DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2018 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 13 Texans 29 Postgame Thoughts

Might as well get this one started, cause it's just about over.

First and foremost, the defense was awful today. Baker's 3 picks will be the lead story, but the defense was unacceptable for this level of play. Get off the damn field.

I do think they are not getting the holding calls that the teams we are playing seem to be drawing. A little ridiculous.

Baker was not great, but had a decent bounce back in the second half. A lot for him to learn from in this game. Thought he was really out of sorts and trying to get everything back in one play late in the first half. It got away from him, but coming out of the half he looked more calm and ready to go.

Defensively we just aren't good enough. Our pass rush is not good enough. Run defense was horrible, and I hated the way they came out and let Houston go right down the field.

We didn't really give ourselves much of a chance today. Just not a good game from the onset.

Baker looked like he was forcing it all game. Too bad the first half was so woeful because second half we were much more competitive. Houston are very very good though. It's disappointing but about what I was expecting - though worse in the first half.

It's just now the 2 minute warning at 3 57 pm,

Maybe see how new years day weather was, or talk about those super bowl commercials.

overall, our discipline issue showed up again. penalties absolutely killed us.

we lost the game in the 1st half. 3 picks killed us. abandoning the run early also lead to our demise.

our defense....man we look so slow. we've looked slow at times during the season, but against good teams, we look REALLY slow. our LB's save for schobert needs an upgrade. so does our DBs.

on offense....i mean guys, as good as the texans defense is, our offensive line didn't give up a sack. so thats REALLY good.

Baker was bound to have a bad game like this. but i liked the adjustments in the 2nd half, and while it clearly wasn't enough, as i said in the gameday thread, for the first time, we finally have a QB that makes it feel like we have a punchers chance to come back.

and who knows. if calloway scores instead of fumbling by the endzone (as well as that crap holding call the first go around on robison), maybe we're having a different convo.

but regardless, mayfield is the real deal, and he's our guy. the interceptions were definitely ugly reads, but he still showed he's got the juice.

we got a franchise QB. so im happy this season either way.

Yeah, totally. Baker had a bad game, but you could still see a pretty good QB fighting through it.

Hopefully this is the kind of thing where he makes his mistakes now and cleans it up in the offseason going into his second training camp.

Still had some really good throws too.

Before the chorus of negative comments about this disappointing game, I want to comment on some positives.

1) But for a holding call and a last second punch out, Callaway looked very good. He is developing into a legitimate weapon.

2) I have read a lot of critiques of Landry, today he showed up and looked worth his contract.

3) The OL kept Mayfield clean almost all day.

4) Mayfield came back from a horrible 1st half to have a pretty decent 2nd half.

The game ends at 4:05 pm.

It was an ass whupping from the opening drive. Romeo was ready for us. We're not close to where we need to be. We need LBs, a pass rushing tackle, and another CB. Thought the line did pretty good holding Clowney & Watt at bay. Saw some nice passes. Chubb is a stud. I wouldn't want to play Texans in the playoffs. They are really well coached and the three INTs were brutal.

man, at least in theory, this guy is gonna go into TC as the undisputed guy, full 1st team reps, and hopefully an upgraded roster.

im just so happy that we finally go into an offseason not wondering who we're drafting at the QB position. he has everything man. he's mobile, accurate, arm strength to make all the throws, and has that leadership.

now we gotta find him his own deadre hopkins to pair with landry, and we're set.

We had a game against an opponent that we could really gauge our progress and it turns out we're not quite there. Faster, stronger and smarter are needs. D wasn't fantastic but it could have been a serious blowout. Texans FG kicker had a day! Coaching search is gonna be crucial!

We're gonna be ok.

We have some guys to build around. Focus on defensive players in off season and pick up a couple skill guys

I'd rather see Landry in the slot and find our Thomas or Hopkins to pair with Callaway.

Texans look awesome.
Baker will be fine.
Still need some more pieces.

Rest of the season looks promising despite this game

4 TO's and Penalties Killed us ...

Mayfield was bad in the 1st half and very good to great in the 2nd half 29/43 397 Yards 1 TD 3 INT'S 0 Sacks Baker Is For Real ...

Abandoned the run (Chubb) to soon 9 Carries 31 Yards ...

Duke Was Invisible 0 Carries 2 catches 12 Yards ...

Landry had 103 Yards on 6 Catches ...

OL protected him well today ...

Defense Had 4 Sacks Garrett had 1 1/2 and Has 11 1/2 on the Year ...

4-7-1 Today was a learning experience for our young Browns ...

3 straight games without a sack. Against this pass rush is saying something

Baker had so many plus level throws today it was insane.

He wasn't sacked.

Confidence is going to be sky high going into next year.

And our tackling was brutal at times.

Would not be surprised to see us bring in a high quality WR in FA or use our #1 pick on a WR ...

6 never gave up; he throws three picks and he kept slinging it for the win.

Defense needs more talent. The scheme is good, but the talent is lacking.

They're still decent to watch. I'll be okay if they end the season with 8-7-1 or 7-8-1.

We're a few D players, an Olineman, and a WR away from the big show.

Yep. And I don't think I even heard Clowney's name mentioned or if so? Barely mentioned. That's a good O line!

I'd be surprised to see us use the first round pick on a WR, but not a DT. 2nd round WR maybe? Maybe FA, but the list isn't that impressive.

They've already done this every single year since Romeo Crenel was the Browns Head coach, so no real change yet.

Progress? 4 games remain, can they win one more?

I think they can,
Can they win any 2, get to 6 wins and build momentum for a playoff run next year?

The defensive scheme needs good corners. The annoyance was we got to Watson or forced a 3 and out for it to be nullified by a penalty.

The TD called back was huge as it was a marginal hold when you witness Garrett being held but yeah was a hold. Next play, great pass and catch. These young guys will learn from it.

Heard Clowney was calling for a shut out on the coverage? As poor as Mayfield was in the first half, he looked night and day second.

I didn’t expect us to win. I’m still enthused. We need a few more pieces. I think CB is high up there. On to Carolina.

I think maybe the first time since Couch went into 2002 as the guy? I think even after the success of 2007, people were still debating Anderson/Quinn.

It's awesome though, as maybe they can get better reps in TC, versus having to constantly worry about the 2 guy getting his share.

Oh and Mayfield is the man. Some of his 2nd half throws were beautiful. Plus he had Calloway’s back after the fumble. Strange but I’m happy. We have the pieces.

We're not ready yet.

This makes me feel better about the rip offs vs Pitt/Oak. Now they just mean a better draft pick vs ruining our playoff hopes.

Reading these comments I don't think even our own fans understand how good Baker is.

All he needs is experience. He checks all the boxes and in some cases his boxes overflow.

Even after three picks he was outstanding when the game was still in question.

So many plus level throws.

Things like being the first to console Calloway is just icing on the cake.

Getting the coaching decision right is uber critical.

Vs. a very good team we had our rookie mistakes and penalties show up on the road. The fan noise, solid to great QB pressure, and a confusing defense got to Baker in the first half for sure. I noticed them working on his helmet a couple of times too, I wonder if his comms were down?

I expected more today but we were due a down game. I'm glad it came against Houston and we didn't lose by a hair. Now it's out of our system and we are still in the hunt with lesser teams coming up.

Not mad, but not at all happy is about all I have to say. TEAM LOSS.

Agree with everything except being "in the hunt". We are out of the playoff hunt this year for sure.

Hopefully we can beat the Ravens and knock them out at least though.

Because of course Indy got shut out despite having a red hot offense, cuz the bad guys always win.

Knew we wouldnt win...not glad we lost, however least all those dumb playoff whispers will be silenced...

We need to add very good pieces via FA and draft very well once again...and we should finally be around a .500 team

Here's question, did they get a single holding call on their o-line? I really can't remember seeing one. Is that even possible?

Even worse than the lack of holding calls was the two makeup calls on Carrie after they missed one on him.

One makeup call, fine. But 2 on back to back plays when the second play clearly wasn't a penalty was really bad.

- Browns killed themselves with turnovers.

- Antonio Callaway TD called back, followed by Callaway fumbling near the goal line ended any hope of a miraculous comeback

- Browns could not stop the Texans on 3rd down

- Losing Denzel Ward hurt.

- The penalties were costly

- Liked seeing Baker run over to Callaway and pick him up after he was laying on the ground devastated after his fumble. Leadership.

- Jarvis Landry and a hell of catch that did not count because he was our of bounds.

- Perriman made a couple of difficult catches. Nice to see.

- Zero sacks for the third straight game. The broadcasters said it was the first time since 1988.

- Looking forward to seeing how the team responds to this loss next week against the Panthers.

Rough first half... glad baker fought through the second half and played better... Texans are a tough team at home

Man! Callaway had two long TDS that we didn’t finish! I don’t think we win but either of those TDS could have really helped us get going...

Also felt like a lot of penalties and we should have had two or three other big ones called on us

Yeah, I don't want to whine about the refs, especially with such a one-sided performance, but that ticky-tack holding call on the Callaway TD, and those second two holding calls on Carrie were blatant BS. Then thinking about it, I couldn't remember one holding call on their OL, and they were holding us all day.

I saw holding all day

Did you see any flags thrown?

We got schooled today. But I wasn't that mad about it, because they are obviously the superior team.

Defense has pieces missing.
We did get a lot of pressure on Watson at times, and I liked that very much.
Mainly what made me happy was Baker faced a lot of adversity and responded to it very well. He didn't get rattled or crumble or look lost. He bounced back with great composure and made some awesome throws.
He probably also learned how to handle a better defense than when playing against the easier teams.

We have never had a rookie QB play like that!

He is going to be amazing for us for a long time. <3

The team never quit. They played gritty all game. And I felt bad for Callaway that they kept putting the camera on him after that fumble.

We held off the 2019 draft treads until week 14 this year! Yippee!