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Speaker 1: Pike Cincy three sixty about Cincinnati from Cincinnati, sponsored in

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Speaker 1: part by Cincy Shirts. Cincy Shirts, All Cincy, all Day.

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Speaker 1: This is ESPN fifteen thirty, Cincinnati Sports Station.

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Speaker 2: Shout out to the folks at Cincy Shirts. Welcome to

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Speaker 2: our number two, Cincy three sixty. Thank you for joining us.

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Speaker 2: Your talkback's coming up in just a few moments. We'll

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Speaker 2: still talk some Wes Miller and UC basketball later on

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Speaker 2: an hour number three, we'll read and react. We'll look

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Speaker 2: ahead to the college and NFL slate coming up starting

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Speaker 2: tonight at the NFL level as well. But before we

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Speaker 2: do any of that, let's go to our guy from

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Speaker 2: ADAZ Sports covering the Cincinnati Bengals. John Sharon is with us.

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Speaker 3: What's up, John, Hey, Tony, Good to talk to you again, man.

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Speaker 2: Always always good to talk to you. John. Before I

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Speaker 2: even talk to you about the Cincinnati Bengals, how about

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Speaker 2: these Cincinnati Bearcats. Are you buying what the Bearcats are

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Speaker 2: putting together right now? And are you buying the Bearcats

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Speaker 2: as Big twelve contenders?

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Speaker 3: I really don't want too, but I also really really

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Speaker 3: want to, So you know what, I'm just gonna I'm

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Speaker 3: just gonna let go. I'm gonna let go. I'm gonna

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Speaker 3: let them hurt me again. You know I've put off

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Speaker 3: these walls. They're tearing down right now. I'm just I'm

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Speaker 3: just going with it. We'll see what they do against

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Speaker 3: Utah and a coup in I guess a week or so. Yeah,

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Speaker 3: I'm just like, let's just ride out. Let's just see

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Speaker 3: what happens.

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Speaker 2: Take care of business against a very talented offense on Saturday,

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Speaker 2: and uh, and see what happens on the road in

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Speaker 2: Utah against a good squad. We know what happened last Thursday,

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Speaker 2: Bengals pick up a win against the Steelers. Joe Flacca

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Speaker 2: was amazing. He is now the darling based on his

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Speaker 2: press conference from yesterday, where it feels like so many

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Speaker 2: people can relate to what Joe Flacca was talking about

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Speaker 2: as it relates to the field. John, where did you

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Speaker 2: see the ability for Joe Flacco to have as much

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Speaker 2: success as he did.

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Speaker 3: I think the more time on TAC that he had

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Speaker 3: in practice with his receivers, the better the timing was.

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Speaker 3: And I just think it's so impressive how quickly he

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Speaker 3: was able to get the ball out of his ends,

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Speaker 3: but also to be able to push the ball down

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Speaker 3: the field and hit some of those windows, and some

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Speaker 3: of those in breaking routes to either Jamar Chase or

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Speaker 3: t Higgins. So the offensive line looked better because the

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Speaker 3: ball was getting out quicker, but also he knew where

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Speaker 3: to go with the ball. And I think that's just

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Speaker 3: what the Bengals had envisioned with bringing in a new

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Speaker 3: quarterback instead of Drake Jake grinding someone who played on

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Speaker 3: time and just you didn't have to be he doesn't

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Speaker 3: have to be completely accurate, didn't have to have Joe

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Speaker 3: Burrow type accuracy to make this offense work, but recognizing

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Speaker 3: when he's got when the receivers have inside leverage and

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Speaker 3: knowing that you know those windows are going to open

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Speaker 3: up in a fraction of a second, and getting the

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Speaker 3: ball out and just still putting it on, you know,

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Speaker 3: on other guy's hands, like they're some of the best

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Speaker 3: hands catchers in the NFL. So it's just it's all

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Speaker 3: about just making sure that you're into on time and

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Speaker 3: then rhythm, and that's just how you have that success.

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Speaker 3: And obviously, you know, the Steelers did him a favor

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Speaker 3: by just spamming man coverage over and over again and

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Speaker 3: just not really adjusting in that regard, and that's kind

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Speaker 3: of how that day happened. But I was very impressed

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Speaker 3: by how well he played on time and in rhythm

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Speaker 3: throughout the entire game. That's just what allowed the consisten

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Speaker 3: success to keep blowing.

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Speaker 2: You mentioned the Steelers playing man coverage. I was surprised.

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Speaker 2: Not only that, but when you think about a team

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Speaker 2: playing man, you think that they're committing more to the

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Speaker 2: box to stop the run, and yet Chase Brown ran

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Speaker 2: for nine point eight yards of carry. They ran in

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Speaker 2: as a team for six point two yards per carry.

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Speaker 2: Anything that you can point to as to why they

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Speaker 2: were all of a sudden able to find success on

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Speaker 2: the ground, I.

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Speaker 3: Think the blocking was just better. I think they found

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Speaker 3: some concepts with Flatko under center, because obviously the Bengals

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Speaker 3: run game with Burrow, it's been mostly in the pistol

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Speaker 3: around the shotgun because he doesn't have as much comfort,

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Speaker 3: you know, under center. But Joe Flacco, obviously he's played

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Speaker 3: a long time, he's been around that scheme a while,

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Speaker 3: and I think he finds some comfort in it and

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Speaker 3: they can kind of marry the pass and run game

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Speaker 3: a little bit coming out from that formation, and you know,

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Speaker 3: they were able to kind of stretch the Steelers out

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Speaker 3: a little bit horizontally, and I think dol Rytherner had

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Speaker 3: a good game walking next to Rounda Brown junior, and

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Speaker 3: that opens up some holes for Chase Brown. So you know,

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Speaker 3: the Steelers we talked about with Austin last week, they're

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Speaker 3: really aggressive and how they defend the run. Sometimes they

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Speaker 3: can get a little bit over aggressive, and I think

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Speaker 3: the Bengals just found a nice rhythm and flow with

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Speaker 3: some of the concepts that they had under center, and

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Speaker 3: that's what led to that succepts. It didn't really matter

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Speaker 3: where in the game it was, or the Bengals were up,

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Speaker 3: or if they were trailing or anything like that. I

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Speaker 3: think walking was just better.

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Speaker 4: You mentioned Dalton Risner. Zach Taylor has not announced or

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Speaker 4: won't announced exactly who his starting guards are going to be.

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Speaker 4: Do you expect there to be a short leash for

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Speaker 4: those guys and the Bengals kind of keep rolling through

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Speaker 4: whoever they feel like he's playing good at the moment.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. I was a bit surprised that Riisner got the

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Speaker 3: start last week, considering that Fairchild he seemed to be

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Speaker 3: practicing and able to play and he was active. I

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Speaker 3: think it was more just the fact that it was

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Speaker 3: a short week and Fairchild was coming off that knee injury,

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Speaker 3: and maybe they didn't think they had enough time to

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Speaker 3: actually practice enough to play. But then Riisner, you know,

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Speaker 3: he's a natural left guard, that's where he's played ninety

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Speaker 3: percent of his snaps, and I think he looked better

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Speaker 3: there compared to right guards in some of those first

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Speaker 3: couple weeks where he was starting. I would imagine that

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Speaker 3: Fairchild is going to take that spot back now that

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Speaker 3: he's fully healthy, just because I don't think he was

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Speaker 3: playing bad enough to warrant being benched, and I think

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Speaker 3: they value Risner just being the guy that can fill

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Speaker 3: in either spot in a pinch if some guy gets hurt.

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Speaker 3: I'm really interested to see in the least with Jan Rivers.

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Speaker 3: I think that's a case where they really liked what

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Speaker 3: he did in preseason, and then the first chance that

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Speaker 3: they felt like he deserved in the regular season in

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Speaker 3: Week four, that he got that chance, and I don't

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Speaker 3: think they wanted to take him out until maybe something

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Speaker 3: drastic happens. But I would imagine that we're going to

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Speaker 3: see both rookies out there this week when they're both healthy,

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Speaker 3: and maybe it's just about giving Rivers a little bit

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Speaker 3: more time to see if he can kind of stabilize himself,

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Speaker 3: and if not, then that's where you have Lucas Patrick

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Speaker 3: or Dalton Riisers to fill in for that spot.

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Speaker 2: One other thing on the offense, and then I'll switch

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Speaker 2: it over the defensive side of the ball. You mentioned

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Speaker 2: Joe Flacco and the ability to go under center in

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Speaker 2: the running game. We've seen this now from different sample sizes.

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Speaker 2: When Jake Browning took over years ago, they did found

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Speaker 2: some success, find some success in the running game, and

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Speaker 2: a lot of it was drawn to the under center run.

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Speaker 2: I know that Joe Burrow doesn't want to get under

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Speaker 2: center much. You watch what he did at LSU. They

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Speaker 2: were rarely ever under center. When it comes down to

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Speaker 2: Zach's scheme versus what Joe Burrow wants to do. How

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Speaker 2: did those conversations eventually go, Because I wonder if if

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Speaker 2: Zach has tried to do more under center, and you

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Speaker 2: speculate as if Joe doesn't want to do that and

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Speaker 2: just wants to stay and gun, or how do you

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Speaker 2: think that dynamic works or needs to adapt when Joe

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Speaker 2: Burrow is healthy to find success in the running game still.

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Speaker 3: You know, Zach Taylor, we knew that he came from

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Speaker 3: the Shaw McBay coaching tree, and that entire offense is

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Speaker 3: just based off of being under center and just having

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Speaker 3: blue legs and playoff packing wide zone. And we saw

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Speaker 3: that the first year that Taylor was here in twenty

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Speaker 3: eighteen with Amy Dalton, and we knew that the offense,

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Speaker 3: like you said that Burrow was coming from with Joe Brady,

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Speaker 3: it didn't really feature any of that, and it tried

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Speaker 3: to maximize the strengths of that offense with its receivers

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Speaker 3: in the past game and the ability for Burrow to

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Speaker 3: examine in the defense from the gun, to never turn

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Speaker 3: his back from what the defense is showing him, and

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Speaker 3: to know where the ball is supposed to go at

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Speaker 3: all times, which is how he can operate behind a

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Speaker 3: bad offensive line and he can just still have an

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Speaker 3: efficient day out there even without a reliable running game,

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Speaker 3: because it is hard to find a reliable running game

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Speaker 3: when you're never under center, right, So that's always been

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Speaker 3: the weird thing that they've tried to balance. And I

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Speaker 3: think Taylor and his offense is in a scheme has

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Speaker 3: really adjusted to what Burrow does well, but it is

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Speaker 3: hard to sustain that success over years and years because

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Speaker 3: eventually the defenses are going to be able to pick

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Speaker 3: up on it, and it's just easier to defend because

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Speaker 3: there's not as much the diversity into a lot more

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Speaker 3: predictable to defend against. So I think the conversations has

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Speaker 3: always been how can they maximize Burrow because he's the

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Speaker 3: most valuable person in that building, and they want to

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Speaker 3: make sure that he plays it as his best and

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Speaker 3: he's in a scheme that maximizes that. But it's always

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Speaker 3: been a weird thing to balance in terms of trying

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Speaker 3: to do what is best for just you know, countering

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Speaker 3: what defenses are doing to you, but also making sure

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Speaker 3: that you're not putting him in a position where he's

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Speaker 3: not like at his best. So I think when we

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Speaker 3: see sometimes when different quarterbacks are in there and they have

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Speaker 3: different strengths, sometimes we see different aspects of the offense,

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Speaker 3: and that's kind of what we're seeing right now.

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Speaker 2: How do you characterize what's going on on the defensive

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Speaker 2: side of the ball right now? We have talked for

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Speaker 2: weeks now, John about at times Logan Wilson's snap count

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Speaker 2: Cam Taylor Britt is now a healthy scratch. It feels

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Speaker 2: like at points there they're going to the young guys,

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Speaker 2: They're giving them as many opportunities as possible, yet at

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Speaker 2: the same time guys are being held accountable. But Gino

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Speaker 2: Stone is still playing a lot and he struggled at times.

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Speaker 2: So how do you categorize what you're seeing on the

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Speaker 2: defensive side of the ball as a whole?

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Speaker 3: With Al Golden, I don't think it's too dissimilar to

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Speaker 3: when lu Narumo first took over. After you know, the

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Speaker 3: coaching change there, we remember, like obviously what happened. Carlo

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Speaker 3: has done that right, Like that was a guy that

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Speaker 3: was phased out, someone who is well respected in the

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Speaker 3: locker room, and unfortunately you notice the difference of what

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Speaker 3: the defense, the new defensive corner is sawing him. I

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Speaker 3: think that's kind of what we're seeing a little bit

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Speaker 3: with Al Golden and Logan Wilson and some other guys

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Speaker 3: as well. It came to the Brick could be another

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Speaker 3: example as well, even though he was benched obviously by

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Speaker 3: the previous if that's the coordinator, So again, it is

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Speaker 3: still surprising to see what is happening with Wilson, but

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Speaker 3: I think that's just the reality that they're accepting and

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Speaker 3: they deemed that Bear Carters is better in that role.

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Speaker 3: And I think in general, this defense is still really

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Speaker 3: trying to find himself and just really they're capitalizing on

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Speaker 3: the times when they do find the ball, and like

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Speaker 3: their best games have been when they can capitalize on

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Speaker 3: turnovers and when they can, you know, really make the

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Speaker 3: most of those opportunities. It is still a matter of

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Speaker 3: trying to find consistency in terms of getting stops when

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Speaker 3: they need to. That's what they did against Pittsburgh at

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Speaker 3: the end of the day and at the end of

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Speaker 3: that game, and that's how they were able to get

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Speaker 3: their offensive chance to kind of win them at the end.

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Speaker 3: But yeah, it's still, I think, very much of a

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Speaker 3: work in progress of figuring out which players are best there.

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Speaker 3: And with Gino Stone it is tough to put a

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Speaker 3: new stafety in there and try to make sure that

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Speaker 3: the communication is, you know what, the same as it is.

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Speaker 3: So you know, I think Stone Neat still needs to

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Speaker 3: just prove himself and be more consistent, But it meant

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Speaker 3: something that he was he's still here and that they

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Speaker 3: brought him back and retained it, even just by a

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Speaker 3: pay cut.

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Speaker 2: I do wonder, you know, I saw there's the back

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Speaker 2: and forth this week about preparing for Tyrod Taylor or

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Speaker 2: preparing for Justin Fields. I know that's difficult, and you

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Speaker 2: can speak to maybe what that challenge presents itself for

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Speaker 2: the Bengals and not really knowing who's going to be

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Speaker 2: the quarterback. But against a team like the Jets who

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Speaker 2: are struggling in the passing game, could you make the

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Speaker 2: point that maybe now would be a good opportunity to

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Speaker 2: give someone else an opportunity if if it's not the

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Speaker 2: most elite passing game you're going to go against on Sunday.

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Speaker 3: I think the counter actually makes a lot more sense

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Speaker 3: if you. I mean, obviously there's respect for everybody that

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Speaker 3: you go against, right and I don't think the Bengals

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Speaker 3: can afford to look anybody in the eyes and say

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Speaker 3: we don't respect you. And this is going to be easy, right.

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Speaker 3: I think when you're facing a team that's clearly struggling

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Speaker 3: and is trying to find answers, that's a good time

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Speaker 3: to really test the guys that need to prove themselves, like, hey,

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Speaker 3: this is an opportunity for you to really shine because admittedly,

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Speaker 3: like this should be a game that you should do

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Speaker 3: well against. And I think when it comes to Geno

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Speaker 3: Stone and other guys who have a lot to prove,

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Speaker 3: this is a time for them to really show why

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Speaker 3: they should still be on the field. And I think

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Speaker 3: even like last year when the defense really ended things

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Speaker 3: on a high note, in those final five or six games,

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Speaker 3: they did not go against the best offenses or the

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Speaker 3: best quarterbacks, you saw their abilities really show themselves in

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Speaker 3: those opportunities. Because sometimes in the NFL, when parody is

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Speaker 3: king and everything like that, there's still massive disadvantages that

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Speaker 3: your opponents may have to deal with. And I think

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Speaker 3: that could be a case this week where you really

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Speaker 3: give some of those guys a chance to just just

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Speaker 3: play their hearts out and play above what they've been

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Speaker 3: doing so because that should be the expectation against teams

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Speaker 3: like the Jets who are winless.

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Speaker 4: We saw the Bengals struggle to get any type of

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Speaker 4: pass rush with al Trey Hendrickson on Thursday. I expect

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Speaker 4: him to be on a bit of a pitch count

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Speaker 4: against the Jets. How can they do a better job

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Speaker 4: of getting pass rush should al golden blae it's more

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Speaker 4: when Trey Hendrickson is not on the field, or just

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Speaker 4: blitz more in general to try to speed up the quarterback.

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Speaker 3: It's tough. I feel like these kinds of questions are

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Speaker 3: always asked in the middle of the season, and the

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Speaker 3: answer is that some of these problems needed to be

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Speaker 3: solved in March and April, where they just don't have

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Speaker 3: like the bodies that can, just like it is hard

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Speaker 3: to scheme pass rush when you don't have guys who

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Speaker 3: can like they should be in advotateous situations anyways, because

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Speaker 3: it's a lot easier being a defensive lineman than an

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Speaker 3: offensive linean. That's just an inherent advantage in today's games,

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Speaker 3: despite how clickly the ball is getting out of your hands,

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Speaker 3: And if you don't have guys in the building who

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Speaker 3: can just win one on one as pass rushers, there's

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Speaker 3: not much you can do schematically as a coach to

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Speaker 3: get around that. You can try games and stunts and

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Speaker 3: blitzes and twists all you want, but teams can also

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Speaker 3: adapt to that. And if you just don't win in

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Speaker 3: a quick manner, if you don't have the guys who

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Speaker 3: can do that, it is really tough in order to

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Speaker 3: do that. So that's why it still comes down to

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Speaker 3: the players actually performing up to their drests status, and

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Speaker 3: that's still not quite what we've seen from the most

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Speaker 3: part of of the likes of Miles Murphy and Schmarstiyr

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Speaker 3: and everything. There's still time for those guys to continue

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Speaker 3: flashing the intornialo slashes into consistency, but that's why we're

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Speaker 3: not really seeing it, and it's just not that much

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Speaker 3: that the coaches can do.

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Speaker 2: We are a couple weeks away now from the deadline

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Speaker 2: for trade or trade deadline in the NFL. The Bengals

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Speaker 2: obviously sit at three and four, but a winnable game

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Speaker 2: on Sunday, I think the Bears is going to be

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Speaker 2: an interesting matchup. What do you need to see over

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Speaker 2: the next two weeks and if you see enough over

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Speaker 2: the next two are you buying at the deadline if

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Speaker 2: you're the Bengals.

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Speaker 3: Some the Bengals I would always be trying to make

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Speaker 3: proactive moves. It's just not what I quite expect them

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Speaker 3: to do. I think they're only their definition of proactive

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Speaker 3: is Oh, a travesty happened in terms of an injury

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Speaker 3: and we need to find a quick solution to that.

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Speaker 3: I think that you can equate that to what happened

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Speaker 3: with Joe Slatto, right. I think when the opportunity arises

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Speaker 3: when they can offload a player that is no longer

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Speaker 3: a value to them for a player that they could

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Speaker 3: find value. We talked about Billy Price for bj Hill, right,

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Speaker 3: that could be what they look at, and maybe a

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Speaker 3: potential Logan Wilson type trade. Right. I think those opportunities

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Speaker 3: are always there and they're always looking, But I don't

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Speaker 3: know if I'm really looking for anything in the next

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Speaker 3: two weeks in terms of like, yes, they need they

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Speaker 3: absolutely need to be buying here. I think if they

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Speaker 3: find ways to win without a reliable pass rush, that's

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Speaker 3: still something that I would like to see, But we've

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Speaker 3: get to really seen them explore that position in terms

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Speaker 3: of these deals. But yes, finding additional pass rush, whether

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Speaker 3: they be on the edge or the interior, that should

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Speaker 3: be somewhat of a priority, just to see just to

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Speaker 3: test the waters, to see if there's anything out that

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Speaker 3: they can get, because I think still this defense needs

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Speaker 3: to take that next step and just finding a better

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Speaker 3: pass rush. But other than that, I'm not really expecting

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Speaker 3: much in terms of them buying regardless of the next

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Speaker 3: two weeks ago.

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Speaker 2: John, you're the absolute best man. It's so good to

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Speaker 2: catch up with you. I look forward to doing it

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Speaker 2: again next week. What's the easiest way to follow along

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Speaker 2: with everything you got going on with your coverage of

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Speaker 2: the Bengals?

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Speaker 3: Absolutely ages, sports dot com, Backs Cincinnati, eighties Sports Cincinnati,

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Speaker 3: and Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, wherever you get your short form

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Speaker 3: video content. We're all over the place.

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Speaker 4: Love it, John, Thanks, John, appreciate you man.

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Speaker 2: Go bear Cats as well.

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Speaker 3: Go cat Let's go.

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Speaker 2: All right, we need to get the talkbacks. Yeah, sorry

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Speaker 2: that long pause there, I uh my microphone, were my

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Speaker 2: uh headphones unplugged?

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Speaker 4: You did that yourself? Yeah, accidentally pulled them. Yeah, I've

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Speaker 4: done that, pulled the chair out, and it's a play.

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Speaker 4: It's a panic because it goes from just complete silence.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, like I did. I don't know if John was

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Speaker 2: still talking. I don't know if you said something right,

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Speaker 2: So there's just awkward silence.

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Speaker 4: I've done that.

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Speaker 2: Middle You're like, all right, we're gonna get the talkbacks next.

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Speaker 2: Even though I had no idea what was said in

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Speaker 2: the last four seconds um those are next. Thanks to

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Speaker 2: our friends at Cincy Schartz, thank you for listening on

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Speaker 2: the Home of the Bengals ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station.

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Speaker 3: Now your chance to win up