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It's time! Time for Burning River Sportscast to go live again!
Join as we discuss the Week 14 Cleveland Browns loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
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Episode Transcript
[00:00:55] Speaker A: All right, it's time. Time for the Burning river sportscast. Steelers 27, Browns 14. We'll break it all down right now. Welcome into a very special post game live edition of the Burning River Sportscast, presented by the fine folks at Tapping Media. I'm Kenny Thunder joining me tonight. If he was a firearm, he'd only shoot blanks. He's red hot. Ronnie jams.
He's got a femur and the only prescription is more cowbell. He's the big bone man. Gentlemen, good evening. Happy to have you both.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: I'm not happy to see you.
[00:01:26] Speaker C: I'm happy to be better. I missed last week.
[00:01:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: Monday night you had the, you know, you, you're always out saving the world, so you had to get that sleep in.
[00:01:35] Speaker A: We were live after dark.
[00:01:37] Speaker C: Big fan of that.
[00:01:38] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:39] Speaker A: Back to red hot Working our listeners find the dopest dope they ever heard on a podcast. The number one rate of football podcast and all the good pods as well as the unofficial podcast of Cleveland Brownsbackers.
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[00:02:04] Speaker A: Number one.
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Get yourself a nice mug to drink your hot cocoa from. You know, just, just do it. But before we get started, quick shout out some of our. What do you. What are you saying over there?
[00:02:37] Speaker A: So buy it.
[00:02:39] Speaker B: Buy it. Before we get started though, a quick shout out to our sponsors. Topat Distillery. Topet Distillery. Award winning craft distillery. Located in Akron, Ohio. Topat Distillery focuses on high quality spirits carefully made in small batches. Now available locally and in 46 states. Topat Distillery. Handcrafted, award winning small batch, local and family owned. In true fan travel, they make away games, home games with all inclusive travel packages.
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Boys, you got anything to say about New Orleans? You guys, just real quick, I would.
[00:03:37] Speaker A: Just say that it's not just a football game either. It's an experience.
Several events over the course of a couple of different days. Plenty of time to yourself to check out a new city on your own. Have some, have some fun, have some brews. We had an awesome time so absolutely would recommend 10 out of 10 true fan travel for sure.
[00:03:58] Speaker B: And so on today's show, this is what you can look forward to. Recap of today's Week 14 loss against the Steelers, how we're feeling about the Browns right now, what types of off season decisions may be looming, what we can expect the rest of the season. I'm sure there's going to be more, but let's get, let's get things started. Let's jump right into it by reminding everybody to call the Burning River Sportscast hot take hotline.
Make sure you call the hot take hotline. We want hot takes. We've been getting a few these last few weeks. Kenny Mac's been helping out there. He's, he's, he's got some stuff to say. So he's been.
[00:04:29] Speaker A: We got a new one today, boys. We'll listen to it on this week's show.
[00:04:32] Speaker B: Nice. Nice. So we'll, we'll be playing that tomorrow when we record and we can talk about that, put you on air, discuss what you have to say. But we want those hot takes. 330-227-8080 call now. Operators are not standing by. But again, we'll put you on air. So let's just jump right into things, guys. Week 14 recap we'll start with. We'll kind of do things in tandem here. We're going to do Steelers, Steelers offense and Browns defense all at the same time because obviously they're on the field at the same time. And I want to keep this brief because it's getting late in the season. The Browns suck and you know, we all know what we, we are who we thought we were.
Want to at least talk about it. So do we though. Yeah. Some days today less than most days.
[00:05:22] Speaker A: But I like Bowen's idea of the five minute reaction.
[00:05:28] Speaker B: Well, I mean there's time to turn it into that. Yeah. We're past five minutes so it's all it's worth.
But yeah. So, I mean, here's the deal. This game was just kind of boring.
Yeah. I mean, did we. If you didn't turn the game on. I'm just being honest. If you didn't turn today's game on, did you really miss anything for the.
[00:05:48] Speaker A: 10Th time this season? No.
[00:05:52] Speaker B: It just. It's so weird watching the team like. Like today, basically, after Dustin Hopkins missed a second kick, it was like there was no fight in the team whatsoever. Like, they ended up making it somewhat competitive towards the end. If they. We kept saying, like, if they would have just made their kicks, like, they'd still be in it, but they didn't. So they weren't. And it was just kind of meh.
[00:06:14] Speaker A: Well, that's what. My. My wife came into the living room kind of late, and it was like, it was 27 to 7 or whatever. And I was like, it's not. It. It doesn't. It. It's. If the game was closer than it.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: Looks like, like, try to rationalize why you're still watching this game.
[00:06:33] Speaker A: Yeah. She was like, what does that happen? I was like, I mean, if they just made their two field goals, like, this was like a 13, 13 game at halftime, and it would be competitive right now. And even down to the final, like, that final couple of drives, you're like, man, if it was 20 to 27 right now, things would feel a lot different. But being 27 to 13, you just feel like you're forever away. And felt like they kind of were taking their time there on the last drive. They did score on. There on the touchdown 10. Joku. I'm just like, man, just waste a lot of time here. I'm down to, like, eight minutes left, and you gotta score three times.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: I feel like we're wasting a lot of time here.
Yeah, I mean, it's. I don't know. It was. And the weird thing is, like, you look at the game, right? And so I said, we'll start with the Steelers offense. To Brown's defense, you just look at the box score. Russell Wilson threw for 158 yards. Najee Harris rushed for 53. Jalen Warden Warren added 47. So you're looking at right around 100 between all the. All the ball carries, 120 yards rushing, which isn't bad. It's not fantastic, but it's not bad. But 158 yards passing. And like, to me, I'm like, yeah, we were probably in this game, but we weren't.
So it was just a strange Game to watch. And that's, that's where I, I come back to like, did you really miss anything? I don't know, but.
[00:07:52] Speaker A: Well, and again, for the 10th time this year, the same three things were true. You got outrushed. I think we had like 102 yards rushing as a team.
[00:07:59] Speaker B: 104 to 120 was the final there.
[00:08:02] Speaker A: You lost the turnover battle and you gave up 27 points.
[00:08:05] Speaker B: So we had three turnovers. They had one. And then. Yeah, you gave up 27 points.
I, it's, it's pretty simple. I mean, I think literally every game since we, since you first said that. And I know that's not anything groundbreaking. Everybody that ever watched football a couple times in their life knows you run the ball, you play good defense, and you don't turn it over, you win the game. That's it.
So, I mean, it's nothing groundbreaking, but it is funny that I don't think there's been a single week that that hasn't held true.
[00:08:37] Speaker C: So add in the missed kicks. I feel like every single week we have missed kicks.
[00:08:43] Speaker B: So we'll, we'll get to Dustin Hopkins. We're gonna spend a whole like 10 minutes on him because Jesus, Miles Garrett, I will say Myles Garrett did add some, some stats in this one, albeit. And Kenny, as you astutely pointed out during the game, in garbage time, he did add a sack and a fumble recovery, but the sack was one more than T.J. watt had. So there's that.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: True.
[00:09:11] Speaker C: He got him there.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: Yeah. But I don't know. I mean, watching the game, T.J. watt was pretty disruptive today.
[00:09:18] Speaker A: Yeah, he was.
Yeah, I know he showed up big on the stat sheet, but he was, he was. They knew he was there.
[00:09:26] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure.
And so, yeah, I mean, not much going on in offense for either team really, because even. Let's flip it over to the Brown side on offense, James, who it seems like throws for 300 yards every single week, was 24 or 41 for 212. Two touchdowns, two interceptions. Probably his most, you know, one of his lowest output games of this of his season so far.
[00:09:54] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:55] Speaker B: I mean, how do you guys think James looked?
[00:09:56] Speaker A: He's still three for two touchdowns. You know, I. And he was over 200 yards. I mean, he.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: Which is more than we can. That we could have expected out of DeSean Watson when he was playing. Right.
[00:10:06] Speaker A: I mean, the thing is too, like when you look at that box score, I think, I think what that box score tells you, especially when you consider like the Steelers numbers And the fact that Russell passed for like 156 yards on his end, I mean, this was a very much a, like classic AFC north battle. Obviously the snow changed things considerably in terms of strengths and weaknesses last time around.
This was a game again of just like, who could, who, who could run the football just enough, who could play just good enough defense and who could outlast the other. And on paper, this Pittsburgh team is just better than the Browns right now. So it just kind of played out that way. But I mean, nothing statistically was going to blow anybody's balls off here. This was just a classic hard nosed football game and it was who could just, who could do just enough. And the Steelers did. You know, I do think it's funny out of all the things that came out of today's game as I heard all kinds of noise from Steelers fans, like, oh, where's all my Browns fans at? It's like, okay, first off, we beat you once this year, so suck it. And second off, like, we're, we were three and nine coming into today, like under no delusions that we were a better football team.
Yeah, I'll take, I'll take a season split with you guys because you're going to the playoffs and we're going to the dump.
[00:11:17] Speaker B: Right. Well, that goes back to like after the first win against the Steelers this year. Like, you know, you got your, your classic. Like everybody, everybody threw up their. All the Steelers fans threw up the. Oh, this is their Super Bowl. Like we're to that point. That was our third win of the season. Yeah, absolutely. That was the super bowl this year, right?
[00:11:36] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:11:37] Speaker B: Like, I don't know why people act like that's a, that's a weird thing or like a bad thing when you're a bad football team. Everyone is your super bowl in the Browns. I'm not like, I'm. I still love the Browns, but the Browns are a bad football team this year.
[00:11:52] Speaker A: They're.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: They're bad.
[00:11:53] Speaker A: They're three and 10. That's bad. You're in the double digits and lost columns.
[00:11:56] Speaker B: Double digit losses. We played really bad games. We lost 10 of them. That's really bad.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: I think when you look at the draft board for next year, I think there's two teams that are ahead of us right now. So that's not good.
[00:12:07] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't. It's just, it always blows my mind, like, just how the Steelers fans will like flip things around and, and make us.
It's like I deal with them all the time because my whole work Is full. They're based out of Pennsylvania, and that's all I hear all the time.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: I'm just like, you beat, like, the third worst team in the league. Good job.
[00:12:29] Speaker B: Way to go, buddy.
[00:12:29] Speaker A: What's more embarrassing is that two weeks ago, you lost to that team.
[00:12:33] Speaker B: Yeah, you're. What are you guys, like, Yankees fans? You like to see guys beat up girls, too? Yeah, that's weird.
But, yeah, I will shout out Jerry Judy in this one.
Obviously, another big game out of him. Five for 64 and a touchdown. David Ajoku continues to play well. Seven for 42 and a touchdown. Elijah Moore came back down to earth with only three catches for 34 yards. And then Nick Chubb 11 for 48. And there was a few times in this one. I mean, he was bottled up for the most part, but there were a few times in this one where I was like, ooh, that was vintage Nick Chubb.
[00:13:11] Speaker A: Today was the best I've seen Nick Chubb since he's been back, for sure. I think he averaged over 4 yards of carrying this one. He didn't get a ton of work, but. Which I think, again, just by design at this point, but, yeah, I mean, he averaged over 4 yards of carry today. He looked like he was running hard. He was running through some arm tackles and things today. So, yeah, not a huge sample size. But I was encouraged by what I saw to Nick Chubb today.
[00:13:32] Speaker B: There was one in the third quarter, specifically that I saw where he kind of ran into a big pile of people on the right side of the line, and then he bounced it further out to the outside and then, like, proceeded to stiff arm somebody and get like 9 or 10 yards. And I was like, yeah, those are the runs. Those are the ones we've been waiting for. Yeah.
But, yeah, I mean, nothing. Just honestly, like, I don't. You know, I hate to be a downer, but there's just. There really wasn't anything phenomenal or particularly great or, you know, it was a boring football game.
[00:14:05] Speaker A: I mean, I think to the bones point, like, this whole game changed on the fact that Dustin Hopkins missed those kicks. Because if. If he makes both those kicks, like, this thing is a game all the. To the end. But by the time we missed that second kick, I think it was so demoralizing to the entire team that it was like, I mean, we have to score touchdowns or else. Or else.
[00:14:29] Speaker C: Yeah, Those missed kicks came after some. Two, really. Two really good drives. You know, I don't. I don't really have the stats in front of me. But it felt like they were both long, you know, kind of long, hard fought drives and then nothing.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: Yeah. To come out.
[00:14:43] Speaker A: Nothing hurts.
[00:14:44] Speaker B: Yeah. And I'd say this, let's talk about Dustin Hopkins now because I think it's the big, you know, the elephant in the room from this game. It has been for a while, but it kind of was on full display today. He missed two more kicks today and they weren't particularly tough kicks. He's just not good this year, guys. He ranks 40th in the NFL in accuracy. Like, I don't know if people keep track, but there are literally only 32 teams in the NFL and he ranks 40th in accuracy.
So.
[00:15:16] Speaker A: Yeah, it's not great. It's not great.
[00:15:19] Speaker B: So at this point, like, I know, Kenny, I know we, we talked last, last week and we said, who else are you going to go get at this point? I don't give a shit. It could be anybody.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: Right. Well, and, and at the time I was still thinking, like, this guy's a professional, like, he's going to get it. Not that he's going to be the best kicker from here on out, but like, I think he'll, he'll make some kicks. We're at a point where he's not making any kicks. So, like, as much as, as much as I was, like, you know, just ride out the season with him, like, it's just frustrating to watch that, like, go, go find a rookie. Go find somebody that's, that's trying to make a squad. Somebody that's on a practice squad. Go get Cade York. Go get anybody. Let, let, let Cory Majorquez kick field goals. Like, it can't be any worse than what we're getting out of Dustin Hopkins right now.
[00:16:05] Speaker B: No. Yeah. And, and so what do you guys think? Like, to me, I'd say cut him tomorrow, but that's me. What do you guys think on this?
[00:16:12] Speaker A: I was hoping that they would have cut him by the time we had our show tonight.
[00:16:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:16:18] Speaker C: I wouldn't mind getting a young guy in here, you know, testing them out the rest of the season. Just, just another look at somebody going into next year. You know, give somebody an opportunity.
[00:16:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:29] Speaker C: To kick in some high pressure. Not really high pressure games, but I mean, it's NFL, so it's all pressure.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: Is it our fault we made those? Justin is greater or Dustin. Dustin is greater than Justin shirts. And from there it was all down.
[00:16:45] Speaker A: Justin's been bad this year, too. Yes.
[00:16:47] Speaker B: Is it a, is it a battle of attrition at this point? Like, who's, who sucks least?
[00:16:52] Speaker A: I think Father Time has just caught up with both those. I mean, the thing is, kicking is, is a lot like golf, right? It's a very mental.
Right. Our kickers got the yips, emotional thing. And he does right now, I mean, he's in his. About it, right? I mean, he, he pulled the first one and pushed the second one thinking, hey, I'm not going to pull this one.
And that's where he's at right now. And sometimes you just can't figure it out mid season because you just, you're, you're hurting the team every time you're on the field. So.
Look, I, I don't know if K Dork's on a roster somewhere. I'd go give K Dork another shot at this thing. Look, we see kickers every year that come back. And I mean, obviously, even with. Look at all the Browns kickers that are in the NFL. Chase McLaugh, Austin Cyber, Zane Gonzalez. Like, these guys keep showing up on rosters. Like, and it's not just Browns kickers. I mean, there's a bunch of guys that have bad years, get cut, end up somewhere else, and they have a good stretch for a couple of years. So shoot. I mean, that's how we got Dustin Hopkins in the first place, right? I mean, it's just one of those games where it's a personnel, you know, enigma. You gotta kind of just try and figure it out. But right now the thing is, you're getting absolutely nothing out of Dustin Hopkins. So it's just, you can't keep going on like that unless, Unless they've made the decision that, like, at this point they're like, yeah, we wouldn't mind having that top three pick in the draft. So having a kicker that misses every field goal is not such a bad idea.
It's like, it's an easy scapegoat strategy. I feel like maybe, in fact, maybe they're paying Dustin to shake points at.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: This point, go out there, just miss.
[00:18:32] Speaker A: Every kick, just miss everything.
[00:18:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
Yeah. And I, I think that the, the biggest issue with today's game and why it was so glaring, like, obviously he missed the two kicks and that's bad enough, but it was even more noticeable because we're playing against Boswell, who has taken over as, like, he is by far the most reliable kicker in the AFC north. And that dude doesn't miss anymore. Like, Like. Well, I shouldn't say anymore. That dude just doesn't miss, period. Like, he just. It seems like every time there's a pressure kick. He's making it.
[00:19:05] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, they've been fortunate. They've had. But, but the thing is like Basel's had years where he wasn't the best kicker in the league and they've stuck by him. You know, that's a different story though with Dustin Hopkins. I mean, Boswell's been in Pittsburgh for a long time, so.
But yeah, I mean it's, it's glaring when that guy makes everything and your guy can't make a field goal. So I mean, the only problem is, like I said, this was a classic AFC north matchup. When you have drives where you're consistently moving the football, you get the running game moving just a little bit, you're, you're, you're able to convert on a third down here and there and you just can't punch it in. You can't afford to not have those points because you know that at the end of the day, like it's going to come down to this is going to be probably one possession game. So you have to make good on those, those opportunities.
[00:19:50] Speaker B: Yeah, every point matters for sure.
Well, guys, the only other thing that I have here for this game is coaching. I want to just get into that a little bit.
Kind of high, you know, 30,000 foot view. Not, not really getting into the weeds of things, but more so just the fact that this, this to me is another game that shows that I know Kevin Stefanski is a two time coach of the year, whatever you want to say about him.
But Mike Tomlin is a far better coach than Kevin Stefanski.
He has been the entire time Stefanski has been here. He continues to be. And I know that you mentioned last week, Kenn, on the same day that the Browns ensured they would be going under.500.
[00:20:39] Speaker A: For the 15th time.
[00:20:40] Speaker B: Yeah, for the 15th time. Mike Tomlin.
[00:20:42] Speaker A: Mike Tomlin's tenure.
[00:20:43] Speaker B: Yeah. Mike Tomlin ensured that he still has not gone under. 500 ever in 18 years. So ever.
[00:20:51] Speaker A: And this is, I think, and this is I think the 10th or 11th time they've had 10 plus wins in his tenure.
[00:20:57] Speaker B: Yeah. So I know again, I deal with Steelers fans all the time because of work, but they, they are not high on Mike Tomlin. And it just, every time I hear it I'm like, you guys are nuts.
[00:21:11] Speaker A: I would, I would love to have Mike Tomlin as our head coach.
[00:21:13] Speaker C: Probably because he's never won coach of the year.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: We'll trade you a two timer. Yeah.
[00:21:21] Speaker B: Yeah. You have them. Straight up.
[00:21:23] Speaker A: Straight up. Yeah. I've got Two coaching points of emphasis that I'd like to make.
[00:21:28] Speaker B: The special teams is bad.
[00:21:30] Speaker A: The first one is after the game.
They asked Kevin because obviously James didn't. He had. It was very mediocre. Today they asked if Jameis was going to be the starting quarterback next year. Mind you, this is the guy that for seven straight weeks said, desean Watson gives us the best chance to win football games, so he's going to continue to be our starter. Said, I don't know. We're going to. I'm not ready to commit to a quarterback at this point. Are you kidding me right now? Is there another starting quarterback on this roster that I'm not aware of? Is there somebody that actually does give this team a better chance to win right now than Jameis Winston? Look, I get that Jameis is a roller coaster, but he's also thrown 13 touchdowns so far as a starter quarterback here. Like, is there somebody else that's better on this team right now? Are you telling me a DTR gives his better. This team a better deal, or are you gonna put Bailey Zappian.
Like, what are we doing? What are we doing all of a sudden now we're going to be coy about who the quarterback is?
[00:22:29] Speaker C: I don't know.
[00:22:30] Speaker A: Starting quarterback for next week. Are you kidding me, Kevin?
[00:22:34] Speaker B: Was it for next week or next season?
[00:22:36] Speaker A: Next week. For next week.
[00:22:37] Speaker B: Yeah. You originally said next season. I was like, yeah, that kind of makes sense. I wouldn't.
[00:22:42] Speaker C: Next week.
[00:22:43] Speaker B: Next week makes it way worse.
[00:22:45] Speaker A: Yeah. Are you kidding me?
[00:22:48] Speaker B: Yeah. I mean, that's terrible.
[00:22:49] Speaker A: There's one more reason he should be shit canned tomorrow.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:54] Speaker C: It's a terrible answer if.
[00:22:56] Speaker B: If they legitimately roll somebody else out besides Jameis the rest of the season. Like.
Like, I don't. Like, you know, I'm not one to call for violence, but maybe somebody needs to be stoned in the streets. I don't know.
[00:23:09] Speaker A: At least. At least with, like, jelly beans or something. Yeah.
[00:23:14] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:23:17] Speaker A: Sorry, everyone. Go ahead.
[00:23:18] Speaker C: No, I was gonna say, if they're gonna win one more game in the season just to make the Browns fans feel better. You know, it was obviously today. You know, you sweep the Steelers and then you lose the rest of your games, I think people would still be pretty happy.
So now I think it's tank time and get a. Get a draft pick. That's. That's. That's my prediction is of what's gonna happen.
[00:23:38] Speaker A: Yeah, I don't think you're far off, but I. But to me, like, I still look at it like, well, we got. We got the Bengals twice, right? Like, before now and the end of the season.
[00:23:46] Speaker B: Like, no, we played him once.
[00:23:47] Speaker A: All right, we only play him once. Yeah. You still have the Bengals and the Ravens still in your schedule again. So, like, I would. I would very much like to win both those division gears before the end of the season. We won't.
Probably not. We'll probably go out and beat the Chiefs next week is probably what we'll do randomly.
Number two point of coaching emphasis. And I don't know whose fault this is. I don't know if this is a Bubba Ventrone thing, if this is an Andrew Barry thing saying, hey, we've got a, you know, interesting personnel guy we want to get on the field, or this is a Kevin Stefanski decision. But let me remind everyone that Kadarius, Tony was a high end draft pick that was kicked out of New York for what reason?
[00:24:27] Speaker B: He can't catch the ball.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: He can't catch the ball. He went to Kansas City after that and was kicked out of Kansas City promptly. Because of what?
[00:24:35] Speaker B: He can't catch the ball.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: He can't catch the ball. So why in the hell is this dude returning punts, arguably the hardest thing to catch?
[00:24:43] Speaker B: He didn't catch one.
[00:24:45] Speaker A: He didn't catch it.
[00:24:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:24:46] Speaker A: I mean, the punts is the one thing where if you don't catch it, the other team, it can get the ball.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: It's. It's actually like, I would be interested to see what the actual stats are on muff punts. Like, I'm pretty sure it's probably like 80% of the time if you muff a pump punt, the other team gets it.
[00:25:02] Speaker A: Yeah, well, I'm just saying, like, compared to being a Incomplete pass, it's 100% of the time on incomplete pass, like, you just. You just drop it, nothing happens. But if you. If you don't catch the punt, the other team can get the ball. Like, whose idea was it to put this guy out there, make the hardest catch of the game? Like, what happened to just putting James Crochet back there because he could at least catch the football always.
[00:25:25] Speaker B: He just.
[00:25:25] Speaker A: He just counted. Was he a great returner? No, but he caught the damn ball. We get all excited. We get Kidarius Tony, he's the fastest guy in the league. Let's put him back there. Well, it doesn't do any good how fast he is if he can't catch the damn ball.
Yeah, I don't. I just don't understand. Like, what. Whose idea was this? Whose Idea was, if it was Kevin's, it's another reason for him to be shit can tomorrow. If it's Andrew, Barry's thinking, hey, we got to get this guy on the field. Hey, get out of my playbook. Like, let Kevin decide who's going to be on the field. And Bubba Ventrone, like, already we got the worst kicker in the league, and now the worst kicker, Turner. So I don't know what you're doing here either.
[00:26:03] Speaker B: Like, congratulations, Bubba Ventrone. Like, you went from last year. Like, we were pretty solid to.
We legitimately have the worst special teams.
[00:26:13] Speaker A: Special teams. Yeah.
[00:26:14] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:14] Speaker A: You got a good corner. That's it.
[00:26:17] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, BoJo, he helps, but I don't know. He was good before Ventura got here, so.
[00:26:25] Speaker A: Yeah, agreed. Right? I just. I just don't. I just, like, that was driving crazy. I'm like, where you get those? You get. You had, like, two or three moments during that game where you were like, all right, like, maybe something interesting will happen. They get the ball back. James promptly throws a pick, and then they get the fumble, and then they get the stop. And then you're like, all right, like, still three minutes left. We. Let's see what will happen here. Now, we can't even field a punt, so let's give the ball right back. Enjoy Pittsburgh.
[00:26:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I mean that. What else can I say? You pretty much said it all, you know.
[00:26:57] Speaker A: Yeah. This team is trash up to duck up and down. It's just bad.
[00:27:02] Speaker B: Yeah. So. So wish with the trash team. Why don't we just go ahead and do our bring for sports guest dog of the week nominee?
I'm gonna start. I'm gonna start this week since I wasn't allowed to take him last week, and I'll just do Jerry Judy. So Bone, who's your. Who's your dog of the week nominee?
[00:27:23] Speaker C: Man, that's tough.
I'll go. Jordan Hicks.
[00:27:29] Speaker B: Tony.
[00:27:30] Speaker C: Jordan Hicks came up real nice on a running back swing pass and made a nice, nice hit in the open field. That's the only thing I can think of that, like, got me excited at all today.
[00:27:41] Speaker B: So, Bones going strictly off of one play. I love it.
[00:27:44] Speaker C: Yeah. One play.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: Kenny, who's your. Who's your dog of the week nominee?
[00:27:51] Speaker A: I'll go. Jerome Forks. He had a nice kick return.
[00:27:54] Speaker C: Yeah, he did.
[00:27:56] Speaker B: Nobody's taking in Joku with the other touchdown.
[00:27:59] Speaker A: Nah.
[00:28:02] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:28:06] Speaker C: Game was boring.
[00:28:09] Speaker B: All right, so final thoughts?
[00:28:11] Speaker A: Kenny, you want my final thoughts right now? You want to. You really want my final thoughts?
[00:28:16] Speaker B: No, we'll save yours for Last bone.
[00:28:18] Speaker A: Final thoughts. I'll give you a final thought.
[00:28:22] Speaker B: Okay. Okay.
[00:28:24] Speaker A: We talked a lot. We've placed the finger at a lot of people this year. We pointed a lot of fingers and there's a lot of blame to go around.
But let me just remind all of you, especially because we're heading into draft season and we're heading into this discussion now about let's pick a quarterback and what that's going to look like and who's going to run this offense? Is Ken Dorsey the right guy to run it? Is Kevin Stefanski the right guy to run? Should any of these guys be back?
This didn't start with Dustin Hopkins missing kicks. This didn't start with James Winston needing to be delivered from pick sixes. This didn't start with desean Watson even being the worst quarterback on the planet.
[00:29:05] Speaker B: Worst quarterback ever?
[00:29:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Worst quarterback, period, ever. Period.
This started when, as a city, collectively, I guess we looked at a guy who is third right now in passing yards and third right now in touchdowns in the entire league and said, can't win games with that guy.
Fucking idiots. All of you. All of you. All of you. I don't want to hear. I don't want to hear your opinions on who you think is going to be good, who's going to be the best. You already all shit the bed. Screw it. You all suck.
[00:29:38] Speaker B: Just calling out the entire city.
[00:29:40] Speaker A: You had a quarterback here who you could win games with, who consistently was winning games and changed the trajectory of this franchise. And somewhere along the way, we said, this isn't good enough. For who?
[00:29:54] Speaker B: Yeah, for who?
Hey, yeah.
[00:29:58] Speaker C: In case. In case the listeners didn't read between the lines, he's talking about Baker Mayfield. I tried to say his name.
And he. Yeah, he is indeed a stud. And I miss him.
[00:30:10] Speaker B: Listen, we. I think even the most staunch desean defenders at this point have trouble at least not admitting that. Okay, maybe we messed up.
And I think that's the problem, though, is even though I think they're thinking that internally, we still have all these guys out there that are like, no, we did the right thing. We couldn't win with Baker. But, you know, Baker's over there winning games with literally nobody left on his team because everybody's hurt. So.
[00:30:44] Speaker A: Yeah. And did last year with a different offensive coordinator than this year. I mean, he's had injuries to his top targets down there, and he still got, like, 28 passing touchdowns on a season with, I don't know, what, four or five games left to play. Like, the guy's gonna deliver 35 touchdowns this year. And that. That wasn't good enough for Browns fans.
[00:31:02] Speaker B: Yeah. I'll say this. I was. I've always been a.
Not, not too sympathetic to your arguments for Baker. But I, I would be happy. I never thought I'd say this, but I'd be very happy to have Baker on our team right now. So it is what it is. I don't know. Phone Final thoughts.
[00:31:24] Speaker C: Yeah, I would say I don't want Andrew Berry picking our rookie quarterback this year. Fire Andrew Bear.
[00:31:29] Speaker B: I agree. I agree with that.
Yeah. And I'm gonna go.
I'm gonna go in that same vein. I'm. I'm done with Kevin Stefanski, too. Fire Kevin Stefanski and let's hire Mike Vrabel because I still, I do think that there is talent on this roster that you could still continue to. You don't have to tear it down to the, down to the studs.
[00:31:52] Speaker A: Or.
[00:31:52] Speaker B: You do just leave the studs. I guess I don't know where I'm going with that. But you. You get rid of Kevin Stefanski, you bring in Mike Vrabel, you get rid of Dorsey, you get rid of Barry, you get rid of Deep Podesta and you say we have some talent here.
Vrabel, do what you do. So I think we'd be good there. But they're not gonna listen to me. Analytics, you know.
[00:32:22] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:23] Speaker B: Well, feels bad.
Let me remind everybody to call the Burning River Sportscast hot take hotline. This, all this stuff we're talking about. This is why we have the hot take hotline. So I wish somebody would take us, more people would take us up on this. We. At least we have a few in there now. We'll talk about them tomorrow.
But yeah. 330-227-8080. Call now. Leave your hot takes on the hot take hotline. Let us know just how you feel about the Browns.
Kenny, what can we expect next week?
[00:32:56] Speaker A: Oh, sorry. I thought you were asking how I felt about the Browns.
Yeah. This week we'll have our normal show to be out Thursday. Thanks for hanging out with us. With us tonight live. But we will Preview the Week 15 game against the Kansas City Chefs and then we'll have Browns backers interview with our friends out in KC Maybe talk some barbecue there. And I think we got John Hughes back with us again this week after the misfire on the scheduling for the previous week. So we should have our. Our dear friend of the show and defensive correspondent John Hughes with us again this week.
[00:33:32] Speaker B: Absolutely. And check us out on social media. Tap of media is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. At the tap of Media, I'm burning over Sportscast. That's. This podcast is on Facebook, Instagram, tick tock and YouTube at Burning River Sportscast and on X at Burning River Pod. And you can find our podcast wherever you get your podcast. We're talking Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, Music, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Pandora, iHeartRadio, Pocket, Cast, Castro. Good, good pods where we are number one ranked football podcast and so many more.
Guys, this. I'm ready for bed.
[00:34:04] Speaker A: Yeah, I'm just ready for Brown's vacation. Man, this is, like, as bad as I felt about the Browns in a long time. Like, this feels like. Like, I can't even compare this to. Like, this is worse than it's. We've talked all year about how it's worse than the 0 and 16 team, the 131 team. Whatever. This. This is like, I don't know, back to, like, 2011 Browns. Like, there's just, like, you just, like, there's just no hope. Just such a team is such a.
[00:34:31] Speaker C: Letdown of a season.
[00:34:32] Speaker A: It's not fun to watch.
And they just, you know, from where expectations were to where we are today, man, it's just awful.
[00:34:41] Speaker B: We're gonna power through.
[00:34:42] Speaker A: We're ready to remake this team in the off season and come back next year. Better.
[00:34:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:34:46] Speaker C: We have four. Four games. Four more of these guys.
[00:34:50] Speaker B: Yep. We're. Yeah. Let's be honest here. We're. We're just like the rest of the fans. Like, we're like, season over yet? Is the season over?
[00:34:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:34:57] Speaker C: Four more pity parties.
[00:35:00] Speaker B: Exactly. Exactly. And then we'll talk a little bit about playoff football on real teams, and then, you know, we'll pack it up and we'll get back here next year to talk about, hopefully, a better Brown. But until then, bone.
[00:35:13] Speaker C: Yeah. Bon appetit. Good night, fellas.
[00:35:16] Speaker A: Don't just be a part of the problem. Be the whole damn problem.
[00:35:20] Speaker B: And only you can prevent river fires.
Burning River Sports cast.
[00:35:26] Speaker A: Burning rivers. Burning rivers. Burning River. Good night, Cleveland.
Good night, Cleveland.
[00:35:33] Speaker C: Good night, Akron.
