Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hey, Browns fans.
This is your chance to join the company of some of the Browns all time greats on the first ever Browns fan cruise. Picture this for five unforgettable days, you're sailing across the beautiful caribbean sea, reliving the Browns'greatest moments, getting autographs, snapping photos and celebrating on the beach with your favorite Browns alumni like Josh Cribs, webster slaughter, Aaron Metcalf and a dozen others. Book now and take advantage of our easy, budget friendly payment plans on this 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, where diehard fans and Browns alumni come together for the trip of a lifetime. Don't wait. Secure your spot today and go Brown.
[00:00:55] Speaker B: Media.
[00:01:15] Speaker C: The it's time, time for the Burning river sports cast. The week 18 scrimmage came and went, and now it's time for the NFL playoffs. That's right, no typos, no mistakes. Your Cleveland Browns are playing on super wild card weekend for just the third time since 1999. The seeds have been sown and a playoff bracket is set, with the Browns set to take on a very different looking Houston Texans team than the one we saw near the end of the regular season. Because making his way back into the lineup is probable rookie of the year former Ohio State Buckeye CJ stroud. It will be a strength on strength battle as one of the NFL's most potent offenses goes up against our top ranked defense. With Houston coming off an emotional win to lock up their playoff berth and the Browns coming off what feels like several weeks of rest, the drama is building in what seems to be a memorable matchup for years to come. Can the Cleveland Browns continue their regular season momentum and go one and o this week against the young but talented Texans squad? Does this team have the strength and the perseverance to make a significant postseason run? And is this the special group we've been waiting for to deliver just one before we die? Buckle up, Browns fans. The hell ride is just beginning and we'll break it all down for you. Next on the Burning river sportscast.
[00:02:29] Speaker B: It feels like a lightning bolt just hit the tip of my penis, right?
Alaskan Airlines flight's so good it'll blow your face off.
[00:02:51] Speaker C: If you want a pressurized cab, it'll be an extra 1299.
[00:02:56] Speaker B: The Venus fly trap David Bell is once again just so you know, the Burning river sports cast dog of the week.
[00:03:03] Speaker C: You're the only one that calls him.
[00:03:06] Speaker B: It's the best nickname. He catches everything.
Anything that comes his way, he snatches it.
[00:03:12] Speaker C: We're just not that big of a podcast yet to be like he's doing catches on.
[00:03:16] Speaker D: I was going to ask him, where.
[00:03:17] Speaker E: Did this nickname come from?
[00:03:18] Speaker D: Because I came into this phone, pays.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: So little attention to our podcast. He literally is on the podcast and he doesn't even know where the nickname came from.
[00:03:26] Speaker C: That's so fetch. So literally just swapped quarterback, basically, yeah. It's the same productions come out of.
[00:03:31] Speaker B: Both guys, which is pretty wild.
[00:03:33] Speaker C: Which is wild because at the time people were like, yeah, Jared Goff can't handle the load as in a starting quarterback and he remade himself in Detroit.
[00:03:41] Speaker B: Jared Goff has proved to us that he can handle a load.
[00:03:47] Speaker E: Well. There's one weather advantage that you guys have that we don't. And that's if you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes. And that doesn't apply here because it's pretty much 787-878-7978 twist.
[00:04:02] Speaker B: It's got to be terrible. I know you're living a horrible life out there.
[00:04:05] Speaker E: Run away for everybody out there that's been discouraged about DirecTV and all the negative stuff that's on social media. If you get in an airplane and fly to Honolulu, the manager of the Waikiki brewing Company guarantees that he's going to play the game. He's got it on two different, you know, don't need to worry. You can come watch with us.
[00:04:28] Speaker C: Foot rub, hand job.
[00:04:32] Speaker D: I think their offense has packs. A lot of punch punches. A lot of packs.
[00:04:39] Speaker C: Welcome in to a very special Browns playoff edition of 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 organizer of the Browns fan Cruise. I'm Kenny Thunder. So excited I have to sit on my hands to keep from clapping. Joined by Pseudofed's original test subject and bicentennial trumpet player Red Harani jams on the board today, the man who spent 14 months living amongst a pack of hyenas just to better understand the sounds of nature. The big Bone, man Bone. What does nature sound like?
To read up two questions on this episode of the Burning River Sports guest who can our fans look forward to us talking to this week?
[00:05:20] Speaker B: We got a good one for you. This week we're going to be talking to the Honolulu Browns backers.
[00:05:24] Speaker C: Aloha. And number two, where can our listeners find exclusive interviews with Browns backers and former Cleveland Browns players in preparation for what is going to be the nautical event of the year, put on by seaside events as we traverse the great Caribbean in search of riches and fun with loads of alumni and backers on board.
[00:05:41] Speaker B: Well, you can find our podcasts wherever you get your podcasts. I'm talking 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 you can find our video podcast and also the video version of all of those interviews that you just mentioned. And check us out on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. The handle for all those, 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 fun stuff in the shop. The cruise line, the chub line, cold weather gear. It's all there. We're adding more.
[00:06:20] Speaker C: If you're going on a cruise, get your cruise stuff.
[00:06:21] Speaker B: Yeah, there's good cruise stuff on there. So we got flip flops, we got swim trunks, we got bathing suits, we got everything. So make sure you get all that. We will constantly be adding to it as time goes on. So just check out the shop. It's pretty dope. But listen, guys, the Browns have arrived.
That's right, the playoffs begin this week, and the Browns are in. And the playoffs actually begin with our Brownies.
[00:06:44] Speaker C: Hell yes.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: Saturday at 430, the Browns will take on the Texans for the second time this season in energy Stadium. And we're here for it. We are here for it. So what do we have in store for you guys today? Today we've got a week 18 recap of the game of rest, as we like to call it, against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Interview with the Honolulu Brownsbackers. As we mentioned, no interview with the Browns alumni that will be joining us on the Cleveland Browns fan cruise in the second half of the show.
We do have one left that we need to schedule, but we just haven't been able to do it. Schedules are tricky.
They're tricky. People are busy. Yeah, but we'll get back to it as soon as we get that one nailed down. In the meantime, go back and catch a few of the old ones. Great stories to be heard. And we've also started cutting those up into smaller, more digestible morsels in the form of shorts and reels. Check those out. And finally, we round out the show with the NFL wild card round preview for the game against probable rookie of the year. As you mentioned, CJ Stroud and the Houston Texans.
Fun fact, probable rookie of the year on the offensive and defensive side of the ball for the Houston Texans. I forget what the dude's name is. The linebacker for the Texans. Yeah.
But, yeah, there it is. Will Anderson.
[00:08:00] Speaker D: Will Anderson.
[00:08:01] Speaker B: Will Anderson. But, yeah. So it's the playoff guys. 14 teams enter and only one team leaves. And I like our chances. So welcome to Thunderdome. Let's kick things off the right way with the burning river news story of the week. This week. An Alaskan Airlines plane lost a piece of its fuselage this past week, and passengers were forced to wear their oxygen masks and deal with the loud and violent conditions of an open plane.
[00:08:47] Speaker C: We're really taking it to the airlines.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: Recently as they made their emergency landing. This thing was fucking wild. Did you guys see this? Did you guys see this?
[00:08:58] Speaker D: I didn't click on the article, but is there actually a video of it?
[00:09:02] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, there's a video of it. There's a picture of the plane after it landed of just, like, the hole in the fuselage where the thing blew off.
Literally, a piece that looks like it's about, I don't know, 5ft tall by 3ft wide just flew off the plane.
[00:09:17] Speaker C: It's basically the size of the door.
[00:09:21] Speaker B: Yeah. Throw a picture up of this, because it was massive. It was literally the size of a row, and it just came off the plane. They're just flying with an open plane.
[00:09:31] Speaker C: In the movies when that happens, usually half the passengers get sucked right out.
[00:09:35] Speaker D: So nobody died?
[00:09:36] Speaker C: Nobody died recently.
[00:09:38] Speaker B: Luckily, they were on their seats, or else they probably would have got sucked right out. What do you do?
[00:09:42] Speaker C: You're in the seat next to the hole, though, and you're like, guys, seriously?
[00:09:46] Speaker B: I don't know.
So we'll get to that. I think that the row where it happened was actually empty, if I'm not mistaken. In front and behind it there were people, but the row where it actually happened, I believe.
[00:09:59] Speaker C: But even if you're in front or behind it. Oh, yeah, guys, we need to get out of the air.
[00:10:05] Speaker B: I'd probably pass out. I mean, you know, I'm afraid of heights for some od reason. Planes don't typically bother me, but if there was a hole in one, I would be fucking scared.
[00:10:15] Speaker D: Sounds like a really good story for these folks. And then a really big lawsuit.
[00:10:19] Speaker B: Yeah, definitely. So apparently the piece that flew off is known as a door plug. And basically what this is, is when the plane is being manufactured. Right. Some planes can be made with a door there, and some planes do not need a door in that spot, but the fuselage is the same. So what they do is they put what's called a door plug, where the door would be if you don't need the door. And then it's fastened by these big, huge fittings, big bolts, basically, that latch the thing in place. Well, the fittings are what failed, apparently. And this thing just got ripped off. Found in the backyard of somebody in Las Vegas or something. I don't even know where it was exactly, but dude literally found just a door plug in his backyard. There was also two cell phones found. One in a yard and one in the middle of the street.
[00:11:07] Speaker C: Yeah, there's definitely one flying. Yeah, you're like playing Tetris on your phone.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: Holy shit.
[00:11:13] Speaker C: Phone is gone.
[00:11:14] Speaker B: That's insane. But, yeah, the investigation into this is ongoing as far as what went wrong, and they're kind of looking into it. And what they've learned so far is that an advisory light, the plane's auto pressurization fail light came on three times in recent flights and they did not know why. This plane was marked by alaskan Airlines and not allowed to travel over water to Hawaii.
Fitting for this episode, not allowed to travel over water to Hawaii until the light was inspected. Well, apparently that had not happened before the wall of the goddamn plane blew off.
And this is what we end up with.
[00:11:55] Speaker C: Isn't it comforting to know that airline pilots are just like you, like driving your car, you see the check engine? Like, come on. They're like, it's probably just like, nothing serious.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: Like, he's trained to fly the plane, he's not trained to sensor.
No big deal.
[00:12:09] Speaker C: Get replaced.
[00:12:10] Speaker B: Yeah, I think it kind of speaks to everybody thinks that planes are, like, super regulated, which they have a lot of regulations, but stuff like this isn't uncommon.
The whole side of the plane blowing off is uncommon. But I'm just saying, things happen all the time where you hear of like a bolt or something got sheared off of a plane or like, whatever, land.
[00:12:34] Speaker C: The gear falls off.
[00:12:35] Speaker B: Yeah, it just seems like they should probably check these planes more often.
[00:12:40] Speaker C: This is what I always talk about. Think about the amount of times weekly I'll have to reboot my computer because it'll just forget what it's doing. A plane is one big computer. What happens? You get to 30,000ft and you're like, Jim, we're going to have to reboot it.
[00:12:53] Speaker B: We forgot to restart this before we got going.
[00:12:55] Speaker C: We got to clear the cache before this thing can keep going.
[00:12:58] Speaker B: Yeah, but seriously, like a whole fucking.
[00:13:01] Speaker C: Wall gone in an instant.
[00:13:06] Speaker B: The investigation again, like I was saying. So they found out that this sensor has come on three times, and they made sure it couldn't fly over water just in case. Well, they also apparently made sure nobody was sitting in that row because they were like, side of the plane might pop off at any time.
[00:13:21] Speaker C: They might fly right out.
[00:13:23] Speaker B: So, bone to your point. I think a big lawsuit is in the works for pretty much everybody on that plane. It's probably going to get paid. I mean, is it class action at that point? There's probably, like, I don't know, like 75 people on the plane.
[00:13:34] Speaker C: What's the minimum for class action? I'm not a lawyer.
[00:13:37] Speaker D: Maybe they're just going to get a settlement right off the rip and just be like, hey, folks, here's 100 grand.
[00:13:42] Speaker C: Here's a lifetime flying pass.
[00:13:43] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:13:44] Speaker B: Something you can fly whatever you want. Alaskan Airlines, where the walls fly off.
[00:13:49] Speaker C: I think Alaskan is actually affiliated with Spirit because I think.
[00:13:52] Speaker B: That explains it. That explains it. Spirit is bullshit.
[00:13:57] Speaker C: There was two facilities that it may have come out of that they were investigating what happened, and one of them was a Boeing spirit facility.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: That explains it.
[00:14:05] Speaker E: Yeah.
[00:14:06] Speaker C: Jump on. We don't need door plugs. Who needs a pressurized cabin?
[00:14:10] Speaker B: Alaskan Airlines flight so good, it'll blow your face off.
[00:14:15] Speaker C: If you want a pressurized cabin, it'll be an extra 1299.
[00:14:18] Speaker D: How many people followed the rules and masked themselves before they masked their kids?
[00:14:23] Speaker B: What do you guys think?
[00:14:24] Speaker C: I mean, that's probably a really good sociological experiment to know.
[00:14:28] Speaker D: Check the footage.
[00:14:29] Speaker C: How many people did it?
[00:14:30] Speaker B: Check the footage.
[00:14:31] Speaker C: Save yourselves.
[00:14:32] Speaker B: Well, the bad part about the footage is. So the video that's online is from a couple of rows back in the other side of the plane, and they're just, like, filming, and there's a big hole over there and they're flying and everybody's got their masks on. So I think that the video didn't start until it had happened.
[00:14:48] Speaker C: Can you imagine just how cold that plane probably got?
[00:14:50] Speaker B: Oh, my God. It was so cold.
This is terrible conditions to fly in. You're missing the side of the plane.
[00:14:57] Speaker C: And I don't know, I've never been a part of an emergency landing before, but, like, I have to imagine emergency landing isn't like they just take you out of the sky. It probably takes at least 15 to 20 minutes to even make an emergency landing or you're just flying around like that with the hole in a plane.
[00:15:10] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:11] Speaker C: Because it takes a while to get out of the sky.
[00:15:13] Speaker D: I have no idea.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: I know they were on their way to whatever the destination was, and they had to turn around and go back to the airport that they came from. Okay.
[00:15:21] Speaker D: Must have been the closest spot because, I mean, you think around here, there's, like, just random air strips and stuff. Right?
[00:15:28] Speaker B: Who makes that calculation real quick?
Well, the thing is, the passengers, it takes this long to freeze.
[00:15:36] Speaker C: We have about 41 minutes to get these guys on the ground before they're all icicles.
[00:15:41] Speaker D: And they probably needed so much Runway to land safely, they all landed.
[00:15:45] Speaker B: And it was, like, dumb and dumber where they're riding the motorcycle and they were just frozen.
[00:15:50] Speaker C: Frozen to each other.
[00:15:51] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:15:52] Speaker C: You have to imagine, too, like, zero point bone, there are random airfield, like, a Kent state has an airfield and.
[00:15:57] Speaker B: Stuff, but I don't think they're big enough for those bigger planes.
[00:16:00] Speaker C: Well, not only are they probably not big, they're probably equipped to handle an actual disaster.
If the depressurization of the plane caused the plane to crash on, like, what.
[00:16:09] Speaker B: Are the Kent State students going to do?
[00:16:12] Speaker C: There's no fire trucks there to put it out, so they probably do have.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: To go back, call the fire trucks from, like, 14 counties around.
[00:16:18] Speaker C: They probably do have to go back to, like, a specific airport.
We're just flying around with a hole in a plane for 40 minutes to find our airport.
[00:16:25] Speaker B: I don't know. This is fucking crazy.
[00:16:27] Speaker D: Hey, kudos to the pilots for landing the plane.
[00:16:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:30] Speaker C: Get everybody off safely. Get on them.
[00:16:32] Speaker B: You know what's crazier than that, though?
[00:16:34] Speaker C: The Browns in the playoffs.
[00:16:35] Speaker B: Hell, yes. So let's get into it. The week 18 recap.
Guys, listen, I got. I got real excited and said, the week 18 recap. This is the boring part of our show. If you want to fast forward, I don't usually condone this, but go ahead.
[00:16:51] Speaker C: I don't even want to do this.
[00:16:52] Speaker B: Part of the show. I'm going to speed through it.
Skip it. The Cleveland Browns played their backups, their backup starters, so their starting backups could rest going into the postseason. And we finally found where the depth of this team draws the line, and that's fifth string.
So the Browns lost, obviously, 30 114. This game was not exciting. I think everyone appreciated the time off. As we get ready to help wheel our brownies to a championship run. They got some time off. We got some time off. It was great.
[00:17:20] Speaker C: Still feel bad in real time, watching it. Yeah, because they'd been so good all year, and you were just like, yeah, they could probably pull this out. And it was just, no, they didn't.
[00:17:28] Speaker B: So we'll start like we always do with our opponent, Cincinnati Bengals. Like I said, I'm going to go fast, so if you have anything to throw in, just go ahead and speak up, boys. But if not, I'm just going to run through this. So. Jake Browning, 18 to 24, 156 yards, three touchdowns, one interception, two rushes, 18 yards. Joe Mixon, best part of the Bengals, I think, in this game. 14 carries, 111 yards, one touchdown, one catch for six yards and a touchdown. And see, Joe Mixon is good when he's playing backup. Backups.
[00:17:56] Speaker C: My mom, I was watching the game. My mom, she was like, that guy's fast. I was like, no, he's not.
[00:18:00] Speaker B: He's fast when he's playing fast, because they're backups. Next up, Andre Iocevis. I'm not sure if I pronounced that right. Five receptions, 36 yards, two touchdowns.
[00:18:09] Speaker C: I did think his one touchdown was bullshit. Well, the one where they had stripped him as he was on the ground. I mean, how many times we've seen that play? You have to control the ball all the way through the catch.
[00:18:21] Speaker D: Only if you're out of bounds.
[00:18:25] Speaker E: That's what I'm saying.
[00:18:25] Speaker D: It doesn't make sense. I feel like you should have to.
[00:18:27] Speaker C: Control the ball the whole time.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: Right?
[00:18:29] Speaker C: I feel like I've seen that call reversed a hundred times for guys not.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: Controlling the catch, this always goes back to, nobody in the NFL knows what a catch.
[00:18:36] Speaker C: Nobody knows what it catches.
[00:18:37] Speaker D: Well, like, what you were saying, though, is what I'm saying. Somebody drags their toe, gets the touchdown, right? That should be the end of it. And then they.
And they say it's not a catch.
[00:18:45] Speaker C: Right.
[00:18:46] Speaker B: If you already completed the catch with the toe drag.
[00:18:48] Speaker C: Right.
[00:18:48] Speaker B: I agree. That's a whole other can of worms. But anyways, Charlie Jones, three receptions, 49 yards. Jamar Chase, who's been talking a lot of shit randomly at the end of this season, for no reason whatsoever, four receptions for 19 yards. He didn't do anything.
[00:19:01] Speaker C: He did get his four catches, though, which was he needed to get to 100 on the season, so fm good job, buddy.
[00:19:06] Speaker B: Their defense, three sacks, two turnovers, forced both interceptions. And their special teams, Evan McPherson was one on one field goals, four or four extra points, which will take us to our brownies. On offense. Jeff Driscoll became the fifth starting quarterback of the season for the Cleveland Browns. And he was ass. 13 to 26 for 166 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions, seven rushes, 33 yards. In his defense, we didn't play like anybody. So it is what it is.
[00:19:31] Speaker C: No. Yeah. I mean, he was pressured all day. Look, I expected more of him just because he's a veteran guy that's been around for a while. The guy started ten games in the NFL. He kind of saved his day there with the two touchdowns to David Bell at the end of the day, but leading up to that, he was absolute ass and he could not move the ball at all.
It was basically like when we were in offense, we were just going through the downs to get the ball back to Cincinnati.
[00:19:55] Speaker B: Running backs for the Browns. Pierre strong as we thought, got a lot more carries, 14 carries for 65 yards. Solid day for him. Little underwhelming. I thought they would actually give him the rock more, but I guess when you're down early like that, well, that.
[00:20:08] Speaker C: Was my question, too, is that was the one thing I thought would make sense, was to just run the ball 30 times in this game.
[00:20:15] Speaker B: Even if you're down, who cares? You get them some touches at least.
[00:20:20] Speaker C: Then you keep the clock rolling.
[00:20:21] Speaker B: Yeah, Jerome Ford did get in there. Three carries for six yards, so he did not disappoint with his two yards per carry.
Wide receivers David Bell, four receptions for 68 yards and two touchdowns, and we'll talk more about him here shortly. And then Cedric Tillman. Three receptions for 43 yards, which actually.
[00:20:39] Speaker C: Was one of the big casualties of the day because he ended up getting put into the concussion protocol. Sucks to lose a guy that's productive before the playoffs to concussion protocol. Yeah, hopefully in a game that doesn't matter.
[00:20:48] Speaker B: Yeah, hopefully he's back by Saturday. That's a little. Anymore in the NFL is tough to come back quicker than seven days.
[00:20:56] Speaker C: Yeah, he's probably not going to be.
[00:20:57] Speaker B: Back, I said, but on defense for the Browns, defense looks suspect, but it was a mix of guys just meant to field a team for the day. So, I mean, what are you going to do? Tony fields II had ten tackles. Jordan Kunichick.
I'm sorry, eight tackles, two tackles for loss. The extra playing time for these guys could prove invaluable.
[00:21:19] Speaker C: That's what I kept telling myself during the game was like, they're going to make mistakes in this game that if they get called upon to play, even.
[00:21:26] Speaker B: For a short period of time at least this is like somebody gets some.
[00:21:28] Speaker C: Growing an ankle or something and you need to come in to spot them. You have guys that at least have some more game experience into their belt.
[00:21:35] Speaker B: I agree. Duran Harmon seven tackles, two tackles for loss and a sack. D Anthony Bell, six tackles, one tackle for loss and interception.
Alex Wright and Isaiah McGuire, one sack each in the secondary. The secondary did get burned a few times, but only gave up 156 yards, so I think they were pretty solid on the day. Overall, the run killed us far more than the pass did in this game. We couldn't really stop any.
[00:22:00] Speaker C: The defensive line was just non existent in this game.
[00:22:02] Speaker B: Most of those guys, the starters anyways, getting the starters or the backup starters or whatever you want to call them, were getting. So, uh, and then special teams. Riley Patterson was perfect on the day. Two for two extra points, which is.
[00:22:12] Speaker C: Good to see because he missed one a week before. Well, and we're going to probably have to play him into the playoffs.
[00:22:18] Speaker B: Yeah, which sucks. Feels real bad. Nothing against Riley Patterson, but he's not hopkins.
[00:22:24] Speaker C: So he did make, at the end of last season, he did make the winning kick in the Jaguars playoff game, I think in the wild card round.
[00:22:32] Speaker B: That's true. That's true. Coaching. I'm not even talking about this for this game other than to say this. They made the right decision in this one to rest all the starters, to rest the starting backups, to try and get healthy for the playoffs. I mean, as you mentioned, Cedric Tillman went into concussion protocol.
We would love to have Cedric Tillman for the game because he's a solid depth piece at wide receiver, but at least that wasn't like an Elijah Moore.
[00:23:01] Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, look, this game was exactly what it's billed to be, which is this was a scrimmage, by all accounts, for getting young guys some playing time with no intent to really.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: Did.
It was kind of what we expected it to be. So there was really not much to say about the coaching there. But overall total yards Cleveland 244 Cincinnati 328 1st downs Cleveland 13 Cincinnati 22 time of possession cleveland 20 414 Cincinnati 35. 46 penalties Cleveland seven for 35 Cincinnati one for ten. How you only get one penalty? That means the refs were ass.
Turnovers. Cleveland two, Cincinnati one.
[00:23:45] Speaker C: How much are they paying you?
[00:23:46] Speaker B: Yeah, so the game, like we just mentioned, is exactly what we thought it would be going into it. Did we all pick the browns to win?
[00:23:53] Speaker C: Sure.
[00:23:54] Speaker B: But I think this was just us being overly optimistic and honestly just hating the Bengals so much. They're the worst. But this game didn't mean anything and so it doesn't matter. I think the players knew that and when they got down early, to my point earlier, I think they're just like.
[00:24:07] Speaker C: Yeah, the only thing that sucks is like you just give up a win in the battle of Ohio standings just for.
[00:24:13] Speaker B: No, it kept it allowed the Bengals, which is good for the conference. But I'm not really into the whole, like, this is good for the conference in the NFL because it's not like college football. But the entire AFC north finished above 500, which we'll mention again, which is.
[00:24:29] Speaker C: The first time since the 1930s, which is pretty cool. Which is like before the NFL was even in existence for any division.
Yes, this is the first time any divisions finished above 500. All the teams in a division, 1930s.
[00:24:43] Speaker B: Which is pretty wild. So like I said, good for the division. Not that I care about that because in the NFL I don't care about the rest of our division.
[00:24:49] Speaker C: It just validates though that we have.
[00:24:51] Speaker B: A, we play in the best division.
[00:24:52] Speaker C: We have a tougher road to get there than most teams.
[00:24:54] Speaker B: Yeah, well, that's what, and I know we talked about this off air and we'll probably mention it again later in the episode somewhere, but the national media is starting to give us some respect because they're like, how can you not? This team's been hurt. Like most people actually woke up and are picking Kevin Stefanski for coach of the year.
But it's like, how can you not? They've been battling injuries, all kinds of adversity all year long and somehow they just keep winning. They ended up eleven and six in the AFC. First of all, the AFC. Not even talking about the AFC north. The AFC itself is obviously the better conference of the two.
[00:25:31] Speaker C: And you think about some of the games that we kind of gave away earlier in the season that you shouldn't have lost. I mean, you were right.
Mean, if Joe Flacco played all year long, he potentially would have been a one seed. Yeah.
[00:25:43] Speaker B: If Nick Chubb didn't get hurt. Definitely a one seed.
[00:25:46] Speaker C: I mean, you were right there with the top teams in the AFC this year.
[00:25:49] Speaker B: Yeah. And we beat both number one seeds in case anyone wasn't paying attention to.
[00:25:53] Speaker C: Beat both of them.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: Yeah. And so they're finally giving us some respect. And then on top of that, you mentioned we're in the AFC north. So we play the toughest teams twice a year. I mean, hell, two other ones are in the playoffs and we'll get into all that here in a minute. But it's just insane that the Browns have done. What they've done this season are eleven and six going into the playoffs and the top wild card team for the.
[00:26:15] Speaker C: AFC with a quarter of your team on injured reserve, your quarterback, four quarterbacks. Nick Chubb, five quarterbacks.
[00:26:23] Speaker B: I know Jeff Driscoll was kind of just a throw in at the end, but five quarterbacks started this season.
[00:26:26] Speaker C: Yeah, he was ass.
[00:26:28] Speaker B: But another Browns news here, quite a bit of injury news that I wanted to talk about, but I'm going to save it. I know you don't like it when I take your injury report.
[00:26:35] Speaker C: Yeah, thanks.
[00:26:36] Speaker B: So I'm going to save that for later. We have some good news, mostly good news. I think there's a couple of things that are not great, but we got some good injury news this week. And then the Browns gave Joe Flacco a $75,000 bonus that he gets for each win despite not playing this week because they kind of figured, hey, he.
[00:26:57] Speaker C: Would have won anyway.
[00:26:58] Speaker B: Yeah.
So classy move by the Browns there. Nice to see. And then finally, for other Browns news, the Browns enter the playoffs. They have plus 3000 odds to win the Super bowl.
Still don't really understand how ods work, I'll be honest with you. But that equates to a 3.2% chance. Of the 14 teams, they have the 9th best chances. So kind of right in the middle there, a little bit towards the back. But all this according to DraftKings, who we are not affiliated with because they're a bunch of ass hats and won't sponsor us or haven't sponsored.
[00:27:32] Speaker C: And I think depending on where you look, some, have the Browns ranked higher than that. I think the power rankings, the last power rankings that came out from ESPN and the big outlets have the Browns ranked in the top two, three teams. So look, this is not a typical year. The Browns make the playoffs and you're like, man, we squeezed our way in. We just snuck in. This team's got a legitimate look at.
[00:27:59] Speaker B: The whole mean, we're, the Browns are good, man.
[00:28:03] Speaker C: They're actually good. And people are, doesn't even feel right saying it, but they're good.
[00:28:08] Speaker B: Bo, how do you feel about that?
[00:28:10] Speaker D: It's amazing. It's literally, I was talking about it with a guy at work. It's like you've never been had a year where you're like, you can say, I'm not just being an optimistic Browns fan. This is like the real deal.
[00:28:22] Speaker E: And the numbers back it up, the.
[00:28:24] Speaker D: Winds back it up. What they've done backs all this up.
[00:28:26] Speaker B: Like it feels like a lightning bolt just hit the tip of my penis.
[00:28:29] Speaker D: Right?
[00:28:32] Speaker B: And so with that, let's talk about the burger sports guest dog of the weekend.
[00:28:53] Speaker C: Doesn't matter, man.
[00:28:54] Speaker B: 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.
[00:29:02] Speaker C: On Sunday and be ready to attack.
[00:29:04] Speaker B: And don't stop until we're in that locker room.
You. You.
All right, this bird. This week's burning river sportscast dog of the week is the Venus fly trap.
[00:29:39] Speaker C: David Bell, the Venus fly trap himself.
[00:29:42] Speaker B: I've been waiting for this one, boys. Four targets, four receptions, 68 yards and two touchdowns. Basically, half the time you throw it to him, he's scoring a touchdown.
He scored the only two touchdowns for the Browns in this meaningless game. And I will say this, he was given the same opportunity to stand out as Cedric Tillman and Bell came away looking better. I will.
Little caveat there, that Cedric Tillman went down with a concussion.
[00:30:08] Speaker C: Yeah, and Bell's touchdowns came in garbage.
[00:30:14] Speaker B: Shit all over my mean, look, David.
[00:30:17] Speaker C: Bell's still a young receiver on this team. Good to see him get some action. Good to see him come down with balls in the end zone and hold on to them like three touchdowns on the season. I just think he's been a disappointment overall from what we thought. I didn't think he was going to be like a 1200 yard dog of.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: The week segment supposed to be building up. David Bell shitting all over this week.
[00:30:37] Speaker C: He was the dog of the week. He was the dog, the literal dog for the season.
[00:30:43] Speaker D: Wow.
[00:30:44] Speaker B: Right? Wow. I'm glad I'm not the only right in the heart. I don't even know what to say. I was excited for he's not approaching Anthony Schwartz territory.
[00:30:53] Speaker C: I still like the guy.
[00:30:54] Speaker B: I'm just saying, like, nobody's Anthony Schwartz.
[00:30:57] Speaker C: I'm just saying like, I expected that we would see more of his name during the season and we didn't.
[00:31:02] Speaker B: That's fair. That's a fair assessment. But regardless, the Venus flytrap David Bell is once again just so you know, the burning river sportscast dog of the week.
[00:31:13] Speaker C: You're the only one that calls.
[00:31:15] Speaker B: It's the best nickname. He catches everything.
Anything that comes his way, he snatches it.
[00:31:21] Speaker C: We're just not that big of a podcast yet to be like he's the one that catches on.
[00:31:25] Speaker D: I was going to ask him, where did this nickname come from? Because I came into this bone pays.
[00:31:30] Speaker B: So little attention to our podcast. He literally is on the podcast and he doesn't even know where the nickname came from.
[00:31:36] Speaker C: So fetch.
[00:31:37] Speaker B: Oh my God. Stop trying to make fetch happen. Listen, the Venus fly trap will catch on. It will happen.
But that'll take us to the division roundup.
[00:31:47] Speaker C: Roundup.
[00:31:50] Speaker B: Ready, down.
[00:31:55] Speaker C: That's so fetch.
[00:31:56] Speaker B: Quit saying fetch, Gretchen.
[00:31:58] Speaker C: Never gonna catch on.
[00:31:59] Speaker B: Happen.
Never.
[00:32:01] Speaker C: Second.
[00:32:02] Speaker D: Mean girls coming out.
[00:32:03] Speaker B: I know.
[00:32:04] Speaker C: It's the same.
[00:32:06] Speaker B: It's musical.
Anyways, for the division roundup, the Ravens lost to the Steelers this week. And so I was right. Kenny was wrong with his pick and bone was right on that pick. Again, you're really bad at picking.
[00:32:23] Speaker C: I was just trying to catch up.
[00:32:26] Speaker B: What happened with this one? The Browns lost to the Bengals and we were all wrong.
[00:32:30] Speaker C: I like the Browns.
[00:32:31] Speaker B: Well, that's fair. So for the AFC north, the final standings this year, Baltimore won the AFC North 13 and four, Cleveland eleven and six, Pittsburgh ten and seven. All three of those teams made the playoffs. Cincinnati nine and eight were eliminated last week before they even played us this week. So three teams again from the AfS north made the playoffs. Everyone finished above 501st time. Since when?
[00:32:54] Speaker C: The 1930s.
[00:32:55] Speaker B: Nice.
And we will get into the final standings for King of the north in just a little bit. But for now, let's take a quick trip around the NFL.
So the playoffs are set, guys. In the AFC, we've got in order, the Ravens, the Buffalo Bills, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Houston Texans, the Cleveland Browns, the Miami Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers. And then in the NFC, we've got the San Francisco 49 ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Detroit Lions, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Philadelphia Eagles, the La Rams and the Green Bay packers. So with those teams and everybody being set, does anybody stick out to you guys besides the Browns? Obviously, we all know the Browns are the team of destiny, but this isn't the team of destiny.
But besides, anybody, any team stick out to either you guys, I'm sure Kenny's going to go with the Cowboys because he loves them.
[00:34:23] Speaker C: Look, I've said all year I think the Dallas Cowboys have been playing better football than they have in years past. I think that offense is really good. I think CD Lamb is really good. I think they're one of those teams that can blow you out rather easily. So it kind of depends on what their defense is. But they got the good defense, too. Michael Parsons and like, they're no slouch on defense. It's just sometimes they've had hard times beating good teams.
[00:34:47] Speaker B: This so had a really hard time beating good team.
[00:34:49] Speaker C: We'll see what that means for them. Two wins against, but I think Dallas is good. Look, as I look around this playoff, like there's not a team that scares me as a Cleveland Browns fan.
[00:34:59] Speaker B: Honestly, we beat both number one seeds.
[00:35:02] Speaker C: I think the teams in our division on our side, the Ravens and the Pittsburgh Steelers, are probably the two toughest outs. To be honest with you.
[00:35:08] Speaker B: Pittsburgh has been on fire lately.
[00:35:10] Speaker C: TJ Watts got the injury, but they're saying he may even play with the mid grade.
[00:35:14] Speaker B: I thought I saw today that they ruled him out.
[00:35:18] Speaker C: As far as I know right now they were still tenanted to play, but.
[00:35:21] Speaker B: Bone, get us an update on that whenever you get a chance. But first tell me for TJ Watt.
[00:35:26] Speaker D: Yeah, last I heard was he's going to be out this week.
[00:35:28] Speaker B: That's what I heard. Um, anybody stick out to you?
[00:35:32] Speaker D: I talked about it before the show, but I like the LA Rams offense. I just think they got a lot of really good players. And Matt Stafford still can sling.
[00:35:40] Speaker B: What a tough draw for Detroit in the first round, too, to get Matt Stafford, who's playing against his former team. And there's a little extra like emotion in that. And Matt Stafford is not a bad quarterback. He's a very good quarterback.
[00:35:51] Speaker C: I just saw something this week, too, because I was actually going through.
Since the trade, since the trade in 2021 between the Rams and the Lions, Matthew Stafford and Jared Goff each have 24 wins. Each have completed 66% of their passes. Stafford 75 pass touchdowns, golf 78 turnovers 41 each passer rating 90.
[00:36:16] Speaker B: So they literally just swapped quarters.
[00:36:17] Speaker C: 95.896.5 for golf. So golf's been just slightly, ever so slightly better. So they literally just swapped quarters, basically, yeah. It's the same productions come out of.
[00:36:27] Speaker B: Both guys, which is pretty wild.
[00:36:29] Speaker C: Which is wild because at the time people were like, yeah, Jared Goff can't handle the load, isn't a starting quarterback, and he remade himself in Detroit.
[00:36:36] Speaker B: Jared Goff has proved to us that he can handle a load.
But another tough draw on that side is your boy Baker. Tough draw for the Buccaneers getting the Eagles. But you've said all season that the Eagles have something bad going on in their locker room.
[00:36:53] Speaker C: Well, not all season, but in the last month or two they've had some issues there. There's people questioning whether jalen hurts is the long term answer at quarterback. Look, Baker had a nice year down there and kind of a bridge year for both him and the Buccaneers, who were in Capill but did throw for 4000 yards, 28 touchdowns.
[00:37:11] Speaker B: We're talking, it's probable that they're going to bring him back on a longer term deal.
[00:37:14] Speaker C: Yeah, I think what I've seen so far is they're looking at maybe a two year deal. That's upwards of $40 million.
[00:37:19] Speaker B: I saw like two to three, which.
[00:37:21] Speaker C: Would be a nice deal for him. I can't imagine he turns that down at this point in his career.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: No, you can't. Right? You can't.
[00:37:27] Speaker C: Unless he finds somebody that's willing to pay him 30 million a year. But.
[00:37:32] Speaker B: Even with having a decent season and whatever, I don't know that there's any suitors that are going to give him more than so.
[00:37:41] Speaker C: No, but he had a nice year. And the thing is, Steven Bay is a lot like the Browns in terms of their history. They don't have a ton of prolific passers except for Brady.
[00:37:49] Speaker B: One time Tom Brady came in at halftime and the Buccaneers won a Super bowl.
[00:37:54] Speaker C: Basically with the year that Baker had, he's like second and out of Tom Brady in a lot of their all time season records lists. Nice.
[00:38:02] Speaker D: And they got a home playoff game.
[00:38:04] Speaker C: And they got a home playoff game.
[00:38:05] Speaker B: Jameis Winston probably has a few still because he played there a while and even though he threw a lot of interceptions, he threw for a lot of yards and a lot of touchdowns.
[00:38:12] Speaker C: Yeah, he was okay.
[00:38:15] Speaker B: I don't think he was a great quarterback. It came like he would throw for 30 touchdowns, but he would also throw 30 interceptions.
[00:38:22] Speaker D: He was a touchdowns interceptions. No, in between there.
[00:38:24] Speaker C: He was a good quarterback. Exactly. He was a good quarterback this weekend when he went rogue.
[00:38:29] Speaker B: Yeah.
But the Broncos, another story. We're getting out of the playoffs here. Now that we've talked about, which teams stick out to you guys. For me, I guess I didn't throw this in there, but to me, I'm going to be honest, there's really nobody that sticks out. I think it's a very even playing field in the playoffs this year. There's not one team that I'm looking at and saying that's going to be really tough for really anybody else in the playoffs to beat.
[00:38:58] Speaker C: You can make a case for just about everybody, the only one that kind of can.
[00:39:02] Speaker B: But then you can also make a case against them. Even the 49 ers who have been playing out of their mind leading up to the playoffs for most of the season. They had a stretch earlier this year where they were asked for like three or four weeks.
[00:39:16] Speaker C: The only team that I really can't make a case for is like Houston. Just because you have a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback. I think it's tough to go all the way through the playoffs that, but.
[00:39:24] Speaker B: They'Re just too young.
[00:39:26] Speaker C: Green Bay probably would have been the next Green Bay would have probably been the next weakest in that lot, but they've been playing some of the best football in the league the last two, three weeks.
[00:39:35] Speaker B: Plus, Jair Alexander is out of his mind.
[00:39:38] Speaker C: I think Jordan Love is something like 16 and one touchdown interception ratio. Through December, he was best in the NFL.
[00:39:44] Speaker B: Yeah, that's pretty good, but no. Next up here, the Broncos have left the door open for Russell Wilson to return.
I don't actually see this happening, but they said they're open to bringing him back. And I think the only reason they said that is because they realized how much money they stand to lose if they get rid of Russell Wilson. So you guys have any thoughts on this? I know bone thinks Russell still tussles even though he's washed, but flee Russell.
[00:40:09] Speaker D: Go somewhere, run. Go to greener pastures.
[00:40:12] Speaker B: Run away.
[00:40:15] Speaker C: I think. Yeah. To your point, you look at it and you start to go, okay, do we want to lose $90 million in cap space or is there a possibility that we could fix Russell Wilson?
[00:40:29] Speaker B: Well, the weird thing is you have.
[00:40:30] Speaker C: To at least consider it, right?
[00:40:31] Speaker B: I still think that Russell Wilson is washed. So take this, what I'm about to say with a grain of salt, but he didn't have a terrible. No. Like, it wasn't his fault that your team was asked. I mean, I think the Broncos are ass, but it wasn't his fault that you were asked.
[00:40:45] Speaker C: He was very middle of the road.
[00:40:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:40:48] Speaker C: So, yeah, he's not the worst quarterback in the NFL. And when you're looking at $90 million in dead cap plus, how are you.
[00:40:53] Speaker B: Going to cut ties with them? I mean, broncos country, let's ride. Yeah.
And then next up here, black Monday did not disappoint. No, it did not. And the worst week of the year for NFL coaches is upon us. These are the current firings through Wednesday evening. Mike Vrabel, head coach of the Titans, fired. Arthur Smith, head coach of the Falcons, fired. Ron Rivera, head coach of the commanders, fired. Pete Carroll, head coach of the Seahawks, resigned. Resigned. He resigned. And he will become an advisor for later, Pete. So that makes seven head coaching vacancies as these teams join the Panthers, Raiders and Chargers, all of which their coaches midseason fired. And so, look, I think there's going to be more. New England still expected to part ways with Bill Belichick in the coming days or weeks or however long it takes.
And with just, just so everybody knows, three out of the four seasons since Brady left, they've had losing seasons. And that just doesn't fly in New England in Beantown. Yeah.
The Bears did decide today, actually, that they are going to keep Matt Eberflus, but they did fire their offensive coordinator.
Eberflus is ten and 24 in two seasons.
[00:42:12] Speaker C: The Bears are going to be one of the most interesting offseason watches because of their draft capital.
[00:42:17] Speaker B: Well, yeah, their quarterback situation.
[00:42:20] Speaker C: They can go either way situation.
[00:42:21] Speaker B: Right. I mean, the Caleb Williams is out there, but I'm going to be honest, I'm going to say this now. I've said it a couple of times before. I think Caleb Williams is a bust waiting to happen.
And I don't think you have a bad quarterback there in Justin Fields. I think you've had bad coaching.
[00:42:40] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah. The coaching has not been great.
[00:42:42] Speaker B: They haven't really surrounded him with anybody. I mean, they got DJ Moore, but besides that, what do you got?
[00:42:47] Speaker C: Mooney.
[00:42:48] Speaker B: Great. They don't have a good offensive line.
[00:42:52] Speaker C: They've made some bad trades because they made the trade for the Pittsburgh wide receiver.
[00:42:58] Speaker B: Claiborne.
[00:42:59] Speaker C: Claiborne. Yeah. They've made some bad trades that didn't help out Justin Fields at all.
[00:43:03] Speaker B: No.
[00:43:05] Speaker C: But, yeah. Real interesting just to see, I think, what they're going to do in the offseason. Keeley Williams is certainly in a lot of commercials. He's got the baker thing going on, but, yeah, I don't know that.
I don't know. I mean, just watching the college football playoffs the last couple of weeks, there's guys that are, to me, just as good as he is.
[00:43:24] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. And their team lost four games and they were favored to be like a top four team this year.
[00:43:29] Speaker C: Yeah, he was favored to be the top player in the country this year.
[00:43:32] Speaker B: Not even close.
[00:43:33] Speaker C: No.
[00:43:33] Speaker B: So I don't just, I get that sometimes that can happen and you still end up being a great NFL quarterback. But I don't know. I just don't understand all the hype around this kid.
[00:43:47] Speaker C: And the other thing, too, is surprising to me is ten and 24 with Eber fluce.
You're not coming back from that.
[00:43:54] Speaker B: Apparently he is.
[00:43:55] Speaker C: I mean, he's coming back this year, but he'll get fired next year, probably.
[00:44:00] Speaker B: Because they'll probably, because they'll probably win five games again because they'll either start.
[00:44:02] Speaker C: A rookie quarterback or they'll start Justin Fields and still not surround him with the talent that he needs.
[00:44:07] Speaker B: I agree. Totally agree.
[00:44:08] Speaker C: Be done next year.
[00:44:09] Speaker B: Next up, wink Martindale. Who names our kid wink, by the way, but wink Martindale, defense coordinator for the New York Giants, has also resigned.
This thing was getting pretty wiggity. I don't know if anybody followed, like, what was going on over here? But basically after the season ended, Kevin and Drew Wilkins, who Martindale brought from the Ravens, were both fired by dayball and the Giants. Drew Wilkins is Martindale's right hand man, like, all throughout his career. Right. So after he learned of the firings, Martindale just went in, cussed out, dayball, slammed the door, left, and just went home to Florida. He was like, fuck this. I'm going home.
Literally didn't talk to the team or anything. Nobody knew what was going on for two days. And then finally he decided to call in and resign. But part of the reason why everybody was saying he didn't resign right away was because if he resigned, the Giants would be able to block him from going to another team because he was technically still under contract. Well, I guess they worked all that out, probably because both sides didn't want any part of each other, and they said, we're not going to block you. Just get out of here. So he did resign. He's expected to have a lot of options as far as coaching. He's a pretty sought after name in the NFL.
Yeah.
[00:45:22] Speaker C: Wiggy story there, for sure.
[00:45:23] Speaker B: Yeah. It was crazy following along, and it would have just been even crazier if they decided to actually block him. And they were like, nah, you can't go work anywhere. Sorry about it.
[00:45:32] Speaker C: And the interesting thing about the Giants is most of their problems were on offense.
[00:45:40] Speaker B: Yeah.
Like, why are you firing two defensive coaches when your offense was asked, are.
[00:45:47] Speaker C: They going to return dayball?
[00:45:48] Speaker B: And they're like, I remember this time last year, they were all talking about what's his name? Jones, the quarterback.
[00:45:55] Speaker C: Daniel Jones.
[00:45:56] Speaker B: Daniel Jones. That's how far he's fallen. I don't even know his name anymore. Daniel Jones. They were all talking about him being the next big thing in New York. And here we are.
[00:46:05] Speaker C: Danny dimes.
[00:46:06] Speaker B: Yeah, he's ass.
[00:46:08] Speaker C: Yeah. Not good.
Yeah. Just surprising that I think day ball was one of those guys that was probably on the hot seat there, but apparently not.
[00:46:19] Speaker B: Yep. And then finally, speaking of coaches that are no more, this is not an NFL related story, but big football news nonetheless. Nick Saban, head coach of Alabama, is retiring.
[00:46:31] Speaker C: End of an era.
[00:46:32] Speaker B: It really is. This is going to make big waves in the college football like this. This gets pretty serious, right? Because college football is pretty crazy now with transfers and everything else. So how many kids are going to transfer? Because the transfer thing is pretty much over at this point. But one of the things that can allow for kids to transfer is if a coach leaves, so do they open it up again into a bunch of Alabama players, transfer to different schools? Not only that, what will happen to the program? There's all this recruiting that he's done, everything else. Are those kids coming in, going to decommit and recommit elsewhere?
Is the dynasty official? Like, is it done? Or are they going to find somebody that can take this thing over and still kind of carry on the baton?
[00:47:13] Speaker C: I think that's the question, right? For a guy that is Nick Saban to replace him, how do you replace it?
[00:47:21] Speaker B: You can't. How do you even come close? Yeah, and to a lesser extent, I'm not putting Urban Meyer quite in the same category as Nick Saban. Urban Meyer was a very good college.
[00:47:33] Speaker C: But he's the type of name you would need.
[00:47:34] Speaker B: Yeah, but. Well, I'm just saying he's a very good college coach. And even when they replaced him with Ryan Day, who we've all kind of grown to accept, and he can't beat Michigan, which is a big problem. And I'm sure we'll talk about, the.
[00:47:48] Speaker C: Thing about Ryan day is Ryan Day, despite the fact that he can't beat Michigan, is like 56 and eight as a head coach.
[00:47:53] Speaker B: Right. That's what I'm saying. So that's the kind of production you're going to need to at least kind of smooth this over and start keeping some of your recruits and all of that. Mean.
[00:48:02] Speaker C: The only thing I could think is, especially with these NFL departures, maybe a guy like Mike Vrabel around Rivera coming out of the NFL could keep some of those commits.
[00:48:14] Speaker B: But, I mean, all you got to do is say you want to go to the NFL. I know how to get there.
[00:48:18] Speaker C: Right. So, I mean, you almost need a big name like that. It'd be interesting to see what they.
[00:48:22] Speaker B: I didn't even think about it before I said it, but Urban Meyer.
[00:48:25] Speaker C: Urban Meyer could be a choice to go there, for sure.
Look, it's got to be the name. Like some, if they pick a Ryan day out of their organization.
[00:48:34] Speaker B: Well, we all know Urban Meyer. Urban Meyer's done coaching until he's.
[00:48:40] Speaker C: Picking Ryan Day out of their organization. Just promote him. I think that program's dead.
[00:48:45] Speaker B: You think so?
[00:48:46] Speaker C: I think it's dead. I think they have, at least for.
[00:48:47] Speaker B: The foreseeable future, you got to completely rebuild.
[00:48:50] Speaker C: Yeah. You got to bring in somebody that.
[00:48:52] Speaker B: People know, like Ryan Day at least was on the staff for years, and people around the organization and around Ohio State knew who he was and knew he was being groomed for that position and everything.
I mean, I guess I'm not an Alabama fan, so I don't know if they have one of those.
[00:49:09] Speaker C: Well, and Ryan day came in right before nil.
[00:49:13] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:49:13] Speaker C: So things were a little different when that started, and that gave him a chance to build credibility of his own.
[00:49:18] Speaker B: Well, to that mean, I think what this says for Alabama is boosters are going to be busy, very busy. I mean, they got to be paying out lots of money to be keeping these players.
[00:49:27] Speaker C: Dining everybody.
[00:49:28] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. But that will conclude our trip around the NFL. Kenny. Mahalo.
[00:49:33] Speaker E: Mahalo. Aloha.
[00:49:35] Speaker B: You want to talk to some brownsbackers pancake?
[00:49:40] Speaker C: Aloha.
[00:49:41] Speaker B: Aloha. All right, so it was something that we started doing this year is our brownsbackers interview series. What we wanted to do was highlight brownsbackers from around the country wanted to do it for several reasons. These people are all diehard Browns fans and love our brownies, regardless of their record. That part is the obvious part. They come and cheer for the browns, rain or shine, no matter what's going on. But we also wanted to highlight that what most people might not know about the brownsbackers, and that's all the good work they do around their community through community service, charity work, those types of things. So with that, let's go ahead and get into the next interview in the series powered by Riverside FfU backers. Lee, thanks for joining us. How are you today?
[00:50:52] Speaker E: I'm well, thank you. Aloha, fellas.
[00:50:55] Speaker B: Aloha. Yeah, I like that.
[00:50:57] Speaker C: We were hoping we would learn some hawaiian like words and cheers.
[00:51:01] Speaker B: That'll be a whole segment here later in the interview, we'll just tell us what we could start saying to all of our friends.
No, but as we get started here, just thank you for your time. I know everybody's busy, so we really appreciate it. But to get us started, tell us a little bit about your chapter.
[00:51:19] Speaker E: Okay. So the Honolulu Brownsbackers were formed in 2009, and they moved from club to club on the island of Oahu. We're not on the other seven islands. We're on the island of Oahu. And the Browns. The situation with the Browns around 2009 to 2019 was discouraging, but they kept going. And then sometime in 2018, they asked me to take the baton, and there was only three of us. And thanks to my vice president, Kenneth Santiago Burton, he got the people together so we could go ahead and apply for a charter.
Thank the Lord that the Browns organization felt that we were a good choice. They chartered us, so we were chartered in 2019. And what's unusual about my club is that we are in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We're about as far away as you can get, except for those guys in Western Australia.
But we knew that we were going to be special and we knew that we would have to create a social media footprint. So we did that and we changed from three people. Right now we have 131 chartered members. Now, I guess I should explain the difference between membership. You can have a casual membership, which means you go into a watch party and you watch the Browns play and you cheer them on and then you can be a regular. Those are the guys that usually spend the money on the bar, and they're the guys that we have to make sure that they're safe when they go home. And then there's the chartered members, and those are the people that actually become worldwide brownsbackers and take the time to join our club. Of note, though, you can be a member of more than one club, and there's a whole bunch of people that are Honolulu Brownsbackers along with members of other clubs. One of our special members is Barry Schuck, who is with a. I don't know if I'm allowed to name another media outlet, but he's a writer, he's a sports writer and he lives in Florida and he's a member of our club.
[00:53:33] Speaker B: There's room for everybody here.
[00:53:36] Speaker E: Dogs by nature. He's with dogs by nature and he writes two or three times a week on the Cleveland Browns. He's known as the Cleveland Brown historian. So he's a member and we have members all over the world. What tends to happen is half of the people that come and watch our watch parties are military and then they rotate out, which means they go to another duty station and they can end up in, like, I was in Turkey, I was in the air force, I was stationed in Germany, Turkey, Alaska, Okinawa, all over the place. And so we have people all over the planet, and that's pretty much a nutshell of it.
[00:54:13] Speaker B: You start a brownsbackers organization everywhere you go.
[00:54:17] Speaker E: No, that I don't do.
No.
Like I said, I was asked to take on the presidency and I took it after I came home and spoke to my off duty supervisor to make sure it was okay with know, I have to say that with all this positivity that's going on with the Cleveland Browns right now, there's one thing that is absolutely apparent in every single brownsbackers organization and that is all you got to do is ask. Like I asked you guys, and here I am on your I. Our father chapter is the burnt river Brownsbackers. They're the largest brownsbackers organization on the planet. They have three watch party locations. And I talked to the president and the vice president there, and they gave us all kinds of ideas and alternatives and things that we could do, and we grew significantly because of their relationship with us.
[00:55:23] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:55:24] Speaker C: Now, are you from the northeast Ohio area originally?
[00:55:28] Speaker E: I'm really glad that you asked that, because there's two questions that everybody asks when they come to our party. First is, did you grow up in Cleveland? And if you didn't, how in the hell did you become a brownsbacker?
Everybody so lived at 10,000 elwell, which is in east Cleveland. It's close to Shaker. Moved to 116th in McCracken and Garfield Heights. Graduated from Bedford Senior High School.
[00:55:57] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:55:58] Speaker E: So, yes, I am a northeast ohioan.
I was a carpenter's apprentice. I hung drywall for seven years. I worked for Acme Arsenal. The company is no longer in existence, but it was a great company. Learned a lot. I live the blue collar spirit of Cleveland, Ohio.
And your next question is going to be, okay, Lee, how did you become a Browns fan? Well, I don't know how old you guys are, but at the munilot, there was this trough in the men's room, and you can get 100 guys to stand next to the trough, and the trough was so high off the floor. And my dad would. He'd measure me and he'd measure me, and he'd say, okay, you're tall enough, you can go. And then we went to the games and been a Browns fan ever since. I can remember actually being old enough to watch Jim Brown run. And then my favorite player of all time is Leroy Kelly. I just love that. Just. He was awesome.
But, yeah, those are my roots.
[00:57:02] Speaker C: That's awesome.
[00:57:02] Speaker B: Nice.
[00:57:03] Speaker C: How long have you been in the islands?
[00:57:05] Speaker E: This is my 24th year, so I've been here 23, and it's pretty great.
[00:57:14] Speaker C: I have to imagine a little bit.
[00:57:16] Speaker B: Better weather than we get here.
[00:57:18] Speaker C: I don't hear many people complain about Hawai.
[00:57:21] Speaker E: Well, there's one weather vantage that you guys have that we don't, and that's if you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes. And that doesn't apply here because it's pretty much 787-878-7978 it's got to be terrible.
[00:57:37] Speaker B: I know. You're living a horrible life out there.
Yeah. So you mentioned kind of a little bit about your social media following and how you had to grow that in order to succeed out there in Honolulu. So can you tell us a little bit about your social media and kind of what you guys are up to?
[00:57:53] Speaker E: Sure. Sure. So we started on Facebook, and I'll give you some analytics in a minute. But we are on Facebook. We're on X, also known as Twitter, Reddit, miwi, getter, gab. And, you know, if you do have a page on Facebook, and you are a Browns backer, if you connect your Instagram account to your Facebook account, oh, my gosh, it's so much easier to do. It's one less thing to do.
They give you analytics from Instagram along with the Facebook analytics. And actually, Facebook has a program, if you get to the meta Business page, and they will create a business goal for you. And the only thing I won't do is I won't advertise because we've got one of those nonprofit numbers and I don't want to advertise.
But if you follow the goals and you do what Facebook kind of encourages you to do, your audience just grows.
So just a couple of analytics that I'm really proud.
Reach. So a reach is to a follower and then a friend of a follower, and then I think it actually goes to a friend of a friend. But our reach is 1,020,000. So that means that in a month, that's how many people that can actually be reached by our pages. We have 7000 followers. And just the analytics for the visits are every 28 days. So in November, we had 19,000 visits.
There's a lot of work that goes into it. It's not something that just comes free, but we had to do it as a necessity because that was the only way to reach out to people. And now what has happened is people reach to us and say, hey, we're coming to Hawaii. We want to come to your place. We put something out on another podcast about two years ago, and it was, we want to be your vacation destination.
[01:00:09] Speaker B: There you go.
[01:00:10] Speaker E: And obviously, there were two guys who told two guys who told two guys. So somebody was listening.
Now, our watch parties are probably 75% clevelanders and 25% gis and then locals.
[01:00:23] Speaker B: Wow, nice.
And I totally understand all of the things that go into social media. I'm the social media manager for tapping media in our podcast here, burning river sportscast. So I get it. It's not easy. I mean, people think, oh, you just put a couple of things online and it's good to go. No, it's a lot more involved than that.
So I get it. And I appreciate the hard work that you're putting in on your end to make yourselves grow.
You did mention that everybody wants to come to you guys now. So what is your actual viewing location?
[01:00:55] Speaker E: Okay, so our business partner is the Waikiki Brewing company. They're at eight three one Queen street in Honolulu, Hawaii 96813. They're an awesome business partner to begin with. They gave us a section, and then they gave us a bar, and now we have an entire porch, which is called Lanai in Hawaiian. There's one of your words, lanai. And then they opened up this asphalt area adjacent to Lanai, and they have the cornhole games, and they have a bunch of stuff for kids to do. They have chalk for the little kids. And we don't advertise it, but you'll see in a lot of our postings that people who live downtown in the apartments, they bring their canines, their dogs, so they're all allowed to come there. That asphalt area where the dogs are, which is away from the bar and the restaurant and everything, we call that the Munilot Hawaii.
They're awesome business partners. Every couple of years, they'll do something to try to help us increase our membership. Like I had mentioned that one of the reasons that we're so very different from brownsbackers organizations on the mainland is the laws. And there is a law that no social organization can collect anything.
So we can't do a 50 50 raffle.
We can't collect money. We can't collect funds. We can't do any of that kind of stuff. And the way that they do it is they put it in the liquor license laws. So if I did collect money at my club, at the Waikiki Brewing company, a liquor inspector could come and then pull their liquor license away. And then they lose the club, and then we lose our charter.
What this organization has done and why they're so critical and such great business partners is they went out and they arranged to have a toys for Tots drive with the United States Marine Corps. And so they collect and we assist.
But in reality, from our t shirt sales, we make multiple donations. So in reality, I can now apply for a chapter of the year.
[01:03:25] Speaker B: Nice. Well, here's what I'll say. So part of the reason that we decided to do the Browns Backers interview series is to highlight things like that. The community service, the charity work that these groups are doing out in their respective communities, because obviously the Browns fans are everywhere. But we also want to talk about this because it's such a big.
It's. It's basically either Clevelanders or Cleveland adjacent people all over the world helping communities that they've moved to and now call home and just helping to make them a better place. And I don't think that the brownsbackers in general get enough credit for that. So we want to highlight that. And whether or not it's directly or indirectly or you assist or however you're doing it, you're doing it, and that is to be commended. And we really appreciate it. And I know probably the people out there in Honolulu appreciate it even more than we do. So that's awesome.
Kind of. Speaking of that, is there any upcoming events that you're hosting or looking forward to where there's going to be any sort of charity work or community service going on or even just watch parties or things like that?
[01:04:35] Speaker E: So Saturday the 13th, we're going to watch the Cleveland Browns defeat the Houston Texans at the Waikiki Brewing company. That's set in stone for everybody out there that's been discouraged about DirecTV and all the negative stuff that's on social media. If you get in an airplane and fly to Honolulu, the manager of the Waikiki Brewing company guarantees that he's going to play the game. He's got it on two different feeds, so don't need to worry. You can come watch with us next year. We're going to try to expand the toys for Tots drive. We're going to run it from the season opener until the Thanksgiving Day game, and then the Marines are going to come and collect the toys.
We're going to do it in a little bit more organized fashion than we did this year.
We're also going to run as many watch parties as you know what, as long as Joe Flacco is my quarterback, I think I'm going to be watching the Browns through February, to tell you the truth, guys, and I really hope so. I haven't felt this positive about the Browns since I was a very young man.
But in regards to other things, we're looking to expand the Waikiki Brewing company into an Ohio state watch.
The. The Ohio State Watch location here on the island of Oahu is Giovanni's pastrami's. But there's a whole bunch of people that go down there and we want to try to expand. So we're at the club Saturdays and Sundays and all the Browns memorabilia and all the flags and all of the advertisements, they'll all be up. It'll be a Browns backers function, but we're trying to incorporate that with state.
[01:06:30] Speaker B: Nice. No, all good things there. And so you did mention the football side of things there. You mentioned that the Browns would be defeating, as you said, the Houston Texans this Saturday. And I would agree with you, but let's kind of get into the football side of things here. What are your thoughts on the season so far for the Cleveland Browns?
[01:06:53] Speaker E: So you guys know who Midas is, right? The world is held on Midas's back, right? Okay. This season is being carried by Nick Chubb.
If you think about it, when Nick Chubb went down, that's when every getting, they call it chicken skin here in Hawaii. It's goosebumps, right? But they call it chicken skin. And I'm getting chicken skin thinking about it. But when he went down, every single brown in the organization said, oh, my God, I got to step up. And there was no shortcomings. There was no reservations. There was know Nick went down, I got to do PJ, everybody. And then as people went down, just like in a military organization, somebody else stepped up. So the corporal became a sergeant, and the sergeant became a. It just, it's just absolutely amazing. So even though he's not on the field, we know he's in the locker room and he works out all the time, but Nick Chubb is the reason this team is. I couldn't not believe it when he had the Batman mask on and he smashed that guitar. Wasn't that made everybody feel good?
[01:08:14] Speaker B: It was so typical. I don't know if you watched afterwards, my favorite part, actually, of that whole thing was, in typical Nick Chubb fashion. As soon as he was done smashing the guitar, he took his mask off and just like, walked straight back to the locker. He was like, no frills. No, not, I don't like all this showboat, and I'm out. I'm just trying to go to work. No, but it was a great moment for the team, and I'm sure a galvanizing moment as they kind of wound down their run into the playoffs.
Um, and I know that was actually the clinching game, wasn't it? So, big day there, but no. With the Browns playing so well this year, how has your membership and turnout been? I know typically for these chapters, it kind of fluctuates as the Browns have their up, but this year, I mean, they've stayed pretty solid. So has your turnout been really good this year?
[01:09:05] Speaker E: So you got to remember, we're competing with surfing, bodyboarding, hang gliding, helicopter tours, dolphin whale hunting. We're competing with all this stuff. And like we talked about earlier, the weather doesn't suck here.
No, our record is 65 and we have been hovering really close. So the last game last Sunday was 63, but we anticipate having 85 or over for the next series of games. Yeah, if you guys remember the playoff game we played in Pittsburgh, we took over the entire brewing company. We took over the whole place. It was standing room only and, yeah, it was just.
[01:09:59] Speaker B: So I guess with that, though, let's look to this week. I mean, obviously you said you think that they're going to beat the Houston.
[01:10:06] Speaker C: Texans, but very different challenge this week with CJ.
[01:10:11] Speaker B: Yeah, a lot different than the last time we saw him.
I like that outlook, Lee. So tell mean, besides just the fact that they're going to win, what are your thoughts on the game this mean? What do you see as being challenges and how the Browns are going to overcome those challenges?
[01:10:31] Speaker E: I don't think we have that many challenges, to tell you the truth. I think Stroud is the one who's got the challenges. You have a rookie, this is going to be his first playoff game, and we have a guy who's been n 110.
A challenge might be that they don't fall asleep. I don't know.
That's a really bad thing to say. I'm going to hear about that. But the only challenge would be that they maintain consistency and they don't get lazy. The old Browns used to get ahead and then they would like, I don't know, they'd daydream or something, and next thing you know that we'd have to fight our way back and then dhop would. Well, we didn't have dhop at the time, but someone would have to kick three points at the end.
And I just keep up that determination, keep up the pressure. I think that's going to be our challenge. 27 24.
[01:11:28] Speaker B: Oh, nice score prediction, right? I didn't even have to ask.
27 24. So you actually think it's going to be fairly close, though, or do you think they get some garbage time points to make it close?
[01:11:38] Speaker E: Yeah, I think we're going to get out ahead and then they're going to try to come back and just fall short.
[01:11:47] Speaker B: Nice.
[01:11:47] Speaker C: I do think that's a fair viewpoint, and it's maybe not because of this season in particular, but in seasons past, the Browns have tended to play down to lesser opponents. So it's one of those where you have to keep your foot on the gas for four quarters and complete the.
[01:12:04] Speaker B: And kind of to your point earlier, Lee, with CJ Stroud being a rookie quarterback, he's also playing the number one pass defense in the league. So that bodes well for the Browns. But before we get going here, Lee, I do want to mention a couple things.
[01:12:20] Speaker C: I have one final question. You mentioned t shirt sales and stuff. Is there a particular place that folks can go if they want to buy Brownsbackers merch?
[01:12:29] Speaker E: Okay. So no, there is not. We used to have. And if you google it, you'll find a shop and they're closed. They closed during COVID No, the best thing to do is just shoot a message to the Facebook page. A direct message. Or you can go on any post and you can, you know, this is Dennis. I want to buy t shirts. And then I respond to all the posts. And to make a short answer, all you got to do is contact our merchandise officer. His name is Riley Lane, and you just email him and tell him what you want, and he will give you the t shirt sizes that are available and the shipping costs. This is a new item that we have. This is our hat.
[01:13:18] Speaker B: Nice hat.
[01:13:19] Speaker C: Yeah, it's wearing the hat.
[01:13:22] Speaker E: It's got permelia flowers here, and then on the inside it says dog pound and Cleveland Browns and the Waikiki Brewing company and established 2019. It's pretty awesome.
[01:13:32] Speaker B: They're a little into that hat. It's pretty legit.
[01:13:34] Speaker E: Yeah. They're a little bit more than the shirts, but I'm a hat guy like you guys are, and I wear hats a lot, so I really like the hat. We went through the whole gamut. We had koojis and stickers and this is our fourth iteration of the t shirt.
It is what it is. We're going to celebrate our 15th anniversary next year, 15th from starting. And it'll be our fifth chartered year. So I don't know if we're going to do anything special, but all of the officers will discuss that and then we'll put it out if we decide to do something. But, yeah, thank you guys for asking. I can send you that link when I send you the other links.
[01:14:17] Speaker B: Please do. We can include it in some of the things that go out for us. But like I was saying, your logo is top notch. I mean, we're suckers for good logos and.
[01:14:29] Speaker E: Well, that's all due to Greg Laos. He was our first merchandise officer and he actually paid a graphic artist to come up with that.
[01:14:39] Speaker B: Nice. Well, it looks good. Like I was saying, before we get going, there is a few things that we want to talk about. The first thing is that we, the Burning river sportscast is brought to you by who?
[01:14:49] Speaker C: Kenny seaside events as the official cruise event provider of the Cleveland Browns and the organizer of the Browns fan cruise.
[01:14:57] Speaker B: And so with that in mind, they did run a competition for brownsbackers earlier this year. I'm sorry, last year. We're into 2024 now. However, that is over and the winners were announced. The brownsbackers of Pinellas did win that competition.
However, we still want to say that we will be McG several events aboard the ship. There will be 16 alumni joining the cruise that fans will get to mingle with like they're normal people. So for anyone that hasn't booked yet, please do so because it's going to be a great time. And I know, Lee, you guys have at least a couple ladies from your chapter that have booked, and we look forward to meeting them on the cruise as well, right?
[01:15:33] Speaker E: Yes. The way that it works is that when you log into the cruise, when you purchase a cruise, you are automatically sponsored by the closest chapter. And since we're the only chapter that's up and running on the eight islands of Hawaii, they immediately became sponsored by us. But the two ladies did come visit us and they're really fantastic love life kind of people. They're true blue all the way, deep Browns fans. So you guys will enjoy them.
[01:16:04] Speaker B: Nice. I know you have a picture of that that you sent me, so we'll try and get that up on the screen if we can. Sure.
[01:16:10] Speaker C: Cabins are still available, though? Yes, there are, folks. Even though the competition is over, there are folks looking at a last minute decision, thinking they want to jump on this thing. It's going to be a heck of a time. So we encourage them.
[01:16:19] Speaker B: Like I said, you get to hang out with us. I mean, we're going to be emptying some events.
[01:16:23] Speaker C: What's better than that?
[01:16:24] Speaker B: We got the opening day pool party. We got the closing day pool party that we have portions of it that we're emceeing. We're emceeing part of the day three special event in the auditorium for everybody.
And then we also will be hosting a dinner table every night for fans. So you'll get to mingle with us. I know the next best thing to the players has got to be the burning Forest cast.
But one final thing that we'd like to mention before we get going here is our hot take hotline. And Kenny, why don't you tell them a little bit about the hot take hotline?
[01:16:55] Speaker C: Sure thing. So we established a voicemail box for all Browns fans that can call any time of day, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to let us know what their thoughts are. Could be frustration, could be happiness, could be sadness, could be all three of those emotions at once, or any emotion you might have. But we just want to hear from Browns fans. So we love to hear from Browns fans across the country that have something to say about our team and that we take the best takes and we put them on our show and then react to them weekly. But if they want to call in, that number is 330-227-8080 we'll throw it on the screen here for the video version as well. But once again, it's 330-227-8080 we look forward to hearing from, hopefully some folks down in the islands.
[01:17:37] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Lee, real quick, is there anything else that you want to say to Cleveland fans that maybe have moved away from northeast Ohio and are missing their fellow Browns fans, potentially looking for kind of a group to join, that they can watch the Browns games and also give back to their community? Do those things exist? Is that something that is out there?
[01:17:59] Speaker E: Sure. You know what? I watch you guys religiously and I watch all the Browns backers interviews that you guys do, and this mantra is said over and over and over again. Browns fans are everywhere. Don't watch a Browns game by yourself. Get out there, look in your local area, bang the trees, find somebody, and then get with the Browns fans.
That's the best way to watch a Browns game?
[01:18:28] Speaker B: Hell, yes. Absolutely.
And listen, Lee, it has been great having you. We really appreciate it. Again, thank you for your time. Thank you so much. And we hope to get out there to Hawai and meet in person someday.
[01:18:41] Speaker E: Well, so now we got to do the hawaiian word of the day. You ready? We did Aloha already, right? We did Aloha.
[01:18:47] Speaker B: Aloha is hello and goodbye. Right?
[01:18:49] Speaker E: And goodbye. And I love you. Okay.
[01:18:51] Speaker B: Oh, nice.
[01:18:52] Speaker E: Okay, so the next one is Palekana.
[01:18:56] Speaker C: Palekana. Oh, man, you guys are good.
[01:18:59] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:18:59] Speaker E: Palekana, that means be safe. So you can say aloha and palekana.
[01:19:03] Speaker B: Aloha and policana.
[01:19:06] Speaker C: Love it.
[01:19:07] Speaker B: Nice. You got any more?
[01:19:09] Speaker E: Yeah, but they're not as nice as that one.
[01:19:12] Speaker B: There we go. We'll get those ones off the air so that we could use them when we go to Hawai.
[01:19:17] Speaker E: There you go. There you go.
[01:19:18] Speaker B: Fit in with the locals. But, no, once again, we really appreciate it. Thank you so much for joining us, and hopefully we'll talk soon. Aloha.
[01:19:26] Speaker C: Paula kana.
[01:19:39] Speaker E: We are the Honolulu Brownsbackers and you're listening to the burning river sportscast. Go browns.
[01:19:59] Speaker C: Panic, Kel. Pelicana.
[01:20:01] Speaker B: Man, you did it to me again.
Pelicana. Yeah, pelicana. Mahalo, pelicana. Aloha. Aloha. It's a good time talking to Lee.
[01:20:12] Speaker C: Yeah, look, this was the one we were excited about just because the novelty of it being in Hawaii.
[01:20:18] Speaker B: What better place to watch the Browns?
[01:20:19] Speaker C: Yeah. I mean, super interesting, the fact that they have kind of the rotation of gis in and out there. I didn't even think about that. But that makes a lot of sense.
But, yeah, just super cool to think.
[01:20:29] Speaker B: What a life that guy lives, right? He's just out there living in Hawaii.
[01:20:32] Speaker C: Just about all the places brownsbackers are, man. I mean, they're literally everywhere.
[01:20:38] Speaker B: They're everywhere. All over. All over the place. That'll take us to the burger for sports, guys, don't forget, call and leave your hot takes on the hot take. I remember these are hot takes. We want hot takes. We want hot takes. We want hot takes. 3302-2780-8033-02 27 80 80 33 02-2780-8033-0227 80 call now. Operators are not standing by. Not standing by. There's no operators. It's just the answer machine. But leave a message, we'll put you on air. But, guys, let's go ahead and take a quick break. Let's make some money, and then we'll get back here and preview the wild card week matchup against the Texans.
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All right, so usually at this point, we do the Browns fan cruise alumni interviews, but we are trying to nail down our last interview, so we don't have that for you. But in the meantime, go back, check out some of the old ones. A lot of great stories. Just a taste of what you have coming to you in March.
What happened?
[01:23:36] Speaker C: Wait, I know what that is.
[01:23:37] Speaker B: Yeah, you got it.
[01:23:39] Speaker C: That is the official signal to remind you that the Cleveland Browns fan cruise is just 60 days away.
[01:23:45] Speaker B: That's right. March 11, we set sail for five unforgettable days at sea with nearly 20 Browns alumni. It's going to be dope ass.
[01:23:54] Speaker C: Yes, I would say. As we continue to have conversations with seaside events, the cruise event team, the schedule is getting built out. We're starting to see this thing come to life for the first time.
All the different good stuff planned for.
[01:24:08] Speaker B: All of the Browns dinners with players Q A sessions. Let's actually talk about some of this stuff a little bit. So we've mentioned before, we'll be mcing some of the events on the Browns fan cruise. Some of the things that we know for sure is we will be mceeing portions of the opening day pool party, the closing day pool party. We will also be mceeing portions of the big event that is planned for the auditorium on day three. That'll be a mixture of alumni, different speakers, different things going on there, but we will have a portion of that as well. And then also, one fun thing that we'll be doing is we will be hosting a dinner table every night. So we'll be able to mingle with the fans, talk to them a little bit about what we do, stop by.
[01:24:48] Speaker C: And hang out, talk to the burning river sports guest. Also, I think we're working on getting a tiki hut for the beach party day.
[01:24:53] Speaker B: Nice cabana for one of the beach.
[01:24:56] Speaker C: Days and talk to some of just the people on the fan cruise. Ask them how it's going.
[01:25:00] Speaker B: You'll probably see us walking around the beach with a microphone and a video camera. We're going to be asking you guys how things are going, and I'll say this.
[01:25:07] Speaker C: The pictures that we keep getting of the beach party, I don't know if this is going to come to fruition or not, but they have those big inflatable things out.
[01:25:14] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[01:25:15] Speaker C: I'm hoping that that's not just like a picture of just nothing, but it ends up we're going to have to.
[01:25:20] Speaker B: Make sure we build out some time after we're done with our interviews and things that we could go out there.
[01:25:24] Speaker C: And run around on big inflatable obstacle courses. That would be super cool.
[01:25:28] Speaker B: I'm all for that.
[01:25:29] Speaker D: Is it on the water?
[01:25:30] Speaker B: It's on the water.
[01:25:32] Speaker C: Right on the beach.
[01:25:33] Speaker B: That sounds fun.
[01:25:34] Speaker C: Ton of really cool stuff is going to happen in addition to being able to mingle with Brown's alumni.
[01:25:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I know our fans don't get to see him very often yet. That's going to change here soon, but Bone man is actually in really good shape. He's probably going to dominate the shit out of that obstacle.
[01:25:48] Speaker C: He's going to win the bodybuilding competition for sure.
[01:25:50] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely.
Bone is a specimen.
[01:25:54] Speaker D: I don't think that's going to happen. Maybe it was like some type of endurance event or something. Maybe.
[01:25:59] Speaker B: I don't think so. I think you're going to make that obstacle course your bitch.
[01:26:03] Speaker C: Don't count me out of the obstacle course. I got fast twitch muscles in here still.
[01:26:06] Speaker B: Yeah, somewhere buried under all those slow.
[01:26:08] Speaker D: Twitch muscles, they're there.
[01:26:10] Speaker B: But anyways, I'm going to crush this. Guys. That'll take us to the NFL wild card week preview.
Guys, I gotta say it again. The playoffs are here. The playoffs are here. This week we have the Houston Texans.
And I'm gonna get into my position matchups and things of that nature. But, Kenny, I'll let you start. You got anything that you want to highlight before I get into this?
[01:26:42] Speaker C: Yeah, look, I think obviously the big story is CJ strap coming back. We didn't get a chance to play him the first time around. We had case Keenum. That offense was lethargic and couldn't really move the ball. Things are going to be a little bit different. I mean, I think the Texans team that you saw in the clinching game for them last week is going to be much more aligned to what we're going to see on Saturday. I look for CJ Stroud to try and push the ball down the field to Nico Collins. Nico Collins had a huge game last week and he had ten catches for 195 yards or something.
[01:27:16] Speaker B: Ridiculous, which good for him. He's finally coming around for them. But he's not going to do that against the Browns.
[01:27:22] Speaker C: No, probably not. But I do think the other thing is when we played the Texans, we had the Amari Cooper just showboat day where he got millions.
[01:27:33] Speaker B: He had like 195 yards.
[01:27:34] Speaker C: He had 200 and 6265 yards. Record for the Browns.
[01:27:38] Speaker B: Suck at Nico Collins. You weren't even close.
[01:27:40] Speaker C: That's probably not going to happen again. So I would just say from a matchups perspective, obviously cjs drought changes the game overall. But from a matchup's perspective, I think that we'll see an overcorrection on Amari Cooper, which I think will lead to guys like Njoku having a big day.
[01:27:56] Speaker B: I think Njoku has a big day, too. But my matchups. I do two matchups for every game here. I'm going to start with Miles Garrett versus Laramie Tunsel.
Look, there's gonna be a battle of two super high caliber players here.
And so what I'm looking for here is one, can Garrett get some calls? Because no matter how good you are at left tackle, you're not good enough to completely contain Miles Garrett all day unless you're holding him. So can he get some calls?
Can he get past tunnel and actually get home in this one? And here's the deal for Miles Garrett, it's time to start cementing that legacy. He's been here for a while. He's a leader on this team. The fans love him. It's time to start making strides to becoming a Cleveland Browns God.
I mean, if he can have a big playoff run, average a sack or two, a know, whatever the case may be, all the way up to wherever we may end up in this playoffs, as far as he will take us and the rest of the team will take us. I mean, that's how you start becoming, like I said, that Cleveland Brown God, and fans start looking at you different. We start talking about maybe when you retire, you get a statue out front like Joe Flacco.
[01:29:05] Speaker C: Like Joe Flacco.
[01:29:09] Speaker B: But yeah, I mean, that's my number one matchup here is because that's kind of a battle of two titans there.
[01:29:15] Speaker C: Yeah, look, I agree. Larry Tunsel is a good player. Miles Garrett, I think, is a better player.
[01:29:21] Speaker B: I agree.
[01:29:22] Speaker C: I think this defense a lot of times goes as Miles goes. That doesn't even mean Miles has to have three sacks in a game. But is Miles disruptive? Is Miles getting in the backfield? He's making tackles for loss on running backs. All those things come into winning or losing his matchup and helping this defense perform at a high level.
[01:29:43] Speaker B: My next matchup here is we just mentioned him, Joe Flacco versus the Texans secondary. The Texans ranked 22nd against the pass. They're giving up 234.1 yards per game. And so I want to see if Joe Flacco can continue his run that he's had of just yards after yards after yards after yards. Can he exploit them?
Does he even care about their secondary? Is Joe Flacco's playing so free? Does he even care who they put out there? Like, is he just going to just keep slinging it? And I want to see if the legend of Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco continues to grow.
[01:30:20] Speaker C: Speaking of the legend of Joe Flacco's.
[01:30:22] Speaker B: You got to say the whole thing of Joe Flacco. The legend of Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco.
[01:30:27] Speaker C: Speaking of the legend of Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco, there you go.
I can't vouch for the truthfulness of this story, but it's a story that I keep hearing, which is the day that they brought Joe Flacco in for his tryout, that the Browns said, okay, let's just put him up against our base defense and see what he does. He went right down and scored a touchdown. They said, okay, well, their defense pretty good, so let's throw something. Let's show them a couple stunts and things on the defensive line, just to toss him up, mess him up a little bit, see what, what he does when right down the field scored touchdown. They said, okay, let's put our tightest coverage on and see what he does against our best defensive unit. Secondary went right down the field, scored touchdown. They said, okay, let's marry it all together. Let's put our best defensive front, our best defensive secondary together, give him our toughest, most confusing defensive looks. Went right down the field and scored a touchdown.
[01:31:16] Speaker B: They're like, this is the guy that.
[01:31:17] Speaker C: Was what sold them. They were like, he went literally from beginning of our defense to the most complex defense we run, and nothing phased him.
[01:31:24] Speaker B: Yeah, go ahead, bo.
[01:31:27] Speaker D: No, I've never heard that story.
[01:31:29] Speaker B: I haven't heard that yet, either. So you're probably reading up a lot about the Browns these days, but, no, I haven't heard that one yet. That's a great story. And, I mean, I would be sold. Our defense is phenomenal. So if he's able to do that, I guess that's what you get when you have ten playoff wins and a Super Bowl MVP in your back pocket.
[01:31:51] Speaker C: What's crazy is that this guy was never a Pro bowler.
[01:31:53] Speaker B: That is crazy.
[01:31:54] Speaker C: Not a single Pro Bowler year.
[01:31:56] Speaker B: Somehow he's probably going to finish second, either second or third and come back player of the year. Just four games, five games, whatever he.
[01:32:02] Speaker C: Played, his numbers, if you extrapolate them on a season, are ridiculous.
[01:32:06] Speaker B: He would have throwed it for like.
[01:32:07] Speaker C: 5500 yards, like 44 touchdowns.
[01:32:11] Speaker B: But yeah, like I said, will the legend of Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco continue to grow? And one thing I want to add here while we're talking about Joe Flacco is you've mentioned all along that he's so genuine and he doesn't try and talk up the dog pound. And he understands that his legacy is mostly in Baltimore. And he's like, yeah, I'm just happy to be here. The fans have embraced me. Whatever. Did you see the story come out about that his dad told this week? His dad was 14 seasons in Baltimore and they were sold out every single week. The fans were phenomenal, but it was nothing like Cleveland and the dog pound.
[01:32:45] Speaker C: But Joe didn't say that his dad, his dad did. So from a PR standpoint, Joe still clean there?
[01:32:49] Speaker B: Yeah, but I just thought it was cool because I actually think it's almost more powerful coming from somebody that's like, not Joe Black.
[01:32:58] Speaker C: It's 100% more powerful because if Joe says it, it's just pandering. Yeah, if Joe said it's just because he's here right now. Joe could say the same thing if he was in Las Vegas and they were in the same position.
[01:33:06] Speaker B: His dad, who's got like a front row seat to everything, was the one that came out and said it. So that was pretty cool to hear. I do have a bonus matchup this week. Brown secondary versus CJ Stroud. Game one against these guys. We didn't see Stroud as he was in concussion protocol.
The secondary has played well all year for us. MJ Emerson, we've talked about this a lot off air. MJ Emerson has the highest grades in the league according to PFF for every statistical category for DBS. Newsom and Ward, I believe, are both top ten or like top 15 as well. So we got number one, number two, and I think Newsom's top ten, if I'm not mistaken, or top 15 and so can they completely shut down. CJ Stroud, remember, this is a rookie quarterback coming into the playoffs. So it could go one of two ways.
Rookie quarterbacks usually either kind of crumble under the pressure or you get that rare instance where rookies are like they're too young to know.
[01:34:05] Speaker C: I honestly think we're going to see somewhere in between there. I don't think CJ Straud by any means is going to crumble under the pressure, but I just think that this defense is going to overwhelm.
So I think he may still have a decent game, but I don't think it's going to be enough to matter. One interesting thing that I was that I heard recently was like an advanced analytics guy on the radio talking about CJ Stroud versus Joe Flacco and was saying that by the advanced analytics, CJ Stroud is like far superior to Joe Flacco. And I'm like, this is my problem with the advanced analytics community, right? Because I'm talking about just the simple eye test. If you've watched Joe Flacco go four and one over the last five weeks.
[01:34:42] Speaker B: You'Re like, this is fucking mean.
[01:34:45] Speaker C: It's been magnificent, right? I mean, he's got a few more.
[01:34:48] Speaker B: Turnovers than, you know, the scene in pick a know, we talk about this being the team of team. Yeah, you know the scene though, where they get high and they're just like flying on unicorns over the like. That's how I feel when I watch Joe Flacco play football these last five weeks for the Browns.
[01:35:04] Speaker D: Are we just so drained of bad quarterback play or like we just have never seen anything? Like, here's other NFL fans are like, well, this is typical, but I don't think so.
[01:35:16] Speaker B: There might be a little bit of that. But the other thing is, what did I beg for all year long, literally all year long before Joe quarterback that.
[01:35:24] Speaker C: Gets over 250 yards or more, 300 yard.
[01:35:26] Speaker B: I said, I just want 1300 yard game. I don't care who throws for it. I literally don't care. I just want 1300 yard game. He just banged out four in a row. He was like, that is fine, I got you.
I don't even know what to do with that.
[01:35:38] Speaker C: He banged out 300 yards and a half.
[01:35:41] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean, it was just unreal.
[01:35:44] Speaker C: I just thought it was like. It's just such a dichotomous viewpoint from.
[01:35:49] Speaker B: Like, sure, he's turning the ball over, he makes up for it with his.
[01:35:51] Speaker C: What we're seeing each week with our eyes and going, I'm seeing this guy make throws on the run. Like, I'm seeing him do things some of the never did, even in Baltimore. Yeah, but his whole point was like that over a career. What we've seen out of Joe Flacco, even at his best, is an aberration versus CJ Stroud's whole season, which has been consistent.
[01:36:10] Speaker B: He's been very. So I accept that as far as when you're building a team.
[01:36:15] Speaker C: But I guess my whole point is like, I need Joe Flacco to be in aberration for four more games.
[01:36:19] Speaker B: Yes, that's all we need, more games.
[01:36:21] Speaker C: Hold it together for me, old guy.
Then you get your statue.
[01:36:25] Speaker B: Yeah. So as a whole here, though, the Texans are ten and seven. They're coming off a huge win over the Colts to propel them into the playoffs. They didn't get any rest, though, like the Browns did. This team doesn't do anything particularly well. They don't do anything particularly bad. They're kind of in the middle in every statistical category. They're twelveth in offense. They're 14th in defense.
Our defense, though, is going to have to lead us in this one. And while we do have Joe Flacco now, and he's throwing for big yards, I just see this as if we can get to 24 points.
Our defense is definitely holding them under 24 points.
[01:37:02] Speaker D: Sure. Yeah, I would agree.
[01:37:04] Speaker B: I mean, I guess I'll knock on wood just in case. In case, if you can hear that, but I think that's the number. If you can hold them to under 24 points. I think our offense gets 24 points at least. So that's what I'm looking at in this one.
[01:37:18] Speaker C: I would hope so. I think that this offense is capable of scoring more than 24 points.
I think they're capable of having big days, even though they rate twelve. I think that they have the pieces, parts that they can have really big days.
I know also that CG Strap doesn't turn the ball for a whole lot, so that's the big. I mean, I think he's thrown.
[01:37:38] Speaker B: You can get him to throw an interception.
[01:37:40] Speaker C: I think he's thrown five interceptions in a season, and three of those were in one game. And in that game where he threw three picks that came back and won. So he's a perseverant kid and he takes care of the football. But yeah, I just think it's going to be.
I think we have too much firepower for this team.
[01:37:56] Speaker B: Well, we're Ohio State fans, so let's not forget that his last game for the Buckeyes was against Georgia, a team that nobody thought was even beatable at all. And he went in there and they should have won that game. It was a shanked kick was the Buckeyes downfall, and they lost it as time expired.
But CJ Stroud did everything to win the game. So he's no stranger to these big stages. I mean, obviously college is a little different than the NFL, but he's no stranger to a big stage and being the underdog on that big stage.
[01:38:30] Speaker C: And he pretty much said that on Pat McAfee's show this week. He was like, we don't have any chance to win. Oh, okay.
[01:38:38] Speaker B: Which is pretty scary. If you hear that coming out of a player of that caliber, when you hear it coming out of his mouth, it's like, I don't like that people are putting that in his head. But anyways, that'll take us to the injury report.
Kenny, what do you got for us on the injury report?
[01:39:01] Speaker C: All right, look, these guys outside of Jimmy Ward was the last player that put on injured reserve on Tuesday. This week.
Safety. They've got a bunch of guys that are questionable that my guess is will end up playing this week. So just starting from the bottom here we have Andrew Beck, fullback, questionable. Michael Dieter, center, questionable. Will Anderson Jr. Defensive end, questionable. Jonathan Greenard, defensive end, questionable.
Both those defensive ends, they both have ankles.
[01:39:29] Speaker B: If Will Anderson Jr. Doesn't play, that's a big win for the Browns.
[01:39:33] Speaker C: He did not practice this week, yet.
[01:39:35] Speaker B: We talked about him earlier in the episode. He's probably going to win defensive rookie of the year, and he did not.
[01:39:40] Speaker D: Play the first game against Texas.
[01:39:42] Speaker C: And Noah Brown, wide receiver, questionable with a back.
Robert woods, questionable with a hip. And Malik Collins, defensive tackle, questionable with a hip. So my guess is that most of these guys will be okay to play by the weekend, but still just a bunch of guys that are banged up because it's late in the year.
On the Browns front right now, we.
[01:40:06] Speaker B: Got some big news and some big bad news as well. Right?
[01:40:10] Speaker C: Well, there's just, again, it's very similar in terms of, like, we have a bunch of guys that are banged up. Amari Cooper, questionable, still with the heel.
[01:40:19] Speaker B: Cedric, they just announced that he'll play.
[01:40:21] Speaker C: Cedric Tillman, questionable with the concussion still in the protocol. Kareem Hunt, questionable with the groin. Pierre Strong, questionable the back. Miles, questionable the shoulder. Marquise Goodwin, questionable of the knee. And Wallen Thornhill, questionable. The calf.
[01:40:33] Speaker B: I assume all of them play.
[01:40:35] Speaker C: I would guess that most all of them play. And then the big news for the day that you're probably talking about is Grant delpit.
[01:40:43] Speaker B: Hell yes.
[01:40:43] Speaker C: Activated from the injured reserve.
[01:40:48] Speaker B: All the talk is he will play in this game, too.
[01:40:51] Speaker C: See, that's where I'm not sure yet. I think that the rules, what I was reading was that the rules of the IR require you to bring back so many players by a certain time. So if they didn't activate him this week and they made it to the next round, they wouldn't have been able to activate him. So they may have activated him today, thinking because he had groin surgery like two, three weeks ago. Yeah, it's still groin surgery, still surgery that they're saying even if he's not ready to go this week, that this may have been a preemptive strike for the next round of the playoffs. So we'll see if he's good enough to go this week or not would be obviously a huge boost to this secondary if he can go.
But I think that's one that we still have to kind of be careful about to see what's going to happen there.
Dustin Hopkins again is likely to be out for Saturday.
A couple of other guys just on a questionable list. Pochick at center. Newsom corner. Mike Ford at corner. Agbo Okanrankwo continues to be questionable with a torn peck.
So that's another one to keep an eye on as well.
And then the rest of these guys should be pretty well good to go. But yeah, just a bunch of guys that are beat up and look, I think the thing is, we've had a week and a half, almost two weeks for these guys that have had off since they clinched.
They did all the things that they need to do to get treatment during this time. Get in the ice bath, work with your medical staff, and just get these guys ready.
[01:42:23] Speaker B: Yeah, it doesn't mean he'll for sure play, but Grant delpet practiced today.
[01:42:28] Speaker C: Yes.
[01:42:29] Speaker B: So, I mean, that's the biggest step to playing, hopefully, because if you don't.
[01:42:33] Speaker C: Practice, you don't play.
[01:42:36] Speaker B: So before we get to king of the north, let's go ahead. Who's your player to watch this week? Kenny?
[01:42:44] Speaker C: My player to watch, I mentioned them earlier, is David and Joku. I think that all eyes are going to be on Amari Cooper because he just absolutely pillaged that team the last time we played them, literally, to Browns record in yards. So I think as long as he's good enough to go and get on the field this week, I think all the attention gets diverted to him. They've got some good guys in that secondary. Stingley, it'll be interesting to see. He doesn't generally follow the best player on offense, but this may be a case where they have him follow Cooper around because he destroyed them the last time around. So anyway, I think there's just going to be so much focus there that I think a guy like Njoku, simply because of his position, because he comes off the line, is going to be in a position to do some of the things we see him do last couple of weeks, which is have 100 yards receiving because he just kind of sneaks out and with some of these screenplays and things and has huge yards after the catch.
[01:43:40] Speaker B: Bone, who you got?
[01:43:43] Speaker D: I'll say. Cream hunt.
[01:43:45] Speaker B: Nice.
[01:43:45] Speaker D: I think the Browns thrive on the play action so they can continue to run the ball well. And I just love Kareem. So I want to see him do well in the playoffs and I just know he's a Browns fan through and throughs from Northeast Ohio. So I just kind of want to see him make a nice run through the playoffs. He's going to be turned for and I think that'll just benefit the rest of the team. So I think against the jets, but whatever, we got the run game going a little, so. And I feel like it stalled out for a few games there. So I just want to see that keep going.
[01:44:18] Speaker B: I like that. And I know all of us talked about it off air, but I think the Browns actually tipped their hand a little bit in the Cincinnati game when they gave Jerome Ford a few carries and cream hunt got none. I think that means a heavy dose of cream hunt going into the playoffs.
[01:44:34] Speaker D: Rest him up.
[01:44:35] Speaker B: Yep, we'll see. Mine. We just mentioned him. Assuming he plays, which like you said, is not a given at this point, but assuming he plays, I'm going with Grant delpit.
If he does play, I think he comes back rested and ready to go, picks up right where he left off. He's going to be revved up because he's missed a few weeks, hasn't been collecting those stats on a huge year that he's had. He did get voted as a Pro bowl alternate. He's probably turned about that, but I expect big things from him if he does not go. I'll give you a backup one. I'm going Elijah Moore for all the same reasons you said for David and Joku, and we did this a couple of weeks ago.
I picked Najoku and you picked Elijah Moore for the exact same reasons. And I think one of them had a big game. I think Elijah Moore had a touchdown in that one. I think that was his concussion until he got concussed.
But yeah, I like Elijah Moore, he's kind of started to come on of late towards the end of the season with Joe Flacco at quarterback. So I like him picking up a lot of the receptions. If they are blanketing Amari Cooper all night, like it. And that'll take us to the king of the north.
All right, so in case anyone doesn't know by now, this is our year long AFC north pick'em competition. 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. Kenny, how'd it feel?
[01:46:13] Speaker C: Just never let me forget, will you?
[01:46:15] Speaker B: Nope, absolutely not. And I froze half the eggs, so it hurt real bad. And he cried all day.
We're still working out the punishment for this year, guys. Off top of your heads, Kenny.
[01:46:25] Speaker C: Foot rub, hand Job.
[01:46:28] Speaker B: Dang. Bone.
[01:46:30] Speaker D: Forced to eat samples of stinky cheeses.
[01:46:34] Speaker B: Oh, nice. I like this one.
[01:46:37] Speaker C: I don't like that.
[01:46:37] Speaker B: All right, so let's get into this. First things first. I want to remind everybody that up until about two minutes from now, I am still the reigning, defending, undefeated, undisputed king of the north. And Kenny is where he belongs in last place, which we'll get to also, in case anyone hasn't noticed, we've added our trusty board up bone man to the competition.
We've added Bone man to the competition this year, but he did not disappoint. So what were the final standings, you're wondering? Well, I will tell everybody what the final standings were.
[01:47:11] Speaker C: Thank God no one would know.
[01:47:14] Speaker B: Bone the bone man has come in and immediately taken over. Instant impact as king of the north. He is 33 and 23 to finish the season. I finished in second place at 31 and 25, and Kenny is right where he belongs, in last place at 25 and 31. And that's it. Bone is the new king of the north.
Man, can't believe I had to give up my crown. But you're still the jester here, so how does that feel?
[01:47:52] Speaker C: I'm just glad you didn't win again.
[01:47:54] Speaker B: Well, you have to listen to that for a whole other year.
[01:47:57] Speaker C: Yeah. At least Bone will be humble. You're humble about it.
[01:48:03] Speaker D: I may never talk about it.
[01:48:05] Speaker B: That's a bad move.
[01:48:06] Speaker C: He'll just wear the crown and I'll.
[01:48:08] Speaker B: Be boisterous for him.
Bone, how does it feel? How does it feel to be king of the year?
[01:48:14] Speaker C: Long accomplishment? That is well done.
[01:48:16] Speaker D: I mean, this is a new honor that I've never had in my life.
It feels good.
[01:48:24] Speaker B: Where does it rank? Among other honors.
[01:48:26] Speaker D: I can't wait to tell my wife.
[01:48:28] Speaker B: You think you'll get some action tonight?
[01:48:30] Speaker D: Possibly.
[01:48:31] Speaker C: Yeah, he's the king of the north.
[01:48:33] Speaker D: Yeah, honey. I'm the king of the north.
[01:48:39] Speaker B: Last year when I won, I went home. My wife's pants hit the ground, but I can only imagine. I apologize.
But anyways, guys, for fun, since there are three AFC north teams in the playoffs, we'll go ahead and keep picking those games for as long as any of those teams are in the playoffs. So this week we've got the Steelers traveling to Buffalo to take on the bills. Kenny, who do you got here?
[01:49:03] Speaker C: We are just going to pick playoff matchups.
[01:49:07] Speaker B: No, this is king of the north. This isn't king of the playoff matchups.
[01:49:11] Speaker C: Yeah, but what if all the north themes are eliminated this year, this week?
[01:49:15] Speaker B: All right, I guess we'll go back to the playoff picks. Let's just run through them real quick now.
[01:49:18] Speaker C: Let's just do this this week because there's still three teams left. But as the teams dwindle, we may have to just switch back to.
[01:49:23] Speaker B: No, we're going to playoff picks. Okay, so this week we've got Buffalo versus Pittsburgh. Kenny, who you got?
[01:49:31] Speaker C: I'm going to go Pittsburgh. I think they're tough out right now. Even without TJ Watt. That team has just been playing well last couple of weeks. Mike Tomlin's got those guys ready for action and I think we are the toughest division in football. So I think even though Buffalo looks good, I think Pittsburgh really has a shot to win this thing.
[01:49:48] Speaker B: Bone, who you got?
[01:49:49] Speaker D: I am going to go Buffalo this home game and they've been playing well. Josh Allen's been playing good.
[01:49:56] Speaker B: Yeah, I am actually going to go.
This was a tough one for me. I'm going to go Pittsburgh as well.
[01:50:03] Speaker D: Nice.
[01:50:04] Speaker B: I would agree with the fact that Buffalo has been playing very well lately. It's predicted to be cold, if I'm not mistaken, in this one. But the AFC north is a tough division and Pittsburgh has been playing just as well as Buffalo the last month or so of the season. And Buffalo has had some really weird bouts of just being awful.
[01:50:26] Speaker C: This, just to me, they've underperformed just like Kansas City has all.
[01:50:29] Speaker B: I mean, this is a team we were talking like six games ago about their coach possibly getting fired. Right?
[01:50:34] Speaker C: And they've just not looked.
[01:50:35] Speaker B: I guess we talked about that with Pittsburgh, too, but Pittsburgh's always trying to fire Mike Tomlin. And now they can't because he made the playoffs again with an ass team. They always want to fire him, but, yeah. So I'm going to go Pittsburgh. Next up, we got Kansas City versus Miami bone, who you got?
[01:50:51] Speaker D: I'm going to go Miami.
[01:50:54] Speaker B: Miami.
[01:50:54] Speaker D: Nice.
[01:50:56] Speaker B: I think they can this week.
[01:50:57] Speaker D: Yeah, I think their offenses are going to go off. Tyreek's going to be amped up and Tua is going to.
[01:51:02] Speaker B: I didn't even think about that playing his former.
[01:51:05] Speaker D: See him. I want to see him win, too. I want to see Kansas City lose.
[01:51:08] Speaker B: I want to see it.
[01:51:11] Speaker C: Not a sponsor.
[01:51:13] Speaker B: Kenny, who you got in this one?
[01:51:16] Speaker C: I really want Miami to win this game so the Browns can have a home game in the next round, but that'd be dope. Supposed to be like negative, negative 30, wind chill on whatever day they play this weekend.
[01:51:29] Speaker B: Tyreek's used to that, though.
[01:51:31] Speaker C: There's legitimate talk about them, like moving in a game to Indianapolis, which I don't think is going to happen, but they're considering it because it's going to be so cold that it's going to be dangerous for fans, assuming they play in Kansas City. I'm going to go Kansas City in this one just because I think Miami's probably just a little softer than Kansas City when it comes to the weather.
[01:51:49] Speaker B: Yep, I got Kansas City as well, for all the exact same reasons. As soon as I saw the weather report, I was like, whoo. Miami boys ain't going to last up there.
[01:51:56] Speaker C: Tua just throwing the ball in that cold, dense air like it's just not.
[01:52:00] Speaker B: Going to fly on top of the fact that Miami can't beat good.
Um, and then finally Houston and Cleveland. We'll save that one.
Then we'll go over to the NFC.
Let's start with the Dallas Cowboys versus the Green Bay Packers. Kenny, I know who you're picking, so you go ahead and pick first.
[01:52:19] Speaker C: I'll go Dallas.
I think they get the home.
[01:52:23] Speaker B: The love affair with Dallas this year has been something fun to watch.
[01:52:26] Speaker C: I don't love them. I don't even like the Cowboys.
[01:52:29] Speaker B: You love them. If you love them so much, why don't you marry them?
[01:52:32] Speaker C: I just think this is the best team they've had in a few years in terms of making a run. So I'll go down.
[01:52:37] Speaker B: Do you think Dak Prescott is the truth?
[01:52:39] Speaker C: I do think Green Bay has been playing really good football last few weeks, so I think this will be a close game, but I think Dallas pulls it out.
[01:52:45] Speaker B: I'll pick next. I actually have Dallas, too. For all the shit that I just gave you. I've got Dallas, too. I don't think Green Bay is that good. I know they've been playing well lately, but overall, I don't think they're that great of a team. Bone, who you got?
[01:52:55] Speaker D: I got Dallas as well. CD Lamb has been playing out of his, so that's true.
[01:53:01] Speaker C: He's going to be a top five fantasy pick next year.
[01:53:03] Speaker B: Yeah. Next up here, La Rams at Detroit.
Bone, who you got?
[01:53:12] Speaker D: I'm going to go LA. I talked about them a little earlier. I think their offense has packs a lot of punch punches, a lot of pack.
They're going to do some good things.
[01:53:20] Speaker B: Do something over there.
Kenny, who you got?
[01:53:25] Speaker C: I'm going with the superior quarterback in this one, Jared Goff and the Detroit Lions because he's just better than Stafford.
[01:53:31] Speaker B: There you go. I've got Detroit as well because I'm pulling for a Detroit Cleveland Super bowl.
[01:53:38] Speaker C: So they have to win.
[01:53:39] Speaker B: Yeah, they have to win. Plus, it's my dad's favorite team, so I'm going to go with them. I kind of have. I think it's going to be really close. Whoever wins, going to win like a field goal. But I got Detroit.
And then finally Tampa Bay versus the Philadelphia Eagles.
This one's tough because Philadelphia has just been so much of a roller coaster this last month and a half or so.
I'm going to go Philly in this one. I think that they can rally and Baker's a little bit banged up coming into this game, so I like Philly to take him out. Bowen, who you got?
[01:54:15] Speaker D: I'm going Tampa. I'm just rooting for Baker.
[01:54:17] Speaker B: Fair. Kenny, who you got?
[01:54:19] Speaker C: I'm going to go Tampa as well. Home game in the playoffs. I think that whole team is going to be back and I just think Philly has some fundamental issues that are not going to go away in a week's time.
[01:54:31] Speaker B: Fair. And so we'll close this thing out and we'll go to the game that we all care about, that we will be glued to. The Browns versus the Texans.
Let's start with Kenny, who you got?
[01:54:45] Speaker C: Browns win this one. I do think it's going to be closer than most people think. I think this is a high scoring affair. I'm going to go 33 28. Browns win.
[01:54:54] Speaker B: Wow, that's a big score.
I'll go next. I got the Browns winning as well. I mentioned in my eyes the number 24. It's kind of like the sweet spot. I think if we get over 24. We win the game. I like the Browns 27 to 20 in this one.
[01:55:11] Speaker C: I forgot to describe how they're going to win.
[01:55:13] Speaker B: How are they going to win?
[01:55:14] Speaker C: CJ Strauss is going to have the ball with like less than two minutes left, no timeouts and drive and literally almost make it. And then the defense is going to.
[01:55:20] Speaker B: Come up big finally in the last. Nice. I like that. I like that. Bone. What do you got, Ness?
[01:55:26] Speaker D: I have the Browns. And Kenny said 33. I was going to say 33, 24 or not.
[01:55:31] Speaker E: What did you say?
[01:55:31] Speaker D: You said 3323-2828 all right. 33 24 browns.
[01:55:36] Speaker B: All right. There it is. And so that'll do it for us here as far as our picks go.
Bone, once again, congratulations. The new king of the north.
[01:55:46] Speaker C: Yes. Well done. Well done.
[01:55:48] Speaker B: Feels bad. We would give this to you, but you don't have a. Well, I mean, it's yours, but we brought it back over here and it's going to stay here for now because you don't have a camera on you yet.
[01:55:58] Speaker C: When you get the camera, you can wear it.
[01:55:59] Speaker B: Yeah, when you get a camera, it can sit over on your desk there. But until then, it's ours. So let me remind you to call the burning river sportscast.
Don't forget calling and leave your hot takes on the hot take hotline. Remember, these are hot takes. We want hot takes. We want hot takes. We want hot takes. 3302-2780-8033-0227 8080-3302-2780-8033 call now. Operators are not standing by here. Nobody's there, but leave your hot. We'll put them on the air and be sure to check out our gear. Ww thetapenmedia.com backslash shop click on show specific click on burning river sportscast that's this podcast and that'll do it for us. What can we expect? Next week's.
[01:56:40] Speaker C: What we can expect. Next week is a huge Browns playoff victory against the Texans. We will break down whatever happens this weekend and hopefully be preparing for another round of the playoffs. Tbd who we're playing where when the divisional round. All we know is, yes, it will be the divisional round if we make it that far.
And we're still trying to pin down that final interview, as Ronnie mentioned earlier in the interview for our browns fan crews. And then we are also looking to have another browns backer on next week to talk playoffs. Big thanks to the browns backers of Honolulu for joining us today.
[01:57:19] Speaker B: Yeah, we really appreciate it. And check us out on social media tapin'media. Is on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at the tapin'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 us wherever you get your podcast. I'm talking Apple Podcast, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Pandora, iHeartRadio podcast, Castro, good pods, and so many more. And Kenny Dylan. It takes us to facts for days.
That's what we do.
[01:57:53] Speaker C: Facts for days.
[01:57:54] Speaker B: Here we go. I'm so excited.
[01:57:58] Speaker C: You almost sang that.
[01:57:59] Speaker B: That was. I realized halfway through that it was a song, and then it just started coming out of me.
[01:58:05] Speaker C: Number one.
[01:58:06] Speaker B: Yeah?
[01:58:06] Speaker C: Your brain.
[01:58:07] Speaker B: My brain. Mine specifically, yes, but all brains, okay.
[01:58:12] Speaker C: Your brain is constantly eating itself. No, this process is called phagocytosis, where cells envelop and consume smaller cells or molecules to remove them from the system. Don't worry, though. Phagocytosis isn't harmful, but actually helps preserve your gray matter.
[01:58:30] Speaker B: Oh, gray matter. That's a good stuff.
[01:58:32] Speaker D: Interesting.
[01:58:32] Speaker B: Yeah. We need the cytosis to help us with phagocytosis.
[01:58:36] Speaker D: Phagocytosis.
[01:58:39] Speaker C: He's afraid of that one.
[01:58:41] Speaker B: Not going there.
[01:58:42] Speaker C: He saw Chappelle get canceled for that one.
[01:58:45] Speaker B: Please don't cancel us. We've already canceled ourselves.
[01:58:48] Speaker C: Number two, this one probably will draw some debate here. There is no such thing as a straight line. Zoom in close enough to anything, any line, and you'll spot irregularities. Even a laser beam is slightly curved.
[01:59:04] Speaker B: What?
[01:59:05] Speaker D: Weird.
[01:59:05] Speaker B: Why is it like gravity?
[01:59:07] Speaker C: It's just impossible to draw a straight line.
[01:59:10] Speaker B: How's a laser beam not straight?
[01:59:11] Speaker C: It's always got to be curved because of the light particles.
[01:59:14] Speaker B: You're a light particle. That's bullshit. I call bullshit.
[01:59:18] Speaker C: Okay, I know. We draw.
[01:59:21] Speaker D: How do rainbows work?
[01:59:23] Speaker C: Exactly?
[01:59:24] Speaker B: That's true. Yeah, I guess he's right there. I didn't even think about it. Curved light. Absolutely.
[01:59:28] Speaker C: Number three.
[01:59:29] Speaker B: All right. Platypuses, multiple platypuses.
[01:59:33] Speaker C: Any platypus, singular or multiple?
[01:59:36] Speaker B: Oh, a platypus, like possessive, just no plural.
[01:59:41] Speaker C: Like platypuses. They hold all of them.
[01:59:44] Speaker B: Platypie, all platypie.
[01:59:48] Speaker E: Platyputy.
[01:59:51] Speaker C: They sweat milk.
[01:59:52] Speaker B: Oh, nice.
[01:59:53] Speaker C: This is because they don't have teeth.
So milk appears as sweat on a platypus, but it's actually an aquatic mammal, so it actually doesn't sweat at all. It just milks.
[02:00:06] Speaker B: What?
[02:00:07] Speaker C: Milk seeps through its skin.
[02:00:11] Speaker B: But why is that platypus a marsupial?
[02:00:15] Speaker C: It's an aquatic mammal.
[02:00:17] Speaker B: Doesn't they have a pouch, though? I thought they had pouches.
[02:00:19] Speaker C: No teeth.
[02:00:20] Speaker B: No teeth. But they got a pouch and they're a mammal, which sounds like a problem.
[02:00:25] Speaker C: But don't just be a part of the problem, be the whole damn problem.
[02:00:27] Speaker B: And only you can prevent river fires. Burning river sportscast. Burning river. Burning river.
[02:00:36] Speaker C: Burning river.
[02:00:37] Speaker B: Burning river sportscast.
[02:00:38] Speaker C: Burning it up.
Just burning it up.
[02:00:42] Speaker B: We didn't start the fire. No, we didn't start it, but we tried to fart it.
[02:00:51] Speaker C: What did we just say?
[02:00:55] Speaker D: We all knew the words. I mean, burning rivers.
[02:00:58] Speaker B: We all knew the wrong words to this.
How does this happen? It's a mandela effect.
[02:01:05] Speaker C: Burning rivers.
[02:01:06] Speaker B: Burning, burning.
[02:01:08] Speaker C: If you haven't got your tickets to the browns fan cruise yet, you're wrong.
[02:01:11] Speaker B: You're wrong.
[02:01:12] Speaker C: Don't be wrong.
[02:01:13] Speaker B: You know, platypus are poisonous, too. To eat, like, they're poisonous, like to touch. I don't really know the rest of that, but.
Poisonous platypus, I think if they bite you, they're poisonous.
[02:01:26] Speaker C: They have duck bills.
[02:01:28] Speaker B: Have you ever seen the teeth of a duck? Now there's one. Check that shit out. Burning river sports cast.
[02:01:36] Speaker C: Good night, Cleveland Browns fan cruise and the burning river sports cast. What better combination could you possibly think of?
[02:01:43] Speaker B: Motorboat. You play the motorboat, you motorboat son of a bitch. You old sailor, you.
[02:01:49] Speaker C: You know, I was thinking during that interview.
[02:01:51] Speaker B: What were you thinking? Nothing. Because you don't have thoughts. Because you're a brainless idiot.
[02:01:56] Speaker C: Wow. My name is Utrit, son of Utrit.
[02:01:59] Speaker B: By the way, I want my foreskin back. It doesn't matter what you think.
[02:02:03] Speaker E: As people went down, just like in a military organization, somebody else stepped up. So the corporal became a sergeant, and the sergeant became a lieutenant. And it's just absolutely amazing.
[02:02:14] Speaker C: The weather outside is weather.
[02:02:17] Speaker B: The other one, the finger eating food.
[02:02:19] Speaker C: Fingers ejaculate all over my body and my genitals.
[02:02:22] Speaker E: Yes.
[02:02:23] Speaker B: Oh, my God. My house is full of shit. T shit everywhere.
[02:02:28] Speaker E: And this mantra is said over and over and over again. Browns fans are everywhere. Don't watch a Browns game by yourself. Get out there, look in your local area, bang the trees, find somebody, and then get with the Browns fans.
That's the best way to watch a Browns game. What do you mean, funny?
[02:02:51] Speaker B: Funny how? How am I funny? Goddamn jets. All I do is win win no matter what. They called my house on three way, and I was fooled. I straightened up.
I remember one of my friends was like, I'm just goddamn.
I mean, he. He had his voice down.
He was like, I'm looking for Mr. Josh Cripp. I mean, it was his voice.
I can't reenact it. But my friends, as soon as I said something to the affirmative, like, yes, sir, coach. I mean, I heard all these different.
[02:03:31] Speaker E: Voices laughing and snickering, and.
[02:03:36] Speaker B: I was just so embarrassed.
Last year when I went and went home, my wife's pants hit the ground. Erroneous. Erroneous on both counts.
[02:03:45] Speaker C: Wow.
[02:03:46] Speaker B: But damn, the leads are weak. Leads are weak.
[02:03:50] Speaker C: Fucking leads are weak.
[02:03:52] Speaker B: You're weak.
[02:03:54] Speaker C: You know why? Mr. Because you drove a Hyundai. To get here tonight, I drove an $80,000 BMW.
[02:04:01] Speaker B: That's my name. I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Now, I think we've officially lost all of our more conservative viewers.
I don't think they want to listen any longer.
[02:04:12] Speaker D: It's Mother Nature.
[02:04:13] Speaker C: Where's logo girl when you need her?
[02:04:15] Speaker E: I desperately want to make love. We need cheese girl.
[02:04:18] Speaker C: Now, who's canceled now? Who's canceled now?
[02:04:25] Speaker B: Probably me.
[02:04:26] Speaker C: You making a photo of fat people.
[02:04:29] Speaker B: I'm not just you.
[02:04:31] Speaker C: We're a whole race, basically.
[02:04:34] Speaker B: No way. You're just straight. Just finger bang their salad.
[02:04:39] Speaker D: You first get shocked, and then you get the shocker.
[02:04:45] Speaker E: You like to see almost naked. That's cool, man. Whatever.
[02:04:48] Speaker C: No.
Are you not entertained?
[02:04:51] Speaker B: Are you not entertained?
[02:04:56] Speaker E: Why? You were.
[02:04:56] Speaker B: Here's media Today's episode was brought to you by Topath vodka. Topath vodka, an award winning, ultra premium, extremely smooth, high quality vodka, six times distilled and made from Midwest corn and Ohio fruit. Clean and crisp. A truly high quality spirit. Made right here in northeast Ohio. Available locally in northeast Ohio and online in 44 states. Topath vodka.
[02:05:33] Speaker A: Hey, Browns fans.
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