Fuld transskription af The Mo Egger Radio Show -- 11/12/26

mentioning as much fun as we're having with Duke Tobin and Zach Taylor and the failed trade and not knowing whether compensatory picks were going to evaporate if they They made the trade for Arnold Adekabe. At least they didn't make a deal that would have, like, not been worth what they would have had to relinquish. Not just losing the compensatory pick, but obviously sending the sixth rounder to Philadelphia. But okay, Al, you've had a half a season with this bunch. It is relatively healthy. Go get better results. And by the way... The results so far this year, it's not like it's last season. So that to me is like, the thing about this game, when I think of the Pittsburgh game week three, three things come to mind. One is the Bengals at that point in the season really didn't know who they were on offense. Trying to jam a square peg into a round hole. Trying to run Joe Burrow under center. They have thankfully junked that. They're back to being who they are. Also, the special teams mistakes, right? They had a muffed punt. They had a roughing the punter penalty. Bengals special team since then has been pretty damn good, especially Evan McPherson. I think that makes a world of difference on Sunday in a game that is... probably going to be close-ish. Certainly, strong likelihood it's in doubt in the fourth quarter. But also, okay, Al, you've played against this team once. You've seen the tackling issues. Front office has said, this is my team. Al, this is what you've got. Yes, Pittsburgh gets an extra week to work with because of the bye. It's a little bit more of an advantage, perhaps, because the Bengals just had to fly from Spain. But I am really fascinated from a fan perspective, but also just what they've chosen to do and not do is interesting. Will it pay off? The Duke Tobin criticism for the lack of activity at the deadline goes away entirely if this defense can get stops on Sunday night and start to prove that it's a bunch that can win you a championship. And that's the standard here. They could take a major step toward that by winning a big game on Sunday night. Cannot wait for Sunday. Pre-game coverage, 3 o'clock from the Holy Grail. Kickoff at 8.20 with Dan, Tony, and Lap on ESPN 1530. We're jammed today. Lots of Bengals stuff between now and 6 o'clock tonight. We'll talk some UC hoops and football with our guy Chad Brendel at 3.45. Try to make some money with our guy Lee Sterling as well coming up in about 20 minutes. So this is all going to be affected by a lockout in a few weeks. But the GM meetings are happening and the baseball offseason, like teams are allowed to sign guys now. It's happened. Reds haven't signed anybody. But what's making waves on the Internet today is what Scott Boris, the mega agent, the guy who represents like every good player, including Ellie Dela Cruz, what he had to say about the Reds. And we'll hear it and we'll address it. And I'll give you my idea for what the Reds could do differently next week. On ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station. 00:09:19 Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. Traffic. 00:09:24 Speaker 4: From the UC. I can do the reads for that autograph show next time. If anybody would like. 21 after 3, this is ESPN 1530. I'm Mo Egger. Lee Sterling helps us make some coin on pro and college football coming up at 335. Hey, I like making wagers. Join us tonight at Belterra Park, east side of Cincinnati. You know, the NFL insists that no matter what else is going on around the National Football League, that if there's a game between two NFL NFC East teams, it must be aired in prime time. So tonight we get a Thursday Night Football game, probably going to be a close one because these two teams last played to a tie. Commanders, Giants, Thursday Night Football. Giants have a good record. I'm not sure how good they are. The Commanders do not. By the way, they're going to get a nice mini-buy before playing the Bengals. The inequities continue. Anyway, we're going to be watching it tonight at Belterra Park. Make a wager or two, if that's your thing. Have a cold one. Hang out. We've got some cool prizes. I'd tell you what they are, but I'd rather you show up and find out for yourself. So we'll hopefully see you tonight starting at 8 o'clock. Lots on the Bengals this afternoon. The MLB GM meetings are winding down. Nick Kroll talked extensively about While he was out there, they discussed how they wish they would have been able to keep Emilio Pagan, which is fine. Then they should have just gone ahead and signed him while he was still under contract. Novel concept. This is making the rounds on social media thanks to the Twitter feed of Gingersaurus Rex, who has a good– and I subscribe to it– newsletter on Substack. Now, Microsoft 365 is down, so you might not get it if email goes away. But if email does come back, you'll get the newsletter, and it's all about the Reds. This is Scott Boris. Scott Boris represents, like, all the good players, including Eli De La Cruz, who's a good player. And he was asked a question, you'll hear it, by C. Trent Rosecrans, who covers the Reds for The Athletic. And what Scott Boris had to say about the Reds, you may say is not inaccurate. you kind of have to weave through some of the word salad here, but let's play the audio and then we'll discuss. There's, we've heard. 00:11:49 Speaker 5: That over and over that. 00:11:50 Speaker 6: Smaller markets can't keep their stars. 00:11:53 Speaker 5: And will win. 00:11:54 Speaker 2: I'm talking to us. 00:11:55 Speaker 1: It's repeated. 00:11:56 Speaker 4: Is there a roadmap that you could see for a team like the Cincinnati Reds to. 00:11:59 Speaker 7: Keep a player like a little person? 00:12:03 Speaker 8: Well, the, the idea of what ownership does and what they choose to do is that They have to understand how they. 00:12:15 Speaker 5: Operate, why they operate. 00:12:19 Speaker 8: And obviously, if I'm going to operate like I did 20 years ago and everybody in my division is

operating differently, I'm not going to be able to capitalize the franchise to a level that others have to create an opportunity. 00:12:33 Speaker 5: Because remember, talent is coveted. 00:12:36 Speaker 4: Rights are covered. 00:12:37 Speaker 5: There are few players that are great players. 00:12:40 Speaker 8: So consequently, clubs understand that they have to pursue. 00:12:47 Speaker 5: Great players to achieve their goal of greatness. 00:12:50 Speaker 8: And that understanding has to internally be adopted so that they can preempt it or they can advance it and create a theory of their own. And we have many examples of clubs and I read an article by a very astute journalist who said Cincinnati's revenues are way above, you know, in the top tier of what people think. So the idea of it is, look, we have models and environments like that that have been successful. Our system allows you to be creative and successful. It allows you to think internally, externally. It allows you to bring people in, bring capital in. It allows you to do a lot of things. So that equation is their own. 00:13:42 Speaker 4: All right, so there's a lot of word salad there, but that's Scott Boris, most notably right now as it relates to the Reds, the agent for Eli De La Cruz. And I guess that video was originally posted by someone named Marty Caswell on YouTube. Scott Boris says that Red's ownership operates differently than everybody else in the NL Central. And then he tosses in that they effectively operate the same way they did 20 years ago. Now, the subtext to that may be either, hey, they had their chance to sign Ellie and they didn't. And I think there's some validity to that if If the Reds were ever going to sign Eli De La Cruz long term, it wasn't going to happen now and it's not going to happen when he hits free agency. It was going to happen a few years ago. We discussed this during the baseball season because we brought up signing Sal Stewart. If you want any chance of keeping Sal Stewart beyond his years of team control, you're going to have to get something done early after maybe just a few months, maybe after a year. And we went through the long list of players around the sport who have signed during their rookie seasons and in some cases have signed before they've made their big league debut. And now they're in the fold for beyond those six years of team control. And you're taking a gamble because the player may not work out or he may get hurt a lot, but that's how it works under this current system. And I think you have to operate under the assumption that the current system is going to look a lot like what the system is after the lockout. We will see. But yeah, man, there's some very fair and pointed criticisms of the Reds there. He also may be telling you like, dude, no chance he's ever signing long-term with the Reds. But if you take that and you hear that and you're like, yeah, here's a guy in the front lines. Here's a guy who works with and deals with Reds ownership and deals with all the other teams. And he's telling you the Reds are operating in the same way that has yielded very limited results. And it's maybe a little outdated and little outmoded. Fine. I would then assume we want the Reds to operate differently than they have for the better part of 20 plus years. If that's the case, here's what they need to do. Make it known to all 29 other MLB teams now, today, that they're open for business when it comes to Eli De La Cruz and trade him. It pains me to no end to say that. It might pain you to no end to hear that. We love Eli De La Cruz. Love watching him play. The idea of him playing for another team makes me want to vomit. But I'm realistic enough to understand that the likelihood of the Reds winning while they have him under team control is not very high. What the Reds have done for 20 years is shown a reluctance to trade players like Eli De La Cruz while they have years remaining of team control because fans aren't going to like it. Fans are going to be mad. People are going to be pissed or they're not going to buy tickets. He's a fan favorite. What about the jerseys? What about the children? What about the bobbleheads? Who cares? We've talked a lot about how the Reds need to be like the Milwaukee Brewers. Study the Milwaukee Brewers. They do things in a cold, heartless way. Same for the Tampa Bay Rays. If you want the Reds to operate unlike the way they've operated for 20 years, the emotion is not a part of this. The fan pushback is not a part of this. Hey, we're trading away a nine-year-old's favorite player is not part of this. Hey, someone's going to fill their diaper and yell and scream about how they're not going to go to baseball games anymore is not part of this. It's what do we get in return? How do we get the best possible package? What can push us closer to winning this? in a trade for LA Dela Cruz. That's what they do. That's how you operate differently. Are we really willing to do that? I said this on the show yesterday. If we're going to have conversations about trading LA Dela Cruz, let's talk about what the conversations are going to be driven by. Are they going to be driven by emotion or are they going to be driven by logic? And the reason I bring that up is, is we have studied the Reds. What we've come to know about them is sometimes emotions drive decision making or emotional factors like, hey, fans love home runs or this guy's a fan favorite. None of that should matter. This needs to be cold. This needs to be heartless. This needs to be spreadsheet driven. It sucks. First to admit it, it stinks. If we want them to operate differently, though, this is when it starts. All the other teams get a memo. We have a shortstop who's not yet 25 years old. He's coming off his best season. His best years are still in front of him. He has three years of team control. You get a chance for three years to negotiate with him exclusively. The cost is somewhat controlled for the next

three years. What are you going to give us and create a bidding war? The Reds have never done such a thing. If we want them to operate differently, there it is. Trade Eli De La Cruz and maximize what you can get for him instead of losing him later on or having to trade him for pennies on the dollar. Speaking of dollars, our guy is going to help us make some money on pro and college football, Lee Sterling, next. 00:19:33 Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. Traffic from the UC 1530. 00:19:39 Speaker 4: All right, we got to get to Lee Sterling. 00:19:42 Speaker 1: We are late. 00:19:42 Speaker 4: How do sports headlines after Lee? I don't want to make him wait. He is our guy who makes us money on pro and college football. ParamountSports.com is his website. Lee has made us money on football games and the NCAA tournament for years, and he's with us now. Hello, Lee. 00:20:00 Speaker 1: I'm good. 00:20:00 Speaker 4: Good. 00:20:00 Speaker 1: How about yourself, Will? 00:20:03 Speaker 5: I am well. 00:20:03 Speaker 4: I'm excited for this game on Sunday, Bengals and Steelers. It's going to be a lot of fun. How about yourself? 00:20:09 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, it's been a fun year. I had to sweat out going into Monday night. We were sitting at 6-6, and it just felt real good that Carson Wentz, this would probably be his last game. And that's why they played him, to see what they had there. And so we fired away a big max wager on the Buffalo Bills. So I just don't think you're going to see too many gifts like that, and it led to our 10th. winning week out of 11 weeks this year. So going to just try to keep rolling. That's what it's all about, figuring out the puzzle each week. 00:20:44 Speaker 4: No question about that. All right, let's start with college football. Ohio State is coming off back-to-back losses, but still heavy favorites against Northwestern. 00:20:53 Speaker 1: Yeah, and Northwestern without their star quarterback, maybe the most improved quarterback, Aiden Childs, in the Big Ten. I don't even think it's close. I think they've got problems. So Ohio State, I mean, that was one of the craziest games. You're up 14-0 and just dominating. And then if you went outside and, you know, played with the kids for 10, 20 minutes, you're like, what happened? A 34-0 run. You may never see that happen against Ohio State, but that's the bottom line. They just couldn't get the job done here. And I think that they're going to be fine. I think they're going to bounce back. I just think it's one of those games that– Once the wheel starts rolling, you just can't stop it here. And when you watch what's going on here with Northwestern, their backup quarterback, this kid just is not good enough. This kid is like a... I don't even know if he could play in the MAAC here. So I like Ohio State big here. I think they bounce back. I think they win this game 41-14. All right. 00:21:55 Speaker 4: Speaking of bouncing back, can the Bearcats bounce back? Cincinnati stayed within the number against Houston. It's a game they could have won but did not. Now they're getting a field goal in Ames against Iowa State. 00:22:06 Speaker 1: Sometimes it's not whether or not you're the better team or not. It's the matchup. And I just think that the running game here for this Iowa State team is probably going to be the best unit. Take nothing away from Cincinnati. They play hard here, but I think they're up against a team that probably is playing their best football. They scored 82 points in the last two games after scoring 13 in the previous two. J.C. French, a nice 15-3 touchdown to interception ratio here, but unfortunately, He can only help that defense so much. Cincinnati run defense running 4.87 yards per carry here. And, you know, the running back and the wide receivers are banged up here. Tevin also, Gibson. I'm going to take Iowa State here. I think they win in a fun game here, 38-31. 00:22:57 Speaker 4: Lee, I'm not sure I love you for that one, but I get it. I understand. You've got to be objective. All right, let's stay in college. Indiana, more than a touchdown favorites against USC. 00:23:10 Speaker 1: I mean, this line's going up and there's no injuries. I double and triple checked the last two, three hours. This line's at nine and a half points now. We don't even know who's going to start a quarterback for Indiana, Josh Hoover or Grant Wilson. I also was studying all the teams that Indiana played, and their defense is good. I just realized this about an hour ago. Every team that Indiana has played in the Big Ten, they lost last week. So I think USC coming off the bye, if they had played right after that upset of Ohio State, I'd probably look to Indiana. But with a week to digest it here, get refocused here, put in some– You know, we're seeing teams coming off of a buy in college football. It is a huge advantage here. I think Indiana escapes here 23-20, but I think you take the nine and a half points. 00:23:57 Speaker 4: All right, Lee Sterling from ParamountSports.com is with us. Speaking of coming off a buy, the Pittsburgh Steelers come to Cincinnati. They are getting three and a half against the Bengals coming off the Madrid trip. Both teams are six and two, first place on the line. What gives? 00:24:14 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, this Pittsburgh Steelers team has shocked even me. I really thought that they were going to have trouble even getting close to 500, but somehow they did it here. I even thought they were going to make some trades here, bring in some guys, but that didn't happen either. another team coming off of a buy here so they can game plan. And what's Cincinnati's weakness? Well, it's protecting the quarterback and running the football on offense and Pittsburgh. I mean, they just, they seem to play usually their best against Cincinnati. What does Cincinnati do when all of a sudden everything is looking bright? They usually fall on their face. So Would I love to see Cincinnati win? Yes. If this is

the one game that I lose and also the Bearcats, I would love to see it. I've never liked Pittsburgh dating back to the early 70s and their fans. They're obnoxious fans here. But I think with the bye week and their defense and their offense is actually playing pretty well and they have a better running game with Jalen Warren. He's playing his best football. Wrong team favorite. 00:25:22 Speaker 5: Pittsburgh. 00:25:24 Speaker 9: 31-28. 00:25:24 Speaker 4: Lee, you're going to have to come in and do the show for me on Monday if you're right. 00:25:30 Speaker 1: I'll do two segments. I'll do a double segment for you. 00:25:34 Speaker 4: Trust me. 00:25:38 Speaker 1: The problem is most handicappers are not fans. I'm a fan also. Trust me. It pains me to give out the Steelers. Sorry about that. I hope I'm wrong in this one case. 00:25:51 Speaker 4: We'll see your game of the weekend, Lee. The Houston Texans have won three out of four. Cleveland lost their last two. They're debating in Cleveland whether the Browns should have played for a tie last week. I think there's some validity to the argument. The Browns are getting five against the Texans. 00:26:08 Speaker 1: True. It's better than a loss in every case. Interesting game here. I found a matchup I think that's going to make a big difference. You want to get the Texans and Browns, just call 800-400-9741. I'll give you the game for free, 800-400-9741. How about this? With a win last week on Monday night on the Buffalo Bills, we've won 10 out of 11 weeks. So we have a huge card. And what I'm saying to myself, well, I like the UFC card and also some hockey and basketball, and we're winning in every sport. So we normally have the Dovember package, and it's won the first two weeks of November. I'm bringing out a new package. It's called the November Plus Package. You're going to get every football game through the end of the month. You're going to get the UFC picks, and we have a huge card, seven selections, including a 50-unit max wager. And we want 20 out of 25 cards in the UFC and also hockey and basketball cards. $ 297. How do you get it? Just one place. Use coupon code SAVE100 in the coupon box when you check out at ParamountSports.com. 00:27:19 Speaker 4: SAVE100 when you check out at ParamountSports.com. Lee, awesome as always. Thank you so much. 00:27:24 Speaker 1: Thanks, bud. 00:27:25 Speaker 4: Yeah, you got it. Very quickly, sports headlines in service of Kelsey Chevrolet. Jalen Davis, Andrei Yoshivas, and Brian Parker each cleared to return to practice. Bengals begin a 21-day period during which those players may practice with the team without counting against the 53-man active roster. Bengals and Steelers, Sunday night on ESPN, 1530, kickoff at 820, pregame coverage on ESPN. Starts at 3 p.m. Thursday night football tonight. Commanders and Giants. Fox Sports 1360. Chad Brendel on the Bearcats next. 00:27:56 Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. Traffic. 00:28:01 Speaker 5: From the UC Health.

00:28:02 Speaker 4: 10 from 4 ESPN 1530. I'm Mo Egger. Appreciate you listening today on Thursdays. We chat with our guy Chad Brendel from Bearcatjournal.com. Very busy this time of year. UC football and basketball. both in action on saturday chad's with us now how's it going. 00:28:23 Speaker 10: I guess it's okay yeah are you all right we yeah we we should have known mo like remember how awesome homecoming weekend was yes we should have known yeah what was like we we are we get like one of those weekends every once in a great while and then everything goes sideways as soon as we're like man that was That was great. 00:28:49 Speaker 4: That was kind of the apex. No question. Let me start with basketball, uh, coming out of what happened on Monday on a, on a scale of, of one to 10, the panic meter, where should it be for Bearcat fans? 00:29:04 Speaker 10: Three, four right now. They're missing a lot of open shots. If we continue to get farther into this thing and they continue to miss open shots, uh, Then you can crank that meter up a little bit, but the offense doesn't look entirely smooth and connected yet. They're learning, like, when you want to play like that, teams are just going to slow you down. And that's what they've seen in all three of these games. All three teams have wanted to run shot clock, you know. 00:29:39 Speaker 9: Yeah. 00:29:40 Speaker 10: You go back and watch Ohio state and Illinois, that was exactly how they wanted to play. And these three games haven't been, and they're going to have to learn, especially when you get into conference play teams are going to get going to try to grind you down. You've got to figure out a way to still execute through that. And so far they haven't. 00:29:58 Speaker 4: Dayton lost on Saturday to Northern Illinois. They followed that up by giving up 99 points to Sienna, a crayon. Are the Flyers going to beat the Bearcats? 00:30:09 Speaker 10: Boy, if they do, we've got bigger, much bigger problems. That appears to be a pretty bad Dayton team. 00:30:19 Speaker 5: Yes. 00:30:21 Speaker 10: It's interesting because they have talented pieces, but for whatever reason, it is not working. 00:30:26 Speaker 2: Yeah. 00:30:28 Speaker 10: That is something you have to keep an eye on. I don't think their roster is void of talent. They're just not playing well right now. So Cincinnati better go up there and take care of business, especially after what happened in the final two and a half minutes of that game on Monday. 00:30:47 Speaker 4: Minnesota played a zone. It looked like the Bearcats had never seen a zone defense before. 00:30:52 Speaker 10: I don't think it was that. I mean, they scored a little bit out of it when the starters were in. The problem was when the backups were in, and those guys just aren't scorers. You really need a Kai Fleming back to give that second unit a boost of scoring, and you need Jaden Hastings back to get that rotation with the bigs settled a little bit. They're missing both

of those guys right now, but look, I don't think it matters what defense you play. If it's Elijah Perriman, Travion Carson, Eric Mahaffey, you know, that group with any of the centers that are available right now, there's not a lot of offense on the floor. So it wasn't a surprise that they struggled to score. They're not scorers. 00:31:40 Speaker 4: In the last five weeks, Iowa State football has had games where they have given up 42, 39, 49, and 42. Can Cincinnati win in Ames? 00:31:52 Speaker 5: Yeah, they can win in Ames. 00:31:54 Speaker 10: The question will be, as it typically is with this team, Can they avoid the big mistake? Can they avoid the, the self detonating error that when they play in close games against like teams seems to creep up and get them that we saw. 00:32:12 Speaker 4: It with Houston. 00:32:13 Speaker 10: I don't think, did you, I mean, we had a pretty good view of the game. I, I don't think that was a Houston team that was significantly more talented than Cincinnati. 00:32:22 Speaker 4: Not in the least. 00:32:23 Speaker 10: No, but Houston doesn't make mistakes. That's Willie Fritz football. He's been a head coach for 34 years. That's the MO of his team. We're not going to beat ourselves. 00:32:34 Speaker 5: They waited, they waited, they waited, they waited. 00:32:36 Speaker 10: And eventually Cincinnati made the critical error that flipped the game. Can they not do that? Can they stop? Can they even, can they get a hand on Aiden Flora? That would be nice. I would like to see a defense that doesn't allow a running back to get like seven yards of, of, of steam downfield before anybody gets a finger on him. Cause he's, This dude is not like, he's not sneaky fast, Mo. He's not like, he's real fast, like real, real fast. And he gets to top speed very quick. So they're going to have to solve that problem. We might be looking at another game in the 40s. 00:33:15 Speaker 4: Okay. All right. Well, it's going to be a fun Saturday. I'm begging for two wins. Two wins. 00:33:24 Speaker 10: I mean, look, if Scott Satterfield wants to feel comfortable, in three weeks, I would heavily suggest getting this win and getting a win next week and getting to seven and erase it. Like if they get to seven, I don't think there's any question. He's going to be back. I would, I would work very hard to get to that seven. 00:33:46 Speaker 4: Can't get to seven. If you don't get to six, six, hopefully comes. And then number three for Jared Calhoun on Saturday, Chad would be, would be, would be nice. Would be great. 00:33:57 Speaker 10: And look, Mel, if they don't get to six this week, it gets in play that they don't get to six. 00:34:05 Speaker 6: No, yes. 00:34:06 Speaker 4: Yeah. I don't take the Colorado game for granted at all for all the issues that Deion Sanders' program has had. No, I don't do that with any Bearcat opponent. We'll see. I'm curious as to with the way things unfolded emotionally for the Bearcats on Saturday night, do they refill the tank well enough to go and get a win on the road? 00:34:30 Speaker 5: They need Malachi Henry. 00:34:32 Speaker 4: I'll tell you that much right now. 00:34:33 Speaker 1: Yes. 00:34:34 Speaker 10: If you don't have J.B. Gibson and then you're out Malachi Henry, that passing game is in big, big trouble. 00:34:40 Speaker 4: No question. All right. 00:34:42 Speaker 1: Thanks, Mo. 00:34:42 Speaker 4: Are we going to see you in Dayton on Saturday? 00:34:46 Speaker 10: I will be at Holy grail Saturday for the Iowa state game and then hopping in the car and heading straight to Dayton for the double dip, the day night double header. 00:34:55 Speaker 4: If you will. It's going to be fun. 00:34:57 Speaker 1: See you then. 00:34:57 Speaker 11: It's going to be a good time. 00:34:58 Speaker 1: See you there. 00:34:58 Speaker 4: Chad, Randall bear cat journal.com. Couple of the way from a four o'clock. 00:35:02 Speaker 10: I'm a Lager. 00:35:03 Speaker 4: We'll go to Pittsburgh at four 20. This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati sports station. The two biggest complaints, Joe. All right, here we go. Five after four. This is ESPN 1530. Mo Egger, appreciate you listening today. Hope you're having an unbelievable, unbelievable Thursday afternoon. Outlook is still out, so there's no email. I just sent an email using a Gmail account. 00:35:28 Speaker 6: And.... 00:35:32 Speaker 4: The most recent sent item is from 2015 in that account. I can't believe the password even worked. So that's what we're dealing with here. I'm sure maybe a lot like your office email is not working and it's sending a lot of folks into a tailspin. But fortunately, you don't really need email to do a sports talk radio show. So we are here. We're going to go to Pittsburgh in about 15 minutes. One of the best in the business, Andrew Filippone, talks about the Steelers every single day for 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh. He's going to join us in about 15 minutes plus. He's back after a sabbatical, a week off. Our guy Dan Klaskens from SiriusXM Fantasy and InsiderFootball.com on Fantasy Football Help. It's week 10. We're getting into the heart of the season. A lot of leagues may be coming down the stretch. Dan's going to join us in 40 minutes, and we are looking forward to that. Just as talking about this before the top of the hour, we'll get to the Bengals and Steelers here in just a few minutes. We're talking about Scott Boris's comments about the Reds and how they're doing business the way they did 20 years ago. I know he was referring to free agency and maybe player compensations. Um, Ellie Dela Cruz is not going to be a red beyond 2028. I, I, I, I hate to say that. And I know there's a lot of folks who might not want to confront that reality, but I, I don't know how you could argue against that. Ellie Dela Cruz and his agent, I'm sure have their sights set on becoming, if not baseball's first $ 1 billion player, then the latest $ 1 billion player. And obviously there hasn't been one yet. So,

like, we talked about this with Sal Stewart this past season. Sal got off to a great start, and we brought up on this show in May, hey, should they go ahead and sign him long-term? And you would get some pushback. Hey, you know, he hasn't proven it yet. He hasn't got through a full big league season. What's the rush? And I get those points of view. But the modern way of doing things, in particular for, quote, smaller market teams, is... Take a bet on a guy. Wager on him. Pay him. Buy out those first three years of team control. Pay him more than you would, perhaps. Buy out the next three years of team control. And maybe get another year or two beyond that. Sign him for year seven, year eight, year nine. And that's the way you don't lose him after year six. It is a wager. Now, if the player ends up being as good as you expect... Well, there's a very good chance that you're going to have a guy who ends up being quite a bargain. Hunter Green, that was the idea behind signing him. And for a while, like Hunter Green two years ago was the 81st highest paid starting pitcher in baseball. Now it doesn't look good because he's always hurt. But when he was healthy, he was looking like quite a bargain. He wasn't making all that much money and he was pitching well and most importantly, staying healthy. The modern way of doing things under the current system And until I see otherwise, I'm going to assume the current system basically continues is you're going to have to make some wagers on players. And they did this with Chase Burns, but you're going to have to do it with more guys. And I remember back in May reading the list of teams and players that agreed to deals. And in some cases before a guy even played a big league game, in some cases after a guy had only played a handful of big league games and the team locked into the player and For the remainder of the years of team control, bought a couple of years that the player would have been a free agent for. And there's no guarantee the guy's going to be good. There's no guarantee he's going to stay healthy. There's no guarantee that there's not. going to be off field issues, but you're making a wager and you're giving yourself not just a chance to keep the guy after year six. In most cases, you're guaranteeing that you keep the guy after year six. Reds are going to have to start doing that. Now it's too late for Ellie Dela Cruz. He just finished his fourth big league season. chances are that guy sees free agency. Now it's not that far in the distance and it is dangling in front of him and he can't wait to hit the open market. And can you, can you blame him? Ellie Dela Cruz will hit free agency when he's 27 years old. Are you out of your mind? You think that guy wants to relinquish the chance to hit free agency? So you're going to have to do it early. That's a more modern way of doing things. 20 years ago, the idea of, wait a minute, you're going to give a guy that kind of money. Before he's played a game or after he's played just a few games or a year, you're going to pay him. Yes, that's a more modern way of doing things. And sometimes it's going to blow up in your face. Sometimes teams are going to sign players and it's just the guy's not that good. You don't do it with everybody. You have to make some calculated risks. But that's a more modern way of doing things. And so is offering to trade Eli De La Cruz. We all wish the Reds were in a different position, right? Where it's, God, they're this close. They're a guy away. They're a pitcher away. They're a position player away. They're a bullpen makeover away. And I'd love to lie to you and tell you that I believe that's where the Reds are. This team appears to be light years away from true contention. Not light years away from, maybe they can win 82 games. No, like light years away from true contention. Light years away from being able to beat the Milwaukee Brewers either head to head or in the standings or in October. And so I think once you kind of confront that reality, you have to be open to the idea of trading away their best player. There is no, there's probably no better trade asset in the sport than a guy who's 24 years old coming off his best season, marketable as hell, durable, plays hard, is everything you want on and off the field is only getting better and improved dramatically as a defender, improved very dramatically as a right-handed hitter, could hit for power, can run, like, can do everything. Three more years of that guy. In their history, the Reds haven't had a trade ship that valuable. It absolutely stinks that they haven't won with him. It's frustrating as hell. And should Nick Kroll and his staff be held accountable for that? Yeah, I think so. The fact that they didn't go for it in 2023 I think haunts them to this day. The fact that they weren't more aggressive in building teams in 24 and 25 and 26 with Eli De La Cruz on them is going to haunt them for a while. But for years we have talked about how it feels like when it comes to making player decisions that the Cincinnati Reds prioritize the wrong things. I know I did the history of this a week or so ago, but You know, the 2015 team. Well, you can't trade Johnny Cueto. Why? This team stinks. You're not going to keep him. Well, we have the All-Star game. Huh? Who cares? They're not going to take away the All-Star game if you trade Johnny Cueto. Well, but it's going to ruin things. 00:42:59 Speaker 1: No, it ain't. 00:43:00 Speaker 4: By the way, the Reds were miserable that season. Everybody who went to the All-Star game had a great time. But that was the thing. It was allowing this relatively unimportant thing impact pretty important decisions. So what did the Reds do? They traded Johnny Cueto when he had just two months of team control, and they got back three guys who weren't very good. And same for any number of players. A number of years later, it was time for the Reds to go find a new leadoff hitter and center fielder.

Move on from Billy Hamilton. But it was reported that they didn't because, yeah, Bob Castellini thinks he's a fan favorite. Now, my counter to that was, if he's a fan favorite, how come nobody's buying tickets to go see him? But it was like, he's a fan favorite. That's cool. He hits 210. Never gets on base. He's the worst offensive player in the sport. Who cares if he's a fan favorite? But allowing things that don't matter impact an important baseball decision. You read it in the piece that C. Trent and Ken Rosenthal reported in late September about Nick Kroll kind of pointing the finger back at ownership going, hey, if you want us to be like the Brewers, here are some trades we could have made. Ownership reportedly saying no. We're saying, hey, let's go get a Eugenio Suarez because fans like home runs. If the Elie Dela Cruz conversation is going to be, well, fans like Elie Dela Cruz and he's popular and he sells jerseys and kids love him. That's how the Reds have been doing things. The more modern way and the more heartless and cold and not fun way of doing things is you make it known. We're open for business. Tell us what you got. What are you willing to give us for Ellie Dela Cruz? And if they play it right and make the right evaluations, then they can get a lot back. And it will hurt beyond anything I could articulate watching him play for another team. 00:44:50 Speaker 5: I understand. 00:44:51 Speaker 4: I understand. I love watching the guy, but love and things like that are emotions. This needs to be spreadsheet based. This needs to be cold and it needs to be something that you do where you are willing to withstand the pushback because there's going to be pushback. You imagine what it would sound like from corners of the fan base if they trade Ellie Dela Cruz? You think when they traded Sonny Gray and Jesse Winker, it was loud and angry? Try Ellie Dela Cruz. But you have to be willing to kind of hang in there and withstand it. And so if we want the Reds to operate differently, start there. I know nobody likes that. I don't like talking about it. But I don't know that there's a better and bigger example of, well, here's how they operate differently. Because if it's, God, you know, people are going to be really mad. Well, God, people are going to be really mad has been something we've been dealing with for a very long time. Walt Jockety at the trade deadline in 2014. I know I've talked about this before. Walt Jockety at the trade deadline in 2014. The Reds were in no man's land, not really totally out of it, not really in it. They did nothing at the deadline. Walt Jockety was asked, OK, you know, explain why you weren't buyers. And when he did that, he was asked, well, did you ever consider, you know, selling? And he goes, come on, you know who my boss is, right? the insinuation was ownership's not going to let me give up because of the appearance of giving up. What happened? That's when they should have traded guys. That's when they should

have moved on from Johnny Cueto. Love Johnny Cueto. One of my top five all-time favorite Reds. That's when they should have moved on from guys like Mike Leak. And instead they traded those players later and got much less. So moving forward, if we really want them to do things differently, And this is going to lead to some tough conversations. But if we really want them to do things differently, then they're going to have to do some things that emotionally are really going to hurt. And they have been unwilling to do that for a very long time. If that changes, maybe the outcomes change. What I wonder about, though, is, and I mean this, and I don't say this condescendingly because I get it. We all have favorite players. But if they trade Eli De La Cruz, if they were to do that, You know, would you have folks, would you have fans who would say, like, I'm not interested in what's next and what they got in return. All I want to do is watch Ellie. Oh, no. I don't think the Reds can worry about that person because I think they have worried about that person for a very long time. They signed Brandon Phillips when it didn't make any sense to a long-term deal. We love Brandon Phillips. Reds Hall of Famer. Terrific player. Made no sense to give him a contract in April of 2012. It made no sense to hang on to that guy longer than they should. But you would hear all the time, golly gee, he's a fan favorite. People follow him on social media. He's fan friendly. All of which were true. But did it make the most baseball sense? Of course not. Did it make the most financial sense? No. And so doing things differently means... We're going to move on from some guys that fans love. We're going to move on from guys who have endeared themselves to this community. We're going to move on from guys that kids gravitate toward. If that's truly what we want, the Reds to do things differently, this is what they have to embrace. And the way to start is by making it known, Ellie Dela Cruz is available. What do you got? This isn't giving him away. This isn't getting whatever you can get for him. It's maximizing the most valuable asset that from a trade perspective that I think the Reds have ever had. If they're really doing things differently, if you really want them to do things differently, that's what you want them to do. Bengals did nothing at the trade deadline. Neither did the Steelers. What's the reaction there? We'll go to Pittsburgh next. ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station. 00:48:48 Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. 00:48:50 Speaker 4: Traffic. 00:48:53 Speaker 12: This is Football in the Natty, brought to you by Modern Office Methods on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. 00:49:06 Speaker 4: So let's head to Pittsburgh, where the Steelers also didn't do anything at the trade deadline, and that's provided at least me with some solace based on what's happened this week. 93.7 the fans andrew filiponi knows more about the pittsburgh steelers and how we used to consume monday night football more than anybody uh so on tuesday at four o'clock bangles don't do anything all the other good teams in the afc do except the pittsburgh steelers watching from afar i felt like they needed a receiver why didn't they get one. 00:49:34 Speaker 7: Because they, I guess, now specialize in mixed messages and double talk and saying one thing and doing something else, Mo. This has been a year that has, I think, really allowed for fans like myself to embrace this team post Mike Tomlin and believe that there might be a higher ceiling for them with the improved performance of this defense, which had gotten stale under Tomlin and really underachieved. Aaron Rodgers has played well. They've won four in a row. They're tied for first place. And, you know, Aaron Rodgers is done after this year. He said that repeatedly. He also said over in Paris that he didn't come back to just go nine and eight or 10 and seven. So I thought, you know, everything was there for them to not be reckless. I mean, you still have to be conscious of the fact that maybe there's a quarterback in next year's draft you want to take or pick, but giving up a future mid-round selection is, like that on this team who could end up being your number one actually i thought was a move that they absolutely should have made and it's left me very disappointed and even though they're six and two going into this game like i do find myself being more pessimistic about the steelers than i thought i would be because of their lack of action. 00:50:53 Speaker 4: What about their six and two start to the season to you is most surprising. 00:50:58 Speaker 7: Well i mean it's basically the same cast of characters defensively moe Sands, Joey Porter Jr. who was in Dallas after he faked an injury and got himself a one-way ticket out of town. And they're doing the things that Mike Tomlin professed and promised. And he made bold claims like this team could do historic things before last season. They did in terms of giving up, I think the most passing yards in team history, but they're the highest paid unit in the league on defense. 00:51:28 Speaker 5: And they have been for a half decade. 00:51:30 Speaker 7: And we have very rarely seen them even come close to living up to that billing. And they have done that so far this year. They lead the NFL in sacks again. They have completely shut down the run. 00:51:43 Speaker 5: And they are currently, I. 00:51:45 Speaker 7: Think, the best run defense going in the NFL, even better than Minnesota. And a lot of these guys, we had questions about what do they have left? 00:51:53 Speaker 5: What did they have left? 00:51:54 Speaker 7: TJ Watt, maybe to a lesser extent, Cam Hayward. Definitely Jalen Ramsey. All of these guys have played great this year. And it's so weird that you subtract the so-called defensive genius in Tomlin. You bring in a guy in Patrick Graham who had nothing but mediocre defenses everywhere he's been. And now the

Steelers are up there with the Vikings and Jaguars as possibly the best defense in the league. 00:52:20 Speaker 4: Mike McCarthy's an offensive guy. He's a Pittsburgh guy. Where has he made the biggest impact? 00:52:26 Speaker 7: Well, I think he has been really good about evolving and adjusting and adapting in season. And I think one of the things that would frustrate me about Tomlin would be he would be stubborn and it would be hard for him to admit a mistake and move on from someone or change. For example, Najee Harris, you take him in the first round, but if you have eyes and you're watching the running backs here, you've known for a number of years that Jalen Warren is the better player. And I think Mike McCarthy went into the year thinking that Rico Dowdle might be better than Warren. I think his plan initially was for Dowdle to be the number one guy and for Warren to be the guy who spelled him. And Warren has played so well. He leads the NFL in yards per carry. I think there's only one other guy in the league that has more yards after the catch than him, and that's Puka Nakua in L.A. 00:53:23 Speaker 5: And Mike is just like, screw it. 00:53:25 Speaker 7: I had one idea in my head, but I can't be married to that. And he's made Jalen Warren the focal point of their offense. Their offensive line, the right side, was a disaster against New England, Mo. They got blown out the second game of the year. He put the rookie Max Ahanachor in at right tackle. He put in Brock Hoffman, who he brought over from Dallas. 00:53:45 Speaker 5: At right guard. The whole line's played better. And the last one is this. 00:53:50 Speaker 7: The media and fans made a big deal about how ugly things got in Cleveland when they lost. 00:53:58 Speaker 5: Rodgers screaming at McCarthy. 00:54:00 Speaker 7: Watt getting on the headset and going after Patrick Graham. Well, instead of Mike McCarthy doing the Mike Tomlin thing of saying, hey, we're competitive. 00:54:09 Speaker 5: This is okay. 00:54:11 Speaker 7: McCarthy said after the game to clean up our own house. And then he made Graham come down from the coach's box and. 00:54:18 Speaker 5: Onto the field. And the defense has played much better. 00:54:21 Speaker 7: And it was refreshing to hear a coach basically say, no, you guys are right. 00:54:26 Speaker 5: This isn't normal. We need to do something about it. 00:54:29 Speaker 4: I'm going to ask you a stupid question. So last year, Bengals played the Steelers in Pittsburgh. At one point, they throw the ball to Darnell Washington, ginormous tight end. He drags like nine guys down the field. Same thing happened in a game in September. Darnell Washington catches a pass. No Bengal can tackle him. He just leaves shrapnel all over the field. And here we ask, like, well, why don't they just throw him the ball in every play? So why don't they just throw him the ball in every play? 00:54:55 Speaker 5: It's a good question. 00:54:56 Speaker 7: They've gotten him way more involved this year. 00:54:59 Speaker 5: He played a lot in. 00:55:01 Speaker 7: The offense last year because Arthur Smith fetishizes tight ends, as you know, watching him with Ohio State. If you told him Jeremiah Smith was Johnnie Smith, he'd throw it to him every play, but Um, no, the bottom line is, you know, Washington is such a freak athlete and for as much of a advantage as you might say he is as a receiver, because you're right. 00:55:27 Speaker 5: Like, who do you put on this guy? 00:55:30 Speaker 7: He's also such a great blocker and there are still passing plays where he's left into block because they want Aaron Rogers to have a clean pocket. 00:55:40 Speaker 5: So, um, that's part of it. 00:55:42 Speaker 7: I mean, I feel much better about Aaron Rogers throw in Washington, the ball, especially in the red zone down near the end zone or goal line. Then I do DK Metcalf who they're paying $ 30 million a year or two. 00:55:54 Speaker 5: So he is an ascending player. He is an interesting player. I'm shocked. 00:55:58 Speaker 7: He made it to the fourth round when the Steelers picked him. He's really been one of the cool weapons they have in their offense. And, Yeah, I would like to see him get used more, especially against those Bengals linebackers who aren't very good in this game Sunday night. 00:56:12 Speaker 4: Yeah, no, that's well said. 00:56:13 Speaker 6: One more. 00:56:14 Speaker 4: You mentioned Mike Tomlin. He's going to be here for the game on Sunday. We don't like him. When Steelers fans watch him commentating on NBC and he's talking about the Steelers, how are they going to react? 00:56:25 Speaker 5: Well, it depends. 00:56:26 Speaker 7: I mean, he made a comment after the game Sunday night, the Bears and Bucks game, about this is the way you have to defend Joe Burrow. And I'm thinking to myself, Mike, I've seen Joe Burrow put 50 points on your defense before. Like, I wouldn't exactly talk like you have this magic bullet theory or you have this elixir that makes it impossible or makes it hard for Joe Burrow to be effective. I've watched him carve up your defense. So it comes and goes. I think he's had some really good moments on TV. I think he's had some moments, for example, Mo, he was talking about how John Harbaugh had to kill a flea with a hammer when he cut Najee Harris and benched him in Scataboo. And I'm like, this is the same guy that let Antonio Brown walk all over him, never disciplined him. You know, had guys basically blow off meetings or show up late for things and there were no repercussions. So, If you know Mike Tomlin intimately like we do here in Pittsburgh, you see a lot of those contradictions. But I think overall, he's done a pretty good job there. And it'll be interesting to see, like, is he going to just act like he's rooting for the Steelers the whole game? 00:57:37 Speaker 5: Does that bias come out? Does he call it more straight down the middle like? 00:57:41 Speaker 7: That will be a fascinating aspect

of the way that game gets covered Sunday night. 00:57:45 Speaker 4: Yeah, I do think he and Maria Taylor are good on TV. I admit that begrudgingly. I am interested in how things go from that perspective on Sunday. I know you've got a lot going on, man. Can't thank you enough. Enjoy the game Sunday. 00:57:57 Speaker 5: You bet, Mo. 00:57:58 Speaker 1: Can't wait. 00:57:58 Speaker 5: See you, brother. 00:57:58 Speaker 4: It's our guy Andrew Filippone, 93-7 the fan in Pittsburgh. Bengals-Steelers on Sunday, live on ESPN 1530. Pre-game from the Holy Grail begins at 3 p.m. Our guy Dan Klaskins with some fantasy football advice in 10 minutes on ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station. 00:58:17 Speaker 12: You've been listening to Football in the Natty, brought to you by Red Key Express on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. 00:58:29 Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. 00:58:31 Speaker 1: Traffic. 00:58:34 Speaker 4: From the uc health traffic of kelsey chevrolet home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours for life kelseychev.com bengals getting uh some good injury news some players are inching towards being able to come back andre yoshivas is back and cleared for practice jalen davis same thing for him brian parker same thing for him bengals stealers sunday live on espn 1530 pregame coverage on sunday afternoon starts at three o'clock from the holy grail cannot wait thursday night football tonight commanders and giants that game's going to be on Fox sports, 1360. This was awful news this morning. Dan Hicks, Dan Hicks. who did Notre Dame football games, was scheduled to do Notre Dame's game on Saturday, did a ton of NBA games on NBC back in the day, NBC Golf, the U.S. Open, swimming at the Olympics, passes away at the age of 64. Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines doing swimming at the Olympics is a top five all-time broadcast pairing. I mean in any sport. Football, basketball, whatever it is. Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines. I don't pretend to be the world's biggest swimming fan, but come on, one week every four years, who doesn't get into that? There's a thousand events. Dan Hicks and Rowdy Gaines. I'll go to my grave saying, I said that on this show a couple of years ago, as good of a broadcast pairing as you will ever hear. Uh, and like, as, as somebody who remembers with a great amount of fondness, all those NBA games in the 1990s, like there were three teams was Marv Albert and Mike Fratello. And then later on Matt Gukas, there was Dick Enberg and Bill Walt and Steve Snapper Jones. And then like the third team was always Dan Hicks. And it felt like Dan Hicks had every Indiana Pacers Orlando magic playoff game. Just a great broadcaster and by all accounts, a great guy and somebody who, again, Jason Benetti is going to do the Notre Dame game. Dan Hicks had the afternoon NBC Notre Dame package. Terrific broadcaster. He's married to Hannah Storm, a trailblazing broadcaster in her own right. So I saw that today and instantly I just I instantly thought of like all those Michael Phelps races yesterday. All those like swimming meets and swimming races that just seemed to kind of captivate the country during the Olympics. He was the play-by-play person for those. And Rowdy Gaines, awesome in his own right. Dan Hicks passes away at the age of 64. And by all accounts, totally unexpected. Dan Klaskens on fantasy football next. 01:01:23 Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. 01:01:24 Speaker 1: Traffic. 01:01:28 Speaker 4: From the UC Health. 12 away from GM meetings, I'm sorry. 12 away from 5. This is ESPN 1530. Mo Egger. On Thursdays, we talk fantasy football with our guy Dan Klaskens. Guy's been on the show for over 20 years. Dan Klaskens, host of Fantistics Insider Football on SiriusXM Fantasy. We missed you last week. It's good to have you back. What's going on? 01:01:53 Speaker 6: Missed talking to you fellas as well and definitely didn't miss fantasy football. 01:01:58 Speaker 4: What a great week we had. 01:02:01 Speaker 6: And Mo, the trade deadline is in the NFL, the trade deadline approaching in fantasy leagues. 01:02:07 Speaker 4: It is. It is. So let's walk through some trade deadline topics that our listeners need to be aware of. 01:02:13 Speaker 6: Yeah, a lot of deals made. Not many of them with too much fantasy impact. Let's touch on some of that fantasy fallout, though. Kirk Cousins' return into Minnesota, the familiar surroundings, but don't automatically assume that's an immediate fantasy resurgence for him. Obviously, the biggest winner in this deal is going to be Justin Jefferson having somebody competent to throw him the football. We shall see what that looks like. Cousins himself will be more of a streamer, a super flex option. It does open up the door for Fernando Mendoza in Las Vegas, and This one is obviously the future for the Raiders, so it makes a lot of sense. We will expect some rookie growing pains. I am a little bit concerned what this could do for Ashton Gentry, who's been dead in the running game, but still a fantasy asset in the passing game. Brock Bauer should still be good. Maybe he gets a little downgrade in the short run. And then you add the Colts. They didn't trade Jonathan Taylor, but they did trade two receivers, Josh Downs and Keenan Allen, to Kansas City and Sam Fram, respectively. And that's obviously a major shakeup. Downs, I know people are excited about him going to Kansas City. I would play the wait-and-see approach. I do like him potentially as a wide receiver. Three, as we move forward, Keenan Allen will be worthy in PPR leagues. But really, the base winner in that trade, Tyler Warren, assuming he plays out the season. A lot of targets up for grabs in India if you have the young tight end. 01:03:30 Speaker 4: No question about that. Be great if Alec Pierce could get back on the field his way. I say that as an Alec Pierce owner and a Bearcat fan. 01:03:37 Speaker 6: Yeah, well, we're all fans of

Alec Pierce, no doubt about it, but news isn't looking too good on a return this year for him. 01:03:43 Speaker 4: All right, beyond Alec Pierce, let's talk about some Week 10 injuries worth paying attention to. Yeah, lots of them there. 01:03:50 Speaker 6: The biggest one in fantasy coming out of last week, Puka Nakua. They're not going to be able to put him on IR because they're out of IR spots eligible to return there in L.A. But it is a multiple week absence here. It is a big concern for fantasy managers. And with less than that passing attack is even more concerning. Mike Evans with an Achilles issue didn't really go through at it again. We're watching Garrett Wilson with concussion. Carnell Tate coming out of the. Biweek, after playing the Bengals, still has not practiced in the first two days with a shoulder issue. A.J. Brown with an ankle and knee issue. Did travel with the team to Munich and two consecutive limited practice. The biggest surprise over there today. Andre Stevenson, they were talking about maybe he's at an IR. He's missing multiple games. Now he returned a limited practice. He's officially upgraded to questionable. The running backs I am worried about there. Byshell Tootin has a practice all week for Jacksonville. They're playing Tennessee on Sunday, so they might well just give him a rest as he deals with ankle and foot issues. We've got Josh Jacobs going to miss a few weeks after going under finger surgery set for tomorrow, and Travis Achan, former ETN there with the hamstring, trying to work his way back. That Saints backfield has a nightmare written all over it, no matter how that one turns out. 01:04:59 Speaker 4: Dan Klaskens is with us, host of Fantistics Insider Football on SiriusXM Fantasy and InsiderFootball.com. Give me your Week 10 studs, duds, and sleepers. 01:05:09 Speaker 6: Yeah, let's start with the studs. Brock Purdy is looking pretty good. San Francisco, Dallas, it's certainly a favorable matchup. It's one of the highest totals of the week. Purdy's efficiency is really just uncanny. And even if Mike Evans is unlikely to play, I think he's going to get it done regardless. So I'm treating him as a top five fantasy quarterback play. I'm also going with Jalen Warren at Cincinnati here on Sunday night. Obviously, the Bengals are a slight favorite in this matchup, but Warren just really offers multiple paths to production through carries and receptions, so he's game flow agnostic. I'm expecting a lot of points. The Bengals could win, but I think Warren's going to have a huge night. I've got him as a top 10 running back this week. On the dud side, Matthew Stafford at Arizona, as I mentioned, the coup is out. Devontae Adams is still out. They've got five tight ends and two running backs, Mo. They're going to run the football. And with Stafford's arm and a nice large spread here at Arizona, they're favored by. He can't be playable outside of Superflex League this week. Ashton Gentry, I'm probably going to sit him.

But, man, he's outside my top 20 in the quarterback changes and helping. He's a dud as they travel to a tough matchup with the Seahawks. And a couple sleepers. We'll give you one. For Sunday in Munich, Demario Douglas, who has really emerged here as almost a wide receiver to play. If you're looking for a deep PPR flex, I like him. Detroit is still missing key pieces in that secondary. And Chig Akonkwo, my sleeper for tonight. 01:06:29 Speaker 5: Get it out there. 01:06:29 Speaker 6: He's commanded 20.2% of the team targets over the last four games. The Giants have been more than effective at defending receivers. Struggling a little bit against tight ends. I'm a little concerned. about that win tonight, but I did just make a bet on the over four and a half receptions. I advise you to do the same. 01:06:44 Speaker 2: All right. 01:06:44 Speaker 4: We'll see if he's available for this evening. Veterans Day, obviously, Dan, yesterday. It's something we've been commemorating all week. You've got an awesome opportunity for folks to make an even bigger impact through do good fantasy donations to DAV being triple match right now. And there's still plenty of fantasy football left to play. 01:07:03 Speaker 6: Yeah, I love it, Mo. And listen, man, happy Veterans Day out there. And Veterans Day might be over, but the need to help veterans, it doesn't end, Mo. They need our help every day. And DAV helps a million veterans a year in life-changing ways. And a great way to do it is through the generosity of our supporters. Do Good Fantasy, the salary cap challenge. Yeah, you can pay $ 30. You can get in and have this great game. And if you do, all your donations will be triple matched. But even if you don't want to play the game, you just want to donate. You can do either. Just go to dogoodfantasy.com right now. Hit the donate button. And every dollar goes a long way to helping veterans. $ 1 equals $ 270 plus in benefits to veterans. We are really looking forward to a great stretch of the season and fantasy. And this is a great way to have a fresh start each week. 01:07:46 Speaker 4: Do good fantasy.com. I won both of my league. I didn't win the leagues. I won games in both of my leagues, seven and two and one five and four and the other. I'm feeling it. 01:07:56 Speaker 5: I'm hot. 01:07:57 Speaker 4: I'm ready to go. 01:07:58 Speaker 6: Dude, I mean, maybe you should make a trade. Do something. You never settle for good enough. 01:08:06 Speaker 4: That's right. 01:08:06 Speaker 6: I still think you could get better, man. If you make a trade, be sure that you know how it works out. Wonky stuff on the back end there. 01:08:15 Speaker 4: Unlike Duke Tobin, I know how to make a trade. Dan, you're the best. We'll talk next week. 01:08:21 Speaker 2: All right. 01:08:22 Speaker 6: Good luck and enjoy the game. 01:08:23 Speaker 4: Most definitely. That's our guy, Dan Klaskens. Check out InsiderFootball.com and hear him on Fantistics Insider Football on SiriusXM Fantasy. And I cannot encourage you enough to play fantasy football to help DAV. DoGoodFantasy.com. Poll questions on this show are a service of United Heartland Insurance. I don't know. And why would I know what you're paying for insurance? No clue. 01:08:48 Speaker 5: No idea. 01:08:49 Speaker 4: I'd be weird if I did. But it's even weirder if you want to pay more for insurance. So how about this? See what you're paying and then reach out to the folks at United Heartland Insurance and see if they can help you. you pay for less. And by the way, like any kind of insurance, like all insurance, they'll help you out. Go to UHINS.com. You'll hear this often. Boy, the winner on Sunday is going to win the AFC North. I'm not buying it. So will Sunday night's winner take the AFC North? If I give you four choices, A, yes. B, Bengals are winning the AFC North regardless. C, Steelers are winning the AFC North regardless. D, either the Browns or Ravens will win the AFC North. I don't believe either of those things will happen. Look, Sunday's winner's in the driver's seat. It goes without saying. And a Steelers win is a little bit more costly to Cincinnati because then Pittsburgh takes the head-to-head tiebreaker. I think because of the Bengals' schedule, I'm not buying into the Steelers' sustainability. I think Cincinnati's winning the division regardless. Now, that'll be tested a little bit more if they lose on Sunday evening. I don't think they'll lose on Sunday evening. We'll get to why coming up in the 5 o'clock hour, but vote now at MoEgger. Again, thanks to United Heartland Insurance. Make sure you check out UHINS.com. Our buddy Robert Weintraub from Cincinnati Magazine, Jay Morrison as well, coming up in the 5 o'clock hour, ESPN 1530. 01:10:24 Speaker 2: This week, Sunday Night Football in America arrives in Cincinnati as the Bengals renew their AFC North feud with the Pittsburgh Steelers. A rivalry so bitter, it makes black coffee taste like a milkshake. It's four quarters of hard hits, high drama, and plenty of divisional disdain. Catch every snap. Every collision and every moment of AFC North chaos. The game kicks off at 8.20 p.m. with coverage starting at 4 p.m. 01:10:53 Speaker 3: Sunday. 01:10:53 Speaker 5: Stream for free on the new and improved. 01:10:56 Speaker 2: iHeartRadio app or on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. 01:11:02 Speaker 4: I cannot wait. I'm going to get tickets to that autograph show so I can go get something signed by Anthony Munoz. 01:11:10 Speaker 5: It's going to be great. 01:11:12 Speaker 4: Anthony, is that what he calls him? Anthony Munoz? 01:11:16 Speaker 5: For the love. 01:11:17 Speaker 4: Of God, can we say the greatest player in franchise history's name correct? Of course, I can't speak articulately, so who the hell am I to talk? 01:11:28 Speaker 1: Munoz. 01:11:33 Speaker 4: It's time for Robert Weintraub. I hope my email to him went through. Email's not working around the globe. It's been

fantastic. I've enjoyed it. Robert Weintraub writes about the Cincinnati Bengals for Cincinnati Magazine. You could read his column about the Steelers. Steelers pay back for what happened to the Bengals when they went to Pittsburgh. It's up and running now at CincinnatiMagazine.com. And Robert's here. Hi. 01:11:56 Speaker 13: Hey, I'm just enjoying my recently gotten autograph from Joe Bureau. We have a place of prominence. 01:12:04 Speaker 4: Now up on the wall. 01:12:05 Speaker 1: Very excited. 01:12:08 Speaker 4: Thank you for that. It's Steelers payback. You know, in Pittsburgh, they're big mad because they didn't add to their team at the deadline. They didn't add a wide receiver here. Well, the Bengals tried to add to their defense, but did not. And you are, as one might say, nonplussed by this. We have folks who are dangling on the ledge, so talk them off of it. Yeah. 01:12:32 Speaker 1: Come down off that ledge. 01:12:33 Speaker 13: Or remember back in, after the two game losing streak, I came on your air and I told everybody to R E L A X. We haven't lost since. So, you know, take it from me, stay confident, stay level headed. I know your fans, it's impossible, but it is, it is worthy. You know, it's a two prong thing in this case, because not only did they not add to the team, but they kind of got them humiliated with the other kitty thing. And, you know, it's not much really defense for that per se. It's, I give him a little bit of grace just because it's that often hardly ever looked at interregnum between, you know, the trade gets announced and leaked on social media, but it's not official. And, you know, then you see it's official and nobody ever really thinks twice about it. But, you know, there are things that happen like day on Henley traded to the Broncos yesterday. And then they found out today. Now we don't want to really do that for the physical reason, or maybe they just got cold feet. 01:13:24 Speaker 1: Who knows? That was a guy. 01:13:25 Speaker 13: I actually thought the Bengals should try and target. So, you know, I mean, It's a tough situation sometimes. I don't think Duke Tobin looked very good sending out Zach Taylor to take all the bullets for him. That was kind of a Roger Goodell move there, just, you know, as the owners hide behind his shield. But in general, you know, big picture, I wanted to add a smaller depth piece. I think everybody would have agreed that, you know, even a player like Abakedi, who at least gives you a professional player as depth, can only help. But overall, these midseason trades, I just don't think they work. The juice is not always worth the squeeze, especially for the amount they're talked about. And they made their big move in the offseason. They were never going to trade any real premium picks again, let's face it. They like where the team is right now. They've won four in a row, as we said. Why mess with chemistry as you're just really turning it on? And I also think that we tend to underrate. the idea that these players, they're not, you know, they're not football cars. They're not avatars. They go from one team to another in midstream. They're asked to pick up a whole new system sometimes and learn the guy's names, you know, leave their family behind in a lot of cases. 01:14:37 Speaker 5: It's not easy. 01:14:38 Speaker 13: And that's why a lot of mid-season trades just, you know, don't. 01:14:41 Speaker 5: Really work out half the time. 01:14:43 Speaker 1: So I don't know. 01:14:44 Speaker 13: I just felt like I would have liked to have seen a player, but I just, I didn't get crazy about it. And I understand, uh, Sports Talk Radio is meant for craziness. I'm out of step with the rest of the fan base, but if they beat the Steelers on Sunday night, it'll be completely forgotten about by Monday. 01:14:59 Speaker 4: Here's a piece of analysis, and you could steal this if you want, okay? So the Bengals played the Steelers the first time, and they made some critical special teams mistakes. Since then, the special teams has been really good. So that's been cleaned up. Also, back then, you know, they were going through a little bit of an identity crisis. They were trying to run Joe Burrow under center. The running game hadn't really taken off. And now they're kind of back to being who they have been. And they run the ball, you know, effectively enough. P. Ryan and Brown combined for 100 yards on 20 carries against Atlanta. That'll work, I think. And so they know who they are and they're not screwing up on special teams. So they're going to win on Sunday night. Your comments. 01:15:38 Speaker 5: It's just that easy. 01:15:39 Speaker 6: Yes. 01:15:39 Speaker 5: Don't even have to play the game. 01:15:41 Speaker 4: Simple. That's right. 01:15:42 Speaker 1: Book it, baby. 01:15:44 Speaker 13: Yeah, well, I think both things are. The real question is, you mentioned the running game. You know, Pittsburgh's run defense has been outstanding this year. Their first in defensive adjusted line yards by our numbers. They really have put a premium on stopping the run so far this year. So it'll be interesting to see how much the Bengals slam their heads against the wall in trying to prove a point or keep that run past balance you know somewhat in in order or they just say the heck with it in this case and lean into their strength as they've been you know want to do a lot of times not necessarily to their benefit but that'll be a fascinating subplot obviously game script will have a lot to do with it uh you mentioned the special teams you know chris boswell has always been a great kicker for pittsburgh but he's not having a great year so far this year it's not been a disaster as it has been in kansas city and here in atlanta and in other precincts but he hasn't been great And Evan McPherson has been, so that's, you know, I know Boswell made the game winning kick in Pittsburgh in that game, but you'd like to think there'd be a little bit of a

reversal, as you mentioned. And you know, the other key, I think it comes down to a little bit of red zone play. The Bengals have been excellent in stopping teams from scoring touchdowns and forcing those field goals. Aaron Rogers, the quarterback at Pittsburgh has been only a 50% passer in the red zone this year, as opposed to Joe Burrow, 75%. And again, You know, we mentioned the Pittsburgh running game. I mean, a big part of their success, Pittsburgh's, you know, Rogers has been really poor throwing against two high safety hooks this year, last in the league or near the last in the league, but he only faces it last in the league. They don't do it a lot. Teams are afraid to play too high because they get gashed in the run game. That'll really be sort of a critical game within the game. Can the Bengals stop the run or at least slow the run without committing the safeties down constantly and getting Rogers more cleaner looks and and things that he can still do uh you know shorter and intermediate passing he doesn't have the arm strength to drive the ball to the perimeter and he's not joe burrow in terms of you know slicing up teams anymore even when they play too high safety so if the bingos can manage to get into situations where they can play both safeties high they'll have the advantage uh you know and only in a couple of situations may just come down to a couple of drafts. 01:17:56 Speaker 5: Should do that it shouldn't be a tight. 01:17:57 Speaker 4: Game yeah we're in this weird place robert weintraub writes a weekly bangles column for cincinnati magazine read it at cincinnati magazine.com we're at this place where aaron rogers who's made i think in my life more like holy crap i can't believe he just did that throws than anybody else now he's just looks like a game manager is that is that sustainable even beyond sunday is that sustainable in pittsburgh. 01:18:20 Speaker 5: Yeah, it's tough. 01:18:21 Speaker 13: I mean, beyond the old man and the cold weather thing. He's definitely playing smart. He's throwing the ball away more than anybody but a couple of players and quarterbacks in the league. He's avoiding turnovers. He's not actively losing games for his team. But he's not playing well either. He's 24th in DVOA. He's 27th in EPA per dropback. 01:18:41 Speaker 5: Numbers, numbers, numbers. 01:18:43 Speaker 13: You pick any one of them and these, you know, the analytics don't look great for him. So, you know, I guess the question is like you say, what is. 01:18:51 Speaker 5: He able to do? 01:18:52 Speaker 13: What can the Bengals make them do? You know, can they get the pressure on them there? They've had an excellent season pressure and quarterbacks. They took Michael Penix completely out of his rhythm last week. And, you know, in a lot of ways, Penix wants to do what Rogers wants to do. It's kind of make the smart play and not make mistakes. get into a rhythm. And, you know, I think, uh, you've also seen Rogers helped a lot by yards after catch this year. The Steelers are second in yards after catch only to Kansas city Bengals are 10th, by the way, with a bullet. 01:19:20 Speaker 4: Yes. 01:19:21 Speaker 13: Jamar chase is back to doing what always does after a slow start, but you know, we always talk about it. 01:19:27 Speaker 1: It's tackling. 01:19:27 Speaker 13: Can they get the guy. 01:19:28 Speaker 5: To the ground? 01:19:29 Speaker 13: And that's always been a problem, especially lately against the Steelers. Uh, you know, Rogers is not able to find a lot of, you know, deep downfield throws to wide receivers, uh, So he takes the easy throw, and his receivers underneath are making him look good by turning those into bigger plays than they should be. Have to get those guys on the ground. 01:19:47 Speaker 5: That's going to be a huge key to the game. 01:19:48 Speaker 4: Is it as cut and dry as the winner on Sunday takes the AFC North? 01:19:53 Speaker 13: I remember you asked me this about the Ravens game a couple weeks ago. 01:19:57 Speaker 4: Might ask it again before the Browns game. 01:20:00 Speaker 1: It's possible. 01:20:00 Speaker 12: It is possible. 01:20:01 Speaker 13: Although, you know, you're really hard-pressed to think of a game with this kind of ramifications. two weeks, basically, before Thanksgiving. 01:20:09 Speaker 5: It's pretty unusual, and yet it's kind of true. 01:20:12 Speaker 13: I mean, as it is, the Bengals are 70% by our numbers to win the AFC North, 97% to make the playoffs. And what does that tell you? The schedule ahead has a lot of perceived Ws on it, and they should win those games. Steeler's schedule is not crazy hard, but they do have a few tougher games left with Jacksonville and Denver particularly ahead. So, yeah, I mean, if you can obviously– be a game up rather than a game and a half or two, depending on how you want to say it. Having been swept by Pittsburgh, you never want to be the chaser. You'd much rather play from ahead, just like in a real game. And yeah, there's any game with the Steelers is always fraught, as we know, and especially with, you know, something real on the line. 01:20:53 Speaker 5: So it's not like. 01:20:54 Speaker 13: They can't win the division. If they lose, they certainly can. But, boy, they'd be putting themselves in the proverbial catbird seat if they take the game on Sunday night. 01:21:03 Speaker 4: No question. We'll talk next week. Thank you, as always. 01:21:07 Speaker 13: Just remember, Mo, we're the big dogs, and it's going to stay that way. 01:21:10 Speaker 4: I like it. Yeah, I'm going to say that often between now and Sunday night. Hopefully after. Yes, most definitely after, no question. Robert Weintraub's weekly Bengals column is available. See him at CincinnatiMagazine.com. It's 17 minutes after 5 o'clock. Jay Morrison's going to join us. He's back. He had some difficulties getting back from Madrid, but he is back. He is ready to go, and he'll join us to talk about Sunday night next on ESPN

1530. 01:21:42 Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. 01:21:44 Speaker 6: Traffic. 01:21:47 Speaker 3: This is Football in the Natty. 01:21:49 Speaker 12: Brought to you in part by Skyline. 01:21:52 Speaker 3: Chili on ESPN 1530. 01:21:54 Speaker 12: The official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. 01:21:59 Speaker 4: 25 after 5 o'clock. This is ESPN 1530. I'm Mo Egger. Appreciate you listening. Don't forget Sunday. Pre-game at 3 at the Holy Grail. Me, Tony, and Austin Elmore. It's going to be like having a substitute teacher because Ken Brew won't be there. Love Ken, but It will be like, you know, having a sub with Ken not there. Not that it's not fun with Ken. Ken's a great teacher. Ken sort of orchestrates the entire show and sort of keeps everything in line. Certainly keeps me in line. And, you know, Tony doesn't need to be kept in line. Ken is going to do a show before our show, but he's not going to be at the Holy Grail. Maybe he'll stop by and have a beer when his show is over once our show has begun. The game at 820 on ESPN 1530. Jay Morrison, he's with us from Paycor Stadium. Hi, Jay. I don't hear Jay. Should I hear Jay? Should I hear modern technology? Is this tied to the email outage? Is it because I can't hear Jay? Is that also a Microsoft problem? I don't know. I see, like, the Jay's avatar, and I see his avatar moving, and now I see his face, and now there he is. Can we hear him now? 01:23:18 Speaker 1: You got me? 01:23:18 Speaker 5: Oh, yes. 01:23:19 Speaker 4: Thank God we were able to make this work. Good afternoon, Jay. 01:23:24 Speaker 11: This is the horrible Wi-Fi that they have at the stadium. I was scrambling to try to get plugged to an Ethernet. I finally got it. I'm good now. 01:23:30 Speaker 4: If you think the Wi-Fi is bad there, come join me in the stands on Sunday. 01:23:37 Speaker 11: Well, it works great for regular stuff. It's just terrible for video. 01:23:40 Speaker 4: All right. Well, you know, sometimes I'll post a picture in the first quarter and then it'll pop up when I'm laying in bed that night. So it's, uh, it works out well. Bengals are getting guys back who are eligible to practice. How close are we to actually seeing them on the field? 01:23:56 Speaker 11: Uh, yeah, it's a good question. All three went full today. So I, they do have an open roster spot. You would think at least one of those guys is going to be elevated. Um, Yoshi would seem the most likely. I don't know that they need Brian Parker because Dylan Fairchild went full today. He looks like he's going to be good to go. And just putting a rookie in in that position, he'd probably be inactive even once he's on the 53. Jalen Davis, maybe, but they were encouraged by the way Josh Newton played. Maybe they give Jalen Davis a another week to, to get up to speed, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Yoshi out there on Sunday. 01:24:30 Speaker 4: Uh, they tried to make a trade for an edge. It didn't work out the mechanics of that we've discussed to death. Um,

but it, it, it was an acknowledgement of a need, at least rotationally at edge. They don't have cash as how Shamar Stewart, man, your guess is as good as mine as what does to what you can count on from him. Miles Murphy has been a little bit of a disappointment beyond boy, a mafia. Where's the pass rush from the edge going to come from? 01:24:55 Speaker 5: Yeah, well, that's a good question. 01:24:56 Speaker 11: Cedric Johnson's been pretty good, and he's been good against the run as well. Maybe this is the game that he steps up and plays really well, plays a lot more than we're used to seeing. Maybe it is Shamar. They're not down on Shamar. He just has been so far behind with the injuries and the contract thing last year, and they were really looking for ways to get him on the field. Well, here's your chance with Cassius Howe out on IR. So, You know, I'm sure he'll get some run early. They'll see how he looks. But this could be a surprise big game for Cedric Johnson. 01:25:30 Speaker 4: What is a reasonable take on what didn't happen at the deadline? 01:25:36 Speaker 11: A reasonable take. Um, because it's, it's. 01:25:40 Speaker 4: The, they're not doomed. Like they're, they're a good team. They're six and two. Their offense is humming. Dexter Lawrence is awesome. Boy, my face terrific. DJ Turner's really good. The pluses dramatically outweigh the negatives, but there's still a sense of, man, they, they could have used one more guy and didn't get them. 01:25:57 Speaker 11: They could have, but if, if, if Shamar Stewart last year's first round pick is your fallback, that's, that's not a bad spot to be in. I think it's more of a, Just a black eye. And I don't want to say incompetence because this front office has done a really good job of building this roster. It was a really, really bad mistake. And there's these narratives out there that it's a small staff and they don't know what they're doing. That's not going away after this. And on one hand, it's not good that the tweet comes out and blows up in their face like that. But on the other hand, it's really good news that the tweet came out because imagine that the blowback if they make that trade official and then they lose the third round pick. 01:26:40 Speaker 1: Yeah. 01:26:41 Speaker 4: Uh, against Pittsburgh, the first go around Jalen Warren, they couldn't tackle him. They couldn't tackle Darnell Washington. Are they going to be able to tackle those guys Sunday night? 01:26:51 Speaker 11: Yeah, that's going to decide the game. I think, um, we were talking to Fig Newton today. He's like, how do you tackle Darnell Washington? He said, low, that's the only option you have is to go low. Um, Jalen Warren's going to be one. Pittsburgh's really leaning on him. I do think the Bengals have been better tackling in recent games. I thought Barrett Carter was really good against Bajon Robinson in Spain. And now Golden said he texted him on Tuesday and told him he thought he played his best game since he's been here. That's a really encouraging sign. But yeah, if they can't stop that run game, It turns into a shootout. If both teams are getting up around 30, I think it kind of leans towards Pittsburgh, which is crazy to say the way they're built. The Bengals have to figure out a way to hold that offense to fewer points than the 30 they scored last. 01:27:37 Speaker 4: You know, you and I just talked about the trade mess, and one of the things I hate about it is it does feed the perception that the Bengals' incompetence is too strong, but aren't fully equipped to make decisions. What I hate about it is the way they played on Sunday, I think was reflective of not just them being better than the Atlanta Falcons, but organizationally knowing how to handle Madrid, the travel, the logistics, and everything that tends to swirl around a game like that. You were there. Could you speak to that for me? 01:28:10 Speaker 11: Yeah, it was a masterclass. Just the way they practice Tuesday, they take Wednesday off, they let them walk around the city. It's not just getting their bodies right. I think we overlook the bonding and the camaraderie aspect of a trip like that. It's why you see high school and college teams take these spring break trips and these trips out of town. There's real value in that and having the team together in one spot and growing as as people and friends and teammates and brothers and all of that um so they they both got they were both on the same schedule but it was clear the Bengals handled it better and that's only half the battle you come back and now you have you have to adjust the schedule this week and they've done that and the players have all been raving about the schedule Zach Taylor's put together Al Golden called Zach Taylor a pioneer when it comes to taking care of the players and their bodies Um, so it's not an ideal spot to be in coming back from international playing a team coming off a buy. The Steelers, by the way, are nine and oh, and their last nine games after a buy, it's going to be a tough spot for the Bengals on Sunday night. 01:29:12 Speaker 4: If the wifi isn't working, will that give me an excuse to not text the jerk line that Mike Tomlin's in the building? 01:29:20 Speaker 11: Uh, You should just come up to the press box, talk your way in here, and we'll have one of us do it. 01:29:25 Speaker 4: That'd be fun. That might be my plan. All right. We'll see if we can make that work. Good to see you, man. Thanks so much. All right. Thanks, Mo. That's our guy, Jay Morrison, BengalsTalk.com. And, of course, part of the Growler Podcast Network back from Madrid covering the Bengals as they get set to play the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday evening, 820 on ESPN 1530. We are. 01:29:48 Speaker 4: We're guest-free the rest of the way. Wow. 513-749-1530. If you want to contribute to this insanely amazing program, we are going to be hanging out tonight at Belterra Park. So if you're looking for something to do, if you're

like on the east side of Cincinnati this evening at Belterra Park for the NFC East Showdown, is it possible for there to be an NFC East Showdown? Giants and Commanders? And we'll hang out and have a beer, maybe make a bet, and might win a prize. We've got cool prizes. So join us tonight starting at 8 o'clock. Sports headlines are next on ESPN 1530. 01:30:25 Speaker 12: You've been listening to Football in the Natty on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. 01:30:39 Speaker 6: Traffic. 01:30:44 Speaker 4: Sorry, I just... Just sending a fun tweet. Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet, home of Lifetime, powertrain protection. and guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours for life, kelseychev.com. You want a Bengals injury report, I give it to you. So Andre Yoshavas is back practicing. Brian Parker is back practicing. Jalen Davis is back practicing. And each player, a full go today. Team has 21 days for those guys to practice without counting against the active roster. DJ Turner, who was limited yesterday, a full go today. Kyle Duggar continues to not practice. Dylan Fairchild, full go after limited yesterday. Bengals Steelers Sunday, 820 live on ESPN, 1530. Thursday Night Football tonight, Commanders and Giants. Those two teams tied because Dan Quinn and Jane Daniels don't know how the clock works. And so the big rematch is tonight. Maybe there will be an actual winner or perhaps... For the first time in modern NFL history... two teams could tie against each other twice in the same season. I just made that up. I have actually no idea of two teams have ever tied against each other twice in the same season. If only there were a device we could use to look that up, we would use it. Uh, what else do we have? I think that's it. I don't believe there's any big hardcore major sports headlines that we haven't already mentioned today. So let's, uh, let's talk to folks. I, my studio today is a mess. I got just crap everywhere. So, If I sound disorganized, that's why. Tim, go ahead. You're on ESPN 1530. What's up? 01:32:28 Speaker 9: No, I promise I'm not calling to talk the resurrection of James Harden last night. 01:32:33 Speaker 4: That's all right. I don't understand what we were doing. We left Tyler Kolek in the game way too long. We didn't put Jalen Brunson in until there were four minutes to go. It was bad coaching by Mike Brown. Not getting anything from Mikael Bridges and the Cavaliers, especially late in the game. uh, beating a double team and throwing the ball to the high post, carved up the Knicks on defense and the Cavs were deserving victors last night. 01:33:00 Speaker 1: That's right. 01:33:00 Speaker 9: But, uh, you talked really about Dan Hicks and I thought that was really cool. Um, obviously, you know me pretty well, you know, I'm a big Notre Dame fan. 01:33:06 Speaker 1: Yeah. 01:33:07 Speaker 9: So I've seen that, that lead commentator door revolve quite a bit in my lifetime. 01:33:11 Speaker 4: Yeah. 01:33:12 Speaker 9: And, uh, obviously having Dan this past weekend during the Miami game, which is the biggest Notre Dame win season-wise in my lifetime, probably was a really awesome. So I just want to say, I really appreciate you kind of take some time to do that. 01:33:24 Speaker 6: Obviously going to be missed. 01:33:25 Speaker 9: It's going to be really weird on Saturday without him doing the game. Um, obviously terrible, terrible circumstances, but I thought it was, if there's any solace and it's pretty cool. His last game got to be the Miami win. 01:33:36 Speaker 4: No, you're right about that. Walk me through this because NBC has had Notre Dame games since the early 90s. And so like there's a lot of Tom Hammond there. I know Mike Tirico, while he was kind of, you know, while he was waiting to take over for Al Michaels, he did some games. I think he did the game that UC played there in 2021. But for the better part of I don't know how many years it's been Dan Hicks on those games. Like when I think of Notre Dame football on NBC, that's the first thing that comes to mind. 01:34:06 Speaker 9: Yeah, Jack Collinsworth had a little run, I know, for a minute there, which is pretty cool for the local kid. But yeah, Dan's kind of, he's almost become symbolic with Notre Dame football, having his voice. So I know it's something the Notre Dame fan community is really missing a lot. And obviously, seeing Hannah Storm and her story about her kids, that's still. 01:34:23 Speaker 4: Crushing, man. Yeah. 64 years old, by all accounts, this was unexpected. Dan Hicks did everything. He did alpine skiing. He did speed skating at the Olympics, obviously associated with golf in the US Open. When I think of him, I think of Notre Dame football, and I mentioned this before. I think of all those Michael Phelps races in the Olympics, right? So like 2008, I think of Dan Hicks calling all those Michael Phelps triumphs with with rowdy gains, which I, again, I think is one of the best broadcast pairings in all of sports. And so I saw that today and it, it hit hard. I think of Dan Hicks and I think of all those like nineties NBA games that, that he did and just seem, seem like a, just a good salt of the earth guy as well. 01:35:08 Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. 01:35:08 Speaker 9: He mentioned his NBA games. Being a lifelong Penny Hardaway fan, obviously there's Orlando Magic in him. 01:35:13 Speaker 4: Yeah, it was like, you know, in the 90s, you know, Marv Albert and whoever he was with would get the Chicago Bulls. And then they would send Dick Enberg and Steve Snapper Jones and Bill Walton. They would do like the big Western Conference game. And then there would be like this random, it was always like, you know, Cavaliers Pacers or Pacers Magic or hey, it's game three between the Atlanta Hawks and the New Jersey Nets and would call a solid game, did a little of everything. But yeah, like I didn't think about that. He got a chance to

call that Notre Dame Miami game, which was incredible. And I guess if one has to have a last call before they go, that's a pretty good one. 01:35:54 Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely. 01:35:55 Speaker 9: Well, Hey man, thanks for giving me some time. 01:35:56 Speaker 1: Always appreciate you, Mo. 01:35:57 Speaker 4: Okay, Tim. Thanks. Thanks very much. Yeah. I, uh, I saw that today and I just was like, I think I just heard Dan Hicks on Saturday. I mean, you know, I, I saw the announcement on, uh, the golf channels, Twitter today, Dan obviously was associated with NBC's golf coverage. And my first thought was I heard Dan Hicks voice, uh, on highlights of that Notre Dame Miami game. So surely he couldn't have been ill. I do not know what happened. I'm not going to be irresponsible. Hannah storm. His wife is, you know, was the first woman I think to be the studio host for a major sporting event, like championship event. And she was the studio host for the NBA finals at NBC a number of years ago. And she's on ESPN. I think a lot of like weekend mornings and stuff like that. But yeah, Dan Hicks, Dan Hicks did everything. And, uh, I was talking to a buddy of mine who's a huge golf guy. I guess he had met Dan Hicks. And like right after I saw it on the golf channel or on the golf channel's Twitter, he sent me a text. He's like, man, I met Dan Hicks at an event and he could have been cooler. So I was saddened to hear that at the age of 64 years old, way, way, way too young. It's quarter to six. This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station. 01:37:17 Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. 01:37:20 Speaker 1: Traffic. 01:37:21 Speaker 4: From the UC Health traffic. Eight from six. This is ESPN 1530. By the way, just a point of clarification. We were talking about Dan Hicks. His last Notre Dame broadcast was on October the 10th. Noah Eagle called the Notre Dame Miami game. And the only reason I know that is Noah Eagle then had to spell Mike Tirico. in Chicago on Sunday night, and obviously South Bend, Chicago, no real travel issue there. So Dan Hicks' last Notre Dame broadcast was on October the 10th, but nonetheless, a remarkable career and gone too soon at the age of 65. I've read a lot of the tributes from colleagues of his and people in the industry, and they've all been extraordinarily touching. Tomorrow, we're not on because Bengals Pep Rally takes our place. So get the Friday off. But busy Saturday, UC football pregame show at 11 o'clock before UC and Iowa State and then filling in for Dan on the Bearcat basketball game on Saturday evening as UC takes on Dayton. Really looking forward to that, and hopefully you're in the audience for at least some of that. Holy Grail on Sunday at 3 o'clock with Tony and Austin is going to be a lot of fun. We started the week by giving away on Monday, we announced the winner of the Kegger with Egger contest. And we had a lot of folks sign up. Big Red Appliances and Mattresses gave us a kegerator to give away and $ 500 from the party source as well. So our winner could stock his kegerator with a couple of kegs. Big Red Appliances and Mattresses is doing something related to the football season that is going to come out either tomorrow or Saturday. I think, frankly, you'll hear about this on this radio station on Saturday. But it's a really awesome promotion. And it's Bengals related. I could say that. And I need you to keep your ears and eyes open for that. And we'll certainly talk about it in greater detail next week. But that's Big Red Appliances and Mattresses, Florence and Milford. This will be a lot of fun. And it's Bengals related. And it's going to make you want to go buy your appliances or mattresses or your kegerators. at Big Red Appliances and Mattresses. I've talked about this with some of our guests. I love the Bengals' chances on Sunday, and I have concerns about what they're going to do on defense because the ceiling for this defense doesn't seem to be that high. Now, the floor is higher, and you cannot deny how great Dexter Lawrence has been, for the most part, how great Boye Mafe has been. But there's still something to be desired on the back end of the defense. And I agree with Jay Morris. And I think Josh Newton, especially for a guy who was deep in the doghouse, has shown some flashes. But the way this offense is playing right now, it's the productivity, but it's also they know who they are. And against Pittsburgh in the first game and for the first five and a half games of the season, it felt like they were trying to be something they're not. Under center. Look, they're at their best when Joe is in the gun and he's got Jamar and he's got T and he's got the ancillary weapons. But operating that way to me is a lot more sustainable because Joe Burrow is playing behind a good offensive line. Now, is it an infallible offensive line? No, but it's a good offensive line. And so we've said often like, you know, Joe throwing it 50 times isn't necessarily a recipe for success. And I don't disagree. You want to run the ball. They ran the ball pretty effectively against the Atlanta Falcons. But I think there's something like we talk all the time about teams and sports. Do they have an identity? What's your identity? The Bengals tried to form a second identity. Kelsey Conway and I had this conversation this offseason about how they want to be a multiple identity offense. And maybe they still can be. But since halftime of the Baltimore game, they have leaned into who they are, and the results have spoken for themselves. They were unbelievable on offense in the second half against Baltimore. They were mostly really good. They were their biggest enemy against the Tennessee Titans, and they were very good against the Atlanta Falcons. Joe is in the gun. He's diagnosing. He's making his reads. He's getting the ball to Joe, or he's getting the ball to Jamar, and he's getting the ball to T. And then the other guys will eat, too. What I like about the Bengals right now compared to week three against Pittsburgh is it feels like they're no longer trying to jam a square peg into a round hole. They know who they are and what they are has been really good. And they could be this way because their offensive line is really good. And by the way, if you go back to that first Pittsburgh game, though they lost, Amarius Mims had his way with TJ Watt. Hopefully that continues. And the Bengals special team since week three has been really good. against Pittsburgh, roughing the punter, and a muffed punt. Those things go away. Bengals continue to lean into who they are on offense. They win. They cover. They're in first place by themselves. And we have a victory Monday at Twin Peaks in Westchester. Cannot wait. Have a great weekend. Thanks to Taryn for producing. This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station. 01:42:58 Speaker 13: Hey, it's.