00:00:01
Speaker 1: This is Football in the Natty. Brought to you in part by Skyline Chili. ESPN 1530. The official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
00:00:11
Speaker 2: On Wednesdays, we're joined by our buddy Kelsey Conway of The Enquirer and Cincinnati.com. And I just noticed we lost her. Did something happen? I just looked over at line seven. There's Kelsey. I'll answer it live on the air. Hi, Kelsey.
00:00:28
Speaker 3: Kelsey?
00:00:30
Speaker 2: Hello? Hello? Hey, Kelsey, you're on the radio right now. How's it going?
00:00:35
Speaker 3: Great. Sorry, it sounds like the service might be going in and out at Paycor.
00:00:40
Speaker 2: Oh, man. Well, maybe the next wave of stadium upgrades, they'll upgrade the Wi-Fi or the cell service or whatever they have to do. But you sound amazing. It's awesome to have you. Is Joe Burrows back okay?
00:00:53
Speaker 3: It sounds like it. So today, when we got out for practice during a 30-minute window that the media is allowed to observe practice, going.
00:01:06
Speaker 3: Which he always does, and they were stretching on a different field. So it was pretty obvious that he wasn't over there. But I still was like, okay, that's weird, but you obviously want to wait and see how something plays out before you jump the gun. And then I was watching him, and he was doing all these fake handoffs. And the most I ever saw him throw was to one of the equipment guys, and it was maybe two or three yards. And so when the team finished stretching, I watched all the quarterbacks go over, and Mike Gesicki is the only receiver that they passed to at that part in practice.
00:01:42
Speaker 2: And he.
00:01:45
Speaker 3: I watched all of them throw to Mike Kosicki and he was the only one that didn't, didn't throw to him. So at that point I was like, okay, I haven't seen him throw a pass. He didn't go through stretch. Something must be going on. And so he came in and obviously, you know, we've covered a number of these unfortunate injury press conferences with Joe. And I will say like his demeanor is, made me feel like he's okay and that this is something that obviously popped up and they're just being super precautionary with it. His demeanor was definitely something I noticed that was positive. I even saw him go over and sit with Joe Flacco at the chess table in the locker room instead of typically just when he sits by himself at the locker. So we'll see how he progresses if he practices at all the rest of the week or they just play it ultra safe and don't make him practice. But it seemed like He was in good spirits today. And that's what I'll say about how he acted at the press conference.
00:02:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, we carried the press conference live and he did enough to me to make me feel a little bit better. And at the end of the day, as you know, that's that's all I care about. I was taking cues from his body language as much as anything. And I watched him and I listened to him. And now I feel I feel OK. Is that fair?
00:03:01
Speaker 3: Yes, and I felt the same way. And like I said, unfortunately, we've become masters at reading Joe Burrow's body language through all this. And I will also say that. because it's Joe and because of the injury history, I'd like to give Zach Taylor and the Bengals the benefit of the doubt. I do think if it was a significant injury about Joe, Zach would have addressed it a little bit more on Monday. He specifically said when asked how, how did the team come out? He said pretty clean. There'll be a few guys limited to start the week, but otherwise pretty clean. I, I, I feel like we, we know Zach Taylor enough to know if it were Joe Burrow or Because they have to turn in the injury report every week, so you can't really hide it. So from that standpoint, it's not like a gamesmanship thing. So I think that Joe Burrows, the way he handled the press conference, his mood and just his body language, and then also... They still had him speak to the media, which they don't have to. So if a player doesn't practice, he does not have to talk to the media. So all of these context clues are leading me to believe that this isn't a huge deal. And obviously, you know, we have to circle the asterisks around anytime he's on the injury report. But I think all of those things make me feel like we should believe him at his word today and that he is going to be able to play. And this isn't something major.
00:04:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's well said. The remarkable thing about this team to me for weeks has been exactly that, that they are insanely healthy. Now, you know, there's guys dealing with bumps and bruises and stuff like that, but Jamar Stewart on day one aside, and I guess the Jamar Chase brief injury scare toward the end of training camp aside, They got through training camp remarkably healthy, the preseason remarkably healthy. If you looked at the week one injury report, it was mostly blank. That to me is why there's such a premium on these games early in the season because you have to take advantage of health while you have it. Absolutely.
00:04:59
Speaker 3: And that's why winning against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was so huge because I didn't have them winning week one and week two. I had, I think Houston's defense is going to be, obviously Buffalo had some success with, with them, but they're going to make adjustments and I don't have them winning this game. I didn't pick them to win against Houston in my game by game picks. But like you said, that's why that win on Sunday was huge because also like Even if Joe, he might not publicly say it, but even if he is a little bit, you know, hampered. you needed to take advantage of what he was at full strength. And I also think we're going to eventually get to a point when it's still too fresh because of what happened last season, but he does like, and I asked him, I said, have you had to get mentally stronger to deal with these injuries? So you don't feel like every time you get injured, the sky is falling and your season's going to end. And he said, it's like, it's essentially what they signed up for. He was like, we've been dealing with playing tackle football since we were little kids. So I do think at some point, um, Depending on how these things shake out, and it's too early to tell and it's too fresh last year, but at some point, any time he comes up on the injury report, I do feel like it's going to become not as much of a panic moment. But right now, we can't do that yet because three of his six seasons have ended in surgeries. So I'm wondering if this is going to be the one where it's like, okay, we can actually believe him when he says it's not that big of a deal. And next time you see him on the injury report, if he doesn't practice on a Wednesday, but practices on Thursday and Friday and plays well on Sunday. I think the like tenseness that comes with like fans who probably see it or media members who see it as like, okay, you know, he does play a position where he's going to get hit. You know, there's going to be times around Wednesdays. He's really sore and he can't practice. So I'm wondering if this is going to be that moment where we're like, okay, every time he's on the injury report, there doesn't need to be this widespread panic.
00:06:53
Speaker 2: I would just have Joe Burrow not practice.
00:06:57
Speaker 3: Well, he does. But to that point, Mo, I heard you on the Growler podcast, and you were talking about just how good the offense looks for week one standards. We have seen him. He does need practice. He does need reps. And so although he does have a ton of banked reps with his receivers and the offensive linemen, and they returned all 11 starters, if there were a quarterback who could probably get away with not practicing, it could be Joe. But we've seen it. He really needs the reps. to go out and play at a really high level. So unfortunately for him, it's not the matter of he can just become the non-practice on Wednesday type of guy. He likes the reps and he needs them to be at his best. So we'll see how they manage this because sometimes backs can be tricky. So definitely something to talk about, to monitor, and we'll see what they do the rest of the week.
00:07:45
Speaker 2: The one thing you can hang your hat on is like, number one, they're, they're, they're built around, they're built around the idea that Joe doesn't have to be Superman every week, but also they'll be putting him behind an offensive line that I thought, I thought deserved more than a passing grade on Sunday against Tampa Bay.
00:08:01
Speaker 3: Absolutely. And I think that that confidence that group got, I don't think you can put a price tag on confidence like they know other than the linebackers. I think the Bengals offensive line was the biggest punching bag during the preseason as far as people saying things and people blowing training camp Twitter highlights out of out of proportion. And I know that there was a little bit of edge there. you know, from Ted Karras in Orlando, you know, seeing that. So I think that they can, the way that they went out and dominated, I think can only help set them up for what's going to be an absolutely daunting task in Houston. And Dan pitcher said today, when we asked how was Buffalo able to score 30 plus on the NFL's best defense last year? And he said, yeah, Josh Allen has a lot to do with it, but he said they also don't play with any fear. And that's why I think when I say like the confidence could be really important for the offensive line is there will, there won't be any fear from Cincinnati's offensive line going on the road against Will Anderson, Daniel Hunter, Javion Clowney. Like they feel really good. They went up against a good defensive front in Tampa. they feel like they can take it to anybody because of the way that they played in week one. And I think that that sets themselves up for this matchup better than anyone could imagine because it is going to be a tough task. I've been in that dome. It gets really loud. And if those edge rushers get going early, it can be really hard. And especially now with this injury, right? So you got to got to say of all games that they're going to really need to protect Joe. I think that's probably at the top of everybody's mind. So we'll see, we'll see what they do because they, you know, they're going to have to be able to run the ball because they can't sit and throw 50 passes against this defense. It's just not the recipe for success. But at the same time, you heard Dan pitcher, Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor all say, we can't have another game where Jamar Chase only gets you know, two touches. So we'll see what type of balance they have because that's what makes this this week fascinating there's a lot of different storylines now that all kind of center around joe burrow's health.
00:10:00
Speaker 2: Yeah you know you it's the pass rush it's a team that lost at home last week back at home this week there's a level of desperation that scares me but if if if you if they win then you have to pick against him against pittsburgh next week okay.
00:10:15
Speaker 3: Absolutely I thought I was going to get some.
00:10:20
Speaker 2: Pushback to that. You were compliant, so I guess so. I guess that'll work.
00:10:25
Speaker 3: I'll take one for the team, okay? Even though I don't think my words have absolutely anything to do with anything, but we'll have some fun with that.
00:10:32
Speaker 2: We'll find out that you motivated them by picking against them after the fact. Thank you, as always. Enjoy Houston.
00:10:40
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Mo.
00:10:41
Speaker 2: That's our friend Kelsey Conway, host of the Beyond Sunday podcast, as well as covering the Bengals for The Inquirer and Cincinnati.com. By the way, here's how I know Joe Burrow is OK. I have not yet seen, by the way, the official injury report for either the Bengals or the Texans. Here's how here's why I believe he's OK. The line hasn't moved. FanDuel.com this morning had them at two and a half point dogs. They remain two and a half point dogs. No line movement based on Joe Burrow's back tightness, money line plus 132. This is a tough one. I think when the season, when the schedule came out, look, they're still projected to be favored if you count last week in 15 of 17 games, how the season unfolds will impact that. But if there was a game early that most of us jotted down as a possible loss maybe more than possible it was this one i still need to see more from houston's offense before i believe that the bengals don't beat the texans now again if joe looks a little stiff if he looks like the back is bothering him then you know maybe all bets are off i don't know i do think i'm going to grab the number I think from a wagering perspective, and this is independent of fandom, I might see if this climbs a little bit. Maybe based on Joe's back as the week moves on. The contractually obligated airing of Zach Taylor's weekly press conference is coming up. I know you're excited for that. After sports headlines on ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
00:12:26
Speaker 1: You've been listening to Football in the Natty on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 1: This is Football in the Natty. Brought to you in part by Skyline Chili. ESPN 1530. The official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
00:00:11
Speaker 2: On Wednesdays, we're joined by our buddy Kelsey Conway of The Enquirer and Cincinnati.com. And I just noticed we lost her. Did something happen? I just looked over at line seven. There's Kelsey. I'll answer it live on the air. Hi, Kelsey.
00:00:28
Speaker 3: Kelsey?
00:00:30
Speaker 2: Hello? Hello? Hey, Kelsey, you're on the radio right now. How's it going?
00:00:35
Speaker 3: Great. Sorry, it sounds like the service might be going in and out at Paycor.
00:00:40
Speaker 2: Oh, man. Well, maybe the next wave of stadium upgrades, they'll upgrade the Wi-Fi or the cell service or whatever they have to do. But you sound amazing. It's awesome to have you. Is Joe Burrows back okay?
00:00:53
Speaker 3: It sounds like it. So today, when we got out for practice during a 30-minute window that the media is allowed to observe practice, going.
00:01:06
Speaker 3: Which he always does, and they were stretching on a different field. So it was pretty obvious that he wasn't over there. But I still was like, okay, that's weird, but you obviously want to wait and see how something plays out before you jump the gun. And then I was watching him, and he was doing all these fake handoffs. And the most I ever saw him throw was to one of the equipment guys, and it was maybe two or three yards. And so when the team finished stretching, I watched all the quarterbacks go over, and Mike Gesicki is the only receiver that they passed to at that part in practice.
00:01:42
Speaker 2: And he.
00:01:45
Speaker 3: I watched all of them throw to Mike Kosicki and he was the only one that didn't, didn't throw to him. So at that point I was like, okay, I haven't seen him throw a pass. He didn't go through stretch. Something must be going on. And so he came in and obviously, you know, we've covered a number of these unfortunate injury press conferences with Joe. And I will say like his demeanor is, made me feel like he's okay and that this is something that obviously popped up and they're just being super precautionary with it. His demeanor was definitely something I noticed that was positive. I even saw him go over and sit with Joe Flacco at the chess table in the locker room instead of typically just when he sits by himself at the locker. So we'll see how he progresses if he practices at all the rest of the week or they just play it ultra safe and don't make him practice. But it seemed like He was in good spirits today. And that's what I'll say about how he acted at the press conference.
00:02:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, we carried the press conference live and he did enough to me to make me feel a little bit better. And at the end of the day, as you know, that's that's all I care about. I was taking cues from his body language as much as anything. And I watched him and I listened to him. And now I feel I feel OK. Is that fair?
00:03:01
Speaker 3: Yes, and I felt the same way. And like I said, unfortunately, we've become masters at reading Joe Burrow's body language through all this. And I will also say that. because it's Joe and because of the injury history, I'd like to give Zach Taylor and the Bengals the benefit of the doubt. I do think if it was a significant injury about Joe, Zach would have addressed it a little bit more on Monday. He specifically said when asked how, how did the team come out? He said pretty clean. There'll be a few guys limited to start the week, but otherwise pretty clean. I, I, I feel like we, we know Zach Taylor enough to know if it were Joe Burrow or Because they have to turn in the injury report every week, so you can't really hide it. So from that standpoint, it's not like a gamesmanship thing. So I think that Joe Burrows, the way he handled the press conference, his mood and just his body language, and then also... They still had him speak to the media, which they don't have to. So if a player doesn't practice, he does not have to talk to the media. So all of these context clues are leading me to believe that this isn't a huge deal. And obviously, you know, we have to circle the asterisks around anytime he's on the injury report. But I think all of those things make me feel like we should believe him at his word today and that he is going to be able to play. And this isn't something major.
00:04:23
Speaker 2: Yeah, no, that's well said. The remarkable thing about this team to me for weeks has been exactly that, that they are insanely healthy. Now, you know, there's guys dealing with bumps and bruises and stuff like that, but Jamar Stewart on day one aside, and I guess the Jamar Chase brief injury scare toward the end of training camp aside, They got through training camp remarkably healthy, the preseason remarkably healthy. If you looked at the week one injury report, it was mostly blank. That to me is why there's such a premium on these games early in the season because you have to take advantage of health while you have it. Absolutely.
00:04:59
Speaker 3: And that's why winning against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was so huge because I didn't have them winning week one and week two. I had, I think Houston's defense is going to be, obviously Buffalo had some success with, with them, but they're going to make adjustments and I don't have them winning this game. I didn't pick them to win against Houston in my game by game picks. But like you said, that's why that win on Sunday was huge because also like Even if Joe, he might not publicly say it, but even if he is a little bit, you know, hampered. you needed to take advantage of what he was at full strength. And I also think we're going to eventually get to a point when it's still too fresh because of what happened last season, but he does like, and I asked him, I said, have you had to get mentally stronger to deal with these injuries? So you don't feel like every time you get injured, the sky is falling and your season's going to end. And he said, it's like, it's essentially what they signed up for. He was like, we've been dealing with playing tackle football since we were little kids. So I do think at some point, um, Depending on how these things shake out, and it's too early to tell and it's too fresh last year, but at some point, any time he comes up on the injury report, I do feel like it's going to become not as much of a panic moment. But right now, we can't do that yet because three of his six seasons have ended in surgeries. So I'm wondering if this is going to be the one where it's like, okay, we can actually believe him when he says it's not that big of a deal. And next time you see him on the injury report, if he doesn't practice on a Wednesday, but practices on Thursday and Friday and plays well on Sunday. I think the like tenseness that comes with like fans who probably see it or media members who see it as like, okay, you know, he does play a position where he's going to get hit. You know, there's going to be times around Wednesdays. He's really sore and he can't practice. So I'm wondering if this is going to be that moment where we're like, okay, every time he's on the injury report, there doesn't need to be this widespread panic.
00:06:53
Speaker 2: I would just have Joe Burrow not practice.
00:06:57
Speaker 3: Well, he does. But to that point, Mo, I heard you on the Growler podcast, and you were talking about just how good the offense looks for week one standards. We have seen him. He does need practice. He does need reps. And so although he does have a ton of banked reps with his receivers and the offensive linemen, and they returned all 11 starters, if there were a quarterback who could probably get away with not practicing, it could be Joe. But we've seen it. He really needs the reps. to go out and play at a really high level. So unfortunately for him, it's not the matter of he can just become the non-practice on Wednesday type of guy. He likes the reps and he needs them to be at his best. So we'll see how they manage this because sometimes backs can be tricky. So definitely something to talk about, to monitor, and we'll see what they do the rest of the week.
00:07:45
Speaker 2: The one thing you can hang your hat on is like, number one, they're, they're, they're built around, they're built around the idea that Joe doesn't have to be Superman every week, but also they'll be putting him behind an offensive line that I thought, I thought deserved more than a passing grade on Sunday against Tampa Bay.
00:08:01
Speaker 3: Absolutely. And I think that that confidence that group got, I don't think you can put a price tag on confidence like they know other than the linebackers. I think the Bengals offensive line was the biggest punching bag during the preseason as far as people saying things and people blowing training camp Twitter highlights out of out of proportion. And I know that there was a little bit of edge there. you know, from Ted Karras in Orlando, you know, seeing that. So I think that they can, the way that they went out and dominated, I think can only help set them up for what's going to be an absolutely daunting task in Houston. And Dan pitcher said today, when we asked how was Buffalo able to score 30 plus on the NFL's best defense last year? And he said, yeah, Josh Allen has a lot to do with it, but he said they also don't play with any fear. And that's why I think when I say like the confidence could be really important for the offensive line is there will, there won't be any fear from Cincinnati's offensive line going on the road against Will Anderson, Daniel Hunter, Javion Clowney. Like they feel really good. They went up against a good defensive front in Tampa. they feel like they can take it to anybody because of the way that they played in week one. And I think that that sets themselves up for this matchup better than anyone could imagine because it is going to be a tough task. I've been in that dome. It gets really loud. And if those edge rushers get going early, it can be really hard. And especially now with this injury, right? So you got to got to say of all games that they're going to really need to protect Joe. I think that's probably at the top of everybody's mind. So we'll see, we'll see what they do because they, you know, they're going to have to be able to run the ball because they can't sit and throw 50 passes against this defense. It's just not the recipe for success. But at the same time, you heard Dan pitcher, Joe Burrow and Zach Taylor all say, we can't have another game where Jamar Chase only gets you know, two touches. So we'll see what type of balance they have because that's what makes this this week fascinating there's a lot of different storylines now that all kind of center around joe burrow's health.
00:10:00
Speaker 2: Yeah you know you it's the pass rush it's a team that lost at home last week back at home this week there's a level of desperation that scares me but if if if you if they win then you have to pick against him against pittsburgh next week okay.
00:10:15
Speaker 3: Absolutely I thought I was going to get some.
00:10:20
Speaker 2: Pushback to that. You were compliant, so I guess so. I guess that'll work.
00:10:25
Speaker 3: I'll take one for the team, okay? Even though I don't think my words have absolutely anything to do with anything, but we'll have some fun with that.
00:10:32
Speaker 2: We'll find out that you motivated them by picking against them after the fact. Thank you, as always. Enjoy Houston.
00:10:40
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Mo.
00:10:41
Speaker 2: That's our friend Kelsey Conway, host of the Beyond Sunday podcast, as well as covering the Bengals for The Inquirer and Cincinnati.com. By the way, here's how I know Joe Burrow is OK. I have not yet seen, by the way, the official injury report for either the Bengals or the Texans. Here's how here's why I believe he's OK. The line hasn't moved. FanDuel.com this morning had them at two and a half point dogs. They remain two and a half point dogs. No line movement based on Joe Burrow's back tightness, money line plus 132. This is a tough one. I think when the season, when the schedule came out, look, they're still projected to be favored if you count last week in 15 of 17 games, how the season unfolds will impact that. But if there was a game early that most of us jotted down as a possible loss maybe more than possible it was this one i still need to see more from houston's offense before i believe that the bengals don't beat the texans now again if joe looks a little stiff if he looks like the back is bothering him then you know maybe all bets are off i don't know i do think i'm going to grab the number I think from a wagering perspective, and this is independent of fandom, I might see if this climbs a little bit. Maybe based on Joe's back as the week moves on. The contractually obligated airing of Zach Taylor's weekly press conference is coming up. I know you're excited for that. After sports headlines on ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
00:12:26
Speaker 1: You've been listening to Football in the Natty on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
