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00:00The question is, does this make you thirsty or scared?
00:04Scared.
00:05Joe Burrow, again, yesterday, his 29th birthday, in front of the Cincinnati media.
00:11You know, if I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing it.
00:15You know, I've been through a lot, and if it's not fun, then what am I doing it for?
00:19So that's the mindset I'm trying to bring to the table.
00:22How much fun are you having right now?
00:23Is it difficult to have fun, given the season, what you've been through physically, emotionally, all of it?
00:29Is it tough?
00:30Yes, certainly.
00:31Did you have fun playing?
00:33I mean, how much of it was fun before?
00:35Winning's always fun, but in general, was it as fun before you got hurt?
00:39Did you view it that way, at least?
00:40No, I wouldn't say I viewed it that way, I think.
00:44What was the changing point?
00:46The changing point?
00:47I'm not sure there was a singular moment of time.
00:52It's just a reflection on a lot of things that I've done and been through in my career, I think.
00:57And I've been through more than most, and it's certainly not easy on the brain or the body,
01:02so I'm just trying to have fun doing it again.
01:04If you seem like there's something on your mind, or maybe I'm reading too much into it,
01:10but it seems frustrating.
01:12There's just a lot of things going on right now.
01:13A lot of things going on right now.
01:15Football-related, personally?
01:17All of the above.
01:18All of the above.
01:19That's all I needed to hear.
01:21That's as close as we got to any sort of an official answer that this is about the Bengals.
01:26And so, more on that in a second, and we'll play that Adam Schefter sound for you,
01:30but we want to break some news as well from the Golden State Warriors.
01:34Steph Curry has officially been cleared to play tomorrow night against the Minnesota Timberwolves
01:39as they return to action at home at 7 o'clock.
01:43Draymond Green is officially out for that game tomorrow night.
01:47Al Horford out, we knew that.
01:49Draymond Green, though, a bit of a question mark, not ready to go yet.
01:53He will be out for the game tomorrow night.
01:55Steph is in.
01:56Really quick, guys.
01:57The Draymond absence is listed under personal reasons,
02:00and I know that his wife is expecting, so it might be related to that,
02:04but it is a personal absence for Draymond.
02:06Yeah, I did see that he mispracticed yesterday, but it was not injury-related,
02:10so hopefully it's a wonderful thing for Draymond, for his family,
02:15why he's missing tomorrow night's game.
02:16It's a wonderful life, and we're getting up to that portion of the calendar
02:20to where you can start to make those holiday references.
02:24I do know this, that they are 9-7 when they have Butler Green and Curry all together,
02:294-5 when they don't.
02:31So this will be the 10th game of 26 that they play without the big three.
02:37Without all of them.
02:37All together in Al Horford, Sciatica.
02:41Hopefully, I mean, that thing can get better, but as a guy older than Al Horford,
02:45I know that things like Sciatica, they can flare up and they can stick around for a long time.
02:50Yeah, I mean, look, Al Horford dealing with nagging old person injuries is not terribly shocking.
02:58Who could have seen that coming?
02:59But he's also not a linchpin for this team.
03:04Right.
03:04Nice to have, but not a linchpin for this team, I don't think.
03:08No, I mean, honestly, you probably want Al in April more than you want Al in December if you had your pick.
03:14So April, hopefully it'll matter, but the way they're kind of going at 13-12,
03:19April might not be as guaranteed as we all thought.
03:21Super interesting game tomorrow night and a little bit later in the show,
03:24and certainly for a lot of the show tomorrow, we'll get you ready for that game
03:29because I know there are a lot of eyes on how this lineup sort of comes out.
03:35Steph Curry returns to it.
03:37You're coming off the DMP for Jonathan Kaminga.
03:39Everybody's going to have all of their abacus out so that they can, you know,
03:44chart minutes and rotations and all of these things.
03:47But it's also a big game because it sort of marks a little bit of a new stretch, I think.
03:55Steph coming back.
03:56You're back home.
03:57You've now had some rest, some practice, all of the things that they've been asking for.
04:01And so here we go.
04:02So we'll have more on that.
04:03But we do want to get back to the Joe Burrow thing.
04:06So you just heard again what Joe said yesterday in front of the Cincinnati media.
04:10Well, that got Schefter's cockles up.
04:14Yep.
04:14And he released this from his own podcast earlier today through ESPN.
04:24Other teams in the league took notice of that.
04:26I could tell you that for a fact.
04:27I know that because I was texting with some of them.
04:29Andrew Luck, when he retired, had played 86 NFL games and been sacked 174 times.
04:36Joe Burrow has played 13 fewer games, 73, and been sacked 203 times.
04:43So he's played 13 fewer games and been sacked 29 more times than Andrew Luck was.
04:51And he sounded like a guy on Wednesday who was deeply reflective, contemplative, and thoughtful about how he wanted his future to proceed.
05:00Those were alarming words.
05:02Those were alarming words.
05:04That got the attention of a lot of people.
05:07I could tell you that right now.
05:09And that'll be something to pay attention.
05:10Now, maybe it's just the end of the season.
05:12But in many ways, the organization has failed him.
05:14Defense has not held up its end of the bargain.
05:16The offensive line has not protected him.
05:18And, yes, he wanted the wide receivers.
05:20He had to pay the wide receivers.
05:21And, therefore, you can't pay every.
05:22But you know what?
05:23In his words, there are a lot of things going on right now.
05:26That's what he said.
05:26Now, I don't know if he's referring to his personal life or just football in general.
05:30But a lot of things going on, if I were his employer and I was somebody that wanted to keep him in the order, that would have my attention.
05:37And I would make sure that I'm getting with Joe Burr to make sure that while there are a lot of things going on, we've got a lot of solutions to try to help you through this.
05:43Yeah, I would say that, too.
05:45But at the same time, this is not, this can't be brand new.
05:49You know where my brain goes every time there's a press conference.
05:53Why now?
05:53Why are you saying this into a microphone?
05:56And if you're saying it into a microphone, that tells me on some level that whatever you've said behind the scenes hasn't worked.
06:05That's all.
06:07Whenever you find a, to me, player or coach in front of a microphone is kind of like, it's like a yelling parent.
06:14And, boy, I know all of us parents wish we were able to control doing a little bit less of that.
06:20But sometimes you reach the end of your rope or you feel like the message that you have been trying to get across every single damn day is not getting home.
06:30So you raise your voice or you enact a punishment or whatever.
06:37That is often the angle that a player has.
06:42All roads, for example.
06:43Yep.
06:43What did Jonathan Kaminga do when he doesn't like his minutes?
06:47We call Shams and have him tweet.
06:50You use the media.
06:52That is, I have to guess that's what Joe Burrow's doing.
06:56So while I get where you're coming from and you say this kind of scares me because maybe Joe doesn't want to play football anymore,
07:03I'm still in this space.
07:04You might be right, but I'm going to guess that Joe Burrow doesn't want to play football anymore for the Bengals.
07:08Well, yeah, and I just want to look at the short sample of what happened this past weekend where you're balling out and you lead your team down the field.
07:19You're up by three points.
07:20You drive down.
07:21You go seven of eight on a drive.
07:23You score.
07:24The PAT, you're up 10 with 844 to go against Buffalo.
07:29And you're thinking, yeah, all right, I'm doing what I'm doing.
07:31And then Buffalo uses a minute and one, and Josh Allen scrambles for 40 yards and a touchdown.
07:39Now it's a three-point game.
07:41And so in a minute of actual game time, you're back on the field, and then he threw that pick six, which was kind of a weird play call.
07:49And, you know, credit the Buffalo defender for going up and snatching it, and it's a pick six.
07:53And now you're again in Bengal territory, which means now all of a sudden you're trailing, and you're unable to lead your team back, and you lose to Buffalo, and you played in the snow, and you put up another 30-burger.
08:05You put up 34 points.
08:07But again, that's not enough because you're Cincinnati, so I do think that that's part of it.
08:12But also what Schefter was saying there about the amount of times he's been sacked, I'm sure part of it is I'm just tired.
08:18I'm tired of fighting back from injury, these terrible injuries.
08:23I'm fighting back for what?
08:25So I can go out there and not be protected and have a defense that gives up 30-plus every week?
08:30Don't forget who Joe Burrow is, I think, at his core.
08:33Because a lot of people...
08:34I don't know Joe Burrow.
08:35No, but I'm just talking about what we've watched.
08:38Joe Burrow and having fun used to be synonymous.
08:42Joe Burrow is Mr. National Championship Cigar Guy.
08:45Joe Burrow has plenty of fun.
08:49Do you watch him in quarterbacks, by the way?
08:51Yeah.
08:51Oh, yeah.
08:52He's a little bit of an...
08:53I mean, again, I'm hesitant because this is the way things are edited and whatnot.
08:57Right.
08:58A little bit of an interesting guy.
08:59Yep.
08:59Some could call him maybe an odd bird.
09:01Not quite a goofball, but he certainly is a little bit different.
09:04He has some different interests, some things that you wouldn't sort of expect, but that's fine.
09:09Whatever.
09:09I don't think we've ever seen that rear its head on the football field, but I'm weary of
09:18what you're saying because I do think you have to be careful about stuff like that.
09:26You and I have had this conversation.
09:28Many coaches have told us behind the scenes that when they're going through an evaluation
09:32process of a player, one of the things that they really want to see or that they ask themselves
09:37that I don't think most fans ever get to hear is not about how fast do you run, how high
09:42do you jump, how do you come off the line, let's do all those football skills.
09:46They want to know, does he love football?
09:49And when you have a conversation like this, similar to what you're saying, it's going to
09:53make people wonder, do you still love football?
09:57Andrew Luck up and walked off the field in the middle of the preseason one year.
10:03Yep.
10:03And you hear Adam Schefter bring up Andrew Luck's name in this.
10:09But for the moment, until I know more, I don't think that Joe Burrow is considering retirement
10:15or not liking football.
10:16I think he's not liking football with Cincinnati.
10:20Like he's watching teams in his division with championship coaches like battle out to win
10:27the whole thing with a 500 record.
10:30There is not that much being asked of this team.
10:33No, no.
10:34Like win nine games and you are right in this sucker.
10:38You might win the division at nine and eight.
10:40And they can't do it.
10:42They can't do it.
10:43Largely this year because they got him hurt again.
10:46And last year he played the whole thing.
10:48He played.
10:49They went nine and eight.
10:50And he was potentially the best player in the league.
10:53He was good.
10:54Yeah.
10:54Statistically, he was the best player in the league.
10:57And they won nine games in a division where you get to play the Browns twice.
11:02And the other two teams are like solid.
11:04Last year they were better.
11:05Yeah.
11:05They're solid franchises.
11:07But they're not running away with anything.
11:09They're not.
11:10You know what I mean?
11:11The Steelers don't even have a quarterback.
11:13And they win more games than the Bengals.
11:15It's interesting the way you put that about Joe Burrow because you had me thinking about Andrew Luck who also was a little bit of a different guy.
11:22And still is.
11:23And you realize if he was quarterbacking still in the NFL, he would not be the oldest quarterback.
11:30He wouldn't be the second oldest.
11:31He might be about the sixth oldest.
11:33He's only 36.
11:34And he's been out of the league now since 2018.
11:37He just walked away before he was 30 because he was a different guy.
11:41And he was really intellectual and his dad is a front office guy from Major League Soccer and beyond.
11:48And so Andrew Luck got to his spot where he's like, there's other things I want to do and I want my body to be in some sort of a shape.
11:55And so he walked away.
11:57And he had a couple years left in his deal and he just walked away.
12:00So it's not unheard of.
12:01No, it's not unheard of.
12:02And I get it.
12:03I mean, it might be something that we need to think about in the age of handing out $50 to $60 million contracts to quarterbacks,
12:10which is that they play a few years and if you're not protecting them, they're like, you know what?
12:15I think my bank account's good.
12:18Why do I need to keep doing this?
12:22And some will be maniacal like Tom Brady or Philip Rivers, for God's sake.
12:27I mean, Aaron Rodgers still doing it.
12:28Yeah.
12:29So you might get maniacs like that.
12:31But I think you'll also get some of the opposite, which is, you know what?
12:36I have $200 million in the bank.
12:38I'm 30 or 31 or whatever.
12:41This hurts.
12:42We're not going anywhere.
12:44So why don't I go home?
12:47I don't necessarily, again, I don't yet believe that that's what's happening here.
12:53But to me, there are two 49er related things that come out of this.
12:57Number one, to me, it is a message to the 49ers organization, as they now have one of these highly paid quarterbacks.
13:07He's not Joe Burrow, but it doesn't matter.
13:10You have invested in him as a $50-plus million quarterback.
13:15You better protect him.
13:17So it's great this year that you went all defense.
13:20That's great.
13:21But you're going to need to do that with the offensive line really soon.
13:27You're going to have to.
13:28Trent Williams is going to retire.
13:30You are going to have to change this.
13:32I even, for instance, look at some of the recent 49er victories.
13:37You know this about the Cleveland Browns game.
13:40That's a good pass rush.
13:41But guess what?
13:42In that game, that was the highest pressure rate the Browns have had all year.
13:46All year.
13:47Now, it didn't look like that because Brock Purdy's mobile, and he's good, and they had a game plan to get the ball out of his hands.
13:55But the offensive line is performing better, but they're not great, and Trent is old, and so you better protect your guy, first and foremost, in the NFL, if you have a highly paid quarterback, or you can get this.
14:10So to me, that's message number one.
14:12Message number two goes to all the teams.
14:14Because Joe Burrow might be, he might want out.
14:18He might be the Giannis of the NFL right now.
14:21And I think all of the teams, unless you're the Bills or the Chiefs, gosh, who else?
14:29I think all of the teams would need to be interested in that.
14:32All of them.
14:33I mean, depending on who you are and what you want to pay your quarterback, and if you have a rookie, like Drake May, you're not going to be interested, and Bo Nix on a rookie deal, and all the rest of it.
14:43It depends on how you want to build your team.
14:46Joe Burrow's making north of 50, and he has got an injury history.
14:50So he's already got a knee where you tore up three ligaments and the meniscus, and you've got the toe, and the toe's going to stay with you your whole career.
14:59And he's had, almost every year he's had some sort of injury, and he's a guy who's now on the record saying, you know, I'm just not having fun.
15:08And I'm not having very much fun right now, and maybe it's because you're a bangle, although they're 3-1 this year when he quarterbacks when he's the starter.
15:16So what's not fun about that?
15:18That, to me, becomes a little bit of a red flag.
15:20And you talked about the Niners, and they've only allowed 20 sacks this year, which is the fifth fewest in football.
15:26So as much as, yeah, Mack gets out of his hands and Brock's mobile and he runs around, the pass O-line has been really good.
15:35The run-blocking O-line has not been as good.
15:37And I know what you're saying about the future, and Trent being older, and, you know, you've got other spots where you're going to have to get upgrades.
15:45Their pass protection this year has been very good.
15:48Again, here's Joe Burrow with regard to, and we'll piece this apart a little bit.
15:53Here's the part about having fun.
15:55You know, if I want to keep doing this, I have to have fun doing it.
15:59You know, I've been through a lot, and if it's not fun, then what am I doing it for?
16:03So that's the mindset I'm trying to bring to the table.
16:05If I'm going to keep doing this.
16:07If I'm going to keep doing this, yeah.
16:09But, so here's what I really wanted the assembled media to get to is either, like, is this something about your personal life, or is this the Bengals?
16:21And I really would have loved for them to get to, do you want to be a Bengal and do you want to be a football player?
16:26This is as close as they got right here.
16:28There's just a lot of things going on right now.
16:29A lot of things going on right now.
16:31Football related?
16:32Personal?
16:33All of the above.
16:33Yeah, football, personal, all of the above.
16:37You know what they kept doing?
16:39And I, again, I hate, I don't want to be media cop, but they kept, in the way they questioned him, they kept giving him an out.
16:47Is it football?
16:48Is it personal?
16:49Yes.
16:51What if you had just stopped?
16:53Just, is it football?
16:56Joe, is this football related?
16:58I would have loved to hear what he had to say.
17:00Joe, is this Bengals related?
17:03Do you want to be a Bengal anymore?
17:06Wouldn't you love to hear him answer that right now?
17:10And why don't we, instead of just looking at it through the Niner lens, let's look at it for a minute through the Bengals lens.
17:17Let's say this does at least get to the neighborhood of where Giannis is right now.
17:22He, too, has not demanded a trade yet.
17:24But we're sort of all in this spot where we feel like we're climbing a staircase that's going to lead there, right?
17:29Alright, what if Joe's there?
17:32If you're the Bengals and Joe says, you've got to get me out of here.
17:36I'm not reporting next year.
17:38You have to get me out of here.
17:40The first thing you're going to try to do is talk him out of it.
17:43But what if you can't?
17:44Then the second thing you need to do, if you were going to trade Joe and you're the Bengals, what would you be looking for?
17:51What do you want back?
17:52You want probably a first-round pick, if not two first-round picks, unless you can get an actual really good starting quarterback.
18:02But the teams that have good starting quarterbacks don't want to trade their good starting quarterback.
18:08I mean, if you're the Niners, you'd trade Brock Purdy in two firsts for Joe Burrow.
18:14No question.
18:15No thank you.
18:16No, why not?
18:17Because Purdy is younger.
18:19Purdy has been proven in this system to work.
18:22We don't know if Joe Burrow would work in this system.
18:24Joe Burrow would work in any system.
18:26Joe Burrow may not want to play football anymore.
18:28No, you've got to get that answer.
18:29What are we talking about here?
18:30Obviously, you're going to get that answer.
18:32We know that Brock Purdy wants to play.
18:34He wants to play here.
18:35He wins here, and he does well here.
18:37And if you want to look at their numbers in their careers, on all the metrics, they're a lot closer than, oh, Joe Burrow, top four quarterback, Brock Purdy, Mr. Irrelevant.
18:47If you want to look at the actual numbers, postseason numbers, regular season numbers, the Niners have been better than the Bengals.
18:54Maybe not offensively in totality, but they've been better.
18:58There is no way I'm trading Brock Purdy and two first-round picks for Joe Burrow.
19:03Wow.
19:03No chance.
19:04Interesting.
19:04No way.
19:05No how.
19:05No, no thank you.
19:06Maybe you're the president of Brockistan.
19:08Not even close.
19:09I'm a guy who understands the value of first-round picks and what this team needs.
19:14I'm shocked that you're looking at it through the lens of numbers.
19:19What do your eyes tell you?
19:20What does your heart tell you when you watch these two play football?
19:23My eyes tell me that Brock Purdy is a guy who does really well in this offense.
19:27Yes.
19:28And my eyes tell me that Joe Burrow is an amazing fantasy football quarterback for a team that has,
19:34they've got better weapons than the Niners.
19:36And so he puts up better numbers, but he doesn't play more winning football.
19:41What are weapons?
19:43Weapons are wide receivers.
19:45In an offense that they go, and I would imagine they go 11 personnel, if not 10 personnel with four wide receivers.
19:52And so Joe Burrow doesn't have to execute the fakes, the motion, all of the other nuances that Shanahan runs.
19:59Like, if you asked any QB, what would you rather have?
20:04Great weapons on the outside or a great offensive line?
20:08They're all going to answer the exact same way.
20:10It just depends on how you're going to compare that.
20:13Like, the Bengals offensive line this year has not been bad.
20:15Yes, they're terrible.
20:17They don't give up that many sacks.
20:19I don't want numbers.
20:20He hasn't been on the field.
20:21The numbers are the reality.
20:21He hasn't played.
20:22He hasn't been on the field.
20:22Right.
20:23And so when he's not on the field and you've got Jake Browning, then defenses are going to scheme you up a little bit differently.
20:28Yeah, like Joe Burrow.
20:29And this is not just about the four games that he's played this year, obviously.
20:34Right.
20:34Joe Burrow has been through multiple major injuries.
20:37And we just heard Adam Schefter talk about how he has been sacked way more than Andrew Luck in fewer games.
20:43And Andrew was forced to retire.
20:45Not forced.
20:46He decided to retire.
20:47He chose to retire.
20:47Right.
20:48Right.
20:48So again, I'm with you.
20:49And a lot of that is offensive design, too.
20:51Like, the Bengals throw the ball a lot more than the Niners do because the Bengals have to.
20:56Right.
20:56That's part of the point.
20:58I mean, there's all sort of nuance here in comparison pieces.
21:01I don't think you think Brock Purdy's a better player than Joe Burrow, though, do you?
21:05I think that Brock Purdy, in this offense, is better than what Burrow might be.
21:10I don't know what Joe Burrow might be.
21:12With his injury history, and by the way, he gets hurt almost every year.
21:15And I don't know if Joe Burrow is going to be as effective running the Shanahan system as Brock Purdy is.
21:21Has Joe Burrow's injury history been significantly worse than Brock Purdy's?
21:25Way worse.
21:25Really?
21:26I mean, Joe Burrow had a knee injury his rookie year that cost him three ligaments and a meniscus.
21:32Yes.
21:32Brock Purdy had an elbow.
21:34And Brock Purdy had a toe.
21:35Multiple ligaments.
21:37There was one ligament.
21:38And it was an internal brace.
21:40And it's much less severe than an ACL, MCL, PCL, and a meniscus.
21:45It's his throwing arm.
21:46But can you admit that?
21:48No.
21:48Because he's a quarterback.
21:50Right.
21:50So his throwing arm is markedly more important than his right knee.
21:53But his throwing arm has come back and not been an issue.
21:56Same with Joe Burrow's knee.
21:56Much like when you have Tommy John.
21:58When you get the Tommy John surgery, you come back and a lot of times you're even stronger than you were.
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