00:00Again, I'm being accused of being the all-time homer for saying the Browns could win,
00:04checks notes, eight games this year, because apparently that's the high watermark.
00:10Apparently eight games is the new they're going to the Super Bowl, Super Bowl, Super Browns.
00:14I decided I don't like this take from you, by the way.
00:16Which part?
00:17I'm not saying I wouldn't play it myself if it put in your shoes, okay?
00:20But I am saying I, as an observer of how you've been moving for the past couple months,
00:24I don't like this take in particular.
00:26I do have a back injury right now, so that's affecting how I'm moving.
00:29Only because you can't be the guy that says,
00:32I'm going to call you when the Browns achieve X, Y, and Z,
00:36and also be the guy like, it's only eight and nine.
00:38No, no, no.
00:39It's not a big record.
00:41I'm not saying 13 and four.
00:42I'm not saying 14 and three.
00:43I'm just saying eight and nine.
00:44You can't live in both worlds, in my mind, where you get to call.
00:47You have a list of people you want to call up, and in what order you want to call them
00:50up.
00:50Like Steve Buscemi and Happy Goal.
00:52When the Browns actually achieve what you say they're going to achieve,
00:55I just don't think you can have it both ways.
00:57I think I can.
00:58I think I can, and I think I will.
01:02Namely, because again, I'm the boldest man in Cleveland sports media saying eight wins.
01:06I don't think it's that bold, all things considered,
01:08when more people than not are piling on.
01:10Ashley came on and said eight wins as well.
01:12She said eight wins was possible.
01:14She didn't say it was likely.
01:15She said eight and nine.
01:15She said eight and nine was her prediction.
01:17I don't remember that officially.
01:19Daniel Oyofusi, the ESPN Browns reporter, said seven wins
01:22and locked that in yesterday.
01:23It's becoming a very modest take at best.
01:27Who started it?
01:27This guy.
01:28Jeremy Fowler's on the big blog, right?
01:31Where they go through like, you know, deep sleepers and MVP candidates.
01:35And Jeremy Fowler's out here saying, hey, I'm not saying they're a playoff team,
01:39but look out.
01:40The Browns could surprise some people.
01:41Why?
01:42Because Nick Wilson has inspired people to look past this quarterback room and put them on the table.
01:50Ashley's put them on the table.
01:51Daniel's put them on the table.
01:52It's not put them on the table.
01:53We're a put it on the table town.
01:55You can't say it's put them on the table and also say, I'm only saying eight and nine
01:59and people are getting confused for 13 and four.
02:01Because nobody put them on the table until I put them on the table.
02:0313 and four is putting it on the table.
02:04Eight and nine is not putting it on the table.
02:06No, sir.
02:07What route are you taking here?
02:08No, sir.
02:09No one was putting them on the table until Nicky Dubs was putting them on the table.
02:13See, this is the problem.
02:14You can't say you're putting them on the table.
02:17Since I put them on the table, look at the people falling behind.
02:20Call people up.
02:21They're seeing the logic.
02:22Like the morning show.
02:23They're seeing the thought.
02:24Oh, guys, I mean, it's eight and nine, not 13 and four.
02:26Oh, those finest jellyfishes.
02:26Good lord.
02:27It's eight and nine, not 14 and three.
02:28They wilted.
02:29Do you hear how that sounds?
02:30Busted like a table in Buffalo was the morning show today when I called them up at 645.
02:35Right through it?
02:35I mean, just right through it.
02:37I thought I was getting a little pushback.
02:39I started out.
02:39They waited an hour and a half to give the pushback.
02:41Yeah.
02:41They had to really digest and sit on those terms.
02:44Wait until I went back to sleep to go ahead and have something to say there.
02:47I mean, but you see what I'm getting at here, right?
02:49You can't be this big, bold prediction guy and then turn around and be like, oh, eight
02:53and nine is not 13 and four.
02:54Why are people losing their minds?
02:55No, the point is, the point is, why are people going crazy with this?
02:58People are acting like I'm saying Super Bowl, Super Browns, 15 wins.
03:02Well, you're keeping a list together of people you want to call up and say how right you
03:06were at the end of this.
03:07I don't see the problem there.
03:08You're giving the impression of 13 and four and 14 and three while then saying eight
03:12and nine at the end of this.
03:13And it all comes back to one quarterback, Deshaun Watson more than anyone else.
03:17And it all comes back to a bunch of generic stuff that has, I don't want to say has nothing
03:22to do with this team, but it's like, I understand that they're like last year when I went into
03:26last year thinking that's a five win team, right?
03:29That this team could compete for the number one pick.
03:31The reason why I thought that is, all right, the defense is going to be great, but there's
03:35nothing on offense to really give you hope.
03:38Like if the offensive line was good, or sorry, if it was the right tackle, Jack Conklin, if
03:44Jack Conklin can stay healthy, which we said for five years, the Browns actually have a
03:49plan this year on offense.
03:50It's not just, well, we'll bring back the old offensive line and we'll see if Jerry Judy
03:55can replicate what he did.
03:56And we'll, Hey, maybe David and joke who doesn't look like a left tackle these days, by the way,
04:00tight end three in Los Angeles, but no, like they actually have formulated an offensive
04:05plan and, and a, and a defensive plan.
04:08They've drafted very well on that side of the ball as well.
04:11The only thing they didn't account for is quarterback.
04:14And that's where it's bold.
04:16That's where it's bold.
04:17With a quarterback that I think nothing of on the field and off the field, I would quarterback.
04:22I think nothing of, I'm saying eight wins.
04:24I'm saying in the NFL, you can win in spite of your quarterback and go be a competitive team.
04:29I'm saying if you're going to take eight wins, and then I'm saying if you're going to take
04:32eight wins, and then you're going to try to act like it's bold and you're putting them
04:37on the table and all these people you want to call up after it happens, then don't go
04:41to the morning show and say, I'm not saying 13 and four.
04:44Well, you guys are the ones that are being crazy about it.
04:46I'm not, I'm not saying 13 and four.
04:48I'm just saying a modest eight and nine.
04:50I am on a mission to civilize, and I've got people that are on my side.
04:55Ashley Bastock, I salute you.
04:57Does that make sense, what I'm saying?
04:58Daniel Oifusi, I salute you.
05:00Jeremy Fowler, you're a gentleman and a scholar.
05:02Don't be scared of the mic, Marcotch.
05:03Don't be scared of that mic.
05:03Get on in here.
05:04I would not get on that mic unless you want to go to downtown Poundtown like it's Vrabel
05:08and Chase Daniel.
05:10Don't be scared.
05:10We'll go there.
05:11Don't be a scaredy cat now.
05:13Hop out of that mic.
05:14Does that make sense?
05:15How do you, you know, chest puffed out and be like eight and nine is this grand thing?
05:19You've got to turn around.
05:21When we get to week 17 and the Browns finish eight and nine, I agree with JP.
05:25Nick can't just be like, oh, it was just an eight and nine season.
05:27Watch me.
05:28That would agree.
05:29Watch me.
05:30Yeah, Nick can't do.
05:31The worst thing any of you can say is Nick can't do because Nick will do just despite.
05:36Liam Cohen, the Jacksonville head coach, he talked about an area that he thinks maybe
05:42the Browns have an advantage.
05:43You know, you're trying to do what you do best, right?
05:46Just because, like, I have no idea what Rudy's going to play defensively.
05:50Like, I really don't have a clue.
05:51So, you know, you have an idea of some of the things that maybe they've done before.
05:56In the past, you go back and look.
05:58But, you know, they have a little bit of, I don't want to say an upper hand, but they
06:02have our tape from last season.
06:04I don't have his tape from last season of his defense, right?
06:09I've got an idea.
06:10We've got some thoughts.
06:11We've got some cut-ups and all that.
06:13But so, in game one specifically, I think you would just have to really be ready to adjust.
06:18You're always a little bit, I don't want to say at a disadvantage because we're all very
06:22even in terms of going into week one.
06:24Like, we don't, we could have wrinkles, obviously, that they're not aware of that we didn't put
06:27on tape last year.
06:28But we're kind of going in a little bit more blind than maybe they are.
06:31All right.
06:32Do you notice that he speaks in quotation marks?
06:35No, I did not think that.
06:37Rudy's defense.
06:37I thought he might be a little drunk at one point, but I didn't think quotation marks.
06:41I think that might be a qualification to be a good head coach in the NFL now.
06:45You just sound like a little bit drunk at all times?
06:47Like a slight buzz, like four or five beers?
06:49If you've coached with Shanahan and McVay, I just assume you're naturally drunk.
06:53Because all those guys do sound a little bit tipsy.
06:57Yeah.
06:58Well, and some of them lived very, very tipsy for a long time.
07:01Now, he didn't want to say that the Jags are at a disadvantage.
07:04I do think for this game, I think part of the advantage from the Browns is there's so
07:08much new.
07:09I don't know that lasts for four quarters.
07:11But I do think that's kind of being undersold here, that it's a new defensive coordinator.
07:17The Browns have Jared Verse instead of Miles Garrett, a brand new offensive line.
07:21You don't really know what Todd Munkin's going to try and do week one.
07:25I think the fact that he's bringing it up means that it obviously has gotten to him,
07:28and it obviously matters.
07:29And from a game planning aspect, it just makes 100% sense, Nick, that Liam Cohen would look
07:35at this and be like, wait, I don't know what to do.
07:38Is Munkin going to be the OC he was with Baltimore?
07:40Because I could argue that you take three years of his tape on that, and you might as
07:44well throw it out the window, because there's no quarterback close to Lamar Jackson, and
07:48there's especially no quarterback close to Lamar Jackson on this Browns team.
07:50And then Rutenberg is just this complete mystery box of a defensive coordinator.
07:54Like, you might just throw your hands up in the air.
07:57Yeah, I think the Munkin mystery box is what we're going to call it.
08:01I'm really excited about, because I think he understands that that's an advantage that he has in
08:05this game, and I think, although the pieces are young, I think he's going to try and do some
08:11things.
08:11Like, I expect Todd Munkin to be incredibly aggressive on Sunday.
08:14Because, again, like, the guy's entire mentality is, I'm 60, and I don't know if I'm going to be
08:20able to get another coaching job after this.
08:22I've got to make hay while I possibly can.
08:25Now, Rutenberg, that's the unknown that does scare me, because as much as I think a lot of the
08:32talk about the Browns defensive regression has become, you've talked to yourself, not you,
08:36but people have talked themselves into it.
08:38Yeah.
08:39It's less about, can the players play, and it's more, is Mike Rutenberg going to get out of the
08:44way and let them play?
08:45Yeah, I mean, and everyone we've talked to about Rutenberg really does respect him and really does
08:49think highly of him, but he's just an unknown quantity.
08:52And so, legitimately, though, if you're Liam Cohen, how do you attempt to even game plan for the
08:57Browns knowing what we know, which is so much that we don't know is the reality there?
09:02I mean, let's, I'm expecting the Browns are going to play a lot of man coverage.
09:05You can't look at Deshaun Watson tape, really, because he hasn't played a game in 700 days,
09:09and the Browns tape doesn't really have to.
09:12Yeah, so you've got 19 games in the last six years.
09:15Why should you?
09:15He's not going back into doing that.
09:17It's a 100% brand new offensive line, so good luck trying to scheme up anything from that
09:21direction.
09:22Judkins, maybe you can get something there with the run game, but again, I would think
09:25O-line run game kind of goes hand-in-hand is what that is.
09:29Two new wide receivers, and I haven't even got to the defensive side of the ball.
09:32Like, I don't know what you'd do with this if you're Liam Cohen.
09:35I think the few educated guesses you can make are the Browns are going to be a heavy run team,
09:39and that is a lot of quinch on, but some Dylan Sampson, maybe a little Rocket Sanders if
09:44we want to get crazy about it, too.
09:45Also, this is the other side of that.
09:48Don't get too cute with it and make it obvious.
09:50If you were game planning against Deshaun Watson in general, what's the plan?
09:54I'm going to make Deshaun Watson beat me.
09:56I'm going to do everything I can to make Deshaun Watson beat me, and if Deshaun Watson
09:59throws the ball 35 yards in the air and connects on a million deep passes, I'm going to keep
10:03letting him do it until he shows me that he 100% can do that, and it's not a problem.
10:07The only flaw in that logic is Casey Concepcion can beat you.
10:11You know what I mean?
10:12Like, Jerry Judy, although we haven't seen it much in the last year, Jerry Judy can beat
10:16you.
10:16Harold Fannin is an explosive play kind of guy.
10:20Samson, Isaiah Bond.
10:21And, like, I do think that's, like, it's not a wrinkle, but one of the features of
10:25this Browns roster is there's a lot of speed and a lot of ability to do things with speed
10:31that if your plan is, well, let, it makes sense, by the way, hey, let Deshaun beat us.
10:36Well, letting Deshaun beat you might be Casey Concepcion going to the house because you're
10:42just sitting back and thinking, we'll just stop Quinshawn Judkins and win the damn game.
10:45Yeah, I mean, I'm just taking what the obvious approach should be.
10:47That doesn't mean that Liam Cohen's going to do that.
10:49It doesn't mean that Jacksonville will do that.
10:51It's just trying to figure out, like, what do you really do when you're game planning
10:54a game that is as blind as this one?
10:56If anyone wanted to believe in this Browns team in week one and you're a believer in
11:00this Browns team in week one, I think the unknown part of this has to be at the top of
11:04the West.
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