The Mo Egger Radio Show -- 10/8/26

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Speaker 1: Deposit yeah the Bengals and Dolphins meet up in Miami for a South Beach showdown speaking of the beach my swimsuit of choice is a speedo European style I don't like those pesky tan lines the Bengals duel the Dolphins the game kicks off at 1 p.m.
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Speaker 2: Coverage begins Sunday morning at 9 a.m. Stream for free on the new and improved iHeartRadio app or on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
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Speaker 3: What's up?
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Speaker 4: How you doing?
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Speaker 5: Remember me, I'm Mo Egger. This is ESPN 1530. Thanks for listening today. I hope you have had so far at least an awesome Thursday afternoon, a gorgeous day outside and in studio here for the first time since last Wednesday. It is awesome to be here. Show preview is available on Twitter. You can go watch it right now. Thanks to ShareFax Credit Union, the single greatest financial institution in the United States. Go to ShareFax.org. That's ShareFax.org. We are all over the place between now and six o'clock. We've got. some baseball stuff to get to this hour. We've got some major league soccer stuff to get to in this show. We've got fantasy football. We've got sports wagering, obviously lots on the Bengals and good news for the Bengals as they get set for the Miami game on Sunday. Go check out the show preview video. We have college basketball to get to this hour, which I'm excited about. Let's start with the good news. So Bengals getting set to take on the Dolphins. The big story this week has been about the availability of their wide receivers. Jamar Chase and Brian Cook were both captured on video by some of the local media members who are there shooting footage of the part of practice that they're allowed to be at. So Jamar Chase has obviously been in the league's concussion protocol before. We'll see if he passes all the tests, but good sign for Jamar Chase. Also, Brian Cook in full pads, headed to practice. The bad news is T Higgins remains on the practice field. This very much feels like a do what you got to do and get to the buy type of game. Like if they lose on Sunday, I know where the conversation goes. I know where the conversation goes on the outside and, I'm going to guess the conversation on the inside of the venue originally known as Paul Brown Stadium doesn't mirror what the conversations are going to look and sound like on the outside. But you lose this one, man. You can't blame anybody for saying it's time to make a coaching change, especially in a season that has been guided by urgency and needing to win right now. You lose three straight. You lose to the Dolphins, who are terrible. They haven't scored more than 13 points in a game this season. You're going into a bye. That's what a lot of teams would maybe try to salvage their season by making a coaching change. I don't think the Bengals will do that. I do know a lot of fans. I got to be honest with you. I'm going to be among them. You lose this one, man. You've made roster upgrades. You've swapped out assistant coaches. You've got continuity on offense. And not only did you lose to the Dolphins, you lost to the Dolphins to cap off a three-game losing streak. Like, I don't know, man. It's going to be really hard to make an argument for Zach Taylor, the guy who seemingly can't figure out how to help the Bengals offense run with the quarterback taking the snap from under center. We have a lot on that to get to as the afternoon unfolds. This game to me is about you got to beat the Dolphins no matter who you have. And if you have Jamar Chase, you should be able to beat the Miami Dolphins. I would argue if you have Joe Burrow playing against an offense that has been abysmal this year, you don't need to score 45. You need to score 20. Can Joe Burrow score 20? Despite the running game deficiencies they've had and despite the wide receiver uncertainty they've been dealing with, I would like to think that the answer is yes. We will see the game Sunday at one live on ESPN 1530. My thanks to Austin Elmore for pinch hitting yesterday. I was at the, the outdoor college basketball double header in Mason, the care source invitational because Dan wasn't available. I called the UC game on the internet, go bearcats.com with Terry Nelson. Take these games with grains of salt. You do that with an exhibition game. Anyway, really do it with that game yesterday. There's, I think there's two different stories to yesterday. There's the event and there are the games and they're separate as an event. I thought that was really cool yesterday. And I get it some frustration and disappointment over the fact that, uh, there was no television or no video stream of the games made available. And I'll leave it to others to litigate why that didn't happen or why it could have happened. But again, Working the first game and then watching the second game from the stands, I thought it was a really cool event. Now, you don't want that for regular season basketball. I haven't heard anybody mention that that's going to be a venue for regular season basketball. That's not something we should be dealing with, but... As kind of an introduction, you know, let's face it, with all these teams having all new guys, a lot of fans who need an introduction, as an introduction to the respective teams and the players on it, I thought that was neat yesterday. It had some novelty to it with the games being outside, clearly having good weather helped, seeing fans of four area programs all in one place and getting along. I thought was really cool. The visual of it, like late in the first half of the Xavier Dayton game, when we were dealing with like full blown twilight, that setting last night was gorgeous. And it was a little steamy for the UC Ohio state game. It's the first time I've ever been at a college basketball game and I've had to put on sunscreen. First time I've ever been at a college basketball game and I've had to wear sunglasses, but as an event, it's, I think from a working perspective, and this is stuff that nobody cares about, there would be some changes I would make. But I talked just walking around a little bit at halftime of the second game last night. Walking around, I ran into a lot of folks who were like, dude, this is awesome. And hopefully there's room for that experience to grow. Again, man, if you're looking at that through the lens of, well, do that in the regular season, like regular season's in November. We're not risking it. Um, I thought that was cool. The players seem to enjoy it. The coaches seem to enjoy it. Obviously, you know, there's a lot of, of very, very good discourse going on in this country about mental health. And that's sort of at the heart of all this, what care source does, I thought is a basketball event. That was, that was really cool yesterday. If you were lucky enough to go, you can maybe share your experience with me. Uh, the basketball stuff. Well, I'll say is this from a UC perspective, uh, I was really impressed by Tylan Riley. I was really impressed by Tyler Tejada. Two guys who, especially in the second half, with the game, and it's an exhibition game, hanging in the balance, I saw two guys who kind of said, we're going to go get it. I saw two guys who said, we're going to get to the rim, we're going to create some offense, we're going to make plays, we're not going to stand and dribble. What that's going to mean for when the games actually count, I don't know. Again, early October basketball, the game's Often looked like they were being played in early October, and specifically the first one looked like it was being played with the sun affecting shooting. The shooting in both the games left a lot to be desired from a Xavier perspective in the win over Dayton. I love how they came out of the gate. a little bit more shorthanded than Richard Pitino would like. But Mike Nwako, you know, Rick Boring wrote about how he fully lived up to his scouting report. There was a level of physicality around the rim. There was a level of brawn and bulk and willingness to push people around that we did not see from the Musketeers frontcourt players at all for the most part last year. I thought it was a good start to the season for Richard Pitino's team. And I thought the second half marked a good start to the season for Jared Calhoun's team. Those games themselves, I frankly thought the games themselves took a little bit of a backseat to just the setting and the environment. But there were some things I think to latch on to if you're a fan of either team, and we'll talk about them both with Chad Brendel and Rick Boring coming up at 345. FC Cincinnati plays on Saturday. The Orange and Blue hasn't won a game since August the 19th. And if you look at the MLS table right now, you will see FC Cincinnati on the outside looking into the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. Still 10 games to go, but they got to start picking up some points. Nate Bucati from Apple TV is calling Saturday's match against Atlanta, and he'll join us next on ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
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Speaker 6: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
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Speaker 7: Traffic.
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Speaker 8: From the UC Health Traffic Center, a mammogram takes 15 minutes and could save your life. Schedule yours with UC Health's breast imaging experts at 513-584-PINK.
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Speaker 5: After 3 o'clock, this is ESPN 1530. Mo Egger, anything you may have missed on this show, including an outstanding hour with Paul Danner Jr. on Tuesday, you can go find it on the iHeartRadio app. Also, the Tony and Mo football show from earlier this week was which was uh terrific as well the cincinnati bengals have played two pre-season games won them both and they've played four regular season games since fc cincinnati last won a match the orange and blue currently on the outside looking in of the eastern conference playoffs they're back in action against atlanta On Saturday night, it's a road tilt for FC Cincinnati. They're about to be really busy because they have that makeup game coming up. They have a midweek game next week. They have the Hell is Real match against Columbus. But first things first, without Evander, according to our friend Laurel Fahler at Queen City Press, the Orange and Blue hits the road to take on Atlanta. Nate Bucati, our friend from Apple TV, has the call, and he's with us now. It's not going well right now, Nate. I'll be honest with you, man.
00:10:44
Speaker 4: How are you?
00:10:46
Speaker 5: Doing good, Mo.
00:10:47
Speaker 7: Thanks for having me.
00:10:48
Speaker 9: I guess I'm also trying to figure out why Joe Burrow doesn't think the Bengals offense needs any balance, you know, but that's a different story for a different time, isn't it?
00:10:57
Speaker 10: It is. It is.
00:10:58
Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm trying to figure that out, much like Pat Noonan's got to figure out how to beat Atlanta without his best player.
00:11:04
Speaker 9: Yeah, and also how they're going to put some things together defensively because if they don't sort out their defensive issues, it's going to be a really sad ending to the season for FC Cincinnati and the worst year that he's had since being.
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Speaker 11: At the helm.
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Speaker 9: So that's the number one job. Yes, obviously losing Evander to injury right now is bad news. at a time when you, when you don't need any bad news, uh, you listed off, you know, the stretch they've been on without a win, but, uh, you know, they, they brought some players in to try to help with that defense.
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Speaker 10: Uh, we'll see if.
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Speaker 9: Those guys are ready to really, you know, fully contribute. It took them a little, uh, a little longer to get those players in than I think they would have wanted to, uh, but they're here now. So we'll, we'll see if they can, you know, provide some serious relief to a team that used to always be known for some real defensive prowess. And this year they've, uh, been one of the worst defensive teams in all the major league soccer unfortunately.
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Speaker 5: Yeah they have and i i think when we've talked about it for for much of the summer it was well they're just going to have to ask evander to do more which okay fine but when you don't have them that's kind of hard to do.
00:12:09
Speaker 9: Yeah there's only so much you can ask one guy uh to do you know i mean you score goals that's great but when you're conceding three or four a game So it's hard for any player to outscore that kind of defensive lack of production, so to speak. So yeah, they need some other guys to step up. They need some guys in the midfield to step up. They got a lot of guys that were just off on international duty that are coming back as well. But I will say this, they're playing an Atlanta team that have not exactly been cruising this season either. In fact, they're right toward the bottom of the Eastern Conference table. Now, you'll probably stop me as a Cincinnati person and say, yeah, well, we played the last place team in the East last time out in Montreal, and that didn't turn out well for us. So I'm not saying it's a layup victory or anything like that, but it's certainly a game that Cincinnati will feel they can win.
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Speaker 7: And need to win.
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Speaker 5: Can a team come from the bottom of the table in the playoff hunt, once we get to the playoffs, if FC Cincinnati is there and actually contend to win the East?
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Speaker 4: Yes.
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Speaker 9: We've seen a team in 2015, I know that was 11 years ago now, but in 2015, the Seattle Sounders were in last place at the summertime, made a couple of additions, and went on to win MLS Cup. when people had them dead and buried for even trying to make it to the playoffs. So can that happen?
00:13:39
Speaker 10: Yes.
00:13:41
Speaker 9: Obviously, I wouldn't advise people to take out any loans to put money on it. Obviously, it's a very long and difficult process. If you want to build the case for Cincinnati, I think what you would point out, first of all, is you do have an MVP caliber player leading the way in Evander if and when he comes back from injury. You've got a star striker in Kevin Denke. They've added some pieces defensively. If they can get the defensive issues sorted out, They score goals with the best of them. So, you know, that would be the recipe. If they can find a way to fix their defensive woes, they can make themselves, you know, a team that's a contender.
00:14:21
Speaker 12: In the East.
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Speaker 5: Massive opportunity for FC Cincinnati. Ten matches to go starting on Saturday night with a tilt against Atlanta. Nate Bucati, who started the season with me in studio, it's a while ago. It's a long season. Has the call on Saturday night.
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Speaker 9: And you know who they played that day?
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Speaker 5: See, you're going to make me do this off the top of my head, aren't you? It's an easy one.
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Speaker 9: They're playing Zoo this weekend.
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Speaker 5: Atlanta.
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Speaker 9: Yeah, they opened the season with Atlanta.
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Speaker 12: That's right.
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Speaker 9: And I was looking back through my notes going, oh, wait a second.
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Speaker 12: I had this matchup.
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Speaker 9: Now both teams have changed a lot since then. So that's going to be a real interesting study in contrast to which team has changed the most and which team has changed for the better.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm I'm looking forward to it. It's it's getting dire. We're typically in early October. We're talking about like, can they win the supporters shield? We're talking about, you know, where are they going to be at the top of the Eastern Conference? Can this team win the East? And now it's just sneak their way. And this is not what we're used to, Nate.
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Speaker 9: No, and listen, I understand when you're used to something like that, too, and then things go in a different way, the fans get upset. And that's a good thing, because you want fans who care and fans that have expectations. My last time in Cincinnati, we were getting ready for a game that got canceled because of weather issues. So I'm anxious to see Cincinnati actually play again. Good thing is we're in a dome this weekend. So if they have to cancel this game, there's.
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Speaker 5: Really a problem.
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Speaker 9: But listen, Pat Noonan hasn't forgotten how to coach.
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Speaker 5: You know, he's one of the one of.
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Speaker 9: The best coaches in Major League Soccer. He's matter of fact, I think he's real and clear eyed about the problems that they had.
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Speaker 12: And it's one of the things I really.
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Speaker 9: Appreciate about Patton. And we just had a conversation with him, you know, getting ready for this game earlier today. And and he doesn't pull any punches. You know, he owns the problems that the team has had. And I think that's always a good thing because I don't think I'm of the belief that you can't fix problems in life if you don't accept them and acknowledge them.
00:16:28
Speaker 3: Right.
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Speaker 9: If you don't believe there's a problem to solve, then there's then you have no chance of solving it. And so I think that Noonan is still one of the top coaches in Major League Soccer.
00:16:39
Speaker 4: He's got a.
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Speaker 9: Challenge on his hands that he hasn't had in Cincinnati before. And the thing that I think is most disturbing is the effort level that they put out there against Montreal last time out. Because that was the first time that Pat basically said, Uh, the, the, the desire wasn't there, you know, the, the, the, I'm looking back at the words he used, um, and desire. I remember I specifically wrote down was one of them that he said after.
00:17:04
Speaker 5: The game that was, you know, uh, lacking. And that usually is not the case.
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Speaker 9: Energy was another one of the words that he used and he called it confusing. So, um, You know, that's something that he's got to tackle. You wonder if this international break maybe is a chance at a reset button since, you know, the team's had a couple of weeks to try to sort some things out. On board the new players they've added defensively and in the midfield. And then, you know, a couple of players that have been gone on international duty. Maybe everybody comes back with a little bit of a fresh perspective. And the good news is you got a game in hand on most of your competition.
00:17:39
Speaker 4: You've got you're well.
00:17:41
Speaker 9: Within striking distance of the playoffs. And you got enough time to do it. Now, you know, the tough part is going out and doing it. But, you know, I would never bet against Pat Noonan's side.
00:17:52
Speaker 5: I'll tell you that much. No, it has felt like, it hasn't felt like a Pat Noonan coach team, but I still, I'll defer to his track record. Hopefully the weather doesn't impact your travel. Have a great call on Saturday, Nate. Thanks so much.
00:18:04
Speaker 10: Thanks a lot for having me, Mo. Appreciate you.
00:18:06
Speaker 5: You're the best. The great Nate Bucati, Apple TV, FC Cincinnati on the road against Atlanta on Saturday night.
00:18:12
Speaker 4: Night.
00:18:13
Speaker 5: Our friend Lee Sterling helps us make some dough on college and pro football next.
00:18:18
Speaker 6: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. Traffic.
00:18:22
Speaker 8: From the UC Health.
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Speaker 10: ESPN 1530.
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Speaker 5: Mo Egger. On Thursdays, we chat with a guy who has made money for his clients six consecutive weeks. Lee Sterling, ParamountSports.com is his website. He has made us money on pro and college football for years, and he's with us now. Lee, good afternoon.
00:18:43
Speaker 4: I'm great how you doing buddy lee i am uh i.
00:18:46
Speaker 5: Am awesome now better that you're here let's start with a college game my bearcats are off but you know indiana indiana very quietly is undefeated and i say quietly for a national champion because their schedule has left a little to be desired they're playing nebraska the corn huskers are unbeaten they've beaten two of the dregs in the big 10 significant test in lincoln for nebraska the hoosiers laying seven and a half who do we like.
00:19:13
Speaker 3: So I think Nebraska has improved greatly, and the acquisition, you might call it, because they went into the portal and got in Anthony Calandria and paid for him.
00:19:23
Speaker 4: Smart decision, 13.
00:19:24
Speaker 3: Touchdowns, two interceptions, nice receiver here in Quasi Gilmer, 29 catches for six touchdowns. But other than that, they really have not faced a top defense at all. I think part of the reason this line is as low as it is, is Indiana went to Northwestern and some people might say struggled a little bit, but now we found out Northwestern's a solid team. Northwestern, I mean, put it on Penn State, absolutely dominated them last week.
00:19:54
Speaker 4: I think by them already playing a road.
00:19:56
Speaker 3: Game in a hostile environment, I think it helps them out.
00:19:59
Speaker 4: Josh Hoover has been great.
00:20:00
Speaker 3: 15 touchdowns, no interceptions. I got two running backs, Richard and BB Jr. They've accounted for over 1,100 rushing yards and nine touchdowns and two potential first-round picks at receiver and Becker and Marsh over 800 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns. I know the atmosphere is going to be great. It might remind people of the.
00:20:21
Speaker 4: Mississippi State game, but Also.
00:20:24
Speaker 3: Might remind them of the ending here, and I think they're going to go home disappointed, the Nebraska fans here. I just don't think they've improved enough here, and they just don't have the players to stop Indiana. Indiana pulls away 34-21.
00:20:37
Speaker 5: All right, let's go to the NFL. Pittsburgh, which last played a week ago tonight, taking on an Indianapolis team that just played in London, so a rest advantage for the Steelers. They looked old in that game against the Cleveland Browns, but at home they're still favored by two and a half. Who do we like?
00:20:53
Speaker 3: All right, so this is more play going against Indiana. Indiana got it. Indianapolis, the Colts got a face. Washington last week, a number three quarterback early in the game.
00:21:03
Speaker 4: That was a lucky break.
00:21:04
Speaker 3: They only had 257 total yards in that game, 3.9 yards per play here. And I just don't think the Colts have any real downfield threat here.
00:21:14
Speaker 4: Not saying Pittsburgh's great here, but they're the right side. They're going to win in cover here, 30-20.
00:21:19
Speaker 5: Lee Sterling from Paramount Sports is with us. The Bengals are in your neck of the woods this weekend. Cincinnati, a little bit more than a touchdown favorite with the hook against the Dolphins.
00:21:30
Speaker 3: And the Dolphins have some players coming back, whereas Cincinnati banged up at receiver and a couple other positions here. Their number one pick from last year, defensive tackle Kenneth Grant, will be back. One of their two third-round picks, and their top receiver coming out of camp in the first.
00:21:45
Speaker 4: Couple games, Caleb Douglas, will be back.
00:21:48
Speaker 3: They hit on all five top picks, two in the first round, and Caden Proctor, who's a man. I mean, he's like 6'6, 360 pounds. doing a great job at guard their slot cover corner Chris Johnson from San Diego State maybe the best pick of a draft is linebacker Jacob Rodriguez had 18 tackles last week he's been in double digits in every game but one in that game he only had nine hit on two receivers besides Caleb Douglas here and Chris Bell if Cincinnati had faced Miami in week one two or three They win this game by double digits.
00:22:26
Speaker 4: Not this week.
00:22:26
Speaker 3: It's also going to be 89 degrees, and it feels like 102. There'll be no breeze at all. Wrong team favorite here. Miami pulls the upset here.
00:22:39
Speaker 4: Oh, Lee.
00:22:42
Speaker 5: Lee, do you want to trade jobs on Monday if that happens?
00:22:47
Speaker 3: No, I don't want to change jobs, but I will say this. I am rooting for Cincinnati to win 20-16 in Miami covers. That way it's a perfect ending in Miami. Miami still stays in contention for that top pick. It's more about the future with Miami. I'm actually rooting for the Bengals.
00:23:06
Speaker 4: But want the Dolphins to cover.
00:23:08
Speaker 3: That would be the perfect scenario.
00:23:09
Speaker 2: All right.
00:23:10
Speaker 5: Their game of the week, the Browns coming off that fun win. They're 3-1, slight road dogs against the Jets.
00:23:17
Speaker 3: Never thought we'd be talking about this game, but I think there's a clear right side in the Jets and Browns. You want to get this game for free? Just call 800-400-9741 first.
00:23:28
Speaker 4: Five callers. I'm going to give them Jets and Browns on me. It's that big a game, and we're rolling. Six straight winning weeks.
00:23:35
Speaker 3: Have a big game tonight in the Bucks and Cowboys game called Thirsty Thursday. We have won all five Thursdays this year in college football in the NFL.
00:23:44
Speaker 4: So check out all the specials. Just one place. ParamountSports.com.
00:23:48
Speaker 5: ParamountSports.com. Our guy Lee Sterling.
00:23:51
Speaker 11: Thanks, man.
00:23:51
Speaker 5: We'll talk next week.
00:23:53
Speaker 4: Sounds good, buddy. See ya.
00:23:54
Speaker 5: I appreciate it. It's the NFL. Any given Sunday. I cannot even imagine. You know, I say that not like I haven't been doing this a while. I guess I can imagine what it's going to sound and feel like on Monday if they lose to the Miami Dolphins. But, oh boy. And I'm not going to pretend like I can't imagine a scenario where it happens. Like, I can. I don't think it will. I don't know if I love laying seven and a half points. But, The conversation about Zach Taylor from those of us on the outside is going to change dramatically if the Bengals lose on Sunday. Dramatically. I don't know that it changes much from what it is right now. If they win the game on Sunday. But, dude, a year that has been defined by, got to win right now. The window is open now. Putting everything toward right now, and you're 2-3 at the bye. That in itself is something you can recover from. But 2-3 at the bye, three straight losses, and you just lost to a winless team that many believe can finish the season without a victory?
00:25:05
Speaker 4: Oh, boy.
00:25:12
Speaker 5: Chad Rendell and Rick Boring on the CareSource Invitational next.
00:25:17
Speaker 6: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. Traffic.
00:25:21
Speaker 4: From the UC Health. Let's go with that.
00:25:23
Speaker 5: It's quarter to four, ESPN 1530. Mo Egger, thanks for listening today. Normally, this time on Thursdays, we chat with Chad Rendell, BearcatJournal.com, and we talk this time of year. A lot of UC football. Bearcat football has a bye this week. UC basketball played last night. But because of the CareSource Invitational and the nature of the event, I wanted to bring on Rick Boring as well. But we're loaded today. And so we asked Chad and Rick in a preview of our annual in-studio visit with those guys, where we preview the college football season, to both join me right now. And look, there they are. Hi, gentlemen. How we doing?
00:26:04
Speaker 11: What's up, Mo?
00:26:05
Speaker 4: Hi, Rick. Hi, Chad.
00:26:07
Speaker 11: This is the preview of the preview.
00:26:09
Speaker 5: This is the preview of the preview, yes. As an event, we'll talk about the basketball itself. And Chad, I'll go to you first. As an event, what did you make of what went down yesterday in Mason?
00:26:24
Speaker 4: Loved it.
00:26:24
Speaker 13: Thought it was really cool. Great for fans. We need more of that in college sports. Events that are really good for the fans. The weather, you couldn't have scripted a better day weather wise. And that's my first time up there. That is an awesome facility.
00:26:42
Speaker 4: Awesome. Rick.
00:26:46
Speaker 5: It's hard to believe that's in Mason, Ohio.
00:26:49
Speaker 14: I mean, really, you see that place and you're like, what could be better than this in terms of an outdoor event space?
00:26:56
Speaker 11: It's incredible.
00:26:58
Speaker 5: Uh, it's rivals anything I've ever been to.
00:27:00
Speaker 14: If you just open that up to the public for like a Friday night drinking spot, it'd be packed every night.
00:27:05
Speaker 5: I mean, it's, It's beautiful. It's a good idea. I thought it helped that the weather was as good as it was. But I thought I sat in the stands for the second game. And when the sun started to go down, that was gorgeous. That was just that was just that was a beautiful setting to watch a sporting event.
00:27:24
Speaker 14: I know people are always able to find things to complain about, but I don't see how anyone was at the event last night and didn't have the feeling at some point of, this is pretty awesome.
00:27:33
Speaker 5: You know, it's funny you say that because I often think Twitter is not real life. On Twitter, people can complain about anything. But like I was walking around between games and I must have been stopped or ran into five or six people that just out of the blue commented like, this is awesome. There were no complaints. I would have some minor tweaks from a working perspective that nobody listening to this cares about. But the fan experience seemed awesome.
00:28:02
Speaker 4: Yeah.
00:28:02
Speaker 13: I mean, everybody, same thing. We were walking kind of in that same area. We ran into each other, actually. I got stopped a couple of times too. And everybody was like, this is really cool. Like really, really cool. So yeah, it was, it was two thumbs up for me.
00:28:17
Speaker 5: The, the basketball part, early October basketball should leave a lot to, to the imagination, a lot to be desired. We had unlimited fouls in both games, which was, which was pretty interesting. Rick, I'll start this one with you. What was your big takeaway from the Musketeers victory over the Flyers?
00:28:35
Speaker 14: A gentleman's nine fouls from Mike Noiko was incredible stuff. Like I wanted a triple double with 10 fouls so bad last night. That's exhibition basketball at its peak right there. But I thought, you know, it's, It's exactly what you'd expect from an early exhibition that's played outdoors under weird circumstances. It was sloppy, but I thought both teams shot the ball well enough and they played up and down enough and had some highlight reel dunk type plays that made it entertaining to watch. I think if you were looking to feel really good about your team and the way they played, probably wasn't the event for you. Probably not going to feel great about the way either team looked in that game, but it was fun to watch.
00:29:15
Speaker 5: Yeah, I would say the same about the first game. I think from a Bearcat perspective, maybe the sun was going to have an impact on the shooting. There was a lot of slop to it. But I love the fact that in the second half of the game, you had players who were capable of kind of taking over.
00:29:33
Speaker 13: For me, we saw a lot in the Bahamas. What we did not see was Tylan Riley, who was out with the an injured hand. We got to see Tylan Riley yesterday, and if you go look at the final, like, six minutes, it was unequivocally the Tylan Riley show. Continuous drives to the rim, finishes, gets fouled. Apparently, you are allowed to go towards the basket, draw contact. And go to the free throw line, which was kind of fun to see after a couple years of not realizing that guards were allowed to shoot free throws.
00:30:11
Speaker 5: Let's take the teams as they are currently constructed and understanding that both teams had players who didn't play for non-eligibility reasons. As currently constructed, and whoever wants to go first can, because you guys have been at practices and are familiar more than most with each team's personnel. I'll just say, is making the NCAA tournament a realistic expectation?
00:30:38
Speaker 4: Go ahead, Rick.
00:30:40
Speaker 14: I think, look, in the era we're in, fans are going to look at it very simply. They heard Richard Pitino under oath say that they spent more than $ 14 million this year. So from a fan's perspective, they're going to say, we spent over $ 14 million. We better make the NCAA tournament. And I think at Xavier, that's a realistic expectation. That's what they're shooting for. Now, the problem is in the Big East, there's seven, eight teams that spent that or more. And all of them are saying the same thing right now. I don't know that the Big East is going to get seven or eight teams in even with the expanded format this year of 76 teams. So I, I think there is room for someone to be very disappointed or maybe a few teams be very disappointed in the big East. Xavier's hoping that they're not one of them. I think as long as they're in the tournament, fans will be mostly okay with that.
00:31:28
Speaker 13: I would agree with that. I think it's a fairly similar situation, except Xavier's being talked about like fourth to seventh in the big East where, uh, if you finish fourth, you're getting in. I think that fourth or fifth, you're going to be in the tournament. I think most prognostications are sixth to tenth for Cincinnati, and that makes the tightrope a little bit tighter to walk.
00:31:55
Speaker 5: I feel pretty good about their chances.
00:31:57
Speaker 13: To make the tournament if MJ Collins is eligible. Without MJ Collins, there's a scoring gap that feel like Jared Calhoun's offense should be able to eliminate, alleviate some of that. But I mean, we've talked about this in the past when you're walking that tightrope, they'll probably be, I would guess eight big 12 teams make the tournament. If you're predicted sixth, there's not a lot of margin for error.
00:32:27
Speaker 5: What is right now? Each team's biggest deficiency. Chad, I'll start with you.
00:32:35
Speaker 13: I thought it was going to be rebounding.
00:32:36
Speaker 15: Hmm.
00:32:37
Speaker 13: And then they out-rebounded a much bigger Ohio State team by 10 last night. So I still worry about Jared Cowan's teams have never been really good defensive rebounding teams. It's a lot of Bob Huggins, Mick Cronin philosophy where offensive rebounding is placed on a little bit higher level of importance. But you better defensive rebound in this conference because if not, Houston and Iowa state, there are teams that are just going to hammer you on the defensive glass. So I'm still going to have my eye on rebounding, especially next Saturday when they play an Illinois team that is tall. And actually those tall guys are pretty good. It turned out the tall guys from Ohio state weren't maybe there yet.
00:33:23
Speaker 4: Yes.
00:33:24
Speaker 15: Rick.
00:33:27
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:33:31
Speaker 14: I think, sorry, I just saw Austin Elmore's comment pop up there on the screen and threw me off for a second as you asked that question. But I think for Xavier, the biggest question coming out of that game, at least, is going to be the point guard play. Chance Westry really struggled, and Dayton was pressuring all game, so it made it kind of funky. And you had Kalec House get hurt as soon as he got into the game. He played the rest of the game and actually played more minutes than your starting point guard, Chance Westry, despite being hobbled, had some type of leg ailment over there on the sideline that they were dealing with. So I think that opens a lot of questions up about that point guard position. Who is your guy right now? I mean, Chance Westry is the starter for now, but if he's only going to play 20 minutes in that game when your freshman Kelly house gets hurt and you're struggling against pressure, That's going to open up some question marks and certainly put the point guard position under a microscope over the next few weeks.
00:34:24
Speaker 5: Have you guys enjoyed talking about that event last night without anybody asking why it wasn't televised?
00:34:32
Speaker 4: No. You haven't enjoyed it?
00:34:36
Speaker 5: You wanted me to ask why it wasn't televised?
00:34:39
Speaker 13: I always enjoy talking to the fans, Mo.
00:34:41
Speaker 5: It's one of my favorite things. I'll leave it at that. We've got to get the season preview on the books. We'll do that behind the scenes. I look forward to it.
00:34:53
Speaker 4: Thanks, Mel.
00:34:54
Speaker 5: All right. Chad Brendel, BearcatJournal.com, Rick Boring, MusketeerReport.com, and part of the Skinny Podcast on the Growler Podcast Network. So there you go. A couple away from 4 o'clock, 513-749-1530. I think we're guest-free until 4.20. Because the Miami Dolphins guy we wanted stiffed us, so we're not going to have him on. Which gives you and I a chance to talk about a thousand different things, including something baseball's going to try to do. I don't believe they really will, that I really like. And a lot more on the Bengals on Sunday as they get to take on a winless Miami team on ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station. Hey, if you're on Tom, what's up? No lagger. ESPN 1530, this is our show. Thanks for listening to it. Hope you're having an awesome Thursday. afternoon is less going to mean more in baseball get to that in just a second wise money sports and daily in 30 minutes and fantasy football advice for week five with our guy Dan Klaskens coming up in 40 minutes. Got a lot going on today. Jamar Chase has been practicing. He is officially not out of the league's concussion protocol, but today a positive development if you have been holding on to hope that he would play on Sunday. T. Higgins working out on the rehab field today. Bengals and Dolphins Sunday at 1 o'clock.
00:36:23
Speaker 11: And you wonder.
00:36:24
Speaker 5: how one's injury issue impacts the other's injury issue in relation to what the Bengals are going to try to do to get them on the field this weekend because they are playing an inferior opponent. And by the way, it's not just those two wide receivers, no Andreo Chavas, Colby Young has been hurt too. So hopefully the Bengals have at least one of those guys on the field on Sunday. And right now it feels like it's more likely to be Jamar. Then T I was listening to Tony and Austin talk about the Bengals running game. And apparently the Bengals offensive line leads the NFL in run block win rate. That is a significant statistic. It means when the Bengals run the football effectively, the offensive line is doing its job. Now I know what this turns into. It turns into cool. We don't have to blame those guys. Now let's blame chase Brown. I kind of feel like when you're bad at running the football, when you're bad at a thing in that sport, It's often more than one guy or more than one position group. Here's what I can tell you. From the perspective of doing this for a living, but also being a fan of the team, that since 2021, we have gushed over Joe Burrow. We have gushed over the offensive weaponry. We have seen him, Joe, and his teammates do some awesome things, both in terms of wins and losses and winning playoff games and also statistically. But I can also tell you this, that we have spent what I believe is an inordinate amount of time over the last six seasons talking about issues the Bengals have offensively. I remember vividly, because it was 2022, 2022 on Tuesdays, we were doing the show at the Moorline Lager House. And I bring that up because I remember having these conversations specifically there, 2022. By the way, a season in which they won 12 games, made the AFC championship game. But I remember during that season talking about these stretches where the Bengals on offense would just go into a rut. And I feel like on some level now, you have to acknowledge they spent a lot of time in 2023 playing with a backup quarterback and a lot of time in 2025 playing with a backup quarterback. But doesn't it feel to you like relative to what the Bengals have offensively from a talent perspective that we spend a lot of time talking about the things they're not good at? Now, you might argue, well, some of that is nitpicky, and there's probably some truth to that. But it also feels like there are stretches of time where we have focused on either the Bengals in games getting off to slow starts on offense or the Bengals having these long offensive lulls. Or the inability to run under center? The inability to run the football? Like, this is not what it's supposed to be like when you have the talent the Bengals have on offense and the continuity the Bengals have on offense. And so that's... where I point the finger at Zach Taylor because he is the common denominator. I feel like I'm going to get to a point where I no longer have to qualify criticism of Zach Taylor by mentioning all the nice things that I've said about him. But I don't know, man. I don't have a great track record when it comes to a lot of things. I do think I have a good track record when it comes to being fair about Zach Taylor. And as the kids say, giving him his flowers when he is due. But I also know that in the period of time I've been doing this show since he became the head coach, That for a team that has had a great quarterback, good skill guys, oftentimes they've been bad on the offensive line. I don't think they have a bad offensive line. And again, analytically, statistically, Bengals have a good run blocking offensive line this year. We spend a lot of time talking about deficiencies on offense. Now, is that play calling? Is that game planning?
00:40:29
Speaker 4: Is it?
00:40:30
Speaker 5: I don't know what it is. But I know Zach Taylor's side of the ball is offense. So we'll see. I'm telling you, man, what it's going to sound like, what it's going to feel like. I don't know if the Bengals lose on Sunday. And for the record, I don't think they will. It's not like I'm going out on a limb there. I get it. But if the Bengals lose on Sunday, I don't know if the postgame call-in show is going to be worth gathering the family around to listen to or worth ignoring. And I shouldn't say that because the postgame show airs on this radio station. Robert Weintraub, Sensei Magazine Weekly Bengals column is out. We'll chat with him coming up at 5.05. And our guy, Jay Morrison, as well. We have a National League Championship Series rematch. The Dodgers and Brewers last year met in the LCS.
00:41:25
Speaker 4: L.A.
00:41:26
Speaker 5: Swept them. Shohei Otani had the greatest game any single baseball player has ever had. The Tampa Bay Rays polished off the New York Yankees last night. There's one division series remaining. It's the White Sox and Guardians. Cleveland trying to stay alive and Chicago's trying to close out the series in four. We will see. So for a couple of years now, Whenever I hear baseball's economic model used as an excuse for the Reds, my counter has always been, don't worry about competing with the Dodgers. From a Reds perspective, compete with and beat the Milwaukee Brewers. Milwaukee has been to the postseason now, eight out of the last nine years. They've won the division four consecutive years. They're back in the league championship series for a second consecutive year. They're trying to make the world series for the first time in 44 years. And so now with where we are, baseball is going to have a lockout, the labor situation, a lot of folks, and I get it using the success of Milwaukee and the Rays and to a degree, the guardians, though Cleveland hasn't yet advanced to the LCS as kind of like evidence to support the argument that baseball, you know, doesn't need a salary cap. That the bigger issue is you have teams like the Reds who haven't figured out a way to compete and be really good and have sustained success while a lot of their smaller market peers have figured those things out. And then you'll have some that will say, well, look, the Dodgers won the World Series each of the last two years. They're right now odds on favorite to win the World Series. They're going to win it again. Big market, high payroll teams usually win the World Series. And like, for me, there's room. We say this all the time. There's room. for multiple truths. It is true that the LA Dodgers have a financial advantage over teams like the Reds. But it's also true that teams like the New York Mets have financial advantages over teams like the Reds. Well, those two teams have achieved dramatically different results over the last seven or eight years. It is true that the Dodgers have a financial advantage over the Reds, which heightens their chances of winning. It is also true the LA Dodgers have been good for a really long time now at stockpiling their farm system, at player development, and at drafting. Every team can be good at those things, regardless of your financial advantages or disadvantages. That is also true. It is also true that teams like the Milwaukee Brewers, Tampa Bay Rays, maybe to a lesser degree the Cleveland Guardians, have found ways to at least be competitive, to consistently win divisions, to do well head-to-head against higher spending teams. In Tampa Bay's case, winning a division with some of the highest spending teams. In Milwaukee's case, winning a division that has the Chicago Cubs. All those things are true. What I do like, though, is, and I go back and forth. I will admit, I go back and forth on the salary gap thing. Because philosophically, I don't believe in them. But there's also a part of me that wants to cross that off as an excuse for not winning. I don't give the Reds an excuse for not winning for two reasons. One, it's been 31 years since you've advanced in the postseason. We don't talk about them winning the World Series. We talk about them winning one stupid round, which has never been easier to do. Number two in their division is a team that has figured out ways, and some of those ways aren't that much fun if you're a fan, but have figured out ways to be really good almost every single year despite dealing with the same financial disadvantages that the Reds are dealing with. More on that in a bit. UC Fall Ball is underway. A couple of games this weekend. Head coach of the Bearcats next.
00:45:31
Speaker 6: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
00:45:35
Speaker 16: Traffic this is football in the natty brought to you by belterra casino and belterra park on espn 1530 the official home of the cincinnati bangles.
00:45:48
Speaker 5: At the portion of practice the media could watch t higgins was not out there he was on the rehab field jamar chase was out there brian cook was also out there which Pretty critical. More on that coming up in just a bit. The fall ball season underway for the UC baseball program. They have played a couple of fall exhibitions. Victory over Purdue. Victory over Kentucky at Prasco Park. Cincinnati will host Dayton this Saturday at 1 p.m. Xavier next Saturday at 2 p.m. The weather recently has been very good for baseball. uh fall ball underway for the uc baseball program and the head coach jordan bischel kind enough to give us a few minutes coach always awesome to have you good afternoon.
00:46:31
Speaker 7: Good afternoon appreciate you having me.
00:46:33
Speaker 5: On always appreciate you joining us in in the fall when you're playing these these exhibitions you know i watched uh uc's basketball team play an exhibition game yesterday guys were allowed like seven or eight fouls so how does fall baseball look compared to what we watched during the spring.
00:46:49
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think the biggest thing is we're probably just a little more liberal with substitutions, lineups, if you want to hit 10 guys in your order or pinch run, you know, that type of stuff. They're not really going to track that stuff. But outside of that, we try to keep it pretty competitive. We still only get two of these opportunities. This year we're getting four of them, which I think is great because, When we hit February, a lot of times we haven't been outside a ton before we play, so we have some really good learning opportunities to give us some ideas on, hey, what do we need to focus on as we work our way to the spring.
00:47:22
Speaker 5: What are the things that you've tried to focus on with your guys here during fall ball?
00:47:30
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think the biggest thing, we've got a lot of youth on our pitching staff. Last year, our lineup was really young, and then we grew as the year went. This year, it's pretty similar with our pitching staff, how it's on the younger end. So, just trying to get those guys, you know, acclimated to the adrenaline of seeing somebody in a different uniform. So far, they've done really well with it. We've played in 30 innings and only given up 10 runs so far. So those young guys have done a great job attacking the strike zone, but You know the style we play. We love to bump.
00:47:58
Speaker 6: We love to run.
00:47:59
Speaker 7: We put pressure on. So just trying to do that against an opponent that's not as familiar with it as our own guys is pretty valuable.
00:48:06
Speaker 5: The answer to this question may change when we talk in February, but what do you like most about your team right now?
00:48:16
Speaker 10: Yeah, it may change.
00:48:18
Speaker 7: I think the biggest thing is just the expectations, the level of what these guys are pushing themselves for has really reached a high watermark. And because we've got a bigger number of returners than we've ever had, it makes it easier to push them a little bit and be a little bit pickier and maybe not be hard on them, but drive for some small gains that when you just have a really new roster, it's harder to do. And so just that experience factor is big in terms of trying to push to a new level. And the guys, I think we can accomplish a lot this year, which is obviously where we.
00:48:55
Speaker 4: Want to be.
00:48:56
Speaker 5: This time of year, you're giving kids who are just getting acclimated to college, this is their first in-game college experience. What is the most difficult part of that transition?
00:49:09
Speaker 7: I think just The failure side, probably, you know, our recruiting class this year was ranked nationally in the top 25, which is great. It also means. just about none of these guys have ever really struggled on a baseball field. And they, they, they're here because they've been really, really good. And so all of a sudden they're striking out more than they ever had, or they're giving up more heart contact than they ever have. And you don't want them to to lose confidence or get gun shy, you kind of need to help them get through that and understand that that's a part of it. And as they learn to deal with that failure, they'll come out on the other side better for it.
00:49:45
Speaker 5: What role has your program's recent success had in recruiting? Because you talked about that top 25 recruiting ranking. I would view that as a direct result of, at least in part, the success you've had. How much of that has been a factor?
00:50:02
Speaker 7: Yeah, it certainly has been. That class recruited over the last year or two had, for the first time, probably more than a vision to look at. They had our first year or two of results to look at, and they could see some trajectory. We've seen it a lot with our visits over the last year or so. The guys we have visiting, they're all getting in a spot where they have several high-level opportunities and offers. We've got to compete hard to get them here against some really, really good programs, and that's a good thing. That's where we want to be, and are we getting them all? No, but getting in those rooms, we're going to land some of those guys, and that's been awesome to see. We have guys showing up to campus with the idea that they want to be professional baseball players and they want to play in the NCAA tournament a bunch of times before they do that, and they think they can do those things here.
00:50:56
Speaker 5: Jordan Bischel, the head baseball coach at the University of Cincinnati. Fall ball underway. Cincinnati hosting Dayton this Saturday at 1 o'clock. Xavier next Saturday at 2. Both games are free and open to the public. Tell me about your program's new bunting and base running lab.
00:51:13
Speaker 7: Yes, our cheetah lab.
00:51:15
Speaker 15: We.
00:51:16
Speaker 7: As I mentioned earlier, we love to put pressure on with our bunting, with our base running. If you look at a statistical breakdown, we probably have been the most successful Power 4 team in the country over the last couple of years in terms of both bunting for base hits and stealing base at a high percentage rate. Ultimately, like anything else, if you want to be really good at something, you need a pretty high level of focus and dedication to it and Typical practice when you're on a baseball field, you know, if you're hitting, it's probably at home plate, right? And so it's harder to get your bunting work done there. So it's hard to get full access to the field. And so we were able to secure a space in our Lindner building, which is just beyond our center field fence, where we remodeled it to basically put in, you know, the corner of an infield that includes home plate and about the first 60 feet of the baseline and Through there, we can do a bunch of video stuff with our base running to work on steel jumps. We can do all kinds of bunting, and it's just a really dedicated area where we can focus on, to us, a really critical part of what makes us successful. And to our knowledge, I don't know every program in the country, but To our knowledge, we're the first that's actually created a dedicated space for this, and it's going to help us continue to grow that area.
00:52:29
Speaker 5: So you talk about the bunting. This is better than standing at the cage on your normal field bunting. How is it different? Why is it better?
00:52:39
Speaker 4: Well, on our.
00:52:39
Speaker 7: Normal field, it's just as good outside of the fact that there's only so many times in a day. Like when we're at practice... If we've got five bunters using home plate to bunt, you're not using that space to work on your defense and hit fungos, or you're not using that space to take batting practice or get reps. And so there's just, you've got one field and you've got a lot of purposes for it. So all of a sudden we have to have another field home plate, because it doesn't matter if you have a 10 foot high ceiling, when you're bunting the baseball, we better not be hitting that ceiling. So it just creates a dedicated space, right? Where, where it's not getting in the way of getting other things done in other reps. And I do think there's a focus aspect to it too, right? It, being a great base runner, being a great bunter takes a lot of technique and a lot of focus. And when you kind of seclude them in a room, it just makes it a little easier to lock in on, on that specific task.
00:53:33
Speaker 5: When I think of bunting and base running, like I think of base running, it's, that is a skill and that's not stealing bases per se, though. That's great. It's, it's knowing, you know, situations it's, it's knowing, you know, the scouting report it's, not making outs, it's knowing where the line is between aggressiveness and being maybe a little too aggressive. I'm curious about those two skill sets. How well are they taught right now at the prep level?
00:54:02
Speaker 7: You know, the bunting especially is really, quite frankly, for our guys, poor at the prep level. And that's not an indictment of any coaches.
00:54:11
Speaker 4: It's more.
00:54:12
Speaker 7: Again, we're bringing in guys who are probably hitting third or fourth in their order, who are probably all-state-type players. I would guess a good high school coach doesn't want their best hitter dropping down bunts every time he steps in the batter's box, right? They want him swinging the bat. So for a lot of our guys, it's a pretty foreign concept of.
00:54:33
Speaker 7: The idea of bunting was probably discouraged for a lot of those guys, and now we're trying to teach them that it's an absolute weapon, that it's a way to get a bunch of base hits and.
00:54:42
Speaker 4: It.
00:54:42
Speaker 7: Increased their production. So that part, we usually have some big adaptations. The base stealing side, we bring in a lot of good athletes. They've stolen a lot of bases, but the catchers are so much better at our level of throwing consistently. There's so much more scouting reports, so many better pickoff moves that we've got fast guys that probably know how to be really aggressive and take off a lot, but the deciding when not to go is probably a harder thing to teach. And to teach them to be selectively aggressive is... That is a real skill, and it takes a lot of time. And honestly, it takes getting thrown out a fair amount in the fall to learn. And that may not have been the time to go. We've got to be a little bit better there.
00:55:21
Speaker 5: I liked the base-stealing drills when I was a kid because you know what that meant? It meant the slip and slide. And so I was all about that.
00:55:29
Speaker 7: Yeah, the sliding drills are most fun on the days it rains on our turf field. That makes it fun. And there's a home field advantage.
00:55:36
Speaker 4: Of that piece, too.
00:55:37
Speaker 7: I tell you what, you get that turf a little bit wet, and it is just like a slip and slide. You've got to take about three steps and dive. So we've gotten a few guys on that one.
00:55:45
Speaker 5: All right. Fall ball underway this Saturday, 1 o'clock, the Dayton Flyers, and next Saturday at 2 o'clock, Xavier. Both games free and open to the public. Always love having you, Coach. Can't thank you enough.
00:56:00
Speaker 7: Yeah, it always means a lot having me on. We'll love to see some fans out there in the next couple weeks. And obviously, as we get around to spring, I'm sure we'll talk again. But I know there's plenty of fall stuff going on, so I appreciate you taking a couple minutes for us.
00:56:12
Speaker 5: Anytime. You got it, Coach. Thanks so much. That's Jordan Bischel, apparently, with a train fast approaching the UC baseball team, Fall Ball. They used to play two, now they play four. Free and open to the public on Saturday at 1 o'clock. at UC, 2 o'clock on Saturday afternoon. Again, both games free and open to the public. Next Saturday would be the basketball games at 5, so you can make a doubleheader, see some fall baseball, then go watch Jarrett Calhoun's team take on Illinois at 5 p.m. in exhibition action. I was not here yesterday, so we did not get a chance to do Wise Money Sports, but the good news is I'm here today, so we'll do it in five minutes on ESPN 1530 Cincinnati Sports Station.
00:56:56
Speaker 16: You've been listening to Football in the Natty, brought to you by Kingdom Built Exteriors on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
00:57:09
Speaker 6: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. Traffic.
00:57:13
Speaker 8: From the UC Health Traffic Center, a mammogram takes 15 minutes and could save your life. Schedule yours with UC Health's breast imaging experts at 513-584-PINK. One accident now cleared a way on northbound 71 that was after Fort Washington Way. Left lane's blocked, though, from another crash on northbound 71 approaching Kenwood. That's got traffic stopping. Go from Smith Edwards. Delays up to 35 minutes at the moment. I'm Eddie Zellick with traffic.
00:57:44
Speaker 6: Cincinnati Sports Station. This is ESPN 1530.
00:57:49
Speaker 5: Sports headlines in just a few minutes. Dan Klaskens. I'll help you with your fantasy football team in 15 minutes. This is ESPN 1530. I'm Mo Egger. I was absent yesterday because of the UC game up in Mason. So we didn't get a chance to do Wise Money Sports. Our friend Brad Johansson from Omega Wealth Private Capital, kind enough to still come in on a Thursday and do it with me. What is up?
00:58:14
Speaker 11: I was caught in that traffic.
00:58:15
Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah.
00:58:17
Speaker 11: Up at the tennis center.
00:58:18
Speaker 5: A lot going on in Mason.
00:58:20
Speaker 11: Yeah, a lot going on.
00:58:21
Speaker 5: A lot of folks at that facility that have never been there before.
00:58:26
Speaker 11: And they will be back.
00:58:27
Speaker 7: Yes.
00:58:27
Speaker 11: It's a facility.
00:58:28
Speaker 5: It is.
00:58:30
Speaker 11: How is the event they put on?
00:58:31
Speaker 5: I thought it was really, really cool. I thought it was, look, having great weather helped.
00:58:36
Speaker 11: Big time.
00:58:37
Speaker 4: Right?
00:58:37
Speaker 5: They obviously had an alternative venue, the University of Dayton, but yeah, I think everybody took the basketball itself with a grain of salt. The teams and players, the teams, coaches and players included, but you know, it's a great venue and I said this earlier in the show. I sat in the stands for the second game, and when the sun started to dip down and you had some twilight, it was gorgeous.
00:59:00
Speaker 10: Yeah. It's great.
00:59:01
Speaker 5: Yeah.
00:59:01
Speaker 11: I mean, it is a facility.
00:59:03
Speaker 9: Yes.
00:59:04
Speaker 11: And to be able to– I mean, it's a business. There's a business model, right? That thing was going to Charlotte.
00:59:09
Speaker 4: Yes.
00:59:10
Speaker 11: And they said, give us more money.
00:59:11
Speaker 5: Yes.
00:59:12
Speaker 11: They gave them more money. And now you're having way more than just tennis. You've got the restaurant. Have you been in the restaurant in there?
00:59:20
Speaker 5: I've not been in the restaurant.
00:59:21
Speaker 4: Massive. Yeah.
00:59:22
Speaker 5: Now, the restaurant's for one percenters. I don't know that they would let someone like me in the restaurant.
00:59:26
Speaker 11: Oh, no, no.
00:59:27
Speaker 5: Anybody can go in?
00:59:27
Speaker 11: You can go in. You can go in at night and have dinner.
00:59:30
Speaker 5: Gotcha. Okay. So they're open year round?
00:59:33
Speaker 11: I honestly don't know the answer to that.
00:59:35
Speaker 5: Because, you know, when I go for tennis. I'm going to say yes. Skyline tent. So I don't need the restaurant. But I'm glad that other folks have the opportunity to go check out the restaurant.
00:59:43
Speaker 11: You can watch people play pickleball while you.
00:59:45
Speaker 5: You can do that, too?
00:59:46
Speaker 11: Yeah.
00:59:47
Speaker 10: Wow.
00:59:47
Speaker 11: Yeah.
00:59:48
Speaker 5: It was a lot of fun. Well, it's great to have you. I like I want to talk about this with you. So the college football playoff. Yeah. Inching toward 24 teams, which I don't think anybody wants. Nobody wants this.
00:59:59
Speaker 11: Okay, if nobody wants it, why is it going to happen? Because you say nobody wants it, and it will happen.
01:00:05
Speaker 5: Fans don't want it. No fan that I know wants a 24-team playoff.
01:00:09
Speaker 17: And yet?
01:00:10
Speaker 5: And yet we're going to have it.
01:00:11
Speaker 11: Because?
01:00:12
Speaker 9: Money.
01:00:12
Speaker 11: Yeah, and it's going to ruin it. Has money already ruined the college football that we know? That we used to know.
01:00:21
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:00:22
Speaker 5: I don't know if it's ruined it entirely, but there are things I wish were... Or we're working on it.
01:00:26
Speaker 17: Yeah.
01:00:27
Speaker 4: I just.
01:00:29
Speaker 5: We've gone from four, which I thought was good because it felt exclusive, but there was some sameness to it. We've gone... I guess my biggest issue is, why don't we see how 12 works for a while? We don't have a large enough sample size to see how well it works. We're just instantly going to double that number.
01:00:43
Speaker 11: Isn't the answer money again?
01:00:44
Speaker 5: Of course.
01:00:45
Speaker 11: The answer is always money.
01:00:46
Speaker 5: Yes.
01:00:46
Speaker 15: Because.
01:00:47
Speaker 11: Okay, what are you going to do and how are we going to ruin it? Well, I don't know whether we're going to ruin it because we've got more money. Four was great.
01:00:57
Speaker 10: Why?
01:00:58
Speaker 5: It was exclusive.
01:00:59
Speaker 11: Because every single game mattered.
01:01:01
Speaker 12: Uh-huh.
01:01:02
Speaker 11: And you had to win every single game to be able to get into four.
01:01:05
Speaker 5: But it was unforgiving for a school that maybe suffered an early season loss.
01:01:09
Speaker 11: And I'm okay in extending it past that point.
01:01:12
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:01:14
Speaker 11: So somebody's saying now, why don't we expand it to 24? Because we'll really find out who teams are. And I will, I'll walk on the Florida on this one last week. And I said it as the game came on Florida and Missouri.
01:01:30
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:01:31
Speaker 11: I think, you know, I think people are underestimating Florida. I think Florida may be one of the top five teams and they got spanked.
01:01:39
Speaker 12: Yeah.
01:01:40
Speaker 11: So in college football with guys being, 17 and 18 and 19 and whatever this is, and 26. Who's really good that week? Does 24 actually help us by the end of the year find out who's... really good. And that's, I don't think that's the point. I don't think the point of 24 is finding out who's really good. It's finding out how much money we can make on big games.
01:02:08
Speaker 5: So I guess from a competitive standpoint, I will talk about this from a business aspect, from a competitive standpoint, I go, number one, is there ever a year where the playoffs 24, where Ohio state won't make it, where Georgia won't make it, where Alabama won't make it like it.
01:02:23
Speaker 11: It's hard to picture that right now.
01:02:25
Speaker 5: We're also going to have like eight and four teams in the postseason, which nobody wants. And we're going to have 23 playoff games. I don't know that there's a huge appetite for that.
01:02:34
Speaker 11: So what happens to bowl games?
01:02:36
Speaker 5: That's the thing.
01:02:36
Speaker 11: Do we even, and I, I honestly don't know the answer. Do you know the answer? Do we even have bowl games?
01:02:42
Speaker 5: So that was going to be one of my questions. What is the financial viability of the remainder of the college football postseason?
01:02:49
Speaker 11: And, See, I don't know the economics of this. Haven't sponsors already purchased the give me some love sandbag bowl? And I have my millions already. And so we have to play it.
01:03:05
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:03:05
Speaker 11: Who's in it?
01:03:06
Speaker 13: Right.
01:03:08
Speaker 11: We already have those bowls where eight people show up to the game and they're trying to figure out how to shoot the game.
01:03:13
Speaker 5: I went to one of them last year, the Liberty Bowl. There might have been seven people in Memphis for that game.
01:03:18
Speaker 11: I don't know what happens with this.
01:03:19
Speaker 5: So one of the things they're going to do if they expand the postseason is get rid of conference championship games. The SEC has balked at that because their championship game is quite lucrative. So take me through the math here. Expanded playoff. How can it make those conferences whole after they kill their own championship event?
01:03:35
Speaker 11: And I don't know where the money starts passing on because I don't know whether conferences can say, you can't give me an, and isn't sec holding out to say, okay, how much more are you going to give us to be able to do this 24 game playoff? And where is that money going to come from when we already have our group going to do this? The finances of this are take care of us at home. And if I can't take care of all my people in this conference, uh, Me having two, three, four teams, whatever that may be, in this playoff, excluding this game with the amount that I can get playing a championship, I have a problem with that.
01:04:16
Speaker 5: It's an interesting story in The Athletic about Miami University and their larger conference ambitions. I love ambition. I love people who think big. From a business perspective, and I need folks to read the story in The Athletic. I talked about it last week. Is this a A calculated financial gamble that's going to force other mid-major schools to either find huge donor capital or just say, this is who we are. We're second tier. Nothing we can do about it.
01:04:43
Speaker 11: Yes and yes.
01:04:44
Speaker 10: Okay.
01:04:45
Speaker 11: Because you already said it. They're mid-major. Now, Miami of Ohio.
01:04:49
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:04:49
Speaker 11: Are we, is that what we're supposed to call them now? I call it Miami.
01:04:53
Speaker 5: I refer to it as Miami university.
01:04:55
Speaker 11: I mean, and I did Miami Ohio games and broadcasters are told, here's what you're allowed to call the school.
01:05:00
Speaker 5: In the game notes. I believe it says, please refer to us as Miami university.
01:05:04
Speaker 10: Okay.
01:05:05
Speaker 5: Which is what I call them. Uh, if I say Miami here in Cincinnati, nobody thinks I'm talking about the.
01:05:10
Speaker 11: Hurricanes, but they are, you just said it. Our other mid-major school. So you classify them as mid-major. Do they say in, in, I don't think they did in the broadcast notes when I was doing the games. Do not refer to us as mid-major. But there are other schools who will say, please do not refer to us as mid-major. Do fans refer to them? Do analysts refer to them as mid-major? Probably all this. And I think that's what Miami's trying to get away from. Okay, you know what? If we're going to be anything, we have to join the crowd and find out So in this search, we're finding out who decides we're good enough to join them. And are there enough conferences now who are fearful that their conference is going to go away to add a school? And is Miami lucrative enough a name, Miami, Ohio, please refer to us as Miami University, to join a conference that says you're going to make us money?
01:06:16
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:06:17
Speaker 5: It's a fascinating question. I appreciate the ambition.
01:06:21
Speaker 11: So the ambition is, hey, alums.
01:06:24
Speaker 12: Yeah.
01:06:25
Speaker 11: We're going to need something.
01:06:26
Speaker 4: Set us up.
01:06:26
Speaker 11: Because you have to up your game on facilities. You have to up your game on merch. You have to up your game on people who are going to come in and play. Did the basketball team last year do enough of that to spur this this year? What did they win?
01:06:44
Speaker 4: 31.
01:06:45
Speaker 5: 31 in a row.
01:06:45
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:06:48
Speaker 11: Is that enough to say, look at me, and then you play somebody and say, ah, look at me, we really weren't at that level?
01:06:57
Speaker 5: I'm curious, just locally, from a business perspective, what has that meant for their season ticket base this year? How many of those folks that got into it last February were like, all right, I'm buying in?
01:07:07
Speaker 11: Does it translate to football?
01:07:10
Speaker 5: I don't think it has yet.
01:07:12
Speaker 11: And so you have to have.
01:07:16
Speaker 11: Georgia doesn't really care all the time whether their basketball team plays very well, do they?
01:07:21
Speaker 5: I'm sure they would like for them to be fine, but nobody cares that much, yes.
01:07:25
Speaker 11: So the question in a mid-major is how many sports have to excel for you to join another conference and everybody say it's worth it for you to come on over?
01:07:34
Speaker 5: I want to ask you about the owner of the Phoenix Suns, Matt Eshibia. I think I said that right. Prioritizing a fan-first philosophy. So he's going to put his games on free local television. He's done that for a while. He's, he has sort of said, I'm going to keep doing this, which means there's, there's lots of money out there that he is saying no to. Is he making a basic investment in his fans that can maybe pay off later? And there's, is there a, a large scale business lesson there? Well, sure.
01:08:02
Speaker 11: There's a business. You're married.
01:08:05
Speaker 10: Yes.
01:08:07
Speaker 5: On my second one.
01:08:08
Speaker 11: Does she, what's her, what's her shopping habit? Big or not big? Is she a shopper?
01:08:17
Speaker 5: She's not like a let's go to the mall and shop, but the Amazon guy and I are on a first-name basis.
01:08:22
Speaker 11: They come to the door, right?
01:08:23
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:08:24
Speaker 5: Hey, what's up, man?
01:08:25
Speaker 11: Hey. And when they come to the door and they get dropped off, you go, another one?
01:08:30
Speaker 4: Yes.
01:08:31
Speaker 11: And she says, do you have any idea how much money I saved on this?
01:08:36
Speaker 10: Yes.
01:08:36
Speaker 11: By doing it?
01:08:36
Speaker 4: Yes. Yeah.
01:08:37
Speaker 11: It's constant, right?
01:08:38
Speaker 10: Mm-hmm.
01:08:40
Speaker 11: There's a lack of understanding for a lot of people that spending money is spending money. Because the whole idea in their brain is, I didn't really spend that much money because I saved this much money. He's saying, all right, I'm going to lose 10 mil by putting it on TV where I could get other rights.
01:09:04
Speaker 4: Right.
01:09:05
Speaker 11: But I walk them in. They watch. They buy jerseys. They come to games. They buy tickets. They park for me.
01:09:14
Speaker 17: Yeah.
01:09:15
Speaker 11: Then they bring their friends to me and they go, do you know how much money I just saved?
01:09:21
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:09:22
Speaker 11: And he says, well, I lost 10 million, but you just brought in 20 million for me.
01:09:27
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:09:28
Speaker 11: He understands the concept of I'll give you something and you're going to feel like you saved money because you just watched it on local TV.
01:09:36
Speaker 4: Yep.
01:09:37
Speaker 5: Free local television.
01:09:38
Speaker 11: And you're going to pay.
01:09:39
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:09:39
Speaker 10: Yeah.
01:09:40
Speaker 11: Yeah, I think it's brilliant.
01:09:41
Speaker 5: I think it's brilliant. I think you're brilliant. Omega Wealth Private Capital is also brilliant.
01:09:45
Speaker 11: You need a little vital check, Mo. Volatility, income, taxes, asset preservation, and your legacy plan. And I will help you with that. Give a call to Omega Wealth. I will be your advisor. All of the guys over there will help on the team to put your vitals together and make sure that you have a retirement plan ready. So you can spend and save in the end, Mo.
01:10:12
Speaker 5: And then spend more of that on Amazon stuff.
01:10:14
Speaker 4: Amen.
01:10:15
Speaker 5: The Amazon guy has apologized to me when he's walked into my house. Like, hey, Mo, sorry.
01:10:20
Speaker 11: My guy leaves because the dog barks so much.
01:10:21
Speaker 5: Fourth time this week. I'm sorry, man. The box never has my name on it, so it's.
01:10:27
Speaker 11: Not worth it. I'm in the same boat.
01:10:30
Speaker 5: We'll see you next week. All right, man. Dan Klaskin's next, ESPN 1530.
01:10:35
Speaker 6: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
01:10:38
Speaker 17: Traffic.
01:10:39
Speaker 5: From Missy Football with our guy Dan Klaskens. He is the host of Fantistics Insider Football on SiriusXM Fantasy. Check out Insider Football. Excuse me. InsiderFootball.com. Dan, I'm 2-2-1, but 4-0 in another. A burgeoning juggernaut, if you will.
01:11:01
Speaker 4: Yes, yes.
01:11:02
Speaker 17: Well, one month does not make a season, Mo. So whether you're up or you're down, the grind continues.
01:11:08
Speaker 12: And, you know, kudos to you.
01:11:10
Speaker 17: I think now's the time to dig in and figure out how to help that 2-2 team, maybe.
01:11:14
Speaker 5: Yes, yes. We did win in that league last week, so we're back to 500. We have to navigate bye weeks and international games. And usually when the bye weeks begin, there's always somebody in every league that falls victim to not knowing if their guy's actually going to be playing.
01:11:31
Speaker 12: I know.
01:11:31
Speaker 15: I know.
01:11:31
Speaker 4: Well, here's the good news. We'll start there. The light week five by.
01:11:34
Speaker 17: Only Carolina and Kansas City are on by this week, so most fantasy managers should be in pretty good shape this week.
01:11:40
Speaker 4: But don't get too comfortable.
01:11:41
Speaker 17: Four teams are off in each of the next three weeks, so we want to plan ahead. Don't always use your last bench spot on a player who could help you this Sunday. I want you to be thinking about Who's the quarterback or tight end to grab next week? Get them a week early, especially at your more valuable, thinner positions there. You also want to look beyond just the one matchup. You're choosing between two similar players. Look at who each of them play the next three, four weeks. We're going to look at it at least a month out there.
01:12:08
Speaker 11: Here's the bottom line, Mo.
01:12:09
Speaker 17: Good fantasy managers react to last week.
01:12:12
Speaker 12: Great ones are already planning for next week.
01:12:15
Speaker 5: We've got to navigate some injuries starting in Baltimore.
01:12:19
Speaker 17: Yeah, Lamar Jackson, top of the list here. Obviously didn't practice. It's not looking good for him to play. So we're expecting Tyler Huntley, barring a miracle here, to start in Atlanta this week. Zay Flowers has been limited both days. So Lamar's manager should get a backup plan there. Jaden Daniels, better news there. Full practice today, trending towards playing. Bigger concern is weapons. Terry McCorn, Stephon Diggs have missed some practices this week, so we're going to keep an eye on that situation on Friday. The Eagles talk about a mess. Devontae Smith was out last week with a hamstring injury. It looks like Saquon Barkley is going to be out this week with a hamstring injury. Both those players are probably likely there. They have offensive line issues. Their best one just retired. Will Shipley is leading this backfield, so it's a mess in Philly right now.
01:12:57
Speaker 4: Brees Hall.
01:12:58
Speaker 17: He's looking like another week at least on that quad issue. So Braylon Allen, we can keep firing him up in fantasy. DeAndre Swift and Kyle Menungai, both Bears running back showing up on the injury report. Swift was upgraded from did not practice yesterday to the limited today. Meanwhile, Menungai, we haven't seen him back yet. So Swift training towards playing need Friday clarity on Menungai. Reminder, Stevenson, his status is very iffy this week with the knee issue there for the Patriots. If he's out, Travion Henderson gets real interesting. Tony Pollard dealing with the foot issue today. So we'll keep our eyes on him. He did return to practice today, but they're expecting some of that leftover Atlantic storm coming up there and some weather conditions. So another one to monitor. Obviously, you've been talking a lot about Jamar's return to practice today. He's obviously in the concussion protocol, but trending there. Higgins has missed out. Well, I mean, I don't know why they would even bother playing any of them against Miami with the bye coming. We'll see what happens there. I am really interested in Mike Gesicki. I was interested when Yoshibas went out, but if either of those or both those receivers are out, he's a real sneaky play this week in fantasy. Malik Neighbors with the knee. We'll keep our eyes on that. Looks like better news for Justin Jefferson. He's treading in the right direction with an ankle, and Terry McLaurin still dealing with a hamstring injury. Looking really dicey here for Week 5.
01:14:07
Speaker 5: Yes, I am a Micah Cicchi owner, so I'm keeping an extra eye on that than I even would under normal circumstances. Dan Klaskens is with us, insiderfootball.com. host of Fantistics Insider Football on Sirius XM Fantasy. I need your week five studs, duds, and sleepers.
01:14:26
Speaker 17: Yeah, let's start with the good stuff, the studs. Jared Goff, Detroit at Arizona, one of the highest scoring games projected for week five. Arizona has been extremely vulnerable, especially through the air. Goff has plenty of weapons. I really like him. He's one of my favorite quarterback plays, two to three touchdowns at least. Kyron Williams, you've got to like him. Don't buy any ideas. Come and split backfield. He's really an owner, especially the money carries here. He's a high-end RB1 and a great matchup Monday night versus Buffalo. On the dud side, I mentioned the struggles in Philly. That's why Jalen Hurts is outside my top 12. He's actually 15th in my quarterback rankings this week. So I guess you could start him in some cases, but temper your expectation. We all saw how good Jacksonville is on defense. And I expect them to have trouble moving the football. Bucky Irving, another dud this week. He didn't catch a pass last week after being an important part of that passing game. More concerning, Sean Tucker's getting those goal line works. You got Kenny Gainwell coming in and some passing situations. So with the running back being one of those, it's hard to say sit Bucky tonight versus Dallas. But he is outside my top 25, which is not what you want in your RB2. And I'll leave you with a couple sleepers. These are the part of the pitch I've actually been nabbing. So hopefully we can keep that trend going. Cardinal Tate, the rookie, coming off breakout nine catches, 144 yards at 12 targets, barring extreme rain. So we'll keep our eyes on that. I do love him again this week. Cam Ward's really leaning on him. Tennessee's playing Houston. And Isaiah, likely. I know we've abandoned the Giants. with Jameis Winston under there, but likely 12 targets last week, caught seven of them, 66 yards. He's getting all the significant shares there in three of the four games inside the red zone. So I know tight end's difficult. Isaiah likely remains one of my favorites. He's certainly a guy I look at as a top 10 option this week and really the rest of the way.
01:16:08
Speaker 5: Dan Klaskens is with us. We're into week five, but it's not too late for folks to get involved with Do Good Fantasy, which helps support America's veterans. Tell us how.
01:16:18
Speaker 12: Yeah, man, we love playing fantasy. Maybe your team's good. Maybe it's bad.
01:16:20
Speaker 4: It doesn't matter.
01:16:21
Speaker 17: You can get in every week. You pick a new lineup and they do.
01:16:23
Speaker 12: Good fantasy salary cap challenge. So you don't have to.
01:16:26
Speaker 17: Worry about five weeks or injuries or none of that. All you got to do is donate $ 30 to DAV. That goes to good use. DAV helps a million veterans a year through their free programs and services. Every week you set a lineup to support America's Heroes. So you can play fantasy, win some prizes. We have over $ 6, 000 in donated prizes, all while helping keep America's veterans the promise to them. And you can learn more there, Mo, about all of it over at DoGoodFantasy.com.
01:16:51
Speaker 5: Dan Klaskens, Fantistics Insider Football, Sirius XM Fantasy. Thank you as always. We'll talk next week.
01:16:57
Speaker 17: Looking forward to it. Hearing about that 5-0 and 3-2 team. Hopefully a 3-2 Bengals we're talking about as our bi-week games next week.
01:17:04
Speaker 5: If we're talking about the Bengals losing to Miami, the entire week is going to take on a very sobering tone.
01:17:10
Speaker 12: It's going to be very depressing for you every day.
01:17:13
Speaker 4: That's for sure.
01:17:14
Speaker 5: Dan, thanks.
01:17:15
Speaker 12: Good luck to you, my friend. Talk soon.
01:17:16
Speaker 5: You're the best. Our guy, Dan Klaskens, Fantistics Insider Football. Go to insiderfootball.com. Robert Weintraub is next. 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.
01:17:53
Speaker 18: Higgins.
01:17:54
Speaker 5: 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.
01:18:13
Speaker 4: Go read it now.
01:18:13
Speaker 5: Hi, Robert.
01:18:15
Speaker 4: Hey, Mo.
01:18:15
Speaker 10: 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. say it everybody r-e-l-a-x it's only four games we're.
01:18:28
Speaker 5: Gonna be okay i i think they will i really do i think everything's gonna be okay but i yeah this this whole like operating the offense under center thing we're talking about this like this is advanced calculus which i admittedly never took uh 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.
01:19:01
Speaker 6: Why?
01:19:01
Speaker 10: 1901, was Joe Flacco in that game? I was wondering if 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 here and there. 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? 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 cares all that much and he's a guy who hasn't you know 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. And it's tough because he's the second most important guy after Joe Burrow in that, in that frame, he has to call out 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.
01:20:37
Speaker 5: Why?
01:20:37
Speaker 10: 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 blitzes are 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 teams, but they can be viable. 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.
01:21:06
Speaker 5: 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?
01:21:25
Speaker 4: Yes.
01:21:25
Speaker 5: What is your take on the growing Joe Burrow isn't clutch narrative?
01:21:29
Speaker 10: I think the growing narrative is that I'm not that smart, but I'll take your compliment with that.
01:21:35
Speaker 4: With a grin.
01:21:35
Speaker 10: Thank you so much. Well, I mean, I'll say a few things.
01:21:38
Speaker 4: One, yeah, it would have been.
01:21:39
Speaker 10: Awesome to have him, you know, score two late touchdowns with his fourth through sixth receivers out there, win a 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?
01:21:54
Speaker 4: Is that World War II?
01:21:55
Speaker 10: 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 34ness, not 35, I guess, is a guy named Scott Kaksmar, former colleague of mine. Good guy, 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 0 for 2, Joe Burrow. I mean, the Super Bowl and the AFC Championship game in 2022 are 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.
01:22:41
Speaker 4: Why?
01:22:42
Speaker 10: Because he had a replacement lineman trying to block Hall of 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.
01:23:12
Speaker 12: So that'd be fine too.
01:23:14
Speaker 5: 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?
01:23:23
Speaker 10: 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, it makes sense a reason that they practice against a lot and they're better at stopping a tight end based attack. Now, 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.
01:25:01
Speaker 5: 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?
01:25:11
Speaker 10: 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 Fantasy, DVLA. 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 are plus 12, Ravens are 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 team gets in the red zone. You look at the rest of the top 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, 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 to 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, he'd 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. He's really not been the same player since he had a very bad back injury and he's, 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. Um, but I think, um, Overall, it's the Bengals and the Ravens and then the Steelers and the Browns are still a step behind.
01:27:17
Speaker 5: 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.
01:27:26
Speaker 10: I feel like I should go there and really get their advanced stats and get some analytics from the 1901 season. I know there's a huge cry out for it out there in NFL circles. 1901 or maybe I'll stick with the 1910s. That's where you really saw the under center play ticket.
01:27:47
Speaker 5: Offenses started to open up.
01:27:50
Speaker 10: They really did. The 12 laterals per game really made the the league, a whole different animal.
01:27:58
Speaker 12: Awesome, man.
01:27:58
Speaker 5: Thanks so much.
01:28:00
Speaker 4: Thank you, Bo.
01:28:00
Speaker 10: See you next week.
01:28:01
Speaker 5: Read Robert's column at CincinnatiMagazine.com. Our guy Jay Morrison joins us next on ESPN 1530.
01:28:10
Speaker 6: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530. Traffic.
01:28:15
Speaker 5: From the Usenati, an iHeartRadio station.
01:28:18
Speaker 11: Guaranteed human.
01:28:20
Speaker 5: ESPN 1530. iHeartRadio.
01:28:25
Speaker 15: Head to Skyline to get an exclusive collector series of Bengals cards featuring 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 with menu item purchase. Only at Skyline Chili, official chili of the Cincinnati Bengals.
01:28:54
Speaker 3: Hootay!
01:28:55
Speaker 16: This is Football in the Natty, brought to you in part by Skyline Chili on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
01:29:07
Speaker 5: 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, Rooster 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.
01:29:34
Speaker 11: Well, it's in the top ten.
01:29:36
Speaker 18: 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.
01:29:53
Speaker 5: 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? 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.
01:30:21
Speaker 18: 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.
01:31:12
Speaker 5: In your opinion, why is the running game so inefficient and ineffective? It's a good question.
01:31:20
Speaker 18: 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. The Bengals are quick 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 I think this will be a really good test at Miami. 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, 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.
01:32:30
Speaker 5: 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.
01:32:42
Speaker 18: So if you're playing, uh, fantasies, uh, sports, weekly fantasy, daily fantasy, he might be a guy you want to put on your roster.
01:32:48
Speaker 5: 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.
01:33:06
Speaker 18: 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. 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.
01:33:27
Speaker 5: Think about it.
01:33:28
Speaker 18: 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.
01:33:58
Speaker 5: Um, Joe Burrow said after the game last week against Jacksonville that it wasn't Armageddon. If they lose on Sunday, is it Armageddon?
01:34:08
Speaker 18: Yeah, I think it is. I mean, they won't say it is, but man, it's going to be a bad look. We need 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.
01:34:22
Speaker 5: They just can't.
01:34:24
Speaker 18: 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 in, in December. And 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.
01:35:01
Speaker 5: Appreciate it. As always, have fun tonight, Jay. Thanks so much.
01:35:04
Speaker 4: All right. Thanks, Mo.
01:35:05
Speaker 5: 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.
01:35:25
Speaker 12: It's 5-3.
01:35:25
Speaker 5: You got a couple poll questions. I've had a chance to talk about this. Poll questions. Thanks to United Heartland Insurance. You know, this is like the part of 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 post season, which we're down to, we still have one series. That's not settled in the division around Chicago and Cleveland white socks 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 it's, 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 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've, I've, I feel like baseball records, season long records have never mattered less and in large part because of what happened to so many records in the nineties and early two thousands, this could kind of help recalibrate things a little bit. Um, one 54 is it's 5% less baseball. Um, 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.
01:38:03
Speaker 11: Baseball's supposed to be fun.
01:38:06
Speaker 5: 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.
01:38:24
Speaker 11: Sports are supposed to be fun.
01:38:26
Speaker 5: A team picking its opponent is a blast.
01:38:29
Speaker 17: I'm in.
01:38:30
Speaker 5: 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.
01:39:27
Speaker 3: I'm in.
01:39:28
Speaker 5: Sign me up. Remember, baseball is supposed to be fun.
01:39:32
Speaker 15: Sports, fun.
01:39:33
Speaker 5: 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.
01:39:44
Speaker 4: Yay, yay.
01:39:44
Speaker 5: What the hell was that? Sign me up for one of the experts from OrthoCincy talking about. You see, two yays. Yay, yay. I had no idea what the hell that was.
01:39:57
Speaker 4: Dr.
01:39:58
Speaker 5: Tyler Gardner from OrthoCincy on Jamar Chase, T. Higgins, Lamar Jackson, and the dude with the dislocated ankle coming up on ESPN 1530.
01:40:05
Speaker 4: Yay, yay.
01:40:09
Speaker 16: You've been listening to Football in the Natty on ESPN 1530, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
01:40:19
Speaker 6: Cincinnati's ESPN 1530.
01:40:20
Speaker 5: Traffic. 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.
01:40:49
Speaker 4: Learn more.
01:40:50
Speaker 5: 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?
01:41:08
Speaker 4: Right.
01:41:08
Speaker 19: So a concussion, the brain is kind of like, almost like a pickle in a jar.
01:41:14
Speaker 12: It's not like it's tethered to anything. So it kind of sloshes around.
01:41:17
Speaker 19: 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. Um, and those things basically have to recover. Uh, there's nothing we can necessarily do to, you know, 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, Tua, 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.
01:42:10
Speaker 5: 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?
01:42:20
Speaker 12: You can't really.
01:42:21
Speaker 19: Grade it based on people getting up and being able to walk. It's more based on symptoms. So all things you can think about, concussions, loss of consciousness. He laid down there for a second, but it's hard to tell. But then you also have to look at his other symptoms. Does he know where he is? Does he 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 the next few days afterwards.
01:42:46
Speaker 17: We have a protocol that we generally follow for people to return to sport. And you have to go through every step and every concussion is different. It's not like, you know, recovering from a, you know, a broken bone or something like that, where we say, oh.
01:42:59
Speaker 19: 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.
01:43:18
Speaker 17: And we've seen with the NFL how serious these injuries can be, and repeated concussions can cause significant long-term, even people leaving the NFL, long-term consequences.
01:43:30
Speaker 5: 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. Let me ask you about T.
01:43:40
Speaker 3: Higgins.
01:43:41
Speaker 5: A doctor injury it's a groin injury so 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.
01:44:01
Speaker 19: 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.
01:44:14
Speaker 12: So they're kind of.
01:44:15
Speaker 17: You know, similar things, but different severity.
01:44:22
Speaker 5: 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?
01:44:30
Speaker 4: Right.
01:44:31
Speaker 19: So day-to-day means it is probably a lower-grade injury, so not a complete tear.
01:44:36
Speaker 17: But it's hard to tell without the MRI. Everyone in the NFL gets an MRI because they're able to do that.
01:44:41
Speaker 19: 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 in the NFL. So those muscles have to fire at its longest length and at its hardest force it can. And if it's not prepared for it, then it can't do it.
01:45:14
Speaker 5: Two more I want to ask you about.
01:45:15
Speaker 4: Dr.
01:45:16
Speaker 5: 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.
01:45:39
Speaker 10: Than the other?
01:45:40
Speaker 4: Yeah.
01:45:41
Speaker 17: So the low ankle sprain is your standard rolled your ankle.
01:45:44
Speaker 12: It's based on symptoms again.
01:45:47
Speaker 19: 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 or potentially a high ankle sprain. 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.
01:46:33
Speaker 12: They'll have an MRI. They'll be able to tell.
01:46:36
Speaker 19: 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.
01:46:44
Speaker 12: Better, his strength gets better.
01:46:46
Speaker 17: I mean, there are some that with athletics, you can get a little.
01:46:52
Speaker 4: You know, creative.
01:46:53
Speaker 12: And sometimes they'll just take the ankle kind of together.
01:46:55
Speaker 17: 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.
01:47:09
Speaker 3: Dr.
01:47:09
Speaker 5: Tyler Gardner from OrthoSense, 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 cincy.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 teach 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?
01:48:06
Speaker 4: Can I work for you?
01:48:07
Speaker 5: Hell yeah, you can.
01:48:08
Speaker 10: Duh.
01:48:10
Speaker 5: 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.
01:48:19
Speaker 4: We got to go.
01:48:20
Speaker 5: 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 in 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.