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Speaker 1: ESPN 1530, Cincinnati Sports Station.
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Speaker 2: Damn straight, what's up? Good afternoon, I'm Mo Eggers.
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Speaker 3: This is ESPN 1530.
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Speaker 2: Thank you for listening today.
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Speaker 3: Hope you're having like the greatest Thursday afternoon ever. It has been wet and cloudy and I miss the sun already. I'm ready for football. We're all ready for football, ready for pro football. Wouldn't kill me if we had a few more weeks of summer. But talking about the weather is stupid because you can't do anything about it. Jay Morrison is going to be on this show in about 10 minutes, 15 minutes. We are looking forward to that. We also Tony Husband from Apple TV on reeling.
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Speaker 2: FC Cincinnati. They are a mess right now.
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Speaker 3: There is also a very cool volleyball event happening this weekend in the tri-state and it benefits the Joe Burrow Foundation. We'll have what you need to know about that coming up in about 30 minutes and in just a few. We've got one poll question out there already on Twitter, at Mo Egger. We have to get to a second, and I'll throw it out here in just a few minutes. Last couple of years on Thursdays, we've been joined on a weekly basis by our friend Robert Weintraub of Cincinnati Magazine, who writes not just a weekly Bengals column, but sometimes writes Bengals features like the one he has on Dexter Lawrence, which is Uh, fantastic. You can read it at Cincinnati magazine.com and Robert is with us now. And, uh, he shares our optimism and enthusiasm and excitement. So it's great to have him here. How are we doing, sir?
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Speaker 1: I just, uh, all I ask for this season, Mo, as we embark on yet another weekly adventure is that, uh, you refer to me as sexy Robbie Weintraub for this season.
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Speaker 2: How much money, how much money you got?
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Speaker 1: Not nearly enough in this case. It's made for radio, and it's perfect that we're doing it in an audio medium. We'll proceed as such.
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Speaker 3: Rob the heartthrob. I mean, you know, we either need alliteration or something to rhyme.
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Speaker 1: Very well done. I'll pass that along to my significant other.
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Speaker 3: The Dexter Lawrence piece is terrific, and I encourage folks listening to go check that out at CincinnatiMagazine.com. I think there's two different Dexter Lawrence effects. One we'll see starting on Sunday as it relates to what his impact is going to be on this defense from an X's and O's perspective. But his impact on this team from an emotional standpoint, a mental standpoint, what he's done for the fan base, the dude hasn't played a meaningful snap yet, and I feel like he's been here for years.
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Speaker 1: It's really amazing, isn't it? And you refer to the piece. Thank you so much. And that's sort of what I was trying to uncover when I spent some time with him over the summer. Uh, just his background. I met up with Dexter in his hometown, Wake Forest, North Carolina. And, you know, he had a little football camp there going in, but mainly it was just, just to see him in his natural element. And, uh, you know, all his friends and family were there and everybody was really positive. And I can't begin to tell you how, you know, how overjoyed everybody was that he was getting out of New York and going to play with what they would term a real quarterback in Cincinnati. And he was so devoted to it just from day one. I mean, I think we know, you know, he came there to sign his contract and he basically didn't leave for weeks after that. And he's bringing that same sort of You know, what I saw in him over the summer, which was not just a really humble, approachable, friendly guy, but somebody who's really looking forward to, I think, the second act of his career, who wants to show people that, you know, as great a person and player that he's been in New York, you know, the team's there. I think his overall record was something like 36 and 80 at one time. I mean, it's a team game, but he wants to show that he's still got it, you know, and I think As we've seen all summer, as you mentioned, he hasn't played a meaningful snap yet. We'll see how it really shakes out come the actual games. But he's just had a salutary effect on everybody on both sides of the ball. He's made the offense sharper because of the incredible energy and destructive force that he brings as a player. He's brought the locker room together. Everybody kind of wants to not only be around him, but I just think he's so huge that the natural orbit effect comes into play, you know? And it's really going to be fascinating to see just what an impact he has, not just in terms of wins and losses, but just as a leader on the team and as a player, everybody looks to really set the standard along with Joe Burrow.
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Speaker 3: Amid all the optimism, if there's one reason for hesitancy, what is it?
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Speaker 1: Well, you know, I guess we have to separate out the fact that just as a Bengal fan, you're naturally pessimistic, right? Especially guys like you and I have seen a lot of things. It's like we've been in battle together. We don't want to talk about the PTSD. But leaving that aside, certainly anything can happen. You know, I think the Bengals... If there's one thing I take away from the last three years is that they're a little overdue for some good luck, finally. I mean, you know, we've seen a lot of bad tackling and bad play and bad things happen, but a lot of bad luck, too, over the last few years. And I think they're due for some good stuff. Now, certainly there's some hesitation, some skepticism about various aspects of the roster. And you look at the linebackers, are they really going to both in their second year, Barry Carter and Demetrius Knight, become good players or take a step forward? Is their depth really cornerback and the offensive line really not going to come into play at some point this season? We saw the first game last night and already you've got a quarterback and a great wide receiver go down for varying lengths of time. It's inevitable it's going to happen. Hopefully not to Joe Burrow, but you're going to wind up testing your reserves. No question about it. Can the Bengals' reserves stand up to it? I think overall, my main thing is, as you mentioned a little bit earlier, the intangibles this offseason have been so good for once, and the vibes have been so high. And the schedule overall plays out and looks to be very easy at FTN Almanac. We mentioned it was the easiest, perhaps, in the league, but that's on paper. And it's front-loaded. And what happens to the Bengals if they trip up, as they want to do? We've sort of put that talking point on the back burner after they won a couple of September games last year, finally. But they have Houston and Pittsburgh and Tampa won't be easy. And the Ravens looming right after an early bye. What happens if they go 2-4? And are the veterans that they added strong enough to offset what could be You know, a shake in the foundation of those great vibes. I guess that's where I'm most leery about heading into the season. And we'll just have to see how it plays out. But, you know, it's obviously better than in years past when they've, you know, been coming into seasons with all kinds of bad vibes. And you're just shaking your head wondering, yeah, we're going to spend the fall. And it turned out to be the case.
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Speaker 3: Robert Weintraub is with us. Mentioned FTN Fantasy, their annual almanac. If you haven't gotten it yet, Robert wrote the Bengals chapter on top of some other things. So get that as well. Read his weekly Bengals column and his Dexter Lawrence feature at CincinnatiMagazine.com. You look at things through an advanced analytics lens. And so the whole Joe Burrow going under center thing, we get it. They want to be more explosive. They want more play action. They want to run the ball more effectively. Um, from your perspective, is this going to work? And if it doesn't at the beginning, are they really going to commit to it?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really the $ 64, 000 question, isn't it? I mean, whether it's going to work is hard to say. It's been such a small sample size. It hasn't worked at all. But they haven't really tried it enough to really make any determination one way or the other. Joe Burrow is who he is because of how he plays out of the shotgun. And the real question going forward is they spent the whole summer working on it. What's going to happen, as I mentioned, you know, what happens if they get off to a slow start? A lot of that could result or stem from the fact that the office doesn't play that great. And the under center is a little clunky early. And they're going to be relying on players who are either young and haven't done it before or veterans who are, you know, kind of prized for their pass blocking and not necessarily their play action. Excuse me, under center, you know, kind of way that their scheme is going to play out. We'll see. And it's really easy to envision a scenario where they don't really love what they're seeing and just kind of default back into what's worked in the past. And, you know, that isn't necessarily a bad thing because they've been so good in the under burrow in, in shotgun formations, but they spent so much time and there's been such talk about, you know, getting more multiple, getting more explosive and trying to finally get them play action into this offense, which they'd never really had before. That in and of itself would feel like a bit of a defeat if they backtrack from it after a few games. And the only way that playing under center really works is if you fully commit to it, right? You can't just tiptoe into it. You've got to kind of cannonball into the deep end of the pool. And it's really going to be sort of a major thing to watch this season, along with how that newly built defense comes together, is do they fully commit to this game? new style playing will they go with a lot of multiple tight ends at once will they really be under center for large sections of of the game and if bad things start to happen will they go away from it just go back to their comfort zone be very interesting to watch.
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Speaker 3: The the fun thing about the preseason was watching the rookies watching you know players in this draft class make make make a case to be on the teams certainly for the guys picked later but you know show some indication that they might be able to help can this can this collection of rookies actually help this.
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Speaker 1: Team Yeah, I mean, you know, they're definitely going to have to, I think, at some point in terms of just becoming a better depth than they've had in the past. A lot of times kind of dip into the practice squad and sign guys off the street when frontline players go down. And hopefully that won't be the case. And I think we've seen, at least in the preseason and in training camp, a lot of these backend players like a Landon Robinson or Jack and these might have some things to offer. If they're called upon, you hope they don't get up called about too much. I think, you know, certainly not having, you know, like Dexter Lawrence is sort of your number one pick, right? So that doesn't really factor in. He's going to contribute. There's no doubt about that. Cash is how I don't think there's any question. They're going to use him as much possible. They're going to try and find reasons to get him on the field. And certainly to Kario Davis is going to play regardless of, you know, what the health looks like in front of him, they're going to have packages for him. The good news is they're not going to rely on these guys quite as much as they had. I mean, remember last year, they started two rookies on opening day and a third Barry Carter obviously came in and played quite a bit for better or worse. You know, you never want to be in that particular scenario. You want to have like, Hey, these guys can add something in a limited role in certain packages and things that we've designed to exploit what they do best. And not just like they did last year with Knight and Carter and to a certain extent, Fairchild. Just throw them in there and it's like, okay, guys, it's up to you now. Sink or swim. And that's really the key element is how they contribute and how little they're really asked to do outside of their comfort zone. I think they're poised in this particular scenario to do well. Of course, it's We haven't even played a game yet. We'll see how that plays out. We'll see how the front-line starters play in terms of keeping their health. That's really the key element, as it is for every team.
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Speaker 2: Looking forward to talking next week already. Thank you so much, as always.
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Speaker 1: Excellent. Thank you, Mo. And let's, let's do it for what? 20 plus weeks.
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Speaker 3: We'll be talking about Rob, the heartthrob or whatever we refer to, but around Valentine's day, it's going to be great.
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Speaker 1: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: Right.
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Speaker 1: At Valentine's day would be nice. And my birthday is the week after I can think of no better birthday present than to tell you to talk in Superbowl with you, Mo. That's my dream. Terrific.
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Speaker 3: Sign me up for that. Robert Weintraub, Cincinnati magazine.com. Read his Dexter Lawrence feature. You will love it, Rob.
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Speaker 2: Thank you as always.
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Speaker 1: Thank you, Mo. Take care.
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Speaker 2: We also love our guy, Jay Morrison. He'll join us next.
00:12:34
Speaker 1: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
00:12:38
Speaker 2: Traffic.
00:12:39
Speaker 3: From the UC Health Traffic Center, UC Health has been helping Cincinnati thrive for 200 years and not stopping now.
00:12:46
Speaker 2: Find the groundbreaking care you need at uchealth.com.
Speaker 1: ESPN 1530, Cincinnati Sports Station.
00:00:04
Speaker 2: Damn straight, what's up? Good afternoon, I'm Mo Eggers.
00:00:06
Speaker 3: This is ESPN 1530.
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Speaker 2: Thank you for listening today.
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Speaker 3: Hope you're having like the greatest Thursday afternoon ever. It has been wet and cloudy and I miss the sun already. I'm ready for football. We're all ready for football, ready for pro football. Wouldn't kill me if we had a few more weeks of summer. But talking about the weather is stupid because you can't do anything about it. Jay Morrison is going to be on this show in about 10 minutes, 15 minutes. We are looking forward to that. We also Tony Husband from Apple TV on reeling.
00:00:42
Speaker 2: FC Cincinnati. They are a mess right now.
00:00:46
Speaker 3: There is also a very cool volleyball event happening this weekend in the tri-state and it benefits the Joe Burrow Foundation. We'll have what you need to know about that coming up in about 30 minutes and in just a few. We've got one poll question out there already on Twitter, at Mo Egger. We have to get to a second, and I'll throw it out here in just a few minutes. Last couple of years on Thursdays, we've been joined on a weekly basis by our friend Robert Weintraub of Cincinnati Magazine, who writes not just a weekly Bengals column, but sometimes writes Bengals features like the one he has on Dexter Lawrence, which is Uh, fantastic. You can read it at Cincinnati magazine.com and Robert is with us now. And, uh, he shares our optimism and enthusiasm and excitement. So it's great to have him here. How are we doing, sir?
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Speaker 1: I just, uh, all I ask for this season, Mo, as we embark on yet another weekly adventure is that, uh, you refer to me as sexy Robbie Weintraub for this season.
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Speaker 2: How much money, how much money you got?
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Speaker 1: Not nearly enough in this case. It's made for radio, and it's perfect that we're doing it in an audio medium. We'll proceed as such.
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Speaker 3: Rob the heartthrob. I mean, you know, we either need alliteration or something to rhyme.
00:02:05
Speaker 1: Very well done. I'll pass that along to my significant other.
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Speaker 3: The Dexter Lawrence piece is terrific, and I encourage folks listening to go check that out at CincinnatiMagazine.com. I think there's two different Dexter Lawrence effects. One we'll see starting on Sunday as it relates to what his impact is going to be on this defense from an X's and O's perspective. But his impact on this team from an emotional standpoint, a mental standpoint, what he's done for the fan base, the dude hasn't played a meaningful snap yet, and I feel like he's been here for years.
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Speaker 1: It's really amazing, isn't it? And you refer to the piece. Thank you so much. And that's sort of what I was trying to uncover when I spent some time with him over the summer. Uh, just his background. I met up with Dexter in his hometown, Wake Forest, North Carolina. And, you know, he had a little football camp there going in, but mainly it was just, just to see him in his natural element. And, uh, you know, all his friends and family were there and everybody was really positive. And I can't begin to tell you how, you know, how overjoyed everybody was that he was getting out of New York and going to play with what they would term a real quarterback in Cincinnati. And he was so devoted to it just from day one. I mean, I think we know, you know, he came there to sign his contract and he basically didn't leave for weeks after that. And he's bringing that same sort of You know, what I saw in him over the summer, which was not just a really humble, approachable, friendly guy, but somebody who's really looking forward to, I think, the second act of his career, who wants to show people that, you know, as great a person and player that he's been in New York, you know, the team's there. I think his overall record was something like 36 and 80 at one time. I mean, it's a team game, but he wants to show that he's still got it, you know, and I think As we've seen all summer, as you mentioned, he hasn't played a meaningful snap yet. We'll see how it really shakes out come the actual games. But he's just had a salutary effect on everybody on both sides of the ball. He's made the offense sharper because of the incredible energy and destructive force that he brings as a player. He's brought the locker room together. Everybody kind of wants to not only be around him, but I just think he's so huge that the natural orbit effect comes into play, you know? And it's really going to be fascinating to see just what an impact he has, not just in terms of wins and losses, but just as a leader on the team and as a player, everybody looks to really set the standard along with Joe Burrow.
00:04:36
Speaker 3: Amid all the optimism, if there's one reason for hesitancy, what is it?
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Speaker 1: Well, you know, I guess we have to separate out the fact that just as a Bengal fan, you're naturally pessimistic, right? Especially guys like you and I have seen a lot of things. It's like we've been in battle together. We don't want to talk about the PTSD. But leaving that aside, certainly anything can happen. You know, I think the Bengals... If there's one thing I take away from the last three years is that they're a little overdue for some good luck, finally. I mean, you know, we've seen a lot of bad tackling and bad play and bad things happen, but a lot of bad luck, too, over the last few years. And I think they're due for some good stuff. Now, certainly there's some hesitation, some skepticism about various aspects of the roster. And you look at the linebackers, are they really going to both in their second year, Barry Carter and Demetrius Knight, become good players or take a step forward? Is their depth really cornerback and the offensive line really not going to come into play at some point this season? We saw the first game last night and already you've got a quarterback and a great wide receiver go down for varying lengths of time. It's inevitable it's going to happen. Hopefully not to Joe Burrow, but you're going to wind up testing your reserves. No question about it. Can the Bengals' reserves stand up to it? I think overall, my main thing is, as you mentioned a little bit earlier, the intangibles this offseason have been so good for once, and the vibes have been so high. And the schedule overall plays out and looks to be very easy at FTN Almanac. We mentioned it was the easiest, perhaps, in the league, but that's on paper. And it's front-loaded. And what happens to the Bengals if they trip up, as they want to do? We've sort of put that talking point on the back burner after they won a couple of September games last year, finally. But they have Houston and Pittsburgh and Tampa won't be easy. And the Ravens looming right after an early bye. What happens if they go 2-4? And are the veterans that they added strong enough to offset what could be You know, a shake in the foundation of those great vibes. I guess that's where I'm most leery about heading into the season. And we'll just have to see how it plays out. But, you know, it's obviously better than in years past when they've, you know, been coming into seasons with all kinds of bad vibes. And you're just shaking your head wondering, yeah, we're going to spend the fall. And it turned out to be the case.
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Speaker 3: Robert Weintraub is with us. Mentioned FTN Fantasy, their annual almanac. If you haven't gotten it yet, Robert wrote the Bengals chapter on top of some other things. So get that as well. Read his weekly Bengals column and his Dexter Lawrence feature at CincinnatiMagazine.com. You look at things through an advanced analytics lens. And so the whole Joe Burrow going under center thing, we get it. They want to be more explosive. They want more play action. They want to run the ball more effectively. Um, from your perspective, is this going to work? And if it doesn't at the beginning, are they really going to commit to it?
00:07:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's really the $ 64, 000 question, isn't it? I mean, whether it's going to work is hard to say. It's been such a small sample size. It hasn't worked at all. But they haven't really tried it enough to really make any determination one way or the other. Joe Burrow is who he is because of how he plays out of the shotgun. And the real question going forward is they spent the whole summer working on it. What's going to happen, as I mentioned, you know, what happens if they get off to a slow start? A lot of that could result or stem from the fact that the office doesn't play that great. And the under center is a little clunky early. And they're going to be relying on players who are either young and haven't done it before or veterans who are, you know, kind of prized for their pass blocking and not necessarily their play action. Excuse me, under center, you know, kind of way that their scheme is going to play out. We'll see. And it's really easy to envision a scenario where they don't really love what they're seeing and just kind of default back into what's worked in the past. And, you know, that isn't necessarily a bad thing because they've been so good in the under burrow in, in shotgun formations, but they spent so much time and there's been such talk about, you know, getting more multiple, getting more explosive and trying to finally get them play action into this offense, which they'd never really had before. That in and of itself would feel like a bit of a defeat if they backtrack from it after a few games. And the only way that playing under center really works is if you fully commit to it, right? You can't just tiptoe into it. You've got to kind of cannonball into the deep end of the pool. And it's really going to be sort of a major thing to watch this season, along with how that newly built defense comes together, is do they fully commit to this game? new style playing will they go with a lot of multiple tight ends at once will they really be under center for large sections of of the game and if bad things start to happen will they go away from it just go back to their comfort zone be very interesting to watch.
00:09:49
Speaker 3: The the fun thing about the preseason was watching the rookies watching you know players in this draft class make make make a case to be on the teams certainly for the guys picked later but you know show some indication that they might be able to help can this can this collection of rookies actually help this.
00:10:06
Speaker 1: Team Yeah, I mean, you know, they're definitely going to have to, I think, at some point in terms of just becoming a better depth than they've had in the past. A lot of times kind of dip into the practice squad and sign guys off the street when frontline players go down. And hopefully that won't be the case. And I think we've seen, at least in the preseason and in training camp, a lot of these backend players like a Landon Robinson or Jack and these might have some things to offer. If they're called upon, you hope they don't get up called about too much. I think, you know, certainly not having, you know, like Dexter Lawrence is sort of your number one pick, right? So that doesn't really factor in. He's going to contribute. There's no doubt about that. Cash is how I don't think there's any question. They're going to use him as much possible. They're going to try and find reasons to get him on the field. And certainly to Kario Davis is going to play regardless of, you know, what the health looks like in front of him, they're going to have packages for him. The good news is they're not going to rely on these guys quite as much as they had. I mean, remember last year, they started two rookies on opening day and a third Barry Carter obviously came in and played quite a bit for better or worse. You know, you never want to be in that particular scenario. You want to have like, Hey, these guys can add something in a limited role in certain packages and things that we've designed to exploit what they do best. And not just like they did last year with Knight and Carter and to a certain extent, Fairchild. Just throw them in there and it's like, okay, guys, it's up to you now. Sink or swim. And that's really the key element is how they contribute and how little they're really asked to do outside of their comfort zone. I think they're poised in this particular scenario to do well. Of course, it's We haven't even played a game yet. We'll see how that plays out. We'll see how the front-line starters play in terms of keeping their health. That's really the key element, as it is for every team.
00:11:59
Speaker 2: Looking forward to talking next week already. Thank you so much, as always.
00:12:03
Speaker 1: Excellent. Thank you, Mo. And let's, let's do it for what? 20 plus weeks.
00:12:09
Speaker 3: We'll be talking about Rob, the heartthrob or whatever we refer to, but around Valentine's day, it's going to be great.
00:12:14
Speaker 1: Yeah.
00:12:14
Speaker 3: Right.
00:12:15
Speaker 1: At Valentine's day would be nice. And my birthday is the week after I can think of no better birthday present than to tell you to talk in Superbowl with you, Mo. That's my dream. Terrific.
00:12:22
Speaker 3: Sign me up for that. Robert Weintraub, Cincinnati magazine.com. Read his Dexter Lawrence feature. You will love it, Rob.
00:12:28
Speaker 2: Thank you as always.
00:12:29
Speaker 1: Thank you, Mo. Take care.
00:12:30
Speaker 2: We also love our guy, Jay Morrison. He'll join us next.
00:12:34
Speaker 1: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
00:12:38
Speaker 2: Traffic.
00:12:39
Speaker 3: From the UC Health Traffic Center, UC Health has been helping Cincinnati thrive for 200 years and not stopping now.
00:12:46
Speaker 2: Find the groundbreaking care you need at uchealth.com.
