00:00His last play, where we're at in the game, I think they've done a very good job of that.
00:04Todd Bunkin, you know, weighing in.
00:08Browns now 5-2 and heading to Pittsburgh.
00:12Over the weekend, Anthony Lima and Nick Padone in.
00:15There's been so much conversation about, and I love this, it's great to talk after a win.
00:20Who's responsible for the win, right?
00:21Because we're all going to say, hey, they won, good.
00:24So we don't have the base-level negativity surrounding a loss.
00:28Like, imagine if they lose that game.
00:30We're talking about 12 men on the field and a punt situation, which, you know, didn't actually end up coming
00:36back to haunt them.
00:37But we're still going over the interception in the first quarter when it came to Deshaun Watson.
00:43And whose fault really was it?
00:45That really sabotaged the Todd Bunkin Zoom, the interception that made the world stand still.
00:51You know, was it on Denzel Boston?
00:53Should he have come back to Deshaun?
00:55Can Deshaun let that ball go?
00:57Which is the real difference.
00:58That's how you know in that debate.
01:00That's how you know that not everybody is believing in Deshaun Watson.
01:06Because that would not happen if it were Josh Allen, who throws mind-numbingly bad interceptions at times.
01:12That wouldn't happen with Patrick Mahomes.
01:14I don't even think Joe Burrow gets critiqued to that degree.
01:17But rightfully so, Deshaun Watson still has to earn his place all these years into this Browns contract and NFL
01:25career.
01:26Even when the coach tells you that you've got to throw the ball, that's how we coach it, that's on
01:32the rookie wide receiver.
01:33I saw it.
01:34There were a bunch of writers who hate Deshaun Watson's guts.
01:36They're like, well, he doesn't have to throw the ball.
01:38And the coach is like, well, that's how we coach it.
01:40Well, he doesn't have to throw the ball.
01:41I love Todd Bunkin, but he doesn't.
01:43But you could just tell that's where it's at when it comes to Watson.
01:46There were a lot of Browns fans.
01:48I was reading that stuff on X yesterday.
01:49And look, in real time, I thought I was exactly one of those writers.
01:54You know, I thought, hey, the corner stayed inside the whole way.
01:58Don't throw that ball.
01:59It's pretty easy.
02:00But hearing Todd explain it the way that he explained it and said, look, when your read is man coverage
02:06and it's Denzel Boston out there and he's won that matchup before, you let that thing rip.
02:11And when you're trying to be a passing team and when you're trying to be a modern offense in the
02:17big two six, you're going to have interceptions.
02:20That's going to be part of this thing.
02:23And the turnover worthy plays were evident, you know, earlier in the season.
02:26I think he's cracked down on those to a large extent.
02:29His ball security, he's been able to crack down.
02:32I thought Sunday was the most decisive that he had looked with the football.
02:36He was only sacked once.
02:38Yeah, and he's not, you know, he's a guy who his entire career, even with Houston, even when things were
02:43looking really good, like he might be a top five quarterback, he ran himself into all sorts of trouble and
02:48bad sacks and turnover potential plays.
02:53I don't think he's done that more recently.
02:56I think he's been a lot better, you know, handling those situations.
03:00And so obviously the next logical step is, all right, they're five and two, you know, we're, we're, we are
03:08capable as a, as a society, as a people, as a Browns fan base of having multiple conversations at the
03:14same time.
03:14I did see people get really irritated that we're talking about whether he's going to be here next year.
03:19It's like, well, we're, we're fully, we have a brain that's fully developed, at least most of us, that I
03:24can have multiple conversations at the same time.
03:27Like when you were at home and now I got two kids, like I, I am fully capable of determining
03:32whether they're going to get a treat after dinner and whether I'm going to include them in certain sports and
03:38whether I'm setting money aside for college.
03:40Like I can't, as a parent, have multiple conversations at once.
03:44I think it's kind of silly to, how are you doing that?
03:45The minute they win a game.
03:47Well, I did hear a conversation develop with the afternoon show, BNP, Baskin and Phelps were large and in charge
03:56yesterday.
03:57And they had on a Tyvus Powell, who's also on the Browns radio network.
04:02He had this to say about what's at stake with the Pittsburgh game.
04:05Are you going to resign Deshaun?
04:07If Deshaun Watson go out there this week and goes to Pittsburgh and win in Pittsburgh, I think they need
04:14to start the negotiation.
04:15I don't know if it's a multi-year deal.
04:17It might just be a one-year thing and make you prove it again, but it is fun to have
04:22to have that conversation.
04:24So I thought that was absolutely crazy from Tyvus.
04:27That's where you lose me a little bit.
04:29A little bit.
04:30I'm having fun with this, but that's where you lose me a little bit.
04:32Well, look, I do think every step of the way we're going to be saying, this is awesome this year.
04:39Who's in place next year?
04:40I think every GM in the NFL is always wondering about the next year's roster.
04:45John Dorsey talked about this a lot, having the, where are we a year from now?
04:50Where are we three years from now?
04:51Where are we five years from now?
04:52And all of that has to be sketched out.
04:55You have to always have, and it can be a very fluid situation.
05:00And that's what it is right now.
05:01If you were to tell me or ask me, who's the starting quarterback for the Browns next year, week one?
05:09Nick, swear to God, I have no idea.
05:11I don't even know where to begin.
05:12It could be Deshaun.
05:13Could it be Shador?
05:14It could be Shador.
05:15Yeah, I have no idea.
05:15It could be a different quarterback that exists in the NFL currently that's not on the Browns.
05:20Like, there are so many different avenues that they can go down.
05:23And the fun part is right now is that they're winning.
05:25So, like, even though you're winning, you still have so many options because you have the two first-round picks.
05:30So, if you want to scoot up, you technically could.
05:32Or if you wanted to bring back Deshaun and then you're not in a rush to play the rookie, you
05:36could technically do that.
05:37There are so many different things that you can do.
05:39But the conversation about an extension and starting that conversation now if he beats Pittsburgh is just silly to me.
05:48And it's definitely something that the Browns are not going to do.
05:51The Browns are a data-driven organization.
05:52And, like, the advanced data on Deshaun is still shaky.
05:56Even though he's the quarterback that's won you five games, they're a little – the jury is still out in
06:02the data analytics world about the type of quarterback that Deshaun is.
06:06And I would agree.
06:07I mean, statistically, he's still in the bottom third in almost every category.
06:13And I always look at that stuff because I need to be able to separate emotion from what's really happening.
06:19I also think, you know, like, a lot of those numbers aren't really including what he's doing with his legs.
06:25And they don't in any way prioritize fourth-quarter comebacks.
06:29In fact, analytics and data-driven people would say – and I saw it yesterday from some people like Sam
06:35Monson, who we've had on the show, I think is a really great follow.
06:38But he's like, hey, the fourth quarter come from behind wins.
06:41Those will go away because a lot of that is – while, you know, we believe in a clutch gene,
06:48like analytics and data people, they don't believe in it.
06:51They don't believe it's an actual thing.
06:52So that's fascinating because we know the Browns employ a lot of Ivy League folks who probably do, you know,
06:58curb emotion with a lot of this.
06:59And, Lima, we lived through this.
07:02So, like, for people that are saying, well, if he leads you to the playoffs, you absolutely have to bring
07:06him back.
07:07Like, wait a minute.
07:08Let me raise you Joe Flacco in 2023 who led you to the playoffs.
07:12We did bring him back because we had Deshaun Watson on the roster and they didn't want to put the
07:18fans in that situation where everybody's clamoring for the guy that actually put them on their shoulders and had a
07:25great stretch run playoff.
07:27So it's like Baker Mayfield in 2020.
07:29A lot of people thought after he led the Browns to the playoff win in Pittsburgh, a place where the
07:34Browns hadn't won in a really long time, extension time.
07:37Bring six five-year deals, six-year blank contract, whatever he wants.
07:41What did the Browns tell us, though?
07:42It's his full body of work that they made the decision that they needed to upgrade.
07:47It was the rookie season that was up and down.
07:49It was 2019 with Todd and Fred that was up and down.
07:53The playoff year was a lot of fun, but then 2021 he hurt his shoulder.
07:57So his full body of work wasn't good enough.
07:59The Browns thought they had to move on.
08:00Well, what's Deshaun Watson's full body of work?
08:03I know the last, you know, six weeks.
08:05It's been a guy that shouldn't be the quarterback of the Browns team next year.
08:07There you go.
08:08So that's why he has to play at such a level.
08:10And I heard Adam the Bull talking about he needs to play at that level every game.
08:14Well, if he played at the level he played at Sunday every game, he'd be a top three quarterback in
08:19the league this year.
08:20Because look around the league.
08:22Nobody.
08:23Matt Stafford's not playing like that.
08:25Like, Joe Burrow was half to half.
08:27He was abysmal in the first half against the Baltimore Ravens.
08:31Well, that's a fun game you could play if your name is David Mulligata.
08:34You know, if you're Deshaun's agent, that's the fun game that you could play.
08:36It's like, yo, quarterback play league-wide is down.
08:39And right now, we're one of the best of them.
08:41Especially in the fourth quarter.
08:42Like, what you're saying, in the fourth quarter, look at all these comebacks.
08:45Look at his clutch.
08:45Yeah, he's doing something a lot of guys are not doing.
08:47I guess what I'd say, I want to hear from the fans on this.
08:49It's 216-474-0092.
08:52You need to start negotiating.
08:54Now, is Tyvus probably saying that?
08:57Because he now thinks not only will Deshaun Watson be a starter for a team next year in the league,
09:04that you will have remorse.
09:07You will feel regret.
09:08If you don't get that discussion started now, you're going to get raked over the coals financially.
09:14And you're going to continue to be in, like, cap hell unless you get this sorted out now.
09:20Because his price is only going to go up.
09:22Like, Ken Carman was shocked yesterday when he was saying, well, you're not going to pay Deshaun Watson
09:28in the neighborhood of $40-45 million if he plays like this.
09:32And I'm like, actually, that is absolutely the market.
09:36The market is.
09:37I mean, Baker Mayfield got 50-55, and he's 32nd out of 32 starters that are qualified.
09:46Yeah, but Tony, you know how this works.
09:47There are a lot of people who look at this, right or wrong, and whether this is the way that
09:51the organization
09:51and the agent and the player are looking at this, it's not.
09:54But a lot of fans look at this through the lens of, we gave you $230 million, we got nothing
09:58back for it.
09:59Nada.
10:00Prior to this year, you're going to have to give us a little bit of a bargain
10:04because of what we just gave you and got nothing back in turn for it.
10:07That's how a lot of fans are looking at.
10:08And I've seen a lot of fans say the worst case, the ones that were in favor of tanking outright
10:12of, you know, when we thought this draft class was going to be better, surprise, surprise,
10:17again, for like the fourth straight year, we're saying the same things about an NFL draft class
10:20when it comes to quarterbacks, but that you would be putting yourself in the absolute worst case scenario
10:26winning games this year with Deshaun Watson and then being forced to bring Deshaun Watson back
10:31and then tearing up what you have, signing him to a contract extension,
10:35and then putting the fan base through all of that again.
10:37We'll say the fans that were down in Nashville, the fans that were in Cleveland after the Pittsburgh game,
10:43the fans that were in Cleveland after the Baltimore game, those fans were cheering Deshaun Watson.
10:49They didn't seem to have as big of an issue with him on the football team.
10:52216-474-0092.
10:55Interesting conversation about who's responsible for this turnaround
11:00and who was responsible for that win on Sunday.
11:04Anthony Lyman, Nick Padone will discuss it next right here on Sports Radio 92.3.
11:08The fans.
