00:00Deshaun Watson starts at quarterback, Darrell.
00:04Are we still just going with he gives the team the best chance to move the ball and score points?
00:10Is that the deal?
00:11That's the story, and they're sticking to it.
00:13Okay.
00:15What do you think of that story?
00:16I can't give them any grief.
00:18At least they're consistent, right?
00:20What do you think of that story?
00:22Yeah, I mean, I'm certainly not sold on that, but I understand the decision.
00:26I understand why they feel the way they do.
00:28And, you know, I'm felt that actually plays out that way.
00:33Okay.
00:35Darrell, what does he need to do?
00:37What does Deshaun Watson need to do in your eyes to be successful on Sunday?
00:42I'm not talking about winner of those.
00:43I just, what does he need to do to be successful?
00:48Well, I think he's got to obviously have a, you know, a positive touchdown to interception ratio,
00:55preferably no turnovers whatsoever.
00:58You know, that's part of it.
01:00You know, good completion percentage.
01:03I mean, statistically, I'd like to see over 225, 250 yards passing at the bare minimum, right?
01:10But, you know, we're talking bare minimums.
01:13And, you know, in his time here, that's oftentimes thrown for 200 yards has been challenging.
01:20So, you know, take care of the ball, move the offense up and down the field, and hopefully
01:26when you get into the red zone, you're able to capitalize on those opportunities.
01:31And obviously, the most successful thing is to win the game, right?
01:35You know, just don't go out there and do anything that, you know, costs you the game.
01:39So, my expectations, frankly, for Deshaun Watson are extremely low.
01:45So, it's going to be real hard for me to get all up in arms if he doesn't play well.
01:49And that, because I just, he's played 19 games in six years.
01:53So, it's really hard for me to have a tremendous amount of expectation that this guy is going
02:00to go out there and be a positive difference maker for this football team, even though,
02:04obviously, he's the starting quarterback.
02:06And that's a very reasonable expectation to have.
02:10Darrell, who do you have high expectations for?
02:14The rookie receivers to start with, Denzel Boston and Casey Concepcion.
02:19I'll throw, you know what, I'm going to throw Isaiah Bond in there as well,
02:22just because I love what I've seen from him as well.
02:26Quinshon Judkins, I have high expectations for.
02:30I think Dylan Samson can be impactful.
02:33Harold Fannin Jr., and it's not just me, the organization,
02:38he begins to round into a more complete tight end.
02:43He had a very good rookie season, but obviously room to grow in his game.
02:47I have expectations Jared Burst is going to get after the quarterback and apply pressure.
02:52We'll see about the finishing thing, which obviously his first two seasons has been something that's been talked about quite
02:58a bit.
02:59But I think you can apply pressure to the quarterback and have significant impact on the game,
03:05just as if you were collecting sacks.
03:08So, even if you can pressure Trevor Lawrence into making a mistake or two.
03:14And then, you know, look, I mean, Denzel Ward, Grant Delpit just got contract extensions,
03:18so my expectation is that both of those players look like the guys we've seen the last couple of years
03:24who I think are very worthy of those contract extensions.
03:29Give me your assessment of Todd Munkin, as you've seen him now, right up until the first game.
03:34I think he's done a good job.
03:36I've said this, I wasn't crazy about the hire when it happened.
03:39I had my doubts, but after being exposed to how he's done things,
03:45look, it's been a very professionally run operation.
03:50And the reason I point that out is because we've had some head coaches in here that have come in
03:54here
03:54and it's been an absolute clown show.
03:56And that's not been the case with Todd Munkin.
03:59You know, I certainly respect his candor, his willingness to answer questions
04:06and even sometimes difficult questions.
04:10I think his energy has been infectious among the team.
04:14You can see the players respond to him.
04:17Now, obviously, we get a month or two deep into the season,
04:19and depending where they are collectively as a team,
04:22and the win-loss column, we'll see if that continues from there.
04:26But, like, I'll be honest with you, I've come close to doing a complete 180 on Todd
04:32based on just what I've seen and observed and heard about him.
04:38So, hopefully, they're able to produce the results that will keep him around.
04:45So, Darrell, I wonder about Todd when it comes to play calling.
04:50In Baltimore, it's easy to run the football when you have Lamar Jackson and Derrick Henry.
04:57Do you think he was a guy who, this is what I want to do, and so this is what
05:02we're going to do?
05:03Or was he a guy who looked at what he had and thought, are you kidding?
05:07I got Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson.
05:10We're going to run the football.
05:11In other words, did he coach a scheme or did he coach his talent?
05:14Well, Todd's reputation is that he coaches talent, not a scheme.
05:19And I think that that's what he's trying to do here.
05:22Which I love, by the way.
05:24Yeah, and look, I'm kind of curious about a few things that I've observed.
05:29And I'll watch him run the shells of it in practice, whatever, and I'll look down like,
05:35that has no chance of working in a game, right?
05:37There's no way that's actually going to work in a game.
05:40And we'll see, but I have had a few of those moments, but then I've had a few where it's
05:45like,
05:46oh, that looks like that will work in games.
05:49And obviously, the quarterback has a lot to do with it, right?
05:52I mean, all Todd Munkin can do is call the plays.
05:55He can't go out there.
05:56He can't throw the football.
05:58He can't make the right reads, right?
05:59He can't break tackles.
06:02He can't catch footballs.
06:03He can't find the right gap to run through.
06:07And look, I get it.
06:09You're as good a play caller as the success of your players on the field.
06:12But I'm not worried about the play calling thing.
06:17I think that's something fun for all of us to talk about and debate and all of those things.
06:22But I'm not as caught up in that as I used to be because you look around the league,
06:29the volume of head coaches that call their plays, by the way, on both sides of the football,
06:34and they're successful.
06:35So this notion that if you're calling plays as a head coach, you can't be successful,
06:41I just think that that's just a narrative that doesn't hold a lot of water as far as I'm concerned.
06:48I mean, look, if that's what you do well and that's why you got the gig, then do it.
06:52Right?
06:53And so I have no issue with him calling plays.
06:58And like I said, I'm going to be very curious to see some of the stuff that I absolutely am
07:05convinced
07:06will not work, and we'll talk about it next week.
07:09We'll see if we see a lot of that on Sunday.
07:12All right.
07:13What are you expecting on Sunday?
07:14And also, I do think at some point we're going to have to take rain and heat into consideration,
07:19and big consideration in the game.
07:21Well, I mean, look, again, this is where I give Todd Monken a lot of credit, right?
07:27What did he do during training camp?
07:28He practiced during the hottest time of the day, in the afternoon, right, to help get his guys conditioned.
07:35He knows what's coming in the first two weeks of the season with these two trips,
07:39Jacksonville followed by Tampa Bay, the two places you don't want to have to play football in September
07:44other than maybe I guess you throw Miami in there as well, right?
07:48And he's done, you know, they're practicing.
07:50It's 1 o'clock, right?
07:52You know, as we are having this conversation, they're out on the practice field right now.
07:56It's sunny and 80 degrees.
07:57So, you know, I'll be interested to see how he handles when it gets to cold weather up here.
08:03You know, does he take him indoors?
08:04Does he have him work outside?
08:06We'll see.
08:08But I think that he, you know, from that standpoint, right, what you bring up with the conditioning
08:12and the heat and the humidity and all that kind of stuff, I think Todd Monken's done a pretty good
08:17job
08:17of trying to expose his players to that for lengthy times.
08:20I can tell you this.
08:21He ran a practice a week or so ago.
08:24It was about 90 degrees outside.
08:26They practiced for the full two and a half hours.
08:28And, yeah, the players weren't all that thrilled about it.
08:31But the whole point of that practice was, this is what we're going to play.
08:35The first two weeks of the season, Ed, so you better suck it up and get used to it.
08:40Darrell Ryder joining us.
08:41He's our Browns Beat reporter.
08:42He's brought to us by Scheiben Jewelers, Cleveland's premier jewelry store.
08:46My gut tells me, Darrell, that Deshaun's going to get maybe a little longer look than everybody thinks.
08:54If he has, to me, if he has two duds on the road to start the season,
08:59he's still going to start game three when they come back here.
09:02Because I think that's a hurdle he has to clear.
09:06If he's going to perform in this league and perform for this team.
09:09Do you think the look is shorter than that if it doesn't go real well?
09:15Yeah.
09:15I mean, I hate to say this, Jeff, because I'm a little superstitious.
09:19And I kind of did a double take when Todd Muncombe was talking about injuries.
09:23And then Alex Wright got hurt right after that, lost for the season.
09:27And talked about injuries again.
09:29And now we got Tevin Jenkins who's a little banged up.
09:32And it's looking like maybe it's going to be Austin Barber by necessity as well as the fact he has,
09:37you know,
09:38had a strong end to camp and going into the regular season here, maybe riding a little momentum there.
09:43But, you know, I honestly think the only way Deshaun Watson does not start that home opener is if he's
09:48hurt.
09:48I agree with you.
09:50And again, I don't mean to say it that way.
09:52No, I agree.
09:53Obviously, you know, obviously you don't want anyone getting hurt.
09:55But I'm just looking at the situation, right?
09:58Because think of it this way, right?
09:59You've got the two road games and then the first home game.
10:03Well, okay.
10:05And you can't make the change after the first home game because you've got a short week going against Pittsburgh.
10:09And so I feel like it's at minimum four games for Deshaun.
10:14I think it's going to be closer to six or eight for Deshaun.
10:17But I think it's a bare minimum of four games for Deshaun because of week four being the short week
10:24Thursday night football against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
10:27And I don't know that's the greatest situation to push Shador Sanders in, you know,
10:33to get ready on a short week to take over as a starting quarterback.
10:36So I think it's a bare minimum four weeks as long as Deshaun is healthy regardless of the results.
10:41And then you get four or five weeks into this thing.
10:44And if it's really that bad, then I do think you have to do right by the team and, you
10:51know,
10:51really have a heart-to-heart assessment and a hard look in the mirror about where you're at.
10:56But I agree with you, Jeff.
10:58This is not a two-week audition.
11:00A lot of people are looking at that home opener.
11:01You're like, oh, yeah, you know, Todd Munkin's going to be the hero by putting Shador Sanders on the field
11:06for the home opener in week three
11:07so Deshaun Watson doesn't get booed.
11:09Did you hear Todd Munkin after that whole boo fiasco with the Buffalo game, right?
11:13Yes.
11:13He flat out said, hey, if you play well, you don't get booed.
11:17Now, I understand why my guy feels the way he does because he worked hard to get back and rehab
11:22and gets it back into the position that he's in.
11:25But, hey, you play well, you get cheers.
11:27You don't play well, you're going to get booed.
11:30And so, yeah, I don't think Todd Munkin is in the business of trying to protect Deshaun Watson
11:34from getting booed by Browns fans.
11:37Darrell, last question because I don't think we've talked about it at all or nearly enough.
11:41But special teams comes back intact for the most part with the exception of Casey Concepcion.
11:47And it was exciting to watch him in preseason.
11:49Your thoughts on special teams and how much of a boost can Casey Concepcion be?
11:54Well, I mean, look, I mean, they've not been able to generate anything in the way of a
11:59consistent return game, I should say, since Josh Cripps, right?
12:03Right.
12:03That's just a fact.
12:05We've had little glimpses here or there, right?
12:06Travis Benjamin was a little fun to watch at times.
12:09But, like, it just hasn't been right since Cripps.
12:14And, you know, I think Casey Concepcion is an electrifying player.
12:20The amount of time and attention that's paid to special teams, you know, even during – I'll
12:28tell you, I won't get any specifics, I don't want to give anything away.
12:31But, like, yesterday we go out to practice, right?
12:34We get to see stretching and one-on-one warm-ups and that's it.
12:38But on the other field, they are running a full-blown special teams period right out of
12:44the gate in practice.
12:45And so, Todd Munkin very clearly has put a premium on special teams, okay?
12:50And so, hopefully – and that's not to say Kevin Stefanski didn't or, you know, previous
12:55head coaches here have not done that.
12:57But it does feel like there's a certain attention to detail with special teams that was not here
13:05under Boba Ventron.
13:06And hopefully that translates on the field.
13:10Andre Schmidt, not worried about him.
13:12He had a very good camp in preseason.
13:15You had Corey Bohorquez, your favorite Cleveland Brown.
13:19I anticipate you're getting a jersey.
13:21Now that he's won another punting competition, you know, he is punting the football wall.
13:28So, you know, again, hopefully the work that they've put in in that phase of the game turns
13:33around and pays some dividends because it's been a while since they have been able to have
13:38a positive impact with that unit on a consistent basis.
13:42Daryl, thank you very much, bud.
13:44You bet, guys.
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