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[Assistant] The thinking is, this problem compounds itself, it doesn't go away.


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[Assistant] I mean, you've had now a couple of off-seasons to go into the lab and come back with something that does really knock our socks off.


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[Assistant] You're absolutely right. And that is the silver lining and hopefully that's what Stefanski and everybody is talking about in that locker room because as gloom and doom as it feels after what we saw on Sunday, it's not


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[Assistant] Uhm, let's tease the audience for the Channel 3 show. Did we learn anything? Yes. At the end of it, because it's really hard for a doctor to talk about a player when he hasn't examined them. No, but he was


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[Assistant] That's very good. I'm anxious to hear what he has to say. Very good. Alright, you want to go into your offensive line deep dive after your read?


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[Assistant] The answer is it's a little deal right now. It is, there's something there. It's a little deal. Certainly not a big deal, but you can't say it's nothing. I think the vast majority would say that it is a very small issue.


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[Assistant] Yeah, you would think that 69% still are gonna say no deal, but if they had an option to say, there's something there, but we don't think it's much.


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[Assistant] I think that upstairs in the newsroom, we had a conversation yesterday about somebody asked us the media over blowing this. And I said, well, it all depends on which media you're looking at. Number one, if you're looking at state run media like the Browns media.


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[Assistant] No, they're not over blowing this at all. Nothing to see here, nevermind the smoke. However.


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[Assistant] To say that there's, ah, why would this be a, this is a nothing burger. That you can't say that either because you answered the question appropriately.


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[Assistant] Here's the thing, and you said this earlier and you said it earlier in the week. If Deshaun Watson perceives it as a slight, then it is a slight. It's like saying, you know, why should I apologize? Well, if someone feels aggrieved,


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[Assistant] Maybe you don't apologize for what you said, maybe you apologize, I'm sorry if that hurt your feelings. So I think, they're grown men.


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[Assistant] The answer of, is this the thing moving forward? Wind Sunday, next Sunday. And this thing is dust in the wind faster than you can sneeze. It's gone. I mean, it is gone.


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[Assistant] I would think it's pretty close, they've been equally bad, but I think their run block has been particularly bad.


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[Assistant] That's a huge variation. Well again, we talked about this not being a science. It's not a science. I mean it's just not. Now I think SIS weighs more on statistics. Where PFF weighs more


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[Assistant] There are actually some analytic systems that do this. They take the best three out, the worst three out.


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[Assistant] But the other thing was, the gap between pass block and run block is a lot bigger than I thought.


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[Assistant] I mean, I thought both were mid to below and they were going to be close, but the block, run block would be worse. It's, it's opposite ends of the spectrum.


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[Assistant] If you, if you make, if you put your foot in the dirt and you get to a corner before someone else because you have the speed to do that. Yeaah.


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[Assistant] Like a Sean, or a Shan, or however he's pronouncing his name now. A Chan. A Chan. Like, you know, I imagine that he's...


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[Assistant] Right, so I have a hard time giving the line credit for that when that was all the back.


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[Assistant] And we've seen a lot of Nick Chubbs runs are the same thing. You know, the play was clearly decided to go to the right, he quickly recognized, oh that's not happening, and just immediately takes off the other way, and he's gone.


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[Assistant] On the, on the, on the all 22 that you noticed it. All day long, Nijoku was


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[Assistant] Yeah, it's like a blur going by him.


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[Assistant] You know, that's interesting. That might be the answer to why he has sort of cracked the code as the NFL's best quarterback.


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[Assistant] Because, and I know Lamar can do that too, but I think Patrick has the better arm. But we saw it on the Sunday night game on the 3rd and 22, in which by the way, the referees missed a clear holding. Oh my god, he held that guy all the way down the field. They missed that. But on 3rd and 22,


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[Assistant] And, and I think that stat right there drives home, maybe more than any other, why this guy is just so elite.


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[Assistant] Is that, I'm just guessing that the way they're getting to that number is how many pressures you allowed per drop backs.


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[Assistant] In the whack-a-mole game, last year it was the defensive tackles, this year it's the offensive tackles.


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[Assistant] Go get one. Whoever you get is going to be better than this.


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[Assistant] Yeah, but I don't want to be dead last in anything. No, the run block rate is horrible. Gee, why would you suppose, he's got great footwork for a big guy, but why would you suppose that he's doing fairly well at pass block? Above average.


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[Assistant] And I guess Jason, that's what they're seeing. They're saying not only is our run block worse than we thought, our best running back isn't here to hide all those words. So we can't run the ball. It's just, and by proxy, you're now one dimensional, which is a big problem in the NFL. I have a question for you, G.


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[Assistant] From a mental standpoint, which is more difficult to grasp? Pass block concepts or run block?


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[Assistant] If the erosion continues, like if he can hold this.


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[Assistant] But often times we've seen it that position. Like you said, you wake up and all of a sudden it just is going downhill.


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[Assistant] I think you're right. Teller isn't having to provide as much help to Jones. Right. Especially in the passing game. As Betonio is


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[Assistant] In the pass line. So he's having to worry about helping him less and it's allowing him to be better at his position. That's why I always say, when it comes to the offensive line, you're as good as your weakest link. And right now, that weak link is very weak and it's pulling everyone else down. Wills is killing them.


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[Assistant] Yeah, it's just short of two calendar years. Well, I mean. Cause we saw them in November and we had last seen them in almost two years prior to December.


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[Assistant] Uh, and you see it all the time, and I'm not saying that Sean's done this, but a lot of times by the fourth or fifth round...


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[Assistant] Everybody in the arena and everybody watching at home knows, cause it shows, you know, well this guy didn't put in the work.


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[Assistant] Listen, I understand it. There are times where guys lose or don't perform well even though they put in all the work. That's right. I think what he's saying is when we've seen that an elite quarterback, which is what he was,


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[Assistant] We were seeing things on Instagram and then all of a sudden you started seeing all these workout videos were coming up from everywhere. I don't know when they were shot, when they were produced, but


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[Assistant] Because look, when we last saw him, he looked a lot closer to the Deshaun Watson we saw in Houston than we had ever seen before. Yeah, it wasn't an all-time game that he played, no. But it was a really good game.


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[Assistant] My thing is it was so against his M.O. that it raised eyebrows.


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[Assistant] And I don't believe that that's what, I don't think he was trying to take any criticism off him. No. And put it on to Sean. No. Cause he's too smart for that.


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[Assistant] Specifically, not the Cavs and the Guardians. Like go to Chicago and hear what they're saying about the Bears. You don't have people in Chicago saying, oh the Bears ownership is the best ownership in town.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I'm with, I'm with you guys. I mean, I'll second that, but I will say I've never drank the water because I smelled it.


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[Assistant] No, but Tomlin... I can only keep going, I'm keeping Tomlin. I would say that Tomlin's playoff percentages making the playoffs is better than the races. I'm just guessing. I don't know.


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[Assistant] It's interesting because the two quarterbacks that you mentioned weren't, aren't running threats. No. And today's quarterback, it's the guys that can run it and throw it that are the biggest threats.


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[Assistant] And that's what I, I keep waiting to see what happens to Nakua when Cooper Cup comes back. Yeaah, that's going to be fascinating.


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[Assistant] I'm Keeping Lawrence, I'm Trading Baker, and I'm sorry, Burrow, uh, this season? No, Stroud. Stroud. Oh, Stroud. Okay, my bad. CJ Stroud. Yeah, we'll see you on Channel 3.


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[Assistant] Let's do it guys. One of these was Deshaun Watson related. We have taken that off the board just like Vegas has done with the line for the game. So we have a two pack of Fence Riders for you. The first one is a question I never thought I would ask in a million years, but.


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[Assistant] Will any Ravens running back have more than 35, just 35 rushing yards against the Browns? We had a 4-3 split here. Myself, G, Jay, and Bull all said yes. Earl, Tyvis, and Jason said no.


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[Assistant] This goes back to our favorite, our birthday boy this week, MJ Emerson. Will this be the week that either Greg Newsom or Martin Emerson gets their first career interception off Lamar Jackson, Earl, G, Jay, and Bull? Y'all said yes.


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[Assistant] Alright, I'm also going, regardless if it's DTR or Watson, I'm going with the Browns to win. How about this headline? Outcasts in Cleveland. Sorry Mr. Jackson, this defense is real. And that's only two and a half seconds, you can't sue us. Take that YouTube.


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[Assistant] I remember, and maybe I'm misremembering it, was it Minka, somebody on the Steelers defense, and I could have swore it was Fitzpatrick, had two helmet to helmet.


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[Assistant] So that's something you have to think about. But when you look at it- Steve sent to the chat, and this is an interesting- Tracer? Yeah, that's-


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[Assistant] He had some moments with the Buckeyes, but he hasn't done anything in the NFL, has he?


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[Assistant] I want all of us to use one word to describe what we saw last night. Mine is gutted.


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[Assistant] I just want to point out, you may have seen this yesterday, but it really hit me. On the 24th day of the month.


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[Assistant] And Kareem Hunt wearing number 24 as he walks back into Cleveland Brown Stadium for the first time since rejoining the team.


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[Assistant] One by 24 points. Could there be anything more fitting as a tribute to number 24 Nick Chubb? And we had talked on Friday. Is this talk or will they walk the walk?


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[Assistant] I don't know if it was for Nick. I don't know if they were carrying him in their minds on every play. But if they play like this the rest of the year.


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[Assistant] They're no doubt a playoff team. And then we can start talking about how far this team can go.


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[Assistant] Echo Bulls Point, the number one takeaway, and I know the defense was great, and I know if it wasn't for a turnover, this defense hasn't allowed a snap from scrimmage in the red zone this year.


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[Assistant] Think about that for a second. Three games in, if not for a turnover, they have not allowed a snap in the red zone this year. And if I'm not mistaken, on that possession, they pushed them out of the red zone.


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[Assistant] Yeaah. With a tremendous defensive effort. This is an all-time great Browns defense since the rebirth. Shouldn't say all-time.


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[Assistant] But in my lifetime, it just conjures up memories of the late 80s Browns defense. They've got a stout front end. They've got a stingy back end. All of the elements are there. We talked about the postseason, Jim Schwartz, the overwhelming number one off season acquisition of this team. He's proving it week in and week out. Wow.


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[Assistant] No, I mean, I'm clearly in control. Guys, this was a backwards weekend. We had to sweat out the Buckeyes win and we watched the Browns like we usually watch Ohio State on Saturdays. I didn't know what to do with myself.


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[Assistant] We put a lid on the best running back, one of the best running backs in the game. I think Christian McCaffrey kind of has that crown for me now. But Derrick Henry is still top three, maybe top two with jump being gone.


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[Assistant] No, I said McNuggets has caught it. Brown's fever. The Giants think, so you're like on this bandwagon with both feet now.


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[Assistant] Alright, let's talk about Deshaun Watson, that's where we have to start, because for the 8 game sample size that we saw, it clearly wasn't good enough.


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[Assistant] This was the game, we talked about it on Friday, with the back end of their defense being as low rated as they have been. This was the one that matched up for him breaking out. And that's exactly what he did. Guys, I know he missed on six passes.


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[Assistant] But honestly, four of those by my memory were throwaways. He was being rushed. One was a drop.


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[Assistant] Early on, on a third down play, we dropped the pass, maybe a little too hard thrown, but it hit the man right, it hit, and I think only one was a true misfire. On the sideline, yup. And when you, when you rack that up, I don't care how bad this Titans defense is.


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[Assistant] Those are the numbers we paid for. Right there. Now we gotta get them for a lot. We need, we need eight of those and one clunker.


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[Assistant] First of all, let's credit DPJ too. First of all, you couldn't have walked it down there any better.


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[Assistant] Receivers often times will wait to reach for the ball until the very last second because they don't want to tell to the defensive back. If you go back and look at that catch, that's exactly what he did.


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[Assistant] He waited until the absolute last second for him to move his arms as to not key off key to the corner that it was coming. It was, that's textbook football guys.


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[Assistant] Let's try to credit the performance and that's always difficult because he could have turned a corner, he could have had a great week of practice, he could have finally put some of these mental pieces of baggage that he's carried with him behind him.


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[Assistant] And I'll give a little credit to Stefanski because I thought one of the most creative but under talked about things about the game yesterday was this right here. He had the quarterback sneaks and he put Harrison in. So on the second time Harrison, guess what's coming?


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[Assistant] Well, when Harrison isn't under center in a situation where you would normally run a sneak, now you've got the defense thinking it's not a sneak, Harrison's not taking the snap. It's brilliant. And it worked. It worked. And now for the rest of the year, that's in teams minds. What's going to happen if Harrison comes under center? And I bet there's a package where Harrison doesn't sneak it.


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[Assistant] It's easy to have great composure when you're front running. Uhm, but I do love the fact that he turned it around. I think what we saw in the Pittsburgh game


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[Assistant] Was the frustration boiling up to the surface. He kept saying, I'm not concerned, I'm not concerned, but he played like, uh oh. He played like he was panicking for his NFL life. The face mask penalties, come on. That's not who he is. That's reeked to me as a guy who was desperate to make something happen.


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[Assistant] What was, of everything that he did yesterday, all the components to his game, what was the most impressive part of what he did to you guys? Was it his accuracy? Was it his decision making?


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[Assistant] It was better geared towards Deshaun's strengths and to what they had as their witness. We don't have a running game. So we've gotta do this. So I thought Stefanski on the fly, uh, rolled


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[Assistant] The absolute perfect game plan out for this game. But I'm not, I'm not gonna sell.


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[Assistant] Deshaun Watson short, I don't care what the game plan was, it was his accuracy.


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[Assistant] And he had the pierce or the, uh, the forward drop early in the game. Outside of that, Deshaun Watson put the football where he wanted it and where it needed to be on virtually every throw. That's incredible. If we continue to see that.


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[Assistant] In some of those instances, there was plenty of space between the defensive backs of the Titans, which by the way were worse than I thought they were.


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[Assistant] I had them lowly ranked coming in only because I hadn't seen them when I was going off where they ranked in the NFL. After watching them for four quarters yesterday, they're lost. They've got some problems. They're lost and Vrabel knew it. Vrabel knew early on this was going to be a long day.


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[Assistant] Because his guys were in the wrong place. When they were in the right place, they weren't physically able to make the plays. There was a lot of space for Watson to throw. That said, there were 8 or 10 balls where he threw into tight coverage.


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[Assistant] And he threw it where only his guy could caught it, catch it, and they usually did.


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[Assistant] The fans keep calling yes. Conditions were great.


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[Assistant] I give, I give the vast majority of this credit to Deshaun Wasson's accuracy on the field.


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[Assistant] Yeah, the star takes up a lot of oxygen in the room.


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[Assistant] Now 31 other teams will look at this tape and see what the Browns are doing without Chubb. And at some point, this team is going to have to find a running game. And if he's not currently on this roster, we learned this, this defense is great enough where to your point last week,


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[Assistant] No, there really isn't. Now, here's what I desperately want to see and we need to see it. We need to see Brownsdown 17-14, 4th quarter.


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[Assistant] Maybe we see it against the Ravens and he takes the team 80 yards on a 5 minute methodical drive where he's making all the right throws and all the right decisions. His accuracy is on point and they score the game winning touchdown. That's what we haven't seen yet from him that we need to see but outside of that


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[Assistant] This, what this defense, I can't remember who sent it. I think it was, it was Pivis actually.


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[Assistant] sent, uh, a stat this morning that was pretty astounding to me, and I hadn't seen, and again, we do have to stress that this is just a three point sample size, or a three game sample size, so we don't know for sure, but what Tiva sent this morning, I'm pretty sure you guys saw it, and I don't, I hope I can, I hope I can find it.


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[Assistant] Well, this is the one that I saw and I thought it was Tyvis. Maybe I just saw this when I was scrolling early this morning. The Browns have allowed an NFL low 3.2 yards per play this season. Let that sink in.


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[Assistant] Best by any NFL defense through three games this century.


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[Assistant] The per-play dominance has helped Cleveland force three and outs.


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[Assistant] Don't. We don't have them this year. I thought we had them on our schedule this year. I was almost hoping we would.


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[Assistant] Now this slate here is telling, the only, and I had this on my list of things to talk about today, the only thing missing from this defense.


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[Assistant] You know what, there was one interesting thing that I wanted to bring up today, as it pertains to the defense.


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[Assistant] Because it hit me when I was watching them stone Derrick Henry run after run. Have anybody, has anybody on this panel ever seen


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[Assistant] A side of the football, turn it around so dramatically.


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[Assistant] In s- in the span of last year's Falcons game, where they came to the line of scrimmage and yelled, we're running the ball, you can't stop us. And they were gaffed for furth down after furth down after furth down. To where this run defense is today, less than a full season later.


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[Assistant] That was big. I want to make a G. Bush analogy on the Browns defense. Last year they were using generic flower.


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[Assistant] This year, they brought in high-grade Kobe beef. They brought in the best chef in the land. The ingredients are better, the chef is better, and so far the meal has been all-time great.


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[Assistant] So I'm not just saying it's Swartz, because I agree. I think the pieces that they added, now I would love to know in


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[Assistant] Not the PR version of this. I would love to know how instrumental Swartz was in all of the individual pickups that they made. Like was he going to them saying,


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[Assistant] I- I give him even more credit than I'm already giving him right now.


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[Assistant] Not only that, if you add up the sacks of everyone else yesterday,


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[Assistant] It almost, cause I think 3.5 was the number 2 sack leader last year.


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[Assistant] Okay, then everybody else yesterday combined, not Miles Garrett, had three sacks.


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[Assistant] So it's not just Miles that's eating. Everybody's eating. And we talked about this when Schwartz came on. One of the things he loves to do is come at you in waves. Fresh legs. How many plays did Wright make yesterday?


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[Assistant] And that's going to be critical when you get into those, you know, where every blade of grass is defended on the field and you're in that 15-14 playoff game and you need fresh legs, you know you can count on a guy like Wright coming in and standing up and making a big play. Depth is critical when you get to the playoff.


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[Assistant] The deviation from the norm in the NFL is usually very tiny. Yeaah. When you look at league averages, you don't really see drastic swings plus and minus off of that line because it's average. So the fact that, I would love to know this.


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[Assistant] What is the fewest number of snaps a team has allowed in the red zone?


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[Assistant] Through any three game stretch. This is historic.


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[Assistant] Bucks defense from that era, because believe it or not, as good as they were in 99, it wasn't, that wasn't the best year they had. They would later add pieces like Simeon Rice and some different pieces in the back of the defense for just basically depth that made them even better when they later won the Super Bowl in 03.


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[Assistant] But my goodness, that defense, we know what that defense is.


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[Assistant] Derrick Brooks, Hall of Fame. Warren Sapp, Hall of Fame. Ronde Barber, Hall of Fame. John Lynch, if he's not in, he's going in. So, you know, you're taught, when you start comparing this defense to these all-time greats,


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[Assistant] Because soon the NFL offenses are all gonna get together and look for the blueprint. You always hear that. Okay, this is what the Browns do. Someone's gonna cook up a game plan. Is it, is it quick two step drops?


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[Assistant] We saw there was, I think it was ESPN and the percentage chances that each team in the north has of winning the division, and they made one colossal mistake. Well, it's computers. I know it is, but this is where, and I used to argue with the analytics people that use strictly the computers for this kind of stuff.


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[Assistant] If you want to go ahead and call the Bengals your run of the mill 0-2 and you want to give them an 8% chance of winning the division. That's insane. That is absolutely agree.


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[Assistant] San Francisco. That was the biggest stunner for me in week three was Dallas, uh, Arizona. 49ers? Yeaah, I'd say 49ers.


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[Assistant] I know we, I think we have seen him, but I expected big play Elijah Moore.


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[Assistant] They were playing, you know, I don't want it, you want it, you take it. No, I don't want it, you take it.


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[Assistant] I'm going to say 60-40. They're going to say that it's, it's, I'm going to give them credit. 85-15. 85 Bears is all, that's the yardstick. I'm saying 93%. Now what percentage of our fans weren't even born in 1985? So we can't get a decent percentage.


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[Assistant] Not yet. So I got a piece of it. I wish I would have printed it. Is that like the triple indie? Yes! In fact, when I looked at the numbers, I realized that


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[Assistant] Perhaps us saying that Miles was better all along might have been a little Homerism. The at, the analytics community would disagree. No, the numbers, if you were to point, the numbers, the stats of TJ Watt next to Miles Garrett, and I put a cover over the name,


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[Assistant] That's not enough. Get us to 4,000. Just take a moment. Take a moment. Enjoy it. Hit the like button right now.


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[Assistant] Can we collect it? Let's try to break the record for the most likes in one show.


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[Assistant] Hey, we also should point out that our Friday, in week two of our Friday WKYC show, was a big success. I think we all felt after Friday's show, I got a lot of feedback, which I didn't get from week one, for whatever reason. I heard from a lot of people.


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[Assistant] Make the comment that you made on the post game show, because I think he did too, but this is one of the worst calls I have seen since the no pass interference call that kept a team out of the Super Bowl.


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[Assistant] I think maybe in the middle is the truth. I don't think, I'm with you, I don't think that this guy said, you know what, if that, if this was a Steelers player, it's good, but it's a Brown, so I'm gonna blow my whistle. I don't think there was any malicious intent.


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[Assistant] However, is there a pervasive mindset? Yes.


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[Assistant] Absolutely. And here's my, here's where I'll, we all know that Maddox could paint the corners.


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[Assistant] That are known for greatness, just inherently get those calls. Teams that don't, don't get them. I'm gonna go a different direction with the conspiracy theory. I'm not gonna make any, I'm not gonna say the ref was on the take. What I am gonna say is this.


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[Assistant] And now gambling is everywhere. It's no longer a seedy, underbelly, backroom


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[Assistant] Deal. You can place bets from your sofa throughout the course of any game in America.


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[Assistant] What, what happens in instances like this is the fans lose credibility in the officiating community as a whole.


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[Assistant] Here's the point that I wanted to make on that today. If you showed that play to 10,000 fifth grade kids,


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[Assistant] And they understood the parameter of what is a catch and what is imbalance. A hundredth, a million fifth grade kids.


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[Assistant] One million out of one million fifth grade kids would never blow the whistle. He never came close to stepping out of bounds. So here's where I'm going with this.


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[Assistant] If I'm a player, and I step on a field, and I see that official is on the field again,


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[Assistant] I have no, I have no faith that the NFL is putting the best officials on the field that they can, because he can't be one of them. He can't be.


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[Assistant] They make bad calls. No, that was just as bad as this. They make bad calls. I get it. You're right. After the call, he stood in a news conference and cried.


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[Assistant] See, I don't know what the right answer is there. I don't know how PFF puts grades out for a thousand players. I don't know how the hell they do it. They must have magical elves up there. We have Sam Monson coming on next week to explain it. How about this? How about this? What are the, what are the officials' grades?


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[Assistant] I know, but you and I both know if it was clearly a case where he stepped out of bounds and it wasn't called, Vrabel's gonna hear about it. Sure. They're looking at the game up in the box.


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[Assistant] It could have gone either way. It was the Hopkins catch. Did his toe graze the turf before it hit out of bounds? In instances like that, you could show that to ten people and five may say, oh, he got grass. And five may say, I can't definitively say he got grass. I have to let the play on the field stand, call on the field stand. In this particular case,


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[Assistant] That I can't understand. Well, and then I want to take it to the next level. Is this, where does this guy stand in the pantheon of officials right now? Where is he? There's no transparency to the fan. Who these guys are, how many of them, there are a few line judges, line judges in the NFL that I just think they can't see.


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[Assistant] In playoff games, I think the no pass interference call that kept the Saints out of the Super Bowl, didn't the league or the official actually come out with a statement, with an official statement? Now obviously that's keeping it, that's the biggest miss you can have.


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[Assistant] I am too. But you can imagine how Harbaugh feels this morning. Because, I mean, in the moment he was saying, that is clearly a terrible thing.


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[Assistant] I like John. I think he's very punchable. No, I like John. No, I like John too. I respect John. You know who's, I talked about this last week. I don't want to say punchable, but I'm not a big fan of Mike McDaniel.


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[Assistant] Russ is worse. And here's the funny thing. We always talk quarterback, coach, which is it? Well, in the case of Russ Wilson,


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[Assistant] I think we can clearly say that it was Pete Carroll. Yeaah. And in the case of Sean Payton, I think we can clearly say it was Drew Brees. Because you've put these two Super Bowl winners together, and right now, I don't know how this book ends, but I would not want to be a Denver Broncos fan right now. Because I don't see any like.


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[Assistant] And you know what? The Saints, by the way, the Saints at that time had a real beef because it put the Rams into the Super Bowl, correct? Yep. I'm trying to remember that play.


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[Assistant] And here's why it upset me so much. They had a narrative to get the Rams in a Super Bowl.


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[Assistant] The NFL had an axe with the New Orleans Saints and Sean Payton over the whole Bounty Gate. And, but I don't think that had anything to do with the call.


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[Assistant] I'll be dead before it comes true. 20 years from now there will again be no football team in the NFL.


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[Assistant] And, and there's one way to change it. Win, win. You win, you get the calls. You get the little ticky-tack stuff that you're not getting right now, you start to guess.


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[Assistant] Right, but also the officials view you in a different way. Just like the umpires when they were, they figure if Maddox missed.


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[Assistant] That's where he was trying to throw the pitch and he was getting bonus points for that.


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[Assistant] I agree with all that, but I think we blew past the biggest part of that was...


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[Assistant] Let's just talk about for one second. We just asked our viewers, hit the like button. A thousand likes?


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[Assistant] You guys are amazing. You guys are amazing because what happens in the streaming world and in the digital space


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[Assistant] The more viewers we collect, it's like a snowball rolling down the hill. I didn't get this. Gee, tried schooling me on this early on. I've really become a student of this business over the last 18 months.


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[Assistant] The more that our content is liked and consumed, the more likely it is to be


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[Assistant] But the fact that you're willing to do that, when we ask you to do it, is, can't be appreac- sad how much we appreciate that.


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[Assistant] The run game is going to be an issue at some point this year, but it was enough yesterday, but that's exactly what I thought.


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[Assistant] No, not by any stretch, but to say two wheels. Did he have a tricycle to begin with and he's down one? Cause if you had four to begin with and you're down two, you're done.


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[Assistant] Yeah, they were nuts. One thing I wanted to touch on quickly and move off of it, uh, Nick Chubb has the most indestructible


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[Assistant] Resilient ACL in the history of professional football.


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[Assistant] He tore his MCL. Oh, that's right. If you look at that play in Georgia, that is what a torn ACL looks like. If you watch the play from Monday night,


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[Assistant] Suffering those two hits? Insane. And the fact that it's just an MCL. I texted my old surgeon.


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[Assistant] And I said, what does this mean long term for Nick Job? And he says, what it tells me is, he can't tear his ACL.


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[Assistant] But, but also he made this point for all the people that were writing him off.


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[Assistant] My surgeon said, if that's all the damage it is, and I haven't seen the MRI, but I've seen the report, and if that's it,


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[Assistant] Well, I asked him that, and he said, well, if you remember on yours, I waited four days to do the surgery because I wasn't sure. You had so much swelling, I couldn't tell. It looked like all four were torn. I could


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[Assistant] Definitely point to areas that are indicative of a torn ligament


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[Assistant] I wouldn't be surprised if there was an LCL or PCL tear, but he said, I'm pretty confident that they've got the best, most resident MRI in the business. Yea, they would know already, right? I'm willing to bet that that ACL made it through and I can't explain how. That's remarkable. It is absolutely unbelievable.


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[Assistant] You know that the window is briefly open in the NFL.


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[Assistant] Based on what their defenses look like through three games.


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[Assistant] If the chance is still there, and by the way, if you're the Colts, you just beat the Ravens without them.


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[Assistant] Mike is obviously a defensive guy, and the fact that his defense looked that bad against an offense that really hadn't found its footing, I think that has him torn up. One thing I want to ask you about too is, uhm, and I know it's three games, so don't anybody, you know, go nuts over that. I'm prefacing my comments by saying it's just three games. But, David Njoku. Where is he? Jason, this is one of the most perplexing player tenures.


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[Assistant] Is this length of time. In my recent Brown's memory is David Njoku. We've seen little to no production from him. He's had moments.


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[Assistant] No where near what they're paying them. They're paying them like a top five tight end. Yeaah. And yeaah. It's not gonna happen. I think we gotta do it like that at all. That was my question to Jason and I know it's three games. It's not three games though. It's not. It's six years or whatever.


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[Assistant] That was great last year, we gotta see it longer. And by the way, kudos to Brown's management on that, because when we sat here and we compiled our list of names, he may have been on a list, but nobody said he's the guy you gotta go get. It was all Robbie Gold, Robbie Gold, Robbie Gold.


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[Assistant] Yeah, he drove it to Nick's house. It's still very even keel. Yeah. Like in Kevin Stefanski manner. If you took his blood pressure at any point in the game, it's the same.


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[Assistant] I think we should do a remote. I was just going to say because we love the accent so much and because they're so dedicated staying up two in the morning to watch the show live at some point, one of these mates has to come on and do a live hit with us.


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[Assistant] As a defensive play call, go to WKYC.com if you're just hearing about this and you want to do a deep dive on it. We've got a lot on our website, WKYC.com. That's one of the most stunning, his response. Disgraceful. Was, oh, I thought it was an onion article.


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[Assistant] And he is not, I don't see him surviving that. His ass should be fired. And that wasn't, there was more.


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[Assistant] Yeah, that's not gonna, that's not gonna go over well. They were playing Beachwood, by the way. Yeah, yeah. Which, which is obviously a large Jewish population. That's right. Oh, yeah. In 2023, unbelievable to me. Disgusting. That, that was going on. Alright, we're out of time. Make sure you follow us over. If you haven't paid for the membership yet,


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[Assistant] Before you were scared of that black and yellow, guess what? Not anymore. We're bridging the gap between the oldies, the people who talk about Jim Brown, and the people who never watched the Browns because we lost a generation. Now it's the Kool-Aid mafia. We're trying to bridge the gap because we're not scared about anybody. Actually, we're excited about going to, you know, take on the Steelers. It's an opportunity.


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[Assistant] I want their team to take it. Winners want the smoke. I want them to go to Albuquerque, New Mexico. I want their, I want them to have to want their colors back. I want them to have a void of five years and I want them to lose twenty-some nine games to Deshaun Watson like we did to Roethlisberger. I was nothing good upon your franchise. Is he right on your arm?


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[Assistant] It's right, it's where my finger is. Now this will be a unique, uh, setup for the spinoff of Outbreak.


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[Assistant] You know, these people, if you got a problem with it, you're phony and you fake. I'm just keep telling you. I know somebody that's under nine investigations and a RICO charge and he get to run for president. So you stop playing. I don't know how to talk about D'Shaun watching this football.


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[Assistant] So until that level of hypocrisy in this country, for somebody who didn't get indicted for anything, by the way, that guy was, uh, actually, he just lost a five million dollar lawsuit.


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[Assistant] And not as first. And not as first. Yeaah. So it is selective outrage. So if, and this is the highest level in the world. So if people want to act like Monday Night Football, I don't know how to say it. Yes you do. We know what you can do. You could be a professional and talk about what's on the field.


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[Assistant] You can be a professional and say did he throw a good ball or a bad ball? Or are the Cleveland Browns gonna win or are they not gonna win? And for everybody else that's the national media.


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[Assistant] And you've been rewarded for it. Now, people are like, I don't need cable. I watch blogs. I watch this person over here. I watch that. The reality of the situation is there's a lot of people that's upset because of one thing. They perceive the fact that he


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[Assistant] In their mind is guilty of these, these crimes that they've made up in their mind. And he's rich. He's going to be rich forever.


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[Assistant] That sucks for some people. There's always a very fine line between admiration and hate.


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[Assistant] And Deshaun Watson has slowly creeped on the hate side. No one likes to say it.


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[Assistant] Let me bring it full circle. We named somebody, I said okay, we get somebody red for office in one, right?


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[Assistant] He won the election. Sure. The first time he won. No one thought he would win. No one. Everybody say you're crazy, he won. That's where he gets the cachet from. So yes, at some point in time, you could be hated on, whatever the case might be, but if you start winning games, that's what we love more than anything.


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[Assistant] Well, listen, I do have, you could go on, uh, Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show. The barbershop is up. I was a day ahead of you guys without the topic. Why Deshaun Watson is destined for jaw-dropping performance on Monday Night Football. You go check that out right now.


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[Assistant] I think on a Monday night, he senses the opportunity and he understands this is my time to really show and answer all the critics. It's only me. It's Monday night. I said he should be with his receivers all week, staying extra, watching film work and saying, listen, we won that game last game.


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[Assistant] Because of our defense in a running game. We didn't pull our weight.


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[Assistant] I don't, I don't find it that mean. I hate to stat. It's just like saying the Bush family men naming his son and in his father have worked a combined 75 years in the workforce.


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[Assistant] No, my father has worked most of those years and I'm just starting. Yeah, but the Tomlin number, he earned that.


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[Assistant] If you, if you, here's what I want, you can't have it both ways. Either you go and crown somebody for everything they've done in their past, or if the Browns beat them and smoke them on the road.


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[Assistant] We better not be hearing all that wait 4 more games noise. No. We smoked you yesterday. Don't go back 5 years and tell me what Tomlin did. We talk about Oldenfield now. Either it count right now or it don't.


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[Assistant] People trying to act like these games are still pre-season. We've been hearing pre-season don't count, pre-season don't count. Now all of a sudden it's creeping towards the regular season don't count, and the first round of the playoffs don't count. I'm looking at like what, AFC Championship is the only thing we're moving with? Also guys, I know that you like-


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[Assistant] You can't talk about Deshaun Watson without talking about Baker Mayfield. Because Baker Mayfield was...


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[Assistant] Because he was such a popular person and a lot of people, including myself, thought he was a guy.


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[Assistant] That was a huge major blow to everybody and a lot of Baker supporters because they had so much invested in them. So when you get the next guy,


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[Assistant] Deshaun Watson? Deshaun Watson has to now not only play well,


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[Assistant] I got a lot of respect for Hayward when he brings to the table. Him not being there, uh, in this game, how badly does that hurt them? Cause you just said Nick Chubb's the best runner back. I thought Nick Chubb saved the Browns last game by being able to run the ball in the rain. How does that affect the Steelers having, you know, Hayward out the middle of that lineup?


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[Assistant] You know, DB, I wouldn't go as far as to say this is Deshaun Watson's biggest gain, but I will concede the fact that I believe this is the Cleveland Browns, one of their biggest games. I think some of the angst that you see and feel is the Cleveland Browns want to arrive.


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[Assistant] Each one of those teams is not going to give you any respect. They say, well, can you beat the Bengals? Can you beat the Steelers? I think a lot of people are either excited or nervous because this is a litmus test of what the Browns want to be. Do you get the sense that they're trying to, you know, make themselves


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[Assistant] Jump a couple notches in people's minds in terms of respect from the brows locker room.


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[Assistant] If you go out here and lock TJ Ward up, remember what I told y'all? I said, man, this guy has all programs potential. You go lock TJ Ward up, guess what? No national TV.


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[Assistant] You're gonna start and tackle. You're gonna get some Provo votes. You might be able to go out there and eat. Hey, trust me. You know, I didn't say it. Aditi is on opposite ends of the spectrum. She went on, she went on Pitchburg radio and had to get Showed Her Love. She said,


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[Assistant] TJ Watt's gonna eat! There's like, I'm sorry guys, I'm gonna have to say no. He's no, he's not. Cause I've seen DeJuan Jones up close and personal. He might win on certain plays.


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[Assistant] National TV? You know how many strums you gonna see?


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[Assistant] That's true. Fire. That was fire. He said the coldest thing he even know. He said he don't know if yards can be a measuring stick. He's right. No he's right.


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[Assistant] This off, I don't, like if you pick the Browns and you got Browns in fantasy football, it's gonna be a crap shoot. Like they, they play like the Patriots, you know, they got full backs. Who would have said Harrison Bryant would have got a touchdown.


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[Assistant] And he's a little faster, like, than he looks. Like, on that one play, I didn't think he had enough to get to the corner.


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[Assistant] When you playing, when you playing Myles Garrett from now on in this defense, I automatically assume somebody gonna get his trip sack. I was kinda upset they didn't get one the last week.


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[Assistant] But this week we can start with the turnovers. I got a strip sack by somebody because it don't have to just be Miles Garrett. I saw Tomlinson just on the All 22 just pushing grown men out the way. It was bad up front for the Bengals. I'm going to tell you this. I'm going to take the, I'm going to take a strip sack and I think they get a, I think they get a tip. Interception and Grant Delpit gets it, who by the way is playing very well. I looked at the All 22 and Grant Delpit, he's been balling.


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[Assistant] Uhm, Brooke, what is the temperature of Steeler Nation on the Browns? Are they going on, do they feel like it's just the same old Browns? Has anything changed since the week one win against the Bengals? Where are they in the spectrum of?


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[Assistant] You know, what they feel about the Cleveland Browns in general.


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[Assistant] When you look at the game plan, overall, you know, the Steelers, you know, would like to have a running game, especially uhm, with Pickett being a younger quarterback. Uhm, they have Pickett on the outside, but I mean, you can't just throw the ball up to them every single play. When the Steelers have been really good and given the Browns headaches, they've always had a run game that was very difficult to stop. Excuse me.


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[Assistant] What do you think they'll try to do with coming out and establishing a run against Steve Browns?


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[Assistant] Same even kill, passive, we'll try to make some adjustments. We're a couple plays off. Forget all that couple plays off.


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[Assistant] You know how you tell you're having a good defensive game? How many dances? How many dance celebrations you got? If you ain't got no dance celebration, you out of here. That means you just playing. Dance celebrations mean


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[Assistant] Oh, I'm getting in on the party too. Oh, I'm over here. And I love the fact that nobody is deferring to Miles Garrett like he's the Messiah.


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[Assistant] You got people like Zedaria Smith, Dalvin Thomson, Anthony Walker, Don't, these guys want to make plays, not sit here and ride on Superman's cape.


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[Assistant] They're like, I want to make some plays. And that's why when they say defense travels, attitude and physicality, you could, you could be wrong. But as long as you physical, we can fix the other stuff and you got an attitude about it. That's why I want to see this game because there's a lot of people that think the Browns will come out here and be happy.


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[Assistant] Don't get it twisted. It's going to be a team. These guys get paid too. It's going to be a team that's going to get the ball and walk right down the field on the grounds. Get smacked in the mouth. They might get the ball again, come down and score. Then I'm going to see the adjustment.


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[Assistant] Now it's like, okay, well we caught up to what you was doing, now can you do some different things in a game that show you what a delete defense is?


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[Assistant] They sit in that box up there. The word we looking for is aware. We are aware of who the Pittsburgh Steelers are.


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[Assistant] But as far as being, uh, you know, somehow caught up in where we playing in the stadium, no. Actually, we should be excited. The greater the glory, the greater the treasure. If y'all like the Pittsburgh Steelers so much, alright, let's go strip them medals, take their medals, and we go back to Cleveland.


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[Assistant] So to me, it's an opportunity to, once again, prove who you are, an opportunity to start building a foundation of, you know, this whole Cleveland is Cleveland thing.


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[Assistant] We might be up eight or nine games. That's the way you're supposed to be thinking about it. You're supposed to be thinking like, yo, we could bury all of them right now.


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[Assistant] We got a chance to string off some wins and meet 3-0 in the division. This is the second stop in the road. The, the tour bus is going to, uh, uh, going over to Pittsburgh, but we're aware of who they are.


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[Assistant] But it's your job to make them aware and feel you on the opposite side of the spectrum and to realize that me and Joe Green and Mike Weftren coming through them hallways, Terry Bradshaw ain't even on the booth no more. Look, those guys don't count. It's today and today only. I think the Browns got a good chance and a great opportunity.


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[Assistant] I think, you know, you can say rivalry, all that good stuff, all I wanna see them do is attack. That's the word, attack.


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[Assistant] If you worried about attacking somebody, you ain't worried about the opposite of what's happening. If you attack somebody,


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[Assistant] They're like woah, he just hit me upside the face. Then they gotta figure out a plan. The Cleveland Browns need to only worry about we're gonna attack, attack, attack and keep attacking because at the end of the day, if you have the better roster and you got the better talent, that'll take hold at some point.


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[Assistant] But the first thing you gotta do is the attack part of making them, it's disarming when somebody comes and plays at heart. Because think about it, they counting on the 49ers, they're saying to themselves in that locker room over there, you play one of the best defensive teams you ever gonna see. Ain't nobody else gonna play like that against the 49ers, we'll get better.


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[Assistant] I'm sure they weren't keeping stats like that in 1975. They still taking that energy and aggression out because they felt like they had a chance to go to the Super Bowl if it wasn't for the fact that they had no quarterback. They, when I saw them play... Oh, they were gone.


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[Assistant] Hey everybody, we're here on a Friday. We have very like drab colors today. I got like a drab gray. She's got the light blue, it's not that drab.


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[Assistant] There it is. Mike's gonna try to be particularly funny today because his girlfriend's in studio. Right? You always gotta step it up when the girlfriend's in studio for the first time. You feel like you gotta be extra funny. I'm just always funny. I don't gotta be extra funny. It's Mike's girlfriend, Gabby.


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[Assistant] Alright, a lot to get to today, including thank God we're talking about preseason football for the last time.


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[Assistant] But that'll be it. It's almost time for real football, fellas. It is 13 days to the Thursday Night Football opener. It is 16 days to the first regular season game, first regular season Sunday, including the Browns and Bengals. Browns remain a one and a half point underdog at home against the Bengals with 16 days to go to the first game.


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[Assistant] Depends if Borrow playing or not. Well, no sh- I'm asking what do you think? I think it's gonna go up a little because I think Borrow's gonna play. It ends up being two and a half.


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[Assistant] I don't think Vegas is down on Watson as much as some other people are. No, I agree.


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[Assistant] So I don't think they're going to change it. I think they're expecting Watson. I think Vegas expects Watson to be a good player.


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[Assistant] Alright, also today we'll talk about, we'll do a keep cut trade. 32 and 32 is Denzel Ward.


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[Assistant] And, uh, what else? The Shohei Otani injury, we'll talk about that for a little bit. Your boy James Rapin. And James Rapin's gonna be on with us, who does the Locked On Bengals podcast. One of the best Locked On podcasts out there, does a great job covering the Bengals. He used to be the Guardian's Beat reporter for where we worked at. And then he'd do the Reds. The fans.


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[Assistant] Yeaah. Which means the, if, if Joaquin grants on the team, that means they probably keep 7 receivers. Which means there's another position where they're not. Whether it's D-line or O-line where they keep 9 instead of 10. Or a quarterback now. Or a quarterback. Yeaah, I, well, yes.


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[Assistant] But they are mistakes nonetheless. Alright, let's get into the quarterback situation. Mike referenced the fact that they may only keep two quarterbacks. When we assumed all along they'd keep three. And that's because if you've been living under a rock for the past 12 hours or 14 hours.


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[Assistant] You don't know, and now you do, that Joshua Dobbs has been traded to the Arizona Cardinals along with the seventh round pick.


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[Assistant] But I don't think Kelamon, I don't think Kelamon's gonna be on the 53-man roster. He's gonna probably be on the practice squad, and they will call him up on game days.


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[Assistant] So he can be 2-53 so he can be used as the emergency third quarterback with the 45 active players as the 46th guy. But, uh, Dobbs, we thought he'd be the backup.


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[Assistant] Uh, many of us, myself included, kind of dismissed the possibility of DTR, Dorian Thompson Robinson being the backup quarterback to start the season, and I and we were wrong because


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[Assistant] Obviously, he impressed enough. Like, he impressed a fan. But I'm like, well, we don't have the whole picture.


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[Assistant] The Browns see more, they want to have a veteran quarterback as a backup. Well, no they don't.


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[Assistant] Because Dorian, and by the way, this is not only based on what we've seen in preseason games. They didn't just keep him because he's played well in preseason games.


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[Assistant] Bold move, guys, to get rid of a quarterback with at least some experience who's been in the league a while for a fifth round rookie. They must have a ton of faith in him.


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[Assistant] See, I don't think it's the reason because I agree with you that


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[Assistant] They didn't cut or move on from Dobbs because they were like, well, we don't need them.


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[Assistant] But, by the way, wouldn't it be funny if after the Browns have had shit quarterbacks forever.


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[Assistant] Davis Webb. Sucks. Kyle Trask. Sucks. Jake Browning. Sucks. Brett Rippon. Great. Some guy, uh, who's this guy? Skyler Thompson.


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[Assistant] But we can't take preseason statistics and turn it into more than it is.


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[Assistant] It's a different beast. Listen, you never know, right? As we talked about with Brock Purdy, nobody had even heard of the guy.


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[Assistant] There aren't that many, like how many, how many good quarterbacks are there? Like good, good enough guys that you feel like you can win a Super Bowl with. Twelve.


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[Assistant] Fill in for a couple weeks, because if the starting quarterback gets hurt for the year, you're probably done. And most quarterbacks miss two games a year.


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[Assistant] Right, and a good team can survive that with a, you know, serviceable backup quarterback, but.


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[Assistant] I dunno, maybe, maybe the Browns will be so good that Dorian Thompson Robinson gets to play the final game of the year because the Browns have their spot locked up. Now hold on. Now that would be the only way I'd want to see him.


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[Assistant] Right. Imani Bates could play some. Yeaah, he could. Whereas if DTR plays, it's not good. Yeaah. Unless, I mean if he's great then okay it's fine, but you don't want, we don't want to find out. This year.


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[Assistant] So somebody tweeted this out yesterday, Tyvis sent it to us in our chat group, and I wanted to bring this up.


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[Assistant] Even though it wasn't on our rundown, but we'll get to our expectations in the preseason.


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[Assistant] D'Abate. D'Abate. Alright, D'Abate, Ronnie Hickman and Austin Watkins. This is easy. Who are you chucking? If you have to chuck one. Hickman.


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[Assistant] If you have potential to have a, you know, maybe this guy's the out of nowhere wide receiver, especially when you're probably moving on from Mario Cooper and DPJ after this year. So if you could get


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[Assistant] Uhm, if he's somehow becomes a startable wide receiver, you know, and DiBatte,


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[Assistant] Is the Brown's weakest position. So I'd rather take the lottery at that position. Whereas Ronnie Hickman at best is the fourth safety.


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[Assistant] Uh, I had my fantasy football keeper league rookie draft last night. So interesting. A lot of leagues.


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[Assistant] Did I make the right call? I had the 8th pick in the rookie draft. 8th?


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[Assistant] He would've won. Yeah, he would've won. I'm sure, I'm sure.


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[Assistant] The Ravens never do anything in the passing game. They've got Mark Andrews, they got Odell, they got Rashad Bateman, and a rookie. I mean, what's he gonna do?


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[Assistant] Maybe I'm crazy, but I don't think anybody earns or loses jobs, or I think they rarely earn or lose jobs based on statistics in one preseason game. I really don't believe that.


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[Assistant] It's just a small part of the entire puzzle as to why you're keeping or not keeping guys. Unless it's an extreme where a guy's so good or makes such horrible mistakes. But I just don't think...


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[Assistant] Here, I'll give you the list. Here we go. I got some extras that aren't on there too, by the way. Alright, first of all, Watkins. Like, even if Watkins didn't do much today, he's done enough to make the team. Whether he definitely makes it or not, I don't know, but...


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[Assistant] Let's start with, let's start with Watkins. In, out, or still in the bubble?


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[Assistant] If they only keep six receivers and they keep Bell and Grant, then that's it. He's better than Bell. I-


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[Assistant] I'm just, I'm going off what I see. Well they might not think that. Or they might keep him because the draft is a little elbows.


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[Assistant] I'm saying Watkins is still on the bubble as well, although I'm leaning towards him making it. Alright, let's do David Bell. In, out, on the bubble. Deuces! See, I think he's a lock. I think he's a lock. I think he's a lock. Anthony Schwartz. In, out, on the bubble.


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[Assistant] Plain and simple, he's on. Demetriq Felton, you think he's out, huh? I do too.


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[Assistant] I don't think any of the running backs are on the roster right now, cause I don't know that. Now, uhm,


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[Assistant] Uh, Ford will be on the 53, but I don't think he's playing opening day because it doesn't sound like he's going to be ready.


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[Assistant] I agree. Alright, uh, Ronnie Hickman, in out bubble. Bubble. Bubble. And he's out.


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[Assistant] I just think Bell is a special teams guy and they're not going to want to cut him and they're not going to keep five safeties.


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[Assistant] I, I, I had the same one. Like his interception so far, the best quarterback he's picked off is Jacoby Brissette. That's fair. That's very fair.


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[Assistant] But if he's that, if he's got that kind of skill set, like why didn't anybody take him to the 6th, 7th round at least? It's a great question and I'm not even going to speculate. I have no idea.


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[Assistant] Uh, Jordan Elliott. Okay, I have an interesting one, please.


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[Assistant] Throw it out there. Yeaah, uuuh. I'll give you one more. Let's go back to the offense.


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[Assistant] I think he's going to be out. It's crazy because he was supposed to be the starting center last year. But I think Whiplash beat him out for the backup center spot.


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[Assistant] Pochich is the starting center. Pochich is the starting center. They got what's his name to be. He's been a pretty good backup guard for them when they needed him, that Michael Dunn.


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[Assistant] Would you do it? I would do it, but I don't think the Colts, I think it's more a team that, you know, the Colts are not really trying to win this year, especially if they trade Jonathan Taylor. But trying to keep Anthony Richardson upright, that's certainly important. Fair, fair.


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[Assistant] Yeah. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know that you need to trade for the earnest. But I was just throwing out a player like that.


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[Assistant] That's it. I mean they, the rest are, they got an undrafted rookie from last year named Za, uh, what the hell is this guy's name? Zaire.


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[Assistant] And then two undrafted free agents this year, Thomas Greeny and Miller Forrestal.


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[Assistant] I still think I keep Ryan. I still think I keep Ryan. Alright. Well, there you go. Those, I mean, those are the question marks, right? Now, the good news is...


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[Assistant] The second defensive tackle spot could be, because Shelby Harris hasn't been here long. I don't know that he's definitely starting week one.


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[Assistant] I can see them not do that. I can see them. If everybody's healthy, I think the only...


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[Assistant] The only thing that's up for grabs to me that has any significance is the second starting defensive tackle spot.


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[Assistant] And the number two running back at Ford's not ready to go.


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[Assistant] The roster set. Yeaah. I mean, the key guys, you know, obviously we're talking about back end of the roster spots, but all those guys we talked about are the third tight end, the fourth safety.


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[Assistant] Right, like those guys, they're not playing much anyway, even if, and some of those guys won't even be active the first week. But I think who's starting, who's the second starting D-tackle, although they're gonna rotate obviously.


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[Assistant] And who's the backup running back if, if Ford like, who's getting, Nick Chubb is not getting every carry. Yeah. Who's getting those eight, five, eight carries if Jerome Ford can't go. Right now I don't think we have the answer to that. I don't think he's on the roster right now.


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[Assistant] Yeah, a lot of, uh, Brown's coverage over the last week, the reporters have


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[Assistant] So I want to see them have two, you know, for two great drives where they score. Even though Nick Schubb probably, I, I, it's, do we know for sure he's not playing? I assume he's not playing, but all the other stars shouldn't play.


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[Assistant] Has Patrick Mahomes ever come off the field on offense? Never. Never. Has Joe Burrow ever come off the field on offense? Never. Has Josh Allen ever come off the field on offense? Never. Nope. Has Justin Herbert ever come off the field on offense? Never. Has Lamar Jackson ever come off the field on offense? When he's hurt.


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[Assistant] Never. Never. Never. Aaron Rodgers, does he come off? Never. The coach will come off before him. Good quarterbacks don't come off the field.


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[Assistant] Yeaah. Cigarettes, yeaah. Cigarettes are disgusting. But what you guys don't realize, G knows this. We'll get to it in one second, Anthony, but now we're on the...


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[Assistant] And every bar, everybody was smoking. Everybody. You got home, your clothes reeked from cigarettes.


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[Assistant] I don't smoke pot either, but I would rather smoke pot than cigarettes.


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[Assistant] So Denzel Ward, you guys got Denzel way too low. Too low? At one team, nine? Nine, yes sir. Where did you have him individually? Uh, hold on, hold on. I have Denzel Six on my list.


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[Assistant] That's one of the most important positions.


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[Assistant] To me, he's gotta be higher, that's why I had him. I mean, you guys obviously have Stefanski and Jimmy Schwartz really high. We do, yes. I had them a little lower than you guys do. I think the star players are worth more than the coaches. Uh, but, anyway, what about you, G?


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[Assistant] He has mostly played in his career like a very good corner. Last year he was mediocre. He's gotta play like an elite corner this year. That's the expectation.


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[Assistant] You know, we need to have high expectations. Sometimes people get mad when like, this is not good enough. No, as a fan, you should have the highest expectations for your players who are capable of it.


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[Assistant] You know, I'm not expecting Donovan Peoples-Jones to have 1,500 yards, because he's not capable of that type of production.


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[Assistant] But when I talk about my stars, whether it's Miles Garrett, Nick Chubb, Denzel Ward, Deshaun Watson, Joel Botonio, I expect those guys to play at the elite level because they're capable of, now some of those guys have done it, but those guys are all capable of playing like superstars.


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[Assistant] And of those five guys, Ward's played at that level the least. And so he needs to


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[Assistant] Now I still think he's got left in the tank, obviously you guys do. We gotta see that though. If he and Ogbo, if Zidarius is still


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[Assistant] And Agbo takes the next step from where he was last year, then yes, Brown should be very dominant up front.


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[Assistant] Right, so there's, I love stealing this from you all the time, there's levels to this. So if Zidarius is still great and Ogbo takes another step, yeaah, this front four could be super, and you know, Shelby Harris still has, still pretty good.


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[Assistant] I think the worst case scenario is their average, and if they're average, that's going to be good enough. You don't, you want it to be better, but if Deshaun Watson is Deshaun Watson and you have an average play from their defensive line, it's still good enough. Even though we'd all like it to be better.


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[Assistant] Alright, Anthony, let's, we're gonna have James Rapin, Bengals speed reporter at 12.30, but now it's time to play one of our favorite games.


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[Assistant] So let me explain the rules for those who may not have seen this. We've done this a couple times before. Anthony will give us three players.


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[Assistant] Okay, so we're gonna pick one that we keep, one that we cut, and some of these are gonna be tough, they're probably gonna be some of these, we don't want to trade or cut any of these guys, but we have no choice. So Anthony, start us off, here we go.


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[Assistant] That's a good one. That's an easy one. Let's eat, the keep is easy. I agree with the keep is easy.


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[Assistant] Because Jamar Chase is significantly younger than the other two guys, and just as good, if not better. Uh, so I'm keeping Jamar Chase...


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[Assistant] Tyree killin' Devonte Adams are, I mean, it's like a toss up.


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[Assistant] Take your son out of this. But I love all the Star Wars and Marvel stuff. Okay, I understand. I want you to do this for yourself. I'm keeping Disney, I'm trading, it's hard to get rid of Netflix, Hulu I cut, even though I like, they're my three favorite


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[Assistant] My three favorite streaming services, but I'm keeping Disney, uh, trading Netflix and cutting Hulu.


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[Assistant] By the way, Mike is a little different with his girlfriend in studio, isn't he?


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[Assistant] I mean, I love books, but I'm keeping TV, trading movies, cutting books, nobody gives people about reading books.


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[Assistant] Lord of the Rings movies are okay. I think they're overrated. I'm with you. By the way, the show The Bear sucks. On Hulu. Everybody's obsessed with this effing show.


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[Assistant] I'm training Derrick Henry and I'm cutting Dalvin Cook. Exactly the same. Yup. Exactly the same.


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[Assistant] I would never, even if I was single I wouldn't just like a picture of a hot girl on Instagram. That seems like, I feel like you're a loser if you do that.


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[Assistant] That seems like kind of pathetic. No, it's just some random girl on Twitter.


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[Assistant] Twitter, Instagram, and Tik Tok. I don't use Tik Tok, so that's the one I cut. Yeah, I'm cutting Tik Tok.


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[Assistant] I'm gonna keep Kill, trade Andrews, cut and Joko. Kill's the best blocking tight end in football and it's not close. He's the second best tight end behind Kelsey.


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[Assistant] I got two more that you guys could do that aren't sports too. I'm keeping Russell Wilson. I'm trading Derek Carr and I'm cutting, uh, Tad Hills garbage. Russell Wilson may be garbage now, but there's a chance he bounces back.


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[Assistant] I still think Wilson's got the most upside if Peyton can bring it back out of him. So I'm keeping Wilson trading car and cutting canals useless.


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[Assistant] I'm keeping Taco Bell, I'm trading McDonald's, I'm cutting Wendy's.


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[Assistant] Some people get it with jalapeño sauce. My son loves the jalapeño sauce.


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[Assistant] In like a burrito shell and they fold it up and they like toast it basically. It's good. It's awesome.


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[Assistant] Jersey Mike's is the best, better than Subway, better than all these others. Is James there or I got a couple more quickies?


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[Assistant] Steve Becker said a few, the first one is, he wanted us to, to ask, uhm,


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[Assistant] Your girlfriend, it's, keep, concentrate between the three of us. Which, if she didn't keep you, that would be a problem.


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[Assistant] Keeping spolstra, trading car, cutting loo. Even though you want a championship.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I mean, Spolstra took a team that had no business going to the finals. Oh, Tani, Judge, or Acuna.


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[Assistant] Despite the injury to Otani, I keep Otani, I trade Okunya because I can get the most forms because he's the youngest. I agree. And I have to cut you.


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[Assistant] Uh, this is, this is the G. Bush special. Dewan Jones, Imani Bates, or D.T. Ara.


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[Assistant] I've had Kool-Aid probably since I was 10. And I feel like we need to make a picture of Kool-Aid now every Monday and Friday during football season. There's no cars in here.


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[Assistant] Well, you wonder, we talked about Autani in the keep cut or trade, uhm,


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[Assistant] I wonder, I was talking about this on my podcast this morning, like how much this is going to affect his payday. He has a torn UCL. He may or may not have surgery on it.


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[Assistant] Uh, he's not going to pitch the rest of this year. If he has Tommy John surgery, it would be his second Tommy John surgery and he would not be able to pitch next year. He will be able to hit. I don't know how much they're going to use him at this point because they're basically out of it.


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[Assistant] Uh, but it's a shame we haven't been able to see this guy in the playoffs, and it's really a shame.


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[Assistant] He was such a big favorite, like, I don't think you'd take it away from him at the last month, but uhm, it's a shame, I wonder how, I guess we'll never know how much it affects his free agency, but if he can't, like the reason he was gonna get, listen, if he could only hit the rest of his career, he's still one of the 10 best hitters, if not the best hitter in baseball, certainly top 10.


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[Assistant] That's gonna affect his value, but still, he's still gonna get over 400 million if not over 500 million. I thought he might get six or more. Now I don't think he gets six, but he'll still get five probably.


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[Assistant] Not, like, even if he, even if he, even if it came out that he could never pitch again the rest of his career, he'd still get over 300 million just for his hitting. Oh, I know, I was just asking.


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[Assistant] That contract's gonna end up being a disaster. You know, for all, I've been very critical of the Guardians this year, more than I have in years past.


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[Assistant] And we get mad when they don't sign players long term, but the reality is that the majority of those super huge contracts


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[Assistant] The first one worked. The first one worked, yes. Not the second one. But most of those big contracts are disasters.


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[Assistant] I think Ohtani goes to the Mariners for 500 million. Dodgers for 550.


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[Assistant] Locked on Bengals, he's the preeminent Bengals guy. Your guy Ben Baby, they fight.


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[Assistant] I thought it was more, before this UCL I would have said 600, but now with that injury I think it gets knocked down.


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[Assistant] By the way, what, James, going back, I was joking about the Joe Mixon thing. But what, what actually happened that got him so worked up and got his, like his agent should shut the hell up. But what happened? I, I always thought Joe actually had a good relationship with the, with the media there. What, what happened there? Exactly.


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[Assistant] Yeah, if you're a player and you're an agent, you can't get worked up about that stuff. I mean, good for him, like, he realized...


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[Assistant] He didn't want to be out in free agency. He's still getting paid six million.


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[Assistant] Well James, you know this. Players only care about the bad stuff. You could say 99 good things about a player and one bad thing. They'll never say, well thanks for all the good things you said about me. But they will always say, F you for saying that one bad thing about me. With almost no exceptions. Uh, players are very, very rabid-ears.


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[Assistant] James, what, what is the holdup on the borough contract extension here? And is it possible it's borough saying


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[Assistant] Hey, maybe I'll give you a discount, but you better sign, obviously they're gonna sign, I shouldn't say obviously, they're gonna sign Chase.


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[Assistant] But he probably wants them to sign Higgins too, and they should sign Higgins too. You let Tyler Boyd walk after this year, that's fine.


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[Assistant] But, do you think there's any chance that he's saying, I want, I want T Higgins signed and somehow they gotta guarantee that Shane is signed next year too? Do you think that's part of it or nothing to do with it?


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[Assistant] Alright James, the host of the Locked on Bengals, uhm,


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[Assistant] Last thing, we talked about it, you mentioned it in the beginning, you think he's gonna play percentage chance that Burrow plays week one. Is it 100%? Or no?


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[Assistant] If it's such a certainty, how come he's not practicing at all? They're just being extra cautious?


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[Assistant] There you go. James does one of the best podcasts on Locked On without a doubt.


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[Assistant] Uh, check out Lockdown Bengals. James, thanks buddy. Good to see you. Appreciate it.


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[Assistant] I mean he says it wouldn't even be a competition. I gotta text, I'm texting Ben right now. How old is Ben by the way?


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[Assistant] James is like your age, I think. Ben's a little older than me. Yeah. Alright.


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[Assistant] Ben, Ben, I will say this, in terms of fans he probably doesn't get a ton of support because he's clearly like the one bangles beat reporter that's not a fan. He probably gets a lot of the crap that I get.


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[Assistant] Here we go. Woo woo woo. Thursday, three days to game day. Welcome to the Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show. We're talking Ravens and Browns.


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[Assistant] Do you know trash talk when you see it? Yeaah. We'll get into that. That was not trash talk.


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[Assistant] Bull, I do apologize for lying to you. The one bottle I pulled out of it tasted fine.


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[Assistant] Yeah, now I've been stuck a time or two where there's one spot and the guy who's parked on either my left or right is on the line or over it. That happens. Now what are you gonna do? You gotta get in there. It's the only spot.


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[Assistant] That's not the case. And here's the thing. If you don't want a door ding, don't do that. That's right. Because I've seen people intentionally getting into their car when there's a very limited amount of space.


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[Assistant] You fling that door open and ding the heck out of the other car door.


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[Assistant] Aditi's here. Yes. We've got the Ravens beat writer from the athletic here. We're going behind enemy lines. We do it every week. We want to find out what's going on with this club. No better way to do it than to get a beat writer on.


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[Assistant] Tito's farewell last night. Not sure you could have scripted it any better. I'm really not. No.


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[Assistant] It came down to a very, very close and late call that would have had the tying run in scoring position with one out.


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[Assistant] The call was, the call that was made on the field was upheld. Not sure it should have been, but it worked out well for Tito and his farewell was just fantastic. We'll talk about that and so much more on today's Ultimate Cleveland Sports Show. But first, our very first hello and good day to Mikey McNuggets.


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[Assistant] Can I make a recommendation to uh, to aunt? Please. If we go back to that graphic, those four people.


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[Assistant] I didn't either. I mean, we know him by name, we know his prowess on the football field, but when I saw him, I'm like, not sure I could have picked him out, number one. Number two, pleasant demeanor. None of it was ill intended at all.


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[Assistant] It's not even approaching the Trash Talk scale. Because to me, Trash Talk is saying something derogatory about your opponent. That's right.


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[Assistant] I don't even think it qualifies. Yeah. I mean, but I gotta say, when I read the text, right, I was already hot.


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[Assistant] Yeah. So be it. Yeah, if they need that to get them excited, but they don't, it's their arch rival in the divi- one of their arch rivals. It's a division game. It's for first place. Hell yeah, they wanna go win.


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[Assistant] Of the six games that Deshaun played last year, were one of them against the Ravens? Yup, one of them. Okay, then I think the statute of limitations has expired.


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[Assistant] I don't know that there are any international laws for length of bulletin board quotes, but I would say yes. Even though they were responding to trash talk, if they don't clip what the Browns said about them and plaster it all over their bulletin board, they're silly. They should.


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[Assistant] I think especially for Deshaun Watson because that comment was...


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[Assistant] They were saying, you want to go down in the mud and sign a player like that? That's you. We don't do that. And the other thing you have to remember, they were probably one of the most furious teams in the National Football League.


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[Assistant] At the numbers of Deshaun Watson's contract because they knew that their guy was coming up and they knew that if Deshaun Watson got those kind of digits, they were going to have to pay far more than they ever expected to keep their franchise quarterback. So they're bitter.


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[Assistant] All of them that signed after, after Deshawn were in that neighborhood. None of them eclipsed his guaranteed dollar, but they were in that neighborhood.


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[Assistant] I mean, I don't know that I would underdog them against anybody.


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[Assistant] That's the top. That'll be televised in Denver and Chicago, but nowhere else. Uhm, so we've established what trash talk isn't, not this. I wanted you guys to dig through your memory banks.


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[Assistant] And see if you could come up with the most egregious jaw-dropping trash talk you have ever seen.


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[Assistant] Because the one thing Cincinnati fans didn't want to be compared to. Was Cleveland. Was us. That was hard. And the last snowball had flown that day. That was hard. But you're right, I mean that was unprecedented stuff. That was crazy. Get Sam the microphone. Where did that thing come from?


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[Assistant] You know, it would have been one thing if like the referee who was always mic'd for the stadium would have come over and said, here you go Sam, take my little boy here. And he would have done it that way. That thing dropped out of the sky like it was the middle of a fight.


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[Assistant] It is nuts. For me, most of our audience probably doesn't remember this. Because they're too young.


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[Assistant] Ray Buchanan, who was a defensive back for the Falcons. I remember him. And, uh, Shannon Sharp, who was a tight end for the Broncos before that Super Bowl.


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[Assistant] Those two were throwing jabs at one another through the media.


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[Assistant] And Sharp had the better day, for sure, and so he got the last word, but man, that was, that was crazy talk.


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[Assistant] If they get to a home playoff game. It's been a long time. But I just, I was old enough at the time because I was born in 65. So when they were killing it in the mid to late 80s, I was 12, 13, 14 years old.


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[Assistant] And I sat, I sat in the dog pound four games.


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[Assistant] There was one game where the only seat we could get was the dog pound. We went, and I just was like, this is a completely different experience.


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[Assistant] And it was organic. Imagine if in St. Louis, they still had a Big Mac Playland in left field. Like that happened organically because Mark McGuire was hitting home runs up there and it just so it became Big Mac.


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[Assistant] But he's not there anymore, and neither is Big Mac Playland. And the dogs that were Minnifield and Dixon and that defensive secondary, the ones that labeled themselves dogs,


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[Assistant] That was organic and real but we've tried carrying it over generation after generation and at that point it's forced, it's tired, it's old, and it's time to move on.


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[Assistant] Fan base that we were in the late eighties and there's only one way for that to happen. That's for the team to take us as deep as that. That's right. But you'll see a fan base emerge that we haven't seen here before.


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[Assistant] It's always loud. Always. It's so loud and crazy there. Kansas City is good. Yep. I thought Oakland used to be great. Uhm, it was a place where opposing teams did not want to go. Philadelphia is tough. Philadelphia is just tough. Philadelphia hits different, man. I gotta tell ya. I, that is the angriest fan base I have ever seen. And you guys. Ever.


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[Assistant] There's a reason for that. If there's a stat that can measure the fan base, that's it. They're making it disruptive.


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[Assistant] Yeah, I think, I, I wanna piggyback on your point. We don't know.


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[Assistant] We've seen four quarters of Deshaun Watson in a Browns uniform without Nick Chubb on the field.


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[Assistant] We know that with Nick Chubb on the field, DeShaw wasn't lighting it up.


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[Assistant] Now we've got a short sample size, very small, with Nick Chubb not on the field.


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[Assistant] And Deshaun Watson has looked completely different. Completely different. Lights out.


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[Assistant] I couldn't explain that any easier than I could explain how Baker Mayfield's production went through the roof when Odell Beckham Jr. wasn't on the field. That doesn't make sense. Sometimes you can have, in sports, addition


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[Assistant] I think it's rare and nobody ever would have voluntarily said, let's take our best running, our best football player on offense off of the field and just see what happens.


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[Assistant] Deshaun Watson's a rhythm quarterback. He wants to get the ball and go. And the Browns have even said, Jason alluded to this earlier this week,


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[Assistant] You might start to see them run a hurry up package just because Deshaun feels more comfortable in that offense, in that rhythm. I'll equate it to a pitcher. Last night I watched Shane Bieber and during the telecast Rick Manning made a comment about


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[Assistant] How the pitch clock has so helped Shane Bieber. Now he's six and six and he had a terrible season because he was injured. But last night he looked like Shane Bieber. He had a one hitter through like five or six innings. What he was doing


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[Assistant] Was getting the ball and going. Go, go, go. And Manning even said, guys used to disrupt Bieber by stepping out of the box and calling for time because they could and they knew it bothered him.


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[Assistant] They can't do that now. Right. And he's just getting the ball, go, go, go. And I think Deshaun Watson is going to work better in that kind of a system and also


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[Assistant] Not having the cloud over his head that we've got to get Chubb involved because he's Nick Chubb. That is no longer there.


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[Assistant] And was it an anomaly? Is it a sign of things to come? I think we'll find out in the coming weeks. But to your point about there's gonna be a time, I said this on Monday, there is going to be times this year where we look down that bench and say, gosh, we need number 24 right now. Oh yeaah.


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[Assistant] As your game planning, 24 is not on your mind.


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[Assistant] So you would think that defenses now no longer have to put


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[Assistant] Seven or eight guys in the box. So now that gives them the ability to drop more guys in coverage, thus making things more difficult for Watson to find open receivers. But he threw the ball with pinpoint accuracy, even when guys were covered.


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[Assistant] They graded high but they're- He was responsible for three horrible plays for the Titans.


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[Assistant] And that's what the elite players are able to do. They're able to assess the situation, look around and say, it's on me now, I've gotta stand up and I've gotta make something happen. And by the way, there was criticism of Watson playing poorly last year, but it was whispers.