-Goodson had a great powerful tackle at the start of the game, you know the type the Ravens and Steelers make again us every time...then he disappeared and seemed to miss a lot.
-Mack Wilson, not sure what his problem was...But he seemed like he didn't want to engage at all, not sure if he protecting himself from future injury...But he didn't even seem to be trying hard....A lot of plays had me questioning why he is even out there.
-Joseph showed up well at times, least appeared to be our better secondary player...Did whiff on at least two tackles on Lamar...then again, everyone did.
-MJ Stewart is horrid...Had some hope from him as he was a higher draft pick from Tampa a few years ago.
-Kevin Johnson seemed to get picked apart, he had a tackle attempt I was nearly sure he would be concussed.
-Ogi...Has really regressed in this scheme, gap integrity is poor...We obviously needed Billings to be the over tackle...Ogi has tried, but just unable to man that spot.
-Myles is our best defender, though his run defense still needs to improve. Was expecting a bigger game from him...Then again I have no idea how much his elbow was bothering him. Claybourne seemed to over pursuit as well.
-Sendejo I don't question his effort, I just question his ability.
-While I don't think Woods needs fired like 90% of the board, I just think he can't get things done because of personal. He has no two gap DT, No LB that is rangy enough...And his secondary is torn apart with injuries and inadequate personal. He tried different looks, just seems like nothing works with this defense...And I think most of it, is the players aren't capable of the said task.
-Won't say too much on the offense, as they all mostly really looked good. Baker has been playing his tail off, so kudos to him. Wish the costly interception never happened, but he got us back in and over for a bit...He is taking strides to being the QB we all hoped for...which is looking great for our future.
-Wish we won it, but in all honesty knowing the Ravens...I knew it would be one of the ones we'd falter in. Heck of a game nontheless.
I think that's part of the Ravens scheme on designed runs. The OTs let the DE's get upfield quickly. If they cut inside, Lamar takes it and goes outside. If they stay in their lane, it has now opened a giant gap outside of the DT... and they will use motion just before the snap to move the S/LB that would fill that gap out of the way.
What I haven't seen/noticed, yet, is what do they do if you don't follow the motion.
Browns is the Browns
... there goes Joe Thomas, the best there ever was in this game.
He had a great night but the int was also a 7 point swing.
I have a friend who is convinced that interception cost us the game.
I'm like you do realize we were leading 35-34 late in the game, right?
There was no one thing that cost us this game because all of our mistakes, we still battled back. And using a early missed FG or a pick 6 or something, then you are playing the "all things being equal" game and the 4th quarter plays out completely different if the score was different going in...
But the fact still remains that we missed a chippy FG, an XP, and gave them an easy TD on a turnover (In theory we did earn the missed XP back by going for 2 when we probably wouldn't have)... they missed an XP.. that's 9 or 10 points that we spotted them without really making them "earn it"... and, battle as we did, that's hard to overcome against a good team.
I think we got away from the run a little too early.
Hunt is good in blitz pick up, and runs with wild abandon.
Our DBs not named Mitchell or Ward are horrible.
The whole premise was to take away the middle of the field from Lamar, which we pretty much did until the end.
Lamar crushed us running, but it is ironic, that he actually beat us throwing the ball.
If Baltimore wins out, our playoff hopes are toast. They have it easy and could end up with 11 wins. If we don't win out, bye bye playoffs.
Many here calling for firing coaches(Woods), are foolish. The defense lacks from personnel, not scheme. We need safeties, and Linebackers. Also, a huge DT to plug the running lanes.
I really think this game just shot our playoff hopes.
Not suggesting they cost us the game, but that was some of the worst officiating I have ever seen. How can you have OPI on a guy who the ball is not thrown to? How many more facemask penalties are they not going to call? They were mugging our receivers the whole game.
We have a top 7 or 8 O right now maybe even better. Our D is not there yet. With injured players returning, another draft and FA period we should be legit contenders next year. We are a fringe playoff team right now and if it wasn't for another wild card spot this year we probably wouldn't make it. We still might not.
We have a top 7 or 8 O right now maybe even better. Our D is not there yet. With injured players returning, another draft and FA period we should be legit contenders next year. We are a fringe playoff team right now and if it wasn't for another wild card spot this year we probably wouldn't make it. We still might not.
If they gave an award for most improved team through the season, I don't think anybody could compete with us based on where we started to where we are now. (Even though we were 4-1 in the beginning, the Ravens and Steelers games were UUUUUUGGGGLLLLYYYYY)
But we also benefitted greatly from having probably the easiest possible schedule this year. To our credit, we beat all the teams so far *knock on wood* that we should have beaten and that's a big step in being good, first beat the sub .500 teams.. we've proven in the last 2 weeks that we can compete with and beat the other playoff caliber teams in our conference.. now we just have to prove we can play at that level consistently and keep getting better at finishing.
Right now, if one team has to be down by 3 with the ball and 1:30 to win the game, I hope we are the team that's down with the ball and not the team hoping their defense can hold.
On the NFL reddit, there were a lot of people saying this was the GOTY. (in reference to how thrilling it was)
Even though we came up on the short end, it feels nice to be in such an exciting game, on primetime, relevant to the playoffs, and do very well with it.
It's a new feeling.
Next year we will need to win to keep up that feeling.
And for crying out loud can this team develop a competent linebacker.
Taki has flashed a little but we need other mid round guys to step up. You can't field an entire team of first round draft picks.
A couple of interesting points.
First, I don't believe teams can really develop players at this point. Sure, teams can make them a bit better, but it still falls inside certain parameters. As an example, I don't think we can take Tic Tock to all-star levels. He was a OK player as he came out of college, so he will in all likelihood remain a OK player at best. At least as things stand as they are.
In baseball, hockey, and basketball, players get drafted at a young age and teams have a means to develop players through their minor league programs. NFL teams can't have 4-5-6-7 players who are going to need 4-5 years to gain experience, because experience is what makes most players better.
No doubt, you have your superstars, naturals, whatever you want to call them, but most players aren't that, so don't count the "naturals". By the time a kid leaves college after 3-4, sometimes 5 years, that is like the NFL's minor league program.
Sure, some players surprise, but for the most part, they are basically a finished product. Luck plays as much a role in selecting one of those surprise players.
My second point is that I have stressed for years that team building isn't always from the top down. Building the bottom of the roster is just...or nearly....as important.
No matter how good you are and how good your "worst" player might be, the fact remains that he is the teams worst player. Teams need to seek his replacement as much as they seek to select that future HOF player at the top of the draft.
I suspect the team will be active in bringing in some defensive veterans in FA. That is where you can be very specific in building for team needs. Waiting for the draft can be a big risk because depending on how the draft falls, you may not be able to draft for a specific need unless you want to more or less be drafting a round behind your actual draft position to secure positions of need rather than overall better players.
If everybody had like minds, we would never learn.
On this last play and the one before; Mack Wilson what are you doing?
He was terrible. Recognition and tackling. I mean damn Wilson you are a linebacker right?
Play the damn position.
The inconsistent play at linebacker and safety has hurt this team all year.
If the Browns had a true FS that was a pro bowl level talent and one linebacker at that same level; we would be competing for a Super Bowl. And I am not kidding.
For those of you that keep carrying on about this, I received a PM that explains it perfectly. There was nothing improper or nefarious about what happened on the FG kick at the end of the game. Here's a simple and accurate explanation....
The NFL only allows the clock to be pushed back up to 25 if its through no fault of the players/team ...
Tucker and the rest of the FG unit are out their at the 22 second mark ... way more than enough time .... You can see the ump and the white hat still at the LOS when the camera breaks away with 16 secs left on the play clock .. Still plenty of time ...
Then you can see the OLman still standing when Tucker asks to push the clock back up 4 - 5 secs later which means the ref or the ump are still at the LOS with the ump over the ball ... so there’s around 10 secs left on the play clock at that point and the officials have not yet released the ball for play ... so by the time the ump released the ball there would not have been enough time and the Rats were out there in plenty of time to get set ... Hence, no fault of there own ...
That means there was a reason to reset the clock ... The officials for some reason wouldn’t release the ball for play ... The clock would have and should been reset by the officials with or without Tucker asking for it since they were the reason the clock went from 22 when the Rats were ready to go to under 10 seconds when they finally made the ball ready for play ...
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
won't release the ball for play until the K ball is brought into the game.
I have never understood what the NFL does with their footballs. A ball ia a ball. Whatever ball is out there is the one that should be used. No kicking ball, no set of balls for the home team and a separate set for the visiting team. (No deflate-gate if that was the case). The home Qb does what he does to the balls and that becomes part of the home field advantage.
Don't blame the clown for acting like a clown. Ask yourself why you keep going to the circus.
WE are the only ones allowed to trash talk Sendejo...
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