00:00I'm ready to give Todd Munkin a bunch of credit.
00:02I want to give him a bunch of credit.
00:03I will point out the idea.
00:05I just find it comical that he was also ready to give up on him
00:07before the second week of the season.
00:10But, hey, he didn't give up on him, and he did let him play it out,
00:13and so here we are.
00:14There's that, which we talked about,
00:16and there's also the part of this that's like,
00:20did he have much of a choice?
00:22Like, no offense.
00:23And I understand when I say that.
00:26There's going to be a lot of people who maybe jump on the phone
00:28because they're upset, and they're like, yeah, he had a choice.
00:30He could have started Shador Sanders,
00:30who looked better in training camp in the preseason and all these things,
00:33and I'm not going to push back on that.
00:34He did look better.
00:36I was there every single day,
00:37and the execution of the plays looked better with Shador Sanders.
00:41You're saying Shador.
00:41Shador looked better than Deshaun.
00:42I need you to say that louder because there's people on the station
00:44that believe that everyone covering just unanimously agreed
00:48that Deshaun was the better quarterback.
00:50No, I think in terms of like the way I described it back then was like,
00:54I understand why Todd Munkin maybe wants Deshaun
00:57because he trusts the veteran running his offense and all these things,
01:00maybe more so than he trusts a second-year guy who's still learning,
01:03and that's totally fine that he's still learning.
01:05But when the ball snapped, there was an obvious difference
01:07between how the plays looked when Deshaun ran them
01:09and how the plays looked when Shador ran them.
01:12So I felt that way.
01:12So I get where you can say that you really have a choice,
01:15and the response people would give is, well, yeah,
01:18he could have started Shador instead.
01:20But it's not like he's choosing from Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.
01:26You know what I mean?
01:27He's kind of choosing from a quarterback room that's very limited anyway,
01:31and so he went with the guy that he thought was the veteran of the group
01:34that was going to maybe at least start the season,
01:36give him a better chance to win that was still only on a two-game trial.
01:39I don't know that this was really Todd Munkin being like,
01:42oh, I know Deshaun Watson's going to definitely –
01:45and he said that publicly because, you know, what else is the coach going to say
01:48about a guy that he's trying to hope he can rehabilitate into something.
01:52But I don't know that it was so much that as much it was just
01:54he kind of just picked the quarterback that he thought of the group he has right now
01:58was maybe the best quarterback in his eyes.
02:00Like, it's not like he's choosing the creme de la creme here.
02:02Well, I just find it interesting because I'm ready to give Munkin a bunch of credit,
02:05and I'm ready to go ahead and say just the idea that –
02:10and it's not that he's got so much belief in Deshaun Watson
02:15is why I want to give him credit.
02:16That's not what I'm trying to give him credit for.
02:17I want to give him credit for the idea that in the fourth quarter of these games,
02:21in places where Kevin Stefanski would have failed previously,
02:24Todd Munkin is not.
02:25And in games where I've seen the Browns lose previously,
02:29Todd Munkin is not.
02:30And there is something to that.
02:32I don't think it's just the aggressive nature because Kevin was aggressive as well.
02:36I don't – I've not been able to yet pinpoint why Todd Munkin has been able
02:40to win these games the past couple weeks in spots where I just –
02:43I know Stefanski would have lost him because we watched him for years lose him.
02:46Yeah.
02:47But when I pinpoint it, I'll let you know.
02:48I promise you.
02:49But I'm dying to find out what that is.
02:51Is there staying power attached to what Munkin is doing,
02:53or is it as simple as Rutenberger –
02:55Rutenberger.
02:56Rutenberger.
02:57Hey, that's a great idea.
02:58Hey, Rowan Gardner.
02:59If there's some burger place locally that wants to have a Rutenberger on the menu,
03:02go ahead.
03:03Or is it –
03:04Rutenberger just inherited an awesome defense,
03:06and Munkin really doesn't even do anything with the defensive side of the ball,
03:09and yesterday was a defensive win, and so we just have to look at it that way.
03:13I don't really know, but I'm ready to give Munkin credit one way or another
03:17because you are 2-1 when most people thought you'd be 0-3 at this point.
03:20I mean, here's what I think Todd Munkin does deserve credit for.
03:22I think he deserves credit for to stay with the quarterback part of this,
03:27putting Deshaun Watson in a situation to look the best he's maybe looked
03:30since he's been with the Browns, right?
03:31Kevin Stefanski certainly didn't do that, which was always confounding to me.
03:35When they traded for him in the first place, I always wondered,
03:37how is this going to fit?
03:40He's not the type of quarterback that really fits in Kevin Stefanski's offense.
03:44Yeah, square-packed ground hole.
03:45Like, Deshaun's game pre-injuries and all the stuff that he's been through
03:49was always, like, sort of freelancing a little bit to make things happen
03:52and then throwing the ball like he did yesterday to somebody who breaks open
03:55for a touchdown.
03:56Why did it take us five years to realize he has legs again?
03:58Well, that's what I mean.
04:00Like, Lieutenant Dan's got new legs.
04:01Because Kevin Stefanski was here for four of those.
04:03Well, one of them he didn't play.
04:04But, yes, like, I just – I never understood that.
04:07So I think Tom Munkin does deserve credit for setting up Deshaun Watson
04:11to be in a situation where he's more comfortable in this offense.
04:14Part of that is what Tom Munkin has preached since he got here,
04:16which was always my goal is to put our players in a position to be successful
04:20based on what they do best.
04:21If I can't identify those things and then use them,
04:24then that's on me as a coach.
04:25He didn't come in and say, I'm running this specific offense
04:28with these specific players.
04:29Get me this guy.
04:29Get me that guy.
04:30He said, I want talented players, then I'm going to make it work.
04:33And he's kind of done that with Deshaun.
04:34And I think the other thing he deserves credit for is what we talked about earlier.
04:36The idea that, yes, it takes multiple years to build a culture,
04:40but you're already seen in three games in the first eight, nine months
04:45of this experience that he has just – he has put a mentality in this team
04:51that they can do anything and they can win no matter how much their back's
04:55against the wall and that they're going to find a way to get it done.
04:58And that's a huge step for a young team to sort of be able to do those things.
05:01So I think those are the two big things he deserves credit for.
05:03He's just a breath of fresh air.
05:05And I like him, and it doesn't mean he's going to be good long term.
05:08I'm not saying that.
05:09I want to make that abundantly clear.
05:11But through three games, how could you not walk away impressed
05:13with what Monk has been able to do and winning two games that he shouldn't have
05:17and starting off the season two and one?
05:18Now, I am curious, Spencer.
05:20I do go to bed at night wondering how much of this is him actually taking on
05:25all the responsibilities and what goes to the defensive side of the ball,
05:29or how much of this is him being a Ben Johnson type in Chicago
05:32where they do nothing at all defensively.
05:34Like if at the end of the season, we're turning around
05:36and just propping up the defense, and we both agreed yesterday
05:39was a defensive win more than it was anything,
05:41like it will come back to some of the problems even Stefanski had,
05:44which is when you have a dominant defense, but you say you're an offensive guy,
05:48how much credit do we give you?
05:49Now, nationally, he's getting a lot because of what Deshaun was able to do
05:52in the fourth quarter.
05:53And if that's what he has to hang his hat on, then okay, great.
05:55Does a coach deserve some credit, though, for enabling his coaches to do their job?
06:01Well, I mean, that is a good question.
06:02It's one of those things I think we constantly wonder.
06:06You can say enabling, but also if you're just handing off the responsibilities
06:11and then turning your eye to the offensive side of the ball,
06:14we can say it's trusting.
06:16I guess maybe that's one way to look at it, being like a hands-off coach.
06:19Is that the idea?
06:20I think a lot of coaches do that, though.
06:21I think a lot of coaches kind of stick to their side of the ball,
06:24and then their job on defense is in critical situations you're deciding
06:30what you're going to do or you maybe get the trump card on,
06:34hey, are we going to blitz here or are we going to do this?
06:36And if you decide you want to do something different, then you do something different.
06:38Yes, yes, but it's rare in the NFL, and we have this every now and again.
06:41It's rare in the NFL, though, when you have – like in Houston, for instance,
06:45they have a defensive-minded coach.
06:46The defense is the best part of the team.
06:47C.J. Stroud has taken a back seat.
06:49Carolina, the team we just played, they have Canales,
06:51and they have a really good offensive coordinator,
06:53and they built everything around that offensive side of the ball,
06:55and now you've seen their offense start to take off.
06:58Like it's always weird when you have a one-side-of-the-ball coach,
07:03and then you look at the team and say that's not what they do best.
07:07It's the same thing we had with Stefanski when he was here.
07:10As you looked around, and the team couldn't score 20 points,
07:12and you said, what does this team do well?
07:14Well, it's Jim Schwartz, and it's the defense.
07:15And that becomes tough for a head coach to defend your role in that
07:20if all you're doing is empowering other people to do their job,
07:22and then your side of the ball isn't picking up their slack.
07:25Yeah, I just think, for me, I think it does – there is a level of this job
07:30that is making sure you identify the right people to put them in the right situations
07:33to be successful in terms of your coaching staff.
07:36I mean, we look at Kevin Stefanski's coaching staff.
07:38Like I love Bubba Ventron as a hire, and then that ended up not working out
07:41because these special teams were terrible over here.
07:42Now, look, he picked Byron Storer, first-time special teams coordinator.
07:46And the one thing we can say definitively through these first three games
07:49is that the special teams have been night and day better
07:52from where they were last year to this year.
07:54So, like, it's a credit to Munkin that he was able to identify people
07:58that he thought would be successful in these roles,
08:00even though they're doing it for the first time,
08:01and that to this point it's worked.
08:03I put more stock in that than I do feeling like, well,
08:07he has to have his hand on every single button at the same time
08:10to, like, really be a good head coach.
08:12I think a good head coach knows what people are going to make this whole thing
08:15sort of function properly, whether that means handing things off
08:18on the defensive side or overseeing them on the defensive side.
08:20How high do you think his approval rating is?
08:23Like, Dan Graziano on ESPN.
08:24Like, we're doing, like, a scale of...
08:25Yeah, yeah, yeah.
08:26Because, like, Dan Graziano on ESPN,
08:27and I think he thought this was more heavy-handed
08:29than maybe he thought it would be.
08:31He said that he thought Munkin would be coach of the year.
08:34Like, not an overreaction to say Munkin will win coach of the year right now.
08:37And now, in the city, we've just had a lot of coach of the years.
08:40Atkinson, vote.
08:42Stefanski, twice.
08:42Like, we've done this.
08:44Vote twice.
08:45We've done this a lot.
08:46We don't have many championships recently,
08:47but we have a lot of coach of the years.
08:49We are unquestioned coach of the year champions a million times over,
08:54so it doesn't hit the same way maybe for a lot of the fans here.
08:56You know how like when a city, like, different teams from the same city
08:59win a championship, and they're like,
09:00they're the city of champions right now.
09:03Cleveland is the city of coaches of the year.
09:05City of the coach of the year.
09:06And so that's why, like, when Graziano says it,
09:07I don't think it hits the same way for people,
09:09because it's like, yeah, that's kind of what we do around here.
09:12But the idea that he's in that conversation after three weeks,
09:15I mean, it is an impressive thing.
09:17Given what this roster is,
09:19and that everyone thought, like, after you trade Miles Garrett,
09:21you're obviously trying to tank, I think for sure.
09:22I mean, I think fans should be excited about that.
09:25I think his approval rating is very high.
09:27I mean, I don't know.
09:28Like, if we're talking, like, out of 100, I would probably put it at, like,
09:31an 80, 85, like something.
09:32Yeah, I think he's done it in a very quick way.
09:34In a very quick way.
09:35And part of that is because of who he is in press conferences,
09:38which isn't always the best barometer,
09:39but, like, he's just very candidly himself.
09:42He's running up to fans at the end of games,
09:44these last two weeks when they've won,
09:45high-fiving the Browns fans left to Tampa.
09:48Yeah, like, he's doing all these things that are, like,
09:51very gets Cleveland,
09:52and that's, like, the fastest way to get a good approval rating in this town.
09:552-1-6-4-7-4-0-92.
09:56Dan in Cleveland up next.
09:58What's up, Dan?
09:59Hey, how's it going?
10:00Thanks for taking my call.
10:02Hey, Dan, appreciate you.
10:03Yeah, another great win.
10:04Another fourth quarter for Deshaun Watson.
10:07He looked great.
10:09I didn't condone people booing him,
10:11but maybe kind of ironically, maybe he needs that.
10:14Maybe, like, almost like the LeBron, don't make LeBron mad.
10:18That's when he plays hard.
10:20Maybe that's Deshaun.
10:21If you boo him, he's like, oh, you know, I'll show you guys.
10:24And he comes back.
10:25He had an amazing fourth quarter after, like I said,
10:28I don't condone it, but he got hurt.
10:30He got booed.
10:30And then he lit it up.
10:32There is something.
10:33And, Dan, I appreciate you.
10:34There is something to that idea.
10:36I want to see if Dan would give me a five more years check.
10:38I don't think you're going to get that.
10:39I think that.
10:40Someone's going to bite.
10:41I know it.
10:42Who's going to bite?
10:43I don't know.
10:44There's some caller out there.
10:46We're not really the chanting show, first off.
10:48I know there's people.
10:49There's people in my mentions all the time who are like,
10:51you are a Deshaun hater.
10:53Now look, you're eating crow for what you said about Deshaun.
10:56And I'm like, I mean, he still wasn't very good, but okay.
10:58I think you just got to accept you can't win on the internet.
11:00And, like, in one corner of the internet.
11:01There's people to call in and give me a five more years chant, though.
11:04In one corner of the internet, people are like,
11:06this guy will never give Deshaun credit.
11:08And the other corner off a different clip is,
11:09this guy just glazes up Deshaun all day.
11:12But you're all right.
11:13Yeah, you're right.
11:14No, that's 100% how that goes, by the way.
11:16You just can't win.
11:16You can't win.
11:17I've been called a Deshaun sympathizer.
11:19I've been called, like, a Shador sympathizer.
11:21I've been called a hater for both.
11:22And it's like, I just can't win.
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