@joshkirkendall
Bengals psycho and Political junkie. I'm neither conservative/liberal. Summarizing complex humans into one word doesn't make sense to me. Both can have benefits. Intolerant of MAGA. https://joshkirkendall.substack.com/
He's not even worried how this harms U.S. military personnel, adding that "We're putting the other guys in danger, and that's our job. So we're not concerned about that. … But the only ones that need to be worried right now are Iranians that think they're gonna live."
Literally the worst SecDef ever.
Knows Russia is providing intelligence to Iran on American positions in the middle east and his response is that Trump has "a unique relationship with a lot of world leaders where he can get things done that other presidents, certainly Joe Biden, never could have."
"The sense at the end of the week is that Trey Hendrickson (Bengals) and Odafe Oweh (Chargers) will probably not be franchise-tagged."
www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/...
Violently attacking American citizens to achieve a political goal is terrorism.
That's the federal government right now.
www.newsweek.com/pam-bondi-ic...
If the fed government wanted to de-escalate, they'd pull the gestapo, not increase their numbers and threaten Insurrection Act.
This is part of their plan to crack down harder.
Dylan Fairchild on Dane Brugler's all-rookie team:
"...graded out as an above-average player, especially for a mid-third-round pick. The Bengals should feel confident about their left guard moving forward, which they certainly couldn’t say last year."
www.nytimes.com/athletic/694...
With FanDuel Sports possibly shutting down (Main Street Sports Group is working on a pending deal with DAZN), the Reds are taking matters into their own hands with the other MLB teams (exception, Rays).
www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/Articles/202...
Felt like a PSA or a paid post.
ESPN mocks OSU safety Caleb Downs to the #Bengals:
"A safety hasn't been picked in the top 10 since the Jets took Jamal Adams with the No. 6 pick in 2017, but Downs is one of the three best players in this year's class."
Definitely an upgrade over Geno Stone.
www.espn.com/nfl/draft202...
#Bengals had four players with over 100 tackles this season, which is the most in franchise history.
The previous high was three players in 2023, 2019, and 1994.
Save for '94, all of those defenses listed above ranked 29th or worse.
With that win, Cincinnati concluded their 58th season with a 6-11 record.
Of their 58 seasons in existence, the 2025 season is the 30th season with a losing record -- that's 51.7% with a losing record.
Many of us old dogs aren't surprised by that...
...but damn.
It really is an awesome achievement for Myles Garrett to become the new single-season sack leader (since 1982).
However, my last playful dig at the Browns...
...Michael Strahan (16 games) and T.J. Watt (15) did it in less games. 😬😬
If you played a drinking game where you take a shot each time these announcers say Myles Garrett, you'd be dead af.
That's three quarterback sacks for Demetrius Knight.
He joins Brian Simmons, Alfred Williams, and Reinard Wilson for fourth-most sacks by a rookie linebacker in franchise history.
(this is a correction from an earlier post)
The Browns are murdering the clock in the second half with a time of possession so far of 13:20 v the Bengals 6:04.
Browns have drives of 12 and 11 plays in the second half while the Bengal have nine plays total in the third quarter only.
#Bengals running back Chase Brown has surpassed 1,000 yards rushing, his first such milestone in his career.
He's the 12th Bengals player with 1,000 yards rushing over 26 seasons (years with 1,000 yard rusher).
Corey Dillon has the most 1,000 yard seasons with six, followed by Joe Mixon (4).
This is the first game in Evan McPherson's career where he's missed two PATs in the same game.
With a missed PAT last week against the Cardinals, he has three misses on the season.
McPherson missed four in 2022, his career worst.
#Bengals
The #Bengals 2024 draft wasn't great, but we got Amarius Mims and Kris Jenkins, both regular contributors.
Based on he's playing in recent weeks, Cedric Johnson is moving up that list with sacks in back-to-back weeks, with a handful of additional pressures v the Browns today.
#Bengals QB Joe Burrow came into the game with three passes batted down at the line of scrimmage and 59 since 2020. That's tied for fifth-most in the league.
1) Baker Mayfield, 83
2) Justin Herbert, 78
3) Kyler Murray/Trevor Lawrence, 64
5) Burrow/Jalen Hurts, 59
This is the third game of the season in which the #Bengals have allowed a pick-six and a fumble return for a TD.
This is also the sixth time in franchise history.
Fun fact: All three fumbles that were lost and returned for touchdowns in this scenario were committed by Noah Fant.
The Joe Burrow's 3rd pick-six in 2025, the most in a single-season during his career. The franchise record for most in a season is four by Carson Palmer (2010) and Andy Dalton (2012).
That also gives the #Bengals QBs six pick-sixes on the season:
1) Burrow, 3
2) Joe Flacco, 2
3) Jake Browning, 1
Apparently CBS accidentally called the Myles Garrett show, "NFL Game between Bengals and Browns."
The Browns have two possessions so far and three #Bengals have already recorded pressures.
Myles Murphy and Howard Cross have hurries/hits, and Cam Sample has a strip-sack, the sixth sack of his career and first forced fumble.
Good Lord, Chase
Joe Burrow's first quarter touchdown to Chase gave the #Bengals quarterback sole possession of fourth place in franchise history with a 155 career touchdown passes.
He came into the game tied with Carson Palmer at 154.
That receiving TD by Chase Brown was his fifth receiving TD of the season, tying James Brooks (1985) for second-most by a RB in a single season.
The most? Brooks with six in 1988.
That TD also gave Brown 10 receiving TDs in his career, fifth in franchise history.
😬
Taking a momentary break, diving a bit into our actions in Venezuela on Saturday.
open.substack.com/pub/joshkirk...
We live in the dumbest times.
"The Trump administration is closing NASA’s largest research library on Friday, a facility that houses tens of thousands of books, documents and journals — many of them not digitized or available anywhere else."
www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/c...
