00:00we got a great game on sunday browns steelers in pittsburgh can the browns
00:06and they do the unthinkable it's really not that unthinkable most teams do it but the browns
00:11haven't done it since in the regular season since 2003 beating the steelers in pittsburgh to talk
00:16about that we head out to the wise heart right we make it right call kyle wright hotline and
00:20welcome on cbs sports nfl analyst and former steelers cornerback brian mcfadden joins us
00:28right now brian welcome to the show thank you for having me well it's great to have you here
00:33obviously we're buzzing about this game on on sunday uh we i think it's big for both teams
00:40i'm just curious like what what are the stakes in your mind to somebody who isn't maybe living it
00:45and breathing it the way we certainly have all week long here on this station i mean for me when
00:50you
00:50talk about this current cleveland browns team i think they have exceeded the expectations
00:57thus far but with that being said the expectations have changed now if you're a team that actually
01:04has legit playoff aspirations and you can achieve those said things you find a way to go into
01:11pittsburgh and to your point do something you haven't done in a long long time like what we saw weeks
01:17ago
01:17guys when pittsburgh traveled to cleveland on that lonely thursday night we've seen that time and time
01:24again right we we know about the woes for the steelers and beating cleveland in cleveland especially
01:30on thursday night so that didn't really surprise anyone that outcome but if you can find a way to
01:35go into accuracy or stadium and win no question you have you have to look at this cleveland browns team
01:42with a different set of lenses in terms of what they could be when it comes to that playoff
01:48conversation who's playing better at quarterback right now deshaun watson or aaron rogers
01:52aaron rogers and i'm not saying this because i'm being biased i know listeners might say well you got
01:57a former stealer on of course he's going to say aaron rogers well look at the numbers and look at
02:01the
02:01production and what does your football eye say in terms of answering this question when you watch both
02:08quarterbacks play now and won't get me wrong deshaun watson he's done a really really good job in
02:12finding ways to win but in terms of a collection of good production for four quarters stacking those
02:19type of performances on top of uh on top of each other is man rogers for me brian when it
02:26comes to
02:27uh bulletin board material jared verse said something a month ago that upset cam hayward and mason mccormick
02:34uh they fired back he's now fired back and it's interesting a lot of the the guys didn't play in
02:41the nfl
02:41or college they want to tell you that bulletin board material doesn't really matter i i hear guys
02:47that seem pretty fired up for this game as a is a former player did not necessarily did it make
02:52you
02:52play harder but it gave you a little extra juice going into games when there was some smack talk
02:56going both ways i mean for me and the guys i played what i wouldn't say is extra juice it's
03:01just
03:01something it's just another another way to get motivated it's something else you look for you got
03:06to remember throughout my times early in my career i played with jory porter uh senior and he was a
03:11guy who didn't care saying how he felt you know i i remember in the playoff game you know uh
03:18getting
03:19ready for the game against indianapolis in 2005 that playoff stretch and bill kyle told joy be mindful
03:26please don't say anything and the first day he got opportunity to speak in front of the media he kind
03:30of gave them some bulletin board material and that's who he that's who he was and we stood and
03:34we backed him so for jared verse saying what he said weeks ago i love it and i love the
03:38fact that cam
03:39hayward and some of his teammates spoke out on it as well because this is what it's supposed to be
03:44about it's football between two rivals two fan bases that don't like each other two teams that
03:48don't like each other i love the fact that jerry verse doesn't mind voicing his opinion and also
03:54too he kind of got guys going for pittsburgh which makes this gang sunday even more of a of a
03:59must
04:00watch yeah i mean it won't be popping my balloon if you tell me one way or another i just
04:04want you to
04:04be uh just like third quarter fourth quarter when you're in the middle of those games though are you
04:09thinking about any of those comments are they even coming up or is it the type of thing where
04:12once the game gets underway so many things are happening and so many things are going on that
04:17you don't even you don't remember what was said during the week it's the latter once the game is
04:21going on whatever was said during the week doesn't really matter you just worry about doing your job
04:26and executing and doing it for four quarters more of what was said during the week it is it matters
04:32the most in the beginning before the game during pregame stretch when both teams are on the football
04:38field where you can kind of talk to each other and it matters after the fact because whoever said what
04:43if they're on the winning end they can kind of add to what they said what they said the week
04:47of and
04:47whoever didn't say anything and kind of just responded can either talk about it or they keep their
04:53mouth shut if they didn't win brian seven games in are you sold on mike mccarthy is the right guy
04:58to
04:59follow up for mike tomlin i am i am i think when you look at how mike mccarthy became the
05:06head coach
05:06some people felt like the steelers rushed to make a decision instead of kind of doing their due
05:13diligence with some of the other notable names that were available but in terms of his experience
05:17and seeing you know what he's been able to do in seven games i have no issue with mike mccarthy
05:23being the head coach and i have no issue in what he's done thus far halfway through the season
05:29you know one thing i always like having you on for is you we go back and forth right i
05:33think
05:33last time we had jan we went back and forth about the chiefs and the broncos and and all this
05:37other
05:37stuff and and and so i want to revisit the rogers and deshaun discussion for a second it's not that
05:43i'm
05:43going to try to make a case for deshaun although i do think i think his legs need to be
05:47acknowledged in
05:47this discussion he's third most rushing yards for a quarterback this year i think that might be what
05:52tilts it for me in the deshaun watson scale but will you acknowledge or at least come close to the
05:57idea that it's more of a conversation than maybe a lot of people would have thought let's say i mean
06:01especially seven weeks ago but especially even just a few weeks ago i no question like i said you can't
06:07overlook what deshaun watson has done so far this season and the thing about deshaun watson is you might
06:14see i don't want to say struggles but maybe not his best play in the first half or the first
06:20three
06:20quarters and the same can be said for the total offense but in the fourth quarter he he hits that
06:24light switch and he lets it go and he find ways to put this team his team in positions to
06:30win now in
06:31terms of what you talked about russian wise that has been an element in which he had to surface it
06:38had
06:38to be put on display for him to be at his best but in terms of just being a pure
06:42quarterback i will
06:44continue to say this and rogers has been a better quarterback than deshaun watson
06:48and you know deshaun watson has how many uh throwing touchdowns what six or uh seven i don't
06:56have the exact okay seven and rogers has what i'm pretty sure way more than that yeah i think it's
07:0313 to 7 i think it's top of my head but i think it's around there yeah exactly and i
07:07don't know
07:07exactly the completion percentage in terms of which quarterback has the best but i would say it's
07:12probably and rogers brian we did see a huge trade in the nfl today jeffrey simmons going from uh the
07:19tennessee titans to chicago bears and uh obviously we saw the quentin nelson deal already come down we
07:24saw the deforest buckner deal coming down uh we still have a ways to go here what a week and
07:30a half
07:30until the trade deadline are you expecting the the trades to continue as they are do you think we've
07:36we've maybe hit the the critical mass and all the big moves have been made the the two notable names
07:42that i think could be moved um that we haven't seen or heard of anything yet is jonathan taylor
07:49and brian thomas jr of the jacksonville jaguars i think those are the two names that could be moved
07:54now who knows with the nfl you know who would have thought jeffrey simmons would be moved and and how
08:00fast that became a reality but i think those are the two names that also could be involved in a
08:05trade
08:06and if you look at what the uh the indianapolis colts are doing it seems like man they're they're
08:10they're sellers right now you know they're they're selling they're looking forward towards the future
08:15to try to get as many draft assets as possible and jonathan taylor is a guy that i think could
08:21really
08:21help a quality team out that's already in that playoff conversation would kind of get them over the
08:27hump and brian thomas has kind of been phased out of the jacksonville jaguars passing game once upon a
08:32time his rookie year he looked like the future wide receiver one for that organization but since
08:37then we haven't seen those things develop which would make him definitely a a tradable piece for
08:43the right price uh taylor posted like a skyline chili photo and like if if he ends up going to
08:49cincinnati are we just screwed in the afc north well how could that even be a thing like i mean
08:56to your
08:57point would we be screwed you know what i tell this to people all the time who are not as
09:01familiar with
09:02the afc north as i am and the same could be with you guys and just knowing that division
09:07one thing about the afc north the teams like cincinnati and teams like cleveland and pittsburgh
09:13and baltimore they always find a way to be relevant in that division so when you look at
09:20cincinnati and correct me if i'm wrong cleveland has played cincinnati fairly well over the last few years
09:24yeah you know what i mean yeah and and cleveland has played pittsburgh fairly well but then you look at
09:29pittsburgh pittsburgh has played baltimore extremely well over the last few years like
09:33lamar jackson has a losing record against pittsburgh and the same can be said for some of the things
09:37that pittsburgh has done against cincinnati heck they've already beaten cincinnati so even if that
09:41was to happen i still see a sense of balance in terms of all four teams in the division because
09:49history has told all of us it doesn't matter who's playing for who these teams have served a
09:54balance to be able to beat at anyone at any given time all right call your shot i know it's
10:00only
10:00seven games in we know there's a lot of football left but who is winning the afc north
10:07who won the afc north last year i don't recall it was the it was the sealers yeah yeah yeah
10:13i i you
10:15know what i i didn't remember i don't remember but nick nick won a burger bet off that with me
10:20i had i we we bet it like week 10 or whatever it was i had the ravens he had
10:25the steelers he
10:25because the missed field goal end of season for baltimore that then changed the course of history
10:30all i heard was i was right brian exactly that's that's the most important thing when they say
10:35you were right that's all you his answer was he just didn't want to rub it in my face that's
10:40what
10:40that was just a good guy that way a lot of people think me a gentleman brian good guy that
10:44way
10:44that's great could do him right there i mean uh that's great i guess sportsmanship in terms of
10:51not rubbing it in your face but for me it's the pittsburgh steelers and here's why all right
10:56i love what i'm seeing offensively and i do believe the pittsburgh steelers could be in that
11:02trade market for a potential wide receiver defensively you know you guys could correct me if i'm wrong i
11:08think they have the best defensive unit in the asc north they already have a game in hand over
11:13cincinnati they've never had issues playing against lamar jackson and that's why this game
11:18this sunday is so important because if they can beat cleveland and you have that series split
11:24with the browns you're sitting atop of the division now everyone else has to chase you
11:28and one thing i can say about the cleveland browns i like what they do against cincinnati but they
11:34sometimes struggle even though they are already beating the ravens they got to go to baltimore
11:39and when was the last time cleveland won in baltimore it's been a long time
11:43brian we have three oh go ahead i was saying it's been a long time so talking about just the
11:48the the the mix of games in the asc north if the pittsburgh steelers can win the day
11:54i mean win sunday they're going to be in a nice position going into their buy to kind of finish
12:00the
12:00deal and finish out on top all right i'm sensing a burger bet i've never made a burger bet with
12:05anyone
12:06outside the show i will bet you a burger bryant uh if if the cleveland browns win the division
12:12you will deliver me a burger if the steelers win the division i will deliver you a burger if if
12:18none of those team wins the division we're we're we're all scot free deliver me a burger no no you
12:24don't get a burger out of this okay i like that i definitely like that and that makes this sunday
12:30that much more important even though i love the seals in this spot they're going to take care of
12:36business they're going to get their look back for sure i look forward to that delicious burger bryant
12:40be good buddy all right thank you we got it clipped that's basically a legal oath between the two of
12:45us
12:46yeah but he was like during a show you know he's gonna do say no to the burger bet i
12:50know i really
12:51put him on the spot there he's not gonna do really dirty pool by me no but every time we
12:56we it's like
12:56like john fanta every time he comes on we can bring it up and we can shame him yeah fanta
13:00never
13:01did pay off that burger bet never did but that's okay yeah it's fine that's okay i'm all right we
13:06appreciate john fanta real good guy we love fanta one of our favorites always always been such a
13:12classy guy very classy brian mcfadden on the wise art right we make it right call kyle wright hotline
