00:009 o'clock, Ian Rappaport going to join us on the show.
00:02Now, this show has said it's way too early to consider such things,
00:05but when would the Browns consider keeping Deshaun Watson?
00:09What would have to happen for them to actually do that?
00:11Now, Ian Rappaport was one of the people saying that if he played poorly in Tampa Bay,
00:15talking about Deshaun Watson, that he wasn't going to be playing against Carolina.
00:21So, I think we are way too deep in the woods right now
00:26to be considering any sort of extension, any sort of keeping around,
00:31any sort of stuff like that.
00:33But, I didn't think he was going to play well against Tampa Bay.
00:36He played all right against Tampa Bay.
00:37He played well in the fourth quarter against the Carolina Panthers.
00:41So, we'll see what comes on Thursday.
00:43But, I think it's going to take several steps for them to seriously consider anything
00:48in terms of keeping him around for the 2027 season.
00:54216-474-0092.
00:55Now, I want to get to the phones here in a minute.
00:57But, Todd Munkin has, he really hasn't talked tough.
01:01I got to tell you.
01:01It wasn't like he's been out there bopping around, yelling at everybody, the whole thing.
01:07He is definitely trying to get these guys emotionally charged.
01:10He's definitely trying to get these guys to build a culture.
01:13I think he's done a pretty fine job of it.
01:16He's also a 2-1 football coach now.
01:18And, I think a lot of people thought that this team would probably start in the vicinity of 1-2,
01:220-3.
01:23There are some people who are very excited about him and very impressed by Todd Munkin,
01:28including Steve Smith Sr.
01:30As he told Peter Schrager, he thinks that he could be a coach of the year finalist.
01:34I love what Todd Munkin is doing with the Cleveland Browns.
01:37Because, let's be honest, when we look at the Cleveland Browns
01:40and we look at the mess of things that are going on,
01:42we never would have thought that Todd Munkin would be able to manage and figure out
01:46and be so open and honest and transparent on what he believes and feels
01:50about our public opinion about his team.
01:53He doesn't give a flying fanaticals.
01:55He doesn't care.
01:56What he believes is, I'm going to do the best job for my team.
02:00And, I believe that he should and will be one of the finalists of Coach of the Year
02:05for the Cleveland Browns.
02:07So, we went from week one against Jacksonville going,
02:10this guy's one and done, this is a mess, to he could possibly be Coach of the Year.
02:16That tells me people to just, we don't know how to take the Browns.
02:19And, I think that they are one of the more surprising teams in the NFL.
02:22The Raiders are obviously at 3-0, the most surprising team.
02:25They have to be number one, yeah.
02:26I think the Browns being at 2-1, they got to be,
02:29unless you're going negative and saying the Chargers are 0-3-2,
02:32just in total surprise, they're up there.
02:36People are noticing this.
02:37I think it's been hard for people to hear the Browns' head coach
02:41and believe what they're saying.
02:44And, it seems that Todd has told the truth more than he hasn't, right?
02:49And, at least paid that off in his actions.
02:51Now, he might have got caught up and tripped over some things
02:54earlier with the whole coach's situation, the Lane Kiffin thing.
02:58I don't remember the split the reps and whose day it was.
03:01And, you know, he came out and said it was Shador's day.
03:05And, then Deshaun ended up getting those.
03:07But, that was, it's been two months ago now.
03:09Oh, then there was the comment about Watson being young.
03:15There were shows that actually spent time on that.
03:18We did not.
03:18Has Todd Munkin won you over or is it too early?
03:212-1-6-4-7-4-0-92.
03:24Yeah, it's too early.
03:25Has he won you over yet or is he too early?
03:27It's way too early because he's supposed to be an offensive guy.
03:33There's going to be a curve here because I did not think their offensive line
03:36was going to hit the ground running.
03:38They haven't.
03:40Deshaun Watson's been better.
03:41This has been the best Deshaun Watson I've seen, but he's still played.
03:45Somebody noted on social media, he's played like three good quarters
03:50out of the 12 so far, right?
03:52Like, the offense is not exactly humming and they don't have a running game.
03:56They do have better receivers than they've had in a while, but they're young.
03:59They have better receivers.
04:00They're not exactly humming.
04:01They're still 2-1-1.
04:02So he has still found a way.
04:04You know, a coach's job is win, win, win, win, win.
04:09Well, you've got to get in as good a position as you can to win.
04:11You can't just go out there and force it and make sure everybody wins.
04:15I think that what he's done here to get this team to 2-1 is pretty remarkable.
04:20And it's a nice, fresh perspective.
04:22Now, again, all these things kind of come to an end.
04:23So once you say, hey, we're with them.
04:27We got them.
04:27Like, yeah, you have the right to change your opinion if things start to go south.
04:31But I think the biggest challenge that he was going to have, getting the culture going,
04:37getting these guys to believe in themselves, which is part of the culture there,
04:41eliminating pre-snap stuff or eliminating pre-snap turnovers,
04:44eliminating turnovers.
04:46They had a special teams turnover the other day.
04:48There's a lot of stuff that they've addressed.
04:50The flags are terrible.
04:51The flags are terrible.
04:53That reared its ugly head just on Sunday, but you got new pieces in there.
04:57I think he's doing what's necessary and leaving ego at the door to win.
05:02I told you before.
05:03Now, this is a direct criticism of Kevin.
05:07And I've said this a million times over.
05:10I told you, if Vince Lombardi came down from heaven,
05:12and I told you this scenario many times,
05:14if Vince Lombardi comes down from heaven and told Kevin Stefanski,
05:17if you run Nick Chubb today 30 times, you will win the game.
05:20It's not like he will not run Nick Chubb 30 times.
05:23He'll just turn around and ask, well, can I still win the game
05:25if I don't run him 30 times?
05:28I think just Todd Mung is going to do whatever he can to win.
05:31And I do think that players play off of that.
05:34I guess I just don't want to get crazy because, obviously,
05:36Watson's fourth-quarter play has bailed the offense out.
05:40And, you know, I looked at last year.
05:42Okay, they got destroyed by Baltimore in the second week of the year, 41-17.
05:46All right, we've got an embarrassing loss to Jacksonville in week one.
05:50And then the other two games, Cincinnati, they lost 17-16.
05:54How many times did they have a chance to win that game?
05:56And didn't, like, Jerry Judy have a drop in that game?
06:00They easily could have won that game.
06:01And then they beat Green Bay, right?
06:03So are they that different from last year yet of the first three games?
06:08It's kind of the same, right?
06:10It's just they happen to be 2-1.
06:13And, you know, they had two games in this way that they easily could have lost
06:18Tampa Bay game.
06:19They easily could have lost this game.
06:20So I don't think they're that drastically different from last year.
06:23The first three games.
06:24Yeah, no, that does put a sobering thought to it.
06:262-1-6-4-7-4-0-0-92.
06:28We've got Ken in Mansfield.
06:29You're first up in the fan.
06:30Hello, Ken.
06:32Hey, boys.
06:32How are you guys doing today?
06:34We're doing all right, Ken.
06:35Go right on ahead.
06:36I just wanted to talk about Todd.
06:38And, you know, I've been a Brown fan my whole life.
06:40And I thought it was pretty cool Sunday when he came around to all the fans
06:43after we won, celebrating, high-fiving everybody.
06:46And I just think he's really buying into Cleveland, the city, and our culture.
06:50And I think the dude's a winner.
06:52And he's going to continue to win and just improve.
06:55Does he have to high-five if they lose?
06:58Like you do the alma mater in college and we lose?
07:00Like you have to always do the alma mater?
07:02No?
07:03No, no.
07:03I would say not.
07:04I thought it was just cool.
07:05You know, he's still the new coach.
07:07So just getting the city to buy into him and the fans, I think it's really cool.
07:11And if you watch Todd as he's been a distance in his past and stuff,
07:14the dude's a winner and he's going to figure it out one way or another.
07:17And I agree with you guys.
07:18He's going to put the best players in to give us the best chance to win, period.
07:22All right.
07:23Ken, thank you very much for the call.
07:24I just think he's done a very nice job.
07:26But, damn it, you are right at the very beginning of the season.
07:29It's tough to differentiate there.
07:31Mark in Broadview Heights, you're next up on the fan.
07:33Hello, Mark.
07:34Hey, how's it going, guys?
07:36Not bad, Mark.
07:37Go ahead.
07:38I just wanted to say it feels like it's what we've been missing with this regime,
07:43like a real football guy.
07:46And, again, I think winning solves a lot of those –
07:48answers a lot of those questions.
07:50Like, if we didn't get that fourth down at the end of the game and we lost,
07:55I feel like we'd be singing a different tune today.
07:59But would it be about Munkin or would it –
08:02oh, gosh, duh, yes, okay, never mind.
08:06Go right on ahead.
08:07Go right on ahead.
08:09Sorry, Mark.
08:09But winning solves it all, right?
08:12The two wins, he's high-fiving.
08:13It's great.
08:14But if he goes for it on that fourth down at the end and we don't get it
08:19and we end up losing that game, are we singing a different tune today?
08:23We are.
08:23Absolutely we are.
08:24But, yeah, apparently he can defend it and say that this was analytically driven.
08:30I know that that sounds like a terrible excuse, but let me ask you this, Mark.
08:34Let me ask you this.
08:34Say it was reversed in some way.
08:37Say that analytics told him one thing and he's like,
08:41I got a gut feeling about this team.
08:43I just got a gut feeling and we're going to go against the analytics.
08:46And they came up short and they ended up losing.
08:48If I'm going to be honest, one of the most infuriating things about this team
08:53in the past few years has been how analytics-driven they've been.
08:56Like, look at data points.
08:59Like, give me something real.
09:00You know, like, I'm sick and tired of the GMs talking about, well,
09:04we have to look at data points.
09:06Like, let's, you know, let's – some of that stuff gets tiring over time.
09:10So, if he's going against it, it might be refreshing.
09:12But, I mean, again, like I said, I feel like winning solves everything.
09:17Yeah, and I'll tell you what, I love that point, Mark,
09:20and I love that call and thank you very much for it.
09:21Because I'm going to tell you, I'm going to take it in a different direction.
09:24Like, when you hear Barry talk about data points and all the other stuff,
09:26they're talking about getting players.
09:29And their player – picking players has been a little bit difficult.
09:32Like, they've taken risks on guys, that they're analytics.
09:35And I put a lot of that on Paul DeBadesta.
09:38Yes, I know that that might be scapegoating.
09:40We'll find out here as time goes on, right?
09:42Because you went out, you got Titus Howard.
09:43Titus Howard hasn't worked out so well.
09:45I think Zion Johnson's been all right.
09:46Elton Jenkins has been all right.
09:48Your draft pick Spencer Fano's been good.
09:50Austin Barber's been good.
09:51Da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
09:52But when we talk about data points and all that other stuff,
09:55we're talking about picking players.
09:57The type of players you bring in, that has been kind of the problem.
10:01For Munkin, if he were to just go, damn the torpedoes,
10:04I'm going to go with my gut, are you losing that chess game?
10:08Because then it sounds like you're just trying to get lucky
10:10instead of doing what's right.
10:13That's a problem.
10:13I think that that would be a problem.
10:15Like, every now and then, yeah, you know, we're down by 10.
10:19We're going to have to pull out the stops.
10:20You want to get nuts?
10:21Let's get nuts.
10:22But in these situations, like, I was shocked.
10:25And then I was shocked that the analytics backed that decision up
10:28because I go, God, because it cut the field in half.
10:31It takes a lot of pressure off of Bryce Young.
10:34I know they had no timeouts.
10:35He's got a minute left.
10:36And again, you cut the field in half.
10:38I expected soft coverage to kind of put them in that spot
10:41because I'm a Browns fan and I've been down that road many times.
10:45I didn't think they – I thought that maybe we'd have a chance
10:48to have to block a field goal in that game and never had to.
10:52Yeah, and I think the other part of it is right now, you know,
10:55they played two NFC South teams.
10:57It's too early to try to figure out which divisions are good or bad
11:00because the first month of the season is always so wacky.
11:04You get some weird outcomes.
11:05But it's been – you've gone up against Baker Mayfield
11:10and obviously Bryce Young this last week, who was, you know,
11:13riding a hot hand, but he had not felt the pressure that we were able to deliver.
11:17Or, well, now they got Aaron Rodgers this week,
11:18then they got Geno Smith next week.
11:20Like, this really is – if we said all offseason what an easy schedule this is,
11:26then, you know, we can't – we can't now act like it was murderer's row now.
11:30I mean, it is an easy schedule.
11:32And finally, they're doing something with it.
11:34And it's only been three games, but, hey, they're doing something with it.
11:38And they have a chance again this week.
11:40You know, the short rest – Aaron Rodgers was decent in the second half last week.
11:43He was actually pretty good in the second half last week.
11:45But he can't move.
11:47And so he's going to try to beat you with his mind,
11:49and he still can flick the wrists, you know, pretty well.
11:52Zach Jackson, 8-0-1 on the show.
11:55When will Watson be able to put together a full game
11:59and take the heat off the defense?
12:02All that and – did LeBron James let the Cavs off the hook?
12:05And don't try to replicate it.
12:08It cannot be replicated.
12:10I know you saw it on Sunday morning.
12:12So did I.
12:13Don't try to redo it over there.
12:14What it is, I'm going to tell you in five on the –
