Lance McAlister with Jay Morrison -- 11/14/25

Lance talks with Jay Morrison of BengalsTalk.com to preview Bengals vs Steelers.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, let's talk Bengals Steelers and do it with
the guy I was thinking about when I was in
Knoxville over the weekend. He's a connoisseer of Arby's, and
when I saw in Arby's with an old school sign,
I had to take a picture for him. He covers
the Bengals for Bengals Talk dot Com. The Growler podcast
he does with Paul Danner Jr. Is a must listen,
especially the walkout after each game. We must be talking

(00:21):
about one man. That would be Jay Morrison. How are you.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Hey?

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Laughs. There's not a lot of those Arby signs around anymore.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
That's right, absolutely, all right, take me back through the week.
How surprising was Joe Burrow's return to practice some fifty
seven days after toe surgery.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Funning. I mean, it's a timeline alone, it was surprising
based on what the initial reports were, but then you think, okay,
if it's a piece of starting to get close, where
it's gonna leak out? And Jamar Chase had no idea,
Ted Carris had note, Ted Higgins Higgins had no idea.
They were all as fun as the rest of us were,

(01:02):
so it was it was really surprising. And it's pretty remarkable.
Maybe not because it's Joe Burrow and and we know
he heals fast and he's gonna work his butt off
to get ready. But still, when they were talking mid
December and here we are in mid November, it's pretty impressive.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
Jay Thanksgiving Night, Obviously, it would be quite a stage
for the return of Joe Burrow against the Ravens. As
the week is unfolded and you've thought about it and
you've watched does it Does that feel realistic.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
In his mind? It does. I don't know. I don't
know that that's where the organization's gonna go because I did.
I ask him that in the press conference and he
and he said it would be very meaningful to come back.
No one is history in Baltimore. The fact, he's said
in the past how much he would love to play
one of those national TV games on Christmas or Thanksgiving,
But it just feel timeline wise that that more likely

(01:52):
is going to be Buffalo. Now we'll see. You know,
Joe Flacco's playing through a lot, and if something happens
to him where he's maybe iffy in that game, then
that maybe that could change. But if I were if
I were laying a bet right now. I would say
he makes the return in Buffalo.

Speaker 1 (02:07):
No Trey or Shamar this weekend. Does that make for
a big opportunity on Sunday for somebody like said Johnson.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah, absolutely, He's he's really been impressive. And you know
he he had five pressures in the final three games
last year and he did that on twenty six snaps.
Joseph o Sis had a couple stretches of three games
this year with five pressures and it's coming one hundred
and eight, one hundred and twenty snaps. It's the thing
as good as said has been. The thing that people

(02:37):
may forget is he had one padded practice since last
year's season finale before he stepped on the field to
play against the Bears. So he still doesn't have his
his sea legs, so to speak. And Darren Simmons is
using him a lot. He played twenty eight snaps on
special teams, so I think that's going to kind of
cut into how much he's he plays on defense too.

(02:57):
But I'm really interested to see if he getting pressure
on quarterbacks like this, is he gonna is he gonna
start taking some reps away from guys like Miles Murphy
and Joseph A Side.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
You wrote an excellent story on andre Yosibasha must read
about and he's gone through clearly some challenging stretches this year. Jaye,
How's he handled it and what's he's what's he's learned
from it all?

Speaker 3 (03:20):
Yeah, I mean he's he's learned not put other people's
opinions and have those effects of value he puts on himself.
And he said he got just unbelievable online hate after
the Green Bay game when he had three drops and
then he had that really bad drop against the Jets
where if he comes down with that their infield goal position,

(03:41):
they probably win that game. And it was really trying,
you know, people were saying he should be benched. He
got booed when he ran out when they announced the
offensive starters for the Chicago game. It's it's been really
hard on him, and it's it's tough to see because
he's he's just such a bubbly personality and so happy
to go lucky, and he works his butt off. He
does everything right, and it was just puzzling to him,

(04:03):
why is this happening when I worked so hard and
then when the moments come, I can't make it happen.
And then he has that great game against New England
and or not New England against the Bears, and really
that touchdown with fifty four seconds left should have been
a really special moment at game winner and then the
defense blew it. But it's still even though he didn't
win the game, he got his confidence back on that

(04:26):
touchdown pass and then that game as a whole with
how well he played first time around for Bengals.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
Steelers T and Jamar combined thirty three targets twenty two
catch He's got to figure Steelers tried to do something
different this time. It would seem to lead to a
third option like Andre being a big piece of the
puzzle for Sunday.

Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah. Absolutely they If they're gonna double both those guys,
it is it's no Offen, it's Tanner Hudson, or it's
Andrea Yoshibas and and I don't know what we'll see.
It might be the Steelers have a lot of aperience
in that secondary and and maybe they they only go
double team on both those guys on third downs, but

(05:08):
they are they've got to do something. I mean, Jamar
Chase just lit them up, and you know, Joe Flack
is going to keep leaning into that. So I'm interested
to see how the Steelers are going to approach this.
But I still think no matter what they do, Jamar
is going to get his targets.

Speaker 1 (05:24):
Eight games still left, but nobody know. Ane of the
players seem to be shying away from the importance of
Sunday in terms of the playoff picture. The M word
was used and kind of accepted this week.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
It seems, Yeah, it was surprising. A lot of times
they shy away from that. They say, it's not a
must win until you're actually eliminated from playoff contention with
the loss. And Jamar leaned into a Tea, leaned to
and do it. Ted Carris leaned into it. They they
know what it is, and it's it's it's really kind
of stunning to think about that. If they win this game,
they're a game out of first place, and if they lose, conversely,

(05:58):
I mean three games out, seven to go, it would
pretty much be over not just what they'd be one
game out at first. If they win, maybe three to
zero in the division. This is setting up to be
a really really important game, and it's a tough place
to play, but the Bengals have done pretty well in
Pittsburgh since Zach and Joe Burrow arrived.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
Jay Aside from Joe Flacco's playing career, I've said my
extent of working knowledge of him was just clips and
sound bites. Over the years, as the weeks have gone
on and he's talked more and you've been around him more,
what are your impressions of the Joe Flacco beyond just
the quarterback playing on the field.

Speaker 3 (06:37):
Oh, thoroughly impressed, and just his manner, the way he
handles himself, the way I kind of wrote in that
Yoshi VA's story where he saw Yoshi getting all those
hard questions and when the interview broke up, he walked
over and said, hey, how are you doing and checked
on him because he knew that was a tough interview.
And then just when he sits up with there at
the podium, you know, sometimes Joe Burrow's great on the podium,

(07:01):
but you see his eyes looking at the clock from
time to time, and Joe Placo never does that. He
gives us all the time in the world. It seems
like he's kind of enjoying this process too, gives really
thoughtful answers, and he's been a joy to work with.

Speaker 1 (07:14):
He's Jay Morrison, radiom at Bengals Talk dot com. Follow
him on x at buy Jay Morrison, and certainly listen
to the Growler podcast he does with Paul Dayner Junior. Hey,
I know it's a Friday night, busy weekend. Thank you
for making time tonight.

Speaker 3 (07:28):
Hey anytime, Lamb's good talking to you.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
Right, good talking to you, Jay Morrison checking in little
Bengals and Steelers tonight. All right, more ahead, have about
a little Bearcats and Cardinals one week from tonight they
will toss it up and go at Heritage Bank Center.
We'll talk with Brooks downing the man behind putting those
two teams together for the matchup. A little bit later
on some UC football and basketball, and so much more

(07:50):
to squeeze in between. Now and Joe and Byron at
seven point thirty tonight for the Xavier Musketeers at Iowa.
Let's check news right on the OS, look at me
time Management are now. Carrier Sports doc presented by Kelsey Chevelet,
seven hundred WW.

Speaker 4 (08:06):
News Traffic and Weather News Radio seven hundred w l W, Cincinnati.

Speaker 5 (08:14):
Pushback and calling for more names from the Epstein files
with the six thirty report. I'm Jack Crumley breaking Now.

Speaker 3 (08:22):
The list of clients that went to the island has
not been made public. Yeah, it's very interesting, isn't It
Probably will be, by the way, So if you're able to,
you'll be Yeah, certainly take a look at it.

Speaker 5 (08:36):
That was President Trump more than a year ago on
the Lex Friedman podcast. In multiple truth social posts this morning,
President Trump urged Republicans to not fall for what he
called the Epstein hoax. Also said that he will ask
the Justice Department to investigate ties between Jeffrey Epstein and
Bill Clinton, Larry Summers, JP Morgan, and others. The emails
released so far have come from the Epstein estate via

(08:58):
the House Committee investigating. The Justice Department still has tens
of thousands of documents.

Speaker 2 (09:02):
Does raise the question why the White House and the
Justice Department are being so are so hesitant to release
all of the other files that are in the Department
of Justice possession if they really do think that none
of these files and this separate tranch of documents show
that the President did nothing wrong, as the White House
would say.

Speaker 5 (09:22):
That is ABC's Catherine Folders. The House is set to
vote on the release of the full Epstein files in
the coming days. Now that the discharge petition hit the
two hundred and eighteen signatures needed, now the latest traffic
and weather together from the.

Speaker 6 (09:36):
UC Health Traffic Center. You'll find more options and clinical
trials for pancreatic cancer care at the UC Cancer Center.
Get a second opinion fast call five one three five
eighty five U SECC still got that accident on eastbound
two seventy five. It's after Princeton Pike. Three right lanes
all blocked off and also a fifteen minute delay from

(09:58):
Springfield Pike on Westwood Northern Boulevard. Another accident at McHenry
Avenue northbound seventy one seventy five, seeing some slow traffic
between Donaldson and twelfth a five to ten minute delay,
and eastbound seventy four slow traffic from North Bend to
Montana Avenue. I'm at Eazelek on news radio seven hundred WL.

Speaker 5 (10:20):
There's also been a new accident reported southbound seventy five
in the construction zone just south of Ronald Reagan that
has things backed up well through the Lachland Split. You
start to hit the brakes just south of Glendale, Milford
Now the Ladies.

Speaker 4 (10:32):
Forecast from the Train Heating and Cooling Weather Center on
news Radio seven hundred wl W.

Speaker 5 (10:38):
Clear skies tonight, a low of fifty three degrees, a
mix of sun and clouds tomorrow with a high of
seventy then on Sunday, sunshine and a high in the
mid fifties. On Sunday, the Bengals play the Steelers in Pittsburgh.
We are looking at some rain potentially before kick off
at one o'clock. Temperature should be right around the mid
to upper forties. Game day forecast built by American home Tech,

(11:01):
Your roof's best defense against any weather. Americanhometech dot Com
Radart right now showing clear skies in the Tri State.
It's fifty nine degrees for Employees at Roberts Academy are
now on leave after the parents of a six year
old student posted pictures last week of how the boy
was sent home with his wrists and ankles tied with socks.
The district previously said there was an investigation going on,

(11:23):
putting out the word about lane restrictions and closures this
weekend that will likely back up traffic try and cross
the Ohio.

Speaker 7 (11:30):
River concrete repair work on I seventy five both directions
near the Brent Spence Bridge could cause travel delays this weekend.
The Ohio Department of Transportation will have the southbound side
of the highway down to one lane from the Third
Street Overpass to south of the merger with I seventy one,
and that will start at nine o'clock tonight. Access from
seventy one southbound to the Brent Spence Bridge will be

(11:51):
blocked off and those restrictions are going to be in
place until six o'clock in the morning on Monday. Meantime,
there will be a double lane closure on the lower
deck to the Brent Spence Bridge starting at eleven o'clock tonight,
with those northbound lanes staying closed through Saturday evening. There
will also be a single lane closure seventy five northbound
and southbound between the Eighth Street Viaduct and the Western

(12:12):
Hills Viaduct that will be in effect all weekend long.
Ricky Uchino News Radio seven hundred doublelw.

Speaker 5 (12:18):
On Wall Street today, the Dow ending down three hundred
and ten points. I'm Jack Crumley. Our next update at
seven o'clock. Breaking news Anytime News Radio seven hundred wlb.