Brendan Gulick and Anthony Moeglin breakdown the Browns tough Quarterback situation.
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00:00 I actually kind of liked what I saw from DTR today.
00:03 I love that kid's moxie, to borrow the word
00:06 from Kevin Stefanski.
00:09 He is competitive as hell.
00:11 He's tough.
00:12 He's pretty athletic.
00:14 He's aggressive.
00:17 He throws a good ball.
00:18 It's a little erratic.
00:19 He is far from being a polished NFL quarterback.
00:24 But there's something there.
00:25 And I hope he can recover quickly,
00:29 because I think he could be a good answer for the Browns
00:33 in the meantime.
00:34 He's not going to be the team's starting quarterback
00:37 when Deshaun Watson gets back at full strength.
00:39 I mean, there's no way around that.
00:42 But you need a backup quarterback
00:44 that can play on a moment's notice.
00:46 Because if you haven't figured it out yet,
00:47 the Browns are looking at potentially playing
00:49 a fourth quarterback in the first 12 games of the year.
00:51 And that's absurd.
00:53 And so you've got to have somebody that can do it.
00:55 And DTR looks pretty good.
00:57 Every single time he drops back to pass,
00:59 or even is in the huddle, or even taking a snap,
01:01 I just think of Kevin Stefanski saying
01:03 how confident the kid is.
01:04 He doesn't lack for confidence.
01:06 And you can see that.
01:07 Just the way he guides his team, just the way he leads
01:11 this group, and just the belief he has in himself is amazing.
01:15 And it's kudos to him, because not many people
01:18 are born with that.
01:19 So it's truly amazing.
01:21 But just like you said, he's never
01:23 going to be, in my opinion-- obviously,
01:25 he's played in three games.
01:26 So this is painting with a broad brushstroke.
01:28 But he's never going to be an everyday guy.
01:30 But we've seen, if Deshaun Watson's
01:32 going to be the long-term quarterback here in Cleveland,
01:35 he is fragile.
01:36 And the way he plays football, there
01:39 are going to be times when he does get banged up.
01:41 And we are going to need a guy to come back in.
01:43 And if Dorian Thompson-Robinson continues to get better--
01:47 obviously, his concussion is going to be a step back--
01:49 but continues to get better and improve,
01:51 why can't it be that kid?
01:52 Hey, I love watching him play.
01:54 And you saw growth today.
01:55 I mean, had he not gotten hurt, who knows what the final is?
01:57 But you love what you saw out of the young kid today.
02:02 I don't even judge him by his statistics,
02:04 because especially at this point in his career,
02:07 they're irrelevant to me.
02:10 He was playing winning football.
02:14 Final numbers, just because we'll share them with you,
02:16 we usually do 14 for 29 through for 134 yards
02:21 and his first NFL touchdown.
02:23 He did not throw an interception,
02:25 but the Browns fumbled five times,
02:27 including three that they lost.
02:30 And ultimately, I think they put the defense
02:32 in some pretty tough spots.
02:33 And so that's a big reason why they lost this game,
02:36 because you were in the middle of the third quarter,
02:40 and it didn't look so bad, right?
02:42 I mean, it wasn't even middle of third quarter.
02:47 It was a long quarter.
02:49 When Denver had to settle for a field goal to go up 17-12,
02:54 you felt like, hey, you are one score away from being
02:58 right back in this thing.
03:00 And obviously, the drop two-point conversion
03:04 was a real bummer.
03:05 But that whole drive, I felt like, hey,
03:08 DTR just grew up before our eyes.
03:11 And you know what's most impressive to me
03:13 is that you get down 14-0, and you have a rookie quarterback,
03:17 and it's not going well.
03:18 Nothing is going the right way.
03:20 Denver's running it all down your defense's throat.
03:23 You can't do anything on offense.
03:24 Imagine being that rookie quarterback
03:26 and potentially just packing up shop and be like, all right,
03:29 we're on to LA.
03:30 I'm going home.
03:31 I'm going to see a bunch of my friends next week.
03:33 But no, that was my favorite part about it.
03:35 Throw the stats out the window and all that.
03:37 I mean, the kid's stuck in there, man.
03:38 It would have been so easy to just give up and quit,
03:40 but leads the team down to cut it to 14-3.
03:43 Then the defense gets a stop.
03:45 And you're like, OK, if we can go down and score,
03:48 you're in this thing.
03:49 They get it down to first and goal and just a couple--
03:51 I mean, that ball to David Bell just bouncing off
03:54 the defensive tackle's shoulder pad.
03:56 It's like, oh my gosh.
03:57 That would have been a touchdown.
03:59 You cut it to 14-10.
04:00 You never know how those things change it.
04:01 But just the gutsiness that DTR was showing
04:06 and just the unwillingness to quit, man.
04:08 He's stuck in there.
04:09 That's the impressive part.
04:10 That's the stuff that you take away, because he's got it.
04:13 Whatever it is, he's got it in him
04:15 to be that competitive guy.
04:18 Yeah, and even in the second quarter,
04:20 ultimately, you don't want to settle for field goals.
04:24 But good drives getting put together.
04:28 13 plays, 57 yards, ends in a field goal,
04:31 about six minutes left in the second quarter.
04:34 Then the Browns kick a field goal with 22 seconds left
04:37 before halftime on an 11-play, 67-yard drive that took .242.
04:44 I think Dorian is pretty good for being a rookie.
04:49 And I mean, look, he's not CJ Stroud.
04:51 I would actually, now that I've seen enough from him--
05:00 there's a lot of people that are not going to agree with this,
05:02 and I don't care.
05:04 I would rather play him than Flacco.
05:07 Yeah, I would.
05:08 Joe Flacco has proven everything that you could possibly
05:11 prove about what it takes to be a legitimate NFL quarterback.
05:16 That's not a knock on Joe.
05:19 I would think at 38 years old, he certainly
05:23 has some things he can lean on.
05:27 But it's hard to replicate the lack of damage
05:35 done to a body that's 16 or 17 years younger than yours.
05:41 And a willingness to just go out and play
05:43 with reckless abandon.
05:44 It almost feels like when Dorian drops back
05:47 and when he's out there, he's just so naive to everything.
05:51 Not in a bad way, but just doesn't know what he doesn't
05:54 know.
05:55 And there's a freedom to that, where it's like, hey,
05:58 I'm just going to go back there and throw it,
06:00 and drop back, and try to make a play, and be athletic,
06:02 and just kind of figure it out.
06:04 What I would say to that-- and there's
06:06 arguments that be had in both directions.
06:09 Keep developing Dorian.
06:10 Keep letting him figure out what he is, and keep letting him
06:13 grow.
06:13 But then this team, man, it's like, how long can you wait?
06:19 With Flacco, you know what you're going to get.
06:21 You know-- maybe.
06:23 I guess I don't know.
06:23 He hadn't played in a year.
06:25 But this team was at least ready to win
06:28 before all these injuries.
06:30 How much longer can you go?
06:32 And obviously, Dorian's concussion
06:34 is going to kind of hinder that.
06:35 But it's a debate that's going to be had this week
06:38 and for the weeks to come.
06:39 But all in all, you love what you see out of 17, man.
06:42 The kid's gritty.
06:44 He grinds.
06:45 He's gutsy.
06:46 And you just appreciate those factors
06:49 as he continues to polish out his game.