DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2022 NFL Season Gameday vs Cincinnati Browns vs Bengals Recap

The Post Game thread is readable this week, but I figured I'll make this a regular weekly thread. I'd like to keep it about things that happened during the game. Not all year long. Not firing anyone. Not the FO. Just things that happened in this specific game.

--I mentioned this on the Woods and the Defense thread, but I noticed that we played 4 DE's after Cinci was forced to play catch-up. We took our DTs out and inserted Thomas and Wright to go along w/Myles and Clowney. That helped improve our pass rush.

--Thomas caught my eye in preseason and he has played well these past two weeks. He still makes mistakes and isn't the best at setting the edge, but he can get after the passer.

--Another thing I noticed is that we ran a lot of plays w/seven offensive linemen. We inserted both Dunn and Hudson into the game to go along w/our starters. I think we even had an o-lineman at FB. This move helped out a lot because Bryant is certainly not the blocker that Njoku is. He's too weak.

--Jacoby had a great game. Very accurate. Good decisions. Calm and solid. He did hold the ball a beat too long a few times, but our OL did a good job against a pretty good Bengal front. I also think that Jacoby is a really good guy. It's easy for me to root for him. He cares a lot and is not an ego-maniac. Seems like a great teammate/leader.

--Chubb and Hunt were their usual marvelous selves. It seems wrong to ignore them, but it seems weird to talk about them much because EVERYONE recognizes how good they are.

--DPJ is quietly having a very good year. He's really strong and athletic. I'm not sure if he gets open all the time or how good his route running is, but I do know that he catches the ball when he gets the opportunity to do so.

--I thought the OL had a very strong game after a couple of games in a row when they weren't their usual magnificent selves.

--I did not like the Emerson draft choice. I was wrong. He's pretty damn good. And very good for a rookie. He's pretty physical, too. Tough guy.

--Our corners were very good last night.

--Delpit was good against the run, but still lost in coverage.

--JJ seemed to have a better game and played w/more fire and desire.

--I thought our play calling and scheme were excellent on both offense and defense.

--The one play call where Cooper threw the pick was bad, though. The WR was wide open, but the Bengals got quick pressure and Coop was lost.

--Speaking of Cooper, I hope people are now certain about whether or not he is a very good route runner. I remember the argument about that during camp.

--We seem to have Cinci's number. Not sure why that is. We were definitely way more physical than they were.

--I thought we got very good pressure w/our front four, but we also brought some timely blitzes w/both Taki and Jones.

--I thought those two LBers played very well. Taki has really improved. He's more physical than our other guys. Jones seems like a true professional and I noticed he did a better job of getting adequate depth on his drops in pass coverage, which is something that has been an issue all year.

--The fans were great last night. The place was really rockin' at times. That was nice to see and it made me feel good to see them supporting the team.

One thing that I wondered to myself … connecting the dots: we had the fewest miscommunications against baltimore and Cincinnati than we’ve really had all year.

Common denominator: no Ward


Like you said, DPJ, Taki, Thomas, our backup OL all played integral roles in the win

I also thought the new LB looked much better last night than last week

I made the same connection after the Baltimore game; adding to that it isn't just the miscommunications, but the ability to know how/where to line up (the one goal line play comes to mind). Ward has been the cause of more issues than not so far this year.
Now, maybe he's the guy the players are referring to that need to treat this like their job and actually study and learn? Maybe he's just trying to get out of Cleveland?

No matter what it is, something has been up with Ward this year and it is glaring.

What a waste of of a #1 and a #4 pick in the same draft. We have possibly come away empty. I just shake my head....

I'll add one thing that was very apparent to me, and that you touched on, was the enthusiasm and comraderie that was missing in previous games. It also really helps getting turnovers to give the offense a shorter field or shut down a scoring drive. #58, Thomas is making himself noticeable the last two games. Good post, Vers....look forward to next game.

Thanks for posting.

One thing I noticed but forgot about until I was reading it today was that we stifled their medium-deep passing game. Most of Burrow’s throws were shorter ones. Pressure and good coverage.

Lol, Ward has two issues the way I see it. He's often injured is the biggest issue with Ward. The second issue is that he's paid to play perfectly and be an island. Although he didn't play last night I see him catching grief for what people 'think' might be going on just because he missed two games that the D played well in. I can personally guarantee you that Ward is not at the heart of the communications issue. And I distinctly remember games this year where fans called him the Warden for his play. With glaring issue at the highest coaching positions, I don't feel piling on Ward helps a damn thing.

Would love to see you post this thread weekly Vers. I don't think the base posts will be much different than the after-game thread, but it should be much better for in-depth discussions.

Just a comment to one of your observations.

As one who goes to almost all the home games, the crowd is always there, at least at the beginning. It's just that it gets old to be loud only to watch the other team get that first down time after time. I am glad when the team responds to the 12th man. It's a big advantage. Maybe we have turned a corner.

I saw where Winfrey was a scratch. I am beginning to wonder about that guy. Something just isn't connecting with him.

Not really a complaint, but it seemed we were stuck on running on 1st down. We did it pretty much every time. I mostly like that to try to stay on schedule with down and distance, but every now and then you need to play fake that to maintain a bit of balance. Cincy would have been open to a deep strike by the 2nd half.

I liked to see some of the new guys making a splash. It looks like we might be able to move off of Clowney next year. We also have great depth at corner. I don't think Hospital Ward should simply walk back in to a starting job whenever he decides he is ready to come back. I agree with some others, we play better without him.

DPJ is looking good. I also like the fact he is looking competent at catching a punt. As long as we can do that, I am good. I don't like it when the feeling is it is 50/50 that the guy is going to muff the punt.

Just a comment to one of your observations.

As one who goes to almost all the home games, the crowd is always there, at least at the beginning. It's just that it gets old to be loud only to watch the other team get that first down time after time. I am glad when the team responds to the 12th man. It's a big advantage. Maybe we have turned a corner.

I saw where Winfrey was a scratch. I am beginning to wonder about that guy. Something just isn't connecting with him.

Not really a complaint, but it seemed we were stuck on running on 1st down. We did it pretty much every time. I mostly like that to try to stay on schedule with down and distance, but every now and then you need to play fake that to maintain a bit of balance. Cincy would have been open to a deep strike by the 2nd half.

I liked to see some of the new guys making a splash. It looks like we might be able to move off of Clowney next year. We also have great depth at corner. I don't think Hospital Ward should simply walk back in to a starting job whenever he decides he is ready to come back. I agree with some others, we play better without him.

DPJ is looking good. I also like the fact he is looking competent at catching a punt. As long as we can do that, I am good. I don't like it when the feeling is it is 50/50 that the guy is going to muff the punt.

DJ looked good with the few carries he had. I just hope there isn't some fracture in the relationship because I doubt we will be able to sign Hunt. I hope the same isn't true with DJ due to different reasons.

Good replies team.

I only was able to see the last two quarters b/c of work and dang time difference.

Lots of good points, i'll add a couple to what was said,

- On the deep pass to Cooper..I think it was the 4th quarter. Good awareness and changing the snap count by JB. One of the things that set up that deep pass was the quick snap by JB. If you watch Cincy's D-backs they were slowly getting into position for the play. Cooper gained an instant step on the DB off the snap as the DB was still in an upright stance instead of being in a football stance.

- the past two games I've seen Togiai flash for a couple plays. Not saying he's had overall great games, but he's had a couple solid plays in the Ravens/Bengals games.

He's a round 4 DT. It would be AMAZING if he was lighting it up as a rookie, but that's just not normal. Hell, look at how many 1st round DTs we've had produce the same or less than him, lol

Fair enough, but I am not talking about lighting it up. That isn't the expectation at this point.

I'd like to keep this thread to just about things that occurred in the game. The long range, bigger picture stuff is important, but there is already a Post Game thread for thoughts about the game and team. I started this because that thread was hard to read for more than a few of us lately. Thus, this thread is designed just to talk about the most recent game.

So........you guys mentioned players like Pocic and Taki.

It's not the end-all, but PFF gave Pocic the highest grade of any Brown at 94. That's an elite grade.

TakiTaki had the 5th highest grade at 87.3. He certainly passed the eye test, as well.

Bitonio was second at 93; Myles next at 92.6, and Jacoby was fourth at 90.8.

Four guys in the 90s is pretty crazy and Taki was close.

Amari is a quiet guy and is not very flashy, but he can ball.

In terms of Winfrey: he’s a gas bag. Talks a big game but stinks. There’s a reason he slipped so far and we’ve seen his inability to produce already.

Well, by lighting it up, I really meant simply earning meaningful playing time and having middling production.
I'm betting he's just learning at a slower rate (I hope). Either way, as a 4th rounder, he isn't a huge investment if he doesn't work out, but he will probably get all of next year to develop, too

I understand. I am not really looking at it from a loss standpoint. I am just wondering. Earlier in the year the guy was inactive because he did something. I am just wondering if the guy is some sort of egghead?

Do we need a 2nd thread to talk about the last game?

The OP is trying to break the internet with most threads started.

Thomas on the other hand is a 7th rounder that looks like a keeper.

The underlying issue is pretty apparent. Winfrey talks a big game (remember draft day) but has maturity issues. So while nice, he is boom or bust until he figures life out.

NFL rookie salary is 705,000. Dog ate my homework excuse don’t work at that altitude

This is a good point. I was thinking something similar while I was walking the dog yesterday. Jacoby is playing the best ball of his career this year. There is a big difference between the play of Baker under Stefanski and not. Healthy Baker this year was considerably worse than ouchy Baker last year. I also thought of Keenum playing well with Sefanski, compared to not. Didn't think of Cousins, but I will take your word for it.

3-5

I've read several posts in the last couple of hours about how awesome Stefanski is. All the evidence provided to support those opinions are related to the offense. Let's assume we all agree that Stefanski is at worst a very good offensive coach. Can we now steer the conversation to what kind of head coach Stefanski is? Can anyone provide non-offense reasons that support Stefanski as being a good head coach? You can ignore the Baker lovers. They want to say Stefanski sucks to still support this notion that Baker is a good QB. It's bizarre.

I'm still looking for answers on what makes Stefanski a good head coach. You want to see what a good HEAD coach looks like, check out Tennessee. Bad starts, injuries, average QB play. Doesn't matter. Winning record every year. Signature wins.

Any little adversity for Stefanski and it's wheels fall off. Or wait til next year when said adversity is over and done with. Then he's never had his QB. And on and on and on.

I'll answer, but will you please start a thread in the Pure Football forum about Stefanski? I really would like to keep this thread about things that happened in the week's game. Again, I started this thread for just that reason. The Post Game threads have been off the rails and there is very little talk of the actual game. I just thought it would be cool to have a thread that is exclusively about this week's game.

I agree with you that continuity is very important. But that is predicated solely on what continuity is supposed to accomplish. And don't take this the wrong way because I'm not on the fire Stefanski bandwagon. This is simply a comment about your continuity point.

Continuity is supposed to breed familiarity, success and progress over time. When that happens continuity is a very good thing. But as we have seen since 1999, when that doesn't happen you could choose to continue what one would call continuity without those ingredients. As an example, do you think the FO should have used the reason of continuity to continue down the road with many of the Browns former coaches and GM's?

So continuity can be a wonderful thing. It can also be relied upon to the point of being counterproductive and destructive to growth and progress. It's actually something one has to diagnose on a case to case basis.

I don't know if anyone else noticed or commented on it yet(still reading responses), but JJIII was wearing the green dot last night. Didn't they say that things improved last year, communication wise, after he started wearing the green dot?

Not sure about last year, but the D has played much better in the two games in which JJ was wearing the green dot. Good observation.

Yep, thank you for the visual of the Cooper pass. Thats the play I was explaining about in the earlier post