00:00Let's go to the wise heart right we make it right call Kyle Wright hotline guy who did a little
00:04double duty over the weekend covered a little baseball as well.
00:07But of course, you know, I'm from brownzone.com. He covers the Browns for the Chronicle Telegram. He's Mr. Scott
00:13Petrack. Hello, Scott.
00:14Hello, Scott.
00:16How are you doing, fellas?
00:18As tired as you probably are.
00:19Yeah, we're having fun.
00:22Might not sound like it, but we are.
00:24They pay us for this.
00:25Wait, can we be honest, guys?
00:27Let's just be honest.
00:28All three of us. Ready?
00:29We're talking about Sean Armstrong getting the start tonight in a week where the Browns are now in first place.
00:35Who would have thought that?
00:37And oh, by the way, the Cavs opened the season against LeBron on Thursday.
00:42What a great time.
00:43What a great time to be a Cleveland sports fan.
00:46A lot going on.
00:48Yeah.
00:49And the Guardians are scoring about as much as the Browns offense with not the same results.
00:55Yeah, they're not finishing as strong as the Browns.
00:57I know.
00:58Isn't that the truth?
00:59That's what it's all about, isn't it?
01:00Think about this.
01:03The Browns, and I triple-checked it today.
01:06The Browns are the fourth lowest scoring team in the NFL.
01:10The three teams below them have a combined record of 1-16.
01:15And the Browns are in first place at 4-2.
01:19That's phenomenal, Scott.
01:22I think that says a little bit about the defense.
01:24I think it does.
01:25I think it does.
01:27Let's start with the defense.
01:29Ten points early, not good.
01:31After that, wow.
01:34This team's defense seems to adjust well.
01:37And boy, is it aggressive, and I love it.
01:40Yeah, I think the adjustments are big.
01:42You know, we didn't know what to expect from Mike Grutenberg, first-time coordinator.
01:47Obviously, the rough start week one in Jacksonville.
01:50And I've been really impressed.
01:52He's made adjustments from game to game, you know, going with more man after that Jacksonville game.
01:57And then within games, we've seen the Browns give up touchdowns early.
02:00And then they seem to figure it out on defense, make whatever changes they need to make,
02:06and then play really well after that and give the offense a chance to find its footing
02:12and be able to make plays late in the game to make a difference, right?
02:17The Browns give up 20 yesterday.
02:19It doesn't matter if they get better in the second half offensively
02:22because they're not going to be able to make up that difference.
02:24But to keep it at 10, you can stay positive on the sideline.
02:28You don't have to start throwing every down.
02:30And, you know, I give all the credit to Grutenberg in that defense.
02:35Whatever they switched after those first two drives, Derrick Henry didn't do anything.
02:41Obviously, it helps not having Lamar out there.
02:43But Snoop only made some plays early, and then the Browns got to him a little bit.
02:47I thought confused him on some downs, some big third downs.
02:52Made a bunch of plays.
02:53Obviously, Carson Swestiger plays through the ankle, makes the biggest play of the game
02:56with that forced fumble of Henry.
02:59Tyson Campbell recovers at 35, and the Browns hadn't scored a touchdown.
03:03Give him a short field, and the offense finally takes advantage.
03:06So you just can't say enough about this defense.
03:09And when you talk about where the offense ranks, it goes, well, how can they win games like this?
03:14It's because the defense continues to give them a chance.
03:17And that's got to be the recipe until the offense figures something out, figure something out major,
03:24where it can find some explosives, establish a consistent run game, get Watson going earlier,
03:29all those things.
03:31You can get by if your defense is holding the other team to, whatever, 10 or 12 points a game.
03:36Scott, here's what blows me away, right?
03:39We all know how much we love the history of the Cleveland Browns people.
03:42I mean, we fought for it, right?
03:43And a part of that history is the 1980 Cardiac Kids team.
03:47And all I could think about at the end of the game was I was like, wait a minute.
03:50Here we go.
03:51Watson's now had his fourth game-winning drive in this year.
03:58And Brian Seip in 1980, when he won the MVP, engineered three fourth-quarter comebacks
04:02and four game-winning drives.
04:05I mean, Watson just did what Seip did, and Seip is a legend for it.
04:10Yeah, that's interesting.
04:13It's so, I don't know, weird, interesting, goofy, that Watson has had this success late in games
04:21when he hasn't, for the most part, had that same success throughout the games.
04:26I mean, his first half yesterday was awful.
04:28You know, I'm getting texts about Shadur, right, from buddies.
04:32Like, hey, when's Shadur coming in?
04:33I can tell you that conversation was had here in the studios at halftime.
04:37It's funny.
04:37It went through my mind.
04:38Yeah.
04:39Yeah.
04:40I mean, he was that bad.
04:42The boos came out for the offense, right, for him slash the offense.
04:47Yeah, because they weren't doing anything.
04:48And to me, he didn't look comfortable in the pocket.
04:51I don't know if he wasn't seen, and I haven't watched the All-22 or anything yet,
04:54but I don't know if there were guys open, but if they were, he wasn't seeing them
04:57because, you know, he's looking around, looking around, and then either trying to scramble
05:01or taking a sack.
05:03It just did not look fluid at all.
05:05He did not seem comfortable at all to me.
05:08And then something switches in the second half, and especially late in games.
05:11He talks about having the clutch gene, and it's impossible to argue when he's got the
05:15four fourth-quarter winning drives already this season.
05:20He got some help.
05:21You know, I thought Judy made a really good catch on a ball that wasn't perfectly thrown.
05:25I thought Concepcion made a couple of good catches on balls that I thought were difficult
05:29catches.
05:30But, you know, he obviously is calm in those moments, and that applies to the rest of the
05:37team.
05:37They get it.
05:38They still believe, and if you keep doing this, it's the point where the team believes
05:42you can continue to do it.
05:44And he leads the, you know, the winning drive, but also those other scoring drives in the
05:49second half to give them a chance for that late Andre Schmidt field goal.
05:55The fact that they were able to run the ball a little bit yesterday, in key moments anyway,
06:02with their fourth and fifth running backs, one guy who just showed up on Tuesday,
06:09I thought that was good.
06:10What have you thought about the offensive line and how it's developed?
06:16Was that the key to it yesterday, or was Jaleel just hot and Estame just hit the right
06:21hole?
06:21No, I mean, I think the line was better yesterday.
06:24I don't think it's where it needs to be or wants to be.
06:29It felt like there was a little better push up front.
06:32You know, they haven't been moving guys off the line of scrimmage, and I felt like they
06:36did that a couple times on the goal line, obviously, for Estame to get his touchdown.
06:41They gave McLaughlin some holes, and he was able to take advantage, you know, a couple
06:45of, at least one nine-yard run that I remember, but a couple of putting him in good second
06:50down spots.
06:52So I thought as a sign of progress, there's still plenty of work to go.
06:56You know, they only averaged, you know, 3.2 carry.
06:59So there's plenty of room to grow, but I did think there were strides made, especially
07:05coming off that Jets game, where it felt like they couldn't do anything, especially on the
07:10ground.
07:10And then you don't have Judkins, right?
07:12You don't have Sampson.
07:13You don't have Sanders.
07:15And I think that was just a story of yesterday's game.
07:18It was a bunch of people that maybe you didn't expect to have significant roles showing up
07:25in making big plays in this big win.
07:28You know, he had Estame's touchdown.
07:31Joe Judy, who's been relegated to, you know, number three receiver, had a good game, gets
07:35a game ball.
07:36Even on defense, Grant Delpa goes out with a concussion.
07:39The rookie, Emmanuel McNeil-Warren, moves into the starting spot.
07:43Daniel Thomas, who's been an afterthought, a veteran safety, they signed in the offseason
07:47more as a special teamer, comes in and plays a ton in the three safety packages and shows
07:51up.
07:52I think he had to tackle for a loss.
07:53So, there's a bunch of guys farther down the roster with the deep tackles, right?
07:58They bring Kamara and Chris Williams up off the elevator from the practice squad the second
08:02straight week.
08:03And obviously, they played a key part in slowing down Derrick Henry.
08:06So, I think the depth of the roster, which we've questioned at times, I thought showed
08:11up yesterday.
08:12Yeah, going along those lines, what are we, we're two, three weeks and one day, is there
08:18eight, three weeks?
08:18So, November 10th is the trade deadline.
08:22And what should we be thinking about Jerry Judy then?
08:24Because I'm like sitting there going, you know, yesterday, before the game, you're like,
08:29oh, I got to think Judy's on the trade block.
08:31He's on the trade block.
08:32But, you know, he came up with a gigantic catch yesterday.
08:35He did.
08:36And, you know, if you watch the video of, you know, Todd Monk and giving out the game
08:40balls, one of the things that stuck out to me was how excited Judy's teammates were
08:46for him, Dylan Sampson's going nuts, Casey Concepcion's going nuts, and Concepcion's
08:50a guy that took a bunch of the playing time away from Judy.
08:53So, I thought that was nice to see.
08:57I still think he could be traded, but they're not going to, Andrew Bader's not going to trade
09:02him unless he gets back what he wants, right?
09:04Because this team at four and two, you have to be thinking about, okay, how can you get
09:08to the playoffs?
09:09And you're not trying to subtract guys that are helping you win games.
09:14So, if he got whatever offer he wanted back and thought that was the right move, yeah,
09:19then I think he might trade Jerry Judy, and then you see more of Isaiah Bond or even Tyler
09:24Wallace.
09:25But you're not just going to give Jerry Judy away when he plays like he did yesterday in
09:30one year four and two.
09:32You'll have a quarterback decision of some kind to make before the trade deadline.
09:38Dylan Gabriel coming off the injured list sooner rather than later in some way, shape, or
09:43form.
09:44What do you think happens here?
09:46I think they keep four for a while initially, you know, so one more week, and then they'll
09:53have to make the decision on Gabriel next, whatever, Monday or Tuesday.
09:57I would assume they go with four, and then see if anybody blows them away with an offer
10:02for Gabriel or Sanders.
10:05My guess would be with Gabriel, that would be the guy that they would get any offers for
10:12if there are any offers to be made, to be had.
10:15I think they'd be willing to trade Dylan, you know, for a fifth round pick.
10:21I don't know if that offer is going to be there.
10:23And if not, then I think they keep four until the roster situation gets where they can't afford
10:28to keep four, and, you know, you get a bunch of injuries, whatever happens, and that 53rd spot
10:33just becomes too precious to keep four, and then they'd have to make a decision.
10:37But I don't think they're in any hurry to get rid of one of these guys or to have to
10:43make a decision
10:44on one of these guys.
10:45Scott, are they intrigued enough, interested enough in Taylor Greene that they wouldn't expose him
10:51to waivers and try and get him on the practice squad?
10:53I kind of feel like that, Jeff.
10:55Now, maybe they get a sense for the league that they could do it.
10:59But the problem is then, even if he's on your practice squad, then somebody could come and sign him too,
11:03right?
11:03It's not like, all you've got to do is get him through waivers.
11:05Ask the Cowboys.
11:07They just lost Joe Milton to Philadelphia.
11:09Right.
11:09Or, you know, I mean, it's not quarterback, but estimates on the Vikings practice.
11:13Sure.
11:13LeBron signed him last week.
11:15So that doesn't even save you anything.
11:18I mean, you could try to make an offer.
11:19Or maybe if somebody says, hey, we're going to sign you, then LeBron's could sign him to the roster.
11:23I mean, that is a possibility.
11:27And it's hard with these quarterbacks.
11:28You know, like a guy like Greene's not getting reps.
11:30We're not seeing him at all.
11:32But we know what we saw in training camp.
11:34We know what LeBron's said about him in training camp.
11:36I don't think they want to expose him.
11:38I think they want to see if he can develop into something.
11:42So I would not expect them to cut him or try to get him to the practice squad.
11:49I think he's going to be on this roster.
11:51Now, maybe that changes if you get deeper in the season, get closer to the playoffs,
11:54and then they have to make a decision, right?
11:57They're on a roster spot.
11:59But my gut would be it would be cut Dylan Gabriel and then see what happens there.
12:06But more surprising, the fact they're in first place
12:08or the fact that they beat both Baltimore and Pittsburgh to start the season 2-0 against the North.
12:1619, was that the last time they did that?
12:18I think it was 19.
12:20Yeah, I would say the first place.
12:23Just because they beat both teams at home.
12:25And I know it doesn't happen a lot, but we've seen that, right?
12:29We've seen them, maybe not in the same season,
12:31but you've seen them beat Pittsburgh here pretty consistently.
12:34And I've watched enough times that they've beaten Baltimore and Cleveland.
12:40So those individual things, I was like, I could see that happening, right?
12:43When you look at playing the schedule game, you know, you beat your division rivals at home.
12:47You know, that happens.
12:49But I sure didn't expect them to be 4-2, tied for the division lead after six games.
12:55And especially going back to Week 1.
12:57You know, maybe we should forget about it by now.
13:00But Week 1 was so bad to think about them going 4-1 over the next five weeks
13:07and beating both those teams really seemed incomprehensible.
13:11Brownzone.com.
13:12You can read all of Scott's work there, or you can pick up the Chronicle Telegram.
13:17Read it all there.
13:18Scott, thank you, buddy.
13:19Thanks, Ben.
13:20Thanks, fellas.
13:21Scott Petrack joining us on the Wise Heart Right.
13:23We Make It Right.
13:24Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
13:27This team is tied for first place.
13:29If you do the tiebreakers, the Browns are in first place right now.
13:33Crazy.
13:34What's it say about the work that Todd Munkin has done, folks?
13:37And I have a couple of numbers that just might stun you.
13:40Coming up next on Baskin and Phelps.
13:42We'll see you next time on Baskin and Phelps.
13:42We'll see you next time on Baskin and Phelps.
