Month: September 2023

Living in Nashville, TN this one is much sweeter. All week, Browns fans here in the Music City heard the noise from the local sports experts pick the Titans to win because of the way the Browns played against the Steelers. Their reasoning was, the Titans finally won a game and stopped an eight-game losing streak. They felt their team turned the corner and because “Cleveland is Cleveland” and the Browns were in disarray after Monday night. They didn’t know, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski is a great game planner on a short week. They also forgot the Browns were 17-9 at home under Stefanski. They didn’t consider just how great the Browns defense is. Surprise.

After three games the Browns defense has allowed 163.7 total yards a game (1st), 52 rushing yards (1st), 111.7 passing yards (1st), seven first downs (1st), third down conversion rate of 19.51% (1st) and 10.7 points allowed (1st). They’re allowing 3.2 yards per play and opponents are going three and out 61.5% of the time. Every position group on this defense has elite players. With this defense, all quarterback Deshaun Watson had to do was be average. He was better than average, he was really good. Watson, after watching the Steeler game three times, once with the team, once with Stefanski and once by himself, told the head coach, he needed to be in the shotgun with an empty set. Kudos to Kevin Stefanski for listening to his quarterback and not being stubborn. Watson threw some incredible passes. They didn’t all connect, but 81% of them did. I’ll take that any day of the week. Don’t get me wrong, the Titan run defense is legit, but their pass defense is atrocious. I was glad to see the offense attack the perimeters. That’s how the running game will work in future games. Finally, the Browns have a kicker.

Pro Football Focus grades: Offense, TE Harrison Bryant 75.1, QB Watson, 74.6, WR Amari Cooper 72.3, RT Dawand Jones 65.3 and C Ethan Pocic 64.3. Defense, DE Myles Garrett 93.3, DE Alex Wright 90.5, DT Maurise Hurst 89.6, LB JOK, 87.1, LB Anthony Walker 84.7 and DE Za’Darius Smith 70.7.

Next week the Browns host the Ravens and QB Lamar Jackson will be a challenge, but the Browns have played him well at home. Enjoy your victory Monday, stay safe and Go Browns.

The season isn’t over after two games. Yes, the loss of running back Nick Chubb is devastating and it changed the complexation of the game. Now the team has a short week to forget about the Steelers game and get ready for the Titans. A short week is a good thing. In Cleveland right know, fans are again overacting to a game. But it was the strangest game I ever saw. I’ve never seen part of a first quarter played twice, WTF. Two things I know, the offense is still not there, and the defense has the potential to be very good. I’ll wait till after week six to call this the Browns best defense. You can’t argue, if the defense can play like that every week, they’ll keep this team in games until the offense comes around.

The problem with the offense, QB Deshaun Watson is still not right. It seems the game is still too fast for him. When he got a rhythm going, he was very good, but stupid penalties broke that rhythm. I’ve never seen a quarterback get two facemask penalties in a game. Total loss of composure. Fans can blame LT Jedrick Wills, but you also have to blame RG Wyatt Teller and C Ethan Pocic. Drive killing penalties on both. It’s time to replace WR DPJ as the punt returner. He cost the team around 30 yards by no fielding the punt. Unacceptable. Like I said it was a weird game. The Steelers never got into the redzone. They had nine first downs, were four of fourteen on third down and generated minus seven offensive yards in the fourth quarter. No team can win a game with four turnovers, no team.

PFF grades on defense: DE Myles Garrett, 91.3, S Grant Delpit, 90.0, DT Maurice Hurst, 82.2, DE Ogdo Okoronkwo, 80.8 and DT Shelby Harris, 79.5. PFF grades on Offense: WR Amari Cooper, 81.4, RB Jerome Ford, 78.1, RG Wyatt Teller, 76.3, C Ethan Pocic, 74.1, QB Deshaun Watson, 59.1. RT Dawand Jones had a passing rating of 74.6, the best passing rating on the offensive line.

With the season ending injury to Nick Chubb, the Browns should be in the market for a number two running back. I have confidence that Jerome Ford can handle the load, but a veteran backup is needed. The best available free agent is Leonard Fournette. Running backs available in realistic trades are Cam Akers, Cardarrelle Patterson, Michael Carter and Rashaad Penny. No, the Browns are not going to trade for Jonathan Taylor or resign Kareem Hunt.

As for the rest of the AFC North, Baltimore is 2-0 only because they have a healthy QB Lamar Jackson. Their offense is still not firing on all cylinders, but Jackson is making the difference. Pittsburg is 1-0 and their defense is great, and their offense is terrible. If they don’t change their quarterback and or the offensive coordinator during the season, Mike Tomlin will have his first losing season. In Cincinnati they’re 0-2 and their franchise quarterback has a calf injury to his plant leg, and he just can’t throw the ball accurately.

The Browns had the opportunity to put this game away late in the third quarter after the Steelers got within three with a field goal. All they had to do is run the ball. Even if they had to punt, the Browns defense continually stopped a terrible Steelers offense. The Browns possessed the ball for over ten minutes in the fourth quarter. The way the defense was playing, I honestly thought the final score would be Browns 22, Steelers 19. Like Woody Hayes always said, “three things happen when you throw the ball and two of them are bad.” Stay safe and Go Browns.

Cleveland is Cleveland. How about those Elves? This win feels different than last year’s opening game win. Last year’s team wouldn’t have survived two turnovers. Last year’s team wouldn’t have survived the weather. The tone was set from the very first play. Defensive end Za’Darius Smith hit Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow as he was trying to throw a pass. Cincinnati’s offensive line had no answer for the Browns defensive line. DC Jim Schwartz brought the pressure and Burrow felt it. A good defense can pressure opposing QB’s successfully when the secondary covers very well, and that’s what the Browns did. Bengal wide receiver Tee Higgins didn’t have a catch. Tyler Boyd only had two catches for ten yards and elf hater Ja’Marr Chase only had five catches for 39 yards. Burrow had the worst game of his professional career.

On offense, you could tell the weather was affecting the passing game, Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson was overthrowing and underthrowing his passes. In the second half, head coach Kevin Stefanski put the ball in Nick Chubb’s hands and Watson made enough plays to make the difference. The first touchdown was an audible by Watson, and the Bengal defense fell for it. Wide receiver Marguise Goodwin was only in the game for ten plays, but his presence has felt. Both the long passes to him were incomplete, but he was able to get behind Cincinnati’s secondary easily. The Bengals had to respect him when he was on the field. WR Donovan Peoples-Jones had a couple of clutch catches and WR Elijah Moore showed his speed. Finally, I think the Browns have found their kicker and the special teams played very well.

The top five offensive players rated by Pro Football Focus were: RB Nick Chubb, 76.6, LG Joel Bitonio 74.9, WR Amari Cooper 70.3, Elijah Moore 67.2 and Deshaun Watson 66.8. The top five defensive players rated by Pro Football Focus were: S Grant Delpit 91.3, Za’Darius Smith, 90.5, Myles Garrett 89.9, Greg Newsome 79.8 and Shelby Harris 69.9. The Browns defense held the Cincinnati offense to 142 total yards, 67 passing and 75 yards rushing for 2.6 yards per play.

The Browns now head to Pittsburg for another important game. My main worry about this game is the play of the Browns offensive tackles. Due to the injury to RT Jack Conklin, rookie Dawand Jones will start and have to block the Steelers T.J. Watt. On the other side, LT Jedrick Wills was the weak spot on the offensive line. Let’s see what the coaching staff comes up with to deal with the Steelers pass rush. Enjoy this victory, stay safe and Go Browns.

Another year and another highly anticipated week one in the NFL. Browns fans are either convinced this is the year or convinced it’ll be a disaster. There’s never any middle ground. Right now, throughout the world, Browns Backer clubs are gearing up for game one. Presidents and their board members are anticipating their club’s biggest crowd, until late in the season if the team gets on a run to the playoffs. It’s an exciting time to be a Browns fan and a busy time to be a club president.

It was my honor to serve as president of the Middle Tennessee Browns Backers for fifteen years. The hardest part of the job was finding an establishment to show the games. First, I had to convince the owner or manager that yes there are Browns fans in Nashville, TN. and they would gladly show up every game day to watch, eat, drink and spend their hard-earned money in their establishment. Next, I had to negotiate the signs, posters and flags that the club would put on the walls. Could we keep them up all season? If not, could we store them in the establishment? Some places agreed to the first, some agreed to the second, one agreed to neither and we had to take them down and put them back up before and after every game. Whatever made the owner or manager happy. You had to have the mentality of an arbitrator.

The club really got lucky when we could use the same establishment for consecutive years. In the off-season my wife and I would always frequent the place to show our support. Prior to the first game, the club would have a pregame tailgate party either outside or inside the establishment. The only stipulation was you had to be a dues paying member or an out-of-town guest to eat and drink. It was always a good time. I’m glad to see the Middle Tennessee Browns Backers continues this tradition.

This Sunday, my wife and I will head to The Nashville Palace and join our fellow Browns Backers for the pregame tailgate party and see friends we haven’t seen since last year. The current president Ernie Nagy, his wife Janet and their entire family do a great job in running the club. I thank every year and Ernie will ask me if want to be president again. Sorry, I did my time. If you haven’t visited your local Backers club, I encourage you to do so. There’s nothing like watching a Browns game with like-minded individuals. Stay safe and Go Browns.