Analyzing the loss to the Steelers - Cleveland Browns Daily - 10.13.25 - Cleveland Browns Podcast Network

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Coming to you live from the Cross Country Mortgage Campus
in Bree, Ohio. This is Cleveland Browns Daily on eight
fifty ESPN Cleveland, presented by bally Bet Sports Book, an
official sports betting partner of your Cleveland Browns. Please bet responsibly.
Here are your hosts, Bo Bishop and Nathan Zegura.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
It's you Live on a reaction Monday edition Clear the
Browns Daily. I am merely Bo. He is the great z.
It goes in the books twenty three to nine over
in Pittsburgh. As the Browns dropped to one in five
on the season. It's a tough one to look back on.
It was a tough one to watch you were there

(01:00):
in person, tough one to broadcast as well. There just
wasn't much in terms of momentum that the Cleveland Browns
were able to generate in any way. No, and it
was very disappointing.

Speaker 3 (01:13):
Obviously if you are the Cleveland Browns, you're a fan
of the Cleveland Browns because it was in many ways
more of the same, right, it was a game that
you lost in a manner in which you don't want
to see this team lose games anymore. Ineffective offense, a
special teams, blunder that leads directly to points for the opponent,
drop passes, penalties, solid defense, you know, solid defense, but

(01:40):
you're just not getting it done. And it's a brand
of football that is not all that enjoyable to watch, unfortunately.
And it's a brand of football that is not producing
the desired outcomes.

Speaker 2 (01:52):
And that is a big, big problem. Yeah, And I
think you know the other thing is is it's not
if you go back to the summer and you think
about how this roster was put together and the way
you and I said this in camp, like you were
going to try to win, holding teams in the teams
and you scoring high teens or low twenties, you were

(02:15):
going to try to monopolize the ball. You were going
to try to play very clean football. One of the
things they really liked about Kenny Picktt, and one of
the reasons that he was here and they went out
and got him is because he was risk adverse. So
the idea was, we're going to run the ball with
all of this bevy of backs that we have, with
quin Shawn Judkins being the bell cow, we'll play action

(02:35):
off of it. Kenny will take care of the ball.
We won't turn the ball over and we'll play great
defense and we'll try to take the air out of
the ball, as it were, and massage wins was the
idea and in order for that to happen, though, that's
already tough. That's a tough challenge. It's very I think
I said the phrase a very difficult needle to thread

(02:57):
a thousand times in August. It was always going to
be a very difficult needle to thread. But it's also
one that's entirely predicated on you getting a lead and
then then doing it, and so you have to have
that too. You got to at least have one drive
where you go get seven and then you can try
to play that way. But we're not able to do that,
and so each week. And by the way, this is

(03:18):
not this was. This isn't mean Joe Green, it's not
jack Ham and Lambert, and this isn't that, it's it's
not Harrison, it's not Kevin Green, it's not all the
greats that they've had through the years. This defense was
in the bottom third in both run and pass defense
coming into this game, and we were just unable to
get anything going offensively. And it's i don't know where

(03:40):
the answers are there. I'm sure Kevin's struggling for them
as well.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
In the Week four, Yeah, they sacked Carson went six times,
which they ended up sacking Dylan Gabriel six times. I
think they hit him fourteen depending on which site you use,
fourteen to seventeen times, which is the most quarterback has
been hitting a single game this year. But Carson still
threw for three hundred and fifty yards against them.

Speaker 2 (03:55):
He did. Yeah, we threw the.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
Ball fifty two times, and then you add in the sacks,
you add in some penalties. I mean, we drop back
so many times in this game, it's hard to really
get your head around it. Uh and twenty nine and
twenty one yards. Didn't turn it over again.

Speaker 2 (04:13):
That's good.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
That's probably the big positive that you could say right now.
They have not turned the ball over in either of
the last two games. But this is about winning.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Now.

Speaker 3 (04:22):
You're at least eliminating one of the reasons that you
were losing games. But the fact that you still can't
score that you've got I mean, I don't mean we're
getting where if we're not the bottom, we're right near it.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
On offense, I mean, we are just are not scared
to see and they just fired their coach.

Speaker 3 (04:39):
They did who was And I'm pretty sure they were
three and fourteen last year. Yeah, we had the same record, right,
they were one in five this year, so they're same
trajectory with we have a better roster than they do, like, oh,
no doubt, not even close. No really, No, they don't
have quin Shawn Jenkins, they don't have Harold Fannin. Nope,
I'm just even yeah, yeah, they have Jeffrey Simmons. Yeah,

(05:03):
who's a good player. Kelvin Ridley would be a nice
player on our team.

Speaker 2 (05:07):
Yeah, but I mean that's there's yeah, not much. Yeah,
we do not throw the ball down the field.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
If you people who watch the tape and you know, well,
I'm sure we'll have Jake on tomorrow to talk about it.
But as the game went on, Pittsford didn't even care
about what was going on down the field.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah I heard, I saw some of that. I haven't.
They weren't even they were not even concerned about it.

Speaker 3 (05:29):
Now, early in the game, there are multiple opportunities to
get the ball down the field, and I think Dylan's
just so sped up in his process. He is so
nervous about getting we're not protecting great, let's know, but
from a clean pocket, we're not operating the way that
we need to be operating. You can't average five yards
step from a clean pocket and be successful in the
National Football League like guys from clean pockets. Now it's

(05:50):
eighty percent completions and you know, seven, eight, nine, ten
yards in a tempt because pressure is where it becomes
a little more difficult to operate. There are multiple plays
where you know, Isaiah Bond, for example, got deep on
a hard play action up the sideline and we're not
throwing it. There's another one where we ran a concept
that's a dig from the left, a post from the right,

(06:10):
sing against a single high Look, what you're really reading
is that middle safety. If he comes down on the dig,
you just throw the post and let your guy go
get it. If he says back on the post, then
that means the dig's going to be open and he
should have.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
Some room to run out the other side. We ran that.
The guy comes down, so you can throw the post.

Speaker 3 (06:27):
Bond's got a step on him, Just throw it out there,
let him run under it, and we throw a check down.
So we're even when the advantage opportunities and there aren't
a ton It's not like there are big plays that
we had all over the field, but when they have
been there, even on the opening play, for example, daven
Ajoku ends up uncovered that could have been a big game.
Even when that's happening, we're still not getting the kind

(06:49):
of plays or the kind of results that we want,
and we're not being aggressive enough. I don't think we're
being aggressive enough down the field because this team right now,
especially with all the issues on the line of Conkland
goes out in this one and then Cam Robinson ends
up getting.

Speaker 2 (07:05):
Hurt as well.

Speaker 3 (07:05):
But we threw two passes of more than twenty yards
in the air the entire game and now for the season.
For the season, on passes of ten yards in the
air or more with Dylan here were nine of twenty
seven just ten yards in the air. Nine of twenty seven.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, I guess it didn't feel like it was much
different with Joe in terms of even taking shots. You
and I would come out here when Joe and we
would say we've got to take some shot. Joe field
a little bit, and we just weren't doing it. And
then the other thing was is when there were shots,
not shots, but when there were passes that weren't check downs,

(07:45):
there are instances where we're just dropping it. Yeah, we
had three drops again, like all in all in a
very tight timeframe, and it's like, you can't have that.
Like if he puts it on your hands, and Harold
Fanner was great, but he puts it on his hands
on the a on the on the one that's kind
of deep passed, the sticks go gonna be a first down,
glances off the hands, Judy had had a bad drop

(08:05):
on one of his chief had one. Like, you just
can't have that. And so if you're if you're not
willing to throw the ball down the field and put
it in harm's way, that's a problem when you are.
If it's if it's glancing off players hands and stuff,
that's a problem. Every single thing right now in the
past game, I don't know that there's a thing you
can rely upon as we stand right now, not the protection,

(08:28):
not the not to catch it, and nothing, there's nothing
there to hang out.

Speaker 3 (08:31):
And even even Harold fan who has you know, a
career high seven catches eighty one yards, both career highs
he had our longest play the day of the twenty
four yard or you know, we didn't have any thirty
yard plays in this game. We haven't had a thirty
yard pass play since Detroit, which was with Isaiah Bond.

(08:52):
He had a huge drop on what was one of
Dylan Gabriel's better plays to elude the rush and throw
it out there, a perfect ball and then he drops it.

Speaker 2 (08:59):
It's just.

Speaker 3 (09:02):
Were not good and there are a there is a
huge list things. Then you watched the run game tape,
and it's pretty rare when we actually everybody does what
they're supposed to do upfront and it takes all eleven,
you know, in the run game, or at least all
ten if the quarterback's not a part of the run game.

(09:23):
Our tackles were getting absolutely overwhelmed by their defense. You know,
it was six sacks we Jalen Ramsey. Jalen Ramsey I
think had played one hundred and thirty nine games prior
to this one.

Speaker 2 (09:35):
I think I have this right. One hundred and thirty
nine games prior to this game. Very good player. That's
not the point.

Speaker 3 (09:42):
Yes, he had played one hundred and thirty nine games
prior to this game. Do you know how many sacks
he had in his entire career prior to this game,
in one hundred and thirty nine games. I'm gonna go
at three five, three exactly three, and he had two
in this game.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
I mean that was only because you set it up
that way. Otherwise thought maybe he had.

Speaker 3 (10:00):
You know, Tenny joked in the post game, he said,
you know, in a game in which TJ. Watt and
Miles Garrett were on the field, I had two sacks.
They combined for a half a sec.

Speaker 4 (10:13):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Well, and there's just as it stands, there's there's nothing
to fear because A we're not taking shots. B. When
we do, they're not working, and so there's nothing beyond
fifteen yards for you even really to worry about. Play
the whole game in the red zone. I said this
after the minnesodium.

Speaker 3 (10:30):
It's like we're playing the entire game in the red zone,
and something's got to give, Something has got to give.
You've got to get this figured out now. Defensively, no sacks.
This is the second time in three weeks. No sex.
None in Detroit either. Yeah, no takeaways. Now Detroit, you
at least had an interception. It's it's tough.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
We're not.

Speaker 3 (10:51):
We're just not making some of those game changing plays
in a positive manner. Cam Thomas runs in the punter
bit of a game changing play right there, because it
ends up leading to a touchdown.

Speaker 2 (11:05):
What is the score at that point? Is it nine?
Is it nine to three? So it is there nine
zero nine three? They go, yep, it's nine to three
at that time.

Speaker 3 (11:20):
Then they go on and they would with us getting
the ball back in the third quarter right with a
chance to take the lead in theory. Yeah, and they
get the touchdown at sixteen to three, we get the ball,
we get a field goal, sixteen to six, they get
the ball back, they go right down the field. That
was the Metcalf twenty five yard or twenty three to six.

Speaker 4 (11:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (11:38):
This this Steelers offense isn't you know, some sort of
sort of lights out approach. But DK Metcalf himself had
three plays longer than our longest play, yes, and then
all the game five yards and they had three. Metcalf
alone had three over twenty five and then Washington they
had that I think that was thirty.

Speaker 3 (11:58):
Washington had three catches for twenty yards on the season,
company in this game he had three for sixty two.
Hayward had nothing gets a touchdown. I mean, it's just
it was really Metcalf. It was a one man band,
you know, and they were able to go out there
and still do exactly what they wanted to do. We
held him to three point six yards of carry. Yeah,

(12:19):
they ran for one hundred yards. We held him three
point six yards of carry.

Speaker 2 (12:22):
That's good.

Speaker 3 (12:22):
We ran for three point eight yards care We only
ran seventeen times, which is tough. But Rogers was super efficient.
Twenty one to thirty. They got the big, the big
plays of Metcalf when they needed him.

Speaker 2 (12:31):
They should have had another one should the other one.
He was lamenting that, and I know.

Speaker 3 (12:35):
I thought all things considered, Tyson Campbell slipped on that.
The turf there was horrific. That was that feel was
in unbelievable shape.

Speaker 2 (12:41):
Why is that? I don't know.

Speaker 3 (12:43):
Basically, they played the on They played like high school game.
That's like the championship, Like that's is it? The did
Pitt play? No, Pitt played Florida State the nine.

Speaker 5 (12:51):
Yeah, our guy Annarello was in Gainesville, oh Tall.

Speaker 2 (12:55):
Yeah, yeah, he was in talent because they were in Tallahassee.
So there's no reason for that thing to.

Speaker 5 (12:59):
The Steelers were on a bye the week before the
week before that terrible.

Speaker 2 (13:05):
Yeah, I don't understand how that's possible.

Speaker 5 (13:07):
So Girond said the field looked like crap, but he
said it actually held like it like from a shoe standpoint,
it was gripping better than he thought it would.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
Yeah, that's wild. Like this time early October, no pit
game the day before.

Speaker 5 (13:25):
And they had been doing high school football and there on.

Speaker 2 (13:27):
Foot well they only do I thought they only did
the playoffs there, like there's there's state championships there. I
don't I don't know, because it's still regular season high
school football. I can't imagine you let like a high
school football team come play on a Friday night two
days before the Steelers play. That seems crazy to be.

Speaker 5 (13:43):
They don't seem to have a problem with it.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
I guess not. I know they do it in the playoffs.
I just that seems crazy to do something like that.
But either way, there's yeah, there's a lot here, and
it's just real quick.

Speaker 3 (13:55):
On that note that when we were talking about Campbell
had two passes defense this game. He had some really
good coverage. At times he got beat obviously on the
double move at the end. But for the most part,
for a guy that just kind of came in here,
I thought you saw all the reasons why the Browns
liked him. But there were a couple plays where that
he's got to do a better job on. But he
was with DK on a lot of those routes, and
like with him, with him, there's one thing you can

(14:16):
on the sideline was very much like the Jefferson over
Denzel Ward one was perfect coverage but better throw.

Speaker 2 (14:22):
Yeah, I don't I thought he appointed himself quite well.
And I think you see the size and the speed
and all of the things that you like about him,
which gave Jacksonville the reason to draft him. Remember he
played Monday night. Yes, played Monday night against for Jacksonville
against Kansas City Flies. Here what Wednesday night? Yeah, trades
Wednesday night or no Flies. Thursday practices at noon and

(14:43):
then starts against Pittsburgh on Sunday.

Speaker 5 (14:46):
It's a light landed late morning, had to go do
a physical on the field for practice at one point thirty.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
Yeah, that's a lot. And so I think you know
the challenge here is going to be and you're gonna
hear from Kevin and his Monday press conference here in
a second. The challenge for him is how do you
get this flipped around? How do you get it to
where you can have some wins, some successes. It is
so difficult. I remember you and I talking about this

(15:12):
years ago, and this is an off season topic you have,
which is how can you create culture amidst losing? How
can you create good habits amidst losing? And it's the
toughest thing to do in sports, yes, right, but these
guys have been here a long time. There is a
way of doing things that they absolutely believe in. And
so how do you get back to what successful Browns

(15:32):
football has been with? I mean, the roster is what
it is at this point, and so they've got to
get that figured out in short order or what is
I mean this is all You're one in five now,
so you can't waste a whole lot of more time
for this thing to just really really get out of control. Yes, no,
this is bless you and a good news standpoint.

Speaker 3 (15:55):
Miami is coming to town, but they are a team
also that scored twenty points in five straight games, So
you're going to have to or they've been a bad
defense statistically. But we've played some teams that have been
quote unquote bad defenses statistically, and we have not been
able to get it done.

Speaker 2 (16:07):
This is he scored twenty seven yesterday against the Didn't
they score twenty seven against the Chargers?

Speaker 1 (16:13):
Yeah?

Speaker 3 (16:14):
Had them pretty much beat Yeah, justin Herbert pulled off
a crazy play and was able to get it done.

Speaker 2 (16:24):
Absolutely. It's just.

Speaker 3 (16:29):
It's disappointing and it feels like it is a difficult
road to get out of it. And I think the
obviously the first step and what we're focusing on. I think,
you know, special teams has not been as we've said
this year. It has had its issues throughout the season.
But what we really need is to get this offense
to a level where it can be a reliable point

(16:51):
scoring offense week in and week out. And right now
we're just not that. And we went through it ad
nauseum this entire offseason. This is a scoring league, this
is an offensive football league. It is too hard, with
the rules and all of that, to play defense the
way that you want to play defense and to have
that be the one thing that you hang your hat
on week in and week out.

Speaker 2 (17:11):
What's going on out here.

Speaker 3 (17:13):
I mean this is there's a lot, a lot of
folks here. I mean this was going on Monica there,
I mean the whole crew. No, there are luminari Oh
I have an idea. Could be it could be are
they going to summon them for a walkthrough and a serenade?

Speaker 2 (17:37):
I mean it feels like it. I'm kind of sad
we're not. I mean, Monica is in charge of it.

Speaker 3 (17:41):
What is Yeah, yeah, I know it's yeah, yeah, we know,
we know fifty two.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
Yes, we know.

Speaker 3 (17:48):
It's been documented as well as programmed, well documented.

Speaker 2 (17:51):
Is this a serenade? Yeah?

Speaker 3 (17:54):
Oh yeah, A little cake, little cake, a little festivities.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
Guys running a business.

Speaker 3 (17:59):
There's a pause, and then the guys guys running business
is his birthday. It's a beautiful thing. Senior Swacked, the
great luminary, the great leader.

Speaker 5 (18:06):
I think we just want a piece of cake. Man,
I'm starving over here.

Speaker 2 (18:08):
I think we're gonna go to the nachos. Give I
think we're getting a full walk in.

Speaker 5 (18:12):
I almost I took a pic. I just didn't send you.
I didn't think yesterday was the appropriate time to do that.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
So here's what the nachos are. Okay, they deliver.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
They open a bag of tostitos, gold rounds.

Speaker 2 (18:27):
Great, it's a great ship, it's a great chip in there.

Speaker 6 (18:31):
They have.

Speaker 2 (18:34):
To look at him.

Speaker 7 (18:36):
Holy, a little bit more something something in the Oh man,
we're gonna get like a serenade. I needed that, did
you hear shouldon? Oh yeah, we are to you, happy
birdied Hey dear Jakes. Yes, happy birthday to you.

Speaker 4 (18:58):
Yes, bravo.

Speaker 2 (19:00):
The piece that really turned the day around. Turned the
day around, Bigley. That is fantastic, Like what's going on here?

Speaker 3 (19:11):
The words of inspiration press So you get that. Then
they open up. They're gonna open it. I'm gonna call
it a handle, a handle of the Toastedio's mild salsa.
They're gonna dump that into a little canister, a little
silver tray. Behind that, they're gonna dump a handle of

(19:32):
the cheese that has been heated up.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Somewhere like the case, just a yellow cheese.

Speaker 3 (19:40):
There's some fresh cut Hallo pens, which is the nicest
part of the whole endeavor. And then you're gonna get
what I would describe as a very watery, very scary
If you know that you have to be on air
chili type of the situation. I'm not going I'm not
gonna call it's too big of a too big of

(20:01):
a risk.

Speaker 5 (20:02):
I will tell you in any stadium on game day,
I avoid a chili in tight quarters there. Well, there's
no bathroom for me for like three hours.

Speaker 2 (20:10):
And you know, you get it.

Speaker 5 (20:11):
There is There is a luminary in the TV industry
you shall remain nameless that has an infatuation with Skyline.

Speaker 2 (20:19):
Uh huh and luminary eat it.

Speaker 5 (20:22):
By the bowl really broadcast like has his own setup
in his in the TV booth. Walk in, Jason, help yourself.
I'm good, I'm all right, I'm all right, all right,
we're not going down that road. There's there was some
sour cream. Hey, by the way, you got a little
playful yesterday.

Speaker 2 (20:42):
It's a full notcho bar on my plate? Hey, what
was on my just let's just deal facts. What was
on my can? I guess yeah. I would say that
you had the chips. I would say the halapenos. I
would say the salsa. Was there a guak World walk?

Speaker 5 (21:01):
I would say.

Speaker 3 (21:02):
Anything about what I said opening up a Tostitos gold rounds.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
Walk to I don't believe they do, all right, So
I think that's it then, because you're not going to
do a crema a nacho cheese, I could chee use
it very sparingly, just very sparingly. Not much.

Speaker 3 (21:17):
No, I went and got chips and salsa and I
threw a couple of fresh So I nailed it.

Speaker 4 (21:21):
Had it?

Speaker 2 (21:21):
Of course you had it?

Speaker 5 (21:22):
Yeah, not having nachos, just just for the record, probably
the best thing on their food spread the entire day.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
The beef wasn't bad, dude. They had like a prime
rib carving station.

Speaker 3 (21:32):
This guy did something that I've never seen in my life,
and I hope I never see it again. So they
bring out a prime I believe this long okay, so
probably like a five big, maybe a six boner.

Speaker 2 (21:46):
Yeah, prime rib this dude. So it's again, so the.

Speaker 3 (21:51):
Man talking about the guy running the prime rib board,
so like, if this is if my phone is the
prime rib roast, this is the direction watching on the YouTube, Like, yeah,
he gets the thing and cleaves it right down the middle,
right out of the gate and has him take half
of it away and then he starts cutting these little
half I'm like, brother, what what are you?

Speaker 5 (22:13):
And I sat there and just stood off to the
side like what in the bloody hell or I was.

Speaker 2 (22:19):
Dude, never see anything like it my entire life.

Speaker 5 (22:21):
I never remember the word pittspuke. And it all made sense.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
It's a big waste of meat, is what it is. Well,
and you're cutting it an absurd way to cut it.
It doesn't even make sense. No, I've never seen I know,
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (22:33):
And if you think about from a ribby standpoint, now
you're cutting like you quite slice it this way and
then you get some cap, you get the yeah, the
whole hole.

Speaker 2 (22:40):
Well, that's just what it's supposed to look like.

Speaker 3 (22:42):
He cuts it this way so like I don't even
know half of it would be I guess cap with
a little inside, and he took that away, which, by
the way, a lot of people might say that's part.

Speaker 2 (22:49):
Yeah, it was. It was stupefying, dude, that ain't it.
That ain't it at all. We should give some some
flowers to Andre Schmidt, who is uh three of three
on field goals thirty one to thirty two and a
fifty three yarder. He's been great. After the first week,
you never know with guys at that position, and he's
been really reliable, so good job out of him. That's good.

Speaker 3 (23:10):
It's good that we seem, you know, we got a
little bit of somewhat of an answer there, and that's
fantastic and we'll hopefully to get.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
More of it, you know. Yeah, those are your hot
topics today. Presented by University Hospital, official healthcare partner of
your Cleveland Browns. We will head to the podium. Kevin
Stefanski's Monday press conference coming up next. To listen to
Cleveland Runs Daily, We're presented by ballely Bete official sports
beinning partner or Cleveland Browns. Please bet responsibly on eight
fifty ESPN Cleveland.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
You're listening to Cleveland Browns Daily on eight to fifty
ESPN Cleveland, presented by bally Bet Sports Book, an official
sports betting partner of your Cleveland Browns. Please bet responsibly.

Speaker 2 (24:01):
This season. Checked the Brown social channels daily to play
our digital scratch off game for your chance to win
Club Seats, another great prizes presented by the Ohio Lottery,
proud partner of your Cleveland Browns. Time ahead of the
Podium presented by Vivid Seats. Vivid Seats pers your official
fan experience package today for the ultimate game Day. Here's
your head coach Kevin Stefanski, don't.

Speaker 8 (24:18):
Really have any injury updates based on what we talked
about last night. Obviously, you know, watch the tape this
morning and watch it now with the players and a
ton of areas that we just need to be better
and and need to be better in all aspects offense, defense,
special teams, players, coaches, you name it.

Speaker 4 (24:37):
We have to be better. That'll be our focus.

Speaker 8 (24:39):
So we'll focus on moving forward so we can go
play as a football team and find a way to
win and obviously got a big one this week with
Miami coming to town. That'll be our sole focus today
is that. I'll take any questions.

Speaker 9 (24:54):
Hey, Kevin, does it feel like just nothing is coming
easy on offense?

Speaker 10 (25:00):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 4 (25:01):
Yeah, I do know what you mean. But we have
to do it. Scott.

Speaker 8 (25:05):
It's a matter of coaches putting guys in position to
make plays, Guys making plays when they're putting positions doing
their job.

Speaker 4 (25:12):
Don't expect anything to come easy. That's not the name
of the game in this sport. But we'll just keep
grinding on it.

Speaker 9 (25:19):
And in search of fixing things or a spark. You
asked about play calling yesterday. Have you made a decision there.

Speaker 8 (25:27):
Yeah, I'm gonna keep calling plays, but I want to
stress that this is UH. We have to get better
in so many areas, and that includes coaching, That includes
our how we teach our guys, how we put them
in different formations, the ways you run the ball, ways
you pass the ball, all the above.

Speaker 11 (25:44):
Yeah, Kevin, I mean, arguaboy in the in the first
few games he's played, quench On Judkins has been your
best threat and passing game as well as you know
in UH, in the running game obviously, can you explain
why I only touch the ball twelve times, especially none
of the passing game.

Speaker 8 (26:01):
Yeah, obviously that game, if you look at the fourth quarter,
the number of plays that we had in that game,
being down three scores precluded us from running it, you know,
our normal based down offense. Fred, but he's obviously a
key part of our offense.

Speaker 11 (26:17):
And what about you know, first and goal on the
three their way, he didn't touch the ball.

Speaker 4 (26:22):
I mean, is that?

Speaker 11 (26:25):
I mean, is there any reason for that?

Speaker 8 (26:27):
No, we need to be better whether we throw it
or pass it there in those situations, we have to
have to be better.

Speaker 12 (26:33):
Yeah, Kevin, I know you said you didn't have any
injury updates per se specific. But but Jack and Cam,
those are your where you two starting tackles. Do you
feel confident that you might have one or both of
them or or is I mean, what sort of how.

Speaker 4 (26:53):
Do you sort of approach it when there is sort of.

Speaker 12 (26:55):
That that much uncertainty about both those spots.

Speaker 8 (26:58):
Yeah, with both guys that are obviously dealing with different injuries,
if you will.

Speaker 4 (27:03):
So it's it's Monday.

Speaker 8 (27:04):
I think we need to get through the next couple
of days before we can really answer that. And it's
it's like anything else, there's uncertainty, but that's that's part.

Speaker 4 (27:12):
Of the game.

Speaker 12 (27:13):
And another question about the penalties the last couple of
weeks have been what what what can you do during
the course of the week, I mean to to alleviate
that to to I know you're not coaching penalties, but
at the same time, you know, how do you how
do you fix that that specific area.

Speaker 8 (27:33):
Yeah, we focus very hard on those avoidable penalties, which
are the pre snap penalties. Obviously we had an illegal
formation there in the game. We have to be better
in those areas, and then you have to play with
clean technique. That's that's always going to be a part
of this as well. Understanding that your your hand placement,
how you you know, how you do your job is

(27:54):
very important.

Speaker 13 (27:55):
Okay, I know the score got out of hand in
the fourth quarter, but even in the first half, you
were throwing the ball much more than you were running
the ball. And given that was his second career started
in a place that's very difficult to play, would you
redo the game plan on second thought, because it seemed
like you were still in the game ninety three and
you were throwing a lot.

Speaker 8 (28:16):
Yeah, I would tell you every game is its own
thing Tony, where you're trying to take advantage of the
looks that the defense is giving you. I don't think
it's any secret that Quinn Shawn's a big part of
our offense will always be a big part of our offense.
But so much of it is based on what's going
on in that particular game.

Speaker 13 (28:35):
And it looked like Aaron Rodgers played a large part
of the game behind a sixth offensive lineman, and you
did some of that. But do you think you just
need to do more jumbo just to stabilize things on offense?

Speaker 8 (28:52):
I think you know, we did a decent amount of
it yesterday, Tony. Again, I think it's based on sometimes
health and you know what the bodies are that you
can use in those areas. But that's a really game
plan specific.

Speaker 14 (29:05):
Yeah, Kevin, in a situation like this, of course, everybody's
going to look to the quarterback after you know, only
nine points are scored and how the quarterback did. Can
you just address and especially because of your situation with
Shador and so many people clamoring for him and wanting
to see him, do you have thoughts on how the

(29:27):
offensive problems are run much deeper right now than quarterback
and that switching out the quarterback might not solve what
you have going on here.

Speaker 4 (29:35):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (29:36):
I think just the big focus for us, Mary Kay
is we have to be better in all areas, players, coaches,
you name it. Obviously, you know Dylan is in his
second start, some good things to build off of. He's
learning just like all young players are learning for us
right now, and we'll continue to try to get him

(29:56):
to make those improvements that young players make and also
play better around.

Speaker 4 (30:00):
That's our focus.

Speaker 15 (30:01):
Yeah, Kevin, wanted to ask you about the downfield passing again,
as far as you know, explosive plays go. Do you
feel like with two starts under Dylan's belt here, that
it's going to be easier for you or more comfortable
for you to take some shots down the field and

(30:22):
try and open up this offense.

Speaker 8 (30:25):
Well, I think, certainly, Darryl, we have to find ways
to be explosive on offense, and that can come via
the run or the pass. And you know, explosive pass
can happen in a variety of different ways. But it
really comes down to our ability as an offense to
you know, put those guys in position, protect the quarterback,

(30:46):
and then when those opportunities come, we've got to let
it rip. But I think that can come in a
variety of ways.

Speaker 15 (30:51):
And then Mike Tomlin had some comments today landed on
social media in which he basically said he doesn't understand
why the Browns trade their opening day starter in Joe
Flacco to a division rival in the Bengals, and just
how surprised by that move going into the Steelers game.
He was just you know, your thoughts on what he

(31:16):
had to say about that, and you know the fact
that he was so taken aback, just like you acknowledged
last week, you were a little surprised as well and
not anticipating that you guys would trade Joe this season.

Speaker 4 (31:31):
Yeah. I don't have a.

Speaker 6 (31:31):
Comment on that, Darrel Kevin, just for him coming in
for a couple practices and everything. How did you think
Tyson Campbell did?

Speaker 4 (31:39):
Yeah, I thought he battled.

Speaker 8 (31:41):
Obviously there's some place he wants back, but I thought,
you know, with the circumstances and him out there competing,
I thought there were some really good moments and things
that we will certainly clean up with him.

Speaker 6 (31:53):
And then just in terms of you and the play calling,
what would be the decision or maybe the point where
he would decide to give it up.

Speaker 8 (32:05):
Yeah, I think for us, the focus is on being
better as an offense, Joe, and that goes into a
bunch of different areas. And I know I can be
better for this football team. I know I can certainly
be better for this offense. But our focus is on
making sure that we all do our part in getting
this thing going than Van.

Speaker 16 (32:24):
You know, in the past couple of weeks, you talked
about how important your player's development is, especially at the
quarterback position, and you've also acknowledged that the issues with
the offense don't so lie with the quarterback.

Speaker 4 (32:36):
Now, I know Joe has gone, so it's a bit
of a new point.

Speaker 16 (32:38):
But what about this infrastructure in the offense led you
to believe that, you know, putting in a rookie quarterback
will lead to success and you know positive development and
growth in that player.

Speaker 8 (32:50):
Yeah, we trust our guys, Daniel, that are out there
across the board.

Speaker 4 (32:55):
We just have to all be better that that'll be
our focus.

Speaker 17 (32:58):
And then I know you're focused on cleaning those things up,
being better as a team. When you look at the
makeup of this team, of your coaching staff across the board,
what is it about this team that gives you the
confidence that you will be able to successfully clean things
up to be better each week.

Speaker 4 (33:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (33:16):
I believe in the people we have, cam, I believe
in the coaches, I believe in the players.

Speaker 4 (33:20):
I also believe we have a ton of room to improve.
Don't none of us love where we are, your record,
all those things, But we own it. We have to
own it. We have to.

Speaker 8 (33:31):
I can acknowledge that that don't feel good about it,
but that's who we are and all we can do
is effect that moving forward. We can't really can't really
worry about what's in the past.

Speaker 17 (33:43):
Joel Atonio last night said that you know, he sees
when things are working, the potential the vision. Quinch On
said that too, but Joel said, every game with the
offensive struggling, there's like ten to fifteen plays where there's
a miss block or penalty. Is that a shared belief
that those things can directly lead to what you're looking

(34:04):
to achieve?

Speaker 4 (34:05):
Obviously, you know the goal.

Speaker 8 (34:09):
Offensively is to contribute to score points to help this
football team. We got to focus on all all the
little things that go about that. But it doesn't get
too far away from just simply doing your job, doing
what's asked of you.

Speaker 4 (34:22):
And I'm talking to all of us players, coaches you.

Speaker 18 (34:24):
Need Yeah, sorry about that. Mike can't walked across my keyboard.

Speaker 4 (34:29):
I'm very believable, Jeffy, so Kevin.

Speaker 18 (34:32):
My question is, after every one of these you say, well,
we have to fix it. How do you do that
with so many inexperienced receivers after Jerry Judy.

Speaker 8 (34:44):
Yeah, I understand the question, Jeff, but I trust the
guys we have and when I say fix it, we
just have.

Speaker 4 (34:49):
To perform better.

Speaker 8 (34:51):
And that's that's how we teach it, how we coach it,
getting it out of our players throughout the week so
they feel confident doing it on Sunday. It's it's a
it's pretty simple. We got to just do our job,
play hard, play smart.

Speaker 18 (35:04):
But do you see improvements? It doesn't look like it
from the outside. There's things you see that you are progressing,
even though it might not show up on the scoreboard.

Speaker 8 (35:15):
Yeah, obviously we wanted to show up on the scoreboard.
That's where the true improvement will come. But we will
just focus on what we can control with all of
our players, young or old, and that's making sure we
utilize this week to find ways to improve.

Speaker 14 (35:31):
Kevin, you always talk about the precision in the passing
game and how vitally important that is for you guys,
and I know it's a two way street between where
the receivers are on their routes and all those kinds
of things. But particularly as I was looking, you know,
at red zone passes, and it just seemed like there
were drops, tips, knockaways, dropped interceptions. It just seemed like

(35:53):
the you know, once you guys got around down into
the red zone and trying to throw into the goal line,
that I'm thinking specific of like the wide one to
Jerry Judy, is that because Dylan was under so much
dress in those types of situations or is he having
an accuracy issue per se, you know in the red

(36:13):
zone or you know, end zone type of throws And
if so, what can you do about that?

Speaker 4 (36:20):
Yeah?

Speaker 8 (36:20):
I think the red zone obviously, Mary Kay, you go
for three, you're making life hard on yourself and you
have to come away with touchdowns there. Obviously ran out
of you know, ran out of time so to speak
there on the at the end of the first half,
so the ball had to be end zone or out
of bounds. That limits you in what you can do,
of course, and then a couple of times down there

(36:42):
later in the third and fourth quarter. We have to execute,
we have to do and that's I'm talking quarterback, running back,
wide receiver, you name it. We all have to be
at our best in those moments when the field shrinks.
We had too many mistakes there that that are going
to hold you back. And that's a little bit of
what I meant before, where we have to be better

(37:02):
as coaches, we have to be better as players so
that we can make sure we're all just doing our
job in those moments.

Speaker 14 (37:07):
So you feel like you saw enough from Dylan throughout
the football game that those things will be correctable for him,
and that moving forward with him and just getting some
of those things taken care of will do the trick.

Speaker 4 (37:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 8 (37:22):
Again, you know, the quarterback position gets a lot of
scrutiny and we understand that, but we collective we have
to be better. There are things that we're doing that
that are good things that we have to build off of,
and there's things that we have to get better at.

Speaker 4 (37:38):
But it's never going to be about one person.

Speaker 9 (37:41):
Hey, Kevin, do you understand and how do you handle
the frustration of Miles and some of the other defensive
guys with the offense not supporting the defense.

Speaker 8 (37:50):
Yeah, we all share in the frustration Scott when you
don't come away with the results that you work really
hard for. That's obvious. It's the greatest team game there is.
We all need each other players, coaches, offense, defense, special teams.
We need each other to go perform it and find
a way to win. That's how it goes.

Speaker 9 (38:12):
Has there been a conversation, they're like, hang with us,
you know, try to stay up and you know, I
know that they know you're trying hard, but when Miles
expresses that frustration, it feels like it's getting him.

Speaker 8 (38:23):
Yeah, losing is not fun for anybody. Scott, I think
there's there's natural frustration that comes with that, and that's
us as a football team.

Speaker 4 (38:31):
We own it.

Speaker 8 (38:32):
We can't hide from that. You have to acknowledge where
we are. Having said that, all that matters is what
we do moving forward.

Speaker 13 (38:39):
Two questions about looking for the ball. Did Isaiah Bond
have an explanation as to what the heck was going
on at the goal line when the ball hit him
in the helmet?

Speaker 8 (38:48):
Yeah, obviously miscommunication there and again that's that's our job
to get it cleaned up.

Speaker 13 (38:54):
And Tyson Campbell also had a great coverage, but not
looking at the ball is is that obviously a coaching
point this week? But is that in his past in
the Scott and report?

Speaker 4 (39:05):
Do you see that? Yeah? I think that's you know,
obviously we're now getting Tyson. We'll coach them up.

Speaker 8 (39:12):
He's in great position, not as a matter of making
a couple of those plays, but really pleased with with
where he is and he will only get better with Jim,
with Brandon Lynch, with our coaches as we get them
playing in the scheme.

Speaker 2 (39:25):
Okay, thank you, all right, there you go, coach from
the podium. Now's your chance to be inches away from
your favorite players. They take on some big time opponents
this season. Field Seats Honington Bakefield put you up close
in perceval with the thrill of the game. Limited quantities
are available, so get them soon before they're gone. Visit
Cleveland Browns dot com slash field Seats to secure your spot.
Now we'll go around the league, obviously a very busy

(39:46):
Monday around the league. We will get you updated on
all the news and notes you need. Coming up next,
listen to Cleveland Browns Daily. We're presented by bally Beat,
official sportsmanning partner for the Cleveland Browns. Please but responsibly
on a fifty ESPN Cleveland.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
You're listening to Cleveland Browns Daily on eight fifty ESPN Cleveland,
presented by bally Bet Sportsbook, an official sports betting partner
of your Cleveland Browns. Please bet responsibly.

Speaker 2 (40:22):
Had more fun than fun to your fandom with the
bally Bet sports Book app. Download today, get fifty back
at botus bet you place your first wager of ten
or more bally Bet, official sports betting partner of your
Cleveland Browns. A busy Monday around the league. The Titans
have fired their head coach Brian Callahan. This is cam
Ward's rookie year. They just had one last week in

(40:44):
pretty miraculous fashion at Arizona. This week though they were
out in Vegas and lost. What do you make of
that firing?

Speaker 3 (40:53):
There are kind of been rumblings about it, so I
guess I'm not that surprised. They have struggled. You know,
they're four to nineteen, their young quarterback. I think it
doesn't look like whatever they're trying to do with cam
Ward is working right now, and I think that's probably
the goal, is to try to figure it out.

Speaker 2 (41:07):
I just think when you.

Speaker 3 (41:10):
They thought about it last year after year one, if
you're going to do that, you got to get somebody
that you think is exactly perfect for that quarterback, And
now maybe they did. Brian Callahan had come where he
was offensive coordinator with since with Cincinnati.

Speaker 2 (41:24):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (41:24):
I'm not surprised because I know from talking to my
good friend in one time former adversary, Jeff Jarrett, who's
we talked football a time now, that it has been
a revolt in that city against the organization.

Speaker 2 (41:37):
And so I think they felt.

Speaker 3 (41:39):
Maybe they had to do something there to get it
to get it turned around.

Speaker 2 (41:43):
Isn't Rabes there this week? Is there this week?

Speaker 4 (41:46):
Yes?

Speaker 2 (41:46):
Yeah, So that's not great with him coming to town either.
That's that's a tough.

Speaker 10 (41:53):
Look.

Speaker 2 (41:54):
Here's the thing I don't understand. This is now, Lawrence Young,
Williams Ward four quarterbacks who are taking number one overall,
all of their head coaches have been fired in season.
If you're gonna draft a quarterback at one, at two,
at three, at four, if you do not absolutely know

(42:16):
that your head coach is on board with that quarterback
and that that whatever system he's running will work for
that quarterback, then you move off the head coach. It's
too big, it's too important of a decision. Every single
one of these guys starts to their career has been
retarded by the fact that they've had to fire coaches

(42:37):
and learn multiple systems. Caleb Williams is going to play
tonight in Washington. It looks like he turned the corner
a little bit, but it damn near broke him. Almost
broke Trevor year one with and I don't know if
he still is all the way to what I think
he was capable of, but with what happened with Urban
and year one there and then the other thing. And

(42:58):
this is probably most similar to the Bryce Young, the
Cam word Bryce Young comparison. If you draft a quarterback
number one, you have to have some weaponry, you have
to be able to protect them. And Bryce Young finally
has weaponry. And they're having some success because they got
McMillan at Arizona, who we loved in the process big time.
Weapony had two touchdowns yesterday, So finally they're showing some

(43:18):
cop That was a big win for them yesterday, beating Dallas,
beating freak. They got him off the scrap heap and
he's playing out of his mind. Almost four hundred yards
the last two week.

Speaker 3 (43:27):
Thousand yards last year for Dallas. What was and Dallas
let him go. Now they brought Javonte Williams. Has been
very good.

Speaker 2 (43:32):
He has, but like, yeah, strange. So it's just there
is so much to development of the quarterback position. Some
of it is on them and their individual talent, so
much of it is on the coaching staff seeing eye
to eye to what the quarterback can do well. It's
organizational support in terms of the talent around is your
offensive line in order to have weapons like all of

(43:53):
those things, and if you have any doubt in any
of it, just pull the trigger before it happens.

Speaker 3 (43:58):
We'll go back to twenty eighteen with the rounds. Yeah,
with six happens with him middle of the season. So
if you remember with Bake here, it was Hugh with Haley,
then it was Freddy, and then it was Kevin in
twenty twenty, so he had his first three years in
the league three different offensive systems. Sam Darnold with the

(44:20):
Jets now Todd Bowles finished out his rookie season, but
then next year it's a new coach and they've got
to go and get you know, he's got to kind
of start.

Speaker 2 (44:28):
All over again there as well.

Speaker 3 (44:29):
And those are two guys that now seem to have
settled in and looked pretty darn good, right, I mean.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
Really good.

Speaker 3 (44:38):
So there is definitely something to it. Continuity for continuity's
sake is not good. But at the same time, you
I think you're exactly right. You met Chicago obviously with
eber Flus, you've got to have the guy that you
want there to be exactly what you want it to be.
Like that, just to me makes all the sense in
the world. So if you remember, so Sam Donald goes bowls,

(45:02):
then they bring in Adam Gase, who was you know,
supposedly QB whisper QB whisper. He goes seven and six
of the starter. It's Gase again. The next year, Donald
goes two to ten, and then in twenty twenty one
it's Sala's first year and Donald's gone.

Speaker 2 (45:20):
He's gone. And then Carolina got rid of both of them.
Caroline Adam had them both.

Speaker 3 (45:25):
In twenty twenty two cut them both, yes, and twenty
twy two they ad them both.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
Yeah. And if you're watching the Late Afternoon Window yesterday
and you're seeing Sam Donald throw rainbows to Jackson Smith
and Jigba, and you go, well, that looks pretty good.
And you see Bake make the throw to a six
round and you go, well that looks pretty good. But
there's a million factors that lead to this, Yes, that
lead to the that lead to bringing a quarterback along.
And I don't care how good a quarterback is. There's

(45:51):
only so much they can overcome. Yep, you have to
put them in position. You have to have everybody organizationally
on the same page. And so now for cam you know,
obviously they're they're bad again. They're going to make the
coach and change and then they'll have another quarterback in
their neck, another head coach in there next year, and
that coach has got to be the only chance that

(46:12):
cam Ward has to survive. This is if the next
coaching hire, it's got to be perfect. It's got to
be yep, that's it, and that's going to be it.
And so that's that's the challenge of all of these
things is just figuring all aver.

Speaker 5 (46:25):
Right here, here's my question for you.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
Hello Gibbon Hi by the way, Yeah, Eddie, I mean
that's pretty cool, Zumba. How cool was that they're twenty
one right? Yeah?

Speaker 5 (46:38):
Twenty one nothing?

Speaker 2 (46:39):
Twenty one nothing to Toledo, the rivalry game, the B game,
and his first year at BG.

Speaker 5 (46:47):
Sold out, the sold out, the det like twenty five thousand.
That's great, well done by the student body and by
the university. He's great, Eddie. With a big comeback win.
They needed that. They've they've had trouble scoring points, but
they got into the twenties.

Speaker 2 (47:01):
Yeah, but that's a moment for him. Now, yeah, there
you go go ahead.

Speaker 5 (47:06):
No, huge win, huge win for them, you know. And
that's now the question is like, if he really turns
it around, how long will he be there?

Speaker 2 (47:14):
Oh, he won't be there long if he's if he
has an ambition to start upward mobility. Yeah correct. Yeah,
so you were saying before he interrupted you with the
the BG.

Speaker 5 (47:25):
You have to start one this weekend. Yeah, you're starting
Drake May, Danny Dimes or Sam Donald. Sam Donald's numbers
are pretty I had no idea how well he was
playing this year. He is, Like I knew he was
playing well, but.

Speaker 2 (47:46):
This is now he's into his second year of this.
Like he just great last year in Minnesota and now
he's great here. And yeah, he is so comfortable. And
I remember they got rid of Metcalf and you're like, well, boy,
why wouldn't you want Metcalf and Jackson Smith Jigba. They're fine,
they're fine. They're a really good football team. Their coach, Yeah, coach,

(48:07):
he's doing a great job.

Speaker 3 (48:08):
Total Total Quarterback EPA through Week six Sunday Night Football.
So through last night's game in the NFL, who are
the quarterbacks you gave us.

Speaker 5 (48:16):
May yep, Danny Dimes yep, Sam Donald okay.

Speaker 3 (48:23):
Number two is Drake May plus seventy four point four.
Number three is Sam Darnold plus sixty four point nine.
Number four is Danny Dimes plus fifty seven point eight.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
Rounding out the.

Speaker 3 (48:34):
Top ten are Jared Goff, Jordan Love, Baker, Mayfield, Matt Stafford,
Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, who is number one, goth one
No GoF is five Goes May, Donald, Jones, goth Love, Mayfield, Stafford,
Allen Mahomes. That's ten eleven, Jacks Lamar Jackson twelve, Aaron
Rodgers is one. Number one is Dak Prescott seventy six.

Speaker 2 (48:56):
Yeah, yeah they don't. I mean what he has to
score thirty every week and he does without Seedy Lamb
by the way, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
Last forty first is cam Ward negative fifty six point nine.

Speaker 2 (49:11):
It's tough watch.

Speaker 3 (49:12):
I mean, that's pretty bad because you know, Gino throws
it to the other team constantly. Geno Smith is negative
eight point two of the like Jackson darts negative, Bryce
Young's negative, Geno Smith negative, Gate Dylan is negative nine
point seven. Justin Fields Nagave twelve point five. Cooper Rush
native eighteen point eight. JJ McCarthy, you need this on

(49:33):
a couple of games negative twenty two point six, Jake
Browning never twenty eight point eight, Joe Flacco native forty
seven point three, Kim Ward negative fifty six point nine.

Speaker 5 (49:42):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
You gotta answer your question. I gotta win one game
with one of those three Sunday this Sunday going with
Sam Darnald. I think I would too, That was where
I was leading to. But if you goat Donald May Jones,
if you wait four weeks and Drake May keeps doing this,
then he is Yeah, he is a study. He has
a stud. He's an absolute stud. That that draft is

(50:04):
looking pretty pretty good right now because Caleb got it
turned around and now that he's been stabilized and all
of that. Jaden was unbelievable last year, banged up a
little bit this year, but they played each other tonight.
That's a fun game, by the way. And then what
Drake May is doing, they don't have a whole lot
of weapons like he rejuvenated digs.

Speaker 5 (50:23):
You know, yeah, I'm not looking forward to that in
two weeks.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
Yeah, I mean, he just it's pretty crazy how how
he got it flipped. They look great, by the way,
in the all whites. I've never seen the Patriots do
that before with white tops, white pants. There's a really
strong look for them down there. Yep, yeah, no, but
all those Yeah, there's something you know that's you know
with with Danny Dimes and Darnald and Bake like among others,
but like those three are the kind of the top

(50:47):
of mind. There's a quarterback reclamation thing that's happening. Where
how did this happen? Where all? I mean, we know
how it happened here because we lived it, But like,
how does how does a tea like Carolina had two
of those guys on their roster? Anybody in the league
could have had Danny Dimes last year, right, because didn't
well practice, didn't he practice squad?

Speaker 4 (51:07):
No?

Speaker 2 (51:08):
During the season. Was he on the Vikings practice squad? Yes,
I think he was.

Speaker 5 (51:12):
He was. They picked him up after he got cut.

Speaker 2 (51:15):
Yeah, I think he was on the Vikings after the season.
Anybody could have had him. But last year, after he
was cut by the Giants, I think he went to
Minnesota's practice school. He was all right, I think so
he spent some time.

Speaker 3 (51:28):
He was signed to the practice squa on late November
and was added to the active roster on January seventh. Yeah,
but even in that case, yes, anybody could have had him,
but he you wouldn't have had it.

Speaker 2 (51:42):
He'd be a free agent at the end of the
year anyway. But you could have had Anyone in the
league could have had him, Yes, like that's and anybody
in the league could have had Darnald or Baker. Now anybody.

Speaker 3 (51:51):
Here's the thing, Danny Dimes and you heard it on
this program. We were very interested in him, but he
got priced out, so there was obviously more of a
market for him after Yeah, the season.

Speaker 2 (52:04):
Yeah, I should tell you that you listened wk N
R eight fifty ESPN Cleveland, a Goodkarma brand station.

Speaker 3 (52:12):
He is still he's still pretty darn good. Now, you
could have signed them off of their practice squad to
your fifty three.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
He has to agree to that.

Speaker 3 (52:18):
Yeah, but yeah, that could have that certainly could have
happened around the league.

Speaker 2 (52:22):
But I think you know, I don't. Did you guys
see his interview? Man, it was Dan Jones interview.

Speaker 3 (52:36):
He'd I just came across this in the last couple
of days.

Speaker 2 (52:44):
This is it, Dan? What interview?

Speaker 3 (52:48):
Is that he was talking about just the impact. Oh,
it's against all odds with Fitzpatrick, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Anderwitworth, That's what.
And he talks about how the said he never took
the field for the quarterback for the Vikings or in
a short step, there's no question Kevin O'Connell left the
lasting impression. He said going to Minnesota, I saw how
Sam prepared, how Kevin prepared those guys, Josh McCown, Grant Yedinsky,

(53:10):
that crew, and how detailed they were day in and
day out on every little bit of the plan, how
they were going to study it, what they're looking for,
walking through quizzing each other. That made a big impression
on me. I was like, this is maybe the next
level of some of that stuff. I think that changed it.
I think Kevin and Augress was on play calling a
lot of drop backshots, taking the chance.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
That made an impression on me too. Yeah. It all worked.
I mean it worked for the I mean even look
at Kyle with Mack. I know he threw a bob yesterday,
But when.

Speaker 3 (53:34):
You're talk that's what I'm saying, like, where you see
guys come from situations where coaching matters in this league
a great deal, and there are certain people that are
big elevators. But sometimes if you go into a place
where you don't necessarily have a veteran role model or
you don't have a quarterback coach, who does it? You
know this way? You never learned to study that way.

(53:56):
And you look at what Sam Darnold goes to Minnesota
now or was he before that Kyle? So he goes
from Kyle as a backup, gets indoctrinated, and all that
goes Minnesota blows up. Now he's flying high in Seattle
with Klint Kubiak as the play caller, who I think
is going to be a hot head coach name in
the next coaching cycle in the NFL. That stuff all

(54:19):
makes a big, big difference for some of these guys
that were sure agreed upon good talents.

Speaker 2 (54:27):
It was none of them. They're all top of first
round picks, right Jones, Darnold, Bake, Mac Jones, they all
were Yeah, they're all high first round picks. I mean, yeah,
that's the talent. Was there a couple of the real
quick ones? Mike A. Seki is going to be out
a while down on the injury front down in Cincinnati,
short week for them. They have the Steelers on Thursday.
This one's stinks. So Mecha Buka scheduled undergo testing Tuesday

(54:49):
to determine how much time he'll miss with the hamstring
he suffered. But he's expected to be out a while.
And he was having an other war.

Speaker 3 (54:55):
I think they said it's the hope was that it
was not as severe as the Mike Evans won.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
Yeah, so that's that's pretty good. Yep.

Speaker 3 (55:07):
That would be or that would be better than certainly
what you're hoping for.

Speaker 2 (55:10):
Sidaria Smith retired from the NFL. He had signed with
the Eagles just a few weeks ago. He was here
a couple of years ago and was great when he
was here, played last year in Detroit. And then the
Chiefs get Rashi Rice back. His six games suspension is over.
He's eligible play Sunday. So they get Rashee Rice back.
They come off a win against Detroit where they really
that whole game came down to the middle four yep,

(55:31):
because they both were great. Came down or the middle
eight rather, and so now they get they get him back.
So way you go on that, and we will, by
the way, do one thought around the league tomorrow.

Speaker 3 (55:41):
Tomorrow and just a little bit of news that is
not around the league, but it is very much related
to the Cleveland Browns. Cleveland may Or Justin Bibb and
Brown's owner owner Jimmy Haslam are holding a news conference
at four point thirty today at City Hall to provide quote,
an update on stadium negotiations.

Speaker 2 (55:55):
End quote. It's noteworthy, and that'll happen during our program.
There you go, So we'll get you the e THATLOK
four too, which is nice.

Speaker 4 (56:02):
All right.

Speaker 2 (56:03):
You're listening to second hour of the program coming up next.
Included in this the Joe Thomas half hour of the program,
Joe's thoughts on everything that happened on Sunday over in Pittsburgh.
You listened to Cleveland Browns Daily were presented by bally
bete official sports beanting partner Cleveland Browns. Please bet responsibly
on eight fifty ESPN Cleveland.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
presented by bally bet Sports Book, an official sports betting
partner of your Cleveland Browns. Please bet responsibly.

Speaker 2 (56:50):
Head to Meyers Scan the Hillshire Farms QR code of
the Meat Department until November eleventh, thir a chance to
win a sweet for ten to the Steelers game on
December twenty eighth. How about you know for the loyal listeners,
don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves, but
it's possible one of our great grief, pieces of points
of grief that we've had in the last eighteen months
or so could at least be getting potentially a little reproach.

(57:13):
Well just for us to bring it, we need to
bring it back for everybody. Well, one step at the time,
one step at a time. Let's see if we can
make things happen here. Does give a no? Did you
tell I'll tell them. Yeah, I was on my one.

Speaker 5 (57:29):
Sorry, it's in line for today and not knowing things.
I think anyone else wanted to drop anything in my
life to that I didn't know about.

Speaker 2 (57:38):
Wasn't this on the right I could have faut it?

Speaker 15 (57:40):
No?

Speaker 2 (57:40):
No, No, it was during I think it might have
been halftime where I got wind of it. I think
it was at halftime when I was texting you and
I got winded it. That it could be. So we'll
see if that can happen to be a major, major, major,
major victory. My friend, major victory. I don't even know
where we are. I know.

Speaker 5 (57:59):
We got score and then we're done. Well we're not.

Speaker 2 (58:02):
We're not done. The hops Hops coming up here in
about what nine minutes something like that. Yes, all right,
where are you guys with the split? Start Monday nighters?
Love it?

Speaker 5 (58:14):
I love I think it's coming back it.

Speaker 2 (58:16):
So we got two weeks in a row. Staggers start
Monday nighters. Yeah, I would prefer Do you prefer that?
Or the six nine to fifteen starts?

Speaker 3 (58:27):
Six and nine fifteen would be good, but I think
it's usually seven and ten Usually I don't That game
doesn't exist well now in Luca world, you're never going
to see a ten o'clock start. That's over, you're done,
so miss kay because I'm like, I just can't go
to bed that early. That's just not my like I can't.

Speaker 2 (58:43):
So, well, what are you doing now? Like what are
you trying to get to? Like I'd like to be
uple at all? Like eleven? Yeah, that's I am. I'm
eleven and then up at six, so that's that's seven.
You need seven.

Speaker 3 (58:52):
So Miss k though, is like by ten now, oh
she's she's like she's like my dad well, especially if
it's like like yesterday for example, because I was gone
all day, so she had Luca all day.

Speaker 2 (59:05):
That's a full day. So yeah, so she was very tired.

Speaker 3 (59:08):
So she has now these like this iemask that you'll
wear to try to block out the TV.

Speaker 2 (59:14):
And I just look, it makes me laugh, what are
you doing thatt it? She'll get, She's gonna get once.
There will come a point and I think you're going
to settle into the eleven to eleven to seven, eleven
to six, eleven to seven I think is a perfect orld.
Well that's ideal. I'd kill for that. I did. I'm
to the point now you and I talked about this offer,
but you probably I think you'd be able to do

(59:36):
that if you didn't have your program. Well I don't
know if I can or not, but I just know that,
like even on weekends now, like I'm it's six twenty
six is kind of naturally now, which is pop up third.

Speaker 3 (59:48):
It used to be a solid you know, twelve to
eight was a great that was a great living Yeah yeah, yeah,
yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 (59:56):
This is the world. This is it, buddy, that.

Speaker 3 (59:58):
You know you're getting all though when you're like when
it's like nine thirty five or nine forty five, and
you're like, oh, I get to go get bad. Yeah,
just slide it for a light for a little bit,
watch a watch a watch my program, and then you know,
watch the game bad.

Speaker 2 (01:00:13):
We also have to give give credit to College Football Nate.
You nailed the James Franklin weeks ago. Weeks ago.

Speaker 3 (01:00:18):
There are two things that College Football Nate has been
adamant about this year for weeks. Number one is that
the Buckeyes are the best team in the country. Before
it was kind of being generally regarded. Now it's that's
that's the gospel, and that James Franklin was a fronsterer
and he needed to go and I didn't think it
was gonna happen in season, so he gon't. They found
fifty million, is what it's fifty million, So yes, his buyout.

Speaker 2 (01:00:39):
I saw Dan Patrick be like, so was it a
bad day for James Raklin?

Speaker 3 (01:00:42):
Now he gets fifty million dollars to do nothing he does.
I think it was still probably a bad day for him.
But yeah, that's that's the world you're living in college football.
Now there's huge buyouts, so it's gonna cost I got
fifty to pay him out. It's gonna cost seventy five
at least to hire the new guy in a seven
year deal. So ten a year for that for the
new guy. Plus they have a seven hund million dollars
stadium renovation that they're in the middle of, and they're

(01:01:02):
paying anil for their rosters. I'll tell you what if
I was him, I'd be like, buddy, give me the
top two country clubs you've always wanted to join.

Speaker 2 (01:01:12):
Where are you buying your dream house at the end
the end?

Speaker 5 (01:01:15):
Yeah, all right, we have money football score, and I've
got less than sixty seconds.

Speaker 2 (01:01:20):
I thought you had forty two. You had be at
twenty two here given.

Speaker 5 (01:01:23):
Yeah, well, remember I said during the commercial break.

Speaker 2 (01:01:25):
Well, oh, I don't listen to you in the breaks.
I'm aware, I listen.

Speaker 5 (01:01:29):
We need to be out like as let's go, let's
go all right, game number one coming bills at Falcons,
Gutlass Falcons Bills coming off of that Sunday night loss
to the Patriots.

Speaker 2 (01:01:41):
Bobasho, listen to Zee on all of these. He's got
it figured out. I've had a couple of bad weeks
back to back in the NFL. So he's got a
better feel on this. I just think Falcons play well
at home. I could see Buffalo winning this gamey by
in a very very tight score, but it wouldn't surprise
me if Atlanta did either. So time to go.

Speaker 5 (01:01:55):
Done with the Falcon twenty four to twenty one Bills
Done with the Falcons on primetime.

Speaker 3 (01:02:00):
Bill's coming off of a loss. They are, Yeah, this
is a get right game. They're gonna get right. They're
gonna get right in big Ley Bill's thirty one Falcons.

Speaker 2 (01:02:08):
Twenty one listen he not me.

Speaker 5 (01:02:11):
The late one with the Monday Night Crew, Buck Aikman
Salters Bears at Kami's a rematch of the Hail Mary
game from a year ago.

Speaker 3 (01:02:22):
A girl, no McLaurin, Deebo's banged up. I think that
Washington is going to win the game, but I don't
think that they're the more explosive.

Speaker 2 (01:02:29):
This could also be watching up twelve late. Yeah, there
he is.

Speaker 3 (01:02:34):
By the way, it turned out, you couldn't see Kyler
at the back door because he was so short, But
then it was actually it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:41):
Was not him. You could have seen him there. He's
like a good six five, good six five.

Speaker 3 (01:02:49):
I think the Bears get inside the number here bears too, Yeah, Bears,
So Commi's probably something like this. This feels like a
twenty seven to twenty four, Yeah somewhere something in like
something like that. I'm with you on that one.

Speaker 2 (01:03:02):
I like the Bears as well in that scenario with
the comedies on a very very narrow victory. The Joe
Thomas Half Hour. The program's coming up next year, So
to Cleveland Browns Daily presented by bally Bet, official sports
winning partner of Cleveland Browns. Please bet responsibly At eight
fifty ESPN, Cleveland.

Speaker 1 (01:03:17):
presented by bally Bet Sports Book, an official sports betting
partner of your Cleveland Browns. Please bet responsibly.

Speaker 4 (01:03:29):
Ed.

Speaker 2 (01:03:29):
Welcome back into the Joe Thomas Half Hour of the
program here on Cleveland Brown's Daily, the great Hoff is here. Look,
this is a tough one. It's a tough one. Hoff,
As you're taking this one in on a Sunday. Where
where is most of your frustration as now a Browns
fan and analyst.

Speaker 19 (01:03:47):
Well, it's split between the Badgers and the Browns at
this moment because the Browns. Although they broke my heart
on Sunday against the Steelers, I didn't see it coming
quite as much as what happened when the got smashed
and homecoming against Iowa, so that hurt. But I think
where I probably direct most of my iyer is just

(01:04:08):
how on offense we're so inept. Like I realize we
have a rookie quarterback, but we should be able to
get some more points than we are right now because
we've got some good players. We have professionals out there.
We've got some solid pieces on the offensive line, we
got weapons at tight end, Like we need to be
able to just move the ball more down the field. Specifically,
we need to be able to get some shots into

(01:04:30):
the middle of the field more than ten yards to
stretch out a defense and.

Speaker 2 (01:04:34):
Score more points.

Speaker 5 (01:04:35):
It's football is hard.

Speaker 19 (01:04:37):
There's no doubt Pro football is very hard. But we're
making it look harder than it should be because we're
just not scoring points. We're not efficient, we're not fun
on offense, and I think that's the frustration probably for
a lot of Browns fans, Like we know mostly we
probably weren't going to win the Super Bowl going into
the season, but we thought we'd be able to have
a little bit of fun along the way. We thought

(01:04:58):
on offense we'd be able to wrinkle in some nice
plays and maybe we get a chance to see some
of these young quarterbacks do some fun things.

Speaker 10 (01:05:05):
But none of that has happened.

Speaker 19 (01:05:06):
And for as good as Dylan played in the first game,
you didn't feel like there was a lot of follow through.
And the danger of having a young quarterback who's afraid
to make some big throws down the field and take
some chances is that defenses are pretty smart and they're
watching the film and they're getting the tendencies. And if
you're not going to push the ball and you're only

(01:05:27):
going to throw the guys that are wide open at
short range, defense are going to figure that out and
it's going to make it even more difficult. And what
we thought was maybe a good, bright young start in
London to Dylan Gabriel's career is going to keep getting
worse and worse until he realizes that, hey, we can
throw the football down the field because we have to.
We have to force the issue. We have to threaten

(01:05:49):
a defense with some down the field throws because otherwise
they're just going to keep creeping closer to the line
of scrimmage, and now they're going to even start jumping
some of the shorter stuff. And then now it's going
to be more interceptions and more mistakes. And so I
guess if that was one thing, then there's your one
thing that gave me the greatest amount of frustration there
over the weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:06:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:06:10):
I mean, you could tell as that game went on
that they were not even concerned at all.

Speaker 2 (01:06:15):
And here's the thing.

Speaker 3 (01:06:16):
When you run a lot of these you know what
we call shot plays. When you run those, you've got
to read them top down and if the top, if
the verticals open, you've got to throw it. And I
think we are so our process is so sped up
that we are completely just going down and waiting and looking,

(01:06:37):
you know, just trying to get rid of football, just
trying to survive, I guess. But at some point it's
that balance, right of being aggressive but not putting the
ball in danger, but to make some of the plays.
You watch quarterbacks around the league, and I know everybody
and certainly in this area, is talking about Baker Mayfield.
Baker Mayfield puts a ball in peril a lot. Yeah,
but he's making plays. He's being aggressive and rowing into

(01:07:00):
some tighter windows and certainly pushing the ball vertically. It's
too hard and I think we have too many limitations
right now as a Cleveland Browns offense.

Speaker 2 (01:07:08):
To try and run ten twelve players drives. It just
is going to happen.

Speaker 3 (01:07:11):
So the only way you can run less tha is
you got to get some chunks, and that requires most
likely throwing the football down the field.

Speaker 19 (01:07:19):
It's great to not have any interceptions. It's great to
not turn the football over when you're a young quarterback,
but you have to be able to walk that fine
line between not putting the ball in harm's way unnecessarily
and taking chances, because being a quarterback is all about
taking calculated risks and when the moment is there, you
gotta let it rip. Otherwise it becomes an impossible task

(01:07:40):
to move the football down the field three and a
half four yards at a time in the NFL.

Speaker 2 (01:07:45):
Yeah, it does. He's a rookie quarterback making his second
start in Pittsburgh, so all of those things are part
of it too, and I think that there to me, guys,
there's so many problems here offensively. But if you watch
and you mentioned Baker. If you watched the game last
night and you see Goff and the way that they

(01:08:07):
handle it, this is playing quarterback at the expert level.
But the other thing is is they have guys who
when they catch it, can take it to the house.
Starts with catch, right if you have a rookie quarterback,
catch it if it hits you in the hands. I mean,
you gotta do that, Like that's basic stuff. So what
I think is the other thing that's really troubling here
is we're not really putting a rookie quarterback in a

(01:08:29):
position to succeed either, and so bad habits are now
becoming who he is at maybe that's who he has
a little bit anyway, he's a third bet round pick.
But there's nothing that we do that's scary for a
defense right now. Hoff And the one thing that I
thought was was quin Shawn Judkins, But then we kind
of didn't get the full Quenchwn Judkins experience yesterday either.

Speaker 19 (01:08:50):
Yeah, I was surprised that they didn't at least feed
Judkins more. I mean, he had twelve carries in the game,
he only had a three yard average. It was pretty
obvious that Pittsburgh's defense was saying, all right, as long
as this guy doesn't beat us, we're going to be okay,
and we're going to win this game. But when he's
really your best weapon on offense, and he's a rookie
and he's a guy that you're trying to still incorporate

(01:09:10):
in the offense and figure out what are the run
schemes that he likes the most, what are the blocking
schemes that the offensive line really likes with him in there,
I still think you need to be able to find
a way to get him the football because he's your
most explosive weapon on offense, and the last thing you
want is your quarterback throwing the ball fifty times. So
I was pretty surprised that they didn't just feed him
the ball more, or even just give him an opportunity

(01:09:32):
to get some shorter passes. Just put the ball in
his hand. He's your best player. He had zero receptions,
he had twelve carries. He needs to touch the ball
twenty times every game. I really think that that's the
way it is. And understanding that he is your best
asset on offense, he's the guy that's going to take
the most pressure off your quarterback. And even if it

(01:09:52):
means in some more unconventional ways, I think he needs
to be a much bigger part of the game plan. Yeah.

Speaker 3 (01:09:57):
And the one that just surprised me that I I
just still have not really been able to figure out,
is you get it down there the Browns are you know,
down you're down twenty three to six.

Speaker 2 (01:10:08):
I mean obviously you need a lot.

Speaker 3 (01:10:09):
Yeah to go your way here, but you get first
and goal after they call that pass interference on Jerry Jude.
You get first and goal to Pittsburgh three. Judkins doesn't
even come on the field now. Earlier in this very drive,
when it was you got a six yard run from
Judkins when you kind of lined up everybody was on
a fourth and two with the Steelers thirty. You brought

(01:10:30):
in Huntington, You got big and he ran for six
yards kind of yeah, in the nothing into a wall
and still got six.

Speaker 2 (01:10:37):
And we start off at the.

Speaker 3 (01:10:38):
Three we go shotgun pass, shotgun pass gets sacked for
eleven yards.

Speaker 2 (01:10:43):
I just that one. I don't understand that sequence.

Speaker 3 (01:10:47):
Can you maybe give us some insight what could be
the thinking there why you wouldn't want to just go
up there and run it, or were you as surprised
as I was.

Speaker 19 (01:10:55):
Yeah, I was surprised, and I think when you look
at their red zone inefficiency, they were oerver three. And
when you're getting kicking field goals with this offense, like
that's an immediate loss. Like it's so hard for them
to get down there and get into the red zone.
And when you're in the red zone, all the space
gets a lot tighter, everything gets more compressed, and so
I'm thinking, Okay, run the ball. That's where you have

(01:11:17):
to be the most effective running the football is in
the red zone because your passing windows are way tighter,
and it's just more difficult because defenses are even closer
to the line of scrimmage because they don't have to
defend the link of the field, so they can disguise more.
It's just a really difficult place for a rookie quarterback.
The precision has to be so much higher. So leave
Quinchean on the field, get in the football. And at

(01:11:39):
this point we're not going to make the playoffs, so
it's more about, hey, let's see what these guys can do.
Let's not try to trick anybody out of anything. Yeah,
there comes a time and a place where you still
need to keep the defense honest and be creative and
get some nice trick plays in there. But I think
within the context of saying that you need number ten
on the field at all times when you're in the

(01:12:01):
red zone, I just think that he's too much of
a weapon. He's too important, especially when you do get
into the red zone to try to punch the ball
in there. He's a guy that you want to lean on.
He's your workhorse, he's your best asset. Put him in
the game, give him the football. Now, you don't want
to be completely predictable, but you still got to leave
him in the game to give him the threat. And
the defense is the most afraid of this dude. So

(01:12:22):
even if you don't hand it to him when he's
on the field, at least it opens up some of
the other options.

Speaker 3 (01:12:27):
And to me, again, it was at a point in
the game where it look was a comeback likely. No
it wasn't, But this was a game in which it
felt like for a lot of it the Steelers level
of physicality was above our level of physicality. That's not
saying I'm not saying guys weren't playing hard for the
clean brunts. I'm just saying they were being a physical,
violent team. I got throughout the game and look at

(01:12:49):
the list of injuries that we've got, and some of
it was clean, some of it was on the teetering
on maybe not necessarily being clean. Anderstiliano was losing his mind.
He was going appleplex Ghet points during the game about
the physicality. But I thought I looked at that as
a chance to make a statement as well, like you're.

Speaker 2 (01:13:07):
Not gonna big brother us.

Speaker 3 (01:13:09):
We're gonna line up and we're gonna just shove it
down your stinking throats and we're gonna get out there
and we're gonna show you that. Yeah, you may have
won this game, but we're gonna match your physicality.

Speaker 2 (01:13:18):
In fact, we're gonna take it to you right here.

Speaker 3 (01:13:19):
And I thought maybe that was a chance to not
only you want to get in the end zone, that's
the goal obviously, but to do it in a way
that could be maybe galvanizing even going forward. Does that
matter or is that something that's made up by us
when you guys in there, you know, in the trenches,
are not even thinking about, hey, let's go, let's exert
our will on them.

Speaker 19 (01:13:40):
Yeah, So I think back to my first year under
Eric Mangini two thousand and nine, we started one and eleven.

Speaker 10 (01:13:49):
We weren't a very good team.

Speaker 19 (01:13:51):
We had terrible receivers, we didn't have great quarterback play,
but we had a good offensive line, we had an
okay defense, and we just said, hey, look, we're going
to create an identity this year. We're not making the playoffs,
but it's about an identity that we're trying to create
for this season, for these players and then for the future.
So we just said, we're going to be physical, We're

(01:14:11):
going to run the football, and we may lose the game,
but you know what, they're going to walk away from
this game licking their wounds and they're going to be
in the ice tub because what we can do and
what we can control is how physical we are, how
hard we hit those dudes, and we're going to make
them say uncle by the end of the game because
we're going to run the ball right at them, we're
going to beat them up all over the field, and

(01:14:33):
we're going to play some good defense and hard defense
on the other side. And eventually the end of the season,
we went on a four game winning streak.

Speaker 10 (01:14:40):
Now it was meaningless in the end.

Speaker 19 (01:14:42):
But it felt good for us because we said when
we were going through that losing the beginning of the season,
we need to create an identity. Our identity is going
to be that we're more physical and we're tougher than
you are. And by the end of the season, especially
those teams that were maybe not in the playoff hunt
and they were coming to Cleveland and it was cold
and it was nasty and they didn't really feel like playing,
we were going to win that game. Not because we
were a better team where we had better athletes, but

(01:15:04):
we're just going to be more physical. And it gave
you something to rally around, and I think that's really
important when you have a season that's slipping away at
one in five, Now, what is the thing that's going
to get you excited to show up? It's certainly not
chasing the playoffs at this point, but it's, hey, you
know what, We're going to be a tough out. We're
going to be physical. Teams are not going to want
to see us, and that can give us some pride
in who we are and the identity that we're going

(01:15:25):
to try to create here for next season and for
the year after and for the guys that are here
that are young players, and so I think it's really
important to have that thing because if you don't have
that thing, then you start losing effort. So pointing to
physicality and toughness and how hard you're going to play
and how physical you're going to play, I think is
a really important rallying cry that I would really like
to see them adopt moving forward in the season.

Speaker 10 (01:15:46):
And I think it.

Speaker 19 (01:15:47):
Starts a lot of times with the plays that you
call and the things that you emphasize during the week
of practice, and then the things that you emphasize on
game day.

Speaker 10 (01:15:55):
This is what we want to be, this is who
we are.

Speaker 2 (01:15:57):
It was so interesting as you're asking Joe that QUI question,
I wrote down identity because that's it, Like, what what
is the identity of this operation? Offensively, what should it be?
It had been quinch on for a couple of weeks,
for sure. Yeah, I mean that's the whole thing. If
you think back to the conversations you and I had
in the summer around this team and it was being

(01:16:18):
built around Kenny Pickett, you know, we kept saying we're
going to try to win games twenty to seventeen seventeen
to ten, seventeen thirteen. Like we're not getting to seventeen
right now, but like that was what they were shooting for.
I mean we didn't we didn't add a ton of
weapons in the off season. We didn't. Like this is
kind of what it is. Is this is what they
were shooting for is and obviously they were hoping they'd

(01:16:40):
be more efficient. But see this is what this is
what was in the brochure for sure.

Speaker 3 (01:16:44):
And the tough part about this and haf you know
this is when that is your quote unquote m O
or your identity and you kind of eschew the notion
that we're going to try to outscore you. You have
a very low margin because there really is only one
game script or game flow that you can win with.

Speaker 2 (01:17:05):
Yep.

Speaker 3 (01:17:05):
And so far, special teams have not been great. And
here's another one in this week. It's Cam Thomas. It
was could have been a tough call, sure, but like
you got to make your own breaks, and we're not
gonna get benefit of the doubt because we haven't been good.
It's like why Michael Jordan would get calls over somebody
like Adel Curry who wasn't bad, but he wasn't Michael Jordan. No, right,
So you've got to make your own destiny, and and

(01:17:28):
and the margin freer special teams that extends a drive,
that turns it into a touchdown, that's basically a turnover
because we were gonna get the ball and instead it
extends it for Aaron Rodgers. He goes down, they get
a touch him, and it blows the game wide open.
We don't have right Heck, we don't have the ability
to score twenty points period right now. No, I hope
we do. You're gonna need to, but our margin for

(01:17:52):
air is just so so small. So when you think
about how do the Browns keep losing, and you say
to yourself, it's gonna be a special team's blow under
a variety of It could be a punt return for
a touchdown. It could be running the punter, extending a drive,
could be miss field goals in week one, it's gonna
be on offense, pre snap penalties, so many pre snap penalties,
yep drop passes, you know, and from a quarterback perspective,

(01:18:15):
when we actually do scheme something up and it's there
and it's blocked up, we're not even throwing it down
the field. Because I think we're so shell shocked by
everything else and then you say, well, you none of
that is winning. So I'm looking for small victories. Number One,
I'd like to team.

Speaker 2 (01:18:29):
I'd like to be.

Speaker 3 (01:18:30):
Fun to watch, so like i'd rather James Winston was
fun to watch. Yep, we didn't win a lot. He
actually won two games two of our three last year.
But there was something fun to watch and we need
to We need to find that and if that's gonna be,
because there can be something beautiful about lining up our
eleven guys, bringing aid in Huntington and bringing Luke Whipler
into three and be like, we're gonna run it four times.

Speaker 2 (01:18:52):
In a row.

Speaker 3 (01:18:52):
You know what, We know everybody in the crowd knows it,
and we're gonna impose our will because at least we
can we know we can do that. That's why I
would I would have liked to have at least seen that,
because we're not like we get down by nine or ten.

Speaker 2 (01:19:08):
It feels like we're down thirty.

Speaker 3 (01:19:10):
Yeah, and that's a tough way to play in this league.

Speaker 2 (01:19:13):
This is it, no matter what you say.

Speaker 3 (01:19:16):
And then we went through all the numbers we've screamed
weapons weapons, weapons, weapons, all up and down. Yeah, this
is a scoring league, like you have got to when
all else goes wrong, you've got to be able to score.
And you've got to be able to throw the football
when other teams know you've got to throw the football.
That's you want to win super Bowls, you want to
win divisions. That's the bare minimum. And we don't have that.

Speaker 2 (01:19:37):
No, no, but that I suppose that will be something
that I guess, Huff. The question to you is when
you guys did that in two that was two thousand
and eight or nine or whenever that was your rookie year.
How did you flip that? How did you say, like, like,
did you get you guys as an offensive line put
it on yourselves like we're gonna go this is who

(01:19:59):
we are, Like, how how did you get that flipped?

Speaker 13 (01:20:02):
Yeah?

Speaker 19 (01:20:02):
I think that it was two thousand and nine. It
was my first year with Mangini, so it was my
third year in the NFL. But it was a collective
among the offensive line like, hey, this is what we're
going to be. We're we may not win a lot
of games, but you know what, we're going to hurt
the other guys in the process.

Speaker 10 (01:20:19):
We're going to be physical and we're going.

Speaker 4 (01:20:21):
To be tough.

Speaker 19 (01:20:22):
We're going to run the ball right at you, and
demanding that from the man calling the plays, and the
way that you scripted practice from the beginning of the
week on the Monday, talking about, hey, you know, all
these pass plays are great and everything, but let's make
sure that what we're focusing on during the week of
practice is being physical running the football, and then making

(01:20:42):
sure that that showed up in the script on Friday
and Saturday when you went through the walkthrough and you
went through your first thirty or first fifteen plays, and
it was just a matter of being accountable to each
other and also with the coaches being accountable to you,
saying you know what I remember Brian dave Ball was
off his coordinator in the beginning of his tenure. He

(01:21:02):
loved to throw the ball like all offensive coordinators, but
he would always tell us we want to be physical,
we want to run the ball, and so we just
kept reminding him like, hey, you want to be physical,
you want to be tough. That's who we want to
be in Cleveland, Like, you can't tell us that and
then have nine out of the first fifteen.

Speaker 10 (01:21:18):
Plays be called passes.

Speaker 19 (01:21:19):
Right, Like, let's make sure that we're following through with
saying who we want to be. And I think with
this team, the emphasis needs to be let's not beat ourselves.
We want to be tough, we want to physical, we
want to run the ball, but penalties are unacceptable.

Speaker 10 (01:21:34):
Done period. That's it.

Speaker 19 (01:21:36):
No penalties because that's something that we can control. No drops,
that's something that we can control. And then from there,
it's a mindset. It's an attitude that you have to
have that every play, I'm going to get the better
of the guy across from me. And maybe I'm going
to screw up the play, maybe I'm not going to
take the right footwork, but you know what, I'm going
to do it in a physical, tough manner because this

(01:21:57):
is the identity that we're trying to create.

Speaker 3 (01:22:00):
You mentioned the penalties, Okay, in your experience, what is
the most effective way to do it?

Speaker 2 (01:22:07):
Is it?

Speaker 3 (01:22:07):
Are you yanking guys out of games? Are you saying
you do this in practice, you're running, You're going to
be inactive. We're finding you what is actually what actually
does it? Because let's be honest about we commit penalties
every years. Who we are we've dropped the ball every year.
We finally cleaned up to take giveaways two games in
a row. That's fantastic, that's welcoming. But we've been, you know,

(01:22:27):
one of the worst turnover teams years in a row.
So what's the most effective way to actually reach players?
Because it feels like we're searching for that answer.

Speaker 10 (01:22:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 19 (01:22:38):
I don't like the idea of like making guys run,
because I think that can sometimes be counterproductive. But I
think what you need to do is you need to
be annoying from a coaching standpoint, to the point where
every single meeting you're bringing up the penalties, who created
the penalties, calling them out of meetings, holding them accountable,
and like to the point where guys are of hearing

(01:23:00):
about who had a penalty.

Speaker 10 (01:23:01):
In practice, you're keeping track of that.

Speaker 19 (01:23:03):
You're making sure that that's the first thing you talk
about in your meetings when you come back and you
review the tape, like you can't emphasize everything. That's one
of the things that I took from coach pett and
Mike Petton when he was our head coach. He said,
you know, football is a game of a million things,
but if you try to coach a million things to
the players, they're going to get nothing out of it.
You can only emphasize really like one thing out of

(01:23:25):
time because that's the thing that they're going to hear
the most. And so that's what I would do if
I was the coach in that position, and I would
start every meeting with a penalty report.

Speaker 10 (01:23:34):
From the day before.

Speaker 19 (01:23:36):
If it's Monday, it's a penalty report from the game,
and have those guys that created the penalties maybe stand
up in front of their teammates and explain what happened
and why they had a penalty, right, because in the end,
the accountability is always the greatest when it's your teammates,
your coworkers, your friends that are the ones that are
holding you accountable.

Speaker 10 (01:23:54):
And I don't know, I've never been on a team
that did that. I just thought of that at the
top of my head, but I'm like, you know, pretty
bread to do it.

Speaker 19 (01:24:00):
They stand up in front of a juror of your
peers and tell us what happened and why you're trying
to kill this team.

Speaker 2 (01:24:06):
Yeah, I like it.

Speaker 3 (01:24:06):
Why is running potentially counterproductive just because you could get
somebody well, because it feels like.

Speaker 10 (01:24:12):
It's very high school.

Speaker 4 (01:24:13):
Now.

Speaker 19 (01:24:13):
I don't think like, uh, it's something that would injure
a guy or something. I just think there's it's way
way more efficient to have a guy stand up in
front of his peers and embarrass him. To be totally honest,
I think that if you make guys run, there gonna.

Speaker 10 (01:24:29):
Feel like it's it's like high school Harry.

Speaker 3 (01:24:32):
You know, I remember the guy from the Giants who
was the head coach of the Giants.

Speaker 2 (01:24:35):
It was a special teams coach of the Patriots. Oh
my gosh, I can picture I can see his face.
Why can't I say?

Speaker 3 (01:24:42):
It'll come anyway when they came here for joint practices
and we kind of whooped up on him and he
made them all run, and you could like it was
palpable that they were like done with him.

Speaker 19 (01:24:52):
Yeah, I think that's That's one of the things, like
if you're on a team that's winning, you can do anything.

Speaker 10 (01:24:57):
You can make guys run.

Speaker 19 (01:24:58):
And you know if they have penalty and you can
preach whatever you want and guys are going to buy in.
So it's much harder to get guys to buy in
when you are losing, When you feel like you're overmatched
in these games. And I think in those situations, if
now guys are losing practice time because they're running because
of penalties, it can be something that is counterproductive because

(01:25:22):
you're starting to lose the locker room a little bit,
you're losing your influence over those guys, and it becomes
less of a player driven initiative, Whereas like if you've
got your captains there and they're in the beginning of
a meeting and there's they're having like Okay, you know,
Joe Thomas left tackle, why don't you stand up there?

(01:25:43):
And this is coming from the other leaders, the other
captains and tell us why you jumped off sides in
this situation Like that would be humiliated to me. And
now it's going to be the front of my mind
when I'm going through practice and when I'm going into
the games, like, wow, this is really important, Like I
don't want to have to talk to my the jury
of my peers and admit my mistake and explain to

(01:26:04):
them why I lost the game, Like that would be awful,
way worse than running.

Speaker 2 (01:26:08):
And I think if you just make you're the ho.

Speaker 19 (01:26:12):
I not listen to this dude anymore. This he doesn't
know what he's talking about. He's running a high school program.

Speaker 3 (01:26:16):
You're the huff though, and you would get embarrassed to
stand up because you had one penalty.

Speaker 2 (01:26:20):
But that's what makes you great. That's also has he's
also holds himself accountable. Yes, but I don't think of
their own standard.

Speaker 3 (01:26:26):
I don't think there are fifty three Hofs in the
average NFL locker room. And from a from a mentality standpoint.

Speaker 10 (01:26:34):
I think you're right. But I think that's why you
have to build that mentality.

Speaker 19 (01:26:37):
Maybe right that maybe the mentality is built by making
them stand up there and pleading their case to their
peers why they feel like they should still be in
the position they're in even though they're creating penalties which
we know are leading directly to losses because, like you said,
our margin of air, especially on offense, is enormously thin.

(01:26:58):
So the things that we can control, the U penalties,
the drop passes, the missed assignments like those are the
things that you just have to reiterate over and over
and over again and build the accountability within the guys, like, hey, look,
you're letting your teammates down when you don't make this
the most important thing that you're thinking about going into
a game.

Speaker 2 (01:27:17):
Time for the Trench Report, brought to you by Big
Fig the mattress made for war crafted and Cleveland just
like our Browns. Let's focus on one big important note.
Our buddy Joel Buttonio Hoff. He tied you. He's one
hundred and sixty seventh career start, so he will break
the record Sunday. What does it mean to you to
have him join you on that list? And then on

(01:27:38):
Sunday pass you Yeah.

Speaker 10 (01:27:41):
Shout out to the great Joel Buttonio Man.

Speaker 19 (01:27:43):
I love that guy as a human, as a football player,
as a Cleveland Brown, and it brings me great joy
that he's up there, moving up the list, getting closer
to the top of the list for all time starts
in a Brown's helmet. He deserves every bit of accolade
and praise he's had. I hope he continues to play
and continues to make a case for himself as a

(01:28:05):
Hall of Famer, because I definitely want to go and
party at his Hall of Fame party. Guys, well, he
deserves it, and two it would be a really fun party.
I would be able to enjoy it again in the
way that I did.

Speaker 2 (01:28:16):
Yes, he did. The bar is the haff had a
good time. I didn't know this yet. The bar is
high for quite literally everybody there. It was like sixteen candles.
For God's sake, you're Halloween or your your Hall of
Fame party. Everybody had a great time with the best study,
the best on a serious stuff. Frank, He was, Frank,
that's right, Hof, How do you what type of challenge

(01:28:38):
is this now? For Kevin? You got Miami coming in.
How do you not lose? How do you keep everybody
rolling in the same direction here? Because this, I mean
one in five is one and five. Everybody can see it.

Speaker 10 (01:28:53):
Yeah.

Speaker 19 (01:28:53):
I was thinking about this the other day because close
with Luke Fickele at Wisconsin and obviously they're in a
similar situation. And I was like, you know, if I
ran into Luke trick or treating here in a couple
of weeks, which our kids usually tri or treat together,
I'm like, you know, if we started talking ball, what
And he asked me like, hey, I know you've been

(01:29:14):
on some losing teams.

Speaker 10 (01:29:15):
Maybe he would be kind about it. Maybe'd be like
you were in a similar position.

Speaker 19 (01:29:20):
You know, how did you guys get through this, how
did you make yourself better? And I go back to
like one of the things that I talked to my
kids about, like if you if your brain is ever
feeling like you're disorganized and you're feeling anxious and stressed, Like,
how do you get back to feeling calm where you
can be productive and you can feel like you're moving
in the right direction and everything's under control. And it's

(01:29:43):
about focusing on one thing at a time. It's trying
to instead of focusing on everything at once and the
big things and the stress and the anxiety of being
one and five and where the season's headed, like not
thinking about that, but think about an identity.

Speaker 10 (01:29:58):
Who are we? What do I want to do?

Speaker 19 (01:30:01):
And find little things that you can work towards each
day and then each week. Instead of talking about, hey,
we need to win this game and this is how
we're going to do it, think about like who we
want to be. Who is the player and the team
that I want to go out there on a Saturday
or a Sunday and I want the fans to say

(01:30:21):
this is what I'm seeing out there. And I think
from the Brown standpoint, I think it's really important to
say we want to be the most physical team on
any field that we play on, and that will be
what they can focus on. We want to be the
most physical, We want to be the most detailed team
that makes the least amount of self inflicted wounds. Like

(01:30:42):
if you can just say, that's who we're going to be.
That's what we're going to focus on every single day.
And we're going to create a game plan that's creative
enough but simple enough where we're not going to make
any mistakes because that's who we want to put on
tape for the rest of the season. And so I think,
like we talked about earlier, like we want to be
a physical team.

Speaker 10 (01:31:01):
How are we going to do that?

Speaker 19 (01:31:02):
Well, it's how we practice, it's how we approach meetings,
it's how we call our plays, it's how we rotate
our personnel in different situations.

Speaker 10 (01:31:10):
And you know what, when we do get to the
red zone, we're going to throw it a little bit.

Speaker 19 (01:31:13):
But you know what, put it on the offensive line, right,
put it on those big guys up front, put it
on quinch On. We're going to give them the football
and we're going to give them an opportunity to create
a name for themselves within the NFL about you know what,
that Cleveland offensive line, that run game, they're tough. I
don't know if they're going to rush for one hundred
yards every single week, but if I'm a defense, I

(01:31:33):
don't want to see them because they're going to run
through my face and out the backside. And I just
think that that's like what you have to focus on.
You have to focus on creating that identity every single day,
in every meeting, and every time you walk on the field.

Speaker 2 (01:31:46):
It's going to be a tough task. That's what he's
got to do.

Speaker 5 (01:31:49):
Though.

Speaker 2 (01:31:49):
He's got to do that going forward, and we'll see
what happens this week. Off. Always great to talk to you,
my friend. Appreciate the Joe Thomas out half hour of
the program. Tell Luke to hang in there up there
and uh and we'll do it again soon, buddy. Thanks
for your time.

Speaker 10 (01:32:04):
Hey, guys, I appreciate it.

Speaker 19 (01:32:06):
I always feel just a little bit better after we
have our Monday morning chats.

Speaker 2 (01:32:10):
Just there you go. That's the Joe Thomas half hour
the program, and that is Cleveland Brown's Daily. Thanks for listen, everybody.
Cleveld Brons Daily eight fifty

Speaker 1 (01:32:21):
ESPN Cleveland you've been listening to Cleveland Browns Daily, a
production of the Cleveland Browns and eight fifty ESPN Cleveland

All Episodes

Analyzing the loss to the Steelers - Cleveland Browns Daily - 10.13.25

Episode Transcript

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist

Dateline NBC

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Analyzing the loss to the Steelers - Cleveland Browns Daily - 10.13.25