DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2019 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 12 Buccaneers 13 Postgame Thoughts

Starting D Line looked stout and ready. Seriously they are the only ones that mattered. They others hopefully won't see much time anyway.
Unless opposing teams can get a grip on them I see 50 or so Sacks this year. Plus a ton of O holding calls.
Linebackers for the most part controlled their lanes and their follow through support moves showed they know their assignments and did them.

O Line looked OK and did give Baker some room for the most part.
He was pushing a bit too hard many times. But when doesn't he.
W/ the #1's out, the guys he practices w/ the most, it looked predictably sloppy. Timing was off, reads rushed, passes forced, missed routes, etc.... Baker did though catch that Bucks penalty flag and took his free shot. Good awareness. VERY Vanilla play calling as why show anything in preseason anyway.
Can't see Stanton as #2 or #3.... QB advisor maybe....

I saw mainly a tryout game after all the ones left.

It looked to me like the receivers were slow and missing their marks on many of the miscues. There were some drops too that should've been caught. Also, the CBs were draped all over our WRs. It's hard to believe the Bucs' CBs are that awesome in man to man coverage. Maybe they are or maybe the WRs weren't creating space. I'm not saying Baker didn't overthrow, but I think he may be used to the separation and precise route running Landry and OBJ give him. Or maybe he had an off day. Either way, I'm not worried. I think the First half went the way we would want it too in live fire. Sure, we would've liked more TDs, but we came out on top and shut them out. Not much more you can ask for as an end result.

I'm not bad-mouthing the guy. He punted fine. However, Colquit is an excellent punter in his own right. What it comes down to me is that Colquit has done it in real games. And more importantly, is that he is a good holder. People have been wringing their hands about the kickers all off-season and it's been fairly well documented about the difference in kicking when those guys are holding.

I would prefer to keep proven reliability on the unknown and unproven.

I have seen people saying this was just an exhibition game and that is true. But, the third preseason game is the one that is a good indicator of where your team is at. What's scary to me is that Tampa Bay has one of the worst defenses in the league and we didn't look good on O at all last night.

I have also noticed that over time, there have been a lot of statements about how Baker makes the receivers look good, the OL look good, the RBs look better, etc. And when the O struggles, it's all those guys who are making Baker look bad. LOL

j/c:



https://www.yahoo.com/sports/freddie-kitchens-frustrated-browns-offense-095152812.html

Defense, Scary good

Special Teams: Pretty darn good

Offense: not so good.

Our D line is dominant.. no question, just as advertised.. Can't be more pleased.. But that's not all. I really love this D all the way around. Great job. Wards play was great for the short time he was in.

Special teams did a good job. Seibert is probably going to win the job. I'm both happy and sad about that. Joseph is a fine young man who came in cold and did a pretty decent job last year.. I kinda thought he reminded me a little of Phil Dawson in his first year.. Phil wasn't very automatic back then. But you know how that turned out.

Not sure what's gonna happen with Gillian.. we'll see I guess.

Offense just didn't perform. No Chubb, No Njoku, no Beckham and no Landry all probably played a part in it. But the other guys should have caught some of what Baker was throwing.. Baker was off target more last night then I've ever seen him be.

Part of that might have been the Oline. LT and RG are still a problem. We are a long way from having that resolved.

I'm glad we got to see the first teamers (some of them anyway) play. The weak spots are evident.


Anyway, work to be done still.. they have roughly two weeks to sort it all out..

Damn, what a Dline.... Yikes

Said the right things. Told the truth as the fans saw it on the field. What else is he going to say? No problems with his statement.

The true truth - as it goes for every team in the league, I suppose - what we saw last night (PS #3 or not) is nothing like what we're going to see vs the Titans. This applies not only to missing players and 2nd teamers, but to play calling, scheming, everything. As someone else mentioned, it is likely we were working on plays that needed tweaking in practice.

Baker didn't look particularly sharp, but - besides the DL and K - who did? I have a feeling that the first offensive series versus the Titans will be a surprise not only to
the Titans but us as fans. Quick, mixed with productive runs and 7 points. Just a feeling.

Offensively, we are not going to run plays in PS that reflect what Landry, OBJ, Njoku and Chubb are drawn up to do in the opener. I'm also confident we'll get the Oline wrinkles figured out in time. It should be very exciting. My worry number on a 10 scale is about 2. I suspect Freddie's is as well.

Of course, I may be wrong about absolutely everything I suspect and just wrote.

Who knows?

I think the better punter should be the punter.

My thoughts exactly so I just quoted ya.
Seen it to many times with very good teams look just a little off. That's what we was.

No need to worry folks just come one come all to the isle where the water is nice and the sun is always shining !!
Rooms are remodled for 2020 and the service is impeccable!

I only watched the first half... and was at dinner with my bride so didn't pay real cloche attention but this is what I saw...

Defense looked good... d-line was dominant most of the half... few missed tackles in the secondary but overall vey happy with defense...

Kickers looked good...

Special teams in general looked good

Offense left a lot to be desired... running game was pathetic... don't know if we were sticking with basic calls for running because they all seemed up the middle of little to no gain

Baker felt off... held the ball a bit on some plays... line looked average.... it felt like some of the throws were there but he needed help from his receivers which he didn't get...

I'd rather get this type of game out now from offense and hopefully once the starters we together a lot improves...

My post game thoughts exactly.

My thought is that preseason game no. 3 is the perfect game to look rusty and off. You always need a little kick in the teeth to come back down to Earth, and getting that when it doesn't really count is the best time.

Plus, who knows if we would have made some halftime adjustments that would have helped our offense get into a groove.

We're going to have games where our offense just isn't clicking or the opponent has our number. It happens to every team.

But good God our defense was something. Even when our offense isn't having the best day, I have a feeling our defense will keep us in the game and maybe even win a few games for us just on their own.

Really?
I saw 2 bad plays by the LT.
One he was beat by the speed of a blitzer,he got called for holding.The other he was over aggressive and missed a delayed blitzer who tatooed Baker.
Tampa did an outstanding job of mixing up their blitzes.I would say every one of the olinemen missed an assignment or two.
But,LT and RG are problem children de jour,so we'll just talk about them.

J/C

I think a lot of focus on the Oline, Baker and WR/TE play, but let's not ignore the play calling. Where was the run game? Non existent. We literally came out and said we are an air team and their DBs played well against us. I think this game falls just as much on Monken and Kitchens as it does the offense as a unit.

Thankfully it was a preseason exhibition and we can now look and review and hopefully not put our team in that situation again.

J/c

Watching Kitchesn PC just now .. you can tell he was upset with the entire offense, from Baker to the OL. I like the consistency with high expectations and performance ... he doesn’t fluff around certain players or positions or whatever

j/c

While I don't feel the OL did a stellar job, they were average and didn't stink up the joint. I guess I could complain about the run blocking, but when you only have five running plays, it's a little hard to gauge an entire unit on such a small sample size. Boy, I sure hope that isn't a glimpse of the general play calling headed into the season.

Baker certainly didn't wake up feeling dangerous yesterday. He's a great QB with a bright future, but he will face some adversity. He will face D looks he hasn't seen. Teams have film on him now and there will be a learning curve. The only QB I haven't seen that happen to thus far has been Mohames.

So let's neither elevate Baker to God status nor bum at this juncture. It was one pre season game and not a big picture look at the kid. But go into the season knowing there will be some bumps and bruises along the way or you will set yourself up for disappointment.

I love watching the passion of the Scottish Hammer. If he was the one doing the holding for Seibert last night, I'm sold on the kid. If they had to put someone else into do the holding duties, then I'm fairly skeptical. If anyone knows about this I would be interested.

I don't know how much more that I could add over what so many have already said about our front seven on D. I will add that the secondary created a couple of coverage sacks. Greedy is on the outside looking in as one of our top two DB's, but he's not that far behind. He'll still get a lot of playing time as our #3 or #4 CB. When you have a kid with that much talent as the #3 or #4 CB, that's a great problem to have.

Hopefully this will be a wake up call. We have talent and they will win some games. Better than last year I think for sure. But as we all saw, they won't hit on all cylinders every time they take the field.

Now I know I may take some heat for my opinion here, and that's okay. I know we didn't have our top two WR's. But this is pretty much the same O roster that came straight out and dominated in the two minute drill scoring a TD in pre season game one. They didn't look the same at all.

I’m glad that you mentioned Greedy, PIT ... because I was going to ask about him:

From what I’ve seen, he’s not shown a great deal. What has he looked like to the experts on here? I thought he’d be good enough, based on things I’d read, to play opposite Ward ... but honestly, Mitchell has looked way better

Pit - as far as holding duties yesterday... Colquitt was the holder for all four FGs

I know the two have split duties during TC and the preseason. I did catch a stat from last week's game... Each kicker missed a FG: Joseph missed from 53 with Colquitt holding / Seibert missed from 52 with Gillan holding.

I know I've read a few things (probably on here) about holding maybe being a problem with Gillan, but I don't really recall if it was anything more than people wondering if it was a problem.

The kid is 3rd in net average this preseason and guys have trouble with his kicks. He is still in the conversation. Plus the open field tackle he made was pretty sweet. Havent seen his hang time on punts but man he is getting some height.

Anyway St and D is looking pretty damn good and the O will be there. Get your popcorn ready the show is about to begin.

We have a solid 45 man nfl roster not many spots remaining.

One last thing Someone reminded Schobert he can tackle. Kid was beating out there.

Thanks. After posting I saw that in Pure Football but I appreciate the information.

Ugh.

Just listened to Bakers presser. I wish he would have taken all of the blame for the offense, but he kept saying things like everyone has to do their jobs. Come on bro, be that leader we hear you are.

Not a fan of what I heard at all.

Yeah, I like when coaches/QBs just take the blame and then everyone moves on ... I mean, we all know that there are mistakes made my everyone ... but that way there’s no lingering of blame, more questions, etc

I’m not worried for two reasons.

1) Freddie Kitchens has already said he’s not doing preseason anyone else’s way so honestly no one knows exactly what he was after last night.

2) This performance alone will put the fires where they need to be.

I am just happy there aren’t any serious injuries to speak of which is the true goal of preseason.

One more post game thought.

Baker is strong as an ox. It's hard to bring that man down.

Before Freddie Kitchens wants to place blame on the offense, let's have someone in the media ask about offensive play calling?

I don't know who calls the offensive plays, but there isn't anybody in this thread new to football, and there isn't a one that wasn't around for several years, where we don't go back and question after week number one losses, a couple of things they did in the pre-season.

Now,

Somebody made the decision to run the 2 minute offense, not a regular, run first, establish the run, style, for the first series vs. the Redskins and tell the other team it's coming,
So, that decision, didn't provide, an establishment of cohesiveness for the offense, the "regular" offense anyway.

The decision was also made to not have Baker in for any of the preseason game vs the Colts, and Chubb didn't get a lot, if any "rhythm" to get into the readiness for the regular season.

But let's just go with last night, the offense, and the playcalling.

The first quarter was pass heavy, and any runs were by Hunt, who is suspended the first 8 games,

Is this wise, given that he won't be around, that "nobody" else, not even Hilliard, or DeErnest, were given a chance to Start, and establish a rhythm?
And Again last night they Sat Nick Chubb.

Does not having a running game effect the efficiency of the passing offense??? Ask Dak Prescott, ask him in 2018.

So, the Browns have basically avoided the running game on offense on the opening drive, of all 3 preseason games so far,

And that's what my question to the Head Coach is,

If you want to talk about the performance of the offense, talk about the situation they are put in, if you abandon the run to open the game?

(This is something, everone on this thread can probably reasonably remember being an issue, since before Eric Mangini was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, or at least his first year,

So why wouldn't they come out and establish the run first.

I understand the importance of passing, But everyone knows, in the AFC North, establishing the run, and playing defense are the meat and potatoes, and you pass when you have to, it's effectiveness being what makes a difference.

I thought I read that he has gained like 10-15 pounds since last season too

He is very stout. Strong legs. I read that he spent a lot of time lifting weights this off-season rather than working w/a QB coach.

Yep. Baker worked out this off-season with a program designed for him by Dale Jones, the Browns strength and conditioning coach. One day, in between some bicep curls, he looked at the camera and said "tell Vers I don't need no stinkin' quarterback coach".

He actually called the guy a "broom sweeper" if I recall correctly. LOL

None of us, or the team should be happy with the offensive performance last night, but I know this ... Freddie was not going to show his cards in this game. There was no game plan, and there can be some good things to glean out of the sets of circumstances we were dealt, mostly by our own misfortune.

We ended up with a perfect set of circumstances for our PK for one ... and imo that was the biggest question mark going into last nights game.

I feel better about that question mark today.

We beat ourselves more so than anything that TB did to us imo.

Did TB game plan more than us?

My bad, Fate. Here is Baker's actual quote.



Probably the media's fault. LOL

What does that even mean? He doesnt want to be sponge bob?

I hope that was a rhetorical question.

Preseason games are never game planned ... thus we should not put too much stock in them, outside of techniques and consistency of player performance, given their assignments.

Game plan aside, there is still much of the above to be improved upon that we can critique from this preseason game.

It was, bro.

My point was that I think it's okay for us to comment on what took place in the game instead of simply dismissing it. I didn't see any comments about game planning and such when we looked good in the first two games.

Just sayin.............

You raise a great point Vers, I understand his goal is to get the team to the season in one piece so its kind of hard to have issues with what he is doing.

I think the idea that a guy who isn't going to play has to be dressed is a bit silly, but hey at the end of the day whats the difference.

I think because of all the missed time by some of our key players will suffer some to start the year something I actually expected anyway. As these guys gain time playing together the cork will come out of the bottle then this team should really roll.

I have thought also for the past I don't know how many seasons that the defense would carry this team, that has yet to happen, but maybe this is the year?

The most concerning part to me is he still hasn't settled some key positions, namely RG, the Oline needs time playing together I wished he had settled it and he still hasn't to my knowledge although it looks like Kush.

Freddie looks to be covering the bases just me being critical which is what we do.

Underrated post of this thread.

This has been a problem for years, in particular on defense. This front 7, if they can stay healthy... omg.

Another important element this year will be keeping Lamar inside too and not letting him get to the outside as a runner as well. Huge.

I am getting to the point of being worried about two things:

1. How good is Freddie actually going to be? Either he's keeping everything about the Browns out of the eye of other teams in preseason - players AND play calling/scheme ... or we are significantly further away from being ready for week 1 than I ever imagined.

2. Baker and his synergy with OBJ, Landry and Njoku. We know Higgins and he have an understanding ... I wanted the same understanding with OBJ and Landry and *assumed* it would be there.... I'm genuinely concerned we are going to see a slow start.

BUT - then I think back to last season, how Baker had no 1st team prep - and then came in and played the QB position so well and threw the ball so accurately so many times. . . . I don't think that was a fluke and I have to think this unbalanced back yard play calling offense we've seen is nothing at all like what we will see once the season kicks off..... So I talk myself out of being outright worried, but there is definitely some doubt and concern.