NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Browns-Steelers 2026 TNF Recap: Are the Browns For Real?

Episode Date: October 2, 2026

Gregg Rosenthal and Nick Shook recap the Browns beating the Steelers on Thursday Night Football. Gregg and Shook talk about Todd Monken's development as a head coach, the Browns offense, Deshaun Watson and Aaron Rodgers play at quarterback, Joey Porter Jr. being traded to the Cowboys and more. NFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Ontario only. Please play responsibly. Concerned about your gambling or that of someone close to you? visit connectsonterio.com. Brown's up 27, 24, 10 seconds, each team with a timeout. Steelers have it after the touchback on their own 35-yard line. Browns showing a four-man pressure. Rogers, waiting for it, waiting for it.

Play clock at three, at two, has it up one. Rogers rolling right. He might go Hail Mary. Rogers steps up and lets it fly deep down field. And it is. By our friend, Andrew Siciliano. One week ago, he's hosted NFL Daily on 13. Thursday night. Tonight, he's in Cleveland announcing the first place Cleveland Browns after a 27 to 24

victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. It was up. It was down. They gave up a big fourth quarter lead, but in the end, Andre Schmidt pipes one from 56 yards away and sets up that Hail Mary fail for Aaron Rogers and your Cleveland Browns, Chuck, are in first place. How are you feeling? First place for now. We'll see if that holds by the end of the week because you have the rest of the FC North still. Oh, come on. It would be tied. Just enjoy it. I mean, look, it was, you said it went up and down and went left and right. It was a classic

Brown Steelers Thursday night game in Cleveland. I've attended those in the press box. I've attended those in the state. fans. That was very much one that followed the script. And it was a script that I think began in expected fashion, saw the Browns find life offensively before the fourth quarter, and hold on for dear life to move to three and one. Right. There is so much to get into with this game. The two quarterback performances were so up and down. Deshaun Watson with the best half of football he's played since he was a Houston Texan in the first half. And then two fumbles in an interception and struggling in the second half before he does set up

that game-winning field goal. But right before the game-winning field goal, he takes a brutal sack and misses an open receiver, which makes the field goal a little longer. But Andre Schmidt goes out there. I believe it was your brother-in-law, shook, that told you they're going to win by three points tonight on a walk-off. Wasn't quite a walk-off, but he nailed it. So you were cool as a cucumber.

Remember, you were confident he was hitting that kick. And on a night where, yeah, the offense was definitely up and down and was a reason that the Steelers got back into this game, they still did enough. And I can't feel much but come away that Todd Monkin is a good coach. I think you have a good coach. There's a lot to like about this Brown's team because of what they're building and how young they are. We'll get to all that and what happened in this game.

But one thing I was thinking throughout was just Todd Monkin can create offense. and he's doing it with Deshaun Watson at quarterback. Yeah, especially in the first half. After the Browns fall down seven and nothing, Munkin dials up two great drives. Two well-timed play calls, at least a series of play calls, that it allows Deshawn Watson to hit quick completions, find guys downfield, take advantage of a rookie at corner.

You know, after they trade Joey Porter, who wasn't playing anyway, they're able to go after him and hit Denzel Boston early. Instead of saving all of this for the fourth quarter, they got into a really nice rhythm. The running game wasn't really the, there for most of the night, say for Jaliel McLaughlin's first touchdown, Steelers missing a lot of tackles on that play specifically, but really for most of the night. But it was just a good sign, I think, for a Brown's team and a Browns fan base that has become accustomed to, like I said,

you know, on the recap show last week, to a team that essentially just wins with defense and does enough offensively. This time, it was the inverse. You know, they give up a 17-played drive that's penalty-laden, and then they come back and respond with a couple of really strong offensive drives to show that they have a little bit of balance. Did it carry for four quarters? No, but they got the job done. And what I thought was most impressive about Todd Monkin. And this is a guy who you can tell has waited his whole life for an opportunity like this to coach an NFL football team as a head coach is he comes out of halftime and gets

an interview with Kaylee Hardtong and keeps it brief and keeps it very succinct in the way that he just keeps saying, we got to finish. Good first half, but we got to finish. I think a lesser coach who's maybe more in. experience rides the high of finding success, especially offensively in the first half, and lets it slip away. They nearly let it slip away, but his team is able to finish the job, which is what they've done in each the last three weeks. They've finished the job, whether it was coming back or finishing it tonight. And that shines, you know, a positive light on him in still his first

month now as a head coach. Or you could look at it as he's getting a little tight. He's worried about blowing the lead, which they absolutely did. He coached a little tight in the second half, some some conservative decisions. His quarterback wasn't playing as well, so that maybe made him more conservative. They burn a time out. They are the league leader in penalties right now, and they had 12 or 13 more tonight, including in some big spots. And yet, yeah, the confidence he has with his play calling in figuring out who can do what

was there in the first half. They went touchdown, touchdown, touchdown in the first half at one point. It was the first time since 2021, Chuck, that they scored three straight touchdowns in the first half. It was the highest scoring half period since one of those James Winston games. He did go crazy once in a second half. And you mentioned, yeah, you mentioned, I think we did a recap after that game. You mentioned that Jaliel McLaughlin touched out. And I do think that it's a great example, what the Browns are doing well right now. Let's hear the call. Five of the play clock, out of the gun, three to the wide side. Right. Steelers, bring four, handoff McLaughlin, right side, 25, jumps inside of

the 20. Still on and Steve. He's in the 15 to 10th. Touchdown. 28 yards. What a run there. The vision, the balance, and none of that happens

without great blocking down the field. And that play, I think, shows a lot of what happened tonight. Number one, pretty good cohesion from the offensive line, mostly in pass protection, but they held the Steelers under 20% pressure rate tonight.

Number two, everyone's bought in. Casey Concepcion is blocking down the field, the smallest receiver. He's kicking Patrick Queen out of the club multiple times on that play. And then that play and a bunch of the screens. They were living on screens early. Those are hard plays to coach. So that gets back to my point about Monk and where I think they were all really in sync.

You don't have an effective screen game unless you really coach that group up well. And I thought the offensive line in the screen game and on plays like that looked excellent. And I think it's especially impressive when considering the offensive line that they rolled out there tonight. They're basically, they're playing Luke Whippler at center, who was a third string center, you know, last year. They're playing Austin Barber, who's a rookie at guard because they're missing their two starting interior offensive linemen. And they don't miss a beat. And you think against this Steelers front, which I think we've talked about this as being one of the most complete fronts in the NFL, they lose Derek Harmon in this game. But they, they were not able to get after the quarterback against an offensive line that should be bad with two guys who don't have a lot of experience.

I think the worst offensive linemen up front tonight for the Browns was Zion Johnson. And that speaks highly of the fact that you had this team prepared when you knew that you were missing two of your three interior starting linemen. And you're right, the screen game, too, I think was really important. It was the diversity of play calling. It was getting the ball out in the flat early, kind of attacking the Steelers in their weak points when you knew that they were trying to cause pressure in one way or another. There were a lot of times where they had five guys in the line and they sent all five.

and it did not bother Watson and the rest of the offense because they had a plan and how to counter that. The only time in which it didn't work was when Watt doubles back as he's making a spin move in the second half against the right tackle and puts his hand up to break up a screen pass to Quinn Sean Judkins. They complete that pass. Not to play the what-if game, but they complete that pass. There's two guys downfield ready to block. That's another big gainer that probably would have happened. So you're right. They're on top of the details when it comes to execution offensively.

Of course, the penalties are a huge red flag with this team and they cannot get over that. and that was a huge thing that held them back tonight. But yeah, overall, it was great. And also, I want to just, like, stand on the table for, I don't know, 10 seconds. Jaliel McLaughlin, good for you, breaking two tackles and running this for a touchdown. That's a guy who got buried in Denver by Sean Payton in favor of other running backs, who deserved to get the ball more. It was a big sticking point in Denver last year when they couldn't get the running game going,

especially after the loss, J.K. Dobbins, people in Denver were like, oh, are we going to see more Jaliel McLaughlin? We should. You saw him briefly. He's, that kid can ball. Seeing him score that touchdown run tonight, I was like, all right, good, good for you. Did you get a lot of carries? No, but good for you taking advantage of the opportunity you got.

Was not expecting a big Jaliel McLaughlin rant on my Thursday night. You're on the Browns for IDing that and then getting him, you know, a touch or two. Yes, Quinchard Jenkins, only 3.1 yards per carry tonight, although there were, you know, a couple key conversions late. But for the most part, they've been a bad running game. So that makes the offense, you know, working even more impressive. let's talk about Watson. Let's talk about what they did to the Steelers and especially these young receivers.

So Denzel Boston is just getting it done. When they needed a play late in the game, it's Denzel Boston who goes four for 89. He had a great catch as well in the first half of this game. And I just think about the ways that they're getting Boston open. I mean, he's just frying who was Everett, basically. in man coverage on the outside, while Concepcion is also making plays after the catch, his best game as a pro. My guy, five catches 64 yards for him tonight. And then it's a beautiful throw. Like, you saw Watson hit open throws, and I thought he was as decisive as he possibly

could. But the thing that's been most impressive about him in this stretch has been his ability to create some plays. There was a sequence on their final. final touchdown in the first half where on just about back-to-back plays under pressure, he managed not to panic. There's a second in six where he's on the run. He's getting outside of tackles and he makes a nice throw. There ends up being a penalty on the Steelers. So it's a no play, but it's set up what would have been a first and goal. And then another play where, again, pressure on him right away. He gets out of it, makes a good, quick decision. It sets them up at the one-yard line to go score.

The one thing with Watson, though, and I'm wondering what you're thinking as a fan, obviously we have conflicted feelings because of the sexual assaults that Watson committed and how loathsome everything about them acquiring him was and how the media supported. I can even get to the prime video broadcast. But just in terms of watching him as a football player for now, Shook, I am curious because you see that first half in all the positives in the fourth quarter last week. It is the best that he's played. I mean, it's just, it's just a fact. And then you see the second half where he was taking a lot of key sacks. He missed a couple wide open throws and he fumbled the ball twice. He was very lucky to get the ball back on one of the fumbles, lost it on the other, which was a bad mental decision and missed some

wide open throws. And it's kind of like, okay, I don't know which, which to trust here in terms of Deshaun Watson. Yeah. Well, it was the inverse of what Browns fans have seen from him so far, because usually he starts slow, starts with some of those challenges, and then finds a really him in the second half and powers a comeback. Instead, tonight, it was an early comeback that was powered by him making plays like you just described. And then I felt like he got a little tight in the second half, much like most of this team did, you know, holding on to an 11-point lead, trying to hang on to it when it's 24 to 16. And I do give him a little bit of a break because the interception that he threw was, the ball was tipped out of his hand, which kind of, it didn't

affect it that much. Bad decision, though. But it was a bad decision anyway. Who knows what it would look like, but he threw that up into double coverage. But that's fair. Right, right, which in my earned and unearned interceptions exercise, that's going to be an earned interception. But the other play where he fumbles when Watt strips it, it was a bad read, but I also, I thought Hurt Street did a good job of breaking this play down specifically because Watt does a great job of baiting him into keeping it. Now, on a read option, your read is the edge rusher. You leave him unblocked and then you decide based on what he's doing, what you're going to do. If the end crashes down, you pull the ball, keep it, try to hit the perimeter because he's crashed down.

Well, Watt takes three steps as if he's crashing down. And then as he realizes Watson's pulling it, he takes an outside step, which again shows his elite athleticism, and interrupts Watson right as he's still pulling it and trying to tuck it, which leads to the fumble. So I give him a break on that one. However, the inconsistency definitely a problem. Missing Harold Fannin on a key third down in which you're trying to put this game away,

because you throw it to where he was instead of where he's going to be, big miss. The miss on third down in the final drive, also tough to watch. His last play. Yeah, so it's up and down. But what I am seeing overall, and you know, you described it accurately as his best night, I think, since he was a Texan, which the bar is extremely low for that, is a guy who is benefiting from consistent reps behind an offensive line that hasn't been great

but hasn't been terrible and in an offense that has legitimate weapons, all directed by a good offensive mine in Todd Munkin. Like the knights like tonight give folks an opportunity to give Flowers to Andrew Barry for his last two draft classes. That is built heavily on the performance of Denzel Boston and then Casey Concepcion coming in as the supporting cast.

And how about the two starters on the offensive line, Austin Barber and Spencer Fanow and even had McNeil Warren making a play tonight too. Neil Warren was playing great until he got hit with that hole, which I understand you're guarding 6,700-pound Darnell Washington. I would hang on to him for dear life too. I mean, this is another class defensively.

You have, until Mason Graham gets knocked out of this game early, which the Browns defense did a good job of overcoming. Defensively, the Browns were basically led by draft picks from the last two classes. Carson Squesinger, Mason Graham, and tonight Emmanuel McNeill Warren. Even, you know, I give Tyson Campbell a little bit of credit a guy that got in a trade for Greg Newsom last year. Absolutely. They won the hell out of that trade. He's played well for them.

I thought that was a good trade for the Browns at the time, and he was key tonight. Yes, and then offensively, you have the receivers. You got the offensive lineman. You got a little bit of Judkins who hasn't really gotten going. Basically, it's just a product of two. Very good. Very good. Draft classes coming together.

and all playing well when you need them most. And I mean, this is how good teams are built. They're built with classes like this. Not to say that the Browns are there yet. Green one's a strong start. But this is how you do it. It takes year over year investment and nailing your draft picks. And the last two classes they have,

and it's great to see them perform well tonight. Well, they're going to win too many games to have the best picks to get a quarterback. And I know that they have a couple picks. Yeah, I know they have an extra first round pick. It's way too early to have their future quarterback conversation. I did radio in Cleveland today, and I still believe the 2027 Browns quarterback is likely not on the roster. But Watson's, you know, he has a whole season in front of him to play himself into a contract because they're going to face major cap penalties, essentially the moment that Watson is not on the team.

So they could continue to kick the can down the corner. We got to talk about the Steelers. We got to talk a little bit about Joey Porter Jr.'s trade, especially after Jamel Dean. cornerback went down with an ankle injury in this game. So that trade, curious to begin with, could look a little funkier, you know, in the light. But you mentioned the injuries. Mason Graham, down with a knee injury, we'll see how that goes, but didn't look great. And that's disappointing. He was playing so well. Mike Hall is another guy who went down with an injury in this game until he came back in. Before we get to the Steelers offense and we can talk about it when it comes

to this Browns defense. We got to give the pressure that the Browns created on Aaron Rogers throughout this game some credit, including Hall, when he came back in the game. Daniel McNeill Warren is the deep safety here. And Hickman's backing up as well. 3015 for the 35. Roger Chase Sack. They got him again. Mike Hall. Welcome back, buddy. Shades of Willis Reed comes out of the locker room. They're in field goal range. Mike Hall says not on my wife. And that is not the first. That's not the second. That's the third sack for those defensive tackles.

Malik Collins, Aiden Huntington, and Mike Hall so far today getting it done. Ooh. Great call there. I got to get Ziggura on the horn and get after him for the Willis Reed reference. Come on. Why not? That's Nathan Zagura, who's with our friend, Andrew Siciliano, on WKRK. Thanks to all the local crews who give us this great sound on our recap shows.

They sacked Rogers five times. You know, Rogers had the two picks in the end, including, you know, the Hail Mary play. Such a confusing game out of him, too. I thought he sacked himself quite a bit. They showed on the broadcast how little separation their offense was getting. And I think that was right,

because we could see it with the prime vision if you were watching that way, that Michael Pittman does not look great out there. they're not too creative. It was a lot of the spread and shred type of Steelers' offense that hasn't worked. And then late in the game, when they fell down, T.J. Watt gets the strip sack. They keep giving them chances over and over again.

And then finally, they do some quick play action passing. And you can see that great punchout by Watt that set up an opportunity in the middle of the third quarter. At this point, it's 21 to 10. And the Browns don't take advantage of it. They just get stuck in mud offensively then. But the defense was really battling until Rogers kind of woke up and made some beautiful throws to D.K. Beckcalf down the field. D.K. McCaff certainly had the best half of football that he's had all season.

I mean, he mossed Campbell on one play. There were a couple other dimes from Rogers. it takes them a little while to score the touchdown that eventually ties the game because they just throw it, as you alluded to, Darno Washington, three straight times, which is a great thing to do in the red zone. It eventually worked because they got a penalty that brought them down to the one. Rogers completely missed a throw on another, but he had some dimes. So he's a confusing guy to talk about.

And I want to show his touchdown to Washington because he looked old. and this offense looked like one of the worst offense in the league for so much of the night. And then there were other moments like this one. Tight end to the right, two receivers split to the right, one of the left. Now Warren motions out to the left. Rogers looks that way in trouble. Now rolling out to his right, looking throws back across the field. And it's a touchdown for Darnow, Washington.

Touchdown, Pittsburgh Steelers with 10-10 remaining here in the Ford. The old man still has legs, ladies and gentlemen. able to escape out to the right. He finds a humongous target in the red zone. And it's Darnell Washington. So that's Rob King and Max Starks on WDVE. Add it all up and like, what do you take away from the Steelers performance

and Rogers and kind of their offense in general? It leaves me very confused. I have one of my good friends, a former roommate from college, grew up in the Cleveland area, but grew up a Steelers fan because of his family. And he was at the game and he was giving me quarterly updates that I thought perfectly captured exactly how Steelers fans feel about this team.

Because like offensively, they're for most of this season have been a struggle bus at best, a tough watch. Last week was different against the Bengals. They jumped all over them with, you know, a couple of deep passes to Roman Wilson and Ben Skoranek to put two touchdowns on the board early. and then essentially they went back to the offense that they were in weeks one and two in the first half of this game. And the Brown's defense did a good job, but it felt like, it feels like when you watch this offense that they're, they fail to look in the mirror, they're not self-aware at all, and don't realize that Jalen Warren is their greatest threat right now. Like the guy is running hard. It has been for years.

Like this is Tomlin to McCarthy. He's breaking tackles. And at one point I'm looking at their distribution. And it was like almost 70-30 pass to run. in a game that was one score until the Brown scored one more touchdown before half and I'm just thinking like, do you not understand your roster,

which wouldn't be the first time I think for Mike McCarthy to say that? And it also feels like they're almost experimenting with their passing game. Like they're trying to use game reps to get this passing game off of the ground. Also, there is an incredible level of discord between McCarthy and Rogers that was also caught on camera where they're calling each other expletives.

Like, I think it's, A, I think it's, It's very hard to coach Aaron Rogers at this point in his career because he's pissed off all the time. Everything that goes wrong is somebody else's fault and he's very demonstrative about it. And I think McCarthy's going to have a hard time managing that and it already is. He's trying to coach through that. And he's also trying to wake up the passing offense because that's his forte. And that's probably where he thinks that his team is going to win. But they go away from Warren way too much.

Warren was the biggest problem for the Brown's defense tonight. And luckily, the Steelers did them a great favor by going away from him for significant stretches, even after the Browns lose Mason Graham and Mike Hall before my call returns and the interior should be easier to run through. And then when it comes down to crunch time, it's like they revert back to, oh, we know this is going to work or at least trust Aaron Rogers and D.K. Metcalfe to use their talent and get the job done instead of overcoaching. And it did.

And it did. Like Metcalf looked great. That's funny because that was happening as I was walking down here. So I'm like watching on the laptop as I'm prepping for the show, right? And I'm walking with Eric. And he just goes, I go, oh, there's a long path. to Metcalf. Oh, it's only the 50. Oh, there's another long pass to Metcalf. At one point, Eric thought it was a touchdown before we realized it was down to the 10.

And it's, if you're a Steelers fan, you got to be sitting back thinking, why aren't you doing this the whole game? Obviously, game flow situation dictates you to do different things. But like, let's stop trying to force Michael Pittman into the action. Let's, let's just lean on your guys if you're, if you're the Steelers' offense. Because otherwise, you're putting yourself back into a corner where you've got to try to dig out in the final few minutes. I have a theory on that, which is that your quarterback's, 42 years old and can't bring it every play. To me, it's the trademark trait of all-time greats as they get older in across sports. You see, they can bring the all-time greatness for a quarter. If it's a different sport, maybe for a game or a set, whatever it is. And for

Rogers, like, it's throw-to-throw, it's quarter to quarter. He has had some awesome plays this season more so than the last few seasons. But is he going to be? be that consistent. He doesn't move as well, obviously. He crumbles sometimes when the pockets around him and he runs into sacks. And is he going to bring it like snap after snap after snap? I think it just

doesn't happen. So I think the inconsistency is kind of baked into who they are right now. And I just don't think they have enough juice on offense. You're right about Warren. He finished with a 57% success rate on the ground. He is a best player. He is their best player. Roman Wilson

has had some juice this season and had a long gainer here and just I think looks good and I think they'll lean on him more. But I also give your guy Rutenberg, you know, some credit for the pressures and the total lack of respect that he gave to the Steelers receivers most of the game going heavy, heavy man coverage more than double what they had been doing all season. One of the heavier man coverage games of the year for most of it. It bit them a little bit in the end, but for the most part, kind of punking them, cover one a lot of the times and saying, Okay, beat us over the top. You know, it worked for most of this game.

Yeah. I thought that they didn't wake up and start going after Miles Hard in the nickel corner until late in the fourth quarter. That's one that they'll probably want back. I also think that there was one play in the fourth quarter, which preceded a surrender punt of sorts. At least it looked so at the time. Third down, Rogers is under pressure,

and he throws it to, I believe, Pat Freyermouth, and throws it at his feet. And then immediately starts, you know, acting, as if it's Friarmouth's fault. And I'm just like, you're so annoyed. Have some self-awareness. You put it at his feet.

Like, come on. If they're going to climb out of this and find some consistency, it's going to have to start with the quarterback admitting that he's not infallible. As of now, I don't know if he's capable of doing that.

And then he'll point to the final drive where they scored the game tying touchdown as evidence that he's still infallible. And I worry about that for the Steelers Outlook. It's just who he is as a player. I mean, he's always been like this to some degree and it's just more, extreme. It does not seem like a

fun guy to be coaching during game day. And yeah, you could see him yelling. The mics caught him on Amazon, like yelling at McCarthy to pick it up, as you mentioned. And then it appeared that McCarthy called him

an a hole. Like, what an A-hole? Meanwhile, the cameras also caught T.J. Watt furious about the defense. And Cam Hayward. Kim Hayward and Jalen Ramsey barking back and forth at each other too, possibly agreeing about the defense. And then T.J. Watt getting on the phone and getting after Patrick Graham, who I think, you know, is running this defense and has done a good job for the most part and got it going well in the second half.

And then I thought they were going to turn it up in that final drive. It was pretty easy for Watson to move down the field. It was it was Jerry Judy, who was silent all night, a couple times in Boston, and they really moved into field goal range quite easily with some off coverage. And then he threw a couple pressures that worked in the final two plays. But by then, it was too late. We really got to get moving. And I do think the secondary for the Steelers are a bit of a problem. Like Brisker is slow. Jaylon Ramsey is slow. And they just traded Joey Porter, Jr. Let's hit that here. Since we've last taped, he is now a Dallas Cowboy for a second round pick in 2028 and then a sixth rounder next year. He has to play two games for that to happen,

so it's going to happen. Doesn't sound like he's getting a new contract, by the way, with the Cowboys, which is interesting. Why did the Steelers do this? And they just lost Jamel Dean to an ankle injury tonight. Jamal Dean is always hurt. He's always hurt. So they're pretty thin in the secondary, and a lot of it seems like it has to do with the Steelers philosophy that they don't guarantee money into the second year of contracts. They were just unwilling to do so. Except they did do it for D.K. Metcalfe. And they did do it for T.J. Watt.

Two special cases. One aspirational, one cementing a legacy, right? I think that I actually kind of, in this moment, and coming off of this game, the trade is not going to look good. But guess what? I don't think he was going to play anyway, because he hadn't played it all this year

and was embroiled in this standoff that he said they had moved past last week. But you didn't feel like they really moved past. He would have to play eventually, but you're right. It was a real deal holdout that we don't see anymore. The injury, I'm talking about just for this game specifically, he was not going to play. And the injury report kept bouncing back and forth between back to conditioning and back, to conditioning to back and conditioning, which tells me that I don't know how real his injury was and that the Steelers also felt as if,

look, we're kind of exposing you because you're just not participating because of this contract stuff, even though you said you've moved past it. what it comes down to was an overvaluation on the part of Joey Porter Jr. Of his own earning power in the market. He's a decent cornerback, but he's not somebody who should demand a top dollar or near top dollar contract. I don't think they were ever really close on the money. And I think eventually the Steelers got tired of it.

And then they said, oh, you'll give us a second round pick in 2028 for Joey Port. Take him. By all means, take this contract dispute. And the Cowboys, meanwhile, looking for additional help because their defense still hasn't figured it out. So, like, I think the divorce was coming for a while. For a son of a legacy, you know, Joey Porter, his father, a Steelers great. It's unfortunate for Steelers fans. But I don't think this was ever going to work out once the money got involved because

I get too far off the mark financially. It does feel like they just have an old way of thinking. And maybe the evaluation on Joey Porter Jr. is right. I'm not sure who he is as a cornerback. I don't think he's a top 10 cornerback. He's a good man corner, but it's a league that's not playing a ton of but they could have used them tonight. And I think there is a way to maybe manage the situation that could have been better.

I think it's a worst trade for the Steelers because they're trying to win ball games this year than in 2027. I mean, they don't get that pick for two more years. Then it is like a great trade for the Cowboys because the Cowboys are now boxing to a corner where it doesn't really make sense to give up that second unless you pay him that money. But that's the thing. Like they haven't, they've spent so much money on defense. and they need their defense to win games for them.

It didn't tonight. And so I understand the long-term vision of it all, and you got fair value in terms of a second round pick. But you're trying to win this season. Before we leave, go ahead. I just, I don't think that, when the Cowboys have to come to pay him, because they're going to have to because of everything you just explained,

it's going to serve like what happens with GMs when they give extensions to draft picks that they made who maybe don't deserve the extension. self-confirmation. That's fair. Quinn and Williams, I think, deserve the extension from the Cowboys, but he's off to a slow start.

They've given up a lot of picks and way more money that they would have ever paid Micah Parsons to replenish the Michael Parsons trade between Rashon Gary, who's Quinn and Williams, they gave up a lot for it now Joey Porter, Jr. I think it's worse for the Cowboys

than it is good for the Steelers. It's a lose, lose, I think. I kind of think. it is because he's still a good second round pick. That's the thing. They took him in the second round. They got great value out of him, but they're not getting the value out of this fourth year on his contract. And this is a season where they need their defense to be better than it was tonight, especially in the back end. That's where the weakness is. Before we go, I hated that this was the broadcast that had Deshaun Watson. It's not a surprise that I think that, but I think

Tony Gonzalez I saw in the post game. Someone mentioned in the comments here, you know, talking about how he's overcome adversity, Deshawn Watson, and it doesn't mean you can't evaluate how Deshaun Watson is playing on the field. Just talk about his football and leave it there.

But if you're Kirk Herb Street and you're Al Michaels, you don't need to go into some long explanation of like, well, all that really matters in the end is how he plays on the field. And they can say, it from being the worst trade of all time and going to all this stuff without ever, ever mentioning one time what it is that he did and the reason that he, quote unquote, went through

things. And that's all. You just have to be factual and like talk about the sexual assault. The Amazon Prime production before the game had an interview with him where it felt like it's something set up by an agent as a puff piece. And they even referred to in the interview, like his unresolved past and that the fans were unhappy with his unresolved. It was all resolved.

And that's the part of the coverage of Deshaun Watson. And he won't be in primetime probably again this season, unless your Browns keep winning, Chuck. But I was disappointed, like, in the Amazon coverage. You just don't need to, you just don't need to, like, make it into some sort of, like, come back hero story. Just be quiet about it. Just talk about the football.

We talked about the football. We talked about the football. We're evaluating it right now. He's obviously on an upward trajectory. It's still fairly low, but like you just don't need to make it into some hero journey. Because he's not a sympathetic figure. And as the sooner that everybody never has been, nobody has been. Nobody has any sympathy for the adversity that he brought upon himself or the things that he's done or why he's become, you know, somebody that a lot of people, you know, enjoy rooting against. If you just leave it at football, like you said, like we've done until right now, you can evaluate. wait, his performance. And it's fine and just keep it in football. It's always going to be part of the story. And it's always going to be something that Browns fans, specifically as long as he's on this team, are going to have to attempt to reconcile

or also just balance between the two. I thought that there was a really good example of how you could do it differently when the Broncos were, I think it was Monday Night Football Week 1, and they discussed Jonathan Cooper's off-field transgressions and how they just stated the facts and explained why he was not a part of the game and moved forward.

you can do it that way as well. The idea of tap dancing around these things and turning it into a comeback story, it's just not necessary in this situation. Well said. And I don't want to talk about it every time either, and we haven't been. We've been talking about us football,

but we are fortunate enough to have this show to talk about the broadcast. We like to talk about everything. And to me, that was a big story on the night. And it is just a story thinking big picture about this Brown's team. It is so strange because, you know, I'm on different text threads. I'm on Twitter and blue sky and whatnot. And like, I mean, this was a haters delight tonight, except it wasn't because ultimately, like, Rogers had his moments.

And then Watson, you know, has his best moments as a Brown. But it's two teams people don't necessarily root for. And yet, I find myself really interesting. in both these teams, but now especially the Browns. Like, they are an intriguing team. And so it's really interesting that one of the fan bases that deserve success and to have a fun night on Thursday night, more than anyone, has this one little thing that Watson did the quarterback.

It's not a little thing. But I know, because I'm friends with Brown's friends like you, that there is some conflict there. And it's just, it's just a little confusing. The amount of texts that I have received since they started their winning streak that has said, God, I wanted to the. to win, but not like this. Not like this, because they don't want Deshawn Watson to be a part of it.

Tonight, even, I think in the fourth quarter, I had a friend get in there where he just goes, come on, Deshaun, get us back in it, like lead us to victory. And then he just follows it up with, God, I felt gross typing that. And yeah, this is what they deal with. I love that you have the boots on the ground reporting from Brown's Nation. But look, you got Fanon, you got Concepcion, you've got all these young players. You have Schwessinger out there making plays. You had a good defensive line.

Like, it's a team that I think we even get behind. And I think a team that now you can kind of expect to be in a mix. What mix it's going to be? We'll see. Who knows? Is it a division mix? Or is it a in the hunt graphic in week 17 because we're, you know, seven and seven mix or whatever, you know, week 15?

Like, we'll see. But as one of our viewers right now points out, the, the, AFC North schedule is the number one reason why the Ravens and the Bengals had the top two win total projections in a lot of offseason win totals because they play the AFC South out of division and they play the NFC South out of division. And right now, like, those schedules still look pretty easy. So there's going to be a lot of games where the Browns have a lot of chances to win. And so far they've won three of them when they've been close. It's not like they're crushing teams here, but they're finding ways to win. They're going to be in a lot of games. They're in the picture,

Shook, get used to it. In the mix. In the mix. We've been in the mix far too much this week. No, there's never too much NFL Daily. Hit that music. Let's get out of here. We will be back in your feed on Friday. Yes, everyone check out the power players that Jordan Roderig put up today. That's in the feed with Keenan McCardell. We've obviously had our preview, all the big shows, but we do have our picks coming up. It's me and Shook. It's a redemption week for the two of us. That'll go up on Friday. This is an I-Heart podcast, guaranteed human.