DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2021 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 29 Chiefs 33 On to Kansas City

The changes to their Oline are notable, but it's Mahommes and his weapons that make that O hum. They'll definitely be healthier.

Hopefully our defense can put together a bunch of big plays, though I'm getting myself ready for some initial disappointment. Our D might take a couple games to get going.

In my mind we have 6 extremely difficult games:

1 - at KC
2 - at Pittsburgh
3 - at Baltimore
4 - at Minnesota
5 - at LA Chargers
6 - at Green Bay


If we can win 2 of those it would be a huge boost. KC is the toughest one.

Considering we play Pittsburgh and Baltimore twice and being at home is no guarantee, I assume we have 8 difficult games. And we should win 5 of them. We could win all 8 of them, but it's doubtful. The key is to not drop any of the not difficult games, aka the Jets from last year.

KC is pretty much the only game on the schedule I think is a greater than 75% chance at a L. Their offense is just crazy and our defense has alot of new parts that haven't played together yet and their offense has been playing in preseason. While we should be better in the secondary, our LB core is still bottom 5. If we can get to mahommes it could create some interesting matchups. But PM is so good and can throw anywhere on the field from any angle, we have to close out his throwing lanes. On the flipside, their defense has to defend our offense and I think our offense is every bit a challenge to defend, moreso because of our running game than Baker. I kind of see it being a first game exciting shootout and whoever scores last wins, but I think we will have more problems stopping what they do than vice versa. If all goes well we get our revenge when it really matters

I think the Chargers game will be a very difficult game to win too. For some reason I view them as a good team coming

I would venture to guess that the KC game will be the toughest of all in regards to our D being ready to function on all cylinders.

There's a difference in learning a new system than there is in finding a comfort level within that system and those plays being second nature to you. That can only come from playing in that system to the point it feels natural.

Of course as the season moves on we will have injuries. That's just the nature of the beast in the NFL. But they can not be predicted and we don't know where we will stand from the roster point of view later in the season.

But with everything being equal I would say the earlier games will be the hardest when facing tough opponents.

I refer back to our O during the first half of last season compared to the second half of last season as an example.

KC is gonna be a tough one for sure, but I am really excited about going 1-0.

During the 2020 season we executed 495 rushing attempts and 501 passing attempts. That's the picture of a totally balanced offense. Neither run centric nor pass centric. And if one thinks about it, our passing game didn't even really blossom until the second half of the season. Our TOP was only a little over one and half minutes more than our opponents.

https://www.nfl.com/teams/cleveland-browns/stats

I know it becomes common place to repeat things and believe things because they are constantly repeated on here, but we have even more invested in salary cap, and it's not even close, in our passing game than we have in our running game. We have a very accurate passer in Baker.

What that allows us to do is play the type of game we choose, when we choose, depending on the opponent and the game situation. If you're playing a team like KC who tends to score a lot of points, your goal would most likely be to score a lot of points early with your passing game. If you can accomplish that, at that point you can drain the clock with your running game.

That's something we saw a lot of last year especially in the second half of the season. I actually witnessed a lot of fans complaining about it. Talking about how we had such a huge lead and then letting that lead shrink because we insisted on running the ball after we gained that lead through the air.

We have the balance to do anything we want. And that's just what we did last year. Neither the passing game nor the running game was really favored in offensive snaps. That's the Stefanski system and I doubt he's changed his game planning from last year to this year.

Every team throws to their backs. And yes, "if we want" we can play ball possession. That's what a balanced team can do.

And who has a better set of WR's than we do? Who has better depth at WR than we do? We have a team where your opponent must respect both our passing game as well as our running game.

That's why our play calling was pretty evenly split between running plays and passing plays last year.

Beating the Chiefs, at their stadium, in week 1 changes the narrative from the Browns being "A" team to beat in the AFC to the Browns being "THE" team to beat in the AFC.

The Chiefs score a lot of points. Their last years' weakness the OL is probably on the road to getting better but it'll be the first game together.

They score a lot of points, Not Only do they have, Mahommes throwing to K'ill and Kelce, and ?
Whom the Browns had trouble covering, but they have Andy Reid, and his seasoned mind dreaming up matchups.

Now, Mecole Hardman is the real deal, think a more refined DPJ. and Hardman will be WR #2.
The Problem is, who's going to be on him? Greedy? Newsome? Other?

The Chiefs, are probably going to try and get the points early, then break out the running game, or even use the passes, ( Wouldn't be surprised if another 11 minute drive, leaves you asking, "What da! What happened?"

The Chiefs! If you looked at all the good teams from 2020, in the NFL, The Cheifs, even in losses, never had a loss where they didn't score a fair amount of points, even about 20 something.

In the Chiefs recent losses, the other team scored a lot of points. So, it's going to take a lot of points to beat these losers. I'm guessing 44.
I think the Browns can hold them to 43.

But that's the problem, If they don't find a way to Stop Andy Reid and his scheming, from keeping the ball for a 12 minute drive,
i.e. if the Browns don't get turnovers, or big time game changing plays in the scoring, quick scoring also,

Then The bad guys are just going to eat up enough of the Clock, that even with the Browns High powered offense, their won't be enough Time! to match the chiefs in scoring, and get above or near that 40 point mark.

The Browns, have rebuilt their defense, With new and better parts but still a rebuild of new faces.
So far, it looks like the Browns, philosophy, on defese, is the same. Be opportunistic, cover these same routes the same ways, but

They don't look like they will have any more success forcing punts, other than their players are a slight bit faster?

Did the Browns get better? OBJ is back but we know he and Baker don't play best when he's on the field, so far.

Specifically the Defense, and stopping, Kelce, Tyrek Hill, and anyone else.
Well the Browns have JJ3, and Troy Hill, will that matter? We saw that Denzel Ward couldn't cover Kelce? (one of em), one on one.

The Browns added, Togiai, JOK, and Greg Newsome.
Newsome last covered college players at Northwestern, now he's going to face Mecole Hardman, who has big play ability.

The Browns are going to enter this game without Sheldon Richardson or Larry Ogunjobi in the run defense, and,
Believe me the Chiefs wouldn't mind running all over all day.
But the Browns have, Malik Jackson, and Andrew Billings to clog up the middle. (Clowney?)

The Browns! best chance, OF COURSE is to run for 400 yards on these freaks.
The Browns! EQUALLY best chance is to score quickly and often and get that 44 points mark.

Going off of last year, 2020, that would probably involve another HUGE 2nd quarter as so many of the Browns big scoring days had huge 2nd quarters.

It's a road game, and defense is necessary to win road games.
Defense Travels.

We got this.

GC. Has the Browns defense, addressed the need to have a group of more than 1 player spy the quarterback to make sure he doesn't run?

1 must not be able to do it, because it's been about an 8 year problem, so, it's impossible to think, they haven't had at least 1 person spy the quarterback.

Can we please one year, If I hear the announcers, say at halftime of the Ravens game, after already giving up a ton of yards on the ground to the Qb, that it's time to begin, to find someone to spy the Qb.

Oh, I hope they are thinking of this 350 days a year.
Or the Chiefs, or the Bills, or any number of teams who regularly expose this defense with Qb's who run.

Good info in there, I'd be curious to see what percentage of our passing plays came off play action. I think we use that alot more than KC does.

put them in bubblewrap and stuff in a hyperbaric chamber until 30 minutes before kickoff..

Let’s hope Greedy and Delpit are good to go. We need all the secondary help we can get this week

A lot of homerism in this thread. So let me offer the alternative view.

Some people have still not faced the reality of the playoff loss that, yes the final score was close, and yes, the Higgins TO vs. TD affected the game, but if Mahomes is playing in that 4th quarter, we had no chance at that point. Our defense was never up to the task, and our offense was flat that day, whoever you want to blame. Hell, we just got an enormous monkey off our back with the Pitt win, so could be as simple as an emotional let-down.

The Chiefs OL is new and will have some breakdowns, but unless all those breakdowns turn into strip-sack-fumbles or INTs, it won't matter. They will play well enough on most plays for Mahomes, Kelce, & Hill to beat the pants off our D as it stands today. I've been over on their messageboards and they have homer beliefs on CEH, Mecole Hardman, and their OL, but I'm not buying it. Their offense is Andy Reid's traveling 3-man show, and that's good enough. Their defense is also experienced, with a better passrush than we saw last year, and good enough to hold us under 30.

Prediction: Chiefs 38, Browns 24. I'll be excited to see what we could bring to a rematch in January, but for week 1 it ain't happening.

Yes, if this team stays healthy and grows throughout the year, we are good enough to win it all. Just don't think we are ready in week 1.

What? What makes you think we aren't ready?

Geez just go ahead and root for the Chefs!

Having so many new players on D makes it hard for me to believe we will be as ready to compete in week one as we will be in week 8. If they look at least years O it's easy to see how much better they performed in the second half of the season than in the first half of the season.

I do have to say that we are in year two of this defense which does make it somewhat different. But we have a lot of new starters in it. Any time a player changes into a new defense, learning to be comfortable in that defense and to the point that it becomes instinctual and second nature to you takes time.

Let's just say I would be far more comfortable playing KC later in the season rather than right out of the gate.

Mecole Hardman is the real deal. I don't know who CEH is, I don't know any other Chiefs not mentioned except their RB who I can't remember. Later I find out it's Clyde Edwards Helaire, which I could have just read, but pronouncning his name, and reading CEH are way separate things.

Pronounced hell-air.

I'm about to throw my 2 cents in even though it might not be popular. I feel we have a very good team that could win 12-13 games providing we stay reasonably healthy. However, I can also see us going 2-3 for our first 5 games even though I hope we go 5-0. Why? Our D, while talented on paper, has some jelling to do. I believe if our D stays healthy we will have a top 10 D or better by the end of the season. WE should beat Houston and Chicago at home. The KC game will probably be a loss. The games at LA. and MINN. will be tougher than people think. Hebert and that O are good and we have a terrible all time record against the Chargers as well as the Vikings. I realize we have a lot of talent on this team, more than we've had in lord knows how long but to me, until we prove we can put it together and beat some of these teams we historically have had trouble with I will have some doubt. By the way, Detroit and Denver are on the schedule and we've done worst against them than anybody. JMO

I think alot of people are in this boat.. tough schedule in the beginning while trying to get alot of new parts on defense together. On paper we got better but the reality is our LB core is still one of the worst..hopefully the line can get off blocks and stop the run, i think we will be top 5 against the pass this year if everyone stays healthy..the run worries me given our LBers. Even if we just stop the other team a few more times again with our offense taking another step we probably won't even need much defense

First Place in the Entire AFC is on the line

Somebody tell Baker, and all the rest of the Browns, they aren't playing that team, they are playing the Kansas City Bengals,
so expect to win.

That other team with their hall of fame coach, they know how to win, BUT! they know how to Lose Also!

I think that the only thing this team need to be ready for in Week 1 is the Week 1 opponent. Why? Simple: KC won't be in championship form on Week One, either!

A championship game is the last chapter of a story written from Chapter 1.

Brownies don't need to be championship-ready on Game One. They just need to be good enough to beat the guy across from them on that Game One.

I think we are good enough (on paper) and coached-up enough (by this extremely competent staff) to hit the ground running, all question marks (and Andy Reid) aside.

This team is capable of a Week One win, no doubt.

I think they'll be ready for the game they must play. That approach is what gets a team to the Last Game of the NFL season.

.02

I think this game will look a lot like the pittsburgh play off game.

this is how I think as well. The Chargers and Vikings games are very difficult. They have good teams.

I look at our schedule and only see 2 games that I’d feel comfortable in saying we’ll win: Houston and Detroit

By no stretch do I discount a word of what you said here, just going to sorta counter what you said.

I think the Browns are going to dominate the LOS like we have never seen before. The keys will be Garret and Clowney but the kicker is going to be McDowell and JOK.

That is going to provide the backend with the ability to take some chances and create turnovers. The O line for the Chief isn't going to be able to handle the d line from the Browns and I don't believe it will matter all that much how long they have played together? They will point McDowell who I truly believe to be a mini- Arron Darnold clown at PM and tell him to blow him up and he will, throw in JOK coming at PM from all angles this game is going to be a treat.

Pressure is the key and I really believe that there isn't an NFL team that will truly handle the 2021 Browns D line.

This comes down to winning in the trenches and I think we got that covered.

I believe they will have a lot of quick pass plays dialed up to combat us getting to Mahomes. Quick TE passes and short over the middle routes, short crossing routes. I mean if we know they're weak on the OL, so do they. While we do have a lot of talent and are well coached, so are they.

And that is where we will be able to take some chances and jump those routes, this game will be a chess match to be sure but I think we will have more answers then they anticipate. A moments hesitation on their part will result in PM seeing stars again.

I think both teams will have answers. Like you said, it will be a chess match. Their coach is just as good at playing chess as ours is. I'm not saying we'll lose the game. What I'm saying is if there is likely a game we will lose, this is it.

We hung close in the end with Mahomes sitting on the sideline last year. Unless something happens we will face him for a full four quarters this time.

With so many new moving parts on our D I'm fully aware we aren't going to be the same defense in week one as we will be by mid season.

While I'm cautiously optimistic I temper that optimism with a dose of reality.

I told you before I don't discount what your saying but their is reason for huge optimism for Browns fans.

The Chiefs have a new O Line and the Browns have a reworked D Line headed by Garret. Last year when we played them PM didn't do his usual deep deep drop as much as 20 yards at times because of Garret. Now with Clowney and McDowell I am not sure what he will do step forward in the pocket may not be a good option anymore to avoid Garret. The Browns defensive line I believe has a big advantage and would under any set of circumstance based on time playing together. We don't know what we will see from our D Line anything is possible but the chance of our D Line controlling the trenches and making life difficult and hopefully impossible for PM are more likely then the Chiefs retooled O Line being up to managing the Browns D Line and I have watched enough of PM to know if he is pressured he is like every other QB.

I again don't discount the Chiefs and their coach, I wouldn't sell the Browns short they have a boat load of talent and they are extremely well coached as well. Man for man I believe the Browns are a much better team but the 3 superstars the Chiefs have are the great equalizers I get it. This game will come down to who wins in the trenches and I think that will be the Browns.