00:00What's funny is, like, me and Akim just had this clip on ESPN from a few minutes ago,
00:03and it's like, next year, this is an extremely desirable situation for a young quarterback to walk into.
00:08It's so funny how that's not our discussion today at all.
00:11And how the national convo, and I'm obsessed with the national convo, you guys know this about me,
00:15but today they're talking about how great Andrew Barry is, how primed this Browns team is for years to come,
00:21and we're sprinkling that in, but it is interesting how it seems like us, we're in a very week-to
00:27-week focus right now.
00:28Like, you think we're in the now.
00:29Like, we're thinking a little bit bigger than next year in the draft and building.
00:33Like, we're thinking, hey, right now this is a new AFC North, where Harbaugh's not walking through that door anymore.
00:39It's Jesse Minter on the sideline in Baltimore.
00:42Mike Tomlin's building Minecraft cities.
00:44He's not coming to rescue the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals or the Cincinnati Bengals.
00:48Nick, I think there's a difference that exists here.
00:50I am, as I think a lot of people are, really shocked we're 3-1.
00:54And I think the surprise out of that is what's carrying over in my emotions today.
00:59The idea that there's nothing I envisioned as far as us being 3-1.
01:03Deshaun Watson has earned way more trust than I thought was even possible.
01:06And the idea that I'm not just dismissive of Deshaun right now is a thought I would never thought I
01:11would have.
01:12Like, some of the things he's proven me wrong about through just four weeks of play is really, truly incredible.
01:16And so I'm living in the aftermath of that.
01:18I'm also living in the aftermath of a game that was just awesome to watch.
01:22But I get where other people, they don't do this day in, day out.
01:25And where the fans I'm talking to and we're talking to right now, you know, they're focused on what this
01:30is going to be for years to come.
01:31Not necessarily for the next weeks to come.
01:33Because they didn't think they'd be here talking about the Browns, but they think they'll be here talking about the
01:38Browns for years to come now.
01:39Which is why I was glad Orlovsky, just talking about the national guys and the national perspective.
01:44I'm glad he kind of came out and planted a flag this morning and said, look, the Browns are a
01:49factor in the AFC playoff picture right now in October.
01:53And he said they're going to be a threat in December.
01:54Because I think for a lot of these national pundits, like, today is their day to talk about the Browns
01:59because they just played in prime time.
02:00And then they're probably thinking to themselves, let's get all this Browns content out now because we're not going to
02:05have them in prime time.
02:07They don't believe that what you've seen over the first four weeks is real.
02:12Listen, everything we've done today has come with a clause of, I don't know what to make of after week
02:16five and beyond either.
02:17I think we've got a strong chance to start five and two.
02:21I'll tell you that right now.
02:22Maybe we don't get the Ravens game.
02:24What if you do, though?
02:26I've caught myself dreaming there already today, too.
02:29What if you do?
02:30What if you somehow beat Baltimore?
02:33That's fine.
02:35Because that's sandwiched between the Jets and the Titans.
02:37I'm pretty confident you get the Jets and the Titans is why I say five and two.
02:40And that's, again, that's with a toss-up.
02:42And it's not, I don't know that it's a toss-up, but a game against the Ravens where you just
02:45beat the Steelers.
02:46It's an AFC North game.
02:47Anything can happen.
02:48But here we are.
02:49You know what I mean?
02:50That's the idea.
02:50If you start five and two, if you start six and one, as you're describing, the world is your oyster.
02:55It's all sitting right there for you.
02:57And that's the product of what last night was.
02:59But it's also the product of what we've seen with Munkin through four weeks, which has been incredible,
03:03and what we've seen with this young roster that we were talking about with Nick Shook,
03:07that seems like the sky is the limit.
03:08You think that some of these national people are thinking that this is maybe like Teddy Bridgewater Vikings?
03:14Remember that year where they started out 4-0 or 5-0, and then they somehow missed the playoffs?
03:20Like, it kind of feels like that's maybe some of the national disrespect that the Browns are getting right now.
03:25Yeah, I mean, you said disrespect.
03:27I don't know that it's disrespectful.
03:29I just feel like they're focused on different things than we are right now,
03:33and I think there's an understanding as to why that is.
03:35I think they're getting their shots in right now about how great Barry is in this draft class,
03:39and how great Munkin is, and it's really because they don't believe that this thing is going to be there
03:43anything beyond a couple weeks from now.
03:46But I tell you, like, they watched it last night.
03:49They should have their eyes open to what this team can be.
03:51The defense plays the way they are,
03:53and Deshaun continues to have at least one quarter a game the way that he has.
03:58And Shook's like, oh, it's going too far saying Patrick Mahomes.
04:01I'm sorry.
04:0111-12 for 153 and three touchdowns is every bit the way that Patrick Mahomes is, okay?
04:06Like, that's incredibly impressive, that second quarter that he had.
04:09Also, okay, then I look at the last, you know, drive of the game.
04:13If you want to compare somebody to Patrick Mahomes, you're able to march 50 yards down the field.
04:17These straight game-winning drives is Patrick Mahomes-esque.
04:20Sure, and then you did it this past week on Thursday Night Football against the Steelers,
04:25your division rival.
04:25You had 90 seconds to get down there.
04:28It wasn't a true two-minute drill.
04:29You had less than two minutes to get in field goal range for Schmitt.
04:33He was able to do it in an improbable way, getting Jerry Judy,
04:36of all people involved there on that final drive.
04:38So it's also one of those things, too, Jonathan,
04:42where this has all kind of come together very quickly for a lot of people.
04:46And it's just, it's a lot to digest because we knew that it was a Browns team
04:50that was going to have a lot of young talent.
04:53Almost all NFL teams have some young talent.
04:56It's just that these guys are making contributions in winning efforts so early in their careers.
05:02That's kind of what makes this feel special,
05:04and that's maybe what makes it feel a little bit different than just a punchy story.
05:08Because I don't think the Browns are thinking about this like we're some cute, punchy story.
05:13Like they, Haslam kind of laughed at the five and a half win total.
05:17And myself included, all of us thought he was a little bit nuts for doing that.
05:21To come out out loud and say that he liked the over five and a half
05:25and that they were going to be an entertaining team to watch this year.
05:28I did say at the time I loved that by him.
05:29Dude, I've been entertained through these last three weeks.
05:31I thought it was a bananas thing to come out and say for an owner.
05:34Because if they had only won three or four games, dude.
05:36No, you should say that as an owner.
05:37You should say that as an owner.
05:38Yeah, but what if they only would have won three or four games?
05:40You know how that already works.
05:41McNeil and everybody else is running with the memes about what Jimmy Haslam said before the season.
05:46You can't meme Jimmy Haslam to death.
05:49He's got a million memes out against him already.
05:51And there's not one more to the pile isn't going to kill Jimmy Haslam.
05:54I mean, he looks like Nostradamus right now, though, with that prediction.
05:58There's a lot of people that are looking really good right now with some of these predictions.
06:01Five and a half.
06:01You're already at three.
06:02You're halfway home.
06:03Let me ask you this.
06:04And I want you guys to get involved as well at 216-474-0092.
06:07We've got a couple segments to hang out with you guys and get you guys involved.
06:10But I want your direct answer on this one, Nick.
06:15Who do you think is most responsible for the three-in-one start?
06:18Is it Munkin or is it Andrew Barry?
06:20Because Andrew Barry is getting a lot of love right now from the national media.
06:23Today's been a day about Andrew Barry and about Deshaun Watson.
06:25And we'll get more to Deshaun in the five o'clock hour.
06:27We did a lot on Deshaun already.
06:29But if we're doing Munkin versus Andrew Barry for the battle of credit, who are you giving more credit to?
06:35I think it's got to be Barry, right?
06:37Because these young players are the guys that are winning games.
06:40Where you pointed out, you know, last night in the two-minute drive, two-minute, you know, remaining and on,
06:47Munkin had three or four mistakes that really could have...
06:49I counted and laid a bullet out three.
06:50You know, that really could have cost the team.
06:52So right now, I do think Barry deserves the bigger piece of the credit pie just because he was the
06:57one that drafted Concepcion and Boston and Fano.
07:00But, like, I also wonder, we hear so much about this being a collaboration, how much of that was Todd
07:06kind of coming in here and maybe knocking Andrew straight a little bit.
07:09Saying, dude, what am I supposed to win with Cedric Tillman?
07:12What am I supposed to do with Jamari Thrash?
07:15You know, no offense to those guys, but they're not Concepcion.
07:18They're not Boston.
07:18I hope he's that direct.
07:19I do.
07:19I hope he's that direct.
07:20What am I supposed to do with Cedric Tillman?
07:23You want me to win with Cedric Tillman?
07:24Oh, hey, you guys wanted me to watch the tape from last year.
07:27You had Korn Lucas and KT Leveston at the tackles.
07:30What am I supposed to do with that?
07:32That's funny.
07:33You do know they're collaborative, so if they were listening to this right now, they're probably like, it's both of
07:37us.
07:37No big deal.
07:38But at the end of the day, somebody's going to win out in this credit bucket that we want to
07:42just dump on their front lawn.
07:43Always does.
07:44I think Munkin's going to end up being the big benefactor of all this, especially if Deshaun continues to play
07:49the way that he has.
07:50Because you can put Deshaun Watson on the field.
07:54Barry did that for five years already.
07:56And really three years that we saw him directly on the field.
07:58None of it mattered with Stefanski.
08:00And listen, there's a lot better players on this roster right now than especially the ones that we saw where
08:06they won eight games in the previous two years.
08:08But it's not as if Andrew Barry had, on a consistent basis, just a bunch of nothing out there.
08:13There was talent on these football fields for the Browns over the years.
08:17And Stefanski wasn't able to get it done in a way that Munkin right now is.
08:20So with the same thinking of who deserves more credit, who deserves more credit of Munkin and Watson?
08:29Because I think it's probably, it's like one of those things, like what came first, the chicken or the egg?
08:34I think it's probably Todd, right?
08:35Because he made the decision to start Deshaun and then it's gone so globally.
08:39Well, he's also put him in position to succeed.
08:41And he's giving them, again, even like the free lunches that he keeps giving them.
08:45The easy checkdowns.
08:46It's Coach Riz's thing for you.
08:47The easy checkdowns.
08:48The easy open plays.
08:49And playing within the structure and what Deshaun does well is something Stefanski was just not willing to do.
08:56Schemes matter.
08:57And I always thought Stefanski was really good early on and just never adapted to what the NFL evolved into.
09:03I always thought that was his main problem.
09:04But like Munkin is obviously taking a lot of things he did with Lamar Jackson and what he did in
09:09Baltimore,
09:10not necessarily the same scheme, I'm not saying that, but a lot of the same principles and applying them here
09:14and they're working.
09:15Again, he's not Lamar Jackson.
09:17Don't get that confused.
09:18I don't want that being confused.
09:19But the idea that he's able to scheme to Deshaun and play to Deshaun's strengths is something that Stefanski wasn't
09:27as pliable with.
09:29And this was what, I mean, this was how Munkin was marketed.
09:32You know, was this guy that doesn't really have a scheme but can coach kind of anything or any style.
09:39And I remember when, you know, the Browns were kind of telling us about this.
09:43Some of it felt just like organizational speak, that, you know, he's not going to put his guys in positions
09:49to do things that they can't handle.
09:52But I went back and I was listening to J.W. Johnson in some of the interviews that he did
09:58right after Todd got hired.
10:00You're going back and listening to old J.W. Johnson audio?
10:03What a sicko you are.
10:05I was a sicko.
10:06I was excited last night.
10:07What a sicko you are.
10:08I was excited last night.
10:08I couldn't sleep last night.
10:10I like this audio.
10:11I don't know what you thought you were going to get, but obviously you got something out of it.
10:14But he explained back in February that Munkin was going to make life easy for whoever the quarterback was going
10:21to be.
10:21Whether it was going to be Sanders or whether it was going to be Watson.
10:23He's like, Munkin will make their life easier.
10:26And I think at the time, like, we just completely discounted that because it's organizational speak.
10:31But seriously, that's manifested over these last three weeks where I think Todd is genuinely bringing out the best in
10:38Deshaun in a way that Kevin Stefanski just never did.
10:41Yeah, I mean, Stefanski just didn't have it.
10:43That was that's the end result of that is Stefanski just didn't have it with Deshaun.
10:46And there's a reason why when Albert comes on the station, he says if Stefanski was the head coach, Deshaun
10:50Watson wouldn't be the quarterback right now.
10:53It was just it was it just didn't work.
10:55It didn't mesh.
10:56And that's fine.
10:57That happens sometimes in life.
10:58I would think, hey, Stefanski, maybe find a way to make it work.
11:02Maybe maybe this is like your job to find a way to make it work.
11:04But credit to Munkin Munkin is getting this job done and he's finding things that make Deshaun Watson not only
11:10look playable, but make Deshaun Watson at times in these games thrive, which is something I never thought I'd say
11:15again.
11:15And that's why I do just I can't stop propping up Todd Munkin because I think that that's something that
11:20probably tickles down through the rest of the roster.
11:24Right.
11:24Like, I don't think that that's exclusive to Deshaun Watson that like he's got Deshaun probably believe in a little
11:29bit more in himself the way that Stefanski never could get him to.
11:33Like, I got to imagine that there's a bunch of guys that believe in themselves because Todd Munkin believes in
11:39them.
11:39Yeah, no doubt about it.
11:40It's the way that he attacks everything and the way that he goes after it.
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