DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2014 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 13 Panthers 17 Losing Mack

I have never noticed the loss of one player having the effect that losing Mack has had on this team this year.

Yes, we've had other injuries BUT I don't think we would have done as bad if we could have kept Mack.

I'm sure glad he'll be back next year and we better find a good back-up somewhere.

Stop. Please.

Big loss? Yes.

It's part of the game.

Luck has one of the worst OLs and defenses in the league and they might make the Super Bowl.

Putting so much emphasis on the loss of Mack is a losers mentality.

I think that losing Mack hurt more than losing any other player on offense would have hurt. I think that we could more easily have lost Joe Thomas. Losing Mack completely blew up the ability of the middle of the OL to get to the 2nd level in the run game. It also allowed pressure right up the gut far too often, which really impacted Hoyer badly. .

This is the season of "what ifs".

What if the team had shown up the first half of the first Steelers game?

What if we had drafted Carr or Bridgewater?

What if Cundiff wasn't such a tool?

What if we had shown up against Jacksonville?

What if Hoyer could have sustained a drive in the 4th Q against Indy?

What if Mack hadn't gone down?

What if Gordon hadn't failed half of a drug test?

What if our defense hadn't been decimated by injury?

What if our ST coach wasn't as worthless as a screen door on a submarine?

What if the team played with fire every game?

What a different season this might have been.

Whatever.

I disagree with that. We don't have Andrew Luck at QB. There aren't many Andrew Lucks out there.

We have Brian Hoyer and Johnny Manziel. Both guys need a lot of help, and for things around them to go right more often than not in order to be successful.

What if we did the right thing and never have fielded another team when Modell screwed us over?

Really???
We went from having good yards per play with Mack to one of the worst in the league and that (the stats show) is a loser mentality?

Luck and the Colts won't even sniff the SB. They are getting completely manhandled by an average Cowboys' team. They'll be one and done at best in the playoffs. No run game and no defense = no chance.

Up until this year Roth played behind below average lines for years.

The only thing the Mack injury did was speed up the process on how teams should attack us.

Run blitz nearly every play and make Hoyer beat you.

Good teams get over injuries. They just do.

You guys need to stop crying over this stuff. If Mack hadn't gotten hurt we would likely still be on 7 games...maybe 8. December is where the contenders and pretenders are separated. Mack wasn't going to make a difference.

Competent QB play would have gotten us into the playoffs.

Didn't need to be close to Luck-esque.

Agree 100%

I've seen the browns overcome injuries many times but I
have never witnessed such a melt down after losing ONE
player.

I don't think we have a snowballs chance in Hawaii to
beat the ravens next week.

I think we should have stayed with Greco at C and McQuistan at RG. UDFA guys (McDonald, Seymour) at C are a prescription for disaster.

We've had a ton of injuries this year, but I agree that Mack was the most significant. Without a quality backup our run game died.

sadly after next year he will leave.

I believe more than anything this speaks to a lack of depth that has plagued this team since its rebirth. The FO seems to focus all its efforts on acquiring starters thru the draft, most of whom never pan out. Depth seems to be an afterthought and usually consists of signing the BPA after someone walks or just filling the voids with UDFAs. Result is when they loose a starter they have no one who can take up the slack. It happened with Mack on offense, but also on defense. Good teams have the next player in line step up and don't miss a beat. In contrast, the Browns seem to be one injured starter away from oblivion. This speaks to abymismal team management.

Good teams have great QBs.

It doesn't really have to do with depth. Or talent.

Nearly every team has the same amount of talent and depth. The problem is there are maybe 8 QBs who have a legit shot to win a Super Bowl.

Injuries, depth, talent ...all things losing teams with no QB talk about.

The Browns let their best players walk. That's not a good way to build a team.

I'm drawing a blank here Eve.

Who are you talking about?

T J Ward, Dquell Jackson, Cribbs, Dawson. Don't tell me any of those guys wouldn't have helped this year.

Ward and Jackson wouldn't have.

Jackson has very little to do with Indys success and Dansby is better.

They are both better than Mingo.

Except they play different positions.

Well there's that. How hard is it to switch around? Just seems like our D last year was so much better than this year.

I actually think our D was better this year.

Yes exactly and those 8 QBs are the NFL's cash cows. That's why that weasel Goodell wants to install more rules to protect these guys. Without a big time QB you are dead in the water in this modern day national flag football league.

Having another 2000 Ravens defense is not going to happen again. Seattle is the closest we'll see and even they're not close to that level.

Hey we had a perfect chance to tank the season like the Colts did, but no we had to win another meaningless 3 games.

Even when we didn't have Mack, but still had the run game going... the offense couldn't do well. Even when we didn't have Mack, but gave our QB's decent throwing pockets, we couldn't do well. Even when the defense and special team units gave the offense great field position, we didn't do anything with it.

My point is, losing Mack hurt us really bad, but the QB play is the dagger that went passed everything and made it directly to the heart. If we had a passing threat that didn't have to rely on defenses biting so hard on play action, we'd be good. Defenses learned to send pressure and it's a copy cat league. Enough said.

Cleveland Browns' center Alex Mack will be back next season. Beyond that, who knows?: Tom Reed analysis

In the five games he started the Browns averaged 26.8 points, 146.4 yards rushing and 22.5 first downs.

In the nine games without him the Browns have averaged 15.7 points, 89.2 yards rushing and 17.7 first downs.

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2014/12/cleveland_browns_center_alex_m_11.html

yea. whatever you say......

Mack not being there has noting to do with a QB missing wide open receivers throwing from no pressure pockets now... does he? How often have we seen that this year? Easy six points that would have likely won some games.

But hey, if you want to search for an excuse then by all means... help yourself.

not "search for an excuse" just stating FACT.

J/C .....

Neither Hoyer nor Manziel are QBs who can load a team on their shoulders are will them to a victory. Hoyer is a competent guy, but only when things are right all around him. He is a brick, not a cornerstone. He needs a lot of help in order to be successful. Once Mack went down, and our run game disintegrated, we no longer had the balance necessary for Hoyer to be successful.

It is not an excuse to say that Hoyer is a limited QB, and Manziel has looked worse than that this season. Both guys need a ton of help, and we were unable to give that help once Mack got hurt.

I always wonder why people cannot see this or agree to it. I too think it's virtually as clear as crystal. No run game pretty much made Hoyer go from hero to zero. Especially when the pass rushes started coming, then he forced throws and got himself, and the team, in even more trouble.

In any case, I realllllllllllllllllllllllllllly am sooooooooooo very curious as to what this season would have been like for us if Mack had never got hurt. The answer to that questions dwells deep inside lol!

Losing Mack,IMO, was the single biggest reason this team faltered as it did. When our running game went out the window everything else started too regress. He is that important!

add defenders started jamming Hawkins at the los to throw the timing off, Gordon running the wrong routs, Austin going on IR. just all snowballed.

Well,they didn't want to Mike Evans....a player that actually could have had an impact this year. They went with projects in the first round,who look like crap.

Its all perspective. I also think that losing Mack was huge and it showed immediately. You could say that if the defense stepped up against the Jags, Steelers (1st time), and Ravens we would be in the playoffs regardless of Hoyer's slump in November/December. You can't go on blaming 1 player for the loss of the season. Hoyer contributed greatly to the Texans, Bills, and Colts losses and forced the hand of Pettine. But Manziel couldn't muster a single point out of the Bengals game or the Panthers.

Bottom line, we got decimated by injuries; but, on offense, the loss of one of the best centers in the game is hard to overcome.

Boy, Seattle looked pretty bad without their center Sunday night.

This team is weak, if that's their excuse. I understand the importance of that position, and the other 10, but great teams get beyond the loss of a freaking center.

Here, here.

They arent making excuses, we are.