I will say the the Browns were essentially playin a prevent style of defense for the whole game. Several times Romo commented on the fact that the Browns were playing with 2 deep safeties, and that the underneath passes were there.
It worked except for the Hill TD, but that is Mahommes.
They really did not bring much pressure at all. They are more successful when some additional pressure was brought.
Woods will have to gain some trust in the new players.. I felt that he was too conservative with the defense, and did not really do anything to take away Kelse and Hill
There will be no playoffs. Can’t play with who we have out there and compounding it with garbage playcalling and worse execution. We don’t have good skill players on offense period. Browns 20 - Bears 17.
* I understand why we played the Safeties deep, but man, we needed to get home with the pressure more.
* We pressured Mahomes on almost every play. Myles was close ALL DAY. We just couldn't cover the underneath stuff well enough, or when we did, Mahomes used his legs and made something happen.
* Mahomes did what he does so well ... he beat our pressure.
* Maliks in the Middle: these guys are good. McDowell's early TFL was beautiful. He has a motor.
* Billings looks like he ate a Billings
* Schwartz was a fun surprise. Ski did a good job of hiding him away all summer; I don't think anyone could have guessed he'd have this much of a role already. I'm looking forward to sets where he & OBJ see the field together and both take the lid off the D
* Baker was a monster today.
* Chubb & Hunt - you could tell that both of them wanted this one SOOOOO BADLY.
* Clowney was really damn good. Our run D was solid!
* Guys were swarming and hitting fast.
* This offense moves in BIG chunks.
* In the end, they made more big plays than we did.
Browns is the Browns
... there goes Joe Thomas, the best there ever was in this game.
Tough game. I’d say it was a choke job in the 4th quarter by the entire team. We had this game in the bag but we gotta finish.
Honestly, there’s no moral victories, but our defense will be better. First game of the season, no reason to panic.
This team doesn't believe in 'moral victories.' Their new culture won't allow for something as lame as that.
This team believes in lessons learned. It's what Stefanski has preached since Day One... and the team has bought in.
This game taught some valuable lessons that will stand them in good stead, later in this season:
Gotta close. Gotta slam the door. Early, and with authority. Can't make mental errors against a championship team like KC. Turnovers kill in a tight game.
____________________
Elves are ready.
If they play this same game against anyone but 2, maybe 3 (elite) teams- they pull out the win.
Absorb the loss. Learn the lessons. Come back stronger.
This is the season when Browns fans watch their New Culture get established. It may or may not result in a Lombardi, but it will establish a team that can contend for the Lombardi on a regular basis.
Create a team that is consistently "in the hunt," and the rings will follow.
Elves can play straight-up with the best in the league. They proved it today. Now, they have to take that next step.
Nothing that happened prior to the last minute drive was relevant. The QB has to be able to put the team on his shoulders to win games. Baker has zero come from behind wins against contender-quality opponents. Zero. In 3+ seasons. All of his signature wins against contender-quality opponents, he was playing from in front the whole game.
I hear moxie. Competitor. Wants to win. But when it matters most against the teams you need to beat to win it all, he doesn't deliver.
That's the difference in the game.
The Browns will win a lot of games. The Browns will probably make the playoffs. Baker should get extended. Good QBs don't grow on trees. But I don't ever think the Browns will win it all unless Baker can demonstrate he can put the team on his shoulders to win a game against a contender-quality opponent. Not the Cincinattis of the world.
This game felt, to me, like the 'quicksand' Shane described in The Replacements. How everything was going great, until one thing went wrong, then another, then another...
1. #GMstrong 2. "I'm just trying to be the best Nick I can be." ~ Nick Chubb 3. Forgive me Elf, I didn’t have faith. ~ Tulsa 4. ClemenZa #1
It is a four quarter game. You can not make the mistakes we made against a team as good as the Chiefs.
I knew there would be the Baker cracks from some on this Board.
Baker played a great game. Sometimes credit has to be given to the other team. On the int. Baker did Not try and force the ball. The guy who hit him made a great play. Baker was trying to throw the ball away.
IMO the game changer was when we scored to go up two scores. Then Mahomes throws a desperation pass that should have been a int. He got away with it and it was a td.
The momentum changed. The Chiefs got life. Then we gave them 10 points.
You can not fumble. And you sure as hell can not drop a perfect snap on a punt.
That is how you lose to a team as good as the Chiefs. =====================================================
On to the next game. You must learn from a game like this to win later. I would rather lose now as painful as it was than later.
In a alternate dimension, Chubb doesn't fumble, we keep the Chiefs on their heels and score.
We win the game.
That was the exact phrase I used with my family: we had the chiefs on their heels the WHOLE game, epsecially that drive. We were gonna score another TD. Bad timing.
The punter mishap also deflated the balloon, along with the untimely sack by Chris Jones
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
It was just the first game. Yes I'm disappointed but I expected the Browns to lose this game. I still say the Browns are going to win the division. They will beat Houston next week.
This was a weird one for me. First, the offense is going to be a monster this year. I will say I'm surprised that we were so TE heavy although I think Njoku needs to be recognize for having a good game. Hooper looked pretty fluid too.
Baker is a different athlete than we've seen before. Dude is in shape, moves much more fluidly and doesn't seem like he's running with a load on his back.
The Malik's had a really good game today. Unfortunately I think they may have been the bright spot from the D-Line.
The secondary looks fast, had some fantastic PBU's and almost had a few picks. They didn't look out of position on every play like they did last year. M.J. Stewart had a pretty good day.
Can anyone tell me what the role of our LBers are in Wood's defense? I get they aren't the focal point, but it almost looks to me like they are under utilized or don't really have an purpose. I'm not calling for him to be fired. But sometimes its like we have 11 players on the field, but we aren't playing with 11 players.
"Hey, I'm a reasonable guy. But I've just experienced some very unreasonable things." -Jack Burton
-It looks like the Harvard Boys know what they are doing after all.
It is a four quarter game. You can not make the mistakes we made against a team as good as the Chiefs.
I knew there would be the Baker cracks from some on this Board
Only just coming to read the board. I was disappointed after the game, but only because we were so very close to winning. Before the game my hope was that we played well, looked like a well coached team and that we played hard and disciplined ... we did all that, and the game turned on the 3 things you mentioned - a fumble by Chubb who is world class but not perfect, a botched punt and the very fortunate TD throw by Mahomes. Mahomes played brilliantly, but that play was as much luck as anything.
Baker played a great game. If there is unkind criticism of Baker on this board then it is going to say everything about the poster and not Baker.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
I agree. I dont see how someone can criticize Baker after yesterday. I have a friend who likes the bills who texted me saying: “Man, Baker always blows it” … to me he was very good yesterday. He needs to keep improving when we need him most, but I was happy with him yesterday
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
Baker was 21-28 for 321. Only 9 passes completed to wide outs. Landry caught 5 for 71 Swartz 3-69 Peoples-Jones 1-4
TEs caught 7 Njoku 3-76 Hooper 3-27 Bryant 1-17
RBs 5 Hunt 3-28 Chubb 2-18
But according to some none of that matters !! Neither does giving up 14 points to a fumble and botched Punt. Neither does giving Mahomes, Hill and Kelce the middle and underneath all day.
The more things change the more they stay the same.
I get all the emotions that people are feeling. We have absolutely blowed for so long with no obvious prospects of getting better that we are all so ready to be the team that wins no matter what - the patriots, chiefs, stoolers. Any step back from that level feels like a disappointment, especially given the crazy talented roster we have built. The fact is, this team is not the complete team we will see. Covid, roster turnover, situational football all requires a gestational period for the team to grow. We’re ALL impatient for the final product, for that team that goes into ANY game confident that they can walk out with a win. We’re not that team yet. It’s very close.
It’s hard to get your hands around the defense. They were SO bad last year. Woods was forced to use players that couldn’t operate in his system. What worries me about Woods is that he’s unable to adjust. I don’t know what the exact game plan was but it looked like the plan was to give them the short game in favor of the long game. Those game plans never look good. It LOOKS like they are having great success against us but the reality is that we’re limiting big plays to stay with them. That scheme is designed to keep the offense within striking distance at the end of the game. We were there.
In the end, mistakes and the ridiculous circus BS that Mahommes pulls off did us in. We will see them in the playoffs and hopefully, our growth will have continued to the level that we are capable of. We had the game in hand. The plan worked. We have to keep pushing.
This was a weird one for me. First, the offense is going to be a monster this year. I will say I'm surprised that we were so TE heavy although I think Njoku needs to be recognize for having a good game. Hooper looked pretty fluid too.
Baker is a different athlete than we've seen before. Dude is in shape, moves much more fluidly and doesn't seem like he's running with a load on his back.
The Malik's had a really good game today. Unfortunately I think they may have been the bright spot from the D-Line.
The secondary looks fast, had some fantastic PBU's and almost had a few picks. They didn't look out of position on every play like they did last year. M.J. Stewart had a pretty good day.
Can anyone tell me what the role of our LBers are in Wood's defense? I get they aren't the focal point, but it almost looks to me like they are under utilized or don't really have an purpose. I'm not calling for him to be fired. But sometimes its like we have 11 players on the field, but we aren't playing with 11 players.
I did notice one thing that I thought was really interesting. I think it was late in the 3rd, possible early in the 4th but definitely later in the game. Chiefs were still down by 12 but their offense suddenly got super methodical. They weren't rushing at all, just methodically moving down the field. Browns on the other hand were playing as if they were the team down by 12. It was a stark difference, and probably something you won't see unless you play against an offense like the Chiefs. Browns seemed to be desperate to score because they knew a 12 point lead with a quarter+ left wasn't going to do it(?). I dunno, it was jarring for the wrong team to be playing so calm and the other seemingly desperate.
The more I re-watch, the more I like how Baker played. Dude showed up and had a good game. Has to be "extra extra" locked in on those final drives, but it's a long season... one loss isn't going to kill us. This loss might actually be key to our season... offense continues to roll and the D comes together, we should be seeing this KC team again and we'll be ready and willing to take it to them.
add: there seemed to be a lot of confusion on the back-end of our defense. Lots of frustrated hands in the air and pointing. KC can definitely do that to you, but I think there are some low-hanging fruit for this D to iron out. KC Week1 with a re-tooled D is just going to have to go down as a tough draw.
Last edited by oobernoober; 09/13/2109:07 AM.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
Now thst we’re all reset and calm from yesterday, let’s be clear about something:
Baker is one baaaaaaaddd man. Them throws he was making yesterday. That wasn’t baker from even last year. That look like Oklahoma baker, just out here with assassin like accuracy. Beautiful throw after beautiful throw.
It’s sucks it that Schwartz couldn’t make that one catch, but this guy has huge potential.
Nick Chubb fumbling is like Haley’s comet, so I’m not worried about it whatsoever.
Our defense will get better. We gotta remember that this is still the chiefs, and that’s still Patrick mahomes with the best WR and TE in the league.
This team will be fine.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
It really came down to maybe four or five plays. That was the margin of difference between KC and the Browns. I'm pissed they lost it but it's not like they just melted down completely.
In no particular order...
The incompleted pass to Schwartz that was broken up by a defender getting his arm in there just like they're supposed to do. Solid defense by KC.
The muffed punt.
Chubb putting the ball on the ground. That was some solid D and tackling that made that happen.
The last second interception as Mayfield was trying to dump the ball out of bounds. Again, solid D caused that turnover.
I'd make Harrison ride home on a Greyhound bus after that little display. He let the team down in a big way. Even though I really wanted to see him deck the Chief's assistant, you just can't do stuff like that.
KC straight up won that game. They made opportunities for scoring and taking control of the clock. They also didn't make any errors that gave the Browns any edge at all. Despite that, the Browns put up some pretty serious numbers against the Chiefs. It was a fairly enjoyable game, which is a huge improvement over what I've seen the last few years.
Unless the Browns D gets it in gear they will lose a few more like that one. To quote the famous Russian scientist, "Not great, not terrible..."
If the offense plays like that against most of their opponents this year there will be an awful lot of scrub time in the second half. They're going to put up some seriously crazy numbers.
"Let people think this is a dumpster fire," - Mike Pettine
I don't think I am bringing anything to this conversation that hasn't been said. Chubb, Baker, and Gillan all had back-breaking mistakes. You can't have that. Defensively we knew we were going to struggle, and I thought the defense played ok for the most part. There's room to get better, but they played well enough for the Browns to win this game.
Sounds like the injury to Wills is not season ending, that is good to hear.
Mahomes is just so good. The Browns did not get after him enough, but even when they beat their man, Mahomes is just so good sliding out of trouble.
Browns can play with anyone. I love that fans were freaking out after game one of SEVENTEEN. They will get better, and if they have any plans on trying to win a championship, they will likely see these guys again down the road.
I loved going for 2 after that opening drive touchdown. I liked a lot of those first half play calls. They had KC confused all day. Chubb ran well. He had one costly mistake, but otherwise he was a machine.
Baker cannot throw that ball. If he was trying to throw it away, miss it short. Brady does that all the time. Just throw it in the dirt near a wr. Live to fight another down. It was a first down play too, which just stings more. That was a tough way to end the game.
Tough game. I’d say it was a choke job in the 4th quarter by the entire team. We had this game in the bag but we gotta finish.
Honestly, there’s no moral victories, but our defense will be better. First game of the season, no reason to panic.
Yeah this loss hurt pretty bad.
I was thinking the entire game "How are we going to blow it this time" and sure enough we found a way to do it. This one was ours for the taking, gotta start learning how to finish these off if we want to take the next step.
I don't get why the Chiefs assistant, who shoved Harrison to initiate the whole thing, wasn't also thrown out.
Micah 6:8; He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.
John 14:19 Jesus said: Because I live, you also will live.
Not only that but all the media coverage I've read minimizes Lewis' role. They talk about how Harrison shoved the assistant and then mention that Harrison was shoved.
I get a bad feeling that the Chiefs are going to be our next Broncos.
my dad’s exact quote yesterday. He’s like this trend is not one I have good memories with.
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
Not only that but all the media coverage I've read minimizes Lewis' role. They talk about how Harrison shoved the assistant and then mention that Harrison was shoved.
The commentary was abysmal on that incident. First Harrison clearly didn't intend to step on the downed player. That was a result of getting pushed back from the Chief trying to give him a little extra after the play. I don't think anyone has a problem with a coach trying to prevent an injury when players are tangled but what that coach did wasn't that. He should have been ejected. And Romo and company kept a) insinuating that Harrison purposefully stepped on the player AND at least 3 times acted like they had no idea what happened before Harrison hit the coach. It was clear as day!
It would be interesting to know what the original penalty on the KC bench was called for: the player giving Harrison a little extra pushing him back or the coach taking a shot at him.
"Hey, I'm a reasonable guy. But I've just experienced some very unreasonable things." -Jack Burton
-It looks like the Harvard Boys know what they are doing after all.
The commentary was annoying all game. Maybe its just that we always lose with them, but Romo gets too giddy when we are down lol
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
I understand that the new defense will take some time to gel...HOWEVER...our vaunted DLine is either coached quite poorly and/or is simply overrated.
The Chiefs had all new starters on the OLine...rookies at C, RG & RT. They managed to gel in time for the 1st game yesterday.
I think MG is overrated...super talented and a very good player...but he's not the "FORCE" that gets thrown out there. (I realize that will go over like a fart in church...and NO...I don't want to trade him.) Watching him consistently get pushed three yards past Mahommes was maddening. I think he's too/more focused on getting the sacks than he is disrupting the play. JMO.
McDowell looked terrific until he ran out of gas. Seeing Anthony Walker's back-of-jersey chasing the ball carrier down field reminded me of...well...insert any Browns MLB STR. No one else on D was noticeable to me...Stewart wasn't awful in place of Harrison.
Woods was given a TON of talent this off-season and it didn't show all that great yesterday. We couldn't get home on Mahommes time and time again. Not once (seemingly) were we content to keep him in the tackle box and I don't remember anyone disrupting the middle of the line.
No one can cover Kelce and Hill for the amount of time that Mahommes had yesterday...that guy makes his living on broken plays throwing the ball to uncover-able guys in a scramble drill. Defenses MUST get pressure on Mahommes...I'd rather send Walker up the middle (even if fruitlessly) on a blitz/contain than watch him chase Kelce (absolutely fruitlessly).
The new defense didn't look all that different than the old defense...the salve on the wound is that it did open against the Chiefs and on the road...so there is some meaning there...until you remember the Chiefs OL that was 100% new guys.
I know our DBs were playing to keep everything in front but there were more than a few absolutely beautiful pass break ups by them.
Yep. I think Johnson had a great pas break up in the end zone.
People need to chill on the Woods hate. We got a lot of new guys who haven’t played together on defense and they did pretty well. It’s gonna be ok.
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
Mack Wilson needs to go. Dude literally handed Mahomes his running TD. Mahomes was scrambling then decides to turn it up field and Wilson comes from the goal line out to meet him but over runs the play when all he had to do was to come out get in front of Mahomes and stop so that he could contain him.
Wilson has always been bad. We just dont have any better, which is hard to believe.
Comparing Wilson to Pittsburgh LBs, Buffalo LBs, etc. is sad
"First down inside the 10. A score here will put us in the Super Bowl. Cooper is far to the left as Njoku settles into the slot. Moore is flanked out wide to the right. Chubb and Ford are split in the backfield as Watson takes the snap ... Here we go."
I think Mahommes did more than his fair share to mitigate the mismatch in the trenches. He got the ball out quick and tended to move up in the pocket instead of his run backwards tendency. I also think our interior D got gassed in the second half. I think Malik will be a force but his conditioning let him down in crunch time. I didn't see as much push later on in the game. That looooong drive in the 3rd must've killed them.
I don't expect our D to be one of those dynasty-level suffocating defenses. I expect them to be more of an opportunistic D. One that can keep the game from getting out of hand, and give the ball back to the O at least a couple times. That didn't happen yesterday (did we take the ball away even once?). I think we saw some good things out of our Dline, but not enough.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
I know our DBs were playing to keep everything in front but there were more than a few absolutely beautiful pass break ups by them.
Yep. I think Johnson had a great pas break up in the end zone.
People need to chill on the Woods hate. We got a lot of new guys who haven’t played together on defense and they did pretty well. It’s gonna be ok.
Ward had a beauty on Hill. Ran with the guy up the field and across the whole way and came in and knock the ball out of his hands.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
This is my oversimplified layman's point of view in a memo to Coach Stef: When a play opens up like it did with Nick Chubb going about 20 yards untouched for a score, use that play again and again until they stop it.
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