DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2021 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 17 Broncos 14 What I saw Denver Broncos

Watching the oline dictate to the Broncos dline
It reminded me of the Alex Gibbs olines back in the early 2000s
With the Broncos. The Broncos could put any RB in the lineup
And poof 100 yds
Bill Callahan is the MVP of this team. Not Chubb not Mayfield

Stefanski called a good balanced game. But gosh are the Broncos
Bad. They have worst QB situation in the NFL.

The Browns needed this win. But to only beat the Bronocs by
Only 3 is concerning.

Our OL did freaking dominate that game. I’d say we SHOULD have won it by at least two scores

This game surprised me.. The score was not what I expected.... And for sure no way I expected D'ernest Johnson to explode like that. I mean I thought he'd have a decent game,, but DAMN..

How about Njoku blocking,,,,, Good job.

Landry is still the man,..,, Hope he's OK.

Worried about Beckham,, not himself at all.

Keenum is a pretty good QB. Not flashy but plays hard (example that run for a 1st down)

All in all, fun to see a win,..

You can tell that OBJ absolutely knows he isn't producing in the manner of what he used to be, and he is getting VERY frustrated that he isn't finding a way to produce the way he used to.
It's like he knows something is missing, but can't figure out what it is. Plays that used to always just be there suddenly aren't.
He's way too young for it to be age or anything else catching up with him; I think it's just in his head maybe. Whatever it is, though, whenever it gets ironed out, he's gonna GO OFF.

And, yes, he is playing VERY UNSELFISH football. Everything the New York media ever wrote about him is a load of bull; he's a team guy and puts everything into every play he's out there. He's just at the back end of a bad string of things, but I believe he can pull himself through it. I believe that he and Juice can get him righted and those two can light it up together.

Great post. My additions:

1. Happy to get the win, but the reality is Denver with an injured Bridgewater is one of the worst teams in the league, and their defense was sleepwalking.

2. The former is not to diminish the great back against the wall win. My MVPs for the game are the Oline, DErnest, Stefanski, Case, and Jarvis

3. Jarvis is critical for this team. Simply put he can get open better than anyone on the team, especially in tight spaces and has great YAC ability.

4. Nothing against OBJ, he is trying hard. But I do not believe he is a star receiver anymore, and in fact is not a number one receiver. The proof is in the numbers and performance. I would rather have DPJ on the field.

5. We need at least one of Wills or Conklin in the game. Our ability to run or protect the QB is severely compromised otherwise. Wills made a huge difference tonight.

6. It was a serviceable effort by our D against probably the worst O in the league. Denver has no run game, no WR threats, and an injured QB. I don’t trust this D to stop anyone with firepower.

7. Baker must be saved from myself. I know this from his OU days. He would go out on the field with his arm dangling by a thread. He has been unrecognizable since the injury after looking at the end of last season, and in the preseason and Chiefs game like he was posed to have an MVP season. He needs to sit at least 4 weeks.

8. If Baker sits 4 weeks we need to win 2 out of 4. It is clear Case can be an efficient game manager, especially if our oline is even half healthy and Stefanski calls a smart game. As eotab states past 10 yards, Case’s ball dives, so we can’t get into shootouts. We need to score 21-24 points and have the defense play good. I think the o will do it part, we will see about the D. Hoping we can pull out the Steelers and Lions games.

9. For our final 6 games we simply have to have a downfield passing game, both because better defenses with limit our running, and those teams will score lots of points. That can’t be done with a injured Baker or a limp armed Keenum. Even if Baker has to sit through the first Ravens game (which would give him 2 more healing weeks with the bye) that is better than having him at half speed for the full season. I hope the Browns are smart enough to know that have to force him to heal, for both Bakers and the Browns good.

Stefanski called a great game. FWIW, I didn't see really any questionable play calls.

Keenum's long ball.... yikes.

Per one of Clem's posts, I'm going to create a Twitter account help with Garrett trending there, tweeting at nflofficiating. I hope everyone will join me. Social media can, in fact, be used for good; and this campaign is LONG overdue.
That said, I felt the officiating was vastly improved over the previous weeks (granted... nowhere to go but up, but still). What's up with us and the procedural penalties all of a sudden? All of those illegal formation flags were called on our vets.

For the record, the one procedural call on Njoku at the end, I felt that one was a penalty even before the flags were thrown. He clearly was wrong.
All of the 'blah blah not covering up the tackle' business, though, I have no idea on. The one called on the punt was just silly.

I don’t have anything against OBJ the person or teammate. He seems to be a great teammate.

But, for health, mental-block, or diminished ability, I don’t think he is still the star of 2016. Again he has shown nothing to even prove he is a #1 WR still. I do think both DPJ and Higgins are better at this point. It’s also true that being in a grind it out play action, dink-dunk offense doesn’t help him. I think on the Packers or Chiefs he would be a solid #2 WR and would have some up-side explosiveness. But I don’t think he is even a top 30 WR in the league at this point. I think his trade value is a 3-4 round pick.

I'll echo you. I'm not an OBJ hater. I'm a fan, and I'll always be hopeful that they can figure out whatever they need to figure out in order for him to return to form. At the end of the day, though... the NFL is a "what have you done for me lately" business. OBJ was supposed to be feeling the best he has in years coming off the multiple injuries he's faced. To immediately have a shoulder injury coming back from ACL is a HUGE red flag, IMO. Also, he's got a young guy (DPJ) that's getting it done in his spot. He's got Landry that makes and impact immediately once he returns to the field. You gotta look REALLY hard to keep finding reasons to try to feed OBJ the ball. It sucks.

I don't dislike OBJ the person and would be happy he's still on the team if he would start catching the ball consistently. His drops the last few weeks hurt us. I think his route running has too.

Good posts all -

I was at the game and a few random thoughts in no particular order.

- If we need Case for the rest of the season our ceiling is greatly diminished. He can't do what Baker does. As teams get tape that ceiling will only drop.

- Right from the introductions - Landry is such an important part and difference maker for the team. He was the last guy announced and the fans in the stand really got loud. OBJ was second last and there was significant volume for him - different level for Landry. Landry's plays were clutch and he brings a team positive dynamic ... where OBJ - while I think he brings effort and energy and wants to win as much as anyone - his energy is more inward focused somehow. My 2 cents.

- Anyone claiming OBJ gets open every play is flat out lying. I watched him n several plays - he gets free at the end of plays when it's broken down. He caught a brilliant one handed catch - dropped a drive killer that was more routine.

- I have mixed feelings on the D ... this was a game we let Denver back in. Denver are not good on offense. You can look at stats and yardage and say the D did good. The reality is the stadium went flat and everyone started to be concerned after the 2nd half drive. No amount of "It's third Down" being pumped into the stadium, or screens showing canned marketing cuts of players trying to pump the crowd up made a difference. In fact it was quote cringeworthy. Hate the fakeness of all that. Anyway - the D let Denver back in, the crowd was sort of pensive until a couple big plays on offense in the 4th. Against better teams we have a ways still to improve.

- I knew we'd be fine with Johnson at RB - he's flashed enough in the past. Loved his post game interviews. Hard not to love and root for him, he should eventually get his opportunity as a starter somewhere, even if it ends up being in rotation which is the style for so many teams now.

- First drive and the decision to receive the kick off were great ! May have been the difference between the W and a loss. When I heard "elected to receive" I thought Denver won the toss then they lined up and I thought - well hot damn !

Hope the team gets healthier and healthier. Baker needs extended time off to heal as much as he can and come back for the final 1/3 of the season as far as I am concerned. I'd rather scrape into the playoffs on a wild card and have Bake as healthy as possible at the end of the season that have the injury wear on and niggle away each week. Truly believe the injury is the single biggest difference between games 1 and 2 and a 80% completion rate (or whatever it was) and the struggles we saw later. Haters gonna paint a different picture but hey, what can you do? Case is NOT the answer.

We're better off keeping OBJ. He's more valuable to us than anything we can get for him. If he gets healthy he can still be a threat to any D. You're not going to get much for him maybe a 5th or 6th round pick. He's more valuable to us than that. JMO

What I saw was D'Ernest Johnson ripping through the Broncos D like a knife through hot butter.

jc

Is there going to be a replay of the game on the NFL Network or another channel. I'm on call and couldn't watch the game.

The best thing you could do is become a NFL Game Pass member on NFL.com. It costs $99.99. You can see every game played in the NFL for the last few years.

That is the only thing you can do other than watch the highlights:

Keenan is a dome QB. He does not have the arm to play in weather.

Overlooked in all of this is that Stanton was more than serviceable as a FB, and scored a TD.

I liked him in pre season and frankly I am not surprised.

Good call. He had an excellent game. I'd love to hear how his inline blocking stacks up, because if there isn't a huge dropoff, Stanton has another dimension to his game.

excellent defense
2nd the offenses thrive after us because we are the bully boys.
3rd sacks excellent job McDowell,Garrett,and Clowney.
4th offensive line best drive of the year to close out game.
5th the team layed it self into the layoff lead.
6th 10 wr excellent

jackson...I don't completely agree about #10. I've watched him too many times slow down near the end of his route instead of continuing full out for the ball. This game, a pass looked to be overthrown but had he continued flat out instead of slowing down when he looked back, he'd either have had a chance for the ball, or perhaps penalty, as the defender at his side would have impeded him.

He's done that before and maybe that's the kind of thing he'll learn and get better with because when you are that fast it should be evident.

I was going to make an exact same post ... I agree 100% ...I was wondering if it is an eyesight issue of some sort.

I'm betting he just can't run full out, or doesn't trust himself to, while turning his head to look for the ball.
So, he turns to look and may not even realize that he's not running full-out anymore.

They have replayed the game twice on NFLN since Thursday night

A WIN

The thing that stuck out to me the most was how quickly the ball came out of Case’s hand … he has no arm at all and were in trouble with him at QB but it does beg the question why Bake holds it so long …. Could be that strong arm wants big plays all the time or could be he is slow at processing info … I am not sure just spitballing, there was a noticeable difference in length of time before release …. I highly doubt it was because the WR’s were getting open quicker for him … hopefully Bake can learn from watching, we need Bake …

I saw JJ3 make a play in the box then the pick then after that I wasn’t sure if he played the rest of the game ….

I saw a very good performance by the D get crapped on in the game day thread even though we gave up 14 points and 223 yards …. Some of the dolts were even calling for Wood’s pink slip …. After that game it’s either simply piling on or a lack of football knowledge …. Joe has his issues but bashing him during/after that game is just ignorant!

I saw us play a lot more press coverage than I can ever remember and this begs the question why don’t we do it more cause that is by far my biggest issue with Woods … he’s not stupid so I doubt he finally figured it out … was it because he listened to the players or was he told to from above, was it because of the lack of skills of the WRs we played against or the QB we were playing against … once again, just spitballing but I hope we see a lot more of it in the future ….

The OL dominate ….

Johnson get every ounce out of his ability and simply refuse to go down … what an incredible effort … nothing there and a man with very limited physical skills said “I got this” … he is not quick, he is slow but has great vision and refused to go down … all things considered it was one of the best individual performances I’ve seen in years … GOOD FOR HIM … he deserved 3 game balls …

A WIN and now a chance to heal … this is a very important upcoming 10 days and will be huge in determining how far we can go this year … not sure there’s ever been a more important mini bye week in our history especially with our bye still 5 or 6 weeks away …

Fingers crossed!

If baker is our future then we can’t put him out there too early. Look, we’ve seen the best of baker. We aren’t going anywhere if baker isn’t even 70% heathy.

I rather keenum get the start against the Steelers, even those if it sounds really selfish that I rather him get knocked around that bake.

One thing I saw in this game is that Stefanski is a great playcaller, so it’s strange that some of the rollouts and line movement we saw with keenum we barely saw with bake. I’m looking at the game plan going “yo if Stefanski calls this game the same way with baker, it’s a blowout.”

Our D gave up next to nothing. Broncos have legit weapons and while bridgewater is average as a QB, his mobility helped save him from looking up at the stars all night.

Dunno what’s going on with OBJ but maybe he just needs a change of scenery. He’s a great talent, but a wrong fit. Nobody’s fault, just didn’t work out. It happens. I tried to shoot him bail with baker, but baker wasn’t out there and he’s still dropping catches. To be fair, he has been a great teammate, blocks his ass off, and did catch two passes on the drive that ended up in a TD.

This game was great because we won. It’s also terrible because we won. And it’s because it was clear that this offense doesn’t run through the QB, it runs through our O line and run game. That’s gonna be an issue come contract time with bake.

I'm not sure I agree about problems come contract time because it was Denver and we 're not winning many games scoring 17 and as you said, this game was a blowout with Bake

In another game it would be 24 points. The Browns took the 3 point win rather than giving the ball back to Denver.

It was the correct decision.

I agree. Putting him out there could be a big risk. The fractured bone is new information and changes things IMO. That takes it from a relatively simple fix, if any such thing is simple to an entirely different issue if he gets hit and out and out breaks the bone. Now you are talking about screws, plates, what not which turns recovery in to an entirely different issue.

I trust what the Dr.'s think, but the attitude on playing Baker seems to have taken a turn with the starting of Keenum last week. What we don't know is was the fracture there and undetected before the Chargers game, or did it crack during the Chargers game? I suppose there is no answer to that but the revelation of a fracture takes things in to a whole new realm.

I don't know how long it would take a fracture like his to heal, but it seems reasonable to think it will take over a week or two.

I think you may talking about the labrum, eo.

But the broken bone is the bigger issue at the moment. You can’t have a QB exposing a broken shoulder bone to NFL pass rushers. I say roll with Case another two or three weeks, see Bake in early December.

That hit Baker took in the AZ game (where Watt was signalling to the ref) was a doozy. He got smacked and then landed super awkward on that arm. It was bent back behind him at a weird angle when he landed. If there was already a tear, it definitely got worse on that hit.

Browns played hard the entire game and squeaked out a win. When I saw the injury report before the game I was like ... ouch this is going to be an ugly game. I was not disapointed. Still, I was very proud of the effort they put in.

Mayfield has a torn labrum. The season is over for him. It's a 3 month minimum injury that many take 5 to 6 months to heal from. I had the same injury and it gets so bad you can't even pick your arm up because your shoulder simply stops functioning. It's why he was playing so bad. It's actually amazing he got out there at all. Either way his season is done regardless of how he feels about it.

Our third string RB played very well. I'm so glad we have him. He hits the hole a little too slow but once he punches it he accelerates VERY fast. I just really liked how he played in that game.

It's a long time before we get a bye week so I'm glad they have this longer week to rest up some people.

Landry was clutch as always but is obviously playing hurt. OBJ is also playing hurt and it shows but kudos to him for toughing it out but he does need to work on maintaining his focus so he stop dropping the ball SOOOOOO much. Swartz is still a lost little duck out there and we don't have a QB atm that can even make use of him so he should just ride the bench. Our next game, I doubt defenses even try to protect the deep ball so I hope Higgens and Landry, along with, our TEs get to steal the show. Give our poor back up QB LOTS of short field targets to choose from and spread the field wide like a WCO to make use of what little our back up QB can do.

The D-line was so banged up that I just felt bad for them. I hope they can get more healthy by the time of our next game. Our DBs looked adequate but those guys are not healthy either.

I have a feeling that having a winning record by the time our Bye week rolls around is going to be hard to achieve with all the injuries we have. When we win it's going to be ugly wins just like this game was. Still the late bye will give us a chance to rest and make a push for the playoffs if we can manage to get a few more wins. I wish the Browns all the best and hope they do it!

There's usually a thing with athletes. At least many of them. While I only played in high school the rule still applied to me. No matter the injury you still convince yourself you can play. You convince yourself that no matter what the evidence shows, that injury still doesn't hurt your performance. Your #1 goal is to play no matter what situation you're confronted with. That's when the coaches and team doctors must take over. Anyone watching knows the impact that Bakers injury had on his performance. They can see the negative impact it has on his accuracy. That's why such decisions can not be left up to the players themselves.

I haven't seen the X-Rays nor would I know what they meant if I had seen them. But I can see what was happening on the field after his injury. I'm not seeing how him starting can lead to anything good until he has healed.

Like I said, he has a torn labrum AND a broken arm at the shoulder joint. It's in the official injury report and has been widely reported. That means his shoulder won't work anymore. A brace won't fix it my freind. If they put Baker into another game this year then they are ending his career for good and we will be drafting a new QB. That would be sad because if treated properly a torn labrum can be fully healed with surgery and time off.

Baker should be placed on the IR NOW. I don't care what he wants. The team should be put in jail if they let him out on that field with the injuries he has.

Talk about an overreaction.