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A Billy Cunningham the Great America. Let's continue with Moeger, who's beaten, ridden, hard, put away, wet from Colorado to Cincinnati and beyond. Moeger, Welcome again to the Bill Cunningham Show. And the big question is this, mo Why are the Bengals three and five? Why do they lose the two preseason games in a home that don't matter? But they lost them? Then? Why they zero and four? Why they've gone through August, September and October have not won one game at home?
Why? Why? Why they're not very good?
Oh thing? Okay?
Thank you, min I think, I think, yeah, there you go. Good to talk to you, Willie. I think when you've played eight games, you have offered a large enough sample size for us to be able to make conclusions about you as as a football team. And the one that I have is this team is simply not very good. Now they have some good things going for it. Joe Burrow is a very good quarterback, leads the NFL and
QBR they have some good offensive weapons. The Bengals offensively yesterday early in the game, did some really good things Mike Gasicki perhaps most notably, but the whole, the collection of their parts, is not a very good football team. Now, not very good could still get you into the postseason. The standard to make the playoffs in the NFL has
never been lower. But as this team is currently constructed, going to win let's say seven out of nine's, I kind of assume the buy in to make the postseason still going to be ten wins for the Bengals to get to that number. This team, which hasn't won at home yet, which doesn't have a lot of difference makers on defense, and which at times can't get out of its own way, is this team gonna win seven of its next nine games? If you believe the answer is yes,
you've watched a different football team than I have. And at some point you need you need to hang your hat on something besides what the schedule makers give to you,
because we do this all the time. Well, you know, they play the Raiders and they're more than a touchdown favorite against them, But the Chargers aren't great, and yeah, well neither were the Patriots Bengals lose, neither were supposed to be the Washington Commanders Bengals lose, and frankly that the Browns and Giants games were probably closer than they should have been. I'm not interested in the schedule. I'm
not interested in the opposition. I'm interested in how the Bengals play, and they haven't played well enough for a long enough stretch of time for me or I think anybody to reasonably believe that they can accomplish their goal, which at the beginning of the season we all thought was to win the Super Bowl. And again I keep coming back to that. Right, this was a season. This is why they didn't move on from Jamar Chase. I'm
sorry from T Higgins. The idea of this season was to win the Super Bowl, not sneak in skate by, get to nine wins and hope the tie breakers fall your way, not barely eclipse bad opponents, and somehow get in as the last wild card to win the Super Bowl. If you've watched anything over the first eight weeks that would suggest this team is capable of winning seven of nine and doing that, you have watched something different than what I've watched of.
Course beginning the season, and we were told by Joe Burrow that this is the best team he's ever been on. They've plugged all the holes. T Higgins were all in. And I have flashbacks every now and then during a game, Moeger, I have a flashback. I think of Carson Palmer to Chris Henry and o Cho Sinko. Then I think about, Okay, this time we have Joe Burrow, Heisman Trophy winner, first team, first team College Football Player of the Year, wins national titles.
Is there something about Cincinnati where you put on the stripes an over a period of time, you contract some illness of virus Like the Plains Indians were anthrax infused blankets to keep them warm in the summertime, and after using the blankets for a period of time, they all got sick and died. Is there something about Cincinnati that sucks in? These Heisman Trophy winners, these fair haired boys from all over the world, they come here ready to go.
Philly Urine and Vinegar. I replayed in my mind, Carson Palmer, We're gonna win here, et cetera. We're gonna do this. Marvin Lewis, who's gonna assistant coach of the Raiders is in town Sunday, I think zero and nine in the playoffs with Marvin Lewis. Do you see the reincarnation of Carson Palmer and Joe Burrow And at some point the life would be sucked out of him and after six or seven or eight years it would demand to be traded. Do you see that again?
Well, first of all, Marvin was zero to seven. Let's not give him two losses that he doesn't deserve.
Well, he would have played two.
Sure, Yeah, he does come back with the Raiders this weekend, which adds an interesting dynamic to this game. I mean, look, Carson Palmer did something that I'm not sure any other player would ever do, which is say, I'm leaving close to fifty million dollars on the table because I'm not gonna play here anymore, and I'm gonna force you to trade me, which obviously the Bengals ultimately did. I would have a hard time believing anybody else is ever going
to do that. But I mean, look, you've you are going to get to a point if you're if you're Joe Burrow, where if this continues, and I'm talking about over a protracted amount of time where if this continues, where you feel like, you know what, I'm not being given a chance to reach my full potential as a winner in the NFL, because, let's face it, that's what quarterbacks are judged by. Right, Yeah, that's what. Right, That's why.
That's why we viewed Tom Brady as better than Peyton Manning, even though Peyton Manning in a number of statistical categories put up better individual seasons often. Right, It's why we don't put Dan Marino in the same conversation as some of his contemporaries like Joe Montana and John Elway, guys
that won rings. That position is defined by winning. Lamar Jackson will be the first to tell you that he's got two MVPs, but he's not going to be viewed as the same as, let's say, of Patrick Mahomes until he wins one. Same for Josh Allen in Buffalo. And so I can see a time and I don't think
we're anywhere close to it yet. Where if you're the quarterback of the Bengal and you're putting up good seasons and you're doing everything you can to help your team win, and yet the winning isn't coming where you examine, is this where I want to stay now? The good news for Joe is it's way in the future, but he has still got an opportunity to hit free agency while he is still in at least close to his prime years. The good news for the Bengals is that's not until
after the twenty twenty nine season. So I do wonder, though not so much from that perspective, what would the fallout be if Let's say the Bengals finish the season with ten losses, right which was impossible to fathom before the season started. But let's say that. Let's say they bought them out. Let's say they bought them out and finished seven and ten, which you know, let's face it is a distinct possibility. Right now, Let's say they bought
him out and finished seven and ten. Let's say they finished with a losing record and they're on the outside looking in. Does everybody to just shrug their shoulders and go, well, okay, let's run it back with basically the same organization, same coaching staff, roster, or does that compel change. Here's what I would ask about Zach Taylor, and I'd be the first to acknowledge Zach Taylor's done a lot of really
good things in Cincinnati. He's won five playoff games. By the standard set by the previous head coach, Zach Taylor should be in the Ring of Honor tomorrow, and I don't think he gets enough credit for the job he and the staff did on their way to the Super Bowl in twenty twenty one. But I think at any business, if you're thinking about letting someone go, you have to ask, could my competitors make me pay for this? Meaning, well, one of my competitors swoop up Zach Taylor and make
me regret moving on from him. I don't think the answer is yes. I can be dead wrong about that. I don't think the answer is yes, And so I do think you could get to a point where you go, Okay, the two most important people in any organization are the quarterback and the head coach. We love our quarterback, yep, is this the right head coach to get them beyond where they've gotten? You know, they asked this in Tampa
Bay twenty two years ago. Withee and John Gruden, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers ownership at the time would certainly tell you, man, Tony Dungee did everything we ever could have asked him to do. We just don't feel like he's the guy to break through the doorstep, and so we're gonna go get somebody else. I do think those are fair questions, and I think they will only intensify if this season ends up unfolding the way we don't
want it to unfold. Is this the best coach for this quarterback that we've got to win while we have him? And I think you are being completely fair if right now you say the answer is no. And I think you have to ask about Zach Taylor. Boy, if we let him go, are team's gonna push each other out of the way to hire him as head coach? And then we're gonna look back and go, man, we let a Hall of Fame coach get away. I don't think the answer to that is yes.
I gotta talk to you about Moneymac. He's issued some bad checks recently, But nonetheless, as I look out as strategically, there's the draft, there's the development of players, then there's game day. The draft is completely controlled by Mike Brown and a small group of individuals who evaluate talent. The second issue is development of those players, which is on the coaching staff, especially especially the line coach for example,
the backfields coach, the DC, THEOC, and then game day decisions. Recently, is it fair to say that Zach Taylor aka might add I call him Zach Shul sometimes has terrible game day decisions? Terrible game day decisions like yesterday third and one. What's wrong with the tush push? I love the Eagles, the Birds on the tush push, it's unbeatable. Why does it seem of late that Zach Taylor is making terrible game decisions that cost the Bengals victories? Why is that?
Yeah? It feels like he outsmarts himself, Willie. I mean, look, since twenty seventeen, the quarterback sneak has worked at a success rate with one yard to go close to eighty eight percent. I do not know. Forget the tush push, which I certainly would have been okay with them employing. All you had to do is look across the field and go, God, you know what? Nick Siriani seems to rely on that when there's more than a yard to go? Could we do that? I don't know why you don't
quarterback sneak there? I have no idea. It's one of the most successful plays offensively in the NFL. It's not third and four, it's not third and five. And so go through the sequence here. First of all, I think going for it was the right call. Thirty nine yard line, your defense is stopping no one, it's a yard to go. Going for it there was the right decision. So start with that. No problem with going for it. But then, well, get the play in slow So now you got to
call a time out? Why like, why is that play third and one? Why doesn't that just you know, get screened into Joe Burrow's headset. Then it appears that Joe checks from what looks like is going to be a run to the right to the run to the left, which tells the defense here is what's coming. So they run right into a wall. All right, you're gonna go for it now on fourth and one. Awesome. Again, no issue with this. It drives me nuts. And it's not the first time this season that Joe on a gotta
have it play. I think against New England it was fourth and two, throws a pass behind the sticks. He throws it to Jamar Chase with Cooper dejen the corner for the Philadelphia Eagles, bearing right down on him. Jamar Chase is awesome. He has no chance to make that play.
Now.
Is that Zach Taylor or is that Joe Burrow? You know, we can debate. All I know is this. The result was Eagles got the football game over. And it just it feels to me like there is a reluctance to lean into the obvious. And the obvious there for me is fourth and one quarterback sneaks are successful eighty eight percent of the time, which tells me if you try it twice, you're gonna be successful once. Why they refuse
to do that doesn't make any sense whatsoever. And it's not the first time this year where I have felt like Zach sort of out smart out smarted himself, and Joe Burrow, maybe to a degree, out smarted himself as well.
Money Mac has issued some bad checks recently. The young kid had at one point a game or two ago, the announcer said, well, he's eleven for eleven and the fourth quarter overtime and all of a sudden shank and that was a bad That was a was The snap was fine, but they'll hold wasn't the best. Now, Money Mac has issued some bad checks recently.
Why, Well, his first two seasons from fifty yards or beyond, he was sixteen of eighteen and then includes the postseason sixteen of eighteen. Pretty good right from beyond, from beyond fifty yards, So you'll take that right. You understand it's not an automatic kick, but you know, all right, he's he's got to make the kicks from distance, sixteen of eighteen, and as we talk about this, I'm double checking that because I want to make sure I have that right. Yeah,
he was sixteen. I'm sorry, he was actually seventeen of nineteen. Pretty good from fifty and beyond.
Not bad.
That's why he's moneymack.
Now.
I obviously made some of those in clutched situations. But the reason why the Bengals used the draft choice on him, and the reason why he has looked at as such a weapon, is because you could use him from distance. Since the start of last year, he's ten for eighteen, including yesterday missing the fifty four yarder. What makes Evan McPherson special is his ability to make those kicks. In the absence of that, he's just an average kicker. That sounds harsh, but NFL kickers are supposed to be close
to automatic from fifty and in and again. You allow for the occasional you know, mishit. You allow for the occasional pat miss. But by and large, an average NFL kicker makes an insane percentage of kicks from forty nine and in. Well. Evan McPherson is good at that. What is supposed to make him a weapon, and one of the reasons why the Bengals gave him a contract extension that they did is this dude can make the kicks that other guys can. Well. Since the beginning of last year,
he hasn't been able to do that. So fine, you might rely on him if it's a forty three yard field goal and the game is on the line. But what makes him special, what's supposed to make him special, is he's good from long range. Since the beginning of last year, he hasn't been well.
Each team had five possessions in the second half. The Bengals scored on one, the Eagles scored on five for five, and if there were six, it would have been six for six. There's no stopping the Eagles on offense. The Bengals rushing game is non existent and their ability will stop I'll give you give me a fact, I'll give you a stat.
Give you a stat the second half, yes in the second half yesterday, the Philadelphia Eagles average point eight two points per play, point eight two. That's twenty seven points on thirty three plays. The NFL leader in that stat is the Detroit Lions at point five to four. So think about that, Oh, point eight two points per play by the Philadelphia Eagles in the second half. The NFL lead is point five four. That tells you, first of all, at times, how good Philadelphia's field position was, and two
how good their their their offensive efficiency was. And let's not let's not let the Bengals defense off the hook. You know, we talked about him in the pregame show yesterday. From the Holy Grail. Trey Hendrickson had an opportunity against a backup left tackle by the name of Fred Johnson who used to play here. He had an opportunity to dominate. He didn't. He got dominated Bengals up front, no sacks.
Joseph Osai had just one quarterback hit. Saquon Barkley didn't put up an enormous number, but pretty much did whatever he wanted. They beat him deep on the Devonte Smith passed down field, there's not a Trey Hendrickson is awesome, and I think he's he represents one of the greatest free agent signings in Bengals history. Beyond that, who do they have that If you're an opposing offensive coordinator, you say, boy, this guy can just wreck everything we're trying to do.
And and not not just against bad teams either, but if you're if you're you know, the offensive coordinator or the the Baltimore Ravens, Todd Makin, if you're you know, thinking later on down the road. The Pittsburgh Steelers are playing better offensively. They certainly look good last week with Russell Wilson all right, who on the Cincinnati defense can take us out of what we're trying to do in the game. I don't think there's anybody in the secondary.
There hasn't been since Jesse Bates. I don't think there's anybody among the linebackers. And beyond Trey Hendrickson, I think they have a good unit up front collectively, but who individually? If Trey Hendrickson gets taken out of the game, who else can step up? And the answer yesterday was no one.
Well, this is Halloween week, we have mindless zombies with their eyes rolled back on their head and their arms extended forward, stalking around.
What do you do on Halloween? What are your what do you give the kids?
There? And the kid turn off the shut the door, and they're gonna like it.
I'm not.
I'm not participating.
Every Well, that's that's that's bes because everybody knows your home. It's not like you go anywhere.
I don't go, So everybody knows your home. Give just I have not. I have nothing.
No, and I of prov ones, I have.
A buy those. But no, I'm giving you nothing and they'll like it. They don't like what I give them. That's what. I give nothing, and I expect nothing. I'm gonna be in my basement, way low into the storage area, up on a shelf.
Once you got how many of this prov once you got.
Laying around several dozens, maybe ten dozens, something like that.
It's not you only play one chorus. It's not like you lose. That's fine.
I got balls.
I'll take some of those.
You want to sleeve the balls, Yeah, I'll give you a sleeve. Next time. I say, I'll give you a sleep. We've only gotten. I'm not giving candy that's going to rot their teeth and cause diabetes later in life. I'm not doing that.
What if what if somebody dresses up like Trump or somebody for Halloween? You'll give them candy, right.
I'll give them a dozen balls. I'll give them a dozen heavy ones. Jd Vance comes. He's getting a dozen balls because Trump has plenty of those. All right, Mogar, thank you.
I just want I just want some prov ones. You got it, Willie.
I'll give you a sleeve. All right, thank you. Let's continue more. You gotta keep hope alive, is all I say. Keep hope a lot, because all we have is hope. On seven hundred WLW is there a special time you like to listen to Scoon's loan? I love to listen to Sloaney while I'm jogging.
He makes the miles go faster. I listened to Slooney in the shower after my run.
I listened to Sloaney in the shower too. It reminds me of all those group man.
Baths I had in Japan. Really, my problem is he's so funny and compelling.
I run out of hot water. I guess anytime is the right time for Slaney.
Oh Man, I hate cold shower.
Shrink it tomorrow morning at nine on seven hundred WLW and check out his podcast on the free iHeartRadio ad. Paul Luck told me a few hours ago that McKinley approved several loans last week. The customer was turned on by another lender or bank. They could not help, but McKinley stood up and said, oh, I can take care of those loans. Get your loan approved today by calling seven nine seven hundred. Call and consolidate all your credit card debt and high interest rate debt SAM as high
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