I feel sick.

On that last play, the ball never hit the ground. Why wasn't it treated as a lateral?

We had a chance to control our own destiny.

And we failed.

We can say all we want about the nfl not postponing our game due to the outbreak, but at the end of the day, we had opportunities to win this game. Our defense is also depleted but held when it mattered. I’m not impressed with our TEs at all. Hooper and Bryant had chances to make some great plays and failed. And they also dropped some easy passes.

Baker mayfield with 3 fumbles today. Just not gonna cut it.

I didn’t like the game plan at all to be completely pass happy in the 1st half. We didn’t even give the jets the thought about defending the run, allowing them to T up the pass rush with an OL missing two starters.

This was the biggest disappointment since we laid the egg in 2007 against the bengals.

Just...ugh

It will be on Tuesday in an apology letter from the NFL.

Me too. Me too. Anyway. Weve improved a lot. Still a ways to come.

If it wasnt worth doing, why would you do it.

Still sick. Tomorrow and in a few weeks and a few months it will feel better.

Thank God the Steelers came back and won.

Also, I want to projectile vomit everywhere.

I feel so depressed. Like, more than I ever have.

My bad delete

So, do we need to match the Colts next week? Or are we out now?

I guess since the colts lose, we beat the steeelrs and we’re in.

But honestly....I dunno if we can pull that off.

We have to win, and I think the only option is for the Dolphins to lose.

Basically, it comes down to the Bills deciding whether they want to play us or Miami again in the first round of the playoffs.


BUT, the team that showed up today will NOT win next Sunday, so it doesn't really matter.

Wear a damn mask and follow the freakin’ social distancing rules.

Idiots. All of them.

That is all.

Moral victory, gotta watch the tape

j/c:

Well that sucked.

Robbed by the wrong implementation of a fumble rule. Twice today the officials blew it in major moments. Other than that. GIVE THE DAMN BALL TO THE RB'S. Browned it up per usual.

Missing 6 starters on hours notice was always going to be a handicap. Re-group is all we can do. Jets proved they arent anybody's fools last week and you earn these things, theyre never given.

Have to beat Steelers. Same as it ever was.

The Browns are losers. Seems like they always will be.

Baker had multiple opportunities to put the team on his back and deliver the first playoffs in nearly 20 years and repeatedly failed. He's the one who told the fans to adjust their expectations. He should deliver on them then.

This team gets what they deserve. You want the playoffs. Then win.

4 starting WR, 2 Offensive linemen, 2 LBs out, 3 turnovers and a kicker who can't make an extra point.

I won't be surprised if the Steelers rest their starters. They've locked up the #3 seed.

and a punter that can't kick a FG!

If we beat the Steelers and make it, that sounds about right. Lots to be happy about this season but man I'm pissed right now. That could have been a playoff spot sealed.

They can get to the second though. Simple, win and we are in.

Garrett/ Rudolph part 2!

Blame this loss on Covid-19.

Only the clowns could pull off such a feat 😂

Not if Bills win Monday night. But yes, win we are in.

Just stop right there and call it a day.

/thread

First post since January. Troll.

He hates Mayfield. This is a happy time for him.

Vers will probably be back this week also.

Honestly I knew when I heard who all was out less than 24 hrs game time that this was a real possibility. Unfortunately I agree about the comments about our TE. I think it’s time to get over the BS drama with Njoku as he clearly has the best hands of the three. Hooper has been a minor disappointment but Bryant has got to learn how to hold on to the ball. Get with Jarvis or OBJ and do their routine. Overall a very Browns Freddie flashback game just as well to put in the rearview.

Regroup next week and put the Steelers on notice.

This loss sucks but, man, this team was put in a very tough place just 24 hours ago.

Browns, You can see, Denzel Ward is doing somersaults to try and get the interceptions.

9 snaps! 9 blasted snaps send him up the sideline on a hail mary! (on 1st and 10)


What!!!!!!!!!!
Would the NFLPA pitch a fit?????????

Because he's a DB?

I think had to be a better option than "only" Jamarcus Bradley.

As much as we missed Landry and Higgins today, I think we really missed our two starting OL (Wills, Teller) more. Lamm and Harris got worked today.

Time for a whiskey.

But wear a mask.

I’m not as despondent as some of you.

We were down two LBs and our two 4 WRs, on very short notice. We didn’t wave the white towel, kept fighting but came up short.

If nothing else, it’s become very simple.... we know what we need to do: defend our house against the Steelers.

Remember there is an extra wild card team this year. Although we lost were still in. Beating the Steelers next week will guarantee a playoff spot! Have to get our missing players back for next week!!!

When I saw who was not playing for us I thought we would need miracle to win. We cannot really count on our defense to win game for us. That has to change next year. My prediction is we get beat next week and miss the playoffs.

And if that happens, whats the next best thing that can happen? Oh I dont know, maybe play the worst team in the league. Everything lined up for the Browns to deliver. They choked. Not one player stepped up and made a play.

I think you’re over-reacting. I also don’t think the Jets are playing like the worst team in the league.

If we beat Pitts’ next week we’re in. - And I like our odds considering we’lll most likely be playing against their back ups.

How am I over reacting?

I agree with this, especially on defense.

No, it does not.

If you break protocols, you risk the current and following week. Our players didn’t care enough about the season to follow the guidelines. It will be the reason we don’t make the playoffs and the entire league will laugh at us for being losers. And we are. Pathetic.

Screw this team. I hope the get shutout next week.

Got to give the Offense a bye for the most part. Defense continues to be the weak link. We will be fixing that in the off season.

Overall team was in a bad spot missing 2 starting Oline as well as our WR at 5:00 the day before. Still in it, just need to win next week and see where the cards lay.

This team is a very soft 10-5. Our losses were from good teams or games where there was pressure. And we ALWAYS blow it.

Covid wasn't the reason we lost - we were playing the worst team in the league. If you can't beat them, you don't belong, period. If Mayfield has 3 different chances to win the game and blows everyone, he doesn't belong, period.

Ben does it. Tom does it. Mahommes does it. Baker does not.

This team is nowhere near as close as they appear. We had an extremely easy schedule. Nothing more.

See you all next year when we assume the the position and humiliate ourselves all over again.

I understand the injuries and lack of talent, I am not a fan of Joe Woods.and his schemes and playcalling one bit.

Jets D played tough - our O was decimated. It was the perfect storm. It sucks balls. Take a breath and on to next week is all we can do. If we don't beat PIT then we dont deserve it.

At least our season lasts another week...maybe more.

Agreed. Harris more than Lamm, IMO.

Yes the browns sucked today and were horrible on both sides of the ball. Stefanski waiting till too late to call the plays that just about everyone knew were better than the ones he was calling. The screens, outside runs, dink and dunk. Alot falls on him, but Joe woods is trash. Either you aren't good at teaching your scheme, or you're calling the wrong plays with how bad we were getting beat. And Baker with his ball control is just unacceptable but goes back to stefanski. No way we should be doing that on a 4 and 1 with game on line...give it to your RB's that are built for that and can hang on to the ball.

But aside all that, and the BS that the NFL allowed this game to happen, it all goes back to what i said in the Covid post. These guys need to be more accountable for their actions. They are all millionaires playing meaningful games with thousands depending on their best ability, availablility. Stay the F home, don't go out in public, have groceries delivered and cook at home, postpone or send a representative to charity events. Just ISOLATE like you're supposed to. Its not hard. From the team standpoint we obviously aren't doing enough.. Why in the hell would a multi billion dollar organization not have the ability to provide socially distanced therapy. Browns have handled this worse than most teams have and it came back to bite them.

Baker did not deliver. Plain and simple.

Extremely disappointing.

Definitely a choke job. The Jets didn't even play well. Darnold had 175 yards, 3.9 yards per carry.

We still are not nearly as good as Pittsburgh or Baltimore, especially when something is on the line.

All three TDs were on broken coverages. He never has that unit ready to play.

Sadly I have to agree. It's a maturation processs?

Chubb & Hunt screwed us, too.

i really thought we'd pull that one out. a damn fumble ends the game?!!? im so sick from that.

Baker got a lot better than last year. I think he is trending in the right direction. We. were down about 4 or 5 starters this game.

Our main problems are defense and Stefanski's game management.

Felt cute decided to put the ball on 4th down in the hands of a quarterback who runs as fast as Bernie Kosar when we have the 6th best RB in the NFL - Kevin Stefanski

There has been tremendous improvement. They are not losers. They've won 10 games and are still in the hunt. Improve the LB core and we should be SB contenders next season.

Berry has his work cutout for him. Not alot of keepers on defense. Baker still has to prove he can bring the team along. Just saying that you give Tom brady the same oline and same weapons baker had today and he puts up 30+ on them. Its just the ability to hit a moving target mentally to know that what you've done before isn't going to work now and how to adjust your approach

Hush. The rabid don't want to hear logic and truth. They want to vent and froth.

This.

Prime time, an important win, any game against good teams, rats or stoolers - all losses with this team. Never any different.

We would have been humiliated in the playoffs. Totally humiliated. Nowhere close to those teams.

Honestly, im not mad. The game was very entertaining and frustrating. This is a learning game for the coaching staff, players, and fans.

I think we have some talent on the practice squad.
I
#nextmanup

QB sneaks are the most efficient play in the league. They basically always work. The QB has to hold on to the ball.

They did just what I said they would do. Get back in the game only to fall short and break our hearts again. Really bad!! Forget about the playoffs unless you want to get kicked in the stomach again next week.

we dont' have the defense to compete in playoffs yet. We still don't have that leader/glue type. Myles ain't it.. He's a great pass rusher but he's not that impactful and hes not a vocal leader. We need a ray lewis type. someone to light that fire when things get rough

As good as our back are, they still get stuffed in short yardage all of the time, and with two holes on the line, it only makes it more difficult.

The QB needs to be able to hold onto the ball when running the sneak. It's that simple.

100% Baker is the guy moving forward. Has had a great year and really improved.

We needed him to be Superman today. He was just mortal. Winning QBs would have been Superman with so much on the line. Is Baker a winner? I don't know. He had multiple shots at game winning drives. I'm not big on criticizing QBs for fumbling, especially when they are hanging in the pocket to make throws. But the last one is just inexcusable. It literally made the difference between winning and losing. If you're a winner, you don't fumble there.

Baker has now fumbled like 2 or 3 times doing this. He should not have the ball when the game is on the line.

Side note... the ball was fumbled backwards. We should have been allowed to advance it.

97% sure anyway

The problem is, given our penchant for analytics, that this has happened to Baker more than once. The safe play would be hand it off

Browns Fans don't need to learn how to lose anymore. We are the most experienced fans in that regard of any professional sports team in existence.

Welp...up to Pittsburgh to save us two weeks in a row, lol.

This one was tough, but a win next week and we are the 7 seed over the eventual 11-5 Colts.

This is not true. We need unlikely help along with a win. And we won't win. So....

yep, Guys like Brady, won superbowls with less talent on offense that we put out there today. I think Baker is good when the conditions are perfect. Running game working, getting his league best 3+ seconds to scan the field and good playcalling. The minute that starts to falter you learn alot about what you have.

Yep, the moral victors are going to be out in full force.

Fumble 1 Definition.
A ball that is intentionally muffed, and goes forward or backward, is a batted ball (12-1-8). ... If the player loses possession after he has tucked the ball into his body, it is a fumble.

Disgusted. Like sick to my stomach.

Knew all the BS would be on the Board.

Harris was abused. So was Lamm.

Reality. 5th, 6th,and 7th string receivers.

Harris third string guard. Lamm third string LT behind Wills and Hubbard.

Eight starters out of the game.
Hard to win with that against any team.

The last play was a mistake on KS. He should have called a timeout. The DL was not the same as when Baker went for the fourth down. They were zeroed in on the sneak.

Wrong play. Go with Hunt behind the fullback.
Or, spread them out with an empty backfield let Baker throw or run a QB draw.

We had chances but the reality was we did not have the players to execute.

Blown coverage on trips right. Joseph gets picked.
Ward blew a coverage as well.

We are a good team. But not good enough to miss that many starters.

Yes, it is true. A win next week guarantees at least the 7 seed over the 11-5 Colts.

No "help" is needed.

As much as I like this to be true it is not true.. we need Miami Baltimore or the Colts to lose next week with a win

He fumbled it forwards, it hit a lineman and went backwards where Hunt grabbed it.

Questions about competitve balance have to come up. NFL said that if something like this happened they'd add an 8th team to playoffs.. This makes a good case for that especially if we have people still out next week. Because theres no way they think we would have lost to this team at full strength. Its the NFL shoddy protocols that don't account for this

Post game thoughts: Thank you NFL for AGAIN demonstrating your bias in making any decisions. The Browns were given ZERO days for the guys who were added YESTERDAY to practice. ZERO days. What could possibly go wrong with the loss of their LT and FOUR top WRs? Yeah, a team should be expected to just add FOUR guys off the street and compete with ZERO days of practice. Sure they should. I'm sure the RAVENS would have been asked to do that. Oh wait, their game got pushed back HOW MANY TIMES?

Screw you NFL. Screw you Goodell. I better not see one game pushed back going forward given your decision today. And I better not see the words COMPETITIVE BALANCE used in ANY excuse given for any game being pushed back. You are nothing more than cheaters and hypocrites.

Yes, the Browns had their chances today. And yes, they are probably getting run off the field in the playoffs. The point is they got CHEATED out of their chance. And that is BS.

It's a team game. He didn't have a running game, the pass protection was poor, penalties constantly put him in a hole, and there were way too many drops by the TEs. Plenty of blame to go around.

The refs and NFL added some extra challenges. I personally did not expect the Browns to win this when I saw the news about the Covid absences.

You think?? LOL

Of course he is. He has been like that for a few seasons now.

I thought the same thing, I only thought that rule was put in place because of the holy roller.

Puzzled.

Since it was 4th down I think only the person who fumbled it can recover it.

Okay I was wrong! All we have to do is win I'll take that. We will win if we get our receivers back and maybe one offensive lineman. We can do that

At the end of the day our offense wet the bed. We had our chances to make plays and get the lead but didn’t.

3 fumbles is 3 fumbles.

ding ding ding...this was even said by announcers, as soon as baker fumbled, if he doesn't recover, regardless who does, it goes back to the spot of the fumble, which we were short of Line to gain

I was just saying the same thing. I think they may be right I just ran it in the nfl website and it may be true

yes it does. Although we lost to the Jets today we are in the 7th spot. If the season ended today we are in. Indy lost today and are 10-5. If we win and they win next week we will both be 11-5 and we win the tie breaker because we beat them. If we lose and they win next week we are out.

Agree and added a couple things.

The D has been bad all year. Giving up those big TDs on D today with blown coverage was awful .... I could understand or forgive those wide open recievers if we were blitzing the snot out of Darnold ... but we weren't.

10-5 and a winning season despite all the obstacles. No need to panic.

10-5 with a chance to secure a playoff birth with a win over the Steelers. No need to panic.

10-5 with Baker having improved in so many areas over the course of the season. No need to panic on the back of a game with 8 starters out - 6 of them on offense.

GC.
I think, at least I'm glad
they won't be at that, first howard stern movie word, vacuuming word, stadium next week.

This. Losers are going to lose.

Mayfield told the fans to adjust their expectations. He said for the first time he's not making off season plans after game 16 (seems comical he would say that now; what an idiot for assuming they would make the playoffs).

And then didn't deliver.

Losers lose. The whole team is full of them.

where do you get this stuff?! All of our receivers were down with practice squad receivers activated yesterday with no practice.. missing two offensive linemen and you think Brady would have done better!!!

We clearly should cut Baker, gut the team and start over.

Man - only in Cleveland.

Have you not watched brady last 20 years.. he has done better.

Why do you root for this team

I watched it again. I see the ball only go backwards. I don't know what caused it to come out, it looks like nobody touched the ball, he just lost control of it and it squirted backwards.

I don't think the rules of the NFL really have a way to distinguish whether that should be considered a lateral or a fumble.

if it was 1, 2, or 3rd down then play would have stood with hunt advancing.. it was 4th under 2 minutes..different rules

LOL

Do you enjoy moral victories?

I don’t.

We got dealt a crappy hand today. We had the perfect counter. We got the worst team in the league. If you're going to get dealt a crappy hand, that's a nice situation to be in. The QB told the fans they need to start adjusting our expectations and expect better, then crapped the bed.

What am I supposed to be rooting for?

I call on this. Brady has looked awful under pressure this year. Today, he would have been under pressure. Look, the situation wasn't ideal, we laid a collective egg. However, to ignore the strides made is foolish. We need to keep building though. 1-0. 1-0.

2nd worst team. Jags are the worst.

and if they had stuffed that you'd say why didn't they sneak it!

do we get automatically if we win next week?

No need to feel bad. You started this type of thread. Others seem to be in a hurry to get it posted for you.

all we have to do is win. Use the NFL playoffs website. We are the 7th seed with a win

Yet at 43 years old he set TB team records for TD's thrown in season, has his team clinched a playoff spot and setting team records on offense..at 43..

I’m seeing conflicting reports about next week.

If we win are we in?

Or do we need help?

Yes

he's in his feelings (as many are after this game).

Every time Baker tries to sneak the ball he fumbles.

DBs and LBs suck. That reminds me of the Browns a couple of years ago.

If we win we’re in. If we lose we need help

You choose to ignore my point I will respectfully ignore yours. We are all here to see the Browns win.

Yes, if we win we are in and don't need help.

:lol:

EDIT: Apologies, no idea how to do emoticons. I did laugh out loud at that post, my son would be proud at my reference

Fixed it.

I don't think I've seen Brady play while missing he 4 starting WR with receivers he didn't have a week of practice with. Must have missed that. When was it?

So, genuine question - we win are we in?

yes!

Yes

Yes.

Losers don't have more wins than loses. You arent by definition making a statement that is a fact, period. We've played bad football and missed some oppurtunities, but we're winners this year. That is a fact, not your statement.

I’d feel much better had we just WON today haha

I’d also feel much better if we were playing any other team in the NFL next week besides Pittsburgh

That isn't true. Just today I saw him sneak it at least 2 times for a 1st down without issue.

Just saying.

getting outcoached by adam gase, you should resign

Let's just go and win next week. One more week of anticipation. Against the sweetest of rivals. I mean, man - come on - getting to the playoffs against the Jets or beating Pit at home? Sheeeesh!

(I lie - I wanted the former)

Moral victory time.

We were in stand we lost it on the field. This wasn't a playoff team. Question the game plan.

We abandon the run early on, to throw poorly, so we emphasize that. With the NFL's 1-2 punch running, we throw at them instead of establishing the run more first. Our D held for us.
We can't kick extras again. And BM loafs his drops and pumps and fidgets. He did not look mobile or mentally prepared. This was an unarguable opportunity inexplicably squandered.

Yahoo.

One guy who’s really hit the wall to me is Bryant. Ever since his fumble issues he seems really frail ... I don’t trust him at all

I wanted to wrap it up today as well, but it didn't happen, so, lets do it next week.

It was because it was in the last 2 minutes, not because of the down.

This was a bad loss. However, all is not lost. We win next week we will be in. We should have most of the 8 starters\contributers back.The sky didn't fall

It fell.

J/C - If we can't come out like it's a burning building next week then, yeah, then we have questions. Beating Pit at home, regardless, is a minimum expectation. Stay safe all week, all you fine, fine people. We are closer than we are far away. I truly believe that.

Nail hit on the head. Think everyone is in the same boat.

Think our chances of making the play offs may rest on Teller, Wills and the status of the WRs. We've overcome a truly atrocious D all year. On offense we need our starters, or more than 7.....

My thoughts are the loss of the players at the last minute killed our chances. Baker fumbling killed our chances. A defense that lets WRs run free on third down kills our chances. A kicker with the yips, killed our chances.

I think the biggest factor today, other than an inept defensive backfield, was losing Wills. Baker was not comfortable and became inaccurate. The Jets sold out to stop Chubb, knowing they could hassle Baker if put in the position to have to pass to win.

I just hope we get back some players for next week. B J Goodson is maligned a lot on this board, but he makes plays. Wilson has declined since his injury. And Sendejo is never in position to cover deep receivers.

If Harrison, Wills, and at least one receiver is back next week, I think we have a chance. But, as a life long fan, I tend to believe we will go into that game short handed again. The curse is real

The number of miscommunications and blown plays in the secondary today were alarming. We gave up 2/3 of the easiest TDs you’ll ever see

I have no issue with the sneak. We simply got a bad break.

- Not one for excuses. We need to play with who we have.

- A lot of people yesterday were all "No worries. it's the Jets." Ask the Rams. And the Raiders.

- Remember when people were laughing at PIT for losing to CIN?

- Disappointed that the run game was not there for us today.

- Lamm had a rough game. As did Harris.

- Surprised at how well Becton (spelling?) did against Garrett.

- Gotta say it. Three fumbles. This was a game where we needed Baker to carry us. Need to take care of the ball.

- Also gotta say this. There are people on this board who have anointed Bryant a stud, but I do not see it. Started the game with a drop (not the one Bake threw over his head, before that) and ended the game with another. And that was huge. Inside the 30 with a couple of minutes on the clock and down by 7 there is little margin for error. You gotta make the plays when they are there. He was open with room to run, Bake put the throw on the money. No excuse. Can't block, fumbles to easily. And now he can't catch.

- Outside of a few major breakdowns in coverage, the D held up well. Kept us in the game. But they were major breakdowns.

If we hadn't run it twice already, maybe. I think a time out was called for. But it's done, we lost... Wwe need to find a way to beat the Steelers.

I’m very disappointed but I love my team. Wins or losses doesn’t matter because we do this journey together.

First. I’m not happy with the NFL, they don’t treat us fair. So many players out because of COVID and they can’t postpone the game 24 or 48h. That’s lame and unfair.

Secondly I think Kevin Stefanski didn’t have a fair chance to prepare a decent game plan under the circumstances so I will be careful with criticism against him or the players.

Baker is fine. Let the national media be the haters, I’m not onboard on that train,

Whatever happens against the Steelers I’m proud of our players and our season. What a journey! It has been a pleasure to follow the Browns and I’m so thrilled to go with them into the future. We have something good to look forward too. Let’s now forget and move on. Let’s support our team and the players, they deserves it after a horrible week.

Lamm and Harris were two big reasons we lost IMO. They were really, really bad. I’ll be shocked if they get anywhere near a below average grade

I think the issue is that overall has to be stefanski JUST for this game.

I’m only disappointed due to the fact that we still had a chance to control our own destiny but didn’t. It’s a team thing, not on any one player.

But this L is on the coach. You do not get away from your identity just because of starters being out. The ravens had to play the Steelers with JV guys, and they still stuck to their identity and ran the football.

We are a running team, period. Stefanski not making that clear to the jets that we were gonna run the rock single handily turned is into a one dimensional team. He outsmarted himself today. We still had a decent line and decent run blocking TE’s to run the ball to keep them honest. But not running the ball in the first half negated the PA game that really had baker excelling. From the first series on, we didn’t establish any sort of physicality by running the ball, and combined with the fumbles, had us in a deficit that we wouldn’t recover from no matter how healthy or team was.

Running teams run the ball even though the other team knows their running it. The Titans aren’t gonna stop running Henry because defenses are stacking the box. The ravens aren’t gonna stop running because other teams are stacking the box.

I love our coach, our QB, and our future, but unfortunately stefanski coached himself out of the coach of the year running today.

One thing I’m curious about ... it seems some games we totally abandon the bootleg/rollout/PA combos. I wonder if that has more to do with the defense or our own approach

I think we saw the value of last year’s investment in offensive linemen. With 2 of the out, Chubb, Hunt, and Mayfield became mediocre. Mayfield was under pressure all day long. And it showed.

Get Heathy and win against Pittsburgh. Is is a playoff game.

Looking forward, fix that defense. It is terrible outside of Ward, Garrett, Richardson and Vernon.

Bryant’s been getting on my nerves lately, with his drops and fumbles, the kicker also has been ticking me off.

Bryant is a rookie though, no need to throw him in the trash. He might want to hit the weights in the off-season and add some muscle.

Disappointing that some of our players allowed the COVID thing to seep into our locker room. All of them better look in the flipping mirror.

Yep = agreed. Feels like a punch to the gut and hard not to lament or lapse into the "Same old Browns" thoughts. But I do think it's different - and I don't expect coach or players to be perfect. We've shown the ability to bounce back and I think we can do that again vs Steelers.

-jc-

All in all let’s not get into calling names. There are fans that are shell shocked over the last 20 years and are going to be Debbie downers. Then there are the fake fans that really root for other teams and only come here to Ghost Troll. You know the ones that only provide back hand compliments and always point out the negatives.

Browns fan for life here. I am so proud of this team. We can spend the entire offseason fixing the Defense and perhaps find a Kicker and we will be there right with the elite teams in the league. Baker in a year 2 of the same offensive scheme will be great as well.

The year isn’t over, get healthy and let’s go beat the Steelers next week!!!

it was punched behind him.



I guess there is some dumb rule that you can't fumble the ball and advance it under 2 minutes. that's stupid

plus, the ball never hit the ground. SO, that would have been a legal lateral.

just saying.

I think that's a rule because of a Raiders- Chargers game back in 1978. Ken Stabler was getting sacked so just before he hit the ground he rolled the ball forward and it went into the end zone where a Raider fell on it and it won the game. They dubbed it the Holy Roller. The Chargers were furious. It led to that rule change IIRC

but, it was backwards, and the ball never touched the ground. that should be a legal lateral like we tried when we lost the game with the last play being a safety

Just because the ball doesn't touch the ground doesn't mean it's not a fumble. In the last two minutes of the half, only the ball carrier who loses possession of the ball can advance it. If the ball is recovered by the offense, the ball is placed at the original spot of the fumble. In this case, the Browns recovered but were short of the line to gain. The officials actually got the call correct (this time).

I don't think under any circumstance that anyone looking at the play could come to the conclusion that Fumblefield was trying to lateral the ball. He simply fumbled. Again. For the THIRD time in the game.

Maybe Stefanski, being the genius that he is, can re-think this type of play call going forward. Sometimes thinking you're the smartest guy in the room is actually counter productive. You know, like today. SMH

what about the hook and ladder?

-Bench Harrison Bryant, he can't catch the football. Put Njoku in the game immediately, Bryant is currently a scrub thus far.

-Cut Cody Parkey as soon as possible. He just doesn't have mentality to be an NFL kicker. Dude tightens up in certain situations and can't handle it. If we would have scored a touchdown at the end I would have went for 2 points and the win because I DO NOT TRUST PARKEY. DO NOT TRUST THIS MAN!

-Stefanski is part of this loss as he didn't call any screen passes until what? The 4th quarter? It was absolutely pathetic. First time he did call one, it went for 30+ yards! SCREEN THEM TO DEATH, its not rocket science at all, seriously....

-Sick of the QB sneak garbage. Run I-formation with either Hunt or Chubb getting the ball. Simple.

-Put Hunt\Chubb on the field at the same time in Twin I formation. Why we don't do this continues to baffle me. I have no idea what they're doing with this.

-Do we use the fullback that we traded for? Run I formation? Why are we always running in shotgun with nobody in the backfield!? It drives me crazy!!!!

-Our only chance in beating the Steelers is to out score them. Screw the defense, act like they're not there, screw it, I'm done with them.

What about it? The hook and ladder does NOT constitute a fumble occurring. That is, in fact, where a lateral occurs. Or are you thinking something else here?

Don't want to be to harsh on the team, the truth is that a team will go where the QB will take it, and Baker has one game to prove himself.

2 fumbles on the last 3 mins for a playoff place... its too much, and clearly he makes great WR's look average and average WR's look bad.

By the way regaring the last play... did the ball even touch the ground? And Baker didn't cross the line of scrimmage.. strange.

Does this means that in a hail mary, if a defender tips the ball only the QB can catch it?

the ball on a lateral can touch the ground and still be moved forward.

baker fumbled it backwards not forward. we should have been allowed to move it forward.

as a bonus, it never touched the ground. similar to a tipped pass. it can still be advanced.

I get using the QB sneak in that spot because it had worked so well 2 times before, but I do think that when you have a hammer (Nick Chubb) you pound that nail with it. Of course, that's hindsight, but I would have liked to see a quick flip left or right to Chubb or Hunt on 4th and 1, because the middle was so jammed.

The rule states that a fumble in the last 2 minutes can only be advanced by the player that fumbles that ball. Period.

If Baker would have advanced the ball for a first down, then it would have counted as such. The rule is pretty clear here.

QB sneaks have nearly a 100% success rate. Baker just needed to secure the ball with both hands, fall forward, and drive his feet. Instead he got nervous he wasn't going to make it, turned sideways, lost his balance, took one hand off the ball (I think with the intent to extend it), and got hit in the back dislodging the ball. He completely botched the execution of probably the most successful play in the NFL.

If I were Stefanski I would call the sneak 100 out of 100 times.

That 1st down should have been made. Period. That's the difference between a playoff team and one that doesn't make it. It was a true test for us and we failed miserably.

Here here! The Patriots make that play with their eyes closed.

Exactly.

Agree on the kicker. He is not as steady as before. And Bryant needs to hit the weight room for sure. He is not where he needs to be to play TE in the NFL. Looks like Jane, plays like Jane's grandmother.

This was a true must win game. And we crapped the bed.

I'm pretty sure its not a 100% success rate, since I saw it fail twice today alone (Mayfield and Goff, I think it was). My point, while acknowledging that it is hindsight, is that I would like the ball in my premier RB's hands on what amounted to the play of the game, because I'm convinced that if we get that 1st down, we end up scoring. Who knows, we might even have made the EP to tie the game.

On top of my complaints, I want to give Sandejo some props. He actually used his arms to tackle today, instead of trying to knock people over with his shoulder. And it worked. I saw a couple of nice open field tackles from #23 today.

My only grip is that if its a QB sneak, and the D knows it, like the Jets did, why not a direct snap to the RB.. Why risk the QB injure on the play.

It was a good call with bad execution, can't blame the playcaller here, IMHO.

Oh speaking of tackling ... Johnson WHIFFED 2/3 times on big plays ... his tackling has been a liability a few times this year

when it's 4th and 1 (or less) it makes sense to QB sneak it, handing the ball off to the Rb 4-5 yards back raises the risk of it not even reaching the line of scrimmage, especially with our putrid blocking today where it seemed as soon as Chubb or Hunt got the ball they had a defensive player draped over them.

I blame 2 things, our turnover prone QB. He turns the ball over way too much for a 1st overall pick IMO. 2nd, I blame the WR group for not being cautious with being around a covid positive player

And I blame the Sun, the Moon and the Stars

j/c...

So when are they announcing Browns/Steelers flexed to SNF!

Rough game... our secondary sucked... defense finally starting playing late int he second half

I hate our kicker...

Mayfield has to hold the ball... how many fumbles on a 4th and short has he had?!?!

Refs screwed us with that incomplete pass call... should have been a fumble and TD... we'd be down by 3... no way we lose with that momentum shift

why the hell did we not rush 40+ times when we have NO WIDE RECEIVERS.... just stupid....

really disappointing day... got one more chance to finish this season off right... BEAT THE STEELERS

No SNF game last week of teh season

There is a Sunday night game week 17. Just not a Monday night qame

so do they just not set a SNF game at the beginning of the season?

My apologizes.. I didn't think there was one and then looked at the schedule adn didn't see one scheduled...

Yep.

I was disappointed in the game plan a bit. I understand we knew they would stack the box so we came out throwing.. which makes sense, but the TEs were a disappointment.

I think we waited way to long to get to the screen/dump off game to Chubb and Hunt. If you are having trouble getting through the line with the run but the RBs are your best options, screens and dump offs makes perfect sense.

I was disappointed in the defensive effort in the 1st half. Instead of looking like we knew we had to step up, we looked deflated. I think the mental disappointment of losing those players to covid was more impactful than actually missing their talent on the field.. everybody looked down for much of the game.

I'd like to 2nd guess the QB sneak at the end as going to well once too often but it should have worked, it was just poorly executed. Tretter got straight stood up at the LOS and nobody touched the DE who came the 8 feet down the line to pummel a stationary Baker who was lodged against the pile.

In the end, too many mistakes. When you are playing without so many starters, you have minimal margin for error and we made too many mistakes and spotted them too many points.

***I still the play by Darnold was a fumble and should have been a TD.. and given the refs marching orders to let it play out, I was going to be even more pissed if they gave us the ball but not the TD... they didn't blow the whistle until he was on the 3 yard line going into the end zone. There was no reason to blow the play dead.

Just gotta hope we get a bunch of these guys back and go beat the Steelers..

Yes. The NFL always leaves week 17 open for the SNF game.

I have been curious as to why Ski doesn't design more plays with Cubb and Hunt in the BF at the same time .. Also when get a kick out of a Wishbone with Janovich thrown in the mix..

Yes, but root for Buffalo, Jacksonville, and Cincy just in case. Texans too if the Titans lose tonight.

Absolutely inexcusable in Week 16. Someone needs to be held accountable.

totally agree... secondary was friggin lost all day

All day? Darnold completed 50% of his passes for 175 yards.. yea, we got fooled on the WR pass. The sad part was the other two were both on TDs where we let guys run free... But for the most part, their passing game was rather pedestrian.

And that person is Joe Woods! Man needs to get out of here!

Jeff Sherman
@golfodds
NFL - Week 17

Phi -1 vs Wsh
Ind -13.5 vs Jax
GB -4.5 at Chi
NYG Pick vs Dal
Cle -7.5 vs Pit
Ten -7 at Hou
NO -4 at Car
NE -5.5 vs NYJ
Min -6 at Det
TB -4.5 vs Atl
Bal -10 at Cin
Buf -4 vs Mia
LAC -2.5 at KC
Sea -4 vs SF at Ari
Den -1 vs LV
LAR -5 vs Ari

We have a bingo!

ummm.. what?

J/C. Didn’t see it posted anywhere, But Who The bleep was Kendal Lamm blocking on the QB sneak? Basham killed him all day and on that play he appears to be blocking a second level LB, when his man makes the play. Janovich and Chubb should be enough to get 3 feet, very poor play call, However Lamm is pure crap

Some of you are ridiculous. Waiting for Baker to have a "bad" game (playing with 9th string WRs on a days notice, and a couple 3rd string OL) just so you can spew a bunch of nonsense.

Definitely disappointing to lose a game like that. Just got to hopefully put it all behind us and beat Pittsburgh. I think if you asked everyone here at the beginning of the season if you would take 10 wins and "win and you're in" going into week 17, it would be an emphatic "Yes!"

Trying to be optimistic and looking at the long term, maybe this helps us in the long run. We end up 3rd in our division, which means Pittsburgh and Baltimore will have a slightly tougher schedule next year. The Bengals are blowing their draft position to get an OT.

And we still have a shot to get into the playoffs next week! 1-0

Once you understand they aren't really fans, then it all becomes clear.

Just laugh at them and move on.

The garbage truck comes on Mondays.

All the bs on this Board at times is over whelming.

Clearly many are clueless.

This is the NFL. Parity is structured into the league. The Jets beat a nine win team last week. Got beat by a last play Hail Mary against the Raiders.

Any given Sunday is a fact.

9th string receivers and 3rd string offensive linemen starting on less than a days notice? Missing the defensive play caller. Missing eight starters. I don't care what team you are. You will struggle.

But here we are at 10-5 and getting called losers.

Mayfield is now again a bad player.

He fumbled. Not good. Did he lose the game? The team lost. The blocking stunk. Couldn't run against a team that was not good against the run.

The team gave up plays on defense that stunk.

The game was lost.

==========================

Over and on to the next game. We win we are in.

That is what matters.

All the crap about who was at fault does not change the outcome.

Play a good game against the Steelers and win and the team finishes the season 11-5. In many years that record wins the division.

We are going into the last game in control of making the playoffs and ending 11-5.

I will take that.

Was that expected to happen before the season began?

I doubt that many of the Board experts believed that.

Because many still believe in curses. And that even though every year the team is different. Because many players come and go. And often coaches come and go.

Somehow we are always tied to past history. Even though every year each team is different.

So for all those who have all the answers and are full of labels. Go ahead ruin your day.

We are able to play in, and it is a wider silver lining than yesterday's game deserves. Concentrate on doing fewer things and doing them better. We can't carry the mistakes into this one. Hope we figure out who does what soon. We have a bunch of upside.

Just win, baby.

spacing is important..lol

Its kind of like the comma in the following sentence:

Let's eat, Grandma.

Which is true, they ran a Jam front where everyone in front 7 filled a gap. Which is why running outside and pulling would have generated some holes to run through, Stefanski wouldn't call them . Same with screens. Called them in second half and it worked.. But make no mistake, Teller is the heart of our running game. Just sucks he's made of glass

There are a plethora of reasons why we lost this game. I'm as frustrated as any on this board. We were in a tough spot losing all those players right before the game not to mention the Jets have been playing better. But the bottom line to me is with everything going against us we still had a chance to win. The FUMBLES COST US. YOU HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF THE FOOTBALL. It doesn't matter if your playing the best team in the league or the worst you can't have these turnovers. If we held on to the ball we probably would have WON case closed. I have no axes to grind I like Baker a lot and feel he will be our franchise QB but he has to take care of the ball or we will have more games like yesterday. He admitted it. He knows he messed up.

Pulling and screens require a higher degree of execution (correct me if I'm wrong). With us requiring nametags on quite a few starters, I can understand Stefanski shying away from these types of plays. I do wonder why we didn't do more in the way of creative plays involving both RBs. I would think this could be a major wrinkle in our offense and would've been devastating to misdirect with one bellcow back only to flip it to get it to the other bellcow back or TE in space and let them go to work.


I need to watch the condensed game. There might've been some questionable calls on the field, but the worst call all day was putting the Steelers on in the Cinci area. I'll reserve judgement until I've watched, but based on the radio call, I'm having a hard time criticizing Stefanski with the situation. Dude was working with a LOT of question marks.

Agreed. It was a tough spot to be put in with little or no time to prepare. Sometimes teams have a tough time executing with everyone healthy and playing. Hasn't that happened to us too?

I know it's beating a dead horse... but I'll go in on the defense anyway. Jets are dreadful passing the ball and were still able to do enough to win. If there was ever going to be a game this season where the D could save our bacon, it was this one. Containing the Jets O really isn't that big of an ask. Did we score any turnovers at all?

No and I kept saying all game how Darnold was a turnover machine and we we're going to get 1.

Blame me, I jinxed us.

This. All these people complaining and bashing Baker. Plenty of blame to go around but at least the NFL could have given us 1 more day to at least practice with the Receivers. Did any of them wake up Sat morning even knowing they'd be playing the next day. Even our TE dropped passes which were players that needed to step up.

Done. :-p

Jc

Hey guys, we’re 10-5! Team just has to bring it next week. We still control our own destiny. Win and we’re in!!

They were close several times, but just couldn't close the deal.

j/c -

Just a very general post game thought. To my very amateur and untrained eye (and as many others have said), the O-line was the biggest culprit in this game. Period.

Yes, a lot of other things went wrong - some our fault, some not. But if the O-line had it together, this game was ours.

I like that our playoff destiny is in our own hands the last week of the season and not just because we have one last chance.

The simple fact is that if we can't start beating the big boys in our own division - especially when everything is on the line - then this team has a lot more problems then what went wrong yesterday.

On to Pittsburgh.

If we can't get back the players who were out yesterday we won't have much of a chance against Pittsburgh. Heck I don't know if we can beat them anyways. I really doubt it. Prove me wrong Browns!

Agreed.

Team is 10-5, with a ticket to the tournament that they get to write. With a new coaching staff/playbook/language. And no off-season.

And some of these fans act like this is the same team that routinely logged 3-13, 4-12 and 6-10 seasons.

Mad at them like they're 1-15. Or 0-16.

I guess My Father was right when he said:

"Some people can't be happy unless they're miserable about something..."

First thing, Baker was playing with 1 backup Wr's and 1 practice squad player, but he had Hooper a very good TE, Njoku and Hunt, all starters.

Baker was sailing passes and very tentative with the ball, all in all we hardly noticed the lack of quality of our Wr's... we noticed it because apparently he is only able to play with the best Wr's in the league.

I think this game and the next one are the ultimate tests for Baker, either he is able to do it, or he doesn't. So far he has proved is does not stand to the big challenges, hope I'm wrong and he can change the narrative in the next game.

We have probably the best Offense in the league, one of the best OLines, one of the best RB's and one of the best WR's group in the league. The weakest link is the QB.

Good to see you again Rasta.

Where were you after Baker's 22-22 vs Cinci?
His game against Titans?
His game against the Ravens where we scored 22 in the 4th Q?

Also you came up in convo the other day ... when we drafted Baker I think you were on record as saying he has a noodle arm? Wanted to be sure we had that correct and it wasn't a different poster that said that.

Thanks for the clarification

If you hardly noticed it, then you don't actually see what you're watching. The lack of going to - or even being able to go to - the WRs *IS* what was noticeable. Also what was notable is that vaunted TE group that repeatedly FAILED the team. Another thing that was noticeable is the vaunted OLine that FAILED the RB's and the rest of the team. Two of the Top 10 RBs in the NFL were held to less than 40 yards rushing - COMBINED.

Apparently, Chubb & Hunt can't run without the best OLine and WR's in the league making holes for them.


Here's the deal:

40% of the OLine was 3rd string garbage that shouldn't ever see the field unless we're bringing in a 6th blocker, and those two weaknesses were on each side of the line. We did not have even one side we could go to as a strength.

100% of the WR's weren't there. 1st AND 2nd string. Again, we had 3rd string scrubs and guys that shouldn't even be on a roster out there.... even IF they knew and understood the offense, their ability to execute it with good routes and separation is absolutely limited.

The two units we did have intact, RB's and TE's, failed to perform. Completely. RB's weren't running, and TE's weren't catching.

So, PLEASE, tell me just what it is that the QB was supposed to do. Yes, the QB still needs to execute their part, and yes, a "franchise" QB needs to elevate those around him.... but the QB can't Block, Catch, and Run for everyone else out there.

The bottom line with this game... NOBODY stepped up to make a difference. Total team failure. But, I agree 100% with AZBrown - biggest culprit was the OLine, they were, in a word, offensive.

I thought I saw the run game start to get going some in the second half .. Problem was Ski totally got away from it , and not throwing screen after screen until they stopped it .. Still would have run the Wishbone ..lol .. Bottom line ; Football is a TEAM sport , lots of moving parts operating as one..

Yes it was taken in for a TD and was taken away from us.

Try reality for a change of pace.

You had WR's from the practice squad. The the two injuries at WR combined with the four in Covid protocol had our top 6 WR's out of the game. That put our WR's playing at 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th on the depth chart. The WR's playing hadn't even had a single snap with Mayfield.

Three of out top 6 OL were out. Tretter, Wills and our 6th man, Hubbard. Say what you will, but Hubbard is one of, if not the most versatile and valuable back up OL players in the NFL. So on the OL we were at 7th and 8th on the depth chart.

I know, I know, you'll claim those are excuses. Yet they are facts. Facts are not excuses. It's just a convenient excuse to dismiss the facts.

I don't think anyone is happy with yesterdays results. You and some others keep spewing this loser crap yet we've won 10 games. This is the first year with Stefanski as our HC. In case you didn't notice, we were just really settling into and having some comfort level in our offense.

The Jets had beaten the Rams just the week before.

I'm as disappointed with the loss as anyone is. I never like to see my team lose. And while I won't make excuses for them, I am willing to look at the reality of the situation and come to an understanding.

And for those who bring up Tom Brady? How man frickin' Tom Brady's do they think there are in the NFL? And since everyone seems like they want to keep score, the Tom Brady led Bucs are 10-5 as well. Not one damned win better than we are.

Very few people have claimed our Browns are a finished product. We're still far from it. But some of the BS I see on this thread takes whining and exaggeration to an entire new level.

I was curious if unfamiliarity with the receivers would affect Baker's decision-making. He definitely seemed to be hanging onto the ball more yesterday. I can see how questioning if your receiver will be where he's supposed to be will slow down your delivery/hurt your confidence in releasing the ball and letting your boys do their thing.

The sailing passes is troublesome, though.

Precisely.

It is those kinds of takes that reveal the mind behind.

Tom Brady had trouble elevating the O with the players he had around him in NE last season. When he saw it wouldn't get better for this year he left and went to Tampa. Brady couldn't do much with what NE has now.

J/C on the comments on a lack of screens. There were at least 2 occasions I recall where it looked like we were going screen and it was either a shambles or blown up by recognition before the play had a chance to develop. Screens are a pure timing and execution thing around familiarity. It has to be sold and it needs to be executed. We struggled to do either but that isn’t a surprise given we had 5 new starters on O.

Good point. I noticed our timing was off on two of them .. it probably also explains the lack of bootlegs and outside/pulling runs we had ... just no cohesion

LOL. Lotta people drunkenly rage-posting yesterday.

Almost everything we did was getting blown up at or behind the LOS.
Half of what we tried beyond the LOS fell incomplete, often off the hands of a TE. Half of what's left usually had laundry on the field.

It didn't leave a whole lot off opportunities to keep things moving.

Yep. One in particular, Hunt got strung out by the LB all the way to the right sideline, causing Baker to change direction and flush left. He finally completed a pass, on a crucial 3rd or 4th down iirc.

I'm sure when Coach looks at the game film he will ask himself a few questions. lol .. Rookie Head with 1/2 an offence .. Folks need to give everyone a break here..

I don't mean for this to sound confrontational, the defense has struggled to "close the deal" regarding turnovers. Not going to bother to look it up but the past 3-5 games we have hardly created many turnovers for our offense.

I think that where we also got flagged for ineligible receiver downfield or that may have been the other one.

I watched the replay of Bakers fumble. It looked like to me that if he didn't fumble he was very close to getting the 1st down. Did anyone else notice this or am I wrong?

And two of those 3 had drops yesterday that could have been helped, and no I don't mean Njoku. Bryant also had a killer drop for us.

I thought he was short at the point he was stopped.

I think he would have gotten pushed forward a bit more but went after the ball once he fumbled.

I thought the same thing. Seemed very strange to me that they didn't jump under the hood and take a look at the replay to make sure.

Ok I could be wrong.

Yeah, the D started the season rolling in turnovers, but we have completely dried up on that since the Bye week, it seems.

I don't know how much of that is missing personnel on D, how much is teams getting rid of the ball, how much maybe is opposing coordinators stressing ball security heading into games with us since it is clear we are constantly trying to strip/knock the ball out.

Garrett hasn't been Garrett since getting sick, which that was a big source of turnovers for us.
We've missed all or some of our secondary just about every week - and that's without counting Delpit & Greedy... I don't think we've been healthy back there since maybe Week 3?

Sometimes, things just don't roll our way..... or, the refs are way too quick with a whistle.

It looked like to me he was still moving forward a bit when he fumbled. It is hard to judge and like I said I could be wrong. Kareem was coming up behind him he may have pushed Baker forward if he didn't have to go for the ball.

I felt like he snapped it a second too soon ... I think the design is to wait until the man in motion is more behind him so he can help push

Baker may have still been slightly moving forward. It's pretty hard for me to tell watching the reply. The question would then hinge on when the refs blew the whistle. Once they feel forward progress has been stopped, the play gets blown dead. So at that point, it's anyone's guess.

It looks like quite a few posts were deleted from this thread. Its unfortunate IMO because even though people disagreed, it never became abusive.

Baker could win 5 super bowls and somebody would complain about him being a bum after every loss. It's frustrating as hell in the game day forum. We should have two, one for fans and one for Lead, slick, etc. to whine in, just so the rest of us can enjoy talking about the games live.

Right up to the day he retired (the first time), Brett Favrerererre still had Packers fans that hated him and didn't think he was the best they could do at QB; that they should have traded him away when they could have in order to draft <insert_QB_du_jour_here>.

You really should try the game day chat.

I have to agree with Purp on this one.

The OL played poorly yesterday, that is why we could not run, had strip sacks and other challenges.

A healthy OL would have changed the outcome.

Our receivers do a lot of run blocking also. That probably wasnt working well either.

Probably a combination of all the things you wrote. I did not mean to rip the D, I think we lack some talent at key positions but I honestly believe the talent will be better next season. I am usually an optimistic fan but still have the 20 years of poor play influence in my head.

Regardless of yesterday or next Sunday's result, this year has helped make 2020 a little more bearable.

WR blocking is only relevant if the ball carrier can get out of the backfield.

Well, over 7 pages in and no one has said it "Cut Sandejo"!

Actually I saw him make some really nice plays including a great open field tackle on 3rd down that forced a punt.

I know we don't have a Who's Who Defense, but I'm actually less convinced week after week that the main issue is this alleged massive talent deficiency.

I see a defense that as a whole has a tendency to take bad angles. What's more likely: several people taking bad angles OR a scheme that doesn't put its players i the right positions to begin with?

OR is there lack of a QB on defense who can get people in the right positions?

When's the last time anyone saw a Browns LB in the backfield or at least attempting to get there? We never seem to run delayed blitzes or end a DB or LB in to the lanes created when Vernon and Myles get blocked upfield. Even if your LB is legitimately bad, he's still probably better going forward than he his dropping back.

I guess its still not clear to me what the role or purpose of our LBs in this scheme.

On a side note: props to Vernon and the year he has been having. He's gotten a lot of criticism for not playing up to the contract he was signed for. This second half of the seasons I think is the guy we signed.

Offensively... I've noticed the past couple of weeks that we've tended to get one-dimensional of our own doing. Baker has had a hot h and so I can see why you'd roll with it but you can't forget who you are to begin with and I think that's what happened. We should have run the ball more. Even with as little as we did you could start to see later in the game that the Jets DEF was starting to tire.

I think Baker should have forced the WRs to get involved earlier. Our TEs should have been primed for a huge game, but even when they weren't dropping passes they clearly weren't stretching the field like we needed. Hooper should have had a better game. Bryant clearly isn't very confident after his earlier fumbles. Njoku has the speed and can stretch things but he was a non-factor for most of the game.

In any event, this is a young team with a young coach. We'll get there.

I am disappointed that mine got deleted.

I would guess this game is karma for Baker.

Last week: Don't stumble.

This week: Don't fumble.

I am concerned that Baker doesn't play well with heavy expectations. He's a guy that plays better as the underdog or when things are easy. Then again, it doesn't get any easier than playing a 1-13 team, and he wet the bed.

I don't have a lot of confidence about this game at all. The Steelers are going to play to win no matter who's playing and who's sitting.

Mostly I think Baker is an emotional guy. He struggles in adverse situations and just needs to relax.

I don't really blame him for the passing game issues. I'm sure those receivers were not running routes perfect and the timing was off.

Which is probably why he held onto the ball way too long. He was trying to see where the hell they were.

he definitely is a “feel” guy .. he’s gotta feel confident and ride the wave. When he’s “on” he’s about as accurate and competent as any QB not named Mahomes or Rodgers

Honestly before this past Sunday, I could only name 3 QBs playing better ... Mahomes, Rodgers, and Allen. You may have been able to sneak another name in there, Watson, maybe, but he was playing like a top 5 QB.

Then when he was needed the most, he wet the bed. I can't believe he had the nerve to tell the fans to change their expectations, then failed to deliver against a 1-13 team.

WR’ s don’t have as much impact if there is no hole to run.

I can't believe he couldn't create a rapport with WR #7, 8, 9 and 10 with the 15 minutes he spent with them in the parking garage.

#cuthimnow

The Browns still fielded a way more talented team than the Jets. Better QB, better RBs, better TEs, better OL, better DL. No one said it was going to be easy. But if they can't beat a 1-13 team with a better team with so much on the line, why should we be happy about that?

After all the losing, all the heartbreak, all the watching other teams get better, have down years, then get better again while the Browns stayed a bottom five team for dawn near 20 years, and we are supposed to be happy with moral victories? I honestly don't understand this fan base. Someone told someone else the other day they wouldn't want them in their foxhole. I wouldn't pick 99% of you to play a pickup basket game with me. I'm too damn competitive.

Ahhh, so it means we're "happy" if we don't b*tch and moan, in every post... for days on end.

And if we have a different perspective, we're not competitive enough. Gotcha. Meanwhile, you ping pong from the furthest stretch of every extreme -- week after week.

It's all good. We'll beat the Steelers next week, Baker will be the greatest again and we'll be on our way to the Superbowl.

Your logic is fundamentally flawed.

Ask the Steelers how they lost 3 in a row after starting 11-0... 2 of the losses were to substandard teams, Washington and Cincinnati. A team absorb only so many losses of key players in a position group before they re-group to figure things out. Losing Teller is a drop, Hubbard hurt more, Wills, ouch, now the Browns are in uncharted territory. Take 4 wideouts on 24 hours notice, yikes.

Football is a team sport, Moreso than baseball or basketball. Individual skill is as important as group skill.

It is also the underlying reason the Browns were skunked by Baltimore in the opener, but played essentially a toss-up game a couple of weeks ago.

You sound like "that guy" out there playing beer league hockey but thinks they're playing for the Stanley Cup every Monday at 11pm. Don't be 'that guy'.
I agree with you that they still should've won, but you seem to forget that good teams do lose to bad teams. I mean, all those years we were awful (except for 1-31) we'd pick up a couple upsets each season. We had a streak going where we beat the reigning champs for a couple years.

Me too. We got a little salty, but there was no name calling, forbidden curse words, or abusive piling on. Its annoying when you try to take the time to post something more than "Browns suck!" or "Browns Rule!", and the mods take it upon themselves to just erase it because things got a little testy. I get that we are just guests here, and that the message board is not our property, but that kind of heavy-handed moderation was why I ditched Browns Chat back when the original DT went away.

I have no problem whatsoever blaming Baker for this loss. And I'm sure he'd tell you the same thing. One thing he wouldn't tell you however is that we don't have a snowball's chance of even being in that game without him.

Lost here is the fact we couldn't run. We didn't have anyone to pass to. How in the heck were we going to win this game? Baker put this team on his back and despite the early struggles carried them back into the game.

When everything was doom and gloom Baker got his teammates going, elevating their play, knowing they could win this game! That's what Brady does, that's what Drew does. Neither one wins 100% of the time.

And yes, while I thought Baker's efforts were heroic, we fell short. And that sucks. Imagine being so far behind the 8 ball to come back and see your teammates fighting as they were (even the defense was stepping up) driving for a tying touchdown under 2 minutes inside the 20 when we were once down 20-3... only to fumble and lose the game.

I can tell you this, no one on that team feels like a bigger piece of $&!+ than Baker.

Baker isn't looking for personal achievements. And this is what made him the #1 pick.... he wants to win! He wants to see his teammates succeed. I don't understand why many want to twist it that he's all about himself when clearly he's not. He loves this game and he loves his teammates. He wants to win for them and the fans more than he ever wanted to win for himself.

And for me, yeah we lost a crap hand and should have won. It happens. But for me it's how we respond. If we don't win easily on Sunday, I might be mildly surprised.

If I'm anyone in that building, on that team, or have anything to do with the Browns organization, come Sunday I want nothing more than to throttle Pittsburgh and I don't even care if it means making the playoffs and I don't even care that it's Pittsburgh.

I'm pissed, you're pissed, they're pissed and someone needs to pay. Having it be the Steelers makes it even more satisfying... But I'm not feeling the pressure to win. I'm angry, and I don't even care if it means win we're in the playoffs, I just want go out there, play like I know we can, dominate whatever team is in our way and win the next freakin game!

That's why I thought if the NFL had postponed the game at least till Mon night was not asking too much. At least they could have came up with a few plays!

Watching the Bills/Pats after game interview with Josh Allen and Steohon Diggs ... and after they brought up how much Allen improved from last year to this ... and how much adding 2 quality receivers in Diggs and Cole Beasley helped bring then about.

A huge difference from when people were lambasting Baker for not playing up to some imaginary "good enough" standard when he had no receivers he had thrown to before Sunday.

I told myself I wouldn't listen to the talking heads on TV this week but I couldn't resist to see if they bashed the Browns considering the situation! I'm still amazed the expectations they have for Baker and the Browns! Take all 4 receivers away from (insert team) the day before and let's see how the play? This includes GB and KC, the only difference would be the reaction when they lost!

Mox I agree with you but not taking care of the ball on those fumbles has nothing to do with the WR's or anybody else but Baker. It's on him. I like Baker a lot I want him to be our franchise QB I have no axes to grind with him.

j/c:

if we weren't missing 6 players on offense ( 5 decided the day before) we wouldn't be talking about this. He had a bad game which he took but since October he's led the league for taking care of the ball. Not even close and that's compared to the best QBs this year

OK Mox fine. But when it came down to crunch time Sunday on our last 2 possessions he turned it over. I'm not saying he's prone to it, he's not, but it happened when we needed to take care of the ball the most.

I think some are underestimating how hard it is to adjust a game plan that you’ve worked on all week less than 24 hours before the game. You can just say, “Hey Kareem, you’re a wide receiver now.” After he and his teammates haven’t practiced that way at all that week.

My guess is that if we knew Monday that these guys were all going to be out the results would have been very different.

In the end it is on the players to follow the protocol and they didn’t.

and you are correct this last game and I've also seen him bring the team from behind on the final drive more times than not. When it comes down to the final drive I'm honestly confident with the ball in Bakers hands believing we will score. But put our defense on the field stopping any team from scoring in the final minute and I've already except we've lost. In the Ravens game when they scored to go up I was positive we'd score to tie it but what happened to our defense in under a minute against a QB that can't throw the ball ( threw it maybe 13 times all game) they allowed him to complete 4 passes to get in FG range. I'll take Baker for the win over our defense every single time and believe every single time he's going to score. It's been a long time since I've had that confidence in our offense and I'm 55 years old!

I'm not understanding why that 4th down QB sneak is being referred to as a Mayfield turnover.The fumble was recovered by Hunt. It was the circumstances of the game (final 2 minutes, 4th down play - Dave Casper Rule) and the fact that he did not make the line of gain with forward progress that caused the loss of possession - not the fumble. On the QB sneak our interior OL got blown up, and the DE crashed down - unblocked by Lamm - to pull Mayfield back. It was a failed 4th down conversion.

I think the biggest issue we had Sunday was the new guys on the OL. I think Baker could/did overcome the odd WR situation, but not when coupled with an OL that simply couldn't run block.

If we had the full compliment of WR, we could overcome the OL.

If we had the full compliment of OL, we could overcome the WR.

We had neither...pretty simple really.

j/c

If you ignore the obvious limitations we had due to Covid, then you can whine. If you feel you have a legitimate complaint about our team when we had to play the 7th, 8th, 9th and 00th WR's on the roster and the #7 and #8 ranked OL players on our rosters, Bless your heart. And that's without ANY practice time.

Nobody is ever "happy" with a loss or feel that a "moral victory" is something to cheer. Those are tired claims that simply provide an excuse to delegitimize the very real circumstances that we faced.

The fact of the matter is that in our very first year under Stefanski our Browns have won 10 games thus far. That is never a teams ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to win the Super Bowl. That's the goal every year.

Point being, there are reasons to dislike some of the play we saw on the field. There are legitimate reasons to expect more on game day.

This team has made a huge leap forward this year. For someone to actually believe this team had anything close to enough time to prepare for this game given the circumstances is foolish.

We are not a finished product. We are currently working toward that. I for one can see the progress that not only this team has made, but that Baker too has made. Trying to undermine that reality based on one game under these circumstances is fools gold. It doesn't spend well.

FWIW, I agree with your entire post.

Another thing I thought of with several fans calling radio stations for the Browns to change the game plan or at least significantly alter it after the news the players were unavailable sounds pretty simple.

If so, why don't NFL teams just install the game plans Friday afternoon or Saturday. That way should a key player be unexpectedly injured late Thursday they did not waste all that time.

I agree with you. I still believe we're in that game solely because of Baker and I believe we lost the game because of Baker. No issues here.

If he hangs onto the ball, forward progress could have had a first down (Blow the whistle!). Depending on when the ball dislodged, did he already have a first down? Should be like a touchdown, once you got it, fumble away you're all good... I'm joking of course. Or am I?

You're kidding... You spend all week figuring out how to attack and defeat a team, you just don't change a gameplan at a moments notice. Organizing and Planning for a team probably starts 2 weeks before the actual game, with the coaches brought in the day (Monday) after the game. Wednesday and Thursday are reserved for new plays and packages that are not common...

I just rewatched the game, and I did notice two successful sneaks by Baker earlier in the game (on one he actually gained like 4 yards). His passing seemed to start out well enough, but he started getting a little erratic with his passes at the end of the half. He also started holding the ball a ton, but I think this had more to do with the new guys out there and Jets progressively taking away his preferred options.

I think it was Johnson (might've been Joseph) that was playing really stupid. Lots of dumb penalties on special teams. Bunch of blocks, though, which was pretty impressive.

Our Oline got whooped on pretty good. On rewatch, our TE didn't do too bad catching the ball, overall. Bryant had that brutal drop. It looked like they were able to do some damage in the first half, and then NY started to lock them down. Honestly, I'm not sure why they didn't do that right out of the gate, given our personnel. I saw a lot of real suspect blocking out of our TEs and tackles.

It looked like we started trying to get the ball to Chubb and Hunt on short passes, but that just wasn't really working all that well.

Bradley (PS WR) had a pretty decent game. It would've been pretty sweet if he hung onto that ball at the very end and been the hero.

Jets D played very very well. jkl;./Their O played slightly less terrible than our D.

Sendejo had a pretty mediocre game (this is a pretty significant improvement for him). One of the busted coverages might've been on him, but he had a really nice stop on 3rd down when we needed it near the end.

Chubb and Hunt ran really hard, but there wasn't a ton there for them. Even RBs as talented as them can only do so much when they have DLs and LBs hitting them in the backfield.

Jets seem to be playing better since they fired GW. Maybe there happier!!!

I would hope that once Stefanski has a proper offseason he can do a proper install and start putting in some really fun wrinkles (a bunch of plays off of Chubb and Hunt in the backfield, etc). I wouldn't be surprised if they just didn't have the time/means to do the fun stuff yet.

j/c




BWAHAHAHAHA He lays into Redwine and Joseph and Goes Ballistic over Joe Woods' secondary

I thought my post was obviously sarcasm in response to the fans who talked about the coaches changing the game plan after the Covid losses were announced the day before the Jets game.

There were fans on 92.3 criticizing the staff for not overhauling teh ganmeplan at noon on Saturday.

Ok, purple font is the board code for obvious sarcasm.

People really have no idea how much planning goes into the game.