Tony Pike's Monday Midday Quarterback -- 12/8/25

Tony and Austin recap another brutal sports weekend in Cincinnati, on ESPN 1530!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 2 (00:40):
All right, good afternoon, Welcome in Monday Midday Quarterback ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station, Thanks as well to our
friends at Skyline Chilly, and thank you for listening in
today and every other day and for being a part
of this. On the Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station, Austin. It's a Monday that we, I

(01:02):
think all know too well the feeling of in the
Cincinnati sports world, and that is a Monday of I
would say, anger, frustration, disbelief, a feeling that we have
far too often in this great city of Cincinnati when
it comes to sports teams that we like to root for, unless,

(01:23):
of course, you are a fan of Xavier basketball. If so,
congratulations on winning another crosstown shootout. The number will just
keep rising again. The Bearcats hadn't won at the Sentas
Center since two thousand and one. That number will continue
to tick on. I don't think the more talented team one.

(01:46):
I thought the better coach team. On Friday Night one
the Skyline Chili Crossdown Shootout and Trey Carroll having thirty
points was unstoppable. So if you're a Xavier fan, your
weekend wasn't as bad as probably the rest of us. Unfortunately,
for Saint Xavier fans, they came up short in the
state championship game on Friday night, so a runner up

(02:10):
season for both Anderson and Saint Xavier. Friday Night, Xavier
wins the shootout. Saturday was the college football championship weekend. Now,
there were a couple games on Friday night, but the
big majority of games came under the umbrella of Saturday
the college football landscape, and I thought it was a

(02:32):
good day of college football. Unfortunately, the Miami RedHawks came
up short in the MAC Championship game. They lose to
Western Michigan, Georgia dominated Alabama, Texas Tech dominated BYU and
Duke Austin won the ACC Championship. But that's it. They

(02:54):
will not be participating in the College Football Playoff. We'll
get to the College Football Playoff today as we go along.
Indiana did beat Ohio State thirteen to ten, and what
was a physical, physical game. We'll talk about that game
as we go today. We'll talk more of the college
world when we get into our number two, but just
know we will have a conversation about Indiana, Ohio State.

(03:15):
We'll have a conversation about the final College Football Playoff rankings,
and why it matters for some teams Austin when they
lose in their title game, and why it doesn't matter
to other teams who may lose in their title games.
We'll discuss all of that. We'll talk about the bowl
matchups UC versus Navy Auto's own Liberty Bowl January second, Memphis, Tennessee.

(03:40):
We'll talk about that matchup as we get closer, what
Scott Souderfield had to say about that last night, and
so much more as the week goes on. But we
know what today is. We call it the Monday Midday Quarterback.
We'll get to what happened around the rest of the NFL.
We'll get to what happened in the game itself. One
of the things Austin I think, I think gets lost

(04:00):
in the game itself was who wasn't at the game?
You know, Jermaine Burton didn't make another trip suspended. Do
we know why Jermaine Burton was suspended yet? Have we
been told a reason? Jermaine Burton didn't make the trip
to Buffalo, So there's that outside of what happened off

(04:24):
the field, It's was on the field that I think
was the main problem and has been the main problem
for the Cincinnati Bengals. And I was shocked to look
at social media yesterday. I was shocked to try to
find out when I threw up. I believe midway through

(04:44):
the second quarter that Joe Burrow is playing like the
best quarterback in the NFL, which should come to a
surprise of nobody because I legitimately think Joe Burrow is
the best quarterback in the NFL. And yet on a
day where the weather was an issue, he still went
twenty five to thirty six for two hundred and eighty
four yards and threw four touchdowns. Now I get I

(05:05):
do I understand that Joe Burrow through two interceptions and
the pick six. You just can't do now, I think,
and it's my thought that Joe Burrow did not get
a good grasp on the ball from the under center snap,
which doesn't allow him to change his arm angle at
all and throw that around the defender. Instead, he tries
to throw it over right into the hands of the corner,

(05:27):
which takes it back for a touchdown. I get that
that happens. Can't make the play, but I think it
was the right read, but a bad ball. And then
Joe Burrow comes back on the very next play and
has a wide open Jamar Chase, which would be an
eight yard gain to set the tone on the drive,
and a defensive lineman gets his hands up. Offensive linemen

(05:49):
are supposed to cut that arm down. If a d
lineman jumps, you're supposed to go right at him and attack.
The Bengals didn't do that. The ball gets batted up
in the air and Joe Burrow throws interceptions. I'm back
to back plays now. He came right back down the
field and delivered a touchdown pass to t Higgins. I
think if the Bengals get the ball back, there's a
legitimate chance that they have chances in the end zone

(06:12):
to win that game. But unfortunately, due to many factors, yesterday,
the Bengals come up short thirty nine thirty four at
the hands of the Buffalo Bills. T Higgins led the
way with ninety two receiving yards two touchdowns. Mike Kasicki
had a monster game with eighty six yards and a touchdown.

(06:34):
Jamar Chase a little bit more quiet five catches forty
four yards. Chase Brown had a very nice touchdown catch
as well. They just couldn't get the stops when necessary.
And again I was a little thrown off at the
amount of people in my mentions talking about it being
Joe Burrow's fault that the Bengals lost the game.

Speaker 3 (06:55):
And yeah, he was.

Speaker 2 (06:59):
He was helpful in the loss. But thirty four points
in the snow should win a game. In fact, if
you look at the nine losses the Bengals have suffered now,
the opponents are scoring an average of thirty six point
one points per game. So if you're one of those
that are in my mentions, or anyone else's mentions talking
about Burrow, talking about the offense, or whatever else. Your

(07:21):
attention should go elsewhere. Your attention should go to the
defense who is giving up thirty six a game in
those losses. Your attention should go to a defense on
third and fifteen that decided not to spy Josh Allen
when they ran a play similar to what you could
see in pee wee football on Saturday afternoons. Run everybody off,

(07:42):
let the quarterback scramble around to a first down. No
one to spy the quarterback, no one to cause resistance.
You could look to the touchdown run to Josh Allen,
the forty yarder when the Bengals had a double digit
lead and say that even if the Bengals were to
give up a touchdown, just don't give up a touchdown
in that quick of time. Make Buffalo go four, five,

(08:03):
six minutes, let him score, and then the clocks in
your favor, and you're probably calling the game differently down
the stretch instead a lot more of the same. Josh
Allen was awesome twenty two to twenty eight for two
to fifty one.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
And three scores.

Speaker 2 (08:16):
James Cook helped the Bengals along the way with the
fumble near the goal line that gave the Bengals more chances.
Josh Allen ran for a season high seventy eight yards.
His previous season high was fifty nine, and to a
surprise to nobody, the tight end room for Buffalo led

(08:37):
the way yesterday, Dalson Knox with ninety three receiving yards,
Dalton Kinkaid with forty one more receiving yards. James Cook
was the third leading receiver with thirty one. So you
went into a game knowing that if Buffalo's gonna throw
the ball, they don't really have the receivers to do
so they're gonna throw it to the tight ends. No
answer yesterday from the Bengals defense going after the tight

(08:59):
end room as well. Comedy of airs. It's the same
thing that's plagued this team from the start to the finish.
There are questionable, in my opinion, decisions that were made.
From a coaching standpoint, there were questionable things on the
offensive side of the ball, questionable plays on the defensive
side of the ball, and yes, at some point you
tip your cap to Josh Allen for making the plays,

(09:22):
but plays were there for the Bengals the win was
there for the Bengals, and if that happens, you're talking
about being favored in the final four and a chance
to go to the playoffs. And I know that there
is still a path and as we get into the week,
we'll probably fire up the playoff machine again. I know
Austin already did today and talk about how the Bengals

(09:45):
can still salvage something out of this. But as for now,
four and nine, four games left, not only four games left,
you got to play against the Baltimore Ravens, who are
now playing for their season. The Miami oh by the way,
have now all of a sudden, won four straight football games.

(10:06):
They've won five out of six. They have a chance
against the Steelers coming up this week to cause some damage,
to make some noise on Monday Night football. So again
there's still a small path there. But that's not what
today is about. Today is about the game itself. Today
is about what went wrong, the things that went right,

(10:28):
and another loss in which the Bengals will probably be
kicking themselves for opportunities that were missed. The same thing
we talked about last year, the way the offense plays,
the way Joe Burrow can play and we finished last
year talking about how much of a shame it was
that that Bengals offense would not be in the playoffs.

(10:48):
That yesterday felt every bit like a playoff, big game
atmosphere that you can ask for. And I just had
this feeling after the game of thinking, man it, it's
not gonna happen. That's the closest we're going to get
this year in Cincinnati to what a playoff game should
feel like. And if anything yesterday shows, it's that the

(11:09):
team has the opportunity, because of their offense, to go
up against anyone. Buffalo is currently the highest rated AFC
Super Bowl odds out there. I mean, people view this
Buffalo team as the best team in the AFC at
a chance to win the Lombardi and the Bengals had

(11:31):
him on the ropes multiple times. The Bengals had the
Bills beat, but like has happened so many times this season,
the Bengals fail to get it done when it matters
the most. There was a point with eight forty four

(11:53):
left in the game, when Joe Burrow found Mike Kasicki
to put the Bengals up by double digits that the
Bengals had a ninety one point six win probability in
that game, ninety one point six win probability when Mike
Giseki caught the touchdown pass with eight forty four left
in the game to put the Bengals up ten. The

(12:16):
sobering fact is that Josh Allen put together a touchdown
drive that spanned sixty eight yards in four plays and
took just one minute and eleven seconds off the clock.

Speaker 3 (12:30):
One minute, one minute.

Speaker 2 (12:36):
And eleven seconds in a game that you're under the
nine minute mark in the fourth quarter and you're up ten,
even if you give up a touchdown, can you make
Buffalo work five minutes off the clock four minutes off
the clock, because if so, I know we're talking about

(12:59):
the Christian Benford interception. If you work five minutes off
the clock, then you're probably calling plays differently to start
the next series when you're up three with that much
time left. It's just poor management on all levels. And yes,
the Bengals offense showed fight, but to me, the play

(13:22):
of the defense is what is going to ultimately be
the demise of this team when you look back on
the twenty twenty five season, much like when you look
back on the twenty twenty four season. The Bengals lost
a game yesterday in which they were ten for twelve
on third down conversions. Think about that. Third downs are

(13:44):
hard in the NFL. Bengals completed ten out of twelve
of them. They were a perfect three for three in
the red zone. They had more first downs than the
Buffalo Bills. Buffalo was the more penalized team. Now, how
did Buffalo get back six of eleven on third downs?
Buffalo is three or four on fourth downs, but just

(14:06):
miscue after miscue after miscue. Again, it wasn't rocket science.
Going into the game. You knew that that doubt that
Buffalo had to target the tight ends. You had no
answer for it. You knew on third and long that
Josh Allen with under two minutes left in the game,
was not going to try to fit a deep pass

(14:28):
in a tight window. It's not the time and place.
You knew he was going to run the ball, and
you had no answer for it. It's a game, in
my opinion, where I thought an opportunity was missed by
Zach Taylor to not kick an on sidekick, And I
know that's met with mixed reviews, but the Bengals just
weeks ago converted an on sidekick. The Bengals kicked off

(14:54):
with two minutes and thirteen seconds left in the game.
Here's the issue, whether you can kick it on side
or you kick it deep. If Buffalo gets one first down,
the game's over. You've already converted an onside. This year,
it was snowing, the field was compromised, the ground was wet.

(15:15):
If there was ever a time there was conducive to
kick it on side kick, that would be it. Because again,
whether they get it on the twenty five or they
get it on the fifty one first down, beat you,
it's over kick the onside. It's just way, way, way
too many things that went wrong in yesterday's game when

(15:37):
it was there to be had, and you're looking at
a four and nine record with four games remaining. Let's
take a break. I know Austin was having some trouble
with his microphone, so we'll take a break. We'll get
his mic back on, we'll get his thoughts on yesterday's game.
We will take your phone calls five one, three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty. We're just getting started. The Monday
Midday Quarterback ESBN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 4 (16:01):
Hey, it's Smallwagger. Join us today at Twin Peaks.

Speaker 5 (16:03):
On we Football in the NATI, brought to you by
Postman Law on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of
the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
All Right, Football in the NATI. Monday Midday Quarterback, ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station, Welcome back. We'll take some
calls here as we go in our number one five, one, three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty.

Speaker 6 (16:28):
And and we will talk more about the college football
weekend that was in a little college basketball as we go.

Speaker 2 (16:37):
Austin will take over from two to three as well.
I believe I'm planning on it. Do we have this war?
Are we working?

Speaker 3 (16:43):
Can you hear me? I can hear you now? All right,
so this is the start. Yeah, we had a cable.
Looks like a cable went bad. Okay, because whoever was
in here doing the Bengals game seemed to twist that
thing all the way around. This stand that the mic
is on out of anger, could have been yeah, have
been out of anger. I wouldn't blame them. But we're

(17:03):
working on it. So as of now, I can't talk
back to you in your ear. Oh I can't bother
you like that. I don't think our callers can hear
me when I try to screen. But that's okay. We're
on the air. That's what matters the most. And my
guy Mike Mills is working his butt off down here
to try to get this face.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
I gave my just general thoughts on yesterday. We'll get
to the college football weekend, we'll get to the shootout,
we'll get some ball matchups and everything in between. Let
me ask you before we even get to the game itself,
Jermaine Burton doesn't make the trip because he was suspended
for the game. Yeah, at this point, much like any
other questions we've asked, why is Jermaine Burton still on

(17:42):
the Bengals roster?

Speaker 3 (17:43):
No idea, there's no real reason for him to be
on the roster.

Speaker 2 (17:46):
How many chances do you want? The National Football League?

Speaker 3 (17:48):
And I think that you know, Paul Danner Junior before
the game kind of outlined it a little bit, maybe
said the quiet part out loud, which is that there's
clearly somebody in the organization that has a lot more
patience for Jermaine Burton than anybody else does. And that
might just be the case. And if you go back
to the way that Duke Tobin and Zach Taylor talked

(18:09):
about Jermaine Burton in the offseason, I mean, they didn't
seem like there was a lot of wiggle room as
far as they were concerned. And I don't know what's
going on in Jermaine's personal life and all that, and
I hope that the guy is okay, but gosh, at
some point you got to cut bait and move on.

Speaker 2 (18:28):
One would think.

Speaker 7 (18:28):
So.

Speaker 2 (18:30):
Your general thoughts observations from yesterday's loss to the Buffalo.

Speaker 3 (18:33):
Bills, Well, I think the biggest thing is this is
like the biggest and most frustrating game in terms of
defensive play calling that I can remember since Al Golden
has been here. Just I said this to you before
the game. The rules of engagement for Josh Allen are
not hard to find. Like, you know how to play

(18:56):
against a quarterback like that, you know exactly what to do,
and Josh has not been killing teams on the ground
this year, and yet it felt like a lack of preparation,
a lack of understanding of what Josh Allen does well
and the myriad of ways that he can beat you.
And instead of trying to take that away. The Bengals

(19:17):
kind of played into it. They went manned man a lot,
which I guess is part of having terrible wide receivers
like Buffalo does. But when your back has turned to
the quarterback, he'll take advantage of that. They blitzed him
a lot. They can't tackle. He evades the blitz and
there's nobody there to account for him. Very rarely did

(19:38):
they use a spy. Multiple times unblocked, they weren't able
to make the tackle, and so I think it was
a combination, a nasty combination of poor execution and poor
play calling on the defensive side of the ball that
allowed Buffalo to do basically whatever they wanted. And that

(19:58):
being said, because of the way that Buffalo is and
because of who Josh Allen is, they still had opportunities. Yeah,
forced two fumbles inside the five yard line, one they recovered,
one ended up being called back for a holding the
second James Cook fumble. They dropped two interceptions that hit
them square in the hands DJ Turner and Jordan Battle.

(20:21):
They had them on multiple fourth and fours or longer
that Buffalo converted, including one that was just a stupid,
ridiculous great play by Allen that you got to tip
your cap and say we did everything right. And all
of that is to say they were that close to
winning that football game because of their defense and they
couldn't do it. And that is the twenty twenty five

(20:44):
Cincinnati No.

Speaker 2 (20:45):
I go back again with under eight minutes on the
clock in up ten, give up a touchdown. Just don't
give up a touchdown driving a minute and eleven. And
to the defense that you questioned Austin up front, we
questioned the same defense when Al Golden was hired based
on what he did in the National Championship game as

(21:07):
the decoordinator at Notre Dame. Went on the biggest play
of the game. He went one on one against Jeremiah
Smith and you knew right there. I think we even
commented to each other. I don't know if I like that.
I don't know if that's what I would be doing.
They did that, and that's maddening. And in the game yesterday,

(21:28):
if you Austin had two defensive keys going into the game,
at least for me, it would be understanding the rushing
attack that Buffalo is going to incorporate and when they
do throw, they're going to target the tight ends. The
Bengals didn't stop either one of those. It was like
the tight end surprised the Bengals yesterday that they were

(21:49):
targeted as much as they were. It was almost a
surprise that when you have a rush at Josh Allen,
you've got to break down and not just fly by him.
That to me is the all the mentions I get.
Burrow can't throw two interceptions in a row, I get it.
But again, thirty six points a game on average in

(22:11):
the nine losses this year, You're not going to win
football games like that. I saw a stat and Joe
Goodberry is always so good with this on days after
the games, But I saw a stat from Joe Goodberry
that over the last three years, the Bengals defense is
now thirtieth and EPA per play and thirty first in
opponent's success rate. They're a bottom five pass defense. They're

(22:33):
a bottom three run defense for three seasons in a row. Yeah,
Luena Rumo al Golden doesn't matter. The personnel doesn't match
what they're trying to do. And in the biggest game
of the year, or if you just find a way
to win that one yesterday, you're gonna be favored in
the last four games with a chance to go to
the playoffs. The same stuff that's haunted you now for

(22:54):
three seasons, did you in yesterday?

Speaker 3 (22:56):
And to your point, I mean, there's been changes both
to the person calling the plays and coordinating the defense
and also to the players themselves, and there hasn't been
much of a difference. Barrett Carter, again, yesterday was awful.
And while he seems like a really nice guy, he's
a terrible linebacker. He's not ready to play at this level.

(23:19):
And Buffalo's strength is they what they do best is
line up under center, run the football, and play action.
That is who they are. That is their biggest strength.
And defensively, it's the Bengals' biggest weakness. And what happened
they exposed it to the point where Dawson Knox and

(23:40):
Dalton Kincaid had ten catches for one hundred and thirty
yards in a touchdown like that is outrageous to allow
that when you know this is how they're going to
try to attack us. Yeah, and they're going to put
linebackers in conflict and they're gonna constantly go at Barrett Carter,
and they did, and Carter wasn't ready for it? Who else?

Speaker 2 (24:03):
Darnell Washington, Mark Andrews, Yeah, go up and down the list.
It's not just King Caden Knox, it's every tight end
that this defense goes up against. And right when the
Baltimore game ended, the talk was you better be ready
for Josh Allen and his mobility in a game like
this inclement weather, maybe it's a little bit harder to
operate in the passing game instead his highest rushing output

(24:25):
of the season by almost twenty yards.

Speaker 3 (24:28):
And did you give the stats for tight ends against
the Bengals, No?

Speaker 2 (24:33):
I did not.

Speaker 3 (24:34):
Thirteen games, Bengals defense has given up ninety seven catches,
one two and fifty nine yards and fifteen touchdowns to
opposing tight ends on one hundred and thirty seven targets.
That is an average of ten and a half targets,
seven and a half catches, ninety seven yards and a

(24:55):
touchdown a game. That is a seventeen game pace of
of one hundred and twenty eight catches for sixteen hundred
yards and twenty touchdowns. And those numbers again come from
Joe Goodberry, who puts on his post that they're basically
playing a triple Crown receiver every single game. Is that
not insane? How do you, especially against Buffalo where they

(25:19):
don't really have threats on the outside, how do you
not adjust to take those guys away? Yep, that to
me is a Al Golden issue. Yes, the personnel is part
of the problem. No one's denying that. But when it
comes to the scheme of how you take away what
they do, well, Al Golden looked like he had no
idea they were even out there. How's that possible?

Speaker 2 (25:42):
I don't get it. I just don't get it. On
so many levels. It just feels like a miss and
wasted opportunities. And now we're staring right down the barrel
of back to back years of wasting incredible offensive output
for a team that's in all likelihood going to be

(26:02):
on the outside looking in come playoff time. Let's take
ourselves a break. We'll come back once we get the
phone line issue fixed. We'll take some phone calls. We've
got plenty more to discuss as it relates to the Bengals,
Plenty more to discuss when it comes to college football.
The college football playoff rankings, bowl matchups are out. The
shootout happened over the weekend and so much more on

(26:24):
the Monday Midday Quarterback on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (26:28):
You've been listening to Football in the NATI on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
There, welcome back Monday Midday Quarterback ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station. As we roll along and try to pick

(27:01):
up the pieces from another rough Cincinnati sports weekend by
many accounts, I have to ask Austin as we roll
along here the decision. Did you have an issue with
the decision from Zach Taylor to kick the ball deep
after scoring with two thirteen on the clock yesterday, they

(27:22):
go down the field, they score quickly, so two thirteen,
you got one timeout and the two minute warning, so
you're gonna stop the clock twice if you're the Cincinnati Bengals.
I I it's different for me because they failed to
get the two point conversion, which would have cut it
to a three point game. I think if you do
cut it to three, I'm okay kicking it off deep

(27:46):
and then trying to just get into field goal range
once you have it at a five point deficit. I
look at a team that's already converted an on side kick.
This year, I looked at it as an opportunity because
of the weather in the field conditions that if you
were ever going to recover an onside kick, the ball's
slippery cold, it would have been conducive to that opportunity.

(28:08):
And at the end of the day, whether you're kicking
on side or you kick it deep, if the Bills
pick up one first down, the game is over. Regardless
would you have kicked that deep or do you think
you're trying the onside With the elements.

Speaker 3 (28:20):
In the moment, I didn't mind it because, you know,
just trying to play field position, and as bad as
the defense had been, it just felt like, okay, well,
if Buffalo's going to have the ball at this good
a field position, then you know there's a chance that
they score again. And honestly, it kind of worked. They

(28:43):
got it to third and sixteen, They did everything right
on first and second down, and they were going to
have time. Could they force Josh Allen to just, I
don't know, not run it for twenty yards on third
and sixteen? So I get your point, though, I mean,
especially with the can, I think that's probably the best argument,
in my mind is with people slipping and sliding down there,

(29:05):
who knows where that ball goes, and maybe you do
end up recovering it. To me, I see it as
a push. I know that's not good radio. I know
we're supposed to have a take about everything, but like,
to me, the way it worked out was exactly what
you wanted. And on third and sixteen you couldn't bring
down the best player on the field, and essentially the

(29:27):
same thing probably would have happened just on a shorter field,
and maybe he scores a touchdown and said and we
just do the whole thing over again, and then you
do on side kick. I don't know. I was fine
with both in the moment though, I was like, Okay,
I'm fine with this just because of the length of
the field that they had to get.

Speaker 2 (29:47):
I get it. It's hard. It's either way. It's not
the best scenario in what you're in and what had
happened up to that obviously play a huge role into this.
I get all that. It is. It's it's frustrating, it's maddening.
I think in a sense of of what could have

(30:08):
been for this team based on uh, what ends up happening.
But I think that's been the case of the season. Again.
It's gonna be another season where you're you're having the
conversation at the end of you you've just been able
to get one or two more of those winnable games.
Where would you be sitting at now? It's but you
don't you don't have that, and now you're on the

(30:30):
outside looking in, And yes, there is a path in
which you know, there is an option that maybe you
can find your You're you're weigh in at eight and nine.
But now you're at the point where where Baltimore canenda,
Baltimore can finish this up.

Speaker 3 (30:45):
You can also end Baltimore, though you can. That'd be
kind of cool. Yeah, it would be just all right,
hold on, Oh gosh, you ready for this? Oh gosh,
all right, just let's just hang with me, let me
dive in here. Obviously, the Bengals went out in doing so.
A win against Baltimore would essentially end their season. They

(31:08):
would be done. Baltimore then has to play New England,
Green Bay and Pittsburgh again. Okay, Baltimore nearly came back
and won that game against Pittsburgh. You have Baltimore with
a chance to play spoiler against the Pittsburgh Steelers late
in the season and knock them out of the playoffs.

(31:30):
That in and of itself, I think counts for something.
Then you look at Pittsburgh. They've got to go to
Miami for Monday Night football? Is that game in Pittsburgh
or Miami? Either way at Pittsburgh, Okay, Monday Night Football
against Miami, Miami looks pretty damn good. Right now? Do
we believe that the Pittsburgh Steelers we saw yesterday are

(31:51):
different than the Pittsburgh Steelers we've seen for the other
twelve games thirteen games? They also have to play the
Detroit Lions, who were on the precipice of a playoff
birth sure, and Baltimore again and Cleveland, who we know
has a legitimate defense. I don't think it's out of
the realm of possibility for Pittsburgh to mess up in

(32:13):
those games, for the Bengals to win out and having
done so, ended Baltimore's season and potentially win the AFC
North at eight to nine. Now, listen, I don't believe
that's going to happen, but I do believe that it's
not a complete pipe dream. I don't think it's out

(32:34):
of the question that Pittsburgh could lose those games. Yeah.
I mean, we've talked endlessly about the Steelers and Mike Tomlin,
and you've got three out of your last four on
the road, or I guess two out of your last
four on the road in Detroit, in Cleveland. I mean, okay,

(33:00):
I don't think it's crazy. Okay, I don't think it's
going to happen. I mean I go on the ESPN
page for the Steelers and the first video pops up,
and listen, I know it's stephen A. Smith. We don't
you know, I wouldn't walk across the street to see
stephen A.

Speaker 2 (33:13):
Smith.

Speaker 3 (33:14):
But stephen A not convinced the Steelers are any different
this year. Okay, fair right, sure, Okay, you know, I
go back. It would just have been nice, you know
what I mean. Would just have been nice to to
not give up thirty six points a game in your

(33:35):
nine losses. Would have been nice not to give up
thirty four to Pittsburgh the last time they played him
and be in this situation.

Speaker 2 (33:41):
Correct, at this point, it is what it is, the
whole you are, You are who Your record shows that
this far into.

Speaker 3 (33:46):
The seame absolutely you are. And that's the thing, like
the Bengals in that game against Buffalo is what they
have been all season long, one or two plays away
from having a chance. And you know, I go back,
I look at you know, even green Bay. There were
a couple of plays in that green Bay game where
it could have went the other way. Obviously the Jets
and the Bears, the Patriots game, if Jamar is there,

(34:09):
do they win that game? And obviously Buffalo, like that's
that's been the story of the Bengals for the last
two seasons. I'm there, just but what if we get hot? Kidding,
I'm just kidding. We're gonna take a break. You know
what especially really stinks a lot is Mahome's probably not

(34:32):
gonna be in the playoffs. Lamar Jackson not going to
be in the playoffs.

Speaker 8 (34:35):
Nope.

Speaker 3 (34:37):
I bet Buffalo is locking their chops. This could be
their years.

Speaker 2 (34:40):
I mean, Buffalo yesterday did what they had to.

Speaker 9 (34:42):
Dude.

Speaker 2 (34:43):
They they win and they ensured they might not. They
probably want to do this again against Cincinnati, which has
been a thorn for them when it comes to the playoffs. Yep,
let's take a break, let's come back. We're still working
on the phone situation, So why we do that? Let's uh,
let's look around. It happened on a very eventful day
in the National Football League yesterday. To finish up hour

(35:04):
number one, the Monday midday quarterback ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (35:15):
Tony Can I give a shout out real quick, Yes,
shout out to our guys Mike Mills and Dave Abt
getting the work door, getting the work done. We tried
about four different cables, two different microphones, rebooting processors. I
couldn't talk to you, but now I can. I couldn't
talk to our callers, but now I can. And all
to do this while in the midst of a show

(35:38):
was pretty amazing. We have the best in the business,
Mike and Dave, and I thank them for making it
happen well and getting us back to normal here on
Tony Pikes since e three six and.

Speaker 2 (35:50):
Lieu of that, Let's take a call or two. Let's
celebrate it that way.

Speaker 10 (35:53):
What's up, John, Good afternoon, fellas.

Speaker 2 (35:57):
How are we doing not too bad?

Speaker 3 (35:58):
How are you not too good?

Speaker 10 (36:01):
That was nauseating yesterday.

Speaker 11 (36:03):
They are certainly the most entertaining, nauseating, aggravating, just any
other adjective, be one of yours. Used it as an
IG four nineteen I have ever seen, and you guys
nailed it with the defense. The only team that's really
controlled Buffalo this year in Buffalo.

Speaker 10 (36:19):
Buffalo is a different team at home than they are
on the road.

Speaker 11 (36:22):
At home, the Patriots tell them to twenty points and
beat them on a Monday night game because they had
the discipline on their pass rush. You have to have
pass rush integrity. You can't just fly in. You said it,
Tony can't just fly and go wildly. Pass Josh Allen.
Make him a pocket passer.

Speaker 12 (36:36):
Push comes to shove.

Speaker 10 (36:37):
He would rather run than throw. He's a very good thrower.

Speaker 11 (36:39):
We're not saying he's not. He's not precise. He's not
Joe Burrow. As far as throwing the football. He will
give you some interception opportunities. He will kill his receiver time.
Even his screenplays look a little bit off.

Speaker 2 (36:52):
And for him and their team right now, they don't
have a deep threat. Everything's going to be underneath. They
don't have a receiver that can take the top off.
Paylaid right into everything they want to do. Easy completions
to the tight ends and open up the running lanes.

Speaker 4 (37:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 11 (37:06):
I mean they's like Brandon Cooks, who's about forty seven
years old. I mean, yes, he's like their number two
wide receiver. Why didn't the three of us know going
into the game that the tight ends are a problem
and yet the defensive staff didn't seem to grasp that.
I mean the stats that you laid out about what
the tight ends have done against the Bengals this year,
those look like the numbers from Randy Mawson two thousand

(37:26):
and seven with Tom Brady. Like you just look at
the numbers and those that doesn't make any sense or
what your mark Chase did last year. Basically, those are
like Chas's numbers from a year ago when he was
the best receiver in football. But the thing with Josh
Allen keeps him in the pocket. Let him beat you
from there, because what happens with him when he breaks down,
gets out of the pocket and starts rumbling, the sideline

(37:47):
goes crazy. Eighty thousand people go crazy. It's like a
Lebron James dunk when he was in his prime. If
you're facing Lebron James in his prime, let him beat
you with three pointers, not with dunks and that's the
process you have to have with Josh Allen. And all
they had to do is look at the Patriots game
from a couple of months ago and take something away
for that. I mean, heck, Jerry Montgomery coached there last year.
Maybe he could have looked at some of the team

(38:07):
that's notun better coach than he ever coached the team
a year ago, and just take something from someone else
to try to contain.

Speaker 10 (38:13):
The guy who just it was horrible to watch. And
one more point.

Speaker 11 (38:16):
Before I jump off, I wish they would have stayed
with the running game a little bit more.

Speaker 10 (38:20):
It wasn't that effective.

Speaker 11 (38:22):
They only had nineteen carries and they were up by
one or two scores, what eighty five percent of that game?

Speaker 13 (38:27):
Yep.

Speaker 10 (38:27):
I would like to see.

Speaker 11 (38:28):
A little bit more on the ground, not a lot more,
but a little bit more on the ground because then
it sets up that great play action.

Speaker 2 (38:33):
Yeah all fair, John, appreciate the phone call, man, thank you,
have a great day anytime. Fellas it is uh, it
is like to dive into that more often. It is
they They don't they Greg Olsen mentioned on the broadcast
yesterday they don't have a true deep threat in Buffalo.
Right now, you played into exactly what they wanted you

(38:53):
to do defensively. Here are the tight ends. Here are
Josh Allen running lanes stopped neither. What's going on, mikel
Are you.

Speaker 10 (39:04):
Hey? Guys?

Speaker 13 (39:06):
Yeah? Thanks, Bengals. I take your money line one time
and you jack it off. Wouldn't it be wonderful if
we could get one of these five or six best
defense recognize as best defensive coordinators in the NFL. Just
think how much better this team would be. Just think
about it.

Speaker 2 (39:26):
Yeah, I mean, at the end, just a competent I
don't even need top five. I just need top fifteen,
top sixteen, and this team would be in a completely
different stratosphere.

Speaker 14 (39:38):
You know.

Speaker 13 (39:38):
And I do believe that the coach can scheme his
way and motivate his way and develop guys his way
to get more out of them than this clown's getting
out of these guys who aren't really that good anyway.
So you really, more than evere need a great coach
on the defense. I'm just so off that these guys

(40:01):
could just scream because they make so much damn money. Oh,
by the way, Tony, my midshipman, are gonna sank the
walk the gang plank and then dump them overboard.

Speaker 2 (40:13):
I don't I doubt Dante Corleone plays in the game.
I doubt Jake Golde playing the game. Those are their
two best defenders by far. I don't think the three
three five defense is conducive against a running attack that
Navy implores. So yeah, I I don't know how UC
comes about stopping the midshipman it all in January.

Speaker 13 (40:33):
Well, I always got a root for him anyway, But
they do have a pretty good club this year in
the Navy does so he Now, I'm not here to
criticize Joe. Why would I do that because I agree
with you as far as throwing the ball and processing,
he's he's as good as it gets. But boy, if
he just had that observe I know this is being greedy,

(40:53):
but if he just had that ability to run the
ball a little bit, like like did Josh or like Lamar?
Can you can you imagine how wicked Joe would be?
Then ye, God almighty, But he doesn't. Now when he
first came up, he used to run sometimes, didn't He for.

Speaker 2 (41:11):
At a little bit, but not to the level of
what these guys can.

Speaker 13 (41:18):
And those two catches the teammate yesterday, he should be
a number one with somebody. I'll tell you that.

Speaker 2 (41:23):
They wasted so much.

Speaker 13 (41:25):
Absolutely and the offensive line for as critical as we were,
I mean, I haven't looked at pro football focused, but
I think these guys are holding up and doing a
pretty darn good job, don't you guys?

Speaker 2 (41:38):
Yes one sack again giving up yesterday. I think the
old lines more than pulled their weight over the second
half of the season. I will give them that.

Speaker 13 (41:46):
And by the way, I know you don't like Stephen A. Austin.
I do like Steven as successful as there is in broadcasting.
I mean, the guys involved with everything and makes a
ton of money, but I get a kick out of
his show. Sometimes he's obnoptionios with the yell on the
screen that I agree with that. But he was very
empathetic to Joe this morning. I don't know if you

(42:09):
guys heard it, but he was legit feeling so bad
for Joe with those two picks. He just I won't
go into all the reasons why, but just leave it
to say he was very empathetic to Joe, and he
recognizes Joe's talent and realizes how great Joe is, but
I wish you guys could have heard it because he

(42:30):
legit felt bad for Joe and I do too.

Speaker 2 (42:32):
Yeah, I think a lot of us do. Thank you, Mike,
I appreciate that. Let's take a break, Let's come back.
Our two is next Monday, Midday Quarterback. Let's look around
the rest of the NFL. Let's break down what happened
in college football this weekend as well on the SBN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati sports station.

Speaker 4 (42:52):
Until you see k.

Speaker 15 (42:52):
Why Cincinnati make us the number one pre sent on
your car radio and on the Free Knew It Improved
iHeartRadio app Free never sounded so good.

Speaker 3 (43:00):
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (43:02):
This holiday season.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Midday Quarterback Show brought to you in Botvin Adorned Window Company.
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(43:27):
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Speaker 2 (43:47):
Our number two since E three sixty, the Monday midday
Quarterback ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station. Let's take a
step away from just the Bengals yesterday, look at everything
else that happened in the National Football League. Six to
six Austin was the score of the Falcon Seahawks at halftime.

Speaker 3 (44:07):
Yes, it was.

Speaker 2 (44:08):
Thirty one to three was the score in the second half.
Seahawks ran away with that one from the Falcons. They
win thirty seven to nine. It was actually a fun
one in Cleveland. How about Shad Door Sanders three hundred
and sixty four yards, three touchdowns, not enough as the
Browns give up thirty one to cam Ward and the
Tennessee Titans. Browns tied that at the end of the

(44:29):
e They cut it within two and tried to run
a How would you describe wildcat snap to quinch On
Judkins who failed to pitch it when he should have.
It looked like a cluster it was. I mean that
that play is the Cleveland Browns. Yeah, speaking of which,
I don't know if you saw my tweet over the
weekend did you. I went to Marshalls get some get

(44:52):
a few things, Christmas shopping done, and what they got
my picture up?

Speaker 3 (44:55):
They don't, but they have a job. They had Johnny
Manzell Brown's like McFarlane figurines. Oh you know those things? Yeah, random,
but they had like three of them there. Okay, eight dollars.
I almost did. I really almost did, just because it's

(45:17):
a piece of history and just thinking about that last
play made me think of the Johnny Manziel era in
Cleveland and really the entire Browns organization. Yeah, speaking of
a cluster, Kevin Stefanski coaches like he wants to get fired,
and I don't know that I would blame him.

Speaker 2 (45:34):
He kind of does.

Speaker 3 (45:36):
Speaking of which, fifteen seconds ago, Kevin Stefanski announced Sudor
Sanders will start the rest of the season for the Browns.
So week eighteen, there we go with a playoff spot
on the line of the Bengals. It'll be Joe Burrow
up against my time Sanders. There we go, speaking of clusters,
how about the Commanders? Man not good there?

Speaker 2 (45:59):
Daniels comes back, he leaves the game. Vikings beat the
Commanders thirty one to nothing. You mentioned how good the
Dolphins have been They win their fourth in a row.
They are now six and seven, thirty four to ten
winners over the Jets. What about a dumb founding loss yesterday?
The Saints with no Alvin Kamara go on the road

(46:20):
and win at Tampa.

Speaker 3 (46:22):
I think the Saints might have something in Tyler Shuck.

Speaker 2 (46:25):
Yeah, two rushing touchdowns yesterday.

Speaker 3 (46:27):
He looks, he looks. There are some guys that you know,
you watch him play the position and you're like, Okay,
there's something there. Don't know if we're gonna unlock all
of it this year, but there's something there. They traded
away Rashid Shaheed to the Saint Louis Or to the
Seattle Seahawks. Yeah, it was their best deep threat. And
Shuck has really operated that offense really well. I think

(46:49):
Kellen Moore deserves a lot of credit. And if we're
thinking forward to the NFL Draft and teams ahead of
the Bengals that may or may not be drafting quarterbacks,
the Saints are one of those teams. Are they going
to be drafting a quarterback now?

Speaker 10 (47:04):
Yep?

Speaker 3 (47:05):
I wonder and because this is especially not a great class, no,
not at all for quarterbacks coming out. I think that's
a really interesting one. And when you look at the
rest of their schedule, yep, Panthers, Jets, Titans, Falcons, Saints
are one of those teams that, if we believe the
Bengals aren't going to make the playoffs and aren't going
to win very much, you should be rooting like hell

(47:25):
for the Saints to.

Speaker 2 (47:26):
Pick up a couple w's. Yeah, bad loss for the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Huge loss for the Indianapolis Colts. Not
only they lose the game to the Jags, they lose
Daniel Jones as well with an achilles injury. The worry
I'd listened to them going into the game. The worry
is you're putting so much to the left leg injury
that you don't focus on the right leg. Achilles injury
to that right leg devastating for Daniel Jones and the Colts,

(47:48):
whose playoff hopes now seem like they're really starting to spiral. Yeah,
other direction for the Jaguars though, Trevor Lawrence looks better,
etn looks good. Brian Thomas had eighty seven yards. Jags
are playing good football.

Speaker 3 (48:00):
I mean, you look at the Colts rest of their season. Hey,
you got to go at Seattle, Riley Leonard good luck,
and then you've got San Francisco, Jacksonville and at Houston
to end the season. I don't know that the Colts
are going to make the playoffs, especially with the Bengals
going on their run.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Correct we talked about earlier Steelers win. I don't know
what's going on with the Baltimore Ravens. Isaiah likely he
lost the ball into the end zone against the Bengals.

Speaker 3 (48:25):
Should have been a touchdown drops.

Speaker 2 (48:27):
One yesterday that was in the end zone that they
ruled an incomplete pass. Steelers do enough. Steelers beat the
Ravens twenty seven to twenty two. Broncos beat up on
the Raiders. That score was not indicative of how close
the game was. Broncos win twenty four to seven.

Speaker 3 (48:40):
Can you see the end.

Speaker 16 (48:41):
Of that game?

Speaker 3 (48:42):
I did the Bronx. The Raiders just kicked the field
goal to make it seven points. That's time expired.

Speaker 10 (48:47):
We're good.

Speaker 2 (48:47):
What take it? Packers?

Speaker 3 (48:49):
Was a backdoor cover by the way, somebody needs to
be investigated. Was all right back to you.

Speaker 2 (48:54):
Packers beat the Bears. That was a good game, that
was fun. I don't think the postgame handshake. I don't
think the Bears are there yet, but they're they're getting
there under Ben Johnson yet because Ben Johnson took the
job and he said he can't wait to beat Matt
Lafloor twice a year.

Speaker 3 (49:08):
He said he enjoyed beating him twice a year in
Detroit and understandable for Matt Lafleur to say, yeah, get
the hell off my field. So hun, Yeah, Caleb Williams,
You know, I think this is the Caleb Williams experience.
I think is going to be very similar to that
of the Jameis Winston experience. One minute, it's like, Holy cow,
this guy is got it. In the next minute, it

(49:28):
is like what on earth is he thinking? And that
was I didn't love the play call on fourth and
one there at the end of the game. I didn't
especially didn't love the decision by Caleb. Why are we
rolling quarterbacks out to their left? I don't know? And
against that defense, Yeah, it was. That was not a
great wild call from Ben Jonson.

Speaker 2 (49:45):
We're going to get the rolling quarterbacks out to their
left here in just a few minutes, rams dominate the
Arizona Cardinals. And it wasn't Kyen Williams. It was Blake Corum. Yeah,
twelve carries a buck twenty eight, two touchdowns, poking a
coup of bucks sixty seven in two touchdowns. Rams got
right back on track. The Arizona by the way, no
Kyler Murray the rest of the year, and then last

(50:07):
night did we witness the end of the Kansas City dynasty.
I want to make this about Kansas City and what
they did or didn't do to me, though, Austin, It's
more about the Texans. It's more about their defense. It's
more about CJ. Stroud looking more and more like the
Stroud that a lot of people saw his rookie year.

(50:27):
Texans are eight and five. There is not a team
in the NFL that wants to play that team defensively,
No good luck the tech defensive side of the ball.

Speaker 3 (50:36):
Texans are that team that nobody wants to play in
the playoffs. If they can find any sort of offensive
consistency and they have a lot of issues on offense,
they're banged up on that, as with all their skill
possession positions basically, but if they can find any sort
of consistency on offense, they're a legit player in the AFC.

(50:57):
I mean, I mean that and the way that they
just made life hell for Mahomes. And then I mean, gosh,
the Chiefs have all these offensive line injuries and first
play of the game lose their starting left tackle, the
backups to the backups were playing for Kansas City. But yeah,
it seems like we're probably at the end there. Casey,
I can't imagine that they are gonna find a way

(51:18):
into the playoffs. They still have to play the Chargers
and the Broncos this season. I don't know that that's
gonna be viable for them. Yeah, I'm with you.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
Monday night football tonight, Philly at the Los Angeles Chargers.
Let's switch gears real quick. Let's talk about what happened Saturday.
Let's start with Saturday night Indiana winners over Ohio State
thirteen to ten in the Big Ten championship game. You
mentioned rolling quarterbacks out to their left. I was curious

(51:53):
as to how offensively that game was called for Ohio State,
and down by the goal line, they did the same thing.
They rolled Julian Saying out to his left on a
one man route to Jeremiah Smith. That just didn't make
much sense. Ohio State blunders inside the ten yard line
officially or what did them in? As our resident Buckeye

(52:14):
here Austin, what was your take on what you watched
transpire on Saturday night.

Speaker 3 (52:20):
It was the first time that Ohio State had played
an interior defensive front that can move people around, and
it showed and Indiana did. At one point Ohio State
had their starting I believe right guard get benched. It
threw off the timing of Julian saying he held the
ball a little bit too long. He was trying to
move around the pocket and just create space. And I

(52:43):
also think Indiana did a good job of disguising coverages
made showing Julian some stuff that he hadn't seen before.
And you know, to his credit, he wasn't just throwing
the ball around recklessly. He did have one bad interception,
but he was still twenty one of twenty nine. But
they weren't really taking deep shots. They weren't really running
the football effectively. I mean, as a team, they only

(53:05):
carried it for two and a half yards per carry.
I mean, bo Jackson was good, but those were his
numbers are skewed a little bit. The short yardage Julian
can't run on a QB sneak.

Speaker 2 (53:16):
But he took some bad socks early as well.

Speaker 3 (53:18):
He did. It was just a situation where the offensive
line for Ohio State got bullied by Indiana, and because
of that, the entire offense was thrown off. I also
don't really think it was an offense that was emptying
out the playbook. And a lot of people want to
talk about, Okay, well Brian Hartline was in Tampa and

(53:41):
he was doing this and blah blah blah blah blah.
I don't know that that has that much of an
effect honestly, as much as it was just Indiana was
really good and we had a couple of bad plays.
You missed a chip shot field goal.

Speaker 2 (53:54):
Any animated plays when they needed to the third down, dude,
tip your cap to them.

Speaker 3 (53:59):
Those dudes were just they were flat out making plays,
yep one. And there was a couple where Ohio State
defenders were as in perfect position as you could be
and the ball is just in a better spot. So
kudos to Mendoza for that. I mean, they played great,
and yeah, I think the biggest thing Ohio State fans

(54:20):
would be questioning is what exactly was the plan in
the red zone, and why are you taking Jeremiah Smith
and Carnell Tate off the field in some of those moments.
I would like to see them spread it out a
little bit more.

Speaker 2 (54:33):
As for the college football playoff bracket and what that
meant that was released yesterday, Indiana, to no surprise, is
your number one overall seed, Indiana. Now I'm sorry, Ohio
State is your two. Georgia is your three, Texas Tech
is the four. The big news from yesterday Austin the

(54:54):
last two teams in the field, well, last three teams
Miami and Florida, Tulane and James Madison. So a couple
things here. One, you don't have the ACC champion, the
Duke Blue Devils, and I get it, they lost five games,
that's a tough ask, but they are champions of the ACC.

(55:15):
Number two. Alabama played in their conference championship game and
the twenty eight to seven score was not indicative as
to how much Georgia dominated that game. I agree Alabama
never had a chance, and yet Alabama did not move
down at all in the rankings. BYU did play against
Texas Tech. They lost to Texas Tech. That's BYU's only

(55:38):
two losses of the year are to the fourth ranked
team in the college Football Playoff rankings. Yet BYU plummeted
after that loss. And then what everyone is talking about,
Miami jumps over Notre Dame. Both of those teams were
not active. It's led to madness. Notre Dame has now

(56:00):
declined a bowl bid. They will not be playing postseason ball.
Miami gets in and it's it's a it's a weird
it's just a weird bracket. Texas Tech will play the
winner of Oregon and James Madison, Indiana A waits the
winner of Alabama Oklahoma. Georgia awaits the winner of Tulane
and Old miss which I think is the best path,

(56:21):
and then Ohio State's gonna have to play Miami of
Florida or Texas A and M and then the winner
of that will play against Georgia. What did you make?

Speaker 3 (56:29):
Why do you think it's weird? What's weird about it?

Speaker 2 (56:32):
I thought Alabama staying where they are was was wrong.
I thought they should have been penalized, just as BYU
was penalized. Uh, if you if you dive into actual
rankings by strength of schedule, who played for a conference championship?
Who your losses were to Miami of Florida had the
forty fifth forty fifth ranks strength of schedule there Uh,

(56:56):
they didn't play for the ACC title. They lost to
s MU and law BYU twenty second ranked strength of schedule,
played in the Big twelve title two losses to number
four Texas Tech on the road in the Big twelve
title game. Notre Dame strength of schedule one better than Miami,
did not play for a conference championship, and their losses
were to Texas A and M in Miami. So I

(57:19):
guess my end all be all is if you look
at the numbers, the committee is so disconnected from what
the numbers say. And I get that the committee is
the human element of this thing. I just I wonder
if this is going to lead to more. I wonder
if it's eventually. I heard Kirk kirk Street yesterday say,

(57:40):
you know, that's why I think sixteen is the number.
You can't just keep expanding the number. You can't keep
doing that. You're gonna have someone remember it was four
a couple.

Speaker 3 (57:48):
Of years ago. Yeah, and they never should have changed.

Speaker 2 (57:51):
And if it's four this year, Austin, I think it's easy.

Speaker 3 (57:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (57:54):
Texas Tech, Indiana, Georgia, Ohio State. Those would be your
four at any level, right making it well, now it's madness.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
My argument has always been that on any given year,
there's not really four, or there's not really more than four,
maybe six, teams that actually can win the national championship.
I don't believe in James Madison. I don't believe in Oregon.
I don't believe in Bama, Oklahoma, Tulane, Ole, miss Miami,

(58:22):
or Texas A and M. I don't believe in any
of those teams that they could actually win it. Yeah,
this is a very flawed system. We all know this.
I don't. I think the committee puts so much value
on Alabama's win at Georgia that they were basically in

(58:42):
no matter what which. That again is part of the
absurdity of this entire process that those people get to
decide it. Notre Dame has a legitimate beef because Miami
was ranked behind them all season long and then all
of a sudden they jump them. That is, if I

(59:03):
was Notre Dame, I would be furious and good for
Notre Dame for saying, I'm not gonna give you some
money by playing some problems. I have no problem with
that either. The issue has always been this, and this
if you've listened to this show over the years, has
always been my take. These twelve teams are not the
twelve best teams in the country. They're not. And it's

(59:26):
never been about the twelve best teams in the country.
It's been about trying the whole like automatic bids thing
or like whatever that's just exists for the idea of
putting in some schools that like deserved a chance, like
the Bearcats in twenty twenty, like the Bearcats in twenty one,
like UCF in twenty seventeen, Like it should be twelve

(59:50):
teams for that in and of itself, Like if the
if one of those teams is inside the top twelve,
they get in the automatic bids and qualifiers. That's all.
It's so stupid. We don't need Tulane, we don't need
James Madison. Let's call it what it is. Those teams
are not teams that can legitimately win the national championship,
and they take away from teams who would be better

(01:00:10):
matchups and would actually maybe go on a run like
a BYU or like a Notre Dame. Sure, and that's
always been. The issue is it's not about the twelve
best teams, and that's what I've always hated about it.
And if somebody gets mad, guess what, They'll just change
the rules. And I have already changed the rules for

(01:00:31):
next year to the point where Notre Dame gets in. Basically,
no matter.

Speaker 16 (01:00:34):
What, like.

Speaker 2 (01:00:37):
It is, it's never going to to be perfect. And
as you mentioned, you're never going to have You're never
gonna have the best twelve teams playing. No, And I
think that's the that's the rough part about this. You
mean none of those other teams are making a run

(01:00:57):
at the national title.

Speaker 3 (01:00:58):
No so. And again it's what is the point of
what we do here? Is it to crown an actual
national champion? Or is it to appease a few different
fan bases each year and make money off of them.
It's stupid. The whole thing is stupid. The people who
run it are stupid, the politics of it are stupid.

(01:01:20):
And I'm somebody who benefits from it, like my team
is perfectly positioned to not have any gripe with this
whole thing, Like I get it, Like I'm the top
one percent here and I just look at the rest
of it and say, how is this fun forever? I
mean to Tulane and ole Miss already played this year.
Alabama is not that good? Oklahoma not that good? James Madison.

(01:01:43):
I guess you get to have the jersey with the
College Football Playoff logo on it. You get to put
up some signage in your facility that says, hey, we
went to the playoff. Sure cool.

Speaker 2 (01:01:55):
Bearcats are going bowling, Miami RedHawks are going bowling. Miami's
going to the Snoop Bowl again. Man, Bearcats are going
to the Liberty Bowl. They're going to take on Navy.
We'll talk more about that game as we go into
this week. Any other college football related topics that we've missed,
I don't believe so.

Speaker 3 (01:02:16):
Just the the incredible, incredible history of the Liberty Bowl.

Speaker 2 (01:02:19):
Well, I mean that's we've We've got time between now
and January second to really dive into that, as well
as the matchup with the Navy Midshipman without Ken Niamt
Lolo Army Navy week Army Navy. Good chance for the
Bearcats do a little scouting. Get the scout your opponent.

Speaker 3 (01:02:36):
I don't like it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
That's the nine and two Navy Midshipman again, Austin behind
uh not Ken Niamatalolo. Now for the Midshipman. We'll take
a break. Can't wait to get to your Monday midday
quarterback edition of Talkbacks next on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati
Sports Station.

Speaker 8 (01:02:56):
Hey Alexa, Hey, here's that part for talkbacks with that
microphone and record a message Hunter missile toe remission not
keep for this.

Speaker 3 (01:03:10):
You better not be naughty.

Speaker 8 (01:03:12):
That's kind that time for talkbacks, it's the most what
fiful time of the show. Austin And well, you guide
this very slow today and try not to sabotage it.

Speaker 2 (01:03:26):
I mean, that's incredible.

Speaker 17 (01:03:29):
This, this is.

Speaker 3 (01:03:32):
This is a completely different level. Yeah of awe that
I'm in. Even with a little studio fade there at
the end, we attention to detail. It's incredible, Bob and
Burlington has done it again. He is the very best.
He I mean, we should be paying him for this,
ash Man. He's better than some people that that work
for us. And I'm grateful. That was so good. Thank you, Bob.

Speaker 2 (01:03:55):
Enjoyed that.

Speaker 3 (01:03:56):
I can't wait for the Easter one.

Speaker 2 (01:03:59):
I can't wait.

Speaker 3 (01:04:00):
Time's day. Perhaps you know, I'm just putting stuff on
his list. It's hard to believe.

Speaker 2 (01:04:06):
Just gets you.

Speaker 18 (01:04:07):
James Madison Bloomington aka Indiana.

Speaker 3 (01:04:12):
I'm trying to play this, but it seems I can't.
I can't hear it. Can you hear it?

Speaker 2 (01:04:17):
I can't hear anything.

Speaker 3 (01:04:18):
How about now, it's hard to believe.

Speaker 18 (01:04:22):
James Madison, Bloomington aka Indiana. Hoosiers thirteen and oh going
to the Rose Bowl. The defense and Charlie Becker should
have been the games MVPs. Whealburrow's two flat tires hurt us,

(01:04:42):
but I'm so happy to see Wheelburrow back on the field.

Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
Crack him up, crank them up.

Speaker 3 (01:04:48):
Thank you after being in a state of depression coping
with bourbon last night.

Speaker 19 (01:04:57):
Oh, wake up to the path for the Bengals to
get into the playoffs.

Speaker 10 (01:05:04):
We don't need this.

Speaker 17 (01:05:06):
What we need.

Speaker 19 (01:05:09):
Score the Reds to sign Kyle Schwarber.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
Oh, we didn't even mention that the pirates put a
little pressure on the Reds four year deal.

Speaker 3 (01:05:18):
Pay up, baby, that's cute, I'm sure is what Kyle
Schwarber is sing. Toe naughty, what up?

Speaker 10 (01:05:23):
It's maso.

Speaker 9 (01:05:24):
So I know the Xavier fans have been living it up.
Letting us know it's been x amount of days since
we've won it the Centas and rightfully, so we got
to own that one. But the only thing I don't
understand is Xavier fans get so mad when you see
brings up the past. So if they want to go there,
it's been exactly nineteen thousand and seven days since they're
sorry as schools played a football game, and they still

(01:05:45):
have zero final fours. So until they win something significant,
they will always be irrelevant.

Speaker 2 (01:05:52):
That is serious, cope, right, Let's tell you what that is.
He is coping, tell you what that is. That is
a man that's going through it right now.

Speaker 3 (01:05:59):
Yeah, and I'm sure sure he's assorting peaks today because
he have a job. He's resorting to Xavier football. Yeah,
that's a bad that's that guy. Man, he's he is,
He's in the thick of it right now.

Speaker 20 (01:06:12):
This is David with your daily reminder, eight thousand, seven
hundred and sixty one days since the Bearcats have won
it Sintas Center. Even crazier stat of the day. By
the time they play them again in the Sintas Center,
it'll be nearly ninety five hundred days before they've won ouch.

Speaker 21 (01:06:33):
Wow wow, oh the weather in Buffalo yesterday was frightful
in the fourth quarter. Joe Burrow wasn't so delightful. And
since Josh havevin't had some place to go, third and
fifteen and let him go, let him go, let him go.

Speaker 22 (01:06:53):
What's up guys by Kahuna in Kentucky. I'm just glad
Mike Pence wasn't on that committee and they had the
courage to do the right thing, and my Hurricanes got in.
I hope we get to see Oddie's Buckeyes on New
Year's Eve.

Speaker 2 (01:07:04):
Oh don't get me wrong. I love Borough.

Speaker 10 (01:07:06):
I think he's the best quarterback in the league.

Speaker 22 (01:07:08):
Nobody had take over him, and especially in the one
through three quarters that this concern's got to be coming
in in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 10 (01:07:15):
Now, he still makes some good plays fourth quarter, but
he has a lot of turnovers in the fourth quarters.

Speaker 22 (01:07:19):
That cast some games yesterday, starting with the Chiefs last
year at Kansas City.

Speaker 3 (01:07:23):
Last time Ohio State played on New Year's Eve, it
did not go well.

Speaker 2 (01:07:28):
Watch out for the U, Watch out for the U.

Speaker 4 (01:07:32):
Man.

Speaker 10 (01:07:33):
I am just waking up filled with regret.

Speaker 23 (01:07:35):
And you know it's not about who I woke up
next two or what I trained last night or what
I ate last night, And it ain't even about It's
not even about Borough throwing those picks. My biggest regret
is that when Joe Burrow through that interception that pick six.
My regret is that it wasn't second and ten, because

(01:07:58):
if it was, Zach Taylor not have resisted from running
the ball.

Speaker 3 (01:08:02):
All right, of all things to be mad at, the
Bengals were ten of twelve on third downs. They ran
the ball really well on second downs to bring up
third and manageables. And this is what we're gonna nitpick about.

Speaker 7 (01:08:14):
Yes, Craig Terraville terrible weekend, Bearcats, Bengals, buck Eys lose.

Speaker 3 (01:08:23):
But the saving grace for me Notre Dame out Here's a.

Speaker 7 (01:08:28):
Team refuses to play in a conference, hand picks their
week schedule, and then they have the nerve to say, oh,
we scored one hundred and nineteen points the last two weekends.

Speaker 3 (01:08:39):
I'm glad you're gone by Notre Dame.

Speaker 24 (01:08:42):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (01:08:42):
Now, I don't like Notre Dame that much either, but
I don't think they do a bad job picking their schedule.
I think they, for the most party going forward, play
a competitive schedule. Now, yeah, I'm sure now they'll just
play MAC teams. But I think Notre Dame has a
legit beef, I really do, and I don't like them

(01:09:03):
at all.

Speaker 2 (01:09:09):
Well, I think wines play two scores.

Speaker 3 (01:09:15):
To watch the buck Eyes destroy the Indiana Hoosiers.

Speaker 10 (01:09:20):
Yeah, it's pretty simple.

Speaker 4 (01:09:21):
I win.

Speaker 3 (01:09:24):
Wow, yep, yep.

Speaker 2 (01:09:27):
You got nothing for that, got nothing for that.

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
Just gotta sit there and take it.

Speaker 13 (01:09:33):
M hm.

Speaker 21 (01:09:34):
It's the Lord on a terrible Monday.

Speaker 20 (01:09:38):
Instead of talking about the Bengals losing, let's talk about
some of our other sports teams.

Speaker 21 (01:09:43):
Oh yeah, the Bearcats lost too.

Speaker 2 (01:09:46):
Oh well, it was worth a try.

Speaker 9 (01:09:49):
Well, I guess the Bengals season is officially.

Speaker 3 (01:09:53):
Over and none of that matters because as the back
of the city. Baby, you just took him down.

Speaker 25 (01:09:59):
Let's go.

Speaker 26 (01:10:00):
You guys just lost to a team that shot twenty
percent from three and fifty percent from free throw.

Speaker 3 (01:10:04):
That's malpracticed. How did he still have a job?

Speaker 10 (01:10:07):
Oh my goodness, he was in.

Speaker 26 (01:10:09):
His zone, couldn't get saved to score, and then went
out of it and then they kept scoring.

Speaker 3 (01:10:12):
He's terrible, awfulman for Mayor.

Speaker 27 (01:10:14):
Let go.

Speaker 3 (01:10:17):
Yeah, I am. I don't understand how Wes still has
a job. Hey, it's me Cad Brendall here. Just wanted
your listeners to know, for just sixteen cents a day.

Speaker 24 (01:10:31):
That's sixteen cents a day, new members because igned for
a whole calendar year and join a community of.

Speaker 3 (01:10:40):
Miserable Bearcash fans like myself. Let's be miserable together. Wow,
it's good.

Speaker 28 (01:10:54):
Austin Buddy hit that breaking new sounder.

Speaker 3 (01:10:59):
Oh this just in.

Speaker 28 (01:11:04):
The Tony and Mo Football Show will go on as
scheduled this afternoon.

Speaker 2 (01:11:08):
However, there's a big issue. That issue is there were.

Speaker 3 (01:11:12):
No winners over the weekend. Oh yes, the go first.

Speaker 2 (01:11:17):
So what on earth are they going to talk about?
I believe have a good day.

Speaker 3 (01:11:21):
I believe Richard Patino is going to join him at Peaks.
He won, he won, I'd walk I'd welcome Richard. I
really if if I don't tell people how to do
their job. But if Xavier had a sense of humor,
if they were smart about this, they would send Patino
up there today. They should and just have him walk
right up. Winners go first, and he should. I hope

(01:11:42):
he does. I know they're listening.

Speaker 2 (01:11:43):
He'd go right on.

Speaker 3 (01:11:44):
Send coach Patino up there, do twenty minutes with him
Westchester and Pigs make Tony and Mo eat a little
bit of crow.

Speaker 24 (01:11:51):
Hello, this is former President Ronald Regan. And well, I
don't want to give a huge shout out to longtime
listener Joe. You see, I met Joe this morning and
we were talking about Sports Dog Radio. He said his
favorite show is since he three to sixty, and well,
I didn't let on to the fact that I am
Ronald Reagan, so I asked him who his favorite talkbacker was,

(01:12:12):
and of course he said loud talkback guy. That's mine too.
He should have seen his face when I told him
who I was. It was a blast.

Speaker 3 (01:12:20):
Wow, that's awesome. Shout out to Joe. That's cool.

Speaker 29 (01:12:23):
Could make a priority this offseason to higher a defensive
assistant from one of the division teams or Buffalo who
can sit down with whoever is on our defensive staff
next year and try to end this decade long inability
to cover tight ends and just tell us what they're
seeing when day watched the film on our defense.

Speaker 3 (01:12:42):
Great question. I really wish Al Golden would have gotten
that Penn State job.

Speaker 30 (01:12:47):
Hey Pallas, here's a question, mainly for Tony Okay, is
Joe Burrow a legit six four, he doesn't seem like
it to me, Or is he just got a really
low release angle confess something that you can or would
want to correct.

Speaker 31 (01:13:03):
I mean, he's not as bad as Andy Dalton getting
batted down at the line.

Speaker 30 (01:13:07):
Of scrimmage, but he's starting from the shotgown on every play.

Speaker 4 (01:13:10):
Is he a legit six four like a six to
two guy sixty four on his football guard?

Speaker 2 (01:13:15):
No, I think he's legitimate with the height.

Speaker 3 (01:13:18):
I don't. There's a good picture of him with Josh
Allen that kind of I don't feel like.

Speaker 2 (01:13:24):
I don't feel like he's like had a career long
issue of getting balls back of down.

Speaker 3 (01:13:29):
No, he hasn't.

Speaker 32 (01:13:31):
I had someone tell me that that game was lost
by Joe, and I just will not believe that because
I think Joe could be able to throw a pick
six every game, score thirty four points and we should
win that game every time every time with him throwing
a pick six.

Speaker 3 (01:13:52):
Unbelievable. It's a fair point, it really is.

Speaker 17 (01:14:22):
But go x.

Speaker 3 (01:14:26):
All right, your reaction the terrible Monday Tony in Austin.

Speaker 4 (01:14:32):
I really thought.

Speaker 6 (01:14:33):
Sadafield was gonna get you know, University A Cincinnati into
the Snoop dogg Arizona.

Speaker 3 (01:14:39):
Bowl, because that's what he's been doing with our UC wins,
dropping them like they are hot. M It just goes
to show you that.

Speaker 28 (01:14:52):
Joe Burrow has to play perfect football team to win.
Can't be good, he can't be okay. He has to
play perfect football for this team to win. And how
sad is that this kid is dragging and pulling and
clawing and fighting and his coach does nothing about it.

Speaker 2 (01:15:13):
It's a lot of pressure to put on someone. By
the way, the quarterback I was told is the best
in the NFL yes day. Yes, he's coming off an
MVP season. Josh Allenstrom ten interceptions this year to twenty
two touchdowns.

Speaker 3 (01:15:23):
I'm far for catch Strutch wrapping the city out of
a sunny Zona.

Speaker 10 (01:15:27):
What up, Tony?

Speaker 17 (01:15:27):
What up?

Speaker 3 (01:15:27):
Body? Man? The defense?

Speaker 25 (01:15:29):
When it was thirty and fifteen, I looked at my wife.
I took that last shot and sat there and took.

Speaker 3 (01:15:34):
It like a man.

Speaker 25 (01:15:35):
I knew it was coming. We all felt that smoke coming, y'all.
We knew that was coming. That defense can't do anything,
wes Man. I'm tired of wes I'm done. You can't
beat zevery Man really tall. You better get to the tournament.
Are you done? And coach Sat, we're getting a liberty
bow yay, big deal?

Speaker 3 (01:15:50):
Who cares?

Speaker 16 (01:15:51):
Man? I don't.

Speaker 27 (01:15:56):
Man had a great win on Thanksgiving at Baltimore.

Speaker 2 (01:16:00):
Yeah, it was fun and the.

Speaker 27 (01:16:03):
Vibes were good. It looked at you know, things were
looking up. It was a small chance, but it was
still a chance and you could see the pass the
path at least, and then Lucy pulls the football out
from under.

Speaker 2 (01:16:12):
You and this happens.

Speaker 27 (01:16:14):
This team has been losing games an embarrassing fashion for three.

Speaker 3 (01:16:18):
Years in a row.

Speaker 27 (01:16:19):
It is mind boggling that Zach Kailer can keep his
job through all of this. This is such an unserious
front off.

Speaker 3 (01:16:28):
Guys, taking hing away from Josh Allen.

Speaker 10 (01:16:30):
Doesn't we all know he's great?

Speaker 21 (01:16:32):
But both times that bj Hill was there in front
of him, why wasn't he putting up his hands? I mean,
I thought that's something. You're tall as a youngster, get
your hands up at least try and make it more
difficult for him the past, or even to flact it.

Speaker 3 (01:16:44):
Take care of everybody. You're down. Yeah, we don't bat
a lot of balls. We'll just break down, you know,
just fly. Embarrassing for Cincinnati sports period. I mean you
look at the third and fifteen. You only had to
make one stop to getting down the ball back. You
couldn't do that.

Speaker 25 (01:16:57):
This defense is straight trash. With third year in a row,
we get trash defense. And then you turn around you
look at UC sports football and basketball, both coaches get
out class. We have no type of nothing going momentum,
going our way into the future. West Mains David looked
like a top twenty five team. Nobody cares about the
liberty bow.

Speaker 3 (01:17:18):
I hear you, but I don't.

Speaker 2 (01:17:20):
I'll say this, aston Tony, I'll say this. Do you
think there was any conversation that Josh Allen was even
going to attempt to throw a pass on third and
fifteen and risking in completion?

Speaker 3 (01:17:30):
Yes, I do.

Speaker 2 (01:17:31):
I really don't. I really think if you look at
the routes, I think they're just running guys off. The
guard pulls out.

Speaker 16 (01:17:37):
Oh.

Speaker 3 (01:17:37):
I think there's a conversation by the Bengals. I think
they think he will No.

Speaker 2 (01:17:41):
Yeah, I mean I think when you look at the
play design, I don't think it was ever meant to
throw be thrown. Yeah, I think he was going to
run that ball regardless, because if you throw that in
completion and now there's almost two minutes left for Burrow,
good luck they that was either going to be a
checkdown or he was pulling that ball and.

Speaker 26 (01:17:56):
Running Austin, Tony, they are who they are. They are
who they are now that that Hopie and Bloom is
finally burst. When we get back to throwing up on
ownership and Duke for the construction of this team.

Speaker 2 (01:18:07):
They're feckless, futile, utterly, indescribably.

Speaker 26 (01:18:10):
Pathetic as organization has what ownership group who takes any
pride in what they do can be just a tortically
wretched for this long the list is endless of cheap decisions,
bad decisions, and zero accountability. Mike and Duke, put your
brown bag of shame on you. Guys are an embarrassment
to the city.

Speaker 10 (01:18:30):
Tony.

Speaker 31 (01:18:30):
I heard you were chirping one of my buddies at
the game. He was a section under your suite you're in.
It's now been eight and fifty days since Center the
Lady Musk. He's got it done as well, taking down
the Lady Bearcats.

Speaker 17 (01:18:49):
So I mean that's a that's a city wide sweep.

Speaker 13 (01:18:52):
Xavier owns this city.

Speaker 3 (01:18:54):
Yeah, I wasn't terping anybody.

Speaker 2 (01:18:56):
Yeah don't. I don't believe that. Listen, you definitely were.
There wasn't a point in the game where I had
a where I had an opportunity to charp.

Speaker 3 (01:19:05):
That's the issue, and I.

Speaker 33 (01:19:06):
Just wanted to have a small input on crossdown shield out.
I think my first ever game I sents. I'm set
to ticket holder at fifth th Arena for Cincinnati, and
I thought the crowd was just interesting to watch it.
How it unholds much different than what we have at
the third Arena. One of the things I noticed was
the players zooing the sip them up. Jester and I

(01:19:26):
looked at Patino from the E bench and he shot
that down quite instantly.

Speaker 17 (01:19:31):
So I guess old things need to die.

Speaker 2 (01:19:36):
When you're winning the game, you can do whatever you want.
I had none to say about that.

Speaker 31 (01:19:40):
Also a message to my fellow Xavier fans. Let's be
the bigger fan base today. You know, when you're at
the drive through picking up your lunch from that window
and you see that UC grad passing you your burger,
we don't have to rub it in their face.

Speaker 2 (01:19:55):
Come on, guys, yeah, yeah, good news for the Bearcats
a week.

Speaker 34 (01:20:00):
Guye in God's name, When you just pick up a
first down in Buffalo territory five minutes and change to go?
Are you throwing the football on first down? Run the ball,
use some of that clock if nothing else, we could
possibly get a field goal without that drive and plus
to use some of the clock. But no, Zach Taylor.

(01:20:23):
Once again, bad call in a crucial situation. Unbelievable, wasn't
Zach bro I don't have as much. I don't have
as much against how the offense was was called or
ran yesterday. It was also the right play in the
right look. It's just a bad result. So throw sometimes
that happened.

Speaker 2 (01:20:41):
Didn't get a grip on the ball. God made a
good play on it.

Speaker 3 (01:20:44):
All right. We're out of time. Many that we did
not get to today.

Speaker 2 (01:20:48):
I can imagine. I can imagine one segment when we return. Yeah, sure,
Monday midday Quarterback. Thanks to CINTI shirts. Thanks for listening
on the ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station.

Speaker 5 (01:21:00):
This is Football in the NATTI broughtch you in part
by blood Light and by Oakley Greens on ESPN fifteen thirty,
the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:21:12):
Welcome back Monday Midday Quarterback, ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
One thing on the defense. I wanted to get to Austin.
They went into yesterday's game. We had talked about the
improved play of the defense. They essentially gave up twenty
against Pittsburgh. They played better against New England, played much
better with the five turnovers against Baltimore, and I think
they were I think gifted a couple things against Baltimore
as well. Did yesterday erase the goodwill that you had

(01:21:35):
seen over the last couple of games, or do you
mark yesterday off as just a tougher matchup and you
think this defense is still finding ways to improve or
can improve.

Speaker 3 (01:21:44):
I don't know that I would say they had goodwill
to begin with. My whole point was, don't let a
few games erase what you saw for the vast majority
of this season, and considering the opponent and what they
do well, their inability to scheme towards that I think
is indicative of just how far away this defense is
from being good. So no, I wouldn't say that I

(01:22:06):
feel any better about them. I do think there are
minimal signs of improvement. I continue to be impressed by
Miles Murphy, by Joseph Osai. I think Demetrius Knight Junior
has gotten a little bit better.

Speaker 2 (01:22:19):
Demitrius Knight Junior has the worst defensive grade of every
linebacker in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (01:22:22):
Yeah, and he's getting better. I think. I think I
think he's getting a little bit better. I need to
keep watching it and go back through the tape.

Speaker 2 (01:22:30):
I mean, by the way, with those Barrett Carter leads
all linebackers and yards allowed in coverage. Yeah, and orin
Burke's has the worst coverage grade of every coverage grade
of every linebacker in the NFL.

Speaker 3 (01:22:39):
Yeah, Barrett Carter is he's just not an NFL player.
And you know, I remember I was doing the show
producing the show last Friday where he was on with
Box and Lap and it's just such an easy guy
to root for and just like an awesome dude. And
I really felt bad for him because he just doesn't
seem like he's ready to play at this level and

(01:23:00):
they're throwing him out there in a difficult situation. So
I think there are minimal slight perhaps some improvements that
are that have happened. But I don't know that it's
anything that you really go into next year thinking like, yes, yes,
this is the thing. Yeah. I think that's the hardest

(01:23:20):
part is that.

Speaker 2 (01:23:22):
But I don't know that that's a fat Last year,
though at the end of the year of Man the
offense was so good, defense stinks, And here we are
again having the exact same conversation.

Speaker 3 (01:23:30):
I remember last year there were two things defensively that
we felt good about. It was Joseph Osai and Trey Hendrickson.
I still feel fine about Osai, but like we.

Speaker 2 (01:23:42):
Got any word on Troy yet. Doubtful noful.

Speaker 34 (01:23:44):
This week.

Speaker 3 (01:23:44):
I'm sure Zach Zach talks at three o'clock today. I'm
sure he'll tell us that Trey is not going to
play this week. So I do think in a way
it's a good thing. You find out what you have, Yeah,
you know what you don't And it way too early,
I think to have these conversations. But I do think

(01:24:06):
you're gonna have to really look long and hard and think, Okay,
do we have linebackers that can play in this league?
Or are we gonna have to go right back to
the well on that. Yeah, that's all fair. Let's get
one more phone call in here before the end of
the hour.

Speaker 2 (01:24:19):
What's up, Brian, what's going on?

Speaker 17 (01:24:23):
How are you guys going?

Speaker 2 (01:24:24):
How are you?

Speaker 17 (01:24:26):
Oh, I'm doing well. China Park Place is not too
whack of we First off, Javier fans, I didn't know
there was in Philadelphia. I mean, they're just being so nasty.
They're not relevant. You see, it's not relevant. Give me
a break.

Speaker 10 (01:24:41):
Come on.

Speaker 2 (01:24:42):
It's a hard part because because whether nastally or not,
you're now relevant in the city. If you're Xavier over
UC for another season. That's the hard part.

Speaker 17 (01:24:50):
Oh whatever, they they could just kick as I mean.

Speaker 3 (01:24:58):
Come on, where are you at right now, Brian?

Speaker 17 (01:25:02):
I will I'm at a job site in the house
is real echo.

Speaker 3 (01:25:05):
He's just a little equity. I'm just I'm just curious.

Speaker 17 (01:25:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:25:09):
Is that better?

Speaker 31 (01:25:10):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (01:25:10):
Yeah, you're good now.

Speaker 17 (01:25:13):
So first off, uh, so I can do for the
Dagger fans come on?

Speaker 32 (01:25:18):
Uh?

Speaker 17 (01:25:18):
And also I was calling about the Begels game. I mean,
what would a defensive end storm not like you just
can't play Josh Allen that way.

Speaker 2 (01:25:28):
You just got to contain, got to break down and
and like, what.

Speaker 17 (01:25:33):
Do we do it like how I mean, I would
think that's like rule one O one when you're playing
a mobile athletic quarterback, which Josh is. He's a big
version of it. Got to keep it inside of it.
You got to keep them inside. And I just don't
understand that. And I think Joe that fire real Russ.
I thought that play was brilliant. If it would all
he would score a touchdown, it won't do to be

(01:25:53):
so anybody think that wasn't the right checkdown by Joe.

Speaker 12 (01:25:57):
He just made a bad play, yep.

Speaker 17 (01:25:59):
I mean, joys still are like, here's.

Speaker 12 (01:26:00):
No doubt about that.

Speaker 3 (01:26:03):
Brian.

Speaker 2 (01:26:03):
I appreciate you, man, thank you, thank you. Yeah. For
a second, I thought Brian might have been in like
Maso's basement. I thought he was at the airport. I
was worried about him and Maso getting together talking about
the Muskies. Maso is he's in a bad way man.

Speaker 3 (01:26:17):
Yeah. Just some of the texts that that you and
I have received so far too like starting to I'm
sorry to think about calling the police for our guy.
Maso mayso belongs and it and I play I sub
in occasionally on a on a Sunday basketball league. As
if you see, losing wasn't bad enough for Maso, and
then the Bengals losing. I didn't go to the game yesterday.

Speaker 2 (01:26:37):
Apparently they lost on a buzzer beater on pick up
basketball on the Sunday League as well. So he's had
a weekend. Man, he's had a weekend.

Speaker 3 (01:26:46):
Playing basketball on a Sunday is crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:26:49):
Yeah, it was a they they reached out and they said,
can you make today's game? And I said what time
is it? And they said noon? No it' said college
football playoff and the Bengals start at one.

Speaker 3 (01:27:00):
Why do we do basketball at noon in the middle
of football season? Correct?

Speaker 2 (01:27:05):
Like chasing that chasing those titles, man, chasing championships.

Speaker 3 (01:27:10):
Get a job, enjoy your weekends off.

Speaker 2 (01:27:16):
You're gonna Tommyville. Every day is Sunday like Tommy Tubberville. Yeah,
and I should unbelievable. Yeah, we need more Tommy Tubberville's
when it comes to this. I mean, this is the
culture that tub Tubberville put in place for people like Maso.
Did you catch it all? I think it was out
on Saturday morning. Moe's video recapping the shootout. No, Moe's

(01:27:39):
just kind of laying on his desk, head down dejected.
I did see he posted the cigar pick. He's got
the cigar pick. I'm I'm heading out. I'm heading to Westchester.
I'm going to spend the next three hours, starting at
three o'clock with MO. I can't wait to see. We
will We'll talk Bengals, bills. We're also going to talk
some college football, and MO promised we will spend time

(01:28:01):
on the shootout as well. You'll have a Zach Taylor
press conference that we're going to get to. But between
now and then Austin, what's going to be happening.

Speaker 3 (01:28:08):
I don't mean to like. I don't like making fun
of MO. I don't like I don't want his teams
to lose. But golly, what makes him great is he
is so entertaining when they do.

Speaker 2 (01:28:20):
Yeah, and it'll be entertaining today. He's promised that we'll
have fun. It will be That's all we can promise fun.
What do you got coming up? I'll talk a little
bit about the Bengals. I'll open up the phone lines.
I have a few thoughts on the college football playoff
as well, including when it comes to Notre Dame. What
I like and dislike about what's going on there, plus

(01:28:43):
what Zach Taylor said about that call that people are
blaming him for, and what Joe Burrow said about the
play that people are blaming him for, and really, where
are we at and where are we going? That's a
great question. These are the questions that need to be asked. Well,
we got a lot to be answered, and Austin, we'll
start with that next. On the Monday Midday Quarterback ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (01:29:05):
You've been listening to Football in the NATI on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 3 (01:29:16):
From the X Time Cooling Weather Center.

Speaker 1 (01:29:18):
Here's Tony Pike's Monday Midday Quarterback Show, brought to you
in Blackvine Ae Doraned Window Company. They sell the best
and service the rest. Cincinnati Tax Resolution powered by Tope, Sheldon, O'Connor,
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(01:29:42):
Quality Blacktoping, Cincinnati's most trusted company and by Thomas Moore University.
Accelerate your career with a business degree from Thomas Moore
University on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the
Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 17 (01:29:58):
Hi.

Speaker 3 (01:29:58):
Hello, Welcome in final hour of Tony Pike's Monday midday
Quarterback here on ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Austin Elmore, Tony
on his way to Twin Peaks. He'll be talking there
with Moe Egger Tony and Mo Football Show coming up
this afternoon from three to six. You'll hear from head
coach Zach Taylor. Will get updates on injuries and what

(01:30:19):
the week is starting to look like as they get
set for Baltimore, and all the stuff that Zach has
learned since watching the film today that's coming up at
the start of their show. If I'm not mistaken, you're
gonna hear from Zach in just a minute too, just
a quick blurb about what he said after the game,
about the way the game went, how he feels about
the team, and most notably the big interception by Buffalo

(01:30:42):
that was returned for a touchdown and was a part
of flipping the game on its head. I think we're
making a little bit too much out of that play.
We'll talk about it coming up in just a minute.
You'll hear what Joe Burrow had to say as well.
Phone lines are open five point three seven four nine
fifteen thirty You can all so, tweeted me at Audie Elmore.
That's a U T y E L m O r E.

(01:31:05):
I'm gonna pull a page out of the moegg Or
playbook here and say I'm gonna do something you're not
supposed to do, which is start the hour with a
phone call. I want to talk to Phil in Burlington,
who I'm told is on his way to the airport.
Hello Phil, what's up? See the green oh red roses too?

(01:31:25):
Sing it to me? Phil?

Speaker 12 (01:31:27):
You just won't fuck I go boo hoo?

Speaker 13 (01:31:31):
Can I say to myself?

Speaker 3 (01:31:33):
Yes, what a one?

Speaker 31 (01:31:35):
The oh?

Speaker 24 (01:31:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 13 (01:31:40):
I meant to Colin earlier today, but day cool number
two finally kicked in.

Speaker 10 (01:31:43):
So where we are?

Speaker 3 (01:31:45):
That was beautiful, Phil, great execution.

Speaker 12 (01:31:47):
Than you ask for the Bengals, You know, I just
I refuse to give them any kind of emotional energy
or financial energy while they insist on operating this team.

Speaker 19 (01:31:57):
The way they do, Like like, I'm sorry, al.

Speaker 13 (01:32:01):
Goldon might be a great defensive coordinator, but there's not
an NFL coach alive.

Speaker 12 (01:32:05):
I can turn shoot and to shine and.

Speaker 3 (01:32:07):
That's exactly what they're.

Speaker 12 (01:32:08):
Expecting this coaching staff to do.

Speaker 3 (01:32:11):
Like yeah, like until I see.

Speaker 13 (01:32:13):
Some real operational changes in the front office, I'm happy
when they win.

Speaker 3 (01:32:17):
I expect them to lose.

Speaker 12 (01:32:18):
And that's that state of affairs.

Speaker 3 (01:32:21):
No hold on Phil, now a couple of things like
what okay, Phil? Hung up? I would love to pick
his brain? Number one? Where's he going?

Speaker 17 (01:32:29):
Is he?

Speaker 3 (01:32:29):
Where's he flying out to? Number two? What exactly do
the operational changes look like that you'd like to see.
We talked extensively about some of the changes that they
have made. I do think that at the end of
the day, it boils down to they haven't hit on
draft picks. They've hit on some. Chase Brown's a hit.
It looks like DJ Turner is a hit. I think

(01:32:52):
Joseph Osai, Cedric Johnson, those guys as pieces are hits.
Jordan Battle, I think there's still something there, but there
hasn't been enough production right away. And the part that
I feel the most as I look back on what
happened yesterday and where this team is at, I can't

(01:33:15):
help but think we're just kind of stuck in the mud.
Doesn't it feel like they're stuck in the mud. I mean,
I had retweeted this earlier. The Bengals are twenty two
and twenty five since they lost the twenty twenty two
AFC Championship game. That twenty twenty two team was special, man.

(01:33:38):
That was a really good dude, a really good group
full of good dudes. And I do think that if
they had went to the Super Bowl this year, I
think they would have beat the Eagles in that game.
I really do. But they didn't, and since then they've
fallen off. And I get that. You know, you have
to pay your quarterback and you pay your and I

(01:34:00):
get all of that. But what the Bengals have done
a good job of was executing what the plan was
supposed to be after twenty twenty two to get to
where they are now. I feel like on paper, it
all made sense. Invest heavily in young players on defense,

(01:34:20):
draft them, develop them, give them opportunities, and be ready
to go so that you don't really skip a beat.
Try to supplement them with some veterans like Sheldon Rankins,
like TJ. Slayton, like Geno Stone. Get those guys in here,
and just continue to kind of mix it all together.
On paper, it makes sense, and financially they've set themselves

(01:34:41):
up pretty well now. They waited too long on t
and they waited too long on Jamar, but even then
it is not as if they are in dire financial
straits moving forward. It's like on paper the plan made sense,
but they didn't execute it and Burrow got hurt again,
and they didn't do enough to fix their offensive line

(01:35:05):
that has been an issue repeatedly. Well, now it looks
like Dylan Fairchild's going to be a hit in the draft.
The Dalton Reisner signing worked out pretty well. Their offensive
line right now is playing at a level we haven't
seen in over a decade. That's how good they're playing.
So there are little things you can point to and say, Okay,
this is working, this is working. But there are one

(01:35:26):
thing after another on the defensive side of the ball
that you point to and said, this is not working.

Speaker 9 (01:35:34):
And so.

Speaker 3 (01:35:36):
The issue now becomes we have failed at our plan
post big contract for the quarterback. How do we fix it?
I remember we had this conversation a month or two
ago where we asked Mo Tony, and I asked MO,
if you could ask Duke Tobin any question, what would

(01:35:56):
you ask him, and Mo said, why can't you fix this?
And that, to me is the question of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Why can't you fix this? Why can't you fix what's
going on on defense? Loui Anarrumo, you want to make
him the scapegoat, that's fine. Why can't Al Golden fix it?

(01:36:17):
Why can't you fix the way you draft players? Why
can't you fix you know, missing on free agents like
Sheldon Rankins. Why can't you fix it? And how can
you be trusted to fix it after the last three
years have kind of blown up in your face? The
game that happened yesterday is the epitome of who the

(01:36:40):
Bengals are over the last couple of years. One play
away from being in the playoffs or in an entirely
different position and being in the midst of this run
of the best football in the history of this franchise.
But yet they don't make the play, they don't get

(01:37:00):
the call, they don't get lucky, they don't finish the drive,
they don't drop or they drop the interception, whatever it
might be. They just can't get over that hump. And
so the answer is, how do you fix it? What
do you change? And that has to be the question
inside the hallways at pay Core Stadium right now. There

(01:37:24):
has to be an absolutely sick feeling in those rooms,
in those conversations, because listen, I know a lot of
Bengals fans just right off the Brown family and think
that they are this stupid, arrogant bunch. I don't believe that.
I believe that everybody in this organization knows what they

(01:37:47):
have a quarterback, and I believe it sits very It
does not sit well with anybody, from Zach Taylor to
the equipment managers, to the cafeteria people, to the practice
squad guys and everybody in between that you have an
all time good quarterback, an all time great quarterback, and

(01:38:11):
you're wasting his prime years.

Speaker 2 (01:38:16):
So how do you fix it?

Speaker 3 (01:38:17):
Is the question? Do you keep trying to do what
you've been doing. I think they tried to pivot this year,
which is okay, the Logan Wilson thing's not working, the
Trey Hendrickson thing's not working. Let's move on from Logan.
Let's try to trade Trey. If not, Trey's not gonna play,
Logan's not gonna play. We're gonna move away from these veterans.
We're gonna give these young guys. We're gonna try to

(01:38:37):
develop him as fast as we can, especially if Burrow's
not gonna be here. Okay? Is that a pivot? Okay?
Is it a sustainable pivot? I don't know. I don't
think so. So what's the move? Is the move to
fire Zach Taylor? Is that going to fix those problems
or is it going to create more? Is it gonna

(01:39:01):
be to fire Al Golden? Is that going to fix
the problems or is it going to create more like
firing Luanna Rumo did. What's the answer. Is it expanding
the personnel department? Is it investing more in analytics? Is
it hiring new position coaches and the secondary?

Speaker 25 (01:39:24):
Is it?

Speaker 3 (01:39:25):
I don't know, and there doesn't seem to be an
obvious answer other than to me it is that you
should can duke Tobin and completely redo the personnel department.
Because if you are ever going to have a really
good quarterback and you're going to pay your stars, and
the Bengals have done that, and I have no problem

(01:39:47):
with them doing that, you have to have a very
buttoned up, clean, nearly impossible to penetrate draft strategy and
personnel strategy to supplement the spots on the roster, and
you've got to have the right people in place to
develop them. And the Bengals don't. That is why they

(01:40:07):
are in the situation that they are in. And while
Duke Tobin does have some pelts on the wall, I
don't know that there's a real reason to keep him.
I mean, this is supposed to be the best era
of Bengals football. This is supposed to be it. It's

(01:40:31):
supposed to be happening right now, and yet they continue
to embarrass themselves over and over and over again. And
I thought it was noteworthy the way that Paul Danner
Junior described them today in the Athletic. I hadn't viewed
him like this, but I think he's right. The Bengals

(01:40:54):
are an irrelevant footnote to the National Football League. Is
that what anybody wants to be is that what you
want to be remembered by. If you're the Bengals, Duke
Tobin exists. That position exists. He has his job so

(01:41:14):
that now that you have the franchise quarterback, you build
around him so that games like yesterday and countless others
over the last three seasons stop happening. You have blamed
youth and inexperience, you have blamed injury, you have blamed coaches.

(01:41:37):
You have no one else to blame but the person
putting the team together, and that's Duke Tobin. So to me,
that's the only way you pivot or fix or change
your shortcomings. But I don't think they're going to do
it because they are resistant to change. There is a

(01:42:00):
trust level with Duke Tobin. There are some pelts on
the wall, and there is a belief that the guy
who has been here for twenty years is going to
somehow magically become an elite NFL executive. So I don't
know where they go from here. I don't know how
they fix it. I don't know how they should fix it.

(01:42:26):
But more than anything, I feel myself mourning what was
supposed to be two of the best years in franchise history,
and instead they're two of the biggest question marks in
franchise history, the biggest what ifs, the biggest if onlies,
the biggest what abouts in the history of the franchise,

(01:42:49):
and it's wearing on people. I think it's wearing on Joe,
I think it's wearing on Jamar. We certainly know as
fans it's wearing on us. This is a critical juncture
for this franchise. And I still believe that it's not
crazy that they make the playoffs this year. But that's
kind of besides the point at this point, isn't it.

(01:43:11):
The point isn't that you're still alive for the playoffs.
The point is you've screwed up so many times that
you've backed yourself into a corner again and you've got
to win out and get help to get in the
playoffs as opposed to being the team that's in control
in the playoffs. And how much are you gonna sit
back and look at a playoff that doesn't feature Lamar

(01:43:33):
Jackson and doesn't feature Patrick Mahomes and think, damn, that
could have been us, This should have been us. Doesn't
sit right with me. I hope they've come up with
a plan to pivot because this is not working here.
From Joe and Zach. Next, this is Monday Midday Quarterback

(01:43:56):
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:43:58):
Every Sport, every store, every angle, Moegar today at three
pm on ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:44:08):
At Penn Station the East Coast subs your Shawny Pike's
Monday Midday Quarterback ESPN fifteen thirty. I'm Austin Elmore Sony
and I talked about it a little bit earlier. Some
are blaming the Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow for the loss,
and I think that's fair. Joe, in a big moment,

(01:44:32):
had a bad play and even though it was the
right read and the right decision, it was poor execution.
The ball kind of coming out of his hands, bad
arm angle, kind of floated it up there, made for
a good play by Benford who took it to the house,
and Joe also wasn't able to make the tackle. I
think it's fair to blame Joe Burrow for some of that.

(01:44:53):
I think the second interception was entirely bad luck. It
was a wide open play and a good play by
Buffalo got the arm up up and then the other
dude just happened to be right there. It's unfortunate, but
the reality of the way the Bengals are built is
that Joe Burrow has to play perfect and that again

(01:45:15):
is part of what the issue is. And going back
to the previous segment, which is at times I feel
like it's wearing on Joe Burrow because to him. He
has to be perfect almost every single time he takes
the field. If not, they don't have a chance to win.

(01:45:37):
I mean, think about that in your life, in your
everyday job. If you are not perfect, you fail, and
you are judged by your successes and your failures. Would
you want to work like that? Would you want to
work in a place like that? Earlier today, my mic
wasn't working. I couldn't figure out how to fix it.

(01:45:59):
But thanky, because I work in a profession in which
Tony can do the show and pick up the slack
and do all of that. In a situation in which
I'm not performing, the show goes on and we keep going. Meanwhile,
for Joe Burrow, he underperforms and all of a sudden,

(01:46:22):
the season is basically over. You don't have a chance
to play in the postseason. It's difficult, the game ends,
you lose because of one mistake. And Joe is not
going to play perfect football every time he takes the
field from now until the end of time. He's just not.

(01:46:46):
Nobody does. Perfection is unattainable, breaking news. Write that down,
and it sucks that the best player on the team
had a bad moment, and it ultimately cost them the game. Now,
I don't think that pick six cost them nearly as
much as the tip one that was not his fault,
and then the defense just not playing defense. But it's

(01:47:11):
a part of the story. Joe was asked about it
after the game. Here's three minutes, so the Bengals quarterback
talking about the loss to Buffalo and those plays.

Speaker 6 (01:47:23):
That you're managed.

Speaker 3 (01:47:27):
Yeah, great play, great plays by them.

Speaker 19 (01:47:31):
Corner blitz and you know, trying to throw a hot
reaction and the guy jumps up and catches it.

Speaker 3 (01:47:36):
Great play.

Speaker 19 (01:47:38):
Next one tipball lands in the riding that guy's hands.
So wow, Yeah, good place by Now.

Speaker 23 (01:47:46):
You feel like you guys were kind of playing the
exact type of game you wanted to play before those two,
like exactly how you would have scripted it out to
God wins.

Speaker 19 (01:47:55):
Yeah, we were playing pretty good. We were playing pretty good.
You know, we gotta we gotta turn over the red zone.
We spout it on a couple of drives, but for
the most part, we were moving it pretty good.

Speaker 3 (01:48:07):
We were in a good spot.

Speaker 2 (01:48:10):
Was that first half especially down perspected and how did
you walk out the fields?

Speaker 19 (01:48:18):
One way was going through your mind. Yeah, we were executing.
We were executing lamas protecting, we were making plays.

Speaker 21 (01:48:25):
You know, we d we were doing a good.

Speaker 34 (01:48:27):
Job differently on that.

Speaker 19 (01:48:29):
Denver could have thrown it higher, I guess, but the
linebacker was running out there underneath of it, So if
I threw it higher, he might've gotten involved to Not
really that was our reaction to.

Speaker 4 (01:48:48):
That is just one of those games.

Speaker 13 (01:48:50):
It did have the playoff game with the team that
just was able.

Speaker 2 (01:48:52):
To name a couple of those players were got of
laying doing that all down stretch.

Speaker 19 (01:48:55):
Yeah, you know it was playoff playoff atmosphere. We know
what kind of game it was for us, did them too?

Speaker 12 (01:49:03):
And then?

Speaker 3 (01:49:05):
Uh yeah, it was just it was intense out there.

Speaker 19 (01:49:08):
Guys were fighting their butts off.

Speaker 3 (01:49:11):
Those would do anything different.

Speaker 1 (01:49:12):
Uh did all than what you.

Speaker 8 (01:49:13):
Saw a film this week.

Speaker 19 (01:49:17):
They always do do things a little different against us. Uh,
but that's what we expected. They were mixing a lot
of things up. They started pressure more in the second half.
I thought we handled it well. Wh Yeah, we we
kind of we knew what to expect. We knew how
they liked to play us from from past meetings, and
uh we had the answers.

Speaker 2 (01:49:36):
Were you Bobby hard for his team to resign, to
get in from your mission to your office that you
honestly you didn't and much opportunity to see how it
all looked.

Speaker 15 (01:49:47):
Is this like what you would vision the type of
office that you guys could be, and the type of
outfit that you would be.

Speaker 17 (01:49:52):
To an opponent?

Speaker 8 (01:49:53):
When you guys girl.

Speaker 31 (01:49:54):
Living like you did today?

Speaker 2 (01:49:55):
Yeah, we know, we know what we can be.

Speaker 19 (01:49:57):
We know what we can do and when we execute,
and we're able to execute today for the most part.

Speaker 12 (01:50:04):
And thanks.

Speaker 10 (01:50:06):
Gotta do more.

Speaker 2 (01:50:08):
Going forward, Joe, last four games?

Speaker 31 (01:50:11):
Your mental outlet?

Speaker 2 (01:50:12):
How did you approach last morname?

Speaker 19 (01:50:14):
Just go and play well, Go have fun, play football.
That's what I love to do. So so I'm gonna
keep doing I'm gonna keep doing it at a high level.

Speaker 3 (01:50:25):
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow Joe often posting on Instagram after
games with a caption with normally a bit of a
message about what happened. He posted the pictures of him
playing in the snow and walking in no caption. For
the Bengals quarterback, he finished twenty five of thirty six

(01:50:46):
two hundred and eighty four yards, four touchdowns, two interceptions.
He was sacked just once on the day. Here from
Zach Taylor in just a minute. But at first, let's
go to Jay in Cincinnati. He's on the line. What's up, Jay?

Speaker 34 (01:51:01):
It was up?

Speaker 12 (01:51:02):
Thanks for taking my car. You know, when Joe Burrow
left the Bengals, they were two and oh or three
or or whatever. When he comes back, there was a
pure disaster. And he shouldn't take this loss hard because
he did everything he could possibly do to win that
game yesterday. Now he can't play defense.

Speaker 25 (01:51:24):
He can't.

Speaker 12 (01:51:26):
He can't play defense. When you send the guy in
motion in your corner blitzes and leaves the area uncovered,
he can't cover over there for him, you know. Sometimes
you know, they got the man up and thanks football
out there. You know, he can't be all reactionary. They
sent Cook to the right side and then left the

(01:51:47):
whole week sat open and he comes right back up
under it and nobody's there, you know, So they got
to think out there sometimes, and some of their players
out there.

Speaker 13 (01:51:59):
Was just off defense.

Speaker 12 (01:52:00):
I mean, like a quick hitter to the tight end,
And why do so many linebackers bite early on a
fake like that and come up and then they go
right behind him. I mean, at some points you got
to say, well, we got to thank football sometimes, you know,
just despicable, you know. And I feel for Joe Man.
I guy, you know, he's a difference maker. And what

(01:52:23):
he did yesterday, Joe that had he been there a
whole year, this team was in in the right direction.
So but tell Joe be don't take it too Thanks
for taking my college.

Speaker 3 (01:52:34):
Jay. Thanks for the call, man, I appreciate you. Yeah,
it's exactly right. I mean, if he were here all year,
I think they're probably gonna playoff position right now. I
think they're probably about to clinch the AFC North with
the victory over Baltimore. That would be my guess as
to what would be happening. But he wasn't, And you know,
I hope that that, you know, to to Jay's point,

(01:52:54):
he's not taking it too hard and he is just
trying to focus on having fun playing football, because it's
kind of all you can focus on at this point.
It's just a shame that this is where we're at.
And I think the exact quote from Joe yesterday was
four and nine is not where we want to be
as a team, and not where we want to be
as an organization. The fact that he said organization I

(01:53:16):
find interesting. I wonder around this time last year is
when he started putting some pressure on the organization. I
wonder if we start hearing some of that again as
we go into the offseason from one Joe Burrow. After
the game, Zach Taylor also talked here's two minutes of

(01:53:37):
the Bengals head coach about what happened, what went wrong,
and where they go from here.

Speaker 35 (01:53:42):
You know, I thought they made some ployees. They made
more than us down the stretch, and that was the
difference in the game. And two good, two really good teams.
It's a hard four football game.

Speaker 2 (01:53:53):
We just we came up short, and it's it's this point.
What did you see in the class room that they have?

Speaker 35 (01:54:02):
Yeah, we scrambled through and and again he's he finally
laying in the pocket and guys were matching the coverage
and he kind of waited to make one, missing it
the first time.

Speaker 6 (01:54:09):
Paid the big six?

Speaker 2 (01:54:10):
Is that something that on that play is something that
you're nervous about more combing off the edge.

Speaker 12 (01:54:15):
Of the game.

Speaker 35 (01:54:15):
Just to make sense, it's kind of for the corner
coming off the edge, and he made a great player
he had gliderannus Uh, It's very rare that you see
a guy have that awareness the way that we were
attacking there and make a play like that.

Speaker 2 (01:54:27):
So Ben for great play, great play by.

Speaker 14 (01:54:30):
Hid What did you shoot that?

Speaker 31 (01:54:31):
Sorre top docrection, most like that for the team.

Speaker 2 (01:54:34):
Just keep picking each other up.

Speaker 17 (01:54:35):
It was.

Speaker 2 (01:54:35):
It was a hard off our game. We had our moments,
they had a couple more.

Speaker 35 (01:54:40):
Still believe in these guys and and again we're gonna
have to I know we're up against the wall here
with with whatever our opportunities are. But we got a
big home game this week and the divisions. We got
to be able to pick ourselves up and find a
way to go respond.

Speaker 34 (01:54:53):
How do you feel like you play and give the
condition how what.

Speaker 35 (01:54:56):
The challenge was that to try to I think both teams,
you know teams, it's gonna be a challenge in the
elements and handled it well. You know, I thought our
defense came up big with the turnover on the goal line.
There was kind of gonna be an opportunistic red zone game.
We felt like held him to three early on, which
we had talked about was going to keep pointing the game,

(01:55:16):
keeping four points off the board. They got the turnover,
tried to get another one almost that we challenged. So again,
these are things we talked about. We knew it was
explosive offense. They're capable of scoring forty points. Again, that's
what they do to people, and so you know it's
just that they got us there in the fourth quarter.

Speaker 14 (01:55:32):
The pick six.

Speaker 3 (01:55:33):
You guys are driving, they try to kind of media
a double vision. Did you feel like you had the
game playing in the way you wanted.

Speaker 17 (01:55:40):
To in that moment before.

Speaker 35 (01:55:42):
Those two days, Yeah, we're in a great spot and
I thought, you know, forty seven just made an outstanding play.
That's a big time playing this league. He's playing with
a lot of confidence. You don't see a lot of
guys be able to make that, and he did it.

Speaker 2 (01:55:55):
And credit to him.

Speaker 3 (01:55:57):
That is Bengals head coach Zach Taylor. Yeah, the defense.
You know, I advocated for firing Duke Tobin in the
last segment. I'm also over al Golden. I said it
from the very beginning. This is a guy who third
down with the game on the line in the National
Championship Game, went one on one with the best player

(01:56:18):
in the country and lost because of it. I saw
some better things over the last couple of weeks, but
the rules of engagement when it comes to defending Josh
Allen are not difficult to find. He hadn't rushed for
over fifty yards on anybody this season. And for them
to put together the game plan they did, and the

(01:56:41):
play calls and the blitzes and the man coverage and
the rush lanes and the stunts that just really played
into the hand of Josh Allen I thought was absolutely
embarrassing and awful by the Bengals defensive coordinator. I have
no faith in Al Golden moving forward. Got time for
one more phone call. Let's go to Brian in Montgomery.

(01:57:03):
What's up, Brian?

Speaker 13 (01:57:05):
Hey, how are you doing?

Speaker 3 (01:57:06):
Good man? What's on your mind?

Speaker 10 (01:57:09):
Hey?

Speaker 36 (01:57:09):
You kind of stole my thunder there a little bit?
Uh with the uh with Al Golden, I thought the
two biggest plays in the game was that fourth down. UH,
when they got that touchdown where he decides not to
blitz and leaves like Allen with like ten seconds to
throw and find anybody who wants in the end zone.

(01:57:30):
I mean a guy like Alan that has a cannon,
I mean he's gonna be available.

Speaker 12 (01:57:33):
I mean, you can't cover.

Speaker 10 (01:57:34):
Everybody for ten seconds, sure, Uh, no matter who you are.

Speaker 12 (01:57:37):
And and and for them to say, well.

Speaker 13 (01:57:39):
We did we a player should have made a play.

Speaker 36 (01:57:41):
Well you should know your personnel. They're not very good
at rush of the passer.

Speaker 10 (01:57:45):
So you need some help.

Speaker 36 (01:57:47):
Uh, you need you need a little bit of creativity
in that spot, which you know, last couple of weeks
I was kind of impressed by he actually figured out
what a blitz was, which which was a positive step forward.
But then but then we we we are up the
only thing possible that can happen with you know, like
exposed to play and Alan runs for like however long touchdown?

(01:58:11):
How do we not have a spy on that? And
like especially in a snow game, whereas receivers can't get open,
they're not very good. The only supposed to play they're
gonna get is either a pass interference or Alan running
the ball.

Speaker 13 (01:58:24):
And we don't spy.

Speaker 36 (01:58:25):
We're playing man coverage where nobody is even close to
Alan or looking at Alan.

Speaker 32 (01:58:32):
Uh.

Speaker 36 (01:58:32):
And and this just goes along with you know, pretty
much the whole year. I mean, and no matter how
bad our linebackers are and our defensive line, you know,
our coach isn't helping them by putting them in the
best situation possible either by you know, kind of exposing them.
I don't know if that's on purpose. Maybe he's like
showing the front office, like, look what you gave me,

(01:58:53):
so to speak.

Speaker 12 (01:58:54):
But I'm not impressed.

Speaker 36 (01:58:56):
You know, actually for all the people that you know,
we're one ando gone. I think Amo is probably you know,
kind of laughing pretty hard right now. Sure, you know,
they they need this defense in particular with the lack
of personnel they have.

Speaker 12 (01:59:14):
They need somebody that that can adjust. It doesn't have
to have the you know.

Speaker 36 (01:59:20):
The best defenders at every position to be able to
go because you know, Al Golden likes to play finally,
like to play man and man.

Speaker 10 (01:59:26):
You gotta have players to be able to do that.

Speaker 36 (01:59:28):
Yeah, you gotta have a defensive line that actually can pressure.
You're not you know, your your corner is originally gonna
expose of your their quarterback sitting back there for five seconds.
I mean I was actually encouraged because against Lamari actually
had a good game plan.

Speaker 12 (01:59:42):
Like we've played, did't give much time.

Speaker 36 (01:59:44):
My biggest thing with Allen was about the same blitch
your athletic guys that are fast, spy make him make
a quick decision, you know, if he sits back there
and play his backyard.

Speaker 3 (01:59:57):
And Brian, thank you for the phone. Come up against
the clock here exactly right. I mean, you outlined a
lot of stuff that I agree with. It's just they're
in a dark place on defense right now, and nothing
seems to really fit neither. None of the pieces really
seem to fit one another. Take a break, We'll be back,
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (02:00:14):
For fans who love a top shelf experience.

Speaker 3 (02:00:18):
Welcome back Tony Pike's Monday midday Quarterback ESPN fifteen thirty.
I've butchered the clock, so in order to get us
back on time, this is a touch and go, a
touch and go because coming up next it's Tony and
Mo Tony and Mo Football Show three to six. Tony
and Moe joined me for quick hits next right here
on the home of the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 15 (02:00:40):
Thirty WCKY Cincinnati and iHeartRadio Station Guaranteed Human, ESPN fifteen thirty.

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I heard radio.

Speaker 3 (02:00:52):
From the Clements Heating and Air Temps Star Weather Center.

Speaker 2 (02:00:55):
Here's your forecast This report is sponsored by All States Some.

Speaker 24 (02:01:00):
Now it's time for quick hits on Tony Pikes.

Speaker 20 (02:01:04):
Since there.

Speaker 3 (02:01:11):
Was looking for Mo, how about this big new fancy
intro for quick Hits Tony and Mo Football show coming up,
Tony and Moe joining us.

Speaker 16 (02:01:18):
Now, Hello boys, I just wish the Open had Locks
of the Night on it. Yep, yeah, yeah, take what
we can get, though, Yeah, I mean, I mean.

Speaker 3 (02:01:29):
We're obviously already suffering from a tough weekend, and then
to add that on. I wasn't expecting on a Monday.

Speaker 4 (02:01:36):
That we're going to have the College Football Playoff, We're
going to have the Liberty Bowl, We're going to have
the NFL Playoffs. Without Locks of the Night and without
the Bengals is frustrating.

Speaker 3 (02:01:44):
Yeah, without a doubt. Let's start with Friday Night the
Cross Town. Okay, I thought winners went first.

Speaker 4 (02:01:54):
Great year.

Speaker 3 (02:01:55):
I thought winners went first. I was gonna ask about
the Musketeers, congratulations to them. The story of Friday Night
was Trey Carroll. And we'll talk about how the Bearcats
didn't defend him, but the story of Friday Night was
Trey Carroll. That game has a tendency to make heroes
over the last thirty years, there have been more heroes

(02:02:15):
in Xavier uniforms than Cincinnati uniforms. And I think the
real story is how Richard Patino has taken a team
that I wasn't sure if they beat anybody they had
in the coming weeks, not just Cincinnati but West Virginia, Georgia.

Speaker 4 (02:02:30):
You're looking at that team going can they avoid a
last place finish in the Big East? And look, their
talent isn't what it's going to need to be at
Xavier long term, but they're responding to that coach. They've
improved dramatically collectively, and I think it's fun to think
about where that team may be in a month or two.
There are a lot of winnable games in the Big East.
Yukon's awesome, Saint John's is good. I'm not sure who

(02:02:52):
else in the conference is really good. But the story
on Friday night for me, on an individual basis, was
Trey Carroll and then just how far that Xavier team
has come in a very short amount of time.

Speaker 2 (02:03:01):
I don't think. I don't think the more talented roster
overall won the game, but that's not been the case
in the shootout for quite some time. I think the
team that executed better won the basketball game, and it
looks to make no mistake about it. Richard Patinomo gave
the ball to Trey Carroll in advantageous situations. You and
I mentioned during the game. Seanna Bive had a great

(02:03:22):
first half. I don't really remember him getting a good
look in the second half. You got guys that are
running hot, find a way to get him more touches.
It felt like a microcosm of every shootout that I've
watched at the Cintas Center since two thousand and one.

Speaker 3 (02:03:37):
Bengals lose to the Bills. Two difficult plays for the
Bengals offense, both really good plays by the Bills defense.
Where do we go from here?

Speaker 14 (02:03:51):
We're on to Baltimore, talk ourselves into eight and nine,
finishing four and oh, eight and nine, Pittsburgh finishing one
to three, and the Ravens finishing two and two.

Speaker 13 (02:04:01):
Oh.

Speaker 4 (02:04:03):
I mean, I was thinking about this and getting getting
ready for the show today. So there were there was
a familiar script, which is Bengals defense can't get stops
when it needs to, and then there was the new script,
which was Joe Burrow commits a terrible mistake in the
fourth quarter, but like, there's no take. Okay, is Joe
Burrow all of a sudden bad, Well, he didn't watch

(02:04:23):
the first half. If you think that, like, okay, Joe
Burrow made a miss, there's there's no then what right? Okay?
Great players have bad moments. Joe unfortunately had one with
his team up three in the fourth quarter. And then
the other part of it, like what else new can
we say about this defense? I'll try, but like they're

(02:04:44):
historically bad against tight ends. They were bad against tight
ends yesterday. When they have been needed to make a play,
whether it's been with the lead, whether it's been facing
a deficit. When Al Golden's unit has been needed to
make a play, it hasn't going back to week two
and changed it. So that's the thing, Like where do

(02:05:05):
we go from here? Well, if you want this to
be just destroyed Joe Burrow and be me, Joe Burrow's
bailed this team. And there's no real new ground to
cover when it comes to the defense, because what we
saw is the.

Speaker 2 (02:05:16):
Same conversation remains to say. If the Bengals have to win,
Joe Burrow has to be perfect. That's a lot to
put on a quarterback's plate. They had opportunities. I got
the ball back before the half, Orlando Brown Junior misses
a corner blitz coming off the edge, sacked Joe Burrow.
That was an opportunity. I'm at the point with the defense.
It's the first thing I said to Mo today. I'm
at the point with the defense. I'm not even asking

(02:05:39):
for stops. Can you just not give up touchdown drives
in a minute to eleven seconds in the fourth quarter?
Can you just make four and a half minutes go
on the clock? By the way, Greg GOLs had made
the point during the game, it's a it's a Bills
team void of deep threats, right, So you're okay, just
just play coverage and let him dink and dunk here
for four or five minutes and then and then play

(02:05:59):
red zone defense instead. You give up big play after
big play going into the game. If we talked right
before the game, what are the two things that Buffalo's
gonna try to do on offense? They're gonna highlight their
tight ends and Josh Allen in the running game. Bengals
should have known that because everyone else in the world
knew that, and that's how they got beat. It's maddening,

(02:06:22):
it's frustrating, but unfortunately it's nothing we've not.

Speaker 3 (02:06:26):
Talked about before on this show. In thirty seconds, your
thoughts on the college football playoff bracket.

Speaker 2 (02:06:34):
I think the storyline outside of the bracket is the
matchup between Tysonvites three to three to five defense and
Navy without ken Neamatalolo and their ability to run the ball.
That's an early bowl matchup that I think everyone is
on the lookout for. Outside of that, it's always gonna
be flawed. People are always gonna be upset. Kirk kurve
Street last night saying maybe you should go to sixteen team.
You don't need to go to sixteen. Everyone's gonna be upset.

(02:06:55):
Austin hit it earlier. The best twelve teams in the
country aren't playing in the college football playoff.

Speaker 4 (02:06:59):
The best what it is, but the best fourteen teams
don't always play in the NFL playoffs, right, We like
this as new The Bengals make it at eight to
nine and win the division and host the playoff game,
Are they one of the best seven teams in the AFC? No,
So it's never playoffs have never been about who the
best is. I'll say this though, the four first round matchups,
maybe because we have rematches Alabama Oklahoma may be fun.

(02:07:22):
I'm not sure any of those games.

Speaker 16 (02:07:23):
Really do it for me.

Speaker 17 (02:07:24):
Now.

Speaker 3 (02:07:24):
Tulane is good.

Speaker 4 (02:07:25):
I think Tulane can compete with old Miss. Coaching situation
there makes that game fascinating.

Speaker 2 (02:07:31):
But can any of the four first round matchups challenge
any of the four top seats?

Speaker 3 (02:07:36):
No, I don't think so either.

Speaker 2 (02:07:37):
No, I don't think so, which is odd because last
year none of the bye teams won.

Speaker 14 (02:07:41):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:07:41):
I just what I love most about this is we're
complaining about the committee. For years, all I heard was
we can't let computers pick the best teams. Now we
want computers to pick the best team. If this was
a four team it'd be easy this year. Yeah, very
it'd be the most. I also don't blame Notre Dame
for saying it to one of.

Speaker 3 (02:07:56):
Those stupid bowls. I agree, I agree. I thought that
was the right move. To and MO Football Show coming
up three to six this afternoon. Thanks boys, We'll be listening.
That is at Twin Peaks, Tony and Mo. They are next.
This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 15 (02:08:11):
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Speaker 10 (02:08:17):
Free never sounded so good.

Speaker 3 (02:08:19):
ESPN fifteen thirty Man