CincySportsFan

Watching the Pat McAfee show on Monday, he said he talked to Tucker about that. Said he's been working on it for about a year. So, while it may be the first time that we've seen him do it in a game...it's something he has been practicing.

There is also another challenge too, I think, within the owners. Look at it this way, there's 12 teams this year that had payroll below $100 million. Why? Because they chose it. Also, there's 2 teams that were over $200 million. Again, why? Same answer, because they chose it. So, there's 14 of 30 teams that obviously...whether it's for "economic" (ie: profit) reasons, or for competitive reasons...like payroll to be where it's at today. Are they really going to want to offer to change? Will the Yankees and Dodgers want to commit to a structure that will bring them back to the pack? Will the Orioles, Pirates and Marlins want a system that would automatically double their payroll? I have my doubts. Unfortunately, there's no "central" party that's truly looking out for the game, that's going to be a decision maker in this process. What may be good for the game, is not likely going to be viewed favorably by one, if not both, of the other sides. Which is a shame.

"If you build it, he will come."

"You're killin' me, Smalls."

I think if Burrow takes the preparation seriously, most everyone else will follow suit. I think he's a leader by example. And I think Vonn Bell and Sam Hubbard will be fired up to to play against their former coach, and that'll be infectious, as well. I could be completely wrong, and they come out and lay a turd. But the fact there's already 3 games of tape to look at on Lawrence, I feel much better, given the way our D has played so far.

Not going to stand up for Akron in that regard...they are a not a good team. However, Ohio State is one of just 15 teams this year to NOT have an FCS opponent on their schedule. So, while everyone may knock the Zips...at least they are an FBS school. Darn near everybody else, including Bama, Clemson, Georgia...literally takes it (down) to the next level. BTW, the 15 schools that do not have an FCS opponent on their schedule this year... Ohio State, Notre Dame, USC, UCLA, Texas, Stanford, Wisconsin, Purdue, Michigan, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Navy, Boise State and Georgia State.

Possibly, but I don't think so. And the reason why I say that, is the Burrow-factor. While he'll never say it aloud, I think he'll be driven to show that last year's #1 is better than this year's. Plus, it'll also give him an opportunity to stick it to Urban about how things ended up at OSU. I think his teammates will rally around that "unspoken" motivation.

I'm with you. Unfortunately, that is the measuring stick that a lot of fans use (and not just here on BGP). They want players to be "loyal" to the city/club, not realizing that those players back then had no choice. You were a prisoner of the team. For better or worse, free agency changed that forever...and like you said, it's not going to change. Other things that make me shake my head is the two sides of the coin that are often pitted against each other (many times by the same person). We don't want someone in a slump out there...but, when we make a change to a different player, it's now a revolving lineup. So and so isn't good enough to be here, but we complain when a rookie is brought up to take their spot. It's almost like if we have a lineup of veterans out there, we're too old...but, if we start some rookies, now we're suddenly too young. Yes, it'd be nice to field a team with 6 or 7 future Hall of Famers. But, so would everyone else. The Mike Trouts of the game don't grow on trees. It's not as easy to go out and suddenly makeover your squad when you're not the Dodgers or the Yankees. Heck even the Cubs and Red Sox have gone into rebuild mode recently, and they actually WON a World Series. No doubt, the Reds have a lot of questions heading into next year. But, expecting them to become the '75 BRM is not going to happen.

One of the many areas that I feel the Bengals need to clean up after the Chicago debacle, is kick returns. Seemed like there were several punts that were fair caught well inside the 10, and a couple of kickoff returns from the end zone that were brought out and didn't even make it to the 15. We're not good enough yet on offense to constantly be able to overcome this.

Must've heard that from some Rodgers haters then. I went and looked it up in the play-by-play...he had passes of 18, 19, 4 (for a TD), 5, 6, 9, 13, and 1 (for a TD) yards in the first half. That's 75 yards on 8 of 10 passing. The main reason there were no big bombs in the first half was that Detroit was playing with 2 high safeties...so the "easy" plays were the runs and the shorter passes underneath. But, is there really anything wrong with them, if they're resulting in scores? I'll take my cues on how he was playing from the guys who've been out there before. Peyton's reaction to the one TD in the second half was classic. Peyton Manning can't believe this throw from Aaron Rodgers - YouTube

I understand what you're saying, but with limited off-season stuff last year, plus the fact he only played in 10 games...he's not really completed a "full season" in my opinion. My point is, that maybe the coaching staff feels they have to "protect him" with their play calling.

I understand we are playing with, basically, a rookie quarterback...but, still. In my strictly armchair quarterback opinion, Higgins and Chase both need to see a ball come their way on a sideline go route sometime in the first half...preferably in the first quarter. And please, let me elaborate that I'm not advocating Burrow do a seven-step drop and wait 5 seconds to throw the ball 50 yards down the field. But, do some play action and try to hit the guy in stride when he's 20-25 yards out. Basically, the defense needs to respect the fact that, not only do we have guys that can go deep, but we're going to throw it to them as well. Even if you don't complete either one of them, the thought of the receiver possibly going deep can make the DB a half-second late on those ins/outs/comebacks...which is all you really need on a well-thrown ball. That's my crude, Strat-o-matic, backyard-football offensive philosophy.

Biggest disappointment with Taylor as a coach has been his play calling.

No lie. Awesome place. First time I ate there, my jaw hurt from trying to fit that big of a sandwich into my mouth. I didn't realize they were staying open later now. Will definitely keep them in mind for dinner now, too.

Been by that place a lot, but always at the wrong time because they always seem closed. Usually we're later in the day, either getting a burger at Bard's, or donuts at Moonrise.

Don't have the time (or the desire, lol) to search every state. But, here's data from Ohio, showing hospitalizations for the flu over the past 5 years. The number of flu-related hospital stays dropped dramatically last season. 2016-2017 8,661 2017-2018 17,397 2018-2019 9,865 2019-2020 11,005 2020-2021 122

Don't know what to tell you...I believe it. The preventative measures for the flu happen to perfectly align with what we were doing for Covid. So, it's not a surprise to me, at all.

Why not? We had millions of kids staying out of their normal school environment...a ton of people out of the office, working from home...a hyper-vigilant effort to wash hands as well as clean/disinfect sharable surfaces...extra distance between people in a social environment...and masks to reduce the amount of droplet transmission when you are in public. Forget Covid-19...if we wanted to make a huge impact on the number of flu cases, this is exactly what you'd want to do. I'd be totally shocked if the flu numbers WEREN'T down with everything we did.

Can it twerp, or somebody will stick you back in the fridge. As to the game itself...they always say "it's the Jimmys and Joes, not the X's and O's" that win you the games. Well, then either the recruiting class "rankings" has been an outright lie...or there's an exception to the saying. I'm definitely leaning to the latter. Defense looked flat-footed and stagnant all game long.

Completely agree with the fact that things have evolved/changed over time. But, again, the failure has been in communicating those changes and how/why we need to address them.

Go ahead...make my day.

In my honest opinion, this is the number one failure in this whole thing. The message about masking has been weak and all over the place. Right off the bat, there should have been a clear and concise message about why the general public is wearing certain types of masks and why medical professionals are wearing others. But, there wasn't. So, even now we have fairly intelligent people still making statements that are blatantly wrong (or misguided, at best).

Thinking about basketball... That means Huggy Bear will be coming back to the Shoe!!!

This was on Facebook the other day. Couldn't agree with it more. *** Dr. Jeffrey Dietzenbach, an Iowa Clinic general surgeon, wrote the following post last week and his message is too good not to share. "COVID observations from a general surgeon… Full disclosure: this is my first Facebook post ever, I hope I’m doing this right! Also, I am not an expert on COVID-19 or infectious disease. This pandemic has been long, difficult, polarizing, historical, exasperating, and confusing. I can complain about it… but not that much. I have had no loved ones or close friends who have become extremely sick or died from this virus. I personally have not contracted this virus. As a general surgeon, the only care I have had to administer to a COVID-positive patient is the occasional appendectomy or gallbladder removal. I’ve been lucky enough to not have to spend countless hours in the ICU managing ventilators and medical care. Those healthcare providers are the real heroes. One thing that has really perplexed me throughout this whole pandemic, though, is the lack of humility. Namely, the lack of humility when it comes to expert opinion. I like to travel. Do I get on the tarmac and inspect the mechanics of the plane or discuss the flight plan with the pilot or tower? Nope. I’m not an expert in that. I have the humility and faith that those people are experts and will get me where I need to be safely. I like a nice yard. Do I tell my lawn care company how much nitrogen and weed-control to use? Nope. I don’t have the time to devote to learn about that. I’ll leave it up to the lawn care expert. I hope I never get sued. Would I defend myself in court with a total lack of legal knowledge? Nope. I’ll leave that up to the legal experts. When my car needs to be fixed, do I tell the mechanic how to repair it? Nope. I know nothing about auto repair. Do I walk around talking about COVID-19 and vaccinations and posting constantly about it? Nope, I’m not an infectious disease doctor or a pulmonologist/critical care doctor. I get it. Frustration about closing schools and businesses, social distancing, limiting travel, using masks, etc. is understandable. The benefit and philosophy behind some of these things are not black and white. The thing I don’t understand is this distrust of expert healthcare providers and lack of humility. Biostatistics is not easy. True research (not just looking through Google and social media) and reviewing data and studies and articles is not easy. Believe me, as a General Surgery Program Director, we hold six journal clubs a year reviewing the most recent surgical literature. I have the humility to know that I am not a statistician and by no means an expert in this field. You can find an “expert” on COVID-19 anywhere. Online, at work, at the dinner table, on MSN or Fox News, and especially on social media. I find it interesting that there are lots and lots of infectious disease specialists and pulmonologists across this planet and I don’t recall any of them suggesting anything that was counter to the most recent accepted best practices, based on the most updated information we had at that moment in time. Yes, things change. The virus changes, data and statistics change, discoveries change and new information emerges. One thing that doesn’t change is the expertise of the scientists, infectious disease doctors and pulmonologist. I’m a doctor and I think I’m a pretty good one (one could even say an “expert” at surgery), but when it comes to my kids' health, I’m going to follow my pediatrician’s recommendations. When it comes to a vaccine, I’m going to follow the generally accepted recommendations by the EXPERTS. And…when I start to see brown spot on my lawn, I’m calling my lawn care guy. Ask yourself how many times you put your life at risk by humbly and faithfully putting your trust in a person. Eating at a restaurant, walking over a grate on the sidewalk, taking an Uber, or for God’s sake going on a carnival ride at the Iowa State Fair! This doesn’t make you a “sheeple”. This happens all the time, every day. All I’m asking for is a little humility and trust, not in me or this post, but in experts."

Bucks are in trouble if Gophers score here.