Sunday Morning Sports Talk with Ken Broo -- 11/30/25

Ken recaps the college football weekend, talks FC Cincinnati with Kevin Wallace, Bengals with John Breech of CBS Sports, Lee Sterling and Bradley Locker talk NFL plus Reds and how they can improve their roster with Rob Mains.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Sunday Morning Sportstock with your host Ken Brew on News
Radio seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
All right, here we go.

Speaker 3 (00:07):
No Bengals game obviously today, but a lot to get
to between now and when we're done leading into NFL football. Yeah,
we're gonna have a couple of games for you later
on this afternoon. We'll talk to you about that as
we get closer to those one o'clock kickoffs.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
The penultimate weekend of college football.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Next weekend are championship games, and there are a couple
of local teams that are going to championship games and
a few others that wish they had. And we'll start
with the University of Cincinnati because like last year when
they lost their last five, this year they have lost
their last four and they have wound up tenth in
the Big Twelve rankings you see is five and four

(00:46):
inside the conference, seven and five overall, and waiting to
see where it will go because it has been Bowl
qualified for the last several weeks. The problem is is
just all of these losses that have compiled held over
the last month, the latest of which was yesterday's forty
five to twenty three loss at TCU, And so right,

(01:08):
now the bowl that is projected for the University of Cincinnati.
This is, according to cbssports dot com, is the Rate
r Ate Rate Bowl, and that would be I believe
in Arizona and it has at least CBS Sports has.
CBS Sports has the University of Cincinnati playing Northwestern in

(01:30):
a five point thirty kick December the twenty sixth. But
we'll see a lot of this has to filter out
with games yet to be played inside conference championships and
where and who goes to college football twelve team playoffs.
We pretty much know the names of the teams now,
just where the rankings are. But it seems like maybe
as this week starts to progress, we'll know about bowl

(01:52):
destinations four teams like the University of Cincinnati, Miami University,
Ohio University, and we'll see where Louisville goes. But let's
take the University of Cincinnati game. First, they go to TCU.
They wanted to get that eighth win. They thought they
had a good shot, but it didn't happen. This game

(02:15):
went south on UC quickly. First series, they get a
fourth and one, and the reason why they had the
ball for that first series is because bad weather was
coming in and Scott Satterfield wanted the ball first before
that weather came in, which indeed it did, forcing about
a ninety minute delay in this game. So they get
the ball, they get to a fourth and one in

(02:35):
their own territory, fourth and one at the UC thirty four,
and they get zero yards, turn the ball over to TCU.
TCU flips that quickly to a touchdown and then it
all goes south. TCU led twenty one to seven at
the end of the first quarter and it never looked back.
Scott Satterfield after the game, with our Tony Pike on

(02:57):
his defense giving up forty five yesterday.

Speaker 4 (03:00):
We didn't tackle great again, you know, and you know,
we're getting beat up in the back end, and we're
trying to rotate and put guys in, and the backups
are getting beat up, and so you know, it's tough.
It was just tough, you know, to be able to
come down and make those tackles on a day in
and a play in and play out basis, you know,
And and and you throw the end of the second half,
you know right there to.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
Just run in the football.

Speaker 5 (03:20):
You know, we all knew it and just still couldn't
stop it.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (03:22):
I mean they had a great quarterback in Josh Hoover.
But TCU ran the football yesterday, did great success against
the UC defense. And you know, again they've lost their
last four in a row after last year losing their
last five in a row. And they sit and they
wait as to where they will go. And the bigger
question really for U see in every team that isn't

(03:42):
involved in the college football playoffs is what what players
are going to these bowl games? Because now with the
portal coming up quickly portal opens this week, players are
free to transfer out. They're free to go wherever they
want to go. And a lot of these bowl games
that you will see starting in early December will not

(04:04):
have the same players that they had throughout the regular season.
It's just the way of the world of college football
for every team, basically every team except the twelve that
make the playoffs. Brendan Soresby yesterday twenty three of thirty three,
two hundred and eighty two yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions.
He also had fifty nine yards rushing. Played very well.

(04:26):
But now you see sits and weights, and the message
from Satterfield to his team was what yesterday.

Speaker 4 (04:31):
Yeah, and I just you know, obviously the last four
games hadn't gone our way, you know, for several reason.
I mean, you can obviously pulled them all out, but
tonight it wasn't our deal man. You know, fourth down,
we don't get they end up scoring. You know, we
hold them and then we get them up a punt,
and you know, we put ourselves in bass situations early.

Speaker 5 (04:48):
But my message in the locker room.

Speaker 4 (04:50):
Was that these guys approach it in a way that
everybody should be proud of them. And they come to
work every single day, they have great attitudes, they work
their butts off, they care, they care about each other,
and that doesn't happen across a lot of locker rooms.

Speaker 5 (05:02):
And so I just told them I loved them.

Speaker 4 (05:04):
I appreciate how they go about their business, you know,
and you know, I'm disappointed for them that we didn't
finish as strong as we needed to.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
Well that's them up north in ann Arboro, Ohio State
twenty seven Michigan nine. That breaks a four game losing
streak against Michigan, and now Ohio State moves on to
the Big Ten championship game against Indiana. Julian Say in
nineteen of twenty six, two hundred and thirty three yards,
three touchdowns, one interception, and nobody had to tell him

(05:34):
the significance of the win after the game.

Speaker 6 (05:36):
When I first got here, I was taught the tradition
of this and how much it means to buck On Nation,
how much it means to the state of Ohio. So
you know, we definitely want to take it routine based
in one week at a time. But we knew this
was coming and it was awesome to have our fans there.
You know, we ended up clearing out the stadium having
all read out there.

Speaker 3 (05:54):
So it was awesome. And you got Bo Jackson two hundred.
First of all, Bo Jackson, and I don't know about you.
We knew what his talents were before the season. I
don't think anybody knew how dominant he could be later
in the season. Twenty two carries, one hundred and seventeen yards,
Jeremiah Smith, Carnell Tate a touchdown catch each. Twenty seven

(06:16):
to nine. Ohio State beats Michigan, and there was nobody
happier up at ann Arbor, nobody happier inside the Big House.
Then Ryan Day, head coach Ohio State, who finally got
a win as head coach against Michigan.

Speaker 7 (06:32):
It was a great moment for our players.

Speaker 2 (06:34):
They deserve it, They've worked hard.

Speaker 7 (06:36):
I thought they played really well and strong and physical
in his game. And happy for our coaches. But again,
like I said, the fans, even who weren't here, you
know they'll be able to wear that blucko and you know,
stand a.

Speaker 3 (06:49):
Little prouder then you coach. Finally, I to tell.

Speaker 7 (06:53):
You that the last four years have been been easy
is not true. I take the responsibility of being the
coach at oh House date very, very seriously. So does
my family, So do the players or of the coaches.
So you know, when you know you don't accomplish those things,
you take it personally.

Speaker 2 (07:09):
And I understand what that means.

Speaker 5 (07:10):
I mean, my my.

Speaker 7 (07:12):
Family's been here nine years now, so there's nobody who
wants to win this game.

Speaker 2 (07:14):
More than me.

Speaker 7 (07:15):
But but but to win this game, you know, it's
it's it's just a great moment, and I'm just it's
it's it's it's one of those moments that you want
to just grab on for a while and just enjoy
it because you know, just to see the joy in
everybody's face is really what this thing's all about.

Speaker 3 (07:32):
Yeah, well, a completely different kind of atmosphere in Lexington.
They had the Battle of Kentucky yesterday in Louisville, and
Louisville just took the hurt stick to k a UK
forty one to nothing was the final of that game.
As UK finishes the season five and seven. Louisville had
one hundred yard games from Sean Boykins Junior and Braxton

(07:54):
Jennings four hundred and forty total yards for Louisville the
UK's one hundred and forty seven. This is the biggest
margin of victory in this series since this series was
resumed back in nineteen ninety four. Forty one to nothing.
And here was Mark Stoops after the game stating, quite frankly,

(08:15):
the obvious.

Speaker 8 (08:16):
You know, not very proud of our effort here today.
Obviously I want to give Jeff and Louis whole bunch
of credit. They played one heck of a game, regrouped
and played extremely well, you know. Not very pleased with
the way we finished the season, obviously, feel like we

(08:36):
made some improvements throughout the middle of the season there
and then towards the end, just couldn't hang on, didn't
play very good, didn't coach very good, and got our
bus kicked.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
So the speculation on whether or not Mark Stoops is
back for another season continues, and it continued after the game.
Stoops has a forty million dollar buyout. In other words,
if Kentucky says we're done, you're done, audios, don't let
the door hit you on the way out, it would
cost the University of Kentucky forty million dollars to send

(09:09):
Stoops on his way. That's a prohibitive number for a
school like Kentucky. We'll see if that buyout happens, and
we'll see what happens to Stoops. But as for Stoops saying, audios,
so I'm leaving on my own, you.

Speaker 9 (09:22):
Know I'm going to be here as far as I'm concerned. Now,
I can't control what you know, decisions there or man,
if you're asking me, I mean that said zero zero
means zero zero percent chance I walk.

Speaker 10 (09:35):
No.

Speaker 3 (09:36):
We'll see what the week brings again. Forty one dozing
Louisville over Kentucky. Kentucky finishes five and seven and is
not Bowl eligible. There was an intriguing story that developed
inside the Mid American Conference this week and that was this,
which of the teams would tie for second place would
get to play Western Michigan University for the MAC Championship

(09:59):
this coming week. Miami did its part yesterday it won
forty five to twenty four. It beat Ball State in Oxford.
Miami finishes seven and five, six and two inside the conference.
Thomas Guttkowski, who took over for quarterback when the starting
quarterback took a hike on the team midseason, twelve of
twenty four, two hundred and twenty six yards, three touchdowns,

(10:21):
no interceptions.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
He was terrific yesterday.

Speaker 3 (10:24):
So three teams tied for that second place in the MAC,
and that would have been Miami, Ohio University, and Toledo University. Well,
the MAC has an interesting way of determining tie breakers,
and the tiebreaker it applied was the third level tiebreaker
inside of its system, and that was the most wins,

(10:48):
the best record against common opponents. And when you break
it down that way, nobody had a better record than Miami,
not Toledo, not Ohio University. And it's Miami that's going
too the MAC Championship game next week with a chance
to play in a very good bowl game after that. Now,
oftentimes this season, Chuck Martin's team was carried by its defense,

(11:11):
but the offense came alive yesterday put up forty five
on ball State. Here's Martin after the.

Speaker 5 (11:16):
Game today was nice.

Speaker 11 (11:19):
We just kept scoring in It's like, okay, defense, first
couple of drives not great, but then obviously they settled
in and you know, suffocating the rest of the game.
But that's the story of the season, really is a
defense has given us a chance to be to mucket
around in five ways to win.

Speaker 5 (11:34):
For the most part. Uly games man, Today's the first.

Speaker 11 (11:36):
Day that you could actually relax and like, hey, we're
up a couple scores.

Speaker 5 (11:41):
Is kind of nicely.

Speaker 3 (11:42):
Chuck Martin remains the best coach of the MAC. Always
finds a way to rally his team from a difficult
out of conference opening games season and flip that around
to at least being competitive for a MAC championship and
in this case, qualifying for a MAC championship in next
week's game against Western Michigan. Congratulations to the RedHawks. Terrific

(12:05):
come around, turnaround season and a lot to fight through.
Like I said, they're starting quarterback decided midseason I'm done here.
I'm going to go prepare for the NFL Draft. Maybe
he'll be watching the NFL Draft.

Speaker 2 (12:17):
Who knows.

Speaker 3 (12:18):
Finally, on Friday, Indiana just dropped it, just absolutely dropped
it everything it had on Purdue.

Speaker 2 (12:25):
Fifty six to three.

Speaker 3 (12:27):
Indiana beat its in state rival, and of course that
makes Indiana twelve and zero on the season, nine to
zero inside the Big Ten. Roman Hemby twelve carries one
hundred and fifty two yards in a touchdown, Kaylin Black
thirteen carries sixty six yards and two touchdowns, and Indiana
finishes with the country's second best scoring defense and second

(12:48):
best scoring offense. So now they go onto the Big
Ten championship game this coming Saturday night to face Ohio State.
NBC Sports corraled Kirk Signetti on the field after the
game to talk about what just happened in that game
against Purdue and what lies ahead.

Speaker 5 (13:06):
You know, it's not about me, and we've got work
to do.

Speaker 3 (13:10):
And someday when I'm made, he's sitting.

Speaker 2 (13:12):
In my rocke and chair drinking a corpse light. I'll
reflect back on it, but we got too much ahead.

Speaker 12 (13:18):
Of us right now.

Speaker 3 (13:19):
He's a Pittsburgh guy. He's not drinking course light. He'll
be drinking icy light. Anyway, that's your Big Ten Championship
game and ball State falls in Oxford, Miami goes to
the MAC Championship game, and you see finishes at season
seven and five and waits to see what bowl it
we'll get to go to. We are at nine to

(13:39):
twenty three on this Sunday morning. Great to have you
with us Sunday Morning Sports Talk. We'll lay out the
show next on seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 2 (13:48):
All right, mister Pinney, I'm going to SEEPN dot com
right now.

Speaker 3 (13:53):
First round byes go to number one seed Ohio State,
number two seed Indiana, number three seed Georgia, number four
seed Texas Tech. Now, obviously this is just these aren't
the final seedings. We won't know those until a week
from today. But that's what they have Ohio State, Indiana, Georgia,
Texas Tech one through four with their buys. They project

(14:14):
first round games on campus the weekend of December nineteenth.
December twentieth two, Lane the number twelve seed at number
five Oregon, Virginia in the number eleven seed, at the
number six seed, Texas A and M the number ten
seed Alabama at the number seven seed, Ole Miss. See
who's coaching that team? Number nine Notre Dame at number

(14:37):
eight Oklahoma, and then the quarterfinal games when they moved
to the Bulls the Cotton Bowl, the Capitol One Bowl,
the Orange Bowl, the Rose Ball. It would have Ohio
State playing the winner of Notre Dame and Oklahoma. That's
where they think it will all fall down. As for Indiana,
it would play the winner of the Alabama Ole Miss game.

(14:59):
But again, and the next round of rankings is Tuesday night,
and then the final round is one.

Speaker 2 (15:03):
Week from today. As for us today, I mean.

Speaker 3 (15:09):
After Thursday night, is there really a pathway for the
Bengals to make the playoffs or is it still kind
of one of those smoke and mirror things. We'll get
behind the story of that. Also, Lee Sterling is here.
He's got five games he thinks are going to come
home as winners for you today in the NFL, we'll
also talk to our good buddy at Baseball Prospectives, Rob Mainz,

(15:33):
about how do the Reds get better if their payroll
is not going to increase significantly? That would mean trades.
Who would they trade? And joining us later in the show,
one of the greatest Blues guitarists in the history of music,
and he's coming to Cincinnati. Kenny Wayne Shephard is going
to join us talk about the tour, what it's all about,

(15:54):
and how it all got started for him all those
many years ago. But first up, oh by, if somehow,
some way FC Cincinnati had figured out how to handle
messy last Saturday, last Sunday, they might be playing for
an MLS Cup next week. We'll get into the whys
and the wherefores as to why FC Cincinnati went so

(16:17):
quietly last Sunday in the MLS playoffs after this on
news radio seven hundred WLW on this Sunday morning. So
we wonder whatever happened to Norman Greenbaum, not that it
was paralyzing us by lack of knowledge. Welcome back. I

(16:39):
guess if you're a Bengals.

Speaker 2 (16:41):
Fan, and why would do you not be?

Speaker 3 (16:43):
You're rooting against the Steelers today, and why would you
not if you're a Bengals fan. Buffalo is at Pittsburgh.
It's a late start, four twenty five, and of course
Pittsburgh right now tied for the lead in the AFC North.
And then this from NFL Media, Aaron Rodgers, who is
going to play today, apparently has at least three fractures

(17:03):
in his left wrist from that injury he sustained here
in Cincinnati a couple of weeks ago. So factor that
into your fantasy football team as you wish.

Speaker 2 (17:14):
Well.

Speaker 3 (17:14):
The shock of the way the MLS season ended for
FC Cincinnati this time a week ago was pretty intense.
Messi and Miami came to town and left with a
four nil final. Messi involved in all four goals, and
that knock the squad out of the MLS playoffs and
into the offseason, and their offseason roster has been released

(17:37):
this week. The schedule was released this week, and a
few other tidbits surrounding the beautiful game were released this week.
And when we get to the beautiful game, we get
to the co host of one of the wildly popular
podcasts that's out there right now, is called The Sinci
Post Podcast. And at the center of it all is

(17:57):
I guess the brains of the outfit. Maybe I don't know,
but he's here with us today. He's Kevin Wallace. Kevin,
how are you on this glorious Sunday?

Speaker 5 (18:07):
Oh? Ken, I'm doing great, doing great. Had a lovely Thanksgiving?
How are you I'm fine.

Speaker 3 (18:13):
Did you go through withdrawals because you probably awakened on
Sunday a week ago and said, okay, let's get ready
for and then you realize reality dictated you would not.

Speaker 2 (18:24):
Are you over that part of it?

Speaker 3 (18:26):
Oh?

Speaker 5 (18:27):
Man? I tell you. The Major League Soccer season is
impossibly long. I've been following this team this season since
February is when their season kicked off. So yeah, finding
a time where the season is over it really does
shock the body.

Speaker 3 (18:43):
Well, it's going to be a shock on a number
of levels. Before we get into what the future may
hold for FC Cincinnati. You have one more season of
this current schedule setup, which runs from February through late
fall and into very almost right up till winter, and
then it will have a little mini season after that,
and then in twenty seven it follows FIFA, it follows

(19:07):
what happens in Europe in the ETL, among other places,
and so it then becomes a spring through fall league.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
That's a lot of.

Speaker 3 (19:16):
Soccer between now and then, and I'm just wondering how
teams will go about not burning their players out in
that eighteen month span. How do you think that's going
to work?

Speaker 5 (19:28):
Yeah, it's going to be an interesting transition switching the calendar.
There has been a handful of leagues around the world
that have made this switch over the last say, ten
fifteen years, so at least there are some models to follow.
But yeah, that weird sprint season they're calling it in

(19:49):
twenty twenty seven, and the spring is going to be fascinating.
I don't know how you necessarily recruit players to just
play during that portion of the season. There's a handful
of teams that are going to have stadiums still being
built then that may not get a home game that
entire you know, mini seasons. So it's gonna be a

(20:09):
bizarre time.

Speaker 3 (20:10):
No, it is, And you're right, because of weather restrictions
and things like that, that's certainly going to be an issue.
One other thing that I heard on your podcast in
the wake of last week's lost to in Miami. One
of the points that was raised is that the current
FC Cincinnati team, the one that was on the field

(20:32):
for this past season, they didn't have enough players that
hated losing more than they loved winning. In other words,
they didn't have you know, I think, for lack of
a better word, they just really didn't have players out
there that could just just defend and then from an
offensive standpoint, take out the other team out of the strategy,

(20:56):
out of the game. Everybody loves to win. Everybody on
that roster, I'm sure it loves to win. But there
weren't enough players that hated losing more than they loved winning.
And I think that's a that's a that's a valid
point to discuss here what players or what kind of
players would be like that, players that hate losing more
than they love winning.

Speaker 5 (21:18):
You know, it's interesting a two of those players that
are or were on this roster, or Matt Mioska and
DeAndre Yedlin, and Yedlin was traded was an unfortunate sort
of cap uh sacrifice in order to bring in Brenner.
And I think on paper and on the field, that

(21:40):
is absolutely the right move and it was the right move. However,
you lost that leadership on the field. You lost that fight,
you know, when when there's little you know, skirmishes and
scuffles right on the field. Yedlin is the first one
in there to defend their guys. He's in the rest
ear you know, that guy that is just constantly pushing

(22:01):
it and getting under the skin of the other team,
and we lost that this season with him being traded
and then Met Miyoska getting injured. Miyoska is the ultimate
pot stir right, his leadership in that respect is absolutely missing.

(22:22):
Like of the two, I would say Miles Robinson is
a better center back. It is probably at this point
certainly in his career, a better player. But Robinson's a
much more calm, you know, cool, collected type player, whereas
Nyaska is absolutely a hot head. And in those moments,

(22:43):
especially when you fall behind early, you need the hot
head to light a fire under the team that him going.
And yeah, they're just turned enough of them on the field,
at least by the time we got to the end
of the season.

Speaker 3 (22:57):
He was that way a little bit, was he not.
I thought that was one of the intangibles. Yeah, one
of the intangibles he brought to the table was that
that fiery you know what, I'm not gonna I might
be the shortest guy in the field, but I'm not
taking anything from anybody.

Speaker 5 (23:13):
Yeah, that's what made a Costa a special player. I mean,
obviously the talent, but his unwillingness to lose was something else.
And again, this is this is sort of the odd
thing where if you were to ask me who do
I want right now on the team, say Evander ultimately
Luca's replacement for Luco. Evander's a better player. Luco crashed

(23:37):
out of the league with Dallas and has been an
okay player this new team down in Brazil. Evander is
an MVP finalist. He put up insane numbers. But you're
exactly right, it's that fire that this team was missing.

Speaker 3 (23:54):
So the roster came out for next season and who
they protected, who they want back, who they don't. There's
a goalkeeper, I mean, Sellentano, Evan Lauro. I mean they're
set there midfield. If they got to figure out what's
going on with Barrial and his loan situation. Do you
anticipate Barrial being here next year or is that ship,

(24:15):
in your opinion, sailed.

Speaker 13 (24:18):
No.

Speaker 5 (24:18):
Actually, there was reporting about a month ago that Santos,
the team he's with now down in Brazil, is going
to purchase his contracts from FC Cincinnati for the four
million dollars. And we're doing some back of the envelope
math because there were some he had to play in
a certain percentage of minutes of games through the regular

(24:40):
season something like that, and it automatically triggered the sale,
and I think he hit it over the weekend, so
I think he is He is gone, which is unfortunately
he's had insane season down in Brazil, but that is
four million dollars back to FCC to help rebuild next year.

Speaker 3 (24:57):
The core of the defense, Haglin, Miosga, Robinson, they're all back.
A Debbe teenage, A Debbe is back midfield. I mean,
you're you're you're looking at kind of the same faces,
Buka and Shadik, who I thought was a terrific addition.
Uh Novodou is back, Orshano Evander obviously is back, even

(25:17):
the the young guy, uh Girodo Valenzuela is back. But
here we go up front and it seems like it's
the same story all the time. Den K is back,
great player, but I don't know what they build around him,
and do they have the money to build around him,
because the forward position looks a little thin at this point,
does it not?

Speaker 5 (25:40):
It does? And they they said in this sort of
end or end of season roster announcements that they are
in negotiations with Udines for Brenner, and as far as
I can tell, there really isn't a mechanism to bring
Brenner back again. He took a pretty big haircut on

(26:04):
the on the salary to come back this you know,
port partial season, and I'm sure Brenner enjoyed his time.
He talked about how much he loved the club. At
the end of the day, I think he would rather
be in Europe. That's why he, you know, is doing
all of this. So I would suspect Brenner goes back
out on loan if he doesn't stay with his club,

(26:26):
He's back out on loan somewhere in Europe. But if
there is a way to bring him back, I am
you'd like to see it.

Speaker 3 (26:34):
Do they have the money And I know that there's
all kinds of roster gymnastics you've got to go through
about players, designated players and all of that that MLS does,
But do they have the money to do if not,
if not Brenner, to at least address that position and
maybe maybe maybe maybe bring somebody in at that position
like den Cave like they did last year that really

(26:54):
gave it a boost. Do they.

Speaker 5 (26:58):
So? Unfortunately no, so as far as designated players, which
the only thing you need to worry about with that
is these are players that don't count against the salary cap.
Very fun little mechanism that Major League Soccer has. But
FC Cincinnati only gets three of them, and next year
all three are spoken for. That is Miles Robinson, Kevin

(27:20):
den K and Evander. So if you're looking to bring
in another player of that caliber, you're going to have
to move one of those players out, which seems unlikely.
I don't know. Even if there is a market for
den K, there probably is a market for Evander. I

(27:41):
don't think there would be wae for Robinson, at least
not to the point to make it worthwhile for FDC. Right,
So what you're looking at, yeah, right, So what you're
looking at is the elbar player that they've brought in
the past, like Corey Baird or Sergio Santos. And it's

(28:01):
been a rough go the last couple of years. But
that same type of player was Brandon Vasquez a couple
of years ago. So if you could find somebody like that,
then you be cooking.

Speaker 3 (28:11):
Well, it all gets started quickly because there's Champions Cup
next year. I would imagine there's a Champions Cup game
at some point very early on in twenty twenty six,
in February, and so they have to address some of
these roster decisions and what you're going to do. Then
if you're if you're hampered by designated players and or money,
you're going to have to figure out what you want

(28:32):
to do upfront, because, as we said, upfront is very thin.
I wanted to hit you with one more question, and
it's really not Jermane and at this point to Cincinnati,
but I find what the USL, the league that FCC
used to be in before jumping to MLS. I find
what they're doing is interesting. They're going to have a
top tier and I wonder if that will rival in

(28:53):
terms of dollars and strategy to take on some of
the players at MLS may be designating to come in,
you know, to the United States and the various clubs
that are here.

Speaker 2 (29:05):
They will also have relegation.

Speaker 3 (29:07):
Is it still, in your opinion, going to be quote
unquote Division two soccer? Or is this something kind of
like you're too young to remember this, the w or
the ABA taking on the NBA.

Speaker 2 (29:18):
What do you think?

Speaker 5 (29:20):
Yeah, it's it's interesting. I guess on some level they
need to differentiate themselves from Major League Soccer, and part
of that is promotion and relegation. It's a beloved part
of the sport around most of the rest of the world.
I know lots of American soccer fans would like to
see it here in the United States. I think there

(29:44):
is a pathway, There is potential for USL to do
something like that. But you mentioned those other leagues, the AVA,
the World Hockey League. Ultimately those leagues were absorbed by
the dominant league, and cynically you could say they were

(30:07):
even angling for that from the beginning. I could see
some USL teams basically putting themselves in the shop window. Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Detroit.
I mean these are large markets, Tampa, Phoenix. Yeah, no
reason to think MLS couldn't go to forty and just
take the you know, ten or so teams that look

(30:29):
like they're going to make it and leave it there.

Speaker 3 (30:32):
That could be, That could be, that could be the play,
all right, he is Kevin Wallace. The Sincy Post podcast
drops once a week, I believe, in the off season,
and it's available wherever you get your podcasts, from Apple, iTunes,
whatever it may be. Maybe even home delivery. Who knows,
Maybe Amazon delivers it right to your door. You don't know, Kevin, say,

(30:52):
well and you and I will visit down the road.
Thanks all.

Speaker 5 (30:56):
It sounds good, Thanks Kevin.

Speaker 3 (30:58):
Yeah, just think if they had won on Sunday night
last week, they would have played probably last night against
the New York City Football Club and that would have
been a matchup I think would have favored FC Cincinnati.
But that's one of those big old what ifs. Nine
five on this Sunday morning, Is there really a path

(31:19):
for the Bengals to the playoffs or are we all
just dreaming at this point. We'll get into that next
with someone who covers the NFL for a living on
seven hundred w WELW.

Speaker 1 (31:30):
W l W presents Sunday Morning Sports Talk with your
host Ken Brew on news Radio seven hundred w l W.

Speaker 3 (31:38):
Here we go, here we go, Here we go into
the ten o'clock hour on this Bengalless Sunday.

Speaker 2 (31:44):
O Bengals today.

Speaker 3 (31:46):
They took care of business on Thursday, so they get
the weekend off. You got Buffalo at Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh is
getting three at home in this game. It's a four
to twenty five start and Rogers will play fight having
three fractures in his left wrist. The word is that

(32:07):
they are not displaced fractures, which I guess if you
got to have a fracture, that's the way to have one.
But he wanted to play last week. He wanted to
finish the game here with the Bengals a couple of
weeks ago, and quite frankly, I think if he did,
the Bengals would have won that game. Actually the game
in Pittsburgh two two weeks ago, I think he would

(32:30):
have won that game. But nevertheless, he's there today as
they take on the Buffalo Bills, and at home Pittsburgh
is getting three. You root for You were for Buffalo
in that game, obviously for you root for whomever Pittsburgh
is playing each week, but you're root for you root
for Buffalo in that game, and then you hope the
Bengals can go to Buffalo next week and knock off

(32:53):
the Bills. Bills, among other things, have not looked sharp
the last few weeks, and they're not taking care of
the ball. In particular, their quarterback is not taking care
of the ball. But they can run, and they run well.
But nevertheless, they are three point favorites. Today in Pittsburgh,
Cleveland is at home getting five. San Francisco at Cleveland,

(33:19):
Cleveland at home getting five. Shador Sanders, who was okay
last week, he'll make another start. I think the biggest
stories are defense. Cleveland's defense is going to win games
this year, and as you look ahead to when they
finish the season here in Cincinnati, of all the things
I think you have to worry about when Cleveland comes

(33:40):
to town is what that pass attack, pass rush looks like.
And so we'll see what today delivers to them. And
of course Baltimore and Cincinnati have the day off. As
for what happened Thursday night, well, Joe Burrow thought, you know,
on all, on all levels, particularly with him, things were okay.

Speaker 10 (34:01):
You know, I thought second half I started to put
it more where I wanted and settled in a little bit,
suddenly missing throws early that I typically make. But you know,
after that, I felt felt pretty comfortable back there. I
thought that the line did graat, we ran it well.
Obviously defense played great, so I'm just gonna keep getting better.

Speaker 3 (34:19):
Well, the team has life after what happened on Thursday.
But right now, I think the way most metrics have it,
they've got a two point three to two point four
percent chance of making the playoffs. But there is a pathway.
There is a pathway. According to my next guest, John
Breach cbssports dot com, terrific sports writer headline on his

(34:41):
story late last week twenty twenty five NFL Playoff picture,
how Joe Burrow and the Bengals could make the postseason
after that shocking win over the Ravens.

Speaker 2 (34:54):
Pipe dream reality? What's the pathway?

Speaker 14 (34:58):
Here?

Speaker 3 (34:58):
Now to weigh in on this Sunday morning, we welcome
in the author of that article, John breachcbssports dot com.
How are you on this glorious game day?

Speaker 2 (35:10):
Do we have?

Speaker 3 (35:11):
John? Is you there? John?

Speaker 2 (35:13):
Online too? John? How are you on this glorious game day?

Speaker 12 (35:17):
Ken?

Speaker 15 (35:17):
I am fantastic as always because I'm hearing your voice.

Speaker 16 (35:22):
That's always great to talk.

Speaker 3 (35:24):
So that was kind of improbable. I think some of
us said it could happen. We didn't think it would happen.
But this Bengals team is night and day with Joe Burrow.
I mean, if it's not evident to everyone by now,
it should be.

Speaker 15 (35:38):
Well, it's interesting because I think go back to twenty
twenty three, Jake brown came in and played a few
games very well, and everybody said, well, Joe Burrow is
not that good. Jake Browning can on this offense. And
the same thing kind of happened this year where Joe
Flacco had to run a few games and it was
is Joe Burrow really that much better?

Speaker 14 (35:56):
And so for him to come.

Speaker 15 (35:57):
Out, and I think this was kind of the game
where everybody nodded their head and said, yes, Joe Burrow
is that much better. He makes everyone on the team better.
Whether it's the time of possession that they dominated against
the Ravens that keeps the defense on the field for
a lot less time which allowed them to play better.
It is just an all around better roster from top

(36:18):
to bottom with Joe Burrow in there. And this was
just the prime example of that.

Speaker 3 (36:22):
I don't want what the defense did to be lost
in the narrative and find this very interesting. The Ravens
had the ball for thirteen drives in that game. Six
of those drives first down started with zero yards or less.
If you've got a team on its heels on first down,
chances are you're winning third down. The defense, the takeaways

(36:45):
were one thing, but the way they played consistently in
this game I think was not That was the shocking
thing considering what we've seen up until now. I mean, okay,
so Al Golden kind of dumb things down a little bit.
Does this carry for the rest of the year in
your opinion?

Speaker 5 (37:01):
I think it might.

Speaker 15 (37:02):
And really Joe Burrow's return overshadowed how well the defense played.
It was you had your secondary blanketing the receivers.

Speaker 13 (37:11):
Lamar Jackson, Barry barely.

Speaker 16 (37:12):
Completed fifty percent of his passes.

Speaker 15 (37:15):
Jordan battles tackle on Isaila Likely at the goal line
that saved that touchdown. I feel like that flipped the
game because if Likely scores there, the Bengals go down fourteen.

Speaker 16 (37:25):
To six, and it's almost a feeling.

Speaker 13 (37:26):
Of oh no, here we go again.

Speaker 15 (37:28):
And the defense just kept consistently making big plays. And
this is where we were just talking about how Burrow
makes everyone better. If you look at Joe Burrow's last
eight starts, he's eight.

Speaker 5 (37:40):
No, he hasn't lost.

Speaker 15 (37:41):
And that's why I think if people feel hopeful about
the playoffs, but one reason they're winning those games, it's
not just because of Burrow. The defense is only giving
up eighteen point nine points per game in.

Speaker 3 (37:52):
Those eight starts.

Speaker 15 (37:53):
Can now you look at the nine starts this year
without Burrow, they're giving up more than thirty five points
per game. So we're talking it's night in day, so
they're just out there. And I do think it does
have to do with Al Golden simplifying the defense, because
it's not just this game against Baltimore.

Speaker 16 (38:10):
We saw it against the Patriots.

Speaker 15 (38:12):
They played Drake made better than anyone has this season,
and then that Steelers.

Speaker 16 (38:17):
Steelers scored thirty four, but there were the pick six.

Speaker 15 (38:19):
In there by Joe Flaco, and the defense played well
for most of the game. So this is three weeks
of good football for that defense, and I do think
it can carry on through the rest of the season.

Speaker 3 (38:27):
Yeah, and again with Burrow in there, I think it
changes the rhythm for everybody. Again, Thursday night, the Bengals
had the ball for twelve drives and four of those
were elongated drives ten plays or more. So you're given
your defensive breather and you're also on the field a
little bit, controlling the time of possession and then by

(38:48):
that controlling the rhythm. So I think there's Flacco can
throw you the deep ball and is quite capable of
leading a touchdown drive. But that those longer drives, I
think is so it gets everybody back up on the
balls of their feet and again giving your defense a
blow so they're not out there. I mean, I think
that was critical the time of possession. There's almost a

(39:09):
seventeen minute difference.

Speaker 5 (39:11):
Yeah. Absolutely.

Speaker 15 (39:12):
Another thing you want out of your offense is you
don't want to have the three announced because that's where
if you have a struggling defense and they only get
a ninety second break because you're out there punting after
not getting a single first down, it's kind of another
that doesn't give the defense much confidence. Then they get
out in the field and they get run over again
and then things.

Speaker 16 (39:31):
Go sideways from there.

Speaker 2 (39:33):
So, like you said, the.

Speaker 15 (39:33):
Sustained drives are really what the Bengals did well on Thursday,
what Joe Burrow does well. I think in the first
half alone, they had three drives that went ten plays
or more. So you're keeping your defense off the field,
you're keeping Lamar Jackson off the field, and it just
shows that the offense is in control of the flow
of the game. And when you're playing like that, you

(39:54):
could beat any team, and we just saw them dominate
the Ravens team that was in first place in the
AFC North. And if you can beat a good team
like that, you start feeling like you can beat anyone.

Speaker 3 (40:04):
Okay, So you've got this story about how they can
get in and that is number one win out that
gets them to nine and eight. They would be five
and one in the division. You've got the Ravens. The
Ravens have games left with at the Bills and then
they come home. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. The Ravens to
have a game at home with Pittsburgh at the Bengals

(40:25):
home with the Patriots at Green Bay at Pittsburgh. That's
a tough schedule. I think of the three teams, you
may disagree, the team with the roughest road is Baltimore.
I mean, we're talking about another game with Cincinnati, and
we're talking about games against arguably the best team in
the AFC and that's New England, and then having to

(40:46):
go to Green Bay. I think of the three, I
think the Ravens have the toughest road. You seem to
think from reading this that maybe the Steelers do, But
why would it not be a tough road or the
toughest road for Baltimore.

Speaker 15 (40:59):
Well, it could be tough for both Pittsburgh and Baltimore.
I wouldn't be surprised if the Ravens win eight and nine.
The article just kind of showed that if all three
teams go nine to eight, that the Bengals will win
the division because they'll have that five to one division record,
which will be the ultimate tie breaker. But there's a
very good chance if the Bengals slip up somewhere, maybe

(41:19):
all three teams tie at eight to nine, because the
Ravens have a very difficult path to get to nine wins.

Speaker 14 (41:24):
You just mention it.

Speaker 15 (41:25):
They're six and six right now. That Patriots game, that
Packers game. They're going to be an underdog in both
of those games. They have to play the Steelers twice.
That feels like a split maybe, but they've struggled against
the Steelers. We already know that Joe Purrow he tends
to throw for a lot of yards when he is
playing that Ravens defense.

Speaker 14 (41:45):
So I mean, there's a scenario where the.

Speaker 15 (41:47):
Ravens don't win another game the rest of the season
because of how badly Lamark Jackson that offense has looked
really over the past three to five weeks. In the
past three games, zero touchdown, passes, five turnovers.

Speaker 5 (41:58):
They're not going to win in the NFL.

Speaker 15 (42:00):
That and Jackson just looks like a different quarterback right now.

Speaker 3 (42:03):
And not in a good way.

Speaker 15 (42:04):
So I mean the Ravens might only win one or
two more games with the way they're playing right now.

Speaker 3 (42:08):
Okay, for this scenario to work, you have to get
a win. If you're Pittsburgh over Buffalo. Buffalo has not
played well. I go back to that game a week
ago Thursday Night against Houston. Houston's defense just enveloped the Bills.
So here we go today, just to just in a
few hours, you got Buffalo at Pittsburgh. Buffalo wins this game.

(42:30):
What do you think?

Speaker 15 (42:31):
No, I think the Steelers are going to lose that game.
That is a game that I think Buffalo is going
to win. And you look at the situation. The Texans
have a very kind of unique setup. I mean, they
are the best defense in the NFL, and so you.

Speaker 13 (42:47):
Have kind of that Danil.

Speaker 15 (42:48):
Hunter, Will Anderson, you have two star players there. You
have a very very good second theory, and so you
know TJ.

Speaker 13 (42:55):
Watt has been kind of he hasn't been.

Speaker 15 (42:57):
As consistent as he has in the past, the games
where he's disappeared in some games where he's been absolutely dominant.
But I don't think the Bills are going to be
bullied in two straight games.

Speaker 16 (43:06):
They've had ten days to kind of.

Speaker 14 (43:08):
Figure things out.

Speaker 15 (43:09):
And if you look at the Bills issues on defense,
which is everyone can run on them, I don't think
the Steelers really have the offense to take advantage of that.
So I do think Buffalo is going to win, knocking
the Steelers the six to six, and then by the
end of the day today, the Bengals are only two
games out of first setting in the week fourteen.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
Against against those same Buffalo Bills. We're chatting with John
Breech cbssports dot com. Okay, does Kansas City make the playoffs?
I mean, after what happened on Thanksgiving Night, the loss
to Dallas, They've got a game against Houston next week
at Sunday Night football that's at their place. Then they
got the Chargers, the team that again is on the come.

(43:49):
They got what ought to be a layup at Tennessee.
They have to play Denver still and they finish up
at Las Vegas. I mean, there's a real scenario where
Kansas City does not make the playoffs. Do you think
they will?

Speaker 15 (44:01):
I do not think the Chiefs are going to make
the playoffs. I that I wrote something on that after
they lost to the Broncos a couple of weeks ago
that felt like not necessarily the final dagger because it's
the Chiefs, it's Patrick Mahomes, and you feel like if
they need to run the table that they could possibly
do it. And then beating the Colts in Week twelve,
when in a game they really had to win, it

(44:23):
was like, all right, well they're going to do it
because they just keep winning. But this was a game
against the Cowboys on Thanksgiving where you expected that again,
you thought they would find a way to win, and
they just couldn't do it. And this is not the
Chiefs teams of pass. The offense has just looked a
little bit.

Speaker 16 (44:39):
Out of Saint Patrick Mahomes hasn't.

Speaker 15 (44:41):
Looked as comfortable, and the defense hasn't been able to
close games like it has in the past. So they
have a pretty tough schedule. You mentioned that game against
the Texans. I don't know if they win that I
think they have to run the table, and with games
against the Texans Chargers of Broncos, I don't think it happens.
Maybe they get the nine to eight or ten and seven,
but I do not think they.

Speaker 3 (44:59):
Are going to be in the player out this year.
It's gonna be a fun final five, There's no question
about that, and you can follow it on cbssports dot
com with John Breach among a great stable of writers
at that website. Okay, John, stay well and we'll be
calling down the road. Thanks thanks for having me ken Bet.

Speaker 2 (45:17):
Bengals have to win out.

Speaker 3 (45:18):
That's you know, that's obvious, and then things have to
fall right in the division and the division will dictate
who wins. How you do in those division games will
dictate who wins. Finally, the AFC North, which honestly has
been disappointing because of injury largely but also because of
not so great play as well. But that's the whole key.

(45:39):
They have to win out. That is no small trick.
And yes they have done things like this before, but
they have to do things like that to have any
future after the regular season. Still, I mean a really
long shot. But that went on Thursday night at least
kept them breathing for another week. And next up is
Buffalo next Sunday. We are at ten twenty three already

(46:02):
here to twelve thirty today and then some NFL football
for you. Got a couple of games this afternoon since
it's a Bengal is Sunday coming up. Lee Sterling Paramount
sports dot com. He has five games today that he
is convinced will be winners for you. He's on the
horizon on seven hundred WDLW ten thirty eight News Radio

(46:26):
seven hundred WLW Welcome back Sunday morning sports talk.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
I am Ken Brood.

Speaker 3 (46:33):
And a little bit behind that Bengals beat down in
Baltimore the other night, what it really meant, what it
really means, and what should we know about this team
going forward? Now that Burrow is back and at eleven
thirty six, about an hour from now, a little less
than an hour from now, one of the great blues
guitarists of our time is going to join me, Kenny

(46:54):
Wayne Sheppard coming to town next April to the Tap Theater,
and and this particular tour has Kenny Wayne playing I
guess cut to cut, as they would say on a
vinyl album cut to cut his first ever album, led
Better Heights, only this time he'll have Noah Hunt on vocals.

(47:15):
It's coming up at about eleven thirty six. So the
Bengals won the other night because they played really good defense.
I mean, the Burrow story, the Burrow comeback is one thing,
but the defense they showed in that game was night
and day from just about everything we've seen so far
this season. There were four fumble recoveries and an interception.

(47:38):
Those turnovers were massive, no small reason why that the
Bengals won. And Joseph Osai now four tackles, two sacks,
two tackles were lost, four quarterback hits and he had
a forced fumble. He had a huge game. And after
the game he was talking about generating turnovers and why

(48:01):
it was so intricate in that win Thursday night, here's Osai.

Speaker 17 (48:04):
Yeah, exactly, exactly, and it only takes one. Everybody knows
when it comes to the football, they come in a.

Speaker 12 (48:09):
Bunch of it only takes one.

Speaker 15 (48:11):
And that's exactly what happened to day.

Speaker 17 (48:13):
And that's just giving the younger guys hope to keep
working at it, keep working other things. You know that
the tough secure, the punch that tip, get your hands up.

Speaker 5 (48:22):
If you're not getting it the rest, get your hands up.

Speaker 2 (48:24):
You can tip a pass change the game.

Speaker 5 (48:25):
And that's exactly what happens.

Speaker 13 (48:27):
So it's good to see for.

Speaker 3 (48:27):
Third that is exactly what happened. So the Bengals get
a Sunday off. But there are five games today that
I think are intriguing, not the least of which goes
down in Pittsburgh at about four to twenty five this afternoon.
You got the Bills at seven and four at the
six and five Steelers. Standing by the way in on
that and several more is a guy who is with

(48:49):
us every single Sunday throughout the NFL season. He's our
good buddy from Paramount sports dot com.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
Lee Sterling. How are you on this glorious game day?

Speaker 14 (48:59):
I am, I am great, And wow, what a Thanksgiving Day?
Three underdogs, all right, So that was a lot of
fun watching that. And let me tell you something, if
only Cincinnati, you know, if they were around five hundred,
they would be my favorite to.

Speaker 2 (49:17):
Make the playoffs.

Speaker 14 (49:18):
The Cowboys who are left for dead. I never thought
I'd say this three weeks ago, or even two weeks ago.
Right now, I would hate to play. They're the team
I would not want to face, maybe over any team
right now, but the next.

Speaker 2 (49:33):
Couple of weeks, how about Detroit.

Speaker 3 (49:36):
Detroit might be on life support now, right, I mean
it's crazy.

Speaker 14 (49:39):
Defense looks terrible. Defense looks absolutely atrocious. Even some of
their better players, they're just not playing up the party.

Speaker 2 (49:48):
They're no pass rush Hutchins.

Speaker 14 (49:50):
I mean he was at one point one of the best,
you know, pass rushers. Nothing linebackers. They can't make tackles
in space, and we know their cornerbacks and safety are bad,
but they're even worse than I thought they were. So
I don't know if Detroit's gonna make the playoffs. Gonna
be honest with you.

Speaker 3 (50:07):
Yeah, no, I mean I think there are anything but
a sure bet we got We got a couple of
good ones, actually five good ones. Today they've got the
forty nine ers at eight and four at the three
and eight Browns. Browns are getting five forty nine ers
aren't going to catch the Rams, but you know they
got to win ten, and I think they will. Here's
Cleveland Shuor Sanders gave them life last week. Miles Garrett
three more sacks. Brown's getting five at home today.

Speaker 14 (50:30):
What do you think so, I wouldn't say that that
Sugar Sanders is good. I would say below average, not horrendous.

Speaker 2 (50:40):
At least he can push the ball down the field
pro a deep ball.

Speaker 14 (50:44):
They couldn't do anything, you know, when they had Gabriel
in there, so at least he can do that. He's
gonna throw some interceptions. Here's what's making them an almost
average team. They always had good d drushers, but they
have two defensive tackles that can stop the run and
pushed the pocket. They are a really good defense. Their

(51:05):
safeties are a little slow, but when you have a
good pass rush, you know you got to cover guys
for just the second less here, I think the Fortys
are a little fraudulent, I mean pretty three interceptions. He's
decision making, he's just processing a little too slow. Give
you the Browns here, straight up. I think they pulled

(51:25):
the upside here. Twenty four to twenty one.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
Twenty four to twenty one the Browns, and that he
gives them four. They're in here the last week of
the season, Buffalo may control the winner of the AFC North.
I'll tell you why. There's seven and four. They're at
the six and five Steelers. Steelers to getting three and
a half. Cincinnati's got to go to Buffalo next week.
Steelers have got Buffalo at home this week. Buffalo is

(51:48):
coming in there after the bye. After that terrible loss.
I thought to Houston a couple of weeks ago, I
know your thoughts on teams coming off buys, but the
Steelers are banged up a little bit on defense. So
how's the play it out? In your opinion?

Speaker 14 (52:02):
They are banged up, But I think Buffalo is not
going to make Super Bowl. I would bet anything on it.
I truly believe that Houston. Now, it does happen sometimes,
you know, in this short week, playing on a Thursday night,
teams get beaten on the road back. But their offensive line,
I mean they're taking a part. Josh Allen sacked eight times.

(52:23):
I's like the average person getting sacked twelve to fourteen times.
He's so elusive and so strong. Their offensive line I
think mentally and physically knows that they're just not that good.
And then the defense they lost another couple starters to
injury in that game. I think that they know that
they're not the same team here. I'm not saying the
Steelers are great. But I thought the Rudolph is pretty good.

(52:47):
Except for the interception of the fumble, I thought he
looked great, so overall give him a grade of six
and a half seven. I don't care who plays quarterback
for the Steelers. I think they win the game out
right here. I'm gonna say twenty eight, twenty four.

Speaker 2 (53:02):
Twenty eight to twenty four Pittsburgh.

Speaker 3 (53:04):
Don't worry about the points so well, that'd get them
to seven in the North, and it may only be
nine that you need to get home there.

Speaker 2 (53:12):
Jags are seven and four.

Speaker 3 (53:13):
They're at the Titans one in ten, and this looks
like a mismatch. But the one that I think is
a little difficult to put my arms around here. The
Lion is only six and a half, Titans six and
a half at home against the team that could be
a playoff team, and the Titans are going nowhere. Why
do you think that Lion is so slim?

Speaker 14 (53:32):
They're baiting you, They're dying for you to take. I
believe the Jaguars. I don't think the Jaguars are that good.
I think that they're going to move over on from
Trevor Lawrence at the end of the year. He and
Liam com just watch their you know, just watch way
they interact. Something's going on there. Liam Cohen does not
believe in Trevor Lawrence the running game is good, but

(53:52):
can't trust him. And I just think the Titans are
actually as bad and as untalented as they are. They're
getting a little bit better. They're coming together, they know
what they are and cam work starting to really come on.
I'm going I'm going.

Speaker 2 (54:05):
To Titans here.

Speaker 14 (54:06):
I think the Jags escape hereeven twenty.

Speaker 3 (54:10):
Eight, twenty seven, So you're going, Titans in the points, right,
Titans in the poort? Okay, I got yeah, boy, the Jags.
They still have two left with Indy and a trip
to Denver at the end of this season. You got
the Raiders at two and nine and they just fired
their offensive coordinator, and then they're at the Chargers seven
and four.

Speaker 2 (54:29):
They lost to Jacksonville last week. But here's the deal.

Speaker 3 (54:33):
Chargers are seven and four and giving nine and a
half to a really bad Raiders team. That's a that's
a pretty healthy number. Regardless. What do you think.

Speaker 14 (54:42):
Blot coming out to Tom Brady did not want Chip
Kelly or wanted them fired. I mean they're leaking that
that Chip Kelly might have called some the wrong place,
like motion going one way should have been the other way.
I mean, there's a lot of things going on. Here's

(55:02):
the biggest thing. And the rumor is Tom Brady did
not want Sam Donald well Downald had a bad last game.
But Kim Donald is the light years ahead of Gino.
So I just think that this is a bad, bad
set up here for the Raiders here. I think there's
so much turmoil going on here. Chargers are better coached,

(55:26):
better quarterback, their offensive lines actually coming around a little bit.
The biggest mistake they did was not Tidon Williams, the
running back who they drafted a couple of years ago,
and he tore his atl two years ago, came back
last year, was not great, but look him this year
with the Cowboys.

Speaker 12 (55:40):
So JK.

Speaker 2 (55:41):
Dobbins is injured.

Speaker 14 (55:42):
They don't have great running backs, but you have pretty
good receivers here, and we know they have a good defense.
Sometimes you get to lay it if you want to
play a Chargers here.

Speaker 3 (55:51):
Thirty one thirteen thirty one thirteen. Chargers to go to
eight and four and at least keep paced with Denver,
depending on the Broncos. We'll get to that in a minute.

Speaker 2 (56:00):
We're on the.

Speaker 3 (56:01):
Cusp of December here, Lee, what's going on at Paramount
Sports now to the end.

Speaker 2 (56:06):
Of the year.

Speaker 14 (56:08):
Yeah, so we are red hot again. Thirty four to
fifteen and one in the NFL leaves NFL Sunday Golden Ticket.

Speaker 5 (56:18):
That's right, the Golden ticket.

Speaker 14 (56:20):
Five selections today, five for the next four weeks. That's
twenty whole selections, one hundred and ninety seven dollars. Let
me repeat that, thirty four to fifteen and one NFL
Golden Ticket, one hundred and ninety seven dollars for four
weeks of NFL games, five games every week. One place
Paramount sports dot com.

Speaker 3 (56:39):
You're down in Florida? Is that golden ticket gets you?
Like a free passer? The buffet line at one of
those cafeterias? Is that to come with it too?

Speaker 2 (56:47):
I used to love cafeterias.

Speaker 14 (56:48):
Don't more cafteriries anymore.

Speaker 3 (56:49):
I know they're gone.

Speaker 5 (56:50):
Have anywhere you are?

Speaker 3 (56:52):
Oh no, no, they're gone. There used to be a
great cafeteria in Tampa. When I work down there at Morrisons,
Morrison's cafeteria is wonderful. Oh my god, remember that Oh.

Speaker 5 (57:02):
That was the bomb, and I don't need much.

Speaker 14 (57:04):
I used to love the liver and onions and all
the side dishes like candy dams, and then the desserts.
There was like eight or ten different pies. Was it
was tremendous. So I'm going on the road and traveling
with my family.

Speaker 2 (57:19):
You know, we used to take we had a van.

Speaker 14 (57:21):
We had a Swinger van nineteen seventy six. Swinger van
went around the United States. You look at cafeteria, you
were living lord.

Speaker 3 (57:32):
We had a Sunday night game. We got the Broncos
at nine to two at the Commanders three and eight.
Of course, you know, the Washington is just a shadow
what they were with Jaden Daniels, but he is back
in practice.

Speaker 2 (57:41):
Eight game winning straight for Denver.

Speaker 3 (57:44):
They give up a lot of penalties, but they seem
to work their way through it. Here they are at
the Commander's. Commander's getting six and a half. What do
you think.

Speaker 14 (57:53):
I think there's a crazy game. I think the Commanders
are going to hang them, and you want to lay
six and a half on the road, Washington, get a
little healthier receiver. Here, give me the points here, call
for the upset. I like the Commanders here twenty to sixteen,
twenty to sixteen, you don't even need the points.

Speaker 3 (58:10):
All right, Lee will visit next week. Stay well and
have a great.

Speaker 2 (58:14):
Week, do you, buddy Tank here? Yes, sir, yes, sir.
All right.

Speaker 3 (58:19):
So he likes the Browns at home today getting five,
He said, you're not going to need the points. He said,
forty nine ers, they're they're ready to stumble here. Take
the Browns today at home. Browns to go four and eight.
If that happens. Bill Steelers, Yeah, he's taking chalk, he is,
He's taking Steelers. Steelers are getting three and a half
in this game. He said, again, you don't need it.
Take the dog Steelers win to go to seven and five.

(58:42):
Jags at Titans. Titans have won once in eleven games.
He says, the Titans are going to win this game,
but with the points. Twenty eight, twenty seven, with the points.
Take the Titans Raiders at the Chargers again. The Raiders
seem to be imploding. Chargers look seven and four after
that loss in Jacksonville.

Speaker 2 (59:02):
The two back of Denver.

Speaker 3 (59:04):
If Denver stumbles in this game against the Commanders, that
opens the door maybe a little bit for the Chargers
to win that division. Nevertheless, at seven and four, he said,
Chargers are laying nine and a half. Forget it. Just
take the Chargers sometimes you got to lay them to
win them. And Sunday Night Football Broncos at nine to two,
writing an eight game win streak, he says it ends tonight.

(59:27):
He says, the Commanders win it twenty to sixteen, and
you won't need the six and a half you're getting
if you play the Commanders. That's what he likes. We'll
let you know next week exactly how he did. Coming
up on ten fifty one on this Sunday plenty to
get to before we're done at twelve thirty on seven
hundred WLW coming up after the news with privatlylockerprofootball focus

(59:52):
dot Com.

Speaker 2 (59:54):
Just to the wake of that.

Speaker 3 (59:56):
I know it's other people's problems, but here there's Lebar
Jackson speaking to the media after just a horrific game
for him and his team on Thursday night.

Speaker 17 (01:00:07):
I can't describe the level of frustration. You know, I'm off.
You know, it's not even frustrating, just mad, because like
I said, we can't have that. It turned over a
bit part of winning losing games and turning the ball
over giving them an extra possession. This is the outcome.

Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
No, they actually it was five turnovers, but who's counting right. Meanwhile,
in the Bengals locker room, Zach Taylor was beside himself.

Speaker 2 (01:00:31):
He was handing out game balls. This is what it
sounded like.

Speaker 18 (01:00:35):
Listen, I'm proud of you guys day. This season hasn't
been what we expected to farm. But all you guys done,
keep fighting, keep working, and tonight is the fruit of
those labors.

Speaker 14 (01:00:43):
Man.

Speaker 18 (01:00:44):
You guys have practice to me. You come out here
and you compete, you believe in each other, you take
care of each other. You found a big win and
now that's gonna be a momental builder for us going
into the month of December. Okay, all right, appreciate you guys.
I got a lot of game balls to get back.
It's been a long time. Kerry laudible.

Speaker 2 (01:01:00):
Okay, six field goal, Yeah, there you go.

Speaker 3 (01:01:06):
Evan McPherson gets one of those many game balls that
was handed out in the locker room after the game
and went rightfully. So the guy was just money in
that game on Thursday night. But you know, I mean,
people are saying, hey, it's one win, What does it mean, Well,
it was one win, but you needed the one win
to at least keep yourself breathing Taylor with the media afterward.

Speaker 19 (01:01:28):
We're just going to keep fighting one week at a time.

Speaker 7 (01:01:30):
I know.

Speaker 19 (01:01:30):
We got Buffalo ten days from now. That's our focus.
We just try to control that. Don't worry about the
big picture right now. Just keep taking a one game
out of time. This is exact position we were in
last year, you know, and so unfortunately we've been here.
We know how to dig our way out of it,
and that's what's going to take.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
Well.

Speaker 3 (01:01:45):
They get back to work on Buffalo starting tomorrow. Meanwhile,
in college football, the Lane Kiffin drama continues. There is
apparently a team meeting at two o'clock our time down
in Missippi where he'll gather his team together, or maybe
someone will gather the team together. He's still expected to

(01:02:06):
take that offer from LSU to replace Brian Kelly, but
Kiffen wants to finish the season. Oh Miss has got
a great chance of advancing to the College Football Playoff,
and he wants a chance to coach the team through
the rest of the season. And of course, if you're

(01:02:26):
old Miss, why would you want a head coach inside
your building for a month getting paid in essence by
arrival LSU, and then you're going to go to LSU
and maybe even start poaching players when the transport portal
opens up on January tewod But Kiffin is threatening to

(01:02:48):
take his entiresive offensive coaching staff with him to LSU.
That's his leverage, right, I said, Okay, you don't want
to let me coach for the rest of the year,
I'll take my entire staff with me on the offensive
side of the Oh, and good luck navigating your way
through the college football playoff.

Speaker 2 (01:03:05):
So it's ugly.

Speaker 3 (01:03:06):
I still think he goes to LSU, But nevertheless, that's
where that is at. Oh and one other thing, ball projections.
Everybody wants to know who's going to what bowl the
teams that don't make the college Football Playoff. One of
the balls that's been prominently mentioned for the University of
Cincinnati is the Rate Bowl, which I believe is on
December twenty seventh. Here now is Athlon Sports with their

(01:03:31):
bowl projection just out in the last couple of hours.
They have the University of Cincinnati going to the Liberty
Bowl in Memphis on January twod against East Carolina.

Speaker 2 (01:03:45):
So if you're a UC fan.

Speaker 3 (01:03:47):
Memphis New Year's Eve day to recover day to play
the game. Memphis is not the safest of all towns
in this country, certainly at this point, but it's not
a bad town to go to for a holiday. All right,
straight ahead, more on that beatdown in Buffalo on seven
hundred WLW Sorks Talk with.

Speaker 1 (01:04:10):
Your host Ken Brew on news radio seven hundred wl.

Speaker 3 (01:04:14):
W, eight minutes after eleven on this Sunday, Good Morning,
Sunday Morning sports are I wouldn't be the same without you,
one would hope it wouldn't be the same without me,
But then again, that might be a good thing. So
coming up at the bottom of the hour, I just
marvel at this man's talent and exactly what he's been
able to do in a very short career, and in

(01:04:35):
a very short career, he has almost redefined the way
blues music is played. Coming up at eleven thirty six,
Kenny Wayne Shepard got a big tour set to kick
off here after the first of the year that will
wind its way through Cincinnati, and he'll.

Speaker 2 (01:04:50):
Be playing cut to cut, front to back.

Speaker 3 (01:04:54):
His groundbreaking and debut album led Better Heights when he
arrives here in Cincinnati in April the next year. But
when they said, hey, would you like a few minutes
with Kenny Wayne Shephard, I said always. Always. Joe Burrow
was twenty four or forty six on Thursday, two hundred
and sixty one yards and two touchdowns, didn't throw an interception,

(01:05:17):
And in large part I thought, not just what he
contributed in those numbers, but just in the energy and
the focus of that team, like Daddy's home. One of
those things I think is intangible, which is the up
you know, just getting everybody up on the balls of
their feet. The other is tangible, it's the numbers that

(01:05:39):
he put up, which I just recited. So after the game,
Lamar Jackson sorry. After the game, Jamar Chase was asked
what exactly did you see from Joe Burrow and what
did it mean having him back here?

Speaker 17 (01:05:53):
His answer, now, overall feel like we could have capitalized
a lot more.

Speaker 2 (01:05:58):
I'm pretty sure he could say the same.

Speaker 3 (01:06:02):
But I still think he did a good job of
just keeping.

Speaker 17 (01:06:05):
The momentum going when he had the opportunities to keep
it going and captainizing on those situations.

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
For offers.

Speaker 3 (01:06:10):
Yeah, I mean if you look at it, if you
just strictly look at it from that standpoint, he just
did what he had to do.

Speaker 2 (01:06:17):
And as.

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
Zach Taylor said a couple of minutes ago, hey, you
know been here before, know how to get out of
this mess. And that looked like a really good first step.
What was it and realistically, what are we looking at here?
Because one would see a scenario where it just seems
not workable. Today's game between Buffalo and the Steelers will
go a long way in determining just how doable it is.

(01:06:43):
The Bengals have to win out and then other things
have to happen in and around them. And remember too
that the Steelers and the Ravens have yet to play.
There's still two games left between those two teams, and
that will go a long way in determining whether or
not the Bengals get to where they think they can
get or they hope they can get at this point,

(01:07:03):
and that would be to the playoffs. You got Baltimore.
They're off obviously this weekend too, but they finish up
against the Steelers, then back here against the Bengals, they
go back home to play the Patriots, arguably the best
team in the AFC, and then they finish up on
the road at Green Bay and at Pittsburgh.

Speaker 2 (01:07:23):
That's brutal.

Speaker 3 (01:07:26):
On the other hand, here's the Steelers after or I
should say, going into today. They've got today's game at
home with Buffalo, then they go to Baltimore. Then they
come back home and play Miami in Pittsburgh. One would
think that's a Steelers win. Then they have to go
to Detroit, team that is fighting for its playoff survival.

Speaker 2 (01:07:47):
Then they have to go to Cleveland.

Speaker 3 (01:07:48):
Those games are knocked down, dragout fights between those two franchises,
and they finish up at home against the Ravens. So
there's a going a lot of moving parts to where
it is right now. But with the win on Thursday,
the Bengals still somehow, some way or a piece of
those moving parts. And here to weigh in. So man

(01:08:09):
that I like to call the heart, the mind, and
the soul of profootballfocus dot com the most analytical website
out there any sport, anywhere, and it's based right here
in Cincinnati. I'd like to welcome in Bradley Locker. Bradley,
you read Bradley's stuff you understand why he's so revered
in the hallways at Pro Footballfocus dot com and he

(01:08:32):
makes time on his Sunday to join us right now,
and Bradley, how are you in this glorious game day?

Speaker 13 (01:08:37):
Okay the first time, I appreciate the very very kind words.
But doing well.

Speaker 20 (01:08:41):
And it's certainly been a fun weekend of lots of
good football, including what the Bengals did, and one of
the more uneffected results of the place so far on
Thursday night.

Speaker 2 (01:08:49):
So you did not expect that to happen on Thursday night.

Speaker 13 (01:08:53):
No, I most certainly did not.

Speaker 20 (01:08:54):
I kind of figured, based on how the trajectory of
the Cincinnati defense has gone and the Ravens being on
the stem win streak, that they would kind of march
down the field and do whatever they wanted to the
Bengals defense. But that was most certainly not what happened
at all. The Ravens offense was pretty languid the entire night.
EPA per play is one of my favorite figures, and
I think one of the consensus metrics to understand kind

(01:09:14):
of offensive efficiency and correlation and performance. And of course,
when you only score fourteen points that you start to
raise some questions about how efficient the offense is, and
the Ravens average negative zero point three six three epa
per play, which is one of the worst marks that
you'll probably see for Lamar jackson offense in a very
long time, maybe ever. And I think that's just assessment

(01:09:35):
to how good the Bengals defense was and how much
Jackson struggled in this game as well.

Speaker 2 (01:09:39):
Well.

Speaker 3 (01:09:40):
The defense has played well for Cincinnati the last couple
of games before this game has passed Thursday night, and
certainly not as atrociously as it played in about the
month and a half before. Then.

Speaker 2 (01:09:50):
What's the difference why?

Speaker 3 (01:09:52):
I guess a lot of people are saying why their
best defensive player wasn't there. The linebackers are still rookies.
Was it all Cincinnati's defense, in your opinion, or was
it the inability of Lamar Jackson to look like Lamar
Jackson Because he didn't look like Lamar Jackson. He looked
like Tito Jackson out there? What was going on?

Speaker 20 (01:10:13):
Yeah, I think it's probably a combination of both, But
it is an interesting philosophical question. And you're right, the
Bengals defense has certainly been better last two weeks of
course there are some games yes to be played on
the Sunday, but the Bengals defense is ninth in defensive
EPA for play and success rate as well a little
bit better at seventeenths which again, if your out goals
in the Bengals defense coordinator, you will certainly take those

(01:10:34):
metrics against two high caliber offenses, one of the best
offense in the NFL in New England and another one
that is usually elite in Baltimore.

Speaker 13 (01:10:42):
Not quite as much. Some speculation that Lamar Jackson.

Speaker 20 (01:10:44):
Still playing your injury, but I think you do have
to pick your cap to some of the individual efforts
of the Bengals defense. One player in particular who definitely
shined in this game, Joseph Sti, with eight preussures had
an eighty five tooin zero PFF pass rushing grade. He
certainly made his impact felt all night, all sort of
fifteen point six percent passed rush Win Ray that is
certainly well above average. And then in the secondary too,

(01:11:06):
the Bengals had a lot of with this strong individual effort.
Can he really praise enough DJ Turner and what he's
done for the Bengals.

Speaker 13 (01:11:13):
Defense this year.

Speaker 20 (01:11:13):
He feels like he's been kind of a gem on
a unit that doesn't have a lot of household names
or players that are playing.

Speaker 13 (01:11:19):
At that level. But he really is kind of at.

Speaker 20 (01:11:21):
An all pro level season that he's put in together
for Cincinnati. In this game against Baltimore, produced a seventy
nine point two PFF coverage grade with one pass breakup.
He only allowed one cast for eight yards on three targets,
and of course, starting someone like Zay Flowers all night
is an easier task. And another player I want to
shine to is Dak Hill. He was someone who definitely

(01:11:42):
flashed in that game against the Steelers two weeks ago.
Need another nice night against Baltimore, seventy seven point nine
PFF coverage grade, only a lot of three cashes on
six targets for twenty eight yards, also had a pass breakup,
made two stops as well, did not miss a tackle
as well in that on five attempts. So I'm starting

(01:12:02):
to see these kind of blue ship level players that
Cincinnati expected maybe playing to that tune. And that's kind
of why maybe see a better correlation in the defensive performance.

Speaker 2 (01:12:11):
Dak's Hill, right, that's the guy, right.

Speaker 5 (01:12:13):
That was a good up.

Speaker 3 (01:12:15):
Okay, were you more surprised with the way the Bengals
defense acquitted itself. Were more surprised by what Joe Burrow did.

Speaker 13 (01:12:24):
I think it has to go with the Bengals defense.

Speaker 20 (01:12:26):
As I talked about, the Ravens offense hasn't necessarily been
the most efficient or explosive this season season, even with
Lamar Jackson under center. But even even though the Bengals
run defense actually does not have a great night, the
Ravens average five point six night yards per rush and
three point one average yards before contact. Meeting the Ravens
offensive line kind of his bulldozed Cincinnati in this game.

(01:12:47):
As I alluded to, the pass defense for Cincinnati was incredible.

Speaker 13 (01:12:50):
We talked about that EPA for play number.

Speaker 20 (01:12:52):
Consider that it's significantly worse for the Ravens in terms
of pass splits negative zero points seventy three to two
EPA for passing play. That's almost like almost a negative
point for passing play. Lamar Jackson only fifty seven percent
adjust the completion rate. In Yes, I think there is
a lot to be said about the fact that he
did not play well in this game, certainly turned the
ball over and was careless. But I think also the

(01:13:15):
Bengals did a good job of getting him in situations
under pressure. He was under pressure on forty four point
seven percent of his drop back and in those situations,
Jackson was only five for twelve with an interception. He
did have one big time throw, but also one forever
worthy play, and he was also stacked on two of
those seventeen opportunities, and I think the Bengals defense was
kind of just confusing him out there to some extent

(01:13:36):
and maybe trying to hold onto the ball too long,
and that's when he started to get into some trouble.
But in terms of the Burrow equation, I don't know
if it if it's fair to say that we're surprised.

Speaker 13 (01:13:43):
By what Burrow is doing anymore at this point.

Speaker 20 (01:13:45):
One of the best quarterbacks in the NFL, and maybe
there's a little shaking its in the red zone to
start the game, but just a prolectic performance from him.

Speaker 13 (01:13:51):
Especially under pressure.

Speaker 20 (01:13:52):
He went four for time for forty two yards, only
took one stack on eleven drop backs as well, and
even when blitz too, he was grade six for eleven
for seventy five yards, two big time throws, no turn
worthy plays, So definitely the caliber performance you expect from
one of the best in the league in Burrow.

Speaker 3 (01:14:08):
There's a difference between, as you well know, can and will.
I think the Bengals can pull this thing off. In
your opinion, will they pull this thing off and at
the end of the final game of the regular season
be the AFC North champions.

Speaker 13 (01:14:27):
It is such a fascinating quandary.

Speaker 20 (01:14:30):
I would still lean toward and know, and I think
the problem for the Bengals is they just do not
have enough room for air at this point. Now, sitting
at four and eight on the season, it feels like
the worst team in the AFC to get into the
playoff picture, and there are all sorts of conversations about
the validity of the AFC and in particular the AFC North,
which is looking like probably the worst division in the
football this year, that even at four and eight, the

(01:14:51):
worst team in the AFC is probably going to.

Speaker 13 (01:14:53):
Be nine in eight to get into the postseason.

Speaker 20 (01:14:55):
Maybe you get a team that's eight nine in there,
but realisticly, the Bengals can probably only afford to lose
one more game, and even if that they're probably gonna
be close to eliminated.

Speaker 16 (01:15:04):
They PFFT.

Speaker 13 (01:15:05):
Power rankings which I think is a really.

Speaker 20 (01:15:07):
Valuable tool, gives the Bengals still only a seven percent
chance to make the postseason sitting in this figure, and
we saw how that unfolded last year, and again certainly
a plauded to Burrow for making things really really compelling
down the stretch. But the Bengals do have the nineteenth
artist schedule remaining, so that's also.

Speaker 13 (01:15:23):
Not necessarily a cake walk. It's not as if they're.

Speaker 20 (01:15:26):
Playing one of the easiest schedules in the league and
still has to play Baltimore again in two weeks. And
I would be surprised, frankly if if Baltimore looked that
bad and Jackson played that badly again in that game.
So I guess the Borough goes on a tour heater,
and it's certainly possible, given again the player that he
is and getting players like Hendrickson potentially back in Kee Higgins.
That is the Bengals team that could certainly go in

(01:15:48):
a little bit of a run, but playoffs to me
are probably it's probably too tall attack at this point.

Speaker 3 (01:15:52):
Bradley Locker, the heart, the mind, and the soul of
Pro Football Focused dot Com is with us right now
as we look back on Thursday night, and let's look
at ahead to a few hours from now. Pittsburgh is
at home. They got Buffalo. Buffalo looked completely clueless against
Houston a couple of weeks ago. Pittsburgh is right now

(01:16:13):
side for the division leader. As we know with Baltimore,
they're both six and five. How do you see this
game playing out? Because Buffalo at Pittsburgh this week and
the Bengals at Buffalo next week maybe the two most
important games left for each one of these teams, regardless
of what happens inside their division, Buffalo can play a
huge hand as to who wins the AFC North.

Speaker 2 (01:16:35):
So how do you see Buffalo at Pittsburgh today?

Speaker 20 (01:16:38):
Yeah, there's no doubt. It is an absolute critical game
for both teams, both organizations looking to get back on
the right track. As you hinted at just this, two
kind of crushing losses in that Week twelve game. I
think one point to start for Buffalo is that the
Bills are going to be down both of their starting
tackles in this game, Dion Dawkins and Spencer Brown, and
both of them were genuinely quite bad in that Week

(01:17:00):
twelve loss to Houston. Brown in particular, it would been
one of the better right tackles over the last few weeks.
Was atrocious. He gave up two sacks and seven pressures.
And even Dion Dawkins, one of the more stable left
tackles and football, gave up six pressures and two sacks
to Danil Hunters. So anytime you're dealing with the front
like Pittsburgh TJ. Watt, Nick Herbig, Cam Hayward, Alex high Smith,
et cetera, that's something to weigh in.

Speaker 13 (01:17:21):
But I think the problem.

Speaker 20 (01:17:21):
For Pittsburgh is that the Steelers have played a game
where they dealt with pretty much a backup offensive line
the entire time. That happened when the Steelers went to
Los Angeles, took on the Chargers and Sunday Night Football,
and I think everyone still had that game unfolded that
even if the Steelers got tremendous pressure on Justin Herbert,
it didn't really matter in the final outcome of the game,
particularly because Pittsburgh's offense was really, really poor in that game.

(01:17:42):
Aaron Rodgers one of the worst performances of his career.
So Josh Allen did struggle under pressure in this Week
twelve contest, but generally speaking, has been very good under
pressure to see it. Of course, not a lot of
quarterbacks being a lot under pressure, but he ranked ninth
and overall PFF grade among qualified quarterbacks in pressure grade
this season. So Allen the type of quarterback who can

(01:18:02):
certainly run under pressure and kind of dodge rushers, and.

Speaker 13 (01:18:05):
That certainly would raise the larm bells if I were
the Steelers.

Speaker 20 (01:18:08):
But on the flip side for Pittsburgh's offense, there is
an opportunity to essentially from the ball a little bit better.
The Builds defense has not been phenomenal this season, especially
stopping the run.

Speaker 13 (01:18:17):
Especially with at Oliver out for the year.

Speaker 20 (01:18:19):
The Bills are only twenty fifth in rushing defense success rate,
and the Steelers had a lot of success running the
ball against the Bears, but with Aaron Rodgers coming back
or seeming to come back from that practured risk, still
questions about the viability of the passing attack, and I
think I saw stat the Steelers didn't even produce a
past over twenty eight yards the entire month of November,
which is kind of is a point of emphasis and

(01:18:42):
how bad and poorly designed in a lot of ways
this passing game is so I think it will be
a close, entertaining game. But at the same time, I
showggle a belief knowing how the Steelers have done against
these really generally strong units in the AFC, that I
think it's unfair to expect them to win this game,
which in a.

Speaker 13 (01:18:59):
Lot of ways would open the door for the Bengals
even more than Okay.

Speaker 3 (01:19:01):
So you're you're going with Buffalo in this game? The Bengals, Yeah,
the Ravens, the Steelers. If you look at just the
landscape that's left, who's got the best path?

Speaker 20 (01:19:13):
Oh yeah, such a great question. I would still go Baltimore.
I feel like the Ravens, now at six and six,
still have probably the best odds.

Speaker 13 (01:19:22):
Given that, I think in part.

Speaker 20 (01:19:23):
Because I talked about I don't necessarily trust the Steelers,
and of course there's two tilts with Pittsburgh left. The
Ravens still do have a very hard schedule, though they
have to play I talked about the Steelers twice Cincinnati
and then New England and Green Bay, so that is
not a takeawalk by any stretch, whereas the Steelers schedule
is a little bit easier. To talk about Buffalo this week,
but Pittsburgh still has to play Detroit on the road,

(01:19:43):
the Browns on the road that has kind of been
a house of horse Pittsburgh in the last few years.
Miami at home feels like a game that is relatively
winnable for Pittsburgh, but the Dolphins are certainly on the
up swing in the latter half of this season, so
it really does feel like kind of a toss up
between these two teams. But at the end of the day,
I feel like the Ravens have kind of shown a
little bit more in these last few weeks with Jackson

(01:20:05):
back and especially on the defensive side of the ball.
I think Thursday night maybe wasn't the best indicator, but
with ever since that a lovely good in trade, Ravens
defense has been one of the better units in football.
So I go with Baltimore and maybe Jackson kind of
getting back hit swagger. As the season goes along, I
started to just put a lot of trust and what
the Steelers have done, particularly how they've looked over the

(01:20:25):
last few seasons.

Speaker 13 (01:20:26):
To close out the year, so I was still leading
the Ravens.

Speaker 20 (01:20:30):
I would guess probably Ravens Steelers down out of the
division order.

Speaker 3 (01:20:33):
All right, well, we'll see. That's why they play the games, right, Bradley,
That's why they played the game.

Speaker 13 (01:20:37):
Absolutely.

Speaker 3 (01:20:37):
You can read all about it on taff dot com
and the first destination should be any article written Radley Locker.

Speaker 2 (01:20:45):
Bradley, stay, well, you know we'll be calling. Thanks, thanks
so much, Ken, you bet. I don't want to.

Speaker 3 (01:20:51):
I'm trying not to overseal Pittsburgh Buffalo today, but I mean,
my gosh, this Pittsburgh Buffalo game.

Speaker 2 (01:20:58):
Next week, Cincinnati buff game.

Speaker 3 (01:21:02):
And again Pittsburgh six and five, Baltimore's six and six
Bengals of course four and eight. If Pittsburgh beats Buffalo today,
then all of a sudden, it gets really interesting because
to get to ten, Pittsburgh would only need to win
three more, and one of those you think would be Miami,

(01:21:23):
and one Pike possibly would be against the Ravens for
twenty five today in Pittsburgh eleven twenty six right now,
a lot more to come. After twelve o'clock today, we're
here for an extra half hour. We're going to talk
about how the Reds can get better. If they can't
increase their payroll significantly, it means they have to make

(01:21:46):
a trade. So who goes Rod Mains Baseball Perspectives dot
Com is going to join us to talk about that.
But standing by next to join us one of the
great blues guitarists of all time, Kenny Wayne Sheppard's going
to check in. He's coming to ten on seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 1 (01:22:03):
Sunday Morning Sportstock with your host Ken Brew on news
Radio seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 3 (01:22:09):
Bonus at Bauer Here we have NFL football for you
later to day. The Bengals aren't playing today. First game
up for us today will be the Falcons at the Jets,
where the Jets are getting three at home, and then
later on Minnesota at Seattle a bit of a mismatch.
Seattle is giving twelve in that four or five start.

(01:22:31):
Of course, the big games for the Bengals is San
Francisco at Cleveland, not that Cleveland is in the AFC
North race at all, but to see exactly how Shoudoor
Sanders progresses and whether that Cleveland defense continues to dominate.
And then I think the game everybody is interested in,
quite frankly from the AFC North standpoint is Buffalo at Pittsburgh,

(01:22:53):
Pittsburgh at home getting three Pittsburgh wins that game, they
go to seven wins on the season. But that's a
lot of what ifs between now and the end of today.
Another big what if is what becomes of the Cincinnati
Reds in twenty twenty six. Their general manager Nick Crawl
said earlier this month that the payroll is not going

(01:23:13):
to increase significantly from what it was last year. And
what it was last year was in terms of production, Okay,
not great. It got them into the Wild Card, but
they did it largely on pitching. We all know that
we're gaping holes in that batting order. There's just not
enough power, particularly for where the Reds playm the majority

(01:23:36):
of their or the certainly half of their schedule, which
is in Great American Ballpark. So they get they've got
to get something to upgrade that batting order. Well, the
only way you can do that, I guess, is to
trade from your strength, which is pitching. But how wise
is that? How wise is that? And then how do
you address getting better? Standing? By the way, in good
guest of this program for many years, he writes baseball

(01:23:58):
and writes it very well. For Baseball Perspectives dot Com,
he is Rob Mains and he's standing by to join
us right now to talk about the plight of the Reds.
How do you get better when the money is not
simply getting larger?

Speaker 2 (01:24:12):
Rob, how are you on this glorious Sunday.

Speaker 12 (01:24:15):
I'm doing great, King good to talk to you baseball
this time year.

Speaker 3 (01:24:19):
Yeah, absolutely, well anymore it's it's it's almost year round.
And we all know what the Reds did last year.
I mean, it was it was admirable. They got to
the playoffs. They didn't do anything when they got there,
but they got there. Thought Francona did a good job
with what he was left with. But I mean, this
team has got to get better offensively if it wants

(01:24:39):
to have any chance of doing anything again in the postseason.
And I'm just wondering. Here's a franchise that has said
their general manager, Nick Caral, has said, we want to
keep the payroll the same as it was last year,
and the only significant money that's coming off that payroll
is Nick Martinez, who was about twenty one million dollars

(01:24:59):
last year.

Speaker 12 (01:25:00):
Year.

Speaker 3 (01:25:00):
There'll be a few others that that'll that'll go that
they won't have any interest in Austin Hayes being won.
That's a little different. Is it not a little different
and not increase payroll significantly?

Speaker 12 (01:25:10):
Yeah, it's tough because you know, you're good players who
are arbitration knowledgeable or just how many years service, they're
going to cost a little bit more, and so to
put that cap means that you're going to probably for
the open spots and have a little bit less than
what is falling off the payment on this winter.

Speaker 2 (01:25:30):
The word the.

Speaker 3 (01:25:31):
Names that are getting thrown around here, Kyle Schwarber, Peter Alonzo,
I mean I would think Peter Alonzo, even at thirty
one years old, who made I think twenty seven million
last year. I mean he's probably looking in excess of
an annual percent value of like thirty three thirty five million. Schwarberg,

(01:25:52):
who's from here. It's hard for me to imagine the
Phillies would let him go. But he'll be thirty three,
and you know he's probably looking somewhere in the mid
to upper twenty millions. Both of those are difficult diets,
aren't for the Reds. Do you anticipate them actually being
in play for this team?

Speaker 12 (01:26:10):
I really don't think so, because one of the price texts,
Alondo is going to want more than he's likely going
to get, but he's still going to get a lot.
And the tough thing about free agents of the type
you know we're talking about Alonzo Schwarber. You're getting guys
who are already a little long in the tooth and
you've signed them to the type of long term deal
that they're going to want. You're committing yourself a lot

(01:26:33):
of money in what probably going to be out years
that are going to be great. And you know, if
you have a Blue Jays doing that for a hope
for Joey Vado reunion at the end of the guy's career,
that's one thing. But to commit really big dollars the
guys who probably don't have a lot of the years
left at the top, I don't think it makes sense

(01:26:55):
for a lot of teams, including.

Speaker 3 (01:26:57):
Given the payroll constrictments and what they will or will
not be willing to do from a payroll standpoint, that
leaves trades. Their strength is starting pitching. You know, a
Hunter Green's name is out there publicly. They're saying Hunter
Green is not available for trade anyway, any shape, any form.
I'm not sure I would trade him anyway. But they

(01:27:17):
do have depth as starting pitching in addition to the
rotation that they had last year, they also have Rhet
Lauder who missed the entire year. Chase Burns is in
the mix. I think for that conversation, they still have
Chase Petty. There's still players that are there, pitchers that
are there that could comprise a rotation of five and
probably gets you to seven if indeed you know you

(01:27:40):
have to dip that far down to get starting pitching
because of injury. What of trading from strength and of
those let's say the Big Three, Hunter Green, Andrew Abbott,
Nicklodolo of the Big Three, would you be willing to
trade any of those? And if so, what do you
think they would have to have in production in return?

(01:28:00):
Sell me your name. I don't want to get a hey,
this guy for that guy, but in production in return?

Speaker 5 (01:28:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 12 (01:28:05):
The tough thing about trading starting pitching, there's two things really.
One is that they always say you can't have enough votes. True,
you can't have enough. You can't go into a season
with five starting pitchers and regardless with your team is,
and realistically expect that's all you're.

Speaker 13 (01:28:23):
Going to need.

Speaker 12 (01:28:24):
Someone's going to get hurt, someone's going to be ineffective.
You're probably gonna need at least seven competence starters to
get through a season, and so that's one limitation. Another
one is that teams are smart. You're not going to
get a top drawer offensive player for a top drawer
starting pitcher unless it's only like a Garrett Cole, simply
because everybody knows it's Starting pitchers can be volatile and

(01:28:47):
they can get hurt. So of the ones that you mentioned,
I guess if I were to flip one, it might
be a dolo, only because you've got a little bit
more checkered health history than the other two. Hunter Green,
obviously you've had all sorts of issues, but there's tough

(01:29:09):
to walk away from. And Abbott really yeah, I think
probably the most pleasant surprise for the.

Speaker 5 (01:29:17):
Reds last year.

Speaker 12 (01:29:18):
He's still a You're younger than adults, so I think
that's a guy you hang on to. But I think
you've got to kind of chepper your expectations of what
you can get trading starting pitchers unless you're going to
throw a prospect in there too, in terms of getting
the offensive player that you want in the term.

Speaker 3 (01:29:34):
Okay, so if you're not going to do that and
you still need that production in the every day eight
and your payroll is not going to increase appreciably. I mean,
you've got some money to play with with Martinez no
longer around, And how do you get better? I mean,
what do you do? I mean you need increased production
at second. I think it's very difficult in a lineup

(01:29:54):
with Key Brian Hayes and Matt McClain. I think optimumally,
at least on the performance last year, you're looking at
a per game delivery of two for eight. I mean
it's just that they've got a serious situation with offense.
If they put Key Brian Hayes at third and Matt
McClain at second, your outfield is you're going to get

(01:30:17):
some production out there. They're committed to leaving Ellie da
Cruz at short. If you're not going to trade and
if you're not going to go out and sign a
big dollar, big power hitting free agent.

Speaker 2 (01:30:28):
And how do you get better?

Speaker 12 (01:30:29):
I think you stopped at the dollar store free agents.
You're not going to go for as you mentioned that
the Schwarbers in the Alando, a guy like Ryan or
Hearn will give you some power from the left side.
Who was you know a very good hitter with the
Orioles last year, wasn't didn't do a whole lot for
the Padres, at least in the power front once he
got traded over there. He's got a decent track record

(01:30:52):
as a hitter. Any plus first statesman who can also
place an off field. I think those are the types
of players that you target. And then I'm not saying
that you can't trade. I think you've got to be
realistic in terms of what you might get as a
return for a trade, which is probably going to be
a guy who's not necessarily going to be a one
hundred and fifty days a year player, but maybe you

(01:31:14):
get a good back from the left side or who
can tune with somebody else. I think that there's willing
to improve the offense, and you should be able to
get a full year of South Stewart that we could
in the year where Ellie da Lea Cruise isn't playing
on a bad length for half the season. That I
think that it's realistic to expect the Reds to be

(01:31:35):
able to get some improvement in the offense. And then
you know, as you said, you've got some pitchers who
were good last year, some others who were coming back.
I think that you're challenging the Brewers. Probably not, but
in a division where kind of two of the teams
have already The Pirates never in contention. The Cardinals are

(01:31:56):
really in a rebuild space. I think there's a potential
to again be a wild card this season, and maybe
one with a little more strength in what we saw after.

Speaker 3 (01:32:06):
Yeah, Baltimore with O'Hearn was a lot better than O'Hearn
with San Diego. O'Hearn last year thirteen home runs, forty
three rbi. I think he hit two eighty three on
base three seventy four, and then he went to the
padres and did not perform all that well.

Speaker 2 (01:32:22):
Average wise, he wasn't bad.

Speaker 3 (01:32:24):
We're chatting with our good buddy Rob Mains from Baseball
Perspectives dot com, and we're trying to figure out a
way that the Reds can get better with their everyday
lineup without breaking the bank and without trading away key pieces.
And there is going to be I think with great
certainty I can say this, there's going to be a
work stoppage before the twenty twenty seventh season. So how

(01:32:48):
much do you think that tempers teams like Cincinnati, who
simply don't have the capital that the Yankees, the Dodgers,
and the Chicago teams have. How much do you think
it tempers them going into the free agency market this
offseason knowing full well that in twenty twenty seven there
will be time missed.

Speaker 12 (01:33:07):
That's a really smart observation. Can I agree with you.
I think we're not looking at one hundred and sixty
two games in twenty twenty seven. I think the opportunity
that creates for a team like the Reds is if
you've got a guy who's looking to get a long
term deal and can't get it for whatever reason, either
asking price or just a lack of buyers, there's a

(01:33:30):
chance to get you know what, there's Boris's term, a
pillow contract and one year deal where they sort of
re establish what you work. Where one of the free agents,
like somebody who on the order of you know, like
maybe a Brandon Lowell might want a scientists four or
five years, can't find that deal. Well, if you can

(01:33:52):
get a good one year contract, you can pay up
more for one year than if you want to risk
going out a lot more than that and then going
into the twenty twenty seven season, where he might miss
part of it, but you've established a value where you
could maybe then sign a long term contract after that.
I think that's where there's an opportunity sign guys who

(01:34:12):
want to get a long term deal couldn't get it.
You sign him for more per year for one year
than what they might be able to get for four
or five years, but then you've got an improvement for
your club for the twenty twenty sixty Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:34:24):
Yeah, Brandon Lao hit two fifty six, by the way
last year for the Rays, and he had five hundred
plate appearances. And a guy that can play a little
bit of second and actually first base well by the way,
made eleven five last year for the Rays. So it
would be somewhere in that vicinity a little bit higher
than that that would maybe attract him. We'll see what

(01:34:46):
kind of attention heat draws. We'll see where it may
all lead to. Wherever it leads to, you can follow it,
and you can follow it expertly on Baseballperspectives dot com,
where you can find our buddy Rob Mains on a
consistent basis. Okay, Rob, good stuff, Appreciate your time, stay
well and you know we'll be calling.

Speaker 5 (01:35:03):
It's great talking with take care you.

Speaker 3 (01:35:05):
Bet aloo is as I said, made a million eleven
million five last year. But I just saw a day
or two ago that the of all teams, the Dodgers
ar are looking for perhaps a chance to get him rich,
get richer. Uh So we'll see, but he would he

(01:35:26):
would be an interesting fit depending on what you would
have to give up to get him. Race picked up
his option. That doesn't mean anything other than, uh, they can.
They continue to hold his rights and have an opportunity
to keep him or trade him. But the Dodgers apparently
are looking at him. And as far as O'Hearn is concerned,
Ryan O'Hearn, uh, it's been out there. I guess for

(01:35:46):
about a day or two that the pirates of all
teams are looking at o'hearne. I'm not sure what the
upgrade would be with him. He certainly did not do
very well when he wound up in San Diego middle
of last season. But Brandon Lowe, I've seen enough of
him that I would think, you, oh what, there's a
guy can play second and you're not forced every game

(01:36:08):
to have McLain and keep Brian Hayes in the same
batting order, because I mean, there are two guys that
you know, for whatever they can offer, they just simply
haven't been able to offer a lot of offense in
that same every day nine, we'll see it'll heat up.
You got the general manager's meetings, and then you have
the Winter meetings, and then of course you'll probably get
into this whole trade thing. But the free agent signings

(01:36:31):
have already begun. I would be shocked if they got
Pete Alonso or Kyle Schwarberg. It just doesn't fit the
profile of what the Reds have been doing lately. Those
those are big dollar ball players. I'd love to see
either one of them here. Don't get me wrong, but
I think we need to change of reality with all
of this as well. Twelve twenty three, counting down to

(01:36:52):
an NFL doublehetter on seven hundred w WELW.

Speaker 21 (01:36:56):
At the first Thanksgiving, the four survive and pilgrim women
prepared venison, fish and vegetables for about one hundred and
forty people, cooking it all over.

Speaker 1 (01:37:07):
And open fire.

Speaker 21 (01:37:09):
Last Thanksgiving, my mother served us microwave turkey, canned gravy,
and instant potatoes. Mom's not much of a pilgrim have
the happiest of Thanksgiving weekends from all of us at
seven hundred WLW

Speaker 1 (01:37:27):
This is what they call the hard Cell Sunday Yardcare,
Black Friday sal