Sports Talk 12-24-25

James Rapien fills in for Lance on Christmas Eve. He's reviewing the Bengals season.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
The following takes place between seven pm and eight pm.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
What's up? Welcome in, James Repene in Frolance Acholic. So
this is Sports Talk on seven hundred wl W. So
excited to be here on Christmas Eve. Shout out to
tearin Bland for producing today's show, and shout out to you.
I really hope you and your family have a wonderful
Christmas season, a wonderful holiday season, and obviously a happy

(00:44):
New Year. And really really grateful and thankful to be
here and to be talking with you on these airwaves
on seven hundred WLW and the iHeartRadio app. I'm James Orpene.
If you don't know me, why cover the Bengals every
single day Bengals Talk dot com. You could check us
out there and certainly check out all of our content

(01:07):
on the YouTube channel Cincinnati Bengals Talk as well, and
that's where we're going to start today's show. It is
with the Bengals and anytime I anytime I'm on these airwaves,
I tried to share thoughts about the Bengals that you
might not have heard from Lance, or might not heard
from Moe down the Hall or Toty from down the Hall.

(01:27):
And I was in Miami for the game on Sunday,
and I watched Joe Burrow do what he did, complete
twenty five of thirty two passes for three hundred and
nine yards, four touchdowns, have a one forty six point
five passer rating, the second best of his career. And
to me, it was a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, we

(01:47):
look a lot of times during the holiday season for
a reminder of, oh, well, why you should cherish these
moments or these times, and when it comes to football,
and this has nothing to do with the holiday season,
but when it comes to football, the ultimate goal is

(02:07):
to what to win a championship. And I can for
sure tell you that every team that doesn't have a
Joe Burrow feels like they are nineteen thousand, five hundred
and fifty two but jillion miles away from winning a championship.
But if you have a Josh Allen or a Patrick

(02:27):
Mahomes or a Joe Burrow, you feel like you're close,
You feel like you have a chance, you feel like
there's a real shot at doing just that, of getting
to the mountaintop. And that's what Sunday reminded me, because
Joe Burrow played well, but the Dolphins just never had

(02:51):
a chance. There was never a moment in that game,
even when it was fourteen to ten where I thought
that Quin Yours and the Dolphins were gonna beat Joe
Burrow in the Bengals. And so you're like, James, what
does that mean? What are you say? I'm saying that
it doesn't need to be rocket science for the Bengals
this offseason. It doesn't need to be so hard, and
it feels like they're really really far away. But when

(03:13):
you have Joe Burrow, you're born on third base. You
have a shot to completely revamp things very very quickly.
And I know Bengals ownership has really done the opposite
of going all in. They've tried to build this sustainable winner.

(03:34):
They've tried, They've tried to do this thing where they ah,
we're going to try to keep ourselves in the mix
for as long as possible. And that sounds good, But
when you have Joe Burrow, it needs to be about
Joe Burrow. When you have Joe Burrow, it needs to

(03:56):
be about Joe Burrow in building around him and putting
the team around him that can contend year in and
year out. How do you get there year in and
year out? Because when I look at this and I
think about Joe Burrow, and I think about how they're
four and two with Joe Burrow at quarterback this season,
I think, man, oh man, if you had just been

(04:17):
slightly under five hundred without him, they were one and
eight without him, it had been four and five without
Joe Burrow, things feel, look and are so much different.
And you're right there, You're in the hunt. You feel
like you could go to Buffalo and win. You feel

(04:37):
like that you're competing with the Steelers for the division
crown right now, and that's who's more than likely he's
going to win it. But they weren't built correctly, they
weren't coached correctly. There were mistakes all around, and it's unacceptable.
That's what the reminder was for me the other day
watching Joe Burrow pass the twenty thousand yard mark, fifth

(04:58):
fastest in NFL history to do so, third fastest in
NFL history to throw for one hundred and fifty touchdowns.
He's had one hundred and fifty two touchdowns. The time
is now, not later.

Speaker 3 (05:11):
Now.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
I wrote a book about the Bengals. A lot of
you have probably followed the Cincinnati Bengals for your entire life.
By the way, you can get it at Cincinnati Bengals
book dot com. It's called Enter the Jungle wherever books
are sold. This Bengals franchise has never had a quarterback
like Joe Burrow and gone all in on winning, and

(05:33):
they need to do that. The time is now to
do that. Teams that have gone all in and I
say that in quotes like the Los Angeles Rams, guess
what they've rebounded from their all in mode and they're
still good. You can be sustainable. This is the Joe
Burrow era where every year you should be winning eleven, twelve,
thirteen games, not six, not seven, not five and ten,

(05:57):
five and ten? When will we be great again? Like
that's their slow this year. That can't be unacceptable. And
so this holiday season, this Christmas season, when we're all
spreading cheer and we should be the thing that I
want to spread. The message I want to send when

(06:17):
it comes to the Cincinnati Bengals is that this is
not rocket science. You can fix it. You can be
a Super Bowl contender a year from now. And when
I'm on these airwaves next to Christmas Eve filling in
for Lance McAllister on Sports Talk. We can be talking
about man, oh man, they have a real shot out
winning a Super Bowl. That's the standard. Everything else is hogwash,

(06:40):
everything else is a failure. It comes up short. The
standard is really really high because of who you have
the Miami Dolphins. James are pen in for Lance McAllister today,
Merry Christmas. The Miami Dolphins would trade their entire roster
in multiple years, of their entire drafts to get Joe Burrow.
Joe Burrow, Jamar, Chase T Higgins. We're gonna hear from

(07:02):
Tiggins coming up. You have all these pieces in their prime.
You have to take advantage of it. You have to.
And so for me, Sunday was a reminder of that.
Oh man, Joe's on the field with those weapons. Good luck,
good luck. You got a young, feisty defense that has

(07:24):
some real proven pieces. And that's what they need to
add this offseason, real proven pieces. That's it. It's on
ownership to do that. And I don't want to hear
a lot of you will probably thinking, oh, well, Joe
makes this amount of money or Jamar or t and
they shouldn't have paid this guy that they have plenty
of money.

Speaker 3 (07:39):
Plenty of money.

Speaker 2 (07:41):
They have plenty of money and plenty of cash. I
hear that a lot o the Bengals owners. They don't
have as much cash. There's a salary cap, plenty of cash.
They have plenty of cash, plenty of ways they can
maximize the cap. They don't. They don't do that, and
they should to the Joe Burrow era, Failing in this

(08:02):
era and not winning a Super Bowl is far worse
than having one year or two years where you're in
cap purgatory where your salary cap is preventing you from
doing what you want to do. Down the line. You
got to get a super Bowl, you gotta win the championship.
You gotta be willing to push the chips in. And

(08:25):
that's what's scary now because they're committed to Zach Taylor,
they're committed to this coaching staff, they're committed to this
front office. And so if that's the case, then what's
going to change. What needs to change is their desire
to go all in on winning and that is the standard.
They need to be active in free agency, There's no

(08:46):
doubt about it. And by active, I mean active like
they were in twenty twenty one and twenty twenty when
Joe Burrow was on his rookie deal and then they
got cold feet in two a little bit if they
were able to get a couple of linemen. But you
could see the feet getting colder as we got closer

(09:08):
to Joe Burrow's extension, and those those feet are frozen
right now, even though those temperatures outside are mighty mighty
nice for this time of year in the Queen City.
I'm James or Peen in for Lance. This is Sports Talk.
We're just getting started. You can tweet me on x
at James or Peen. Also check out all of my
Bengals coverage Bengals talk dot com. Really happy to be
with you here on Christmas Eve plenty to discuss We're

(09:31):
gonna hear from Zach Taylor, T Higgins, some of my
conversation with Tony Pike, and much much more. We are
just getting started here on a Christmas Eve edition of
Sports Talk. I'm James or Peen. Thanks for joining us
right here on seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 4 (09:47):
Thank Scott's flowing here with a quick reminder for you.
If you missed part of my show, you can still
listen to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app and hear
what you missed. Heaven only knows why you missed part
of my show, and I don't I suppose legit reasons
like sell new a coma or you had to run
to the store for emergency grapes, you know whatever. Just
be sure to hit up my podcast and let me

(10:09):
know you care.

Speaker 5 (10:10):
Celebrate the holidays with Cincinnati Cyclones Hockey. Friday is by
one three Friday with five dollar drafts one dollar pop
born in three dollars Burgers. Saturday features two dollars an
those beatless license hit New Year's Eve. It's a six
pm buck drop and indoor fireworks.

Speaker 3 (10:23):
Yeah. Tickets now at Cycloneshockey dot com.

Speaker 6 (10:25):
Every business has an ambition PayPal open is.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
The play with you till nine o'clock here on seven
hundred a W LW. Goodna. Hear from Zach Taylor coming
up in just a few minutes here this hour, and
we really appreciate you being here. Stay safe, enjoy the holiday,
and boil boy, what a season is it has been
for the Cincinnati Bengals. I got to be honest, ladies

(10:50):
and gentlemen, if you would have told me that I'd
be sitting in this chair with Taron bland producing and
keeping us in line here on seven hundred WLWU with
Tarren blanda on Christmas Eve in that this team would
be five and ten. The Cincinnati Bengals would be five
and ten. If you would have told me that during

(11:10):
training camp, when I was talking with Scott Sloan or
any number of times I'm on with Rocky obviously Sterling
show I'm on with him, or if I'm on down
the hall, or if I'm on with Lance, whatever the
case is, talking Bengals, if you would have told me that,
I would have laughed at you, like so much so

(11:31):
that even if you had told me Joe Burrow misses
nine games, I still wouldn't have thought they'd be five
and ten. And that's what's for me so disappointing is
this franchise needs to be able to build an average

(11:52):
team without Joe Burrow, because an average team without Joe
Burrow is a true Super Bowl contender with him, and
instead they're like that. One of the nf eose worst
teams without Joe Burrow, I mean, one in eight tied
the NFL for the worst record during that stretch. With
the Titans and the Arizona Cardinals also went one and
eight during the stretch that nine games without Joe Burrow.

(12:13):
That should be impossible. And so when I think about
this team and I'm gonna we're gonna hear from Joe
Burrow in just a minute, I just think, how can
you get to a place where you're capable of figuring
this out, capable of making it work without Joe If

(12:36):
he does miss a few games, like next year, if
he misses four games, that shouldn't derail the season. They
should be able to go two and two or better.
And it's it's wild to me as I start to
reflect on this year, like how in the hell do
you go one in eight without Joe Burrow? And you
could dissect the games and say, oh, well, they should
have beat the Jets, or this defense should have done that,

(12:57):
or Jake Browning should have done that. Absolutely, there's no doubt.
But it's unacceptable when it can't happen again. And so
whatever they need to do on defense they better do,
which is address all three levels. Whatever they need to
do on offense, maybe have a backup quarterback that they know,
not confident in, that they know can come in and

(13:18):
be a guy that can run their offense at a
high level. Whatever the case is, you have to do it.
And maybe that means bringing Joe Flacco back. I would
love it. Maybe it's saying, hey, Phil Rivers, who look
good Monday night? I mean the dude throwing it to
my guy, Alec Pierce, shout out the University of Cincinnati
bearcatz Alum. He's about to get paid this offseason, but

(13:38):
Philip Rivers looking productive like fine, I don't care if
he's fifty two years old. Find a competent backup quarterback.
And so that's another thing this offseason because the last
thing I want to be doing, honestly, and I did this.
I was in Miami. Joe Burrow complete seventy eight percent
of his passes, throws for three hundred yards. That's all

(13:59):
these franchise marx in personal best, twenty thousand yards, career milestones,
one hundred and fifty passing touchdowns. And after the game
I have to ask him about fun. I don't want
to do that. Here's what Joe Burrow said after the game.
How much fun?

Speaker 7 (14:19):
Yeah, it was fun.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
I'm having fun playing football. Not playing football is not
fun And you're sitting in a locker room rehabit all day.
That's and that's not why you do it. This is
why you do it right here. This is why you
do it right here. That entire postgame conversation that he
had with us in Miami has posted on my YouTube channel,
Cincinnati Bengals Talk. Please subscribe. The reason why that's so

(14:47):
noteworthy to me twofold, there's a lot of narratives about
Joe Burrow. The one was that the Andrew Luck narrative,
which I've always I've always shot down and I think
I've thought it was hogwashed. And I heard it probably
three or four years ago. Early on. I'm like, no,
Joe loves football. And it was a national person talking
to me and he was like, yeah, but so did

(15:08):
Andrew Luck. And I was like, no, no, no, Like,
Joe is obsessed with football. I can't imagine Joe Burrow
without football right now, can't imagine it. And so when
I look at that and I think of it, like
what what this team is and and what they should

(15:33):
be with Joe, I think, all right, they they have
a dude that is dedicated, that is committed, that is
going to do everything he can to win and so
put him in position to do that. And a lot
of people are going to say, oh, he's got to
stay healthy, and I agree, but he's had some freak injuries,
and you need to be in position to overcome those

(15:55):
freak injuries if you're the Bengals. Again, I'm not saying
they need to be to build a Super Bowl contender
in a team that will contend for a Super Bowl
if Joe Burrow's hurt, But can you overcome a few games, like,
for example, let's just say the Bengals were ten and
four right now, right are eleven and four? Excuse me?

(16:17):
Could they sustain Let's say Joe got nicked up and
they've clinched a playoff spot, but they're battling for playoff positioning.
Could they win down the stretch here with Joe Flacco? Well,
I thought they could beat the Jets with Joe Flacco.
I thought they'd be able to beat the Bears potentially
with Joe Flacco. I thought they'd be able to maybe
sweep the Steelers with Joe Flacco. None of those things happened.
They want one in eight without Joe Burrow. They won

(16:39):
one game with Joe Flacco. That's unacceptable. And I'm not
blaming Joe by the way. I'm just saying, like the
way the team is built, the way they're constructed, the
way everything has gone, they need to be able to
sustain a reasonable product on the field. And when you
look at it, let's say they were eleven and four

(17:01):
and Joe was nicked up and Joe Burrow couldn't play,
and you have to turn to the other Joe. Would
you be confident that they're going to handle business and
get to thirteen and four. I would not based on
what I've seen. So what needs to be fixed. I
think the defense certainly needs to be fixed. I think
Zach Taylor needs to coach better down the stretch of
these games, make better decisions, and there are a multitude

(17:21):
of those. Like the Jets game, I get it, the
defense fell apart. I think there are coaches in the
NFL that still find a way to win that game.
And that's what's tough is that's when the season really
went off the rails the Bengals. It felt like we're
about to get to four and four and instead where
three and five and facing a must win against Chicago.
They rally but lose a heartbreaker in that state, it

(17:43):
feels like the season's over. And that's what's tough. It's
a really tough situation when you're the Bengals and you
put yourself in that spot. And when I think of
this year, that's the area where they had a chance,
had a chance to make a run, didn't happen, a
chance to really go for it didn't happen, and it's unfortunate,

(18:03):
but that's the reality they face. And so when I
think of this team, where they're at and what they
need to do moving forward, it's very very simple. Build
a quality team without Joe Burrow, a team that can
go eight to nine, nine and eight without Joe Burrow,
because if you do that, guess what you're going to

(18:24):
go like fifteen and two with him, and you're going
to be the best team in the NFL. And he
is that special. He is, and that's why there's so
much drama and national narratives and discussion and all those things.
Everyone wants them because if you have a guy like that,
you always have a chance. And the Bengals have a chance.
And going back to what I said fifteen minutes ago,

(18:46):
it's time to go all in you're the Bengals. As
we wrap up this and celebrate Christmas and get into
the new year. Here, it's time to go all in.
Put those chips in on Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase and
the twenty twenty six Cincinnati Bengals. I'm James Earpene. This
is Sports Talk. Thank you so much for being here.
We're gonna hear from Zach Taylor on the other side
of the break, and uh yeah, Merry Christmas. I hope

(19:08):
you're having a wonderful Christmas Eve and certainly going into
Christmas Day as well. Excited to be here with you
until nine o'clock. In for Lance McAllister. I'm James Earpene,
and this is Sports Talk on seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 3 (19:23):
News, Traffic and Weather News Radio seven hundred w l W, Cincinnati.

Speaker 8 (19:30):
Around the world, Christmas Eve service is taking place with
the seven thirty report. I'm Sean Gallagher breaking now.

Speaker 3 (19:43):
In Rome. Tonight.

Speaker 8 (19:44):
Polp Leo, the fourteenth, leading his first Christmas Mass, has
ponted from Saint Patrick's from Saint Peter's Basilica in New York.
Saint Patrick's Cathedral expected to be packed as it marks
the final midnight mass for Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who will
soon retire having reached theh of seventy five, which is
the mandatory retirement age in the Catholic Church. Cardinal Dolan
served in New York's nearly three million Catholics for sixteen years.

(20:07):
Tickets for in high demand for the service made available
through a lottery system among those expected to attend the
mass outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Speaker 3 (20:17):
Now, the latest.

Speaker 8 (20:17):
Trafficking weather together is still seeing the exit ram closed
southbound off to westbound I seventy four due to an
earlier accident. The right lane of the highway also blocked
by the ramp.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Now, the latest forecast from the Train Heating and Cooling
Weather Center on news Radio seven hundred wl W I will.

Speaker 9 (20:36):
Dip down into the upper forties, but by the time
most of us wake up Christmas morning will be well
into the fifties. Scattered rain also likely to night into
Christmas morning, but it looks like the second half of
the day will be dryer, although still gloomy with some
mist and drizzle. High's near fifty nine degrees heading into
Friday morning, we'll cool off to forty six from your
severe weather station I'm nine First Warning metro Oblogius, Mark

(20:59):
Stents News Radio seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 8 (21:02):
Fairs guys in forty four degrees news a service of
aulta Fiber. A crash late this morning in Sycamore Township
near Keimwood Town Center leaves one person dead and another
critically injured. The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office was called out
around eleven o'clock to the intersection of Montgomery and Galberth Roads.
They say the twenty eight year old Connor Walshley was
driving at a highbrid to speed of Montgomery when he

(21:22):
clipped another vehicle on Galbert that sent him off the road,
hitting a curb, and then his vehicle became airborne, striking
several trees and two utility poles. He and a passenger
had to be extricated from the vehicle. Walshley died from
his injuries while the passenger was taken to UC Medical Center.
Montgomery rode between Gilbert and Coogler Mills still shut down,
expected to be reopened around eleven o'clock tonight as Duke

(21:44):
Energy and Ulti Fiber replace and rewire utility poles. A
woman shot and killed at a senior living facility too,
saying Walnut Hills has been identified. Cincinnati Police sat evening
around six point thirty responded to the Park Eden building
on Park Avenue where a thirty one year old to
Kiamac Hollum is found dead in a hallway. There's been
no information from police about a suspect as their investigation continues.

(22:06):
This does mark the second shooting scene at the Park
Union building within a week. The Cincinnati Cyclones in ECCHL
could go on strike after Christmas.

Speaker 10 (22:15):
The Professional Hockey Players Association has announced Tuesday they've served
the ECHL a strike notice, effective for Friday. PHPA executive
director Brian Ramsey accuses the league of ongoing unfair labor
practices and unlawful and corrosive conduct, forcing the strike. If
the ECHL and the PHPA can't reach an agreement, games

(22:36):
on the twenty six and onwards will be postponed. The
Cyclones are scheduled to host the Kalamazoo Wings this Friday
and Saturday night, and Hockey Night in Cincinnati is slated
for December twenty seventh. I'm Ley Mawen News Radio seven
hundred WLW.

Speaker 3 (22:49):
Aren't acceptedd today o'clock.

Speaker 8 (22:51):
I'm Sean Gallagher News Radio seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 11 (22:56):
News Radio seven hundred WLW and Iheartradios Guarantee Human seven
hundred WLW, HI Hard Radio.

Speaker 3 (23:06):
Looking for a memorable.

Speaker 2 (23:14):
Welcome back to sports talk. I'm James Rpaine and this
is seven hundred w l W Merry Christmas Eve in
for Lance McAllister, and I think it's time to have
a discussion about Zach Taylor. We're gonna hear from Zach
Taylor in just a second. I think it's tough. It's
tough when you understand the human side of things to

(23:36):
a degree, and Zach obviously has a high leverage position.
And I'm not going to, especially on Christmas Eve, talk
about job security or whether he should be here or
not be here. I know everybody has strong opinions about that,
and there's a time and place for it. I'm not
sure Christmas Eve is that time. I will say this,
and I'm gonna play what Zach Taylor had to say
on Monday after the game, some injury stuff, obviously health updates,

(24:00):
the insight he had on T Higgins. I think it's
important for you everyone to hear that as T Higgins
made it through concussion protocol. But the end of what
Zach had to say I think is really really important too.
So this is it's about seven minutes. It's Zach Taylor
on Monday, and let's get to that and then we'll
react to what he said at the end of his

(24:22):
Monday news conference. James Arpine in for a lance, here's
Zach Taylor for Monday.

Speaker 12 (24:28):
You know, we've always wanted to be a relentless defense,
something where the effort flies off the tape and you
see guys forming the ball. So I think those are things.
When I watched the tape yesterday is you see everyone
in the picture, everyone after first contact trying to get
in the mix, make sure the ball carry gets down.
They got the one run on us. That was a

(24:48):
big run, and you can't excuse that because we got
to get him on the ground. We had opportunities to
do it, could have knocked it down. We didn't. This
court touchdown. But you look at the mixture runs after that,
and they're tough. They scheme your runs up, they give
you a lot of different looks, a ton of different
personnel groupings. I thought our defense did a great job
getting that run game settled down. And minimized toward the

(25:10):
second half. You know, you got to make them throw
the football and we were able to get the ball
off of them that way. So just overall really impressed
with the growth of our defense and how these guys
are responded. They understand the scheme, the communication has been
really good, and again you know, taking the ball off
the people, you know, so there's that confidence to scoring
there as well, And so it's been fun to watch.

Speaker 13 (25:32):
That's a line a pretty good game yesterday and starts
of containing the run between the tackles.

Speaker 12 (25:37):
Doing a great job, playing with their hands, understanding the
techniques for asking them to play and and so again
you're just seeing guys grow. A ton of guys grow.
Getting Tamar back was fun to watch yesterday. I thought
Cedric played a good game yesterday. Miles continues just to
just have a really good season right now with where
he's at, and so again it's just and there's as

(26:00):
I'm not even naming, you know, I thought everybody played
really well yesterday. So just fun group to watch them
continue to grow and as sand and that's all we're
asking for them right now is just get better every
single week and minimize your mistakes and we're seeing that
from those guys.

Speaker 14 (26:12):
Think Higgins said he saw specials to go when you
go to see Thursday morning, okay, and kind of what
what led to y'all come to that conclusion and saying, hey,
I still have this shut down and kind of walk
us through that cross.

Speaker 12 (26:24):
Yeah, that it was the doctors, you know, I think
just making sure tea in conjunction with our doctors, just
making sure you got that final checkpoint there to make
sure we're seeing everything. And the clearance was appropriate. I
think with the two issues he's had, you know, that
was the appropriate way to do it.

Speaker 7 (26:40):
And so.

Speaker 12 (26:42):
Getting out there quite really was. It was a bang
bang Thursday morning, got out there, got back before I
wasn't expecting about practice, and there he just walks in
the door, you know, right after stretch. So that was
I think it's good for him to hear that too.
He could probably answer that better than I can, but
we just want to make sure we were doing right
by him. If he's going to go out there and
play that everybody feels good about it. He feels good

(27:03):
about it, family feels good about it. And he went
out there and to my eye, felt really good.

Speaker 14 (27:09):
Clear Saturday and Sunday morning in order to finally have agree.

Speaker 12 (27:14):
I don't know what the final hurd it was. I
mean I felt good Friday. I wasn't gonna tell everybody that,
but you know, it's it's kind of nice for you
to have te Higgins walk on the field Sunday morning
when no one's exactly sure if he's going to play.

Speaker 7 (27:25):
I knew he was going to play at that point, but.

Speaker 12 (27:28):
You know, so it's good to get tea back out there,
and I know we got a lot of confidence when
he's out there.

Speaker 15 (27:32):
Jalen Davis in November camp, Tilbert gets hurt. You were
going young in a lot of different positions. You had
young corners, and obviously it's worked out with Jalen. What
made Jalen the guy that you wanted to put in
the lineup when you looked at your options.

Speaker 12 (27:44):
At that He's always he's always been a dependable guy.
We've seen it for him in training camp, for preseason games,
and the opportunity he's gotten over the years, you know,
to play in a real game and uh.

Speaker 7 (27:56):
You know, just tremendous locker room guy.

Speaker 12 (27:59):
I think he's he's a fan favorite in the locker room,
tremendous energy, just does what it takes to win and
help our team, whether that's been as a practice squad player,
bringing energy every single day and being consistent and being
ready when his numbers called, and so then his numbers
finally called in November. He just goes out there and
just plays with a ton of confidence, a ton of awareness,
great communication skills, leadership on defense, has an act for

(28:24):
making plays on the ball, has an act for pressuring.
A lot of similarities Mike Hilton, you know, and whether
that's because they were together for a long time, and
that's a huge compliment, you know, because Mike obviously had
tremendous career, and so JD's out there doing his own
thing and really just happy to see him take on

(28:46):
that role and do it with a ton of confidence and
make a lot a place for us and have a
lot of success.

Speaker 7 (28:50):
He's earned that hard. You describe Fairchild's rookie.

Speaker 12 (28:54):
Good, you know, I think he's playing between Orlando and
Ted has been a really good for him. Played with
really good physicality, and you know, seeing a lot of
stuff over the course of this season, being able to
be available and and I you know, really I think
he's got a really high ceiling and and you know
I felt the line as a whole. You know, we're
talking about Maricus, we're talking about Dylan. I've just had

(29:17):
a ton of confidence all year. You know, whatever we're
calling that there's gonna be great protection for quarterbacks. That
the run game. You know we're gonna have success in
our runs that we're calling. And so just you know,
that speaks to Dylan, that speaks to the whole group.
I just as a head coach, as a play caller,
have a lot of confidence in the unit.

Speaker 13 (29:37):
How much do you like watching so Tay that duo
blocked head and Dylan had We're smashes touchdown.

Speaker 12 (29:44):
H It's great, and it's you know when you get
a drive mull Over drives. The second half started around midfield,
which was was just great. But you know, you hit
them in the past game and you kind of got
teams on their heels, and then you get to hit
them on two runs as you get lower in there
and scored on two runs. You know from you know,
inside the fifteen, inside the five. It's good because now

(30:05):
you know you're having a lot of success in the
past game. So they got to respect that, and then
you know you hit them with with some of the
runs we hit them on and the guys are able
to come off the ball and drive them off the ball,
and it's it's that's a great way to finish drives.

Speaker 3 (30:16):
Yah.

Speaker 16 (30:16):
When it's a season that hasn't gone well for you guys,
there's a lot of talk about a meaningless season, but
for you, you look at a different as a coach,
I know, where do you see the most growth on
a team even though this season hasn't been great.

Speaker 12 (30:29):
Well, I think we've played a lot of young guys,
you know, and these guys have just gotten better and better,
and so our future is really right that way that.

Speaker 7 (30:37):
Every player, you.

Speaker 12 (30:38):
Know, first, second, third year player, I really feel like
has made huge strides this season as they've gotten more
reps and more opportunity. And so we have a lot
of confidence in those guys. And then and then you
blend it with the veterans that we've got that are
playing at a high level. So I feel really good
about the direction this team. And and you know, it's
all we can control is this week we got Arizona.
This week, we got to put our best at four.

(31:00):
Forget about what's going on around us. Just focus on
great game plan, having a great week of practice. Winning
the game went in two games in a row. The
feeling we had in the locker room responding with another
way to win back to back games is all we
can control right now. Okay, you know, I know Jay
Morrison and his family are dealing with something tough right now.

Speaker 7 (31:23):
Jays, as you all know, one of the greatest guys
in this business.

Speaker 12 (31:26):
So thought some prayers with him and his family, and
I hate that he's got to go through that, but
I know we're all here for so I just want
to make sure he knows that his family knows that.

Speaker 2 (31:34):
That last bit is the most important bit there of information.
I thought it was so so classy of Zach Taylor
to say that about Jay Morrison and his wife Nikki,
And really, ever since I heard the news, I haven't
been able to stop thinking about it and love Jay obviously.

(31:55):
I've worked with Jay for many, many years and I
consider him a great friend. And it's it's heartbreaking. It's
heartbreaking because it's rare to see a couple that you
know just fits and works perfectly, and so when tragedy

(32:19):
happens like this, and and for those of you that
don't know, Nicky Morrison passed away earlier this week, really
suddenly during a procedure that that went wrong. And it's
not something that anyone anticipated, expected or could have thought
was coming. And so when something sudden like this happens,

(32:42):
you know, you you reflect. And and the thing that
I continue to go back to is what Jay and
Nicky had. You could see was so special from the
moment that you talk to Jay about anything, any of
his hobbies, any any thing. And they were just a

(33:04):
perfect couple that that supported each other and loved each other.
And this is it's just awful, awful news. And some
things in life you can't explain why, and it's really
hard to understand the why with with something like this.
So love Jay, love Nikki. We're thinking about the entire

(33:24):
Morrison family. But I thought it was really really classy
of Zach Taylor to to say that at the end.
And that's why I mean, he talked today, but that's
why I wanted to to play what he said Monday
in its entirety. I thought there were some key nuggets
in there about t Higgins and other things like that,
plus what he said about Jay and his family. So
obviously we're thinking about the Morrisons during this time, and Jay,

(33:48):
we we love you for sure. It's it's something that
I can't stop thinking about, and I'm not going to
stop thinking about. So make sure that you give Jay
your well wishes this holiday season and the tire Morrison
family and we will we will continue the show coming
up next. James R. Pain Infra Lance This is seven

(34:09):
hundred Wow.

Speaker 3 (34:11):
I'm so happy that center on his play to keep
the Holidays gender neutral. Snowballs will now be called snow spheres.

Speaker 2 (34:20):
Just at Yi.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
I'm with almost time for Christmas Day, Christmas Spirit, We're
full of it.

Speaker 3 (34:28):
Seven hundred WL Jobistmas Day.

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Speaker 2 (35:26):
Well w It's great to be here. Really appreciate each
and every one of you for listening at this holiday season.
And if you're looking for more on the Bengals, and
obviously that's what I'm known for, make sure you check
out Bengals Talk dot com, Cincinnati Bengalstock on YouTube, the
Lockdown Bengals podcast. But let's dive in here because I
think one thing that I, for lack of a better term,

(35:51):
love is seeing star players fight, battle, compete, eat the edge.
What drives them all of those things and a guy
like T Higgins, like we've talked a lot about Joe
Burrow and should he shut it down? Should he not?
You know, there's been so much discussion there, but a

(36:14):
guy like T Higgins, that dude could have easily shut
it down this season and no one would have blamed him,
No one would have questioned it. Everyone would have said
yeah to you, like do it. And instead this guy
is battling, doing everything he can to get back on
the field, going to see a specialist in Pittsburgh. He

(36:35):
suffered a concussion a month ago now against the Patriots
a little over a month ago and missus a game.
Comes back after that Thursday game, comes back the following
week and plays great against the Bills, gets concussed in
that game and doesn't have symptoms or at least passes

(36:57):
protocol and doesn't have symptoms to get yanked out of
the game until after and goes back into protocol after
the game. This is the second Ravens game, and to me,
it's cool is the wrong word. But I just think
he deserves praise or fighting the way he has to
get back on the field. And what we should hear

(37:20):
from T Higgins. This is what he said to me
after the game in the locker room in Miami, after
having a great game including a thirty five yard catch
and outstanding touchdown grab his tenth of the season, which
ties a career high like t is a problem on
the field, and that's a great thing for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Here's what T. Higgins had to say after the game.

Speaker 18 (37:42):
Now, it was fun, you know, just get back there
and compete with my guys and then it's even better.
We got a W.

Speaker 2 (37:47):
The W that we got too.

Speaker 18 (37:48):
So you know, shout out to my guys.

Speaker 19 (37:51):
When you're on the flight to and from Pittsburgh, what's
going through your head?

Speaker 3 (37:55):
Like, what's that like?

Speaker 18 (37:57):
Honestly, you know, praying that I know I come back
with come here and get positive news, to come back
with positive news to tell the team and things like that,
and that's what it was.

Speaker 3 (38:07):
Your racking or I mean I.

Speaker 18 (38:09):
Was very you know, obviously I was very anxious and nervous,
you know to what they was gonna say. But you know,
I got a peace of mind and it was okay.

Speaker 19 (38:18):
Changes that makes you want to play when they when
they clear you, what is it that made you want
to say, I want to finish the season.

Speaker 18 (38:27):
At the end of the day of a competitor. I
want to compete with the guys. So that's that's all
it came down to.

Speaker 2 (38:31):
You make any changes. You know, people see guardian caps
out there. Obviously didn't work every different. What's different about
this helmet.

Speaker 18 (38:39):
Just more pattern, you know what I mean. I was
able to get fitted for one and it came.

Speaker 2 (38:44):
In just in time.

Speaker 20 (38:44):
Here's that feel.

Speaker 18 (38:45):
Much of your feels great, honestly, h It's comfortable. So
that's all that about it.

Speaker 10 (38:50):
It's the scariest part of the symptoms that you felt.

Speaker 3 (38:56):
There was a lot of headaches.

Speaker 18 (38:58):
The first one was a little bit since the light,
but other than that, Yeah, it is.

Speaker 2 (39:03):
Can you take me through the art of the t
Higgins contested catch because it feels like it's evolved from
a few years ago to now and it seems like
you're making them look so routine.

Speaker 18 (39:14):
Yeah, man, I just that's my job to go up
there and catch the ball, and you know, Joe gives
me a great boss to where I only I can
catch it, and you know it's either me or nobody.

Speaker 21 (39:23):
So is it kind of just uplifting exciting to be
able to come back from what you did and have
the type of game that you did to that.

Speaker 18 (39:33):
I mean definitely is definitely a you know, a bonus. Obviously,
I wanted to come out and try to dominate personally.
But we was able to do that as a whole
today and you know the results.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
So here's why I love T Higgins and that entire video.
You could check it out Cincinnati Bengals talk on YouTube.
I love that tee. It's like, oh man, I'm a competitor.
Of course I want to apply. Why wouldn't I play?
And I just I think that deserves praise. Now they've
taken the precautions and he's gotten examined and went to

(40:04):
a specialist in Pittsburgh and we heard from Zach Taylor
on that earlier this hour. But the other thing that
this to me reminds me of, and I think Sunday
was a big, an important reason behind it and why
you do pay T Higgins because that's still a discussion,
especially with the defense being the way it is, and
the Bengals had plenty of money last year and they

(40:24):
just didn't spend enough of it, maximized their cap all
of those things on defense. They could have done everything
they did on offense and added a bunch on defense.
They didn't do that. But this is why you keep T.
Higgins because he's a in his prime monster and they've
failed to draft enough monsters to say, oh, well, you

(40:45):
can let this guy in his prime go. It'd be
one thing if they had four defensive linemen and two
corners and a bunch of stuff that they had to
pay and they couldn't make it all work with Tea.
They didn't have any of that they didn't like. If
you don't pay T Higgins, you just lose T Higgins.
And so to see him fight, to see him play
at a high level, and to see him matter, and
I think that's the thing he matters so much in

(41:07):
this offense because if you want a double Jamar, well
then fine, you got to deal with Tea. And if
you're going to play one high and put T Higgins
and Manda man coverage, well good luck, because he's as
good as anyone right now in the NFL at the
jump ball, in making plays on the ball deep down field.
I mean, that catch, that fifty to fifty ball the

(41:28):
other day is just insane. That he gets up there
makes that play and you heard him just doing my job. No, like,
no one can do that job. There's like four people
on the planet that I think are capable of doing
that job.

Speaker 3 (41:42):
And so.

Speaker 2 (41:45):
A lot of times, it's it's easy to say, oh,
the Bengals want the flashy way. They're paying two receivers,
they're paying their quarterback, they're not built the right way.
I don't believe that one bit. Like I think t
the exact guy you do pay. I also thought Jesse
Bates and DJ Reader were guys you pay and you

(42:05):
keep guess what they could have done all of it.
And that's the thing that I really want to hammer
home this holiday season, especially going into the offseason. It's like, oh, well,
you know, the Bengals, they spent here, but they needed
to spend there. They could have done all of it.
And that's the standard when you're trying to win Super Bowls.
Guess what you're trying to do all of it, not

(42:28):
some of it, not a little bit of it, all
of it. And that's been the theme of this show.
And the reason it's been the theme of this show
is because this Bengals franchise with Joe Burrow should be
contending for Super Bowls every single year. And when I
think about Jamar Chase and t Higgins and Tea battling
back and doing what he is doing at such a

(42:50):
high level, it shouldn't be to get to five and
ten on the season. It shouldn't be with nothing to
play for. This better be the last season we're talking
about this ever in the Joe Burrow Jamar Chase t
Higgins era. Ever, otherwise they've failed massively, like this should

(43:11):
be impossible. And I don't mean like last year where
they're rallying for a playoff spot. Next year we should
be talking about playoff positioning. Oh well, they're pretty much
wrapped up the division. Are they going to get the
one seed or the two seed or how do they
stack up in the AFC? Like that's the standard. And
so when I see a guy like T Higgins fighting
his tail off, doing everything he can to get back

(43:32):
on the field and what is essentially meaningless games, those
are the type of guys you build around. And so
when someone says I'm not sure they should have paid
T Higgins, well yeah, they should have paid T Higgins.
They got that right. There's a lot of things the
Bengals have gotten wrong. They got that right, even if
they needed to be nudged by Joe Burrow along the way.
They got that right. It's time for them to get

(43:54):
the rest of it fixed. This offseason. James Arepine in
for Lance. This is Sports Talk on set one hundred WLW.

Speaker 3 (44:03):
News Traffic and Weather. News Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati, Hey.

Speaker 8 (44:10):
Vehicle goes airborne and a deadly Christmas Eve crash near
Kenwood Town Center with the eight o'clock report, I'm Sean
Gallblagher breaking now. Utility companies continue tonight to replace and
rewire utility polls after a single vehicle crash left one
person dead and another critically injured.

Speaker 22 (44:26):
Late this morning, WDSA had cars speeding on Montgomery Road clipped.
Another vehicle left the road and went airborne, hitting trees
into utility poles, bringing down power lines. The driver, twenty
eight year O'Connor Walshley, died from his injuries, while his
passenger remains in critical condition. Both were visiting from South
Carolina for the holidays. I'm Brady Hopkins News Radio seven

(44:47):
hundred WLW.

Speaker 8 (44:48):
P Montgomery between Galberth and Coogler Mill expected to be
reopened by eleven o'clock tonight. Now the latest traffic and
weather together and right now taking a look at the
major interstates in highways. They were dealing with that closure
earlier this evening along seventy five southbound off ramp to
westbound seventy four and so I need to see if

(45:11):
it has reopened at this time, and cameras were showing
that it looks like traffic was starting to move again
seventy four westbounds, so it appears that they might have
been able to clear that accident on the off ramp.
The right lane of the highway had also been blocked
by the ramp to seventy four west from seventy five south.

Speaker 11 (45:30):
Now, the latest forecast from the No Feared Dentist Weather
Center advanced dentistry. The thought of the dentist making you
a nervous wreck. We're here for you, No Fear Dentist
dot Com.

Speaker 9 (45:41):
Temperatures will be climbing quickly into Christmas morning as we
rebound well into the fifties to start things off, but
that scattered rain will also continue into the morning, likely
ending by the early afternoon. But we'll keep it cloudy
and warm for your Christmas afternoon Highs near fifty nine
degrees heading into Friday morning, well cool off to forty
six from your severe weather station, I'm nine first Warning

(46:02):
met Religius. Mark Stintz News Radio seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 8 (46:06):
Radar at this time is showing a fair sky and
our current temperature is coming in at forty degrees. Ay
crash Ley, a Cincinnati radio and television personalities work being
remembered during the holidays.

Speaker 23 (46:26):
Christmas for those of us of a certain age growing
up in the trash State and meant the radio where
TV tuned in every day at noon to Ruth Lions.
She was a favorite of Baby boo Er Moms of
the Christmas songs she wrote form the songbook for local
holiday celebrations. Joined by cast members like Ruby Wright, Marian Spellman,

(46:49):
and Bob Brown, the Fifty to fifty Club became musty
daytime TV. At one point there was a two year
waiting list to get tickets to be in the audience
on Christmas Day. Wowt looking back at our legacy with
specials about her career. Brian Colps News Radio seven WLW.

Speaker 8 (47:06):
The iconic Cincinnati sign on the newly renovated Downtown Convention
Center backup in time for the holidays is the LED
sign facing I seventy five on the west side of
the convention Center, and the convention Center set to reopen
January seventh, one of the big changes with the sign
is that every letter on it is customizable and can
play video. And Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow named the AFC

(47:28):
Offensive Player of the Week after throwing four touchdowns in
last Sunday's forty five to twenty one win at the Dolphins.
The Bengals will host the Cardinals this Sunday, kick off
one o'clock on the Big One. Our next update is
at eight thirty. I'm Sean Galbager News Radio seven hundred
w WELLEB.

Speaker 2 (47:42):
This report is sponsored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

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For victims of drunk and drug driving. Our grief is unique,
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The following takes place between eight pm and nine pm.

Speaker 2 (48:10):
Welcome back to the hour to James or team in
per lance. This is seven hundred that wl W. It's
great to be with you. This is sports Talk. Merry
Christmas Eve. I hope you're having a great one with
you and yours and plenty to discuss this hour with
you til nine o'clock. There's a growing sentiment. I think

(48:34):
at least it feels this way, and this sort of
happened last year, and I don't want to fall into
the trap this year, and so I want to make
it very very clear now with the Bengals two games
to go, they force a bunch of turnovers in the
third quarter against the Miami Dolphins, and they've been opportunistic
in recent weeks, and it feels like this defense is
coming along. It feels like this defense is coming along,

(48:55):
and that very well could be true. I think there
are building blocks on this defense, or one of them
pro bol snub by the way. I think Miles Murphy
one of them, but Dax Hill one of them. To
be clear, I mean, there are guys that should be
starters next year on this team, but they also need

(49:18):
help at all three levels the defensive line room. You
need another pass rushing defensive end that you really feel
confident in, could be your number one edge rusher. You
need a true push internally at that defensive tackle spot
from a pass rush perspective. That's not news. That's something
they tried to get with Sheldon Rankins. I believe they

(49:40):
were interested in adding that in the draft this past year.
They haven't done it. That's something they have to do
this offseason. Linebacker, I don't think you can say oh,
Demetrius Night and Barrett Carter Boom were set Orren Burks
is under contract, We're set. I don't think that's the
case at all. They need help at linebacker and Gino
still and should not start on Sunday. So when you

(50:02):
look at it, the Bengals need help on all three
levels of their defense, even with like no matter what
happens over the final few weeks, that's the case. But
don't take my word for it. I caught up with
Tony Pike last week on my YouTube channel, Cincinnati Bengals Talk,
and you could check it out on YouTube. You could
check it out wherever you get your podcast. By the way,
James or Pen and Falance McAllister here on seven hundred WLW,

(50:26):
and this was part of our conversation about the Bengals defense.
How many new pieces do they need on defense and
how many of them should be free agents improven pieces,
because I would go really, really in all three levels
investing in free agency in the defense.

Speaker 25 (50:43):
You know how many years out are we and we're
still talking about this team never replaced Jesse Bates. You
want to dive into x's and o's the touchdown before
the half that Baltimore scored inexcusable on Genostone's behalf on
the back end, there was no inside threat. He should
have been widened. He should have made the angle on
Za Flowers. He should have That should have been an incompletion.

(51:05):
It should have been seven to nothing or ten nothing
at halftime. You need help on the back end, you know.
I think Jordan Battle's taking some good steps as of late.
I think you can see pieces with Dax Hill, certainly
DJ Turner. The evaluation that linebacker is gonna be key
for me because I don't see it with with Barrett Carter.
Demitrius Knight, I thought had his best game as a

(51:26):
Bengal against the Baltimore Ravens. So certainly I can say, okay,
year one, guys, let's run it back and see what
we have. But I would certainly have a contingency plan there.
And I think defensive line is fascinating. I love what
Miles Murphy's done, But Miles Murphy was good down the
stretch last year as well. Why does it take three
quarters of the season for Miles Murphy to start playing well?

Speaker 7 (51:46):
You know?

Speaker 25 (51:46):
Can can you get that Miles Murphy to start next year?
Josepho size in a contract year. What are you gonna
do with him? The Trey Hendrickson? Do you run the
risk of tagging Trey Hendrickson and going through more drama
in the offseason. You have to evaluate what you have.
But I'm so past the draft a guy, an immediate
impact player. I want proven players on the defensive side

(52:09):
of the ball. And that's the other aspect we didn't
talk about. This team has struggled in the draft for
the most part in recent years. And are we really
willing to risk finishing the season seven to ten and
dropping in the draft order and trying to get a
mid round steal instead of a top ten pick who
you know? You know, based on teams that are quarterback driven,

(52:30):
there's going to be some quarterbacks reached for in the
first round. You're probably going to get a very good
position player in that top ten that falls.

Speaker 3 (52:37):
Into your lap.

Speaker 25 (52:38):
Do you want to run the risk of another draft
a guy and sell it to the fate? We al,
Shamar Stewart, the measurables. No, give me a proven guy
in the draft. So I think there are some pieces
on defense that I'm willing to run the you know,
run it back with or roll the dice on. But
for the most part, their scheme with their personnel needs
to match up way better than it does.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
That entire thing. On my YouTube channel, Cincinnati Bengals Talk,
James are pen In for Lance a look that they
need help. They need to add bona fide players at
all three levels of the defense, regardless of what happens
over the final few weeks. I think that that's kind
of a moot point, because your defense is a big
reason why you're in this position, not the only reason,
a big reason. And one thing that I'm going to

(53:24):
talk about this hour that I hit on last hour
is if you're going to build a competent team that
is competent regardless of whether or not Joe Burrows on
the field or not, that's something you need to do.
You need, not want, not hope not. You need to
build a defense that is going to be able to

(53:45):
carry you at times, not all the time, but at times.
And this defense doesn't. This defense has plenty of holes,
plenty of flaws, plenty of weaknesses, and we saw those
on Sunday in Miami. Even a game where the Bengals win,
you I see the issues that they have defending the run,
tackling Gino Stone open field, no chance at stopping a

(54:06):
chand and yeah, Devin ah Chan is one of the
best running backs in the game. Don't get shaken so
much that you end up in a blender out of
your cleats and have to put your cleats back on
on the field. And I'm exaggerating a little bit, but
not really. It was awful. And so the Bengals need
to address safety, they need to address defensive tackle, they

(54:29):
need more pass rush everywhere, and they need linebackers that
can be reliable. It doesn't mean that Barrett Carter and
Demitrius Knight can't be contributors, but I don't think either
one you can pencil in as a starter next year.
And that sucks because that's a second round pick and
a fourth round pick that you just used. Doesn't mean
they won't start. It doesn't mean they can't earn that.

(54:50):
It doesn't mean Shamar Stewart, by the way, pass rush
wise won't take another step. He had to tackle for
loss the other day. That's fine. But even though Miles
Murphy has emerged, and even though Shamar Stewart could very
well be much improved in year two. You need a
bona fide number one pass rusher to bank on. That
is the NFL. That is that's it. You need to

(55:10):
be a physical, nasty defense that can put pressure on
opponents and have playmakers and fly around and make plays
and tackles and so like a guy like Jordan Battle,
say what you want about him, and he's a frustrating
player because he's up and down, but he at least
makes splash plays. He does do that, and that works

(55:31):
for me. Like I can deal with Jordan Battle being
a starting safety on my defense. Is he going to
be the best player on a winning defense. No, but
he's going to be the eighth best player in a
winning defense and he's going to make some splash plays
and he's going to try hard. And yeah, some of
those plays that he misses are going to be painful,
but guess what, he's not gonna have to make as
many of those plays if your linebackers are better, if

(55:53):
your defensive front's better. And that's probably what Geno Stone
is saying every time I rip him. But man, he
doesn't make those splash plays. He did that in Baltimore.
He did it at the end of last year. He
hasn't made those splash plays this year outside of a
game here and there. He's so inconsistent and the lows
are so low that it's over. The Bengals should certainly

(56:14):
move on from him. So the Bengals defense, no matter
what they do. They could win forty nine to nothing
against the Cardinals and shut out Jacoby Brisset, who's playing
really well for Arizona right now. Don't buy it. They
could kick the crap out of Shador Sanders and pitch
back to back shutouts after doing what they did to Miami.
I won't buy it. They need to aggressively address all

(56:35):
three levels of their defense this offseason, and anything other
than that, honestly is unacceptable. Merry Christmas Eve. I'm James Orpine,
in for a lance with you till nine o'clock. We're
just getting started here in hour two. Make sure you
check out that full interview in my full conversation with
Tony Pike on my YouTube channel, Cincinnati Bengals Talk Up

(56:55):
Next will continue the Bengals conversation, and yeah, happy to
be with you here on Christmas Eve. I'm James Earpen
and this is Sports Talk on seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 3 (57:06):
Spreading holiday year the way I spread mayonnaise on a
BLT thick and sloppy. Ho ho ho from seven hundred
wl This is what they call the Hard Cell Sunday
Yardcare Holiday Sale, Limited Time Act.

Speaker 2 (57:24):
Now one hundred WLW. I'm James Epene Infra Lance with
you till nine o'clock. And the Bengals they kick the
crap out of the Dolphins the other day, and a
lot of you feel a lot of you, I'm sure,
felt good about it, Some feel bad about it, Some
worry about draft position. The Bengals still set to pick
ninth overall in the twenty twenty six NFL Draft. My

(57:45):
thoughts on it, I mean, I think it's interesting. I
think there's there's an argument that can be made that
you want the Bengals to lose games. There's an argument
that can be made that you want them to win
down the stretch and send everyone home happy, and they've
done that in their history. And I see both of it.

Speaker 3 (58:01):
I was in.

Speaker 2 (58:01):
Miami with a game on Sunday, and I watched Joe
Burrow do what he did, complete twenty five of thirty
two passes for three hundred and nine yards four touchdowns,
have a one forty six point five passer rating, the
second best of his career. And to me, it was
a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, we we look a lot
of times during the holiday season for a reminder of, oh, well,

(58:26):
why you should cherish these moments or these times and
when it comes to football, and this has nothing to
do with the holiday season, but when it comes to football,
the ultimate goal is to what to win a championship.
And I can for sure tell you that every team

(58:47):
that doesn't have a Joe Burrow feels like they are
nineteen thousand, five hundred and fifty two bajillion miles away
from winning a championship. But if you have a Josh
Allen or a Patrick Mahomes or a Joe Burrow, you
feel like you're close. You feel like you have a chance.
You feel like there's a real shot at doing just that,

(59:13):
of getting to the mountaintop. And that's what Sunday reminded me,
because Joe Burrow played well, but the Dolphins just never
had a chance. There was never a moment in that game,
even when it was fourteen to ten, where I thought
that Quin Yours and the Dolphins were gonna beat Joe
Burrow in the Bengals, and so you're like, James, what

(59:36):
does that mean? What are you saying? I'm saying that
it doesn't need to be rocket science for the Bengals
this offseason. It doesn't need to be so hard, and
it feels like they're really really far away. But when
you have Joe Burrow, you're born on third base. You
have a shot to completely revamp things very very quickly.
And I know Bengals ownership has really done the opposite

(01:00:02):
of going all in. They've tried to build this sustainable winner.
They've tried, they've tried to do this thing where they are,
we're going to try to keep ourselves in the mix
for as long as possible, and that sounds good. But

(01:00:22):
when you have Joe Burrow, it needs to be about
Joe Burrow. When you have Joe Burrow, it needs to
be about Joe Burrow in building around him and putting
the team around him that can contend. You're in and
you're out, how do you get there? You're in and
you're out? Because when I look at this and I
think about Joe Burrow, and I think about how they're

(01:00:43):
four and two with Joe Burrow, at quarterback this season.
I think, man, oh man, if you had just been
slightly under five hundred without him, they were one and
eight without him, you have been four and five without
Joe Burrow. Things feel, look and all are so much different.

(01:01:04):
And you're right there, You're in the hunt. You feel
like you could go to Buffalo and win. You feel
like that you're competing with the Steelers for the division
crown right now, and that's who's more than likely he
is going to win it. But they weren't built correctly,
they weren't coached correctly. There were mistakes all around, and
it's unacceptable. That's what the reminder was for me the

(01:01:27):
other day watching Joe Burrow pass the twenty thousand yard mark,
fifth fastest in NFL history to do so, third fastest
in NFL history to throw for one hundred and fifty touchdowns.
He's had one hundred and fifty two touchdowns. The time
is now, not later.

Speaker 3 (01:01:43):
Now.

Speaker 2 (01:01:45):
I wrote a book about the Bengals. A lot of
you have probably followed the Cincinnati Bengals for your entire life.
By the way, you can get it at Cincinnati Bengals
book dot com. It's called Enter the Jungle. Wherever books
are sold. This Bengals franchise has never had a quarterback
like Joe Burrow and gone all in on winning, and

(01:02:06):
they need to do that. The time is now to
do that. Teams that have gone all in and I
say that in quotes like the Los Angeles Rams, guess
what they've rebounded from their all in mode and they're
still good. You can be sustainable. This is the Joe
Burrow era where every year you should be winning eleven, twelve,
thirteen games, not six, not seven, not five and ten,

(01:02:29):
five and ten? When will we be great again? Like
that's their slogan this year. That can't be unacceptable. And
so this holiday season, this Christmas season, when we're all
spreading cheer and we should be the thing that I
want to spread. The message I want to send when

(01:02:50):
it comes to the Cincinnati Bengals is that this is
not rocket science. You can fix it. You can be
a Super Bowl contender a year from now. And when
I'm on these airwaves next to Christmas Eve filling in
for Lance McAllister on Sports Talk, we can be talking about,
man oh man, they have a real shot out winning
a super Bowl. That's the standard. Everything else is hogwash.

(01:03:13):
Everything else is a failure. It comes up short. The
standard is really really high because of who you have.
The Miami Dolphins. James are being in for Lance McAllister today,
Merry Christmas. The Miami Dolphins would trade their entire roster
in multiple years, of their entire drafts to get Joe Burrow.
You have Joe Burrow, Jamar, Chase T Higgins. We're gonna

(01:03:34):
hear from Ti Higgins coming up. You have all these
pieces in their prime. You have to take advantage of it.
You have to. And so for me, Sunday was a
reminder of that. Oh man, Joe's on the field with
those weapons. Good luck, good luck. You got a young,

(01:03:55):
feisty defense that has some real proven pieces. And that's
what they need to add this offseason, real proven pieces.
That's it. It's on ownership to do that. And I
don't want to hear a lot of you are probably thinking, oh, well,
Joe makes this amount of money or Jamar or t
and they shouldn't have paid this guy that They have
plenty of money, plenty of money. They have plenty of
money and plenty of cash. I hear that a lot

(01:04:19):
o the Bengals owners they don't have as much cash.
There's a salary cap, plenty of cash. They have plenty
of cash, plenty of ways they can maximize the cap.
They don't. They don't do that, and they should. It's
the Joe Burrow era. Failing in this era and not
winning a super Bowl is far worse than having one

(01:04:40):
year or two years where you're in cap purgatory where
your salary cap is preventing you from doing what you
want to do. Down the line. You gotta get a
super Bowl, you gotta win the championship. You gotta be
willing to push the chips in And that's what's scary
now because they're committed to Zach Taylor, they're committed to

(01:05:02):
this coaching staff, they're committed to this front office. And
so if that's the case, then what's going to change.
What needs to change is their desire to go all
in on winning and that is the standard. They need
to be active in free agency, there's no doubt about it.
And by active, I mean active like they were in

(01:05:24):
twenty twenty one and twenty twenty when Joe Burrow was
on his rookie deal, and then they got cold feet
in twenty twenty two, a little bit. They were able
to get a couple of linemen, but you could see
the feet getting colder as we got closer to Joe
Burrow's extension, and those feet are frozen right now, even

(01:05:44):
though those temperatures outside are are mighty mighty nice for
this time of year in the Queen City. I'm James
or Peen in for Lance. This is Sports Talk. Tweet
me on x at James or Peen. Also check out
all of my Bengals coverage Bengals Talk dot com. Really
happy to be with you. You're on Christmas Eve plenty
to discuss. We're gonna hear from Zach Taylor T Higgins

(01:06:05):
on a Christmas Eve edition of Sports Talk. I'm James Arpene,
Thanks for joining us right here on seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 3 (01:06:13):
News Traffic and Weather News Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati.

Speaker 8 (01:06:43):
Americans on the move, but the A thirty report, I'm
Sean Gallagher breaking now hey, record number of Americans expected
to travel during the holiday season now into New Year's
traffic analyst said that today was a good day to travel,
with later traffic on the roads. Roads also expected to
be less busy on Christmas Day for those only having
to make a short trip to their holiday destination. But
after the Christmas Day celebrations the calm coming to an end.

Speaker 26 (01:07:05):
Rush picks back up on Friday. Airlines for America says
December twenty sixth is shaping up to be one of
the busiest flying days of the holiday period, along with
December twenty eighth for return travel. And it's not just
the airports. Roads will be crowded to so if you're
driving Friday in Rick says the worst travel times are
between eleven am and eight pm. The best time to

(01:07:25):
hit the road before eleven am. Bottom Line, plan ahead
and of course, travel safe everybody.

Speaker 3 (01:07:31):
ABC News is Stephanie Ramos.

Speaker 8 (01:07:33):
For those in Ohio who hit the road earlier this
week enjoyed lower gas prices, but in the last forty
eight hours they've gone up about a quarter, entering today
two dollars seventy nine cents.

Speaker 3 (01:07:43):
But there's an upside.

Speaker 8 (01:07:44):
Motor is still paying less of the pump compared to
last Christmas, when the average was twenty eight cents higher.
The nationwide average also down nineteen cents from the holiday
season a year ago. Now the latest traffic and weather
together and right now taking a look at the major
interstates and highways.

Speaker 3 (01:07:59):
No new accidents now both lateis forecast from the Train
Heating and Cooling Weather Center on news radio seven hundred
wl W.

Speaker 9 (01:08:08):
After briefly dropping down into the upper forties versus Santa
we quickly pushed into the fifties by the time most
of us wake up Christmas morning. That scattered rain will
also be out there Thursday morning, but should be out
of here by early afternoon. While gloomy at Christmas afternoon,
it will be warm highs near fifty nine and we
only cool off to forty six into your Friday morning.
From your severe weather station, I'm nine first warning meter

(01:08:29):
rebly just Mark Stitz, News Radio seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 8 (01:08:33):
Radar showing a fair sky right now. It's forty three degrees.
Ay crash late this morning in Sycamore Township near Kimwood
Town Center, leaving one person dead and another critically injured.
The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office was called out around eleven
o'clock to the intersection of Montgomery and Galbreth Roads late
this morning. They say that twenty eight year old Connor

(01:08:53):
Walshley was driving to the highway to speed on Montgomery
when he clipped another vehicle on Galbreth went off the
road and hit a curb, sending his sh his sending
his sedan airborne as he struck several trees in two
utility poles. He and a passenger had to be extricated
from the vehicle. Whilsley died from his injuries while the
passenger was taken to UC Medical Center. Montgomery rode between
Gilbert and Couglar Mills, still shut down, expected to reopen

(01:09:15):
around eleven o'clock tonight. Is Duke Energy and Ulti Fiber
replace and Rewire utility polls. Elwa Jones, whose murder case
was dismissed earlier this month, the rest of this afternoon
after allegedly driving while under the influence, and was also
allegedly involved in a crash at the intersection of East
McMillan and would Burn Avenues.

Speaker 3 (01:09:32):
There were no injuries in that crash.

Speaker 8 (01:09:33):
Jones now charged with obi leaving the scene of a
crash in failure to control a motor vehicle. Jones had
been convicted in the nineteen ninety four beating death of
wrote To Nathan, sentenced to death, but was granted a
new trial in twenty twenty two, after new evidence surface
that the prosecution never disclosed to the defense during the trial,
Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillage, after a month's long intensive review,
dismissed the case with prejudice. Something to check out for

(01:09:58):
those with time off during the holidays or the looking
for something to do with their kids while they're on
winter break.

Speaker 20 (01:10:03):
For a lot of people in Cincinnati, they remember this
when they were a kid. They've grown up with this.
This is their seventy ninth holiday season.

Speaker 27 (01:10:10):
The Duke Energy Holiday Trains in Holiday Junction at Iconic
Historic Union Terminal. Cody Hefner is with a Cincinnati Museum
Center on what is a holiday trip back in time.

Speaker 20 (01:10:22):
We have this digital storybook that has all these historic
photos from the nineteen forties all the way to present day,
so you can flip through and it is fun because
people will see the decade or the period that they
remember first seeing the trains.

Speaker 27 (01:10:35):
Holiday Junction is open until January fifth. I'm Matt Reeese
news Radio seven hundred WL double.

Speaker 3 (01:10:42):
Arnt ax upthing. This is nine o'clock.

Speaker 8 (01:10:44):
I'm Sean Gallagher, News Radio seven hundred WLWL News Radio
seven hundred WLW and iHeartRadio station guarantee Human seven hundred
WLW HI heard radio.

Speaker 3 (01:11:00):
Breath is a confidence killer. You could have the best outfit.

Speaker 2 (01:11:04):
Welcome back Sports Talk. I'm James Rpene and this is
seven hundred wl W. Merry Christmas Eve in for Lance McAllister,
and I think it's time to have a discussion about
Zach Taylor. We're gonna hear from Zach Taylor in just
a second. I think it's tough. It's tough when you
understand the human side of things to a degree, and

(01:11:26):
Zach obviously has a high leverage position. And I'm not
going to, especially on Christmas Eve, talk about job security
or whether he should be here or not be here.
I know everybody has strong opinions about that, and there's
a time and place for it. I'm not sure Christmas
Eve is that time. I will say this and I'm
gonna play what Zach Taylor had to say on Monday
after the game. Some injury stuff, obviously health updates, the

(01:11:50):
insight he had on t Higgins. I think it's important
for everyone to hear that as Tiggins made it through
concussion protocol. But the end of what Zach had to say,
I think is really really important too. So this is
it's about seven minutes. It's Zach Taylor on Monday, and
let's get to that and then we'll react to what

(01:12:10):
he said at the end of his Monday news conference.
James Arpine in for a lance, here's Zach Taylor for Monday.

Speaker 12 (01:12:17):
You know, we've always wanted to be a relentless defense,
something where the effort flies off the tape and you
see guys forming the ball. So I think those are things.
When I watched the tape yesterday is you see everyone
in the picture, everyone after first contact trying to get
in the mix, make sure the ball carry gets down.

Speaker 7 (01:12:36):
They got the one run on us.

Speaker 12 (01:12:37):
That was a big run, and you can't excuse that
because we got to get him on the ground. We
had opportunities to do it, could have knocked it down.
We didn't. This core touchdown. But you look at the
mixture runs after that, and they're tough. They scheme your
runs up, they give you a lot of different looks,
a ton of different personnel groupings. I thought our defense
did a great job getting that run game settled down
and minimized toward in the second half. You know, you

(01:13:00):
got to make them throw the football and we were
able to get the ball off of them that way.
So just overall really impressed with the growth of our
defense and how these guys responded. They understand the scheme,
the communication has been really good, and again, you know,
taking the ball off the people, you know, so there's
that confidence to scoring there as well, and so it's

(01:13:20):
been fun to watch.

Speaker 13 (01:13:22):
That's the line had a pretty good game yesterday in
terms of containing.

Speaker 7 (01:13:25):
The run between the tackles, doing.

Speaker 12 (01:13:27):
A great job playing with their hands, understanding the techniques
for asking them to play and and so again you're
just seeing guys grow. A ton of guys grow. Getting
Tamar back was fun to watch yesterday. I thought Cedric
played a good game yesterday. Miles continues just to just
have a really good season right now with where he's at.
And so again it's just and there's guys I'm not

(01:13:49):
even naming, you know. I thought everybody played really well yesterday.
So just fun group to watch them to continue to
grow and as send and that's all we're asking for
them right now is just get better every single week
and minimize your miss aches.

Speaker 7 (01:14:00):
And we're seeing that from those guys.

Speaker 14 (01:14:01):
I think after Higgins said he saw specialists to go
what see Thursday morning, okay, and kind of what what
led to y'all come to that conclusion and saying, hey,
let's go have this check down and the kind of
walk us through that cross yeh.

Speaker 12 (01:14:13):
It was the doctors, you know, I think just making
sure tea in conjunction with our doctors, just making sure
you got that final checkpoint there to make sure we
were seeing everything and the clearance was appropriate. I think
with the two issues he's had, you know, that was
the appropriate way to do it.

Speaker 7 (01:14:29):
And so get him out there quite really was.

Speaker 12 (01:14:32):
It was a bang bang Thursday morning, got out there,
got back before I wasn't expecting about practice, and there
he is, walks in the door, you know, right after stretch.
So that was I think it's good for him to
hear that too. He could probably answer that better than
I can, but we just want to make sure we
were doing right by him. If he's going to go
out there and play that everybody feels good about it.
He feels good about it, family feels good about it.

(01:14:54):
And he went out there and to my eye, felt
really good.

Speaker 14 (01:14:58):
Clear Saturday and Sunday morning in order to finally have
agree like it for something.

Speaker 12 (01:15:03):
I don't know what the final hurt it was. I
mean I felt good Friday. I wasn't gonna tell everybody that.

Speaker 3 (01:15:06):
But.

Speaker 12 (01:15:08):
You know, it's it's kind of nice for you to
have t Higgins walk on the field Sunday morning when
no one's exactly sure if he's going to play.

Speaker 7 (01:15:14):
I knew he was going to play at that point, but.

Speaker 12 (01:15:17):
You know, so it is good to get Tea back
out there, and I know we got a lot of
confidence when he's out there.

Speaker 15 (01:15:21):
Jalen Davis in November camp, Tilbert gets hurt. You were
going young at a lot of different positions, You had
young corners, and obviously it's worked out with Jalen. What
made Jalen the guy that you wanted to put in
the lineup when you looked at your options at.

Speaker 12 (01:15:34):
That He's always he's always been a dependable guy. We've
seen up for him in training camp for preseason games
and opportunity he's gotten over the years, you know, to
play in a real game, and uh, you know, just
tremendous locker room guy. I think he's he's a fan
favorite in the locker room. Tremendous energy, just does what
it takes to win and help our team, whether that's

(01:15:55):
been as a practice squad player, bringing energy every single
day and being consistent, being ready when his numbers called,
and so then his numbers finally called in November. He
just goes out there and just plays with a ton
of confidence, a ton of awareness, great communication skills, leadership
on defense, has an act for making plays on the ball,
has an act for pressuring. A lot of similarities Mike Hilton,

(01:16:19):
you know, and whether that's because they were together for
a long time, and and that's a huge compliment, you know,
because Mike obviously had tremendous career, and so JD's out
there doing his own thing and and really just happy
to see him take on that role and do it
with a ton of confidence and make a lot of
place for us and have a lot of success.

Speaker 7 (01:16:40):
He's earned that. How'd you describe Fairchild's rookie good?

Speaker 12 (01:16:44):
You know, I think he's playing between Orlando and Ted
has been a really good for him. Played with really
good physicality, and you know, seeing a lot of stuff
over the course of the season, being able to be
available and and I you know, really I think he's
got a really high seat, and you know I felt
the line as a whole. You know, we're talking about
a Marius, We're talking about Dylan. I've just had a

(01:17:06):
ton of confidence all year. You know whatever we're calling
that there's gonna be great protection for quarterbacks. That the
run game, you know we're gonna have success in our
runs that we're calling. And so just you know that
speaks to Dylan, that speaks to the whole group. I
just as a head coach, as a play caller, have
a lot of confidence in the unit.

Speaker 13 (01:17:26):
How much do you like watching take that duo blocked
head and Dylan had We're small chase touchdown.

Speaker 12 (01:17:34):
It's great and it's you know when you get a drive,
mull it over drives. The second half started around midfield,
which was just great. But you know, you hit them
in the past game and you kind of got teams
on their heels, and then you get to hit them
on two runs as you get lower in there and
scored on two runs. You know from you know, inside
the fifteen, inside the five. It's good because now you

(01:17:54):
know you're having a lot of success in the pass game,
so they got to respect that, and then you know,
you hit them with with some of the runs we
hit on and the guys are able to come off
the ball and drive them off the ball, and it's
it's that's a great way to finish drives.

Speaker 16 (01:18:05):
Yeah, when it's a season that hasn't gone well for
you guys that there's a lot of talk about a
meaningless season, but for you, you look at a different
as a coach, I know, where do you see the
most growth on a team even though this season hasn't
been great.

Speaker 12 (01:18:18):
Well, I think we played a lot of young guys,
you know, and these guys have just gotten better and better,
and so our future is really right that way that
every player, you know, for a second third year player,
I really feel like has made huge tries this season
as they've gotten more reps and more opportunity, and so
we have a lot of confidence in those guys. And
then and then you blended with the veterans that we've
got that are playing at a high level. So I

(01:18:41):
feel really good about the direction this team. And and
you know, it's all we can control is this week
we got Arizona. This week we got to put our
vestent forward, forget about what's going on around us, just
focus on great game plan, having a great week of practice,
winning the game went in two games in a row.
The feeling we had in the locker room responding with
a way to win back to back games is all

(01:19:02):
we can control right now. Okay, you know, I know
Jay Morrison and his family are dealing with something tough
right now. Jays, as you all know, one of the
greatest guys in this business. So thought some prayers with
him and his family. And I hate that he's got
to go for that, but I know we're all here
for him, So I just want to make sure he

(01:19:22):
knows that and his family knows.

Speaker 2 (01:19:23):
That that last bit is the most important bit there
of information. I thought it was so so classy of
Zach Taylor to say that about Jay Morrison and his
wife Nikki. And really, ever since I heard the news,
I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. And
love Jay obviously. I've worked with Jay for many, many

(01:19:46):
years and I consider him a great friend. And it's heartbreaking.
It's heartbreaking because it's rare to see a a couple
that you know just fits and works perfectly, and so

(01:20:07):
when tragedy happens like this, and and for those of
you that that don't know. Nicky Morrison passed away earlier
this week, really suddenly during a procedure that that went wrong,
and it's not something that anyone anticipated, expected or could
have thought was coming. And so when something sudden like

(01:20:29):
this happens, you know, you you reflect, and and the
thing that I continue to go back to is what
Jay and Nikki had. You could see was so special
from the moment that you talked to Jay about anything,
any of his hobbies, any anything, and they're just the

(01:20:53):
perfect couple that supported each other and loved each other.
And this is, uh, it's just awful, awful news, and
some things in life you can't explain why, and it's
really hard to understand the why with with something like this.
So love Jay, love Nikki. We're thinking about the entire

(01:21:13):
Morrison family. But I thought it was really really classy
of Zach Taylor to say that at the end. And
that's why I mean, he talked today, but that's why
I wanted to play what he said Monday in its entirety.
I thought there were some key nuggets in there about
t Higgins and other things like that, plus what he
said about Jay and his family. So obviously we're thinking

(01:21:33):
about the Morrisons during this time, and Jay, we we
love you for sure. It's it's something that I can't
stop thinking about and I'm not going to stop thinking about.
So make sure that you give Jay your your well
wishes this holiday season and the entire Morrison family, and
we will continue the show coming up next. James Repine

(01:21:57):
in for Lance. This is seven hundred Wow Penn Station
rewards on seven hundred at WLW. We've had plenty of
Bengals conversation naturally, and well, if you're just joining us
and you're like, who the heck is James or Pen?
Why cover the Bengals Bengals Talk dot Com, Cincinnati Bengals
Talk on YouTube, and the Lockdown at Bengals Podcast. One

(01:22:18):
thing that I, for lack of a better term, love
is seeing star players fight, battle, compete, the edge, what
drives them all of those things? And a guy like

(01:22:38):
T Higgins, Like we've talked a lot about Joe Burrow
and should he shut it down? Should he not? You know,
there's been so much discussion there, but a guy like
T Higgins, that dude could have easily shut it down
this season and no one would have blamed him. No,
one would have questioned it. Everyone would have said yeah
to you, like do it, And instead this guy is battling,

(01:23:03):
doing everything he can to get back on the field,
going to see a specialist in Pittsburgh. He suffered a
concussion a month ago now against the Patriots a little
over a month ago, and missus a game. Comes back
after that Thursday game, comes back the following week and
plays great against the Bills. Gets concussed in that game

(01:23:26):
and doesn't have symptoms or at least passes protocol and
doesn't have symptoms to get yanked out of the game
until after and goes back into protocol after the game.
This is the second Ravens game, and to me, it's
cool is the wrong word. But I just think he
deserves praise for fighting the way he has to get

(01:23:49):
back on the field. And what we should hear from
t Higgins this is what he said to me after
the game in the locker room in Miami, after having
a great game, including a thirty five yard catch and
outstanding touchdown grab his tenth of the season, which ties
a career high, like T is a problem on the field,

(01:24:09):
and that's a great thing for the Cincinnati Bengals. Here's
what T Higgins had to say after the game.

Speaker 3 (01:24:13):
No, it was fun.

Speaker 18 (01:24:14):
You know, just get back there and compete with my
guys and then it's even better.

Speaker 2 (01:24:17):
We got a wu the w that.

Speaker 18 (01:24:19):
We got too, So you know, shout out to my guys.

Speaker 19 (01:24:23):
When you're on the flight to and from Pittsburgh, what's
going through your head?

Speaker 2 (01:24:27):
Like, what's that like?

Speaker 18 (01:24:28):
Honestly, you know, praying that you know, I'll come back
with come here and get positive news, to come back
with positive news to tell the team and things like that,
and that's what it was. Your racking or I mean
I was very you know, obviously I was very anxious
and nervous, you know what they was gonna say. But
you know I got a peace of mind and it
was okay.

Speaker 19 (01:24:49):
Changes that makes you want to play when they when
they clear you, what is it that made you want
to say, I want to finish the season.

Speaker 18 (01:24:57):
In the man at the end of the day of
a competitor, I want compete with the guys. So that's
that's all it came down to.

Speaker 2 (01:25:02):
You make any changes, you know, people see guardian caps
out there. Obviously didn't work every different. What's different about
this helment.

Speaker 18 (01:25:10):
Just more pattern, you know what I mean, was able
to get fitted for one and it came in just
in time.

Speaker 7 (01:25:16):
Who's that feel?

Speaker 18 (01:25:18):
It feels great, honestly, Uh, it's comfortable. So that's all
that about it.

Speaker 10 (01:25:21):
It's the scariest part of the symptoms that you felt.

Speaker 18 (01:25:28):
There was a lot of headaches. The first one was
a little bit sensitive to light. But other than that,
see that is Can.

Speaker 2 (01:25:35):
You take me through the art of the T Higgins
contested catch because it feels like it's evolved from a
few years ago to now and it seems like you're
making them look so routine.

Speaker 7 (01:25:46):
Yeah.

Speaker 18 (01:25:46):
Man, I just that's my job to go up there
and catch the ball, and you know, Joe gives me
a great boss to where I only I can catch it,
and you know it's either me or nobody.

Speaker 3 (01:25:55):
So is it kind of just uplifting?

Speaker 21 (01:25:59):
So to be able to come back from what you
did and have the type of game then you did,
to know, I.

Speaker 18 (01:26:05):
Mean, definitely is definitely a bonus. Obviously I wanted to
come out and and try to dominate personally, but who
was able to do that as a whole today and
you know the results.

Speaker 2 (01:26:15):
So here's why I love T Higgins and that entire video.
You could check it out Cincinnati Bengals talk on YouTube.
I love that Tea is like, oh man, I'm a competitor.
Of course I want to apply. Why wouldn't I play? And
I just I think that deserves praise. Now they've taken
the precautions and he's gotten examined and went to a

(01:26:35):
specialist in Pittsburgh and we heard from Zach Taylor on
that earlier this hour. But the other thing that this
to me reminds me of, and I think Sunday was
a big, an important reason behind it and why you
do pay T. Higgins because that's still a discussion, especially
with the defense being the way it is, and the
Bengals had plenty of money last year and they just

(01:26:56):
didn't spend enough of it, maximized their cap all of
those things on defense. They could have done everything they
did on offense and added a bunch on defense. They
didn't do that. But this is why you keep T.
Higgins because he's a in his prime monster, and they've
failed to draft enough monsters to say, oh, well, you

(01:27:17):
can let this guy in his prime go. It'd be
one thing if they had four defensive linemen and two
corners and a bunch of stuff that they had to pay,
and they couldn't make it all work with Tea. They
didn't have any of that they didn't like. If you
don't pay T Higgins, you just lose T Higgins. And
so to see him fight, to see him play at
a high level, and to see him matter, and I
think that's the thing he matters so much in this

(01:27:39):
offense because if you won a double Jamar, well then fine,
you got to deal with Tea. And if you're going
to play one high and put T Higgins in Manda
Man coverage, well good luck, because he's as good as
anyone right now in the NFL at the jump ball,
in making plays on the ball deep down field. I mean,
that catch that fifty fifth ball the other day is

(01:28:01):
just insane. That he gets up there makes that play
and you heard him just doing my job. No, like,
no one can do that job. There's like four people
on the planet that I think are capable of doing
that job.

Speaker 7 (01:28:14):
And so.

Speaker 2 (01:28:16):
A lot of times it's it's easy to say, oh,
the Bengals want the flashyway. They're paying two receivers, they're
paying their quarterback. They're not built the right way. I
don't believe that one bit. Like I think Tea's the
exact guy you do pay. I also thought Jesse Bates
and DJ Reader were guys you pay and you keep

(01:28:38):
guess what they could have done all of it. And
that's the thing that I really want to hammer home
this holiday season, especially going into the off season. It's like, oh, well,
you know the Bengals, they spent here, but they needed
to spend there. They could have done all of it.
And that's the standard when you're trying to win super Bowls.
Guess what you're trying to do all of it, not

(01:28:59):
some of it, not a little bit of it, all
of it. And and that's been the theme of this show.
And the reason it's been the theme of this show
is because this Bengals franchise with Joe Burrow should be
contending for super Bowls every single year. And when I
think about Jamar Chase and T Higgins and Tea battling
back and doing what he is doing at such a

(01:29:22):
high level, it shouldn't be to get to five and
ten on the season. It shouldn't be with nothing to
play for. This better be the last season we're talking
about this ever. In the Joe Burrow Jamar Chase t
Higgins era. Ever, otherwise they've failed massively, like this should

(01:29:43):
be impossible. And I don't mean like last year where
they're rallying for a playoff spot. Next year we should
be talking about playoff positioning. Oh well, they're pretty much
wrapped up the division. Are they going to get the
one seat or the two seed or how do they
stack up in the AFC? Like that's the standard. And
so when I see a like T Higgins fighting his
tail off, doing everything he can to get back on

(01:30:03):
the field and what is essentially meaningless games, those are
the type of guys you build around. And so when
someone says I'm not sure they should have paid T Higgins, well,
hell yeah, they should have paid T Higgins. They got
that right. This has been a lot of fun. Thank
you so much for listening and following along wherever you
were listening going to and from. I hope you have

(01:30:25):
a wonderful holiday season. I hope that the Bengals give
you and bring you whatever you want. That the teams
in this town certainly treat the fans by doing everything
they can to win, and I think that's what everybody
would probably want and does want that's listening right now.
So this is always fun filling in for Lance here
on seven hundred WLW on Sports Talk. I do not

(01:30:50):
take it lightly to get this opportunity. I like to
make the most of it, even on a Christmas Eve
where I'm sure you're busy. Everyone's busy. So thank you
so much for listening and until next time. For our
producer Tarren Bland, I'm James Epene, thank you so much
for listening to Sports Talk right here on seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 3 (01:31:11):
News Traffic and Weather News Radio seven hundred w l W, Cincinnati.

Speaker 8 (01:31:18):
Leo delivers his first Christmas Eve message with the nine
o'clock report. I'm Sean Gallagher breaking now, Pop Leo the
fourteenth leading his first Christmas Eve Mass as pontif tonight
at Saint Peter's Basilica and Vatican City, delivering a message

(01:31:39):
saying that the story of Christmas should remind Christians of
their duty to help the poor and strangers. The Pope
was made care for immigrants and the poor, key issues
in the early months of his papacy. Leo, who has
seen who has been critical of President Trump's divisive immigration crackdown,
quoted a line from the late Pope Benedict the sixteenth,
lamenting that the world does not care for children, the poor,

(01:32:00):
or foreigners, saying quote, while a distorted economy leads us
to treat human beings as mere merchandise, God becomes like us,
revealing the infinite dignity of every person. Meanwhile, Saint Patrick's
Cathedral in New York expected to be packed as it
will mark the final midnight mass for outcoming Cardinal Timothy Dolan,
who's set to retire. Tickets for the service in high

(01:32:20):
demand as they are placed in a lottery system.

Speaker 3 (01:32:25):
Now, the latest.

Speaker 8 (01:32:25):
Traffic and weather together and taking a look at the
major interstates and highways right now, no new accidents now.

Speaker 11 (01:32:31):
The latest forecast from the No Fear Dentist Weather Center
advanced dentistry the thought of the dentist making you a
nervous wreck, We're here for you.

Speaker 3 (01:32:40):
No Fear Dentist dot Com will.

Speaker 9 (01:32:42):
Be climbing quickly into Christmas morning as we rebound well
into the fifties to start things off. But that scattered
rain will also continue into the morning, likely ending by
the early afternoon, but will keep it cloudy and warm
for your Christmas afternoon hies near fifty nine degrees heading
into Friday morning, we cool off to forty six. From
your severe weather station, I'm nine First Warning met ROBA

(01:33:03):
just Mark Stitz News Radio seven hundred WLW.

Speaker 8 (01:33:06):
And radar at this time is showing a partly cloudy
sky and our current temperature is coming in at forty
four degrees as we're actually seeing more clouds develop Hereing
the last hour or so, two people hospitalized after a
crash on the Interstate seventy five southbound up to seventy
four West. Both were adults on suffering serious injuries, while
the other head injuries believed to be non life threatening.

(01:33:28):
The ramp closed for some time this evening as Cruz
cleaned it up, but that has since reopened. Now what Jones,
whose murder case was dismissed earlier this month, the restident
now facing new charges after allegedly driving under the influence
and leaving the scene of a crash late this afternoon.
Cincinnati police say the accident happened near the corner of
East McMillan and Woodburn Avenue around five o'clock, as Jones
allegedly crashed into a poll. Jones was released after being

(01:33:51):
charged with obi leaving the scene of a crash in
failure to control the motor vehicle, now due in court
December twenty ninth. Police say that he refused to breathalyze
your test. Jones was