00:00What if Todd went to them, and I understand why they would think that Todd was a Watson fan,
00:06so I'm not ripping afternoon drive whatsoever, not at all.
00:09Usually, yeah, we're going after each other.
00:11No, no, no, no, it's a great question to ask, but I kind of wanted to flip around and go,
00:14well, what if Todd was asked?
00:15But it is good that they're even open to the conversation now,
00:19that they do trust in Todd so much because, look, really, let's be fair,
00:24none of us had any real reason to trust Todd Munkin.
00:27The way that he was talked about on the national landscape was nothing denigrating him as a coach
00:32before he had ever coached an NFL game.
00:34It was more like, what are the Browns setting him up for?
00:37They're setting him up for a terrible situation, one of the worst quarterback rooms in the NFL,
00:41if not the worst, all these young players, like he's going to be one and done.
00:46Now, we've gotten to the point where we've seen, even though the offense isn't even that good,
00:50but we've seen five and two, we've seen a mentality, we've seen a buy-in from these players,
00:56and has he actually been able to rescue Deshaun Watson from the depths of, you know,
01:03the worst type of quarterbacking we've seen in the NFL?
01:07Oh, he helped save his career.
01:08To the point.
01:08In so many ways.
01:09To the point where we go from having people say he was outright lying,
01:14he was orchestrating a rigged quarterback competition beforehand,
01:17and I'll say, we trusted him.
01:18So he's earned that.
01:20So that's good.
01:21That's good that he's been able to do that.
01:22But we didn't say he was outright lying.
01:23We did not say it was rigged.
01:24But there are definitely shows in this town that said he is lying about who's winning the quarterback competition.
01:30But, well, clearly we know who won it and who was winning it at the time.
01:35You know, they've done so well together.
01:38You know, I would hope that if the season continues to go the way I think it's going to go,
01:42we're in a playoff position.
01:44And I know we didn't get to do 7 in Heaven yesterday,
01:47and we won't get to do it today at 7 because of Brian Baldinger joining us,
01:51which is a great reason to not do it.
01:52We'll do it tomorrow.
01:53But, like, we both have him in the playoffs right now, so that's a spoiler alert.
01:58And I think that maybe Deshaun Watson would go,
02:00listen, my career was over in so many ways,
02:05and I think he was in a really bad place,
02:07and maybe that changes at the end of the year.
02:09Maybe that changes where he's like, hey, you know what?
02:11But this guy has really helped me.
02:13This offense has really helped me.
02:14We've been able to do things that I didn't even think I could do.
02:18Or, you know, they'll play the egotistical thing,
02:20and he goes, if I can do it here, I can do it anywhere.
02:24I think it would be more likely the former.
02:26But I think that with what Todd Munkin has done with him,
02:29like, he's easily coach of the year if they make the playoffs.
02:32And even if they come close to the playoffs,
02:34I think he could end up being coach of the year
02:35because it's exactly what you said.
02:37Like, I think a lot of people thought,
02:39people were putting him in the same sentence as David Culley
02:42when he got hired.
02:43And no offense to David Culley,
02:45but you knew what that situation was down in Houston.
02:48I mean, that's bad.
02:50That's real bad.
02:52And so you went from a lack of any respect.
02:57Imagine being a six-year-old coach.
02:58You've been in this game for 40 years,
03:00and they're like, nah, you're a one-and-done.
03:01You're a position holder.
03:04So you go from a complete lack of respect for your life's work
03:08to coach of the year.
03:10How did you get to coach of the year?
03:11Well, because you resurrected a guy who was a pariah two months ago.
03:15And that's a lot of work.
03:16That's a hell of a job by a coach.
03:18And we're only halfway home.
03:19I get that.
03:20But damn it, that's a hell of a job by a coach.
03:21And I would hope that Deshaun Watson,
03:24if things continue this way at the end of the year,
03:26he would say, yeah, I recognize that.
03:28But also, like, if we're not bleeping each other here,
03:31we're excited that they're 5-2.
03:35Do I think that Deshaun Watson can win any shootout out there?
03:39No.
03:40And there's no way Todd Munkin feels that way, right?
03:44In privacy?
03:46In his own inner thoughts?
03:49He has to know, like, this play can be better.
03:53He's probably thinking more, like, some people are thinking,
03:57hey, this play should be a lot better.
03:59Let's replace him.
03:59I think he's trying to figure out ways to get to that play.
04:02I think there's a difference.
04:02I think there's more of a positivity there.
04:04And that's part of the reason why I think if they were to go to him now
04:07and go, hey, let's get in while the getting's good here.
04:11Maybe we can get him for less if we give him an extension now,
04:14which might be a thought.
04:15Eh, maybe he might stick.
04:17So I think we're all on the same page there.
04:19Can you go to the phones?
04:20Yeah.
04:21I got this list.
04:21I'm dying to share this list, but I'm dying to get to the phones.
04:24I'm dying all the time.
04:25Rodney in Litchfield.
04:26Rodney, hello.
04:28Good morning, gentlemen.
04:29Happy hump day to you.
04:30Same to you, Rodney.
04:31Go ahead.
04:33Well, I've been saying this for many years.
04:36To me, football is the ultimate team sport.
04:41And here's what I mean by that.
04:44Baseball, you can buy your way out of problems.
04:46I mean, baseball is what it is.
04:48We know how it is right now.
04:49Until the rules change, I can buy my way out of problems.
04:52Mets fans would disagree, but I digress.
04:55Go ahead.
04:56Go ahead.
04:56Okay.
04:57Okay.
04:57The Mets.
04:58One out of ten teams.
04:59Mm-hmm.
05:00Basketball, I can get maybe one or two solid players and change my season around.
05:06You know, whoever those two players are.
05:08Two players can change your whole thing.
05:11That's not the case in football.
05:13You need a good owner.
05:14I'm not sure we have a good owner.
05:16You need good general manager.
05:19He's had a good two years.
05:20We can't argue about that, right?
05:22The last two years have been really pretty good.
05:24You need a good offense, a good defense, good special teams.
05:29You need good coaches.
05:31It's the only sport where you've got to be clicking in all of these spots to be doing well.
05:39And, again, we're giving Watson all this credit.
05:42Listen, he's played good.
05:44He's not great.
05:45He's played good.
05:46I mean, they were knocking his interception last week.
05:50And you heard what the announcer said.
05:52You heard what Boston said after the game.
05:56The interception was his fault, not Watson's fault.
05:59Mm-hmm.
06:00So my point was Watson.
06:03You know, I'm not going to jump from the tallest building in the city right now because it's only seven
06:11games.
06:11We over-exuberate all this stuff.
06:17It's way too early.
06:18We haven't played anybody good yet.
06:20Listen, we're winning.
06:23Let's enjoy the moment.
06:25We are winning.
06:27Would you say the coach we have now is better than the coach we had before?
06:30I think you have to say yeah.
06:32Yeah.
06:33Well, when he finished, I think the Stefanski, I have heard a lot of that.
06:39I think, you know, Munkin's doing exactly what Stefanski started out doing, beating AFC North teams, right, hitting the ground
06:45running and getting blown out in the opener.
06:47That's exactly how Kevin Stefanski started.
06:49And then, over time, over shift, you know, starting to replace players and new players came in.
06:56End of Nick Chubb.
06:58Like, yeah, it got stale for Stefanski.
07:00Right now, we're at the new, sexy and fresh Todd Munkin.
07:03Well, just lock me in a vacuum here because I don't know if, you know, we're always kind of waiting
07:07for the other shoe to drop here, guys.
07:08But, like, yeah, all those things are true.
07:12You're still resurrecting, quote-unquote, resurrecting a quarterback in Baker Mayfield for Kevin Stefanski that people wanted to see and
07:19wanted to see do well.
07:21There were a lot of people, including myself, who did not want to see Deshaun Watson out there because I
07:25thought it was just more bad feelings with the fans.
07:27I thought it was more anger for the fans.
07:30And the fans were angry to see him.
07:32And you've made him.
07:33See, I didn't care about that part.
07:34I know you didn't, but I did.
07:36I did.
07:37And I didn't know how much guys would actually be led by Deshaun Watson because I didn't think he had
07:43any confidence in himself.
07:44I thought he was a broken quarterback.
07:45And so I think that Todd Munkin, what Todd Munkin has done in year one as compared to Kevin Stefanski
07:51through seven games has to be more impressive because you have found a way to get a language with your
07:59quarterback that works.
08:00And you found a way to make him effective where before he was unplayable.
08:05Baker, I don't think, was unplayable.
08:06No.
08:07There were problems, but you could get those fixed.
08:10And a lot of that started at the top with leadership and going, hey, we need, we gave too much
08:15power to the kid.
08:16We got to take some of this back.
08:17We got to have some adults in the room here.
08:19That's what it needs to be.
08:20I know that's a tough sentence to say.
08:23And now you looked at this situation where it's like, hey, we got this broken quarterback here.
08:27The whole world wants us to move on from him.
08:30He might want us to move on from him at that point.
08:32And you got a guy going, no, I think I can still get some out of him.
08:35Okay, Jack, you go right on ahead.
08:37Man, he's getting something that's effective out of him.
08:40Not the best quarterback play we've ever seen.
08:41Sure as hell ain't the worst that we've ever seen.
08:43And certainly not the worst that we've ever seen from Deshaun Watson.
08:46So that deserves a lot of credit.
08:48Now, I don't think, though, that Todd's, he's a head coach.
08:51He's a football coach.
08:52He's got an ego.
08:53Is his ego so big that he thinks that he can just manipulate him like a puppet and we're going
08:57to set sail for the rest of our lives?
09:00The metrics would say no.
09:02The metrics would say we're, again, we're surviving week to week instead of making long-term plans.
09:09So that's why I think that he would hold back.
09:10Also, the caller said, well, we haven't beaten anybody good.
09:14Who's good then in the NFL that we would have beaten, you know, okay, we haven't played San Francisco.
09:19We haven't played Kansas.
09:20Well, they're not on the schedule.
09:21Yeah, haven't played Kansas City.
09:22But who are the good teams?
09:23Is Pittsburgh right now considered not good?
09:26I mean, and obviously Baltimore would be considered good.
09:29Pittsburgh's 5-2.
09:29They're pretty good.
09:30They had the backup quarterback.
09:31Yeah.
09:31But still, we haven't really beaten anybody.
09:36I think we've beaten.
09:39Carolina was a playoff team last year, weren't they?
09:41Well, they did.
09:42They did make the playoffs.
09:44Nobody totally believed in them.
09:45Yeah, it's the NFC South, so fine.
09:46Had that Tampa game not happened yet, then maybe you.
09:49All right.
09:49Yeah, fine.
09:51But yeah.
09:51Tampa's 2-5.
09:53Yeah, I'm talking about Tampa beating Carolina on Sunday by like 58,000 points.
09:58I dig what you're saying.
09:59That was a weird game.
10:00I mean, Baker barely threw the ball.
10:01Baker had to throw for like 30 yards like it was the old wing tee.
10:04It was a bad game.
10:05It was a bad game.
10:07Let me get to the phones real quick.
10:08Jeremy in Charlotte.
10:09North Carolina.
10:10Hello.
10:11Got to go quick.
10:11Go.
10:12Hey, I think with Deshaun Watson, what you got to look at is the full body of work when
10:16they're making a decision to extend them or not.
10:18I think if we see Deshaun Watson that we saw at Cleveland versus Pittsburgh again next Sunday
10:24and then throughout the course of the season, I think you do extend them for your average
10:28cost of a quarterback as opposed to trying to do an Archman experiment, which I think
10:32is going to be really ugly and nasty if we do that.
10:35Well, I think Archman is just going to go back to college.
10:37I don't know if he's going to go back to Texas, but I think he's just going to go back
10:39to college.
10:40So, and that's just my personal thought.
10:42I don't know.
10:42I only got any insider stuff there, obviously, but, uh, oh, you hope he goes back.
10:46Do you just not like him or do you think he just needs to go back to college?
10:49I think he needs to go back to college to get a little more experience.
10:52There's just too many inconsistencies in his game right now.
10:55I think make him a number one overall pick as a quarterback or a top pick as a quarterback
10:59and try and lead a very young Browns team.
11:02I think you're better off with a veteran like Deshaun, even if it is only in fourth quarter
11:06game-winning drives.
11:07I completely agree in so many ways, Jeremy.
11:09Thank you very much for the call.
11:102-1-6-4-7-4-0-92.
11:12All right.
11:12I want to get to some more of you guys.
11:14And do I finally get to get my list out?
11:16Guys, he is better than you may think.
11:19Or you guys are going to hate this list and you're going to think I'm seeing this through
11:22brown and orange colored glasses, which if history shows anything, then maybe you're
11:27going to believe that second part.
11:28Ken Carman, Anthony Lima, Brian Baldinger, Compass Media, NFL Network, Odyssey NFL Insider
11:36coming up at 7.
11:38Does he think the Browns are real?
11:39He'll answer it.
11:397 o'clock on the.
