Some reasons why we lost today *cough* St. Clair *cough*.....

[BernietheKid]

Upon Further Review: Offensive Line
		By Dave Kolonich OBR Reporter Posted Nov 24, 2010 | More The Browns' offensive line lost the numbers game against Jacksonville.
If you judge the outcome of last Sunday’s Jaguar game solely by the numbers, it’s obvious why the Browns could not pull out a victory. Beyond the sheer failure of turning six Jacksonville turnovers into ten points, the Browns managed only 88 rushing yards and gave up six sacks. Not exactly the stuff of legends….even despite the extraordinary circumstances of the game. Logic would point to a faulty offensive line for the Browns’ regressive offensive performance on Sunday, but then again it’s worth noting that sometimes even logic doesn’t make much sense. After all, most NFL teams tend to win a game in which they collect six turnovers. Yet in this most illogical of games, there wasn’t much the offensive line could do to prevent a different outcome on Sunday. In many respects, Sunday’s loss could be reduced to a simple numbers game. The Jaguars simply loaded up their front seven against the Browns’ rushing attack and then began to squeeze a hobbled McCoy. Once the twin threats of Hillis up the middle and a mobile McCoy were extinguished, the Browns’ glaring lack of offensive playmakers fully emerged. As for the offensive line’s overall performance, the shades of dominance we have witnessed over the past month of the season were not on display. In fact, the offensive line tended to play from a defensive standpoint for most of the game. Early on, the Browns’ offensive line struggled with Jacksonville defensive tackle Terrance Knighton. Knighton usually lined up between Alex Mack and Eric Steinbach and was able to get a solid push on each. On the occasions when Steinbach drew a solo assignment on Knighton, the agile Jacksonville defensive tackle simply dominated. It was obvious from the first quarter on that Knighton altered the Browns’ game plan. Even on the Browns’ marathon first quarter drive, the rushing attack spread more horizontal and the passing game relied on a series of quick passes by McCoy. Very few of Peyton Hillis’ first half runs went between the tackles – which became a trend that continued into the latter stages of the game. Beyond Knighton, the Jaguars loaded up their front seven with the likes of Daryl Smith and a host of quick linebackers. In the second half, the Browns’ offensive line encountered a series of overloaded matchups – as the Jaguars brought a variety of corner blitzes, in addition to relying on their quick defensive ends. During most of these plays, the Browns’ struggled to pick up advancing defenders. Perhaps the best evidence of this was shown on a series of fourth quarter sacks by the Jaguars. Jacksonville’s Derrick Harvey rushed around the right side of the Browns’ line and beat Hillis on a critical third down play. One drive later, John St. Clair couldn’t contain his defender, which forced a one-legged McCoy scramble. A few plays later, Jeremy Mincey beat Steinbach for yet another sack. Along the way, Steinbach was badly outmatched by Jaguar rookie Tyson Alualu and at times Knighton overpowered Mack. The Browns’ backfield struggled in blitz containment throughout – which may be an indicator of the overall lack of production by the team’s wideouts downfield. To this point, when the offensive line could manage to pick up what was often six or seven Jaguar defenders, the Browns’ receivers simply couldn’t get open downfield. In a nod to last week’s soul-numbing loss to the Jets, the lack of offensive playmakers again hurt the Browns against Jacksonville. Once the Jaguars took away Hillis’ inside running lanes, the pressure was turned up against McCoy. Jacksonville rushed linebackers and blitzed corners, knowing that the repercussions downfield were virtually non-existent. In the end, the overall performance by the Browns’ line didn’t exactly cost their team the game. While Billy Yates’ rugged interior play was missed, rookie Shaun Lauvao managed to turn in a decent performance. Joe Thomas was solid and St. Clair performed better than expected, at least considering the quickness of the Jaguar defense. However, one truth about the Browns’ current offense has emerged over the past two weeks. Simply put, this is an offense – and an offensive line – that cannot afford to play one-dimensional football. Unfortunately, the one dimension that this offense has – a power running game – was taken away early on Sunday. Scout.com: Upon Further Review: Offensive Line

[Sez.EJ]

Nov. 24, 2010 2:00 p.m. - RB Peyton Hillis on dealing with increased defensive attention: "That was good defensive scheming last week [against Jacksonville] and we didn't play well on offense. We face eight or nine in the box every week. We can do a lot better if we execute." Browns RapidReports

[BernietheKid]

Lucky in a bad way
Multiple turnovers without a victory result in bad grades
By Nate Ulrich
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Tuesday, Nov 23, 2010


The odds of an NFL team losing with a plus-five turnover differential are higher than the odds of someone being struck by lightning, but they're still pretty darn low.

Since the 1970 NFL merger, teams that have finished a game with a plus-five turnover differential have gone 363-16-2, winning 95.7 percent of the time, according to STATS LLC. Somehow the Browns (3-7) joined the other 4.3 percent on Sunday.
As coach Eric Mangini said during his news conference Monday, he never thought it would happen to the Browns, ''but we lived it.''

If you're wondering how they could fall 24-20 to the Jacksonville Jaguars (6-4) despite finishing with four interceptions and two fumble recoveries, these grades should reveal some answers:

OFFENSE: D+
Quarterback: B-. Mangini confirmed Colt McCoy played with a sprained left ankle after taking a sack early in the third quarter. Still, he completed 17-of-28 passes for 241 yards and a touchdown and rushed four times for 39 yards. His only turnover of the game was on the offense's final play, a long pass down the middle that bounced off a defender, then off tight end Benjamin Watson before being picked off. His glaring rookie mistake came with about 30 seconds left, when he checked down and completed a pass for no gain on a shallow crossing route to wide receiver Chansi Stuckey. With no timeouts, the Browns couldn't afford that, especially because Stuckey couldn't get out of bounds. Give McCoy points for the rest of the drive, though.

Running backs: C+. Peyton Hillis and Lawrence Vickers were supposed to dictate the tempo of the game against the league's 21st-ranked rushing defense, but they never came close. Hillis had 21 carries for 48 yards (2.3 average), and the team had 26 carries for 88 yards (3.4 average). The Jaguars dominated the line of scrimmage, so the backs had little to work with. Hillis, though, still made an impact with six catches for 95 yards, including an 11-yard touchdown reception. On the other hand, he gave up a sack.

Wide receivers/tight ends: D. Wide receivers Mohamed Massaquoi and Stuckey and tight end Evan Moore combined for 11 catches and 146 yards. The rest of the group, which was without Josh Cribbs (dislocated toes) did nothing. Was it the players' fault or offensive coordinator Brian Daboll's fault? Both. Also, wide receiver Brian Robiskie was called for offensive pass interference in the second quarter. The 10-yard penalty pushed the Browns back, and Phil Dawson missed a 51-yard field goal three plays later.

Line: F. McCoy was under siege all day and took six sacks. It's easy to say the right side of the offensive line didn't perform well because rookie guard Shawn Lauvao and tackle John St. Clair haven't played next to each other and were filling in for injured teammates. But guess what? Tackle Joe Thomas, guard Eric Steinbach and center Alex Mack didn't look so hot, either. Where were the holes for Hillis?

DEFENSE: B
Linebackers: C+. The Jaguars had 28 carries for 144 yards (5.1 average) with running back Maurice Jones-Drew (24 carries, 132 yards, 5.5 average) doing most of the damage. Eric Barton tied the team lead with six tackles, Chris Gocong had two fumble recoveries, Marcus Benard had a sack and Matt Roth had a half sack. The bottom line: These guys missed Scott Fujita (knee), and they didn't do enough to stop the run.

Line: B. This group accounted for 21/2 sacks — nose tackle Ahtyba Rubin had one, end Kenyon Coleman recorded one and Shaun Rogers added a half sack. Rubin also had five tackles, and Mangini praised his effort and hustle yet again.

Secondary: A-. These guys gave the team a chance to win. Safeties Abram Elam (six tackles, forced fumble and recovery, interception), T.J. Ward (two interceptions) and Ray Ventrone (forced fumble) and cornerback Joe Haden (interception) forced turnovers at an alarming rate. Cornerback Sheldon Brown didn't officially get a turnover, but he deflected both passes Ward picked off. However, Brown should have tackled Jones-Drew instead of trying to strip him of the ball during his 75-yard catch-and-run on a screen pass. Ward and cornerback Eric King also had good shots at Jones-Drew but didn't make the play the team needed. Jones-Drew's big gain set up his game-winning, 1-yard touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Ventrone also had trouble with tight end Marcedes Lewis, who exploited the matchup on a 14-yard touchdown catch. By the way, Haden continued to show he's legit.

SPECIAL TEAMS: D+
Dawson made field-goal attempts of 38 and 41 yards, and missed two attempts of 51 yards. Clifton Smith didn't do much while replacing Cribbs as the return man. Mangini flat out said Reggie Hodges didn't punt well, but the coverage units were stellar as usual.

COACHING: D
When asked if the offense was too conservative, Mangini said, ''I really believed we were going to be able to turn the corner in the run game. I really believed that, and I know that Brian [Daboll] believed that and the offensive players believed that and felt like we had some good answers there, and we didn't execute very well and our answers weren't as good as we thought they were.'' The coaching staff's answers weren't good, either, when it burned two timeouts in the fourth quarter because the defense botched some substitutions. McCoy and Co. needed those timeouts on the final drive.

Ohio.com - Lucky in a bad way