DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2023 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 19 49ers 17 How to Keep it Close

is there any way?

I certainly would HOPE that our staff, with 2 weeks to prepare, won't make DTR play with so much on his plate ... but we'll see lol

Take a knee on all offensive possessions to keep the clock running. This avoids further injuries.

Pray defense or ST scores a TD.

They plan to start the next sacrificial lamb in the pecking order.

Walker is a little more experienced, but still that means we lose by 30 lol

Our defense needs to take it to the next level (we were hoping for them to do this in the Ravens game and instead they got ground down).

I actually think the San Fran offense is better for us, matchup-wise. Our defense definitely has their bread-and-butter (attacking front mixed with good coverage in back). They don't have to worry about the added wrinkle of the QB taking off and gashing them for big yards. If we are to have a chance, what I just stated needs to become apparent.

On offense, we really need to just not screw over our defense... repeatedly. NO turnovers. Not even one. And we need to move the sticks. While our offense needs to stay somewhat balanced, I think our yards will come from getting our playmakers the ball in space and letting them make a play (Njoku, Moore, maybe Hunt gets going). Cooper and DPJ need to do their part in keeping drives alive.

Offensive line just needs to figure it out. They are supposed to be a strength for us and for one reason or another they've been rough. We need them to get back to their dominating ways... which will be real tough to do against a front like SF.

I certainly don't expect to win Sunday. I hope we can just keep it respectable and not get embarrassed.

Without DW, and maybe even with him, our defence would have to create turnovers, maybe get a defensive score, get after Mr. Irrelevant, so basically, Schwartz needs to coach/scheme the game of his life.

and one issue is ... we just haven't generated TO's. Part of it is just random luck of course, but we've lost that battle every game

Defense has to get to Purdy all game. He's in a zone right now. And he's coached by one of the top two offensive coaches in the league. It's time for the defense to understand it's all on them and embrace it. The Browns success this year will depend on how far the defense can take them. I mentioned this before but it is being overlooked...Watson is hurt because they had to turn him into a RB to get value out of him because the passing is subpar. I need to see more than the Tennessee game against a poor pass defense to feel otherwise.

Stefanski is a real liability. The team is not going to get up to play for him, this much we know. But I think the defense will get up to play for Schwartz. Maybe Stef will get covid, spend the game in his basement, Schwartz will be the interim, and AVP will call plays. This scenario will increase our odds of winning.

I'm tired of excuses. I thought nobody in the history of the NFL got more excuses than Baker, but Stef is starting to eclipse him. It's time to win games. Time for a signature win. Time to start stacking wins. Sick of hearing Stef talk about how hard the NFL is. Quit being a loser. Start winning games.

I can't say I am all that excited about going to this game. My wife and I are leaving this morning and have plans to go to the Henry Ford Museum tomorrow and one of the museums in Cleveland on Saturday. If it wasn't for that, I would probably skip the game.

To win, we need Watson back to have much chance on the offensive side of the ball. The D needs to get after it. If we can do that, then we have a chance.

Before the season started I had this game marked as a loss, so if that happens I am not going to get all upset with the outcome. Depending on what happens, I may get irritated with how we played the game.

A loss will put us at 2-3, only 1 game off of what I expected so it isn't the end of the world. The schedule weakens over the next several weeks. We should be able to get back on track. If we don't, then we have a big problem.

I always give you so much credit for making that drive peen ... true fan my friend!

Current DK Sportsbook projections

SF -5.5
Over/Under 37.5 (lowest game total of all games for Sunday)

SF- 21.5 (Projected lowest scoring favorite)
CLE- 16 (Projected lowest scoring underdog)

Give me the under on our points and the over on theirs

I agree about the turnover battle comment. However, that's not in our favor through the first 5 weeks.

Currently, the Browns D ranked 2nd to last in turnovers created (3) while SF the offense ranks 2nd best in turnovers given up (2). SF is a clean, efficient football team making very few errors and, while the Cleveland defense has played very well so far, they haven't forced opposing offenses to cough up the ball over much.

Conversely, we are ranked 3rd coughing up the football (10) while SF is 8th in takeaways (9).

j/c:

Today might be an important practice day in terms of news. If Watson is not practicing, that might be most telling about his status for Sunday.

I have a feeling he'll be limited all week, Questionable, and then out

this will be very reminiscent of the 51-0 pittsburgh game.. I predict CMC will have atleast 160 and our defense will be exposed further. Our offense might cross mid-field twice. This is by far the best team we will play this year. So if we win..lol, that will prove alot, if we even keep it within 2 scores it will say we aren't as bad as we think but still have a long way to go.. But our biggest deficit is on the sidelines.. Shanahan vs KS, shanahan will schools KS for 4 quarters.

With McCaffrey being both a rusher and a pass catching target, he's all over the field. Shanahan usually schools most NFL HC's. That's not really anything new.

I think people need to remember that Bill Belichick was considered one of the greatest HC's ever in the NFL. And then Tom Brady left. His record over the past three seasons pretty much mirror Stefanski's.

Sean was considered a great offensive mind and innovator. And then Drew Brees retired. His record since pretty much mirrors Stefanski's.

I wonder why?

this team has absolutely no reasonable reason to be able to expect to hang with the 49ers, so in typical NFL fashion, we'll somehow play way above our heads and win this one so that money flows toward the Browns on the betting books in the coming weeks.

PJ Walker will join a pretty substantial list of starting QBs we've had, so at least there's that

Interesting.

Line is at SF -7 now on DK. Up from -5.5.

Looks like Vegas knows who isn't starting Sunday.

we need the defense to be lights out AND force 2-3 turnovers

To keep it watchable (somewhat close) going into the 3rd quarter:

As others have said above, the defense needs an uncharacteristic (thus far this season) number of turnovers - at least 3 by the end of the half, imo.

JOK needs to have a fantastic game.

On offense, if the above happens, Walker needs to throw no more than 25 times for the whole game. Njoku has to pick up 7-12 yard chunks consistently and the RBs need to overachieve as receivers.

And since it's unlikely we'll be able to capitalize on any of the defensive turnovers, our punter needs to have a ST player of the week type of game.

SanFran needs to have that one sloppy game that most great teams have during an otherwise dynamite season.

Even if all this comes to pass, it only means that we'll probably end up losing by around 14-17 points.

I suspect we'll know all by the middle of the 2nd quarter.

Let's hope for a 2010 Week 9 game vs Patriots type of thing.

well said ... it's just pretty bad luck to have Chubb out, Watson out, and play SF haha

the defense needs more than just the turnovers; they need to score off of those turnovers because this offense CANNOT be trusted to get that job done themselves.

Spike the 49'ers Water/Gatorade.

Shanahan is a classy guy. He’ll go up by 31 and then start playing the clock. I agree with the poster that said we won’t cross midfield more than 2x.
31-6 San Fran wins easy.

I say Shanahan puts up 32 points as a reminder to Haslam of the 32-point PowerPoint presentation he made to get away from this franchise.

😂

His response when asked about Cleveland this week was hilarious.

SF -10

Over/Under 36.5 (woof)