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Dan Labbe talks Monken's approach to Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders; Browns defense's 'fatal flaw'
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00:00he joins us every wednesday at 9 20 of cleveland.com our good friend dan lobby joining us now
00:05dan what's going on hey jake what's up uh we're doing all right yeah dan but
00:11just an odd week a very odd week to come off of i mean shador playing really well down the
00:17stretch but not so hot for three quarters and then i i drew it up is what i kind of
00:23felt like
00:24was maybe a little bit of unnecessary drama drummed up by todd by the way he was answering
00:29the question on the quarterbacks is that a fair assessment in your eyes yeah i i thought his
00:35and then the way he's explained it um has been that he just hadn't talked to his staff or something
00:39yet
00:39but it was strange the approach he took it seemed like he left that door open potentially for a
00:45quarterback change it almost reminded me of last year when kevin stefanski didn't answer a question
00:49about if he was going to bench joe flacco uh for dylan gabriel and it was like oh this might
00:54be
00:54happening so it didn't feel quite as definitive but it was still strange that he left that so
01:00open-ended especially today at least the way he explained it today was that there really was no
01:05decision deshaun watson was going to be his starting quarterback he just hadn't had a chance to talk to
01:10his staff yet it was it was bizarre and i don't know if it's just because todd doesn't care about
01:15those optics if it's because he's a first-time head coach and while he's had to do press before he
01:20hasn't had to necessarily sit up there every day and answer questions and kind of deal with the
01:24headlines that come from it or not answer questions in this case so i i don't i don't know why
01:29he took
01:30that route but it certainly caused some drama yeah i mean even if he didn't want to give the answer
01:34like i can respect the side of go talk to your staff about it couldn't you have basically just
01:38told everybody that hey i pretty much know who i want to go with but i want to you know
01:43talk it over
01:44with my staff first and then we all especially given the jeremy follow report would have just assumed it
01:48was deshaun anyway yeah i mean he probably could have done that but even that might have just left
01:53it open for speculation if he's saying well i've made a decision but i haven't talked to my staff
01:57but i think people will i guess he's making a change then or something like that i think anything short
02:03of
02:03just definitively coming out and saying what he was going to do um i think was going to leave it
02:08open
02:08to speculation and you know i understand he has this process on mondays and he kind of he kind of
02:15laid
02:15that out a little bit but you know you get on that zoom call at two o'clock so and
02:19you know that
02:20question has to be coming i mean he got asked about it after the game so you know it's going
02:23to be
02:23asked the next day too um i feel like maybe he could have been a little better prepared or or
02:29maybe it
02:29was just gamesmanship maybe look the big game planning days in the nfl or monday night and and then on
02:35tuesday so maybe he wanted the texans to be kind of guessing a little bit so maybe there was a
02:39method to
02:40madness do you feel like the game plan for the texans changes all that much between shador and
02:45deshaun because kind of felt like they light up the same thing one guy will take a couple more shots
02:49down the field one guy runs a little bit better outside of that kind of felt like shador just gave
02:53us a deshaun-esque performance on sunday against the saints yeah i agree with that i i kind of looked
03:00at it like was there a whole lot that shador did that deshaun hasn't done and you could say that
03:04vice versa and i don't know i think the texans are probably just sitting there like yeah let's let's do
03:09what we do best and just create a ton of pressure and really make the quarterback uncomfortable i
03:13think that's going to be the game plan for both guys yeah it kind of feels that way now obviously
03:18deshaun is the starter dan did you feel like given the way that shador performed and i you know
03:24deshaun coming off the concussion heading into the this week 10 that that was the correct decision to
03:28go with uh deshaun watson i i actually do because i think you know look this was a really important
03:34football game and and i thought even though shador did play well uh towards the end of that game
03:38and even though he did hit a couple of those big shots there just wasn't enough consistency there
03:43now i understand you could say the same about deshaun watson but i think there are still some
03:47issues with shador as far as you know even there there weren't a bunch of penalties and things like
03:51that just kind of the basics of running the offense and sometimes making the throws that are designed
03:56for him or you know just kind of running the play that's out there for him i think there's little
04:01things like that that maybe deshaun does a little bit better um so i'm not surprised that they went
04:06back to deshaun and then they have this opportunity here kind of based off what happens in this game
04:11to go into the bye week and if they want to reevaluate they can so i'm not surprised that
04:15they went back to deshaun and i think it was the right call to go back to deshaun because i
04:19just think
04:19he brings a little more stability to the offense right now the deadline was also obviously yesterday
04:25not only did the browns you know decide to to roll forward with four quarterbacks on this roster
04:29right now they didn't make any moves whatsoever is that something that you think fans are okay
04:36to be upset with or is that something that you know andrew barry makes that move and you think
04:40it makes a lot of sense to to kind of stand pat i i would have liked to have seen
04:45them add maybe
04:46if they could have found some sort of edge rusher or a linebacker or some you know make a small
04:51move
04:51like that but the reality is this is kind of in line with how andrew barry has approached these last
04:56few off seasons and and how he's kind of messaged this and he said at the combine that 2027 was
05:02going
05:02to be the year where they really dove back into free agency and uh presumably the trade market so
05:07i don't think he was ever going to mortgage the future i don't think he was ever going to give
05:10up
05:10any of his first you know day one or day two picks to to make a big move here uh
05:15but i i think they
05:17were looking around for sauce for stuff i think they were looking around again for maybe an affordable
05:21edge rusher maybe another tight end you know maybe they wanted to see if somebody would
05:26bite on on offering something for one of these quarterbacks it obviously didn't happen so
05:30i think it was the right thing for andrew to do i don't think this was the year to mortgage
05:34your
05:34future i think you risk i mean look at the colts they did it last year for sauce gardner and
05:39they
05:39kind of overestimated who they were as a team and now they're selling pieces off so i think the browns
05:44and barry really kind of understood where this roster is and that they're probably still an off season
05:49away from really getting into hey next trade deadline but let's get aggressive and make some big moves
05:55and dan lobby with this here on the hotline a dan so much conversation around the quarterback
05:59obviously this week i i did feel like it kind of just buried the lead of what that game actually
06:04was
06:05which is it was another week where the browns could not effectively run the football and could not
06:10stop the run todd's sitting there being asked about making offensive line changes and obviously told
06:16everybody's not going to i i mean i don't know if that's the right move to make is changing up
06:22a piece
06:22on the offensive line but at this point the browns seem to do something to get their run game going
06:28right it's it's been tough and and i'm trying to figure out like i i think it's easy to say
06:33maybe
06:34make some changes on that line but i don't know what the really obvious changes are i mean i guess
06:38you
06:38could go with luke whipler at center if you wanted to but i don't know if elton jenkins has been
06:42a huge
06:43problem um then you start getting into like let's say you wanted to get zion johnson out of there
06:48are you going to go to zack center like you're going to move elton jenkins to guard and then
06:53now you're shuffling guys around do you shuffle austin barber around i don't think you want to
06:57start shuffling these rookies right now so i think stability might be the right choice but you're right
07:01they just have not been able to run the football and the problem is a lot of the areas where
07:06they're
07:07struggling are guys they paid like titus howard like zion johnson like elton jenkins they put some big
07:12money into rebuilding this line and you know the rookies are rookies they're going to have some ups
07:17and downs but you really need your veteran guys to to be kind of your stalwarts in there and that
07:22just hasn't happened for this team and they aren't getting the movement they need there's been little
07:26flashes here and there and i thought there was a time when they were maybe getting it going but it's
07:30gone backwards so i don't know if the solution is maybe more dylan samson but i don't think you want
07:35to over overexpose him to a bunch of hits and you know get him hurt they got to figure something
07:41out
07:41but i don't know if changing a bunch of things on the o-line is it i think they need
07:44to work on their
07:45scheme and kind of work on what they're doing out there i mean at this point dan right like we
07:50can
07:50put to bed the it's five new offensive linemen they're still figuring things out like that
07:55conversation is gone at this point right yeah i mean you're about to play you're going into week 10
08:01here so like yes i mean that that could still be part of it but you're 10 weeks in these
08:06guys have
08:06played together there should be some familiarity there should be some level of okay i know what you're
08:10going to do and i know what you're going to do i mean we know in the nfl there is
08:14turnover every
08:15single year and there are new offensive lines and yes it takes time but you can't just it's not like
08:21you're going to have the same offensive line together for five or six years anymore there's
08:24going to be change in turnover so you've got to be able to get used to bringing guys in and
08:28getting
08:28used to playing with each other i think at this point that's just an excuse all right so obviously
08:33then looking to the other side of the ball dana i thought this is a great opportunity for
08:37us to be having a conversation about fool's gold for the defense against the run game because
08:42well it was audric estimate who was cut by the saints brought here for some time ended up back
08:46there alvin kamara who does not particularly run the ball very well at this point in his career
08:50and yet you look up at the end of the game and then the saints are over 150 yards on
08:55the ground and
08:56the browns defense collapsed late this felt like the week where they were talking about making
09:01adjustments and maybe walking away is the most concerning week for that defense in the run game too
09:07yeah and i think your point earlier like the quarterback discussion has overshadowed a lot
09:11of this stuff but like this run defense you're starting like i'm starting to wonder if this is
09:15just a fatal flaw in in this defense because you can't it's gotten to the point where
09:21tennessee didn't run it wasn't a very good running team and they had a big day you just mentioned it
09:25the saints using a guy they signed off the browns practice squad recently like or a guy the bronze
09:30wave they should say and he has a big day they're giving up yards to anybody who can just turn
09:36and hand
09:36the ball off and that worries me because you're playing a houston team this week that cannot run
09:40the football but if they can get some sort of running game going against this that's going to
09:44make life easier for cj stroud who is having a fantastic season so this could be a week where if
09:50they
09:51can't stop the run again against a really bad running team it could really open up this offense
09:56for the texans even more and they could end up giving up a ton of points i think it is
10:00this is the
10:01they put a big circle around this run defense if this thing goes south i think that could be the
10:06fatal flaw here i mean we can talk about this texans game and dan lobby with this here on the
10:11hotline
10:11because walking into this game and like if somebody just tuned into the nfl so far this year they would
10:17probably have the assumption oh the texans aren't that great i feel like this is one of the best sub
10:22500
10:23teams that we've seen in a really long time especially nine weeks into a season what do you feel about
10:29the browns hopes walking into a game in week 10 and their chances against the texans i think the
10:34thing i'm leaning on is they when we talk about the defense they have been better traditionally under
10:40jim schwartz and now under mike grutenberg they have just played better at home and i don't know if
10:44i don't know exactly why that is but they have just always kind of played better at home so you
10:49know
10:49maybe we'll see a little better version of this defense than what we've seen over the last few weeks
10:54i think you know even though this texans defense has a ton of talent and they were a team that
11:00was
11:00coming in you're thinking oh that's going to be the best defense in the league obviously that hasn't
11:04happened for them so can the browns maybe take advantage of that um can they muck this game up
11:09and keep it kind of ugly and sort of like they've won a bunch of other games just not let
11:13this texans
11:14offense get going i think they have a chance but this is a concerning football game because to your
11:20point even though their record is not good we know that they're kind of trying to put together
11:24and we see the texans do this all the time right they get off slow starts and they put together
11:28a
11:28run and get into the playoff cj stroud playing as well as he's played since his rookie year and this
11:34is a really big game because if the texans come in and beat the browns now they're even in the
11:39loss
11:39column and you're you're trying to chase the the bangles and the steelers one of those teams is
11:43going to lose so whoever wins this game is going to get to gain a little ground on them like
11:48this is a
11:48huge game and you know i think the texans are coming in a desperate team but i hope the browns
11:52are kind of feeling just as desperate to not lose their third in a row how much of a concern
11:58is a
11:58denzel boston missing practice today with the toe injury so todd didn't seem too concerned about
12:03it today i think he expects him to be back at practice on thursday now i will say todd is
12:08usually
12:09an optimist when he talks to us about injuries if he talks to us about injuries at all so you
12:14know
12:15when i'll believe it when i see it i do think he'll probably be out there he didn't seem you
12:19know we talked to denzel today before we knew about the toe injury but he didn't seem to uh
12:24actually no i'm sorry we didn't talk to denzel uh we talked to casey but anyway todd expects him to
12:29be
12:29out there on thursday and we usually talk to him on thursdays so i think we'll get an idea of
12:34kind
12:34of where he's at but i don't think it's something to be too concerned about right now i looking forward
12:40to this game against the texans and kind of past it obviously by weeks coming up the week after
12:46you have to look back to the quarterback spot is this a game that walking away from it
12:51could be the game that deshaun watson actually ends up being benched and this team turns over to
12:56it's going to be interesting because i think it's got that potential that we talked about so much
12:59early in like in training camp and how would deshaun be received and then of course there was that
13:04infamous buffalo uh afternoon and that press conference like you know fans did get a taste
13:10of shador sanders on uh sunday in new orleans and and he left a good taste in their mouths with
13:15that finish obviously the rest of the the rest of the game is what it is but that got people
13:20excited
13:20to kind of see that and if deshaun comes out and struggles it could get a little ugly in that
13:25stadium i think he'll hear some boos and and i think that fans will want to see shador sanders come
13:29in and maybe replace him now todd's not going to let the fan base determine that we we know that
13:33already but because you're getting to that inflection point of the bye week this becomes
13:38a really important game for deshaun watson to hang on to that starting job he's got to go out and
13:41play
13:42well and you know winning is the best way to do that um so i think this is a big
13:47moment does this
13:49still feel like a team to you that is a you know in the fight for a playoff spy and
13:52you can see making
13:53it there or they had the last couple of weeks maybe swayed that opinion i think they still have a
13:59chance just because the afc is so wide open and there's not really more than a handful of teams
14:06that are really good and really kind of battling for these playoff spots so it is still kind of
14:11right in front of them todd said that the other day and sometimes sometimes people will say that
14:14and i kind of roll my eyes but it is right there they still have three division games two against
14:19cincinnati one of the teams they're chasing uh you know they play the falcons they play the colts
14:24they've got the raiders who are going to be starting fernando mendoza now so there's some
14:27opportunities uh for them to win some games here down the stretch after thanksgiving but also
14:33this is a team that now has lost to the jets and barely beat the titans and has lost to
14:37the saints
14:37so nothing is a given with this team but if they can take care of business in this game and
14:42get
14:43through that bye week and come out of it healthy the schedule is there for them to maybe win some
14:48games and make a push here i saw a little bit of a conversation happening around a potential
14:54you know todd munkin for coach of the year type of debate at least here dan at this point if
15:00todd
15:01won coach of the year does actually mean anything to this fan base just the amount of those we've
15:05seen roll through with the coaches managers that you know maybe have shown their fatal flaws and
15:12not ended up being able to win a championship or continue success year to year yeah somebody's got
15:17to do the research on the coaches here that have won all these coach and manager of the year
15:21this is like the capital of coach and manager of the year awards so i don't know if if fan
15:27if that
15:27would get people excited for for todd to win coach of the year especially because the guy he just
15:30replaced who got fired uh won two of them so i i don't know if it's that exciting for this
15:37fan base
15:37but it would also probably mean if he did win coach of the year that they got to the playoffs
15:41so if
15:42that's the result i think people will take it um and i think he would certainly deserve that that type
15:46of consideration but uh yeah i've got to imagine those types of awards are starting to ring hollow
15:51around here yeah i would start to think so but dan hey we gotta run always appreciate you setting
15:57aside the time always good to talk to you and uh look forward to talking to you ahead of the
16:01bye week
16:02next week yep all right thanks a lot jake
16:04you
16:04you