (50:23):
Do you own a small business?

Speaker 1 (50:26):
This is Tony Pike's Friday Football Frenzy Show, brought to
you in part five fellow Windows and door making life
writer Pella out Hey. Later Skyline Hilly Feeling Good. It's
Skyline time, Encore Technologies, visit OnCore dot Tech, Hudson Oil
Fielding Champions, on and off the field, Game Day, Men's Health,

(50:49):
Start your best life today and by the Creation Museum.
It's more than a museum. Visit Creation Museum dot org today.
On the ESPN fifteen thirty, The Official Hole of US
Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 3 (51:05):
All right, here we go our number two thanks to
Cincy shirts. The Friday Football Friendzy, let's get right into
it hour two Friday, our good friend Charlie goldsmissed. Anybody
to join us right now?

Speaker 4 (51:16):
Charlie?

Speaker 8 (51:16):
What's up, Tony?

Speaker 2 (51:18):
How you doing, Charlie? I'm great.

Speaker 3 (51:20):
Look, I know we got to dive into the Joe
Burrow and we will before that. Can you find a
path to uc bed Louisal tonight?

Speaker 11 (51:27):
Charlie.

Speaker 14 (51:29):
It's a team that's much improved from the perimeter, especially
when you look at kind of how things got clogged
for them offensively in previous years. KINTINETVI A night where
you see can win with the style. We haven't seen
a ton from them in a while with kind of
the perimeter attack. You know, Baba making some breeze, Sena
Rigaz come off the bench and make some threes day
to day shot the ball. Well, this year they've got shooters.

(51:51):
Let's see if they can make some shots in an
arena that's terrible to shoot in.

Speaker 3 (51:55):
All right, Charlie. Uh the up to the date updates
on Joe Burrow. He's officially listed as questionable. What do
we know up to this point, and what do you
think happens on Sunday.

Speaker 14 (52:08):
We just talked to Zach for a while. Here's my
read on the situation. You don't get to this point
unless Burrow feels like he can play, feel healthy enough
to play. And I think there's enough optimism that is,
from a pure health and physical standpoint, Burrow's pretty much there.
I feel pretty strongly about that now talking to Zach,

(52:31):
you know they're gonna take the time they have. They're
comfortable taking the time they have Burrows listed as questionable.
What Zach talked a lot about is this being his
call and he's gotta do what's best for the program,
do what's best for Burrow, and make the right decision.
And there's a lot of factor in there, like how
does Burrow read a defense? How does Burrow respond to

(52:52):
not having any you know, real live speed reps until just,
you know, a few days ago. How does you know
the the can you call a sixty passes? Were Burrow's
running all over the field? Like what guardrails do you
have to set up? From a play caller perspectives, I
really think Zach's just taken in all the information he
wants to go back through how it all went this weekend,

(53:13):
and he'll make the call tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (53:16):
Outside of Joe Burrow and what we know or wait
to know around Joe Burrow, we know Jamar Chase is
not going to be playing on Sunday. How do they
make up for the production they'll lose from Jamar Chase.

Speaker 14 (53:28):
We've seen before when Chase is out just taking step
into the one a Spotlight needs, as we all know
more than good enough to do that. The most interesting
wrinkles for me there are two One Andre Josavash's role
really over the last two years has been and he
even said this line up where Jamar isn't you know,
move jamorrowt Wire to the slot, you know, move Jamar out,

(53:50):
whye Yoshi fills the gaps. What routes do they think
are Andre's best routes when you're just coming up with
the game plan for maybe you know, five six plays
where you're featuring Joseavash, what are those routes? I wonder
if we see more plays up the scene, more back
shoulder throws to Andre, and then overall, what style of
game do you want this to be? Maybe without Jamar

(54:11):
and either way Flack or Burrow a quarterback, you don't
want throwing it fifty times? Do you try to take
the air out of the game? Kind of play the
style that New England played in Cincinnati last year. Minimize possessions,
established the run. How just more of a patient, conservative
overall approach. So that approach would lead to more of

(54:32):
a role for Chase Brown. Maybe using more tight ends
if you're trying to establish.

Speaker 11 (54:37):
The run, more play action.

Speaker 14 (54:39):
I look at the style of play and then ways
to use Yoshi as different wrinkles they could.

Speaker 2 (54:44):
Come up with on the deal.

Speaker 3 (54:46):
Well, let's stick one more on the offensive side of
the ball. The running game has opened up, and a
lot of people think there's something to the way Joe
Flacka has played his ability to go under center. If
Joe Burrow is playing, we've seen an uneasiness of going
under center. Can this team still run the ball effectively
with the advancements they've made on the offensive line if
they are majority shotgun?

Speaker 14 (55:09):
Yes, you want my honest opinion, I think the under
center storyline is the most overrated conversation around the Bengals.
They've proven over the years that if there's a match
of what they feel like, they have a true specific advantage.
That's all make under center packages a big part of
what they do now. All right, there's one thing they
did with Flacco specifically in both games against the Steelers,

(55:30):
they had them do under center straight dropbacks. They stopped
teaching that twenty years ago. Burrow was not going to
do that. But sure that takes five plays out of
your call sheet that you had with Flacco, But of
course you have more things you can do with Burrow.
I just think the whole under center thing is so
situational and it's not a solve, a save, a catch

(55:51):
all answer for them to have a better run game
or a more efficient.

Speaker 3 (55:54):
Offense on the defensive side of the ball. Charlie, I
know that the final score thirty four last week, but
two defensive touchdowns, and I thought the defense, at least
in the first half was able to get the ball
back to the offense for more opportunities. Did you see
anything against the Steelers that leads you to believe they're
trending in the right direction on the defensive side of
the ball overall.

Speaker 14 (56:16):
Though, I think Pittsburgh's offense shot itself in the foot
a lot and Aaron Rodgers kentp to look like how
you would fear a worst piece scenario for Joe Flack
all right when he got here would have gone. You know,
a quarterback who can't move and gets rid of the
ball right away without any real sense of where it's going.
That's what I saw from the Steelers offense in the
first half with Aaron Rodgers. Of course, black Will hadn't
been that in Cincinnatty, but that's just my way to

(56:38):
criticize how beatable that Steelers offense was. An underrated storyline
of the week is now with Cam Taylor britt out.
So what I was told yesterday, it sounds like Jalen
Davis is going to get the start and the slot
coming off the practice squad. He's not a perfect player,
but he has he knows the defense. He is a
better tackler than what they've had. He has good awareness

(57:01):
and good instincts. He can get beaten coverage. He's a
step slower than maybe what you want from your slock corner,
but that is one personnel change we'll see on defense.

Speaker 3 (57:09):
Uh Dejon Anthony, any update on if he's going to
be able to go and how do you view obviously
Cam Taylor, Britt, do you view any changes coming to
the safety room, which I think could use some help
as well.

Speaker 14 (57:22):
Dejon's questionable. I don't see changes coming to the safety
room right now because of what we've seen from Tyson
Anderson over the years in training camp and unlimited opportunities
on defense, what we've seen from Dejon Anthony when he's
whenever he's been on the field, and you know you
love PJ. Jewels on special teams, but this guy was
a linebacker in college. He's not coming in free safety

(57:43):
and saving your offense. They did such a poor job
of mis evaluating their safety depth that even though it
is clearly time for a change of free safety, they
just don't have that option. I don't think Dejon's that
option either, whenever he's healthy, unless it's December and you're
truly just in a developmental play. The kidd as much
as we've all seen it, and we've all seen it,

(58:04):
as crazy as this is going to sound, he knows
Ston's still their best free safety on the ross.

Speaker 3 (58:09):
Trey Hendrickson is out. We have seen now in back
to back games, right on the Monday press conference where
Zach Taylor has essentially said Trey Hendrickson is doubtful. Normally,
I feel like Zach holds the cards a little closer
to the chest. Wait and see how the week goes.
How do you view the Trey Hendrickson situation? What's unfolding?

(58:30):
And do you think we've seen the last of Trey
Hendrickson this year?

Speaker 14 (58:34):
I don't have a good feeling about this one. I
truly don't know. I don't know that they know. There
hasn't been any concrete answers from them. Hack to they
had concrete answers, they probably have put them on IR,
which hasn't come. I haven't seen trade trade around as much.
Something I've been thinking about is like one of his
closest friends on the team was Logan, and of course
that Logan Wilson trade should happen, But like all of

(58:55):
Trey's friends are gone and it's a bad team and
how is this all from his perspective right now? And
it's just a weird situation, and it's it's one that
there haven't been any answers for and there's a lot
of a lot of well earned uncertainty.

Speaker 11 (59:12):
You're out is there a.

Speaker 3 (59:14):
Fix all for the tackling? Everyone just points to tackling
is just bad. And outside of going full go and
running old school Oklahoma drills at practice in season, can
you do anything to improve on tackling for a football
team that is just exceptionally poor at doinso Jalen.

Speaker 14 (59:34):
Davis doesn't do that, I'm just kidding. They do think
Dalen will improve their tackling, as much as that doesn't
seem like an answer.

Speaker 11 (59:41):
One thing I really.

Speaker 14 (59:42):
Did notice was there were there over the last two
or three weeks really since the buy have been tangible
changes even to the part of practice we see that's
open to the media, which is just about the first
twenty minutes. For example, they've revamped and re emphasized their
pre practice tackling circuit with they do different technique stuff
during special teams portions like.

Speaker 11 (01:00:04):
The other day.

Speaker 14 (01:00:05):
Al Usually the coordinators just kind of watch special teams
get a feel for what's going on with practice. You know,
that's kind of on the sideline. The coordinators are on
the sideline, and then the position coaches. You're still a
couple of drills with the guys who don't play special teams.
To keep the guys loose, like tomorrow does work on
a ladder for example, and catches some passes from Troy Walters. Well,

(01:00:25):
this week, Al Golden was one on one specifically, I
saw with Barrett Carter doing pursuit drills, read and react
type stuff like Al Golden got very involved in a
way that I hadn't seen before in that pre or
in that special team portion of practice before individual drills.
Another thing is yesterday it looked like the defense didn't

(01:00:46):
walk through basically another walk through before practice. I was like,
right before practice. Usually it's walked through lunch break practice.
This was walk through lunch, go out to practice, start
practice with basically another short walkthrough, which is somebody I
hadn't seen. So they've They've done little things like that,

(01:01:06):
but I don't know that that saves the defense.

Speaker 3 (01:01:09):
Charlie, in your opinion, what is the best pass for
the Bengals to win on Sunday? How does that play out?

Speaker 14 (01:01:17):
The style of games just has to be very specific.
It's so crazy to see how the shoes have reversed.
I keep going back to the Patriots game in Cincinnati
last year, except the shoes on the other foot, the
Patriots have an explosive of an offense. As you'll see
in the NFL, and the Bengals are either playing a
quarterback and Joe bang up quarterback and Joe Blacko or

(01:01:40):
Joe Burrow, who you'll want to keep some guardrails for.
So the biggest thing, because I don't think this defense
is going to play great, can they finally create a
turnover this week?

Speaker 1 (01:01:49):
Is there one.

Speaker 14 (01:01:50):
Way that they can? You know, you know, that one
blitz game, or that one coverage disguise or someone just
steps up and makes the play. As simple as that sounds. Heck,
they could even be on special team. That's how the
Patriots beat the Bengals last year. Charlie Jones fumbled the punt.
So something like that needs to happen, and then you
limit possessions and then maybe end the game with a shot.

Speaker 3 (01:02:12):
Charlie, I would be remiss not to ask you from
the reds Hot Stove League this week the description from
Nick Crawl on Ellie de la Cruz. We talked about
it during red season, the power numbers, the stolen bases,
the airs. Knowing now what we know, what do you
make of the situation with Ellie and what he was
dealing with throughout the season.

Speaker 14 (01:02:33):
Of course they should have given him a day off.
It was the wrong decision they made. It was a
bad move. It was a thing they'll will approach much
differently in twenty twenty six. I think some context that's
also important to keep in mind is from what I
was told behind the scenes. You know, they tracked daily religiously,
just like they do in any sport. These players sprint

(01:02:53):
speed and some underlying metrics of athleticism and help with
their sports science department and all of that stuff. And
Ellie's numbers were trending in a positive direction, that closer
to what you'd want to see by the end of
the season, and he actually ended the year the last
couple of weeks not quite like hot hot, but warm,
trending in the right direction. So it's not like this

(01:03:16):
was an injury that kept getting worse and worse, snowballed in,
Snowball got away from Ellie in the Reds should have
shut him down in September. They should have done some
different stuff earlier in the process. But it's not like
this was some terrible, terrible, you know, tear that got
worse and worse, and was made worse and worse by

(01:03:38):
keeping playing him every day through the finish line.

Speaker 3 (01:03:42):
In your opinion, Charlie, Before I let you go, you
see BYU tomorrow night. Let's just round off what's going
to be an unbelievable fun sports weekend. It's been a
little worrisome because we've seen more of sores By that
we saw down the stretch last year. Over the last
two games for the Bearcats, I feel like they've had
a lack of answers for man to man coverage. Have

(01:04:03):
you seen anything in this team you finally get nip
a Knight Senior night, have you seen any anything that
you can build on to say, Okay, they can turn
this around, they can beat BYU, they can find a
way to finish nine and three on the year.

Speaker 14 (01:04:16):
Well, this is it, right, this is you know. Obviously
the Big Twelve title hits took a disappointing title Hope
took a disappointing turn. But still, what a win against
a team like that on a stage like that in
a night game. We remember some unbelievable night games at
NIPPERK Stadium and how those just stick with you for
a while. What a win on Saturday could just do

(01:04:36):
for the program. Even though the Big Twelve hopes that
have taken a hit that's really significant, and it all
comes back just to Sadderfield stores By in the ecosystem
for the passing game, the adjustment we all know they
need to make, finding more options against Manda man coverage,
finding more options against Flitzes, finding more ways to get
Joe Royer involved. Doing all that coming off of some

(01:04:58):
frustrating performances from Soresby. It's a good test of the
resilience to resolve the ability to bounce back of this team.
And if they can do it, and if that pans out,
that's huge, and if not, then this season could end
on a really disappointing note and you feel like you
haven't made enough progress.

Speaker 3 (01:05:14):
Charlie Man, you are the absolute best. What is the
easiest way? It's it's such a huge week for Cincinnati Sports,
the stretch run, things going on with the Cincinnati Reds.
What's the easiest way to follow along with everything you
got going on?

Speaker 14 (01:05:29):
Charlie shockbort On, Substack, Charlie shockbort On Fox nineteen. Hey, Tony,
maybe all were in India one of these three games
this weekend were.

Speaker 2 (01:05:36):
What's your You're heading down to Heritage tonight?

Speaker 14 (01:05:39):
Heading to Heritage got our seats and uh excited for it.

Speaker 3 (01:05:43):
Let's go, Charlie. I can't wait. Man, you're the best.
Hopefully I see you this week and if not, we'll
talk again next week. There he is, Charlie Goldsmith. Always
always appreciative of Charlie and his time. Very busy time
right now for Charlie. So follow along with everything he's
got going on with us your talkbacks next on the
Friday Football Frenzy ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (01:06:07):
School.

Speaker 4 (01:06:08):
Hey, it's Moleagger.

Speaker 8 (01:06:09):
Join us Monday afternoon at Twin Peaks in Florence for
the Tony and Moe Football Show as we talk Bengals, Pats,
and so much more. The fun begins at three to
zho five Monday on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 10 (01:06:52):
All.

Speaker 3 (01:06:52):
Right, here we go Friday Football Frenzy thanks to Cincy Shirts.
Whether you're heading to the basketball game tonight, the football
game tomorrow, the football game Sunday, or FC Cincinnati FC.
I'm sorry sincey Sharts has you covered on all of that,
along with Thanksgiving, Christmas Holidays, whatever you need. Cincy Shirts

(01:07:13):
dot com or visit any of their retail locations here
is your Friday edition of Talkbacks.

Speaker 15 (01:07:19):
Trip Buboogedy Tony Melissa loved Austin and yours reaction yesterday
with her musical vocal talents on.

Speaker 2 (01:07:30):
Talkbacks crossed it.

Speaker 15 (01:07:32):
She will return in the future. Good luck to Wheelburrow
if the enters the game on Sunday. Can the Colts
put a knockout punch to the Chiefs?

Speaker 4 (01:07:45):
N KC crack them up?

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
Wheelburrow? I like that.

Speaker 16 (01:07:49):
I like that a lot. Well done. Hey guys, Jim
and Milford. I think every NFL team has a sister
team to them. Call it like a sister franchise. For
the Bengals, I think it's the Buffalo Bills because they struggle,
like getting to struggling the playoffs, getting to the super Bowl.

(01:08:14):
So I I root for the Bills. Who is your
sister team?

Speaker 5 (01:08:21):
Well, there there's two directions I can go here, Like
the sister team of the Cleveland Brott for the longest
time was the Lions.

Speaker 4 (01:08:28):
It is no, it is not that anymore. It is
now the Jets.

Speaker 5 (01:08:32):
But as far as like another NFL team, I root
for h the Bucks because Baker Mayfield plays.

Speaker 2 (01:08:38):
Yeah. I like the Bucks and I like the Lions.

Speaker 5 (01:08:41):
Yeah, I do like the Lions. I still like the
I love golf, I love Campbell, So yeah, I'm I
like the Lions as well.

Speaker 15 (01:08:48):
Hey, it's me John Cunningham, spin doctor Chad Brindle Here.

Speaker 4 (01:08:54):
What's up, guys.

Speaker 10 (01:08:55):
What a huge weekend in the city for sports.

Speaker 17 (01:08:57):
The Scars tonight with the Cats versus Cards, tomorrow with
the That's versus Koog's, Sunday with the Bengals, and Pats
wrapping it up with FCC versus Barcelona.

Speaker 10 (01:09:06):
Oh baby, some are even cold this weekend.

Speaker 4 (01:09:10):
Brendalicious weekend, though, sounded like a nineties infomercial.

Speaker 3 (01:09:17):
Unbelievable man, unbelievable man.

Speaker 2 (01:09:22):
That Houston defense, yep is the bomb.

Speaker 4 (01:09:26):
Good question is Willie Anderson Jr?

Speaker 12 (01:09:29):
Is that Willie Anderson's sons from who played for the Bengals?

Speaker 2 (01:09:32):
Just curious, don't Willy Anderson Junior?

Speaker 17 (01:09:34):
What a beast?

Speaker 12 (01:09:35):
Two point five sacks, three quarterback hits and three TFLs.

Speaker 18 (01:09:39):
Man.

Speaker 12 (01:09:41):
The Bills couldn't find a way to stop the Texans.
So I bet Josh Allen's hurting this morning because he
got beat up pretty good.

Speaker 2 (01:09:49):
Yeah, I don't think that there's any relation there.

Speaker 4 (01:09:53):
I'm just receiving where Josh Allen has been sacked yet again.

Speaker 2 (01:09:56):
Again.

Speaker 5 (01:09:57):
Yeah again, in the comfort of his own home, Will
Anderson found a way around the blocking.

Speaker 2 (01:10:02):
Unbelievable.

Speaker 19 (01:10:04):
It's the lord.

Speaker 10 (01:10:05):
Hey.

Speaker 19 (01:10:05):
I was listening to another radio show the other day
and they were talking about these sports show hosts wearing
nice suits with gym shoes. What is your take on that?
Would you guys ever do that? I think it's sloppy
looking kind a way. Bengals seventeen.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
Pat ten.

Speaker 5 (01:10:28):
You really think you're gonna hold the Patriots offense to
ten points?

Speaker 2 (01:10:31):
I mean if that's the case, then the season's back
on because the defense is back.

Speaker 4 (01:10:34):
Yeah, the defense is rolling there.

Speaker 2 (01:10:36):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:10:36):
I suits sneakers with suits. Thought, it's okay with that.
It depends on the sneaker.

Speaker 3 (01:10:41):
Yea, It depends on the sneaker, and it depends on
the event. Yes, correct. More times than not, I'm going
dress shoes, but I'll throw one in.

Speaker 5 (01:10:47):
Yeah, I'm I am a dress shoes guy, but I
don't mind people as long as the shoe looks good
with what you're wearing.

Speaker 2 (01:10:55):
If the shoe fits, wear it correct.

Speaker 10 (01:10:57):
Yeah, with a heavy heart, Tony, and I tell you
that I've decided to divorce the Cincinnati Reds.

Speaker 20 (01:11:05):
Oh no, no, my lawyers already gathered up all the paperwork.

Speaker 10 (01:11:08):
I've already signed it.

Speaker 4 (01:11:10):
We've sent over to Nick Krawl.

Speaker 21 (01:11:12):
Just got word back that they're gonna set the tires
on it and see, uh if it's something they want
to get into or not.

Speaker 3 (01:11:18):
Yeah, I mean all time, all time Red look kicking
the tires on it. Oh yeah, Well congratulations or condolences.
I don't know how you feel.

Speaker 5 (01:11:26):
About it, but either way they'll be back by May
yepping the city out here.

Speaker 22 (01:11:30):
It's sunny hot to this kind of flect the city
this weekend. Man, you see basketball, can we score twelve
points off of free throws? Play aggressive and give me
that one point blowout? At least you see football, show
some mocks, he plays some defense. Coach Scatt, don't don't
Coach Scare, throw the kitchen, sink out, get the win
by threep she Cincinnati sitting to go home. I'm tired

(01:11:52):
of talking that mess. It's kind to send messy away.
And Bengals, dare I say, put off a shocker? I
think they're gonna win this weekend. So you're saying kids,
kitchen sink day. Kitchen sink game man, all right, let's
throw the sink at him. Does feel like it does
need to be a kitchen sink game for SAT.

Speaker 2 (01:12:06):
I'm good with that.

Speaker 23 (01:12:08):
Hello, this is former President Ronald again Rone.

Speaker 4 (01:12:11):
Wait.

Speaker 23 (01:12:12):
I don't know about you, but I would feel a
whole lot more comfortable with Joe Burrow playing if we
had an offensive line. Oh oh, and also a defense.

Speaker 2 (01:12:23):
I mean, but what do I know.

Speaker 23 (01:12:25):
I'm just a dead former president.

Speaker 5 (01:12:28):
I'll give the Bengals O line a little bit of
they've gotten better. It does feel like they've improved week
to week. They've played a little better now. Maybe some
of that may have to do with how quickly Joe
Flacco gets rid of the football, but I do and
they've run the ball too, so that points to me
that the offensive line is getting better.

Speaker 15 (01:12:47):
Ben Tone, welcome back.

Speaker 24 (01:12:48):
This is my first talkback since you've been back. So
we'll get this here. You talk about WW since Austin
didn't want to talk about it.

Speaker 11 (01:12:57):
Yep.

Speaker 10 (01:12:58):
Curious what you think about Surbervracy.

Speaker 7 (01:13:01):
And Drew.

Speaker 10 (01:13:02):
Question for you, how do you.

Speaker 24 (01:13:04):
Think our calves looked so far? I know we didn't
start out the season with the record, But what do you.

Speaker 3 (01:13:09):
Think you want to go first with your w W. Well, yeah,
thanks for the talkback. I'm all in on Survivor series.
I think the the the matchups they had are are
more enticing than the last couple of pay per views. Obviously,
everything around Sena and his farewell tour has been much watched,
but I thought Monday's Monday Night rawl was the best
raw in quite some time. Hopefully that builds on that

(01:13:32):
for for WW.

Speaker 5 (01:13:33):
As far as the Calves go, you know, they haven't
looked great to start the season, but they're still ten
and six. Darius Garland has not played a lot. Speaking
of athletes with toe injuries, he reinjured his toe that
he had surgery on. But here's my thing with the
Cleveland Cavaliers. If you're gonna sit here and tell me
that the only thing that matters to Cleave the Calves

(01:13:54):
is what happens in April and May, then you can't
freak out about what's going on in November.

Speaker 4 (01:13:58):
You just can't.

Speaker 5 (01:13:59):
I'm tired of people who will say, like, well, all
that matters is the playoffs, and then they're freaking out
when they lose a November game.

Speaker 4 (01:14:05):
To the Houston Rockets. So there we go.

Speaker 25 (01:14:08):
Yes, Hello, Hello, Hello, I'm looking for a horseman, a
horseman out of Louisville.

Speaker 2 (01:14:18):
If you tell.

Speaker 25 (01:14:18):
Him, the Cincinnati barricat, American Dream is looking for him,
and it's going down. It's going down Friday night. The
American Dream is gonna take you down.

Speaker 2 (01:14:38):
The American Dream, Dusty Roads.

Speaker 13 (01:14:40):
Thank you, Tony Hey. You asked what the pathway is.
The Victory of Joe Burrow plays on Sunday. Now this
may be contrary to popular belief, but what if the
Bengals just running up tempo offense basically the whole gamer
as long as they can get that New England defense tired,
break them up, give them something that they're not expecting.

(01:15:02):
You said, Zach Taylor's kind of got Rabel's number. I
think enough tempo might work keeps our defense out there
on the field.

Speaker 18 (01:15:09):
Marger.

Speaker 10 (01:15:09):
But but let's see.

Speaker 3 (01:15:11):
All right, listen, that would that would call uh, that
would fall under kitchen sink. Everything with the kitchen sink
I'm good with.

Speaker 5 (01:15:19):
And I just the thing that if you're running up
tempo and you just a couple three outs and you're
you're trotting that defense out in trouble.

Speaker 4 (01:15:27):
You're you're in trouble.

Speaker 26 (01:15:30):
This DJ, DJ, what do we continue to have to learn?
Texans versus Bills good defense, mother's offense. Last year Philadelphia
won because of their defense in the Super Bowl. Kansas
City won multiple championships because of Spagnola and the defense.

Speaker 2 (01:15:47):
And yes, yes, uh Mahomes is good.

Speaker 26 (01:15:51):
But the Bengals, as I've said all along, their team
is constructed all wrong.

Speaker 2 (01:15:55):
The top.

Speaker 5 (01:15:57):
Oh, he was gonna make a great point at the end,
I could face that was building up.

Speaker 27 (01:16:04):
Yeah, Hey, tonight for the Bearcat basketball team Louisville, I
think it's real good. I'd be surprised if you see
one stranger things have happened. Yeah, big game tomorrow for
the football team, if if, if they beat b Yu,
that's a real nice victory.

Speaker 2 (01:16:24):
I think got help sad or field a staff.

Speaker 3 (01:16:28):
Seasons back on, season, back on, you know, And that's
why they that's why they roll the ball out there, Jed,
That's why they roll the ball out there because anything
can happen in college basketball.

Speaker 5 (01:16:37):
That's especially true and especially in that building.

Speaker 2 (01:16:42):
Also true because.

Speaker 5 (01:16:43):
Lord knows, it takes a special, special kind of person
to be able to shoot in that building. That's why
Kobe Braan went like seven for eight a couple of
years ago.

Speaker 28 (01:16:52):
Tonight at pit Core Stadium, home of the Elder Panthers,
Wow diffused. The Older Panthers will defeating the Saint Xavier
Bombers twenty to thirteen.

Speaker 4 (01:17:05):
Sco Panthers, good luck on the fourteen. We got one.
We got one prediction on the board.

Speaker 20 (01:17:10):
For Elder Tony, Greg Sharonville creig On, Wes Miller. A
great showing tonight, not necessarily win, but a high effort
showing and a win over Xavier, and I'll stay off.

Speaker 10 (01:17:23):
He's back the rest of the year.

Speaker 2 (01:17:24):
Deal. You know what I hate about this?

Speaker 3 (01:17:27):
I hate the thought of going to a sporting event
already conceding that the team my root for is gonna
gonna lose.

Speaker 2 (01:17:33):
Yeah, I hate that feeling. I want to believe.

Speaker 5 (01:17:37):
The thing is, though, is that there is like it's
not an impossibility that you see, like can win Whisky,
Like they can go in and win this game for sure,
Like like you said, it's college basketball. Anything can happen
early season or yeah, early season, yeah anything can have
you see can win the game tonight?

Speaker 4 (01:17:53):
Now I would give the big edge to Louisville.

Speaker 5 (01:17:57):
But if I you know, if I watch the game
tonight and you see walked walked out of it with
a win, a win, I wouldn't be shocked and I
wouldn't think any less of Louisville for it.

Speaker 10 (01:18:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 17 (01:18:07):
Hey, guys, it'st in Atlanta, Tony yesterday and you discussion
with Chadd Breundle about Scott Soudderfield.

Speaker 2 (01:18:14):
I think you were being rather charitable.

Speaker 20 (01:18:16):
But certainly the inference is that Scott Souderfield is not
very smart, demonstrably dumb.

Speaker 4 (01:18:25):
And of course so is Zach Taylor.

Speaker 17 (01:18:28):
And you cannot be competitive in football with a dumb
head coach.

Speaker 3 (01:18:33):
I'm sorry, be successful with a dumb head coach. I
don't think Scott Suderfield's dumb.

Speaker 18 (01:18:41):
So I'm gonna need some more love for the Northern
Kentucky high school football.

Speaker 4 (01:18:46):
Why do you never do pick'em's?

Speaker 18 (01:18:50):
Highlands, Cove Cat, New Cath All those schools have good
shots at winning state and you just totally ignore them.

Speaker 5 (01:19:01):
Because here's the dirty little secret in ain't Ohio high
school football.

Speaker 3 (01:19:04):
Now, now that that's been brought to my attention, I
will keep track of what's happening. In Kentucky, and we'll
see if we can throw them on the list next week.
I think if there's I think there's a path. If
they both win, Cuff Kathy and Highlands would play next week,
that would surely make the list.

Speaker 4 (01:19:18):
I would definitely make the list.

Speaker 2 (01:19:19):
Oh yeah, just keep listening and we'll get there.

Speaker 21 (01:19:23):
Hey, fella's got my tickets down, going down to pay
court tonight. I went to lasal So Saint Xavier stinks forever.
I will be donning my purple poncho go Elder.

Speaker 5 (01:19:34):
So that's two, okay, two talkbackers picking the elder tonight.

Speaker 29 (01:19:40):
Hey, guys, Pepa Patty here. So my pick for tonight's
Elder versus say next game is sax Gobombers. Is in
honor of my late nephew, Kyle Swanson, who's passed away
at the tender age of twenty.

Speaker 11 (01:19:55):
Eight three years ago.

Speaker 29 (01:19:57):
And Kyle was a proud Sayntex grad from twenty twelve
and he was a swimmer at Saint x and he'd
be so excited about tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:20:07):
So for Kyle, thanks, I like it.

Speaker 3 (01:20:10):
My brother went to Elder, and I have a pair
of cousins who went to Saint x So. It is
a family affair tonight. But I'm I'm bleeding purple. Well,
I'll bleed red and black and Heritage Bank.

Speaker 4 (01:20:21):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (01:20:22):
What's up? Tony and Drew TJ east Side TJ.

Speaker 30 (01:20:25):
Wow, those are some grown RS men wearing big boy
pants playing real defense with the Texans last night. Real
pressure on the QB guys, converging on a tackle that
was fun to watch. Meanwhile, our defense is still running
around pamps.

Speaker 31 (01:20:37):
Looks like they've got a loaded to change out too,
and see if Audie's beloved Zach can get this to
not be another dumpster fire this weekend. Let's go cast,
Let's go Raptors, and let's go FC.

Speaker 4 (01:20:48):
And Anders throat there, Josh Allen has just gotten sacked again.

Speaker 32 (01:20:54):
Gosh, Drew and Tony Drew from South Beat Boom Friday,
Bad joke time, Let's call gotta get some from the bars.
Drunk wife's mad, pissed in there. She says, I'm sick
of you. I've had enough. I packed all your stuff.
I need you to leave right now. And he's like,
I'm really sorry. I'm really sorry.

Speaker 4 (01:21:13):
She says, I hope you die a slow and miserable death. Hikes.
He says, Oh, you must want me to stay, then
I have a great weekend.

Speaker 10 (01:21:19):
Guys.

Speaker 2 (01:21:20):
Oh man, that's a o unbelievable.

Speaker 24 (01:21:27):
Hey, guys, Marcus from the grove.

Speaker 13 (01:21:29):
What I'm Marcus as a Kentucky Wildcat fan.

Speaker 24 (01:21:33):
I ever thought i'd say this, So Tony, soak it in.

Speaker 2 (01:21:37):
Ooh ooh.

Speaker 33 (01:21:43):
You see.

Speaker 2 (01:21:43):
Let's go Marcus, Let's go. Hel's down baby, Let's go Sneaky.

Speaker 5 (01:21:49):
One of the best rivalries in sports, Kentucky and Louisville.
There is some real, real hatred there. Ell down says Marcus, Hell's.

Speaker 19 (01:21:58):
Down lord in a double dip. So when do they
have to disclose whether Joe Burrow is playing or not?

Speaker 3 (01:22:06):
He'll be made active and reactive. I believe Saturday by four,
and then what ninety minutes before kickoff would be official.

Speaker 5 (01:22:14):
Yeah, well they'd have to put him on the roster tomorrow,
and then if he's on the roster, then it would
be ninety minutes before the start of the game. Would
be one we'll know for sure, all right, last one
unless one comes in at the buzzer.

Speaker 2 (01:22:27):
All right, all right.

Speaker 33 (01:22:30):
Boy, anyway, anyways, Tony, Donny, Donny, how come you're not
talking about Mary and a Local.

Speaker 2 (01:22:36):
Let's talk about this dominant.

Speaker 33 (01:22:37):
High school football team in the state of Ohile in
the last thirty years. They should be front and center.
We should be breaking down their whole organization. Maybe they
someone from that school could help in the Bengals front office.
It seems to me that they know how to develop talent.

Speaker 4 (01:22:58):
So we discussed this.

Speaker 5 (01:23:00):
Put this on the Pickham segment because I was on
today as the D seven football connoisseur of Ohio high
school football. Tonight, Saint Henry versus Maryon Local.

Speaker 2 (01:23:10):
This is huge.

Speaker 5 (01:23:12):
This is the D seven state championship game. I think
whoever wins this game is going on to cut down
the nets. Mary Local has won a billion games in
a row. Saint Henry took him to the wires this
year in the regular season. Tony, who you got? I'm
going with history. I'm going with Mary going maryon Local.
I'm gonna say the streak ends. No, give me Saint

(01:23:33):
Henry over maryon Local. Tonight in Wallpawk, whoa in Wallpawk.
I'm gonna take Saint Henry over Mariyon Local.

Speaker 2 (01:23:44):
I believe it's seventy six consecutive victories.

Speaker 5 (01:23:47):
Yep over one of those over my beloved Layman Catholic
Cavaliers didn't quite have the offense going to Sidney.

Speaker 3 (01:23:54):
Layman also came down to Veterans Memorial Stadium and took
a beating once before in basketball. And I had basketball
or football, But either way it was a beatdown.

Speaker 5 (01:24:02):
That feels more likely that it was basketball as opposed
to football.

Speaker 2 (01:24:06):
That way way back in the day. Though either way
it was a beat down.

Speaker 4 (01:24:08):
It was all right.

Speaker 3 (01:24:09):
We got to come back. We got another football in
the NATI. We got a couple segments here, and Tom
Gallanda will kick off the shortened third and final hour
at two o'clock. Also, we'll open up the phone lines
again if you want to call in five, one, three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty, The Friday Football Frenzy on ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 22 (01:24:26):
The Goongles Like ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (01:24:31):
This is football in the NATI Grunch you in part
by Bud Light and by Oakley Greens on ESPN fifteen thirty,
the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 3 (01:24:43):
All right, welcome back. We have covered the Bengals, We've
covered the Bearcats. Let's keep this short and sweet and
then we'll get to a phone call or too. Here
drew the college football slate. It's a down week for
a lot of the top teams around the country. Give
me one of the other college football games. Keep your
you're gonna keep your eye on for what reason?

Speaker 5 (01:25:02):
Well, we had it in the Pickham segment, but I
got Oklahoma Missouri. Just Oklahoma coming off a huge, huge
win over Alabama playing at home against a pretty like
gamy Missouri team. I don't know how like really like
quote unquote good they are, but they're gonna give them
a game. And yeah, you're right, it is kind of
a weaker. Yeah, it's a down week, down week in

(01:25:25):
college football this week, you know, kind of looking around USC,
Oregon obviously, we talked about that in Pickham as well.
Trying to venture outside of the Pickham world. Uh, Notre
Dame and Syracuse. Notre Dame has looked awesome. Yeah, they
beat the Brakes off pit last week in at at
top eighty and a half. Yeah, that's that is a crazy,

(01:25:46):
crazy number. The question with Notre Dame I have is
are they going to get to that eight seed and
host a college football playoff game? So that that's what I'm
keeping an eye on. Tulane, who is currently the Group
five representative in the playoff, places Temple this weekend on
the road, So that's another one to keep an eye on. Tennessee,
Florida is Friday night.

Speaker 3 (01:26:08):
So remember remember paton Nordws, he didn't care about losing
by one hundred to Notre Dame as long as they
win the next two. So they got to beat Georgia
Tech to keep their acc hopes alive. That's one to
watch them selfishly. If you're looking at a path, a
small window, a small path for the bear catch, you
need a lot of things to happen. Can can Kansas
State and Avery Johnson upset Utah on the road? Can

(01:26:28):
t see you upset Houston on the road. Those are
two big twelve matchups.

Speaker 4 (01:26:33):
Kansas State. I will have my and a half.

Speaker 2 (01:26:35):
This is insane, insane. What about the NFL? Same question, NFL?

Speaker 5 (01:26:40):
You know a couple more We talked about Rams, Yeah, Bucks, Rams, Chiefs, Colts.
That's that's kind of your you know, your marketing games
this week obviously Shader Sanders' first career start out in
Vegas at four h five.

Speaker 4 (01:26:53):
If you're a masochists like myself.

Speaker 2 (01:26:56):
Anything on Aaron Rodgers officially, yet.

Speaker 5 (01:26:58):
He is actually we just had quote from Mike Tomlin
come down five minutes ago from rap sheet. He said
he's questionable. We'll see where the weekend leads us, says
Mike Tomlin. So Aaron Rodgers officially questionable against the Bears,
and my gut says that Aaron Rodgers is really really
going to try and angle to play because there's nothing
he loves more than sticking it to the city of Chicago.

Speaker 3 (01:27:20):
Before we take a break, since this is football in
the Natty, let me venture outside to what's going on
football outside of the Natty. Now, we don't get this
far in the year to pick my reading Blue Devils
on the pick them sheet. They're done, But that doesn't
stop me from wishing the sixth grade around Blue Devil squad.

Speaker 2 (01:27:38):
Good luck.

Speaker 3 (01:27:39):
They're going down Drew to my favorite place on earth, Gatlinburg, Tennessee.
Who they are playing in the Rocky Top National Championship.

Speaker 4 (01:27:49):
WHOA So give.

Speaker 3 (01:27:50):
Me the sixth grade reading Blue Devils as my lock
of the weekend. There you go on right, Gatlinburg, Rocky Top, Baby.

Speaker 5 (01:27:57):
I will ride with you on that shout out to
those kids having the time of their life. I'm sure
let's go. Let's go down to Gallenburg and bring a
trophy back good old Rocky Top. Gatlinburg is one of
the best places on earth.

Speaker 4 (01:28:08):
Yes, it is great, great town.

Speaker 3 (01:28:10):
We'll take a break when we come back. We'll finish
up hour two with the phone caller too. Next on
ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 6 (01:28:18):
You've been listening to football in the NATI on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:28:38):
All right, we are.

Speaker 3 (01:28:39):
Rolling along on a Friday afternoon. It is the Friday
Football Frenzy. Thank you for listening. Thanks to our friends
at since he Shirts, we've done everything from the Bearcats
to the Bengals to high school football. We're gonna get
FC Cincinnati in just a few minutes, so we're going
to cover everything for you on a shortened Friday afternoon.
We are done at two all because our schedule gets

(01:29:02):
moved up because of Kentucky basketball and their pregame show.
So we're done at two thirty until we get to
Tom Gallader. We'll take a phone call.

Speaker 11 (01:29:09):
What's up, Mike, Hey, Thanks you guys appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:29:14):
Yep.

Speaker 11 (01:29:14):
I'm enjoying the show today, Drew. You're doing a great
job and it's a nice change of pace from Austin
just for something different thing. Thanks. Yeah, you deserve it.
I'm sure Tony agrees. You guys were talking earlier about
I think you were about high school recruits, but I

(01:29:34):
may be wrong. Football recruits. And it's an interesting topic
to me because Texas, well Texas, Florida, and California for years,
are considered this three hot dads. That's been that way
for a long time. But for this twenty twenty five season,
Texas leads with forty two either four or five star recruits.

(01:29:55):
Then Florida's got thirty seven. California is down a little
bit this year with three or twenty four. Georgia. Actually
Georgia moved into the third spot. Georgia is becoming quite
the hotbed, yeah, for recruits. Then I think Ohio's got
thirteen the two Big Ones or Taviantavian Saint Clair. He's

(01:30:19):
going to Ohio state of course, supposed to be a
hell of a quarterback.

Speaker 3 (01:30:22):
You know about him time, Yes, I think so much
about this is interesting as well because of what's been
happening out of Wayne with the player that they had.
They they went and filed a lawsuit about Nil now
in holding high school athletes back. So now we're talking
about nil getting into Ohio high schools, and if that's
the case, I think you can get down a little

(01:30:44):
bit of a dangerous lope.

Speaker 11 (01:30:47):
And the other five star guy coming out of Ohio
was a guy named Terry McNutt, and he's going out
to Oregon. He's a defensive back, I believe, so. I
didn't know if you've heard of him.

Speaker 2 (01:30:58):
Yep.

Speaker 11 (01:30:58):
I just think those are interesting. It's interesting to kind
of keep an eye on where these all these kids
come from, especially the really good ones. I wanted to
ask you about this Bucks Rams game coming up. The
Bucks just can't get out of the world. I'm not
so sure Todd Bowles is a great coach.

Speaker 8 (01:31:19):
I'm not.

Speaker 11 (01:31:19):
I'm just not he's a defensive coach. If it wasn't
for Baker, they wouldn't be very good.

Speaker 2 (01:31:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:31:27):
I also don't know that, Like the situation around Bucky
Irving has just been really bizarre. They're running back here. Yeah,
I don't know what's going on with that. They've had
obviously injuries, with with Mike Evans and Chris Godwin in
a host of others.

Speaker 4 (01:31:41):
Third offensive coordinator in three years.

Speaker 3 (01:31:43):
Yeah, there's a lot going on. There's such a likable
team that I want to do well. But you wonder
if everything going on finally catches up to him.

Speaker 11 (01:31:52):
That's what I'm thinking, especially when they're playing the Juggernaut,
in my opinion, the Rams. But I'll tell you one
thing they do have down here at Tampa. They got
in my opinion, they have the two best tackles in football.
Christian Whorf's is the best tackle. He's the only tackle
that's ever been voted All Pro right and left tackle.
Nobody's ever done that before. So they talk about Lane Johnson,

(01:32:14):
Lane Johnson, Lane Johnson up at Philly whatever. But these
two cats can really play. But like you said, they
just there's always guys getting dimmed up on that team,
and I don't understand that.

Speaker 3 (01:32:26):
And I think the good thing for them after they
get through this gauntlet that they've been on. They finished
the season with Arizona, New Orleans, Atlanta, Carolina, Miami and Carolina,
I think they got a chance to be one of
the hotter teams going at the end of the year,
just based on the schedule easy. I mean they they've
been you want to talk about a Philadelphia, Seattle, San Francisco, Detroit,

(01:32:46):
New England, Buffalo. They're getting to the easier part of
their schedule after this weekend, and I think that'll benefit
well for them.

Speaker 11 (01:32:54):
Yeah, I think you're right. And another thing is, well,
I think is it the same old thing Dak's down
in Dallas, that he's gonna have a good regular season
and then choke out with his history in the first Yeah,
what do you think about him?

Speaker 2 (01:33:08):
If they can get into the playoffs? I just don't know.

Speaker 3 (01:33:12):
I don't know if they can get in with with
where their defense is. But yeah, until I see it
from Dak, I I gotta see it there.

Speaker 5 (01:33:19):
Leaving their current probability to make the playoffs is six.
Speak to the Eagles, it drops to three.

Speaker 10 (01:33:26):
Yeah, okay.

Speaker 11 (01:33:27):
And I keep hearing people saying that maybe Dallas is
getting better at a good time.

Speaker 2 (01:33:31):
Yeah, well whatever, there's just a lot of.

Speaker 11 (01:33:36):
Yeah, yeah, you're right, there's a totem. The other thing
I wonder and if you got to go, just tell me,
I'll hang up.

Speaker 2 (01:33:41):
Yeah, I gotta we gotta we gotta we gotta one
more here. What do you got?

Speaker 11 (01:33:45):
Okay? So I heard Ted talking about this yesterday. His
opinion is, and you guys telling me his opinion is
the problem with the Reds and the Bengals doesn't, isn't.
I mean, it can be these gms, it can be.
But the problem with the Bengal of the Reds is
too many partners in the ownership, too many people to

(01:34:05):
decide on what money to spend, what money not to spend.
Castelini doesn't have bipart, doesn't he even have fifty one
percent of the team, And with the Bengals, you've got
a fifties mentality of the way things used to be,
with the few exceptions this year. So do you think
the real problem was with the ownership or who's running
the joints? On both cases? I thing you too.

Speaker 3 (01:34:26):
I think there's Mike. I appreciate the call. Will answered
this as well. I think there's a lot of cooks
in the kitchen. I understand that. But my biggest problem,
especially with the Bengals, the scheme doesn't match the personnel.
And I think that's a Zach Taylor Duke Tobin thing
because I think Mike Brown has shown the ability to say, hey,
I'm willing to spend money. They've upgraded the stadium, They've

(01:34:50):
brought in the Ring of Honor, they've paid money, They've
done things in contracts they haven't done. I think they're
willing to do it. I just don't think the personnel
matches the scheme, and I think that leads to a
lot of problems.

Speaker 5 (01:35:02):
That's where I'll keep it. Yep, I agree, I agree
with all that. I agree with everything you said there.

Speaker 3 (01:35:08):
Let's let's get to Tom Gallad Tommy g to kick
off our three some football in the next on ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 4 (01:35:17):
This is Jeff for Trump.

Speaker 1 (01:35:18):
This is Tony Bike's Friday Football Frenzy Show, brought to
you in part five fellow Windows and door Making life
writer pelenaw Hey. Later Skyline Hilly Fealing Good, It's Skyline time,
Encore Technologies, visit OnCore dot Tech, Hudson Oil, Healing Champions
on and off the Field, Game Day, Man's Health, Start

(01:35:42):
your best life today and by that Creation Museum It's
more than a museum. Visit Creation Museum dot Org today
On ESPN fifteen thirty, The Official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:35:58):
Here we go our three.

Speaker 3 (01:36:00):
It's the Penn Station. We're shortened, we're abbreviated. In hour three.
We're done at two thirty, so let's get right into it.
The icing on the cake of an unbelievable sports weekend
takes place Sunday at five o'clock at TQL Stadium. Some
claim Messy as the greatest ever step foot on a pitch.

(01:36:23):
He comes with his inner Miami squad to TQL Stadium
to take on FC Cincinnati, and we just so happened
to have the voice of the Orangeine Blue.

Speaker 2 (01:36:30):
Back back from his trip.

Speaker 3 (01:36:34):
Not sure where he was, but I guarantee he's refreshed
and he's ready to go.

Speaker 2 (01:36:38):
It's Tom galland Er Tommy, Tommy, Tommy.

Speaker 17 (01:36:40):
What's up, Tony, Tony, Tony, Happy Friday afternoon, Back from.

Speaker 10 (01:36:45):
A little load management.

Speaker 17 (01:36:47):
You know, I've learned from the best of watching you
over the years, so you know you got to refresh
to be ready for these final three games to win
MLS Cup. A couple of weeks with s C Cincinnati,
and yeah, I'm ready to go, brother.

Speaker 10 (01:36:59):
How are you?

Speaker 3 (01:37:00):
Three games Tommy from an MLS Cup, I'm doing great.
What an awesome weekend it's going to be in Cincinnati. Yeah,
before we get to Miamie, the scenes, the emotion, the
moment when the final whistle blew against Columbus, seeing what
this FC Cincinnati did, they bounced back from the loss
in Columbus. What was that moment like for you and

(01:37:22):
sharing that with so many fans at TQL Stadium that
they got past Columbus and now so much is still
ahead of the squad.

Speaker 17 (01:37:31):
Yeah, it was pretty It was pretty special, pretty spectacular, Tony.
The press conference today with Pat new if you didn't
see it, a reporter.

Speaker 10 (01:37:37):
Asked the question about how the team kind of feets.

Speaker 17 (01:37:40):
Off the energy or if it's different in the playoffs
something on those lines, and Pack kind of looked at
him and said, you were there right in Game three.
You felt that energy was different, and there's no doubt
the guys feel that energy as well. And man, the
energy in that Game three against Columbus was just off
the charts, Like the place was buzzing. I mean it

(01:38:01):
was buzzing as soon as they opened the gates ninety
minutes before kick and people start filing in that the
way that that game built and then FC Cincinnati falls
behind and then immediately ties the act and.

Speaker 10 (01:38:10):
Then wins it later.

Speaker 4 (01:38:12):
It was.

Speaker 10 (01:38:13):
It was spectacular and it really I.

Speaker 17 (01:38:17):
Think, and I hope, you know, we'll see how things
go against Miami, but I really hope that that the
way that they won proves to be a massive confidence
boost in favor of Cincinnati because they found a way
into their rival, you know, to come from behind in
the second half of the final half an hour. You
go down and no doubt, I mean myself included a

(01:38:39):
lot of stomachs dropped, right. You felt sick for three
or four minutes, but that feeling suddenly there was some
reassurance thanks to.

Speaker 10 (01:38:46):
Brenner and then he got the game winner as well.

Speaker 17 (01:38:48):
But man, it was it was a pretty cool, pretty
cool way for them to find.

Speaker 2 (01:38:53):
A way to win it.

Speaker 3 (01:38:54):
Now, that's what I Confidence in any sport is so key.
And that's where I was going next. How much can
you build on the confidence of not only what you
did against Columbus, but what you have been able to
do in a couple opportunities against Inner Miami. How much
does confidence play into this?

Speaker 17 (01:39:10):
Yeah, you know, I mean, numbers have been asked this
question a lot this week about how do you feel
about the game, are you nervous?

Speaker 10 (01:39:16):
Is Miami the better team?

Speaker 17 (01:39:17):
All these types of things, and and look, these are
two very good teams that finished second and third tied
on point actually for the season. But since Anti had
more wins, so they got the two seed and therefore
the games at home, and that should be a massive,
massive boost because that's the Sainting's done well against Miami
in that building as of late.

Speaker 10 (01:39:35):
Let's look at the most recent results.

Speaker 17 (01:39:36):
A three to zero win this July at TQL Stadium
against Miami last July. Remember that's six to one beating
they put on on Inner Miami. So that's nine to
one in the last two trips of Inner Miami the
Tqsam does that means could be that easy?

Speaker 10 (01:39:50):
Tomorrow?

Speaker 17 (01:39:50):
Probably not? Or Sunday probably not. I hope it is
at the great it'd be quite the party. But even
you know, look at the US Open Cup semifinal when
things didn't go their way, it still was a positive
game Presuly Cincinnati, you know, for much of it, and
then Miami got back into it and a three to
three and they lost in the shootout. But the game
before that, in the regular season a one to zero win,

(01:40:11):
and that was pretty messy. But so my point being
is that under pat and In andef she Sintani has
done really well against Inner Miami five one and three.
You know, sometimes there's there's teams that you come up
with to get better game playing against that you match
up better against, and and she Sintati has done very
well against Inner Miami. So I think, look, you're building
on the confidence of those previous matchups. But yeah, you're

(01:40:34):
building upon the confidence of the way that you beat
Columbus in order to be in this seat. So uh yeah,
I think confidence should be sky high, and then the
guys should be feeding up all that enthusiasm of twenty
five thousand folks who are gonna be screaming in their favor.

Speaker 3 (01:40:50):
Inner Miami and dispatching Nashville in the first round saw
Lionel Messi score five goals and add an assist, So
he's obviously playing some of his best soccer right now. Now,
what goes into a matchup or a game plan and
trying to slow down a Messi or do you just say, man,
you're not going to slow down a Messi. No one's
been able to, But can you limit everyone around him

(01:41:10):
as well.

Speaker 17 (01:41:11):
I mean, I think, yeah, you have to make sure
that you're limiting what Lionel Messi is doing. This guy
has forty two goals toning across all competitions this year.
Now Miami's played in order to the amount of games,
more than anybody else in the league.

Speaker 10 (01:41:24):
But it's forty two goals.

Speaker 17 (01:41:25):
He's five goals three says, so eight goal contributions in
those three games. I mean it's almost three goal contributions
a game, and coming off one of the greatest seasons
in Major theccer history with twenty nine goals and eighteen assists.

Speaker 10 (01:41:35):
So look, he has just been unbelievable since he arrived
at Miami.

Speaker 17 (01:41:41):
I mean seventy six goals, you know, since a arriving
with two and a half seasons ago. So yeah, it
hasn't even been around, you know, that long, and he's
scoring goals. It's just a ridiculous clip. So you have
to minimize the damage that you can do. I mean,
obviously it's talked about this week, so it's not gonna
be the broadcaster James me because many others brought it up,
including Roman and Miles when they did the show with

(01:42:03):
MLS while they were with the US national team earlier
in the week. But you know, the only Eastern Conference
team that Messi hasn't scored against is f C Cincinnati,
So they've come up with decent game plans against him
in the matches when they've seen him. Uh, he's missed
some minutes against him in the past previously as well,
but you know, he hasn't scored against since down He
did have some assists and that that Open Cup semifinals

(01:42:25):
from a couple of years ago that I.

Speaker 10 (01:42:26):
Was talking about. But they fought a way to manage him.

Speaker 17 (01:42:29):
But the problem is that it all it takes is
one play and whether that's a free kick or that's
a ridiculous pass where he finds somebody in.

Speaker 10 (01:42:37):
The box and they'll hurt you.

Speaker 17 (01:42:40):
So Miami also has been prone to concede some goals,
so I think there's gonna be opportunities there. He is
that f she since and he better take advantage of
all the opportunities in the box. You know that attacking
trio Dencade Brenner and a Vander are gonna have to
be under game.

Speaker 2 (01:42:56):
He got goals.

Speaker 3 (01:42:57):
It's not like f C Cincinnati doesn't pose a threat
offensively as well with that tree. Uh, you had the
weekend between rest, recovery, a lot of preparation. You already
knew who the opponent was gonna be. Uh, How how
does f C Cincinnati go into Sunday just from a
sheer availability and health point of view.

Speaker 17 (01:43:15):
Yeah, we just got an update this morning from Pad
noon and then it was pretty positive. So uh, I
felt really good about that. You know, I think everybody
was holding their breath a little bit, especially as far
as Andre etch Nike is concerned, and you know that
was that was, you know, a big concern, and rightfully so,

(01:43:35):
because he was hurt while he's out with the Venezuelan
national team, came out of the game in the first half.
But Pat Noonon indicated in his press conference and then
we saw it in training that that ender went out
and trained today and and that he was good, that
it was a scare, but that he was a full
participant in training today.

Speaker 10 (01:43:50):
So did that mean he starts on Sunday? Well, time
will tell.

Speaker 17 (01:43:53):
We'll see how training goes tomorrow and and what the
coaches decide. But and there's been a really important piece
of the puzzle. And remember now it's not a best
of three, so it's a one game do or die,
which means it could go one hundred and twenty minutes.
So if you don't have an inter attion k whether
that's in the starting role coming off the bench, you're
losing one of your weapons, right if ender doesn't start

(01:44:14):
and he's got available, and then you had to start
Luco Orshana. What I means you're not bringing in Luca
Orshana off the bench, you can do some damage, you know.

Speaker 10 (01:44:21):
So I feel much better about the situation.

Speaker 17 (01:44:23):
The only one that Pat did note today that won't
be available was Matt viasgah Or. He didn't say he
want to be available, but that he had a little
bit of a minor setback in his recovery's his car
tissue in his quad with that muscle injury that he's
been fighting. So he didn't say that he wasn't available.
But Matt hasn't been out with the group during the
media portion of training this week, so it remained a

(01:44:45):
scene whether or not Matt you know, jumps in, you know,
and what his availability looks like for the squad. But
that's the only one at this point, and that is
certainly great news that Pat Newton has nearly you know,
his best team available in a really big aim to pick.

Speaker 3 (01:45:00):
From, Tommy quite simply put your biggest key for FC
Cincinnati to leave t Quo Stadium on Sunday with a win.

Speaker 10 (01:45:10):
Oh, I mean, I think it's easy.

Speaker 17 (01:45:13):
You know, he gotta he can't let Messy hurt you, right,
and Nashville wish is they had found out that solution.
It's not as easy as just saying it, you know.
But you're gonna have to score goals at the same token.
So uh, I don't think you really want to end
up in the penalty kick shootout. Your your front three
who has been so good they should be good again.
But yeah, man, you can't let Messi hurt you. If

(01:45:34):
they don't let Messi hurt you, if they didn't let
Messi hurts team hurt c Cincinnati, then I think they
want to Blue come out on top.

Speaker 3 (01:45:40):
Do you plan on wearing your Shador Sanders jersey during
the broadcast with his first start coming up on Sunday
as well?

Speaker 10 (01:45:48):
Tuned into the boot camp?

Speaker 17 (01:45:49):
You know what, Tony, You know we had this conversation.

Speaker 2 (01:45:52):
Did you ever get the jersey? You know, no, Oh, my.

Speaker 17 (01:45:55):
Gosh, I'm gonna I'm gonna go back to the group
chats if I can't find a message and ask when
it's when it's arriving, because.

Speaker 10 (01:46:01):
I don't know if I want it, but I'm but
your word is. If you don't have your word, what
do you have?

Speaker 1 (01:46:06):
Yeah?

Speaker 10 (01:46:07):
Maybe my buddy Brian, is he listening today? We gonna
find out. He's gonnaext me if he's tuned in. But yeah,
he was me a Jersey.

Speaker 3 (01:46:13):
Are you healthy as well? I saw the booth. Can
are you pounding the table? Are you good?

Speaker 2 (01:46:18):
Arms, good hands, good nothing?

Speaker 10 (01:46:20):
Yeah? Oh yeah, al ready let's get some boys going. Okay,
well we'll we'll fire. We've got to get you know, long,
longer card in there. We got a bigger game possibly,
so make sure we got plenty of memory on there.
Can't have it, can't have a timing out or anything
like that. But no, I'm excited.

Speaker 17 (01:46:33):
I mean, what ah, what a great opportunity for the
club to get back to the conference final for the
second time in three years.

Speaker 10 (01:46:38):
And uh won't step closer to that awesome goal which
I'd love to see.

Speaker 3 (01:46:42):
Cannot wait for Sunday night. It'll be Uh, the icing
on the cake of an awesome sports weekend here, and somebody,
I do have to ask one other thing, because you
put this up on your social media a couple of
weeks ago, and I told you I was going to
bring it up. You put out a poll and asked
better Store bought cookies, fud strikes or chips ahoy, and
nearly two thirds of the votes, uh, came in for
fudge stripes. And I just have to ask myself, what

(01:47:04):
kind of people are you associating with with yourself on
social media? Are chips a Hoy losing that battle?

Speaker 10 (01:47:12):
I mean it said something about my following, doesn't who's
your vote?

Speaker 2 (01:47:15):
What was your vote?

Speaker 10 (01:47:19):
I don't know.

Speaker 2 (01:47:19):
I don't know. Gosh, man, I'd rather have believable.

Speaker 17 (01:47:25):
I'd rather have like a nice soft like brown Bear
Bakery cookie or something like that, you know, like the
local spot unbelievable for local businesses. So you know, I'd
prefer something like that. Yeah, I'm not gonna I'm not committal.

Speaker 3 (01:47:37):
There, Very very fair, Tommy. I I can't wait to
listen in on Sunday. I can't imagine what that atmosphere
is going to be back, be like at t Quo Stadium.

Speaker 2 (01:47:48):
It's good to have you back.

Speaker 3 (01:47:49):
I appreciate your time, and I look forward to talking
about the next round next week when we get together.

Speaker 17 (01:47:53):
Yeah, it'd be fantastic. Can't wait, brother, And yeah, let's
let's do it and keep this thing rolling.

Speaker 2 (01:47:59):
Tommy, you're the best man.

Speaker 3 (01:48:00):
The voice of FC Cincinnati, Tom Gallader cheers, Tommy.

Speaker 2 (01:48:05):
There we go. There he is.

Speaker 3 (01:48:06):
That is Tom Gallader of FC Cincinnati. I feel like Drew,
I've thrown this out there a bunch. I feel like
that the team that this city is most confident in
if they're picking, is FC Cincinnati. And I don't know
if that's a good thing or a bad thing based
on just process of elimination and what the other teams
are going through, but it does at least feel like

(01:48:28):
there are people that believe FC Cincinnati, based on what
Tommy just said, what they've done a gift inner Miami already,
that they can pull off a win on Sunday Night.

Speaker 5 (01:48:36):
Well, I think they probably have the best odds on
your favorite sportsbook.

Speaker 2 (01:48:40):
No, yes they do.

Speaker 4 (01:48:43):
They'm a pure like money line standpoint.

Speaker 3 (01:48:45):
Just from what Vegas views this as. So do with
that what you will. But uh, you are caught up
to speed, you're ready to go. I don't know, uh,
I don't know what else we could dive into. What
I do want to give when we get to quick
Hits when we come back, Drew, if you are looking it,
maybe getting on your favorite sports book and making a parlay.
I got some numbers for you when we come back.
If you're interested in making a Cincinnati parlay or maybe

(01:49:09):
an anti Cincinnati parlay, we'll cover that next with Quick Hits.
To wrap up this edition of The Friday Football Frenzy
on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (01:49:19):
School is in session.

Speaker 6 (01:49:22):
This is Football in the NATI, brought to you in
part by Postman Law and Vice Skyline Chilly on ESPN
fifteen thirty to the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 3 (01:49:36):
All right, welcome back one more time on the Friday
Football Frenzy for Quick Hits on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station. A genuine, genuine thank you to Charlie Goldsmith,
to Tom Gallairder, to everyone from Talkbacks and everyone that's
made a part of this show today. It's been an
awesome week What an awesome, awesome weekend we have coming

(01:49:58):
up here in Cincinnati. I know we've talked about it
a lot. I did some numbers here, Drew. I threw
some numbers together. If you're interested in getting a little crazy,
getting a little weird over the weekend, I have numbers
here on some parlays that you might be interested in.
If you think that this is the weekend, Drew, that

(01:50:19):
Cincinnati Sports turns it around and this curse is lifted
and that everyone wins. I'm talking Bengals, I'm talking Bearcats tonight.
I'm talking Bearcats tomorrow. I'm talking FC Cincinnati. If you
think those four teams can all just win, you're looking
at plus eighty five hundred odds or somewhere around there.

(01:50:40):
Eighty five hundred. That ain't bad.

Speaker 4 (01:50:42):
That's not bad.

Speaker 3 (01:50:43):
Now, if you want to get even crazier, and you're
thinking to yourself, you know what, I liked what the
Muskies did against Old Dominion the other night. Muskies are
getting ten and a half tonight. If you think that
the Bengals, the Bearcats, the Bearcats, FC Cincinnati and Xavier
can win, how about plus forty six eight hundred.

Speaker 4 (01:51:03):
What would a ten dollars bet net you on.

Speaker 3 (01:51:05):
That four thousand, eight hundred dollars or four thousand, six
hundred dollars.

Speaker 4 (01:51:10):
Not a bad chunk of chains, not a bad.

Speaker 2 (01:51:11):
Chunk of change.

Speaker 3 (01:51:12):
Now, if you're on the other side and you say,
I've seen this song and dance before, I know how
this weekend ends, and you're gonna go opposite of Cincinnati sports,
and you're saying, I'm not worried about the points. I
just think they're all gonna lose. So the Patriots win
BYU wins, Louisville wins in er Miami wins plus five

(01:51:33):
twenty nine, that's still some nice odds. And if you
throw Xavier in the mix, to lose to Georgia tonight
plus six thirty four.

Speaker 5 (01:51:42):
Just the numbers I've crunched, what Cincinnati team do you
have the most faith in this weekend?

Speaker 4 (01:51:46):
FC Cincinnati f C Cincinnati. It feels right.

Speaker 3 (01:51:49):
I think that's universal. Yeah, Now, if you look at
just the numbers, the numbers would tell you that Vegas
thinks that you see football has a chance to win
tomorrow night. It's a two and a half point spread. Now,
usually two and a half is what you're kind of
good for for being the home team. So I think
people view BYU as maybe a three four five point

(01:52:09):
favorite over Cincinnati. The number is only two and a
half what I'm interested in, and you don't really get
to factor this in when you're making wagers what this
means for the program. You look on paper seven and three,
that's a good year for the Cincinnati Bearcats. But last
year five and two was a good start for the Bearcats,
and they lost their last five and finished five and seven.

(01:52:29):
Seven and one for the Bearcats. If you don't win
tomorrow and you go to TCU losers of three straight
to wind down your season, that's a lot of pressure
and it takes away a lot of good will build
up during the season for Cincinnati football. I think with
it being nip at night, I think with it being
Senior Night, I think there's something to that. And there

(01:52:51):
is still an outside chance that you see as playing
for more than just a win when it comes to
the Big Twelve in the Big Twelve title game. So
I do give them a legit five chance. We've talked
about this before, we talked about it earlier. Tonight would
be Wes Miller's marquee win. Yes, this would be the
win that he can hang his hat On And I
think if as a UC fan, you might be able
to settle in a little bit to the West Miller era,

(01:53:13):
because so much of it up to this point is
when's the Marquie win gonna happen, Who's who's he beat?
Up to this point, you could you could expel all
of that tonight.

Speaker 4 (01:53:22):
Oh yes, no doubt, no doubt about that.

Speaker 2 (01:53:24):
And Xavier too.

Speaker 3 (01:53:24):
Like for Xavier, a lot of people are kind of
already moving on, already turning the page. Xavier beats Georgia
tonight as a double digit dog, then the conversation around
Richard Patino's team changes as well. So in the Crosstown shootout, Yeah,
the Crosstown shootout changes. Obviously, the Burrow impact on Sunday
makes things in the Patriots game interesting. MESSI comes into town.

(01:53:46):
Regardless of anything, it's gonna be an awesome weekend for
Cincinnati sports.

Speaker 5 (01:53:49):
Yeah, it's gonna be a tremendous and I think it's
the best sports weekend I can remember since I've moved here,
in a like total sense.

Speaker 3 (01:53:56):
Yeah, And I think at the end of it, you
kind of get to capitalize on what is an awesome
showcase for Cincinnati. You got big noon kick tomorrow, Yes,
and you've got the high school football game tonight. A
lot of good high school football games, but anytime you're
in the realm of twenty thousand people coming out to
watch a high school playoff game in the rain, that's
something special as well. And I think it's a good

(01:54:18):
weekend to highlight sports in the Queen City.

Speaker 5 (01:54:22):
No doubt, should be a big, big time weekend here
in the Queen City. I'm looking forward to watching everything
that happens the game tonight.

Speaker 2 (01:54:30):
And the Flyers tomorrow.

Speaker 5 (01:54:32):
The Flyers tomorrow against a North Carolina directional school. Yeah,
coming off a huge win against Marquette on Wednesday night,
so build some momentum before they head to Orlando and
play the Georgetown Hoys. Six and one against the Big
East since twenty fifteen, the Dayton Flyers.

Speaker 3 (01:54:47):
Are Okay, there we go, We're done. The show's over again.
Thanks to Tom Gallaider, Thanks to Charlie Goldsmith, Thanks to
Drew for producing.

Speaker 4 (01:54:58):
Thanks for having me on your program, Tony.

Speaker 3 (01:55:00):
Now, I can't say thanks for your picks. I thought
your picks were a little bit weak.

Speaker 4 (01:55:05):
We'll see.

Speaker 3 (01:55:05):
Other than that, awesome job. Thanks for sticking with us.
Have a great, great weekend, get it started tonight. Thank
you for listening on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station
to the Friday football Frenzy.

Speaker 6 (01:55:24):
You've been listening to Football in the NATI, brought to
you by Cincinnati Tax Resolution, powered by Tofe Sheldon on
ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 4 (01:55:37):
Hey, it's Moweger.

Speaker 8 (01:55:38):
Join us Monday afternoon at Twin Peaks in Florence for
the Tony and Moe Football Show as we talk Bengals, Pats,
and so much more. The fun begins at three oh
five Monday on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station. Catch
the Louisville versus Cincinnati men's basketball game Friday night,

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