התמלול המלא של 11-10-26 - The Mo Egger Radio Show Hour 3

And you could say, well, you know, the trade fell through and then they only had about four hours. 00:05:50 Speaker 1: Like, seriously? Seriously? 00:05:52 Speaker 2: So the trade falls through and then Duke Tobin's incapable of executing another one? Doesn't have enough contacts around the league? Doesn't have the capability to multitask? Hasn't been spending recent weeks working the phones and working other front office execs for any number of possible deals that he could revisit now that this one fell through? This deal falling through is not an excuse for doing the other deals. It should not be an excuse for not doing any other deals. especially when it feels like there were players that would have made sense for this team to add at a lot of different levels of the defense. Now, if you haven't been following all day, and I'll try to make this as uncomplicated as possible. 00:06:36 Speaker 1: Paul Daner Jr. 00:06:37 Speaker 2: Was with us in the first hour, and I think did a great job of explaining it like we're nine years old. But there were reports once the deal was announced, once some of the NFL scoop masters reported the deal, that the Bengals would have lost by making this trade a 2027 compensatory third round draft pick. Overthecap.com was the first to sort of point out the fact that if they do this, not only are the Bengals giving up the sixth round pick they've agreed to send to Philadelphia, but the compensatory pick evaporates. This is a result of the offset in free agency that benefited Cincinnati largely because of the deal that Trey Hendrickson signed with the Baltimore Ravens. So this comes to light that if the Bengals execute this trade, they're going to lose a compensatory third round pick. And that's a high value pick. That's a day two pick. Like, you know, the sixth round pick, who cares? The fifth, sixth, seventh rounds of the draft in the NIL age in college football stink. Third round compensatory pick? That's hefty. That's not worth just throwing around. So the Bengals rescind the trade. So then there's this angle to it. The Bengals brand organizationally isn't awesome. I think a lot of criticisms that people level against the Bengals are very unfair. 00:08:01 Speaker 1: I think they're very outdated. 00:08:02 Speaker 2: They get accused of being cheap, behind the times, and this like uber frugal mom and pop operation. And I just, I don't think that those criticisms for the most part are really based on reality. I don't think they're cheap. I think in many ways they have modernized. And this season they've built a 6-2 football team by using some forward, more modern methods of team building. Embracing trades and stuff like that. But this won't help. Because it makes the Bengals look inept. Makes them look incompetent. Makes them look like they're ill-prepared. It makes them look like, dude, you didn't know you had a A third round compensatory pick? Or you knew you'd had it, but you didn't know you'd lose it if you made this deal? Like, I mean, let's be honest. If you were to sort of outline, hey, here's the scenario. Team A is going to make a trade with Team B. Team A is going to back out of the trade because they find out via a third party that they would lose a third round compensatory pick. The Bengals might not be the first team you expect to be Team A. But they're not going to be the 32nd. So this, just the optics of it are awful. Now, is it going to go away? If the Bengals beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night, and spoiler alert, I believe they will, no one's going to care. But let's say that the season comes, it goes, Bengals don't realize their goals, and we look back on the missed opportunity to add a piece at the trade deadline, you're going to go, Were they too preoccupied with a deal that they had to back out of because they didn't know that they would lose a compensatory third-round pick if they did it, that's not going to help. That's not going to help the brand. That's not going to soften any criticism Bengals get for how they operate. 00:10:05 Speaker 1: It's a really, really bad look. 00:10:07 Speaker 2: And so there's a few different angles here. There's what they didn't do at the deadline. And Zach Taylor said the right thing yesterday. Like Zach said, I like my team. Of course the coach is going to say that. I'm sure he does like his team. By the way, I like his team. But you could like your team and still want it to be better. I mean, in the history of sports, has there ever been a team that you were like, you know what, couldn't use a guy? Like, dude, come on. 00:10:32 Speaker 1: So there's what they didn't do, which is they didn't get better. 00:10:38 Speaker 2: That is inarguable. There's what happened around them. Denver feels like it's better. Jacksonville feels like it's better. Buffalo feels like it's better. The Chiefs, KC feels like it's better. Then there's the Bengals. They're going to say they like their team, but isn't it at least a little disappointing, especially on the heels of hearing about how all in they are, that they didn't go make one more move. By the way, I think we all agreed when training camp started, great off season, but we all kind of wish they would have made one more move. If that was the case in July, I don't think 6-2 changes that. I don't think 6-2 changes that when you know what's happened with Cassius Howe, when you look at some of the other pieces at edge, when you see the deficiencies they have at linebacker, when you see how thin they are in the secondary, when you see the need for a slot corner, which, by the way, another need that goes back to the beginning of the offseason. It just, and you can tell me if I'm wrong, it feels disappointing. It's not disqualifying. Nobody is crossing the Bengals off the list of AFC contenders. But wouldn't you have felt at least a little bit better about their chances had they done something? And wasn't the fact that they nearly made a trade with the Eagles

acknowledgement that they knew they needed to do something? 00:11:52 Speaker 1: But they didn't. So now what? I also believe this, man. 00:11:58 Speaker 2: For years, one of my biggest criticisms of Duke Tobin has been not so much what he does or doesn't do with the roster. 00:12:04 Speaker 1: He's had his successes. He's had his failures. Um, it's that nobody knows who he is. 00:12:12 Speaker 2: I'm, I'm exaggerating here, but like for years, I've talked about how like NFL head coach is part of his job as press secretary. He's the only person who has an obligation to speak to the media during the season, three days a week after games on Sunday, on Mondays, on Wednesdays, and at times has to answer questions that he has very little. 00:12:34 Speaker 1: To do with. 00:12:35 Speaker 2: So, um, You know, last year we talked about this a lot, like Duke's got to talk. And to his credit, he did. And it was OK. Like he didn't love everything that he said. He talked a lot about how he traded for Joe Flacco. But it's like this is the sort of thing that should happen with a little bit more regularity. Doesn't have to happen on a monthly basis. Doesn't have to happen every week during the season. But tomorrow, Zach Taylor is going to meet with the media, which he does every Wednesday. And invariably, I'm sure someone's going to ask about the trade that didn't happen. Zach Taylor is not responsible for the trade not happening. He wouldn't have been responsible for the trade happening. Nothing to do with it. Guy's got his hands full game planning for the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. Duke Tobin should do the right thing tomorrow and show up and answer questions. 00:13:24 Speaker 1: And maybe it's a simple admission. You know what? I screwed up. 00:13:28 Speaker 2: I think most of us will move on. Maybe it's an explanation that we go, yeah, okay, it makes sense. Maybe he makes, I don't know, but I, I think it's a pretty crummy thing to do to tell Zach Taylor, like, hey, these questions are going to come about something you have nothing to do with, but I'm not going to step in for you. I think Duke Tobin owes it to Zach. And frankly, I think he owes it to people who care about this team. Like, all right, Duke, what happened? And you might have to wear some egg on your face. You might have to subject yourself to ridicule for a while. But look, dude, you're the personnel director of an NFL team. That comes with the territory. That should not preclude you from stepping in for 10, 15 minutes and just offering an explanation or your side of the story as to what happened. I'm not going to hold my breath, but I am, I'm really curious as to what the Bengals perspective on this is. And the head coach of the team is not, I think the right person to offer perspective on what exactly happened 20 minutes after five o'clock. So call it what it is. Sunday was exhilarating. And I think Bengals deserve a lot of credit for how they played. This team is 6-2. Sunday is going to be awesome. This team has a chance to jump into the driver's seat in the AFC North. They have a chance in front of a large national audience to make a statement about their championship bona fides. But today, wouldn't it have been awesome had they taken a weakness and fortified it just a little bit? Whether it's edge depth, linebacker, safety, slot corner, hell, if you want, outside corner. Today, admit it, you would have been a little bit more bullish about the Bengals had they done something. Instead, they did nothing. Buffalo, Jacksonville, Kansas City, and Denver did. 513-749-1530 is our number. We'll open the lines. Add Mo Egger on Twitter, by the way. I've got to throw out a poll question. It'll probably be NFL trade deadline related. I've done two hours and 21 minutes of radio. I've not talked about the Bearcat game from last night because, well, there's been other stuff. I don't want to overreact to a November loss, but I thought a lot about last night. I thought about last year, which is maybe not fair. I thought a lot about free throws. I thought a lot about offense against the zone. We'll get to all that a little bit later on. My name is Mo Egger. We're broadcasting from the Transept today, downtown Cincinnati, part of the Delightmore Group. 00:16:00 Speaker 1: It's 22 after 5 p.m. 00:16:01 Speaker 2: This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station. 00:16:05 Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. 00:16:07 Speaker 4: Traffic. 00:16:09 Speaker 1: From the UCF. 00:16:10 Speaker 3: This is Football in the Natty. Brought to you in part by Skyline Chili. On ESPN 1530. The official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. 00:16:25 Speaker 2: It is 29 minutes after 5 o'clock. This is ESPN 1530 Broadcasting. From the transept, poll questions on this show come your way thanks to United Heartland Insurance. 00:16:33 Speaker 1: Save money on insurance. 00:16:35 Speaker 2: Go to uhins.com. It's a question about the Bengals at the trade deadline. 00:16:41 Speaker 1: How do you feel? Vote now. 00:16:43 Speaker 2: At Mo Egger on Twitter. Let's talk to folks who have been waiting, beginning with Lou. Lou, you're on ESPN 1530. Lou, good afternoon. 00:16:50 Speaker 1: How are you? 00:16:52 Speaker 5: Well, thanks for taking my call. An observation and a question, and then I'll hang up and listen to your response. 00:16:59 Speaker 4: Okay. 00:17:01 Speaker 5: At what point do we start talking about players versus our coaches? Because I feel there's no sport that relies more on coaching than football. So at what point do we start saying, why aren't we looking at our coaches for developing the talent we have or putting together the schemes we need? I look at our team this year, and I feel like the first four, three, four, five games, we came out flat. It's almost like Burrow and Chase said, we're going to take this team over, and we're going to start playing different. So my question there is, at what point do we start saying we need to look at our coaches and ask a little

bit more of them rather than just saying we need to buy a better team? 00:17:51 Speaker 2: My second question is. 00:17:53 Speaker 1: Let me answer the first, then we'll go with your second, okay? 00:17:55 Speaker 4: Sure. 00:17:56 Speaker 2: I think this entire season is a referendum on Zach Taylor. So if the question is at what point, I think it's 2026. No, I think Zach... Look, I was uber impressed by how they played on Sunday because I felt like they had a plan for the weirdness of Madrid and logistics, and it felt like a well-executed plan. I think that's a good reflection on the head coach. I also thought they looked wholly unprepared against the Baltimore Ravens. I thought they looked often unprepared against the Tennessee Titans. That's a reflection of the coach. I think at the end of this season, whether it results in a championship or them missing the postseason or something in between, this is going to be a year where more than at any point during his time in Cincinnati, the results are going to be used as a reflection of the head coach and will drive the conversation about what should happen with him. Beyond that, it's not like they haven't swapped out assistant coaches. Al Golden wasn't here two years ago. 00:18:50 Speaker 1: Now he is. 00:18:51 Speaker 2: There's a whole bunch of position coaches who weren't here a couple of years ago. 00:18:54 Speaker 1: Now they are. 00:18:55 Speaker 2: But I think because of that, now the arrow is being pointed very, very squarely at Zach Taylor. 00:19:03 Speaker 5: I would agree with that. I also think we need to look at our coordinators. But responding to that comment, we haven't beat a team with a winning record yet. 00:19:17 Speaker 1: Uh, true. Yeah. 00:19:18 Speaker 5: I could, I could be wrong. I could be wrong on that, but I, I, I'm almost positive. We have not beat a team with a winning record and we're six and two. Yes. And the teams that we have that beat, many of them were not resounding wins. I mean, it was like you said, you know, Tennessee and we, we had a scrape to get the win so I guess my only comment is I look you know we've got first round draft picks sitting on the bench Murphy isn't doing any good on defense. 00:19:56 Speaker 4: So I'm just wondering you. 00:19:58 Speaker 5: Know where does scheme start to fit in and why aren't we asking more of are we over evaluating the talent we have or are we not getting what we need out of the talent we've got? 00:20:14 Speaker 2: I wonder that about some of the guys on defense, right? And that's a front office question, and it's a coaching question. Why has Miles Murphy regressed? Why is Shamar Stewart incapable of getting on the field? Why do these linebackers, you know, should there be more development with them, or did the front office, you know, mishandle the evaluation of them? Now, at the same time, DJ Turner's come along nicely. He's one of the better corners in the NFL. That's somebody they drafted. That's somebody they've developed. On the other side of the football, you can look at some of the offensive linemen they have. But yeah, I think at the end of this season, more than anybody else, whether they are really good and have a great year with a satisfactory outcome or finish well short of what we all hope, I think we're going to talk about how this season was a reflection of Zach Taylor, good or bad, and that'll drive the conversation about him. But you can have those conversations about coaching and still wish they would. 00:21:18 Speaker 1: Make the team better, right? I mean, you could. 00:21:22 Speaker 2: Still wish that you would use the opportunity to acquire players from other teams to fortify your roster, and you could do that, and that doesn't absolve Zach Taylor of any criticism or scrutiny or anything like that. 00:21:34 Speaker 5: Yeah, I guess I'll let you go after this comment. How did we ever let Jesse Bates go? 00:21:43 Speaker 2: They didn't value safety enough. I mean, the answer is they didn't value, they valued the player, but they didn't value the position enough. 00:21:53 Speaker 1: And they spent years paying for it. 00:21:56 Speaker 5: Yeah, and you're right. And we're paying for it. And boy, I just hated to see him go to Jacksonville. 00:22:04 Speaker 1: Um, yeah. 00:22:05 Speaker 5: So at any rate, thank you for taking my call. I'm really, really hoping we come out strong Sunday. If we lose the Pittsburgh, I don't know that I agree that, that we don't lose the division and end up in a wild card at best. 00:22:21 Speaker 2: Maybe, you know, I mean, it's, it's effectively then a two game lead. I still Berg schedule. They're about to walk into a gauntlet, but look, it's, it's undeniable. They're in the driver's seat. That head-to-head tiebreaker matters. 00:22:32 Speaker 1: We'll see. Lou, thank you for the phone call. 00:22:35 Speaker 5: All right, man. Talk to you later. 00:22:37 Speaker 2: Bye. 25 from 6, we're broadcasting from the Transcept Sports Headlines in just a second on the UC basketball game last night. This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station. 00:22:47 Speaker 3: You've been listening to Football in the Natty on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. 00:23:01 Speaker 2: Traffic from the uc health traffic deadlines from the transept our service to kelsey chevrolet home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours for life kelseychev.com bunch of nfl teams have made trades at the deadline the bengals not among them they uh had a deal in place for arnold and akabi edge rusher from the philadelphia eagles Then it was brought to their attention they would have to basically relinquish a third-round compensatory pick next year. And so then the Bengals said, no, we're not going to do that. So Imani Hooker dealt to the Bills. Josh Downs dealt to the Kansas City Chiefs. Kirk Cousins is on his way back to Minnesota. Dan Henley traded by the

Chargers to the Denver Broncos among some of the deals that have commenced. Former Reds manager Bob Boone. Bob Boone is still third all-time in games caught. Bob managed the Reds during some pretty bleak years, 2001, 2002, and 2003, and he got mocked because once after a game he referred to runs as points. What I remember about Bob Boone was back in the late 90s, early 2000s, I would do what we call stringing. I was a freelance stringer. where basically you would get hired by other radio stations in other parts of the country and get audio. So I had a whole bunch of radio stations I would do stuff for. So if the Astros were in town, my job was to get sound after the game and send it to the station. 00:24:38 Speaker 1: In Houston using very primitive methods. 00:24:43 Speaker 2: In 2001, in the aftermath of the 9-11 attacks, when baseball came back, the Reds were home and 700 WLW was an ABC, ABC affiliate wanted sound from ballparks around the country. And so they wanted me to go get the, the, the managers, the two managers of, of the teams, the Reds played the Cubs. I have no recollection of who the Cubs manager was, but I went into Bob Boone's office and I will never forget. He gave this like stirring, impassioned, like, I think, off-the-cuff address about what had happened in New York and Washington and Pennsylvania. And I remember looking at all these hardened baseball writers and reporters, and I was like 23, 24 years old, and they all had tears in their eyes. And Bob talked about patriotism and how he feared for his grandkids. And I just remember thinking, this is a good, decent man. His teams were terrible, but When I saw that news today, I thought of that day. Also, a lot of folks, the iconic play in the 80 World Series, where Frank White hits a pop-up, Royals-Phillies, Bob Boone goes to catch it, drops it, and then there's Pete Rose to catch it. 00:25:57 Speaker 1: That's an iconic World Series moment. College basketball tonight, Xavier. 00:26:01 Speaker 2: Will host Detroit Mercy at 7 on 700 WLW. Kentucky and Kansas, and what I think is college basketball's official opening night. The Champions Classic, that game is going to tip off about 9.30 on ESPN 1530. Pre-game coverage starts at 8 o'clock. NKU is on the road against St. 00:26:19 Speaker 5: Louis. 00:26:21 Speaker 2: That game is going to tip off at 8 o'clock. You can listen to it on The Project, 100.7 and 106.3. Jim Kelch, I think Jim is flying solo because we've got to say congratulations to our friend Rick Broering. 00:26:34 Speaker 1: Musketeerreport.com, NKU Radio. 00:26:37 Speaker 2: He posted just a short while ago A photo of his brand new newborn daughter, Mackenzie Louise, who looks gorgeous. So congratulations to Rick and his wife. Hopefully everybody is healthy and resting. And I don't know if we're going to have Rick on tomorrow. You could certainly understand if he would bypass the opportunity to talk to me. But most importantly, congratulations to Rick and his family.

Date and play Sienna tonight. College football playoff rankings part two out this evening and the Scott Satterfield radio show, if you're looking for it, it's on Fox Sports 1360 from the original Montgomery Inn at 8 p.m. Very quickly on the Bearcat game last night. Frustrating, disappointing, familiar, I think is the word that comes to mind. It just, the two things that sort of stood out to me, number one, it's the free throws. And I've joked about this with a lot of people as a longtime Bearcat fan. And I would say this about some of the best teams they've had Players change, coaches change. 00:27:36 Speaker 1: You see missing key free throws. 00:27:38 Speaker 2: Late stays the same. They did last night with some good, good, at least percentage-wise, free throw shooters at the line with a chance to help salt the game away. The real frustrating thing for me was for a team that is supposed to function at such a high level on offense and do when the opposing team is playing man-to-man against Minnesota's own last night, it looked like the Bearcats had never even encountered the concept of of his own defense and 12 turnovers at face value isn't a lot. 12 turnovers in a 65 possession game. That's, that puts you at about an 18% clip in terms of turnover percentage. You add to it a couple of empty trips, missing the front end of one and ones. It just, it was a real frustrating night. Now, game three, there's plenty of time to sort of move on from that and make it just a small blip on your resume. 00:28:30 Speaker 1: But go back to last year, man. 00:28:33 Speaker 2: Cincinnati lost five games before Christmas. Their NCAA tournament chances were cooked before they played a conference game. Cincinnati still has some tough ones. The game on Saturday at UD Arena, I know the Flyers lost to Northern Illinois. That ain't going to be easy by any stretch. They still have an MTE with a couple of high majors. They still have the Xavier game. They still have the Clemson game. They weren't going to win them all. You don't have to win all of them. You got to win most because you don't want to put yourself at the mercy of having to play catch up in the Big 12. And what happened with last year's team is evidence as to why you don't want to do that. They're going to get better. I'm a big believer in Jared Calhoun. But to lose the way they did and have the final two minutes when they let a seven-point lead evaporate with about two and a half minutes to go, frustrating on a thousand different levels, not the least of which was it just, the entire thing felt familiar. Steven, you're on ESPN 1530. Thank you for hanging on. 00:29:37 Speaker 1: Good afternoon. 00:29:39 Speaker 4: What's up, man? How you doing, man? 00:29:41 Speaker 1: I'm good. You? 00:29:44 Speaker 4: Oh, just, I think I, I think I told myself last night, I'm not going to watch a Bearcat basketball game until the crossout shootout, man. I just, oh my gosh, man. I sat there and watched the game. So I'm watching the game, and my son, he's 10, he plays basketball, trying to get into it. He goes, did the Bears catch him? I said, no. He goes, of course they lost, Dad. I'm like, come on, man, you're killing me. And usually after a game like that, I'm just like mad, right? I just turned it off and went in, and I think I helped my son study for a science test. But it's like, I don't get it. Do kids not understand? Do they go into basketball and they're just like, I don't know how to play basketball. I was watching the second half of the game and it's like you just said, it's like they've never seen a zone in their whole entire life. 00:30:49 Speaker 6: To break the zone, you've got to get to the middle. I remember my dad, he goes, just make a flash, just flash to the plate and just bring attention to your, to that person. 00:31:02 Speaker 4: And then like, I just, it's mind boggling, man. Like it really is mind boggling. I feel like I'll watch Wes Miller again. 00:31:13 Speaker 2: They, they tried to throw the ball into the middle of the zone one time and two guys were standing there and they turned it over. I get it to the middle, get it to the short corner and, make the defense move, throw a skip pass, like none of that. It was Minnesota didn't play zone exclusively, but the more they employed it, the more just confused Cincinnati seemed to be, and it's exacerbated by not being able to make outside shots. They were 24% from behind the arc. You could bust a zone by being great from the perimeter. They were not, but in the absence of that, zones have openings. It is remarkable to me when I see a team like that that can't find openings in a 2-3 zone. 00:31:57 Speaker 5: Right. 00:31:58 Speaker 4: And my thing, too, it's like. 00:32:01 Speaker 6: You were taught. 00:32:02 Speaker 4: At some point in your career, you have been taught to beat the zone. And it's not... I. 00:32:10 Speaker 1: Always say, like. 00:32:11 Speaker 4: The one thing I gotta say about Jared Calhoun is he's calling his players out at the pressure in the middle of an interview. Like, Wes always would just say, oh, I'm pissed. 00:32:23 Speaker 5: Like. 00:32:23 Speaker 1: No. 00:32:24 Speaker 4: Call your players out. Make them see, like, we're not messing around here. Like, it's just mine. It really is. I couldn't believe. And they can't make a free throw. You have two front end one and one, and you can't make any of them? 00:32:44 Speaker 2: With guys who historically have been good free throw shooters, beyond frustrating. 00:32:47 Speaker 1: I can hear it in your voice, and I feel the same. Steve, I've got to run, man. Thank you. 00:32:53 Speaker 2: We've got to thank the folks at Delightmore for having us here at the Trancept. If you have not checked out this place, go to delightmore.com, look it up. You will love it. Back in studio tomorrow, thanks to Mike Mills for producing on site. And thanks, of course, to Taryn for producing back in Kenwood. We've got UK basketball coming up. At 8 o'clock tonight, the Wildcats taking on Kansas in what should be a good one. Have a great night. We'll talk to you tomorrow at 3.05. This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station. 00:33:29 Speaker 3: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. 00:33:31 Speaker 4: Traffic. 00:33:34 Speaker 1: From the UC Health Traffic Center with.