The Browns and Bengals finish off the season at Paycor Stadium down in Cincinnati. While the result of today's matchup doesn't change the playoff landscape, there is a lot for Browns fans to watch for in this Week 18 matchup We get you set for Browns vs Bengals here on Browns Digest.
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00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Well, good morning everybody
00:11 and welcome to Paycore Stadium
00:12 for the regular season finale.
00:15 Cleveland Browns and the Cincinnati Bengals
00:18 ready to have the second of the battle of Ohio this year.
00:22 And yes, there are gonna be a lot of reserves
00:24 playing in this game,
00:25 but I still think there's plenty to pay attention to
00:27 and what will be the final tune up for the Browns
00:30 before post-season football starts next week.
00:33 Anthony, there's plenty of things to watch today
00:37 here locally, but the biggest question
00:38 I think Browns fans are most looking forward
00:40 to figuring out may not necessarily be what happens here.
00:44 They saw Houston beat Indianapolis last night.
00:47 And so all eyes are also gonna be
00:49 on the Jacksonville game today against Tennessee.
00:51 It's very simple.
00:52 If the Jaguars beat Tennessee,
00:55 the Browns are going to Jacksonville next weekend.
00:58 If Tennessee upsets Jacksonville
01:00 and the Browns are gonna go play the Houston Texans,
01:03 although this time around, theoretically,
01:05 CJ Stroud is gonna be healthy enough to play quarterback.
01:08 And so that could be a different challenge
01:10 even though the Browns beat both the Jaguars
01:12 and the Texans earlier this season.
01:14 So let's pull our focus back to this game here
01:17 for just a moment,
01:18 as we get ready for post-season football next weekend.
01:21 What are you most looking forward to watching today?
01:22 - Yeah, this is a weird feel for us, right?
01:25 This is a meaningless football game
01:26 because we're the ones in the driver's seat.
01:28 The Cleveland Browns have their ticket punched already
01:31 to the NFL playoffs, which is so exciting.
01:33 But for me today, it's very simple.
01:36 Get out of this game somehow, someway with no injuries.
01:39 I know that we haven't been able to do that all year long
01:42 and we've had one of the worst injury bugs
01:45 you're ever gonna see in an NFL season.
01:47 But I think it's so important this afternoon
01:49 because we're not able to sit everyone we wanna sit
01:53 before this game.
01:53 There's gonna be some key guys.
01:55 Look in the secondary, you're gonna see Martin Emerson.
01:57 Unfortunately, you're probably gonna see
01:59 Denzel Ward potentially.
02:01 At the linebacker position,
02:02 you're gonna see some guys that you recognize.
02:03 So a lot of our key players
02:05 are still gonna have to play today.
02:07 So it's paramount that they get through this weird weather,
02:10 bad weather game, get out of here with no injuries
02:13 and get ready for whoever it may be,
02:15 whether it's Jacksonville or Houston,
02:17 get ready for them next week.
02:19 - That's a good point you bring up about the weather.
02:20 Obviously, we're inside doing this stand up here
02:23 just outside the press box behind me.
02:25 I think the best way to describe the weather today,
02:29 best case scenario, it's damp.
02:31 It's not raining exactly right now at this moment.
02:34 It's 36 degrees.
02:36 It's not gonna get any warmer than 37 all day.
02:39 It's a little bit breezy
02:41 and there's been sort of a rain snow mix all morning.
02:44 Nothing accumulating here in Cincinnati.
02:46 It's just kind of a gray, gross January day.
02:49 But it's a little wet.
02:51 And so there's an element of like this game scream,
02:55 somebody is gonna roll an ankle.
02:58 And so you're right.
02:59 I mean, there is certainly an emphasis
03:00 on figure out a way to do everything you can
03:03 to get out of this thing healthy,
03:04 especially given what Cleveland's injury situation
03:07 has been this year.
03:08 But I think this is a huge opportunity for Jeff Driscoll,
03:11 because in my opinion,
03:14 he is absolutely in the driver's seat
03:16 to become the backup quarterback in the playoffs
03:19 if he plays well today.
03:20 And I think this team is full go with Joe Flacco for sure.
03:25 But if anything, this season has taught us
03:28 that you gotta have a plan B.
03:30 And I think Jeff Driscoll, if he plays well today,
03:32 can leapfrog PJ Walker.
03:34 - Yeah, absolutely.
03:35 And he comes from Arizona.
03:36 So what that means is that he's spent all year
03:40 with Drew Petzing, who was with the Browns last year
03:42 and has been with Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt
03:45 and speaks a similar language.
03:46 So you heard Stefanski all week long
03:49 talk about how quickly Jeff Driscoll has been able
03:52 to just pick up the offense,
03:54 because he's been using and playing with similar concepts
03:57 and terminology all year long.
03:59 So that's a huge thing.
04:01 Let's just see what he is.
04:02 I don't know if you remember about five or six years ago
04:04 in 2018, he actually threw his first NFL touchdown pass
04:07 in that stadium against the Cleveland Browns.
04:09 It was to Tyler Boyd right up the middle.
04:11 But he talked about it earlier in the week.
04:13 But he's a decent player.
04:15 He doesn't have the best wins to loss record in his career,
04:20 but he throws it around pretty well,
04:21 just about a 60% completion guys,
04:24 got 14 career touchdowns to eight interceptions.
04:26 So we'll see how he commands it today,
04:28 because the way that this season's gone,
04:30 we don't know if Joe Flacco is gonna be able to last
04:32 throughout the rest of the playoffs.
04:33 We've seen some crazy stuff.
04:35 And if we do have to turn it over to Jeff Driscoll
04:38 later in the playoffs,
04:39 we'll see what he can bring to the table.
04:41 - You know, again, it's a limited window
04:43 that we have at practice.
04:45 But for what it's worth,
04:46 when we saw him on the practice field this week,
04:48 you know, he throws a pretty good ball.
04:51 And I expect that he's gonna get out there
04:54 and with his opportunity today,
04:55 go out and try to make some good plays.
04:57 I personally would be surprised if he doesn't solidify
05:03 a backup quarterback role going into the postseason.
05:05 But you gotta go out and actually prove it, that's for sure.
05:09 Maybe we've talked a little bit more
05:10 about the offensive side of the ball.
05:12 I think you mentioned Pierce Strong
05:13 is probably gonna be the feature back today.
05:15 You know, I don't, Kevin Stefanski made it very clear
05:19 with where the roster's at right now,
05:20 you only have 53 active guys, you can't rest everybody.
05:24 So I'm interested to see which guys,
05:26 particularly on the offensive line,
05:28 still go out and, you know, strap up and play.
05:31 But on the defensive side of the ball,
05:33 I think it is critically important for the defensive line
05:36 to just have the right rotation today
05:38 and not put too many snaps on any one guy.
05:41 Because in my opinion, as you get ready for the postseason,
05:46 Cleveland's defensive line has been critical
05:48 in their success.
05:49 Their secondaries played well.
05:50 Obviously, Jeremiah Usokoromoa has really exploded
05:53 onto the scene the second half of the year.
05:55 But to me, it all starts with the defensive line.
05:57 And it's not even just Miles Garrett.
05:59 The defensive tackles have been
06:00 really, really good this year.
06:02 And I think you just gotta find ways to make sure
06:04 that those guys aren't overused today.
06:06 You know, you don't want anybody to play
06:08 any less hard than normal.
06:09 That's not what we're talking about,
06:11 because that's how you get hurt.
06:13 But if you can limit the right number of snaps
06:14 for certain guys, you might mitigate some of those chances.
06:17 And I am particularly interested to watch that
06:20 at defensive tackle today.
06:21 - Yeah, you took the words right out of my mouth.
06:23 It's so important for whoever's playing today to play hard.
06:26 Like, you go out there and you try not to play,
06:28 or you're playing at a different percentage
06:30 than you normally would, that's when you get hurt.
06:32 That's when you see those crazy things happen.
06:33 So whoever's out there, they gotta be playing,
06:36 because the guys across from them are gonna be playing
06:38 as hard as they possibly can.
06:39 So that goes for the defensive line.
06:42 Have that great rotation.
06:43 Get Siak-E-Ika in there.
06:44 Let's see what he can do on extended time.
06:46 Alex Wright as well.
06:47 Some of these guys that may not have had
06:50 some of the reps throughout the year,
06:52 this is a great opportunity for them.
06:54 And then on the backside of that,
06:55 like, whoever's playing linebacker,
06:57 it's just critical that you play really hard
06:59 and you just get out of dodge with no injuries.
07:02 I kept watching that Raven-Steelers game yesterday,
07:05 and it was raining, snowing, gross.
07:07 - Gross.
07:08 - You're watching Patrick Queen,
07:09 one of their best players, run around out there,
07:11 and you're like, "Oh my gosh, if he gets hurt,
07:13 "that's a big deal."
07:14 And there's a lot of guys that'll be playing today for us
07:17 that that's a similar thing.
07:19 Just get out of here, no injuries,
07:21 and you'll feel really good about it.
07:22 - Let's wrap our pregame report here
07:24 with some conversation around Jake Browning.
07:27 I think there is an element of whenever you get a chance
07:30 to play in the NFL, you're playing for your team.
07:33 But if you're not a starter,
07:34 especially if you're not a starting quarterback,
07:37 you're also playing for every other team in the league.
07:39 Because if you wanna have an opportunity
07:41 to be a guy in this league,
07:44 you gotta have the film to back that up.
07:46 And there's no doubt or any question in this town
07:50 who their franchise quarterback is.
07:51 So I am interested to see how Jake Browning plays today
07:56 against one of, if not the best defense in the NFL.
08:01 What tape can he put out there
08:03 to try to keep pushing his career forward?
08:05 I think he's done a pretty good job
08:06 of keeping the Bengals competitive
08:08 when a lot of people wrote off their season
08:09 after Joe Burrow got hurt.
08:11 - Yeah, he's been really good.
08:12 And today's another great opportunity for him.
08:14 And he's a guy, obviously, from the weeks past,
08:17 we know he's fiery, right?
08:18 After that Vikings game a couple of weeks ago,
08:20 he comes off like,
08:21 "You shouldn't have cut me," screaming and stuff.
08:22 So you know he wants this,
08:24 and you know he wants to continue putting out good stuff.
08:27 And I agree, he's been playing very good
08:29 outside of one game against the Steelers a couple weeks ago.
08:32 That's one he's gonna want back.
08:33 But you know, he's a good player.
08:36 He's competitive, he's accurate.
08:38 He's a guy that you don't win because of,
08:41 but he keeps you in every single game
08:43 and enough to be competitive
08:45 and potentially throw his name in a potential starters role,
08:48 or be one of those guys who's always a great backup
08:52 that teams are gonna want to covet,
08:53 especially the way this year has gone throughout the NFL.
08:55 So I expect Jake Browning's best this afternoon.
09:00 - Can't wait.
09:00 Game kicks off here in just a couple of hours.
09:02 Of course, it's on CBS this afternoon.
09:04 I know Tom McCarthy's got play-by-play on CBS.
09:07 You can certainly listen to the Browns Radio Network as well.
09:10 We've got all the written coverage you'd like
09:11 over at brownsdigest.com,
09:13 including any highlights that go up
09:14 during the course of the game.
09:15 And we'll have plenty of post-game video reaction
09:17 just like this.
09:18 So certainly hope you'll join us
09:19 live on our YouTube channel post-game,
09:21 and we'll have these videos posted on the website as well.
09:24 For Anthony Meglin, I'm Brendan Gulick.
09:26 Enjoy the game.
09:27 It's the last stress-free game
09:29 you're gonna have here this season,
09:30 and so that should make it a fun afternoon.
09:32 We'll see you soon here at Paycore Stadium.
09:35 (indistinct)
09:37 (indistinct)
09:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]