DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Saints Fan who Likes the Dawgs and Has Some Brown Questions

Been a Saints fan since Day 1 kickoff. But the Browns have always been one of my favorite teams. You Browns fans are as passionate as any in the league and come out to watch your team in conditions worse than the North in GOT. The horrendous move to Baltimore had to be gut-wrenching. But things look really good for Browns - finally!

I just have some questions and would appreciate your insights. Thx in advance:

1) Will Mayfield have enough passes to utilize both OBJ and Landry (btw: I went to LSU)
2) How good in your offensive line this year?
3) Will Greg Wiliams be missed on the defensive side?
4) Chubb is a monster. Will Hunt cut into his carries when he can play?

It would be awesome to see the Browns make it to the Super Bowl. Your team is so young and fun to watch. Best wishes and good luck!

SaintsFanDan

Hello and thanks for the kind words. I'll try and answer your questions.

1) Will Mayfield have enough passes to utilize both OBJ and Landry (btw: I went to LSU)
I think we will throw the ball a ton this year. Freddie likes to pass and our new OC was pass happy in TB. I'll give the other reason later.

2) How good in your offensive line this year?
The Browns OL was ranked second overall by PFF last year, trailing only the Steelers. However, we did lose Zeitler in the Vernon trade. He was one of the highest ranked guards in the league last year. Early indicators are that we look to be better at pass blocking than run blocking.

3) Will Greg Wiliams be missed on the defensive side?
Most fans would say no, but I am not so sure about that. I'm not sold on Wilks. I will say that this year's team has a lot more talent on the defensive side of the ball than they did the last couple of years.

4) Chubb is a monster. Will Hunt cut into his carries when he can play?
I hope so. Hunt will have fresh legs and is also a very good receiver. I think the tandem of Chubb and Hunt will be among the very best in the league. Y'all have a damn fine tandem, too.

1. Yes, especially if we play up-tempo
2. They appear to be in pretty good shape. However, We are one injury away from a total catastrophe.

I guess another question could be: How will Baker make the line look? If he keeps playing as he did last year... we could end up with 4 OL in the Pro Bowl.

3. I"m not sure about Wilkes. But, we the team can learn how to play his defense, we actually have the talent to be great. That's 80% of it. Having the talent, belief in yourself, coaching, and your teammates. The other 20% is how the football bounces and how the opposing teams try to outsmart our D.

4. If Chubb doesn't get beat to crap all season long, I'm all for it. I'd like to see him keep his tires fresh as possible all season. Especially, for postseason play (depending on how things go during the regular season)

My take:

1) Will Mayfield have enough passes to utilize both OBJ and Landry (btw: I went to LSU)

I think we'll run the ball often, with plenty of passing. I believe Baker works to find the open man, regardless of who that is. If OBJ draws double teams, the other WRs will benefit, and as long as we are moving the ball and scoring, I don't think it will matter who the ball goes to. I believe that is the culture we are building.

2) How good in your offensive line this year?

We have questions at right guard, and at depth, but so far, with Kush in at RG, the line looks solid at pass protect and adequate at run blocking.

3) Will Greg Wiliams be missed on the defensive side?

I don't believe so. I think Wilks has implemented a dynamic, attacking style defense that will get the most out of a steller D-line, a solid LB corps, and a very good secondary. I think opposing teams will be pressured early and often, and will have difficulty running the ball.

4) Chubb is a monster. Will Hunt cut into his carries when he can play?

Possibly, but I believe Chubb will retain his spot as the #1 and will work to continue to improve as an every-down back. Hunt will enhance the run game providing fresh lags and excellent production when called upon.

JMHO

I agree w/both Vers and Cal. I tend to think Gregg won't be missed as barring any significant injury I honestly think our defense will be top 3. I think our offense can also be top 3-5 (barring any injuries).

Btw, with all due respect...we had you all beat last year in game 2 and managed to lose in typical Browns fashion by beating ourselves. But, you deserved the "W" and I was rooting for the Saints in the NFC playoffs (you all were robbed, big time! KC too, but w/the Saints it was flat out grand theft!). If the Browns can avoid our typical Browns stumbles, which have plagued us for years and years (decades!) I think this team will go far.

Thanks very much for taking the time to answer these questions. It's clear you know football.

I don't think there is any question that Chubb and Hunt will be the #1 duo in the league if healthy. I'm guessing Kitchens will find a way to get both in the backfield at the same time. That would be frightening to D-Coordinators with OBJ flanked out who can take it to the house on any play.

Even though you lost a top OL-man, it sounds like the O-line will be really strong again.

Greg Williams is a fascinating coach. I am one of those that think Williams was more responsible for our SB win over the Colts than Sean Payton. And then in 2011, with our 2nd SB staring us in the face, Williams seemed to lose interest in the 4th quarter allowing SF to pile up points and beat us in the last seconds. In Newalins, Williams seemed to have his defensive player ready to walk on coals for him in the 1st few years. Then he seemed to lose that motivation a little each year.

Good Luck Browns and fans. There are many of us primary fans of other teams who really wish the Browns and their Dawg fans all the luck. The Browns to the Super Bowl would be an awesome story! Go beat the Steelers 2x this year!!!

I was very excited when Gregg Williams was named our DC, and I think he should be credited to a large extent with helping to turn the culture of this team around. He demanded accountability and instilled an attacking mindset within the defense and a team-first approach overall. He also served us well as the interim HC. We had to move on from him because of the potential for discord after he was passed over for HC, but I believe he did the best he could given the talent he had during his tenure. We often questioned his penchant for playing the safeties deep, but at the time, the secondary was spotty and our strong safety was a rookie/2nd year. His approach was to make sure nothing got behind them. While I may not have always liked that he did that, I did understand why he did it. I will always hold him in high esteem and acknowledge his influence in helping to turn the team around.

Thanks for the kind words about the Rams theft, but as small market team fans, you all know painfully well also how the refs screw the small market teams.

And yes, the Browns gave us that game last year. We were completely outplayed in all areas. With a few minutes left in that game, I was sure we were going 0-2. I live outside Austin now and watched Mayfield. Mayfield will not let your team give away games like that this year.

We appreciated the gift, but there's a lot of Saints fans who suffered through 22 years without a winning season who really like the Browns and their insane Dawg fans

I used to have some contacts inside the Saints training staff until this year. Sean Payton who is an offensive genius was trying to make the trade to get Mayfield. Payton thinks Matfield is the next Brees with a more powerful arm. Interesting what Payton likes most about Mayfield was not his play on the field, which is superb, but his die-hard no-lose leadership traits.

whose their 2nd back now that Ingram's gone?

We got Latavius Murray from the Vikes. The plan is to use Kamara more. Most of us think Murray will do the job well enough. We don't think he is Inrgram good. The problem we could have with Murray is the same we had with Adrian Peterson. When Peterson was in, defenses stacked 8-9 in the box. Peterson didn't average 3 yards per carry with the Saints. Some Vike fans have told us that Murray is a good receiver out of the backfield, but neither the Vikes or Raiders used him as a receiver very much. So that's really still an unknown.

When you guys make it the SB, one of you Dawgs will have to get me a Browns hat. I'll pay including shipping. Ok? - lol

Thanks ...

Forgot u guys got Murray ... he’s a pretty good receiver ... you’ll be pleasantly surprised ...

Good luck this year ... hope to c u in miami ...

Welcome to the Board.
Saints have always been my #2 team

What we saw from Mayfield last year indicates that he will throw the ball around to different targets. As some have mentioned, a good coach uses his strengths and with the talent we have at WR it would seem logical to use the pass to set up the run. As such, I think Mayfield's arm will get a work out and there will be plenty of pass attempts to go around.




An OL is a funny thing. If your QB is mobile, that helps your OL. If your QB throws a lot of quick passes, that helps your OL. Teams live by the blitz and they die by the blitz. If you can make your opponents pay for applying pressure on your QB, suddenly your OL looks much better.



That's anyone's guess I suppose. But our D wasn't impressive later in the season under Williams. Actually, other than the turnover ratio it wasn't great at all last season. Our talent created turnovers often early last year and that, at least on the surface looked great. We weren't bad against the pass for the most part but stopping the run we were rather putrid.

With more talent on the roster this year, actually the bar was set rather low for what it would take to look like a better team on D this year.

Short answer? No, I don't believe so.




I believe that's actually the hope. Chubb will be depended on to carry the load for the first half of the season. When one looks at the statistics, the career of a RB is set more by the amount of carries he has than how long he's in the league to a great extent. A body can only take so much pounding.

So having someone come in a and help lighten the load during the second half of the season is a God send in helping extend Chubb's career. It's my hope in situations such as this the coaching staff is thinking big picture.



It certainly would be. We've waited for a very long time. As cliche as it sounds though, I just hope the team and staff isn't looking too far ahead and takes things one game at a time. Listening to Freddie, I believe they will.

I think Baker will spread the ball around very nicely ... watch for Higgins to also have an impactful year

In terms of our OL and D ... OL is a question mark at RG at the moment. Also, a lot depends on how Greg Robinson does at LT (he’s done sufficient so far here). The defense has some questions in the secondary and at LB, but our DL is very stacked

I hadn’t noticed ... *L*

Now that is funny

1. Yes Mayfield spreads the ball around as well as anyone I have seen, but he will get the ball to #13 and #80 no doubt in my mind ...

2. I think now that it seems Kush is starting at RG our OL will be as good as any ...

3. No I for one was glad he wasn't hired as our HC and this Defense will be just fine under Wilks ...

4. Chubb is definitely a monster and Hunt coming back will only make him better with less of a workload ...