Bernie Kosar on Deshaun Watson, Jameis Winston & the Cleveland Browns vs. Dallas Cowboys game

And with that, we are thrilled to welcome our QB one. It's Bernie Cozart to the show, Bernie. How are you doing today? Hey, guys, good to be with you. Happy Labor Day Week. It is Labor Day. It is. Wow, we, we, we, you probably working, you know, you don't get, you don't get Monday off. This is a big work week with the season starting. Um, I'm fixated on the uh Guardians game starting in about 40 minutes from now. Are you, are you big locked into the Guardians? I was down the other night. Yeah, I'm a big Guardians fan. Who were you, were you ever close with any of the Indians players at time or? No? Um I don't want to just drop names because I, we take up our 30 minutes right here as a guy who's been decade, uh uh Indians now, Guardians fan and used to be in the cavernous municipal stadium. Ok. When, uh, in, in the, uh, at this time of the year when there wasn't as many people there as we're having now, but I, I've been blessed to get to meet so many generational players over each decade and have you ever hung out with Albert Bell? Yes. What is he like to hang out with him? Is he fun? Um, I think Albert Bell's phenomenal and I love his, I, I love them as a player. I love that era in particular and how he conducts himself. And I think now the way he's, he's out in Arizona and, and, um, I think, incorporate himself back into the, into the game. Did you play baseball as a kid? I played a lot of baseball as a kid. Yes, pitcher, pitcher and third base. That's actually where a lot of my side arms started from because, you know, throwing, throwing, you could curve the ball, you could make it spin and that stuff and, and having pretty, pretty strong arm, that was, that was the kind of way to make a move. And that's partly what punishing me now as an old man with the elbow. Now, we don't like, I don't let, like I coach 9 to 10 year old team and an 11 to 12 year old team. I don't let them throw curveballs because I don't, you know, but in those days you didn't know that that was bad for the army. I say it's bull, that's great parenting, awesome coaching for, for the parents out there. Um Yeah, the pressure to win to go. I mean, I, I enjoyed watching the, uh, Williamsport Little League World Series. Did you watch the final game? I watched it was great to see the kids play and I, I had a dream of playing in that. I, I played in, in uh some of the Pony and Senior League uh World Series um nationally and stuff. So that was a lot of fun. But being able to, you know, to uh relate to kind of that, that was exciting. By the way, for those who didn't see it, Bernie referenced it, so I'll bring it up real quick. The championship game was between Chinese Taipei, which is Taiwan and Florida and the Florida team and Flor, no, Florida team had ever won the Little League World Series, which is shocking because you think of Florida is one of the big baseball states. But uh it was a great game. It went extra innings, they play six in, in the Little League. Uh Florida tied it in the bottom of the sixth, I think with two outs if I remember correctly and then they won it in the bottom of the eighth, I believe it was a squeeze. Yeah, it was, I mean, that was high level baseball for those. I think I have to get a life to know that nobody covered first base in Chinese Taipei allow the Florida team to win their first Little League World Series for them. Good for them, Bernie. You know, it's funny that you, you come on today and we talked about the Browns have four quarterbacks, right? Have you ever been around any teams that, that carried four and we were just extrapolating out if they did keep four quarterbacks. Why do you think that would be? So, I think that's a great thing to talk about today, but today we're basically about 1011 days from the real game and this roster will change a lot between now, um, the back end of this roster will change some between now and the, uh Cowboys game. And I really think that and I love what Andrew Barry does. They're quite little moves but how we maybe get the sixth round pick and the seventh round pick and our seventh round pick becomes sixth round picks. And you're really playing that latter part of the draft move right now and I'm still answering the four quarterback questions. So when you're trying to cut down to 53 and you're trying to maybe make some trades as opposed to re release people, most everybody knows that. So they almost call your block. So if you don't keep four on the roster, you probably can't trade one of those four because everybody has these issues at the last moment. So it's almost like you probably fielded phone calls for all three of the guys behind the Sean. Ok. And guys were probably, you're asking for X amount and they're saying, well, you're gonna have to cut one of them. I'm just gonna take the money you cut and they're like, no, I'm not gonna cut them and nobody really believes to your point that you're gonna keep four. So now you did, now you have a little bit of a say now and you could see the Browns are probably also preparing like you saw Mike uh Ford just got signed a couple of minutes ago to the practice squad in Houston, Bubba Van Trump likes him as special teams and backup um defensive back and stuff. So it kind of leaves us some flexibility with kind of an, you know, an extra roster space by September 8th. You, our team's too deep and too valuable to have four of us and I'm not a quarterback guy. I love him. Keep us all hired, ok? But it's, we're too deep and I think it's a strategic move here to CRE create some, some assets and some flexibility in the same vein, Bernie, uh there was a report out yesterday that the Browns were at least gonna listen if a team called for a potential trade offer for Jameis Winston. We talked, I think I would not trade James. I'm on the ball when a trade Winston. You were here last week and you talked about the importance of Jame helping the show. I, I'm guessing you were very against any potential trade of Winston. If they're gonna cut down from 4 to 3, it's not gonna be Jam. Right. Yeah. So the predementia stuff that I'm having, I absolutely remember all the stuff in the soap box. I went on last week here. My love lust for Jameis Winston, um especially in that quarterback room and that. So I, you know, the the standard phrase is you do have to listen to everybody, I guess when they call, but I'd be hard pressed, ok to have to, to want to make a move for Jameis Winston. And I think you could accuse me of going back to drinking and pill taking. I executed that trait for a late round pick because right now the reality, um again, I I am always as positive and believe in the visualization of positive things, especially for young players, visualize yourself, making great plays and stuff, visualize yourself, having success in that. Um Just like I don't like to visualize negativity and visualize injuries. But if you have to be an objective uh organizational person like Andrew Barry and coach Danski, you have to statistically plan that our line is struggling. OK? And Deshaun is coming back from an injury and you have to have some depth at that quarterback position just like we found out last year in 2023. So Jameis Winston, I think Bridges, I'm just bridges that uh uh quarterback room, but he absolutely gives you that security to, to execute an offense at a really high professional level. And II I went on on a soapbox again last week about you saw Jam although limited playing when he has played with the play action game and I'll go back to Michael Woods in that first game hitting the 21 yard square and we just, the old school post replaced it with a square and behind it off of play action. God, you know, that isn't sexy. I, I remember running it 35 years ago. Ok. And it still works versus cover four. So having a guy who believes like that and things like that, II I think it's too valuable at this time of the year. For 88 round pick Bernie. Let's talk about the left tackle situation. Right? Jed will. I think we're all kind of surprised that he's not ready to go. They did activate him off the pup list, but he's not practicing. Jack Conklin is practicing coming off that devastating injury last year and it does seem like if he's ready to go week one and Jed is not that they will use Jack Conklin at left tackle. He hasn't played left tackle. I wanna say since his rookie or second year, maybe even since college, he hasn't done it much. How hard do you think it will be for him to be the left tackle week one if they need him? So I think it's again in the spirit of positivity and then wanting to be positive, I think it is going to be fine because he is such a professional. I do believe he's an anomaly. Ok. And you don't wanna make your career and your living on that being the, that uh situation have to be successful every time. So him going from right tackle to left tackle just on itself without an injury is a challenge and Joe Thomas made it look so seamless and so easy for some, um for north of a decade. But um, it's not that easy and the drop step with your right foot is different than the drop step with your left foot to take a Michael Parsons coming off the edge with that ferocity that he'll be doing. And then you couple it with, he is coming off an injury and then third, you couple it with that. He hasn't had any preseason. So those aren't optimal issues. So, uh, we talked about it last week on the show and I'm, I'm fixated again as a guy now, 60 years old who isn't, uh, hasn't had to put a game plan together in three or four decades. Ok. And in my head, I can't help myself and I'm putting a game plan together and into that question, I absolutely. Now I'm looking at what we do to that quarterback question that 53 man roster question to with only two tight ends and two running backs. I really want multiple tight ends on the field and, or backs to not give both tackles slash both defensive ends, free rushing, one on one so that they know that they're gonna get double teamed and they're gonna get chipped and hit and Wham blocked from the beginning of the game and you, you could use bigger backs and your tight ends to do that. Bernie. I was, you know, I was over here looking up something and you just was sitting here and I said, me, man, you know, I'd be getting these ID that is boring. You, no, no, no, you're right. He was like, you look at me like, so I, you know, you're in here today and I went back and I looked at your specific career and I'm getting to something with Deshaun Watson 1988 right? You went through a bunch of injuries, had the elbow injury, uh, you in the line up got came I think Mike, you know, Mike Pagel played in doing a few games. We probably did four quarterbacks, 45 quarterbacks that, um, you were, you know, you, you played, I believe nine games that year. Um, and you just were riddled with injuries the whole year. Uh, you came back the next year, um, and you bounced back. Browns went to the FC championship game 3500 yards. Um, when you are riddled with injuries and you do have that thing hit you where you've been pretty good your whole career and you have that one year where it's just like sometimes you may have forgotten that, hey, I could actually play this game, right? Is there a time when you have that year, you come to the next year and you have something that sparks maybe a game where you, you, you see some success happen and then it puts you back in that mindset like, hey, I ain't forget how to throw the football. I ain't forget how to do it. And you come back, have a great year. Do you think that could be a case for, for Deshaun coming off a season where, you know, he's been riddled with stuff. He sat out a lot of games. He hasn't played as much as he as he probably would like to. Is there a possibility that he can get one of those games against the Cowboys early on see success and then catapult him more on the minimum uh mindset of saying, hey, I got some stuff that I can work with bounce back. That's, that's really a great point. So there's a lot wrapped around that. So partly why I drink uh protein powder and raw coffee powder is to heal and detox myself from that those 88 season and all those injuries. And again, in the spirit of positivity and thinking and visualizing positivity, a successful positive game early and uh early like the, the Cowboys game absolutely does wonders for us. I mean, I, we talked again last week, I feel like I talk all the time about this with the you matter, self-confidence and self esteem. We're all pretending that look at us four up here, bro. We want everyone to think. I'm cool. We're cool. We have everything under control, but there are thoughts and doubts that go through our head. There's thoughts and doubts that go through us quarterbacks heads still, even though we'll say the right things and having successfully would absolutely help that and to maybe help that happen. Um I would be thinking like I was thinking in 88 coming and getting ready for 89 of the positive things that happened to me and that I did in this uh beforehand and I would be deshaun be uh thinking hard about that Baltimore Ravens game, you know, his shoulder cracked, he's hurt. We're on the road playing the Ravens, we're down 14 points. It's the fourth quarter. He has every reason to quit. He has every reason to show he's not a tough guy. You know, you could, you could play that drill out. You could have, he probably get out of the game yet. He goes 14 for 14, comes back, brings the team back and we beat the Baltimore Ravens on the road. That was his last game of last season. I would in my head, I'd be really looking at that, thinking about that, visualizing that and believing that's the me that we're gonna see this season individually with that. Um So that kind of is the mindset I would absolutely be heavily focused on. But as you were saying that um there also is a thing that starts, that we always wanna be cognizant of and age always gets us. And once things start injury wise, and I started in 88 with those injuries and stuff and thank you so much and I want everybody to think how us and the 89 season was in that for me playing and bouncing back. But once the injury started here and here and then by the end of that season, uh I had cracked my shoulder the same way Deshaun did for the, um, Houston Oilers game in week like 16 or 17. So there's also a um thing of once injuries start serious ones, they also keep happening to us. So even more so with the line situation, why I'm so cognizant of chipping blocking with tight ends, no free runs and then whamming these guys early um to solidify, um, um, the upfront stuff so he doesn't take the unnecessary hits and then has a chance to build that confidence and belief in himself. Yeah, along that same vein, Bernie, I'm not sure how to ask this in a more complex way, but when you're going up against the pass rusher like Micah Parsons, how much does that factor into your own preparation from a quarterback standpoint? Do you start thinking about well, shit, I gotta see Mica in 10 days, nine days or, or does that all completely just stay on the back burner? It's all about what you have to do what the Browns have to do. So great question. And I love, we don't have the, don't swear up there anymore and I know that you're the first one to go on. So, um, I could assimilate and show my age right here and was just making some plans to go see, um, uh, the Joe Namath golf tournament coming up with the Great Lawrence Taylor was gonna be in attendance and Michael Parsons is like, maybe Lawrence Taylor in the old days where, um, you had to always be cognizant of him. Reggie White's, um, gas to know in the day. So maybe this part of the week, you know, 10 days before the game. I'm absolutely part of my plan just like I'm not even playing and I know how I'm gonna block him already as, as bull asked the, the question on Conklin at the, the left tackle and stuff and there is always a plan for that. And again, so I'm not saying the cowboy stuff, watch how I do things and what I say and stuff, but I do do have relationships down there and they, they kind of follow some of us on the show and that, but it isn't rocket science because they know that Micah Parsons is a special player and that will always be sliding my offensive line to him, not sliding my offensive line away from him so that he creates a one on one matchup. So, so if you slide your line to him, you have Joel Petone and Conklin having a chance to bang on him with the tight end. Also, possibly being there. And then when I really have something up my backside and I'm really grumpy. I have a full back come and wipe them out and I do that early multiple times just to let him know. It's that kind of day for you. Right. Sorry. Sorry, kids. No, I like that. I like that. That's the, that's the, I like Bernie. Um, we, none of us is a healer. Now, that's why people say, why don't you coach, why do I don't want to tell kids that, but that is how you have to go about playing, it's football but you know what you're in for when you play football, right? So, uh we all, I think none of us were surprised that Nick Chub starts the year on the pop list. Uh Maybe we were hoping he just hoped that he'd be ready because he's such a freak athlete, but it's still only 10 months since his last surgery. Uh So we understand how confident are you? I don't know, you know, if you've had any interactions recently with Nick. But yeah, I, I saw Nick a couple weeks ago and is he gonna be ready in five weeks or? I, I love Nick. I, I really do. He is and I, and again, I'm not gonna make this about myself but talking about the injuries in 88 thinking about coming back early priding myself on playing, hurt. Um I did the thing today talking about, you know, playing with a broken ankle, talking about playing with a cracked shoulder and, you know, now it's the arms don't work and stuff. So, um I used to say to myself, I'm, I'm proud I did it. I don't regret doing it, but I do wish there were a few adults in the room that helped me from myself. And I believe that the Browns in the organization are doing a masterful job of helping us younger players from ourselves. And I believe Nick Chubb left onto himself is why we, one of the reasons why we love him is he would want to go out and play at, I'm making this up. So because I don't know, 8085 90% when our schedules kind of set up, we don't play division games till week seven plus. Ok, I know we, this, this opener, I put an inordinate inordinate amount of importance on the opener, September 8th against Dallas, but it's a long season. It's a marathon, not a sprint and we need Nick Chubb after Thanksgiving. So even though I know he wanted to play, I love what the organization did a protecting him from himself. Do you think he will be back in week five or could it be even a little longer than that? Uh That's the how things heal and that. But I mean, I think that gives him a better chance now to be back in and around. That sounds good. Bernie, you played for the Cowboys won a Super Bowl with the Cowboys. You got a leg here in Cleveland when those two meet on the field. Ho how does your heart feel in that situation? You know, thanks for bringing that up. I, I'm uh never thought a ton of things like that and haven't had that situation really transpired. I haven't had that trans situation transpire here in Cleveland Stadium and stuff. So to, um, you don't know, quite a few guys from the Cowboys and the organization and they have those emotions and stuff and then I'll be seeing some of the guys in the front office and that, uh, the night before the game and then, you know, being here part of the Browns and stuff, it's pretty emotional. I'm actually pretty cool with it and actually loving how, um, it's kind of playing out for, for, uh, both teams. Yeah, I mean, it should be an exciting game and both teams have issued. The Cowboys have some issue with their offensive line as well. They've kind of, they had a great offensive line a few years ago and they've, they've kind of lost guys. There's been some injuries there. So it'll be interesting more with Bernie in a second. But first, uh, Anthony, let's get to read in and do the Super Chats and then we'll get back with Bern. Well, we don't have any Super Chats guys. 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I'm curious breaking news minor but the Browns were not awarded any players uh via waivers and none of their players were claimed. Do they, do they know if the Browns put in any claims that Mary Kay just tweeted, not awarded any players for anybody that was aggravated about any of the Browns players being cut. None of them were in high demand because all of them got claims on the, well, all of them, but the ones they want to bring the bring back. I was just curious that see, that would play into why you would wanna, um keep the four Qs if there was a trade possibility because if, if they didn't think they were gonna get uh guys claimed like, yeah, that makes sense. Uh Bernie, I'm, I'm just curious again, a little out of left field but the old, I think about the old school Astroturf that they had in some of these stadiums. How awful was it playing on? Well, the Astroturf was just a, was just a thing to make sure it was green. I mean, literally the Astroturf in the eighties was, was less dense than my fingernail. OK. And it was a parking lot underneath it. So the, and I actually my dogs just peed on it today because I, I cut, I, I, my first college start was at the um uh Houston Astrodome, University of Miami against University of Houston first pro start was the Browns against uh Jerry Glanville and the Houston Oilers down there. So when they, uh when they just uh demolished the old Astrodome, they did a sale of the uh Astroturf and literally to go get it. OK. It really looks like a piece of paper that you fold over and stuff on the concrete and stuff. And in the old days, I think, I, I think we said this a week or two ago of, um, yield management of the old school stadiums back then. They would have concerts, uh, the night before a game. I mean, I remember at the Brown Stadium, not turf and stuff, but Brown Stadium after Pink Floyd getting slammed to the ground and they have joints and in the, in the landfill play, I know to be fair. I, the NFL Players Association has never been great in a lot of negotiations. However, like how did they allow you to play on those fields? It was the part of the elbow issue and Staph infection was and I, I'll say this in the spirit of humor, ok? But it's absolutely true. I mean, OK, the Browns, we were having rock concerts the night before the game, Texas is a different state, ok? Back then they had bull fights, ok? But there's literally bullshit on this astro turf. So now the next day it's, it's, you're getting tackled in that, you're getting scrapes and then when you get cut up and you're like when I crack my shoulder and I reopen my elbow and stuff, you didn't go clean it like until after the game. So already the infection set in, burn your eyes. So you, so first you can say bullshit, you're good. Yeah, but that literally, that was awesome real stuff in 19 So I played Kent mckinley. So we played at the Hall of Fame Stadium. I did the, I did the game last week against War and Harding Antonio Hall. Shout out, we got that dub. He's a young man. He's a, he's awesome. He's been on the show too. One of my good friends grew up with him. Got a bunch of stories with Antonio. That was, that was F stadium was grass 1995 1996. They decided, um, that they're gonna revamp it and we went to turf and we had turf in 97. So basically my had an extended parking lot and it was the, it wasn't the field turf, it was, it was all concrete and, and then we played at the Akron rubber bowl for big games and they had the big crown in the middle of the field and it was, it's, it's glorified concrete and the turf burns that you used to get those turn in that you couldn't wash a turf burn. You had to put like plastic wrap on it the whole season. You have raw patches. It almost looked like that. We allow people to play on that. We were in high school that is child abuse. We actually, we actually thought getting decapitated and getting run over and slammed to the ground was easier than those. And that stuff you get in the shower with a turf, bro. They spray it, it burns but turf back then you think about it. I don't know how I did it. Like we played on Astroturf and we played basketball games on concrete. I can, I can't play outside anymore. My knees do not allow me to play outside anymore. Bernie. I don't have, I ain't got no more plays in my knees. I know you can't. If you play on that with regularity, there's, you see why the, the consequences as we age out with stuff like that. Did the NFL Fields have Big Crows? Oh, the some had them, the good ones have I remember had nice but like the ones like Philadelphia Veterans Stadium because they were taking chunks out. I mean, you'd have concrete and then you'd have, you know, two inches like this where people would, would, uh, you know, literally trip and, and break their ankles on that stuff. Bernie on a back to the current team. We're almost out of time, obviously. But, uh, you know, we don't know about Denzel Ward yet. He had his fifth known concussion last week. Um, you know, obviously we're all concerned about his future in the league. What are, what are your thoughts right now on Denzel? Um, I'm a huge Denzel Awards fan and just, uh, spent the weekend and make them know your name and pop up in the park and what Denzel PJ is amazing. Um, Mom Nicole Ward do with that foundation and what they do in the community. It's just phenomenal. That turnout was incredible um to what they were able to kind of give back. And um I'm actually learning now, CPR and all that from that perspective and somebody who's dealing with the ramifications of ignoring the concussions when I was his age. Ok, and dismissing them. Um I spend an inordinate amount of time, probably too much trying to maybe talk and help with, with them and young kids like that, um because I could not be talked out of playing then. That wasn't an option. But that is something that when these keep happening like this, the consequences down the road, no matter how much money you're getting, making, have it li have in line to make. These are tough ones to deal with. And for him, I just wish him, you know, the best in trying to get himself better. Um, is, is, is, is in, is, are, are those avoidable. Um, like, it's, it's like to a point where you look at football and it's almost like a thing where here it's just, it's the, it's the sport, here's the, here's the tough thing and i, it's, uh, I don't wanna overly keep saying this, but if you're a parent out there and you're a kid out there, ok, it's sometimes hard to get the first one or maybe two. Ok? And you don't maybe know the first one or two. Unfortunately, as you keep getting, um, the, the hit that wiped you out to get the first one. It's almost nothing by the time. Look at, I'm at like over 100 now. Like I, people, yeah, people come after me and I get pushed around even to this day. Like any contact to my head could cause that now and it even could be a simple something. That's not thing, but here in the head, that's the one that's nothing. Ok. And people touch you all the time like that. So, unfortunately, it's avoidable. But man in the heat of battle, it's violent out there. It's killer be killed. It's tough to go. Now he's going to tackle big dogs coming around the corner on a sweep and that's partly why we love him. He doesn't turn that stuff down. You know, you can go back to the Greg Williams was messing with him for kind of using his head. But you know, that's your age. Come on my age. You were yelled at if you didn't, you did, you gotta put your face mask in a different way, you even play and, and I'm not saying that's the way to do it and not saying that. But I also know that that sometimes is the way to get your guy down and Denzel wants to get his guy down and his competitiveness is just exceptional. By the way, folks, if you see Bernie on the street and he's couldn't be more friendly when he, when fans love him, everybody wants to Be Bernie. Don't hit him in the back. Don't touch Bernie baseball, don't because, yeah, I'm sure people all the time. Hey, Bernie, how are you doing? I shouldn't even do that to. Gee, he's had so many injuries. Bernie. Great to see you as always. We, well, we'll see you next week, next week, next week you see over time.