Locked On Bengals - Daily Podcast On The Cincinnati Bengals - Will Bengals Lose OC Dan Pitcher to Division Rival? Who Would Replace Him?

Starting point is 00:00:00 The coaching carousel is spinning, and that means that the Bengals once again might lose offensive coordinator Dan Pitcher, whose name has now emerged for at least one head coaching job. Let's break down the direction the Bengals will go if pitch goes elsewhere. You are locked on Bengals, your daily Cincinnati Bengals podcast. Part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. What up Bengals fans and welcome to another episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Part of the Lockdown Podcast Network, now the number one sports podcast network in the land. He's James Rapine. I am Jake Liscoe.

Starting point is 00:00:40 We are your host of the Locktown Bengals podcast, bringing you daily coverage of your Cincinnati Bengals since 2016, your best one-stop shop for all things Bengals anywhere out there. And, well, if you're looking for an everyday source of what's going on with this team throughout this offseason as the coaching carousel spins, we get through the NFL playoffs, free agency rapidly approaching with the combine coming up. Well, you're in the right place. Every dayers already know that. They've been checking in with this show for years now, up to a decade now, potentially, for some of our very loyal listeners. And welcome back to all you every dayers and everyone who makes Lockdown Bengals our first list. And today, the topic of conversation is the Bengals offensive coordinator. And what's going on with that job in the future?

Starting point is 00:01:28 What could be happening for Dan Pitcher is he has a head coaching interview and what the Bengals would do, if they needed to make a move for the second time in a couple of seasons at offensive coordinator. There's a lot of news happening in the coaching world. John Harbaugh is firing, really shaking things up for teams around the NFL. And we're seeing teams making moves into, what, Thursday at this point? Like, well removed from Black Monday, traditionally the day when you see a lot of coaches moved on from. And that's the topic of today's conversation in an episode brought to you by Fandul, where in the wild card round, Fan Duel is in playoff mode.

Starting point is 00:02:09 You've got profit boost packs for every NFL playoff game. Check it all out at the official sportsbook partner of the NFL. And that's Fandul. And James, what are your first thoughts here? Dan Pitcher, once again, drawing some interest for head coaching jobs, this time from a team that has poached Bengals' assistance in the past in the Cleveland Brats. Not surprised at all. I'm not surprised at all.

Starting point is 00:02:29 Dan pitcher should, especially in what, in your right, it isn't considered as weak now with the candidates that are out there. But a weaker head coaching class, why wouldn't you want to interview him? Young, bright, hardworking, worked his way up, has been in Cincinnati longer than Zach Taylor, was part of the Marvin Lewis, was hired by Marvin Lewis, the Marvin Lewis staff. and goes from that to Joe Bro's quarterback's coach throughout the Super Bowl run. And during the prime years of the Bengals, he's Joe Burroughs quarterback's coach, as Burroughs developed into one of the best quarterbacks in the league. And oh, by the way, the past couple of years, this offense, especially with Burrow,

Starting point is 00:03:12 has obviously looked great. At times looked great with Joe Flacco. And so he's done a little bit of everything. He's someone that's really thought of highly in NFL circles. You and I both know some of them. some of the interest that he was generating as an offensive coordinator a few years ago and it timed out really well for the Bengals where Brian Callahan got hired, Dan Pitcher hadn't yet been hired.

Starting point is 00:03:34 It could have really went haywire and Zach Taylor talked about it at the time. Had Brian not gotten that job when he did and let's say it takes another few days for him to get a head coaching job, well, Dan Pitcher might have been an offensive coordinator elsewhere. And so this is someone that the Bengals think highly of, Joe Burrow thinks highly of, and naturally teams across the league think highly of. And so I'm not surprised one bit that the Cleveland Browns are interested in Dan pitcher. I have a team for you that should be interested in him. But I think before that, maybe we warned Dan.

Starting point is 00:04:09 And I was up there and I like Cleveland as a city. I also know how they operate. The league thinks Kevin Stefansky is a pretty good head coach. He got blown out there. You look at what happened to Brian Callahan. Tennessee. And if you don't have a quarterback, you have nothing. You have nothing. It's so, it's so much about the quarterback. And Cleveland hasn't gotten the quarterback right outside of maybe two years with Baker Mayfield, if you want to go that route since they've been back in 99.

Starting point is 00:04:39 So Dan, they better have a damn good plan otherwise interview there and say thanks, but no thanks. But yeah, should the Browns be in on Dan pitcher? Absolutely. They should. And Cleveland is picking six this year at five and 12. You're not getting a quarterback at six, especially this. They'll get Caleb Downs. And then the defense gets even better. There's a defense in Cleveland. So if they could figure out quarterback,

Starting point is 00:05:02 I mean, this is what we've been saying about Cleveland for how long now. Like if they can figure out quarterback, they'd be a dangerous team. They made the playoffs in 2023. And that was kind of the defense was good enough to get them there. The last couple of years, they've been so dysfunctional offense.

Starting point is 00:05:15 And that's a little bit of an indictment of Stapaski. He's also running Dylan Gabriel and Shadur Sanders out at quarterback this year. Yeah, I mean, for all of the dysfunction in the Bengals front office that we've talked about over the last few years, it's hard to argue that Cleveland doesn't have it worse off right now from an owner meddling perspective and all of those things that seem to be problematic in Cleveland. I think the other thing that's interesting about this is because of it, this kind of happened with him before among Bengals fans that like, well, what if you just made

Starting point is 00:05:53 him the play call and gave him a race? And try to incentivize him to go the Ben Johnson route. Try to keep him for another year here. If you think that that's something that is important and maybe being his best interest, too, you can sell him on, look, that isn't

Starting point is 00:06:11 somewhere you want to go. Let's get your play calling here. Let's get you a little bit more money and maybe you have some better options next year. We can help build that resume a little bit more. We'll have a back year next year. Now, I think that these ideas, there's only 32 of these jobs. And these guys that are potential head coach candidates in the NFL think they can do it anywhere. And honestly, I think there's some appeal, not that it's the Browns, but like, yeah, it could be the guy that digs the Browns out of this thing. I could be the Marvin Lewis for the Browns or maybe even,

Starting point is 00:06:42 even better, right? Liam Cohen for the Jaguar, whatever the parallel is, to dig them out of a hole. But there were a lot of people that in my mentions on social media, you were like, why don't they just give him a raise and make him a play caller? What do you think? Do you think that that moves Dan pitcher enough when he has an opportunity to go take a head coaching job? It may. It should. He should not take the Cleveland job.

Starting point is 00:07:09 I don't care how the interview goes. I don't care what ownership says. I am, and I know that seems, James, are you serious? Think about the money he's going to get and this and that. And that's fine. Maybe you can turn it around. But I know ownership there isn't going to be patient. I know exactly how it works.

Starting point is 00:07:28 And it is hard if you go in there and you lose year one because you don't have your quarterback. And year two, you have a rookie. Like, it's very much the Brian Callahan scenario in Tennessee. And that was considered a good job two years ago. It wasn't the Browns. It wasn't decades and decades of quarterback purgatory at best. Browns fans have been praying for quarterback purgatory because it's just been so bad.

Starting point is 00:07:52 Like when you think of it that way, like that is awful. So the Bengals shouldn't have to do any of that for that job specifically. But here's what's interesting. If they do that and you know it's to just keep pitch for one more year, what's the plan after that? Then Zach Taylor gets the play calling back. Like then you just go back to Zach. And that's why the Bengals, I don't think they would. be in favor of that to keep pitch because then they would just say, oh, well, a year from now,

Starting point is 00:08:25 what happens? And they would ask about that. I think that would be their concern in that scenario. I think the whole idea is like, does that give us our best chance? We're running it back with the staff. Does that give us our best chance for 26? Is there any proof? Sure. Is there any proof that Dan is a better play caller than Zach? Or will he have the same? You know, people said this about Brian three years ago and now they're yeah you know in it's it's very similar in that way well with the idea maybe he may yeah maybe the whole idea i think would be the idea that's articulated by people who want zach to give up play calling in general like give him more opportunity to focus on game day management and all those things and you know you keep your your offensive you know brain trust

Starting point is 00:09:11 the collection of zach and and pitch and the rest of the staff in house and the other thing here is what would the bengals do what should the bengals do if pitch does get a job elsewhere and that answer has one obvious frontrunner and some interesting bits and possibilities out there now that some other firings have taken place across the nfl let's discuss where the bengals could go at oc if they were to lose then pitcher coming up next today's show is brought you by Robin Hood. Robin Hood is here for you and nobody knows your money goals better than you. And Robin Hood puts you in control of your money with tools that work as hard as you do. Locking on every opening, beating your PR, beating it again, channel that drive into your money.

Starting point is 00:10:04 And spoiler, Jake, that's exactly what I'm trying to do is beat my PR and a lot of different things in this new year. Well, Robin Hood puts you in control of your money. Trade stocks and EFTs, options, futures, and crypto, all on one platform. You can now build and execute your own trades from a desktop with Robin Hood legends, advanced tools, or take advantage of the new Robin Hood strategies with a tailored portfolio managed by a team of experts. You expect more from yourself, expect more from your money. Get started today at Robinhood.com slash your money. Again, that's Robinhood.com slash your money, your move. All right, Jake, before we get into potential candidates, I got to run this by you.

Starting point is 00:10:45 because there's one obvious, like super obvious team to me that should be in on Dan pitcher. Right. And unfortunate. Sorry. Yeah, it's okay. And unfortunately, it's in the division. Why would the Baltimore Ravens not be all in on Dan pitcher or insert whatever offense of mind? The reason Harbaugh, one of the many reasons, but I think the biggest reason why Harbaugh is no longer in Baltimore is he did not want to move on from Todd Monk.

Starting point is 00:11:15 well, they wanted to make a change on offense. They wanted to appease Lamar Jackson. They wanted to bring in a different offensive mind. Dan pitcher would be on my list. It doesn't mean you hire them. But if there was a team that would be scary in the division, I'm not really as worried about Cleveland. I think Dan's smart.

Starting point is 00:11:37 And he's going to say, all right, well, I'll interview and I'll learn from it and try to get one of these other jobs. Baltimore, that one is. It's the Baltimore Ravens. You're going to take that if it's offered, probably. And, yeah, you could also, I think, sell pitcher on Oakland since they have the number one, or Vegas, since they have the number one pick the Raiders. But regardless, I'll stay in division.

Starting point is 00:12:01 I think the Baltimore Ravens should have absolutely called in pitcher. Hopefully they just don't listen to Locked on Bengals, but just for my vantage point. I was trying to remember the last time because it's been Harbaugh for so long, special teams coordinator for so long as a head coach of the Ravens and I would like to dig into that more at some point that'll be on my own time not something we're probably going to do here not very many special teams coordinators to come head coaches in the NFL and before that I was obviously Brian Billick and Brian Billick was an offensive guy that won a Super Bowl because Marvin Lewis was his DC right or did Billick never win Billick won with Lewis right yeah yeah that's how that timeline works um that's the last time they had an offensive. The last head coach to have was an O.C. Before he went to coach the Ravens. I was just interested in that because they're interviewing Flores.

Starting point is 00:12:55 I think I saw. That's kind of frightening. Like Brian Flores, you know, talk about Mike McDonald giving the Bengals issues. Brian Flores gives everybody issues. Now, do I think that Joe Burrow can figure it out to a reasonable degree? Yeah, I do. but and I think they sort of started getting there against Mike McDonald in the last season of Mike McDonald in Baltimore. But yeah, I mean, I think that that is another guy that makes sense for the Ravens.

Starting point is 00:13:25 I think Jesse Minter is a guy that, and we talked about this a couple days ago, I think, or yesterday. Jesse Minter is a guy that's been linked to the Ravens as well. Fine with him. I think Dan Pitcher would be scary because it's like, oh, well, does he unlock another level for a little? Mar and then on the in that offense and then on the other side like Flores you're right it's very much McDonald-esque maybe Minter should be as well I don't feel that way as of now maybe I will in November if it happens yeah I think Mike McDaniel speaking of guys that should be considered for the OC job in Cincinnati if damn pitch were to leave Mike McDaniel in Baltimore would

Starting point is 00:14:05 make sense too you give him a good front office that that's going to be uh more in sync with what's going on. Maybe Mike McDaniel is part of the problem in Miami. I don't know. It's hard to know exactly what's going on with some of these teams between the front offices and the head coaches. But from an offensive mind point of view, linking up Mike McDaniel, his understanding of the running game,

Starting point is 00:14:26 his creativity with Lamar Jackson, Derek Henry, the Baltimore offense, that one would fit too. I think his demonstrated mastery of the run game in Miami and really getting the most out of an offense, it was really lacking at QB is another one that makes sense for Baltimore. But let's move on from the Baltimore Ravens. We'll see what happens with pitcher. There are a lot of openings right now.

Starting point is 00:14:53 I think we're waiting to see where the Harbaugh domino falls. And then you might see some other stuff start to move. There's only been the one request for pitcher so far. And we'll see if that remains true. How would you say right now, how would you say, the odds fall for Dan pitcher leaving Cincinnati because we're going to talk about what the Bengals would do, could do, should do to replace them if you were to go. What do you think the likelihood is that Dan pitcher is taking a head coaching job? Well, I can say all of the,

Starting point is 00:15:27 there's no way he should, but you're right. How many coaches really, like Ben Johnson turned down the commanders, coaches don't turn down head coaching jobs. They've been dreaming about it. Like, I get it. Like, it would be like 10 years ago, me turning down on-air radio, like, you just, you would never, you never do that. Like, that's not in your blood. Like, the whole point of what you're doing is to get there. Now, some people don't want to be head coaches, but a lot of them do. Dan obviously does. Go ahead.

Starting point is 00:15:54 It's a great parallel because you took an on-air job in Cleveland to get on-air. Great, great parallel there. In Cleveland, to be on air, to cover a team day-to-day, like all of the things that it, you know, I was able to do. and get reps and continue to grow. Like, you're right. I never thought I was going to be working in Cleveland. That was never like in the plan. And then when I took that,

Starting point is 00:16:16 I never knew I would be coming back. There was no plan to do that. You just never know how it's going to work. And so really what the way I treat the question, I just assume if you're going to get an offer to be a head coach, you take it. Because most of the time, that's the case.

Starting point is 00:16:32 And it's much easier for me to say, don't take that job. By the way, I know multiple media members that told Hugh Jackson, don't go to Cleveland. after that 2050s. Don't do that. And he did,

Starting point is 00:16:43 and it obviously didn't work. I do think it feels different. This time around, I do think the Browns are more well run now and are more appealing than even then, which gives you an idea of how far they've come, considering how it is right now? That being said,

Starting point is 00:17:00 I view your question as, how likely is it that Dan pitcher gets an offer? And I would say 25%. I think I'll probably get one or two more interviews, and I just think he's going to interview well. Now, does that team, are they able to land? Like, the Browns are going to hire John Harbaugh over Dan Pitcher if they can hire John Harbaugh.

Starting point is 00:17:20 I'm not sure they're going to get that opportunity. How many other teams are going to be in on Dan Pitcher? We'll see. But that's really how I treat your question. So I'll say 25%. I think there's a one in four chance that Dan Pitcher gets a job elsewhere. Yeah, I think that is the big question is how do the very, various other teams shake out.

Starting point is 00:17:41 Who did the Browns go kicking the tree for, whatever the same? I'm forgetting all my idioms today, James. Let's discuss the potential options for the Cincinnati Bengals. Should Dan Pitcher hit that one in four chance? Hugh Jackson's available. Hugh Jackson's at the top of the list, obviously.

Starting point is 00:18:03 We'll discuss the rest of the kid. I'm joking. We'll discuss the rest of the. of the candidates coming up next. We're brought to you today here on Locked on Bengals by Fandall with the wildcard round here. Fandul is in playoff mode and they're trying to make things interesting for you Bengals fans that aren't watching the Cincinnati Bengals in the playoffs. So every game day during the NFL playoffs, Fandals giving customers even more ways to get in on the action

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Starting point is 00:20:20 money dot com slash locked on jacson obviously will be the first candidate the bengals interview to replace gosh should we drop the bit no keep it up we'll drop no you we'll drop the bit so like big daniel referred to earlier would be my first call i think the Bengals first call logically, and many, many fans have pointed this out. And it makes sense. We'll be Brian Callahan. There's obviously history there. There's familiarity there. Zach and Brian were close when and after, honestly, when and after Brian was in Cincinnati. That's the obvious call for the Bengals to make. Do you think the Bengals would make that call? Yeah. Yeah. I think that call will be made the moment they think that there's a real chance that Dan, like if Dan goes for a

Starting point is 00:21:17 second interview somewhere and maybe even ahead of that, but it's like, hey, Brian, speed dial. And by the way, and maybe I shouldn't react because of the social media stuff or because there is a Mike McDaniel out there, Kingsbury's out there. He's a big name as well. The Bengals were really good on offense with Brian Callahan. Like I, I don't know. what people have like done like if joe burrow didn't get hurt brian callahan would have walked out the door with three straight playoff appearances as the offensive coordinator like this offense schemed around poor offensive lines and aging tyler boyd and aging joe mixon in in brian calihan's final two seasons like we we do get that right like i've just seen so much social media no way don't bring

Starting point is 00:22:09 brian back what do you mean what do you mean don't bring brian back no one's saying making the head coach. It didn't work in Tennessee. Guess what? As an offensive coordinator, he's a really good offensive coordinator, and we know it works. So I get it, like, the familiarity part of it is almost viewed as a negative in some ways. I think it's a positive because you're trying to win now. You're not trying to have growing pains and do all that, trying to win now. And they think the coaching staff has built to win now. And if pitcher leaves, well, who slides in there and gives you the best chance? Well, the guy that was putting together game plans for Super Bowl 56.

Starting point is 00:22:48 And you couldn't block Aaron Donald. And yet they were somehow in the game. Like that's really hard to do when you say it out loud. And they were. So I'll defend Brian. I think Brian Callahan would be a great choice if they get that far. Obviously, he's going to have, I think he'll have other options as well. But if he's available and Dan Pitcher takes a job elsewhere,

Starting point is 00:23:10 hell yeah, I'm making sure that Brian Callahan comes back in the building and at least interviews. And that might be a very short interview that ends with him being the Bengals offensive coordinator, which, again, I don't know why anyone would be against that. Zach's not going anywhere. So you got to remember that. And so how can you win in the fastest path to winning with Zach?

Starting point is 00:23:35 It probably would be with Brian, even ahead of, people are going to hate this, even ahead of Mikey, Mike McDaniel. He should go by Mikey. He looks like a Mikey. the way. I think people would take him even less seriously than they do already. The one thing that I saw a lot

Starting point is 00:23:52 with the Callahan candidacy to return in this hypothetical, this is a hypothetical. The impetus are still employed by the Cincinnati Bengals. So it's all hypothetical. Is well, the office didn't fall off after he left. Was it really a big, like, because what I said was

Starting point is 00:24:08 I think it would be bad if the Bengals lost that pitcher. Captain was right? I think it would be bad if the Bengals lost him. No doubt. No of the replies were like, didn't we say the same thing when Cali left? Yeah, I think it wasn't great for the Bengals who have lost Brian Callahan. The difference was is that they, like you said, it worked out perfectly from a timing point of view. They got to promote Dan pitcher who they had this air apparent in the building. I don't think anyone's talking about Brad Crackthold, nothing against Brad Crackthor,

Starting point is 00:24:33 who I think is doing a good job as a quarterback's coach. He wasn't an obvious future OC. He wasn't getting OC interviews. The only other guy on this staff, I think Troy Walters has had OC interviews. he is. That's the only other guy. And if pitch took a job, who's to say that he doesn't try to hire Troy Walters to be his OC, unless the Bengals promoted him instead, obviously?

Starting point is 00:24:55 But like, there's no obvious direct descendant on this coaching staff right now. The way pitcher was a very obvious OC in waiting. And it was something that we knew about for years as Cali was getting opportunities and the Bengals were this playoff team and pitch was getting. these interviews and the Bengals were trying to keep them around, right? There's no error parent this year. So that's why it would make sense to go back to Callahan, right?

Starting point is 00:25:22 And I know the retread argument is out there and like, well, they didn't win a Super Bowl with Callahan. Well, they had their two best years with Callahan and pitch. They have both. But in terms of trying to maintain continuity for a unit, that that will be the theme of the offseason is sustain on offense. And that's a whole other topic, James, for another day, by the way.

Starting point is 00:25:49 People are talking a lot about like, yeah, just run it back on offense. And you should always be trying to get better everywhere. And I know the priority needs to be the defensive side of the ball. Don't get me wrong. I understand that the defense needs to be significantly better than it was. But everyone is trying to get better everywhere in the NFL all the time. That's part of what makes it so hard to win in the NFL. That's going to include trying to find,

Starting point is 00:26:10 trying to find ways to get better on offense too. That's a tangent. Back to Callahan, he gives you the opportunity to maintain the processes you're doing, has familiarity with the players, the scheme, the quarterback, to keep that process and that machine rolling along at a high level if they needed to make that replacement.

Starting point is 00:26:33 Yeah, I, again, my brain cannot understand why people are like, no, don't do that. I don't care that he had a, beard and was screaming on the sideline. He had a beard during part of his time with the Bengals, by the way. He did. But was screaming on the sideline at Tennessee. A beard?

Starting point is 00:26:50 What are we doing? Like, oh, well, like, he looked different on the sideline at Tennessee than he did, like, when he was leaving. And since I'm just saying, like, his physical appearance, it was a bit different look. I don't care. I don't care that that's how it looked. I know what he is as an offensive coordinator. Like, that's it.

Starting point is 00:27:06 Like, that's it. It is very simple to me, and I don't understand why people would be like, oh, well, no, go get something new. Like, what if that's something new sucks isn't as good? Like, a lot of people think Al Golden stinks, right? Whether or not that's true, fine. But let's say Brian Callahan gets the offensive coordinator job for Detroit. Mike McDaniel gets scooped up by Washington. Dan pitcher gets a head coaching job.

Starting point is 00:27:33 Do you feel good? Cliff Kingsbury becomes something somewhere. Like, it could get barren really quick where you're like, oh, well, Brad Craigthorpe and this guy and this guy are going to interview. And maybe those people end up being good coaches. But I don't want to go through all those growing pains in a win now, like job on the line type of season for a lot of people in the building, a Joe Burroughs future on the line type of scenario. And that's what it feels like this season could be. So sometimes safe is best. sometimes going with what you know is best.

Starting point is 00:28:08 I know it doesn't sound as flashy and all this. It's a no-brainer for me if this happens. Much like Dan Pitcher was a no-brainer a couple of years ago, it's very similar to me. And we'll see if it happens, but it is very similar in that way in my mind. According to you, 75% of the time, these hypotheticals aren't happening.

Starting point is 00:28:30 So? I hope. I mean, I hope it's like 90. I hope. I hope Brian goes and becomes the Lions offensive coordinator and dominates with Jared Goff. And wherever the Super Bowl is next year, we get to interview Brian because it's Bengals' lines. That would be a lot of fun.

Starting point is 00:28:47 But there's a lot of things that need to happen between now and them. He's been in Detroit, right? That's why I mentioned it. Yeah, I mentioned it. I was working with Stafford back when Stafford was in Detroit. Last thing I'll say on this topic before we wrap up here, James, is there is a point that I think is fair, that Zach being an offensive head coach, no matter what happens there, you still have Zach.

Starting point is 00:29:08 And that's the point of hiring an offensive head coach is that when you lose your OC, you don't lose the scheme, you don't lose a continuity because Zach is supposed to be that guy. And so from that idea, you should, no matter who replaces Dan pitcher in this hypothetical, be fine. But I think where you just smooth it over the best, to your point is like you bring in the guy you're familiar with

Starting point is 00:29:31 who's run that process with you before. But if Callahan does take a job in Detroit, for example, and all these other guys are unavailable, no matter what happens if Troy Walter is getting a promotion, which I might be in favor of in that scenario. Who knows? Zach, hypothetically, better be able to maintain that thing if you're keeping him at head coach,

Starting point is 00:29:53 given his background and why they hired him in the first place. Sure. Sure. I do get that part, right? Like it can't dip. And that's where responsibilities could change, where significantly change. If you're talking about a first-time offensive coordinator that's trying to get his lay of the land, so to speak. And maybe he's in the building, maybe he's not.

Starting point is 00:30:16 And, you know, someone would say, Justin Rascati or Brad Craigthorpe or the kid out of Oregon, that I'm forgetting his name. I just had it too. Regardless, there are multiple people in the building. Yeah. him salkin, which by the way, I think it's too soon. I don't think that would be a real candidate behind the scenes, even if he interviewed. It's just me talking. I don't know. Maybe I'm way wrong. Like, that's what you're looking at. And would you feel better about the unknown with any of them than you would with the guy that, again, was the OC, was game planning with

Starting point is 00:30:52 during these high stakes games that you hope to be in this season. In 2026, I just, to me, it's why roll the dice when you can go with what you know and you probably i would imagine that brian callahan is a better coach today than he was two years ago and i think that's fair yeah that's a fair thing to think right and so why wouldn't you be interested in my mind makes a ton of sense but uh there are a lot of bangliss fans out there that um aren't on board with that which is fine but prepare yourself because if Dan pitcher walks out the door, I do think Brian Callahan is going to be high on the list and probably first on the list. There's definitely sometimes very correct preference to not see retreads in Cincinnati, not see guys come do it a second time. Sure. And I get it.

Starting point is 00:31:46 I just, I think this situation, like you said, it's pretty easy to understand your points of view and your arguments in favor of Callahan being the, and I've talked about some of them too, some of the reasons that would make a lot of sense. And there's a reason that people are like, yeah, that's very logical. I'm not saying Hugh at OC and Marvin Lewis at D.C. We're not saying that, are we? No, we're not. I'm sure that's out there.

Starting point is 00:32:11 Bring back Nick Scott. He's on a playoff team. I don't think anyone's saying that. We need to get Andrew Whitworth out at wide receiver again and get Hugh Jackson back in here and run those three offensive linemen formations. What are we doing? I'm actually fine with Andrew coming back as the swing. He can do it.

Starting point is 00:32:30 Let's wrap up there here on the Lockup Meadows podcast. Duke Tobin is speaking on Friday, which means we are planning an episode after Duke Tobin speaks on Friday. We're going to have a different programming schedule. So for the everydayers that are here at the end of this episode, you'll hear in our next episode what our plans are, but we plan to cover the Duke Tobin Presser after it happens.

Starting point is 00:32:50 And then we'll have a little breakover of the weekend. We'll be back with you on Monday if things go according to plan right now. But that's the plan right now covering Duke Tobin next year on the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Until then, thanks for listening to this episode of the Lockdown Bengals podcast. Good day and have a good one.

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