00:00I think all of our hosts at the station and everyone who works here
00:02and maybe a lot of you out there as well
00:05didn't expect the Browns to be 2-1 as we enter Week 4
00:08going into a big, massive, important Thursday night game
00:12against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
00:13But yet, here we are, and the Browns have an opportunity
00:16to move to 3-1 and change a lot of people's thinking
00:20into how this season will go.
00:22But where I want to start with tonight
00:25is who do you think deserves the most credit
00:28for the Browns getting to where they are right now, this 2-1 start?
00:31I think a lot of people would point to Todd Munkin.
00:33I think a lot of people would point to, you know, maybe Andrew Barry
00:37for drafting some of these young guys and putting this roster together.
00:41But I think for me personally, I think where you have to look
00:44first and foremost is Deshaun Watson
00:46and how he's played so far this season.
00:49Has he been perfect? No.
00:51Can he be better? Absolutely.
00:53That's what we expect from a quarterback who's making the money
00:56that Deshaun Watson is making.
00:57We expect him to be able to win games for this team,
01:00be a quarterback that the Browns can win because of,
01:03rather than just a quarterback that they can win with.
01:07But so far, through three weeks,
01:09Deshaun Watson has gotten the Browns to 2-1.
01:11He's led two fourth down, or fourth quarter comebacks, excuse me,
01:16and he's been arguably the best fourth quarterback
01:19in the NFL so far through three weeks.
01:22Now, the first three quarters, especially on Sunday,
01:24we don't really need to talk about that.
01:26What was it, 67, 68 passing yards total through those first three quarters?
01:31It wasn't good.
01:32Guys, I was at the game.
01:33Part of my new responsibilities and my new job is
01:36I have to go to every single Browns game.
01:37I'm there in person.
01:38I'm watching them.
01:40Deshaun was not great through three quarters.
01:42He was inaccurate at times.
01:43He's still building chemistry with some of his receivers.
01:46But yet, he got the job done in the fourth quarter when it was required.
01:50Browns fell down twice in that game in the fourth quarter.
01:53He leads them on the field goal drive,
01:54and then, of course, the touchdown drive at the end
01:56with that great pass to Harold Fannin Jr.
01:58that gave the Browns the lead for good.
02:01So, I guess that's, again, where I want to start with tonight.
02:032-1-6-4-7-4-0-0-92 if you guys want to hop in.
02:06Who deserves the most credit for the Browns 2-1 start?
02:09And another reason that I kind of look at Deshaun Watson here
02:13is Todd Munkin, frankly, wouldn't want the credit.
02:16If you gave it to Todd Munkin and you said that it's because of
02:20this new culture that he's setting or it's the Todd Munkin effect
02:23or all this other stuff and how he ran training camp
02:25and how he coaches these guys hard,
02:28sure, I don't think the players would disagree with you,
02:30but I don't think Todd Munkin would want that.
02:31He says over and over again all the time about how it's a player's league.
02:36At some point, the players have to be the one to step up and do the thing.
02:41They have to step up in the biggest moments and win these games.
02:45And Deshaun Watson, through three weeks, has done that twice.
02:48At least in the fourth quarter, he's done it twice.
02:51And yes, can we ask for more out of Deshaun?
02:54Absolutely we can.
02:55We should.
02:55And I would hope that in the starts that he has the rest of the season,
02:59we get to see a little bit more out of that from him.
03:03Because, again, he can get better
03:05and there's things he's got to clean up.
03:06And I think he can help with some of these operational issues.
03:09The offensive line fall starting.
03:10This running game needing to get going.
03:12More on that later on in the show about where we are with that
03:16and what I think a lot of people's feelings are towards the running game
03:20and maybe how over-emotional we can get about it
03:22and why it's still not getting quite up in the air
03:25and it's still kind of stuck in neutral.
03:28But Watson, so far, has done the job.
03:30He's done the thing that's required, which is win football games.
03:36And we've talked about it on these airwaves.
03:38Todd Munkins talked about it post-game.
03:40And I think Deshaun Watson even talked about it a little bit
03:43after the game on Sunday as well.
03:44But that's all the fans want.
03:47That's all you guys want.
03:48You want a winning football team.
03:49That's all we've asked for from Deshaun Watson so far
03:53through the five years that we've had him.
03:54And sure, when we traded for him back in 2022,
03:57we thought we were getting an elite quarterback.
03:59At that time, it was Patrick Mahomes and it was Deshaun Watson.
04:02It was one and two.
04:04Deshaun Watson was the guy who led 24-0 over Patrick Mahomes
04:08in a divisional round playoff game.
04:10Obviously, the Texans did not win that game.
04:11But then he went on.
04:12He also led the league in passing back in 2020.
04:14That's who we thought we were getting.
04:16And then obviously, when we knew we weren't going to end up getting that guy,
04:19that that guy's long gone,
04:20we just want a guy who's going to go out there and make plays
04:23and win football games and not make mistakes and not turn the ball over.
04:28And so far, again, at least through the past two games,
04:31Deshaun Watson has done that.
04:33And I think another element of this, too,
04:35outside of just winning football games,
04:38is we wanted a guy to play the position
04:41that made us feel good about the roster and where it's at.
04:45The Browns have a lot of great young pieces.
04:47Andrew Barry's done a nice job these past two years
04:50of getting young talent in on the offensive side of the ball.
04:52Quinn Sean Judkins, Harold Fannin Jr. last year.
04:55The two wide receivers, obviously, in the first two rounds this year as well.
05:00But it's one of those things where we were worried heading in.
05:03I know a lot of us were about,
05:05will Deshaun be able to do enough?
05:07Or would Shador be able to do enough
05:08for us to get enough from those players
05:11to be able to see some flashes from Casey Concepcion
05:14and Denzel Boston
05:15and even that extra step being taken from Harold Fannin Jr.
05:20We wanted a quarterback who was going to be able to show us some of that.
05:24And I think so far through three games, you're getting that.
05:26Denzel Boston, through the first two weeks,
05:28was leading all rookie receivers in receptions and touchdowns.
05:32And obviously, Watson and Casey Concepcion
05:35have not been on the same page as much.
05:37I think that's a bit odd.
05:39I think they can get there.
05:40Casey's role in this offense is a little bit different
05:42than what they're asking out of Denzel Boston.
05:44But I can just trust over time
05:46that hopefully that chemistry will get a little bit better
05:48even though they're not on the same page.
05:49And then, obviously, in the last two weeks,
05:51we've seen Watson and Fannin really connect.
05:55They had the two big touchdowns on Sunday.
05:57Fannin was a huge, huge part down the stretch
06:00in that game against the Buccaneers
06:03that helped lead the comeback.
06:04So I think you're getting some of that as well.
06:06And I want to play something from earlier today.
06:09John Fanta was on with Afternoon Drive.
06:11He talked about why he thinks this play
06:14from the Browns' offense is sustainable
06:16behind Deshaun Watson as well.
06:18What's sustainable is this.
06:20They've got a young core of players
06:21and they're not to be taken lightly.
06:23The Browns have talent.
06:24If anything, that talent's not even getting maximized fully.
06:28And when I say that,
06:30I don't mean to be a hater of the quarterback.
06:31I'm just saying it still looks like to me,
06:34like I don't even know how good Casey Concepcion is,
06:36but I think he could be really good.
06:37He's fast.
06:38He's got this jitterbug style to him.
06:41I think he can get in space.
06:42I don't even think they fully,
06:43and I think Todd Munkin would say the same thing.
06:45Is it sustainable this season for them to win 10 games?
06:47I'm not going to sit here and say that.
06:49I still think that they are probably a five-win,
06:52maybe a six-win football team,
06:54but their schedule's favorable
06:55and their talent is fun.
06:57Squarson Schwestinger's fun.
06:59Watch him before the plays.
07:00He's flying all over the place.
07:01He's a leader.
07:02Mason Graham is a leader.
07:04He's forming an identity.
07:06This organization has a core that they can believe in.
07:10And honestly, guys, I think the core's ahead of schedule.
07:13And that right there, again, from John Fanta, NBC Sports, Fanta in 60,
07:18that's all we've kind of wanted.
07:20We wanted a winning product.
07:21We wanted the Browns to win games,
07:23and we wanted to see the young talent pop and show flashes.
07:26And I think so far through three games, they've checked all those boxes.
07:30Again, can it get better?
07:32Absolutely it can.
07:33And they have an opportunity now Thursday night to go to 3-1
07:36when their first AFC North game of the season.
07:38And if they do, they would be in first place by themselves in the AFC North.
07:43And who would have thought we would even be uttering that sentence
07:46four weeks into the NFL season?
07:48I certainly didn't.
07:50But yet, here we are.
07:52And again, 2-1-6-4-7-4-0-92.
07:56I think Deshaun Watson deserves a lot of credit for that.
07:59Like, I'm not going to sit on here, sit in this chair tonight,
08:02and say I think Deshaun Watson is the future of the Cleveland Browns
08:04at the quarterback position.
08:05I still think it would be irresponsible to re-sign him potentially
08:09at the end of the year and continue this moving forward.
08:12But at least for this year, with the situation in the hand that we've been dealt
08:16as Browns fans having to watch this team, having to deal with this quarterback situation,
08:22it's not so bad.
08:23And at the end of the day, the Browns probably made the right call
08:26to put Deshaun out there, at least to start the season.
08:28We'll see, you know, how long his leash is as we get further down the line,
08:33see how much maybe better Deshaun Watson can play,
08:37maybe how worse he can play, and if that maybe forces the Browns' hand.
08:41But that's not what we need to be talking about right now.
08:44Right now, it's just, can this team get better, continue to improve,
08:47and can they continue to win football games with this offense?
08:52Because this defense has been ready to roll.
08:54The last two weeks, they've certainly showed it,
08:55and that's where we've gotten so far.
08:57And that leads me to another element to this whole Deshaun discussion.
09:01Do we think that Deshaun can be a quarterback you win because of the rest of the year
09:06versus one that you just win with?
09:08And I think John Fanta talked about it a lot there in that clip.
09:11Do we think that this really elevates the Browns' win total from, you know,
09:17maybe the 5-6 we thought that they'd have preseason to the 8-9-10 realm?
09:23Probably not.
09:24I think for a lot of people, I don't think we're there yet.
09:26But nobody expected that.
09:28And nobody also expected the Browns to be 2-1 at this point in the season.
09:32But if Watson's just serviceable, if he's just a guy you can win with,
09:37I mean, guys, that's the formula in the NFL right now.
09:41There's only about four or five guys, I think, in this league
09:44that fill that hole of quarterbacks you win because of.
09:48I think of Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Lamar Jackson.
09:55That's about it.
09:56End list.
09:57Sam Darnold just won a Super Bowl with the Seahawks.
10:01Jalen Hurts just won a Super Bowl with the Eagles.
10:03Both of those behind just vaunted, dominant defenses.
10:07And I'm not saying the Browns are going to win the Super Bowl this year.
10:09That's crazy.
10:11But for the Browns to potentially be on that playoff graphic
10:17at the end of the season, potentially even sneak into the playoff field,
10:21I think that's all they need Deshaun Watson to be.
10:24Is that guy that you can win with versus that guy you need to win because of.
10:29Because, again, that's unfair expectations to put on him
10:32based on what we've seen from him so far.
10:34And that's such a difficult role to fill in the NFL.
