DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2017 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 18 Steelers 21 Post Game Thoughts

Here's my thoughts on the game:

- Kizer's a rookie. He's going to make mistakes and he's going to get confused by defensive looks. That's one of the reasons I like sitting rookies for as long as they can. So that they can get used to defensive looks and game speed without getting crushed play after play.

- That said, I was really pleased with what I saw out of him. Went downfield when needed. Looked composed in the pocket. Made a couple of NFL throws. I hope we don't ruin him.

- I was much more disappointed with the run game. Crowell couldn't break any tackles and continuously ran into the back of the line. Johnson got hurts and Dayes didn't really do much either. If we want a rookie QB to be successful we MUST get a run game going so we don't put all the pressure on Kizer to carry the offense.

- The Defense was as good as I had hoped. We finally have a legit D! We completely shut down their run game.

- I'd say the one thing we really miss is Joe Haden ... not the current one, but the 2014 version. If we had a guy like 2014 Joe out there covering Brown, the Steelers' Offense would of been completely shut down.

- I'm also glad the Refs finally started calling all that head-hunting/cheap crap that the Steelers usually get away with. I hope they get a few thousand dollars in fines as well.

- All said, really proud of the Browns today. Lost by 3 to a team that many have in the AFC Championship game. We were right in it until the end. Something we couldn't say a lot last year. And that's with the youngest team in the NFL, a QB starting his first game as a pro, and our #1 draft pick on the sidelines. We are looking much better!

Where your thoughts?

Defense held them to 14 points. Should've been enough. OL allowed seven sacks and there was no running game. Thought OL was fixed, but it was the problem.

I hate my dad for making me a Browns fan so much.
I haven't been sports happy ever in my life.

I don't even mind losing. I've become numb to it. I just don't want to predict 100% exactly how we willl lose and not be able to stop it.

I saw real growth and signs for the future. The defense was really good. I think Kizer could be the real thing. I think Kenny Britt may be useless. The most important thing though was that this looked and felt like a real football team.

OL was fine. WRs were the main problem. The sacks were from rookie indecision not pressure

I feel like we competed with one of the top teams is the AFC

If we can play like this every week we are going to win some games this year. The defense is looking to develop into a top tier NFL defense and as expected they are ahead of the offense.

An offense is all about repetitions and timing, I think Kizer is going to be a good one and as he shows the ability to burn teams down the field defenses are going to start backing off the line and opening the running game up.

I am definitely encouraged by what I saw today

Kizer looked like a rookie (duh). However that last drive was nice to watch. He's going to be up and down all year, but he's already 1000% better than weeden was.

I saw the steelers lead with their helmets on quite a few hits, if the league actually cared about safety they should be ejected.

Love our defense, we haven't seen run defense like this since I don't know when. Our QB had plenty of time.

How thin we are at receiver I think will dictate what we do once Gordon returns. A combination of Gordon and Coleman (providing Gordon really kept himself in game condition) will be formidable.

Our run blocking still needs improvement.

Brightest spot, Kizer. This is the closest we've seen in a LONG TIME to a franchise QB. Rookie mistakes? Sure, Payton Manning had em too.

It's his first game in his first year, he seems like he's got it between the ears to learn and improve, which is the most important thing for a QB.

Like the looks of our future.

Wish we grabbed Jeremy Maclin...

And every year we always have players whom we think we be great...but regress...Jamar Taylor got ate alive...I can't remember ever seeing a CB of ours taking 11/11 182...

Thank god Leveon Bell was rusty...it would have been worse...

We need to add weapons everywhere

Kizer needs to scale back on taking hits...he'll be on IR if he keeps it up...but much more exciting of a game then I can remember

Well.... the defense did a fantastic job, especially without their #1 draft pick. When he gets back, the line should be even more disruptive, especially in 4 & 3 man fronts. Garrett would have caused some problems for the Steeler tackles.

The offense will catch up to the defense. Our young QB will get faster and the game will being to slow down. He will correct the mistakes. The timing is off for our WR & QBs. As Kiser get comfortable, he will release faster. The running game was okay. Drops, penalties, and miscues hurt us.

Most of those were on Kizer holding the ball to long. Typical Browns player desperate to make a play.

He's a very smart man, he'll fix this.

Wanted to get the thread started before I type for 5 minutes, only to find 4 other threads started.

much better outing than normal against pittsburgh, we hit them in the mouth and made them commit costly penalties and frustrated them into cheap shots. Def growth. I still think we need more help at WR, hopefully some of the new guys will help once they get some reps.

Kizer's two main issues, holding the ball and overthrowing wide open receivers. But lets be honest here, asking a rookie QB to carry the load against a top 5 team in his first game is stupid, really casts more doubts on if Hue is able to be a head coach. should have run run run run. instead, kizer had a day full of 3rd and 15+. Be interesting to see how the game plan looks next week

They're not slouches this year. If it wasn't for the dismal first series, they might have pulled this one off. I guess I will have to wait another year to be 'undefeated'.

Look you start a Rookie QB running Jackson's Offense and the out come was pretty predictable . The D played a nice .. We knew we where going to be light in the Defensive back field going into the game .. As I have mentioned before , we where basically playing with only Three wide outs . Made a game out of it !

The blocked punt was the difference here...

We didn't fold up our tent after the horrendous start!

Our offense outscored the Steeler offense.

Offensive Line looks suspect...running game was weak.

DBs need to look for the ball, that last catch by Brown should have been knocked down.

Kizer shows a lot of poise, was put in how many third and longs?

Britt looks useless...

Coleman showed some game...hopefully the new WR's can catch up on the offense quickly.

This D is going to be stout!

Either way going to be a fun season to watch!!

Our Browns are competitive once again.

We stood toe to toe with our arch rival and one of the top 5 teams in the league. That's something to be proud of. DK played well. He made mistakes but that is to be expected and will happen all year. By the way, how did Shon Colemen do?

Dumb challenge at the end. Wasted a valuable timeout because it was obviously a catch.

Thought our D was really fast and hungry, fun to watch. They'll keep us in a lot of games this year.
Kizer was solid, held on to the ball too long at times but definitely flashed. He looks to have good pocket presence. Bad throw on the INT but these are learning times.
He is going to get better, I think we may have a QB.
They got lucky late in the second quarter when Schoebert tipped the pass but the squealer still caught it for the long gain.

Wanted the win but I'm overall happy with our performance today.

Very inspired by this performance, almost beat a superbowl contending team. No Garret, blocked punt on opening drive for a td, dropped passes and a rookie qb that took too many sacks by his own doing. Sky is the limit for this young team that has so much room to grow and more talent to add. Defense played well held to 14 points, very easily could have won this game. Whole different team this year. BTW pittsburgh is still a dirty team, so many helmet to helmet hits, glad they got flagged this time.

A fluke block killed us.
D was improved but DB upgrades would be great.
QB play was within the boundaries of what I thought would be acceptable.
Running game lacks.
WRs are mostly horrible.
Ultimately we saw better football than ALL of last season. We held a considered NFL powerhouse on the ropes for the whole game.
I'm good with the effort today and think this team can win a few games.

My thoughts........

1) Why is Chris Tabor still our Special Teams coach? Another block, and in the end zone for a touchdown?
2) Kenny Britt got thrown the ball his way once, on a second and long. We needed him to catch it and he blew it. I've slowly become more and more disappointed in him.
3) I noticed Sammy Coates quite a bit on special teams. I'm really hoping him and Kasen Williams can show up and do their work.
4) Defense looked great, all around. I like Joe Schobert a lot. He stands out this year.
5) I dunno if Receivers aren't getting open or if Kizer just doesn't see the field correctly yet, but he needs to be decisive. Hike the ball, find the open guy, throw the ball. That many sacks is ridiculous. And if our O-Line was worse, it would have been farrrr worse
6) I was happy with Corey Coleman, hope he doesn't have a concussion though. And I was happy with Ricardo Louis. But...... I'm watching on TV, it's hard sometimes to see whether the receivers are getting separation


Oh and 7...... I didn't really notice Shaun Coleman. And that's a good thing. He might solidify that spot for us. Maybe he can even potentially replace Joe Thomas. I don't see that FSU Linemen as our next LT

Tough, hard fought game. We outscored them if not for the blocked punt on our 1st series.

I thought that the defense played really well. It took 2 really spectacular catches by Brown, or the Steelers might not have won.

The defense played really, really well though. They carried over from the preseason.

Kizer was slow to process things on the field, but seemed to speed up a bit as the game went on. It seemed like as he saw things a 2nd time, he processed better. Still, what ... 7 sacks? I would think that 6 of them were on Deshone himself. Lots of teachable moments in this game, but lots of potential too.

I am not as discouraged as I thought I'd be after the 1st drive. lol I actually feel rather encouraged. I think that this team has some real potential, and as they grow, should be pretty decent.

The reason I'm not disappointed in the run game is because running from the shotgun like that is not going to be very successful. You need your qb under center and crown in the backfield with a fb in front of him. However, since kizer does not know how to play from under center and the fact that hue wants to throw throw throw all day long anyways I don't expect much of a running game this season.

The Steelers are a dirty team. I love how much the league caters to them. The refs did not want to make that call on the blatent helmet to helmet hit on Ricardo Luis. They had to get together to make it right. The guy in the last row of the nosebleeds saw that as dirty.

I love that the Browns didn't back down. They played pretty physical. They didn't really get rattled and let things get out of hand. You can't make a lot of the mistakes that they made, but you also saw that they fought all 60 minutes. Normally you don't give that kind of credit out for the NFL, considering it's a pro league, and you're supposed to be as good as your opponent, but this team is still super young and had a 21 year old starting the most important position on the field. I think there were some good signs, but also plenty to clean up.

We need to get Myles Garrett on the field. Could have really used him today.

I thought Kizer hung in there. We saw some rookie mistakes, a few bad throws, a few throws that need a bit more accuracy.

But man, he has got to learn how to get rid of the ball, or we're going to start going through 3 and 4 QB's. Just live to fight another day.

Most of the sacks were on him. I thought the line did a decent enough job.

Some of these run calls were not very good, and others seemed to be well thought out. Running to the flat just never seems wise against the Steelers.

Antonio Brown did not catch that ball. I don't care what anyone says. We have been told constantly about this "process of the catch", and he did not complete the whole process. Whatever though, doesn't surprise me that they gave the steelers that call.

If Kenny Britt doesn't see the field again, that'd be fine with me. I get that we are not great and super thin at the position, but that drop was unacceptable for a veteran. Absolutely murdered that drive.

Someone needs to get in Corey Coleman's face and tell him he can't take plays off. I saw it a bunch. The radio guys called him out a few times for it as well. You've played a handful of games in the league and aren't above going hard every play. He's a talented kid, I just think he needs to be held accountable for his play on the field.

I love that defense is more physical. Man that makes me happy. They have a ways to go, but it looks improved.

And we held them to 35 yards rushing.

They are much improved. Optimistic about Kizer and the D. We dont have all the pieces yet. But at least it looks like we will compete and be fun to watch. I couldnt stomach it last year and didnt watch much. This year I have a reason to go to the bar to watch them.

Our defense is real!

Trying to run Crow out of the shotgun is crazy, but Kizer isn't used to being under center.

Our Wr's are probably the worst in the NFL.

I don't know how Kizer made it through the game alive. The sacks are his fault and he'll be sacked a record number of times if his read progressions don't improve.


All that being said, I am excited about the team overall and think we are in for about 6 wins this season. I would have predicted about 3 wins if you asked me yesterday.

We will probably see Coates and Williams play more as they become acclimated with the O. I hope Britt doesn't turn into D. Bowe the 2nd.

No, he wont, because odds are he'll not be available to play. The more sacks you take, you increase your chances of injury.

That's when we roll Kevin Hogan out, then he gets hurt, and we're signing guys of the street, and looking at another 1-3 win season.

They have a lot of things to clean up as a team but the number one thing that needs cleaned up IMMEDIATELY is Kizer getting rid of the ball. I want to see him make it the whole season but after today, I have serious doubts.

If I were Browns coaches, I'd be showing Kizer loops and loops of Tom Brady just chucking the ball either out of bounds or at the feet of running backs. Seriously, live to fight another down.

He won't make it the whole game next week at this rate.

I thought overall we played better then expected.

We def need to find a running game though, making a rookie QB throw 30 times a game isn't recipe for success.

speaking of success,

rumors are Josh Gordon will be re-instated by the NFL in late Septmeber. Considering he is still on his rookie contrract making peanuts, do you take a chance?

I do, he is more talented physically then anyone we have and he can stretch the field...the thought of Gordon vs Haden later in the year just makes me grin.

If Gordon does get re-instated, he changes EVERYTHING for the Browns. He is a playmaker...i'd rather the 2013 Gordon (87 catches, 1600+ yards) better then Antionio Brown..i think Gordon even set the record for receiving yards in a single game by a Wr against the Steelers...guy is money if he is in shape ready to go, and Gordon is saying he is in the best shape of his life and is 100% committed to football...

i think he is a worth a chance.

Yeah I'd take another chance on him. Not much to lose.

Gordon is also the first guy EVER to post back to back 200+ receiving yard games in NFL history.

if its true, and Gordon is going to be re-instared Hue would be a fool not to use him. He doens't have to start right away just a few go routes 12-15 times per game, he will come down with ball just throw the ball to Gordon.

Gordon would be like MJ, just give Josh the ball and get out of his way lol

I wonder what Gordon really has to offer. I remember bringing him back off suspension last time and he was awful. I get that it's now a different coach and system, but you wonder being away from the game for that long in a fast moving league like the NFL and we may have already seen the best of the guy....

Lots of things stood out to me, but have already been mentioned. I was waiting all game for their LG to be flagged as he was never set prior to the snap...no flag!

With a receiving corp like the one we have I would put Gordan back on the field in a heartbeat.

j/c

D was much improved. D backs....eh, a work in progress I guess.

O - Kizer did just fine. Rookie, against the stoolers. Def. room for improvement. Drop, read, throw, even if it's out of bounds. That will come with some more real game experience.

Garrett will improve our pass rush quite a bit. It was so so today.

The stoolers (well, 2 players) are going to be a tad bit lighter in the wallet when the game checks are handed out.

Loved that the ref's were calling the penalties on the stoolers. Too often, in the past, it seemed like ref's were afraid to call them against that team.

Better debut than I had imagined - better game than I ever could've imagined after the first possession.

Work work work.

5 personal fouls on the Steelers today and 4 of those were helmet shots.