Is Tony Pike's Friday Football Frenzy show, brought to you in part five.

Hello Windows and Door Making life writer Pelean now Hey.

Later Skyline Shilly Stealing Good.

It's Skyline time.

Encore Technologies, visit OnCore dot Tech, Hudson Oil, Healing Champions, on and off the field, Game Day, Man's Health, Start your best life today and by that Creation Museum it's more than a museum.

Visit Creation Museum dot Org today on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

All right, welcome back.

It's our number two, thanks to our friends here at Cincy Shirts.

Let's do it.

Let's get our number two started here on a Friday.

The only way we know how, it's by welcoming to our guy, Charlie Goldsmith, who joins us each and every Friday to kick off the second hour.

Charlie, what's going on?

Man?

Tony doing well?

How are you?

Charlie?

I have one question about the Bearcats and then we'll move on.

I have to ask, when March Madness rolls around and the committee sits down, will they view the Bearcats with and then without giggle?

James?

So, can we just throw the other losses out the door and view this team going forward since Gigsel James is now back.

The most fascinating part to me about all this with Jiggle James, and I'm just speaking from a basketball perspective, is the maturation and the growth that had to happen with his own game, being a more consistent player this year.

So how much he's actually improved while he's been away, you know, I kind of need to see it.

But if he grows, you know, we all know the upside, but I'm interested to see him more during the rest of the season.

Let's start with the Bengals, Charlie.

Let's start with what we've recently learned.

Zach Taylor speaking after practice.

Chris Jenkins is going on the IR, Joseph Osaiah is out, t Higgins is questionable.

Which of those three is the most significant for Sunday's game in particular?

The most significant obviously is Key.

But I'm intrigued by the state of this defensive line right now, like right now, right now, and how they'd finished the season without us or not, but potentially without us side and without Jenkins of course, you know it's an opportunity.

How do you want to use Shamar Stewart inside outside, rushing out of this spot on early downs, that spot on late downs.

Miles Murphy's another guy.

They've never really had an opportunity to say, all right, Miles, go be the guy this week.

So because of how little infrastructure there is around them, you know, there's no like Trey Hendrickson lining up on the left side, you can kind of structure that those rotations whoever you want.

So how do you do that to try to evaluate those pieces you have on the defensive line?

And then how do you cycle in the depth?

You know your set Johnson, you're McKinley, Jackson's behind them.

How important are these next three for Miles Murphy?

I feel like we don't know anything about Miles Murphy and what we do know, we know about the uncertainty of Trey hen in the future.

JOSEPHO Size in a contract hear Miles Murphy has played better down the stretch.

But how important, how vital are these final three weeks for Miles Murphy or for su I'm sorry for Shamar Stewart.

For Shamar Stewart, So Samar had some of the most like I guess the best way to describe it is like if you were just looking at the batting average, even if it was a small sample size, he probably had the worst batting average of anyone on the Bengals, just in terms of how many bad plays he was making.

And I think what you saw there was just the lack of reps and the lack of attention to detail catching up to him and getting exposed in the biggest way, and he was literally getting benched to make game every single game.

What I've been told, what I've seen, what I've heard is that they did fign some things from a homework, from a preparation, from an attention to detail, not his attention in meetings, but using what he's learned in meetings and all that kind of stuff and applying that.

What I've heard is there have been some positives, but obviously you've got to prove it.

So it's not even about the sacks from him for me down the stretch that I want to see.

It's execute your assignments, make tackles, find a way to play with a bit more confidence, and hopefully find something to build on heading into the offeaver.

The linebacker position you're talking about going into the offseason, do you view Demitrius Night and Barck Carter as linebackers that are improving each week?

Are you there yet or do you still need to see more they're improving.

I haven't seen them at a starter level.

I thought Dmitrius played at a starter level against Baltimore and that was his first time probably since like the Broncos game in Week four, where you can say that about him.

How I view the room next year, and this is just me right now, is I'd like to go out and get a let's call him a linebacker, one who can kind of be the rock of your defense in the middle, and then let Barrett and Demetrius and Orrin Burke's kind of rotate around and maybe they all have sub package roles and mix and match, and maybe one of the young guys like Carter Knight does pop and take that step into a development and develop into a starting linebacker.

But Miami is actually a huge game for both of them.

First, because this on paper isn't a quarterback who should give them a lot of headaches.

We'll probably try to keep things simple and quick in ways that stressed the linebackers.

And then you don't need me to tell you how much.

Miami's versatile and dynamic and explosive rushing attack with a fullback in front of the running back challenges and puts a ton on the plate of the linebackers.

One of the more interesting schematic things to me about this game is they've been taking Night off when fullbacks are in as a way to kind of like take things off his plate.

I think it's how it's been described.

They don't want him to have to learn a million packages and a million different looks.

Well, now that they're eliminated, do you just let Night work through that and you know, see if he can win a block against Alex Ingold.

That's one of the more interesting schematic things to me about this game.

But this is a game where the linebackers will be in the microscope.

This game, in general, there are very few teams that rely more on yards after the catches.

The Miami Dolphins add in a quarterback making his first start, and how devastating Devin Hang can be in the open field versus the problems we just outlined with the Cincinnati Bengals is that what this comes down to on Sunday on the defensive side is tackling on space in your opinion that and.

From what I'm getting from what I was hearing in the locker room yesterday, a lot of pressure looks and a lot of this guys is trying to throw things at Quinn.

You were that, to be honest, Lamar Jackson didn't even handle that long, and the Bengals stewarded him in those games against Baltimore things that yours hadn't seen before.

I think.

I don't think yours is going to play well at all.

Like third string linebackers don't get reps, and it's a short week for Miami and they have so many guys who were hurt, so I doubt that they were doing a lot of full speed practice reps over the course of the week.

So that's a really tough spot for a kid to make his debut.

They'll probably try to run the ball a million times and throw a screen off it, maybe set up one shot for him to take a shot and hope you find a bus that coverage on the other side there.

But that stresses the Bengals just playing clean all around overall football.

Tony and I talked earlier this week about the idea of winning these games versus losing them, and improving the potential draft slot.

Zach Taylor said, very bluntly, we want to win.

That's why Joe Burrow is playing in these games.

How important do you think it is to the culture of the team and specifically those young players to win these games on the way out this season?

Well, this is the chance for you know, Miles Murphy to start leading, and for DJ Turner to start leading, and for the rookie linebackers to keep trying to do that.

Jack Kill is the guy you can put in that category, loop in with the veterans on offense, Chase Brown and ire Josebash into that tier of players.

So it's an opportunity to try to get a feel for what you want it to feel like with those guys stepping into more cential roles.

From an intangible perspective, in twenty twenty six, what I really go back to is I truly, truly, truly believe said some of the final few games of the season in twenty nineteen and in twenty twenty for the Bengals ended up meaning something tangible in the long term, for Tyler Boyd, for cju Zama, for Sam Hubbard, for Jesse Bates, Like I really saw like I saw.

I think we all thought carry over from the confidence, you could start to feel themselves carrying.

You saw that translate then dame to win.

The Bengals were good.

So you know, obviously the young core of the Bengals have now not proven yet.

But if they're going to become the next version of those guys, all right, let's see it.

Go do it offensively, Charlie.

Obviously, coming off a game in which this offense was shut out and at times across the game lifeless.

I know they got inside the thirty five four times, they came away with zero points.

What are you expecting to see from them now?

Coming back?

We know Joe Burrow is gonna play.

Historically, Joe Boro bounces back from a bad performance in a big way.

What are you expecting to see from this offense on Sunday?

This was just a very normal week, Like there was no uh, all right, let's reassess everything.

Now that you know.

Joe Burrow just had a bad game.

But I think they chalked it up to facing a great Ravens defense.

Let's let's call it what it is.

The cold was a part of the equation for both sides.

For both offenses, and we saw the cold impact both teams, and it's just something the Bengals and Burrow will have to handle better than the next time.

During one of those brutally cold games, he saw them packed drops by the receivers.

Biggest thing for the offense probably be you can't have the lapses and miss assignments and pass protection that Baltimore had to let the free runners up the middle going straight up Burrow, and you throw Burrow into that because some of those were things you could have corrected and adjusted up front before the snap.

But overall, like they're not, like their quotes say the opposite, but they view it as kind of just an outlier and let's go re you know, gather yourself and get ready to face the Dolphins.

Right now, Chase Brown and some AJ p Ryan, we've seen games this year that the carries are about fifty to fifty.

I think p Ryn had one more carry than Chase Brown.

What do you think the end all plan is at running back and how they want in an ideal situation, and I know the game dictates a lot of that, but an ideal situation, how do they want those those snaps to be handled?

I meant to go through this.

I didn't, but I'll bet you that p Run got I bet he got like three or four carries on that final give up drive with seven minutes left.

So if you take those carries out, yeah, a lot of times in peer and I can, then I can visualize this very clearly off the top of my head, several second and one third and one spots where they handed the ball to p R So he is the backup.

This is Chase Brown's show.

Sometimes gain situation.

How many start downs you get, how many red zone snaps you get, all of the specific nuanced stuff that's truly random about how many of those situations you get game to game will lead to more snaps for you know, it will lead to a snap percentage changing.

But this is a Chase Brown show.

They think they know he's a top ten back in the league.

I think he's a top ten back in the league.

Anything that you've seen that has led to a bigger role for p Ryan for me, is just the product of, oh, this happened to be a game where there were more third downs, or oh he got some carries, running the ball out, running the clock out down the.

Stretch, Charlie the wide receiver three.

We've not talked about it a ton this year, and we don't know t Higgins status yet for Sunday, but I've seen different opportunities this year.

Andrey Yoshivash won without a catch last week.

Mitchell Tinsley has not really excelled when given the opportunity.

Jermaine Burton is no longer on this roster, do you still think there is time for Andrey yoshi Vash or do you view wide receiver three as maybe not currently on the roster for next year.

I mean, the idea of the Jermaine Burton pick was right because it's exactly what they need.

And that's not me defending the Bengals because it was just a massive myths of who he was.

Kind of from an intangibles perspective, that can't happen again, but that skill set is something you feel they desperately.

It's even going all the way down to Burton's ability on special teams and he was able to return punts.

Yo Sibosh to me has been one of the most disappointing parts of the season, and that has been on my mind.

So I went back and I watched all his catches from this year, and I was stunned how many body catches there were.

And to me, that wasn't a receiver who was going out and getting the ball.

I wasn't seeing that same confidence at the catchpoint from Andre And that's concerning That's something that's going to be hard to fix now, you know, without a chance to really build that up down the stretch of the season.

You know, it's kind of something you can only build kind of in big games.

Maybe you can do it in a game where you're just playing out the string.

Maybe he gets some catches against Miami and that becomes a turning point for him.

But to me, it's a thing where he just got to be more aggressive and you know, challenging and going up and getting the ball like we've seen him do in the past.

And if he doesn't, well, then you know we'll be looking at wide receivers during the offseason.

What was your reaction this week when you saw Paul Daanner's report that Zach Taylor actually had two years remaining on his contract and the way that Zach chose not to really say anything about it.

What did you make of that this week?

Yeah?

Really interesting?

My question and this is just all speculation.

Was the idea that this is like a rolling contract like you often see in college sports?

Was Zack interested in another year headed on to his deal after twenty twenty three?

Where you know, twenty twenty three you said what you want about, you know, the Bengals not making the playoffs, But that was the year that got Brian Callahan a head coaching job.

So what was the plan moving forward?

Ideally, if you know in their mind they were just going to keep making the plas every year, what was their long term plan from a contract perspective?

Then with Zak?

How has that changed?

What was their plan?

Anyway, when we got to the end of the twenty twenty sixth season, they oh, by the way, Zak still worked you without a new contract extension announced.

It raised a lot of those questions for me.

But already heading into you know, the great work by Paul, I wasn't expecting a coaching change this season.

Charlie, Have you allowed yourself to start looking at mock draft simulations?

No?

Have you allowed yourself?

Have you allowed yourself the possibility that they draft like offense?

Can they go get Jeremiah Love and just go all in on the offense.

You can't, it's well, I think that's disrespectful to Chase Brown.

So I think he's just a great player what they need.

And it's just me.

I haven't studied Caleb downs enough yet, but if he depending, I'll be looking for the versatility from him, and if he can play multiple positions, that boosts them up significantly.

What this team needs is more help on the defensive, and adding a premier, explosive defensive lineman with production is something you can do with the top ten picks.

So that's where I'm leaning right now.

We'll leave you with the Reds question, Charlie.

I know that you've often talked about how the Reds have five or ten ish million dollars left to spend.

They spent some of it on a relief pitcher in Caleb Ferguson.

I know he met with the media yesterday.

What do we know about him, how does he fit into the bullpen?

And do we expect any more moves from the Reds considering their budget.

First of all, like I like the move.

I like to move, it's particularly in a vacuum.

Like Cary Francona called Caleb Ferguson to the you know, like welcome him to the squad, And Francona said, and we heard this from Ferguson, thank you, Like you were in need on our roster last year and like you just can't go into games like the right the way the Reds were without a left you felt like you can count on Ferguson is a lead against left handed hitters, a lot of playoff experience, a lot of Les Verridge experience.

He was the guy I had a de top rated lefty on my board and they found up for cheaper than I thought they would.

So you gotta say that's a good move.

But you say that and then it's not even end of sentence.

It's trauma.

But what about the best?

And clearly like kind of like I've said all along, they just viewed bullpen and getting like adults in the bullpen as the biggest need on the roster because of how you need that consistency to get you through through a season.

And so now when you'll get opportunities to improve your lineup, it's platoon.

It's complete bilo bounceback guys, or it'd be like trying to find the next Will Benson, and I know it hasn't worked out with Will, but is there a guy and another forty man roster here?

Like you know what we see it?

And then in twenty twenty three, Will Benson was a very good player.

So like some platoon free agents on my radar, Austin Hayes would be great, even an everyday guy, Rob Refschneider, the AM I like on the trade market, like the met a logjam of young infield prospects on one of them available where you trade one of your young relievers.

You know, Ryan Mountcastle kind of lost his job when the Orioles got pi Alonzo.

Is he available on a trade now?

So it's kind of looking not in the most premier places, but kind of trying to find diamonds in the rough for opportunities to get nice offensive players, even if no one's going to be a big big, Like all right, this guy changes your lineup.

That as Charlie Goldsmith before I let you go, Charlie, Just to kind of round off this conversation of going everywhere, what were your initial thoughts seeing Brendan Soarzby put his name in the portal and what that means for the Bearcat football program?

You know what first of all, I keep going back to the point of how hard it's going to be to find and develop a quarterback who reaches that level.

In terms of the NFL draft buzz, he was getting well, he could have a nice pro career as a backup or as a third stringer.

It always though, felt that what they'll need from the quarterback position will be a bit more than that.

So how do you get a bigger success at quarterback than that when also you probably won't have as much like running back talent it's shortby Tad here or tight end talum it's hortsby Tad in Cincinnati.

So how do you reach that level?

To me is the big existential question that I'll be thinking about about UC football.

Charlie Goldsmith, The easiest way, especially here around the holiday season, was so much going on.

What's the easiest way to follow along with everything you got happening is.

Charlie shockboard on substack and on Fox nineteen.

Charlie, you're the man.

Appreciate you have a great, great holiday next week and we'll touch base after that.

Thanks Charlie, Happy holidays, guys, Thank you Charlie.

That is Charlie Goldsmith.

By the way, Austin.

Have you seen what Ken Rosenthal put out earlier?

I did not about the Pittsburgh Pirates.

No, Brandon Lowell is a pirate that's been made officials right now.

It is officially in the physical side of things, the medical review.

But right now, according to Ken Rosenthal, Brandon low and I now see talking Baseball has picked it up as well, Brandon Lowe in a three team trade involving the Astros and Rays.

The Pirates are going to pick up Brandon low Jake Magnum, and Mason Montgomery.

Interesting.

So the Pittsburgh Pirates have added a substantial and significant bat that's been on the market.

Imagine that something else to keep an eye on as teams continue to make moves.

Let's take a break, let's come back, and let's hear from you the listener with your talkbacks.

Next on the Friday Football Friends at ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

Hey, it's small legger, Join us mon