DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2023 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 22 Steelers 26 Postgame Thoughts

I feel sick to the bottom of my stomach.

Firstly for Chubb. Secondly because not even I was expecting Watson to continue to be so bad. Thirdly because that suspicion that many of us have had that Stefanski is at the root of our woes seems to be being confirmed.

Completely and utterly gutted.

I typically try not to let our performance affect me, but I couldn't sleep last night. Partially because of how bad I feel for Chubb and partially because of how angry I am at Watson and Stefanski ... just putrid performance from our offense.

Watson is AWFUL. He looks like he either can't read a defense or doesn't trust himself. I've reached red alert level.

We had so many penalties, turnovers, and breakdowns that it basically made it an un-winnable game.

Steelers offense stinks. Our defense is a breath of fresh air.

To me, it feels like this will be a terrible domino effect starting last night.

Swish got his wish....next 4 years,are gonna be long

It's a new day with new hope!

Well, maybe not.

Just wondering....why does it seem that 90% of our passes go to the sidelines?

Kevin looked like a deer in the headlights after the Chubb injury. Very sad and hurt for Chubb, He is Our Franchise player.
Watson looked left towards Cooper and Cooper only the majority of the night, Njoku was open for 7 yd completions to his right after chipping Watt on numerous occasions.
We need a dedicated punt returner, DPJ has no business being back there, he F’ed up every punt and was clearly not interested in being hit or advancing the ball. He left a lot of yardage out there and put the offense in a more difficult position on the road.
Schwartz called a great game on Defense, his players were up to the Challenge and played well enough to win any game.

Stefanski, I don’t know where to begin or end. HORRENDOUS. Haslam needs to tell him to give the play sheet to AVP and let him call the game from the booth. Kevin has proven he can’t manage play calling and HC responsibilities especially in road games. Let AVP do it from the booth where the noise level is less and he has a better view of the game. Kevin’s playcalling cost us big time last night.

Watson better get his crap together soon or it this will go down as the Biggest trade blunder in the 21 st century.

Steeers offense is absolutely putrid. Matt Canada has to go. Pickett isn't very good either. Yikes, what an awful game on both sides. I guess someone had to win, Steelers D and Pickens were the only positive for the Steelers. Sorry Chubb got hurt. Also sorry that Minkah got hurt as well.

You and I was among the first that immediately questioned both Watson and Stefanski! The signs has been on the wall for years.

I’m honestly surprised about Watson’s steep decline. It’s not only physical but what’s worse is that he seems to lost his drive and self confidence. Paying so much money and draft choices for a character with so much uncertainty is criminal. Both Ski and AB totally lost me in that moment they decided to continue despite they had all the information needed.

I don’t even have to criticize the play offensive calling because we can all see where the problem is.

Nick Chubb! I was almost in tears yesterday because that could be potentially a career ending injury. My prayers to him and his loved ones. I sincerely hope that the attack on his leg was unintentional but I have my doubts.

- Chubb's injury has me sick to my stomach. Plays the game the way it should be played. Great guy, great teammate.

- Growing up in Youngstown, and now in the Columbus area, so I have seen Pittsburgh play for decades. I'll just say that I would not be surprised if that was a deliberate shot at Chubb's knee. Steelers is the Steelers.

- The game went south quickly with Bryant gifting the Pitts defense a TD on the first play from scrimmage. Next target clanked off his hands, too.

- Our D played well again. Only 12 of those points are on them. Pitts basically had one big play the whole game.

- Our OL was bad. Worst job of pass protection I have seen from them in a long time. Callahan should be both embarrassed and pissed.

- As bad as we were on offense, we were in it until the last minute. Which is another way of saying we lost.

- What do we do at RB? Hunt? He did not look the same last year, and is still available for a reason. Call Indy?

There are options but none as good as NC. I would like to trade to get D'earnest Johnson back from the Jags or is the Indy back (Taylor?) or Dalvin Cook available. No way we go without a prime running back. Probably KH is our likely choice....

I'm concerned about our OL blocking as well. Wills seems like he literally couldn't care less and Pocic had the penalty of the game

I was sick to my stomach after the Chubb injury. He is the heart and sole of this team.

I reserved judgement and will try to continue to do so regarding Watson. But if forced to make a decision today, he sucks.

What's with all the sideline passes? Are they afraid it will expose just how bad he is?

What was up with all the other injuries.. Yikes

Not a good game,, Not a good game at all.

Watson Is such a disappointment. Heck, even when he runs he's indecisive and slower than I remembered.

He's probably thrown 5-7 deep balls and each of them has been ATROCIOUS

- Deshaun played horribly. There is no way around that. He looked rattled and lacking confidence in his ability to throw the ball all night long. I don't know how many wide-eyed images they showed during the broadcast, but it felt like a lot. Lots of double clutches and inaccuracy throughout the game. Had some nice back shoulder throws, 3 and X down conversions, and made plays with his legs but those were few and far between. It seemed like he had one read and if he couldn't see it, he was off running. We will not be winning many games with a performance like that. I don't believe Watson forgot to play the game and all of his talent from a few years back simply dissipated, which is why I believe it is (1) all in his head or (2) there is some disconnect between he and Stefanski/playcalling.

- That said, our offensive line was absolutely putrid. Specifically the interior lineman. Watson had very little time to throw and thought they sucked in pass pro and run blocking. Even when Chubb was in, there weren't many open lanes as we normally see and Chubb's vision and strength was really what allowed him to get those tough extra yards. Wills gave you two seconds of solid work and then just stopped his motor (recurring theme). Pocic was perhaps the worst of the five, IMO.. Teller perhaps 2nd. The overall pressure PIT provided up the middle was fast and frequent. Once Chubb went down, I feel like the Steelers DEF blitzed a ton and we had no answer for it. They knew our running game was toast.

- Browns DEF was amazing again. Delpit is emerging as a playmaker and leader. He is everywhere and is so fast to the ball. I really enjoy seeing him play.

- Will be interesting to see the snap count and routes run between the two, but I have no clue why Harrison Bryant is playing over Akins. That first play was all on Bryant as much as Watson had his issues yesterday. Then dropped another later in the game. He can't block worth crap, so if he is not going to elevate the receiving end of the offense, he needs to take a seat.

- I wouldn't be surprised if Chubb's career is essentially over. Maybe I'm being a little overly dramatic but if it is as serious as everyone was making it out to be the recovery time might be over a year and who knows how his body responds. Just terrible for Chubb. Not sure how much he will cost but if this team might want to consider Jonathan Taylor for Week 5.

- Ton of injuries for some of the best Browns talent in Chubb, Ward, Newsome, and even Garrett was hobbling towards the end. Zadarius Smith too. It will be interesting to track these this week.

- I like using Nick Harris on a couple of those goal line plays. He's pretty fast and agile for a lineman. I think we see more of that. It was clever.

- Overall, just a bad loss on a game that felt very winnable with better QB play. Or if Chubb didn't get injured, I think we probably win this game too.

Not going to the 'fire everyone' tone that most people seem to be exhibiting last night and this morning, but I am deflated...no question about that. But this is the NFL and a team can bounce back as quickly as they can lay an egg. It will be interesting to see who is added the running back room.

a thought I had: we were up 22-19 ... would we have been better off just running it literally every play? Essentially forcing them to drive the field and score TWICE to beat us.

I think the only way they do beat us is if we drop back and bring in sack/fumble/INT/etc into the equation

Bryant- 26 snaps (30%)
Akins- 9 snaps (10%)

I would like to see them move Dewand Jones to LT and replace Wills with Leatherwood off the practice squad or La’el Collins, who the Bengals cut. Berry was foolish to sign Wills to the fifth year option. He is just terrible. If Callahan can’t fix him in four years, he doesn’t belong in the league.

Jones held up as good as we could hope honestly. Our TE play didn't do us many favors last night either

I agree. I thought he arguably played as the best lineman last night. Maybe I'm crazy but it is also indicative of how bad I thought the overall line played.

Yes, I have accepted the fact he is not tradable with a $50 M salary, so I will just be patient and accept what happens. Still live and die on Sunday but I can't switch teams, too old and too much invested.

Let's win the next one.

I will be curious to see the numbers. But, I thought the OL played well and Watson looked beyond rattled and nervous as cats in the pocket.

j/c...

there's just nothing good about it

As a team heavily influenced by analytics I think we should be paying attention to this sort of schtick ... in close games like this I'd think the Head Coach has a major impact on the trend.

Only the Browns can go into the 4th quarter with a lead, give up -7 yards and still find a way to lose.

Still, that wasn't the most disappointing and hurtful part of last night, losing Chubb is one of the greatest heartbreaks we have suffered.

every statistical category pointed to a win except one; turnovers

We all know what you can do with analytics. Enough already. Get a football guy leading this team that can actually figure out what is going on ON the field as it happens. Stefanski cannot process what the opposition is doing to his offense. Pittsburgh got more aggressive as the game went on and the dunce behind the menu card had no answers. Zero. Like usual. It's easy to see this guy isn't going to get the job done no matter who is on the roster. He'll be gone at the end of the season if not sooner depending how the offense implodes. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Glad that Schwartz will be able to step right in for 2024.

OUCH

how about this for mistakes:

- Pick 6 on the FIRST play
- fumbled ball on 4th and 1 at the 40
- sack/fumble returned for a TD
- we are up 3, really driving, get it to 2nd and 2 ... Pocic holding
- Watson with TWO personal foul penalties ... and then pushing a ref
- DPJ fails to field a punt and loses 30 yards with 8 minutes left

j/c...

Postgame thoughts from a non-football aficionado. I went to watch the game at the local BB, she stayed home.


"Honey, I'm really sorry, I know that's your favorite player. This sucks, I was practically in tears, he's such a good guy. (Our son) called and told me not to watch it. I saw part of a replay online and turned my head, it looked like that Steeler guy was diving right at his knee."

"That last play is why I hate football. How can those announcers say that wasn't a penalty when the guy has two-fists-full of jersey? That should have been a first down, right?"

"So, this guy that we paid 275 trillion dollars, does he just think this is just a contest to see who can hold the ball the longest? Then he just takes off running and fumbles the ball, what the hell?"

"They looked like crap as well, couldn't move the ball, their defense won the game."

"I'm done. I like going to games with you, I'm not saying I won't go watch a game with you, but I'm checking out. It's been a few years of constantly being aggravated every time I watch a game. There's no sense in it. It's the dumbest sport in the world, 45 million rules and they're all subjective. And the Browns seem like there is always a dark shadow hanging over their team -- I can't do it."

Jc

As much as I can go hard in the paint on Stefanski’s play calling after Chubb went down, at the end of the day I’m far more concerned with DW’s pocket awareness right now. All that “he hasn’t played in a min” ended at the start of the season. There were throws with guys wide open he wasn’t hitting, running into sacks, holding the ball like a load of bread, and while I have no sympathy for the Steelers, the face mask penalties by DW were just straight up garbage from him. I’m sure he’s frustrated about the lack of calls he got, but at the end of the day he put us in terrible positions.

The Steelers defense is legit, I’ll give them credit. But what’s also true is that there were a lot of unforced errors by DW, and it’s gotta get cleaned up. Hey it’s only game 2, but with Chubb gone, every game is now a must win.

Watson looks like a shell of himself from a few years ago. And there hasn't been much improvement since he first took the field

I'm nowhere near as mad at KS as I am at Watson. There were several times Watson had a guy streaking wide open and either didn't see him or hesitated just enough to give the DB time to make a play. There were additional plays to be made if the ball was on time.

I'm trying to remember back and I don't think there were too many glaring accuracy issues. Balls were generally where they were supposed to be, within reason (nobody goes 30/30 or whatever). What I saw was mostly timing and decisiveness issues... which is the same issue we were having with Baker last year.

The one thing I will say about Stefanski is this... if there was ever a time to make good on the "we adapt our systems to the strengths of our players" shtick, it's now. There is absolutely 0 excuse to not have Watson in the gun on basically every play (exaggeration to make a point). This offense was going to live or die based on Watson's play and now our best player is out. Getting Watson completely comfy with the offense is now the entirety of the work they have to do.

Our Oline has had better games, but I'm not worried just yet. Steelers still have talent up front and they know how to scheme up pressure with their guys.

I think Njoku's game was largely dictated by our focusing on Watt. I saw him helping/chipping a lot. We were also using different personnel (Harris and Dunn got quite a few snaps). I think Watson is having issues throwing to the middle of the field. I felt like he was trying to get Moore going. Very little being thrown DPJ's way.

Steelers D and team overall are just average. They got one player, Watt. Competent QB play and we blow them out. Steelers will be lucky to win 6 games this year. The D looked lights out because Watson is so below the average line he can't see it.

That's what makes the loss so frustrating.

once Chubb went down, we were pretty even teams last night defensively .. except Pickett didn't make the mistakes that Watson did

Watson has almost no accuracy, his ball placement sucks, (10 yards out of bounds on a 4th down play with the game on the line, shades of Charlie Fry) and it looks like reading a defense is a foreign language. His pocket awareness is appalling. Last year, after sitting out for a couple years, some of his problems could be understandable, but right now he shows zero ability to play the position.

The Browns staff has done him no favors with their play calling. Where were the screens and quick hitters to slow down the Steelers pass rush? There were a lot of things they could have done to help a struggling QB, but they didn't.

Minkah? Don't be ridiculous. Typical steeler trash player. The NFL doesn't care about running backs - so there will be no consequences - but no one can tell me that hit was a clean play. That guy just ended one of the most beloved cleveland browns career by taking out his knee.


Screw Minkah.

Amen. No one wants to hear about "poor Minkah" today.

I'll just say this... I'm willing to bet Patriots fans felt the same way when TJ Ward shredded Gronk's knee on that open-field tackle. Chubb has made Minkah look pretty foolish a couple of times, and he prolly felt going low was his only choice. Trouble was the leg was planted on a bang-bang play.