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Speaker 1: Like ESPN 1530, Cincinnati Sports Station.
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Speaker 2: That's right. What's up? Six after five. This is ESPN 1530. My name's Mo Egger. Thank you so much for listening today. We'll chat with our guy, Jay Morrison, in about 15 minutes from the press box. We have a poll question we have to ask in just a few minutes. And we've got one of the experts from OrthoCincy to talk injuries, which the Bengals have been dealing with. Jamar Chase did some stuff today. T.
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Speaker 3: Higgins.
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Speaker 2: did stuff on the rehab field, which isn't ideal. You know what is ideal? Robert Weintraub. He joins us every Thursday. He has a weekly Bengals column at Cincinnati Magazine. In this week's column, he urges you to be happy, dammit. I threw in the dammit. Go read it at CincinnatiMagazine.com. I tweeted out a link. Go read it now.
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Speaker 3: Hi, Robert. Hey, Mo. I'm happy with the dammit. I think that's a good edit. I should have edited it in the first place. Yes, I quoted our old pal with the punchable face, Aaron Rodgers.
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Speaker 2: I think they will. I really do. I think everything's going to be okay. But this whole operating the offense under center thing, we're talking about this like this is advanced calculus, which I admittedly never took. I went back this week and I found football footage from 1901 on YouTube. And there were two teams operating under center. They found a way to snap the football to the quarterback and gain yardage. 125 years later, this has somehow perplexed the Bengals coaching staff. Why?
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Speaker 3: 1901 was Joe Flacco. He was one of the guys under center. Well, listen, I mean, we talked about this. It's a couple of things. One, We always said it's going to be a process, right? You can't just all of a sudden do everything under center from a heavy, heavy shotgun team, heaviest in the league, and expect things not to be a little clunky.
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Speaker 4: Here and there.
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Speaker 3: And the real question was when the bullets are flying and you really need to score points and make plays, are they going to default back to their comfort zone and ignore the fact that the only way through kind of in this situation is by accepting some of those clunkiness and not having it go right. And I don't think we necessarily know the answer, but it's easy for us to say, oh, why can't you just do this? These guys really aren't trained to do it. The league is seeing it a lot on tape, and they're counteracting it. I think also we're looking at the second word of that, under center. And we're not really talking about Ted Karras all that much. And he's a guy who hasn't played center with the quarterback's hands on his butt. all that often. He was a guard in college and most of his NFL career. So, you know, he's only recently been a center and certainly hasn't played a lot of under center attacks.
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Speaker 4: And it's tough because he's the second.
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Speaker 3: Most important guy after Joe Burrow in that, in that frame, he has caught all the blocking assignments. He has to get everybody on the same page and they're still kind of learning it. And as I said, teams are really a gap blitzing a lot to kind of counter the under center attack. It's all cyclical, right? I mean, Teams started to turn to those agap blitzes.
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Speaker 1: Why?
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Speaker 3: Because they were getting gashed, and our old friend Mike Zimmer did it, and they forced teams to go more heavy into the shotgun to get away from those guys, those blitzers standing right over them. And now here we are coming full circle right around. I think if they really commit to it, You know, they might not be as good as those 1901.
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Speaker 4: Teams, but they can be viable.
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Speaker 3: And, you know, the only question really, and it has been all along for me, is whether they will, in fact, stick with it or just go with what they do best, which is still pretty darn good. Joe Burrow in the shotgun.
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Speaker 2: Uh, Joe Burrow gets the football last week, minute 44 to go. He's, he's in his side of the field. He's got a chance to go win the football game and shut up at least for a while, a growing list of doubters. Instead, we all know what happened as a, as a, a smart person, which is what you are. Uh, what is your take on the growing?
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Speaker 3: Yes.
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Speaker 2: What is your take on the growing Joe Burrow isn't clutch narrative?
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Speaker 3: I think the growing narrative is that I'm not that smart, but I'll take your compliment with that. with a grin. Thank you so much. Well, I mean, I'll say a few things. One, yeah, it would have been awesome to have him, you know, score two late touchdowns with his fourth through sixth receivers out there, win the game against a good team and shut everybody up. It was very close to happening, but it didn't, doesn't really concern me. I mean, are we going to trade Joe Burrow now for a fifth round pick? Is that World War II? Because he's not clutch. You know who was clutch? Tim Tebow had that workout. The problem was he was clutch because he stunk for three quarters and then got his You know, Mojo working with the last couple of minutes. You know, you have to remember also that my guy who put that out there, that original tweet about his one for 34, not 35, I guess, is a guy named Scott Kaksmar, former colleague of mine. Good guy. I like him, but he's also a Steelers fan. So take it all with a grain of salt. He lives to put down his enemies. in Cincinnati, New England, Cleveland, et cetera. Listen, I mean, to me, he's really, he's over to Joe Burrow. I mean, at the Superbowl and the AFC championship game in 2022, or when he had chances to really cement his legend or create his legend. And he came up short in those games at the very end. Why? Because he had replacement linemen trying to block all fame defenders and it didn't work out, but you know, that's what, the great, great quarterbacks, the elite that separate themselves from the just really good quarterbacks. They come through in those moments, regardless of circumstances. And until he, you know, he does that in the biggest of games, not in the September game against Jacksonville, but in a game that really means everything. And he comes through in those last minutes, you know, he's, he's always going to carry that reputation. On the other hand, if he wins a Superbowl by 45 points, no one's going to carry it.
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Speaker 4: So that'd be fine too.
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Speaker 2: Who has a higher level of excitement, a nine-year-old waking up on Christmas morning or a tight end waking up on the morning they're playing against the Bengals?
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Speaker 3: It's always fun for them. Yeah, it is kind of hard to believe, but I looked at the teams that were the best at stopping tight ends so far this season and going into last season, and it's these guys, the Rams, the 49ers, the Falcons, the Steelers. What do they have in common? Well, they use their tight ends a lot in their offense. And, you know, make sense of reason that they practice against a lot and they're better at stopping a tight end based attack, man. They're not necessarily good at stopping other things, but they are very good at that level. And I think, you know, it's kind of been a historic thing, certainly of late in Cincinnati, where they just kind of made a choice. It feels like they're a wide receiver based team and they're going to take away wide receivers from the other team and they're going to live with tight ends. you know, being the focus of the other team's offense. And, you know, that makes sense. You'd rather see a 12-yard pass to a tight end than a 25-yard pass to a wide receiver. On the other hand, if your personnel turns that 12-yard pass into a 25-yard play because they can't tackle those tight ends, that just compounds the problem, right? And especially like Darnell Washington, who doesn't do anything against anybody but Cincinnati, it seems like. So, you know, it all boils down to me and The same thing we've all talked about at length, ad nauseum, they've got to tackle better. That's where it shows up in the middle of the field. I think they sort of have an overall gestalt of being fine with living with tight ends being the focal point of the opposing offenses rather than bigger play wide receivers. But at a certain point, if you're giving up this kind of yardage, about 100 yards a game almost at tight ends right now, that's not winning football either. They have to find a way to correct that.
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Speaker 2: Give me Robert Weintraub is with us. Bengals column up right now at CincinnatiMagazine.com. Four games into the season. What's your read on the AFC North?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I mean, this goes back to the original RELAX point. If you look under the hood a little bit, you know, our mainstay at FTN.
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Speaker 4: Fantasy, DVLA.
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Speaker 3: Bengals are 11th in the league. Ravens are 5th. Steelers are 21st. The Browns, the every-loving Browns, who everybody thinks is great now, they're 24th. Point differential, it's the same thing. Bengals have a plus 12, Ravens have a plus 20, but the Browns and the Steelers are in negative numbers. There's also red zone defense. We talk about that as being a critical sort of under-the-hood stat all the time. Bengals are third in the league in forcing field goals, not touchdowns, when the other.
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Speaker 4: Team gets in the red zone. You look at the rest of the top.
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Speaker 3: Five, they have one loss combined. So the Bengals have been a little unfortunate to be 2-2. They're certainly playing at a high level in a lot of aspects, you know, we, we came up with those turnovers that burrows made at the end of these games. And, you know, you look at that and say, Oh my God, how, how are we ever going to win another game? Because that's the nature of the NFL, right? Uh, you know, I don't think that's too much to worry about right now. It's, it's the hallmark of the, Bengals under Zach Taylor is that they improve things during their bi-week and they play well down the stretch. And you look at Cleveland, they're playing a lot of young players. And it's a reason they would be good to start the season. But young players tend to wear down and injuries mount. They don't have a lot of depth on that team. And as the season goes along, that could definitely hurt them. I think Pittsburgh is who we thought they were. Not very good, despite when they play the Bengals, they always look great. And, you know, the Ravens... it's similar to, they have, they've been explosive, but here's Lamar. He's back on the injured list and they've been forced because their interior line knock on effect from losing Tyler Linda Brown in the off season. Now they had to, you know, kind of desperately trade a second round pick for Cam Juergens of the Eagles.
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Speaker 4: He's really not.
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Speaker 3: Been the same player since he had a very bad back injury and he's injured as we speak. So, you know, if he can really come back and be the player he was and stabilize things, they'll obviously be a really good team. But I think, you know, Overall, it's the Bengals and the Ravens and then the Steelers and the Browns are still a step behind.
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Speaker 2: Tremendous stuff as always. And by the way, that 1901 video on YouTube is worth watching. I don't know if you want to crunch that while you're... Doing whatever we're doing this weekend.
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Speaker 3: I feel like I should go there and really get their advanced stats and get some analytics from the 1901 season. I mean, I know there's a huge cry out for it out there in NFL circles. So, you know, 1901 or maybe I'll stick with the 1910s. Gotcha. That's where you really saw the under center play ticket.
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Speaker 2: Offenses started to open up.
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Speaker 3: They really did. The 12 laterals per game really made the league a whole different animal.
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Speaker 4: Awesome, man.
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Speaker 2: Thanks so much.
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Speaker 3: Thank you, Bo. See you next week.
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Speaker 2: Read Robert's column at CincinnatiMagazine.com. Our guy Jay Morrison joins us next on ESPN 1530. Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. Traffic. From the Usenati and iHeart Radio Station. Guaranteed human. ESPN 1530.
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Speaker 3: iHeart Radio.
00:11:01
Speaker 5: Head to Skyline to get an exclusive collector series.
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Speaker 2: Of Bengals cards featuring.
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Speaker 5: Jamar Chase, BJ Hill, Joe Burrow, Chase Brown, T. Higgins, and DJ Turner. Collect a new player series each week. Every pack includes a Skyline offer and a chance to win a $ 500 Skyline gift card. Bengals collector series are only at participating Skyline restaurants while supplies last. Limit three card packs per customer.
00:11:24
Speaker 2: With menu item purchase.
00:11:25
Speaker 5: Only at Skyline Chili, official chili of the Cincinnati Bengals. Hootie!
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Speaker 6: This is Football in the Natty, brought to you in part by Skyline Chili on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
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Speaker 2: Jay Morrison is with us because it's Thursday. BengalsTalk.com, part of the Growler Podcast Network, which, by the way, they have their big show tonight at 50 West, Worcester Pike, with a special guest. Not allowed to say who the special guest is, but I am allowed to say hi to Jay, who's with us from the press box at PayCore Stadium. Hi, Jay. Hey, Mo. I'm not allowed to say who it is either. But you're going to be there, and that's what's most important. Well, it's in the top ten.
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Speaker 1: But if anybody is free tonight, they should come out. It is going to be– I love all of our live shows. I'm really looking forward to this one because of the guests. I think we're going to have a lot of fun tonight. So come out, get some burgers, get some beers. Watch the game with us after the show. Love to see everybody there.
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Speaker 2: I could not suggest more that people go see you guys because your special guest I am extraordinarily fond of. And that's all that I'll say. All right, who's not going to play on Sunday? Chase is up doing stuff. Higgins is a DMP. What does this look like for Miami?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, it doesn't look like T's going to play. This is a rare Thursday surprise limited. That's good news for the Bengals. I mean, Jamar being out there today and being limited, I think is a really good sign that he's going to have a shot to play. It's so hard to tell with concussions. Everyone's different. Everybody's body's different. The baseline cognitive stuff that they have to pass is different, but really encouraging sign that he was out there. Also Colby young, the rookie wide receiver was a full participant today. So, you know, when he went down with the knee injury on that first play at Pittsburgh, that didn't look good. It looked like it was going to be a longer term injury. He could end up just missing the one game. Well, all but one play against Pittsburgh. He didn't play last week against Jacksonville, but he looks like he's on track to play as well. Brian Cook, I don't know. He said he's hopeful, but he was asked, are you hopeful? So he's not going to say no. He said yes. But it didn't sound convincing. So there might be another week on him. Well, two weeks because the bye follows.
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Speaker 2: In your opinion, why is the running game so inefficient and ineffective?
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Speaker 1: It's a good question. I'm not a film breakdown guru. Chase Brown is really good. It's weird because the metrics are what they are, but the ESPN win rate says the Bengals are best in the league, and it doesn't jive with what we've seen. I think a big part of it was last week that Jacksonville is just really good. They have a really good defensive line. The Bengals kind of– there's some teams that'll bang their head against the wall and keep doing it. Uh, the Bengals are quick to, to pivot. And if you're not, if you're only getting one and a half yards per carry, then you're going to get away from it. And, um, I think this will be a really good test at Miami. Um, yeah, they're winless, but they've, they've gone toe to toe with Minnesota. They've gone toe to toe with Kansas city. Neither one of those teams put up very many points on them. So you'll get a better test. They're not Jacksonville quality and you can feel, uh, A little more comfortable sticking with the run game because you know that Miami offense is not a team that's going to blow your doors off and put you in a big hole. So I would expect hearing Joe Burrow's comments, hearing Zach Taylor's comments, they know they need to be more balanced. And I think they're going to go out and prove it this week against Miami.
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Speaker 2: The Dolphins haven't scored more than 13 points in a game, but they do employ a tight end, right? So how many catches will he have? Um, well, eight for 80 seems to be about the average. So, uh, his name's Greg Dulcich. So if you're playing a fantasy sports, weekly fantasy, daily fantasy, he might be a guy you want to put on your roster. What do you do with this? You know, growing, we saw it last week. You and I didn't get a chance to talk one in 34 when they're losing with eight minutes or less to go this growing narrative, the Joe burrow, uh, not that he's a choke artist, but that he's not clutch when the game is hanging in the balance.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know if there's anything he can do with it except go out and win a couple of those games. Not throwing the interception in the red zone last week would have been a good start. Not being able to finish that drive when they had first and 10 at the 21, not going for broke on three straight plays and then kind of settling on fourth and 10.
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Speaker 2: I mean, think about it.
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Speaker 1: He could win three straight games in the final eight minutes, and he's still going to be what four and 35. So it's going to be hard to, to erase that number or get it to anything respectable. I just think you have to use the eye test, what you've watched, what you know of Joe Burrow. If, if you're saying, if your team has a chance, four minutes, five minutes, anywhere in the eight minutes, do you want that guy to lead the final drive? And I think most people are going to say yes.
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Speaker 2: Um, Joe Burrow said after the game last week against Jacksonville that it wasn't Armageddon. If they lose on Sunday, is it Armageddon?
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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it is. I mean, they won't say it is, but man, it's going to be a bad look. It needs to be 2-3 and to lose a winless Miami team and then to have to swallow that and taste it for an extra week because you're going into the bye. They just can't. It was not that long ago. I mean, I know it's a different year, but different coach in Miami and all that, but they blew the Dolphins doors off last year, uh, in, in December. And, um, this, I think this Dolphins team is even worse than last year. They've really torn that thing down to the studs. I, it feels like they're already tanking for the number one pick and it doesn't, that's the front office, but you watch the Dolphins on film and they, they play hard and they, you know, I think Jeff Halfley is, is got something there. They just don't have the talent and the Bengals do. And so there's no reason they shouldn't win this game and win it comfortably.
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Speaker 2: Appreciate it. As always, have fun tonight, Jay. Thanks so much. All right. Thanks, Mo. Make sure you read Jay's work, bengalstalk.com. Hear him, part of the Growler podcast. And again, their live show tonight. I wish I could go. At 50 West. I had a 50 West beer last night, for what it's worth. Somebody bought it for me at the Carousel Classic, which was nice of them. The one on Worcester Pike, so go see them.
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Speaker 4: It's 5-3.
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Speaker 2: You got a couple poll questions. I haven't had a chance to talk about this. Poll questions. Thanks to United Heartland Insurance. You know, this is like the part of the year, the time of year, where people start thinking about, like, renew my insurance for next year. Well, don't do that. I mean, renew your insurance, but don't do it before you go to United Heartland Insurance, uhins.com, and see how much they can help you save on your insurance. So we're getting ready amid the baseball postseason, which we're down to, We still have one series that's not settled in the division around Chicago and Cleveland. White Sox up two games, two games to one. NLCS will be a rematch of last year, the Dodgers and Brewers. And then we're going to have a lockout, which is stupid, but we're going to have a lockout. But baseball has issued a proposal to its players because, you know, baseball wants a salary cap. And is as these things unfold, I'm generally pro player. By the way, that doesn't make me anything. You don't have to call me names. I'm just a pro player in this regard. But in some of baseball's proposals here, I like this one. 154-game season that would include basically a standardized off-day every week, a postseason where the division series round, which is now best of five, will be best of seven, and in the playoffs... the highest-seeded team in each league in the wildcard round and in the divisional round will get to pick its opponent. Now, there's nothing sacred about 162. There isn't, and I love baseball. I like 154 for this reason. It could kind of help kind of recalibrate the record books Like, I feel like baseball records, season-long records have never mattered less in large part because of what happened to so many records in the 90s and early 2000s. This could kind of help recalibrate things a little bit. 154 is.
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Speaker 2: It's 5% less baseball. You're going to get more postseason games. Now, I hesitate slightly on the longer division series because I think you would have more bullpen games. And I don't know anybody who likes a bullpen game. And I hate that we have them in the postseason. But still, I think as a general rule, best of seven is better than best of five. And I'm probably in the minority here. In fact, as I look at the poll question, I am. Picking your opponent in round one is fun. baseball supposed to be fun you have possibly hilarious results like i am all in on that i think that should be a thing in every sport if you're the top seed you should get to pick your opponent the storylines that would come out of that again let me just sports are supposed to be fun a team picking its opponent is a blast i'm in so i have two poll questions one 154, yay or nay. Two, highest seeded team picking its opponent, yay or nay. Count me as a yay for both. Count me as a yay for both. There is nothing sacred about 162. We had 154 games for decades. Every game would matter just a little bit more. We'd have maybe slightly less injury risk. You'd have I think fewer off days to players who aren't playing while their team is playing, that's a good thing. By the way, you would lessen the need for the stupid magic runner rule in the regular season. But dude, I'm in. The Brewers this year in the National League getting a chance to pick their opponent. They didn't play in the wildcard round, obviously. Like, The fun and games that that would involve.
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Speaker 5: I'm in.
00:22:03
Speaker 2: Sign me up. Remember, baseball is supposed to be fun.
00:22:07
Speaker 4: Sports.
00:22:08
Speaker 3: Fun.
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Speaker 2: This is the fun and games department. You know, down the hall when they yell at each other about politics and election day and stuff. Over here is the fun stuff. The sports. The fun. So sign me up for the fun.
00:22:19
Speaker 7: Yay.
00:22:20
Speaker 2: What the hell is that? Sign me up for one of the experts from OrthoCincy talking about. You say. Too yay.
00:22:26
Speaker 4: Yay.
00:22:27
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:22:30
Speaker 2: No idea what the hell that was.
00:22:33
Speaker 3: Dr.
00:22:33
Speaker 2: Tyler Gardner from OrthoCincy on Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, Lamar Jackson, and the dude with the dislocated ankle coming up on ESPN 1530.
00:22:44
Speaker 6: You've been listening to Football in the Natty on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
00:22:56
Speaker 2: Traffic.
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Speaker 3: Traffic.
00:23:00
Speaker 2: All right, we've got to talk injuries, including a couple of big injuries to a pair of Bengals this week. We chat with one of the experts from OrthoCincy Orthopedics and Sports Medicine whenever we talk injuries. The great thing about OrthoCincy, and I talk about this all the time, they have specialist locations and services all over the tri-state. This includes walk-in orthopedic urgent care at five locations with extended evening and weekend hours in Edgewood and Anderson.
00:23:24
Speaker 3: Learn more.
00:23:25
Speaker 2: At OrthoCincy.com. That's OrthoC-I-N-C-Y.com. Dr. Tyler Gardner from OrthoCincy is with us. Got to ask about Jamar Chase. In the NFL's concussion protocol, vicious hit that he suffered on Sunday. What happens to the brain during a concussion?
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Speaker 4: Right.
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Speaker 7: So a concussion, the brain is kind of like, almost like a pickle in a jar. It's not like it's tethered to anything. So it kind of sloshes around. So, you know, Jamar's injury had a couple things that were concerning. One was the rotational component from being pulled on by his face mask, and then the hit, and then his head hitting against the ground. So when that happens, the brain can hit against the skull, and that causes injury. What happens in the brain when that happens is the blood flow drops, and then it releases things called neurotransmitters that are a sign of injury.
00:24:18
Speaker 4: Um, and those things basically have to recover. Uh, there's nothing we can necessarily do to, you know.
00:24:23
Speaker 7: Make that faster, um, before we allow people to come back because, um, if you come back too soon, uh, it can be a pretty severe thing. We actually saw that, uh, I think it was in 2022 right here at pay core with, uh, to, uh, uh, he, uh, he had that second injury and he was posturing significant, uh, The scary time, you know, when the brain's trying to heal from.
00:24:46
Speaker 2: These injuries, he was Jamar was able to walk off the field under his own power. Does that mean that his concussion was quote mild? And is there even such a thing?
00:24:56
Speaker 7: You can't really grade it based on people getting up and being able to walk. It's more based on symptoms. So, you know, all things you can think about concussions, you know, loss of consciousness, you know, he laid down there for a second, but it's hard to tell. But then you also have to look at his other symptoms, you know, is he, you know, where he is, you know, what time it is. And then even then it's hard to really grade it based on that. It really depends on how he does, you know, the next few days afterwards, you know. We have a protocol that we generally follow for people to return to sport, and you have to go through every step.
00:25:28
Speaker 4: And every concussion is different.
00:25:30
Speaker 7: It's not like recovering from a broken bone or something like that where we say, oh, bone starts to heal and have cows around six weeks. And then it gets better from there. Everything responds differently. The brain responds differently in everybody. So it's hard to really grade that. I wouldn't consider any traumatic brain injury mild because they're all very serious. And the brain is a very important thing. If you don't have your brain, you don't have anything. So we've seen with.
00:25:54
Speaker 4: The NFL how.
00:25:58
Speaker 7: Serious these injuries can be, and repeated concussions can cause significant long-term, even people leaving the NFL, long-term consequences.
00:26:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, we know so much more than we did 10, 15 years ago. It's pretty remarkable how we talk about concussions now versus what I was growing up, and that's for the better. I'm going to ask you about T. Higgins, a doctor injury. It's a groin injury. uh suffered it in the fourth quarter of the game he kind of came down awkwardly he was trying to do a toe tap catch on the sideline he tried to play through it could not they're calling him day to day we'll find out about his status for sunday let's walk through the differences between a groin pull a strain and a tear Yeah.
00:26:36
Speaker 7: So a pull is, I consider a pull and a strain kind of similar. That means the muscle is stretched, but not necessarily torn to the point where there's muscle fibers that are torn apart. And then a tear is usually a higher grade strain. So they're kind of, you know, similar things, but different severity.
00:26:58
Speaker 2: When he is referred to as being day-to-day, how is that different? What determines whether he's day-to-day versus say week-to-week? Right.
00:27:06
Speaker 7: So day-to-day means it is probably a lower-grade injury, so not a complete tear. But it's hard to tell without the MRI. Everyone in the NFL gets an MRI because they're able to do that. Day-to-day means what they're going to do is they're going to start going through exercise with them. They'll start with simple strengthening, jogging, and then getting back to full-speed running and then cutting. The problem with these injuries, if you come back too soon, then maybe a grade one becomes a grade two because– If the muscle is not strong, then it can't protect itself. And these muscles are pulling its other muscles. You know, he's not just, you know, walking or just, you know, the 5k he's playing.
00:27:41
Speaker 4: In the NFL.
00:27:42
Speaker 7: So those muscles have to fire at its longest length and its hardest force it can.
00:27:47
Speaker 4: And if it's not prepared for it, then it can't do it.
00:27:49
Speaker 2: Two more I want to ask you about. Dr. Tyler Gardner from Ortho, since he is with us. The Bengals played the Dolphins this week, then a bye, then the Baltimore Ravens. That means Lamar Jackson, but he is dealing with a left ankle sprain that he suffered on the final play of the first half of Baltimore's game against Tennessee last week. So when we talk about ankle sprains, typically there's a distinction, low ankle or high ankle. With Lamar, what is it? And is one maybe more severe than the other?
00:28:16
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:28:16
Speaker 7: So the low ankle sprain is your standard rolled your ankle.
00:28:20
Speaker 4: It's based on symptoms again.
00:28:22
Speaker 7: So some people can play within a week or less of a low ankle sprain. The problem is with what I've seen so far with Lamar is it's likely.
00:28:33
Speaker 4: Or potentially a high ankle sprain.
00:28:34
Speaker 7: And especially based on his injury, if the ankle goes outward instead of rolling inward, it tends to put more pressure on what's called the syndesmosis. And that's between the tibia and the fibula. So The problem with those is they, one, if they are low grade, you have to be careful because it can become high grade. And some of these actually require surgery. But in the lower grade ones, you can protect them. The thing that they'll have to think about is long term. I mean, a lot of his game is how mobile he is. And also, as a quarterback, he needs to be able to plant and rotate on that ankle. So, they'll look at that too.
00:29:09
Speaker 4: They'll have an MRI.
00:29:10
Speaker 7: They'll be able to tell if it's completely torn, if it's just strained. If it's completely torn, sometimes those require surgery. If it's strained, like it sounds like, they'll have to protect him until his pain gets better, his strength gets better. I mean, there are some that with athletics, you can get a little... you know creative and sometimes they'll just take the ankle kind of together um not ideal but you know if they wanted to play and they got to get through and they got to do that but early in the season i would imagine they'd want to kind of protect him for as long as possible since you know mobility is a lot of his game.
00:29:44
Speaker 2: Dr tyler gardner from ortho since the outstanding insight we appreciate the time i say this every week because it's true ortho since the orthopedics and sports medicine the place to go whenever you have an urgent orthopedic injury there are extended evening and evening and weekend hours in edgewood and in anderson weekdays 9 a.m to 9 p.m weekends 9 a.m 9 a.m to 1 p.m on saturdays learn more at ortho since e.com that's ortho c i n c y.com we're done we're done Taryn, remind me next week the topic I did not get to get to today. The owner of the Indianapolis Colts on the sideline of Colts games. I'll tease you. I like it. Doesn't bother me. Doesn't bother me at all. In fact, if I owned an NFL team, I would be just like her. We're done. By the way, wouldn't it be awesome if I owned an NFL team? Can I work for you? Hell yeah, you can. Duh. People think like the Reds and Bengals nepotism is bad. Basically, my entire like employee base would be people that are buddies of mine. We got to go. We got to go. We're not here tomorrow. Pep rallies on in our place. Don't forget Sunday watching the game at Dickman's in Fort Wright. We'll see you there for that. Tony and Mo football show moves to Twin Peaks and Westchester Monday, three to six. Looking forward to that. We're done. Show's over. Got to go. Enjoy Blink as well. Have a great weekend. This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
Speaker 1: Like ESPN 1530, Cincinnati Sports Station.
00:00:04
Speaker 2: That's right. What's up? Six after five. This is ESPN 1530. My name's Mo Egger. Thank you so much for listening today. We'll chat with our guy, Jay Morrison, in about 15 minutes from the press box. We have a poll question we have to ask in just a few minutes. And we've got one of the experts from OrthoCincy to talk injuries, which the Bengals have been dealing with. Jamar Chase did some stuff today. T.
00:00:29
Speaker 3: Higgins.
00:00:30
Speaker 2: did stuff on the rehab field, which isn't ideal. You know what is ideal? Robert Weintraub. He joins us every Thursday. He has a weekly Bengals column at Cincinnati Magazine. In this week's column, he urges you to be happy, dammit. I threw in the dammit. Go read it at CincinnatiMagazine.com. I tweeted out a link. Go read it now.
00:00:48
Speaker 3: Hi, Robert. Hey, Mo. I'm happy with the dammit. I think that's a good edit. I should have edited it in the first place. Yes, I quoted our old pal with the punchable face, Aaron Rodgers.
00:01:03
Speaker 2: I think they will. I really do. I think everything's going to be okay. But this whole operating the offense under center thing, we're talking about this like this is advanced calculus, which I admittedly never took. I went back this week and I found football footage from 1901 on YouTube. And there were two teams operating under center. They found a way to snap the football to the quarterback and gain yardage. 125 years later, this has somehow perplexed the Bengals coaching staff. Why?
00:01:37
Speaker 3: 1901 was Joe Flacco. He was one of the guys under center. Well, listen, I mean, we talked about this. It's a couple of things. One, We always said it's going to be a process, right? You can't just all of a sudden do everything under center from a heavy, heavy shotgun team, heaviest in the league, and expect things not to be a little clunky.
00:02:01
Speaker 4: Here and there.
00:02:02
Speaker 3: And the real question was when the bullets are flying and you really need to score points and make plays, are they going to default back to their comfort zone and ignore the fact that the only way through kind of in this situation is by accepting some of those clunkiness and not having it go right. And I don't think we necessarily know the answer, but it's easy for us to say, oh, why can't you just do this? These guys really aren't trained to do it. The league is seeing it a lot on tape, and they're counteracting it. I think also we're looking at the second word of that, under center. And we're not really talking about Ted Karras all that much. And he's a guy who hasn't played center with the quarterback's hands on his butt. all that often. He was a guard in college and most of his NFL career. So, you know, he's only recently been a center and certainly hasn't played a lot of under center attacks.
00:02:53
Speaker 4: And it's tough because he's the second.
00:02:54
Speaker 3: Most important guy after Joe Burrow in that, in that frame, he has caught all the blocking assignments. He has to get everybody on the same page and they're still kind of learning it. And as I said, teams are really a gap blitzing a lot to kind of counter the under center attack. It's all cyclical, right? I mean, Teams started to turn to those agap blitzes.
00:03:12
Speaker 1: Why?
00:03:13
Speaker 3: Because they were getting gashed, and our old friend Mike Zimmer did it, and they forced teams to go more heavy into the shotgun to get away from those guys, those blitzers standing right over them. And now here we are coming full circle right around. I think if they really commit to it, You know, they might not be as good as those 1901.
00:03:28
Speaker 4: Teams, but they can be viable.
00:03:31
Speaker 3: And, you know, the only question really, and it has been all along for me, is whether they will, in fact, stick with it or just go with what they do best, which is still pretty darn good. Joe Burrow in the shotgun.
00:03:41
Speaker 2: Uh, Joe Burrow gets the football last week, minute 44 to go. He's, he's in his side of the field. He's got a chance to go win the football game and shut up at least for a while, a growing list of doubters. Instead, we all know what happened as a, as a, a smart person, which is what you are. Uh, what is your take on the growing?
00:04:00
Speaker 3: Yes.
00:04:00
Speaker 2: What is your take on the growing Joe Burrow isn't clutch narrative?
00:04:05
Speaker 3: I think the growing narrative is that I'm not that smart, but I'll take your compliment with that. with a grin. Thank you so much. Well, I mean, I'll say a few things. One, yeah, it would have been awesome to have him, you know, score two late touchdowns with his fourth through sixth receivers out there, win the game against a good team and shut everybody up. It was very close to happening, but it didn't, doesn't really concern me. I mean, are we going to trade Joe Burrow now for a fifth round pick? Is that World War II? Because he's not clutch. You know who was clutch? Tim Tebow had that workout. The problem was he was clutch because he stunk for three quarters and then got his You know, Mojo working with the last couple of minutes. You know, you have to remember also that my guy who put that out there, that original tweet about his one for 34, not 35, I guess, is a guy named Scott Kaksmar, former colleague of mine. Good guy. I like him, but he's also a Steelers fan. So take it all with a grain of salt. He lives to put down his enemies. in Cincinnati, New England, Cleveland, et cetera. Listen, I mean, to me, he's really, he's over to Joe Burrow. I mean, at the Superbowl and the AFC championship game in 2022, or when he had chances to really cement his legend or create his legend. And he came up short in those games at the very end. Why? Because he had replacement linemen trying to block all fame defenders and it didn't work out, but you know, that's what, the great, great quarterbacks, the elite that separate themselves from the just really good quarterbacks. They come through in those moments, regardless of circumstances. And until he, you know, he does that in the biggest of games, not in the September game against Jacksonville, but in a game that really means everything. And he comes through in those last minutes, you know, he's, he's always going to carry that reputation. On the other hand, if he wins a Superbowl by 45 points, no one's going to carry it.
00:05:48
Speaker 4: So that'd be fine too.
00:05:50
Speaker 2: Who has a higher level of excitement, a nine-year-old waking up on Christmas morning or a tight end waking up on the morning they're playing against the Bengals?
00:05:58
Speaker 3: It's always fun for them. Yeah, it is kind of hard to believe, but I looked at the teams that were the best at stopping tight ends so far this season and going into last season, and it's these guys, the Rams, the 49ers, the Falcons, the Steelers. What do they have in common? Well, they use their tight ends a lot in their offense. And, you know, make sense of reason that they practice against a lot and they're better at stopping a tight end based attack, man. They're not necessarily good at stopping other things, but they are very good at that level. And I think, you know, it's kind of been a historic thing, certainly of late in Cincinnati, where they just kind of made a choice. It feels like they're a wide receiver based team and they're going to take away wide receivers from the other team and they're going to live with tight ends. you know, being the focus of the other team's offense. And, you know, that makes sense. You'd rather see a 12-yard pass to a tight end than a 25-yard pass to a wide receiver. On the other hand, if your personnel turns that 12-yard pass into a 25-yard play because they can't tackle those tight ends, that just compounds the problem, right? And especially like Darnell Washington, who doesn't do anything against anybody but Cincinnati, it seems like. So, you know, it all boils down to me and The same thing we've all talked about at length, ad nauseum, they've got to tackle better. That's where it shows up in the middle of the field. I think they sort of have an overall gestalt of being fine with living with tight ends being the focal point of the opposing offenses rather than bigger play wide receivers. But at a certain point, if you're giving up this kind of yardage, about 100 yards a game almost at tight ends right now, that's not winning football either. They have to find a way to correct that.
00:07:36
Speaker 2: Give me Robert Weintraub is with us. Bengals column up right now at CincinnatiMagazine.com. Four games into the season. What's your read on the AFC North?
00:07:46
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I mean, this goes back to the original RELAX point. If you look under the hood a little bit, you know, our mainstay at FTN.
00:07:55
Speaker 4: Fantasy, DVLA.
00:07:56
Speaker 3: Bengals are 11th in the league. Ravens are 5th. Steelers are 21st. The Browns, the every-loving Browns, who everybody thinks is great now, they're 24th. Point differential, it's the same thing. Bengals have a plus 12, Ravens have a plus 20, but the Browns and the Steelers are in negative numbers. There's also red zone defense. We talk about that as being a critical sort of under-the-hood stat all the time. Bengals are third in the league in forcing field goals, not touchdowns, when the other.
00:08:24
Speaker 4: Team gets in the red zone. You look at the rest of the top.
00:08:27
Speaker 3: Five, they have one loss combined. So the Bengals have been a little unfortunate to be 2-2. They're certainly playing at a high level in a lot of aspects, you know, we, we came up with those turnovers that burrows made at the end of these games. And, you know, you look at that and say, Oh my God, how, how are we ever going to win another game? Because that's the nature of the NFL, right? Uh, you know, I don't think that's too much to worry about right now. It's, it's the hallmark of the, Bengals under Zach Taylor is that they improve things during their bi-week and they play well down the stretch. And you look at Cleveland, they're playing a lot of young players. And it's a reason they would be good to start the season. But young players tend to wear down and injuries mount. They don't have a lot of depth on that team. And as the season goes along, that could definitely hurt them. I think Pittsburgh is who we thought they were. Not very good, despite when they play the Bengals, they always look great. And, you know, the Ravens... it's similar to, they have, they've been explosive, but here's Lamar. He's back on the injured list and they've been forced because their interior line knock on effect from losing Tyler Linda Brown in the off season. Now they had to, you know, kind of desperately trade a second round pick for Cam Juergens of the Eagles.
00:09:35
Speaker 4: He's really not.
00:09:36
Speaker 3: Been the same player since he had a very bad back injury and he's injured as we speak. So, you know, if he can really come back and be the player he was and stabilize things, they'll obviously be a really good team. But I think, you know, Overall, it's the Bengals and the Ravens and then the Steelers and the Browns are still a step behind.
00:09:52
Speaker 2: Tremendous stuff as always. And by the way, that 1901 video on YouTube is worth watching. I don't know if you want to crunch that while you're... Doing whatever we're doing this weekend.
00:10:02
Speaker 3: I feel like I should go there and really get their advanced stats and get some analytics from the 1901 season. I mean, I know there's a huge cry out for it out there in NFL circles. So, you know, 1901 or maybe I'll stick with the 1910s. Gotcha. That's where you really saw the under center play ticket.
00:10:22
Speaker 2: Offenses started to open up.
00:10:25
Speaker 3: They really did. The 12 laterals per game really made the league a whole different animal.
00:10:33
Speaker 4: Awesome, man.
00:10:33
Speaker 2: Thanks so much.
00:10:35
Speaker 3: Thank you, Bo. See you next week.
00:10:36
Speaker 2: Read Robert's column at CincinnatiMagazine.com. Our guy Jay Morrison joins us next on ESPN 1530. Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. Traffic. From the Usenati and iHeart Radio Station. Guaranteed human. ESPN 1530.
00:10:56
Speaker 3: iHeart Radio.
00:11:01
Speaker 5: Head to Skyline to get an exclusive collector series.
00:11:03
Speaker 2: Of Bengals cards featuring.
00:11:05
Speaker 5: Jamar Chase, BJ Hill, Joe Burrow, Chase Brown, T. Higgins, and DJ Turner. Collect a new player series each week. Every pack includes a Skyline offer and a chance to win a $ 500 Skyline gift card. Bengals collector series are only at participating Skyline restaurants while supplies last. Limit three card packs per customer.
00:11:24
Speaker 2: With menu item purchase.
00:11:25
Speaker 5: Only at Skyline Chili, official chili of the Cincinnati Bengals. Hootie!
00:11:30
Speaker 6: This is Football in the Natty, brought to you in part by Skyline Chili on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
00:11:42
Speaker 2: Jay Morrison is with us because it's Thursday. BengalsTalk.com, part of the Growler Podcast Network, which, by the way, they have their big show tonight at 50 West, Worcester Pike, with a special guest. Not allowed to say who the special guest is, but I am allowed to say hi to Jay, who's with us from the press box at PayCore Stadium. Hi, Jay. Hey, Mo. I'm not allowed to say who it is either. But you're going to be there, and that's what's most important. Well, it's in the top ten.
00:12:11
Speaker 1: But if anybody is free tonight, they should come out. It is going to be– I love all of our live shows. I'm really looking forward to this one because of the guests. I think we're going to have a lot of fun tonight. So come out, get some burgers, get some beers. Watch the game with us after the show. Love to see everybody there.
00:12:29
Speaker 2: I could not suggest more that people go see you guys because your special guest I am extraordinarily fond of. And that's all that I'll say. All right, who's not going to play on Sunday? Chase is up doing stuff. Higgins is a DMP. What does this look like for Miami?
00:12:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, it doesn't look like T's going to play. This is a rare Thursday surprise limited. That's good news for the Bengals. I mean, Jamar being out there today and being limited, I think is a really good sign that he's going to have a shot to play. It's so hard to tell with concussions. Everyone's different. Everybody's body's different. The baseline cognitive stuff that they have to pass is different, but really encouraging sign that he was out there. Also Colby young, the rookie wide receiver was a full participant today. So, you know, when he went down with the knee injury on that first play at Pittsburgh, that didn't look good. It looked like it was going to be a longer term injury. He could end up just missing the one game. Well, all but one play against Pittsburgh. He didn't play last week against Jacksonville, but he looks like he's on track to play as well. Brian Cook, I don't know. He said he's hopeful, but he was asked, are you hopeful? So he's not going to say no. He said yes. But it didn't sound convincing. So there might be another week on him. Well, two weeks because the bye follows.
00:13:47
Speaker 2: In your opinion, why is the running game so inefficient and ineffective?
00:13:54
Speaker 1: It's a good question. I'm not a film breakdown guru. Chase Brown is really good. It's weird because the metrics are what they are, but the ESPN win rate says the Bengals are best in the league, and it doesn't jive with what we've seen. I think a big part of it was last week that Jacksonville is just really good. They have a really good defensive line. The Bengals kind of– there's some teams that'll bang their head against the wall and keep doing it. Uh, the Bengals are quick to, to pivot. And if you're not, if you're only getting one and a half yards per carry, then you're going to get away from it. And, um, I think this will be a really good test at Miami. Um, yeah, they're winless, but they've, they've gone toe to toe with Minnesota. They've gone toe to toe with Kansas city. Neither one of those teams put up very many points on them. So you'll get a better test. They're not Jacksonville quality and you can feel, uh, A little more comfortable sticking with the run game because you know that Miami offense is not a team that's going to blow your doors off and put you in a big hole. So I would expect hearing Joe Burrow's comments, hearing Zach Taylor's comments, they know they need to be more balanced. And I think they're going to go out and prove it this week against Miami.
00:15:05
Speaker 2: The Dolphins haven't scored more than 13 points in a game, but they do employ a tight end, right? So how many catches will he have? Um, well, eight for 80 seems to be about the average. So, uh, his name's Greg Dulcich. So if you're playing a fantasy sports, weekly fantasy, daily fantasy, he might be a guy you want to put on your roster. What do you do with this? You know, growing, we saw it last week. You and I didn't get a chance to talk one in 34 when they're losing with eight minutes or less to go this growing narrative, the Joe burrow, uh, not that he's a choke artist, but that he's not clutch when the game is hanging in the balance.
00:15:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't know if there's anything he can do with it except go out and win a couple of those games. Not throwing the interception in the red zone last week would have been a good start. Not being able to finish that drive when they had first and 10 at the 21, not going for broke on three straight plays and then kind of settling on fourth and 10.
00:16:01
Speaker 2: I mean, think about it.
00:16:04
Speaker 1: He could win three straight games in the final eight minutes, and he's still going to be what four and 35. So it's going to be hard to, to erase that number or get it to anything respectable. I just think you have to use the eye test, what you've watched, what you know of Joe Burrow. If, if you're saying, if your team has a chance, four minutes, five minutes, anywhere in the eight minutes, do you want that guy to lead the final drive? And I think most people are going to say yes.
00:16:33
Speaker 2: Um, Joe Burrow said after the game last week against Jacksonville that it wasn't Armageddon. If they lose on Sunday, is it Armageddon?
00:16:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it is. I mean, they won't say it is, but man, it's going to be a bad look. It needs to be 2-3 and to lose a winless Miami team and then to have to swallow that and taste it for an extra week because you're going into the bye. They just can't. It was not that long ago. I mean, I know it's a different year, but different coach in Miami and all that, but they blew the Dolphins doors off last year, uh, in, in December. And, um, this, I think this Dolphins team is even worse than last year. They've really torn that thing down to the studs. I, it feels like they're already tanking for the number one pick and it doesn't, that's the front office, but you watch the Dolphins on film and they, they play hard and they, you know, I think Jeff Halfley is, is got something there. They just don't have the talent and the Bengals do. And so there's no reason they shouldn't win this game and win it comfortably.
00:17:37
Speaker 2: Appreciate it. As always, have fun tonight, Jay. Thanks so much. All right. Thanks, Mo. Make sure you read Jay's work, bengalstalk.com. Hear him, part of the Growler podcast. And again, their live show tonight. I wish I could go. At 50 West. I had a 50 West beer last night, for what it's worth. Somebody bought it for me at the Carousel Classic, which was nice of them. The one on Worcester Pike, so go see them.
00:18:00
Speaker 4: It's 5-3.
00:18:01
Speaker 2: You got a couple poll questions. I haven't had a chance to talk about this. Poll questions. Thanks to United Heartland Insurance. You know, this is like the part of the year, the time of year, where people start thinking about, like, renew my insurance for next year. Well, don't do that. I mean, renew your insurance, but don't do it before you go to United Heartland Insurance, uhins.com, and see how much they can help you save on your insurance. So we're getting ready amid the baseball postseason, which we're down to, We still have one series that's not settled in the division around Chicago and Cleveland. White Sox up two games, two games to one. NLCS will be a rematch of last year, the Dodgers and Brewers. And then we're going to have a lockout, which is stupid, but we're going to have a lockout. But baseball has issued a proposal to its players because, you know, baseball wants a salary cap. And is as these things unfold, I'm generally pro player. By the way, that doesn't make me anything. You don't have to call me names. I'm just a pro player in this regard. But in some of baseball's proposals here, I like this one. 154-game season that would include basically a standardized off-day every week, a postseason where the division series round, which is now best of five, will be best of seven, and in the playoffs... the highest-seeded team in each league in the wildcard round and in the divisional round will get to pick its opponent. Now, there's nothing sacred about 162. There isn't, and I love baseball. I like 154 for this reason. It could kind of help kind of recalibrate the record books Like, I feel like baseball records, season-long records have never mattered less in large part because of what happened to so many records in the 90s and early 2000s. This could kind of help recalibrate things a little bit. 154 is.
00:20:09
Speaker 2: It's 5% less baseball. You're going to get more postseason games. Now, I hesitate slightly on the longer division series because I think you would have more bullpen games. And I don't know anybody who likes a bullpen game. And I hate that we have them in the postseason. But still, I think as a general rule, best of seven is better than best of five. And I'm probably in the minority here. In fact, as I look at the poll question, I am. Picking your opponent in round one is fun. baseball supposed to be fun you have possibly hilarious results like i am all in on that i think that should be a thing in every sport if you're the top seed you should get to pick your opponent the storylines that would come out of that again let me just sports are supposed to be fun a team picking its opponent is a blast i'm in so i have two poll questions one 154, yay or nay. Two, highest seeded team picking its opponent, yay or nay. Count me as a yay for both. Count me as a yay for both. There is nothing sacred about 162. We had 154 games for decades. Every game would matter just a little bit more. We'd have maybe slightly less injury risk. You'd have I think fewer off days to players who aren't playing while their team is playing, that's a good thing. By the way, you would lessen the need for the stupid magic runner rule in the regular season. But dude, I'm in. The Brewers this year in the National League getting a chance to pick their opponent. They didn't play in the wildcard round, obviously. Like, The fun and games that that would involve.
00:22:03
Speaker 5: I'm in.
00:22:03
Speaker 2: Sign me up. Remember, baseball is supposed to be fun.
00:22:07
Speaker 4: Sports.
00:22:08
Speaker 3: Fun.
00:22:08
Speaker 2: This is the fun and games department. You know, down the hall when they yell at each other about politics and election day and stuff. Over here is the fun stuff. The sports. The fun. So sign me up for the fun.
00:22:19
Speaker 7: Yay.
00:22:20
Speaker 2: What the hell is that? Sign me up for one of the experts from OrthoCincy talking about. You say. Too yay.
00:22:26
Speaker 4: Yay.
00:22:27
Speaker 3: Okay.
00:22:30
Speaker 2: No idea what the hell that was.
00:22:33
Speaker 3: Dr.
00:22:33
Speaker 2: Tyler Gardner from OrthoCincy on Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, Lamar Jackson, and the dude with the dislocated ankle coming up on ESPN 1530.
00:22:44
Speaker 6: You've been listening to Football in the Natty on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
00:22:56
Speaker 2: Traffic.
00:22:57
Speaker 3: Traffic.
00:23:00
Speaker 2: All right, we've got to talk injuries, including a couple of big injuries to a pair of Bengals this week. We chat with one of the experts from OrthoCincy Orthopedics and Sports Medicine whenever we talk injuries. The great thing about OrthoCincy, and I talk about this all the time, they have specialist locations and services all over the tri-state. This includes walk-in orthopedic urgent care at five locations with extended evening and weekend hours in Edgewood and Anderson.
00:23:24
Speaker 3: Learn more.
00:23:25
Speaker 2: At OrthoCincy.com. That's OrthoC-I-N-C-Y.com. Dr. Tyler Gardner from OrthoCincy is with us. Got to ask about Jamar Chase. In the NFL's concussion protocol, vicious hit that he suffered on Sunday. What happens to the brain during a concussion?
00:23:43
Speaker 4: Right.
00:23:44
Speaker 7: So a concussion, the brain is kind of like, almost like a pickle in a jar. It's not like it's tethered to anything. So it kind of sloshes around. So, you know, Jamar's injury had a couple things that were concerning. One was the rotational component from being pulled on by his face mask, and then the hit, and then his head hitting against the ground. So when that happens, the brain can hit against the skull, and that causes injury. What happens in the brain when that happens is the blood flow drops, and then it releases things called neurotransmitters that are a sign of injury.
00:24:18
Speaker 4: Um, and those things basically have to recover. Uh, there's nothing we can necessarily do to, you know.
00:24:23
Speaker 7: Make that faster, um, before we allow people to come back because, um, if you come back too soon, uh, it can be a pretty severe thing. We actually saw that, uh, I think it was in 2022 right here at pay core with, uh, to, uh, uh, he, uh, he had that second injury and he was posturing significant, uh, The scary time, you know, when the brain's trying to heal from.
00:24:46
Speaker 2: These injuries, he was Jamar was able to walk off the field under his own power. Does that mean that his concussion was quote mild? And is there even such a thing?
00:24:56
Speaker 7: You can't really grade it based on people getting up and being able to walk. It's more based on symptoms. So, you know, all things you can think about concussions, you know, loss of consciousness, you know, he laid down there for a second, but it's hard to tell. But then you also have to look at his other symptoms, you know, is he, you know, where he is, you know, what time it is. And then even then it's hard to really grade it based on that. It really depends on how he does, you know, the next few days afterwards, you know. We have a protocol that we generally follow for people to return to sport, and you have to go through every step.
00:25:28
Speaker 4: And every concussion is different.
00:25:30
Speaker 7: It's not like recovering from a broken bone or something like that where we say, oh, bone starts to heal and have cows around six weeks. And then it gets better from there. Everything responds differently. The brain responds differently in everybody. So it's hard to really grade that. I wouldn't consider any traumatic brain injury mild because they're all very serious. And the brain is a very important thing. If you don't have your brain, you don't have anything. So we've seen with.
00:25:54
Speaker 4: The NFL how.
00:25:58
Speaker 7: Serious these injuries can be, and repeated concussions can cause significant long-term, even people leaving the NFL, long-term consequences.
00:26:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, we know so much more than we did 10, 15 years ago. It's pretty remarkable how we talk about concussions now versus what I was growing up, and that's for the better. I'm going to ask you about T. Higgins, a doctor injury. It's a groin injury. uh suffered it in the fourth quarter of the game he kind of came down awkwardly he was trying to do a toe tap catch on the sideline he tried to play through it could not they're calling him day to day we'll find out about his status for sunday let's walk through the differences between a groin pull a strain and a tear Yeah.
00:26:36
Speaker 7: So a pull is, I consider a pull and a strain kind of similar. That means the muscle is stretched, but not necessarily torn to the point where there's muscle fibers that are torn apart. And then a tear is usually a higher grade strain. So they're kind of, you know, similar things, but different severity.
00:26:58
Speaker 2: When he is referred to as being day-to-day, how is that different? What determines whether he's day-to-day versus say week-to-week? Right.
00:27:06
Speaker 7: So day-to-day means it is probably a lower-grade injury, so not a complete tear. But it's hard to tell without the MRI. Everyone in the NFL gets an MRI because they're able to do that. Day-to-day means what they're going to do is they're going to start going through exercise with them. They'll start with simple strengthening, jogging, and then getting back to full-speed running and then cutting. The problem with these injuries, if you come back too soon, then maybe a grade one becomes a grade two because– If the muscle is not strong, then it can't protect itself. And these muscles are pulling its other muscles. You know, he's not just, you know, walking or just, you know, the 5k he's playing.
00:27:41
Speaker 4: In the NFL.
00:27:42
Speaker 7: So those muscles have to fire at its longest length and its hardest force it can.
00:27:47
Speaker 4: And if it's not prepared for it, then it can't do it.
00:27:49
Speaker 2: Two more I want to ask you about. Dr. Tyler Gardner from Ortho, since he is with us. The Bengals played the Dolphins this week, then a bye, then the Baltimore Ravens. That means Lamar Jackson, but he is dealing with a left ankle sprain that he suffered on the final play of the first half of Baltimore's game against Tennessee last week. So when we talk about ankle sprains, typically there's a distinction, low ankle or high ankle. With Lamar, what is it? And is one maybe more severe than the other?
00:28:16
Speaker 3: Yeah.
00:28:16
Speaker 7: So the low ankle sprain is your standard rolled your ankle.
00:28:20
Speaker 4: It's based on symptoms again.
00:28:22
Speaker 7: So some people can play within a week or less of a low ankle sprain. The problem is with what I've seen so far with Lamar is it's likely.
00:28:33
Speaker 4: Or potentially a high ankle sprain.
00:28:34
Speaker 7: And especially based on his injury, if the ankle goes outward instead of rolling inward, it tends to put more pressure on what's called the syndesmosis. And that's between the tibia and the fibula. So The problem with those is they, one, if they are low grade, you have to be careful because it can become high grade. And some of these actually require surgery. But in the lower grade ones, you can protect them. The thing that they'll have to think about is long term. I mean, a lot of his game is how mobile he is. And also, as a quarterback, he needs to be able to plant and rotate on that ankle. So, they'll look at that too.
00:29:09
Speaker 4: They'll have an MRI.
00:29:10
Speaker 7: They'll be able to tell if it's completely torn, if it's just strained. If it's completely torn, sometimes those require surgery. If it's strained, like it sounds like, they'll have to protect him until his pain gets better, his strength gets better. I mean, there are some that with athletics, you can get a little... you know creative and sometimes they'll just take the ankle kind of together um not ideal but you know if they wanted to play and they got to get through and they got to do that but early in the season i would imagine they'd want to kind of protect him for as long as possible since you know mobility is a lot of his game.
00:29:44
Speaker 2: Dr tyler gardner from ortho since the outstanding insight we appreciate the time i say this every week because it's true ortho since the orthopedics and sports medicine the place to go whenever you have an urgent orthopedic injury there are extended evening and evening and weekend hours in edgewood and in anderson weekdays 9 a.m to 9 p.m weekends 9 a.m 9 a.m to 1 p.m on saturdays learn more at ortho since e.com that's ortho c i n c y.com we're done we're done Taryn, remind me next week the topic I did not get to get to today. The owner of the Indianapolis Colts on the sideline of Colts games. I'll tease you. I like it. Doesn't bother me. Doesn't bother me at all. In fact, if I owned an NFL team, I would be just like her. We're done. By the way, wouldn't it be awesome if I owned an NFL team? Can I work for you? Hell yeah, you can. Duh. People think like the Reds and Bengals nepotism is bad. Basically, my entire like employee base would be people that are buddies of mine. We got to go. We got to go. We're not here tomorrow. Pep rallies on in our place. Don't forget Sunday watching the game at Dickman's in Fort Wright. We'll see you there for that. Tony and Mo football show moves to Twin Peaks and Westchester Monday, three to six. Looking forward to that. We're done. Show's over. Got to go. Enjoy Blink as well. Have a great weekend. This is ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
