Brendan Gulick and Anthony Moeglin give their pregame thoughts on the Browns match-up against the Steelers at home today.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Well, good morning, everyone, and welcome to Cleveland Brown
00:10 Stadium on the shores of Lake Erie.
00:11 It is a spectacular morning for one of the greatest
00:15 rivalries in the NFL, the Cleveland Browns
00:17 and the Pittsburgh Steelers, with an awful lot at stake
00:20 here this afternoon.
00:21 Brendan Gulick and Anthony Meglin with you,
00:23 looking forward to what we think is
00:24 going to be a really good game.
00:26 Two offenses that might be looking for their footing
00:29 a little bit, two defenses that certainly are not,
00:32 especially on the Brown side.
00:34 Anthony, what are you most excited to see
00:36 when you watch these two teams take the field here?
00:38 Yeah, I'm really most excited for-- and you just
00:41 hinted at it--
00:41 I'm most excited to see this defense really get to work.
00:44 It feels, in my opinion, all year long,
00:46 they've been waiting on the offense,
00:47 waiting on the offense.
00:48 Hey, we're going to deliver you to this point.
00:50 But now that you kind of know what
00:52 the situation is on offense, I'm really
00:54 excited to see what Jim Sport had said this week
00:58 about how these guys respond, what they come out and do.
01:00 Because in my opinion, they're going to come out firing,
01:03 and really with one goal in mind,
01:04 and that's to shut the Pittsburgh Steelers out.
01:06 And I think they have a really good opportunity to do so.
01:09 I think the Browns are taking a lot of pride in the fact
01:11 that they know they're going to have to lean on their defense
01:14 to carry them, while also expressing
01:17 a lot of optimism here the last five, six days
01:19 now in Dorian Thompson Robinson.
01:22 It's been a tumultuous week for the Browns in the sense
01:24 that they had an incredible comeback win last week,
01:29 and felt like they were really starting to hit their stride.
01:32 And then all of a sudden, obviously,
01:33 Deshaun Watson is lost for the rest of the season.
01:36 And that just flat out stinks, right?
01:38 But life in the NFL, man, you got to move on.
01:40 The next guy up this time is DTR instead of PJ Walker.
01:44 And I think Cleveland feels like DTR
01:46 is ready for this opportunity, or else they wouldn't give it
01:49 to him in a game of this magnitude.
01:51 What is your confidence level coming into a game like this
01:53 with DTR getting his second career start?
01:55 Yeah, no, I love the decision to go with DTR,
01:58 because you have to figure out what you have.
02:01 And PJ Walker was able to get two wins for the Browns.
02:03 And we talked about it a bunch.
02:05 You love and you appreciate what PJ did.
02:07 But the truth of the matter is he wasn't playing good football.
02:10 And they were kind of some fluky wins.
02:13 So giving DTR a chance where it's like, OK, we're starting.
02:16 We announced this on Wednesday.
02:18 Deshaun's out.
02:19 We're announcing right after it that you're the starter.
02:21 And you get a full week of prep.
02:22 And the whole team gets a full week of prep
02:24 with you as the quarterback.
02:26 So I'm really excited about it.
02:28 And honestly, this game, in my opinion,
02:30 is going to feel a lot like how the Arizona game felt,
02:33 where it was, hey, if it's third and long,
02:35 they're going to hand the ball off.
02:37 If the Browns are in any type of situation
02:40 where it could get a little risky,
02:42 they're going to take the safe route, because your defense is
02:45 so good.
02:45 And you don't need DTR to be Tom Brady today.
02:48 You don't need him to be Deshaun Watson.
02:50 You just need him to--
02:51 if he doesn't turn the ball over,
02:52 the Browns could win this game by two scores.
02:55 So it's like, hey, my confidence level is sky high,
02:57 because his responsibility today isn't to throw for 400 yards.
03:00 It's to keep the ball in the Browns' possession
03:03 and just keep the game going forward
03:05 and just distribute it when needed,
03:06 and just don't turn that thing over.
03:08 So I'm excited about it.
03:10 Yeah, I mean, look, the thing that I
03:12 think PJ Walker did worst was turn the football over.
03:17 Because when he performed well, it was fine.
03:19 It was workable.
03:21 The turnovers were really the thing
03:23 that was frustrating with him.
03:24 Now, I can certainly understand where some folks might say,
03:28 hey, look, I'd rather go into this game
03:30 with a quarterback who's played significant snaps this year
03:33 than one who hasn't.
03:34 I hear that argument.
03:36 I think the Browns need to see what they have in DTR.
03:38 And a one-game sample size for a guy that
03:41 was told a couple hours, if that, before the game started,
03:44 that he was going to be the starting quarterback,
03:47 I don't know that that's enough of a sample size.
03:50 And I know the fan base right now, in some ways,
03:53 is expressing some pessimism.
03:55 Because that's what they saw.
03:57 That is their sample size, right?
03:58 In regular season play, DTR wasn't great in his first spot
04:04 start against Baltimore.
04:05 But I have to think that Kevin Stefanski, in my opinion,
04:09 has built up enough credibility that you've
04:11 got to have some faith here that this is supposed to work.
04:14 And that may or may not result in a win.
04:16 But I do not expect DTR to look lost today.
04:19 I think he's going to be fine.
04:20 No, and it's going to be a lot on Kevin and AVP
04:24 to call a really good game.
04:25 And I think they will.
04:26 And let's look back the last two or three weeks, man.
04:28 This running game that the Browns have
04:30 has taken leaps and bounds.
04:32 And Ben, it's not the number two rushing attack
04:35 in all of the NFL.
04:37 And if you think about it from the Steelers' perspective,
04:39 it's like, hey, we're going to shut the run down.
04:41 Well, that's exactly what the last two weeks have been.
04:44 Especially, think back to last week against the Ravens
04:47 with DeSean struggling.
04:48 The Ravens started to really crowd that box.
04:50 We looked at it, and it was like, hey,
04:52 the Browns were still able to run the football.
04:54 And they're going to be able to do the same today.
04:56 So I'm really excited about what Kevin and Van Pelt have dialed
05:00 up, because it's going to be a safe game plan.
05:03 But they always have their little wrinkles
05:04 and their little tricks that they'll mix in there.
05:07 So that's what I'm most looking forward to,
05:09 is to see how those two attack the game
05:11 and put the offense in advantageous situations all day.
05:15 And of course, the last thing we'll touch on
05:17 is the fact that maybe the two best defensive players
05:19 in the NFL are on the field today, in Miles Garrett
05:22 and in TJ Watt.
05:23 And even though they don't play against each other,
05:25 there's always the comparison of how did one play
05:27 and how did the other play.
05:29 For whatever reason, TJ Watt has played really, really well
05:32 against Cleveland historically.
05:33 Miles Garrett's played fine against the Pittsburgh Steelers,
05:36 but maybe not his best football.
05:38 I think Miles is going to show up today pretty motivated.
05:41 I don't know if that means he's going to outplay TJ Watt,
05:43 but I expect him to come out and look like Miles Garrett.
05:47 I think there is a little bit of concern going up
05:50 against an elite pass rusher like TJ Watt with the Browns
05:53 situation right now at offensive tackle.
05:55 It's still not even close to being 100%
05:57 with no Wills and no Conklin.
06:00 DeJuan Jones is questionable.
06:02 I'm optimistic that he's going to play
06:03 after seeing him this week, but he is still officially
06:06 listed as questionable.
06:08 And Kevin Stefanski told us Jaron Christian
06:10 is going to start at left tackle, which
06:12 makes me wonder a little bit more about DeJuan Jones status.
06:15 Because if that's the case and DeJuan does play,
06:19 that would mean that James Hudson is not
06:21 going to be a starting tackle and that Jaron Christian has
06:24 leapfrogged him.
06:26 Kevin certainly reserves the right to change his mind.
06:29 That's plenty possible too, but I
06:32 did think that was an interesting comment this week.
06:34 Yeah, no question.
06:35 And let's-- scenario one is that DeJuan plays.
06:38 Let's say he is listed as questionable,
06:40 but let's say he plays.
06:41 He actually, in week two, that was his first career start.
06:44 And it was against TJ Watt.
06:46 And he actually held his own.
06:47 TJ only had one sack.
06:48 Obviously, he had the fumble recovery for a touchdown.
06:51 But DeJuan actually did hold his own
06:53 and actually looked pretty good.
06:54 And on the flip side, Christensen actually
06:56 was the starting tackle for the Texans in week three
07:00 when the Texans blew out the Steelers.
07:01 So that has shown some success there
07:03 and actually has seen this team before.
07:05 Both of these guys have if DeJuan Jones does play.
07:08 So that does make me feel better.
07:09 But the story is the same.
07:11 You could have Joe Thomas out there,
07:14 but TJ Watt is good enough to wreck games.
07:17 He's one of the best players in all of football.
07:19 And you just cannot afford to let him do that because--
07:23 I wrote about it this morning, but it's today
07:26 the goal for the offense is no turnovers,
07:28 not win the turnover battle.
07:29 But it's no turnovers because the Steelers team
07:31 is known for the turnovers.
07:33 They don't just jump on the fumble
07:34 or go down after an interception.
07:36 They take it to the house and they
07:37 try to make it seven points.
07:39 So it's really critical to not allow TJ Watt and Alex
07:41 Highsmith to make their impact on the game, which
07:44 they've done in the past.
07:46 Can't wait for this one.
07:47 It's going to be a ton of fun, man.
07:48 The Browns have an awful lot at stake.
07:50 A win today, you're 7-3.
07:52 You split with Baltimore.
07:53 You split with Pittsburgh.
07:55 You're in great shape moving forward,
07:57 plus the momentum that would come
07:59 with winning a game with Dorian Thompson-Robinson
08:02 at quarterback.
08:02 In fact, it would be a win with a third different starting
08:06 quarterback this year for Cleveland, riding
08:08 what right now looks like the best defense in the NFL,
08:10 bar none.
08:11 Boy, that's a pretty fun thought.
08:13 We'll see if the Browns can get it done.
08:15 We've got you covered the whole way today.
08:17 BrownsDigest.com, certainly here on our YouTube channel
08:19 as well.
08:20 We'll have post-game press conferences for you
08:22 as soon as those wrap up.
08:23 And we'll be right back here post-game
08:25 with our post-game thoughts talking about this one as well.
08:28 So I hope you'll join us for that.
08:29 For Anthony Meglan, I'm Brendan Gulick,
08:31 reporting live from Cleveland Browns Stadium
08:33 on a perfect Sunday afternoon here on Browns Digest.
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