I know most don't wish me to post my What I saw thread late in the week...so I am retiring that thread which was up every game since 2001.

But early or late I will post this new thread. "The Key Play"

Everyone has their opinion to what they believe was the key play in this game and every game for that matter.

For me in this loss to the 49ers it was 3:47 left in the first half. We made an INT and then drove the ball to the 7 yard line with Goal to Go.
The score was 14-3 at the time Baker dropped back and there was a clear out play set up for Coleman. It worked as there was daylight Baker threw the ball low where Calloway could catch it on a dive and roll into the endzone for the TD making the score 14-10 probably going into the half.

Calloway went down and the ball bounced off his chest and then he brought his hands up to try and catch the ball but only to tip it up for the 49ers to INT and make a decent return putting them in a position to score on a drive. 21-3 at the half!

In my eyes it was game over at this point we tried to come back but we were quickly in a position to have to pass. Having to pass our OL as I tried to advise all prior to the season as the HYPE was on for us to win and win big. I stated then and was told I was just making EXCUSES for Baker just in case he did bad...no no no. I don't make excuses, I make football observations. Outside of Tretter and Bitonio our OL was Suspect and we keep continuing to call long developing plays and our QB gets killed. Baker is a tough kid but I don't wish to see us damage our Franchise QB. But this game has always been about the trenches. OL and D front 7 is so so key. We got the Defense...we however do not have the OL.

So please discuss this key play of the game. And please feel free to post your opinion on what play was key for you!

Thanks dawgs. I've been in and out of the Hospital and went back to work for the first time since Sept 2016. just no time to post - oh btw we still are in it to win our Division!

btw, thanks for the correction on Coleman...

Starting that set of downs in an empty formation was idiotic ... and it started with a penalty that moved it beyond the 12. We then got behind the sticks and the rest is history.

In regards to the play, It was well designed. Harris took defenders into the end zone and it cleared out nicely for Callaway (you said Coleman). It was a below average pass, but not uncatchable by any stretch. Callaway did his best to screw things up as he’s done most of his playing career .... and they got the ball AND then returned it like 60 yards. Just a dagger.

You said 'Coleman' when you meant Calloway. I also think that was the game changing/ending play. The throw was right where he wanted it. Low and at the goal line...receiver won't even get hit. Only Calloway had a chance to catch it...until he touched it.

The rest of the game was a bad rendition of catching up and the well-rested 9srs could just pin their ears back and rush the pocket.

I'm less concerned that we lost the game than the fact that we were able to essentially gain nothing from the effort. We couldn't establish ANYTHING on either side of the ball that would/could show some growth and improvement. Not a thing. It was a waste of time, effort, money, planning, work, etc.

I never expected us to win that game...but I was expecting some growth/improvement...didn't happen.

P.S. Glad to hear you are back to work...you deadbeat.

for Callaway (you said Coleman).



Yes, Calloway...lol I guess it reminded me of Coleman thanks

I just assumed you made a clever dig.

haha same

I hope I can convince you post "what I saw" again. I valued those post, and I don't care if they were late in the week, right after, whenever.

They were always the first thread I looked for after each game. Maybe you can reconsider - don't let a poster or two keep you from being you. Let em' squander.

As far as the key play - yes that was the key play. That I think the first play from SF scrimmage, the 83 yarder. It set the tone for the rest of the game, IMO. It deflated our defense instantly, and they did very little to jack nothing after that.

I think this was the worst performance of the year for the team. OFF, DEF, was pitiful. ST was good, but it was too far gone for ST to make an impact.

It's the end of an era. I will miss that thread.

I thought that 83 yd run just took all the life out of the Browns
This is a team that just seems to give up big plays to running backs this year

I agree that was the key play and a punch right in the gut. We drove down and had a chance to make a game of it and blew it not to mention they ended up scoring because of it and right before the half. A gut punch no doubt.

I agree with eo that the key play was the Calloway INT. We were just building momentum with that drive. We had a couple chunk plays, and despite a couple setbacks we were moving the ball well. I actually didn't even mind getting pushed back a bit in the redzone (I think it was a penalty?), as I think our offense does better with a bit more field to work with. We even had a successful play called with good execution... until it hit Calloway's hands and he thought it would be a good idea to kick it straight up in the air. Topped it off with pouting on the sidelines with his helmet on. (honestly, just skip to the end and tell the kid to get comfortable w/ special teams)

The only other play is the TD run on their first snap on offense, and only because it's so much harder to defend against an offense like that when they have the early lead. I thought our defense did an admirable job in the first half, and then got worn down. With the offensive talent they have and Shanny calling plays, you're probably not going to totally smother them, but you can slow them down until they have to get desperate. We did the opposite of that.

I think his name is Gary Coleman since he played like a midget.

I definitely agree with those who consider the Callaway no TD/INT instead play as the turning point in the game. If we score there, we got to 14-10. and who knows how things go from there.

Why on earth would you worry about what others want to see posted?? If you've enjoyed doing it, then do it... the ones that don't like it can go suck an egg, lol




Swap the old for the new, or do them both.... Party On!

haha a mental midget at least

honestly Willie, while our offense is catching all the grief I think our defense has been mostly sorry, and Monday they did almost nothing, at least nothing good. almost no pass rush, Myles going against a backup tackle gets one sack and little else. They ran all over us, pretty much at will. Memories of past defenses giving up 200+ yards per game.

I have a memory in the off-season of a thread discussing naming our vaunted newly minted defensive line. Fearsome foursome was mentioned but that had already been taken. The purple people eaters was thrown out there but it did not fit our color scheme. Right now I am thinking of the wimpy wusses because that is how we are playing. Without a high functioning d line our defense is going to be mediocre at best. That line was supposed to be the strength of our team and so far it is a malnourished weakness.

eotab, that long run on the first play sure set us in a hole but that interception just broke our back.

Agreed. Again, the Niners are playing the way were suppose to be playing. Also, Nick Bosa is playing the way MG is suppose to be playing. WE got all the hype they got none that I know of and the results to us Browns fans is sickening.

well said ... we are all hype and little substance, and they’re kinda the opposite

Yep. The fat lady started singing after that play.

Coin Toss?

49ers are miles better team. I think inflated expectations are getting in the way.

We should have went to SF with the goal of being competitive and not getting blowed out, and not lose momentum from the Ravens win.

Protect Baker from this situations, establish the run, he does not perform well under stress.

Maybe I am incorrect with my memory - but wasn't Baker one of the best performing QB's under pressure last year? I am 75-80% certain that was what was demonstrated last year in the last 7-8 games.

Someone smarter than me can probably look up Bakers last 7 or 8 games from last year and verify or debunk that?

One point I’ll make to defend Baker (it’s hard to given how badly he’s played) ... last year’s stretch of good games came against inconsistent defenses (Falcons, Bengalsx2, Panthers, Broncos, etc) ... And he didn’t perform well against good defenses last season. That’s kinda the case this year so far (Titans, Rams, 49ers all have stout D’s up front)

True enough. But I think we haven't seen anything like what we saw last year from Baker (the good). It's troubling, no doubt multi-faceted.

Todd Monken on Antonio Callaway’s drop: ‘It’s catastrophic; it completely changed the game’

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2019/10...d-the-game.html

BEREA, Ohio — Browns offensive coordinator Todd Monken joked that his weekly Thursday press conference was like going to the dentist.

But it wasn’t exactly like pulling teeth to get him to talk once he got rolling. Monken pulled no punches about the offensive woes, beginning with Antonio Callaway’s backbreaking drop on the goal line in Monday night’s 30-13 loss to the 49ers.

“It’s catastrophic,’’ Monken said. “It completely changed the game. As average as we played up to that point, it’s changed. From then it was not fun, but at that point we were OK.’’

If Callaway hangs on there, the Browns close to 14-10 with about 4:45 left in the first half. Instead, the ball bounced into the hands of former Browns cornerback K’Waun Williams, who returned it 49 yards to midfield to set up Tevin Coleman’s 19-yard TD run for a 21-3 lead.

A 14-point swing, and the game was basically over.

Monken mostly absolved Baker Mayfield from blame on the play, even though the QB said the throw should’ve been a little more in front of Callaway, who was rusty coming off his four-game suspension.

“It was a pretty quick throw, but I didn’t see [Mayfield being skittish]," Monken said. “He was pretty decisive in where he was going with the ball. He saw it clean, threw it, we didn’t execute the play for God sakes.’’

Likewise, he spread the blame around for Mayfield’s horrible start, including a QB rating of 68.5 (32nd in NFL) and a completion percentage of 55.9 (33rd). He cited the opening drive, in which receiver Odell Beckham kicked it off with a 20-yard pass to Jarvis Landry, but things went downhill from there.

“We start off the game, we get good field position, we get a nice play to start it, on the very next play we have a drop (by Beckham) and a mental error by our right tackle (Chris Hubbard) not going out and then we immediately have a false start (by Pharaoh Brown),’’ he said. “So you’re on the road with an opportunity to really take the crowd out of it and get a fast start and we do something that we’ve unfortunately done too often and that is shoot ourselves in the foot.’’

He said they addressed it as a unit today, “’What does an effective offense look like?” He noted that it starts with game planning, moves to coaching it up, practicing effectively and then taking it to the field — improvement across the board.

“We just have to find a way to do that better, because if we don’t, the product’s going to continue to look like that,’’ he said.

He acknowledged that teams are rolling coverage toward Beckham, but that the Browns are still missing opportunities to get him the ball.

“At times you have to take advantage when they’re not, which we haven’t as often as you’d like,’’ he said. “But it does help when you have other players … where they can’t just play a certain player or all you have is a running game and they can load the box and you can’t throw it. Obviously we’re going to continue to do those things with all of our players to try and put them in the best position to be successful.’’

He reiterated it didn’t matter against the Ravens, when Landry was the beneficiary with eight catches for 167 yards, but obviously it hurt Monday when the Browns can’t get Beckham more involved.

“Last week we had 49 snaps,’’ he said. “We just didn’t have the ball that often and we didn’t get him the ball as often as probably we could.’’

The 2-3 Browns are 25th in points per game heading into Sunday’s matchup against the 4-1 Seahawks.

“Obviously we’re not doing it well enough, starting with myself and us coaches,’’ he said. “We’re all a part of it. If you want some of the credit when you have success, you’ve got to own it when you don’t. You can’t just say, ‘Boy, what a great scheme two weeks ago’ and then this week ‘It was a great scheme, we just didn’t execute.’

"It’s all of us. We’ve got to do a better of installing it, players understanding what we expect out of a certain concept and then going on the field and then making sure we go on the field and execute it at a high level.

“Right now we’ve got too many people taking turns, each individual person, which puts you in a position to be really choppy. Because after that first completion, it wasn’t the same person that jumped offsides, that we had the errors with the play before. It’s going to look like that until we get it resolved collectively.’’

He refused to attribute the woes to the growing pains of a first-year head coach.

“There’s nothing in terms of organizationally or the staff or the things with the players," he said. "There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just frustrating because we’re paid to do a job. That’s a fact. This is a bottom-line business and right now we’re not as successful as we’d like to be and it’s not good enough.’’

In the final seven weeks, the Browns play a lot of losing teams including the 1-4 Steelers and 0-5 Bengals twice each.

“It doesn’t take long to get some of these things resolved and all of a sudden momentum is a powerful thing and you feel good about it,’’ he said. “Now it’s time to fix ‘em because it’s no fun coming in here saying the same thing every week. ... There’s no one else coming to save us. It’s not like we’re going to hire four guys outside as a coaching staff, and bring in 10 other players. We have what we have.’’

With that, Monken walked off the dais and said, "Till next Thursday, my next dentist appointment.’’

Negative plays like the ones mentioned in the article will snowball quickly and take a team down especially a young one like ours with an inexperienced HC. It's going to take a little time for things to come together.

When he plays poorly, protect us from Baker! Taking sacks. Picks. I am not expecting perfection. Not all plays are worth extending; not all extended plays should have been. The stuff mayfield is doing more of puts him on the right sideline with a miss or a drop. He needs to address why this is happening so often. And seeing the field better. Missing some open folks and throwing into heavy coverage. Seems to have forgotten to run forward.

J/c...

believe it or not I was so fixated on the drop/Int that I completely forgot about the first play from scrimmage for the 49ers.

That did do a lot more damage than the obvious. After that we had to commit to the run where it opened up the oft used play action pass that is so key to Shanahan's offense.

I really was not impressed with Garrapollo. I however was very impressed with the 49ers DL...They took over the game pretty much and destroyed our OL especially the OTs.

Our DL however was not trend setting at all. Did Vernon even play? Oh well man we don't get a break do we as we play a 4-1 team who is playing on the top of their game right now.

I will try to get the What I saw thread up this week. If I don't do it Sunday its tough for me, I'm actually working again and my legs are getting stronger. Been laid up with minimal leg use since 9/2016. I can take the pain working of course the pain killers help but I become a vegetable if I take too many...lol

I agree ... we can’t ask Baker to do too much and i feel like he thinks we need “homeruns” far too often. I feel like we’re making it way more difficult than it should be. Last year we were way more sensical

We have to stretch the field, Its all bunch inside that is why we have success running to the outside. We really miss Njoku he is able to go down the seam quickly where Baker can hit him down field quickly...most others are taking too long to develop. We will see as our O will get better - hopefully