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Best of The Ben Maller Show · The Ben Maller Show

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening to the best of the Ben Mahler
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Show podcast. Be sure to catch us live every weeknight
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  Speaker 1: from two to six Eastern eleven pm to three am
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  Speaker 1: Pacific on Fox Sports Radio and to find your local
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: station for the Benmatlers Show at Foxsports Radio dot com.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: You can find it there or stream us live every
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: night on the iHeartRadio app by searching FSR.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: This is the best of the Ben Mahler Show on
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  Speaker 2: Fox Sports Radio.
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: You know, there's a story with Shador Sanders starting the
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: first preseason game for the Cleveland Browns, and like, big picture,
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  Speaker 3: I've got all this sound, all these angles, all this stuff,
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  Speaker 3: But before we get to any of that, right before
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  Speaker 3: the show, I just kind of paused and I thought about,
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  Speaker 3: I'm really just trying to get to the truth of things,
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: you know, for the most part, from topic to top.
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: But I really just want to try to figure out
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  Speaker 3: what the truth actually is. And I think that's important
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  Speaker 3: because in this day and age, there's a lot of
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: stuff where you get these I don't know, like these
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: look at me type takes where you know you're gonna
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  Speaker 3: get a reaction and you know people are gonna eat
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  Speaker 3: it up, and hey, that might be good on one
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  Speaker 3: side in terms of, you know, your relevancy and maybe
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: your paycheck and all that stuff, but that might get
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  Speaker 3: you further away from the truth. I never want to
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  Speaker 3: stray so far away from the truth that I don't
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  Speaker 3: understand what it even is, you know. So with the
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  Speaker 3: Shador Sanders story, starting with the Browns on Friday night,
• 1:46
  Speaker 3: they're at the Carolina Panthers, it's a weird story. We'll
• 1:51
  Speaker 3: start with the depth chart was released a little bit
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  Speaker 3: earlier this week. Chaduur is QB four. He's looking up
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  Speaker 3: at Dylan Gabriel, another fellow rookie, Kenny Pickett, Joe Flacco.
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  Speaker 3: So Shadur is QB four and at least for this
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  Speaker 3: preseason game on Friday, he's QB one. Okay, it's not unprecedented,
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  Speaker 3: but a little odd, little odd right there, So you
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: take that into account. Now, the audio I want to
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: play this could not be more different. The first piece
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  Speaker 3: of audio you here is from ESPN's Lewis Riddick, and
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: he was on Get Up and he's got his view
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  Speaker 3: on man Chadeur is in a really rough spot. And
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  Speaker 3: then you'll hear from Mary Kay Cabot, who has covered
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  Speaker 3: the Browns for a long long time, has done a
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  Speaker 3: great job over the years, and their two opinions could
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  Speaker 3: not differ more so. First, let's start with Lewis Riddick.
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  Speaker 3: He's basically saying, like, man, what are the Browns doing here? Exactly?
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  Speaker 3: Starting Shaduur. He hasn't gotten many reps. It's an uphill battle,
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  Speaker 3: so forth and so on. Here's Lou and what he
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  Speaker 3: says about you Door.
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  Speaker 4: I'm afraid he's gonna get on the field in preseason
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  Speaker 4: games without a lot of practice reps, and then they're
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  Speaker 4: gonna ask him to perform these heroic tasks in order
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  Speaker 4: to prove that he's worthy of being a starter when
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  Speaker 4: he hasn't had enough reps to really get comfortable. That's
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  Speaker 4: the kind of battle he's dealing with right now.
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  Speaker 2: I know.
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  Speaker 4: I've seen it, Tom, You've seen it. We've been in
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  Speaker 4: these camps. We know how that goes. You don't get
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  Speaker 4: enough reps. They play a whole half of a game
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  Speaker 4: and then all of a sudden, coaches are going, why
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  Speaker 4: are you making that mistake? Why aren't you making that check?
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  Speaker 2: Why are you.
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  Speaker 4: Doing that technique? Well, damn, coach, I never was in
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  Speaker 4: there in practice. You never even talked to me during practice,
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  Speaker 4: but now you expect me to know. That's what they're
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  Speaker 4: gonna expect of him. But if anyone can get it done,
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  Speaker 4: it's this kid because he's been trained the right way.
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  Speaker 4: But I'm telling you he is ice skating uphill.
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  Speaker 5: He just is.
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  Speaker 4: And every time you hear this organization talk, you get
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  Speaker 4: that feel.
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  Speaker 3: Hmm okay, interesting take. He's basically calling, you know, it
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  Speaker 3: a setup. Maybe it's as far as sabotage right with
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  Speaker 3: a little Beastie Boys reference right there. Now. This is
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  Speaker 3: Mary Kay Cabot again has covered the Browns for a
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  Speaker 3: long time. Listen to what she says about Shauldur starting
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  Speaker 3: on Friday.
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  Speaker 5: I do think that they are doing this the right
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  Speaker 5: way with him and making sure that he is successful
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  Speaker 5: as he comes up the learning curve, and they're flying
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  Speaker 5: in the face of what everybody wants them to do.
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  Speaker 5: But they have stuck to their guns and they're not
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  Speaker 5: succumbing to media pressure and public pressure and fan pressure.
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  Speaker 5: They're not doing that. They're doing what's right for Should Doure,
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  Speaker 5: and people have to understand that they're doing what's right
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  Speaker 5: for the football team and for Should.
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  Speaker 3: Doure uh huh, Okay, like listen, I don't know. That
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  Speaker 3: might be her real opinion, that might be her real report.
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  Speaker 3: I mean, I just got to call it like I
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  Speaker 3: see it. That just sounds like you're carrying the water
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  Speaker 3: for the Cleveland Browns, does it?
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  Speaker 5: Not?
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  Speaker 3: That whole I don't know how long that was. That
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  Speaker 3: was about twenty eight seconds from Mary Kay Cabot. If
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  Speaker 3: you typed out every word she just said and you
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  Speaker 3: handed it to the Browns organization and they proof read
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  Speaker 3: it and they're like, okay, doing everything doing yep. They
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  Speaker 3: they won't succumb to public pressure. That's right. All these
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  Speaker 3: people are like, don't play Chador. They take an eat. No, no, no, no,
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  Speaker 3: We're not gonna cave the public pressure out. We're gonna
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  Speaker 3: play the guy. We're gonna do what's right. Yep, like it,
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  Speaker 3: thumbs up and checking every box. That just seems like
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  Speaker 3: the Browns would have signed off on everything she just said,
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  Speaker 3: So it could not be more polar opposite views of
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  Speaker 3: what's going on with the Browns and Shadeur Sanders. Here's
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  Speaker 3: what I think. I think that I think that lou
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  Speaker 3: Is onto a little something but took it too far.
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  Speaker 3: That's what I think where Shador is in a tough spot.
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  Speaker 3: Let's just cut to that point. Chador is in a
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  Speaker 3: rough spot. Think about it. They've got five quarterbacks in
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  Speaker 3: camp right now for the Browns. They signed Tyler Huntley
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  Speaker 3: because Chaduur and Kenny Pickett, some of the quarterbacks are
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  Speaker 3: dealing with injuries, so they signed another quarterback and they're
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  Speaker 3: dividing up the reps even more. Saw a screenshot of
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  Speaker 3: the reps in practice on Wednesday. They had stats for
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  Speaker 3: five guys. They had all their I couldn't believe it.
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  Speaker 3: The QB Tracker training camp on Wednesday, August sixth, Flacco
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  Speaker 3: is eight for thirteen, Shaduur is four for seven, Pickett
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  Speaker 3: is five for seven, and so forth and so on.
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  Speaker 3: I can't do it. I can't break down all these numbers.
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  Speaker 3: But the point is Shaduur Sanders is not getting a
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  Speaker 3: ton of reps. He's not getting many reps with the
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  Speaker 3: first string offense. That puts him in a rough spot
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  Speaker 3: to start a game in the preseason. So let's just
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  Speaker 3: recognize that before we go any further. Now, when lou
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  Speaker 3: loses me, even though Shadur is skating uphill, he makes
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  Speaker 3: it sound like that's what the organization wants. They want
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  Speaker 3: to put him in a spot where he doesn't have
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  Speaker 3: as much seasoning as he should. Maybe they throw him
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  Speaker 3: in the deep end of the pool before he's ready,
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  Speaker 3: and he's gonna have to do something heroic to earn
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  Speaker 3: a starting job, or to earn more reps, to earn
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  Speaker 3: more preseason starts. He's gonna have to do something that
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  Speaker 3: he's probably not ready to do. And that's the position
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  Speaker 3: that they want to put him in. They basically want
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  Speaker 3: him to fail. That's what Lewis Riddick is saying. I
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  Speaker 3: don't agree with that at all. I think some organizations
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  Speaker 3: are just dumb. That's what I think. The truth is,
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  Speaker 3: some organizations are just dumb. The Browns are the poster
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  Speaker 3: child for a dumb organization. They've done so many dumb
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  Speaker 3: things over the years. You know the famous jersey that
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  Speaker 3: has all the names of all the failed quarterbacks throughout
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  Speaker 3: the years. They've had a lot to do with those failures.
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  Speaker 3: They've made a lot of horrible decisions. And I don't
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  Speaker 3: think that they want Sanders to fail. What's the gain?
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  Speaker 3: How do they benefit from that? That just doesn't make
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  Speaker 3: any sense to me. I don't see how they gain
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  Speaker 3: anything by doing that. I just think that they've got
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  Speaker 3: this clunky situation where they have five quarterbacks in camp.
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  Speaker 3: The reps are getting divided up. Instead of having fewer quarterbacks,
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  Speaker 3: with more reps and you get more seasoning, right, more
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  Speaker 3: training all. It's training camp, right, and they don't have
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  Speaker 3: that for Shaduer. But it doesn't mean they want him
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  Speaker 3: to fail. You could look at many other organizations and
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  Speaker 3: say they did things pretty clunky. Doesn't mean they want
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  Speaker 3: the quarterback to fail.
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  Speaker 2: Be sure to catch live editions of the Ben Maler
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  Speaker 2: Show weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific on
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• 8:50
  Speaker 6: Hey, this is Jason McIntyre. Join me every weekday morning
• 8:54
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• 8:57
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• 9:22
  Speaker 3: So sterling sharp. He was talking about the one big
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  Speaker 3: beef he has with the Packers organization. Okay, so now
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: he's talking about having career ending next surgery. All right,
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  Speaker 3: that's the time frame that we're in. It stems back
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  Speaker 3: to that time. And so listen to what he says
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  Speaker 3: about the Packers' organization and how he thought they weren't
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  Speaker 3: there for him at that time when he was gonna
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  Speaker 3: have career ending next surgery. Here you go.
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  Speaker 7: Here's the only thing that the Packers did that bothered me. Right,
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  Speaker 7: Not one person called to say, how'd your surgery go?
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  Speaker 7: Because they're fixing my spine. I could I could roll
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  Speaker 7: out of there and never walk again. I could die
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  Speaker 7: on the operating table. Not one person from the organization said, hey,
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  Speaker 7: you know, how'd your surgery go?
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  Speaker 3: Not the code.
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  Speaker 7: Now, one person from the organization was like, hey, look man, god,
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  Speaker 7: we'll pull them for you. You know, let us know
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  Speaker 7: if you need anything. Not one person in the organization.
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  Speaker 7: I don't think you understand that. Player, trainer, front office, cod, damn.
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  Speaker 7: No one. That's the only thing that bothered me. Not
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  Speaker 7: one player, not one player, And it was so funny
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  Speaker 7: that I never thought about it until the Hall of
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  Speaker 7: Fame happened. And when the Hall of Fame happened, Now
• 10:49
  Speaker 7: I start to hear from people in the organization, and
• 10:53
  Speaker 7: I'm saying to myself, how do I feel about that?
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  Speaker 2: Honestly?
• 10:57
  Speaker 7: Like, you know what, when I is that my proverbial
• 11:01
  Speaker 7: lowest never hurt me what you would perceive as my highest,
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  Speaker 7: I really don't need to hear from me.
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  Speaker 3: Wow, interesting stuff right where I get it from his
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: standpoint and listen, you had to condense that. It's like
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: a four minute thing. And so there are some bits
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  Speaker 3: and pieces in there where Sterling Sharp is saying, hey, man,
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  Speaker 3: I get it. It's the end of the season. Players
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  Speaker 3: go their separate ways. The organization starts thinking about what's next.
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: What are we going to do in the off season,
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: what's our game plan? You know, we might have babies
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  Speaker 3: that are being born, We're going on vacation here there,
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  Speaker 3: like everybody just goes their separate ways. So he's like,
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  Speaker 3: I get it. I get it to a degree. But
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: you can tell that that bothered him, and he would
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: say at times he's like, I'm not disappointed I'm not hurt,
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: and it's like, I think you are. I think and
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  Speaker 3: you have a reason to be. I don't think there's
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: anything wrong with saying like, man, that was that was rough.
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  Speaker 3: I didn't hear from one soul, not one person, And uh,
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  Speaker 3: I just thought that was an interesting take. I had
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  Speaker 3: to share that with you guys, because I guess that's
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  Speaker 3: the broader version of this.
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  Speaker 7: Is that.
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  Speaker 3: It's I think it's hard for athletes to really buy
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: in to the team aspect when so many times the
• 12:27
  Speaker 3: business shows you that a lot of times you're just
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: on your own, you know what I'm saying, Like, that's
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: the bigger takeaway from this. How many times have you
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: heard players as like I didn't hear from my own
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  Speaker 3: own organization that I was traded, that I was released.
• 12:44
  Speaker 3: I caught it on Twitter. I saw a tweet about it.
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: I saw it on Sports Center. They didn't even bother
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: to tell me I was released, had no clue like
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: stuff like that. How can you if that's on your resume,
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: that's you know, something that you've experienced along the way,
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: and you're on your new team. Now, how do you
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: fully buy in to team? Team, team, team, everything's team?
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: How many times do you hear, especially about the NFL,
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: it's a business. You hear that about pro sports all
• 13:16
  Speaker 3: the time, NBA, MLB, it's a business. There's some stuff
• 13:19
  Speaker 3: that's cutthroat, that as cold as it can be, Like,
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  Speaker 3: how do you buy in? How do you not develop
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  Speaker 3: this mentality of like, man, I got to look out
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  Speaker 3: for myself first and foremost, cause that's what the business
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  Speaker 3: does to you. It teaches you lessons the hard way.
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  Speaker 3: And I feel like some organizations just get the simplest
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  Speaker 3: thing things wrong. How do you not reach out to
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  Speaker 3: Sterling Sharp? Not one person like, hey, bro, this is
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: next surgery, let us know if you need anything, just
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: wanted to check in? How'd everything go?
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  Speaker 7: Not?
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: How do you get that wrong? And I'm sure everybody's
• 13:57
  Speaker 3: looking at everybody like man, one of us should checked in,
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: like a lot of you should have checked in. I
• 14:04
  Speaker 3: don't know how an organization messes up simple things. A
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: lot of it's just common decency, it's just common courtesy.
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: You know, if your friend was going in for next surgery,
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: you'd probably show that person that you cared in some way,
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: shape or form. Right, it's a simple thing.
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  Speaker 8: Well, see, I have some thoughts on this, Brian. Okay,
• 14:26
  Speaker 8: And I'm glad you said that right there, because I
• 14:29
  Speaker 8: had not heard this sound clip before and listening to it.
• 14:33
  Speaker 8: And while I agree with the correlation that you're making
• 14:35
  Speaker 8: about teams kind of treating it way too much like
• 14:38
  Speaker 8: a business and you know, guys finding out that they
• 14:41
  Speaker 8: got traded through social media. I get that because with
• 14:44
  Speaker 8: things like that, like trades, there's only certain number of
• 14:47
  Speaker 8: people in the organization that know about it anyway, and
• 14:50
  Speaker 8: they're the ones. You know, it's a lot easier for
• 14:53
  Speaker 8: you know, four or five, six to you know, ten
• 14:56
  Speaker 8: guys to look at it like this is a business
• 14:59
  Speaker 8: and and you know, we got to keep this under
• 15:01
  Speaker 8: wrapped for whatever reason. But then when it comes to
• 15:05
  Speaker 8: what Sterling Sharp was saying in that SoundBite, my initial
• 15:08
  Speaker 8: reaction was one of two things. Either one, he's over
• 15:13
  Speaker 8: exaggerating and there was somebody that reached out to him,
• 15:17
  Speaker 8: or number two, he's an a hole, you know, like
• 15:21
  Speaker 8: how okay, because I would get maybe, you know, you
• 15:26
  Speaker 8: might want somebody from like some higher up in the
• 15:29
  Speaker 8: organization to reach out to you, the team president, GM, whatever,
• 15:34
  Speaker 8: and they might not and that might be cold. And
• 15:35
  Speaker 8: I can understand that happening. But he said not a
• 15:38
  Speaker 8: single person, not a trainer, not a teammate, nothing. So
• 15:41
  Speaker 8: he didn't cultivate any relationships while on the team to
• 15:45
  Speaker 8: where somebody would like reach out and know that he
• 15:47
  Speaker 8: was going into surgery that day. I think that says
• 15:49
  Speaker 8: more about him as a person, or or he's over
• 15:53
  Speaker 8: exaggerating and he's just not thinking of you know, the
• 15:58
  Speaker 8: equipment manager who actually did shoot him at text, you know,
• 16:01
  Speaker 8: like all right, yeah, I don't know.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: No, I hear what you're saying. That would be funny
• 16:05
  Speaker 3: if you get all these X packers that were like,
• 16:08
  Speaker 3: what the hell is he talking about? I called him
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: four times before surgery after surgery. But the other part
• 16:15
  Speaker 3: of I'm trying to think of some of the like
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: all time a holes of the NFL. Right, like to
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: think of some players that had a REP that were
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: disliked by a lot of their teammates, Like whatever your
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: short list is, Aaron Rodgers comes to mind. Right. Not
• 16:35
  Speaker 3: every teammate is fond of Aaron Rodgers. He's been a
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: diva at times, you know, all that sort of stuff.
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: But not everybody is anti Rodgers. There are some dudes
• 16:45
  Speaker 3: that will ride and die with Aaron Rodgers, You know
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: what I mean. And I think that's the case for
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: a lot of people in the NFL, where certainly they
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: they ruffle feathers, they have their enemies, maybe even on
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: their own team they have they're detractors and all that's earned,
• 17:02
  Speaker 3: but typically not the entire organization is against you, like
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: a unified decision. Like, man, this freaking guy defines a
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: hole like he's walking. I just can't buy that. Sterling
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: Sharp was that guy. There isn't one person that's on
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: board to even a to the point where they're like
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: reaching out. He's having neck surgery, his career is over.
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: I just can't imagine he was that hard to get
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: along with and everyone was just nope, out on this guy, no,
• 17:36
  Speaker 3: thank you. I just don't think it rises to that level. Man,
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: that would be an extreme case of aholeness. If there
• 17:45
  Speaker 3: is such, you know a term, we'll just invent one
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: right there. But I get it, I get where while
• 17:51
  Speaker 3: your head went there, I just don't think that's the case.
• 17:55
  Speaker 8: Well, then then you just got to say that you know,
• 17:59
  Speaker 8: there's a couple one hundred people on the packers organization
• 18:04
  Speaker 8: that then they're all a holes, like not one reached out.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: I think it's one.
• 18:11
  Speaker 8: I mean I guess, well, you know what we're talking
• 18:13
  Speaker 8: you know, nineteen ninety something, so I guess there wasn't
• 18:15
  Speaker 8: really it was, right, Well, that's true text messaging, Like, yeah,
• 18:19
  Speaker 8: they take that.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: Into account, right, Yeah. The time period we're talking about
• 18:24
  Speaker 3: is like, yeah, this is pre cell phones. We're not texting,
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: we're not on Facebook, we're not dming.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: You know what I mean.
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: It's just so so much easier to get in touch
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: with people. I mean, you can relate to this, right,
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: like a lot of people. You know, I'm a little
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: older than you, Coop, but you're old enough where when
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: the great school Year was over, you just went your
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: separate ways.
• 18:46
  Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, and you didn't.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: Communicate with anyone until you were back at school with
• 18:51
  Speaker 3: them again. You didn't see them, They just weren't involved
• 18:54
  Speaker 3: in your lives at all, because that's just.
• 18:58
  Speaker 8: The time it was, right, might not even recognized them.
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: Yeah, right, like if you were unless you were friends
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: and you were gonna hang out or see them that way,
• 19:07
  Speaker 3: you just didn't see or communicate with anyone until you
• 19:10
  Speaker 3: were physically together again back at school or whatever. Right,
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: So yeah, that part of it that does make some sense.
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: You did add have a house line, you know, you
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: could you could reach out to people even at that time.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: But yeah, we are talking his career ended in nineteen
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: ninety four. That that's a much different day and age
• 19:30
  Speaker 3: than now with cell phones and social media and all
• 19:33
  Speaker 3: that good stuff.
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 19:34
  Speaker 8: So, I mean, you know what, I I didn't initially
• 19:36
  Speaker 8: take that into account with my with my take the
• 19:40
  Speaker 8: you know, having to actually call somebody on the phone
• 19:43
  Speaker 8: and either talk to them or you know, leave leave
• 19:45
  Speaker 8: a voicemail.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: Yeah right, the old answering machines and all that. Sure, Yeah,
• 19:51
  Speaker 3: but you could have you could have done that. I
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: think what happened was, you know, the season ended, you
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: went your separate ways. Probably hearing this from Sterling Sharp,
• 20:01
  Speaker 3: I would bet Coop. I bet there are a lot
• 20:03
  Speaker 3: of people players, trainers, front office members, a part of
• 20:07
  Speaker 3: that packers organization that heard that and felt like, wow,
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: he's totally right. How did I not reach out? It's
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: a simple phone call, like hey man, thinking about you,
• 20:17
  Speaker 3: everything good post surgery. They're probably like, I should have
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: done that at least? What was I doing? Like, sometimes
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: you don't mean anything by it, and you just don't
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: do something you should do. I think that very easily
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: could have been the case.
• 20:30
  Speaker 8: No, I think you're right because I'm thinking about me
• 20:33
  Speaker 8: and my like if you know, putting those shoes on.
• 20:37
  Speaker 8: I I'm the type of person that will reach out.
• 20:40
  Speaker 8: But it's so easy to shoot a text message and
• 20:42
  Speaker 8: be like, hey, man, how's it going. Yeah, yeah, you
• 20:44
  Speaker 8: doing okay? But if I had to like actually call
• 20:48
  Speaker 8: and talk to them on the phone.
• 20:50
  Speaker 3: Right, I know, right, yeah, yeah, sure, yeah, no, no doubt.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: But man, when you didn't even know what text messaging was,
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: you know, that's different to I can see now that
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: you're protext and talking, but when your only option was talking,
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: wasn't as bad, Like it was a pretty good option
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: at the time. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but yeah, I hate man,
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: interesting stuff there, but we'll see. I would love to
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: know if any former packers from that time, if they
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: make any statements, you know, just keep your your ears open,
• 21:24
  Speaker 3: eyes open. If anybody goes on a podcast or something
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: and says, yeah, he was right, man, I should have
• 21:28
  Speaker 3: reached out to him, like my bad on that. There
• 21:31
  Speaker 3: was a drop of the ball by me. But I
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: can understand why Sterling Sharp would would feel like that,
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: you know, what's funny too, last little layer I'll mention,
• 21:39
  Speaker 3: as guys, there's something in you that doesn't want to
• 21:45
  Speaker 3: be completely vulnerable. You could hear like I had to
• 21:48
  Speaker 3: whittle it down from four minutes, but it's it's littered
• 21:52
  Speaker 3: with not one person reached out. And then he'd be like,
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: I'm not mad. I mean I'm not even disappointed really,
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: and it's like, no, you are. You just don't want
• 22:01
  Speaker 3: to admit that because there's something in our DNA where
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: you just can't. You can't show vulnerability, you can't show weakness.
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: But it hurt him, and it's understandably so that it
• 22:14
  Speaker 3: hurt him. It's just hard to say that. It's it's
• 22:17
  Speaker 3: hard for guys to just be like, man, that really
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: hurt bad because he's just kind of like manly. It
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: doesn't even really bother me. Really, I han't thought about
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: it until the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Now, really,
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: I hadn't thought about that for like what thirty years
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: had crossed your mind one time? Okay, you know, but
• 22:39
  Speaker 3: hey man, that's a you got to you gotta read
• 22:41
  Speaker 3: through the guylines from time to time.
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: Be sure to catch live editions of The Ben Maler Show.
• 22:46
  Speaker 2: Weekdays at two am Eastern eleven pm Pacific.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: So I think this is a much needed change for
• 22:54
  Speaker 3: the Cincinnati Bengals. They are going to play their starters,
• 22:59
  Speaker 3: uh maybe several reps Thursday night, you know, so a
• 23:04
  Speaker 3: little bit later today we get some NFL action. You'll
• 23:08
  Speaker 3: see Joe Burrow out there. The head coach, Zach Taylor.
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: He talked about several series potentially for some of the starters.
• 23:17
  Speaker 3: So I don't know how much time they're gonna get,
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: but Joe Burrow is expected to play, some of the
• 23:22
  Speaker 3: ones are expected to play. And I think this makes
• 23:25
  Speaker 3: a lot of sense because what's the what's the bugaboo
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: with the Bengals, It's how slowly they start their notoriously
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: slow starters. They lost to the Patriots in Week one
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: last season. It was a big upset. It was Drod
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: Mayo's first game as a head coach. Like, Bengals are
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: huge home favorites and they lose, and the Patriots won
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: three more games the entire season, you know, and Jerrod
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: Mayo got fired. That team that fired their first year
• 23:57
  Speaker 3: head coach beat the Bengals in Week one, and Joe
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: Burrow in his career in weeks one and two. His
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: record is one and nine. That's what he is weeks
• 24:09
  Speaker 3: one and two in his NFL career. That is stunning.
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: That is alarmingly low for a guy that's had as
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: much success as Joe Burrow has had in the NFL.
• 24:20
  Speaker 3: And the numbers, like you see some of these graphics
• 24:23
  Speaker 3: that they put up there, and it's just like, holy cow,
• 24:26
  Speaker 3: is passer ratings way lower. We're talking like twenty three
• 24:30
  Speaker 3: points lower in weeks one and two compared to weeks
• 24:35
  Speaker 3: that are not one in two, right like weeks three
• 24:38
  Speaker 3: through eighteen, his passer rating is one oh four point five.
• 24:43
  Speaker 3: His passer rating weeks one and two eighty one point nine.
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: And then touchdowns, interceptions, completion percentage, all that stuff. Yardsburg
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: game like, there's something too Joe Burrow and the Bengals
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: starters not playing in the preseason. So what's the definition
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: of insanity like doing the same thing over and over
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: and expecting a different result. If the Bengals are just like, yeah,
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: let's just keep not playing our starters in the preseason,
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: and well, I mean, hopefully we'll just magically get off
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: to a better start, even though we suck year in
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: and year out in the first two weeks of the season.
• 25:20
  Speaker 3: It's like, you could either do that or I don't know,
• 25:24
  Speaker 3: maybe play your starters a little bit more in the preseason.
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: Maybe you're able to hit the ground running when the
• 25:31
  Speaker 3: regular season rolls around. I do think there's something to it.
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: I just don't I don't buy that there's zero value
• 25:40
  Speaker 3: whatsoever with playing your starters in the preseason. I think
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: it's swung too far in that direction. I mentioned this
• 25:49
  Speaker 3: last night. The Chiefs. They play their starters like Mahomes
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: he plays in the preseason. If there was no value whatsoever,
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: why on earth would Andy Reid have his starters on
• 26:01
  Speaker 3: the field. He has him on the field because there
• 26:04
  Speaker 3: is some value. I don't want to oversell it and
• 26:07
  Speaker 3: make it sound like, hey, if you don't play your
• 26:10
  Speaker 3: starters in the preseason, your season is doomed. Your destined
• 26:14
  Speaker 3: to get off to a slow start. I'm not saying that.
• 26:17
  Speaker 3: But for a team like the Bengals, who have notoriously
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: started slowly for years now, it's like, why don't you
• 26:26
  Speaker 3: try it, Why don't you try a different approach, Play
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: the ones more often in the preseason, and maybe that
• 26:32
  Speaker 3: can have a positive effect with not starting as slowly
• 26:36
  Speaker 3: when the regular season rolls around. I think that makes
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: a ton of sense. So Joe Burrow and the other starters,
• 26:42
  Speaker 3: maybe several series on Thursday night, the preseason opener at
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: the Eagles. Get the Bengals and Eagles on Thursday nights,
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: So hey, man, sign me up if the starters are playing.
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: I love getting a little taste of the starters a
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: series or two. Just see him again, you know, see
• 27:02
  Speaker 3: what they're looking like. Does anybody flash. They're not game planning,
• 27:06
  Speaker 3: so I'm not gonna read too deeply into it, but
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: every now and then a starter will flash, and it's like, oh, okay,
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: all right, that's something to take away the golden rule
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: of preseason, like who's on the field, Like how many
• 27:21
  Speaker 3: starters are there? Let's not overreact. If it's the starting
• 27:24
  Speaker 3: offense against the backup defense, that's a it's an easy
• 27:28
  Speaker 3: overreaction right there, right. But I also think that some
• 27:32
  Speaker 3: things translate to the regular season, even if you are
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: facing backups. Every now and then, there's a certain scenario.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: I'll give you one. So Amari and Hampton is a
• 27:41
  Speaker 3: rookie running back for the Chargers. He played in the
• 27:44
  Speaker 3: Hall of Fame Game. Just got a couple of rushes
• 27:46
  Speaker 3: and it was against mostly the Lions backup defense, so
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: you might think, oh, who cares he's facing backups. I
• 27:54
  Speaker 3: don't think everything is that clear cut. My brief spiel
• 27:59
  Speaker 3: on the preseason and okay, it depends. It's case by case.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: If there's a number one wide receiver and he blows
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: by like a number two, number three cornerback, and the
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: quarterback's like, all right, my guy's opened by five steps.
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: Like that's not going to translate to the regular season.
• 28:17
  Speaker 3: That's not the NFL. We all know that, and that
• 28:19
  Speaker 3: does happen in the preseason. And when people fall for that,
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: I'm like, oh my gosh, what are you doing? But
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: Amari and Hampton he had one carry in particular against
• 28:31
  Speaker 3: the Lions, and you you just tell the guys got burst,
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: he's got feel, he's got some juice. It was just
• 28:39
  Speaker 3: like this inside running play. They just kind of bounced
• 28:43
  Speaker 3: it outside and he found the opening, found the daylight
• 28:47
  Speaker 3: and got everything he could get. It was a good
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: rush and some of it's you know, connected to his
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: time at North Carolina and he had juice. Man Omarion
• 28:56
  Speaker 3: Hampton is legit. I think he's a really good running back.
• 29:00
  Speaker 3: But stuff like that, even against mostly backups, there are
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: times where you're like, Okay, yeah, that's gonna translate, that's
• 29:07
  Speaker 3: gonna work. So yeah, I do enjoy watching the preseason,
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: but man, when it gets to like backups against backups,
• 29:14
  Speaker 3: or the backups of the backups versus the backups of
• 29:17
  Speaker 3: the backups, that it's like, okay, all right, this is
• 29:20
  Speaker 3: a little rough. But when you get the starters in there, yeah,
• 29:23
  Speaker 3: sign me up.
• 29:24
  Speaker 7: Man.
• 29:24
  Speaker 3: Might see a little bit of Bengal starters, including Joe
• 29:27
  Speaker 3: Burrow on Thursday night. I'll be checking that out.