Speaker 1: The following takes place between six pm and seven pm.
Speaker 2: You want answers. I think I'm entitled. You answer the truth.
Speaker 2: You can't handle the truth.
Speaker 3: Truth, Truth.
Speaker 4: All right, good evening, Welcome in. It is six o
Speaker 4: eight pm. It's Tuesday, December two, and this is RNL
Speaker 4: Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet. However, this is
Speaker 4: not Lance McAllister. It's Tony Pike with you tonight till
Speaker 4: nine o'clock. Happy to be here on the Big one,
Speaker 4: seven hundred WLW right down the hall from my normal
Speaker 4: location on ESPN fifteen thirty. Happy to have you along.
Speaker 4: Welcome you to be a part of tonight's show. Five one, three, seven, four, nine,
Speaker 4: seven thousand. We have Bengals galore to get to in
Speaker 4: our number one, and that will sprinklin to our number
Speaker 4: two as well. James Rapine, covering the Bengals for SI,
Speaker 4: is going to join us around six thirty five. We'll
Speaker 4: talk all things Bengals with him. Seven thirty five tonight,
Speaker 4: the executive director of the Reds Community Fund, Charlie Frank,
Speaker 4: is going to join us to talk about what's happening
Speaker 4: right now with the Reds. It's giving Tuesday, and Charlie
Speaker 4: Frank's gonna get us all up to speed on that.
Speaker 4: And yes, I would be remissed if I didn't have
Speaker 4: a chance to come on seven hundred WLW on the
Speaker 4: week of the Crosstown Shootout and fail to mention anything
Speaker 4: with the Xavier Musketeers and the Cincinnati Bearcats. So yes,
Speaker 4: as we get into our number three we'll talk Crosstown
Speaker 4: shootout as well. Eight oh five Kegan nickoson Bearcat journal
Speaker 4: dot Com will join us to talk the shootout, the
Speaker 4: buzz or lack thereof surrounding this year's Crosstown shootout? Is
Speaker 4: it a must win for Wes Miller and the Cincinnati Bearcats.
Speaker 4: I think everyone's in agreement Trick Patino and the Muskies
Speaker 4: that they get a little bit of a pass this year,
Speaker 4: and that comes from Musketeer fans themselves. They get a
Speaker 4: little bit of a pass this year. Is it must
Speaker 4: win situation for Wes Miller? I also want to know
Speaker 4: from you the Cincinnati Bearcat football season was blank? Was
Speaker 4: the football season of success? A failure? A disappointment? Seven
Speaker 4: wins and what over their posted total? According to Las Vegas,
Speaker 4: they're Bowl eligible, They're going to be playing in a
Speaker 4: bowl game. Which bowl game they'll find out on December seventh.
Speaker 4: They lost four in a rowa in the season. Some
Speaker 4: would venture to say that is a disappointment. What say
Speaker 4: you let us know tonight? Five one, three, seven, four, nine,
Speaker 4: seven thousand. Also, can we be thankful in this time
Speaker 4: of the year that the month of November has passed.
Speaker 4: The month of November not kind for the football teams
Speaker 4: here in Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Bearcats finished the month of
Speaker 4: November zh to four. The Cincinnati Bengals, albeit ending the
Speaker 4: month of November strong, finished one in three. That is,
Speaker 4: it combined one in seven locally for the Bearcats and
Speaker 4: the Bengals in the month of November. And yet the
Speaker 4: Bearcats will go bowling and the door remains opened, albeit slightly,
Speaker 4: for the Cincinnati Bengals. Week thirteen is officially over in
Speaker 4: the National Football League. It was a long week that
Speaker 4: started Thursday night, which finished Thanksgiving Night with the Bengals
Speaker 4: win over the Baltimore Ravens thirty two to fourteen in
Speaker 4: a game that saw Joe Burrow drop back to throw
Speaker 4: thirty two times in the first half forty six times total,
Speaker 4: but was only sacked one time. No turnovers, two touchdowns.
Speaker 4: Chase Brown ran it for five point two yards per carry.
Speaker 4: Jamar Chase one over the one hundred yard mark and
Speaker 4: only did so, catching half of his targets seven of
Speaker 4: his fourteen targets, and the much maligned Bengals defense put
Speaker 4: together what I call their most complete performance of the year.
Speaker 4: The offensive line is playing better, the protection has been better,
Speaker 4: the run game has added balance. And there's questions that
Speaker 4: the Bengals have and some of those questions have already
Speaker 4: been answered, and some will as the week goes on.
Speaker 4: Trey Hendrickson is already doubtful for the game against Buffalo
Speaker 4: on Sunday. T Higgins is going through concussion protocol. The
Speaker 4: Bengals hope to get t Higgins back on Sunday. We'll
Speaker 4: talk a little bit here, and I remember one about
Speaker 4: the Buffalo Bills, but more than anything else, as I mentioned,
Speaker 4: the NFL week comes to a close. We are now
Speaker 4: on to Week fourteen already in the National Football League,
Speaker 4: and all I see is parody the National Football League.
Speaker 4: With a win last night on Monday Night Football, the
Speaker 4: New England Patriots have moved to eleven and two on
Speaker 4: the season. The Denver Broncos are ten and two on
Speaker 4: the season. They are the only teams in the National
Speaker 4: Football League that possess double digit wins as December gets underway.
Speaker 4: And yet I would venture to say, if you talk
Speaker 4: to most and you're putting an amount of money that matters,
Speaker 4: are the Patriots and the Broncos super Bowl contenders. In
Speaker 4: the AFC. The Jacksonville Jaguars have eight wins, The Indianapolis
Speaker 4: Colts have eight wins, the Los Angeles Chargers have eight wins.
Speaker 4: The Buffalo Bills have eight wins. And I think you
Speaker 4: could look at all four of those teams with eight
Speaker 4: wins and make the argument they don't They don't feel
Speaker 4: like a Super Bowl contender as the month of December starts.
Speaker 4: And then there's a different pack. The Houston Texans winners
Speaker 4: of four in a row, Davis Mills at quarterback, I
Speaker 4: think the best defensive front in all of football. Josh
Speaker 4: Allen thinks so as well. He was sacked eight times
Speaker 4: by that Texans defense. They're trending in the right direction.
Speaker 4: But outside of that, the Chiefs are six and six.
Speaker 4: Outside looking in, the Baltimore Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers
Speaker 4: are six and six, and the Bengals are at four
Speaker 4: and eight, and yet it feels like no one would
Speaker 4: want to play the Bengals if they got in. Moeger
Speaker 4: mentioned this yesterday on Thetonian Mo Football Show. The Baltimore
Speaker 4: Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers both had chances this season
Speaker 4: to essentially end the season for the Cincinnati Bengals, and
Speaker 4: they didn't do it. And now the Bengals are alive mathematically,
Speaker 4: they're alive in their playoff hunt. We'll get into that.
Speaker 4: In the NFC, it's much of the same. I think
Speaker 4: the Rams are the favorite for me, but the Rams
Speaker 4: just lost to the Carolina Panthers. The Seattle Seahawks might
Speaker 4: be the best defensive team in the NFC, but I
Speaker 4: still have questions around Sam Darnold. They have nine wins
Speaker 4: and the San Francisco forty nine Ers have won three
Speaker 4: and I already get nine wins, but you look at
Speaker 4: their schedule, They've not really played anyone of significance this year.
Speaker 4: The Tampa Bay Bucks, dealing with a ton of injuries,
Speaker 4: are seven and five or are they a Super Bowl contender?
Speaker 4: Is anyone buying stock? And the leaders in the NFC
Speaker 4: North the Chicago Bears at nine and three, the Packers
Speaker 4: eight and three. The Detroit Lions are seven to five.
Speaker 4: They're on the outside looking in. Eagles are sputtering at
Speaker 4: eight and four. Cowboys are playing better. But there is
Speaker 4: more parody as we entered December than I can remember
Speaker 4: in quite some time. And with that parody also breeds
Speaker 4: openings not opening for the Cincinnati Bengal Bengals to make
Speaker 4: some moving here in December, and why not. It's what
Speaker 4: they've done under Zach Taylor the last three years. In
Speaker 4: the month of December and January, the Bengals are fourteen
Speaker 4: and two. Yes, the Bengals fourteen and two through December
Speaker 4: and January the last three years combined. It's a one
Speaker 4: week season. Joe Burrow said as much when he came
Speaker 4: back that every week is essentially a must win. And
Speaker 4: regardless of how they did it, and we'll talk about
Speaker 4: how they did it against the Ravens, they're probably going
Speaker 4: to have to do it a different way against the
Speaker 4: Buffalo Bills. But it's a chance to go one to
Speaker 4: oh and if you go one to O this week
Speaker 4: as a six and a half point underdog, you at
Speaker 4: least keep your season alive. I'm excited to be here
Speaker 4: until nine o'clock on seven hundred WOW. It's RNL Carrier
Speaker 4: Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet. Phone lines are open
Speaker 4: five to one, three seven, seven thousand, plenty more Bengals
Speaker 4: as we return next on seven hundred WW.
Speaker 5: From the uc Hell Traffic Center, Health's Weight Loss Center
Speaker 5: offering surgery, com and medical to b City Care nexpertise
Speaker 5: called five point three ninety three nine twenty two sixty
Speaker 5: three nine three nine twenty two sixty three seventy five
Speaker 5: southbound to seventy four. Accident now cleared from that exit ramp.
Speaker 5: Were moving better there. Shoulder taken up onto seventy five
Speaker 5: east bound after Kellogg left hand side is well. We
Speaker 5: have a Cruz getting an accident taken care of now
Speaker 5: Ronald Reagan Highway west bound between Plainfield and Ridge. We
Speaker 5: have the left lane bunch with an accident and Warner
Speaker 5: at Ohio Avenue crash as well and delays on seventy
Speaker 5: five southbound with heavier pockets of traffic. Ronald Reagan Highway
Speaker 5: to Norwood lateral lane shifts in place here to seventy
Speaker 5: five of the Combesail Bridge. We have the work of
Speaker 5: the westbound lanes continuing through the end of the year.
Speaker 5: By Rick Shrepp, News Radio seven hundred W do weil W.
Speaker 6: Overnight tonight, mostly cloudy. Skies are low down to twenty degrees.
Speaker 6: We are expecting the sun to return tomorrow. High of
Speaker 6: thirty five tomorrow night. There's a slight chance of snow,
Speaker 6: but no real accumulation is expected. Cloudy to start Thursday,
Speaker 6: then gradually turning sonny, with a high still in the
Speaker 6: low thirties. We should be in the mid to upper
Speaker 6: thirties to start the weekend. That's the forecast on news
Speaker 6: radio seven hundred W.
Speaker 2: ALLW all right, mister Penny, I'm going to say a word,
Speaker 2: and you tell me the first thing that pops into
Speaker 2: your mind. Got you doc comfortable? Scott's loan desirable?
Speaker 7: Scott's loan.
Speaker 2: You cannot say Scott's phone every time?
Speaker 7: All right?
Speaker 2: I won't good. The word is charming. A monkey, but
Speaker 2: that's good.
Speaker 7: It a monkey in the jungle.
Speaker 5: Listening to Scott's.
Speaker 2: Loan, Scott's Loan, you may become obsessed.
Speaker 7: Join me Scott's Loan tomorrow morning at nine o'clock on
Speaker 7: seven hundred WL.
Speaker 2: A monkey listening to Scott Sloan.
Speaker 4: You're telling me they don't. This report is sponsored advice
Speaker 4: super Sure.
Speaker 2: Do you own a small business? You need to hear this.
Speaker 2: A seismic shift is coming. It's time to get super sure,
Speaker 2: not kind of sure.
Speaker 4: Sports Talk for by Kelsey Chevrolet seven hundred wl W
Speaker 4: Tony Pike. Here in for Lance McAllister James Rapine covering
Speaker 4: the Bengals for Sports Illustrated. We'll join us after our
Speaker 4: six thirty break. We got a couple of minutes here.
Speaker 4: Let's grab our first couple of phone calls of the night.
Speaker 4: We have John calling in from Boston. What's up John,
Speaker 4: Tony Pike at night?
Speaker 2: How are you?
Speaker 7: How are you?
Speaker 8: I'm hanging in there.
Speaker 7: I found you.
Speaker 4: Yes, Yes, this is different. It's it's dark outside. I
Speaker 4: don't know what I'm doing.
Speaker 9: It is and you got snow like we did today.
Speaker 9: We've got about three inches of snow and the roads
Speaker 9: were a mess.
Speaker 7: And I hate the winter.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yep. It made it a good night to come
Speaker 4: in late and not early exactly.
Speaker 9: First of all, I'm ancient, so I've watched the league
Speaker 9: for a long time and I never remember this.
Speaker 7: Seam wide open.
Speaker 9: I mean, it almost feels like you're trying to handicap
Speaker 9: the Kentucky Derby three months before the race, Like, who
Speaker 9: knows who's going to be in the playoffs, let alone
Speaker 9: who's going to be the hot team going into the playoffs.
Speaker 9: Remember the twenty twenty three Major League Baseball Playoffs, you
Speaker 9: had ninety and seven, the ninety and seventy two Texas
Speaker 9: beat eighty four and seventy eight Arizona in the World Series.
Speaker 9: It kind of has that feel like, I mean, pick
Speaker 9: a combination, it could happen.
Speaker 4: It feels like to me the most ever, get in
Speaker 4: and you have a legitimate chance. It's not get in
Speaker 4: and there's the you know, the the goliath that everyone
Speaker 4: is gonna come up against it. If you're in, you
Speaker 4: you feel like you heavy legitimate chance without question.
Speaker 9: Last year, I think going into the play Philadelphia looked
Speaker 9: like the best team right both sides of the ball.
Speaker 9: They dominated the line of simmage, they had two really
Speaker 9: good wide receivers, they had it all, They had two.
Speaker 7: Thousand yard rushers.
Speaker 9: They looked like they were going to breeze through the playoffs,
Speaker 9: which they pretty much did except for that Division On
Speaker 9: game against Detroit and I think that gives the Bengals
Speaker 9: a real chance sweep the table, sweep the board, get
Speaker 9: a nine to eight and you're in there, and with
Speaker 9: Joe Burrow and with an improving defense. Who knows, And
Speaker 9: that's where they wanted to talk about tonight, Tony was
Speaker 9: that in pooling defense. I know we talked yesterday, what
Speaker 9: kind of touched on? Is that defense better without Jamar Stewart?
Speaker 9: And to a lesser degree, Trey Hendrickson and I did
Speaker 9: some research on it, and again it's not high level research.
Speaker 9: It's just points per game. But the last three games
Speaker 9: that Jamar Stewart played in, the Bengals gave up thirty
Speaker 9: one to Pittsburgh, thirty nine to the Jets, and forty.
Speaker 7: Seven to the Chago Bears.
Speaker 9: That one hundred and seventeen points. That's a thirty nine
Speaker 9: points per game average. Henderson did not play in the
Speaker 9: game against the Jets, and he did play in the
Speaker 9: game against the Jets, but he hasn't played since. In
Speaker 9: the three ensuing games since that forty seven to forty
Speaker 9: two loss to the Bears, the Bengals have given up
Speaker 9: twenty to the Steelers, nineteenth to Patriots. In fourteen to
Speaker 9: the Ravens on Thursday night, and Trey Henderson hasn't played
Speaker 9: any of those games and needed the Jamar Stewart and
Speaker 9: I talked to a couple of friends of mine who
Speaker 9: are coaches high school, college level, and they feel that
Speaker 9: maybe Al Golden has kind of simplify things. And they
Speaker 9: both told me that the Bengals have a lot of
Speaker 9: really good athletes out there and he's just letting them play,
Speaker 9: you know, Seaball hit ball like he do in baseball.
Speaker 9: And those two young men, Murphy and Osai beginning more
Speaker 9: reps and as you know it's in any sports, the
Speaker 9: more reps you get, the better you get at it.
Speaker 9: I mean, that's gonna be difficult for an edge rusher
Speaker 9: to play three plays in the maybe six for half hour.
Speaker 9: I think, come back in and be asked to do
Speaker 9: something right.
Speaker 4: I think it helps the preparation as well, going through
Speaker 4: the week knowing that it's your job. Miles Murphy and
Speaker 4: Joseph Osai, they're not looking over their shoulders. They're not
Speaker 4: going out there for a series and thinking, man if
Speaker 4: I don't make something happen this series, I'm coming out.
Speaker 4: They know it's their job. And I think that helps
Speaker 4: their preparation, and I think it gives them a little
Speaker 4: confidence in how they prepare and how they perform. I
Speaker 4: do think there's some validity to that if you are
Speaker 4: looking into the uptick in Miles Murphy and Joseph Osai,
Speaker 4: and I mean Osai wrecked the game defensively for the Bengals.
Speaker 4: He hit Lamar Jackson four times. He sacked them twice.
Speaker 4: You know, he had two tackles for a loss. He
Speaker 4: was all over the field and it's not an easy
Speaker 4: guy to bring down in Lamar Jackson. I do think
Speaker 4: there's something to be said about knowing you're the guy
Speaker 4: and you're getting the lion's share of the reps, not
Speaker 4: only in the game, but in your week of preparation.
Speaker 9: Leading up withough question, we just got to teach Joseph
Speaker 9: Asia how to eat a turkey lager.
Speaker 4: He was the next struggle with progression.
Speaker 7: He struggle with that.
Speaker 8: I was.
Speaker 9: I was proud of my boy Joe Borrow saying, no,
Speaker 9: I don't know where that's from and I don't know
Speaker 9: who cooked it, so I'm gonna a stain from eating
Speaker 9: that turkey Like that was pretty cool, But that's Tony.
Speaker 9: Great to hear yet night, and I'm sure we'll chime
Speaker 9: in and talk later in the week.
Speaker 4: Awesome, John, thanks for calling in. I appreciate that.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 4: To John's first point, the parody that we talked about
Speaker 4: in the National Football League right now, if you're looking
Speaker 4: at strictly a betting favorite, the Los Angeles Rams, you
Speaker 4: could get them at plus four fifty to win the
Speaker 4: Lombardi Trophy. After that, the Seattle Seahawks plus seven to fifty,
Speaker 4: the Green Bay Packers plus eight fifty, the opponent for
Speaker 4: the Bengals on Sunday. The Buffalo Bills currently in the AFC,
Speaker 4: are the top favored team at plus nine hundred, the
Speaker 4: Eagles plus one thousand, the Patriots eleven wins plus one thousand,
Speaker 4: and the Denver Broncos are plus eleven hundred. For what
Speaker 4: it's worth, the Chiefs and the Ravens both on the
Speaker 4: outside looking in plus eighteen hundred, lions outside looking in
Speaker 4: plus twenty five hundred, you could get the Bengals still
Speaker 4: still at plus one hundred and fifty thousand. That's not bad,
Speaker 4: not a bad bet to make for the Cincinnati Bengals,
Speaker 4: But it goes into just a little bit more of
Speaker 4: the parody that I had talked about and that John
Speaker 4: brought up there as well. I know we're up against
Speaker 4: the break. We're going to get to our break when
Speaker 4: we come back from Sports Illustrated. Right here in Cincinnati,
Speaker 4: James Rapine covering the Bengals is going to join us.
Speaker 4: We'll get to more of your phone calls as well.
Speaker 4: It is the RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey
Speaker 4: Chevrolet on seven hundred WLW H Right, welcome back, RNL
Speaker 4: Carrier Sports Talk presented by seven by Kelsey Chevrolet on
Speaker 4: seven hundred WLW. Tony Pike in for Lance McCallister. Let's
Speaker 4: get right into it. Our guy, James Rapine. You can
Speaker 4: find him literally all over the place. Cincinnati Bengals on SI.
Speaker 4: Also the host of the Lockdown Bengals podcast Cincinnati Bengals
Speaker 4: Talk on YouTube. Also an author, published author as well,
Speaker 4: Joining us right now. All those things you are, James,
Speaker 4: a basketball player, you are not? How are you?
Speaker 10: You can take your digs all you want, but there
Speaker 10: are plenty of people on this planet listening that can't
Speaker 10: guard me and my friend.
Speaker 7: You are one of them.
Speaker 4: How you doing. I'm good. I'm good James. I am
Speaker 4: still in awe of not only Joe Burrow making it
Speaker 4: back to play, but watching Joe Burrow on the first
Speaker 4: nap of the game go under center, play action, roll
Speaker 4: out and essentially eliminate all concerns going into that game.
Speaker 4: I'm still looking back on it shocked that not only
Speaker 4: he played, but he dropped back and through the ball
Speaker 4: forty six times only got sacked once. When you just
Speaker 4: take in what he was able to do and also
Speaker 4: deliver a win. What's your first thought as it relates
Speaker 4: to Joe Burrow.
Speaker 10: No one listening or anyone related to the Bengals in
Speaker 10: any way, whether you cover them, root for them, and
Speaker 10: heck even root against them. Pretending like he doesn't matter,
Speaker 10: I can't impact winning for a Bengals team is just insane.
Speaker 10: And there were people saying how Joe Burrow's caught his
Speaker 10: return wouldn't matter. It matters if he's throwing to you.
Speaker 10: It just matters, right, And I think that that's it
Speaker 10: is his impact. You felt it even when he wasn't
Speaker 10: playing his best in the first half. Just the confidence
Speaker 10: that oozes through this team when he's out there. They
Speaker 10: believe they can beat anybody. And so for him to
Speaker 10: do what he did, You're right, I thought he moved great.
Speaker 10: I mean just really moved well. And when he's doing
Speaker 10: that and then settling in and you look up and
Speaker 10: he makes the throw of the game in the second
Speaker 10: half to Andre Josabash essentially dagger. To be quite honest
Speaker 10: with you, that made it twenty six to fourteen. That
Speaker 10: that's Joe Burrow. And so that's the first thing He's like,
Speaker 10: I'm never going to doubt Joe Burrow. And if you
Speaker 10: want to, I guess you still can, but doubt am
Speaker 10: at your own risk. And that's been my mindset for
Speaker 10: the past few years covering Joe and I'm going to
Speaker 10: continue to keep that mindset because he's very unique, a
Speaker 10: unique individual and someone that has a unique skill set.
Speaker 10: And that skill set isn't just being accurate or the
Speaker 10: physical stuff on the field, it's what he brings and
Speaker 10: how he affects winning when he's in your organization.
Speaker 4: It's also a breath of fresh air to watch him
Speaker 4: drop back forty six times and only be sacked once.
Speaker 4: This has been something that was building up even before
Speaker 4: Joe Burrow's return, but we haven't talked as much about
Speaker 4: the old line. That's always a good thing because it
Speaker 4: means they're not noticed. How much of a stride James
Speaker 4: when you really look at him, has this offensive line taken?
Speaker 10: I think a significant one, and I think a significant
Speaker 10: one for a few reasons. Number One, when you have
Speaker 10: a guy that to me has a chance to be
Speaker 10: a perennial pro bowler and a Marius Nimms, and you
Speaker 10: have him take a step in year two, Orlando Brown Junior,
Speaker 10: There's been a lot of criticism about him, but I
Speaker 10: think for the most part, he settled in and is
Speaker 10: playing well, played well the other night, and so you
Speaker 10: have two tackles that you really believe in. And then
Speaker 10: when it comes to the interior, Ted Carris is pretty
Speaker 10: darn steady, I would say, and had been steady and
Speaker 10: probably a less than ideal start to the season. When
Speaker 10: you look at how Ted performed work really over the
Speaker 10: past two months, I think he's played well. And then
Speaker 10: both guard positions they've settled in there, and one's a
Speaker 10: third round rookie and Dalton Fairchild who I think is
Speaker 10: just going to be really darn good, and they got
Speaker 10: that pick right, no doubt in my mind. And then
Speaker 10: another guy in Dalton Reisner who kind of got a deal.
Speaker 7: He signed here right.
Speaker 10: Before the season started, ten days before the first game.
Speaker 10: Lucas Patrick gets hurt. He gets thrown to the Wolves
Speaker 10: in Cleveland. They get out of that game. He doesn't
Speaker 10: play well. In week two, Joe gets hurt and that's
Speaker 10: a big reason why Dalton Raiser was in town. Was
Speaker 10: the black for Joe Burrow and he loses his job. Well,
Speaker 10: he took that and stride, He got better, he got comfortable,
Speaker 10: and now I really don't see a scenario how you
Speaker 10: can take him off the field with the way he's playing.
Speaker 10: So yeah, this has a chance if they do what
Speaker 10: they've done over the past five weeks over the next
Speaker 10: five weeks. This is the best offensive line of the
Speaker 10: Joe Burrow era.
Speaker 4: Bardner only question I have on the offensive side of
Speaker 4: the ball, and I don't know if it's how the
Speaker 4: game played out. Chase Brown's been awesome. Another game where
Speaker 4: he goes over one hundred scrimmage yards, caught all seven
Speaker 4: of his targets. When you look at the carries, he
Speaker 4: carried it over five yards of carry. But him and
Speaker 4: samaj p Roun essentially split the Lions sheriff carries fifteen
Speaker 4: and fourteen. Is that who the Bengal want to be
Speaker 4: or is that just how the game unfolded against the Ravens.
Speaker 10: In your opinion, that shouldn't be what they are, and
Speaker 10: it shouldn't. You're right, it just it shouldn't. That doesn't
Speaker 10: mean to a JP Ryan can't be in the mix.
Speaker 10: Give him eight to ten carriers. That's fine. They ran
Speaker 10: a lot of plays. They just it was a unique
Speaker 10: game where we haven't seen it a lot this year,
Speaker 10: where they they ran eighty plays. They had the time
Speaker 10: of posession, a crazy time of possession advantage, and that's
Speaker 10: just not usually how they play. Well that's how they played,
Speaker 10: so hopefully this is just an outlier. But I want
Speaker 10: Chase Brown getting two thirds of the carries yep, not
Speaker 10: fifty to fifty. And I get spelling him and heck
Speaker 10: I mentioned andre Yosabash touchdown, so a Jpron made that
Speaker 10: happen with the way he was fast protecting and able
Speaker 10: to knock the blitzer off his path a little bit
Speaker 10: so Joe could step up and throw it, Like, I
Speaker 10: get it. Pierroon has a ton of value. I also
Speaker 10: think Chase Brown has a chance to establish himself as
Speaker 10: one of these elite running backs in the league, and
Speaker 10: the way he ended the year last year and just
Speaker 10: wasn't coming off the field at all this year. You
Speaker 10: do have some maj turon, you can keep them fresh,
Speaker 10: that's great, but some maj turon needs to be a
Speaker 10: compliment to Chase Brown. It should not be a fifty
Speaker 10: to fifty split or anything like that. I would say
Speaker 10: sixty forty or seventy thirty.
Speaker 4: On the defensive side of the ball. James, I'm fascinated
Speaker 4: at the continued growth from Miles Murphy, who's now strung
Speaker 4: together a couple really strong games, and Joseph Osai and
Speaker 4: it has me wondering. For the last couple of weeks.
Speaker 4: Samar Stewart has been out, Trey Hendrickson has been out,
Speaker 4: and this was made a topic when Burrow was coming back,
Speaker 4: and the conversation was starters and really how many reps
Speaker 4: you can get in a week of preparation leading up
Speaker 4: to a game. Do you see any correlation in the
Speaker 4: growth of Osaia and Murphy and the fact that they
Speaker 4: have been able to take all the reps for the
Speaker 4: ones and they're they're not splitting reps. They're not looking
Speaker 4: over their shoulder. They know that they're gonna get the
Speaker 4: lion's share. Is there value?
Speaker 10: There?
Speaker 4: Is there a correlation in the growth we're seeing on
Speaker 4: the field versus them getting all the reps at practice.
Speaker 10: There's no doubt about it. There's no doubt about it, Tony.
Speaker 10: I'll do it, Tony Pike anology because you're in every
Speaker 10: day since three sixty into three down the hall on
Speaker 10: the SDN fifteen thirty shameless plug. Right, you're in every
Speaker 10: single day, well, when you were spotting and in here
Speaker 10: and there and filling in promo here and then doing
Speaker 10: guest spots there and then doing what you're doing now,
Speaker 10: filling into lance versus the growth you made when you
Speaker 10: were on air every single day and you knew it, well,
Speaker 10: of course you're going to grow. Of course you're going
Speaker 10: to get better. And I think that's what we're seeing.
Speaker 8: Now.
Speaker 7: Here's the hard part for the Bengals.
Speaker 10: They have in their minds been in win now mode,
Speaker 10: not evaluation mode, and so it's hard. Last year, it's
Speaker 10: it was hard to say, all right, well we're gonna
Speaker 10: let Miles Murphy take his lumps while we lose games.
Speaker 10: That we need to be a wing and so I
Speaker 10: get that. But part of why you brought in Al
Speaker 10: Golden was to get the most out of these young guys.
Speaker 10: Part of why Jerry Montgomery is here is to get
Speaker 10: the most out of these young guys. And don't look now, Tony,
Speaker 10: but it does look like with those everyday reps that
Speaker 10: their talent is coming to light and they need to
Speaker 10: continue to show it now.
Speaker 7: And that's the big thing.
Speaker 10: Like, if you're Joseph Osi, you're in a contract year.
Speaker 10: These five games are ultra like there should be a
Speaker 10: ton of pressure on him because he could really get
Speaker 10: paid this offseason by the Bengals or somebody else. And
Speaker 10: for Miles Murphy, if he closes out this year strong
Speaker 10: over the next five weeks and who knows, maybe they
Speaker 10: go to the playoffs, then we're talking about the Bengals
Speaker 10: picking up his fifth year option, which would have been
Speaker 10: insane to say two months ago, and yet that's that's
Speaker 10: what he could play his way into it. By the way,
Speaker 10: for those that don't know, sixth year option is big money,
Speaker 10: double digit million dollars, and so that's going to make
Speaker 10: Miles Murphy a very very rich man. If he's able
Speaker 10: to his way into that conversation. So both guys have
Speaker 10: a ton of money on the line, and the Bengals
Speaker 10: are banking on them to continue their stellar play.
Speaker 4: Is there anything in particular from a scheme or adjustment
Speaker 4: standpoint you've seen Al Golden make that has allowed this defense?
Speaker 4: You go back to the Steeler Game two defense, I
Speaker 4: mean they offensively, they gave up two defensive touchdowns to
Speaker 4: the Steelers, So I say the defense gave up twenty.
Speaker 4: I thought they had a winning performance against the Patriots,
Speaker 4: certainly a winning performance against the Ravens. Have you seen
Speaker 4: anything just playing game plan and schematic wise from Al
Speaker 4: Golden It's been different.
Speaker 7: Yeah.
Speaker 10: I like how aggressive he's being in the different blitzes.
Speaker 10: He's dialed up, and I think that's important when you have.
Speaker 7: Honestly, I think they have a decent.
Speaker 10: Secondary, like I like the Corners. I think DJ Turner
Speaker 10: and back Hill are really good. Talk about guys you
Speaker 10: can build around. I think those two guys compliment each
Speaker 10: other well, dack Hill's versatile, DJ Turner is just sticky
Speaker 10: in coverage. Makes sense, and so all right, well, how
Speaker 10: do you get more pressure? Will you get more pressure
Speaker 10: by blitzing and it's worked. Jalen Davis, Cinos Stone that
Speaker 10: used those guys in its work to their advantage. Now
Speaker 10: that needs to continue. Now there's some film out there.
Speaker 10: Al Golden wasn't known for his blitzing necessarily coming into this,
Speaker 10: but that's something that they they have to pick into
Speaker 10: their moments and get the most out of it because
Speaker 10: it's a flaw of defense. They're so, I mean, they're
Speaker 10: not going to go out there and hold the Bills
Speaker 10: to three point and that's it. Like the be a
Speaker 10: sound tackling team that does the basic stuff, enforce a
Speaker 10: couple turnovers like but that's it. Be a sound defense
Speaker 10: that's opportunistic and and forces a couple of splash plays.
Speaker 10: And those splash plays don't have to be pick sixes.
Speaker 10: They could be strip sacks like we saw last week.
Speaker 10: They could just be sacked and tackles for lost plays
Speaker 10: that change the game. And so we have seen that
Speaker 10: in recent weeks. You're right, one of the big what
Speaker 10: if to me is man had the Bengals brought up
Speaker 10: Joe Burrow, you know, the defense really gave them a
Speaker 10: shot in that New England game, yep, and had the
Speaker 10: splash play then did their job. If they continue to
Speaker 10: play like that, I think they're going to have a shot,
Speaker 10: not just in Buffalottle, but a shot any team any week,
Speaker 10: given the state of parody in the.
Speaker 4: NFL's that's the thing. It can be one thing to say, Man,
Speaker 4: if they just won the Jets game or they just
Speaker 4: won the Bears game, they are what they are right now,
Speaker 4: but they're gonna be dogs this week. You could venture
Speaker 4: to say they'll probably be favorite in each of the
Speaker 4: games after this with Baltimore coming here. If that's the case,
Speaker 4: is there a realistic shot you see them running the table?
Speaker 4: And if so, how realistic is that playoff chance?
Speaker 10: Yeah, I'll say this, if they run the table, if
Speaker 10: you tell me the Bengals get the nine to eight,
Speaker 10: book those playoff tickets like book it, book the trip
Speaker 10: like I'll be planning it because it like planning on
Speaker 10: me going to wherever they play, which very well would
Speaker 10: be probably at home if they're winning the division, which
Speaker 10: sounds great to me. Look, this AFC North sucks. Let's
Speaker 10: call it like it is.
Speaker 5: They stink.
Speaker 10: The Baltimore Ravens stink right now, and who knows, maybe
Speaker 10: they rattle off my games in a row and finish
Speaker 10: eleven and six. I don't see that happening. I think
Speaker 10: the Steelers are awful. And so when I look at
Speaker 10: this division and yeah, the Bengals, they got to play
Speaker 10: the Bills this week and then they play the Ravens.
Speaker 10: If you get through those two games, I think you're
Speaker 10: winning the division. They'll be six and eight. And you
Speaker 10: look at the Steelers. The Steelers have the Ravens twice,
Speaker 10: they have the Lions, that.
Speaker 7: Have the Dolphins.
Speaker 10: They have the Browns at Cleveland, which I think is
Speaker 10: going to be a tough game for the Steelers and
Speaker 10: the Ravens. They play. The Steelers place the Bengals, the
Speaker 10: Patriots and the Packers. All you need if you're the
Speaker 10: Bengals is the Steelers to lose two of those games,
Speaker 10: the Ravens to lose one game other than the game
Speaker 10: you play, and you win out like that's going to happen.
Speaker 10: If you win out, I think the losses will happen.
Speaker 10: So yeah, I'm buying the facts. At nine wins wins
Speaker 10: the division. I just don't know if the Bengals can
Speaker 10: do that. That's a lot to ask. It just is hey, Joe,
Speaker 10: win every start, So eight no is a starter right
Speaker 10: this year, and that's what he would have to do.
Speaker 10: But I'm not gonna put it past him, and I
Speaker 10: certainly think they have a shot, which is all you
Speaker 10: can ask for when you're four and eight a chance.
Speaker 4: That's all we want. Awesome stuff, James Man, I can't
Speaker 4: thank you enough for helping me out tonight. What's the
Speaker 4: easiest way to uh to follow along with everything you
Speaker 4: got going on around this team?
Speaker 10: Yeah, you can check me out at Tony Pike cantguard
Speaker 10: me dot com also Bengals Talk dot com, the Lockdown
Speaker 10: Bengals podcast in Cincinnati, Bengals Talk on YouTube.
Speaker 4: You're the best, James Man. Thank you so much and
Speaker 4: I can't guard you bye.
Speaker 10: I'm about to get that website out right now.
Speaker 4: Thank you, James, I'm going to it.
Speaker 10: Appreciate your tone.
Speaker 4: All right. That's James Rapine. This is RNEL Carrier Sports
Speaker 4: Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet on seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 1: The following takes place between seven pm and eight pm.
Speaker 4: All right, seven oh seven. Thanks for joining RNL Carrier
Speaker 4: Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet. Tony Pike in for
Speaker 4: Lance McAllister. Many thanks to James Rapene for joining us there,
Speaker 4: and hour number one to talk to Cincinnati Bengals. We've
Speaker 4: got Charlie Frank of the Retz Community Fund, who's gonna
Speaker 4: give us a caller on seven thirty five to talk
Speaker 4: about giving Tuesday, Keegan Nickolson and hour three we're gonna
Speaker 4: spend time in hour three diving in to the Crosstown
Speaker 4: Shootout and the Cincinnati Bearcats. My question to you as
Speaker 4: a Bearcat fan football season was blank, success, disappointment, failure.
Speaker 4: How do you know the football season for the Cincinnati Bearcats?
Speaker 4: And what's your take on this year's edition of the
Speaker 4: Crosstown Shootout? Does it feel like there's the same amount
Speaker 4: of buzz? And I know that the Shootout isn't until Friday,
Speaker 4: it's only Tuesday. I get that. But something to talk
Speaker 4: about as we get into hour three. But for now
Speaker 4: a little more on the Bengals. Some phone calls along
Speaker 4: the way right now happening live, they are revealing the
Speaker 4: college football playoff rankings, the final college football playoff rankings
Speaker 4: of the regular season, the Week fourteen edition. Once those
Speaker 4: get through, will update you on those and an interesting
Speaker 4: piece of note to watch for as it pertains to
Speaker 4: the Buffalo Bills. Their pass rusher Joey Bosa left the
Speaker 4: field against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a hamstring injury. He
Speaker 4: leads the Buffalo Bills with five sacks this season. He
Speaker 4: does have a big injury history, and the hamstring injury
Speaker 4: is something to keep an eye on for the Cincinnati
Speaker 4: Bengal as they had to Buffalo. It would certainly certainly
Speaker 4: help the offensive line going forward if they don't have
Speaker 4: to game playing around Joey Bosa and the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 4: We'll get you up to speed on the college football
Speaker 4: playoff rankings in just a few moments. Let's grab a
Speaker 4: couple of phone calls here that've been holding on to
Speaker 4: kick off the second hour. What's going on? Mark? How
Speaker 4: are you?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 7: I'm doing all right.
Speaker 8: You know, I got Tony Pike question.
Speaker 4: Let's go.
Speaker 8: Yeah, I asked this question earlier today, but.
Speaker 11: I wanted to ask Tony pipe out my eyes lying
Speaker 11: to me that when they added McKinley Jackson to the
Speaker 11: rotation on the defensive line, they start doing a better
Speaker 11: job than stopping the run.
Speaker 4: I don't know if it's direct. I mean, you could
Speaker 4: certainly point to that McKinley Jackson has actually been playing
Speaker 4: in football games, which was a big step from where
Speaker 4: he'd been. I just look at the defense as a whole.
Speaker 4: I think when you look at stopping the run, I
Speaker 4: think McKinley Jackson can play a role. I think others
Speaker 4: play a role. But as James Repeat noted, I think
Speaker 4: there's something to Al Golden and dialing up more pressures
Speaker 4: and putting more pressure in guys at the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 4: I think that's going unto it as well. They're gonna
Speaker 4: get tested this week though, Mark we know Josh Allen
Speaker 4: is a very capable runner and James Cook has been
Speaker 4: fantastic for the Buffalo Bills. That run defense will be
Speaker 4: tested like it hasn't been in quite some time against Buffalo.
Speaker 8: Okay, my last question for them to win this game
Speaker 8: this week, would it be safe to say they gonna
Speaker 8: They're gonna have to get some turnovers like they did
Speaker 8: in his last game for them to have a chance.
Speaker 4: I think turnovers certainly give them the best chance. But
Speaker 4: I think if you look what the Ravens did to
Speaker 4: the Bengals in the first half and held the Bengals
Speaker 4: to four first half field goals. I think that can
Speaker 4: be a storyline as well. This is not as dominant
Speaker 4: a Buffalo team as people thought they were going into
Speaker 4: the to the year. They have struggled at playmaker, at
Speaker 4: wide receiver. They have relied a lot on the ground game.
Speaker 4: So for me, against Buffalo, can you limit their opportunities
Speaker 4: in the red zone to touchdown or to field goals
Speaker 4: instead of touchdowns even if you're not getting the turnovers.
Speaker 4: And I know that the path of victory against the
Speaker 4: Ravens was helped with five turnovers that they forced. But
Speaker 4: if you can hold Buffalo to three instead of seven,
Speaker 4: I think you give yourself a good chance because I'm
Speaker 4: confident that the Bengals can score offensively against Buffalo with
Speaker 4: Joe Burrow.
Speaker 8: Okay, got it. Well, I get off and I'll listen
Speaker 8: to the rest of the show.
Speaker 4: Appreciate you, Mark, thank you. I mean that to me. Yes,
Speaker 4: if you could go turn the Buffalo Bills over three
Speaker 4: or four times, that would be awesome. But Buffalo, I mean,
Speaker 4: Josh Allen was an MVP for a reason. Buffalo is
Speaker 4: still playing for a lot. They're eight and four. This
Speaker 4: thing could still unrailvle for them a little bit. And look,
Speaker 4: let's face it, whether you're Buffalo, You're Baltimore, or or
Speaker 4: you or any other team in the AFC, your chances
Speaker 4: in the playoffs are better if the Bengals don't make it.
Speaker 4: So make no mistake about it, Buffalo, you want to
Speaker 4: win this game to win. You also want to win
Speaker 4: this game to try to keep the Bengals from making
Speaker 4: this run. And you can essentially end the run. I
Speaker 4: know mathematically it wouldn't, but you could essentially end the
Speaker 4: run if you beat the Bengals on Sunday. I sure
Speaker 4: wouldn't want to be an AFC playoff team. And think, man,
Speaker 4: we should have put the Bengals away when we could
Speaker 4: have at home, Because now the Bengals are getting hot
Speaker 4: and we have that conversation we had last year down
Speaker 4: the stretch. If they just get in, what can happen?
Speaker 4: I think that is a viable, viable possibility. One more here,
Speaker 4: what's up, Jeff?
Speaker 8: Hey, how are you doing?
Speaker 7: Tony good? How are you all right?
Speaker 12: Your question was about the beercat football. Yes, very disappointing. Yeah, no,
Speaker 12: very disappointed.
Speaker 4: But before I get that that answer from you, Jeff,
Speaker 4: if going into the season, I would have pitched you
Speaker 4: seven and five, would you have felt differently?
Speaker 12: Yes, yes, yes, I thought they were hyped up pretty
Speaker 12: good in the off season about what some of the
Speaker 12: transfers they got in stuff like that. I just you know,
Speaker 12: they played the average teams, the above average teams. They
Speaker 12: played pretty well when they got into the meet of
Speaker 12: the schedule. I mean they just got beat up yep
Speaker 12: stakes after mistakes and and you know, I don't know,
Speaker 12: I don't know if he's gone away from recruiting Cincinnati
Speaker 12: kids and relied more on the transport portal. But you know,
Speaker 12: for that program to be successful, it's got to be
Speaker 12: loaded with Cincinnati kids. You've got to get your older
Speaker 12: guys you're saying next guys and some of the more
Speaker 12: were guys. You have to keep those kids in town.
Speaker 12: And we're just not the top twenty you see, didn't
Speaker 12: get one of them, not one, And that can't happen.
Speaker 12: Do you know you're close to the program. Does he
Speaker 12: neglect recruiting the area or what's the problem.
Speaker 4: Well, I think it's it's a couple of different things,
Speaker 4: Jeff One. I think it's a different time when you're
Speaker 4: building your roster. They have they have prioritized the portal.
Speaker 4: And I know that's hard to live and die by that,
Speaker 4: but that's that's been more who they have been. And
Speaker 4: I think the argument to that is looking at a
Speaker 4: guy like Dante Corleone, looking at Joe Royer, who were
Speaker 4: on that roster this year. The years that I was there,
Speaker 4: there was a direct correlation with recruiting Cincinnati and having
Speaker 4: success on the field. The years that Luke Fickle was winning,
Speaker 4: there was a direct correlation with recruiting the area and
Speaker 4: winning on the football field. And I agree, you don't
Speaker 4: have to go far to see why other major teams
Speaker 4: come in to Cincinnati because the football is just that
Speaker 4: high calor at the high school level. I just don't
Speaker 4: know how much they prioritize high school recruiting over now.
Speaker 4: The transfer portal that you see, I.
Speaker 7: Just don't get it.
Speaker 12: You know, the top twenty five by a reference before.
Speaker 12: I think Indiana got a couple. Yep, Illinoi's got a couple.
Speaker 12: I think Northwestern got one or two, and we got.
Speaker 7: A better program.
Speaker 12: I mean, this program has an opportunity to be special
Speaker 12: if you work it the right way. And I just
Speaker 12: don't I just don't think it's being done down there.
Speaker 8: I'll leave it at that.
Speaker 4: Yeah, No, Jeff, I appreciate the phone call. Thank you
Speaker 4: for calling in. It's something that I was going to
Speaker 4: get to with Keegan at the top of our number
Speaker 4: three because signing day is tomorrow. But I do I
Speaker 4: think there's always been a correlation with the great high
Speaker 4: school football played here in Ohio and a reason why
Speaker 4: some of the best teams in the country are coming
Speaker 4: in here to recruit this region as well. Speaking of
Speaker 4: high school football, shout out as well to the Anderson
Speaker 4: Raptors and the Sex Bombers, both teams playing for a
Speaker 4: state championship this coming weekend as well, so shout out
Speaker 4: to them. This is RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by
Speaker 4: Kelsey Chevrolet. We'll talk more about those college football playoff
Speaker 4: rankings that were just revealed when we come back on
Speaker 4: seven hundred WLW. Welcome back, Arnel Carrier Sports Talk presented
Speaker 4: by Kelsey Chevrolet. I'm Tony Pike in for Lance McAllister.
Speaker 4: Thanks for spending part of your Tuesday evening with us.
Speaker 4: Hope you are warm, Hope you're comfortable. Hope you're settled
Speaker 4: in and safe from all the snow. We received earlier
Speaker 4: this morning here in the Tri State area. The college
Speaker 4: football playoff rankings were just released as we went to break,
Speaker 4: and since we have a couple of minutes here, let's
Speaker 4: touch base with that just real quick. Briefly, not many
Speaker 4: changes to the college football playoff rankings in the top ten, however,
Speaker 4: there is some significance after Texas A and M lost
Speaker 4: to Texas, Texas A and M drops to seventh in
Speaker 4: the rankings, so everyone that was behind them just moves
Speaker 4: up a slot. Georgia to three, Texas Tech to four,
Speaker 4: Oregon to five, Old Miss without Lane Kiffen to number six.
Speaker 4: Texas A and M is seven, Oklahoma is eight, and
Speaker 4: then Alabama with their win over Auburn, jumps Notre Dame,
Speaker 4: who stays at ten, but now Alabama is at number nine.
Speaker 4: BYU is officially number eleven, Miami, Texas, Vanderbilt, Utah round
Speaker 4: out the top fifteen. Of course, from the bracket itself,
Speaker 4: it is a little bit different because you're gonna get
Speaker 4: that conference champion. Two levels of the conference champion that'll
Speaker 4: end up being the eleven and twelve seeds. So right now,
Speaker 4: if the bracket were to be played today, the number
Speaker 4: one overall seed, Ohio State would await the winner of
Speaker 4: Alabama and OU Oklahoma. That would be the eight to
Speaker 4: nine matchup. Texas Tech would be the four At the
Speaker 4: top end of the bracket with Ohio State, they would
Speaker 4: play the winner of a conference champion and Oregon taking
Speaker 4: on then Texas Tech. In the bottom half of the bracket,
Speaker 4: Indiana would await the winner of Texas A and M
Speaker 4: and Notre Dame. That is a rematch of an earlier
Speaker 4: game where Texas A and M de'd beat Notre Dame
Speaker 4: and that ole Miss the sixth seed would await the
Speaker 4: other conference champion yet to be revealed, and they would
Speaker 4: take on the Georgia Bulldogs after that. So that's how
Speaker 4: the bracket plays out right now. I do think it's
Speaker 4: interesting when you look at Ohio State in Indiana, both
Speaker 4: of those teams are in. Nothing that happens this weekend
Speaker 4: is going to change that for Indiana or Ohio State.
Speaker 4: How do you coach? How do you prepare in the
Speaker 4: game for Saturday night? That doesn't mean as much now
Speaker 4: because you could very well play that team again in
Speaker 4: the College Football Playoff. Do you hold stuff back? Do
Speaker 4: you keep things vanilla? Do you go all out? How
Speaker 4: do you coach the game if you're one verse two
Speaker 4: knowing that both teams are going to play in the
Speaker 4: college football playoff? Now, what's interesting about the most up
Speaker 4: to date rankings of the teams that are going to
Speaker 4: be sitting around watching this weekend? Oregon, the number five
Speaker 4: ranked team, does not play in the Big Ten title game.
Speaker 4: Oh Miss number six, does not play in the SEC
Speaker 4: title game. Texas A and M does not play in
Speaker 4: a title game. Oklahoma does not play in a title game.
Speaker 4: Texas thirteen outside looking in Miami, outside looking in Notre Dame,
Speaker 4: being an independent outside looking in, which begs the question,
Speaker 4: what's the point of the SEC title game? If you're Alabama,
Speaker 4: why would you want to play in an SEC title
Speaker 4: game against number three Georgia? Because if you're Alabama and
Speaker 4: you lose the game, does that loss in an SEC
Speaker 4: title game do more damage than if you would have
Speaker 4: just been like Oklahoma this week, sitting around waiting. I
Speaker 4: think that's a viable question. I don't know how much
Speaker 4: Alabama can help their playoff stock by winning. I suld
Speaker 4: think they can hurt their playoff stock by winning. And
Speaker 4: it's different for different teams, right, For instance, I think
Speaker 4: the Big Twelve right now is a one bid league
Speaker 4: Texas Tech. However, with Texas Texas Tech ranked four, If
Speaker 4: BYU upsets Texas Tech on Saturday, then I think the
Speaker 4: Big Twelve becomes a two bid league because I don't
Speaker 4: think Texas Tech would drop all the way out and
Speaker 4: by You would then be your automatic qualifier in the
Speaker 4: Big Twelve. So I'm fascinated at the thought of the
Speaker 4: college Football Playoff and how the games that just don't
Speaker 4: mean as much are handled this weekend. Again, how do
Speaker 4: you coach the game? If you're Indiana and Ohio State,
Speaker 4: you could very well turn around and play that team
Speaker 4: again in a few weeks. If you're Alabama, do you
Speaker 4: have to win the SEC title game? Can three losses
Speaker 4: keep you in? When you have teams on the outside
Speaker 4: like a Texas, like a Miami. I don't think Vandy
Speaker 4: can reach that far, but you've got Notre Dame in
Speaker 4: the wing, Bama or Oklahoma. It almost becomes a must
Speaker 4: win if you're Alabama. ACC Title game interesting in itself
Speaker 4: because seven and five Duke. After a slew of teams
Speaker 4: finished in the ACC with two losses, Duke is playing
Speaker 4: Virginia in the ACC Title Game Friday Night, American Athletic
Speaker 4: Title Game, North Texas Tulane, Troy and James Madison. And
Speaker 4: of course, because it just feels like it happens no
Speaker 4: matter what every single season, the Miami RedHawks and Chuck
Speaker 4: Martin are back in the MAC Championship this year against
Speaker 4: Western Michigan. At this point, Miami should just get resident
Speaker 4: and see in Detroit. They're at Ford Fields seemingly every year.
Speaker 4: And this path by Miami has been even more impressive
Speaker 4: because they did so by moving on from their quarterback
Speaker 4: towards the end of the season and they've still found
Speaker 4: a way to win and gotten themselves again playing for
Speaker 4: a MAC Championship. The other game that will happen on
Speaker 4: Friday night the Mountain West Championship between UNLV and Boise State.
Speaker 4: So a lot of things happening there in the college
Speaker 4: football world. We'll spend more time in the college football
Speaker 4: world and college basketball and Hour number three.
Speaker 7: But.
Speaker 4: When we come back, let's switch gears just a little bit.
Speaker 4: It's that time of the year, right Friday was we
Speaker 4: got Black Friday, shopping, Cyber Monday. There's deals everywhere. Then
Speaker 4: you turn the page to what's called Giving Tuesday, and
Speaker 4: the red Community Fund is doing some awesome stuff. And
Speaker 4: when we come back, the executive director of the REDG
Speaker 4: Community Fund, we'll stop by to join us for a
Speaker 4: few moments. Charlie Frank is next on this the RNL
Speaker 4: Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet. You are listening
Speaker 4: on seven hundred WLW seven thirty eight Tuesday evening, RNL
Speaker 4: Carrier's Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet. Tony Pike in
Speaker 4: for Lance McAllister. Happy to have you along. It's more
Speaker 4: of your phone calls in and now our number three
Speaker 4: five one three seven four nine seven thousand. For now
Speaker 4: we know what it is. We have Black Friday now
Speaker 4: on the day after Thanksgiving, and then Cyber Monday happens
Speaker 4: that following Monday, and now today it's it's not about
Speaker 4: the gifts that you can get, it's it's about giving.
Speaker 4: Giving Tuesday is happening right now and that carries a
Speaker 4: little more weight right now with the Red's Community Fund
Speaker 4: as well. So to help us understand more about what's happening,
Speaker 4: is the executive director of the REDS Community Fund joining
Speaker 4: us right now. Charlie Frank Charlie, what's up.
Speaker 7: Hey, Tony.
Speaker 13: Yeah, it's uh boy. It's a crazy few days for
Speaker 13: your inbox, isn't it? With Black Friday, Feber Monday, and
Speaker 13: Given Tuesday. It's a lot to keep tracking.
Speaker 4: It is. It's a lot, but we've gotten to the
Speaker 4: tail end of it. We've gotten to December second here
Speaker 4: at Tuesday and it is giving Tuesday. Tell us a
Speaker 4: little bit about what's going on and what's happening with
Speaker 4: the Reds Community Fund and what they're doing.
Speaker 13: Yeah, well, you know, we're we're always trying to make
Speaker 13: sure that you know, our key programs are properly funded,
Speaker 13: so we are trying to find our our way amongst
Speaker 13: all the other messaging that goes on on this day,
Speaker 13: and for us, we decided to do something different this year,
Speaker 13: and that was to kind of tell the story and
Speaker 13: connect the dots. You know, a lot of people, you know,
Speaker 13: may be familiar with the Community Fund, with the field
Speaker 13: renovation programs and with our youth Academy in the Roselawn
Speaker 13: Bond Hill neighborhood, but you know a lot of folks
Speaker 13: may not know that. You know, we got about three
Speaker 13: hundred and fifty kids that play Red Nike RBI based
Speaker 13: on softball. It's about a fifty to fifty uh split
Speaker 13: between the boys and the girls. And you know, we're
Speaker 13: teams are from ages eight to eighteen. And you know,
Speaker 13: these three hundred and fifty that use our academy on
Speaker 13: an almost weekly basis a lot of them more than that.
Speaker 13: I mean, these are the primary tenants. I mean, this
Speaker 13: is why we really went about the process of raising
Speaker 13: the money to build the academy over a decade ago.
Speaker 13: And of those three fifty, about one hundred and fifty
Speaker 13: of them are high school aged and for those ninth
Speaker 13: through twelfth graders, they are part of our Red's Community
Speaker 13: Fund scholars program. You can't opt in or opt out.
Speaker 13: I mean, if you want to play Red's Nike RBI,
Speaker 13: you're part of scholars Because you know, our goal, Tony,
Speaker 13: is to raise major league citizens. You know, you're not
Speaker 13: going to be able to send everybody off to college
Speaker 13: to play, or to Division one or to Pro ball,
Speaker 13: whatever it is. You know, we're trying to get them
Speaker 13: ready for life. And today, with Giving Tuesday, you know
Speaker 13: we're asking people to help meet a ten thousand dollars
Speaker 13: matching gifts that are board set out where we're providing
Speaker 13: scholarships to our thirty two seniors. So for our thirty
Speaker 13: two seniors, if you know, if they get to the
Speaker 13: finish line, they're going to get a fifteen hundred dollars
Speaker 13: scholarship even without having to apply, because we've been with
Speaker 13: them for a long time. So we're trying to raise
Speaker 13: some exposure, you know, for these kids that work so
Speaker 13: hard in our game, but also in the classroom and
Speaker 13: outside of it, and then and hopefully have scholarships for
Speaker 13: them by the time they graduate high school.
Speaker 4: That's what I was going to go into next. Just
Speaker 4: the support that folks can give, the ways in which
Speaker 4: people can donate. How is that support directly impacting those
Speaker 4: those seniors.
Speaker 13: So you know a lot of these young men and women, Tony,
Speaker 13: I mean, they're with us for six seven years, you know,
Speaker 13: So that the dollars that we raided through the corporate community,
Speaker 13: through individual grants and gifts on days like today, through
Speaker 13: Giving Tuesday, or through the Red Legs Run some of
Speaker 13: other events, these are what keep the lights on at
Speaker 13: the Youth Academy, and these are what allow our dollars
Speaker 13: to go further so that the kids that play with
Speaker 13: us that are you know, playing for a fraction of
Speaker 13: the fee that this experience would cost anywhere else. They
Speaker 13: get to travel more, they might get you know, a
Speaker 13: practice jersey to where since they're with us for twelve months,
Speaker 13: they're going to get more resources that we can invest
Speaker 13: in the scholars program, more seminars, more workshops that we
Speaker 13: can provide for them. We had an NIL workshop within
Speaker 13: the last week. We have a new parenting program with
Speaker 13: beech Akers to help the parents get more engaged.
Speaker 8: You know.
Speaker 13: We do a Strength Finders program with different partners so
Speaker 13: that the kids have a better understanding of where their
Speaker 13: strengths lie, not just as baseball and softball players, but
Speaker 13: as young adults. So, you know, every dollar we raise
Speaker 13: through the Community Fund throughout the year is again trying
Speaker 13: to mbellish these programs, but for tonight, it's to try
Speaker 13: to raise money so that we can sure each of
Speaker 13: these seniors if they meet the GPA requirement, if they
Speaker 13: meet the community service requirement in terms of hours throughout
Speaker 13: the year and they all crush it, and if they
Speaker 13: attend the minimum number of seminars and workshops, that they're
Speaker 13: going to get this fifteen hundred dollars and thirty two
Speaker 13: student athletes for us in the senior class. I mean,
Speaker 13: that's a big number to RAID and we're you know,
Speaker 13: we're grateful to our board for giving us a tremendous
Speaker 13: at start, and we're excited to kind of share the
Speaker 13: story with the community to let people know how they
Speaker 13: can get involved as well.
Speaker 4: The Reds Nike RBI program is awesome in itself and
Speaker 4: everything that that falls under the umbrella of the Reds
Speaker 4: Community Fund, the red Community Fund scholars. I think it's
Speaker 4: important as well. When you think about that, it's it's
Speaker 4: not just the athletic side. You're getting high level baseball
Speaker 4: and softball training, but how important is it with these
Speaker 4: athletes that you're getting with that they're also getting the
Speaker 4: academic support, the life skills development for these programs for
Speaker 4: these athletes as well. I think it's it's so much
Speaker 4: and in today's where you focus so much on this
Speaker 4: sports specific training that sometimes we lose sight of the
Speaker 4: academic side and just the life skilled development side. And
Speaker 4: I know that's a big focus for you guys as well, totally.
Speaker 13: I mean it is the differentiator for what we do.
Speaker 13: I'll give you an example when when we had the
Speaker 13: ability to travel to Los Angeles before our academy was built.
Speaker 13: So this is going back to maybe twenty eleven, twenty twelve,
Speaker 13: and we saw the very first urban youth academy, the
Speaker 13: one that Joe Morgan inspired Bud Seely to build, and
Speaker 13: the one that Hunter Green came through and JP Crawford
Speaker 13: and you know, Dominic Smith, a lot of you know,
Speaker 13: terrific uh, you know, players of color that have made
Speaker 13: their way up to the Big League. That facility had
Speaker 13: a Hall of Fame wall, and that Hall of Fame
Speaker 13: wall was young men and women who excuse me, young
Speaker 13: men that had signed pro contracts. That was their measuring stick.
Speaker 13: And when I was there, I was really inspired by that,
Speaker 13: you know, because I understood that's what the game needs.
Speaker 13: They need to get more black and brown kids back.
Speaker 8: To this game.
Speaker 13: But at the same time, when we got home and
Speaker 13: we were processing a lot of things that we've seen,
Speaker 13: we realized that that's right for MLB in Constant California.
Speaker 13: It's not who we want to be here at Cincinnati
Speaker 13: and Greater Cincinnati, norn of Kentucky, South East Indiana. I mean,
Speaker 13: we want to be something that helps young men and
Speaker 13: young women and our Hall of Fame wald Tony has
Speaker 13: as many young women on it as young men. And
Speaker 13: of this group of about you know, thirty to forty
Speaker 13: kids that have come through our program and earned scholarships,
Speaker 13: I would say at least a third of them are
Speaker 13: still coaching volunteering, and they, to a person, will tell
Speaker 13: you that they got just as much out of the extracurricular,
Speaker 13: out of the education, out of this, you know, the
Speaker 13: life skills piece of it. There are plenty of great
Speaker 13: baseball on softball travel programs, but that's what you're looking for.
Speaker 13: We're very lucky in this community. We've got great options
Speaker 13: all over the place, but we're we're asking kids and
Speaker 13: families to take on as a different mindset that you know,
Speaker 13: we're trying to build the complete person in the Major
Speaker 13: league citizen because you know, it's only once in a
Speaker 13: great wild that we're going to be able to send
Speaker 13: a young person to a D one program or have
Speaker 13: them sign a cook contract.
Speaker 4: Charlie, I know that donations themselves can be anything from
Speaker 4: small to large, twenty five to fifty hundred more on
Speaker 4: on this Giving Tuesday. I know that there's the dollar
Speaker 4: for dollar match as well being put up by the
Speaker 4: REDS Community Fund Board of Directors. So for those interested
Speaker 4: in being able to impact or to make a donation,
Speaker 4: how do they go about doing so?
Speaker 13: Yeah, thanks, it's REDS dot com slash Giving Tuesday, and
Speaker 13: that'll stay open. Of course, we're trying to get to
Speaker 13: that ten thousand dollars match tonight, so we will appreciate
Speaker 13: the amount of interest that they're staying already, you know,
Speaker 13: through the red social media sites and and email changes
Speaker 13: that have gone out, there's been a great response. But folks,
Speaker 13: the easiest way to do it is red dot Com
Speaker 13: slash Giving Tuesday, and again you can help us sort
Speaker 13: of reach this goal the stream of ours to make
Speaker 13: sure that not only every young man and woman from
Speaker 13: the senior class this year has got the opportunity to
Speaker 13: have fifteen hundred to put towards college. But you know
Speaker 13: what I mean, a lot of these kids, you know,
Speaker 13: may not go straight to college. They may go to
Speaker 13: a junior college, they may go to a trade school,
Speaker 13: they may go to the military. We have a young
Speaker 13: men last year that went to the Coast Guard Academy,
Speaker 13: So I mean, we just want to make sure that
Speaker 13: they're moving in the right direction. And Reds fans and listeners,
Speaker 13: so I can help us get there. And again it's
Speaker 13: Reds dot Com Slash Giving Tuesday.
Speaker 4: The Giving Tuesday part alone is incredible and especially this
Speaker 4: time of the year, and to be able to have
Speaker 4: an impact like folks can have. I'll also urge folks
Speaker 4: to go check out just the Reds Community Fund and
Speaker 4: their website just to see everything that you guys have
Speaker 4: been able to do since your inception in two thousand
Speaker 4: and one. Again, you're using baseball and softball as a
Speaker 4: way to improve the lives of youth that are right
Speaker 4: here in our community. So whether it is events or
Speaker 4: outreach initiatives or ways that folks can get involved the
Speaker 4: Reds Youth Academy, there's so many different things that you
Speaker 4: guys cover. What's the one stop shop, Charlie, that that
Speaker 4: folks can just get more acclimated and have a better
Speaker 4: understanding of so many there's so many things under your
Speaker 4: guys umbrella. What's the easiest way that folks can just
Speaker 4: learn more about everything the REDS Community Fund does.
Speaker 13: Yeah, the easiest way is to go to Reds dot
Speaker 13: com slash community that can introduce you to not only
Speaker 13: a lot of the fundraising events, whether it's our Red
Speaker 13: Legs run, whether it's opening to a block party or
Speaker 13: the Reds Community Fund telethon. But also you know, fifty
Speaker 13: fifty rapful of home games and how folks could play that.
Speaker 13: But there's information on all of our youth programs, so
Speaker 13: you know, if you're a fan of the Reds, if
Speaker 13: you're a fan of the game, you know, and how
Speaker 13: many people that are from this community don't have it
Speaker 13: in our blood to some level. You know, I think
Speaker 13: it's important to know what your hometown team has been
Speaker 13: up to in this space for the last twenty five years.
Speaker 13: And you know, our Youth Academy just you know, we
Speaker 13: could go Thursday, you know, help serve seventeen hundred and
Speaker 13: fifty meals in partnership with Freesource Food Bank, so you know,
Speaker 13: we had our GM Brad Metter and you know radio
Speaker 13: broadcaster Tommy Trawl with us handing out meals. So you know,
Speaker 13: I mean it's our academy gives us that opportunity to
Speaker 13: really touch lives on an everyday basis. It's an incredible privilege.
Speaker 13: But Reds dot com slash community, We'll let you know,
Speaker 13: and it will also help you. If you're a family
Speaker 13: that's recently new to this area, you're trying to figure
Speaker 13: out how your children could get involved in the game.
Speaker 13: You know our website can help you there as well.
Speaker 4: Charlie Frank, the executive director of the Red Community Fund,
Speaker 4: on this Giving Tuesday. Charlie, it's always good to catch up, Man,
Speaker 4: and I thoroughly, thoroughly enjoy and appreciate everything you guys
Speaker 4: are doing with the Red Community.
Speaker 13: Hey, we appreciate all your support over the years, Tony.
Speaker 13: Our community fucky to have you as well. And I
Speaker 13: got to tell you what you said at the outset
Speaker 13: is so true. I mean, you know, and we're all
Speaker 13: in the holiday spirit right now of trying to get
Speaker 13: organized ahead of whatever holidays to celebrate, you know, to
Speaker 13: have the to have that day of giving, to have
Speaker 13: that intentional day where you know, we're people in your
Speaker 13: community and well beyond our focused on helping you know,
Speaker 13: all these various nonprofits. It's it's a great addition to
Speaker 13: the season. So I'm glad you brought that up.
Speaker 4: Fantastic edition and we can't thank you enough. That is
Speaker 4: Charlie Frank, Charlie, we'll talk again, Sue Man.
Speaker 7: Thank you okay, thank you, Tony there.
Speaker 4: He is the executive director of the Reds Community Fund.
Speaker 4: That is Charlie Frank awesome, awesome stuff from the Community Fund,
Speaker 4: and and even better to see what the Reds are doing,
Speaker 4: it's Reds dot com slash Giving Tuesday. You can find
Speaker 4: out more information and make a nation as well when
Speaker 4: we come back. I know this is football driven. I
Speaker 4: get to do it every single day for three hours
Speaker 4: down the hall on Sincy three to sixty. Get to
Speaker 4: talk about the Bengals every single day. This week's a
Speaker 4: little bit different, and it's still Bengals because it's the
Speaker 4: Bengals and the Bills and the Bengals are still alive.
Speaker 4: But we're not talking much UC football. We're talking about
Speaker 4: the Crossdown Shootout. If you were born and raised in
Speaker 4: this area, you know what Friday means to both of
Speaker 4: these schools, To Xavier to Cincinnati, both teams coming off
Speaker 4: a win last night. For the Xavier Musketeers a little
Speaker 4: bit easier. They beat up on Saint Francis ninety six
Speaker 4: to seventy four. Xavier's winners of three games in a row.
Speaker 4: They had that stretch where they lost to Santa Clara
Speaker 4: and Iowa. Since then, a win against Old Dominion. They
Speaker 4: took Georgia to the finish line. They lose that game
Speaker 4: seventy eight, seventy seven. Since then, a ten point win
Speaker 4: against West Virginia, a win over Texas A and M
Speaker 4: Corpus Christy, and it went over Saint Francis last night.
Speaker 4: For the Bearcats, it has not been as easy. They
Speaker 4: lost that game to Louisville. They came back and beat
Speaker 4: the New Jersey Institute of Technology before falling to Eastern
Speaker 4: Michigan last Wednesday, sixty four to seventy six. They did
Speaker 4: bounce back last night and beat Tarleton State, although they
Speaker 4: were only up two and a half. That all culminates
Speaker 4: Friday night in the Crossdown shootouts. So we'll talk to
Speaker 4: Keegan nickoson when we get back Bearcat Journal dot com.
Speaker 4: To get us started at an hour number three, It's
Speaker 4: RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet right here
Speaker 4: on seven hundred WLW.
Speaker 1: The following takes place between eight pm and nine pm.
Speaker 4: One final time, One final hour, RNL Carrier Sports Talk
Speaker 4: presented by Kelsey Chevrolet. I am Tony Pike in for
Speaker 4: Lance McAllister. Just tonight back at the normal slot tomorrow
Speaker 4: right down the hall on ESPN fifteen thirty for sincey
Speaker 4: three sixty from noon to three. If you listen weekly
Speaker 4: to sincey three sixty, you know our next guest. He
Speaker 4: joins us each and every Thursday, and yet there's so
Speaker 4: much going on this week that he's going to join
Speaker 4: me tonight as well. Covering the Cincinnati Bearcats for Bearcat
Speaker 4: Journal dot Com. Kegan Nicholson, what's going on, Kegan?
Speaker 7: I'm doing great, as you know, I've never been better.
Speaker 4: Keegan, How excited are you that the month of December
Speaker 4: is here? The month of November not so good for
Speaker 4: the Bearcats four losses in football and a lost to
Speaker 4: Eastern Michigan and basketball. You've got to be a static
Speaker 4: that we're in December.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 7: I don't know if you know that meme, but it's
Speaker 7: that like kind of dog looking figure sitting in that
Speaker 7: kitchen when it's on fire and he just says, this
Speaker 7: is fine. That's basically what the end of October and
Speaker 7: all of November felt like. Tebergham Cincinnati. But I'm glad
Speaker 7: cross overseason is over and I can just focus on basketball.
Speaker 8: Now.
Speaker 4: Let's get football out of the way first and then
Speaker 4: turn our attention to the shootout. Let's just make this
Speaker 4: very simple. If you would have told a lot of
Speaker 4: people before the year seven and five that hits the
Speaker 4: over for the Vegas win total, I think there was
Speaker 4: a large contingent of fans that would have said, yes,
Speaker 4: seven and five kind of feels like where that conversation
Speaker 4: would be, okay, the way in which seven and five happened,
Speaker 4: losing four down the stretch. How do you how do
Speaker 4: you view the UC football season? Was it a success?
Speaker 4: Was it a disappointment? How do you Where does that
Speaker 4: fall in for you?
Speaker 7: It's it's a weird one because I think I agree
Speaker 7: that if you asked me before the season, if they
Speaker 7: were seven and five, would it be a success. Personally
Speaker 7: for me, I was much higher in Cincinnati before the
Speaker 7: season than a lot of people were. I predicted that
Speaker 7: they would go nine to three. I just saw all
Speaker 7: the talent on offense, all the talent that they were
Speaker 7: able to bring back, and kind of the culmination of
Speaker 7: the first two years was year free and this is
Speaker 7: going to be the best chance by far out of
Speaker 7: the three years to get to their goals. And I
Speaker 7: think like you said how seven and five happened was
Speaker 7: the biggest difference maker, and just the continued struggles in November,
Speaker 7: which is the most important part of the season, and
Speaker 7: how a lot of the losses are because of self
Speaker 7: and afflicted wounds and you're not just going out and
Speaker 7: getting beat really bad like you did it into Utah.
Speaker 7: In a way, it makes it worse because it feels
Speaker 7: like it was right there for the taking, and it's
Speaker 7: right there for the taking, and then you have a
Speaker 7: fumble in the red zone or you don't conform, you
Speaker 7: don't convert a fourth and one at the goal line. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 7: So it's just I don't think it was a success.
Speaker 7: I also don't think it was an abject failure. The
Speaker 7: only thing that I would say is how can you
Speaker 7: capitalize on this year and to next season like you
Speaker 7: did after twenty twenty four. And that's where things start
Speaker 7: to get a little mushy from me.
Speaker 4: Yeah, the question around Brendan Soarsby. I saw the answer
Speaker 4: he gave to you, which was vastly different than the
Speaker 4: answer he gave a year ago when asked about coming back.
Speaker 4: Corleone Royer Golday, A lot of the offensive line that
Speaker 4: was so good. That there are so many meaningful pieces
Speaker 4: of this team and good players that will not be
Speaker 4: here next year. That is a huge question mark. I know,
Speaker 4: signing day is tomorrow. I know there's a a completely
Speaker 4: different offseason. Anything big expected from a signing day standpoint.
Speaker 4: And do you feel like this staff is recruiting Ohio
Speaker 4: as much as they need to?
Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean they're recruiting Ohio pretty well. I think
Speaker 7: when I looked earlier today was seven or eleven of
Speaker 7: the guys that they currently have committed are from the
Speaker 7: state of Ohio, kind of scattered across Columbus Northern Ohio.
Speaker 7: And then you've got a J. Kurty some Task and
Speaker 7: Evan Weinberg from Springboro kind of a semi local guy.
Speaker 7: In terms of what could happen, you know, I wouldn't
Speaker 7: be surprised if you saw some trips away from Cincinnati,
Speaker 7: in large part because of the end of the season
Speaker 7: and a lot of these guys are going to be
Speaker 7: entertaining offers from other schools that might have a little
Speaker 7: bit more money, and then they're going to have to
Speaker 7: balance it with Okay, well, if I have to make
Speaker 7: a decision for myself, do I want to go to
Speaker 7: a team that lost four years or four games to
Speaker 7: lose the season, and then it's seven and five. Maybe
Speaker 7: this team might offer a brighter future. So there could
Speaker 7: be some slips away. There could also be some slips
Speaker 7: to Cincinnati that wouldn't shock me at all. But as
Speaker 7: we get into this day and age in which it's
Speaker 7: a lot of money and a lot of transactional stuff,
Speaker 7: you never know what can happen. And here can take
Speaker 7: up an offer very late.
Speaker 4: Kicking his cross down shoot that week. I don't know
Speaker 4: if you're aware of that, because I know it took
Speaker 4: you a little bit to probably get over what you
Speaker 4: witness against Tarlton State last night. I know I struggled
Speaker 4: getting over that last night. Let's backtrack just a little bit.
Speaker 4: Let's go back to last Wednesday, the loss against Eastern Michigan.
Speaker 4: How alarming was like I viewed this loss. I said
Speaker 4: it on social media. I thought it was the worst
Speaker 4: loss I've watched as a Bearcat basketball fan. I remember
Speaker 4: they lost to Colgate. I remember that was also John
Speaker 4: Brandon's first year. Yeah, you look at Eastern Michigan. They
Speaker 4: didn't have anyone go off for thirty points. It was
Speaker 4: kind of balanced scoring. They didn't make twenty threes, they
Speaker 4: only made seven threes. It just felt demoralizing and I
Speaker 4: can't shake that feeling. How did you view what you
Speaker 4: witnessed last Wednesday, the night before Thanksgiving against Eastern Michigan.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it was. It was really weird because I'm watching
Speaker 7: the entire game and it's like you said, Eastern Michigan
Speaker 7: wasn't shooting the lights out, like when I think of
Speaker 7: those kind of under the radar, scrappy teams. A lot
Speaker 7: of people remember this game, but when Marshall came to
Speaker 7: fitzerd Arena and I think it was twenty sixteen maybe,
Speaker 7: and they aid like twenty two threes and I think
Speaker 7: the final of that game was in the eighties. For Copaine,
Speaker 7: it's a floater at the buzzer to win. That's the
Speaker 7: kind of game where, okay, you can't really do much
Speaker 7: about a team that's just making every shot they take,
Speaker 7: and Eastern mission was not doing that. The effort and
Speaker 7: intensity was not there for Cincinnati, and west Miller called
Speaker 7: it out after the game. He saw guys like Sincy Harrison,
Speaker 7: Dane Thomas do everything they possibly could. They try to
Speaker 7: give a spark, but then it's just the defense would
Speaker 7: fall through and then the offense was non existent. And
Speaker 7: you know, it was definitely the worst loss in west
Speaker 7: Miller's tenure. From a purely analytical standpoint at numbers, it
Speaker 7: wasn't the worst ken palm loss. I think they lost
Speaker 7: to East Carolina, which was about fifteen spots worse and
Speaker 7: ken palm than Eastern Michigan was. But that was in
Speaker 7: year one, and this is in year five, when you
Speaker 7: have all the investment, when you had the talent, when
Speaker 7: you built your foundation, when the roster is suppose to
Speaker 7: make more sense and fit together better, and yeah, you're
Speaker 7: missing Jalence Lesting, you're missing Baba Miller. Absolutely that played
Speaker 7: a factor, and I think if Baba Miller plays in
Speaker 7: that game, they would probably win. But that is no
Speaker 7: way to say that they should have any excuse for
Speaker 7: losing that game at home, especially with how they had
Speaker 7: played against Louisville and how they looked pretty good. So yeah,
Speaker 7: it was I'm not a huge John Rothskin guy, but
Speaker 7: as a pio mer, brutality is a very accurate representation
Speaker 7: about how that felt.
Speaker 4: So then you fast forward to last night, you get
Speaker 4: back on the basketball court. You're playing a team in
Speaker 4: Tarleton State who without what their top without six or
Speaker 4: seven players over sixty percent of their scoring, and yet
Speaker 4: it's a two point lead at the half. It was
Speaker 4: sloppy at the end of the half with the turnovers.
Speaker 4: What were you able to take, if anything, from a
Speaker 4: positive watching this team last night, maybe even in the
Speaker 4: second half making some threes and the balance that they showed.
Speaker 4: But what do you take from last night to look
Speaker 4: forward to Freud?
Speaker 7: Yeah, the positive is that Baba Miller got back into
Speaker 7: the lineup and got the rough knocked off. Other than that,
Speaker 7: I would say that they made a lot of shots.
Speaker 7: They had a really good three point shooting night. Dade
Speaker 7: Thomas made five threes. Kirk Cresa made six threes for
Speaker 7: the first time since I think twenty twenty four, maybe
Speaker 7: late twenty twenty three, So the ker Cresa, a guy
Speaker 7: that has struggled from three, had.
Speaker 8: A good night.
Speaker 7: Other than that, you don't really see many positives on Hillery.
Speaker 7: He had a Tony Smell line like have you seen
Speaker 7: that of Tony where it's zero zero? I that was
Speaker 7: like they reminded me of the Howard game when we
Speaker 7: all watched the Howard game at Howard and the guy
Speaker 7: kept on yelling mouse in the house, Like I guess
Speaker 7: Mustapha Sham just doesn't react well when he has a guard,
Speaker 7: like a sixty seven forward guarding him in the paint.
Speaker 7: Because you think you should have twenty five points and
Speaker 7: twelve rebounds, he has your points. He was ever for
Speaker 7: one from the field, the three rebounds in four blocks. Yeah,
Speaker 7: so I don't even know what happened with that, but yeah,
Speaker 7: there isn't much positive Keith on Tylor. Your backup point
Speaker 7: guard plays four minutes. I asked Wes about that, and
Speaker 7: he just says it was a coach's decision and doesn't
Speaker 7: elaborate on it at all. And then ironically, when your
Speaker 7: backup point guard doesn't play that much, your old point
Speaker 7: guard is in the stadium watching five roads.
Speaker 4: Yeah, what are we doing? They were showing them on
Speaker 4: the jumbo tron, Teak And what's going on with Gisel James.
Speaker 7: Yeah, there were a lot of people were not happy Tony.
Speaker 7: If I see him come out in the uniform, I
Speaker 7: will pack up and leave. I will leave the sent
Speaker 7: off center. Yeah, there were a lot of Cincinnati people
Speaker 7: who were not happy with the jumbo tron operators. When
Speaker 7: that happened, I don't think that's where you want to
Speaker 7: be at from a PR standpoint. But nevertheless, Wes Miller
Speaker 7: said after the game, he's always been enrolled at you see,
Speaker 7: So he was dismissed from the team, but like I
Speaker 7: guess technically still allowed to be on the team because
Speaker 7: he was enrolled. But you didn't comment on his official
Speaker 7: status and say like, hey, he's he's back on the roster,
Speaker 7: he's back on the program, that kind of thing. So
Speaker 7: it's still up in the air from from some standpoint.
Speaker 4: You know, when the season started, I'm asking Xavier fans
Speaker 4: and what's the expectation this year, and they're kind of
Speaker 4: laying it out as there were no expectations there. There's
Speaker 4: a pass right now for Richard Patino. But I do
Speaker 4: know that their team has gotten better every time I've
Speaker 4: watched them. I know, I know Patino seed is not warm.
Speaker 4: Is Friday night a must win for west Miller in
Speaker 4: the Crossdown Shootout?
Speaker 7: I I don't think it's a must win because if
Speaker 7: he loses and makes the tournament, he's probably good to
Speaker 7: come back for another year like that. That's the standard
Speaker 7: right now. But if he loses, and I've bos Chad
Speaker 7: Brendle said this after the Eastern Michigan loss, that will
Speaker 7: be used as proof or as a reason to why
Speaker 7: they would fire him at the end of the season,
Speaker 7: Like you only got one win against Xavier, You should
Speaker 7: have probably beat them in twenty twenty three when you played,
Speaker 7: and you should have beat them in twenty twenty five
Speaker 7: when they had a year one roster and looked really
Speaker 7: really disappointing to start the season and then started slowly
Speaker 7: kind of getting better. But right now, I don't know
Speaker 7: if I'm gonna say that Cincinnati is going to win
Speaker 7: that game with any sort of confidence. Like what this
Speaker 7: team has shown through the first is seven eight games
Speaker 7: of the season, I don't know if they can go
Speaker 7: into that tough environment with this group that they have
Speaker 7: and make the necessary plays to win. They just really
Speaker 7: haven't proven that they could do that outside of the
Speaker 7: Dayton game. So yeah, it's it's a it's a bad
Speaker 7: situation for west Miller and his team right now because
Speaker 7: fans are going to go into that game expecting to
Speaker 7: and win handily, and how they're playing right now, I
Speaker 7: just don't see that happening.
Speaker 4: The shootout itself. I've always wondered about the rivalry games
Speaker 4: in today's college athletics, because you know, gone are the
Speaker 4: days where you have a roster full of full of
Speaker 4: four and five year guys that get this rivalry or
Speaker 4: maybe even grew up around this rivalry. You got a
Speaker 4: lot of guys now that are transferred in, they're still
Speaker 4: new to campus, they're still new to the city. Is
Speaker 4: there an understanding, Like I know Wes talked about it
Speaker 4: a little bit last night, but do you sense that
Speaker 4: there is a standard in a tone being set by
Speaker 4: Wes Miller about how important this game is on Friday.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 7: I think he definitely thinks it's important because I know
Speaker 7: how much he loves to compete. Like in all our
Speaker 7: conversations that we've had, and the vibe that I've gotten
Speaker 7: from him is there's nothing that he loves more than
Speaker 7: competing and being put in these kind of atmospheres. So
Speaker 7: he fully understands it. I think what you say, with
Speaker 7: the roster turnover and all that kind of stuff and
Speaker 7: the new players, I just think this rivalry at the
Speaker 7: end of the day doesn't mean as much as it
Speaker 7: did in twenty seventeen or twenty eighteen. And it's also
Speaker 7: not just the roster turnover. It's also both programs have
Speaker 7: combined to make the tournament four.
Speaker 10: Times since twenty eighteen.
Speaker 7: Maybe, like when you look at it, this used to
Speaker 7: be a game where both teams were ranked consistently, like
Speaker 7: it was really good programs with really good coaches, really
Speaker 7: good players that we're going to end up playing in
Speaker 7: the NBA. And also it was like fans loved all
Speaker 7: the players on each team, Like think about getting the
Speaker 7: root for Sean Kilpatrick and Gary Clark and Joe Cumberland,
Speaker 7: Troy Copain, Kevin Johnson, Cashmire Wright. That's just not really
Speaker 7: true anymore. You don't really build that bond and want
Speaker 7: to see these got these specific guys succeed in addition
Speaker 7: to seeing the team succeed. So yeah, it's definitely weird,
Speaker 7: weird time. But you know, all you need is a
Speaker 7: punch thrown and then the rivalry is back on. I
Speaker 7: don't I don't know if that's going to happen now,
Speaker 7: but that could really happen in any game. Because David
Speaker 7: Thomas ad ejected against both con st so you never know.
Speaker 4: I would be remiss if I don't backtrack and at
Speaker 4: least ask you this because my own mental and really
Speaker 4: physical well being is on the line here.
Speaker 8: Uh.
Speaker 4: Do you have an indication in which bowl game the
Speaker 4: UC football team will be playing in?
Speaker 7: I've heard rumblings of the Rate Bowl and Scenic, which
Speaker 7: I think is better than.
Speaker 4: Listen Kegan as as a dad, as a dad who
Speaker 4: missed Halloween and left the day after Thanksgiving. If I
Speaker 4: have to explain or talk my wife into leaving on
Speaker 4: Christmas night for a bowl game, I will be moving
Speaker 4: in with you at some point. Can we do anything
Speaker 4: else with the Rate Bowl?
Speaker 7: Tell the kids you have all their presence in Phoenix.
Speaker 7: You have to go and get them. That's yeah, unbelievable.
Speaker 4: All right, I'll take report. I never thought i'd say
Speaker 4: that in my life, but give me sh report. Unbelievable.
Speaker 4: That's awesome, Keiegan Man, I can't thank you uh enough
Speaker 4: appreciate you joining us. What's the easiest way for listeners
Speaker 4: that uh that aren't familiar with your work to follow
Speaker 4: along with more of your work?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 10: Follow knickus some forty two on X and then make
Speaker 10: sure you.
Speaker 7: Subscribe to Bearcat Journal. I'm gonna have a ton of
Speaker 7: signing Day stuff. Gonna have a ton of danger stuff
Speaker 7: coming up. It's a it's a packed week, so it
Speaker 7: should be fun.
Speaker 4: Chigan, Thanks man, we'll talk soon.
Speaker 7: Thanks Henny, Too.
Speaker 4: Keig and Nicholson Bearcat Journal dot Com on this the
Speaker 4: week of the Crosstown shoot I it just it means
Speaker 4: so much here in the city of Cincinnati. I love
Speaker 4: and hate the shootout week all at the same time.
Speaker 4: But we'll spend more time and as we go we'll
Speaker 4: talk more Bearcats. We'll talk some Muskies when we come back.
Speaker 4: If you'd like, give us a call. Five one, three,
Speaker 4: seven four nine, seven thousand RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented
Speaker 4: by Kelsey Chevrolet, and you are listening right here on
Speaker 4: the Big one seven hundred WLWE one hundred WLW fucking
Speaker 4: more UC Xavier football, basketball, whatever you want to do.
Speaker 4: It's Crossdown shoot Out week Giving Tuesday as well. Hope
Speaker 4: you're having a great evening. Let's go back to the
Speaker 4: phone lines. Flip, what up?
Speaker 7: How are you doing?
Speaker 2: I'm good?
Speaker 4: How are you?
Speaker 7: I'm good, buddy, I'm lonely down here in Charlotte, but
Speaker 7: I just it's been down bad.
Speaker 4: Well you're in Charlotte, but you're a Steeler fan, so
Speaker 4: you shouldn't be down bad, Nick, because you you got
Speaker 4: rid of Darius Lay and you just got Adam Thielen.
Speaker 7: We just got older out some way to the Steelers
Speaker 7: continue to age themselves. I proposed my trade to you,
Speaker 7: but we'll keep it silent because who knows who's listing.
Speaker 4: You're down bad though, because of our Cincinnati Bearcats.
Speaker 7: I'm assuming. I just don't get it, Tony, I don't
Speaker 7: get it. This doesn't seem like there's any light at
Speaker 7: the end of the tunnel here, and dare I say,
Speaker 7: I feel very post Huggins Nancy Zemfish to where we
Speaker 7: just don't see the improvement coming in the near future.
Speaker 7: It just seems like we're lost. I think in all fronts, football, basketball.
Speaker 4: I think that to me is the it's the most
Speaker 4: worrisome part because I get Scout Saddlefield saying, well, you
Speaker 4: went from three wins to five wins to seven wins.
Speaker 4: I get that, and I support that, but it's the
Speaker 4: way in which they did it, and for football, you
Speaker 4: just leave. You lose such a big part of your
Speaker 4: core that you had coming back to this year, and
Speaker 4: to start November you were you were in the driver's seat.
Speaker 4: You were seven and one, top twenty five and you
Speaker 4: were in the driver's seat to play for a Big
Speaker 4: twelve title, and you completely collapse down the stretch. And
Speaker 4: yet I think, Nick, if there are people that are
Speaker 4: asking between Scott Saderfield and Wes Miller, the feeling around
Speaker 4: Wes Miller, I think is a little more worrisome because
Speaker 4: it's year five and a lot of the conversations people
Speaker 4: are having are the same ones that we're had in
Speaker 4: year one.
Speaker 7: I agree, Tony, it's just tough.
Speaker 14: You know, we we not you and I, but as
Speaker 14: a state university pay coaches and administrators and awful lot
Speaker 14: of money to produce put a product on the field
Speaker 14: that's worth and worthy of our of.
Speaker 7: Our fandom and our allegiance, and we're not getting those things.
Speaker 7: And I think it's it's difficult, right, Like it's a
Speaker 7: sin sinty sports fan thing, right. I wasn't always that
Speaker 7: growing up, and I'm not always that when the professional
Speaker 7: ranks are playing, but in between there I am, and
Speaker 7: it's it is disappointing, and I don't know what the
Speaker 7: answers are that. So I'm going to ask you, when
Speaker 7: do we get out of this mediocrity? How do we
Speaker 7: step out of it? Will we well? Will will the
Speaker 7: powers that be he finally makes decisions that put us
Speaker 7: in that trajectory. I'm not overly confident, but we can
Speaker 7: be hopeful.
Speaker 8: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think that's the ultimate question. Now for the Bearcats.
Speaker 4: I went into last year and I thought that I
Speaker 4: liked what UC had on the roster. And I went
Speaker 4: into this year and I thought, man, I like what
Speaker 4: they have on the roster. I think they've spent the
Speaker 4: money necessary to compete in the Big Twelve. And another
Speaker 4: thing I worry about openly is if you look at
Speaker 4: what players are doing right now that left this team
Speaker 4: from last year, Dylan Mitchell, Arrington Page is averaging fifteen
Speaker 4: points a game for Northwestern. You look at Dan Skillings
Speaker 4: at Baylor. Connor Hickman has averaging fifteen points a game
Speaker 4: at Charleston, couldn't get on the floor at Cincinnati. I
Speaker 4: go back to watching Mustapha Chom last night, took one
Speaker 4: shot attempt as a center who had a height advantage
Speaker 4: all night. I just worry because it's year five, and
Speaker 4: my biggest concern is a UC sports fan, and is
Speaker 4: if you wait until it's too long. Can you ever
Speaker 4: get it back? That I think is the biggest worry.
Speaker 2: In sports, and we have to xavior on Friday, and on.
Speaker 7: Friday it's tough. Listen, it's been good. I appreciate you
Speaker 7: taking my call. I appreciate you shouting out and picking
Speaker 7: my high school, London Red Raiders London for the past
Speaker 7: few weeks.
Speaker 4: London, appreciate that shout out to London. You got the
Speaker 4: kids are in bed? Are you are you guys like,
Speaker 4: has the elf come back?
Speaker 7: You guys?
Speaker 4: Do the elf on the shelf?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 7: We got to get that before we lay down, because
Speaker 7: you know, once you lay down, it came over. There's
Speaker 7: no waking back up trying to move that thing to
Speaker 7: get up earlier in the morning.
Speaker 4: Well, Flip, thanks for listening, Thanks for calling.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you bet, buddy, I appreciate it.
Speaker 4: Yes, sir, that that to me is a majority of
Speaker 4: the conversation I have with former teammates of mine or
Speaker 4: fans of the University of Cincinnati is there is a
Speaker 4: genuine and legitimate concern around the University of Cincinnati. Let's
Speaker 4: grab one more phone call before we take a break.
Speaker 4: Steve is calling in, what's up?
Speaker 7: Steve Steve can Tony, can you hear me?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 2: I got you, okay, kid.
Speaker 7: I love your show during the day. I listen to
Speaker 7: talk back all the time. I try to rip on
Speaker 7: Audi as much as I can, but he's sabots me.
Speaker 4: That's fair. I get it.
Speaker 7: Anyway.
Speaker 3: God bless you, you know. But uh, my point is
Speaker 3: is whether you're talking reds or Bangles or FC or
Speaker 3: the new where they're going to do build up pavilion
Speaker 3: or something like that all along the river. I'm an
Speaker 3: old guy and I've been going down to a river
Speaker 3: front or since they tore down the old one over
Speaker 3: by highway. First time I went to a game, I
Speaker 3: was like six years old and my daddy hold my hand.
Speaker 3: And the first thing is shocked me in my whole
Speaker 3: life was I saw some guy laying up on the
Speaker 3: steps in the way everything and said I need food.
Speaker 3: And ever since, the whole thing has gotten even a
Speaker 3: little bit worse over time, and I've gotten to the
Speaker 3: point where I won't go to these venues. I'm a
Speaker 3: disabled be one hundred percent. I would love to go
Speaker 3: down there, but I can't get through a lot of
Speaker 3: those neighborhoods are put up with the crime that goes
Speaker 3: on when I park, and and my point is is
Speaker 3: why do they keep cramming stuff down there where people
Speaker 3: like me won't go? And then they wonder why they
Speaker 3: can't buy players because they can't sell them the seats,
Speaker 3: And it's it's perpetually a big problem. It's been going
Speaker 3: on for decades, and I should would like to see
Speaker 3: them do something about it, whether they're busting us in
Speaker 3: or training us in, or some way we can get
Speaker 3: there safely and leave safely without being a constant. That's
Speaker 3: that's my whole.
Speaker 4: Point, Steve. I thank you. I appreciate your phone call,
Speaker 4: thank you for listening. That's the stadium stuff to me.
Speaker 4: I just not a venture I go down. I love
Speaker 4: the venues in Cincinnati. I like, as much as it
Speaker 4: pains me to say, I like going into the Cintas
Speaker 4: Center on Friday Night. I think that's a world class venue.
Speaker 4: What they've done to Nippert Stadium and Fifth Third Arena,
Speaker 4: the upgrades coming to pay Corps in Great American Ballpark,
Speaker 4: and obviously what TQL Stadium means is awesome for the
Speaker 4: city of Cincinnati. We'll put a bow on this. We'll
Speaker 4: wrap things up when we return RNL Carrier Sports Talk
Speaker 4: presented by Kelsey Chevrolet on seven hundred WLW. Welcome back,
Speaker 4: RNL Carrier Sports Talk presented by Kelsey Chevrolet. I'm Tony Pike.
Speaker 4: I'm in for Lance McAllister. Back to my normal station tomorrow.
Speaker 4: That's right down the hallway here in our Kenwood studios
Speaker 4: on ESPN fifteen thirty for Sincy three sixty from noon
Speaker 4: to three. So would love to have you join us
Speaker 4: for that as well. Appreciate you listening in throughout the
Speaker 4: evening tonight. There's a lot of good college basketball happening
Speaker 4: right now. Duke took a massive lead. Florida has closed
Speaker 4: the gap right now in the sec ACC Challenge, Duke
Speaker 4: leading Florida forty to thirty three. Tennessee and Syracuse are
Speaker 4: in a good one right now. Nine o'clock top of
Speaker 4: the hour, Connecticut against Kansas and then nine thirty North
Speaker 4: Carolina against Kentucky. That's some blue blood basketball being played
Speaker 4: tonight on a Tuesday night here in December. Also give
Speaker 4: shout out to Charlie Frank of the REDG Community Fund,
Speaker 4: the executive director of the REDG Community Fund, who gave
Speaker 4: us some great stuff talking about giving Tuesday. Check them
Speaker 4: out at the redg Community Fund and see how you
Speaker 4: can be a part of that as well. Also thanks
Speaker 4: to Keegan Nikison to set the stage for the Bearcats
Speaker 4: and for James Rapine who got us all set with
Speaker 4: the Bengals and the Buffalo Bills coming up on Sunday.
Speaker 4: It's a massive game on set. There's no downplaying anymore
Speaker 4: of the Bengals games. They are all massive, right like this.
Speaker 4: This this isn't reinventing the wheel. I'm not telling you
Speaker 4: something that you don't already know. But again, the month
Speaker 4: of November was awful for football. The Bengals and Bearcats
Speaker 4: canbine to go one and seven on the month. One wins,
Speaker 4: seven losses in eight hours opportunities. That one win is
Speaker 4: a game for the Bengals that kept their season alive.
Speaker 4: We talked a little bit about this, and I know
Speaker 4: Mullager hit it with a rocky boyman. December and January
Speaker 4: have been good to the Cincinnati Bengals over the last
Speaker 4: three years. They are fourteen and two over the month
Speaker 4: months of December and January and the AFC North is
Speaker 4: the path. Is anyone scared of the Baltimore Ravens right now?
Speaker 4: Are you scared of the Pittsburgh Steelers right now? One
Speaker 4: of the best memes that I've seen come out is
Speaker 4: that Aaron Rodgers looks like he should be in the
Speaker 4: movie Home Alone as one of the wet bandits. And
Speaker 4: now I can unsee it. But that's who Pittsburgh is
Speaker 4: right now. Pittsburgh is not dominant. Baltimore is not dominant.
Speaker 4: We talked earlier in the show about just the parody
Speaker 4: in the NFL. Who is dominant in the NFL right now?
Speaker 4: Because going into last week I would have said, well,
Speaker 4: that's easy, it's the Rams, and then the Rams lost
Speaker 4: to the Panthers, and maybe you could try to make
Speaker 4: the argument that it is Maybe the Buffalo Bills are
Speaker 4: that team in the AFC. I've watched Buffalo lose to
Speaker 4: the Dolphins, the Falcons, the Texans. I don't think Buffalo
Speaker 4: is that team. I don't know if Kansas City. The
Speaker 4: crazy thing about Kansas City is if they were to
Speaker 4: get in, they probably would be that team that people
Speaker 4: would fear. But right now they're occupying the ten seed
Speaker 4: in the AFC. The Colts are sliding, the Chargers are sliding,
Speaker 4: the Jaguars. If there's anything about what the Jaguars have
Speaker 4: done that tells you it's coaching matters. I think Liam
Speaker 4: Cohen's a really good coach and I think he's made
Speaker 4: a huge difference with that Jaguars team. But the two
Speaker 4: top seeds in the AFC, New England with eleven wins,
Speaker 4: Denver with ten, I'm just not sold. So if you're
Speaker 4: the Bengals, do you fear that? I don't think so.
Speaker 4: Let's be honest. For the Cincinnati Bengals at four and eight,
Speaker 4: nine and eight's gotta do it. Joe Burrow alluded to
Speaker 4: that himself. But at nine and eight, I legitimately think
Speaker 4: the Cincinnati Bengals get in to the playoffs. And at
Speaker 4: nine and eight, if the Bengals get into the playoffs,
Speaker 4: who wants to play them? At that point? That would
Speaker 4: mean they would be winners of six in a row.
Speaker 4: Joe Burrow's eight to no going back to last year
Speaker 4: as a starting quarterback, he's won his last eight. That
Speaker 4: would mean them winning six more in a row. Who
Speaker 4: wants to play them?
Speaker 8: Now?
Speaker 4: They are underdogs, and rightfully so against Buffalo six and
Speaker 4: a half point underdog. Will they be an underdog to
Speaker 4: the Baltimore Ravens, I don't think so. I think they'll
Speaker 4: be a slight home favorite. Will they be an underdog
Speaker 4: on the road at Miami? Now Miami is playing much better,
Speaker 4: but I still think the Bengals with Joe Burrow, go
Speaker 4: into that as a slight favorite. Are they favored at
Speaker 4: home against the Arizona Cardinals and the Cleveland Browns? I
Speaker 4: think so. So what you have in front of you
Speaker 4: if you're the Cincinnati Bengals, it's Sunday, And yes it
Speaker 4: is game by game, it's week to week. I fully
Speaker 4: get that. But if the Bengals get by Sunday, what's
Speaker 4: the conversation now become of? Okay, can you win four
Speaker 4: in a row as favorites? Because I think they're favorite
Speaker 4: in all four? This is the game. Sunday is the game.
Speaker 4: Win Sunday, and let's jump back into this. A lot
Speaker 4: of people are still hesitant. It's a lot that still
Speaker 4: has to happen. I think the Bengals are favored in
Speaker 4: their final four when Sunday as an underdog at Buffalo,
Speaker 4: and I think this gains traction all over the place
Speaker 4: that the Bengals can legitimately legitimately make a run at this,
Speaker 4: especially because no one else in the AFC seems to
Speaker 4: want to do it. Teams have lined up to have
Speaker 4: their chance. The Steelers on Thursday Night Football when they
Speaker 4: came to Cincinnati, they had the chance to deal the
Speaker 4: final blow to the Bengals. They didn't. The Baltimore Ravens
Speaker 4: on Thanksgiving Night had a chance to deliver the vinyl
Speaker 4: blow to the Bengals. They didn't. Buffalo in the AFC
Speaker 4: has a chance to deliver a final blow to the Bengals.
Speaker 4: That's what the Bengals look to fight against on Sunday
Speaker 4: on the road an Orchard Park against the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 4: This has been so much fun for me, from the
Speaker 4: Bengals in our number one to James Rapine joining us
Speaker 4: to the conversations in Hour number two. Charlie Frank Keegan
Speaker 4: nickoson getting a set up in Hour number three with
Speaker 4: a huge week for the Cincinnati Bearcats with the Crosstown
Speaker 4: Shootout and the Cincinnati Bearcats football squad so much around
Speaker 4: this time of the year to be thankful for. I'm
Speaker 4: thankful to have an opportunity to sit here and talk
Speaker 4: about sports each and every single night. So thank you
Speaker 4: for listening. If you're so inclined, tune in tomorrow and
Speaker 4: every day from noon to three for SINCY three sixty.
Speaker 4: It happens on ESPN fifteen thirty Cincinnati Sports Station. For now,
Speaker 4: we're done. It's Arnel Carrier Sports Talk, presented by our
Speaker 4: friends at Kelsey Chevrolet on seven hundred WLW