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I don’t like it either. But here’s what they could be thinking: if you bench Watson from the start or just banish him, you still have to keep him on the roster, but you won’t be able to use him. At that point, your only real backup is Dillon Gabriel. But Gabriel is the only one of the four that you can cut. We know you can’t get Greene through the practice squad, and you don’t want to cut him. So the only way to not keep four quarterbacks on the roster is to get something out of Watson. If you let him play, and he stinks, which he will, you still could go back to him in an emergency.

He's only been a fan a few years, he doesn't know about the real pain. He decided to start watching some football and picked our name out of a hat.

You're right. The story lines could make it much more entertaining than most rebuild years! (Do we call them rebuild years or do we just call them "years" 🤣)

I'm just curious about one thing that puzzles me. Going into the game last weekend Monken had Sanders start. We were all told that there had been no decision on who the starting QB was up to that point. We all saw Sanders clearly outplay watson in that game and it wasn't even close. We even saw another of watson's ground balls that hit the turf about six yards downfield well short of where the WR was. That's one point where fans booed him but rather than admit his responsibility for it he blamed the fans.

But at any rate, Sanders clearly outplayed watson. If in fact Sanders playing much better than watson wasn't going to change the decision to start watson, why the charade?

If the body of work to that point made the decision, then the decision was already made before that game against the Bills.

Good point... technically, wouldn't we still be in the rebuilding years?

Being only semi-serious... I don't get much entertainment value from the storylines being reported in the national media (or even local media, to an extent). They don't understand half the context and they're just filling airtime by piling on the Browns. We are fans so only we can pile on.

That's a good point about watching watson practice with the 1's against the 1's in practice.

Which then still begs to question, if he knew that before the game why did he trot Sanders out there as the starter when that time could have been used playing the already determined starter?

And before anyone gets defensive I'm not trying to use that as some huge negative against Monken. I just can't understand if your starter was predetermined before the game why put on the dog and pony show? I mean obviously how the two played in that game made no difference in who the named starter was.

It's just bizarre all the way around. Every time I think I can put a finger on it, there seems to be a new narrative to digest.

Here's the one thing that stays in my mind, I think it's probably the driving force behind everything. Shedeur is that employee that seems to take forever to learn the job but always has his head down and is working.

Every time he screws up - he apologizes. Every time there is accountability to be had - he raises his hand and says "that's on me". He is a dream employee from nearly every aspect... except he can't seem to learn the job.

I think the charade was actually a carrot. A carrot they decided they would leave out in front of Shedeur as long as possible to see if he wakes up one day and everything begins to click.

They probably knew before Saturday's game but decided to give Shedeur the start he was promised. I'm sure they didn't expect the results to be that drastically different between he and Watson though.

Once we stacked even more ambiguity, with Watson's comments to the media, someone said "enough!". Probably Monken. Charade is over, this is turning into a Soap Opera. Name the starter, read Deshaun the riot act, put him back in front of the media for a formal apology and get ready for the season.

And at the PC, Monken basically stated the truth in no uncertain terms... "We felt, over the course of training camp, and the off-season he (Watson) was ahead of Shedeur. Shedeur has closed that gap, for sure, and that's a credit to him."

I appreciate your post. I think the only point we really disagree on is that the reason he gave for starting Sanders in that game was under the disguise there was still an actual competition in regards to who the starting QB would be and as we saw that was proven to be false. As I posted earlier I'm not trying to use that as some huge negative against Monken.

I would like to think Todd Monken used two factors in his decision. Which QB does he think gives his team the best chance to win. He chose Watson. If Watson is not good enough and the team fails to win is sitting Sanders as the Oline gel, as the new weapons get accustomed to the offense and the inserting him later better for his development long term in trying to identify him as a future franchise QB. If that is his thought process, I see no issue.

What I think the decision says. Sanders is not a franchise QB. Then playing Watson provides a benefit if he were to miss time due to injury and most QB's do miss time for injury, they have insured his salary and can apply for reimbursement of some of his salary if he can't play due to injury. Looking at it as a salary cap relief issue knowing the team is not going to win this year.

I wonder what the run pass ratio will be this year ?
I can see Monken going run heavy with a short controlled passing attack

So a game plan perfectly suited for Dillon Gabriel then?

At least according to some.

"Set-hut-predator... Omaha! Omaha! 5-9 5-9"

I'm guessing the 5-9 part is an indication of the route tree on that play call. lol

So I just saw that neither DW nor SS are starting the finale. I thought the 3rd game was the dress rehearsal. Don't DW and SS need all the starting reps they can get? Like, they've sacrificed a ton of reps by splitting and just about everything on the O is new... why not maximize the starters, even for a couple series? Why just toss the opportunity away?

I like Monken and I suspect he's in a tough spot but some of these decisions are head scratchers. If we come out looking like keystone cops in the first couple (per usual), they're going to wish they spent the time.

That said, I'm excited to see Green in the 3rd & 4th quarters.