DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2020 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 6 Ravens 38 post game

Every year I somehow forget to plan and end up leaving a fortune on the table for another year... I should be selling straight razors for all the wrist slitting that goes on after we lose the opener.

OK here's the thing about Baker. He has a ton of talent and potential. Go back and look at his highlight videos from Oklahoma.

The NFL game is still too fast for him. He has to stop pressing and relax. He needs to find a way to slow the game down.

At the start of games give him some easy throws he can make to boost his confidence. He doesn't have to be strictly a pocket passer. Move him out of the pocket now and then. Baker does better when he moves around and buys time for the receivers to get open.

Didn't like anything I saw outside of the effort from Landry, Chubb, Hunt, and even Njoku.

I'll reserve my negativity until I see the result of the Thursday Bengals game.

Because the two were 6-65 in the 1st Quarter... and 9-24 in the 2nd and 3rd. The remaining yardage came after we were down at least 25 points.

That makes sense. I missed the second quarter due to traveling.

I admit, I only watched the 1st half and ended up watching other games in the 2nd half...So obviously I missed some stuff, and could be incorrect

-Sendejo is supposed to be a steady vet who is a special teams stud...He looked poor at best in both defense and special teams

-Taki gets engulfed and plays very erratic (Saw the same thing on his BYU tape)

-Goodson makes Wali Rainer look like a stud

-Spent all that money on Hooper, but I think we threw it what twice to him all day? BTW Hooper did not look good blocking either, least in the plays I focused in on.

-Njoku had some really amazing big play grabs

-Conklin seemed to slip on a pull, which ended up with our RB getting tackled for no gain or a loss

-OBJ...Kind of reminds me of Russell Westbrook in one way...Ultimately talented, but is easily taken away once you get in his head...To be fair, a lot of off throws thrown his way...that drop on 3rd down was a killer. Ditto for that face mask penalty

-Seibert was flat out bad

-RBs looked good

-I didn't understand our O...I thought it would like more of the Vikings, but it looked more like the Browns of last year.

-Hodge had a dumb false step

-Jarvis is our best WR

-Baker...I am not sure because of his size, but he is always confusing to watch. I often see him breaking down prior to his protection breaking down (which you would think would be opposite) Is it because he can no longer see his passing windows? Everything that seemed to haunt him last year, still showed true. Poor reads, footwork, forcing, pocket feel, batted balls, accuracy, heck his deep ball looked worse than it ever did. He looked like a rookie out there, idk perhaps all these coaching and philosophy changes have done him in. He did not play well.



-I never shut the game off, and I had to resort to doing so in week 1

-We better come to play Thursday night

It was my intention to read the whole thread prior to posting this, but it's a hectic day at work.

I was helping my dad at his place while the game was on, so I was listening to it in the background. Listening to the game live was maddening. My parents, in the usual dance we do week 1 every year, asked why they're so bad. I started on the whole "well, new coaches, COVID, offseason..." thing, but then stopped. It's the same ^$%#'ing conversation every year and I'm tired of it.

Then I watched the game last night (Gamepass is awesome and cheap). I gotta say... after knowing the outcome, and getting past my frustration to watch the game as a series of plays... the team did look better than I thought and looked better than the score suggested. Not good (don't get me wrong), but there were positives in between all the bad. I was just surprised at the number of positive things I saw when I watched.

To be clear, this post is NOT a "moral victory" post. If anything, it's a "I told you so" type of post. We were sloppy and disorganized, almost as if we were doing new stuff w/o time to prepare, and doing it against an obvious SB contender. The Browns played about as poorly as I feared (but not worse) and the Ravens played just about as well as I feared. They came into Week 1 in midseason form.

We made waaaay too many mistakes, and the Ravens made us pay for dang near every one of them. Oh, and breaking news... Lamar can throw the ball.

Here's what I saw...
We were able to somewhat move the ball. Just over 300 total yards of offense (Balt had more, but not that much more). ToP was even. Over 100 on the ground. What I saw was not a complete disaster on offense... we were able to do some good things, but then would make a mistake and Ravens would make us pay. Again, not excusing, but as someone who was expecting us to start the season slow, I can't get myself too worked up.

Baker made a LOT of bad throws. I also thought he made some good throws. His game definitely went downhill as we went into desperation mode. So if it sounds like I'm being easy on him, I'm just taking that into account (not fully counting the end of the game, when it's already out of hand, but we're chucking the ball all over the place. Baker's accuracy was where it was last year (bad). He had some misses on some bombs that were there. He also struggled (at times) to get the ball right where it needed to be on those tight throws where YAC is key.

I'm closer to giving up on OBJ than I am Baker. Baker was bad, but OBJ was worse. If his drops weren't bad enough, he was picking up discipline-related flags (face mask).

I thought the Oline (like our offense in general) did some good and bad. There were times where they gave up pressure too easily up the middle. There were times where Baker could take a nap back there. I thought they did, overall, pretty well in the run game. Not a surprise, but Tretter is NOT 100%.

I'm glad Njoku got that TD. Dude is fighting for his life every single game/play. Baker is clearly pretty comfy with the new guy, and the TE room is CROWDED.

My love is not diminished for Nick Chubb, but DAYAM did Hunt bring it yesterday. Chubb was solid if unspectacular overall, but Hunt jumped out of the screen.

Landry made some tough catches, but I cringe every time he gets the ball. Baker needs to do better about not getting his guys killed with those passes high/behind.

Great analogy. Did you see the Ravens' players talking crap to OBJ what seemed like all the time, but not really at anyone else? I think they knew they could rattle him easily. Apparently they did.

I don't know what to make of our defense from yesterday. While I don't possess enough football knowledge to speak intelligently on Dline and LB play, my eyes showed me that the big boys up front played fairly well, overall. LBs are as advertised (dreadful), though both knew they were going to have their hands full with the opponent being who they are. Plus, let's be honest... probably the biggest issue with our defense is our offense. Lots of turnovers and short fields isn't their fault.

I thought Ogunjobi played alright, overall. He showed up on a couple plays.

Our secondary played BAD. Sendejo can hit the road right now, if you ask me. I'm being serious... and while it may sound like a toddler tantrum, just stay with me for a minute. It was his non-block that was largely responsible for the Gillan fumble. Granted, we were going to turn the ball over on downs anyway, but that effort was an embarrassment. You're telling me that in your first game here, on a trick play that you probably know is coming your way, you're going to give THAT kinda effort. I hope Prieffer tells KS that he doesn't need Sendejo anymore, and that he can easily be replaced by someone who will play like he gives a damn. Then Sendejo will have to keep his roster spot with his play on the defense (fat chance of that). From one game, he appears mediocre at best.

Speaking of Prieffer, dude has a LOT of work to do with this group. Good grief. First thing is to take a long, hard look at Siebert. You can get a high-school kid on the roster that can make XPs.

How does Hodge get 40 snaps at WR while Higgins gets 16? All Higgins has ever done when he played is produce, yet he seems to remain in some perpetual doghouse that has lasted through 3 coaching regimes. It makes me wonder why they re-signed him.

I think the safeties and LBers looked bad, especially the safeties.

I don't know where this ranks among kickers in the NFL from 2019 and 2020, but he has missed 6 extra points so far.

If it's been discussed on here, then I missed it. If we had more time until the next game, I'd go back and re-watch to really key on the defense, but.... what is it, scheme-wise, that we're going for on defense. Not trying to be snarky... honest question. Maybe that info can't be gleaned from one game, especially one against the Ravens (tough AND different offense).

I don't know.

Missed EPs are such a momentum killer ... they suck the air out of the sideline and the fans. I think I knew how yesterday would turn out when he doinked it.

Cinci could give us a better idea. Ravens, even if they weren't as good as they are, run a different O. I'm beginning to wonder if, regardless how our team develops, they're just always going to be rough as a matchup. A line the talking heads said really resonated with me... "you earn the right to pass rush". Well, with a team like the Ravens that can run it down your throat as easily as anything, what does having a pass rush demon like Garrett get you? What does having (hopefully) really good cover corners get you?

Looks like an error in the article. OBJ was targeted 10 times and only had 3 catches.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/boxscore?gameId=401220147

j/c:

Watching some sports shows this morning while reading the board. I have seen multiple complaints about OBJ being targeted too much. Well, on TV, I saw that DeAndre Hopkins was targeted 16 times yesterday. The commentary is that Kingsbury and Murray know that you have to get your best player the ball.

The back 7 was atrocious.

OBJ is not the best player, though...

Hooper had two catches on only two targets.

Here's the snap counts...

j/c:

I am going to join the chorus that doesn't feel that mayfield has "it".

The play calling wasn't great but he had time.

Yesterday looked a lot like last year.

Poor coaching.
Poor QB play.
Not much heart, discipline, desire.

Agreed. I made a huge spread of food, had a ton of people over. I was so excited about the new season. I couldn't stomach more than a half.

I was going to take my kids out Thursday to see the Bengals game. I can't watch another crap show, so I will do something else.

Didn't get to see all the game ; but I don't think the front four of the DL got all that much pressure on Lamar ?

My son was over watching the game w/my wife and I. The second half was tough to watch. We always have two TVs on and I was paying a lot of attention to the other games on the other TV.

I don't think many of us expected the Browns to win, but I doubt many of us thought we would look so freaking bad.

I think you are right. It's hard to tell w/Lamar sometimes because he bounces away so quick. But again, I think you are right that the DL didn't pressure him much.

I wonder how many times we blitzed? I don't think I saw much of that.

Yup. I was naive and thought all that talent the browns have they would at least score points. They looked like a tiny college playing 'bama

I sure did, I saw it from OBJ last year too...I gave him a new slate once he became a Brown...At times he seems more of a distraction vs an addition...Though he is talented, he tends to get into so much "yapping" that he takes himself out of games. However I think he did a good job sideline wise, as I didn't see him going off on anyone (though I didn't see the second half play by play) It's just a shame, our offense has been so off rhythm since his addition (obviously not entirely his fault, as Baker has regressed a lot) I was just hoping for better, as I'm sure we all are.

I may be the minority, but I didn’t think Baker was terrible. He had an average day. I believe the presence of OBJ is more damaging than good. Landry, Higgins, and Njoku can carry this team. Going away from Chubb’s bruising style in favor of Hunt was a mistake. I understand getting down big in the second half may have changed the game plan.

Bite the bullet and tank for Trevor...

Talk on the local morning radio shows was that the Ravens' chirping got in his head, and that opposing teams have discovered they can take him out of his game that way going back to that big fight he had with a DB (Ramsey?) when he was a Giant.

Also, like you I didn't see any sideline antics by Beckham, but Grossi was just on the radio saying the opposite. Maybe its just Grossi being Grossi, but he said Beckham was gesturing, yelling, and kicking things on the sideline, and that he reminded him (Grossi) of Braylon Edwards at his worst. If that's true, he should be off-loaded ASAP. Maybe we can get Myles Jack for him. I'm sure Odell would love to play in London.

I don't think Baker was as bad as some would say. I thought Chubb was ok-good, but Hunt was runnning VERY strong. I thought he had a great game.

If Baker plays like he did Sunday on Thursday then I will start to worry.

53% comp rate will not do it in this league, Baker was not playing like an NFL starter,maybe rookie or backup level. He was completely overwhelmed, no composure no command of the team.

Time for him to ride the pine. He is clearly not ready to be a starter.

j/c...



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