Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Sam.
[00:00:51] Speaker B: Red Hot Ronnie Jams. It's time. Time for another very special live edition of the Burning River Sportscast. Browns win another one today. 27:24 Ronnie Jams. What's going on?
[00:01:08] Speaker A: I just really thought you were going to leave me backstage. I thought it was over for me. It was just. You're like, you're like solo show tonight. This is, this is the Kenny Thunder show.
[00:01:16] Speaker B: Everyone knows I don't need you.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: Yeah, we're already, we already got fans at it. But anyways, listen, you can find our podcast wherever you get your podcast. Talking to Apple Podcast, Spotify, stitcher, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora, our radio podcast, Castro Good Pods. We're our number one ranked football podcast and so many more. And while you're at it, please leave us a review on your preferred podcast app. It really helps us grow and get seen. And don't forget to subscribe on YouTube and check us out on Facebook, Instagram and Tick tock. Our handle for all those socials at Burning over Sportscast. We are an X as well at the handle at Burning.
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Before we get started today, I do want to shout out our sponsor, Topaz Distillery. Topaz Story. An award winning craft distillery located in Akron, Ohio. Topaz Distillery focuses on high quality spirits carefully made in small batches. Topaz Distillery, handcrafted, award winning small batch, local and family owned.
[00:02:12] Speaker B: The smallest batch.
[00:02:14] Speaker A: Yeah. And on today's show this is what you can look forward to. A recap of today's Week 7 last second win against the Titans. A closer look at everything, interactions with our listeners, our nominees for dog of the week, our final thoughts of the week. And I think everybody knows by now there's gonna be a lot more where that comes from. So let's get things started by reminding everyone to call the Burning over Sportscast hot take hotline.
[00:02:35] Speaker B: Call that number and leave us your hot takes because we want them so we can.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: We want the hot takes. We want the hot takes. Hippie picks. Call and leave us a hot take.
You interact here. We want to see you interact there too.
That goes for James, Frank, everybody else on Facebook that's joining us, make sure you're calling and leaving your hot takes number there. 3302-2780-8133-0227-808-1330, 2278081 call now. We'll put you on air. We'll talk about it, but let's just. Let's do it. Let's jump into the week seven recap here.
[00:03:18] Speaker B: It's time.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: It's time.
You know, I. I kind of delay because I just keep running out of words to describe these last second wins. Like, I don't really know.
Apparently we are the cardiac kids again. Like, it is. It is finally here. That's what we do. We only win in the last two minutes of the game.
[00:03:36] Speaker B: They took that to heart.
[00:03:38] Speaker A: Yeah, they said we're gonna do that every game. I. I'm pretty sure all of our wins except for one are that way this year. But anyways, locked in a tight one with one of the worst teams in the league, I might add. But as they have all year, they found a way to make plays down the stretch and they came out on top again.
We'll go ahead and start on offense like we always do.
Did you have something to say before we get going? Kenny?
[00:04:00] Speaker B: You looked.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: You looked like you had something, so just dive in. Let's. Let's get in there. Get up in there and shoot that thing.
We'll start with The Sean Watson, 25 of 36. 308 yards, no touchdowns, one interception. Sacked one time for. For no loss.
[00:04:19] Speaker B: Rushing touchdown.
[00:04:20] Speaker A: He had a rushing touchdown. I didn't get there yet, but thank you. Uh, three rushes for 19 yards and a touchdown.
[00:04:27] Speaker B: You're welcome.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: You could always. I could always count on you to just jump the gun on everything. It's. You're the worst co host that ever existed.
But Yeah, I mean, DeShawn Watson actually looked pretty solid in this one. I mean, the pick was ugly. Don't get me wrong.
It was not a. It was not good.
But besides that, he played. I mean, 25 of 36, what does that come out to? Like 80%, 75%, whatever it is.
80%'s high. It's probably 75%, but yeah, I mean, he looks solid. First game, over 300 yards that I can remember, to be honest with you. I mean, I ask it every week. I say, you know, you're getting paid $230 million. Can you throw over 300 yards?
He did it. He did it.
So, yeah, I.
[00:05:11] Speaker B: Look, you know, it's. There's no secret here, right? Like, I don't think he's the best quarterback on this roster, but he's won five games. Like, he's going to be with what we're going to roll with for. For now, and that's fine. He keeps winning games.
It was a lot of what We've seen to this point. You know, he was efficient in terms of completing a lot of passes. It's a lot of short underneath stuff,
[00:05:33] Speaker A: screens like catching up on these comments.
[00:05:36] Speaker B: It's the same stuff that we've seen. He was, he was helped out in large part today, I think by a running game that finally came alive and there were a lot of receivers that made plays after the catch, which was good. Look, I'm not taking anything away from him. Like he's played about as well as he could possibly pay play because he's not very good. He's probably, he hasn't paid as well
[00:05:57] Speaker A: as he could possibly pay, but he's played as well, he's played as well
[00:06:00] Speaker B: as he could play. He's for all intents and purposes, probably the skill level of a really good backup quarterback in the NFL at this point. And you know, we've been on the other side of this equation where everything seems to go wrong and we just can't find our way out of the paper bag for so long. Like it's five wins. Like I'll take it. Like we're winning. Regardless of how I feel about the Sean, like he's, he's, he's doing what is being asked of him and he's doing it at a high enough level that they're winning games. So you know, I think there was, you know, the pick was, was ugly. I think there was some back and forth on like whether or not the receiver really kind of did his job on that route. Which, which is fine. Right? Like it picks a pick, those things are going to happen, like not going to get all over desean for throwing one pick.
But to me, I think the, the positive out of the Sean's performance today was that pick was early and he came back and continued to kind of keep the, the pedal down and played well enough to win the rest of the game. So it wasn't something that he let get to him and was able to lead this team back again, you know, for the fifth time this year.
[00:07:05] Speaker A: Well, and that's what I was going to say is it's, it's another game winning drive in the last two minutes or overtime. Dude just keeps finding a way to make those key plays down the stretch. And I don't get me wrong, like I still, I'm with you. Like I'm not a big desean fan still. I think overall there's still a lot to be had at the quarterback position, but he's doing his job, we're winning games and that's all that we could ask for. I mean, if you.
I know for sure none of us had the. The Browns at 5 and 2 and leading the division at this point in the season because I picked them to win five games for the entire season.
So did Bone. You picked them to win four. So they're past your. They've officially passed yours and they've tied Bone and eyes total for the season. So.
[00:07:48] Speaker B: Well, and. And it. It's week seven, right. So, like, we are, you know, approaching the midpoint in the season and this team is holding it together for all. For all intents and purposes, again, like, they are continuing to win games Today. A game was a game. And there's no gimmies in the NFL and there's no trap games for the Browns because the Browns are the Browns. Right. But. So this was a game. On paper, they feel like you got
[00:08:12] Speaker A: to win consistently for multiple years before you could actually talk about trap games.
[00:08:16] Speaker B: But. But on paper, the Browns were a better football team, I think. You know, I think this was a game that if you're a good team that is going to win 8, 10, 11 games this year, like, this is a game that you have to have.
So the fact that they were able to get out with a win is a good thing.
Look, you know, the reason. There's been a lot of questions to this point and we keep asking, like, is this sustainable? Is this team could just as easily be 0 and 7? Like, that's. There's a. There's a reality in which this team is 0 and 7, but they're not. They're 5 and 2. So, like, enjoy it. And, you know, we're going to keep watching these. These games that come down to the wire and hopefully we keep coming out on. On the right side of that.
[00:08:55] Speaker A: Yeah, let's. Let's talk about the rest of the offense here. And then I'm going to get to a few of these comments because quite a few of them came in and I want to. I want to talk about some of them. But first of all, Quinn, next one up here, Quinton Judkins. You. You said it. He finally had a game where he. He kind of came through.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: Right.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: He had.
Let me bring it up here. He had 17 carries for 96 yards and two touchdowns. He averaged 5.6 yards per carry. I haven't seen that since those. I talk about it all the time. Those first four games of his career, I mean, that was big.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Look, we've been waiting for Quintron to come alive all year. Really, since last year.
You know, I think they.
We keep talking about week after week, like they're working on things and improving. It was a defense, it's passing game. Receivers are getting involved, like Harold Fannin was involved a lot today.
But the running game, we really hadn't seen any legitimate traction up until this point. And they finally had things going today. Dylan Sampson was in the mix. Good to see him back a little bit and had a couple decent runs out there as well, so. But that's a huge. When you. When you have a quarterback that is limited to an extent, that running game is crucial. And I think you saw the offense was able to move the ball today in large part because the running game was working. They were able to extend drives. It wasn't all on DeShawn. DeSean's just not at a point in his career where he can be relied upon to be the entire offense. So that running game is critical, especially if they are going to really win 8, 10, 11 games this year and be a legitimate playoff team. Like that running game is going to be crucial down the stretch. So. Yeah, because you're going to at some point play better teams. Look, that was one thing that we knew coming into this season. That hasn't changed that they had the. One of the easiest schedules in the league so far.
And by and large, they've. They've capitalized on it.
Lost to the jets, which. Which sucks. But.
But, you know, they're. They're doing what they should do if they're a good football team. And, you know, next week, I think, is going to be a really interesting litmus test because really, since we beat Pittsburgh, I don't know that they've lost.
They seem to be gelling, you know, our last couple weeks as well. So next week I think we're going to see a very different effort out of Pittsburgh. It'll be a really good measuring stick to see. Okay. Like, we've seen this team once before. We've kind of got film and tape on each other and what happens then. But for now, you know, we're celebrating when the running game was great today and hopefully that continues as well.
[00:11:22] Speaker A: Yeah. And I want to run it back to something you said early on, and Dylan Sampson played today. And I think legitimately, this was probably the biggest difference maker for the running game out of everything is like, obviously the. The line continues to improve.
They're. They're starting to work better together. But the fact that you've got Dylan Sampson back and now we've got true. Just completely Opposite styles. You can put them in on different plays, put them in together, whatever the case may be. And you can mix things up on the offense a lot more than you did when it was just Quin Sean basically trying to power his way to yards. And it's just when the. When the Browns, all you're really able to do is run inside runs the entire day. It doesn't open anything up for anybody.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: Well, you knew both these players were good, right? Like, Quinshon was. Was highly touted out of college. Dylan Sampson was the, whatever, SEC player of the year. Like, these kids are really talented. And today, for the first time, you saw them actually in space and have a chance to accelerate and make moves and do something.
Because as we've talked about again, a lot on our show, like there were Browns running backs for the last 18 months have been among the league leaders in contact behind the line of scrimmage. So for those guys to finally get a chance to showcase a little bit of what they can do was refreshing and was encouraging because we've been wondering, like, what was even left in the tank because it's been so bad for so long. But it's a combination of all the things working, right. Like the pass game opens up the run game. The run game opens up the pass game. The offensive line was. Was creating holes today.
So, you know, it was. It was a good offensive day for the Browns. Now, again, you're playing Tennessee. They're not very good.
[00:13:04] Speaker A: You mean their defense isn't great.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: Maybe they should have been able to do more. But hey, a win's a win.
[00:13:09] Speaker A: Yeah. And you got to take it where you can get it. I mean, you got to build off of things. It's not like it's all going to come at one time. So next up here, I want to talk about the receivers a little bit. Casey Concepcion making his way back from the concussion. 8. 8 receptions, 129 yards. Big day for him.
You're talking about players getting into space. I mean, he did a lot with the space when it was given to him. So big day for him. Love to see that. Denzel. Boston was a little quieter today. Three. Three receptions for 27 yards.
I think that this is coming with. After the strong start that he had, some of these other teams are starting to show him more respect.
As far as, you know, we got a game plan around this guy a little bit, not let him beat us. And I think that's part of why Casey Concepcion had such a big day is because you start. You start taking you know, not pressing so much on Casey Concepcion, and he's able to mix it up, kind of have these crossing routes, whatever the case may be, and get into space like that with these one on one matchups
[00:14:13] Speaker B: that he gets, I think we're going to see that continue. Because I think the balls that were completed to Denzel early in the year where he scored were long passes that were kind of the anomaly for Deshaun Watson. Right. Like his offense and his strength right now is, you know, the extensions of the run, the underneath stuff, the crossers.
Anything that is. Is safe and conservative because he doesn't have the confidence to put the ball into harm's way. You saw today, every ball that he threw that was an intermediate to deep throw was well over a wide receiver's head.
And that's where Denzel Boston's strength is. Right. Like he. He can go down the field and go up and get it.
And if Deshaun can't hit him, I think we're going to see a lot more kind of quiet weeks from Denzel, and I think you're going to see a lot more production out of KC because I think he fits, at least not necessarily the tendencies or the. The game plan, but he fits what desean is doing well right now. And I think again, we saw desean struggle trying to stretch the field today, and that's really where I think Denzel's gonna play.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[00:15:17] Speaker B: And.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: And besides those two guys, Jerry Judy got four more receptions in this one for 21 yards. He's kind of. It seems like they're starting to settle him into that wide receiver three role to where he actually has been productive these last few games and made some key plays.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: Sure. Is a three or a four. Jerry Judy's a great option there.
[00:15:37] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. I don't like him as our one or two, but you put him as a three or four, and I feel
[00:15:41] Speaker B: okay about that three or four. He's a he. Just tremendous asset in that role.
[00:15:45] Speaker A: Yep. And then, you know, the running backs got involved. Dylan Sampson had three receptions for 32 yards. Quinn Shawn had one for eight. And then Harold Fannon Jr.
You know, finally doing man stuff. Oh, my God. We got him involved finally. And it was like. It was like bookended. Right. So like the beginning of the game, he had a play early on where just guys all over him and he's like, I don't care. I'm just gonna keep running, just trucking. And then in the middle of it, he had the fumble that he lost, which was Bad. But then to the end, we come back and he totally redeems himself down the stretch.
I mean, there was at least probably six, seven guys that had six, seven guys that had a chance to tackle him there at the end, and he just refused to go down until he was well into field goal range. So just. Just phenomenal effort by him. And, you know, a big day given that it's been so quiet out of Harold fan in these last few weeks.
[00:16:42] Speaker B: We've been saying all year long, right. You got to get that guy involved. He's arguably literally the most open NFL on offense. He's open on every play. No one can tackle him. He has great speed and he catches most everything.
He's a. He's a really great playmaker for this team. They have to continue to keep him involved. But today was a prime example of that. Just making big plays and none bigger than the play at the end of the game to put him in the field goal range.
[00:17:08] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. So that's the offense, like you said, just kind of. Kind of really good offensive day all around for the Browns.
You know, I don't want to take anything away from them. I do want to caveat it a little bit, though, with saying it was the Titans. I'm excited for Pittsburgh this week to see where we really met, where we kind of stack up against one of the better teams, at least thus far in the NFL season.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: So, yeah, like, I don't want to be too nitpicky over a win. Right. Like, you know, this was. This was probably.
[00:17:36] Speaker A: We've done it enough this year.
[00:17:38] Speaker B: This was really their best offensive performance of the year, and it was against a bad team. But look, everybody on that field today was an NFL player. They all get paid big money to do their jobs. And, you know, the Browns, the Browns come away with a win, so that's all that matters at the end of the day.
[00:17:53] Speaker A: Yep. So before we get into the defense here, let's go ahead and address some of these comments. I know you've been highlighting them as they come in.
Hippie picks over there calling Todd Monken, Phil Jackson again. So, you know, that's starting coach of the year. Here we go. Every year or every year? Every week so far this season, that's gained some momentum, I think. And I do think if the season ended right now, I really do think Todd Monkett would win coach of the year.
[00:18:23] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, 100%. Right? I mean, the, the.
The move to start Desean Watson after the press conference and given the Shador situation just took tremendous courage and bravery to stand out and do that. Right. Like no one saw that coming. Nobody thought it was the right move.
And the fact that you've now won five games, you know, tells you, hey, Todd at least had a plan and he was willing to put his neck out for it. So if they continue to win games, he will absolutely be in the conversation. Probably the leader in the clubhouse for coach of the year because of that move alone. Now if the wheels fall off to Sean and, and you know, things change drastically the other direction, that all goes away. But if things continue the pace that they're on, he's absolutely going to be the front runner for that.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: Yeah. Then he went on to mention Charlie Bucket is happy, happy. So Peter Ostrom, I don't know if everybody knows that, but Peter Ostrom, the actor that played Charlie Bucket, Willy Wonka, is a Browns fan. So I'm sure he was extremely happy. And, and hippie picks met him at an event this past week. So I like Raul's take here. Mary Kay lighting aromatherapy candles around the massage table. That one's pretty solid.
Can I think we can all agree with that
[00:19:44] Speaker B: comment.
[00:19:47] Speaker A: Let's see.
Shor warming up today in a trash can. Swatted his pathway. Raul, you got to get some new material. Use that last week.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: And, and we're not even talking about Shador right now. Right? Like DeShawn's a starter. He's a starter for the foreseeable future and Shador is not really a part of the conversation unless you want to talk about him high fiving teammates on the sideline like there, there's no conversation to be had about Shador. So it's a waste of time and energy to even be. To be talking about it.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: But keep your comments coming, Raul, because I, I like some of these. We'll get to more of them.
Another one here. You're the best co host after I called you the worst co host.
That's, that's clearly a lie.
Raul again. G. Bush spotted chugging turpentine and pissing on a bonfire in the Metro Parks.
That's always good.
Let's see. People saying that the Browns we're going to lose today are idiots.
The Titans are really bad.
[00:20:44] Speaker B: I mean there's a true, there's truth to home field advantage, but it's not like Tennessee has one of the great home fields of all time and this team is very bad. Cam Ward is just not looking like he's going to work out and it's probably not all on him. It's Probably a combination of coaching and turnover and just all the things. But he looks bad.
[00:21:06] Speaker A: Yeah. Highlight the one about the standings again real quick.
Asking about I don't know if we're number one in the AFC right now. That doesn't sound right, but I will.
[00:21:18] Speaker B: AFC North.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: Yeah. As far as the AFC north, we are leading the division right now. So Pittsburgh has the same record as Cleveland, but Cleveland beat Pittsburgh, so we're leading the division right now.
[00:21:27] Speaker B: I think there is some legitimate confusion about this because Steelers fans are a thing that exist and they're just for the most part, very low IQ people. And I saw a lot of posts on X saying that the Steelers were in first place in the AFC north and maybe that was true for like a half a second where their game ended before the Browns game and. And they went to five and two or whatever. But the Browns own the tiebreaker because the Browns beat them. So.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: Yeah. So the Browns are place. Browns are in first place right now. The Steelers, even though they have the same recorder, in second place. The Bengals are in third place right now.
They are 4 and 2.
And then the Ravens are in last place at 4 and 3.
And that goes by just winning percentage. I know that the games don't match up as far as number of games played, but The Bengals have a.667 winning percentage and the. The Ravens have a.571 winning percentage.
[00:22:19] Speaker B: So I think the Ravens lost real quan today.
[00:22:23] Speaker A: That's not good for them. I mean, it's great for us.
And then. Okay, let's keep going down here. More about show door. I'm not even gonna touch that. Missed the days of seeing Dwayne Bow riding an exercise bike. I think we all do.
Sign Josh Gordon. He'll light it up. No need. Got enough receivers.
[00:22:43] Speaker B: I don't know why Raul is due
[00:22:45] Speaker A: for another staff infection outbreak is.
[00:22:48] Speaker B: Raul is just trolling us.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: But he. I don't. I like them. They get.
They're pretty. You know, you could tell he's a real Browns fan. He knows about everything that's happened with us. But prediction for the Steelers game? Absolutely not. Hippie picks. You need to listen to the preview. Preview show for that. So you have to tune in on Thursday.
We are building momentum. It's getting good. Sign Cody Kessler. Trust me on this one. No.
And what do you think Cody Kessler
[00:23:18] Speaker B: is doing right now? Like, what is. What does he do? It's 9:54pm Eastern Standard Time. What is Cody Kessler doing right now?
[00:23:25] Speaker A: Sleeping.
He's got nothing to do so he went to bed. He might be watching Monday Night Football. Like, that's the only other answer.
[00:23:32] Speaker B: He and Bone are both.
[00:23:34] Speaker A: I don't know why he'd be watching Monday Night Football. I'd be watching Sunday Night Football. But he's a time traveler, apparently.
[00:23:39] Speaker B: Same thing.
That's just how good he is.
[00:23:42] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But. Yeah. So we're caught up on the comments here. I just wanted to get through a few of those. Onto the defense.
Defense was.
Defense was okay in this one. I mean, they were. They were. They were decent. The run game, the run defense was not good.
They made Tony Pollard look like he was just all Pro, which was like. Not just all pro. They look. He looked like Barry Sanders out there. Like, you could not tackle that guy.
[00:24:10] Speaker B: Tony Pollard almost ran for more yards than Cam Ward through for.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: And that's true.
[00:24:16] Speaker B: And he had three rushing touchdowns today. Hat trick.
And we should have probably seen this coming. And we probably did a disservice. Well, one, I lost my notes before the show, but we probably did a disservice glossing over Tony Pollard and our struggles there, because last time we played them last year when they beat us 31, 29. Tony Pollard averaged 6.4 yards of carry, ran for two touchdowns, and ran for over 160 yards. I think it was like his career high that he put on us last year.
[00:24:45] Speaker A: So he tried this time.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: For whatever reason, Tony Pollard is a bad matchup for this defense.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: He's.
We cannot tackle that guy.
[00:24:53] Speaker B: Cannot stop Tony Pollard. Anyone else in the NFL can. But we.
[00:24:57] Speaker A: Listen, I will say this. If he needs one yard, we'll stop him every time. But, yeah, if he needs anything else, he's running for 14, so. And.
[00:25:06] Speaker B: And TJ Spears didn't even play today, so they were. They were shorthanded at running back. And. And. And they still. It was a track meet all day long. I mean, it was kind of funny. Like two of the worst rushing offenses in the NFL today. And that was pretty much the story of. Of both offenses was just running the ball.
So we.
[00:25:23] Speaker A: We got bested in that area, though. They ran better than.
[00:25:26] Speaker B: Poor job, for the most part, Contained Kim Ward. You know, there was a little bit of excitement towards the end there where. Where they tied things back up.
But. But this was kind of one of those funny games where at no point. And this is odd because usually I feel the complete opposite during the games. There was no point at. At any point during the game today that I felt like the Browns were going to lose this game.
[00:25:52] Speaker A: I Agree with that. Yeah.
[00:25:53] Speaker B: Like, it felt like a game that
[00:25:54] Speaker A: even when we were down 14, nothing there for a second, I was like. I was like, we still got going. We seem like we're moving the ball okay.
[00:26:00] Speaker B: We're.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: We're fine.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: Well, especially given the recent history of this team, right, where it seems like this defense is almost sleepwalking to start games, and then we get punched in the mouth and they go, oh, crap, we got to play a football game. And then they kind of tighten things up the rest of the way, which kind of happened today. I mean, it was a little more ugly than it needed to be, but.
But definitely not their. Their strongest defensive performance of the year.
But, hey, again, wins a win.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: I mean, it wasn't that far off, though. So they had 322 yards of total offense. I mean, I'm pretty sure that's right around. I'll go check our notes here. When I get another. When I get a break and you start talking, we all know you can fill some airtime, but.
Yeah, but I think that's right around their average this season. And what I would say is, on the flip side, The Browns had 491 total yards on offense. So it's like where the defense, points wise, maybe wasn't the strongest. I mean, our defense far outplayed their defense.
[00:27:03] Speaker B: I think today was a great example of complimentary football.
You know, both units just. Just working, like, synergy together.
Nobody had to carry the entire load. Both. Both sides of the ball, you know, were productive today. You know, there were some really great individual performances on this defense today.
I mean, I think, like, Quincy Williams had 10 tackles. Ronnie Hickman, I think, had 10 tackles. Swish.
[00:27:32] Speaker A: There's so many Ronnie Hickman haters out there. I just. Once again, I want to point this out because I did this earlier this season. I.
The. The comment boards all over social media are filled with Ronnie Hickman haters. And I'm like, this dude just continues to. He'll make a bad play every now and then. And it's probably. It's usually pretty high profile because he's a safety, but the dude makes plays week in and week out.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: You're going to make. You're going to. Plays are going to happen, right? Like, if the defense never let a play happen, it wouldn't be a football game.
[00:28:04] Speaker A: Like, by the way, 322 total yards on offense given up. We averaged 317.5. So it was basically how we've played all year.
[00:28:13] Speaker B: Well, yeah. Well, the big difference was it was a Flip flop of passing yards and rushing yards because we've been, you know, giving up more in through the air and not a whole lot on the ground. And today we give up, you know, well, more than they should have on the ground to. To a player. You know, it's one thing if you're playing Bijan Robinson and you get lit up on the ground.
It's another when you play Tony Pollard and you get lit up and that guy goes for three scores like that. That feels bad. I would have to imagine there's a number of guys in that defensive front and that defensive line that probably are thinking about that tonight, going, yeah, man, I blew assignments and didn't have my best day.
But again, a number of really good individual performances. Tyson Campbell, I think, had the, the forced fumble.
So, like, there were, There were. There were plays made today on the defense and it wasn't absolutely terrible. It just. It wasn't their best performance of the year.
[00:29:08] Speaker A: Right.
Yeah. You mentioned Quincy Williams, Ronnie Hickman, both had 10 tackles. Carson Swedzinger with eight tackles.
Grant Delpon, it was actually, you know, he was a little bit YouTube. Just shut up. Quit nodding over there and highlighting these stupid comments.
[00:29:27] Speaker B: I'm gonna put it back up.
[00:29:31] Speaker A: That's enough.
No, but it was good seeing Grant delp it out there, given the fact that they initially, it seemed like he might miss a week or two. So him getting back this quickly and being out there was. Was awesome.
But, yeah, I mean, the, you know, the defense, I think they just did what they do. They just. The point total was a little bit higher than it has been. Denzel Ward with another with an interception today. That was nice.
And then we'll get over to special teams here.
[00:29:59] Speaker B: I think had they played anybody but the Titans today, no one is thinking twice about this defensive performance, but the fact that he played tennis, 24 points
[00:30:06] Speaker A: in the NFL is about. Like, that's normal. Like, that's not. Like, that's a lot of what's given
[00:30:11] Speaker B: wasn't a terrible day. It was just against a terrible team.
[00:30:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Andre Schmidt, 2 for 3 field goals. So we got another miss today.
But I mean, overall he's still doing really well on the season. He's got, what, two misses on field goals, one miss on extra points because he was three. Three for three on extra points today. Like, Andre Smith's still doing his thing, but Jordan Quest keeps doing his thing.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: I will take misses when they don't hurt us because. Because no kicker makes 100% of their field goals. So that's Just a reality. It's a fact of life. So if he can keep missing field goals when they don't lose us the game, that's fine.
[00:30:49] Speaker A: Yep. Yep.
I thought Jaleel McLaughlin looked decent returning kicks today, so that's a positive. I mean, it's, it's just something we've been lacking in years past. Like, we, it's a constant carousel. It's this, like, who's going to do what? We have no idea. And the fact that it's. We've had some stability this year has been nice. No matter which guy we've put back there this year, I'm never concerned that we're just going to cough the ball up at any given time.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: So I'm pretty concerned we're going to cough the ball up at any given time. But, you know, potato, potato.
[00:31:21] Speaker A: Well, you're an idiot. So.
Yeah, I mean, overall, the, the thing that's concerning to. It's just. Stop.
The thing that's concerning to me, honestly, is the same thing we've been talking about all year long is we still, we didn't lose the turnover battle, but we had two. They had two.
We lost the penalty battle, though. We lose the penalty battle every single week.
It's only a matter of time and again, you know, not to nitpick a win, but it's only a matter of time before these penalties start costing us games because you can't be the most penalized team in the NFL and win every game. It just doesn't happen that way. So it's something I think we need to clean up.
[00:32:04] Speaker B: Yeah. Look, this team is young and there's a new coach. Like, it's, there's a lot of, there's a lot of growing up that this team has to do.
The good news is they're not doing it through like extreme adversity and losing right now. Right. Like, they're doing it in, in high leverage situations where they need to perform and they are, and they're winning games. So I can't think of a better scenario for a young, developing team to be, you know, have, have so many deficits and limitations and, and issues.
Like I said, this team could just as easily be 0 and 7, but they're not.
They're 5 and 2. So.
[00:32:48] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:32:49] Speaker B: I mean, there's, there's, there, it's, it's. I can't even explain it. I mean, I don't even know it's, it's. It. I got nothing buys all reason.
[00:32:59] Speaker A: I said at the top of the recap, I said I'm running out of things to, to say for like I. I just was watching the game today and I was sitting there and they were getting ready to kick the field goal and I said, and actually it was right before Harold Fannin caught the pass and guys draped all over him ran, you know, into field goal range. And I was like, I was like, no way are we going to win another one. Just like as time expires, like, are you serious? And then he made that play and I was like, you've got to be me. Like this is actually happening. And then they went off sides and I was like, they made it even easier for us. Like what is happening right now?
And when he made it, I was like, I don't. I guess this is how we win now. This is just what we do.
[00:33:41] Speaker B: This is what we do. I mean, maybe we need to just stop fighting it and just accept it. This is. The Browns will probably win the super bowl this year.
Book it.
[00:33:52] Speaker A: It's finally happened. He said it on the show.
And swung. Kenny Thunder has been swung. He is off. He thinks the Browns are winning. Super Browns, Super Bowl, Super Bowl, Super Browns, whatever.
Oh God. We've gotten a crazy territory. But you know, if they keep winning like this, whatever.
[00:34:11] Speaker B: I mean, I mean every week I say to myself, there's no way they can win another game like this, right? And they just keep doing it.
[00:34:16] Speaker A: So just keep doing it. Before we get into dog of the week nominees, Kenny, we have any injuries in this one that. Any big injuries that we need to talk about?
[00:34:25] Speaker B: I don't know.
[00:34:28] Speaker A: It's a good thing you cover our injuries.
All right, so let's go ahead and do the burger Sportscast. Dog of the week nominees. Kenny, we'll. We'll toss it to you first. I'm gonna go bone first.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: I'm gonna go Casey Concepcion.
[00:34:40] Speaker A: That's a good one. That's. I mean, honestly, I don't really know how you can go wrong there. The dude is huge. Day 8 receptions, 129 yards.
I'm gonna go.
I'm actually gonna go quin. Sean Judkins. Not that that's a stretch or anything, but the fact that I've been talking bad about him because you called him a bust. I said is he? I never said he was. I said is he?
He's had a really tough season, honestly.
And this was a good game, you know, a good bounce back game. He averaged over 5 yards carry average, damn near 6 yards of carry. And he had two touchdowns in this one. So I'm gonna go Quinn, Sean Judkins, and Bone, I think, is going to take Harold Fanning Jr. Or Harold Fanning, as he likes to call him.
I'm gonna give him Harold Fan, unless you had another. Another option there.
[00:35:35] Speaker B: No, that's good.
[00:35:37] Speaker A: So those are. Those are who you have to pick from for the Burning River Sportscast Dog of the week. Casey Concepcion, Quinn, Sean Judkins, and Harold Fanning, as Bone likes to call him.
It's fitting, honestly, that it's all offense with. With this type of game.
I mean, it was. It was nice to see us move the ball and actually score points.
[00:35:59] Speaker B: So I only give 24 points to the Tennessee Titans.
[00:36:02] Speaker A: So, yeah, you win some, you lose some.
So final thoughts before we get into that.
[00:36:08] Speaker B: Just again, kind of recapping the weekend and the festivities.
Loved what I saw from all of the friends we have in Brownsbackers groups all over.
Getting a chance to tour Nashville and hang out, see all the sights.
[00:36:23] Speaker A: Tailgate. How many Browns fans were at the tailgate? There's like 20 to 25,000 Browns fans at the tailgate.
[00:36:28] Speaker B: The tailgates looked immaculate.
Just looked like a really awesome weekend for everybody that had a chance to go. I'm super jealous. Would have liked to have a chance to go down and take that all in this week because Nashville is just a great place to hang out. But it looks like everybody had a great time, so just wanted to shout out all the Brownsbackers and people that traveled.
[00:36:47] Speaker A: Hell, yeah. Listen, there's. There's going to be time for that again. We both, I know, me and you, especially Kenny.
Young, young kids. There's. It keeps us. Keeps us here at home. Not a complaint, just a statement of fact and true. There'll be plenty of time for that.
But yeah, final thoughts for this week, Kenny.
[00:37:09] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm going to go back to the hot take hotline from this previous week, and our good friend Matt from Nashville told us to embrace the shake, that maybe this is just as good as it's going to get.
And. And maybe that's okay.
You know, I think our expectations are, you know, we want to see good. We want to see sustained winning. We want to see excellence. And.
And maybe it's just not time for that yet right now. Right? Like, maybe this is just. This is the ride for right now. Like, yes, I don't think DeSean Watson is the quarterback of the future. I don't think he's having a renaissance and going to resurrect his career in any sort of meaningful way.
I don't think he'll sign another $200 million contract with guaranteed money. Like, that's not where we're headed here. But maybe we don't have to have that conversation right now. Maybe we can just embrace the shake. Embrace the.
Just the. The ugly wins in and just try to enjoy this year. Because at the top of the show, I mentioned, like, we've been on the other side of this equation for far too long, where we've seen everything that could possibly go wrong happen.
And for once in our life's lives, we're on the other side of that equation and things seem to be going our way.
I think it was dejuan Jones on the final play with Harold Finnan was so clearly off sides, but we didn't get a call. Like, it's all those little things that. That go into this that make you go, what is. What is happening right now? Like, this. I've never seen this before, but I. I'm enjoying it. We're. We're winning games. We're five and two. We're on top of the AFC North. I went out to dinner tonight, and Steelers fan walked in and he was like, nice hat. And I was like, how second place.
Like. Like, you can't even. You can't even hurt me right now. Like, you can't. You can't hurt me because you're from Pittsburgh or from Baltimore for Cincinnati. Like, you're all below us. And that happens so infrequently. It's just so nice to.
To finally be at the top of the mountain for however short that may be.
So that's my. That's my parting words is just embrace the shake, Embrace the. Embrace the ugliness, embrace the imperfection, and just enjoy the ride.
[00:39:35] Speaker A: What's the Bo Burnham quote? Taking the bat out of basement, homie.
Yeah, no, I mean, that's a. That's a good one. I actually.
We took my. My Children trick or treating tonight, and the. The people that we were, our friends that were kind of hosting us, we go trick or treating in the neighborhood.
He's a Steelers fan, and so, like, they're handing out candy. He had a Steelers sweatshirt or something on today. And towards the end of the night, after we were all done and we were back at their house and they were handing out what's left of their candy.
What? Some kid walked up, but he is like, ha, Steelers are in second place. Is, like, making fun of him and he's like, oh, see you this week. See how you say, well, it's like, that's all you have right now, because it's all you could say, that's all you could say is, well, we'll see you next time.
[00:40:28] Speaker B: And I'm pumped for this week. Right.
[00:40:30] Speaker A: I'm excited.
[00:40:31] Speaker B: All the momentum is with the Browns right now. This is, this is going to be a really fun week. I can't wait for.
[00:40:36] Speaker A: Well, it's two of. It really is like the two hottest teams or two of the hottest teams in the NFL right now. Like, it's going to be a really good game.
My final thought for this week, I'm going to have to go with, go back to what we talked about a little bit ago. It's probably the Cardiac Kids. I know there's been at least five, six, seven times where I've heard this. We're the new Cardiac Kids since, since they came back in 99. Like, I, I have never seen a team win this many games in the final two minutes.
Like, they've won as many games this season in the final two minutes as most teams win in, like a decade.
So, yeah, I'm gonna go with they. It's happened. They're finally here. This is the new Cardiac Kids. And it kind of goes hand in hand with what you were talking about with. Embrace the shake like this.
This is just what we do every week. We get into a close game, we keep it close all the way down until the very end when we give our. Ourselves a shot to win.
And Todd Monkin has these, these guys coached up to where when it matters, they seem to be doing all of the right things in making the plays that need to be made in order to win games.
So I'm, I'm at the point where we get. We get locked up in a tight one here late. I'm feeling pretty good. I'm like, ah, I think we'll be fine. So that, that's what I'm going with this week for my final thought. But.
[00:42:05] Speaker B: Well, yeah, and I think just to reiterate, like, it's. It's different guys, right? Like, it might be the defense coming up with a timely turnover. It might be Jerry Judy one week, it could be Harold Fannin another week. Andre Schmidt has been lights out like there. It's not like, you know, a lot of teams fall to that guy, right? The Chiefs fall to Pat Mahomes, the Bills fall to Josh Allen. And you just go, well, this guy will win us the game. It's kind of a beautiful thing that it can kind of come from anyone. It can come from anywhere. We don't know What? Who's going to make that play?
And it's, It's. It has been fun to watch to this point.
[00:42:42] Speaker A: Yep.
I don't know if you highlighted that when I was talking about him, about hippie being happy that we know Bo Burnham. Listen, we are a well of just. Just obscure pop culture references. Not the ones that everybody else knows. The ones that nobody else knows.
[00:43:00] Speaker B: I sing it. I sing at least three Bo Burnham songs in my head every day.
[00:43:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
So, yeah, we. We've got that going for us, I guess. But with that, let me remind everybody one more time to call the Burning River Sportscast hot take hotline.
[00:43:14] Speaker B: Yeah, call that. Call that number.
[00:43:16] Speaker A: Hot takes on the hot take hotline. We want to talk about your hot takes on our show on Thursday.
[00:43:19] Speaker B: So we want to hear them.
[00:43:21] Speaker A: Yep. Get them in quickly, too. We record on Mondays for our Thursday show, so get them in quick.
3302-2780-8133-0227-8081-3302-2278-0881 call now. Operators not standing by. We'll put you on our show on Thursday.
And be sure to check out our gear. Www.dthe tapping media.com backslash shop. All kinds of stuff in there.
I'm Bo. Yo, Kenny. What can we expect this week?
[00:43:54] Speaker B: I should. I should tell you what you can expect this week. What can you expect?
[00:43:58] Speaker A: This is how I know that you don't follow the note whatsoever for our shows. I take all this time to prepare for the show and make sure we're on track and do all this stuff. I don't know if anybody notices. This is. Just peel back the curtain a little bit. But I'm like the showrunner. Like, I make sure we're on schedule and Kenny just is along for the ride. He's like, I don't give a. Whoa, hold on.
[00:44:19] Speaker B: I'm the ideas guy. I. This was my brainchild.
[00:44:23] Speaker A: Yeah, he's the ideas guy. He makes all the ideas and I make sure they actually.
[00:44:27] Speaker B: You make them happen. It's a beautiful team.
[00:44:30] Speaker A: Anyways, what can we expect?
[00:44:31] Speaker B: What can we expect? I'll tell you. We will be recording our normal show, our weekly product preview show that will be out on Thursday.
We'll have another interview with the Brownsbaggers group, TBD and all the other things. You listen to the Burning Sports guest for, like, the same takes over and over and over and over and over again.
[00:44:46] Speaker A: Yeah, all that stuff. It's just so disrespectful when you don't look at the note at all.
[00:44:51] Speaker B: I did look at. I opened it. I had it open. It just wasn't on my screen when you asked.
[00:44:55] Speaker A: Yeah, okay. It's social media. Check us out on social media. Tap Media is on Facebook X and Instagram. At the tapping media. Burning Sportscast. That's the this podcast on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. And now on buzzer, Burning River Sportscast. Check out buzzer and we are an X as well at the handle at Burning River. Pod Pod. And you can find our podcast.
[00:45:15] Speaker B: You think after five years of doing this, I would know my cues?
[00:45:20] Speaker A: No, you don't.
I actually write our names next to who talks so that you know what the Q is. You can find our podcast wherever you get your podcast. And talking Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Pandora, iHeartRadio Podcast, Castro Good Pods. We are number one ranked football podcast and so many more. And reviews are the best thing you could do to help our podcast grow. Please keep supporting and we'll continue to keep bringing you the best damn Cleveland Browns pod in the land.
[00:45:45] Speaker B: Right back at you. Hippie picks. Call the hotline. We want to hear from you.
[00:45:49] Speaker A: Call us. He said he doesn't know what to say on the hotline.
[00:45:52] Speaker B: That's okay.
[00:45:53] Speaker A: Just make it up.
[00:45:54] Speaker B: No, no. No one does.
[00:45:56] Speaker A: Hey, what? It's what's in here if you listen.
[00:45:58] Speaker B: What's in here if you listen to the show.
It's this stream of consciousness for most.
[00:46:04] Speaker A: That's the best ones. That's the best ones.
Oh, man. Kenny, is that a wrap? That's a wrap.
[00:46:11] Speaker B: Browns win five and two, baby. Five and two. First place in the AFC North.
What are we doing? What are we doing here? What are we doing here?
[00:46:23] Speaker A: Flexing on them.
[00:46:24] Speaker B: Don't just be a part of the problem. Be the whole damn problem.
[00:46:27] Speaker A: I think I tore a bicep. And only you can prevent river fires.
[00:46:32] Speaker B: Burning River Sports.
Good night, Cleveland.
[00:46:35] Speaker A: Good night, Akron.
