00:00I think if he wins tonight, I think the job's a done deal.
00:02I think it's his, and I don't think we really need to discuss it.
00:05If you go 3-3, if you lose the next two or something like that, fine.
00:10I mean, we're doing a lot of ifs and buts, whatever it might be.
00:13I know that it's a game day. You might not want to get into that.
00:16But, you know, it is a un-concrete, I don't think that's a word,
00:22it's just a, it is not a full-on position right now.
00:26It is a, it's still one that I think a lot of people think may still kind of be
00:30sort of up for grabs.
00:33And if they win tonight, sorry, you're 3-1.
00:35I'm not going back to 2014 and going to sit there and go,
00:38it was a different time in quarterbacking, it was a different time with the Browns,
00:42it was a different time with everybody.
00:44I'm not going to go against the Jets.
00:46If they go 3-1 and say he goes out there and they still win against the Jets
00:50or something like that and he piddles around,
00:52I'm not going to do what I did in 2014 and make the same mistake.
00:58The game has changed.
01:00Winning football is what matters.
01:02And I can't get rid of a guy winning football games.
01:06I'm not going to sit a guy doing that.
01:08We did that once already.
01:10We were over .500.
01:13Sat Brian Hoyer, put in Johnny Manziel.
01:16Now, Johnny Manziel was a far cry from the backup right now,
01:20considering Johnny Manziel was a mess.
01:22But I'm not doing that.
01:24I'm not doing it.
01:25You win the game, you have the job.
01:28If somehow we get the 3-3, I'll open it back up.
01:32But I'm not going to sit there and have this discussion every damn day
01:35if they're 3-1, 3-2, somewhere in that, 4-2.
01:40And I will have to ask if their question is asked all the time.
01:44And usually I defend writers' questions because press conferences aren't interviews.
01:49But if the question is asked, I'm going to go,
01:51there might be a time where I just go, why are we still talking about this?
01:53What's the issue with why bring it up?
01:56What's the point?
01:58I would say that I'm mostly in agreement with you.
02:02I just meant if it was so utterly clear that Watson was struggling
02:08and they won in spite of him.
02:10And then now you start to add, all right, it was terrible in game one.
02:14Game two came alive and was as accurate as we've ever seen.
02:17But then in game three, it was bad for three quarters.
02:20Then it starts to add up.
02:21Because I've seen some people say out of the 12 quarters, he's really only played nine good quarters.
02:27I haven't cared about that up to this point.
02:29I would agree with that.
02:30Like, that's how low the bar is.
02:32But I think the bar is low across the league.
02:36Like, I don't think replacing him, if we get in a position where it's like,
02:41hey, we're playing seven in heaven and we're putting the Browns in the top seven.
02:45Replacing him for a second-year guy ain't the answer.
02:49A guy that we didn't take high in the draft is not the answer.
02:53No.
02:54That will not – like, if he gets hurt or something like that, then, yeah,
02:56we got to do what we got to do.
02:57But replacing him like that is not going to be the answer.
03:00So, I'm not doing it.
03:03And I know he hasn't played that – I mean, honestly, he hasn't played that well.
03:07Fourth quarter, Tampa Bay got it going.
03:09The first half, again, I just wrote this is good for Deshaun because it wasn't garbage.
03:16The game against Carolina, 67 yards going out of the third quarter, coming into the fourth.
03:22Like, I saw the tweets to me.
03:23Yeah, wasn't good.
03:25Wasn't good.
03:27But as long as you're playing winning football, and I don't think they've won in spite of him
03:31or these first two games that they've won.
03:33I think that in so many ways they won because he helped them win.
03:37And so, I'm not going to sugarcoat any of that stuff.
03:40I think that if they win tonight, the conversation's done for a while.
03:43We put that one up on the shelf.
03:44Well, one thing I'm not doing, I'm not just assuming any quarterback could have done
03:48in the fourth quarters of the last two games what he has done.
03:50He has been outstanding in those situations.
03:54Desperate situations.
03:56Helter-skelter.
03:56Game is on the line.
03:58His future was on the line in those games.
04:00Think about if he lost both those games.
04:02It's over.
04:02Maybe if he had just lost the Tampa Bay game.
04:04It's over for him.
04:05He may never start another game in the NFL.
04:08So, he's dealt with that pressure.
04:10And that is one thing that leads me to think we've got a shot tonight with him.
04:13That he's already dealt with the pressure of his career on the line last week.
04:18I don't feel that that's the same pressure tonight.
04:21I just think it's a national audience.
04:23He had very much so a local audience in Game 2 and Game 3.
04:28This is national.
04:29And it's weird to say, 10 years into his career, but a coming out party for Deshaun Watson,
04:35a guy that people, quite frankly, around the NFL have forgotten about.
04:38Yeah.
04:39And have, you know, basically eliminated from their point of view in talking about quarterbacks.
04:45Like, when we talk about Malik Willis, you know, over the offseason.
04:48Or Anthony Richardson.
04:49Or, you know, who was the one with the Cowboys that Hoyer was in love with?
04:53Joe Milton.
04:54Like, we talk about everybody.
04:55But it's not just here.
04:56Those conversations happen in every market until they find a quarterback.
05:00I'm fine with that.
05:01Well, Deshaun Watson has a big game tonight in front of that crowd.
05:05Like, you know that's just going to be a name that people start bandying about again.
05:10216-474-0092.
05:12I get that.
05:14But, again, my bar is just not that high.
05:16And I think in so many ways winning is what is just going to...
05:21Baseline winning.
05:22Baseline helping them win.
05:23And, like, it used to be...
05:26This is a weird conversation.
05:27It used to be this great big match.
05:28Okay, can you...
05:29You can play the position well.
05:31But can you play against this guy if we end up playing this guy?
05:33Can you play against that guy if we end up playing him?
05:35I'm just trying to win one game at a time here.
05:38Like, this is a new era.
05:39It's a new head coach.
05:40It's a young football team.
05:42I still don't think it's a very deep team.
05:43I think that's going to catch up with them.
05:45Hopefully it doesn't start to rear its ugly head tonight.
05:47Tonight with Elton...
05:48With Elton...
05:50Jenkins.
05:51Jenkins.
05:52With Elton Jenkins.
05:53I want to call him Elton Alexander.
05:54With Elton Jenkins out, I hope it doesn't start to catch up with them tonight.
05:58But I am worried.
05:59I mean, you got different guys across a new offensive line.
06:01Like, yeah.
06:02So maybe tonight isn't the week to take those shots?
06:05Maybe.
06:05Well, no.
06:06You're going to have to do what you got to do.
06:07And you can either do it or you can't.
06:09But if he can't do it, like, yeah, I want him to win.
06:13Yeah, I want it to be a pep rally.
06:14But there's also a part where we got to be a little realistic about this and understand
06:17that it's the first month.
06:19We're two and one.
06:20There's a lot of good, but there's a lot of things that we have to answer as well.
06:23But if they get the three and one, like, yeah, man, we're winning football games.
06:27I'm done.
06:28I'm done having that conversation about switching out QBs and all that other stuff.
06:32We're not doing it.
06:33Based on what?
06:33Based on making people happy?
06:35Winning makes people happy.
06:36So if they were one and three and they were still marching them out there, yeah, we'd be losing
06:41our minds.
06:42But if you're three and one after tonight, you've made the fans happy.
06:48That's what ultimately matters is winning.
06:49So I got a quarterback.
06:51If as long as he doesn't turn the ball over, he's going to give him a chance.
06:54I don't know about the running game.
06:55I don't know about the offensive line.
06:57I think it's going to be a difficult football game.
06:58I think this is going to be difficult.
07:00I think it's going to be more difficult tonight against Pittsburgh than it was against Carolina.
07:05Some people disagreed with me on that.
07:08But I'm just pointing out, if they win the game, unless he turns it over five times, it's
07:14himself and the Browns win like six to three.
07:17I guess I have to take it back.
07:20But if they just win the football game and he eliminates turnovers as best he can and he
07:25throws for 130 and they win.
07:28And OK, guess what?
07:29You're absolutely the starter for the foreseeable future.
07:32What we're talking about is whether we're going to reference him potentially losing his job
07:36anytime soon, which obviously was the focus of the start of the year because most Browns fans
07:42thought that there was a very high likelihood he was going to lose his job.
07:47So how do we lay ground rules down?
07:49But we're always going to be talking about his performance, how it's whoever the starting
07:54quarterback is, how it relates to the rest of the league, how it relates to the rest
07:57of the division and whether it's good enough to make a playoff run.
08:00We're always going to be doing that no matter who our quarterback is.
08:02It's a hell of a thing here.
08:03See, this is what it is.
08:04We had Mary Kay on about 20 minutes ago.
08:08No, about 40 minutes ago now.
08:09Mary Kay said, I asked her, you know, if Deshaun Watson goes, if they're three and one,
08:13do we end the week to week conversation about is it his job?
08:18And she said this.
08:19If the Browns win tonight, we done with the starting quarterback conversation?
08:22No, I don't think so.
08:23It's just going to be pretty much a week to week thing.
08:26I think you just have to see how everything plays out.
08:29If Deshaun Watson can go out there with this really new offense and a lot of really, really
08:34young guys that are all trying to figure each other out and somehow find a way to beat the
08:39Pittsburgh Steelers, I think that will go a long, long way towards getting a lot of fans
08:44back on his side and getting people to believe in him.
08:48I don't know how to lay the ground rules.
08:50Like, I'm just not going to come in here and go, oh, this is going to be a mess.
08:53We need to put Deshaun.
08:54We need to put Shador Sanders in.
08:55Shador may play because of injury.
08:59Somebody else might play because of injury.
09:01But I don't think that he's going to.
09:03Like, I'm not going to make that conversation happen.
09:05Like, you're three and one.
09:06If they get the three and three at some point, like, okay, fine.
09:09Let's open it back up because it'll probably be a little bit because of quarterback play.
09:13But I just got to go win by win.
09:16And at some point, you have to solidify that position.
09:20People need to know who their leaders are.
09:22And damn it, he's a quarterback.
09:24He's got to be a leader.
09:26He's your guy.
09:27Can't have that be a question anymore.
09:28We're done.
09:29I do think the leadership part of it, I think he's already achieved that.
09:34I think people in that locker room are looking at him.
09:37I know this sounds crazy to say a few years ago.
09:39I think they have shown that they absolutely treat him as the leader.
09:43He's earned that role and to be identified as such.
09:48Now, is that always weird years where Jameis Winston was considered the leader
09:52and he was the back quarterback?
09:53Well, that's weird.
09:54Or Anthony Walker.
09:55Well, yeah, but I hate it.
09:56But we were critical of them about that.
09:58Like, you've got to have natural leadership at some of the natural leadership positions.
10:01But I got to say, like, he was heavily criticized for, Todd Munkin was,
10:06for naming him the captain.
10:08Does that look a lot better three weeks into the season right now?
10:11He has captains every week.
10:12Sure, but the fact that for the opener, I remember, that was something that he was heavily criticized for.
10:18Well, he's quarterback of the football team, so it looks more like it should be now.
10:21But listen, man, it's this simple.
10:25The quarterback play ain't that great around the league.
10:27He hasn't played overwhelmingly great.
10:29It's not like he's throwing for 405 touchdowns.
10:32His words, not mine.
10:33He's playing well enough to keep the job.
10:35Robby's playing well enough to win.
10:37He gets to keep the job.
10:38It's that simple.
10:38We don't need to make a great big federal case out of this.
10:42So if you win tonight, congratulations, sir.
10:45You're the quarterback.
10:46And I'm done having the conversation.
10:48You don't win tonight.
10:49You're at 2-2.
10:50It'll probably be partly because of you.
10:53Fine.
10:53We'll open it up tomorrow morning.
10:55Hopefully we don't.
10:56I mean, it's that simple.
10:57It's that simple.
10:58And honestly, even at 2-2, they're not switching out the quarterback in real life.
11:02I'm just willing to have the conversation with the fans.
11:04At this point, I don't think I'm willing to have the conversation with the fans if it's 3-1.
11:08Like, they're not going to lose tonight and then just go, yeah, that's it.
11:11Chador is our quarterback going in in 10 days, getting ready for the Jets.
11:14I'd be shocked.
11:15It's just not going to happen.
11:17They're not going to do it.
11:18But I'm willing to have the conversation with the fans if it goes down that way.
11:21Sorry.
11:21I'm willing to have the conversation with the fans.
