00:00Happy Victory Monday. Oh, same to you, Daryl. Big win, big feeling, big hit, happy body.
00:06Is this job now Deshaun Watson's job? Are we done asking week to week?
00:13I think we are going to get a little bit of a reprieve here.
00:17Yeah, I don't think that maybe we're done having the conversation for the remainder of the season,
00:22but I think we'll get a little bit of a reprieve. Yes.
00:25Okay, fine. I wanted you to go full bore, but that's okay.
00:30What did you think of the performance yesterday by him?
00:32He was clutch in the end. It was nothing spectacular.
00:36It was nothing special until that second half of the fourth quarter.
00:42And look, he made the plays when it mattered most, and that's what it comes down to.
00:48And so you give him credit there, but everybody, I think, would agree
00:54that they need to be much, much better offensively.
01:00Well, so what is it right now, Daryl, because it's hard to pinpoint.
01:05It's been two fourth quarters where he has summoned some of the old Deshaun Watson,
01:13I don't want to say explosiveness, I don't want to say magic,
01:17but it's not exactly the Watson from Houston, but it's the first time we've felt good
01:23about anything he's done other than that second half of the Baltimore game
01:27that always got cited for the next few years afterwards.
01:29So what is it that, A, they can't get consistent, but, B, he's able to pull that off?
01:35Yeah, and he talked about after the game, if you look at his career, you look at his track record,
01:40he's historically pretty good in the fourth quarter.
01:42I don't know if it's just he needs that much time to warm up and really get into the game
01:47or whatever, but it's, I don't know, yeah, I mean, I don't know what you call it.
01:54I don't want to say luck, because I think that that's a little disingenuous,
02:02but maybe it is magic.
02:04But for whatever reason, when the game is on the line,
02:07that does seem to be when Deshaun can be at his best, which is, like, that's a good thing.
02:14It just, it would be nice if, for the first three quarters, he could be a little bit better
02:18so that maybe we don't need the fourth quarter magic, and some of these games could be easier.
02:24But, again, credit where credit is due.
02:27The two touchdowns to Harrell Fanning Jr. were fantastic.
02:30The two-point conversion was as well, and, you know, it also would have been nice
02:38if they could have converted that fourth and one.
02:40It would have made life a little easier on everyone in the stadium,
02:44but in the end, the defense got that last stand as well.
02:47But, yeah, I really liked Todd Munkin's messaging after the game.
02:53I do because, and you could tell Deshaun is listening to Todd
02:59because Todd has said repeatedly about the, shall we say, atmosphere around Deshaun
03:05when it comes to fans, and he said it again yesterday
03:09when, you know, they were cheering when he was coming back into the game,
03:12and Todd's like, yeah, all fans wondered, what's the touchdown?
03:17And gave it to him, so they were happy, and that's how it works.
03:20Yes, and that's been the messaging from Munkin to Watson,
03:23that, hey, if you play well, the fans are going to cheer you.
03:27If you do not play well, they will boo you.
03:30That's what being a fan is all about.
03:32And Deshaun kind of echoed that a little bit, too, in his post-game remarks.
03:37Hey, I got to play better. I got to play well.
03:40And if I do that, good things are going to happen.
03:43Well, you know, it's interesting, Daryl, because I think there were a lot of people,
03:46you know, going through the preseason,
03:49and I was surprised.
03:50There were a lot of people who showed up and seemed just to boo the guy.
03:54Yeah.
03:54But I think that they had zero faith that the team was going to do anything
03:58of significance, like win.
03:59Right, yeah.
04:00Now that they've won a game, and now they've won two games,
04:04it just, I think that they're fans, and it becomes harder.
04:07And so those who said that they were going to go boo just to boo,
04:10and they couldn't stand him, and all these other things,
04:12and he's like, yeah, they probably still aren't big fans of the guy,
04:17but they like it when their football team wins.
04:19Yep.
04:20So that changes a lot of this stuff.
04:22You know, there was a lot of grandstanding,
04:24and hey, I'm a champion grandstander, brother.
04:27But a lot of this stuff gets put aside when you go out and you win
04:32when people don't think you're going to win.
04:34It's a nice feeling.
04:35Yeah, and they have an opportunity here with the way the schedule is laying out
04:40to really build some momentum and then become one of the big stories
04:46in the National Football League this season.
04:48You know, starts Thursday night with Pittsburgh coming to town.
04:51But, yeah, that's how it goes.
04:54You win, you get the flowers, you lose, you get the booze.
04:58I did say there was a kid.
05:01But I saw it, I think the Fox broadcast put it on.
05:07It said, let's save our booze for Halloween.
05:10And in the O's, there were two ghosts drawn.
05:14I thought it was a real cute sign.
05:16But, yeah, that's how it goes.
05:18Play well.
05:18They cheer.
05:20You don't, you get booed.
05:23But, yeah, he got it done when it was on the line.
05:25But the numbers aren't spectacular.
05:27You threw for 144 yards, okay?
05:29Nothing spectacular there.
05:31But, you know, about a 50% completion percentage, 16 to 30.
05:36So, but, again, down the stretch, he made enough plays with his feet.
05:42That's another encouraging thing.
05:44He had three key scrambles in that game.
05:49And, you know, when the game was on the line,
05:52he did what it took for them to win the game.
05:55Daryl Ryder with us, our Browns Beat reporter.
05:57Todd Munkin hasn't had a ton of moments where we put him under the microscope so far through three games.
06:04Had one yesterday.
06:05Well, so, the analytics support it.
06:07They say that gave them a better chance to win the game.
06:10Yeah.
06:10To go for it on fourth and one.
06:12They didn't get it.
06:13I thought that was the only way they could lose the game.
06:16In the end, his team was penalized 12 times.
06:18They can't get lined up.
06:20So, it continues to be an issue.
06:22But, they're two and one.
06:24So, how do you grade Todd Munkin through three games?
06:27Well, Titus Howard had a real bad day yesterday.
06:30That's for sure.
06:30And they traded for him and gave him a new contract.
06:32The offensive line has to get their act together.
06:35You can't have five penalties on your offensive line in one drive.
06:39That just is ridiculous.
06:42So, whatever's going on with the offensive line,
06:45George Warhawk needs to get that cleaned up.
06:47And he needs to get it cleaned up in a hurry.
06:49Because, while Deshaun has gotten you over the finish line
06:54the last two weeks here in the fourth quarter,
06:57your offensive line is making the job much more harder on him
07:00than it really needs to be.
07:02As far as the fourth and one goes,
07:05I would have kicked the field goal and gone up six
07:07and forced them to need to go the distance
07:11with not a lot of time on the clock to beat you
07:13as opposed to if you don't get it,
07:15all they have to do is get in field goal range.
07:17Now, thankfully, they didn't get in field goal range.
07:20They were unable to get a kickoff
07:22to potentially send the game to overtime.
07:25So, that was the good news.
07:27But, I thought it was a curious decision.
07:29But, look, I loved how Todd Munkin answered the question after the game.
07:33He's like, listen, we need one stinking yard.
07:36And we messed it up on second down.
07:38Probably messed it up again on third down.
07:40And should have gotten it on fourth down.
07:42And Carolina had the worst, came in with the worst run defense
07:46in the National Football League, giving up over 220 yards on the ground.
07:50And so, you want to attack that.
07:52You want to go after that a little bit.
07:54Now, the Browns finished with 132, I think it was,
07:58in the game on the ground.
08:00And so, you know, we've seen here in the first three weeks, Anthony,
08:05Todd's willingness to be aggressive,
08:07Todd's willingness to show faith and belief in his team.
08:12And, you know, I think overall you could say it is paying off
08:17because they are 2-1.
08:19Darrell Ryder joining us on the show.
08:21Now you get ready for Pittsburgh.
08:22We'll get to them here in a second.
08:24How do you get Quinchon Judkins going?
08:26And then I want to know what you thought.
08:27This is a two-part question.
08:28First off, how do you get Quinchon Judkins going?
08:30Then I'm going to ask you something else about the other side of the ball.
08:32Go.
08:32Well, I think it's two parts.
08:33One, I think, you know, part of it might be a little bit of a field vision thing.
08:38And two, it's, you know, the offensive line's got to do their job.
08:42And it's not – here's the thing with the offensive line, too.
08:45It's not the kids.
08:47It's not Austin Barber and Spencer Furnow, which that's what you would think.
08:51That's what you would expect because they're rookies.
08:53No, it's the veterans that they're having problems with, starting with Titus Howard.
08:58And so, again, they've got to find a way to get that offensive line on the same page and to
09:05stop committing the pre-snap penalty,
09:08stop holding, and really making life much more difficult on Quinchon as well as Deshaun Watson.
09:15All right.
09:16The job done by Mike Root and Toot and Fresh and Fruitenberg.
09:20Your thoughts?
09:21How about Todd wearing the backwards hat in the presser yesterday?
09:25He said, I'm doing – this is for Rudy.
09:27I don't wear my hat backwards, but they did such an outstanding job that I have to do this for
09:34Mike.
09:34But I like the fact that Denzel Ward, not for the entire game, for most of the game, shadowed Tett
09:42McMillan.
09:44And McMillan didn't do a whole lot yesterday.
09:47I thought that, you know, just two catches for 17 yards.
09:50I thought that was a great move by Mike.
09:54This was an offense that was coming in, scoring 30 points a game,
09:58and they were kicking field goals pretty much for most of the afternoon.
10:02I think Mike has done – outside of week one, when they really got carved up pretty bad,
10:09I think Mike has done a real good job.
10:12And by the way, I forget – we're approaching 50 games here.
10:16I forget off the top of my head the exact number.
10:19But we're like 47, 48, 49 straight games where the Browns have not allowed a 300-yard passer.
10:25Now, I realize that predates Mike Rutenberg's arrival, but that's absolutely incredible.
10:31They're approaching almost 50 consecutive games without surrendering a 300-yard passer performance.
10:37Well, how does this happen?
10:37How does this happen where you've got 291 yards passing?
10:39Yeah.
10:40All right, nearly 100 yards rushing by your running backs there.
10:43Yeah.
10:45You score 18 points and lose against the Cleveland Browns on the road?
10:48Like, and the weather was fine.
10:50Like, it's – and all those penalties, all those penalties that went against the Browns.
10:55I mean, Mike – I almost called him Mike Tomlin.
10:57Todd Munkin is not thrilled about these penalties.
11:01And you come out and win.
11:02It's like, okay, once we get these things cleaned up, can we be a surprise contender?
11:08I know it's only three weeks in, but you start to dream about these things.
11:12Well, Todd Munkin already is.
11:13I mean, he said it multiple times yesterday.
11:15I don't think we've – this is his words, not mine, but I don't think we've scratched the surface
11:19as to the type of team we can be.
11:22And he said that multiple times.
11:25And I'd have to agree with him because, again, the penalties have just been absolutely killer.
11:32But, you know, the Panthers, their red zone efficiency yesterday was 33%.
11:38That's winning football for the Cleveland Browns.
11:40So, you know, and so if they can find a way to get even more production out of Deshaun Watson,
11:48if they can get this running game going, the offensive line can get its act together,
11:52and the defense continues to play at this level.
11:55You know, part of the reason why they've had this streak, you've got Denzel Ward in the backfield.
11:58You've got Grant Delpit back there.
12:00You've got really, really good players in your secondary for the last, you know, 5, 6, 7, 8 years, all
12:05right?
12:06That's how you put a streak like this together where you don't surrender a 300-yard passing game.
12:10But, yeah, if they can – it's – I think today's a really good day for the Browns,
12:17not just because they won yesterday, but I think it's easier to really get into players
12:23and go after players with mistakes when you win because, you know, when you lose, it's just – it's all
12:31negative.
12:32And when it's all negative, people will sometimes tune that out a bit.
12:37But if you win and you can say, hey, you know, this could have been a lot easier on us.
12:44Not only could we have won yesterday, but we could have won going away had we not done A, B,
12:48or C in the game.
12:50And I think it's easier to teach players off the tape with a win than a loss.
12:57So I think today's a really, really good day for the Browns
12:59because there is a lot of negative things that happened yesterday in a win.
13:05And, you know, I think that that makes the messaging easier, you know, for your players.
13:11Daryl, thank you very much for the good times. All the best.
13:14You bet. Told you, Guardians, we're going to win the division, by the way.
13:17Told you, Kenny. Told us.
13:20I – was I – did we get in an argument about it?
13:23I don't remember that.
13:24Oh, okay.
13:24I went two for two this weekend. I had a good weekend.
13:27Oh, Daryl, congratulations. Wow.
13:30Pat's on the back for Daryl.
13:32Congratulations on all your success.
13:34All right, Daryl, thank you.
13:35You bet, guys. Have a great weekend.
13:36You too. Daryl Ryder with us.
13:38Brought to you by –
13:39Scheiben Jewelers, Cleveland's premier jewelry store.
13:42We'll talk to Daryl after the Steelers game on Friday.
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