by Chris Ball & Mark Raines
Loveland, Ohio – It’s time for yet another new episode of the Queen City Sports Podcast! On this week’s episode, Chris and Mark fight through the summer doldrums and discuss what happened with the Reds’ two All-Stars, Elly De La Cruz and Hunter Greene. They also look forward to the Reds’ second half and which players are under pressure to perform, and which need to improve. They also reminisce about the glory days of Corey Dillon and how happy they are to see him as part of the Bengals Ring of Honor. To finish it up they hit on the outlook for the 2024 Bearcats on defense. And click here to read the tweet the guys referenced on all of Corey Dillon’s career accomplishments.
All this and more on The Queen City Sports Podcast, have a listen and don’t forget to leave your comments and feedback!
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Christopher Ball is a longtime Loveland resident and an attorney. He graduated from Loveland High School in 2003 and was a member of the football team before going on to become a coach’s assistant at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. He has been following and rooting for the Reds and Bengals since the early 1990s and has been through the many ups and downs that fandom has wrought over the years.
by Chris Ball
And this week, Bengals fans got a stark reminder of that process when Tee Higgins failed to sign his franchise tender after he, too, could not get what he needed in terms of a multi year deal from the team. Unfortunately, it appears that the 
In 58 games over the course of his career, Higgins has 257 receptions for 3,684 yards and 24 touchdowns. But he has never been the number one receiving option for an entire season. Those numbers are solid and he is a good wide receiver. If he proves that he can put up the numbers of a superstar WR1 for the Bengals next year, it will only benefit all parties. And so the play here isn’t to be sour about Tee’s offseason decisions, but to root like hell that if this is his last season for the Cincinnati Bengals, that he makes it his best one ever.
Before that, Burrow had been hampered by a calf injury that severely impaired his movement and his ability to plant and throw the football. But when he got healthy he won four of his last five starts before eventually suffering his season ending hand injury against Baltimore. He finished the 2023 season with 15 touchdowns, six interceptions and a 66.8 completion percentage across the 10 games that he played in. During those contests where he was healthy, such as against San Francisco, Buffalo, and Houston he threw for a combined 978 yards, 7 touchdowns and just two interceptions.
The team has stood tough and dealt with trade requests from disgruntled but important plyers Tee Higgins and Trey Hendrickson, doing all they can to ensure that both will be on the roster next year to help this team, even if it is for only one more year. Their draft strategy was a successful one, taking Amarius Mims to solidify the future at right tackle, Kris Jenkins to fill gaps at the interior defensive line, and Jermaine Burton to add the potential of an explosive playmaker at receiver given the departure of Tyler Boyd (and likely Higgins after next year).
