DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2019 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 23 Jets 3 Post game thoughts

I can get on board with this.

Can't wait to see the line. I got the Browns at -3 and -3.5 on this one when it opened.

The D was stout. They kicked ass. I have zero complaints about that. I was very impressed with them, as a group.

On O I felt they needed to get a bit more creative with the play calls. Run Chubb more off tackle, sweeps, screens, or something. Up the gut was stuffed.

I felt Baker struggled, but, he played against a Superbowl winning DC who was scheming against his noobness. Like the commentators mentioned, the D showed one thing pre snap and something completely different post snap.

So he was confused much of the game. It was a learning experience. He can go ruminate on it. He had a lot of awesome throws regardless.

OBJ was stellar.

Garrett was stellar.

Most importantly WE WON!!

I know our schedule is tough coming up, but I feel like our D will keep us in it. Props to our DC Steve Wilks, who doesnt get enough credit.

Really???????

Some thoughts:

--The Jets were outmatched.

--We did mix in more personnel packages than last week. I'll be interested to see the percentages on that. But, it was nice to see less 11 personnel.

--Baker has a great arm. He rips the ball. It's so much stronger than I thought. His reading of the field is so slow. He is passing up wide open guys and forcing the ball into coverage. Think about these two plays...
On the pick, Landry was wide open underneath and Baker forces the ball into tight coverage to OBJ down the field. The play on which Njoku got hurt was maddening. He was wide open early. Baker holds the ball instead of getting it to him. He then checks down late to Njoku when he was covered and the latter was injured. All of this is dumb football.

--Freddie? Why pass the ball at the end? Baker almost got hurt on this play. Stupid.

--Myles was dominant, but he needs to be more disciplined.

--I love Chubb. He just does his job.

--OBJ made two spectacular plays and that is why you want him on your team.

--Seibert and the punter both had good games.

--The OL played well. They got more help this week, but they were better.

--Fewer penalties, so that was a step in the right direction.

--Burnett is playing better than advertised.

--Greedy played well. But, it's kinda hard to tell because of what was going on w/the Jets at qb. I want to compliment the D more, but that caveat looms.

--At the end of the day, it's a win. And no one looks at the tape at the end of the year when they examine your record.

Last year Baker was so decisive. Made quick reads and throws.

He seems so confused now. What has changed?

He’s trying to do too much. As others have said, he’s got guys open underneath and passes over them to try and make a play downfield.

He did that last year as well but because he was decisive and accurate they were completions even in tight windows.

Something is different. Thinking too much?

I think the Titans game set the tone with how to get Baker off kilter. Confuse him with various Defenses and make him go through his progressions. It was seen in the Jets game as well. I think we will see it from here on out.

Not crazy about the play calling. Last year there was some pretty imaginative play calling. This year, so far, not so much. Chubb is such a good running back, how he does get 25+ carries per game is beyond me.

Defensive front 7 played well. Need to hear more of Vernon's name.

Secondary.. ehh. Denzel Ward.. step it up. Robbie Anderson was working the secondary with a 2nd/3rd string QB.

Offensively -

Up 20, should have used Chubb more (again). And did Chubb finish the game okay? He got rocked by Adams, and ESPn cast ignored it.

Baker has to take the open man, especially if hes struggling to read the defense. Stop going deep. Up 20, should be dumping the ball off more than throwing downfield. Need to see that accuracy again, as I'm not seeing it this season.

O-line played okay.

Landry actually did a decent job returning punts. I liked it.

I think Baker needs to get better.. He needs to see the field, see the open man and not try to force big plays all the time. I'm not saying he needs to be check down Charlie, but it seems as though last year he hit more easy plays. The Easy plays are still there, just have to find them and not worry about the Home Run.

I tried talking about this in the Scheme thread. I think that is part of it. I wonder...but am not sure...if his "getting away from football" was a mistake?

I kinda think he might struggle this year because it came too easy last year and he got so much attention. The key might be what he does next off-season. Does he get away from football again and live the life, or does he put in the extra work to truly try and improve on the nuances of the position?

In his postgame presser Baker said that he needs to check down more and complete passes to move the chains. He is aware of the problem, whether it gets fixed remains to be seen (he said the same thing last year).

I don't know that he's necessarily slow in his reads, I think it seems like he's making the wrong reads. He's not confident and decisive as he was last season... Seems like he's trying not to screw up rather than just play.

We're good enough to overcome this vs the jets, but that might be a different story vs a team like the Patriots.

The offensee seems better when Higgins is around. Baker struggled when he was out last year...

+Excellent special teams overall
+OL did well in pass pro
+Baker at times looked completely lost (edit: kudos to Williams for his game planning - expect more of it from other DCs)
+D played well, but how much was that the Browns and how much was that the Jets? (Jets had similar offensive numbers last week and they were on Qb3)
+The more relaxed D in the 2nd half I'm not a fan of, but I get it
+There was some really poor play calling on O. It was clear we were going to run most of the times we ran
+Garrett was great, but 4 more penalties (2 offsides, 2 roughing) is concerning

Happy with the W, but we need to improve as much between week 2 and 3 as we did between week 1 and 2 to win next week.

I honestly don't think this is the problem or at least it's not the problem I'm talking about.

Last year he was confident and decisive. He still missed checkdowns and easy throws but his tougher throws were on time and completions.

This year he seems to have lost the confidence and decisiveness. My question is why?

Vers, I'm not sure if it was him taking too much time away from football but maybe you're right. I feel the answer is more concrete/technical than that though. I just don't know what it is.

Yes. Hollywood is very important to the flow and success of this offense.

Baker struggled tonight like most have said. I’m not too worried about his accuracy yet. I am worried about his decision making. He has got to take what the defense gives him.

Landry makes me completely comfortable when he returns punts. I wish Baker would have gotten the ball to him more tonight. since he was open.

OBJ was awesome. 5 rec. for 161. That one handed catch was amazing.

We have to get Chubb more involved.

I think the line played much better in pass pro. They had a couple of plays in the run game (Chubb’s TD run) where they looked good in the run game but were inconsistent.

Ratley looks fast and had one really nice run after catch.

The d line was outstanding. Myles was unblockable. 3 more sacks and a ton of pressure. I did see Vernon walk the RT back into the QB. Did he get 1/2 sack with Burnett?

Speaking of Burnett, he played a great game. Kirskey also impressed.

I agree with this sentiment...

I thought that Schobert also played a great game.

On a lot of the plays it felt bad. I don't think Williams had anyone dominated. But i do feel that there certainly were moments where williams got inside Freddy's head just a little bit and confused both freddy and baker.

I did too. My post was kinda long so I skipped over some on defense.

If the Jets has been at full strength this would feel a lot better. However, given their QB situation, it doesn’t feel so good.

So my thoughts on the game:

(1) Freddie has already racked up as many wins as Hue did in his first two seasons as a head coach. Thinking about that again makes me cringe and it makes me feel bad for Dolphins fans who are witnessing the fire sale down there. They may be taking a page out of the Sashi Brown playbook..

(2) Great to see Seibert go 5/5 on all of his scoring kicks. I hope it continues.

(3) Baker had a few bad passes tonight. Also had some really great throws.

(4) OBJ definitely changes the game for us. 161 yards and 1 TD on 6 receptions. Great pickup so far. Things have been quiet for Landry though. It’ll be nice to get Higgins and Callaway back.

(5) Felt like we should have been running the ball more for the position we were in. Only 18 carries for Chubb but was nice to see him get some points. Only 62 yards rushing.

(6) We only had one take away but it was still nice to see. 3 sacks for Garrett is awesome.

(7) Nine penalties for 85 yards tonight. A step in the right direction. Less than the jets had too.

Freddy should not be calling plays PERIOD.
We play out of the shotgun way to much.
We need a fullback and a power running game
Losing njoku sucks...
Who the heck did avery tick off to not be starting?
Greedy should not be starting over Mitchell, who was playing at a pro bowl level until breaking his arm last year.

I looked it up. He has 7 catches for 99.

Based on limited evidence (like 1 drive in preseason and 1 or 2 drives against the Titans) this offense has more rhythm when it goes faster, up tempo... We snapped almost every ball with :01 on the play clock and usually weren't even getting to the line until about :07 on the play clock... Baker barely has one NFL season under his belt, he could use a little more time to identify the defense, audible if necessary, etc... I don't think Freddie is doing him any favors by taking so long to get the play call in and getting them ready to go.

On the upside, we won by 20 and everybody is unhappy that we weren't dominant enough... that has to be a good sign, right? I remember being yelled at consistently in the past if I was critical of how we won 9-7...

J/C

- the hope is OBJ’s huge play loosens up our offense and makes us play less uptight ... I sensed it took some pressure off

- A win is a win, especially on the road on MNF ... and by 20 points

- Myles is just so, so good ... but he’s gotta skim off those handful of plays that kill us

- Schobert was quite good IIRC ... he’s instinctive

- I saw our DL just outmatch their OL ... Richardson was good IMO

- I’m a little concerned about our O when we don’t have Higgins (and then Njoku last night) ... I don’t want Baker to have to be locked into OBJ

- Chubb is our unsung MVP ... we simply cannot forget about him

- Ward’s a bit shaky to me ... he’s given up a few big plays thus far

- Two big defensive plays: The 4th down stop and the fumble recovery. The game’s closer without them.

- Kicking game? A+ ... we take that ALL year

- More to come

j/c:

The players that stuck out to me last night were:

Kirksey
Schobert
Seibert
OBJ
Garrett

Our LBs seemed to all over the field last night.

Thought our line struggled again at spots. Baker looked indecisive at times. It was tough to get a real gauge on the team because it was obvious the Jets couldn't matchup with us in any facet of the game. It was pretty much set early on in my mind that we were going to win. It was a matter how crisp we were....and we were not crisp for the most part, offensively.

Kitchens still makes me very nervous. Not sold on him, whatsoever. Vernon too. Not sure I saw him do much of anything. Ward doesn't seem to be off to the same strong start as last year.

down to 3rd string qb by game 2....The Jet’s are the Brown’s from 1999-2017.

J/d

In terms of Kitchens, I like being aggressive but don’t want to be too much so ... IE, always going for the home run, going for 4th downs too much when a FG is there, etc ... calculated aggression prevails IMO

I also didn’t like hearing that Booger thought our offense was too soft/finesse ... not that his word is gospel, but he’s probably correct. Using Chubb gives us a more balanced approach and mindset

And he’s returning punts very well. He’s happy being with his pal again, he’s getting plenty of ball time.

It seemed to me like we were going up to the line with 5-7 seconds left on the clock, and Baker usually snapping the ball at 0 way to often. No time to read the defense. Are we not getting calls in quick enough?

Miles is a beast, but has to learn discipline.

Defense is a force, but seemed to lose a step late in the game.

We still have a problem with the short over the middle plays, we seldom stop them.

Seemed like Williams started the game, determined to stop Chubb.

Nice to see us handle Bell and not let him carry the Jets.

I agree Florida, we were REALLY pushing the play clock each snap it seemed. If this is by design, I wonder why? You’d think we’d want Baker at the line sooner to get a little more comfortable (and so the defense can’t anticipate the snap so easily)

I wouldn't be surprised if we end up 1-6.

we look like undisciplined hot garbage. The coaching staff has to do a better job of getting this team on the same page. They are running a county club. The exact opposite of what Freddie said he would do. He as acting more like Romeo Crennel than any other coach I can remember. 26 accepted penalties in a 2 game window is mind-blowing.

If they had Darnold in.. we would easily be 0-2 right now. This team needs to buckle down and get to work.

Schobert had 12 tackles... woah! Dude is not going anywhere except getting paid to wear some orange and Brown.

We missed Randall.

Mayfield looks more like Lamar Jackson than Mayfield... He spent too much time making commercials and getting married this offseason. He is going to get one of his wide recivers killed. He needs to start getting receivers in stride. He is also holding on to the ball far too long. I think he is definitely in a sophomore slump brought on by his own doing.

We have our RB for the next few years.
OBJ does things that I am blown away by.
We don't need any more receivers.
We should trade for a G or T
Our front 7 is really good.
Garrett's body and athletic ability is a greek god among men. His mind now just has to mature.

why in the heck is Landry returning punts? seriously?
Didn't we learn from Winslow? Let special teams players play speial teams.

I agree w/a lot of your takes honestly .. Baker is simply not seeing the defense or his progressions well enough ... and it’s causing inaccuracy IMO

In terms of Landry,, he’s returning punts cuz Hilliard is out

I like Higgins, but this answer is too simple. The offense is different this year and that has a lot more to do w/its struggles than missing one player. The offense looked bad w/Higgins in preseason game number 3. This is more about scheme and processing skills than it is having your third receiver available.

My Thoughts:

-Play calling still left a lot to be desired. Still too many long developing plays. Anyone notice the biggest play we had was a quick hitter to OBJ? Yeah, me too.

-Baker looked lost...again. Im not worried, he still needs experience and will get better. But you could easily see he was confused. His accuracy has been dismal the last two games.

-The oline looked a little better, but not much if you ask me. Baker was holding on to the ball a lot too - so some of that is on him - but they still need to do better. Big improvement from last week though.

- Why oh why cant we run Chubb more.....

- Give it to the refs, they called a good game. Lets take this crew every week.

- Myles needs to wake up. If he wants to be the most dominate player in the game, he needs to stop the stupid penalties. man, he is such a beast tho lol.

- I will say I have been VERY surprised in Morgan Burnett. He has been much better than I gave him credit for so far. he was in on just about ever play.

- Shobert has been frustrating. He made a few plays, then WHIFFED on a few. He needs to be more consistent.

All in all, a win is a win. But if we play like that the new two weeks, were going to be 1-3.

Good call on Burnett ... he’s been solid, and was good again last night. I’d like to hear what the coaches think about him vs Peppers and if we miss Jabrill

It's 27.. but it went from 18 to 9.. the average per game for all NFL teams is 8 or 9. So we can lament the total or be happy about the progress from week 1 to week 2. And the upside is that a lot of ours are fixable. For starters, Miles needs to pull up if sees the QB in his throwing motion.


I don't believe this at all. Not a single person inside or outside the Cleveland Browns has questioned the amount of work Baker puts in. What Mayfield is being asked to do is completely different than what they asked him to do last year.. that little fake handoff, quick slant that went for 89 yards last night was a staple of the offense last year and it was highly effective, get the ball out quick.. that might be the first time I've seen it this year.

Having "big plays" doesn't always mean you have to throw it 30 or 40 yards.. you can throw it for 8 and run for 25, which is what we did last year.

I still wish we would go up tempo more, get the defense on their heels and just keep going at them... quickly.