00:00Nick, I do want to talk about the quarterback situation in this game.
00:03Obviously, Tyler Huntley is going to be on the other side instead of Lamar Jackson.
00:06Like we touched on that, but I want to go to something that you said after Sunday.
00:11You were filling in for Anthony Lima on the Ken Carman show on Monday,
00:15and you had an interesting take that I don't know that I agreed with
00:19when we were talking about Browns quarterback situations
00:21and a little bit of a Monday morning reaction.
00:24It kind of did feel like the magic ran out on the Deshaun Watson thing.
00:27Felt like he tried to put the cape on one final time
00:30when he found Denzel Boston on that 29-yard touchdown.
00:33You get the ball back with a minute and a half to go,
00:35and you're thinking, well, here we go again.
00:37Could he do it again? Four straight, game-winning drives.
00:41And for it to go as poorly as it went and to get sacked on that fourth down
00:45and for that sack to be yet another fumble, it was a bad Watson game.
00:50And I can't believe that there are people on social media
00:53seriously trying to protect or defend the guy.
00:55This is a byproduct of when you can't play a complete football game
01:00at the quarterback position.
01:01It's been bugging me even throughout the wins
01:03that it feels like we have to lean on Deshaun Watson to be Superman
01:08on the last drive of a game, and yesterday the clock hit midnight on it
01:12and the magic ran out. It is what it is.
01:14Nick, there was a lot of things that I did agree with you.
01:16I mean, listen, pushing every single game into a game-winning Deshaun Watson drive
01:20is not a – like, it was a winning formula, but I would say over the course of a season,
01:24like, that's not how you want every game to come down.
01:26Yeah, and that was the core point there, dude, is at some point,
01:31you're going to have to play good football in the first three quarters.
01:34You can't be – you can't be playing a losing brand of football through three quarters
01:40and then expect to put the cape on, like I said in that clip,
01:43and be Superman at the end of each and every game.
01:47There are a lot of good teams in this league,
01:48and even though the Jets are not one of them,
01:51you could stand up a team on a final drive.
01:54And when he got the football back with 90 seconds,
01:56I'm genuinely thinking in my head, okay, here we go.
01:59Like, he's going to save the day again.
02:02And for him to have looked as bad as he looked on that final drive
02:07where it results in him getting sacked for the 19th time this season
02:11that leads the National Football League.
02:13He's got six fumbles this season through five games.
02:17He's got 10 turnover-worthy plays, even though he only has two interceptions.
02:22It makes me understand that even though we were riding a crazy high
02:27on Deshaun Watson from those three consecutive game-winning drives,
02:31he has not played great quarterback for the Browns.
02:35It's really since that Tampa game.
02:38Like, he's done enough to put you in position to win.
02:41I just don't know that you can continue to back yourself into a corner
02:45and then trust yourself to fight out of the corner each and every time.
02:49At some point, you should try to set yourself up to have an easier fourth quarter.
02:54A not-so-heart-attack-inducing fourth quarter.
02:58But that's something that's eluded the Browns.
03:00It's something that's eluded Deshaun Watson.
03:01I truly, Jake, just have not been moved by what I've seen.
03:06I feel like, dude, on top of all that, this week we spend so much time
03:10asking every single coordinator, Todd Munkin, Deshaun Watson,
03:16we're asking Mike Bajakin about this shotgun usage besides the under center usage.
03:23And everybody's acknowledging, yeah, we're running more shotgun than any team in football right now.
03:28And, yeah, it would be a whole lot easier to get this run game going if we could operate under
03:32center.
03:32Well, why can't we operate under center?
03:34Because the quarterback ain't comfortable doing it.
03:36So, like, I feel like I'm, for whatever reason, the only voice in Cleveland.
03:40Like, I'm not going to make excuses for the guy that sunk the franchise.
03:45You know what I mean?
03:45Like, he has not played up to standards still.
03:49And the fact that just a week ago we were having conversation about bringing the guy back
03:53was flat-out silly to me.
03:55And I definitely did feel like the magic ran out Sunday against New York.
03:59Yeah, like, I just don't know.
04:00And, like, listen, the magic of leading game-winning drives might be gone, right?
04:03Like, that part of it might not be there.
04:06But that shouldn't be, like, something that he's overly relied upon.
04:09And Deshaun did play a good half of football against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first half,
04:12set them up to not have a heart, just an absolute, you know,
04:15hey, we're going to give Nick Hart valvitation to walk it into this thing.
04:18Unfortunately, the game did come down to that.
04:20But, like, that wasn't on Deshaun, right?
04:22Like, Deshaun played good football in that first half.
04:23He put them in a position to be comfortable.
04:25Then it was, obviously, a lack of offense in the third quarter.
04:28It was the defense starting to break instead of just bend in that third and fourth quarter.
04:33Like, there was a ton that had to happen in that game.
04:35But even, like, walking away from this, Nick,
04:37because there are people that I think are sitting in your spot where,
04:40obviously not physically, because the Browns are going to,
04:42even if they lose to their playing 500, we know Deshaun's not getting benched.
04:45Right.
04:45Like, there are three and three.
04:46Not this week.
04:47Yeah, no way.
04:49I think emotionally for people, Deshaun's kind of playing for, like,
04:52the same level of support he's gotten,
04:54where I think a lot of people were willing to look at this Jets game and go,
04:57weather is bad.
04:58We're going to turn the other cheek.
04:59It might not have been good football.
05:00But we didn't necessarily expect good football.
05:02And you've given us three game-winning drives.
05:04Like, if anybody in the season alone, right?
05:07I'm not talking about the last four years.
05:08In this season, deserved a mulligan.
05:10Deshaun Watson maybe deserved a little bit of a mulligan on Sunday.
05:12And, like, dude, you know, because the reaction after I said that on social media was absolutely crazy.
05:18I said numerous times throughout Monday's show when I was in with Ken, I did not put that loss against
05:24the Jets on Deshaun Watson whatsoever.
05:26I mean, Isaiah Bond, if he could even catch one of those four-drop balls, you'd probably win that football
05:35game.
05:35So I'm not putting everything on Deshaun.
05:37Everybody was trying to come at me.
05:38Oh, you're just some Deshaun hater.
05:40I threw flowers at the feet of Deshaun after Pittsburgh.
05:43You know, three straight game-winning drives for the first time since Brian Seip.
05:48I just long yearn for him to play a complete football game before I take any sort of conversation about
05:55bringing him back next year in the slightest of seriousness.
05:59Because so far, he's given you all right quarterback play, but he really does just look like a washed-up
06:05version of his former self.
06:07So, Nick, how big of a game is this for Deshaun to you?
06:09To, like, him personally, right?
06:11Like, obviously, we're going to talk about how big of a game this is for the Browns, and it is.
06:14Divisional match, an opportunity to be 4-2 instead of 3-3.
06:17But for Deshaun in particular to play well, like, I think a lot of people are taking this game as,
06:22like, you really got to put it on the table.
06:24You got to win.
06:25You have to play well in this game.
06:27I think Deshaun just puts you in a position to be competitive.
06:30I hope so.
06:31Probably pick up the win.
06:32Like, that's good enough.
06:33Like, even if it's 17-14 and Deshaun has three crappy quarters of football, but it doesn't matter what quarter
06:41it is.
06:42Game-winning drive or amazing first quarter that sets you up.
06:45I think that's good enough.
06:46I think a lot of people are looking at him to either put on the cape or put together that
06:50full game of football where I could use it.
06:53It'd be really nice for the way that I feel about the football team, the way I feel about Deshaun.
06:57But I don't necessarily think you need it today either.
06:59Yeah, I think expectations for this are just different because I think against that Jets team and that Jets defense
07:05that was playing so poorly before last week,
07:09that was an opportunity for Deshaun to look good and to carve up an opposing defense and to put together
07:15a full game.
07:16I can't be naive and expect that out of him against this Ravens defense.
07:22I mean, the Ravens are really good.
07:23Like, their whole secondary is comprised of first-round picks.
07:28Like, that speaks to just the amount of talent they've amassed on that side of the football.
07:33So, expectations coming in for me are just different for Deshaun Watson today than they were against the Jets,
07:40where they were just innately higher against a bad Jets team.
07:43I would like to see him keep the car on the road.
07:46I got to see some better ball security, dude.
07:49Like, we can't have more fumbles than games played.
07:52Please take care of the football.
07:53Because if you don't, like, if you turn the ball over against Baltimore, even with no Lamar Jackson,
07:59even though it's Snoop Huntley, like, they are going to make you pay for silly turnovers.
08:03How big of a game is this for Deshaun Watson in his season with the Cleveland Browns right now?
08:09Like, again, this is where I get to the point.
08:12I think emotionally, like, Deshaun puts on a bad performance today.
08:16I think the rope probably gets a little bit thin for a lot of fans and it starts to reduce.
08:21But, like, I don't think you're benching Deshaun at 3-3.
08:24Nick, I'll be honest.
08:25Even if they found a way to lose to the Tennessee Titans at 3-4, I don't think you're still
08:29benching Deshaun.
08:30Like, you would probably have to be talking week 9, week 10 before he's getting benched in my eyes.
08:35Yeah, I mean, the three straight, you know, comeback wins, three straight game-winning drives, whatever.
08:40The fact that you were 3-1 going to New York, it undoubtedly lengthened his leash.
08:45And I honestly think Shador Sanders is probably aware of that.
08:49You know, just that, hey, him playing as well as he played over the three straight game-winning drives,
08:55like, they were going to let him start for a while.
08:57I do wonder, though, like, depending how it looks, it's a big how it looks to me.
09:03Like, how does it look today against Baltimore?
09:05I do think it's a big start for him, obviously.
09:08They all are at this juncture where you're playing for the AFC North today.
09:12And if you win this game, holy smokes, any conversation of benching Deshaun is probably just completely tabled
09:21because you're leading the division and just beat the team that a lot of people pick to win the division
09:26in the Baltimore Ravens.
09:28I do wonder, though, Jake, if they lose this game.
09:31It puts a lot more pressure on my mind to Tennessee in the Tennessee Titans matchup next week
09:37because I'm not benching them this week.
09:39Even if it is, like, a craptastic performance where he's throwing a bunch of interceptions,
09:43where he's fumbling the ball a lot.
09:45Like, I just don't know that you make the snap decision now.
09:49But then it does put a lot of pressure against the Titans because Cam Ward...
09:53And that defense also very bad.
09:55Oh, my goodness.
09:57What are they doing in Tennessee right now?
09:59Like, this isn't year one of this.
10:02This is year three of this.
10:03So it would just put a lot more pressure on.
10:06You got to get something going in the right direction.
10:09Otherwise, people will forget about the three straight game-winning drives
10:13if you have three straight losses and two of those losses would have been against the Jets and the Titans.
10:18I think there's your opportunity to bail on the Deshaun Watson thing and put Shador under center.
10:26See what I did there?
10:28Into action.
10:29We'll see.
10:30I definitely don't think today is, like, make-or-break time for Deshaun, though.
10:35No, but I think where this is actually a big game, just to put it on the contrary, like,
10:40we talk about, like, how much of a negative impact maybe this can have.
10:43I also think this is, like, when you talk about fan perception, a massive swing game.
10:47Like, if Deshaun plays really poorly, it's going to be people having a lot of questions.
10:52And definitely not where they were at the start of the season,
10:54but maybe more a little skeptical if they want Deshaun to keep playing quarterback and how you can survive this.
10:58He plays well in this game.
11:00I think people are back to just, Jets game was a fluke.
11:03Like, completely forget about it.
11:05He's back.
11:05He's a good quarterback.
11:06And, like, basically lock him in for the season is where their mindset's going to be.
11:09Yeah, I definitely do think it's a swing game in that way for a lot of reasons.
11:14But I just wonder how much of that is predicated on the fact that you couldn't beat the Jets
11:18and you just don't want to see this season fold up really fast.
11:22I do wonder how much of it is that because Monday when I was in with Ken,
11:27he was debating, like, do they keep seven in heaven alive for Tuesday
11:32and keep talking about the playoff picture?
11:34And I pushed back and said that it needed table.
11:37And Ken got really mad at me about that.
11:39And it was like, look, there's plenty of not great teams that make the playoffs.
11:43I think if you beat Baltimore today, Jake, you could be primed to be one of those teams.
11:50You might not be great.
11:51You might still have a lot of things that need worked out, but you don't need to be.
11:55Because at that point, you'd be 4-2.
11:57You'd have two huge divisional wins against Pittsburgh and Baltimore.
12:01And you could feel really good about this thing the whole rest of the way.
12:05And you could buy into that same dream that you probably started to buy into
12:08when the team was 3-1.
12:10Whereas if you're 500, you're going to be watching Sunday against Tennessee
12:15with feeling a lot of pressure in that gut.
12:17Yeah, and listen, it's going to be a ton of pressure on Deshaun.
12:20And it's going to be a lot of pressure on Browns fans and any kind of reality
12:23hitting you in the face of what is this season actually.
12:27Now, again, hopefully we don't need to have those conversations.
