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00:00This is probably the earliest in the week I've been excited about the Browns game
00:04because mostly I've been just trying to ride the good vibes, right?
00:07Just trying to enjoy Victory Monday, turn that into a Victory Tuesday.
00:11If we can spin it into a Victory Wednesday and Thursday and Friday, I'll do that too.
00:15But this game, given that both teams have a stake in the AFC North top spot
00:21with the Browns being in first place currently,
00:24and with everything going on in this game,
00:27I just have really worked myself into a real state of excitement
00:31given what could be on the line this Sunday.
00:33Yeah, if we're being honest about it, Sunday night I wanted to talk about this game.
00:36It's just not how this goes. It's not how we do this thing.
00:39We've got to react. We've got to find out what we liked, what we didn't like.
00:42Typically we wait until Wednesday. Well, Wednesday's here.
00:44I'm excited to talk about this.
00:46And it feels like it's a huge game for Deshaun. It's a huge game for Todd Munkin.
00:49It's a huge game to validate the Browns in the eyes of people outside of Cleveland.
00:55I don't know that every Browns fan needs the game on Sunday to validate the Browns.
01:01I think there are enough people like myself who say,
01:03you're 5-2. I'm done doing the weekly. Is it valid? Is it sustainable?
01:08Like, at some point, that's going to take away from the enjoyment of this thing.
01:12But I do think there's still enough people in Cleveland thinking,
01:16all right, maybe I do need validated a little bit.
01:19Well, not only in Cleveland. I mean, nationally too.
01:21You've got ESPN writers saying it's all a mirage between these two teams.
01:25That is one other element of this, is that Steelers fans can't decide if they're real or not either right
01:29now.
01:30And so it's funny. I listened into the PM team last night.
01:33It was trying to get their gauge on everything.
01:35And they're trying to figure out whether or not the Steelers are a team that's even good.
01:38Coming off a three-straight-win performance, Albert Breer in Sports Illustrated is like,
01:43I don't know about this one, guys.
01:44That is what's going to annoy me a little bit.
01:46But this should be a game that whoever wins it, it is a significant feather in their cap.
01:52One way or another.
01:53All right?
01:54And I think it's a lot to ask of the Browns, by the way, to beat the same team twice
01:59inside five weeks.
02:00That's not a Steelers thing.
02:01That's a quality of play in the NFL and how hard it is to do the same thing and so
02:08close to each other.
02:09If it was September versus December, it's a different conversation.
02:12No, this is five weeks between the Thursday night game and this game.
02:16So we're asking a lot of the Browns here.
02:19But at the same point, I can already kind of see that certain people, if the Browns win this game,
02:25are just going to use it to discredit the Steelers.
02:27I'm cool if you do that if you're in Pittsburgh.
02:30I'm not cool if you do that nationally.
02:31Like, at some point, if the Browns are beating teams with winning records and you go,
02:36yeah, but what does it mean?
02:37I am going to be forced to ignore you.
02:39Yeah, that's fine.
02:40You can just ignore them then.
02:40It's okay.
02:41It's all right.
02:42Just do that then.
02:42Just ignore them.
02:43I'm not going to do it.
02:44I'm going to attack them.
02:45Yeah, there we go.
02:46That's more the spirit.
02:47But, like, no, I mean, it's such a big game.
02:49It's a big game for trying to rewrite.
02:51Everyone keeps telling us and we keep believing that this Browns team is different under Todd Munkin.
02:55It is different than what we've seen in years past.
02:57It feels different.
02:58It looks different.
02:58Well, then do something different.
03:00Beat the Steelers in their house for the first time in 20 years in the regular season.
03:05Like, if you want to convince me that this thing is very, very abnormal relative to recent Browns seasons,
03:10then you have to do things that we haven't seen done before.
03:13Now, I have to bring something to the table that I do understand
03:16and that is going to push back on my general idea of trust in Todd.
03:20Yeah.
03:21All right.
03:21And as I'm a trust in Todd man, there's a lot that I kind of just go with now that
03:26he has proven beyond a lot of measure.
03:29Like, more than I really thought he could have in the first seven weeks of the season,
03:33that you just lean back, trust in Todd, and let the good vibes roll.
03:36Right?
03:36He did say something today, right out of the gate, in his press conference, that even if I understand it,
03:43it doesn't mean I have to like it.
03:44Here was Todd Munkin being asked about the stakes for this week and how much he's talked to his team
03:50about the stakes for this week against the Steelers.
03:52Well, it has nothing to do with our team.
03:54I mean, this year, whether it's where we're at record-wise, comparing the past or the history against the Steelers,
04:01it's a divisional game.
04:02So, as I always say, what matters is what we do today, how we practice today, how we prepare today.
04:07For any opponent, it's bigger because it's obviously a divisional opponent.
04:11Fastest way to get in the playoffs is win your division.
04:13That's the fastest way to get in the playoffs.
04:15I mean, you're guaranteed in the tournament.
04:17And we're a long ways away from that.
04:18That's not what I'm saying.
04:19That's why the game is what it is.
04:21And rivalries are made up of good teams playing each other.
04:25We're fighting like hell to be a really good team.
04:27Now, this was part of a very subdued Munkin today.
04:30Yeah.
04:30And I understand that in that locker room, there's not a lot of foundation of a potential beef yet because
04:37you are so young.
04:38And quite frankly, the Browns haven't consistently earned their place in this alleged rivalry the last 26 years.
04:45I understand all of that.
04:46I also understand that Todd Munkin is probably thinking to himself,
04:50this is a game with a lot of really big implications, and his instinct seems to be to downplay that.
04:56Right?
04:57Because, again, he's got a young team.
04:59I totally understand that.
05:01I also don't like it at all.
05:02Okay.
05:03Like, this is a game.
05:04Like, I think there is some semblance of importance on putting these games in proper construct and put them in
05:12the proper framing.
05:13And so, you know, the past has nothing to do with us.
05:17I understand that that is a literal statement, that this is a very young team, and they weren't even here
05:22for, most of these guys weren't here for the Stefanski era.
05:24Yeah.
05:25I don't care.
05:25As a fan, I want to hear that you know how important this game is and that this game isn't
05:31just who's next on your schedule.
05:33I mean, is he just trying to do some damage control, maybe?
05:36Because it feels like the Steelers have already got the memo that they're about as bulletin board, material-filled as
05:41you can possibly get.
05:42Whether that is Mason McCormick going after the idea that Jared Verse has punched him in the first game.
05:46Whether that is Cam Hayward responding to some of those comments.
05:49And then Cam Hayward saying that he got off the plane at 2 a.m. and went straight to do
05:53workouts because he's so pumped up to beat the Browns.
05:55And then Mike Tomlin, or sorry, Mike McCarthy, and all the commentary he made Sunday after the game about this
06:01Browns matchup, like already getting ready for it.
06:03Like, I just wonder if he didn't want to stoke the flame and kick the hornet's nest.
06:07I think you're 100% right.
06:09And this is the time where I want you to kick the hornet's nest.
06:12All right?
06:13There is, you know, it is always interesting to me when Todd walks softly and carries a big stick, and
06:19when sometimes Todd just goes out there and is a little bit louder.
06:23He tends to do it after wins.
06:25No, he does.
06:26Like with the same old Browns bleep, or Browns is the Browns bleep that.
06:29I feel like it typically is after wins.
06:31I feel like if I give him credit for, I've given him credit for a lot this year, but like
06:34one thing I've given him credit for, he seems to strike the right tune often.
06:39You think this one's a miss?
06:40No.
06:41Yes, I do think it's a miss.
06:42It's a miss for me as a fan.
06:44And I understand that that might be different.
06:46It's just not for me.
06:46Then it's not, meaning it might not be a miss in that locker room.
06:50Listen, if you're a fan and you need to get excited for the Steelers game, first off, you need to
06:53reconsider your Browns fandom a little bit.
06:55No, I want Todd Munkin to sound excited.
06:57I don't want to have Melatonin Munkin talking about this Browns-Steelers matchup.
07:02Don't give us Melatonin Munkin now.
07:03I want Munkin.
07:04That wrote off too clean.
07:06I want Munkin the maximizer, all right?
07:08I want Boots to ask Todd.
07:10He might be doing that.
07:11He played Renegade in practice today.
07:14Show your work.
07:15Why does that matter to me?
07:16Because that's the Steelers' song.
07:17What do you mean?
07:17So is he using it to troll the Browns?
07:20Is that what he's doing?
07:20He's trolling the Steelers.
07:21He's like, you're going to hear Renegade.
07:22It's played every single game for the Steelers for the past how many years.
07:26I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to – that's him trolling.
07:28That's him getting in his bag.
07:30I know.
07:30Listen, again, I trust in Todd, and I do understand the idea of underplaying this.
07:37I just think in the NFL, there are a lot of games that you go next game up, next man
07:42up, all that.
07:43And there are other days, then there are certain games that you go, no, this is a big freaking deal.
07:49And I think it's okay.
07:51I think it's a –
07:51Maybe he loves the idea, though, that this Browns team doesn't necessarily understand how big some of these moments are.
07:56And so, like, at their 5-2 and having control of the AFC North, they haven't had the experience to
08:02understand that, one, you're not supposed to beat the Steelers twice in the same season.
08:06And you're also really – if you're the Browns historically, you're not supposed to be in first place at this
08:10part of the season either.
08:11Maybe like an ignorance is bliss approach is what Munkin is trying to go for here.
08:15I don't like it.
08:16And I'm just here to say –
08:17I like it.
08:18I like the approach.
08:19As much as I trust in Todd, man, I need something different here.
08:24I really do.
08:25All right, give me your speech.
08:26This is a big freaking deal.
08:27Give me your Todd Munkin.
08:27I can even be the – I can play the job of the media member if you'd like.
08:31Well, guys.
08:32No, no.
08:33It's not going to play well.
08:34Well, come on.
08:35You've been working on your Munkin.
08:36What happened there?
08:37Oh, guys.
08:38Blame the Steelers.
08:40Okay.
08:40All right.
08:40It's not great.
08:41You don't got it.
08:42It just sounds like I'm insulting him and I don't want to insult Todd.
08:44Yeah, you got to workshop it a little bit more.
08:46This is a little bit of flick.
08:47I'm flicking Todd, right?
08:49I'm hitting him.
08:49I'm like – I'm not hitting him because he whooped my ass even at 60.
08:52Woody, I saw a graphic the other day.
08:55This just random guy on the internet was like, how many head coaches could beat my ass and which ones
08:59couldn't?
08:59He had Munkin in the couldn't category.
09:01Yeah, he is –
09:02He's still 60 years old.
09:03But he's got old man strength.
09:05And I think that is a real thing that – who is this guy that did the rankings?
09:08I don't even know who it was.
09:09He's just a random guy.
09:09Well, that Jemoke probably was underselling a little bit.
09:11Just a random guy.
09:12We give Todd Munkin so much credit for being real and for being off the cuff and comfortable being himself.
09:21That sounded real, though.
09:22No, it sounded fake to me.
09:23No, it was just another –
09:25It's just another game.
09:26He knows the rivalry because he's been around football his whole entire life.
09:30And he coached in the AFC North, so he knows the ramifications of this.
09:34Yeah.
09:34But he doesn't know the same way you know it.
09:35Well, of course.
09:36Nobody –
09:37He doesn't have a Brown Steelers connection the way that everyone does.
09:40He's building that.
09:41He's working on that.
09:42He's building that.
09:43But he's only been the head coach here for seven months.
09:45One, he was here in 2019.
09:47Two, which I'm going to –
09:49And I would never use 2019 as a vote of confidence in anything learned from Todd Munkin there.
09:54Well, no, my point is you said he's only been the head coach here for eight months.
09:57And that's true.
09:57But –
09:58Well, yes, that's true.
09:59But he's also been here before.
10:00So he has to have some sort of foundational knowledge.
10:03I'm going to guess Browns fans in 2019 had explained it to him ad nauseum the importance of beating the
10:09Pittsburgh Steelers.
10:10I'm going to assume that Todd really does know.
10:13I'm glad you brought that up, though.
10:14It's a great point to bring up because where did Freddie Kitchens really step in it that season
10:17and make himself endearing to the fans but mocked across the sport?
10:21Do you remember?
10:22When he bought his first six-pack?
10:23No.
10:24When he wore the Pittsburgh Started It t-shirt.
10:26And he really tried to rub in the idea that Pittsburgh started it and all this other nonsense.
10:31And he played into the Steelers-Browns rivalry as if the head coach should be basically pumpkin head out there
10:38and ranting and hollering about a rivalry.
10:40And he watched Kitchens firsthand make an embarrassment out of himself nationally because of that.
10:45Yeah, but that wasn't just because of that shirt.
10:47It's because Freddie was a walking disaster.
10:49Todd has already proven himself more capable.
10:51That ended up being the number one thing that people kept going back to and pointing to
10:55and making fun of Freddie Kitchens and mocking Freddie Kitchens.
10:58But the idea –
10:59Maybe you talk about where he got this from.
11:01Maybe calm down actually happened seven years ago in that moment.
11:05Freddie Kitchens is that much in Todd Munkin's cage.
11:08I got more concern for Todd than I have trust.
11:10And that's why I reject it firmly.
11:12I want – I want him to –
11:14You can reject it.
11:14Then don't go to 2019 as far as lessons learned for things.
11:17Well, no.
11:17He's been here.
11:18That was the point.
11:19It's clearly a lesson learned.
11:20The point is he's been here and he understands the rivalry.
11:23The idea that he doesn't have any foundation in the rivalry is bonkers.
11:26He's seen a head coach stepping it right away.
11:27Okay, so he's got a year and seven months.
11:29This is like this big experience that he has?
11:32It doesn't take ten years to understand we hate Pittsburgh here.
11:35Yeah, but it might take a long time before you get to the spot where you're like,
11:38I'm just going to kick the hornet's nest for the second game of the season
11:41because Nick wants me to.
11:43Oh, you know, guys, it's just another game.
11:45Don't care if we win or lose.
11:47You know who loves this mentality?
11:47I just really want to go ahead and enjoy my life.
11:50You know who I can promise loves this mentality?
11:51That's what I'm hearing out of you.
11:52That's the Munkin you want.
11:53You know who I can promise loves this?
11:54Melatonin Munkin is all you want in this planet.
11:56Coach Riz loves this.
11:57Oh, you know who you love?
11:58Coach Riz loves this.
11:59You want him to be Kevin Stefanski.
12:00That's what you want him to be.
12:02You want him to be barely awake is what I was going for there.
12:06No, I just don't need him to stoke the flames unnecessarily so.
12:10In a game where you're three-and-a-half-point dogs,
12:12you want to start talking crap?
12:13How is it?
12:14That's not Munkin's M.O.
12:16Who asked him to talk crap?
12:18You're twisting this.
12:19You're very slippery wizarding this right now.
12:21Not particularly.
12:22All I'm saying is you can acknowledge that this is a significant game.
12:25You can acknowledge that this is an important game in the season beyond just
12:29I think he's already established that in a year and seven months,
12:32he knows it's a big game.
12:33What do you need his acknowledgement for?
12:34Because he's downplayed it.
12:36He's done this.
12:37You said he's had so much time.
12:40How much more time does he need?
12:41He understands the rivalry.
12:42Then why do you need him to say it into a microphone?
12:43Because I'd like my head coach to understand the importance of this game.
12:47You already gave him the benefit of the doubt that he knows it and understands how big this is.
12:49There's a difference of knowing it off the mic and saying it into a mic.
12:51Why does he need to say it into a mic if the understanding is that he knows it?
12:54I don't ever – I want to go back and play every moment you bitched about Kevin Stefanski
12:58for the last five years, six years.
13:00I want to play it where you were so furious about what a boring knob he was.
13:05Stefanski was true to who he is.
13:05And now we get a boring knob moment out of Munkin.
13:07Munkin is being true to who he is.
13:08Oh, he's being true to who he is.
13:09He's not a talk crap before guy.
13:11He's a talk crap after guy.
13:13That's who he is.
13:13That's who he's shown us to be.
13:15So I want him to go rogue all of a sudden and talk crap beforehand?
13:18I want him to address the rivalry and act like this is one for the marbles.
13:22You're a Tomlin talks crap and then after you win the game, you talk your smack afterwards.
13:25That's who you are.
13:26Munkin is a I will bury you and then I'll dance on your grave guy,
13:31not a I'm going to dance on the grave before the grave has actually been built.
13:34Well, you can go ahead and start building the grave and then dance on it afterwards.
13:38I want my cake and ate it too.
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