00:00to talk uh the browns quarterback situation their outlook for this year the importance of trying to
00:04win this year we head out of the wise heart right we make it right call kyle wright hotline and
00:09welcome on long time nfl analyst uh former nfl head coach former college football head coach
00:15herm edwards joins us now uh coach welcome to the show thank you and uh former nfl player and i
00:23used
00:23to hate when i was with philly going to play cleveland in cleveland why was that cold they
00:29were no they were pretty good mean no they were good they were a good football team back in the
00:36day
00:36my hero um and they got a good football team defensively very good and to be ashamed to
00:42waste this defense uh this year uh last year it was wasted obviously the fourth ranked defense in the
00:48national football league and they know how to hit the quarterback when they hit him what 53 times
00:53they sacked him they only give up 14 points your record should be better than 5 and 12 you got
00:58a
00:58defense like this and then we we we know the issue you guys just talked about it uh the quarterback
01:04and um who's gonna play quarterback and who can play consistency consistent form is going to be the
01:10key um and they're going to have to score more than 16 points i mean you got a defense that's
01:15only
01:15giving up 14 points game guys you shouldn't be 5 and 12 you're off against to do anything to just
01:20get to 21 and your whole life changes as a football team so it's interesting you say this herm because
01:27we've had countless conversations about how the browns just have to get back to being functional
01:31on offense uh the quarterback the quarterback is what it is you can't you know either shador will
01:37be able to take the jump or he won't deshaun will either be able to stay healthy or he won't
01:42but it seems like the browns tried to quarter but not quarterback proof it but but pad around the
01:48quarterback uh how much better do you think they can be offensively this year just based off the
01:53wide receivers they drafted in a rebuild offensive line well you're right and and they addressed it
01:59on the offseason got the big tackle out of utah and two really good receivers in college football
02:05and hopefully that can generate some some excitement but they got a runner that no one can tackle
02:11already in in the fold so if they can just function offensively and and the key is this if you
02:16can just
02:17you know move the ball uh and you don't have to score every time but just move the ball to
02:23give
02:23the defense the ability to rest and they can get you some field position if you can just move the
02:29ball
02:29and make people play you know on on the bad side of the field offensively because you can't move the
02:34ball on this defense and if you could just do that a couple series that gives you a short field
02:40and you know on the short field you should be able to score so i just think that they
02:43they have the makings of a good football team um no doubt about that just offensively and you guys
02:50mentioned it and everybody's mentioning it you know and in the quarterback i mean guys i'm taking
02:55up you don't have a quarterback that field is 120 yards long you don't have a quarterback all right
03:02so how do we get there uh shador versus deshaun watson who do you think has the the edge to
03:06start
03:06week one how would you roll this out well i'm not at practice i'm not in the meetings i'm not
03:12any of
03:12that um when you look at uh you know deshaun i mean look he he is you know at one
03:21point i mean
03:22he was really really good now i don't know what there's a lot of things that's happened since then
03:28can he can he mentally come back from all that i don't know is he physically the same player i
03:33don't
03:34know i don't see him every day i don't i don't i'm not in the building uh shador uh obviously
03:40you
03:40know he has some athleticism um but he hasn't played a lot you know he doesn't have a lot of
03:45experience playing you know so i think you're hoping one of these guys just grabs it and like
03:52you're the guy man go you know because they have the makings on one side of the football that can
03:59can
03:59play against anybody and that's that defense herm it's interesting to kind of talk about this team
04:05and where they are uh i really like the hiring of todd munkin and i i like he he said
04:11something the
04:12other day in day one of practice that basically he's like i don't name the starting quarterback
04:16the players do uh so what does either deshaun or shador have to do in the eyes of their teammates
04:25to
04:25win the quarterback battle they got they got to capture the huddle that's what the quarterback has to
04:32he has to capture the huddle he walks in there and those offensive players look at him and they
04:37don't want to they don't want him to fail they want to play for the quarterback in any offense you
04:43can ask any offensive player that's the key are you willing to play for the quarterback and the
04:48quarterback got to earn that trust he's got to earn it and when he does that these guys will fight
04:53for him he doesn't have to be the most talented guy at all but you know if they if they
04:58if they love
04:59playing for the guy then then then you got yourself quarterback and that's what one of these guys has
05:04to do and they know it and everybody's watching it and all eyes are on i can't imagine going to
05:11practice every day how many people just looking at the quarterback all day they're not even watching
05:15the rest of the team they're just trying to figure out who the quarterback is and you know what you
05:18don't know you ain't gonna know you ain't gonna know until they kick the ball in the air for real
05:24and it's gonna take you a month and within a within a month you got to figure it out who's
05:29the guy and then and then hopefully you're in a position where you can say he's the guy who got
05:35to live with him because the thing you do not want is every other week you're talking about changing
05:40the quarterback because that's going to be those are going to be the conversations on all the radios
05:45and all the televisions and everybody's talking should we switch the quarterback now because he's
05:49struggling players don't want to hear that they really don't want to hear that
05:56was shador unfairly judged you know last year worst offensive line in the league worst wide
06:01receiver group in the league and he was expected to do a lot on a team that was really not
06:06going
06:06anywhere was he at the end of it when you look back on it was he unfairly judged yeah and
06:11plus his
06:12last name is sanders you know so he but but he understands that and i've known him since he's a
06:19little kid you know and when when when your daddy is deon sanders and you you play quarterback that's
06:25even bigger you know because now all the all the spotlight's on you so you know he's in a spot
06:33where
06:33he loves to compete he gets that part of it he doesn't make any excuses he knows it and he
06:41knows i got a
06:41chance to be the starting quarterback john watson can he resurrect his career we've seen quarterbacks the
06:47last couple years in this league have resurrected their careers now they went to other places but
06:52they resurrected their careers and that's where the sean's at what should our expectations be in year
07:00one of todd munkin i would hope this team found a way last year to win five games okay can
07:08they win
07:09eight can they win nine can they win eight or nine games that would be big not knowing going into
07:18this
07:18season that you didn't know who your quarterback was gonna be you know what your defense looks like
07:23you've done some things to pick up to fix the offense now can the quarterback just functionally play
07:31in this offense whatever the offense is to move the ball to score some points can you score can you
07:40score 20 points a game find a way pick three field goals it don't matter just get to 20 because
07:46your
07:47defense has proven look they can't score on us unless we turn the ball over or give them a short
07:54field
07:55the only way the team the other team should get the ball i always tell the guys you kick it
07:59to them
07:59guys you kick the opponent the ball whether it's you kick a field goal you kick after the touchdown or
08:06you punt it but you kick it to them that's the only way the opponent gets the ball even those
08:12way of
08:12kicking it to them they're all good but kick it to him don't fumble it to him don't throw interceptions
08:17if you just do that we'll be in the game you know you mentioned a couple times it seems like
08:21you
08:21think the defense is gonna be pretty strong this year vocally i feel like there's a lot of questions
08:25you know jim schwartz leaves you get mike rudenberg in here obviously miles garrett gets traded i we
08:30like jared verse an awful lot but he's just he's not miles garrett at least not yet maybe not ever
08:36but at least not yet uh how much of a drop off should you expect with this defense or do
08:41you think
08:41they can be right where they were last year well you lose miles garrett now and schwartz i mean you
08:48know
08:48he he he understand schwartz understood the room you know he he knows what to call in certain
08:54situations with his players because he he was he was good with his players so now um you sit with
09:02the loss of a coordinator the loss of maybe one of the best players in football um with a team
09:10that's
09:10still defensively because these players you know what these players are listening to all this
09:14they're going yes schwartz is gone okay our best player is gone this defense is not going to be
09:20very good those players are in that hole saying okay watch this right those players y'all that know it
09:29this this applies to group when you're when you're in the top five in defensive national football league
09:34you're pretty dead gum good last time i checked in this league you're really good and they know it
09:40now they've lost some good players they lost the coordinator but they're saying hey man wait a minute
09:44now we still got a room of a room of really good players here so they got something to prove
09:50too
09:52herm pittsburgh uh just down the road there our biggest rival maybe not in their minds they got a
09:58new head coach uh but quite familiar with erin rogers uh we kind of i kind of look at them
10:03as like
10:03a boomer bus team just because of their age what are your expectations for the erin rogers mike mccarthy
10:09reunion oh i think it works uh i know mike i gave mike his first job actually um he has
10:16a great
10:17rapport with erin rogers i think this is why erin rogers came back he didn't want to end his career
10:22the way it ended last year he feels he has a chance now with mike being a offensive uh i
10:29mean excuse me
10:30the head coach you know call plays whatever that there's a comfort there mike probably had a lot of
10:36say look man we we can get this thing done you know we got a division where in baltimore they
10:43got
10:43a new head coach right all of a sudden you know say what you want about coach hardball one of
10:49the
10:49best coaches in national football league they got a new football coach so now you you know you're
10:54you're looking at this and you go oh this is interesting browns are trying to figure out who the
10:59quarterback is okay this is an interesting division all of a sudden what do you make of joe burrow at
11:05three straight years not making the playoffs oh boy doesn't have a defense really i coach i i don't
11:10know what to do with him i don't know what to do with the bangles i don't know what they
11:13do if they
11:13miss the playoffs again this year well i know this can joe burrows play every game
11:21can he can he can he just play every game i i think he's i think he's really good and
11:27i think
11:27there's offense when he's under center and they're rolling oh boy they're fun to watch now but that's
11:35been the problem as we know you know you look at all the talent there and you go why why
11:39these guys
11:40can't win a lot of times quarterbacks not available right it's just it just that's it's almost like you
11:46just hate to see it it's like come on man come on what y'all waiting on and and it's
11:50a team you know
11:51when you look at it you go god god man why do they always fall short well time's running out
11:57for
11:58everybody in cincinnatic right we know that i mean you look at it you go hey man these guys are
12:04too
12:04talented to be playing the way they played and so you know that they were what six and eleven last
12:10year
12:10i mean come on now their defense wasn't very good right they're 31st in defense yeah defense is bad
12:19i mean it's terrible and they couldn't stop the run you know i mean so you know they got to
12:26fix that
12:26exactly i gotta fix my defense if i can just fix my defense keep my quarterback healthy we have the
12:32the parts here to be pretty good because joe burrows when he's healthy and he can play
12:39he's a really good quarterback guys coach it is always great to talk football with you glad we
12:45could catch up and i'm sure we'll be bugging you down the line here once we get a little farther
12:49down the line isn't it great now we're about we're about a couple weeks away and we're gonna play a
12:55preseason game and i know people don't like preseason but the one thing about that preseason
12:58game in canton everyone knows guess what football is back football is back excellent stuff there coach
13:04coach herm edwards there long time uh college and football head coach of course
13:10former nfl player espn nfl analyst on the wise heart right we make it right call kyle wright hotline
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