Cleveland Browns DailyNFL Playoff Picture and Joe Thomas | Cleveland Browns Daily | 12-23-24
Coming to you live from the Cross Country Mortgage Campus in Barrio, Ohio. This is Cleveland Browns Daily, presented by Bally Bett, an official sports betting partner of your Cleveland Browns on eight fifty ESP and Cleveland. You are your hosts Bo Bishop and Nathan Zegura.
He let's are live on a reaction Monday edition at Cleveland Browns Daily. I am merely Bo.
He is the great z.
It is Christmas week, my friend, let's go.
Let's go, am I on this, You're on, I'll right it.
We'll do it live.
Oh yeah, matche Christmas. Yeah, there you go. People can it?
How was Cincinnati of the match?
Cold? Brother? It was cold. It was a cold, cold, cold, coldest booth I've ever been in my radio broadcasting career.
Shout out to uh, the cheap owners of the Bengals who basically turn off the heat because we took out the windows.
Hold on a second, that's right? Is that real? Yep?
Oh eight hours cold would say five degrees.
Water bottles were turning into ice.
Yeah, oh now, I see so. Because of various calamities with with my oldest I was unaware that you are in a macho grab a Bacho Christmas.
I didn't realize that.
Yeah, so I just thought you came out of the gates because we were up on the zoo. But I just thought you just came out of the gates with March. And I'm like, where where's March coming from? I mean, I love lot and the.
Beat goes on and the beat goes on.
Yeah, it was.
So cold in there. My toe and I will, I will socked it. I did the whole deal frozen. I'm just praying I don't get Wednesday.
So they're off their reaction to do you guys requested the windows out or do you just do them yourself? We have to call in request. Okay, so I understanding is correct. Once you call and request. They then turned off the heat to the room, yes, to not waste money.
Yeah, there was. There was CBS. I don't believe had any heat because that's I was able to pill for some hand warmers and footwarmers. Was never taking them to their talent who we could watch because we had the truck feed. We could see them like bundled up.
So what about their own broadcast? They probably closed the windows.
I don't know if they close it's every team is different, but I mean they had to have at least one window open.
I would assume how can you call a game without the ambient noise? Kansas City, Oh they do it that way too. I can't say you can't open any of the windows, can't open anything.
You have to like literally plug in in a cable that gets you the audio, the effects and crowd feet.
Oh well, let's yeah, Ken't City. You can't. And the windows are kind of like slanted like this, like you're kind of in a slant, so like if it was open, maybe'd fall out.
But it was like, it's it's a great view. We've had a problem like this before, Like I never encountered this in Cincinnati before. But it was like bloody cold. It was, dude, it was we'd go into the hallway during commercial.
Oh yeah, yeah, was Siciliano. I mean he's a northern boy, but was he prepared for that?
He was prepared. Yeah, with Syracuse, he knows cold.
Yeah, but it's been a minute. I mean he's living the life on the beach the last two couple of decades.
He even wore he had to wear the pom pom beanie, which is not his favorite, but that thing with the fleece lining. Is that is warm? My head was not cold at all. Unfortunately, the game didn't make me any warmer. You know. It was one of those situations where can.
I be honest?
It was tough.
Do you can I be honest?
Depends?
Well, I'm all.
I mean, I'm aware of what we're doing. The show man, I thought.
Now they said, when you're in the five timers club, you every can say whatever they wanted there really want.
Uh, it was for me it was over as soon as we fumble inside the one.
That's unfortunately, well you fumble inside the one and then you and I'm not even sure Diabate actually was in the neutral zone on that. Nonetheless, you give a penalty and then they go ninety at that point ninety four yards. They really went ninety nine yards. And yeah, it just it.
Was so deflating.
It was incredibly deflating. And it's you know, think about how many games have we started now where we turned the ball over early and then are down seven to nothing. Man, can't the last two games in a row since we were and I'm pretty sure I have this right. Wasn't the final in Pittsburgh twenty seven to fourteen. I'm pretty sure I have that.
Na.
Yeah, so since we were ahead seven to three, yeah, early in Pittsburgh on the Jerry Judy jamis to Jerry Judy. Since that point, over the next eleven quarters, we've been outscored twenty four to twenty one, which is what forty five and then this was another twenty four, so sixty nine. We've been outscored sixty nine to twenty in the last eleven quarters. Yeah, we scored seven points. We go in six this week, which are two lowest of the season. In our last eleven quarters, we've scored three touchdowns.
The Bengals haven't done this to anybody like six points.
No, No, they have not. No, they were giving up twenty seven point six a game. Yeah, the Cincinnati Bengals twenty seven point six a game. You want to hear the full rundown of it, I'll give you the full rundown of it. I don't even need a reason. I don't even need a reason. The Bengals defense, I mean, and listen you again, it's it's self inflicted wounds. Turnovers. Over the last eight weeks, we leave the league in turnovers by a wide Marchin we lead the league in penalties those things. So one of these is not like the other, okay, and it's not like we're talking juggernauts here. Okay. The New York Giants scored seven points against them, that was the previous low. Then it was US with fourteen against them, which was the second low. YEP, Eagles thirty seven. This is their scores. What the Eagles have scored is thirty seven. The Raiders score twenty four YEP, Ravens thirty five, Chargers thirty four, Steelers forty four, Cowboys twenty Tennessee Titans YEP, twenty seven, Brown six yep.
You know, here's the this is the other thing is we're this is this is we're we got two games left. We are not a disciplined football team at all. No, the penalties are crazy. I mean, it's it's been a couple of years of this and with penalties and turnovers, we are just way too loose with both and it's not winning football. And yes, we've got injuries that were unforeseen. A lot of people have injuries that were unforeseen, but we keep doing the same thing self inflicting week in and week out, and it's maddening.
Yep, so we are. We are second most turnovers in the league right now, We've got thirty behind the Titans who are at thirty two. But over the last eight games, we are number one in the NFL and turnovers. And then I'm trying to pull up penalties.
Let's see, I guarantee we're near the.
Top penalties this year. We have committed one hundred and seven. We are near the top. Yes, we are seventh. The Titans are number one at one twice, so the Titans are number one in both. We have the most pre snap penalties in the NFL though.
Yeah.
So it's just we're just not a very disciplined outfit. And when you couple that with the injuries at the positions that you have the injuries, then this is what you get. It's tough. I mean it's tough. It's tough to know what to look forward to. The one positive that happened yesterday was the Raiders stupidly won and so, yep, all of a sudden, Now, if you can lose out you can pick fourth or better. Conversely, the Raiders now are going to be picking the third quarterback in this draft. Yeah, because they won a stupid game. Against Jacksonville.
Unbelievable that they won, by the way, just real quickly, the Browns lead the NFL. I was right in this fifth d seven pre snap penalties fifty seven. Tell me what these two teams have in common. Detroit and Kansas City, who together combined have forty five pre snap penalties combined.
Those two teams combined for three losses.
That's right. Yeah, and we have three wins unfortunately. Yeah, that's the thing that's so hard for me to get my head around, like me too, that is, those are things that should be able to be cleaned up. We cannot help. But it feels like at this point we turned the ball over three times a game. We just can't help it. We can't help it penalty wise, you know. And this one was only five. It was five to five, So it wasn't it wasn't terrible relatively speaking, and below certainly below our average. But it's just it's self inflicted wounds. And then it's inability to be elite in a high leverage situations. So what are high leverage situations? Third downs we were three for twelve, fourth down we were one for three, and then in the red zone, red zone we were one for three with two turnovers, one for three with two turnovers.
Yeah, I mean you think about everything that Kevin preach for me got here. It was smart, tough, accountable, and yeah we're not particularly smart. We're not accountable with our turnovers and penalties.
So it's not manifesting itself in the product on the field. That's the thing that I think is so frustrating to you, to me, to everybody who is a Browns fan that it's one thing if you're playing good games and you're getting beat or it's this that, But when you are doing and unfortunately committing the same types of self inflicted wounds week after week after week after week with no change in sight, it's tough. It's tough. I mean, at the beginning of the season we weren't really scoring, but we weren't like turning the ball over like this. We just weren't read on offense. Now it's it's turnovers. I mean at the first half, I think detail was three of six for fifteen yards and we had more sack yards than we had passing yards. On the second half, I thought he made some nice throws. There was a dig the judy that was a very nice throw, but too often I felt like he was under dress, which is not necessarily his fault. But also you could tell that his he was very quick to process that. And he's not yet comfortable, you know, as like a as a a somebody who had been a starting quarterback for a while in this league would be in certain situations, no, you know, and of course he's young, he's young in the game, but you know, he was under pressure basically on forty percent of his of his dropbacks, which is a decent amount.
Is there a common denominator between him and Deshaun versus Jamis when it comes to pressures because James, I mean, it's such a pressure couple size.
But right Jamis is much better. Jamis is much more of a pocket passer than either dtr or DeShawn. So I do think there is some of you know, he maybe is a little bit farther back at the top of his drop He doesn't have necessarily the up escapability. His escape in his mind, and similar to Deshawn's is always to go out, yeah and around, So there has to be something too that pull it up. I'll pull it up for the season real fast to see if they're if they're if there just like jumps out as being something that you know, there are a lot of factors that go into it. I'm sure, but yes, quarterbacks. So Jamis for the season was under pressure on thirty one percent of his snaps, Dashawan forty four percent of his snaps, DTR forty percent of his snaps. So yeah, I mean that's to me, that's ten percent out of four. That's a statistically significant difference.
Yes, yeah, yeah, it is. I think you nailed it. I think that's probably is the common denominator that Jamis hits a point and then he goes up in the pocket with eyes down and ready to throw, whereas the other two do what you just said. Miles did get to one hundred sacks in this game, the youngest to ever do so before turning twenty nine, So that's awesome. Well, more on his comments probably a little bit later on. The Chief did return and looked good, so that was good too. And Mike Hall Junior and Isaiah McGuire both look pretty damn good.
Mike Call is a stud. My Hall is going to be a force for a very very long time for the Cleveland Browns. I don't have any any doubts about that. You've seen it enough now, the way he flashes, the dominance that he can show up at getting up the field, which in this defense is absolutely a perfect fit. It's there in spades. Isaiah McGuire continues to be a very productive young player for us. And I'll even say another one, Juwan Briggs has been very good in the middle of the defense, showing strength at the point of attack. So that's all really good. I thought Devin Bush had a great game, and Devin Bush is somebody who feels like I could be in your linebacker room for quite some time. So you like, that was good. And Devin Bush just still a relatively young player. But you know, you think of Mike Hall, Briggs and McGuire first or second of your players who looked excellent in this game, and I thought that was a great thing to see. And McGuire looks to me like somebody who absolutely can start for this football team, Like, yeah, there's no doubt in my mind that he can. I mean, I think next year, you know, you could have your starting four could be Miles, Mike Hall, Dalvin, and McGuire. Dalvin's having a very nice season as well, so that's that to me is encouraging what you've got there in terms of, you know, some of that youth on the defensive line. But you know, unfortunately you talk about that milestone. You know, Chief comes back has eight catches. That's nice. Jerome Ford, I think we should point out, continues to be impressive. Eleven Gary for ninety two yards and a touchdown. He had five for thirty nine. Who has been over one hundred total yards in each of the last two games. You know, dtr with his legs actually made some place and he had some unbelievable play extensions. I mean the throwback across the field to Jerome Ford was wild, and then the one where he did like three pirouettes and then found the Chief on the sideline was crazy. But there isn't enough in rhythm and three targets for Jerry Judy not enough, not enough, no, not enough. And you could see from Cincinnati for Tea a lot of times it was just like a quick little stick over the middle of the ball. Just get the ball in his hands. Easy plays. Just get the ball into their hands and get them into the rhythm of the game. And I think that's you know, you think about this one, and you think about the Pittsburgh game. We did not do a good job of that early in either of those games. Yes, he had the touchdown Pittsburgh, but then he didn't have another He had one more target until like the end of the third quarter. That can't happen. You've got to scheme things up for him just to make it easy for him to get to get some of those plays.
Yeah, And I think, you know, as we turn our attention, you know, the next couple of weeks and get to the off season, this organization has a real question to figure out what type of quarterback they want going forward. Yeah, because that's the key to this thing, because what what what Kevin's offense was versus what this version of Kevin's offense is are two very different things. And and we got to figure out what type of core Here's the thing. Dtr did fine, But I don't think he's somebody that And this is me speaking obviously, not for the organization in any way, shape or form. Uh, You're not going to redo the offense to make it fit his skill set. No, And I think something he's a back.
This was an audition, but I think he's still auditioning to say I am the backup for the next two years, you know, and you're in ABC progress. That would be great, yes, but I still think you need to see a little bit of progress. The fact is, unfortunately its touchdown interception ratio is really bad. It's one to nine. And I love the kid, and he has not been able to take what we've seen in the preseason into the regular season yet. And maybe, you know, if he starts the final three, maybe you see some signs against Miami and and Baltimore. But I think right now, as we talked about the Shawn coming off of a serious injury for the second time in two years, Jamis is we know exactly what Jamis is. DTR needs to show more, I think for you know, to solidify a spot here and then we don't know we've got in Zappy. Other than the fact that you know what we saw him do it with New England, I think you have to be thinking about, you know, looking at this quarterback room, right what do we want out of that position, How do we want to play offense? What do we want to be our bread and butter? And certainly we heard Miles had his his opinion on what he wants that offense to be given that, what's the best fit for us? And how do we approach this? Are we a team that if Kirk Cousins gets cut that we know he can run the fancy offense? They did it together at a very high level of Minnesota. Does he Is he somebody that you've signed the way that like Russ signed for nothing in Pittsburgh? Is that some first name? I thought it is justin Fields? I mean, do you kind of do the whole full Pittsburgh experience, Say, okay, let's get let's get Cousins. Let's also get Fields because after having a year with Arthur Smith, he's actually going to be pretty familiar. And the offense they ran early in the year is kind of similar to what we would run if we were running more Kevin stuff. And he's somebody that could become a long term solution because Cousin certainly is not. I think you have a whole look at that quarterback room because right now, given the injury status to the Sean Watson and then given everything else we've seen, it's a big question mark in terms of what that path forward is going to look like.
And until you identify that path, that's job one. That's the most important, that's the most important. Rest of facing this organization. Yeah, the rest of it is is window dressing. You have to you have got to figure out what the path forward is, you know, at that position. And it's made even more abundantly clear when you have a steady diet of the teams that we're seeing we continue to play football in the AFC. We saw Patrick Mahomes, we saw Joe Burrow, Lamar Job Yeah, I mean just the last two weeks though, like sure, you know, you look at you look at Joe and you go you you just think of them malfeasance that organization did, like screwing this year up and not winning some of those ridiculous games they lost early in the season. Jamar Chase is right. Nobody would want to play them, nobody, but they're not.
Going to get in a competent offense probably would not be that afraid of them.
But as we talked and Hoff talked about this last week, the problem with.
Them is they're so scary.
Even if you are a really good offense like Baltimore, so are they You're good, you got there's the pressure to score every drive.
Were you surprised how they really our defense played well in the second half, but how they kind of they really took their foot off the gas as well in the second half.
It felt like I agree, and I think they knew that we couldn't do anything.
I will say this, I thought it was pretty fascinating, pretty fascinating at the end. And I don't know if you were aware of this or not, but Oburrow needed one more passing touchdown and exactly thirty yards to become the first quarterback in NFL history to have seven straight games with two hundred and fifty yards and three passing touchdowns, and he threw a thirty two yard touchdown to Jamar Chase when they absolutely did not need to throw the ball.
I did not know the context of that, so.
I thought that was interesting. I also thought, you know, one of the thing when you're on defense, you have to play until the play is shut down, And on that play, I think cam Mitchell thought the play was blown dead and kind of just stopped running and ended up being the easiest touchdown in the world for Jamar Chasing for Joe Burrow.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean their path to get in took a bit of a hit yesterday with Indie winning, it's it's tough for them. Yeah, they do get Denver this week, and we'll go over the FC playoff picture in a bit, But yeah, I mean they're they're in your division. Pittsburgh's in your division, Baltimore's in your division. Like the path forward at quarterbacks got to get sorted out. After we got off the air Friday, Miles had his press conference and then he spoke postgame Sunday as well. I know that what the headlines are on it, I didn't read it that way at all. I didn't read it from I just read it from a perspective of a guy who's like, man, I want to win.
Ye.
I didn't view it from like I'm gonna, I'm demanding a trade or anything like that. I didn't read it that way at all, and that a lot of the headlines I saw kind of painted it that way. I just think this is a guy at the peak of his powers who wants to hear what the plan is. I didn't think that was there's much controversy to that.
Listen the guys turning twenty nine this Sunday. He is the first player in the history of the National Football league to record one hundred sacks before turning twenty nine, and had to do it in this game. His birthdays is literally next Sunday, the day we played the Dolphins. Had to be done. This game, got it. And I think he is, you know, he is the best player on this team, but I you know, Denzel is elite as well. But Miles gear It's a defensive Player of the Year, is the best player on this team. And I think he wants He's saying, I need to know what the plan is. I'm I'm my window of being great is not open forever.
Now.
He reminds a lot of people of Julius Peppers, But you know, I don't know if he'll play a career as long as Julie Peppers for a variety of reasons. His interests in a great many things. But I think he's saying, I want to make sure that I'm in a position where I can win.
Yeh.
I think that's what's so hard about this season is I think everybody in this building, everybody on that football team, when we went to the Greenbrier, everybody believed that this team was assembled to do one thing, to win the AFC North and then to go to compete for a super Bowl and we're three and twelve, yeah, which nobody saw coming. No, even the most even a skeptical negative person would have said, oh, they're going to be seven and ten. Yeah, not staring three and fourteen, you know, in the face. And at this point, unfortunately, that's better for long term than the alternative. Anybody who plays this sport, you have to play to win, you have to play all out. But at this point, right now, it's a This season is over. This season is a rap. It's about evaluating. And when you say it's about evaluating, it's about putting yourself in the position best position for the future, not only finding out who on your team fits that that bill, but then also the positioning because unfortunately that stuff matters.
Of course. Yeah, I mean it's not just where you're picking in round one, it's where you're picking in round two and three.
And the Ravens, the Ravens, with their win, they're alive. They control their own destiny, don't they. At least the Steelers clinch, It would have clinched with a win. They lost to the Ravens, as we all know. So the Steelers and Ravens are have the same record right now, so and they split one in one. They both have one more division game to go.
So Week eighteen, we're in Baltimore Pittsburgh play Cincinntanzi and they're gonna have to schedule both of those at the same time. Will that be on Saturday? Will that be Sunday? At one?
Is there are there Saturday games that week?
Oh?
Yes, Week eighteen? They're none listed. Oh yes, it doesn't even say is a TBA. Are you sure?
Yeah? Wow, yeah you were.
You are subject to play Saturday, Sunday at any time or Monday night, so right now is around the table. We won't know till Sunday evening, so right now, but.
It doesn't list anything on Saturdays.
Yah.
Is there a Monday night game the last week?
Yes, that's part of ESPN's thing. There didn't used to be Sunday night football, used to be the final one. There is a Monday night football because now there's a Monday night wildcard.
Oh god, we got to get everybody thinking on the same page as television. By the way, I mean, what a mess, what a mess?
You?
Saturday was an abject absurdity to play all that stuff and what's going to happen on Christmas Day with all of that, Like, let's let's let's all get on the same page. Let's try to do the fans a little bit of service here with it.
Yeah.
That was crazy, Yes, and unfortunately you had five games that none of them really were all that compelling.
You're talking about in the which way you are you go? College football or pro?
Because the pro the five on Saturday were never really that close in the city. Houston was never that close. Pittsburgh Baltimore was close to heel rush through the pick six.
Yeah.
And then the college game, I mean the Buckeyes beating called it college football night. Hey, throw the ball to the best players on the field. Okay, we'll do that. You're up twenty one, nothing, no big deal. It's hard college football on a heater. I am on a heater, I went. I I mean not that those are hard to go three for three, but.
The you know, it's fun. This is the This is what I would how I would sum up the college football side of it. Do a couple of minutes. The reality is there aren't twelve deserving teams in college football. College football is not reverse engineered the way the NFL is so that everyone's the same. College football is a class system. There are haves and there are have nots, And yes, on a given Saturday, a team can rise up and spring an upset. But by and large, the great teams have the greatest amount of talent. And that's the way that this thing has played out this season. Is the reality is that Tennessee was no more deserving to play in this thing than Indiana was, or SMU was, or Arizona State or s or Boise State or the rest of them. They do not have a puncher's chance. The lines in those games. The smallest one is Ohio State's at seven, and that's just because people were viewing it through the eyes of what happened in the Michigan game.
Michigan game, that's it.
All the rest of them. And by the way, when you go to the quarterfinals next week, Boise State is a is a Are they thirteen and a half? And I think Texas is fourteen and a half over Arizona State? What are we doing this? There is a huge drop off from the four or five to the next group of them, and it wouldn't have mattered anybody crowing about Alabama Alabama lost to that Tennessee team and a Vanderbilt and Vanderbilt and got housed at Oklahoma, who's terrible, terrible, and I near anybody saying, well, Tennessee didn't deserve to be there. I heard Chris Fowler on the broadcast talking about how the Indiana game wasn't as close as the final score because Indiana scored late. Brother that should have been fifty six to nothing. Ohio State over Tennessee. A bogus passinger spearance call on the on the interception in the end zone that they didn't call on Jeremiah Smith when they would have walked in to go up twenty eight to nothing when he absolutely mugged him. The ridiculous roughing the passer call which gave him another first down on a third and first. That was that nullified an interception, that's their first points. Come on that.
I gotta tell you so. I haven't watched a whole lot of Tennessee football, but I came away thinking from that game being like, they never had a chance. Their quarterback can't.
Throw the ball, No, he couldn't read the defense, No he can run. Yeah, and Tennessee got a garbage touchdown. It was forty two to ten.
Yeah, no, it was a beating.
And no one threw stones at Tennessee and you're gonna go at Indiana and go at smut of people.
A lot of people picked Tennessee to win, which was not stupid. I know the Buckeyes lost the Michigan but race their kryptonite and and in years pass they wouldn't be in the playoff. But what did I say? If they are, just take advantage of the great gifts that they have at their disposal. They they're gonna win. They're gonna win it.
Yeah, they're the best team left the three the four most talented teams at the start of this year in college football by any measure, by everyone's measure, or Ohio State, Oregon, Texas and Georgia and Georgia's without their starting quarterback. Yep. So that's the reality of it. And by the way college football did deliver, those environments were awesome. The games weren't great because there's an incredible fall off from the most talented teams to the next group.
The funny thing is, and everybody's saying though, and this is something that college Football Nate's been debating with people is that they're saying, you know, the nil and all that has caused more of a it's raised the middle up. And that may be true maybe, but but that middle it's still far away from the top. It's like, like I always talk about using golf as example, somebody use a scratch golfer. They are in the top one percent of all golfers on the planet. But the difference between them and an eighteen handicap, while in stroke wise isn't the same, but in terms of their ability to truly play the game is the same difference as it is between them and Bryce and d Schambeau.
Right.
Yeah, so you can raise the middle all you want, but the elite elite is still on a different They're playing a different sport because they have different talent available to them.
Yeah.
Yeah, It's not what it used to be in the sense that you would have those schools where you have that elite elite talent four deep at every position, because now people are transferring out and going and spreading their wings like beautiful butterflies and playing everywhere. But in terms of being able to assemble a roster of that magnitude, there are only a handful of schools that can do it.
There is. And the other thing that happened last year that was that was incredibly a that affected a lot of teams is Nick Saban left Alabama and so there was an exodus of talent. Ohio State got three of them, Texas got a couple of them, Oregon's got one of them. Like some of those guys went to other places that lifted those schools. There's no question out that Ohio State was lifted by Caleb Downs and Seth McLaughlin. No question next year you're gonna be lifted by Julian sand Texas. One of texas receivers came from Alabama. One of Oregon's receivers came from Alabama. Like that's how this, That's what happens in the sport, that coaching change. So there just aren't twelve deserving teams and they force fed it. And if you look in for proof of how they force fed it, just realize there was so little foresight into this that the college football playoffs were on TNT, while ESPN showed college basketball regular season games on ESPN one and two, and ABC showed the FCS one Double A semi final games on ABC Yeah. They didn't do that because they wanted to. They did it because they contractually obligated to, because nobody thought there was going to be a twelve team playoff this quick so they had to run those games. So their talent was calling games on TNT, who does not have college football talent to do the actual games. Nobody's thought this was coming this quickly. Nobody, yeah, and they.
Forced to say this College game Day on Friday evening was off the hinges and Nick saban is living his best life. I did not realize that all of a sudden, the ESPN is okay with the four letter bombs just oh yeah, magically appearing. But it was like every half hour someone was dropping like Shane gil coach effect, guys, that McAfee effect.
Shane Yillis.
Shane Gillis put him in a body bag when he called him Alabama Alabama Jones over here saying the SEC never paid anybody.
Yeah, and Saved's like, I tried to raise kids with integrity and make them great professionals, and he's like, okay, then it never happened. I got to the Alabama Jones getting upset. He was great. Now. I know we all say it's the Pat mcafeeing of sports, and like, I get that, but I do think that there is somewhat and this is going to make me sound like an old man, they're somewhat of an appuation knowing that kids are watching, Like the stuff about the Buckeye fan and yeah, I would even say his name, but everybody knows what I'm talking about, Like, come on.
Yeah, that's it's like the Shane Gillow stuff.
Funny a brand of profanity here there, Like that's the parlance of our times. That's a lexicon.
About someone in his underwearing mom's basement talking blank about Ohio State. You got to stop paying attention to all that.
Here, you know what? You what I have to say about to me?
That was the only one thing that was over the line. Was the thing that I think we would all agree is that he should have outrageous.
Anyone on that desk should have asked him, Hey, Nick, if you never won a national championship at Alabama and you lost four straight games to Auburn and you did not win an SEC title in four straight games, how hot would your seat be?
Quite?
Why did no one push back?
Yeah?
Why did every one of these guys, These guys Saban made twelve million a year. It's paid for by the fans. I tell you, guys, are all boosters pay coaches salaries. Boosters pays buyouts. Boosters are paying for rosters. Now, yep, the fans are the shareholders in college athletics. They're the shareholders. They're the ones paying for it. They all have Netflix, they all want Netflix. Boosters sign up, pay us fifty bucks a months, who can pay nil meantime coaches taking eleven twelve million.
It's amazing too. That to your point that when you disparage the fan the way that he did, the people that are calling, in many cases around the Ohio State Organization let's just call it, that are fed up. Are the ones that are not in their underwear in their mom's base. No, they are highly successful executives and multi multi multi millionaires who want a return on their investment.
That's exactly right, and they're owed that because they're paying for it.
They're paying for it.
Yes, that saint, you're not. You don't have a there's no payroll. You're paying right right. Those are your hot topics today. Presented by University Hospitals Official Healthcare partner of your Cleveland Browns. You'll hear from coach to fan ski coming up next. We're often running Cleveland Bron's Daily presented by bally Bete, official sportsman he partner Cleveland Browns on a fifty ESPN Cleveland.
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Okay, thanks, Jordan. Injury front, Dorian's working through that CAF injury. I'll be able to update you guys as we get through the week. Dave Nijoku came out of the game with a knee injury. Don't have a ton of updates there again, We'll see how he comes through. You know, obviously very proud of him for pushing through that hamstring injury, and you know, I think it says a lot about Dave and his ability to do that. You know, watching the tape obviously feel very similar how we felt after the game. We just put ourselves in a hole early and struggled to dig ourselves out of that. But you have to look at the things that we did early in that ball game to put ourselves behind and those are the things that we're addressing today. But with that, I'll take any questions.
Kevin.
This isn't the first time you've been asked about Judy getting not getting the ball enough, and you've always responded, yes, we have to get.
Him the ball.
My question is, is that inability to get receiver ball more a function of game planning, play calling, or quarterback decision making.
Well, I think it's a combination of all of those things, Tony. When you're talking about any type of target, you know, it's our job as coaches to put together a game plan where you know your best players are obviously the primary, but then you have to go with what the defense does.
That's the other piece of it.
I think Tony, that you have to when you're coaching the quarterbacks, make sure they understand that the ball goes where the ball goes dictated by coverage. Obviously, there's things that we do and will always continue to do to try to get our guys open. And certainly it's no secret that Jerry is a huge, huge part of our offense. So it goes without saying that we want him to touch the ball more.
Okay, and just to ask you again about Dtr. If he is healthy this week, he will start against Miami.
Yes, yeah, Kevin, just wondering if for some reason Dorian isn't healthy, who are you kind of getting ready to start against the Dolphins. Would that be Bailey or would you go back to Jamis?
I think it's probably premature to We will work through that, Mary Kay. I say that just because I got to see how Jamis comes with his shoulder injury as well, So we have to see how all that shakes out this week.
Hey, Kevin, on.
That dtr calf, I mean, yesterday after the game, you thought you expected when to be okay. By Sunday he said he was going to do everything. Does anything changed? Do you still optimistic he'll be the guy Sunday.
Yeah, I mean, he played through it the whole time, So you know, give the kid credit for that because that happened on the first couple of plays. But like anything, like any injury, you just have to be careful and make sure that you treat it.
But yeah, of course hopeful, yes, okay.
And then with him, what can he do better inside the pocket to avoid some of those sacks in some of those pressures that he faced yesterday?
Yeah, I mean I think it's always a combination of things, Scott. We have to number one, you need to put yourself in a position where you don't have to drop back as often as we have. That's one piece of it. But also it always is a combination of quarterbacks moving within the pocket, having the correct depth in the pocket, the line setting the depth of the pocket, and the width. So everybody has to work together in that regard.
Kevin, you know, dtr didn't have any passing yards or net passing yards, I should say they're in that first half, but he seemed to kind of get on a little bit of a role there in the third quarter. Just what did you see from him coming out of the locker room and how can he build on that from a developmental standpoint in these next couple of weeks.
Yeah, I think we played better as a football team in the second half there. Daryl obviously made some plays there with Dorian with his feet first and foremost. I thought he did a nice job of gaining some first downs with his feet, and then they did a nice job spreading the ball around to our guys when those opportunities presented themselves.
And we just we've talked so much about the turnovers these last two years. You even mentioned, you know, the thirty seven you had a year ago. You're up to thirty this year. You know, how do you as you wind this season down? I guess evaluate how you guys as coaches can I guess, you know, work on that more in practice, or change how you work on it or whatnot so you can slow those down come twenty twenty five.
Yeah, I think I understand the question.
I think big picture, I'll save the reflections if you will. As you can imagine, you're constantly coaching ball security when it comes to the offense, and that can be as simple as technique from center quarterback exchange to the quarterback handing the ball, the running back to quarterbacks, decision making. Really, it factors into so many of those things because we know how important that is when you're talking about.
Winning and losing.
So but in terms of the big picture, Daryl, I'd say I'd save some of those thoughts until after the season.
Hey, Kevin, just a few quick ones then, So, do you think David's going to try to play against Miami or are you ruling him out?
No, not ruling them out.
I don't have all the information yet, just yet, Ashley. I'll update you guys one appropriate as you can imagine. If he can play, he'll play.
And then what about said and ruling him out? And do you guys expect him to practice this week or how's he coming through the protocol?
Yeah, still making his way through the protocol and we'll be obviously patient with this and make sure he's you know, accomplishing all the appropriate steps. But we'll see how it goes.
Hey, Kevin, I know that Dustin Hopkins has a process and he kind of sticks to it, stays confident in that. Is there at any point though, where you see some of those struggles and you want to maybe insert a different process, kind of have him switch it up, have him try something new or do you kind of let that process play out despite.
That, Well, I think to your question, Cam, I think we have to work through it. I think it's something that he's continuing to work through. Obviously wants to get his technique back down where he feels really good about it, and we'll just work through it.
Is really the bottom line.
Yeah, Kevin, just wondering, I'm not sure if you said this already or not, but is Dave having an MRI?
Yes, but I don't have all the information yet on the injury, Okay.
And then the other question is, in the event that Bailey has to start or if not, maybe service the backup again, what have you seen in him in his short time here to show you that he could go in there and function.
Well, yeah, we have confidence in all of our guys, Mary Kay, I think Bailey has done a nice job since he's gotten here picking up the system. I think he probably had the system down after about a day. Very intelligent. And then there's some similarities to what he was doing when he was in New England this summer, so really understands what we have to do. He's done a nice job in practice. So but we'll see where this week takes us.
Hey, Kevin, I know what we see Miles do a bunch of you know, freak stuff. But did you get a good view of him chasing down Burrow towards your guy's sideline yesterday? And did that just looked different to me the speed he was using in that effort to get to him.
Yeah, you know, obviously I had a good view of that when it happened live and then had a good view of it just watching the tape and listen that that's a unbelievable effort play to run him down, to contact him in bounds, you know, versus a player that we know is very, very elusive. So uh, that's when when we're at our best. That's that's our defense flying around the field.
And then my mood when he got the neutral zone when they were the one looked like he objected you did he go offside? And if so, how frustrating because obviously that's what they were trying to do is get him to jump offside.
Listen, my Mood is a young player. He's a very very smart player. That was not his best play. That's that's not indicative of the type of player he is, and he will learn from that, and honestly, our entire team will learn from that.
Thanks Jordan.
Hey, Kevin, and I apologize if you were asked about this yesterday. On Friday, Miles talked about not wanting to go through a rebuild again here, and you know, I know you don't want to share any conversations you've had with it personally, but can you appreciate, you know, his frustration, and I know you would probably always encourage your players to speak their minds when they have the opportunity.
Yeah, like you said, Tom, any conversations I'd keep with our guys, and I have a lot of conversations with our guys, so they know that they can share their opinions with me and it will always be that way.
Obviously, Miles.
All of our guys are extremely competitive and they want to obviously win these games. We want to win this one versus Miami. Is that's our focus, all right?
Kevin?
That was Ken Dorsey's first game calling plays for Dorian. What is the natural growth process between play caller and a brand new quarterback? Should we expect that to be as good right off the bat?
I think it always is dependent on so many things, Tony. I think we can play better as a team. We can play better as an offense starting this week. There's things that I know we can improve upon. Obviously, when you have a young quarterback out there for the first time this season as a starter, you're learning about him with every rep. You're learning about him with every rep at practice as well. So we'll take all those learnings and apply them as we move forward.
And my other question about DTR is all of us on the outside of the building have our own opinion on DTR. Do you personally know what his ceiling is in the NFL?
I think with any young player, I would tell you, Tony, that's always a something that you're looking towards achieving with your guys. Young players need reps to get better. I see a young player in his second year that's getting better with reps.
Yeah, Kevin, Given Dorian's calf injury and Jamibes's shoulder injury, would you maybe try to have him run a little bit less both on you RPOs and different things like that, and just scrambling around and putting himself kind of in harms way the way he sometimes does.
I would say it's a little it's early.
Mary Kage just to see how he progresses through this week and with the injury. Like I said, he played the entire game with this injury, so we'll just see how he progresses.
Thanks coach, appreciate it.
Okay, thanks guys.
All right back for another season from your favorite four leg companion is Year three of Barking Backers, presented by Milkbone, the fan club for dogs. If your membership options and joined today at Barkingbackers dot com, we'll take a look at the NFL playoff picture with two weeks and one game remaining. That's coming up next. You listen to Cleveland Browns Daily presented by bally Bet, official betting partner of your Cleveland Browns on eight fifty ESPN, Cleveland.
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Hey Truckle Ball. Here for my friends at Jim Beam. This year, to celebrate friends, Miss Jim Beam wants to share a little cheer. You purchase a bottle of any Jimbeam family brands receive a ten dollars rebate to use towards your holiday festivities. Whether you're getting together with friends at your favorite bar, buying ingredients for cocktails at home, or visiting the Jim Beam Friends Miss Shop. Jim Beam is here to help you have the best friends miss ever. Visit jimbeamfriendsmis rebate dot com to learn more and redeem your ten dollars at Jim Beam. Jim Beam Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey forty percent alcohol by volume Copyright twenty twenty four, James B. Beam Distilling Company, Clairemont, Kentucky. Drink Smart Quick. Look at the NFC playoff picture, it was shaken up bigly by the loss of Jalen Hurts in the Philly game as they end up losing to Washington. The other big development here is Michael Penix look prett damn good quarterback in Atlanta well.
In their defense, that scored twice in that game, and the Giants looked woefully incompetent in that. I think the big I think the big development is actually Tampa Bay losing to Dallas crazy crazy. That is a massive, massive, massive loss in that one. Pennis definitely can sling the ball a little bit. Eighteen to twenty seven two oh two did row a pick not his fault though that was off Kyle Pitts's hands.
Yeah, the PFF guys were really high on his on his his performance, on his performance, yeah, yeay, I mean look good and they're I mean, the Giants are woefully incompetent right now.
Smart Tampa Bay. Tampa Bay to lose to Dallas, that was a that is a big, big, big loss.
The Jalen Hurts issue. I mean, because there was a time you thought, Okay, they may end up getting the buye in the one seed. Then he goes out early with the concussion, and then that changed everything. Pickets in there and he's obviously that's an incredible step back from Hurts. So the way it shakes down right now, Detroit is the one, they responded as we knew that they would thirty four to seventeen. Philly right now is the two. Just Rammant is the three. Atlanta is now back in with Pennix. They're the four. Minnesota is thirteen and two. For crying out loud, they are the five.
They played Detroit in week eighteen, so that could be for the guy interesting host green Bay.
They play green Bay. The NFL just announced they're moving games Sunday Oh really, Dallas Philly's been moved up to one o'clock because it was just us and them at four four in the four o'clock window.
Uh huh uh.
Green Bay and Minnesota now at four to twenty five on Fox. We're on CBS, and I'm pretty sure at four o'clock only in Cleveland and Miami. Can you watch that game?
Yeah?
I bet so, I bet so. Washington in as the seven. So this this is going to just come down to. Right now, the Rams have a one game lead on Seattle for the division. The winner there will be in, the loser will be out, and then Tampa Bay just an incredible loss because they do not have the tie breakers with Atlanta. Atlanta's beaten them already twice yep.
And now Atlanta controls its own destiny. But Atlanta has a tougher go of it, certainly than does the the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Bucks home Carolina home New Orleans. Now Carolina almost beat them last time. Atlanta is at Washington home Carolina, so they are going to have to beat Washington in Washington Sunday Night football this weekend if they want to get in. I don't think anybody's getting in. I think it's either Tampa or Seattle are only getting in by winning their division. The Rams play Arizona at home, Seattle at home. Seattle is at Chicago at the Rams.
So last week that Rams think about that.
Seattle's got a lot of juice. In the last week. Detroit Minnesota could be for the number one seed. In the last week. Minnesota has a tough final two. They go green Bay at home at Detroit. Detroit's at San Francisco. Who's reeling home for Minnesota. Philly is home, Dallas home the Giants, and then Washington has the Washington's got Atlanta at home, and then they must have Philly. No, Philly's got the Giants there, so.
They maybe the Dallas.
Do they not play it? Yeah, they play at they get at Dallas at they have Atlanta at home at Dallas.
That'll be the batch up of the guys who finished first and second last year in the Heisman when Atlanta and Washington battle.
YEP boot your.
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If a car, trucker motorcycle acts had caught you injury, call the Injury Lawyers at one eight hundred Elk, Ohio for a free case review Elkin Elk, proud partner of your Cleveland Browns. Time for the Joe Thomas Half hour of the program. The Hoff joins us for the next thirty on the Twisted Datline brought to you by Twisted T Hard iced T, official sponsor for your Cleveland Browns. Keep it Twisted Cleveland. All right, So we are a college football Hall of Famer. We are a Pro football Hall of Famer. We have coached in Germany. We've been on a game show with The Rock where he could not believe your athleticism. And yet tonight Obaby will also do something that I have to imagine was pretty hard to wrap around the head of a young Joe Thomas and that is you are going to call an NFL game at Lambeau how's that all sit?
Yeah, a baby, and I get to do with my partner, Kevin Harlan, one of the legends in sports play by play media. So it's gonna be a lot of fun. I think walking into the stadium is always special, even if you didn't grow up in Wisconsin. Talking to players throughout the league, they always talk about playing in Lambelefield is one of the more special places that you get to play. History that goes into it in the fact that it feels like you're playing in the college stadium. You go through basically a tiny little neighborhood and all of a sudden, bammed Lambeau Field right in front of your face. People are parking in everybody's front yard and you walk into the stadium. My dad and my son get to go to the game to night with me. A little sideline passes. Jack doesn't know about that yet. It's a little Christmas surprise for him. So yeah, it's gonna be h It's gonna be a great night.
That's awesome, Hoffa and certainly very very well deserved. When you're saying so you're going. You're on your way now. It sounds like we're in we're en route, We're in root right now.
Yeah, we're in route right now, driving through a couple of inches of snow here as you'd expect driving through Wisconsin going up to Title town there in Lambeau.
So you're on the way and then Jack's coming later.
Yeah, my dad's gonna come up pick him up, and then they're going down because as you know, being a big B media guy there and you got to get there a little early for shaking hands and kissing babies on the sideline doing pregame stuff. So I'll be there a little bit earlier and then Jack and my dad will come a couple hours after.
Three generations on the sidelines at Lambo.
That is.
That's pretty special. Make sure you get a picture, huff, make sure that you get somebody to take a picture of the.
I'm gonna set a reminder on my phone aka text dates in the text me. You can be my personal Assistan today take a picture with your son and your dad.
I will I'll send one. I'll send one at some point tonight for sure, just to be to look out for you. Ah, Unfortunately, you had the I wouldn't say privileged, but you had the uh, the reality of being in situations like the Browns currently find themselves at various points throughout your career. It's just right now, it's every week. It's the turnovers, it's the self inflicted wounds. That really has been that way all season. We've seen it. The Browns, you know, number two in turnovers for the season, number one over the last over the second half of the season, they're you know, top seven in penalties, number one in pre snap penalties. What causes that to be a week in, week out problem? And how does that get fixed?
Well, when you're coaching in the NFL, they say, you can't focus on everything. Right, If you coach them to do everything, you're gonna get nothing. So you got to focus on one thing or the next. And I think obviously penalties, missed assignments, those type of mental errors have been killing us, right, And I think Kevin Stevanski and company have probably been emphasizing other things, right. They've been emphasizing I think, maybe more of the schematic details of Hey, you got to line up here, you got to be here, you got to get this leverage on this player because for whatever reason, they felt like that was more important in that moment. And I think maybe it's a reflection of where some of the players are on this team. You've got guys that are veterans that know exactly what they're doing. You can kind of focus in on different things, and you don't have to go to the basics on a lot of this stuff. And so maybe part of it is offensively potentially bringing in a new scheme and trying to blend some of Ken Dorsey's stuff coming in from Buffalo, trying to introduce some of the gun runs and the gun play action things. And so when you've got some new stuff that you're putting on offense, you're trying to figure out, all right, this is where you line up, These are the basics of these plays. And as you layer those things on, then you can kind of turn your focus away from basically just installing what are all the addendums we have to make when the defense changes these things? And so I think some of those things potentially got overlooked book When Eric Mangini was here in two thousand and nine and ten, I think we were great. We never had any penalties, like, we never had any self inflicted wounds. But we weren't very good football players because that's all he focused on, right. It came from New England where it was Bill Belichick and he harped on penalties and turnovers, and so we really didn't make those type of mistakes, but we focused so much on that that we didn't really execute very well on the offense. And so I think it's part of it's who you got installing a new offense and what you have opportunity to emphasize. And I'm sure at the end of the season, Kevin and company are going to go back and look and say, hey, you know what, even though it may hurt installing some of the schematic stuff, installing some of the details of what we want to do each week from a game plan standpoint, we just need to harp on the basics of don't make penalties, know where you got to line up, and eliminate self inflicted wounds, because that'll kill you faster than anything else.
If you've been in the you've been in a situation similar to Miles where you've been in your prime and you look around you go, this is a roster I don't know about. I read his comments Friday and again again post game Sunday, is like, Man, I just really want to win and I just want to know what the plan is going forward. I didn't read it as anything more than that. He picks up sack number one hundred Sunday as well, which means he's the youngest to ever get to one hundred sacks, So a big moment there. How did you you know him? Well, how did you read his comments Friday and Sunday?
Well, first of all, I think you have to view it through the lens of this is a tough season, and when you're dealing with a tough season, you don't have as many fun things to talk about, and so when players make comments, especially your most important players like a Miles Garrett, right, they get dissected a little bit more than in a normal situation. Well, that said, I think it was probably sixty forty. I think it was sixty percent him just saying, look, I want to win, like that is the most important thing for me, and if this is not going to be a win now situation, then I don't want to be part of it. Like the home stretch of his career, however long he wants to play, he wants to be on a winning team. Gook good for him, Like, yes, I think we all do. And I think he's just holding everybody's feet to the fire a little bit and saying, I don't want to be here if the goal is not year in and year out to win, if this is a tear down rebuild like it was when he got here in twenty and seventeen, He's not interested in being part of a rebuild, which I get it. I think that's a noble thing for him to say. But I think forty percent was probably him reflecting because of reaching that hundred stack milestone, the youngest person ever do it, fourth fastest of all time, tied with Bruce Smith. Excuse me, he still got a little tickle at my throat from last weekend. I think he's had a chance to reflect on his legacy a little bit. And when guys reached that stage in their career, when they feel like they've done a lot and they're probably knocking on the door of the Hall of Fame, they do start thinking about legacy. And for pass rushers it's sacks. You know, sacks, all pros. Those are the things that separate yourself at the top of the list of the all time greats, and so I think some of that reflection probably led him whereas earlier and in the season or early, excuse me, earlier in his career, he probably wouldn't have maybe made any public comments. I think it's led him to feel confident and feel needed where he had to say something about, Hey, look, guys, my legacy is important to me. I want to win now. I want to win the last part of my career because one, it's what being an NFL player is all about, winning championships. And then two, it's like it's going to be hard for him to reach the pinnacle the potential of his legacy with the ability that he has, unless he's on ase. It's going to be really hard for him to reach that unless he's on a team that's winning games, because you've got to be winning games in the fourth quarter to get one on ones, to get opportunities to affect the quarterback, to sack the quarterback. And I think that's really important for him.
Yeah, well, he said, you know, he also joined Lawrence Taylor as the only two players to have five straight twelve SAX seasons, and he said that that's great honor, but he said, the reason we all remember Lawrence Taylor's because he won Super Bowls is he won. And you can tell that that is eating at Miles Garrett. Miles Garrett's career right now is what two playoff appearances and one playoff win, and he wants more and understandably so. And I think that's why this Brown's offseason is so important and could go in so many different directions coming off of this which was, you know, obviously an incredibly disappointing season that fell so short of expectations.
Yeah, and look, guys, numbers matter, right, your sacks matter, all pros things like that. But it's the individual highlights, the moments that we remember that are the things that stick with fans, that stick with not only Browns fans, but all of Fame voters, it sticks with NFL fans. It's those moments where you get the sack when the game is on the line. When I was a kid, was a huge Green Bay Packer fan, and to this day, when I think of Reggie White, one of the greatest of all time, regardless of physician, I think of the sacks that he had in the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots to steal the game and win the game. Like, unless you have that opportunity to have those moments.
It's cool to.
Have two hundred sacks, but in less Miles is doing great things and having those moments in Super Bowls or playoff games, you're not gonna remember it as much.
Yep.
There's a reason that when you go to Canton, pretty much everybody on the seventies Steelers is there.
It's gonna say them seventy Steelers, they're all in.
They're all in like you would have. I mean, everybody's in. It's the winning. If there's a tiebreaker, it's the winning. Winning is the tiebreaker, and it's it's synonymous with greatness. And it's weird because in this sport and hoff you can attest to this. You can be as great individually as has ever walked the planet, but it's your one eleventh and unless you're the quarterback and you touch the ball every play, every other position, it takes a village to lift everybody up.
That's right, that's right. And I think his Hall of Fame candidacy is pretty much atchton Stone at this point. He's going to be a Hall of Famer. But I think when you think back once you're in the Hall of Fame. You know. Deon Senders talked about it a little bit in the last few years, like first ballot is important, it's meaningful to people. And then how you stack up amongst your peers? Look who part of being a competitor is you're always comparing yourself against the guys at your position. How do I stack up?
Right?
And I'm sure for Miles he wants to be number one. He wants to go down. Is everybody's, without a doubt greatest pass rush, your greatest edge player in modern history. And be able to do that, you gotta do it in big moments, and he wants those big moments. I can't blame him.
I mean I always talk about in the Hall of Fame, right, it's are you in? And I think there's the Hall of Fame, then there should be a section where they make it cool, look like a little mini stadium, and then you have the bust in there. Are you in the greatest game that was ever played?
Yeah?
That's right?
And then you people cycle in and out of that as things change and all of that. But would you be in and you could make it? You know, two full rosters right, you can make it too deep on offense, too deep on defense, so you'd have like a starting offense, starting defense for both teams. And if you're in that game, that's that's the goal, right, So are you one of the four best ever? Are you on the mount rushmore of your particular position?
Yeah?
Yeah, you know, And that's I thought there's a lot of legacy that And as you said earlier today, I think you were talking with Mo Pedman, it's different for an offensive lineman than it is for a defensive lineman. Like you're in that game, even though you didn't have that the opportunity to play in some of those moments that you would want. But I think you're right with a defensive player, like they have to make the big play in a big moment, in a big playoff game, all of that to really kind of propel them up.
That's right.
As an offensive lineman, if anything, if I'm on a bad team, it makes my job harder and you get more respect because you're sitting back there in the two minute drill for the whole second half, the quarterback is standing there and he's chucking the ball down the field every play, and you're going one on one against their best pass rusher who doesn't care about the run anymore. Right, My job's harder, and so the people that know the game that watch they understand that. But for Miles, like he needs to have those moments where he's going one on one against a great tackle in the playoffs, in the Super Bowl to be able to get the respect that I think he definitely deserves. I said it on social media a few weeks ago, I said, give me one pass rush against any player in history. The last guy I would choose is Miles Garrett because for one rep at his best, nobody's better. But people won't respect that unless he's able to play in those big moments. And look, if it was only about winning a super Bowl, if that was the only thing that mattered to players, Brady wouldn't have kept playing. Dude had a ton of Super Bowls, but he kept playing in New England and then even wanted to keep playing after that, go to Tampa to win more Super Bowl. It's like, so, yes, it's about winning every season and winning that Super Bowl, But legacy matters for these dudes who are among the greatest of all time, and they want their moments to be able to set their place in history, to be able to set their place where they stack up against all of the greats, not just in their generation, but in the generation.
Of all time.
I think Brady wanted to track down Manning on everything. Yeah, I think he wanted the yards, the touchdowns, all of it. He wanted to track down Manning. And that's I think I'm with you, Off, I sure, yeah, everyone wants to win, but I think there's no question that that's that. That was it that he wanted to leave no doubt and he did. He ended up doing all of those things all right real quickly. Around this last week in the NFL, we had a very interesting Saturday with the Chiefs taking care of the Texans horrific injury to Tank Dell in that one, and then you had the Ravens really taking care of the Steelers thirty four to seventeen. Rusk with a pick in that when he has sort of fumble where he scrambling and just kind of kind of looked like he almost ran into the hit off. What did you make of those two? In Kansas City? Now, they had to make sure they have a one game lead over Buffalo, and obviously they're in a position now to make sure they do that.
You know, we did the let's pick our ten Super Bowl favorites last week on the Wednesday Show that I was there, and I hope you guys hang on to that because I was pretty good. At least through one week. The list that I put together has held up pretty good. And I think, you know, Green Bay doesn't really face much of a challenge tonight against the Saints, as they're two touchdown favorites. But I think the Chiefs are starting to hit their stride. You know, they're playing a good ball. They're starting to win by a few more points. I think the Texans they've got too many injuries and then the tankd Dell injury that hurts him even further. And the Steelers, I just they don't have any one thing that I would say is they're superpower. I think they're very balanced, they're very well coached. But I don't think that you can make a great run in the Super Bowl by just being balanced, Like I think you have to have some superpower that can rise up when the game's close. And I just I think Russell Wilson is still a good quarterback. But I don't know if he's good enough to go toe to toe with Josh Allen or Patrick Mahomes or Lamar Jackson. And so I think the AFC IS is shaping up to be really interesting with the Ravens kind of figuring out defense just a little bit, Lamar Jackson putting himself back into that MVP conversation, especially after Josh Allen didn't have the best of games against the New England Patriots. So it's a fun run here as we're coming down the home stretch of the regular season.
That division is likely when the season ends, you have three twelve win teams Detroit, Green Bay, and Minnesota. Minnesota. Detroit could determine the number one seed in the NFC. I mean, when is the last time that anybody can remember that kind of performance in a single division. It's really incredible.
Yeah, it's interesting as I'm getting ready for this Packers game, you know, there they could have thirteen wins and like the fifth, sixth or seventh seed, just because you know they're going to be the second wildcard team potentially behind either Detroit or Minnesota. And it's just crazy to think how good the NFC North is and potentially how good they could be for a while because they're pretty stacked. Like these are teams that have overwhelmingly fairly young rosters. They're very very well balanced. They quarterbacks that are either locked up long term like Jordan Love or they're not breaking a bank like Jared gob Sam Darnold. So the NFC North has an opportunity potentially to go on quite a run here.
Yeah, they really. It sets up that way, and it's I mean, it's gonna be what could be pretty dang remarkable, fellas if we hold this week next week and Detroit is fourteen and two hosting, isn't it Minnesota at Detroit fourteen and two? Minnesota?
It is Minnesota at Detroit.
Yep, So fourteen and two hosting fourteen and two in week eighteen for the one seed. While think about it, I mean, fourteen to two in old years, you're the one. Forget about it. No one's in the mix.
Yep.
They one of them is gonna go. They're both fourteen and two if they both win next week and they're expected.
To Detroit at Niners, Minnesota home for green Bay. Tough game. Minnesota's finals too, is tough.
They are, but they just win. Man, that's a big time win for them yesterday winning at Seattle, the way they did.
Well, especially the way they had to come back.
Yeah, absolutely, yeah, no, it's it's crazy. And and also some pretty wild injuries, the Jalen Hurts concussion that happened yesterday, big and then Pennis getting the getting to play for Atlanta. The stats don't maybe do justice to as well as he played. But now that sets up uh, and then the loss for Tampa bayhoff Uh to lose that Dallas, that's as bad as it's going to get.
Yeah, that's not so good. I mean, the NFC South has probably been the weakest division in football all season long. But the Buccaneers, I think they had a lot of believers in including myself, not necessarily that they were going to be a team that could, you know, win the Super Bowl. But they did a great running game, good defense, Baker Mayfield playing well. But you gotta win the ones you're supposed to win when it's down the stretch. You gotta be hot as you hit the playoffs to really have any belief in the building.
And that one.
Really could be the dagger, the nail and the coffin of their Super Bowl chances because I don't know how you get your team to buy into a belief that you guys can make a run when you play the way you did on national television America and a team that had seemingly given up on the season about five weeks ago.
Yeah, well, whoever wins that division is going to play Detroit or Minnesota.
Yep, good luck.
That's a tough opening. That's a tough opener.
All right, Fellas. In honor of Christmas, which is two days from today, what was your favorite sports themed gift you ever received? Will start with you and then duckt to Zee.
It's funny because I was never a hockey player organizationally, like from a serious damp, but I love playing street hockey, and so I got a hockey net and a goalie stick when I was like ten years old, and I was so happy because it was one of those presdents' mom couldn't wrap, so he came downstairs. I can't wait to see what Santa brings you in. The hockey net is just sitting right there, and I think in that moment just brought me so much great joy because I could just see that the next six months of my life there's gonna be outside like six hours a day with my neighbor Nicky Hammill, just fire and slapshots right at my face. I was like a happy Gilmore. I could not wait to get hit right ahead and get a concussion.
Off as a defenseman would have been terrifying, like, oh my god, that would have been cheez NHL A nope. For the guys like haf On skates, that would have been outrageous.
You know, I was thinking sports themed. I was really trying to think about it so the easy. So actually something just popped in my head. That is the absolute answer. But before that, I was thinking, I remember when Nerve came out with that one that had like the little things onside. So when he threw like a spiral through a bombit like whistled. Yeah, I thought that was pretty cool. But then I just remembered my definitely the best sports team Christmas gift I ever got was a Rollings big stick that was to Nathan Merry Christmas, Mark McGuire, Martin McGuire, Rawlings big stick, that's McGuire. There was a pastag glass yeah, still still have it, still have it.
There was a there was a meg. There used to be a store called Sears, and when we were kids, there was a magazine that would come There's Cattle Sears Christmas Catalog, and you could it had everything in it, everything that Steers had. And when that thing showed up, I'd look at it in wonderment that you could buy anything that you wanted at this magical store. And on one page they had every NFL team Hutch uniform set.
So I love it.
I never saw any of that stuff like you could only get like where I grew up, you could get the Broncos, or you'd get the Seahawks or the Vikings.
That was it.
Those are the three teams. You could get gear for them where I grew up. But in that you could get anything. And I remember looking at I had no I was a Bears fan as a kid, but I remember looking at the Dan Founts Chargers uniform in the bright blue and thinking, God, that looks great, gorgeous.
That looks great.
I circled that sucker for Santa and I said, that's it, That's what I want. And when I walked out and I saw that sucker sitting there, come on, I didn't take that off for the whole Christmas break. I left that sucker on the whole time, pants, jersey, helmet, the whole thing. I didn't think they make that stuff anymore, but god, no, those were so good, so good, so good. All right, hoff enjoy it. This is a this is an unbelievable one tonight. I mean, Harlan being a Wisconsin guy, a legend. You there three generations of Thomas's. This is unbelievable. Enjoy that, buddy. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
Yes, love, I love you guys too. I appreciate you having me on the Great.
Hob En Root the Dulcet Tones tonight, filling our ears.
I mean that's I mean, Harlan's, Harlan's, Harland's great, an all timer. He'd be on my Perseroute Mount Rushmore play by play guy. I think he's awesome. And as a wisconsinight, come.
On, oh baby, that's beautiful.
All right. Coming up next, we'll take a look at the AFC playoff picture Miles Garrett's one hundredth sack in your great clip as well. You're listening to Cleveland Browns Daily presented by bally Bet, official sports betting partner near Cleveland Browns on a fifty ESPN Cleveland.
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Browns fans checkout vid Seats official fan experience packages to the season's home games. You purchase seats in the vivid Seats Terrace Experience. You also saw a pregame field passes, all inclusive food and beverage and more. Visit vivid seats dot com today to learn more. Time for the great clips, Great clip of the game, Great clips, It's gonna be great. Here is the call of Biles Sack number one hundred.
And now they go hurry up from the Browns thirty seven Burrow to throat. Here comes Garrett. There it is Miles Garrett. Welcome to the one hundred club. He takes down Joe Burrow one hundred career sacks for the future Hall of Famer.
He set the Browns record against Bailey Zappy, now his teammate, and how fitting Joe Burrow man he is harassed throughout his career thirteen sacks. Now against the Bengals. Miles Garrett the first to get to one hundred sacks before his twenty ninth birthday with not a weak despair Andrew unbelievable.
And early birthday present and early Christmas present from Miles Garrett.
It's a loss of eight.
You know, it's really starting to set these great clips, great clips of the week apart is the context that we're getting on and the whole thing used to just be just like, here's what happened, and now we're getting I believe the technical term is a little bit of color and it's a game changer.
It's weird that Gibbet looks disgusted as you say this, which you're speaking the truth and give me he's furious with you.
I mean, you know, the analysis is the analysis. He had a sack. It was number one hundred. That's a big moment. Let's not let the let's not let the analysis be bigger than the moment.
I believe that was a perfect call around the way there. It seems like if anything, your boy, Gabriel, your boy Gabriel is going against your wishes.
Young Gabriel has chosen the size the side. Gabriel. Yes, I asked you Gabriel last week. Last week I was in the balance. He knew what I said, what's that all from. Of course he knows that he's come to the of course he's coming to a learning tree. Always a guarantee he's come to the learning tree. G Man had a he faced. There was a fork in the road about a week ago, and g Man stood and he looked left and he looked right. And I asked him, quite simply, do you believe in goodness or badness? And he said, I want to be good? And now he's walking that path with the big bees.
Hey, do you have a grievance as well?
Oh, I do have a grievance. So earlier today I was the victim of a prank. Okay, which is fine. I enjoy it a good prank either. My grievance has nothing to do with the prank or the prank itself. However, when I found out about the prank, I didn't know it was a prank at the time. And when I found out what was told to me, I called Gibbe to be like, dude, you'll never believe what just happened. And I was like, and I'm not doing it like hard, no, not doing it, not doing it now. I said some other things as well. Gibbe was in on this. So when I called Gibbe, Gibbe answered the phone and put me without any woe or any knowledge of who may or may not have been in the room at the time. He put me on speaker phone while I aired my grievances. Oh my go which is not okay? Do fail?
Hold on?
Hold on? What that is not okay? Dude, that's not okay. I could have said anything and would have been within my right to do it, and I could have been much worse than it ended up.
It was the g Man and Jordan.
Wasn't Fela there? No, okay, that's too bad.
I thought maybe there were luminaries like he makes it sound like. I. I put it on for the world, And as I told him number two there is there was a hand like, oh hey, we were there. In my it was m Would I ever put him in that position? You can't possibly know what I was going to say. Though you can't, you could have. You were worked into an amazing shoot. It was unbelie just told Ricky to continue it. If you would have actually stopped and thought about the quest that was being made, you would have realized there was no way in hell that was actually.
Yeah, my response was I'm not doing it. I'm not negotiable. Period.
Did this have.
Something to do with one of the next two holidays?
It did? It had? It had to do with me coming in to shoot a ten minute video because it could only be done at that time on Christmas, and I was like, not happening.
Let's think about this.
Who's working?
I don't know. I bet we're having practice. At one point.
Would that have ever happened on Christmas Day?
I will say that this is a human Uh, this is a man who at one point had to one point left and had to return. Was there no audio? Didn't we have a no audio situation where you were like home and had.
To come back? Oh, yeah, that happened.
That happened. So we've had there's been some discrepancies. But yeah, say Christmas Day comes, shoot a ten minute video. It's the only time we can do it. Would be a big ask.
Yes, And it was based on another person's By the way, my mom just texted me Gibb is such a scrooge.
Nailed If I nailed it, could if I could have recorded it. I thought Gabe was going to chew his arm off.
He was laughing.
Where's the get g Man on camera.
He literally got his head in his hand in his in his hands in the ground. He is crying, he's laughing. Sorry, the three of us are dying. And I'm like, what to tell you?
Oh, I said, Unfortunately, I was like, listen, somebody, against's go down the road. That was not happening. I'm like, not happening, No problem saying no to this not happening.
Oh, that's good, except that it was way over the top. No, it wasn't that world into a complete shoot. Well, the request was over the top, and it was like, no, not doing it.
I don't believe I will be doing that.
No, No, there's a lot that I'll do. I was gonna make. I made many accommodations to make it happen what they wanted. But I wasn't doing it then. Not that way, Buddy, the Alf, Buddy the Alph is locked in on Christmas. I am locked in on Christmas. I can't wait, g Man. G Man secretly told me that he felt it was bad that they were doing this to me.
It was well out of bad bad. Yeah, no, he did, Yeah, he did. He loved every minute of it.
All.
Right, here's where we uh, there's a line between love and hate gibe that can go anyway. Here's where we sit in the AFC with two weeks to go. H Kansas City now with a still have that one game. They have a two game lead over Buffalo. They win one of their next two, they would be in good shape in terms of of winning the AFC and having the home field. Buffalo is sitting comfortably in the two.
Uh.
The Steelers are currently the three via their tiebreaker over Baltimore. Houston is the four, Baltimore is the five, the Chargers the six, in Denver, the seven, Indie, Miami, Cincinnati all seven and eight all on the outside looking in. Cincinnati does play Denver this week, so they could get that to a one game deficit. Denver plays Kansas City in the finale, So depending on what can who does Kansas City have this week? Steelers?
Kansas City plays Steelers in Kansas City, I mean in in Pittsburgh, and then the Steelers play Cincinnati where.
And in Cincinnati I believe against Pittsburgh. Yeah, so if Kansas City beats Pittsburgh this week, then then Cincinnati.
Pittsburgh still controls their destiny.
They do. They're currently have the tiebreaker over Baltimore. But if Kansas City beats Pittsburgh, then Kansas City will clinch the number one overall seed.
So Pittsburgh controls on Dessey. But if Pittsburgh, if they both go one and one and Pittsburgh loses to Cincinnati and the Baltimore's one win is they beat Cleveland, then Baltimore would have a better division record and would get in. Is that factory saying that, Yes, No, that's fact because they have the same division record right now and they each play one more division game.
So that would net them the three, which would right now Obviously the three always plays a six, so that would be right now. Would be Pittsburgh hosting the Chargers, Buffalo would host Denver, and Houston would host Baltimore. If it started right now.
It's gonna be that's gonna be very interesting.
Yeah, I think it's very So Cincinnati needs to win out. Miami's got us and then Buffalo.
Miami has us and then at the Jets, oh Jets at Cleveland at the Jets, Cincinnati's Denver and Pittsburgh. And you said week eighteen, let me just verify that, is that a home Week eighteen is no, it's in Pittsburgh. Okay, so Cincinnati is home Denver at Pittsburgh Peke Pittsburgh PEEPAUW. Pittsburgh is home Kansas City and home Cincinnati, so they have two home games.
And then Indy is still kind of in the mix of them. They have the tiebreakers over Miami and Cincinnati. Should they win, it's very theirs is really navigable.
Yeah, at the Giants home Jacksonville.
So that's a bye for sure.
I see how Cincinnati is still alive.
That's a ten percent. They need Miami and Indy to lose again one of their last two saying Minami to lose to either US or the Jets, Andy to lose to either the Giants or the Jaguars. They need to win out and then they need Denver to lose.
Out and then Denver's finale Kansas City. Right, so Denver doesn't have an easy final stretch here.
No, but if Kansas City beats Pittsburgh this week, they're not going to play for anything in the last week clinch, right, they clinched the number one seed and they would chill, chill, So at that point, basically, no, I don't think Cincinnati can get in, by.
The way, though, if you're Kansas City, that's a long time to rest playing on a Wednesday, so it'd be eleven days then a bible, you would have played a game you wouldn't have had you wouldn't have played a game in what twenty five days?
You're right?
Am I doing that math? Right? It's eleven to the final bye would be eighteen and then the following week would be your first player game and be twenty five days without playing football.
Yeah, that's a long time that would They'd have to think that through.
That's a long time not to play ball.
The one thing I would say there's that's such a veteran group that you feel like they know their bodies and they know it well enough to kind of maybe call yep.
And I don't believe in playing people for a half. Either you're playing them or you're not playing.
I couldn't agree with you more. You're prepare to play or you don't, Right, Yeah.
A half has every bit as much of risk as yeah, the whole.
That was a monster win for Kansas City to beat Houston, though, because win one of their next two, they're the one yeph and Cincinnati is going to go nine to eight and missed the postseason and waste one of the greatest quarterback receivers seasons in the history of football. Yep, yep, it's Chase gonna win the Triple Crown.
So, by the way, before we put a full bow on this thing, I just want to say that Larry David is exactly right. If you are talking to a person of that you consider a friend, if you're on speakerphone, no matter what the scenario is, that needs to be communicated at the beginning of that call. So you call in the car and you're in a car with kids or other people, I would Hey, I'm on you're on speakerphone. This was a prank. This was entrapman.
I think I feel I agree with you. I think the Gibbie did know the audience that he was with, and so it's fair sort of though it was never put him in a agree I believe a scrooge on the outside. I think he's a sweetheart in the.
Middle, the hardest grown three sizes it has. There's no questions.
It was my stomach from Saturday night. But that's what'd you guys eat?
A little precinct delicious.
Oh, Nathan took us out for the Holiday Festivus. We ordered the whole left side.
Of the menu. We did not order good for you with a couple orders of French very well. Were they know what they're doing. I didn't see that coming. They know what they're doing coming. They know what you're doing with the ruby joints. All right, we got a score and so much more to come. You listen to Cleveland Browns Daily on eight fifty.
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Kenneth Jerrot. Tonight, the Cleveland Browns Previews showing the University hospitals. Cleveland Browns Radio Network are gonna break down all the week sixteen to the NFL look Ahead to the Browns and the Fins with play by Playboys Andrew Sisiliano. We have a score tonight, give a Monday Night football.
We do my friend and we go to the land of Beer and cheese, Kurds and more beer. I love every bit of it. Green Bay, lambeau Field, Merry Christmas Packers hosting the five and nine New Orleans Saints. Sigura so I don't.
See am I on here?
Yeah, you were on.
I don't see a hook on what I'm looking at. So in my world, that's how I'll operate in here. Say go pack go packed by eight hundred billion.
The Green Bay Packers are not gonna lose. With Kevin Harlan and Joe Thomas on the call in three generations of hofness, They're not losing.
They're not even gonna let it be close.
No, they're gonna bury him. Forty to ten sixty six nothing, Ray Nichke, let's go. Let's hay Merry Christmas, everybody. We are back on Thursday to get you set for the Dolphins and the Brownie. Thanks for listen, everybody. The next level is coming up next. Cleveland Brouns Daily, eight fifty ESPN Cleveland.
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