00:00Yesterday, there was an argument on 92.3 The Fan.
00:03I don't like to do the show versus show thing all the time.
00:06Ended up getting brought up.
00:07I just think we're being a little bit too sensitive about certain things here.
00:10Here is Nick and JP yesterday afternoon.
00:14This is in response to the question that was asked of Jason Lloyd.
00:17Hit it.
00:18I don't understand how anyone could say with conviction
00:21that you're thinking about the playoffs right now.
00:23I think that is the textbook definition of putting the cart before the horse,
00:26and I think it puts the Browns in an awful situation.
00:28I think the worst thing we can do right now is rush to judgment, rush to expectations.
00:33The path is there for them to continue a great start of the season this weekend.
00:38The path might be there to even start 5-1.
00:40Hell, you look at the next four or five games after,
00:43there's plenty of opportunity here to build up a real playoff base.
00:48There is no possible way, though, that any media member at 3-1 can say,
00:54playoff expectations.
00:54That is over-course correcting our expectations from four weeks ago, and I get it.
00:59We all want it to be true.
01:00You know why?
01:01It's a lot more fun to do this job and to be Browns fans when the team goes to the
01:06playoffs,
01:06or at least, hell, when they're 8-9 or 9-8.
01:09Please, Kenny, stop saying playoffs.
01:11Please.
01:11Please, once you normalize saying that the playoffs are where you're thinking about,
01:15the expectations get out of hand.
01:17Guys, if they end up being 8-9, people are going to act like that's a freaking disappointment
01:20when Vegas has them at a 5-1-2 win team, and half the station had them at below the
01:255-1-2 mark.
01:26So I got agitated.
01:27Playoffs, playoffs, playoffs, playoffs, playoffs.
01:29I got agitated, and I called up Nick.
01:31Here's the response.
01:33Hello, Ken.
01:34One, I asked him what he thought.
01:36That ain't a big deal to ask him if he thought they were a playoff team.
01:39I didn't realize I broke some sort of weird protocol with Jason Lloyd to ask him if he
01:43thought they were a playoff team, which he gave his opinion.
01:46Two, I didn't attack him for giving that opinion of saying they're not still a playoff team,
01:50nor did any other Browns fans.
01:52That's the third thing.
01:53Four, it's unfair to the Browns.
01:54What, they're not trying to make the playoffs at 3-1?
01:56Are we going to be babies?
01:58We're really going to pussyfoot around this and be babies that much, Nick?
02:01Are we really?
02:02Yes.
02:02I mean, they're grown men.
02:03They're a football team.
02:04Ken, for the love of God.
02:05They're grown men.
02:05Ken, you thought they were going to be a 5-1 team.
02:07I know you want your credit.
02:09And I'm taking that credit, Ken.
02:10You said they were going to lose every game with Sean Watson.
02:11I'm taking that credit, and I'm taking that ass, Ken.
02:13Okay.
02:14I realize that came out wrong.
02:15I mean, you're wrong, but that's okay.
02:16That's all right.
02:17Ken, you said they were going to be a 5-1 team, and four weeks in, you're saying they're
02:21a playoff team, is that not the world's fastest flip-flop?
02:24I'm sorry.
02:24Did I say that they were a playoff team?
02:26We did seven in heaven.
02:27I asked if they were a playoff team.
02:29Can they be a playoff team?
02:31I didn't say they were going to be a playoff team, and oh, my God.
02:34I thought you worked with the Slippery Wizard.
02:36I didn't know you were the Slippery Wizard.
02:37I can't believe I'm going to hurt Browns fans' feelings if they only win eight or nine games.
02:41I just asked it.
02:43Come on.
02:43Grow up.
02:43I didn't say it.
02:44I just asked it.
02:45Okay, Lima.
02:46Be a grown man.
02:47Be a grown man.
02:48You're being a baby.
02:49Have a great show.
02:50Thank you, too.
02:51Bye, Ken.
02:52So that was me and Nick yesterday.
02:53Guys, we're being a little sad.
02:56Carpet bombing.
02:56Holy cow.
02:57Made myself a little bit having to call in on my way to youth football practice.
03:01Anyway.
03:03All right, line them up, everybody.
03:04Line them up.
03:05Axel is in the past.
03:06You're saying, oh, I can't believe this is happening.
03:08This is unbelievable.
03:11Guys, we can have a little bit of perspective here.
03:13All right?
03:14We talked to the Browns.
03:16We talked to guys in the building.
03:17Yeah, they're thinking playoffs.
03:19Three and one.
03:20Well, they're really trying to go one and oh every week.
03:22You know, that's always the old adage.
03:23But yeah, because you're three and one.
03:26And you're sitting there going, why not us?
03:28Everybody, I mean, the Houston's struggling.
03:30There's a bunch of teams struggling.
03:31Why not us?
03:32And guys, I'll have perspective.
03:34Did I or did I not say before the season why I thought they were going to win five games?
03:39I originally predicted six, and then they went out and got boat raced by Jacksonville.
03:43So then I went down to five, which might have been an overreaction myself.
03:46Okay?
03:46And you were way more optimistic than I was.
03:48But let me give you the reasons.
03:50And they're the same.
03:51You can go back and check the archiver.
03:53Quarterback play, scattershot at best, I thought it was going to be.
03:57It's been better.
03:58Depth.
03:59Depth has been actually better.
04:00There's some ballplayers there, okay?
04:01But I still think they're a thin team.
04:03Injury because of the depth, all right?
04:06The lack thereof of experience with a lot of these guys.
04:09I mean, these are four reasons right off the top of my head, I could think of, that I know
04:13I said before the season.
04:14That pointed out, if they end up at 8-9, yeah, there's going to be games where I come in
04:19here screaming after a loss over stupid football, stupid penalties.
04:24I could see myself doing that.
04:25By the way, special teams, much improved after last year.
04:28Make sure you make a tape about this.
04:30Bubba Ventrone is a media creation.
04:31Guess who's dead last in special teams?
04:34Guess who's dead last in special teams?
04:36The Los Angeles Rams.
04:38The Browns are top five in most units.
04:41Interesting.
04:41Okay, but he was the one who threw the talent under the bus last year.
04:45That was the problem I had.
04:46Anyway, there is attention to detail.
04:48There's good coaching here.
04:50Like, if they end up at 8-9, I'm not calling for Todd Munkin's job.
04:52There will be some callers, but let's just have the perspective of it.
04:55If they don't make the playoffs, you will be the first one.
04:59Nick will be the second one.
05:00Kayla will be the third one.
05:02All you guys will line up after going, Kenny, you predicted them to win five games.
05:07If they go 7-10, 8-9, that's over what you thought.
05:12This is a good start.
05:14This is a good team.
05:15This is a team with a good foundation, I should say.
05:18Andrew Barry, over the last couple of years, I can use Paul DiBodesta as a scapegoat.
05:22Like, if you lose nine games this year, there's going to be some stormy mornings.
05:27There will be.
05:28But there's going to be a sunny disposition overall.
05:31And I don't think that anybody needs to get all worked up and upset going, man, we were talking about
05:36playoffs and things fell apart.
05:38Like, let's just not be so sensitive around grown men playing football here.
05:44All right?
05:44I'm not going to hurt their feelings saying the word playoffs.
05:48And I really, guys, we've all been together 15 years.
05:50I don't think I'm going to hurt your feelings either.
05:54I'm not going to guarantee a room full of kindergartners victories anymore.
05:58That, you got me on that one.
06:00But come on, folks.
06:02We're all Browns fans.
06:03We're all hopeful.
06:05It's a kid.
06:05We're all waiting for that other shoe to drop in so many ways.
06:08It makes me nervous about Sunday.
06:09But come on.
06:10Let's have a little bit of perspective here, everybody.
06:12And it's also the NFL, the one league where you can quite easily, one year after being terrible, make the
06:21playoffs.
06:21Look at the New England Patriots that got all the way to the Super Bowl last year.
06:25And I'm not saying Deshaun Watson is Drake May from last year.
06:28But he has engineered three come-from-behind wins.
06:31And had they have had that on the roster last year, the Browns, how many games were they in anyway?
06:36And so all of a sudden, if they just have somebody that could win games late, heck, Shador.
06:41Shador won a game late last year.
06:44We got to remember this.
06:45And I do think that this is what Nick is fighting to some degree.
06:49This is what I say about perspective.
06:53We still feel it's easier to explain, by all the reasons we just said, why they wouldn't win many games
07:00instead of finding the explanations for how they started off 3-1.
07:06That doesn't mean we're dumping on the Browns.
07:09That means we're having proper perspective on things.
07:12And because of that, yeah, that's why you can say, hey, hold your horses a little bit on it.
07:16I don't know if they're going to be a playoff team from 30,000 feet.
07:19And I'm not going to go out there and swing at you.
07:22But I know what they're saying in the building.
07:24I know they're excited in the building.
07:25I know they want to go out and prove themselves on Sunday again against the Jets and get out to
07:29a 4-1 start.
07:30I understand all those things.
07:32We'll see how they do.
07:33Because with youth, and they are the second youngest team in the NFL, comes a lot of immaturity.
07:38And that's part of the maturity factor that they have to play into.
07:40But I think you're right.
07:42And it's just like, hey, man, if they start off 3-1 and I can't mention the P word,
07:46then are we just going to hide behind every single door we find every game?
07:52They're not playing scared.
07:54Browns aren't scared.
07:55Why do I need to be scared?
07:57You're not scared.
07:58Who's afraid?
08:002-1-6-4-7-4-0-92.
08:02That's all I'll say on that one.
08:04Well, we'll probably bring it up later on with Daryl as well.
08:06Coming up at 8-20.
08:07Coming up in five minutes.
08:08It's all about results, right?
08:10All about results when it comes to the postseason.
08:12Did you win or did you not?
08:13Did the Guardians win yesterday, Tom?
08:15Absolutely.
08:16Then maybe it's time to give Steven Vogt a little bit of credit.
08:19Coming up in five on the fan.
