Brendan Gulick and Anthony Moeglin break down their initial thoughts after the Browns knocked off the Jaguars 31-27.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Well, hey everybody,
00:08 and welcome to Cleveland Brown Stadium after a big day.
00:10 Cleveland Browns 31, Jacksonville Jaguars 27.
00:14 It was a nail biter of a game that featured seven turnovers
00:19 and certainly some ugly, frustrating moments,
00:21 but also some pretty impressive big moments
00:24 that the Browns handled the way they were supposed to
00:27 in a game that I don't wanna say it ever felt
00:29 like they could lose,
00:31 but there were a few nervous moments along the way
00:33 where things weren't,
00:35 you didn't see the Browns pulling away
00:37 the way maybe you would expect them to
00:40 in ultimately a game that they needed to field
00:42 an onside kick successfully at the end to officially ice it,
00:45 but nevertheless got it done, 31-27.
00:47 Brendan Gulick, Anthony Meglin with you.
00:49 Ant, what's your first takeaway here from a big day?
00:52 - Yeah, I think you hit the nail right on the head.
00:54 It never felt like every time the Browns would pull away
00:56 just a little bit, they would do something,
00:58 it never was the Jaguars making a move back.
01:00 It was the Browns, a mess up by the Browns.
01:02 It was a turnover here or a misplay here,
01:04 just something that they just kept shooting themselves
01:06 in the foot and it felt like,
01:08 uh-oh, we've been playing really good
01:10 and it's hard to say it this year
01:11 because they've been in these competitive games,
01:13 they've been coming out on top every now and again,
01:15 but it had a weird vibe to it
01:17 and then you look across the field
01:19 and it's like the last time Joe Flacco was in this stadium
01:21 was that meltdown against the Jets
01:23 and you're like, you never wanna go there,
01:24 but you're like, holy cow, this cannot happen again.
01:27 So they fielded the onside kick and the rest is history.
01:30 So come out with a win, that's all you gotta do,
01:32 more points than the other team.
01:33 - Yeah, hey, look, the big news post game,
01:35 Kevin Stefanski, somewhat surprisingly, in my opinion,
01:40 unequivocally said yes when he was asked,
01:43 is Joe Flacco your starting quarterback
01:44 for the rest of the season?
01:46 So that's good news, right?
01:47 There is no more quarterback controversy
01:48 whatsoever in Cleveland.
01:50 I don't know exactly what the moves you're gonna see
01:52 on paper are, practice squad or not,
01:54 how they may or may not add him in a certain timeframe
01:57 to an active 53-man roster,
01:59 but Joe's proven he's the guy.
02:01 And actually, we said at pregame,
02:03 I thought there was a chance you might see DTR
02:05 in some kind of a special package
02:07 and that's exactly what happened today.
02:09 Came in a big moment and Dorian picked up a first down
02:11 when they really needed it, so that was good.
02:14 But Joe's the guy moving forward
02:15 and just as everybody thought
02:17 back when we were at the Greenbrier,
02:19 Joe Flacco, Kareem Hunt, and Dustin Hopkins
02:21 leading the way for the Bronx this year.
02:23 - Amazing, amazing.
02:24 What a great call by you too,
02:25 like, hey, to have a couple DTR wrinkles in there
02:28 and they were timely and they were perfect.
02:30 I mean, it was awesome.
02:31 Joe Flacco, two starts with the Cleveland Browns,
02:33 49 of 99, 565 yards, five touchdowns, two interceptions.
02:37 That's pretty darn good, man.
02:38 That's good football for a guy
02:40 who was on his mom's couch three weeks ago watching NFL.
02:43 - Yeah, I mean, I don't think it was his mother's couch,
02:44 I think it was his own couch.
02:46 - No, that's what they were saying on the broadcast.
02:47 - Was it his mom's couch?
02:48 - Yeah, he was at his mom's place.
02:49 - Maybe he was on more than one couch.
02:52 He's married with five kids.
02:53 I think there's a chance it was also his couch.
02:55 Either way, you know, look, he threw for 300 yards today.
02:59 The Browns haven't had a quarterback throw for 300
03:01 since Jacoby Brissett did that against the Bills
03:04 back in November of last year.
03:06 The Browns have now won a game
03:09 with four different starting quarterbacks this year.
03:11 That's kind of wild.
03:13 It's only happened now eight times since 1950
03:17 over the course of the NFL long history.
03:20 So, you know, there are a lot of things about this team
03:23 that are kind of fun to think about and reflect on
03:25 because, you know, so many of them are abnormal.
03:29 But good teams find ways to win games
03:32 when they are not playing at their best.
03:34 They can still get it done.
03:36 And this team, several times this year,
03:38 has found ways to win ugly.
03:39 So credit for that because it calluses you.
03:43 It toughens you up when the playoffs come around.
03:46 And I mean, look, you never really know, man.
03:48 Just get in and see what happens.
03:50 Try to make a run.
03:51 It's possible.
03:52 - This was a playoff game today
03:53 and this is how they all feel, right?
03:55 You know, we experienced one a couple of years ago
03:57 where we got out to a 28-0 lead
04:00 and it came down to a one score game.
04:02 Like this back and forth feel
04:04 is what it's gonna take in the playoffs.
04:06 And it's awesome to get that experience.
04:08 We've had a couple of the last couple of weeks
04:09 where they've been close late
04:11 and we couldn't shut the door, you know,
04:12 and we gave the games away.
04:14 Think about the Rams game last week.
04:15 You're down one in the fourth quarter
04:17 and you lose by 14.
04:18 Like, you know, you just let those opportunities slide.
04:21 Today, they shut the door.
04:22 The defense, I thought was fantastic.
04:24 The offense put them in horrible situations twice.
04:27 Only gave up 28 points, 27 points.
04:29 But I thought they were fantastic.
04:31 MJ Emerson, game of his life.
04:33 It's gotta be, right?
04:34 - Yeah, and I'm glad he did it
04:36 because I didn't think he played great
04:39 on the two game road trip.
04:41 And I really felt like the Browns desperately needed him
04:44 to step up today and play well,
04:46 especially with Denzel Ward who,
04:48 look, Denzel didn't play.
04:51 And there are those saying he was never gonna play.
04:55 I don't think we were really reading
04:58 between the lines that much
05:01 when speaking with Denzel on Thursday this week,
05:04 asking him about his progress.
05:06 He said, "It's great."
05:07 And he just sort of indicated,
05:09 without saying the words, "I'm playing Sunday,"
05:12 he sure made it seem like he was playing this week.
05:16 Kevin Stefanski admitted post-game when I asked him,
05:18 "Hey, how close was Denzel to playing?"
05:21 And he danced around it a little bit and saying,
05:23 "Well, he was questionable, so he's 50-50,
05:25 "but he's made a lot of progress."
05:27 So I don't know if they were internally hopeful
05:29 that he was gonna get there this week or not.
05:32 Regardless, to circle back, Emerson needed to play well
05:35 because Juan Thornhill tweaked his calf pre-game.
05:38 That's another big loss.
05:39 So now all of a sudden you're looking at a defense going,
05:41 "Wait a second, wait a second.
05:43 "No Thornhill, Ronnie Hickman's gonna play today.
05:46 "No Denzel Ward, Cam Mitchell's back off IR.
05:50 "You hope he's gonna look like
05:52 "what we think he can look like."
05:54 You're leaning pretty heavily on those guys,
05:56 and Greg knew somebody to go out and make plays.
05:58 And largely, I thought the secondary played well today.
06:02 But Jim Schwartz made a huge push this week,
06:05 saying the defensive line needed to play better.
06:08 And I thought the defensive line was disruptive.
06:10 - I thought so too.
06:11 And even to add to the secondary,
06:12 before coming back to the D-line,
06:13 you lose Grant Delpit midway through the third quarter.
06:15 So now you're looking around, you're like,
06:17 "Uh-oh, I don't know what's going on."
06:18 And then in a pivotal play, fourth down,
06:20 right at midfield, right on the brownie of the elf,
06:22 it was Ronnie Hickman and it was Cam Mitchell
06:26 making a play on Zay Jones,
06:27 who's been in the league for forever.
06:29 Two rookies, a fifth round pick and an undrafted guy
06:31 making a play to win the football game.
06:33 That's what this team's about.
06:34 And Miles even said it at the end of the game
06:36 when he was giving his thoughts on MJ Emerson.
06:38 He was like, "The dude loves football.
06:41 "He doesn't change if it's Wednesday or if it's Sunday.
06:43 "You couldn't tell.
06:44 "He just gets out and loves football."
06:45 And that's what you see from this team.
06:47 It felt like they got their swagger back.
06:48 JOK's dancing, Moe Hurst is getting his belly rub in.
06:52 Like everyone, like all that stuff that we loved
06:54 early on in the year that we hadn't seen
06:56 the past couple of weeks 'cause it's been tough.
06:57 And it's been tough sledding.
06:58 They come home, they looked great.
07:00 Defensive line stepped it up, played well.
07:02 And even to Miles's point and his pressure,
07:04 and we'll get to this, he thought it was poorly officiated.
07:07 So he was getting, you know, fighting uphill.
07:10 We'll say that much.
07:12 - Well, then we can say more than that.
07:13 Miles called the officiating a travesty.
07:15 I think he probably spent a little money
07:16 after the game today.
07:18 We'll follow that along the way.
07:20 But he didn't mix words in saying that, you know,
07:23 guys are putting their hands in his face mask
07:25 and grabbing him around the back of his,
07:29 you know, the back of his shoulder pads
07:31 and near his helmet.
07:33 And it sounds like it's been a long time coming.
07:35 So, you know, he's decided today to say something.
07:39 - And to that point too, Brennan, like all game long,
07:41 getting held, getting hands in the face,
07:43 just not going his way, no sacks.
07:45 They're going for two with a chance to cut it to two points
07:48 and have a chance to win the football game.
07:50 And who makes the play on the two point conversion?
07:51 Miles Garrett.
07:52 It's like, hey, the last two weeks,
07:54 last three weeks have been tough for him, right?
07:56 He's injured, he's not producing,
07:57 not having a bunch of tackles, but it doesn't matter.
07:59 Every play is given and is all,
08:01 and it showed up there on that two point conversion
08:03 to kind of seal the game a little bit.
08:05 - Big day for Flacco, 26 to 45, 311, three touchdowns.
08:09 He had one interception and he was laughing at himself
08:12 and he said, well, you know, yes, I did fumble a ball
08:15 on a guy that sacked me coming from my front side.
08:17 So I guess it wasn't a perfect day.
08:20 The Browns ran the ball well enough.
08:21 Jerome Ford led the way, 12 carries for 51.
08:24 Kareem Hunt had a touchdown, 10 touches for 27 yards total.
08:28 And nicely done by David Njoku and Amari Cooper.
08:31 They combined for 13 catches and 168 receiving yards
08:35 with the two touchdowns from Njoku.
08:36 Obviously David Bell caught the big,
08:38 big open touchdown pass as well.
08:42 Three touchdowns of 30 or more yards
08:44 through the air for Flacco today.
08:45 That has not happened for a Cleveland Browns quarterback
08:47 in quite a while.
08:47 - It has not.
08:48 My favorite part about the receiver stats,
08:50 eight different receivers caught the football today.
08:52 So it wasn't like, and last week, nine receivers.
08:54 So that's the best part.
08:56 My favorite part about watching Flacco play
08:58 is that the ball goes where the defense dictates it.
09:01 It doesn't matter if it's going to Jordan Aikens
09:03 or if it's Elijah Moore or if it's Amari Cooper or whoever.
09:06 David Bell, biggest play of the game,
09:07 fourth down, 41 yard touchdown.
09:09 It doesn't matter.
09:10 He's going to throw the football
09:12 where the defense dictates it every single time.
09:15 And that's honestly my favorite part
09:17 about watching him play the quarterback position.
09:19 - Look, Kevin Stefanski, I think has had a really good year.
09:22 I wouldn't call it a perfect year.
09:23 He probably wouldn't call it a perfect year,
09:25 but he certainly, he made some,
09:28 well, some calls he paid to make that you gotta convert on.
09:33 And today they did, including a 55 yard field goal
09:37 in December in Cleveland in a little bit of wind
09:41 to basically ice the game.
09:42 Dustin Hopkins nailed it.
09:44 So Cleveland got it done in an exciting fashion
09:47 against a team that I would be very surprised
09:50 if Jacksonville is not a playoff team.
09:52 I don't think there's enough time left
09:54 for them to slide out of the playoffs,
09:56 but whether or not they're going to be, you know,
09:58 one of the top two seeds in the AFC,
10:00 I guess still kind of remains to be seen.
10:02 Kansas City and what happened with Baltimore today?
10:05 Good grief.
10:06 I mean, come on, man.
10:07 One of the Browns could catch a break with that.
10:08 - Right. I guess some, they say it's better
10:11 to be lucky than good.
10:12 The Ravens are good and lucky.
10:13 So it's that, that was a tough deal.
10:14 That would have been awesome.
10:15 Cause that brings you one game back from the North
10:17 and Jacksonville, how about Jacksonville, man?
10:19 They gotta be shaking their fist at the schedule makers
10:21 because they go Bengals, Browns, Ravens.
10:24 And they got the Ravens next week.
10:25 A tough one.
10:26 Would have been great if they can,
10:28 if they could go help us out and take down
10:30 the mighty Ravens.
10:31 But we'll see regardless, you're sitting at eight and five.
10:33 You're on top of the wild card
10:35 and in a really great position.
10:37 In a week, that was a really transition week
10:39 with the Houston losing, with Indianapolis losing,
10:42 and with Pittsburgh losing as well.
10:44 - Yeah, no doubt.
10:45 It was a great day for the Browns.
10:46 Final score, 31-27.
10:48 We got plenty more.
10:49 Wrapping this one up over at brownsdigest.com.
10:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]