DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2023 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 19 49ers 17 Postgame Thoughts

Kittle was so concerned about chipping and protecting that it really limited their offense ... then take away Deebo and CMC, and they were bottled up

Yep. It seemed like the game plan was for him to take one for the team. Game plans can't plan for injury. In the end, no Samuel doesn't mean you can stop protecting your QB.

I will admit that I did not think the Browns had a chance in this game. I thought the 49ers were a lock at -4.5. I lost money because of that thought. I am FINE with it.

Having said that, the Browns got lucky for once. Be it a questionable call, a dropped pass or a missed FG, the Browns WON. Yes, CMC and Deebo going out helped. But the D played really well after their first drive and the offense did enough to win the game.

Not many thought the Browns would win (including me) but at 3-2 I think a lot of us are pretty happy. Would be nice to go on a run before the next round of division games. We should be at least 5-3 (Seattle away always seems to be tough) but I can see the Browns being 6-2 before heading to Baltimore.

My thought: if you come out trying to be chippy at the beginning of the game and throw your weight around, you should probably win the game.

Oops...

Winning feels good, but nobody has to dig any deeper than they did last week. There are still issues galore with this offense and they are real and legitimate reasons to be upset, and it begins with that other QB. Furthermore, one LUCKY win against a team in another conference doesn't wipe out two terrible losses to division rivals.

Winning feels good, but it doesn't erase anything.

Not really - and KS did run it.

Is your post trying to suggest that Stefanski hasn't shown a history of trying to be too cute in his time as HC of CLE? I mean you only have to look at the interception we had, and the first play after that when we were inside their territory -- the return of the play that hasn't worked once in a half dozen plus times it's been called - a end around with Moore running backwards losing ground. What happened on the next 3 plays? I think we gave a penalty, then incompletions and a punt .... I don't know if that's KS getting cute or just being stupid. I mean we're supposed to be an analytics driven team - or we use analytics a lot - how many times does the same play have to lose yardage and never work before you scrap it?

I don't get the trolling of other posters who don't think Stefanski is a good HC. I mean we've got 4 years of Stefanski under performing. We've got one great win vs the 49ers and you want to act like it proves something?

When Joe Woods was the DC and we criticized him and Stefanski - posters like you rushed to Stefanski's defense to say he wasn't responsible for the D.... well guess what, that cuts two ways. Schwartz is the single biggest reason this team won on Sunday and if Stefanski took no blame for Woods he doesn't get any credit for Schwartz. Unless Stefanski guides this team to the playoffs and avoids laying more eggs as he has shown many many times in previous seasons when we thought we were on the right track then this game means absolutely diddly squat no matter how good it feels this week.

j/c

Had SF made that very-make-able FG, the tone in here would be dramatically different. Nice to win one ugly and lucky for a change...and with ref help at that.

Two things that bother/intrigue me:

At the end of the game, SF managed to get into FG range a little too easily for my liking;

Have we always had pass-cathers that/so wide open throughout the year? If so, we have left a lot of plays on the field...If not, what did we do differently to make that so?

Love Baldy “but the big man can dance” 😂

Hey, mgh. Not comfortable speaking for Memphis, but the way I took the response was a comment on fans and hindsight. Since the play worked everyone will say it was a good play call. Had it not, then fans would say it was a stupid play call. I know people like that, who can’t separate the play call from execution. Sometimes a great play call doesn’t pan out because the players don’t execute.

Again, I could be wrong about what Memphis meant.

If you cannot recognize that we were LUCKY to win that game, there's nothing more to discuss.

It took, literally, what is potentially one of the best defenses of ALL TIME and then we STILL needed their kicker to miss an incredibly average and makeable FG attempt in order to win.
We were LUCKY.

Don't make excuses or apoligize for victories.

The Browns won the game and made arguably the best team in the league look pedestrian.

There was some good defense played yesterday.

7 of their points were given by the int.

Browns offense has given up at least 21 due to turnovers.

we desperately need Watson to get back into the fold ... our offense simply can't generate enough points (or even stave off another team's defense) on a consistent basis

JC...

-Was Deshaun Watson even on the sidelines with the team? I kept looking for him, but never saw him...I did miss some portions of the game.

-I watched PJ Walker back in his Carolina days, played pretty poorly (bonehead throws, lack of accuracy) but did make some throws. His absolute ceiling is Tyrod Taylor, if if he makes it that far.

-Not saying Delpit played bad, he just seemed to be avoiding contact imo...usually he's crashing down.

-DPJ and Bell had a few nice blocks I noticed.

-Wills didn't seem as bad, despite going up against the elite of elite defensive fronts.

-We need to cut down on the penalties.

-Dunn seemed to do a good job filling in for Joel.

-Can we have Jalen Darden return punts already? I remember he showed big potential as a returner coming out of North Texas.

-Aaron Banks seemed to own Jordan Elliot

-Huge win, in all honesty...I didn't expect it. But glad we escaped with a win, as in normal fashion...we all expected it go wrong at the very end.

Yes. They showed him working with Walker & coaches in-between offensive series a couple of times.

He actually looked like he was doing some coach work with a sense of urgency and diligence.

Agreed.

Yeah, Deshaun was there and did seem engaged. You could tell that Walker was much more "coached up" and ready than DTR was last game

j/c…

thats awesome

The Browns were lucky that the niners missed that last field goal. I agree. The Niners were lucky to even have that chance to kick the game winner.

The Browns out gained them offensively 331 to 215. Had a TD called back and missed a makable 47-yard field goal themselves.

There is a line that I have heard many times by NFL coaches after they retire and that is most games are lost by a team and not won. Make plays and let the other team beat themselves. Both teams tried to beat themselves and the Browns made enough plays to win. Bottom line they were in position to win if the kick was missed, and it was.

I love Brissett

Great game-its nice to be on this end for once and listen to all the squealer fans I work with complaining that the officials gave us the game.

I had on WKNR this morning and they had Rodney McLeod on this morning and they asked him-so the coaches gave you off till Wednesday, what are you going to do. And his reply was "the defense talked amongst ourselves and we decided to come in on our own as a group and lift and start going over film."

nice, on your own time coming in and bonding as a group and keep working on getting better

I'll start with one important fact. It's better to win ugly than lose pretty.

We won. My first observation is this. Both watson and Chubb are out. The 9'ers started out moving the ball pretty well with their healthy play makers on the filed. Then, just like us, they lost two of their best O play makers. CM and Deebo. Isn't it odd how their O looked just as human as ours when the playing field was level on the injury front in regards to their O play makers? Things that make you go hmmmm.... for $500 Alex.

With that said, let's look at how the 49'ers other opponents have faired producing points against them. Week 1 The Steelers put up 7 points against their D. Week 2 the Rams managed 23. In week 3 the Giants managed to score 12. In week 4 the Cardinals scored 16. In week 5 the Cowboys managed to score a whopping 10 points against the 9'ers D.

This week? With an XFL QB and no Chubb, our O managed to put up 19 points against that same D. Maybe a little context will be helpful for some people.

As with the overwhelming number of posters on this board, I gave the Browns no chance to win this one. I was wrong. I'd like to give some credit to bone who seemed to be one of the very few to give this team a chance.

I agree ... bone gave us a glimmer of hope in a dark world. I didnt know too many people who gave us any shot

Sheesh.

1 thing I forgot to mention: I didn't even watch the game in my garage. I expected a blow out. No sense using the shotgun and air horn - just a waste. I didn't even put on a jersey. Just a Browns sweatshirt.

And, after SF's first drive, I knew what the outcome would be. I was defeated. Just watching the wreck of what was to come.

I'm glad the team, and especially the D, didn't feel that way. And it would've been easy for them to just call it in. They didn't call it in.

Were we lucky to win? Yes. Were the refs poor? yes, but for once they were poor for both teams. Yes, we were lucky to win, no doubt. Our O needs serious help, really.

Were the niners without 2 players? Eh, we were without a starting qb, starting guard, starting running back.

Bottom line, the TEAM won. Don't poo poo that. It was a W, under the rules of the league. We won, they lost.

Now, get healthier, and get better.

You are right - but I coupled that comment with the "Sorry to all the people here who won't post much this week because the Browns won. Thoughts and prayers." - the two comments together read like a pretty decent poke at other posters. Maybe I miss it but when there are negative posters I don't see them taking a swipe at other positive posters.

the defensive stats are wild! ... obviously those numbers will come back to earth a bit, but still impressive

I don't think their kicker knows about the "Dawson flag" that was put up to aid kickers in the tricky wind of Cleveland stadium.

Phil had to be smiling.

Along these lines, I was pleasantly surprised that our defense adjusted to be even better and our offense didn't fall off a cliff after the half.

FWIW, I see it as a blend of the points both of you are trying to make. This defense is LEGIT in that they were able to hold the 9'ers in check almost all game. But while there's no taking that away from them, we also see what can happen when 1 unit has to shoulder the entire burden of getting the win (the D showing a crack or two on a whopping 2 plays to let the 9'ers into FG range for what should've been a makeable kick).

We were lucky to win, but the fact that we were even in the position lends credence to this D being SB-caliber.

He may not have been as readily discernible because i think he had a face mask on (weather version, not COVID version).