Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, Browns fans.
[00:00:02] Speaker B: This is your chance to join the company of some of the Browns all.
[00:00:06] Speaker A: Time greats on the first ever Browns fan cruise.
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Picture this for five unforgettable days, you're.
[00:00:12] Speaker A: Sailing across the beautiful Caribbean Sea, reliving.
[00:00:15] Speaker B: The Browns'greatest moments, getting autographs, snapping photos and celebrating on the beach with your favorite Browns alumni like Josh Cribs, webster.
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Slaughter, Aaron Metcalf and a dozen others. Book now and take advantage of our.
[00:00:28] Speaker B: Easy, budget friendly payment plans on this.
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Once in a lifetime, all inclusive cruise adventure. The clock's ticking, Browns fans.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: To book your cabin and for more.
[00:00:36] Speaker A: Information, visit brownsfancruise.com or call 216-284-6472 ToDay Browns fan Cruise, where diehard fans and Browns alumni come together for the trip of a lifetime.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: Don't wait.
[00:00:49] Speaker A: Secure your spot today and go Brown.
[00:00:55] Speaker B: Media it's time. Time for the Burning River Sportscast. I guess you could say things are getting a little serious. A-D-V-E-R-S-I-T-Y. We've heard this team talk about it. In fact, it's been a buzword throughout the Stefanski era. But on Sunday, this team lived it hard against one of the NFL's hottest teams in a game filled with as much drama as you can squeeze into an NFL advertising slot. Starting with a pick six on a first play from scrimmage, our heroes played a game of one step forward, two steps back all day long. But when it mattered, when the chips were down and all they had were each other in the arena, your cardiac kids put on for their city and bit and scratched and clawed their way into position for a dhop walk off in one of the most improbable victories of the year. Don't sleep on these dogs. Cleveland may finally have a contending football team once again, but like all things in Northeast Ohio, they aren't given they're earned at six and three, can this scrappy group continue to earn their way through the North? Can Deshaun use some of his $230,000,000 to heal his bumps and bruises? And can an offense based solely around an efficient screen game continue to be effective as the season wears on? As the late, great Ronald Reagan said, well, kind of. It's morning in Cleveland again, and we'll break it all down for you next right here on the Burning river sportscast. Let's go.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Bang.
[00:02:55] Speaker B: See what happens.
[00:02:58] Speaker C: They don't get disheartened and they just continue to just look at it as, okay, this is another opportunity for us to ball out and just freaking show everybody how good we are.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: And they do it.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: And they do it. CindY LaUper I like it.
Suck it, Ronnie.
[00:03:16] Speaker A: Who's sucking who now?
[00:03:18] Speaker D: Anyway, I was working hard every day, every game, every Sunday I had balls thrown at me. And fortunately I was able to intercept at least one every game for those seven straight games. But I think the key to that whole experience was who I had to practice against during practice, and that was the All Pro Paul Warfield.
[00:03:51] Speaker A: Don't let Tommy two gloves over there get any momentum whatsoever and think he's good, because he's not. He wears two gloves. He's got stupid hair.
[00:03:59] Speaker D: I hate Kenny Pickett, but Dandy Don Meredith was the quarterback in 1968 for the Dallas Cowboys.
Renfro was a wide receiver. And I think I have the dubious distinction of being the last one to intercept one of his passes because during that game, he was pulled after I intercepted a pass. And from then on, you saw him in the booth on Monday Night Football.
[00:04:43] Speaker B: Welcome into the Burning River Sportscast, presented by Tapin Media and brought to you by Seaside events, is the official cruise event provider of the Cleveland Browns and the organizer of the Browns fan Cruise. I'm Kenny Thunder, with the immune system of a preschooler, joined, as always, by the man whose flow is just too hot to handle red hot Ronnie jams. And on the board today, the man whose skeletor like frame continues to drive pre teens and soccer moms crazy. Bone, man. How do you fend them all off.
[00:05:09] Speaker C: With two hands and a nice, nice.
[00:05:14] Speaker B: Back to Red Hot. Two questions.
[00:05:16] Speaker A: What are they?
[00:05:17] Speaker B: On the next episode of the Burning River Sportscast.
[00:05:19] Speaker A: This episode, this one, this one is.
[00:05:22] Speaker B: Brought to you by seaside events, is the official Cruise event. Provide exclusive interviews with Cleveland Browns alumni brought to you by seaside Events as the official cruise event provider of the Cleveland Browns and organizer of the Cleveland Browns fan Cruise, on which we will be in seeing a limited number of events and parting our faces off with the rest of the Dog Pound Faithful.
[00:06:05] Speaker A: They can find our podcast wherever they get our podcasts, wherever they get their podcasts. Talking to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Podcast, Castro, good pods and so many more. And don't forget to subscribe on YouTube. The only place that you can find our video podcast and check us out on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. Our handle for all of those socials, including YouTube, is at Burning River Sportscast and we are on X, the artist formerly known as Twitter, as well with the handle at Burning River Pod. And while you're at it. Check out our merch ww thetappinmedia.com Backslash shop. We've got all kinds of stuff in the shop. We got the cruise line, we got the chubb line, we got the cold weather gear. That's here, that's here. It's here. We got hats and sweatshirts and things that you wear when it's cold out. So make sure you check that out and everything else in the store. We're constantly adding to it and that's going to keep happening. Hopefully. You guys buy stuff, so buy it.
[00:06:55] Speaker B: I like it.
[00:06:56] Speaker A: Our gear is dope ass.
[00:06:57] Speaker B: Dope ass.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: But we got a great show planned for everybody today and everybody is feeling good after the damn fine show the Browns put on Sunday afternoon. We got a week ten recap of the win over the division rival and Kenny's most hated team, the Purple Browns, aka the Baltimore Raven.
[00:07:10] Speaker B: I just tried to scream, but I could and nothing came out.
[00:07:12] Speaker A: That's bad. We also have an interview with the Kent Brownsbackers to gear up for this week against Pittsburgh Steelers. We got another interview with Browns alumni that will be joining us on the Cleveland Browns fan Cruise in the second half of the show. Today's guesT, as you mentioned, Ben Davis. Hell yes. And finally, the week eleven preview for the game against the Pittsburgh Steelers. So hold on to your nets because we're about to get squirrely. Let's get things started the right way with the Burning river news story of the week.
All right, so this week's Burning River News story of the week. In Italy, an adult lion named Kimba escaped from the Roni Roller Circus and was caught on video by everyone with a cell phone roaming the streets in the town the circus was visiting. So this thing roamed the streets for about 7 hours before it was caught. And the handler in an interview said this of the incident. He said, what happened is very strange. All we can say is it is impossible for a lion to open a latch and break a lock. So he's calling foul play. What do you guys think? And what the fuck would you do if a lion was just walking down your road?
[00:08:32] Speaker C: This is an eight year old, like, full grown male lion with a mane and all.
[00:08:37] Speaker A: He's big time full grown nuts.
[00:08:38] Speaker C: Yeah.
I don't know if I would run immediately because I feel like you're never supposed to just run from a wild.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: Animal because they would chase you.
[00:08:48] Speaker C: Yeah. And think you're playing or jump on your back and just start eating your neck.
So I would try to climb something that would be my first instance.
[00:08:54] Speaker A: You don't think lions can climb?
[00:08:56] Speaker C: They probably can and probably jump a lot higher than I can climb.
[00:08:58] Speaker B: What did DiCaprio do in that bear movie? He just played dead.
[00:09:02] Speaker C: Did you see him get tossed, though?
He was destroyed playing dead.
[00:09:06] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't know.
[00:09:07] Speaker A: At that point, you're kind of dead.
[00:09:08] Speaker B: I don't know what I would do if I was face to face with a full ass grown lion.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: You don't even have to be face to face with it. What would you do if you just looked out your window? There's just a lion walking down your street.
[00:09:18] Speaker B: I would lock all my doors and go somewhere safe.
[00:09:21] Speaker A: Would it be like a tornado situation? Do you take your whole family into the basement?
[00:09:24] Speaker B: Yeah. Finally, the smallest room with a log on it. And I'm like, guys, we're not leaving here. I don't know.
[00:09:29] Speaker C: This lion already got out of one lock cage.
[00:09:31] Speaker A: That's true. There's posable thumbs, but I guess if.
[00:09:35] Speaker B: I was face to face with it, the only lion I know is Simba. So I would probably call it Simba. And that's kind of close to Kimba.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: True.
[00:09:41] Speaker B: So it might just let me dominate it.
[00:09:44] Speaker C: Yeah, he might think you're a friend.
[00:09:46] Speaker A: You think the lion would let you dominate him?
[00:09:48] Speaker B: I'd be like, hey, Simba, you want to treat?
[00:09:50] Speaker A: That doesn't sound like domination.
That sounds like you're getting eaten.
[00:09:53] Speaker B: Or I could sing the Lion King.
Let's see what happens.
Everything.
[00:10:04] Speaker A: The light touches yours.
[00:10:06] Speaker B: I will say this. I have two things about this. First off, I didn't even know the lions were allowed in a circus yet. Because people. Italy, because people who hate fun have ruined the circus here, the greatest show on Earth, by making them get rid of all their animals.
Dumb people.
Also, there's an epidemic in this world of people videotaping themselves having interactions with large mammals. And don't even get me started.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: You're talking about, of course, like the stuff out in Yellowstone, right?
[00:10:37] Speaker B: Yeah. They'll go to Lake Yellowstone. Bison or, like, a bay.
[00:10:41] Speaker A: Don't you realize that a bison is an animal that's like, I don't know, 6000 pounds and runs 40 miles an hour? Like, it's faster than you and it's literally like 100 times your size.
[00:10:49] Speaker B: It could turn over your car. Even if you're in your car, you could ride it off the road.
[00:10:54] Speaker A: Yeah, it's got sharp horns and it's got sharp horns. What if you get gored?
[00:10:58] Speaker B: I mean, it's everything. It's not just bites like, these people, they see a big animal and they think, like, oh, it's a big animal. Like, let's go play with it, guys. What do you think is going to happen? The Internet is full of videos of you getting attacked by these things.
[00:11:09] Speaker A: Yeah, our family is a big hiking family. We really like to go hiking. And if we're out of state, especially, and we go somewhere where we know there's going to be potentially wildlife that we're not used to at. Like, we actually look up the protocol. Like, what do you do, for exaMple, if you go down to the Smoky Mountains, you see a black bear. Black bears, you're supposed to make lots of noise because they'll run away. They're scared. Grizzly bears, on the other hand, don't do that because they will attack you. So it's those types of things. Like, you got to look it up and know what you're dealing with before you go.
[00:11:43] Speaker B: I thought it was black bears. You make a lot of noise. Brown bears, you play dead, and grizzly bears just eat you regardless.
[00:11:49] Speaker A: Well, all grizzly bears are brown bears, but not all brown bears are grizzly bears.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: Right. But the grizzlies, they will eat you regardless.
[00:11:54] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, it doesn't really matter what you do. The only reason that you're getting away from a grizzly bear is because they let you.
[00:12:00] Speaker B: If you have, like, bear spray, like.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: They'Re not hungry at that point. That's how you get away.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: They just see you as in the dead adversaries.
[00:12:05] Speaker A: They're like, whatever, rabbit hole.
[00:12:07] Speaker C: Have you guys seen cocaine bear?
[00:12:09] Speaker B: I've been wanting to do so much.
[00:12:11] Speaker A: I do see the thing pop up on the fire sticker.
[00:12:14] Speaker B: I got to watch that.
[00:12:16] Speaker C: It's actually entertaining.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: Is it good?
[00:12:18] Speaker C: Somewhat entertaining, yes.
[00:12:19] Speaker B: It's on my list. It's on my list.
[00:12:21] Speaker A: Leave it to bone, man, to have watched cocaine bear.
[00:12:25] Speaker B: It's based on a true story, isn't it?
[00:12:27] Speaker A: Very loosely, very loosely based on a.
[00:12:30] Speaker B: True story because real bears can't snort coke.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: Well, I think they should make a movie loosely based on Kimba the lion roaming the streets of an Italian town after escaping with his bear claws. Well, his lion claws from the circus.
[00:12:47] Speaker B: I mean, the footage of this thing is absolutely phenomenal. If you haven't seen it, we'll throw a picture up here of our friend Kimba. But, I mean, not only would we be scared, but you got to think, like, that lion, that all he's ever known is circus life.
[00:12:59] Speaker A: He's like, what the fuck?
[00:12:59] Speaker B: All of a sudden, he's like, where am I?
[00:13:02] Speaker A: Where's my handler? I literally don't know what to do.
[00:13:04] Speaker B: He was probably so scared himself, I need a steak. And then he got put to sleep. Well, not like a dead. Dead.
[00:13:10] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:13:11] Speaker B: Anesthetic.
[00:13:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Please clarify before they let him go.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: Back to the circus. But they had to, you know, that.
[00:13:16] Speaker A: Means different things to different people.
[00:13:17] Speaker B: They had to put him down.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: Yeah. All right, so I guess we'll move on and get started with the game. That'll take us to the week ten recap.
Okay, so the Cleveland Browns went into Baltimore, dug themselves a hole, and then proceeded to claw their way out of it and slink away with a victory in a game that they didn't lead until the clock hit double zero. Boom. Yeah, you heard that right.
[00:13:45] Speaker B: Just like we all drew it up.
[00:13:46] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. The Browns won 33 to 31. And as always, we'll start with our opponents this week, the Baltimore Ravens. On offense, Lamar Jackson. 13 of 23 for 223 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, eight carries for 41 yards. And, I mean, he got off to kind of a hot start, but after that, they really did a good job holding him in check.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: Yeah, the first couple of drives were a little bit iffy, and he had.
[00:14:09] Speaker A: Moments throughout the game, but overall, they really held him in check.
[00:14:12] Speaker B: I mean, I would just say this about Lamar. Lamar is a special player.
[00:14:16] Speaker A: I'm a Lamar detractor. I have been since the very beginning. I'm like, all you got to do is shut down his legs and he can't do anything. I will say the steps that he's taken as a passer are unbelievable. Like, the dude literally just flicks his wrist and the ball goes 40 yards.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: And he does it.
[00:14:30] Speaker A: And it's so accurate, and he does.
[00:14:32] Speaker B: It on the run.
[00:14:32] Speaker A: Yeah, it's crazy.
[00:14:35] Speaker B: I think this stat line, honestly, it's a decent stat line, but honestly, this is shutting Lamar down as much as you can, because he's just a tremendous.
[00:14:45] Speaker A: Athlete, like you said, especially anytime you can hold him to, he has more turnover.
[00:14:51] Speaker B: Win the turnover battle. Yeah, that's the way to beat Lamar Jackson, because if you don't, he'll beat you.
But, yeah, he had special moments all through that game, but at the end of the day, the defense sacked up and did what they needed to do.
[00:15:05] Speaker A: Yeah. Next up here, Gus Edwards. Eleven carries for 24 yards and a touchdown. I mean, he did get the touchdown in the red zone, but overall, Gus Edwards didn't really do anything against us early on.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: He was moving the ball pretty well, and then he was pretty stifled later in the game. And interestingly enough, this team in general went away from the run. They did quite a bit in the second half, which was strange because that was the one thing that we were having trouble early on doing was stopping the running game with Lamar, too. So I was surprised to see that. But, hey, I think ultimately it worked out better for.
[00:15:38] Speaker A: Yep. And then Keaton Mitchell next, which is a name I hadn't really heard before, but yeah, he was lightning fast. Him and Zay Flowers both between those two. So much speed, it's insane.
[00:15:50] Speaker B: But they got the need for speed.
[00:15:53] Speaker A: They do. But Keaton Mitchell, three carries for 34 yards and a touchdown and one reception for 32 yards. And the weirdest thing about Keaton Mitchell in this game is basically all of his damage was done in, like, the first two or three series. And after that, they didn't go back to him. And I was like, what are they doing?
[00:16:07] Speaker B: Right?
[00:16:07] Speaker A: Like, he was just gashing the Browns defense.
[00:16:11] Speaker B: His dad was being too loud in the stands to quiet him down.
[00:16:14] Speaker A: They showed him and they were like, that's it. That's enough out of you.
But, yeah. Next up, Zay Flowers. Five receptions for 73 yards. He had a decent game, didn't get in the end zone, so that's good. Mark Andrews, the one that Kenny always points out, who likes to torch the Browns, only two receptions for 44 yards, but the two catches he had, you're like, oh, there he is.
[00:16:34] Speaker B: Well, the one was a 40 yard reception in the second half, and it was like just that whole momentum shift over and over and over again to where it felt like you were finally getting something done to, then all of a sudden you get a chunk play out of the Ravens and you're like, god damn. And that was one of those that was like you were starting to feel good, and then all of a sudden Mark Andrews gets ripped for 40. You're like, Jesus.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: Well, I think that's going to be a recurring theme as we talk about this game is the fact that in years past, the Browns, if stuff like this happened to them as the game was going on, that are seemingly momentum shifting plays like the 40 yard reception from Mark Andrews. I'll name a few more of them as the episode goes on, but there was quite a few times where you look at it and you're like, oh, gosh, this is where it turns and things start going really bad. And to their credit, the Browns never gave up in this one. And actually they carried themselves almost like they expected to win the game the.
[00:17:27] Speaker B: Entire time, which is not anything I've ever seen before.
[00:17:30] Speaker A: No, it was wild on my lifetime. And then on offense for the Ravens, though, to round everything out, our old friend Odell Beckham Jr. One reception for 40 yards and a touchdown and gave us the peace sign on the way into the end zone. But who ended up winning the game? Odell.
[00:17:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Suck it.
[00:17:47] Speaker A: Suck it, Odell. Suck it.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: Your back.
[00:17:50] Speaker A: The defense for the Ravens, four sacks, one turnover.
You know, an average day out of them, I would say, well, they're the.
[00:17:58] Speaker B: Second best defense in the NFL.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: They got a decent amount of sacks in this game. They are the second best defense in the NFL. So solid game there. I did want to say this, though. Roquan Smith is an absolute monster. He had 21 tackles in this game, 21 tackles in this game.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: Dude was everywhere.
[00:18:15] Speaker A: That's just wild.
And then special teams for the Ravens punt coverage. They did recover a muffed punt, which we'll talk about more on the Brown side. And then Justin Tucker was one of two field goals, and the field goal that he missed was blocked. So one good, one bad out of the Brown special teams, and then four for four extra points.
[00:18:34] Speaker B: How do you beat this Ravens team? Block a field goal, you win the turnover battle with Lamar, and you keep Justin Tucker from scoring.
[00:18:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:40] Speaker B: And that's what they did.
[00:18:41] Speaker A: Yes. So that'll take us to the Cleveland Browns. We'll start on offense here. Deshaun Watson, 20 to 34 for 213 yards, one touchdown, one interception, eight carries for 37 yards and a two point conversion. The dude was perfect in the second half, but I don't want to get too far into his stats right now because we're going to have a lot more to say about him in just a few minutes. So is there anything, just real quick, either of you want to say before we do the deeper dive later on?
[00:19:06] Speaker B: I'll hold my comments.
[00:19:08] Speaker A: Bone?
[00:19:09] Speaker C: Yeah, I'll wait.
[00:19:10] Speaker A: All right, so stay tuned for that. There'll be a deeper discussion on Deshaun Watson. Next up, the running backs. Jerome Ford, 17 carries for 107 yards, one reception for two yards. I'll say this about Jerome Ford. Last week. I kind of got on him a little bit because he has not looked great, in my opinion, all season long. You take away a couple of big runs, and he's basically averaging 2.3 yards of carry. He looked much better in this one. He was very patient. There was multiple times that I saw where instead of just running into the hole before it opened up, he sat there a second, let everything develop, and then got up in there and got extra yards, so it was great to see. And I don't know if maybe he's just been working a little bit harder sometimes, you guys know, obviously at a lower level, but sometimes things just start clicking for you eventually.
[00:20:00] Speaker B: He's a young player. He's learning as he's going. I think it helps a lot, probably having Kareem Hunt in the room, because Kareem is such a patient runner.
So I think that there's probably a lot of things that he can do to help point out things that are going to help him. But, yeah, I think he's. Look, he came in as this home run hitter, and we've seen that, which is good. We're starting to see more patience and more of a complete match. Yeah. Just more of intentional running, I would call it.
He's getting to know where he's supposed to go, where his blocks are, which side he needs to be on.
So those things are all the makings of a young running back that's getting better.
[00:20:41] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And you mentioned Kareem Hunt. Kareem Hunt had ten carries for 32 yards and another touchdown.
[00:20:47] Speaker B: Teddy.
Touchdown machine, baby.
[00:20:50] Speaker A: Yeah. Decent game for the running backs. And then wide receivers Amari Cooper continues to do Amari Cooper things. Six receptions for 98 yards. Seems like he's at or just above 100 every week. So, I mean, he's on pace for a pretty big.
[00:21:04] Speaker B: Well, the entire offense is screens except for when they throw to Amari.
[00:21:08] Speaker A: You think people would figure it out, but somehow we got it dialed up.
[00:21:11] Speaker B: The only time we throw the ball downfield is when it goes to.
[00:21:14] Speaker A: I've said this before, but I'll say it again now, is he must be the best route runner in the NFL because it's not like we randomly throw it to him downfield and he makes a circus catch and we get yards. He's wide open every time he catches the ball, like, nobody within five yards. I just don't understand it. And the only thing I could think is he has to be so good at running routes.
[00:21:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:21:36] Speaker A: Next up here, David and Joku. Six receptions for 58 yards. David and Joku looked like a beast in this one. I mean, he was just carrying defenders. There was multiple catches where guys kind of just literally hopped on his back for a ride, and he went another 510 yards afterwards.
[00:21:51] Speaker C: He looks bigger and bigger every week.
[00:21:53] Speaker A: He just towers over some of the.
[00:21:55] Speaker C: Yeah, exactly.
[00:21:56] Speaker A: It's insane.
[00:21:56] Speaker C: He just looks like a giant.
[00:21:57] Speaker B: The crazy thing is, David and Joker's been in the league for what, six years, and he's like 25.
Yeah.
[00:22:06] Speaker A: Do we need to check a birth certificate on this guy?
[00:22:08] Speaker B: I just think he's getting to the point now where he's in that upper echelon of guys like Travis Kelsey. Not quite there yet, but he's almost to that echelon of your. Greg Kittle, Travis Kelsey.
[00:22:22] Speaker A: I think he's right there with Greg Kittle at this point. The way that, I mean, he's got similar usage.
[00:22:26] Speaker B: Darren Waller, like some of these guys.
[00:22:27] Speaker A: That are, I think, the only one that he's not in the same league as is Travis Kelsey at this point. And I think the main reason for it, he's got every bit the athleticism that Travis Kelsey has and more.
The only difference is we don't get him the ball as much as Travis Kelsey gets the ball.
[00:22:44] Speaker B: Does Travis Kelsey get More than six and seven catches a game, though? It just feels like Travis Kelsey gets like 100 yards every game.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: Yeah, but he's always getting seven, eight, nine catches a game.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: And maybe there's a Mahomes thing and the chemistry that they've built together just.
[00:22:56] Speaker A: Because I'm sure it is. Yeah.
[00:22:57] Speaker B: So maybe we'll start to see Joker put up Gaudier numbers when he gets more comfortable with Deshaun. Deshaun plays more often, but even with where he's at right now, I think he's right there in that second tier of guys that are elite at the position.
[00:23:10] Speaker A: And I will say to this point, I think David Ajoku has shown everybody. He's gone above and beyond showing everybody why he got paid and why he became one of the better paid tight ends in the NFL.
[00:23:23] Speaker B: We've always known he had great athleticism, great size.
[00:23:27] Speaker A: His first couple of years, he had issues with drops.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: And then once he got that figured out and the game has slowed down for him, man. I mean, there's almost nobody more fun to watch in the open field right now than David and Joku without Chubb on the field. David and Joku is a close second.
[00:23:42] Speaker A: It's like, pick your poison, because he's either going to run you over, he's going to hurdle you, he's going to juke like he's going to do farm. He has it all, man, and it's awesome.
[00:23:50] Speaker B: He might too much. Don't pile drive you out there.
[00:23:53] Speaker A: And then finally, just to round out the receivers, Elijah Moore. Five receptions for 44 yards and a touchdown. So a good day out of the receiving core, and it feels like that's.
[00:24:04] Speaker B: More the role Elijah should play. He should be your guy that he kind of cleans up crossers on third down, honest touchdown. I mean, that's the role he was.
[00:24:14] Speaker A: He looked good in this one.
[00:24:15] Speaker B: And if he's getting five and six balls each week for 50 yards to 100 yards in a touchdown, he'll be happy, too.
[00:24:20] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
[00:24:21] Speaker B: I don't know why they tried to make him like jack of. They thought he was Cordero Patterson when they brought him in.
[00:24:25] Speaker A: Well, and it's like I told you, and we'll talk more about Stefanski and yes, you heard that right. I called him StefaNSKI. We'll talk more about him here shortly. But that was back in the Stefanic days a few weeks ago where he was like, we got to get this guy involved at all costs, even if it's detrimental to the game plan. And I just didn't understand it. No, but it felt way more natural in this game getting him involved. So over to the defensive side. We're not used to opposing teams scoring 31 points this year.
[00:24:54] Speaker B: I did say it was going to be high scoring affairs.
[00:24:56] Speaker A: You did. However, I will say this. Seven of those points were given up by the offense and seven were on the special teams with the muffed punt. So really they only gave up. What does that make us? 17 points -14 so 17 points.
[00:25:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:25:13] Speaker A: So that's pretty good against this Ravens offense.
And overall, another solid performance turned in by our defense.
And like we already talked about, they held Lamar Jackson in check almost all day, and that's a tall order and they seem to handle it just mean.
[00:25:32] Speaker B: Look, you can't say enough superlative things about this defense. This defense right now is when we talk about. I've never seen a Browns game like this and the way this team fought and clawed back, that defense has this team believing in them, that they can beat anyone and they can showing it right now. I mean, you take down a hot 49 ERs team early in the season, you're doing work, putting away teams that are not as good as you and making sure you're winning those games. And now you're beating other hot teams in the NFL that are in a first place in the division and are darlings to go to the playoffs. So this defense is outstanding.
[00:26:08] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. I mean, the defense was solid all the way around, and the defense, it kind of starts with Miles Garrett every single week. And so, as always, we'll start with Miles Garrett in the rundown here. Three tackles, one and a half sacks, and he brings his season total to eleven sacks through nine games now. So, I mean, he's on pace for that DPO y season that we've been waiting for.
[00:26:34] Speaker B: Yeah. And not only that, it's just a Hall of Fame career. I mean, they went through, this was the. How many years has he been in the league? It's like the 6th year in a row that he double digit sacks. Yeah. Starting with. Because he hit ten this week.
You can't say enough great things about Miles. He was my player to watch this week. I think that he is the heart and soul of that defense, whether he takes on a vocal leadership position or not. And I think you're actually seeing that more. I think you're seeing him get more involved with teammates on the sidelines. Now, I don't know that he's out there calling plays or anything, but I.
[00:27:03] Speaker A: Think he's, I don't think he's going to be the full vocal leader where he's going to hype the entire team up, but in spurts and in situations, to your point, I think you're seeing more of that. And I think it comes with the fact that he knows and understands that the defense is the heart and soul of this team right now.
[00:27:20] Speaker B: And he's making plays now, not just whenever he's making plays, when they count.
[00:27:25] Speaker A: Yeah. And I was going to say that in years past and even early on in this season, sometimes when the game was on the to not to pick on Miles Garrett. He's a phenomenal player, like you said, hall of Famer, but it seemed like when the game was on the line, he didn't always show up or he know, taking a couple plays off or whatever the case may be. And now it's like those are the times when you actually see, like, high Motor Miles Garrett and he's coming in full speed and really causing havoc in the backfield.
[00:27:53] Speaker B: And I know that this is only one and a half sacks and that's the stat line, but it doesn't tell you how many times he had hands on would.
[00:28:02] Speaker A: I think I counted at least six.
[00:28:04] Speaker B: I mean, Lamar is a tough guy to bring down because he's strong and he's.
[00:28:08] Speaker A: There'S no stat that shows that, because that doesn't even show up in necessarily hurries or QB hits because somebody else may have got credited with it. But I could count at least five or six times. He was the first, swiped him on.
[00:28:23] Speaker B: His way back and disrupted his motion where he was going.
I mean, his impact is Felt on nearly every play.
[00:28:30] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. And from Kenny's player to watch to Bones player to watch, J-O-K. He also had a half sack in this one and he was getting sidelined to sideline and making plays throughout as well. So good job on J-O-K. Zadarius Smith. He also had a half sack and he was everywhere, everywhere on that final possession for the Ravens. I mean, the announcers even made a comment when they finally had to punt it back to the Browns and they were like, there's former Ravens. Yeah. They're like, we've called his name on every play. This possession, so phenomenal out of him. Turned it on when it mattered the most. Mike Ford, one interception, filled in well for Denzel Ward after he went out and delivered a vicious, sick, nasty hit to Lamar on the sideline as Lamar was doing the old quarterback thing where he's like, I'm going to run out of bounds, but I'm also going to gain an extra three yards because nobody's going to hit me. And Mike Ford said, fuck you. You are.
[00:29:33] Speaker B: Who the hell is Mike Ford?
[00:29:35] Speaker A: This guy. This guy.
[00:29:36] Speaker B: I mean, I know I saw him play, but I'm like, I didn't even know this guy was rostered.
[00:29:41] Speaker A: Me neither. Did you see the hit in slow motion, though? And just his feet completely, like, up over his.
He went to put his other foot down after he got hit, like, thinking he was going to step on ground and he was just gone.
[00:29:54] Speaker B: No ground in the air, bro.
[00:29:55] Speaker A: No, right on the bank.
[00:29:57] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, for a guy that is a journeyman that has played on five or six different teams, to just show up and ball out like that when you're feeling it for a starter, I mean, he had a great game to.
[00:30:06] Speaker A: Me because that hit was first half, wasn't it? That was fairly early on. Yeah. So I think that was one of the things. I mean, there was a number of things you could point to, but I think that was one of the things that helped set the tone going into halftime. In the second half of the mean, their whole team, a couple of the guys from the Ravens, tried to come over and get into it with the Browns. And to the Browns credit, nobody took the bait. They all were just like, whatever.
Yeah, that's what you get if you don't go out of bounds.
And it was right on the Brown sideline to get the entire team fired up. It was awesome.
[00:30:42] Speaker B: There was one, I don't know if it was Van Noy coming back for retribution on who was it Cedric Tillman on a receiver, but it wasn't Cedric the second time, but whoever was the receiver just put his hands up. He got the unsportsman like Cedric Tillman.
[00:31:00] Speaker A: It was right after that play. We'll talk about that play here in just a second.
[00:31:03] Speaker B: They did a good job of being restrained here in that game.
[00:31:05] Speaker C: How many years have we been watching the Browns just get beat up by Pittsburgh and the freaking Ravens? You know what I mean? And they turned the tables on them this week. They were the aggressors. They were making those.
[00:31:16] Speaker A: And to was the Ravens were fired up. They were pissed that they weren't getting the calls that they thought they should get and whatever else. And I think the game was a little too physical for the Ravens.
[00:31:27] Speaker B: They were like, physical them in that game.
[00:31:30] Speaker A: Yeah. And you don't do that to the Ravens very often. As much as we hate the Ravens, I mean, they're traditionally probably the most physical team in the NFL, the second.
[00:31:38] Speaker B: Best defense in the NFL.
[00:31:40] Speaker A: That was great to watch. Let's round out the defense here real quick. Greg Newsom, half sack. Andy had the pick six with about eight minutes left in the game that should have tied it. D Hop tried to screw us there, but ultimately brought us within one.
[00:31:54] Speaker B: I mean, just to go from the elation of the pick six and you're like, oh, my, this team is going to do this again. This is incredible. To D hop just shanking an extra point.
[00:32:06] Speaker A: You're like, boy, and we'll talk about him in just a second.
[00:32:09] Speaker B: But your boy, are you kidding me? This is how we're going to lose?
[00:32:12] Speaker A: Well, to what I said earlier, that was another moment where you're like, oh, yeah, there they are. There they are. That's the Browns that we know. And to the Browns credit, even from that point forward, still kept fighting like they showed Greg NewsoM on the sideline after the missed extra point, and none of the defense, nobody's expression changed. Nobody was like, oh, a bunch of.
[00:32:34] Speaker B: The defensive players went back up to dhop after that and were like, we're going to get you another shot.
[00:32:37] Speaker A: Nobody was like, they were just like, yeah, we're fine. We're going to win. It's fine.
[00:32:41] Speaker B: He's like, you're going to get another one. Don't worry about it.
[00:32:43] Speaker A: Yeah. So that was awesome to see. And I will say I liked their celebration on the pick six with the fancy walk down like the runway that they.
[00:32:51] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:32:51] Speaker A: Yeah, that was good.
[00:32:52] Speaker B: That's one of the best things the NFL has done in recent years, allowing celebrations again because you could be so creative again. And it was always ridiculous to get penalties for celebrating a touchdown.
[00:33:03] Speaker A: You're in the NFL, it's the best.
[00:33:04] Speaker B: Part of the game.
[00:33:05] Speaker A: That's what you do for a living. You should celebrate when you, and especially.
[00:33:08] Speaker B: When it's defensive guys, because they do it so infrequently that it's like, it's a big deal. Kareem Hunt's going to touch on a week out here. He don't care. But when you have your first one and it's the only one you're going to have all year, I mean, Jesus, you're wild.
[00:33:21] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly.
So that'll wrap it for the defense. We'll move on to special teams. And your boy Bone, Dustin Hopkins, he missed a fuel goal last week. Missed an extra point this week. What the fuck's going on?
[00:33:33] Speaker C: Yeah, I think this was probably his first miss that mattered, right? Because he hasn't missed much, and he's always clutch in every situation.
[00:33:40] Speaker A: Give him the benefit of the doubt. Last week we said he hasn't missed one when it mattered well, he showed.
[00:33:44] Speaker C: Us he handled it well and the rest of the team did, too. I think they were so on another level yesterday where, like we said, they knew what the heck they were doing.
[00:33:53] Speaker A: And just when he misses an extra point and I think to myself, we can't cut this guy fast enough, he goes and hits a game winner.
[00:34:01] Speaker C: You didn't think that?
[00:34:02] Speaker A: I did just for a split second. But he goes and hits a game winner as time expires and totally redeems himself.
No. He was four for four field goals, including a 40 yard game winning field goal, as we mentioned, as time expired, and one for two extra points. And in an interview today, did you catch any of these bone?
[00:34:23] Speaker C: I heard this quote.
[00:34:24] Speaker A: It might have been after the game or today, but in the interview when they were talking with Dustin Hopkins, he said, you know, I feel a little bit like an arsonist that put out his own fire and then got a pat on the back. So you kind of like to see that energy from the kicker. Like, he understands he made a mistake, but he kind of relished the opportunity to come back and make it right.
[00:34:43] Speaker C: I think he was still upset about not getting a chance to kick that 60 yarder. They parade him on the field and he's like, all right, here's my time. And then Kevin just whips him off the field and says, nope.
[00:34:52] Speaker B: Yeah, we're whatever.
[00:34:55] Speaker C: Did they punt or they go for it? I forget what.
[00:34:59] Speaker B: The more I thought about that play, because at first I thought the same thing and I was disappointed.
[00:35:04] Speaker A: But what happens if they come up short and they return it for a touchdown.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: Well, that's what I was thinking was like, kick six was still fresh in my mind.
[00:35:11] Speaker A: Well, and Dustin Hopkins, no offense to Dustin Hopkins, but he's not known for having the biggest leg in the.
[00:35:16] Speaker B: But it would have been dope to.
[00:35:17] Speaker A: See him dunk it from 60, especially against Justin Tucker.
[00:35:20] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. No, but I just think when it came down to it, Stefanski was like, do we want to take the chance on this?
[00:35:27] Speaker A: I think it was the right call in the end. As much as I hate to say that, because I, like, know at least attempt points when you have the ability to attempt points, I think it was the right call in the end. And a Hail Mary almost never is going to get returned for anything because everybody's just trying to knock the ball.
[00:35:41] Speaker D: Right?
[00:35:41] Speaker B: Right. I'll say this, too, about Dustin Hopkins. I think maybe he missed that first field goal because he was so. Just fucking jazzed up about what the direction the team was going, then the momentum shift. He's like, fuck.
PulLed it left.
[00:35:54] Speaker A: He's just so turned up. Yeah. And I will say not to Dustin Hopkins. His quote, not to be outdone by David and Joku. David and Joku said when he was asked about the game winning field goal and what Dustin Hopkins means to the team, he said, and I quote, that fucker's got ice in his veins, man.
[00:36:13] Speaker B: He does. And I'll tell you this, I don't know. I didn't get to see a lot of the post game stuff when this game ended yesterday because I was watching it on the app through my phone and my new sleep number bed.
Beautiful.
[00:36:24] Speaker A: We like that. The one that you shopped for forever.
[00:36:27] Speaker B: Becky with a good air call her over the Sleep North Store.
The camera panned to him right at the end of the game when they threw the flag. And then they picked up the flag, the camera pans to him and everybody's going nuts and the camera is right on his face and he's like, yeah, let's go.
[00:36:47] Speaker A: As much as he got out of.
[00:36:48] Speaker B: Death, it was like the most understated celebration for a guy that just won the most ridiculous game in recent Brown's memory.
[00:36:54] Speaker A: Super duper, guys. Super duper.
[00:36:57] Speaker B: I was like, come on, dude.
[00:36:59] Speaker A: Yeah, no. So bone, Bone. Where is the bone meter right now?
[00:37:06] Speaker C: Regardless of the miss, he kicked the field goal and probably the biggest game since 99 for the Browns. That was insane.
[00:37:15] Speaker A: Yeah. Kenny mentioned it.
[00:37:17] Speaker C: Turning the tides of AFC north right now and we're right in the middle.
[00:37:20] Speaker A: I've never witnessed something like that from the Browns. In my entire existence watching the Cleveland Browns, I've never seen something like that.
[00:37:27] Speaker C: And these kickers, for some reason, miss these extra points.
[00:37:31] Speaker B: Every kicker does.
[00:37:32] Speaker A: We have to acknowledge that they're further back. Now. It's not like it's just a chip shot, like where you barely kick it and it goes in.
[00:37:38] Speaker B: Yeah. Phil Dawson was 99% for his career because they were two yards away from the goal line.
[00:37:43] Speaker A: So we'll give him that. We'll give him the benefit of the doubt. And most kickers, honestly, if you watch them through the whole season, most kickers will miss at least one throughout the season.
[00:37:50] Speaker B: Now, these miss a couple. YeaH, because it is just a longer.
[00:37:52] Speaker A: Field, but with that being said, bone meter, where's it that it's high, almost.
[00:37:57] Speaker C: Hitting me in the face.
[00:38:00] Speaker A: You used the waistband trick and it worked to your detriment.
Unbelievable.
[00:38:05] Speaker B: A full mask, but yeah.
[00:38:06] Speaker A: So let's move on to coaching here. Stefanski. That's right, Stefanski. If you follow the show, you know, we call him Stefanik most of the time due to his, we'll call it questionable play calling.
[00:38:18] Speaker B: He's not worthy of his own name.
[00:38:19] Speaker A: Yeah. So we critiqued this guy week in and week out. Last week after the Cardinals game, we gave him his name back. And even then, we questioned, we said, how long will this last? How long will he be able to keep his name? Well, he definitely earned it again this week after the awful start to the game. Down multiple offensive linemen, down your top corner back early in this one, down your starting free safety down the stretch. With multiple things happening throughout the game that had me thinking that the nail had been put in the coffin. We've talked about a few of them, but we had the muffed punt, we had the Deshaun Watson fumble on the final drive, which luckily was recovered by an offensive lineman. I think it was teller, if I'm not mistaken. We had a missed extra point. And there's probably a few more that I'm not even mentioning here. You mentioned a couple of Mark Andrews catches.
[00:39:01] Speaker B: How about the OBJ 40 yard touchdown?
[00:39:04] Speaker A: All kinds of things.
Somehow Kevin Stefanski managed to help will this team to a victory.
And so you heard it here, we're giving the man some serious credit this week because that was a hell of a game. And I know you mentioned it, and you texted me during the game, you said, this might be Kevin Stefanski's signature win.
[00:39:26] Speaker B: It almost has to be, right? I mean, the 49 Ers game was big earlier in the year. And obviously they went to the playoffs once with Kevin before, but that was the COVID year. There was so many weird things.
[00:39:34] Speaker A: He sat at home during the.
[00:39:35] Speaker B: He didn't even go to the playoff game. So there was so much strangeness around this where this was totally different and this team was in it at every moment.
And, man, I mean, we hear him again. We talk about adversity a lot. You hear him talk about, hey, we had to go through the trials and tribulations and all the tough stuff. Setbacks paved the way for comebacks or whatever. He says he's got a lot of.
[00:39:57] Speaker A: Those one liners that coaches seem to have.
[00:39:59] Speaker B: This was the first time that, I mean, there was adversity on every play, and it had to be in every. Even down that final field goal. You're going, Dustin Hopkins is money from this distance, right? It's 40 yards. Well, it's basically the same distance. He just missed it as extra point. So even that, I was like, oh, my God, this dude has to be, like, shitting down his pants.
[00:40:16] Speaker A: Is that what you spelled at the top of the show? I was trying to follow along. Did you spell adversity?
[00:40:19] Speaker B: I did spell adversity.
[00:40:20] Speaker A: Nice. Good job. I thought I caught it, but I'm a little slow.
[00:40:23] Speaker B: Hopefully I spelled it right.
[00:40:25] Speaker A: Keep going. Sorry, Kevin. Stefanski.
[00:40:27] Speaker B: Yes. Stefanski. Look, I just think we have given this guy a lot of shit and a lot of it has been warranted, but this team is six and three right now. And look, they just beat the number one team in the division. So for the first time, who was.
[00:40:42] Speaker A: Tied for the best record in the entire league.
[00:40:45] Speaker B: Yeah. For the first time in a long time, this feels like a team that might not just sneak into the playoffs.
[00:40:50] Speaker A: We might be firmly in, like you.
[00:40:52] Speaker B: You'll be firmly in after the game.
[00:40:56] Speaker A: This week against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The rest of our schedule is basically cake.
[00:41:00] Speaker B: I mean, we don't want to call it cake. Right.
[00:41:02] Speaker A: I'm just talking record wise, like, strength of schedule wise, should win most of those games.
[00:41:07] Speaker B: Yeah, well, you're going to get some let up, right? You're not going to have the teams that have won as many games. You're right.
[00:41:13] Speaker A: So I'm by no means one of the fans that's going to sit here and say we're going to win every game the rest of the season. I'm just saying on paper and going into those games, we are the better team in basically every single game. The rest of just.
[00:41:26] Speaker B: I've been burned by the jets and the Steelers too many times in the last two years.
[00:41:30] Speaker A: We still got the Jets.
[00:41:32] Speaker B: I can't just be like, this is an easy game. This team is trash.
[00:41:34] Speaker A: We've still got the Jets. That's the last game in the whiteouts.
[00:41:37] Speaker B: But anyway, at this point now at six and three, you almost have to be thinking about Kevin Stefanski as a coach of the year candidate.
[00:41:46] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:41:46] Speaker B: And so it's hard for me to call him trash out here.
[00:41:48] Speaker A: The only other one that really is, in my opinion, putting up a huge fight for him is the coach we play against this week and Mike Tomlin.
[00:41:55] Speaker B: Because Mike Tomlin, I think Demiko Ryan is going to get looks at.
Yeah, I mean, he's in the conversation with those guys, right? I mean, this is a team that lost your best weapon in week two of the season.
Your quarterback has missed half the season.
You're winning games with the XFLRs out there and you're beating top tier teams each week in and out.
[00:42:16] Speaker A: See, listeners like, we don't always go against Stefanski. I mean, if he does good things, he can earn our respect back. We're like you guys. We recognize when a coach is coaching poorly. We also recognize when a coach is doing things right. So you got to be able to see both sides.
[00:42:32] Speaker B: And if he loses every game for the rest of the season, fire his ass.
[00:42:35] Speaker A: Yeah, but right now I like what I'm seeing.
[00:42:38] Speaker C: Do you think he didn't call a reverse because he just knew how fast the Ravens defense was?
[00:42:44] Speaker A: I think it's a little bit of.
[00:42:45] Speaker B: I would hope that that was why.
[00:42:47] Speaker A: Yeah, I think it's a little bit of that and the other half of it is obviously he listens to burning River Sportscast and he gets sick of us making fun of him.
[00:42:53] Speaker C: Agreed.
[00:42:53] Speaker A: For calling a reverse every single week. So he was like, I should probably go one week, which I think that.
[00:42:58] Speaker C: You guys alluded to it earlier. I think that played heavily on Elijah Moore looking better this week.
[00:43:03] Speaker A: I agree.
[00:43:03] Speaker C: He wasn't running back.
[00:43:04] Speaker A: Have a rush for negative 20 yards.
[00:43:06] Speaker B: I will say this offense, it's strange to me because we heard all offseason that this was going to be like the greatest show on turf. It's strange to say something you've never seen before where when really it's just like this whole offense is predicated on plays that take forever to develop and Deshaun's just back there making guys miss and waiting for a screen to pop open. It's like they call two plays in the huddle. It's here's your normal pass play. Oh, and by the way, when this play is over and is run his course, we're going to leak out a tight end and you're going to throw it to that like Deshaun. Your goal is to hold the ball for at least eight and a half seconds. It's the only offense in the NFL that works that way.
[00:43:40] Speaker A: Yeah, it is strange, but like we said, I'm not going to knock him. We're winning games.
[00:43:46] Speaker B: My question is just like, is that sustainable? Because I don't know so much of that.
[00:43:49] Speaker A: All we're going to find out.
[00:43:50] Speaker B: It just takes so long to develop that it's working, I guess. But how long before other teams start to catch on? Hey, they're hiding someone somewhere that's just going to pop out and fuck you.
[00:44:04] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, the answer for me that you're going to get is I don't know how long we can sustain it, but it's working right now, so I'm not going to knock it.
[00:44:12] Speaker B: So we accept it?
[00:44:13] Speaker A: Yeah, I accept it. Agreed. So we'll move on to Jim Schwartz here. In order to get that complete team win, the defense needed to hold up their end of the bargain against an Uber athletic offense, which we haven't really seen very many of this season.
And they absolutely did that. They got stops when they needed to. They forced a couple of turnovers, got a touchdown of their own to make up for some of the mistakes from the other two units. And despite not giving up some of the points out of the Ravens, the offense gave up some points. The special teams gave up some points. Despite that, they kept their heads down, they kept working, and they did just enough to allow our offense to come back and win it at the end there.
[00:44:51] Speaker B: Yeah, there is an unequivocal belief in this defense across this whole team, that this defense, no matter how bad things get, this defense can bail you out. And in years past, I think we've said, okay, we've got good defense. And I think those defenses would get frustrated because they kept losing games. Well, right now you're winning games, so everybody's happy.
[00:45:10] Speaker A: Well, what was the score there in the fourth quarter? At one point, I know we were.
[00:45:14] Speaker B: Down well with nine minutes left. You were down 14. You were down 14 at 15 points.
[00:45:17] Speaker A: Like, at that point, I know what you're saying. They all have this belief in the defense that no matter what, the defense is going to keep in it and can win games. That's the point where I was like, our defense can only do so much.
[00:45:29] Speaker B: But when the defense realized that we couldn't score points on offense, they were like, well, pocket, we'll return one for six.
[00:45:34] Speaker A: Here's some points for you. Go, yeah, no, to your point. They've swung me to this point. I'm like, okay, well, I guess no lead is big enough for the other team because not only is our defense that damn good, but our defense is going to score points for us, too.
[00:45:49] Speaker B: I mean, that ball that he threw, that Newsom caught, it was just a bailout. He was being attacked in the backfield.
[00:45:57] Speaker A: But our dude got his big face.
[00:45:59] Speaker B: Up by multiple guys, and he said, I'm just going to chuck this down there because I got a one on one. And that ball was so underthrown because he was being chased all around that it fell ten yards short of the receiver right in Newsom's hands. So Newsom looked up solid.
[00:46:11] Speaker A: It was deflected. It was straight off the helmet of the defender, Okoranqua. He jumped up and it hit him in the top of the helmet.
Regardless, straight up in the air.
[00:46:20] Speaker B: It's just that front is so exhausting when they can play it and rotate guys in and out, and there's always guys in the backfield that it makes them make poor decisions otherwise, that they wouldn't otherwise make.
[00:46:33] Speaker A: Also, how about this announcer group? They were awful. Am I the only one that thinks that?
[00:46:37] Speaker B: Who was on it?
[00:46:39] Speaker C: Was it Jonathan Vilma?
[00:46:40] Speaker A: Jonathan Vilma. They were awful, though. Did you hear the call on the pick six? Like, they'rE like, oh, it's in the air. Newsome comes up with it. And touchdown.
Vilma's response, like he's the color commentator. And Vilma's response. Wow.
[00:47:00] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:47:01] Speaker A: Like, just like that. I was like. That was the call.
[00:47:04] Speaker C: He was letting fan.
[00:47:05] Speaker B: Yeah, he was letting it breathe.
[00:47:07] Speaker A: Yeah, but I don't know. Anyways, another great game for Jim Schwartz. Defense.
Jim Schwartz. Jim Schwartz. Get some.
[00:47:14] Speaker B: God, again. I just want to get some.
[00:47:15] Speaker A: They're on the shop.
[00:47:16] Speaker B: Get in the time machine with me and go back one year from today. Just one year.
[00:47:20] Speaker A: It's like night and day.
[00:47:21] Speaker B: It's just so different having him on the sidelines.
[00:47:24] Speaker C: I forget the series, but I think it was after the muff punt, and they were in the red zone, right? And we got a pass interference call after stopping them, like four plays in a row or three plays in a row. And we repeat. It was almost like the defense was like, all right, let's do it again. And then they stopped them again.
[00:47:40] Speaker B: They got a pick.
[00:47:42] Speaker C: Then we got another pass interference call.
[00:47:44] Speaker A: And the actual muffed punt drive. Like, it took them forever to score. They only had to go like, I don't know, what was it, like twelve yards or something like that.
[00:47:56] Speaker C: They don't get disheartened and they just continue to just look at it as, okay, this is another opportunity for us to ball out and just freaking show everybody how good we are.
[00:48:04] Speaker A: And they do it.
[00:48:05] Speaker B: And they do it. Cindy Lauper I like it.
[00:48:09] Speaker A: Every once in a while they make a mistake, but they come back and they make up for it in a big way. But yeah. Bubba Ventrone, special teams here. Special teams did have a couple issues. Proceed. Muffed that punt that led to a touchdown and dhop missed an extra point. So let's tighten this shit up. Bubba, you got to feel bad if you're a pro.
[00:48:28] Speaker B: She right. You're watching this team fight and claw and you're coming off a good week before and you're like, I'm just going to catch his ball, bro. And then he put it on the.
[00:48:37] Speaker A: I will say this to Prosher's credit and to the coaching staff's credit, they marched him right back out the next series and they're like, you're catching another punt. And he did just fine.
[00:48:45] Speaker B: Get up, boy.
[00:48:46] Speaker A: And I think that's just kind of the name of the game for the Browns this year. And that's why they're such a different team than they always have been, is it's not like Proche muffed his punt and there's excuse after excuse and we're wondering what the hell's going on and we try a different punt returner next time or whatever. It was just kind of like, people make mistakes, go back there and do it again. And that's what they do. And like Bone just said, that's what the defense does every single week.
[00:49:09] Speaker B: And I just think the defense is just such a different attitude and it all starts and ends. Jim shorts.
[00:49:14] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:49:16] Speaker B: It's phenomenal to watch week in and week out.
[00:49:18] Speaker A: Yeah. So real quick. Overall, for the teams total yards, Cleveland 373, Baltimore 306 1st Downs, Cleveland 24, Baltimore 17. Time of possession? Cleveland 30 415, Baltimore 25 45. Penalties, Cleveland ten for 55. That ten number is not good, but not a lot of yardage. Baltimore seven for 64. And turnovers, Cleveland two, Baltimore two. So, pretty evenly matched, as you would assume from the score.
But yeah. So a couple of things I wanted to mention here from this game, Cedric Tillman sighting and in a big way block on Kyle Van Noy was sick.
[00:49:57] Speaker B: Nasty this set the tone for the entire game.
[00:50:00] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
In case anybody didn't see it, Van Noy wanted the crackback block to be called, but in my opinion, he had turned and was fully squared to Tillman before Tillman actually made contact.
[00:50:13] Speaker B: Not to mention, crackback blocks is part of the game, bro. I don't even know why we're making penalties out of shit that shouldn't be penalty.
[00:50:18] Speaker A: I don't know. Those were my favorite blocks to throw when I was a receiver.
[00:50:21] Speaker C: It was legal in high school.
[00:50:23] Speaker A: We almost decapitated people on a nightly basis when we played in high.
[00:50:30] Speaker B: Assumed risk.
[00:50:31] Speaker A: Yeah, we would end people.
[00:50:32] Speaker B: But anyway, Cedric Tillman just about ended Kyle. He did.
[00:50:35] Speaker A: No idea who was the best part about it was Kyle Van Noy was so mad, he got up and got in Cedric Tillman's face, like you were talking about earlier. He headbutted him, and Cedric Tillman just threw his hands up. He's like, bro, I'm just playing football. And they got Van Noy for the unsportsman like, or whatever they called on him. So Cedric Tillman, I will say, also drew a key pass interference call late in the game that set up Deshaun Watson's final touchdown. So that was huge. Little things like this, that's how you work your way onto the field and you stay on the field, is when you're making hustle plays like that.
[00:51:06] Speaker B: I mean, after you took Kyle Vinoy's lunch, I was just like, throw him the ball every time.
[00:51:09] Speaker A: Yeah, give him the ball. Give him the ball. And then also here, Denzel Ward was hurt. Originally thought it was a concussion, but he did clear concussion protocol, which is a big deal because of his history with concussions. However, he was ruled out due to neck injury the rest of the way. Hopefully he'll be fine.
[00:51:24] Speaker B: I don't know who hit him, but that was a dirty play.
[00:51:27] Speaker C: And I think it was Stanley, one of their O linemen.
[00:51:30] Speaker A: Hopefully he's getting big, dude. Hopefully he's getting fined.
[00:51:33] Speaker B: I thought that was. It looked clearly like that was retribution for the Cedric Tillman block.
[00:51:38] Speaker A: Just torpedoed him, like, at the end of a play. Yeah.
[00:51:41] Speaker B: Unnecessary. And it was a shame, because Denzel was having a really good game start to that game, so it was terrible for him to have to come out, but Greg Dusom filled in for him just so.
[00:51:50] Speaker C: Yeah, it was a complete shot to Denzel's head. Who was. I don't know. He's a defender, so I don't know if you can call him defenseless, but he wasn't looking at, oh, yeah, and the dude was on the ground.
The guy he was trying to block Denzel off of was on the ground.
[00:52:05] Speaker B: I mean, he just came in and, like, sideswiped him with his head. That was not good.
[00:52:09] Speaker A: Not good. And then real quick, a shout out to James Hudson and the guy that played, left tackle, Jaron Christian. Dude, hell of a job from both of them filling in. And I will say they picked on James Hudson all night. And he did make some mistakes, but he just kept coming back. And it was the name of the game like we've been talking about this whole time. He just kept coming back. He's like, I messed up, but, hey, I'm still here.
[00:52:31] Speaker B: He had that offsides penalty and just went right back to it and didn't let it affect him mentally. And he was still in the mean. Kudos to those guys because they played their asses off, and neither one of them really probably is a starter in the. So no good on them.
[00:52:49] Speaker A: Yeah. And then, so, finally, for notes from this Watson, Deshaun Watson injured his ankle in this game and seemed to re aggravate that injury multiple times throughout the game.
[00:53:01] Speaker B: This feels like a part of the injury report that I'm doing later.
[00:53:03] Speaker A: Yeah, I just wanted to make a note of it because he did leave Baltimore in a walking boot. However, he and the team both said that was just precautionary. And Deshaun Watson himself, which I don't want to get into this whole thing, but he said that he'll be fine for Sunday versus the Steelers.
[00:53:19] Speaker B: Do you believe anything about Deshaun Watson?
[00:53:21] Speaker A: Well, he did end up having an MRI today, and I think, again, it was just precaution, did end up having an MRI today, Monday of this week. So take that. For what?
[00:53:31] Speaker B: I'll tell you this, if Deshaun Watson is out for the rest of the year and PJ Walker comes in and they keep winning games, then Kevin Zavansky better damn well coach.
[00:53:41] Speaker A: Absolutely. But at this point, we're just going to assume that we're going to take Deshaun Watson at his word and say that he is going to be playing versus the Steelers. And so it's a perfect segue that'll take us to the Burning River. Sportscast Dog of the Week.
[00:54:00] Speaker D: Doesn't matter, man. You got to play tough, people in the National Football League. You got to be ready, and we got to be the dogs that we are every time we step on there on Sunday and be ready to attack and don't stop until we're in that locker room.
[00:54:24] Speaker A: Okay, so that'll take us, like I said. Oh, we're already here. Burning River Sportscast Dog of the Week this week's Burning River Sportscast Dog of the Week is Deshaun Watson. 20 of 34 for 213 yards, one touchdown, one interception, eight carries for 37 yards in the two point conversion. And he was perfect in the second half, going 14 of 14 for 139 yards, one touchdown, one game winning drive and one victory, all while playing on an injured ankle that he hurt early in the game. So I will say this to his credit, as has been a theme again throughout the entire show this week, just like the rest of the Browns team, he threw that pick six on the opening possession, first or second play from scrimmage, I think it was, and he didn't really let it get to him. He just kept playing his game and even starting one of ten or whatever he was just kept playing his game. And he finished from that one of ten point. I think he was something stupid, like 19 of 24 or something like that. Or 19 of 23 or whatever.
[00:55:24] Speaker B: Well, he finished 20 of 34.
[00:55:26] Speaker A: Yeah, do the math.
[00:55:27] Speaker B: And at one point, yeah, he was one of eleven or one of ten.
So, yeah, not a great start for Deshaun yesterday at all. Struggled early on, but like you said, he just kept fighting, fighting his way through it, and he played very well.
[00:55:42] Speaker A: When we needed him.
[00:55:43] Speaker B: I think it was almost a perfect game at the perfect time for Deshaun because there's been so much talk and he has such a poor first half, but to then come out in the second half and go 14 to 14, lead a game winning drive and remind not only everybody watching, but remind himself.
[00:56:00] Speaker A: That he can play at that level.
[00:56:04] Speaker B: Because I have to say, this is the one thing I keep talking about is like, where is his mental state? Because it hasn't been in the right place for most of the time he's been in Cleveland. A game like this can start to right size that well, in this game.
[00:56:16] Speaker A: He looked very mentally strong.
[00:56:18] Speaker B: Yeah, he looked really good, especially in the second half.
And I just think he did a good job of also knowing when to jailbreak and make plays with his feet. He made a couple of really critical conversions on third down, or at least to get you close enough that you could have a push, sneak, some kind of easy fourth down conversion.
He put this team in position to win the game, and that's what you want your quarterback to, you know, when you think about it holistically, now you have the half against Washington, the game against Tennessee, and this half against. So, like, is that enough to say, like, Deshaun Watson is going to be good ever again? I don't know, but right now they're six and three and let's ride it.
[00:57:03] Speaker A: He's finally starting to stack time that.
[00:57:07] Speaker B: He'S playing well and his record is not bad.
[00:57:10] Speaker A: No, his record, this record is what, five and one when he's starting this season? I think it's five and one.
[00:57:16] Speaker B: I don't know. He's played that many games. I think he's only like four.
[00:57:19] Speaker A: I think it's five one. We're at nine games. He missed three. Yeah, I think it's five and one either way.
[00:57:25] Speaker B: But he was like four and three.
[00:57:27] Speaker A: Either four and five or five and one of the.
[00:57:29] Speaker C: All three of our quarterbacks have lost a game. We only have three losses, right?
[00:57:32] Speaker A: Yeah, there you go.
[00:57:33] Speaker C: I believe.
[00:57:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:57:34] Speaker B: And he was three of four of two last year, I think, when he came in. So he's winning games, he's doing what he's supposed to do. By all accounts, no other transgressions have happened. So at this point, you just hope that this guy can stay healthy because I think that's the other big concern is he was beat up quite a bit by a very physical team on Sunday, but he gritted out during the game. But those things tend to hurt more as the week goes on because you don't have the adrenaline running or the good drugs. Or the good drugs. Yeah, Becky and the good hair and her good drugs and so, yeah, I just hope that we get this contingency to Sean Week after week. This is a big thing.
[00:58:13] Speaker A: Bone, thoughts on our quarterback in this one?
[00:58:15] Speaker C: Yeah, I think gritty is a good word. He just kept coming. His pocket awareness and just getting out, making plays, looking downfield, looking defenders off.
I thought he was accurate at least in the second half.
Yeah, that play on Elijah Moore for the touchdown I just thought was awesome. Just his awareness of where the line of scrimmage was and just making it happen with his feet.
[00:58:38] Speaker A: Yeah. That play that you're talking about, too, was insane because watching it, it was like he was running and even the announcers are like, oh, Deshaun Watson is going to take off for the end zone. And he just stopped on a dime and found Elijah Moore right there, right at the line of was.
[00:58:54] Speaker B: It was impressive because a lot of the time in those scenarios, you end up being questionably over the line and he was not.
[00:59:00] Speaker A: Nope. He was behind the line.
[00:59:02] Speaker B: They didn't even go back to the.
[00:59:03] Speaker A: They were like, yep, he's behind the line.
[00:59:04] Speaker B: He was full speed ahead and just.
[00:59:07] Speaker A: Stopped on a, and tossed it. He's like, here you go.
[00:59:09] Speaker B: I was like, what the.
[00:59:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
So, yeah, this week's, once again, this week's burning River Sportscast dog of the Week is Deshaun Watson, and that'll lead us to the division roundup.
All right, so this week in the division roundup, Pittsburgh beat the packers this week, and everybody got that one right. We all picked Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers because Jordan loving the Packers. They got problems. They got real problems. And even though I don't think Pittsburgh is as good as their record says, they're better than the Packers. So we all picked that one, right? The Bengals lost to the Texans, and this is where things start getting good because I was the only one to pick the Texans. And yes, CJ Stroud, although he had a couple of errors late in this game, he threw for like 395 yards or whatever it was or something stupid. 355, 360 kids for not something like that. He was unreal. Again.
And he wins his homecoming game as obviously he played at Ohio State just a little bit north of the Bengals Stadium there. But I was right. Both of you clowns were wrong. How's that feel?
[01:00:25] Speaker C: Terrible.
[01:00:26] Speaker A: Yeah, I bet it does.
[01:00:28] Speaker B: The Bengals scored first in that game. And I was like, yeah, it's going to be route. Suck it, Ronnie.
[01:00:34] Speaker A: Who's sucking who now?
[01:00:35] Speaker B: All of a sudden, the game break came on, and they were like, Houston's up 21 seven. I was like, what? Are you kidding me? I hate you all.
[01:00:43] Speaker A: They weren't kidding yoU. And then finally, obviously, Cleveland goes into Baltimore and beats the division leading Ravens. Kenny almost called the exact score on this. I will give you credit. You almost called the exact score. You said it was going to be 33 30, I think is what you called, but you called it for the wrong team. You did say it would come down to a last second field goal, as did I.
But again, you called it for the wrong team. So you got everything right but the pick.
[01:01:06] Speaker B: You did pressure me into that one.
[01:01:09] Speaker A: I don't care who did what. You still picked them.
[01:01:11] Speaker B: You peer pressured me.
[01:01:12] Speaker A: You picked the Ravens. And so Bone man and myself both got this one right, and Kenny was the lone man to get it wrong. How's it feel?
[01:01:22] Speaker B: Look, if I could describe how I feel, you guys would probably go home and kill.
[01:01:28] Speaker A: That bad, huh? Wow. Incredible. And so for the AFC north, things are even closer now than they were last week. You didn't think it was possible, but here we are the standings stand. The standings are as follows. Baltimore still leads the division at seven and three and then Pittsburgh and Cleveland, in that order due to tiebreakers, are at six and three each and tied for second. And Cincinnati is in last place at five and four. And Pittsburgh and Cleveland obviously play each other this week and this is going to be a really big one. And in case anyone doesn't know, Baltimore also plays Cincinnati. So there's a chance that the Browns could be in sole possession of first place of the AFC north after this week.
And then for King of the north, which we'll talk more about later, but updated records. I am at 17 and 14 after going three and O this week. Kenny's at 13 and 18 feels real bad. And Bone man is sitting at 16 and 15.
So with that, let's take a quick trip around the NFL.
New England Patriots.
The New England Patriots have hit a new low this week, losing to Gardner Minshew and the Indianapolis Colts. They fall to two and eight and the chatter is starting to get real loud. The chatter or the chatter?
[01:02:59] Speaker B: Chowder Chatter.
[01:03:00] Speaker A: See what I did there? ThE chatter is starting to get real chatter. CHATTERS LOuDER yeah. Surrounding Bill Belichick's job. So I've asked it a few times, but what do you guys think? Sitting at two and eight, what do you think?
[01:03:12] Speaker B: Look, I think they just have to chalk this up to this was a bad year. I don't think they'll boot him just yet.
[01:03:17] Speaker A: They got a bad team. Like, you can't always help that as the coach. You don't put the personality together.
[01:03:20] Speaker E: Well.
[01:03:20] Speaker B: He does.
[01:03:21] Speaker A: You're right. I take it back. It's Bill Belichick. He has like hands on everything.
[01:03:25] Speaker B: But it's also normal for teams to go through rebuilding modes. I mean, you lost the greatest quarterback in the history of the game.
[01:03:31] Speaker A: Fair. And I will say Mac Jones, the greatest quarterback in the history of the game is.
[01:03:37] Speaker B: No, no, he's know he'll lose his job this year for sure.
[01:03:41] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely.
[01:03:42] Speaker B: Belichick, I think, is going to get at least one more look at this.
[01:03:44] Speaker A: Thing because, shit, can you imagine the Patriots with like a top pick at quarterback? Like, we saw what they did with Tom Brady, who was six round pick. Like, imagine them actually getting a guy that is known to be talented, although I hope it's what's his name from USC because I think he's going to be a bust.
[01:04:02] Speaker B: Or like, can you imagine if Belichick gets fired and then they fire, like Robert Sala in New York and he comes back with Aaron Rodgers and it's Belichick and Rogers and it's like they win three Super Bowls at the end of their careers.
[01:04:13] Speaker A: Whoa, save this clip. I hope that happens. That would be phenomenal. That would be so.
[01:04:21] Speaker B: I just, I can't imagine the end for Belichick just yet. I think it's tough for that whole crowd to swallow because they have been so spoiled by sports teams in their town.
[01:04:33] Speaker A: They don't really know what it's like to lose. They don't.
[01:04:35] Speaker B: Any clue. So it's time for that natural selection, that natural. Like you shake off some of the bandwagon fans and see who's left, and then the team gets better again and then they build it back up.
It's a circle of NFL life.
[01:04:50] Speaker A: I like it. Bone man. Belichick done.
[01:04:52] Speaker C: No, he's not done.
[01:04:54] Speaker A: He's not done.
[01:04:54] Speaker C: No, he's not done. He'll be done on his own terms. I think fair.
[01:04:58] Speaker A: I think he's earned it. But I mean, the NFL is just a fickle place, man. It's hard to work in the NFL.
[01:05:05] Speaker B: This is interesting. Like non sequitur. I've been thinking about though lately is we've talked about Gino Smith having a resurgence in Seattle. Some of their players that get moved around that don't maybe have a great career to start with.
You know what would be really cool is to just see the NFL fantasy draft moving coaches and players around every year.
Just like you get a new team for fantasy every year. Cleveland gets a brand new team. And you just see if you, what if Robert Salah had a good Taylor?
[01:05:37] Speaker A: I feel like there's an actual game that you could put together around this.
[01:05:41] Speaker B: They should just do it in the NFL. Like, why have these dynasties just free draft players every year?
[01:05:45] Speaker A: I think you're basically just describing Madden.
[01:05:48] Speaker B: No, you could do that in Madden. But yeah, I mean, in real life, do we, like, if Belichick had to play with a different quarterback every year, would you know whether Bill Belichick is the best coach ever? Or does Bill Belichick get, if he stays?
[01:06:02] Speaker A: Like you guys say, he's going to get a new quarterback next year and we'll be able to find out.
[01:06:05] Speaker B: But. I know, but does he get the benefit of the doubt because he had 20 years of Tom Brady? Well, of course he's good. He had the best quarterback in the game.
[01:06:11] Speaker A: No, you got to do what Tom Brady did. You go somewhere else and win a Super bowl and you're like, see, was me.
[01:06:16] Speaker B: What if Tom Brady to play with the Browns or the jets, would they go three and 13?
[01:06:20] Speaker A: Probably.
[01:06:21] Speaker B: Well, that's what I'm saying.
[01:06:22] Speaker A: I don't know.
[01:06:22] Speaker B: I'm ready to see it.
[01:06:23] Speaker A: All right. It's a weird world we'll live in. But anyways, next up, a team that has struggled but was able to finally get a win, the Bears. The Bears beat the Carolina Panthers this week in the toilet bowl.
[01:06:34] Speaker B: Badgent.
[01:06:35] Speaker A: Yeah, badgent. He got a win. He did. Quarterback. Wasn't that like the first? It was only the second time that a first round quarterback matched up with an undrafted free agent quarterback that were rookies in a game. And the other time that it happened was just a couple of years ago, and I think Kyler Murray lost to somebody bad.
[01:06:59] Speaker B: Chad Powers.
[01:07:00] Speaker A: Like, it was somebody that you're like, Kyler Murray lost to that guy as a name. You don't know.
[01:07:04] Speaker B: I thought it was funny. I think that was the Thursday night game when they put up the stats of his last eight games that he's played because it was like four NFL.
[01:07:14] Speaker A: Teams of all the division, like three division, two college football teams. St. Mary's, like literally schools you've never heard of ever before.
[01:07:23] Speaker B: St. Mary's technical school and Gross City. It's just teams.
[01:07:28] Speaker A: Nobody knows.
[01:07:29] Speaker B: But now he's playing NFL teams.
[01:07:30] Speaker A: Yeah. And now he's got an NFL win.
[01:07:32] Speaker B: And now he's a win. He doesn't look that bad. I don't know. Chicago is a buttsack of a mess.
And I keep saying, like, Justin Fields needs to run as far and as fast.
[01:07:43] Speaker A: Actually, I think we're all going to see that in the offseason because I think they're going to go big on another quarterback high in the draft, and I think they're going to let Justin.
[01:07:49] Speaker B: Fields, Tyler Badge, will be their quarterback.
[01:07:52] Speaker A: Good luck.
[01:07:53] Speaker B: He looks okay, man. He's not terrible.
[01:07:55] Speaker A: Yeah, but they've got a really high pick.
[01:07:57] Speaker B: Well, they're always going to have a high pick. They're the Bears.
[01:07:59] Speaker C: True Bears.
[01:08:01] Speaker A: Dub Bears.
Next up, the Raiders. Other bad teams. The Raiders defeat the jets and Antonio Pierce is now two. And O notably, Devante Adams has been much more heavily involved these last two games since Antonio Pierce took over. And when asked about this, Antonio Pierce said, I'm not stupid. I know who to get the ball to.
So a not so subtle dig at Josh McDaniels, and he continues to make Josh McDaniels look silly, I guess, except Josh McDaniels is still collecting a paycheck. So who really looks silly in the Raiders organization.
[01:08:33] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[01:08:34] Speaker A: But you had a story about think.
[01:08:37] Speaker B: Oh, I just. When this whole thing blew up, before they fired Josh McDaniels, they were said that they had, like, players and coaches meeting and they let it just all hang out.
Josh McDaniels was letting it all hang out and just letting that bomb swell.
[01:08:53] Speaker A: Took his clothes off.
[01:08:54] Speaker B: Yeah, they were all nude. It was just in the shower together. A lot of steam.
[01:08:58] Speaker A: This sounds questionable, manmate.
[01:09:00] Speaker B: And apparently Antonio Pierce got up and was talking about how the team needed to come together the same way that the Giants team did, that he was on that beat the Patriots in the Super bowl, and apparently that did not sit well with Josh McDaniels, who said, you never talked to my team about the Patriots that way. And he was subsequently fired.
[01:09:20] Speaker A: What an odd thing.
[01:09:21] Speaker B: Yeah. He was really upset about that.
Yeah. But look good for Antonio Pierce.
[01:09:27] Speaker A: Was he just mad? Was Josh McDaniels the offensive coordinator of that?
[01:09:30] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[01:09:31] Speaker A: Yeah. So he was just like, he's on a power trip. He's like, don't you ever talk? He wanted to say, don't talk about me, but he thought it would sound petty, so he said, don't talk about the Patriots, which actually makes it worse because you're not the coach of the Patriots anymore, you idiot.
[01:09:45] Speaker B: Fired anyway.
[01:09:46] Speaker A: Yeah. Either way, fired. Next up, Kyler Murray, in his first game back from injury, leads a game winning field goal drive. The Cardinals defeat the Falcons.
[01:09:54] Speaker B: Did you watch this game at all?
[01:09:55] Speaker A: I didn't.
[01:09:55] Speaker B: Kyler looked good.
[01:09:56] Speaker A: It was my daughter's first birthday party on Sunday, as you know, so I didn't watch hardly any football.
[01:10:01] Speaker B: I know Kyler's got a lot of crap over the last think.
[01:10:04] Speaker A: I think Kyler Murray's trash. Even whatever happened here, I think Kyler Murray's trash.
[01:10:08] Speaker B: He looked good.
[01:10:09] Speaker A: Well, he was fast.
[01:10:10] Speaker B: I mean, I guess they play the Falcons, but he looked fast. He was making good decisions.
[01:10:15] Speaker A: I still think he's trash.
[01:10:16] Speaker B: He's still little, but him and Russell.
[01:10:19] Speaker A: Wilson, but he trash.
[01:10:20] Speaker B: He was impressive looking.
[01:10:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
And then next up, another quarterback who actually used to play for that Cardinals team, Josh Dobbs.
[01:10:28] Speaker B: This is why I would talk about the fantasy draft, right? Like, Josh Dobbs in Cleveland was like, mediocre. Goes to Arizona, goes one and eight. He goes to Minnesota. They're Going to win a Super Bowl. Can you imagine?
[01:10:36] Speaker A: I don't know about a Super bowl.
[01:10:37] Speaker C: But as I said, josh, smartest man alive, Josh Dobbs.
[01:10:40] Speaker A: Josh Dobbs keeps rolling with the Vikings and they defeat the Saints in this one. And Josh Dobbs, again, just like, still limited knowledge of the playbook.
He looked like he was on a whole different level from the Saints because.
[01:10:53] Speaker B: He'S on a good team now.
[01:10:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:10:55] Speaker B: I mean, that Vikings team has a lot of talent on it.
[01:10:57] Speaker A: It does. Josh Dobbs looks good.
[01:11:00] Speaker B: Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Can you imagine if you did that with all the players in Navy every year?
[01:11:03] Speaker A: I guess it would be fun.
[01:11:04] Speaker B: It would be fucking fun. It would be fucking great. Let's do it.
[01:11:06] Speaker A: I would never get to know any players, though. They would never have any favorite players. I'd be like, these people go all over the place.
[01:11:13] Speaker B: If Josh Dobbs is the GOAt, you'd see him win the Super bowl every year.
[01:11:17] Speaker A: Josh Dobbs doesn't matter where he goes. Go.
[01:11:20] Speaker C: You need to get a hold of Josh Dobbs. I think he'd be on your side. He's kind of like the poster child of this idea.
[01:11:25] Speaker B: Let's roll this thing forward.
[01:11:26] Speaker A: Did you guys see, by the way, his interview about him leaving the Cardinals? So he was on a podcast, I forget which one it was, but he was on a podcast this past week, and they asked him. They're like, what happened in Arizona? And he's like, well, at the end of the game, the coach who you've called Wacky multiple times, the coach came out to me and he's like, yeah, you're my starter. Just so you know, nobody else is starting for us. You're my starter. Well, then I came into the facility on Monday, and he tells me, he says, yeah, we're going to go a different direction and we're going to start. What's his name? Who was the rookie?
We're going to start tune this week. He's like, okay, well, I guess I don't have job. So I called my agent. I was like, what's going on? But he told him, he said, but we're not trading you. We love you. We're keeping you here. You're not going anywhere. So I just called my agent. I was like, I don't really know what's happening. ThEy said, I'm not starting anymore, but I'm not going anywhere. So just let me know if you hear anything. And literally, like 3 hours later, his agent called. He's like, you're going to Minnesota. And he was like, okay. And actually his agent told him, you're going to Minnesota before the final call where he said, you're going to Minnesota. He said, you're going to Minnesota or Cleveland. So just fun fact there. We were shopping, but we must have got the news that Deshaun Watson was probably coming back and we decided to pass. But anyway, he said, you're going to Minnesota and Josh jobs, like, okay. And then he showed up Friday and won a game on Sunday. So, I mean, incredible story for Josh Jobs. I would love to have him on an interview sometime.
[01:12:50] Speaker B: Let's call him.
[01:12:51] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, I'm a try.
[01:12:53] Speaker B: After he wins the Super Bowl. You'd be hard to get.
[01:12:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
Next up, the Lions beat the Chargers in a shootout 41 38. Don't have a lot to say. Just it was a shootout, 41 38, so lots of points scored there. The Cowboys continue their Teeter totter season of blowouts. This week, they blew out the Giants 49 to 17.
[01:13:12] Speaker B: Can I say this one more time? The Giants quarterback is some guy named DeVito.
[01:13:16] Speaker A: Danny DeVito was starting for the Giants.
[01:13:19] Speaker B: Did you see his interview this week?
[01:13:21] Speaker A: No.
[01:13:21] Speaker B: They said, how's it going? How you learn in the office.
[01:13:25] Speaker A: Pull. The tall day ignites. I'm not sure what to do with my hands.
[01:13:27] Speaker B: No, better. He said, he's like, life's great, man. I'm 20 years old. I live with my parents. I go home and she makes chicken cutlets and I'm like, all right, great. And I started the playbook.
[01:13:37] Speaker A: He actually has some pretty funny interviews. Isn't he the same guy?
I don't know if it was him or badgent. That was like, what was your backup plan if you didn't make it the NFL? He's like, I was just going to go get jacked out of my mind on CrossFit and be a PE teacher.
[01:13:53] Speaker B: I think that was bad because he's pretty jacked.
[01:13:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
He's like, I don't know. I just got to go work out really hard, get really big and be a PE teacher.
[01:14:02] Speaker B: Somebody on the stage asked him About CrossFit on Thursday, but, yeah, I don't think it was DeVito because have you seen DeVito?
He looks like a little person.
[01:14:16] Speaker C: A small child.
[01:14:17] Speaker B: No, like a little person.
[01:14:18] Speaker A: Danny DeVito. He looks like Danny DeVito. He actually looks like Danny DeVito.
[01:14:22] Speaker B: If you lost 100 pounds.
[01:14:25] Speaker A: Feels bad.
So the Cowboys 40, 917 this week, and the 49 ERs also blew out the Jacksonville Jaguars. This one was much more of a surprise. I did not see the Jacksonville Jaguars getting blown out 34 to three, but it happened.
[01:14:36] Speaker B: The 49 Ers are still good. They just had a little lull there.
[01:14:39] Speaker A: They forgot who they were, but now they remembered. Yeah, they did, but that'll conclude our trip around the NFL. Light on stories this week. Not a lot of big injuries, not a lot of big storylines playing out.
[01:14:50] Speaker B: Oh, I had a big story.
[01:14:51] Speaker A: What's up? Add to it real quick.
[01:14:53] Speaker B: We got a couple of seconds. There was a big story about.
Oh, boy, where was it? Where did it?
[01:15:01] Speaker A: You're really holding the show up, man.
[01:15:02] Speaker C: What team was it?
[01:15:03] Speaker B: Oh, it was five teams. Five teams. Arizona, Cleveland, Detroit, Houston and Seattle converted a game winning field goal with no time remaining in week ten. The most game winning scores with no time remaining in regulation in a single week in NFL history.
[01:15:16] Speaker A: That's awesome. That's a good one. Way to throw that on at the end.
[01:15:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:15:19] Speaker A: So now that will conclude our trip around the NFL. Kenny, you want to talk to some friends?
[01:15:23] Speaker B: I love friends.
[01:15:25] Speaker A: All right, so something we started doing this year is our Browns Backers interview series. What we wanted to do was highlight these Browns backers groups from around the country, and we wanted to do this for several reasons. These people are all diehard Browns fans. They love our Brownies regardless of their record. That part's obvious. They show up week in, week out, support the team Rain or Shine. But we also wanted to highlight what most people may not know about the Browns Backers, and that's the fact that they do a lot of work in their communities and for charity around their communities.
And so with that, let's go ahead and get into this. Let's spotlight some of that charity work that these guys are doing and just.
[01:16:00] Speaker B: Introduce you to some really cool folks.
[01:16:02] Speaker A: Yeah, they're pretty cool dudes. So let's get into the next interview in our series.
[01:16:18] Speaker B: Powered by Riverside FM.
[01:16:33] Speaker A: All right, so this week for our Browns Backers interview series, we get to chat with Ron and Marty from the Kent Browns Backers. Ron, Marty, thanks for joining us. How are you today?
[01:16:41] Speaker F: Thanks for having us. Thank you.
[01:16:43] Speaker E: Thank you.
[01:16:44] Speaker A: Yeah, no problem. I know everybody's time is valuable, so we really appreciate you taking some of yours to join us on the show. So tell us a little bit about your chapter and by know things like location, when you were established viewing locations, how many members, those types of things.
[01:16:59] Speaker F: All right, well, I'm the current president for the last two years, so I actually hand this off to Marty. He was the president for many years. He's our treasurer now. He has more of the history than I do.
[01:17:11] Speaker E: Well, we started our club in 1999.
We started at a place called Mike's Place Restaurant in Kent.
All of our viewing locations have been in Kent. We have two viewing locations presently we're at the American Legion, which is open to the public, and then we're also at Panini's downtown.
So we have two viewing locations. We've had two most of the time.
Ron is only our fourth president, so presidents have been usually lasting pretty long. And we average between 170 as a high of 200 members.
[01:17:49] Speaker A: Nice.
[01:17:50] Speaker E: We try to have a viewing location downtown, which is Panini's, and we were at Water Street Tavern. And that helps us attract more people, but also get some of the college kids and stuff, because that's pretty close to the college and stuff.
[01:18:07] Speaker A: Nice.
These locations, do they have separate viewing areas for you and everything?
[01:18:13] Speaker F: They do, yes.
[01:18:15] Speaker A: Awesome.
[01:18:16] Speaker E: We get a lot of specials. People get discounts on their drinks and food. And of course, we give away a lot of giveaways and things like that. 50 50 drawings and do a lot of things, keep people busy.
[01:18:29] Speaker B: Do you guys have your own merchandise line?
[01:18:32] Speaker F: We do, yeah.
[01:18:33] Speaker B: Nice.
[01:18:34] Speaker F: This is actually our logo.
[01:18:37] Speaker A: Yeah. You guys have one of the better ones. I've seen quite a few of them. And I like the Black Squirrel. Not a lot of people know that.
Famous for black squirrels, but they are.
[01:18:46] Speaker E: So you knew?
[01:18:48] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. We both born and raised and grew up right around the area. We both went to field high school. One town.
[01:18:56] Speaker F: Really?
[01:18:56] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
[01:18:58] Speaker F: That's where we are right now.
[01:18:59] Speaker E: In both.
[01:19:02] Speaker A: You mentioned. You mentioned Mike's place, and we actually had all our football dinners in high school and everything like that were always there.
[01:19:09] Speaker F: Mike's place is.
[01:19:15] Speaker A: Are you guys, you guys have any upcoming events that you're hosting or looking forward to? I know it's Steelers Week, so you guys got anything big going on this.
[01:19:22] Speaker F: Weekend other than our viewing locations? Nothing serious on that aspect, but we do have a reverse raffle coming up on February 24. That's one of our first time offseason things that we're doing to try to raise money for the local charities.
[01:19:38] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah, you mentioned those charities. That's one of the reasons we do these Brownsbackers interviews, is because I think a decent amount of the fan base knows that the Brownsbackers exist. But I think the majority of even most of our own fan base thinks that the Brownsbackers are just a bunch of people that are Browns fans across the nation that get together and watch football.
[01:20:00] Speaker F: Well, I think they think we just sit there and drink beer and watch football, and that's not reality. We raise probably around $8,000 a year for local charities and everything. We keep local, obviously, because we're in Kent, so we're going to stick with.
[01:20:12] Speaker B: Yeah, it seems like there's a very civic minded component.
[01:20:14] Speaker F: Not the case at all. Yeah, that's why we do it. That's where our passion is.
[01:20:21] Speaker B: Can you tell us what charities you guys have donated to in the past?
[01:20:25] Speaker E: Well, we donated a lot for several years to Freedom House for homeless veterans in Kent.
We've had donations to the children's home. We've sponsored their Christmas party. We've even bought all the gifts and the food one year and things like that. We've done big brothers and sisters, where we'll send bigs and littles to games and give them the money, the tickets and the money for parking and a couple of sodas and chips and stuff, and try to get people to go to the game that normally wouldn't. And a lot of times, even the bigs, it's the first time they've gone to a game.
About the only thing not in our local community is the Stephanie Spielman Breast Cancer Research center at the Ohio State. We donate there because of their relationship back to the Cleveland area with Chris Spielman and stuff. And we typically donate quite a bit there for, like, all of our 50 50s in October and things like that. We donate to the APL Animal Protection League and some other branches of that. What else?
[01:21:31] Speaker F: Well, we have a scholarship that we give away every year for Kent Roosevelt student. They get $1,000 for their college career. I suppose outside of that, we have Hetty Larlow, that's another one in northern Portrait county, and I think that's about it right now.
[01:21:52] Speaker E: Yeah, we've gone through quite a few different ones, depending on the need and things like that.
[01:21:57] Speaker F: And obviously, us being at the know, it's got a lot of money goes towards the Veterans kids, to Boyce State.
[01:22:04] Speaker E: Which is Columbus, where kids go down from field high school, and Kent Roosevelt to spend a week down there and see how local government runs. And we sponsor usually at least three people to go down there every year.
[01:22:19] Speaker A: Nice. Well, I know Ron said that's about it, but, I mean, you guys are doing a know. It's. It's.
[01:22:27] Speaker F: It's know. As all volunteers, we have seven board members, and they're all great people and they have the same passion, and it's still a job, kind of, but we put our time, our own time and our own hearts into it.
[01:22:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:22:39] Speaker E: To give back to the community. We try and do our best at that.
[01:22:43] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. And this is, again, part of the reason why we do this interview series is to just showcase this and the fact that, like you said, it's your own time, your own energy, and it just comes from the heart from all these Browns fans that, yeah, they want to get together and drink beers and watch football, but they also want to do some good around the community and make the world a better place. So I'm sure Kent, as well as the rest of Northeast Ohio and even the Columbus area that you guys are reaching out to, I'm sure they all really appreciate the contributions that you've, you know, guys, as great as that is, and we could talk about that stuff all day, why don't we talk about some football here?
[01:23:21] Speaker B: All right, let's do.
[01:23:25] Speaker A: A good week to have you guys on. So with that, I guess, what are you guys'thoughts about the game on Sunday against the Baltimore Ravens?
[01:23:35] Speaker F: Honestly, I had no doubt we were going to win this game.
I'm not kidding.
[01:23:41] Speaker E: We started off just like we did.
[01:23:42] Speaker F: Against the 49 ers. I said, guys, we're going to win this game by a field goal. And I was right. I said, we'll get a pick six right before the end of the game and we'll kick a field goal to win it.
[01:23:51] Speaker A: It called the entire ending. So we should just follow Ron woods around because he probably could tell us how every game is going to end.
[01:23:58] Speaker F: I will. And we are going to slap Pittsburgh in the face next week.
[01:24:02] Speaker A: Okay, so we'll get there in a minute, but I'm going to get your score by the end of this and I'm going straight to Vegas.
And if you're wrong, then you're going to ruin me financially. Thanks a lot.
[01:24:15] Speaker B: You don't even got to go to Vegas anymore. Sports betting is legal here.
[01:24:18] Speaker A: That's true. Sports betting is legal in Ohio.
[01:24:22] Speaker E: How about that defense, though, man?
[01:24:24] Speaker A: Yeah, the defense is phenomenal. So, I mean, I guess with that, obviously the game this past week was awesome.
Like you mentioned, came down to that last second field goal that we won on. How do you think the Browns have looked? And I'm sure you'll talk about the defense more here, but how do you think the Browns have looked so far? This.
[01:24:44] Speaker E: Mean without Chubb? You didn't know what to expect, but we've held our own.
Yeah, we miss them. No doubt. But getting Hunt back in helped.
They're looking good. They're holding their own.
We, we definitely improved our kicker. That was indeed.
[01:25:05] Speaker A: He tried real hard to cost us one, though.
[01:25:09] Speaker E: He did. I'm glad he got the opportunity to let us forget that one.
[01:25:13] Speaker F: I figured the coach would go for two and not get it anyway.
[01:25:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
So you guys think they look good so far? For the most part, I think they look good.
[01:25:28] Speaker E: My opinion there is they look good for the situation we have where our star quarterback has been in and out and our star running backs out. I mean, that's a blow a lot of teams would use as an excuse of why the season is over.
[01:25:44] Speaker F: Yeah. Even yesterday they give down 14 nothing, and all of a sudden it's like they came together at the end and with Najoku carrying a guy for ten yards and then the offensive line pushing to get that first down, it was amazing to see the effort. I love it over the years.
[01:26:04] Speaker A: Yeah. I was going to say it's kind of night and day from what we're used to seeing out of the Cleveland.
[01:26:08] Speaker B: I'm just trying to think of when the last time I even seen an effort like that out of a Browns team. I mean, since 99, I can't remember.
[01:26:16] Speaker E: They replayed that and I just looked at my wife and I said, we're going to win this game. I mean, if they're playing like that, they want to win. They're not tired.
[01:26:24] Speaker F: They're going for sure.
[01:26:26] Speaker A: And it became more and more apparent towards the end of that game that all the fight was on the Cleveland Brown side, and the Ravens were kind of hoping that they could hold on, basically.
[01:26:37] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:26:37] Speaker F: It seemed like we were playing against the refs a little bit there towards.
[01:26:40] Speaker A: The end, but we always are. Except for that one time. Except for that one time. But we always are. Right?
[01:26:46] Speaker F: That one time.
[01:26:47] Speaker B: Indianapolis, obviously the Browns sitting at six and three feels pretty good in most years. We'd probably feel a lot better about that, but the AFC north is tight, tight, tight. Do you guys have any thoughts just around how competitive the entire division is at this point in the season?
[01:27:01] Speaker F: Well, I mean, right now they're saying we're all playoff bound, so obviously that can change. I don't think Cincinnati is as good as everybody thinks they are. I don't think Pittsburgh is either. They seem to just pull it out somehow. I really don't think they're that great. They just have a great coach.
[01:27:18] Speaker B: They do have a great coach. They've almost got to be the biggest surprise of the season, I would think, right?
[01:27:23] Speaker F: I think they were ruled out at the beginning of the year, right?
[01:27:26] Speaker A: Well, yeah. And if you've caught any of the Steelers games watching the game, you don't feel like they should win, and then they do.
[01:27:34] Speaker F: You don't want them to.
[01:27:36] Speaker A: Yeah, but you watch them and they just don't look good. And you're like, yeah, they'll probably lose this game, and then somehow they end up winning by a field goal, by a touchdown, whatever.
[01:27:44] Speaker F: And you just keep hearing that name, Watt.
[01:27:47] Speaker A: Yep. Telling you they find ways to beat.
[01:27:49] Speaker E: Teams are better now.
[01:27:50] Speaker A: Yeah, they do. And I think, Ron, you hit the nail on the head. I think it was you that said it's their coach over there. I mean, they do.
[01:27:57] Speaker B: Absolutely.
[01:27:58] Speaker A: In my opinion, as much as we hate the Steelers, I think after Bill Belichick, I think the best coach in the league is probably Mike Tomlin. I mean, he's so consistent. He's never been under 500.
And every time I hear that they even have, like, a semi bad season or whatever, and everybody starts calling for his job over there, I'm like, please fire him. Please fire him, because I don't want to face him two times a year.
[01:28:21] Speaker B: Well, I'll be honest.
[01:28:22] Speaker F: At first, I always thought he was kind of riding on the coattails from the former coach. And then as you watch him now, how many years has he been there? He just somehow does it. He just pulls it off.
[01:28:35] Speaker A: He only needs a few more wins now in order to stay above 500 again this season.
[01:28:39] Speaker F: Right.
[01:28:41] Speaker B: I don't want to rehash old wounds here, but if you could just take me back to the Pittsburgh game, the first Pittsburgh game. Can you talk about just the reaction when Nick Chubb went down with your group?
[01:28:53] Speaker E: Yeah, it was tough.
[01:28:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:28:55] Speaker F: Everybody just kind of got quiet.
Plus, I had him in my fantasy league, so that wasn'T good either.
[01:29:04] Speaker A: It was doubly bad for.
I mean, that's the reaction we're getting.
[01:29:10] Speaker F: Everybody kind of cashed out at first, and then, you know, have we had a really big depth in running and I think we've done well. And then bringing Hunt back in, I think that his restricted play is kind of strange to me, but it's probably because they're worried that they probably have some kind of stipulation in his contract. If he takes too many snaps, he'll get more money or something because it seems like he's not out there.
[01:29:34] Speaker A: No, I think we had the same reactions. You. We joke about it, but it took us several weeks just to recover from the fact that Nick Chubb, the realization that he wasn't going to be with us the whole season. And it's funny if I go back and listen to our episodes, like that week, the following week, and even the second week after it happened, the energy on our show was just kind of crushed.
Yeah, we found a way to win some games after that, but we still don't have Nick Chubb.
But we finally, in recent weeks, picked it up a little bit here and found our footing again.
[01:30:09] Speaker B: At least the defense has for but.
[01:30:10] Speaker A: And I think it's on the backs of the defense. I think we are all very lucky. We have an elite defense that we can hang our hats on.
[01:30:19] Speaker F: Defense wins championships. Pittsburgh knows this. Baltimore even knows.
[01:30:27] Speaker E: Bears.
I think the Bears prove to me.
[01:30:30] Speaker F: You can win with just Jim McMahon.
[01:30:32] Speaker B: All right.
[01:30:36] Speaker A: Talking about the Pittsburgh Steelers, obviously that's the opponent this week coming up. So what are your guys'thoughts on the week eleven matchup against the team that I think most Browns fans hate the most?
[01:30:48] Speaker F: Denver.
[01:30:50] Speaker E: No, I really do. I think they're pumped.
It's just the Steeler factor. Like Ron says, they just find ways to do things, but I think we can shut them down offensively. There's no doubt. We just got to score some points.
[01:31:10] Speaker F: And then we have, what, Denver the next week in Denver.
[01:31:14] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah.
[01:31:14] Speaker F: I've always struggled against Denver because I started watching Browns football in 19, 84, 80.
That's when we are right there so many times and those guys just beat us and it was always in Denver. I think they beat us in Cleveland the one time, but as a kid, I was only nine years old. I was miserable.
But yeah, they've always been a dagger to me. And I think we're going to pull it off this, but because they're not that great, I think we'll be at home.
[01:31:45] Speaker E: The crowd is going to be crazy.
[01:31:46] Speaker F: We're going to be in Denver.
[01:31:48] Speaker E: I mean, the Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh.
[01:31:49] Speaker F: Pittsburgh.
[01:31:50] Speaker A: Yeah. We're talking about the, um. So with, you know, obviously the Pittsburgh game is the one that's coming up here. This, you know, you mentioned the Pittsburgh factor and it always seems to be really close, even when we're one team or the other, I should say is far and away the better team. It's always you guys. Do both of you guys have score predictions here? Ron, I'm really listening to you because I'm going to place.
[01:32:16] Speaker E: Betsy, get your wallet out here.
[01:32:20] Speaker F: Honestly, I'm going to go with twenty four seven, Cleveland.
[01:32:25] Speaker B: Oh, wow. Okay.
[01:32:28] Speaker F: I think we're going to slap them hard, really fast.
[01:32:31] Speaker B: Love it.
[01:32:32] Speaker A: Nice. Okay, Marty, what do you got?
[01:32:35] Speaker E: I was going to say like 20. 314.
[01:32:39] Speaker A: Okay.
[01:32:39] Speaker B: See that as well.
[01:32:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:32:41] Speaker B: Pittsburgh is one of those teams that just hangs around and there is something very psychological about playing the Steelers that.
[01:32:47] Speaker F: We just have to play.
[01:32:47] Speaker B: Exploiting game.
[01:32:50] Speaker A: Here's the deal, guys, Kenny Pickett wears two mean, I don't know what that's all about, but you can't lose to that guy again.
[01:33:01] Speaker E: We shouldn't have lost the first one. No. You guys know that that was the Steelers.
[01:33:07] Speaker A: Yeah, go ahead.
[01:33:12] Speaker E: It's definitely not over till the game goes to zero, that's for sure.
[01:33:16] Speaker B: No, we're learning that every week with this team, aren't we?
[01:33:19] Speaker A: Yeah.
Now, before we get going, guys, we want to mention that we are brought to you by who, Kenny?
[01:33:26] Speaker B: We are brought to you by the Browns fan Cruise, put on by seaside events.
[01:33:30] Speaker A: Officially, we are brought to you by seaside events as the official cruise event provider of the Cleveland Browns and organizer of the Browns fan Cruise. So, with that in mind, did you guys know that there's a competition for Brownsbackers out there for the Browns fan cruise coming up in March of 2024?
[01:33:45] Speaker F: Yes, sir.
[01:33:48] Speaker A: Have you guys had any bookings yet? Do you guys know where you stand?
[01:33:52] Speaker E: We let the people know, but we haven't seen too much interest.
[01:33:56] Speaker A: Well, just. Just make sure that they know, and I'm sure some of them will be watching this when it comes out later. This.
You know, there's all kinds of prizes given to the chapter that has the most bookings. If you go to brownsfancruise.com and click on the Brownsbackers logo, you'll see all the details. But basically, the more people that book from your chapter, the better chance you have of winning some really great prizes from the Browns and seaside events, including another cabin.
[01:34:22] Speaker F: I'll make sure we get it out on all of our social media in the next upcoming days.
[01:34:27] Speaker A: And I will tell you this, you guys aren't far off the lead. I mean, there's a lot of Browns backers, so even just a few people from your chapter, you guys are going to climb the leaderboard real fast.
[01:34:39] Speaker B: And I think right now, they still have 60 Day payment plans available. So when you consider the inclusivity of all the events and the Browns alumni and the things that are going to go on there, that includes your drink package and all that, it's really Pretty reasonable For the entire package.
[01:34:56] Speaker F: Nice.
[01:34:57] Speaker B: Keep that in mind as well.
[01:34:59] Speaker A: But, yeah. So, real quick, is there anything else that you guys, as the Kent BrownSbackers, want to say to Cleveland fans that may be thinking about joining a BrownSBackers organization?
[01:35:09] Speaker F: Kind of lost you?
[01:35:11] Speaker A: Oh, you're good. So, real quick, is there anything that you guys would like to say to Browns fans in Northeast Ohio or really anywhere across the nation that may be thinking of joining a Browns Backers organization?
[01:35:26] Speaker F: You go ahead.
[01:35:27] Speaker E: I would say do it. I mean, it's always fun to watch a game with a bunch of other diehard fans, and it's always good to have the benefits go to the local charities and donate to the community and things like that. I just think it's a great thing. I mean, we all want to try to do STuff to give back, and it's hard to do that sometimes. But I think this is a very easy way to hang out with friends and get new friends and watch football and have a lot of good come.
[01:35:59] Speaker A: Out of.
[01:36:04] Speaker F: My approach. It's the passion. I've always donated personally to all kinds of charities and things. And then when I hooked up with the Brownsbackers, I don't know, I just had to get involved and eventually try to take over, which I did. It's just another avenue to help people. And that's the main reason I do this, because I can watch football at home, but I'd rather do it like this.
[01:36:27] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[01:36:29] Speaker E: Like last Sunday, I mean, to watch 30, 40 people high five and running around smacking people's hands, and that's when you just say, oh, my gosh, this is worth it. This is great.
[01:36:40] Speaker A: This is good stuff. Which place was rocking harder, American Legion or Panini's?
[01:36:43] Speaker B: I don't know.
[01:36:44] Speaker F: It's about even.
[01:36:44] Speaker E: I was at Panini's, he was at the other one.
[01:36:47] Speaker F: We had 42 people sign in. We probably had 60 people there.
We had a 50 50. Both of us split about $300 at each place. And then I think we had $300 in closing sales.
[01:37:00] Speaker A: Nice.
Well, great job, guys, and definitely keep up the good work. Kenny, do you have any other questions here?
[01:37:09] Speaker B: I was just going to say, too, if your group is interested at all, we do have something that we call the Burning River Forest Hot Take Hotline. And it's just a fun little bit we like to put on where we have a voicemail box sitting ready. So if you got guys that are jazzed up before the game, after the game, want to complain about play calls or anything else to.
[01:37:27] Speaker A: Even during the game, even during the.
[01:37:29] Speaker B: Game, give us a call and then we'll put them on here the next week. So something fun that they could do if they're interested.
[01:37:35] Speaker A: So we'll put the number on the screen so that you guys can see it and we'll have it in the caption of the videos as well so that your group can see them. But yeah, if anybody in your group is interested or anybody else out there listening, call the Hot Take Hotline. And should we say the number real quick? 330-227-8080 330-227-8080 so call us and leave us your hot takes and it'll be a good time.
[01:38:01] Speaker E: Sounds great. Sounds great.
[01:38:03] Speaker A: Well, hey, guys, we really appreciate your time. Thanks for joining us and I hope that we will see you guys soon.
[01:38:10] Speaker F: Yeah, thank you.
[01:38:11] Speaker E: Awesome.
[01:38:11] Speaker F: Thank you.
[01:38:12] Speaker E: Thanks for what you guys do, getting the message out to people. That's great.
[01:38:16] Speaker B: Appreciate it.
[01:38:49] Speaker A: Good time with Ron and, huh?
[01:38:51] Speaker B: Yeah. Look, these ones that we get to interview the local Brownsbackers chapters are fun.
[01:38:58] Speaker A: Staying here in Northeast Ohio for the home games against the Division two.
[01:39:00] Speaker B: Just because we know all the places and stuff.
[01:39:02] Speaker A: Well, like, we grew up right down the street from camps.
[01:39:04] Speaker B: Right. So it's fun for these ones, naming places.
[01:39:07] Speaker A: I know exactly where they've been, where they're at.
[01:39:10] Speaker B: Now we're all about Highway 106 down the.
But, yeah, like some of these places these guys mentioned, like Mike's Place and Water Street. These are like our stomping grounds, so. No. Very cool to hear from them. I know they've put on a number of events, Kent.
[01:39:27] Speaker A: Though they feel bad because they just lost the wagon wheel last week.
[01:39:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:39:30] Speaker A: Suck it, Kent.
[01:39:31] Speaker B: Suck it. We're back.
But I know that they put on like, golf outings and things that I've been to in the past. That's the first time I met Kevin Mack was at Camp Brownsbackers golf outing. Nice.
[01:39:41] Speaker A: Yeah, they do friend of the show now.
[01:39:43] Speaker B: They do all kinds of good stuff.
[01:39:43] Speaker A: Yeah.
[01:39:44] Speaker B: Now Kevin's Mac is a friend of ours. Yeah, we'll have our own golf outing.
[01:39:47] Speaker A: So that burning river sportscast golf outing, we should do that sometime. Yeah, but before we do that, I'm.
[01:39:53] Speaker B: Giving away a Corvette.
[01:39:55] Speaker A: Okay. Well, this escalated quickly.
[01:39:57] Speaker B: If you hit a hole in one, you don't just get one.
[01:39:59] Speaker A: Okay, thanks for clarifying, but that'll take us to the burning of sportscast hot take Hotline.
All right, don't forget to call and leave your hot takes on the hot take hotline. Remember, these are hot takes. We want hot takes.
[01:40:17] Speaker B: We want hot takes.
[01:40:19] Speaker C: We want hot takes.
[01:40:20] Speaker B: We want hot takes.
[01:40:21] Speaker A: 3302-278-0803 Point of Mirror blown. 3302-2780-8033-0227-8080-3302-278 Call now. Operators are not standing by.
[01:40:36] Speaker B: Don't have any operators.
[01:40:37] Speaker A: Answering machine?
[01:40:37] Speaker B: Just us.
[01:40:38] Speaker A: Nobody. But we'll put you on the air and we'll talk about your take, especially if it's really hot.
But it's that time again. It's time to take a quick revenue break and then get back here and talk to Browns alum Ben Davis and preview the week eleven matchup with the squealers.
[01:40:52] Speaker B: Hate the squealers.
[01:40:57] Speaker D: Keep it.
[01:41:05] Speaker A: Topaz Distillery Topath Distillery an award winning craft distillery located in Akron, Ohio, Topath Distillery focuses on high quality spirits carefully made in small batches. Topaz lineup includes an ultra smooth, award winning premium vodka, a small batch silver rum made from the highest grade molasses, an American craft gin made with nine botanicals and a blended straight bourbon made from corn and rye. Topath distillery. Now available locally and in 44 states. Visit topathdistillery.com to place your order online or find an OHLQ retailer near you. Topath Distillery Handcrafted, award winning, small batch, local and family owned awe, Cleveland Coffee Awe Cleveland Coffee is a coffee company that launched earlier this year in Cleveland, as the name would suggest. Founded by Browns legend and hall of Famer Joe Thomas and six time heavyweight champion of the world in the UFC Steepe Miocic, along with a team of several other brilliant Clevelanders, all Cleveland Coffee is on a mission to give 1 million meals back to the community through an official partnership with the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. How will they do this, you ask? With every bag purchased, three meals get donated to the food bank. It's such an awesome idea. A bunch of great individuals are involved and the result is the best coffee in Cleveland, bar none. It comes in three roasts, light, medium and dark. The dark is what Joe Thomas drinks every morning. Myself and my co host here, Kenny, are medium roast guys.
[01:42:30] Speaker B: Medium.
[01:42:31] Speaker A: All Cleveland Coffee. Visit all cleveland.com today to order your coffee and donate a few meals in the process. All Cleveland coffee, ethically sourced, premium roasted and three meals donated for every bag purchased.
All right, so before we get into the week eleven preview, let's take a few minutes to talk to another Cleveland Browns legend that will be joining us on the Browns fan Cruise.
You.
So our next guest here was a cornerback and return specialist for the Cleveland Browns. His career statistics include 19 interceptions, 860 kickoff return yards and 240 punt return yards. Gentlemen, please help me welcome Mr. Ben Davis.
[01:43:32] Speaker B: Ben.
[01:43:37] Speaker A: Hey, Ben. How are you doing?
[01:43:39] Speaker D: Just fine. Just elated after a big victory yesterday. So, yeah, I'm doing good.
[01:43:45] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. And for context for the listeners, he is referring to the win over the San Francisco 49 ers. We were recording the one day after that win and it was phenomenal victory Monday. Yeah.
Now, Ben, before we get started and get into some of the questions that we have for you about your career. I'm going to touch on a big event we have coming up here in the spring. In the spring of 2024, we will be going on the Browns fan Cruise together. That is confirmed. You'll be there soaking up the sun and blue waters of the Caribbean with all the fans and 17 other Cleveland Browns alumni. Wow.
[01:44:20] Speaker D: Yeah.
[01:44:21] Speaker A: So we have to say, being that we are brought to you by the Cleveland Browns Fan Cruise and the podcast of the Cleveland Browns fan Cruise will be on the fan cruise. McGing the events on the fan cruise. We will be the hosts of the fan cruise. We got to say we're really excited to share that fan cruise with a legend such as yourself, Ben. And so can you tell our listeners a little bit about the Cleveland Browns fan Cruise?
[01:44:44] Speaker D: Well, we know it's Royal Caribbean independence ship that we're going to be on. We know we got five days, three out to sea and two, and one in Jamaica and one in Bahamas. And we know it's going to be full of fun, and we know we're going to have great weather, and we know we're all going to have a great time.
[01:45:09] Speaker A: Absolutely.
I don't see how we couldn't, especially after the Browns end up winning the Super Bowl.
[01:45:15] Speaker D: Yeah, that would be a nice.
[01:45:18] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. So. But we will get back to the fan cruise here in just a little bit. But for now, I actually want to talk about you and your story. So, first of all, I know you were born in Alabama. Can you tell us about your childhood, about growing up a little bit?
We're going way back. We're starting way back.
[01:45:36] Speaker D: Yeah.
Well, I guess initially I wasn't supposed to be a professional football player.
My days began in the marching band in high school, and I was too small back then in Birmingham, Alabama, to go out and play football. So band was my activity and didn't participate too much in sports, except in the neighborhood where we played on the standlot and went away to school, went to a private school in Maine and got there, and there was no band, and it was remote. The school, Bridge Academy, was remote. So I decided to go out for every activity that they had there in as much as we would get a chance to get off the campus and see beautiful Maine. So went off of football there, never played, never did much of anything in terms of sports wise, although I did play basketball, went off the baseball team, outdoor camping, all that kind of stuff, and then went to a small school in Defiance, Ohio. Defiance college, you may have heard of it and went out there. Well, the reason I went out because I asked the coach, Bob Walker, at my school in Maine, if I should continue trying to be an athlete. And with encouragement, I think he just said it. But he says, yeah, he said, you know what? If you go out for football at this small college in, you will. By your senior year, you'll be starting. I said, okay. And that was enough for me to go out and came upon a coach there in Defiance who had a strong commitment to football, to winning, and therein started my appreciation of football and my, I guess, excellent at that sport on a small time level.
[01:47:37] Speaker A: Nice. So basically, you're saying.
I was just going to say. You're saying you didn't play any football before you got to college.
[01:47:47] Speaker D: Yes, you're correct. I did go out, but I didn't make a traveling team in some cases. And, yeah, I didn't play until I got to Defiance college. And I played as a running back at Defiance, and we worked hard to give you how, I guess, isolated we were. We didn't have a weight room my first year, our coach, me, showed us how to make weights with concrete in a bucket in a bar and told us how to work out in the summertime. But, yeah, it was pretty cool, pretty elementary. But what happened my senior year of college, we went undefeated. We did not lose not one game. We did not tie not one game. We were undefeated, and we had remarkable success. Now, how did I get drafted by the Browns is another issue. I ran track, and there was a teammate of mine who lived in Aurora, Ohio. His neighbor happened to be a scout for the Browns and a coach for the Browns. Well, my neighbor's father came to see his son run track, and I was in the same track meet and was pretty fast. And so he went back raving about me to his neighbor. And his neighbor, Bob Newsbaumber, decided to put me on the radar for being drafted. Now, in 1967, the draft choices were numerous. There were 17 draft choices, and by the time they got to the 17th round, they finally decided the Browns to draft me.
I felt this was a great opportunity to get a chance to at least try to play football. Now, my degree was in education, so I had a teaching certificate to teach school in Cincinnati, and I was looking forward to doing that, but this kind of sidetracked me, but I was enthralled by it. Bob Newsbaum of the coach came to Defiance, and I'm telling my buddies, look, we're going to go down to the Holiday Inn, which was the big restaurant there and have a meal, a dinner meal, and we'll negotiate this contract.
Bob got there and he says, where's the cafeteria? So we ended up going to the cafeteria, and the contract was just straightforward. It was like, look, I'm prepared to give you a $12,000 contract, which was a rookie, which was a minimum at that time, and I'm prepared to give you a $500 signing bonus. I said, well, look, coach, I got a commitment to teach, and $500 won't keep me away from that commitment. Can you do it any better for me? So he says, hold on, let me go call Mr. Model and see if he can give me some more money. I don't know if he went to the phone or not, but he came back and he said, okay, I'm prepared to give you a signing bonus of $1,000, and will you come? I said, you got it. I'll be there. What's the reporting date?
So that got me there now to tell you how much I felt wanted, we had a track meet in that spring, and the Browns were having their rookies in, and I called Bob the newspaper, and I says, look, we got a track meet. I don't know. I might be a little late to get to the rookie camp. And he said, oh, no, don't worry about it. Go ahead to your track me. Go to your track me. Don't worry about coming to the rookie camp. We'll be okay. So I said, okay. So anyway, I report to camp in the summer of 67, July, and things started to roll my way.
I was told that by the time we made our West coast trip, and that's where we played the. Played the 49 Ers and the Rams on the West coast trip, and then we came back to Hiram College, which is where we got our trip. Well, I was told that by the time I got back to Hiram, I would probably be cut.
But what happened? Something happened with the 49 Ers. As a matter of fact, I was a kickoff specialist, and the reason I was a kickoff specialist was because Leroy Kelly had been running back punt returns, and with Jim Brown's retirement, he became the number one running back as well as a punt return. So they were looking for somebody to return punts. But in any event, the Charlie Harrower, the guy in front of me, was hurt and didn't go on the field. And so I ran out on the field and was able to catch a few kickoffs, returned them back for 50, 60 yards, and got some more time once we got back to harm.
Then we went by the cut date, and I made the team, and I was elated.
[01:52:53] Speaker A: Nice. So basically, what you're saying is the Browns took a flyer in the 17th round on you based off of your neighbor's or a neighbor's word of mouth praise of you and ended up being a really good move for the Cleveland Browns.
[01:53:08] Speaker D: Yeah, well, I guess I was the 400th and 39th, I think, player drafted that year, and so it almost just had to be, I guess. And I got ten years out of that, so I'm very thankful that it all worked out like that.
[01:53:27] Speaker A: And I know you mentioned some of these names, the Leroy Kelly, for example. I will say, you talk about being a returner and you're being a little bit modest. You were one of the better returners in Cleveland Browns history. In fact, only Leroy Kelly, Greg Pruitt, and Eric Metcalf have better seasons as far as punt return average than you do or than you did your rookie season.
You're in pretty good company there.
[01:53:56] Speaker D: Well, yeah, you know what?
It was great to be a part of a team like this. I will say this. I went back to my hometown that summer, and I met with a high school coach at Birmingham, Rufus Harris. And I said, coach, I've been drafted by the Browns. They want me to replace Leroy Kelly or give me an opportunity to replace Leroy Kelly at punt return. And I need some help. And he had just happened to be playing. He played in the Canadian League, and he could punt the ball. So he says, okay, ben, if you come here, I'll be here and I'll punt to you. I'll put 50 of them every day if you can come here to camp. I said, hey, man, that's all I needed to hear. So Rufus, he knew a punt game. He says, look, there's going to be left footed punters. They're going to be right footed punters. The left footed punters are going to have a different spin on it than the right footed punters. He laid me all the intricacies of catching a punt, and you need that if you're going to catch a punt in a municipal stadium at that time, with the wind circling, the ball circling.
But I was well prepared. I was well prepared to catch, and I knew how to run the ball punts. And it worked out well. In fact, it worked out so well that I led the NFL my rookie year in punt return yardage. And it was incredible. We had a great team. The thing you do in punts is they build a wall for you. Your teammates build a wall. You have one guy who takes the first guy coming down so you can catch the ball without being interfered, and then you try to make it to that wall. If you can get behind that wall, your guys set it up for you. You got to pass all the way to the end zone. And we pride ourselves in being able to try to do that.
[01:55:49] Speaker A: Yeah, good old days of punting, they don't allow that anymore.
[01:55:53] Speaker D: Well, there are so many rules now. Yeah, there are so many rules about kicking that we won't get into that.
[01:55:59] Speaker A: But, yeah, we'll be here all night because I know we are not happy with how they've kind of tried to take the kicking game, the return game out of it these last few years here. But I do want to ask you one thing, Ben. You mentioned you were a wide receiver when you were in college.
I'm sorry, a running back when you were in college. But then when you got to the NFL, you ended up being not only a return specialist, but a cornerback. So how did you make that switch from offense to, you got.
[01:56:31] Speaker D: I don't know how much time you got, but okay. That's another story in itself.
I think once the Browns recognized that I could make the special team, then there had to be a position that I needed to play. Now, back in those days, the roster consisted of 40 players, and eventually, if you were a special team player, you had to make the transition into a regular position player. Now, I was drafted as a wide receiver, and Blancaria, the coach there at the time, told me, he says, look, we got Paul Warfield, we got Gary Collins, we got Cliff McNeil, and we drafted Epi Barney. We got some guys. You won't make this team as a wide receiver. So I think the only position that you could make would be as a defensive back.
And to say this, I feel very proud of the fact that the head coach, Bladden Collier, would take me aside after practice and would work with me individually. He made it so simple. He was saying, look, covering somebody in football is almost like covering in basketball. You play basketball? Yeah, I like basketball. Okay, how did you cover? And we'd run up and down the field. He would go to the left, I would slide my feet and back up and continue to back up. And we did this.
And things turned out pretty good because I started as a right cornerback my second year.
[01:58:05] Speaker A: You did start your second year, and that's not even telling even a part of the story because I know you had eight interceptions that year, which is third best in Browns history, and you still hold the record for seven games. In a row with an interception. And I know that the Cleveland Browns that year had 32 interceptions as a team, which is still a team record. So you were part of probably the best secondary ever been wearing. Cleveland Brown, Brown and orange.
[01:58:34] Speaker D: Yeah. You have done your history. I mean, you looked up, man. You're right.
We did set a record. The defensive secondary, which consisted Eric Barnes, was on the left corner, Mike Howell was a safety, and Ernie Kellerman was a strong safety. And that, along with the linebackers, we had 32 interceptions that year, which was a record, and it stayed for a long period of time.
Yeah, I was fortunate enough to get eight interceptions.
There was seven games consecutively with an interception. So let me tell you how this happened and why this happened.
Obviously, if you're opposing quarterback, you see, you got a rookie, you got a young guy over at the right corner position who was ready for me to start working on him. And on the left corner, you had Eric Barnes, who all pro many years should be in the hall of Fame.
And he had a way of dropping receivers with his forearm. If a receiver came at him, he'd just throw a little forearm out there and it's over. So anyway, I was working hard every day, every game, every Sunday I had balls thrown at me, and fortunately, I was able to intercept at least one every game for those seven straight games. But I think the key to that whole experience was who I had to practice against during practice, and that was all pro Paul Warfield.
And, you know, as in football, as in anything now they want to see how you do in practice. So all the practice was videoed, and I knew I had to do some good during the practice. And I was able to hold my own to a certain extent, at least for a young defensive back, going up against a guy like Paul Warfield.
[02:00:36] Speaker A: No, that's seven. Seven games in a row with interception is just one of the most insane things I've ever heard. I'm not going to lie to you.
[02:00:47] Speaker D: Well, I'll tell you this, Dandy Don Meredith with the Dallas Cowboy. I share these stories, so I'm sure I'll be able to repeat them again on the cruise. But Dandy Don Meredith was the quarterback in 1968 for the Dallas Cowboys.
Renfro was a wide receiver, and I think I have the dubious distinction of being the last one to intercept one of his passes because during that game, he was pulled after I intercepted a pass. And from then on, you saw him in the booth on Monday Night Football.
[02:01:34] Speaker A: So basically, Ben Davis is out here.
[02:01:36] Speaker D: Ending people's careers in that case it got along to a better career. Anyway.
[02:01:44] Speaker A: I think Kenny does have a couple of questions for you here.
[02:01:47] Speaker B: I was just curious.
Played seven interceptions in a row. So was this primarily like man to man coverage that you were running at that time? Was that kind of your base defense, or was there, what kind of different schemes, I guess, were you running in terms of a defensive back then?
[02:02:03] Speaker D: Well, that's an interesting question, because the way defensive back plays now and back in my days is completely different.
The most common coverage that we had was man on man with post help. That is to say, if a wide receiver is running a flag out pattern, a quick out, then the cornerback is responsible for covering him on those plays. If he runs into the middle, as you know, the easiest pass for a quarterback to throw is straight down the middle. So they'll give you what was then called a free safety, and they called him free because he was allowed to roam someone more. So, you know, you had help when your receiver ran to the post, ran inside, but anything a post flag, any of those patterns out there, you were responsible for covering them. Now, in many cases, if you had a Warfield type, a receiver that had to double team, you would sometimes get the win.
We call him the win linebacker. That's the weak side linebacker, and I was on the weak side most of the time. He would come out in the flats and help you with some of the out patterns. But all in all, we had a little help from the linebackers coming for the hook pattern, a middle linebacker coming for the cross pattern, but it was mostly man to man with safety help, and there was variations of other coverages. And I don't want to bore you all with all this stuff.
[02:03:45] Speaker A: This is great.
Listen, I know we never made it to your level, but you probably can't tell by Kenny's physique nowadays, but we were both DBs in high school. Oh, wow.
[02:03:56] Speaker D: All right, way to go. We got a forum here with DBS.
[02:04:01] Speaker A: There we go.
[02:04:04] Speaker D: They have a cover two. Now, if you hear a lot of the guys talk about a cover two, a cover two was similar to what we called a two kick. And a two kick would be where I would roll up, the cornerback would roll up on a wide receiver, the weak safety would go to the outside, and they split the field in half on both.
Mean, there are variations of what we did, but more refined, I suppose. I guess in some cases we had Joe Turkey Jones. I don't know if you guys knew Joe Jones. Joe Jones.
Miles Garrett has a run to him that reminds me of Joe Jones, the way Joe Jones gets in his defensive end stands, kicks his legs up. So we had some great Russells back in those days, too, and that always helps a secondary in terms of getting their job done, for sure.
[02:05:01] Speaker B: No, I just find it, I mean, to have that many interceptions this season playing is unreal. I mean, I think in today's game, you watch a lot of these guys, their eyes are on the quarterback because they're in a zone and they're taking their read steps and they're always watching the quarterback. So it's a little bit easier, I think, just to follow the ball. Whereas if you're on a man, you're basketballing that guy all the way down the field until that ball is in the air.
[02:05:25] Speaker A: And at that point, the Browns are lucky enough to have Denzel Ward right now, who's a phenomenal man coverage guy, and there's no way he's ever going to have probably seven interceptions in consecutive.
Just, it's just crazy to think, mean.
[02:05:42] Speaker D: I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I got a lot of work over there, too, with trying to avoid a seasoned veteran on the other side.
They overworked me and kind of made the best of it, I guess.
[02:05:58] Speaker B: Sure. Can you talk about, too, just obviously the game has evolved quite a bit since you're playing days in terms of a lot of ways, money and the workouts and things go on. Can you talk about, just like you mentioned in the offseason, you were working with a coach doing catching punts and things, but what else did you work out all season long?
Did the Browns prepare a regimen for you, or was it kind of just like, what was that like in the offseason?
[02:06:30] Speaker D: Well, I'm glad you brought that up because in the late 60s, you would break camp at the end of the season. You'd get all your stuff in your bag, pack your car up, and you go back to your home. In this case, Cleveland was my home, and you got a job and you worked for the next five or six months. And also, as you did that, you worked also on your game as well. But you had a dual issue back then. You had to make money to live with and you had to stay abreast of your game as well.
And the football side of it was such that you could not afford to get out of shape.
The workout areas that we had were not that great. But I remember here in Cleveland because that's why I would stay during the offseason. Walt Johnson, he was a good friend of mine, defensive lineman in 72, 71 to 72, Nautilus had just come out, and we couldn't find a Nautilus machine in the Cleveland area. We drove up to Menor, the Menor Heistley Racket Club.
They were the first with a Nautilus in the area. And we drove up there every day to participate in that new technology of, yeah, you can see the transition, and you can see what's happened over the years in terms of working out. Now, you ask about that. I'm going to tell you a little bit more.
Each season, I had the opportunity to do different jobs.
My first offseason, I went into the National Guard unit, so I had to go to Fort Benning, Georgia, and participate in boot camp. And this was the best thing that could have happened for me because, man.
[02:08:33] Speaker A: You know, talk about staying in shape.
[02:08:35] Speaker D: Service. Yeah, you're in shape. You get up in the morning, you got your combat boots on, and 04:00 in the morning. So I came back, and that might have been why I had such a great second year, too. Okay. But after that, I worked with Coca Cola. I worked with Cuyahoga County Social event where we went to boys and girls detention homes and work the kids there and orphan kids. And so we got a chance to do that.
So I got a little bit of everything in terms of business, in terms of social side of learning during the offseason as well. So real estate, so on and on.
[02:09:21] Speaker A: A wide array of odd jobs that you kept during the offseason.
[02:09:26] Speaker B: It's just incredible.
[02:09:28] Speaker D: They were OD.
[02:09:29] Speaker B: Just incredible because you kind of have to start over every offseason with something new.
I can't imagine. There's a lot of places that are just let you have five, six months off at a time.
But, yes, it's just incredible thinking about that. But was there an advantage to getting a job? Because you could at least go like, hey, I play for the Browns. And they were like, all right, that's.
[02:09:55] Speaker D: Hey, when I got to.
And it's even more so now. If you were a Cleveland Brown player, you could walk on water. I mean, you could do anything because we love our fans. We love our team so much here. In fact, you've heard this before. Bland Collier, my coach, says, we lost one time, and, man, everybody was unhappy in the locker room. He says, look, you guys feel bad. You go up there on Euclid and East 9th street and look at the people going to work on Monday morning, and you tell me how they feel about this game. So now I got a great indoctrination into what the Cleveland Browns mean to the city of Cleveland and the surrounding suburbs.
[02:10:44] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that actually is a really good segue into my next question here. So spending time with a franchise, it's obviously more than just playing football for them. You kind of become involved with your teammates, you become involved with the community.
So with that in mind, is there a favorite off the field memory that you have from your time in Cleveland?
[02:11:05] Speaker D: A favorite off the field moment? You're taxing my memory back in those days.
I know we played a lot of golf. We tried to get away and play golf with my teammates. We joined the Cavaliers, Bingo, Smith.
We all had things that we would do together sports wise.
My favorite off the field memory? Well, I got married.
[02:11:44] Speaker A: That's always a good one.
[02:11:47] Speaker D: That's a memory that's still going on.
[02:11:52] Speaker A: So you've been married a while now, right? So you're picking up Brownie points. You know how it's done. You know how to stay married for a long time.
[02:12:00] Speaker B: Happy wife, happy life.
[02:12:01] Speaker D: Well, yeah, it's working out that way. So I might have to come back to that a little later.
[02:12:08] Speaker A: Well, we'll see you on the fan cruise. So we'll be interviewing you again on.
[02:12:13] Speaker D: The ship by then. In fact, I'll be able to tell some of those memories without being fearful of a broadcast situation.
[02:12:22] Speaker A: There you go.
That's what we're really looking forward.
So I will say, obviously, you had a great career. You excelled in every position you were ever put in. And it's awesome that we can claim you as a Cleveland Brown, but for most guys, they kind of get this life after football. And so can you tell us what you're up to today? Are you involved with any charities? Are you involved with the game? What do you got going?
[02:12:49] Speaker D: You know, after I retired, I went to work with Xerox Corporation.
Xerox. At that time, I was looking for a corporation that would train me as well as give me an opportunity to succeed in a corporate America, and did well, spent five years there, and all of a sudden, I got a notice that I was rift. For anybody that doesn't know what Rift is, it means a reduction in force for no reason other than the numbers just don't fit. But anyway, I went out, started my own business at the time, got into cable TV, got a radio station in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and continued my connection with Xerox in the form of a reseller. So that took me on into.
Yeah, it was a good life. It was very good. It allowed me to send two kids to college and raise them.
I feel very good about that.
[02:13:56] Speaker A: Nice. Very nice.
That's all fantastic.
It sounds like you're a phenomenal family man. So we do love that. We both just recently became fathers ourselves. So we appreciate we have a new found. I'll call it understanding. Understanding.
I'm actually leaning towards fear of the cost of college.
So, yeah, I can appreciate putting kids through college A little bit more now than I used to.
[02:14:26] Speaker D: Well, yeah. And it's so much more tougher now. I can imagine.
[02:14:32] Speaker A: I just did a thing the other day that told me that they do the future estimated cost of college, and it tells me that my daughter, it'll cost $375,000 to put her through college.
[02:14:45] Speaker D: You better start saving.
[02:14:47] Speaker A: I know.
Another, like three jobs, I would say now, but I do want to bring this back to the time that we're going to share on the open ocean, and obviously those amazing stops that you mentioned along the way. So let's talk about some of the things that everyone should look forward to on the fan cruise. What's the activity or event that you yourself, Ben, are looking most forward to on the fan cruise?
[02:15:11] Speaker D: Okay, let me say this.
The first cruise that I went on was my parents 35th anniversary. And we got as much of the family that could get down to. We went out in New Orleans, as a matter of fact, and we went out, and it was the closest that we all have been, and we got a chance to just enjoy one another. And I think that's the main activity that you find in a cruise Such as the one we're going on in. Mean, you know, you're going to be with fans, football fans. You're going to have the opportunity to ask any questions, just like you all are doing about my life and how things have.
Yeah, but in addition to all that, in addition to that, which is wonderful in itself, you're going to see Jamaica. You're going to see Jamaica in March, which is getting out of Cleveland in March after cabin fever set in, is probably the most wonderful thing. You're going to see the Bahamas. You're going to see just beautiful land, beautiful sand, ocean on the ship.
There's water platforms, there's slides and water. There's probably basketball courts. There's competition sports wise.
And you know, you're going to have a lot of food, and you know.
[02:16:47] Speaker A: You'Re going to have a lot of.
[02:16:51] Speaker D: So what do you have? You have the ingredients for a wonderful time. A wonderful time. And especially if we win the Super bowl in hell.
[02:17:00] Speaker A: Yes. No, absolutely. I mean, you really summed it all up pretty well there.
[02:17:04] Speaker B: I'm ready to go right now.
[02:17:05] Speaker A: Yeah, tomorrow. No, but real quick, I do want to say there is a competition for the Browns backers out there, so I just want to go over that. The chapter with the most bookings will get an all expenses paid balcony cabin for two on the Browns fan cruise. The chapter with the highest members to bookings ratio also gets an all expenses paid Ocean View cabin for two. All members of the winning chapter will receive a specialty dining pass for two guests, and all members of the winning chapter will receive a Browns fan cruise commemorative Cleveland Browns autographed football. And so with that in mind, knowing that the Browns backers are having this competition, do you have anything that you want to say to Browns backers across the nation and actually across the world?
[02:17:46] Speaker D: I'm so happy that you exist. Number know, I guess the Brownsbackers came out of the cardiac kids era when we just started to, I mean, last minute, we will win a game and we were just so exciting throughout the whole world, and so it's been able to continue and you guys do a wonderful job. I went down to Dayton this past summer for a Browns backer golf outing, and, mean, it's a great institution to have supporting the Cleveland Browns and the fans. So if I were playing now, I would truly, truly enjoy the Browns backers and the barking that you guys do.
[02:18:39] Speaker A: Yeah, the dog pound, baby.
And we really appreciate that they are an organization like no other, and we're happy that we root for a team that has a backing like them. Last question for you before we, before we sign off Cleveland Browns, they've started the season. They've had some ups, they've had some downs.
What are your thoughts on the Browns so far this season? And also, how do you think they'll fare the rest of the way?
[02:19:10] Speaker D: Well, I tell you, I had an opportunity to go out to the Browns practice earlier this year, and you could see, especially, I watch the defensive backs, especially in the defensive backs, you can see a different attitude about how they approach the game with the new defensive coordinator that we have. I think that is true. These guys now are playing offensively from the defensive side of the football. I mean, they are making the offense do what they want them to do, and they know that what they wanted to do, they can stop that play, if you understand what I'm saying.
And the corners we got, man, Denzel Ward, man, he's a veteran.
He just hit so hard. He hit so hard to be his boy I mean, he makes those receivers.
Newsom, Greg Newsome, I mean, he came in from Northwestern with just a lot of energy for this team.
And Emerson. Emerson, he reminds me a lot of Irish Barnes. I mean, he's a tall guy. Irish was about 6263, and Emerson is a tall guy, too. And, man, he can move. He can move. So, yeah, those corners, they just know how to shut down. Back in the day, you had primetime. He was a shutdown man. He was the one shutdown man. But now you got three shutdown guys in the secondary at the same time.
I say that to say that our defense should be responsible, and as we saw Sunday, was responsible for shutting down one of the best offenses in the NFL. So, yeah, we can continue to do that, man. We should be able to carry this baby a long way.
[02:21:24] Speaker A: Yeah. And it is crazy to think you mentioned the corner specifically. We have Denzel, Ward, Newsom and Emerson. You're like, if a guy goes down, yeah, that's terrible. But you basically have another Pro Bowler stepping up to take a spot.
It's pretty crazy to think about. And obviously, you're talking, again about the 49 ers game, where for, I don't know, probably the fifth time in five games, the defense absolutely shut the other team down, almost single handedly won the game.
[02:21:57] Speaker D: And they say that the yardage, I guess we're leading the NFL now in yardage allowed.
[02:22:06] Speaker A: We've allowed 1002 yards through five games. It's the best in 50 years.
[02:22:11] Speaker D: Incredible. Incredible.
[02:22:13] Speaker A: That's.
[02:22:13] Speaker D: Back in my day, that was.
[02:22:18] Speaker A: When.
[02:22:18] Speaker D: You can do that. When you can shut down an offense like that and you can do it continuously, man, you got something. For real.
And then we did lose Chubbs, which was a sad day. A very sad day. But we're finding that we're picking up the slack with Hunt and Ford.
Just get our quarterback situation stable, and I think we're off to the winning line. So let's see if we can do.
[02:22:53] Speaker B: Absolutely great, great spending time with you, Ben. This has been awesome, just hearing some of the stories. I did have one final question, too, before we wrap up. Obviously, you came into the Browns right at kind of the end of Jim Brown's career. Obviously, we lost the great Jim Brown this year. But just being in Cleveland around that time, at the end of his career, and maybe as part of even the alumni organization with the Browns, do you have any special interactions with Jim at any time during your time with the Browns or the alumni organization?
[02:23:28] Speaker D: Yes, in fact, I reflect on my first meeting of Jim, and we had what was called a runner up bowl in 1967, and basically we got eliminated from the playoffs after losing a game in the playoffs. Then we went down to Miami, Florida. We spent a week there, and then we played, in this case, we played the Rams in this bowl. So I was sitting on the bench and Jim Brown walks up to me and he introduces himself to me in street clothes. He's in street clothes. He walks up. And I was awed by the fact that Jim Brown came up and introduced himself to me.
Now, later on in life, Jim Brown, as you know, was a competitive person. He was competitive in everything that he did, including golf and Pruitt and I. He's going to be on a cruise with us. We got a couple of stories we had together with Jim Brown in terms of playing golf and what the outcome was. So we'll tell all the fans on the cruise a little bit more about that competition that we had with him. It was two of us against one of him. We'll put it that way.
[02:24:48] Speaker A: Yeah. And we actually do have some really good stories from Greg about the time spent with Jim Brown golfing. So we've heard some already, and we're looking forward to hearing more on the fan cruise.
[02:25:02] Speaker D: All right, good.
[02:25:03] Speaker A: So, Ben, listen, it's been fantastic having you. We really appreciate your time. And like I said, we can't wait to see you in March and we will do some more catching up.
[02:25:13] Speaker D: Right. And I have the dubious distinction of being with two defensive backs in the room, too. So I had a great time. I had a great time, guys, and see you on the cruise.
[02:25:24] Speaker A: All right. See you on the cruise. Thank you, sir.
[02:25:37] Speaker D: I'm Ben Davis, and you're listening to Burning River Sportscast. Go Brown.
[02:25:57] Speaker A: Ben Davis, man.
[02:26:00] Speaker B: Look, I say it every week. The stories we hear from these guys will blow your mind.
[02:26:05] Speaker A: They will. They will. And again, this is just a taste of the stories you'll be able to hear from these guys if you get yourself a ticket to the inaugural Browns fan Cruise in March of 2024.
[02:26:14] Speaker B: 60 day payment plans are still available right now.
[02:26:16] Speaker A: Still available.
[02:26:17] Speaker B: You can stretch it out a little bit till the end of the month. So, yeah, definitely get your tickets. Get them now while you can stretch those payments out. Excellent deal. We've talked about the inclusivity of this cruise and all the things that come with it, because it's not just Browns events. You get your meals and drinks, tickets, all that stuff included. So pretty awesome event. Going to be an epic time with Browns alums like our friend Mr. Ben.
[02:26:39] Speaker A: Davis and as we're starting to wind down the list of alumni interviews that we have, I start looking back at all the ones we've done and the stories that these guys have told. And again, it's just a taste of what you're going to hear if you actually talk to them on the fan cruise. And it's unreal. I can't wait to actually get these guys in a room, not on air, so they could say whatever they want about everything.
[02:26:58] Speaker B: Yeah, because we've had a couple of those head nods, we could tell you more, but that stuff's got to wait for the cruise when they're not being recorded.
But man, you're right. You should think about each of these interviews almost like the chapter of a book. You just go through each of them, stam slaughter like all these guys and the stories that they have, and they.
[02:27:20] Speaker A: Really did a good job of representing basically every era.
[02:27:25] Speaker B: There's no real younger, younger guys from the more recent Browns teams. It's really eclectic collection of Browns alums that have just been taking us down some amazing paths all season long. So if you haven't booked your ticket, please do. And if you haven't heard all the interviews, go back and listen to them on our YouTube channel.
[02:27:47] Speaker A: They're all available on YouTube. We even split them out to make it real easy for you. Just listen to the interviews.
[02:27:51] Speaker B: You don't even have to listen to Ronnie and I just listen to these guys talk.
[02:27:53] Speaker A: We're pretty damn funny. But if you just want listen to the interviews, you could do that too, because it's awesome. But that'll take us to the week eleven preview.
All right, this week we have round two of the season with the Pittsburgh Steelers. This time we're at home with a chance to possibly take the division lead heading into the home stretch of the season.
So matchup previews, opposition research. Kenny, we'll start with you. What do you have here? What do you want to talk about?
[02:28:25] Speaker B: Look, I wish I had a way to explain this team in any way that makes sense to anyone.
You have an undersized, underskilled quarterback, anybody that watches Steelers.
[02:28:43] Speaker A: You're just like, I have no idea how this has happened.
Go on.
[02:28:46] Speaker B: I mean, they've got guys like Godwin Bigwibuque, like, making contributions on offense.
Naji Harris has not done anything all year, but they continue to let him try it out and be a starter each week.
[02:28:59] Speaker A: I mean, George Pickens, he fills the spot.
[02:29:02] Speaker B: Kind of the one lone bright spot in terms of like he.
[02:29:05] Speaker A: George Pickens is unreal. I'll give him credit. George Pickens is phenomenal.
[02:29:08] Speaker B: But outside of that, I mean, the rest of this offense, it's like Diet Vanilla.
And look, the defense holds their own. They've got some names out there, names that we all know. TJ Watt, obviously make it Fitzpatrick, although he's been banged up.
[02:29:23] Speaker A: Patrick Peterson again this week. Well, you got the Patrick Peterson.
[02:29:27] Speaker B: The ageless one is out there still doing big things. And some of these guys on the line, Kim Hayward, obviously, TJ Watt, Larry Ogen, Joby, who used to play for us.
They have a lot of talent on the defense, but it's also kind of supplemented with a bunch of guys that you also wouldn't know. So how this team is six and three, how they continue to win games. The only explanation I have for you is that Mike Tomlin is an excellent coach.
[02:29:52] Speaker A: Mike Tomlin.
[02:29:53] Speaker B: So this team will go as far as Mike Tomlin will allow them to because it's just like, pick a name, throwing a hat. Doesn't matter who comes out. I'll coach them anyway.
[02:30:02] Speaker C: They have a negative point differential and they're six.
[02:30:04] Speaker A: And, like, how does that happen other than you have the best coach or one of the best coaches in the league?
[02:30:10] Speaker C: It's insane. Yeah, because their defense scores. I don't know, but I guess that probably goes into the statistics guy.
[02:30:18] Speaker B: I got it. It's like they won six one point games and lost the other three games in blowouts, right?
[02:30:23] Speaker A: Yeah, it is crazy. So I'll start this thing. As far as matchups go, I always obviously highlight two matchups, but we'll start with the Browns front seven versus Kenny Pickett. The Browns front seven has been solid somehow, despite poor statistics. Kenny Pickett keeps the Steelers winning games. So I think the game plan here is you just need to keep him uncomfortable, get after him early and often. Don't let Tommy two gloves over there get any momentum whatsoever and think he's good because he's not. He wears two gloves. He's got stupid hate. I hate Kenny Pickett.
[02:31:00] Speaker B: I think they need to take one of his gloves off.
[02:31:02] Speaker A: That will do it. Distract him, but yeah, I mean, just like bury him early and give him no hope of revival.
[02:31:09] Speaker B: Look, I'm inventing a new statistic this week because this is what I think this Browns defense front seven does so well is disrupt quarterbacks by touching them like Frank Stanley.
[02:31:21] Speaker A: Keep a note in your phone. And just how many times.
[02:31:23] Speaker B: How many times do we have a hand on the quarterback, whether it ended in a sack or not? How many times we disrupt the play because we touched the quarterback.
[02:31:30] Speaker A: I bet you're going to find a positive correlation between that and us winning games. Yeah. And then next up here I have the Browns offensive line versus the Steelers front strength. You kind of mentioned it. The strength of the Steelers defense is the front seven. Specifically that defensive line.
[02:31:45] Speaker B: It's really just TJ Watt, right?
[02:31:46] Speaker A: I mean, TJ Watt. Cam Hayward's good, too, but the weakness of the Cleveland Browns due to injuries at the moment is their offensive line. They did a good job filling in last week, which we mentioned already in the show. But what I'm looking for is can the Browns offensive line do that again this week against another solid defense? And can they hold TJ Watt and Cam Hayward at least in check? They don't have to shut them down completely. They're probably both going to have a sack. But can they at least keep them in check and not let him go crazy and really ruin the game for the Browns?
[02:32:15] Speaker B: It's an interesting matchup because you would think, all things being equal, Cam Hayward, he plays on the inside more often than not. So that's the strength of our line right now, is Batonio and Pochick and Teller. But the thing is that if you have young guys again on the outside trying to hold up TJ Watt all day, you're going to have to double team him with one of those inside guys. So that's where you end up with one on one matchups with Cam Hayward. So yeah, it's going to be a really interesting game because of, you know, again, this whole game is predicated on screens with our offense. So hopefully you just wear those guys out by letting them run through and tossing over their heads.
[02:32:59] Speaker A: And so as a team, the Steelers, as you mentioned, six and three record, they're coming off a win against the Green Bay Packers. But here's the deal. This team's a phony. This team is an absolute phony. They are not as good as their record indicates, but they do have a fantastic coach. So I give him most of that credit. But the Browns should beat this team. And if they do, if the Browns beat this team, then fans are going to be absolutely besides themselves. You'll have beaten the Ravens and the Steelers in back to back weeks. And if the Bengals can do the unthinkable and they manage to beat Baltimore as well, then Cleveland might be thrown into absolute, like there might be cars on fire in downtown Cleveland.
[02:33:34] Speaker B: I mean, when's the last time? And I'm sure it's happened a couple of times since I. But it hasn't happened frequently. When's the last time that the Browns have beat Cincinnati, Baltimore and Pittsburgh in a season?
[02:33:43] Speaker A: There hasn't been many.
And, you know, like I said, the Browns should win this game. This team is a phony. But I will preface that with, or I will caveat that with what do I know? Because last week I said the Browns needed to start fast and finish strong.
I specifically said we couldn't spot them a couple touchdowns because we wouldn't be able to dig ourselves out of that one. And here we are. So I digress. Kenny, that'll take us to the injury report.
[02:34:12] Speaker B: Yeah, injury.
All right. Injuries this week.
So Megan Fitzpatrick was out. That's big loss for Pittsburgh if he cannot play. We talked about TJ Watt and Cam Hayward, probably the two best players under defense, but Mink is probably one A or two A or three A, however you want to rank those guys. And then Montrevious Adams, defensive tackle, out as well. Quan Alexander, he is out indefinitely with a season ending Achilles.
[02:34:59] Speaker A: Feels bad.
[02:35:00] Speaker B: That happened, literally in the packers game this weekend, so that does feel bad for them. Pat Friarmouth, though, is set to come back this week. Their young tight end is supposed to start practicing again this week and hopes to be eligible to play against Cleveland on Sunday. So outside of that, we do tend.
[02:35:21] Speaker A: To have trouble with tight ends.
[02:35:22] Speaker B: Nothing super of note makeup has. Patrick, I think, is the big one we're going to watch this week because he's the one that can really wreck your day.
[02:35:29] Speaker A: What about Browns?
[02:35:31] Speaker B: Browns question. We talked about Denzel Ward getting the cheap shot on him.
Good news is he's past concussion protocol. Looks like some kind of minor neck strain at the moment, so he's probably going to play if he can. It'll probably come down to how he feels on Sunday.
[02:35:48] Speaker A: Muscle strains are weird, so that's probably what it is. Everybody's kind of had either some whiplash or just like your neck jammed up a little bit. And it's weird because sometimes it hurts so bad for a few days that all of a sudden it's.
[02:36:02] Speaker B: Yeah, um, and then you, uh. Deshaun obviously banged up with the ankle. He was set to undergo an MRI early this week, so we'll see if anything comes out of that.
[02:36:11] Speaker A: But according to him, he's playing, all.
[02:36:13] Speaker B: Things being equal, hopefully he's the quarterback. He's the $230,000,000 man. He's got to find a way to get on the field. Marquis Goodwin, wide receiver, out. David Bell, wide receiver, out. So I don't have a whole lot of problems.
[02:36:26] Speaker A: They're already ruled out for this week.
[02:36:28] Speaker B: They were ruled out yesterday or on Sunday.
[02:36:32] Speaker A: You're saying they were out this last game and we'll see what happens.
[02:36:35] Speaker B: Their designation still says out as of this morning. Okay, so that can change throughout the week. But right now they're out. They're not practicing.
Juan Thornhill was left Sunday's game against Baltimore with a calf questionable for this week. Dewan Jones, still listed as out, would be a huge help to get DeWand back and at least replace one of those bookends on the line because he's played really well this year.
[02:37:04] Speaker A: Probably the biggest deal in the draft.
[02:37:06] Speaker B: And then the rest of these guys look like IR guys. So those are the big ones. But hopefully DeShaun and Denzel will be fine to play and then hopefully Dewan comes back. Juan Thornhill, I mean, we'd like to have him back, too, but I think the secondary is deep enough right now that you can afford to miss like one of those guys and not be in such a bad.
[02:37:26] Speaker A: And you're playing Kenny Pickett and you're.
[02:37:28] Speaker B: Playing Kenny Pickett who goes for 170 yards a game, two gloves.
[02:37:31] Speaker A: But that's actually a good segue, the Duan Jones news, because next up is player to watch, and I will go ahead and start things here. My player to watch this week is going to be either James Hudson II if he starts. I even gave him the third just because I like that because I'm a third. But James Hudson or Duan Jones if he starts, basically whoever's going up against TJ Watt most of the game because like I said, there's no stopping TJ Watt completely.
But if we can at least limit TJ Watt and kind of slow him down, I think that's going to be the key to letting our offense work a little bit in winning this game. So I'm interested to see how they do against TJ Watt. Kenny, who you got fair?
[02:38:13] Speaker B: I'm going Zidaria Smith this week. I think Miles Garrett is the known quantity and obviously we've been talking about him as Defensive Player of the Year MVP. So he's going to have the spotlight shined on him all game long, no stranger to the Steelers organization at all. And they generally do a pretty good job of wrapping him up. So I look for Zidarius to be the beneficiary of double teams across that line all day long. He's had a couple of really good weeks where I think he's built some personal momentum, feeling like he's really becoming a part of this Browns defense in a big way. So I think that he's the big disruptor.
[02:38:53] Speaker A: This it. I like it. Bone, who you got?
[02:38:56] Speaker C: I think I'm going to go Deshaun. He's getting some good faith here with, I think, Cleveland Browns fans after this past week, and I'm hoping he continues.
[02:39:05] Speaker A: I've never seen the tide turn so hard at halftime of a game in my life.
[02:39:09] Speaker B: This is probably the first time, right, that he's had any goodwill.
[02:39:12] Speaker C: Exactly. Then he's got to play well.
I think our defense is going to do their thing. They're going to be disruptive. They're going to do what needs to be done to win the game, and it's going to be on his shoulders. Take care of the football, protect it. Strip sacks. That's what they're coming for, interceptions. Their defense is great. So yeah, he's got to take care of the ball and get it to our playmakers.
[02:39:33] Speaker A: I like it.
So those are the players to watch for each of us, and that'll take us to the king of the North.
Anyone doesn't know by now, you haven't been listening to the show and I really hate you unless you start listening to the show and then we're best friends. But this is our year long AFC North Pickham competition that we call King of the north at the end of the season, whoever comes in last place gets punished. In the offseason this past year, Kenny had a gross of eggs thrown at him by fans in the Munilot before a preseason game. How'd that feel, Kenny?
[02:40:23] Speaker B: It was great. I loved it.
[02:40:24] Speaker A: I don't think he did. He cried.
But we haven't figured out the punishment for this year yet. But we will soon. We will soon. I promise you that. I know I keep saying it, but we will figure it out. Guys, off top of your heads, any more good suggestions?
[02:40:37] Speaker B: I told you mine earlier, which I won't repeat on the podcast because it may cause legal issues with the fan cruise.
[02:40:45] Speaker A: It won't cause legal issues with the fan cruise. It's just something that nobody can be expecting.
Bone, you got any ideas off the top of your head?
[02:40:53] Speaker C: I didn't hear this idea. Maybe I'll hear it later, but I can't take credit for this. But I believe one of you said earlier, leg wrestle DavE Zastadil.
[02:41:01] Speaker A: Then.
[02:41:01] Speaker B: I do like. I do like the weird challenges with Brown's alumni on the fan cruise.
[02:41:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[02:41:08] Speaker B: So things like the sprite challenge and.
[02:41:11] Speaker A: They won't be expecting it. We're not going to warn them ahead of time. Whoever loses coming. For example, Dave's Astadoll and say, I challenge you to a leg wrestler.
[02:41:18] Speaker B: Or like Big John Hughes. Let's arm wrestle.
[02:41:21] Speaker A: Webster Slaughter. I challenge you to a Domino's match push up competition. Yeah, just random competitions. We'll film all of them.
[02:41:28] Speaker B: Like whoever's next to the pool. We're just going to jump in and.
[02:41:29] Speaker A: Do a lap cannonball competition, belly flop competition.
[02:41:32] Speaker C: Who can hold their breath the longest?
[02:41:34] Speaker A: I like it. I like it. That's not bad. That's not bad. But yeah. So let's go ahead and get into this thing. First things first. I want to remind everyone that I am still the reigning, defending, undefeated, undisputed King of the North. How does it feel, peasants?
[02:41:50] Speaker B: I'm going to send this tape into Triple H and WWE creative. See if we can get you some promo.
[02:41:58] Speaker A: Kenny. Kenny continues his terrible stretch and is falling further and further behind. How does that feel, Kenny? I hate you. And also, in case anyone hasn't noticed, we've added our trusty Bordot bone man to the competition this year, and he is currently in second place. So let's remind everybody of those records before we make our picks. I am sitting at 17 and 14, Kenny's at 13 and 18. The only one under 500, and Bone man is at 16 and 15.
So let's go ahead and get into this week's matchups, only two of them because we all play each other this week in the AFC North. So we'll start with Cincinnati. They're going to Baltimore to take on the Ravens. Kenny, we're starting with you. Who do you got?
[02:42:37] Speaker B: It was basically on a wing and a prayer that we won this game, and I think we're better than the Bengals. So I'm going Baltimore this week. I just think they have too much firepower. I don't think that Bengals defense is that good. Just kind of depends on whether or not Joe Burrow can keep up with Baltimore or not. But I do think that Baltimore's defense is really good. I know they're really good because I just watched them and I think that they will wrap these guys up and walk away with a W there at home.
[02:43:02] Speaker A: Fair bone, who you got?
[02:43:06] Speaker C: As much as I want Cincinnati to win this game, I'm going Baltimore as well. I think their defense, as Kenny was saying, they probably got a little chip on their shoulder there after this past week and maybe playing with a little bit of fire at home.
[02:43:18] Speaker A: That's fair.
Guys, this may surprise you. I'm actually going to go with the Bengals in this one.
I think Joey B. Comes up big. He's pissed that he lost to CJ Stroud this week.
[02:43:30] Speaker B: Well, they're both Ohio State guys.
[02:43:32] Speaker A: Yeah, but Joey B. Will be the first one to tell you he's not an Ohio State guy, he's an LSU guy.
But I think that you guys are saying that the Ravens are going to come out with a chip on their shoulder. I think they're still reeling and they're like, how the shit did we lose that game last week? And weird things happen in divisional games.
A lot of times the team that's supposed to win does not win. So I'm going to say the Bengals do the unthinkable this week and help.
[02:43:59] Speaker C: Us get where we want to be this Thursday night.
[02:44:01] Speaker A: Right?
[02:44:01] Speaker C: Did you say that? Is this Thursday night game?
[02:44:04] Speaker A: Is it the Thursday night game?
[02:44:05] Speaker C: It is short week for both of them.
[02:44:06] Speaker A: So again, weird things can happen.
The one thing I will say that to your guys'point, that Baltimore has going for them now that you mentioned that it's a Thursday night game, is they don't have to travel on a short week. But I still like the. So this is exciting.
[02:44:21] Speaker B: This has been the best Thursday night matchup we've had all year.
[02:44:23] Speaker A: It is, yeah. And then next up, the only other game in the AFC north this week, the Steelers come town to take on the Cleveland Browns.
So Bone man, we'll start with you.
[02:44:35] Speaker C: Cleveland, all the way.
Let's get a pick. We're the better team and we're going to prove that Sunday.
[02:44:41] Speaker A: What's the score? What's the score?
[02:44:43] Speaker C: Let's do 25 to ten.
[02:44:47] Speaker A: That's a weird score. I like it.
[02:44:50] Speaker C: I like giving weird scores.
[02:44:51] Speaker A: Yeah. Nice. I'll go nexT. I already mentioned I picked the Bengals to knock off Baltimore and open the door for the Browns to take over as the top team in the AFC North. And I think the Browns are going to do it. I think the Browns are going to come out. I think they are riding high after this win. The defense is as confident as ever and I think we get Dwan Jones back and he does a great job against TJ White. And the Browns win this one easily, 27 to 13 and we are in first place in the AFC North.
Kenny, who you got?
Are you seriously going to do it to.
[02:45:31] Speaker B: The Steelers? You winning games? I don't know how, but they burned me the first time on this. But nothing has changed with this Steelers team except for the fact that they've gotten less healthy since the first week that I picked this game. The difference was Deshaun didn't play in that game.
Or maybe he did. I don't even remember. It's so long ago. Nick Chubb died.
Basically, here's the deal. Our offense should roll. Kenny Pickett sucks. The defense probably scores 21 points in this game. I'm going Cleveland, 30 817.
[02:46:02] Speaker A: Whoa.
I like it. So we all got Cleveland in. This should be a good game.
And that'll do it for King of the North. And once again, don't forget to call the Burning river sports cast. Hot take, hanging.
And don't forget, these are hot takes. Call us. Leave us your hot takes. These are hot takes on the hot take hotline. Hot takes, hot take. Hot take.
[02:46:25] Speaker B: We want hot takes.
[02:46:26] Speaker A: We want hot takes.
[02:46:27] Speaker B: We want hot takes. 3302-2780-8033-0227-8080-3302-278 Skipped us, Zach.
[02:46:39] Speaker A: We started at News.
[02:46:40] Speaker C: I thought we only did it three times.
[02:46:41] Speaker A: We used to. The first time in this episode, we went down the line and then we. 80 80. But either way. 330-2278 Call now. Operators are not standing by.
[02:46:52] Speaker B: We don't have the money.
[02:46:52] Speaker A: We don't have operators. No, it's just an answer machine. But we'll put you on the air and we'll talk about your hot take.
[02:46:56] Speaker B: We will do that.
[02:46:57] Speaker A: Be sure to check out our gear. Ww thetapinmedia.com shop you can get this full chub shirt, this dope ass, this hat, this hat, this mug, this mug, that haT, that hat. Bone man's hat, Bone man's shirt, this mouse pad, that mouse pad, cruise line. There's all kinds of stuff. You can get.
[02:47:15] Speaker B: Everything.
[02:47:15] Speaker A: Winter gear. Yeah, that'll do it for us. What can we expect next week?
[02:47:20] Speaker B: Next week we're going to recap the game against the Pittsburgh Schittsburg Steelers, hopefully celebrating another big win, putting us in front of the AFC North. We will then break down our week twelve matchup with the Mile High Denver Broncos. Speaking of Mile High, we will have an interview with the Browns Backers from the Mile High Browns Backers chapter. And we will add in another interview from a Browns alumni who will be joining us on the Browns Cruise in March of 2024. Mr. Reggie Langhorn.
[02:47:53] Speaker A: Don't forget to check us out on social media, tap and media is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. At the tap and media and Burning River Sportscast, that's this podcast is on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube. At Burning River Sportscast and on X at Burning River Pod. You can find our podcast wherever you get your podcast. Talk on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Podcast, Castro, good pods and so many more. Do you know what that takes us to, Kenny?
[02:48:16] Speaker B: Facts for.
[02:48:20] Speaker A: Is 27.
[02:48:29] Speaker B: Stop.
[02:48:34] Speaker A: Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy. Facts for days. I love facts for days. Boy. Oh my goodness.
[02:48:39] Speaker B: Facts for days.
[02:48:42] Speaker A: I got a chubby right now.
[02:48:44] Speaker B: Oh God, that's. Someone help them. It's not going to be me.
[02:48:47] Speaker A: Full job.
[02:48:48] Speaker B: Facts for this. We've talked at length on this show about our love of great white predators that live underneath the sea.
[02:48:55] Speaker A: Sharks. Yes, we have.
[02:48:58] Speaker B: Yeah. In the past there's nothing greater than.
[02:49:00] Speaker A: Seeing sharks in the ocean. That's true.
[02:49:01] Speaker B: That's the best thing there ever.
[02:49:02] Speaker A: We're going to see a few of them on the Santa Cruz, but not for them, not in the water. Just like over the side. The Bahamas will be swimming.
[02:49:07] Speaker B: The Bahamas are notorious for shark population.
[02:49:11] Speaker A: Thanks for letting everybody know.
[02:49:12] Speaker B: Yeah, you can swim with them there, though most of them aren't like predatory.
[02:49:17] Speaker A: Is one of those places where you can go swimming with the pigs?
[02:49:21] Speaker B: You can ask if you go swimming. I thought you were going to ask if you go swimming with the sharks, which I think there's actually a shark pan you can swim with too. Like whale sharks or something. But not forgotten a whale shark. There's like a thousand feet long. But nice sharks, nurse sharks or something.
There is a pig island in the Bahamas. Yes, it's actually a real interesting story.
[02:49:49] Speaker A: Bonus facts for days.
[02:49:50] Speaker B: Bonus facts for days. No one really knows how the pigs got there. It's assumed that it was like a cargo ship full of livestock that just shipwrecked on the island and the pigs or the islands that survived, but no one else really knows how the pigs got there.
[02:50:01] Speaker A: Could a thing possibly be true?
[02:50:05] Speaker B: But there is an island there. I don't know if you were going to have enough aliens because we're not going to the Pig Island. But I know they run excursions out to Pig island like every day because you want to see the pigs. Like why are these pigs on the island?
[02:50:14] Speaker A: Speaking of aliens bringing pigs to islands bone, do you buy into ancient aliens theory?
[02:50:19] Speaker C: No.
[02:50:20] Speaker A: Simple no.
[02:50:21] Speaker C: It's a hard no.
[02:50:23] Speaker A: Hard no, man.
Anyways, let's get back to facts for days. What are we going to do?
[02:50:29] Speaker B: Number one, you are twice as likely to be killed by a vending machine than a shark.
So when is the Discovery Channel premiering Vending machine Week.
[02:50:40] Speaker A: That'd be scary as hell.
Think about that, though. A vending machine falling on you, like people that get angry and shake them, that's a bad job out of you. First of all, don't do that.
[02:50:48] Speaker B: A lot of them aren't secured.
[02:50:49] Speaker A: Doesn't really do anything for anybody, but that thing falls on you.
[02:50:52] Speaker B: It's heavy.
[02:50:53] Speaker C: I think that just details. How often a vending machine rips somebody off. It happens a lot.
[02:50:59] Speaker A: Fair. I like that better about.
[02:51:00] Speaker B: I mean, can you imagine if that was your last act on Earth? You got ripped off of a dollar at a kitty machine and then you died. The vending machine.
[02:51:07] Speaker A: The vending machine said, fuck with me. I will kill you. I will end you right here.
[02:51:11] Speaker B: That would be terrible.
[02:51:12] Speaker A: That'D be the worst. And it's super embarrassing.
[02:51:14] Speaker B: Worst story for no bitch. Vending machine machine got me.
[02:51:18] Speaker A: I'm a dude.
[02:51:21] Speaker B: You never brush your teeth before?
[02:51:22] Speaker A: No. Never. Not once? Of course I brush my teeth, you idiot.
[02:51:27] Speaker B: Well, you know when you put your. Get your toothbrush out and you got your toothpaste?
[02:51:30] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
[02:51:30] Speaker B: You don't just squeeze it all out at once, right?
[02:51:32] Speaker A: No, that would be asinine.
[02:51:34] Speaker B: You just squeeze just a smidgen.
[02:51:35] Speaker A: Right. Yeah, you just. Dollop.
[02:51:37] Speaker B: Well, what's that called?
[02:51:39] Speaker A: Pip? No, I don't know. I was just guessing.
[02:51:44] Speaker C: Sample.
[02:51:45] Speaker B: It's called a nerdle.
[02:51:47] Speaker A: Of course it's a nerdle. Who doesn't know that?
[02:51:51] Speaker B: You said it was a pet.
[02:51:52] Speaker A: Yeah, we didn't know that.
A nerdle.
[02:51:55] Speaker B: Number three.
[02:51:55] Speaker A: I need a nerdle of toothpaste.
[02:51:58] Speaker B: Number three.
Lobsters, my other favorite animal to see. They have bladders on either side of their head, of course. And they often communicate by urinating at each other. If they want another lobster to know they're happy, sad, or angry, or interested in a relationship, they say it with pee.
And that, my friends, is facts for days. Don't just be a part of the problem, be the whole damn problem.
[02:52:25] Speaker A: And only you can prevent. River fires.
[02:52:29] Speaker B: Burning river sportscast Burning river, burning river.
Burning, burning a, burning a, burning a burning river.
[02:52:43] Speaker C: Burning, burning and burning. Burning Rivers podcast.
[02:52:46] Speaker A: Anybody got a good song that we could sing out?
[02:52:49] Speaker B: Burning river, Burning river, Burning river. It's Burning Rivers podcast. Gas. I can't really sing yet because they're still sick.
[02:52:57] Speaker C: Unburnable ships, burn, burn.
[02:53:01] Speaker A: Unthinkable ships.
[02:53:02] Speaker B: Unthinkable ships.
[02:53:04] Speaker C: I changed the word because of the word.
[02:53:06] Speaker A: I like that. Innovative.
[02:53:07] Speaker B: Unbreakable bonds break.
[02:53:10] Speaker A: That's not a good one.
I believe I could fly fury of the wind. We don't have one.
Burning river sports cast.
[02:53:21] Speaker B: Good night, Cleveland Browns fan cruise and the Burning river sports cast. What better combination could you possibly think of?
[02:53:28] Speaker D: Motorboat.
[02:53:28] Speaker F: You play the motorboat, you motorboat son of a bitch.
[02:53:33] Speaker A: You old sailor, you.
[02:53:35] Speaker B: You know, I was thinking during that.
[02:53:36] Speaker A: Interview, what were you. Nothing. Because you don't have thoughts. Because you're a brainless idiot.
[02:53:41] Speaker B: Wow. My name is Utred. Son of Utred.
[02:53:50] Speaker A: By the way, I want my foreskin back. It doesn't matter what you think. You just shut your stupid mouth.
[02:53:56] Speaker B: Just shut it.
[02:53:57] Speaker A: Filthy bastard.
[02:53:59] Speaker B: Wow.
[02:54:00] Speaker A: I just hate you sometimes.
[02:54:01] Speaker B: The weather outside is weather.
[02:54:04] Speaker A: The other one, the finger. The finger eating food fingers.
[02:54:07] Speaker D: What do you mean, funny? Funny how?
[02:54:08] Speaker B: How am I funny?
[02:54:09] Speaker A: All I do is win, win no matter what. Erroneous. Erroneous on both counts.
[02:54:14] Speaker D: Oh, Lord.
[02:54:14] Speaker A: That I am still the reigning, defending, undefeated, undisputed king of the North. How does it feel, peasants?
[02:54:23] Speaker B: Wow.
[02:54:24] Speaker A: But, damn.
[02:54:25] Speaker B: The leads are weak. The leads are weak? Fucking leads are weak?
[02:54:30] Speaker D: You're weak.
[02:54:31] Speaker B: I've been in this business 15 years.
[02:54:33] Speaker D: What's your name?
[02:54:34] Speaker A: You.
[02:54:35] Speaker B: That's my name. You know why, Mr. Because you drove a Hyundai to get here tonight, I drove an $80,000 BMW. That's my name.
Where's Logo girl when you need her?
[02:54:47] Speaker A: I desperately want to make love to us.
[02:54:49] Speaker B: We need cheese girl, now.
[02:54:51] Speaker A: Oh, man.
[02:54:52] Speaker B: We need cheese girl, now. We need cheese girl, now.
[02:54:55] Speaker A: Eating that.
[02:54:55] Speaker B: We need cheese girl, now. Down goes Anderson.
[02:54:59] Speaker A: Down goes Anderson.
[02:55:01] Speaker B: Who's canceled now? Who's canceled now?
[02:55:04] Speaker A: Probably me.
[02:55:04] Speaker B: You making a photo of fat people?
[02:55:07] Speaker A: I'm not just you.
[02:55:09] Speaker B: We're a whole race, basically.
[02:55:12] Speaker A: No way. You're just straight. Just finger banger salad.
[02:55:18] Speaker C: You first get shocked, and then you get the shocker.
[02:55:23] Speaker B: You like to see almost naked. That's cool, man. Whatever.
[02:55:26] Speaker A: No.
Here's the deal. This team's a phony.
[02:55:30] Speaker B: Brilliant.
[02:55:49] Speaker A: Today's episode was brought to you by Topath Bourbon. Topath bourbon. Made from corn, barley, and just the right amount of rye, this blended straight bourbon whiskey is designed for the real bourbon lover. Intense notes of maple, cinnamon, vanilla and oats hit you up front. Rich and intense, yet balanced all the way through with a strong and lingering finish. Great by itself on the rocks or in a Manhattan. Available locally in Northeast Ohio and online in 44 states. Topath bourbon.
Hey, Browns fans.
[02:56:23] Speaker B: This is your chance to join the company of some of the Browns all.
[02:56:26] Speaker A: Time greats on the first ever Browns fan cruise.
[02:56:29] Speaker B: Picture this for five unforgettable days.
[02:56:32] Speaker A: You're sailing across the beautiful Caribbean Sea.
[02:56:35] Speaker B: Reliving the Browns'greatest moments, getting autographs, snapping.
[02:56:39] Speaker A: Photos and celebrating on the beach with.
[02:56:41] Speaker B: Your favorite Browns alumni like Josh Cribs.
[02:56:44] Speaker A: Webster Slaughter, Eric Metcalf and a dozen others. Book now and take advantage of our.
[02:56:49] Speaker B: Easy, budget friendly payment plans on this.
[02:56:51] Speaker A: Once in a lifetime, all inclusive cruise adventure. The clock's ticking, Browns fans. To book your cabin and for more information, visit brownsfancruise.com or call 216-284-6472 Today Browns fan Cruise booths, where diehard fans and Browns alumni come together for the.
[02:57:08] Speaker B: Trip of a lifetime. Don't wait.
[02:57:10] Speaker A: Secure your spot today and go Browns.
