00:00:00
Speaker 1: Are bringing their own brand of football to Buffalo when they go hunting for a win. Did I tell you about the last time I was in bilow i ate fifty wing missus leathered in hot sauce. Let's just say I had to stampede my way to a stall in.
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Speaker 2: The men's room.
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Speaker 1: The Bengals peddle the Bills. Coverage begins at nine am Sunday. Stream for free. Are the new and improved iHeartRadio app or ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
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Speaker 3: Right here we go. It's a we're a late start today. Huh. Seven that for free? This is ESPN fifteen thirty. What's up with that? I'm a langer in studio for what feels like the first time in forever. It is awesome of you to be with us. This is a special show. First of all, the show preview video is available on Twitter at mullager. Go check that out now. It's a service of share Fax Credit Union. You can become a member at Shaffax Credit Union and if you do well, you'll be just like me because I'm a member. Check out share facts dot org. We love our friends at Shaffact. So I'll just tell you what's happening on the show today really quick. Joe Burrow is gonna talk in seven minutes, we think seven minutes. He has not been on time for one of his press conferences this year, but maybe rejuvenated. He's back. He won, Bengals won. Everybody's excited. Maybe Joe will be compelled to be on time. Hopefully he is. Will have it for you at three point fifteen. We are looking forward to that. We have the Kyle Schwarber thing to get to, which maybe it's unlikely, maybe it's not gonna happen. I'm gonna do everything I can. I'm gonna do everything I can to ensure that Red's fans are demanding that the Reds go sign the raigning home run champion in baseball. I'll do what I can. I'll do my best. That's coming up here in just a bit. Also Eric Wood later on in the five o'clock hour, the Pride of Elder High School. He is currently the and has been for a while, the radio analyst for the Buffalo Bills, Bengals and Bills on Sunday at one o'clock, we are looking forward to that. Going to talk in a second, I did not have a chance to get to this yesterday. But I'm no longer gonna tell Joe Burrow no when it comes to him playing. As long as the games matter, this game on Sunday matters, the game on Thursday matters. I felt bad on Thursday night. Not because the Bengals won. That was excited, the exciting. I felt bad because I was one of those guys who was I don't know, should yes, he should have played, and he did play and he played well, went perfect. There was some russ he had a chip off. So we have that. We're gonna get to a little bit later on. Today is our office Christmas party for advertisers of the radio station, so we have a lot of people who are going to be in the building having a good time the holiday party. We want to be a part of it, but you know, we it's hard because we're doing a show. So over the last number of years we've started an open door policy and maybe you can hear in the background some noise. We leave our door open. You could hear the Christmas music and we basically invite people to pop in at any time. So if there's a little background noise, if it's sound like we're out at a bar or something. We're not, although there is alcohol here. It's the iHeartMedia Christmas Party, and we're broadcasting basically from it. We are going to step aside, hopefully Joe Burrow right on time when we come back ten after three. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station now talking with the Assemble Pro Football Media.
00:03:20
Speaker 4: Would you imagine playing college football playoff for getting ready to in your coach leaving.
00:03:28
Speaker 5: His own miss going to make the playoff?
00:03:29
Speaker 2: Yeah?
00:03:30
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's certainly not an ideal situation.
00:03:34
Speaker 6: But uh.
00:03:38
Speaker 5: Does the rest of the staff stay or do they go too?
00:03:40
Speaker 7: I think you let the OC loose to go back you play caller.
00:03:45
Speaker 8: Ah, yeah, certainly, well, an ideal situation for a playoff run, that's for sure.
00:03:50
Speaker 9: There's been multiple reports out about what exactly is the shoe that's helping you as soon as experience be a metal plate, a wh's been something else.
00:04:02
Speaker 10: What what is in your shoe and that's helping you with your toe?
00:04:06
Speaker 5: Exactly? Carbon fiber plate and custom.
00:04:08
Speaker 10: Or thought, how does that help your toe?
00:04:11
Speaker 5: Well, they just.
00:04:12
Speaker 8: Can't shoe can't bend it because my toe can't go backwards right now, still a little early for that, So just keeps it firm and not bending it back.
00:04:23
Speaker 10: Is it comfortable?
00:04:25
Speaker 11: No?
00:04:26
Speaker 12: Are you wearing.
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Speaker 2: Different cleats now when you were before.
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Speaker 5: Before the injury?
00:04:30
Speaker 6: Yeah?
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Speaker 8: Yeah, these are the ones that I feel like give me enough space and stability to do what I need to do.
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Speaker 2: Do you walk around in different shoes just like at home?
00:04:45
Speaker 5: At home, I'm just barefoot, but.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, I try to be in the cleats as little as possible.
00:04:52
Speaker 7: You settle on the sneakers being like the swapping out and kind of why didn't you figre out that was a good solution for you along the sideline?
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Speaker 8: Well, I take it off throughout practice every now and then, just to let it breathe and let it relax a little bit.
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Speaker 5: And these are what I put on, so I figured I'd just keep it.
00:05:12
Speaker 9: The same whether obviously it was cold in Baltimore, but it's supposed to be like really cold in Buffalo. Does that impact the shoe work and what's in it and your toe at all or not?
00:05:25
Speaker 4: Really?
00:05:26
Speaker 5: Well, it shouldn't. How difficult was it to get used to the insert.
00:05:33
Speaker 8: It was certainly a process to figure out what worked.
00:05:37
Speaker 5: Best for me.
00:05:37
Speaker 8: And what was most comfortable and at the same time safe. But we we worked through that and a lot of different people were involved and we got the right stuff on there. You have any idea for sure the rest of this year and probably going forward, but we'll see.
00:05:58
Speaker 5: We look at the tape. How does it affect your mechanics. I don't think that the injury affects my mechanics at all. What'd you think of, you know, when you watch the take how you threw? What'd you think after the end out for seventy days?
00:06:15
Speaker 6: Yeah?
00:06:15
Speaker 5: I thought I did some good things.
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Speaker 8: I think second half I was pretty lights out really, last half of the first half to the first could drives, missed.
00:06:25
Speaker 5: Some that I normally hit. But when when you're aligned protects like that, you get back into the group pretty quickly.
00:06:33
Speaker 4: Your game surgery, if I had told you you'd be back two games taps five, I've signed up for that scenario.
00:06:43
Speaker 8: Yeah, of course, you know we're in. We got everything in front of us. We just got to go take care of business.
00:06:48
Speaker 2: You're touchdown throw to Andre. What do you love kind of about the pre snap puzzle that you went through before the snap? There, you got everything set and then it all worked out.
00:06:58
Speaker 5: Yeah, it was a big time pick up a front. That's uh.
00:07:03
Speaker 8: They provide some challenging looks as a defense protection wise, that's probably the most challenging look that they present, and Oline.
00:07:16
Speaker 5: Knocked it out. Drew was part of that, was part of that.
00:07:19
Speaker 8: And then a great read by Dre taking the middle, not just taking the middle, but noticing that they didn't have a backsize safety and able to bend it a little bit to the space. So that was an all around great play.
00:07:31
Speaker 2: And you see it all move around. At what point do you know Andres getting the ball down the field?
00:07:38
Speaker 8: Once I saw Roquwan getting out of there in the field safety push into the field.
00:07:44
Speaker 5: I knew. I knew where I was going. As long as we wroth on the same page.
00:07:47
Speaker 7: When you look back at last year, why were we all so able to win when your backs working with the ball, knowing you had to What enabled y'all to string that success together?
00:07:57
Speaker 8: The same way you win any game, just discipline, winning the turnover, battle, playing smart, playing physical, and going about your business each and every day trying to get better. There's no secret formula. You just got to go through the process week to week. And attack the plan with intensity and understand it. Understand it to a point that you can go out and execute it in front of the world. And that's that's what we plan to do.
00:08:21
Speaker 4: You haven't played them a lot, so you've had success against this Bill's defense when you pace them.
00:08:27
Speaker 2: What has stood out or what just works for you?
00:08:29
Speaker 8: Guys their word coach, they make it, They make it difficult. They give you a lot of different looks in the secondary. They try to make everything look the same.
00:08:40
Speaker 5: And now they got good.
00:08:42
Speaker 8: Players that typically have been there for a while. Most of their guys have been in that scheme for several years now and understand the weaknesses and the strengths of it. Yeah, we've had success against them in the past. We haven't played them in several years. Every game is new, so look forward to going improvement.
00:09:01
Speaker 13: What do you remember about the feeling of playing there in the snow, you know, in the playoffs a few years ago.
00:09:07
Speaker 8: Yeah, it was one of my favorite games since I've been here. But like I said, that's in the past. What we've we haven't done anything in a long time against these guys, and we got to go improve it every single week.
00:09:20
Speaker 2: That's really just like with Joe Brady these days.
00:09:23
Speaker 5: Yeah, Joe and I go way back.
00:09:25
Speaker 8: I guess it's way back at this point, just like any time when there's As time goes, you talk less and less. But you know, we could see each other any anytime and sitting and chop it up for how long we wanted to.
00:09:42
Speaker 6: Uh.
00:09:43
Speaker 5: He was great for my career.
00:09:44
Speaker 8: We did some fun things together and we got a great relationship. So I look forward to seeing it talking to him for sure.
00:09:49
Speaker 7: What's the biggest thing you gained by being with him, especially that last year, And also what's the biggest thing that you looked back and you've made made the biggest impact on you.
00:10:00
Speaker 5: You know, bringing.
00:10:02
Speaker 8: All the NFL concepts to what we were doing at LSU. And you know, fortunately, that's my strength, is being able to read and react and get the bought quickly and finding the right guys. And that's that's what that offense was about. That's what this offense is about. That's what a lot of offenses are about in this league.
00:10:21
Speaker 5: And you know, we we did some special things together and worked through a lot of problems. We solved a lot of problems, and.
00:10:35
Speaker 8: That's that's what great players and coaches do, so that was a special time after your resurgery.
00:10:43
Speaker 9: You were pretty open about how you know, it didn't always feel awesome and it was just something that you were learning how to manage.
00:10:50
Speaker 10: How did your toe feel on Friday? And is it similar to that where it doesn't feel great because you're still able to play through it? Like, what's the difference?
00:11:02
Speaker 8: Like I said, everything we have in the shoe keeps it stable and safe, and that provides me confidence to go and play the way that I need to.
00:11:10
Speaker 13: How much do you pay attention to playoff scenarios? What needs to happen for you guys to get in at this point?
00:11:18
Speaker 8: Yeah, we pay attention. I think everybody does. But doesn't you can pay attention to it and at the same time not let it affect anything about your business and about your day to day. Now that matters if we don't go and win.
00:11:35
Speaker 7: We talked a lot about Payton manning frisship over the years. Why is that in a relationship that's been a lot to you? And kind of what's that kind of been like as y'all have gotten oldered?
00:11:45
Speaker 14: Well?
00:11:45
Speaker 8: Number one, he is one of the best of all time and has a lot of insight to provide, and he's a great guy that wants to give back to the game, to the younger guys, help us out. And when you have a guy that played for so long at such a high level that wants to see young players thrive and get better and be great, that's good for the game And shame on me if I don't take advantage of that.
00:12:14
Speaker 7: Is that something you hope to do down the line, like whenever you're done, is to kind of kind of pass that on or pay forward.
00:12:20
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, of course.
00:12:22
Speaker 15: It's about as emotional as I've seen you after a game. It seemed like this particular comeback seemed to kind of strike a chord with you.
00:12:33
Speaker 5: You seemed to almost savored.
00:12:35
Speaker 15: Maybe I mod but it seemed like kind of old the war or reflective.
00:12:42
Speaker 8: Yeah, I just think, you know, I've been through a lot of these, and you know, haven't had the chance to come back in the middle of a season like this from any of the other ones that I've had, and so this one has been special to me. Uh, you know, I worked really hard to come back and try to give myself an opportunity to get out there.
00:13:05
Speaker 5: Not just me, a lot of people worked hard for it, and.
00:13:09
Speaker 8: To be able to have a moment like that in front of the world on Thanksgiving, that was that was special.
00:13:15
Speaker 15: I think it's just a matter of maybe getting older too, and just stuff is starting.
00:13:22
Speaker 5: You're not old, but yeah, the more things, the more things you go through, the.
00:13:27
Speaker 8: Especially when it's you know, the same thing over and over again and you continue.
00:13:30
Speaker 5: To overcome it and.
00:13:35
Speaker 8: You know, I'm gonna continue to to do great things and play well.
00:13:40
Speaker 5: At least that's the plan.
00:13:43
Speaker 8: You know, these will be in the review mirror mirror at some point, but right now it's pretty fresh and there's something I'm proud of.
00:13:50
Speaker 4: How long did it take you to go from I can't believe this happened?
00:13:55
Speaker 5: Two?
00:13:56
Speaker 2: All right, I'm gonna be back this year. Thats like, when how long did that take?
00:14:04
Speaker 5: Basically, it's always a process. I'm not sure. I'm not sure I could pinpoint an exact.
00:14:15
Speaker 6: Time.
00:14:18
Speaker 5: You know, once you get a.
00:14:21
Speaker 8: Couple weeks out and you start to get back into lifting and training and the rehab starts to progress and you're doing more functional movement, then your mindset starts to switch a little bit.
00:14:32
Speaker 16: You talked a lot Joe today about how what makes you so special, Uh, getting your offensive line in the right protections? How much you work at that, and why that makes you the quarterback you are.
00:14:44
Speaker 2: When did you first start.
00:14:47
Speaker 16: Really spending a lot of time doing a lot of homework on the right protections for each game.
00:14:54
Speaker 8: The first time it was really introduced to me at the level that you start to critically think about it was when Ryan Day got to Ohio State and here was my quarterback coach. We started to talk about a lot of things that from an NFL type perspective, it just kind of made sense to me, and it kind of always has from that point on.
00:15:19
Speaker 5: Just kind of.
00:15:21
Speaker 8: Makes sense, you know, seeing defenses and seeing body languages something that I'm pretty good at, especially later in the game after you see a couple of things a couple of times. That's one of the reasons that I feel like I'm so good, just because I can see what, I can feel it, and I can react to it quickly.
00:15:43
Speaker 5: It's just kind of always made sense. Is an intuition preparation combination of both, Yeah, it's a combination of both. Our coaches come.
00:15:52
Speaker 8: Together and give us the answers to the test, not like I'm coming up with the calls myself. They we meet every Thursday and they show us all the different looks and what calls you want to get in too against certain looks, and then.
00:16:11
Speaker 6: You go from there.
00:16:12
Speaker 5: What's different about the offensive line this year?
00:16:15
Speaker 2: Why are they playing at the level of.
00:16:17
Speaker 1: Their straight up.
00:16:21
Speaker 5: Raps?
00:16:22
Speaker 8: Guys are older. We haven't had too many injuries this year. When when you have a group that's together for eleven weeks at this point, then they're gonna gel and can continue to get better. We have guys that want to get better, that love playing and have really taking a step and take an ownership of what they're doing.
00:16:47
Speaker 13: You talk about your ability to read a defense, read body language and things like that. Is there anything about you specifically in your mind that makes you good at that?
00:17:01
Speaker 5: No, I can just I can just see it and feel it and react to it. Yeah, it's as simple as that.
00:17:10
Speaker 2: Memory.
00:17:10
Speaker 8: I wouldn't say that. I remember things pretty decent. Uh, that's certainly not photographic like some people talk about.
00:17:19
Speaker 5: Were you a good test taker in school? Yeah? Yeah, I could do I could. Yeah, I could take the test and not really work too much beforehand.
00:17:31
Speaker 15: It's math, right, I mean, when you what you're doing off there, testing and stuff.
00:17:35
Speaker 2: It's like math, it's more.
00:17:42
Speaker 5: Patternaction, pattern recognition and problem solving.
00:17:47
Speaker 3: There you go. There's a Joe Burrow talking about his scholastic career taking math classes and how it relates to playing quarterback in the NFL. He is set to go to make his second start after coming off the injury list. Is The Bengals take on the Bills in Buffalow Sunday at one o'clock. You'll hear the game live on ESPN fifteen thirty, pregame coverage beginning at nine a m. We are loaded today, don't forget. Bengals game plan airs from six to eight tonight as soon as we're done on ESPN fifteen thirty, and we are is is that on Fox Sports? I just we have NKU basketball tonight and we have the Bengals and the Norse are going to be on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. These are the sort of things I should look up. They're after us all right. Fifteen thirty has Bengals game plan and we've got the NKU game with Jim Kelch and Rick Boring on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. These are the things I would typically know prior to the show. But as you could tell by listening in the background, the iHeartRadio Christmas Party, which started at three o'clock, is already in full swing. I mean, there are folks this party officially goes until seven o'clock. There are folks who are not going to make it to like five. So if you're an uber driver in the greater Kinwood area, you could, you could probably, you could probably make some money this afternoon. Sports headlines are coming up, and yes, yes, the Reds should sign Kyle Schwarmer. We'll do that next on ESPN fifteen thirty.
00:19:17
Speaker 17: Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
00:19:20
Speaker 18: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. U See Health's Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise. Called five one three nine three nine two two sixty three. That's nine three nine two two sixty three. Still got that accident on eastbound two seventy five. It is on the off ramp to southbound seventy one in Ohio. Right lane is blocked on the ramp westbound Shepherd Lane and accident blocking the right lane as well at seventy five in eastbound US fifty accident after seventy one I'm at ezelic with traffic.
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Speaker 3: This report is spa set lines. Oh, that's right. We're playing Christmas music because it's the iHeartMedia Christmas Party.
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Speaker 6: That's right.
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Speaker 3: So we're gonna see how many holiday music posts I could hit. Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet.
00:20:11
Speaker 18: Night.
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Speaker 3: Little sloppy. I was like, was like a half second early, but it's the first one of the day. T Higgins is practicing on a limited basis. Zach Taylor says he is quote making good progress as the Bengals hope to have him back on Sunday when they take on the Buffalo Bills. Sean McDermott, the coach in Buffalo, says, Joey Bosa week the week got injured in there went over the Steelers on Sunday the game at one o'clock live on ESPN fifteen thirty. Get a lot more tonight on Bengals Game Plan from six o'clock until eight o'clock right here on ESPN fifteen thirty. Our guy Ken Anderson has been named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of twenty twenty six. If the people in charge of such things are doing it right, Ken will be in Canton next summer. Former not a former oh Hi State offensive coordinator, Brian Hartline is set to take over as the head coach at South Florida. He will be with the Buckeyes during their run in the College Football Playoff. Tonight, college basketball NKU is at Cleveland State, IU is at Minnesota. The NKU Cleveland State game is on Fox Sports thirteen to sixty. By the way, I neglected to mention that Zach Zach Taylor. Evan McPherson has been named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance six for six on field goal attempts and Pats six for six on field goals, two for two on Pats had twenty points in the Thanksgiving night victory over the Baltimore Ravens. And congratulations go out to a guy that we're going to have on the show at four twenty today, Ryan Kerwin. He has been named the EHL Rookie of the Month for November, the Cincinnati Cyclone first player to win that honor since Joe Howe during the twenty thirteen twenty fourteen season. The iHeartMedia Christmas Party rages on behind us. It's a festive afternoon at this really, to me is the kickoff of the holiday season. It's so festive that we play Christmas music on our show. I'm reading Mark Sheldon last night MLB dot Com, who does an awesome job with the piece headlined with this why the dark horse Reds could be a uniquely enticing fit for Schwarber, And he writes in the first two paragraphs, and I'll have you go read the rest. He writes, While it might have seemed like a long shot going into the offseason, don't count out the Reds in the pursuit of free agent slugger Kyle Schwarber, And he continues. Multiple sources told MLB dot Com that the Reds remain among the teams trying to sign Schwarber and are still in contention for one of this winter's top free agents. Here is a blurb. Greg Amsinger on MLB Network was listing, I guess seven destinations that would make sense for Kyle Schwarber, and he did list the Reds as number five. Here's him explaining, let's move on to number five. Where's Kyle? Where we're gonna go? This is too high, Greg, way too hish. Culture Number one, I should be maybe number one of us to go back home. You're going back home. You got to get somebody with Ellie de Lacruz. Growing back comes out of this bro You think the tea, I love it. Look at green Ellie de la Cruz. Give me that guy. Put Kyle Schwarber on the on deck circle behind Cala Cruz. I would love. It's time that Cincinnati Reds go get a big back Kyle Schwarber. I'm just thinking this, folks, I'm thinking this. So and there you go. There's Greg Amsinger, I believe with Yander Alonzo on the MLB network. Now, I don't want to come off as skeptical here, but there is something to the idea of you know what, if we pick up the phone and call Kyle Schwarber's agent, even if we don't make a very competitive offer, we can at least say, hey, we tried. And and by the way, the Reds brand is unfortunately that they don't even try. Right we we assume they're not going to sign Kyle Schwarber because they're not even going to try to sign Kyle Schwarber. And well, you can say that about us if we at least pick up the phone and say, hey, would Kyle Schwarber want to come to the Reds what would it cost? And then you hang up the phone and you can shrug your shoulders and say, well, at least we tried. So keep that in mind. It behooves the Reds to a degree to at least make it known. Well, we jumped into the sweepstakes. We jumped into the pool, but we didn't stay in it very long. So that's worth noting. Number One, there is no good, non financial reason, no good non financial reason to not sign Kyle Schwarber. I get he's thirty two years old. If you're worried about what you're gonna be paying him in a couple of years. I would like to treat this offseason like the Apocalypse is gonna happen next offseason, which may happen because there's going to be a lockout. Maybe there's not a twenty twenty seven season. I don't care about the twenty twenty seven season. I don't care about the twenty twenty eight season. I want to win now. I want to win while they have a corps of guys in place that did get to the postseason last year, and I don't want to trade away from that corp of guys. I don't have to trade paid for Kyle Schwarber. I just gotta pay him a bunch of money. I'd rather pay Kyle Schwarber a bunch of money than pay another team Nick Lodolo or Andrew Abbott or Hunter Green or Chase Petty or Chase Burns or another guy named Chase. There's no good, non financial reason to not sign Kyle Schwarber. I get it. The Reds have a budget. They should have it. We all have budgets. There's a difference between, well, they can't afford it and they don't have the budget for it. There's lots of things I cannot afford. There are some things I don't really have the budget for. There's a difference. If the Reds want to give Kyle Schwarber a blank check, they could probably do it. They do have twenty other owners. There's a difference between we can't afford it and we're not willing to pay for it, or it's not in our budget, or we're not willing to go outside our budget. I think we all understand that sometimes in life, there are things that are worth going outside your budget. For my wife and I are family. We have a budget and we're pretty good at sticking to it, and we set aside money for food and groceries and gas and entertainment and necessities and emergencies and clothes and stuff for the house. Like we said, we're pretty good at it. There's a there's a little spreadsheet. My wife is really into it. I've gotten into it. It's a good way to live. It's a smart thing to do. We have a budget. Occasionally there are things that come your way in life that are worth going outside your budget for. And sometimes those things are fun. Sometimes those things are necessities. Kyle Schwarber, I would argue as both the Reds need a guy who can hit home runs. Kyle Schwarber led the league in home runs last year. Also, he's fun. It's fun because he's from Middletown, which really should not have anything to do with this, at least from a Red's perspective. Kyle Schwarber could be from Middletown, Nebraska and they should still be trying to sign him. But Okay, there's that dynamic. Sometimes there are things worth going outside your budget for. In January of twenty twenty two, the Bengals won the AFC title, and I decided I'm going to the super Bowl. And then we decided later on we're going to broadcast from it, and I posted up next to an ice machine. But the moment to the moment that kick went through against the Kansas City Chiefs, I'm like, dude, I'm going. Didn't know what a ticket was going to cost. I had to go outside our budget. I remember saying to my wife, like, look, I've been waiting for this my entire life. I was eleven the last time they went to the super Bowl. I wasn't going then. I am going now. I don't care what it costs. We're going to be fine. It's worth stepping outside the budget for this once in a lifetime moment. And you know, someone at the radio station was like, can you get a media pass. It's like, yeah, I'm not doing that. I'm want to be in the stands cheering, yelling, and if they win, I'm going to hug my best friends. And so I paid them on they didn't win the game, completely worth it. Sometimes in life there are things worth going outside your budget for. When you're a team that just made the postseason. A dude who hit fifty six home runs last year is worth going outside your budget? For so, Yes, the Reds have a budget. It's not a matter of affordability. It's a matter of willingness to pay, willingness to maybe step outside the budget. If the Reds were a sixty four win team last year, Kyle Schwarber is not worth going outside your budget. If their pitching was a mess, if they didn't have any arms, if you had no idea who the opening day starter should be. That's one thing. You got some pieces in place. You need more than Kyle Schwarbert. You need some dudes who will be with the team this year, who were with the team last year, to be better than they were last year. And you probably need some more outside help. But I got a dude who can hit, even if he has a down year. Is going to hit forty in this ballpark? Are you kidding me? There is no non financial reason. None. But if the reason is financial, is this worth going outside your budget? Now? You and I as fans, the answer is gonna be yes. I would imagine it's gonna be yes if you own the club. Isn't this one of those set of circumstances? Isn't this one of those moments where you go, you know what we're doing it. We're going outside the budget. I know what the pushback is gonna be. Mo The Reds aren't gonna do it. That's part of the problem. We just assume they won't because they don't. I don't know if us talking about it is gonna change that, but it would be great if we can have legitimate conversations about this happening. And the good news is there are some folks who cover this sport very very closely who are at least writing and talking about Kyle Schwerber and in the same sentence writing and talking about the Reds. It's a quarter to four, Rick brooring on Xavier who has a game on Friday, and Nku who has a game tonight next.
00:29:58
Speaker 19: Cincinnati's ESPN. In fifteen thirty, traffic from the.
00:30:03
Speaker 18: Uc Health Traffic Center. U See Health's Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise. Call five one three, nine three nine two two sixty three. That's nine three nine two two sixty three. Down to only two accidents at the moment, the first one westbound on Shepherd Lane that's over at seventy five right lane blocked off the other one eastbound US fifty after seventy one. That's got the left lane blocked and Fort Washington Way eastbound traffic slow between seventy five and seventy one on at Ezelic with traffic.
00:30:36
Speaker 3: Yep, you can hear the party raging behind us. Kind of hit that most pretty good. It is raging behind us. Ken brw just walked in exactly here. Ken Brew is actually in the building. Yeah yeah, if folks for asking him if he actually worked here in which is kind of embarrassing. The iHeartMedia Christmas party continues. Meanwhile, we're getting closer to the skyline Chile Crosstown shootout UC versus Xavier at the Cintas Center. Also tonight, NKU opens up Horizon League play with a tilt against Cleveland State. That is on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. Here as he is every Wednesday to talk Xavier and NKU basketball, the color analysts on Norris broadcasts, and the owner and proprietor of Musketeer Report dot Com, Rick Browing. Hi, Rick, what's up? Mal? I'm just getting ready for this game on Friday night and tonight, how about yourself?
00:31:31
Speaker 11: Likewise, I'm equally excited for both.
00:31:35
Speaker 3: Let's talk about Friday first. I feel like back when the college basketball season began, this was, you know what, the Musketeers are starting from scratch. Wes Miller has a team that has more talent. He's in his fifth season. This is the year where you see wins at the Cintas Center. I don't think anybody feels that way anymore. They don't feel like it's a sure thing anymore. Maybe a fifty to fifty part of that has to do with the Bearcats. Part of that has to do with the improvement we've seen from the Musketeers, and f there's more of an identity with Richard Patino's team right now than Wes Miller's. Speak to that from a Xavier perspective.
00:32:07
Speaker 11: Yeah, it's really amazing how that has turned around so quickly, Mo, because you know, we talked before the season started and I told you about how I felt about bagers chances in that game, and then a few games into the season it was even worse, especially after they had suffered back to back nineteen point losses to Santa Clara and Iowa. So yeah, at that point, I was I was thinking that this was going to be the year that duc finally got it done at the Centa Center almost no matter what, regardless of how they played, just because of the difference in talent. But the way you see has struggled on the offensive end, and the way Richard Patino and his staff have kind of turned this around by changing their playing style on offense is really impressive. And so now we find ourselves look at the Crosstown shootout going.
00:32:55
Speaker 20: Who knows what's going to happen?
00:32:57
Speaker 3: How about Big East play, because it's a league that thus far maybe beyond Yukon. I don't think anybody's impressed by anybody.
00:33:05
Speaker 20: Yeah, I think that's fair.
00:33:08
Speaker 11: I've heard some people say, you know, it might be Zavier saving grace this year that the Big East is weak. I think most people when they say the Big East is week, they think about it from a top end perspective and how many teams are going to get in n ncl A tournament perspective. The issue Xavier might have is there aren't the bottom feeders that are really struggling this year that we've seen in years past.
00:33:30
Speaker 3: You know, to Paul, but three.
00:33:32
Speaker 11: Years ago was ranked outside the top three hundred, Georgetown was ranked low two hundreds that year. Last season, Seaton Hall was outside the top two hundred. They were, you know, only won two games in Big East play. It felt like an easy win. This year, you don't have anyone really playing that way. I mean, you know, yes, Xavier is not the lowest ranked team. You've got to Paul and Georgetown ranked behind them in ken Palm right now. But the Paul that are like one fifteen in ken Pom, they're not outside the top two hundred. So you know, it's a little bit Vigger could be in every game in bigg's play this year, outside of maybe the Yukon and Saint John's matchups. But on the other hand, you might be looking at yourself where going yet the Soft Conference. But everybody is pretty similar and the Viager team is still going to struggle to win games potentially, So I'm not sure exactly how it's going to shake out for him, to be quite honest, I think it's still going to be a big challenge for them to win a lot of games in the Big East.
00:34:27
Speaker 3: We have had with both schools. We have had coaches come from other places and they get their first dose to the shootout and the portal Era is not new, but it was. It was striking to me listening to Richard Patino today thinking about having a team where literally nobody has played in this game before. From your perspective, what's that like.
00:34:47
Speaker 11: Yeah, you know, I think it's it's different. I think they can say all they want that they understand the importance and they understand the gravity of the game. But at the end of the day, more they don't live in this area for the most part. You know, Isaiah Walker obviously has a little bit of family history with the game, is dad Tyrese having.
00:35:07
Speaker 3: Played in it.
00:35:08
Speaker 11: So it's a little bit different for a guy like him maybe, but for everybody else, they're not from this area. They didn't grow up with the rivalry. They don't now have storylines built in from years past to go off of.
00:35:19
Speaker 20: So to try to act like these guys care.
00:35:22
Speaker 11: About as much about the cross Town shootout and it means as much to them as it has to you know, the Yancey Gates and Too Holloway teams for instance, is just I mean, it's crazy to think that now, can there still be fireworks? Can it still be a competitive game? Because they they take on the personality of the fans a little bit, and they understand it means lots of the fans, sure, But I definitely think with all the newcomers and with Richard Patino not having that built in history that a guy like a Chris Mack or a Travis Steeler Sean Miller did that, I think it's just a little bit different. And not to say it's lost its luster, which I'm sure we'll see that column here and the next day or two. Yeah, but I do think, you know, it's silly to act like these players care as much about the rivalry as players in years past.
00:36:09
Speaker 3: I don't think it's lost since luster. I do think it's fair to say that it's not quite the same. That doesn't mean it's bad. Rick Boring, Musketeer Report dot Com, NKU Radio The Norris tonight against Cleveland State at seven o'clock NKU, opening up Horizon League play. On the strength of a five game winning streak, including a road win a blowout road win against Central Michigan. They have won three consecutive games at home. They start Horizon League Play. What have you learned about the Norris during the non conference portion of their schedule.
00:36:36
Speaker 11: Well, there's a couple things that we've seen with Darreon Horn's teams in.
00:36:39
Speaker 3: The past, and that is one.
00:36:41
Speaker 11: They almost always get better on the defensive end as the season goes, and that's partly because that style of the matchup zone that's just kind of a so pressurized and it relies on so much chemistry and communication that it takes a little while to feel it out and see how your teammates are going to play around you within it. And so the fact that they're all seemingly ahead of schedule there and playing pretty well defensively, and we know it's likely to get better because it does every single year with darrens Horn's teams, that's a really encouraging sign. The other is, I think we can at this point pretty much safely say this is the most offensive firepower Darren Horn has ever had since he's been the head coach at NKU. Yes, he coached the schools all time leading scorer in Mark west Warwick, but so many times those teams were trying to get to fifty five sixty points with Mark west Work scoring thirty of them, and you know everything was running through one guy. This year, you have two guards averaging around eighteen points per game and Dan Grezger and Donovan O'Day and they have other weapons around them too. A guy like Cale Robinson can go off for twenty on at any given night.
00:37:45
Speaker 14: LJ.
00:37:45
Speaker 11: Wells is an experienced player within the league who was picked All Horizon League and many people expect him to be a double double threat and could have been MK's leading scorer coming into the season had the Guards not gotten off to such a great start. So I think there's there's a lot of weapons on the offensive end to this team too, and that's been excited.
00:38:05
Speaker 3: I'm coming at the game tonight that that's exciting. Well, the last time I was at a game that you were at was at a Xavier game and I said right in front of you, and you kind of acted like you didn't know me, and and I can't blame you. A lot of people do that. Will the same dynamic being played tonight if I come over and say Hi.
00:38:21
Speaker 11: No, that's first of all, that is a gross mixed characterization of what I'm down at the Xavier game. It's not taking into account how the media's space is set up there. Tom iSER does a terrible job of separating us and not making it easy to talk.
00:38:36
Speaker 20: So let's uh, let's let's be.
00:38:38
Speaker 3: Careful about that. That is not how I acted at all. That is not true. Again, nobody could blame you, but there were others there who are asking, like, man, you and Rick got beef, and I said, no, it's Rich's a little awkward around me. We'll see if there's a similar dynamic in play tonight. We'll see you then, and i'll see you much later this evening as well.
00:38:57
Speaker 11: Look, I'm just trying not to annoy you with a lot of some stupid things that I want to say and thoughts. I listened to your show all the time, so I don't want to like get in person and just pepper you with like a bunch of questions about your job.
00:39:08
Speaker 3: So that's that's all it is, all right, We'll see it, man, thanks so much.
00:39:12
Speaker 2: All right, we'll talk soon.
00:39:12
Speaker 3: Four o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty.
00:39:18
Speaker 10: I'm Christine Leacy.
00:39:19
Speaker 14: Put Jana's Antetakoupo and the Bucks be headed for a breakup, sources tell ESPN's sham Sharania, the two time NBA MVP and his agent are having conversations with the team about his future and whether his best fit is remaining in Milwaukee or a move elsewhere.
00:39:33
Speaker 10: A resolution to the talks expected in the coming weeks. Milwaukee's drop eight of nine is eleventh in the East.
00:39:39
Speaker 14: Past moves make it difficult for the Bucks to improve their roster in ways that would please Giannis, says ESPN NBA analyst Shane Whu McKay.
00:39:47
Speaker 5: And I'm not.
00:39:47
Speaker 21: Surprised because they've exhausted all options. In my opinion, they not only empty the cabinet, they empty the tension, and on top of it, for their future, they mortgage their house. So what else is left for them to sort of move, whether it is with or just on the team, Yeah, to maintain this expectation and vision that they collaborated on to win a championship.
00:40:06
Speaker 14: John's also reports before Chris Paul's shocking ouser from the Clippers, he and coach tylu were not on speaking turns through several weeks. The team felt Paul's leadership style had become disruptive. NFL Chiefs rookie left tackle Josh simmons on injured reserve following surgery to repair an injured left wrist, So he's out at least the next four games.
00:40:25
Speaker 12: Hey, it's a resident Super Bowl champ, Chris Kenny coming on Thursday.
00:40:28
Speaker 18: I'll tell you why one of the teams I picked to.
00:40:30
Speaker 12: Make the Super Bowl is facing an elimination game in week fourteen.
00:40:34
Speaker 3: It's on Sports for like six am Eastern right here on ESPN Radio, ESPN two in ESPNU.
00:40:43
Speaker 22: Joe Burrow is back and he plays here on ESPN fifteen thirty, the Official Hall of the Cincinnati Bengals.
00:40:55
Speaker 3: Let's go, all right, it's seven minutes hafter four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen third. Wait or if you hear a lot of noise in the background, it's because we are broadcasting from the iHeartMedia Christmas Party. By the way, that's because our show is cool. The Oar Show's happening in this building right now. They shut the doll and they're having a party. We want to be a part of it. There you go, in about fifteen minutes. Ryan Kerwin. Ryan Kerwin with the Cincinnati Cyclones is the reigning current Rookie of the Month for the month of November, first player to win that honor in sixteen years and non sixteen or twelve years. I have had no alcohol, not me, not while I'm on the air at the iHeartMedia Christmas Party. I just made a mathematical faux pall eleven years. It's been eleven years since the cyclone player won that honor. Twelve years actually, yes, twelve, thirteen, fourteen to twenty five, twenty six is twelve. Very good Tea Higgins making progress. According to Zach Taylor, we're excited for that. Eric Wood's going to join us in the five o'clock hour. Our friend Amy Wagner from Dean Dorton is going to talk sports money and Lane Kiffin coming up in just about thirty minutes or so. We are looking forward to that. You know, we were just talking with Rick brooring the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout, and I'm sure it's coming, whether it's on the Internet, whether it's on social media, a newsletter, a newspaper column, because I feel like it's part of the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout tradition where you have to hear or read about the fact that the shootout has lost its luster. Let's be honest. Okay, these aren't great teams at least to this point of the season. Neither team has played very very well. Neither program over the last number of years has consistently made the NCAA Tournament. Xavier has made it, made it last year, made Dayton beat Texas, then lost, and then Sean Miller went to Texas. Two tournament appearances since twenty eighteen, the Sweet sixteen run, Sean Miller's first year back. You see, hasn't played at an NCAA tournament game since March of twenty nineteen. That's forever ago, forever ago. And so this game is better when both teams are good. It's been a long time since both teams have been really good at the same time. So yeah, there's a little of that. And the transfer portal era has changed the dynamic of the game. Sports are more fun when there's recurring characters, and in college basketball there aren't as many recurring characters. Right, there's dana A. Thomas has played in this game. Tyler McKinley grew up here from a UC perspective, and so you know he was on the bench hurt last year. No Xavier players played in this game. It's changed it. That doesn't mean Friday can't be a great game, doesn't mean the atmosphere isn't going to be awesome because it will be terrific. I actually think this year's shootout is really interesting because let me start from a Xavier perspective, this is not a team that's overwhelmingly talented. Even if the Big East isn't great and it's so far this season appears to be down, is still really good. Beyond that, I'm not sure who's going to be good. I think Saint John's will, but non conference so far in the Big East been kind of down. That said, Xavier doesn't feel like an NCAA tournament team, and so if you kind of accept that likelihood, and again, sports are fun because they're full of surprises, but they don't feel like an NCAA tournament team, which means that you kind of have to grab on to certain regular season mile posts and allow that to define your season. If Xavier wins the Skyline Chile Crosstown Shootout, you might argue that's par for the course because for the last twenty six, twenty seven to twenty eight years they've won it far more regularly than Cincinnati. But this was not supposed to hear where they win it. And so if you're a Xavier fan and they win the game on Friday, Holy crap, Wait a minute. We can cling to that no matter what happens this season, we at least be the UC team that was viewed as having the best chance to win at the Centa Center since the first shootout at the Cintas Center twenty four years ago. You can allow it to define your season. If you don't think your season is going to be great, that's no knock on the team they have. Just look at it from a talent perspective. It doesn't look awesome now. Acknowledging that when you look at the game itself, Zaeger's team looks better. I watched that Santa Clara game. The way they played then, as opposed to how they've played against Georgia, how they've played against West Virginia, how they played against Saint Francis the other night, night and day. There's a little bit of an identity there. Roles are starting to be carved out. That team looks like it's trending in the right direction, just in terms of improvement. I don't think you could watch the Bearcats right now and say the same thing. They've played a month's worth of non conference games, the loss to Louisville. Okay, I thought in the first twenty minutes of that game, they at least defended really well, But it doesn't feel like they're dramatically better from what they put on the floor in the first game, even if you acknowledge it takes time, especially when you're just bringing dudes in from everywhere else. The Bearcats as of December third don't look dramatically better than the Bearcats of November third, and that's not what any coach wants to say about their team. Wes may disagree, but I think most who have watched the team would kind of nod along with that sentiment. And that doesn't even take into account just how they lost to Eastern Michigan. And so there's this dynamic where a month ago it felt like U See is going to go to Xavier and bludgeon the Musketeers. I don't know anybody feels that, anybody who feels that way, I'm not sure how anybody could feel that way. Now. I think this game is a pick them. I think this game is a pick them. Line won't come out until late tomorrow night. I think this game's a pick them. My guess is you See is going to be a very slight favorite. We will see. But I think what makes the game interesting, quite frankly, is Wes Miller. Look, he did win the game last year, and he won the game at home. No UC coaches won a game at the Sinta Centers. It's December of two thousand and one, when Bob Huggins was the coach. Like, it's been a long time. UC hasn't won consecutive games in the rivalry since the ninety five and ninety six seasons forever ago, thirty years ago. So Wes Miller has a chance to do something at you See that hasn't been done in a while. Let's be honest, there's a lot of skepticism about him. There's a lot of folks who are disaffected when it comes to the men's basketball coach at you See, it's year five, Richard Patino, it's year one, and so there's this sense of that got to make the tournament this year. Okay, are you gonna feel even worse about that proposition? If they lose the game to Zavi, they lose to Xavier. By the way, Wes and the Bearcats were supposed to win the win the game at the Cintas Center two years ago, frankly didn't come that close. I think what's interesting about it is just what the reaction from UC fans is going to be. Was already pretty salty after the Louisville game, understandably very salty after the Eastern Michigan game. Understanding they played teams at home and on the road who are much better than this year's Xavier team. You're trying to break a drought, you're trying to build some equity, You're trying to keep the walls from closing in on you. You're trying to make people feel like this season could still end up turning out to be pretty good. Can't do any of those things if you lose the game on Friday night. And so look, you know me, I'm a UC fan. I want the Bearcats to win the game. I don't run from that. I don't hide from that. But I think it was a really interesting about this game is if you see wins, they're sort of a well, they're supposed to dynamic and play here if they lose. If they lose, then can you even imagine And look, man, I like Wes a lot, but can you even imagine what it's gonna sound like? What it's going to feel like in terms of the relationship between Wes Miller and a fan base that is impatient, skeptical, and I think to a large degree no longer assuming the Bearcats are going to win this game on Friday, we will see and look. Man, if you just if you wish it was I don't know, nineteen ninety four again. If you want to sit there and fold your arms and complain about who's not here anymore, what college basketball isn't and what the game isn't anymore, don't watch it, don't pay attention to it. Those of us who love the sport can't wait for Friday. I think from a Xavier perspective, there's a you know what, we win it every year at our building. We've got that in our back pocket. Our team isn't proving we've got that in our back pocket. If our team loses, well we were supposed to, I cannot imagine. I cannot imagine what is going to be said, what is going to be written, what's going to be tweeted, what's going to be screamed about the direction of UC basketball If they lose a game like this that frankly four or five weeks ago felt like they were supposed to win. Sixteen minutes after four o'clock, your phone calls will welcome in a bit. Five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty is our phone number at Moager on Twitter. I may just do today's question. Who's gonna win the game on Friday? You see R Xavier? Because I think it's a fifty to fifty game and I don't know a lot of UC fans. We're overly confident about Friday and uh, I think there's a very quiet confidence that Xavier fans have, even though they will acknowledge their team from a talent perspective, doesn't make anybody feel like they're gonna make the NCAA tournament. We will see, we will see. Uh, let's see here. The Cincinnati Cyclones are off to a good start. They have the reigning current rookie of the Month Ryan Kerwin. Will spend a few minutes with him when we come back on ESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati Sports Station.
00:50:39
Speaker 19: Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from.
00:50:44
Speaker 18: The UC Health Traffic Center. You see Health's Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise. CULL five one three nine three nine two two sixty three. That's nine three nine two two sixty three. On Clifton Avenue. There is an accident in your world per Avenue. Another crash on Harrison that is at Westwood Northern Boulevard. Also on ken Wood Road. An accident at Glendale Milford Road. In one final crash out there eastbound Woodford Road. It is at red Bank Road. I'm at Ezelic with track.
00:51:15
Speaker 17: This is football.
00:51:19
Speaker 19: Ryan and bel Terror Park on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bank.
00:51:26
Speaker 3: We'll get to the Bengals here in a few but as the iHeartMedia Christmas party rages on behind us, The Cincinnati Sideclones are currently tied for second place in the EHL Central Division UH they lead the league in overtime wins, are coming off and win against first place Wheeling, and they're back at home a week from Friday for a tilt against Kalamazoo. That is their national Lampoon's Christmas Game, where everybody has Clark Griswold sweaters. And on top of all that, big reason why Side Clones are off to a great start as the play of Ryan Kerwin, who today was named the ECHL Rookie of the Month. He is the first Cyclones player to be awarded Rookie of the Month honors since Joe Howe in January of the twenty thirteen twenty fourteen season. So it has been a while. Ryan, kind enough, I'm guessing on his off day to give us a few minutes. Ryan, congratulations on the ECCHL honor. Good afternoon. How are you.
00:52:21
Speaker 6: Thank you. I appreciate it, and thanks for having me.
00:52:23
Speaker 20: On the call.
00:52:23
Speaker 3: I appreciate you doing this. So you guys, you've blended in nicely, and like this maybe shouldn't be a good way of looking at this, but like I see how well you've done so early in your time as a Cincinnati Cyclone. It's so early in your professional hockey career that what I fear is now, because you're off to such a good start, you're not going to be here very long.
00:52:44
Speaker 23: Well, I don't know, you know, I think for me, it's just you know, focusing what I could focus, and you know I can't control.
00:52:52
Speaker 5: That type of thing.
00:52:52
Speaker 23: But I've been loving having my time here and the guys are awesome and yeah, I mean we have a winning team too, So I'm just going to keep on doing that for the rest.
00:53:02
Speaker 6: Of the season.
00:53:03
Speaker 3: You were playing college hockey a little bit more than a year ago, right, So walk me through with the biggest adjustment starting last year with the Toronto Marley is what the the biggest adjustment to pro hockey has been.
00:53:16
Speaker 23: Yeah, So I finished my season with Arizona State last season and then I signed with Toronto, And you know, the biggest adjustment is most likely, you know, the guys are.
00:53:26
Speaker 6: Just bigger and stronger and faster. It sounds kind of cliche, but it is true.
00:53:30
Speaker 23: And everybody's so smart, so it takes a little bit of adjusting.
00:53:34
Speaker 6: And you know, it's been absolutely awesome.
00:53:36
Speaker 23: And the guys in Cincinnati have been amazing, and everybody's just.
00:53:42
Speaker 6: Taking us under their their wings, and it's been awesome.
00:53:44
Speaker 3: Eight goals and seven assists during fourteen games played in the month of November. Whether it was last year or here in Cincinnati, have you kind of had a welcome to professional hockey moment?
00:53:56
Speaker 23: You know, I guess maybe just your first game, seeing the crowd, you know, everything like that.
00:54:02
Speaker 6: And you know, in Cincinnati, we get we're so fortunate to have such great fans, and you know, I think that kid's Day game too.
00:54:08
Speaker 5: We had about thirteen thousand.
00:54:10
Speaker 6: So maybe that screaming kids. So it's been awesome.
00:54:15
Speaker 3: You played your collegiate hockey, correct me if I'm wrong. You started at Penn State and then you went and played at Arizona State. Whilch you just mentioned. Now, pardon this because I'm sure you've gotten this before. Arizona State has hockey.
00:54:29
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, we get that a lot out there, and you know, it was a lot.
00:54:33
Speaker 6: Of fun playing out there, and that's a cool thing. Right.
00:54:36
Speaker 23: So something we always like to joke about is, you know, we got to make people know that we have a hockey team.
00:54:42
Speaker 6: Yere if I'm playing well, so, but no, it was awesome. I absolutely love my time there, all right.
00:54:47
Speaker 3: So why why? I mean, look, if I could go back and do it all over again, I went to a Midwestern Catholic school. If I could do it all over again, I would have gone to Tempe Arizona State, and I never played hockey. What what is it about that hockey program that took a kid like you and decided I want to go I'm gonna go play there.
00:55:05
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:55:06
Speaker 23: Well, I mean, first off, I guess for me, Coach Powers and Coach Hicks.
00:55:10
Speaker 6: Uh, best coaches I've had, and they've done so much for me as a person and that player.
00:55:15
Speaker 23: And I think that something that that I sort of realized is that Coach Powers was big on me and my first recruitment back when I committed to Penn State when I was young, So just having that relationship with him and then you know, just just having the opportunity to uh go in the transfer portal and then hear from him. Once I was inside of that transfer portal, I kind of knew that was the place that.
00:55:40
Speaker 6: I wanted to be.
00:55:41
Speaker 3: Has there been a veteran player on the Cyclones that you've leaned on since you arrived in Cincinnati.
00:55:47
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think obviously Viver. You know, he's he's like an icon here and it's amazing.
00:55:52
Speaker 23: And uh he's just just an amazing guy. Lincoln Griffin too. Those are two guys for me for sure. I think just the whole team in general. You know, we have so many guys that have played pro game.
00:56:05
Speaker 20: Col Frasier although, you know, so just we have a great.
00:56:09
Speaker 6: Group of guys in that locker room.
00:56:11
Speaker 3: What do you do in Cincinnati when you're not playing hockey? What have you learned about the city.
00:56:17
Speaker 6: I haven't tried skyline yet. Oh you guys a joke about that.
00:56:20
Speaker 3: Oh well, we can rectify that. I'll take you to skyline.
00:56:25
Speaker 24: Yeah, that might have to be one of the things.
00:56:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, but we can. I you know, I know people, we can. There's there's one like two blocks from the arena. We could, we could easily, we could easily make that happen. Ryan Kerwin and the Cyclones are off to a great start at the EHL Rookie of the Month for the month of November. It is. It's been cool to have you. You guys are off to a great start. We'll get you some Skyline. So I'll tell you what win Rookie of the Month for December and we'll go to Skyline and it's on me. Okay, that'd be awesome. Done, ma can happen? Ryan, thanks so much, awesome, thank you for having me, Ryan Kerwin the EHL Rookie of the Month. The Cyclones second in the Central Division, just beat Wheeling their home a week from Friday with their National Lampoons Christmas Vacation game. Puck's gonna drop at seven thirty downtown.
00:57:15
Speaker 6: Uh.
00:57:17
Speaker 3: Two of my friends had kids go to education day. The next time they play a ten to thirty game, I'm going because I like daytime sports. Go watch some hockey, go watch some pucks ten thirty am, and come come to work. Maybe have a cold one while we're there. Can't beat that. Congratulations to Ryan Kerwin Taren What is it good? When do you think? Ryan like heard the background noise and was like, man, what is this?
00:57:40
Speaker 6: Yes?
00:57:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, the iHeartMedia Christmas Party. I'll just look. Last year we did our show from Turfway Park on the day of the iHeartMedia Christmas Party, which loved being a Turfway Park. It was great. But two years ago we have this big party here. It's during the day, and you know our operation, we're all sort of tightly bunched together, and I'm like, look, if you're gonna have a party right out side at our door, we want to be a part of it. And so we open the door because they put the DJ right next to the door of the studio, so it's like, if they're gonna do this, we're going to lean into it. And so you hear behind us the party and it's raging. Our first seeing the magician you gay this year the magician has not shown up yet. Our friend Kim brought me a plate of meatballs and a bud light. So right now, my current favorite coworker twenty nine minutes afy four o'clock, Amy Wagner is supposed to be here to talk sports and money and Lane Kiffin. She's gonna weave her way through all the festivities here. She literally just walked through the door and so she's taken a break from the party to join us. She'll be with us from Dean Dorton next on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
00:58:44
Speaker 19: You've been listening to Football in the Natti on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
00:58:57
Speaker 17: Fifteen thirty from.
00:59:00
Speaker 18: The uc Health Traffic Center. U See Health's Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise. Call five one three nine nine two two sixty three. That's nine three, nine two two sixty three. On Harrison, there is an accident over at Westwood Northern Boulevard. Also on Kemper Road, a crash at Winton Road, and another accident Clifton Avenue that's near Woolper Avenue southbound seventy five traffic Stop and go between Western Avenue and Fort Washington Way. I'm at exelic with traffic.
00:59:31
Speaker 3: This report is sponsored by Stick.
00:59:34
Speaker 1: This week, the Bengals are bringing their own brand of football to Buffalo when they go hunting for a win.
00:59:41
Speaker 5: Did I tell you about the last.
00:59:42
Speaker 1: Time I was in below by eight fifty wings slethered in hot sauce. Let's just say I had to stampede my way to a stall in the men's room. The Bengals battle the Bills. Coverage begins at nine am Sunday, stream for free on the new and improved I Heart Radio app for ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
01:00:06
Speaker 3: Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet. Oh the first day, that's pretty good. That's pretty good. Post hitting right there, Let's see T Higgins limited in his participation, which is a step in the right direction. Zach Taylor says he is making quote good progress. Bengals and Bills on Sunday. TODJ Brooks also limited. Both those players have been in the concussion protocol. Trey Hendrickson to No One surprise and no go. Jermaine Burton a full go today. He's been dealing with an ankle injury and man once that gets healed and Jermaine's career is about to take off. Mort tonight on Bengals Game Plan at six o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty. Evan McPherson named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his six for six and two for two performance in the Thanksgiving night win over the Baltimore Ravens. Ken Anderson named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of twenty twenty six. Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, the new head coach at South Florida NKU, hoops to night against Cleveland State at seven on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. Indiana battles Minnesota, and our last guest, Ryan Kerwin of the Cyclones named the EHL Rookie of the Month for the month of November. Our friend Amy Wagner is here wealth advisor Dean Dorton Private Wealth. You can learn more about the Dean Thorton Difference at Deandortonwealth dot com. Amy, this is a Senate. We have all hell breaking loose. This is the epitome of chaos.
01:01:31
Speaker 10: You know, I like a good party, though.
01:01:32
Speaker 3: The iHeartMedia Christmas party. I apologize for any of my co workers. I apologize for anything that may happen here. But it's nice of you to join us in the middle of the party to talk sports and money.
01:01:43
Speaker 25: Hey, the first of all, this is like my tenth year at this party. Second of all, I normally pop my head in here and make fun of you for having to work during the party. So now I'm just going to work alongside you during the party.
01:01:55
Speaker 10: It's fine.
01:01:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, I get made fun of for having to work at my job, which decides to have the party while I'm doing my job.
01:02:04
Speaker 10: Happens every year.
01:02:05
Speaker 3: It does happen every year. So the biggest story in sports is one that I just think is really interesting from a number of different perspectives, and I think from your perspective sports and money and business. There's some layers to this. This Lane Kiffin story right where he's coaching at ole Miss and ole Miss is having like their greatest season ever and they're going to be in the playoff, but he's being poached by a conference foe, and so he goes to LSU and everybody's mad, and he wants to stay at ole Miss in the playoff, and ole Miss says, take take a hike, pal. And there's so many interesting arms of this, but I think there's some real life and real world application.
01:02:39
Speaker 25: Yeah, and I'm going to boil this down to the top five things I think that we can all.
01:02:42
Speaker 10: Learn from Lane Kiffin. I'm gonna write them down, yep, yeah, make your list, Kay.
01:02:46
Speaker 25: The first one is when you announce that you are leaving your job, you no longer have control over what happens after that, right, So he wants to stay around. You mentioned this, right and coach them through the champion and they're like, well you're going, dude, so go. You don't get to stick around, so you can't be upset. Once you give your notice about what happens, you don't get to finish the project or go to the big fun trip the conference and everyone else is.
01:03:14
Speaker 3: Going on holiday party.
01:03:15
Speaker 10: If you left.
01:03:16
Speaker 25: Earlier today, you don't get to come to the holiday party, right.
01:03:19
Speaker 10: So that's part of it.
01:03:20
Speaker 25: But also you can't control how other people respond. So initially Lane Kiffin said, all my players want me to coach. Now some of the players are coming out saying not exactly like they're hurt too, and so you can't control people's reactions.
01:03:36
Speaker 10: I think is part of that number two points. Don't take another.
01:03:40
Speaker 25: Job before you know the details. He actually said in his press conference. I don't really know what my contract looks like. I think it's good, I don't know the financial details of it. Listen, Lane Kiffin's going to be fine. He is now the top paid college football coach. He's going to be fine, right, But nobody should ever take a job before you are fully aware of the details. And a lot of people stop with salary, but it's beyond that. It's what's the company match, what's the PTO situation?
01:04:11
Speaker 10: Is there a hybrid workplace?
01:04:13
Speaker 25: Are you going to expect me to be in this office from nine to five Monday through Friday. You need to know all of those details before signing on. Lane Kiffin heard LSU boarded a private jets and he's gone, right. I mean, and maybe if you're boarding a private jet to do the interview, you should just know the other details will probably be taken care of.
01:04:33
Speaker 10: But let's face it, I mean, Dean Dorton didn't bring me in on a private jet.
01:04:37
Speaker 3: I'm just saying, right, I've only worked here my entire adult life, and there was no private jet when they hired me, so that's probably never gonna happen. There would be now, there would be now.
01:04:46
Speaker 25: Of course, yes, the reputation that you've built, they would virtually in a private jet without thinking twice.
01:04:52
Speaker 5: You know.
01:04:52
Speaker 25: I think another thing is know what you're getting into. Lane Kiffin is coming from a place where he was an SEC underdog punching above his weight, right. I mean, that's a great story to tell. You're coming into an LSU that is expecting results immediately Listen.
01:05:10
Speaker 10: Lane Kiffin's a guy that gets results.
01:05:11
Speaker 25: I know, he's brilliant, offensive, play caller, all the things. There's no expectation that he's not going to do great. But you have to walk into an environment knowing that the pressure is on from the get go. For the average person, when you are taking a job, one great thing to do is to find other people on LinkedIn who work there or who have worked there.
01:05:34
Speaker 10: Reach out, connect with them, ask them what is culture like?
01:05:38
Speaker 25: You know, it's I know many people who've done this before and found out things that were game changers for them, right. So I think it's important to not only be talking to the people who are offering the job, but talk to the people who work there too, and see what kind of position you're walking into.
01:05:53
Speaker 3: And there's there's very little honeymoon, Like Lane Kiffin, there's no honeymoon. It's you better win week one, you better have us in the playoff next year, can peting for SEC championships in the national title discussion. And I feel like, and again take this from somebody who has never changed jobs in his adult life, but you like, you get a new gig somewhere. They're not gonna give you a month and a half to figure out who does what? You better start hitting it producing results immediately.
01:06:15
Speaker 10: Yeah, it doesn't.
01:06:16
Speaker 25: I mean doesn't have the choice here, right, I mean he's coming into an LSU, which, by the way, that's the next point is know you're worth LSU had one person on the list, right, Lane Kiffin?
01:06:26
Speaker 10: Who else are they going.
01:06:27
Speaker 26: To go for?
01:06:28
Speaker 7: Right?
01:06:28
Speaker 25: So you know if you are the perfect person for this position, that you can ask for things beyond the salary that are important to you.
01:06:37
Speaker 10: An extra week of vacation.
01:06:39
Speaker 25: Pro tip, never take a new job without planning a vacation before so that you can say I can start on this date but also I have this on the calendar, right, things along those lines.
01:06:49
Speaker 10: But you got to know, unless you're.
01:06:51
Speaker 25: Just getting out of college and you're starting your first job, once you've gotten far enough along in your career, right, like, you could make different demands today, mo Eggert for a job than you could have when you first started here.
01:07:03
Speaker 3: Do you know who I work for?
01:07:05
Speaker 10: I do, and you and I have talked about. I'm negotiating your next contract. So hope, I hope who.
01:07:11
Speaker 25: I hope who you work for is listening right now, because I'm absolutely doing that.
01:07:15
Speaker 3: I know right I'll start working on that now. Yeah, very good.
01:07:18
Speaker 10: I'm here for you.
01:07:19
Speaker 25: And then I think the last thing is whenever there is a change like this, drama comes up, right like when you hear that a coworker is leaving, when if someone you loved or someone you didn't love, people are talking about it. I really respect the new coach, Pete Golding for saying thirty nine minutes after the press conference was scheduled, I'm actually going to cancel this press conference because this is a circus. Yeah, and my players don't actually need a circus. They need to focus on the upcoming game and being what they need to be, which is players. And I super respect that. And I think if you are an employer who's losing an employee or one that's gaining one, focusing on here's the job at hands. We might be losing someone, we might be gaining someone, but the.
01:08:04
Speaker 3: Job is still the job.
01:08:05
Speaker 10: Let's keep our eyes on the ball here.
01:08:07
Speaker 3: Do you have any any a list, or any rules or anything to suggest if people get out of control at the company Christmas party? Because there is unending chaos happening on the other side of our studio door.
01:08:19
Speaker 25: I'm usually part of the chaos, so I'm not going to give anyone any I mean, you know, really well. I mean maybe not to the degree of some others, but you and I go back a few years.
01:08:29
Speaker 18: We do.
01:08:30
Speaker 3: I'll just say this. I had to run off some copies during a break because I needed to print my notes for our guest right before you, Ryan Kerwin. And I'm using the copier when somebody came and handed me a bottle of windecks. And I don't know what that's all about. So there's some stuff going on out there.
01:08:45
Speaker 10: That it's fun. It's a holiday party.
01:08:49
Speaker 3: It is it is a holiday, But can I come to the Dean Dorton holiday party. Oh yes, this weekend. Yeah, you guys have your work party on the weekend.
01:08:57
Speaker 17: Yeah, must be awesome.
01:08:58
Speaker 10: So it's not while anyone's work. That's the point, right, Yeah.
01:09:02
Speaker 3: Well it's hard at a radio station to have a party when no one's working, because it's list. As some find out when they come here, it's a twenty four to seven business.
01:09:09
Speaker 10: I came from twenty four seven. I get that more than most people do.
01:09:14
Speaker 20: Very good.
01:09:14
Speaker 3: Amy Wagner from a Dean Dorton Wealth advisor, learn more about the Dean Dorton Difference. She joins us every single week to talk sports and money Deandortonwealth dot Com. Good to see you as.
01:09:25
Speaker 10: Always, always good to be here, and now we'll join the party.
01:09:28
Speaker 3: Have a good time, be safe. Just I'll tell you who to steer clear. Fight already some folks started the party like this morning, right, No work got done at all. Richard Skinner at five twenty elder product and former Louisville Cardinal and obviously longtime Buffalo Bill. Eric Wood is the Bill's color analyst. He is going to join us at five forty. I think we're guest free until five. I say it's my show. I should know when the guests are. We're guest free till five twenty five, three seven nine, fifteen thirty, and we'll try to get you in. It's a quarter to five. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
01:10:06
Speaker 19: Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.
01:10:11
Speaker 18: Uc Health Traffic Center. U See Health's Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise. Cullpipe one three nine three nine two two sixty three. That's nine three nine two two sixty three. On Harrison there is an accident at Westwood Northern Boulevard. Another crash on Plainfield Road, over at Montgomery Road, and on Kemper Road. Accident at Winton Road. Traffic right now slow on eastbound two seventy five between Mostellar and Loveland Madeira Road. I'm at Eazelic with traffic.
01:10:44
Speaker 2: Alright.
01:10:45
Speaker 3: It's eleven away from five o'clock, in the middle of the iHeartMedia Christmas Party. I'm Alegard Richard Skinner coming off at five twenty. We have we got a few minutes to take a phone call or two. I believe we do. Uh Ron in Milford you're on ESPN fifteen thirty run good afternoon. How are you?
01:11:05
Speaker 24: I am okay, Mo, how are you doing?
01:11:07
Speaker 3: I'm doing well?
01:11:08
Speaker 4: Man?
01:11:08
Speaker 3: What's up?
01:11:10
Speaker 6: Man?
01:11:10
Speaker 24: I can't believe you know, the talking heads they think the Bengals won a game, so not too obviously, but the talking heads on es handall like, Man, the Bengals have really got a chance to win this division? Now really, I mean, Mo, the Bills. I think the Bills are going to put an end to that luckily this week when they run wild, because let's face it, as we know, the Ravens offensive coordinator probably did the Bengals a favor by not handing the ball off to Derrick Henry. More because the Bengals can't stop They still can't stop anybody from running it. And if the Bills got like two hundred and sixty yards against the Steelers defense, which I think, as we know, is better than the Bengals defense, the Bengals are gonna have some issues.
01:11:57
Speaker 3: Yeah. Now, Number one about the Baltimore game, or right, all night long, I was baffled by the lack of Derek Henry usage. He had five carries in the first half. I do think they did a decent job the week prior against Trayvon Henderson, who had come into that game playing very very well. I do think the Bengals defense is collectively performing a little bit better. But you're right to have any faith in the Bengals defenses to putting faith in something that doesn't deserve it. I think the optimism is based more on what the Ravens and Steelers aren't. But if you lose on Sunday, you're three games behind one of them, and then the math gets really, really hard. I do think though, look from an offensive perspective, let's assume t Higgins is going to play on Sunday and he did practice today. I think you're more you feel more comfortable with them being able to outscore people than he did with Flacco, even though he nearly outscored a couple of teams. But at the end of the day, putting a lot of faith in the Bengals defense is again, you're putting faith in something that doesn't deserve it. I will, I will acknowledge that, while at the same time acknowledging that they are playing better but not exactly great.
01:13:11
Speaker 24: Yeah, now that's true. And I guess the other thing MO is I couldn't believe until I guess it was like yesterday. It's all and I don't know, but you probably have.
01:13:19
Speaker 2: A better idea.
01:13:19
Speaker 24: But like I saw, the Bengals ran eighty three plays on offense. When was the last time I had had the ball long enough to run eighty three plays? That's incredible.
01:13:30
Speaker 3: I don't have the answer. It certainly stood out. Look, the Baltimore Ravens were way complicit in their own demise. A touchdown that was taken off the board. They should have scored a shaky pass interference call. The five turnovers. Lamar is not himself. I think the optimism is based on number one. Neither Baltimore or Pittsburgh look great. You're certainly hoping that the two teams split the two games they have remaining number two. There is a track record, and the track record in December and January has been that they went seventeen and five since twenty twenty one, fourteen and two since twenty twenty two. Some of those games Joe Burrow didn't play. You do have Joe Burrow back pretty healthy on offense. If you can win this game on Sunday, and by the way, Burrow and the Bengals have a good track record against Buffalo. It's limited, but it's a good track record. If you can win this game on Sunday, it's a pretty good chance they're favored in their last four. I don't think anybody is making reservations for the second weekend of January, when the Bengals would play in the playoffs. I don't think anybody, if all things are if all things are equal, are feeling like, you know what, the Bengals are gonna overcome a two game deficit against two teams, but it is on the table, and it's on the table because they won, and one of the reasons why they won was a unit that has been horrific was at least a little bit better and they did get Burrow back.
01:14:49
Speaker 24: Yeah, it seems like the talking heads are more thrilled. I feel like they would be. They're more thrilled at the opportunity to have Joe Burrow in the playoffs than anything else. Care less about the Bengals. It's just having Joe Burrow in the playoffs would give them something to talk about.
01:15:05
Speaker 3: I feel like, well, yeah, but I like, I can understand that the Bengals as a team aren't great. Joe Burrow is like, if if you or I weren't Bengals fans, and hey, we're gonna watch a Bengals game in the wildcard round, what would you get excited about? Did you get excited about watching Miles murphin? I get right, so I can understand that. Look again, like you watch the Pittsburgh Steelers. They feel broken, fans are chanting fire Tomlin, Aaron Rodgers is old and hurt. They have no identity on offense, their defense is massively underachieved. You're putting a lot of faith in that team and the Ravens, who deserve a lot of credit from digging out of the one in five hole. Like the Steelers missed an opportunity to bury the Bengals, and they've been very uneven on offense for a while. And so like, I get it. I think there's I think the Bengals are interesting. I think it's fair to introduce the Bengals into the conversation when it comes to winning the AFC North. But are there a lot of things that get in their way? Yes, mainly them.
01:16:08
Speaker 24: Yeah, they are definitely. I think we agree the Bengals are their own worst than me. They can force a couple turnovers this week. We're not talking about five. They can force a couple turnovers maybe this week, then perhaps and like you said, if they win this week, then there is perhaps more optimism because like you said, you've got to figure then that the Bengals are favored and the last four and then you know, maybe can they do it?
01:16:32
Speaker 27: Sure, but I'm not.
01:16:33
Speaker 24: Jumping on the bandwagon like some of these guys on ESPN based.
01:16:37
Speaker 3: On one win. No, and Ron, thanks very much for the phone call. I think the ESPN stuff number one, it's a different storyline than what they've been talking about for twelve months. It's also a different storyline for us. This game on Sunday, either I believe extinguishes any Bengals playoff discussion, or it kicks it into a second doesn't kick it into fifth gear, but it kicks it into a different gear. And then you look at you know, they play the Baltimore Ravens, who they just beat by eighteen points. You know they're gonna be favored against Miami. I believe there's only gonna be favored against Arizona, gonna be favored against Cleveland Browns. They do have Joe Burrow back. The odds in the math are not in their favor, but the doors at least cracked open because the Ravens refuse to shut it and the Steelers couldn't shut it. When you have a team with a great quarterback in a wide open conference and you've left the door open for him, you at least have to entertain the possibility that they knock it down. They have to bang against it even more on Sunday against the Bills, coming up on five o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station Bory.
01:17:47
Speaker 28: Join Dave laploman me for Bengals game plan tonight starting at six on the official home of the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:17:56
Speaker 18: That is us.
01:17:57
Speaker 3: It is, and we have one here in studio. It's the bud Light five o'clock Happy Hour on ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for listening the bud Light five o'clock Happy Hour, thanks to bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy, and we're enjoying one right now because the iHeartMedia Christmas Party is happening and we are broadcasting from it. I think this has been the best iHeartMedia Christmas Party we have ever had. I think it's been the best show we've ever done. From the iHeartMedia Christmas Party, We've had a lot of stuff to get to today. Richard Skinner's gonna join us at five twenty. You're gonna hear Wes Miller and Richard Patino at five thirty five. And Eric Wood, who obviously played his high school football at Elder is the radio analyst for the Buffalo Bills. He is gonna join us at five forty five. We're stoked for that. Don't forget Bengals game plan one hour from now with Dan Horde and Dave Lapham, and I believe Tony Pike is their their guest for the first hour of the show, so that'd be cool. That is one hour from now. Bengals news today. T Higgins is practicing. He practiced today. They've already had their practice limited. But that's a step in the right direction coming out of the NFL's concussion protocol. From an offensive perspective, they're healthy and like, look, we were just talking about this with our last caller, Ron from Milford. The odds are not in their favor right they have to leap frog two teams with only five games to go, they're two back. Even if they went on Sunday, they're gonna be two behind either Baltimore or Pittsburgh. They would basically in all likelihood have to win out. Like that's really really hard. This team's defense has not totally turned the corner. There have been some good things that have happened. Miles Murphy's playing better, DJ Turner's having an excellent season. Joseph Asai was awesome on Thursday Night. What they're going to try to do is a massive undertaking, and like, hopefully a year from now, we're not doing the same thing looking at the playoff odds and staring at the deficit and how many teams need to lose, Like it'd be great if at one point in December they could be looking down at teams that said. I think one thing, you know, it's it's often not the best team who wins, it's the healthiest. That's attrition is a every year injury shape every NFL season. Injuries affect every NFL season. The Bengals would like to have Trey Hendrickson back. That goes without saying offensively, they're in really good shape for December for going what is this? This is gonna be week It's week fourteen. They're in really good shape for December on the offensive side of the ball, like their dudes are healthy. So assuming the tea continues to make progress and come back on Sunday, that's something you have to consider. The Bills have injury issues on the offensive line. They've been very inconsistent all season long throwing the football. They've really had to lean on James Cook. When James Cook hasn't run for one hundred yards. The Bills are oh it for this season. So you know, the optimism, the optimism can be cut into if you just do the basic math, if you understand they're kind of just baked in deficiencies. They have the burrow Is back. They're underdogs on Sunday. They're not playing a great Buffalo team. They're playing a Bills team. They've had success against Bengals late season. Track record of success has been well documented. And they're healthy on the side of the ball where their identity rests. Like if they were fully and completely healthy on defense. By the way, it's not like they're without a whole bunch of dudes. Frankly, Cam Taylor Britt was not having a very good season before he got hurt. It'd be nice to have him, I guess. But if you're like man, they're healthy on defense, so what they're healthy on the side of the ball where they have to win, and that's that's that's worth not ignoring. So you know, if you sound remotely optimistic, you have people in your life that can't wait to throw cold water over the optimism. And if you sound remotely skeptical, you have people who just get mad that you're not, you know, ready to declare this team super Bowl favorite. Like multiple things can be true. We say this all the time. The math is really hard. The Bengals have a deeply flawed roster. They have massive deficiencies. Their margin for error is almost nonexistent. But the defense has performed better recently. Joe Burrow is back. The Bengals are better when Joe Burrow is here. The schedule is not that unforgivable. Baltimore Ravens aren't great. That doesn't mean they can't win here. But Baltimore Ravens are a six and six football team for a reason. The Miami Dolphins aren't playing better, but not very good team Cardinals are awful, Browns are wretched. Even the Bills are good. You don't look at them and go, man, no chance David versus Goliath here. So the math is hard. The season has been deeply frustrating. None of the criticisms that we have lobbed at the Bengals are suddenly invalid because they won one game, But because they did win that one game, and because they're in a bad division, and because they got their guy back, for my money, the best quarterback in the NFL, and because they do have a good track record late in the season, it's okay to be at least a little bit perked up. And by the way, it's okay to do whatever you want process and however you want. For me, it's oh, this team's interesting again. I look at it from a gambling perspective. And I said this on Monday, and I might have did it again yesterday. But if the odds were equal, you would not bet on the Bengals to win the division. Why would you. They're two behind two teams five games to go. They'll be two behind at least one team on Sunday if they win. But the odds aren't equal, so I can buy the Bengals and Joe Burrow in a healthy offense and a good track record, or I can invest in Aaron Rodgers no, okay, Or I can invest in the Baltimore Ravens, who have been less than dominant all season long, not doing that either. So don't let somebody tell you that you shouldn't feel at least a little something when it comes to this team going into this game on Sunday, and if they get blown out, then that probably ends it. But I'll take this as opposed to the alternative because had they lost to Baltimore, it's lights out, lights out. I've wanted to do this for a couple of days, and then we'll try to get to a phone call or two here between now and six o'clock Richard Skinner in a few minutes when the Bengals lost to the Patriots. My take was an exaggerated one, but it was put Joe Burrow on ice see you next year. And you could certainly find folks, smart folks who are like, what's the point of playing it? But human beings do change their minds, and dude, change their perspectives and mind when it comes to Joe Burrow changed when I listen to him on Thursday night. Now, if the Bengals are playing in games where it doesn't impact the playoff race for either team, I wholeheartedly believe he should not play. Wholeheartedly believe they should protect their investment. But as long as there's a chance, and as long as you have a guy in this era of load management in one particular league where it's like these dudes don't want to play, which is not entirely fair to the players. Here you have a guy who, in the midst of dire circumstances, with a guaranteed contract that is making him generationally wealthy, dude worked his ass off to come back and makes it known playing and playing my best and winning matters. How could you tell that guy no, I get the risk again, we all understand the math. But you got a guy who says, look, man, this is hard. We got a very uphill battle. But I want to play. I've worked my ass off to play. I want to be with my teammates, I want to have something to say about how this season goes. I'm playing. You can't tell him no, So it's not some much a mia Kulpa didn't have any major issue with him playing against the Baltimore Ravens. But for as long as this goes, they don't have a great chance, but they do have a mathematically possible chance as long as they do. I don't understand how you could say to Joe Burrow. Yeah, it's cool that you want to be out there. It's cool that you've worked your tail off to get back, it's cool that you're putting the team ahead of yourself, but we're gonna put you on the bench in games that matter. Can't do it, and I'm with him in particular, I'm not gonna do it again. Now if it's Week eighteen and it's Bengals Browns and Cincinnati is trying to avoid an eleventh loss, and there's an E next to their name in the standings, and they're cooked, and they're not playing in January. No matter what play, Joe Flacco play, Jake Browning, play Sean Clifford, run a contest, and have a frustrated former high school quarterback play whoever it is, doesn't matter to me. Then we go into investment protection mode. But until that happens, the mode is Joe, try it, Try to do what you can, and we appreciate your efforts. Fourteen minutes after five o'clock, I haven't gotten to a pole question yet because we've been busy. We have the iHeartMedia holiday party happening behind us, and it's going for a while. As as as holiday parties go, this I'm not even sure it's hit its peak yet. It might not peak until Like Lance is done with his show. Tonight, we'll find out. Richard Skinner is gonna join us from a Local twelve, Eric Wood, Buffalo Bill's coloring. The party ends at seven. Yes, officially, I'm gonna go to the NKU basketball game go on, you know, I mean we are, we are broadcasting from the party, but it's it's not that much fun to show up to a party late, right, you know, like three hours late. Everybody's head here. I am like maybe the basketball games at seven, maybe I'll hang out for We'll see, We'll see how I feel. We'll see who's here Eric Wood. In about thirty minutes, you'll hear Wes Miller and Richard Patino their final availabilities before the Skyline Chili Crosstown shootout. But first our friend from Local twelve, Richard Skinner.
01:28:59
Speaker 17: Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:29:04
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01:29:36
Speaker 3: This report is this weekend.
01:29:39
Speaker 1: The Bengals are bringing their own brand of football to Buffalo when they go hunting for a win. Did I tell you about the last time I was in below I ate fifty wings is leathered in hot sauce. Let's just say I had to stampede my way to a stall in the men's room. The Bengals paddle the Bills. Coverage begins at YEP Sunday stream for free on the new and improved iHeartRadio app or ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengal.
01:30:10
Speaker 3: Richard Skinner, I got the thanks.
01:30:14
Speaker 19: Talk to you in part five Postman, Law and Vice Skyline Chile on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengal.
01:30:23
Speaker 3: Richard Skinner from Local twelve joins us every Wednesday Local twelve dot com at Local twelve Skinny to talk about the Bengals as they get set to take on the Buffalo Bills. Hi Skinny, Hi Mo.
01:30:36
Speaker 20: How are you have the party?
01:30:37
Speaker 3: The party is it's almost out of control. I'm almost afraid to get off the ear to see what is happening when I leave this room. I'm afraid for the future of some of my coworkers. A lot of mayhem, a lot of mayhem, and in the day and age of the camera phone, some questionable decisions are being made. Hey are the Bengals good now?
01:31:00
Speaker 27: Not good now? But I think you see signs of life. I mean, there's no doubt there's an energy level that Joe Burrow coming back, I think brought the entire team. But face the stats are stats. In the three weeks since the buy, the defense has given up twenty points, nineteen points and fourteen points and four five turnovers in that fourteen point game, so it's showing signs of life. I think that's all you needed. That's why I think it is conceivable that they they do run the table here. I think it's very much on the table that they run the table.
01:31:30
Speaker 3: I think it's very much on the table because not only is Joe burrowback, they're healthy offensively and speaking of good, I think they may actually have a decent offensive line.
01:31:40
Speaker 27: No, and that's the group that I think's really gotten better as the season has gone along. And I'd like to point the continuity, but it really hasn't been because the guard's spots has been influx at different times. Feels like just when you settled in to a group, but Jalen Rivers gets hurt. But then Dulton Riser comes in and actually they're not playing great in the stint when he played earlier this season, he's been really good couple of games, and so now you've kind of got him in there is the right guard, And yeah, I think.
01:32:04
Speaker 24: That's a big part of it.
01:32:05
Speaker 27: They've won the ball effectively pretty much for but five or.
01:32:09
Speaker 20: Six games in a row.
01:32:09
Speaker 27: Now, I guess you can take the Bears game out of it, but they threw the ball a lot because they.
01:32:13
Speaker 20: Were behind, so really it wasn't they weren't effective run the ball.
01:32:16
Speaker 11: He didn't run it very much.
01:32:17
Speaker 27: Yeah, they're they're showing really good balance on offense and so yeah, I think this.
01:32:21
Speaker 20: Team has a shot to make us say it again.
01:32:24
Speaker 27: Yeah, this team was pretty good.
01:32:25
Speaker 3: Is the light bulb flickering on? Or is it like fully on for Miles Murphy.
01:32:32
Speaker 27: It's funny. Paul danerm Junior and I both without talking to each other, made a b line for him in the locker room today, So I guess he decided he was one of the stories of this week.
01:32:41
Speaker 6: Yeah.
01:32:41
Speaker 27: I mean the last three games this is damning praise, and he's improved his PFF ranking by eighteen spots from where he was going into buy when he get his position. He's been noticeable in good ways.
01:32:51
Speaker 26: I know.
01:32:52
Speaker 27: I heard Paul bring it up yesterday the show, and he brought it up to Miles to day. I mean, the athletic breaking of running a running back down thirty forty yards down the field is just that those are some of the things he can do. I think the fact he's getting more consistent reps in games I think has helped probably get him into some kind of rhythm where instead of being just a rotational piece, you're in there until you get tired. He kind of mentioned that a little bit today of just being able to be on the field consistently has helped. That's probably true. And listen the other part too, It is I was as down on Miles Murphy as the bye week as anybody. Guys evolved at different paces. We'd love them to evolve by the third game of their rookies year, right, or at least sometime in their second year. And my god, he's better do it at some point in your third year. And he just looked like it was never going to come, and all of a sudden.
01:33:35
Speaker 20: Wow, well and behold it has.
01:33:38
Speaker 3: I'm going to ask you this every time I have you on for the rest of the season. Has Trey Hendrickson played his last nap with the Bengals.
01:33:46
Speaker 27: No, I don't think so. I think I think it's a very interesting case because we can all point say, yeah, making a business decision. I've seen this with an AJ Green playout before like this. It's also he could just be trying to get himself to literally not stepping on that field until I'm one hundred percent and there's a part of me that even thinks, if this is a mild business decision, that's ninety five percent that you get to those last three games when it means something against some teams you can probably I don't want to say pad sacks against them, get some sacks against to at least show people, hey, but I'm helping. I think that's that's the part to me. He's got to show people that he can still play at a high level, even as for a small batch at the end three games. Here again, I don't think he's going to free agency expecting to get a.
01:34:29
Speaker 24: Bag of gas if he doesn't play another down for the Bengals.
01:34:31
Speaker 27: Issuer. I just don't think there's any team that's going to be willing to throw a ton of money at him. A thirty few year old guy's coming off whatever it was in fact, yet tell his business is an issue.
01:34:39
Speaker 3: What is the longest you have ever been stuck on an airplane for?
01:34:45
Speaker 18: I was on a.
01:34:45
Speaker 27: Tarmac once I was connecting for a flight to Arizona to cover the Bengals a couple of years ago, and I remember we were waiting for a gate at Ohare for almost two hours and It was painful because I had left myself a nice connection time and still didn't make that connection. And there's nothing more frustrating that, especially when you run to the gate like an idiot, knowing the gates about the closed, and by guy you've just closed and she was gonna have none of opening it back up for me. And all I remember saying there is you're gonna find you another airline to get on, and you're gonna.
01:35:14
Speaker 11: Do it right now.
01:35:15
Speaker 3: All right, that's not bad. Did you Did you bond with the people that you were with?
01:35:19
Speaker 27: No, I'm a window seat, put your piece in and watch the TV on the back of my screen kind of guy.
01:35:25
Speaker 3: Likewise, well, thank you so much, and we'll have you next week and I'll ask you about Trey hendrickson the exact same question. Looking forward to it, and it'll be a valid question. That's no question, skinny. Thanks many. That's our guy, Richard Skinner from Local twelve and Local twelve Dot. We could have just done one of those like old school talk radio deals where it's like tell us about your worst travel experiences, but for many people these this day and age, it'd be like every single time you try to fly on an airplane. It's twenty nine after five o'clock. I'm putting the poll question up right now. We're gonna go We're gonna go early, and we're gonna go so easy, and we're gonna go obvious. Here it is, which men's basketball team will win this season? Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout. Vote now at Muleger speaking of said men's basketball game. Richard Patino and Wes Miller talked today and you'll hear them next on ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:36:18
Speaker 19: You've been listening to Football in the NATI, brought to you by Cincinnati Tax Resolution powered by Tope Sheldon on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.
01:36:37
Speaker 18: From the uc Health Traffic Center. UC Health's Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise. Call five one three nine three nine two two sixty three. That's nine three, nine two two sixty three. We flane is blocked off from an accident on eastbound two seventy five after coal rain southbound Princeton Pike. It's an accident that is before progress place on Queens City Avenue. Another accident that is between Keebler Avenue and Quebec Road on at Ezelic with traffic.
01:37:07
Speaker 10: This report is sun.
01:37:08
Speaker 28: This is Dan Horr joined Dave Lapoman me for Bengals game plan tonight starting at six on the official home of the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen sir Hoards.
01:37:18
Speaker 3: Headlines are service of Kelsey Chevrolet, home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours for life Kelsey chev dot Com. T Higgins did practice limited, same for Taj Brooks. They're coming out. We're trying to come out of the NFL's concussion protocol. Bengals getting set to take on the Bills on Sunday at one, the game live on ESPN fifteen thirty in Buffalo. Joey Bosa considered a week week. It doesn't look like he's gonna play at all. More Tonight Bengals game plans starting at six on ESPN fifteen thirty. Ken Anderson one of five finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of twenty twenty six. The other five. The five finalists are Bill Belichick, Robert c Roger Craig who should be in the Hall of Fame like Ken Anderson, ELC Greenwood and Kenny Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, the new head coach at South Florida NKUS, won five straight. They played their first Horizon League game tonight against Cleveland State. Tips off at seven on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. Indiana's at Minnesota tonight and it congratulations to Ryan Kerwin, who was on the show earlier. He is the EHL Rookie of the Month for the month of November. By the way, it's close to fifty to fifty on Twitter at Moeger thanks to United Heartland Insurance pay lass for insurance. Go to uhi ns dot com. Which men's basketball team will win this season Skyline Chile Crossdown Shootout Early voting just underway. Fifty four percent of you say the Bearcats, Eric Wood in just a few minutes. Richard Patino and Wes Miller did talk today their final media availability before before Friday Nights Tilt. Here is the first year Xavier head coach on how he is treating his first Skyline Chili Crossdown Shootout.
01:39:08
Speaker 29: Well, I mean, I would say as boring as it sounds on a day to day, we approach it, you know, like any other game, and you know that's the responsibility of a coach. With that being said, you know, we know how passionate our fan base is. We know how passionate their fan base is. We're all so close together, you know, so we totally respect the rivalry and you know the amazing tradition that the game has. Our guys know it, you know, But on a day to day we're not working any harder, I can promise you. You see, he's doing the same thing. But we obviously know it is a huge game for both programs. You know, we're gonna fight our butt off to see if we can get a win.
01:39:56
Speaker 3: It's Richard Patino. Here's Richard Patino on how difficult it is to explore to first year players, which is pretty much all of them, how important this rivalry is. No, no, it's not.
01:40:08
Speaker 29: I mean, certainly if you had players playing in the game last year. But UC's dealing with the same thing. Everybody in college basketball is dealing with the same thing. Just because nobody on our team has played in the game doesn't mean that they don't understand how important it is. You know, it's a huge rivalry game, and so you know, big game, certainly the next game as well. But you know, I don't try to make a bigger deal of it as we're scouting, as we're preparing, than we would any other opponent. But everybody knows the gravity of the game on both sides.
01:40:46
Speaker 3: I had a teacher in high school, Scott my senior year. He taught I think it was business law. Maybe he sounds exactly like him. Richard Patino does exactly like him. Here's Wes Miller, who doesn't sound like any of my high school teachers. He was asked what did he learn in last year's Crosstown shootout win? And he can apply to this year.
01:41:09
Speaker 26: I just think that experiencing you know, the game now for a handful of years, I think I have an appreciation for what it means to this community, the importance of it historically. Again, we're gonna play a lot of big games and a lot of meaningful games. I don't even mean to say that none of them are meaningful.
01:41:30
Speaker 12: They're all meaningful.
01:41:30
Speaker 26: But we're gonna play a lot of games where there's a lot of excitement. But this one's special because it means so much to Cincinnati and I've learned to really appreciate that, respect that and just you know, appreciate that I get to experience a rivalry like that.
01:41:49
Speaker 3: Is he doing his press conference from the bottom of a well, here's things to camera? Like is in like four K Maybe they took that audio different, like somebody drop a bucket down for Wes to grab onto or something. Here's Wes Miller talking about how he is looking forward to seeing how his team responds to the hostile environment on Friday night.
01:42:12
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think.
01:42:17
Speaker 26: You know, we all are The games are fun, right this, competitors and the moment that the games aren't fun, then you guys can catch me on the first t you know, I mean, I got seriously like, the games are fun, and so then you know, the higher the level of the game, you know, the more excitement there is. So yeah, there's there's always excitement for all. We're gonna play a ton of big games and they're all they all matter, and they're all big to me. But you know, the big twelve games and the Power four games and the games and big environments. Yeah, that stuff's fun. There's no coach speak here. That stuff's fun. Competitors enjoy those type of things. And yeah, I think there's excitement about that.
01:43:00
Speaker 3: All right, there's Wes Miller talking earlier today, Terry, we have Eric Wood in a few minutes. How are we doing on time? We got about two minutes that we could air. Every day, we sit down and we try to put together and sometimes we succeed and sometimes weil. We try to put together a good show, a combination of commentary and guests and opinion and perspectives that we blend together, and what we hope is a good, solid three hours of free sports talk radio entertainment. And yet there are folks who believe we should blow all that up and just revolve around one person's phone call. That person is waiting. Mike, you got about a minute. You're on ESPN fifteenth thirty.
01:43:42
Speaker 20: Hey, granks for taking care of me. I appreciate you, buddy.
01:43:45
Speaker 24: Hey, I wanted to ask you.
01:43:48
Speaker 20: Remember when you were interviewing the Rookie of the Month and the ECLS and you made a comment you said, boy, I wish I had it went to Arizona State. You still ever say of stuff like that? Is he gotten older all the time?
01:44:03
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, all the time.
01:44:05
Speaker 20: Because I know how much you're fond of warm weather and all that stuff.
01:44:09
Speaker 3: I wish, I love, I love Mi Alma Mater. There is a part of me that wishes that I would have gone to school in a different part of the country, or gone to a school were college football is a big deal.
01:44:22
Speaker 20: I still think Zager's going to win this game. I just think Patino is gonna help coaching. But I found out something whether Shwar was saying so intriguing. I'll talk to you about it some other days. Very intriguing and with a lot of fun. I agree with you, But the Cowboys, and I hate the Cowboys with a passion since the Little Boys. But I found out today they have four linemen offensive linemen that are twenty four years of age or under, and they've been playing great. So I think the two dark horses in the NFC is the Cowboys, or maybe not a dark horse now. And I think that that Texans team is really serious.
01:45:01
Speaker 3: With that defense, don't you. I do? I do, and more of a factor this year because of how wide open the AFC is. Now. We'll see if they're capable of scoring enough. But that defense, that defense plays in a way that a lot of people don't think you can play defense anymore. And you're right about the Dallas Cowboys. They have absolutely nailed it in the draft when it comes to the offensive line, and they have again this year that their offense makes them legitimate too.
01:45:33
Speaker 6: Mike.
01:45:33
Speaker 3: I've enjoyed talking about pro football in the state of Texas, but I got to get to Eric Wood. Thank you as always, Thank you so much. Will You're very welcome. Elder High School's Eric Wood is the color analyst for the Buffalo Bills Radio Network and he joins US.
01:45:47
Speaker 17: Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:45:52
Speaker 3: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.
01:45:55
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01:46:25
Speaker 10: This report is sponsored by Servati Cincinnati.
01:46:28
Speaker 3: Pabamer standing by with Bengals game plan coming up as soon as we're done at six oh five Bengals and Bills on Sunday. Eric Wood, the former Elder Panther and Louisville Cardinal, is the color analyst on the Buffalo Bills Radio network and kind enough to join us. It's awesome to have you, as always love having you whenever the Bengals played the Bills. Buffalo is eight and four. How would you describe the season to this point?
01:46:53
Speaker 20: It's been a roller coaster rode.
01:46:54
Speaker 12: You come into the season with a lot of expectations, high expectations at that start off the season four to oh and then with injuries and a lack of a passing game at times and turnover issues that are rearing the taed this year, find ourselves at eight and four, but still a long way to go in this season, and there's still plenty of optimism around the franchise, But with the injuries, especially at receiver in them including Dalton Kinkadar tight end in that and on the defensive side of the ball, it's led to some more struggles this year than we're probably anticipated.
01:47:30
Speaker 3: So Obviously, James Cook has been a savior. He's been awesome this year. I'm not sure the Bengals are equipped to take him away. But when teams do take him away, where does Buffalo find more consistency in the passing game?
01:47:43
Speaker 12: Well, against the Ravens early on in the season and against the Buccaneers, those are the two games the passing game really came a lot this year.
01:47:52
Speaker 6: It's spreading the ball around.
01:47:53
Speaker 12: They have this philosophy of everybody eats and they want to spread the ball around to all their different playmakers. The backs out of the backfield will catch the ball well. The most consistent pass catcher on the season has been Dalton Kinkaid, the tight end who was drafted as more or less a receiver, not necessarily an inline blocker in the first round out of Utah, and so when he's been healthy, which has now been a consistent thing this year, he's been the main focal point of the offense in the passing game. We hope to get him back this week. Josh Palmer was brought in a free agency and he was likely going to be our top receiving threat on the outside beyond Khalil Shakir. But he's been dinged up for a majority of this season and doesn't sound great for him to return this week.
01:48:38
Speaker 3: Josh Allen, when he's at his best, he's an MVP. I've seen him at his best at times this year, not all season long. We've talked about the injuries. How would you grade his play this season? Yeah, I think it's been up and down.
01:48:51
Speaker 12: And you know, a lot of what the Bills have done this year is if you can't stop the run, they'll simply run it into submission, and so there's games where he doesn't have to do a whole lot. The design runs for him have been down this year. I think that's by design. Where As he progresses throughout his career, you want to use him less like a battering ram out there, but they will turn to it, especially in the red zone. But they're trying to get away from that as much as possible and lean into more of a traditional run game to quite frankly, extend his career. This is an organization that you know, the leadership within our organization in the front office and head coach, we're around for Cam Newton in Carolina and the last thing they want to do is break him down in similar.
01:49:33
Speaker 27: Ways that they did to.
01:49:37
Speaker 12: What the Panthers did with Cam Newton in Carolina. So that being said, I think he's had some great performances this year. They haven't had to rely on him a ton this year. But I will say this, the passing game has been one of our weaknesses this year. At times it looks great and then there's other times where he misses a couple throws, there's a couple of pen these, there's a turnover to and a lack of separation on the outside and it doesn't look great.
01:50:06
Speaker 3: We all watched the Bills play the Steelers on Sunday, rooting for Buffalo. Pittsburgh's offense seemed broken. It did feel like a step in the right direction for the Bills. On defense, it'd be great from your perspective if you had Joey Bosa moving forward. We will see. But what's the strength of this Buffalo defense.
01:50:25
Speaker 12: Yeah, I would say the strength of the defense is the past defense. Christian Benford's our lockdown corner. I would expect him to travel a bunch with Jamar Chase throughout the game. And this is one of the top ranked secondaries as far as the statistics go. In the league, and we've gotten younger and more athletic in the secondary at a few different spots. Cole Dish of second year safety is playing great. On the back end of the defense. The tackling has improved. That's been an issue at times this year where you've seen some of these monster rushing performances against this defense.
01:50:57
Speaker 3: That has seemed to improve.
01:50:59
Speaker 12: In Shack Timpson filling in that linebacker this season, which I would expect him to start again this week against the Bengals, he has been a boost to this defense.
01:51:08
Speaker 3: So we'll see.
01:51:09
Speaker 12: You know, this is a defense that kind of similar to the offense, has been on a little bit of a roller coaster rode.
01:51:15
Speaker 6: That's where you see us at eight and four.
01:51:16
Speaker 3: Sean McDermott has been there for what feels like forever, and in NFL term, since twenty seventeen. That is an eternity. What's the biggest strength of Sean McDermott as a head coach?
01:51:28
Speaker 12: Yeah, I got I was fortunate enough to play for him for one season and remain friends with him to this day, and I would say the consistency that he brings from his leadership that permeates into the team where he doesn't get too high, he doesn't get too low. He generally gets this team peaking towards the end of the season. In the last since twenty twenty, I believe, from the last week in November through the end of the regular season, the Bills are twenty eight and five since twenty twenty.
01:51:58
Speaker 6: One of those is.
01:52:00
Speaker 12: A meaningless game where we didn't play our starters, and two of those are overtime losses. And so he generally gets this team to peak towards the end of the season. But I would say his strength is just the consistency that he brings each and every day, modeling it by example, but then that permeating into the team.
01:52:18
Speaker 3: Awesome stuff. Eric, It's got to be fun when you call a game between your team and your hometown team. Should be an interesting game on Sunday. We appreciate the time as always, Thanks so much.
01:52:28
Speaker 12: Yeah, for sure, it's always fun to call this matchup. It was fun to play in these matchups and always look forward to seeing my man Dave Lapham, you know, one of the biggest personalities in the broadcast booth area. Whenever I get to see him, so always enjoy it.
01:52:44
Speaker 3: Ring of honor inductee Dave Lapham. You got to make sure you mentioned that when you see him on Sunday.
01:52:49
Speaker 12: Okay, absolutely, I need to bring him a note and congratulate him.
01:52:53
Speaker 6: There you go.
01:52:54
Speaker 3: Eric Would, longtime Buffalo Bill, former Elder Panther, former Louisville Cardinal, the color analyst on the Buffalo Bills radio network. We are done. Bengals game plan is just a few minutes away. Brian Anderson from TNT Sports is calling the Skyline Chile Crosstown shootout. He is going to join us at five oh five tomorrow. We are back at three oh five tomorrow. Don't forget Tony Pike since E three sixty at noon, and there you go. Bengals game plan is next to have a great night. Thanks to Tarren Bland for producing, and thanks to you for listening. Have an awesome night. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station.
Speaker 1: Are bringing their own brand of football to Buffalo when they go hunting for a win. Did I tell you about the last time I was in bilow i ate fifty wing missus leathered in hot sauce. Let's just say I had to stampede my way to a stall in.
00:00:15
Speaker 2: The men's room.
00:00:16
Speaker 1: The Bengals peddle the Bills. Coverage begins at nine am Sunday. Stream for free. Are the new and improved iHeartRadio app or ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
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Speaker 3: Right here we go. It's a we're a late start today. Huh. Seven that for free? This is ESPN fifteen thirty. What's up with that? I'm a langer in studio for what feels like the first time in forever. It is awesome of you to be with us. This is a special show. First of all, the show preview video is available on Twitter at mullager. Go check that out now. It's a service of share Fax Credit Union. You can become a member at Shaffax Credit Union and if you do well, you'll be just like me because I'm a member. Check out share facts dot org. We love our friends at Shaffact. So I'll just tell you what's happening on the show today really quick. Joe Burrow is gonna talk in seven minutes, we think seven minutes. He has not been on time for one of his press conferences this year, but maybe rejuvenated. He's back. He won, Bengals won. Everybody's excited. Maybe Joe will be compelled to be on time. Hopefully he is. Will have it for you at three point fifteen. We are looking forward to that. We have the Kyle Schwarber thing to get to, which maybe it's unlikely, maybe it's not gonna happen. I'm gonna do everything I can. I'm gonna do everything I can to ensure that Red's fans are demanding that the Reds go sign the raigning home run champion in baseball. I'll do what I can. I'll do my best. That's coming up here in just a bit. Also Eric Wood later on in the five o'clock hour, the Pride of Elder High School. He is currently the and has been for a while, the radio analyst for the Buffalo Bills, Bengals and Bills on Sunday at one o'clock, we are looking forward to that. Going to talk in a second, I did not have a chance to get to this yesterday. But I'm no longer gonna tell Joe Burrow no when it comes to him playing. As long as the games matter, this game on Sunday matters, the game on Thursday matters. I felt bad on Thursday night. Not because the Bengals won. That was excited, the exciting. I felt bad because I was one of those guys who was I don't know, should yes, he should have played, and he did play and he played well, went perfect. There was some russ he had a chip off. So we have that. We're gonna get to a little bit later on. Today is our office Christmas party for advertisers of the radio station, so we have a lot of people who are going to be in the building having a good time the holiday party. We want to be a part of it, but you know, we it's hard because we're doing a show. So over the last number of years we've started an open door policy and maybe you can hear in the background some noise. We leave our door open. You could hear the Christmas music and we basically invite people to pop in at any time. So if there's a little background noise, if it's sound like we're out at a bar or something. We're not, although there is alcohol here. It's the iHeartMedia Christmas Party, and we're broadcasting basically from it. We are going to step aside, hopefully Joe Burrow right on time when we come back ten after three. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station now talking with the Assemble Pro Football Media.
00:03:20
Speaker 4: Would you imagine playing college football playoff for getting ready to in your coach leaving.
00:03:28
Speaker 5: His own miss going to make the playoff?
00:03:29
Speaker 2: Yeah?
00:03:30
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's certainly not an ideal situation.
00:03:34
Speaker 6: But uh.
00:03:38
Speaker 5: Does the rest of the staff stay or do they go too?
00:03:40
Speaker 7: I think you let the OC loose to go back you play caller.
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Speaker 8: Ah, yeah, certainly, well, an ideal situation for a playoff run, that's for sure.
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Speaker 9: There's been multiple reports out about what exactly is the shoe that's helping you as soon as experience be a metal plate, a wh's been something else.
00:04:02
Speaker 10: What what is in your shoe and that's helping you with your toe?
00:04:06
Speaker 5: Exactly? Carbon fiber plate and custom.
00:04:08
Speaker 10: Or thought, how does that help your toe?
00:04:11
Speaker 5: Well, they just.
00:04:12
Speaker 8: Can't shoe can't bend it because my toe can't go backwards right now, still a little early for that, So just keeps it firm and not bending it back.
00:04:23
Speaker 10: Is it comfortable?
00:04:25
Speaker 11: No?
00:04:26
Speaker 12: Are you wearing.
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Speaker 2: Different cleats now when you were before.
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Speaker 5: Before the injury?
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Speaker 6: Yeah?
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Speaker 8: Yeah, these are the ones that I feel like give me enough space and stability to do what I need to do.
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Speaker 2: Do you walk around in different shoes just like at home?
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Speaker 5: At home, I'm just barefoot, but.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, I try to be in the cleats as little as possible.
00:04:52
Speaker 7: You settle on the sneakers being like the swapping out and kind of why didn't you figre out that was a good solution for you along the sideline?
00:05:01
Speaker 8: Well, I take it off throughout practice every now and then, just to let it breathe and let it relax a little bit.
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Speaker 5: And these are what I put on, so I figured I'd just keep it.
00:05:12
Speaker 9: The same whether obviously it was cold in Baltimore, but it's supposed to be like really cold in Buffalo. Does that impact the shoe work and what's in it and your toe at all or not?
00:05:25
Speaker 4: Really?
00:05:26
Speaker 5: Well, it shouldn't. How difficult was it to get used to the insert.
00:05:33
Speaker 8: It was certainly a process to figure out what worked.
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Speaker 5: Best for me.
00:05:37
Speaker 8: And what was most comfortable and at the same time safe. But we we worked through that and a lot of different people were involved and we got the right stuff on there. You have any idea for sure the rest of this year and probably going forward, but we'll see.
00:05:58
Speaker 5: We look at the tape. How does it affect your mechanics. I don't think that the injury affects my mechanics at all. What'd you think of, you know, when you watch the take how you threw? What'd you think after the end out for seventy days?
00:06:15
Speaker 6: Yeah?
00:06:15
Speaker 5: I thought I did some good things.
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Speaker 8: I think second half I was pretty lights out really, last half of the first half to the first could drives, missed.
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Speaker 5: Some that I normally hit. But when when you're aligned protects like that, you get back into the group pretty quickly.
00:06:33
Speaker 4: Your game surgery, if I had told you you'd be back two games taps five, I've signed up for that scenario.
00:06:43
Speaker 8: Yeah, of course, you know we're in. We got everything in front of us. We just got to go take care of business.
00:06:48
Speaker 2: You're touchdown throw to Andre. What do you love kind of about the pre snap puzzle that you went through before the snap? There, you got everything set and then it all worked out.
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Speaker 5: Yeah, it was a big time pick up a front. That's uh.
00:07:03
Speaker 8: They provide some challenging looks as a defense protection wise, that's probably the most challenging look that they present, and Oline.
00:07:16
Speaker 5: Knocked it out. Drew was part of that, was part of that.
00:07:19
Speaker 8: And then a great read by Dre taking the middle, not just taking the middle, but noticing that they didn't have a backsize safety and able to bend it a little bit to the space. So that was an all around great play.
00:07:31
Speaker 2: And you see it all move around. At what point do you know Andres getting the ball down the field?
00:07:38
Speaker 8: Once I saw Roquwan getting out of there in the field safety push into the field.
00:07:44
Speaker 5: I knew. I knew where I was going. As long as we wroth on the same page.
00:07:47
Speaker 7: When you look back at last year, why were we all so able to win when your backs working with the ball, knowing you had to What enabled y'all to string that success together?
00:07:57
Speaker 8: The same way you win any game, just discipline, winning the turnover, battle, playing smart, playing physical, and going about your business each and every day trying to get better. There's no secret formula. You just got to go through the process week to week. And attack the plan with intensity and understand it. Understand it to a point that you can go out and execute it in front of the world. And that's that's what we plan to do.
00:08:21
Speaker 4: You haven't played them a lot, so you've had success against this Bill's defense when you pace them.
00:08:27
Speaker 2: What has stood out or what just works for you?
00:08:29
Speaker 8: Guys their word coach, they make it, They make it difficult. They give you a lot of different looks in the secondary. They try to make everything look the same.
00:08:40
Speaker 5: And now they got good.
00:08:42
Speaker 8: Players that typically have been there for a while. Most of their guys have been in that scheme for several years now and understand the weaknesses and the strengths of it. Yeah, we've had success against them in the past. We haven't played them in several years. Every game is new, so look forward to going improvement.
00:09:01
Speaker 13: What do you remember about the feeling of playing there in the snow, you know, in the playoffs a few years ago.
00:09:07
Speaker 8: Yeah, it was one of my favorite games since I've been here. But like I said, that's in the past. What we've we haven't done anything in a long time against these guys, and we got to go improve it every single week.
00:09:20
Speaker 2: That's really just like with Joe Brady these days.
00:09:23
Speaker 5: Yeah, Joe and I go way back.
00:09:25
Speaker 8: I guess it's way back at this point, just like any time when there's As time goes, you talk less and less. But you know, we could see each other any anytime and sitting and chop it up for how long we wanted to.
00:09:42
Speaker 6: Uh.
00:09:43
Speaker 5: He was great for my career.
00:09:44
Speaker 8: We did some fun things together and we got a great relationship. So I look forward to seeing it talking to him for sure.
00:09:49
Speaker 7: What's the biggest thing you gained by being with him, especially that last year, And also what's the biggest thing that you looked back and you've made made the biggest impact on you.
00:10:00
Speaker 5: You know, bringing.
00:10:02
Speaker 8: All the NFL concepts to what we were doing at LSU. And you know, fortunately, that's my strength, is being able to read and react and get the bought quickly and finding the right guys. And that's that's what that offense was about. That's what this offense is about. That's what a lot of offenses are about in this league.
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Speaker 5: And you know, we we did some special things together and worked through a lot of problems. We solved a lot of problems, and.
00:10:35
Speaker 8: That's that's what great players and coaches do, so that was a special time after your resurgery.
00:10:43
Speaker 9: You were pretty open about how you know, it didn't always feel awesome and it was just something that you were learning how to manage.
00:10:50
Speaker 10: How did your toe feel on Friday? And is it similar to that where it doesn't feel great because you're still able to play through it? Like, what's the difference?
00:11:02
Speaker 8: Like I said, everything we have in the shoe keeps it stable and safe, and that provides me confidence to go and play the way that I need to.
00:11:10
Speaker 13: How much do you pay attention to playoff scenarios? What needs to happen for you guys to get in at this point?
00:11:18
Speaker 8: Yeah, we pay attention. I think everybody does. But doesn't you can pay attention to it and at the same time not let it affect anything about your business and about your day to day. Now that matters if we don't go and win.
00:11:35
Speaker 7: We talked a lot about Payton manning frisship over the years. Why is that in a relationship that's been a lot to you? And kind of what's that kind of been like as y'all have gotten oldered?
00:11:45
Speaker 14: Well?
00:11:45
Speaker 8: Number one, he is one of the best of all time and has a lot of insight to provide, and he's a great guy that wants to give back to the game, to the younger guys, help us out. And when you have a guy that played for so long at such a high level that wants to see young players thrive and get better and be great, that's good for the game And shame on me if I don't take advantage of that.
00:12:14
Speaker 7: Is that something you hope to do down the line, like whenever you're done, is to kind of kind of pass that on or pay forward.
00:12:20
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, of course.
00:12:22
Speaker 15: It's about as emotional as I've seen you after a game. It seemed like this particular comeback seemed to kind of strike a chord with you.
00:12:33
Speaker 5: You seemed to almost savored.
00:12:35
Speaker 15: Maybe I mod but it seemed like kind of old the war or reflective.
00:12:42
Speaker 8: Yeah, I just think, you know, I've been through a lot of these, and you know, haven't had the chance to come back in the middle of a season like this from any of the other ones that I've had, and so this one has been special to me. Uh, you know, I worked really hard to come back and try to give myself an opportunity to get out there.
00:13:05
Speaker 5: Not just me, a lot of people worked hard for it, and.
00:13:09
Speaker 8: To be able to have a moment like that in front of the world on Thanksgiving, that was that was special.
00:13:15
Speaker 15: I think it's just a matter of maybe getting older too, and just stuff is starting.
00:13:22
Speaker 5: You're not old, but yeah, the more things, the more things you go through, the.
00:13:27
Speaker 8: Especially when it's you know, the same thing over and over again and you continue.
00:13:30
Speaker 5: To overcome it and.
00:13:35
Speaker 8: You know, I'm gonna continue to to do great things and play well.
00:13:40
Speaker 5: At least that's the plan.
00:13:43
Speaker 8: You know, these will be in the review mirror mirror at some point, but right now it's pretty fresh and there's something I'm proud of.
00:13:50
Speaker 4: How long did it take you to go from I can't believe this happened?
00:13:55
Speaker 5: Two?
00:13:56
Speaker 2: All right, I'm gonna be back this year. Thats like, when how long did that take?
00:14:04
Speaker 5: Basically, it's always a process. I'm not sure. I'm not sure I could pinpoint an exact.
00:14:15
Speaker 6: Time.
00:14:18
Speaker 5: You know, once you get a.
00:14:21
Speaker 8: Couple weeks out and you start to get back into lifting and training and the rehab starts to progress and you're doing more functional movement, then your mindset starts to switch a little bit.
00:14:32
Speaker 16: You talked a lot Joe today about how what makes you so special, Uh, getting your offensive line in the right protections? How much you work at that, and why that makes you the quarterback you are.
00:14:44
Speaker 2: When did you first start.
00:14:47
Speaker 16: Really spending a lot of time doing a lot of homework on the right protections for each game.
00:14:54
Speaker 8: The first time it was really introduced to me at the level that you start to critically think about it was when Ryan Day got to Ohio State and here was my quarterback coach. We started to talk about a lot of things that from an NFL type perspective, it just kind of made sense to me, and it kind of always has from that point on.
00:15:19
Speaker 5: Just kind of.
00:15:21
Speaker 8: Makes sense, you know, seeing defenses and seeing body languages something that I'm pretty good at, especially later in the game after you see a couple of things a couple of times. That's one of the reasons that I feel like I'm so good, just because I can see what, I can feel it, and I can react to it quickly.
00:15:43
Speaker 5: It's just kind of always made sense. Is an intuition preparation combination of both, Yeah, it's a combination of both. Our coaches come.
00:15:52
Speaker 8: Together and give us the answers to the test, not like I'm coming up with the calls myself. They we meet every Thursday and they show us all the different looks and what calls you want to get in too against certain looks, and then.
00:16:11
Speaker 6: You go from there.
00:16:12
Speaker 5: What's different about the offensive line this year?
00:16:15
Speaker 2: Why are they playing at the level of.
00:16:17
Speaker 1: Their straight up.
00:16:21
Speaker 5: Raps?
00:16:22
Speaker 8: Guys are older. We haven't had too many injuries this year. When when you have a group that's together for eleven weeks at this point, then they're gonna gel and can continue to get better. We have guys that want to get better, that love playing and have really taking a step and take an ownership of what they're doing.
00:16:47
Speaker 13: You talk about your ability to read a defense, read body language and things like that. Is there anything about you specifically in your mind that makes you good at that?
00:17:01
Speaker 5: No, I can just I can just see it and feel it and react to it. Yeah, it's as simple as that.
00:17:10
Speaker 2: Memory.
00:17:10
Speaker 8: I wouldn't say that. I remember things pretty decent. Uh, that's certainly not photographic like some people talk about.
00:17:19
Speaker 5: Were you a good test taker in school? Yeah? Yeah, I could do I could. Yeah, I could take the test and not really work too much beforehand.
00:17:31
Speaker 15: It's math, right, I mean, when you what you're doing off there, testing and stuff.
00:17:35
Speaker 2: It's like math, it's more.
00:17:42
Speaker 5: Patternaction, pattern recognition and problem solving.
00:17:47
Speaker 3: There you go. There's a Joe Burrow talking about his scholastic career taking math classes and how it relates to playing quarterback in the NFL. He is set to go to make his second start after coming off the injury list. Is The Bengals take on the Bills in Buffalow Sunday at one o'clock. You'll hear the game live on ESPN fifteen thirty, pregame coverage beginning at nine a m. We are loaded today, don't forget. Bengals game plan airs from six to eight tonight as soon as we're done on ESPN fifteen thirty, and we are is is that on Fox Sports? I just we have NKU basketball tonight and we have the Bengals and the Norse are going to be on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. These are the sort of things I should look up. They're after us all right. Fifteen thirty has Bengals game plan and we've got the NKU game with Jim Kelch and Rick Boring on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. These are the things I would typically know prior to the show. But as you could tell by listening in the background, the iHeartRadio Christmas Party, which started at three o'clock, is already in full swing. I mean, there are folks this party officially goes until seven o'clock. There are folks who are not going to make it to like five. So if you're an uber driver in the greater Kinwood area, you could, you could probably, you could probably make some money this afternoon. Sports headlines are coming up, and yes, yes, the Reds should sign Kyle Schwarmer. We'll do that next on ESPN fifteen thirty.
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Speaker 17: Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
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Speaker 18: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center. U See Health's Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise. Called five one three nine three nine two two sixty three. That's nine three nine two two sixty three. Still got that accident on eastbound two seventy five. It is on the off ramp to southbound seventy one in Ohio. Right lane is blocked on the ramp westbound Shepherd Lane and accident blocking the right lane as well at seventy five in eastbound US fifty accident after seventy one I'm at ezelic with traffic.
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Speaker 3: This report is spa set lines. Oh, that's right. We're playing Christmas music because it's the iHeartMedia Christmas Party.
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Speaker 6: That's right.
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Speaker 3: So we're gonna see how many holiday music posts I could hit. Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet.
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Speaker 18: Night.
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Speaker 3: Little sloppy. I was like, was like a half second early, but it's the first one of the day. T Higgins is practicing on a limited basis. Zach Taylor says he is quote making good progress as the Bengals hope to have him back on Sunday when they take on the Buffalo Bills. Sean McDermott, the coach in Buffalo, says, Joey Bosa week the week got injured in there went over the Steelers on Sunday the game at one o'clock live on ESPN fifteen thirty. Get a lot more tonight on Bengals Game Plan from six o'clock until eight o'clock right here on ESPN fifteen thirty. Our guy Ken Anderson has been named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of twenty twenty six. If the people in charge of such things are doing it right, Ken will be in Canton next summer. Former not a former oh Hi State offensive coordinator, Brian Hartline is set to take over as the head coach at South Florida. He will be with the Buckeyes during their run in the College Football Playoff. Tonight, college basketball NKU is at Cleveland State, IU is at Minnesota. The NKU Cleveland State game is on Fox Sports thirteen to sixty. By the way, I neglected to mention that Zach Zach Taylor. Evan McPherson has been named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance six for six on field goal attempts and Pats six for six on field goals, two for two on Pats had twenty points in the Thanksgiving night victory over the Baltimore Ravens. And congratulations go out to a guy that we're going to have on the show at four twenty today, Ryan Kerwin. He has been named the EHL Rookie of the Month for November, the Cincinnati Cyclone first player to win that honor since Joe Howe during the twenty thirteen twenty fourteen season. The iHeartMedia Christmas Party rages on behind us. It's a festive afternoon at this really, to me is the kickoff of the holiday season. It's so festive that we play Christmas music on our show. I'm reading Mark Sheldon last night MLB dot Com, who does an awesome job with the piece headlined with this why the dark horse Reds could be a uniquely enticing fit for Schwarber, And he writes in the first two paragraphs, and I'll have you go read the rest. He writes, While it might have seemed like a long shot going into the offseason, don't count out the Reds in the pursuit of free agent slugger Kyle Schwarber, And he continues. Multiple sources told MLB dot Com that the Reds remain among the teams trying to sign Schwarber and are still in contention for one of this winter's top free agents. Here is a blurb. Greg Amsinger on MLB Network was listing, I guess seven destinations that would make sense for Kyle Schwarber, and he did list the Reds as number five. Here's him explaining, let's move on to number five. Where's Kyle? Where we're gonna go? This is too high, Greg, way too hish. Culture Number one, I should be maybe number one of us to go back home. You're going back home. You got to get somebody with Ellie de Lacruz. Growing back comes out of this bro You think the tea, I love it. Look at green Ellie de la Cruz. Give me that guy. Put Kyle Schwarber on the on deck circle behind Cala Cruz. I would love. It's time that Cincinnati Reds go get a big back Kyle Schwarber. I'm just thinking this, folks, I'm thinking this. So and there you go. There's Greg Amsinger, I believe with Yander Alonzo on the MLB network. Now, I don't want to come off as skeptical here, but there is something to the idea of you know what, if we pick up the phone and call Kyle Schwarber's agent, even if we don't make a very competitive offer, we can at least say, hey, we tried. And and by the way, the Reds brand is unfortunately that they don't even try. Right we we assume they're not going to sign Kyle Schwarber because they're not even going to try to sign Kyle Schwarber. And well, you can say that about us if we at least pick up the phone and say, hey, would Kyle Schwarber want to come to the Reds what would it cost? And then you hang up the phone and you can shrug your shoulders and say, well, at least we tried. So keep that in mind. It behooves the Reds to a degree to at least make it known. Well, we jumped into the sweepstakes. We jumped into the pool, but we didn't stay in it very long. So that's worth noting. Number One, there is no good, non financial reason, no good non financial reason to not sign Kyle Schwarber. I get he's thirty two years old. If you're worried about what you're gonna be paying him in a couple of years. I would like to treat this offseason like the Apocalypse is gonna happen next offseason, which may happen because there's going to be a lockout. Maybe there's not a twenty twenty seven season. I don't care about the twenty twenty seven season. I don't care about the twenty twenty eight season. I want to win now. I want to win while they have a corps of guys in place that did get to the postseason last year, and I don't want to trade away from that corp of guys. I don't have to trade paid for Kyle Schwarber. I just gotta pay him a bunch of money. I'd rather pay Kyle Schwarber a bunch of money than pay another team Nick Lodolo or Andrew Abbott or Hunter Green or Chase Petty or Chase Burns or another guy named Chase. There's no good, non financial reason to not sign Kyle Schwarber. I get it. The Reds have a budget. They should have it. We all have budgets. There's a difference between, well, they can't afford it and they don't have the budget for it. There's lots of things I cannot afford. There are some things I don't really have the budget for. There's a difference. If the Reds want to give Kyle Schwarber a blank check, they could probably do it. They do have twenty other owners. There's a difference between we can't afford it and we're not willing to pay for it, or it's not in our budget, or we're not willing to go outside our budget. I think we all understand that sometimes in life, there are things that are worth going outside your budget. For my wife and I are family. We have a budget and we're pretty good at sticking to it, and we set aside money for food and groceries and gas and entertainment and necessities and emergencies and clothes and stuff for the house. Like we said, we're pretty good at it. There's a there's a little spreadsheet. My wife is really into it. I've gotten into it. It's a good way to live. It's a smart thing to do. We have a budget. Occasionally there are things that come your way in life that are worth going outside your budget for. And sometimes those things are fun. Sometimes those things are necessities. Kyle Schwarber, I would argue as both the Reds need a guy who can hit home runs. Kyle Schwarber led the league in home runs last year. Also, he's fun. It's fun because he's from Middletown, which really should not have anything to do with this, at least from a Red's perspective. Kyle Schwarber could be from Middletown, Nebraska and they should still be trying to sign him. But Okay, there's that dynamic. Sometimes there are things worth going outside your budget for. In January of twenty twenty two, the Bengals won the AFC title, and I decided I'm going to the super Bowl. And then we decided later on we're going to broadcast from it, and I posted up next to an ice machine. But the moment to the moment that kick went through against the Kansas City Chiefs, I'm like, dude, I'm going. Didn't know what a ticket was going to cost. I had to go outside our budget. I remember saying to my wife, like, look, I've been waiting for this my entire life. I was eleven the last time they went to the super Bowl. I wasn't going then. I am going now. I don't care what it costs. We're going to be fine. It's worth stepping outside the budget for this once in a lifetime moment. And you know, someone at the radio station was like, can you get a media pass. It's like, yeah, I'm not doing that. I'm want to be in the stands cheering, yelling, and if they win, I'm going to hug my best friends. And so I paid them on they didn't win the game, completely worth it. Sometimes in life there are things worth going outside your budget for. When you're a team that just made the postseason. A dude who hit fifty six home runs last year is worth going outside your budget? For so, Yes, the Reds have a budget. It's not a matter of affordability. It's a matter of willingness to pay, willingness to maybe step outside the budget. If the Reds were a sixty four win team last year, Kyle Schwarber is not worth going outside your budget. If their pitching was a mess, if they didn't have any arms, if you had no idea who the opening day starter should be. That's one thing. You got some pieces in place. You need more than Kyle Schwarbert. You need some dudes who will be with the team this year, who were with the team last year, to be better than they were last year. And you probably need some more outside help. But I got a dude who can hit, even if he has a down year. Is going to hit forty in this ballpark? Are you kidding me? There is no non financial reason. None. But if the reason is financial, is this worth going outside your budget? Now? You and I as fans, the answer is gonna be yes. I would imagine it's gonna be yes if you own the club. Isn't this one of those set of circumstances? Isn't this one of those moments where you go, you know what we're doing it. We're going outside the budget. I know what the pushback is gonna be. Mo The Reds aren't gonna do it. That's part of the problem. We just assume they won't because they don't. I don't know if us talking about it is gonna change that, but it would be great if we can have legitimate conversations about this happening. And the good news is there are some folks who cover this sport very very closely who are at least writing and talking about Kyle Schwerber and in the same sentence writing and talking about the Reds. It's a quarter to four, Rick brooring on Xavier who has a game on Friday, and Nku who has a game tonight next.
00:29:58
Speaker 19: Cincinnati's ESPN. In fifteen thirty, traffic from the.
00:30:03
Speaker 18: Uc Health Traffic Center. U See Health's Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise. Call five one three, nine three nine two two sixty three. That's nine three nine two two sixty three. Down to only two accidents at the moment, the first one westbound on Shepherd Lane that's over at seventy five right lane blocked off the other one eastbound US fifty after seventy one. That's got the left lane blocked and Fort Washington Way eastbound traffic slow between seventy five and seventy one on at Ezelic with traffic.
00:30:36
Speaker 3: Yep, you can hear the party raging behind us. Kind of hit that most pretty good. It is raging behind us. Ken brw just walked in exactly here. Ken Brew is actually in the building. Yeah yeah, if folks for asking him if he actually worked here in which is kind of embarrassing. The iHeartMedia Christmas party continues. Meanwhile, we're getting closer to the skyline Chile Crosstown shootout UC versus Xavier at the Cintas Center. Also tonight, NKU opens up Horizon League play with a tilt against Cleveland State. That is on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. Here as he is every Wednesday to talk Xavier and NKU basketball, the color analysts on Norris broadcasts, and the owner and proprietor of Musketeer Report dot Com, Rick Browing. Hi, Rick, what's up? Mal? I'm just getting ready for this game on Friday night and tonight, how about yourself?
00:31:31
Speaker 11: Likewise, I'm equally excited for both.
00:31:35
Speaker 3: Let's talk about Friday first. I feel like back when the college basketball season began, this was, you know what, the Musketeers are starting from scratch. Wes Miller has a team that has more talent. He's in his fifth season. This is the year where you see wins at the Cintas Center. I don't think anybody feels that way anymore. They don't feel like it's a sure thing anymore. Maybe a fifty to fifty part of that has to do with the Bearcats. Part of that has to do with the improvement we've seen from the Musketeers, and f there's more of an identity with Richard Patino's team right now than Wes Miller's. Speak to that from a Xavier perspective.
00:32:07
Speaker 11: Yeah, it's really amazing how that has turned around so quickly, Mo, because you know, we talked before the season started and I told you about how I felt about bagers chances in that game, and then a few games into the season it was even worse, especially after they had suffered back to back nineteen point losses to Santa Clara and Iowa. So yeah, at that point, I was I was thinking that this was going to be the year that duc finally got it done at the Centa Center almost no matter what, regardless of how they played, just because of the difference in talent. But the way you see has struggled on the offensive end, and the way Richard Patino and his staff have kind of turned this around by changing their playing style on offense is really impressive. And so now we find ourselves look at the Crosstown shootout going.
00:32:55
Speaker 20: Who knows what's going to happen?
00:32:57
Speaker 3: How about Big East play, because it's a league that thus far maybe beyond Yukon. I don't think anybody's impressed by anybody.
00:33:05
Speaker 20: Yeah, I think that's fair.
00:33:08
Speaker 11: I've heard some people say, you know, it might be Zavier saving grace this year that the Big East is weak. I think most people when they say the Big East is week, they think about it from a top end perspective and how many teams are going to get in n ncl A tournament perspective. The issue Xavier might have is there aren't the bottom feeders that are really struggling this year that we've seen in years past.
00:33:30
Speaker 3: You know, to Paul, but three.
00:33:32
Speaker 11: Years ago was ranked outside the top three hundred, Georgetown was ranked low two hundreds that year. Last season, Seaton Hall was outside the top two hundred. They were, you know, only won two games in Big East play. It felt like an easy win. This year, you don't have anyone really playing that way. I mean, you know, yes, Xavier is not the lowest ranked team. You've got to Paul and Georgetown ranked behind them in ken Palm right now. But the Paul that are like one fifteen in ken Pom, they're not outside the top two hundred. So you know, it's a little bit Vigger could be in every game in bigg's play this year, outside of maybe the Yukon and Saint John's matchups. But on the other hand, you might be looking at yourself where going yet the Soft Conference. But everybody is pretty similar and the Viager team is still going to struggle to win games potentially, So I'm not sure exactly how it's going to shake out for him, to be quite honest, I think it's still going to be a big challenge for them to win a lot of games in the Big East.
00:34:27
Speaker 3: We have had with both schools. We have had coaches come from other places and they get their first dose to the shootout and the portal Era is not new, but it was. It was striking to me listening to Richard Patino today thinking about having a team where literally nobody has played in this game before. From your perspective, what's that like.
00:34:47
Speaker 11: Yeah, you know, I think it's it's different. I think they can say all they want that they understand the importance and they understand the gravity of the game. But at the end of the day, more they don't live in this area for the most part. You know, Isaiah Walker obviously has a little bit of family history with the game, is dad Tyrese having.
00:35:07
Speaker 3: Played in it.
00:35:08
Speaker 11: So it's a little bit different for a guy like him maybe, but for everybody else, they're not from this area. They didn't grow up with the rivalry. They don't now have storylines built in from years past to go off of.
00:35:19
Speaker 20: So to try to act like these guys care.
00:35:22
Speaker 11: About as much about the cross Town shootout and it means as much to them as it has to you know, the Yancey Gates and Too Holloway teams for instance, is just I mean, it's crazy to think that now, can there still be fireworks? Can it still be a competitive game? Because they they take on the personality of the fans a little bit, and they understand it means lots of the fans, sure, But I definitely think with all the newcomers and with Richard Patino not having that built in history that a guy like a Chris Mack or a Travis Steeler Sean Miller did that, I think it's just a little bit different. And not to say it's lost its luster, which I'm sure we'll see that column here and the next day or two. Yeah, but I do think, you know, it's silly to act like these players care as much about the rivalry as players in years past.
00:36:09
Speaker 3: I don't think it's lost since luster. I do think it's fair to say that it's not quite the same. That doesn't mean it's bad. Rick Boring, Musketeer Report dot Com, NKU Radio The Norris tonight against Cleveland State at seven o'clock NKU, opening up Horizon League play. On the strength of a five game winning streak, including a road win a blowout road win against Central Michigan. They have won three consecutive games at home. They start Horizon League Play. What have you learned about the Norris during the non conference portion of their schedule.
00:36:36
Speaker 11: Well, there's a couple things that we've seen with Darreon Horn's teams in.
00:36:39
Speaker 3: The past, and that is one.
00:36:41
Speaker 11: They almost always get better on the defensive end as the season goes, and that's partly because that style of the matchup zone that's just kind of a so pressurized and it relies on so much chemistry and communication that it takes a little while to feel it out and see how your teammates are going to play around you within it. And so the fact that they're all seemingly ahead of schedule there and playing pretty well defensively, and we know it's likely to get better because it does every single year with darrens Horn's teams, that's a really encouraging sign. The other is, I think we can at this point pretty much safely say this is the most offensive firepower Darren Horn has ever had since he's been the head coach at NKU. Yes, he coached the schools all time leading scorer in Mark west Warwick, but so many times those teams were trying to get to fifty five sixty points with Mark west Work scoring thirty of them, and you know everything was running through one guy. This year, you have two guards averaging around eighteen points per game and Dan Grezger and Donovan O'Day and they have other weapons around them too. A guy like Cale Robinson can go off for twenty on at any given night.
00:37:45
Speaker 14: LJ.
00:37:45
Speaker 11: Wells is an experienced player within the league who was picked All Horizon League and many people expect him to be a double double threat and could have been MK's leading scorer coming into the season had the Guards not gotten off to such a great start. So I think there's there's a lot of weapons on the offensive end to this team too, and that's been excited.
00:38:05
Speaker 3: I'm coming at the game tonight that that's exciting. Well, the last time I was at a game that you were at was at a Xavier game and I said right in front of you, and you kind of acted like you didn't know me, and and I can't blame you. A lot of people do that. Will the same dynamic being played tonight if I come over and say Hi.
00:38:21
Speaker 11: No, that's first of all, that is a gross mixed characterization of what I'm down at the Xavier game. It's not taking into account how the media's space is set up there. Tom iSER does a terrible job of separating us and not making it easy to talk.
00:38:36
Speaker 20: So let's uh, let's let's be.
00:38:38
Speaker 3: Careful about that. That is not how I acted at all. That is not true. Again, nobody could blame you, but there were others there who are asking, like, man, you and Rick got beef, and I said, no, it's Rich's a little awkward around me. We'll see if there's a similar dynamic in play tonight. We'll see you then, and i'll see you much later this evening as well.
00:38:57
Speaker 11: Look, I'm just trying not to annoy you with a lot of some stupid things that I want to say and thoughts. I listened to your show all the time, so I don't want to like get in person and just pepper you with like a bunch of questions about your job.
00:39:08
Speaker 3: So that's that's all it is, all right, We'll see it, man, thanks so much.
00:39:12
Speaker 2: All right, we'll talk soon.
00:39:12
Speaker 3: Four o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty.
00:39:18
Speaker 10: I'm Christine Leacy.
00:39:19
Speaker 14: Put Jana's Antetakoupo and the Bucks be headed for a breakup, sources tell ESPN's sham Sharania, the two time NBA MVP and his agent are having conversations with the team about his future and whether his best fit is remaining in Milwaukee or a move elsewhere.
00:39:33
Speaker 10: A resolution to the talks expected in the coming weeks. Milwaukee's drop eight of nine is eleventh in the East.
00:39:39
Speaker 14: Past moves make it difficult for the Bucks to improve their roster in ways that would please Giannis, says ESPN NBA analyst Shane Whu McKay.
00:39:47
Speaker 5: And I'm not.
00:39:47
Speaker 21: Surprised because they've exhausted all options. In my opinion, they not only empty the cabinet, they empty the tension, and on top of it, for their future, they mortgage their house. So what else is left for them to sort of move, whether it is with or just on the team, Yeah, to maintain this expectation and vision that they collaborated on to win a championship.
00:40:06
Speaker 14: John's also reports before Chris Paul's shocking ouser from the Clippers, he and coach tylu were not on speaking turns through several weeks. The team felt Paul's leadership style had become disruptive. NFL Chiefs rookie left tackle Josh simmons on injured reserve following surgery to repair an injured left wrist, So he's out at least the next four games.
00:40:25
Speaker 12: Hey, it's a resident Super Bowl champ, Chris Kenny coming on Thursday.
00:40:28
Speaker 18: I'll tell you why one of the teams I picked to.
00:40:30
Speaker 12: Make the Super Bowl is facing an elimination game in week fourteen.
00:40:34
Speaker 3: It's on Sports for like six am Eastern right here on ESPN Radio, ESPN two in ESPNU.
00:40:43
Speaker 22: Joe Burrow is back and he plays here on ESPN fifteen thirty, the Official Hall of the Cincinnati Bengals.
00:40:55
Speaker 3: Let's go, all right, it's seven minutes hafter four o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen third. Wait or if you hear a lot of noise in the background, it's because we are broadcasting from the iHeartMedia Christmas Party. By the way, that's because our show is cool. The Oar Show's happening in this building right now. They shut the doll and they're having a party. We want to be a part of it. There you go, in about fifteen minutes. Ryan Kerwin. Ryan Kerwin with the Cincinnati Cyclones is the reigning current Rookie of the Month for the month of November, first player to win that honor in sixteen years and non sixteen or twelve years. I have had no alcohol, not me, not while I'm on the air at the iHeartMedia Christmas Party. I just made a mathematical faux pall eleven years. It's been eleven years since the cyclone player won that honor. Twelve years actually, yes, twelve, thirteen, fourteen to twenty five, twenty six is twelve. Very good Tea Higgins making progress. According to Zach Taylor, we're excited for that. Eric Wood's going to join us in the five o'clock hour. Our friend Amy Wagner from Dean Dorton is going to talk sports money and Lane Kiffin coming up in just about thirty minutes or so. We are looking forward to that. You know, we were just talking with Rick brooring the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout, and I'm sure it's coming, whether it's on the Internet, whether it's on social media, a newsletter, a newspaper column, because I feel like it's part of the Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout tradition where you have to hear or read about the fact that the shootout has lost its luster. Let's be honest. Okay, these aren't great teams at least to this point of the season. Neither team has played very very well. Neither program over the last number of years has consistently made the NCAA Tournament. Xavier has made it, made it last year, made Dayton beat Texas, then lost, and then Sean Miller went to Texas. Two tournament appearances since twenty eighteen, the Sweet sixteen run, Sean Miller's first year back. You see, hasn't played at an NCAA tournament game since March of twenty nineteen. That's forever ago, forever ago. And so this game is better when both teams are good. It's been a long time since both teams have been really good at the same time. So yeah, there's a little of that. And the transfer portal era has changed the dynamic of the game. Sports are more fun when there's recurring characters, and in college basketball there aren't as many recurring characters. Right, there's dana A. Thomas has played in this game. Tyler McKinley grew up here from a UC perspective, and so you know he was on the bench hurt last year. No Xavier players played in this game. It's changed it. That doesn't mean Friday can't be a great game, doesn't mean the atmosphere isn't going to be awesome because it will be terrific. I actually think this year's shootout is really interesting because let me start from a Xavier perspective, this is not a team that's overwhelmingly talented. Even if the Big East isn't great and it's so far this season appears to be down, is still really good. Beyond that, I'm not sure who's going to be good. I think Saint John's will, but non conference so far in the Big East been kind of down. That said, Xavier doesn't feel like an NCAA tournament team, and so if you kind of accept that likelihood, and again, sports are fun because they're full of surprises, but they don't feel like an NCAA tournament team, which means that you kind of have to grab on to certain regular season mile posts and allow that to define your season. If Xavier wins the Skyline Chile Crosstown Shootout, you might argue that's par for the course because for the last twenty six, twenty seven to twenty eight years they've won it far more regularly than Cincinnati. But this was not supposed to hear where they win it. And so if you're a Xavier fan and they win the game on Friday, Holy crap, Wait a minute. We can cling to that no matter what happens this season, we at least be the UC team that was viewed as having the best chance to win at the Centa Center since the first shootout at the Cintas Center twenty four years ago. You can allow it to define your season. If you don't think your season is going to be great, that's no knock on the team they have. Just look at it from a talent perspective. It doesn't look awesome now. Acknowledging that when you look at the game itself, Zaeger's team looks better. I watched that Santa Clara game. The way they played then, as opposed to how they've played against Georgia, how they've played against West Virginia, how they played against Saint Francis the other night, night and day. There's a little bit of an identity there. Roles are starting to be carved out. That team looks like it's trending in the right direction, just in terms of improvement. I don't think you could watch the Bearcats right now and say the same thing. They've played a month's worth of non conference games, the loss to Louisville. Okay, I thought in the first twenty minutes of that game, they at least defended really well, But it doesn't feel like they're dramatically better from what they put on the floor in the first game, even if you acknowledge it takes time, especially when you're just bringing dudes in from everywhere else. The Bearcats as of December third don't look dramatically better than the Bearcats of November third, and that's not what any coach wants to say about their team. Wes may disagree, but I think most who have watched the team would kind of nod along with that sentiment. And that doesn't even take into account just how they lost to Eastern Michigan. And so there's this dynamic where a month ago it felt like U See is going to go to Xavier and bludgeon the Musketeers. I don't know anybody feels that, anybody who feels that way, I'm not sure how anybody could feel that way. Now. I think this game is a pick them. I think this game is a pick them. Line won't come out until late tomorrow night. I think this game's a pick them. My guess is you See is going to be a very slight favorite. We will see. But I think what makes the game interesting, quite frankly, is Wes Miller. Look, he did win the game last year, and he won the game at home. No UC coaches won a game at the Sinta Centers. It's December of two thousand and one, when Bob Huggins was the coach. Like, it's been a long time. UC hasn't won consecutive games in the rivalry since the ninety five and ninety six seasons forever ago, thirty years ago. So Wes Miller has a chance to do something at you See that hasn't been done in a while. Let's be honest, there's a lot of skepticism about him. There's a lot of folks who are disaffected when it comes to the men's basketball coach at you See, it's year five, Richard Patino, it's year one, and so there's this sense of that got to make the tournament this year. Okay, are you gonna feel even worse about that proposition? If they lose the game to Zavi, they lose to Xavier. By the way, Wes and the Bearcats were supposed to win the win the game at the Cintas Center two years ago, frankly didn't come that close. I think what's interesting about it is just what the reaction from UC fans is going to be. Was already pretty salty after the Louisville game, understandably very salty after the Eastern Michigan game. Understanding they played teams at home and on the road who are much better than this year's Xavier team. You're trying to break a drought, you're trying to build some equity, You're trying to keep the walls from closing in on you. You're trying to make people feel like this season could still end up turning out to be pretty good. Can't do any of those things if you lose the game on Friday night. And so look, you know me, I'm a UC fan. I want the Bearcats to win the game. I don't run from that. I don't hide from that. But I think it was a really interesting about this game is if you see wins, they're sort of a well, they're supposed to dynamic and play here if they lose. If they lose, then can you even imagine And look, man, I like Wes a lot, but can you even imagine what it's gonna sound like? What it's going to feel like in terms of the relationship between Wes Miller and a fan base that is impatient, skeptical, and I think to a large degree no longer assuming the Bearcats are going to win this game on Friday, we will see and look. Man, if you just if you wish it was I don't know, nineteen ninety four again. If you want to sit there and fold your arms and complain about who's not here anymore, what college basketball isn't and what the game isn't anymore, don't watch it, don't pay attention to it. Those of us who love the sport can't wait for Friday. I think from a Xavier perspective, there's a you know what, we win it every year at our building. We've got that in our back pocket. Our team isn't proving we've got that in our back pocket. If our team loses, well we were supposed to, I cannot imagine. I cannot imagine what is going to be said, what is going to be written, what's going to be tweeted, what's going to be screamed about the direction of UC basketball If they lose a game like this that frankly four or five weeks ago felt like they were supposed to win. Sixteen minutes after four o'clock, your phone calls will welcome in a bit. Five point three seven four nine fifteen thirty is our phone number at Moager on Twitter. I may just do today's question. Who's gonna win the game on Friday? You see R Xavier? Because I think it's a fifty to fifty game and I don't know a lot of UC fans. We're overly confident about Friday and uh, I think there's a very quiet confidence that Xavier fans have, even though they will acknowledge their team from a talent perspective, doesn't make anybody feel like they're gonna make the NCAA tournament. We will see, we will see. Uh, let's see here. The Cincinnati Cyclones are off to a good start. They have the reigning current rookie of the Month Ryan Kerwin. Will spend a few minutes with him when we come back on ESPN fifteen thirty. Cincinnati Sports Station.
00:50:39
Speaker 19: Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic from.
00:50:44
Speaker 18: The UC Health Traffic Center. You see Health's Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise. CULL five one three nine three nine two two sixty three. That's nine three nine two two sixty three. On Clifton Avenue. There is an accident in your world per Avenue. Another crash on Harrison that is at Westwood Northern Boulevard. Also on ken Wood Road. An accident at Glendale Milford Road. In one final crash out there eastbound Woodford Road. It is at red Bank Road. I'm at Ezelic with track.
00:51:15
Speaker 17: This is football.
00:51:19
Speaker 19: Ryan and bel Terror Park on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bank.
00:51:26
Speaker 3: We'll get to the Bengals here in a few but as the iHeartMedia Christmas party rages on behind us, The Cincinnati Sideclones are currently tied for second place in the EHL Central Division UH they lead the league in overtime wins, are coming off and win against first place Wheeling, and they're back at home a week from Friday for a tilt against Kalamazoo. That is their national Lampoon's Christmas Game, where everybody has Clark Griswold sweaters. And on top of all that, big reason why Side Clones are off to a great start as the play of Ryan Kerwin, who today was named the ECHL Rookie of the Month. He is the first Cyclones player to be awarded Rookie of the Month honors since Joe Howe in January of the twenty thirteen twenty fourteen season. So it has been a while. Ryan, kind enough, I'm guessing on his off day to give us a few minutes. Ryan, congratulations on the ECCHL honor. Good afternoon. How are you.
00:52:21
Speaker 6: Thank you. I appreciate it, and thanks for having me.
00:52:23
Speaker 20: On the call.
00:52:23
Speaker 3: I appreciate you doing this. So you guys, you've blended in nicely, and like this maybe shouldn't be a good way of looking at this, but like I see how well you've done so early in your time as a Cincinnati Cyclone. It's so early in your professional hockey career that what I fear is now, because you're off to such a good start, you're not going to be here very long.
00:52:44
Speaker 23: Well, I don't know, you know, I think for me, it's just you know, focusing what I could focus, and you know I can't control.
00:52:52
Speaker 5: That type of thing.
00:52:52
Speaker 23: But I've been loving having my time here and the guys are awesome and yeah, I mean we have a winning team too, So I'm just going to keep on doing that for the rest.
00:53:02
Speaker 6: Of the season.
00:53:03
Speaker 3: You were playing college hockey a little bit more than a year ago, right, So walk me through with the biggest adjustment starting last year with the Toronto Marley is what the the biggest adjustment to pro hockey has been.
00:53:16
Speaker 23: Yeah, So I finished my season with Arizona State last season and then I signed with Toronto, And you know, the biggest adjustment is most likely, you know, the guys are.
00:53:26
Speaker 6: Just bigger and stronger and faster. It sounds kind of cliche, but it is true.
00:53:30
Speaker 23: And everybody's so smart, so it takes a little bit of adjusting.
00:53:34
Speaker 6: And you know, it's been absolutely awesome.
00:53:36
Speaker 23: And the guys in Cincinnati have been amazing, and everybody's just.
00:53:42
Speaker 6: Taking us under their their wings, and it's been awesome.
00:53:44
Speaker 3: Eight goals and seven assists during fourteen games played in the month of November. Whether it was last year or here in Cincinnati, have you kind of had a welcome to professional hockey moment?
00:53:56
Speaker 23: You know, I guess maybe just your first game, seeing the crowd, you know, everything like that.
00:54:02
Speaker 6: And you know, in Cincinnati, we get we're so fortunate to have such great fans, and you know, I think that kid's Day game too.
00:54:08
Speaker 5: We had about thirteen thousand.
00:54:10
Speaker 6: So maybe that screaming kids. So it's been awesome.
00:54:15
Speaker 3: You played your collegiate hockey, correct me if I'm wrong. You started at Penn State and then you went and played at Arizona State. Whilch you just mentioned. Now, pardon this because I'm sure you've gotten this before. Arizona State has hockey.
00:54:29
Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, we get that a lot out there, and you know, it was a lot.
00:54:33
Speaker 6: Of fun playing out there, and that's a cool thing. Right.
00:54:36
Speaker 23: So something we always like to joke about is, you know, we got to make people know that we have a hockey team.
00:54:42
Speaker 6: Yere if I'm playing well, so, but no, it was awesome. I absolutely love my time there, all right.
00:54:47
Speaker 3: So why why? I mean, look, if I could go back and do it all over again, I went to a Midwestern Catholic school. If I could do it all over again, I would have gone to Tempe Arizona State, and I never played hockey. What what is it about that hockey program that took a kid like you and decided I want to go I'm gonna go play there.
00:55:05
Speaker 6: Yeah.
00:55:06
Speaker 23: Well, I mean, first off, I guess for me, Coach Powers and Coach Hicks.
00:55:10
Speaker 6: Uh, best coaches I've had, and they've done so much for me as a person and that player.
00:55:15
Speaker 23: And I think that something that that I sort of realized is that Coach Powers was big on me and my first recruitment back when I committed to Penn State when I was young, So just having that relationship with him and then you know, just just having the opportunity to uh go in the transfer portal and then hear from him. Once I was inside of that transfer portal, I kind of knew that was the place that.
00:55:40
Speaker 6: I wanted to be.
00:55:41
Speaker 3: Has there been a veteran player on the Cyclones that you've leaned on since you arrived in Cincinnati.
00:55:47
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think obviously Viver. You know, he's he's like an icon here and it's amazing.
00:55:52
Speaker 23: And uh he's just just an amazing guy. Lincoln Griffin too. Those are two guys for me for sure. I think just the whole team in general. You know, we have so many guys that have played pro game.
00:56:05
Speaker 20: Col Frasier although, you know, so just we have a great.
00:56:09
Speaker 6: Group of guys in that locker room.
00:56:11
Speaker 3: What do you do in Cincinnati when you're not playing hockey? What have you learned about the city.
00:56:17
Speaker 6: I haven't tried skyline yet. Oh you guys a joke about that.
00:56:20
Speaker 3: Oh well, we can rectify that. I'll take you to skyline.
00:56:25
Speaker 24: Yeah, that might have to be one of the things.
00:56:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, but we can. I you know, I know people, we can. There's there's one like two blocks from the arena. We could, we could easily, we could easily make that happen. Ryan Kerwin and the Cyclones are off to a great start at the EHL Rookie of the Month for the month of November. It is. It's been cool to have you. You guys are off to a great start. We'll get you some Skyline. So I'll tell you what win Rookie of the Month for December and we'll go to Skyline and it's on me. Okay, that'd be awesome. Done, ma can happen? Ryan, thanks so much, awesome, thank you for having me, Ryan Kerwin the EHL Rookie of the Month. The Cyclones second in the Central Division, just beat Wheeling their home a week from Friday with their National Lampoons Christmas Vacation game. Puck's gonna drop at seven thirty downtown.
00:57:15
Speaker 6: Uh.
00:57:17
Speaker 3: Two of my friends had kids go to education day. The next time they play a ten to thirty game, I'm going because I like daytime sports. Go watch some hockey, go watch some pucks ten thirty am, and come come to work. Maybe have a cold one while we're there. Can't beat that. Congratulations to Ryan Kerwin Taren What is it good? When do you think? Ryan like heard the background noise and was like, man, what is this?
00:57:40
Speaker 6: Yes?
00:57:41
Speaker 3: Yeah, the iHeartMedia Christmas Party. I'll just look. Last year we did our show from Turfway Park on the day of the iHeartMedia Christmas Party, which loved being a Turfway Park. It was great. But two years ago we have this big party here. It's during the day, and you know our operation, we're all sort of tightly bunched together, and I'm like, look, if you're gonna have a party right out side at our door, we want to be a part of it. And so we open the door because they put the DJ right next to the door of the studio, so it's like, if they're gonna do this, we're going to lean into it. And so you hear behind us the party and it's raging. Our first seeing the magician you gay this year the magician has not shown up yet. Our friend Kim brought me a plate of meatballs and a bud light. So right now, my current favorite coworker twenty nine minutes afy four o'clock, Amy Wagner is supposed to be here to talk sports and money and Lane Kiffin. She's gonna weave her way through all the festivities here. She literally just walked through the door and so she's taken a break from the party to join us. She'll be with us from Dean Dorton next on ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
00:58:44
Speaker 19: You've been listening to Football in the Natti on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
00:58:57
Speaker 17: Fifteen thirty from.
00:59:00
Speaker 18: The uc Health Traffic Center. U See Health's Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise. Call five one three nine nine two two sixty three. That's nine three, nine two two sixty three. On Harrison, there is an accident over at Westwood Northern Boulevard. Also on Kemper Road, a crash at Winton Road, and another accident Clifton Avenue that's near Woolper Avenue southbound seventy five traffic Stop and go between Western Avenue and Fort Washington Way. I'm at exelic with traffic.
00:59:31
Speaker 3: This report is sponsored by Stick.
00:59:34
Speaker 1: This week, the Bengals are bringing their own brand of football to Buffalo when they go hunting for a win.
00:59:41
Speaker 5: Did I tell you about the last.
00:59:42
Speaker 1: Time I was in below by eight fifty wings slethered in hot sauce. Let's just say I had to stampede my way to a stall in the men's room. The Bengals battle the Bills. Coverage begins at nine am Sunday, stream for free on the new and improved I Heart Radio app for ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.
01:00:06
Speaker 3: Sports headlines are a service of Kelsey Chevrolet. Oh the first day, that's pretty good. That's pretty good. Post hitting right there, Let's see T Higgins limited in his participation, which is a step in the right direction. Zach Taylor says he is making quote good progress. Bengals and Bills on Sunday. TODJ Brooks also limited. Both those players have been in the concussion protocol. Trey Hendrickson to No One surprise and no go. Jermaine Burton a full go today. He's been dealing with an ankle injury and man once that gets healed and Jermaine's career is about to take off. Mort tonight on Bengals Game Plan at six o'clock on ESPN fifteen thirty. Evan McPherson named AFC Special Teams Player of the Week for his six for six and two for two performance in the Thanksgiving night win over the Baltimore Ravens. Ken Anderson named a finalist for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of twenty twenty six. Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, the new head coach at South Florida NKU, hoops to night against Cleveland State at seven on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. Indiana battles Minnesota, and our last guest, Ryan Kerwin of the Cyclones named the EHL Rookie of the Month for the month of November. Our friend Amy Wagner is here wealth advisor Dean Dorton Private Wealth. You can learn more about the Dean Thorton Difference at Deandortonwealth dot com. Amy, this is a Senate. We have all hell breaking loose. This is the epitome of chaos.
01:01:31
Speaker 10: You know, I like a good party, though.
01:01:32
Speaker 3: The iHeartMedia Christmas party. I apologize for any of my co workers. I apologize for anything that may happen here. But it's nice of you to join us in the middle of the party to talk sports and money.
01:01:43
Speaker 25: Hey, the first of all, this is like my tenth year at this party. Second of all, I normally pop my head in here and make fun of you for having to work during the party. So now I'm just going to work alongside you during the party.
01:01:55
Speaker 10: It's fine.
01:01:56
Speaker 3: Yeah, I get made fun of for having to work at my job, which decides to have the party while I'm doing my job.
01:02:04
Speaker 10: Happens every year.
01:02:05
Speaker 3: It does happen every year. So the biggest story in sports is one that I just think is really interesting from a number of different perspectives, and I think from your perspective sports and money and business. There's some layers to this. This Lane Kiffin story right where he's coaching at ole Miss and ole Miss is having like their greatest season ever and they're going to be in the playoff, but he's being poached by a conference foe, and so he goes to LSU and everybody's mad, and he wants to stay at ole Miss in the playoff, and ole Miss says, take take a hike, pal. And there's so many interesting arms of this, but I think there's some real life and real world application.
01:02:39
Speaker 25: Yeah, and I'm going to boil this down to the top five things I think that we can all.
01:02:42
Speaker 10: Learn from Lane Kiffin. I'm gonna write them down, yep, yeah, make your list, Kay.
01:02:46
Speaker 25: The first one is when you announce that you are leaving your job, you no longer have control over what happens after that, right, So he wants to stay around. You mentioned this, right and coach them through the champion and they're like, well you're going, dude, so go. You don't get to stick around, so you can't be upset. Once you give your notice about what happens, you don't get to finish the project or go to the big fun trip the conference and everyone else is.
01:03:14
Speaker 3: Going on holiday party.
01:03:15
Speaker 10: If you left.
01:03:16
Speaker 25: Earlier today, you don't get to come to the holiday party, right.
01:03:19
Speaker 10: So that's part of it.
01:03:20
Speaker 25: But also you can't control how other people respond. So initially Lane Kiffin said, all my players want me to coach. Now some of the players are coming out saying not exactly like they're hurt too, and so you can't control people's reactions.
01:03:36
Speaker 10: I think is part of that number two points. Don't take another.
01:03:40
Speaker 25: Job before you know the details. He actually said in his press conference. I don't really know what my contract looks like. I think it's good, I don't know the financial details of it. Listen, Lane Kiffin's going to be fine. He is now the top paid college football coach. He's going to be fine, right, But nobody should ever take a job before you are fully aware of the details. And a lot of people stop with salary, but it's beyond that. It's what's the company match, what's the PTO situation?
01:04:11
Speaker 10: Is there a hybrid workplace?
01:04:13
Speaker 25: Are you going to expect me to be in this office from nine to five Monday through Friday. You need to know all of those details before signing on. Lane Kiffin heard LSU boarded a private jets and he's gone, right. I mean, and maybe if you're boarding a private jet to do the interview, you should just know the other details will probably be taken care of.
01:04:33
Speaker 10: But let's face it, I mean, Dean Dorton didn't bring me in on a private jet.
01:04:37
Speaker 3: I'm just saying, right, I've only worked here my entire adult life, and there was no private jet when they hired me, so that's probably never gonna happen. There would be now, there would be now.
01:04:46
Speaker 25: Of course, yes, the reputation that you've built, they would virtually in a private jet without thinking twice.
01:04:52
Speaker 5: You know.
01:04:52
Speaker 25: I think another thing is know what you're getting into. Lane Kiffin is coming from a place where he was an SEC underdog punching above his weight, right. I mean, that's a great story to tell. You're coming into an LSU that is expecting results immediately Listen.
01:05:10
Speaker 10: Lane Kiffin's a guy that gets results.
01:05:11
Speaker 25: I know, he's brilliant, offensive, play caller, all the things. There's no expectation that he's not going to do great. But you have to walk into an environment knowing that the pressure is on from the get go. For the average person, when you are taking a job, one great thing to do is to find other people on LinkedIn who work there or who have worked there.
01:05:34
Speaker 10: Reach out, connect with them, ask them what is culture like?
01:05:38
Speaker 25: You know, it's I know many people who've done this before and found out things that were game changers for them, right. So I think it's important to not only be talking to the people who are offering the job, but talk to the people who work there too, and see what kind of position you're walking into.
01:05:53
Speaker 3: And there's there's very little honeymoon, Like Lane Kiffin, there's no honeymoon. It's you better win week one, you better have us in the playoff next year, can peting for SEC championships in the national title discussion. And I feel like, and again take this from somebody who has never changed jobs in his adult life, but you like, you get a new gig somewhere. They're not gonna give you a month and a half to figure out who does what? You better start hitting it producing results immediately.
01:06:15
Speaker 10: Yeah, it doesn't.
01:06:16
Speaker 25: I mean doesn't have the choice here, right, I mean he's coming into an LSU, which, by the way, that's the next point is know you're worth LSU had one person on the list, right, Lane Kiffin?
01:06:26
Speaker 10: Who else are they going.
01:06:27
Speaker 26: To go for?
01:06:28
Speaker 7: Right?
01:06:28
Speaker 25: So you know if you are the perfect person for this position, that you can ask for things beyond the salary that are important to you.
01:06:37
Speaker 10: An extra week of vacation.
01:06:39
Speaker 25: Pro tip, never take a new job without planning a vacation before so that you can say I can start on this date but also I have this on the calendar, right, things along those lines.
01:06:49
Speaker 10: But you got to know, unless you're.
01:06:51
Speaker 25: Just getting out of college and you're starting your first job, once you've gotten far enough along in your career, right, like, you could make different demands today, mo Eggert for a job than you could have when you first started here.
01:07:03
Speaker 3: Do you know who I work for?
01:07:05
Speaker 10: I do, and you and I have talked about. I'm negotiating your next contract. So hope, I hope who.
01:07:11
Speaker 25: I hope who you work for is listening right now, because I'm absolutely doing that.
01:07:15
Speaker 3: I know right I'll start working on that now. Yeah, very good.
01:07:18
Speaker 10: I'm here for you.
01:07:19
Speaker 25: And then I think the last thing is whenever there is a change like this, drama comes up, right like when you hear that a coworker is leaving, when if someone you loved or someone you didn't love, people are talking about it. I really respect the new coach, Pete Golding for saying thirty nine minutes after the press conference was scheduled, I'm actually going to cancel this press conference because this is a circus. Yeah, and my players don't actually need a circus. They need to focus on the upcoming game and being what they need to be, which is players. And I super respect that. And I think if you are an employer who's losing an employee or one that's gaining one, focusing on here's the job at hands. We might be losing someone, we might be gaining someone, but the.
01:08:04
Speaker 3: Job is still the job.
01:08:05
Speaker 10: Let's keep our eyes on the ball here.
01:08:07
Speaker 3: Do you have any any a list, or any rules or anything to suggest if people get out of control at the company Christmas party? Because there is unending chaos happening on the other side of our studio door.
01:08:19
Speaker 25: I'm usually part of the chaos, so I'm not going to give anyone any I mean, you know, really well. I mean maybe not to the degree of some others, but you and I go back a few years.
01:08:29
Speaker 18: We do.
01:08:30
Speaker 3: I'll just say this. I had to run off some copies during a break because I needed to print my notes for our guest right before you, Ryan Kerwin. And I'm using the copier when somebody came and handed me a bottle of windecks. And I don't know what that's all about. So there's some stuff going on out there.
01:08:45
Speaker 10: That it's fun. It's a holiday party.
01:08:49
Speaker 3: It is it is a holiday, But can I come to the Dean Dorton holiday party. Oh yes, this weekend. Yeah, you guys have your work party on the weekend.
01:08:57
Speaker 17: Yeah, must be awesome.
01:08:58
Speaker 10: So it's not while anyone's work. That's the point, right, Yeah.
01:09:02
Speaker 3: Well it's hard at a radio station to have a party when no one's working, because it's list. As some find out when they come here, it's a twenty four to seven business.
01:09:09
Speaker 10: I came from twenty four seven. I get that more than most people do.
01:09:14
Speaker 20: Very good.
01:09:14
Speaker 3: Amy Wagner from a Dean Dorton Wealth advisor, learn more about the Dean Dorton Difference. She joins us every single week to talk sports and money Deandortonwealth dot Com. Good to see you as.
01:09:25
Speaker 10: Always, always good to be here, and now we'll join the party.
01:09:28
Speaker 3: Have a good time, be safe. Just I'll tell you who to steer clear. Fight already some folks started the party like this morning, right, No work got done at all. Richard Skinner at five twenty elder product and former Louisville Cardinal and obviously longtime Buffalo Bill. Eric Wood is the Bill's color analyst. He is going to join us at five forty. I think we're guest free until five. I say it's my show. I should know when the guests are. We're guest free till five twenty five, three seven nine, fifteen thirty, and we'll try to get you in. It's a quarter to five. This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.
01:10:06
Speaker 19: Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty. Traffic from the.
01:10:11
Speaker 18: Uc Health Traffic Center. U See Health's Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise. Cullpipe one three nine three nine two two sixty three. That's nine three nine two two sixty three. On Harrison there is an accident at Westwood Northern Boulevard. Another crash on Plainfield Road, over at Montgomery Road, and on Kemper Road. Accident at Winton Road. Traffic right now slow on eastbound two seventy five between Mostellar and Loveland Madeira Road. I'm at Eazelic with traffic.
01:10:44
Speaker 2: Alright.
01:10:45
Speaker 3: It's eleven away from five o'clock, in the middle of the iHeartMedia Christmas Party. I'm Alegard Richard Skinner coming off at five twenty. We have we got a few minutes to take a phone call or two. I believe we do. Uh Ron in Milford you're on ESPN fifteen thirty run good afternoon. How are you?
01:11:05
Speaker 24: I am okay, Mo, how are you doing?
01:11:07
Speaker 3: I'm doing well?
01:11:08
Speaker 4: Man?
01:11:08
Speaker 3: What's up?
01:11:10
Speaker 6: Man?
01:11:10
Speaker 24: I can't believe you know, the talking heads they think the Bengals won a game, so not too obviously, but the talking heads on es handall like, Man, the Bengals have really got a chance to win this division? Now really, I mean, Mo, the Bills. I think the Bills are going to put an end to that luckily this week when they run wild, because let's face it, as we know, the Ravens offensive coordinator probably did the Bengals a favor by not handing the ball off to Derrick Henry. More because the Bengals can't stop They still can't stop anybody from running it. And if the Bills got like two hundred and sixty yards against the Steelers defense, which I think, as we know, is better than the Bengals defense, the Bengals are gonna have some issues.
01:11:57
Speaker 3: Yeah. Now, Number one about the Baltimore game, or right, all night long, I was baffled by the lack of Derek Henry usage. He had five carries in the first half. I do think they did a decent job the week prior against Trayvon Henderson, who had come into that game playing very very well. I do think the Bengals defense is collectively performing a little bit better. But you're right to have any faith in the Bengals defenses to putting faith in something that doesn't deserve it. I think the optimism is based more on what the Ravens and Steelers aren't. But if you lose on Sunday, you're three games behind one of them, and then the math gets really, really hard. I do think though, look from an offensive perspective, let's assume t Higgins is going to play on Sunday and he did practice today. I think you're more you feel more comfortable with them being able to outscore people than he did with Flacco, even though he nearly outscored a couple of teams. But at the end of the day, putting a lot of faith in the Bengals defense is again, you're putting faith in something that doesn't deserve it. I will, I will acknowledge that, while at the same time acknowledging that they are playing better but not exactly great.
01:13:11
Speaker 24: Yeah, now that's true. And I guess the other thing MO is I couldn't believe until I guess it was like yesterday. It's all and I don't know, but you probably have.
01:13:19
Speaker 2: A better idea.
01:13:19
Speaker 24: But like I saw, the Bengals ran eighty three plays on offense. When was the last time I had had the ball long enough to run eighty three plays? That's incredible.
01:13:30
Speaker 3: I don't have the answer. It certainly stood out. Look, the Baltimore Ravens were way complicit in their own demise. A touchdown that was taken off the board. They should have scored a shaky pass interference call. The five turnovers. Lamar is not himself. I think the optimism is based on number one. Neither Baltimore or Pittsburgh look great. You're certainly hoping that the two teams split the two games they have remaining number two. There is a track record, and the track record in December and January has been that they went seventeen and five since twenty twenty one, fourteen and two since twenty twenty two. Some of those games Joe Burrow didn't play. You do have Joe Burrow back pretty healthy on offense. If you can win this game on Sunday, and by the way, Burrow and the Bengals have a good track record against Buffalo. It's limited, but it's a good track record. If you can win this game on Sunday, it's a pretty good chance they're favored in their last four. I don't think anybody is making reservations for the second weekend of January, when the Bengals would play in the playoffs. I don't think anybody, if all things are if all things are equal, are feeling like, you know what, the Bengals are gonna overcome a two game deficit against two teams, but it is on the table, and it's on the table because they won, and one of the reasons why they won was a unit that has been horrific was at least a little bit better and they did get Burrow back.
01:14:49
Speaker 24: Yeah, it seems like the talking heads are more thrilled. I feel like they would be. They're more thrilled at the opportunity to have Joe Burrow in the playoffs than anything else. Care less about the Bengals. It's just having Joe Burrow in the playoffs would give them something to talk about.
01:15:05
Speaker 3: I feel like, well, yeah, but I like, I can understand that the Bengals as a team aren't great. Joe Burrow is like, if if you or I weren't Bengals fans, and hey, we're gonna watch a Bengals game in the wildcard round, what would you get excited about? Did you get excited about watching Miles murphin? I get right, so I can understand that. Look again, like you watch the Pittsburgh Steelers. They feel broken, fans are chanting fire Tomlin, Aaron Rodgers is old and hurt. They have no identity on offense, their defense is massively underachieved. You're putting a lot of faith in that team and the Ravens, who deserve a lot of credit from digging out of the one in five hole. Like the Steelers missed an opportunity to bury the Bengals, and they've been very uneven on offense for a while. And so like, I get it. I think there's I think the Bengals are interesting. I think it's fair to introduce the Bengals into the conversation when it comes to winning the AFC North. But are there a lot of things that get in their way? Yes, mainly them.
01:16:08
Speaker 24: Yeah, they are definitely. I think we agree the Bengals are their own worst than me. They can force a couple turnovers this week. We're not talking about five. They can force a couple turnovers maybe this week, then perhaps and like you said, if they win this week, then there is perhaps more optimism because like you said, you've got to figure then that the Bengals are favored and the last four and then you know, maybe can they do it?
01:16:32
Speaker 27: Sure, but I'm not.
01:16:33
Speaker 24: Jumping on the bandwagon like some of these guys on ESPN based.
01:16:37
Speaker 3: On one win. No, and Ron, thanks very much for the phone call. I think the ESPN stuff number one, it's a different storyline than what they've been talking about for twelve months. It's also a different storyline for us. This game on Sunday, either I believe extinguishes any Bengals playoff discussion, or it kicks it into a second doesn't kick it into fifth gear, but it kicks it into a different gear. And then you look at you know, they play the Baltimore Ravens, who they just beat by eighteen points. You know they're gonna be favored against Miami. I believe there's only gonna be favored against Arizona, gonna be favored against Cleveland Browns. They do have Joe Burrow back. The odds in the math are not in their favor, but the doors at least cracked open because the Ravens refuse to shut it and the Steelers couldn't shut it. When you have a team with a great quarterback in a wide open conference and you've left the door open for him, you at least have to entertain the possibility that they knock it down. They have to bang against it even more on Sunday against the Bills, coming up on five o'clock. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station Bory.
01:17:47
Speaker 28: Join Dave laploman me for Bengals game plan tonight starting at six on the official home of the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:17:56
Speaker 18: That is us.
01:17:57
Speaker 3: It is, and we have one here in studio. It's the bud Light five o'clock Happy Hour on ESPN fifteen thirty. Thank you for listening the bud Light five o'clock Happy Hour, thanks to bud Light. Easy to drink, easy to enjoy, and we're enjoying one right now because the iHeartMedia Christmas Party is happening and we are broadcasting from it. I think this has been the best iHeartMedia Christmas Party we have ever had. I think it's been the best show we've ever done. From the iHeartMedia Christmas Party, We've had a lot of stuff to get to today. Richard Skinner's gonna join us at five twenty. You're gonna hear Wes Miller and Richard Patino at five thirty five. And Eric Wood, who obviously played his high school football at Elder is the radio analyst for the Buffalo Bills. He is gonna join us at five forty five. We're stoked for that. Don't forget Bengals game plan one hour from now with Dan Horde and Dave Lapham, and I believe Tony Pike is their their guest for the first hour of the show, so that'd be cool. That is one hour from now. Bengals news today. T Higgins is practicing. He practiced today. They've already had their practice limited. But that's a step in the right direction coming out of the NFL's concussion protocol. From an offensive perspective, they're healthy and like, look, we were just talking about this with our last caller, Ron from Milford. The odds are not in their favor right they have to leap frog two teams with only five games to go, they're two back. Even if they went on Sunday, they're gonna be two behind either Baltimore or Pittsburgh. They would basically in all likelihood have to win out. Like that's really really hard. This team's defense has not totally turned the corner. There have been some good things that have happened. Miles Murphy's playing better, DJ Turner's having an excellent season. Joseph Asai was awesome on Thursday Night. What they're going to try to do is a massive undertaking, and like, hopefully a year from now, we're not doing the same thing looking at the playoff odds and staring at the deficit and how many teams need to lose, Like it'd be great if at one point in December they could be looking down at teams that said. I think one thing, you know, it's it's often not the best team who wins, it's the healthiest. That's attrition is a every year injury shape every NFL season. Injuries affect every NFL season. The Bengals would like to have Trey Hendrickson back. That goes without saying offensively, they're in really good shape for December for going what is this? This is gonna be week It's week fourteen. They're in really good shape for December on the offensive side of the ball, like their dudes are healthy. So assuming the tea continues to make progress and come back on Sunday, that's something you have to consider. The Bills have injury issues on the offensive line. They've been very inconsistent all season long throwing the football. They've really had to lean on James Cook. When James Cook hasn't run for one hundred yards. The Bills are oh it for this season. So you know, the optimism, the optimism can be cut into if you just do the basic math, if you understand they're kind of just baked in deficiencies. They have the burrow Is back. They're underdogs on Sunday. They're not playing a great Buffalo team. They're playing a Bills team. They've had success against Bengals late season. Track record of success has been well documented. And they're healthy on the side of the ball where their identity rests. Like if they were fully and completely healthy on defense. By the way, it's not like they're without a whole bunch of dudes. Frankly, Cam Taylor Britt was not having a very good season before he got hurt. It'd be nice to have him, I guess. But if you're like man, they're healthy on defense, so what they're healthy on the side of the ball where they have to win, and that's that's that's worth not ignoring. So you know, if you sound remotely optimistic, you have people in your life that can't wait to throw cold water over the optimism. And if you sound remotely skeptical, you have people who just get mad that you're not, you know, ready to declare this team super Bowl favorite. Like multiple things can be true. We say this all the time. The math is really hard. The Bengals have a deeply flawed roster. They have massive deficiencies. Their margin for error is almost nonexistent. But the defense has performed better recently. Joe Burrow is back. The Bengals are better when Joe Burrow is here. The schedule is not that unforgivable. Baltimore Ravens aren't great. That doesn't mean they can't win here. But Baltimore Ravens are a six and six football team for a reason. The Miami Dolphins aren't playing better, but not very good team Cardinals are awful, Browns are wretched. Even the Bills are good. You don't look at them and go, man, no chance David versus Goliath here. So the math is hard. The season has been deeply frustrating. None of the criticisms that we have lobbed at the Bengals are suddenly invalid because they won one game, But because they did win that one game, and because they're in a bad division, and because they got their guy back, for my money, the best quarterback in the NFL, and because they do have a good track record late in the season, it's okay to be at least a little bit perked up. And by the way, it's okay to do whatever you want process and however you want. For me, it's oh, this team's interesting again. I look at it from a gambling perspective. And I said this on Monday, and I might have did it again yesterday. But if the odds were equal, you would not bet on the Bengals to win the division. Why would you. They're two behind two teams five games to go. They'll be two behind at least one team on Sunday if they win. But the odds aren't equal, so I can buy the Bengals and Joe Burrow in a healthy offense and a good track record, or I can invest in Aaron Rodgers no, okay, Or I can invest in the Baltimore Ravens, who have been less than dominant all season long, not doing that either. So don't let somebody tell you that you shouldn't feel at least a little something when it comes to this team going into this game on Sunday, and if they get blown out, then that probably ends it. But I'll take this as opposed to the alternative because had they lost to Baltimore, it's lights out, lights out. I've wanted to do this for a couple of days, and then we'll try to get to a phone call or two here between now and six o'clock Richard Skinner in a few minutes when the Bengals lost to the Patriots. My take was an exaggerated one, but it was put Joe Burrow on ice see you next year. And you could certainly find folks, smart folks who are like, what's the point of playing it? But human beings do change their minds, and dude, change their perspectives and mind when it comes to Joe Burrow changed when I listen to him on Thursday night. Now, if the Bengals are playing in games where it doesn't impact the playoff race for either team, I wholeheartedly believe he should not play. Wholeheartedly believe they should protect their investment. But as long as there's a chance, and as long as you have a guy in this era of load management in one particular league where it's like these dudes don't want to play, which is not entirely fair to the players. Here you have a guy who, in the midst of dire circumstances, with a guaranteed contract that is making him generationally wealthy, dude worked his ass off to come back and makes it known playing and playing my best and winning matters. How could you tell that guy no, I get the risk again, we all understand the math. But you got a guy who says, look, man, this is hard. We got a very uphill battle. But I want to play. I've worked my ass off to play. I want to be with my teammates, I want to have something to say about how this season goes. I'm playing. You can't tell him no, So it's not some much a mia Kulpa didn't have any major issue with him playing against the Baltimore Ravens. But for as long as this goes, they don't have a great chance, but they do have a mathematically possible chance as long as they do. I don't understand how you could say to Joe Burrow. Yeah, it's cool that you want to be out there. It's cool that you've worked your tail off to get back, it's cool that you're putting the team ahead of yourself, but we're gonna put you on the bench in games that matter. Can't do it, and I'm with him in particular, I'm not gonna do it again. Now if it's Week eighteen and it's Bengals Browns and Cincinnati is trying to avoid an eleventh loss, and there's an E next to their name in the standings, and they're cooked, and they're not playing in January. No matter what play, Joe Flacco play, Jake Browning, play Sean Clifford, run a contest, and have a frustrated former high school quarterback play whoever it is, doesn't matter to me. Then we go into investment protection mode. But until that happens, the mode is Joe, try it, Try to do what you can, and we appreciate your efforts. Fourteen minutes after five o'clock, I haven't gotten to a pole question yet because we've been busy. We have the iHeartMedia holiday party happening behind us, and it's going for a while. As as as holiday parties go, this I'm not even sure it's hit its peak yet. It might not peak until Like Lance is done with his show. Tonight, we'll find out. Richard Skinner is gonna join us from a Local twelve, Eric Wood, Buffalo Bill's coloring. The party ends at seven. Yes, officially, I'm gonna go to the NKU basketball game go on, you know, I mean we are, we are broadcasting from the party, but it's it's not that much fun to show up to a party late, right, you know, like three hours late. Everybody's head here. I am like maybe the basketball games at seven, maybe I'll hang out for We'll see, We'll see how I feel. We'll see who's here Eric Wood. In about thirty minutes, you'll hear Wes Miller and Richard Patino their final availabilities before the Skyline Chili Crosstown shootout. But first our friend from Local twelve, Richard Skinner.
01:28:59
Speaker 17: Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:29:04
Speaker 3: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.
01:29:07
Speaker 18: U SEE Health's Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise. Call five one three nine three nine two two sixty three. That's nine three nine two two sixty three. On eastbound two seventy five. There is an accident that is after coal rain on Plainfield Road. Another crash at Montgomery Road and Reed Hartman Highway. A new accident in at Osbourne Boulevard northbound seventy one. Traffic slow between Dana and Ronald Reagan Highway. I'm at ezelic with traffic.
01:29:36
Speaker 3: This report is this weekend.
01:29:39
Speaker 1: The Bengals are bringing their own brand of football to Buffalo when they go hunting for a win. Did I tell you about the last time I was in below I ate fifty wings is leathered in hot sauce. Let's just say I had to stampede my way to a stall in the men's room. The Bengals paddle the Bills. Coverage begins at YEP Sunday stream for free on the new and improved iHeartRadio app or ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengal.
01:30:10
Speaker 3: Richard Skinner, I got the thanks.
01:30:14
Speaker 19: Talk to you in part five Postman, Law and Vice Skyline Chile on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengal.
01:30:23
Speaker 3: Richard Skinner from Local twelve joins us every Wednesday Local twelve dot com at Local twelve Skinny to talk about the Bengals as they get set to take on the Buffalo Bills. Hi Skinny, Hi Mo.
01:30:36
Speaker 20: How are you have the party?
01:30:37
Speaker 3: The party is it's almost out of control. I'm almost afraid to get off the ear to see what is happening when I leave this room. I'm afraid for the future of some of my coworkers. A lot of mayhem, a lot of mayhem, and in the day and age of the camera phone, some questionable decisions are being made. Hey are the Bengals good now?
01:31:00
Speaker 27: Not good now? But I think you see signs of life. I mean, there's no doubt there's an energy level that Joe Burrow coming back, I think brought the entire team. But face the stats are stats. In the three weeks since the buy, the defense has given up twenty points, nineteen points and fourteen points and four five turnovers in that fourteen point game, so it's showing signs of life. I think that's all you needed. That's why I think it is conceivable that they they do run the table here. I think it's very much on the table that they run the table.
01:31:30
Speaker 3: I think it's very much on the table because not only is Joe burrowback, they're healthy offensively and speaking of good, I think they may actually have a decent offensive line.
01:31:40
Speaker 27: No, and that's the group that I think's really gotten better as the season has gone along. And I'd like to point the continuity, but it really hasn't been because the guard's spots has been influx at different times. Feels like just when you settled in to a group, but Jalen Rivers gets hurt. But then Dulton Riser comes in and actually they're not playing great in the stint when he played earlier this season, he's been really good couple of games, and so now you've kind of got him in there is the right guard, And yeah, I think.
01:32:04
Speaker 24: That's a big part of it.
01:32:05
Speaker 27: They've won the ball effectively pretty much for but five or.
01:32:09
Speaker 20: Six games in a row.
01:32:09
Speaker 27: Now, I guess you can take the Bears game out of it, but they threw the ball a lot because they.
01:32:13
Speaker 20: Were behind, so really it wasn't they weren't effective run the ball.
01:32:16
Speaker 11: He didn't run it very much.
01:32:17
Speaker 27: Yeah, they're they're showing really good balance on offense and so yeah, I think this.
01:32:21
Speaker 20: Team has a shot to make us say it again.
01:32:24
Speaker 27: Yeah, this team was pretty good.
01:32:25
Speaker 3: Is the light bulb flickering on? Or is it like fully on for Miles Murphy.
01:32:32
Speaker 27: It's funny. Paul danerm Junior and I both without talking to each other, made a b line for him in the locker room today, So I guess he decided he was one of the stories of this week.
01:32:41
Speaker 6: Yeah.
01:32:41
Speaker 27: I mean the last three games this is damning praise, and he's improved his PFF ranking by eighteen spots from where he was going into buy when he get his position. He's been noticeable in good ways.
01:32:51
Speaker 26: I know.
01:32:52
Speaker 27: I heard Paul bring it up yesterday the show, and he brought it up to Miles to day. I mean, the athletic breaking of running a running back down thirty forty yards down the field is just that those are some of the things he can do. I think the fact he's getting more consistent reps in games I think has helped probably get him into some kind of rhythm where instead of being just a rotational piece, you're in there until you get tired. He kind of mentioned that a little bit today of just being able to be on the field consistently has helped. That's probably true. And listen the other part too, It is I was as down on Miles Murphy as the bye week as anybody. Guys evolved at different paces. We'd love them to evolve by the third game of their rookies year, right, or at least sometime in their second year. And my god, he's better do it at some point in your third year. And he just looked like it was never going to come, and all of a sudden.
01:33:35
Speaker 20: Wow, well and behold it has.
01:33:38
Speaker 3: I'm going to ask you this every time I have you on for the rest of the season. Has Trey Hendrickson played his last nap with the Bengals.
01:33:46
Speaker 27: No, I don't think so. I think I think it's a very interesting case because we can all point say, yeah, making a business decision. I've seen this with an AJ Green playout before like this. It's also he could just be trying to get himself to literally not stepping on that field until I'm one hundred percent and there's a part of me that even thinks, if this is a mild business decision, that's ninety five percent that you get to those last three games when it means something against some teams you can probably I don't want to say pad sacks against them, get some sacks against to at least show people, hey, but I'm helping. I think that's that's the part to me. He's got to show people that he can still play at a high level, even as for a small batch at the end three games. Here again, I don't think he's going to free agency expecting to get a.
01:34:29
Speaker 24: Bag of gas if he doesn't play another down for the Bengals.
01:34:31
Speaker 27: Issuer. I just don't think there's any team that's going to be willing to throw a ton of money at him. A thirty few year old guy's coming off whatever it was in fact, yet tell his business is an issue.
01:34:39
Speaker 3: What is the longest you have ever been stuck on an airplane for?
01:34:45
Speaker 18: I was on a.
01:34:45
Speaker 27: Tarmac once I was connecting for a flight to Arizona to cover the Bengals a couple of years ago, and I remember we were waiting for a gate at Ohare for almost two hours and It was painful because I had left myself a nice connection time and still didn't make that connection. And there's nothing more frustrating that, especially when you run to the gate like an idiot, knowing the gates about the closed, and by guy you've just closed and she was gonna have none of opening it back up for me. And all I remember saying there is you're gonna find you another airline to get on, and you're gonna.
01:35:14
Speaker 11: Do it right now.
01:35:15
Speaker 3: All right, that's not bad. Did you Did you bond with the people that you were with?
01:35:19
Speaker 27: No, I'm a window seat, put your piece in and watch the TV on the back of my screen kind of guy.
01:35:25
Speaker 3: Likewise, well, thank you so much, and we'll have you next week and I'll ask you about Trey hendrickson the exact same question. Looking forward to it, and it'll be a valid question. That's no question, skinny. Thanks many. That's our guy, Richard Skinner from Local twelve and Local twelve Dot. We could have just done one of those like old school talk radio deals where it's like tell us about your worst travel experiences, but for many people these this day and age, it'd be like every single time you try to fly on an airplane. It's twenty nine after five o'clock. I'm putting the poll question up right now. We're gonna go We're gonna go early, and we're gonna go so easy, and we're gonna go obvious. Here it is, which men's basketball team will win this season? Skyline Chili Crosstown Shootout. Vote now at Muleger speaking of said men's basketball game. Richard Patino and Wes Miller talked today and you'll hear them next on ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:36:18
Speaker 19: You've been listening to Football in the NATI, brought to you by Cincinnati Tax Resolution powered by Tope Sheldon on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals. Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Traffic.
01:36:37
Speaker 18: From the uc Health Traffic Center. UC Health's Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care and expertise. Call five one three nine three nine two two sixty three. That's nine three, nine two two sixty three. We flane is blocked off from an accident on eastbound two seventy five after coal rain southbound Princeton Pike. It's an accident that is before progress place on Queens City Avenue. Another accident that is between Keebler Avenue and Quebec Road on at Ezelic with traffic.
01:37:07
Speaker 10: This report is sun.
01:37:08
Speaker 28: This is Dan Horr joined Dave Lapoman me for Bengals game plan tonight starting at six on the official home of the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen sir Hoards.
01:37:18
Speaker 3: Headlines are service of Kelsey Chevrolet, home of lifetime powertrain protection and guaranteed credit approval from their family to yours for life Kelsey chev dot Com. T Higgins did practice limited, same for Taj Brooks. They're coming out. We're trying to come out of the NFL's concussion protocol. Bengals getting set to take on the Bills on Sunday at one, the game live on ESPN fifteen thirty in Buffalo. Joey Bosa considered a week week. It doesn't look like he's gonna play at all. More Tonight Bengals game plans starting at six on ESPN fifteen thirty. Ken Anderson one of five finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of twenty twenty six. The other five. The five finalists are Bill Belichick, Robert c Roger Craig who should be in the Hall of Fame like Ken Anderson, ELC Greenwood and Kenny Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline, the new head coach at South Florida NKUS, won five straight. They played their first Horizon League game tonight against Cleveland State. Tips off at seven on Fox Sports thirteen sixty. Indiana's at Minnesota tonight and it congratulations to Ryan Kerwin, who was on the show earlier. He is the EHL Rookie of the Month for the month of November. By the way, it's close to fifty to fifty on Twitter at Moeger thanks to United Heartland Insurance pay lass for insurance. Go to uhi ns dot com. Which men's basketball team will win this season Skyline Chile Crossdown Shootout Early voting just underway. Fifty four percent of you say the Bearcats, Eric Wood in just a few minutes. Richard Patino and Wes Miller did talk today their final media availability before before Friday Nights Tilt. Here is the first year Xavier head coach on how he is treating his first Skyline Chili Crossdown Shootout.
01:39:08
Speaker 29: Well, I mean, I would say as boring as it sounds on a day to day, we approach it, you know, like any other game, and you know that's the responsibility of a coach. With that being said, you know, we know how passionate our fan base is. We know how passionate their fan base is. We're all so close together, you know, so we totally respect the rivalry and you know the amazing tradition that the game has. Our guys know it, you know, But on a day to day we're not working any harder, I can promise you. You see, he's doing the same thing. But we obviously know it is a huge game for both programs. You know, we're gonna fight our butt off to see if we can get a win.
01:39:56
Speaker 3: It's Richard Patino. Here's Richard Patino on how difficult it is to explore to first year players, which is pretty much all of them, how important this rivalry is. No, no, it's not.
01:40:08
Speaker 29: I mean, certainly if you had players playing in the game last year. But UC's dealing with the same thing. Everybody in college basketball is dealing with the same thing. Just because nobody on our team has played in the game doesn't mean that they don't understand how important it is. You know, it's a huge rivalry game, and so you know, big game, certainly the next game as well. But you know, I don't try to make a bigger deal of it as we're scouting, as we're preparing, than we would any other opponent. But everybody knows the gravity of the game on both sides.
01:40:46
Speaker 3: I had a teacher in high school, Scott my senior year. He taught I think it was business law. Maybe he sounds exactly like him. Richard Patino does exactly like him. Here's Wes Miller, who doesn't sound like any of my high school teachers. He was asked what did he learn in last year's Crosstown shootout win? And he can apply to this year.
01:41:09
Speaker 26: I just think that experiencing you know, the game now for a handful of years, I think I have an appreciation for what it means to this community, the importance of it historically. Again, we're gonna play a lot of big games and a lot of meaningful games. I don't even mean to say that none of them are meaningful.
01:41:30
Speaker 12: They're all meaningful.
01:41:30
Speaker 26: But we're gonna play a lot of games where there's a lot of excitement. But this one's special because it means so much to Cincinnati and I've learned to really appreciate that, respect that and just you know, appreciate that I get to experience a rivalry like that.
01:41:49
Speaker 3: Is he doing his press conference from the bottom of a well, here's things to camera? Like is in like four K Maybe they took that audio different, like somebody drop a bucket down for Wes to grab onto or something. Here's Wes Miller talking about how he is looking forward to seeing how his team responds to the hostile environment on Friday night.
01:42:12
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think.
01:42:17
Speaker 26: You know, we all are The games are fun, right this, competitors and the moment that the games aren't fun, then you guys can catch me on the first t you know, I mean, I got seriously like, the games are fun, and so then you know, the higher the level of the game, you know, the more excitement there is. So yeah, there's there's always excitement for all. We're gonna play a ton of big games and they're all they all matter, and they're all big to me. But you know, the big twelve games and the Power four games and the games and big environments. Yeah, that stuff's fun. There's no coach speak here. That stuff's fun. Competitors enjoy those type of things. And yeah, I think there's excitement about that.
01:43:00
Speaker 3: All right, there's Wes Miller talking earlier today, Terry, we have Eric Wood in a few minutes. How are we doing on time? We got about two minutes that we could air. Every day, we sit down and we try to put together and sometimes we succeed and sometimes weil. We try to put together a good show, a combination of commentary and guests and opinion and perspectives that we blend together, and what we hope is a good, solid three hours of free sports talk radio entertainment. And yet there are folks who believe we should blow all that up and just revolve around one person's phone call. That person is waiting. Mike, you got about a minute. You're on ESPN fifteenth thirty.
01:43:42
Speaker 20: Hey, granks for taking care of me. I appreciate you, buddy.
01:43:45
Speaker 24: Hey, I wanted to ask you.
01:43:48
Speaker 20: Remember when you were interviewing the Rookie of the Month and the ECLS and you made a comment you said, boy, I wish I had it went to Arizona State. You still ever say of stuff like that? Is he gotten older all the time?
01:44:03
Speaker 3: Yes, yes, all the time.
01:44:05
Speaker 20: Because I know how much you're fond of warm weather and all that stuff.
01:44:09
Speaker 3: I wish, I love, I love Mi Alma Mater. There is a part of me that wishes that I would have gone to school in a different part of the country, or gone to a school were college football is a big deal.
01:44:22
Speaker 20: I still think Zager's going to win this game. I just think Patino is gonna help coaching. But I found out something whether Shwar was saying so intriguing. I'll talk to you about it some other days. Very intriguing and with a lot of fun. I agree with you, But the Cowboys, and I hate the Cowboys with a passion since the Little Boys. But I found out today they have four linemen offensive linemen that are twenty four years of age or under, and they've been playing great. So I think the two dark horses in the NFC is the Cowboys, or maybe not a dark horse now. And I think that that Texans team is really serious.
01:45:01
Speaker 3: With that defense, don't you. I do? I do, and more of a factor this year because of how wide open the AFC is. Now. We'll see if they're capable of scoring enough. But that defense, that defense plays in a way that a lot of people don't think you can play defense anymore. And you're right about the Dallas Cowboys. They have absolutely nailed it in the draft when it comes to the offensive line, and they have again this year that their offense makes them legitimate too.
01:45:33
Speaker 6: Mike.
01:45:33
Speaker 3: I've enjoyed talking about pro football in the state of Texas, but I got to get to Eric Wood. Thank you as always, Thank you so much. Will You're very welcome. Elder High School's Eric Wood is the color analyst for the Buffalo Bills Radio Network and he joins US.
01:45:47
Speaker 17: Next Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.
01:45:52
Speaker 3: Traffic from the UC Health Traffic Center.
01:45:55
Speaker 18: You see Health's Weight Loss Center offers surgical and medical obesity care. Bertise Cullpipe one three nine three nine two two sixty three. That's nine three nine two two sixty three. An earlier accident has been cleared out on eastbound two seventy five, that is after Coleraine on Paddock Road. Another accident that is near Town Street southbound Princeton Pike also still got that crash before Progress Place and Queen City Avenue. Crashed between Keebler Avenue and Quebec Road on at Ezelic with traffic.
01:46:25
Speaker 10: This report is sponsored by Servati Cincinnati.
01:46:28
Speaker 3: Pabamer standing by with Bengals game plan coming up as soon as we're done at six oh five Bengals and Bills on Sunday. Eric Wood, the former Elder Panther and Louisville Cardinal, is the color analyst on the Buffalo Bills Radio network and kind enough to join us. It's awesome to have you, as always love having you whenever the Bengals played the Bills. Buffalo is eight and four. How would you describe the season to this point?
01:46:53
Speaker 20: It's been a roller coaster rode.
01:46:54
Speaker 12: You come into the season with a lot of expectations, high expectations at that start off the season four to oh and then with injuries and a lack of a passing game at times and turnover issues that are rearing the taed this year, find ourselves at eight and four, but still a long way to go in this season, and there's still plenty of optimism around the franchise, But with the injuries, especially at receiver in them including Dalton Kinkadar tight end in that and on the defensive side of the ball, it's led to some more struggles this year than we're probably anticipated.
01:47:30
Speaker 3: So Obviously, James Cook has been a savior. He's been awesome this year. I'm not sure the Bengals are equipped to take him away. But when teams do take him away, where does Buffalo find more consistency in the passing game?
01:47:43
Speaker 12: Well, against the Ravens early on in the season and against the Buccaneers, those are the two games the passing game really came a lot this year.
01:47:52
Speaker 6: It's spreading the ball around.
01:47:53
Speaker 12: They have this philosophy of everybody eats and they want to spread the ball around to all their different playmakers. The backs out of the backfield will catch the ball well. The most consistent pass catcher on the season has been Dalton Kinkaid, the tight end who was drafted as more or less a receiver, not necessarily an inline blocker in the first round out of Utah, and so when he's been healthy, which has now been a consistent thing this year, he's been the main focal point of the offense in the passing game. We hope to get him back this week. Josh Palmer was brought in a free agency and he was likely going to be our top receiving threat on the outside beyond Khalil Shakir. But he's been dinged up for a majority of this season and doesn't sound great for him to return this week.
01:48:38
Speaker 3: Josh Allen, when he's at his best, he's an MVP. I've seen him at his best at times this year, not all season long. We've talked about the injuries. How would you grade his play this season? Yeah, I think it's been up and down.
01:48:51
Speaker 12: And you know, a lot of what the Bills have done this year is if you can't stop the run, they'll simply run it into submission, and so there's games where he doesn't have to do a whole lot. The design runs for him have been down this year. I think that's by design. Where As he progresses throughout his career, you want to use him less like a battering ram out there, but they will turn to it, especially in the red zone. But they're trying to get away from that as much as possible and lean into more of a traditional run game to quite frankly, extend his career. This is an organization that you know, the leadership within our organization in the front office and head coach, we're around for Cam Newton in Carolina and the last thing they want to do is break him down in similar.
01:49:33
Speaker 27: Ways that they did to.
01:49:37
Speaker 12: What the Panthers did with Cam Newton in Carolina. So that being said, I think he's had some great performances this year. They haven't had to rely on him a ton this year. But I will say this, the passing game has been one of our weaknesses this year. At times it looks great and then there's other times where he misses a couple throws, there's a couple of pen these, there's a turnover to and a lack of separation on the outside and it doesn't look great.
01:50:06
Speaker 3: We all watched the Bills play the Steelers on Sunday, rooting for Buffalo. Pittsburgh's offense seemed broken. It did feel like a step in the right direction for the Bills. On defense, it'd be great from your perspective if you had Joey Bosa moving forward. We will see. But what's the strength of this Buffalo defense.
01:50:25
Speaker 12: Yeah, I would say the strength of the defense is the past defense. Christian Benford's our lockdown corner. I would expect him to travel a bunch with Jamar Chase throughout the game. And this is one of the top ranked secondaries as far as the statistics go. In the league, and we've gotten younger and more athletic in the secondary at a few different spots. Cole Dish of second year safety is playing great. On the back end of the defense. The tackling has improved. That's been an issue at times this year where you've seen some of these monster rushing performances against this defense.
01:50:57
Speaker 3: That has seemed to improve.
01:50:59
Speaker 12: In Shack Timpson filling in that linebacker this season, which I would expect him to start again this week against the Bengals, he has been a boost to this defense.
01:51:08
Speaker 3: So we'll see.
01:51:09
Speaker 12: You know, this is a defense that kind of similar to the offense, has been on a little bit of a roller coaster rode.
01:51:15
Speaker 6: That's where you see us at eight and four.
01:51:16
Speaker 3: Sean McDermott has been there for what feels like forever, and in NFL term, since twenty seventeen. That is an eternity. What's the biggest strength of Sean McDermott as a head coach?
01:51:28
Speaker 12: Yeah, I got I was fortunate enough to play for him for one season and remain friends with him to this day, and I would say the consistency that he brings from his leadership that permeates into the team where he doesn't get too high, he doesn't get too low. He generally gets this team peaking towards the end of the season. In the last since twenty twenty, I believe, from the last week in November through the end of the regular season, the Bills are twenty eight and five since twenty twenty.
01:51:58
Speaker 6: One of those is.
01:52:00
Speaker 12: A meaningless game where we didn't play our starters, and two of those are overtime losses. And so he generally gets this team to peak towards the end of the season. But I would say his strength is just the consistency that he brings each and every day, modeling it by example, but then that permeating into the team.
01:52:18
Speaker 3: Awesome stuff. Eric, It's got to be fun when you call a game between your team and your hometown team. Should be an interesting game on Sunday. We appreciate the time as always, Thanks so much.
01:52:28
Speaker 12: Yeah, for sure, it's always fun to call this matchup. It was fun to play in these matchups and always look forward to seeing my man Dave Lapham, you know, one of the biggest personalities in the broadcast booth area. Whenever I get to see him, so always enjoy it.
01:52:44
Speaker 3: Ring of honor inductee Dave Lapham. You got to make sure you mentioned that when you see him on Sunday.
01:52:49
Speaker 12: Okay, absolutely, I need to bring him a note and congratulate him.
01:52:53
Speaker 6: There you go.
01:52:54
Speaker 3: Eric Would, longtime Buffalo Bill, former Elder Panther, former Louisville Cardinal, the color analyst on the Buffalo Bills radio network. We are done. Bengals game plan is just a few minutes away. Brian Anderson from TNT Sports is calling the Skyline Chile Crosstown shootout. He is going to join us at five oh five tomorrow. We are back at three oh five tomorrow. Don't forget Tony Pike since E three sixty at noon, and there you go. Bengals game plan is next to have a great night. Thanks to Tarren Bland for producing, and thanks to you for listening. Have an awesome night. This is ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports station.
