DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum Three Keys to the Season

Just jokin with you Vers...:)

I was just going to ask this.... I'm going to go out on a short limb and say he has no idea how many and also has no idea where Baker ranks vs other quarterbacks from last season.

Batted balls weren't an issue.

Once you experience it,batted balls are a major issue.

Yeah,I imagine it would be. Lol

Unless administered by a professional.

I think coaching is the most important thing on this team. The best thing is that Kitchens got a head start last year. I am pretty sure a lot of what we saw after Hue was fired, was Freddie's philosophy, so the whole new coach, new system, new relationship with QB/offense is kind of already out of the way. There is still the element of Kitchens now being the guy everyone is looking to, versus an interim OC last year. Big difference, but it's set up for him to do his job, and have that intro stuff out of the way. Adjustments are huge in the NFL. The best teams find every little way to shake a few yards out of their opponent.

Defense is also another huge key. We have a brand new guy coming in. I am pretty sure it's going to be a lot different than GW's defense. Guys need to figure it out quickly. I think the addition of Oliver Vernon wasn't bad. Hopefully he does well with most of the attention focused on Myles Garrett. I still think we are one defensive star away from being a really special defense. But if they can just keep things under control, that allows the offense to be dynamic, and have the whole array of the playbook available. Something we actually saw after Hue Jackson was fired. We actually had leads in the second half, and were able to not have to pass on every single down.

I don't really have a third key, you can go so many ways. Team chemistry, as you listed, is huge. You added a huge personality to that locker room. You have a bunch of young guys, and a very young coach with a brand new staff. I don't want to be a negative nancy, but if things don't get off to a good start, that kind of mix could get ugly. I don't think it will, but I would be lying if I didn't admit it creeped into my head.

I think special teams is a huge key. We lost several games last year where they were critical gaffes on special teams. Aside from those gaffes, it seemed like every special teams play that wasn't a disaster, had a penalty on it.

Obviously health is a huge thing, but that isn't so much a key as it is just fate and luck. I just hope we can get through the preseason without losing anyone.

1. Baker has to play as well as he played the previous year. Usually, QB's have a sophomore slump.

2. Our LB's have to tackle. Our LB's are our weakness on defense. We have solid LB's but i just see this group as the wildcard outside of Schobert and Kiki.

3. Our OL has to block. we still have a lot of questions around our OL. many new pieces that have yet to play a down together.

I feel the biggest test will be coaching. Because our new coaches arent very experienced at their jobs. Its kind of an unknown.

That and injuries are the only things that scare me.

Baker should be fine, but if he gets injured there is nobody who can step in. We will mostly be hosed.

The rest of the team is stacked, and we should be able to absorb injuries. Just not at QB.

I worry about injuries too, especially baker. I don't even like bringing it up due to karma/mojo worries .

My three keys to the season would be this...

First key... Getting to the lot safe and having a great (always) tailgate to start off game day.

Second key... Screaming hollering and having a great time watching the Browns play good / fun football and winning games.

Third key... Driving home safe to Canton Howling like a rabid Dawg in a line of traffic with other Browns fans enjoying a win...

Sorry I didn't put in any football talk...I'm going to wait to see what is put on the field before I do to much talking.. Nice thread thou

j/c:

Three Keys? It seems somewhat direct:

1. Baker Mayfield in his sophomore season
2. Lack of Injuries
3. Baker Mayfield in his sophomore season

Please understand folks, I am not bashing Baker Mayfield. In fact its quite the opposite, I think the guy has potential to be great. I do however believe being great takes time. Even Tom Brady wasn't "great" his first 2-3 years. He won his 1st Super Bowl by playing mistake free, running the ball, and letting the D control the games tempo hence why they had so many close games and Vinaterri won them so many games early on.

There is always room for improvement. We can't let Baker fall into the trap that he already thinks he is good enough. Even Tom Brady thinks he could play better than he has and is driven to always try to improve and we want Baker to be the same way. If Baker could lose the arrogance and become a complete student of the game and work harder than anyone else in the league on par with Brady, he could be great for the next 10 or more years.

Mayfield being as good as Rothlisberger,Rodgers,Brees, or Rivers, or even the Manning brothers would NOT be enough...he needs to want to be as good as Brady, or even better and he needs to put in the work to get to level.

Brady can barely be forced to take even two weeks off after the season with his wife for a vacation, the guy lives, breaths, eats, sleeps, and lives football. He wants to be the best of the best of the best of the best. We need that same kinda drive out of Mayfield. This city deserves it more than any other city.

The only thing that will hold Mayfield back is his arrogance. He has all the other tools to be great. What will happen remains to be seen.

I don't get where he is "arrogant". He puts in the time, he takes coaching, and he is confident in his ability.

He is working with his recievers, and actually did last year also, even though he knew he would not be starting. He is accountable for his mistakes. I don't see the "arrogance".

Unless this is another post criticizing him for not working with a QB 'guru".

You don't get why he is arrogant?

Lol.
I will say, I don't think bake looks down on people, he's cocky, out-spoken, but I don't get a a sense that he's 'high and mighty' type.

I don't mind if you have been posting on this board for 20 years same as me.

I don't see any reason to compare Tom Brady to Baker Mayfield.

I never saw much out of Tom Brady and think he's a system beneficiary of Bill Bilichic's brain power.

You want to go root for the Tom Brady, Go ahead, there's been 15 years of success you missed out on, but as far as I'm concerned
Tom Brady ain't a Browns Qb, and as Either Dorsey or Freddie said, if you ain't Orange and Brown, find another place,
or something like that.

If you want to Crown Brady, or Brees, Roethlisburger or Any of em, Crown Em.

But I don't see where you can come across comparing Baker Mayfield to Any of em.

Mayfields his own player, you want to root for the other 31 teams in the NFL, good luck.

I'm going to root for the Browns.
I wouldn't take any of those guys, past present or Future.
If your eyes can't see it Just Watch, or join the outsiders.

Greedy seems to be the only draft pick that will play a super significant role,
On Defense there's talk of Whitehead, getting a big role, but he's a veteran, so are Kush, Eric Murray, and Morgan Burnett.

I'm saying all the other young guys I can think of already played half a year or more together last year.

Callaway and Chubb have as much timeing with the Qb as the more veteran players so their youth won't be a factor.

The same with just about everybody.

The only new first year players to worry about, seem to be Redwine, Taki Taki, and other later draft picks plus UDFA's but I think for the most part,
the significant role players, are the ones coming back or the new faces are veterans from another team, so a lot of the timing will be just building on what started last year.

j/c:

So, I guess I am one of the few who thinks that we will have a better season if Baker lights it up this year? Most of you think that his play is not a key to the season? Is that correct?

I'm surprised because I thought most people recognized that good qb play can elevate a team?

Most of us think of that as a given. We believe in Baker.

This is not a prediction thread. It's a "keys to the season" thread. I would think him playing well would be a "key" to the season?

You asked why, I gave you MHO.

Okay, and I gave you the real reason I asked. To think that Baker's performance isn't a key to the season isn't a "key" seems odd to me.

Holy almighty on the cross, versatile dawg, I think we're all in agreement that baker will be a big part of the equation. We get that , lol!

We could say the same thing about the Running backs and the pass protection.

Feisty
Hot headed
Emotional
Chip on his shoulder
Singularly focused
Super competitive
Ultimate self belief

Any of those I'd be fine with based on what i have seen and heard.

I don't see arrogant. I don't see entitled.

Think it's odd that you defend coaches so vehemently - but you're so ready to trash and label players like this. He's played one season as a pro - he's what 24 years old? I'm certain you've never talked to him .... whatever stories you've read from college I'm absolutely certain there's more than one side to and who knows what bias or loyalty writers and critics had when they wrote their hatchet pieces? And you want to label him arrogant and make fun of someone else who, like me, doesn't see him as arrogant at all. Sorry - just don't see it.

I think for most people this falls into 1 of 2 categories:

1, If Baker stays healthy then he should have a decent season. We finally have an off-season when we can talk about something other than Qb, so let's talk about things other than Qb.

2, For every single team in the NFL, the health and play of the Qb is the most important key. We all know that. It is obvious. So obvious that there is no point talking about it so they make this thread title in their heads "Other than Qb, what are the three keys to the season"

No doubt it is a key. I think what this shows is there are many keys that probably can't be condensed in to 3 unless you just said the 3 keys are offense, defense, and special teams.

People are just breaking it down to the areas they feel need to improve or go in to areas that are unknown/unproven. There probably isn't a unit on the team that isn't a key, so there are no wrong answers.

JMO

Some people (mostly those who lack it) do not know the difference between arrogance and confidence.

Baker - confident
Johnny - Arrogant

I disagree almost entirely. Grabbing your junk in front of an entire stadium w/untold others watching on TV to show-up an opponent seems arrogant to me. Saying things like paid draft evaluators aren't athletic enough to play checkers sounds arrogant to me. Staring down and mocking an opposing coach seems arrogant. I could go on and on...

And I won't even try and question your character. We just disagree on what arrogant is or isn't, kinda like we did on Josh Gordon. Remember that? You called me everything but a human being in those conversations.

My 3:

1) Continued growth by our young players. Baker, Myles, Chubb, Ward, and Callaway, all have room for growth and development. I hope their upward paths continued.

2) Special teams must be vastly improved over last year's units, and I expect them to be.

3) I had a tie between coaching and the front 7 on defense really putting it together.


Gotta get to the doctor .... but those would be my 1 thru 3a and 3b.

Considering how hard Baker had to work for everything he got, I'm not sure arrogant is the right word.

I think a better descriptor is immature. I don't think Baker's actions are arrogant but more immature than anything.

There will be a ton of people that dismiss that and write it off as "confident" because he's a Brown. Those same people would be blasting him if he were on another team.

You could be right.

Anyway, moving past the "arrogant or not" thing, I do think that Baker is a huge key to this season. He has perhaps the best weapons in the entire league to work with. He had a fantastic rookie season. He plays w/moxie and confidence. He has a plus arm. He is often accurate. I think if he lights it up, this team can challenge for the title.

I still think coaching is another huge key. We have a lot of guys w/out much experience in their current roles. Expectations are extremely high. The coaches have some pressure on them.

I also still think chemistry is huge because we have a lot of new players and many of our best returning players are very young. We also have some dynamic personalities. I'm hoping we get off to a good start so this team can mesh.

There's an old expression that goes "It ain't braggin', if you can DO IT."
For a 24-year-old making huge money and being one of the very best there is at what he does, I think Baker is being quite reasonably mature.

Having re-watched several condensed and full games from last year, IMO we absolutely MUST improve tackling, it was horrendous, and we need more consistent place-kicking. Improvement in these two areas and we would have made the playoffs last year.

Third key is not one area but ALL of them. This year we can reach a sort of critical mass of excellence combined with not sucking in all areas of the field.

Coverage is better because of more pressure, pass rush more successful because coverage is tighter, run D does not matter as much, Because the offense is running the ball well, which we can do because the D gets more stops, which means the passing attack is more effective, and we control the ball giving the D a breather, and score frequently so we can run more later, so the other team is under pressure and not us.

D-Line, D-backfield, RB room with Hunt, WR room, and QB are all at or better than anything I have seen on this team in fifty years. The O-line, LB's, and kickers, at least, do not suck and could be fairly good.

Coaching is no longer incompetent and horrible. GM is solid in position and excellent in performance.

This is going to be a long and very enjoyable ride.

The two biggest keys -

1. Baker. All the talent in the world doesn't mean anything if the QB doesn't play well. I don't know what to expect of Baker's second year. I really don't. A sophomore slump is just as reasonable an expectation as his continued good play considering the talent that was added. Which brings me to point 2...

2. It's not the coaching I'm worried about. Freddie may not be experienced but he's surrounded himself with an experienced staff. The coaching aspect that concerns me is the Freddie-Monken dynamic. Will it work? How will it affect the QB play? I still don't know why Freddie didn't just make himself the OC.

DING DING DING - Thread winner.

For me, the 3 biggest keys are:

- Baker. As was said, QB play is a key for just about any team. I imagine QB play is one of the keys for New England's season. It's the nature of football. When I say this, I am not saying that I think Baker will not have a good season. I am saying that if we do not get good QB play then winning will be problematic. This thread is not about things we think will go wrong. It's simply about the keys to a successful season.

- Run defense. This has been an issue. If we can stop the run and force teams into 3rd and long and other passing situations, that plays into the strength of our D.

- Special teams. How many times does it seem that a game's outcome is determined by a missed kick?

I don't buy sophomore slump in football. I can see it in baseball after pitchers learn a hitter weakness....keep pounding that to see if he can adjust. For pitchers, hitters learn your sucker pitch and lay off to get in to a hitters count.

Football is a team game. Baseball and basketball are more individual matchups played in a team concept. If a football coach adjusts things on Baker, it is the coaching staffs job to make adjustments as well.

Move, counter move. Football is a lot like chess or boxing. You have to have the ability to react and counter move.

I didn't mention hockey because the team with the best goalie usually wins. Hockey is a defense first game. Two good defensemen and a good goalie win games.

I don't think Baker will fail. I have to get that out of the way first and foremost. I think he will play well.

However, I don't agree w/your take. I won't use the term sophomore slump, but plenty of qbs have started off fast and then faltered. In fact, we've discussed this on the board before.

Consider some of these names:

Vince Young
Mark Sanchez
Jay Cutler
Scott Mitchell
RGIII
Sam Bradford
JP Loseman
Duante Culpepper
Jake Locker

And, I will tell you this........D. Carr is starting to look like a guy who started off scorching hot and is now on trial in Oakland.