Mark Shapiro: “We’re somewhat limited financially”
January 12, 2015
Scorching Hot Takes Episode 3: This is long and we are sorry
January 12, 2015The Cleveland Browns may have not been able to run the ball down the stretch, and their quarterback play left plenty to be desired. But if the team has anything on which to hang their hat when searching for a new offensive coordinator over the coming weeks, it’s that they have one of the best offensive lines in the game.
According to Pro Football Focus:
6. Cleveland Browns (12th)
Pass Blocking Ranking: 2nd, Run Blocking Ranking: 7th, Penalties Ranking: 16th
Stud: What a year from Joe Thomas (+33.5). The sure-fire Hall of Famer continues to amaze with his play, never having an off year, looking like the best tackle of his generation.
Dud: When Alex Mack went down, Nick McDonald (-28.3) got 481 snaps at center. It did not go well⊠at all. Truth be told, anyone who got snaps at center struggled after the loss of Mack.
Breakdown: The pickup of Joel Bitonio reaped immediate rewards with this line playing as well as any. That was until they lost Mack for the year and that was a hammer blow to their chances of the top spot. Still, there arenât many lines with as much talent on their roster as the Browns.
Sixth-best, up six spots from last season, all while missing a Pro Bowl center for much of the season? Not bad, boys. A lot will be made of the team’s first-round draft selections and the passing of a wide receiver while guys like Odell Beckham Jr. put up highlight reel grabs, but the addition of Bitonio was an undeniable home run.
Running the football in 2015 will make or break the team’s ability to use their seven-win season as a launching pad for additional success. As pointed out by Terry Pluto this past weekend, of the teams to be among the top 10 in rushing in 2014, five made the playoffs and only one (the New York Jets) had a losing record. A top-tier offensive line is the first step to achieving such rank. Of course, the Browns ranked No. 17 in rushing so there’s plenty room for improvement, but they also did so on the shoulders of two rookies and should, by all accounts, get to see what Michael Bowie can do.
39 Comments
Itâs a frequent narrative spouted by the general media and across so many boards that the Browns failed because they donât have quality backups yet fail to explain how a 53 man roster can have a Pro Bowl backup at every position which is what most of them seem to demand. Nevertheless, the drop-off from our starting Pro Bowl center to our backup high school division 1A backup center is as mind numbing a conundrum as anything short of our lifelong QB vision quest.
Looking forward to seeing Thomas, Bitonio, Mack, Greco, Bowie, next season.
One more reason not to judge by stats alone.
Sure didn’t look sixth best the second half of the season.
Wait, are you saying you’re “waiting for next year…?”
Amen I wonder how many of the metrics were carried over from when Mack was starting.
The Browns have a ton of cash I’m hoping/praying they use it to address both sides of the line. To me it’s always seemed better to address these sides by signing proven players rather then attempt to draft to fill. I much prefer to draft skill players such as WR and LB both of which this team needs as well.
they were 1st/2nd up until the Mack injury. the ranking really reflects the outstanding play of Joe Thomas, Joel Bitinio, and the partial season of Alex Mack. Greco also played decently next to Mack.
we had just built ourselves up really well in the rankings so that we were able to “hold on” to the 6th spot. not that they really mean anything other than 1 reason to be optimistic for next season when Mack returns.
the idea was that Greco could be a serviceable backup center. that idea was a gross miscalculation by our team (both in terms of his play there and the miscalculation on whoever they thought could be a serviceable OG in his place).
How do they measure this? They generate stats and +/-s but it all feels like a lot of smoke and mirrors.
I had forgotten about Bowie…
But what happens to Schwartz if Bowie pans out?
Can this officially be the death of the “browns offense struggled because they lost alex mack” story line?
If your offense struggles because you lose your center, but you are still the 6th best O-Line, your bigger problems lie elsewhere.
I’m sure it’s a cumulative score, so up until Mack went down they were one of THE best lines, and from then on they were quite a bit below 6th.
However, there was more going on with the run game than just the poor performances from the Center position. I believe a big part of it was that Defenses adjusted to Brian Hoyer. That’s why he looked so much worse too. He was eating defenses up on crossing routes to speedy, sure-handed receivers off of play action, but his glaring weakness is the deep ball, so defenses starting loading up the box to take away the run game and kill the play action, and also to eliminate the running room on the short and intermediate crossing routes – basically daring Hoyer and the WR’s to beat the defense over the top. (or at least with some deep outs along the sideline just past the range of the LB’s) Hoyer was unable to do that. He missed on deep throws to guys in single coverage down the field at least twice per game and they just couldn’t keep the defense honest.
some of it is and they admit it if you look into the stuff on the site about their grading. basically, for OL they do the best job they can to guess if an OL messed up on a play and they obviously have degrees on it, but they cannot know for certain the OL responsibility on that play nor who/what is being called at the LOS for protection schemes. they watch every play and give grades accordingly. done across the NFL, it’s not perfect, but it’s as good or better than anything else out there for public consumption.
he becomes a good backup rather than a marginal starter.
I agree QB was exposed it was bound to happen. This team has a ton of holes I hope second year brings an improvement in talent whether it’s FA or draft. If Farmer retains both first round picks he better hit homeruns because he can’t afford to waste another pair of first rounders IMO.
Going to have to disagree. Google: “Bad Information is worse than no information”
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=bad+information+is+worse+than+no+information
Or the 6th best O-line is a meaningless arbitrary statistic.
Many sports stats are arbitrary in the sense that they are only worth the weight someone assigned to them.
But people, particularly Hoyer supporters, like to point to Alex Mack as the main reason for Hoyer’s shortcomings. That is just not based in reality.
You can’t consistently miss on first rounders, true, but if you get lucky on several UDFA’s it can mask that pretty well. I have some hope still for Gilbert, and West, Bitonio, Kirksey, K’waun Williams, Crowell, and Gabriel isn’t a bad haul for one year of rookie talent acquisition even if both firsts end up busts. All that and an extra first next year – I’ll definitely take it over about 2/3 of our drafts since ’99.
So you are going to give credence to the “statistics” because they support your argument?
I’d prefer to say that our line didn’t help any of our three QBs this year. Hoyer was saved by a quick release (resulting in many incompletions), Manziel fled (like a reaaaaaally slow chicken) from the defense that was in his face on every snap and poor Connor…
Isn’t that exactly how people use statistics every day?
Anyway, the long and short of my HOT TAKE! on the issue is that a competent QB would have had a fine season behind the Browns O-Line. The Browns simply lack a competent QB.
I disagree IMO there are no number of undrafted free agents that can make up for a missed first round pick. The fact that the Browns have missed on their last five first round picks is a complete disgrace. That being said I also have hope for Gilbert but even then one out of five won’t cut it. I agree with the rest of the haul but it’s backwards I mean when you do better picking later in the draft then you do in the early part something is wrong. But it’s been wrong for awhile regardless of whoever is making the final call for players.
Hot Take +1
Stat’s -1 lol. Statistics should be based on factual, measurable quantities. Such as receiving yards, passes caught, TDs. Not on “he looked like he was doing what we think he should have been doing, we guess?”
Force of habit. đ
Never seen so many sure TD’s erased by under-thrown 35+ passes.
Tom Brady called, he said, “Haha!”
That was cool. Did you make that or is it a gif of some kind? If you made it I’m curious to know how.
“The Browns simply lack a good QB.”
This is a “stat” which few can debate. It might even be a fact…
“Statistics should be based on factual, measurable quantities.”
The dilemma lies in the reality that I can find factual, measurable quantities to support any position I take.
It is a website:
http://lmgtfy.com/
Did you type in the question and then copy the resulting URL to paste here and it then “types” the question in the posted link?
Exactly so, give it a shot.
That is sweet. Thanks!!
Lol:
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=how+to+lie+with+statistics
http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4e300e676bb3f7ef1a000007/image.gif
Well, looky there.
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Why+don%27t+I+know+anything%3F
Tom Brady was a sixth round draft pick and always the one exception everyone uses to try and cover for a mistake. Go Pats!
that is the thing. it is not rather than “no information.” it is the best done analysis based on watching the games. much better than the ESPN, B/R, and SI lists of “Best OLs in the NFL” that take a look at YPC & sacks and the all important reputation as the only components.