Speaker 1: The following takes place between seven pm and eight pm.
Speaker 2: What's up? Welcome in, James Repene in Frolance Acholic. So
Speaker 2: this is Sports Talk on seven hundred wl W. So
Speaker 2: excited to be here on Christmas Eve. Shout out to
Speaker 2: tearin Bland for producing today's show, and shout out to you.
Speaker 2: I really hope you and your family have a wonderful
Speaker 2: Christmas season, a wonderful holiday season, and obviously a happy
Speaker 2: New Year. And really really grateful and thankful to be
Speaker 2: here and to be talking with you on these airwaves
Speaker 2: on seven hundred WLW and the iHeartRadio app. I'm James Orpene.
Speaker 2: If you don't know me, why cover the Bengals every
Speaker 2: single day Bengals Talk dot com. You could check us
Speaker 2: out there and certainly check out all of our content
Speaker 2: on the YouTube channel Cincinnati Bengals Talk as well, and
Speaker 2: that's where we're going to start today's show. It is
Speaker 2: with the Bengals and anytime I anytime I'm on these airwaves,
Speaker 2: I tried to share thoughts about the Bengals that you
Speaker 2: might not have heard from Lance, or might not heard
Speaker 2: from Moe down the Hall or Toty from down the Hall.
Speaker 2: And I was in Miami for the game on Sunday,
Speaker 2: and I watched Joe Burrow do what he did, complete
Speaker 2: twenty five of thirty two passes for three hundred and
Speaker 2: nine yards, four touchdowns, have a one forty six point
Speaker 2: five passer rating, the second best of his career. And
Speaker 2: to me, it was a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, we
Speaker 2: look a lot of times during the holiday season for
Speaker 2: a reminder of, oh, well, why you should cherish these
Speaker 2: moments or these times, and when it comes to football,
Speaker 2: and this has nothing to do with the holiday season,
Speaker 2: but when it comes to football, the ultimate goal is
Speaker 2: to what to win a championship. And I can for
Speaker 2: sure tell you that every team that doesn't have a
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow feels like they are nineteen thousand, five hundred
Speaker 2: and fifty two but jillion miles away from winning a championship.
Speaker 2: But if you have a Josh Allen or a Patrick
Speaker 2: Mahomes or a Joe Burrow, you feel like you're close,
Speaker 2: You feel like you have a chance, you feel like
Speaker 2: there's a real shot at doing just that, of getting
Speaker 2: to the mountaintop. And that's what Sunday reminded me, because
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow played well, but the Dolphins just never had
Speaker 2: a chance. There was never a moment in that game,
Speaker 2: even when it was fourteen to ten where I thought
Speaker 2: that Quin Yours and the Dolphins were gonna beat Joe
Speaker 2: Burrow in the Bengals. And so you're like, James, what
Speaker 2: does that mean? What are you say? I'm saying that
Speaker 2: it doesn't need to be rocket science for the Bengals
Speaker 2: this offseason. It doesn't need to be so hard, and
Speaker 2: it feels like they're really really far away. But when
Speaker 2: you have Joe Burrow, you're born on third base. You
Speaker 2: have a shot to completely revamp things very very quickly.
Speaker 2: And I know Bengals ownership has really done the opposite
Speaker 2: of going all in. They've tried to build this sustainable winner.
Speaker 2: They've tried, They've tried to do this thing where they ah,
Speaker 2: we're going to try to keep ourselves in the mix
Speaker 2: for as long as possible. And that sounds good, But
Speaker 2: when you have Joe Burrow, it needs to be about
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow. When you have Joe Burrow, it needs to
Speaker 2: be about Joe Burrow in building around him and putting
Speaker 2: the team around him that can contend year in and
Speaker 2: year out. How do you get there year in and
Speaker 2: year out? Because when I look at this and I
Speaker 2: think about Joe Burrow, and I think about how they're
Speaker 2: four and two with Joe Burrow at quarterback this season,
Speaker 2: I think, man, oh man, if you had just been
Speaker 2: slightly under five hundred without him, they were one and
Speaker 2: eight without him, it had been four and five without
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow, things feel, look and are so much different.
Speaker 2: And you're right there, You're in the hunt. You feel
Speaker 2: like you could go to Buffalo and win. You feel
Speaker 2: like that you're competing with the Steelers for the division
Speaker 2: crown right now, and that's who's more than likely he's
Speaker 2: going to win it. But they weren't built correctly, they
Speaker 2: weren't coached correctly. There were mistakes all around, and it's unacceptable.
Speaker 2: That's what the reminder was for me the other day
Speaker 2: watching Joe Burrow pass the twenty thousand yard mark, fifth
Speaker 2: fastest in NFL history to do so, third fastest in
Speaker 2: NFL history to throw for one hundred and fifty touchdowns.
Speaker 2: He's had one hundred and fifty two touchdowns. The time
Speaker 2: is now, not later.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I wrote a book about the Bengals. A lot of
Speaker 2: you have probably followed the Cincinnati Bengals for your entire life.
Speaker 2: By the way, you can get it at Cincinnati Bengals
Speaker 2: book dot com. It's called Enter the Jungle wherever books
Speaker 2: are sold. This Bengals franchise has never had a quarterback
Speaker 2: like Joe Burrow and gone all in on winning, and
Speaker 2: they need to do that. The time is now to
Speaker 2: do that. Teams that have gone all in and I
Speaker 2: say that in quotes like the Los Angeles Rams, guess
Speaker 2: what they've rebounded from their all in mode and they're
Speaker 2: still good. You can be sustainable. This is the Joe
Speaker 2: Burrow era where every year you should be winning eleven, twelve,
Speaker 2: thirteen games, not six, not seven, not five and ten,
Speaker 2: five and ten? When will we be great again? Like
Speaker 2: that's their slow this year. That can't be unacceptable. And
Speaker 2: so this holiday season, this Christmas season, when we're all
Speaker 2: spreading cheer and we should be the thing that I
Speaker 2: want to spread. The message I want to send when
Speaker 2: it comes to the Cincinnati Bengals is that this is
Speaker 2: not rocket science. You can fix it. You can be
Speaker 2: a Super Bowl contender a year from now. And when
Speaker 2: I'm on these airwaves next to Christmas Eve filling in
Speaker 2: for Lance McAllister on Sports Talk. We can be talking
Speaker 2: about man, oh man, they have a real shot out
Speaker 2: winning a Super Bowl. That's the standard. Everything else is hogwash,
Speaker 2: everything else is a failure. It comes up short. The
Speaker 2: standard is really really high because of who you have
Speaker 2: the Miami Dolphins. James are pen in for Lance McAllister today,
Speaker 2: Merry Christmas. The Miami Dolphins would trade their entire roster
Speaker 2: in multiple years, of their entire drafts to get Joe Burrow.
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow, Jamar, Chase T Higgins. We're gonna hear from
Speaker 2: Tiggins coming up. You have all these pieces in their prime.
Speaker 2: You have to take advantage of it. You have to.
Speaker 2: And so for me, Sunday was a reminder of that.
Speaker 2: Oh man, Joe's on the field with those weapons. Good luck,
Speaker 2: good luck. You got a young, feisty defense that has
Speaker 2: some real proven pieces. And that's what they need to
Speaker 2: add this offseason, real proven pieces. That's it. It's on
Speaker 2: ownership to do that. And I don't want to hear
Speaker 2: a lot of you will probably thinking, oh, well, Joe
Speaker 2: makes this amount of money or Jamar or t and
Speaker 2: they shouldn't have paid this guy that they have plenty
Speaker 2: of money.
Speaker 3: Plenty of money.
Speaker 2: They have plenty of money and plenty of cash. I
Speaker 2: hear that a lot o the Bengals owners. They don't
Speaker 2: have as much cash. There's a salary cap, plenty of cash.
Speaker 2: They have plenty of cash, plenty of ways they can
Speaker 2: maximize the cap. They don't. They don't do that, and
Speaker 2: they should to the Joe Burrow era, Failing in this
Speaker 2: era and not winning a Super Bowl is far worse
Speaker 2: than having one year or two years where you're in
Speaker 2: cap purgatory where your salary cap is preventing you from
Speaker 2: doing what you want to do. Down the line. You
Speaker 2: got to get a super Bowl, you gotta win the championship.
Speaker 2: You gotta be willing to push the chips in. And
Speaker 2: that's what's scary now because they're committed to Zach Taylor,
Speaker 2: they're committed to this coaching staff, they're committed to this
Speaker 2: front office. And so if that's the case, then what's
Speaker 2: going to change. What needs to change is their desire
Speaker 2: to go all in on winning and that is the standard.
Speaker 2: They need to be active in free agency, There's no
Speaker 2: doubt about it. And by active, I mean active like
Speaker 2: they were in twenty twenty one and twenty twenty when
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow was on his rookie deal and then they
Speaker 2: got cold feet in two a little bit if they
Speaker 2: were able to get a couple of linemen. But you
Speaker 2: could see the feet getting colder as we got closer
Speaker 2: to Joe Burrow's extension, and those those feet are frozen
Speaker 2: right now, even though those temperatures outside are mighty mighty
Speaker 2: nice for this time of year in the Queen City.
Speaker 2: I'm James or Peen in for Lance. This is Sports Talk.
Speaker 2: We're just getting started. You can tweet me on x
Speaker 2: at James or Peen. Also check out all of my
Speaker 2: Bengals coverage Bengals talk dot com. Really happy to be
Speaker 2: with you here on Christmas Eve plenty to discuss We're
Speaker 2: gonna hear from Zach Taylor, T Higgins, some of my
Speaker 2: conversation with Tony Pike, and much much more. We are
Speaker 2: just getting started here on a Christmas Eve edition of
Speaker 2: Sports Talk. I'm James or Peen. Thanks for joining us
Speaker 2: right here on seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 4: Thank Scott's flowing here with a quick reminder for you.
Speaker 4: If you missed part of my show, you can still
Speaker 4: listen to the podcast on the iHeartRadio app and hear
Speaker 4: what you missed. Heaven only knows why you missed part
Speaker 4: of my show, and I don't I suppose legit reasons
Speaker 4: like sell new a coma or you had to run
Speaker 4: to the store for emergency grapes, you know whatever. Just
Speaker 4: be sure to hit up my podcast and let me
Speaker 4: know you care.
Speaker 5: Celebrate the holidays with Cincinnati Cyclones Hockey. Friday is by
Speaker 5: one three Friday with five dollar drafts one dollar pop
Speaker 5: born in three dollars Burgers. Saturday features two dollars an
Speaker 5: those beatless license hit New Year's Eve. It's a six
Speaker 5: pm buck drop and indoor fireworks.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Tickets now at Cycloneshockey dot com.
Speaker 6: Every business has an ambition PayPal open is.
Speaker 2: The play with you till nine o'clock here on seven
Speaker 2: hundred a W LW. Goodna. Hear from Zach Taylor coming
Speaker 2: up in just a few minutes here this hour, and
Speaker 2: we really appreciate you being here. Stay safe, enjoy the holiday,
Speaker 2: and boil boy, what a season is it has been
Speaker 2: for the Cincinnati Bengals. I got to be honest, ladies
Speaker 2: and gentlemen, if you would have told me that I'd
Speaker 2: be sitting in this chair with Taron bland producing and
Speaker 2: keeping us in line here on seven hundred WLWU with
Speaker 2: Tarren blanda on Christmas Eve in that this team would
Speaker 2: be five and ten. The Cincinnati Bengals would be five
Speaker 2: and ten. If you would have told me that during
Speaker 2: training camp, when I was talking with Scott Sloan or
Speaker 2: any number of times I'm on with Rocky obviously Sterling
Speaker 2: show I'm on with him, or if I'm on down
Speaker 2: the hall, or if I'm on with Lance, whatever the
Speaker 2: case is, talking Bengals, if you would have told me that,
Speaker 2: I would have laughed at you, like so much so
Speaker 2: that even if you had told me Joe Burrow misses
Speaker 2: nine games, I still wouldn't have thought they'd be five
Speaker 2: and ten. And that's what's for me so disappointing is
Speaker 2: this franchise needs to be able to build an average
Speaker 2: team without Joe Burrow, because an average team without Joe
Speaker 2: Burrow is a true Super Bowl contender with him, and
Speaker 2: instead they're like that. One of the nf eose worst
Speaker 2: teams without Joe Burrow, I mean, one in eight tied
Speaker 2: the NFL for the worst record during that stretch. With
Speaker 2: the Titans and the Arizona Cardinals also went one and
Speaker 2: eight during the stretch that nine games without Joe Burrow.
Speaker 2: That should be impossible. And so when I think about
Speaker 2: this team and I'm gonna we're gonna hear from Joe
Speaker 2: Burrow in just a minute, I just think, how can
Speaker 2: you get to a place where you're capable of figuring
Speaker 2: this out, capable of making it work without Joe If
Speaker 2: he does miss a few games, like next year, if
Speaker 2: he misses four games, that shouldn't derail the season. They
Speaker 2: should be able to go two and two or better.
Speaker 2: And it's it's wild to me as I start to
Speaker 2: reflect on this year, like how in the hell do
Speaker 2: you go one in eight without Joe Burrow? And you
Speaker 2: could dissect the games and say, oh, well, they should
Speaker 2: have beat the Jets, or this defense should have done that,
Speaker 2: or Jake Browning should have done that. Absolutely, there's no doubt.
Speaker 2: But it's unacceptable when it can't happen again. And so
Speaker 2: whatever they need to do on defense they better do,
Speaker 2: which is address all three levels. Whatever they need to
Speaker 2: do on offense, maybe have a backup quarterback that they know,
Speaker 2: not confident in, that they know can come in and
Speaker 2: be a guy that can run their offense at a
Speaker 2: high level. Whatever the case is, you have to do it.
Speaker 2: And maybe that means bringing Joe Flacco back. I would
Speaker 2: love it. Maybe it's saying, hey, Phil Rivers, who look
Speaker 2: good Monday night? I mean the dude throwing it to
Speaker 2: my guy, Alec Pierce, shout out the University of Cincinnati
Speaker 2: bearcatz Alum. He's about to get paid this offseason, but
Speaker 2: Philip Rivers looking productive like fine, I don't care if
Speaker 2: he's fifty two years old. Find a competent backup quarterback.
Speaker 2: And so that's another thing this offseason because the last
Speaker 2: thing I want to be doing, honestly, and I did this.
Speaker 2: I was in Miami. Joe Burrow complete seventy eight percent
Speaker 2: of his passes, throws for three hundred yards. That's all
Speaker 2: these franchise marx in personal best, twenty thousand yards, career milestones,
Speaker 2: one hundred and fifty passing touchdowns. And after the game
Speaker 2: I have to ask him about fun. I don't want
Speaker 2: to do that. Here's what Joe Burrow said after the game.
Speaker 2: How much fun?
Speaker 7: Yeah, it was fun.
Speaker 2: I'm having fun playing football. Not playing football is not
Speaker 2: fun And you're sitting in a locker room rehabit all day.
Speaker 2: That's and that's not why you do it. This is
Speaker 2: why you do it right here. This is why you
Speaker 2: do it right here. That entire postgame conversation that he
Speaker 2: had with us in Miami has posted on my YouTube channel,
Speaker 2: Cincinnati Bengals Talk. Please subscribe. The reason why that's so
Speaker 2: noteworthy to me twofold, there's a lot of narratives about
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow. The one was that the Andrew Luck narrative,
Speaker 2: which I've always I've always shot down and I think
Speaker 2: I've thought it was hogwashed. And I heard it probably
Speaker 2: three or four years ago. Early on. I'm like, no,
Speaker 2: Joe loves football. And it was a national person talking
Speaker 2: to me and he was like, yeah, but so did
Speaker 2: Andrew Luck. And I was like, no, no, no, Like,
Speaker 2: Joe is obsessed with football. I can't imagine Joe Burrow
Speaker 2: without football right now, can't imagine it. And so when
Speaker 2: I look at that and I think of it, like
Speaker 2: what what this team is and and what they should
Speaker 2: be with Joe, I think, all right, they they have
Speaker 2: a dude that is dedicated, that is committed, that is
Speaker 2: going to do everything he can to win and so
Speaker 2: put him in position to do that. And a lot
Speaker 2: of people are going to say, oh, he's got to
Speaker 2: stay healthy, and I agree, but he's had some freak injuries,
Speaker 2: and you need to be in position to overcome those
Speaker 2: freak injuries if you're the Bengals. Again, I'm not saying
Speaker 2: they need to be to build a Super Bowl contender
Speaker 2: in a team that will contend for a Super Bowl
Speaker 2: if Joe Burrow's hurt, But can you overcome a few games, like,
Speaker 2: for example, let's just say the Bengals were ten and
Speaker 2: four right now, right are eleven and four? Excuse me?
Speaker 2: Could they sustain Let's say Joe got nicked up and
Speaker 2: they've clinched a playoff spot, but they're battling for playoff positioning.
Speaker 2: Could they win down the stretch here with Joe Flacco? Well,
Speaker 2: I thought they could beat the Jets with Joe Flacco.
Speaker 2: I thought they'd be able to beat the Bears potentially
Speaker 2: with Joe Flacco. I thought they'd be able to maybe
Speaker 2: sweep the Steelers with Joe Flacco. None of those things happened.
Speaker 2: They want one in eight without Joe Burrow. They won
Speaker 2: one game with Joe Flacco. That's unacceptable. And I'm not
Speaker 2: blaming Joe by the way. I'm just saying, like the
Speaker 2: way the team is built, the way they're constructed, the
Speaker 2: way everything has gone, they need to be able to
Speaker 2: sustain a reasonable product on the field. And when you
Speaker 2: look at it, let's say they were eleven and four
Speaker 2: and Joe was nicked up and Joe Burrow couldn't play,
Speaker 2: and you have to turn to the other Joe. Would
Speaker 2: you be confident that they're going to handle business and
Speaker 2: get to thirteen and four. I would not based on
Speaker 2: what I've seen. So what needs to be fixed. I
Speaker 2: think the defense certainly needs to be fixed. I think
Speaker 2: Zach Taylor needs to coach better down the stretch of
Speaker 2: these games, make better decisions, and there are a multitude
Speaker 2: of those. Like the Jets game, I get it, the
Speaker 2: defense fell apart. I think there are coaches in the
Speaker 2: NFL that still find a way to win that game.
Speaker 2: And that's what's tough is that's when the season really
Speaker 2: went off the rails the Bengals. It felt like we're
Speaker 2: about to get to four and four and instead where
Speaker 2: three and five and facing a must win against Chicago.
Speaker 2: They rally but lose a heartbreaker in that state, it
Speaker 2: feels like the season's over. And that's what's tough. It's
Speaker 2: a really tough situation when you're the Bengals and you
Speaker 2: put yourself in that spot. And when I think of
Speaker 2: this year, that's the area where they had a chance,
Speaker 2: had a chance to make a run, didn't happen, a
Speaker 2: chance to really go for it didn't happen, and it's unfortunate,
Speaker 2: but that's the reality they face. And so when I
Speaker 2: think of this team, where they're at and what they
Speaker 2: need to do moving forward, it's very very simple. Build
Speaker 2: a quality team without Joe Burrow, a team that can
Speaker 2: go eight to nine, nine and eight without Joe Burrow,
Speaker 2: because if you do that, guess what you're going to
Speaker 2: go like fifteen and two with him, and you're going
Speaker 2: to be the best team in the NFL. And he
Speaker 2: is that special. He is, and that's why there's so
Speaker 2: much drama and national narratives and discussion and all those things.
Speaker 2: Everyone wants them because if you have a guy like that,
Speaker 2: you always have a chance. And the Bengals have a chance.
Speaker 2: And going back to what I said fifteen minutes ago,
Speaker 2: it's time to go all in you're the Bengals. As
Speaker 2: we wrap up this and celebrate Christmas and get into
Speaker 2: the new year. Here, it's time to go all in.
Speaker 2: Put those chips in on Joe Burrow, Jamar Chase and
Speaker 2: the twenty twenty six Cincinnati Bengals. I'm James Earpene. This
Speaker 2: is Sports Talk. Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 2: We're gonna hear from Zach Taylor on the other side
Speaker 2: of the break, and uh yeah, Merry Christmas. I hope
Speaker 2: you're having a wonderful Christmas Eve and certainly going into
Speaker 2: Christmas Day as well. Excited to be here with you
Speaker 2: until nine o'clock. In for Lance McAllister. I'm James Earpene,
Speaker 2: and this is Sports Talk on seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 3: News, Traffic and Weather News Radio seven hundred w l W, Cincinnati.
Speaker 8: Around the world, Christmas Eve service is taking place with
Speaker 8: the seven thirty report. I'm Sean Gallagher breaking now.
Speaker 3: In Rome. Tonight.
Speaker 8: Polp Leo, the fourteenth, leading his first Christmas Mass, has
Speaker 8: ponted from Saint Patrick's from Saint Peter's Basilica in New York.
Speaker 8: Saint Patrick's Cathedral expected to be packed as it marks
Speaker 8: the final midnight mass for Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who will
Speaker 8: soon retire having reached theh of seventy five, which is
Speaker 8: the mandatory retirement age in the Catholic Church. Cardinal Dolan
Speaker 8: served in New York's nearly three million Catholics for sixteen years.
Speaker 8: Tickets for in high demand for the service made available
Speaker 8: through a lottery system among those expected to attend the
Speaker 8: mass outgoing New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Speaker 3: Now, the latest.
Speaker 8: Trafficking weather together is still seeing the exit ram closed
Speaker 8: southbound off to westbound I seventy four due to an
Speaker 8: earlier accident. The right lane of the highway also blocked
Speaker 8: by the ramp.
Speaker 3: Now, the latest forecast from the Train Heating and Cooling
Speaker 3: Weather Center on news Radio seven hundred wl W I will.
Speaker 9: Dip down into the upper forties, but by the time
Speaker 9: most of us wake up Christmas morning will be well
Speaker 9: into the fifties. Scattered rain also likely to night into
Speaker 9: Christmas morning, but it looks like the second half of
Speaker 9: the day will be dryer, although still gloomy with some
Speaker 9: mist and drizzle. High's near fifty nine degrees heading into
Speaker 9: Friday morning, we'll cool off to forty six from your
Speaker 9: severe weather station I'm nine First Warning metro Oblogius, Mark
Speaker 9: Stents News Radio seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 8: Fairs guys in forty four degrees news a service of
Speaker 8: aulta Fiber. A crash late this morning in Sycamore Township
Speaker 8: near Keimwood Town Center leaves one person dead and another
Speaker 8: critically injured. The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office was called out
Speaker 8: around eleven o'clock to the intersection of Montgomery and Galberth Roads.
Speaker 8: They say the twenty eight year old Connor Walshley was
Speaker 8: driving at a highbrid to speed of Montgomery when he
Speaker 8: clipped another vehicle on Galbert that sent him off the road,
Speaker 8: hitting a curb, and then his vehicle became airborne, striking
Speaker 8: several trees and two utility poles. He and a passenger
Speaker 8: had to be extricated from the vehicle. Walshley died from
Speaker 8: his injuries while the passenger was taken to UC Medical Center.
Speaker 8: Montgomery rode between Gilbert and Coogler Mills still shut down,
Speaker 8: expected to be reopened around eleven o'clock tonight as Duke
Speaker 8: Energy and Ulti Fiber replace and rewire utility poles. A
Speaker 8: woman shot and killed at a senior living facility too,
Speaker 8: saying Walnut Hills has been identified. Cincinnati Police sat evening
Speaker 8: around six point thirty responded to the Park Eden building
Speaker 8: on Park Avenue where a thirty one year old to
Speaker 8: Kiamac Hollum is found dead in a hallway. There's been
Speaker 8: no information from police about a suspect as their investigation continues.
Speaker 8: This does mark the second shooting scene at the Park
Speaker 8: Union building within a week. The Cincinnati Cyclones in ECCHL
Speaker 8: could go on strike after Christmas.
Speaker 10: The Professional Hockey Players Association has announced Tuesday they've served
Speaker 10: the ECHL a strike notice, effective for Friday. PHPA executive
Speaker 10: director Brian Ramsey accuses the league of ongoing unfair labor
Speaker 10: practices and unlawful and corrosive conduct, forcing the strike. If
Speaker 10: the ECHL and the PHPA can't reach an agreement, games
Speaker 10: on the twenty six and onwards will be postponed. The
Speaker 10: Cyclones are scheduled to host the Kalamazoo Wings this Friday
Speaker 10: and Saturday night, and Hockey Night in Cincinnati is slated
Speaker 10: for December twenty seventh. I'm Ley Mawen News Radio seven
Speaker 10: hundred WLW.
Speaker 3: Aren't acceptedd today o'clock.
Speaker 8: I'm Sean Gallagher News Radio seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 11: News Radio seven hundred WLW and Iheartradios Guarantee Human seven
Speaker 11: hundred WLW, HI Hard Radio.
Speaker 3: Looking for a memorable.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to sports talk. I'm James Rpaine and this
Speaker 2: is seven hundred w l W Merry Christmas Eve in
Speaker 2: for Lance McAllister, and I think it's time to have
Speaker 2: a discussion about Zach Taylor. We're gonna hear from Zach
Speaker 2: Taylor in just a second. I think it's tough. It's
Speaker 2: tough when you understand the human side of things to
Speaker 2: a degree, and Zach obviously has a high leverage position.
Speaker 2: And I'm not going to, especially on Christmas Eve, talk
Speaker 2: about job security or whether he should be here or
Speaker 2: not be here. I know everybody has strong opinions about that,
Speaker 2: and there's a time and place for it. I'm not
Speaker 2: sure Christmas Eve is that time. I will say this,
Speaker 2: and I'm gonna play what Zach Taylor had to say
Speaker 2: on Monday after the game, some injury stuff, obviously health updates,
Speaker 2: the insight he had on T Higgins. I think it's
Speaker 2: important for you everyone to hear that as T Higgins
Speaker 2: made it through concussion protocol. But the end of what
Speaker 2: Zach had to say I think is really really important too.
Speaker 2: So this is it's about seven minutes. It's Zach Taylor
Speaker 2: on Monday, and let's get to that and then we'll
Speaker 2: react to what he said at the end of his
Speaker 2: Monday news conference. James Arpine in for a lance, here's
Speaker 2: Zach Taylor for Monday.
Speaker 12: You know, we've always wanted to be a relentless defense,
Speaker 12: something where the effort flies off the tape and you
Speaker 12: see guys forming the ball. So I think those are things.
Speaker 12: When I watched the tape yesterday is you see everyone
Speaker 12: in the picture, everyone after first contact trying to get
Speaker 12: in the mix, make sure the ball carry gets down.
Speaker 12: They got the one run on us. That was a
Speaker 12: big run, and you can't excuse that because we got
Speaker 12: to get him on the ground. We had opportunities to
Speaker 12: do it, could have knocked it down. We didn't. This
Speaker 12: court touchdown. But you look at the mixture runs after that,
Speaker 12: and they're tough. They scheme your runs up, they give
Speaker 12: you a lot of different looks, a ton of different
Speaker 12: personnel groupings. I thought our defense did a great job
Speaker 12: getting that run game settled down. And minimized toward the
Speaker 12: second half. You know, you got to make them throw
Speaker 12: the football and we were able to get the ball
Speaker 12: off of them that way. So just overall really impressed
Speaker 12: with the growth of our defense and how these guys
Speaker 12: are responded. They understand the scheme, the communication has been
Speaker 12: really good, and again you know, taking the ball off
Speaker 12: the people, you know, so there's that confidence to scoring
Speaker 12: there as well, And so it's been fun to watch.
Speaker 13: That's a line a pretty good game yesterday and starts
Speaker 13: of containing the run between the tackles.
Speaker 12: Doing a great job, playing with their hands, understanding the
Speaker 12: techniques for asking them to play and and so again
Speaker 12: you're just seeing guys grow. A ton of guys grow.
Speaker 12: Getting Tamar back was fun to watch yesterday. I thought
Speaker 12: Cedric played a good game yesterday. Miles continues just to
Speaker 12: just have a really good season right now with where
Speaker 12: he's at, and so again it's just and there's as
Speaker 12: I'm not even naming, you know, I thought everybody played
Speaker 12: really well yesterday. So just fun group to watch them
Speaker 12: continue to grow and as sand and that's all we're
Speaker 12: asking for them right now is just get better every
Speaker 12: single week and minimize your mistakes and we're seeing that
Speaker 12: from those guys.
Speaker 14: Think Higgins said he saw specials to go when you
Speaker 14: go to see Thursday morning, okay, and kind of what
Speaker 14: what led to y'all come to that conclusion and saying, hey,
Speaker 14: I still have this shut down and kind of walk
Speaker 14: us through that cross.
Speaker 12: Yeah, that it was the doctors, you know, I think
Speaker 12: just making sure tea in conjunction with our doctors, just
Speaker 12: making sure you got that final checkpoint there to make
Speaker 12: sure we're seeing everything. And the clearance was appropriate. I
Speaker 12: think with the two issues he's had, you know, that
Speaker 12: was the appropriate way to do it.
Speaker 7: And so.
Speaker 12: Getting out there quite really was. It was a bang
Speaker 12: bang Thursday morning, got out there, got back before I
Speaker 12: wasn't expecting about practice, and there he just walks in
Speaker 12: the door, you know, right after stretch. So that was
Speaker 12: I think it's good for him to hear that too.
Speaker 12: He could probably answer that better than I can, but
Speaker 12: we just want to make sure we were doing right
Speaker 12: by him. If he's going to go out there and
Speaker 12: play that everybody feels good about it. He feels good
Speaker 12: about it, family feels good about it. And he went
Speaker 12: out there and to my eye, felt really good.
Speaker 14: Clear Saturday and Sunday morning in order to finally have agree.
Speaker 12: I don't know what the final hurd it was. I
Speaker 12: mean I felt good Friday. I wasn't gonna tell everybody that,
Speaker 12: but you know, it's it's kind of nice for you
Speaker 12: to have te Higgins walk on the field Sunday morning
Speaker 12: when no one's exactly sure if he's going to play.
Speaker 7: I knew he was going to play at that point, but.
Speaker 12: You know, so it's good to get tea back out there,
Speaker 12: and I know we got a lot of confidence when
Speaker 12: he's out there.
Speaker 15: Jalen Davis in November camp, Tilbert gets hurt. You were
Speaker 15: going young in a lot of different positions. You had
Speaker 15: young corners, and obviously it's worked out with Jalen. What
Speaker 15: made Jalen the guy that you wanted to put in
Speaker 15: the lineup when you looked at your options.
Speaker 12: At that He's always he's always been a dependable guy.
Speaker 12: We've seen it for him in training camp, for preseason games,
Speaker 12: and the opportunity he's gotten over the years, you know,
Speaker 12: to play in a real game and uh.
Speaker 7: You know, just tremendous locker room guy.
Speaker 12: I think he's he's a fan favorite in the locker room,
Speaker 12: tremendous energy, just does what it takes to win and
Speaker 12: help our team, whether that's been as a practice squad player,
Speaker 12: bringing energy every single day and being consistent and being
Speaker 12: ready when his numbers called, and so then his numbers
Speaker 12: finally called in November. He just goes out there and
Speaker 12: just plays with a ton of confidence, a ton of awareness,
Speaker 12: great communication skills, leadership on defense, has an act for
Speaker 12: making plays on the ball, has an act for pressuring.
Speaker 12: A lot of similarities Mike Hilton, you know, and whether
Speaker 12: that's because they were together for a long time, and
Speaker 12: that's a huge compliment, you know, because Mike obviously had
Speaker 12: tremendous career, and so JD's out there doing his own
Speaker 12: thing and really just happy to see him take on
Speaker 12: that role and do it with a ton of confidence and
Speaker 12: make a lot a place for us and have a
Speaker 12: lot of success.
Speaker 7: He's earned that hard. You describe Fairchild's rookie.
Speaker 12: Good, you know, I think he's playing between Orlando and
Speaker 12: Ted has been a really good for him. Played with
Speaker 12: really good physicality, and you know, seeing a lot of
Speaker 12: stuff over the course of this season, being able to
Speaker 12: be available and and I you know, really I think
Speaker 12: he's got a really high ceiling and and you know
Speaker 12: I felt the line as a whole. You know, we're
Speaker 12: talking about Maricus, we're talking about Dylan. I've just had
Speaker 12: a ton of confidence all year. You know, whatever we're
Speaker 12: calling that there's gonna be great protection for quarterbacks. That
Speaker 12: the run game. You know we're gonna have success in
Speaker 12: our runs that we're calling. And so just you know,
Speaker 12: that speaks to Dylan, that speaks to the whole group.
Speaker 12: I just as a head coach, as a play caller,
Speaker 12: have a lot of confidence in the unit.
Speaker 13: How much do you like watching so Tay that duo
Speaker 13: blocked head and Dylan had We're smashes touchdown.
Speaker 12: H It's great, and it's you know when you get
Speaker 12: a drive mull Over drives. The second half started around midfield,
Speaker 12: which was was just great. But you know, you hit
Speaker 12: them in the past game and you kind of got
Speaker 12: teams on their heels, and then you get to hit
Speaker 12: them on two runs as you get lower in there
Speaker 12: and scored on two runs. You know from you know,
Speaker 12: inside the fifteen, inside the five. It's good because now
Speaker 12: you know you're having a lot of success in the
Speaker 12: past game. So they got to respect that, and then
Speaker 12: you know you hit them with with some of the
Speaker 12: runs we hit them on and the guys are able
Speaker 12: to come off the ball and drive them off the ball,
Speaker 12: and it's it's that's a great way to finish drives.
Speaker 3: Yah.
Speaker 16: When it's a season that hasn't gone well for you guys,
Speaker 16: there's a lot of talk about a meaningless season, but
Speaker 16: for you, you look at a different as a coach,
Speaker 16: I know, where do you see the most growth on
Speaker 16: a team even though this season hasn't been great.
Speaker 12: Well, I think we've played a lot of young guys,
Speaker 12: you know, and these guys have just gotten better and better,
Speaker 12: and so our future is really right that way that.
Speaker 7: Every player, you.
Speaker 12: Know, first, second, third year player, I really feel like
Speaker 12: has made huge strides this season as they've gotten more
Speaker 12: reps and more opportunity. And so we have a lot
Speaker 12: of confidence in those guys. And then and then you
Speaker 12: blend it with the veterans that we've got that are
Speaker 12: playing at a high level. So I feel really good
Speaker 12: about the direction this team. And and you know, it's
Speaker 12: all we can control is this week we got Arizona.
Speaker 12: This week, we got to put our best at four.
Speaker 12: Forget about what's going on around us. Just focus on
Speaker 12: great game plan, having a great week of practice. Winning
Speaker 12: the game went in two games in a row. The
Speaker 12: feeling we had in the locker room responding with another
Speaker 12: way to win back to back games is all we
Speaker 12: can control right now. Okay, you know, I know Jay
Speaker 12: Morrison and his family are dealing with something tough right now.
Speaker 7: Jays, as you all know, one of the greatest guys
Speaker 7: in this business.
Speaker 12: So thought some prayers with him and his family, and
Speaker 12: I hate that he's got to go through that, but
Speaker 12: I know we're all here for so I just want
Speaker 12: to make sure he knows that his family knows that.
Speaker 2: That last bit is the most important bit there of information.
Speaker 2: I thought it was so so classy of Zach Taylor
Speaker 2: to say that about Jay Morrison and his wife Nikki,
Speaker 2: And really, ever since I heard the news, I haven't
Speaker 2: been able to stop thinking about it and love Jay obviously.
Speaker 2: I've worked with Jay for many, many years and I
Speaker 2: consider him a great friend. And it's it's heartbreaking. It's
Speaker 2: heartbreaking because it's rare to see a couple that you
Speaker 2: know just fits and works perfectly, and so when tragedy
Speaker 2: happens like this, and and for those of you that
Speaker 2: don't know, Nicky Morrison passed away earlier this week, really
Speaker 2: suddenly during a procedure that that went wrong. And it's
Speaker 2: not something that anyone anticipated, expected or could have thought
Speaker 2: was coming. And so when something sudden like this happens,
Speaker 2: you know, you you reflect. And and the thing that
Speaker 2: I continue to go back to is what Jay and
Speaker 2: Nicky had. You could see was so special from the
Speaker 2: moment that you talk to Jay about anything, any of
Speaker 2: his hobbies, any any thing. And they were just a
Speaker 2: perfect couple that that supported each other and loved each other.
Speaker 2: And this is it's just awful, awful news. And some
Speaker 2: things in life you can't explain why, and it's really
Speaker 2: hard to understand the why with with something like this.
Speaker 2: So love Jay, love Nikki. We're thinking about the entire
Speaker 2: Morrison family. But I thought it was really really classy
Speaker 2: of Zach Taylor to to say that at the end.
Speaker 2: And that's why I mean, he talked today, but that's
Speaker 2: why I wanted to to play what he said Monday
Speaker 2: in its entirety. I thought there were some key nuggets
Speaker 2: in there about t Higgins and other things like that,
Speaker 2: plus what he said about Jay and his family. So
Speaker 2: obviously we're thinking about the Morrisons during this time, and Jay,
Speaker 2: we we love you for sure. It's it's something that
Speaker 2: I can't stop thinking about, and I'm not going to
Speaker 2: stop thinking about. So make sure that you give Jay
Speaker 2: your well wishes this holiday season and the tire Morrison
Speaker 2: family and we will we will continue the show coming
Speaker 2: up next. James R. Pain Infra Lance This is seven
Speaker 2: hundred Wow.
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Speaker 1: I'm with almost time for Christmas Day, Christmas Spirit, We're
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Speaker 3: Seven hundred WL Jobistmas Day.
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Speaker 2: Well w It's great to be here. Really appreciate each
Speaker 2: and every one of you for listening at this holiday season.
Speaker 2: And if you're looking for more on the Bengals, and
Speaker 2: obviously that's what I'm known for, make sure you check
Speaker 2: out Bengals Talk dot com, Cincinnati Bengalstock on YouTube, the
Speaker 2: Lockdown Bengals podcast. But let's dive in here because I
Speaker 2: think one thing that I, for lack of a better term,
Speaker 2: love is seeing star players fight, battle, compete, eat the edge.
Speaker 2: What drives them all of those things and a guy
Speaker 2: like T Higgins, like we've talked a lot about Joe
Speaker 2: Burrow and should he shut it down? Should he not?
Speaker 2: You know, there's been so much discussion there, but a
Speaker 2: guy like T Higgins, that dude could have easily shut
Speaker 2: it down this season and no one would have blamed him,
Speaker 2: No one would have questioned it. Everyone would have said
Speaker 2: yeah to you, like do it. And instead this guy
Speaker 2: is battling, doing everything he can to get back on
Speaker 2: the field, going to see a specialist in Pittsburgh. He
Speaker 2: suffered a concussion a month ago now against the Patriots
Speaker 2: a little over a month ago and missus a game.
Speaker 2: Comes back after that Thursday game, comes back the following
Speaker 2: week and plays great against the Bills, gets concussed in
Speaker 2: that game and doesn't have symptoms or at least passes
Speaker 2: protocol and doesn't have symptoms to get yanked out of
Speaker 2: the game until after and goes back into protocol after
Speaker 2: the game. This is the second Ravens game, and to me,
Speaker 2: it's cool is the wrong word. But I just think
Speaker 2: he deserves praise or fighting the way he has to
Speaker 2: get back on the field. And what we should hear
Speaker 2: from T Higgins. This is what he said to me
Speaker 2: after the game in the locker room in Miami, after
Speaker 2: having a great game including a thirty five yard catch
Speaker 2: and outstanding touchdown grab his tenth of the season, which
Speaker 2: ties a career high like t is a problem on
Speaker 2: the field, and that's a great thing for the Cincinnati Bengals.
Speaker 2: Here's what T. Higgins had to say after the game.
Speaker 18: Now, it was fun, you know, just get back there
Speaker 18: and compete with my guys and then it's even better.
Speaker 18: We got a W.
Speaker 2: The W that we got too.
Speaker 18: So you know, shout out to my guys.
Speaker 19: When you're on the flight to and from Pittsburgh, what's
Speaker 19: going through your head?
Speaker 3: Like, what's that like?
Speaker 18: Honestly, you know, praying that I know I come back
Speaker 18: with come here and get positive news, to come back
Speaker 18: with positive news to tell the team and things like that,
Speaker 18: and that's what it was.
Speaker 3: Your racking or I mean I.
Speaker 18: Was very you know, obviously I was very anxious and nervous,
Speaker 18: you know to what they was gonna say. But you know,
Speaker 18: I got a peace of mind and it was okay.
Speaker 19: Changes that makes you want to play when they when
Speaker 19: they clear you, what is it that made you want
Speaker 19: to say, I want to finish the season.
Speaker 18: At the end of the day of a competitor. I
Speaker 18: want to compete with the guys. So that's that's all
Speaker 18: it came down to.
Speaker 2: You make any changes. You know, people see guardian caps
Speaker 2: out there. Obviously didn't work every different. What's different about
Speaker 2: this helmet.
Speaker 18: Just more pattern, you know what I mean. I was
Speaker 18: able to get fitted for one and it came.
Speaker 2: In just in time.
Speaker 20: Here's that feel.
Speaker 18: Much of your feels great, honestly, h It's comfortable. So
Speaker 18: that's all that about it.
Speaker 10: It's the scariest part of the symptoms that you felt.
Speaker 3: There was a lot of headaches.
Speaker 18: The first one was a little bit since the light,
Speaker 18: but other than that, Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2: Can you take me through the art of the t
Speaker 2: Higgins contested catch because it feels like it's evolved from
Speaker 2: a few years ago to now and it seems like
Speaker 2: you're making them look so routine.
Speaker 18: Yeah, man, I just that's my job to go up
Speaker 18: there and catch the ball, and you know, Joe gives
Speaker 18: me a great boss to where I only I can
Speaker 18: catch it, and you know it's either me or nobody.
Speaker 21: So is it kind of just uplifting exciting to be
Speaker 21: able to come back from what you did and have
Speaker 21: the type of game that you did to that.
Speaker 18: I mean definitely is definitely a you know, a bonus. Obviously,
Speaker 18: I wanted to come out and try to dominate personally.
Speaker 18: But we was able to do that as a whole
Speaker 18: today and you know the results.
Speaker 2: So here's why I love T Higgins and that entire video.
Speaker 2: You could check it out Cincinnati Bengals talk on YouTube.
Speaker 2: I love that tee. It's like, oh man, I'm a competitor.
Speaker 2: Of course I want to apply. Why wouldn't I play?
Speaker 2: And I just I think that deserves praise. Now they've
Speaker 2: taken the precautions and he's gotten examined and went to
Speaker 2: a specialist in Pittsburgh and we heard from Zach Taylor
Speaker 2: on that earlier this hour. But the other thing that
Speaker 2: this to me reminds me of, and I think Sunday
Speaker 2: was a big, an important reason behind it and why
Speaker 2: you do pay T Higgins because that's still a discussion,
Speaker 2: especially with the defense being the way it is, and
Speaker 2: the Bengals had plenty of money last year and they
Speaker 2: just didn't spend enough of it, maximized their cap all
Speaker 2: of those things on defense. They could have done everything
Speaker 2: they did on offense and added a bunch on defense.
Speaker 2: They didn't do that. But this is why you keep T.
Speaker 2: Higgins because he's a in his prime monster and they've
Speaker 2: failed to draft enough monsters to say, oh, well, you
Speaker 2: can let this guy in his prime go. It'd be
Speaker 2: one thing if they had four defensive linemen and two
Speaker 2: corners and a bunch of stuff that they had to
Speaker 2: pay and they couldn't make it all work with Tea.
Speaker 2: They didn't have any of that they didn't like. If
Speaker 2: you don't pay T Higgins, you just lose T Higgins.
Speaker 2: And so to see him fight, to see him play
Speaker 2: at a high level, and to see him matter, and
Speaker 2: I think that's the thing he matters so much in
Speaker 2: this offense because if you want a double Jamar, well
Speaker 2: then fine, you got to deal with Tea. And if
Speaker 2: you're going to play one high and put T Higgins
Speaker 2: and Manda man coverage, well good luck, because he's as
Speaker 2: good as anyone right now in the NFL at the
Speaker 2: jump ball, in making plays on the ball deep down field.
Speaker 2: I mean, that catch, that fifty to fifty ball the
Speaker 2: other day is just insane. That he gets up there
Speaker 2: makes that play and you heard him just doing my job. No, like,
Speaker 2: no one can do that job. There's like four people
Speaker 2: on the planet that I think are capable of doing
Speaker 2: that job.
Speaker 3: And so.
Speaker 2: A lot of times, it's it's easy to say, oh,
Speaker 2: the Bengals want the flashy way. They're paying two receivers,
Speaker 2: they're paying their quarterback, they're not built the right way.
Speaker 2: I don't believe that one bit. Like I think t
Speaker 2: the exact guy you do pay. I also thought Jesse
Speaker 2: Bates and DJ Reader were guys you pay and you
Speaker 2: keep guess what they could have done all of it.
Speaker 2: And that's the thing that I really want to hammer
Speaker 2: home this holiday season, especially going into the offseason. It's like, oh, well,
Speaker 2: you know, the Bengals, they spent here, but they needed
Speaker 2: to spend there. They could have done all of it.
Speaker 2: And that's the standard when you're trying to win Super Bowls.
Speaker 2: Guess what you're trying to do all of it, not
Speaker 2: some of it, not a little bit of it, all
Speaker 2: of it. And that's been the theme of this show.
Speaker 2: And the reason it's been the theme of this show
Speaker 2: is because this Bengals franchise with Joe Burrow should be
Speaker 2: contending for Super Bowls every single year. And when I
Speaker 2: think about Jamar Chase and t Higgins and Tea battling
Speaker 2: back and doing what he is doing at such a
Speaker 2: high level, it shouldn't be to get to five and
Speaker 2: ten on the season. It shouldn't be with nothing to
Speaker 2: play for. This better be the last season we're talking
Speaker 2: about this ever in the Joe Burrow Jamar Chase t
Speaker 2: Higgins era. Ever, otherwise they've failed massively, like this should
Speaker 2: be impossible. And I don't mean like last year where
Speaker 2: they're rallying for a playoff spot. Next year we should
Speaker 2: be talking about playoff positioning. Oh well, they're pretty much
Speaker 2: wrapped up the division. Are they going to get the
Speaker 2: one seed or the two seed or how do they
Speaker 2: stack up in the AFC? Like that's the standard. And
Speaker 2: so when I see a guy like T Higgins fighting
Speaker 2: his tail off, doing everything he can to get back
Speaker 2: on the field and what is essentially meaningless games, those
Speaker 2: are the type of guys you build around. And so
Speaker 2: when someone says I'm not sure they should have paid
Speaker 2: T Higgins, well yeah, they should have paid T Higgins.
Speaker 2: They got that right. There's a lot of things the
Speaker 2: Bengals have gotten wrong. They got that right, even if
Speaker 2: they needed to be nudged by Joe Burrow along the way.
Speaker 2: They got that right. It's time for them to get
Speaker 2: the rest of it fixed. This offseason. James Arepine in
Speaker 2: for Lance. This is Sports Talk on set one hundred WLW.
Speaker 3: News Traffic and Weather. News Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati, Hey.
Speaker 8: Vehicle goes airborne and a deadly Christmas Eve crash near
Speaker 8: Kenwood Town Center with the eight o'clock report, I'm Sean
Speaker 8: Gallblagher breaking now. Utility companies continue tonight to replace and
Speaker 8: rewire utility polls after a single vehicle crash left one
Speaker 8: person dead and another critically injured.
Speaker 22: Late this morning, WDSA had cars speeding on Montgomery Road clipped.
Speaker 22: Another vehicle left the road and went airborne, hitting trees
Speaker 22: into utility poles, bringing down power lines. The driver, twenty
Speaker 22: eight year O'Connor Walshley, died from his injuries, while his
Speaker 22: passenger remains in critical condition. Both were visiting from South
Speaker 22: Carolina for the holidays. I'm Brady Hopkins News Radio seven
Speaker 22: hundred WLW.
Speaker 8: P Montgomery between Galberth and Coogler Mill expected to be
Speaker 8: reopened by eleven o'clock tonight. Now the latest traffic and
Speaker 8: weather together and right now taking a look at the
Speaker 8: major interstates in highways. They were dealing with that closure
Speaker 8: earlier this evening along seventy five southbound off ramp to
Speaker 8: westbound seventy four and so I need to see if
Speaker 8: it has reopened at this time, and cameras were showing
Speaker 8: that it looks like traffic was starting to move again
Speaker 8: seventy four westbounds, so it appears that they might have
Speaker 8: been able to clear that accident on the off ramp.
Speaker 8: The right lane of the highway had also been blocked
Speaker 8: by the ramp to seventy four west from seventy five south.
Speaker 11: Now, the latest forecast from the No Feared Dentist Weather
Speaker 11: Center advanced dentistry. The thought of the dentist making you
Speaker 11: a nervous wreck. We're here for you, No Fear Dentist
Speaker 11: dot Com.
Speaker 9: Temperatures will be climbing quickly into Christmas morning as we
Speaker 9: rebound well into the fifties to start things off, but
Speaker 9: that scattered rain will also continue into the morning, likely
Speaker 9: ending by the early afternoon. But we'll keep it cloudy
Speaker 9: and warm for your Christmas afternoon Highs near fifty nine
Speaker 9: degrees heading into Friday morning, well cool off to forty
Speaker 9: six from your severe weather station, I'm nine first Warning
Speaker 9: met Religius. Mark Stintz News Radio seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 8: Radar at this time is showing a fair sky and
Speaker 8: our current temperature is coming in at forty degrees. Ay
Speaker 8: crash Ley, a Cincinnati radio and television personalities work being
Speaker 8: remembered during the holidays.
Speaker 23: Christmas for those of us of a certain age growing
Speaker 23: up in the trash State and meant the radio where
Speaker 23: TV tuned in every day at noon to Ruth Lions.
Speaker 23: She was a favorite of Baby boo Er Moms of
Speaker 23: the Christmas songs she wrote form the songbook for local
Speaker 23: holiday celebrations. Joined by cast members like Ruby Wright, Marian Spellman,
Speaker 23: and Bob Brown, the Fifty to fifty Club became musty
Speaker 23: daytime TV. At one point there was a two year
Speaker 23: waiting list to get tickets to be in the audience
Speaker 23: on Christmas Day. Wowt looking back at our legacy with
Speaker 23: specials about her career. Brian Colps News Radio seven WLW.
Speaker 8: The iconic Cincinnati sign on the newly renovated Downtown Convention
Speaker 8: Center backup in time for the holidays is the LED
Speaker 8: sign facing I seventy five on the west side of
Speaker 8: the convention Center, and the convention Center set to reopen
Speaker 8: January seventh, one of the big changes with the sign
Speaker 8: is that every letter on it is customizable and can
Speaker 8: play video. And Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow named the AFC
Speaker 8: Offensive Player of the Week after throwing four touchdowns in
Speaker 8: last Sunday's forty five to twenty one win at the Dolphins.
Speaker 8: The Bengals will host the Cardinals this Sunday, kick off
Speaker 8: one o'clock on the Big One. Our next update is
Speaker 8: at eight thirty. I'm Sean Galbager News Radio seven hundred
Speaker 8: w WELLEB.
Speaker 2: This report is sponsored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
Speaker 3: For victims of drunk and drug driving. Our grief is unique,
Speaker 3: but you are not alone. You always have a place
Speaker 3: at mad Cap.
Speaker 24: The following takes place between eight pm and nine pm.
Speaker 2: Welcome back to the hour to James or team in
Speaker 2: per lance. This is seven hundred that wl W. It's
Speaker 2: great to be with you. This is sports Talk. Merry
Speaker 2: Christmas Eve. I hope you're having a great one with
Speaker 2: you and yours and plenty to discuss this hour with
Speaker 2: you til nine o'clock. There's a growing sentiment. I think
Speaker 2: at least it feels this way, and this sort of
Speaker 2: happened last year, and I don't want to fall into
Speaker 2: the trap this year, and so I want to make
Speaker 2: it very very clear now with the Bengals two games
Speaker 2: to go, they force a bunch of turnovers in the
Speaker 2: third quarter against the Miami Dolphins, and they've been opportunistic
Speaker 2: in recent weeks, and it feels like this defense is
Speaker 2: coming along. It feels like this defense is coming along,
Speaker 2: and that very well could be true. I think there
Speaker 2: are building blocks on this defense, or one of them
Speaker 2: pro bol snub by the way. I think Miles Murphy
Speaker 2: one of them, but Dax Hill one of them. To
Speaker 2: be clear, I mean, there are guys that should be
Speaker 2: starters next year on this team, but they also need
Speaker 2: help at all three levels the defensive line room. You
Speaker 2: need another pass rushing defensive end that you really feel
Speaker 2: confident in, could be your number one edge rusher. You
Speaker 2: need a true push internally at that defensive tackle spot
Speaker 2: from a pass rush perspective. That's not news. That's something
Speaker 2: they tried to get with Sheldon Rankins. I believe they
Speaker 2: were interested in adding that in the draft this past year.
Speaker 2: They haven't done it. That's something they have to do
Speaker 2: this offseason. Linebacker, I don't think you can say oh,
Speaker 2: Demetrius Night and Barrett Carter Boom were set Orren Burks
Speaker 2: is under contract, We're set. I don't think that's the
Speaker 2: case at all. They need help at linebacker and Gino
Speaker 2: still and should not start on Sunday. So when you
Speaker 2: look at it, the Bengals need help on all three
Speaker 2: levels of their defense, even with like no matter what
Speaker 2: happens over the final few weeks, that's the case. But
Speaker 2: don't take my word for it. I caught up with
Speaker 2: Tony Pike last week on my YouTube channel, Cincinnati Bengals Talk,
Speaker 2: and you could check it out on YouTube. You could
Speaker 2: check it out wherever you get your podcast. By the way,
Speaker 2: James or Pen and Falance McAllister here on seven hundred WLW,
Speaker 2: and this was part of our conversation about the Bengals defense.
Speaker 2: How many new pieces do they need on defense and
Speaker 2: how many of them should be free agents improven pieces,
Speaker 2: because I would go really, really in all three levels
Speaker 2: investing in free agency in the defense.
Speaker 25: You know how many years out are we and we're
Speaker 25: still talking about this team never replaced Jesse Bates. You
Speaker 25: want to dive into x's and o's the touchdown before
Speaker 25: the half that Baltimore scored inexcusable on Genostone's behalf on
Speaker 25: the back end, there was no inside threat. He should
Speaker 25: have been widened. He should have made the angle on
Speaker 25: Za Flowers. He should have That should have been an incompletion.
Speaker 25: It should have been seven to nothing or ten nothing
Speaker 25: at halftime. You need help on the back end, you know.
Speaker 25: I think Jordan Battle's taking some good steps as of late.
Speaker 25: I think you can see pieces with Dax Hill, certainly
Speaker 25: DJ Turner. The evaluation that linebacker is gonna be key
Speaker 25: for me because I don't see it with with Barrett Carter.
Speaker 25: Demitrius Knight, I thought had his best game as a
Speaker 25: Bengal against the Baltimore Ravens. So certainly I can say, okay,
Speaker 25: year one, guys, let's run it back and see what
Speaker 25: we have. But I would certainly have a contingency plan there.
Speaker 25: And I think defensive line is fascinating. I love what
Speaker 25: Miles Murphy's done, But Miles Murphy was good down the
Speaker 25: stretch last year as well. Why does it take three
Speaker 25: quarters of the season for Miles Murphy to start playing well?
Speaker 7: You know?
Speaker 25: Can can you get that Miles Murphy to start next year?
Speaker 25: Josepho size in a contract year. What are you gonna
Speaker 25: do with him? The Trey Hendrickson? Do you run the
Speaker 25: risk of tagging Trey Hendrickson and going through more drama
Speaker 25: in the offseason. You have to evaluate what you have.
Speaker 25: But I'm so past the draft a guy, an immediate
Speaker 25: impact player. I want proven players on the defensive side
Speaker 25: of the ball. And that's the other aspect we didn't
Speaker 25: talk about. This team has struggled in the draft for
Speaker 25: the most part in recent years. And are we really
Speaker 25: willing to risk finishing the season seven to ten and
Speaker 25: dropping in the draft order and trying to get a
Speaker 25: mid round steal instead of a top ten pick who
Speaker 25: you know? You know, based on teams that are quarterback driven,
Speaker 25: there's going to be some quarterbacks reached for in the
Speaker 25: first round. You're probably going to get a very good
Speaker 25: position player in that top ten that falls.
Speaker 3: Into your lap.
Speaker 25: Do you want to run the risk of another draft
Speaker 25: a guy and sell it to the fate? We al,
Speaker 25: Shamar Stewart, the measurables. No, give me a proven guy
Speaker 25: in the draft. So I think there are some pieces
Speaker 25: on defense that I'm willing to run the you know,
Speaker 25: run it back with or roll the dice on. But
Speaker 25: for the most part, their scheme with their personnel needs
Speaker 25: to match up way better than it does.
Speaker 2: That entire thing. On my YouTube channel, Cincinnati Bengals Talk,
Speaker 2: James are pen In for Lance a look that they
Speaker 2: need help. They need to add bona fide players at
Speaker 2: all three levels of the defense, regardless of what happens
Speaker 2: over the final few weeks. I think that that's kind
Speaker 2: of a moot point, because your defense is a big
Speaker 2: reason why you're in this position, not the only reason,
Speaker 2: a big reason. And one thing that I'm going to
Speaker 2: talk about this hour that I hit on last hour
Speaker 2: is if you're going to build a competent team that
Speaker 2: is competent regardless of whether or not Joe Burrows on
Speaker 2: the field or not, that's something you need to do.
Speaker 2: You need, not want, not hope not. You need to
Speaker 2: build a defense that is going to be able to
Speaker 2: carry you at times, not all the time, but at times.
Speaker 2: And this defense doesn't. This defense has plenty of holes,
Speaker 2: plenty of flaws, plenty of weaknesses, and we saw those
Speaker 2: on Sunday in Miami. Even a game where the Bengals win,
Speaker 2: you I see the issues that they have defending the run,
Speaker 2: tackling Gino Stone open field, no chance at stopping a
Speaker 2: chand and yeah, Devin ah Chan is one of the
Speaker 2: best running backs in the game. Don't get shaken so
Speaker 2: much that you end up in a blender out of
Speaker 2: your cleats and have to put your cleats back on
Speaker 2: on the field. And I'm exaggerating a little bit, but
Speaker 2: not really. It was awful. And so the Bengals need
Speaker 2: to address safety, they need to address defensive tackle, they
Speaker 2: need more pass rush everywhere, and they need linebackers that
Speaker 2: can be reliable. It doesn't mean that Barrett Carter and
Speaker 2: Demitrius Knight can't be contributors, but I don't think either
Speaker 2: one you can pencil in as a starter next year.
Speaker 2: And that sucks because that's a second round pick and
Speaker 2: a fourth round pick that you just used. Doesn't mean
Speaker 2: they won't start. It doesn't mean they can't earn that.
Speaker 2: It doesn't mean Shamar Stewart, by the way, pass rush
Speaker 2: wise won't take another step. He had to tackle for
Speaker 2: loss the other day. That's fine. But even though Miles
Speaker 2: Murphy has emerged, and even though Shamar Stewart could very
Speaker 2: well be much improved in year two. You need a
Speaker 2: bona fide number one pass rusher to bank on. That
Speaker 2: is the NFL. That is that's it. You need to
Speaker 2: be a physical, nasty defense that can put pressure on
Speaker 2: opponents and have playmakers and fly around and make plays
Speaker 2: and tackles and so like a guy like Jordan Battle,
Speaker 2: say what you want about him, and he's a frustrating
Speaker 2: player because he's up and down, but he at least
Speaker 2: makes splash plays. He does do that, and that works
Speaker 2: for me. Like I can deal with Jordan Battle being
Speaker 2: a starting safety on my defense. Is he going to
Speaker 2: be the best player on a winning defense. No, but
Speaker 2: he's going to be the eighth best player in a
Speaker 2: winning defense and he's going to make some splash plays
Speaker 2: and he's going to try hard. And yeah, some of
Speaker 2: those plays that he misses are going to be painful,
Speaker 2: but guess what, he's not gonna have to make as
Speaker 2: many of those plays if your linebackers are better, if
Speaker 2: your defensive front's better. And that's probably what Geno Stone
Speaker 2: is saying every time I rip him. But man, he
Speaker 2: doesn't make those splash plays. He did that in Baltimore.
Speaker 2: He did it at the end of last year. He
Speaker 2: hasn't made those splash plays this year outside of a
Speaker 2: game here and there. He's so inconsistent and the lows
Speaker 2: are so low that it's over. The Bengals should certainly
Speaker 2: move on from him. So the Bengals defense, no matter
Speaker 2: what they do. They could win forty nine to nothing
Speaker 2: against the Cardinals and shut out Jacoby Brisset, who's playing
Speaker 2: really well for Arizona right now. Don't buy it. They
Speaker 2: could kick the crap out of Shador Sanders and pitch
Speaker 2: back to back shutouts after doing what they did to Miami.
Speaker 2: I won't buy it. They need to aggressively address all
Speaker 2: three levels of their defense this offseason, and anything other
Speaker 2: than that, honestly is unacceptable. Merry Christmas Eve. I'm James Orpine,
Speaker 2: in for a lance with you till nine o'clock. We're
Speaker 2: just getting started here in hour two. Make sure you
Speaker 2: check out that full interview in my full conversation with
Speaker 2: Tony Pike on my YouTube channel, Cincinnati Bengals Talk Up
Speaker 2: Next will continue the Bengals conversation, and yeah, happy to
Speaker 2: be with you here on Christmas Eve. I'm James Earpen
Speaker 2: and this is Sports Talk on seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 3: Spreading holiday year the way I spread mayonnaise on a
Speaker 3: BLT thick and sloppy. Ho ho ho from seven hundred
Speaker 3: wl This is what they call the Hard Cell Sunday
Speaker 3: Yardcare Holiday Sale, Limited Time Act.
Speaker 2: Now one hundred WLW. I'm James Epene Infra Lance with
Speaker 2: you till nine o'clock. And the Bengals they kick the
Speaker 2: crap out of the Dolphins the other day, and a
Speaker 2: lot of you feel a lot of you, I'm sure,
Speaker 2: felt good about it, Some feel bad about it, Some
Speaker 2: worry about draft position. The Bengals still set to pick
Speaker 2: ninth overall in the twenty twenty six NFL Draft. My
Speaker 2: thoughts on it, I mean, I think it's interesting. I
Speaker 2: think there's there's an argument that can be made that
Speaker 2: you want the Bengals to lose games. There's an argument
Speaker 2: that can be made that you want them to win
Speaker 2: down the stretch and send everyone home happy, and they've
Speaker 2: done that in their history. And I see both of it.
Speaker 3: I was in.
Speaker 2: Miami with a game on Sunday, and I watched Joe
Speaker 2: Burrow do what he did, complete twenty five of thirty
Speaker 2: two passes for three hundred and nine yards four touchdowns,
Speaker 2: have a one forty six point five passer rating, the
Speaker 2: second best of his career. And to me, it was
Speaker 2: a reminder, ladies and gentlemen, we we look a lot
Speaker 2: of times during the holiday season for a reminder of, oh, well,
Speaker 2: why you should cherish these moments or these times and
Speaker 2: when it comes to football, and this has nothing to
Speaker 2: do with the holiday season, but when it comes to football,
Speaker 2: the ultimate goal is to what to win a championship.
Speaker 2: And I can for sure tell you that every team
Speaker 2: that doesn't have a Joe Burrow feels like they are
Speaker 2: nineteen thousand, five hundred and fifty two bajillion miles away
Speaker 2: from winning a championship. But if you have a Josh
Speaker 2: Allen or a Patrick Mahomes or a Joe Burrow, you
Speaker 2: feel like you're close. You feel like you have a chance.
Speaker 2: You feel like there's a real shot at doing just that,
Speaker 2: of getting to the mountaintop. And that's what Sunday reminded me,
Speaker 2: because Joe Burrow played well, but the Dolphins just never
Speaker 2: had a chance. There was never a moment in that game,
Speaker 2: even when it was fourteen to ten, where I thought
Speaker 2: that Quin Yours and the Dolphins were gonna beat Joe
Speaker 2: Burrow in the Bengals, and so you're like, James, what
Speaker 2: does that mean? What are you saying? I'm saying that
Speaker 2: it doesn't need to be rocket science for the Bengals
Speaker 2: this offseason. It doesn't need to be so hard, and
Speaker 2: it feels like they're really really far away. But when
Speaker 2: you have Joe Burrow, you're born on third base. You
Speaker 2: have a shot to completely revamp things very very quickly.
Speaker 2: And I know Bengals ownership has really done the opposite
Speaker 2: of going all in. They've tried to build this sustainable winner.
Speaker 2: They've tried, they've tried to do this thing where they are,
Speaker 2: we're going to try to keep ourselves in the mix
Speaker 2: for as long as possible, and that sounds good. But
Speaker 2: when you have Joe Burrow, it needs to be about
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow. When you have Joe Burrow, it needs to
Speaker 2: be about Joe Burrow in building around him and putting
Speaker 2: the team around him that can contend. You're in and
Speaker 2: you're out, how do you get there? You're in and
Speaker 2: you're out? Because when I look at this and I
Speaker 2: think about Joe Burrow, and I think about how they're
Speaker 2: four and two with Joe Burrow, at quarterback this season.
Speaker 2: I think, man, oh man, if you had just been
Speaker 2: slightly under five hundred without him, they were one and
Speaker 2: eight without him, you have been four and five without
Speaker 2: Joe Burrow. Things feel, look and all are so much different.
Speaker 2: And you're right there, You're in the hunt. You feel
Speaker 2: like you could go to Buffalo and win. You feel
Speaker 2: like that you're competing with the Steelers for the division
Speaker 2: crown right now, and that's who's more than likely he
Speaker 2: is going to win it. But they weren't built correctly,
Speaker 2: they weren't coached correctly. There were mistakes all around, and
Speaker 2: it's unacceptable. That's what the reminder was for me the
Speaker 2: other day watching Joe Burrow pass the twenty thousand yard mark,
Speaker 2: fifth fastest in NFL history to do so, third fastest
Speaker 2: in NFL history to throw for one hundred and fifty touchdowns.
Speaker 2: He's had one hundred and fifty two touchdowns. The time
Speaker 2: is now, not later.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: I wrote a book about the Bengals. A lot of
Speaker 2: you have probably followed the Cincinnati Bengals for your entire life.
Speaker 2: By the way, you can get it at Cincinnati Bengals
Speaker 2: book dot com. It's called Enter the Jungle. Wherever books
Speaker 2: are sold. This Bengals franchise has never had a quarterback
Speaker 2: like Joe Burrow and gone all in on winning, and
Speaker 2: they need to do that. The time is now to
Speaker 2: do that. Teams that have gone all in and I
Speaker 2: say that in quotes like the Los Angeles Rams, guess
Speaker 2: what they've rebounded from their all in mode and they're
Speaker 2: still good. You can be sustainable. This is the Joe
Speaker 2: Burrow era where every year you should be winning eleven, twelve,
Speaker 2: thirteen games, not six, not seven, not five and ten,
Speaker 2: five and ten? When will we be great again? Like
Speaker 2: that's their slogan this year. That can't be unacceptable. And
Speaker 2: so this holiday season, this Christmas season, when we're all
Speaker 2: spreading cheer and we should be the thing that I
Speaker 2: want to spread. The message I want to send when
Speaker 2: it comes to the Cincinnati Bengals is that this is
Speaker 2: not rocket science. You can fix it. You can be
Speaker 2: a Super Bowl contender a year from now. And when
Speaker 2: I'm on these airwaves next to Christmas Eve filling in
Speaker 2: for Lance McAllister on Sports Talk, we can be talking about,
Speaker 2: man oh man, they have a real shot out winning
Speaker 2: a super Bowl. That's the standard. Everything else is hogwash.
Speaker 2: Everything else is a failure. It comes up short. The
Speaker 2: standard is really really high because of who you have.
Speaker 2: The Miami Dolphins. James are being in for Lance McAllister today,
Speaker 2: Merry Christmas. The Miami Dolphins would trade their entire roster
Speaker 2: in multiple years, of their entire drafts to get Joe Burrow.
Speaker 2: You have Joe Burrow, Jamar, Chase T Higgins. We're gonna
Speaker 2: hear from Ti Higgins coming up. You have all these
Speaker 2: pieces in their prime. You have to take advantage of it.
Speaker 2: You have to. And so for me, Sunday was a
Speaker 2: reminder of that. Oh man, Joe's on the field with
Speaker 2: those weapons. Good luck, good luck. You got a young,
Speaker 2: feisty defense that has some real proven pieces. And that's
Speaker 2: what they need to add this offseason, real proven pieces.
Speaker 2: That's it. It's on ownership to do that. And I
Speaker 2: don't want to hear a lot of you are probably thinking, oh, well,
Speaker 2: Joe makes this amount of money or Jamar or t
Speaker 2: and they shouldn't have paid this guy that They have
Speaker 2: plenty of money, plenty of money. They have plenty of
Speaker 2: money and plenty of cash. I hear that a lot
Speaker 2: o the Bengals owners they don't have as much cash.
Speaker 2: There's a salary cap, plenty of cash. They have plenty
Speaker 2: of cash, plenty of ways they can maximize the cap.
Speaker 2: They don't. They don't do that, and they should. It's
Speaker 2: the Joe Burrow era. Failing in this era and not
Speaker 2: winning a super Bowl is far worse than having one
Speaker 2: year or two years where you're in cap purgatory where
Speaker 2: your salary cap is preventing you from doing what you
Speaker 2: want to do. Down the line. You gotta get a
Speaker 2: super Bowl, you gotta win the championship. You gotta be
Speaker 2: willing to push the chips in And that's what's scary
Speaker 2: now because they're committed to Zach Taylor, they're committed to
Speaker 2: this coaching staff, they're committed to this front office. And
Speaker 2: so if that's the case, then what's going to change.
Speaker 2: What needs to change is their desire to go all
Speaker 2: in on winning and that is the standard. They need
Speaker 2: to be active in free agency, there's no doubt about it.
Speaker 2: And by active, I mean active like they were in
Speaker 2: twenty twenty one and twenty twenty when Joe Burrow was
Speaker 2: on his rookie deal, and then they got cold feet
Speaker 2: in twenty twenty two, a little bit. They were able
Speaker 2: to get a couple of linemen, but you could see
Speaker 2: the feet getting colder as we got closer to Joe
Speaker 2: Burrow's extension, and those feet are frozen right now, even
Speaker 2: though those temperatures outside are are mighty mighty nice for
Speaker 2: this time of year in the Queen City. I'm James
Speaker 2: or Peen in for Lance. This is Sports Talk. Tweet
Speaker 2: me on x at James or Peen. Also check out
Speaker 2: all of my Bengals coverage Bengals Talk dot com. Really
Speaker 2: happy to be with you. You're on Christmas Eve plenty
Speaker 2: to discuss. We're gonna hear from Zach Taylor T Higgins
Speaker 2: on a Christmas Eve edition of Sports Talk. I'm James Arpene,
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining us right here on seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 3: News Traffic and Weather News Radio seven hundred WLW Cincinnati.
Speaker 8: Americans on the move, but the A thirty report, I'm
Speaker 8: Sean Gallagher breaking now hey, record number of Americans expected
Speaker 8: to travel during the holiday season now into New Year's
Speaker 8: traffic analyst said that today was a good day to travel,
Speaker 8: with later traffic on the roads. Roads also expected to
Speaker 8: be less busy on Christmas Day for those only having
Speaker 8: to make a short trip to their holiday destination. But
Speaker 8: after the Christmas Day celebrations the calm coming to an end.
Speaker 26: Rush picks back up on Friday. Airlines for America says
Speaker 26: December twenty sixth is shaping up to be one of
Speaker 26: the busiest flying days of the holiday period, along with
Speaker 26: December twenty eighth for return travel. And it's not just
Speaker 26: the airports. Roads will be crowded to so if you're
Speaker 26: driving Friday in Rick says the worst travel times are
Speaker 26: between eleven am and eight pm. The best time to
Speaker 26: hit the road before eleven am. Bottom Line, plan ahead
Speaker 26: and of course, travel safe everybody.
Speaker 3: ABC News is Stephanie Ramos.
Speaker 8: For those in Ohio who hit the road earlier this
Speaker 8: week enjoyed lower gas prices, but in the last forty
Speaker 8: eight hours they've gone up about a quarter, entering today
Speaker 8: two dollars seventy nine cents.
Speaker 3: But there's an upside.
Speaker 8: Motor is still paying less of the pump compared to
Speaker 8: last Christmas, when the average was twenty eight cents higher.
Speaker 8: The nationwide average also down nineteen cents from the holiday
Speaker 8: season a year ago. Now the latest traffic and weather
Speaker 8: together and right now taking a look at the major
Speaker 8: interstates and highways.
Speaker 3: No new accidents now both lateis forecast from the Train
Speaker 3: Heating and Cooling Weather Center on news radio seven hundred
Speaker 3: wl W.
Speaker 9: After briefly dropping down into the upper forties versus Santa
Speaker 9: we quickly pushed into the fifties by the time most
Speaker 9: of us wake up Christmas morning. That scattered rain will
Speaker 9: also be out there Thursday morning, but should be out
Speaker 9: of here by early afternoon. While gloomy at Christmas afternoon,
Speaker 9: it will be warm highs near fifty nine and we
Speaker 9: only cool off to forty six into your Friday morning.
Speaker 9: From your severe weather station, I'm nine first warning meter
Speaker 9: rebly just Mark Stitz, News Radio seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 8: Radar showing a fair sky right now. It's forty three degrees.
Speaker 8: Ay crash late this morning in Sycamore Township near Kimwood
Speaker 8: Town Center, leaving one person dead and another critically injured.
Speaker 8: The Hamilton County Sheriff's Office was called out around eleven
Speaker 8: o'clock to the intersection of Montgomery and Galbreth Roads late
Speaker 8: this morning. They say that twenty eight year old Connor
Speaker 8: Walshley was driving to the highway to speed on Montgomery
Speaker 8: when he clipped another vehicle on Galbreth went off the
Speaker 8: road and hit a curb, sending his sh his sending
Speaker 8: his sedan airborne as he struck several trees in two
Speaker 8: utility poles. He and a passenger had to be extricated
Speaker 8: from the vehicle. Whilsley died from his injuries while the
Speaker 8: passenger was taken to UC Medical Center. Montgomery rode between
Speaker 8: Gilbert and Couglar Mills, still shut down, expected to reopen
Speaker 8: around eleven o'clock tonight. Is Duke Energy and Ulti Fiber
Speaker 8: replace and Rewire utility polls. Elwa Jones, whose murder case
Speaker 8: was dismissed earlier this month, the rest of this afternoon
Speaker 8: after allegedly driving while under the influence, and was also
Speaker 8: allegedly involved in a crash at the intersection of East
Speaker 8: McMillan and would Burn Avenues.
Speaker 3: There were no injuries in that crash.
Speaker 8: Jones now charged with obi leaving the scene of a
Speaker 8: crash in failure to control a motor vehicle. Jones had
Speaker 8: been convicted in the nineteen ninety four beating death of
Speaker 8: wrote To Nathan, sentenced to death, but was granted a
Speaker 8: new trial in twenty twenty two, after new evidence surface
Speaker 8: that the prosecution never disclosed to the defense during the trial,
Speaker 8: Hamilton County Prosecutor Connie Pillage, after a month's long intensive review,
Speaker 8: dismissed the case with prejudice. Something to check out for
Speaker 8: those with time off during the holidays or the looking
Speaker 8: for something to do with their kids while they're on
Speaker 8: winter break.
Speaker 20: For a lot of people in Cincinnati, they remember this
Speaker 20: when they were a kid. They've grown up with this.
Speaker 20: This is their seventy ninth holiday season.
Speaker 27: The Duke Energy Holiday Trains in Holiday Junction at Iconic
Speaker 27: Historic Union Terminal. Cody Hefner is with a Cincinnati Museum
Speaker 27: Center on what is a holiday trip back in time.
Speaker 20: We have this digital storybook that has all these historic
Speaker 20: photos from the nineteen forties all the way to present day,
Speaker 20: so you can flip through and it is fun because
Speaker 20: people will see the decade or the period that they
Speaker 20: remember first seeing the trains.
Speaker 27: Holiday Junction is open until January fifth. I'm Matt Reeese
Speaker 27: news Radio seven hundred WL double.
Speaker 3: Arnt ax upthing. This is nine o'clock.
Speaker 8: I'm Sean Gallagher, News Radio seven hundred WLWL News Radio
Speaker 8: seven hundred WLW and iHeartRadio station guarantee Human seven hundred
Speaker 8: WLW HI heard radio.
Speaker 3: Breath is a confidence killer. You could have the best outfit.
Speaker 2: Welcome back Sports Talk. I'm James Rpene and this is
Speaker 2: seven hundred wl W. Merry Christmas Eve in for Lance McAllister,
Speaker 2: and I think it's time to have a discussion about
Speaker 2: Zach Taylor. We're gonna hear from Zach Taylor in just
Speaker 2: a second. I think it's tough. It's tough when you
Speaker 2: understand the human side of things to a degree, and
Speaker 2: Zach obviously has a high leverage position. And I'm not
Speaker 2: going to, especially on Christmas Eve, talk about job security
Speaker 2: or whether he should be here or not be here.
Speaker 2: I know everybody has strong opinions about that, and there's
Speaker 2: a time and place for it. I'm not sure Christmas
Speaker 2: Eve is that time. I will say this and I'm
Speaker 2: gonna play what Zach Taylor had to say on Monday
Speaker 2: after the game. Some injury stuff, obviously health updates, the
Speaker 2: insight he had on t Higgins. I think it's important
Speaker 2: for everyone to hear that as Tiggins made it through
Speaker 2: concussion protocol. But the end of what Zach had to say,
Speaker 2: I think is really really important too. So this is
Speaker 2: it's about seven minutes. It's Zach Taylor on Monday, and
Speaker 2: let's get to that and then we'll react to what
Speaker 2: he said at the end of his Monday news conference.
Speaker 2: James Arpine in for a lance, here's Zach Taylor for Monday.
Speaker 12: You know, we've always wanted to be a relentless defense,
Speaker 12: something where the effort flies off the tape and you
Speaker 12: see guys forming the ball. So I think those are things.
Speaker 12: When I watched the tape yesterday is you see everyone
Speaker 12: in the picture, everyone after first contact trying to get
Speaker 12: in the mix, make sure the ball carry gets down.
Speaker 7: They got the one run on us.
Speaker 12: That was a big run, and you can't excuse that
Speaker 12: because we got to get him on the ground. We
Speaker 12: had opportunities to do it, could have knocked it down.
Speaker 12: We didn't. This core touchdown. But you look at the
Speaker 12: mixture runs after that, and they're tough. They scheme your
Speaker 12: runs up, they give you a lot of different looks,
Speaker 12: a ton of different personnel groupings. I thought our defense
Speaker 12: did a great job getting that run game settled down
Speaker 12: and minimized toward in the second half. You know, you
Speaker 12: got to make them throw the football and we were
Speaker 12: able to get the ball off of them that way.
Speaker 12: So just overall really impressed with the growth of our
Speaker 12: defense and how these guys responded. They understand the scheme,
Speaker 12: the communication has been really good, and again, you know,
Speaker 12: taking the ball off the people, you know, so there's
Speaker 12: that confidence to scoring there as well, and so it's
Speaker 12: been fun to watch.
Speaker 13: That's the line had a pretty good game yesterday in
Speaker 13: terms of containing.
Speaker 7: The run between the tackles, doing.
Speaker 12: A great job playing with their hands, understanding the techniques
Speaker 12: for asking them to play and and so again you're
Speaker 12: just seeing guys grow. A ton of guys grow. Getting
Speaker 12: Tamar back was fun to watch yesterday. I thought Cedric
Speaker 12: played a good game yesterday. Miles continues just to just
Speaker 12: have a really good season right now with where he's at.
Speaker 12: And so again it's just and there's guys I'm not
Speaker 12: even naming, you know. I thought everybody played really well yesterday.
Speaker 12: So just fun group to watch them to continue to
Speaker 12: grow and as send and that's all we're asking for
Speaker 12: them right now is just get better every single week
Speaker 12: and minimize your miss aches.
Speaker 7: And we're seeing that from those guys.
Speaker 14: I think after Higgins said he saw specialists to go
Speaker 14: what see Thursday morning, okay, and kind of what what
Speaker 14: led to y'all come to that conclusion and saying, hey,
Speaker 14: let's go have this check down and the kind of
Speaker 14: walk us through that cross yeh.
Speaker 12: It was the doctors, you know, I think just making
Speaker 12: sure tea in conjunction with our doctors, just making sure
Speaker 12: you got that final checkpoint there to make sure we
Speaker 12: were seeing everything and the clearance was appropriate. I think
Speaker 12: with the two issues he's had, you know, that was
Speaker 12: the appropriate way to do it.
Speaker 7: And so get him out there quite really was.
Speaker 12: It was a bang bang Thursday morning, got out there,
Speaker 12: got back before I wasn't expecting about practice, and there
Speaker 12: he is, walks in the door, you know, right after stretch.
Speaker 12: So that was I think it's good for him to
Speaker 12: hear that too. He could probably answer that better than
Speaker 12: I can, but we just want to make sure we
Speaker 12: were doing right by him. If he's going to go
Speaker 12: out there and play that everybody feels good about it.
Speaker 12: He feels good about it, family feels good about it.
Speaker 12: And he went out there and to my eye, felt
Speaker 12: really good.
Speaker 14: Clear Saturday and Sunday morning in order to finally have
Speaker 14: agree like it for something.
Speaker 12: I don't know what the final hurt it was. I
Speaker 12: mean I felt good Friday. I wasn't gonna tell everybody that.
Speaker 3: But.
Speaker 12: You know, it's it's kind of nice for you to
Speaker 12: have t Higgins walk on the field Sunday morning when
Speaker 12: no one's exactly sure if he's going to play.
Speaker 7: I knew he was going to play at that point, but.
Speaker 12: You know, so it is good to get Tea back
Speaker 12: out there, and I know we got a lot of
Speaker 12: confidence when he's out there.
Speaker 15: Jalen Davis in November camp, Tilbert gets hurt. You were
Speaker 15: going young at a lot of different positions, You had
Speaker 15: young corners, and obviously it's worked out with Jalen. What
Speaker 15: made Jalen the guy that you wanted to put in
Speaker 15: the lineup when you looked at your options at.
Speaker 12: That He's always he's always been a dependable guy. We've
Speaker 12: seen up for him in training camp for preseason games
Speaker 12: and opportunity he's gotten over the years, you know, to
Speaker 12: play in a real game, and uh, you know, just
Speaker 12: tremendous locker room guy. I think he's he's a fan
Speaker 12: favorite in the locker room. Tremendous energy, just does what
Speaker 12: it takes to win and help our team, whether that's
Speaker 12: been as a practice squad player, bringing energy every single
Speaker 12: day and being consistent, being ready when his numbers called,
Speaker 12: and so then his numbers finally called in November. He
Speaker 12: just goes out there and just plays with a ton
Speaker 12: of confidence, a ton of awareness, great communication skills, leadership
Speaker 12: on defense, has an act for making plays on the ball,
Speaker 12: has an act for pressuring. A lot of similarities Mike Hilton,
Speaker 12: you know, and whether that's because they were together for
Speaker 12: a long time, and and that's a huge compliment, you know,
Speaker 12: because Mike obviously had tremendous career, and so JD's out
Speaker 12: there doing his own thing and and really just happy
Speaker 12: to see him take on that role and do it
Speaker 12: with a ton of confidence and make a lot of
Speaker 12: place for us and have a lot of success.
Speaker 7: He's earned that. How'd you describe Fairchild's rookie good?
Speaker 12: You know, I think he's playing between Orlando and Ted
Speaker 12: has been a really good for him. Played with really
Speaker 12: good physicality, and you know, seeing a lot of stuff
Speaker 12: over the course of the season, being able to be
Speaker 12: available and and I you know, really I think he's
Speaker 12: got a really high seat, and you know I felt
Speaker 12: the line as a whole. You know, we're talking about
Speaker 12: a Marius, We're talking about Dylan. I've just had a
Speaker 12: ton of confidence all year. You know whatever we're calling
Speaker 12: that there's gonna be great protection for quarterbacks. That the
Speaker 12: run game, you know we're gonna have success in our
Speaker 12: runs that we're calling. And so just you know that
Speaker 12: speaks to Dylan, that speaks to the whole group. I
Speaker 12: just as a head coach, as a play caller, have
Speaker 12: a lot of confidence in the unit.
Speaker 13: How much do you like watching take that duo blocked
Speaker 13: head and Dylan had We're small chase touchdown.
Speaker 12: It's great and it's you know when you get a drive,
Speaker 12: mull it over drives. The second half started around midfield,
Speaker 12: which was just great. But you know, you hit them
Speaker 12: in the past game and you kind of got teams
Speaker 12: on their heels, and then you get to hit them
Speaker 12: on two runs as you get lower in there and
Speaker 12: scored on two runs. You know from you know, inside
Speaker 12: the fifteen, inside the five. It's good because now you
Speaker 12: know you're having a lot of success in the pass game,
Speaker 12: so they got to respect that, and then you know,
Speaker 12: you hit them with with some of the runs we
Speaker 12: hit on and the guys are able to come off
Speaker 12: the ball and drive them off the ball, and it's
Speaker 12: it's that's a great way to finish drives.
Speaker 16: Yeah, when it's a season that hasn't gone well for
Speaker 16: you guys that there's a lot of talk about a
Speaker 16: meaningless season, but for you, you look at a different
Speaker 16: as a coach, I know, where do you see the
Speaker 16: most growth on a team even though this season hasn't
Speaker 16: been great.
Speaker 12: Well, I think we played a lot of young guys,
Speaker 12: you know, and these guys have just gotten better and better,
Speaker 12: and so our future is really right that way that
Speaker 12: every player, you know, for a second third year player,
Speaker 12: I really feel like has made huge tries this season
Speaker 12: as they've gotten more reps and more opportunity, and so
Speaker 12: we have a lot of confidence in those guys. And
Speaker 12: then and then you blended with the veterans that we've
Speaker 12: got that are playing at a high level. So I
Speaker 12: feel really good about the direction this team. And and
Speaker 12: you know, it's all we can control is this week
Speaker 12: we got Arizona. This week we got to put our
Speaker 12: vestent forward, forget about what's going on around us, just
Speaker 12: focus on great game plan, having a great week of practice,
Speaker 12: winning the game went in two games in a row.
Speaker 12: The feeling we had in the locker room responding with
Speaker 12: a way to win back to back games is all
Speaker 12: we can control right now. Okay, you know, I know
Speaker 12: Jay Morrison and his family are dealing with something tough
Speaker 12: right now. Jays, as you all know, one of the
Speaker 12: greatest guys in this business. So thought some prayers with
Speaker 12: him and his family. And I hate that he's got
Speaker 12: to go for that, but I know we're all here
Speaker 12: for him, So I just want to make sure he
Speaker 12: knows that and his family knows.
Speaker 2: That that last bit is the most important bit there
Speaker 2: of information. I thought it was so so classy of
Speaker 2: Zach Taylor to say that about Jay Morrison and his
Speaker 2: wife Nikki. And really, ever since I heard the news,
Speaker 2: I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. And
Speaker 2: love Jay obviously. I've worked with Jay for many, many
Speaker 2: years and I consider him a great friend. And it's heartbreaking.
Speaker 2: It's heartbreaking because it's rare to see a a couple
Speaker 2: that you know just fits and works perfectly, and so
Speaker 2: when tragedy happens like this, and and for those of
Speaker 2: you that that don't know. Nicky Morrison passed away earlier
Speaker 2: this week, really suddenly during a procedure that that went wrong,
Speaker 2: and it's not something that anyone anticipated, expected or could
Speaker 2: have thought was coming. And so when something sudden like
Speaker 2: this happens, you know, you you reflect, and and the
Speaker 2: thing that I continue to go back to is what
Speaker 2: Jay and Nikki had. You could see was so special
Speaker 2: from the moment that you talked to Jay about anything,
Speaker 2: any of his hobbies, any anything, and they're just the
Speaker 2: perfect couple that supported each other and loved each other.
Speaker 2: And this is, uh, it's just awful, awful news, and
Speaker 2: some things in life you can't explain why, and it's
Speaker 2: really hard to understand the why with with something like this.
Speaker 2: So love Jay, love Nikki. We're thinking about the entire
Speaker 2: Morrison family. But I thought it was really really classy
Speaker 2: of Zach Taylor to say that at the end. And
Speaker 2: that's why I mean, he talked today, but that's why
Speaker 2: I wanted to play what he said Monday in its entirety.
Speaker 2: I thought there were some key nuggets in there about
Speaker 2: t Higgins and other things like that, plus what he
Speaker 2: said about Jay and his family. So obviously we're thinking
Speaker 2: about the Morrisons during this time, and Jay, we we
Speaker 2: love you for sure. It's it's something that I can't
Speaker 2: stop thinking about and I'm not going to stop thinking about.
Speaker 2: So make sure that you give Jay your your well
Speaker 2: wishes this holiday season and the entire Morrison family, and
Speaker 2: we will continue the show coming up next. James Repine
Speaker 2: in for Lance. This is seven hundred Wow Penn Station
Speaker 2: rewards on seven hundred at WLW. We've had plenty of
Speaker 2: Bengals conversation naturally, and well, if you're just joining us
Speaker 2: and you're like, who the heck is James or Pen?
Speaker 2: Why cover the Bengals Bengals Talk dot Com, Cincinnati Bengals
Speaker 2: Talk on YouTube, and the Lockdown at Bengals Podcast. One
Speaker 2: thing that I, for lack of a better term, love
Speaker 2: is seeing star players fight, battle, compete, the edge, what
Speaker 2: drives them all of those things? And a guy like
Speaker 2: T Higgins, Like we've talked a lot about Joe Burrow
Speaker 2: and should he shut it down? Should he not? You know,
Speaker 2: there's been so much discussion there, but a guy like
Speaker 2: T Higgins, that dude could have easily shut it down
Speaker 2: this season and no one would have blamed him. No,
Speaker 2: one would have questioned it. Everyone would have said yeah
Speaker 2: to you, like do it, And instead this guy is battling,
Speaker 2: doing everything he can to get back on the field,
Speaker 2: going to see a specialist in Pittsburgh. He suffered a
Speaker 2: concussion a month ago now against the Patriots a little
Speaker 2: over a month ago, and missus a game. Comes back
Speaker 2: after that Thursday game, comes back the following week and
Speaker 2: plays great against the Bills. Gets concussed in that game
Speaker 2: and doesn't have symptoms or at least passes protocol and
Speaker 2: doesn't have symptoms to get yanked out of the game
Speaker 2: until after and goes back into protocol after the game.
Speaker 2: This is the second Ravens game, and to me, it's
Speaker 2: cool is the wrong word. But I just think he
Speaker 2: deserves praise for fighting the way he has to get
Speaker 2: back on the field. And what we should hear from
Speaker 2: t Higgins this is what he said to me after
Speaker 2: the game in the locker room in Miami, after having
Speaker 2: a great game, including a thirty five yard catch and
Speaker 2: outstanding touchdown grab his tenth of the season, which ties
Speaker 2: a career high, like T is a problem on the field,
Speaker 2: and that's a great thing for the Cincinnati Bengals. Here's
Speaker 2: what T Higgins had to say after the game.
Speaker 3: No, it was fun.
Speaker 18: You know, just get back there and compete with my
Speaker 18: guys and then it's even better.
Speaker 2: We got a wu the w that.
Speaker 18: We got too, So you know, shout out to my guys.
Speaker 19: When you're on the flight to and from Pittsburgh, what's
Speaker 19: going through your head?
Speaker 2: Like, what's that like?
Speaker 18: Honestly, you know, praying that you know, I'll come back
Speaker 18: with come here and get positive news, to come back
Speaker 18: with positive news to tell the team and things like that,
Speaker 18: and that's what it was. Your racking or I mean
Speaker 18: I was very you know, obviously I was very anxious
Speaker 18: and nervous, you know what they was gonna say. But
Speaker 18: you know I got a peace of mind and it
Speaker 18: was okay.
Speaker 19: Changes that makes you want to play when they when
Speaker 19: they clear you, what is it that made you want
Speaker 19: to say, I want to finish the season.
Speaker 18: In the man at the end of the day of
Speaker 18: a competitor, I want compete with the guys. So that's
Speaker 18: that's all it came down to.
Speaker 2: You make any changes, you know, people see guardian caps
Speaker 2: out there. Obviously didn't work every different. What's different about
Speaker 2: this helment.
Speaker 18: Just more pattern, you know what I mean, was able
Speaker 18: to get fitted for one and it came in just
Speaker 18: in time.
Speaker 7: Who's that feel?
Speaker 18: It feels great, honestly, Uh, it's comfortable. So that's all
Speaker 18: that about it.
Speaker 10: It's the scariest part of the symptoms that you felt.
Speaker 18: There was a lot of headaches. The first one was
Speaker 18: a little bit sensitive to light. But other than that,
Speaker 18: see that is Can.
Speaker 2: You take me through the art of the T Higgins
Speaker 2: contested catch because it feels like it's evolved from a
Speaker 2: few years ago to now and it seems like you're
Speaker 2: making them look so routine.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 18: Man, I just that's my job to go up there
Speaker 18: and catch the ball, and you know, Joe gives me
Speaker 18: a great boss to where I only I can catch it,
Speaker 18: and you know it's either me or nobody.
Speaker 3: So is it kind of just uplifting?
Speaker 21: So to be able to come back from what you
Speaker 21: did and have the type of game then you did,
Speaker 21: to know, I.
Speaker 18: Mean, definitely is definitely a bonus. Obviously I wanted to
Speaker 18: come out and and try to dominate personally, but who
Speaker 18: was able to do that as a whole today and
Speaker 18: you know the results.
Speaker 2: So here's why I love T Higgins and that entire video.
Speaker 2: You could check it out Cincinnati Bengals talk on YouTube.
Speaker 2: I love that Tea is like, oh man, I'm a competitor.
Speaker 2: Of course I want to apply. Why wouldn't I play? And
Speaker 2: I just I think that deserves praise. Now they've taken
Speaker 2: the precautions and he's gotten examined and went to a
Speaker 2: specialist in Pittsburgh and we heard from Zach Taylor on
Speaker 2: that earlier this hour. But the other thing that this
Speaker 2: to me reminds me of, and I think Sunday was
Speaker 2: a big, an important reason behind it and why you
Speaker 2: do pay T. Higgins because that's still a discussion, especially
Speaker 2: with the defense being the way it is, and the
Speaker 2: Bengals had plenty of money last year and they just
Speaker 2: didn't spend enough of it, maximized their cap all of
Speaker 2: those things on defense. They could have done everything they
Speaker 2: did on offense and added a bunch on defense. They
Speaker 2: didn't do that. But this is why you keep T.
Speaker 2: Higgins because he's a in his prime monster, and they've
Speaker 2: failed to draft enough monsters to say, oh, well, you
Speaker 2: can let this guy in his prime go. It'd be
Speaker 2: one thing if they had four defensive linemen and two
Speaker 2: corners and a bunch of stuff that they had to pay,
Speaker 2: and they couldn't make it all work with Tea. They
Speaker 2: didn't have any of that they didn't like. If you
Speaker 2: don't pay T Higgins, you just lose T Higgins. And
Speaker 2: so to see him fight, to see him play at
Speaker 2: a high level, and to see him matter, and I
Speaker 2: think that's the thing he matters so much in this
Speaker 2: offense because if you won a double Jamar, well then fine,
Speaker 2: you got to deal with Tea. And if you're going
Speaker 2: to play one high and put T Higgins in Manda
Speaker 2: Man coverage, well good luck, because he's as good as
Speaker 2: anyone right now in the NFL at the jump ball,
Speaker 2: in making plays on the ball deep down field. I mean,
Speaker 2: that catch that fifty fifth ball the other day is
Speaker 2: just insane. That he gets up there makes that play
Speaker 2: and you heard him just doing my job. No, like,
Speaker 2: no one can do that job. There's like four people
Speaker 2: on the planet that I think are capable of doing
Speaker 2: that job.
Speaker 7: And so.
Speaker 2: A lot of times it's it's easy to say, oh,
Speaker 2: the Bengals want the flashyway. They're paying two receivers, they're
Speaker 2: paying their quarterback. They're not built the right way. I
Speaker 2: don't believe that one bit. Like I think Tea's the
Speaker 2: exact guy you do pay. I also thought Jesse Bates
Speaker 2: and DJ Reader were guys you pay and you keep
Speaker 2: guess what they could have done all of it. And
Speaker 2: that's the thing that I really want to hammer home
Speaker 2: this holiday season, especially going into the off season. It's like, oh, well,
Speaker 2: you know the Bengals, they spent here, but they needed
Speaker 2: to spend there. They could have done all of it.
Speaker 2: And that's the standard when you're trying to win super Bowls.
Speaker 2: Guess what you're trying to do all of it, not
Speaker 2: some of it, not a little bit of it, all
Speaker 2: of it. And and that's been the theme of this show.
Speaker 2: And the reason it's been the theme of this show
Speaker 2: is because this Bengals franchise with Joe Burrow should be
Speaker 2: contending for super Bowls every single year. And when I
Speaker 2: think about Jamar Chase and T Higgins and Tea battling
Speaker 2: back and doing what he is doing at such a
Speaker 2: high level, it shouldn't be to get to five and
Speaker 2: ten on the season. It shouldn't be with nothing to
Speaker 2: play for. This better be the last season we're talking
Speaker 2: about this ever. In the Joe Burrow Jamar Chase t
Speaker 2: Higgins era. Ever, otherwise they've failed massively, like this should
Speaker 2: be impossible. And I don't mean like last year where
Speaker 2: they're rallying for a playoff spot. Next year we should
Speaker 2: be talking about playoff positioning. Oh well, they're pretty much
Speaker 2: wrapped up the division. Are they going to get the
Speaker 2: one seat or the two seed or how do they
Speaker 2: stack up in the AFC? Like that's the standard. And
Speaker 2: so when I see a like T Higgins fighting his
Speaker 2: tail off, doing everything he can to get back on
Speaker 2: the field and what is essentially meaningless games, those are
Speaker 2: the type of guys you build around. And so when
Speaker 2: someone says I'm not sure they should have paid T Higgins, well,
Speaker 2: hell yeah, they should have paid T Higgins. They got
Speaker 2: that right. This has been a lot of fun. Thank
Speaker 2: you so much for listening and following along wherever you
Speaker 2: were listening going to and from. I hope you have
Speaker 2: a wonderful holiday season. I hope that the Bengals give
Speaker 2: you and bring you whatever you want. That the teams
Speaker 2: in this town certainly treat the fans by doing everything
Speaker 2: they can to win, and I think that's what everybody
Speaker 2: would probably want and does want that's listening right now.
Speaker 2: So this is always fun filling in for Lance here
Speaker 2: on seven hundred WLW on Sports Talk. I do not
Speaker 2: take it lightly to get this opportunity. I like to
Speaker 2: make the most of it, even on a Christmas Eve
Speaker 2: where I'm sure you're busy. Everyone's busy. So thank you
Speaker 2: so much for listening and until next time. For our
Speaker 2: producer Tarren Bland, I'm James Epene, thank you so much
Speaker 2: for listening to Sports Talk right here on seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 3: News Traffic and Weather News Radio seven hundred w l W, Cincinnati.
Speaker 8: Leo delivers his first Christmas Eve message with the nine
Speaker 8: o'clock report. I'm Sean Gallagher breaking now, Pop Leo the
Speaker 8: fourteenth leading his first Christmas Eve Mass as pontif tonight
Speaker 8: at Saint Peter's Basilica and Vatican City, delivering a message
Speaker 8: saying that the story of Christmas should remind Christians of
Speaker 8: their duty to help the poor and strangers. The Pope
Speaker 8: was made care for immigrants and the poor, key issues
Speaker 8: in the early months of his papacy. Leo, who has
Speaker 8: seen who has been critical of President Trump's divisive immigration crackdown,
Speaker 8: quoted a line from the late Pope Benedict the sixteenth,
Speaker 8: lamenting that the world does not care for children, the poor,
Speaker 8: or foreigners, saying quote, while a distorted economy leads us
Speaker 8: to treat human beings as mere merchandise, God becomes like us,
Speaker 8: revealing the infinite dignity of every person. Meanwhile, Saint Patrick's
Speaker 8: Cathedral in New York expected to be packed as it
Speaker 8: will mark the final midnight mass for outcoming Cardinal Timothy Dolan,
Speaker 8: who's set to retire. Tickets for the service in high
Speaker 8: demand as they are placed in a lottery system.
Speaker 3: Now, the latest.
Speaker 8: Traffic and weather together and taking a look at the
Speaker 8: major interstates and highways right now, no new accidents now.
Speaker 11: The latest forecast from the No Fear Dentist Weather Center
Speaker 11: advanced dentistry the thought of the dentist making you a
Speaker 11: nervous wreck, We're here for you.
Speaker 3: No Fear Dentist dot Com will.
Speaker 9: Be climbing quickly into Christmas morning as we rebound well
Speaker 9: into the fifties to start things off. But that scattered
Speaker 9: rain will also continue into the morning, likely ending by
Speaker 9: the early afternoon, but will keep it cloudy and warm
Speaker 9: for your Christmas afternoon hies near fifty nine degrees heading
Speaker 9: into Friday morning, we cool off to forty six. From
Speaker 9: your severe weather station, I'm nine First Warning met ROBA
Speaker 9: just Mark Stitz News Radio seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 8: And radar at this time is showing a partly cloudy
Speaker 8: sky and our current temperature is coming in at forty
Speaker 8: four degrees as we're actually seeing more clouds develop Hereing
Speaker 8: the last hour or so, two people hospitalized after a
Speaker 8: crash on the Interstate seventy five southbound up to seventy
Speaker 8: four West. Both were adults on suffering serious injuries, while
Speaker 8: the other head injuries believed to be non life threatening.
Speaker 8: The ramp closed for some time this evening as Cruz
Speaker 8: cleaned it up, but that has since reopened. Now what Jones,
Speaker 8: whose murder case was dismissed earlier this month, the restident
Speaker 8: now facing new charges after allegedly driving under the influence
Speaker 8: and leaving the scene of a crash late this afternoon.
Speaker 8: Cincinnati police say the accident happened near the corner of
Speaker 8: East McMillan and Woodburn Avenue around five o'clock, as Jones
Speaker 8: allegedly crashed into a poll. Jones was released after being
Speaker 8: charged with obi leaving the scene of a crash in
Speaker 8: failure to control the motor vehicle, now due in court
Speaker 8: December twenty ninth. Police say that he refused to breathalyze
Speaker 8: your test. Jones was