Month: December 2022

Saints Vs. Browns, Eliminated.

The 2022 Browns season ended with a thud yesterday. No surprise, the team has been fighting an uphill battle since Deshaun Watson’s eleven game suspension was announced. I know there are two more games left and Cleveland could keep the Steelers out of the playoffs with a win in the final game, but no playoffs this year. I’ll still watch and cheer for the team to win because I’m a Browns fan. I’m not going to litigate the Mayfield versus Watson debate. The front office, coaches and the owners made their decision knowing the consequences. My problem is, someone in the room had to know it would be more than six games. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell wanted a full year, so you knew after the initial six game suspension, he would appeal. I also know the rationalization of signing Watson was not only for 2022 but future years as well. It gives the phrase “wait till next year” a whole new meaning.

So, what happens next. I still believe head coach Kevin Stefanski will not be fired. I believe defensive coordinator Joe Woods will be fired. I’m on the fence about special teams coach Mike Priefer, it’s probably 50/50 he won’t be fired. The only way Stefanski is gone is if he’s told to fire coordinators and he refuses. As for the front office, GM Andrew Berry will be back as will Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta. A lot of Browns fans have zeroed in on DePodesta to assign blame for the season. They blame analytics. Analytics were around when Paul Browns was the coach, except back then it was called research. This off-season will be the front office’s toughest. They have to make this team competitive in 2023 and keep it competitive through the life of Watson’s contract, 2026. The front office started by resigning right tackle Jack Conklin. I haven’t seen the details yet, but it looks like a two-year deal for $31 million per year, with two years of club options. $15 million a year is the going rate for an NFL starting right tackle.

Andrew Berry has a lot of work to do to improve the team, starting with the defensive. Young free agents have to be signed to the defensive line, especially defensive tackle. I think the Clowney experiment is over, so an edge rusher to help take the heat off of Myles Garrett must be found. Clowney’s absence was very noticeable yesterday. They’ll need to add a run stopping linebacker, or possibly resign Anthony Walker, Sione Takitaki, Deion Jones or Reggie Ragland, who had a very good game yesterday. Safety help is also needed, both at starter and backup. Decisions have to be made on Grant Delpit and John Johnson, III. On offense, a backup to Watson needs to be signed. Jacoby Brissett will be offered more money and a starters job by another team. QB Teddy Bridgewater is a name to keep an eye on.

Next up is Washington on New Year’s Day. Hopefully the players will give be motivated to play and Browns fans can start the new year off with a win. Stay safe and Go Browns.

“So, You’re Telling Me There’s A Chance.”

The Brown’s playoff hopes are hanging by a thread (.7%). Personally, I don’t see it, but you never know. I’m a Browns fan, so hope springs eternal. Odds are the Browns might be eliminated by the end of this weekend. The playoff odds improve if they win out and beat the Saints, the Commanders and the Steelers. But we can still have a little fun hoping and wishing. This weekend the Browns need the following to happen for the Browns to make the playoffs:

Thursday, Jaguars over the Jets. Saturday, Steelers over the Raiders, Bengals over the Patriots and Falcons over the Ravens. Sunday, Packers over the Dolphins. Monday, Colts over the Chargers.

In the long run, the basic formula comes down to the Browns winning out and the following three teams losing out. The Chargers, the Dolphins and the Ravens. Their remaining schedules after this weekend are, Chargers (host the Rams and at Denver), Dolphins (at the Patriots and host the Jets), and Ravens (host the Steelers and at the Bengals). It looks like the Chargers have the easiest schedule. If only the Browns had won, the Jets game.

In other news, center Ethan Pocic has been designated to come off the injured reserve list. That was the longest four weeks off my life. Hopefully he’ll be added to the roster and be able to play. Because of the weather this Saturday, the Browns might hold him wait and return him to the roster against Washington. They have a fantastic defensive line. As for Saturday’s game, the temperatures will be in the teens with wind gusts up to 50 mph. I’m glad Cleveland is playing a warm weather dome team. Enjoy the games and happy holidays.

Ravens Vs. Browns, Surprising.

Happy victory Sunday. This one feels a lot better than victory Friday & victory Tuesday because it’s the Ravens. It was a surprising victory because for once the opposing team had more head scratching play calling than the Browns. You would expect that from a bad team, but Baltimore is supposed to be one of the better teams. The Raven’s rushing attack was working to perfection to the tune of 198 yards. But in the red zone, they only came up with three points. Some fans will blame the ineptitude on Baltimore’s having a backup quarterback starting, some will point to the Browns defense making plays. I think it’s a little of both. If the running game is working, pound the ball into the endzone. As for the Browns defense, they held the Ravens to 5 of 12 (41.7%) on third down and 0 for 3 on fourth down.

Individual defensive players did what they had to do to win the game. CB Denzel Ward with a key interception. Safety John Johnson was having a hell of game before he got hurt. Then safety Ronnie Harrison came in for Johnson and immediately had an impact. LB Deion Jones was everywhere. On the defensive line, Jordan Elliott had a good game and blocked a field goal by super kicker Justin Tucker. Before DE Jadeveon Clowney got hurt, had made key stops and provided pressure. Rookies DT Perrion Winfrey and CB Martin Emerson continued to get better every week. And when the Browns need a key defensive stop on the Ravens last drive, who do you call? DE Myles Garrett, that’s who. 1.5 sacks on back-to-back plays.

The offense is starting to cater to QB Deshaun Watson’s strengths. The 17-yard quarterback run up the middle was a designed play. Glad to see the Browns doing it to another team. There were more rollouts by Watson, which is his strength when passing the ball. That across the field throw to WR Amari Cooper was an absolute dime. The play call for the Donovan Peoples-Jones touchdown was a thing of beauty. Instead of putting the wide receiver in the slot for a quick slant, which might result in the Raven DB disrupting the route at the beginning, Peoples-Jones gets a running start and freezes the DB with a quick head fake. My only problem with the offense was in the fourth quarter. Three drives start inside Baltimore’s side of the field. The Browns were getting great yardage on first downs thanks to the rushing of Nick Chubb, then on second down mystifying play calls. The Browns had 43 yards rushing in the first half and 100 yards in the second half. A touchdown on any of those possessions would have put the game away. Head coach Kevin Stefanski needs to let Deshaun Watson be Deshaun Watson.

As for the missed field goals by kicker Cade York, if you go back and watch, he was getting onto the field late. The Browns were snapping the ball with three seconds or less. Get the kid on the field sooner like the first two field goals. That’s indecision by the coaching staff. Inexcusable. Besides the God of kickers missed a field goal and had one blocked. York will be fine. Besides the missed field goals, the special teams played well.

With the win, the Browns are still in the playoff hunt. I know, it’s strange. This weekend the Browns need Detroit to beat the Jets, the Raiders to beat the Patriots and the Titans to beat the Chargers. Other games that would help the Browns chances are Carolina over Pittsburg, Dallas over Jacksonville and Tampa over Cincinnati. I want to thank CLEology (@CLEology) for providing this information on twitter. Enjoy your Sunday, stay safe, Happy Holidays and Go Browns.

Browns Vs. Bengals, Penalties.

Nine penalties for 98 yards. That’s the story of this game. One of the best running backs in the league had 34 yards. Drive killing and drive extending penalties. If you’ve been reading my blog this year, you know I’ve been complaining about penalties since the pre-season. Good teams don’t commit stupid penalties. On a day when the Browns defense held the Bengal offense to zero points on their first four possessions, this team shoots itself in the foot. Inexcusable. I thought the defensive line played better and quarterback Deshaun Watson played better. A lot better than I thought he would. I’m starting to see more flashes of the 2020 Watson. My problem started with going for it on fourth down and not kicking the field goal. If you’re at home, sure you go for it. Not on the road when Joe Burrow is struggling. Take the points Kevin, it’s called momentum.

It’s time for Greg Mancz to start at center. He was Watson’s center in Houston, let’s see what he can do. I like Hjalte Froholdt, not at center but as a guard. Something is not right with Wyatt Teller, sit him a game to heal and put Froholdt his place. The middle of the offensive line is getting used and abused. The Browns can’t run the ball and I never thought I would say that sentence. Even when the Bengals were leading at halftime 13-3, I thought, okay, the Browns get the ball first in the second half, come out and get a good drive going and score. Nope. Finally, to defensive coordinator Joe Woods, the Bengals were without Burrow targets numbers two, three and four, how about giving CB Denzel Ward some safety help covering WR Ja’Marr Chase. Just a thought.

The Browns current playoff hopes are 0.4%, so it’s basically over. Time to get Watson ready for next year. Finishing 9-8 would improve my mood. Hopefully the Browns will have a normal off-season. I still don’t think head coach Kevin Stefanski should be fired at this point, but if the Browns continue to lose games, all bets are off. Every Browns fan know what an itchy finger owner Jimmy Haslam has. Despite what the Cleveland media says, the Browns are not in cap hell for next year. They’ll have about $34 million to roll over into next year. Add to that, I expect Watson and Amari Cooper to restructure their contracts giving the Browns around $40 to $45 million is cap space. I also expect GM Andrew Berry to go heavy in the defensive line and linebacker markets in free agency. The team has eight draft picks, one in the second round (43), one in the third (99), two in the fourth (111 & 131), two in the fifth (141 & 148), one in the sixth (190) and one in the seventh (231). Please address some important needs Andrew.

It’s on to the next game, Baltimore at home on a Saturday afternoon. It seems every year, after the Ravens and Steelers play each other, both teams go out and lose their next game. Let’s hope that trend continues. Stay safe and Go Browns.

Browns Vs. Texans, It’s Still A Win.

Another victory Monday feels pretty damn good. Well, that was the ugliest win by a Browns team that I’ve seen in a while. But it was a much-needed win. I kind of figured quarterback Deshaun Watson would struggle early because he hasn’t played in 700 days, but to have his worst overall game of his career was unexpected. Or as the Browns fan in me says, it figures. Watson wasn’t comfortable in the pocket all game. He had happy feet and didn’t look like he was sure about any play call. Thankfully, head coach Kevin Stefanski abandoned the passing game in the second half and went with what the Browns do the best, run the ball. I was also glad to see Kareem Hunt running the ball well. He’ll be needed the next five games. Finally, the offensive line has to play better, probably their worst game so far.

It was also very nice to see the defense and special teams step up and bail out the offense. I think the Browns have found their punt returner. Linebacker Tony Fields picked the perfect time to have the game of his career. Moving forward he’ll have to step it up because linebacker Sione Takitaki will be placed on IR with a torn ACL. I think defensive coordinator Joe Woods has found his defensive line rotation. The Browns didn’t sack Texans quarterback Kyle Allen, but they put the pressure on him all game. Cornerback Martin Emerson impresses me more every game I watch. It also seems linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah has finally hit his stride.

What really concerns me going into the Bengal game this week is the offense needs to be more diverse. There were no screen passes thrown yesterday and a screen pass is a quarterback’s best friend, as are short passes thrown to the tight end. Did Watson even look towards a tight end? Hopefully David Njoku will be back this week. To beat the Bengals again, the Browns will have to employ more run-pass option. On defense, they’ll have to find a replacement for Takitaki, who been playing his best ball since moving to middle linebacker. Deion Jones will get more playing time because I don’t expect Fields to play like that every week.

As for the playoffs, the teams in front of the Browns for the seventh spot are 7. Jets (7-5), 8. Patriots (6-6) and 9. Chargers (6-6). Cleveland is tied with the Steelers (5-7) and the Raiders (5-7). The Raiders win the tie breaker over the Browns due to a better conference win record, 4-5 versus 3-6 and the Browns have the tiebreaker over the Steelers due to their victory over Pittsburg. Unfortunately, the three teams in front of the Browns have the tie breaker due to their victories over Cleveland. I hope the Jets game doesn’t come back to haunt the team. Finally, it was just announced the Ravens @ Browns game has been scheduled for Saturday December 17 at 3:30pm CST. Stay safe and Go Browns. On to Cincinnati.