00:00part of the coverage part of nfl on fox chris myers jen hale and our guy mark slareth here
00:05longtime nfl analyst and former player stink welcome back to the show thank you man i appreciate
00:12it how you guys doing we're doing all right we're doing a lot better than we were last friday going
00:16into that uh tampa bay game we were thinking i just make it competitive right make it look like
00:22football we have the tangible hope that the browns can win on sunday that's how much difference the
00:29tampa bay wins for us how about yourself yeah i think uh i think it's huge i mean obviously
00:34defensively i thought you guys played exceptional uh i thought it was an exceptional game plan
00:38um and it was aggressive right i mean they just they just lined up in man-to-man coverage and
00:44basically said come get some um which i think you know you look at their defense you look at the
00:49guys
00:49in that back end that secondary with ward and campbell and some of the guys they have dealt
00:54some of those other guys i like they are so talented back there so it gives them that opportunity
00:59then inside linebacker as well their ability to cover tight ends and do all that stuff so this
01:04should be a great challenge but i love the aggressiveness on the defensive side of the ball
01:08and then i loved you know i i think the thing that for me that just kind of kept popping
01:13off was
01:14you know obviously we talk about deshaun watson and kind of how he played last week and completing 80
01:20percent of his passes but i thought it was big early in that game to get him in uh into
01:25a rhythm
01:26and you know you saw some bubble screens to conception right off the bat you saw a couple of uh
01:32you know
01:32access throws to the outside just quick outs and things that they got him comfortable early and then
01:38uh i thought the big play to to boston the big just drip route where he he just let that
01:44thing eat
01:45and uh that went 55 i thought that was a real big confidence boost booster i talked to him about
01:50it today um just kind of the way he played so it was exciting to see them play well um
01:55i was happy
01:56for them and uh and you know i i think there's a good feeling inside the building that uh they
02:02can
02:02really build off that victory what was your vibe when you talked to deshaun today what kind of vibe
02:07was he giving off to yourself because through the media to us it seems like almost night and day
02:11from where he was just a week ago yeah just i mean i think there's some relief there there's some
02:18excitement for what's going on and i think there's a real feel you know i mean i spent a lot
02:23of time in
02:23this league playing but i spent a lot of time in this league injured and being injured man you feel
02:29like a pariah you don't like you don't feel part of the team um you know you look at the
02:34last two
02:35years that guy has been out and so it's really hard and then just the precision of at any position
02:43but especially the quarterback position you know when you want to block people always people talk
02:47about like oh you got to stay low hey no no kidding moron of course you got to stay low
02:52right to create
02:53some leverage but leverage is created you know from your feet through your ankles into your knees and
02:59your hips and and it's like there's such precision in the footwork that you have to have to be a
03:05good
03:05offensive lineman and the precision for the quarterback you know your drops are your to the
03:11routes and the route combination and if you're off a little bit man everything falls apart and so
03:17you're relearning all those things if you're a deshaun watson i think there was a feel for him
03:21um just talking to him where he had that feel where he started to you know feel like himself again
03:28and i think also just that feeling between he and um and coach munkin calling the plays like
03:35when you start to know hey man in this situation i know this is a play coming in or i
03:39know you know
03:40what the coach is thinking and to develop some of that kind of rhythm and that kind of connection
03:45uh with your play caller is a really cool thing you know i played years in denver we won back
03:51-to-back
03:52championships and i knew in certain situations hey one of three plays coming in right now i mean it
03:57was like clockwork and there's a beauty in that there's a comfort in that and i think
04:01you know deshaun just is starting to feel that as well so really cool to talk to him really cool
04:07to see kind of where he is right now mentally now all that can change and you know you throw
04:12a pick
04:13on the first play of the game and you know that that stuff can be fleeting but uh i thought
04:18there
04:18was a confidence in practice today i thought there was a confidence in the way they uh operated today
04:23um that was that was pretty that was pretty encouraging mark it's been interesting i
04:31we went from if deshaun was going to start this game a week ago this time thinking it would be
04:37a
04:37heck of a lot of booze for deshaun given well his play the injuries his uh comments about browns fans
04:45a month ago his comments about browns media uh two wednesdays ago to now a browns win and obviously
04:53if there have been some people that have kind of gotten on the deshaun bandwagon uh it seems like
04:59the browns anticipate a little bit of boo for deshaun if you're one of those guys in that locker room
05:04and you know it's probably he's going to hear something at least coming out out of that tunnel
05:09what's your message to deshaun ahead of this game yeah they're like that you're not in control of
05:15that and they're going to boo that i talked to him about it today i i just said you know
05:18you understand like you understand the injury issues the brown fans just want to see good football
05:25and they haven't seen good football consistently good football um since you've been here and you
05:32make a lot of money so i mean that's part of being a fan right uh you know we pay
05:38a lot we invest a lot
05:39i think one of the things that's really interesting like even for me as a player man as a player
05:44i was so
05:45myopic in my focus of what i needed to do that i didn't pay attention to the fans or or
05:53the you
05:53know the scuttlebutton it was easier back then because you know you you weren't there was no
05:57social media you didn't have people harping on you and stuff but i was just so myopic like i said
06:03my
06:03focus on what i needed to do that i never really paid attention and it's funny you retire and you
06:09walk
06:10away from that aspect of playing and you start to realize how much of an investment fans make
06:15emotional investment financial investment like there is a large investment there so um you know
06:22i think he's i think he's probably more aware of that now than he's probably ever been um and and
06:29i
06:29think he understands like it's not as much personal as it is hey man you make a lot of money
06:35we have a lot
06:35of expectations and we just want to see good football uh what do you make of quinchon judkins
06:40and the slow start he's had and obviously carolina does not have a great run defense it feels like
06:45this game sets up for him in a nice way but again first two weeks he just is not delivered
06:50yeah well i think you know carolina was much better last week than they were in week one and i
06:55think that
06:55was endemic of the league in general i mean there were a lot of guys that didn't look like they
06:59wanted to be first responders in week one and you know chicago ran through those dudes like uh poop
07:04through a goose so um but they were much better last week against tampa and listen you know you
07:12can sit there and say hey this is a good matchup and you know carolina you know gives up a
07:17lot of
07:17yards rushing because of that chicago game and fool yourself it'll be a tough a tough challenge um and
07:23they were a lot better like i said a lot more discipline gap discipline wise and tackling wise
07:27than they were in week one but you know the bottom line is cleveland is cleveland's own worst enemy
07:34when it comes to running the football um there are too many simple things there are too many
07:41um assignment busts um identification busts you know who we're going to on the second level and
07:47things of that nature um and technique busts every now and again like i mean this is a really tough
07:53game and the defensive players are really good and every now and again you're going to get your ass beat
07:58that's just the way it works you know everyone that's ever played this game has taken one on the
08:04chin what you can't afford to do especially as an offensive lineman is you can't afford to make a
08:10mental mistake you can't afford to misidentify the defense you can't afford to not know who you're
08:16going to you know and who you're in combination with and there's far too many of those and you get
08:23like you get one or two of those you know and then all of a sudden the coaches don't want
08:27to call the
08:28run anymore they don't they don't have any faith in that so um you put yourself behind the eight ball
08:33because it's hard to sit in this league and pass protect 40 times a game so they've just got to
08:39be
08:39they've got to be more dialed together up front um and they can't afford the mental mistakes like
08:47there are going to be some physical mistakes along the way you'll overcome those but you can't put
08:51yourself in second down and and you know 12 because um because you you're too stupid to understand
08:59what the scheme was mark it's interesting i've talked to uh i used to do a radio show in charlotte
09:05for about four years so i've talked to all my old friends down there about this game and their message
09:10to me is we don't know whether it's about bryce young about uh you know the defense they they're just
09:17two weeks in they've just had two very different performances on the offensive side how how sure are
09:23you that this is the real bryce young and that his his moment has finally arrived um well it's two
09:30weeks in right there's two games but he's been exceptional i mean exceptional and you can see it
09:37man you can see the confidence with which he's playing you can see the command that he has when
09:42things break down man he knows where the outlets are so he has total and complete command of this
09:48offense and this offense has changed to a degree man they're a downhill run scheme they're big up
09:54front they're inside three guys with lewis and fortner and uh hunt are physical they're big they do a
10:02great job of basically you know owning the line of scrimmage so that bryce doesn't get pressure in his
10:07face because you know he's he's 5 10 maybe and you know and so like he's not going to have
10:14great
10:14vision over the top of those guys so they do a great job of giving him and setting up so
10:20he's got
10:21that that distance between him and his offensive line so that he can see those underneath routes he
10:26can see those routes in the middle of the football field and then they'll play a lot which has been
10:31a
10:31trend in the league a lot of these three tight end two tight end formations and they've got
10:37three guys who can flat play and so it makes it a challenge the defense to say okay like how
10:43are
10:43we going to contend with this um when you can play in 12 personnel two tight ends right but you
10:49can play
10:50uh you can have your 11 personnel plays up because your tight ends can flat out play you know and
10:57so
10:57then all of a sudden you have to as a defense hey man when they get into these formations and
11:01these
11:01personnel groups are we going to you know are we going to play this in nickel we can play it
11:07in
11:07dime we're going to play it in base like how are we going to do this um and they've been
11:12really
11:12good really good in that in that you know aspect of their game so do a great job of time
11:18play action
11:19together with their heavier formations um and creating one-on-one opportunities and you know
11:24the strength of the cleveland browns to me is their ability to cover man-to-man they can just line
11:29up and say hey come get a taste um and and so you know how will they how will they
11:34play those
11:35heavier formations how will they deal with a run game can they deal with that um you know on a
11:41consistent basis so really to me it's a really really good matchup but a long you know long-winded
11:46answer to tell you bryce has played exceptional these first two games i mean really good what's
11:53your early impression of todd munkin i really liked him today was the first day i ever met him i
11:58sat down
11:59with him you know to talk to him and i think he's um you know i think he's he's a
12:04no-nonsense dude he
12:05knows what he wants right and he's not afraid to get up in your ass about things um at the
12:11same time i
12:11think he's real relational like he's a he's a real relationship builder and um you know a real believer
12:18in his people and um empowering not only his coaches but empowering his players so i really i really
12:25enjoyed just sitting talking ball with him and um and philosophical approach and you know learning
12:31from harbaugh and it just was a really it was a really kind of cool afternoon i spent with cleveland
12:38brown so uh i i just enjoyed the heck out of it mark we enjoyed the heck out of you
12:42being on with us
12:43we love when you get to be on a browns call you always bring the passion and energy and stuff
12:47can't
12:48wait to hear you on sunday on the nfl on fox with chris and jen and uh again man really
12:53appreciate
12:54you yeah no problem man it's my pleasure you guys take care enjoy and uh and we'll see what happens
