DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2015 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 10 Jets 31 Postgame thoughts

jc:

Did anyone see Buster Skrine play? Revis and Cromartie were on the outside but after Cromartie went down, I saw Marcus Williams in a bunch (w/ and interception)

I think I heard Skrine name called on a Manziel scramble...

Skrine gave a nice forearm shiver to Manziel on one play. I thought he played well. Hard to tell with how bad we collectively played.

The left side of our offensive line is excellent to elite. I'm not going to say they're not just because the team suffered a bad loss in week 1 of the new season. Greco and Schwartz are serviceable on the right side. This is still one of the best offensive lines in the league. The odds of having a stud at 3 offensive line positions is not likely, let alone all five. I'd take our LT, LG, C combination over any other team's in the league without hesitation. With Greco and Schwartz added in the mix, the offensive line is not the problem. Let's not overreact because of one game like the Colts fans are doing on their message board (claiming Luck is overrated after yesterday's loss).

Skrine should have been flagged for spearing Manziel.

Of course, there was no call.

And of course, no one on the Browns came to the aid of their QB.

These guys never stick up for each other. Bunch of pansies.

didnt you see mack after the mccown hit? cost us 15 yards.

Didn't Skrine hit him with his forearm and Manziel popped right back up? Unless I'm thinking of the wrong play, Skrine didn't spear him and there was nothing to stand up for on behalf of Manziel.

I thought he hit him in the head with his forearm as he was flying awkwardly past him.

Spear or forearm to the head...

It would have been nice to see someone come to his aid.

Listening to Cleveland Browns Daily...

Nathan Zegura all but saying he felt like the team quit halfway through the third quarter... he's been on the sidelines every game last year and so far this year (inc. preseason) and said this was the first time it happened.

Matt Wilhelm calling players out since nobody stepped up the try to change the game.

Both are saying "you said run the ball and defense. you're not doing either."

Yes. One of the few acts of passion that I observed...

We had the most success when we were playing hurry-up offense last year with Hoyer QBing... Lots of quick passes... Maybe we should do that again until if and when our O line solidifies?

The hurry up is just the best move for the offense no matter what.

...passion for himself not the team. After he and his agent got angry following the transition tag a few years ago, he is just putting in time until he can get out.

I think all that lost time in preseason really hurt his game.
Haden's not as bad as he looked yesterday, but he's not so great that he can just turn it on from zero. Not against a quality WR like Brandon Marshall.

I expect he'll back to form in a week or two. Despite how he played v. NYJ, Haden's probably the least of our concerns on D.

We need to be aggressive in free agency too. The Jets were. They went after Marshall who torched us and went after Revis. People worry about spending money and "setting us back" well guess what fellas, we've been stuck in "set back" for awhile. If insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is true, we're pretty damn insane to think not being aggressive in free agency is good for us at this point. Who cares about having financial flexibility if you're never gonna use it? We don't have anybody worth a damn retaining to begin with.

https://twitter.com/PFF_NateJahnke

FWIW

Other than Haden being exposed, I don't really remember our other CBs hurting us too badly.

I know on Decker's TD it was not on the CB .... Gipson's deep responsibility mysteriously was voided

huh. except for that 15-yard TD.

PFF is such a joke. They did a great job of convincing people they are experts.

I could swear it was 3rd and goal from the 14 when McCown got knocked around.

I believe you are correct, arch'...

It was. And while it's clear that it was a poor decision, it's somewhat understandable. In the heat of battle with a fraction of a second to decide, it's hard to say "I'm just going to lay down and take the 19 yard field goal".

Can't do that very successfully when the defenses are ready for it while they pile all over our Oline and QB. Besides what makes you so sure our O-line will solidify soon? This has been going on since last season. So far it's pretty much what I expected to see. This Oline can't sustain with just one or two viable linemen. The right side looked terrible and out of sync while the left side barely maintained. It was sad to watch. I just shook my head all day long on how bad the oline performed. We'll never run the ball successfully and the passing game will continue to suffer unless we focus more on the oline talent.

In either case, if he had done a slide to give himself up there and the Browns were held to a field goal, there'd be complaints that McCown didn't go all out for the team or was selfish/soft, etc. I think most QBs there sniff the endzone and go for it.

Well, that's on the coaches, right? and probably lack of faith in their QB. Shouldn't happen, but happens all the time in this league. These guys see Manziel every day in practice, they probably knew it was over when it was a two score game

Including almost all teams in the NFL.

I agree. I think.

He's cruising. It's 3rd down and goal. Slide, all we have is a shorter field goal. And let's face it, we actually had a 48 yd. extra point, right? Why NOT dive for a t.d.?

Only thing he did wrong, in my opinion, was he didn't account for the guy coming from the side.

As it turned out, we lost the ball, a field goal, or a touchdown. Well, and a qb. I can't fault him for the effort though.

You're right. That play was on K.Williams.

'Cleveland Browns coaches have to take blame for their team being ill-prepared to open season -- Terry Pluto (photos)'

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2015/09/cleveland_browns_coaches_have.html

By Terry Pluto, The Plain Dealer on September 13, 2015 at 6:03 PM, updated September 14, 2015 at 7:23 AM

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Johnny Manziel will dominate the conversation of many fans and media members. That always happens whenever Manziel steps on the field for the Browns.

But there is so much else to talk about after the disturbing 31-10 loss to the New York Jets in the regular season opener at MetLife Stadium on Sunday. It was a game with five turnovers, 12 penalties and millions of moans from those who care about the lads in the orange helmets.

I know, it's the opener and the Browns ALWAYS lose the opener. This makes 11 in a row, 16-of-17 since the team returned in 1999.

But losing like this? Really? Could they have looked much worse?

Don't answer that question.

Obviously, the Browns have had worse games, worse teams. But six penalties came before the ball was snapped. Guys jumping offsides. Guys lining up offsides. Guys in the wrong formation.

They had consecutive pre-snap penalties when trying to kick an extra point! Please ... the mental mistakes were embarrassing.

"Disappointing ... words can't express ... it's difficult to swallow," head coach Mike Pettine said. He talked about how the coaches had months to prepare for this game, and the result was a team that looked ill-prepared the longer the game went on.

Pettine paused, then added, "We own this."

He meant the coaches as well as the players.

MISSING IN ACTION

Where was the defense? It was shredded by journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick and the supposedly scoring-challenged Jets, who rushed for 154 yards. So much for those plans to stop the run. Fitzpatrick completed 15 of 24 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns.

Remember, the Browns are supposed to be built on defense, defense and more defense. I know, three of the New York touchdowns came after turnovers. But the defense could have at least cooled the Jets enough to force them to kick field goals.

Pro Bowl cornerback Joe Haden couldn't cover Brandon Marshall. Haden is 5-foot-11. Marshall is a brutish 6-foot-4 and he just overpowered Haden, who also was flagged twice for pass interference. But it wasn't just Haden. The Browns just didn't cover much of anyone with any consistency. When they finally did make a big play, it became a disaster.

Tashaun Gipson picked off a Fitzpatrick pass, but Marshall ripped it right out of Gipson's hands. In the blink of an eye, the Browns turned an interception into a lost fumble. Two plays later, the Jets had a touchdown.

SO MANY OTHER PROBLEMS

Pettine said the Jets set their defense to stop the run. They stopped the Browns. Backs Isaiah Crowell, Duke Johnson and Shaun Draughn combined for 46 yards in 18 carries. I don't care who is the quarterback, the Browns have zero chance to beat a decent game running the ball like that.

So this game hurts because the Browns failed in two of their major goals: Running the ball and stopping the run. It's frustrating because so many of the players acted as if they never dealt with crowd noise before, given all the offsides and false start penalties.

It's agonizing because it was a 14-10 deficit at the half. It was New York that seemed to make the adjustments needed to dominate the third quarter.

YES, THE QUARTERBACK

I'm in the minority believing that Josh McCown either should have not tried to run for the end zone or should have slid before he was decked on the New York 2. Pettine defended McCown, saying it's a competitive play. McCown suffered a concussion and the Browns will have to wait until later in the week to know if he is ready Sunday against Tennessee.

Joe Thomas was in my corner, the Pro Bowl tackle saying how the 36-year-old McCown learned a lesson "for an old guy ... preserve yourself."

Manziel looked poised and prepared in the second quarter, completing four of six passes for 93 yards and putting 10 points on the scoreboard. But in the second half, the Jets blitzed Manziel often. The pressure got to him. He had an interception, lost two fumbles. But to be fair, he had very little help.

The Browns couldn't run the ball. They couldn't block very well. The defense couldn't keep New York out of the end zone, forcing Manziel to keep throwing.

Manziel said his cranky elbow "felt pretty good the majority of the time." That's about all that was "pretty good the majority of the time" for the Browns.

It's one game. Things change quickly in the NFL ... for some teams.

Pettine talked about the "need to coach better." He's so right, because his team didn't look physically or mentality ready for this game.



(end)

I really do have a hard time blaming Manziel for the loss. He had no practice snaps this week because that's what this team does with the backup QB due to the current CBA guidelines on practices. The starter went out on the first drive, and there's only so many plays you can expect the backup QB to execute... almost none of them gameplan-specific.

It almost worked, he got 12 yards then realized that Air McCown didn't have reserve seating and they were over-booked.

Not blaming him at all. Just arguing against him being some sort of ray of hope. He did contribute to the loss, but it wasn't only on him at all, not saying that.

Lack of faith from his teammates is just a hypothetical to make sense of the 2nd half rollover

Hey Pluto ...How come the Oline isn't getting much press when it's more on them to sustain a pocket, run block, and to protect our QB's?

Isn't that DJ's go to site?

I called this right after the game. They acted like they didn't want to be on the field. But Zegura is incorrect. It happened last year when Manziel started against the Bengals. That was so blatantly obvious, anyone could have seen it.

Last year was obviously because the team didn't believe in Manziel. But they had no reason to quit because of Manziel yesterday, and if that is the case, blow the whole mother effer up. Manziel was the only guy competing yesterday.

Terry should care who the quarterback is because that's the EXACT reason why they're able to focus on shutting down our running game. And I'm glad Pettine realizes it because that's how it's going to be for the next 15 games.

Our passing game scares no one. We have no weapons and we have no quarterback. Every single team is going to see this, hear us talk about how we want to run the football all day and force us to do something else... and I don't know that we have the guys in the backfield that can beat a rigged numbers game.

It's almost arrogance the way they say they're going to impose their will on their opponents without any of the real tools to do it.

Just popping in so I'm sure most is repeated statements.

Alex Mack, struggled big time. Saw a few where it looked like the guards on either side helped chip or block with Alex. Then all the penalties. At this point in time, as of right now, we can only HOPE and PRAY he opts out.

Josh McCown and not sliding, bad decision. That was such a beautiful opening drive too until that point.

Offensive line sucks. Just sucks. Not really much room for running and the pass protection was a joke. I know the Jets are stacked defense wise, but eh.

Our defense, sucked. At least under Ray Horton, we were able to suffocate the run.

Joe Haden got burned and torched all day long. All freaking day long, he played a joke of a game.

We made Fitzpatrick look better than Peyton Manning.

All our big plays wiped away with flags. Many I recall on Alex Mack.

... all and all, I didn't even bother to watch the full game. Turned that crap off.

PFF isn't perfect, but they beat the average poster on here. Ask baseball fans how they reacted when advanced stats came out first. It takes time and a lot of tweaking, but it's a start...

And since they saw the same Manziel I did, they are right

That's a Brian Brennan kind of catch!

I saw Josh McCown play with more heart, determination and desire to compete and win than anyone else on that field in Orange and Brown....despite the run, leap and fumble.

Both. It was 3rd and 9 from our own 10 the first time he tried to plow through/over 2 defensive players for the first down.. he was successful.

It was 3rd and goal from the 14 the second time when he decided to go airborne over 2 defensive players for the touchdown.. he was unsuccessful.