00:00It's so hard to read, like typically this shouldn't be hard, you're 4-2, you're leading the AFC North, this
00:05is the latest in the season, we've led the division since 2014, like this should be, every day should be
00:12one big celebration of the Browns, and it feels like it's almost pulling teeth.
00:16Is it about Deshaun? Is it about a lack of trust in this team? Is it that we're all still
00:22a little hungover from the Guardians run? Let's go with Lance in Painesville, welcome to the show.
00:27Hey, what's going on guys?
00:28How much, buddy? What you got for us?
00:30I think it's a little bit of everything, I think part of it's people eating a little bit of crow,
00:36if you give me what Deshaun, I think the second part is, it's too early in the season, you see
00:42other teams, other fan bases that are not really jumping up and down, the Raiders fans, they're not getting all
00:48that excited about the Raiders, good start, neither are the Giants fans, neither are the Minnesota Vikings fans, the Giants
00:54and the Vikings have already switched quarterbacks, already, starting quarterbacks.
00:58So you don't necessarily see everybody who has a better than 500 record jumping up and down because they really
01:05don't trust the track record of their teams.
01:08The Raiders, the Giants, the Vikings, how long do you think their fan base think they can hold off the
01:13Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears in that division?
01:16They're not jumping up and down, and the Browns are doing the same thing.
01:19You got Lamar Jackson, you got Joe Burrow, you got Aaron Rodgers, all three of those guys, everybody's neck and
01:26neck in the AFC North.
01:27So fans are like, they're taking a, you know, hesitant, they're being hesitant, they're taking a long look, you got
01:34a lot of people that, they don't want to root for the Browns with Deshaun Watson as a starting quarterback,
01:38I get that.
01:40Because you've had to root him if you root the team.
01:43So a lot of people are really, and they still don't trust it.
01:46The second of all, you're going to have to get another quarterback next year because if Deshaun Watson gets any
01:53kind of offers from another team,
01:54if he's lucky enough to lead the team to the playoffs, he's going to get offers from other teams.
01:59It's better off if he takes another team's offer and let the Browns fans get another quarterback in here, everybody
02:06goes their separate ways.
02:07That would be best for everybody, if nothing else for harmony's sake.
02:11So you got all those things going on, 20 different emotions, but I think Browns fans probably just better off
02:17to enjoying what happens.
02:19I think they'll make the squeeze in the playoffs.
02:21Just enjoy that while it happens.
02:23Let the future come, 27, 27 come.
02:26What happens, what happens, you know.
02:28All right, Lance, we appreciate you.
02:29There's a few things.
02:30I think Giants fans aren't that excited because Jackson Dart is hurt, and they're now deciding between Jameis Winston and
02:36J.J. McCarthy.
02:37I think you're wrong about the Vikings thing.
02:39I think Vikings fans are very excited about being 5-0.
02:41They're excited about being 5-0.
02:42In a loaded division.
02:43I don't think Vikings fans think that they're going to the Super Bowl anytime soon, though.
02:47I don't know how I can gauge the excitement of Vikings fans or Raiders fans when I just am not
02:52covering them every day or having a national talk show.
02:56I think my point to maybe Lance there, from my side of things, from the Brown side of things, it
03:01should be noted, guys, that remember, he's not a free agent next year.
03:06Deshaun has to be cut by a certain time or there's a contract bonus there, but the contract can be
03:10reworked here.
03:11Well, that's the whole point.
03:12The contract bonus – sorry, not the contract bonus, but the contract, it goes to whatever stipulations the Browns and
03:17Deshaun Watson want to put in there.
03:19So Lance was saying, well, he's going to get an offer somewhere else.
03:22Well, that's – he'll be under contract with the Browns, and there could be a game of contractual chicken that
03:28I think is going to be very interesting.
03:30It's interesting.
03:32I thought the Deshaun detractors were maybe more of a vocal – sorry, a non-vocal minority, but maybe there
03:40are more people who just can't support the Browns to this point yet.
03:43I don't think that's it, though.
03:44I really don't.
03:45I don't think it's heavy into – and again, there obviously are always going to be people that just don't
03:50like Deshaun and are never going to root for the Browns if Deshaun's a quarterback.
03:53That silo of people, it exists.
03:56But I thought Lance's, like, first point was the real one, and that's just people just don't believe – they
04:01don't think this team is going to be a juggernaut.
04:03They don't think this team is going to win the AFC North.
04:04They don't think this team is as competitive as what they've been through six games, and they have trust issues
04:09because the Browns have given them trust issues in years past.
04:11So it's understandable why, but they're waiting for the rug to be pulled out from underneath them.
04:16And so they don't want to get themselves too high or too low.
04:19They want to let some more weeks go by before they're able to buy in?
04:222-1-6-4-7-4-0-0-9-2.
04:26Where are you with your excitement with the Browns 4-2 start?
04:29Sloan, welcome to the show, Sloan.
04:31How are you guys doing?
04:32Thank you for taking my call.
04:33How are you today?
04:34Doing all right.
04:34What you got for us?
04:36So I'll go to the game Sunday, man, and I don't – you know, I'm used to hearing people boo
04:41Deshaun.
04:41I don't think they were booing Deshaun.
04:43I think they were booing that offense, honestly, because there was no movement in the first three quarters, which you
04:47guys know.
04:48And also, you know, with these young guys, man, it's so hard to count this team out because they're all
04:53trying to prove something, you know?
04:55So, like, I don't know.
04:58I think, yeah, I think I'm just, like, kind of holding my breath at the moment, but hoping for the
05:02best, you know?
05:04All right, Sloan.
05:05We appreciate you, buddy.
05:06Thank you so much.
05:06Yeah, I mean, I think that, like –
05:08That's fair.
05:08It's funny, part of my I don't want to question the Browns 4-2 start is when you start getting
05:13lost in ideas of sustainability or is it real, one, those are very slippery definitions, right?
05:20I think the Browns, if they continue to get better, there's nothing that says right now they can't make the
05:27playoffs.
05:28The schedule has a lot of winnable games from now until the end of the season.
05:32I think they're Deshaun health and some offensive growth and just some health in general away from being a 500
05:40-ish team, and that could get you in.
05:42So, I don't think there's anything saying that that – like, to me, that's real.
05:45You make the playoffs any given year, that is real to me.
05:49That I'm not going to forget, like, even in 2023, yeah, what happened in the Texans game sucked.
05:55Yeah.
05:56But the lead up to it was a lot of fun.
05:58Well, since Joe Flacco got there, it was a lot of fun.
06:01I don't remember.
06:02They started 5-1, right?
06:03Yeah, we still – that was even – it's a good example because we still weren't having the most fun
06:07with that 5-1 start
06:08because Deshaun himself was playing really bad football while going 5-1.
06:13And so there was a lot of – the same convos we're having right now, oddly enough, is some of
06:16the very similar convos we had in that season.
06:192-1-6, 4-7-4, double-0-9-2.
06:21Where's the excitement for the Browns 4-2 start?
06:24It's like a copy and paste almost.
06:25Now the only thing that would finish it is if Deshaun had some sort of season-ending injury and then
06:30we went through four other quarterbacks.
06:31So the difference to me would be is so much of that was the weight of the Deshaun contract.
06:37I'm surprised if there is –
06:38But he still was only averaging.
06:39I mean, he's averaging like 190 yards or whatever it is now.
06:42He was averaging 180 yards per game in that stretch.
06:44Like it was a – his numbers weren't – they weren't good.
06:47And a lot of those conversations we were having then, it feels very similar to the convos we're having right
06:51now.
06:51Yeah, I think the difference that I'm trying to illustrate is by then we were still hoping Deshaun could salvage
06:57the contract.
06:58There's no salvaging it.
07:00Like even if Deshaun – if Deshaun continues the way he has the first six games, and even if you
07:05make the playoffs,
07:08even if Deshaun stays here, it'll be an extra year or two.
07:11It'll be a bridge situation.
07:12He's not going to be here for the next five years.
07:14So like the thing that – where there's pressure on it, which is validate that – it can't.
07:21It cannot be done.
07:22Short of a Super Bowl win and Deshaun Watson turning into Deshaun Watson in Houston here,
07:27there's really nothing that can rewrite this deal.
07:29It can just end in a nicer way or maybe go on longer than we expected.
07:35Yeah.
07:35And so I do – like I don't feel the pressure of the Deshaun contract anymore or the trade
07:39because my expectations are done.
07:42You can't have expectations five years into this thing.
07:46You can only have fun with whatever salvaging act this is.
07:49Yeah.
07:50I just – I think there's a couple other things that were just a tiny bit different in that start.
07:55I would just say Nick Chubb was a big part of that.
07:58You know, because the defense was great.
07:59The parallels exist, right?
08:01Because at that time, the defense was so good, and everyone kept talking about how much can a defense win
08:06you
08:06if you have to go through all these bad quarterbacks.
08:08But we had a run game that exists – that just doesn't exist right now.
08:11So you at least had something offensively you could fall back on when you didn't have your quarterback showing up
08:15week in or week out.
08:16We don't have that right now.
08:18There's – like it's very much sink or swim with what Deshaun is going to be able to do on
08:22the field
08:22because we have no run game.
08:23Our offensive line isn't good.
08:25Our awesome tight end is now just a blocking tight end.
08:28And I guess we have two really good rookie wide receivers.
08:32But, you know, Denzel Boston, sometimes they throw to him, sometimes they don't.
08:36And it feels like Concepcion disappears for three quarters at a time in some of these games.
08:40Will and Medina, we've got about 45 seconds, buddy.
08:43What you got for us?
08:44Yeah, I think that ties in.
08:46Everything you just said, people are just wondering, like, is this the best use of our time?
08:49Is Deshaun Watson going to do one touchdown pass in the fourth quarter the rest of the season?
08:52Are we missing out on two or three touchdowns in the first three quarters from Shador
08:57and maybe a turnover late?
08:59It's just not fun football to watch.
09:01And nobody – and this division is terrible, and our schedule is the easiest in the NFL.
09:06So, I think everybody – most people expected at least six, seven wins.
09:10So, it's not surprising they're winning.
09:12It's just, like, what are we looking forward to?
09:14All right.
09:15Will, we appreciate you, buddy.
09:16Have a good one.
09:18I was really hoping you'd say, great job, guys.
09:20I really appreciate you.
09:22Why would you say that?
09:23Great stuff with Will.
09:24All we did was to take his call.
09:25Well, yeah, but I said thank you.
09:27I was hoping –
09:28You were polite at least.
09:28I like the Midwest niceties at the end of the call.
09:30Polite.
09:31Yeah, you were polite about it.
09:32Yeah.
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