00:00And just like that, your Cleveland Browns lose in overtime.
00:03They take it down to the final frame in the Big Easy.
00:07But at the end of the day, the failed two-point conversion there,
00:10as you just heard, the call from Andrew Siciliano and Nathan Zagura.
00:14Browns lose 23-22 and fall to 5-4 on the season,
00:20losing two straight games on the year for the first time this year.
00:24As we welcome you into the fan final call, my name is Anthony Alant.
00:27Joining alongside me is Matt Corrali, answering your calls at 216-474-0092.
00:34See a couple of you guys hanging on in the line.
00:36We're going to get to you.
00:37We are on air until 8 o'clock before we kick over to Westwood One's coverage
00:42of Sunday Night Football between the Chicago Bears and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
00:46A lot to break down today and not a lot of time to do it.
00:49I also want to hear from you guys as well,
00:51but I want to get my conversation off before we get to some of your thoughts.
00:56And I guess we'll work backwards because I think this was a very highly anticipated game
01:01because we knew that Shador Sanders was likely going to start from Tuesday.
01:05I thought going into this week, to even rewind it this far,
01:09that I wasn't really even concerned about the fact that Deshaun Watson was in concussion protocol.
01:15I thought that the second that he went in and that it was likely just up to the whims
01:20of whatever the NFL concussion protocol was going to look like,
01:24that Shador Sanders was going to be your starter.
01:26Todd Munkin said as much on Monday and Tuesday in his press conferences
01:29that basically beginning at the start of the week,
01:33they had implemented the contingency plan for Shador Sanders to start.
01:37And I don't think that you do any of that extra work
01:39if you don't think that eventually you're going to get to the point
01:43where you name Shador Sanders the starter.
01:45Some people that I've spoken with, even in the back here,
01:48the couple of people before the show have thought otherwise,
01:50we've got a long week ahead to break all of it down.
01:54But when Shador Sanders was named the starting quarterback,
01:56I knew one way or another, come hell or high water,
02:00this was going to be a very, very interesting fan final call
02:03and a very interesting game to break down.
02:05Because I think at this point, Browns fans weren't going into this thing
02:09looking at Shador Sanders, at least the majority of us,
02:12weren't looking at Shador Sanders with this potential for what he could be
02:16and the potential that he might be your starting quarterback of the future.
02:19You don't think it's going to be the other guy in Deshaun Watson,
02:22but I think you kind of understand the situation here
02:24with two first round picks and the whole deal that we've talked about
02:27ad nauseum throughout basically since the Miles Garrett trade.
02:31You're kind of looking at Shador Sanders starting
02:34with a little bit of morbid curiosity.
02:36You want to know where he is as a second year quarterback
02:40that we haven't seen in the starting role since week 17 of last year.
02:43What does it look like?
02:44How much has he learned and how much has he grown?
02:47And I think overall you take away that it's not, not, not much.
02:52I think there were a lot of situations throughout the game today.
02:55We could point to and say that Shador looks like a more polished backup quarterback.
03:01And I, I don't want to like, I know people are going to text and saying that me,
03:05me saying that he's a backup quarterback, but at this point in time, he is,
03:09he lost the starting job to Deshaun Watson.
03:11And at the end of the day, when we got to the end of the game, after, after it ended,
03:16what did we all kind of think?
03:18That was the very, very same game that we saw.
03:21I know that Shador was put through the ringer this week by his own volition, by the way,
03:25nothing that people were taking out of context.
03:28I don't care what Shador said to the CBS broadcast.
03:30These were exact words that he said and exact reactions that he had in press conferences,
03:35midweek press conferences about the Saints defense and about certain questions that were
03:40asked about an agent.
03:41Like, I think that if you're talking about whether or not you passed or failed a press
03:45conference, which the midweek press conference is about as easy to pass as you could humanly
03:49imagine.
03:50Somehow Shador managed to fail it.
03:52And if you look at Saints social media, if you look at what the Saints players were saying,
03:57not just heading into this game, but then after the win, they certainly took it to heart.
04:02So whether or not the quote unquote Cleveland media that Shador Sanders seems to be so
04:06uber concerned about and so focused on decided to take it out of context or not, what you did
04:13was you allowed the other team to get fuel to their fire and that helped them whether or not
04:19that, that, you know, was the extra little added bit, but you put up some bulletin board material
04:24for them and at the end of the day, they get the last laugh from you.
04:27So look, if you want to talk big in press conferences, that's fine and dandy.
04:31We are very well aware of people that talk a big game in press conferences.
04:35Most of the time they back it up.
04:37I know that this week, the last two weeks, Browns fans have been very used to now, not
04:41just with Shador Sanders, but with Jared verse guys talking tough at the press conferences
04:45and then showing up and throwing a nothing burger out there.
04:48Shador, I feel like probably backed it up as much as he possibly could.
04:52But if you're the starting quarterback and really, if you're in the situation where Shador
04:56is, where he's a backup put into a situation midweek, having to, he's already working behind
05:01the eight ball.
05:02He already knows that he's lost the starting job out of camp and he's, it's an uphill
05:06battle.
05:07Don't try and give the other side any sort of ammunition to go against you during the
05:12game.
05:12But as I mentioned, I think that Shador Sanders did well enough to make me at least a little
05:18bit curious.
05:19I've always looked at Deshaun Watson this season, like he's playing as a backup quarterback.
05:24And I've broken that down with you.
05:26Matt's heard this whole spiel before, but he's playing exactly like he should be.
05:31If it's a guy that's kind of put into a situation where that's not the long-term starting option.
05:37That is a Gardner Minshew, Jacoby Brissett style kind of quarterback.
05:41And I think Shador Sanders played as equal or a lip, maybe a little bit better, uh, that
05:47to Deshaun Watson than we've seen over these last eight weeks, Matt, did you want to say
05:51something?
05:52Yeah, I was just kind of shocked at how Shador was able to kind of pick up where he left
05:56off
05:57seemingly from last year because of the fact that it kind of looks like, you know, it didn't
06:00really matter who the quarterback was.
06:02It's the Browns are going to make it interesting and they were going to fight like hell in the
06:06second half.
06:06And it was seemingly this, as you said it earlier before our show, it was the same game
06:11that we've seen outside of two weeks from this Browns team this year.
06:15So it was, it was quite impressive.
06:16So if you, so I want to attack the, the similar game thing, because I mean, there was literally
06:22as carbon copy as we've seen over the last eight weeks, as you can possibly imagine, slow
06:27start, terrible first quarter, come back late, score a bunch of points late, make the critical
06:32throws that look like you're a hall of fame level quarterback late in the game to put you
06:36in a situation to win, give your team a chance to win the game.
06:39That's what we've seen with Deshaun Watson.
06:41Does that make you feel like you want to see more from Shador next week and the rest of this
06:46year or the other way that we should just go back to the other guy?
06:50I would say, obviously this all clings onto Sean's health, right?
06:54So saying that it's the same situation as this week, obviously I'd feel like I'd go
06:59with Shador, but if Deshaun's healthy and you can clear them, I'd say get number four
07:03back out there.
07:03So my initial thought was, and I think that's probably where a lot of people are.
07:08My initial thought of going away with this game was okay.
07:10If I just watched the same game with a backup quarterback versus the guy that won the starting
07:16job out of camp, that has led me to heading into this week, a five and three start to the
07:21season in a situation where you are still technically competing for the AFC North.
07:25You are in the hunt.
07:27You are in a playoff position at this point in time.
07:31Just go with the veteran because I felt like so many times today, it looked like Todd Munkin
07:36had kind of handcuffed the playbook and not in a bad way necessarily.
07:41He wasn't trying to sabotage Shador Sanders.
07:44I thought, you know, we can leave those conversations with Kevin's fans keep, but it was clear to Todd
07:49Munkin, it was clear to me watching the game that we're not going to put Shador Sanders
07:53further behind the eight ball than he already is.
07:56Now I can sit here and say that if you are a backup quarterback, if we have trusted you
08:00to be in that number two role, guys across the league have gotten way fewer days to prepare
08:06for a game than Shador Sanders got this week.
08:08I mentioned at the top of the show that he, you know, there were contingency plans in place
08:13on Monday for if Deshaun Watson couldn't go and if Shador Sanders was going to be your
08:18starting quarterback.
08:19So those reps with the ones were already going on Monday and it's not like Shador Sanders
08:23lost the starting job and frolicked around Northeast Ohio.
08:26Like he's been in the building and he's gained rapport with these players.
08:30Yeah.
08:30I know that he hasn't been on the field with them, but there is some path there where this
08:36is as good of a situation as good as the setup that Shador Sanders or any backup quarterback
08:41can enter into, I mean, how many times has we at Browns fans talked about Doreen Thompson
08:46Robinson the day before learning that he's going to be the starting quarterback or a
08:50guy goes down in practice on Friday.
08:52How many times this year have we seen with the Baltimore Ravens where Lamar Jackson has
08:56tried and tried and tried and tried and then finally gets to Friday and it's Snoop Huntley
09:01or it's who was the guy that started Joe Fignato.
09:04Like that's another situation where you are so far behind the eight ball.
09:09If you're going to have to handcuff the offense the rest of the season, because you are already
09:16starting with a backup quarterback that lost the starting job, I would just go with Deshaun
09:20Watson the rest of the year.
09:21Now I'd say that understanding that there is no path forward with Deshaun Watson.
09:25There is no clear path.
09:27Even if he takes you to the playoffs, I think a lot of us would understand that Deshaun Watson
09:31is going to still get caught on June 1st of 2027.
09:34There is some way, shape or form of path forward or at least a potential with Shador Sanders
09:42simply because of the fact that he's a second year quarterback and he needs time to learn
09:47and grow to be that starting role.
09:49I would just tend to lean on the side of let's go with the guy that brought us here.
09:55Let's go with the guy that's led us to five and three and those five game winning touchdown
09:59game winning drives throughout the season, as opposed to changing things up right now.
10:07Maybe this is a conversation that we have to table for a couple of weeks later, but for
10:11at least today, I was impressed with what Shador Sanders did.
10:14There were highs and there were lows, but as Matt Crowley said, as many of you, I'm sure
10:18saw that was the same Shador Sanders that we saw at the end of last year in preseason.
10:25And maybe that's just what he is.
10:27And if you're a backup level quarterback in this league and fifth round quarterbacks are
10:30typically backup level quarterbacks, you're going to have flash plays, big throws.
10:34That's awesome.
10:35You saw that from him in college that he's got a great arm.
10:38You're also going to see plays where he hangs onto the ball for too long.
10:42He bails out of a pocket because he's seeing things and getting, you know, dropping his eyes
10:46way too quickly.
10:47But again, we also saw the same thing with Deshaun Watson.
10:49So if somebody were to call in and say that they want to see Shador Sanders for the rest of
10:53the year, that's fine.
10:55I just think that you're not going to have any more confidence going into the rest of
10:59the season as you would if Deshaun Watson was your starting quarterback.
11:02You saw the exact same play.
11:05You saw the exact same game that we've seen under Deshaun Watson that we saw today under
11:10Shador Sanders.
11:11Now, because it's the same game, what does that mean for each side?
11:16I think what that means for Shador Sanders is I still need to see more from him to fully
11:21hand the reins over to him and fully trust him.
11:23I don't feel any more confident, as I mentioned, with him moving forward than Deshaun Watson
11:28because he's been in this system for the entire year and he got the benefit of playing last
11:33year.
11:33He got the benefit of learning and being a sponge behind multiple starting quarterbacks
11:39over these last two seasons in Cleveland.
11:41Deshaun Watson hasn't been afforded that because of the injuries.
11:44For Deshaun Watson's case, if you are playing at the same level as a fifth round backup quarterback
11:49that lost the starting job to you, you clearly are not in the situation to be a long-term
11:55option.
11:56And so I think if we had already tabled those extension talks, I think we can fully put those
12:01on the back burner for the time being.
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