Speaker 1: Mayfield is gonna take it and no signal. Now there
Speaker 1: is touchdown, Cleveland wide open. It's Landry for the touchdown.
Speaker 1: Second and goal, here's Samuel's out of the back field
Speaker 1: for the touchdown. And finally the Steelers are able to
Speaker 1: break through get it into the end zone, and four
Speaker 1: defensive penalties against the Browns help get the ball down
Speaker 1: the field. On third and goal, Mayfield into the end
Speaker 1: zone and cause for the touchdown. Carlson, how about his
Speaker 1: first catch of the year. That was a beauty. Here's
Speaker 1: a flag as whoa, hello, whoa Mason Rudolph got a
Speaker 1: day to get out of there. What in the world
Speaker 1: to leave Miles Garrett swinging a helmet? Yeah, that'd be
Speaker 1: some objections. He was well after the play he tackled Rudolph.
Speaker 1: Rudolph didn't like the way that he was tackled. Oh gosh,
Speaker 1: oh man, oh, oh my goodness, rips the helmet off
Speaker 1: Rudolph's head and then eventually swings it and hits him
Speaker 1: in the head. And then Ogan Joby comes up and
Speaker 1: hits Rudolph from behind. Gosh, that's one of the worst
Speaker 1: things I've ever seen on a professional sports field. That
Speaker 1: was Joe Buck and Troy Aikman describing a fight that
Speaker 1: is gonna be remembered a lot longer than the Cleveland
Speaker 1: Browns twenty one to seven victory on Thursday Night Football
Speaker 1: over the Pittsburgh Steelers. I am Greg Rosenthal alongside Chris Wesseling.
Speaker 1: Uh in your beautiful house, Chris. Unfortunately, Keach has gotta
Speaker 1: go to bed. She's got uh an early shift to
Speaker 1: get to. And you know, we've got some wild things
Speaker 1: to talk about because this game was secondary and we'll
Speaker 1: get to the game uh in a bit. It was
Speaker 1: largely forget about. Big win for the Browns, but the
Speaker 1: last ten seconds in which Miles Garrett threw Mason Rudolf
Speaker 1: to the ground and then wound up taking his helmet
Speaker 1: off and hitting Mason Rudolph in the head with the
Speaker 1: helmet is obviously something we've never seen in NFL history.
Speaker 1: You know, we're trying to think of similar circumstances. Albert
Speaker 1: Haynesworth stomping and kicking Andre Garrard the Cowboys center in
Speaker 1: two thousand six comes to mind. He was suspended five
Speaker 1: games for that, But it was about as ugly as
Speaker 1: it gets, And the immediate thought is camp Brown's fans
Speaker 1: just enjoy anything, and then what is the NFL gonna
Speaker 1: do with Myles Garrett. Yeah, I think we both mentioned
Speaker 1: the Albert Hainesworth thing to each other, and then I think,
Speaker 1: to me, it also reminded me a little bit of
Speaker 1: that West of His playoff game debaccle with the Bengals
Speaker 1: and Steelers just losing control at the end of the game. Uh.
Speaker 1: In this case, it's really markets Pouncey will be suspended,
Speaker 1: but it's really hard to blame the Steelers for much
Speaker 1: of this. They lost two guys, two receivers to helmet
Speaker 1: the helmet hits from an undisciplined Browns team, and then
Speaker 1: Myles Garrett just lost control just he went outside of
Speaker 1: his body. It seemed like he hit Rudolph late on
Speaker 1: the play, which I don't think should be lost in
Speaker 1: what happens because immediately fans say, hey, you know, Rudolph
Speaker 1: was grabbing for his helmet. He was trying to take
Speaker 1: his off as if he was starting it. First of all,
Speaker 1: it doesn't really matter if if that was true and
Speaker 1: he started anyways, but Garrett knew what he was doing.
Speaker 1: It's eight seconds left in the game. Rudolph clearly let
Speaker 1: go of the past, and Garrett was getting in an
Speaker 1: extra shot. And it's funny because Garrett has such a
Speaker 1: smart guy. You know, he writes the poetry, he's he's
Speaker 1: such a smart player the way he plays um. But
Speaker 1: he has a reputation of getting in those little extra shots,
Speaker 1: like he has a little of a reputation among players
Speaker 1: or broadcaster just just like he pushes the envelope and
Speaker 1: you like that sometimes as a player, but I don't
Speaker 1: know what or as a fan, But I don't know
Speaker 1: what it was in this case that he he felt
Speaker 1: like he had to get that extra shot and then
Speaker 1: what happened, and he felt like he had to, you know,
Speaker 1: take Rudolph's helmet. And I don't think there's anything you
Speaker 1: can really do to explain it. It's just a question
Speaker 1: of like whether we see him again this year, And
Speaker 1: everyone immediately after the game is saying, we can't see
Speaker 1: him again this year if we're trying to protect players,
Speaker 1: and that's probably true. There's six games left in the year.
Speaker 1: I usually just go off precedent. There's really no precedent
Speaker 1: for this. To me, this is a lot worse than
Speaker 1: what Haynsworth did and Haynesworth got five games. Garrett obviously
Speaker 1: has no previous problem with the league, but it certainly
Speaker 1: wouldn't be surprising if that's it for Miles Garrett this year. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's hard to reconcile that reputation he has for being
Speaker 1: such an intelligent player in a poetic, uh sort of
Speaker 1: personality with what we saw on the field. And it
Speaker 1: reminded me of a passage I've I've said before from
Speaker 1: Bringing the Heat or where Andre Waters the Eagle Safety
Speaker 1: in the early nineteen nineties, he had transformed. He had
Speaker 1: found a way to transform himself into an alter ego
Speaker 1: where he got himself so worked up and let me
Speaker 1: read this passage, if you indulge me for a minute,
Speaker 1: has got things underlined. I mean this they was underlying
Speaker 1: long before tonight. He just had it ready in case
Speaker 1: has ever happened. When Andre suited up to play, he
Speaker 1: was no longer Andre Waters, the loving Christian gentleman who
Speaker 1: greeted callers on his answering machine with gospel music in
Speaker 1: a sweetly intoned God Bless you. He was someone else,
Speaker 1: his overman, someone know to him and his teammates as
Speaker 1: the dre Master, and he talks about making and sure
Speaker 1: he doesn't lose himself in that dark fantasy when he
Speaker 1: goes there during the game, and um, this is the
Speaker 1: last passage I'll say on it, just one sentence to Andre.
Speaker 1: The division between real self and Dre Master is so complete.
Speaker 1: He startled when real people in the real world, real
Speaker 1: world confused the on field antics with him. And and
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to excuse what Myles Garrett did. I'm
Speaker 1: just trying to shed some light on how a person
Speaker 1: off the field can be one way and on the
Speaker 1: field just lose himself in the moment like that. It
Speaker 1: was almost like he just lost total control of everything
Speaker 1: and was enraged and in a fury. You you hear
Speaker 1: players talk about that all the time. I mean, some
Speaker 1: players do it in kind of a funny way, where
Speaker 1: who was it that says he's batman on the field,
Speaker 1: But you hear it say all the time that it's
Speaker 1: almost like a flipping switch. And I've also talked to
Speaker 1: players who say, you have to be a little crazy.
Speaker 1: You play football most of the most of the positions,
Speaker 1: like you have to have something in you that you
Speaker 1: can turn on and get in touch with the most
Speaker 1: you know, rugged primal part of yourself two or else
Speaker 1: you're not going to survive. And Garrett, it's funny, was
Speaker 1: a beast tonight. Garrett was awesome. He dominated Villaneueva, who's
Speaker 1: a pretty solid left tackle for the Steelers. I mean,
Speaker 1: he clowned him all night. The Browns defensive line, largely
Speaker 1: because of Garrett dominated this game as bad as Mason
Speaker 1: Rudolph was. Uh. A lot of it was because he
Speaker 1: was under pressure and because the Steeler's offensive line was
Speaker 1: losing so much. That's not gonna make the punishment for Garrett.
Speaker 1: Uh any lass And you're and I think what the
Speaker 1: NFL will look at is what could have happened, which
Speaker 1: is just obvious. You know, he he could have caused
Speaker 1: serious damage. Who knows, he could have killed. I mean
Speaker 1: he you're swinging a helmet at someone's unprotected head. It
Speaker 1: could have had such a worse outcome. And I think
Speaker 1: the NFL should treat it as if you have that outcome,
Speaker 1: because it's really the action. It's not whether he was
Speaker 1: able to connect or not that that you're gonna be punishing.
Speaker 1: You don't ever see teammates after a game failed to
Speaker 1: stick up for for their guy and in this situation.
Speaker 1: Odell Beckham and Jarvis Landry were on the set with
Speaker 1: Colling Wolf and the Gang and they were presented with
Speaker 1: the video for the first time and they just said,
Speaker 1: over and over again, it's ugly. It's ugly. And Baker Mayfield,
Speaker 1: when he was asked about it by Aaron Andrews, was
Speaker 1: kind of similar, there's no way you can defend your
Speaker 1: teammate there. You just have to say, this is part
Speaker 1: of our undisciplined mess. We can't do that. We have
Speaker 1: to be better than that, and we it's just totally unacceptable.
Speaker 1: It was. Yeah, it was alarming, Um, not alarming, but
Speaker 1: uh stark, Yeah, jarring to see Baker say that and
Speaker 1: clearly disappointed, not just in the actions in the moment,
Speaker 1: and he's friends with Mason Rudolph, so yeah, that's that's
Speaker 1: all part of it, but disappointed because he knows he's lost. Garrett.
Speaker 1: I mean, they sounded like they lost the game. And
Speaker 1: I meant to start the podcast with that quote from
Speaker 1: Jarvis Landry that he said to Colleen Wolf, our friend,
Speaker 1: where he said, you know, the ending of this game
Speaker 1: just takes the spirit out of it. Like Joe Thomas
Speaker 1: was talking about the game in this win, and Landry
Speaker 1: watching the video said, the ending of this game takes
Speaker 1: that that joy away from it. Not only is it
Speaker 1: going to be the conversation, but you're losing one of
Speaker 1: your best players. And it ties into what's been a
Speaker 1: running theme with this Freddie Kitchen team. You mentioned it's
Speaker 1: a Marius Randall got kicked out of this game too,
Speaker 1: uh for a head hunting hit Juju Smith Schuster left
Speaker 1: earlier in the game, Uh to a hit that wasn't
Speaker 1: even called that should have been called. On that exact
Speaker 1: same play, Mason Rudolph was hit in the head and
Speaker 1: a for a pretty routine roughing the passer. But it
Speaker 1: just goes to this Brown's team where at one point
Speaker 1: tonight they had as many penalty yards as they had
Speaker 1: yards allowed. I mean, they were dominating this game. There
Speaker 1: was no reason for the Steelers to be in this game,
Speaker 1: you know, late into the fourth quarter, and it does
Speaker 1: get to some of not just the inconsistencies on offense,
Speaker 1: but just the general sloppiness and lack of discipline they've had,
Speaker 1: and then it kind of comes out in the worst
Speaker 1: way you can imagine. Yeah, and I really have a
Speaker 1: hard time pinning Miles Garrett's actions on Freddie right now,
Speaker 1: I I agree with that. I agree with that, but
Speaker 1: it does speak to this season long theme of the Browns.
Speaker 1: When you think of the two thousand nineteen Browns, you're
Speaker 1: going to think of the complete and utter lack of discipline.
Speaker 1: Although I don't know, you know, you have a you
Speaker 1: have a team wide you know, culture or a way
Speaker 1: of doing things of like, then maybe getting those extra
Speaker 1: hits in is somehow a little acceptable. I mean, Myles
Speaker 1: Garretts had plenty of rough in the pastor penalty is
Speaker 1: this is not the first one, and I don't know
Speaker 1: if it's tolerated or what it's. It's more of the
Speaker 1: initial action of him throwing rut off to the ground
Speaker 1: that but the GM tolerates and in the players he chooses.
Speaker 1: He he is a lot more liberal about, you know,
Speaker 1: overlooking things than other GM. So Maria's Pouncey after the game.
Speaker 1: Marcus pounce said, after the game, we'll see how serious
Speaker 1: the league is about protecting players. You could see in
Speaker 1: his eyes, Uh, he was furious, and he called for
Speaker 1: a year long suspension of Miles Garrett. I think Pouncey
Speaker 1: will certainly be suspended to. He went full right, because
Speaker 1: I get defending um your quarterback, but ultimately you're gonna
Speaker 1: you're gonna get suspended to for kicking and punching. And
Speaker 1: then Ogan job was kind of the most ridiculous thing
Speaker 1: of the whole thing. He walks up to Rudolf after
Speaker 1: it's already calming down, as if he just wants to
Speaker 1: be part of it and he's not gonna try to
Speaker 1: take some big shot. He just decides to push rudoff
Speaker 1: to the ground just to say like, hey, you're you're
Speaker 1: at all, you know what, And he got kicked out
Speaker 1: of the game, and he'll be suspended probably because of that,
Speaker 1: just because it was so silly and unnecessary. And this
Speaker 1: is a Browns team that we will transition to talking
Speaker 1: about that hasn't no one on their schedule. It's just
Speaker 1: it's just a row of tomato can after tomato can
Speaker 1: into weeks sixteen, and not that they played lights out tonight,
Speaker 1: but they're doing. They have enough talent that they can
Speaker 1: overcome the sloppiness. And sometimes NFL seasons are about the schedule.
Speaker 1: I feel like that it's Mark has been looking for
Speaker 1: the stretch all season. You know what, Mark has been
Speaker 1: on it. He thought they were going to start two
Speaker 1: and five. Then they start two and five. I think
Speaker 1: they basically did. And then he thought that maybe they
Speaker 1: make a run, and I think they could. And it's
Speaker 1: rare that it's that predictable. But now that we're ten
Speaker 1: games in, it is this predictable. And sometimes NFL seasons
Speaker 1: really are about the schedule, Like the Patriots one eleven
Speaker 1: games with Matt Castle because of the schedule largely, I mean,
Speaker 1: they took advantage of good coaching and everything. Let's look
Speaker 1: at the rest of the on schedule for a second,
Speaker 1: just so we get kind of an idea of how
Speaker 1: these suspensions and everything else could affect them. They play
Speaker 1: the Dolphins next week in Cleveland, then they go back
Speaker 1: to Pittsburgh in a game that's gonna have, you know,
Speaker 1: all sorts of attention. Then they host the Bengals, Then
Speaker 1: they're at the Cardinals. So the the toughest game they
Speaker 1: have in the next four weeks is going against the
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh team. Uh that's led by one of the worst
Speaker 1: quarterbacks in the league, who just lost their number one receiver,
Speaker 1: Smith Schuster. We'll see when he comes back. That just
Speaker 1: lost James Conner again after about a quarter or two,
Speaker 1: and I think is in the mix, if not the
Speaker 1: obvious answer for the number thirty two offense in the league.
Speaker 1: I mean, this is the Steelers dream I think of
Speaker 1: making this run. I know their schedules either. I think
Speaker 1: got a reality check tonight because they've had bad luck
Speaker 1: with the injuries. But they're also one of the worst
Speaker 1: three or four offenses in the league. They've been that
Speaker 1: every week all season and they're not making any runs. Sorry. Well,
Speaker 1: we heard the stat during the game that they had
Speaker 1: scored six offensive touchdowns during their four game winning streak,
Speaker 1: and that's almost hard to believe. I say that right.
Speaker 1: I honestly thought they were talking about the whole year.
Speaker 1: I really did. The offense has been that bad. And
Speaker 1: one of my favorite stats is drive success rate. They
Speaker 1: are in the bottom four and drive success right, and
Speaker 1: we'll fall behind the Dolphins after this week, and maybe
Speaker 1: it's time we get to some Mason Rudolph talk. I mean,
Speaker 1: you've been waiting for this. First of all, I do
Speaker 1: kind of want to point out and just paying a picture,
Speaker 1: uh for the listeners when this all started happening. You know,
Speaker 1: there's only eight seconds, like we were about to start taping,
Speaker 1: and it happens. West immediately jumps up to the library
Speaker 1: as if he was like Batman going to the bat
Speaker 1: Cave and was gonna get his weapons and his little
Speaker 1: batmobile out. But instead West's superhero is like a football
Speaker 1: library where he knew the exact page on the exact
Speaker 1: book that was already outlined that he wanted to go find.
Speaker 1: And that's why Chris Wesley makes the big Box. Well,
Speaker 1: to be fully honest, it took about seven minutes to
Speaker 1: find the passage. But um, the just take Okay, let's
Speaker 1: let's get into the Rudolph I guess for a second,
Speaker 1: and we're gonna talk also about the Browns. We're gonna
Speaker 1: take our time because I do think there's some positive
Speaker 1: things about Baker Mayfield and and what happened with the
Speaker 1: Browns tonight. But West is clearly chomping at the bit because, um,
Speaker 1: if if you were a Mason Rudolph Doubter, this was
Speaker 1: like You're coming out party. It was like Sea World,
Speaker 1: like this is what I've been watching. Well, it's Dan.
Speaker 1: Dan is right, and Dave Damaschik is right. It's sort
Speaker 1: of unfair to expect great things out of Mason Rudolph
Speaker 1: with the decks stacked against him to the degree it
Speaker 1: has been his receivers dropping balls, his running back out,
Speaker 1: his receivers got injured during the game. It wasn't the
Speaker 1: best game from their offensive line. But I think that
Speaker 1: Dan and I have been seeing this from way different angles,
Speaker 1: and my point is that the reason altar kind of
Speaker 1: besides the point. It's that the game is too fast
Speaker 1: for Mason Rudolph. And I don't even think it's an
Speaker 1: inexperienced thing. It's a playing style and skill set thing.
Speaker 1: For whatever reason, his throwing motion frequently puts his release
Speaker 1: at the arm of a defender or the back of
Speaker 1: a blocker because of spatial awareness and slow so slow delivery.
Speaker 1: It's uncanny how often he's delivering the ball as he's
Speaker 1: stepping into her away from pressure. That's what I've been
Speaker 1: saying all along. I think he would he needs a
Speaker 1: complete makeover in the way he plays the position in
Speaker 1: order to get the results that we would want from him.
Speaker 1: That's been my point all along, and I think we
Speaker 1: saw that tonight. He just can't win playing this style
Speaker 1: of quarterback. I mean, he's not it right now and uh,
Speaker 1: everything around him. Yeah, that that is a contributing factor.
Speaker 1: But I think you can isolate some quarterback skills and
Speaker 1: play beyond that. He's throwing up hope balls. It's just
Speaker 1: taken too long, You're right. I mean Aikman said it.
Speaker 1: He basically just said he's heavy footed and he just
Speaker 1: kind of stands there. It's it's the Mike Glennon thing.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's the right It's the line between is
Speaker 1: he courageous and can take a hit or is he
Speaker 1: just inviting pressure and getting hit because that, you know,
Speaker 1: because he's not moving because you just have to be
Speaker 1: able to move, and the Steelers offense, you do feel
Speaker 1: for him, and you feel for Randy Fickner. And I
Speaker 1: mean they're playing with all their third stringers and the
Speaker 1: line isn't even which is supposed to be good asn't
Speaker 1: even playing that well either, So you feel for him.
Speaker 1: There's no like obvious answers. I mean, they are so
Speaker 1: bad on third and short yardage. They said they were
Speaker 1: third three for twelve on on fourth and one or
Speaker 1: third and one this year, and they go for it
Speaker 1: and they turn it into you know, three for thirteen,
Speaker 1: and there was another third and two later in the game,
Speaker 1: and Rudolph's throwing the ball because Jalen Samuel says, no
Speaker 1: chance to pick the you know, first down up either,
Speaker 1: And that's why I just can't buy. I know, you're
Speaker 1: forcing a ton of turnovers and I love this defense,
Speaker 1: and you'll probably win some more games, but it's hard
Speaker 1: to imagine them getting to ten, and I think you'll
Speaker 1: probably need ten. It's not often you'll see about a
Speaker 1: thirty play disparity between past attempts and RUSSI attempts, where
Speaker 1: there's forty more thirty more pass attempts and you average
Speaker 1: more net yards per carry than net Yard's proposit tempt.
Speaker 1: I have no idea to play. I mean, the play
Speaker 1: calling on short roaded situations was boggling my mom. But
Speaker 1: I don't know what else you're gonna do. As you said,
Speaker 1: their best play for the last five or six weeks
Speaker 1: is under throwing a deep ball and getting the p I,
Speaker 1: which is an underrated play in general. I agree more
Speaker 1: quarterbacks should do it more often. Do you have any
Speaker 1: anger towards Myles Garrett for kind of putting, you know,
Speaker 1: a bit of a somber serious tone on this recap
Speaker 1: when really you want to be like dancing in the
Speaker 1: aisles on you know, Mason Rudolph's grave because of a
Speaker 1: black cart. That is not the way I would say it.
Speaker 1: I would say that it would be a more lively,
Speaker 1: jovial conversation about perhaps both of these quarterbacks, if if
Speaker 1: it wasn't overshadowed by what happened late in the game. Well,
Speaker 1: let's let's at least give Baker some do because I
Speaker 1: know you could watch this game and say, look, they
Speaker 1: had twelve drives, they only scored two touchdowns. There was
Speaker 1: a ton of three and outs. Uh, you know they
Speaker 1: got the third touchdown on the best play Mayfield made
Speaker 1: all night, um where he you know, buys time in
Speaker 1: the pocket and and kind of finishes that the game
Speaker 1: off with kind of a classic Baker play. And if
Speaker 1: you've been watching, I think he makes three of those
Speaker 1: plays every week. Those plays have still existed. It's all
Speaker 1: the other plays that have been the problem. I actually
Speaker 1: think he's played very composed and smart the last two weeks.
Speaker 1: Not spectacular, but he's eliminated those bad plays. I think
Speaker 1: he's making good decisions. He just and he said it
Speaker 1: to you know, the broadcast crew too. I think he's
Speaker 1: feeling a little more calm in the offense, and crazily enough,
Speaker 1: I think the biggest problem he has right now is
Speaker 1: Othell Beckham. And I know Beckham has made made a
Speaker 1: big play in this game, and you got a touchdown.
Speaker 1: You're gonna get some some big plays. But every time
Speaker 1: people say, oh, that's a terrible Baker Mayfield throw, it's
Speaker 1: the it's the Odell Beckham and they're not on the
Speaker 1: same page. And this has been happening since week one,
Speaker 1: week two, and you had another plate tonight where Odell
Speaker 1: Beckham got his hands on the ball and didn't come
Speaker 1: down with that. Beckham in Mayfield are in a funk
Speaker 1: and Colleen asked, you know, Odell about it, and he
Speaker 1: was was about as honest as you would expect, saying
Speaker 1: it's a growing process. We were trying to get there
Speaker 1: and we're not there. And Mayfield is not too efficient
Speaker 1: throwing to Beckham, but he's been pretty efficient throwing to
Speaker 1: everyone else, especially Cream Hunt the last a couple of games. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I look at Cream Hunt and this is gonna sound
Speaker 1: like hyperbole, but he's sort of the Brown's offenses answer
Speaker 1: to what Menca Fitzpatrick gives the Steelers this missing piece
Speaker 1: of the puzzle who was so important for their quarterback
Speaker 1: and plays a position and passing down back that the
Speaker 1: Browns have needed and sort of doubles as a receiver
Speaker 1: that's been a huge plus for their offense. He's he's
Speaker 1: playing a major role as a chain mover for them, um,
Speaker 1: and I love that addition for them and for and
Speaker 1: for Baker. It's funny because you know when they signed
Speaker 1: Cream Hunt, everyone you know it was upset about it
Speaker 1: and and killed them and and I get that, and
Speaker 1: then yet you don't once he comes down the field
Speaker 1: and he starts bawling out, and he's looked awesome these
Speaker 1: last two weeks, and he was awesome for a big
Speaker 1: chunk of his time in Kansas City. No one. I
Speaker 1: haven't seen any any criticism of John Dorsey or any
Speaker 1: peeps about that. So that's sort of it's this whole
Speaker 1: dichotomy of watching football of what you're going to accept
Speaker 1: as a fan. On the field, It's like, we love
Speaker 1: Myles Garrett. Everyone hates what happened tonight. There's always this
Speaker 1: strange Poston pull and you know what Hunt did, But
Speaker 1: the reality is he looks great as a receiver. I mean,
Speaker 1: the third down catchy made to keep the first drive
Speaker 1: going that's set up the Beckham touchdown was outrageous. And
Speaker 1: then the third down catch you made in the second
Speaker 1: drive to keep that drive going and they didn't capitalize
Speaker 1: and it was just as good, and he kicked started
Speaker 1: their game winning drive. I don't think it's it's a
Speaker 1: stretch to say, like he is already one of their
Speaker 1: more most valuable players and their offense is gonna need
Speaker 1: to be better. Mayfield said it. They're gonna need to
Speaker 1: be better, especially if Garrett and and even Ogan jovis out.
Speaker 1: Like their offense is gonna need to be legit good.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of been getting better, but it's still
Speaker 1: looking pretty average. It's gonna be need to be legit good.
Speaker 1: And they need to start maximizing because they're still not
Speaker 1: nearly maximizing the talent that they got. The pieces are there,
Speaker 1: and you win some and you lose some. In this analysis,
Speaker 1: you know, I can gloat a little bit on Mason Rudolph,
Speaker 1: I guess, but I also thought, I mean, it's it's
Speaker 1: unsavory at this point. It almost feels like spiking. You know, well,
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just playing along to your narrative here,
Speaker 1: but I also expected Baker Mayfield and Odell Beckham to
Speaker 1: light up the skies this year, and I was dead
Speaker 1: wrong about that to the point where, like you said,
Speaker 1: this is a problem with an offense that has the
Speaker 1: pieces to be doing much better. And I think you
Speaker 1: you wanted to check in on what I thought of
Speaker 1: where I stand on Baker Mayfield. Now, oh that's right,
Speaker 1: See what you look at you? Yeah, I mean, I'm
Speaker 1: just failing as a host and you're like trying to
Speaker 1: drag me along with you know, you're like hands. This
Speaker 1: would have remembered to uh, you know, present this question
Speaker 1: we talked about before. And by the way, if you're
Speaker 1: listening to this podcast, Dan Hansis came in and did
Speaker 1: a bang up job as the guest host of Game Debut,
Speaker 1: which airs on NFL Network on Saturday. I just thought
Speaker 1: it's a tough spot to go in. It's like Mason
Speaker 1: Rudolph coming in. You know, he hadn't never seen the
Speaker 1: playbook before. He's got you know, who is that Steelers
Speaker 1: receiver out there catching passes tonight? Tevin Jones? Right, I'm
Speaker 1: Tevin Jones. You know, fumbling, fumbling catches and then he
Speaker 1: knocked it out. So you know, you guys could DVR
Speaker 1: that it's airing on NFL Network a couple of times Saturday. Anyways,
Speaker 1: he would have remembered to ask you the question, Chris Westling,
Speaker 1: about Baker Mayfield and his play right now and in
Speaker 1: this season, because I really just wanted to frame it
Speaker 1: that you were the guy last year that said he's
Speaker 1: already a top ten quarterback and we all were right
Speaker 1: there with you, and I believed in it um, but
Speaker 1: you said he's already there. There's no question. I don't
Speaker 1: need to see anymore. That's who he is. And I
Speaker 1: wanted to kind of come back because I think we've
Speaker 1: been fair with Baker, like letting him go through uh
Speaker 1: some young mistakes. But ten games in, what what are
Speaker 1: you thinking about that assessment? Well, I think for me,
Speaker 1: the anticipation is the fun of following football, finding out
Speaker 1: guys who are going to be good. And I readily
Speaker 1: readily admit that I get carried away with that sometimes,
Speaker 1: and this is a good lesson. I believe in Baker Mayfield.
Speaker 1: I think he's he obviously can make all the throws
Speaker 1: on the field that you wanted to make he's good
Speaker 1: in the pocket. When he's playing well and seeing the
Speaker 1: field well, I think you have to question how well
Speaker 1: he's seeing the field and how well he's working with
Speaker 1: his play cooler this year. But I I I firmly
Speaker 1: believe in him, and I also think there is something
Speaker 1: too when all these old krusty guys around the league
Speaker 1: are making fun of how many commercials he's in. I
Speaker 1: think there's probably word going around the league that he
Speaker 1: didn't work hard enough this offseason. And I think that
Speaker 1: a young player who's obviously talented and in my mind
Speaker 1: he has superstar ability, there's nothing wrong with having a
Speaker 1: setback and coming back stronger and forcing yourself to make changes.
Speaker 1: We see it in grace great athletes all the time.
Speaker 1: You have to overcome adversity, and in this situation, maybe
Speaker 1: it's healthy for him to have a year where he's
Speaker 1: got to go back and change a few things and
Speaker 1: look at himself and say, what what do I need
Speaker 1: to do to keep up with Lamar Jackson. It's crazy
Speaker 1: that Lamar right now is is the class of that
Speaker 1: quarterback class for for this season. And I would not
Speaker 1: take Lamar Jackson long term over Baker Mayfield. I know
Speaker 1: that sounds wild, but I don't think so. I think
Speaker 1: a lot of people I disagree. I would take lamar um,
Speaker 1: but I think a lot of people in the NFL
Speaker 1: would probably still agree with you seeing the field is it? Uh?
Speaker 1: And sometimes I think it's you know, and yet we
Speaker 1: saw him see the field last year. You don't want
Speaker 1: to put it on his heights sometimes, but I have.
Speaker 1: Sometimes it's just been like a couple of plays. First
Speaker 1: of all, he's getting the ball better down all the time,
Speaker 1: like all the time. He leads the league in that uh.
Speaker 1: And there's been a couple of times this year where
Speaker 1: I just wondered if on a particular play with that
Speaker 1: was the factor. But it seems more like his mind
Speaker 1: is just not seeing things clearly that The difference in
Speaker 1: the last two weeks, I guess, compared to everything else
Speaker 1: is that he wasn't He hasn't been bailing out of
Speaker 1: the pocket. He's been moving well in the pocket and
Speaker 1: making people miss and then making a play inside or
Speaker 1: outside of the pocket. And that's part of what made
Speaker 1: him special last year. So I loved watching that from
Speaker 1: him the last couple of weeks. And I think even
Speaker 1: without Miles gar assuming he's gone for a while, I
Speaker 1: think Baker can play better, especially with a nice UH
Speaker 1: set up matchups. I know that you've gotta face the
Speaker 1: Steelers defense again, but I think he can continue to
Speaker 1: play better and better and carry this team over some
Speaker 1: bad teams and have this team playing meeting and full
Speaker 1: football when they late Week sixteen against the Ravens. I
Speaker 1: do believe that it's wild how quickly these things can swing.
Speaker 1: And we pointed out earlier than year with Kirk Cousins
Speaker 1: that you know he he is looked upon as a
Speaker 1: laughing stock to open up the season, and then all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, three weeks later, everyone's pointing out he's
Speaker 1: leading the league in pass the rating and the Vikings
Speaker 1: are ruling. Baker Mayfield can turn the narrative around in
Speaker 1: one month. He can. The Browns cannot. Because this fight
Speaker 1: is one of the craziest things we've ever seen. I mean,
Speaker 1: it is. It is not uh, it's not hyperbole to
Speaker 1: say that the NFL hasn't seen anything quite like this
Speaker 1: in terms of an on field UH fight, And so
Speaker 1: the aftermath is gonna take days and we've already heard
Speaker 1: from Garrett. Would depending on who you want to listen to,
Speaker 1: was contrite or was not Contrite enough. He seemed a
Speaker 1: little dazed, which makes sense because I don't think anyone
Speaker 1: they're kind of is going to realize the enormity of
Speaker 1: everything that happened as actually how it's going to affect
Speaker 1: his livelihood for the rest of this season. So look,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be talking about this for a while, and
Speaker 1: this is gonna be on Freddie Ketchens ledger, whether he
Speaker 1: likes it or not, and how he handles the aftermath
Speaker 1: and how this entire team handers the aftermath. This um
Speaker 1: is gonna be telling and it's gonna be really important
Speaker 1: to kitchens future. Um. But it's better to do that
Speaker 1: with a win, right absolutely, you know it's better to
Speaker 1: do that with a little uh hope for the playoffs.
Speaker 1: So sorry Mark that you didn't get to enjoy your
Speaker 1: I know that's like we we immediately went there watching
Speaker 1: the game. We we immediate when this started happening. We
Speaker 1: were like, oh my god. And the immediate thought was like,
Speaker 1: why can't Mark, why can't the Brown can't just have
Speaker 1: one nice win? You could you could tell, I mean,
Speaker 1: even Jarvis and O'Dell you could at one point they
Speaker 1: were trying to get the crowd in and you could
Speaker 1: just feel like the air had been sucked out of
Speaker 1: the room. But they'll be back at work and h
Speaker 1: you know. The nice thing is they get a nice
Speaker 1: long week off and then they play the weekend off
Speaker 1: and then they play the Dolphins. So the Browns are
Speaker 1: back in our lives in a big way. I'm sure
Speaker 1: we'll have some updates, maybe even a suspension to talk
Speaker 1: about on Sunday. Until then, I think we should get going.
Speaker 1: I mean, we're breaking records here. We mini pods for
Speaker 1: Chris Westling and Keisha, who's probably not asleep because you know,
Speaker 1: I speak loud indoors, but man, Chris really speaks loud indoors.
Speaker 1: So I don't feel nearly as bad. So let's let
Speaker 1: Keisha sleep and let's uh get to Sunday. We will
Speaker 1: talk to you the h E