Tony Pike's Monday Midday Quarterback -- 12/29/25

Tony and Austin recap the Bengals win, the long holiday weekend, and more on ESPN 1530!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

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

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Feeling good, It's Skyline Time.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (00:23):
Today.

Speaker 4 (00:23):
Good afternoon, Happy Monday, Welcome in to the Monday Midday Quarterback.
You are listening on this the home of the Bengals,
ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Thanks for joining us.
Hope everybody's Christmas was awesome. Hope everyone had a great holiday.
I know it's the this is the weird week now
right in between Christmas and New Year's there are days.

(00:44):
I don't know what time it is, what day it is,
but happy to make it and get to the studio
by noon today for the start of the Monday Midday Quarterback.
Hoping again that everyone's holiday season was fantastic or is
going fantastic in this It's a weird week all right
out right Austin. This like middle week, but between Christmas

(01:04):
and New Year's.

Speaker 5 (01:05):
Weird, odd, weird every single year, especially weird when the
New Year's Eve and New Year's Day holiday is kind
of right in the middle of the week, the you
know what is it on Wednesday and Thursday?

Speaker 4 (01:18):
Yeah, that's kind of strange, but it's exciting. Did you
have a good Christmas? I did?

Speaker 6 (01:24):
Yeah, I had a really good Chris Christmas.

Speaker 4 (01:27):
Anymore, I love the build up to Christmas, and year
by year, I feel like I hate more that day
right after Christmas because it just goes quick. And I
think that's a lot with the little ones, as you
build up so much about this season and the excitement
around the season, and then.

Speaker 6 (01:45):
Of the building.

Speaker 4 (01:45):
Yeah, and then it just feels like it's gone so quickly.
But hopefully everyone was able to soak in as much
of the holiday season as possible. Hopefully everyone's going to
have a great New Year's and in between all that
we get to talk some sports.

Speaker 5 (01:56):
I saw you were getting little emotional. You were getting
the man, it's an emotion. Time for you to go
and post a video from your couch?

Speaker 6 (02:03):
How about that?

Speaker 7 (02:04):
You know?

Speaker 5 (02:04):
And I thought you were going to start crying. I've
seen honestly, man, I've seen enough of you crying this year.
I don't want to see any more. Tony Pike tears.
That's twenty twenty six.

Speaker 6 (02:14):
Goal.

Speaker 5 (02:15):
That's my New Year's resolution. Don't see Tony cry ever again.
It was a lot and you had a moment there
it was posted. I thought that was I thought that
was lovely.

Speaker 6 (02:25):
It was. It was a nice little moment you.

Speaker 5 (02:27):
I think men should do a better job at expressing
their feelings, and in that moment you did.

Speaker 6 (02:32):
It was the first.

Speaker 4 (02:33):
Cool moment of quiet I think of the whole holiday season.
You just get the gifts out and there's a calm
before what you know, the madness is going to be. Yeah,
and that calm allows for a little reflection on what
has been a crazy year for I'm sure a lot
of people.

Speaker 6 (02:46):
Did you get any cool Christmas gifts?

Speaker 8 (02:48):
I did?

Speaker 6 (02:49):
I did anything that you would want to share?

Speaker 4 (02:51):
Well, uh, Mayor caught me up to speed, and this
for you is dangerous because I now have a PS
five oh so already and some Fortnite that happened. I
jumped on the Madden Wow. I got on the sticks
a little bit this weekend.

Speaker 9 (03:08):
I did.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
I did one and one against the computer right now. Yeah, okay,
I got a lot to learn for right now.

Speaker 6 (03:16):
But it was a good start, all right. It was
a good start. Wow. But yeah, I'm in the game,
So Madden Leagues here, I come.

Speaker 4 (03:23):
No, no, no, I'm sure soon you don't want anything
to do with that. If I were playing in a
Madden League right now, it would look a lot like
what the Arizona Cardinals looked like yesterday. Ouch, how about
that for the tie in? That was well done, because
it was abysmal. It was a weird It was a
weird game in the sense that you never really felt
like the Bengals weren't going to win. And I didn't

(03:45):
know how to view it because it felt to me.
And I know you described it and you will almost
like a preseason feel you were at the game, but
I it just kind of felt like going through the
motions a little bit. And I don't think that's a
Bengal problem. I think that, to anything, is a credit
to the Bengals and Zach Taylor, because what you saw
on the field yesterday were two teams playing for nothing.

(04:05):
One team had already checked out and one team didn't. Now,
I know the Cardinals were playing shorthanded and they didn't
have a lot of pieces on the defensive side of
the ball. But we've talked about the Trey McBride matchup.
We've talked about what Arizona could potentially do offensively and
Jacobe Brissett making his one hundredth appearance in the NFL,

(04:25):
and for the most part, I think the Bengals took
care of business in every way you would hope them
to do yesterday, and they did so by having some
fun along the way. We'll talk about the Cody Ford catch,
We'll talk about this offense continuing to operate at a
very high level. We'll talk about some improvements on the
defensive side of the ball. And there's going to be
an ongoing discussion this week, although I don't think it's

(04:46):
a discussion inside the walls of pay Corpse Stadium because
Zach Taylor has already said today that Joe Burrow is
going to play on Sunday in the finale against the
Cleveland Browns. Personally, I would be okay with Joe Burrow
not playing in the finale against the Cleveland Browns. But
we've got a ton to get to on the Cincinnati
Bengals and the Arizona Cardinals yesterday, which we'll do as

(05:08):
the hour goes on. You were obviously there yesterday, Austin,
your biggest takeaway at pay Court Stadium yesterday.

Speaker 5 (05:14):
Unbelievable weather. Like I just kept looking around, like, is
it really December the twenty eighth that we're watching this
football game and it's seventy degrees outside. Obviously, the Cody
Ford thing was fun. I did like ask myself a
couple of times. I'm like, Okay, what are we actually
learning here about this team? And I think there are

(05:35):
two things that stand out to me. Number one is
you can sometimes match the level of your opponent. You
can play down to the level of your opponent, especially
if they are a team that is checked out, and
by all indications, Arizona is checked out. They didn't have
their best players, they didn't have their starting quarterback. I
don't know about the future of their head coach, but

(05:56):
there's a lot of reasons for Arizona to just try
to get that thing over with. And the Bengals at
no point played down to the level of the Arizona Cardinals.
That I think is a good thing. How much does
it really mean? Probably not all that much, but I
think that's a good thing. And then secondly, I know
that he kind of got his towards the end and
set the NFL record for catches by a tight end

(06:19):
in season. The Bengals for the most part held Trey
McBride at bat and they did it with both dj
Ivy and with Dax Hill, and those two guys I
think are interesting pieces, especially Dax going into next year.
And even if you look at at last week's game
as well against Miami, they did a pretty good job
against the tight end and so for two weeks, even

(06:42):
though they are by no means elite opponents that they
are facing the Bengals, at least it seemed to make
progress defending the tight end position, which they haven't done
very well at all over the last fifteen years yet.
So those are just little tiny things that maybe don't
care that much weight, but it's like, okay, there's something there.

Speaker 4 (07:03):
That's the hardest thing. I view the lens of the
last couple of weeks so far and against Cleveland as well,
they've improved and you feel like there's improvements happening. You
also know the competition isn't great, yeah, and it's hard
to balance that, and you know, it was a conversation
that we had yesterday before the game with Moe and
ken Brew of playing out the string winning the meaningless games,

(07:28):
and they're being a positive on that of being able
to watch a Miles Murphy or Shamar Stewart collected his
first sack yesterday or other good things that happened. But
it cannot allow you to cloud and mean by me,
by you, I mean the front office of the Cincinnati Bengals,
Duke Tobin. It can't allow you to be clouded in

(07:48):
the judgment of who this team really was this year.
As long as both of those things are true, that
you feel good about some pieces down the stretch, but
what's happening down the stretch doesn't change the core problem
that this offseason needs to be much more aggressive and successful.

Speaker 6 (08:02):
Then I'm good with what's happening.

Speaker 5 (08:04):
And I think a lot of Bengals fans are understandably
weary of that being the case, because it has been
the case in years past that there is maybe too
much weight put on these final couple of games and
against inferior opponents. And I hope that there are people
in that building who look around and say, yeah, we
smoke these last two teams, but that really doesn't mean anything.

(08:27):
Like my thing is who jumps off the field at me?
Who jumps off the screen at me in these games
that they're supposed to be dominating. Burrow is excellent, Chase
is excellent, Chase Brown is magnificent, all the guys that
are supposed to But how about a situation in which
Amarius Mims goes down with a shin injury and all
of a sudden the offense stalls out. This is a

(08:48):
reminder offensive line depth is a major need in the offseason,
and we've kind of forgotten about that because of how
well they've played and how they've all played together over
the last month or so. But it's a reminder that, hey,
if if Mems goes down, if Brown goes down, if
Dalton Reisner goes down, there are major issues in the
depth of that offensive line.

Speaker 6 (09:09):
That's one thing.

Speaker 5 (09:10):
The other thing, too, is did it feel like Demetrius
Knight or Barrett Carter at any point over the last
two weeks have jumped off the screen at you?

Speaker 6 (09:18):
No, No, Eric Carter A play? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (09:23):
Did Jordan Battle? I think kind of did the same thing.
Barrett j shaken out of his shoes. Genostone, I think
we should do as something to look forward to in March,
some sort of a party for the end of the
Genostone era. Maybe we can get a cake in here.
Maybe we can have Skyline cater it, because I can't
wait until the end of the Genostone era. But either way,

(09:44):
those little things that I'm looking at, and again I'm
not putting a ton of weight into any of it,
but hey, if Barrett Carter's not making plays against these guys,
if Demetrius Knight Junior to win a cat, then it's like, Okay,
there really needs to be something. If you're going to
put weight on the good things that happen, you also
need to put weight on the bad things that happen.

Speaker 4 (10:06):
We'll talk about everything else. What we'll start our number
two is we look around what else happened in the
NFL yesterday and throughout last week and what it means
going into Week eighteen. There are some big matchups in
Week eighteen that we will highlight. It's also a big
week for bowl season because the College Football Playoff gets
back in action.

Speaker 6 (10:24):
At the end of the week. You get Ohio State
and Miami. On New Year's Eve, New.

Speaker 4 (10:32):
Year's Day, you get the other three college Football Playoff games.
Of course, there's a Bearcat Liberty Bowl happening on January
second in Memphis, Tennessee. We'll discuss that as the week
goes on. The Miami RedHawks Austin. Their season comes to
a disappointing end, a eighteen to three loss to Fresno
State in the Snoop Dog Bowl that happened over the weekend.

(10:54):
Did you see Snoop DOGG catch the kickoff?

Speaker 6 (10:56):
I did.

Speaker 5 (10:57):
I did not play what an athlete any of that game,
but I did see that clip and I was like, Okay,
that's pretty cool. Play Snup had a I mean, that
performance at halftime in Minnesota was unbelievable, sensational.

Speaker 4 (11:13):
Good for Snoop. Kyle Whittingham is the new coach at Michigan.
He said that a championship at Michigan is his quote
final challenge in his coaching career. What do you make
of the higher and just the coaching search from Michigan themselves?

Speaker 6 (11:33):
Really good? Higher for them.

Speaker 4 (11:34):
I mean, this is an established the names out there,
a respected coach, a guy who's built a program. He
is the exact opposite of Sharon Moore and Jim Harball,
which is that he's a smart guy who is not
an idiot like those two guys are. And so yeah,
I mean, as an Ohio State fan, it's like, dang,
they got a pretty good hire at the last minute.

(11:55):
I don't quite understand Utah stance and all of this
seems like they kind of forced him out. Yea, that
I don't quite understand. But if you're you know, I
think best case scenario, if you're Ohio State, is that
he turns into like Kirk Ferentz at Iowa, which just
wins like nine games every year and it isn't really
doing anything.

Speaker 6 (12:15):
Tommy Tuppervilla, you see.

Speaker 5 (12:16):
Yeah, I really really was kind of hoping they would
get Tubs out of whatever.

Speaker 4 (12:24):
A lot of people are under you with names that
went off the board. His tubs next is Brian Kelly. Next,
I was praying for Brian Catcher.

Speaker 7 (12:32):
Was no.

Speaker 4 (12:33):
Also, this happened over I don't know if the weekend
or just from the last time we spoke Austin This
story going around with Baylor basketball.

Speaker 6 (12:45):
Did you see this?

Speaker 5 (12:47):
I don't understand it. I saw it. I don't understand it.

Speaker 4 (12:50):
So a player by the name of James Energy. I
think I'm pronouncing that correct. James Energy has joined the
Baylor Bears basketball program after four years in which he
played professionally in Europe. There was also a span in

(13:13):
this in twenty twenty three Austin, where he was drafted
in the first round by the Detroit Pistons of the
NBA Draft. His rights were then traded to Charlotte and
then the New York Knicks.

Speaker 6 (13:25):
But did he ever play an NBA game.

Speaker 4 (13:27):
Did not play in the NBA, but he did play
as a professional in Europe. Okay, drafted by the NBA, right,
he's now joined Baylor at the college level.

Speaker 5 (13:38):
Okay, so that's not as bad as I thought. Like,
if you're going and playing in the NBA, I think
that's a different story. But if you go and play
over in Europe and then come over, I think that's
a little bit different. Yeah, you know this is I
don't know how long that's going to be the case.
I don't know if you've heard this, but there are
rumors out there and big time rumors this is going
to happen sooner rather than later, that the NBA is

(13:59):
going to it a establish a league in Europe. And
what that looks like, I don't know, but there are
gonna be some major like players and money and all
that going on. In Europe and that's gonna be connected
with the NBA here. I don't know, you know what
it's gonna ultimately look like. But like in the future,

(14:21):
if he goes and plays in that league you know
it is, then is he still eligible then I don't know. Well,
now he's never played in the NBA, I don't feel
as bad about it. But now it opens the door.
Your guy, Diego Pavia Okay, along with twenty six other
football players, have cited now through a lawyer, the NCAA's
decision to allow an NBA draft pick to return to

(14:43):
college basketball as a reason that a federal judge should
let these twenty seven football players play.

Speaker 4 (14:49):
In the twenty twenty six and twenty twenty seven season.
So that's the thing, like when you open the door
to something like this, Now, this door is going to
be kicked in by others that are saying, a wait
a second, why don't we get another year?

Speaker 6 (14:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 5 (14:59):
I don't think anything surprises me anymore. I mean, when
there's nobody really in.

Speaker 6 (15:04):
Control running asylum.

Speaker 5 (15:06):
Yeah, I mean, well, if you want to say that,
if you want to say wild wild West, whatever you
want to say, any of those things that are commonly
used to describe college athletics. They're all true, and I
don't know that anything takes me by surprise as we're
having this conversation, though, we did have a little bit
more news in the college football coaching front.

Speaker 6 (15:24):
Okay, are you ready for this? Please?

Speaker 5 (15:26):
Marcus Freeman, oh, head coach of Notre Dame, has informed
NFL franchises that he is staying at Notre Dame to
be the head coach of the Fighting Irish. Freeman and
Notre Dame have agreed to a restructured contract that puts
him in the top tier in compensation among college coaches.
That's according to Pat Forty and then Marcus Freeman just

(15:49):
fifteen minutes ago, tweeting twenty twenty six, run it back,
Go Irish Now before is a lot of NFL interest
in my in, Marcus Freeman.

Speaker 4 (15:57):
Before we get to our first break and back to
the Bengals, allow us to not wait any longer in
this the Monday midday quarterback to bury the lead Austin
hitting two twelve last year with fourteen home runs and
thirty nine RBIs for the Athletics. JJ Bledah Yeah is
now a Cincinnati Red. Now this happened on Saturday, Saturday,

(16:19):
and you know, you just think about how the weekend
unfolds and Christmas was on Thursday. A lot of people
may not even hurt about this yet. JJ Bledah, Yeah
is a Cincinnati Red JJ Bleda.

Speaker 5 (16:32):
Don't you say? What did you make of jajay? His
numbers were last year?

Speaker 4 (16:37):
He hit two twelve with fourteen homers and thirty nine
RBIs for the athletics.

Speaker 6 (16:42):
Okay, well what about this?

Speaker 5 (16:43):
I got two thirty five six homers thirty one RBI
for Dane Myers, the center fielder that they traded for.

Speaker 6 (16:51):
Wait a second, they got two players the Miami Marlins.

Speaker 5 (16:54):
Yes, the Red's got two outfielders over the weekend.

Speaker 6 (16:58):
Oh, one name Dane Myers.

Speaker 9 (17:00):
One name?

Speaker 6 (17:01):
JJ Bledah? Oh?

Speaker 4 (17:04):
Are they doing like a joint press conference? Are they
doing joining now? Are they gonna do something big? I
don't know at the stadium. Dan Meyer's a really good defender.
Sure so, As Nick Carl has said many times, defense
is the most important part of any baseball team. Yeah,
uh so, I guess there's that. Okay, congratulations to Meyer

(17:25):
and Bidet. More of the same, yep for the old
Red Legs. All right, shout out to the Red Legs
making news here on the Monday mid Day Quarterback.

Speaker 5 (17:36):
Eight hundred Green to go nine scoreless against the Red
Sox on opening Day.

Speaker 6 (17:40):
Well, he will because he'll have good defense behind him.
That game would be twelve innings, final score one nothing.

Speaker 4 (17:45):
Boston, Welcome to the twenty twenty sixth season. Welcome to
just the start of the Monday Midday Quarterback Back to
the Bengals and Cardinals when we return your phone calls,
welcome as well. Five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty.
You are listening on the Home of the Bengals, ESPN
fifteen to thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (18:02):
Football in the NATI, brought to you by Hey Duran
Window Company on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of
the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 4 (18:15):
All right, welcome back, it is now Football in the
NATTI on the Monday Midday Quarterback. You're listening on the
Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
A look around the rest of the National Football League.
To kick off our number two, of course, the Monday
edition of the Tony and Moe Football Show. Only two
weeks left today three to six will be at the

(18:36):
Twin Peaks in Westchester. Next week the finale, we will
be at Twin Peaks in Florence, So two more opportunities.
Moe and I will be at Twin Peaks in Westchester
from three to six. We will carry at some point
during those three hours. The Zach Taylor press conference can
confirm now. Zach Taylor, in his press conference today said
that Joe Burrow is going to be the quarterback against

(18:57):
the Cleveland Browns when the Browns come to pay Course
Stadium on Sunday. Let's start with that before we get
to yesterday's game. Austin very simply put, do you agree
with Sach Taylor? And he went on to say that
that Joe gives them the best chance to win, which
is obviously the case. Do you agree in having number
nine out there for the finale on Sunday?

Speaker 5 (19:17):
No doubt about it. He gives him the best chance
to win. I don't need to see Joe Burrow play.
I've been the guy this whole time that's been like,
let him play, let him play, let him play. This
game means nothing. Miles Garrett is trying to kill people,
trying to get that sack record.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
This.

Speaker 5 (19:34):
I just unless it's like a you know, early on
Brett Faarr of Michael Strahan situation where Burrow just falls
down for him and then we can start playing.

Speaker 6 (19:44):
That's one thing.

Speaker 4 (19:45):
But Arris missed out on the sack record yesterday, did
not have a sack against Aaron Rodgers. He went on
to say that it's part of why the Browns won
because they were more interested in keeping him from breaking
a record than actually winning the game. That's going to
be an even more motivated Miles gar and his last
opportunity to break a record.

Speaker 5 (20:02):
I'm good, Yeah, I really. To me, there's just no
reason for it, no reason for Joe to play. I
get where they're coming from. You know, in an ideal world,
they do the same thing they've done the last couple
of weeks, and Joe is out of the game by
the third quarter, or maybe you do treat it like
a preseason game and he's done after the first half

(20:25):
or something along those lines.

Speaker 4 (20:27):
But yeah, I get he gives you the best chance
to win, that's obvious. What's the point of needing to
win this one? As the game win yesterday? I think
there are a lot of positives. Let's do the positives here. Obviously,
Joe Burrow was cool, calm, and collected. He did get
sacked three times in the game, which is three more
than you'd want to see Joe Burrow take hits on.

(20:49):
But he did finish over the three hundred yard mark again,
two touchdowns, zero interceptions. I feel like it's Wash Rents
repeat right now, the conversation we have with Chase Brown.
One hundred and forty one total yards yesterday, he had
forty in the passing game. He had one hundred and
one on the ground, two touchdowns to go along with that. Austin,

(21:10):
I don't think there are anything there's anything new we
can say about Chase Brown. We have been extremely complimentary.
But I love and we use this term a lot,
and we look for this a lot. I love how
Chase Brown has been just so much more consistent in
what he's done. It's not the one or two game
sample sides. I think you could look right now and say, man,

(21:31):
Chase Brown, He's got all the makings that you need
to be a star back in the National Football League.

Speaker 5 (21:39):
Yeah, and again, the way this offense looks when Burrow,
Chase and Higgins are all healthy and all in the
field together. And what that means for Chase Brown and
how much of a weapon he can be is I
think the secret sauce to this thing being a high
powered offense because obviously teams are gonna double double those

(22:00):
other two guys and that takes up four defenders. Okay, well,
now you got you know, a guy like Mike Kasicki,
who has obviously been pretty good, and a guy like
Chase Brown, who what are you gonna do if you
motion him out? What are you gonna do if he's
in the backfield? How how are you gonna defend that?
And you've seen over the last couple of weeks with
hundreds of yards from scrimmage for Chase Brown that like,

(22:22):
oh yeah, this is a weapon here. And when the
offensive line has played as good as it has, especially
Dalton Reisner in that run game, I mean, hell man,
this is that's what it's supposed to look like. And
I know Zach talked about him earlier today and said,
I have complete faith in Chase Brown in every part
of his game, running the ball, catching the ball, and
in pass protection. Yeah, and that's a huge, huge thing

(22:46):
for a quarterback and a coach.

Speaker 4 (22:47):
He is at right now fourteen hundred and sixty six
total yards from scrimmage. He is fifty three yards away,
Austin from the thousand yard mark this year. On the season,
he is averaging four point three yards per carry, So
closing in on a thousand on the ground, closing in
on fifteen hundred total, those are two very attainable numbers

(23:11):
for him to pick up in the last game of
the regular season on Sunday.

Speaker 5 (23:14):
For sure, It's not gonna be easy. I mean, Cleveland's good,
My defense is still very legitimate. But yeah, I mean,
I think if you'd have told me at the beginning
of the year that Chase Brown is gonna have those
kind of numbers, I would have been.

Speaker 6 (23:26):
All over that.

Speaker 4 (23:28):
Eleven different Bengal receivers registered a catch yesterday over the
course of the game. Jamar Chase led the way with
seven of them and two touchdowns. For Jamar Chase Austin,
it was I knew about the drought going in, but
hearing it before the game, he had not scored a
touchdown I believe since October sixteenth. To have him not

(23:51):
only find the end zone, but find the end zone
twice and be rewarded for what has been another fantastic season.

Speaker 6 (23:57):
Was very good to see from Jamar Chase.

Speaker 4 (23:58):
One hundred and seven teen receptions, oney three hundred and
sixteen yards, seven touchdowns for Jamar Chase, he became yesterday
the first player in NFL history history to have one
thousand receiving yards, eighty or more catches, and seven or
more touchdowns in each of his five NFL seasons to

(24:22):
start his career.

Speaker 5 (24:22):
Yeah, I mean, think of twenty twenty one and how
he just exploded onto the scene. The following year in
twenty two, he had over one thousand yards and nine touchdowns.
He only played twelve games. He did that on just
eighty seven catches. Did Jamar Chas in twenty two and
then since then twelve hundred seventeen hundred, thirteen hundred in counting. Yeah,
with a ton of touchdowns, he's already He's pretty close

(24:46):
already to Chad Johnson in terms of total touchdowns, which
is kind of hard to believe.

Speaker 4 (24:50):
He's going to finish the year right now, he's fourth
in the NFL and receiving yards at thirteen hundred and sixteen,
he is second in the NFL and he's only two
bed Trey McBride, so he is leading the NFL in receptions.
Now Puka Nakua does play tonight, He's at one fourteen,
so he's likely going to pass Jamar Chase. But you

(25:11):
talk about a year without Joe Burrow for a majority
of the year, the Jake Browning weeks that we talked about,
Jamar Chase is still going to finish top five in receptions,
in yards and top fifteen in touchdowns.

Speaker 5 (25:22):
One hundred and seventy five targets already this season. That
matches the entire total from last year for Jamar Chase,
which is just kind of hard to believe that I've
gotten to this point already.

Speaker 4 (25:34):
Outside of that, another solid day from T Higgins. You
mentioned Mike Kasiki. It feels like over the last couple
of weeks, more so than ever Austin, Mike Kasiki has
found his spot in this offense, and I think health
plays a big role in that. But was good to
see Andre Yoshi vas four catches yesterday and mentioned Cody

(25:55):
Ford and Paul Danner Junior pointed it out Cody Ford
more catches than Jermaine Burton in twenty twenty five, So
a shout out to Cody Ford.

Speaker 6 (26:03):
He looked like that was cool as hell.

Speaker 8 (26:06):
Man.

Speaker 4 (26:06):
Like I was at the game and I I'm like
with my friend, I'm thinking, Cody Ford, he's either late
to get off this and then he lines up. I'm like,
Cody Ford is a wide receiver right now. Burrow goes
through the progression and it's like, all right, big fellow,
you're open.

Speaker 5 (26:24):
Yards after the cats man he lowered. Nothing to do
with him. And I also learned that apparently they call
him the wooly Mammoth, which I did not know that.

Speaker 4 (26:34):
Yeah, yesterday, rumbling, stumbling, dumbling towards the goal line.

Speaker 5 (26:38):
If he would have scored, oh my gosh. And then
he came in at full back. I thought they were
gonna give it to him, but u he was.

Speaker 6 (26:45):
He was part of the diversion. That was funny. All right,
we'll take a break when we cover.

Speaker 5 (26:48):
Offensive line should now have well, yeah, and what they
should do is they should put in their contract. Hey,
if I, you know, get over twenty receiving yards, I
get one hundred thousand dollars bonus.

Speaker 6 (27:01):
Cody Ford got it. Cody Ford got it.

Speaker 4 (27:05):
We will break and when we come back, let's talk
about the other side of the ball Mammoth on display yesterday.
That was the Bengals pike bag defense on the ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station.

Speaker 1 (27:16):
You've been listening to Football in the Natti on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 9 (27:28):
Light up the season with savings at Kelsey Shiverer.

Speaker 10 (27:31):
Cody Ford linees up as a wide receiver outside the
numerals at about three hundred and fifty pounds. Burrow throws,
Cody Ford catches. He's down to the fifteen to ten.
He tackled around the three yard line, almost a big

(27:52):
man TD for the all time highlight reel as Burrow
threw it to Cody Ford and the Wooly Mammoth began
running down the nearest high bye.

Speaker 11 (28:04):
I love it, Wooly Mammoth. I'm telling you, man, it's
a big, big player out there at the wide receiver position.
That might be the biggest wide receiver ever in the
history of football.

Speaker 4 (28:17):
The Wooly Mammoth. That's the first time I think I've
ever heard Dan Horde just start laughing in the middle
of a call. I saw him describe it on his
Twitter page as an involuntary response to what he was
seeing unbelievable. That was so awesome. That is our Win
Schuler's call of the day. Thanks to our friends at
wind Schulers. They're fantastic cheese spreads pairwell with absolutely everything

(28:41):
for you around this holiday season. Speaking of the wooly mammoth, Austin,
that kind of goes in line with Joe Burrow's gifts
to his offensive linemen.

Speaker 6 (28:48):
It's right.

Speaker 4 (28:49):
Authentic fossils, yeah, for Christmas. And we ain't talking about
just a couple hundred years old. We're talking about fossil fossils. Yeah,
We're not talking about something you dig up up in
the backyard. Authentic dinosaur, bear and mammoth fossils. Ted Carras says,
I think it speaks to his intelligence and interest and

(29:11):
his desire to do something unique. Yeah, I thought it
was really special. Carris picked up the tusk of a
wooly mammoth. Yeah, archaeologists estimated to be about thirty thousand
years old. Orlando Brown Junior and Marius Mims took home
cave bear skulls oh a t rex artifact, went the
rookie left guard, Dylan Fairchild. I'd be in on that.

(29:32):
I don't want t Rex artifact. I'd want the t Rex.

Speaker 5 (29:35):
So we've seen a lot of these gifts come out.
I think Aaron Rodgers got a bunch of like side
by sides, and there was golf cards from Jared Goff
and all sorts of different stuff from all these different guys.
I mean, I can't imagine what ten fossils were cheap,
especially if they're authentic like wooly mammoth and bear skulls.

(30:00):
That's gotta be some serious cash that Joe Burrow shelled
out for his offensive line. Man, who knows what he
got for himself? That he might have saved the best
one for himself. Sure that goes alongside the samurai swords.
Samurai swords.

Speaker 9 (30:15):
I like it.

Speaker 6 (30:15):
It's a little bit different.

Speaker 4 (30:16):
So I just looked up the price estimated for a
thirty thousand year old wooly mammoth tusk.

Speaker 6 (30:22):
What's it say? Is around thirty thousand dollars.

Speaker 4 (30:24):
That's what I'm saying, man, Like, that's some serious cash. Yeah,
Jordan Love bought every Packer player a pair of shoes
like a Nike Dunks.

Speaker 6 (30:33):
The total cost was like five kg.

Speaker 4 (30:35):
Yeah, I'm talking about wooly mammoths here.

Speaker 6 (30:38):
I mean, that's chunk change to Joe Burrow.

Speaker 4 (30:40):
Speaking of this offensive line for the Cincinnati Bengals Austin.
I saw yesterday some of the Pro Football Focus grades
Dylan Fairchild eighty four, Marius Mimms seventy nine point three,
Orlando Brown Junior seventy five point five, Dalton Reisner seventy
seven point one. Yeah, Dalton Reisner Austin. He's having the

(31:04):
best year of his career, according to Pro Football Focus.
It's a good right guard. There is stability there for
this team. It's not just been a flash in the pan.
Dalton Reisner, guy you want to bring back next year.

Speaker 6 (31:18):
I think it should be one of the first things
that gets done. Needs to be a priority. I think
it should be being worked on, like right now. Yep,
It's got to be a priority.

Speaker 5 (31:26):
Yeah, I mean, and there's nothing that says, Okay, we're
going to sign Dalton Reisner to a three year extension
and he has to be the guy from now until
the end of time. Nobody is saying that he's thirty
years old, but the way that he has performed this
season at the age of thirty and at that you
know level in this offense, and I think there was

(31:47):
some concern I think coming up like he was out
there for a reason in Minnesota let him go for
a reason. But he's totally changing it. Maybe he's a
perfect fit for this offense and what they want to do.

Speaker 4 (31:58):
It seems to have worked. Putting him now next to
Marius Mems. It seems to have helped Marius Mims. It's
taken a lot off the plate of Ted Carris. I
think Carris has played better, I think, and we've been
critic or Brown. He had a good game yesterday. Yeah,
I think he's played better. I don't think he would
say he's played up to his standard for the entire season,
but he's played better. And I think another year of

(32:19):
Dylan Fairchild playing at a high level will only make
that better. This is far off in the conversation, realm,
But are you bought into another year of Orlando Brown Jr.
And if not, is there a conversation to be had
about the potential to move a Marius Mims to left
tackle and find a new right tackle.

Speaker 6 (32:39):
I think that's a conversation for this time next year.

Speaker 4 (32:42):
Yeah, I mean left tackle is is very important obviously
with a right handed quarterback, you want to be shirt
up at left tackle, and if it's not Orlando Brown
Junior in the future, are you finding a new one
or would a Marius Mims slide to that side?

Speaker 6 (32:57):
I think is a question for the future. That is
a good question.

Speaker 5 (32:59):
I think I think you would probably slide Mims, that
would be my guess, and then look for a right
tackle elsewhere. That's my guess onto how that will play out. Sure,
But you know, I think if we're talking about money,
left tackles normally make a lot more money than right tackles. Yeah,
and you know, how's that gonna be a part of

(33:21):
the conversation when it comes to Mimes down the line.
He'll still have years on his deal left. But yeah,
I think that would be the most likely scenario because
somebody else is about to do the same thing. I
forget who it is, but they're about to slide their
guy from right tackle to left tackle.

Speaker 6 (33:36):
I forget which.

Speaker 5 (33:39):
Gosh, it was one of the one of the good
teams too, but just totally left my mind. But yeah,
it's not uncommon. Let's do this.

Speaker 4 (33:46):
Let's break one final time for the hour, and then
let's give the defense the amount of time that they
deserve for what they were able to do and have done.
I think a little bit more consistently. And again it's
not a conversation with the defense that is just going on.
We understand that the competition has been worse. We understand
the quarterback play has not been as good. There's been injuries,

(34:07):
different things, but they do deserve the credit and some
credit for improvements that they've made. We'll talk about those improvements,
talk about the game yesterday, and a little peek into
the future on the defensive side of the ball with
Al Golden's Bengals Defense. Next on ESPN fifteen to thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station on the Monday Midday Quarterback WC Welcome

(34:35):
back Monday Midday Quarterback ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.
It's awesome to have you along. Thanks for joining us.
We have talked all things Bengals here in our number one.
We'll continue to do that here and then we'll switch
gears a little bit. We'll talk about the rest of
the National Football League. We'll get your talkbacks and so
much more on our number two. I'll take off for

(34:55):
our number three to head to Twin Peaks in Westchester.
Austin will have the third hour of this the Monday
midday Quarterback.

Speaker 6 (35:01):
Let's talk. We used to make fun of Mike Greenberg
show was Greeny? He just wasn't over there? Yeah? Is
that what's going on with you? A little bit? At
least for two more weeks?

Speaker 4 (35:12):
All right, and then you know the season's over and
no more Tony and mo football show. Let's talk about
the side of the ball we haven't talked about yesterday,
the defense that held the Arizona Cardinals to just fourteen points.
Seven of those came in pretty much garbage time when
Trey McBride was just going for the NFL record, which

(35:33):
he did get for NFL catches by a tight end,
So shout out to Trey McBride forgetting that. But it
was thirty seven to seven at that point. Really, the
only I would say Austin bad look for the Bengals
defense yesterday was on the Michael Wilson thirty eight yard
touchdown pass and a reception in which three four Bengals

(35:54):
decided not to tackle, one of them being Genostone, which
we've seen before, one of them being Barrett Carter, which
we've all seen before. Outside of that though, I thought
it was a better day for the defense.

Speaker 6 (36:05):
Yeah, I think it was a better day.

Speaker 5 (36:06):
I mean they were and understanding the opponent, bigger, faster,
stronger than those guys they were supposed to dominate them
they did. I thought they were especially good on third downs.
What I felt like I saw more than normal were
stunts up front. I don't know if that's maybe a
weakness that Al Golden and the Bengals discovered in watching
the film of the Arizona Cardinals, but it felt like

(36:28):
there was a lot of games, a lot of stunts
going on up front. And to do that without Chris Jenkins,
without Joseph Osai did a lot of Shamar Stewart, a
lot of Joseph, a lot of Miles Murphy pulling off
those stunts.

Speaker 6 (36:41):
I think it made TJ. Slayton play a.

Speaker 5 (36:44):
Little bit better than what we've used to what we've
seen TJ play most of this year. But yeah, they
dominated a team that they were supposed to dominate.

Speaker 4 (36:52):
How do you view in the backdrop of the whole season,
sixteen game sample size, Miles Murphy, Cedric Johnson, TJ. Slay
and Shamar Stewart all what they sacked yesterday of Jacoby Brissett.
But I view some of those sacks and I think
is more meaningful than others. Obviously, Miles Murphy continues his
strong play down the stretch. He has solidified being a

(37:16):
very key member of this team going forward. It was
good to see Cedric Johnson get a sack and Shamar Stewart,
and I think the jury is still a little bit
out on Shamar Stewart.

Speaker 6 (37:23):
But a guy like TJ.

Speaker 4 (37:24):
Slaton Austin, do you view his sack yesterday differently than
maybe Miles Murphy's.

Speaker 12 (37:28):
No.

Speaker 4 (37:28):
I mean, for the last two weeks TJ. Slayton's played better.
Then do you look at the opponents and you're like, oh, okay,
that makes sense. With other guys, like with Miles Murphy,
with DJ, with Dax, with you know, Jordan Battle, there's
at least a bigger sample size against better competition, it's like, okay,
there's something there.

Speaker 6 (37:49):
Yeah. With TJ.

Speaker 5 (37:50):
Slayton, it's like, oh, all of a sudden, it showed
up against two bad teams over the last couple of weeks.
I think there's a difference between guys that you would
quote unquot build around and guys that you're comfortable with
being on defense in the coming years. I think there's
five guys where I'm comfortable with, and that would be Murphy, Turner, Hill,
Stewart in Battle and Chamar. It's just way too early

(38:13):
to not make him a part of that.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
Yeah, And I don't know, Yeah, I don't know that
anybody is a build around them type of player on
this defense, which is a problem and something that you
hope to hit on in the draft. But yeah, I
think there is those who have played better for a
longer sample size against a variety of good teams rather

(38:35):
than the two awful opponents you face the last couple
of weeks. Makes me feel better about them coming back
next year. And I think Miles Murphy is the best
representation of that, agreed, a guy who I think halfway
through the year Austin, a lot of folks were sitting
there thinking this just isn't working, you know, and I
wish I think it's unfortunate that Joseph Osai has missed

(38:56):
the last couple of games, because I think that was
a guy you'd try to get a lot out of
the last weeks as well. Yeah, in a contract year,
you got to figure out what to do there. That's
a decision, and we talked about some of the numbers
that have been floated around. I don't know if Osi
is a guy you're buying back into, but it has
at least done something Austin from midway through the year

(39:16):
to where we are now that it does feel like
there are a couple more pieces that when you start
the conversation for this defense l next year, you can
have pieces already there. And I think there's a couple
of guys too that will be fits as role players
moving forward.

Speaker 6 (39:28):
That's first, yeah, exactly.

Speaker 5 (39:30):
The first is is Cedric Johnson, who I just think
has an unbelievable motor, came off that tough injury at
the beginning of the year, really played well down the
stretch last year as well. He's one of those guys
who's flashed in the opportunities he's had, and I think
there's a role for him. He's not going to be
a guy that's playing every single snap, but there's a
role for him. And the other is dj Ivy, who
continues to after he's recovered from that knee injury and

(39:53):
been used in a variety of different roles. Now is
basically the guy who's covering tight ends. They're kind of
bracketing great tight ends with Dakson and dj Ivy, and
I think that's a brilliant move by Al Golden. And
I saw Charlie post this stat earlier about dj Ivy.
He's played ninety nine third down snaps in the NFL,
forty nine of which have come this season. He's never

(40:14):
allowed a first down catch. Nice he has allowed two
career first down catches all together in one hundred and
seventy eight total snaps. They were both deep in garbage
time in Miami and not you know, those third down catches,
those third down situations. I thought it was interesting, you know,
the way that the Bengals deployed him and dax On
Trey McBride. Again, to go back to the point earlier

(40:34):
about the way they've defended tight ends the last couple
of weeks. Guys like Ivy, Guys like Cedric Johnson, they
can fill roles on a good defense. They're not guys
you build around, but they can be role players.

Speaker 4 (40:44):
Now again, conversation for a much later date. I look
now at this defense and I still contend you cannot.
I make it whatever you want to want Sunday should
be the last time we ever see genostonents.

Speaker 6 (41:00):
I would hope so.

Speaker 4 (41:02):
So you need a legitimate caliber safety because I'm with you.
I think if you have a good established player next
to Jordan Battle, that will raise Jordan Battle's game as well.

Speaker 6 (41:13):
Not genostone. You need.

Speaker 4 (41:18):
A certified player at safety. I think you still need
proven guys on the defensive line to add to this defense.
And linebacker. Austin, where are we at with linebacker right now?

Speaker 5 (41:30):
Don't feel good about it. Don't feel like those guys
have taken the SUPs. Doesn't feel like Carter and Knight
have had the progress taking the step have And that's
that's the position group. I thought we'd see progress because
that was our golden specialty. Yeah, and they built most

(41:52):
of this defense around the idea that these guys are
gonna play. And they spent those picks on them, and
they let guys go and they threw them into the fire,
and and it never has felt like the light bulb
has quite come on for them. I think Knight has
played a little bit better. I think his role has
changed a little bit. But with Carter, I don't know
if it's just bad habits I don't know if it's

(42:13):
stiff hips, I don't know if his eyes are in
the wrong spot, if he's not reading his keys correctly.
They've tackled slightly better, but they're often in the wrong position.
They can't break down, and it's just it's a major,
major issue that level of defense. There has to be
I mean, at least two guys that you bring in
this offseason to try to make that position group better.

Speaker 4 (42:35):
Say, and I think it's important to notice, like the
Bengals aren't in a stage where they can wait on
them to hopefully develop. No, you're in win now mode
or better opportunity to win now mode. To me, that
would require if I'm just again, this is way early
in the process. I need two proven guys at linebacker.
I need a proven guy at safety. And you probably
need to add at least two guys on the defensive

(42:56):
line at least at least starting from now going into
year and then whoever you want to build with in
the draft, and maybe you change your draft strategy and
stop talking about measurables and how they can develop in
guys that actually produced at the college level that can
come in and produce for you as well.

Speaker 6 (43:11):
Yeah, I'm right there with you.

Speaker 5 (43:13):
I mean, I think I don't think anybody can feel
good about the way that the linebackers have played. Yeah,
and it has to be addressed, has to be a
dress move.

Speaker 4 (43:24):
As for what it has done to the draft outlook,
yesterday's win has moved the Bengals to tenth in the
current draft order. The Saints are eight, and the Kansas
City Chiefs have jumped the Bengals and are now number nine.
Obviously a game tonight, the Atlanta Falcons have six wins

(43:46):
and a full week Week eighteen slate still to determine,
but as of right now, the updated draft order has
the Bengals drafting at number ten in the upcoming draft.

Speaker 5 (43:56):
And I'm not sure what would happen if Atlanta were
to lose tonight. Now the Rams get that pick and
they obviously are playing the Falcons, but I'm assuming if
the Falcons were to lose, I would assume they jumped
the Bengals, but I'm not sure they would be six
and ten as well. As far as looking ahead to
next week, Atlanta New Orleans play each other. Both those

(44:17):
teams are right there with the Bengals, so that would
help one of them is going to lose, and that
obviously would help the Bengals. Kansas City is at Las Vegas.
You would expect them to win that game, doesn't matter
who the quarterback might be. Vegas is hard. I was
hard to watch the Chiefs as well. Well, the Raiders.
I would raise you that. I mean, Kansas City is

(44:39):
five and a half point favorites right now, and the
Raiders have quit on the season. They Benchmacks Crosby and
that's the whole thing we didn't even get into. So
those teams you know right there around the Bengals, like
Kansas City, Atlanta I believe plays all right, said that
they play New Orleans. Who's the other team that was
right there that I was just thinking of New Orleans,

(45:00):
the Chiefs, Arizona or Atlanta.

Speaker 6 (45:03):
Yeah, I guess that's all of them right there. They
play each other New Orleans.

Speaker 4 (45:06):
Yeah, if so, I'm reading here in arcle. If the
Falcons lose on on on tonight Monday Night Football, the
Bengals would drop two eleventh. So that is something to
at least keep an eye on. Assume you make up
that spot based off the winner of New Orleans Atlanta
next week. Yeah, speaking of next win, which sure, speaking

(45:30):
of next week and what else happened this week in
the National Football League. We'll do that to kick off
hour number two. We'll follow that up with your talkbacks
coming up next on the Monday Midday Quarterback on ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station, Y.

Speaker 13 (45:42):
Cincinnati, make us the number one pre set on your
car radio and on the free new and improved iHeartRadio app.

Speaker 9 (45:48):
Free.

Speaker 13 (45:48):
Never sounded so good. ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 9 (45:52):
Hey, let's start the new year the right.

Speaker 1 (45:53):
Sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored in Park by Simcy Shirts,
Cincy Shirts all since the all Day. This is ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 4 (46:10):
All Right, good afternoon, Welcome back, Monday Midday Quarterback, ESPN
fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. Thanks for joining us. Happy
to have you along as we get set to start
our number two. As we set to start our number
two Austin, we've spent time everything Bengal related from yesterday.
Let's dive into what we've seen from going back to

(46:32):
Christmas to now in the National Football League.

Speaker 6 (46:35):
Get started on Christmas Night.

Speaker 4 (46:38):
Three games not the greatest matchups I know going into
the season, they were reviewed as a lot better matchups.
Cowboys beat the Commanders thirty to twenty three. The Vikings
essentially end the season for the Detroit Lions, which had
to hurt even more yesterday watching the Packers lose, or
I'm sorry Saturday night watching the Packers lose, Lions could

(46:58):
get nothing going. Jared was awful against the Minnesota Vikings
and the Minnesota Vikings and you got to check the
notes here Austin with Max Brosmer at quarterback, he threw
for fifty one yards in the game on nine completions.

Speaker 6 (47:12):
Turned it over a few times as well.

Speaker 4 (47:14):
His nine completions were enough to beat the Detroit Lions
and their season on Christmas Night, and then the Broncos
defeat the Chiefs with a late Boon Knicks touchdown pass
twenty to thirteen. Anything really to take from the Thursday
night slate of games.

Speaker 5 (47:33):
Logan Wilson did not play a stamp for the Dallas
Cowboys on Christmas Day on defense, which is kind of
hard to believe and makes you wonder about his future
in the National Football League. I mean, the Cowboys defense
is atrocious, sure, but I thought it was pretty surprising
that a guy that they traded for I'll be at
a seventh round pick.

Speaker 4 (47:54):
Yeah, no impact, had very very little to no impact whatsoever.

Speaker 5 (48:00):
As far as the Lions, you know, I think they
will end up having one of the most fascinating off
seasons of any team. There's already some speculation out there
that Dan Campbell is going to go try to get
some of his guys back that Ben Johnson stole.

Speaker 6 (48:14):
From oh Chicago.

Speaker 5 (48:17):
Their offense is a problem, and Brian Flores dominated them,
and they got a ton of talent on offense, a
ton of talent on offense. I'm curious to see too,
if Brian Flores gets some real run at a head
coaching job, or if somebody will pony up and make
him the highest paid coordinator. I think it's amazing that
all that Minnesota has gone through. They're eight to eight.

(48:38):
How's that possible? Doesn't doesn't seem right. They've now won
four straight games. Now it was Washington, Dallas, the Giants,
and the Lions. But still Minnesota has a chance to
beat Green Bay next week and finish above five hundred,
which nobody would have expected with all the stuff they've
gone through. Saturday's games. Let's start with the earlier game
that was Texans Chargers.

Speaker 6 (48:59):
It was.

Speaker 4 (49:00):
It was a weird game, Austin. I'm looking up Lad
McConkie until like the last drive of the game didn't
even have a target in the game. I don't know
at times who and what the Los Angeles Chargers are.
But when you watch that game from Saturday, is that
more about the questions around the Chargers or just how

(49:22):
good the Texans are? Stroud wasn't great. He threw two
interceptions as well. More about the Texans or more questions
about the Chargers.

Speaker 5 (49:30):
More about the Texans. I mean, they've played really, really
good football. If their offense is able to do anything
like that, yep, then they're going to be a really
tough out in the AFC playoffs, just because of how
good that defense is. I still worry a little bit
about their run game and that offensive line, especially with CJ.
But I think the Chargers kind of expected just with

(49:52):
the amount of injuries that they've had and it's been
a little bit clunky. But Houston, I mean, that is
a tough, tough team right there.

Speaker 6 (49:59):
Yep.

Speaker 4 (49:59):
Not a team you want to find in the AFC.
Let's go down the list of games that happens. Have
the Saints found their quarterback of the future.

Speaker 6 (50:08):
They might have. I mean him and Kellen Moore's been
that's a marriage that might just work.

Speaker 4 (50:14):
He was twenty two to twenty seven for three point
thirty three and two touchdowns yesterday. Have the Titans found
their quarterback in the future.

Speaker 6 (50:20):
I think so. There's that quiet year for Cam Wore.

Speaker 5 (50:22):
They have a lot of work that needs to be
done around him. Yeah, and I think there is some
like pieces on offense, but they have no receivers. They
have nobody can get open. I think Tony Pollard's good, Yeah,
has a good has had a good season, and Cam
has been making some crazy plays off script. Obviously, way
too early to write him off. I think there's something
there for Tennessee. I think, especially the way he's played

(50:45):
the last month or so, that makes it a little
bit of a more enticing job to some guys, just
because the quarterback on a rookie deal. But now the
issue is that Amy Adams Strunk is their owner, and
many regard her as the worst owner in sports. I
don't know if you know people in Cincinnati would say that,
but there's a lot of people that think that franchise

(51:07):
is going nowhere as long as she's in charge.

Speaker 6 (51:11):
What do you make.

Speaker 4 (51:14):
The Jaguars are legitimate AFC contender. They go to Indy,
they beat the Colts yesterday, they do it and come
from behind fashion. Trevor Lawrence wasn't great in the air,
did have two rushing touchdowns in the game that I thought, though, Austin,
it's not always going to be easy. I thought that
was a workman like win for the Jaguars over the Colts.

Speaker 6 (51:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (51:32):
And the reason I say there are contenders because I
feel like everybody in the AFC is content.

Speaker 6 (51:36):
They're all like right there, all the same type of team.

Speaker 4 (51:40):
Workman like is the way I would describe the Patriots
and Drake May he was nineteen to twenty one, two
fifty six and five touchdowns against the Jets. Jets are
a dumpster, took care of business. Seahawks took care of
business twenty seven to ten.

Speaker 6 (51:52):
And then Saron Glenn gets fired after one year. No,
I think he'll make it one more, okay, but and
then get fired. My goodness, my goodness.

Speaker 4 (52:02):
The Seahawks beat the Panthers, the Dolphins beat the Buccaneers.
That sets up a game between the two, and again
you mentioned before the show, I think there's some scenario
if the Falcons were to upset the Rams tonight that
that game could change, But right now feels like a
winner go home between the Bucks and Panthers next week.

Speaker 5 (52:20):
I think the Falcons just have to lose one of
their final two and win the other and it would
be a three way tie for the NFC South, which
would then put the Panthers in the playoffs. Okay, so
the Bucks theoretically could win next week against the Panthers,

(52:40):
but that could be dispelled to night if the Rams win.
But no, no, no, they can lose. But if the Rams,
if the Falcons win next week against the Saints, then
Seattle could or Carolina could back into the playoffs. Okay,
there's a lot there. If Atlanta splits their final two
and Tampa beats the Panthers, the Panthers, they're basically in.

Speaker 4 (53:03):
Okay, I think I don't know, Yeah, we'll get more
clarification on that. Giants pretty sure I had that right.
Giants Raiders battle for the number one pick. Giants dominated
the Raiders.

Speaker 6 (53:12):
They did. Raiders, they they did. They're not trying. Pete
Carroll back next year, man, I don't think so. What
about it's going to get canned?

Speaker 4 (53:21):
Can you can you go into the number one overall
pick with Pete Carroll as your guy? I don't know
if he can. What about Eagles Bills? What's your takeaway
from that thirteen to twelve win? Bills score late, they
go for two and they actually had Khalisha k Here
in the back end line. Josh Allen just missed the throw.
Eagles win thirteen to twelve. Eagles offense Austin. I don't
think that game did anything to dispel any of the

(53:43):
worries about the Eagles offense. They had one hundred and
ninety total yards compared to three thirty one from the Bills.
They did enough. That was a great Eagles Vic Fangio
defensive performance. What's the concern level if you're the Bills?

Speaker 14 (53:57):
Uh?

Speaker 6 (53:57):
I think you should be slightly concerned.

Speaker 4 (53:59):
I mean, it was a mon soon yesterday, and that's
difficult to play in. It's difficult to operate your offense
playing like that. I mean typically we're used as that
being snow in Buffalo at this time of year. Yeah,
Josh miss is a throw that he should have made,
and he has made time and time again. And if
that's the case, we talk a lot differently about the

(54:21):
Bills today, So I'm not I don't think it changes
much for me. But you know, with Philadelphia interesting team,
their offense still just disappears at times. Their defense is
good enough to keep them in games, and that might
have to be their recipe is just score twenty points

(54:41):
and hope the other team scores less than that. The
game last night, you could talk game of the year
for sure. Forty nine Ers Bears. It comes down to
a fourth down stand in near the goal line for
the forty nine Ers. They beat the Bears forty two
to eight. Caleb Williams I thought was awesome DeAndre Swift

(55:04):
for the Bears. That offense is stupid good and they're
now getting more production from Luther Burden, the third Colston Loveland,
two rookies on that team. Because Roma Dunes they didn't
play last night. Their ground game is dangerous. But for
as much as we talk about the Bears, more has
to be said about what San Francisco is doing, and
I know the schedule has not been great. Brock Party

(55:27):
throws a pick six on the first possession of the game,
and then comes back to go twenty four to thirty
three three h three three touchdowns. He ran in two
more touchdowns. Christian McCaffrey averaged six yards of carry on
the ground for one hundred and forty yards. They also
shorthanded at receiver. They didn't have George Kittle playing to
the San Francisco forty nine ers. They have been decimated
this year on defense often, and yet here they are,

(55:50):
the Niners still a chance for the number one overall
seed in the NFC.

Speaker 5 (55:53):
Yeah, I mean elite coaching on that staff, with the
way Kyle Shanahan operates that offense and the way that
Roberts operates that defense. I mean these two teams, I
would love for them just face off again next month
in the playoffs. Defenses for both of them are probably
going to be their biggest issue now. It looks like
Fred Warner might be able to come back at some

(56:15):
point if San Francisco is able to make a run,
But Chicago's got the twenty ninth ranked defense in the
NFL in yards per game. Will they be able to
keep up throughout the NFC playoffs I think would be
one of the biggest questions. But they're gonna get a
home game, and that obviously is going to work in
their favor. I feel like they can very much be
in play in the Divisional round into the NFC Championship.

Speaker 4 (56:38):
Now, last games we'll talk about sets up what is
going to be Sunday Night football next week. Win or
go in, win or go home for the AFC North title.
It started Austin because the Ravens essentially had to win
and then get help from the Cleveland Browns. They had
to win by going on the road at green Bay,
and they did so without Lamar Jackson. Tyler Huntley went

(56:59):
sixteen of twenty in the game, threw one touchdown pass.
He also ran it for sixty yards. Speaking of running
the ball, the Baltimore Ravens figured, if we're going to
go down, we're going to go down with Derrick Henry.
They handed him the ball thirty six times and he
ran it for two hundred and sixteen yards. That's six
yards of carry and four touchdowns for King Henry who

(57:21):
goes on the road. A statement win for Baltimore and
for green Bay. Playing without Jordan Love, I thought Malik
Willis was awesome both on the ground, two touchdown runs
and in the air eighteen to twenty one that green
Bay defense without Micah Parsons. I view green Bay completely
different right now. It feels like they're on the verge

(57:41):
of falling off a cliff. Michael Parsons having surgery today
he announced on that ACL injury. Just the overall issues
that they have had on offense, Like you mentioned it,
Malik Willis was fine. He was actually really good for
most of it. But I think Packers fans would tell
you there's been complaints about that offense all season long.

(58:03):
And if you are compromised on defense, are you actually
able to keep up with any team in the NFC
playoffs based off the way that your offense is performing
so far this season?

Speaker 5 (58:16):
And you know the other thing too. I think this
the stat's going around. It's a little bit unfair. But
since the NFL expanded the playoffs in twenty twenty to
seven teams, the Packers have been the seven seed every
single year. I was going to say they're going to
be the seventh seed again this year. So if not
for that playoff expansion, and I know this is ifs
and buds, the Packers won't make the playoffs at any
time under Matt Lafloor.

Speaker 4 (58:38):
I wanted I was going to ask that, what is
the temperature you think of Matt laflor.

Speaker 5 (58:41):
I don't think it's I don't think he's like I
think if you asked him. Internally, I think he's fine.
But from the Packers fans, I think there's a growing
impatience with him. It's really been throughout this whole season.

Speaker 6 (58:57):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (58:58):
Now, even with that win, all the Steelers needed to
do Austin was go beat Cleveland yesterday and then Week
eighteen wouldn't have mattered. The Pittsburgh Steelers would be in
the playoffs. Now they had to go without DK metcalf
Aaron Rodgers went twenty one to thirty nine. They mounted
a last drive Austin where they could have tied the game,

(59:18):
and Marquez Valdez Scantling got all the targets, which doesn't
make much sense considering Pat Fryermuth was a monster on
that drive. Year is it correct? It has to be
for Pittsburgh fans. One of the most maddening losses in
recent years. And I think all the problems that folks
have with Mike Tomlin and these teams to find ways
to get big wins and then give them right back

(59:40):
by losing a game in the Cleveland Browns where you
just had to win and get into the playoffs instead,
it sets up Week eighteen, winner take all Pittsburgh hosting
the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday Night Football. Any big takeaway
from the game itself. I know Pittsburgh was without DK Metcalf,
and I think when you look at how they play
and want to play, that's a big part of who

(01:00:00):
they are. They need a guy that can win the
one on one down the field matchups, and I don't
think they had that yesterday. Was it you mentioned that
that Pittsburgh's going to go as Jalen Warren and Kenneth
Gainwell go. They didn't have great games yesterday. Pittsburgh didn't
have a chance to get it going.

Speaker 9 (01:00:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:00:14):
I think they'll have a much better matchup. I know
we make fun of the matchup thing, but Cleveland, I
mean that defense is legit. It's a Super Bowl caliber defense.
And to go at Denzel Ward three times in a
row crazy. It doesn't matter if it's Aj Green or
Jamar Chase or anybody out there. Thrown at Denzel Ward
three times in a row is just silly. He's that

(01:00:35):
good of a player, and that's what Aaron Rodgers chose
to do with MVS. I don't trust their offense, but
I don't think Baltimore is as good defensively as Cleveland is,
and I think that game being at home gives Baltimore
or gives Pittsburgh a bit of an advantage. And who
knows who the quarterback is going to be for the
Baltimore ran I.

Speaker 4 (01:00:54):
Have no idea at this point, but it does set
up a big, big Sunday night football matchup next weekend.
Anything else from the NFL front that we did not
get to that happened over the weekend, I know you
mentioned Michael Parsons is undergoing surgery, so he looks to

(01:01:16):
get back. Anything else that we've missed that needs to
be highlighted from yesterday, not that I can think of.
I mean, they did finalize the week eighteen schedule. The
Bengals will host the Browns at one pm at pay
Corps Stadium. Bengals currently seven point favorites in that game.
I'm a little bit surprised that by that that Panthers

(01:01:39):
Buccaneer game will be the Saturday game four thirty is
gonna be two Saturday ye in Tampa, followed by Seahawks
and San Francisco. What a Saturday that is? Sign me
up any other games.

Speaker 5 (01:01:50):
The other note The other thing too is Josh Allen
had a foot injury, but the X rays did come
back negative. That might be something to keep an eye
on as we march towards the.

Speaker 6 (01:02:01):
Playoffs as well.

Speaker 4 (01:02:01):
It's always interesting to watch this week of teams that
need to play, what the meaningful games are, who can
help themselves, who cannot? What players are you know, playing
for incentives and things like that. As the playoffs sit
right now, Denver is your one seed, New England two,
Jacksonville three, Pittsburgh is the four Texans, Chargers Bills round
out five, six seven In the NFC. Seattle is your

(01:02:24):
current one seed. Then you have the Bears, Eagles, Panthers,
followed by the Niners, Rams, and Packers. How would you
like to feel Austin being one of those higher seeds
that has to see the forty nine Ers or Rams
in the first game? Good luck, yep, good luck, godspeed, Jongle,
god speed will take a break. Your talkbacks come next
on the Monday midday Quarterback on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati

(01:02:46):
Sports Station.

Speaker 15 (01:02:47):
Hey, x press the microphone and record your message for
Austin and tone.

Speaker 6 (01:02:53):
Please keep it clean and don't be mean.

Speaker 9 (01:02:57):
And sprinkle sprinkle drip drifts.

Speaker 15 (01:03:00):
It's that type of talkbacks. It's our favorite part since
three sixty So Austin, buddy, play those tunkbacks on your
screen and please try out to sabotage.

Speaker 4 (01:03:13):
All right, it's the Monday midday quarterback edition of Talkbacks.
Thank you for listening right here on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 3 (01:03:22):
Hey, I hate to be that overly optimistic Bengals fan,
but I am hopeful for next season because the offense
looks like we expected them to look. The defense it
seems to.

Speaker 6 (01:03:33):
Be coming around.

Speaker 3 (01:03:34):
These young guys are starting to develop and that is
very encouraging to see. Maybe it was just giving them
opportunities to play, and Rumo didn't like to give the
young guys an opportunity to play always. So I am
hopeful for that.

Speaker 4 (01:03:50):
But okay, nothing wrong with a little bit of kool
aid New Year's resolutions.

Speaker 16 (01:03:57):
But at the same time, you know, I don't want
to be the overly fatalistic Banks fans that a lot
of us seem to be where you know, the sky's
falling and you know you got a tank and get
a good draft pick.

Speaker 3 (01:04:12):
But if you do that, you're cutting your nose off,
spy your face, because you're gonna piss Joe Burrow off.
You're not gonna let the defense develop, and you're gonna
go into next season probably starting off slow because everybody's
gonna be fractured in the locker room.

Speaker 6 (01:04:26):
Seems like quite the conundrum.

Speaker 7 (01:04:30):
What's up, guys, big Cahouna in Kentucky?

Speaker 6 (01:04:32):
What up?

Speaker 7 (01:04:33):
Looking at it next year's schedule? You know, I'm expected
to be fifteen to two sixteen and one will probably
be the one seed. But I think we're gonna have
a lot of blowout games like we've had these last
two games. But you think that, you know, we're not
gonna be challenged enough right there at the end of
the games and guys not playing the fourth quarter a lot.
Do you think that will affect us in the playoffs
next year? You know, because you know those games are
gonna be tightest, that will be blowout like those Greguer

(01:04:54):
season games are. And then I say, you shut everybody
down here for the last week. Don't get hurt.

Speaker 4 (01:04:59):
Get Yeah, I'd shut him down for the last week.
Should be shut down. Sounds like something got the best name.
That's a holiday season.

Speaker 17 (01:05:08):
Now, forget the seventy two Dolphins, forget the eighty five Bears,
forget Tom Brady's Patriots. There is no better NFL team
in history than the Cincinnati Bengals when they have nothing
to play.

Speaker 6 (01:05:23):
For him preach man, preach tough pill to swallow.

Speaker 18 (01:05:26):
There.

Speaker 12 (01:05:27):
This is former President Ronald Reagan, And well, I have
questions for the new year. Will this be the year
Josh Allen advances to the Super Bowl? Now that the
Bengals and Chiefs aren't in the playoffs? No, will Justin
Herbert actually win a playoff game this year? And will
it be Lamar Jackson or Aaron Rodgers who backs into
the playoffs on teams that act like they don't want

(01:05:49):
to see the postseason.

Speaker 5 (01:05:51):
It would be very funny to me if Snoop Puntley
goes to Pittsburgh and wins and gets Baltimore into the
playoff and then Lamar comes back and they lose in
the first round.

Speaker 6 (01:06:02):
Yeah, I'd be tough. That would be really funny. That'd
be tough.

Speaker 5 (01:06:06):
I also think that would be the scenario in which
maybe Rogers sticks around one more year. Okay, if they
lose like that, you know, if it's close, yep, Rogers
looks around. He's like, I had too much fun with
these guys. One more I'll stick around for one more year, Okay,
although I don't think that's.

Speaker 17 (01:06:22):
Gonna I keep having this reoccurring nightmare of the ESPN
ticker at the bottom sitting breaking news the Cincinnati Bengals
have agreed to a three year, thirty million dollar contract extension,
which he knows Stone. This reminds me too much of
the Bobby Hart situation, where Bobby Hart came in, was
a horrible offensive lineman and yet immediately got a three year,

(01:06:44):
twenty one million dollar contract. Bengals front office scares me.

Speaker 6 (01:06:49):
Could you imagine I'll be Hart? Geno Stone, God, he's awful.

Speaker 19 (01:06:54):
Tony Austin, are we even sure that Jordan Love is
the best quarterback in Green Bay?

Speaker 11 (01:07:01):
Malik Willis looks like he might.

Speaker 18 (01:07:02):
Have all the tools.

Speaker 6 (01:07:04):
I'll take my answer off the air. Great question, Great question.
Malik Willis might make a little bit of money this year.

Speaker 4 (01:07:11):
You remember when the Titans at one point had they
drafted Malik Willis, they had Derrick Henry.

Speaker 6 (01:07:15):
Mike Frable was the coach. I remember what a time.

Speaker 20 (01:07:20):
Hey, Tony Hay, Austin Paul from Cleaves here. I got
to go to the game yesterday tickets. So I took
my boys to their first game. And uh, the one
takeaway that I'll like to like to give to you
guys is the defensive line play. I thought Miles Murphy
wasn't fantastic yesterday.

Speaker 6 (01:07:39):
If Joanah Williams was on that line.

Speaker 20 (01:07:41):
Yesterday, I'm glad we got rid of it because he
made Miles Murphy look like an All Star.

Speaker 6 (01:07:45):
So I thought, I thought that was the biggest takeaway
from me.

Speaker 5 (01:07:48):
All Right, all right, I believe Jonah Williams is hurt.
Shout out to Joanah Williams on man, Yeah, I don't
think he has played the last couple of weeks. Shout
out to Jonah. That was an interesting guy that played
for the Bengals. It's showing a lot of interesting guys
that have played for him.

Speaker 19 (01:08:06):
Number one priority for this offseason right now is not
resigning anybody.

Speaker 6 (01:08:10):
At four to ten.

Speaker 19 (01:08:11):
Next Sunday afternoon, we need to have fifteen people holding
the door in the locker room open for Geno Stone
to walk out and give him a police escort.

Speaker 7 (01:08:18):
Out of town once, once for all.

Speaker 6 (01:08:20):
Now that's Jeff and Virginia.

Speaker 4 (01:08:22):
He tweeted at me last week said he was given
up on all since the media wow, and and now
he's back.

Speaker 6 (01:08:28):
I hope.

Speaker 18 (01:08:28):
So.

Speaker 6 (01:08:29):
I don't want to lose Jeff. I don't want to
lose Jeff either. I'm just I'm confused.

Speaker 9 (01:08:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 14 (01:08:34):
Shout out to Chase Brown so solid. Love Miles Murphy lately,
Jalen Davis, I think dj Ivy can be a piece
back there, you know. I think they need to draft
a defensive tackle and a safety and then try to
get maybe defensive tackle, safety, linebacker free agency.

Speaker 6 (01:08:59):
Great a great peppy Patty here.

Speaker 21 (01:09:02):
Married guys, and as you saw on Twitter, Tony and
Austin were a big part of my Christmas morning. My
husband and daughter were so excited to give me both
and my T shirts, my Tony Pike Hall of Fame
shirt and my three sixty shirt. And I did not
have the heart to tell my husband already have the
since e three sixty shirts. I did not tell him,
but anyway, it was really sweet of them, and since

(01:09:23):
ea shirts was awesome and they whipped him right up
to them. So thanks so much, guys.

Speaker 6 (01:09:28):
Thank you, Peppy, thank you.

Speaker 7 (01:09:32):
It's the Lord.

Speaker 22 (01:09:34):
Happy victory meaningless Monday. Oh boy, I got a start
bench cut taking down Christmas decorations right after Christmas, taking
down Christmas decorations after New Year's taking Christmas decorations down
the middle to the end of January.

Speaker 4 (01:09:55):
We are normally right after, so that's normally started. We're
a little bit late this year. So I will start, uh,
kind of that in between. I'll bench right after christmins
and then I'll cut the later.

Speaker 5 (01:10:06):
Really yeah, Now Meredith puts up and you and Meredith
put up the decorations around end of September. Yeah, and
then you you take him down right away normally.

Speaker 6 (01:10:17):
Yes, the season is over. Wow, the happiness is going.
You know, the season is done. That's okay. A win
is a win.

Speaker 23 (01:10:23):
Catch threatened rep in the city out here and Sonny.

Speaker 12 (01:10:27):
What up?

Speaker 6 (01:10:27):
Body? Hope you got Christmas was good? Man was great, yo.

Speaker 9 (01:10:31):
The Cardinals.

Speaker 23 (01:10:31):
When I received with Michael Wilson, Yo, I met him
twice already out here. Matter of fact, he gets the
car from the dealership, So I wasn't surprised to see
him shine like that. Boy, he'll make a nice receiver
on our team, won't he. And while we gotta played
Joe Brow next week against Miles Garrett, real, we gotta
be the butter in that joke. He finished the season strong, Bengals,
and I'm worried about you see me both.

Speaker 6 (01:10:52):
We'll talk about you see this week.

Speaker 24 (01:10:54):
And how about that Kodiak bear run for twenty one yards?
Bangles Kodiak, I get it in that asc West Besides
the Cardinals is a jugdernaut One of those three teams
are gonna win it all, and.

Speaker 6 (01:11:12):
CMC should be the MVP. Hemmer Stafford, have a good day.

Speaker 4 (01:11:16):
Who know who I forgot about yesterday? Marvin Harrison Junior. Yeah,
I know, he looks lost. He was not one hundred percent.
He had a heel injury, so he didn't have a
full slate of reps.

Speaker 6 (01:11:29):
Okay, but yeah, okay, yeah, he's not good.

Speaker 8 (01:11:33):
Right.

Speaker 5 (01:11:33):
Christian McCaffrey. By the way, about two, he's knocking on
the door.

Speaker 6 (01:11:39):
What was that.

Speaker 4 (01:11:41):
I'm sorry, I have to keep my door open because
it's four thousand degrees.

Speaker 6 (01:11:45):
Someone yelling like that.

Speaker 4 (01:11:46):
Outside the studios, Gary Jeff Walker is going down the
hallways screaming at people.

Speaker 5 (01:11:51):
Oh my goodness, So I apologize for that anyways. Christian
McCaffrey is about to have a thousand yards receiving in
a thousand yards rushing for the second time in his career.
Other players have done it. Marshall falk was won, McCaffrey
did it in twenty nineteen with the Panthers. Other guys
have done it. I think only three others have ever

(01:12:13):
done it. Nobody's ever done it twice. McCaffrey is on
the verge doing it for.

Speaker 6 (01:12:17):
A second time. Question.

Speaker 4 (01:12:20):
Now, if the Steelers and the Ravens pie next week,
does that mean the Bengals automatically get in.

Speaker 6 (01:12:27):
Nope, I don't think so. No, the Bengal bought double up.

Speaker 23 (01:12:31):
Since my team's not in the playoffs, I'm definitely looking
at the Buffalo Bills, no excuses get to the Super Bowl.
Don't want to hear that talk about Josh Allen next
season because Joe Burrow's taking over for the next few seasons.

Speaker 6 (01:12:41):
Don't want to hear that quarterback talk. So it's definitely
definitely Buffalo.

Speaker 23 (01:12:44):
I'm watching the Patriots or the team to beat on
the AFC side, and ANC side is either Chicago.

Speaker 6 (01:12:50):
Or Seattle's won't watch it? And man, can you see football?

Speaker 17 (01:12:54):
Just win a bowl game?

Speaker 6 (01:12:55):
No, it's going to be a tough one. This is
truly horrible.

Speaker 4 (01:12:59):
Is that Bowl games gonna be tough? We'll talk about
that this week. And to be quite honest, Lipscomb, tonight
might be tough. Lipscomb, Oh my god, star tell this suck.

Speaker 11 (01:13:14):
Oh my god, that's happy he finally got anyway.

Speaker 6 (01:13:20):
I love you, guys, thank you, love you too. I'm
reading through a couple of these to make sure it's
safe to be Yeah.

Speaker 7 (01:13:32):
Play.

Speaker 15 (01:13:35):
Forgive me if I'm not excited about Cody Ford's twenty
one yard stumbled to the jungle?

Speaker 18 (01:13:41):
Do you know what he did to that TikTok girl?

Speaker 2 (01:13:43):
He broke her, poor heart.

Speaker 18 (01:13:45):
You guys are sick for even talking about it.

Speaker 6 (01:13:47):
Oh man, oh man.

Speaker 5 (01:13:50):
I did hear a couple of people bring up t
T the other day? If you know about t T,
you know? Uh, but let the big man rumble on
his birthday if you know you know.

Speaker 25 (01:13:59):
So, don't ever mention the Epstein files and the talkback
or else Austin will sabotage you. Hey, the Detroit Lions,
your opportunity is closed. You guys are getting old or
not better? Is it time to move on from Dan Campbell?

Speaker 7 (01:14:15):
Question mark?

Speaker 25 (01:14:16):
Hey Bengals, they always do some spectacular stuff against the
Arizona Cardinals. Remembered your own Simpson's flip into the end zone.
Now we got Cody Ford rumbling, bumbling, stumbling.

Speaker 6 (01:14:28):
Yeah that's right, Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 7 (01:14:31):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (01:14:31):
I think I think last week there was an Epstein
files mentioned, trying to put someone in the Epstein Files.
I just felt like maybe we should stay away.

Speaker 6 (01:14:43):
I just move on from it. Yeah, that's fine.

Speaker 5 (01:14:45):
General rule of thumb that probably will not get played
anything political or anything about the Epstein.

Speaker 6 (01:14:52):
We pretty much stay away, stay away from here. Yeah,
that's what we do. That was our last one.

Speaker 4 (01:14:56):
All right, we will come back. We've got another football
in the NAT and plenty more still to go. It's
now till three o'clock the Monday midday Quarterback on ESPN
fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (01:15:09):
Football in the NATI blutch you in part by Bud
Light and by Oakley Greens on ESPN fifteen thirty, The
Official Home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 4 (01:15:22):
Welcome back football in the NATI number two ESPN fifteen
thirty Cincinnati Sports station on the Monday mid day Quarterback
five one, three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty. Will take
your phone calls as well. Let's uh, let's switch a
little bit here, or or let's shift a little bit
to the college football world. It's hard, Austin, I mentioned

(01:15:44):
this to you before the show. I can't get into
bowl season really at all. Outside of the College Football Playoff,
these bowl games have been tough.

Speaker 6 (01:15:53):
I don't think I've watched a second of any.

Speaker 4 (01:15:55):
Of them, and like some of them have been really
good games, like the BYU Georgia Tech was a really
good football game.

Speaker 6 (01:16:03):
I just can't. I can't get into him now.

Speaker 5 (01:16:06):
I was a little bit interested in the Pop Tarts Bowl,
just because of all the stuff surrounding the Pop Tarts Bowl,
but even that I didn't watch it.

Speaker 4 (01:16:15):
Like Georgia Tech took a twenty one to ten lead
BYU scored fifteen in the fourth to win. It's a
good game. I thought Houston LSU was exciting. Thirty eight
thirty five. How about Lane Kiffin like leaving early after
doing his TV.

Speaker 6 (01:16:26):
Thingw about that? What about Penn State and Clemson? That
was a fun one. Where was that game played? That
a bad boy mower's pinstripe bawl Oh, that was a
Yankee stadium?

Speaker 4 (01:16:35):
Yeah, okay, now service academies in bowl games, not who
you want to see. That was true for Yukon. Army
beat Yukon forty one to sixteen.

Speaker 6 (01:16:45):
Yukon made a bowl game. Yukon was nine and a
four this year. Who's the head coach at Yukon's This
is it still Randy Etzel? Is it is he back?
I don't know.

Speaker 4 (01:16:55):
I don't know anything about Yukon football other than Dane
Orlovski went there. They beat Buffalo and ball State. This
year they beat Duke, They beat the ACC champions, the
Duke Blue Devils.

Speaker 5 (01:17:06):
I saw Toledo almost knocked off Louisville in the Bush's
Baked Beans Boca Ratone Bowl.

Speaker 6 (01:17:12):
Yeah, our guy Rocky Boyman was on the call right now.

Speaker 4 (01:17:15):
It does set up, and we'll spend time this week
on the Liberty Bowl, which happens on Friday.

Speaker 6 (01:17:20):
But we're gonna spend time on it.

Speaker 4 (01:17:21):
Yeah, okay, absolutely, okay, But we do get back to
at least the major action here the college football playoff
games that are going to happen starting on Wednesday and
then moving over into Thursday afternoon. So New Year's Eve night,
you get Ohio State in Miami. We were talking about

(01:17:43):
this before the show today, Austin, what is your confidence
level or is there a concern level that Miami possesses
for Ohio State.

Speaker 6 (01:17:50):
I think I feel confident. I don't know that I
feel concerned.

Speaker 4 (01:17:55):
I just don't expect Ohio State to blow them out,
Like I don't expect it to be a two or
three touchdown game.

Speaker 5 (01:18:00):
I know right now Ohio State's favored at nine and
a half. And that actually kind of fits what I
said talking to you to you about this pregame or
pre show. It's like, I feel like it's a seven
to ten point game just because Miami upfront has a
couple of guys who are going to be top fifteen picks,
including one guy who's been mocked to the Bengals several
times in Rubin Bain, and every time Ohio State has

(01:18:21):
played a top flight defensive line it's only happened twice
this year, and the other time was Indiana.

Speaker 6 (01:18:26):
They kind of got manhandled.

Speaker 5 (01:18:27):
Hio State's going to be without a starter in Teger
Shabola not going to be playing in this game. So
I think offensively, especially with Ryan Day calling the plays
and Brian Hartline not there or at least not calling
the plays, I think it could be an offensive struggle
for Ohio State. But because mar No Carson Beck does

(01:18:48):
not concern me and I might have to eat those words.
But Matt Patricia having all this time to get ready
for Miami, I think gives Ohio State a big advantage.

Speaker 4 (01:18:55):
That game is Wednesday night and then Thursday in New
Year's Day. You get three different college football playoff games
on Wednesday night. Oh wow, Yeah, I didn't even realize
that they go Wednesday night and then you go right
at noon on Thursday. Oregon Texas Tech. How about Oregon
a two and a half point favorite on the road.

(01:19:18):
I'm not sorry. These aren't home games this This game
is being played at hard Rock Stadium in Miami, so
I'm sure there'll be a plenty of Tech. I would
imagine a lot more Texas than Texas Tech will travel. Well, yeah,
I'm big on Texas Tech.

Speaker 6 (01:19:30):
I have been.

Speaker 4 (01:19:31):
I think they're going to win that game. I think
they're the better team offensively and defensively. So you're sprinkling
sprinkling a little bit of.

Speaker 6 (01:19:38):
A tech now.

Speaker 4 (01:19:38):
Dan Lanning is a fantastic coach. Uh and I give
Oregon because the benefit of that. We saw it last
year Austin. The teams that played in that initial round
all went on to win their next games. The teams
that the four teams that had to buys last year
all lost. I don't think that's the case this year,
but I think there is something to getting that game
in between. We're talking about a month off for a

(01:20:00):
team like Texas Tech, Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia that can
that can be tough to respond from. But outside of
Texas Tech Oregon, if if you've got Alabama, Indiana and
the Old Miss Georgia game, who is more likely to
pull off the upset as the lower seeded team.

Speaker 5 (01:20:16):
I feel like it's Alabama, just because I think Georgia
is just a machine right now, and I don't I
still don't know if I fully believe in Old Miss Sabama.

Speaker 4 (01:20:26):
Thing's crazy because that's the team that everyone's like they
shouldn't be in and now a lot of people are
saying they're gonna beat Indiana. Yeah, I don't know if
I'd go that far, but seven feels like a lot
for Indiana to be favored in that game. I just
feel like they have the best chance to pull off
the upset because I'm with you. I think Texas Tech
is gonna kind of win comfortably over Oregon, and I

(01:20:47):
don't think Georgia is really going to struggle with Old Miss.
But Indiana maybe in lost in the pageantry, in the
moment of oh crap, we're in the Rose Bowl. We're
the number one team in the country and that's Alabama
right there. Ye, that could maybe catch up to them.
But I do get the feeling that it'll be chalk
when it comes to the favorites this round. Okay, that's

(01:21:09):
the feeling I get. But I think if anybody has
the best chance, I would put it on Alabama. Okay, again,
it's a noon Oregon, Texas Tech four o'clock, Alabama, Indiana
eight o'clock, Old Miss Georgia. Those all follow Ohio State, Indiana,
which will be Wednesday night at seven thirty. And then
of course you wake up Friday at four thirty. You've
got Bearcats and Navy in Memphis at the Liberty Bowl.

(01:21:34):
We'll take one final break for this hour. We'll put
a bow one Hour number two next on ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station. Thanks to our friends at Cincy Shirts.
Here on the Monday Midday Quarterback.

Speaker 1 (01:21:42):
You've been listening to football in the NATI on ESPN
fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Speaker 2 (01:21:54):
From the Stacey Heating temp Star Weather Center.

Speaker 4 (01:22:05):
Welcome back Monday Midday Quarterback Hour number two, ESPN fifteen thirty,
Cincinnati Sports Station. Real quickly talking a little bit in
the last segment there and talkbacks, one of our talkbackers
said that Christian McCaffrey should be the MVP of the
National Football League. McCaffrey's a name you see thrown around
a lot. Drake May I think has a very good

(01:22:25):
case for it. Is tonight a chance for Matthew Stafford
to win the MVP. Has he done enough over the
course of the year. I mean, I think he's the MVP.
I don't even think it's close. Do you think he's
already the guy?

Speaker 6 (01:22:37):
Yeah? You think standalone?

Speaker 9 (01:22:39):
Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:22:39):
Nothing could change that. I mean if he comes out
is terrible yeah, I mean, but he can he can
all but solidify it tonight in your opinion.

Speaker 5 (01:22:49):
Yeah, I mean I think it's it's mostly solidified. I
do think Miles Garrett has a case. Okay, I know
that's maybe not the most popular opinion. I do think
he has a case. And CMC I think would be
up there as well. But I don't know that anybody
really is close to Stafford at the moment, and maybe
Drake may listen to these names. So Drake May's plus

(01:23:14):
one eighty. Matthew Stafford is minus two thirty, so he
is the overwhelming favorite right now for regular season MVP.
Any guess at who number three is right now? Pooka
Trevor Lawrence, Oh wow, Okay, Trevor.

Speaker 4 (01:23:27):
Lawrence, and then Katleb Williams and Josh Allen plus fifteen thousand.
Justin Herbert is up there. Christian McCaffrey's plus fifty thousand.

Speaker 12 (01:23:34):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (01:23:35):
And it's just not a it's it's it's a quarterback award.

Speaker 18 (01:23:38):
It is.

Speaker 4 (01:23:38):
I don't like it, but it is right now leading
the way at least I'm looking on DraftKings just the
odds offensive Rookie of the Year McMillan from the Panthers
minus one oh five. Yeah, any other one you think
you would lean to for Rookie of the Year. I
think it should be Tyler Shuck. He is plus one hundred,
so he is very close. I think he should be. Yeah,

(01:24:03):
I think he should be Travon Henderson. Remember early in
the year Buka was the guy. He has fallen off.
Him and Travon Henderson both plus twelve. Yeah, defensive Rookie
of the Year and he guess I don't even know
Twice Singer minus six hundred, unfortunately, not even close. DraftKings
Offensive Player of the Year minus one fifty JSNM, Pookahs

(01:24:29):
plus two forty, Christian McCaffrey plus four to fifty. Now
I could see JSNS has been ridiculous. I could have
seen McCaffrey making more of a push for that, But
the year that JSN has had and Pooka aku, it's
hard to.

Speaker 6 (01:24:41):
Go against that. Yeah, I would say one of those
two guys.

Speaker 4 (01:24:43):
Defensive Player of the Year minus twenty thousand, Miles Miles
Garrett come back, Christian McCaffrey minus One's.

Speaker 6 (01:24:52):
Borough on there?

Speaker 9 (01:24:54):
Or is it not?

Speaker 6 (01:24:55):
Burrow? Is Flacco on there?

Speaker 8 (01:24:56):
No?

Speaker 4 (01:24:57):
Okay, Trevor Lawrence Philip Rivers is plus four thousand. I
mean he came back, Yeah, he came back.

Speaker 26 (01:25:05):
He did.

Speaker 4 (01:25:06):
Would you play well, I don't have this on Draftking.
Who would you have as your coach.

Speaker 6 (01:25:12):
Of the year? Is it Shanahan?

Speaker 17 (01:25:17):
No?

Speaker 6 (01:25:18):
Really no, I don't think so. McDonald was Seattle.

Speaker 5 (01:25:23):
Yeah, I think he'd be like the first one that
comes to my mind. I mean, Vrabel's up there, Vrabel
Cohen or uh Liam Cohen.

Speaker 6 (01:25:32):
Is up there.

Speaker 4 (01:25:33):
Yeah, I mean Sean Payton's got that Broncos thirteen and three.
I think one name that we're Ben Johnson overlooking is
Demiico Ryans in Houston, Okay, With as much as they
lost and the fact that they're on an eight game
win streak. Three of those games, by the way, were
won by Davis Mills. Oh boy, and the injuries that
they've had on offense, I think Demiko Ryans is a

(01:25:55):
sneaky good candidate there. But I would say Mike mc
donald or Demiico Ryans, yeah, would be my guess.

Speaker 6 (01:26:03):
Then probably very able. Yeah, I mean there are some
good candidates this year.

Speaker 4 (01:26:07):
Not going to be any either of the guys from
Pittsburgh or Baltimore. I saw a Pittsburgh Steeler fan who
I have known for most of my life post a
meme over the weekend, and it will, you know how
like it fades from one picture to another picture.

Speaker 6 (01:26:21):
Yeah, and it was.

Speaker 5 (01:26:23):
The first picture was Mike Tomlin, and over the course
of the fading into the other pictures, it turned into
Marvin Lewis. Oh, so that's where Steelers fans are at.

Speaker 6 (01:26:32):
Yeah, right now.

Speaker 4 (01:26:33):
Mentally, I know a couple of Steeler fans that would
happily take Zach Taylor over Mike Tomlin.

Speaker 5 (01:26:38):
Yeah, like I've asked them that. Yeah, I know, like absolutely,
you know people like Zach Taylor. I think the national
view of him is not nearly as bad as the
local view of him is. Sure, I know in the
locker room there have been some dudes that have gone
to bat for Zach Taylor.

Speaker 6 (01:26:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (01:26:56):
I don't feel like I know everybody is. It's still
a lot of fire z act Taylor. Yesterday at the game,
I saw guys with custom hats that said fire z
act Taylor. I don't know that that's the answer to
the problems. It could be, it could be a helpful thing. Sure,
don't know. That that's the answer to the problems.

Speaker 26 (01:27:18):
It is.

Speaker 4 (01:27:20):
It's it's part of kind of what gets lost in
the shuffle of how you view the stretch of games
that they're going to have to end the year and
what that does to change the overall feel of wearing
who this team is. Our number three is coming up,
you're taking over in the third and final hour. What
do you got coming up? I'm going to talk to
James R. Peene James start of our number two. Although

(01:27:40):
James has been you know, he's been taking some shots
at you and me. Yeah, And I understand why. I
don't want to bore friends here. I don't want to
bore people with it on the air, but I would
like to see, like, you know, what, what did we do?
Like what's going on that we're taking up so much
real estate inside your dome piece. But I want to
ask you because he put up a couple of polls

(01:28:01):
about Zach Taylor, about Duke Tobin. I'm curious what he
thinks the Bengals get out of these last couple of games.
We'll talk about Burrow potentially playing in week eighteen, and
so much more talking about fossils. Yeah, okay, yeah, good
all right, I'm off Twin Peaks in Westchester from three
to six. Austin has our number three. If you can
stop out today, do so. We'll have some fun and

(01:28:21):
we'll talk some Bengals along the way at the Cincy
three sixty the Monday midday Quarterback on ESPN fifteen thirty
Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 1 (01:28:29):
This is Tony Pike Cincy three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati,
sponsored in hardby Penn Station East Coast Subs. Hand crept
In hot grilled subs, fresh cut fries in lemonade. It's
all about good taste. Penn Station East Coast Subs order
on line today. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

Speaker 5 (01:28:55):
Hi, Hello, welcome in our three Tony Pikes Monday midday
Quarterback here ONPN fifteen thirty. I'm Austin Elmore, Tony on
his way to Twin Peaks for the final or the
penultimate Tony and Mo football show coming up in Westchester
this afternoon from three to six. So let's continue the
football conversation, talking Bengals with the man who covers the
Bengals for Sports Illustrated, Locked on Bengals and More. His

(01:29:19):
name is James Rapine, longtime friend of the show, making
time for me on a Monday. Hi, James, how are you?

Speaker 18 (01:29:26):
I'm great anytime I can be on Tony Pike's Monday
Midday and Midday Tony Pikes Quarterback Show. I'm great to
be here.

Speaker 6 (01:29:34):
We certainly are are happy to have you.

Speaker 5 (01:29:36):
My question is, you know, I was at the game
yesterday and I kind of started thinking, like, this feels
like a preseason game to me. How much do you
really take out of what you saw against the Dolphins
and what you saw yesterday against the Cardinals if you're the.

Speaker 18 (01:29:50):
Bengals, I mean offensively, not like very little, right, I mean,
Joe Burrow, Jamar Chath and T Higgins are good at football,
so wow, you know, Chase Brown pretty solid. You know,
I think the offensive line is always in evaluation mode.

(01:30:12):
And I it's a damn shame Austin because one of
my takeaways is and it's not necessarily because of the opponents,
but you see some of these stats, and even the
Bengals tweeted one out a few hours ago, and the
fact that Joe Burrow threw from a clean pocket twenty
three times yesterday. I don't care who's on the other side.
But like people listening have dreamt for moments like this,

(01:30:35):
and they're six and ten, and it sucks because I
do think that this offense is pretty complete, elite quarterback,
really good weapons, offensive line wise, Like, it sucks. It
sucks that they couldn't go you know, four and five
without Joe Burrow and went one in eight without him
because the offense is ready to go right now, which

(01:30:59):
is is a good thing. But as far as overall
takeaways for in the past couple of weeks, at least offensively,
I don't think there's much to take away outside of
the offensive line individually. I think there's some things that
we'll probably get to during this call that we can discuss.

Speaker 5 (01:31:14):
On the defensive side of the ball. It feels like
in the middle of the season, if you would have
asked us, Okay, what players are you comfortable with going
into next year, you maybe would have said one or
two guys. Now I feel like there's five or six maybe,
And that's not necessarily because of what's happened in the
last couple of weeks. But what's happened really for the

(01:31:34):
defense after the buye do you feel like they've gotten
a lot more answers since the buye about some of
the guys.

Speaker 6 (01:31:40):
In their role for next year.

Speaker 18 (01:31:42):
On defense, Yeah, I think that's I assume that's where
you were going to go, because that's a big factor
here down a stretch is the evaluation mode aspect of it.
So we know what the proven guys can do, but
what about these unproven guys, and on defense there's a
heck of a lot of them, or they are guys

(01:32:02):
that have proved to be not the solution. And I
think we have seen some solutions piece as I'm looking
at and I just put up the depth start as
you were talking. I feel confident in DJ Turner and
Jack Sais starters on the outside in twenty twenty six.
Feel good about both of those guys. I feel good
about Miles Murphy being a starter and a key piece

(01:32:25):
at defensive end. I don't feel as good and I
would not put Jordan Battle in the same class as
those three, but I do think that you can win
games with Jordan Battle as you're starting safety. He's made
enough splash plays to show that. So those are four
guys that I think are going to be around and
you feel good about it and as you go down

(01:32:45):
the depth chart. I think yesterday was a big day
for Shamar Stewart for a few reasons. One and this
happened to our guy, and it's my guy, John Ross.
He got hurt as a rookie, and then all season
what was it, oh Man didn't touch a pass as
a rookie didn't touch a pass? I mean it was
it was just set over and over and over. I

(01:33:07):
did not want Shamar Stewart to go into the offseason
like he never even had a sack as a rookie
you only want to have in college. Like that would
have just hung over his head. And so whether or
not you think Shamar Stewart's going to be good or not,
he's going to be on the team next year, and
you want him to be extremely productive next season if
he isn't, even if he isn't a starter. So that's
another guy I would throw out there. And so I

(01:33:29):
feel really good about the secondary. I think you can
fix that. I also thought the young linebackers played pretty
well yesterday.

Speaker 8 (01:33:36):
Overall.

Speaker 18 (01:33:36):
Brett Carter frustrated me with the Michael Wilson play, but
overall I didn't I didn't notice them much, and I
feel like that's a good thing.

Speaker 8 (01:33:47):
It's almost like offensive line play.

Speaker 18 (01:33:48):
If you're not noticing these linebackers, well at least they're
not a net negative, which is a significant upgrade from
where they've been most of the season.

Speaker 6 (01:33:57):
Why has Gino Stone played as much as he has
this season?

Speaker 8 (01:34:02):
Well, it's funny.

Speaker 18 (01:34:03):
You should ask how Golden? How Golden keep being praised
on Geno still today?

Speaker 8 (01:34:08):
And I think now that is going to lead.

Speaker 5 (01:34:10):
To, oh, well, are you serious? What did Al Golden
say today? I didn't see this? Are you being serious?

Speaker 18 (01:34:17):
You did not see this? And yeah, yeah, And so
I go to the stadium today. I just don't go
him on Mondays. But my god, Mike Petra Petralia, I
call him trag Petragli had to really bother him. Mike
Petralia at Trags on.

Speaker 6 (01:34:29):
X there's a real quote, right, Okay.

Speaker 18 (01:34:32):
The success that we've had in the whatever it is,
the final eight games, a lot of it can be
attributed to Gino. I think he's been a really good
leader for us. I think his communication is exceptional. I
think he gets us in the right defense when we
need to be in the right defense. I think Jordan
Gino myself included. Would all say, man, we'd like to
have one back, one playback here, one play back there,

(01:34:55):
but get in line. That's me included in terms of
putting the guys in the best position possible. Who wouldn't
want to have a player a callback. So again, I
think he's improved from last year, and I'm always looking
at the positive and I see a pass forward for
him to get better, continue to improve, and we're going
to keep coaching him. That's fine, coach Away. It should
only be one more game. I'll break the news now,

(01:35:17):
Al Golden, you get one more game with Gino Stone
and enjoy it any more than that than no one's
paying attention. And I think the writing is on the wall.
Even if even if Al Golden is trying to be
nice here and play.

Speaker 6 (01:35:31):
The political you know these guys more than we do.
Do you think he means what he says?

Speaker 17 (01:35:39):
So?

Speaker 18 (01:35:40):
Yes, but notice what he said there is he says
like I think he's helped us play better now, it
doesn't mean that he's still not the tense best player
on the defense right right of the starters. And so
I yeah, he made nowhere to go.

Speaker 8 (01:35:56):
But you better be able to make a play when
you get there.

Speaker 6 (01:35:58):
Yeah, he doesn't get there very well and he doesn't
do anything.

Speaker 8 (01:36:01):
When he does get there, he looks like the shoulder
shitty thing like whatever that is, Like.

Speaker 18 (01:36:06):
That's the thing that you hit Tony Pike with when
you guys are walking the halls and he's trying to
tackle people in the NFL with that shoulder. But what
are you doing, man, That's what you bump your friend with,
trying to be funny, and well it's not funny, Gino,
it's not funny.

Speaker 5 (01:36:23):
Do you think Joe Burrow should play next week against Cleveland?
Zach Taylor said today he will.

Speaker 25 (01:36:29):
No.

Speaker 6 (01:36:29):
I wouldn't.

Speaker 18 (01:36:30):
Hell no, I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I just look, if
there is anything to prove, it's that this offense can
go out there and kick the snot out of that
defense because they haven't done it right and it's always
ugly and it's always something. So maybe maybe from that aspect, like,
could we be feeling a little differently about this offense

(01:36:50):
that they go out there and they just they hang
forty on the Browns, Well, that would be something. But
to me, it's just like I think back to last
year and they were playing for something last year and
they go to Pittsburgh and I know how bang dunk
Joe was after that final game because it was a
division matchup, and man did they get after him. I

(01:37:13):
mean he was. He was pretty beat up.

Speaker 8 (01:37:15):
He was fine. I wouldn't say.

Speaker 18 (01:37:16):
Injured, to be clear, but just beat up. Do you
need Joe to be beat up? And he might and
he probably will be. Knowing that the history between these teams,
I would hold him out, but obviously they're not, and
they had their mind made up and he wants to play.
I get it. My god, have a good game playing,
Zach where Joe dominates the Bengals trying to suit the

(01:37:40):
Browns for a second consecutive season, there's big stakes.

Speaker 8 (01:37:43):
On the line up.

Speaker 5 (01:37:45):
How much do you think that the offensive line playing
well factors into that decision?

Speaker 8 (01:37:51):
I don't think it does, which kind of sucks. I
don't think it does, you know.

Speaker 18 (01:37:57):
I it's a good test for them because of not
just Miles Garrett, who's just all world and they know it,
but Mason Graham, like that combo is just right fey,
like it's a nightmare for the Bengals and what the
Bengals do. And so we'll see how they hold up
against it. I think you can feel a little bit

(01:38:20):
better going into this matchup because of what they've done.
But man, you just know the Bengals are gonna have
to devote a ton to Miles Garrett one two. You'd
better be healthy because we saw when a Marius went
down as good as Cody Ford as as a receiver.
He's a complete liability as an offensive lineman, so you

(01:38:42):
can put him up outside not at tackle.

Speaker 5 (01:38:46):
You guys get the chance to talk to Joe Burrow
on Wednesday, We know how ultra competitive he is. Do
you have the guts to ask Joe Burrow if he
will lay down for Miles Garrett like Brett Favre did
for Michael Strahan.

Speaker 18 (01:39:02):
Do I have the guts to do that and ask
that question?

Speaker 2 (01:39:08):
No?

Speaker 18 (01:39:08):
I don't. I mean probably just because I know the answer.
Why Why I ask the question? You know the answer
to He's not gonna lay down, lay down, and he'd
probably just roll his eyes, right.

Speaker 8 (01:39:20):
I think the thing that sucks about this.

Speaker 18 (01:39:25):
Is anytime because he's going to get it, Like you
just know he's going to get it. And the writing's
been on the wall for like a month, and I
was like, maybe I'll get to it beforehand. So anytime
now that they talk about Miles Garrett and sack record,
it's going to show him sacking Joe Burrow, and that
alone might be a reason enough to say, you know what,

(01:39:47):
don't play him Joe. Sorry, buddy, Jake Browning, sorry buddy,
Sean Clifford, welcome now. But you know, I mean, I
I keep going on, Audie Elmore, get your rear.

Speaker 5 (01:39:59):
End in there and let Miles Garrett get the right
I could, I could rip the seam, but I think
I think Miles didn't he get his one hundredth career
sack against Joe last year?

Speaker 18 (01:40:09):
Is that not? Yeah, of course it's going to be. Yeah,
of course, why Whitney.

Speaker 8 (01:40:13):
Get his twenty third and twenty fourth in four of those.

Speaker 18 (01:40:16):
Twenty four will be against Joe Burrow And in a
year where Joe misses nine games, and of course Miles
Garrett still step to Joe Miles Garrett twice. It's just
obviously that's how it would play out. And uh, that's fine,
just trad for Miles Garrett this offseason and everything will
be forgiven.

Speaker 5 (01:40:33):
What do you think what was going through your head
when you see Cody Ford line up at wide receiver
and then catch the ball and then rumble for twenty yards.
What was going through your head as someone who covers
this team on a daily basis.

Speaker 18 (01:40:51):
Unbelievable, Like unbelievable. The first thing was like, what is
she doing? The second thing was, oh my, Joe's.

Speaker 6 (01:40:59):
Throwing it to him.

Speaker 8 (01:41:00):
It was a nice catch.

Speaker 18 (01:41:02):
Oh my gosh. You know, it's the same thing everybody
went through, and that roller coaster of emotions. And at
one point during that run, I really thought he was
going to score. Obviously he got close. I h and
then I thought about the disrespect, and I gotta be
honest with you, if a team did that to me,

(01:41:22):
we might have to fight. We might have to fight.
And I know we just gave up that twenty one
yard like if they had thrown him. So when they
got to the goal line after Chase Brown, the touchdown
was ruled stort of the goal line and they ran
the pass play for Noah Fant. If that had been
Cody Ford, it would have been it would have been

(01:41:43):
on right like, So we were reaching levels.

Speaker 8 (01:41:46):
Of disrespect that I you just can't what happened.

Speaker 18 (01:41:49):
And now a day we removed of it. I'm like, well,
if Cody can do it, If Cody can do it,
who else can do it? And Tony Pike throw me
the ball? My man, That's all I'm saying. Get one.

Speaker 6 (01:42:02):
Uh, Tony wanted me to ask you and I it's
kind of been did you.

Speaker 18 (01:42:06):
Did you understand that I'm saying that I would love
the opportunity to get an NFL past one and they
wouldn't guard me the same way they didn't guard Tony Ford.

Speaker 8 (01:42:14):
And I can run three yard stop turn, and.

Speaker 6 (01:42:17):
I get what you're saying. You seem to do this
a lot.

Speaker 5 (01:42:20):
You seem to kind of, you know, put yourself in
these hypothetical situations, and you often seem to take shots
at either myself or at the big fella, Tony Pike.
And and we have a lot of respect for you,
Like we we like you a lot, like we consider
you to be a friend, and we kind of just
have just between the two of us, been wondering like

(01:42:43):
what is going on that has led to us taken
up so much real estate inside your dome?

Speaker 18 (01:42:50):
Us?

Speaker 8 (01:42:51):
Well, it's just born, It's just Tony. What do you
mean us?

Speaker 18 (01:42:54):
What's us?

Speaker 8 (01:42:57):
When do I say hey, Austin.

Speaker 18 (01:42:58):
I'll trust you at this. The only time I do
that is if you bring up to me. First off,
there don't don't don't you do that?

Speaker 7 (01:43:06):
Right?

Speaker 8 (01:43:07):
Fair?

Speaker 6 (01:43:07):
Fair fair.

Speaker 18 (01:43:09):
Secondly, I just know how Tony carries himself and someone
needs to humble him a little bit because it's been
a while since he got rocked by Carlos Dunlap and
it's been a while since the Bengal said thanks but
no thanks.

Speaker 8 (01:43:24):
And so that's.

Speaker 18 (01:43:26):
Probably why we work together as close as Tony and
I do, so I can be the one that does that.

Speaker 6 (01:43:31):
Okay, all right?

Speaker 5 (01:43:32):
It just sometimes it reflects poorly on you, as if
you're you're always thinking about it.

Speaker 18 (01:43:39):
I love Tony, I think about him at.

Speaker 6 (01:43:44):
What do you think about?

Speaker 8 (01:43:44):
Thing?

Speaker 4 (01:43:47):
What are you working on, James that you can tell
people about and point people towards as your coverage continues.

Speaker 18 (01:43:54):
Some suggestions for the Tony Pike Monday mid Day Midday
Monday Quarterback Name Show.

Speaker 25 (01:44:01):
No, I.

Speaker 18 (01:44:04):
I actually have something I'm working on for later this
week on Cincinnati Bengals Talk and it'll probably go up
on Bengals Talk dot com. But and I know this
isn't going to happen. But what I would do if
I were the Bengals, if I were Mike Brown, what
I would do, and that includes Zach Taylor, Duke Tobin,
free agency strategy, basically everything that they should do and

(01:44:28):
check and make sure is correct and in place so
they can make a real run at this thing next year,
because I think I speak for everybody when whatever the
hell is going on can't continue to go on, not
with Joe Burrow in the building, and they're too good man.

Speaker 8 (01:44:44):
He he's the best. He doesn't miss d'leil shake.

Speaker 18 (01:44:49):
Here with the game on the line against the Eagles
like Josh Allen did. And I know Josh Allen is, but.

Speaker 6 (01:44:53):
Come on, so yeah, there you go. All right.

Speaker 4 (01:44:58):
I'm just assuming that's connected to the pole questions you've
posted on your Twitter as well about Duke Tobin and
Zach Taylor.

Speaker 18 (01:45:05):
I have a video about Zach then just went up
on Cincinnati Bengals Talk.

Speaker 6 (01:45:11):
All right, and that is connected to the Pole question since.

Speaker 18 (01:45:15):
Just because he's back, we need to ask the question
should he be back? And I think I do a
good job of laying it out if he should or
not knowing that I'm going to be covering your next.

Speaker 5 (01:45:24):
Year great stuff, James. I'll see you on Sunday. Man,
have a good one. Thanks for making time.

Speaker 18 (01:45:30):
I'll see up your next segment. I'll tee up your
next segment. Should Zack be back? Thanks Audie.

Speaker 5 (01:45:35):
That's James Rapine from Sports Illustrated and so many other
outlets including YouTube and the Lockdown Bengals podcast. A lot
going on with old James, and that is a fascinating
When it's all said and done, for James, I truly
hope he donates his brain descience because we need answers
to what's going on upstairs.

Speaker 6 (01:45:56):
Take a break, we'll come back.

Speaker 4 (01:45:57):
This is Tony Bike's Monday midday quarterback home with the
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 1 (01:46:02):
No scripts, no filters, just pure sports talk moegar.

Speaker 2 (01:46:08):
Today at three pm on ESPN fifteen.

Speaker 5 (01:46:11):
Thirty, Jen Athletes will face the.

Speaker 4 (01:46:20):
Tony Pike's Monday midday quarterback rolling right along here on
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 5 (01:46:25):
My name is Austin Elmore. I can't stop watching the
Cody Ford play. And I know that that as Bengals fans,
we had, you know, a lot of other things we'd
rather see and care about than Cody Ford rumbling for
twenty one yards and it would have been great if
this game meant anything, kind of like you know, at
some point last year, the Sam Hubbard reception meant something

(01:46:49):
in a team that was still alive in the playoff hunt,
and this ultimately doesn't mean that much. But it's a
cool moment, and I can appreciate a cool moment and
being at the stadium. Yes, I wasn't sure what kind
of crowd to expect because they're eliminated. It's the weekend
after Christmas, what really is it going to look like?

(01:47:10):
And what you saw were I think a lot more families,
a lot more kids. And when there's a lot more
young people like that or or people who maybe don't
always get a chance to go to games in the crowd,
it can be kind of lively. And the way that
the Bengals performed there was a lot to cheer about.
And I appreciated in that moment that the Bengals just

(01:47:33):
kicked somebody's ass, like that's what they were supposed to do,
and they did it, and I was like excited about that,
but I did as I was talking to Tony earlier,
I kind of got the feeling during the game that's
like this is a preseason game, Like these dudes that
are playing for Arizona don't really belong on the same field,
especially on the Cardinal defense with the Bengals offense. And

(01:47:56):
Burrow was unbelievable yesterday and James Mitch and this stat
I don't know if you've seen this or not, but
Burrow on thirty one pass attempts, was not pressured at
all on nineteen of them. So nineteen of his thirty
one pass attempts he wasn't pressured once. He completed all

(01:48:20):
nineteen of those attempts for two hundred and three yards
and three touchdowns or two touchdowns. Over the last seven seasons,
no quarterback has finished with more completions from clean pockets
without an incompletion in any game. So Joe Burrow did
something that has never been done before. And yes, the

(01:48:43):
guys on the other team really probably don't belong in
the National Football League and are not guys that you
feel like are really providing that much of I don't
know the word, I'm looking for that much of a
challenge I get to the Bengals, But still, would you
feel better about the fact that the Bengals went out

(01:49:05):
there and kind of drugged the Cardinals into the mud
and just found a way to win. Or would you
feel better about the fact that they went out there
and beat them thirty seven to fourteen and that one
touchdown that Arizona had at the end of the game
was a garbage time touchdown. I think I would feel
better about them destroying Arizona the way.

Speaker 6 (01:49:24):
That they did.

Speaker 5 (01:49:24):
And that doesn't remove the fact that the Bengals are
playing out the string in a season that is filled
with disappointment, and I'm not trying to ignore that fact
at all. But what I'm trying to figure out is
what do we actually learn from games like yesterday, from

(01:49:45):
games like the Miami Dolphins. Miami, at least was a
much better team than the Arizona Cardinals are, and the
Bengals killed them too, especially with turnovers. Arizona it was
like a preseason game, like truly like a preseason game,
and the Bengals dominated them. And I think there is
something to take from it, and most notably, it's that

(01:50:08):
they aren't playing down to the level of their opponents.
They are still maintaining a standard and that standard matters
to them, and they performed like it. That's one thing.
I think the other thing too, is that you are
seeing guys perform better than they had at any point
in other times this season, and I understand what that means.

(01:50:29):
It's like, Okay, well, of course the opponents aren't good,
so of course they're going to play better. Like the
perfect example is what we talked about earlier is TJ Slayton.
TJ Slayton I was high on him coming into this year.
I felt like he would be a valuable piece. He
would help them stop the run, and he would be
an important piece of this defense. And for the most part,
all season long, TJ. Slayton has failed to show up.

(01:50:52):
He's not really been an impact player in this defense.
Then all of a sudden over the last two weeks,
he shows up and you're thinking, Wow, this guy is
pretty good, and then you remember who they're playing against.
But you contrast that, compare that to what Miles Murphy
has done for a pretty decent chunk of this season,
especially in the absence of Trey Hendrickson, and you say, oh, okay,

(01:51:14):
this is a prolonged period of sustained success and development
by a guy like Miles Murphy. It's not just against
two bad teams that they face over the last couple
of weeks, you say the same thing about DJ Turner.
For the majority of this season, DJ Turner has been
lights out Pro Bowl caliber cornerback, and he deserves credit

(01:51:35):
for an extended period of time in which he's played
that way.

Speaker 6 (01:51:39):
So guys like that, Guys like Dax Hill.

Speaker 5 (01:51:42):
Now, Dak's maybe not as long of a period of
time as DJ Turner has had, but a guy who's
played multiple roles, he's played inside, he's played outside. The
Bengals see his future as an outside cornerback, and I
do too. There is a prolonged period of success. Again
good players, and against yesterday, and you talk about how

(01:52:03):
bad the opponent is. You're going up against an all
pro tight end and Trey McBride, Dax Hill and DJ
Ivy did a fantastic job against him. He still had
ten catches, but they have no one else to throw
the ball to. And I look at that and I say, Okay,
there's something there, like this dude is performing well against
a elite player in this league. And we have seen

(01:52:25):
those glimpses, and so for me, those are signs of
development and signs of guys that you feel comfortable with
moving forward now. I don't think that you could use
the term build around with players like that. I think
that's going a little bit too far. But I do
think you can use the term comfortable with And as

(01:52:47):
we said earlier, there are gonna be guys that play
roles like Cedric Johnson, like dj Ivy. But if Shamar Stewart,
who by all you know indications, has turned around what
was a crappy start to this season with all the
off field stuff and all the nonsense, has turned it
around to being a focused player who's trying to get
better and trying to get healthy. These reps are very

(01:53:09):
important for him, no matter who they are against. And
you look at him and Jordan Battle. I know James
said he maybe doesn't put Jordan Battle in that category.

Speaker 6 (01:53:18):
I would.

Speaker 5 (01:53:19):
I would still think that he can be a valuable
piece of this defense. Is he the most important player?
Is he someone you feel like is going to go
be an All Pro next year?

Speaker 7 (01:53:28):
No?

Speaker 6 (01:53:29):
Probably not, But.

Speaker 5 (01:53:32):
But there is at least some places on this defense
that more than just two games, those players have showed
up and proven to you, Okay, there's still room for
them to grow. They have grown and they can be
a part of this defense and you feel comfortable with them,
whether it be as a role or as a starter
moving forward. And when you couple that with the amount

(01:53:55):
of money that they have, and with the amount of
needs that they have, and with the draft picks that
they have, and you look around and you say, okay, yeah,
this makes sense. This can be a defense that is
flipped around in one offseason. Again, you don't want to
put too much into the final few games, but I'll
tell you Cleveland's not a pushover.

Speaker 9 (01:54:17):
We know that.

Speaker 5 (01:54:18):
And defensively especially, they're not a pushover. Now offensively, who
knows what it's gonna look like. Harold Fannin's a little
bit banged up, Shard Or Sanders is still a rookie,
but they still have viable players on that offense that
can pose a challenge.

Speaker 6 (01:54:33):
And as I said earlier to Tony, like to me, the.

Speaker 5 (01:54:38):
The determining factor has almost been when you play these
bad teams, has almost been Okay, who's going above and beyond,
who's doing what they're supposed to be, who's playing a
dominant brand of football, and who's not. And those guys
I just mentioned, I feel like do meet the requirement.
Guys that don't are guys like Demetrius Knight and Barred Carter,

(01:55:06):
and I think one of the most fascinating conversations we're
going to have over the course of this offseason is
going to be what are you going to do about
that position? They need a difference maker at linebacker. And
I don't feel like other than a minimal and I
mean minimal improvement in tackling, I don't feel like either

(01:55:26):
one of those two players has taken the next step.
I don't feel like they have improved. I don't feel
like they have developed. I don't feel like, other than tackling,
those two guys have gotten their reads down, gotten their
keys down, gotten their footwork down, controlled their body like.
It doesn't feel like you can comfortably go into next

(01:55:49):
year with either of those guys in mind as you're
starting linebackers.

Speaker 6 (01:55:55):
Which makes this season, all.

Speaker 5 (01:55:59):
In all, defensive a complete and total failure, because this
whole season was kind of built around the idea of
these guys being the developmental pieces to set you up
for next year. For guys like Trey Hendrickson leaving and
Shamar Stewart taking the torch and Miles Murphy taking the

(01:56:20):
torch and going from there. Well, now you might feel
better about the defensive line, but you might have to
reinvest in that linebacker group again again because of how
bad those two guys have been and who's there's no
reason to believe that they can't benefit from a full

(01:56:40):
off season, and after having been a rookie in learning
all the stuff and seeing all the stuff, I think
it's fair to assume that they will get better. But
the incremental stages of development that we have seen from
them wouldn't suggest that it's going to be any time soon.

(01:57:01):
And so with that, another offseason question mark has been placed.
There have been some answers I outline them in the
first part of this segment, but there are also more questions.
There's questions about the offensive line depth. There's questions about
the third wide receiver. There's questions about linebacker. There's questions
about detackle, there's questions about edge rusher. There's questions all

(01:57:24):
over the place. And I don't know that you're going
to get all the answers you're looking for over these
final three games, but you are going to at least
understand fully. I think who has taken the next step
who's beaten players they're supposed to beat, and beaten teams
they're supposed to beat, and actually proven to you that

(01:57:47):
they are a part of this team moving forward. Because
if you're going to place value on these games, and
the Bengals do, and there is a long history of
the Bengals placing value on these games, well, then you
should also place value on the idea that players who
don't perform in them in these games are not a
part of your future. Geno Stone is a perfect example.

(01:58:08):
And I don't know if what Al Golden said today
is just Al Golden being a politician, but I would
have laughed in Al Golden's face if he said that
in front of me today.

Speaker 6 (01:58:18):
I can't imagine.

Speaker 5 (01:58:20):
And I don't know their system, I don't know their calls,
I don't know their relationship. He might really like Genostone,
that's cool. He's not a good player. He has repeatedly
hurt this defense.

Speaker 4 (01:58:34):
And so part of the way the reason Genostone is
here right now is because of how well he played
at the end of last year. I would say I
would argue he has played equally as bad down the
stretch this year, as good as he was last year.
He's been just as awful for the majority of this

(01:58:54):
year and especially over the last couple of weeks. The
effort yesterday in trying to tackle Michael Wilson is embarrassing
to the game of football. It should be embarrassing to
Jordan Kovacs and Chucks Burke's, the guys that are coaching
the secondary. It should be embarrassing to Zach Taylor and
Al Golden. It should be embarrassing to Duke Tobin. It

(01:59:14):
should be embarrassing to Mike Brown. That is not the
level of play. That is not the standard that is
required or should be required of a Bengals player. So
if you're going to put value on what guys do
well over the final three or four games, you should

(01:59:35):
also put value on what guys don't do well, like
the linebackers, like Geno Stone, maybe like Cody Ford at
right tackle. When there's an injury and you figure out, okay,
what exactly is the plan going to be that has
in some way shape or form clarified the vision for

(01:59:56):
the offseason. If you're gonna put value on there has
to be value in both directions, good and bad. If
you're the Bengals front office phone lines are open five one, three, seven,
four nine, fifteen thirty. You're listening to Tony Pike's Monday
Midday Quarterback on the Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

(02:00:17):
Experience Tony Pikes Monday Midday Quarterback here on ESPN fifteen
thirty on Austin Elmore. We'll talk to Tony and Mo
in just a few minutes from now. They are at
Twin Peaks in Westchester for the Tony and Mo Football Show.
A couple of highlights from earlier today, the Bengals coordinators

(02:00:39):
and head coach Zach Taylor were a meeting with the media.
Al Golden, as we mentioned with James earlier, was effusive
in his praise for Geno Stone, which is is hard
to fathom, but it is.

Speaker 5 (02:00:53):
It's true. Al Golden said those things have a hard
time understanding it anyways. He was also asked about some
of the growing pains and development. He said it's been
a hard year, but he did cite the particular growth
and development of defensive ends Cedric Johnson and cornerback dj Ivy.
We talked earlier about those guys being role players in

(02:01:14):
twenty twenty six. He was also asked about Shamar Stewart
getting his first career sack, Golden said, I'm glad that's
out of the way so we can all move on
with our lives. Golden was joking when he said that.
Also talked earlier about Amarius Mims and how wonderful he
has been this season and the importance of having him
on the field. He saw the difference in the Bengals

(02:01:37):
offense when Amarius Mims was not on the field. Dan Pitcher,
the Bengals offensive coordinator, was asked about that. He said,
Amarus Mims can be the best in the world at
what he does.

Speaker 9 (02:01:48):
He really could.

Speaker 5 (02:01:50):
For as much crap as we give the Bengals about
their drafting, and a lot of people have made a
big deal about the fact that they're going to be
drafting tenth or eleventh instead of eighth or nine and
drafted the Marius Mims at what seventeen eighteen. Looks like
they may have uncovered a gym with that pick. Let's
hope they can do that again in April in the

(02:02:11):
NFL Draft when we come back. We've got a couple
of hitting gyms ourselves, Moe Eggar and Tony Pike will
join us for the Tony and Mo Football Show. Will
join us for Quick Hits next ahead of the Tony
and Mo Football Show. He Meant to Say Here on
ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 21 (02:02:25):
Wreck Up.

Speaker 2 (02:02:27):
Now it's time for a quick Hits on Tony Pikes since.

Speaker 4 (02:02:34):
Yes, indeed it is, and we go to Twin Peaks
in Westchester to find Tony and Mo ahead of the
Tony and Mo Football Show. Fellas, how are we doing today?

Speaker 26 (02:02:43):
We are good, We are good. We're here at the
Twin Peaks in Westchester. It's the second to last Tony
and Mo Football show of the season. The the Bengals won,
Joe Burrow's offensive lineman got fossils.

Speaker 9 (02:02:53):
We have a lot going on.

Speaker 6 (02:02:54):
Does it feel like a victory Monday?

Speaker 9 (02:02:58):
Not really?

Speaker 26 (02:02:58):
Oh no, it feels like a very bittersweet Monday. And
one of the things we're going to talk about today
is the same thing that makes this season so frustrating
provides at least a glimmer of hope for next year.
It's what's so weird about this team, right because you
watch them offensively, you watch what they can do, and

(02:03:21):
you know they were really good yesterday. It didn't feel
in real time like they were awesome, but they were
they were good. Ye, And you're like, I can't believe
they've wasted this. I can't believe this team with this
offensive potential is going to be on the outside looking
into the postseason at the same time as you talk
about next year. You can't help but go, you know what,

(02:03:43):
there's something to build around here. There's a foundation. There is,
and I know a lot of folks don't want to
admit that, but it's what makes the same thing that
makes this season so frustrating, provides such hope I believe
for the future if you can suspend your distrust of
the person in charge of getting the franchise to where
it needs to be.

Speaker 4 (02:04:01):
A lot of that hope for the future rest on
number nine shoulders. Yeah, and with as good as yesterday was,
there were three instances in which you had to hold
your breath on sacks taken.

Speaker 6 (02:04:14):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:04:15):
And I know we'll play Zax audio later in the
show today, but we've already found out that Joe is
going to play this week. That that's just one of
those things. Like I've seen Joe come back, I've seen
them have really two good weeks. I know the future
shoulders of number nine, And I don't want to like

(02:04:39):
or as fun as that was a couple instances where
you're like and then you move, you know, even Joe
wincing a little bit after a couple of those sacks yesterday, Yeah,
it was another win in front of your whole What else.

Speaker 26 (02:04:55):
There is I put on social media at halftime yesterday
that basically I put him on the bench then, and
you know, the game was still somewhat in doubt. I
think the Arizona Cardinals licked that stamp, put it on
the envelope well before the game kicked off yesterday.

Speaker 9 (02:05:09):
I wouldn't play him this week.

Speaker 26 (02:05:11):
I mean, look, I enjoy watching Joe Burrow play, and
I understand and appreciate and respect.

Speaker 9 (02:05:17):
His desire to play.

Speaker 26 (02:05:19):
I've watched these last three games, or last two games,
and we'll watch the third one through my fingers.

Speaker 6 (02:05:25):
Yeah, I just.

Speaker 26 (02:05:29):
Just put yourself in a mental place where you imagine
what it would feel like if a week from today
we're talking about the Bengals ending the season and there's
another injury question, Yeah, hovering over quarterback.

Speaker 9 (02:05:41):
So I would play him?

Speaker 5 (02:05:43):
I would, I agree with you, and I've been the
guy who's been pushing for Joe to play this entire time.
But there's really no point for this final game. But
I want to read for you something that Al Golden
said earlier today. This is about Geno Stone. The success
that we've had in the final eight games, a lot
of it can be attributed to Geno. I think he's

(02:06:04):
been a really good leader for us. I think his
communication is exceptional. I'm always looking at the positive and
I see a path forward for him to get better,
continue to improve, and we're going to keep coaching him.

Speaker 6 (02:06:17):
Your reaction.

Speaker 26 (02:06:19):
I see better than I hear talk to me in March,
and I mean legitimately, like Al Golden is saying the
right things by his player, which I expect an NFL
coach to do. I respect that I talk to me
in March. Look, if the Bengals re up with Genostone,
then they really believe in him. If they move on

(02:06:41):
as we expect, then whatever Al Golden says is going
to ring very, very hollow.

Speaker 4 (02:06:45):
If he said just Geno, maybe he's talk about Geno Atkins.
Let's just be honest. If we're going at training camp
next year and we're trying to sell ourselves on Genostone again.

Speaker 6 (02:06:57):
Then this clearly went in the offseason.

Speaker 9 (02:07:00):
What is the the in vogue word is unserious.

Speaker 26 (02:07:03):
If Geno Stone is on the Bengals next year, apply
unserious to them, and so to me. Geno Stone plays
for Al Golden. Right now, Al Golden's going to say
the right things by his players. I do not expect him. Look,
I think also Al knows that Gino is a punching bag,
and I think Genostone is in the conversation is the

(02:07:25):
worst free agent signing in the history of the franchise.
That's something we're going to talk about today. But I
would expect a player. I would expect a coach who
understands that he's got a player who has fallen into
his favor with a lot of people, who's a bit
of a punching bag, publicly rushing to his aid and
saying good things about him.

Speaker 9 (02:07:42):
Talk to me in April.

Speaker 26 (02:07:44):
If if the first waive or to a free agency
has passed and Geno Stone has signed a contract with
this team and there's no other safety, well then well
then that that matters a lot more to me than
what Al Golden says. And if what Al Golden says
is followed by the Bengals very quickly moving on from
Geno Stone. Then at the end of the day, who's
going to care what Al Golden had to say?

Speaker 4 (02:08:04):
What's the conversation if the Bengals went out win the
last three, lose draft positioning, don't address safety in the offseason,
and then like Caleb Downs has picked the pick right
before the Bengals.

Speaker 9 (02:08:17):
If he goes right before them, yeah, and you missed.

Speaker 4 (02:08:20):
Out on him because you won out the strand of
football games, you lose.

Speaker 6 (02:08:24):
Draft like the problem, the problem that they didn't do
anything else.

Speaker 26 (02:08:30):
The bigger issue for me would be if Caleb Downs
were there, which I don't think he would be, and
they say no because we have.

Speaker 9 (02:08:36):
Jordan Battle and Geno Stone. Who that would be mutiny.

Speaker 4 (02:08:40):
I mean that that would be because Austin and I
talked today, like I feel like Jordan Battle is progressing,
and I think Jordan Battle would would benefit from a
better player playing next to him.

Speaker 26 (02:08:50):
Why can't he be Sean Williams Remember the Bengals Sewan Williams. Yeah,
and he was never the starter. He was the backup.
He was the third safety at times like you need depth.
They havn't trusted Dejon Anthony and Tyson Anderson and those guys.
So okay, you could use something like if Jordan battles
on the team next year, cool, but the safety play
has to be better. I refuse to believe that it
gets better with Geno Stone on the team next year.

(02:09:13):
The Caleb Downs thing. Look, I get where you're coming from.
They played their best players their best play. They could
have not played their best players and probably still would
have beaten the Dolphins.

Speaker 9 (02:09:23):
And Arizona Cardinals. So the tank talk is overrated.

Speaker 26 (02:09:27):
As the Las Vegas Raiders their players told you after
the game, we got tired of hearing about how we
should lose. So yeah, man, I get it. If he
goes one pick before the Bengals are on the clock.

Speaker 5 (02:09:39):
It because of who's playing next to Jordan battle very
quickly before I let you go mode. Tony and I
talked before the game, and he seems to be very
concerned about Lipscomb tonight, what's your level of concern.

Speaker 26 (02:09:53):
There are three gentlemen sitting across from us. Take those
three gentlemen at Tony and I and if that Quinn
Ted played the Bearcats, I would.

Speaker 9 (02:10:03):
Be concerned about that. Queen Tech. Yeah, tell you about right.

Speaker 26 (02:10:06):
I'm less interested in who the opponent is and more
interested in how they play. I don't know that they're
gonna do anything tonight that's gonna make anybody feel any.

Speaker 9 (02:10:14):
Better on the final what's over under on Big twelve
wins four and a half.

Speaker 6 (02:10:20):
That's what I was gonna say. One final tune up
before Houston.

Speaker 9 (02:10:23):
Would anybody be surprised if they lost to Lipscomb?

Speaker 22 (02:10:25):
No?

Speaker 9 (02:10:26):
No, I think Lipscomb. My understanding is better.

Speaker 4 (02:10:29):
Lipscomb had duke forty eight to forty five at the
half last week.

Speaker 26 (02:10:32):
In Cincinnati's last game, they trailed by twenty seven points
in the first half to a good but not grey
Clemson team. Yep, this team's issues have nothing to do
with its opponent. It has everything to do with the
piece is fit, the offense not working, roles not being
carved out, there being no real identity. Those things are
true and will be true no matter who they play tonight.

Speaker 4 (02:10:52):
The Tony and Mo Football Show coming up next. Thanks Boys,
Thanks Audi, Thanks Man.

Speaker 5 (02:10:57):
That is Tony Pike and Moeggar Twin Peaks in Westchester
this afternoon for the Tony and Moe Football show. We're
back at it again tomorrow with another normal show, the
Tony Pikes since the three sixties show at noon, but
Tony and Mo are next. This has been Tony Pike's
Monday midday quarterback right here on the home of the Bengals,
Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

Speaker 2 (02:11:27):
WCKY, Cincinnati.

Speaker 13 (02:11:29):
Make us the number one preset on your car radio
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