Defending the Cleveland Browns against uniform cheap shots
October 28, 2014The Day “The Diff” Didn’t Die
October 28, 2014The Cleveland Browns rebounded from their sleepwalk in Jacksonville to knock off the Raiders 23-13 at home on Sunday. The game was a bore through the first three quarters as the teams traded punts and field goals, but Brian Hoyer found Andrew Hawkins in the end zone late in the third quarter to wake up FirstEnergy Stadium and extend the Browns’ lead to 16-6. From that point on the win was all but sealed for the Browns as both teams would add garbage time touchdowns bringing the final to 23-13.
Let’s take a look past the 23-13 scoreline and go behind the box score.
3 – Sacks by Paul Kruger on Raiders’ quarterback Derek Carr. Kruger had a massive day rushing the passer, adding two hurries and another quarterback hit to his season high three sacks. The big money free agent signing of 2013 now has five sacks on the year, eclipsing his total from a season ago and putting him on pace to enter double digits. The last time the Browns had a player with ten sacks was Kamerion Wimbley during his rookie season back in 2006. The production from Kruger is more than welcome for a team who has struggled to find a pass rusher since 1999. Unless names like Matt Roth, Alex Hall, and Marcus Benard tickle your fancy, it’s pretty clear that Kruger and Sheard are the most talented rushers on Lake Erie in quite some time.
Immeasurable – The amount of pure joy on the face of this strapping WFNY blogger following the Kruger smash on Carr. CBS decided to repeatedly show two of Cleveland’s finest in the form of yours truly on the left and my roommate on the right. Great work CBS, I’ll be there all season.
8.33 – The average yards needed by the Browns on third down plays. The Browns were a dreadful 2-12 on third downs, killing drive after drive on Sunday. It’s hard to keep your offense on the field when they continually are facing 3rd and a country mile. Cleveland threw the ball on 11 of 12 third down attempts to little success.
1.6 – Yards per rushing attempt for the Browns against the Raiders’ 26th ranked rushing defense. The Cleveland line could not create any room for Ben Tate or Terrance West to run through, keeping the offense in long yardage situations. Give credit to Kyle Shanahan though, who refused to abandon the run, calling 25 runs to 29 passes. There was hardly any room to be gained on the ground, but the continual pounding on the Oakland defense wore them down and kept the Browns somewhat balanced.
28 – Where Pro Football Focus ranked Browns’ starting center Nick McDonald among all centers to play in Week 9. The Browns moved John Greco back to guard and inserted McDonald into the center spot hoping for more continuity, but the results were just as muddy as they were in Jacksonville. Cleveland could not get any push whatsoever on the Oakland front and running backs Tate and West were locked up with no place to go. The silver lining in the Browns’ horrid play at center is that four of the five other worst performances by centers on the day played for good teams in Baltimore, New England, San Diego, and Cincinnati.
52 – The number of the best defensive player on the field, Khalil Mack. Mack has been very good thus far in his rookie campaign, but was a straight monster against the Browns. The fifth pick in last May’s draft had four hurries, two hits on Hoyer, and six stops in the run game. The product out of Buffalo had the look of an All-Pro on Sunday. Mack’s strong start to the season along with the success of Buffalo’s Sammy Watkins and the shortcomings of Justin Gilbert makes it easy to second guess the Browns’ decision to trade out of the 4th pick in last year’s draft.
0 – Number of turnovers for Brian Hoyer and the Browns. The offense couldn’t run the ball and Hoyer had some throws that could have picks, but the offense escaped with zero turnovers. The Browns offense was about as sexy as the Rob Lowe who doesn’t have DirecTV but because they held on to the football they won the game. Play good defense and take care of the football and you’ll win games in the NFL. Even if the wins are hit over the head with the ugly stick they still count.
3 – Number of turnovers for Derek Carr and the Raiders. The Browns led 9-6 late in the third quarter when the Raiders’ drive moved inside the Browns’ 30-yard line. The game had a “Factory of Sadness” feel to it as fans couldn’t help but think “here we go again”. On a 2nd and 6, Darren McFadden took a hand off, burst through a hole to the Browns’ 20-yard line where he was met by Browns safety Donte Whitner. Whitner, put his helmet right on the football, jarring it loose into the air, and into the arms of Joe Haden who ran the fumble out of Browns’ territory and back to mid field. The Whitner forced fumble was the turning point in the game as Brian Hoyer led the Browns into the end zone on their next drive, growing the lead to 16-6.
5 – Number of interceptions for Tashaun Gipson which leads the NFL. Gipson intercepted Matt Schaub (poor Matt Schaub) on the Raiders’ botched fake field goal attempt, returning it 35 yards back to the Oakland 48-yard line. The smart play may have been for Gipson to simply knock the pass down, but Gipson has a playmaker mentality. Having already taken one interception back to the house this year and threatening on another there was little chance of the Browns’ safety would bat the ball down. The man in which this blogger picked for his breakout player of the year is averaging just under 30 yards per interception return.
13 – The number of times Derek Carr targeted Joe Haden in coverage. Carr chucked it over fifty times on Sunday, with more passes headed number 23’s way than any other defender. Haden started the season as the punching bag for a struggling defense, but has started to rebound these past few weeks. Against Oakland, Haden held the Raiders’ passing attack to just under five yards per throw that came his way. Haden was also big in run support, racking up seven tackles and an assist on the day, including an absolute stuff on Darren McFadden for a 3-yard loss.
4.15 – Yards per play allowed by the Browns defense over the last three games. Considering the Denver Broncos are best in the NFL this season at 4.7 yards allowed per play that number is outstanding. Yes, the Browns have faced Derek Carr and Blake Bortles the last two weeks, but they also shut down Ben Roethlisberger who just threw for over 500 yards on Sunday. As the weeks go by the Browns are shifting back to the defense-first team we thought they’d be when the year started.
10 Comments
“As the weeks go by the Browns are shifting back to the defense-first team we thought they’d be when the year started.” …or the yes defense no offense team we thought they’d be. [worried]
Not to take anything away at all from Kruger, but the sack he recoded in he gif, above, will probably go down as one of the easiest in the league all year. Unblocked, straight rush to the QB’s non-blind side? Even Mingo could have knocked Carr down on that one (provided he was in proper “position” lol). Chalk it up to Raiders’ incompetence, I guess–terrible OL blocking scheme, clueless fullback (#45) who runs a short pass route instead of you know, blocking, Carr staring down the opposite side of the field, etc. Still, the D is definitely trending up, opponents’ issues aside. Kruger and Gipson are having Pro Bowl years, Haden is coming around and even Gilbert may be figuring it out. And Dansby/Whitner > D’Qwell/Ward. Only a terrible run defense is holding this unit down. I know there’s been injuries on the line, but if ever there was a position of depth on this team going into the season, it was the d-line.
shortcomings of Justin Gilbert
he’s actually been playing pretty well in his time since the bye week. regardless, a bit early to be disparaging a CB. Fuller had a good primetime game to start the season, but has fallen off. Dennard cannot get snaps.
you underestimate Mingo’s ability to run straight past the QB and grasp helplessly backward as he realizes he overshot his target.
Sighhhh. It’s not going to be fun a few years from now when all the websites to a “re-draft” of the 2013 first round and list all the guys the Browns COULD have taken with that sixth pick. (To be fair, that was a pretty weak draft.)
putrid draft.
top10:
Fisher, Joeckel, Jordan, Johnson, Ansah, Mingo, Cooper, Austin, Milliner, Warmack
5/10 are OL and despite that “safe” picking none all that great. The biggest mistake we made was not taking the trade down with the Rams in a bad draft to try to maximize our chances at a good player with the basics being #6 for #16 + #46.
#16 guys like Eric Reid, Ogletree, and DeAndre Hopkins would have been options.
#46 was the Kiko pick and Leveon Bell went 2 picks later.
Of course, those are the 5 best guys in there for those picks and there were lots of terrible guys around those picks too. So, a decent chance it doesn’t work out better, but 2 picks is better than 1 when there isn’t a specific guy worth taking to up the odds.
agree. Cannot fairly evaluate CBs or QBs in less than half a season. This kid seems to have all the physical attributes. Haden didn’t start in the first games of his rookie season. If he’s still struggling in October of 2015 then all criticisms of this pick will be valid.
NO, NO, NO! Either all pro from game one as a rookie or bust. These are the ONLY alternatives! Please do not tamper with the zeitgeist.
what about Doug Martin and Mark Barron? guys who looked like all-pro’s from game1, but then became all-busts from year2 onward?
I thought the rules with Browns QBs were
1. Lose one game, time to consider putting in the backup!
2. Win one game, he’s the next Bernie Kosar!
Seriously, we overreact a lot. Right now, it’s silly to think that making any changes at QB will make any difference – the problem is that we don’t have anyone who can hold a candle to Alex Mack at center.