00:00And here you are sitting on the edge of the weekend.
00:02You're right there.
00:04You're ready to push it.
00:05The weather hopefully is fantastic again, the way it's been the last at noon.
00:08We'll talk about the Cavs last night.
00:10Some people are saying some ridiculous things online.
00:12We'll get to that.
00:13Two keys in a lock that we always do on Fridays and then Todd Munkin's press conference.
00:18And we wrap things up with quick predicts where he tells to score the Brown Steelers game.
00:22Excuse me.
00:23Brown Steelers game on Sunday and then give us Monday morning's headline.
00:27All right, Spencer, let's kind of dive into things here, too, because this is Brown Steelers week.
00:31I don't know.
00:31Does it feel like Brown Steelers week?
00:33Yes, it does.
00:34Yes, it does.
00:36And I think like, listen, the last couple of years, the Browns have been more competitive in these games.
00:42They've split with the what?
00:43How many years in a row they kind of split with the Steelers here?
00:46How many years in the last few years have they split with the Steelers?
00:48The only number that keeps coming up this week is 2003.
00:51The last time the Browns won in Pittsburgh.
00:52And I know that that's a thing, but like this year with some of the barbs going back and forth
00:58and you always have that.
01:00And, you know, Cam Hayward saying what he said early in the week.
01:04And then Jared Verge responds yesterday.
01:05And then like this feels like the rivalry.
01:09But the difference here is that the Browns are five and two and the Steelers are five and two.
01:14And this game comes with so much in terms of like the storylines, what it would mean for the Browns.
01:21You brought up 2003 last time they won a regular season game there.
01:24But also, Baskin, it would be the first time if they beat the Steelers on Sunday in Pittsburgh.
01:29It would be the first time since 1988 that they swept the Steelers in a season.
01:35I mean, we're talking that's I wasn't even alive the last time that happened.
01:39Like that's that's insane to me.
01:41And then the first time, you know, it's kind of weird.
01:44I was in college.
01:44So maybe this is a I'm just saying I'm just saying if you weren't alive and I was in college
01:50at this point, I'm just I'm just.
01:51And then you don't have any weird habits, do you?
01:54No, not really.
01:55All right, then we're good.
01:56And then it'd be the first time since 1993 that the Browns were three, you know, to start division play
02:04in a season.
02:05So like this feels like there's a lot riding on it.
02:08It's what you want your division games to be.
02:11And for this rivalry to have some since Ben Roethlisberger retired, like I said, it's been a little bit more
02:15like, OK, we split with them, whatever.
02:17But now that you're you're in a place where the Browns look like they really are turning this corner, new
02:22culture, all these things.
02:24And they've been talking about that a ton, saying it's a new era, saying it's different here.
02:29Now it's not the same old Browns.
02:30This is your opportunity to go out and prove it.
02:32And man, oh, man, like I am so excited for this game because of what it could sort of symbolize
02:37if they actually get the win on Sunday.
02:39So let me go back to like one of the original questions of the week is because we have a
02:42chance to talk about it.
02:43Does this game make them real?
02:46And I'll say even heading into this week, the national spin on the Browns, you can feel it pushing towards
02:57the media thinking the Browns are real.
03:00I say that because the NFL was toying with the thought of putting this on Sunday night football.
03:06Yeah, that's where I and that's from last week.
03:09So, you know, you assume you go to Nashville last week and that should have just been a win, right?
03:15Shouldn't have been as dramatic as it was, but it's football and we like the drama.
03:20So I'm good with it.
03:22I'm not going to complain about the way it ended because I loved it.
03:24But by the same token, when you're playing a one win team like we have been so accustomed to being
03:29here in Cleveland, you should expect the victory.
03:33So, yeah, but last week they went in and got the victory.
03:37Defensively, I feel that wholeheartedly.
03:39Offensively, it's another story.
03:40If we could just get the defense to get past the first quarter, everything would be perfect.
03:44Yeah, so I have to be careful here because I can't, like, every week change what I – I can't
03:51move the goalpost every week of, like, what I think is real for the Browns.
03:54So what I would say is this.
03:55Like, I went into last week saying if they beat the Titans, it is proof that this is, like, a
04:00real thing.
04:01Because think about it.
04:02How many times –
04:02You thought that last week?
04:03So Jeff said the same thing.
04:05Jeff said it was legit.
04:06They were legit if they won last week.
04:08Because, Bastian, how many times have we seen this team be sort of trending in the right direction or, like,
04:14beat a team that they're not supposed to?
04:16And then they go out and they lose to a team that we think they should beat.
04:19Like, it happened a couple weeks.
04:21Yeah, it happened against the Jets.
04:22Like, and so I think that was the thing.
04:25Even the national narrative was, well, yeah, the Browns are off to a good start, but we also have that
04:29Jets game in there where they probably should have won and they didn't.
04:32And so is this fool's gold or is this for real?
04:35So what is it?
04:36So I think after beating the Titans, like, I think they're for real in terms of they're going to be
04:39competitive.
04:40They're going to be in all these games.
04:41They're going to be a team that's pushing for the playoffs here in the next couple months.
04:44I know people maybe are staying away from the P word, but I'm not.
04:46I think it's a legit conversation.
04:48But what I think this does.
04:49You know what the number is at 6-2, your odds are?
04:51Do you know what the percentage is?
04:53I don't know the exact percent.
04:54Yeah.
04:5490% chance you're making the playoffs if you can start at 6-2.
04:57You can go 4-5 the rest of the way and you have 10 wins, you probably make the playoffs.
05:00Now, I know there was a year in there where the Browns missed the playoffs at 10-6 back in
05:04the day.
05:04Luckily, there's another playoff team added now, so that changes the math.
05:08But what I would say is what Sunday represents is I think this team's already proven, like, they're for real.
05:15They're here to stay this year.
05:16They're going to be in the playoff conversation.
05:18But I think what Sunday would do is basically validate all the commentary and all the people saying,
05:25it's not the same old Browns.
05:27We are turning over a new leaf.
05:29Tom Munkin's got this thing turning in the right direction.
05:31This feels like a game that's important to solidifying and convincing everybody that things are changing here in Cleveland and
05:40that this division is now kind of up for grabs, if you will.
05:44It's not just the assumption that it's the Ravens and the Steelers every single year or the Ravens and the
05:49Bengals or whatever.
05:49It's like, no, the Browns now are throwing their hat in the ring in this thing.
05:53And that's the other thing.
05:54I think that's the other thing this win does.
05:56This puts the division, to me, more in focus.
06:00It's like they legitimately could win this division.
06:02If you're 3-0 in your division games to start off, that's a really good place to be.
06:07If you split with the Bengals, like you're 4-2, that's a pretty good record to have in your division
06:12to potentially win it.
06:13If these teams are all going to stay kind of even.
06:16So I think it does that.
06:18I think it puts the division more in perspective for me of they got a legit shot at winning this
06:22thing.
06:23And when was the last time they won the division?
06:24Also like 88, 89, whatever it was.
06:26We've never seen it with the North.
06:28And then on top of that, I think it solidifies everything people are saying about this is different.
06:33Tom Munkin's building a new culture here.
06:36I think this convinces everybody of that piece of it, 100%.
06:39Do you see – well, first of all, let me backtrack.
06:42Were you in Berea most of the week?
06:44I know we didn't –
06:44Yeah, I was there the last two days.
06:45Okay, what did you think of Todd's answer then about the rivalry itself?
06:49Do you think he was kind of saying what needs to be said but not felt and understood inside the
06:56locker room?
06:56Or do you think he's just – because I understand.
06:58It's like, hey, I got to – I think he said, I got to win today, which was like Wednesday,
07:03right?
07:04I got to win today.
07:06And while he's right, and on the surface, that sounds great, but you've got to –
07:12I mean, he spent a lot of time in Baltimore.
07:13He gets it, right?
07:14And he knows how important this game is.
07:17The players – this is one of those typical games where I know it sounds kind of trite,
07:20but I don't need to tell you how important this game is.
07:24You should wake up spitting venom towards Pittsburgh knowing how important this is to you,
07:29what it could mean money-wise down the road for your family.
07:32You know what I'm saying?
07:33At the end of the day, it's a team sport, but there's an individuality to it.
07:38And if you can rise to the top in a game like this, a game against Baltimore, a game against
07:43Cincinnati,
07:44it means more, not only in the standings but with your street cred in the locker room and across the
07:49league.
07:50Well, and I do think they understand what this game means.
07:52I mean, guys have talked this week about – they felt it in that first matchup how much these fan
07:57bases don't like each other.
07:58There is the history there, and I do – like, I don't know.
08:02I go back and forth with Todd because I think – I think Todd doesn't want to make any game
08:08bigger than it needs to be
08:09in terms of, like, the emotions of it.
08:11I think he just wants his guys to go play, and it is his job to do that.
08:14But the notion that Todd hasn't, like, brought up at all, you know, the rivalry with the Steelers,
08:20how – I think behind the scenes he says more of that stuff than he lets on.
08:23I'm not saying he's harping on the history.
08:25He said he's not making a big deal out of it, and I do believe him on that.
08:28But I think, like, he certainly – he has to have some commentary, I think, in his vernacular this week
08:34about what this game means to the city and coming home with a win and all those different things.
08:39I mean, think about it.
08:40Coaches look for anything.
08:42They can use the bulletin board material.
08:44There's no way he's not, at least in some respect, saying that team thinks we can't win there.
08:48Everybody thinks we can't win there.
08:49We've got to come back with a win.
08:50Let's show everybody that this is a different Browns team, all these things.
08:53So I think it's probably happening behind the scenes.
08:55I mean, you heard what Derrick Henry said, right, a couple weeks ago?
08:58Oh, yeah.
08:58Where he was like, yeah, I'm sure publicly he's saying all the right things,
09:00but behind the scenes everybody wants to kick our ass.
09:02I think there is a little bit of that going on because that's what you have to do as a
09:05coach,
09:05and you have to walk that line.
09:07But I also don't think he's harping on it, bringing up the history.
09:10Because to his point –
09:11Well, the Browns is the Browns, right?
09:13Right, but I also think this is part of why – part of why this weekend feels a little bit
09:21different for the Browns
09:22is that the history is the history, and we all know that, and the fans all know that.
09:27But most of the guys – I mean, there's 10 guys on this roster who weren't even born the last
09:32time that happened.
09:33So it's like, what do they have to do with the history of the Browns losing there?
09:37So in some ways, like, ignorance is bliss, right, like, in that regard.
09:42And so I think Todd's not trying to make it too big of a deal out of that.
09:44But I do have to think in some way, like, he's using the rivalry as motivation for these guys
09:51to, like, make sure they go out and get a win.
09:52I hope so.
09:53All right, so we're kind of diving into – I still feel like – I think we have different –
09:56I don't know that Browns fans are all in today.
09:59Like, I still don't feel it.
10:01Now, you were on the road last week, right?
10:02You were in Nashville?
10:03Yeah.
10:03I want to talk about that for a second, too, because, I mean,
10:06it is Browns Steelers week.
10:08This team is on the verge of – well, I can't – I don't even want to say it about
10:13the playoffs,
10:13but they're right there on the verge.
10:15And, like, I want to believe it.
10:17I don't think you believe it, though.
10:19I just – I have not had that feeling.
10:20Not you personally.
10:21People listening.
10:22I don't think the fans are all in right yet.
10:25And I do think a win this week brings everybody in,
10:28and then you get the true feeling of, oh, you know what?
10:33This is my Browns team.
10:342-1-6-4-7-4-0-0-92.
10:36It's Baskin and Phelps, 92-3.
10:38The fans, Spencer German, is in today.
