The Fumblerooski Podcast - Throwdown In the North -Ep 89 The Fumblerooski Podcast

Episode Date: June 13, 2022

The AFC North is known for intense division rivalries. How do they stack up against each other? Adam Wright and Justin Tucker host Nick Noormand and Jack Hartman to preview the competitive AFC North division!

Here's Edelman broken up and the pass is no sign yet. Edelman comes down with a football and they're saying it's a catch. It's in. What? It's in! Skyline! Touchdown! Unbelievable! Slings it way down the field to Watkins! Sammy Watkins for the touchdown! Touchdown! Good evening.

You are listening to the Fumble Rooski podcast by Power 88 and Fans Only Sports Network for our very first Sunday episode, which is a Thursday episode. So it's kind of like, well, we apologize that we were only able to get our show off at this point. We try to get our episodes on on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but none of us were really available. We have very busy schedules, so we apologize for that. We did. We are making it up for you. And we have a couple of guests. And for the episode where we decided where we are going to be previewing

the AFC North, we have all AFC North fans, fans of teams, fans of different teams. So, we have special guest Jack Hartman, Nick Normand, and along and along with of course our co-host my main man justin tucker baltimore ravens fan so jack hartman is a browns fan and nick normand is a steelers fan and the only one the only the only fan who isn't here is a Bengals fan, which I did. I did try to get one on and Steven Parker, if you're listening, maybe next time, dude, but it would have been great. Uh, so maybe, maybe at some point I'll try to, as a Patriots fan, and I'm going to remain loyal as a Patriots fan to, uh, to stay loyal to my team, of course,, I mean, somebody has to represent the Bengals. So, without further ado, for those of you, for some of the people who don't know Jack Hartman, Nick Norman,

would you guys want to introduce yourselves? Sure. I'm Nick. I am a steelers fan as adam said it is my second time guest starring on the show and just happy to be here i've really been a football fan only like five years so in the grand scheme of things that's like not a lot of time but i'll talk steelers i'll talk any sort of team with anybody so feel free to hit me up. They'll have my socials on the comments. How's it going, everybody? My name's Jack.

Like Adam said, I am a Browns fan. I'm at a time where it's awkward being a Browns fan. But, hey, we live with it. And, yeah, this is also my second time on. If you listened last week i was here to talk afc east preview um so yeah happy happy to be back thank you adam for having me and this uh this is going to be fun tonight yeah pleasure having you on for the second week in a row and this time talking about the division where your team is in, you got to talk your Browns, talking about the Baker Mayfield situation. And you were mentioning off camera before we started this episode, getting that cleared up so that we wouldn't have to talk about it for an hour

while we were talking about the AFC North. But another little twist on that is kind of that there's a possibility that Deshaun Watson might not even play again. Strong possibility. So that's, oh yeah. So without further ado, how about we get started? How about we all give our sort of takes on how this AFC North is going to shape up? Sure.

So I'll just open it up and say before we started off this episode, Jack was saying that he broke down every single game that this division is playing this year and sort of how the schedules intertwine. And basically he gave a record prediction that every team at worst would be above eight and nine or eight and nine. And that just speaks, in my opinion, to the depth that this division has. As we've said before, as many people have said, our division may possibly be the best division in the NFL. And really, realistically, if things shake out for any of the teams in our division, any team could win if everything breaks their way this season.

Even though me and my Steelers may not be the most talented or most ready or have the best quarterback in the division, if things broke our way, we got a shot in it. If the Bengals can repeat with the explosive offense they got, they can do it. If Deshaun Watson isn't suspended and comes in and balls out like we know he can, they can win it. If the Ravens don't have 30 torn ACLs by September 1st, they can win it. But it can really break anybody's way right now. A lot to ask for. All of the teams really are ridiculously talented with a ton of young, talented dudes who can dominate in some of these games.

All right. Jack? Yeah, I mean, I think, Nick, you said it really, really well, especially talking about, yeah, the way things break. You know, honestly, I think that the Ravens would have won the division last year if it

weren't for all the injuries that happened. And I'm saying that as a Browns fan, you know, so, like, that means a browns fan you know so like that that means something um but you know it yeah stuff weird stuff happens that's that's sports that's professional sports you know um and and you know you you fight through it and that's what that's what makes the cream rise to the top um for for teams in the nfl is who can handle that adversity and work with it and get through it. Um, and I think all of these teams can, and I think all of these teams will, um, I think, you know, the, the losses that teams are going to, that teams, you know, in the AFC North are

going to have, um, this year, they're mostly going to be within the division. Um, you know, they, they, all of these teams can stack up against the, you know, the two divisions that they're playing in the NFC South and the, the AFC East. So, so it's going to make for a really, really fun year, a really competitive year and a year that there, I don't think there's going to be a clear favorite for the division through week 15. Maybe at that point, you know you know, like Nick, you know, sort of saying maybe that'll be when the Steelers sort of, you know, you know, like Nick, you know, sort of saying maybe that'll be when the Steelers sort of, you know, it's,

it becomes apparent that they're not going to, they're not going to be competing for the, for the pennant, but still, you know, I think, I think going into week 18, we will have no idea who is going to be coming out of the division as the champion. And that's just makes for such fun, awesome football. All right, Tuck. Oh, boy. Well, first off, I do agree with the Browns fan that if we were healthy,

oh, we had that division unlocked. But unfortunately, injuries never go our way, almost always. So we have to expect that. I don't think injuries ever go anybody's way. Just putting that out there. I don't think I'm like, I'm not saying like injuries go anybody's way. What I'm saying is the Ravens have a history of having injuries at the worst

possible time. And it's not even fair. And it's unfortunate. It is what it is. We just have to fight through it. But if, if we stay healthy, we're getting some of our players back.

We're getting our whole backfield back, which can only help our run game. Thank God. I couldn't take another minute watching Devontae Freeman and Latavius Murray run the football. God, that hurt. I'm sick and tired of looking at my own line like Lamar Jackson needs to be on life support because no one was helping him. Andre Villanueva, thank god you're retired but enough about the injuries uh when i look at the entire landscape of the afc north it's always going to be a tough it's always going to be a drag out brawl between all the divot i mean all the rivals because it's always like that the bangles always

give the ravens and the steelers problems just like the Steelers always get the Bengals and the Ravens problems. That's just how they built their teams to be. Because everybody knows that if you try to go through to win the Super Bowl, you're more than likely going to have to go through one of the teams in the AFC North, which is by far either the first or the second best division in football. So with that said, it's just a matter of who's going to be in the lead and who's going to take up the wild card spots because I think the division has the potential to have at least three teams to be in the playoffs regardless of who finishes first, second, or third. All right.

So I'm not going to add anything on to how how competitive this division and the uncontroversial statement that injuries always happen. And it's it doesn't affect any other league other than the NFL. Like it's it's just something that you can't predict. And it's just the the NFL is just crazy. But the biggest wild card in this division is definitely the Cleveland Browns. The Browns are the team where you look at they have arguably the highest ceiling and probably the lowest floor because of Deshaun Watson. Because if Deshaun Watson doesn't play, Baker Mayfield is not going to play either. He's already saying, screw you guys. So you wind up with some bum third string quarterback with your otherwise great roster, and you're going to end up being last even to the Pittsburgh Steelers. No offense, Nick.

But the team that I would have as the slam dunk favorite would be the Cincinnati Bengals. That team just top to bottom has talent everywhere you look. The secondary has improved. The offensive line has improved dramatically. And the only reason why I hesitate on it, on picking the Bengals to win this division, is the fact that they lost the Super Bowl. And I know it sounds like lazy analysis, but if you look at teams that have lost the Super Bowl,

they almost never go back. And even when they go back, they almost never win it. The only two teams that have won it, have come back to win it, have been the New England Patriots in 2018, which are a completely different animal than anybody else, that Patriots dynasty, and the Dolphins back in, what was it, the 70s? So it's just, I want to give this division to the Bengals, and you can make a case for, for all the other teams.

This is obviously like we've already established most, most competitive division, but I, it's a tough one. I, I, I want to give it to the, I want to,

so I said the Browns when we were talking about it earlier on, but because of the uncertainty with Deshaun Watson, I might have to say the Bengals, which I could wind up with egg in my face later on in the season. But, I mean, that's the team I got to pick. Listen, do they still have that burnt piece of toast at corner? They do, but then they just get taxed. Eli Apple.

Eli Apple is on the roster he's their number he's still there but it's better than him being your number one who's their number one i like dax hill nobody was yet because i'm about to say dax and hill probably would have to be the corner because god knows if they put eli apple out there that's feasting even for the raises a slot corner specifically and mike hilton's their designated slot because Mike Hilton's like 5'7". I know because he gets toasted by every tight end because he's two feet tall. But they got like three players that can play slot, and Eli Apple's their best outside corner.

It's – that's – Look, I think Daxton Hill is versatile enough so that he can play outside and he'll have to develop into an outside corner or else it's not going to work. The reason the Bengals – It's not going to work out. I mean, the defense at Eli Apple is one of the reasons the Bengals lost the Super Bowl. But if the Bengals had a good enough offensive line, they still could have won that Super Bowl.

And that's where they decided that was the more important need to improve, not only for winning, but also to protect, you know, the center of their franchise for the foreseeable future. And so I can see it. They won that many games with Eli Apple at corner last year. You know, they can do it again. It's the reason that they lost on that last play of the game. It was what he, he had Burrow had just dropped back and then he already had a defender who was swallowing him up and he

barely got it away. He had it for about a half second. Not just a defender, but he's the best defender in the game for a decade. i thought it was aaron donald yeah i thought i knew i figured it was aaron donald i wasn't sure i wanted to say just a defender but either way either way it's not like it's not like it's an achievement to get through that bengals offensive line um but jamar chase had jamar chase had ramsey beat on that play and if he had it for a half second longer he i want i don't want to say he would have had him for a touchdown but it would have been a big it would have been at least a first down what was it like like fourth and two fourth and fourth and one it was fourth and four? That was third down.

Fourth down was when he threw it to Piran in the flat and fell down. Yeah, that's the play I was talking about where he was already swallowed up. It was the last play of the game. He barely got the ball away. Piran didn't even dive for it. I was pissed. I was mad. I will never understand why samaji p ride did not

even at least attempt to die for that ball because i think he may have been able to get it you're a steelers fan you're mad for the bengals i don't like people playing bad football when they're in the super bowl and like you have a shot to win a super bowl like you get paid for this and this is your only shot it's fourth down down, and you're their second-string running back. This isn't Joe Mixon who's worried about a contract year. This is a second-string running back who becomes a legend if he makes that play. I wanted Cincinnati to win because the Browns beat them both times

in the regular season last year, and it would have been the only bright spot for us in an otherwise horrendous season so that's a fair that's a fair point you beat the super bowl champs twice in the regular season that's fair um wasn't that wasn't that last one when they already benched their starters though no because i'm pretty sure one of them was against the browns where they were playing their they were playing their hello adam froze adam froze all right yeah he froze on nothing i thought it was me for a second oh he came back no he's not back we're back all right uh that was that was that was weird i'm on uh spotty internet neck uh internet i'm at my grandparents house and on the on uh on uh cape cod doing this

episode that's how dedicated i am to getting these episodes out guys and uh um but yeah i i really look i like the bengals in this i I like the Bengals in this division. I did like the Cleveland Browns. I just think there's something about teams who have great rosters, who are a quarterback away, and get a quarterback, that star-level quarterback recently. They always do something significant, whether that be the buccaneers when they got tom brady or the rams last year when they got matthew stafford and i'll argue to a lesser extent

because jimmy garoppolo didn't play much through his first two years with the 49ers his first full season was actually pretty good and he did help that team it was a good surrounding roster i know it's a it's not the best argument which is why i say to a lesser extent but that did work out fairly well and he and jimmy garoppolo faces too much criticism nowadays and i hope he finds a good situation even as a even as a patriots fan who uh who wanted him on the on the patriots for when brady was gone and was disappointed when they traded him for a second round pick uh but anything we want to add i was going to say this star quarterback additions it's not necessarily this division, but we can talk Deshaun Watson being the star quarterback added to a team.

One, we don't know how many games he's going to play. It's on the table. I think it's on the table he doesn't play a game this year. I think that's on the board. I don't think it's likely that he doesn't play at all this year, but I think that's on the board. But the thing is, not even in the division, we also have Russell Wilson joining a team, and he's a legit Hall of Fame quarterback. And I just heard this recently that somebody

brought this up, but Matt Ryan on the Colts is going to be interesting. He's not on the same level as any of the high-profile guys that have moved recently, but he's a former MVP who has a shot if he compiles another Pro Bowl year or two to look like a Hall of Famer on his resume. And like this Colts team does have a ton of talent on it to be good this next year. So we got a lot of other teams in the AFC that have added some star power other than just the Browns adding Deshaun to become a quarterback away that could be that team that now has a superstar. So just some interesting things to think about with a lot of quarterback movement recently.

Yeah. See, that's my point is kind of that there's, there's a recent trend where these, these, these elite quarterbacks who move teams, they wind up with some immediate success. And I, and I think when you look at, when you look at some of the move some of the moves that have been made the cleveland browns getting deshaun watson uh russell russell wilson going to denver even the even matt ryan going to the colts one of those teams is going to emerge and possibly win a Super Bowl, at least contend for one. And it's been happening the past – it happened the last two years,

and I mentioned Jimmy Garoppolo from the year before that. Could happen this year as well. But coming up next, we are going to talk about – so we're going to get creative for our guest segment. Each fan in this episode is going to pitch their team and why they believe they are going to win their division. We're going to get to that next. This is the Fumble Rooski podcast. And then comes down with a football. They're saying it's a catch.

It's a catch. Come on. Takes. Sideline. Touchdown. Unbelievable. Slings it way down the field to Watkins. Sammy Watkins for the touchdown. you are listening to the fumble ruski podcast by power 80 and fans only sports network i'm adam wright justin tucker jack hartman nick normand with you and uh so our for our guest segment so

we have two guests in here including another another uh including a co-host who is a fan of another AFC North team, the Ravens. So what we're going to do is we're going to go around the table, and each guy is going to pitch why they believe that their team is going to either win the division, or you might not believe they're going to win the division. You might think something else is going to happen or get bold, say that they're going to win the Super Bowl. Whatever you believe that your team is going to do, make your pitch to us and we're going to go around the table. We'll start with our guests. Nick, why don't you pitch your Steelers?

My Steelers, we were talking about this a little with the pre-show, but the Steelers not maybe on the same level as the other teams in the division. I think the three other teams in the division outside of the Steelers legitimately have MVP caliber

quarterbacks, like MVP of the league level quarterbacks. Deshaun Watson's on that level. Lamar Jackson's proven that. And Joe Burrow, I think, is on that level as well to be able to be that dude. I think we can all pretty confidently say that. But I would just say that the Steelers, I wouldn't predict them necessarily to win the division this year, but I think we can all see it in our brains if we

just look at the picture. It may be a little fuzzy, but I think they got a real shot being a wildcard team. I think that that's very much on the table for them being the organization that they are and being the Steelers. If you just look at the team last year compared to this year, there are some subtle moves because I know the Steelers aren't big spenders in free agency. And I'm sure that you guys couldn't name three guys that the Steelers got in free agency. They're just not a splashy organization in free agency. But if you just look over from the changes last year to this year between the draft and free agency, our offense is really, really young and really, really athletic. If you just go through position by position, we don't have a guy on our offense that's over like 27 years old. There's

nobody older than something like that. Trubisky at quarterback, Pickett at quarterback, two really young athletic guys. Pickett's athleticism is underrated. It's like a slightly ratcheted down Justin Herbert kind of athleticism where he can move, but he wants to throw the ball, but he can move well. Trubisky, really underrated athlete. He can run over dudes and is a true can run you over down the field kind of quarterback. His athleticism in the Matt Canada offense is a really interesting component that Big Ben hasn't been athletic in 10 years I think we can confidently say like as a Steelers fan like I remember the prime of like 2017 with the killer bees and that offense and that killer bees 2017 offense with Le'Veon Bell Antonio Brown Martavius

Bryant Juju like that was a crazy explosive offense. And Big Ben was still a statue back then. He ran for maybe 50 yards that entire season. And 50 yards is out of everybody's mind kind of thing for a quarterback in now's age of quarterback play. Where 50 yards, somebody can get that in a quarter. Somebody can get that in a play now at the quarterback position. Lamar Jackson's, I'm sure, had multiple plays of over 50 yards running the ball, where having that much in an entire season is just insanity. But the athleticism at quarterback, crazy. Having Najee as your primary running back, he's a legitimate stud running back who can tote the ball 20, 25, 30 times a game if he asks you. He's a true bell cow, really strong running back. And I've been seeing pictures and film out of camp. He's

apparently put on about five, 10 pounds of muscle where he looks legitimately bigger and stronger. He's apparently heavier than prime Jerome Bettis in Pittsburgh, which is insane to think about because Jerome Bettis was big. That was a big dude. And Najee's like 6'2", 6'3", taller, but he looks bigger. His legs look giant like Saquon Barkley kind of big, which is insane to think about because last year seeing him as a rookie, he did not look like this. He has transformed his body and has

not lost his quickness that may be a lesser part of his game but he's still better I would say as good if not better than he was last year and he was a pro bowler last year at the wide receiver position I think we can all confidently say that Deontay Johnson is a stud receiver and one of the best route runners in the game and a legitimate threat at wide receiver, especially in this division that may be lacking a little bit in wide receiver outside of the division I would say pretty comfortably with Amari Cooper and with Jamar Chase in the division I would say that Deontay's in the conversation for that number three spot pretty easily but between him and then we have Chase Claypool who has the upside to be a number one receiver in the league he's got the height and speed combination to be a really big play receiver. Even though he has an issue with focus drops and his hands are lacking, he has the ability to make those contested catches like a true down the field stud receiver,

a la like a Mike Williams. We also drafted two receivers that are really, really good players with a George Pickens, who's in that mold of a Chase Claypool, a really tall, big guy, who's really a contested catch monster. And I know that Justin here is going to maybe be squeamish a little with the Calvin Austin pick, if he's heard the stories that I have, with the Ravens wanting to draft him and the Steelers sniping him a pick before out of that war room. It's went around a lot.

Peter King brought it up being in that war room that the Steelers sniped him a pick before out of that war room. It's went around a lot. Peter King brought it up being in that war room that the Steelers sniped him a pick before. And he's in that same mold of like a quick returner kind of guy. He's only five foot eight, but he is fast. That's everything we're hearing out of the Steelers. He is fast. He's a return specialist. He's a really good potential slot receiver with legitimate speed. And those are two rookies that we're adding to a room with Deontay Johnson and Chase Claypool, who are kids. They're on their rookie contract. They're young. Then you've got Pat Framoth, who was a rookie last year and who came on in the middle of the year. Really good tight end. And our offensive line is

young and improving. We don't have any of the old guys we had for years on that offensive line. It's all young, unproven, but have some of the talent, a little bit more athleticism than in the past. And the defense, you don't really even have to bring up the defense with the Steelers. We know what we're getting from them. Cam Hayward, TJ Watt, Minka Fitzpatrick. The real hole on the defense right now, I will potentially say, Stephon Tuitt retiring. We didn't have him last year, so it's not like a loss, like we're playing without him compared to last year. But he's a player who made a big impact the last time he was on the field.

And then besides that, our cornerback room is really, really lacking with having no Joe Hayden and our best cornerback being Akello Witherspoon. That's a little bit of a concern. He has legitimate athleticism and size and speed, but having him be your number one corner when he couldn't even stick in San Francisco, whose cornerback room is not good, that's a little bit troublesome as a Steelers fan. But having TJ W Watt the defensive player of the year and legitimately I can pretty confidently say the best defender in the division in the defense the best defender in the AFC I can pretty confidently say that I feel good about where

the defense is I know that Jack's shaking his head being like Miles Garrett's right there in the division but I would say as a more complete, TJ Watt being able to drop in coverage and as a run defender, maybe as a pure pass rusher, Miles Garrett fans with the pass rush win rate and with the double team rate that you'll always see Miles Garrett guys throw at you. I understand that as a pure pass rusher, but as an overall defender, his impact on the game and winning TJ Watt single handedly won us probably three or four football games last year that we lose without him. We just straight out lose with like a clutch fourth force fumble late in games or with a pass breakup or a clutch sack on third down. monster impact plays last year. And I think that he can be a really big impact player post his defensive player of the year, sack record tying season. And so I think at the very least, the Steelers are going to be a really fun watch. When the last team we saw with the Steelers was a

short passing game, horrendous offensive line, really unathletic quarterback, I think our offense is going to be improved. And I don't think our defense is going to be horrendous. And so I feel pretty good about being an interesting team who can make the wild card. All right. Well, there you go. That is Nick Norman, the Steelers fan talking about his team and how, how he believes they are going to be competitive in this division. That was very well said. Didn't leave out any details at all, but Jack, why don't you sell your Browns? Yeah.

So let me just start with the huge asterisk, the biggest asterisk probably at a prediction of any NFL team ever. And that is how many games Deshaun Watson playing. We don't know. As of right now, he is playing every single game. And because of that, as of right now, when I did my,

you know, research and, and discussion and, you know, figure my stuff out, you know, coming into this podcast, that's how I plan.

You know, I, that can change, probably will change, though. I don't know. There has been talk that they might wait to penalize him until the following season because of how long and drawn out this process is going to be with, you know the the the legal stuff um and i i've also heard talk that the nfl wants to penalize the browns for the way that they constructed his contract um so that if he got suspended this year it didn't hurt them or him money-wise um that you know uh the the the league might decide to wait so that they can make that hurt a little more,

as they should, in my own opinion. But anyway, all that to say, as of right now, Deshaun Watson is slanted to play all 17 games of the season, barring injury. So that's how we're going to act. The Browns have one of the most talented teams in the NFL right now. And so do the Bengals, so do the Ravens. The Steelers are on their way there. We'll keep saying that.

A couple other things, you know, like that to get out of the way that don't really give an edge to anybody is we're playing against the AFC East this year. Though, you know, we talked last week and a lot of those teams, besides Buffalo, you know, the, the Patriots, the Jets and the Dolphins made some moves and they're going to be a little frisky. I still think that all of these teams can beat those three teams, you know, when that happens. Same thing with the NFC South is the is the NFC division that they're playing.

Again, you have Tampa Bay. Other than that, you have Carolina, New Orleans, who, again, made some moves, might be frisky. But if they've got Jameis Winston under center, then who's to say what they can possibly do? And the Falcons, who are in total rebuild at this point. So again, not really an advantage there. start to get some advantages over some of these other teams is, is that they are, they've been working on this for a few years now, you know, this is Kevin Stefanski. It's only Kevin Stefanski's third year. We saw a lot of bright spots of what the offense can be. His, his first year, that was the year that you know the Browns went to went

to the divisional round um of the playoffs and lost the narrowhead um but they you know what what was holding that offense back we all we can all agree was Baker Macon um and and even when he was playing really well he was inconsistent so you know that's he's he was playing really well, he was inconsistent. So, you know, he was what was holding that offense back, and they've addressed that. They have had and still do one of the most underrated offensive lines in the NFL as well. I mean, they worked on that a ton to get that to where it's at. There is a little bit of turnover this year, but still not much.

And those core guys, they still have there. What everybody's been talking about, and it's a legitimate point and point of question, is the wide receiver room. You know, Amari Cooper is definitely our wide receiver one, and he's a stud and a top receiver in our game right now. Um, but you know, people are asking who do they have behind that? Um, they have, uh, Donovan Peoples Jones who, um, showed some flashes when he was wide receiver three behind Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry because those two guys were getting a lot of the

you know the the main you know the main coverage packages last season that he was that guy because Odell Beckham Jr. when they you know released him and Jarvis Landry was injured he was our wide receiver one and he didn't perform as well But now teams are going to be more concerned about Amari Cooper. He's going to get the chance to play with a little more room. In the slot, we will probably have Anthony Schwartz, who was a rookie last year, speedy, speedy dude out of Oregon, who didn't really do much last year, but it was because it was a weird year where we had him as our slot receiver or as a guy that should be a slot receiver, but we had Jarvis Landry playing that spot. So there wasn't much room for him in the offense. He'll be able

to open up a little bit. The biggest thing though for me, and what I think is one of the biggest under the radar moves that any team made this offseason was that the Browns locked up David Njoku and David Njoku is a great pass catching tight end Harrison Bryant is our is our route running guy but David Njoku is big and is fast for a tight end and is athletic and And he can run routes down the field and get the ball. The Browns have the best running back tandem in the division. Don't look at me, Justin. It's true. And Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt.

Nick's nodding his head because he agrees with me. You know, it's just true. And they signed Uranus Johnson for another year year you know who who is who is an athlete um we saw that in the game that both chubb and hunt were out and he was our running back one against denver we had case keenum at quarterback which meant that we were running the ball a lot um so our offense i feel i feel like we've we've made the improvement we've made the made the improvements quote unquote but we've been making those for years, and now it's just, all right, here we go.

We finally have a stud at quarterback that can sort of bring us the rest of the way over the hump. On the defensive side of the ball, I think the Browns have a really underrated secondary. John Johnson III is very, very smart. He's a great safety, but he's smart. When he was on the Rams, he was the guy that was calling the plays. It wasn't the typical Mike Linebacker doing that.

He was doing that from the defensive backfield. He's just got a great IQ. We've got Denzel Ward at corner, who is a stud might, might be, you know, the best corner in the, in the division, though I can definitely see the argument for Marlon Humphrey at that. All right. I'm just saying, I can see that argument for Marlon Humphrey, but you know, there's questions there. You know, the, they, their, their first draft pick came in the third

round and they and they drafted um defensive back um out of Mississippi State I'm blanking on his name right now um but he was he he showed flashes of college he's athletic again just a bigger guy Greg Newsome who was our first round pick two drafts ago, looked great last season. Watching some of his tape, he's just all around. Yes, Martin Emerson. That's the guy. Thanks, Nick. Looking back to last season and some of his film,

he's just very sound in his skill and his technique. And we have the best – well, the Raiders might have the best now with Chandler Jones and Max Crosby. But other than that, I think the best edge-rushing duo in the NFL is Jadavion Clowney and Miles Garrett. I was really, really happy that they brought back Jadavion Clowney and Miles Garrett. I was really, really happy that they brought back Jadavion Clowney because he did stuff in the run game that the Browns were missing before last year.

And, you know, he doesn't – people have been knocking him because he doesn't get the sack numbers or he hasn't been getting the sack numbers. But last season we saw that open up a little bit because he's, you know, on the other side was Miles Garrett, you know. So there was a lot more there. Linebacker and defensive tackle is where I'm the most concerned on the defense. Though I'm not as concerned as people might think the Browns should be

at linebacker. Anthony Walker is a great linebacker. We're getting him at a steal right now for $4 million a year. The Browns have Jeremiah Owusu-Koromoa, who they drafted two drafts ago, who's a first round talent that they got in the second round, who's good in coverage and just finding the ball and hitting the ball where it's at. So, and the biggest – no, no, not the biggest thing, but a very, very big thing is special teams. They drafted Cade York. Kicking has been a real struggle for the Browns.

So, especially in a division where they've got Chris Boswell for the Steelers, the greatest kicker of all time, Justin Tucker, for the Ravens, and the kid for the Bengals that has the most swagger I've ever seen out of a kicker ever. So that was a big improvement as well. You know, there were a couple tough losses. You know, losing Rashard Higgins is tough. Losing Jarvis Landry is tough.

But we'll see. We'll see what happens. I think that, you know, the Browns have the highest ceiling and the lowest floor this season. Even with Deshaun Watson playing every game, I think that's still the case. Because it is a new system with a new quarterback and a new offense and with new players, new players around him. So, so we will, I mean, we'll see what happens. I think they could go as high as 13 and four, and I think they could go as low as, you know, nine and eight or eight and nine.

It just depends. And that's taking the, does Deshaun Watson play out of it. When you put that in, then it could be 13 and four or five and 12. You know, it's just you just don't know. Cleveland Browns. That really is, like I said earlier, that team really is a wild card. You really can't tell how they're going to do. And that's in big part because of Deshaun Watson and how that whole thing is going to shape up. But, Tuck, why don't you give us your – why don't you make your pitch on your Baltimore Ravens? All right.

So the way I'm going to start it is I've heard our guests speak. Say that again. Keep it PG. It will be. I'll try my best. I will try my best for you, Adam. Thanks, buddy. I will do this by going off of what our guests have said and then making my case.

I think that's the best way I think I can interpret it. As far as the Steelers, they're an up-and-coming team with no real show it. I'm not going to lie. I wanted George Pickens. I wanted him. I'm pissed that you guys got him. But, hey, listen up. Marcus Peters ain't going for none of that.

Marcus Peters ain't going for none of that. Marlon Humphrey ain't going for none of that. Marcus Peters ain't going for none of that. Marlon Humphrey ain't going for none of that either. Outside of that, you guys have Chase Claypool as your other wide receiver. I ain't scared of that. Tick Tock Poppy himself doesn't scare me. So let alone his little brother. That's number two. Deontay Johnson, number three. First off, no. He's your best wide receiver. I will admit he is a very good wide receiver, but if I put Marlon Humphrey on that, and best believe we will put Marlon Humphrey on that, he ain't got nothing for him. So unfortunately for him, that's enough of that. The quarterback position, you're trying to tell me I should trust Mitchell Trubisky and Kenny Picketts.

That's what you're trying to convince me. I don't care how athletic Mitchell Trubisky and Kenny Pickett. That's what you're trying to convince me. I don't care how athletic Mitchell Trubisky is. I don't care how much potential Kenny Pickett has. You can't convince me of none of that. If you try to convince me of that, I will tell you, all right, I will try to tell you they haven't shown it on the field as of yet. So we're talking about a hypothetical sense of they might be something. But due to their prior engagements in Chicago and Kenny Pickett in Pittsburgh, I ain't convinced because no one was clamoring for Kenny Pickett during the draft.

That's why he fell to Pittsburgh. Number three, that cornerback position, that cornerback position has got awful the only other time it was worse is when y'all had arty burns as your other cornerback and we all know how that turned out he's almost as bad as eli apple he's not this is untrue this is untrue arty burns was a first round bust we do not have a first round bust in our secondary. We have. That's why I said, it reminds me of it. I'm not saying it's comparable,

but it reminds me of the time you guys had Artie Burns. We had Ross Cockrell on that cornerback court. It was horrendous. It was so bad. It was unforgivable. It was unforgivable. Our safety room couldn't save our skins either. By the way, this is a Ravens segment,

and I have heard Steelers, Slander, and nothing else. That's all I've heard. Are you pitching why the Steelers suck, or are you pitching why your Ravens are good? I could have my part where I go and just talk about how Lamar Jackson's a running back if we want to do that. So, like – We'll get to you in a second, Browns fans.

You think you're the only one that's about to get it. No, talk to the Ravens. You're here to talk about the Ravens, not talk bad about everybody else. I'm not talking – I explained to you why I feel this way. I said if I put Marlon Humphries on Deontay Johnson, I feel like that would be comparable. I believe our defense as a whole just obliterates their offense because we have now Marcus Peters back.

We have Marcus Williams in our secondary, which will only improve our playmaking capabilities, which will allow more interceptions and more opportunities to have turnovers, which we severely needed, which we couldn't get because Chuck Clark couldn't catch worth a damn. But that's besides the point. He just couldn't catch. And I was so shocked when we played against the Rams and he had two picks, one for a pick

six. I was like, Chuck Clark is actually making plays because he's not like that usually. What about your first round pick? What about your guys' first first round pick this year which is why i haven't even gotten up that man's a stud he is a first round well i don't want to say stud because i usually say that for when they actually prove something on the field like i want to say he is a stud based upon what he's proven in camp but until he's actually on the field and we can actually see it god bless him him. But I think he's a very good talent.

I wouldn't say stud yet until he actually shows up on the field against quality talent. And not just, you know, in shorts and cleats. Our offense is finally getting back healthy. We finally have a backfield. I told y'all this during the pre-show. I got sick and tired of watching Devontae Freeman and Latarius Murray run the ball. And the Ravens trying to convince me that's the way we're going to win games. No wonder we lost five games. I ain't lost none of that this year. I hope, and I'm seriously praying that our backfield

can stay healthy this year because, oh my God, did you see what we were working with. We were taking scraps. And it's unfortunate that both Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins had those terrible Achilles injuries, but hopefully they're back to near 100%. If not, that's why we drafted a running back in the sixth round, Tyler Batty, who's actually not that bad, all things considered. And I think we got him at a steal in the sixth round. And I'm actually seeing this text that Nick just sent. Lamar Jackson is not the best running back in the – he's the best quarterback, but not the best running back. No, because Nick Chubb is the best running back in the division. I'm not going to disagree on that.

I'm not going to do it. I can't, unfortunately, because my guys are coming off injury. And Nick Chubb is a stud. I will give you that. Is J.K. Dobbins the fifth best running back in the AFC North is my question. Like, legitimately. Like, I feel like that's on the table that, like, Hunt and Chubb and Najee and Mixon, like, those are studs right there who aren't injured.

Just saying. Yeah. Yeah, Dobbins isn't really. When he's healthy, I think he's top three. When he's healthy, you guys got to remember, he didn't start the entire year, and then he finished with 800 yards. He didn't start the year. So, I'm like, if he's healthy, I believe he could easily be over 1,000 yards

and then go from there. But he finished the year with, like, nine touchdowns. So, I let the results speak for themselves. If he's healthy, our wide receiver core is noticeably depleted with the loss of marquise brown but again i believe that will make up for the ascension with rashad bateman i believe he's finally healthy is able to take steps to where he can be the true number one and the who's your number two wide receiver by the way i believe that would be mark andrews is their number one wide receiver this is true

but i believe it'd be james prochet if i'm not or devin duvernay i'm not saying our wide receiver core is the best i'm not saying that but again our team has never been built around our wide receiver core so It's a run-first offense. We're a run-first offense. So if anything, it was a massive underutilization for Marquise Brown being on that team. No, because he gave him the ball. He actually did have over 1,000 yards last season. So it's not like we underutilized him.

He actually was effective in our offense. Yeah, but for that season, if he was on a pass-heavy team, he would have been so much more. I don't know, and we're making assumptions that we can't figure out until this year because he'll have more opportunities with DeAndre Hopkins getting out for six games. So we'll see. My only problem with Marquis has always been, for some unknown reason, and you saw it against the Steelers,

he'll have a drop that'll make me punch a wall we had a touchdown he dropped it and i almost punched a hole in the wall because he always does conversion it was the two-point conversion play at the end of the game when lamar jackson got pressured by tj wad and mark andrews mark andrews dropped it i'm talking about mark he's dropping mark he's dropped that against the steel that's not just the steelers by TJ Watt and Mark Andrews. Mark Andrews dropped it. I'm talking about Marquise. Marquise dropped it. Marquise dropped that against the Steelers. But that's not just the Steelers. He drops things against everybody.

There was the Broncos game, but he had three drops for touchdowns. It was Detroit. The Monday night football game two seasons ago between the Browns and the Ravens where, you know, Lamar Jackson had to go take a dump and come back out. I wasn't concerned about how wide open Marquise Brown was on the touchdown play until he had finally caught the ball. And it's crazy because when we get into the playoffs,

he catches everything, which is my only gripe with him. For some reason, when we get into the playoffs, he's like, all right, let me make sure it actually counts, like it didn't count all the other times in the regular season but in the postseason he gets his act together so i'll miss that about him when we're healthy as far as i'm concerned our line is better than last year andre villanueva is not let's go bro i will not because i remember when he first came to training camp and he had this great speech and then he played against the Raiders and Max Crosby took his lunch. I will never forgive him for that. Oh my God. He got killed with this outside spin. I will never forgive him for that. He just couldn't block him. I'm like, we're sending doubles to him and he still can stop

Max Crosby. I mean, again, it's Max Crosby, so of course he's going to be good, but he should not be getting abused this much. So I'm happy Ronnie Stanley is coming back. Hopefully he can stay healthy off that ankle. I'm not sure. We're going to have to wait and see on that. We have a future All-Pro at center end, Tyler Lindenbaum. Everybody keeps telling me he's going to be a future All-Pro,

but again, it's not like Creed Humphrey or Corey Linsley or Scrubb, so we'll see how well he can do. But in our offense, I believe he'll at least produce at a Pro Bowl level. Kevin Zeitler was always good for us this season. For the first year he's been there, he was our best lineman by far. So I'm happy he's staying. lamar jackson's coming back healthy uh we he uh jack uh jack said something early about us losing five games coincidentally it also happened due to you know lamar missing five games crazy how that happens that eight and three lead in the AFC last year. They were the number one seed in 8-3 last year.

And then Lamar goes down against the Browns, and then it just crumbles from there. When I tell you Lamar Jackson is our offense because Greg Roman can't do anything else without him, I'm being serious. The Dolphins game. The Ravens-Dolphins game, when he was just throwing screen passes

that wouldn't go more than two yards down the field, against Byron Murphy and Zavian Howard, it was bad. It was not good. I was so pissed off. Because, first off, I think one of the first couple of drives, in my heart, I thought it was a touchdown, but Sammy Watkins gave up on it. I don't know why. I don't know why.

I don't think he – I'm not sure if he thought he couldn't catch it or he thought he was just going to be out of balance. I don't know what it was, but he gave up on it. I was like, that might've just cost him. He just cost us points. And then coincidentally, Justin Tucker missed the field goal. So that didn't make me feel any better about it. And then that game was just a giant pile of zero blitz that we couldn't stop because our line couldn't pick it up. Javon Holland kept coming through all the damn time. But anyway, that was last year. I believe this year is better because our defensive line is actually better. We actually have a couple picks named Travis Jones.

That's actually a lot better than what we were dealing with. He's younger, and hopefully he can give Calais Campbell more breaks than he needs to because he's up there in age now. Brandon Williams, it was time for him to go. So I'm happy we were able to snag Travis Jones in the third round. I don't think he'll necessarily play until the later half of this year, but if David Ojabo is who we believe he is, he might be a problem for years to come. And then we have Odafe Owe, who's our other bookend pass rusher, who is a stud. But again, he fell off a little last year because of a shoulder injury. So we'll see

what he can become in year two. And I was liking the reduction that our linebackers were getting, mainly because of Patrick Queen. So there's that. And then we got to talk about everybody else, the Browns. Deshaun Watson may or may not play. I don't even need to go into them. And Anthony Schwartz, you're trying to convince me of him. The only thing he's opening the door for is Deshaun Watson when he actually gets suspended. That's the only thing he's doing.

That Browns defense is unbelievable. I will give you that i wanted jeremiah when he felt y'all jumped the stealers in that draft to get him i was mad i wanted him bad that was we were we were texting during that you said we're only trading up for him and nobody else that's what you said we are trading up for him that same draft night the first round i told adam i would be happy if we got him because i wanted him to be right next to patrick queen and for something and i was like damn we didn't get him i was happy with what we got in the end but i was like we could have had joker but we don't have him we could have jok he's so good he's so talented too and then you have the back end which i think an

underrated duo and greg newsome and uh denzel ward is actually very good the only problem is denzel ward is not better than marlon humphrey i don't understand why there should be an argument there's no argument there's no he plays outside corner. That's more valuable. I think Marlon Humphrey is the best slot corner. I think he can do anything, but I think he's the best slot corner in the game and not the best outside corner. I think he's a good outside corner.

I think Denzel Ward's a top five outside corner in the league, and that's really valuable. Just my take. I believe Marlon Humphrey's the top five corner outside. It just depends on what you're asking him to do. Opinions. It's opinions, but the fact of the matter is I do think that Brown's secondary

is very good along with – John Johnson. Not John Johnson, the one that plays next to him from LSU. Greedy Williams. Greedy Williams. Greedy Williams. No, Grant Delpit. Grant Delpit. That's the one I'm thinking about.

Everybody keeps forgetting about him, but when he's healthy, he can be very good. The problem is he's not healthy, so it's kind of hard to maintain, like, all right, what can this guy be? But I think I believe sooner or later, I believe he'll show you why he was highly talented coming out of lsu my only problem is the quarterback position i don't understand why like people say that baker was horrendous for the browns and i get some of the things were his fault

but i don't blame everything on him and one of the reasons why i don't blame everything on him was the game plan against the steelers the james hudson game it was bad you're telling me tj watt ate his lunch money for breakfast telling me the game plan was to consistently leave a rookie right tackle one-on-one with tj watt and thinking baker throwing for over 50 times and not giving the ball but only to a majority of the time nick chubb because he was on a count restraint for some reason because they didn't want him to get injured and you're trying to tell me they were trying to win that game that game that game for me that game for me was that uh thatins-Ravens game for you. I just sat there and from the get-go was just frustrated and was frustrated and angry all 60 minutes of gameplay.

Like, yeah. I felt bad for a Browns fan because I'm like, Baker's not this bad, even with the arm restraint. It's just he's injured and they're trying to make him do something that he's not comfortable doing at this moment in time and throwing it for over 50 yards against a Steeler secondary that was better than what it is currently now and against the right tackle who will get his lunch taken from from TJ Watt and he had like what four sacks that game I think five I think five four or five yeah but that's that's how he broke the record it wasn't in that game but that's what jump-started him

and also that was a game though that Miles Garrett had like no sacks against our rookie left tackle which was insane to me as well because he didn't get a ton of help that game but that Browns game was just tough because our run defense, the Steelers' run defense, was the worst in the game last year. It was horrible. And the Browns had the best running or one of the best running games in the league consistently the last couple years. And you guys were ripping off huge runs a bunch on us,

but for some reason wanted to throw it a ton early and late in that game, which I did not understand. But it was just a massive nightmare late in the season. Yeah, but this is just me yammering on about the faults of the – Adam, did you want to talk a little bit more about the Bengals? Or did you get all your Bengals fake fan stuff out after you said that you were a Patriots fan and going down hard for them. I'm just saying, somebody needs to represent the team. No, except here's the thing.

Here's the thing. Justin never bashed the Bengals, right? Because they were never brought up. So if you bring them up, then they'll just get bashed, right? We might as well just leave him alone. Look, all I'm saying is not enough is being said about Evan McPherson, the best kicker in all of football. Clutch. He was clutch as hell last year.

Not the best, but he was clutch in the playoffs. That man had ice water. That guy has some balls on him too. I just love the thing that Joe Burrow said of how he just walked over and said to him, walk out to kick the field goal against the Titans. Well, I guess we're going to the AFC Championship. That's just – you don't do that, especially as a kicker. You just don't do that. And if he missed that, that would have been wrong. And then that gets around and that's never – one's gonna ever live that down bro that's the matt hasselbeck we're

taking the ball and scoring we're gonna score and throw picks yeah that's that's how it could have turned out it would have turned out that bad my angles and like what they're gonna be this year i think teams are finally gonna be like hey why, why don't we just double Jamar Chase? Because even Jalen Ramsey in the Super Bowl could not consistently cover him. Jamar Chase is just that good. And I would say easily a top three to top five receiver in the game right now. I think that I can pretty confidently say in that range. As a rookie, I think he's on another level than we've seen for a good number of years. And I think people just say, okay, wait, he's a deep threat with insane speed. We need a safety shading over him all the time.

I think he's going to get that treatment from now on that he didn't get this year as much as he should have. I think Joe Burrow behind a better offensive line is going to be better. But I also think that they're going to pull back, like Adam said, with a little bit of the Super Bowl hangover. Teams know a little bit more about what they're defending. There's more film on their offense of what type of offense they're going to be. I think their defense isn't going to be quite as good with the defensive tackle rotation that they had going on, actually. And I honestly, I think that Hendrickson, the name of their pass rusher, Trey Hendrickson, I think he's mad overrated. And he's had a couple of good years these last couple of years. But I think he's really overrated as a pro bowl, all pro level pass rusher. I don't

believe that's what he is. I think he's a 8 to 10 sacks a season, but not really the impact level pass rusher that people think that he is. But he's just really good at finishing when the play should be given up on and like he did not win the rep, but chasing after the QB and having a good motor. And so I think that he's a good pass rusher, but I think that he's going to have a pullback season as well. So that's just my opinion. Their secondary, like we've talked about,

lacking at corner, we would all say to a degree. I think their offensive line is going to be better, but I have no idea who's playing center for them this year. And that's a big problem on a team that has had a lackluster offensive line. I think the center position as the leader of that offensive line really matters, but what are your guys takes as far as a little bit of bangles time? So certainly when it comes to the cornerbacks. Oh yeah. The degrees of burn that they have with Eli Apple.

Oh yeah. But they have, they have Ted Karras. I think I believe to play center. I think that's, I think that based on reports that's that's the guy that they're going to use and uh um look the mainly the the main thing with uh the bengals is not just like especially when you mentioned uh uh chase uh yeah jamar. I blinked on the name.

Even if you do manage to successfully cover him, you still have two other very, very underrated guys in that wide receiving core in Tyler Boyd and T. Higgins to figure out. Yeah, you may not have the tight end anymore. Tyler Uzama. But tight end isn't really that big of a factor nowadays in the NFL. It's great if you have one, but it's just not that

important of a position anymore. Have you heard of Travis Kelsey? Or George Kittle? Or Darren Waller? Or Kyle Pitts? I know. But were any of those guys in the Super Bowl this year? No.

But Travis Kelsey. The Rams fared pretty well without an elite tight end. They had a great tight end. He was just injured, as was Yuzoma in the playoffs. I forget what the name is. The dude's like 6'7", though, on the Rams. Yeah, sure. Higbyby is it higby i think it is yeah but i'm just i'm just saying it's just they're not that big of a factor in in the offense

i strongly disagree this is something i strongly disagree with actually you can you can you can disagree i i just think – Let him talk. Let him talk. The tight end position is just not as important. It's great if you have one, but if you don't have one, then you can still rely on your wide receivers and your running backs. If the Ravens didn't have a tight end,

then we definitely could say Lamar Jackson is a running back. Mark Andrews is the only reason we can't say that. Even Justin has to agree with that. Are we going to say Kansas City has the greatest wide receiver core now that Tyreek Hill is gone? Doesn't that say a lot more about their wide receiving core rather than their tight end? I just don't know that we can name a great team in the NFL without at least a competent tight end and then their tight end i just don't know that we can name a great team in the

nfl without at least a competent tight end i think every team has at least a pretty damn good tight end in the game right now well you can you can talk about competent yeah like like confidence great ones but i think maybe i need to maybe i need to clarify a little more. I mean like elite, like best of the best, like top three to five guy. Yeah. I think Kittle and Kelsey matching up in the super bowl two years ago or Gronk and Kelsey the year before the year after that. I think those are stud tight ends who make huge impact in the playoffs with clutch catches.

Yeah. But Rob Gronkowski isn't on the same level that he, I don't believe he's on the same level level 700 yards this last year as an old man gronkowski gronkowski comes out of retirement just to leave the patriots now adam just can't stand him it's possible salt salt baby edelman coming out of retirement too to join the buccaneers he's a he's a good tight. He's a good tight end. He's a good tight end. Best blocking tight end I've ever seen.

But he's – I don't know. Tight end position just doesn't feel as important to me. It's one of those positions where I feel like you can get away with having like a serviceable player at that position, whereas like a quarterback, wide receiver, if you're only serviceable at those spots position. Whereas like a quarterback wide receiver, if you're only serviceable at that, at those spots, you're going to get smoked in this league.

Same with corner. You can't be just serviceable at corner. Bengals exist. What do you mean? What? The Bengals exist. We've let me put it this way, Adam.

Would you rather have the best running back in the game or the best tight end in the game or would you rather have a top five tight end or a top five running back i'd rather just be serviceable ever at all those spots well sure i'd rather i'd rather just be very good at all those spots because it's more of a it's more of i like the aspect of a team effort effort. You know, you don't, you don't often see when you have that, when you have that, there's a reason why the MVP curse is a thing. Like when you have that one guy who you center your offense around, then you're going to run into a team in the playoffs.

Who's going to, who's going to game plan for that. And then eventually they're going to succeed at, at least containing it. And then they're just going to, they're going to game plan for that and then eventually they're going to succeed at at least containing it and then they're just going to they're going to you know that's why julio jones doesn't have a ring because once you once you just game plan for him then what are you going to do then because don't do that don't do that cooper cup exists cooper cop with all 1900 of his yards last year in the regular season. Right, but a big part of why they were successful is because they were able to find success in other spots.

Odell Beckham Jr. being a successful trade acquisition was huge for them, and that was a big concern for the team. Nobody during the trade deadline was thinking oh well they'll be fine without a number two they'll have cooper cup people were worried they were like well if they just if they only just lean on cooper cup then then defense is just going to focus on him that's that's that's my point no no no no they had robert woods and then he got he tore his acl the same day they signed OBJ too. So it wasn't like prepping.

And there were concerns on whether or not that OBJ was going to be able to, was going to be able to find any form of his, his former self at that point, once Robert Woods went down. So it was, it was, there was a big question on whether or not odell beckham jr would pan out for him and if odell beckham and if beckham if beckham didn't pan out then you're then they're in trouble because you have that one one guy in cooper cop and not in who's not only the number one option as a wide receiver but just pass catchers in general that's a problem i'm just i i just love i like i like the idea of

a team effort that's all i'm saying 100 don't don't bite my head off i get you i got you adam my thing was just when you said i don't think that the tight end is very valuable in the current game or like very important. That's where I'm just like that. All the great tight ends are on great teams because they have a big impact, in my opinion. There's not a great tight end on a good team like the raiders are no slouches they made the playoffs last year like i don't think there's a really high playoffs but they almost beat the bangles they they were on track to beat the bangles late and had a tough stretch at the end of the game i don't know that was one of those teams where they they benefited from a really a really strong start to the season and they they barely they were slouches towards the end of the season they also they really they were really barely able to make it in and he got too speedy for his own good if they they still had him, they will be, they will be dangerous late in the year.

If they had still had Henry rugs, he knows how, he knows how to get that speed up. Yeah. You know that much. He speed. This is bad. Sean Jackson was not a great replacement.

Don't make that joke. Yeah. Speed kills. 21. Hey, I mean, you're wrong with you're right with either context that you can put it in. I got you.

We'll say that much. But do we have any other thoughts before we end the show tonight? Thoughts? Oh, I was just going to ask just like quick rankings. Who do you how what order do you guys put the coaches in the division and the quarterbacks because like those are the races i think in the division that are actually tightest and so just like one through four it doesn't have to be long

but just like thoughts from you guys if you have anything notable to say with it. I'd say Harbaugh, Tomlin, Cincinnati's coach, then Cleveland's coach. Bruh, I would not put Cincinnati's coach over Cleveland. I like Stefanski more than I do whoever the hell coaches Cleveland again. Zach Haley, that's his name. Yeah, I put Cincinnati's coach over Cleveland's. Why? Stefanski took the Browns to the playoffs and won a game against the Steelers.

I can't argue against that. Joe Burrow and Evan McPherson carried. That's my opinion. They wouldn't have won without the coaching, unfortunately. I think they would have. I think they would have. I think they would have won with most other coaches because, like, that's just my take. Jack?

I can't ignore it. So I'm going to say Tomlin, Stefanski, Harbaugh, Taylor. And here's the rationale. Let me hear it. Here's the rationale. Again, I think this season is going to be the end of it, but Mike Tomlin has never had a team since he's been at the Steelers have worse than a winning record, right?

That's never happened. Or 500 when there was 16 games at 8-8, right? Last year, the last three or four years, he's been dealing with old, decrepit Big Ben Roethlisberger or dummy going to try and pull Miles Garrett's head off or helmet off Mason Rudolph. Duck Hodges too, baby. Yeah, yeah, Duck Hodges, you know.

So there's that. Yeah, so there's that. So that's why I've got Tomlin that high. I've got Stefanski that high because then next, for obviously not the exact same reason but similar reason, is that he fully turned the Browns around in his first year. And last year was rough because of Mayfield being injured and other injuries like, you know, Justin, you obviously know about, you know, because the Ravens battled the same problem. But the fact that he still got them to 8-9 is still pretty impressive to me.

And especially the insane culture and locker room shift with him. The reason I've got Harbaugh and Taylor as the bottom two is because they do really get the benefits of having insane talent at the quarterback position, where Tomlin and Stefanski don't. So that's not saying – putting that in order isn't saying that either of those guys are bad coaches, but I'm saying that Harbaugh gets off more with having Lamar Jackson than Kevin Stefanski or Mike Tomlin do with having

Baker Mayfield or 40-year-old Ben Roethlisberger. Right? And then Zach Taylor, I think it's the same thing. He's good. Don't get me wrong. He's a great coach. Obviously, you have to be – if you're going to get your team to the Super Bowl, there aren't bad – well, Doug Peterson got the Eagles to the Super Bowl.

But at the time, I don't think he was a bad coach. So, yeah, and he was. But you have to be at least in the top third of coaches in the NFL if you're going to get your team to the Super Bowl. So that's not saying that any of these guys are bad coaches. I'm just saying I think that surprisingly the AFC North is now for the first time probably ever found stability at the head coaching spot at all with all four teams. You know, you don't have the Bengals stuck in Lovie Smith purgatory

or not Lovie Smith, Marvin Lewis purgatory. You don't have the Browns with Freddie Kitchens anymore. You know, you've got high-level IQ coaches at all four teams. Yes. I would rock with Mike Tomlin, never had a losing season. His motivation, like if you guys ever hear him talk like he's that dude and then i drop with john harbaugh gotta put respect on his name for the culture and like i i honestly don't think the ravens are that talented of a team the last couple

of years i think lamar is that dude and i think ronnie stanley really good tackle and i think their corners are really good. But honestly, I think their offense outside of like Mark Andrews and Lamar doesn't have a lot of talent the last couple of years. That's just my personal opinion. But I think that it was coached up and schemed up well enough to where they leaned into what they did well. And I've been really impressed with the Ravens coaching staff. Then I would rock with the Browns and Kevin Stefanski.

Got to put respect on his name. He's turned around the Browns and been the best coach the Browns have had in 25, 30 years, probably since Belichick. I think he's probably the best coach they've had since Belichick in the early mid-90s, which is crazy to say because that was a long time ago. And then I would rock with somehow Zach Taylor at the number four spot being a Super Bowl runner-up. I just don't think his resume is extremely interesting, and I think that they've, for the most part, overachieved due to the talent

on their team, and they're drafting more than they have actually coaching. And so that's just my opinion. But yeah. Nice. Yeah. As far as quarterbacks go, coaches, it really is a toss-up for me. I can't really answer that. Maybe I'll have Tomlin number one.

Cincinnati's coach I'm not too fond of. I thought he just took advantage of a very good team. However, quarterbacks, I will say, Lamar Jackson I have to put at least in the top two, at least top two. He's a proven commodity. And just a stroke joke, Justin's ego don't don't know i swear to you i swear to you you put joe burrow number one uh go ahead no don't stroke it no put put joe burrow number one go ahead i dare you i'm putting yeah i'm putting i'm putting joe burrow number one he

went to a super bowl foolery tom foolery he went to a Super Bowl. Tom foolery. Tom foolery. He went to a Super Bowl, and he's a true pocket passer. I love me, my pocket passers. And he looks like a Peyton Manning. He looks like that type of quarterback who can throw for a million touchdowns. He gets up there in interceptions, but he can rack up the yardage in everything. And I love me some Joe Burrow.

I love his winning attitude as well. After that, number three would be Deshaun Watson. Watson, as long as he plays, and hopefully he'll play at some point. The only reason I have him below everyone else is because, obviously, it's unproven on whether or not he'll play. And then after that that at number four, we're going to put Kenny Pickett. We're going to put our guy,

Kenny Pickett down there. Not even Trubisky. Not Trubisky. We'll see what he needs. He needs either or therefore. Yeah. Yeah. You can interchange. We can,

we can argue that another time, but yeah. When, when it comes to to me when it comes to the qbs you have all tied at first jackson burrow and watson and then bringing up the rear and fifth is pickett or trubisky and the reason is is they're all very very different quarterbacks i think burrow and jackson are both at the exact same level of eliteness. It's just they do it very, very different ways. And, you know, so maybe have them both tied at first and put Watson at third, not because he might not play because that shouldn't impact where I put him

in terms of right now currently how good quarterbacks are. Like that's all based on what the past has been, not what is he going to play or not. But we haven't seen him in a while. So there's that. But, yeah. All right. Well, we are going to have to end this episode.

It's been going on for a while. I did not say mine. I'll make it quick, though. I'll make it while. I did not say mine. I'll make it quick, though. I'll make it quick. I'll make it quick. If Deshaun Watson played 17 games, I would rock with Joe Burrow, Deshaun Watson, Lamar Jackson, and then the Steelers dudes.

The last time I saw Deshaun Watson, he had zero weaknesses in his game. I thought he was that dude. And I'm not very high on Lamar Jackson. To be fair, the most film I've seen of Lamar Jackson have been against the Steelers. And I'm sure as Tuck can tell you, his games against the Steelers are not good. And that's just a magic nightmare problem. But like Steelers, Ravens games, Lamar Jackson has not looked good. And that's when I've seen him most. And to be honest, I think Lamar has limitations not looked good and that's when I've seen him most and to be honest I think Lamar has limitations where when you take away some of his running ability I think his pocket passing still has room to develop and so honestly I love Lamar Jackson I think he's a top 10 quarterback

in the league but I think that he just has hard limitations when it comes to late season pocket collapsing kind of football and that's just my opinion so i would take deshaun watson right now if if he's playing half the season i'll take lamar jackson of course but if i'm taking them raw just like i have them full schedule i'm taking deshaun watson over lamar jackson and i'm pretty confident with it. I don't know what you're saying, but I respect your opinion. I'm not even going to do this. I'm going to say one in one, or Lamar Jackson first, Joe Burrow second. They're on the same caliber.

It just depends on what your preference is. I'm not going to be too butthurt if for some reason, for whatever reason, somebody puts Joe Burrow. You were butthurt. I was. You were ready to. I'm not going to get pissed off about it. I don't care what anybody tells me. You were butthurt. I was. You were ready to. I'm not going to get pissed off about it. I don't care what anybody tells me. You were pretty pissed off. And the hard third is Deshaun Watson. And then fourth, it's Mitchell or Kenny Pickett, whatever floats

your boat. It is what it is. Look, the best ability is availability. And if Deshaun Watson were to be guaranteed to be on the field i would have him a lot higher i might have the him and joe burrow one two but you just i just can't do that i can't we're talking availability mitch travisky is the most available quarterback in the division we that man is never injured that is all i'm saying we can'm saying. We can't go all out on availability. There's a lot of backup quarterbacks who will be free on Sunday, but we're not going to put them up there and just be like, oh, you're free? Just come on out here.

Come on primetime football. Face Patrick Mahomes. See how that goes. Yes, sir. Face Patrick Mahomes. See how that goes. Yes, sir. All right, guys. Well, we do need to end the show tonight. This was a long one. We had a lot to talk about with this division,

a lot of ins and outs, X's and O's, all that stuff. This was a crazy, this is a crazy division, meaning we had a lot to go over, but that'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. This is a crazy division, meaning we had a lot to go over, but that'll do it for us tonight. Thank you for listening to us. Be sure to tune in to us live Tuesdays and Thursdays at 730 on Twitter and Facebook through Fans Only Sports Network. Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel.

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