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00:00My buddy Andy Baskin, let's go to the Wisehart Wright.
00:03We make it right.
00:04Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
00:06He was with the Browns in 2017-2018.
00:09Head coach of the Browns.
00:10Did a great job as head coach of the Browns.
00:13Long time NFL defensive coordinator, defensive coach, head coach,
00:18Mr. Greg Williams joining us.
00:19Hello, Greg.
00:20Coach!
00:21Hello, fellas.
00:22How are you doing?
00:23We are well.
00:24It's great to have you with us.
00:26We appreciate it.
00:27And we're sitting here with a 5-2 football team
00:31that's led by a couple of your former co-workers.
00:34Let's start with Todd Munkin.
00:36You were with him in Jacksonville in 2008.
00:39How happy are you for Todd's start here after seven games?
00:43I am so, so happy and so proud for him because, you know,
00:47there was that discussion out there about, you know, what did the Browns do?
00:52Why did they hire Todd?
00:53All that kind of stuff.
00:54And, you know, I was having smiles when I was listening about that, you know,
00:58from a lot of different fan perspective and everything.
01:01And, you know, I watched him coach every day.
01:03And I saw how he handled some of those high-intensity
01:07and high-maintenance receivers that he was coaching back in the day
01:11when I was a D coordinator down at Jacksonville.
01:13And he comes from a coaching family that's been very, very, very well respected.
01:18And Todd's done a great job.
01:21And, you know, one of the reasons he has done a great job,
01:24and as I take a look and evaluate all 32 teams, you know,
01:28I'm staying active as I can.
01:30You know, I'm here taking care back in my hometown of my 89-year-old mother
01:35who has dementia.
01:37And, you know, I'm letting you guys know that I needed to talk to you all today
01:41because she jumps my ass all the time about coaching her too hard.
01:46It's a lot like your players were.
01:49So much, so much.
01:51But, you know, what Todd is doing is just fantastic.
01:56And, you know, coaching matters.
01:58And how you go about handling egos of everybody
02:02and how you go about holding everybody accountable.
02:05Well, in order to hold everybody accountable, you've got to hold yourself first.
02:08And one of the things I've said throughout my entire life, you know,
02:1246-plus years of coaching is that I really don't care whether you like me or not,
02:18but I do care with all my heart if you respect me.
02:21And respect comes from every single day other people evaluating you,
02:25and all of a sudden they become accountable too.
02:28And Todd's been that way everywhere he's been.
02:31And I'm so proud of the way he handles things
02:35and the way that the players have responded.
02:37And the same thing with Rudy, you know, Mike Rutenberg.
02:40You know, I'm so happy with him.
02:42Some dumbass coach at the Washington Redskins, now the Commanders,
02:45gave him his first coaching job, you know, back in the days when I was there.
02:51And that's going back 20 years, Greg.
02:53That's 20 years, yeah.
02:55But, you know, and we've stayed in contact through all of his different levels
02:59that he has moved up and through, and I'm happy with him too.
03:03And it's not by accident that success starts to happen
03:08when everybody has each other's back and everybody is held accountable.
03:15And those two guys are doing a great job, and my heart sings, you know,
03:19every time I watch them play and evaluate and go through the things that they're doing.
03:24And, you know, I stay in touch with those guys too.
03:27Greg, just, you know, sitting in these press conferences,
03:31especially after the home games here, like he – there are a lot of times I walk out of them,
03:35man, Todd, like you guys share a lot of the same qualities
03:39when it comes to the passion that you have from the game.
03:42Would you say you're both cut from the same cloth?
03:44Is that fair?
03:45Yeah, there are some similar cloths, you know, you betcha.
03:49And it goes back to, you know, how we were raised
03:53and how – and the different kind of things that we did from, you know,
03:58how your own parents handle you, how they go about, you know, lazing you
04:02and as you're raising every one of these kids.
04:04You know, I've had the luxury of coaching over 2,000 NFL players.
04:07Wow.
04:08And over 1,000, you know, every year text me and call me on Father's Day.
04:15And if I don't return the text or call within a week,
04:20then they go on some podcast or TV show saying,
04:23I guess we're all up for adoption because he's not paying attention to us.
04:29In the first game of the season, Greg,
04:31the Browns just got absolutely smoked by Jacksonville
04:34and the defense gave up 34 points.
04:36They weren't good.
04:37What did Mike change defensively since then?
04:41Because it's been a different-looking defense.
04:43You know, the big thing on changes is that there really wasn't schematic changes,
04:50but I'm sure behind the scenes – and I'm not going to say this
04:53because of what we've talked about –
04:55but behind the scenes, each and every one of them saw the accountability
05:01that was being held first by him.
05:05I say what I mean.
05:06I mean what I say.
05:07And how you go about getting people to play harder.
05:11You know, what people – what moms and dads have a hard time understanding
05:16on blaming coaches all the time, you know, we as a coach, I as a coach,
05:21can't affect what mom and dad gave them genetically.
05:25You know, their genes came from you, okay, evidently, but now guess what?
05:31You know, you've been letting them do whatever they want to do.
05:34You go ahead and let them do it.
05:35You know, the two things – the two things that I can affect on every single person,
05:42mom and dad, that I get a chance to coach is effort and toughness.
05:46And if they don't play – and I make them sign – I still have it.
05:50I started this thing, you know, 30 years ago out of the 40-something-plus years is that
05:55every year, every player and every coach that gets a chance to do the things that we do together,
06:02we have to sign an effort and toughness contract.
06:05And there's criteria on that contract.
06:07And all of a sudden, if you can't hold yourself to what the effort and toughness is,
06:13that's what I watch them play.
06:14You know, I watch every single game every single week out there.
06:19And the thing that pisses me off the most is coaches allowing guys to play at slow motion.
06:29It's not – this is the effort that we play with.
06:31Now, toughness, hey, you know, and there was guys there, and I'm not going to say their name.
06:36There was guys there at the Cleveland Browns.
06:39You know, I told them, you know, at halftime, you go up and sit with mom and dad in the
06:43stands.
06:44You're done.
06:45I'm not – that's not how we do things.
06:48And Mike and Todd are holding all that.
06:51The thing that I'm watching is how hard and fast every single guy out there,
06:58and you don't see a lot of loaves.
07:00You don't see a lot of poor little old me's, you know.
07:03And that's not being fearful.
07:07No, that's being held accountable.
07:10And those guys, both Todd and Mike, are doing a good job with those things.
07:16And that – I also see, you know, what Mike is doing is that, you know,
07:20I see the spread of understanding on linebackers know what DBs are doing.
07:27DBs know what linebackers are doing.
07:29Linebackers know what D-line are doing.
07:30D-line knows what linebackers are doing.
07:32So the understanding of I have my responsibility so the guy next to me can play his responsibility.
07:39Those things are going, and they're doing a good job with that.
07:42Coach, tell me, like, the difference between the reality of being in that locker room
07:47and then the outside noise that's out here, where we talk and you start the season
07:53where no one thinks you're going to win anything,
07:55and you have to believe something different in a very small room out in Berea
07:59and then execute that out on the field or wherever you're coaching.
08:02Like, what's the biggest mistake that fans make when they're thinking about a team,
08:08even like this team we're watching right now?
08:10The outside noise is obviously the number one in nowadays, especially with social media,
08:17especially with all the coverage that takes place,
08:20is the number one biggest distraction that all of us have to handle, every single one of us.
08:28And one of the things is, again, I have a big-time PowerPoint.
08:34You know, I have a – first, let me back up.
08:36If you put up with me for a year as a coach, okay, I hand a book to you that
08:45I have written
08:45with 37 chapters after 40-plus years on how to become the best you can be as a coach, as
08:53a person,
08:54and how you can move up to be a coordinator, how you can move up to be a head coach,
08:58how you can do all those types of things.
09:01Well, that accountability, all these different types of things are done with each one is,
09:07I say what I mean, and then you have the bird flying, I mean what I say.
09:13I said, there you go.
09:14Yeah, I do.
09:15But you know what?
09:16Each and every one of you held me accountable to that.
09:19And they said, yeah, we did.
09:21And that's how the teamwork and wanting to be around each other off the field as well
09:30as on the field, and you hold yourself to that accountability.
09:34They're doing things right now.
09:38And I watch, and especially how – you know the confidence level that's needed to win at
09:44the end of the game on how many games they've won at the very end without choking?
09:48You know, I watch some other ones, and some of these big-time kickers can't – you know,
09:54they can't kick it in the gutter right now.
09:57You know, all of a sudden the pressure builds, and they can't handle the end-of-the-game kicks
10:03or the end-of-the-game throws.
10:05Deshaun's made some great plays at the end of the games.
10:09You know, he's come back to some of the things that he has done way before he came to Cleveland,
10:14and that is because of the accountability that Todd and everybody has held.
10:22And Todd ignored the outside noise and directly coached every single day that he has a chance
10:33to be with Deshaun.
10:35Not everybody else talking to things bad about Deshaun.
10:39Accountability matters, and he's doing a good job with that.
10:42Greg Williams joining us, former Browns defensive coordinator, former Browns head coach.
10:47You had Myles Garrett in his first two years in the NFL.
10:51You knew what kind of a talent he was when he was traded here.
10:54You thought, what for the defense?
10:56How do you move on?
10:58You've got a good guy in return in verse and some draft capital,
11:01but Mike Rutenberg had to adjust some things.
11:04How do you do such things, Greg?
11:06He did some great things there, but one of the things he's done there,
11:10he's held those guys accountable.
11:12And the things that he's done there with the guys that he's using is that you see the movement
11:20around on weekly scouting reports on who they're going against
11:24and how those guys have position flexibility and how he utilizes different situational awareness points
11:34and moves some of those guys around to get the one-on-one, one versus two.
11:41And he creates, he's been creating one-on-one matchups instead of,
11:46and I've had to do this with Aaron Donald, Myles, go all the way back, you know,
11:50Javon Kurse, all these different guys are really, really, really big-time players
11:55on how the team is going to take scheme and put two-on-one, three-on-one, those type of
12:02things.
12:03And the position flexibility that Mike has been doing with those guys
12:07and how some alignments now have created more one-on-one situations for those guys.
12:15I've been very, very impressed with, you know, some of those things he's doing,
12:20but let's go back.
12:22The effort that those guys have been playing with has been outstanding
12:26in that the opponents, okay, all of a sudden their eyes get wide when they see,
12:33hey, I got to play for 60 minutes versus these guys.
12:36They don't take any plays off.
12:40What's your assessment of Deshaun Watson just all the way through the entire story?
12:45Well, you know, I had some of my opinions on lots of those type of things, too,
12:51you know, from off-field issues and all that stuff.
12:53But on the field, you know, the biggest thing that you have to overcome
12:59and what people don't realize in this high-contact sport that we coach and play
13:04is the ability to be accountable and available.
13:08And, you know, he's gone through some serious injury issues,
13:12and a lot of that is wear and tear that took place prior to that.
13:18You know, all the things that go on early in your career that you bounce back from faster
13:24and some of the serious injuries that keep you off the field.
13:27I've been very impressed with his ability physically, okay, to be able to rebound.
13:35And the physical part of the rebound has caused now to confidence levels
13:43and accountability levels and trust levels,
13:48because he trusts Todd on what he's doing to cut it loose at times that he needs to cut it
13:55loose.
13:55He's gotten back to several, I see, factors and decisions that he was making earlier in his career
14:04when everybody was loving the way he was playing.
14:08But he's held his ego in place to do the right things for what the team needs,
14:15for how the team needs to function.
14:18And I see him doing more than that because you can see Deshaun's confidence
14:23on how well the defense is playing.
14:25So I've got to do my job not to, okay, put that part of our team in so many risk
14:34factors,
14:35snaps on where the defense has to play, on field position and time management
14:40and that kind of stuff.
14:41So, you know, again, I told you the things that frustrate me the most
14:46is when I see effort and toughness violations by paying.
14:49But I will tell you the other thing that just totally pisses me off here in the last, you know,
14:55month right now
14:56is all the time management, stupid stuff that goes on with some of these head coaches.
15:01Like, I'm thinking, what earth is going on?
15:04And me and Belichick used to compete all the time where Bill used to, first thing he'd do
15:11whenever I'd take a head coaching job, and I've turned down so many of them
15:15because I'm not going to put up with some of the GMs and some of the owners,
15:19is that, hey, what's going on here?
15:24What is this?
15:25And that, you know what, coaching matters.
15:29And how you go about handling special situations, Bill would always say,
15:34well, I guess I'm going to drop back at number two on time management special situations
15:38because now you're a dumbass head coach, and you always go in front of me.
15:44And that was one of the things there the last eight games when I was at Cleveland.
15:48How we manage clock management.
15:51How we manage field position and fourth down issues.
15:55How we manage certain things like that.
15:58And coaching matters.
15:59You know, the thing that right now, I just shake my head on all these wasted timeouts.
16:06What are you doing all week long in meetings and in practices?
16:10Why don't you have a play clock?
16:12And I did that.
16:13I had a play clock in practice set up every single day.
16:18So as coaches were making play calls in practice, it was just like a game on a time management.
16:26And then I had one of the equipment guys with an air horn that if you didn't get the playoff
16:31in the time management bar, an air horn would go off.
16:35You know, the first practice I was there, I think it went off like 60 times.
16:40Me and Baker got into it.
16:42The next time, after that time, and I grabbed him by the collar and told him how bad the coaching
16:49decisions and how bad his decisions were going on.
16:52I still, he's one of my favorite guys of all time.
16:54Baker, I was so happy with what I saw with him play yesterday.
16:57Is that, hey, I don't want, okay, time going off.
17:04And guess what?
17:05Every single time you hold the ball longer than 2.5 seconds, another horn is going to go off.
17:12Well, that horn went off like 60 times in practice and seven on seven and everything.
17:16The next seven weeks and all that kind of stuff, the rest of the year, it only went off four
17:22times.
17:22And so he changed, he changed on how he got rid of the ball.
17:28He changed and helped offensive linemen, okay, have to block shorter time management things.
17:36And I got that from Tom Brady and Peyton Manning and Drew Brees and Phillip Rivers and Eli Manning
17:42and all those guys that have meetings in the summer before they played against me that year
17:46and they talk about those things.
17:48Hey, I got, tell me how many Pro Bowl offensive linemen Tom Brady had.
17:54No, you can't hardly say any of their names.
17:59Greg, love having you with us.
18:02Take it easy on your mom, okay?
18:05I am, and I stepped away, though she couldn't hear me, you know, on the phone with you guys
18:10because I'm sure she's recording everything and going to rip my ass as soon as I get off.
18:17Thanks, Coach.
18:18Well, maybe you should stop having her running wind sprints, that's all.
18:20Yeah, that's it.
18:21That horn keeps going off, she's driving her nuts.
18:25Hey, listen to this now.
18:26I have her on a diet program.
18:28I have her on an exercise program.
18:32And boom, boom, boom.
18:33And we're going through the whole thing all the time.
18:36And, you know, now, you know, when I got here on Christmas, she's, you know, her inner prime, she was
18:434'11".
18:44And now she's down to 4'8".
18:45But she only weighed like 84 pounds.
18:49So I've got her up to 98 pounds.
18:52And she's exercised every day.
18:54And when she's exercising, she's looking at me and wanting to know if I think her technique's okay.
19:02You're a good son, Coach.
19:03You're a good son.
19:04Greg, thanks, buddy.
19:06You guys are fantastic.
19:07I miss you.
19:08And the fans need everything you're telling them.
19:11So that's another thing is home field advantage.
19:16Home field advantage is only there if the home field crowd can make the opposition call
19:23at least one time out in the game because of sound or have a delay of games called because the
19:30crowd's making the noise.
19:32And you guys help them do that.
19:33There you go.
19:34And you just told them how to do it.
19:35Greg, thank you.
19:36We'll talk to you soon.
19:38Anytime you get bored, just pick up the phone.
19:39We'll talk to you.
19:40I'll do that.
19:42I may have to call 911 because my mom's getting on me.
19:46See you, Coach.
19:48All right.
19:48Bye-bye.
19:49Greg Williams on the Wiseheart Right.
19:51We make it right.
19:52Call Kyle Wright.
19:54Hotline.