DawgTalkers.net Forums DawgTalk Pure Football Forum AFC North News and Notes 2021

Week Four Results:

Browns 3-1
Bengals 3-1
Ravens 3-1
Steelers 1-3

Whatever it is that Baker has going on needs to get fixed before next Sunday.
I'm confident in our defense being able to handle them plenty well, but we NEED this offense to be better. Much better.

Steelers should lose.
Ravens will waltz to another W.
Bengals should lose.

Either the Ravens will be all alone at the top, or it will be them and us.

I think Pittsburgh can beat Denver … their offense isn’t great. It may be a low scoring slug fest

BUT we can hope for a fluke in Indy and a Lamar loss...

That’d be awesome. Indy was SUPPOSED to be a contender, though they’ve looked shoddy thus far

It's possible, but I just don't see Ben doing much against the Denver D. I think he's going to get beat up pretty bad; like I could see 5+ sacks, easily.

The Denver O won't have to be good, they'll just have to be "good enough". Three FG's could win it, I think.


Man, I would LOVE for Indy to wake up and take them down!

Austin Eckler is one of the LA chargers Rb's probably tops the list.
I don't know hardly anything about Austin Eckler, and the Browns play that team next.
So I'm asking is Austin Eckler a thing?

24 is the new 32.

Watch the man run.
Watch him jump cut to the hole, and run downhill with power.
Watch him make arm tacklers wish they'd called in sick on work day.
Watch him carry 3 would-be tacklers another 3 yards beyond point-of-contact.

Watch him hand the ball to the ref, whether it's after a play on the 35 yard line... or the end zone.

I am a huge fan of 24.
For all the right reasons.

I agree, and don't care about the rushing title and carries.

Henry is a great back and I would be happy if he was a Brown, but I like the Chubb/Hunt combo.

Henry gets the load because he is the only one to give it to for the Titans. I suspect if the Titans had Hunt on Henry's wing, Henry's carries would be reduced.

Nick Chubb is every bit a Gentleman.....except when he carries the ball.

Not only that, but Henry is going to wear out fast.

You said it, Clem. 24 is 32, and I would not be the least bit surprised if someone told me that 32 has told 24 as much. When I watch 24 run, and slowly get up, and calmly hand the ball to the ref, I feel like I'm watching footage of 32. I'm not old enough to have watch 32 play, but I've been around long enough to see plenty of highlights.

Humility, quiet, gentlemanly, punishing, determined, violent.
He *IS* the legacy of Cleveland Browns Running Backs.

Probably if you use logic. Then again, it's hard to predict when someone is going to wear out.

Injury and wearing out might not be the same thing....or maybe they are.

That'll come in handy in December when Chubb isn't wore down from having to carry the offense.

Having Chubb and Hunt will make them both better in the long run.

Henry has always had the carries for that offense, but I've caught snippets of their offense on TV, and it just seems more than ever that he's the standout cog in that offense this year. Tannehill has carried them at times, but I have seen very little of that and it mostly being Henry running the ball.

Not sustainable.

Yeah, it's pretty one dimensional. We all saw what happened last year when you get a quick lead on them combined with Henry having a rough day. Of course we tried to keep them in the game with sneak fumbles and whatnot.

Actually the longevity of a RB is measured more by his carries than his age as a general rule. Sure there are exceptions but it's usually the wear and tear on the body that determines the outcome.

With the combination of Hunt/Chubb we always have fresh legs in the backfield and decrease the chances of injury. They seem to be fine with splitting the carries.

It's not a method to win NFL rushing titles but it's certainly the team fist concept and I for one love it.

Measuring NFL Running Back Longevity: Falling Off the 1,800-Carry Cliff

https://www.numberfire.com/nfl/news/4940...800-carry-cliff

Wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster injured his right shoulder in Sunday's 27-19 win over the Denver Broncos on Sunday. The Pittsburgh Steelers were reportedly worried that it would end his season, and it looks like they were right to be concerned.

According to NFL Network's Ian Rapoport, Smith-Schuster is expected to have surgery on his shoulder soon, and will miss the rest of the season.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/rep...ason/ar-AAPnF1E

Shoulder surgery doesn’t seem like a bad option when the other option is watching your QB check it down to the running back 50% of the time.

Also reminds me of Barry Sanders, always handing the ball to the refs, and calmly walking back to the huddle or sideline.

Week Five Results:

Ravens 4-1
Browns 3-2
Bengals 3-2
Steelers 2-3

Stupid Colts pulled a Browns.

i just had a feeling the ravens would still pull it out all game

AFC North Bye Weeks:

Steelers - Week 7
Ravens - Week 8
Bengals - Week 10
Browns - Week 13

Seriously, how are we going to limp along for eight more weeks?

It's gonna be tough.

j/c:

Johnny Stanton SZN!

I didn't even realized Janovich was hurt...So Hubbard, and MJ Stewart also joining him on IR...So hopefully that means we got good news with Ward, Greedy, Conklin...or god, I surely hope so!

Seems like parity would be for 16 teams to have a week 8 bye, and the other 16 teams have a week 9 bye.

I have been saying that for years...Get all of them out of the way in weeks 8 and 9. You would probably have to reverse 2 teams from each conference to allow the Networks to have their games.

You would have challenges with Fantasy Football schedules, so that has no chance of happening.

You know Stefanski has some Johnny Stanton truck plays up his sleeve.

j/c...

PFF CLE Browns
@PFF_Browns
Highest-graded #Browns through five games (min. 125 snaps)

Myles Garrett, EDGE- 90.1
Joel Bitonio, OG- 89.9
Greedy Williams, CB- 85.8
Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, LB- 85.3
Kareem Hunt, RB- 83.0

https://twitter.com/PFF_Browns/status/1447912669873328130

Staunton was noticeably slow in the backfield in the preseason games, just keep that in mind before using a bunch of Johnny Staunton trick plays.

Can Anyone spell out, a "likely" way the Browns even get in the playoffs as Any seed, if the Browns get swept by the Ravens again?

And Until I See it, I don't think, any team is beating the Ravens until they sit their starters the final week at 15-1.
If the Browns defense can stop the Ravens from running their quarterback, How are they also going to begin stopping the deepest pass receiver?

I don't know that I would call them trick plays. Stanton seemed quite versatile in the way Stefanski used him during the preseason. I actually felt he may beat out Janovich for a roster spot.

I am talking about trick plays. Stanton was a QB in college.

J/C

I have a feeling that Pittsburgh is getting to 3-3 this week and Baltimore will nip the Chargers (because of course they will)

This feels like a must win for us.

i actually agree. the AFC is a gauntlet at the moment. We can’t get to 3-3 while Baltimore/LA/KC/BUF all loom large ahead of us

Yeah, not something I noticed on the schedule initially, but we played the Chiefs on the road in a high emotion/intensity game for both teams. They win and go TO Baltimore the following week.

Then we play the Chargers on the road, play a back-and-forth exhausting game. They win and go TO Baltimore the following week.

Meanwhile, the Steelers luck into that week 1 win, and now play Geno Smith instead of Russ Wilson. I try not to be superstitious, but these are some terrible in-season scheduling breaks so far. And as of today, it sure looks like we will be with the Steelers in the BASEMENT of the AFCN on Monday.

Stefanski has a streak going, and that streak will be put to the test like never before vs Cardinals with our injury situation. This early stretch of schedule has mostly been pretty tough, whereas our division has had it much easier so far. It'll eventually balance out. I'd rather be winning games throughout, but getting our win/loss back to where it should be vs our division late in the season isn't the worst thing in the world.