Speaker 1: Here's one to the end zone at a touchdown, buying
Speaker 1: you somewmer first touchdown passed for the rookie Joe Burrow
Speaker 1: in the NFL. This one down field back up touchdown crowns.
Speaker 1: Joe Farrow has gotta be smart in here with the football,
Speaker 1: and he's not kept him knocked out Karl's habit. He's
Speaker 1: in touchdown. Kareem hunt Ice is the game for the
Speaker 1: Cleveland Browns, who have a resurgent offensive effort, running the
Speaker 1: ball at will for over two hundred yards against the
Speaker 1: Cincinnati Bengals and a thirty five to thirty win at
Speaker 1: the Dog Pound. The Browns moved to one and one.
Speaker 1: The Bengals dropped to oh and two, but not without
Speaker 1: hope because their rookie quarterback once again shows why he
Speaker 1: feels like the future of Cincinnati football and maybe the NFL.
Speaker 1: But we'll get to that. Dan Hans is here with
Speaker 1: Greg Rosenthal, Chris Wessling, and a very happy, slash relieved
Speaker 1: Mark Sessler. Um. Mark will start with you. You know
Speaker 1: you batting down the hatches over at Sessler Manor and
Speaker 1: took this game in. You have to be feeling really
Speaker 1: good about the offense after this one. Well, I feel
Speaker 1: I feel a sense of relief. UM. I think I
Speaker 1: scared off my children, UM and probably simone during the
Speaker 1: course of this game. I'd give anything for there to
Speaker 1: be a camera likes in that house tonight. I couldn't
Speaker 1: even imagine what was going on in that place. Greg,
Speaker 1: you asked, how so I think that my demeanor, UM,
Speaker 1: watching Browns games in front of other people, which I
Speaker 1: think you've witnessed to some degree, is probably different than UM,
Speaker 1: maybe other dads, maybe other people in general. UM. I
Speaker 1: also went into this game with intense UM trepidation. And
Speaker 1: I think there's two things happening. And I think two
Speaker 1: things did happen in this game. One the sense that UM,
Speaker 1: the Bengals I kind of felt even watching last week's game,
Speaker 1: where you know, Joe Burrow was taken all over the
Speaker 1: place by an incredible pass rush, but still show these
Speaker 1: amazing traits that there is an evolutionary quarterback UM rising
Speaker 1: in Cincinnati. So in a way you'd say, oh, I'd
Speaker 1: hate that, But actually, and West, I loved your tweet
Speaker 1: during the contest itself that the Browns and Bengals, these
Speaker 1: two teams from the cradle um of football, from Ohio.
Speaker 1: UM have been dead dead in the water and have
Speaker 1: a combined like fifty something years between either one of
Speaker 1: them winning a playoff game. I'm really happy, actually to
Speaker 1: see UH both teams with a functional quarterback. UM. It's
Speaker 1: been a really long time, and like the better part
Speaker 1: of me is happy for that. The worst part of me,
Speaker 1: UM was absolutely freaking out during this game. And and
Speaker 1: there's just something inside of me that I think everyone's like, oh, good,
Speaker 1: the Browns won a game, and like, let's pat Mark
Speaker 1: on the head and he's a nice time. Like what
Speaker 1: I really want, UM, I think what any football fan
Speaker 1: would want, especially if you've watched a team that suffered
Speaker 1: for so long, is a team that cuts other teams down,
Speaker 1: that takes the head off other teams, that removes them.
Speaker 1: And I think the Browns have suffered UM a lack
Speaker 1: of that killer instinct for so long. And I think
Speaker 1: that there were moments in this game tonight, for all
Speaker 1: the good things that I felt those same jitters and
Speaker 1: you know, not to get in all that. I think
Speaker 1: they played a good, clean performance that gives you some
Speaker 1: hope about what Kevin Stefanski is instilling here. I mean
Speaker 1: the ground game they've They've obviously got talent with Chubb
Speaker 1: and Hunt, and it worked tonight. Um, there was a
Speaker 1: lot of positives. I don't think they're I'm not trying
Speaker 1: to be overly pessimistic. I just think they're one of
Speaker 1: the teams in the a f C. Um. You look
Speaker 1: at what happened last week, you looked what happened against
Speaker 1: a lesser Bengals team tonight, They're somewhere in the middle.
Speaker 1: There's positives, but I would say that the bigger story
Speaker 1: of the game was the fact that the Bengals, for
Speaker 1: the first time since maybe Boomers, Siason West, I don't know,
Speaker 1: have something maybe even more hopeful than Boomers, Sias and
Speaker 1: and I the part of me that grew up watching
Speaker 1: Brown's Bengals thrive as a true rivalry. UM cheers for
Speaker 1: that versus being a bad sport about that, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: excited to see it. I'm also a little bit scared
Speaker 1: that football game delivered. I loved it. That was one
Speaker 1: of my favorite Thursday night games. And I'm so happy
Speaker 1: for Browns fans because Baker Mayfield looked broken last week.
Speaker 1: He he looked broken as a quarterback, like he didn't
Speaker 1: want any of the fight. He didn't want to stand
Speaker 1: in the pocket. He was throwing off his back foot,
Speaker 1: fading away from pressure. His tendency was to shy away
Speaker 1: from any kind of pressure whatsoever. He looked like he
Speaker 1: looked like a draft bust. And a week later he
Speaker 1: comes out and the body language is so different. Last
Speaker 1: week fading from pressure. This week he's got his little
Speaker 1: pigeon toach strut, the cock on the walk, that little
Speaker 1: knee high kick before the throw when he's feeling good
Speaker 1: and in the groove. Baker delivered keyhole accuracy tonight, the
Speaker 1: ball placement on the receiver's hands every single time. And
Speaker 1: then on the other side, Joey Burrow, who to me.
Speaker 1: I don't throw out the comparison lightly, but I like
Speaker 1: to break down quarterbacks into families like biology. He's in
Speaker 1: the Joe Montana family of quarterbacks, and the dominant feature
Speaker 1: of which is light footedness. He's got the light footedness
Speaker 1: in the pocket, the way he moves as a passer,
Speaker 1: as a scrambler. The unflappability is another trait in the
Speaker 1: Montana school. Joey Burrows got that in spades. You cannot
Speaker 1: count him out of a game. The Bengals are not
Speaker 1: blowout artists anymore, the Union, and you're not gonna walk
Speaker 1: in now, and you're not gonna walk all over them
Speaker 1: like you have for years, because the quarterback doesn't have
Speaker 1: that in his d na um. And I just I
Speaker 1: just liked the way Burrow plays. This is this is
Speaker 1: a fun match up now. And you know how much
Speaker 1: bad football these two fra chanzes have played and the
Speaker 1: last thirty years. What a fun night. It really did deliver.
Speaker 1: I thought the Baker play that impressed me the most
Speaker 1: was I think it was third and eight in the
Speaker 1: first drive of the second half. It was not a shotgun,
Speaker 1: it wasn't a play action. Um. He had some pressure
Speaker 1: in his face, uh, and he he made the right
Speaker 1: read and he delivered on that third and eight and
Speaker 1: that those are the sort of places you want to
Speaker 1: see from him. I thought they did a good job,
Speaker 1: you know, scheming him up. I mean, it reminded me
Speaker 1: a little bit of his rookie year in the sense
Speaker 1: that he only had to throw twenty three passes. One was,
Speaker 1: you know, a bad interception. He had guys pretty open.
Speaker 1: Most were first reads. He made a couple of plays
Speaker 1: outside the pocket. But I think they're really rebuilding Mayfield
Speaker 1: from scratch, which um I wouldn't say it's disappointing, but
Speaker 1: that's just where they're at with with Mayfield in his
Speaker 1: third season. So I like Mark. I'm not gonna say
Speaker 1: that they've solved everything. But sometimes it's not all about Baker.
Speaker 1: I mean, their offense is good. I thought their offensive
Speaker 1: line played both well last week. I thought they played
Speaker 1: well against the Ravens. And uh, they've got two of
Speaker 1: the best ten backs in the league. It's create the
Speaker 1: Kareem Hunt lack of I don't know if respects the
Speaker 1: right word because everything that's happened with him, But I
Speaker 1: threw out some you know, hot take about they've got
Speaker 1: two of the best tendecks. I think people don't realize
Speaker 1: how amazing Kareem Hunt is as a player. He led
Speaker 1: the league in rushing as a rookie. I think he's
Speaker 1: better now. Chubb, to me, is probably the best back
Speaker 1: in the league, certainly one of the top two or three,
Speaker 1: and and Hunt is like that is an incredible one
Speaker 1: to punch. So you have all that support. We know
Speaker 1: about the receivers, it doesn't have to all be about Baker,
Speaker 1: and I don't think tonight really was. I think the
Speaker 1: only part of the game that I would have enjoyed
Speaker 1: because it was very enjoyable. I thought it was gonna
Speaker 1: be talked about it earlier this week that it felt
Speaker 1: like it was gonna be a fun game, and it
Speaker 1: really was. The only thing I did want was after
Speaker 1: the Baker pick and then Cincinnati goes down the field,
Speaker 1: they score, they maye three, about five minutes to play.
Speaker 1: I thought that was a great set up to see
Speaker 1: what Baker had in him there with a little bit
Speaker 1: of adversity and like this horror show potential if they
Speaker 1: somehow blew this game after kind of controlling it the
Speaker 1: whole way. But we never got to see that. It's
Speaker 1: not a bad thing for the Browns because what happened
Speaker 1: next was an absolute uh decimation of the Cincinnati defense.
Speaker 1: I'll go through it real quick. Uh. Chubb for four yards,
Speaker 1: Chubb for twenty six yards, Hunt for thirty three yards,
Speaker 1: Hunt for eleven yards, hunt for ten yards, hunt for
Speaker 1: one yard, and the touchdown three game over. Mayfield didn't
Speaker 1: even have to throw a pass. That's that was where
Speaker 1: the Cincinnati defense was at that point against the great,
Speaker 1: great Cleveland rushing attack, So that was very interesting that
Speaker 1: they were able to close it out that way. Cincinnati
Speaker 1: is not there yet. UM. I don't know if it
Speaker 1: kind of reminds me Wes you mentioned Joe Montana, I'm
Speaker 1: thinking of another all time great, Peyton Manning that first
Speaker 1: year with the Colts, where the Colts stunk three thirteen
Speaker 1: and Manning through I think twenty seven picks, but he
Speaker 1: also had a bunch of spirited performances in there where
Speaker 1: there was a lot of reason to hope by the
Speaker 1: end of the season. But they also weren't not a
Speaker 1: team that was competing for a playoff spot. It seems
Speaker 1: like there's so many missing pieces here. The offensive line
Speaker 1: got worked for a second straight week, and I don't
Speaker 1: know what's going on. And I don't want to stick
Speaker 1: a fork in the guy because he's a borderline Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame guy before he before he got injured. But A. J.
Speaker 1: Green looked cooked in this game. I don't know. He
Speaker 1: just seemed lethargic. He couldn't make a play even in
Speaker 1: garbage time. He couldn't stack up numbers like any solid
Speaker 1: wide receiver would be able to do. He was not
Speaker 1: the guy that Joey Burrow needs him to be which
Speaker 1: is that veteran number one guy to help him along
Speaker 1: with his progress. And then you had you know, where
Speaker 1: where was the and where was John Ross? Where was
Speaker 1: he in this game? I don't know what all right, Well,
Speaker 1: I don't know. They had one play. They had one
Speaker 1: play over twenty yards, one completion. He that's the only
Speaker 1: one in two weeks. That's That's the thing is they
Speaker 1: have a very condensed rams like offense. Um, I want
Speaker 1: to just see the Borrow thing play out. I'm enjoying
Speaker 1: watching him play. I think I've we've now seen these
Speaker 1: young quarterbacks so much. I'm more hesitant than I ever
Speaker 1: been to bury guys quickly, but also to like raise
Speaker 1: them up too much. He's obviously like he passes that
Speaker 1: baseline of like if he's protected, he's going to deliver.
Speaker 1: That means you're an NFL starter. Like some guys when
Speaker 1: they're protected, they still aren't good quarterbacks. The Bordles is
Speaker 1: in the different place, like we know Burrow is over
Speaker 1: that line, and I'm excited to watch the rest. But yeah,
Speaker 1: there's no explosiveness in this particular Bengals offense right now.
Speaker 1: I would say also that I mean, this was a
Speaker 1: pretty good game by Denzel Ward, who is uh leading
Speaker 1: a pretty banged up cornerback group in secondary right now,
Speaker 1: and you know they they're shorthanded, and I feel like
Speaker 1: I saw Denzel a Ward like on top of a
Speaker 1: J Green and filling the blank like you know, seven
Speaker 1: or eight times down the stretch. Um, I I just
Speaker 1: I come away, and I don't want to reiterate my point,
Speaker 1: but just that, you know, it's funny because I was
Speaker 1: watching with Simone West and like she was like, is
Speaker 1: Joe Burrow kind of Steve Youngish? And I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, West compared him to um, to Joe Montana
Speaker 1: to some degree, and I'm like, he might be somewhere
Speaker 1: in the middle of these guys. And that is a
Speaker 1: bit of a freaky thought for the a f C.
Speaker 1: And I hear you are Greg not to you know,
Speaker 1: put him in the into Canton, which has a lot
Speaker 1: of plaques. We've learned um in Canton, but um, you know,
Speaker 1: well Greg claims there are a lot of plaques there.
Speaker 1: But I saw when we saw Roger every player has
Speaker 1: a plaque or if there's a section of TVD, it's
Speaker 1: just I mean, look at like I the Browns are
Speaker 1: Bengals ur trivals, and that's that's fine, But um, the
Speaker 1: Bengals fan base has been through a a thirty year
Speaker 1: nightmare and add on another ten years if you want
Speaker 1: and like this is exciting. It's exciting for all of
Speaker 1: football if Burrow works, And it's exciting if you if
Speaker 1: you're if let's say, if you're in the in any
Speaker 1: division and other quarterbacks rise up in that division, you
Speaker 1: want to go out and compete like in your division
Speaker 1: against the best in the in the a f C
Speaker 1: or NFC, and like it raises um, like the fire.
Speaker 1: I mean, I just I don't remember a game that
Speaker 1: got me up off the couch where I just felt inside,
Speaker 1: like if the Browns blow this thing, I'm gonna punch
Speaker 1: seven holes in my in the house we just rented
Speaker 1: two months ago. When backdoor borrow of made it thirty
Speaker 1: five thirty in the final minute, you know, Greg has
Speaker 1: a lot of plastering to do on his walls this week.
Speaker 1: If you check out NFL dot com slash game picks,
Speaker 1: you'll see you know, I I split the difference nicely.
Speaker 1: Brown's win, Bengals get it under six. Wes Any other
Speaker 1: thoughts about this game as you were watching. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: think it's worth reiterating that both of these defensive stink
Speaker 1: and that's one of the major reasons why these young
Speaker 1: quarterbacks looked good. Um. We know, we the four of
Speaker 1: us know we're pumping up two teams that probably are
Speaker 1: not playoff bound. Who knows, maybe they are, but they're
Speaker 1: probably not. Um, but this night was about hope, and
Speaker 1: for a for a fan like mark for the Browns,
Speaker 1: hope means that if you have one game like this.
Speaker 1: They drafted Baker Mayfield number one for a reason, and
Speaker 1: we saw part of that tonight. They drafted Miles Garrett
Speaker 1: number one for a reason. We saw a big play
Speaker 1: in the fourth quarter out of him. They drafted Denzel
Speaker 1: Ward number four for a reason. He had a big game, Chub.
Speaker 1: They you string enough of these guys together and you
Speaker 1: get another game next week of hope, and three or
Speaker 1: four more games after that of hope. With a legitimate
Speaker 1: talent base, now you can turn a franchise around. I
Speaker 1: just feel like you can turn a franchise around with enough,
Speaker 1: with enough weeks like that, and from a fans point
Speaker 1: of view, that's what it's all about. And now the
Speaker 1: Bengals have that with Joe Burrow too. You can pull
Speaker 1: this team out of three decades worth of not winning
Speaker 1: a playoff game, of no real hope. If you have
Speaker 1: the right quarterback, you can do that. Yeah, they're a
Speaker 1: long way off. You know. It's a shame that that
Speaker 1: Joey Burrow was rising while a J. Green is falling.
Speaker 1: Um and Dan you were wearing them out. Kesha was
Speaker 1: wearing out a j. Green on the couch. They I
Speaker 1: need to play Audentate Hollywood drafting and fantasy and he's Ricky.
Speaker 1: Hollywood needs to pick up Drew Sample and that's my
Speaker 1: fantasy advice. Should should right now the wild of Green
Speaker 1: thirteen times y three? He had five or six touchdowns
Speaker 1: this year already. They really they really should play audent
Speaker 1: Tate a little more. But to your point on on
Speaker 1: the defense, is West like you're not like we we
Speaker 1: haven't mentioned Joe? Uh? What is it? Joe Woods? Right
Speaker 1: and well coordinator, I don't think it's gotten like a
Speaker 1: mention on the Around the NFL podcast. Uh. In twenty
Speaker 1: he's new, Um and the early results are not good.
Speaker 1: I know they're missing Olivier Vernon and in a few
Speaker 1: cornerbacks for sure. In the Woods, it hasn't hasn't like
Speaker 1: Sessler and Malibu ten years ago. One more my last point,
Speaker 1: you know, dump the onside kick, and I'm happy it
Speaker 1: didn't turn into drama because Sessler literally would not have
Speaker 1: been able to handle it, and I didn't need the
Speaker 1: Ben was recovering onside kick and then doing this podcast
Speaker 1: with you guys because we don't. We might not survive
Speaker 1: that as a foresome but it really does jump out
Speaker 1: to me in situations like especially a fun Thursday night
Speaker 1: game where it's like, Wow, anything could happen tonight, Oh,
Speaker 1: except for an onside kick that actually swings the game
Speaker 1: the other way. I want that rule to come into
Speaker 1: effect if they say for for safety reasons. And I
Speaker 1: don't remember this, but Gregg told me before we started
Speaker 1: rolling that concussions were out of this world on onside kicks,
Speaker 1: and they said we had to make it a safer play. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'll take your word for it, and the scientists out there. Uh,
Speaker 1: then let's do the fourth and fifteen thing, or even better,
Speaker 1: make it fourth and eighteen. I just feel like that
Speaker 1: for some reason, those three yards matter, and uh, and
Speaker 1: make that a play that matters because you guys, and
Speaker 1: I would say you, I say, the football world insists
Speaker 1: that I'm making an extra point harder because it wasn't
Speaker 1: a real play, which I hate that, But now it
Speaker 1: is a real play because guys missed them all the time. Well,
Speaker 1: let's do the same for the onside kick. Well, I
Speaker 1: would That's my passion speech. I love it. I love
Speaker 1: the speech, and I just say, let's you know, I'm
Speaker 1: just so happy to see that Randy Bullock is back
Speaker 1: in full health. And you know, he went through a
Speaker 1: lot health wise over the past week, and he seemed
Speaker 1: to be you know, uh, you know back on the field.
Speaker 1: His legs are are are vibrous and vibrants. So um.
Speaker 1: He reached out to the Kicker Club about readmittance after
Speaker 1: his three kicks today and uh, you got a hard
Speaker 1: no and a click on the mark. How would you
Speaker 1: rank like the the time that you spent this week, um,
Speaker 1: gnashing your teeth about Austin Cyber coming back to haunt
Speaker 1: the Browns. How how do you think how well you
Speaker 1: know how well it was that time spent, Well, it
Speaker 1: just baked in the d n A. I mean, honestly,
Speaker 1: I I don't know. That was like that was a
Speaker 1: ten minute monologue from Mark. I am. I'm forty six
Speaker 1: years sold and probably spent at least forty six minutes
Speaker 1: of every hour over the last three days freaking out
Speaker 1: about this game. And a lot of it has to
Speaker 1: do with the fact that I think if this game
Speaker 1: happened in six you know they lose. You go on
Speaker 1: with it, You go back to middle school. You you
Speaker 1: get a seventy one on a math test, and you
Speaker 1: move on. But in this world, it's like I've got
Speaker 1: to go read Twitter and everyone's hot takes on, everyone
Speaker 1: melting down, Like I needed Twitter middle school, So you know,
Speaker 1: I need them to be doing some remote learning and
Speaker 1: they're gonna be doing a little remote learning tonight. Mark,
Speaker 1: You're in Club Dub tonight, Club Dub for you. So
Speaker 1: I like it all right? That was like that looks
Speaker 1: like Ernest Biner and um Ken it did. And it's
Speaker 1: been a long time, but um I I will say, Wes,
Speaker 1: I really I love what you said about the Bengals.
Speaker 1: I'm not out there trying to kill other old school
Speaker 1: teams that are part of my childhood. Brown's Bengals rivalry
Speaker 1: is good for the NFL. Most people under the age
Speaker 1: of forty have no idea that that was ever a thing.
Speaker 1: So let's roll. We'll be back on Sunday, of course,
Speaker 1: with the flagship program where we recap every game that
Speaker 1: we previewed on Today's the earlier podcast, today the week
Speaker 1: two previews. To make sure you check that out wherever
Speaker 1: you listen to your podcast and while you're while you're there,
Speaker 1: maybe rate review throw us five stars. That would be
Speaker 1: nice too, That would be helpful to us. Thank you
Speaker 1: to everybody. Uh Dan Hanson signing off for Guide Storm,
Speaker 1: the Mailman, the old Boston Rickey, Hollywood. He's gonna lose
Speaker 1: your fantasy matchup because of Old Man ag Sorry until Sunday,