Month: October 2021

It’s Victory Friday. VICTORY FRIDAY. The Browns were in “must win” territory last night and came through. No QB1, no RB1, no RB2, no RT 1, no WR3 and no potential defensive rookie of the year. No problem. Well not quite. I know all Browns fans were sweating a river after the last Bronco touchdown, I was. But at 4-3, I’m feeling much better this morning. So, lets get to it.

Positives. QB Case Keenum, RB D’Ernest Johnson, RT (right tackle?) Blake Hance, LT Jedrick Wills, LB Mack Wilson, CB Troy Hill, LB Anthony Walker, S John Johnson, III, offensive line coach Bill Callahan and running back coach Stump Mitchell. Good teams have backups who can step-up and coaches who know how to coach. That game felt like the score should’ve been 28-14 Browns. Keenum doesn’t have the arm he used to have, but did what was needed to win the game. The offensive line was great and opened wholes for D’Ernest Johnson all night. Speaking of Johnson, there are a lot of GM’s in the NFL looking at their third string running backs and are scratching their heads. On defense, even though the Broncos had two touchdown drives, they were long, time consuming drives. The Browns defense made them earn every yard. Good to see LB Mack Wilson have his best game both on defense and special teams. According to Pro Football Focus, he was the fifth rated defender and number one rated special teamer. Both CB Troy Hill and S John Johnson, III had good games. Glad to see the Browns line Johnson closer to the line of scrimmage on certain plays. The special teams coverage units are fantastic and the punt return unit came real close to a blocked punt. Final positive, the crowed. I had forgotten how that crowd buzz sounded on television.

Negatives. I had a few small problems with the play calling early in the game. If your QB doesn’t have the arm to throw long passes, don’t have him throw long passes. Early in the game, Keenum tried to force the ball to OBJ on a long pass that could have been intercepted. TE David Njoku was open and I mean open in the middle of the field. In the second half, the play calling really improved. Nice half-time adjustments. On defense, the Browns are going to need to be more consistent. In the first half, they did a great job of making up for the loss of LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. In the second half, you saw how important JOK is to this defense. Yes the officiating was bad, again, however the players need to stop criticizing the referees. NFL referees have long memories. If it’s October, then Denzel Ward has a hamstring injury. Incredibly kicker Chase McLaughlin missed a field goal. It wasn’t his fault the kick got blocked, but DT Andrew Billings has to do a better job of protecting the rush lanes. Missed Shelby Harris by a mile. On the positive side, McLaughlin made his next kick, an extra point attempt. In the past a Browns kicker would miss that because they were still thinking about the block.

This was an important team win. Now the players can take some time off and rest up. The coaches can do some self scouting to improve schemes on both side of the ball. It’s time to get some more players back from injury. As for QB Baker Mayfield, he can play with his injury and he wants to start against the Steelers. If it was serious, the team would ‘ve already put him on IR and scheduled his surgery. I expect him to play. Enjoy the break, everyone stay safe and Go Browns.

Because of the short game week, I’m waiving my 48 hour rule for better or worse. The Browns are currently 3-3 and are tied with the Steelers for last place in the AFC North. Personally, I had them at 4-2 at this point. First of all, the season isn’t over. No one is getting traded or fired. There’s still eleven games left and time to simplify and fix the problems. All I know is the Browns need to beat the brakes off of the Broncos on Thursday night and go into the mini bye to heal up and self scout. My main problem with yesterday was how flat the team was. No fire, no anger that they let one get away in Los Angles, flat. Note to head coach Kevin Stefanski, either kick the field goal on fourth and four or draw up a better play. Four sacks on four fourth down plays. Really? The Cardinals loaded the line of scrimmage to stop the run. Why not run a bubble screen? Or a jet sweep? Wear the defense down early by having them go east and west, then start to pound them up the middle in the third quarter. Makes sense to me.

As for the defense, safety John Johnson, III told the local media he’s playing a position he’s not used to playing. How about playing him closer to the line of scrimmage and not in coverage? That’s how the Rams used him. Arizona had a new center and during the game he had trouble snapping the ball. I saw one pressure up the middle by DT Malik McDowell and it turned into a sack. The Browns have the talent to rush the quarterback up the middle. You don’t have to blitz, just pressure up the middle. I know the players are learning a new system, but the Cardinals put the ball on the ground four times Sunday, three from bad snaps.

The only thing I’ll say about the officiating, does anyone know when QB Kyler Murray was released for the hospital after that devastating roughing the passer call? Thoughts and prayers. Note to Denzel Ward, stop using your hands so much, the referees are going to call it every time. Every damn time.

The injuries are starting to pile up. RB Kareem Hunt will probably by put on IR this week because of a calf injury. LB Jeramiah Owusu-Koramoah will more than likely join him, with a high ankle sprain. Four to six weeks recovery time on both injuries. As for any players returning for the Broncos game, possibly RT Jack Conklin, but don’t bet the house. Hopefully they’ll get WR Jarvis Landry back.

Now the Denver game becomes a must win. Denver started fast by beating up on bad teams. Since then, the good teams have been boat racing them. They have a great run defense and a terrible offense. The Browns defense will be without JOK but will have everyone else. I know the Browns defense have allowed 84 points in the last two games, but the Broncos are a team this defense can feast on.

Thanks for letting me rant, I feel much better now. Not really, but it’s time to move on to the next game. Everyone stay safe and Go Browns.

After that game I had to wait 48 hours to talk about it. Between the injuries, the terrible officiating and the play calling late in the game, that really sucked. According to Elias, the Browns are the first team in NFL history, including the playoffs, to lose a game when scoring 40 plus points, with over 500 yards of offense and no turnovers. So the Browns made history? Usually the Browns are involved in exploring the dark corners of the NFL rulebook. Let’s look at the positives and the negatives.

Positives. After hearing all the so called experts tell me that QB Baker Mayfield had regressed as a NFL QB, he goes 23 of 32 for 305 yards, two touchdowns and zero interceptions. That’s 72% completion rate and a QBR of 122. The highest graded players according to Pro Football Focus were TE David Njoku (92.5), RG Wyatt Teller (88.8), LT Joel Bitonio (82.9), DE Myles Garrett (79.8) and CB Greedy Williams (78.5). The Browns are the only NFL team ranked in top five in both total offense (fifth) and total defense (fourth). The defensive ranking shows you how good the defense played against the Bears and the Vikings, at full strength. In the first five games, the Browns have rushed for 150 yards or more in every game. Last year it happened in six games and the Browns finished third in rushing in the NFL. The Browns have a kicker and the tackling on the returns was outstanding.

Negatives. For three quarters, the Chargers double teamed WR Odell Beckham, Jr. Late in the fourth quarter, they didn’t even cover him. What happened? QB Baker Mayfield stopped looking his direction and I have no idea why. The play calling on the second to last drive was terrible. With 3:08 left in the game and a one point lead, all the Browns needed to do was get two first downs and the game is over. Head coach Kevin Stefanski implied he didn’t trust the Browns back-up offensive tackles to run better plays. WTH. Over the last two years, GM Andrew Berry has shown me he knows how to sign and draft offensive linemen. If they’re on the roster, they’re good enough to play. I can’t really blame the defense when your starting corners in the fourth quarter were Troy Hill and A.J. Green. Number one cornerback Denzel Ward only played nine snaps before getting hurt. What I will complain about is the lack of adjustments at halftime. Late in the game, the Chargers knew exactly what the Browns defense was doing. Punter Jamie Gillam is having problems. I would suggest they try and find a new punter, however he’s the holder on extra points and field goals and the Browns kicker is perfect so far, so let’s not mess with that situation. As for the officiating, it’s always been bad against the Browns. This team needs to overcome bad officiating, good teams do.

Injuries. Nothing to report so far. Because the team returned late from the west coast, MRI’s were being done late Monday or today. I’ll retweet anything I hear. Cross your fingers and hold your breath Browns fans, hopefully we’ll hear good news on several key players.

Next up for the Browns, the undefeated Arizona Cardinals. The Browns are a good team, they just haven’t played a complete game yet. This is a good time to start. Everyone stay safe and Go Browns.