Episode Transcript
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(00:08):
Okay.
So welcome back.
Another episode of Cleats off the couch.
I am delkery.
It's great to have you all here.
News out with the brand new finalized is suspension for Deshawn Watson.
I'm not somebody who's going to do a bonus episode for every breaking news thing that happens in the NFL.
(00:29):
One, I don't have the time.
I don't have the capability.
Maybe down the line.
Who knows? Who knows what comes the cleats off.
But this is a big one because we've been talking about schedule predictions here in 2022.
And the first division I did was the AFC North.
And so if you've been listening so far, the very first episode was about the Steelers, who I am a fan of, and the 9th episode, last episode was just about AFC North as a whole.
(00:58):
And in that we went off of not knowing where the suspension was going to fall.
At that time, the NFL was really pushing for a full year suspension.
And so with that, we now see that Deshawn has an eleven game suspension with $5 million fine.
And so with that, that means we're going to be looking at, what is that, six games of action with Deshawn Watson at the helm, right? Because week nine is Cleveland's buy.
(01:29):
I'm curious if it's eleven weeks or eleven games, if it's an eleven game suspension, does the buy week count? I'm not sure how somebody let me know.
Somebody let me know.
I'm not sure how that works.
Regardless, if it's through eleven weeks, that means he's going to be back for Tampa, Houston, Cinci, Baltimore, New Orleans, Washington and Pittsburgh.
(01:52):
If it does not include the biweek and it is eleven games, that means their last game without him is going to be Tampa, which means it's going to be Houston since Baltimore, New Orleans, Washington, and Pittsburgh, that he's going to be back to play.
So with this, my previous prediction off the top of my head, I don't recall where I ended.
I want to say I ended around the seven win.
(02:12):
Somewhere around there, somebody correct me.
I went to six to eight wins.
Was that right? Seven wins was the prediction at the time.
Deshawn Watson doesn't play all year.
I think that's what we were at.
But now do I think this changes? Possibly.
One of the things I've talked about in the past is how everybody has been jumping forward on the idea of if Deshawn is back, then that offense is unstoppable.
(02:43):
If Deshawn is back, the Cleveland Browns are a playoff team.
If Deshawn is back, yada, yada, yada.
And one of the things I had brought up, and I still think it's very important for us, I don't know the outcome of it and neither do you.
And that is how will Deshawn Watson play when he comes back? How will he play? That's the real question right now that nobody has an answer to.
(03:07):
We saw in the first preseason game at this point.
He had a miserable he did not look good, in my opinion.
He did not look good at all.
Now, he hadn't played for over a year.
And again, my biggest thing is that I do not know of a single player who has taken an entire year off, come back and play just as good, if not better, than when they stopped.
(03:35):
I can't think of a single player.
Will Deshawn be that? Or will he be like others who took a year off before and only come back maybe just about as good, but definitely not as good, or definitely not as good? I don't know.
My prediction is that he won't be the quarterback we saw in Houston.
(03:59):
Again, based upon history, I don't think Deshawn comes back as the same quarterback he was in Houston.
Yes, I'm a Pittsburgh fan, but this isn't anything about Cleveland.
This is about a player stepping off of the field for over a year.
And at this point it'll be a year and a half to almost two full years, right? I don't know exactly the dates, but almost a season and a half, if not more, that he will not have played football.
(04:30):
Game time.
Football.
That's big.
Yes, I do think Cleveland has a great defense.
I do think they have some great pieces on offense.
We obviously know how important the quarterback position is by that time in the year.
Do they trade to bring somebody in? Do they rely just on Jacobi present and he doesn't get injury and he plays pretty solid all year? Do they go through two, three quarterbacks because whether it's because of injury or because of play, whatever, I don't know.
(05:03):
Nobody knows.
We're just making predictions, projections, whatever you want to call them.
I think at this point, when we get through that, I'm going to go back through that's.
The reason for this time with this new announcement, I want to revisit to see where I think the Browns end up.
They still play Carolina week one.
(05:23):
I still think Baker gets revenge.
They get a loss in Carolina and then they come home and play the jets.
That one I remember talking about.
Can go either way.
I'm going to give the win to Cleveland, though, first game at home.
Need to prove something one on one.
And then Pittsburgh comes into Cleveland in week three.
I think Pittsburgh gets that win.
I think they steal that win.
(05:44):
I still stand on that.
Deshon won't be playing.
We have that now.
We know that now.
So they start out one and two, then they travel to Atlanta.
I think Cleveland, I think they can get a win against Atlanta, two and two, and then they play the Chargers at home.
The chargers get the win.
Chargers looking really good.
Preseason so far, looking even better, and same with the Vikings.
(06:08):
So watch out.
NFC north predictions.
We'll get the rest of the NFC North here soon the Chargers get the win.
Make it two and three.
The patriots come into Cleveland.
That's one I remember talking about before, where either New England or New York can get a win between the Patriots and the jets.
So I gave a loss to the jets, a win to the Cleveland for that game.
(06:33):
This game, I'm going to give the win to the Patriots, a loss to Cleveland.
So we're going to be at two and four to start the first six weeks.
And then they travel to Baltimore.
Baltimore, I think, gets the win two and five.
Cincinnati back home since he gets a win two and six.
I really do believe we could be looking at a two and six season coming into the buy week for the Cleveland Browns.
(06:58):
We could.
They play the bangles, the ravens, the Chargers.
Obviously, the Steelers games are always really difficult to play.
The Panthers game.
Man, I just see Baker balling out.
I can see two and six.
Let's be real, guy.
I can also see four and four.
I really could.
(07:19):
Do I see six and two? No, I don't see that at all for Cleveland.
But for this, again, beginning of the year, first eight weeks, two and six out of the by week, they travel to Miami.
Miami underwhelming at times, a lot of promise, a lot of potential.
I've talked a lot about that.
I think Cleveland, if they're at a point where they're like two and six coming out of the buy, I can see them traveling to Hard Rock Stadium and getting a win.
(07:44):
I can see that.
I really can't, especially the defense.
So I'm going to give the win to Cleveland, making them three and six, and then they travel to Buffalo.
They don't win in high mark.
It is hard in general to bet against the Buffalo Bills at home at any point in the season.
Do I think the Buffalo Bills are going to go 17 and owe? No, I do not.
(08:08):
I really don't.
But can I in good faith make a prediction that the Bills are going to lose at home this coming season? It's really hard to do that.
So here I've got Cleveland losing in Buffalo, which puts them at three and seven.
And then Tampa Bay.
If this is the first game back with Deshawn Watson, even if he doesn't play back at what he was, there's a lot of question marks with Tampa Bay right now.
(08:35):
I still think they're the favorite to win the NFC South.
But there's been a lot of injuries.
There's a lot of movement.
There's a lot of things happening with Tampa Bay.
I'm not so sure it says clean cut.
I do think Cleveland with Deshawn, even without Deshawn, could potentially get a win.
They're at home.
I'm going to give the win to Cleveland.
(08:55):
Guys.
I really do think Cleveland can win big games.
I do.
And even if DeSean plays at three quarters of who he was then.
He's still a top 15 quarterback, right? Because he was playing top five quarterback play when he was playing two years ago.
So when over Tampa Bay put them at four wins, and then at Houston, they get a win there, that's five.
(09:19):
They get on a roll, they travel to Cinci.
Do I think that Cleveland can get a win against Cinci? Yeah, I do.
I don't see Cincinnati sweeping the AFC North.
I had said in the Steelers episode that I think the Steelers will surprise in different places.
(09:43):
The AFC North is one of the toughest divisions, I think second to the AFC West and potentially the NFC West.
But the AFC North, they could all split.
It really has that kind of potential.
And so I'm going to give the win to Cleveland here on a roll, end of season, trying to build something I could see or early on, they win it against Cinci and then lose in Cinci here.
(10:09):
I'm going to give the split there, which puts them at what, six wins.
And then Baltimore, if Deshawn plays good football again, I don't think he's going to be great.
That's just my prediction right now, is I think he comes back as a manageable quarterback below expectations because everybody expects the top five quarterback that he was.
(10:32):
I still think we played pretty good football, but I think they'll split with the Ravens then.
So earlier I gave them a win over there.
No, I gave the Ravens the win.
So I'll give the wind to Cleveland here.
Do I think Cleveland will put together four straight wins? That's hard to say against teams like Tampa.
Houston, okay.
(10:52):
Houston against Cinci.
Baltimore, okay.
New Orleans.
New Orleans is one.
They're looking nicer and nicer to me, especially if James is healthy playing like last year before his injury.
That defense looks good.
They've got tools.
On offense, I think the Saints could look pretty good.
(11:12):
And I'm going to give a loss to the Saints.
A win over Baltimore.
I went over Cinci, a loss to the Saints.
The Saints are going to do better than I originally predicted them to do.
In fact, I don't think I've done an episode with the Saints yet, so I haven't yet predicted them.
I did it on TikTok Live before, but I haven't done it yet here on Cleats off couch episodes.
(11:33):
But I'm going to give a loss to the New Orleans Saints and then a win in Washington and then to end the season, I think they can win in Pittsburgh.
I think Pittsburgh goes into Cleveland, grabs the win, cleveland comes in, grabs the win in Pittsburgh.
We deal with another year of an annoying Cleveland fans, and by annoying, I mean specifically talking about whenever they get a win in Pittsburgh, it's this whole big thing.
(12:01):
It's good for them, good for any team that's able to go in somewhere and get a win, especially against division rival, but do it for another ten years or even five years before it becomes the thing of like, oh, yeah, see, we own you.
Well, three times in the past three years is good and all, but what about over the course of the past 15? But I do think they can get the win there.
(12:29):
And I could see them getting a win out of what is that, six out of the last seven games? 12345.
Yeah, six out of the last seven games.
That could be a real possibility starting out.
Two and six ending, what is that? Six and one.
What does that put us at? Eight and nine on the season.
(12:50):
So that doesn't prove that my overall rating before win ratio, I think, if I remember correctly, was six to eight wins without Deshawn.
I do think that bumps back up.
I think it bumps up now to eight wins.
So a seven to nine win swing, is it just because of Deshawn Watson? No.
(13:16):
Again, I emphasize I don't think he's going to be that great, but I don't think it's going to be that bad.
Usually when you say one somebody thinks, you automatically think the other.
That's not what I'm saying.
But I do think it does improve the offense.
It does improve the offense a little bit more.
Obviously, we don't know what injuries will look like.
We don't know what things will look like with any team that time of year.
(13:37):
But I'm going to give Cleveland a new and updated seven to nine win total, which puts them right close to Pittsburgh as well.
I had Pittsburgh at seven to nine or eight to ten right around that nine and eight.
I could see Cleveland doing that eight and nine and eight swing as well.
(13:59):
But I'm going to go seven to nine wins with them.
Now with this new, finalized understanding of the eleven game suspension with the Sean Watson, we'll see what comes of it.
I still have them at the fourth position in the AFC North.
Again, one of the best divisions this year.
So fourth at eight and nine is still good.
(14:21):
That's still pretty darn good.
But they and the Steelers will be right there fighting to stay out of the bottom of the AFC North, which will still be better than two thirds of the AFC.
We'll see.
If I'm right, I still have the Bengals at one, the Ravens at two, the Steelers at three, the Browns at four.
(14:43):
But the Browns are up there.
Itching now they're up there poking the back of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
In my predictions and earlier, I had said the Browns, in my prediction, would have the opportunity in Week 18 to be able to cause Mike Tomlin's very first losing season.
They come into the eight and eight, and the Browns would come in in this scenario, seven and nine, or also eight and eight.
(15:11):
And I could now see a fight by the Browns to potentially get a win, to potentially get a win over that and potentially I know Cleveland Browns fans will love that.
The idea of a Pittsburgh Steelers fan saying that there is potential and again, I try to be as unbiased as possible in this.
(15:32):
I hope this doesn't happen.
I believe it won't happen.
But it could happen.
That the Cleveland Browns are able to in week 18, give Mike Tomlin his very first losing record.
That's tough to say.
I will say this.
After seeing the first dealers preseason game, I don't think that's going to happen.
(15:54):
I think Steve is going to have a better season than even I am saying right now.
I am being conservative compared to what I think the Steelers could actually pull off.
But talking about the brows with the Sean Washington suspension, seven to nine wins, they scoop back up a little bit in my mock and what do you guys think? Let me know and I'll see you in the next one.
(16:14):
As we talk about the next division of football, we talk about the AFC North.
We close that out.
This is a little addition to that, a little bonus.
But next we'll jump over to the NFC.
I wasn't sure if I want to do this.
We're going to do it.
NFC north.
We'll talk north football altogether and then we'll move on to the east from there.
But I will see you guys in the next one.
Have a good one.
See you.