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  • 2 days ago
Following the Cleveland Browns' preseason opener, Andy Baskin and Jeff Phelps debate whether Deshaun Watson's starting quarterback job is completely secure. The guys dive into Todd Monken's comments regarding the quarterback position, evaluate Shedeur Sanders' potential to push for reps, and question if the Browns offense is ready for Week 1.

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00:00Oh, we had to dust that thing off, didn't we?
00:02Is it overreaction?
00:03It's a preseason game.
00:05You don't have a quarterback.
00:06You're seeing people for the first time.
00:08For the first time.
00:11You know, you got a revamped offensive line.
00:13I wasn't disappointed either, Jeff, with the pre-snap play of the Browns.
00:21Like, I thought that it was going to be worse.
00:24There was one big penalty.
00:26There was a tripping call.
00:27Yeah, it was on Titus Howard.
00:29Yeah, that hurt a little.
00:30But for the most part, I wasn't.
00:32They recovered from it and scored.
00:33Yeah, and so I wasn't.
00:36That, to me, I thought would be a problem.
00:37That, I think, will be a problem at some point.
00:40And I just think it's natural.
00:43You can't ask five guys to go out there and play like they've been playing together for 20 years.
00:48They just haven't.
00:48Or 10 years.
00:49Or five years.
00:49Or three years.
00:50Or one.
00:52And I kind of think that's where they're at.
00:54At the end of the day, they ended up with, what did they end up with penalties?
00:57Five for 42.
00:58Only one in the second half.
01:00Yeah.
01:00So, I'll be honest.
01:02To me, that was a positive.
01:04Because I expected things to look much uglier from the penalty standpoint.
01:08Now, I don't know if the referees were just kind of letting some stuff go because it was a preseason
01:11game.
01:12And they know the coaches really, at the end of the day, really.
01:14I can't quit saying it at the end of the day.
01:17But the coaches are trying to evaluate.
01:21They're trying.
01:21No one's really, you know.
01:23You'd have to do something super egregious, I think, in some situations to maybe get a flag.
01:28You might get that flag during the regular season.
01:30I think in preseason, I think the referees are a little bit more lenient in some ways.
01:36I don't know if it depends or not.
01:39But to me, Jeff, that was kind of a win at the end because I said, I knew that before
01:44the game I wanted to look and go, okay, what are they going to look like pre-snap?
01:48Because this has been a major problem during camp.
01:52And I don't think it was – I wasn't affected by it.
01:55So that means it's a win.
01:57I don't want to downplay anything that anybody might have seen.
02:00But keep in mind, Munkin's never been a head coach in the NFL.
02:05I think we keep forgetting that.
02:06There's no – well, I don't mean it from maybe that standpoint.
02:09I mean it from this standpoint.
02:11He's going to be so vanilla with what they have in the preseason.
02:14It's going to be silly.
02:16Why give Jacksonville something to study that they might see in the opener?
02:21Yeah, I can't imagine they're going to come out with three straight runs.
02:26I don't mind that.
02:27You know why?
02:28It had been almost two years since Deshaun Watson had been on a football field.
02:32Just get him out there and let him snap the ball a little bit.
02:35Honestly, nothing – I firmly believe this.
02:40I can't imagine anything in the preseason – in these preseason games is going to be the deciding factor in
02:48who starts at quarterback.
02:49And Munkin made a comment yesterday in his press conference that I found interesting where he talked about that it
02:58would be only – it's only fair that Deshaun – excuse me, that Shadour get a chance this week.
03:07And I thought, well, first of all, what's fair about pro sports?
03:12And then second of all, I thought, why is it – why would it be fair that he gets a
03:16chance?
03:17Just the way it kind of came off – and maybe we can hear that – the way it came
03:21off to me was just that it seemed like he's picked Deshaun in my head.
03:29And, well, it's only fair that it gives Shadour a chance.
03:34So, I – that's just interpretation on my part.
03:37I could quite possibly be wrong.
03:39But it was weird to me, just the way it kind of sounded.
03:43Yeah, I don't know.
03:44Did you happen to catch – we'll play that count when we get a chance.
03:47Did you happen to catch the end of the pregame show?
03:50The very last – Andrew – so, at the end of the pregame show –
03:53He did not.
03:54There's a thing – it's the final word from the head coach.
03:57And, you know, obviously, it's been every head coach that we've had.
04:01So, Todd finally had his first chance, you know, to kind of have the last word before the game.
04:07And, Jeff, I don't ever remember hearing a coach get this emotional, especially during a preseason game.
04:15The bite was this.
04:16Andrew said, hey, you know, you're a guy from Chicago.
04:20And now you've got a chance to be the head coach.
04:25And, you know, what does that mean to you?
04:27And especially here in Chicago, where you're from.
04:30And, Jeff, this is – I mean, you and I, you know, we listen to soundbites our whole life.
04:34This is one of the best soundbites I've ever heard.
04:36Where Todd said, Todd said, you know, we were coming into Chicago and we were getting ready to land.
04:45And the plane banked, as it always does in Chicago, right?
04:48There's very few smooth landings in Chicago, especially – and so he said, the plane banked.
04:57And then I looked out the window and there was Bob Bunkinfield, named after his dad, at Lake Park High
05:03School.
05:04And he goes – and then he – like, there's no way he wasn't crying.
05:09He was so choked up before the game.
05:13And I got – like, to me, I really, like – I wasn't sure when they hired Todd.
05:20And, you know, you bring up this thing about saying what's fair for Deshaun to give him a chance.
05:25And then to hear him say that – and I know a lot of you guys are like, ah, who
05:29cares what he can do.
05:30I'm telling you, they're just – there are so many times that we listen and people just – it's just
05:36verbal diarrhea, guys.
05:38Like, I got to tell you, Todd Munkin –
05:40Oh, that's an interesting visual.
05:42A lot of times, that's what we hear, right, in soundbites, in press conferences.
05:47I know Dan will agree with me on that.
05:49Right?
05:50Right?
05:51I mean, we hear that a lot.
05:53Yeah, Andy, we've been really impressed with how our guys have been able to go out there and execute what
05:58is necessary of our coaches and our players.
06:01And that's in Atlanta now, right?
06:03Yeah, that was Kevigan.
06:04I got to tell you, when Todd said that at the end, right before the game on Saturday, I was
06:10like, wow.
06:11I'm like, this guy's real.
06:14Wow.
06:14You guys laugh at me with a –
06:16He's real.
06:17No, don't belittle this.
06:18Kevin was not real.
06:19Don't belittle this.
06:21Like, you know what I'm saying when it comes to coaches and, like, the makeup of Browns fans and the
06:28fact that Browns fans continue to go to the stadium,
06:31despite the fact that we haven't seen winning, despite the fact that, you know, these teams have been horrible.
06:36And, like, you know what Browns fans truly want.
06:39And they want to win.
06:40And they want to be able to go to that stadium and say, we're here for a playoff game.
06:44And we've got a chance to make the playoffs.
06:46And we've got all of this great history, where we're from, that has just been laid out and it's dead.
06:54We want it to come back to life.
06:56And I don't know.
06:57There was just something about the way Todd said that at the end of the pregame show that kind of
07:02just caught my ear
07:03and made me understand maybe what Todd's all about as a person and as a man.
07:08Because I think we want to know them.
07:10I think we've always wanted to know that.
07:11You grow up in Cleveland, you want to know those guys.
07:15You want to feel like you have a personal connection.
07:17And, man, if you go back and listen to the end of that pregame show on Saturday,
07:20you would have that personal connection.
07:22And I know sometimes you get on me because I look at things a little bit different,
07:27especially when it comes to having a connection, actually caring about our community,
07:31wanting to be a part of our community.
07:33And at the end of the day, it's always, well, it's a business.
07:36It's not always a business.
07:37And Munkin's a guy that probably thought he was never going to get a chance to be a head coach
07:41in the NFL.
07:42He finally got it here in Cleveland.
07:43And it was just something about that moment when he was talking about flying over that field
07:47where the field is named for his dad.
07:50And it's just like, oh, it's why we love the passion and the emotion of sports.
07:57Now I'm going to go back to what you were saying.
07:59So just tee that back up because we've got that bite.
08:03Todd, speaking yesterday, said something about Shadour and the quarterback fight
08:07that I thought was interesting, open to interpretation maybe.
08:12I did feel going into last game that it was relatively close, you know,
08:18in terms of both having an opportunity at the starting position.
08:21So it would be unfair to not go into the next game and allow Shadour that opportunity,
08:27albeit a different team, certainly at home.
08:30There's no guarantee that, you know, the same players will be playing this game,
08:34but it's the closest you have.
08:36And we owe it to both players who have really handled it well
08:40and have competed at a high level.
08:43We owe it to them.
08:45Really?
08:45Yeah, no, I heard it.
08:46It's in the beginning.
08:47Really?
08:47Yeah.
08:48Yeah.
08:49It's in the beginning of the bite, Rick.
08:50It kind of makes it sound like...
08:52It wouldn't be fair if...
08:53And I just thought, really?
08:58Again, I'm convinced that being an offensive-minded coach,
09:06he knew three months ago who he wanted to start a quarterback.
09:12He just needs to maybe see it on the field a little bit.
09:14Make sure that guy doesn't disappoint him down the stretch.
09:17I just think the only problem I have with it is, man,
09:21you're kicking this thing so far down the road,
09:23we saw the offense not look good, you know, all the way around.
09:26The only time the offense actually looked good
09:28was when Deshaun led a couple of scoring drives.
09:31And I'm not even giving Deshaun credit for that.
09:33I'm giving it to the whole Browns offense.
09:36You know, when the starting offensive line was out there,
09:39they put up three points.
09:40Next bunch of guys, they put up a touchdown drive.
09:43Okay.
09:45It just...
09:46There's nothing fair about pro sports.
09:48And the fact that he even said it, it wouldn't be fair.
09:51I thought, wow.
09:53Okay.
09:54Didn't it sound almost like he was the underdog in this?
09:56Shador is.
09:57Yeah.
09:57Yes.
09:58Yeah, that's the way it came off to me.
10:00But truthfully, shouldn't he be?
10:03Be what, the underdog?
10:04Yeah.
10:05Yeah.
10:05Based on experience in the league.
10:07You would certainly think so.
10:09Let me throw this one at you.
10:11Just based on this conversation that we're having right now,
10:13do you think the job came with Deshaun as the starting quarterback for Todd?
10:19You mean Todd had the, hey, we want you to start this guy?
10:22Yeah.
10:22No.
10:23No.
10:25You think return on investment a lot more than I do.
10:29And you could be absolutely right.
10:32I think more than anything, it's like,
10:35if he can uncover anything of what he had in Houston,
10:38he might be the better guy right now.
10:41And if I'm Todd Munkin,
10:43I'm going to play the guy that gives me the best chance to win.
10:46Because if you're an experienced coach
10:52who is finally getting your NFL chance,
10:56you're going to bank on ownership.
10:59You're going to bank on the general manager saying,
11:02oh, it's okay.
11:03We're planning for the future.
11:06And we want to see things.
11:08And, you know, it's more about development.
11:10You going to bank on that?
11:13I'm not banking on that.
11:14If I'm Todd, I'm thinking, I've got to go win some damn games.
11:20I think, though, that if you were in Munkin's spot
11:23and they said to you, hey,
11:26the job comes with Deshaun as a starter in the beginning of the season,
11:28at least,
11:30and you've got finally the opportunity.
11:32You think that was said?
11:33No, I actually don't think that's anything.
11:36I hope it wasn't said.
11:38How's that sound?
11:39Well, I don't think it was.
11:40I hope it was.
11:41That's not said.
11:41I hope not to.
11:42But you'd be a fool not to think, okay,
11:45that could be a possibility.
11:47Knowing, again,
11:48and I know you don't want to talk about return on investment,
11:50but, I mean, plenty of first round picks.
11:52There might be some validity to that.
11:53I just think, you know,
11:55I think Todd has to start the guy that he thinks gives him the best chance
11:59to win some football games because we all know, you know,
12:02coaching is not the most stable profession.
12:06You can look at the guys that the Haslam's fired after one year.
12:10Heck, is it Chud and Freddie?
12:13Who else?
12:14I'd have to go back and even look, make sure there aren't any more.
12:17That we're here for like five minutes?
12:19Well, we had a, yeah.
12:22Oh, we're forgetting our favorite guest.
12:25Yeah, Greg Williams.
12:26Well, Greg was interim.
12:28But he had a winning record.
12:31It's true.
12:32Let's not keep him around.
12:33All right, I know we get.
12:35True, it made too much sense.
12:36Wait a minute, he coached us to more wins than losses?
12:39Let's get somebody else.
12:40But I do see some of that in Todd.
12:42Like, I see that.
12:43Yeah.
12:44Yeah, there's a similarity there.
12:46Yeah.
12:46Which I'm okay with.
12:47I like it.
12:48Nothing wrong with it.
12:482-1-6-4-7-4-0-0-92.
12:512-1-6-4-7-4-0-0-92.
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