00:00Yesterday we played, we're going to replay what we played from Mary Kay yesterday on
00:05Baskin and Phelps, because I do think there's another way to look at these pieces of sound
00:10and kind of talk about the pressure on Todd Munkin.
00:13Certainly, we all know, and we cannot shy away from the fact that the fan base is more
00:20excited about Shadour than they are about Deshaun right now.
00:24That's just how it's been because of numerous factors.
00:28But I don't know if that's the end of the honeymoon period for Todd Munkin, if he chooses
00:34Deshaun Watson as his starter.
00:36I'm sure there will be plenty of backlash.
00:37There will be plenty of social media outrage.
00:41But if Deshaun goes out there and looks anything like the quarterback that the Browns thought
00:47they were getting when they traded for him, then I think all of that dies down.
00:51So you and I, I think, had different takes on Deshaun and the honeymoon and all this.
00:57And although I think there's going to be some natural overlap in this conversation, it's
01:03funny.
01:03I don't really think there's much pressure on Todd Munkin to get the quarterback decision
01:08right beyond what it naturally means in the locker room.
01:11Yeah, I almost wonder if you're just undervaluing what exactly Todd Munkin has to pull off here.
01:17Because I still think, now, is it likely he ends up as Jim Tomsula or Freddie Kitchens?
01:22Probably not.
01:23But it's not as if these coaches get a million years.
01:25And so you're already working under the gun in year one.
01:28And you already, if part of the idea that Todd Munkin came here was because he did such
01:32wondrous things with Lamar Jackson and quarterbacks are supposed to be what he excels in, then
01:37he's got to showcase something with these quarterbacks, even if the quarterback room is
01:41admittedly not the greatest.
01:42So when you say pressure, though, where's that pressure coming from?
01:45Because I think there's naturally going to be pressure from the fans.
01:47I don't know Todd Munkin is going to give a rat's ass about that, though.
01:50Oh, I think a lot of it has to come from internalizing it with Todd Munkin.
01:54I think Munkin himself is going to put a lot of pressure because he knows how this league
01:57works.
01:58You don't get to be 59 in the NFL without understanding that this league demands results.
02:03It demands answers.
02:05It demands showing people what you can do as instantly as you get the gig.
02:10But shouldn't there be a self-awareness within the Browns organization from Andrew Berry,
02:15from Jimmy Haslam?
02:16I think that's the scariest part of all this, is that they've lacked self-awareness at all
02:19times in the Jimmy Haslam era.
02:21And I like Jimmy more than I don't like Jimmy, okay?
02:23But the reality is, is that relying on them to have self-awareness, that's not a great bet
02:28in recent years.
02:29I don't know that I agree with self-awareness.
02:32I think they've just not cared.
02:34I think those are different things.
02:36Like, I think there are times where they've been very aware that they're going to face blowback
02:39and they've just decided that the juice was worth the squeeze, meaning the public reaction
02:45and an unsavory reaction was worth whatever they were trying to do, hence the Deshaun
02:50deal.
02:51I think they knew exactly what people are going to say about them when they made that
02:54trade.
02:55They just decided that the upside of Deshaun was worth the crap they were going to get.
02:59Different way to put this then.
03:00If they have an understanding of self-awareness, then they don't care about the blowback that
03:03would come with firing a coach after one season.
03:05Fair, but I think, again, if we're trying to be genuine, if we're trying to move past
03:11where the Browns were, no, if we're trying not to have a regression for where the Browns
03:16were before Kevin Stefanski and Andrew Barry showed up, you can't, in good faith, send
03:22Todd Munkin out there.
03:23And then if it's a five-win team and the quarterback stink, go, oh, this is clearly a problem.
03:28Get this bojo out of here.
03:29Unless they just look at him as this placeholder.
03:32And I've made this suggestion before, because I think there, although I think it's unlikely,
03:37I think the idea that if you win five games, and the same way we're looking at Deshaun Watson,
03:41if he plays 17 and there's no way he's on this team next year regardless, well, all right,
03:46Todd Munkin, you coach for one year, then we go into the coaching circuit with Arch Manning
03:52or Dante Moore or whatever quarterback is promised, and we see what good coach we can get, what
03:57proven coach we can get.
03:58All right, I know that I have pretty habitually, as have you, cut the Browns down to say their
04:05bar to clear is pretty low.
04:07I don't think this organization would ever intentionally hire a head coach for one year,
04:12meaning the transitional thing.
04:13I just don't.
04:14I think we, I understand the results, and I understand why we don't give them this kind
04:20of credit.
04:21I think if they can't clear that bar, then I just think there should, I think you're
04:26telling me you have no respect for that organization.
04:28I at least have some.
04:29It might be done in the same respect that they're doing this quarterback situation.
04:32If Shoror Sanders is great, then awesome.
04:34If Deshaun Watson is great, then awesome.
04:36But not many people say they're going to be the quarterback in 2027 and on.
04:40They could be operating the same way with the head coach.
04:42I'm not saying that they couldn't be.
04:44I just, I don't think they are.
04:45I don't think they are.
04:46I think they understand how.
04:49I think it's if he's awesome, then great.
04:50Or if he showcases enough, then great.
04:52And by the way, I think he's off to a really good start, all things considered.
04:55I just think when it comes to showcase enough, I think beyond wins and losses, I think it
05:00gets into a real slippery slope there.
05:02And you get into 2017, 18, 19, 2015 territory really quickly.
05:08I just think nothing has been promised to Todd Munkin.
05:10I think he should live with no promises.
05:11I think he instantly has to showcase that he can do wondrous things with these quarterbacks.
05:16And yes, that is going above and beyond what people expect with these guys.
05:20Is that a fair standard to hold Todd Munkin to?
05:22You might not think so, but that's the reality of the NFL.
05:24Yeah, I don't, you said wondrous.
05:26Is that the word you used?
05:27I used wondrous, yeah.
05:28I like the word usage, by the way, just so we're clear.
05:31Okay.
05:31I like that word.
05:32I like wondrous things.
05:33I don't think it has to be wondrous.
05:35I think if this offense is functional with these quarterbacks, even if the quarterbacks themselves
05:40don't look very good.
05:41But by functional, I mean they're scoring enough points a game to be in it.
05:45And it's not just what it was for most of last year, which is the defense being stifling
05:51and otherworldly.
05:53If this thing just looks functional, I think that is a massive A-plus for Todd Munkin.
05:58Because again, the quarterback room is Deshaun Watson, and Shador Sanders, who just hasn't
06:03proven to be of a specific ilk.
06:05Yeah, but he still has to clear that bar of looking functional.
06:08That's still on him to clear that.
06:10And because he has to clear that.
06:12I don't think there's a lot of pressure on that.
06:13That's where the pressure exists, because he has to clear that bar of looking functional
06:16in a spot that Kevin Stefanski, who's supposed to be this all-knowing, all-everything coach,
06:21hadn't cleared the past two years.
06:23We weren't scoring 20 points a game.
06:24We weren't even close to functional offensively.
06:27And Stefanski, somebody that got hired basically instantly after he got fired from here, wasn't
06:30able to clear that.
06:31But the difference is, I think Kevin, it's tough to say, because I wasn't in those rooms.
06:36And I've already been seen as a Kevin detractor, which is fair.
06:40I was kind of over the Kevin experience.
06:42I was too, admittedly.
06:43But I think there was a lot of, I think with Kevin specifically, I looked at a guy who would
06:48look like he was pointing any direction except for his own.
06:51It was circumstantial because of Deshaun.
06:54It was, well, they made me fire Alex Van Pelt.
06:57I think Todd Munkin's a buck stop here kind of guy.
07:00And so I just, I, I understand we haven't had functional offense for the last two years
07:06in the NFL, all fair points.
07:08I just think it's a really easy bar to clear.
07:10It should be for most people.
07:12But if we hadn't done it in the past couple of years, I can't just give you the assumption
07:15that you're going to be able to pull that off.
07:17But for Todd, I guess it's a new head coach and it's more talent on offense.
07:20You have more talent.
07:20That's the other point.
07:21You have more talent.
07:22You have more, you have more there.
07:23This offensive line should be much better than what it was last year.
07:26I'm so excited by both rookie wide receivers.
07:29I can't wait to see what Denzel Boston does.
07:31That was always my guy.
07:32Concepcion, jury's still out, but I like him way more than you do.
07:35Like there's, there's a lot to like about what this offense can be, but just to give
07:39him the idea that he's going to clear functional.
07:41I don't know that that's true.
07:42I've never, first off, I've never seen the guy coach.
07:44We don't know what he actually is as a head coach.
07:47And in the NFL, you do have to hit certain parameters.
07:49I'm not saying you got to win 10 games next year.
07:52Don't get this confused.
07:53I'm not saying you have to all of a sudden really turn water into wine.
07:57But to think in the NFL, you're given this job and you can just treat it like a lazy
08:01river ride.
08:01I just don't agree with.
08:02So I think there's pressure.
08:05I think, I think it's where we're putting the emphasis here.
08:07I think there's a lot of pressure on Todd Monk to get the offense right.
08:10And again, offense meaning functional.
08:13And I think there's, that's what he was brought in to do.
08:16And that's what, you know, he's got to do this year, right?
08:18Get the guardrails up, right?
08:20What is it when you're bowling?
08:22The bumpers?
08:23The bumpers.
08:24You got to get the bumpers up on this offense, okay?
08:26But I don't think it's about the quarterback.
08:28Because one, I think you can win for a very short time.
08:32I think you can win in spite of a quarterback.
08:34And two, you cannot make filet mignon out of mincemeat.
08:38You can't.
08:39And so if both of these quarterbacks are mincemeat, but the offense is passing the bar outside
08:45of them, meaning they're still functional in spite of the quarterback, I don't think that's,
08:49I think that should be the expectation.
08:51I don't think there should be pressure on that.
08:53I think that's just, hey, this is what it is.
08:55And this is what we expect out of you.
08:56I mean, Stetson Bennett won two national championships.
08:58Like, he can do this with mincemeat quarterbacks.
09:02This is supposed to be Munkins of War.
09:04It's supposed to be the idea that he can do something with quarterbacks that aren't perceived
09:08to be anything.
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