00:00This is a Texans defense that plays that same kind of attack style front.
00:04We were talking about it, that the Browns play.
00:06And obviously we saw that the last time Watson played against Pittsburgh.
00:10And it was terrible.
00:11Like Alex Highsmith and TJ Watt had the game of their seasons against the Browns.
00:16So hopefully they learned from that.
00:18Hopefully, honestly, that's some tape that you could look back on even this week
00:22and see some of what went wrong in that game.
00:26To make matters worse, though, you're not going to have your fullback here.
00:29And I actually think that maybe this is a game where you could really use Michael Burton
00:33to just chip and block and do some of that dirty work.
00:37They elevated pretty much every tight end that they've got off the practice squad.
00:42We're going to have Carson Ryan speaking to somebody that's been penalized.
00:45Oh, my goodness.
00:46The seventh round rookie is going to be on the active roster today.
00:50And then Zyre Mitchell-Payden, who they picked up onto the practice squad this week,
00:55is going to get a game day activation.
00:57So it's going to be all hands on deck.
00:58That tells you they understand that this Houston Texans pass rush is going to be coming for Deshaun Watson,
01:04and they can't afford to let him get sacked eight times like what happened against the Pittsburgh Steelers
01:09last time we saw a front like this.
01:11Yeah, and I think we point to the defensive ends on this team right now without Daniil Hunter, right?
01:15Jadavion Clowney, Will Anderson.
01:17And really looking at the attacking front, this is where the Browns need to find success.
01:21Like I jokingly say, you can't be taking seven-step drops.
01:24Stepping up into the pocket this week is your best friend.
01:26And I thought what happened a couple times in that Pittsburgh game where Spencer Fano or Titus Howard,
01:32they're able to force T.J. Watt to rush very deep, right?
01:35And it feels like, hey, he's beating me to the outside, but this is easy.
01:39Like I'm around the back of the pocket right now.
01:41You're going to have to circle all the way back around.
01:42The right side is going to be completely open.
01:44And why does Howard go in the air is because he feels like he kicks T.J. Watt to the
01:49curb,
01:49and then he beats him all the way around the edge.
01:51But he's like, hey, I got Deshaun way in front of me at this point.
01:54Like he's probably rolling out right with a daylight in front of him.
01:57And he turns around, and T.J. Watt's got his arms around Deshaun Watson.
02:00He's like, how did you end up behind me?
02:03How did you end up there?
02:04Like that can't happen, and you can get those same things.
02:06And we talk about a Browns defense, right?
02:08Why they struggle in the run game, well, they pin their ears back.
02:10Why the Texans struggle in the run game.
02:12Pin your ears back.
02:13Offensive lines will just let you get upfield and then take advantage of that in the run game.
02:16They'll be like, okay, sure.
02:18You can have that.
02:19You get pinned down, and there is a massive hole to run through.
02:21That's six plus yards every single time, as we've seen from the Browns.
02:25So like you're able to do that, and you take away Aziz Alshier.
02:29Okay, like that can be had.
02:31But in the passing game, you have to be ready for that.
02:33You have to make sure that Deshaun is not taking those drops.
02:36The same way he can't be taking those drops against the Steelers, and you have to be ready to exploit
02:39it in the run game.
02:41I think this is interesting from a Deshaun perspective, too.
02:43Because, Nick, how many times this week have you seen the narrative of Deshaun revenge game thrown out in the
02:49media
02:49because he's playing his former team in the Houston Texans?
02:52A lot.
02:52It's more of a national media thing than it is here locally.
02:56Even this morning, Adam Schefter putting out the reminder of how many picks the Browns gave to Houston for that
03:04Deshaun Watson trade.
03:05I just don't think that this is really a textbook revenge game, though, because Deshaun already played Houston.
03:11The Browns beat Houston in Deshaun's first game back from that suspension.
03:15Now, Deshaun was really bad in that game.
03:18They won in spite of him in that game, but I just don't think there's much juice to a Deshaun
03:23revenge game this time through
03:24because I honestly think it's really two organizations that I think Deshaun said it best this week
03:30when he said it's two organizations that have kind of turned the page and fighting to be playoff teams this
03:34year.
03:34Yeah, I mean, so it's kind of like revenge game-esque, I think, in the way that we talked about
03:39it in the first segment
03:40that, hey, you've made a couple of bad deals with this team.
03:42Like, do the Browns want this game a little bit extra?
03:44Yeah, I think maybe organizationally you want it a little extra, like sitting up in the front office from the
03:48second-level view.
03:50Then you might want this game a little bit more, but I think from the play style standpoint,
03:54like, I really don't even know that Deshaun revenge game against the Texans ever existed
04:00because it's not like that was a team who just blatantly gave up on him and said he wasn't good
04:05enough of a quarterback.
04:06Revenge for what?
04:07You know, people forget he quit on them.
04:11Like, that last year, he voluntarily sat out.
04:14And, I mean, that was a team who paid him a contract, who gave him a lot of money.
04:19And he was sitting out, like, after that.
04:21Yeah.
04:22Like, after all that money.
04:23So, it's a completely different scenario.
04:25So, I just, I don't know that there was any juice to a revenge game to begin with.
04:29Now, is there on Houston's side?
04:32Like, if you're doing Texans pregame radio this morning,
04:35is there juice on it from your side after what we just talked about?
04:39That he kind of took that money and sat on the sideline?
04:41Now, obviously, you got five draft picks out of it, including three first-round picks
04:45that helped you build this perennial AFC contender that you've got.
04:49But I do wonder if the Texans look at Deshaun with a little bit more juice today.
04:53I don't even really think so, if we're being honest.
04:55Like, I think that this is probably a little bit more of, like,
04:58you look forward to what you have right now.
05:00Yeah.
05:00And that team's so good.
05:01And you did use those picks to help jumpstart you.
05:03Yeah, you got out of it what you wanted.
05:05Yeah.
05:05And, I mean, that wasn't a good team, by the way, with Deshaun at the end of it.
05:08Right?
05:08Like, that was, I mean, Deshaun was having the nuclear year in 2020.
05:12They won four games.
05:13They won four games.
05:13Like, they were really bad already.
05:15Like, they were already in a kind of, like, they were planning on doing it around Deshaun Watson.
05:20And the rebuilding around their quarterback and continuing to go that way.
05:24But you were kind of in a spot where you already had to start retooling.
05:28Like, the trade for DeAndre Hopkins was happening.
05:30It happened.
05:31Like, you were going to have to get new wide receiver weapons in.
05:34You probably needed to get a new running back in.
05:35The defense needed to work.
05:36J.J. Watt was done, so you knew the defense was going to be, you know,
05:38at that point, Honey Badger was moved on, so you knew you were just going to be
05:42in a little bit of a world of hurt.
05:44It is fascinating to look at it that way, Jake.
05:46Like, I also think, too, when you look at it back from that Browns perspective,
05:50I just don't think there can be much substance to even a hope that today could be
05:55a Deshaun Watson revenge game or anything of the matter.
05:58Because in a lot of ways, Deshaun's still trying to reclaim his career.
06:02I know everybody keeps talking about this comeback player of the year bid
06:06if he leads the rounds of the playoffs and everything this week.
06:08Like, folks, Todd Munkin waited until midweek to even recommit to this guy
06:13as the starting quarterback.
06:14Like, he almost got benched a couple of weeks ago.
06:17It was week two where had he not beat Tampa, we would have been having
06:21a different conversation about this whole entire season.
06:23Now, obviously, the five-game winning drives, he deserves a ton of credit for that.
06:26He deserves a ton of credit for his play in the five wins that the Browns have.
06:30I just wonder if we're closer to making a quarterback change
06:33than we would be to making a QB extension.
06:35I mean, that's part of the conversation this week, too, around Deshaun, right?
06:39It's not even a revenge game.
06:40There's a potential you go out, play bad, lose this game.
06:44Browns are heading to a bye with a conversation on their hands of,
06:46is it time to switch over to Shador?
06:47You give them an extra seven days to think about this thing.
06:50Yeah, and I mean, I think it's a conversation.
06:53Like, again, I don't know that they make that change.
06:55We're going to see the way this looks, the way the weather looks.
06:58Everything's going to play a factor into today and the quarterback decision moving forward.
07:01But organizationally, like, you know Todd's having conversations with Andrew Barry.
07:05He admitted it this week.
07:06He could not lie about it.
07:08He was like, we have conversations about everything, just as you would.
07:11It's like, yeah, guys, like, behind the scenes,
07:14they are considering contemplating making a switch
07:17to see if that could help this offense create a little bit of a spark.
07:20Now, I'd argue you kind of got a glimpse under the hood
07:23of what that looked like against the Saints in Week 9,
07:26and it looked awfully similar to me.
07:28It didn't really look that much different.
07:29Okay, in some categories it did.
07:32Obviously, Shador is willing to push the ball a little bit more vertically.
07:34Whatever.
07:35We could get into the semantics with it.
07:36Overall, it looks similar.
07:38So I do wonder, you know, with these next two games after the bye week,
07:42both being at home, where you played some pretty good football,
07:45you're 3-0 at home so far this year.
07:48I don't know that a change would be what they do right now,
07:51but it is fascinating and telling to me that they at least contemplated it,
07:55by the sound of it, they contemplated it somewhat hard
07:58if they waited until Wednesday to formally recommit to Watson.
08:01And again, this is a Todd Munkin decision at the end of the day.
08:04This is not me telling you that Andrew Barry's making the quarterback decision.
08:07Find me a GM in the NFL who doesn't have any input on who the starting quarterback's going to be.
08:11Those conversations happen every week where it's not just a shoe and answer.
08:15Like, yeah, Ben Johnson and the Bears aren't having,
08:17Ryan Poles isn't coming and being like, are we starting, Caleb, this week?
08:19But in a situation like this where you have no long-term answer
08:23and you are watching your season with a 5-2 start,
08:27you know, fizzle before the Christmas tree has even come out
08:30to hopefully not 500 today,
08:33yeah, I'm sure those conversations go on behind closed doors.
08:36Yeah, there's some conversation happening.
08:38I'm sure you're watching it.
08:38Yeah, I'm sure you're watching it.
