00:00I can't believe it, but they got the job done yesterday.
00:02It's a victory Friday.
00:04They are three and one.
00:05They are all alone up top the AFC North division.
00:10And they're the story of the National Football League right now.
00:13We've got the national networks on in the studio.
00:15They're talking about the Cleveland Browns beating down on the Pittsburgh Steelers.
00:19The Browns are the stories of the league today.
00:21And I was absolutely shocked with how it unfolded.
00:25Every bit of it down to the idea that we were convinced Deshaun could only play in fourth
00:28quarters.
00:29Turns out, I guess it's just you get one quarter a game.
00:31That's it.
00:31You choose one quarter a game.
00:33It was the second quarter.
00:34And then you had to hold on to this lead that existed and then vanished.
00:38And then we got a field goal by a kicker that's now made 22 straight.
00:42It was every bit of it was a roller coaster ride.
00:45And you have to feel fantastic if you're a Browns fan today.
00:47From 56 yards.
00:49Andre Schmidt.
00:50Cold-blooded.
00:51I'm texting my buddy.
00:52I'm like, he doesn't have the leg for it.
00:53Like, his career long is 56.
00:55Not only did he make it, he made it by 15 yards.
00:57Oh, it was money.
00:58It was money walked into it.
01:00He walked into it effortlessly.
01:02And then, you know, the good news kind of continues to roll into today where, you know, we're thankful
01:07that Mason Graham kind of avoided a big crisis there.
01:11I honestly thought for a moment in that game that Mason Graham and Mike Hall both got really injured.
01:19And I was like, who's going to play defensive line for the rest of the year?
01:21It might have been one of those, you won the battle, but you lost the war situations.
01:25But it turns out we're okay.
01:26But Mike Hall's back in the game in the fourth quarter planting Aaron Rodgers on third down for a huge
01:30sack and a huge moment of the game.
01:32Mason Graham, we do have news.
01:34It's just a sprained MCL, so it's going to be a couple of weeks.
01:39But, dude, they're 3-1.
01:41They beat Pittsburgh.
01:42They're up top.
01:44The AFC North all by themselves in first place.
01:48Which is the first time we've been able to say that since 2014, which is absolutely, I mean, it's insane.
01:52The story, obviously, it revolves around Deshaun Watson, though.
01:56And now you're starting to see people buy in bit by bit.
01:59And I know a lot of people out there, but, Jonathan, you've been really, really hard on Deshaun Watson.
02:03Are you going to be one to start to buy into what you've seen with Deshaun?
02:07That's the best I've felt about Deshaun as a Browns quarterback.
02:10Bar none.
02:10That's it.
02:11I have been waiting to have trust in Deshaun.
02:13And in that second quarter, I kept thinking to myself, he's going to drive down the field and he's going
02:17to get touchdowns here.
02:18Because he showed me throughout that game, not only was he willing to have more explosive plays,
02:23he was going deep with the passes, and they were on target.
02:26And I just kept thinking to myself, this is the guy we've been waiting for.
02:29This has been it.
02:30This is the guy I didn't think could exist because I'd never seen him in a Browns uniform up until
02:34this season.
02:35And so yesterday, as much as it's about the Browns moving to 3-1, as much as it's about Todd
02:40Munkin showing us why head coaching is so crucial in the National Football League,
02:45it's about Deshaun Watson starting off this season 3-1 and proving a lot of people like myself,
02:50a lot of people like myself that didn't think it was possible, Deshaun Watson could play football.
02:54Yeah, same here.
02:55I mean, dude, seven weeks ago, he looked unplayable against the third and the fourth string of Buffalo's preseason defense.
03:05Those guys are not even currently in the National Football League anymore.
03:09And Watson was struggling against them in the preseason.
03:12He looked so bad throughout training camp, but he really has found something over these last couple of weeks.
03:19I thought the first half yesterday against Pittsburgh was proof that he definitely has found something here.
03:25And he is in a rhythm right now as one of the top QBs in the league.
03:30And it wasn't perfect again.
03:32You know, then we walk out of the game saying, OK, it was far from perfect.
03:36It was not a clean report card.
03:37The second half happens and, you know, he's losing fumble.
03:40He could have genuinely lost four fumbles in that game.
03:44So, like, that all happened.
03:47But then in the last 90 seconds, he's able to march 50 yards downfield and get Schmidt close enough.
03:54As it turns out, you only need to get him within 56 yards and the kid could drill it.
03:59So it was really cool to see that for Deshaun.
04:03And yet we zoom out and say, OK, we still haven't gotten our complete game.
04:08No, that's not.
04:09But I don't think that's what today is about.
04:10Today is about realizing that.
04:12And yes, you want to take it further.
04:13We still haven't beat a team that I consider to be a contender either.
04:16Sure.
04:17But today is about finding out or at least realizing that not only if you had some question marks about
04:22Deshaun,
04:22like myself and a lot of people had.
04:24And I told you last week after that win against the Panthers,
04:26I hadn't yet come over to the Deshaun side of things yet.
04:29I'm still not 100% over on the side of Deshaun things.
04:33But I had started to fall in love with what this team is.
04:35And I was starting to buy into what Munkin had been building and what this team is.
04:39And I think yesterday, more than anything, is a buy into what this team is.
04:43And it's a buy into the idea that, yeah, who knows if they're a juggernaut or not?
04:47Who knows if they're going to be a playoff team or not?
04:48But we know that at least they're starting 3-1.
04:50And for the foreseeable future, you're going to be competitive in a lot of these games,
04:54especially with the schedule we have.
04:55Yeah, especially understanding that you've won these three games
04:59because your young players are playing so well.
05:01And Deshaun Watson has been a driving piece of that.
05:05He is helping with Casey Concepcion's development.
05:08How good did he look with the football in his hands in that first half?
05:11Denzel Boston.
05:12Denzel Boston is an absolute stud.
05:14Adds 89 yards onto his season total.
05:17He leads all NFL rookie receivers by a ton at this point.
05:21Denzel Boston is separating himself every single time.
05:24He graces a football field with those receptions.
05:26And like 89 yards to go on a total when you already came into that game,
05:30leading all rookie receivers is pretty phenomenal.
05:33And then you see some of the other young pieces like Quinn Sean and Harold Fannin
05:37kind of continuing on in their development on the other side of the ball.
05:40Schwestinger was all over the field.
05:41So like you can feel good about this and you could realize this young core is for real.
05:46So regardless of how you feel about the quarterback, regardless of what the quarterback thing
05:51becomes, you know, after now, and I know that's been a conversation of debate on the station
05:55already today about what Watson's future in Cleveland could look like park all of that
06:01just for a moment.
06:02And you could realize independent of the quarterback, which has been the Achilles heel of this thing
06:07since 99, this is a damn good Browns team that just beat Pittsburgh in primetime.
06:12They put the boots to him.
06:13Well, and so it's your point, like you have this foundation that seems like it's going
06:17to be here for a while and knowing last night and it's only we're only four games into this
06:21thing.
06:22And I don't want to have people pumping the brakes because you're a fan.
06:25Enjoy it and enjoy everything that you've seen so far.
06:27The shock factor that has come with the idea that we're three and when nobody had us being
06:31three and one to start off this season, but the foundation is there and Munkin is showcasing
06:36why.
06:36And again, it's not as if people across the board thought Munkin was the greatest choice for
06:40this, but Munkin as everyone else was running for the hills.
06:43Mike McDaniel's like, nah, I don't want to be a Browns head coach.
06:45I'm going to go be an OC for the Chargers.
06:47That's a better gig between Sheilhouse, Udinski, all these young up and coming guys like, you
06:53know what?
06:53I think I'll just hang out for a little bit longer.
06:55This job isn't good enough.
06:57Todd Munkin at 60 years old said, screw that.
06:59I'll be the head coach of the Browns.
07:01Nobody wants me here.
07:02I don't care.
07:02I'll be the head coach of the Browns and I'm going to take this team to three and one to
07:06start and have them looking like the darlings of the NFL.
07:08They're bought in and they're bought in JP.
07:10This is a young team.
07:11It's not supposed to happen this quick though.
07:12This is a young team.
07:13It's not supposed to.
07:14This is insane.
07:14They bought into what Munkin was preaching from Jump Street, from OTAs.
07:19They've been this bought in to his message.
07:22I think the one thing that Andrew Barry deserves, even maybe a little bit more credit for when
07:26we're talking about this young core and how productive all of these young kids have been.
07:31All of these dudes, it really does feel like they hate losing.
07:35They hate that Browns is the Browns moniker that's hovered over this thing.
07:40Shout out Mike Tomlin for giving us all sorts of juice in the beginning part of this year.
07:44Like six years later, that resurfaces and gives us juice, you know, because that started
07:49in 2020 during that playoff run.
07:51Dude, it's just like you got Jared Verst kind of popping off in the mouth.
07:54You're talking junk with Steelers players.
07:57You've got Grant Delpit, who I think is just a vocal dude, you know, barking in the secondary
08:01like these young players that they've taken care of and that they've developed.
08:05I think a lot of these guys do genuinely hate losing.
08:09Well, there's something to be said about Todd Munkin in going to Georgia, which is a powerhouse
08:12and won national championships when he was there and then going to the Ravens.
08:16We might hate the Ravens, but under Harbaugh, all they did was win a lot of regular season
08:21games.
08:21And so there's something to being around winning for the previous five years of Todd
08:25Munkin's life that made that contagious and made it stick.
08:28Like I said it all last week and I got a lot of blowback on it, but I kept mentioning
08:33how
08:33that like the Carolina game was something that I just fundamentally believe Stefanski would
08:38not have known how to finish the job and he would have bungled it.
08:40I can all, I can make the same argument for last night and it's not as if Munkin was perfect.
08:45Three different examples of how he screwed up the final two minutes of that game in different
08:49coaching malpractice ways, but there's something to be said about a guy that just knows how
08:53to finish games and knows how to win games.
08:56And I, again, I, I don't know if that just being around Harbaugh, I don't know if that
08:59just being around Georgia football, I don't know what it is.
09:02I don't think he had that in 2019 when he was here, but there's something about Munkin
09:05that knows how to get the job done and we're seeing it.
09:07I think there's also an element of it.
09:09And I agree that this element wasn't here in 2019 with Todd either.
09:14And it's, it's definitely something that I've noticed with him that for Stefanski in his
09:19six years here, we were kind of begging him for Todd's a leader of men.
09:23And I think that's an intangible that you just needed with a really young team.
09:27I think a young team like this one was looking to buy into some semblance of a message.
09:32And last year they just weren't getting it because it was a, it was a zombie coaching
09:36situation where you knew how it was going to end.
09:39I don't even know if Stefanski was here.
09:41I don't even think Watson's the quarterback right now, by the way.
09:43No, he's not.
09:43Albert Breer already told us that that just wouldn't be the case.
09:45So like none of this would even be possible if they didn't make that change last year.
09:51Kind of when you think about it that way, there's just so many different things and so
09:53many things that Munkin is able to do.
09:55Even like on the Amazon prime set last night and they're like, odd question from them being
10:00like, so you're looking at the stat sheet.
10:02What stands out to you?
10:03You couldn't ask a better question than that.
10:04I think they, and that's like a rinse and repeat question.
10:08Cause he was like 27, 20.
10:10I'm like, you know, they've asked that to coaches before who have given them that same
10:14answer before.
10:15I clocked it.
10:15He takes the tablet and he shows it to the fans.
10:1827, 24.
10:19That's the only thing I care about.
10:21And like, there's, there's different ways.
10:23And listen, I, I have told you guys for years, like it, I think people that look at just
10:29the win.
10:29Did we win or did we lose?
10:30I think you're just leaving a lot of meat on the bone there.
10:32I think that's how nine-year-olds look at football games.
10:34Okay.
10:34Like, great.
10:35We won or we lost no other commentary attached to it.
10:38No, you have no other thoughts, no other opinions.
10:40But in that moment, Munkin's got thoughts and opinions outside of that.
10:43Obviously that's, that's the message he had to tell the fan base was what we're three
10:47in one.
10:47We're on top of the AFC North bleep your questions.
10:50I don't want to answer them and throw anybody down right now.
10:52So I'm going to go ahead and point out the positives.
10:54Here we are.
10:5427, 24, come get some because he knows that it hasn't been perfect.
10:58And I think that's where you could start to have maybe even a little bit of fun about
11:01this is your three in one.
11:03And this hasn't been perfect.
11:04Like the old head coach, the old regime, the old Browns, dare I say, they had more things
11:10going their way.
11:11And we're still finding ways to lose the old Browns would have started three in one and
11:16then found a way to put out a bunch of analytics and a bunch of stats that suggest they should
11:19really be one in three.
11:20And it's like, like, no, get do the Munkin do what he just did to stand up and say 27,
11:2524 is all that matters.
11:27We have a team that's winning a lot of games.
11:29End of discussion.
11:30End of story.
11:31I just think he's a great people person.
11:33And I think it's obvious what's happening.
11:35I'm just shocked that it's happening this early.
11:38And I'm shocked that we're seeing the results the way that we are this early.
11:41They got to keep it coming, though.
11:42You got to keep it coming.
11:43They do.
11:43It can't be, you know, three in one.
11:46And we're looking 10 weeks from now saying, man, remember when we were three in one and
11:49how much fun we were having?
11:50That's the one thing that can't happen.
11:52And that is going to be the fear that's going to be in the back of Browns fans minds everywhere
11:56is about that second shoe dropping at some point.
11:58But don't worry about that today.
12:00It is a victory Friday.
12:02They beat Pittsburgh last night again inside of that stadium.
12:06The Steelers were frustrated.
12:07Dude, did you see TJ Watt look like he was going to have a conniption?
12:10And Cam Hayward screaming on the sidelines.
12:13They're coming unglued over there.
12:14I'm like, that's what the Steelers used to do to the Browns for all those years.
12:18Rodgers is just he's just MFing his head coach left and right, saying things to McCarthy
12:22that I should have probably should have gotten punched.
12:24Like, I don't know how McCarthy, you're a grown man.
12:26At some point, you got to tell the quarterback.
12:27It seemed like McCarthy was kind of chirping right back at him.
12:30Well, yeah, you can't just sit there and take it like that.
12:32I mean, you saw you've whipped red.
12:33You saw some of the things Rodgers was saying.
Comments