00:00we head out to the wise heart right we make it right call Kyle Wright hotline
00:03every single Tuesday he joins us there Albert Breer of the MMQB Albert welcome to the show
00:11well I actually want to start with the Ohio State win because I thought that was a great win the
00:16way they kind of pulled away in the second half I saw a few Ohio State fans poo-poo the
00:21win as if
00:22they were expecting that kind of win over Iowa uh did that did that loss maybe win back some of
00:28the
00:28favor uh that was maybe lost in the Texas loss earlier this season yeah I think so I mean I
00:35think look like they they've lost what is it 26 draft picks over the last two years um and I
00:42think
00:42like when you've got a team like that really like the expectation should be that you're getting
00:48better over the course of the year right like and I I don't think like if we're being honest about
00:55it
00:56that you necessarily should have expected them to look like the last two teams was coming out of
01:01the gate just because of the lack of experience in some key areas um if they're going to win a
01:07national championship it's going to have to be like 2014 and if you guys remember that year they got
01:13better over the course of the year if I remember right they had to like scratch one out against
01:17like a bad Penn State team in Happy Valley but for me the turning point that year was when they
01:23went
01:24in to East Lansing and like destroyed Michigan State and you know so you're still waiting for
01:31that foot on the gas moment but I think they're getting better and I think you can actually see
01:36it over the course of that game and that they squeezed the life out of Iowa um I don't think
01:41it
01:41looked great the first half um I think there was a lot of stuff to clean up the first half
01:46but in the
01:47second half they put their foot on Iowa's throat and it felt like even when Iowa tried to play the
01:53game
01:53that Iowa usually does it didn't work and that's I think those are all good signs and you know we'll
01:59see what it looks like in two and a half weeks or a week and a half in Bloomington all
02:03right Albert
02:04uh after starting three and one how much of this season so far is about Deshaun Watson versus the idea
02:10that you're just seeing some of the light at the end of the tunnel and there's a lot of positivity
02:13for
02:14the Browns moving forward I think it's both you know I I think you know again and I've said this
02:20a couple times you guys now but I think like you're seeing the benefit of having a veteran
02:25quarterback in there and then he's not overwhelmed and then he can run the offense and what that means
02:30for the other guys around him and so like I think Deshaun's a part of the piece of the equation
02:35and I thought at least you know whatever for the first half of the Thursday night game it actually
02:40looked like the old Deshaun and you know he had a hiccup in the third quarter but I thought he
02:44closed the game fine so Deshaun's a piece of it I I do think the bigger thing organizationally is the
02:51light at the end of the tunnel and that you know you you it looks to me like you could
02:57be seeing some
02:58of the pieces that are going to be in place two or three years from now when they hope to
03:02be a real
03:02contender um like coming to life and coming of age and so um really I think so much of it
03:11is going
03:11to be about these two draft classes guys then of course the draft class is going forward with all
03:15the mild care picks they are coming over the next couple of years but you know it's again I don't
03:32need
03:32down the list um there are a bunch of guys Jenkins like the guys that you would hope would become
03:40the
03:40best players on the team within the next couple of years that played really well and that's why I
03:46think the light of the end of the tunnel up there so I think it's interesting then Albert uh we're
03:50not
03:50ready to have this conversation but there's like a pre-conversation to the bigger conversation about
03:56Deshaun whether not only can he be the bridge to 2027 but the bridge to whatever quarterback you
04:02bring in in 2027 if that's a rookie allowing that guy some time so like it is there a point
04:09in the
04:10next four to six to eight to ten weeks where a bridge contract a bridge extension becomes a
04:17conversation between the Browns and and Deshaun Watson well he has to do more right like so I think
04:24I don't think they're there yet um but you know if if you look at it like I think he's
04:31around the
04:32same age and you guys can look this up I think he's around the same age Alex Smith was when
04:36he went
04:37to Kansas City um and what I can what I can tell you about that is and I I just
04:45like it to me it's such
04:46a great example of it I think he's a little older than Alex Smith but more for me here um
04:51what Alex
04:53Smith did for the Chiefs so if you guys remember Andy Reid's first year they had the first overall
04:58pick and they had they had the opportunity to take whatever player they wanted and I think in most
05:05cases a new coach comes in especially one who's back there's quarterbacks and yeah he takes quarterback
05:10with the first overall pick they made the decision there isn't one worth taking which they were right
05:15about the first two quarterbacks that year were E.J. Manuel and Geno Smith um so they trade for Alex
05:20and what Alex Smith did was he bought them time right we can build a real contending team here
05:27we can really make this work over an extended period of time and we aren't going to be forced
05:36to panic draft a quarterback right so like let's say the Browns have a good year this year they wind
05:42up with a 14th pick okay there's no there's no avenue to getting a quarterback you really like
05:48if you're a 14th I mean a lot of cases that's the truth it's not always the case but a
05:52lot of cases
05:53that's the truth well then you know I think what having somebody who you can trust on your roster
05:59that position does is it makes it so you can pass on the entire year of quarterbacks
06:06and feel good about going forward with the guy that you have and I think it's going to still take
06:11it's going to take some more time for Deshaun to get to the point where you feel that way about
06:15him
06:16but like I I do think there's a world where they're drafting too low next year to wind up
06:23with whoever it is that goes in the top five or maybe they just don't love the options that are
06:29in front of them at seven or eight if they're picking there well having that flexibility to
06:35not force it with a young quarterback I think is gold and it's not going to win you a lot
06:40of sports
06:41radio arguments in April if you do that but you know I think Kansas City is a shining example of
06:46why waiting can be the best plan because when you go all in on a quarterback in the top 10
06:53you better be damn sure you're getting it right because you're tying your job security to that guy
06:58yeah Alex Smith was 29 and on that last point I didn't I didn't remember his last year being this
07:04good statistically only threw five interceptions that year led the league in passer rating and average
07:09yards per attempt through for 4,000 yards it's a really good final season like they Kansas City as
07:14you said they really had to make sure they got that right and moving on to Mahomes well and here's
07:18the thing about you guys like if you look like what that plan did for them it allowed them like
07:24to keep
07:24drafting good players and other positions so like while that was going on they were materially making
07:31the situation better for whoever that quarterback was going to be right and you saw the infrastructure
07:36and you saw who they were spending picks on and I mean over time they wound up building a really
07:44good team that ended up supporting the quarterback right so they wind up with Eric Fisher with the
07:49first overall pick they draft Marcus Peters in the first round who was a really good player for them
07:55for a bunch of years later in the draft they wind up with Travis Kelsey they wind up with Tyree
08:01Kill
08:02you know it's just again look I think as much as anything you do want the quarterback to walk
08:08into a good situation and I think the Browns are in the process of building one for whoever that
08:12long-term quarterback would be. Albert it's interesting uh Dylan Gabriel started the season the first four
08:17games of the IR with a back injury suffered in preseason game uh number three I I've assumed this
08:23entire time that Shador is going to be the backup and Dylan becomes QB three and then you just have
08:29some real cushion there for a Deshaun a potential Deshaun injury there's some people who feel like
08:35maybe Dylan comes back as the backup as the Browns uh opened up the 21 day window on Dylan Gabriel
08:41today is he coming back as the backup or the backup to the backup? Who do you guys think played
08:47better in the preseason? Shador. You think so? Yeah Dylan? Yeah Dylan had one good half against uh truck
08:56drivers in the uh the finale. That's true. Which we saw him do in his very first preseason ever too.
09:01Okay okay so I think the important thing to to remember here is the backup job is better
09:06is different than the starter right and I think this is where sometimes people get a little lost
09:12what does that mean? So like the backup has to be ready to play in a pinch the backup has
09:19to be ready
09:19to play even though he's not getting reps during the week and like a lot of times that's why you
09:24see
09:25teams like the others they're the young quarterback and they may think he's more talented than the
09:30second string guy but they still have the second string guy around because it's like okay this guy
09:35is better than in in like in a case of emergency break glass situation but this guy over here we'd
09:41rather play this guy over here for five games if it came to it does that make sense? Yeah like
09:46it's
09:46essentially like they're just different jobs you know so I I think that's what you'll be assessing
09:52when you're looking at Dylan Gabriel and Shadour it's who's better for the break glass in case
09:57of emergency situation because like in a world where like you're designating a guy as a third
10:03quarterback and he's he's dressed but he's not active right like who would you rather have come
10:08in and play three quarters or two quarters and that's like I think the nuance to it that that
10:14sometimes gets lost so I you know I tend to think because because of Dylan's background like Dylan might be
10:22better for the single one-off situation whereas like if Deshaun were to get hurt it could be a
10:30scenario where it's like okay like Dylan's better to play the second half of this game but then when
10:36we get out of this game we're going to be better off with having Shadour in there if he gets
10:41a full
10:41week of practice like that's the sort of scenario that I could like potentially see you know and again
10:48like that's nothing against either guy I just think it's sort of like when you look at the makeup of
10:53both guys it it kind of like matches who they are uh Albert how long before you believe a surprise
11:00team is actually good um so and I is this specific to the Browns not necessarily because it comes in
11:11all
11:11shapes and sizes right like uh I mean the Giants are three and one for instance but Minnesota is
11:16four and uh like there's it can be the Raiders right there's all sorts of teams that are good
11:20and we don't really know so it's not that's not exclusively the Browns I think it's like I think
11:25it's like until you see them against the heavyweight right like and so you have to define what a heavyweight
11:30is like I I would say this like do you guys think more or less of the Chiefs now than
11:38you did at one
11:38o'clock on Sunday oh the Raiders sorry the Raiders oh yeah the Mora Mora that game was they they
11:44threw
11:44for that was very impressive it was a very impressive loss let's put it that way right like
11:50so that's what I mean you know what I mean like you get to see them you got to see
11:54the Raiders in that
11:54in that in that setting right there's the pressure that comes with it there's you know okay like we're
11:59on the marquee now and we're playing against the Chiefs in my homes and like it took like a great
12:05play
12:05by Mahomes to beat them too like that throw to Thornton I don't know if you guys were watching
12:10but the sort of Thornton the Thornton got hurt on was I mean a throw that maybe there there there
12:16may
12:17only be one guy in the league who makes that throw you know what I mean like it was just
12:21with the
12:21anticipation and the poise and all like it was like an unbelievable balls out throw so I I I think
12:30that
12:30that's really it is like is when you can see them against a true heavyweight and um you know I
12:36take
12:37like New England for example last year that's the other one that I was thinking of was like I didn't
12:42really buy it until that Sunday night game against Buffalo where they went toe-to-toe and Buffalo was
12:48swinging you know what I mean like Buffalo I mean that felt like both teams were swinging hard
12:54and the Patriots wound up winning and even if the Patriots had lost that game I would have been like
12:58okay
12:59like that's a team for real like have you seen them in a heavyweight fight and um I think we
13:04had a
13:04little taste of that with the Browns against the Steelers I don't think the Steelers are that good
13:09um but I think we got a taste of it and that like the Steelers are a veteran team that
13:14fought back in
13:15that game you know and the Steelers like basically like challenged them and said okay like you know we're
13:21not going to just let you off the hook and mail it in because it's a Thursday night and then
13:25the Browns
13:26were able to knock them out you know like so I think you got to taste that I'm not all
13:30the way
13:30there yet but I think you definitely got to taste that Thursday night setting Albert we got about 45
13:34seconds but since you mentioned Pittsburgh we had the on-field theatrics TJ Watt with the defensive
13:40coordinator Rogers v McCarthy Mike McCarthy stepped in it this week with his comments is there trouble
13:47brewing in Pittsburgh I think it's a headstrong team um I think it's a lot of veterans that have a
13:54way
13:54of doing things as an experienced coaching staff um it's not just McCarthy there's experience up and
14:01down that staff I think they'll figure it out like I I just think there's too much again like are
14:07there
14:07egos involved yes um and I think like with an older team and a team that's again got that level
14:15of
14:15experience there's a directness about communication that can happen where when you see it it looks a
14:22little funky I think they'll be okay I think they'll be able to work through it Albert you are
14:26again that's that's that's all relative to wins and losses like everything else Albert you're the
14:31best buddy appreciate you and we'll catch up with you next week thanks guys have a good one
14:35Albert Breer there of the MMQB on the wise heart right we make it right call Kyle Wright hotline
