It’s been 48 hours, so here goes. I didn’t expect the Browns to blow out the Ravens and hoped, HOPED, they could win. I did, however expect a better showing. Let’s face facts, installing a new offense with no pre-season games showed why this was a major uphill climb for the Browns. I never thought I would wish there were pre-season games. The Browns now have four days to get ready for the Bengals. The only thing that makes this a positive is Cincinnati also has four days to get ready for a road game with a rookie quarterback. Lets start with the negatives from Sunday.
A fake punt from your own 31 yard line? Really? In the first quarter? Stupid, just plain stupid. Six carries for Kareem Hunt and six carries for Nick Chubb in the first half? I know when the game got out of hand, the Browns had to abandon the run, but the running game was working. The two averaged 5.5 yard a carry for the game and 6.5 yards a carry in the first half. Less play action pass. If the running games is working, which it was, call more play action pass. Stefanski needs to move QB Baker Mayfield outside the pocket more. He is much better on the move and will have less passes batted down at the line of scrimmage. OBJ and Mayfield are still not on the same page. Some of it’s Mayfields fault, some it’s ObJs fault, but one thing is certain, Ravens CB Marlon Humphrey owns OBJ. A third down an 41? That’s almost half a football field. Stop with the stupid penalties.
On defense, the defensive line was uninspiring. Myles Garrett had one tackle. ONE. Safety Andrew Sendejo looked lost. Hopefully the Browns can get S Ronnie Harrison up to speed by Thursday. The secondary was a mess as a whole. The injuries to cornerbacks Greedy Williams and Kevin Johnson were painfully evident. The decision not to invest in the linebacker position in the off season was also painfully evident. Can the Browns please find a defender who can cover the opposing tight end, please.
Now for the positives and yes there were positives. The offensive line looked really good, both in pass blocking and run blocking. Left tackle Jedrick Wills played pretty good and made a few rookie mistakes, but all in all had a good game. Right guard Wyatt Teller had an outstanding game only giving up one quarterback pressure verses a damn good Ravens defense. When QB Baker Mayfield is in a flow, he’s a pretty good QB and you saw that on the touchdown drive. It was great to see the Browns line up on the goal line with three tight ends and fullback in the formation. Now they just need to get to the goal line more often. On defense, defensive tackle Larry Ogunjobi was the only bright spot. According to Pro Football Focus, he was the highest rated DT in week one. Now DC Joe Woods needs to get the rest of the defense to play.
As for injuries, both OT Jack Conklin and OT Jedrick Wills got a little dinged up, but both are expected to play on Thursday night, but OT Chris Hubbard did take all the snaps at RT today. LB Jacob Phillips is expected to miss some time with a knee injury and might end up on the Injured Reserve. Both Greedy Williams and Kevin Johnson might be ready for week three verses Washington. Unfortunately TE David Njoku was placed on IR and will have to miss three games. Could we see a return of TE Pharaoh Brown? The Browns made one move, they signed kicker Cody Parkey off the practice squad and waived kicker Austin Seibert. Of course, today the Bengals signed Seibert, but will he be able to kick on Thursday night? He still has to go through Covid-19 testing. As for Browns twitter going into complete meltdown about OBJ and Mayfield, stop, just stop. It’s just one game.
Now the Browns host the Bengals. I’m going to be really interested in how this coaching staff reacts to the loss. Calling more play action and roll outs for Mayfield would be a good start. Commit to the run and stay with it would be another. The Chargers had great success running the ball against the Bengals, they had 150 yards rushing. The Browns need to get QB Baker Mayfield into a rhythm and attack the middle of the Cincinnati defense. TE Austin Hooper/Harrison Bryant anyone? On defense, show some exotic fronts to confuse rookie QB Joe Burrow. The Bengals use a lot of two and three wide receiver sets, so the secondary better be ready. CB Denzel Ward has to shadow Bengals WR A.C Green all game long. The Browns defense against Baltimore, put more pressure on the quarterback than any other team in week one. It made no difference because it was against the reigning NFL MVP, QB Lamar Jackson. However on Sunday in Cincinnati, when the Chargers put pressure on QB Joe Burrow, he had a quarterback rating of about 40. Pressure, pressure pressure. The Chargers DE Joey Bosa was a game wrecker in the first half. Myles Garrett needs to be disruptive all game long.. I just hope the Bengals tight end doesn’t have a record setting game. Everyone stay safe and Go Browns.