00:00From Cleveland.com and the Orange and Brown Talk podcast, she is on the Wiseheart Wright.
00:06We make it right.
00:08Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
00:10Hi, Mary Kay.
00:10How are you?
00:11Hey, Mary Kay.
00:12I'm great, guys.
00:13How are you doing?
00:13We are doing great.
00:14We have four quarterbacks to pick from this week.
00:17We're very excited about it.
00:18There we go.
00:19What do you think?
00:20Well, Andrew, you know what?
00:22You did not think that they were going to keep four, and I kept telling you they were
00:26going to keep four quarterbacks.
00:28Lo and behold, that's exactly what they did, and I don't think it's as outlandish as some
00:35people think it is.
00:36The Steelers, who are also 5-2 right now, have four quarterbacks on their roster, so this
00:43is not all that unusual.
00:44There's a method to their madness.
00:46They have young guys that they like.
00:47They're also thinking about the future, and they've got some very reasonable, young, developmental
00:53quarterbacks on the roster right now.
00:55It's very exciting.
00:55I think there'll be six guys at the game that probably will never see the field on Sunday.
00:59That's awesome.
01:00I'm just kidding.
01:01I just think...
01:02If it's the most important position in football, why not?
01:06Because the game is set up to have an emergency quarterback.
01:10That's why.
01:13I know I need that 13th defensive back, Mary Kay.
01:16He's more valuable than a quarterback.
01:18Or do you want to use a starter on special teams?
01:21I mean, that's another way to look at it.
01:24There are other reasons, including the fact that if you try to get Kalen Green through
01:30waivers, you might lose him, and you don't want to do that.
01:33So they're trying to be smart about this whole thing.
01:35And also, I suppose there is a world in which if you hang on to all four of these guys
01:43long
01:43enough, maybe, just maybe, someone will come along and offer you something that you can't refuse.
01:49They're not shopping them, and they're not seeking to trade Shador or Dillon.
01:55But if you keep them long enough and you get closer to that November 10th deadline, you never know what
02:00might happen.
02:02Mary Kay, do you think there's one of the young guys that they like the most long-term?
02:09Not necessarily right at this moment, but one that you think they think, yeah, this is the guy we definitely
02:15want to try and groom for some role here?
02:19I think they're very, very intrigued by Shador.
02:21I think they really like him.
02:22I think they've seen a lot of growth in him this year, and I think that they believe that if
02:29he gets in to play this season,
02:31that he's going to handle it really well and show the growth that he has made.
02:35So I think they're very, very intrigued by him.
02:38I don't think they're anywhere near close to that happening, obviously, right now.
02:43But in the event that it does happen, I think that they're excited about what he can do.
02:49Interesting.
02:49Where do you think he's grown?
02:50I mean, it's hard for us to know because we don't see him on the field.
02:54So, I mean, if he's impressing the coaching staff, how is he doing it?
03:00Well, one of the ways he's doing it is by just grasp of the offense, grasp of the scheme,
03:06and knowing what to do and how to handle things.
03:08Because we've always seen him make really nice throws.
03:12Even through training camp, he was doing that.
03:14So what they needed him to do was come up the learning curve in the new scheme.
03:18And remember, he wasn't building on what he did last year.
03:22He was reinventing the wheel like everyone else.
03:25So he had to go back to the drawing board and learn Todd Munkin's scheme.
03:29And it's not that easy for some of these young guys to just know it like the back of their
03:35hand
03:35when they have to learn a second new offense in their second season.
03:39So I think it was more so that than anything, just knowing that operationally he can function as quickly as
03:47he needs to do
03:48with everything that would be coming at him in that moment.
03:51What was your take last week?
03:52And you may have told us last week, and I'm sorry that I didn't.
03:56I don't know that we did talk about this.
03:58But the fact that he hired an agent.
04:00And I know, you know, he's got other friends, like Travis Hunter, is with the same agent with Young Money.
04:07But I'm just kind of curious your thoughts on why he decided to do it at this point and what
04:13it might mean.
04:14Well, he's just getting his team together.
04:16He hired a marketing firm a couple of months ago, and now he hired his agent.
04:22And now that he's in his second season and he has the lay of the land
04:25and some different things could be happening at some point down the road, he has his ducks in a row.
04:30But he's been with Young Money for a long time.
04:32He just never actually formally signed with them.
04:35He's been with them since even before the draft.
04:39You know, so he has that alliance with Young Money and has had it.
04:44So this is really not something brand new.
04:47It's just in paper now, right?
04:49It's just there's a contract.
04:50Signed, sealed, delivered.
04:51Okay, all right.
04:52Yes, it's official now.
04:53Yep.
04:54Mary Kay, how, especially for you and me, how cool was it to see all of the young skill position
05:02talent
05:03on the field at one time against Tennessee?
05:08Well, it was great because, as you mentioned, that's something that you and I have been talking about
05:14for a long, long, long time.
05:17People always want to judge quarterbacks as though they exist in a vacuum,
05:21and that's just never the case.
05:23They have to be surrounded by really, really good skill players and talent.
05:28The best quarterbacks, the most productive quarterbacks that we've seen,
05:31generally have some amazing weapons around them.
05:34And now, that's what Deshaun has.
05:37And so I just think that that's one of the reasons why he's performing better.
05:42There are many reasons, but that certainly is one of them.
05:46What did you think of Dylan Sampson and what he might be able to bring to this offense?
05:50Because, you know, we've just seen, we saw small doses of it his rookie year,
05:55and then, you know, got knocked out so early this year.
05:58He was fun to watch, I thought.
06:01Yeah, he was fun to watch.
06:02It was fun to watch it all come together with what Casey was able to do.
06:06And Dylan, I mean, to be able to get the ball into the hands of those playmakers
06:11that can make an explosive play at any time, that's what you want to see.
06:15And that's now what they have.
06:16And I think they had something like 200 yards after the catch in this past game,
06:22which is remarkable.
06:23And so if Deshaun can just distribute the ball and get it out quickly,
06:28which he did in this past game, if he can continue to do that,
06:32that's what you want from him in this offense.
06:34There are so many guys that can then make something happen.
06:37He doesn't have to necessarily be firing, you know, 40-yard passes every other,
06:42you know, down.
06:45I think it's interesting that, like, I know we talk about the offense in the fourth quarter,
06:50but I'm a little, like, trying to figure out our defense in the first quarter.
06:54And I'm not trying, I know the reason, that they're a huge reason why they're winning games,
06:58but what is with the slow starts?
07:00And they're last in the league in giving up points in that first quarter.
07:05Yeah, it's been quite the challenge.
07:09And it's really weird that the defense is starting off so slowly.
07:13And they're going to have to get that figured out because you can't sustain this.
07:18It's just not going to be sustainable to live and die for that fourth quarter comeback.
07:22That's just not how it really usually works in the NFL.
07:26And maybe they will be the cardiac kids,
07:28but you really don't want to be doing that.
07:33So one of the things that they are going to have to do now is shore up their tackling for
07:39sure.
07:39I mean, there were a lot of missed tackles in that game.
07:42There were guys out of position, and they really let Tony Pollard run all over them.
07:46And I tweeted at one point that it was embarrassing.
07:49I mean, it was just an embarrassing defensive performance up until, you know,
07:54they got some takeaways and did some things in the second half.
07:57Mason Graham's situation, Mary Kay, is it something they're going to have to watch all year long?
08:03Or did he re-injure himself significantly?
08:05What do you think?
08:06I think it was just the normal course of trying to come back from an injury like that.
08:11And he's probably trying to come back a little bit too soon.
08:15I mean, if something like that is going to happen in a game,
08:18perhaps maybe you shouldn't have come back that week.
08:22But, you know, like everybody else on this team, they want to be a part of it.
08:25It's fun right now.
08:26They want to play.
08:28They want to contribute.
08:29He knows what he means to this football team, and he's wired like the rest of them,
08:33and that is they're willing to do whatever it takes to help these guys win.
08:37What are your thoughts on the Steelers this week?
08:39It's fun.
08:40It's fun to have a Steelers week.
08:41Let's be honest.
08:43Yeah, it's going to be fun.
08:45It's going to be very intense.
08:47And I asked Todd yesterday, like, do you have to start now
08:50in trying to prepare these young guys for just the intensity of this rivalry in Pittsburgh,
08:56what that's going to be like, what those fans are going to be like,
08:59the noise, the chippiness that's going to happen on the field?
09:02I mean, this is for all the marbles right now in the AFC North.
09:07So the stakes are high, and it's going to be quite the game.
09:14As much as I thought they had to go win in Tennessee, you know, that's one of those games,
09:19okay, they're 1-5.
09:20You've got to go beat that team.
09:22I don't feel the same way about the Pittsburgh game, Mary Kay,
09:26because you could see this thing just going back and forth all the rest of the season
09:31between the Browns, the Steelers, the Bengals, and the Ravens.
09:33But, boy, if you could go do that, that sets a tone in the division and in your locker room
09:40that I think is probably a little different than anything that they've been feeling up to this point.
09:44How has Todd Munkin gotten them to not just buy in,
09:49but it just seems like there's a belief here that puts them in a position to go to Pittsburgh
09:56and continue that flow?
09:59Well, they do have that belief in themselves, and that's vitally, vitally important.
10:03And then the other thing that, Todd, I noticed he was doing yesterday
10:06was just trying to keep the focus on the next game because that's all they have to do.
10:10And Kevin Stefanski used to say that all the time.
10:13They just have to go 1-0, and that's what they have to do.
10:16They can't get overwhelmed by the magnitude of this football game.
10:20They are, to a certain extent, going to have to block out some of the noise over there in Pittsburgh.
10:25You know, they know exactly what's going to happen in terms of just getting heckled
10:30and, you know, the fan backlash that they're going to receive.
10:35But they are just focusing on the next thing,
10:38and if they just keep putting one foot in front of the other,
10:42they just might turn out okay this season.
10:45I know this might be a silly question, but, like, what do you think is real?
10:50I'm still trying to figure out.
10:51I thought it was interesting when I looked yesterday, like, NFL.com says their playoff chances are 48%,
10:56like 50-50, and I'm like, yeah, that does seem right to me
11:00because I'm still trying to figure out is this real or is this not real?
11:05Is it the competition they're playing?
11:08Is it, you know, is the defense that good?
11:11Like, what is real and what is not real about this team?
11:16Well, what is real is Deshaun Watson can come back in the fourth quarter and close out a game,
11:21so that's one thing this team can hang its hat on.
11:24They know that he has that ice in his veins and that he has everybody else believing
11:28that they can go down and get that game-winning field goal
11:32or that game-winning touchdown that they need.
11:35So that's real.
11:36And then, for the most part, the defensive pressure and the sacks, I believe those are real,
11:40even though they don't have Jared Burse with a sack yet and they no longer have a Myles Garrett
11:45or an Alex Wright, they're still getting the pressure, they're still getting the sacks,
11:49they're getting them from different places, but they're still applying a lot of heat on the quarterback,
11:55and that's very, very good.
11:57So what's starting to happen now is the young offense is growing up a little bit.
12:03They're coming together.
12:04They're figuring it out.
12:05Todd keeps saying we're under construction, and that's true.
12:08They are.
12:08The coaching staff is still even figuring out who they have, what they have,
12:13and what to do with these guys.
12:15So it's a work in progress, but if they can keep winning while they're figuring it out,
12:20then they should be well-positioned in December.
12:22Mary Kay, as always, you know we love talking to you each and every Tuesday at 11 o'clock,
12:26and we look forward to doing it again next week as well as watching you on the Orange and Brown
12:30Talk podcast
12:31and, of course, in the PlainDealerInCleven.com.
12:33Thank you, Mary Kay.
12:34Thank you, Mary Kay.
12:35Thank you, guys.
12:36All right, we'll talk to you soon.
12:37Mary Kay Cabot on the Wise Art Right.
12:39We make it right.
12:40Call Kyle Wright Hotline.
12:42What is real and what is not real about this team?
12:45We'll talk about that when we come back here in a moment.
12:47Plus, we're going to get to the Cavaliers.
12:48We're going to do a little baseball.
12:49All kinds of fun stuff.
12:51Straight ahead on Baskin and Phelps 92.3.
12:53Keep bump cavities.
12:53Keep bumping.
