00:00Here's the thing. I think you can still be cynical of Deshaun.
00:04I still am not going to tell anyone how to feel about Deshaun.
00:07As somebody who wants this 4-2 start to turn into 9-8, 10-7, 11-6, I do like
00:15to see this.
00:16This is the kind of stuff, like rallying around Deshaun, having that kind of leader, even if it's in something
00:22fun.
00:22This is the kind of stuff that good teams do.
00:24I think we should also add in this, Deshaun has never been questioned whether or not he's a great leader.
00:30It's only when he's a great leader when things are going bad.
00:32That's when he gets questioned.
00:34He was always a really great teammate, great leader when he was at Clemson.
00:37And when things were going awesome in Houston, I think he really is just one of those guys that when
00:42things are going awesome, yeah, great.
00:45He can do that role and he can fulfill that role.
00:48It's when things hit a pothole that all of a sudden is a little bit different for Deshaun Watson.
00:52And so things are back to going nicely for Deshaun, so of course he's doing all the right things.
00:56Now, if you ask the aura farmer that is Ben Solak, maybe things aren't going that well for Deshaun.
01:02Here was Ben Solak's take on ESPN.
01:05We played this late in the show, but I want to bring it back for a specific reason.
01:09Here's Solak on the Browns and how far away they are from being a serious team.
01:13I really, truly believe the Browns are a quarterback away from being a good team.
01:17At halftime in this game, Deshaun Watson had two completions, okay?
01:21Anybody who, the best game Deshaun Watson has played this year was the primetime game against the Steelers, without question.
01:27And a lot of people see four and two Browns and watch that one game and are saying, wow, Deshaun
01:32is playing well.
01:33The last two games he's played, the loss to the Jets and this win over the Ravens, have been horrible,
01:37horrible football.
01:37Deshaun is not playing good quarterback and he's one of the worst running quarterbacks in the league.
01:41It's always going to make me laugh.
01:42So, if you judge any of Deshaun's game this year by the first half, you're going to come away with
01:50how bad he is.
01:51If you just judge him by the high-level stats, you're going to say he's one of the worst quarterbacks
01:56in the NFL.
01:57I think the one thing I would like to hear Ben talk about is that the Browns would not be
02:02four and two without Deshaun.
02:03Because Deshaun has come up big in critical moments in the fourth quarter, no matter what the big picture stats
02:10say.
02:10Yeah, I guess that would be a nice note.
02:14Like, in talking about Deshaun, you can mention how crappy he's been in certain parts of games, in particular the
02:19first quarter.
02:20The second quarter's actually been not as bad because he was so good in the Steelers game in the second
02:24quarter.
02:24But, yeah, you have to acknowledge the Browns would not be four and two without Deshaun Watson.
02:28I think you're doing it in a very disingenuous way if you don't acknowledge that.
02:31Well, also then, I think this is where this gets interesting.
02:33People like Ben Solak are wondering, if you had an actual quarterback, would you never have gotten to the spot
02:39that you needed someone to put on the cape and save the day?
02:41And, like, so it is a—it's an interesting subplot to it all.
02:46Like, Deshaun bails you out, but he also puts you in these spots as well.
02:49I do think we're assuming a lot of success from pieces around the quarterback if there's a different quarterback.
02:56And I think that's another part that I don't know it's entirely right-minded.
03:00Like, I don't know that a different quarterback makes this offensive line that much better.
03:05Maybe a quicker decision-maker lessens some of the sacks.
03:08That's certainly fair.
03:09But, like, I don't know that Deshaun Watson—honestly, Deshaun as a runner has bailed out this offensive line's running issues.
03:17Agreed, agreed.
03:17But then—so that sounds like you're saying that you don't think they're just a quarterback away.
03:20And that's what I find interesting about this.
03:22If you're going to try to make the argument that they're a quarterback away, then all the discussion we're having,
03:26you could have that.
03:27Because it would just be inserting quarterback in here.
03:30But if you are then doubting what the offensive line is—and I agree with you, by the way.
03:33If you're doubting what the run game is, I agree with you on that.
03:35I'd like to hear that.
03:36If you're doubting the role they have right now for Harold Fannin, where he's just a blocking tight end—I think
03:41you agree with that.
03:42I agree with that as well—then you're not just a quarterback away, Nick.
03:44Like, you are a few pieces away in trying to get this whole thing settled and figure out.
03:49Because if you're just a quarterback away, we could do this exercise.
03:51I just almost—I almost go back to what Mina Kimes said in the preseason.
03:55It's not just a quarterback away.
03:57It's a season away.
03:59And what I mean by that is not you have to wait until 2027.
04:02What I mean by that is this thing's developing in real time.
04:07And so I do think by the end of this, if these five guys stay healthy, I think the offensive
04:12line will be much improved in seven or eight games from now than they are right now.
04:18It just stands to reason.
04:19They're all professionals.
04:20You give them time, they're going to get better.
04:22They're going to learn how to play with each other.
04:24This is one of the downsides.
04:25I mean, I think we saw—I think it was the Bears last year.
04:28I think it was the first four to six games.
04:30I've highlighted it before, yeah.
04:31And then the run game really took off.
04:32The first four games, they were an absolute disaster.
04:34Worst offensive line in the sport.
04:35Couldn't get anything going.
04:36And you had multiple pro bowlers on that offensive line.
04:39And then—and now what happened there was Ben Johnson changed how he operated with this, though, too.
04:43They made the call simpler.
04:44They made it—they dumped it down because they realized they were too complex.
04:47So there was reasons for the struggle, and then there was obvious corrections that they made.
04:52Will Munkin be able to make those corrections?
04:54Will Warhott be able to make those corrections?
04:55I don't know that it's just about corrections.
04:57I think it's about time spent together and playing together.
05:00And I think that's a huge part.
05:02But I think as long as you can keep that line mostly intact and healthy, and, oh, Denzel's going to
05:08get more experience.
05:10Casey Concepcion's going to get more experience.
05:11And I do wonder, as things start to develop around him, can Deshaun get more confident?
05:18Because I still think he's battling confidence on the field.
05:21I think that's what—like when he's holding on to the ball and you see him taking too long to make
05:25the decision, that is a confidence thing.
05:27And so when it comes to like a quarterback away, that's very nebulous.
05:33Like I don't think the Browns are a quarterback away from being in the Super Bowl.
05:37I do think they're a solidified starting quarterback position away from being in the fray every year like they were
05:45the last four years—
05:47sorry, the last two years of Baker, where I know the second year they went 8-10.
05:5210, that's still better than what had come before Baker Mayfield.
05:55Like that still is—you had conversations about the playoffs throughout that season.
06:00Hopefully he can be better with a better quarterback, but you know what I mean.
06:03Like I haven't given up hope that Deshaun Watson can be a better quarterback this year.
06:09And at some point you can come away saying, well, the highs are still pretty high.
06:13We've raised the floor on the lows.
06:16And you've got enough now that you can be in a position to be really interesting and really competitive in
06:22most environments with Deshaun as your starting quarterback end of this year and maybe next year too.
06:27Yeah, and that's what I'm asking for is the lows to be just higher than what they have been.
06:31But I think ultimately what has to happen is if we get to a spot at the end of the
06:35season—
06:36because right now I'd love to see Deshaun actually be able to have a chance in some of these games
06:40with a good offensive line, with a good running game, with a good tight end, everything that we're talking about.
06:46I'd like to see him have that. He hasn't had that yet.
06:48Am I the only person assuming that that is going to happen this year?
06:52I think so, yeah.
06:52If he stays healthy, which is a big if, but like—
06:56I think so. I don't know how you fix the run game.
06:57Maybe the run game gets better because the offensive line gets better and maybe it's just a product of that.
07:01I don't know that we have the depth for the tight end conversation, but you can change that around.
07:04Spencer Fano, the pressures on this came from the Washington Post.
07:11I tried backtracking it with PFF today, but I couldn't exactly figure it out.
07:14Big Bezos over there.
07:16They had Hendrickson credited for eight pressures and a sack on Spencer Fano this weekend.
07:21Eight pressures and a sack is insane.
07:23That's why I don't trust the media.
07:24In 26 attempts, even if you want to be generous and say it was just four pressures instead of eight,
07:29and they just gave Hendrickson way too much love.
07:32Like, Spencer's not—he didn't go in the right direction this last weekend.
07:35Yeah, but even that, like the idea that every day is going to be better than the last,
07:40I think you're hoping for progression in the collective.
07:43No, it's not always linear growth, but like, did you think Spencer was just awful this weekend or no?
07:47Yeah, I didn't think he was very good.
07:49Yeah.
07:49I think there were multiple times where it was like, oh, that came right from Spencer.
07:53I mean, it seemed like Hendrickson was eating his lunch.
07:54And it wasn't just Hendrickson, it was—and some of this is on Deshaun, by the way,
07:58but some of it was, oh, why was that guy unabated to the quarterback?
08:03Now, half the people are going to tell me that was on Spencer, half the people are going to tell
08:06me on the quarterback.
08:07That's another part of this discussion, is it's turned into how much of this is Deshaun just putting himself in
08:11trouble in a lot of these spots.
08:12And I do think that's some of the story.
08:14I just—I think there's—I'm not saying this is Ben because I don't know.
08:17I think Ben has doubted Deshaun.
08:20I don't know the backstory from five or six years ago where Ben was with Deshaun, the human being, right?
08:26But there are—there's a healthy dose of people saying Deshaun's one of the worst quarterbacks in the NFL
08:31and they need to get him out of there.
08:32A healthy amount of those people also said, I don't like Deshaun Watson and he shouldn't be starting back in
08:38August.
08:39So, like, I—if that person's just—that person's maybe just staying consistent,
08:44there's nothing that can change their thoughts on Deshaun Watson outside of a bunch of 300-yard games.
08:50Yeah, I mean, I think for those type of people, I think the evidence has to be overwhelming.
08:55And the evidence right now, it's just—it's not overwhelming.
08:57It's only overwhelming in one category, which is just wins, and that's not—that's not enough for every fan.
09:02It just isn't.
