RUSH: Here is Josh in Dayton, Ohio. Nice to have you on the EIB Network.
CALLER: (massive static) Hi, I just wanted to get your thoughts on the Bengals signing T.O. (garbled)
CALLER: Yes, sir.
RUSH: Josh, where are you? I have to know where you are?
CALLER: I work at a machine shop.
RUSH: A-ha. Are you inside the machine?
CALLER: Pretty close.
RUSH: Yeah, I was going to say. You sound like you’re in a barrel or down in the end of a tunnel or something. Okay. What do I think of the Bengals hiring T.O.? I think it’s perfectly within character. The Cincinnati Bengals have been hiring questionable characters for a long, long time. I think it’s probably a good time to them to hire T.O. because TO. knows he’s the number two receiver now. Chad ‘Ochocinco’ is the number one receiver on the team. Supposedly they’re friends, Chad Ochocinco has a reality show, T.O. has a reality show, and they’re apparently good buddies — and ‘Pacman’ Jones is on that team now, too. Adam ‘Pacman’ Jones is at cornerback. (interruption) Well, it happened in the off season, Snerdley. That’s what I mean, the Bengals have a track record of hiring some of these guys. They take a chance on them, like Al Davis used to do at the Raiders. So who knows? They know something…
CALLER: (massive static)
RUSH: Josh, this is the strangest…
CALLER: (static) (click)
RUSH: Did he hang up? We just lost him. I know he’s out there listening. Josh, if you’re a Bengals fan, this is it. I mean, we’re nearing the point in time this is it for Carson Palmer, the quarterback. He wants the weapons. They’ve got some running backs. They’ve been stymied, because they had one receiver in Chad Ochocinco. Double Chad. They haven’t had a tight end there of any note. They do have one now. Baltimore is coming on with a great off season, so it’s going to be fun. (interruption) Who signed anybody of merit? What teams have signed anybody with merit? What are you talking about? T.O.’s got merit. Look, T.O. takes two years to take over a clubhouse and destroy it. He did fine after one year in Buffalo. He did fine down in Dallas.
It took him his second year to blow up things for McNabb in Philadelphia. It took a bunch of years to blow the 49ers. He’ll be fine, I think, for one year in Cincinnati. If he is, as they say and as is being reported, comfortable and has accepted the fact that he’s not the #1 guy on that team, cool. Ochocinco is. Chad Ochocinco 30 or 31 years old. T.O. is 35. Thirty-five is the magic number. (interruption) Who? (interruption) T.O.’S 36? Even better. Thirty-five, 36 is the magic number for skill position players and when the teams start looking at young players. Running backs, it’s even younger than that. (interruption) What? What? (interruption) Hmm? Hmm? (interruption) The Steelers are a big enigma. The Steelers don’t know what quarterback they’re going to have for the first four or six weeks.
Their best offensive lineman who was down there in Georgia with Roethlisberger in a bar on the pub crawl blew out his Achilles a couple weeks ago. He’s out for the season. So the Steelers just picked up the Cowboys’ rejected offensive tackle, left tackle Flozell Adams, who is 35. So they’ve got this number one pick, Maurkice Pouncey, center from Florida. He can play right guard or center. (interruption) Well, Brett Favre, Brett Favre, Brett Favre, Brett Favre! It’s interesting that Brett Favre, Brett Favre, Brett Favre, Brett Favre, is not occupying everybody’s curiosity this offseason. It’s just assumed that after two or three preseason games have played that Brett Favre, Brett Favre, Brett Favre, Brett Favre, will show up and play.
Remember, now, the Vikings and Brett Farve, Brett Favre, Brett Favre, Brett Favre open on Thursday night against the Saints in a rematch of the championship game. It’s the Thursday night NBC opener. Brett Favre, Brett Favre, Brett Favre, Brett Favre, Brett Favre will be there. And I think pretty much everybody knows this. Now, as you know I happen to be a Steelers fan, and apparently (based on the OTAs and the mini-camps in the off season) they’re going to go with Byron Leftwich as their number one quarterback. He spent some time with them two seasons ago, spent some time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers last year.
The guy I like on that team is Dennis Dixon, the number two quarterback who got a chance to play in Baltimore against the thugs when Roethlisberger was out of the concussion last year. I love Dennis Dixon. I think he’s a great player. (interruption) Dallas? You know, Jerry Jones had something very interesting the other day. He talked down the Cowboys’ chances this year. Normally he’s just bulldozing all the way to the top, the championship or bust. The Super Bowl’s in their stadium this year, and secretly (and everybody knows this; it’s not a secret) Jerry Jones would give anything to be the first ever team to play in its own stadium in the Super Bowl.
So that’s their objective. So Jerry Jones, with a new procedure, is talking a little humility about the team’s chances this year, which is an indication that dead serious about it. And Peter King, Sports Illustrated, just finished a visit there. He said player for player they’ve got the most depth of any team in the National Football League, especially at the skill positions. Most depth. Best roster. Meaning they can afford to lose front-line people and not lose as much as most other teams. So this is a great time in the NFL season. There are about 32 teams, and about 28 of them think they have a chance. Only four of them know that it’s hopeless. (laughing) There are four of them know and their fans that there’s not a prayer, but 28 — 28 teams — think this could be their year.