00:00our next guest one of our favorite guests fanta in 60 every monday on nbc sports platforms the
00:08man is a gentleman he read a statement about the michigan western michigan game that got people
00:12mad for some reason he is the face of sports now i have declared him thus on the wise heart
00:18right
00:18we make it right call kyle right hotline john fanta nbc sports very own and cleveland's very
00:24john welcome back to the show good afternoon guys great to be with you as always well it's great to
00:30have you here so you heard monk in the maximizer refer to deshaun's meltdown on and off the field
00:37uh over preseason game number two is a minor speed bump small speed bump uh what did you take away
00:45from that answer there john yeah that that todd munkin proposed to the browns that he'd be able
00:53to fix this guy you know that that was part of his pitch to getting this job and he's trying
01:00to
01:00take on a positive persona ahead of the season opener if you can't on september the 8th then when
01:07can you have that type of attitude and look he's named him the starting quarterback of the team
01:13if he now says it was a major obstacle and it was a major problem then how the heck could
01:22this guy be
01:23starting you know i i think that this was this was coach speak and this was coach munkin trying to
01:29uplift his quarterback and uplift his guy before the opener and guys i'm not gonna i'm not gonna
01:34be critical of that at the end of the day todd munkin is judged starting sunday the browns players
01:42are judged starting sunday so i thought that preseason performance was was brutal i thought the press
01:50conference sealed his fate and and unfortunately in my opinion uh it's unfortunate that it did not
01:57um because of of what he did after that to say that it's a minor speed bump you know we
02:04all saw it we
02:05all heard it there was nothing minor about it so i don't like that todd munkin said it i get
02:11why he said
02:12it and his quarterback better pay off his head coach on sunday afternoon and play at least decent
02:20football uh did you think munkin created an unnecessary quarterback controversy in trying
02:26to bring taitlin green into the equation as a potential backup and and maybe just maybe you'd
02:31have shador sanders as the emergency quarterback yeah i think he did create a uh drama that frankly i
02:40wouldn't have created right now you know even guys even if um he had done that in the depth chart
02:47all right and then maybe said something subtly like coming out with it this way and creating this this
02:55further competition for this number two spot it's it's not needed right now for this football team
03:02um i i i i don't see any gain from that now you know look if it to me the
03:09the other message on this
03:10is uh taylon green appears to have advanced himself past shador sanders and todd munkin's book
03:18for definitely the long term because why else would todd munkin say that but i would also say this
03:25why would you put that out there why would you put that out there when you could at least put
03:31up a
03:31facade that shador might have some value you know i'm not i'm not saying that the browns were ever
03:37really going to move him and i also am not saying that there's another football team out there that
03:41wanted to make a move for him okay i don't see why you would make a move for him but
03:47by saying what
03:48munkin said it basically like because what expectations do you guys have for taylon green my
03:55expectations are he was a sixth round pick what can i honestly expect from the kid i hope it i
04:00hope he
04:01works out that'd be wonderful but i have no expectations for this guy when you come out and
04:06say that that's an indictment on jador sanders i expect he's going to be a nice gadget player but
04:12that'll never throw the ball well enough to be a quarterback uh ever consistently in the nfl yeah
04:17i just have zero expectations really is what it is like taysom hill is like the the absolute best
04:22case scenario i just i just don't know why he said it john because it doesn't make sense like there's
04:26no there's no world that exists where he's going to rely on a broke to sean watson and then the
04:31backup
04:31quarterback actually be taylon green if that is if that is your case then i got a lot of problems
04:36with
04:36how you run a football team well but but this goes above him too and this and and the reason
04:44why i say
04:45that is this no organization has mismanaged a single position in sports more than the cleveland
04:52browns have mismanaged their quarterback room this can't be your room heading into week one
04:57it can't be it's like we talked about before i'd sign up for mac jones i mean i i i'd
05:05sign up for
05:06uh bryce young level play right now and i'm i'm not suggesting that that's great or even good but this
05:13to me and if you two disagree go ahead and disagree with me but if you've got watson after his
05:21after his dramatics and taylon green is your number two quarterback that's not that's not rough
05:28that's organizational incompetence in my opinion the players deserve better than that
05:37john all that being said how you feeling about week one against jacksonville
05:43well look i think jacksonville is is still one of the more overlooked teams in in the nfl in terms
05:50of how much they're discussed on the national airwaves because they're the jacksonville jaguars
05:55and they play in a lower size market in the national football league and so they're not going to draw
06:01the
06:01clicks they're just not but year two of trevor lawrence and and liam cohen that's a concern for me on
06:08paper
06:08for the browns defense because the browns defense has somebody that's new that's calling their scheme
06:13and and and has you know pieces that they have high expectations for but still have to deliver
06:18hello this is the jacksonville team you know they they've got a a quality passing game about them
06:25they've got weapons whether it be brian thomas jr or parker washington or you know jacoby myers i know
06:30he's been a dinged up and whatnot but they've got weapons and they showed it last year they were a
06:35really good team and and trevor lawrence trevor lawrence had a a fantastic season and there's
06:40there's a world where if jacksonville can continue to accelerate that trevor lawrence is
06:45kind of a dark horse mbp candidate i think the jags can absolutely win the afc south i mean they
06:51have
06:51the the least questions to answer in that division because cj stroud he's got a lot of questions to
06:56answer in the afc south he hasn't proven that he can be consistent through the course of the season
07:01so the jags they're a really good football team guys like that they are a a top 10 football team
07:08and and could be better than that they could be like top seven top six if if things pan out
07:13for
07:13them their defense flies all over the place uh they've got a very good defense and a well-rounded
07:19unit and you know i wouldn't want to play them week one because you got to go down there it's
07:24going
07:24to be hot they've they're as healthy as they've been and that's the defense that watson's got to look at
07:30and i kind of laugh when people are like well look at sean watson's record in his career against the
07:34jags these are not the jags of the past uh they've got connectivity between quarterback head coach
07:40they play really good defense they don't let you run the football their their run defense is really
07:45really good so i'm worried about the browns in this matchup there's a lot that's stacked against
07:49them heading into this game um and you know i but but the one thing you can say is it's
07:58week one
07:59there are always some nerves and there are always uh there are always weird things that can happen
08:05in week one so who knows all right what's a successful week one for deshaun look like
08:13um i would say i'm going to look at what he does look a successful week one is is that
08:20his team is in
08:21the football game because of him uh and and not losing the game uh because of him the a successful
08:28week one looks like you know i'm gonna say uh 20 20 plus completions would be wonderful uh and then
08:38throwing for a couple hundred yards would be wonderful it's not going 13 of 24 and throwing for
08:45145 yards or 155 yards that's that's not a a successful week one in my book a successful week
08:52one is he's completing 21 to 24 passes he's throwing for you know i mean i look at his at
09:02the last time
09:03we saw this guy and he threw for just shot he never reached a game where he threw for 200
09:07yards
09:07so can he hover close to that and can he avoid interceptions but if he's going 16 of 23 for
09:15165
09:16yards and everything's dink and dunk and there's really nothing there guys i'm gonna say what the
09:20heck are we doing this is the same thing over and over and over again so i want to see
09:25him come out
09:26and i want to see him show and i want to see tab monk and show this too like i
09:30i i am going to say
09:31this about about uh about deshaun and you guys know how my feelings are about deshaun
09:39but um if they don't if they don't get some of their new weapons and they've got some weapons
09:44like if the national people have gone to campus said hey you know kiki concepcion denzel boston like
09:51harold fan and the browns do have some people that can get open i want to see our guys getting
09:55open
09:55and is there an availability to throw the ball 15 yards down the field 20 yards down the field and
10:00and have an opportunity to look like a competent offense and hey where does that get tested most
10:06where does that get tested most what the heck did you do on the first drive of the game you
10:10know
10:10the one thing um that even even poorly coached teams can come out and put up a good first drive
10:16it happens a lot in football hey if the cleveland browns are putting up a good opening drive and
10:21they go down the field and they score a touchdown it changes everything about sunday because i do trust
10:26that defense i and i really trust that defense when they get a lead so i want to see how
10:32he comes out
10:33and i want to see him have at least 20 completions and i'd like to see him go for at
10:37least 200 yards
10:38that that's what success looks like for me i don't want to be sitting there with two minutes on the
10:42clock and saying what would have happened if someone else was the quarterback in this game
10:45and and maybe they wouldn't have had a chance to win maybe they'd already be winning this game
10:51john were you surprised by the social media fury that uh that you might have been on the receiving end
10:58after reading the big 10 statement and people taking the big 10 statement about the end of the
11:03western michigan michigan game to be your personal thoughts well i'm not surprised um by any of that
11:12and for the record it was the nbc sports statement which which stated um that the big 10 is the
11:20arbiter of
11:20of the football game i mean that that that's what our statement listed so uh i'm i'm am i surprised
11:28by social media fervor over over a very controversial finish to a football game i'm not surprised one bit
11:35uh but you know that that statement came from nbc sports uh that statement was not from the conference
11:42and i i'm not in the least bit surprised i mean here here's the deal guys i don't i didn't
11:50officiate the
11:50game i don't clock keep the game um it's it's you know my opinion uh which i stated last night
11:57on on
11:57my fans in 60 show was was pretty simply put if the officials had never gone to look at the
12:05clock
12:06would we even be remotely considering that there should have been a second left and the answer to
12:11that question is no and the other opinion i have is um it's 2026
12:19we have to get to a point uh this has to be an example setter that something like this could
12:25never
12:25happen again and if that means that the three of us are watching a football game and there are tenths
12:29of a second and that guarantees that you get something correct then i'm not i'm not against it
12:35because it means that we got it right western michigan their head coach lance taylor their
12:39quarterback brock lowry their team those players the mac champions they deserved better on saturday
12:46um but you know in terms of saturday and or in terms of sunday and the the reaction from social
12:54media nick and jonathan look um you guys do a show every single day and you you hear a lot
13:00on social
13:00media i cannot control what people say on social media uh but you know that that was that was uh
13:07that was a statement from nbc sports and uh i hosted the show and i read the statement that came
13:13came from
13:14us which was a statement that stated that that the big 10 is the arbiter of what happened in that
13:21football game and so i i'm not sure if people uh elected to not listen to what the statement was
13:28but that was the that was the statement that was read all right uh give us your ohio state texas
13:35thoughts big weekend this week john huge weekend you know i'm curious on the ohio state offensive line
13:41um i i still i'm concerned about the buckeyes offensive line their ability to protect julian
13:47saying in this but the pressure is all on texas you know it is entirely on texas in this game
13:59steve sarkeesian arch manning there's been so much money spent on this roster they went and got
14:05hollywood smothers they went and got coleman to bolster their their receiving core they have
14:12they have loaded up and this is an if not now then when for texas season it's not an if
14:18not now
14:18then when for ohio state ohio state's always here they're they're they're going to go to the playoff
14:23whether they win this game or lose this game in my humble opinion uh and i think the buckeyes
14:28can absolutely win this football game and i i would lean their way in this game i think they're
14:33going to find a way to win this game because i think they're the better team texas though they they
14:39are a better defensive team than they've been uh they do an elite job you know of of being able
14:45to
14:45apply some pressure so ohio state's got to be able to run the football early in this game
14:50any bo jackson have a really nice game and uh they've got to get in third and manageable not
14:55third and long if they get in a third and long this game could swing you know this is one
15:00of julian
15:01saying biggest tests and it's on the road and it's in a raucous atmosphere it's in prime time
15:05saturday night in austin so uh but but i would i would flip it back and say arch manning guys
15:11he has
15:12not to me impressed me i've heard a lot of talk about him i want to see it in a
15:18result like this
15:20this is and if you're a browns fan saturday night you should be watching this game you know i game's
15:25not on our network it's over on abc but i'm just being honest like the browns fan of me is
15:30watching
15:30this game i got i want to see what these quarterbacks look like because to me arch has
15:34been a lot of a lot of bark but not enough bite in these types of moments he now has
15:40all the
15:40weapons in the world does he step up ohio state can they handle life on the road of you know
15:46i
15:46think the last five times they've been an underdog they're one in four well big test here ryan day
15:52time to break through and i trust the buckeyes defense and if they can generate takeaways they're
15:57winning this football game and that's just it i don't know how arch manning is going to handle
16:01this stage i think i know how julian saying and jeremiah smith will but the buckeyes got to help
16:06them out and get them running early john great stuff as always buddy we appreciate you and uh
16:12if you just need two i'll say units to go ahead and handle people on social media jonathan and i
16:21will we'll roughhouse some people if we have to i'm ready to kick some ass in the name of john
16:26fanta
16:27hey listen guys i love you both and i love cleveland and i know i had some buckeye fans i
16:33i i hear you i
16:34see you and whatnot um and and you heard my opinions uh on on the game um you know but
16:42but
16:42what what what the what your job is what your job is and i i try to do my job
16:48to the best of my
16:49abilities and and i i get it and i get how people feel about the game okay i'm i'm not
16:54uh i'm not
16:55tone deaf or not uh not it's not like i'm not listening so i hear you guys loud and clear
17:00i appreciate
17:01you and uh hey i hope i'm talking to you next tuesday and the browns are want to know i
17:06i i
17:06don't think that's going to happen but i really hope that that's the case we'll take it john fanta
17:10there uh the great john fanta cleveland's very own nbc sports again fanta in 60 check it out every
17:18monday on nbc sports platforms john joining us here on the wise heart right we make it right call
17:23kyle wright hotline
17:24kyle wright hotline
