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Speaker 1: All right, let's do this weekend here, three hours of

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Speaker 1: sports talk, no complaints. Things to get to Bengals and

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Speaker 1: Bears Sunday, Paid Course Stadium. Let's welcome in our first guest,

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Speaker 1: who's all over Bengals coverage for ESPN and ESPN dot Com.

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Speaker 1: That would be Ben Baby and Ben, do you anticipate

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Speaker 1: we'll see Joe Flacco under center come Sunday?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Hey, Lance, I would imagine that you do see

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Speaker 2: Flacco on Sunday. Now, the Bengals didn't want to go

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Speaker 2: out and definitively say that Flacco was going to be

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Speaker 2: the starter. I think they still want to see what

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Speaker 2: it's going to look like over the course of the weekend.

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Speaker 2: But talked is Zach Taylor today, If Dak Taylor said

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Speaker 2: that everything that they needed to see for a guy

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Speaker 2: who could play on Sunday the Bengals saw on Thursday.

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Speaker 2: I saw him out there today at practice. Was talking

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Speaker 2: to head trainer Matt Summers. Looks comfortable out there, you know, said,

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Speaker 2: you know, he felt pretty good going into the week.

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Speaker 2: So I would imagine right now the Flacco will be

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Speaker 2: the guy when the Bengals play on Sunday.

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Speaker 1: How about Trey Hendrickson.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that seems a little less likely. Lance, I think

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Speaker 2: you're gonna see Trey Hendrickson and Logan Wilson potentially on

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Speaker 2: the sidelines, both listed as doubtful. Both guys did not

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Speaker 2: practice all week. You know, Hendrickson tried to go out

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Speaker 2: there and play on that hip. He reaggravated it in

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Speaker 2: that game. Wilson, he Logan Wilson, he suffered a calf injury.

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Speaker 2: Tried to he played through it, suffered it on kickoff return.

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Speaker 2: I was told this week, and so now, especially with

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Speaker 2: guys who have those lingering issue injuries, maybe a chance

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Speaker 2: for them to get healthy during the bye week and

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Speaker 2: don't want them to get nicked up this week. So

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Speaker 2: we'll see if the Bengals, you know, if they don't play,

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Speaker 2: if they can withstand not having both of those guys

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Speaker 2: against a depleted Chicago team.

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Speaker 1: Ben Baby ESPN and ESPN dot Com checking in tonight

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Speaker 1: talking Bengals Bears. You broke the news last night. McKinley

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Speaker 1: Jackson has asked for a trade. What's the latest on that.

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Speaker 1: How has Zach responded to that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, we talked to Zach today and Zach

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Speaker 2: was asked about that report that we had last night.

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Speaker 2: You know, he said he likes McKinley Jackson in the

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Speaker 2: big message that he's given to him and that he

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Speaker 2: told us is just for him to keep working. They

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Speaker 2: believe that, you know, with Mike Pennell now no longer

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Speaker 2: on the roster, he got his release granted and now

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Speaker 2: he's at Kansas City, they feel like that'll open up

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Speaker 2: an avenue for McKinley Jackson. That being said, though, you know,

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Speaker 2: in talking to those around that situation, you know, I

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Speaker 2: got this said that McKinley and knowing him since he

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Speaker 2: got here in Cincinnati last year, he's always truck me

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Speaker 2: as someone who wants to do everything he can to

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Speaker 2: go out and help the team win. I've actually never

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Speaker 2: heard a guy talk so much about making such a

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Speaker 2: lasting legacy on the game the moment they got the door.

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Speaker 2: I think Jamar Chase is the only other one I

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Speaker 2: heard talk in that manner. So I've never questioned what

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Speaker 2: kind of drive McKinley Jackson has. I think when you

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Speaker 2: see the change that's happened over the offseason, they go

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Speaker 2: from Loui an Arumo to Al Golden, you know, it

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Speaker 2: just hasn't seemed to fit what Jackson does so far.

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Speaker 2: In the coaching staff it said, you know, publicly, they've said, listen,

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Speaker 2: we wanted him to to try to get those reps,

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Speaker 2: but he hasn't been able to get them so far.

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Speaker 2: And I think he just wants an avenue to contribute

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Speaker 2: to the team. And I think that's where you know

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Speaker 2: our report yesterday, that's that's kind of how that materialize.

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Speaker 1: Been with the multiple issues on the defensive side of things.

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Speaker 1: Is this defense fixable this season? In season?

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Speaker 2: I think you're gonna have to try to figure that out.

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Speaker 2: You know, when you look at it, they the injuries

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Speaker 2: up front are not good. But at the end of

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Speaker 2: the day, that can't be an excuse. It can't be

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Speaker 2: an excuse that you had young linebackers. You know, you

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Speaker 2: have to find a way to figure this out. There's

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Speaker 2: a reason they went from Loui an Romo, Louis Arumo

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Speaker 2: to Al Golden. The hope was that Golden was going

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Speaker 2: to be able to get the most out of these

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Speaker 2: young players, and so you're gonna have to find a

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Speaker 2: way to fix these things. We talked to Al Golden

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Speaker 2: this week and he felt like in terms of the

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Speaker 2: run game. They felt that they were guys in gaps

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Speaker 2: ready to make plays. It's just the matter of making

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Speaker 2: those plays. And I think if those if those linebackers

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Speaker 2: and they can continue to get acclimated to NFL game

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Speaker 2: speed and getting those reps on the fly, that's their

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Speaker 2: best chance. But I'm gonna be honest, Lance, that is

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Speaker 2: asking a lot of rookies. I don't know, you know,

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Speaker 2: for rookie linebackers to come in and play at that level,

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Speaker 2: For samr. Stewart to come in have to be on

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Speaker 2: ir you know, with an ankle injury then come back in.

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Speaker 2: You know, you're asking a lot of some of your

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Speaker 2: young players. And so what it doesn't always look like

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Speaker 2: for Garrett Carter and Demetrious Night. That makes sense because

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Speaker 2: not often do you see linebackers get thrust into the

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Speaker 2: spotlight so early in their careers. Jermaine Pratt, I remember

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Speaker 2: when he replaced Preston Brown in twenty nineteen. That was

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Speaker 2: about halfway through the year. Logan Wilson split reps with

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Speaker 2: Josh Bynes before fully take him over as a starter

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Speaker 2: in twenty twenty one. And so when you look at it,

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Speaker 2: it's not a shock to see sometimes it doesn't always

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Speaker 2: look right, and that's kind of a decision the coaching

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Speaker 2: staff has made, will that you know, be beneficial for

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Speaker 2: them in the long run. I think that remains to

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Speaker 2: be seen, and I think, quite honestly, it's gonna be

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Speaker 2: a tough hole to claw and.

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Speaker 1: Ben A just figures while all this is going on

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Speaker 1: on that side of the ball, now, the offensive line

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Speaker 1: and the run game has come on in recent weeks.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it is interesting when you look at it how

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Speaker 2: much going under center Lance has really helped them offensively.

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Speaker 2: You know, throughout the year they leaned a lot on

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Speaker 2: pistol formations where that running back is right behind the

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Speaker 2: good quarterback and shotgun. But much like in twenty twenty

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Speaker 2: three when Kate Browning was a quarterback, when they went

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Speaker 2: to under center, they've been able to open up so

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Speaker 2: many things. You look at the run game, how many

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Speaker 2: explosive runs they're getting. They've been able to work play

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Speaker 2: action really well, and a lot of that just sometimes

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Speaker 2: stems from the look that you get from under center,

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Speaker 2: which the Bengals they've done sometimes under Joe Burrow, but

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Speaker 2: really when they have their backup quarterbacks in place, you

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Speaker 2: know they've they've went under center more and it's been successful.

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Speaker 2: So you know, I think you can attribute a lot

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Speaker 2: of that to you know, they've kind of simplified the

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Speaker 2: simplified things in the run game. Guys are really blocking well.

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Speaker 2: They've identified solutions in that regard, and I think that's

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Speaker 2: going to be Joel's you know, best help on Sundays.

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Speaker 2: They can go out get the run game established. As

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Speaker 2: much as I hate that phrase, and really do well.

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Speaker 2: That could help him protect that shoulder and get to

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Speaker 2: the bye week.

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Speaker 1: So bye week coming up, Trade deadline coming up. We

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Speaker 1: know where they are right now. I mean, how how

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Speaker 1: considering all that, how big is Sunday? I mean, is

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Speaker 1: it hyperbole to say Sunday is a tipping point for

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Speaker 1: this thing?

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Speaker 2: I honestly, I think you could easily say that. I

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Speaker 2: think you feel a lot better at four and five

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Speaker 2: than you do three and six. You're just a game

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Speaker 2: back of five hundred, and it honestly makes that Jets

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Speaker 2: game so much more painful, because if you were able

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Speaker 2: to beat New York and beat Chicago going into the

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Speaker 2: bye you'd be over five hundred. Instead, you're still trying

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Speaker 2: to call back at that mark. But when you're three

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Speaker 2: games under five hundred and just the game back. That's

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Speaker 2: a big difference in terms of how you feel going

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Speaker 2: into that bye week. With Pittsburgh still on the schedule.

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Speaker 2: You know, you'll see what you can get from Baltimore,

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Speaker 2: and then you've got three pretty winnable games at the

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Speaker 2: end of the year. You've got Arizona, Cleveland, and Miami,

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Speaker 2: and we saw what Miami looked like last night. So

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Speaker 2: getting a win tomorrow, finding a couple of wins in

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Speaker 2: the middle of the schedule that could be beneficial. And

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Speaker 2: I think the playoffs are still not out of the

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Speaker 2: question if you can find a way to win on Sunday.

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Speaker 1: Last question, let me go back to the offense if

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Speaker 1: I could, do you anticipate more of an effort to

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Speaker 1: get Tea involved on Sunday.

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Speaker 2: I think that they're going to try to figure that out.

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Speaker 2: You know, it's interesting that did not come up a

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Speaker 2: lot this week, But when you look at kind of

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Speaker 2: how the game materialized, obviously you're going to try to

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Speaker 2: lean into getting the ball into Jamar's hands as much

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Speaker 2: as possible. But you know, Tea, especially if depending on

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Speaker 2: what the Bear's cornerback situation looks like, you know that

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Speaker 2: could be a really good opportunity to get some one

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Speaker 2: on ones for Jamaar Aty Higgins. And the beauty of

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Speaker 2: Tea is that, you know, and I've said this for years,

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Speaker 2: is that he's got such great length, He's got such

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Speaker 2: good ability to catch the ball at the highest point,

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Speaker 2: win thows one on one. The big physical receiver who's

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Speaker 2: a good route runner. If you've got a quarterback who

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Speaker 2: can get it in his vicinity, he's such a huge

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Speaker 2: asset for any offense. And so, you know, we didn't

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Speaker 2: hear from Tea this week, which is a little like

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Speaker 2: difficult this season. But you know, he's a guy that's

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Speaker 2: always struck me as someone who wants to contribute and

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Speaker 2: do whatever he can. He's not one to call for

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Speaker 2: the ball and ask for it explicitly, but I, you know,

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Speaker 2: give him the look the targets looked like. I wouldn't

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Speaker 2: be surprised if you see taking with a more balanced

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Speaker 2: target share on Sunday against the pairs. Ben.

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Speaker 1: How can listeners read and follow along with everything you

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Speaker 1: got going on with the.

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Speaker 2: Bengals, Yeah, Lance, he's got a lot of stuff going

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Speaker 2: on on ESPN dot Com. Obviously, we've launched our direct

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Speaker 2: to consumer product, our ESPN flagship, which you can find

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Speaker 2: on smart TVs and the update of app on your smartphone.

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Speaker 2: The Sports Center for You page has a lot of

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Speaker 2: great stuff, a lot of good daily insight on what

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Speaker 2: this Bengals team is going to look like. And this

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Speaker 2: is going to be you know, and I've been on

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Speaker 2: this beat now for seven years. This could be the

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Speaker 2: most fascinating year that we have on this beat because

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Speaker 2: I think this franchise could be going It's a very

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Speaker 2: interesting direction depending on how this season goes.

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Speaker 1: Oh man, I just got chills when you said that. Hey,

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Speaker 1: it's Friday night. There's a lot going on. I really

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Speaker 1: appreciate you making time. I always enjoy our talks.

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Speaker 2: Heany sounds good, Thank you?

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Speaker 1: Take care. There you go, Ben Baby, Why the hair

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Speaker 1: stood up on my arms? On that final line? He

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Speaker 1: dropped about the things that could be going on with

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Speaker 1: this franchise. Let's figure out what's going on with the

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Speaker 1: Bears franchise. How's that for a segue? We'll head to

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Speaker 1: the Wendy City talk with my guy, David Kaplan of

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Speaker 1: ESPN one thousand. Ask him about that Bear situation, expectations

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Speaker 1: at four and three, right now, Caleb Williams and more

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Speaker 1: after We Check News. RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by

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Speaker 1: Kelsey SCHABELAE seven hundred WLW