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

I can agree with the Monken stuff. Being in South Florida, I see a lot of Tampa games, and Winston tries to go deep often, but he is still doing that so far this pre-season and season, so it may not ALL have been Monken, but there is similarities.

He being a LSU Alumnus probably calmed him down. I was impressed given previous exposure to him.

j/c

Not a lot to add.

I liked the kicks. It seemed even when Joseph made a kick last year, it was shaky. Just over the crossbar, or just inside the upright. Wobbly. Last night, right down the middle.

Between two games, only one of the Hammer's punt was returned. And it was not much of a return.

On the OBJ TD one of the announcers said no one was going to catch him. Then Ratley pretty much did. Showed some wheels there.

VERY MUCH AGREED!

I don't think enough credit has been going to the ST, when in fact that has been an Achilles heel of ours for years.

The Ravens are playing well, but it is worth mentioning that they have played arguably the two worst teams in the NFL so far. They have to go to KC this week before playing us... I know they are pretty good but we will know a lot more about just "how good" after this week.

j/c

You also wonder if Wylie was correct in saying that it had more to do with Zampese than anybody else

j/c

He summed up my thoughts exactly:

In defense of the discussion, talking about what isn't working and being critical of those things is not the same as complaining.

Nobody ever improves, much less becomes great, by ignoring their weaknesses. You look at them, you acknowledge them, and then you attack them.

I don't know. I posted a link in the scheme thread. Read it and you might change your mind.

OK, For the first 2/3rds of the game,

Chubb is in on first down, Run, Same on 2nd down, but 3rd down?

Even on 3rd and 3, Chubb needs to be able to stay in the 3rd down package on occasion, just to give the hint that you may still run the ball.

When Chubb came out and D'Ernest went in, everybody from here to Egypt knew the Browns were going to pass, and usually out of the pocket.

If that kind of predictability continues for the whole season, it will lead to disaster.

... After several occasions, they ran D'ernest on one of those plays, it must have been 3rd and 10 because he got 5.5 -6, and set up the first 4th and 4, 4th down where they tried to draw them offsides.

But, if the team is so predictable that if Chubb is in, you run 75% of the times,
and when He checks out, and D'Ernest checks in, the whole defense has all the time you break the huddle to remember you passed, 99% of the time when that player checked out, and that one checked in.

You can't make anything that obvious in the NFL,
in the NFL it leads to, disasterous results.

It is near 23 yards from hash to sideline. Ratley was pretty much on the sideline and OBJ caught the ball pretty much on the hash. OBJ didn't start cutting out until he saw Ratley streaking his way to provide help.

Ratley ran a 4.39 pro day.

That raw ability is why they kept Ratley.

Ok...I do have a little bias...I have a bartender here in town who is a cousin to Damion. She grew up in Yoakam, Tx with him.

She is a nice girl and I have lunch and a few pints with her on Saturdays every 3-4 weeks. I rotate between 5-6 places.

I was wearing my Browns sweatshirt last year and she made comment when I entered. OK....most people comment when I enter a room....I'll let you decide what those comments might be...lol..anyway, that is how the relationship started. She said she was a Browns fan, her cousin played for the team. As a SEC fan, I remembered liking him at A&M and she liked I knew that.

Kat was off the last time I was in, I wanted to give props for him making the team. It will have to wait. I will be in Cleveland next week, and NYC the following.

i went and read it.

im not happy about that. Bucs had all those yards, with all those L's to go along with it.

Bro, I don't think it's fair to blame OBJ for Baker's issues. I'm not going to argue about it, but I think I have identified the main issues. A lot of former players/coaches on TV seem to think along the same lines.

I almost hate saying this, because I'll probably have to defend the guy at some point, but Freddie is not impressing me thus far.

He talked too much in preseason. He changed his scheme/personnel packages. His talk to the players was about as bad as I have EVER seen.

It's very early, but right now, I am not so sure that Freddie is ready.

j/c...

Love those clips of Donovan

Just a thought about the Jets:

They are in trouble. Big trouble.

0-2, missing Darnold for the next few weeks, and having the following schedule coming up:

@ New England
Bye
@ Philly
Dallas
New England

At that point it will be .. welcome to 0-6.

A ton of good points already. I feel pretty much the same as most.

Listening on the Radio today I did hear a point that I haven't seen mentioned here - I think it was Joe Thomas - Baker has a whole lot more on his plate this year with the O. Last year he was not changing the call at the line. This extra mental process could well be the reason for the late snaps and getting to the line late. Also possibly affecting how quickly he is making his decisions and letting it rip.

JT also used Calvin Johnson as an example of what OBJ might be doing to Baker - when you have such a great talent on your team, you kind of want to get him the ball. Basically JT and every other person I heard talk on the TV or the radio talked about taking what the D gives you, throwing to the open guy underneath often, because the D has to respond to that and then you open op OBJ or the long play to whichever guy.

JT also thought Higgins was going to be a significant help - as he trusts him so much as his safety outlet.

My 2 cents - ignoring the things that need to improve - thought the D was stout. Regardless of how good/bad the jests were without Darnold - the D looked like the D I was expecting in terms of their physicality and ability to get into the backfield. Thought Kirksey and Schobert both attacked the ball and played very well. MG got all the headlines but the DL played very very well as a unit... A little concerned Ward doesn't look as smooth and comfortable as last year.

Last comment - special teams: great all round and a special shout out to the Scottish Hammer....

Denzel looks uninterested.

I think those concussions are weighing on him.

Roasting him? I don't think so. Thinking we were going to be one thing and turning out to be another, that's not Roasting.

Being disappointed by Penalties isn't roasting anyone.

Or Robbie Anderson is just a physically talented guy who stretches things downfield and the defense was focused on not giving up the big play. The way our DL was demolishing their OL, there was little reason to think they could consistently string together plays.

I need to rewatch the game and see if we might be giving Greedy more safety help. Denzel might be more being left on his own so that he needs to be a bit more cautious.

I wasn't the most focused on him, though. It can be hard to tell much from the broadcast angle at times.

No, there is something up with Denzel. I don't think his mind is right. If he doesn't get back on track passing on Chubb will turn out to be a mistake. If we had Chubb we still have Zeitler. And Chubb is way better than Vernon.

Not giving up on Denzel but something is up.

denzel def. doesn't want to tackle and he's very slow getting his hips turned. He's def. not the same guy as last year. The whole Defense as a whole seems less aggressive. Front 7 play is improved but we aren't generating turnovers like last year

We have a new def coordinator.

Do you like more turnovers or less points scored?

We may have turned over the ball more with Gregg, but we gave up points, big plays, and rushing yards like crazy.

So far, we are more controlled at the line, being better suited to stop the run and limiting big plays based on what I have seen.

TO are nice, but when your giving up 14 points because your blitzing and going for the ball all day - they negate the positive they produce.

Also, maybe I am wrong (someone can look it up) but it seems we are playing more zone than man.

I hope you are correct...but Denzel was also quite bad in the Titans game.

What wrong with Denzel Ward is the scheme.

Ward is a man cover corner, one of the best.

Our Defensive Coordinator is playing mostly zone, Ward isn't a zone corner, he may become one, but right now he is struggling because of it.

Both Ward and Mitchell are much better man corners that zone corners.

Agree w this. And I suspect Greedy is also more of a cover corner than zone.

My thoughts:

This is still a work in progress. I think there are going to be adjustments made to make up for some of the weaknesses we have on the OL.

Baker looked better against the Jets than he did the week before. He still doesn't look right, although I think he'll figure it out.

Myles Garrett is unbelievably fun to watch, but he has gotta clean up the penalties. I'm not going to knock him too much for the late hit on a QB, because I really think there is not a ton you can do about that, but jumping offsides is going to end up costing us games.

Odell Beckham Jr. is so much fun to watch. WOW. The Browns robbed the Giants there.

Greedy Williams looks to be a pretty good player.

Sunday Night is going to be TOUGH. Big test for both the offense and defense. Big stage.

What I'm seeing and is a concern to me. Monkey's offense might be great but it seems it goes away from what Baker does best, i.e., quick looks and delivery. Monkey got Winston killed with long developing plays and he's brought that here - and we're not playing to minimize our weaknesses - our OL isn't capable of blocking for that long most of the time. I think Freddie needs to consider how he played to our O's comfort level/strengths last year. We're looking like a go for home run all the time. Odell is a weapon, not the only one and teams seem to game plan for our long ball approach.

Wilks' D I see as developing the same kind of one trick pony. Unleashing the D line to get sacks/pressure at all costs. We drafted 2 cover corners but are playing zone and not focusing on taking away anyone. Myles needs another move, any tackle who gets his hands on him greatly slows him down. Again, Freddie needs to look at what D strengths he has and utilize it, especially at times to disguise their look.

Penalties and heads down playing seems to overlook playing smarter. I also say the lack of O chemistry during preseason has them trying to gel in these first games.

First off, I'm surprised the autocorrect going on in your post hasn't happened more often...

I don't like the direction that they're pushing the offense, but at least I get it. You went out and got OBJ, and you have a QB that really likes the long ball.

The D is pretty irritating, though. You have these good young CBs that excel in man... so obviously you put them in a zone scheme. Ugh...

A couple posters were pointing this out when Wilkes came on board, but we were all hoping he'd notice our corners.

I wonder the benefits of zone in our coaches’ minds? Is it to help our LBs/Safeties who struggle in coverage?

I mean, with Denzel, Greedy, and Mitchell ... you’d think we can just line up and play man

I think w zone the thought is that there is less chance for giving up the big play.

It's hard to evaluate our defense right now because we played two offenses that are not very good. We'll have a better idea after this upcoming game.

That could be the case in their thinking. I wonder if we’ll shift to some sort of man/zone hybrid to allow our CBs to excel

I feel like that would be ideal... man outside, zone under... but, I'm also an X's & O's neophyte and am not sure what weaknesses that creates.

That said, it seems like it would be the best use of the talent we've acquired.

Just chiming in on the CB Zone/Man ordeal.

We have guys who can absolutely plan man. I don't wanna say its crazy not to have these guys play mostly man, but it's crazy to not have these guys play mostly man.

I think playing majority man, and then sprinkling in zone from time to time is the best way to go with our DBs.

I'm really interested in seeing how we play against the Rams. Hard to see any trends in 2 games, but 3 for me starts to solidify what our coaches are doing for the rest of the season.