DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2019 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 13 Titans 43 Postgame Thoughts

First, terrible game all around. Plenty of blame to share by everyone. Baker took a personal beat down and I hope he is intact and able to play going forward.

Second, anyone who thinks Freddie can fix this by next week needs to give me some of their weed. I think if Baker is good to go, we might play a better game on Monday but we are not an O/D juggernaut that the hype spun us to be, not by a long shot. We are a team that needs to grow into itself, stacked with talented individuals that need to learn to play together before they fall apart. Freddie better focus on that bit first.

Third, we have glaring weaknesses that were exposed for all to see today. Bruised egos were part of the implosion today, ie. LT GR kicking an opponent that pushed him down at the end of a play and Garretts open palm punch. But the ego that is the most concerning to me at this point is Freddie's. He thought he had this team ready and was proven to be lacking in several ways today. I didn't like him when they hired him but after listening to him I've warmed to him somewhat. How he handles the transition from a loss like this in the next few weeks will show us what he is really made of. If we are not playing up to our talent level after 4-5 games, Dorsey will need to rethink the coaching staff. Hopefully that won't happen.

Fourth, it's just one game in a long series of season openers that have gone horribly wrong. There is a lot of football left to play and we can still live up to much of the hype/our potential this season. I hope we win next week but another loss is more likely because this team is nowhere near gelled and the O-line specifically will not be playing lights out.

All of us will be here next week, hopefully we can feel better about our Browns. Go Browns!

1951 penalties

Inexcusable, let’s see how Freddie reacts, good teaching moment.

Let’s start with more film room, we can work on technique from there.

Good take Old ... in terms of Freddie’s ability to redirect this team and put together a win next week: IMO, that’s where coaches earn their dough. You gotta be able to keep it together, adjust, motivate, then execute next time

I said this earlier --

It seems if Myles doesn't have one of those plays where he times the snap and gets a jump on the tackle, he's not very effective. Once he's engaged, he's kind of done. Even if inferior tackles get their hands on him, he's stonewalled. Needs a spin move or something.

He can sometimes bullrush, but he doesn't seem to just have raw power like a Kalil Mack.

I feel bad for bagging on Myles but I just expect so much from the guy. I want impactful plays at the most important points in the game, not sacks in the second quarter.

Post game thoughts:

-Freddie was in over his head
-his message of not practicing or penalties and not caring about players being disciplined showed big time.
-we went 1-31 and this was the most unprepared football team I have ever seen
-baker can’t do much from his back he needs to be better yes, but oline is dreadful, something King John has neglected to address.
-why didn’t we get more pressure with their oline beat up? I keep hearing posters say “we had two oline out, so did they. We didn’t get the same type of pressure.
- Freddie better learn to run damn ball. I think Chubb was 10 for 51 at half. It was a close game. WTH didn’t we keep running? Heck, we never started to run.

Last year we saw trick plays, little nuances in plays (baker throwing the ball up to himself etc.), and and we saw creative formations and ideas. Today, pass pass pass punt. Run pass pass punt. Pass pass pass punt. Very little play action, very little creativity.

Honestly I am disgusted.

J/c

I just listened to Joe Thomas’ first half breakdowns of the first half ... He was pretty baffled that our front 4 couldn’t just have their way with their OL. Also, that our offense was going too much for the big play, which lead to holding onto the ball too long ... SIMPLIFY things on that side of the ball

I think the combo of:

Penalties
Playcalling
Frustration w/officials
Baker's hurt hand
And thinking the game would be easy …

Led to the horrific performance.

Now that I've had some time to reflect, probably the most disappointing part of the game was how we responded to Henry's 75 yard TD reception. I'm wondering if Baker's hand was hurt on that first interception. That kind of sealed things.

I felt we could have won this game going away if we had a more appropriate game plan.

I think we got way too pass happy and put everything on Baker. Hey, I get it, he's supposed to be some super star now or whatever, but you have Chubb who's the feature running back. It felt like we hardly made any real effort to run the ball today or be physical on the ground. We could have established the ground game but failed to do so.

If we could have had the defense respect the run, we could do intermediate passes and play action. For example, we were in the game during the 3rd quarter, RUN THE BALL!!! We may have easily had a different outcome.

It didn't really seem like we had a true game plan except to have Baker ball out!!!!! I put a little of that on Kitchens.However it also didn't help that our offensive line literally disintegrated right in front of my eyes. My God that looked bad, especially #74, who I wish could be cut tonight. He's going to get our QB killed by being so reckless and irresponsible.

I felt like it was kind of a strange game because until now it didn't feel like the offense had been on the field all at the same time (at least in public). Same goes for the penalties. They didn't do that during the pre-season so why now? Maybe people are trying to hard that result in penalties? Even though some were NOT true penalties, see pass interference on Randall, Push off by OBJ, Roughing the passer calls on our defense.

Point. Instead of doing our jobs on the field, we were playing as if we were waiting for someone else to do something or make a play. That will be addressed.

I think we will be much better next week.

Can anyone weigh in on how McCray did when inserted at RT?

J/c

Been doing some digging and reading various breakdowns of our loss yesterday. From what I’ve gathered, Kitchens employed a totally different approach for yesterday’s game when compared to last years’. Yesterday we used A LOT of 11 personnel (1 TE, 1 RB, 3 WR) ... and that simply didn’t happen much last season.

Last year we used a lot of 2 TE sets. What does that mean? Well, we kept teams OFF balanced. We went run heavy looks and either RAN it ... or used it as deception to PASS it when teams had the wrong personnel to defend the pass.

Yesterday on 21 2nd down attempts when we went 11 personnel ... we PASSED EVERY TIME. That’s a concerning trend.

It also means that we HAVE to find that 2nd TE that we trust on the field ... Orson was released, Fells was released, Harris SUCKS ... so this may be our big dilemma. I’d suggest finding this 2nd TE so we can get back to our strengths.

Also, we had WAY too many slow/long developing plays yesterday ... and if you remember when Hue was fired, that was the EXACT rut that we were in. Mayfield was holding the ball too long, our OL was exposed, the run game became obsolete, etc. Basically, the same scenario as last year..

I’m not sure if this was Monken’s influence or Odell’s addition or what ... but yesterday’s offensive identity was NOT our recipe for success last year and clearly isn’t our strength. Gotta get back to what WORKS and what we’re good at doing.

To simplify:

- Way too much 11 personnel
- Way too little 21 personnel
- Too many deep drops
- Not enough balance
- Too much reliance on finesse football and Baker’s arm

dawgs 4L that is a very accurate analysis... to simplify

way to much hype
way too many penalties
too many missed tackles
not enough OL

Interesting info. Thanks.

also too much Browns being Browns. already decided not to take a second job to buy tickets for Steelers game.

We gave them 6 1st downs off of penalties and still out gained them, so I am not buying the narrative that they played more physical than us. It's not just the first downs, but the opportunities that they where afforded thereafter as a result.

The missed tackles (Ward) are following the pattern of yesteryear. That and our OL play is concerning going forward, even if we can clean up the penalties.

As bad as the game was, that punk Walker's comments after the game really boils my blood.
"the Browns are exactly what we thought they where."

The hype was all media/fan driven, not player driven.

At least that should be quenched for now.

Oh boy!

The “quit” was concerning ... it spiraled out of control VERY quickly and we let it snowball

Please, the refs had nothing to do with that loss. GMAB. This team deserved every penalty it got. This loss is on Freddie and his "whoopdehell" personality of not caring about being prepared.

j/c:

--The complaining about the officiating is sad. We didn't get ripped off. There were good and bad calls for both teams. I hate the excuse that the refs are out to get us. Freaking childish.

--I don't think the OL played well. I think both tackle positions struggled. However, we got pressure on Mariotta, but he either ran or got rid of the ball. They used quicker plays and did not rely on hero ball. When you pass up easy completions because you want to gun the ball down the field, you are going to get hit. That is on Baker because of his mind-set and how long he takes seeing the field. It is also on the playcalling. We were not using the same type of plays that we did last year when Freddie took over. We had less protection, deeper drops, and longer developing plays.

--I have always maintained that most fans and commentators don't know how to evaluate OL play. If the qb gets sacked or pressured, they automatically think the OL sucks. They don't consider how long the play takes, how slow a QB is at going through his reads, and how QBs are supposed to recognize where the pressure is coming from before the snap.

--I would suggest going back to plays where we have more max protection, quick developing plays, have Baker go back to seeing half the field and hitting his first read as often as possible. He doesn't look ready for the other stuff. It will be up to him on how much time he invests at honing the craft of playing qb or if he thinks it's better to get away from football for awhile.

--This is tied to the QB, OL, play calling segments of this post...............but, I wonder how much influence our new OC has on what kind of protections we are using, the depth of the drops, and the types of plays we are running. If you ask me, yesterday's offense looked more like Haley's from last year than it did when Freddie took over.

I disagree. I thought that the Titans were far more physical in the trenches and at the point of attack than we were. I thought it was extremely obvious. They were destroying us on some of those Rip 28 plays by Henry.

One game so not ready to panic, but damn that was sick (as in horrible).

I'm hearing some of my neighbors saying we were robbed by the Refs.. But you know,, while I did see some things that weren't very well done by them, I didn't see the Refs kick a player in the head, I didn't see a Ref slap a player either.


So many self inflicted wounds.

100% agree.

Agree, but I still think with their battered Oline, we should have had more pressure with our Dline. I was flabbergasted as to why we didn't. I believe Joe Thomas posted during the game he was as well. I haven't re-watched the game, but it seemed we relied a lot on front, and didn't blitz that often with our backers. Maybe I am wrong - correct me if I am.

OBJ factor? Possibly. But the QB is going to run the plays that are called. The OC and Freddie should have seen this happening and called a better gameplan (more runs, more slants, and more quick reads). Baker is only a 2nd year guy - he still needs help and development. This play calling didn't give him any chance.

I understand a lot was on the play calling with dropbacks and waiting for plays to develop downfield, but the line still stunk. Why didn't we give Hubbard any help against wake? Where was the intuitive gameplan and formations we saw last year? Your line was struggling to pass protect, run game looked good, why not stick with it? They didn't abandon the run, they never gave it a chance!

First and foremost this is on the coach. This team was not prepared, and his message of not backing down, not caring about penalities or practicing them, and wanting his players to "clap back" was received by the team. You and I argued about Freddie and this I believe. Ill take this one on the chin - As of week 1 you were right. This needs changed immediately.

I have the same thought with Monken. He has always been pass happy. Is Freddie just calling the plays that Monken gives him or has Freddie been involved with the gameplan and playbook?

What I find a little ironic is for all the talk about concerns about how to handle OBJ's personality, OBJ was one of if not the most disciplined and focused players out there. The OPI call was completely bogus because the DB didn't stumble from a push off, he was just off balance.

Past that Jarvis to me looked like the only guy who was still trying to fight to turn things around.

IIRC neither one of those guys got hit with unsportsmanlike penalties... the two guys I think would be most likely to get one!

18 friggin penalties is on Freddie. I get that the acts come down to the individual players, but your LT isn't kicking people that early in the game for getting knocked down which any given Sunday probably happens a dozen times to him, unless there's an attitude he (they) approached the game with. The late hits on Mariota... all that is Ndamuka Suh type arrogance.

It's a little early to be so definitive, but maybe Freddie's philosophy of letting players "be who they are" and backing them up no matter what isn't the best route to go. Clearly the diva mentality has trickled down to your non-marquis players.

I originally wanted GW to stay on as HC, but since Freddie was named I warmed up to it. I expected the confident, relaxed, innovative offense we saw last year. Unfortunately that didn't come to pass. I wasn't impressed with his post game presser. I'm over the Freddie bravado and I don't think the "we're not accountable to anyone but ourselves" schtick isn't healthy.

Enough of that rant.

I think in the end, the Browns simply overlooked the Titans. Romo called it early.. he said the Titans would grind and grind and before you knew it, it would suddenly be 13-6 and you're wondering how that happened. Romo may be a doofus, but he wasn't wrong.

The egos are big, the talent is big, the preparedness and professionalism is a nat.

This is Freddie's message that he has been teaching.

jc

i wasn't impressed by our defense, btw.

our D line specifically was underwhelming, to be nice.

Big expectations .. big fall. I understand being frustrated, but don’t like when players/coaches disrespect media members, fans, etc

Agreed, and against a banged up, nobody offensive line.

100% Agreed.

The front 4 didn't look to be working in a cohesive manner. It was like 4 individuals trying to be the 1st one to the QB. NO real creativity. I think we need to get a LB involved more often. I'm not saying we blitz one all the time, but I think we need to do it just enough so that the QB/OL is left guessing if and from where.

Past that, beyond Randall, none of our safeties impress me. I think instead of a 3rd safety I'd rather see someone like Mack Wilson out there with Joe and Kirko

J/C

This team looked to me like they believe they deserve to win just for showing up. They figured Tenn would see a big a play by a big name, and shrivel up and fold. They were arrogant and got smacked in the mouth and didn't know what to do, so like a child they reacted in poor form (the penalties and PF flags).

They were a disgrace to football and the city of Cleveland.

I think Vrabel was planning on that. His reaction when GR got ejected said to me "Mission Accomplished".

Absolutely he was. Right out of BB playbook. They were rolling up on our guys legs, giving a little extra each play, irritating and annoying. Knowing that the Browns would implode with a lack of discipline and frustrations. That is EXACTLY what Freddie wants them to act like too. Hes said it!

I do not agree ... we kept their run game in check for the most part.

J/c

I’m reading that Ward had his worst day as a pro yesterday? Anybody have any insight on his performance? Same with Greedy and the rest of the secondary?

Just remember in 2014 the Patriots were destroyed by the Chiefs 41-14 and were 2-2. That same year they went 12-4, beat the Ravens & Colts in the AFC playoffs and went on to beat Seattle in the Super Bowl.

No, I'm not saying we are going to the Super Bowl or that we are winning a championship this year. All I am saying is...the sky isn't falling after one terrible loss.

Keep Calm folks.

I would go out on a limb and say a lot of guys had their worst days as pros yesterday. Ward included.

The patriots had BB not Freddie Kitchens as their coach.

That was a horrible analogy.

Freddie is in over his head. And I was a VERY big supporter of his until yesterday when I saw that giant bowl of poop soup he prepared for the city.