One week left, Tribe still hangin’ around
September 22, 2014Cavs add AJ Price to Training Camp roster
September 22, 2014On NBC’s “Football Night in America” this past Sunday evening, long-time head coach Tony Dungy and former concussion hander-outer Rodney Harrison briefly discussed their belief in moral victories. No one smiled bigger than those Cleveland Browns fans who wish to tout the team “up and coming” or “on the rise” as they enter their bye week with a record of 1-2. After all, they’re undefeated when it comes to Almost Winning.
After another soul-crushing loss given to Cleveland by the opposing team’s kicker, an attempt set up by blown coverage by the defensive backs, lets dig in to this week’s edition of Winner and Losers.
WINNER: Brian Hoyer â If you take away the one throw-away and one batted pass, Brian Hoyer was 19-for-23 for 290 yards and a touchdown. He used the inside of the field, he used the outside of the field. He executed on short passes and managed to find a few wide receivers for long onesâhe found six different receivers on the day. He played well in the pocket, not showing any signs of discomfort under duress, not taking a single sack on the afternoon. It was the kind of performance that should have netted a win, and it’s a shame that the defensive side of the ball couldn’t pick up their end of the bargain. (And yes, I’ll excuse him for the pass attempt that was five yard beyond the line of scrimmage. He can’t see the blue line!)
WINNERS: Andrew Hawkins and Miles Austin â Hawkins was once again the team leader in targets with Brian Hoyer looking his way nine different times. Seven of those passes were hauled in with Hawk netting another 87 yards, 47 of which were after the catch. The kid is everything the Browns had hoped they were getting when they signed him to that offer sheet this past offseasonâand more. Hawkins was tagged with his first dropped pass of the season (arguably the biggest play of the game on third down deep in their own territory), but the pass was thrown well behind him and he was about to get his clock cleaned. Austin hauled in all six of his targets, netting him 51 yards and another touchdown. He doesn’t have the explosive, field-stretching YAC numbers he had in Dallas to this point in the season, but his sure handedness is undoubtedly appreciated by Hoyer and his coaching staff which continue to call his number.
WINNER: Johnny Manziel â Because this was awesome, even if it didn’t count.
WINNER: Kyle Shanahan â Brian Hoyer was able to find Travis Benjamin and Taylor Gabriel for huge passing plays not because the two receivers are All Pros, but because the Browns coaching staff noticed something with the Ravens’ coverage and exposed it. Both plays should have resulted in touchdowns, but both receivers wound up being tackled not long after the catchâGabriel essentially tackled himself.
For all of the grief Shanahan was getting during the preseason (multiple-word play calls! The horror!), he’s proving to be a huge commodity for a team that hasn’t shown much in the way of executable offensive game plans for the last decade or so. And the play to Manziel? Sure, they might have wanted to tighten up on the rules a bit, but it still went for 39 yards before being called back. I had always heard about in-game adjustments, but near the lakefront, they’ve been more myth than anything. It’s good to finally have some of our own.
LOSERS: Browns Special Teams â What in the hell was that? Botched snaps, kicks off the uprights, shoddy blocking, muffed punts… The list goes on, and it doesn’t even include the blown extra point from a week ago. It’s an underappreciated part of the game, but Sunday like the one we just had show just how big the other unit is through the course of a game. When each of your first three games have come down to a field goal, you need a snapper, holder, kicker and the requisite blocking to execute. This is all eerily similar to the stretch of play that cost Ryan Pontbriand his gig a few years back. Let’s hope these guys can use the bye week to get their act together, otherwise it’ll be another open tryout for a guy who plays a position with one, singular jobâto accurately snap the ball into the hands of whomever is standing (or crouching) behind him.
LOSER: Joe Haden â Joe Haden may have been given the tough task in Week 2, but the Pro Bowl cornerback with the big contract continues to play like anything but. This time around, there was no Jimmy Graham to blanket. Instead, Haden was given the role of covering the 35-year-old Steve Smith Sr. (a guy with SENIOR in his name), and was destroyedârepeatedly. Haden was thrown at six times and allowed five receptions for 82 yards, including the dagger of a reception to Smith along the right side of the field in the game’s final minute. “We pride ourselves on going on the field, making plays and getting stops, and I just didn’t do that today,” said Haden postgame. On the season, he currently ranks 93rd among 95 cornerbacks to play at least 25 percent of his team’s snaps and is a huge reason why this team isn’t 2-1 (or even undefeated).
LOSER: Mike Pettine â While the players should shoulder plenty of the blame on Losing Monday, Pettine and his team are not without fault. Multiple timeouts burnt due to miscommunication, multiple instance where they were simply outcoached. Players lining up in the wrong spots, playing the wrong technique, committing key penalties and giving up too many big runsâall under the watch of a Defense First guy. Twenty-one points should be enough to win the game, and the Browns, despite having the lead late, didn’t. The players can stick up for him all they wish, and I appreciate his honesty, but Mike Pettine didn’t show too well in this one.
LOSERS: Phil Taylor, Ahtyba Rubin, Desmond Bryant and Karlos Dansby â The front four was absolutely scorched once again. Not only did they not sack Joe Flacco a single time, they were destroyed by the Baltimore run game. When Pettine discusses the “wrong spots and wrong technique,” it’s not far-fetched to assume he’s talking about the linemen playing on the wrong shoulders of those in front of them. The Ravens run a zone-blocking scheme similar to the Browns, so this should have been something the defense would be prepared for. Zo Taliaferro is a talented back who may very well be the future of the position in Baltimore, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that he was carrying a 10 yard-per-carry average through much of the contest with most of his runs coming over the left or right guards. Good news for Joe Haden is that teams won’t need to throw the ball much as they can just carve the Browns up on the ground.
LOSER: Barkevious Mingo â The lone man responsible for the Ravens’ TD to a FULLBACK gets his own line item. Sweet spin move en route to the quarterback who had already thrown the ball.
WINNERS: Paul Kruger and Jabaal Sheard â In hopes of ending on a happier note, we’ll be sure to include the two outside linebackers who were forced to abandon ship in the pass rush and help out in stopping the run. Both players excelled in an area in which they’re typically not asked to execute. While Sheard is credited with three quarterback hurries and Kruger single-handedly caused another interception to be thrown, each player had four solo stops, six of which were at or behind the line of scrimmage. Sheard’s ability to get down the line allowed the Browns to make a huge stop on a fourth-down play. It’s the kind of a play that, in most cases, tilt the game in a most teams’ favor. But the Cleveland Brownsâwell, they’re not like most teams.
82 Comments
Losers
Travis Benjamin – Gotta field the punts; I dont see him on roster thru midseason
Yount – snaps have all sucked on FG and PATs
O’Neill – turned a good run defense into a terrible one. Need Pettine to take this on.
Haden – got scorched vs JAX last year by Shorts, I think NE vs Edelmen, and twice this year for costly TDs that have cost us wins; Costing us big plays and wins.
Mingo – Complete liability on run defense; bites inside has blown assignments on numerous runs that became TDs. Perhaps time to sit him.
Team Offense – panicked on 1st down after Gabriel bomb. Were worried about it being reveresed and ran that terrible play. Need to have better control over the situation.
Totally agree that the defensive woes may be systemic.
I thought it was interesting they went into the hurry up after that bomb. While the hurry up has been the offense’s friend, at that point, I think Hoyer made a mistake. 9 yards out. A chance to put the game out of reach. And 5 mins to milk off the clock.
If I recall, they hurried up into a run for a loss.
I really don’t want to hear “well we should be 2-1, 3-0, etc.” No you should be 1-2. Poor special teams and a mediocre defense will do that.
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I’m all in on The Forest City Kiddies. đ
Yeah, me, too. I’m just not down on Tate. I think this is a terrific, wonderful, fantastic problem to have.
(For some reason, my jpeg didn’t attach to my last comment.)
http://img.pandawhale.com/post-31661-Im-not-listening-gif-Princess-YWK3.gif
I think running the hurry up may have had something to do with the play clock. If I remember correctly, they start it immediately after the ball is dead, which means on long plays like that, everyone has to run up to the line quickly and there is barely time to huddle. I think the announcers talked about this the first game when the Steelers had some long plays them had to take time outs to avoid a delay of game.
Re: that gif of the beer-bellied guy in the Johnny shirt.
Look at the expression on the face of the woman to his right. Priceless.
Loser – Chris Tabor – For years now this team has suffered from crushing mental mistakes by the special teams unit. FOR YEARS. And yet Chris Tabor holds onto his job. Blame it on the long snapper all you want, but last week we saw the Saints come within inches of blocking the game-winning kick and there is no adjustment to the scheme so that when the Ravens do the exact same thing, they are able to get the block. Fire him. Fire him now. He is simply not a good special teams coach and we have years of evidence to back that up.
Loser – Joe Haden – The sad truth about our highly paid “shutdown corner” is that he plays 3 #1 wide receivers 2 times each year and he is unable to make a stop on any of them when the game matters. He has shown he cannot stop A.J. Green or Antonio Brown, and is now being beaten by Torrey Smith. So basically we spent #1 cornerback money on a guy who cannot be a #1 cornerback 6 games out of the year against the teams we absolutely have to beat.
Loser – Prospect at Winning the Division – We are now, after only 3 games, basically playing for a wildcard spot and that is on a wing and a prayer already.
Loser – Isaiah Crowell – I am not denying his talent and he looks like a great back, but he needs to learn that when the play is not there, try and get up field as much as possible, not run diagonally backwards to the sidelines.
Loser – Announcers – Can’t stand Solomon Wilcox, just completely awful.
Winner – The Ravens.
Winner: me, everytime I see that picture.
Play calling last two series of the game were the nail in the coffin for him.
Kyle Shanahan = LOSER.
Maybe instead of a #12, BenRM should order a delicious MLT. They are the greatest things in the world.
LOSER – Mike Pettine. Your decision was to punt after your team just picked up 29 of 30 penalized yards with the ball on the opposite field. So deflating, so demoralizing. Then add insult to injury, Ravens run the ball down your throat for a touchdown.
WINNER – Texas A&M Offensive Scheme…… as it continues to be each week.
Shanahan can’t be classified simply as a WINNER. He’s showing some great aptitude, but give the trick plays, end arounds and other trickiness during drives when the normal stuff is working a rest.
On top of that, we’ve now seen two games where the Browns had late-game situations that required offensive play calling designed to work the clock that both resulted in losses. The first was against Pittsburgh where the Browns were pinned deep, and rather than keeping the clock moving to at least force overtime, they got pass happy and gave the ball back for the winning field goal. The Browns should have finished the 4th quarter with the ball…win or tie.
The second was yesterday, when, in the last possession (and really, the second to last possession), the Browns failed to keep the clock moving to bring the end of the game closer. Just run the ball. When you have two possessions with the lead and under five mins to go and you only run about 1:30 off the clock, it’s due to poor play calling. This isn’t “hindsight 20/20” and all that. It’s math. The defense only has three timeouts. With five minutes to go and the lead, you have two goals. Get a first down, and short of that, make sure Baltimore has no timeouts when they get the ball back.
This offense could be great. Don’t get too flashy when it’s not necessary (like say, when you get an interception and start off on your opponent’s 30 yard line with a chance to go up two possessions). Also, Pettine should probably have a heart to heart with Kyle about end-of-game offensive strategy. In my opinion, they coached themselves right out of a win, despite the terrible defense and special teams performance.
Winner/Loser: Hoyer. His stat line was good and he kept the team in the game but he also made some costly mistakes. The passes to Gabriel and to Benjamin were underthrows. If the receiver stays in stride and doesn’t have to slow down those are scores. Also the third down play where he goes 4 yards past the line of scrimmage and throws it into the end zone cost them points. QB’s should always know where the sticks are at all times.
Winner: The Wide Receivers. Austin, Hawkins both made big plays and got open. Gabriel also made a huge play late in the game. Most, myself included thought that the receiver core wouldn’t amount to much with Mr. Gordon off selling cars but they really have played well this year.
Loser: Defensive front seven. They only got pressure on Flacco 3 times that I could see. When they did get pressure they forced bad throws and even had a turnover but for the most part they were pedestrian. Their run defense is terrible as guys named Telephone…I mean Taliaferro run over and through them.
Loser: Special teams. Just echoing what was said by others. They just looked bad. I would ask Denver if they want to send the kid they picked up to replace Prater over once the suspension is over.
This team could have been 3-0. All of the games were winnable so I’m still optimistic. Hopefully they can fix what was wrong during the off week.
I won’t call Haden a loser. I’ll just say that right now, he’s in the territory of the soon-to-be cut. I’m sure he’ll play better in weeks to come, but the ranking cited in the article speaks for itself. Considering how many snaps both Gilbert and Skrine have played, they might be higher on that list than Haden.
Winners:
Offensive line. This is now one of the best units in the NFL. Bitonio has turned a weakness into a strength, and allowed us to move Greco next to Schwartz, who seem to be play well together.
Receivers. I though this group would be terrible, but they have done well. The drops have disappeared.
Hoyer. Not perfect, but he owns the starting job now.
Crowell. He’s clearly the most talented back on this roster and should be the starter.
Dansby and Gipson. They just keep making plays.
Fans. Yea this loss hurts, but we’ve played well. There are 13 games left and they should all be good.
Losers:
Coaches. Mistakes cost us this game. It is the job of the coaches to prevent that from happening, but they were too busy making their own mistakes. We were unprepared in the 4th qtr.
Special teams. We performed a lot like a high school squad, except worse.
Benjamin. He’s afraid to get hit. If ‘play like a Brown’ means anything he must be cut immediately to send a message.
Yount. If he hasn’t already lost his job, he’s one mistake from it.
Defense. A lot has been invested here. We have the personnel to be good but are far from it. Some of blame goes to the secondary but our pass rush just isn’t good enough. Besides, NFL rules now make it nearly impossible for the secondary.
Mingo. Our defense is better when he isn’t on the field.
Not to pile on, then maybe they should consider calling a TO there. A TD there closes out the game. Instead, blown opp.
hated that punt
I think most of this is valid, but really you have to take a step back and ask yourself how all this would look if you just changed what I thought was the most glaring problem, which was special teams. This is really the story of both losses. It’s probably 6-9 points in this one between the miss, the block and a good 50 yards of field position garbage. Fix the carelessness and brain-farts there and we’re very probably 3-0 with two division wins. So it’s hard to get to worked up on a systemic level.
The offense is so much better than anyone had any right to expect and I couldn’t be more impressed with Shanny Jr. He really calls a great game and the system is somehow making space and creating defensive breakdowns for this second rate receiving corps. My guess is we’ll regress to the mean a bit both from our overperforming offense and underperforming defense, but 3 games into the installation of these systems, we already look good enough that I’d expect us to challenge for a wild card. It’s hard not to be crushed today, but it’s even harder not to be pretty optimistic about the overall project.
PFF has Bitonio in the top10 of OGs on the season. Bi-TONY-Oh!!!!! (said much like Ri-co-la singing)
And, really, the entire Northcoast Railway deserves credit for laying the tracks.
Because, sandwich. đ
http://sandwichmeinchicago.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/8-Sandwich-Special.jpg
Hoyer ran 5 yards past the line of scrimmage and then threw a ball. Not 1 yard, not 2 yards, but FIFTEEN FEET!!!
“Franchise” QBs don’t do that. Especially in those situations.
I’m a big hoyer fan. I’d like Manziel to sit all year, but I am starting to see some physical stuff from hoyer that I don’t like.
mmmmm…. mutton, lettuce, tomato. good one.
Agreed He is probably the softest player on the team.
“[Hoyer] executed on short passes and managed to find a few wide receivers for long ones
…
Brian Hoyer was able to find Travis Benjamin and Taylor Gabriel for huge passing plays not because the two receivers are All Pros, but because the Browns coaching staff noticed something with the Ravensâ coverage and exposed it. Both plays should have resulted in touchdowns, but both receivers wound up being tackled not long after the catchâGabriel essentially tackled himself.”
Hate to nitpick, but I disagree with the implied blame that the receivers fouled up in not scoring. Both of those plays should have been touchdowns but weren’t, quite simply, because the WRs had to wait on the ball to get to them. Some of that falls onto Hoyer, no?
Is Joe Haden dating Caroline Wozniacki?
Upvote squared.
After watching the game a few times, it appears that, several times, Kirby started trying to adjust the defensive line and one of two things would go wrong: the line would start shifting gaps but during the snap, or the first few guys would adjust while the tackle to the far side would stay in the original gap. I doubt these half shifts are intentional. Sounds like the line needs to hit the books.
You’re giving Shanahan too much credit. When the pressure is on, he abandons the run. Those last two offensive drives are as much or more on him as anybody.
Plus, we run too many ends-around and gadget plays.