00:00MMQB.com, Albert Breer joining us here on The Fan.
00:03Hello, Albert. How are you doing today?
00:05Hey, guys. What's up?
00:06Not much. Trying to obviously unpack everything with the Browns' loss
00:09and just a devastating week one.
00:11Before we dive into that side of things,
00:13we were just last segment talking about this clip that we had with you
00:15and Connor Orr and your guys' podcast discussing.
00:18I almost thought it was like two different convos.
00:20It felt like Connor was discussing more of the idea
00:23of whether or not one of these quarterbacks would just be like,
00:26thanks but no thanks to the Browns in the draft.
00:28I thought you were going more towards the idea of to tank, to not tank,
00:31and what losing can actually do to a team if you go down that road.
00:36Yeah. I mean, I hate to be like, B, I don't write the headlines guy,
00:40but this is sort of like that, like in podcast form.
00:43You know, I mean, it's a piece of what I said.
00:48You know, and we were just kind of talking about the whole big picture idea
00:52of losing to get a quarterback.
00:55And, you know, the point I was making is that the damage that can do,
01:00and I don't think the Browns are doing this, to be clear,
01:03but the damage that can do to a franchise goes well beyond, like,
01:09whether or not you have the right quarterback or not.
01:11Like, it's – but you guys may have young players in the locker room
01:14and guys that you want to build on for the last two draft classes, you know,
01:19like that are going to be part of that environment.
01:21I mean, putting them in some sort of death march to the number one pick,
01:26I just – I don't think that that's – I think that winds up being really
01:31counterproductive.
01:32Now, like, that's different than, like, roster management at the end of the year,
01:36you know, and, like, creatively managing your roster so you are in position
01:40to get a better pick.
01:42Or, you know, like, at the trade deadline, okay, like, we're out of it,
01:46so we're going to do some things creatively that will help us long term.
01:50And if that position just takes quarterbacks, so be it.
01:53Like, those are different, right?
01:55I mean, the idea that, like, all right, like, it's over in week one and, you know,
02:00like, saddle up.
02:01Like, let's go get Dante Moore or Arch Manning or Drew Messenegger or whoever it is.
02:04And it's just – I think the damage that I can do to a locker room is something
02:11a lot of people ignore, but these are human beings in there.
02:14And, you know, I don't think it's something that Todd Mungin would be a part
02:18of anyway, but, you know, I think it's a discussion point because you see it
02:25in other sports when in football it's just not a – I would say it's not a
02:31functional thing to do.
02:32Albert, sort of related to this, sort of not.
02:36There is this fear that's growing amongst Browns fans that maybe the Manning
02:41family would do to the Browns what the Manning family did years ago with Eli
02:47Manning and tell the Browns, hey, thanks, but no thanks in the NFL draft.
02:51What would be your message to Browns fans who already, after one week,
02:55have that fear that maybe Manning wouldn't even sign up to come here?
03:00Or what they did to the Jets.
03:02I don't know if I could do that in 1997.
03:05That's like there's – yeah, there's Browns fans fearing that they'll take
03:10that same playbook and apply it to Arch and tell the Browns thanks, but no thanks.
03:15Yeah, well, I think, first of all, like you're putting the cart way ahead of the
03:19horse, right?
03:20Like I don't know that Arch Manning has seen that.
03:23Now he might get there.
03:24And I think what he did on Saturday night showed a lot of toughness,
03:28athleticism, playmaking ability.
03:29But to sit here, like, you know, in the middle of September and say he's going to be
03:33the number one pick of the draft, I don't think, like – I don't think he's there yet.
03:38Again, he's got, like – he's got four months to get there.
03:42But, you know, I think it's possible that there's one quarterback above the rest when
03:47we get there.
03:48It's also possible there are three or four.
03:50If you remember, like the other end of that situation in 2004 with Eli, like the Chargers
03:57still wound up with Phillip Rivers, you know?
03:59So, I don't know.
04:02I mean, I think it's a pretty fatalistic way of looking at it.
04:04And you're circling one quarterback and one family when I think Arch right now – and
04:10again, I've got a ton of respect.
04:12There's a sour grape since Saturday night.
04:13I promise you that.
04:15But, look, I would say he's in, like, a pool of guys now that have the potential to ascend
04:22into that level of draft pick.
04:24But, I mean, I'd say Dante Moore is probably the closest one to being a sure thing of being
04:30there when we get to April.
04:32And, you know, I think it goes well beyond those two as far as guys have a shot to play
04:36their way there.
04:38Albert, something that's kind of been lobbed our direction is that we just – we overanalyzed
04:44and did a little bit too much in throwing down Deshaun Watson for his week one performance.
04:49And it was just, in fact, just week one and we need to be less critical of him.
04:53What was your read on how he played week one and the level of criticism that was attached
04:58to his week one performance?
05:00Yeah, so I went back and I watched the first half.
05:04You know, I don't know.
05:06I mean, I think my memory of it was, like, a little worse than, like, when I went back
05:10and I looked at it, it was Trevor Lawrence played really well.
05:14The defense didn't play.
05:15The Browns defense didn't play well.
05:18Deshaun had a bad interception at the beginning of the game.
05:20And they had to fumble.
05:21Well, I think it was Concepcion that fumbled it, right?
05:24Yeah, yeah.
05:25And then the game had gotten away from them.
05:27So, I don't think Deshaun played well.
05:30I'm not going to sit here and tell you that.
05:32But, you know, I also think that game got away from the Browns so freaking quickly that,
05:38like, I don't know that you can do, like, a thorough evaluation of where he is as a quarterback
05:42right now.
05:43So, and again, like, I'm not defending the performance.
05:47Like, I don't think anybody in the Browns played particularly well.
05:49But I think, you know, if you're looking at it, you're going to make, like, a sweeping
05:55judgment on Deshaun Watson based on that.
05:58I just, I don't know that you have enough information for that right now.
06:02On the other side of the ball, how concerned should we be about life for this defense in
06:08life after Jim Schwartz and Myles Garrett?
06:12Well, I mean, you have, you know, remember, you have a first-year coordinator.
06:16So, that's a factor.
06:18Jarrett Burst is not Myles Garrett.
06:20Jarrett Burst is a really good player, but he's not Myles Garrett.
06:23So, you know, that's a piece of it, too.
06:25That changes the dynamic of everything you've got to do defensively.
06:29And, you know, I think that there's, you know, going to be the obvious growing pains
06:33with so much change over the course of that offseason.
06:35So, the last few years.
06:39And, you know, Schwartz is one of the best defensive coordinators of his generation.
06:44It's just one of those things where I would, you know, if you're hoping that the defense
06:50really comes around and starts playing really well, it's going to be because, you know,
06:54again, Carson Swessinger takes another step.
06:57Mason Graham becomes, you know, a really dominant player inside who's, you know,
07:03worthy of being the fifth overall pick.
07:05Jarrett Burst plays like Jarrett Burst in his system, you know.
07:09So, again, it's kind of one of those things where I would give it a week or two
07:15before I start making sweeping judgments.
07:17And I say this about most teams.
07:19I think week one is kind of a liar to begin with.
07:23Yeah, and I think that's kind of what a lot of Browns fans are maybe hanging on to
07:26is like week one tends to be just a lie across the board.
07:29But it was disheartening when Munkin spends months telling us about he's going to get
07:32everything right and he's got 11 penalties and we have to lay a game penalties and all
07:37these things.
07:37It just, it could not have gone worse, Albert.
07:40Well, that stuff is like, that stuff is obviously not excusable.
07:43And there was that one sequence.
07:45Now, I want to say, and again, because I'm covering all 16 games, like stuff gets clouded.
07:50But there was that sequence at the end of the half where they wound up in like third
07:53and 30 or whatever, right?
07:55First and 30, yeah.
07:55And that was all first and 30.
07:58Yeah, first and 30.
07:59So, like that stuff is not great.
08:02And that's not a great, that is, obviously, I think the coaches themselves would tell you
08:07that it falls on them to have those guys ready to play and discipline.
08:12And it's week one.
08:13You should have that stuff buttoned up.
08:15So, I certainly think there's fair criticism there.
08:19Albert, do you think the Browns are at a spot where they regret how things went with Baker?
08:25I know that's such a zoomed out question, but since we're getting ready to play Tampa
08:29here in week two and he just got yet another new deal with the Buccaneers while we're still
08:36bellyaching over this Deshaun Watson thing, like it sure seems like it would have been easier
08:41to just keep that guy around in 2022.
08:44Yeah, you'd have three more first-round picks, too.
08:47So, that'd be nice, right?
08:49Yeah.
08:49I don't think like, I don't think that, I don't think they sit around lamenting it, but I think
09:02it would be foolish to think that they don't think of what might have been, you know?
09:05And they don't think of, we had a really talented core and it was a group that, and that was
09:1223, I believe, right?
09:14So, years run together when they won 11 games with a handful of different quarterbacks and
09:19Joe Flacco comes in in the end and saves them.
09:21And so, you sort of think about what Baker became in Tampa and being the successor for
09:27Brady.
09:27It was like, well, maybe that ascension would have happened.
09:29And I think Baker himself would tell you that he kind of benefited from being knocked off
09:36his high horse as well.
09:37And that there was some good that came of him having to go into a situation in Carolina that
09:45wasn't great and finding out that, you know, like, he had work to do too.
09:50And then, you know, like, and then he has, like, that short little run with the Rams where he gets
09:57with Liam Cohen and then he winds up with Liam Cohen in Tampa.
10:01And, like, all of that, like, the way that all came together, I think really helped make Baker who he's
10:08become now.
10:09So, like, is there someone meant over not having that stability at quarterback, maybe not having
10:16given him the money, maybe not having had those third-round picks?
10:20I'm sure there's a little bit of that.
10:21But I'm also not sure that Baker would have become what he is now if he hadn't gone through
10:26everything that he went through in the interim.
10:28The other thing I would just, you know, the other thing that I think is just sort of an interesting
10:33piece of all this is, like, I don't think conceptually what they did was the worst thing in the
10:37world either.
10:38And, like, I think the sling, like, at the time, you were looking at Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson,
10:48Patrick Mahomes, and Joe Burrow in the AFC.
10:53And, like, those guys have, like, before last year when three of them got hurt, those guys
11:02had accounted for, like, every AFC championship game appearance for five years.
11:06So, like, the idea of going and getting somebody to put you over the top and, like, get you
11:12into the club was the term that I used back then.
11:15Like, I think at least on paper did make some sense.
11:17The execution of it, the player they acquired is what made it wrong.
11:21Well, it's funny about that, that you mentioned all four of those quarterbacks, is it feels like
11:24those are the four that really shined in week one and really had exceptional week ones for
11:28themselves.
11:29We talk about rebounding.
11:30Josh Allen doesn't have to rebound as much.
11:32Lamar has some things he's got to overcome still in the postseason.
11:35I guess you could follow that with Josh Allen as well.
11:37But out of the four we're talking, the big four, between Lamar, Josh Allen, Joe Burrow,
11:41and then Mahomes, who did impress you the most in week one?
11:45Well, I think Mahomes, so Mahomes is still working his way back.
11:49And I think what was so impressive about the Chiefs was what the run game looked like,
11:53even without Josh Simmons in there.
11:56And I just, I don't know about you, I love Kenneth Walker's running style.
12:00I really hope he stays healthy.
12:02He is so fun to watch, you know.
12:04And, like, he's such a great big game player.
12:06And it, like, felt like he relished his face.
12:08So, I think he's really going to help Mahomes.
12:09I think Mahomes is going to be fine.
12:13Of the four, in week one, I would probably lean Lamar over Josh Allen.
12:20Lamar, man, I thought Lamar was lights out.
12:24And it, like, really looks like Declan Doyle is going to be, I mean, not there for very long, I
12:31guess.
12:32Is probably the way it is, you know.
12:35Because I, like, holy crap, did it look good.
12:38Like, and it looked like the timing of it, the rhythm of it, the detail of it.
12:43And, like, they did all of it while maintaining what the Ravens' identity has always been.
12:47So, like, I was really impressed with that.
12:49So, I give him a slight edge.
12:51And I think Josh Allen, like, I can't wait to see what he looks like against the Lions on Thursday.
12:55Because I just think, I think that there's an aggression that they've played with,
13:01that they've been planning to play with.
13:02And that, for better or worse, like, Sean McDermott did a great job there.
13:06But I think there's sort of a new aggression with Joe Brady as the head coach,
13:10where it's kind of like this attack, attack, attack thing.
13:14When I talked to Josh about it over the summer, he brought up, like, 2019 LSU.
13:18You know, because Joe Brady was there for that.
13:20But I think the Bills have a chance.
13:24I mean, 36 points, which is the most by any team against a Houston defense since Christmas Eve of 2023.
13:33And over 400 yards, that was the first time since Christmas of 2024.
13:39Like, being able to go into that building and do that to the Houston defense,
13:43I think, like, Buffalo has a chance to be really, really good on that side of the ball.
13:49Yeah, no question about it.
13:50But, Albert, we appreciate the insight, as always.
13:52A fantastic job.
13:52We'll catch up with you next week.
13:54All right.
13:55Thanks, guys.
13:55All right.
13:56Thank you so much.
13:56Albert Breer right there on the Wise Heart Ride.
13:58We make it right.
13:59Call Kyle Ride Hotline.
Comments