It's gonna take time for these guys to come together. Lack of reps in the preseason didn't help. That's behind them now. Time to go to work. Freddie needs to put boot to asses. Focus and execution need to be demanded. Press clippings don't win games. Undisciplined teams don't win games. Throwing the ball all over the field doesn't win games. Time to get to work NOW knowing that simply showing up in your fancy uniforms doesn't mean you win on Sundays. Everybody step back, take a breath and realize that this team isn't going to the playoffs just yet. Just getting off the plane in New York guarantees NOTHING. Be prepared. Winning in the NFL is hard. Get ready or get out.
This is imo a great post and exactly how I feel. Don't panic, don't over react. It takes time and these guys will get better 100%.
The two biggest, glaring issues I do have and I *hope* get fixed quickly have nothing to do with players gelling and everything to do with COACHING. [1] Discipline ... I noted somewhere else how Williams immediately virtually eliminated most of the penalties last year. To me that was a sign of good coaching by the HC. Yesterday's atrocious discipline showed me abysmal coaching by Freddie. Huge concern. [2] Play calling ... I noted preseason that I hoped the school yard play calling we saw was a way to prevent tipping our hand ... well apparently it wasn't ... again the offensive scheme and play calling is about COACHING and it was woeful and less to do with the players and execution. Obviously when a play is executed successfully it's considered a good play - but there was no balance and while Baker was off and made some bad decisions, the play calling overall was crapolla.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
Good point about Williams eliminating penalties .. that’s what it takes.
Quite honestly, that’s the poorest coached game I can remember from a preparation, discipline, organization, etc standpoint.
And as I said somewhere else, I’m not one to bash coaches (or really even notice the coaching) ... but IMO it was THAT bad yesterday
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
I think Freddie better be having a nice, long discussion with King John about yesterdays performance on the field. That was not a performance by an NFL team.
Hell, I have seen pee wee teams more prepared than that. Freddies message of wanting his guys to clap back, not practice penalties, and not backing down was shown. He better change that message immediately.
I am reminded of the mindset expressed as a major focus shared by a Japanese business leader for his company and every employees to keep the focus on their reason for existing:
"Do not fix blame. Fix problems." All energies went to that single focus.
I feel it is great advice for the team, FO, coaches, and fans. It will be challenging following that first game, and it is easy to get sidetracked. This does not mean ignoring mistakes and problems exposed.
"Every responsibility implies opportunity, and every opportunity implies responsibility." Otis Allen Glazebrook, 1880
I am reminded of the mindset expressed as a major focus shared by a Japanese business leader for his company and every employees to keep the focus on their reason for existing:
"Do not fix blame. Fix problems." All energies went to that single focus.
I feel it is great advice for the team, FO, coaches, and fans. It will be challenging following that first game, and it is easy to get sidetracked. This does not mean ignoring mistakes and problems exposed.
What do the Browns do if the problem ends up being the HC? Do they fix it by firing him?
Fix the play calling - call balanced plays that play to your strengths, once you have shown some success and ability to do your base offense, hit the D when you can call something 'unexpected'.
Fix execution - time will help the team gel. (Better play calling will give them the max opportunity to achieve execution.)
The more things change the more they stay the same.
A vast majority of the penalties likely don't happen if we have Robinson the entire game. There were so many offensive holding calls because of our tackles that it was ridiculous. Additionally, him going out was the added pressures and hurries, which no doubt aided in the three INTs.
It isn't terribly unfair to pin the entire loss on Greg Robinson. His one tantrum with the two kicks was the wheels coming off. He ignited the chain of events that led to that death spiral.
Browns is the Browns
... there goes Joe Thomas, the best there ever was in this game.
I hear what you are saying ... but at the same time, it's a team and "next man up" mentality has to come through. Whether injury or idiotic moment of madness like GR showed, one event can't so completely unravel a team .... not if they are good and expecting to challenge for a playoff run.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
A mentality can only take you so far. If it was all you needed Rudy would have been a starter and an All-Star.
Once Lamm went out, it was over. They were absolutely abusing our tackles and they had to hold. After getting beat a few times, the false starts started.... I haven't looked, but I'm pretty sure more than half the penalties came from the OT spots, and most of those after Lamm went down.
Browns is the Browns
... there goes Joe Thomas, the best there ever was in this game.
It wasn't good before he went out, but we were overcoming it. Once he went out, it went into the crapper. Once Lamm went down, we were done. Unrecoverable.
Browns is the Browns
... there goes Joe Thomas, the best there ever was in this game.
He ignited the chain of events that led to that death spiral.
cascade effect. I saw it all go downhill within 3 plays after the ejection.
... and then we started to get our feet back under us with the offense running the ball and the D starting to catch its breath. Then the long Henry TD happened.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
There were “unsung” plays that I thought had a huge impact on the game:
- When their punter hit it SEVENTY yards and pinned us way deep.... that led to a safety - When OBJ was called for OPI and it cots us points and was very questionable - GRob’s tantrum changed everything
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
It wasn't good before he went out, but we were overcoming it. Once he went out, it went into the crapper. Once Lamm went down, we were done. Unrecoverable.
Yes we had 18 penalties, 7 in the first 25 minutes of play, excluding Robinson's ejection, that means we had 10 in the next 35 minutes of play. That means we averaged almost the same amount of penalties per minute before the ejection as we did after.
I think the turning point might have been the missed extra point. We score a TD then the air get deflated.
I don't think so. I was there and the fans were still very excited about the TD drive. Later we learned that that was the first time we scored a TD on the opening drive since 1995. I've not fact-checked that...but I read it once and heard it once.
How did Henry basically go untouched on that play? I was too busy face palming myself after that...As I recall there was no one there but I think Greedy? And he got thrown into the ground.
They had a very effective playfake to the right and our entire defense shifted that way ... threw it all the way back (a very nice pass and catch ... wasn’t easy) and we had one defender who got swallowed into the ground ... and it was literally just a straight shot 75 yards
Originally Posted By: tru_dawgs
How did Henry basically go untouched on that play? I was too busy face palming myself after that...As I recall there was no one there but I think Greedy? And he got thrown into the ground.
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
I am extremely mad about what happened, and put it squarely on Freddie not having these guys prepared.
But to sit her and talk about firing a coach after 1 game, is well.....idiotic. Anyone questioning if we need to fire the HC after 1 freaking game - well, go pick up watching tennis.
I respectfully disagree w/you. Big time. No way do I believe the turning point was the missed PAT. It was the first freaking drive of the game. If that were true, we are even more mentally weak than I thought.
I agree w/the dude who said it was the 75 yd TD after we pulled to w/in 2 points. My issue w/that is that was a ton of time left in the game and no way we should have folded in that situation.
The team played w/a lack of focus. They were undisciplined. And they quit.
I hope it was just a one-game thing. They have some soul-searching to do this week. I am hoping they come out and play w/focus, discipline, toughness, and most importantly...as a team instead of a collection of individuals.
I agree here ... the missed PAT was too early to be the big turning point. I think after we scored so easily the offense may have taken the foot off the gas mentally ... then couldn’t regain it.
But, the long TD was a huge play. The loss of GRob was big.
Baker’s first INT was a big time deflator too
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
They had a very effective playfake to the right and our entire defense shifted that way ... threw it all the way back (a very nice pass and catch ... wasn’t easy) and we had one defender who got swallowed into the ground ... and it was literally just a straight shot 75 yards
Originally Posted By: tru_dawgs
How did Henry basically go untouched on that play? I was too busy face palming myself after that...As I recall there was no one there but I think Greedy? And he got thrown into the ground.
I think the team bought into all the hype about themselves and then when they drove right down the field and scored on that first drive I believe it reinforced that thought and they forgot that they still have to play the game.
Hmm, maybe just his typical state of the franchise bye week address
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."