NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal - Week 2 TNF Recap: The Battle for Ohio

Episode Date: September 18, 2020

A room filled with heroes - Dan Hanzus, Chris Wesseling, Gregg Rosenthal and Marc Sessler recap the battle of Ohio from the TNF showdown. Baker Mayfield looked like a completely different QB than week 1 and Marc Sessler could barely contain his excitement (1:18). The mailman said that this game was one of his favorite Thursday night games (4:24) but also thinks that we're potentially pumping up two teams that are not playoff bound (12:58).Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comNFL Daily YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/nflpodcastsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael Florio, and together we host the NFL fantasy football podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL fantasy football podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy vet,

we've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL fantasy football. football podcast on the iHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL. Visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. Hey, everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move the 6th, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and

NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Here's one for the end zone and a touchdown by Uzama. First touchdown pass for the rookie Joe Burrow in the NFL. This one down field, Beckham got him. Touchdown Browns. Joe Furrow's got to be smart here with the football. And he's not. Gets it knocked out. Brown's having.

Here's Hunt. He's in. Touchdown. Kareem Hunt, ice is the game for the Cleveland Browns, who have a resurgent offensive effort, running the ball at will for over 200 yards against the Cincinnati Bengals

and a 35 to 30 win at the dog pound. The Browns moved to one in one. The Bengals dropped to 0 and 2, but not without hope because their rookie quarterback once again shows why he feels like the future of Cincinnati football and maybe the NFL. But we'll get to that. Dan Hans is here with Greg Rosenthal, Chris Wessling, and a very happy slash relieved Mark Sessler. Mark will start with you. You batten down the hatches over at Sessler Manor and took this game in. You have to be feeling really good about the offense after this one.

Well, I feel a sense of relief. I think I scared off my children and probably Simone during the course of this game. I'd give anything for there to be a camera and mics in that house tonight. I couldn't even imagine what was going on in that place. Greg, you ask how so. I think that my demeanor watching Browns games in front of other people, which I think you've witnessed to some degree, is probably different than maybe other dads, maybe other people in general.

I also went into this game with intense trepidation, and I think there's two things happening, and I think two things did happen in this game. One, the sense that the Bengals I kind of felt even watching last week's game where Joe Burrow was taken all over the place by an incredible pass rush but still showed these amazing traits, that there is an evolutionary quarterback rising in Cincinnati. So in a way, you'd say, well, I'd hate that.

But actually, and Wes, I loved your tweet during the contest itself that the Browns and Bengals, these two teams from the cradle of football, from Ohio, have been dead, dead in the water, and have a combined like 50-something years between either one of them winning a playoff game. I'm really happy, actually, to see both teams with a functional quarterback. It's been a really long time, and, like, the better part of me is happy for that. The worst part of me was absolutely freaking out during this game.

And there's just something inside of me that I think everyone's like, oh, good, the Browns won a game, and let's pat mark on the head, and he has a nice time. Like, what I really want, I think what any football fan would want, especially if you've watched a team that suffered for so long is a team that cuts other teams down that takes the head off other teams that removes them and I think the Browns have suffered a lack of that killer instinct for so long and I think that there were moments in this game tonight for all their good things that I felt those same jitters and you know not to get in all that I think they played a good clean performance that gives you some hope about what

Kevin Stefansky is instilling here I mean the ground game they've obviously got talent with Chubb and Hunt and it worked tonight. There was a lot of positives. I don't think they're, I'm not trying to be overly pessimistic. I just think they're one of the teams in the AFC. You look at what happened last week. You looked what happened against a lesser Bengals team tonight. They're somewhere in the middle.

There's positives. But I would say that the bigger story of the game was the fact that the Bengals, for the first time since maybe Boomer Asiassian West, I don't know, have something maybe even more hopeful than Boomer Assaisen. And I, the part of me that grew up watching Browns Bengals thrive as a true rivalry, cheers for that versus being a bad sport about that. I'm excited to see it. I'm also a little bit scared. That football game delivered. I loved it. That was one of my favorite Thursday night games. And I'm so happy for Browns fans because Baker Mayfield looked broken last week. He looked broken as a quarterback.

he didn't want any of the fight. He didn't want to stand in the pocket. He was throwing off his back foot, fading away from pressure. His tendency was to shy away from any kind of pressure whatsoever. He looked like a draft bust. And a week later, he comes out and the body language is so different. Last week, fading from pressure this week, he's got his little pigeon-toed strut, the cock on the walk, that little knee-high kick before the throw when he's feeling good in the groove. Baker delivered keyhole accuracy tonight. The ball placement on the receiver's hands every single time. And then on the other side, Julie Burrow, who to me, I don't throw out the comparison lightly, but I like to break down quarterbacks into families

like biology. He's in the Joe Montana family of quarterbacks in the dominant feature of which is light-footedness. He's got the light-footedness in the pocket the way he moves as a passer, as a scrambler. The unflapability is another trait in the Montana school. Joey Burroughs got that in spades. You cannot count him out of a game. The Bengals are not blowout artists anymore. You're not going to walk in that.

You're not going to walk all over them like you have for years because the quarterback doesn't have that in his DNA. And I just like the way Burrow plays. This is a fun matchup now. And you know how much bad football these two franchises have played? in the last 30 years. What a fun night. It really did deliver.

I thought the Baker play that impressed me the most was, I think it was third and eight in the first drive of the second half. It was not a shotgun. It wasn't a play action. He had some pressure in his face. And he made the right read and he delivered on that third and eight. And those are the sort of plays you want to see from him. I thought they did a good job scheming him up.

I mean, it reminded me a little bit of his rookie year in the sense that he only had to throw 23 passes. One was, you know, a bad interception. He had guys pretty open. Most were first reads. You made a couple plays outside the pocket, but I think they're really rebuilding Mayfield from scratch, which I wouldn't say it's disappointing. But that's just where they're at with Mayfield in his third season. So I like Mark, I'm not going to say that they've solved everything. But sometimes it's not all about Baker.

I mean, their offense is good. I thought their offensive line played both well last week. I thought they played well against the Ravens. And they've got two of the best 10 backs in the league. It's the Kareem Hunt lack of, I don't know if respects the right word because everything that's happened with him. But I threw out some, you know, hot take about they've got two of the best 10 backs. I think people don't realize how amazing Kareem Hunt is as a player.

He led the league in rushing as a rookie. I think he's better now. Chub to me is probably the best back in the league. certainly one of the top two or three. And Hunt is like, that is an incredible one-two punch. So you have all that support. We know about the receivers. It doesn't have to all be about Baker.

And I don't think tonight really was. I think the only part of the game that I would have enjoyed because it was very enjoyable. I thought it was going to be. He talked about it earlier this week that I felt like it was going to be a fun game and it really was. The only thing I did want was after the Baker pick and then Cincinnati goes down the field, they score, they make it 28, 23. about five minutes to play. I thought that was a great setup to see what Baker had in him there

with a little bit of adversity and like this horror show potential if they somehow blew this game after kind of controlling it the whole way. But we never got to see that. It's not a bad thing for the Browns because what happened next was an absolute decimation of the Cincinnati defense. I'll go through it real quick. Chub for four yards, chubb for 26 yards, hunt for 33 yards, hunt for 11 yards.

hunt for 10 yards, hunt for one yard, and the touchdown, 35, 23, game over. Mayfield didn't even have to throw up pass. That was where the Cincinnati defense was at that point against the great, great Cleveland rushing attack. So that was very interesting that they were able to close it out that way. Cincinnati is not there yet. I don't know if it kind of reminds me, Wes, you mentioned Joe Montana. I'm thinking of another all-time great Peyton Manning, that first year with the Colts,

where the Colts stunk, three and 13 and Manning through, I think, 27 picks, but he also had a bunch of spirited performances in there where there was a lot of reason to hope by the end of the season, but they also weren't a team that was competing for a playoff spot. It seems like there's so many missing pieces here. The offensive line got worked for a second straight week, and I don't know what's going on, and I don't want to stick a fork in the guy because he's a borderline Hall of Fame guy before he got injured. But AJ Green looked in this game. I don't know. know, he just seemed lethargic. He couldn't make a play. Even in garbage time, he couldn't

stack up numbers like any solid wide receiver would be able to do. He was not the guy that Joey Burrow needs him to be, which is that veteran number one guy to help him along with his progress. And then you had, you know, where was the, where was John Ross? Where was he in this game? I don't know. He's their fourth receiver. All right. Well, I don't know. They had one play. They had one play over 20 yards, one completion. That's their only one in two weeks. That's the thing is they have a very condensed,

Rams-like offense. I want to just see the Burrow thing play out. I'm enjoying watching and play. I think we've now seen these young quarterback so much. I'm more hesitant than I ever been to bury guys quickly, but also to like raise them up too much. He's obviously,

like he passes that baseline of like if he's protected, he's going to deliver. That means you're an NFL starter. Like some guys, when they're protected, they still aren't good quarterbacks. The Bordels is in the different place. Like, we know Burrow is over that line. And I'm excited to watch the rest. But yeah, there's no explosiveness in this particular Bengals offense right now. I would say also that, I mean, this was a pretty good game by Denzel Ward, who is leading a pretty banged up cornerback group and secondary right now. And, you know, they're short-handed. And I feel like I saw Denzel Ward like on top of

A.J. Green and fill in the blank, like, you know, seven or eight times down the stretch. I just, I come away, and I don't want to reiterate my point, but just that, you know, it's funny because I was watching with Simone West, and, like, she was like, is Joe Burrell kind of Steve Youngish? And I was like, you know, Wes compared him to Joe Montana to some degree. And I'm like, he might be somewhere in the middle of these guys. And that is a bit of a freaky thought for the AFC. And I hear you, Greg, not to, you know, put him into Canton, which has a lot of plaques we've learned in Canton. But, you know, is this certain yet?

Well, Greg claims there are a lot of plaques there. But I, I saw one. We saw Roger Goodell touching one. I know, I know, Greg. Yeah, but we don't know if every player has a plaque or if there's a section of the Hall fame that has plaques. TBD. It just, I mean, look it, like, I, the Browns are Bengals-Arch rivals,

and that's fine, but the Bengals fan base has been through a 30-year nightmare and add-on another 10 years if you want. And, like, this is exciting. It's exciting for all of football if Burrow works. And it's exciting if you're, if you're, let's say if you're in any division and other quarterbacks rise up in that division, you want to go out and compete like in your division against the best in the, in the AFC or NFC.

And like it raises like the fire. I mean, I just, I don't remember a game that got me up off the couch where I just felt inside like if the Browns blow this thing, I'm going to punch seven holes in the house we just rented two months ago. Oh, like what Greg did? when Backdoor Burrow made it 3530 in the final minute. You know, Greg has a lot of plastering to do on his walls this week. If you check out NFL.com slash game picks, you'll see, you know, I split the difference nicely.

Browns win. Bengals get it under six. Wes, any other thoughts about this game as you were watching? Yeah, I think it's worth reiterating that both these defenses stink. And that's one of the major reasons why these young quarterbacks look. good. We know, the four of us know we're pumping up two teams that probably are not playoff bound. Who knows, maybe they are, but they're probably not. But this night was about hope. And for a fan like Mark, for the Browns, hope means that if you have one game like this, they drafted

Baker and Mayfield number one for a reason, and we saw a part of that tonight. They drafted Miles Garrett number one for a reason. We saw a big play in a fourth quarter out of him. They drafted Denzel Ward number four for a reason. He had a big game. Chubb bait, you string enough of these guys together and you get another game next week of hope in three or four more games after that of hope with a legitimate talent base. Now you can turn a franchise around. I want to see what the brands do next week against Washington.

You could turn a franchise around with enough weeks like that. And from a fans point of view, that's what it's all about. And now the Bengals have that with Joe Burrow, too. You can pull this team out of three decades worth of not winning a playoff game of no real hope. If you have the right quarterback, you can do that. And, yeah, they're a long way off. You know, it's a shame that Joey Burrow is rising while A.J. Green is falling. And Dan, you were wearing him out.

Keisha was wearing out A.J. Green on the couch saying he needs to play Auden Tate. Ricky Hollywood's dying. Ricky Hollywood draft her in fantasy and he just killed her. He needs to pick up Drew Sample. That's my fantasy advice. I should. I should. Do it right now.

They threw the ball to green 13 times for 29 yards. Three. Three. She had five or six touchdowns this year all right. They really should play Aud and Tate a little more. But to your point on the defense is West, like you're not like we haven't mentioned Joe, what is it? Joe Woods, right? Well, Joe deep in the forest is where he is.

I mean, I don't know what's going on. The Brown's defensive coordinator, I don't think it's gotten like a mention on the around the NFL podcast. in 2020. He's new. And the early results are not good. I know they're missing Olivier Vernon and a few cornerbacks for sure. Joe lost in the woods. They're getting worked. It hasn't like Sessler and Malibu 10 years ago. Right. One more, my last point, you know, dump the onside kick. And I'm happy it didn't turn into drama because Sessler literally would not have been able to handle it. And I didn't need the Bengals recovering onside kick and then doing this podcast with you guys because we don't we might not survive that as a for some uh but it really does jump out to me in situations

like especially a fun thursday night game where it's like wow anything could happen tonight oh except for an onside kick that actually swings the game the other way i want that rule to come into effect if they say from for safety reasons and i don't remember this but gregg told me before we started rolling that concussions were out of this world on on side kicks and they said we had to make it a safer play okay i'll take your word for it and the scientists out there Then let's do the fourth and 15 thing, or even better, make it fourth and 18. I just feel like that for some reason those three yards matter and make that a play that matters. Because you guys, and I say you, I say the football world insist that I'm making an extra point harder because it wasn't a real play, which I hate that.

But now it is a real play because guys miss them all the time. Well, let's do the same for the onside kick. Well, I would, that's my passion speech. I love it. I love the speech. And I just say, let's, you know, I'm just so happy to see that Rand. Mindy Bullock is back in full health. And, you know, he went through a lot health-wise over the past week.

And he seemed to be, you know, back on the field. His legs are fibrous and vibrant. He reached out to the kicker club about readmittance after his three kicks today. And he got a hard no and a click on the receiver. Mark, how would you rank, like, the time that you spent this week gnashing your teeth about Austin Cybert coming back to haunt the Browns? How do you think, how well, you know, how well was that time spent? Well, it's just baked in the DNA.

I mean, honestly, I don't know. That was like, that was a 10-minute monologue from Mark on Tuesday's podcast. I'm 46 years old and probably spent at least 46 minutes of every hour over the last three days freaking out about this game. And a lot of it has to do with the fact that I think if this game happened in 1986, you know, they lose, you go on with it, you go back to middle school. You get a 71 on a math test and you move on. In this world, it's like I've got to go read Twitter and everyone's hot takes on everyone melting down. Like, I needed Twitter middle school to, you know, I need them to be doing some remote learning. And they're going to be doing a little remote learning tonight.

Mark, you're in club dub tonight. Club dub for you. So enjoy it. All right. That was the 1980s. That looked like Ernest Beiner and Kevin Mack closing out the game, Mark. It did. It's been a long time.

but I will say, Wes, I really, I love what you said about the Bengals. I'm not out there trying to kill other old school teams that are part of my childhood. Brown's Bengals' rivalry is good for the NFL. Most people under the age of 40 have no idea that that was ever a thing. So let's roll. We'll be back on Sunday, of course, with the flagship program where we recap every game that we previewed on today's, the earlier podcast today, the week two preview. So make sure you check that out wherever you live. listen to your podcast and while you're while you're there maybe rate review throw us five stars

that would be nice too that would be helpful to us thank you to everybody uh this is dan hans signing off for quiet storm the mailman the old boss in ricky hollywood he's going to lose your fantasy matchup because of old man a j sorry until sunday You know, Hey everybody, Daniel Jeremiah here. And I'm Bucky Brooks. On Move to Six, we take you inside the game from breaking down college prospects and NFL rookies to evaluating team building philosophies, coaching trends, and how front offices construct

winning rosters. We study the tape, talk to decision makers, and give you a perspective you won't find anywhere else. It's everything you need to understand the why. behind what happens on Sunday. Don't miss it. Listen to the Move the Sticks podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

I'm Marcus Grant. And I'm Michael F. Florio, and together we host the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast. Ready to dominate your fantasy league this season? Then you need the NFL Fantasy Football Podcast, your ultimate source for player news, draft tips, and winning strategies. Whether you're a rookie manager or a fantasy league. vet. We've got the insight to help you crush your opponents. Listen to the NFL

Fantasy Football podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Toyota, the official automotive partner of the NFL, visit Toyota.com slash NFL now to learn more. This is an IHeart podcast.