Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Sam, It's time time for another very special live edition of the Burning River Sportscast. Browns fall to 5 and 4 today. Took overtime but didn't work out. 23 Saints Browns 22
[00:01:05] Speaker B: took overtime but they finally put us out of our misery.
This is a roller coaster rooting for this team every week.
[00:01:13] Speaker A: That's. That's what we do.
[00:01:14] Speaker B: That's what we do.
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And today on the show this is what you can look forward to. We got a recap of today's Week 9 loss against the Saints.
You know what we do a closer look at everything, interactions with our listeners, nominees for dog of the week, Final thoughts of the week and there's probably a whole bunch more that we'll get into because we like to digress. So let's get things started by reminding everybody to call the burning of a sports guys hot take hotline
[00:02:24] Speaker A: hot take hotline Call that hot take hotline
[00:02:28] Speaker B: Dover call and leave your hot takes on the hot take hotline.
[00:02:31] Speaker A: Remember
[00:02:32] Speaker B: these are hot takes.
[00:02:33] Speaker A: We want hot takes.
[00:02:34] Speaker B: We want hot takes. We.
[00:02:36] Speaker A: There's a lot of hot takes coming out of this one. Believe me
[00:02:40] Speaker B: there should be. There should be.
But yeah.
[00:02:45] Speaker A: 330-227-8081.
[00:02:47] Speaker B: Thank you. 330-2278-081333-30227 call now.
[00:02:55] Speaker A: Do that.
[00:02:58] Speaker B: Yeah, the week eight recap. Let's just jump into it. I mean let's start like we always do. We're going to start with the offense.
Shador Sanders obviously getting his first start today.
I Want your take first?
That's what I'm going with
[00:03:13] Speaker A: because that's the whole show tonight.
[00:03:14] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:03:17] Speaker A: look, it was what, Shador's eighth start.
I've never seen anyone that is held to a higher standard than Shador Sanders.
He throws touchdown passes and they go, that wasn't a good enough touchdown pass.
That's true. I've never. And for a guy that's literally made making his eighth start, I just can't understand like what the expectations are for people, why they think he should be perfect, I guess at all times.
But look, I thought this game, this was Todd Monken's first game with Shador Sanders. It was evident that the game plan was very conservative. Going in offense didn't do a whole lot for the first three and a half quarters of the game.
And I don't know that a lot of it was necessarily Shadora's fault. I don't know that he played, you know, superb during that stretch. But I think that they planned on running the ball a lot more than, than they did. They weren't able to get much going on the ground. Again, surprise, surprise. The offensive line was awful.
So he didn't have, you know, clean pockets, a lot of time to throw. I think the pressure rate today was hovering right around 70% in terms of blitz pressures against Shador. So that's pretty high.
And they just had no answers for Chase Young or Granderson. So I thought, all things considered for the first three and a half quarters of the game, like Shador did what I think Todd Monkin wanted him to do, which was not make a big mistake that hurts the team. I think that was pretty much the game plan going in today was, I think, you know, handling Shador with kid gloves, thinking, look, if we can just survive and get through the mess, hopefully we're just like we've won every other game this year hanging around in the fourth quarter and have a chance to do something.
And I think they got to a point in this game where they had to just based on circumstances, kind of throw that away because you had to at some point start taking chances in order to do in order to be competitive in this game. And I think once the training wheels came off a little bit, you started to see the Shador Sanders that, that we expect to see, which is the guy that has the potential for explosive plays and for the offense to really move.
So like again, the first three and a half quarters, I think he was, he was something like 10 of 16 for 120 yards. Like he was efficient and didn't do a whole lot, but he didn't make any big mistakes either.
There were a few operational things here and there. You know, there was one early in the game with, with the running backs that looked like it should have been a handoff that he had to kind of tuck and run.
And then there was the issue where he kind of bumped into the. The Pooler on. On the goal line play.
But outside of that, like, I didn't think there was anything really negative during that time. It just wasn't exciting football.
It was amazing watching the hot takes roll in immediately right in the first quarter, second quarter, third quarter, going well. I guess it's good news is we don't have a quarterback controversy on our hands. We never have to see Shador Sanders play again.
And then you started to see it as the game dictated, that they had to start making changes to their concept because you started seeing the ball being thrown down the field and you. You saw the explosive plays and you saw, I think, a little bit of what Shador is capable of. And I just think for everyone that is. Is holding Shador to some unrealistic standard right now. It's like, oh, well, he almost threw for 300 yards and two touchdowns. And there's just. He could. He should have thrown for four because it's a Saints and they're bad.
This was Shador's first start. So if you're going to compare this should have
[00:07:23] Speaker B: thrown for four.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: If, if you're going to compare this to anything, compare this to Deshaun Watson's first start against Jacksonville, because that's the most equal footing where you're coming off saying, hey, this is the actual first game that I've played with the starters.
And how did Desean fare in that environment? He put up 10 points. He was 16 to 22 for 200 yards and a touchdown in the pick.
So I think that's a fair comparison. If you want to compare him to anything, compare him to what you saw out of DeShawn and DeShaun.
[00:07:54] Speaker B: You know, people say Jacksonville's good and the Saints are not.
[00:07:59] Speaker A: Well, we didn't know that really coming in. But here's the other thing that I would tell you. The other thing that drives me crazy right now about this conversation is everyone is acting like desean Watson is good guys. Desean has won some games that we didn't think that they would win, but he has not thrown a touchdown pass since October 11th.
Just let that marinate for a minute. Like, like you're. You're Defending a quarterback that has not thrown a touchdown in several weeks.
It is November.
[00:08:31] Speaker B: Yeah. And by the time he gets back, it'll be over a month.
Yeah, I mean, I, I. So you actually hit on something really important during that whole rant that I didn't actually put together during the game today. It didn't hit me until you just laid it out the way that you laid it out and how for three and a half quarters it kind of went as we expected. He was safe, whatever. And then all of a sudden there at the end of the, the or middle of third quarter, you kind of took the training wheels off and let him play a little bit, and there was big plays. Well, it kind of mirrors to me a lot of what we've seen out of Deshaun Watson all year. So to me, I'm almost like, all right, well, I know we were real high on Todd Monkin for a while, and you're going to love this conversation turning because you were saying it this whole time. But, like, now I'm starting to wonder if we have a problem there, because if we're able to just do whatever we want for the last seven and a half minutes of every game, like, we literally, if you took the last seven and a half minutes of the game this year and did like our scoring average, it's probably through the roof.
[00:09:40] Speaker A: Tell me what the identity of this offense is. What is the Todd Monken offense? What is the identity of this offense?
[00:09:46] Speaker B: We don't run the ball very good. We don't pass the ball very good until halfway through the third quarter.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: Like, what is it that they do? Well, because
[00:09:53] Speaker B: then we take the top off of everything.
[00:09:55] Speaker A: They haven't really established any identity on offense to this point. The only identity they have is let's hang around and hopefully we make the play at the end that matters. That's the only thing that they've been doing
[00:10:06] Speaker B: well. And I think that the math on that is starting to catch up to you. So, like, the first eight weeks of the season, we're five and three and feeling pretty good because most of those went our way. And I'll even go the first seven weeks of the season, they all went our way.
Now all of a sudden, that's not working as well and we're 5 and 4 and we're right about 500, because guess what, the math on that, if you want to do it, we're stick around till the end and see who wins. It's probably about 50, 50, so we're going to end up right around 500 guys. Like, it's
[00:10:35] Speaker A: not going to
[00:10:35] Speaker B: be any better than that.
[00:10:36] Speaker A: You end up in the quagmire that you had today where the game went to overtime. Right. And so you don't always get to time out the last possession. It's not always as convenient as it has been for the Browns early in this season.
And the way this one went down. Right. And so you, you have to start to establish something else. But, but the identity under Todd Monkin thus far is an undisciplined team that commits a lot of penalties. An offensive line definitely can't run block, can't pass block, gives up five sacks at least every week.
Quarterback play has been very, very marginal at best.
And you know, you have some young wide receivers and playmakers, but you can't even get them to ball in space. So
[00:11:16] Speaker B: even today. So like getting back into the Shador Sanders versus because that's, that's the conversation, that's what everybody wants to talk about. Shore Sanders versus desean Watson. Oh my God. Baker Mayfield just got killed.
The desean Watson versus Store Sanders conversation. And here's my take on the whole thing is I watched this game and I don't know how anybody can say we should go with one or the other. Definitively, it looked like the exact same offense to me. We were ass for three and a half quarters and then we threw the ball all over the place trying to, trying to win a game and we took a lead.
But then our defense, as it has done several weeks out of, you know, I don't know, probably more than half the weeks over the course of the last month and a half, haven't held up their end of the bargain. Giving up points, giving up the lead, and then we find ourselves losing in overtime. So, like, it's, it's the same. I just like the picture from the office. They're the exact same. Like, that's what this is.
[00:12:18] Speaker A: Yeah. Two things that I would reiterate there, one, which is that the offense has looked, looked for most of this game a lot like the offense that we've seen all year long, which I think speaks to what I said all off season and heading into this year, which is if Shador Sanders and desean Watson are exactly the same, let's just say neither is better than the other. They're just the exact same. Then it doesn't make sense to play desean because desean's not a part of the future. Shador.
[00:12:48] Speaker B: Agreed.
[00:12:48] Speaker A: Possibly could be. And so if the play isn't definitively better, one way or the other, you're making a huge mistake and wasting everyone's time playing DeSean Watson at all.
And that's the most frustrating part of it. Right? And I think today, look, I think there's. There's hot takery on both sides, and there's people saying, oh, well, if desean had played, they clearly would have won, which is asinine to me.
And there's a lot of people saying, like, you know, probably should. Door should be the start. He played. He played so well today that he should be the starter going forward.
And. And I don't know that I think the truth is, lives somewhere in the middle, but I do think that Shador showed today that he's a capable NFL quarterback. I think that he should see more time because he. He doesn't suck. Right. Like, it's not that. That I'm saying, like, Shador played so well that I want to see him the rest of the way because
[00:13:35] Speaker B: he didn't win
[00:13:35] Speaker A: the job. Gangbusters. Like, he is legendary. No, but he's at least as good as Deshaun Watson in this offense. He's. He's not any worse if that's the reality.
[00:13:45] Speaker B: Exact same.
[00:13:47] Speaker A: Why would he. Why would we keep playing desean Watson? And the second thing that I would say is for everyone, that's like, well, Shador played well, but it was against the Saints.
Bring that same energy with this defense because this defense gave up a ton of points down the stretch. Everybody wants to talk about how great this defense is, and this defense is good. We're not worried about the defense. The defense is what gave up the game today. The. The. The offense scored 23, 22 points, whatever. Right. Like, I think the defense held them to six points through the first three quarters. Like, in. In the last 10 minutes of the game. They gave up the house.
[00:14:22] Speaker B: Yeah. And just to further your point, let's go back to the jets game if you want to. First of all, let's start with, if desean Watson so good, why didn't he beat the Jets? Like, so if you want to flip that argument, there you go.
But then on the flip side of it, I actually agree with you. I don't think it was desean Watson's fault. I think it was the defense's fault because we had a lead late in the game and they gave it up.
[00:14:46] Speaker A: Right? Yeah. I mean, I just. I want that same energy from everybody that's holding Shador to this impossible standard to go well. You know what? The defense actually kind of sucks, but I don't see that coming out of anyone's mouth. All I see is the defense. Defense is great. The defense is great. I'm, I like the defense. I'm excited about the defense. But the defense hasn't been great. The defense has, has been susceptible to running games the last three weeks, especially between Pollard and Warren and now Audrick Estimate was able to run. They ran for 160 yards against you today. The Saints did on this defense. So let's, let's quit acting like they're sunshine and rainbows out there. But I haven't seen one person call for Mike Rutenberg to be fired. I haven't seen anybody getting on Todd Monkin about this defense. Like, everyone's acting like, ah, the defense is great. Shador was the reason you lost the game.
You can miss me with that.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
And just so everybody is clear and I, I understand it's not necessarily apples to apples, but Audrey guesstimate 15 carries, 72 yards and a touchdown. Quinn, Sean Judkins, 15 carries, 43 yards, no touchdowns. So just saying, like,
[00:15:49] Speaker A: well, there was a chance today that Shador was going to be the leading rusher again. I mean, he had 28 yards on the ground, I think, or 29. So
[00:15:55] Speaker B: 28.
[00:15:56] Speaker A: He was right. The big
[00:15:57] Speaker B: difference in this is like you said, we averaged 2.8 yards of carry and got 95 yards rushing right there on our average.
And we let the Saints, who are an even worse rushing team than we are, rush for 160 on 5 yards per carry. So
[00:16:14] Speaker A: yeah,
[00:16:15] Speaker B: Audrey guesstimate 4.8 yards of carry.
[00:16:17] Speaker A: I just. The, the, the takes flowing in. I mean, even like Joe Banner was on it. Right? Like in the third quarter, Joe Banner was,
[00:16:24] Speaker B: he hates Cleveland.
[00:16:25] Speaker A: He was like, you can clearly see why Todd Monken went with the Sean Watson. There's no reason to see. They need to just cut Shador, cut ties with Shador like before anything even happened in the game. Like, dude, you drafted Markivius Mingo.
You, you can't talk. You can't talk to anyone about anything ever again. Barcavius, Mingo, that's it. Joe Banner get
[00:16:46] Speaker B: first round.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: Like, go away. Your opinion means nothing.
[00:16:50] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah,
[00:16:52] Speaker A: but the people that are just like, that was when it was driving me crazy. Was, was desean Watson would have changed the outcome of this game. Guys, the throw that Shador Sanders made to Jerry Judy when he was about to get pummeled by Chase Young, that was not a throw that Deshaun Watson makes, period. Just not going to happen.
[00:17:12] Speaker B: Yeah, no, yeah, I think the bottom line here, because, you know, I don't want to beat a dead horse here, but I really do think I, I, I agree with you. I, I think that we should probably start Shador the rest of the way. And that's not because I think he's won the job or I think he's head and shoulders better than desean or any of those things. It's for the simple fact that they're the exact same and one guy could potentially be with the team going forward and the other guy definitely won't be.
[00:17:43] Speaker A: Well, and, and I would go as far as to say I think Shador actually played a little better than what I've seen out of Deshaun Watson to this point in this season.
And I think the numbers bear that out. Out of the last four weeks, the Browns have scored 12, 13 and 6 points three out of the last four weeks. There have been 15 passers in the NFL this year that have registered a 60 plus yard pass. Shador had two today.
[00:18:08] Speaker B: Well, that's his M.O. too. I mean, that's, he, he there. You got to take the good with the bad. Like there is some bad. We're not saying there's not. But he also gives you explosive play capability. That's what he does.
[00:18:19] Speaker A: I'll give you one more. On passes, air yards. Over 20 yards this year, Deshaun Watson is 8 of 29.
And I apparently didn't write down the yards, but, but as two touchdowns in a pick, Shador is 3 or 3 for 154 yards and a touchdown.
I mean,
[00:18:37] Speaker B: I can play this game. I got one more for you. Zero delay of game, zero interception, zero fumbles.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: Yeah, that's an improvement. Right? So again, it's if even the worst, they're the same. And I think at best, Shador gives you a little bit more than desean does at this point.
[00:18:54] Speaker B: And again, one step further since I guess we're going down this road. Shador Sanders is six years younger.
Like, I, I don't know.
So, I mean, I think that is important because as far as being with the, we already know desean's not gonna be here anyways, but as far as where they're at in their career, whether they're on the upswing or the downswing, like, Shador still got a long way up to go versus Deshaun Watson has already peaked and is on his way down. So.
[00:19:27] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and I think it is interesting that and Monken kind of cemented this in his press conference after the game because they asked, did Shador do enough to get in their start. And if they had a plan going in that desean was going to play next week definitively and that he is QB1, that's a very easy question to answer to. Just say, no. Desean's a starter and he didn't. So I think that if, if nothing else, Shador played well enough today to make them think about it. And. And I hope that that thinking extends beyond Todd Monken and his pillow and sheets tonight. I'm hoping that it leads to conversations within the building, conversations with Jimmy, conversations with Andrew Barry about, okay, look, we. We've exceeded expectations to this point in the year.
We. We have to start thinking a little bit about next year.
What's the reality of a deep playoff run here? Even if we go back to desean and we kind of squeak our way in and start thinking about, like, do we need to get a true evaluation of Shador Sanders?
[00:20:33] Speaker B: Yeah, I would agree with that. And I don't really care if anybody's going to give a about it, because Deshaun Watson's been here for five years.
We ain't done nothing with it. So I'm just ready. I think, bottom line, I'm ready to move on regardless. And. And I'm. I'm fine. Like, yeah, he won some games this year. Good for him.
But at the end of the day, he's not the future of the Cleveland Browns, period.
[00:20:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I, I found it hilarious. I mean, just some of the. The social media, just the wildfire that was going on. I saw somebody post that Shador's had so many opportunities and never does anything with them. And I was like, hold up. Like, I just. I don't know if these are just bots posting on the Internet or what The. These people that are defending Deshaun Watson, like, he's good. That are just hating on Shador, and he's
[00:21:23] Speaker B: had like 27 opportunities.
[00:21:25] Speaker A: Sean Watson said five years. Shador Sanders has had eight games.
[00:21:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
Character questions notwithstanding.
But anyways, moving on to the receivers here, by
[00:21:39] Speaker A: the way, is our. Is our links broken? Because this is. We. We. We're completely quiet on the chat, so that's very odd.
[00:21:46] Speaker B: No, I think it's because the Browns lost, so that's what happens.
But no, I just want to. We'll talk about the receivers here a little bit. Denzel, Boston, six receptions, 98 yards. Casey Concepcion, four receptions, 85 yards and a touchdown. Harold Fannin Jr. Two receptions, 42 yards and a touchdown.
And then Jerry Judy, 2 for 37. Dylan Sampson, 3 for 27. So all the young guys once again playing well.
And there is, you know, we sound like we're kind of just.
We've given up to the fact that the Browns are just mediocre. We're probably not making in the playoffs or whatever, but there's a lot to be excited about with this team. I think the biggest problem is that this city likes to be a just, just a hostage to the week.
They think that everything, like it's make or break every week, every, Every single week means everything. And while I'm not saying that every game's not important, what I'm saying is going into this season, it was just a given across the league that this is a rebuilding year for the Browns.
All of a sudden we come out the gate, we, we exceed some expectations and the entire town is telling us we're going to the playoffs, we're going to make a deep run.
The
[00:23:08] Speaker A: Sean Watson's back.
[00:23:09] Speaker B: The Sean Watson's back. The rebuild is over. Like, let's just take a step back and take the entire season in as a whole. We're literally exactly where we thought we would be.
[00:23:19] Speaker A: Yeah, and I don't think that that's, that this year is any different than years past because that's one thing that's always bothered me about Cleveland because we've been very bad for a long time and we come into most seasons with pretty low expectations nationally and in the media. No one is picking the Browns to win double digit games most years.
But somehow, once we get into the thick of this season, this city lives and dies on every game like it matters. And I love the Browns and I love football and it does matter to an extent, but no one thought this team was going to be good. So I don't know where these expectations came from that we should be winning every game. This team won five games a year ago. You have a new head coach. Your quarterback conversation has been an absolute disaster for the last eight months.
You've got your, your best players are young. Between Harold Fannin and Quinshon Judkins and KC and Denzel Boston, all of these guys are incredibly young players. So they're going to be good long term, but they're not that good right now. Like, there, there's stuff to be excited about, but, but it's not like Justin Jefferson is sitting out there in your receiving room. Right? Like,
[00:24:41] Speaker B: yeah,
[00:24:41] Speaker A: I don't know where. This offensive line is in tatters. That's
[00:24:45] Speaker B: the, that's the biggest thing is the offensive line still is not where it needs.
They're young and they're going to take the entire season to get better. And then next year maybe they'll be good, but they're probably still going to bring in more guys next year to shore that up because it's not there. It's just not there.
[00:25:01] Speaker A: I don't know where the expectations came from that
[00:25:04] Speaker B: we won a few games early and then everybody
[00:25:06] Speaker A: thought we were
[00:25:07] Speaker B: super bowl contenders. But no, highlight that comment that I just threw in there. Tina over on Facebook said, hey, why not go for the tie? Odds were 50, 50 with 1 minute left.
We don't. You don't play for ties.
[00:25:22] Speaker A: Well, look, what are we
[00:25:23] Speaker B: doing here?
[00:25:25] Speaker A: I think there's old school gamesmanship here. Right. Which is the, The. The adage is when you're on the road, you go for two. If you're at home, you play to tie the game up. And. And that's just kind of an unwritten rule that every coach has followed for the history of the game.
[00:25:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
Well, I just look at it like, I hate ties, so I don't care if I'm home away. It doesn't matter if there's one minute left in overtime and I get a touchdown. And the choices are we either get a tie or we lose.
I'm sorry, we. Or we win. Like, that's.
I'm going for the win every time.
[00:25:58] Speaker A: I do think they had momentum at that point. I don't think it was a nonsensical move to not go for the tie. I mean, the. The offense had been playing well for the last, you know, half a quarter, and. And it seemed like they had some things finally moving. So I was.
It. It made sense to think that they could make the plays. But I also am a little bit optimistic about their mindset here because I think what this tells you is
[00:26:25] Speaker B: they
[00:26:26] Speaker A: trust. I think. Well, I think a tie means you're hedging your bets. Still thinking the playoffs are legitimate because a tie probably in most cases helps you because it's not a loss.
And so I think them saying, hey, we. We. We're fine with an L, but we're going to try for the win. Tells you maybe they're starting to think longer term beyond this year.
[00:26:50] Speaker B: Yeah, I just hate ties.
This. This whole issue would be solved if the NFL would just get rid of ties.
[00:26:58] Speaker A: Can. Can I tell you what hippie picks just joined us?
I. What was. It was driving me crazy in overtime listening to the commentary with these guys not being able to put it together in their mind when there Was four minutes left and we got the ball and they ran the clock down before the two minute warning and they were at midfield and the commentators were losing their mind going, well, they're wasting a lot of time here, guys. This was the last possession. We, we, we, the, the decision was made if we scored, we were going for two. They made that decision before any of that occurred. And it took about another minute when there's about 60 seconds left in the game before one of them said, well, you know, the thought process could be that they're going to go for two. Yeah, guys, that decision was made at four minute mark. Like,
[00:27:46] Speaker B: yeah,
[00:27:46] Speaker A: that was always when we
[00:27:47] Speaker B: got the ball back.
[00:27:48] Speaker A: This
[00:27:48] Speaker B: was
[00:27:49] Speaker A: planned to be the last possession and leave no time left on the clock. It was going to be a walk off or you're gonna lose.
[00:27:55] Speaker B: Well, because it's not like, like if you get the ball and you have like six or eight minutes left, which I don't even know what the overtime period is. Like what the actual
[00:28:02] Speaker A: 10 minutes? Yeah,
[00:28:03] Speaker B: 10 minutes. So. But you get you maybe at like six minutes.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: Yeah. If you understand.
And then you score quickly like you, you're going to have multiple possessions,
[00:28:12] Speaker B: but you
[00:28:12] Speaker A: got four
[00:28:13] Speaker B: minutes left like
[00:28:14] Speaker A: you were getting yours. Yeah, you were, you had one possession to win the game and you had to make that decision right then and there because you weren't going to preserve enough clock to go back and have, have them get the ball back and you get it again.
[00:28:27] Speaker B: As much as we spent the first few minutes of this show questioning Todd Monken, this was not something I questioned. I think that was the right call. I think that's what you
[00:28:35] Speaker A: did.
[00:28:37] Speaker B: So.
And I hate ties. I'll say it again, I hate ties. They're the worst. Like I just don't ever tie. If you have a chance to, either you say we're either going to win the game right here or we might tie
[00:28:47] Speaker A: it just
[00:28:48] Speaker B: in the game.
[00:28:48] Speaker A: It just made sense for where this team is right now. Right? Like you're on the road and, and this team is young. You're not really playing for anything. Like you kind of have house money because you won five games already, right? Like
[00:29:00] Speaker B: literally
[00:29:00] Speaker A: you
[00:29:00] Speaker B: win one more, you hit the over for, for Vegas. Like,
[00:29:04] Speaker A: and if you win, you keep pace in the division and stuff still is happening for you. And if you lose, like it's not the end of the world. Here,
[00:29:11] Speaker B: here's the good news. We're still better than Baltimore.
[00:29:15] Speaker A: I also think that if, if Todd Monkin's plan was definitively in his mind, at least before he kind of looked at the box score and what goes back and watches tape. I think if he thought, I'm going back to DeShawn next week, a loss here actually helps them. He, he's. He. I think he looked at it as that Shador either walks out of here a hero because they go down and score in overtime and get the two point conversion and then it's undeniable and I have to start him next week or he loses and I still get to own that decision.
[00:29:42] Speaker B: Yeah, I highlighted that one. I got, I got some control there.
Hippie said, you think if they tied it, the Saints could have scored again? Absolutely. With the way the defense was playing, they
[00:29:53] Speaker A: had like a
[00:29:54] Speaker B: minute left.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: Why not? I will tell you, that was the one thing that I walked away from this game most impressed with was I was not a big believer in Tyler Schuck. And I'm not saying he's Tom Brady, but I was impressed with his arm. His arm strength was
[00:30:10] Speaker B: some
[00:30:10] Speaker A: of those
[00:30:10] Speaker B: dots through like 40, 50 yards in the air. I was like, what in the world?
[00:30:15] Speaker A: Throws a pretty long ball for a guy that I don't think very much of. Like, he was impressive.
[00:30:20] Speaker B: Yeah.
On defense here, I do want to shout out. I mean, we already talked about how poor the defense was.
[00:30:26] Speaker A: Hold on. Before we get to the defense, I just want to talk about the Harold Fannin catch because.
[00:30:29] Speaker B: Oh, yeah,
[00:30:30] Speaker A: the, the touchdown in overtime.
Man stuff, absolute man stuff. Like stiff armed, like three guys. He was like, I'm not, I'm not being tackled here. Sorry.
Absolute. Just monster of a human.
[00:30:44] Speaker B: This is just another one of those moments where again, we love David Ajoku. He was a big part of the team for a long time. But Harold Fannin is everything. David, a joker was supposed to be. Like, this
[00:30:55] Speaker A: guy just
[00:30:55] Speaker B: puts it. There's. There's been at least three or four times just this season where he, he just says, I'm putting the team on my back and I'm gonna go win it right now.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: I went vertical off my couch. I, I literally jumped in the air.
That was absolutely incredible. And, and it was unfortunate that the, the offensive line was so porous today that Harold Fannin ended up being kept in and like max protection and on a lot of, in a lot of cases, having to help Chip and try to keep Shador on his feet. So he just really wasn't out in routes a lot.
But the offense needs to run through Harold Fannin more. Like we've been saying that all year long. He's one of their best weapons and he has to have the rock.
[00:31:39] Speaker B: Well, what was it last week that he finally got 10 receptions for 150 or 54 yards or whatever it was
[00:31:44] Speaker A: they went
[00:31:44] Speaker B: back to. Let's not throw the guy the ball anymore.
[00:31:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:31:48] Speaker B: But he still made an impact. A big one.
[00:31:51] Speaker A: Big one.
[00:31:52] Speaker B: So. Yeah. Harold Fannin Jr.
I'm excited for what the future holds for the Browns in general on offense. Even though it's not pretty right now, the writing is on the wall that if they can keep this receiving core together in this tight end in the in Cleveland, they're going to have a pretty dangerous passing game one of these years.
[00:32:11] Speaker A: If Shador could get like, I thought you saw some real chemistry there with Shador and Denzel, Bost and Casey. Like,
[00:32:19] Speaker B: well, it was nice to see Denzel and Casey both have like a solid game. Like it's. It. It.
[00:32:23] Speaker A: Right. It's been one of the other
[00:32:25] Speaker B: one or the other so far. So the fact that both of them, I mean, not that they put up like 150 yards, but again, Denzel Boston 6 for 98, KC Conception 4 for 85 and a touchdown like that, those are solid days for receivers.
[00:32:38] Speaker A: And both the, both the big plays, right. Like Denzel's was great and, and again, there's a lot of people on Shadow were like, oh, those weren't the. The best throws. He under threw them or whatever guys. He made the play, made the read it got the ball to the guy. Right? Like, and I think that's the stuff that you start to see, the chemistry that you start and the trust that you start to build with a guy like Denzel Boston that you know that there's not really such thing as a 50, 50 ball with him. Right. Like, it's more like an 80, 20 ball. Sometimes you're going to throw it up. You just got to trust that he's going to go get it and you're going to get burned on some of those. But probably the majority of the time he's going to be able to make a play, and he did today.
[00:33:14] Speaker B: Some of the ones he comes up with are just insane. Like there's the 50, 50 balls like you're talking about, but the number of balls that he comes up with where like a defender gets a hand on it and then it's bobbled 16 times and he's just like, I'll. I'll take it.
[00:33:25] Speaker A: Yeah,
[00:33:26] Speaker B: like he had the one over the middle today where it literally was just bouncing around for a while and finally took it and was.
[00:33:31] Speaker A: That was a great catch.
[00:33:31] Speaker B: I'll be the guy. So I'm excited about the. The receivers and the tight end.
[00:33:36] Speaker A: Look, it was a loss, but it was fun. It was. It was fun today for the first time all year long where I. I could kind of set aside personal feelings.
Player and. And just enjoy the game. And it was exciting. And I know it wasn't exciting the whole game, but it was exciting.
[00:33:51] Speaker B: Yep. Yep. I agree. Well, it does. I mean, that. There is something to be said there. It's a lot easier to root for this team when you don't have somebody with the baggage behind center that we typically do. So.
[00:34:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:03] Speaker B: Onto the defense, though. I know overall, I would not give them a very good grade in this, but Carson Schwezinger played out of his mind again. 15 tackles today, two sacks, two tackles for loss, two QB hits. Like.
[00:34:16] Speaker A: Like that dude leaves it all out on the field
[00:34:18] Speaker B: every
[00:34:19] Speaker A: time. His. His arm is wrapped up like a baked potato. Like, he is the bionic man. Like, he. He puts it out there every week for this team.
[00:34:28] Speaker B: And if you ask,
[00:34:30] Speaker A: anytime
[00:34:30] Speaker B: he's got any sort of injury, they're like, you think Carson will play this week? They're like, oh, he's playing.
[00:34:34] Speaker A: Yeah, he's playing. And he played great again today.
[00:34:38] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, I. I know the defense was pretty terrible, but we haven't got there yet. But he's gotta be in the dog of the week conversation because, I mean, it was just unreal. And then watch it. One of my favorite parts of that, the whole game for Carson Schwezinger was when he, like, ran into Shuck going out of bounds, and he, like, tried to catch him and he went down and. And somebody on the sidelines got all upset, and even the announcer was like, I don't think there was any malicious intent there. And you could hear it in his voice. He's like, that's Carson Schwezinger. He didn't. Yeah, he just plays the game like you're supposed to play the game, so.
And he does. And it's awesome. It's awesome to watch between him and Quincy Williams out there, man.
The. The announcer said it at one point today that the Browns may have one of the best linebacking duos in the entire league, and they really, really
[00:35:26] Speaker A: might. Quincy's been a tremendous surprise. Not. Not that we thought he was sucked or anything, but, like, he's. He's way exceeded expectations. He's been.
He's been absolutely superb all year long.
[00:35:37] Speaker B: Yeah. His speed is what is the most surprising thing to me, like the way he can get lateral and get across the field to hawk guys down is just wild to me.
[00:35:44] Speaker A: And I don't want to be
[00:35:45] Speaker B: like, he hangs with receivers on routes half the time. So.
[00:35:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
And I don't want to be too hard on the defense. Like I, they. They gave up big plays today and I think we're the primary reason you lose the game because they gave up everything at the end of the game.
But it wasn't all bad.
And I think you continue to see some good things. You can continue to see this front get after the quarterback and create pressure.
I thought, you know, Chris Alave is a tough matchup. I thought when Tyson Campbell was on him, I thought when Denzel Ward was on him, like there were some good past defenses.
The problem is when a guy like Miles Harden draws Olave as an assignment, like that's a mismatch that just should never happen.
And I, you know, I think schematically, like, they gotta be more conscious of that. Like when you have a number one like that, a premier talent at wide receiver, like, he's gotta be like, Zell has to follow him all day.
And, and even Tyson Campbell.
But Miles. Miles Harden can't. It shouldn't ever be on Chris Alabe.
[00:36:49] Speaker B: No. But I was gonna say Miles Harden, though, did have two sacks today.
[00:36:52] Speaker A: Two sacks. Miles Harden is a superior.
[00:36:56] Speaker B: The
[00:36:56] Speaker A: last
[00:36:56] Speaker B: time I saw a corner get two sacks in a game,
[00:37:00] Speaker A: Miles Harden had more sacks today than Jared first has all season.
[00:37:05] Speaker B: So Miles Garrett for that matter. And he's
[00:37:06] Speaker A: only true
[00:37:07] Speaker B: too. He's played one game, so that. But
[00:37:10] Speaker A: Garrett is a pass rusher. Miles Harden is a defensive back.
[00:37:15] Speaker B: Yeah. Even more embarrassing. You're right.
Yeah. And Jared versus No, just completely absent again. He had two tackles, both in overtime. He didn't have a single tackle in regulation today. So,
[00:37:27] Speaker A: yeah,
[00:37:28] Speaker B: I.
It continues to be concerning to me. I thought we would be getting a lot more than we have. And you know, you could say what you want about his vocal leadership and all that stuff, but at some point you've got to put up some numbers. You've got to prove that you belong. And right now it's almost like the rest of the defense is stepping up and this guy was like, well, I got traded and still getting paid so
[00:37:56] Speaker A: well. And down the stretch, right. Like that's that. Those are the moments that if you are step
[00:38:03] Speaker B: up,
[00:38:04] Speaker A: you have to step up. Right. I'm not asking you to have three sacks every game. Right. But you need to make the play
[00:38:10] Speaker B: pressure at
[00:38:11] Speaker A: the end of the game, a key pressure, or you have the sack at the end of the game, right? Like, like, you know, if it happens four times a year, but it needs to happen four times a year. Right. Like, you have to be able to make the play that makes a difference. The strip sack, the. The forced fumble, like, whatever it is, like, you have to be that guy. I get the sense a little bit and look like, I don't know, Jared Verse and I. And I. I don't have any, but. But I think I get the sense. Yeah. Because of like that and just. Just some other things I think that have occurred to this point in the year.
Like when he got here, I almost feel like he thought he was going to be the best player on this defense, bar none. Like, like he was almost better than this defense. Like, I'm going to Cleveland and Cleveland sucks.
So I think that was perceived as leadership by a lot of people because he was coming in and was vocal and. But. But I think that there's a possibility that maybe he don't really want to be here. Maybe he thinks Cleveland is beneath him and maybe it's. It's a motivation thing and a desire thing with him because he is a good athlete, a good player.
The. The fact that we've gone eight weeks, nine weeks, and he hasn't registered a meaningful stat is super concerning.
[00:39:24] Speaker B: Well, and we go back to. And again, all this is speculation. We don't have people that are telling us things. I'm not, I'm not sitting here saying that I've heard from somebody inside the organization. I, I do have people that tell me things, but they haven't told me anything about this.
And you know, I'm not saying that this is coming from anywhere legitimate. This is all speculation on our side. But here's the deal. Two things. One, he called out his teammates this week because he said that when he got choke slammed against the Steelers last week, nobody came to his defense.
So. So a couple things here. One, you're calling out your teammates in the media, and then he proceeds to say, we already talked about it and handled it. Okay, then why are you even bringing it up here?
So that's. That's a red flag to me. Another red flag to me is if your leadership was as valued in the locker room as the media perceives it to be, then don't you think the entire team would have come to your defense in that instance?
[00:40:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:40:21] Speaker B: Don't you think somebody would have stepped up and bull rushed the guy that did it and started a fight with the Steelers because not only did he choke slam you, they're a, a bitter rival division rival. So that's red flag number two.
And then red flag number three to me is during calling out all of his teammates again. This is a guy that's known all year long as being the fiery guy. It was just so blank. Like there was nothing that he was just like, yeah, I just felt like we should have had more. It wasn't more. It is what it is. Whatever.
Like there was. There was no emotion.
And to me, if, like you're.
Either way, either way, if you're really upset or if you had talked about it, you guys are in a better place now. You're going to be emotional one way or the other.
[00:41:09] Speaker A: I just get the sense that he doesn't really believe in what's happening here and doesn't really want to be here. But. And you get those players all
[00:41:15] Speaker B: the time. There's players like that on every team. So
[00:41:18] Speaker A: when I think it's easy to do in Cleveland. Right. Their history isn't one of success. It's easy. It would be really easy to walk
[00:41:25] Speaker B: anytime recently.
[00:41:26] Speaker A: It would be really easy to walk through the doors in Berea and go, what did I just walk into? Like, the, the track record is bad.
So I, I get how easily that could happen. But.
But at some point you just gotta play, right? Like, you gotta do something. But right now you're doing nothing. You gotta do more. You can't do less.
[00:41:48] Speaker B: Right now you're doing
[00:41:49] Speaker A: nothing.
[00:41:50] Speaker B: So you gotta do something.
Yeah, I'm. I'm right there with you. But the, so the, the sacks for today. Carson Schweising or 2. Miles Harden, 2. And Mike Hall Jr. Got got back in the backfield again today with another sack. So good to see him back and putting pressure on the quarterback.
[00:42:10] Speaker A: One guy we didn't talk about yet, that's probably my dog of the week this week was Ronnie Hickman.
I thought he had a tremendous game. The pass breakup, nine
[00:42:21] Speaker B: tackles, two pass defense.
[00:42:24] Speaker A: The. Yeah, the, the pass breakup in the end zone on the tight end was a stellar play, a never give up play.
You know, fought for the ball all the way down to the ground and. And saved a touchdown.
He almost had picks late in the game that he kind of dropped, but still great play.
And he made a ton of tackles. I mean,
[00:42:45] Speaker B: well, especially
[00:42:46] Speaker A: good when a defensive back makes a lot of tackles because that means they're getting to the second level and he's at least a
[00:42:50] Speaker B: safety and he's doing it every week. So
[00:42:53] Speaker A: I just thought he, you know, for a guy that like, really kind of is unheralded, people, like, I don't know why everybody thinks he's so bad, but like,
[00:43:01] Speaker B: well, that, that was what. What I was gonna add is every week, this guy, I've never seen a
[00:43:07] Speaker A: guy like, people just hate him for no reason.
[00:43:09] Speaker B: Yeah, he just gets blown up every week. And I'm like, this dude, he's a scrapper. Like, I'm not again, not the best safety in the league, but I think he's a pretty solid player and ever. And he's got a. A dope ass name, but everybody gives him so much and I'm like, dude, this guy, he. He's top three on your team and tackles every single week. He's constantly breaking up passes. Sure, every once in a while he lets one get past him, but so do every one of these gentlemen or every one of these DBs. So.
And that includes Denzel. Like, every once in a while, Denzel gets burned. He's the least of all of them. He's a hall of Famer, arguably. But like, I mean, you can't stop all of them. It just. We're in the NFL here. I mean, I'm not. He is, but, you
[00:43:56] Speaker A: know, we're not.
[00:43:57] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:43:58] Speaker A: we just talk about it.
[00:44:00] Speaker B: Yeah. So.
And then one more guy that I want to talk about. We'll go two special teams. We can't leave them out. So Corey Bajoraquez continues to be the best punter in the league.
Five punts today. Averaged 53.4 yards, which is almost a full 10 yards better than his net average on the season, which is the best in the NFL.
[00:44:19] Speaker A: He was the best offensive weapon we had for three quarters.
[00:44:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Put one inside the 20 today. Should have had two, but we got a penalty for all those pre snap penalties that we can't stop doing.
[00:44:31] Speaker A: Yeah, that was a big one. I mean, again, thinking about like, things that weren't Shador Sanders fault, right? Like, they had the ball pinned inside the 10. The ball was going to be
[00:44:40] Speaker B: seven,
[00:44:41] Speaker A: and then you give them the ball at like the 32. So
[00:44:44] Speaker B: big, big special teams blunder. Not for. Not. Not Corey Bajoraquez, the other special teams players. And then Andre Schmidt, 3 for 3 on field goals.
[00:44:53] Speaker A: Again,
[00:44:54] Speaker B: long
[00:44:54] Speaker A: of
[00:44:54] Speaker B: 51, and then 1 on 1 on extra points.
Every week that he does this, it continues to grow on me. As far as like, he's like the next Phil Dawson,
[00:45:06] Speaker A: the legend of Andre Schmidt.
[00:45:07] Speaker B: Yeah,
[00:45:08] Speaker A: well, and what I love, and I'm probably a broken record on this, but what I love about this year, Andre Schmidt this year is he's kicking in moments that matter. He's kicking in high leverage situations. And the
[00:45:21] Speaker B: few that he's missed have been when it didn't matter. Like it
[00:45:23] Speaker A: didn't end up costing his game
[00:45:24] Speaker B: anything. So.
[00:45:25] Speaker A: Yep. And when it matters, when the shows up, all the cards are on the table. He is absolutely ice cold. And it doesn't matter from where. Right, left hash, right hash, 52, 48. Doesn't matter. Like he is ice cold.
[00:45:41] Speaker B: Yep.
And final thing before we get into the tail end of the show here, penalties is where I'm going here.
You know, we actually. We'll talk about two because we talked about this one before the game.
Bone man, skeleton key to victory. That this week was you have to hold the saints to under 100 yards rushing and you'll win the game. Didn't
[00:46:05] Speaker A: do it.
[00:46:06] Speaker B: Didn't win.
So Bone man continues to be a savant. He also
[00:46:12] Speaker A: called out Audric Estimate.
[00:46:13] Speaker B: Yeah. He astutely predicted that Audrick Estimate was going to have a game and he did. So
[00:46:18] Speaker A: that's the second time this year that we've been burnt laughing at someone because we were like, oh, yeah, Audrey guessed he's gonna get a lot of touches this week. They just signed him.
[00:46:26] Speaker B: To be fair, we were not burnt laughing at Angry Bobby because.
[00:46:30] Speaker A: Well, true. Because they haven't watched. The
[00:46:31] Speaker B: tables are starting to turn and he. It's looking more and more like things are going to go our way.
[00:46:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:46:39] Speaker B: But anyways, and then back to the penalties. Like I said, 10 of 10 for 58 yards.
They had, what was it, 6 penalties in
[00:46:48] Speaker A: 7 in the first half. Well, 6 in the first quarter, 7, 6 in
[00:46:52] Speaker B: the first quarter. So that was another one of our kind of keys to the game this week was you can't have a lot of penalties,
[00:47:01] Speaker A: discipline matters.
[00:47:02] Speaker B: And they had six in the first quarter. So you want to talk about slow starts and everything else. And.
And again, I'm starting to.
We. We mentioned earlier in the show we're starting to lean towards coaching is why they have slow starts. But coaching goes into penalties as well. When your team's
[00:47:20] Speaker A: not
[00:47:20] Speaker B: prepared, when they're not doing what they need to be doing, when they're not fundamentally sound, which all these coaches love to talk about, even though it seems like none. Nobody is.
You get this. You get an undisciplined team and. And I'm just so sick of undisciplined teams in Cleveland. Like it's every single year. It doesn't matter who the coach is. We just commit penalties. It's what we do.
[00:47:45] Speaker A: And a couple of these were really, really bad, right? We talked about the punt that moved the ball almost 30 yards in field position.
The, the one was the illegal contact on what was a fourth down stop near the end of the game.
The other was the first down run. Quinshot had a big run ripped off like a 15 yarder and then got called for holding. So. And, and, and it's also just the, the mindless, senseless ones, right? The illegal touching on the punt, right. Like you gotta know better and to your point, simple
[00:48:21] Speaker B: funds
[00:48:21] Speaker A: fundamentals, right? Like as an offensive lineman, like, where's George Warhop on, on this, on these guys? Like, how many holding calls are we going to get on this team this year? Because they are, you know, their defender starts to trail towards the play and they're still holding on, right? Like when, when you get that leveraged on the outside of the shoulder pad, like, you have to know, I gotta let go. Because you can't be, you can't still be tugging jersey when they're trying to leave the field of play and go to, to pursue the ball. So,
[00:48:50] Speaker B: yeah,
[00:48:51] Speaker A: all of those, at some point you
[00:48:52] Speaker B: can disengage. It's okay.
[00:48:54] Speaker A: Yeah, all those things lay right into fundamentals and discipline, which is one of the 100% coaching.
[00:49:01] Speaker B: Yep. So that'll take us to our Burning river sportscast Dog of the week nominees.
If anybody doesn't know how this works, we nominate, we all nominate a dog of the week candidate. I'll put a graphic up tomorrow on our social so everybody can vote for it and then we talk about it on the show on Thursday. So Bone phoned his in and he went with Harold Fannin Jr. So we'll give him Fanning, which I, you know, it's Bone. So it's Harold Fanning.
[00:49:29] Speaker A: Fanning, yeah. Dakota Fanning's brother.
[00:49:31] Speaker B: Yeah. I'll go with Kenny next. Who's, who's your dog of the week?
[00:49:35] Speaker A: I.
To me, it was Ronnie Hickman. I don't think anybody's gonna vote for Ronnie Hickman
[00:49:41] Speaker B: because everybody hates
[00:49:41] Speaker A: him. Because everybody hates him. So Ronnie
[00:49:43] Speaker B: Hickman, we don't hate you. If you, if you happen to listen to this. We really like you. We
[00:49:48] Speaker A: appreciate
[00:49:48] Speaker B: what you've done. Yeah.
[00:49:50] Speaker A: So I personally thought Ronnie Hickman had a tremendous game today.
I'll, I'll nominate Shador just because I think it'll be Interesting to see the feedback on those posts because it's just so, so polarizing.
I'm curious to see what kind of activity that drives.
[00:50:09] Speaker B: Yeah. So you're. You literally clickbaited him. You said, I'm going, Shador Sanders, because I want to see what happens. Yeah. Thank you.
It's an odd thing to admit on air, but here we are.
I'm gonna go. I really want to go with Carson Schwezinger, but when the defense gave up the game, it's kind of hard. Casey Concepcion had a really good game in this one. 4 for 85 for a touchdown.
I'm gonna go.
[00:50:39] Speaker A: Hippie went with Casey.
[00:50:40] Speaker B: I know, I know.
We'll change. We can change. Zach's Zach. Zach said it's one or the other.
[00:50:48] Speaker A: Who's Zach?
[00:50:50] Speaker B: We can change. We could change Bones. He said it's one or the other. He said he could go with. No.
[00:50:55] Speaker A: He gets fanning.
[00:50:57] Speaker B: Now you're putting me on the spot. I should have
[00:50:59] Speaker A: thought this out. Swish is good. He had 15 tackles.
[00:51:02] Speaker B: He did have 15 tackles. 15
[00:51:03] Speaker A: is a lot.
Like, 10's a lot. 15. You were talking about
[00:51:07] Speaker B: man stuff earlier. That's man stuff.
[00:51:09] Speaker A: Fifteen's a lot.
[00:51:10] Speaker B: Yeah. So I'll go Carson Swezinger, he might legitimately win.
Like, you play like this all year. And I know the defensive ends are always the guys that. That are the. The sexy pick for player, defensive player.
[00:51:24] Speaker A: You're sexy. Yeah.
[00:51:25] Speaker B: For defense. Player of the year. But Carson Swezinger is putting up ridiculous numbers.
It's. It's just stupid. So
[00:51:32] Speaker A: I'm glad that people are starting to take notice. I mean, they mentioned that specifically on the broadcast. Like, he's going to be a guy in the national conversation for years because he has earned it. And is that good?
[00:51:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
And so with that, I'll get that graphic up tomorrow. Everybody can vote. Kenny, final thoughts for this week?
[00:51:50] Speaker A: Final thought.
Look, I hate Pittsburgh and everything that comes with Pittsburgh, but for many
[00:52:03] Speaker B: brothers,
[00:52:05] Speaker A: I mean, it's okay.
[00:52:08] Speaker B: You don't hate it. You just don't love it.
[00:52:10] Speaker A: It's. It's okay. You know, once you've had a sandwich with fries on it, like, you've had it. Like, Rockney's makes a good one, too. So it's our friend's favorite sandwich.
[00:52:23] Speaker B: What's a. What's a sandwich that keeps you up at night?
[00:52:28] Speaker A: Terminator.
Anyway, I hate Pittsburgh, but for years, we have had to acknowledge the absolute proficiency of Mike Tomlin and Mike Tomlin's predecessor, also very good.
And Bill Cower said immediately following the game, the Browns need to move forward with Shador Sanders. He's a part of the future. Desean Watson's not. Full stop.
I can't say it any better than he did, right. Like the Browns need to.
And I could see them because you have Houston next week and then the buy, I could see them going, no, no, desean's not going to lose his job to injury.
But then over the bye week going, now is the time to make a change because the buy and depending on Houston.
[00:53:22] Speaker B: That's a saying sometimes for like, like coaches in front office like to stand on that. Like, like, no, we would never do like it happens every day.
[00:53:31] Speaker A: What are you talking
[00:53:32] Speaker B: about?
[00:53:33] Speaker A: And to me, I just think that would be a foolhardy move. I just wastes more time before you make the ultimate decision, which is the one that we all know we need to make, which is we need to get a better evaluation of Shador Sanders. Let's do it now while the games still matter. Let's see if he can put this team in potential, in contention to, to be a part of the conversation at the end of the year. If he's any good, then great. If you end up sniffing the playoffs or in the playoffs, great. Because now you have a plan going into next year. Guys, I continue to say this crop of college quarterbacks, I'm not excited about any of that after what I saw today out of Shador Sanders, I will take that eight out of seven days a week. He was fine. He was an adequate NFL quarterback. If you surround him with a great defense and playmakers, this team can win football games. We've seen desean do it. It desean Watson do it. This year desean hasn't played particularly well, but they've been winning games. Shador is capable of at least that.
So that's my final thought is like just, just, you know, rip, rip the band aid off. Let's. Let's make the change. Do it while now. Do it now while it still
[00:54:48] Speaker B: matters.
[00:54:49] Speaker A: Shador needs to be QB1 going forward for the rest of the year.
[00:54:53] Speaker B: Make that change.
[00:54:55] Speaker A: And again, just to like to qualify this, I'm not saying because Shador is great or Shador played himself, you know, into that position today. It's just the move that makes sense. And because he played well enough to show that he's not completely inferior to Deshaun Watson, right? Like he's at least on the same plane.
And if, if they're even or slightly differentiated, like it makes sense to play the guy that's going to be on your roster next year. It doesn't make sense to keep playing the guy that won't.
[00:55:31] Speaker B: Y' all done now?
[00:55:33] Speaker A: That was my final thought.
[00:55:34] Speaker B: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, you ain't gonna fool me again.
[00:55:40] Speaker A: Can't get fooled again.
[00:55:42] Speaker B: My. What's
[00:55:43] Speaker A: your final thought?
[00:55:44] Speaker B: My final thought for the week. I already tipped my. My hand on this earlier, but. But they're the exact same. And it just all goes back to the.
What you said right now is like, if they're the exact same and the offense runs almost identically, what are we doing?
[00:56:03] Speaker A: Yeah,
[00:56:04] Speaker B: it shouldn't even be a question. It should just be.
You go with the guy that's going to be potentially. And he might not either, but he at least has the potential to be a part of the team because he's under contract for two more years after this.
[00:56:19] Speaker A: Yeah,
[00:56:20] Speaker B: go with that guy.
It's pretty simple.
I don't. I just don't know what we're doing here.
[00:56:28] Speaker A: It would have been really easy if Shidora just played bad today. Right. If Shador played really poorly, then you just go back to Deshaun and go, look, I was. I was completely vindicated and validated in going with desean to start the year, and we're going to go back to desean next week. Week. But he didn't. He played every bit as well as desean has played all year long.
[00:56:46] Speaker B: Yeah. And everybody that says that. That, you know, we just are Shador, you know, fanboys or whatever, you know, all these people that talk about any. Anytime you say anything good about Shador, they hate you.
If, like you just said, if Shador played bad today, we would have said, oh, this is easy decision. Just keep playing with Deshaun Watson.
[00:57:03] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, I'll take you behind the curtain. Right. Like I was thinking, especially in that first half, like, I was preparing myself to be talking about, hey, this was an opportunity for Shador Sanders, and he didn't go out and take it. Therefore, vis a vis, like, he doesn't get another one next week, he shouldn't get another one next week. He had an opportunity today to go out and earn more playing time to show everyone he's capable of being an NFL quarterback. And.
And if he didn't, I would have been fine with. With saying that, with going, look like maybe Todd Monken was seeing things that we weren't early on, and he was right. Maybe desean is the better quarterback for right now and they need to just stick with him. The rest of the year. But I think Shador showed you today enough to know he doesn't completely suck.
[00:57:48] Speaker B: Yeah. And to further peel back that curtain, this is I, I know not everybody has been listening to us since last season, but this has given me flashbacks to I, I don't even remember which game it was, but there was a game last year where that was the specific narrative from us. As we said, Shador, you had a chance to cement everything right now and you completely blew it.
But, you know, today that didn't happen. He played well. So, yeah, I mean, here we are. But with that, let me remind everybody to call it burning your sportscast hot take hotline. Don't forget to
[00:58:21] Speaker A: call the hot table.
[00:58:24] Speaker B: Remember,
[00:58:24] Speaker A: these are
[00:58:25] Speaker B: hot takes. We want hot takes.
[00:58:26] Speaker A: Call Tina,
[00:58:27] Speaker B: Hippie. Everybody else that commented, call. Leave your hot takes on the hot take hotline.
[00:58:32] Speaker A: Nashville, where you at?
[00:58:33] Speaker B: Matt from Nashville, Menockum, Angry Bobby, the the other young angry Bobbies,
[00:58:39] Speaker A: Angry Bobby and the boys.
[00:58:40] Speaker B: Yeah. 330-2278-0813-3022-7808-1330, 227-8081 I'll actually call out Dan, my good friend Dan that I know listens every week and he always listens. He said he loves the hot take hotline but I haven't heard him call in once. So
[00:58:58] Speaker A: Dan it. Dan. Come on.
[00:58:59] Speaker B: Dan it. Dan the baker and leave a hot take and be sure to check out our gear. Www.thetepmedia.com backslash shop that'll do it for us. Kenny. What can we expect this week?
[00:59:12] Speaker A: What can we expect this week? I will tell you what we can expect.
We'll have our normal show, the preview show that will be out on Thursday this week. So we were Friday last week. We back to Thursday this week with another interview with the Browns backers group TBD and of course all the other things. You listen to the burning river sportscast for like the same takes over
[00:59:34] Speaker B: and
[00:59:34] Speaker A: over
[00:59:35] Speaker B: and
[00:59:35] Speaker A: over again.
[00:59:37] Speaker B: Check us out on social media. Tapa media is on Facebook X and Instagram at the tap media I'm burning over Sportscast. That's this podcast. This
[00:59:43] Speaker A: is
[00:59:43] Speaker B: on Facebook, Instagram, tick tock YouTube and buzzer burning over Sportscast. We are an X as well at the handle I Burning her pod.
You can find our podcast wherever each podcast talking Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Pandora, I heart radio podcast, Castro Good pods or anomaly football podcasts and so many more reviews are the best thing you can do to help our podcast grow, please. Sporting will continue to bring you the best damn Cleveland Brown spot in the land.
That's it.
[01:00:08] Speaker A: That's it.
So join us next week.
[01:00:15] Speaker B: No, join us on Thursday.
[01:00:17] Speaker A: That's fine. Yeah, it's next week.
[01:00:18] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah, Yeah, I guess. So when
[01:00:21] Speaker A: does
[01:00:21] Speaker B: your week start? Sunday or Monday? I. I gotta know.
This
[01:00:26] Speaker A: could be a
[01:00:26] Speaker B: real debate.
[01:00:27] Speaker A: I think technically it starts Sunday, but
[01:00:31] Speaker B: Sunday weekend.
[01:00:32] Speaker A: Sunday is the end to me. So Monday is the start of my week. I don't think about it in terms of that, but
[01:00:37] Speaker B: this is a big debate.
[01:00:39] Speaker A: But I feel like we should fix the calendar for Monday to be the first day of the week. Because. Because
[01:00:44] Speaker B: it
[01:00:44] Speaker A: just
[01:00:44] Speaker B: looks silly.
[01:00:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Like, this
[01:00:46] Speaker B: is the weekend, but half of it's on the week new.
[01:00:48] Speaker A: I. I just saw a calendar actually that looked like that recently, and it completely threw me off. But I was like, this makes way more sense.
[01:00:54] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:00:54] Speaker A: Like Monday was the first day.
[01:00:56] Speaker B: I agree. Let's start a petition for Mondays being the first week in the calendar.
[01:00:59] Speaker A: Sounds like a day
[01:01:00] Speaker B: in the calendar.
[01:01:01] Speaker A: Sounds like a real problem.
Don't just be a part of the problem, be the whole damn problem.
[01:01:06] Speaker B: And only you can prevent river fires. Burning
[01:01:10] Speaker A: river
[01:01:11] Speaker B: sports.
Good night,
[01:01:13] Speaker A: Cleveland. Good night, Cleveland. Good
[01:01:15] Speaker B: night, Akron.
