00:00Speaking of Deshaun, again, the Browns moved to 4-2 with their win over who they beat.
00:05Oh, the Ravens yesterday.
00:06Here was Deshaun talking about a tale of two halves
00:09and really three quarters versus one quarter
00:11and what changed late in the game for Deshaun.
00:14Really just for me just trying to just get the ball out.
00:16Don't try to, you know, read.
00:18They were disguising and rotating and rock and rolling different coverages.
00:21So, you know, they play a lot of quarters and they can palms it.
00:24They can cloud it.
00:25They can do, they can match it.
00:26They can, you know, zone it off.
00:28So, it was a lot of different things that they kind of rotated.
00:31We had to adjust with those.
00:32I'm glad he said a lot of football stuff there.
00:34He just seamlessly worked in a rock and rolling.
00:36Yeah, which means he gave up on his analysis at some point.
00:39I felt like maybe that one was for Munkin.
00:42He's like, Munkin really likes ACDC.
00:44We're going to throw a little rock and rolling in there.
00:46Rock and rolling.
00:47Yeah.
00:47Hey, know your audience, right?
00:48That's what we have to do.
00:49I'm assuming that's the same thing with Deshaun.
00:51I guess.
00:53I did think it was a little wild that it took him three quarters to be like,
00:56hmm, they're getting to Deshaun really quickly.
00:58We should get the ball out faster.
01:00Yeah.
01:01That seems like something they should have had highlighted.
01:02It was like maybe something you could have done in like the first quarter
01:05and maybe the game could have been watchable offensively and, you know,
01:08the whole game, not just the fourth quarter.
01:10No.
01:10So, Oyefusi at ESPN put out, because they use QBR, right?
01:14And the first three quarters of games this season,
01:16Deshaun is 32nd out of 33 qualifying quarterbacks.
01:20Not great.
01:20In the fourth quarter, he is ninth.
01:24He's basically unplayable for three quarters.
01:26And then in the fourth quarter, he is a top 10 quarterback in the sport.
01:29And it's odd.
01:30I'm trying to find out if there's anybody that is similar to this.
01:32I think Bo Nix falls into this category right now.
01:34Bo Nix also with four game-winning drives.
01:37And, like, he's having not the greatest of seasons.
01:39And by his measurement, really a bad season.
01:42But he keeps pulling the rabbit out of the hat when it matters the most.
01:45And it's like, guys, you don't get four game-winning drives in an entire season,
01:49nonetheless, in six games.
01:50Yeah.
01:51And it's interesting, because, again, it'll always come back to, is it real?
01:55And the truth is, I do think what you're seeing from Deshaun is real.
01:59Because I think the coaching staff has had all, whether it's the first half
02:02or the first three quarters, to adjust.
02:04And then they make the adjustments.
02:06And I do think there's something about Deshaun.
02:08I buy into the gamer mentality.
02:10It's one of the things I liked about Shador.
02:12It's the only thing that I actually saw about J.J. McCarthy when he was in
02:16Minnesota, is he would just randomly kick on in the fourth quarter.
02:20So, I mean, I'd prefer that you go out there and score 30 points a game.
02:24But if that's not on the table right now, because you're just working to stay
02:27functional, yeah, that's when I need my quarterback to make winning plays.
02:32Like, at some point, I can just throw out all the other stats and say,
02:35well, it don't matter.
02:36If you're 4-2 and you are clutch in the fourth quarter,
02:41what is it, four out of the five games you've had opportunities to win the game?
02:44You've done that?
02:45All right, that's really all I can ask for my quarterback when that quarterback
02:49happens to be Deshaun.
02:49So, what I've been asking for, and this has now been like a couple weeks that
02:52I've been asking for this, is I don't need you to be Josh Allen in any given
02:56week.
02:56I think that's ridiculous.
02:58I just want the lows to not be as low.
03:00We have 10 total yards in the first quarter, 24 passing yards at the half.
03:05I just, I am, what I'm astounded by is how he keeps coming through in the
03:09clutch, and he keeps coming through in these fourth quarters, but I'm also just
03:13as mystified on how these lows are this supremely low.
03:16That's why I say don't think about it.
03:19That's my official show line is.
03:22I can't do anything with that.
03:23Yeah, well, no, no, no, no.
03:25It doesn't work for me.
03:25Enjoy it.
03:26Yeah.
03:27It doesn't work for me.
03:28Go Dolan with Lindor here, all right?
03:29Just enjoy it, right?
03:31And honestly, actually, okay, so here's the truth.
03:34I don't understand it, but in a weird way, I do trust it.
03:39That's where my brain doesn't work well with that.
03:42I'm trying to understand it.
03:43I want to understand it.
03:44I want to figure it out.
03:45Have you told your brain to enjoy it?
03:46No, it doesn't work that way.
03:47It's like, let's figure this out, how mystifying this is.
03:50How can you go from absolute suck, unless it'd be different if it was just
03:54like average to then great.
03:56There's a lot of quarterbacks that are just average throughout a game and then all
03:59of a sudden turn into Patrick Mahomes for a little stretch here and there.
04:02But like, I can't make sense of how he looks legitimately unplayable and
04:07legitimately awful.
04:08And then in the fourth quarter, comes in, puts the cape on, and saves the day
04:11repeatedly.
04:12Have you considered using the term gamer internally?
04:16But it doesn't explain the game or lack of gamer for three quarters.
04:19No, no, no.
04:20The game started at one o'clock, Nick.
04:21You at least have a term.
04:22The game doesn't start at 315.
04:24He's more the 315 quarterback.
04:26People have said that about Tushan for many years now.
04:28Like, does he think it's all practice?
04:30Is it like all one warmup until the fourth quarter?
04:32Does his brain think it's all Fugazi until the fourth quarter hits?
04:36I mean, I think some of this is you are playing from behind, and that is easier to be a
04:41quarterback
04:41that plays from behind.
04:42So, I think that takes some of the pressure off of him.
04:45I think some of the coverages you're going to be seeing in that scenario are better.
04:48And I also think he is, so I am using the thing gamer, not in jest.
04:54I do mean that.
04:55I think he is a gamer late in the game.
04:57I do think he can kind of get a hot hand.
04:59But I also think he's a very hot and cold quarterback at this point in his career.
05:04And I don't know how you turn the heat up on the cool.
05:09I don't know.
05:10I don't know if you can do that without sacrificing some of the heat from the hot.
05:13I don't know.
05:13But the truth is, I mean, this is still better than I expected him to be.
05:18And if you've got to be good somewhere, it might as well be in the fourth quarter when you're winning
05:21a bunch of games.
05:22No question.
05:23No question about it.
05:24What's surprising is I thought we'd get more games like we had in the Pittsburgh game,
05:27where the second quarter was the great quarter, and then he still had the fourth quarter game-winning drive.
05:31But outside of that, it was more sporadic.
05:34Now it seems like he's settled into the idea, all right, first three quarters really don't matter.
05:38I mean, last week you had 10 total yards in the third quarter.
05:42I can't believe how many quarters we have or even halves we have where you just have a laughably low
05:49production level,
05:51and then all of a sudden it just poof, doesn't matter.
05:53So this is where the context being what it is continues to drive me crazy.
05:58And it's like there are times where I go to criticize Munkin in the game, and I go, okay, but
06:03look.
06:06To me, to be a productive coach, you have to know what you can rely on.
06:11And I don't know if you're Todd Munkin as a play caller, you know from minute to minute what you
06:15can rely on.
06:16Like yesterday, if you want to talk about what the biggest problem the Jets game was, it was the offensive
06:21line.
06:22They didn't give you a chance to compete for 99% of that game.
06:26A couple small pockets, but other than that, the biggest problem was with a huge, huge bullet was the offensive
06:33line.
06:34Yesterday, and they were calling it out on the broadcast, your guys weren't getting open.
06:38I mean, there's a reason why Jerry Judy got so many looks yesterday, because eventually you've got to throw it
06:42to somebody.
06:43And so, like, Concepcion had ended up having a nice stat line.
06:47He was, they did a pretty good job of covering up.
06:49Same thing with Denzel Boston.
06:51When they actually use Harold Fannin Jr. in the passing game, I might look into that more, by the way.
06:57But when they do it, yeah, he was covered up too.
07:00Like, there's an element of, specifically yesterday.
07:03It was up until last week, or up until this game, Nick, Harold Fannin, his separation was top five for
07:07tight ends.
07:08But, like, specifically yesterday, I think they just did a great job covering your pass catchers
07:13and weren't letting your playmakers be your playmakers.
07:15So, from one week to another, if you're Todd Munkin, like, what do you fall back on?
07:21Same thing with Deshaun.
07:22Like, all right, well, I'm finally getting some coverage here, but no one's open.
07:26I guess I'm just going to bail or maybe throw it in my running back's ass a little bit.
07:30Well, that's why Munkin, they said at the half, they'd mentioned how Munkin had basically told Deshaun,
07:34like, you're just using your legs too much.
07:36Like, you can't go one, two, and then bail out with your feet and expect that to be the play.
07:41Like, at some point, you do have to stand in the pocket and then wait for separation to happen
07:44because it's going to happen.
07:45And I thought he did a much better job of that in the fourth quarter.
07:48Yeah, that's kind of like the reverse of saying, if you just stand behind that firing line,
07:51they'll eventually miss you.
07:52Well, it's got to be really confusing to Deshaun because for the longest time,
07:57Munkin was telling him that's what makes him special.
08:00Like, hey, your secret weapon is your legs.
08:02This is what you do better than anybody.
08:03But the halftime report was exactly as I said.
08:06Like, Munkin's like, hey, no, your bae went out too quick.
08:08You got to hang in there and wait for these guys to get open.
08:11Sounds like an Aaron Glenn halftime report.
08:13216-474-0092.
08:17He's fade to black like his press conference?
08:20Yeah, so was that Woody Johnson?
08:22Did he order the code red on that press conference feed?
08:25Somebody did.
08:26He's like, we're not going to make it.
08:27He's not going to answer this question again as poorly as he did.
08:30It went Sopranos black on it.
08:32How does that happen?
08:34Hey, they're two and four.
08:35They got bigger problems.
08:36But yeah, don't let him answer that question.
08:38What I was trying to say about Deshaun is,
08:40I don't think Deshaun's struggles in his first three quarters are entirely about Deshaun.
08:45And I'm not trying to give him the Peter Lynn pass,
08:49but I do think they're trying to workshop a lot of different things in the first three quarters
08:54to get the pieces around him to function.
08:58And so I think...
08:59So like...
09:01Yeah, but in the first half, they didn't have a single target towards the big three guys we discuss in
09:05this.
09:05Concepcion, Boston, and Harold Fannin.
09:07They weren't open.
09:09I think that is a...
09:10That's a really good secondary there.
09:12I'm not trying to play coy here.
09:14No, I know, but if they were trying to have an emphasis on making sure the younger guys
09:17or the guys we care about did either have a showcase or have anything,
09:21I mean, then yesterday's game just wasn't the game for that.
09:23Yeah, I mean, listen, I think it's been said on this station, and I don't disagree with it,
09:28it seemed like they knew our playbook,
09:30they knew what the Browns were going to do for the first three quarters,
09:33and then something changed in the fourth quarter.
09:36So like Deshaun is a part of the offensive stalling,
09:41but if the same thing that I give to Todd Munkin is,
09:44well, is he having a bad game play calling-wise,
09:47or are the guys not getting the job done?
09:49Is there too much inconsistency?
09:51Does he not know what to rely on?
09:53I kind of feel the same about Deshaun Watson.
09:56Like, if you don't know, hey, KC's going to be open,
09:59and I can always hit KC, or hey, I'll go to Fannin, or I'll go...
10:02Like, who's the safety valve around Deshaun right now?
10:06Because the safety valve has been, at times, the screen game,
10:10and I can't even get the running back to look back at the quarterback
10:12to make sure the ball's being thrown at him.
10:14Well, and usually, and in stretches, it had always just been Harold Fannin.
10:17And that's why I mentioned up until last week,
10:19I've not checked the numbers for including this week,
10:21but up until last week, he was top five in the NFL
10:24as far as tight ends and separation.
10:26Like, he was getting open.
10:27And again, maybe he just got locked down this week.
10:29I think that's one of the interesting things we'll have to ask Coach Riz
10:31when he joins us, or even Nathan, the guys that really look at the film
10:34and analyze and figure all this stuff out.
10:36But, like, it wasn't getting open.
10:38It wasn't getting open.
10:38But he had been getting open for the first five weeks.
10:40And, like, last week, for instance, they didn't make anything of it.
10:43No, we will be asking Coach about the Herald.
10:45Because of the things that actually do annoy me about a 4-2 team,
10:49really the only thing is using Harold Fannin Jr.
10:51more as a blocker than as a receiver.
10:53Remember, I get you can't – you don't feel like you have the depth
10:57to run 12 personnel.
11:00Find a way to make it work with Harold Fannin.
11:02You've got to find a way.
11:03And even, like, I understand –
11:04But that, to me, is on Munkin.
11:06That's not necessarily on Deshaun.
11:08No, for sure.
11:09But I understand and acknowledge, too, that this tight end room
11:12didn't go the way the Browns thought it would either.
11:14They thought Joe Royer was going to be a factor into it.
11:15They really thought that Jack Stoll guy was going to be someone.
11:18Remember, though, they had – at one point this preseason,
11:21there was, like, six different guys as far as tight ends on this team.
11:24And we just watched one by one.
11:25Them all just kind of get – either not show up to camp at all
11:28for whatever reasons or end up in a situation where they're injured
11:31or end up, like, one by one.
11:33They just got – they kept getting sniped off.
11:34And so I think the adjustment off of that has been really poor.
11:37But this tight end room is just not what the Browns envision.
