00:00I did have to call up my good buddy, Coach Lance Rislin,
00:02because as a coach, you're put in some precarious situations.
00:07This is a tough one for Todd Munkin.
00:09What do you think is going through his head right now, Coach?
00:13Well, good morning to you.
00:14Happy Sunday.
00:14Yeah, the Browns drama never ceases to amaze me.
00:18I will say this.
00:19The first thing that has to happen as a coach,
00:21and I know Todd Munkin is thinking this way,
00:22is you cannot make emotional decisions, right?
00:24Anything in life, but if we're talking about this specifically,
00:28you don't want to judge everything that happened yesterday.
00:30You don't want to make all your decisions based on yesterday.
00:33Now, it's not easy.
00:35It's not easy to have pressure from the outside kind of dictate what you do,
00:39but I will say this.
00:40As a football program, whatever level you're at nowadays,
00:43especially in Northeast Ohio, the hours and hours and hours and hours
00:47that you spend as a staff and as an organization getting your team ready to go,
00:51you have to go back to that and whatever that is.
00:54So, the evaluation has to be of all the entire product, all summer, all spring.
01:00Now, if it's yesterday, if you're emotional,
01:02Shador Sanders played really well yesterday.
01:04He was 9 for 11, but more important than the accuracy,
01:06I thought his footwork was really good.
01:08I thought he got him in and out of the huddle very good.
01:10I also thought that Deshaun played very poorly in the third quarter.
01:15So, again, the emotion tells you we got to go with the young guy right now.
01:19He's the best.
01:20And yesterday he was.
01:21And if that's a culmination of what the coaches think all summer,
01:25then you go with that.
01:26However, you want that decision to be theirs,
01:29and you want that decision done with multiple people at the table.
01:32Todd Monkey makes the final call, but emotions can't be tied into it
01:36because if you get the emotions tied into it and you're in the right now,
01:40the impulse tells you to start Shador Sanders.
01:43Now, if it's kind of the end product and say, you know what,
01:46we love what he's done, which I have as well, then, yeah,
01:49you go with him and that's your decision.
01:50But you don't want to be impulsive based on yesterday.
01:53That would be my call for Todd Monkey right now.
01:55So how, as a, like when you were watching the post-game press conference,
02:00I guess, with Deshaun, like what were you taking away from that?
02:03Well, I was taking away that I wish he wouldn't have done it,
02:06to be honest with you.
02:07He played poorly.
02:09You want the actions.
02:10And for me, if you're saying that he, you know, people are arguing,
02:14Coach, you don't want to say he played terribly.
02:16No, he didn't play well yesterday.
02:18I'm also, I've never get, if you go back and look at my timeline,
02:21I'm never super high on when they're really, really good,
02:23or I'm super low when they were really, really bad.
02:25And yesterday was a bad day for him on the field.
02:28And then the press conference kind of gives you, you know,
02:31people are saying that it makes the choice easy.
02:32Well, you'd hope it still doesn't make the choice easy.
02:35I've watched almost every throw during camp,
02:36and I think these guys have done a lot better things than people give them credit for.
02:41What I was most impressed about Shador yesterday was his ability to get out of the huddle
02:45with 10, 15, almost 20 seconds on the clock.
02:48That's why he looked so poised.
02:50So you've got to give him a lot of credit for that.
02:52That's a step in the right direction.
02:53That's one of the ways, that's one of the things I thought Deshaun was ahead of.
02:57Yesterday he did not perform, and he was not ahead in that category.
03:01So yesterday was a big step for Shador.
03:03Whatever step that is, that's based on what Coach Munkin and his staff decide.
03:08But I will tell you, the press conference, you know, you wish he wouldn't have done it.
03:12As a coach, as a former player, again, as I said earlier,
03:15that's an emotional, personal thing for him.
03:19Whether it be right or wrong, that's not my call to say.
03:21And whether people, you know, I don't ever feel it's right to boo,
03:24but I've been booed a whole bunch in my life, so I understand that.
03:26And for me, I'd rather be booed than somebody say,
03:29it's okay to not play well.
03:30That's just how I feel, and that's how most competitors feel.
03:33But it kind of reached the limit, Anthony, where he's just, you know,
03:36whether he's right or wrong and to each his own.
03:38But for him, yesterday was kind of, it boiled over yesterday.
03:42And instead of talking about, you know, giving up too many chunk plays
03:46or their inability to do some things or the success of the special teams,
03:50you're talking about the quarterback position again.
03:52And that's where I want the Browns to get away from.
03:54I want them to start focusing on football, which I hope Todd Munkin gets them to.
04:00Coach Riaz, that sounds like maybe he's a little, a big-time bit in his head.
04:05How do you help him get out of his head and stop focusing so much on the reaction of the
04:09crowd?
04:10He even said yesterday that he feels like he'll just be playing 17 road games,
04:13and he'd much rather prefer to play road games because he at least can anticipate that,
04:17hey, I know they're not supposed to be cheering for me.
04:18So how do you help a player when they're kind of like in their head
04:21and worried about so much of that outside noise?
04:24Well, that's a tough one, James.
04:26And here's the thing is that those outside opinions are never going to change.
04:31People have their opinions, and I've always been a big believer.
04:33The reason I don't get offended is because I have opinions as well.
04:36And if I have an opinion, someone else is allowed to have theirs as well.
04:40Now, as your starting quarterback, you can see it's impactful
04:42because when people say he can't do things, physically I've seen him do it.
04:48So there has to be a mental aspect that's driving at him.
04:51You know, the idea of I'm not going to make a mistake.
04:54And when you're trying not to make a mistake as a quarterback, that's when they happen.
04:58And that's kind of where he's at now.
05:00And when people say it's a mental game, this is what they're talking about.
05:04You can see the emotion on his face, and you can see how hurt he was.
05:10Now, life's tough, and as my dad used to say, no one cares when I'm upset.
05:14Or, you know, for me, I've always – a lot of people thrive in that situation
05:19where people are down on you, and your job is to either prove them right
05:22or prove them wrong.
05:23And right now he's letting the outside forces affect his ability.
05:27And for me, that's much more impactful if he's a starter than his physical tools.
05:33With the amount of weapons they have now, I think he could have some success.
05:36But he's going to have some failure as well.
05:38And his ability to handle that failure right now doesn't seem to be very good.
05:42And, you know, obviously people are very impatient with his play.
05:46So that would be more of why I think Shador maybe has pushed himself equal or ahead
05:52is because Shador doesn't seem to have that impact on him right now.
05:57So because when Shador plays, there's going to be lots of highs and lots of lows as well.
06:00And you've got to be able to handle the lows as well as you handle the highs
06:03when you're starting quarterback at any level of football.
06:06So do you think with how Shador played versus how Deshaun played yesterday,
06:10and then you factor in the postgame, is it enough to make Todd Munkin feel comfortable
06:16in naming him the starting quarterback?
06:18I mean, we are at a time crunch here.
06:20Like the third preseason game is a couple of days away now.
06:24Well, I would say this, Anthony.
06:25I would say if it got to the point, so let's say you're studying for a test all spring and
06:31summer
06:32and that was the final test.
06:34Then I say yes.
06:35When people, you know, the question was, and I had multiple people kind of quote what I said
06:41when I said, if it was based on yesterday only, yeah, that's an easy decision.
06:44Shador played really well, and he's improved on things that he was struggling with.
06:48But I don't know what's going on in the meetings.
06:50I don't know what's going on in the film room.
06:52I don't know what's going on in operation.
06:54I don't know, you know, people have downplayed operation.
06:56That's a real thing in this Munkin offense.
06:58You've got to get him into the right play.
06:59Well, I thought Shador did that very well yesterday.
07:01He looked very poised, so were they looking for that?
07:05I would hope the decision is made that Shador has improved and that Watson is just playing
07:12terrible because yesterday he played poorly, and then the idea of, well, we've got to go
07:16with Shador.
07:16Deshaun played poorly.
07:18Well, there's a whole body of work behind the scenes that we don't know about.
07:22And, you know, some of the days where people say, Deshaun played terribly, I disagree vehemently
07:27on that.
07:28Now, there's been some terrible throws, no question, but there's been some really good
07:32throws and some really good things he's doing getting this offense into the right play.
07:36Yesterday wasn't a good day, and that's just the reality of it.
07:38So, for me, if the decision is made on Shador, I would hope it's made because the body of work,
07:44including yesterday, which was a very, very good day for him in the first half.
07:48Would you feel comfortable overall, like, naming Shador the starter?
07:52Like, because, I mean, guys have good and bad days.
07:54We saw it all throughout training.
07:55You see it at training camp every day.
07:56It's a good Shador day.
07:57It's a bad Deshaun day, whatever it is.
07:59But, like, if you were to go in with Shador as your starter right now, do you feel comfortable
08:03with that?
08:04Well, I would say this.
08:05Because it's a team game, do I feel that Shador or Deshaun, but we'll just say,
08:11Shador, do I think he's a quarterback you can win because of right now?
08:14I do not.
08:15But I do think he's a quarterback you can win with.
08:17And you saw it yesterday.
08:18So, protecting the football is key.
08:21You saw the interception, Deshaun's very next play, they get a bomb for a touchdown.
08:25So, the idea of flipping the field, making sure you're getting the team into the right
08:29run play.
08:30You know, when you get out of the huddle, people have laughed at me because of operation.
08:34But when you're in this style offense, you can get your team out of bad plays.
08:38So, a lot of times in this offense, and you heard Todd Monk and say it in the preseason,
08:43you know, some quarterbacks don't want that smoke.
08:45And what that means is, rarely should you run or throw into a bad look in this offense.
08:50But you've got to understand completely what's going on, and you have to make sure that you
08:55understand your fronts, and your coverages, and your blitzes, and changing protection,
09:00and changing a run, and getting into a brand new play.
09:02We don't know any of that.
09:04Now, if he's done that at a high level, yes, then I would feel comfortable because he's
09:08always thrown.
09:09He's been, I've said this before, I think he's been more consistent than Deshaun.
09:13I don't think he's had the highs and lows as Deshaun throughout camp.
09:17One thing I thought Deshaun was doing a much better job of is getting them into the right
09:21play and not being frantic at the line of scrimmage.
09:24Well, Shador did that very well yesterday.
09:26And if he checks all those boxes for Coach Monk.
09:28Now, for me, I'm always going to protect the coach.
09:31And if this is a coach's decision, and he makes the decision that he thinks Shador gives
09:37them the best chance to win in Jacksonville, then I'm all for it.
09:41Yes.
09:42Besides that, it can't be because one guy's playing, the other guy's being sabotaged.
09:47I think they both have gotten to the point where they've given him enough of a look, and
09:53then you trust the guy you hired.
09:54That's why you hire these guys.
09:55So, yes, for me, it looked like he was in pretty much control.
10:00How much were they running yesterday?
10:01What was the defenses they were seeing?
10:03I'm just now starting my all-22.
10:05Whatever it was yesterday, you know, the film always tells you you don't usually do as well
10:09as you do, and you usually don't do as bad as you do.
10:12But I thought, watching it on TV yesterday, he had a great first half, and the young man
10:18needs to get some credit for the good things he did yesterday.
10:21And that first half was a good half of football by a guy who is trying to be the starting
10:25quarterback.
10:25So, give him some credit, and if that got him over the top, great.
10:29Go win in Jacksonville.
10:30That's the goal.
10:31All right, Lance.
10:32I said only 10 minutes.
10:33You've given more than enough of your time.
10:35I know you've been working your ass off recently.
10:38So, go rest that voice up, and I really appreciate it.
10:41Oh, I appreciate you guys having me on.
10:43If you need anything, let me know, and I'm sure we'll talk soon, my friend.
10:45I'm sure we will.
10:46Thank you so much, Coach Riz.
10:48All right, that was Lance Riz, Cleveland.com, 92.3 The Fan.
