00:00We did find out today, at about 9.30 today, that Deshaun Watson has been placed in concussion protocol.
00:07Why do these quarterbacks keep an injury?
00:09See? See? Now that one makes sense, by the way.
00:13It is, don't allow Jaquan Brisker's cheap ass to hit him with his helmet, and maybe you won't avoid this
00:18kind of thing.
00:18So again, going back to Sunday, Deshaun gets hit on that first drive, has to go, he clears concussion protocol,
00:25comes back in, the rest of the game happens.
00:27He clears the concussion protocol after the game, and then apparently comes back within the last 24 to 48 hours
00:34to the Browns with symptoms, and it's just interesting.
00:39One, I did not see this one coming.
00:41I think, like everybody else, once he cleared and there was no new news yesterday, or certainly Monday, I thought
00:47this was just, okay, we're on to New Orleans.
00:50This is, one, I feel a little bit for Deshaun, who's put up the moments that he's put up this
00:58year, because there is an opportunity to be Wally Pipped here.
01:02Two, I also think anytime you change guards here, if that's indeed what ends up happening, there's an element here
01:08where there's some combustibility that can maybe make you feel worse about this game as well.
01:13Well, yeah, I mean, there's so many different layers to this, but if you're Deshaun Watson, this came at what
01:18I think is the worst possible time.
01:21Past couple weeks, there's started to have been real questions about whether it was the Browns winning these games or
01:24Deshaun Watson winning these games,
01:25and you combo that with the fact that the Saints defense is about as much of a get-right game
01:30as the NFL offers up,
01:31and so, like, the opportunity for Deshaun, who does?
01:34I mean, the past couple weeks, he's had some high numbers as far as passing yards, but he's not found
01:38the end zone in three weeks now,
01:39and he has not been scoring points, and there was a real opportunity to put up a lot of points
01:43this weekend,
01:44and if he can't go, he's not going to have that opportunity.
01:46Let's just separate it by one week.
01:48If this happened after the Titans game, where, remember, he ran for the touchdown, and he threw for over 300
01:54yards,
01:55and it was like a legitimate 300.
01:56The Pittsburgh game, guys, that was a lot of fluff yardage.
01:59That's not the Tennessee game.
02:00The Tennessee game, there was a lot of throwing his way back into that win for the Browns.
02:05That's what I would call a 300-yard game in earnest.
02:07If this is Tuesday of that week, our reaction, sorry, ours, the Browns fans' reaction, I think, is a lot
02:14more one-sided,
02:15and the, damn, he just had a good game category, because it's coming off the Steelers game,
02:20and because it was such a total shellacking, and Deshaun specifically was not very good in it,
02:25and I do think there is an element of people who see this as an opportunity.
02:30That feels a little opportunistic for me, but I get it.
02:33Well, that's all the NFL offers up sometimes, right?
02:35And so, like, if you don't think Deshaun Watson's the quarterback long-term,
02:38or you don't think Deshaun Watson's even good at this point, then you want to see the next man up.
02:41But for myself, I just, I think about this as the missed opportunity for Deshaun,
02:45because this was a real get-right game, and it's a real chance against a bad Saints defense
02:50to look about as good as he possibly can.
02:52Maybe not get sacked a million times, maybe not have the fumble happen, maybe, like, certain things.
02:57Get in the end zone once again for the first time in a month.
02:59Like, there was so many chances for Deshaun to kind of dispel what has been building up for a few
03:04weeks now.
03:05So, I'm curious, when you first heard the news at 9.30, and I was listening to Ken and Anthony
03:11when it happened,
03:12I was in my car driving around, my first thought was, well, if this happened yesterday,
03:18man, there's still so much time.
03:19I saw the Daryl tweet, Daryl with a great tweet about there have been three players
03:22that have been in the protocol midweek that have then cleared protocol by Saturday.
03:27Immediately, did you think we're on to Shador, or did you think?
03:30No, I thought of Titus Howard instantly.
03:32And maybe it's because I do the Sunday shows, so I have to, like, keep track of what's happening all
03:36throughout the week,
03:37and then Sunday before the game, because there's storylines there.
03:39But Sunday before the game, when they said, Howard's in, DeJuan Jones is out,
03:43because he ended up getting cleared on Saturday after having three straight DNPs,
03:48it was like, oh, oh, Browns are playing a little, not fast and loose with this,
03:51but this is not what typically happens.
03:53I've been doing those long enough.
03:54That's not what happens when you miss all the practices in the week.
03:56You don't get cleared on Sunday, and then obviously you start to hear some things,
04:00and you start to hear some convos about maybe a lack of belief that Todd Munkin had in DeJuan Jones,
04:04and all of a sudden, Titus Howard's able to play.
04:06Okay, fine.
04:07But what that tells me is that the Browns, if they want you to clear concussion protocol,
04:12they can find a way for you to clear concussion protocol,
04:13and they can do it late, late in the week where other teams won't.
04:16I do think that's an interesting point, by the way,
04:18because I think teams still exert influence, and it's tough to say,
04:22because I don't want to say that about the Browns specifically.
04:24I still think athletes have a say in how they handle the protocol.
04:28I still think teams do have some influence over this.
04:32I think it's treated as a very by-the-book thing,
04:35and I'm sure that's the appearance everybody wants to have,
04:38is there's still billion-dollar industries run by imperfect people
04:42and with a lot of moving parts in there,
04:44and I think that's an important context that you just delivered there.
04:47But it's interesting.
04:48I was where you were, which is, yeah, I mean,
04:51I would be surprised if DeJuan allows himself to not be cleared by Saturday
04:58because if we think back to the Pittsburgh game,
05:01Chador was getting ready to go back out there again,
05:03and it was kind of DeJuan's Willis-Reed moment
05:06where he waved him off and went out there himself.
05:09I thought it was the right move by DeJuan.
05:11Oh, yeah, yeah.
05:11100%.
05:12You don't want Chador getting in there,
05:13and also you want as many reps as you possibly can as well.
05:16Yeah, and I just think from the DeJuan side of things,
05:19you know the next time you go off the field, if it's for injury,
05:22that might be the last time you're on the field, not just in Cleveland,
05:26but I don't know how if Sunday was his last game on the field for the Browns
05:33and he hits the open market this offseason,
05:36I don't know how the NFL will treat him.
05:38I don't know if people look at the first eight games of the season as a positive.
05:42I don't know if they'll look at this and go,
05:44yeah, the tape still isn't good enough in his last game, he was poor.
05:47Yeah, and if you look at the counting stats,
05:49which is what a lot of these teams will end up doing,
05:50they will say it wasn't good enough,
05:51and then he'd be resigned to a backup role more likely than not.
05:54He'd still be an NFL player.
05:55He'd still get an opportunity, but it'd be as a backup.
05:58But, listen, I don't know.
05:59The way the Browns are, or at least my interpretation of how the Browns are putting this out
06:03through sourcing and through other people
06:05is the idea that they expect Chador Sanders to be the starter on Sunday.
06:08That's the interpretation that I got out of this as of right now.
06:11But, again, they did this last week.
06:14We watched them go through with this,
06:15and then on Saturday, Titus Howard would be cleared and all of a sudden play.
06:18And so I feel like if Deshaun by Saturday feels good,
06:22then he'll find a way to be out there.
06:23I can't speak to it because I don't know how seriously injured he is.
06:26Yeah, this is one where we're trying to parse kind of things away from here.
06:30Chador talking today is an interesting tact.
06:32You could have waited until Friday for more clarity on whether it's Deshaun
06:36or what you saw today from Chador in practice.
06:39The Browns chose to put him out there.
06:41And, by the way, I think they chose to put him out there because of continuity.
06:44Well, yeah, Wednesdays are when the quarterbacks talk typically.
06:47But given the circumstances, you could have pushed that until Friday.
06:50Sure, everyone would have understood.
06:51So I think that's an interesting wrinkle here.
06:53And like what you just said, I think the Browns are presenting this.
06:57And I think one of the – I don't want to be skeptical about it
07:01because I'll be honest with you.
07:03I don't know who's going to start on Sunday.
07:04I don't lean one way or another.
07:06I tend to think it's going to take the cavalry to keep Deshaun out
07:09if he has something to say about it, if he can do things
07:13that will allow him to pass this test.
07:15I think he understands the gravity of allowing another quarterback to start
07:19given the ups and downs of the first eight games.
07:22And, again, whoever goes out there, if they play well,
07:25that's not good for Deshaun even if Deshaun gets his job back immediately, right?
07:29But I do think – there's a part of me that when I heard Munkin talk about it today
07:34and talking about the complexity of the protocol for quarterbacks specifically,
07:39talking about how it's tough to practice without a – sorry,
07:42it's tough to play without a week of practice if you're the quarterback.
07:45There's an element of it's like, all right, is this – because he's right.
07:49He's singing the right tune, but is he singing it for more than one reason?
07:53Is he singing it for, hey, there's the obvious, which is, yeah,
07:57he might not be ready and we're preparing for that case.
08:00The other might be – it makes a lot of sense for a young team
08:03to not allow this to be a distraction.
08:05And by acting today, both feet in that it looks like Shador's going to be the starter,
08:11that probably gives this team the best chance to win on Sunday.
08:15Yeah, and trying to make it as seamless as possible.
08:17That's got to be their M.O.
08:18I get it.
08:19I just – I would imagine how Deshaun feels in all this is the biggest equation,
08:23but you have to present it and you have to act as if Shador's going to be the guy
08:26ready to go.
08:27It's just we won't be able to find out until we get later in the week
08:29and Deshaun actually tells everyone whether or not he's experiencing some of the stuff
08:33that he's experiencing right now.
08:34...
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