This is Tony Pike since he three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored in.

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Stop by Skyline Chili for a three way or cheese cony today.

Feeling good, It's Skyline time.

This is ESPN fifteen thirtie Cincinnati Sports Station.

Hi, Hello and welcome in to Tony Pikes Sincy three sixty here on ESPN fifteen thirty.

My name is Austin Ellmore.

I'm not Tony Pike.

The big fella is out today.

He'll be back tomorrow.

Looking forward to a Friday football frenzy, one of our final ones of the year as we reached the final three weeks of the NFL regular season.

Bengals are on the road at Miami this weekend.

And while there's there's not really a lot to talk about when it comes to the x's and the o's and the execution of the game and how you know, game plans are formulated and what the strategy might be against Quinn and Jalen Wattle and Devin a Chan.

I think that's lost on a lot of people now with the game not having any playoff ramifications for either side, I think both organizations are now into evaluation mode, and I think for the Bengals, it's more about what do we learn about this team that can be applied to the offseason and applied to future Bengals teams.

I think that's what the rest of this season is about.

So when it comes to what's actually going to happen on the field, as long as Joe Burrow doesn't get hurt, as long as the Bengals don't get embarrassed, I think that's kind of the number one thing that people are looking for.

I'll be watching on Sunday.

I look forward to it.

We'll talk a lot about what Joe Burrow had to say yesterday, including in this first segment.

You'll hear from the Bengals quarterback.

You're gonna hear from him throughout the show because he spoke for twenty minutes yesterday about a lot of different stuff.

It was the exact opposite think of the press conference that took place a week ago yesterday, which sent the national media into a frenzy about the future of Joe Burrow.

We'll talk about that as well, coming up in football in the Natty, and we'll talk about Zach Taylor and rehash what he said yesterday, and in particular in exchange that he had yesterday with a reporter about his contract.

That's all coming up in just a minute, but our typical Thursday show, we'll talk to John Sheeran from A to Z Sports covering the Cincinnati Bengals.

Wrote a great piece today that really centers around my number one topic, which is this offseason.

I do think the Bengals are closer than we think.

I'll explain why a little bit later on.

We'll get John's perspective at one o'clock.

We'll have our talkbacks as we normally do at one twenty.

At two o'clock, Keegan Nickoson from Bearcatjournal dot com will join us.

I've got questions about how we got here with Jisel James and how we got here with the bear Cat football program.

They've made a couple of moves in recent days to try to sustain what they have been doing.

We'll talk to Keegan about all of that.

We'll do a college basketball whip around.

Following that, you'll hear from Richard Patino, from Darren Horn, from Wes Miller in our number three as well, and we'll also talk to Chad Brindle.

Chad is in for Moegar this afternoon from three to six.

Chad will stop by four quick hits at the end of the show.

What happened last night, though, Well, let's start with the college hoops.

The Bearcats beat Alabama State eighty eight fifty one at Fifth Third Arena.

Big night from Bob.

Bob Miller twenty six points on eleven of twelve from the field at fourteen rebounds as well.

He was spectacular as the Bearcats get right against one of the worst defensive teams in the country.

Bob, as i mentioned, had twenty six Gisel James off the bench twenty minutes of action had sixteen points for Cincinnati.

We'll talk more about Jigsele as the show goes along.

Xavier got smoked in their Big East opener.

They were at home at the Centas Center against Creighton, and Creighton whooped them ninety eight to fifty seven.

Muskies are now eight and four.

They traveled to Georgetown on Saturday.

Again.

You'll hear from Richard Patino later on in the show.

NK you lost as well.

In Horizon League play.

They lost to Oakland eighty two seventy seven.

The Norris are nine and four, but They're one and two to begin Horizon League play.

They host Charleston on Sunday.

You'll hear from Darren Horn later.

If you're wondering about Kentucky, they've got like a whole week off.

They beat Indiana over the weekend and they don't play again until Saturday against Saint John's.

That is eleven AM coverage beginning right here on ESPN fifteen thirty circling back to the Horizon League.

I don't know if you saw this, but Doug Gottlieb, the head coach at Green Bay and also the host of the Doug Gottlieb Show on Fox Sports Radio, he announced that he's taken a break from his radio show.

He's stepping away to put more into being the coach of the green Bay Phoenix.

So that's interesting.

Other college sports news, Ohio University fired their head coach Brian Smith over quote serious misconduct.

To be the second year in a row that OU will be looking for a new head football coach.

Coming up tonight Thursday night football, huge, huge game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks.

This game is in Seattle at Lumenfield, home of the twelfth Man and both these teams have eleven wins.

This is basically the NFC West Championship game, and more than likely, whoever wins it is going to have the number one seed in the NFC.

A couple of big injuries, Seattle will be without their starting left tackle and best offensive lineman, Charles Cross.

Meanwhile, the Rams have listed DeVante Adams as doubtful with that hamstring injury he suffered on Sunday and has been dealing with for most of the season.

I believe will be a game time decision, but unlikely that he will play tonight.

If you're wondering about the gambling side of things, well, as of this morning, Seattle favored by a point and a half.

More on all of that a little bit later on.

Let's start, though, with what happened yesterday and the Zach Taylor press conference and the Joe Burrow press conference.

Everything this week with the Bengals had been centered around what's going to happen this offseason, whether it's Zach Taylor getting fired or Duke Tobin getting fired or somebody please got anybody getting fired.

That's kind of what it felt like Bengals fans wanted out of this season.

And once we got to this level and all the failures that have happened, Okay, who's going to pay the price to this?

Are any heads going to roll because of the failure that has been the twenty twenty five season in the answer to that question, basically as reported by Paul dayan Or Junior earlier this week, is nu And so my question has been, Okay, well, if they aren't going to fire anyone, what about your process is going to change so that you can fix it.

But there's been something that I don't quite understand that happened yesterday and I still don't understand it today.

So Dayner reports that Zach Taylor had a contract extension given to him after the twenty twenty two season.

The Bengals went to the AFC Championship Game, had a chance to win that game and lost, and Zach has given another one year extension on his contract.

It's not reported at the time, it's not announced by the team at the time.

No one knows that this happens until Paul reports it a couple of days ago, and so I think it's strange that it was never reported.

If you're the Bengals, why not when you give your coach a contract extension, announced that he's gotten a contract extension.

Especially at that point, vibes were at an all time high for this franchise.

Yeah, they had lost the AFC Championship game, but still they had gone to back to back AFC Championship games.

The new standard had been set.

This is our guy, we believe in him.

We've given him another contract extension.

We've added a year on.

Why you wouldn't explain that or announce that.

I don't understand, And let's say that you do it, And everyone's like, hey, we don't want to make a big deal of this.

I don't want anybody to know about this, blah blah blah.

Okay, well news dump it on a Friday afternoon in January before the Super Bowl at five point thirty in the afternoon.

Oh yeah, by the way, we added a year on to Zach Taylor.

Okay, cool.

Nobody would have said a word about it then.

Instead it becomes now a talking point because of the failures later on.

It would have shifted the entire perspective of this season for a lot of people.

Had we all known that Zach had two years left on his deal.

Now, I don't know that it should.

If you're underperforming, you're underperforming.

If you're the reason the team is losing, you're the reason the team is losing, and your job should be questioned.

I don't know that that Zach is the main reason for the failures this year, but it is without question he's played a role in it.

It's harder to justify firing a guy with two years left on his deal than one.

And so because that was not known, it shifted and shaped the conversation around Zach Taylor.

And so you fast forward to this week and you have Paul Danner Junior, who is as trusted and like as good as it comes when it comes to covering a team.

This is a dude who knows his stuff.

He's been doing it for a long time.

He's got great relationships in the organization.

If Paul reports it, it's true.

This is dude, a dude that is very well respected, reports it.

Why does Zach Taylor act like he doesn't want to talk about it.

What purpose does it serve Zach Taylor to not confirm this report?

What purpose does it serve?

How does it help him to say, uh, I don't want to talk about that.

How does it hurt him to say I don't want to talk about that.

What is the harm in admitting that your contract has an expiration date in twenty twenty seven.

We're not asking you to pontificate about the deal, not asking you to explain you know how it happened to Bob, but just say, hey, when's when's your contract actually up?

Oh?

Twenty twenty seven?

Okay?

Why is that hard for Zach Taylor to admit?

I struggle to understand the purpose of hiding that, of covering that up.

In case you missed it yesterday, here was the exchange with Zach Taylor and uh I believe it was Mike Petralia yesterday during Zach's press conference.

You don't get a chance to talk to ownership or do we don't get that opportunity.

What kind of assurances have you been given from Hong?

We just talk every week.

Every week you've talked about your contractor.

Every week we talk about everything.

When was the last time spoken about your contract?

And sass, that's not really part of our conversation.

It's every week.

We're just trying to create together a great plan to win football games and make sure our team's ready to go.

Make sure I'm ready to go.

So I know that's of curiosity to you guys, but we're just focused on being the Dolphins.

Fair to say that's reassessed after the season every year you invest them.

Yeah, yeah, we don't get a chance.

Okay, Well I'm sorry, Okay.

I'm just being straightforward with that.

We would ask them, Oh, we don't get them, Okay.

I didn't love that those questions came because Zach denied confirming that his contract was up in twenty twenty seven, that he had signed that extension following the AFC Championship game, And that little snippiness, that little arrogance, that little smile on the face of Zach Taylor, while Trags is just doing his job and asking the right questions and fair questions about it and making sure it's known to Zach, not that Zach needs to be reminded that, Hey, you're the one who has to answer these questions because we don't get to talk to anybody else.

And I just felt like, to me an avoidable thing, just say I don't want to talk about my contract.

I sign an extension and after the AFT Championship game it's up in twenty twenty seven.

But I know that we're focused on getting getting ready to beat the Miami Dolphins and turning this thing around.

It could be that simple.

But yet again there's a complicated inefficiency to the communication of this franchise, unnecessary complications to the communication.

It happens repeatedly.

Over and over and over and over again, and in a season that has already been stained by the failures on the field and stained by the nonsense of the contract situations off of it.

Whether it was early in the year dragging it out with t and Jamar, or the Shamar Stewart thing, or the Trey Hendrickson thing, and now the Zach Taylor thing, there is very little alignment on the clear messaging by the organization other than Zach's gonna be the guy who stands up there and takes all the arrows.

And this will be in the news cycle for a couple of days and then it'll go away and everybody will forget after we play another game.

I just don't understand why there cannot be more transparency or understanding of what is or is not the truth and what the plan is for Zach Taylor.

And I don't understand why Zach can't just say yes, this is my contract status.

It is again at least in my mind, and it may not be talked about by anybody in that organization.

Just another unnecessary conversation, Another unnecessary distraction.

Here we go again.

Here's something that doesn't actually pertain to football that's being talked about.

How is that helpful to anybody?

But based off the way they played on Sunday, maybe you don't want to talk about football.

I can understand that as well.

Five one, three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty is the phone number.

We'll take some calls later this afternoon.

If you want to call in be a part of the show.

You can also tweet at me at Audi elmore aut y E L M O r EM.

Coming up next, Football in the NATTI.

The Bengals, I think are at a crossroads this offseason, but they're at an intersection they've been to before.

I'll explain next.

ESPN fifteen thirty, Hey, Alexi.

Is Football in the NATI, brought to you by Postman Law on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

Football and the NATI here on Tony Pike since e three to sixty I'm Austin Ohmore, no Tony Pike today, but I've been thinking a lot about the twenty twenty five Bengals and who they remind me of.

They remind me of the twenty twenty Bengals.

That was a team that undoubtedly had some talent.

They had some dudes that could play.

You might remember Gino Adkins was on that team.

What about AJ Green?

He was there, Tyler Boyd was at the top, maybe the peak of his powers as the best slot receiver in the NFL.

There were some good young defenders, like there was you know, there was something on that twenty twenty team, but they won just four games.

Joe Burrow rookie quarterback that year, coming out of COVID, going through the whole nonsense that was that at the time.

And so it felt like repeatedly over the course of the twenty twenty season, the Bengals couldn't really get out of their own way all right, Like they were competitive, but something would go wrong and they just would snowball and they just weren't that good, and YadA, YadA, YadA.

It just felt like it was never going their way.

And I feel like there's a lot of similarities to the twenty twenty team and this team right now.

The Bengals are four and ten.

The twenty twenty team finished four eleven and one, and that season they won two of their last three games.

They did it without Joe Burrow, who you might remember, right before Thanksgiving had his knee blown out in Washington, and so two of the final three games they win with Ryan Finley at quarterback, the Steelers Monday Night game and a game at Houston in which the offense was incredibly efficient and T Higgins and samaj p Ryd and those guys were sensational.

But the Bengals weren't that good.

They had had a tough season.

Nothing really seemed to go their way.

And we often look back on that Steelers game in twenty twenty as like a turning point, a needle mover, a cornerstone event in this franchise, as being the moment, like the culture changed.

And while I agree that the wins in two of those final three games were helpful to the culture in the locker room, I think the culture was really curated in the off season following the twenty twenty year, and I've been digging into that off season and this upcoming off season and the similarities between them so going into the twenty twenty one season.

So the twenty twenty off season into twenty twenty one, the Bengals had about sixty million dollars in cap space.

Right now, they have a little more than sixty million dollars in cap space going into twenty twenty six.

And while the wins at the end of the year helped create the culture, it was curated by a free agent class that featured Cheetabaya Woozie, Trey Hendrickson, Mike Hilton, Larry Ogan, Jobi Riley Reef, and Eli Apple.

Now you might think of Reef and Apple as a couple of guys who didn't do much, but they did play a role, albeit minor, on a small on a good team on good teams for two years in a row.

That is a big, impactful veteran free agent class that came in and helped establish the culture.

You might remember the year before is when they signed Von Bell and DJ Reeder.

They had invested in the veteran leadership for a young team, and in twenty twenty they maximized as much as they could that offseason.

Going into twenty one, their salary cap.

As I said they had sixty million dollars to spend, they spent fifty seven million.

Of The Bengals had three point eight million dollars in cap space by the end of twenty twenty one, or by the end of that season.

They spent all the way up to the cat for the most part.

They also drafted Jamar Chase, Joseph Osai, and Evan McPherson.

Now, three good draft picks is not ideal, but you'll still take three good hits in the NFL draft anytime.

And obviously Jamar Chase, it goes without saying the impact that he's had on this franchise.

Evan McPherson was a big part of that as well.

Joseph Osai has been an impactful role player on this team.

I think we're still waiting for more from Joseph, but it makes me think that offseason the Bengals also extended one of their young pass rushers god by the name of Sam Hubbard.

Could Joseph Osai be this year Sam Hubbard?

And then in training camp they got creative.

They traded for a defensive lineman by the name of bj Hill.

So think about that one off season.

Going into the Super Bowl year with sixty million dollars in cap space to spend, they acquired bj Hill and Larry Ogunjobi and Trey Hendrickson.

They reworked their entire defensive line.

They added two cornerbacks, Mike Hilton and Chida Beya Woozier.

They got veteran experienced locker room leaders that they added to a young team that needed it.

One of the biggest misconceptions about this franchise right now is that they don't have money to spend because of Burrow, because of Chase, and because of Higgins.

That's not true.

They have the money, and they have the blueprint.

They've done it before.

Now.

Is it realistic to expect that the Bengals hit on five or six free agents.

I don't know that it's realistic to feel that way.

I don't know that it's realistic to expect him to hit on all six draft picks.

Maybe, like Zach said yesterday, but to act as if they can't do it because of financial constraints is simply wrong.

It's not true.

And as much as we want to dump on Duke Tobin and he deserves it, this was his director, his player, personnel department that led this to happening, led this charge, led this free agent push.

Now, they weren't perfect in those years.

They missed on Trey Wains, they missed on McKenzie Alexander, they missed on free agents.

Everybody does.

But to look at this and say, Okay, they know how to do it, They've done it, we know what it looks like.

And oh, by the way, at any point, they can restructure Joe Burrow's contract and they can easily create more cap space if they want to cut a few guys here, move a few guys there, restructure this that, blah blah blah.

You could be looking at eighty million dollars before you know it.

That's more than enough in a salary cap that will almost certainly go up again this offseason for the Bengals to get right back.

In contention, Joe Burrow was asked yesterday about why he thinks the Bengals are not that far away.

Here's the conversation with the Bengals quarterback on Sunday.

You said not that far when asked how close this organization was to getting back to.

Those big stages.

Why do you think you guys are.

Not that far.

Well, we have young guys that are getting better.

I think we have really smart coaches.

We have a lot of highly talented people that go out and perform at a high level on Sundays, weekend and week out.

You know, it's hard for me to it's hard for me to talk about the totality of the season this year because I was removed from it for so long, and you know, I really I haven't had a season.

I've played four games and that's frustrating to me, and kind of it made me feel like I was on the outside looking in for a lot of it because that's what happens.

And so I'm just getting my feet wet again with all this and it feels good.

But you know, I feel confident in the people that we have that we have here.

There you go.

That's from the quarterback himself, and everybody wants to hyper analyze everything that he says.

And if it's true that everything he says is measured and there's a purpose behind it, well then I'm sure he wouldn't just loose lipped say we're not that far away.

Tony and I debated this earlier this week.

I've been saying it for most of the season for all the reasons I just outlined, and by looking at the Bengals schedule next year, I really don't think that they are that far away.

Now, let's just quickly go through that for a moment.

Next year, they'll play the third place team in the AFC West, which is gonna be the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs go into this offseason with Mahomes fresh off of surgery, probably gonna be without Travis Kelcey, and they're over forty million dollars forty million dollars over the cap.

That's gonna be a different looking Chiefs team than what we've seen in the past, but you still expect them with Mahomes and Reid to be formidable.

They're gonna have the Jacksonville Jaguars at home, obviously a good team, a team that played them tough, but not a team that keeps you up at night.

The Tennessee Titans will be in Cincinnati next year, the New Orleans Saints, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and then of course the AFC North.

That's a pretty favorable home schedule.

The Bengals traditionally are pretty good at pay Court Stadium under Zach Taylor.

Then you look at their road schedule.

They play the AFC East team that finishes in third place, which will be the Miami Dolphins.

Okay, anything about that team, Scarret probably gonna be with a new head coach, might be with a new quarterback.

No Tyreek Hill.

More than likely.

They're also going to play an NFC East team who finishes in third place.

That's more than likely going to be the Commanders.

That team is gonna be dealing with a lot of turnover.

They have to go to Houston, not gonna be easy.

They got to go to Indianapolis, probably not gonna be easy.

They traveled to Atlanta and Carolina and the rest of the AFC North.

That is not a schedule that has you struggling to find wins.

If you do what you're supposed to do in the offseason to supplement your roster and build around your quarterback, it's not that crazy.

I'm not trying to be the glass half fool guy.

I'm not trying to do this is truly what I feel.

If you spend the money the way you're supposed to, if you're aggressive in hunting down the pieces that you need, and if you can do anything about your process when it comes to drafting.

That gets you back closer to what you did in the twenty twenty draft and in the twenty one draft.

You will be competitive in this conference again next year, so long as everybody stays healthy, and that's a big if across the entire National Football League.

But to act as if the Bengals are so far away, I simply don't believe that, and all the other nonsense around this organization right now, I think is distracting us from the fact that, like, oh yeah, they really could be good, sooner rather than later.

They don't have to strip this thing down.

We'll talk next segment about this Burrow conversation and Carson Palmer and Andrew Luck and all this other hogwash.

It's it's people that aren't really looking at the bones of the operation here and saying, Okay, how can they actually get back to being good?

What are the changes that can be made?

That's what I'd like to know.

We'll take a break, we'll come back.

This is Tony Pike.

Since he three to sixty on ESPN.

Fifteen thirty, you've been listening to Football in the NATTI on ESPN fifteen thirty.

The official home of the Cincinnati Bengalsteen thirty.

Jada Thomas into the left corner for Celestie under the.

Hoop bounce pass from Zella to Baba Ed Miller dumps it and again.

There Baba Miller out here playing with little bitty boys out here.

He's just he's like.

A big breath from the backyard right now.

Just throw it in there as you can't stop.

Dan Horde Steve Logan on the call last night as the Bearcats whoop up on Alabama State at fifth third Arena.

More on that coming up later on in our number three.

Baba went cuckoo with twenty six points fourteen boards for U se Uh in that game last night.

We'll hear from Kegan nickoson at two o'clock.

He was there covering the game and the return of Gisel James.

That's coming up later on in the show.

I want to get to uh, the Joe Burrow conversation and the national media fanning the flames on such a thing in a moment.

But first let's go to the phones five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty.

Let's go to Fort Thomas and talk to Brian.

Brian, what's up, hi?

Audie.

I agree about about them having a chance to turn it around.

NFL is the most competitively, the most evenly matched in in the United States, so it's not it's not unheard of to come back and you know, change things around very quickly.

As look at Denver.

Denver was garbage two years ago.

Right now they probably one of the favorite Super Bowl And I think as a fan, I'm not as freshly about this year.

I'm more flusher about last year.

Like last year was just a wasting opportunity and like Joe got a freak injury this this year, sure got hurt, team played terrible, whatever, But last year, like if they would have went on a you know, a playoff, made the playoffs and won a couple of games, just wouldn't be as upsetting as a fan.

But I feel like we're just we'll it's just being wasted right now.

Yeah, that's a great point, and that's I think that season.

I mean, if if we get to this the end of this thing and we never see the Bengals get back to you know that that level of contending in the AFC, We're gonna look back on the twenty four season and think, golly, what could have been with the season like that with Joe and Jamar and they just didn't do enough to follow it up in the offseason.

Yeah, it's it's and so it's I think as a fan, I think we're at least me personally, I'm just I'm just frustrating.

Just I want to have a chance to win.

And in the NFL, if you got a quarterback, which everybody knows we do, yeah, you can win.

You can win.

You can win it all.

And that's you know, we just were dying to win.

We want a parade.

That's that's it.

This whole city just wants the parade.

Yeah, I'm right there with you, Brian.

Thank you for the phone call.

And you know, you bring up a good point.

It's actually kind of a good segue.

Part of the reason why things went south between Carson Palmer and Mike Brown was because Carson did not believe that Mike was committed to exhausting every avenue to make the team better, to turn it into a championship contender.

And I think before we get into this conversation, I would like to note I am not comparing Carson Palmer to Joe Burrow.

Joe is the best quarterback I think that's ever played for the Bengals.

I think he is the most talented quarterback that's ever played for the Bengals.

And I think he has a very different personality than that of Carson Palmer.

I think he's a much better player than Carson Palmer.

And this with Carson all happened fifteen years ago.

It's a lot different world now than it was then.

But the fundamental disagreement between Mike Brown and Carson Palmer was that they weren't doing enough to compete for a Super Bowl and Carson it just didn't sit well with Carson.

He felt like the Bengals could be doing so much more than they've done.

The Bengals have changed a lot since then, and they have been more aggressive, they have spent more money, They have evolved so much more than I think a lot of people are willing to give them credit for.

And I don't think that the place they're at right now with Joe Burrow is even remotely close to where they were at with Carson Palmer.

I'm not trying to compare the two situations.

What I'm trying to explain is this thing with Burrow.

To me, when you go back to his press conference last week, to all the conversation this week, all of it.

The flames are being fanned by the national media.

They're pouring gasoline on the fire.

The reason it's happening is because there's precedent.

The precedent has a direct impact on the narrative.

If the Carson Palmer and Mike Brown thing had never happened, this wouldn't be a conversation with Joe Burrow wanting to leave the Bengals when they drafted him in twenty twenty.

There was a narrative out there that Joe wouldn't want to play for the organization.

That wouldn't have happened if not for the Eli Manning thing that it happened years before.

Joe keeps getting injured, and then the Andrew Luck thing gets brought up because we've seen it happen before.

Because there is precedent with Palmer and Brown, that leads to people who maybe don't follow this closely, or don't know Joe that much, or don't know exactly what's going on within the organization to try to connect the dots and come up with a hot take to say, Okay, this is what's gonna happen again in Cincinnati, because that's the way the Bengals do business.

The Bengals have evolved, maybe not as much as they should, and Joe is not there even close to being the same type of person that Carson Palmer is.

But I just want you to know this conversation is happening because of the precedent that was set by the actions of Carson Palmer and Mike Brown previously.

That's why this is happening.

And I'm not dismissing what Joe has said or the wa that he said it.

Now, I stand by my belief that I think last week Joe was having a bad day and it came across that way and people ran with it, and I think that made things worse, and whatever he was going on in his life, clearly he wasn't all the way there on Sunday.

Had mental mistakes, had protection mistakes, was not accurate with the football.

There's a myriad of reasons why that could happen.

I have enough banked memories of Joe Burrow playing over the last six years that I don't think that's gonna happen again.

And I don't think there's a trend that's about to start, but I do at least know the way he has talked.

He's unhappy with the way the organization has approached last season in this season.

And he should be.

Every person in that organization should be unhappy with the results of last year and with this year.

And I'm sure.

Joe, to an extent, and kind of like you heard in that clip in the last segment, wonders how much he can say because of his injuries and feels in a way like he's on the outside looking in.

We'll talk more about what Joe said about his opinion being heard, but here's Joe yesterday talking about his future with the Bengals.

How much do you love?

Like a body ever thought about that, You think about it, but you think about a lot of different things, and in your life, just like everybody does.

You think about all different possibilities that could happen.

I'm gonna be playing for a long time.

I expect to play for a long time, and I expect to play well and consistently great for a long time.

So much speculation is there?

Ever?

Is there any world in your mind where you're not the quarterback of the Bengals next year?

I could I couldn't.

I can't see that now.

I didn't you ever both thought about the possibility of not being the quarterback here.

During your career, or.

You think about a lot of things, and when you.

Look at quarterbacks over the course of their time, great ones, Haydon Brady, do you kind of have to understand that you.

Never know what this legal bringing.

What did you learn from watching how their career is on fold of time?

Yeah, A lot of crazy things happen every year.

Michael Parsons got traded right before the right before the season.

I think this year.

That is a something I haven't seen in a long time in the NFL.

So crazy things can happen.

Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, He's right, crazy things can happen in the NFL.

But he wants to play for a long time.

He expects to play for a long time and at a high level for a long time, and also understands that life in the NFL you never know what's going to happen, which furthers the point that the Bengals should be exhausting every avenue to aggressively pursue a championship.

Now again, looking forward at the next couple of years.

The opportunity is right there in front of you.

You've got the money, you've got the cap space, you've got the quarterback.

You don't have any more excuses.

Five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty.

This is ESPN fifteen thirty.

Tony Pike since E three sixty on ESPN fifteen thirty.

A little bit of time here before we talk to John Shearon, a is Z Sports covering the Cincinnati Bengals.

This is Tony Pikes since E three to sixty.

Let's go to Minneapolis and talk to Charles.

Charles, what's on your mind?

Hey?

How are you just quickly?

You know, back on the whole ownership.

Being lifelong Bengal fan here, only team ever liked.

I know you mentioned earlier about there being president and sort of anchoring it to the Carson Palmer issue, but there's actually precedent beyond that.

He was TJ.

Housman's job, obviously, you know him was on an interview and he said when he first got the Cincinnati speaking of president, there was no water and gatorade in the locker room.

Yeah.

I mean, so there's precedent for so many things that this team had, hopefully inadequate by any stretch of the magic, by any standard considering themselves to be a professional organization, and as such, we continuously come to this point.

There shouldn't even have been a need for Mike Brown to come out and say we're going to do everything we can to sign Joe Duh.

Like you know, at the time, he said, why would he need to say these kinds of things.

Why because the precedent has always been with this organization that they're awful.

Yeah, that's my point.

Now, the good thing is they've they've changed.

They don't do the stuff that they did twenty years ago when TJ was here.

That's all changed, thankfully.

But you're right, the precedent has led to the narrative and until you do something to change the narrative, that's what people are going to fall back on and that's their fault.

Yes, thank you, thank you for your time, love the show.

Charles, thank you man, appreciate it.

Thanks for the call.

Yeah, I mean, without a doubt, until you do something to change the narrative, the narrative is going to exist.

It is the unfortunate reality.

And the Bengals are often a day late and a dollar short when it comes to doing that.

They've made strides, but they're often too late.

They were too late and signing Jamar Chase.

They cost themselves a lot more money.

They were too late in signing t Higgins.

They cost themselves a lot more money.

They often create bigger headaches for themselves because they're reactive instead of proactive.

That's something they need to improve on.

This is an off season where you have a chance to do that.

You have a chance to say we're going to be proactive in our our pursuit of better defensive players, of changing our draft strategy, of whatever it might be.

When we come back, we'll talk to John Sharan covering the Bengals.

Eight to Z Sports.

This is Tony Pike's Sincy three to sixty on the home of the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty.

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Hi, Hello, welcome in our number two of Tony Pikes since E three to sixty here on ESPN fifteen thirty.

My name is Austin Elmore.

No big fella today, tone is out.

He'll be back tomorrow one hour from right now, we talked to Keegan Nickoson from Bearcat Journal dot com.

Keegan just now talking of tweeting about a couple of Bearcat offensive linemen that have decided to come back for next year.

We'll get an update on the transfer portal happenings and all that with the Bearcats, what happened last night on the hardwood as well.

But right now we keep talking football with a guy that I can't believe I just now thought of this.

I'm gonna start calling him this from here on out, Johnny Football.

John Sheeran from A to Z Sports covering the Cincinnati Bengals.

Hi, Johnny Football, how are you?

I feel like we could worshop this kind of the stigma with that name, you know, like you know, someone else had it and he got kind of embarrassed by the Bengals, and I kind of embarrassed the Bengals and said the other way around.

So you know, yeah, well you could be the reason for change with the Johnny Football nickname.

We'll work on it.

We'll work on it.

What do you make of the last two weeks of the Joe Burrow narrative about him and his future and not seeing eye to eye with the organization and what he said yesterday and last week sum it all up for me.

What's your general feeling and consensus about Joe Burrow in his relationship with the Bengals right now?

We love hearing Joe talk because he is very calculated about what he says, and he said that I think forbade him, but typically when he says something of substance, it's because he means it.

And also he's just he's just a very smart individual, so he thinks about more than just what is directly in front of him.

And of course, you know in the media nowadays, you typically only look at what's right in front of you, and that's what generates the headlines.

Right So, when Joe is thinking about a lot of things beyond just the last week or so of football, and it sounds like, oh, he's thinking very big picture and it doesn't sound very good, it leads to I think a lot of the reactions that we've seen from the past couple of weeks.

But I think when you have to try to figure out what is going on in his mind.

You have to think about every single angle from every single avenue about what everything that is encapsuling what it could possibly be going through his mind right now, which is again coming back none from another injury, and thinking about how long he's capable of playing, how long he wants to play, and how that all of that ambition and planning is being deterred by what has happened over the past handful of months here, all on top of being on a team that, just like he says, is a bad football team that hasn't done enough and needs to continue doing things differently and needs to continue evolving and in his own words, thinking outside the box.

So I think it's it's it's everything from just him thinking about his own ability, his own durability, his mortality in the game, but also where he stands with this team and what the team needs to do going forward around him.

So it's it's everything.

It's not just like, oh, like he's thinking about hanging it up and leaving the Bengals.

No, like, there's there's thoughts about that that naturally pop up when you're thinking about your future, shuring your career and everything like that.

But I think to boil it down to just one or two things is not doing a justice to someone who clearly thinks about a lot more than that.

Do you think he should play the final three games?

I think there's a reason too, because of how he played this past week.

I think it would be not the greatest for his psyche to enter the off season after just having one of the worst games of his career, especially considering the fact that he just hasn't played that much this year.

I think having him giving him the opportunity to at least enter the actual offseason on somewhat of a high note, can be kind of good for him, because if he only played what four or five games this year, and again one of them was terrible and they eliminated him for the playoffs, I would imagine that wouldn't be necessarily the best for his mental health, especially because that's been such top of conversation for over the past ten days or so.

So I think it was valuing him playing, and if you want to talk about like draft positioning and keeping him healthy, like he needs to prove that he can stay healthy.

And I think regardless of whoever's a quarterback for the Bengals.

Now they're not a guaranteed the winner lose any of these games just because of the verse of the team around the quarterback position.

When you saw the report this week from Paul Dayner Junior that Zach Taylor actually had two years remaining on his deal and that Duke Tobin and Al Golden are also unlikely to be let go, what was your reaction and how does that shape your view of this upcoming offseason.

Oh, yeah, the Bengals are.

They may not be exactly the same organization as they were loose, but they're still the organization that it's not going to fire head coach with two years left of guaranteed salary left on his deal.

That it was a complete game changer in my opinion about Zach's job security and the fact that it probably hasn't been questioned at all this year, and that's it's always about the same around, you know, when the Bengals are bad and it's entering December, like, yeah, like maybe there's some conversation about the head coach, but in reality, the front office doesn't really see it like that at this point in time.

And that was kind of the sentiment this year, but hearing that in the fact that he has a two years left of guaranteed, like it doesn't matter, Like he could be coaching somewhere else in twenty twenty seven, the Bengals would still to be paying him the salary that they owe him and that they gave him.

I guess under the table, and I don't like.

Again, it's not standard practice for teams to officially announce these contracts.

Sometimes it does kind of go under the radar.

An example brought to me, brought to my attention over the past couple days, the Green Bay Packers extended Matteli Sluer and a GM and their vice president of football operations, but really early in the twenty twenty two offseason, and it didn't get reported on until July, like during their annual meeting with the media and everything like that.

So sometimes it does happen.

But again, like if you're the Bengals and you just came off with back to back games, the championship games, the sentiment of rounds that kid was so high.

Yeah, I don't really know why they wouldn't announce, whether it was a separate five year extension or just a one year extension.

On top of the five year contract that he signed in twenty twenty two.

It doesn't make a lot of sense to me why they kept that a secret, and I can't imagine that because they've had the last three years unfolded.

Maybe it was their best interest and I let that be known, But it definitely did change how I view like, what's going to happen in this obvious because again, I just don't think we're going to fire head coach with two years left on the deal.

What did you make of the way Zach talked about it yesterday and not wanting to talk about.

It and he can say that it's going to make any of the situation better.

I understand him saying like, I'm not going to comment on it because he wants to continue the solution that like, oh, like I'm coaching for my job.

We know you're not man like it is what it is like, That's just not how this organization goes.

And I appreciate the media for still pushing it regardless, because at the end of the day, he is again the only vessel of information that we can that we can garner any information from with this organization because the other powers that be are silent for three hundred and sixty three days of the year, And yeah, it's unfortunate that we can't that any one in the media can't talk to the people who actually employ Zach and everything has to come through him, And it was kind of a weird Chippy responds to me like, oh, I'm sorry that you can't talk to them, Like, yeah, dude, like it is unfortunate, but that's the problem with the live transparency with this organization, And yeah, it does.

It is unfortunate that Zach is being put into the situation.

Sometimes there is a lot of responsibility that he has with that coach and this doesn't seem like something that should be his responsibility to talk about his job security.

But yeah, I think he just speaks to the lack of transparency in the fact that there are some definitely things that need to change in which the way that this organization runs.

Talking to John sheeran Ada is the sports I made the point earlier.

I think there's a lot of similarities in this upcoming offseason to the ones following the twenty twenty season in terms of cap space, in terms of needs, and the way that they did kind of go outside the box and signing a big free agent class, trading for bj Hill, extending Sam Hubbard to try to build some veteran presence and some talent on the defensive side of the ball.

You mentioned outside the box thinking for this offseason.

What's an example of something that they could do.

Do you agree that it's similar to the season following the offseason following the twenty twenty year, and do you feel like they can actually turn this round in one offseason based off of what they have at their disposal.

But it just depends on how aggressive they want to they want to go about it.

I think they I mean, we know this by heart, right, they limit themselves in which how much better that they can get a certain period of time because they like to take things in terms of value opportunities, in terms of sometimes the right player, it comes at a greater cost of what they're willing to end up paint up.

So they ended up sacrificing the quality of players that they go after.

And that's beyond just the draft.

Is also in a free agency, I think if they want to identify what they need, then they then the evolution of thinking outside of the box in this case is to not letting anything stopping them from going after and getting the players that whatever out Golden, whoever out Golden wants, with whoever Zach Taylor wants, whoever Duke Tobin wants, whoever.

If you identify that the coaches in the personnel department are not the issue here and it is a player and a roster problem, then make sure that nothing is holding you back from getting the roster as good as it needs to.

And that was definitely an issue last year in which they weren't aggressive enough.

They were sitting on their hands in the first week of free agency because half of the personal department was figuring out how to extend Jamar Chase and Tegans the contracts that should have been signed months prior to freegency even beginning in the first place.

So that cannot be repeated again.

They need to be extremely more active and aggressive in freegency and not letting anything hold them back.

And if that means that you're sacrificing your principles of guaranteed money and guarantee teacher salaries and contracts, so be it.

That is the outside of the box thinking that they need.

If they're not going to pin any of this on the actual decision makers of this organization.

When it comes to these final three games and looking for some of the answers to you know, the questions of the offseason.

What exactly are you looking for in terms of evaluating some of these players on this roster and trying to figure out what they have going into the off season over the final three games.

Yeah, I think that is for me, honestly, kind of started when once Burrow got back, because I think it's important to see what the team as a whole looks like when you have the main quarterback at play under center.

That that's when you know, like all the operations are going in the way that they would like them to go.

I think on.

Defense, you still wants to see different ways in which some of these players are used.

Like you saw some of that evolution with Demetrius Knight Junior against the Baltimore Ravens.

He saw them make a little bit more plays adding behind the line of scrimmage.

He saw you know, Berek Carter continuing to be who he is.

He saw Miles Murky continuing to take to take those steps as a pass rusher.

So just giving these guys is more it sounds cliche, but just giving them more reps in positions in which they will probably be counted on to play next year.

Like that, that's all it is.

It's just a piling up of experience and reps and making sure that you have as much of an evaluation on them as possible.

And that goes for both sides of the ball.

And you know, I'm interested to see if there's any change up along the lines of the defense, and with all these injuries that they're incurring, that like eight guys who have ankle injuries right now, so maybe you'll see some new players play against the Dolphins and the Cardinals and the Browns.

But yeah, it's just about getting as much tape out there as possible and putting these guys in the positions that they should be to play next year.

Because of the coaches, that isn't going to change.

Who do you think outside of Miles Murphy and DJ Turner has made the most progress this year on defense?

That's right.

I still I'm still wondering, like it is progress the word that you would use with Jordan Battle, because if for every great play that he makes, there's a player like oh, there is probably reason why you shouldn't be starting out there I think battle at least I feel like I have a better idea of who he is.

He's a guy that I would want on the field if the rest of the defense is figured out, just because he's such an exactor in terms of just finding the ball and being around the ball.

And I think, just at least for his sake, identifying that quality of him as a player now that he's a full time starter, I think that's useful information to know.

Again, I don't know if he's really made a big of a jump that you would want to be like, oh, like I want this guy for sure starting next year in twenty twenty six.

But at least there's more information about him.

I would have liked to see more of that from dak Silas.

But I think the fact that he's been playing on the boundary when he was you know, being you know, trained to be in the nickel this year all the time, and the injury that came to the I don't think that's necessarily helped him.

But I still think that he was showing some progress in some science and consistency in the role that he was probably meant to play.

And then again, like, I think there's been some flashes here or there from Chris Jenkins and McKinley Jackson, but not quite enough to the point where, like, yeah, they are definitely the level of Turner and Murphy.

So I really do feel like it's just those two and everyone else's kind of in the tier of their own.

Tony and I debated earlier this week, you know, when you're trying to build a culture that wins are sometimes more important than draft picks.

Do you feel like the Bengals need to build on and work on their culture and wins can help that, or do you think they're so far gone that the draft pick is the most important thing and it really doesn't matter whether or not they win games over the final three weeks.

In general, I'm a firm believer that tanking for any sort of draft pick that isn't gonna be used on a quarterback, it's not necessarily in your best interest because at the end of the day, like, yeah, like, there have been examples of top sixteen picks that completely revolutionize one side of the ball at Jamar Chase can be an example of that, right, Kyle Hamilton example of that for the Ravens.

Right, maybe there is that player that the Bengals could draft nine rather than maybe picking like thirteen and fourteen.

Right, But at the end of the day, when you have the quarterback, you don't need a plethora of superstars around him.

You just need solid quality players and you can find that whether you're picking at eight or fourteen, as long as you know what you're looking for.

So I'm a believer that, yeah, this team definitely needs to learn how to win again and learn what winning feels like, and learn how to win games of this part of the year, because that was something that was assumed that would happen again this year, winning in December, and clearly that has definitely fallen off the map.

So I think building wins, if you're going to keep all this together, what winning is definitely more important than having maybe a couple bull spots in the draft order picked up.

Because again, people are worried about the Bengals picking and the teams because they haven't had that much success.

But I don't think that that, again, like a handful of draft spots is really going to make that large of a difference, especially if they especially if they evolve their draft process the way that they need to.

When do you start like digging into draft stuff.

When do you start, you know, start reading about prospects and mock drafts and all that.

When does that process start for Johnny football?

For Johnny Football, it's really just about after these guys declare, because I've been burned too many times about learning about underclassman who, obviously, like are the guys that you want drafts early on, like the guys with the most potential, the guys who produce the most, and sometimes some of those guys end up going back to school.

So I don't want to get burned about guys, you know, coming back, And obviously that's more prevalent now than ever with nil and the opportunity for these guys to make money.

So once they declare, I'm pretty much full full of full steam ahead for the Senior Bowl and around that time of the year.

Do you have any comments on Gisel James returning to the Bearcat lineup last night?

I think Moeger said it best and how like his return could alter the team's chemistry or chemistry any talent that you can get there and make west Miller less important for the actual on field on core performance.

Oh my goodness, great stuff, John, what are you working on for Bengals fans to follow along.

Yes again, it's it's you know, the last few weeks of whatever this this season has been.

I guess if you want to continue following along or at a Sportscincinnati dot com A is the Sports Cincinnati for your short form video on TikTok, YouTube, Instagram.

Doing live streams on all those platforms as well once a week check us out there to see how the season ends.

Great stuff, John, Thanks for making some time for me.

Have a great holiday.

We're not going to talk next week, but enjoy your holidays.

Man, appreciate all your help this season.

Happy All that is awesome.

Thank you.

That is John Shearon You heard him.

Eight is e Sports one of my favorites.

Go follow him John Underscore Underscore Sharon on X A lot of great stuff.

Uh did I say X?

Who have I become?

That's not me?

It's Twitter.

Gosh, I can't believe I just I'm disappointed in myself.

I can't believe I just said that.

All right, it's Uh, it's Twitter.

That's where it's at.

All right.

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Austin forty.

Well, if you guide this very slate today and try not to sabotage.

Very christ bug, rude, Rudol, Welcome back in too Tony Pikes since e three sixty Here on ESPN fifteen thirty.

I'm Austin.

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Tap that little microphone next to the play button on the iHeartRadio app and leave.

Me a message.

Everton College Subjack Austin.

I need you to put up a pick of you and that shisty.

I know you look like buzz Lightyear.

I did.

I put up a pic.

It's on my Instagram at audio more a U T y E L M O r E shameless plug right now from my Instagram.

Go follow it.

It's in my latest post.

I think it's slide number What slide is this?

Slide number six?

Me and the sisty and I do I do look a little bit like buzz Lightyear.

I'm gonna take that as a compliment.

Hey guys, pre Merry Christmas to you guys.

Thanks man.

I'll send my sentiments next week.

Bankal Jerseys, let's do a stark bench cut, all right, black pants, orange pants, white pants.

I'm gonna start the black pants.

I'm gonna bench the white pants.

I'm gonna cut the orange pants.

Ron DC.

Hello, huge shout out to Sincy Shirts.

You see.

I had a last minute idea for the ugly Christmas sweater contest to Abe Lincoln was putting on.

I showed up at the Fort Mitchell location unannounced with a picture of ugly old Abe that they put on a sweatshirt for me.

I ended up winning the contest.

Abe took it pretty well.

In fact, he personally gave me a Nancy the first place prize of two tickets to see it play at Ford's Theater.

Oh my gosh, good, golly, gosh, Hey, guys, who's a bride in the RBA?

Boy?

Anyway, I want.

To make myself perfectly clear.

Every day I leave a talkback as if it would be the last one I ever do.

I've been going there since twenty twenty two, and I've been through the highs of being on the top five talk back yes to the lows when the post got fired.

Every day it's about putting the work.

It's about leaving a talkback back.

Yeah, well said well said uh Brad and the BA who Yeah.

Consistency that is true.

He has been consistent.

I listened.

Does Zach Taylor talk to the media yesterday?

Boy, that was exciting.

My two biggest takeaways.

Number one, note to self, don't ever ask Zach Taylor any questions about his contract.

If you do, he'll suddenly go combative X wife on you.

Number two, according to Zach Schamor, Stewart pays attention during team meetings.

Dude hits in the front row.

He looks at Zach, and Zach looks at Chamar, and Chamar is absorbing.

The information he's staring at Zach.

Zach's looking at.

He was very complimentary of Shamar Stuart.

I think Samar is trying to like change a bit of a narrative about it.

He got off on the wrong foot.

I hope that this offseason he's healthy, there's no distractions, and he can, you know, adequately prepare for an NFL season and hopefully be better.

I mean, obviously the Bengals are going to need him to be better, But it does feel like to me like Shamar Stewart is like, okay, let me let me work on my image here, because we clearly didn't get off on the right foot, and a lot of Bengals fans are already out on Shamar Stewart, and I think that's unfair.

Yeah, Zach is.

Looking at Shamar and Chamar making good eye contacts, staring right back at Zack, and Zach is staring at Shamar.

They're staring at each other like a couple of love sick teenagers.

The future looks bright, Chamar's the sky's the limit.

Let's go.

Yeah, thank you.

We were talking earlier about why the communication of the Bengals is there and why can't they tell us is because I don't think they know.

I don't think they have.

A clue because I remember a couple of years ago during the draft, you guys asked Duke togn who are you going to draft?

They said, we don't know yet.

We don't know.

We don't have anyone specific.

We just go by who's best on the board.

I think they just wing n So when they say about the contract, they probably still don't know.

Well, I mean, if the contract's been signed, you know what the contract is.

And also I don't know that that's the best analogy.

There's never going to tell you who you're gonna draft.

Every GM in the NFL would answer that question the same way, But I think there might be a little bit of truth to that, as sad.

As that might be up guys, but cahun in Kentucky.

So maybe I'm in the minority here.

But I don't know all the NFL rules.

But if the Bengals aren't doing anything against the rules like talking to the media disclosing contracts, if that's not the rules that they have to do it, then why are people the media and why are some of the fans THO tour up about not knowing?

It ain't none of our business.

It's their team.

They're the owners.

They can do what they want.

If you don't like it, go route for Cleveland or Tennessee.

Yeah, I mean, I don't know that there's there's anything that says they have to disclose whether or not a contract extension has been signed.

No, there's not.

They don't have to.

But after a report comes out, I think it's strange to not really acknowledge it.

That I just think is weird.

And as far as I'm concerned, I'm always in favor of transparency and truth seeking, and I don't think there's enough of that.

Hey, Audie TJ.

Marvin was asked to go five in the playoffs.

We was going to do different that year to prevent another early exit.

In true Marvin smugness, he says, we're not going to do anything different.

Why did I do that?

You know the results after that.

Zach is in the same comfortable and unaccountable position.

Now I did some digging.

He's one of the always paid coaches in the league.

It doesn't matter if he's the right man he's the right price.

This organization simply has bass act words priorities.

So let's start talking about how great next You is going to be?

Who day.

Yeah.

I also don't think Zach's money has ever been officially out there, so that would be a rumor in and of itself, but it's probably true.

And yeah, I think one of my biggest issues with the Marvin Lewis eraw was that, and you can equate this to the Palmer thing as well, is that they would be good enough to get to the playoffs every year, but they would never go above and beyond in the off season.

We bitched and moaned about this forever.

Is that there was a lack of aggression in the off season in free agency and trying to get people here.

And it was a stain on the organization.

It was a stain on Marvin Lewis, It was a stain on Mike Brown.

They have gotten better at that, but then you look at an offseason like last year, where they chalked it all up to bad luck.

The off season last year was similar to that of the Marvin Lewis era, which is we'll get a couple low level guys, but we're good enough to get back to the playoffs.

Well, it turns out you're not, and it's more than just bad luck.

You don't have the depth, you don't have the good enough you know, horses to lead this thing.

So I think you're right that sort of comfortability is not a good thing.

I don't know if Zach is the same personality as Marvin when it comes to that.

I don't know if I would equate those two.

They did like Big Brother, iHeartRadio Cincati Edition.

Who do you think would weigh.

M that's a great question, Big Brother, I would like I like my odds personally.

Who else would be good at that?

Around here?

Mo would be great.

I think stephan our president, would be wonderful at that.

Scott Sloan I would actually, I'd probably put I'd probably put Sloaney as the favorite.

I'd put Scott's Loan is the favorite there.

Yeah, I want to give a shout out to Sandy and Tracy, to die hard Bengals fans.

They bleed orange and black like you're suffering with the rest of us.

Hell yeah, I like how Patinas said he didn't have zabe.

You're ready to play last night?

Well you lose by forty five.

I guess not.

They couldn't beat Wes Claremont last night.

Yeah, I guess that's true.

Austin A really good perspective on the Bengals.

There.

I actually feel better about the next season with.

Looking at the schedule and.

Hoping that they will do what they need to do finally to get this done.

Poor Joe and the fans.

So whode go Big Blue and go rid.

Thank you, Ken, I'm glad that you appreciate that perspective.

I'm not, I will say, I'm not trying to make people feel better.

I'm just trying to, like, I get where you're coming from.

You have every reason, every reason imaginable to be skeptical.

I get it, and I am too, because I, to quote Marvin, I see better than I hear.

But I'm just trying to look at it from a fifty thousand foot view and say, Okay, what's true, what's not, and what could be a potential path.

And that's what I came up with.

And I might be wrong.

I'm allowed, Lord knows I've been wrong before.

You know.

All I wish is that Mike Brown and the Bengals would realize that they could just go all in, spend a ton of money all at once, and just nail this thing for the next couple of years, get ourselves a parade, and then they could spend the next fifteen years pinching pennies and going into miser mode and losing fifteen, sixteen seventeen games a year, and no one would care because we had gotten our parade.

Yeah.

I think that's it's a fair way to look at it.

I've on the flip side of that, you could say, well, they did that in twenty twenty.

They spent all the way up to the cat basically and they failed.

And now what Just to play Devil's advocate there, But I agree with you.

There's an old saying out there.

You gotta spend money to make money.

Hey guys, it's Duke Tovin.

I just want to let you know we're working on an extension with Gino Stone.

Yeah, he'll be our starting safety next year.

Yeah, that would be It would be a dark day in Bengaledom as it's known.

Austin Tony.

I wish I could sneak into the Bengals stadium and put on the loud speaker the Black Sabbath song changes right, when Mike Brown is doing his walk in the mornings, goes.

Like going, me changing, Yeah, yeah, I like that.

I'm sure Mike would like.

I bet Michael listened a little Black Sabbath.

I could imagine that.

You imagine Mike cruising down seventy one listening to Black Sabbath.

You think Mike Shedde's here when Ozzie died.

Hey, Patty, Patty here, I just want to say Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays to everyone.

Won't be able to listen next week at all.

Our family's coming into town from Charleston, including our grandson, and we are going to have a house full including two dogs.

It's going to be crazy and chaotic, but wonderful.

So just thinking about all you guys and grateful for you all, and thanks Austin and Tony for entertaining us.

So blessings to you all.

Merry Christmas, well.

Thank you, Patty, and Merry Christmas to you and to your family.

Yeah, the.

The schedule for next week, excuse me, Tony and I are here on Monday, and I believe that's it.

Tuesday we are bumped due to Kentucky basketball, and I will be on the Roundtable show with Lance Tuesday night, But then we are off the rest of the week and back Monday Tuesday, the twenty ninth and thirtieth, if I'm not mistaken, and and then we're off again.

But yeah, we are only here on Monday next week.

Hey, Jeffer Casey here talking about Zach's compensation.

If he is one of the lowest paid coaches in the league, I would say that's probably accurate.

It's probably based on his performance, along with the Bengals being a cheaper organization.

What's his overall record, he probably deserves to be towards the bottom of the coaching pace.

Goood, Yeah, I'm sure a lot of people would agree with you.

Shamar Stewart had a standout performance at the twenty twentive Senior Bowl, significantly boosting his draft stock.

He dominated early practice sessions with his rare domination of size, six feet.

Five inches, two one pounds yeah and speed.

Notably forcing a stripsack against LSU tackle Emery Jones Junior.

His performance was so impressive that he withdrew from the remainder of the week after just two days, having already solidified himself as a first round prospect.

This momentum event thank you we knew all that information about Schamar, but thank you.

A forty one point loss to crighton that home forty one points, yeah, Craighton man fire, Wes Miller, Hey.

Audy, great job on the show.

Thank you.

Sorry to double dip.

So evidently we're talking about practice.

Samar Stewart dominated practice.

Yeah, he dominated a senior ball practice.

Yeah he I mean we listened Shamar Stewart.

We've talked extensively about his lack of production in games in college.

He clearly is not produced in the NFL and his limited snaps.

I would love to see over the final three weeks as much Samar Stewart as I possibly can, as much McKinley Jackson as I possibly can, as much Demetrious Nite, as much Barrett Carter, as much of.

All those dudes.

And listen, you don't want to look back at last year in those the final five games, they didn't play a bunch of great quarterbacks and the defense played a little bit better.

You don't want that to carry a bunch of weight going into the offseason.

But I do think, and based off Paul Danner's reporting earlier this week, these games do carry weight when it comes to evaluating going into the offseason, and so that to me puts meaning meaningful snaps on the field for this team, and I think we can learn and get a peak maybe into what their plans might be based off of the way some of those young guys perform.

And I listen, Schamar is going to be a part of the story, whether you want him to or not.

And it would be great for the Bengals to, you know, finally hit on one of these defensive players that they've spent all these top one hundred picks on.

It would be great and it would be nice if Shamar Sewart was one of those guys, and hopefully we see something out of him over the final three weeks and hopefully he's able to play.

That was it for talkbacks.

Speaking of playing over the final three weeks, Joe Burrow was asked about it and Travis Kelcey talked about it now that the Chiefs have been eliminated.

I thought both of their answers were interesting.

You'll hear that next on Football in Natti.

This is Tony Pikes since he three sixty on the whole of the Bengals ESPN fifteen thirty.

As players fight through them Forminnati.

Grunch You in part by bud Light and by Oakley Greens on ESPN fifteen thirty, the official home of the Cincinnati Bengals, Welcome back in.

You know.

A lot has been made about whether or not Joe Burrow should play in the final three games of the season.

And I think it's a fun debate because kind of what we talked about earlier this week, is winning all that important when you have the needs and the holes and the issues that the Bengals have, And should you risk Joe Burrow potentially being injured.

I've always stood by the idea that you should not go through life scared, and if a player who has paid well wants to play football, then he should be allowed to play football, whether or not the games have playoff implications or not.

Zach Taylor was asked why is Joe playing the final three games?

And Zach said, because we want to win.

And I can't sit around and say that the standard is the standard and you should always be trying to win and winning should be the most important thing, and YadA, YadA, YadA, and then just be like, Joe shouldn't play the last three games if it's about winning.

And if it's about having a standard, and if it's about meeting a stand and if it's about getting young players to understand what the standard is, then that means you don't just pack up and go home when you get eliminated.

It doesn't mean you give up on the season.

Now, if you got a knee injury, if you got an ankle injury, if you got something going on, there's no reason to risk it.

I get it.

But at the same time, like there's got to be a culture, a standard, something here to build off of.

And maybe the momentum going into the offseason, maybe that whole idea is maybe that's overrated, and I think there's probably some validity to that.

But is it not about winning at all costs all the time, And isn't it always a good thing to win?

And when I think of it, like my favorite players are playing for my favorite team, I want to watch them play football.

I want to watch Joe Burrow play football.

I want to watch Jamar Chase play football.

Joe was asked about it earlier this week, actually just yesterday, was asked about why he wants to play the final three games of the year.

Playing the last three weeks so important act.

Why doesn't matter to you even though you guys are illuminating.

I want to play football for the same reasons that I wanted to push to comeback from injury.

Some reasons I want to play this week.

It feels like.

Everything everybody's trying to do everything in their power to make me not play football, and I feel like I'm fighting it, like fighting everybody.

Else, Like I just want to play.

I just want to play ball.

That's all I want to do.

It's pretty simple, right, I just just want to play football.

I'm paid to play football.

You know, we all propped up Joe for saying what he said prior to the Thanksgiving game, and people were asking, why do you want to come back?

Why do you want to play?

And he's saying, we are paid a lot of money to play a kid's game.

Why would I not?

It can be that simple, can't it.

Travis Kelcey is going to be playing for the Chiefs and they're going to be eliminated from postseason contention during this game.

Chiefs haven't missed the playoffs since twenty fourteen.

Patrick Mahomes has never taken a snap in which the Chiefs aren't in contention for the playoffs.

It's been a long time for Travis Kelcey.

On the New Heights Show or the New Heights Podcast or whatever that thing's called that he does with his brother Jason, Jason asked him about, you know, how do you approach the last three weeks of the season, And here's Travis's response.

Yes, how do you approach the rest of the season.

Yeah, it's kind of unfamiliar territory at this point for a lot of guys in the building, guys that have been there, and I'm the only one that's been on the team long enough to see us not make the playoffs.

There's an integrity thing here that you know, when you sign up for the gig, you're living out your dreams.

You're living out a kid's dream that never got a chance to do this.

You're living out you know.

Man.

Yeah, you're uh, you're playing this game obviously to win Super Bowls.

You're playing this game to be in those playoffs scenarios and stuff.

But at the end of the day, man, you're playing in the NFL.

Yeah, And that's a blessing, that's an honor.

It's an honor to be out there.

It's an honor to feel the soreness after a game because you're actually out there doing it.

Yeah, And no matter if you're getting the ball throwned you, no matter if you're if you're blocking your tail off and you never, you know, see the pill.

It's it's an honor to be out there in a uniform, playing for the for the guys around you, playing for your family, playing for the people back home that are watching you, that have known you since you were a little kid, dreaming about this moment, dreaming about these moments being in the NFL.

And I'll tell you what, man, if if there's a game to be ad, baby, I'm gonna go out there and I'm going to love playing in it, no matter if it's a game that in the playoffs or gets us in the playoffs, or a game that you know, seems like it doesn't have any implications of that.

And that's the integrity.

You gotta go out there with.

Travis Kelce obviously in a much different point in his career than Joe Burrow is, but the point remains the same.

Like, these dudes are living out their dreams and why you would willingly step away from that, I think is I just don't understand.

And there's already an attitude out there about professional athletes that they only do it for the money.

Well, there's an example of a dude that doesn't need another dime the rest of his life, and he's getting emotional, choked up about the idea of not being able to play anymore.

Joe Burrow was emotional after the Baltimore game in the thought of his football mortality in the game being taken away from him.

Like, we are allowed even though we are not.

I'm not you might not be a professional athlete that makes millions of dollars.

We're allowed to empathize with these guys.

We're allowed to understand that.

You know, this can be hard on them too, And sometimes they just want to play a game.

They get paid to play football.

So I want to play football.

I mean, that's what I would want to do.

I just think it can be that simple.

Sometimes we'll take a break, we'll come back.

This is.

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Been a while since we heard this.

I said it earlier this week with Tony when's my guy Chris Stapleton' gonna come out with a Christmas album?

So I've been listening to iHeart Christmas.

I hope you have been too, And I can only imagine something like let It Snow by Chris Stapleton.

Or Please Home?

What's that so please come home for Christmas?

Whatever?

That is just a little Chris Stapleton Christmas music.

I can't wait.

Somebody get Chris to do that.

Uh.

Wrap it up our number two here on since E three sixty Uh coming up in just a couple of minutes.

We'll talk to Keegan nickoson Bearcat Journal dot com.

How did we get to this point?

With Gisel James returning to the Bearcat's big win for UC last night.

We'll also talk to him with the latest in the transfer portal for the football team.

Quick update on the Bengals.

Bengals are starting practice right now.

T Higgins, according to Ben Baby, not spotted Higgins still going through the concussion protocol.

He did not practice yesterday, and Joe Burrow was on the injury report yesterday.

He was listed with a knee injury but was a full participant.

He did say yesterday is just a little bit sore, so I don't know that that's anything significant, but it was on the injury report yesterday.

Cincinnati had a ton of guys on the injury report and Joe was one of them.

But T Higgins not spotted at the start of Bengals practice today talking bear Cats with Keegan Nickolson.

Next, this is Tony Pikes since he three to sixty on the Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen to thirty.

You got This is Tony Pikes since he three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored in part by Penn Station East Coast Subs.

Handcrafted grilled subs, fresh cut fries in lemonade.

It's all about good taste.

Penn Station East Coast Subs order on mine Today.

This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati's Sports Station.

Hi, Hello, welcome in our number three.

Tony Pikes since e three p sixty here on ESPN fifteen thirty.

I'm Austin O.

Moore, No big Fella today, Tony Beck tomorrow for a Friday football frenzy.

And it's been a frenzy, that's for sure.

Whether you're talking football or basketball, Bengal dumb or Bearcat Land, there's a lot going on.

I always think back to what Moegar says, be good or be interesting.

Well, the Bengals and Bearcats have not been good, but they have been interesting.

And you see, last night got a little bit more interesting.

So we go to Bearcat Journal dot COM's Keegan Nickoson to join us now and talk about the Bearcats.

Keegan, are you keeping up with all the stuff going on in Bearcat world right now?

I'm hanging on by a string.

I don't know if anyone can is capable of keeping up with everything that's going on at the moment.

Let's start with last night.

Jigsel James returns.

I think my question is simple, how did we get here with Gigsel James?

Yeah, I mean he was dismissed from the team in August and then he spent a lot of time in Houston training at the John Lucas Facility, which kind of specializes in rehabbing NBA and college players, and I think he got back into town around Louisville the Louisville game.

And then ever since that Louisville game, you've had some injuries, some guys who haven't been able to stay healthy.

And even before that, you lost Jalen Haynes for the year.

Lucas Atari from I believe he's from Brazil came to campus and didn't pass the physical because he had a knee issue.

So all of a sudden, you're looking at this roster that is both struggling and unhealthy.

And then Jisel was told that he wasn't going to play this year, and he still told Wes Miller that he wanted to come back and be a part of the team and just be around the guys and get ready for next season.

But then Wes Miller is kind of putting this impossible situation where he has this talented player around the team who he can play this year if he can kind of figure out a way to make it happen.

And then ultimately he did.

Jizill kind of reconcile with his teammates, earns the trust back of the coaching staff and his teammates, and ultimately goes back on the floor.

So it's been a really, really long road and I wouldn't blame anyone who said it's a desperation play by Wes Miller, but there was a lot more that went into it to make sure that it was a decision that he could make that was in the best interest of both his team and Gisel James.

Well, that's what I was about to ask you, because that's the word I've seen the most, is desperation for Cincinnati, and I think it's fair to say, based off the way the season has started, that there's a little bit.

Of that in the air.

Do you think it's a desperation move and how much from a basketball standpoint, how much of a difference can he really make or do we not know?

I do think it's a desperation move at this point in the season.

Like Tyler McKinley didn't play and he's not a guard, but he's struggling with kind of I think it's a bone bruise issue.

Shouldn't be long term.

Kerr Crease is shooting under thirty percent from three.

I think he just went one for eight last night.

He's averaging something around seven points a game.

Keishan Tillery hasn't been playing a ton.

He's not really living up the expectations, which moving the goalpost isn't really fair because he wasn't expected to play this year a ton in the first place, so Jisel and Kerr were supposed to be the point guards for you see, and then all of a sudden, you throw this true freshman into a really tough situation into your Harris is struggling with the back issue, and it seems like data Thomas is the only guy who's kind of completely healthy, so he didn't really have a choice, which I guess means that it's a desperation play.

But it's not just this thing where Gisel was away from the team and had no interest in coming back, and then he was offered this opportunity because Wes just like was begging him to come.

He had to come back and go through the right processes and take the necessary steps to assimilate back and back with the team, or I'm pretty confident that he wouldn't be playing right now.

By no means.

I am not a basketball expert, but it feels like in the West Miller era offense has always been a struggle and consistent offense has always been a struggle.

Why do you think that is, Well, that's some million dollar question or like ten million dollar question.

I really I don't know.

I think his best offense was year two when he had Landers Dollie and David de Julius and Landers Knowlledge just kind of went absolutely bonkers from three, made a ton of shots, and then you have a point guard who can go and get you a bucket.

And even that offense, I think it was in like the seventies or eighties according to Ken palm Like it was by no means the top offense in the country, but they had a solid enough defense to have a pretty good season.

I think a lot of it is players just not panning out and not being able to take the next step.

And that's on coaching.

That's not me throwing the players under the bus.

If the players aren't getting better from year to year, it's on the people who are supposed to be developing them.

You think Dan Skillings goes to a baseball game and gets on an interview between innings and says, Yeah, I'm gonna play one more year at Cincinnatian and go to the NBA, And then he has a really bad year and makes a a couple of million dollars to go to Baylor.

And you think of Jessel James, who was supposed to be the best player of the team last year and he really struggles.

Dylan Mitchell didn't have a great offensive season last year.

Simos Dukosias started the season shooting like forty eight percent from three, but then really really struggled and just couldn't put together a consistent season.

So I don't know if it's the assistant coaches or there isn't just a great offensive plan, but it seems like there's been a decent amount of stuff thrown out the wall and it just hasn't hasn't stuck.

Like you're kind of counting on Kerkcresa and saying, Okay, his last year at West Virginia he was good, and then he goes to Kentucky and gets hurt and he plays nine games.

If we can get that West Virginia kerkkrisa, everything will be fine.

But then you don't get them.

And John Celestin has had a decent year but also hasn't been great.

And then Sean Obaia, who's supposed to be maybe your best shooter on the team him battling with Celestine is also kind of struggling from the from the free throw line and the free point line, and now to a point where Dade Thomas is kind of your most most efficient shooter, which no one would have pictured two years ago.

So I think a lot of it is it's development, and a lot of it as players just not panning out.

I wouldn't say that they're constantly getting bad shots.

A lot of it is just you're not making shots, and that's going to go back to what what are you practicing, what are the drills they're doing, and just how locked interview on those things.

How would you assess the season that we've seen from Shannabaiah this year.

I think I unfairly kind of saw him being one of the highest rated recruits to come to Cincinnati and said, Okay, well he's just going to be the best player on the team, and I kind of expected him to do much more, knowing that he was a really really high four star of five star by some outlets, and then you just kind of think about that and you say, Okay, this kid's going to be a stud.

I think he definitely has to play better, and I think if anyone asks him if he's played up to his standard or what he believes he can play to.

If you ask Wes Miller, both of them would say no, and that he needs to play better and that he will play better.

I mean, Wes Miller said last night he's going to shoot the ball well this season.

Take that to the bank.

And you know, Wes has also said that about free throws and it hasn't really come true.

So I don't know how much credence you can give it.

But I think he's a really, really talented player.

I think he's a smart player.

I liked seeing him against Alabama State be aggressive on takes to the rim and then kind of pass out or draw some foul shots or get some layups and not just settle for threes.

Because he's been a very, very high volume three point shooter.

So I'm expecting him to play much better.

But I wouldn't argue with anyone who says, you know, we saw the Michigan game in the exhibition when he scored I think fifteen points and looked great, and you're not just seeing that now, So he's going to be really really tested at the start of Big Twelve play the season he can kind of come along.

Talking to Kegan nickoson Bearcat Journal dot Com, let's flip over to football.

There's a lot going on as the Bearcats get set for the Liberty Bawl.

The big news this week, of course, Brendan Soorsby going into the transfer portal.

What did we learn from Scott Saderfield when he talked earlier this week about Soorsby and about what the plan might be to replace him.

Yeah, I mean what we learned is that Cincinnati put together a very competitive package and finance wise to compete with other schools.

But at the end of the day, I just think this was I think Brendan Soorzy wanted to play somewhere else.

I don't think it was a thing where he was willing to come back and kind of in a sense start over offensively because of all the players that they're losing.

I know for a fact after last season he turned down higher paying offers because he saw what they were building.

He saw Joe Royer, he saw the wide receivers they could bring in, and Sire sal and Jeff Caldwell with Caleb Goody, he saw Evan Pryor the offensive line, and he knew that he had something to build around, and then you know, kind of just looking at the situation and going in the next year, you have to think, you know, how much better can I get?

How much can I raise my stock for the NFL?

And at this point, he thinks he's either going to go to the NFL or he's going to trainsfer somewhere else and try to raise that stock even more.

A school like Texas Tech, who has a forty million dollar rosster this year and has a ton of money.

Maybe Indiana, where he played for multiple years and that's where you see got him out of after a successful stint.

I've heard some Tennessee, I've heard some Miami, but I ultimately think it's going to come down to Texas Tech in Indiana if he doesn't end up going to the draft.

So yeah, it's it's tough.

Scott Saderfield basically said, look, we couldn't afford him, and you know, I don't think anybody should be surprised by that.

He's one of the best quarterbacks in the country, especially when you look at who's coming back for next season.

He's going to be one of the most sought after quarterbacks.

So you know, you see, he's in a tough spot and they're going to have to replace him with a transfer quarterback.

He's going to have to come in and really battle for a starting spot next year.

Not only is their roster turnover, but there's turnover on the people that help build the roster.

They've lost a couple of guys in their player development and the portal operations and all that stuff.

What is the latest on replacing them so that they can continue to acquire talent through the portal and otherwise.

Yeah, it hasn't been officially announced yet by Cincinnati, but they're replacing Jack Griffith with Nick Lamatina from Western Kentucky.

He was an intern at Western Kentucky under Zach Grant and I believe twenty twenty and then he's been there since and he was one of Helton's like biggest player personnel guys.

He actually was a lead guy in replacing a team that won eight games and then lost sixty players after the twenty twenty four season, and then they replaced the sixty players that they lost and then won eight more games this past year.

So he knows about roster turnover, he knows how to evaluate talent.

They sent defensive linemen to I think Auburn, Florida State, Wake Forest, and Alabama after the last season, so he's been involved in all that kind of stuff.

Everything I've heard from everyone is that he's a stud.

And you know, I'm very, very high on Jack Griffith.

I think he was one of the best portal evaluators and hardest working guys in college football, and it sounds like they got a guy that kind of rivaled that or at least get close to it, especially when we're only a couple weeks away from the portal here.

Speaking of the portal, it feels like there's a thousand Bearcats in it right now.

I say this like jokingly, but also not like are there going to be enough people to play in the Liberty Bowl against Navy, especially in the defensive side of the ball.

The defensive backfield might be a question, but we're going to be seeing a lot of true freshmen and red shirt freshmen who haven't seen a lot of snaps in their Cincinnati careers.

We actually talked to Tyson Bite today after practice and he said to look out for Patrick Williams, a corner from Florida who's a true freshman who has really taken on that mantle and taken the opportunity to get those extra snaps, and he's taken advantage of it.

You saw Michael Coleman into the portal today.

He hasn't been at practice, but yet they're going to have enough guys.

It just might not be the usual product that you saw at the end of the year from an experience perspective, But I would say that a lot of Cincinnati fans weren't very satisfied with what they saw in the first place.

They seeing some new blood out there against Navy might be a good thing.

Well, like going up against a team like Navy and with everything you just mentioned and the inexperience and all the turnover, Like how much can you really get from the Liberty Bowl?

Like does does winning it matter that much?

Do those snaps matter that much?

Like how much are you actually getting out of this game?

I don't know.

I mean, there's a few names that I'm interested in.

Zion Johnson, a running back, is one.

What does he do as possibly a starting running back?

I think Evan Pryor's status for whether Hill player or not is kind of up in the air.

Zion Johnson's a really really fast, true freshman who's expected to have a big role on the team in the future, So I'm going to be watching him Sadderfield said that both quarterbacks Brady Littenberg and Samaje Jones will play, and I think this is a great chance for Samage Jones to prove to the coaching staff whether he can compete for the starting job next year.

How aggressive do they have to be in the portal going after a guy?

And you know, Navy isn't like the most talented team in the country, but they're gonna played discipline and they're gonna play really, really hard and really aggressive brand of football.

So it'll be a good test for the quarterbacks.

Other than Thatt I'm looking at I'm looking at dB like I mentioned earlier, how does Patrick Williams play?

How to CJ krit play?

A safety who I'm really intrigued by.

They brought in some true freshmen last year with some length and size, which is what Scott Saidisfield said they needed to get in the offseason.

So just looking at those kind of things red shirt freshmen and true freshman who could possibly have an impact next year.

And also like the offensive line is looking like it's going to stay together pretty well, as they just announced that they're all coming back next year.

So see how those guys can continue to gel against the Navy defensive line.

Good stuff, Keegan, appreciate your time before I let you go.

What are you working on and how can people follow along?

Yeah?

I got a bunch of portal stuff coming.

It opens on January tewod and then going to continue to have Bowl game and basketball coverage coming.

Make sure to subscribe to barkat Journal, follow me at k Nickison forty two on X and you should see all my stuff.

Awesome Keegan, we'll talk to you in a couple of weeks.

Man, Thank you and having merry Christmas.

Thanks autin you too.

That is Keegan.

Nickoson Bearcat journal dot com.

About half an hour from right now, we'll be talking to the head hount show of Bearcat Journal dot com.

Chadbrindle is going to stop by for quick hits because Chad has most show this afternoon from three to six.

It'll be the Chad Brindle Show on The Moegger Show.

Got an update from Bengals practice when we get back, and we'll do a quick whip around college basketball.

Here from Wes Miller, from Richard Patino, from Darren Horn all after games last night here in the Cincinnati area.

This is Tony Pikes Sincy three sixty hour three continues next on the Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty.

Is it possible soon?

The phone line's still open at five one, three, seven, four nine, fifteen thirty if you want to call in any last minute thoughts to share, you're welcome to.

Thank you to those of you who followed me on Instagram earlier talked about me looking like Buzz Lightyear in a sisty Well you can see it, and many of you did follow me, so thank you.

Still trying to turn this into something and cool to see people following.

I do appreciate that quick update from Bengals practice.

Earlier I told you've been baby reporting that T Higgins was not spotted at the start of practice.

Well, Higgins about fifteen minutes later arrived with a helmet on for the last minute of open portion of practice to the media.

He was with trainer Joey Bose as they were getting set kind of off to the side there.

So certainly I would assume some good news that T has his helmet on and was at least spotted at practice.

He was officially listed as limited on the injury report yesterday.

We will obviously get another update on that injury report later on this afternoon.

A lot of college basketball being played in the area.

Last night, we had Xavier in action, Cincinnati in action, and n KU in action.

The Norse fell to Oakland last night.

NKU now one and two in Horizon League play.

Not a great showing for them.

Here is Darren Horn, the head coach of the Norse, following last night's loss to Oakland.

I mean, this felt like a March level game, right to two teams in our league that have been pretty good over the years.

We're really battling it out possession for possession.

And give Oakland credit.

I thought they were really aggressive and physical, and you know, they made place when they needed to make them.

And that's a lot of what these kind of games come down to.

You can you make the right plays and you know, if you scored seventy seven points at home and have fifty points in the page, you need to win.

And so the message that I've been giving up here after so many games, even when we were winning, that we are not where we need to be defensively to win games like this.

I think showed tonight in general good defensively.

You know, you look at the numbers in terms of percentages and all that, but so many poor plays, just lack of poise, quite honestly, stupid basketball plays to give them open looks.

They had four to threes in the second half.

Three of them we literally just left a shooter for them to throw the ball to them wide open and then them get clean looks.

And you know, those are things that we haven't done in practice in two weeks.

You know, we've been getting better, but we've got to play with a greater level of poise and discipline on the defensive end.

You know, if you give up twenty nine free throws in a game like this, it's going to be hard to win.

And that's again, and I think our challenge is it's not one or two guys, it's it's multiple guys, and it's throughout the game.

And so we've got to really get better in that area.

And we've got some guys quite honestly, that need to tough en up and grow up a little bit.

And you know, the games are not going to get any easier.

Get a brutal non conference game coming in here Sunday with Charleston, and then you know, league plays is gonna be like this every night.

So we've got a tough en up and grow up a little bit and get a little bit more disciplined on the defensive end.

Damn, how about that from Darren Horn said, quite honestly, some stupid plays.

We've got a tough en up.

We gotta be better.

I mean that's talk.

You want to talk about putting a cheese on the cracker.

I mean, that's doing it right there from Darren Horn.

I appreciate that sort of honesty from a coach post game.

So NKU now nine and four on the season.

As I mentioned, one and two in the Horizon League.

They host Charleston on Sunday.

Xavier was also in action.

They were getting underway with Big East play hosting Creighton, and Creighton gave him the business.

Creyton beat him ninety eight fifty seven.

My apologies for that.

Ninety eight to fifty seven was the score.

Last night, Xavier falls to eight and four.

Here is Richard Patino and his opening statement following last night's loss.

Well credit to Crayton they were really really good.

I thought they were better than the way they'd been playing.

They responded in a big way.

But you know, we were as bad as we've been all year.

We've been practicing well, we had been playing well, and everything that got us to that we totally abandoned.

So really really disappointed in myself to allow that to happen.

You know, we're gonna have to.

Really really swallow our pride tomorrow and watch this film and we're gonna have to learn from it.

So certainly, very very disappointed, appreciative of the fans.

Apologized to them that they didn't show up to watch that, but there's nothing we can do about it besides learn from it and get back to work.

Xavier head coach Richard Patino.

Following Xavier's loss, the Muskies are back in action.

On Saturday, they traveled to Georgetown to take on the Hoyas and finally, last night, Cincinnati the only team in the area to win and took down Alabama State.

And Alabama State is one of the worst defensive teams in the country, but who cares.

If you need a get right game, the Bearcats got one last night.

The return of Gisel James a great performance from Bob Bob Miller.

Here is Wes Miller's opening statement following a Bearcat victory.

Yeah.

I thought we talked to the guys about taking a step as a team tonight, and I thought the guys prepared the right way, and I thought for the most part they did that.

There's always things as a coach that you can nitpick that you want to be better.

But I liked the way that we approached it tonight.

I liked some of the things that happened.

I thought we took a step.

Alabama State played in this tournament last year.

They'll play in it again this year.

I was concerned about the game.

You know, they went at UAB and everybody here knows.

Andy Kennedy's a really good coach.

Everybody knows him around here.

And they go win at UAB.

Mike Roberts, who is probably my best friend in coaching, is an assistant at New Mexico, and New Mexico's really damn good.

And they go into the pit and they had a lead for thirty eight minutes or something like that, and to almost get a win at New Mexico, I think as an eight point game in Missouri, this weekend, and so I have a lot of respect for Alabama State, and I think they're a really good team.

And I thought, you know, we played well enough that it didn't appear that way at times tonight.

We were able to take them out of things.

So for that reason, I'm pleased to.

Boba Miller.

You know, when he's playing with the right intention and the right mentality, he's pretty special.

And I thought he strung together twenty six minutes of playing the right way tonight.

And I challenged him a little bit this morning about being consistent with the things that matter.

So it's really good to see it.

But you look down in twenty six and fourteen guys, I mean that's that's something else and eleven for twelve.

From the field, and it was good to see he can shoot.

He can shoot.

I mean he shoots like over seventy percent in our practices in all our shooting drills, but.

He hadn't made them to start the year.

And you know, it was great because the first one came inside out, and I think when you when you get to the basket and you get to the paint, the ball comes out, those are easier shots.

And it was a nice inside out play for MoU and it was good to see one go down and good to see him make some free throws.

But I thought Bob's performance was great.

I love twenty five assists.

That they're a really good rebounding team, and in other high major games they've been effective on the board, and you know, if that was something we challenged.

I'm glad we won the board.

I'd like us to win it more significantly.

I don't like their seventeen offensive rect they got three in one possession, for God's sakes in the second half, but that was something we were talking about a lot.

And then I don't know if I said it yet, but twenty five assists.

That's always a good thing.

When you see that Bearkatz back in action against Clemson on Sunday.

That is the Greenville Winter Invitational game being played in Greenville, South Carolina.

Up against the Tigers.

They are nine and three this season.

We'll take a break, we'll come back.

We got John in Boston, we got Mike in LA.

We got time for you.

Five one, three, seven, four, nine, fifteen thirty Home of the Bengals, ESPN fifteen thirty Home stretch of a third hour here on Tony Pike since he three sixty on Austin on more time for phone calls before we go to Chad Brindle for quick hits.

Chad, of course in FROMO this afternoon.

Let's start up in Boston and talk to John.

John, you're on the program.

What's up dude, Good afternoon, Austin.

How are you, wonderful man?

What's on your mind?

Sounds good?

Well?

I think first of all, what we have to look at is down the stretch is the health of Joe Borrow, making sure that he's upright and healthy going into next season.

That goes without saying I think we can all agree with that, but I'd love to see him kind of come back and get that draw back to playing football.

And the only thing I could take away from it is he's such a competitive guy and really cherishes winning.

Thank you so much.

Look back at his career, I think he lost one.

Game in high school.

I think while he was at Ohio State, although he didn't play much, they only lost five games in three years, and then four games at LSU.

So when he came into the NFL, he's only been ten losing games, and this year the Bengals of four and ten, So that has to.

Wear on him.

I'm so old to remember that Larry Bird when he went undefeated and he had a state in nineteen seventy nine, lost the championship game for Magic Johnson, and then he came to the Celtics to turn them around.

They won sixty plus games, And a question that was asked to him after the season when it was the toughest pride adjusting from college to pros.

Just losing this much, nearly lost like twenty games in a basketball season.

Those types of guys who are really competitive, I think it just wears on them after a while.

So that to me is really what I would love to see happen in the last three weeks.

Keep him healthy and make sure that you know he's back to being himself, because we could sit here and talk about offensive blind and linebackers and everything else.

If he's not all in and he's your guide, then you've got to start back at square one.

Yeah, And I think part of it too is now two years in a row in which you're missing the playoffs.

I know it's ultimately three years in a row.

The first year they were playing pretty good, and that was just like a crazy injury and then to play as good as he did last year.

I think there's at least okay, I can hang my hat on.

I had an awesome season, but we just didn't have the horses.

And now it's like I got hurt again.

I feel I still feel like I'm good enough, and it feels like we're further away on defense than we were a year ago.

And that's got to be difficult for him to deal with, especially losing the way they did at Buffalo.

So I'm sure, yeah, that losing just wears on you.

And when he is responsible and a lot of people felt like he was for the way that things went in Buffalo and then responsible for the way things win against Baltimore, it's just a tough few weeks.

For the guy.

Sure.

Absolutely.

In that Buffalo game, you got nine minutes left, he's giving you a twenty eight to eighteen lead, and then you let Buffalo score a touchdown on four plays, a forty yard touchdown run by Josh Allen.

He's probably like, can we do better than that?

I mean, he's going to probably score touchdown there, Josh Allen, but let him go nine, ten, eleven plays like you and Tony talked about right after the game.

Let's not make it look like a maddens I think, uh.

And then all of a sudden, the bad read and then the pick pass and it all falls on him like it always does.

He almost has to play perfect, the one he has to play perfect for them to win.

That's an incredible amount.

Of pressure on one person, it is.

And John, thank you for the phone call.

And I agree, like if you're if that's part of the pressure, you know that that can wear on someone as well.

And you know he's a human being just like the rest of us.

Let's go to Mike in LA.

What's up, Mike.

I hope my buddy John's still listening up in Boston.

Boston.

Yeah, the God.

John.

I've learned to like you, but typically I don't like any Celtics fans.

I hate the Celtic fans and the bull crep Shenanigans.

You folks used to pull up there in the garden with the crappy little dressing rooms and turn off the air conditioning.

Just a bunch of hoodlums in Boston.

I'm sure you're not one of them, John, But have a great Christmas.

Well, you know that you know how it is up there.

You know the Belichick stuff, you know, cheating Football's spygate.

That's just what they do up there, Mike.

They're all paranoid.

Yeah.

Sorry, John, I'm sorry, buddy.

We love you, John.

I'll tell you what.

We whipped a dreaded hornets about him the State with.

Yeah.

I think like I think they're like three and nineteenth on the kin Pom defensive rankings.

So and Wes Nollerd does really a pretty good rebounding team.

Yeah, when they played, when they played in JV teams or whatever.

But I'll tell you I still follow Nick Cronin because I just love Nick.

And he's finally got some shooters out there now, and he has really never had many shooters, so he finally got some shooters.

And of course he always you know, his team's always played good DSA.

They whipped a snot out of air in the State, which is a pretty good team last night.

So I just always root for Mick.

And you should like Mick.

He's in the ball club, brother.

That's right, we got our bald brothers, got to stick together.

I got no beef with Mick.

I like Mick.

Old school man.

I loved it.

Dude, if you had to pick now, who would be your Super Bowl picks.

I would say, right now, I'm gonna say Seahawks and Bills.

Wow.

Well, I can understand that completely.

And the reason you're picking Buffalo over h Denver is because of the offense, right.

Yeah, I'm just gonna trust Josh Allen And that's tough because that, I mean, that defensive front in Denver is so good.

Sean Payton obviously is experienced, but I feel like maybe just the year that Buffalo gets over the hump and then you know, I'm assuming Seattle is gonna win tonight.

So if Seattle wins tonight, I think they have the easiest pass easiest pass the Super Bowl.

Yeah, I think without DeVante that is going to make a difference for them tonight.

Do you think Houston front four is better than Denver's?

Do you think Houston's is the best in football?

I do.

I don't know that.

I think it's a pretty close, uh comparison, but I do think I would give it to Houston by a couple.

And actually the Rams front for is pretty good.

It's a miracle how they got both those kids out of Florida State in the same year verse and fisk.

Yeah verse.

Verse is a beast, isn't they?

But that doesn't happen too often, does it?

Awes work.

We'll take two linemen in the same draft.

Oh, that was another sparkling conversation on my behalf.

So you have a good thing.

I enjoyed it.

Mike, Thank you, buddy.

That is our guy, Mike in Los Angeles.

We'll go from one sparkling conversation to another.

We go from Mike in LA to Chad Brindle, Bearcat Journal dot Com and sitting in the big chair for Moeggar this afternoon.

He's next for quick hits right here on the Home of the Bengals ESPN fifty There.

Wck LII, Cincinnati.

Now it's time for a quick hits on Tony Tykes since three.

Yes, indeed it is.

Normally we'd be looking for MO, but now we've got Chad Brindle.

Chad in the seat for MO this afternoon for the moegger Radio Show.

Hi Chad, how are you?

I'm delightful.

I feel like it's been a long time since I've seen you.

I haven't been around much likely and it feels like the days like we've missed each other.

You guys are out or you're you know, well, some would say at this time of the year, you're busier than a one armed wallpaper hanger.

It's crossover.

Season is a lot.

It's a lot, but you know it's you make up for it, like in the summer when you can go do things and have a little bit of a life.

Not a lot of a life, but a little bit of a life.

You pay for it and ever sure, yeah, did we like learn anything about the Bearcats last night?

I mean, Alabama State stinks, but like, probably not.

How much of a difference does Jiggle James make?

Look do we know it makes a difference.

I don't know how much yet, But let's let's be honest about something.

Austin.

You know where they rank in the Big twelve and two point field goal percentage?

Probably not not at the top.

Last, Oh, you know where they rank in the Big twelve and three point field goal percentage.

I'm gonna say last.

Last.

You know where they rank in the Big twelve and free throw percentage?

Last, definitely last.

You know where they rank in turnover percentage?

First?

Last, Oh, they turn it over more than anythy in the Big twelve, Like this offense stinks.

Yeah, so if you can bring back your leading scorer from last year, it helps.

How much like my biggest concern with Jiggle Jigsel James all along James.

No, I like that.

Yeah, that's better than.

Jingle James.

It's his efficiency.

He has not been, to this point in his UC career an efficient player.

He shoots under thirty percent from three, He loves long twos, he doesn't get to the free throw line.

So those are all like, yeah, other than that, how is the play missake?

Yeah?

Exactly.

So there are still concerns.

But you add another guy.

That can get you fifteen twelve, fifteen points a game on average, with as bad as the offense has been, it's gonna help some What if.

Bob Bob goes for twenty six and fourteen every night, If he gets eight dunks and goes eleven to twelve from the field, I feel pretty good about eight dunks is a pretty good night.

Pretty good.

That's one thing I do love, you know how like fans generally don't grasp the concept of like you're playing really high level basketball, you don't get just dunk it.

Bob Out genuinely is one of those guys that does what fans want to do.

He trish to dunk in at every opportunity.

I can appreciate that.

So he did it last night.

Eight dunks is usually pretty good.

I said last night on the aftermath our postgame show, He's probably not gonna have eight dunks in the game the rest of the year, And Aaron said, why not, Well, it's hard to have eight dunks in the gamer, so everybody would do it.

Yeah, but but it was at least for a night.

Look, man, they got twenty games left, right.

Eighteen of them are big twelve games.

One of them is Clemson on Sunday.

The other is lipscumb who gave Duke fits the other night.

So you got twenty difficult games left.

We might not get to have a whole lot of happy postgame shows.

Sure between here and the end of the season.

I'm gonna enjoy it for a day.

Have you, at any point in your life ever been able to dunk on a ten foot room?

No?

I could.

Back in the day, I could, Like fingertips, I could.

I could.

What's your single greatest athletic accomplishment?

A laser time four three nine?

Really?

You was picking them up and laying them down.

I was really fast, especially short like like a hundred when you ran one hundred meters.

Sure, the guys with the long legs would eventually.

Overtake me at about eighty meters, but off the start and to like the halfway point, I could pick them up and put them down.

I never got caught stealing a base respect in baseball.

Now, how often did you get the first base?

Were you know, like a Billy Hamilton thing or not?

You know what I was?

I was a master bunter.

Oh, I could bunt to get pause there, yeah, master bunter.

I could.

I could put it third, short, second, first, like where I felt the advantage was.

Baseball was your sport.

Yeah, oh I did not want to.

I want to not hoole city championship.

Did you really that's a big deal in the master jewelers.

Oh my gosh, master bunters, masters, master jewelers.

Yeah.

I had one home run in my whole career.

I hit it into the wind at CUVCAF High School and we were playing like our rival.

It was like our big rival.

Yes, and you know it's kids, you know, on both.

Teams, and literally everybody in the entire place When that ball went over, the including me, looked at each other and went, what just happened?

What?

What?

What?

That's awesome?

What do you got coming up on the show this afternoon.

We're gonna talk some We're gonna talk some bear Cats, talk some Muskies.

Look, man, Mama said there'd be days like that.

There's these They're just not great teams, either of them.

So there are gonna be nights that that nothing goes right correct, and last night was a nothing goes right night for Xavier.

You gotta kind of roll it up and throw it away.

This is what I will say.

What have we seen so far through the first thirty plus percent of the season for Xavier?

Richard Patino's had some answers.

Yeah.

True, He's been able to course correct, He's been able to get him back on track.

Last night was frustrating.

Last night.

I didn't get to see it because I was obviously at the return of Jiggle James m but just from the sounds and reading everything about it, just a night where absolutely nothing went your way.

And sometimes that happens.

So we'll talk about that.

I've got to.

I've got to.

I'm interested to hear your your take on this, We've heard a lot about the the inner workings of Joe Burrow's brain and what it means in terms of the Bengals and the front office and what he's happy with and what he's not happy with.

How much of that do you think is Joe going some of it me.

I've asked for a lot, They've given me everything I've asked for, and this ain't exactly working the way that it should.

Do you think some of that introspection is him dealing with I'm not a general manager, I'm not a coach, I'm a quarterback.

I'm sure that there is self reflection at all levels.

We haven't talked about that quarterback, Yeah, we haven't.

And I think there's a lot of people out there that don't know Joe Burrow, that think they know Joe Burrow.

That has led to a lot of this conversation and nobody really knows him.

But it's good stuff.

We'll be listening this afternoon.

Thanks Chad, Thank you.

Austin.

Tony's back tomorrow for a Friday football frenzy on the home of the Bengals, Cincinnati's ESPN fifteen thirty Tony Pikes.

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