The Best Basketball Team in Cleveland
December 6, 2010Dan Gilbert Not Happy, Commiserating on Twitter
December 6, 2010I’m very grateful for the win. Let’s be very clear about that. We will take them however we can get them. But this was not a very pretty win. The Browns struggled to get anything going on offense, especially in the first half. If it had not been for a few excellent plays by the defense, this one would have turned out much differently.
How bad was it in the first half? As I sat with a buddy watching the game we began to joke about second and 8. It seemed like the gameplan was to get 2 yards on first down, and another 2 or 3 on second down, leaving third and 5. The Browns ran 11 first down plays in the half, one of which was a kneel down at the end of the quarter. So of those 10 plays, exactly 1 went for more than 3 yards. (That was a 13 yard rumble by Hillis on the first play of the second possession.) Here are the results from first down in that half-
0,13,2,1,0,1,2,0,3,0 for an average of 2.2 yards on first down. Or like we joked- second and 8.
In the second half, the Browns managed to find a few more big plays on first down, especially to Watson over the middle. They completed a 20,22 and 15 yard pass on first down. Of the 13 First down plays ran in the second half 7 went for 3 yards or fewer. The Browns averaged over 5 yards per first down play in the second half (excluding kneel downs).
One of the new buzz phrases this year is ‘behind the chains’. It refers of course to finding yourself in down and distance situations which aren’t favorable. Second and 5 is a great down and distance. The playbook is wide open and the defense is on their heels. Third and 5 is a bad down and distance. 80% of the time you can expect a pass, and so the defense can adjust. The Dolphins wisely brought pressure on these downs and the Browns were generally helpless to convert.
Cleveland faced 14 third down situations against the Dolphins. On 11 of those third downs the Browns had to get 5+ yards. 11 of 14! That is not setting yourself up for success. And how many third downs did the Browns convert? Exactly 2. For the game. I don’t know how many games you are going to win converting 2 third downs. Thank you defense.
The script is written on trying to stop the Browns. If you can stack the line and get to Hillis before he gets to the second level of the defense you have a good shot to force the Browns into a passing situation. With Delhomme under center, the best way to win those downs is to bring pressure. If you can force Jake to move out of the pocket even the slightest bit it rattles him. If he reads the blitz he will dump it off short where you make a sure tackle. Suddenly the Browns are punting.
Brian Daboll is going to have to find ways to change things up and get the ball down field on first down. Additionally, Hillis is going to be most effective when the opposition doesn’t know if it’s a run or pass down.
(Photo by Marc Serota/Getty Images)
32 Comments
Rick, nice write up on the “down and distance” averages that are ruling the NFL this year.
i have noticed that with Delhomme under center the first down calls seem to be more run plays than with McCoy who seems to get more passing plays called for his first down attempts.
do you think this could be due to McCoy’s willingness to check down and better scrambling ability or just a fluke?
Agree, Rick. In McCoy’s first three starts Daboll protected him well calling so many unexpected first down throws when defenses surely expected that he would not be asked to do much. Maybe Daboll felt free to really let go because our limited offense had little to lose against those defenses.
Opponents watch tape and they’re just lasering in on Hillis. With safeties cheating up for the run because of no receiving threat Daboll had better go back to at least the slightly unexpected. Or maybe Mangini think that we cannot learn to be the 1980s Redskins or 1990s Giants, running because we say so, unless we do it and keep doing it.
They don’t really utilize Hillis very well as a receiver. Run him on wheel and follow routes instead of 2 yard hooks and outs. Make a linebacker try to run with him. Even if there is such a linebacker, guarantee Hillis has better ball skills down the field.
@1: Delhomme came out guns blazing vs the Jags…
@2: The Incredible Hulk could be our running back (by some accounts, he is) and it wouldn’t matter. 1 dimensional team is 1 dimensional. If nothing else, we need another running back so we can keep Hillis fresh, or give defenders 2 targets to watch for.
The lack of play-action yesterday is what really got me.
eh. pounding Hillis relentlessly in the 1st half setup Watson in the 2nd half. yeah, we need to be more effective against most teams, but the Dolphins do have a good run defense.
the holes will be bigger against the Bills. also, more screen plays and swing plays to Hillis are needed (though I shiver everytime Jake throws to the sidelines)
Really, can we stop calling the game ugly? Why is it that offense is ‘ugly’ in low-scoring contests? Why can’t it be a great defensive duel, and the Fins blinked down the stretch?
sans a fg miss, the Browns played mistake-free offense and good, solid, clutch defense. Our special teams were special. For all of our lack of gaining yardage on offense, we let the Fins into scoring position 3 times the entire game, and erased the first one with Shaun Rogers’ big ol’ mitt. The game was tense and exciting. Can people stop poking holes in the Browns every time we win by less than 40? Plz?
Good game, Jake. He made one mistake, but fortunately didn’t deliver the cb a catchable ball.
The Browns aren’t good enough to win pretty. I’ll take ugly W’s every Sunday.
@Believelander, I would be more likely to stop calling the offense ugly if it weren’t really ugly. I don’t understand the logic behind “a win means there’s nothing to critique.” If Rogers doesn’t get his big mitt on the ball, Miami could have won. If Watson doesn’t break up the interception, Miami probably wins. So why is it that since those two things happened, Cleveland played without fault? There are always things the Browns can improve on, so why not talk about them here? Hey, I was ecstatic with the win and I still am, but I’m not above saying that this team needs to continue to improve.
Great recap, Rick. I would also like to see a comparison of Delhomme’s first down plays to McCoy, that seems like a useful way to look at which quarterback is better at setting up the offense for success.
If you want more positive comments, then I will say this… I’m psyched that Daboll and Delhomme were able to finally recognize the gaps in the Miami defense that were present the entire game and exploit them. I was extremely charged up to see a play-action pass, as it worked beautifully. Haden looked like a top corner and David Bowens & Shaun Rogers both imposed their will on the game. Excellent execution from the special teams.
I’ll take winning ugly with a QB who makes me shudder every time he throws, no WR threats, and a defense that’s playing insanely well considering the personnel over starting 1-11 and getting smoked every week.
Nothing wrong with winning ugly if you’re winning.
Let me elaborate a bit…
Through 12 games last year, as I noted, the Browns were 1-11. Their one win was disgraceful against an even worse team, and in most of those 11 losses they lost by 15+ points.
Contrast that with this season through 12 games, keeping in mind the national expectation (5.5 wins was the over/under). They’ve improved by four games in the won/lost stats against a MUCH tougher overall schedule. In their seven losses, they’ve only been blown out once (Pittsburgh), and lost the other six games by a combined 32 points (>6 points, or one TD/two FGs, per game). Those six losses were to teams with a combined 49-22 record, pending the Jets’ game tonight. Including the 18-point loss to the Steelers, the Browns are only -10 overall through 12 games in points.
So, are the Browns a playoff-caliber team? No. No one’s saying that. Are they improved? Obviously. But, sooner or later you have to start winning some of those close games, and as ugly as both the Carolina and Miami wins were, they’re wins. In close games. Miami was over .500 in a tough division before Cleveland played them.
I guess my point is that there’s nothing wrong with graduating from “getting OWNED” to “winning ugly” on the evolutionary chart of this team. Winning ugly isn’t always a negative.
“I’d rather have an ugly win, than a pretty loss”- Mike Shanahan
“’You are drunk Sir Winston, you are disgustingly drunk. ‘Yes, Mrs. Braddock, I am drunk. But you, Mrs. Braddock are ugly, and disgustingly fat. But, tomorrow morning, I, Winston Churchill will be sober.” – Winston Churchill
See, the thing is, people aren’t calling the offense ugly. They’re calling the win ugly. Wins are ugly when a botched out/in bounds call sets up the opposing team with an easy fg for the win and they shank it. When two teams whose defenses are superior to their offenses slug out a close 13-10 affair, that’s called defensive football. But everyone is so offense-centric that whole novels are written about the ugliness of the ‘game’ or the ‘win’ when they (allegedly) actually mean the offense. Why does it have to be an ugly win when a #4 nfl defense looked like one versus our #bad nfl offense? Our offense scored more points than theirs did, with their better ranked o, better ranked d, in their house. Beautiful win if you ask me.
@15, I will yield with respect to the win being called ugly… the defense and special teams were inspired. The offense looks eunuch-level impotent at times, but I think it’s easily better than last year… the whole team is.
Why does it have to be an ugly win when a #4 nfl defense looked like one versus our #bad nfl offense? Our offense scored more points than theirs did, with their better ranked o, better ranked d, in their house. Beautiful win if you ask me.
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if Gary Owen didn’t drop that gem of a comment right before this statement then this comment by “Believelander” would win the ‘Best Comment on This Article Award’.
Congrats Gary for first place… Congrats Believelander for second. Keep your head up kid.. It was a pretty defeat.
How about Wright’s addition by subtraction!? what is it, like 8 INT’s in two games? AWESOME! Should be an eye opener for him.
MattyFos:
An ugly win. Comment didn’t even have anything to do with the Browns. I humbly accept the honor, however, on behalf of Sir Winston.
Does it come with a trophy? Cuz it’s definitely going on the resume!
Yes, the trophy is in the mail as we speak.
Expect it not likely to never weeks.
It’s a major award.
Gary Owen is on fire with awesome/well timed quotes.
I like how he is referred to twice as “Gary” in the span of 6 comments, even though he seems to plainly spell it “Garry” underneath his avatar. Not trying to be a jerk, I just got a chuckle from that. Unless it’s well known that “Gary” is the correct spelling and the spelling under the avatar is purposefully misspelled and everyone knows it… in which case there is egg on my face.
Haha, didn’t notice it was spelled with two R’s….. That will explain why the trophy doesn’t reach you! I sent it to Gary with one R, not two R’s…. Duh
The second “r” is a sublimanal mesage designed to make everyone who reads it remove excesive, superlative leters from words that they spel. It proves that the English language is unecesarily weighted in order to work to the disadvantage of the leterly chalenged. Don’t fel bad. We are all used to operating in the liminal or superliminal.
Having said that, I’m remembering everyone that has butchered my sacred nom de plume (and nom de guerre, as it were).
I too loved the Churchill quote though. I love a nice witty quote from time to time… Oscar Wilde is a good one for those. “America had often been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed up.” Classic.
Gary. Your name is now Gary. Garry would clearly be pronounced with a soft a as in “car”. And that’s not even a word.
What do you mean bosses don’t have the authority to change peoples names??????!
Chris: Brilliant.
By the way, are you some sort of anglophile? Or perhaps a limey lobsterback yourself? A spy working for MI5 (maybe MI6)? Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you correctly incorrectly spell “offense” with a “c”. I’m on to you, Randy Lerner. Just because you speak fancy doesn’t mean you’re better than us. Now, you very well might be better than us, but your fancy talk doesn’t make it so, Bear Grylls.
[Obviously, I intend no “offence” to any actual limey lobsterbacks in the WFNY audience.]
Did anyone see this?
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2010/12/06/son-of-gruden-spills-the-beans-on-coaching-plans/
Great article. Good points in the comments, too.
The play calling is completely unimaginative. I wonder our play calling is unimaginative because we lack play makers or we lack play makers because of the play calling. Hmm.
@31K: Egg first, then chicken. How many times must I repeat myself?
Our ‘playmakers’ keep laying eggs, turning our OC into a chicken.