Skip to playerSkip to main content
WKRK-FM / 92.3 The Fan
  • 6 minutes ago
Share, Thumbs Up & Subscribe to 92.3 The Fan for New Content Daily!

Subscribe on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@923TheFan
Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/923thefan
Follow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/923thefan
Follow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/923thefan/

Category

🥇
Sports
Transcript
00:00Todd Munkin had a chance to squash the quarterback kerfuffle, and he bungled it.
00:04Hi, JP.
00:05Hello, how are you doing today?
00:06You know, I'm actually doing really well.
00:08It's a beautiful Monday in our fair region here, and I was actually quite content with
00:13Todd Munkin.
00:14I didn't have a problem with pretty much any decision he made yesterday in that game,
00:18although I know some people are calling it a Todd Munkin loss, and I thought he had the
00:22easiest chip into the green that you could possibly have, which is Jeremy Fowler reports
00:28you're going back to Deshaun this week, you confirm it, and we move on.
00:32You answer a question or two.
00:34Instead, we got testy Todd and a Todd Munkin that just point blank refused to answer the
00:39question.
00:40So why?
00:40Why will he not answer this question?
00:41When it's already leaked, it tells us Jeremy Fowler knows, because Jeremy Fowler doesn't
00:45just make up things.
00:46So if he already knows, why was Todd not willing to do that for us in his own press conference?
00:51I will start with the simplest explanation, which is the decision is not altogether his.
00:57Well, I agree with that.
00:59And that was prematurely leaked, and now we are in deliberation mode in Berea.
01:03So he's talked before about his little powwows he has with Andrew Barry, where they then
01:06get together, and you hear it.
01:07If you pay enough attention in his post-game press conferences, there's a reason why after
01:10these games, he never makes any definitive statements at all.
01:13He'll claim it's because he's got to go look at the tape.
01:15The reality is, is he's got to huddle up with Andrew Barry, and then they get together,
01:19and then they make their decisions, and they go from there.
01:21I just, you had enough time to meet with Andrew Barry already today.
01:24Yeah, and this is a pretty simple question.
01:28It is either Shador played well enough yesterday to Wally, Pip, Deshaun, at which point you
01:34would have been able to handle all of the ins and outs on that.
01:36It's 2 o'clock the day after the game, by the way.
01:38We're almost 24 hours removed from the loss to the Saints there, or the plan was always
01:44to go back to Deshaun, and that's what you're doing.
01:46So it's not that complicated of a question.
01:49No.
01:49The handling of it is complicated if you're moving off of Deshaun, because that locker
01:54room, I guarantee you, isn't 100% for one guy or the other.
01:58But I think this is an opportunity to quiet the situation around the Browns, and I think
02:02they need it.
02:03I think they've had a very loud two weeks, and I don't think it's a coincidence that
02:07two of the loudest weeks we've heard from them, they've lost two straight games.
02:10This is a crucial moment going into a winnable game before the bye, even though the Texans
02:15certainly can put it on you if you let them, and certainly are the better team as of right
02:19now.
02:20But this was a chip shot.
02:22This was a lay it up.
02:24Just make your damn decision.
02:25And the idea that they either haven't met, or that they haven't had the conversation,
02:29or they haven't come to some sort of powwow, some sort of quorum, that's disappointing.
02:34That adds more noise to a team that needs to bring it all the way the hell down.
02:39I mean, Nick, I'm dumbfounded.
02:40I can't believe that he didn't just come out and say Deshaun Watson was the quarterback
02:44next week.
02:44It got to a spot where I would imagine more Shador fans than not would also have an understanding
02:48of it.
02:49If you would have put Shador in that situation and made him a 5-3 starter so far with the
02:53numbers that Deshaun has put up, you'd be like, oh yeah, the guy gets to continue to
02:56play football.
02:57And so it was all right there.
02:59He got the leaked report.
03:00It seemed like everybody was moving forward.
03:02I don't know what Todd Munkin is waiting on.
03:04Yeah, and I think what kind of is annoying is I totally buy.
03:08I get that the media has to ask the question after the game, what do you think of Shador,
03:13and are you sticking with Shador?
03:15You have to get that because you're not always guaranteed that the coach is going to play
03:18ball later on.
03:19But Todd has almost exclusively, when he defers to things after the game, by the time it comes
03:25around, there's a reason that this thing is at 2 on Monday.
03:28And listen, it's not just about whether you want Shador and I want Deshaun or whether I
03:33want Shador and you want Deshaun, which is a complicated question on a number of levels.
03:40This is, honestly, this goes against why you basically named Shador the starter Wednesday
03:45of last week, which was, we can't have up in the air the most important position and
03:50play it to the last moment.
03:51Yeah, and this goes beyond-
03:53Avoid distractions.
03:53Avoid the nonsense.
03:54This goes beyond gamemanship, by the way, too.
03:56Anyone that wants to turn around and be like, oh, he's just trying to make sure the Texans
04:00got a game plan.
04:01No, no, no, no, no.
04:02This is the type of furry that comes with a Shador Sanders decision that you got to stamp
04:08down and you got to make sure doesn't get in the way of what you got to do this week.
04:11Yeah, and again, I don't think it's that hard of a question.
04:14You either saw what you needed to see, like we talked about this on Friday, Shador either
04:18met the threshold-
04:20On Thursday, you weren't here Friday.
04:21Well, okay, that too.
04:22So we talked about it at the end of last week, Shador either met the threshold and cleared
04:26it, and that is one enough curry, if he curried enough favor in that locker room, or he didn't.
04:32And honestly, with Todd Munkin being such an ardent supporter of Deshaun Watson, quite
04:38frankly, the bar should have been high.
04:40If you really believed in Deshaun Watson that high, that is a yes or no question.
04:44I believed, and I still believe it as we sit here and talk about it today, but what
04:49I said on Thursday and what I said on Friday of last week was there was nothing Shador
04:52Sanders could do to upseat Deshaun Watson because Todd Munkin likes Deshaun
04:56Watson that much, and he wants to see what Deshaun can do the rest of the way.
05:00I still firmly believe that, but knowing that, and then knowing where we are in this whole
05:04entire thing, what's giving him pause here?
05:06If you have such a belief in Deshaun Watson, hell, if I'm Deshaun, I'm probably- I don't
05:11gotta be leaving this press conference being like, what the hell is going on?
05:13Did you see the Leroy Bickerstaff tweet yesterday?
05:16No, I didn't.
05:17Right before the game, it just said, free four.
05:19And I was like, that's not me mispronouncing the word three, by the way.
05:23It's free, as in he has caged the number four, which is Deshaun Watson's number.
05:28And I thought, oh, that's really interesting considering Deshaun cleared concussion protocol
05:32and then was marked inactive for this game.
05:34There were a couple interesting things out of that game that I was waiting for people
05:36to pick up on with Deshaun Watson, including when they missed the two-point conversion,
05:40the smirk that the cameras showed Deshaun making after they missed the two-point conversion.
05:43But we don't have to go down that road quite yet.
05:45Okay, in fairness, if we would do that with Shador, we would do this with Deshaun, right?
05:51Like, whether it was just a bad pan of timing, whether he was smirking because somebody said
05:56something, whatever it was, the optics of that, when you lose that game the way you did...
06:01I mean, we all thought it, right?
06:02It is reasonable to suggest that when Shador started cooking up things late in the fourth
06:07quarter against prevent defense, and certainly what they did in overtime, it's logical to
06:12say he was feeling the heat in that, like his job was slipping away.
06:16He had to have entered that game wondering if he was going to get Wally Pipped in some way.
06:19Now, maybe he had the belief that I had in that Todd Munkin just likes Deshaun Watson
06:23a lot, and Todd Munkin wants to see Deshaun Watson play, so maybe he thought his job was
06:26secure no matter what.
06:28But the fact that Todd Munkin didn't say it right now...
06:30Because the other scenario on this is what, Nick?
06:32Is that he's already told Deshaun Watson that he's safe and that he's good?
06:35Well, then why don't you just tell us that then?
06:37Why would you keep that a secret?
06:38All right, so I was thinking about this because Deshaun's team works overtime, right?
06:44That's Jake Volnick.
06:45No, no, no, no, no, no, not the show overtime.
06:48I mean, they really have been doing, I'll say too much, in the attempts to recreate the
06:54narratives PR-wise around Deshaun Watson.
06:57Do we know for a fact that Jeremy Fowler heard it from the Browns and they didn't hear it from
07:00David Mulligata, his agent, or his publicist, or that guy who tried to pay people to say
07:05nice things about Deshaun allegedly on social media?
07:08No, we don't.
07:08And what might have been true 24 hours ago might not be true right now.
07:11And so there was, oh man, I wish I could remember now, there was a report about Deshaun's feeling
07:16entering the game, and we just had so many reports over the last 24 hours, but it did
07:20basically suggest that Deshaun believes, I got this, this is my deal.
07:24And so what you're saying makes a lot of sense.
07:27It makes a lot of sense.
07:28With the way Todd handled his press conference, the reason why it truly, deeply, and unequivocally
07:34matters is, you've now opened up a can of worms on what is going on in Berea, when there
07:39was already a bunch of little wildfires springing up around this.
07:43Leroy Bickerstaff, this report, there's plenty, the smirk on the sideline, you had a chance
07:49to kind of put it all out, and instead, you kind of just let it consume the whole situation.
07:53Well, and so if I play with your theory for a second, that maybe this is Jeremy not getting
07:57it from the Browns, but getting it from the agent instead, this would be, if I was the
08:02Browns, this would be my way of saying, screw you, Deshaun, that's child's play right there.
08:06We don't, I don't play those games, it is not David Mollgetta's decision, it is our decision,
08:11we haven't made that decision yet, and what you did in leaking that out, we don't like,
08:15and this would be a way of compounding that and going back after that.
08:18Here is a little snippet of his press conference, in case you're just joining us, on the quarterback
08:24position.
08:25Todd, just wondering, now that you've had time to digest the game and sleep on everything,
08:30are you ready to say who will start for quarterback, that quarterback for you on Sunday?
08:34I am not.
08:36Okay, and what is your kind of thinking behind not saying anything right now?
08:44I really haven't thought through it, other than getting through this morning's tape,
08:49we just got done meeting with the guys, they'll flush the game, and then we'll have a chance
08:53to meet offensively, more extensive a little bit later today, just, we went through the
08:59tape, immediately had to break, go with personnel, then the team comes in, and we haven't had a
09:04chance to circle back as an offensive staff.
09:07Okay, and I mean, so at this point, there's still a chance that it could go either way,
09:11then, you could possibly start.
09:13I think I've answered the question.
09:15Hey, Todd, with the game planning that goes on Tuesday, do you feel like you need to have
09:19that decision by tomorrow morning?
09:23No.
09:25I mean, I don't see it that way.
09:26Do I think it'll be then?
09:27No.
09:28I just said we hadn't really circled back as an offensive staff.
09:31I want to commend Mary Kay for the back and forth there, and kind of bird-dogging Todd
09:35Munkin, trying to get some semblance of an answer here.
09:38Well, I think you're surprised.
09:39Yeah, yeah, well, I think we heard of that.
09:41I mean, that was pretty obvious, right?
09:42Okay.
09:43Okay.
09:43It caught her off guard, as it should have caught her off guard, I would imagine.
09:47Here's the thing.
09:48Caught me off guard.
09:49Tell me that.
09:49I don't think there's any other way to take it, that if you don't have an answer yet,
09:53it means you're seriously considering going to Shador, or that you're going to Shador,
09:57and you just haven't told the offense yet.
09:59Yeah, that's a reasonable way of looking at it.
10:02I'm still, I'm shocked that that's the development, if that is the development, because going to
10:06Shador was really not something I thought Todd Munkin would do after one game.
10:10Yeah, nor do I think it is something he should do.
10:12I thought Shador met the bar that Deshaun Watson played previously.
10:17I know it's tough because Deshaun was so bad in the Steelers game, but you're trying to average
10:21out the first eight games we saw from Deshaun.
10:25I thought he met that bar.
10:27I don't think he exceeded it.
10:29And I think while it is easy to focus on how he played in the fourth quarter, his management
10:34of that last drive and regulation was so bad that a dejected Shador walked off and Munkin
10:41had to say, it's okay, it's okay.
10:43Not always a great sign.
10:45And even, again, played very well in OT with some of the plays that he made.
10:49But I don't think he cleared the bar.
10:52And I think this is incredibly important to that locker room that if Shador was going
10:57to take a job from somebody that was injured, he had to play better than Deshaun had played.
11:03And you cannot erase the first three quarters of tape where there were so many little mistakes.
11:11And I'm thinking of the goal line play where you get the Denzel Boston incredible stealing
11:16an interception from the Saints player, taking it down to the five.
11:20And I mean, whether that was a Quinshawn misjudgment or a Shador misjudgment, that then led into
11:25the fourth down play, which was just as caca.
11:27Like, I just, I don't think Shador played well enough to take the job.
11:31I would be curious as to get a real explanation, which I don't think Todd's going to give us
11:35now, if they do in fact go to Shador, because I thought this was open and shut.
11:40It felt very much like watching Deshaun Watson play football is what it felt like to me,
11:43where, you know, for three quarters, you're like, what's going on here?
11:46This is not, this is not looking good.
11:48And then all of a sudden, fourth quarter magic, overtime magic.
11:50I mean, he had, he did put the Browns in position to win the game and he didn't turn the
11:53ball
11:54over in the process, which we know Todd Munkin obviously cares a great deal about.
11:57But if I, if it looks exactly the same as Deshaun Watson, then why am I going to replace
12:01Deshaun Watson?
12:01Well, and we shouldn't, we kind of shouldn't forget here, by the way, that that's a brutal
12:07Saints team.
12:09Like that.
12:09And this is part, this is where we got to blame the offensive line.
12:12They turned that into the, the 85 bears defense with the way that they played.
12:17I, that, that wasn't about Shador's comments, by the way, Carl Granderson and Chase Young
12:21can say all they want.
12:22Guys, Granderson was wrecking that game.
12:23He was.
12:24And by the way, a good, good level NFL player, not a truly transcendent player.
12:29That was a five alarm fire that was started by the offensive line, not because Shador said
12:34some things last week, although then we have that weird pregame press conference.
12:38So we have to get to at some point today to furthering the story of Shador versus the
12:44media.
12:44But like, yeah, I, I can agree that the way that they played around Shador is the way
12:50they played around Deshaun.
12:51But I just think there were too many times where I left asking myself, does Shador know
12:57the offense enough?
12:59Does he know the play enough?
13:00Because those were the kind of mistakes that I feel like we've seen in the Saints game that
13:06I don't think we saw that exact kind of mistake the same way against Deshaun and against a
13:11booty cheeks defense that was turned into the 85 bears.
13:14He has not a good defense, obviously.
13:16And within saying that too, it's not as if the Deshaun at any point have really been lighting
13:20the scoreboard up either.
13:21And so like, you gotta acknowledge, you gotta acknowledge the idea that Tennessee, it lit
13:25up the scoreboard a little bit.
13:26They haven't scored 30 points once this season.
13:27Didn't they score 30 points against the Titans?
13:30They haven't scored 30 points once this season.
13:31It was at 27 points.
13:3227 is the high for the season.
13:33That's pretty good.
13:34That was just two weeks ago.
13:35Through eight games, 27 is the high.
13:37It was two weeks ago.
13:38You were like, at no point, he's lit up the scoreboard.
13:40It's like, he threw for 300 yards and had, you know, 27 points.
13:43I'll take that.
13:4427 is not lighting up the scoreboard.
13:45We have different versions of lighting up the scoreboard.
13:47They're scoring 17 a game.
13:4827 feels like Shangri-la.
13:50And we scored 23 yesterday, right?
13:52So like, I mean, maybe it's 22 actually.
13:54I think it's 23, 22.
13:55But how many in regulation?
13:56Yeah.
13:56Yeah.
13:57Anyway, so like the point, the Browns move off of Deshaun.
14:00Am I going to kill them?
14:01No, I'm not going to kill them.
14:02It's not as if Deshaun had done enough to necessarily win and keep this job as is.
14:06I'm just, I'm just flabbergasted we got here if that's how it goes down.
14:10Yeah.
14:10I'm very, very surprised if that's the move that they make relative to how they've been
14:14speaking about Deshaun, how they've been acting around Deshaun, and how they basically
14:18made this whole entire thing look.
14:20I'm assuming they'll point to the explosives as to the reason on why Shador would get the
14:25start.
14:26I would, again, refer back to the first three and a half quarters of that game and the
14:30lack of explosives.
14:31I mean, the Casey Concepcion ball was a great play by Casey.
14:35It was a massive underthrow.
14:36The Denzel Boston one was stealing an interception out of the Saints player's hand.
14:41And I'm not trying to completely, I'm just trying to analyze, like even the Harold Fannin
14:45Jr. play was Harold Fannin Jr. just saying, I think I'd like to have a touchdown now.
14:50None of this is to discredit Shador, but it's like, all right, who really made the explosives
14:55in those moments?
14:56Well, yeah, but it's not as if we've seen a million explosives from Deshaun on the other
14:59side of that.
15:00Yeah, but those, I gotta say.
15:02Part of the advantage of Shador for this year relative to the last year was the idea that
15:06you're going to have better pass catchers around you.
15:08You can throw a pass to Denzel Boston that he's going to win in a 50-50 ball.
15:11You can have Harold Fannin break a bunch of tackles and be able to run off.
15:14I mean, we can't discredit when you just said two weeks ago Deshaun threw for 300 yards
15:19and put up 27 points is the one game to point to, when I can point to yesterday saying
15:23Shador threw for 300 yards, two touchdowns, zero picks.
15:26I think it was 297.
15:26It was 297, yes, 300 yards.
15:28I'm giving them the three.
15:29I'll give them the three.
15:30I'm sorry.
15:31But like, we're matching this spade for spade here.
15:35So like that's, and that's the one game you get to point to for Deshaun.
15:37So like I, they're too analytical to look at Deshaun and say, we possibly can't do better
15:43in this instance.
15:44Now, I do agree with your main point though.
15:46Shocked beyond shocked if they go to Shador.
15:48That I just didn't see coming.
15:49I thought they liked Deshaun, or I thought they liked Watson more than that.
15:52I also thought it made more sense to give Deshaun the tougher assignment against the Texans
15:58and, and see again, can he have a bounce back game, something closer to the Titans game than
16:02the Steeler game?
16:03Because I felt like the bye gave you a natural point to move off of him if it was another
16:07loss.
16:08Sure.
16:08And now like, I mean, I don't think you can do the go to Shador and then can you go
16:12to
16:12Shador and then go to the bye and then bring Deshaun back?
16:14That seems, that seems like something you just don't see in the NFL world.
16:19Yeah.
16:19That, I think that's another part of this is if you go to him, you go to him.
16:23Yeah.
16:23And that could get, we're just, they're right there.
16:26I know they're now the eighth seed after the, after their second straight loss, but it
16:29is right there.

Recommended