I lived through 1-31. A win is a win.

Our defense isn't very good.

Mayfield threw for 213 yards, completing 19 of 21 passes in the process with a touchdown and interception.

Yea.. Our D needs alot of work.. but I'm taking this win....

Good Win

Screamed at the defense all day

Chubb is a Beast 11 Carries 95 Yards 8.6 YPC 1 TD

Hunt is a great RB 13 Carries 51 Yards 3.9 APC 1 Catch 2 Yards

Baker had a great day 19/21 213 1 TD 1 INT

Joe Woods?

Hope Landry is ok

Hope OBJ an play next week

DELPIT

Yet.

Some good... some bad... it's a win...

Offense was solid overall... worried about Baker's injury... he wasn't asked to do much especially in the second half.. running game looked good overall...

ST coverage was good... returns were a bit scary at times...

defense needs work... we got a little pressure towarsd end of the game, but overall very little pressure on their QBs.... DBs looked lost a lot.... got some TOs which certainly helped, but defense needs growth....

I'm happy we won I'll take wins any way I can. However, Unless Houston is a lot better than anyone thinks our win wasn't impressive. Heck, I feel we played better in the loss last week.

#95
Looks like Tarzan,plays like Chita.I believe Jane would have done better.

Baker is tough.

Felton looks like a STEAL.

Delpit makes an impact in his first game!

We have the best RB core in the league.

OBJ needs to get on the field ASAP!

D is a work in progress.

Get well Jarvis - our heart and soul of the WR's.

We are 1-1 First place in the North.

Baker learned not to attempt a pass while being tackled....progress.

Run game turns awesome in 4th quarter.

Did Garrett dress?

Overall we did play better last week but this the NFL and a Win is a Win ...

Good to get that first win of the season.
*Thank goodness for Chubb and Hunt.

*Baker showed how tough he is.

*Defense made some plays but the over all performance was disappointing. It must improve!

*Concerned about all the injuries.

*Just glad that game is over and we won!!!

Our D needs some time to gel. Delpit played like a man today! Yes you can win games with a solid pass game and a great run game. Higgins is an instant boost when he comes into the game.

Those are my thoughts.

Yes, I agree... we have to do better

Jarvis has a hamstring.

Not impressed, not overly worried. The D is somewhat concerning though, and we need to see steady week to week improvement or Woods may have to go.

Yes I should have Mentioned Felton Kids got some great moves

IMO

Game was a bit closer than I thought it should be after Tyrod Taylor was out for the 2H. With a rookie backup QB, Joe Woods D showed little "killer" mode when they should have been pouring on the gas. Davis Mills has not seen a legit NFL D, and one could argue he still hasn't.

I'll take the W, but that game should have been 31-14 and still knowing that the D needs work.

Browns O - beast mode in the 4Q today; Chubb/Hunt and now Demetric Felton as a pass threat from the backfield.

Let's hope that today's injuries are quick recoveries.

Exactly which week should we expect to see some improvement.
Overused cliches does not excuse a bad defensive preformance.

No. MCL.

Offense will continue to keeps us alive, no superbowl will be won with Joe Woods as a DC, no sense in prolonging this, cut bait and get someone aggressive in here to match our players skills. Or atleast recognizes different teams require different game plans. We still need linebackers and DT..ours aren't very good. Malik MCD is still raw, he's a good rotation guy but shouldn't be starting on a team with SB aspirations. Garrett is overrated. I don't know if its scheme or teams figured out he has one move. I've said for years that he needs counter moves. I'd like to see him with a DC that can utilize him properly

MG is a good person and has all the physical tools to be a great player. I'm glad he is a Cleveland Brown. He's playing decent right now but we need him to become that force he can be for our D to go to the next level. That and we need him to be a leader. JMO

Yes, and quickly thinking about it, he nearly had a sack while being simultaneously held and double-teamed.

I poo-pooed someone who said it would take 5-8 weeks for this new D to gel. I'm not poo-pooing now.

First of all Browns won!!!
1-1 wayyyyy better than 0-2. omgosh.

Browns Won, and they are 500. 1 and FREAKING 1!

Best part about 1-1 is the chance to go 2-1!

Yeah, CBS reported it as a hamstring after the game ...... but I guess Stefanski knows better.

No pressure on a rookie QB in his first game, until less than a minute to go. Pass rush is horrible. We do not have a good LB, except maybe JOK.

Felton is going to be a star. The moves he has are off the charts, and he doe not go down easy. Bryant made some nice catches today. Oline struggled some, but the run blocking got really good in the fourth quarter.

A win is a win, and the "ifs" will be prevalent, concerning if Taylor stays on the field. But he didn't and it really means nothing.

Higgins is healthy and made some important catches, for first downs as usual.

Pittsburgh lost, so the North is all tied up. The Raiders are going to be a tough game.

Baker is a tough son of a gun.

2nd part. Browns Won!

Anthony Scwartz yardage update. ( I said, if Schwartz gets 170 yards of passes that travel 10 through the air, in any 3 game window of the regular season, I'd leave the board for a week, and include 'A Schwartz made a monkey outta me' in my signature until next draft.)

59 yards week 1, the 9 yarder didn't count!
0 plays today that qualify.
would need 111 by the end of the Bears game, or the 59 disappear and the count re-starts from the beginning of the Texans game. ( a 3 game window) (not counting pass ints.)

3rd. Keep the team together!
Keep the team together!
What the heck defense!

Best part is the squealers and Cincy already lost and we won.

Still a lot of work to do on the defense.
Hopefully juice gets healthy quick.

Baker needs to work on his tackling skilz.

Glad we won.

Not sure if we would have won if Tyrod plays the second half?

Felton made a huge play. Jarvis going out hurt. Schwartz has to learn to go get the ball.

I have to give the Texans some credit. They played hard. Myles didn't do much. The pass rush?

Coverage. If Mills makes an accurate pass on the deep ball? Different story.

Major credit to Stefanski. He kept his poise. Went back to what Cleveland can do better than any team in the NFL. Run the ball. Chubb and Hunt and our run blocking eventually wear you down. They are unstoppable.

You stop them here and there and then blam. They break you.

So far this year in the games I have seen and some highlights. No other team can run the ball like the Browns.

That is what separates our offense.

Houston played a deep zone. Baker was patient and took what was there. He needs to learn the slide while protecting the ball.

Once again we avoid losing two in a row.

You play to win and we won. So all is good.

4th thought Bengals 17
bears TWENTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First ::::::: Place!

First ....... place in the division! oh my gosh,
I just found out. Ytown said they were going to win.
screw the bengals.

1-1 and 1-1 and 1-1 and pfft. the ravens. 0-1

MG played pretty comfortable today. Did he dress? Really disappointed in Woods and this defense. Ward took a few trips to the woodshed. Big cushions. Honorific bow to Delpit!

This D really should improve. Like watching prevent again. Our pass rushers seem indifferent.

Who are the game changers on D? Do we have a leader?

Felton is a two-legged highlight reel! Lightning in a pint bottle. Loved the score.
PS We needed it!

Any predictions as to when the defense will score for us? Scoring defenses can swing games. Not sure this group can. Concerning to me.

Oh, well. I will probably watch them again sometime.

I realize it's early and new guys plus rookies to fit in, but I am underwhelmed by what I have seen to date. Offensively, I believe we're fine...

Garrett and Clowney flash but haven't lived up to the hype, yet. Woods should be on borrowed time.

There was never a question about what the injury was.

It's week two. If we are still having these problems in week nine then I will be concerned.

We need an impact player at LB

Woods is not very good. To not bring pressure against a third string QB is an intellect thing. He will not be the DC here next year. He doesn't have it upstairs.

Shame on Stefanski for not overriding him several times.

This offense is emasculating to Baker. He has no idea how to pass when it's not play action. Guy used to throw 25 yd ropes on 3rd and 15 just because he could.

Having said that, and in Baker's defense after Schwartz screwed him he wasn't throwing it downfield anymore.

There is no tougher player in the league than Baker Mayfield. None.

TJ Watt > Myles Garrett...although Garrett did get doubled most of the game. Just never feel like he's going to make a play. Watt is an absolute terror.

Meet the 2021 Cleveland Browns defense, same as the 2020 defense.

Glad we got the win. 0-2 would have sucked.

Felton has some terrific plays, that was quite a move he made on that pass and run in the fourth. I had a buddy over today and we were talking, so I didn’t notice Delpit until his sack. Nice to see him made a big play.

I wax really worried when Baker went off, thought he might have separated his left shoulder. Big sigh of relief to see him trot back onto the field.

Loved Wyatt getting to the second level on Chubb’s dagger TD run. That was beauty, and our OL is a tough, tough unit. Smash- mouth in the dictionary now has a picture of The Union beside it.

We need OBJ back next week and DPJ has to make a bigger impact. Our TC star has been nearly invisible.

Our D is not there yet. Run D seems solid but we need better play from the second level guys on defence. Hopefully continuity on D will see us gell.

Oh well, we’ve got a share of first place..

Add in last years games too.

I want to see, Chubb and Felton in the backfield,
with 2 Tight ends and one WR, not named Schwatz. Veterans.

or, maybe Davion Davis. Seems like when players get paid 10 million a year, they don't seem to put out.

Defensive philosophy looks flawed yes.
No pressure up the middle, not even occasionally,
No linebackers doing linebacker things, not even occasionally,
looks like it's all time dime?
All time Dime? Oh no! What the, warm- cake like- chocolaty- out of the oven-
facepalm.

Stefanski said he changed his play calling for Baker to help protect his shoulder.

They have a few, one is named Taki Taki.
We need--- an impact philosopy of how and when to put what linebackers on the field.

Our offense is good when we don’t turn it over. And I actually though that the Houston DL gave us some fits in the beginning.

Our defense is not good. Maybe we’ll get better, but man we have little resistance.

Woods doesn't believe in LBs

I like the idea of having Johnson, Delpit, Harrison, JOK on the field at once

Another thought: is there a way for me to sync the radio app with the tv? Or is it a difference or delay?

He wasn't throwing it down field because of his shoulder injury. We severely lack the deep threat but we made it thru this one ok. We really need OBJ back in the line-up. Baker's health is far more of importance than Landry.

You still underestimate Baker and I'm ok with that.

Funny that we didnt look down field at all this game. Not much Schwartz or DPJ even after Landry went out. We need the ability to take the top off the D

From the game day locked thread.


No, no no no no, a thousand times. The Browns Media! I'm not going to buy, I'm not going to accept that excuse any more.
They've said it since 2011 or before. ( I'll be dead! before this team is finished. or ready. or arrives as a finished product.)

At some point. They are what they are. This is what they are. This is the Browns! NOT! what they might be next week, if the world spins sideways and everybody returns. Elijah Lee is your linebacker.
It's what suits up on gameday, not what is on the way.
It's who plays, not who may.
Not who may play at a later day.

Eventully, they gotta be a team that takes the field.
This is them. Today. This is it.

Not next week, not next year, not after some time to figure it out.
This is it! This is your Browns' performance. Today!

If they don't have players, who know what the player next to them is doing yet; they could have kept last years team together better.

These are the team, this is it.

been saying this since we drafted JOK.

we should be running a 4-2-5 or a 5-1-5 and putting a ton of pressure on QB's

we also desperately need a stud LB

There is almost a coherent argument here.

To be clear, the defense played terrible. If Taylor didn't get hurt there is a real chance we lose that game. That doesn't mean the defense is incapable of improvement.

Woods doesn't believe in stopping teams from passing for 500 yards against you either. Evidently.

Yeah, we need OBJ back and Peoples-Jones to be more impactful.

My guess is that Landry was heavily involved in the gameplan today. Once he went down things went sideways.

Word on the street is that OBJ will be back next week. My guess is that Higgins takes over Landry's spot in the slot.

"although Garrett did get doubled most of the game."
That is not true.Tunsil had him one on one for the better part of the game.
He got chipped a few times.
Did he set the edge,yes.
Does he get paid millions and millions of dollars to set the edge,no.

Beckham + Higgins > Peoples-Jones + Landry ... IMO.

If you can't get pressure with your front four , you going to have problems .. And maybe , just maybe , WR's running wide open could cause you a problem also ?

Pretty obvious the Texans were playing deep zone.

Baker was patient and took what was there.

After Schwartz made the mistake on the pass. KS showed poise.

He went back to what we do better than any team. Run the ball.

Jarvis going down and Odell out. We were starting two young guys. Higgins found holes in the zone.

KS was smart after Baker going out to protect him. Our run game wore them down.

I really thought the Texans played well for team that has little star power.

Agreed. We made a concerted effort in the 2nd half to just go meat and potatoes and grind it out

Depit showed up.

Felton will be Landry’s replacement.

Wills played hurt.

The Browns were lucky that Taylor went out.

Baker had 10 yards/attempt. You will win a lot of games with 10 ypa. Anything over 8 is winning football.

They are paying Beckham and Landry 10 million a year? I don't know, I think it may be 10 million a year.
And We get to watch the rookie Schwartz giving up interceptions!

None of the 4 did much today.
I think all 4 are hurt. I think all 4 are hurt. We rarely get truths about injuries.

Makes sense on why we weren't going downfield. I'm traveling and didn't get to watch any pressers.

As for being wrong on Baker he's just an average QB right now until he's not. He's heavy footed, very slow, and doesn't do a good job of moving the pocket. He's gotten so much better at stepping up in in the pocket but watch Allen and Mahomes. They shift the pocket with ever so slight moves. If Baker can't step up in the pocket he's done. Still very slow going through his progressions. He goes through his progressions with his body, not his eyes.

I don't like typing any of that and hope you are proven right over time. But we are now in year 4. How much more time do you want?

Weird game. Won by double digits, but felt off.

WRs were used about as much as WRs in an Army/Navy game.

Baker was extremely efficient.

Chubb is amazing.

Delpit was all over the place making plays. Great to see.

This defensive scheme still leaves a lot to be desired. They cannot stop the pass and the front four rarely get pressure.

I believe the Browns blitzed once and Delpit had the sack on the lone blitz.

Hate to lose Landry.

It's a win. On to Chicago.

GC. That was stupid coaching to end the first half.
used all 3 timeouts to force a punt.

Ended up with a muffed punt! almost gave up 3 points or 7 points.

unnecessary, analytics listened to someone who said don't go to the half with your timeouts,
momentum kicked analytics in the backside and said,
how about you almost give up points!

The game was pretty boring. Seemed like Texans were getting hurt darn near every play at one point, then some Browns. Just a really slow game pace. The sun was blazing hot with little wind, so that didn't help matters.

Every time I see Elijah Lee I am impressed. He keeps making plays.

I am not as down on Woods as some because it is early, but if his front 4 keep letting him down and don't pressure the QB, he needs to start sending another player or two every once in a while..

Even in a slow game where we didn't look all that awesome, we still look like 30 pts is going to be the norm.

Congratulations Browns fans on a great win. Wish my Steelers could have done better, but they've always had trouble with the Raiders. Here's hoping KC beats up on the Ravens, at least we agree on that.

Am I Blind? I did not see JOK play today Did he?

Kirk-o had a good game today.

Yes! People were screaming about this at the game. It was maddening.

He played.

j/c...

Our Defense scares me. I wish that was a good thing.

idk? Maybe the week fans settle down and put out the fire on their hair?

He blocked a pass. He played special teams. I had two solo and 1.

His nick name should be jitterbug.

Would prefer Felton to get snaps and play, but the bulk should go to Higgins because he ALWAYS shows up in games that he gets opportunities in...

Great shot of Felton

Problem is I don't agree with much there. I don't think he's slow at all. I think we need better receiver play. Landry was hurt but he's not anything special. OBJ needs to come in and take over. He's not very big but he plays much bigger. Schwartz is fast, but it's not going to take many times giving up on a route causing interceptions before Baker gives up on him. We don't have a big bodied WR. We should be using Njoku a heck of a lot more. We aren't going to make it very far if we just run run run.

Post-injury today for Baker I thought he was masterful. He doesn't throw a bad pass and he's got a banged up shoulder. I don't think "just average" quarterbacks complete over 80% of their passes. I get being hard on Baker but he's a stud. He's going to be here a long long time.

On that sack he LIT UP the QB. I thought for sure we were going to get a flag for hitting too hard.

Felton reminds me of Metcalf! Just doesn't quite have the top end speed. He's fun to watch though!

I figured we’d have some ugly wins and valiant losses, especially early in the season. I didn’t figure that would be exactly the story for the first 2 games. Defense has to find its footing. The talent is there.

I was waiting for us to do our usual thing of making a no-name backup QB look like TB2.0. That didn't happen but it was still a little ugly. We let a rookie 3rd-rounder get his feet under him after a shaky start move the ball a bit. We have way too much talent to allow that to happen.

That said, Newsome is really impressive for a rookie corner. And good for Delpit, getting in there and making some noise finally had to feel good. No joke, I cringed when he hit the QB. That poor bastard had no idea he was coming.

I am glad we won, but the D I saw out there was concerning. That anyone is even suggesting the result would be different if TYROD TAYLER stayed in the game is horrifying.

j/c

If I'm the opposing team, I'm intentionally taking 2 TFL's on 1st & 2nd down.

Why?

Because CLE still can't stop any NFL team that is faced with 3rd & long.


#getoffthefield!

Haha its so true

You are spot on device.

A lot of being a qb is situational.
Baker was mature enough to realize in the second half:
1. He was hurt.
2. The running was rolling.
3. Short passing game was rolling.
4. We had no down field threat.
Instead of trying to be Superman, he efficiently guided the browns to victory.

It is hogwash that we have the best receivers in the league. Landry is a number 2 receiver in the league for all the good teams and he is not a downfield threat. Obj could be a number one but either has been injured or not played like it in 4 years. Next year we need to move on from both Landry and obj’s big salaries. We will miss the Landry’s character and team first attitude though. We need obj to become the star again to reach our goals this year, especially if the overhyped defensive ends underachieve all year. To early to tell on Schwartz, but he does not seem to have phyisicality to be a legit nfl deep threat star. He has already cost us a interceptions and killed a drive with a huge drop. Hope I’m wrong

Sure. This is definitely average when your top 2 WR's are out of the game and hurt. Maybe if Baker can hit 90% completion rate and 15 yards per attempt he will be considered above average?

[/quote]

As for the game - I've tried to be patient with my assessment of Woods last season and this and vs KC.. I get that we had little talent last year and they are gelling this year, but man he has called some games i do not like one bit and alarm bells are going off. I'll take the W and hope they improve, otherwise this is going to be a struggle.

j/c...

Hope this does not limit his ability throughout the year or it gets reaggravated, if there was indeed a torn labrum.



Cleveland Brown quarterback Baker Mayfield left the game in the second quarter after suffering a left shoulder injury. By video, he subluxed his left shoulder while making a tackle after he threw an interception. He went to the locker room where he will get a left shoulder harness/brace. If this were his throwing shoulder he would be out for the game. Him returning to the game doesn't mean he won't need offseason labral repair surgery. Fellow quarterbacks Mitch Trubisky and Trevor Lawrence also underwent offseason surgeries on their non-throwing shoulders.

https://profootballdoc.com/#/

I just have to say... Our depth is already being tested. That they ground it out and pulled out a win says a lot.

Honestly they should have won the game and should have done it in a more decisive manner. But this is still the NFL and there are no gimmies.

Any given sunday.


As long as they can keep winning and as long as they show the same toughness to grind out wins. THis team is going to eventually gel on the field too.

It takes time.

It's a long season

I’m actually surprised by all the criticism of Garrett that I see on here. The dude was double teamed on every single pass play that I saw. To the Watt comparison, Pittsburgh helps him out with their scheme. Garrett was doubled, but did Takk or Clowney rise up to help him out in the pass rush? No.

Woods was basically sitting there like “good luck, Myles” until he had some sort of realization late in the fourth that “hey, since they’re so focused on Myles, maybe I should blitz the freaking rookie QB from the other side.” Lo and behold…sack fumble.

The scheming and the adjustments today were horrendous on defense. It looked like our guys were weak on responsibilities and assignments. We were soft everywhere. We didn’t adjust for a rookie QB. I was really disappointed in Woods.

By the way, if you are going to criticize Garrett, what about Ward? He had some rough series. That being said, why the hell was he playing so far off the WR. I thought TT was just going to skinny post us to death.

I am worried about Woods. I just don’t think the guy has it upstairs to match wits with some of the better offensive minds.

Can we talk about David Culley?

I have never seen a more clueless head coach on the day of the game. When he declined the penalty to punt I literally laughed out loud. The Texans could’ve had third and ten and he punted instead. The camera cut to Stefanski and he literally didn’t understand. They then punted the ball straight into the end zone.

At the end of the first half the Texans goal was to run out the clock except they gained a bunch of yards. They ran it again and didn’t use any timeouts.

It was confusing.

During one of his players injury, I wish I could’ve heard what he was chewing out his players about.

Think it was for getting into a scuffle while his teammate was hurt

Going into the week I was pretty confident about this game. Then I listened to Jake Burns’ podcast with the Texans guy. He said that the Texans have the second oldest team in the league. That made my confidence recede a little. The Texans are not a team of a bunch of rookies like we were during the 1-31 stretch. They know how to play.

With that said, we need to be soooooooo much better on defense.

Woods is going to hold this Team back. His schemes, [lack of] adjustments and personnel leave a lot to be desired.

I cant really defend woods. Last season there was only one defensive coordinator who blitzed less times than woods. His defense is basically a glorified prevent defense. He has even said himself that his defense relies on the front 4 to apply most of the qb pressure. So its 4 on 5 at best for our d line. If they use tightends to chip or keep a back in to block its more

jc

First, I did not like the Woods hire, but I'm telling you the D takes more time. It is the same every season. Say by the end of game 5 or 6 we should see midseason form from this D. If it is still ugly then or costs us games, then Woods would have to go if it was my decision.

Watching the Texans as the game progressed gave me flashbacks to some of the previous Browns regimes. A whole bunch of questionable coaching moves, a defense that had to play above themselves, ridiculous spat of injuries, etc.

j/c


Post-game thought:

To any Browns fans who are too young to have seen Jim Brown play in the orange & brown, and want to know what that was like: watch Nick Chubb play in the orange & brown right now. This young man has the same combination of power, speed, vision and elusiveness that thrilled fans in the 60's. Defenders rarely get a clean hit on him. Those who do, pay a price for their bravery/dedication. Come 4th quarter, players just don't want to do their jobs against him any more. It's beautiful to watch. 4Q, 5:59: Texans stabbed in the heart. No end zone celebration.

All business.
All work.
All man.

CLE has always been at its best when the offense runs through an effective running game. Today, we saw an ugly, awkward-looking game in many respects. The kind of game Browns fans have seen for the past 2 decades. Difference: today, we saw CLE close out a game on an opponent that used to be closed out on CLE. Saddle up your big hoss, and ride him to 0:00. Baker takes the knee.

I am so thankful that we took a chance on this young man. When I watch him pound the rock, I'm 9 years old again... and the Browns can win every game they play.

Feed the Chubb.
(For that matter, keep Hunt well-fed, as well...)

It was eerie.
I could actually place myself in the shoes of HOU fans during this game. It looked sooooo familiar.

My thoughts were: We are lucky Texans had to play their rookie QB 2nd half because Tyrod was very good.
Our D is still playing too soft at times, should have blitzed Mills more. Either we need to gel or Woods needs to scheme better...not impressed so far.
Mayfield, Chubb, Felton, Delpit all had good game..even Hooper had a few clutch catches. Wills tuffed it out playing hurt.

Jake Burns
@jake_burns18
Malcolm Smith, Mack Wilson, Sione Takitaki, and Elijah Lee with your t4
@PFF
grades defensively.

#Browns won a game by 10 where JJII (42.4), Denzel Ward (45.4), and Troy Hill (48.3) performed metrically poor.

Demetric Felton with a 98.7 grade in 3 offensive snaps LOL.

I love Teller

Berry went out and payed Johnson an Hill ( who where at the top of their game ) to play in Cleveland .. They then grade out in the 40's ??? Someone in the Organization must realize they have at least a " situation " in Woods ..

I actually keep forgetting that HIll’s on the team

For now....I'm chalking up this defensive performance to needing more time to come together or they simply just had a bad day. That said, this defense played like absolute trash yesterday.

I though Ward played poorly. Wasn't all that impressed with JJ3. Almost zero pressure from the defensive line. Our linebackers sucked outside of Malcolm Smith.

There have been times where a good team with a good defense has allowed a very bad Cleveland Browns team to stay in a game until the end, so I'm not all that worried....it happens. I'm just hoping this does not become a trend and it was just a bad day for the defensive side of the ball.

I saw signs of what it could be.. I'm thinking that two games in isn't enough time to determine anything.

Miles said pretty much the same thing.

Coach says it all...

We need to have our athletes on the field on 3rd downs and big plays … JOK, Delpit, Garrett, Clowney, Harrison, Johnson, Ward, Newsome.

Realistically we shouldn’t be THIS bad

I think what I get upset about from a DC perspective, is the lack of adjustments. I could be wrong, but my impression is that Woods has a very small comfort zone when it comes to adjusting. He just loves that base-style defense, which I suppose can make sense if the players know what they're supposed to be doing, and can do it well...but for whatever reason, it looked like we had guys missing assignments out there, and we apparently had no plan to adjust to beating a skinny post when Taylor was QB.

Look at Stefanski, on the other hand. He's out there making all kinds of adjustments and doing all kinds of misdirection. Hell, look at other defenses, like the Steelers in Game 1. They are built for the blitz, but decided to dial back because they knew that Allen was good against it. Hell, look at all of Belichick's schemes. I don't know if he still does, but he used to switch even his base-style defenses from game-to-game depending on who they were playing (4-3 vs 3-4).

We had a rookie third string QB yesterday and an OL that was doubling up on Myles. We never adjusted anything, so they knew what to expect. It actually became so commonplace for them, that when we did blitz Delpit, it completely caught them by surprise (to Woods' credit I suppose).

I understand that there are trends, and that a pressure happy defense is not always the best thing (see Jets vs Raiders 2020), but there has to be an ability to be fluid with how you adjust to what the offense is doing. We don't seem to do that, at least very well.

JMHO

Beyond "adjustments" which seem thin (look at Ward's play early), did we look hungry? Aggressive? Scheming to bring more? Especially with a rook.

Just seemed indifferent as I said elsewhere. Amazed how statistically close it was.

Just me - but when your D scheme is giving such a large cushion to their WR's time after time and there is no pressure, you are setting up your secondary to fail. I think these poor grades fall at least partly on Woods.

j/c...

So a " Guy named Blake played LT when Wils left the game ? Do you have the defensive snaps ?

My thoughts:

One, it's a 'W', and that's most important. It wasn't pretty, or the beatdown we all felt it should have been, but we still got the 'W'.

We're one of the good teams, now.... we're one of the teams that the lesser teams get themselves up for. From now until forever, we are going to see the best from every team we face because they're just a little extra focused on beating us. We need to maintain that same high level of focus week in and week out.

OLine and DLine - we were getting beat in the trenches on both sides early on. Our OLine appear to have finally wore them down in the 4th, but early on, it was not good at all.

Ward got picked on a little. Newsome was quiet again. I said it last week and it was felt that it was just because he was on Tyreek Hill, but folks, we have a pair of Shutdown Corners. Teams are still going to get completions because this is the NFL and the rules work in the offense's favor, but we have two LEGIT CB's. We all know how good Ward is, so if QB's are going after him, that tells us what Newsome is doing.

Delpit showed up big. That's a welcome sight; we need more of that.


Offense: there were struggles, and a ton of miscues, but they got past it all. Scary as Hell when Baker went out; that is one tough dude.


Defense: This unit is grossly underperforming. These pass rushers can't get home and they can't contain a QB that wants to move. Yes, Tyrod is a gamer and always has been. When he played for us, that man played his heart out - right into an injury, same as he did yesterday, and he can ball, but he isn't THAT good. We couldn't get home on him.
Even worse, we couldn't do it against a 3rd String Rookie, either. We gave that Rookie all damn day to work and let him get comfortable in the pocket and we made that rookie look good. Joe Woods has repeatedly alluded to this being the Seattle Defense, the one that created the Legion of Boom, etc.... we all know it is predicated on Coverage and Pressure. Well, we aren't covering and we aren't getting pressure. We aren't tackling first, either, we're ignoring tackling to go for the strip, but we aren't getting turnovers. I get what this defense is SUPPOSED TO BE, but we are doing a TERRIBLE job of implementing it. We let guys run wide open through us, we suck at covering the short-to-intermediate, and guys find it way to easy to find uncovered spots in our zones..... all with personnel that is SUPPOSED to excel at coverage. The DLine is rocking at stopping running backs, and Clowney is REALLY showing up in the run game and making a real impact, but holy crap, he and Myles aren't doing much at all in the pass game. Yes, they're getting close all the time and they're getting pressures, but we're through two games and that vaunted duo only has ONE Sack between them? That's pretty sad.

I've been against the `Fire Joe Woods` campaign, and I'm not jumping on that bandwagon right now, but if this defense doesn't start to show some real improvement, well, that bandwagon is beginning to look pretty good. There is just WAY too much talent on this defense for the results - or lack of - that we're seeing. Rookie 3rd stringers playing with cast-offs from the 2018 Browns shouldn't be made to look as good as we made them look.

Good point about the OL purp … our OL FINALLY took control in the last part of the game, but early on we struggled (Conklin especially from my perspective).

As said elsewhere, Houston is a veteran team. Not great players, but definite pros. They had us toe to toe through one half

This is where I'm still at. The sky isn't falling or anything, but that defensive effort vs the likes of Tyrod Taylor and his rookie 3rd-rounder backup? That got some eyebrow raises from me. Houston, from their roster, to the coaching turmoil, the whole thing is a mess and just on talent mismatch we should've been giving them hell all day. This should've been our tune-up game, and instead we're wondering if the result would've been different if Taylor finished out the game. That's scary.

I have to say, I don't recall watching any QB that sells the fake as well as Baker does. He has all but mastered it, and I think this is one of the things that REALLY helps this O hum. When you can add that level of misdirection to the elements of the OLine always looking the same whether it is Pass or Run, and running multiple versions of plays from the same look and even mirroring it, etc... it really, really makes it tough on a Defense to see a play unfold correctly.

Offensive Players of the Week
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/20...ing/?cid=fmiatw

Wyatt Teller, guard, Cleveland. With the explosiveness missing from the Browns offense (no Odell Beckham Jr., and Jarvis Landry leaving with an injury early), Cleveland’s vaunted run game needed to be great Sunday. Protecting a 24-21 lead midway through the fourth quarter, the Browns leaned on Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt and the offensive line. Cleveland got to midfield, and it was Hunt for six, Chubb for 14, Baker Mayfield for one. And on second-and-nine from the Houston 26-yard line, Chubb took the handoff from Mayfield and headed to the right, behind Teller, the right guard. Now, at the point of contact at the line, Teller, the fourth-year man from Virginia Tech, steamed into Texans defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson and pushed him downfield. Five yards downfield. The immense hole gave Chubb the room to power for the 26-yard TD with 5:40 left to play. That was the final: 31-21, Browns.

Click on the tweet and it has the full list of snaps, including the defense.

I definitely give Baker props … he works his butt of, which is obvious. From two years ago to now is a great transformation. Credit to the staff as well.

His decision making and progressions is also so improved. Last step for him: make us better when things around him are worse.

thank you .

That's dirty.

The power of the short passes and screen game.

j/c...

That's embarrassing

Yeah, it is.

Schwartz isnt going to gain a QBs trust with too many of those plays. Soft.

Baker didn't shy away from his thoughts on Scwartz's effort on that play in his presser.

The rook was adequately punished. He got a good "talkin' to" by coach when he reached the sideline, Baker never threw him the ball again and made a very blunt, accurate statement after the game.

But this staff doesn't play the "doghouse" game without repeated offenses... he'll be given a chance at redemption next Sunday.

Good.
Hold the kid accountable, and ream him a new one. Make sure he understands his role and his job. He's a nice element to have, but he is entirely replaceable.

That's what I heard from people who went to the game, too. Stefanski spoke to him and I heard that Baker did the same when he got back from getting his shoulder popped back in.

j/c...

Browns Offensive PFF grades vs the Texans:

QUARTERBACK

Baker Mayfield: 66.1.

Notable: Mayfield was under pressure on only four dropbacks, although two of them resulted in sacks. His average depth of target was 5.6 yards, much lower than the 10.1 in Week 1. His overall passing grade was 73.2, and he remained perfect on play-action passes, going 7-of-7 vs. the Texans, making him 16-of-16 for the season.

RUNNING BACK

Demetric Felton: 98.7.
Nick Chubb: 76.6.
D’Ernest Johnson: 60.0.
Kareem Hunt: 58.5.
Andy Janovich: 53.3.

Notable: Chubb’s rushing grade was 84.1. He had four runs or 10 or more yards and forced eight missed tackles. Hunt forced four missed tackles. Janovich graded 59.6 in six run-blocking snaps. Texans linebacker Christian Kirksey gave up catches to Felton and Chubb and had a defensive grade of 56.8. Cornerback Desmond King II was responsible for Felton’s touchdown, and safety Eric Murray graded 37.2 against the run with three missed tackles.


WIDE RECEIVER

Jarvis Landry: 86.9.
Rashard Higgins: 64.0.
Donovan Peoples-Jones: 47.9.
Anthony Schwartz: 44.5.

Notable: Landry had one catch and played two snaps. Higgins graded 44.8 in 23 run-blocking snaps. Schwartz (51.7) and Peoples-Jones (46.0) played 17 and 23 passing snaps, respectively, and had the lowest receiving grades among all positions. Texans cornerbacks Tremon Smith (80.1) and Terrance Mitchell (71.4) had the team’s top coverage grades.

TIGHT END

Harrison Bryant: 85.0.
Austin Hooper: 74.9.
David Njoku: 65.1.

Notable: Bryant had the second-best run-blocking grade on the team (70.0, 18 run-blocking snaps). Bryant also had the second-best receiving grade (79.4). All three tight ends played at least 30 snaps.


OFFENSIVE LINE

Wyatt Teller: 72.9.
Jack Conklin: 64.5.
Jedrick Wills Jr.: 63.3.
Blake Hance: 63.2.
JC Tretter: 60.4.
Joel Bitonio: 58.8.

Notable: Teller had the top run-blocking grade (72.6). Bitonio was the top pass blocker (85.8.), followed by Tretter (82.5) and Hance (79.3), who played 18 snaps. Wills (hurry and Conklin (sack) each gave up one pressure. Linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill was the Texan’s top pass rusher, earning a 76.9 grade with two pressures and one sack.

https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2021/09...eplaceable.html

"The Browns' biggest weakness is still at the second level of their defense. Cleveland allowed Houston to convert seven of 13 third-down attempts largely because they repeatedly failed to tackle the ball carrier in the open field. Defensive coordinator Joe Woods also has some explaining to do, directing a largely vanilla defense that didn't show any significant creativity until a key sequence late in which he sent Grant Delpit on a blitz (resulting in the Browns' lone sack of the day) and then dialed up a well-timed stunt on the defensive line, leading to a quarterback pressure that produced an incompletion. The Browns weren't able to get too aggressive last season because of personnel deficiencies; That's no longer a valid excuse, and they need to be better going forward."

How could Garrett play all of that time with all of his athleticism and experience and never get one pressure?

Seems crazy

After 2 games, all of the Browns WRs combined have 13 catches for about 200 yards.

60 minutes of double-teams

Seems Garrett playing a lot on the left side, lately.

That flea flicker for a TE screen was honestly a GREAT play looking at that angle

And now it’s on film so teams have to prepare for it which opens up the regular flea flicker.

Cool play. Could have been better if we would have blocked somebody down field.

Tyrod did a good job of getting rid of the ball in 2.5 sec. or less by quick sideline passes, slants over the middle, bootleg left. etc. etc.

That was one of the oddest coaching decisions I’ve ever seen in our stadium … and that says A LOT

I believe that was Wills, and given how his ankle must've been feeling, him being out in space at all was a plus. :-p

I don’t think many coaches would walk it back like this. Respect to him. Also, he’s still terrible. I just don’t get how a 66 year old who has never been a coordinator (or head coach) at any level gets an NFL head coaching job. The Texans are the worst run team in the league.

That is a scary thought. What if Taylor would have remained in the game.. He was pretty commanding.

I'm thinking that part of the problem with the team may be that some fans (me included) thought to much of the team that would start the first couple of games.. My mind was made up that Clowney and Garret would eat opposing QBs for lunch on every play.. Maybe they will in time,, Apparently not yet...

One game was against Mahomes and we got consistent pressure. But Mahomes is a magician and does whatever he wants. The next game we went against a surprisingly solid offensive line. If we don’t kill the Bears o-line there is a problem.

I think you mixed up the order of those last 2 sentences. Texans are the worst-run team, ipso facto they hired who they did.

Again, there are so many elements of Houston's whole situation that remind me of recent Browns teams. The Pettine hire kinda seems similar here.

Pettine was at least a successful coordinator in the league.

I always thought Pettine was at least competent. His problem was ownership and the FO forcing Manziel on him. He had the Browns at 7-4 with Hoyer at QB when the shtf.

Pettiness always seemed like a no nonsense guy. There was a lot of nonsense in that time period.

Alright, fine. So maybe not the best parallel, but Pettine was in over his head and that HC spot came too early for where he was in his development as a coach. He was also racking up quite a few in-game head-scratchers.

Overall, my point was that I saw a lot of similarities between the Houston team and some of the things we've seen over the course of the last 1-2 decades.

Crazy that David Culley is 66 and it’s still too early for where he is in his development as a coach.

Seriously though, he’s been a coach since 1978 and was an offensive coordinator once at UTEP in 1989-90. And then he gets a head coaching job at age 66. That’s nuts.

I was listening on the radio at the time when it happened. Donovan and Dieken were so confused lmao.

j/c...

Hot Take Alert:

This indeed puts a spin on things that harken back to CLE's 5-11, 4-12 days.

I remember watching endless hours of uninspired football where the clearly superior team coasted through yet another gray Sunday that featured a Browns loss. Not a humiliating loss... but yet another mind-numbing, soul-sucking loss that strips the fire and dignity from a (formerly) self-respecting fan base.

It's a take that I hadn't considered. And you know what? I don't want to consider it now.

I'll tell you why.

When I look at the FO, the coaching staff, the Head Coach, the message, the mantra.... The Culture that's being instilled here, I don't think 'coasting through a gimme' is part of the new mindset at 76 Groza.

Firstly, this would be an example of a player's in-game attitude that runs absolutely counter to the buy-in that KStef & crew preached/insisted on from Day One, 2020: "Excellence and accountability."

Secondly, this team hasn't proven itself enough to approach ANY NFL game with a 'phone it in' attitude... and we have the kind of staff that would remind them of that on the daily. I've seen too many recent "Building The Browns" episodes to consider the hubris involved with a 'coast to a win' scenario. It's not what we're building. It's not what we're trying to be.


I think this tweet is a 'wishful thinking' rumination. And I think the reality in BrownsTown is very different tthan that.


My take: the simplest explanation is probably closest to accurate: A superior team had a sloppy day, and still managed to get a win. Had they been on their game, the margin would have been >20. I think this team would have run up the score on any opponent, had they not stumbled through parts of this game. It was the home opener, after all.


If I'm wrong, and this 'Twitster' is right- CLE has the same systemic cultural problems they've always had. My eyes, my brain and my gut tell me otherwise.


.02

Lol.

Ok, Jake. Ok.

I agree. I don't think Jarvis would have fought for those yards, Baker would be trying to make that tackle, or Delpit would be throwing his body around like that if this were the case.

I could buy that we're not trying to show our best plays and schemes, but not that people are holding back on effort. I also might start buying in to the fact that Joe Woods isn't the man for the job if we see a couple more lame defensive showings.

We’ve seen many good teams stroll into our stadium and go through the motions the first half, turn it on in the 2nd half, and get out with a ho-hum win.

Maybe we’re on the other side of it now.

Maybe. I'd say we need to get to game 6 before we try to pin it on scheme. Scheme isn't the one missing tackles.

Scheme could be responsible for coverage looking soft and defensive line weakness. I say "could" be because we don't know if it is scheme or players not getting in to the right spots or getting there at the right time.

I want to preface my post with I was NOT happy with the defensive showing on Sunday, it must be much much better.

I see a defense that is learning on the job, that is playing slow and who's pieces don't fit together well YET.

I can't say they ever will fit because they just haven't shown they do to date.

What I know is that this defense didn't even practice together until training camp had broken.

I know that 80+ % are new players in a new defense.

I also know that Fans, yup you and me start believing things and they aren't always true. Case an point the absence of a pass rush.

At least early in the game we had a very good pass rush, if you recall Tyrod was very focused on getting the ball out of his hands, which actually plays into my next point. At least 3 of the 1st passes thrown by Tyrod where the very same passes to different people but the very same play. A quick slant from left to right. Each time Myles was within a half a step of planting Tyrod.

But what is missing here is tighter coverage off the line tight enough to get Tyrod to hold on 1 tenth of a second longer. I didn't see the adjustment from a coverage stand point. I would have gotten Ward closer to the line and to the man he was covering and I believe it would have meant Tyrod getting a mouth full of Myles. And that played out thru most of the game. The focus on Houston was to get the ball out and our coverages were to loose to get Tyrod to hold it even a 10th of a beat.

There are a lot of moving parts here if Ward tightens his coverage but doesn't have deep help he could give up a whole bunch more then 5-10 yards. That means he has to have help over the top and that top help needs to be up to the task of handling the coverage and that the CB and the safety LB have to communicate how that is going to unfold with several scenarios covered based on the route run by the WR's.

When emotions get set to the side and the reality of what has to take place with some level of precision you know that this defense is very much a work in progress.

Reason tells me that the way this unit looks now was and is pretty predictable, and that it should get better week to week, but man there is a ton we need to work on, and it is likely to be done incrementally versus on a wholesale bases.

I don't like any of it, I want a polished well executed aggressive defense, and I believe we will see that but for now it's going to be a growing process, and in hind sight I think this defense should have played more together in the Pre-Season. As is we are week 2 of pre-season and the schedule says we are week 3 of the season. We have a lot of ground to make up.

We also have a tremendous amount of talent on this defense so it becomes how long is it going to take to get this defense working well together? From what I saw we have a lot of ground to cover and it's week 3.

Teams are going to start throwing quick against us obviously … I’d expect Woods to counter that in some way, right? Seems like we don’t adjust much

To counter I think that is a part of the scheme. Keep it in front of you.

Although done differently, it isn't all that different in theory than when Williams had Peppers lining up 40 yards deep to not allow the deep, quick strike.



Also, is it possible our view(fans) of a guy like Wards ability to stick one on one with a receiver is greater than the coaching view? Press coverage is great until the receiver isn't covered.

The odds say that giving up a field goal on every one of their possessions is bettered by us scoring a TD on every other possession.

At the start of the game, after the 1st few passing plays, I had to look up who #21 was. They were playing what looked like 12 yards off the ball (I could be wrong and it could have been less, but it felt like 12). I assumed it was Newsome or Greedy. Surprised that it was Ward.

Didn't notice this later in the game.

I think that happened when he was on Cooks with no deep help. Cooks is one of those guys who can score in a hurry.

I seem to remember at least one of those being against a rookie. But not 100% sure. If you are correct, then this definitely becomes a scheme issue. Why would you put a Cb on Cooks solo with no safety help over the top?

I don't know that there wasn't safety help. There didn't appear to be any double coverage, and to be honest I mostly watch the football when at games. I don't sit there pretending to be a scout watching various players from snap until play completion.

Maybe you all saw Terry Pluto's pre-game article where he predicted 32-20 for the Browns. Pretty prescient. He also pointed out that Garrett and Clowney had 0 pre-season plays. Kind of calms my mind that this defense truly is in a "gelling" mode right now. Hey, we be gelling !!!!

First play Ward was covering rookie WR Nico Collins when Collins gained 32 yards.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/playbyplay/_/gameId/401326130

Ward played one of his worst games I can remember. Seemed totally slow and/or unwilling, at least when I watched him

I'll check back in with ya in about 4 weeks .. lol

One of my pet peeves is that most DC's refuse to disrupt WR at the line of scrimmage .. I get there apprehension of getting beat bad. The habit of playing not to loose rather than sober knocker football goes against my being .. Houston's last score was prefect example .

I am sure we will both be here. I hope it improves as you do. I am not ready as an example to give up on JOK even if he isn't looking like the guided missile some projected.

WATER,

Agree wholeheartedly on this. I would think a major point of getting great corners is so that you can have them disrupt timing at the line, and they still have the talent to flip and run with receivers.

I don't mind that we play a good deal of zone, but would be a lot happier if we mixed it up the way that Stefanski does on offense. While we all know that our O bread is buttered with the run game and PA, we do run a significant # of snaps out of empty sets to keep defenses off balance. Why can our defense not do the same by sprinkling in press-man 15-30% of the time? I guess in the case of KC I get it, but Houston?!

It sounds a lot like what I posted before this game when I see a comment like water's.

It's not enough to win if you don't win pretty. I don't get it.

You saw "not winning pretty" in his post...I saw playing passive and not tough results in giving up ridiculously-easy and crazy-significant yardage.

Ward is crazy-over-rated by Browns fans. He's good...he's not a star. He's not being used properly IMO and his body language sucks.

So people didn't see a 10 point margin of victory in a win by the Browns. Got it.

When Browns fans get so fickle it's more about how you win than whether you win that looks silly to me.

Let it go ..lol

I'm not an nfl official. I'm not even a high school official. How many holding calls, that weren't called, did you all see?

I lost count.
I stopped yelling, too. What's the point, you know?

We all see it.
Same as it ever was.

That Takitaki missed assignment sheds a little more light on that play. It would have been a big time sack had that route not been open. Big contingency, I know...but that kind of speaks to the concern over how guys (especially ones like Takitaki who are in their second year in the system) are missing their assignments.

Our ST's was making big plays on both sides against Houston.

That reminds me...did you all see the 3" rip in Garrett's bicep sleeve near the end of the KC game? That spoke volumes on its own.

"I can't believe you scored".

His play call in the huddle at 4:23 lol

haha that was my favorite part too … it was like “Just get the ball to nick and pull like crazy”

He’s just a massive human lol