DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2020 NFL Season Gameday vs Kansas City Post game thoughts

We just don't have the talent to do that, especially in the secondary. With how bad our safeties our that is such a gamble.

Really if you told me before the game started that if we held the Chiefs to 22 points? I would have been like yeah we will win.

We didn't do much on our last drive of the game. Even if we stopped him and the Chiefs punted would not have had much time for a game winning drive. Who knows, maybe we would've scored a last minute TD to win it. We will never know.

If Higgins holds on to the ball and we score a TD on that drive the score would've been 24-19 Browns late in the 4th quarter. Henne would've had to lead the Chiefs to a late game winning TD. I know I'm doing a lot of speculating but Higgins fumble was huge.

Butterfly effect, citizen.

Fact is, we had a chance to take the lead with a late TD drive, but it didn’t happen. We should have stopped them on 3rd and 15, but it didn’t happen.

We gave the champs all the could handle. Young teams on the rise have to learn how to win, and often it starts with losing.

Especially if you said Mahomes would get hurt and the Chiefs would only score 3 points in the second half.

Well said lamp

Yes the Browns are on the rise. Fix the problems on D and the Browns will be serious SB contenders.

Yep the real killer was that Higgins fumble through the end zone before the half. Yes it was a helmet to helmet call missed. But we can t depend on those calls to go our way. Can't fumble that. Different game if we even get 3 there, but would've been 6.

Really sucks we couldn't take advantage of the fact they had Henne in there. The game was there for the taking. I thought we were winning for sure.

we got the break that we needed (we needed some luck, especially after the first quarter and a half) ... but we couldn’t quite click enough to do it today

If we’d had Delpitt and Greedy Williams all year, the defense might’ve been a lot better. It was a great season. I hate to blame one person, but man, Rashard .....

ONLY if we call our strengths. We need to have a wide open view about our players and schemes. Defense is a liability; OC might call a better game if last week was an indicator.

Good ride; we have upside. Should have won today, but couldn't decide what we were doing. Again, D couldn't get off the field and gave up too many long conversions. Still, it felt great to be cheering in the playoff, the NFL's after-life. And we were in it.

I don't want to be a wet blanket - there's lots of reasons to be optimistic about the future - but its a mistake to assume that there is a linear progression in the Browns drive to win it all. Its just not how things work. We had an opportunity this year and it slipped away from us.

Blatant helmet to helmet.

The NFL HATES the Browns.

We not only have to beat the team that opposes us, but the refs that oppose us!

Hard to fault Higgins for that fumble. It was CAUSED by the illegal spear. A legal hit would have been further back with the ball across the plane of the goal line.

I'm proud of our Browns guys.

WE WILL BE BACK!!!!

A fumble out of bounds, but is there a use-of-helmet foul
A pass to receiver Rashard Higgins ends with Higgins fumbling the ball at the 1 into the end zone. By rule, this is a touchback, which is a long-standing rule to reward the defense for successfully defending their goal.

The ball was jarred loose from a hit from Daniel Sorenson. Was this a legal hit?

At first, the "helmet to helmet" rule does not apply, because Higgins is not in a defenseless posture.The other rule is "use of the helmet" (or UOH) which requires the defender to lower the helmet to initiate contact. The word "to" is operative. The force of the blow must be delivered by contact lead from the top (crown) of the helmet, and the rule is to avoid the transfer of the blow by compressing the defender's spinal column. So, there must be a distinct lining up with the head and the eyes averted to the ground.
Sorenson does initiate the attack with his shoulder, and any shoulder-to-shoulder contact is going to involve helmet contact as well. Sorenson does lower and turn his helmet when contact is imminent, which gives the appearance of avoiding contact. There is simultaneous contact with the shoulder and helmet, so the question is how forcible is the head contact? Had the head not turned about a quarter second before contact, and there was a front-on attack that was helmet-to-helmet, there would not be a foul, but a more violent collision.

The UOH is independent of where the defender's helmet lands, so the fact that the contact is to Higgins' helmet is irrelevant.

There is a clear consensus from those who worked on the field that this is a UOH foul. There is also a clear consensus that an official watching the sideline and goal line in play cannot also be able to catch the UOH from the defender.

But the question is, are we allowing the replay to distort the time element? Was the initial or simultaneous contact from the shoulder, thereby reducing the forcible element of the head hit? Is there more contact from the emblem side of the helmet than the top?

So, we go back to the live play and make those determinations. In my estimation, when viewing the live play, it is not abundantly clear that we had a UOH call; it was only when the pylon camera angle his our screens that we moved off the touchback ruling and then into the UOH. There is no doubt that there was helmet contact in the play, but there are a lot of considerations that do not make it an automatic foul.

http://www.footballzebras.com/2021/01/2020-afc-divisional-playoff-liveblog-browns-at-chiefs/

I picked them to be 8-8....
We were in there against the team I picked to win the SB...
Not happy about today's outcome but over the moon for the season!

Too many good things about the direction we are going to comment on them..

WAY better game than I thought it was going to be... I figured on a let down after the Squealers!

Get healthy! Get some D help... and on to the next Game!

There was lots of areas of the game that could have made a (winning) difference - throwing the red flag on the no-catch, not throwing it on the catch ... running the ball 1st half ... better execution ... not getting confused/lost on D ... playing more aggressive on D like we wanted to stop them instead of slow them down ...

The deal with the spearing no-call - for me - it felt like we SHOULD have been down by 40 points at that point in the game. Mahomes/KC had toyed with us and simply seemed to do anything they wanted .... and yet, with a TD there it was a 6 point game and we were getting the ball back at the start of the second half. To me it was all about momentum.

And yes, I was also salty and letting Henne run for 14 yards to end the game!

But just like KC has to win without Mahomes - every team gets a bad call every game, you have to overcome it. My initial post and comment that we were a no-call away, wasn't me feeling bitter - just wanted to highlight how truly close we were. I keep saying it - any Browns fan would have taken the season we had if it was offered before the season.

I don't see it like that at all. I see him leading with his head. Before all the rules and jargon got changed, I would call that spearing. Period.

I could not agree with this more. And continuously try to preach this to whoever will listen.

The schedule is hard next year. Other teams will improve. There is no guarantee we even make the playoffs next year. There is no guarantee Berry will improve the team. Have no idea what the injury situation will be like.

When your fortunes give you Mahomes leaving the game, you take advantage of that. You don't get many opportunities like that.

It was still a very enjoyable season, but what a wasted opportunity.

Wasn't a fan of Joe Woods and his schemes since the first game and this game further cements my feelings. Players out of position with bad matchups and consistently leaving opposing receivers wide open. I understand the injuries throughout the year but the schemes were just awful. Our linebackers have shown why they have been rated as some of the worst in the NFL. We have a lot of work to do Defensively and if we bring in a new DC, I wouldn't lose any sleep. CHADFREAKINGHENNE for a 14.5 yard scramble on 3rd and 15 when the game is on the line. MY GOD.

Our offensive looks pretty solid and has a great foundation to build upon. Can't wait til the Draft!

I agree, I just wanted to see what the Zebras thought, so I posted it.

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The missed call on the Rashard Higgins fumble was a killer

The Browns were so close to scoring a critical touchdown in the second quarter, but Rashard Higgins lost control of the ball just before he could shove it across the goal line.

It’s a bad fumble. There is no denying that. Coach Stefanski even addressed it as such in his postgame press conference. While he praised Higgins’ competitive drive, Stefanski acknowledged the team has instructed players to not do exactly what Higgins did — for precisely the reason that happened.

But the fact it was created by a blatantly illegal hit by Chiefs safety “Dirty Dan” Sorensen, who led with the crown of his helmet into Higgins’ helmet to initiate contact. That’s an ejectable foul. The fumble does not happen without his obviously illegal hit, period. But the officials did not throw a flag and the ball turned over to the Chiefs.

https://brownswire.usatoday.com/lists/qu...ashard-higgins/

Change the stupid fumble out of the end zone rule to let the fumbling team retain possession on the 20.

We played a lot of finesse D this year because our talent was average to below most games. I get the Woods plan to keep things in front of the D in order to limit big plays, but it became our biggest weakness IMHO.

I don't care if Woods goes or stays because I would hope having a talented roster would make him much harder to predict. That said, the level of D play this year was not acceptable in most games, especially our loses.

One thing I think ...... this team does need to add speed on both sides of the ball.

I swear on that second angle it looks like that shot to the head turned out the lights for a split second.

After watching the replay, I can’t blame Higgins. That was a dirty hit and it was obvious. The refs cost us a trip to the AFC championship.

If anybody had told me at 2:30 today that the Chiefs would score 22 points, I would have asked them what time do we play Buffalo next week.

Several dropped passes in the first half
One long pass for a first down into FG range negated by holding that ended with a punt
The fumble at the goal line
Many missed tackles
Many blown coverage assignments
Wills going out on the first freaking play
Chad freaking Henne with the second longest run of his career

I'm ticked about the helmet to helmet no-call as well but we had opportunities to win this game.

And the 4th down throw called by Andy Reid with Chad Henne at QB??? Dude has stones the size of bowling balls.

I'm officially rooting for the Bills to win it all now. I'm all for a changing of the guard... get the Saints, Steelers, Seahawks, Patriots, Packers, and any team Tom Brady plays for out... in with the Browns, Chiefs, Bills, Rams, Cardinals, etc

The whole bar was rooting for the Browns today.

Keep in mind I do not live in Ohio.

It was pretty cool.

What happened to our running game in the first half? They are not know for a run D. This was a big problem just as much as our D.

3 possessions in the first half. Initial drive for FG, 1 derailed
by bogus holding call on Teller after a first down after Juice catch in KC territory, and 1 derailed by Fumble at goal line. Offense was not an issue in the 1st half or the game.

Pissed.... we had our chances and just couldn't get over the hump... glad we didn't give up... but man... we had our chances...

I was upset with the palycalling on our last drive. Way too conservative. We had them on the run and we let them off easy.

We had so many chances and that's all u can ask for. A missed field goal, a missing Mahomes, a pick, an old qb. What more could u ask for? The game was right where we wanted it but they didn't take advantage. I love coach but he didn't call a good game. He got outcoached by a superior team. I'm confident that we'll be better next year despite the harder schedule. Our defense must be upgraded tho. I love my team and I thank them for the joy they brought me in such a crappy year for all of us. DAWG for life!

Agreed. That last drive on offense was weak. It started bad and it didn't look like it would end well, which it didn't. And am I the only one mad that we didn't go for it on 4th down? I know where we were on the field but I didn't care. It's go hard or go home. I didn't like giving them that ball back. I don't trust our defense enough to give it back. I wanted us to have it last. Win lose or draw. We did let them off easy for sure.

Considering the circumstances and what was at stake, it was the most bizarre drive of the entire season. And the worst.

Stefanski really wet the bed on that one.

Exactly. The season was great, the game wasn't when you consider what unfolded...When Mahommes went down, its like the football Gods said "here you go Cleveland, its now time, your sacrifices have been worthy" but our defense couldn't hold their water...Noone should be safe and Joe woods should be a position coach somewhere and bring in a good DC.. a good DC doesn't let Chad Henne sit there. Henne coming in for PMa is akin to Baker going down and we bring in Josh Booty. Our offense was rolling and then as soon as we had a chance, Stefanski forgot 90% of the playbook. Its just another reason I don't like HC calling their own plays. I love Stefanski's offense, but AVP called a great game last week. I let him do it next year and KS can just pull the strings.. I can't even imagine all the things he was trying to keep straight this game. We are finally set at HC and Qb after a gazillion years. Fix the defense, it really matters. Watching the TB/Saints game and I was like no way in hell our defense could compete with those two defenses. Especially in the secondary and LB spots. Hard tackling and no whiffs like we see. This one hurt a little more because after mahommes left there was zero excuse not to win. We didn't force a single punt, and thats happened alot this year. The experience will be invaluable for next year and a full offseason will help. We are in good shape outside of defense and I think Berry will address it well

Don't know if the Chiefs changed something up on the last drive but suddenly they were getting a bunch of pressure, which they really hadn't all game.


Not really mad.. with Mahomes, I think you go for it. With Henne... you should be able to get a stop. If we don't let him run for 13 yards, we get the ball with 1:20 ish on the clock and a chance.. Chad freaking Henne runs for 13 yards to allow them to go for it on 4th down.. I just keep repeating that in my head.

j/c

I am guilty of being an optimist, a glass half full guy. I find it amazing that so many can be so critical of the best season the Browns have had in 2-3 decades. We lost to the reigning champs in their house, and it was too close to call until the last minute of the game. They did so much better than I expected.

I love this team, and I'm proud of what they accomplished this season.

And I will remember Blake Hance, even if he never plays another game as a Brown, although I suspect he earned a roster spot.