Latest / The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views / OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Cleveland Browns

Transcript

OPPOSITION TERRITORY: Cleveland Browns · The Philadelphia Sports Table | Philly Sports News & Views

0:26
All right, folks, welcome to this installment of opposition territory here at the
0:30
Philadelphia Sports Table podcast show, the longest running weekly Philly sports podcast show in
0:34
the world. That's right over ten years. Strong Man, we have got
0:37
a great discussion coming your way because we're gonna be getting into the Cleveland Browns.
0:40
This is a team I think that could do some very interesting things in
0:44
the NFL this year and specifically in the AFC. Yes, I think they
0:48
could do some very special things. Of course, if certain things just kind
0:52
of come together and gel for them. We have got a great guest.
0:56
Let's get into some Cleveland's brown talk right now. It's great to have him
0:59
back on the podcast coming to us from the Locked On Brown's podcast. You
1:03
know, we love our Locked on podcasts here. We love having folks from
1:07
many different who cover many different teams from the Locked On podcasts on this podcast
1:12
show. We have the one and only Jeff LJ. Lloyd LJ. How
1:17
are you doing, buddy. We're good, We're good. You know,
1:19
I mean, you know, we wait so long to get to this point
1:22
of the year, and you know, yeah, and it's weird for us
1:25
obviously. You know, so many people you know, they look forward to
1:29
you know, July and August for certain reasons, whereas us it's you know,
1:33
hey, I mean, you know, we tap dance around and you
1:34
know, do the best we can as far as content creators. But there's
1:38
only so much you can do when you know, basically your sport is in
1:42
hiatus. Right. Look, we're back. It's full throttle, you know,
1:45
just going to work every day, pounded it out and obviously you know,
1:48
waiting to see as things comes, you know. Unfortunately for me,
1:49
you know, Brown's had an extra preseason games, so I mean we're already
1:53
in full swing back at it this week Friday night against New York j I
1:56
mean not New York, just sorry, the Washington Commanders. Yeah, you
1:59
know, just you know, every season is basically a chapter of a book,
2:01
and about to basically write another one. Absolutely write in another chapter right
2:05
around the corner here and follow LJ on Twitter, folks. He's a great,
2:08
great follow at Jeff Underscore LJ Underscore Lloyd. Give him a follow.
2:13
We've been following for quite some time to get our Browns news and what's going
2:17
on with the team. So let's get into this Browns team, and you
2:21
know, kind of you know, reflecting on last year, LJ I kind
2:25
of viewed that as a transition season for the brown especially at the quarterback position,
2:30
Jacoby Purcette starting the season then Deshaun Watson ending it. It was it
2:35
was kind of an unusual last stretch of the twenty twenty two season for the
2:38
Cleveland Browns. Fast forward to this season, and there appears to be more
2:43
stability with the team itself overall, at least that's how it appears from the
2:46
outside here. What's the comparison from last season to this season in terms of
2:52
what direction this team is heading? As you're covering this team? Well,
2:57
I mean last year was weird because you know, obviously when we finally got
3:00
the news of the original suspension at five games, you know, basically that
3:02
was okay, everything's still kind of in play here. You know, any
3:06
team, you know that they think if their decent teams should be able to
3:08
survive, you know, losing their quarterback for five weeks. Then it goes
3:12
to eleven games and now all of a sudden, you know, and it
3:15
created that weird dynamic where what exactly whether we do with Deshaun Watson because you
3:20
know, you can't basically hand the ball all summer and preseason. DeShawn Watson
3:23
then say we're not going to see again till the December. So we basically
3:28
they were running an offense that was more fit for Jacoby Brissette for eleven weeks
3:31
than you basically had to Shaun Watson come back into the building. And now
3:35
it was you know, trying to adapt to the fact that you know,
3:37
obviously it just shown is more athletic. I mean, it just has a
3:39
quicker release. Everything about him just plays at a faster playing speed. So
3:43
it was really really difficult to do that, you know, and you saw
3:46
and then we're not a good factor again the fact that you know, Shoun
3:50
Watson hadn't done anything football wise for twenty months, so you know that was
3:53
real, and you know when he came back and he was rusty, and
3:54
the one thing we had all hoped is if there was a chance, basically,
3:58
let's not hope that we get to the situation and where Shan comes back
4:00
and we're asking him to be this same year and go five in one or
4:02
six at out right, which is essentially what they were at essentially what they
4:05
asked him to do, and you know, he wasn't ready obviously, you
4:09
know, the rust was there, and you know, maybe it would have
4:11
been different if he was, you know, returning to Houston where he had
4:14
some familiarity. It was a brand new city. He was brand new coaching
4:15
staff, brand new offense, brand new players. So it took some time.
4:19
And you know, there were times where I thought he looked pretty good.
4:20
The second half against the Washington Commanders, he looked really really solid.
4:25
There were other times, you know, where he played pretty well, but
4:28
you you know, you just had to understand, you know, the Browns
4:30
were essentially punting on the twenty and twenty two season, basically putting everything in
4:33
one basket towards twenty twenty three. Now you're here, he looks he looks
4:39
just in a better place. I think, you know so much what we
4:43
saw last year was dealing with what I'm going through, you know what it
4:46
is, how was the public perception of me, and not even knowing exactly
4:49
what his suspension or any of that was going to be. Then it was
4:53
coming back and obviously everybody you know who was unhappy with the man, you
4:57
know how to get in, you know, their shots, and obviously the
4:59
boot who's where he went and those types of things. But I think now,
5:01
you know, I think he's maybe better for it because it's you know,
5:04
I want I don't want to say it's over, and it's never gonna
5:06
be over when he goes on the road. But I think he's kind of,
5:10
you know, moved past that too, back to where you know I
5:12
am doing, you know, because he almost basically lost everything. I mean,
5:15
when you're somebody the only thing you've ever done, the only the only
5:16
thing you've ever done, you know, was playing football, would be a
5:19
quarterback, You're looking at the possibility of, you know, what would I
5:23
ever do if this was taken away from me? And you know, if
5:25
it was you know, technically that was on him anyway. But I think
5:29
he's he feels a little bit more at ease than he can just go back
5:31
to being the football player that he was, which is huge. And you
5:34
know, because you know, any athlete, you know, you just want
5:36
to go out there. You didn't want to think, you just want to
5:39
perform. And I think he's at that, you know spot now and again
5:42
in his career where it's just basically going out and playing fall. Yeah,
5:45
and it's it's a good segue into the next topic, which you know,
5:47
I wanted to get into just Shaun a little bit in more detail with you,
5:51
because we always look at expectations for quarterbacks and what the quarterback position on
5:57
any given team is going to give that team in that family based throughout the
6:00
course of a season. And you know, you talk about the mental aspects
6:03
of what he went through, the physical aspects too, and I'm wondering if
6:09
he still does need to get back even maybe from a physical standpoint to where
6:13
he was, you know, before the suspension started, just before this entire
6:16
saga started here, I'm wondering if you would agree with that from a physical
6:19
standpoint, mental standpoint, that he still does need to do some work here.
6:24
Wondering if you agree with that and think that that's the case, and
6:27
just what are your thoughts about what we could logically end up seeing from him
6:31
this year under center. Well, I mean, I think first things first
6:35
is he's gonna he's got proven to himself. You know, he's got to
6:39
go out there and be successful, and you know, nobody else is gonna
6:42
believe it, I think till de Sean believes it. And yes, he
6:45
probably does believe it, But you know, at the end of the day,
6:47
this is a statute driven business. And you know, if his you
6:49
know, pretentious completion is that you know around seventy, which has always been
6:55
what he has been accustomed to his time career, low interception rate, you
6:59
know, high touchdown rate, you know, obviously winning ball games. You
7:01
know, there was the season you know, you know, he had a
7:03
being eleven to five season for the Houston Texas in twenty twenty. He was
7:09
incredible on what was a terrible football team four and twelve. He literally had
7:12
guy J. J. Watt come up and apologize to him on the half
7:15
of the other fifties two football players that we were sorry, we could not
7:18
come closer to the level of play that you were at this year. So
7:21
he knows it. But you know, look, I mean there is always
7:26
that little part of any athletes in the back of the mind. You know,
7:30
whether it's a baseball player to go over four with three strike out or
7:32
you're starting pitcher and you get lit up in the first inning, there's always
7:35
that thing that makes you want to you know. So he needs to start
7:38
strong, and it's gonna be critical because the Bryland's first four games are very
7:43
difficult, and then they got to buy a week and then they get to
7:45
San Francisco forty nine ers in Week six and if there's any weaknesses within an
7:48
NFL team, the San Francisco's forty nine ers will expose it and supposed to
7:53
living daylights out of it, right, So I think for that, But
7:57
he's he's to the point now where you know, last year when we first
8:00
out here, he wasn't necessarily welcome to like events or showing himself out in
8:05
the city. You know, this year there's this city. I mean,
8:07
he just did a seven on seven camp and you know, this is what
8:11
things that normally your top star athletes in every city do you know, So
8:16
now always bat you know, and you know kids, you know, they
8:18
look at heroes and necessarily don't necessarily see their flaws. So you see the
8:22
kids seeing Deshaun Watson, knowing the type of player he is, and they're
8:26
very excited to see him and you and that part kind of gets you know,
8:30
rushed away, I would say, so to speak, But yeah,
8:33
I think he's it's it's been a long long road for him, but I
8:37
think, you know, mentally and I think he's there you know, and
8:41
what can we expect from him on the field, Well, I mean his
8:43
average season would and what he's done to this point in his career, he
8:48
would break the Browns all time passing record. He shattered the Browns all time
8:50
touchdown passing a record at one season, So the expectations are high. But
8:54
granted, he's playing for a franchise that has never really had real elite quarterback
9:00
late, so the opportunity is certainly there for him. And if he breaks
9:03
these records like he probably most likely should, you know, I think it's
9:05
gonna be everybody's gonna be just all jazz st help. And the other thing
9:09
is he probably doesn't even have to get close back to what he was the
9:13
dog you let out. He doesn't have to get back close to what he
9:16
was. If he gets back to eight ninety percent of what he was,
9:20
it should be more than okay. With the way this growsterer was assembled,
9:24
well, I think it could help too. Based on the offensive line.
9:26
I think he could potentially do that. Based on this Brown's offensive line.
9:30
I mean, look, they have one of the best offensive lines in the
9:33
AFC North, possibly in the AFC overall. Here, I mean, do
9:39
you think that this offensive line, if Watson does struggle or maybe injuries occur
9:43
within the team itself, that the Browns offensive line can actually kind of carry
9:48
the offense here or at the very least keep them in a good position game
9:52
by game so they're competitive within the division. I mean, how important is
9:56
this offensive line to how competitive this team is to be this season? Oh,
10:01
it's most certainly is. And this is where it's it's a little bit
10:05
different because you know, this year, obviously is the team that's now going
10:07
to shift and be more of the past. First offense, When you make
10:09
an investment of two hundred and thirty billion dollars in a year quarterback, obviously
10:13
you expect him to throw the ball a lot. You know what they Probabmarily
10:16
ran for the last couple of years and ran so well with Nick chub Is.
10:20
You know, they were more of an outside stretch, you know,
10:20
outside zone type of thing with a lot more shotgun now and we saw glimpses
10:26
of it in the first preseason game, and it's gonna be a little bit
10:28
more inside zone. And it's just things where these guys are going to have
10:31
to adapt a little bit and just you know, and the other thing is
10:33
they're gonna be doing more past pro than they have you know, done in
10:35
the past. Yeah, the Old Delight has been a really solid unit.
10:39
They got a real gifts last year. As you know, they thought Nick
10:43
Harris was gonna be the starting center. Nick Harris went down one of the
10:45
first few plays last year. In the preseason, they had signed Ethan Postick
10:50
basically as a reserve offensive lineman. He got thrust in the starting center for
10:52
the job and basically just took the ball and ran with it and did a
10:56
fantastic job, so much so that it worked out for the Browns that they
10:58
had to go and reinvest more money and Ethan posts can bring him back this
11:01
year just because he's just was a natural fit in between Joe Betonio, in
11:05
between Wyatt Teller, Jack Conklin. When Jack houghlind is healthy, he is
11:09
arguably the best right tackle in the offen that's fright tackle in the NFL.
11:13
You know, Jendrick Wills. It's always a work in progress. I think
11:16
there's we go through maybe two weeks where like, all right, man,
11:18
it looks like Jeddrick Will and then the next week it's there's just things just
11:24
make it like just really really confused, like he's either you know, like
11:26
you get these still shots where he's facing the wrong way or all of a
11:31
sudden you just it's like he's paused, like he's not moving okay, and
11:35
like it's just seems so irrational to ever see that in a football field,
11:39
because you know, anybody was ever coached. Look, I don't care if
11:41
you're making a mistake or not. You better make the mistake at one hundred
11:43
million miles an hour. And you know, for there's these mental lapses with
11:48
Jeddrick Wills, and there's a little more pressure now he's not really just guaranteed
11:52
this. The Browns drafted Duwan Jones with the intention of we're gonna see what
11:54
we got here. But ideally, when you draft somebody who's six foot eight,
11:58
three hundred fifty pounds, you're looking at the offensive line. You're thinking
12:01
of one position, in one position only. You're thinking left tackle. Played
12:03
the entire game Monday night, played it right, I mean Thursday night,
12:07
at the whole of Fame game played right tackle, played flawless, did not
12:11
give up a pressure, his footwork for a man who was six foot eighty
12:13
three fifty is incredible. It's clean. Uh you know he looks I mean,
12:18
if you only looked knees down, you would think he was moving around
12:20
like a tight end. That's just how good his footwork is. So now
12:24
obviously the natural thought process would be, well, we know we've got at
12:28
least a right tackle here. So now I think the process is what we're
12:31
gonna see this week is they're gonna start ships them over and see what kind
12:33
of left tackle reps that can get at him because he's been working both sides,
12:37
so it's good to basically give them a fall back. Yes, they
12:41
picked up Jedrick Wills's option for twenty twenty four, but you know we saw
12:45
teams just go through this as well as Sincinnati Bengals. They picked up the
12:46
fifth year option on Joanah Williams. Yes, what Joey Williams is the right
12:50
tackle this year because they had no faith in that fifth year, so they
12:52
went out and you know they signed you know, Orlando Brown Junior, so
12:56
you know they have you know, I think some better depth year this year.
13:01
You know, it's always been kind of like a whole bunch of different
13:03
no names and ane of these guys never ended up even playing. But now
13:05
it's to the point where Browns have invested draft choices in guys developing. They
13:09
also drafted the center from Ohio State last year, Luke Whitpler. He had
13:15
a really really strong first showing against the Jets as well. So the offensive
13:20
line in gy here and look, I mean, you have a guy like
13:22
Bill Callahan to not mention that that, you know, if Bill Callahan's coaching
13:26
your offensive line, you better be talking about the fact that you have one
13:28
of the better offensive lines in the NFL. Is just where it goes.
13:30
Absolutely, Absolutely, We'll sticking with the offense here, LJ. You know,
13:35
from a receiving standpoint, Amari Cooper, Elijah Moore, Donovan People's Jones
13:39
are arguably the top three receivers for this team. And I know that Cedric
13:43
Tillman, he made some nice plays during the first week of the preseason.
13:48
And I'm wondering if there are any other under the radar type of playmakers at
13:52
the wide receiver position that we should really be looking at during camp and during
13:56
the rest of this preseason. Here, who is really kind of caught your
14:01
eye with regard to the wide receivers on this team. He's only been here
14:05
for about a week and a half because the Browns did have some injuries.
14:07
Anthony Schwartzmith's time. He's back at practice now and Anthony Schwartz it is always
14:11
the same thing. He's very similar to Jetrick Wills. It's you know,
14:13
you know, except maybe a little reverse. It's two bad days and then
14:16
you get a positive day, and you know, the Browns really wanted to
14:18
work with this guy, but it's going in a year three now. You
14:22
know, they love the fact that he runs sub for three, but if
14:26
you can't do the little things consistently, it's really hard to even put you
14:28
on the field. They went out and signed Mark. He's Goodwin with the
14:31
thought process of if Anthony Schwartz doesn't work out, we've got a Marquis's Goodwin
14:35
who's got this elite speed speaking going to do these things. But Marquis Goodwin
14:37
right now is dealing with the bloodplight issue, un able to practice, so
14:41
who knows long he's going to be out. Jaalen Darden was a name formerly
14:43
as Tampa Bay Buccaneers would looked pretty good. Jalen Darden is part of the
14:48
you know off on the side list every day, so he's not doing himself
14:52
any favors. But Chaking Grant, who they signed, you know, not
14:54
this offseason, all season, before he started off training camp last year,
14:58
blew out any chillies and then obviously, you know, you end up in
15:01
no man's land. But now he's kind of working his way back basically,
15:05
you know, from no man's land. He has returned ability, which is
15:07
one of the key reasons brown liked him. Browns liked him. They really
15:11
like Elijah Moore, and they love the versatility that Elijah Moore gives him.
15:15
They can run him out of the backfield. They do a lot of jet
15:16
motion with him. But the thing is, if you liked that so much
15:20
from a player, what do you do if God forbid you don't have that
15:24
player, you would still like to have that ability. I think that kind
15:26
of gives an advantage to a guy, of course, you know like Chicken
15:30
Grant, who's always i mean, he was never you know, a big
15:33
dominant player in the league. But you go and you can find some games
15:35
with this guy, you know, put together over one hundred and eighty total
15:37
yards, three touchdowns. He's had those type of games. So he's got
15:41
certainly that ability. And then there's one he's been a bit about ten days
15:45
and it's Austin Marketing Costunity, you know, came over from the XFL.
15:48
You know, we weren't really sure what to make of him or how much
15:50
time there was gonna be. You know, we had another wide receiver who
15:54
was a younger guy, Dalen Baldwin got hurt in the Hall of Fame game.
15:56
They've released him. But meanwhile, Austin Jenkins in the Hall of Fame
15:58
game two receptions, thirty five yards and a touchdown keeps. You know,
16:02
it's simple that, Like I mean, you see these young guys and you
16:04
think, oh, there's no chance they're gonna make the roster, But then
16:07
you see cam footage and every ball that's thrown gets caught. Well, guess
16:10
what that's doing. The simplistic things gives you the opportunity to basically stick around
16:15
as long as they can, right. You know, you kissed the ball
16:17
when it is thrown to you. That's the job. And you for Austin
16:18
Watkins Junior, we'll see because you know he's been doing that thus far.
16:22
I think we do believe, you know that the room consists of Cooper obviously
16:26
and done with People's Jones and Elijah More certainly Cedric Tillman. David Bell was
16:30
the top one hundred pick last year, so in a year two, after
16:33
catching twenty four passes as a rookie, we feel he's safe. But this
16:37
can be a position with the Browns maybe keeps seven because Jerome Ford was their
16:41
kickoff returner last year. He's injured right now, but even still, if
16:44
he's running back to I doubt the Browns are going to risk him. Ask
16:45
their kickoff returner this year. Last year, Donovan People's Jones was primarily your
16:49
punt returner. But now as Donovan is stepped up as far as where he
16:53
is basically on the totem pole of these skill players, you might not want
16:56
to risk on him to People's Jones returning content anymore. Either opens up that
17:00
spot where you would probably keep a sixth wide receiver and maybe you're ended up
17:03
keeping a seventh because you know one of these guys is most likely going to
17:06
be in line for return duties. It could be a Jaylen Dardan, it
17:08
could be certainly a ja Keene Grant, you know, so opportunities for all
17:12
these guys, you know, but you know, some of these guys are
17:14
gonna get back on the field and get it back on the field quickly.
17:15
It's gonna be very interesting to see what happens with this wide receiver position and
17:18
how it shakes out, folks. And again, folks were talking to Jeff
17:22
LJ. Lloyd from They Locked on Brown's podcast. Follow LJ on Twitter at
17:26
Jeff Underscore LJ underscored Lloyd. He is a great, great follow And let's
17:30
move over to the defense. Lj Uh. You know, we we know
17:34
there's a unit of course with a lot of talent as well. They did
17:37
struggle from time to time last season, had a very up and down season.
17:41
But I definitely think this unit, I think they could be a top
17:45
ten defense here in twenty twenty three. So two part question for you here,
17:49
what are the pros when looking at this Brown's defense so far here in
17:55
the preseason? What are those pros that we really need to keep our eyes
17:57
on. I think one of the things and look at you can't you know,
18:03
back away obviously from the fact that this team brought in Jim Schwartz to
18:06
run this defense. And the first thing that you know, we hear and
18:10
we hear from players is basically that it doesn't seem like Jim Schwartz is putting
18:14
too much on their plate because Jim Schwartz and basically we're hearing from the players
18:17
is we're just trying to keep it simple, you know, Jim Schwartz right
18:18
now, I was basically saying, I think my guys are better than yours,
18:22
right so I don't have to play chess yet, I can play checkers.
18:25
And when you're deep, you know, the Browns have two number one
18:27
picks at the cornerback position. Martin Emerson was the top one hundred pick at
18:32
the cornerback position. They were pretty much set there. They Brown's second leading
18:36
sacker last year was Tavin Bryant with three, So you knew that was going
18:41
to be addressed after you hire somebody Jim Schwartz. So you know, they
18:45
make the apt you know, they make the you know, signing of obo
18:48
on karaq. Well. Early in free agency, they had two second year
18:51
defensive ends outs right Isaiah Thomas, both currently out. Both had knee surgery
18:55
yesterday. They're probably out so somewhere around the bye week most likely, but
18:57
still spend another draft pick Isaac McGuire out of Missouri, guy who played really
19:03
well for you know, the Tigers out in Missouri, and then even after
19:06
the draft, they were like, well we liked the room and the opportunity
19:10
to bring in Sadarius Smith. So yeah, we'll go out and we'll bring
19:11
in Sadarius Smith. So you signed to and you drafted one. Now you
19:15
go to the safety position. Now the safety position last year, and you
19:18
know a lot of people want to ride John Johnson the third first two years
19:22
with the Browns. It's kind of hard to do because, yes, he
19:26
did not play well, but the Browns also took a guy who was not
19:29
any traditional on the roof free safety and basically asked him to be in on
19:33
the roof free safety. He's just not athletic enough. That's just it was
19:36
never his game. His game is intelligent, his game with closer than the
19:37
line of scrimmage. He was just a better player in that scenario when the
19:41
Browns used him that way. Surprise surprise, he played well. But when
19:44
they tried to make him something he wasn't, he didn't play well. So
19:47
it went out and guess what, went out and got themselves somebody who has
19:51
experienced as being in roof free safety and want thorn Hill, one of the
19:53
most athletic safeties in the NFL. Then again you go through the draft.
19:57
Oh wait a minute, now after the draft year, come an opportunity again.
20:00
Oh wait, Rodney mclouds still available. Rodney McLoud has a history with
20:03
Jim Schwartz. So now you spent two signings at the safety position. Defensive
20:08
tackle they need, they were out and everybody they want, any big name
20:11
defensive tackle. The Browns were in on Dalvin Thomlinson was the one they got
20:15
to put ink to paper. That's probably the only spot. And I still
20:18
think there was a veteran move coming there because of all the positions that were
20:22
the weakest last year, defensive tackle was by far the weakest. Yeah,
20:25
so you know, you spent two you know, free agent you know contracts
20:29
on dns, two free asient contracts on safeties. I think they still would
20:33
like to spend one more on a veteran defensive tackle. They did draftsani Eka
20:37
three hundred and fifty five pounds. He looked good. I mean, he's
20:40
used just a wall. You don't move them, right, I mean,
20:42
and the guy, even at his size, split a double team Thursday night
20:45
in the Hall of Fame game, running back ran into him and it was
20:48
just I mean, it was like the old crash test dummy that it was
20:51
over. There was no more movement after that guy went straight to the ground.
20:53
But you know, with a rookie playing defensive tackle in the NFL,
20:56
you have your concerns about how quickly hold ready or how much he can contribut
21:00
right off the bat. So I think they would like to get a little
21:02
bit more help there, But it's all there, I mean. And the
21:03
linebackers Anthony Walkers, Taki Taki surprises to us that they weren't put on a
21:08
populist to start camp. Even more surprising to us, they are already starting
21:11
to take part in team drills, which is really good because these guys are
21:15
kind of like the veteran of this group. They think Jeh Jeremiah's Kormo will
21:18
be the best linebacker in that room, and I probably agree with it,
21:22
but he hasn't been to this point. And you know, veterans and they're
21:25
savvy have been the guys that have gotten it done. And but you get
21:27
all three them on the field at the same time, with Walker, with
21:30
Taki, Taki with Jeremiahsakorimo. You look to see hopefully you see an improve
21:34
unit, and we saw signs, you know, in the Hall of Fame
21:37
game, the linebackers were kept clean. This was something that did not happen
21:41
last year. You know, we saw our linebackers engaged with the interior offensive
21:44
lineman five six yards down the field. And this is why this team is
21:47
getting murdered through the run. Last year, just absolutely annihilated. They would
21:51
just embarrassed. But nothing really going to happen with a guy like Jim Schwartz.
21:55
It's just not his DNA. And you know, if he feels there's
21:57
one thing that you know he can't stop, he's going to sell out to
22:02
make you go away from it, to go somewhere else, right, So
22:04
that's with the most refreshing part to this, to this, you know,
22:07
as Jim Schwartz has been here is you know, and we had so much
22:11
last year when the players were you know, talking about too much verbiage or
22:15
too much communication. So by the time the ball was snapped, the guy's
22:18
technically weren't even really necessarily ready. Whereas Jim Schwartz is trying to just eliminate
22:23
that look, eventually things are going to get a little more complex. It's
22:27
just the way it goes. But what you want to do is you gotta
22:30
want to get everybody's confidence built up first, and I think that's what he's
22:33
trying to do. And you know, until he's got a reason to go
22:37
a little deeper into the playbook, that he gets the playbook, you know,
22:41
that's when he will. Right now, you just want to kind of
22:42
keep your players confident. You don't want him to think it's defense. You
22:45
want them to react. That's the way you're supposed to play defense. It
22:48
sounds like he's absolutely set in the foundation for the future of the for this
22:51
Brown's defense. And in terms of you know, you went over so many
22:53
pros right there, what are some of the cons on the flip side of
22:56
this coin here, LJ. What are some of the cons of this defense
23:00
that folks should really be keeping the Rye on as well moving into this season.
23:06
Well as great as the addition of Dalvin Tomlinson is, you know,
23:07
look, you have Jordan Elliot, who's in his fourth year here, really
23:11
has not proven anything. I don't think we know any more about Jordan Elliott
23:15
going in his fourth year than we did the first day he stepped in the
23:17
buildings in Barreau, Sianni E Gibbo. He's a rookie. It's it's,
23:21
it's it. He's a rookie. You know. As much as we think,
23:23
hey, maybe there's a lot of potential there, you have no idea.
23:26
And for the Browns, we've done this the last three years. We've
23:27
felt ourselves in the defensive tackles. In the last three years. Perry N.
23:30
Winfrey was a player that we thought was gonna be, you know,
23:33
finally was going to turn the corner here. But this guy just could not
23:36
get out of his own way. And it started last year when Miles Garrett
23:40
basically told, you know, the coach staff, look, you gotta do
23:41
something. You gotta discipline this kid. You know, he's not doing what
23:45
he's supposed to do, you know, And that Browns did and the kids
23:48
still found a way to get himself off the grid, and that he did
23:51
get in this some trouble, worked it out, then got himself fewed into
23:53
more trouble, so you know, and no, obviously now he's gone.
23:56
So there's your second year defensive tackle from last year. Tommy told you from
24:00
two years ago at the time, everybody said, Tommy told you I should
24:03
not leave Ohio State, should stay one more year. And here we are
24:04
going into year three and we're starting to learn exactly why people said Tommy and
24:07
told yeah, I needed one more year in college. He's just not there
24:11
yet, and he just they don't have the time to teach you everything.
24:15
In the NFL, it just does not work that way. That's why you
24:18
know, you need to get seasoned and why baby stay is somewhere in place
24:21
like Ohio State where you have a phenomenal defensive line coach and Larry Johnson.
24:25
So I'm still concerned with defensive tackle because until we start to see this in
24:29
the regular season, everybody's still going to try to run the ball down the
24:33
Brown's thrown. That's the one thing the Browns are going to have to prove
24:36
is that they can stop the run, because you know, why am I
24:38
going to beat you with you know, all of these complexities when I can
24:42
just do the most simple of things and beat you that way. So we'll
24:45
see. But you know, the Brown's defensive tackle and their ability to stop
24:48
the running, and it's still going to be you know, the biggest con
24:49
the biggest concern for this team because until you see it, you truly can't
24:53
you know, you can't believe whether or not it's true. Yeah, all
24:56
right, Well, to close this out here, LJ wanted to get in
25:00
to one of our new and favorite segments here on our opposition territory pods and
25:03
that's the that's the standout and stepped on a segment. So if you can
25:08
give me two players on this Browns team that you think are really going to
25:11
be standouts this coming season on this Brown's roster, I'll start with Elijah Moore.
25:18
I've gone on record, I think Elijah Moore's gonna leave this team in
25:19
receptions. I think there are just so many gimme layoffs that they can do
25:23
with Elijah Moore. And they think it's a lot of really nice things last
25:26
year with Maury Cooper and dining with People's Jones. But the problem now is
25:30
now the Browns. There's a lot of meat to these weapons. So if
25:33
you're a defense you're worried about you know, oh, we gotta take away
25:36
Mary Cooper. Oh wait, well, Donavan. People's Jones had almost nine
25:38
hundred yards receiving last year. Ye David and Joeku up David and Joky.
25:41
You really can't cart him with a linebacker. He's too fast. You really
25:45
can't cover them with the defensive back. He's just too big. Oh wait
25:48
a minute. They have this little slot guy who runs a four three two
25:51
and can go out of the backfield, can do jazz sweeps. Oh and
25:52
then there's all of that, and there's still Nick Chubbs standing in shotgun formation
25:56
right next to Deshaun Watson. So if you're dealing, how do you defend
26:00
these guys? What do you try to take away? And you can't really
26:03
take away Eliza more because it's not like he's just gonna come out, stand
26:07
in a position and not move. He's going to be all over the place.
26:10
So it makes him the most difficult guy to basically try and lock down.
26:14
And I think there's gonna be a lot of slam dunks for him.
26:15
Martin Emerson. Now, ironically enough, last year, you know, obviously
26:21
Browns the Eagles will be next week. Obviously you're practicing ahead of time.
26:23
You'll have some friends within the Eagles organization. Last year, the Eagles went
26:26
out to Ohio worked out with the Browns. Within like an hour, of
26:30
the first joint practices. I got two sexsmen. Mate, You guys just
26:33
stole Martin Emerson Junior. He's big, he's long. Yeah, he's physical
26:37
that he's just he's just a different breed. He's literally built like a thief.
26:41
He's got long arms. And the one concern we were we had was
26:45
is he going to be in that weird spot where you really can't be a
26:48
physical corner as a rookie because you know, the referees don't know you.
26:51
They're usually gonna give the benefit of the doubt obviously to the offensive players,
26:53
guys that they're more familiar with. But no, I mean, he took
26:56
the world by storm, you know, in a little weird controversy became because
27:00
Greg Newsom was the one that was going to the insidide. Even though Greg
27:03
Gooson there really wasn't issues with Greg Goosom on the outside. The problem was
27:07
is you just couldn't tell Martin Emerson Junior he wasn't playing right. It was
27:11
just too good right. So you know, Martin Emerson, I think that's
27:12
going to continue here. We're gonna see the way it works out for the
27:15
Browns because now Denzel war basically one hundred million dollar contracts. You know,
27:19
Greg Newsom going into his third year on a first round contract, Martin Emerson
27:23
year two as a third round contract. If the Browns want to try to
27:26
find money, that might be a way to do it. Now, the
27:29
other side of the ball, we'll go yep, yeah, stepped on.
27:33
Yeah, Let's see who is going to be stepped on. Two players I
27:34
think are gonna be stepped on this coming season. I think it's Jetrick Wills.
27:38
And you know, it's funny because it was amongst us, and you
27:44
know, people who do Browns content, and I guess some of us maybe
27:47
talked to one faction, some of us maybe talked to another. It was
27:51
all everybody. It was. It was assumed. It was assumed, Oh
27:52
no, it's a slam dunk. The Jetrick Wills fifth year option came down
27:56
to the last waiting second, which it is basically what I had heard,
28:00
And basically what I heard is is they were not really truly committed to hand
28:03
him fifteen million dollars. And it's always difficult with these fifty year options because
28:10
you know, I am basing it on what you're gonna do this year,
28:12
But one year ahead, So I'm guaranteeing money for something that I had not
28:15
gotten to see the finality of it yet, So it's always a difficult situation.
28:19
And then of course there was just the drafting of Dawan Jones, and
28:23
you know, a Dwan Jones with all this talent, and obviously, you
28:26
know, ideally you would try to make him a left tackle at worst teas
28:29
or right tackle. So I think Jendrick Wills, I think the you know,
28:33
basically the warning sign is there for Jendrick Wills. This one I want
28:36
to be dead wrong on. But this team has a lot of potential and
28:41
this team is expected to probably win a lot of football games. And what
28:45
went on last year and before the season started, we basically said two things.
28:48
You can't put the game in the hands of Jacoby Brissette. You can't
28:53
put the games in the hands of a rookie kicker. Well, the Browns
28:56
pretty much almost every week put the game in the either the Jacoby Bersette or
29:00
basically on the foot of a rookie kicker. So you know, for Kade
29:03
York though, he's got to be consistent because this team game you look,
29:07
I mean, you can't lose twenty six twenty four and have a kicker who
29:12
missed a thirty seven yard field though, because it's going to create a lot
29:15
of issues. I want to be wrong on this one, but you know,
29:18
the Browns, if he has any struggles whatsoever, the Browns are gonna
29:22
have to look for a little bit more certainty at that kicking position because they
29:29
it's such a difficult schedule early that you know, they can't afford to say,
29:33
oh, well, we'll just give them a little time. They're not
29:34
gonna be able to do that because if they get a game or two behind
29:37
in the North, they play almost all of their ac AFC North games before
29:42
week end and then their final one is Week eighteen against the Bengals, it
29:47
could be to the point where it won't even matter. So, I mean,
29:48
they have to be really really certain about Kade York there Ori is nobody
29:52
else in the building right now competing with him, and I probably agree with
29:55
that, but he is going to have to be one consistent this year.
30:00
I mean, I think last year was ten miss field goals. That's not
30:02
going to fly this year. No, absolutely, not again, folks.
30:04
Jeff LJ. Lloyd from the Locked on Brown's podcast, Buddy It was great
30:08
talking to you. You're doing a great job over there. Keep up the
30:11
great work. I would love to talk to you at some other point down
30:14
the road, perhaps during the season, and you know it's going to be
30:18
an interesting one for sure. Come back and join us down the road,
30:19
my friend. You got buddy, Thanks for having me. Have a great
30:22
day. What a great and in depth discussion with LJ there about this Brown's
30:27
team. Look, I think this team really does have a high ceiling coming
30:32
into this twenty twenty four season. Yes, a lot depends on Deshaun Watson
30:37
and what he's going to do, how he's going to be able to remain
30:41
disciplined under center, and just how things are going to manifest themselves with his
30:47
play as we were talking about, you know, whether it's from a mental
30:49
standpoint, a physical standpoint, and really what the weapons on this offense are
30:53
going to be able to give to him, how the offensive line is going
30:56
to be able to set that foundation for the offense as well. Let's let's
31:00
keep that in mind. And the defense. I really think they could be
31:04
a very very solid squad this year. So it was a great discussion.
31:08
Again, we thank LJ. And that's gonna do it for us here on
31:11
Opposition Territory this week. Make sure you're following us on the Twitter dot com
31:15
at Philadelphia PSD. You can follow me at Jeffrey Underscore, Warren and the
31:19
Show. I already said the show at Philadelphia PSD. What am I?
31:22
What am I talking about here? And then we have the Instagram that we
31:26
are on as well. Search us out Philadelphia Sports Table and if anything happens
31:32
at your podcast feed, you can head on over to Philadelphia Sportstable dot com.
31:37
We've got all of our shows over there. That's where they are housed.
31:40
And go back into the archives check out what we've been doing. Take
31:42
care of folks, and we will catch you next time