Alright. 72 Hours until game 2.

I really didn't like what I saw from Baker during camp. That continued yesterday vs. the Ravens.

Bengals 24
Browns 16

4-12 here we come.

I really have no idea what to expect.

Browns 20
Bengals 17

We need to win one otherwise we can't get our hopes up to be crushed again, and the Browns energy vampire needs to feed on our peak sadness.

24-16 bengals

Is DJ Reader playing? I know he was carted of the field yesterday, but have not seen any updates.

If he's out run the ball 60 times, throw 10 passes.

CJ Uzomah will probably have a field day.

I'll remain glass half full one more week.

Browns: 28
Bengals: 27

Parkey clanks the extra point to win it off the uprights and through the goal posts to win it.

We lose - score doesn't matter.

Looking at the Pit v NYG ... We will get killed by Pit if we can't run and Baker doesn't get a LOT better before we play them. And have to say, love the play calling by Garret. . . . Daniel Jones looking good, and that really hurts to say.

Wills probably wont play and niether will our starting RT. Our rookie 3rd round pick looks to be done for year and johnson and greedy probably wont play. To many injuries to go along with a rookie head coach who is making the same mistake so many of our former coaches have done by calling his own plays.

Bengals 24
Browns 16

Bengals 22
Browns 13

Bengals 35
Browns 9

Pain

If Baker loses this game he is done!

Browns 27
Bengals 13

Browns 4
Bengals 2

D J Reader was back in the game a few plays later,
according to listening to local radio, usually I don't listen but Bengal fan was talking trash so I had to follow it.
Cramps,

Well, somebody has to win.

LOL...........I was trying to think of how to analyze this game and I saw us killing them. Then, I saw us imploding. Then, I saw Burrow making a big play at the end while Baker didn't. Then I saw Burrow being exploited as a rookie.

Hell, I have no idea.

I'll say Browns win. [w/out conviction]

I pretty much feel the same.

The only thing I can say for sure is that I'm not excited for the game. Win or lose I won't feel good about the team.

I'd like to think the Browns fanbase deserves better, but maybe there's a bunch of crappy people amongst us. I don't know.

There are times when I think Cleveland fans get what they deserve. That was particularly evident during the LeBron era.

My comment was partially in jest.

No fanbase deserves the Cleveland Browns.

haha unfortunately we’ve seen a home-opening TIE as well tho

Cincinnati 41
Cleveland 9

As much as Baltimore was a terrible opener for us, Cinci is weak. Their offense is anemic, and Burrow is getting his feet under him. We should be able to push around both of their lines. Run Chubb and Hunt until they're tired and happy, and we should be fine.

Resist the urge to get cute. Run the ball and play tough on D. I know we just got whooped, but put these 2 rosters next to each other.

Browns 24
Bengals 20

Don't see how the offense or defense could look the same or worse against this team. Our secondary is abysmal but Myles & Co. should slice through Cinci's o-line and be rattling & smacking Burrow.

And if we lose? Yet another "But I thought we already experienced rock-bottom with this team!!!" chapter in Browns history.

Cincy 24
Browns 16

24-10 Browns.

We've never seen a forfeit.... maybe one team will have a massive 'Rona outbreak and have to forfeit? It's 2020, and *anything* can happen with a Browns game.... I think I'm going to put money on this today.

Presumably Cincy's offense isn't as good as Baltimore's, and presumably their defense isn't as good as Baltimore's.

Cincy's OL isn't good, so I think we actually get pressure and based on game 1, our run D is better than in the past. Offensively, 4 OL with injuries scares me. As much as I hate to say this, gotta get the ball out of Baker's hands and run the heck out of the ball. If we can run the ball 40 times and pass 25, I'll be happier. Cincy gave up 155 yards on the ground last week, I wouldn't be surprised if we have 2 @ 100 yard rushers this week.

Baker 15-25 150 yards, 1 TD/1INT
Chubb 22 carries, 120 yards, 1 TD
Hunt 18 carries, 105 yards, 1 TD

Browns 24, Bengals 20

While it's true that somebody has to win, in some cases who wins is due to the fact they did just slightly less than was needed to lose.

Actually we could tie.

Parkey and Seibert miss a FG in OT.

16-16 TIE.

24-21. Seibert kicks the winner with 0:00 left.

This, but with the final score being 3-0.

OT..... Parkey to kick game winning FG to win 0-3, but it gets blocked an taken to the house by Cinci.

We did that one already. Checked that box

I could believe that score. Is Keenum outta the question now. Run our backs until their feet bleed. Play some man push because our zone is horrid. Might try getting up for the game. And stop throwing at OBJ. Gimme more Higgins!

My new bar cheer:

"Go, Browns! Don't suck!"

72-2 Bengals

Burrow takes a knee, in the dawg pound end zone to end the game giving us 2.

I was just watching a preview video when I saw Burrow's shovel pass INT from last week.

I thought only Browns QBs were allowed to do dumb stuff like that.

haha i instantly thought of Weeden

He redeemed himself though after that.

His arm looks suspect to me, but he played well.

Just like Baker his rookie year, he's playing with house money. No pressure or expectations. Just let it rip.

I was impressed by Burrow's composure in the clutch.

I was too.

But I was also impressed by similar performances of Baker his rookie year.

Man, I'm telling you, go back and watch some 2018 games. Completely different player, including going through his reads. Played with so much confidence. Night and day difference.

Not trying to argue or change your mind, but Baker has never went through his progressions quickly. He threw a lot of one-read passes after Freddie took over. He also only had to read half the field in those games. But when his first read wasn't there, he was really struggling w/going through his progressions quickly. Luckily, our OL had an overall PFF ranking of #2 in the NFL that year.

Again, not trying to argue. Just stating a difference of opinion and I'm good at leaving it at that. Hmmmm.......that doesn't sound right. By all means, I'm good w/you replying to my post, but I don't want to get into a back and forth because I know who will show up and things will get ugly again. Trying to avoid that.

I think where we disagree is the frequency. I'm not saying Baker was perfect and did things quickly or all the time. I'm simply saying he did them with some frequency. The degree is debateable. He looked much more comfortable playing quarterback his rookie year. He doesn't look comfortable currently.

Completely different player now than his rookie year, IMO.

He's also not taking his first read if it is covered now. In his rookie year he'd take his first read even in tight coverage and deliver a pinpoint accurate pass. I think he's got a lot going on in his head.

I agree w/almost all of that. Much more confident as a rookie. Trusted his arm more than he did in the first game of this year. Doesn't look comfortable right now. Different player right now.

I just don't agree w/him ever going through progressions quickly.

I do want to add one thing. Only one qb had more picks than Baker last year. He is out as a starting qb this year. I am speculating, but a point of emphasis w/the new coaching staff and/or Baker himself, is to make smarter decisions w/the ball. This could be leading to some of the hesitation, as well. Not sure about this, but it makes sense on a logical level.

He also bailed himself out with some plus throws in tough situations... and got bailed out by some great catches. At a rate that made the viewer certain (me, anyway) that the law of averages dictates that those things wouldn't be common place unless he was an outright magician.

True.

Baker's arm is certainly a plus arm. I think he has a great arm. He throws w/a ton of velocity and can fit the ball into tight windows when he's on. I don't get the argument by rasta and KOB that he doesn't have a good arm. I thought his arm was okay in college, but watching him in the pros, I was like, damn, this dude has a rocket.

Browns 34-13

He has a rocket when his mechanics are right. There was a still photo on Twitter, which of course I couldn't find when I went back looking for it, that had his feet looking more like he was riding a horse or something than stepping into a throw. It has me worried that trying to change his footwork has his whole lower body out of sync now maybe. I didn't notice it live, but the pic looked bad. It might be one more thing he's thinking about that is slowing him down.

edit: It might actually have been the pass that Calais tipped and was picked. This wasn't the pic but similar:

I think Baker's arm is great because he has an incredible base and great hips. I guess that's a way of saying it's really just a plus arm - made great - because of his hips and base.

IMO, that's one of the big reasons mechanics are so important with him. He can't just go out and quick-twitch-fling-it like a Mahomes. (And lately, unfortunately for the Browns, it seems that Lamar has the same gift.)

Bro, anyone who has played sports knows that power comes from the hips and legs. There is true arm talent. Guys like Mahomes and Rodges can wing it. Some dudes have long rangy-type muscles/tendons in their arms and they can "whip" a ball. You see this more in baseball.

Preferably with better defense on our side, though.

J/c

There’s also a photo that Jake Burns posted that shows Baker having 3/4 WIDE open WRs ... all at different levels right in front of him. Play design was ideal. He threw it to none of them and threw it away.

Is Wolf suggesting the Browns bench Baker? Charlie Frye was the game one starter against the Steelers in 2007.

Any talk of benching Baker, at this point, is sheer lunacy.

Something I was thinking about since this "Bench Baker" talk has begun. Remember people talking about Baker playing with house money? Well, so is the FO and coaching staff right now... New schemes, new playbook, Covid, no preseason, etc...

Why in the world would anyone, from top to bottom, think about making career defining moves this early in the season?

It will take weeks of poor play, a bad attitude, and the feeling that he's losing the confidence of his teammates before Baker is benched. jmo.

j/c...

... shouldn't be taken seriously by the FO or coaches.

I assume Trotter ran into a character limit, so I thought I'd do him a solid and finish the tweet for him.

Earlier this morning, I said that this is a must win game for the Browns. I know that it is only game two, but the negativity surrounding the team for 10 straight days will be overwhelming.

Gotta win this one.

.

so is the answer to start keenum tonight? because lets not forget that we traded Frye and started DA after the first game.

j/c:

PFF is predicting the Browns DL has a huge night against Burrow. I can't post it, but they have a chart that says that due to how bad the Bengal OL is and the amount of quick pressure we got on Lamar last week, that the Browns should have the biggest game of any DL this week.

All I know is this is a game that the Browns should win.

Burrow needs to be smothered.

Mixon needs to be stopped.

The offense should do what they are best at; run the ball.

Baker needs to be decisive. Play action, see it. Rip it.


Lose this game and negativity will grow like kudzu.

Browns 17 Bengals 13

Browns 28
Bengals 24

24-17 Browns

When was the last time we actually won a game convincingly from start to finish? The Dolphins game last year comes to mind but I am talking about a good ol 51-3 butt whoopin. Why can't we ever do that?

Because we stink.

I think Burrows might look better then Baker, not sure. Just a feeling

Thanks bro. I'm doing pretty good. I was just thinking about you last week and how I haven't seen you around in awhile. Hope all is well w/you.

27 all in the 4th quarter when a passing train sounds its horn.
Bengals think the game is over and run off the field.
3 plays later, Browns win with a field goal.

Holy Crap Phil is back ? Hope your doing well 40

Hope you are better and holding your own, Vers. Good energy to you and those you love.

I think our Dline should dominate, but I got a weird feeling they won't. IMO, this is going to come down to the final minutes, and from what I've seen from Baker going back into last year, I'm not too hopeful.

24-17 Bengals

Browns 55
Bengals 14

Browns win 33-16

Meme is weak.