Browns Game Thread - #BengalsVsBrowns this Thursday! Statement game for the @Browns ....hopefully. | Page 9 | Barking Hard

Browns Game Thread #BengalsVsBrowns this Thursday! Statement game for the @Browns ....hopefully.

Couple of things:

Sendejo is terrible. He completely whiffed on the fake punt last week and all I see him do is get beat.

The defense has a very long way to go. Garrett made one great play and one stupid play.

Baker was good except for the very bad Int. Not seeing the field great.

We can run.

It's the NFL: a win is a win. I'll take it.
 
They say a football team makes it's biggest improvement between weeks 1 & 2...and we saw exactly that last night for the Browns.

Positives:

- Stefanski called an excellent game:
- run/pass balance was where most expected it. 23 pass/35 rush (although 8 rush attempts were on the final 2 drives, 1 the 'kneel' at the end). Chubb with 22 carries (5.6 ypc) and Hunt with 10 (8.6 ypc); really kept the defense off balance.
- the passing game was called more to Baker's strengths. Last night we saw more play actions; more bootlegs; more moving the pocket; more Baker making throws while moving out of the pocket. Those are all things that helped Baker be extremely successful.
- The OL was excellent. The Bengals had 0 sacks and only 2 TFL.
- Garrett had 9 QB pressures
- Ward was excellent and only allowed AJ Green 3 catches on 13 targets.
- Another good game for the rush defense. Only allowed 68 rushing yards and 2.8 YPC.

A couple of concerns:

- I was fine with Stefanski going for it on 4th down on the Bengals' goal line. I was really surprised we didn't try a pass to the TE's in that situation.
- That having been said, and to be nit-picky, the TE's only had 3 catches all night. I expected to see more Hooper.
- Baker had one really bad decision, the INT. He has to cut those out because it will kill us vs the good teams on our schedule (Ravens, Steelers, etc...)
- The back 7 is just atrocious. To be fair, there are 5 starters out with injuries in the back 7 and any team would be looking shaky given that situation. But our ability to cover is dog shit (outside of Ward).
- We only rushed 4 most of the night. With a rookie QB I was expecting to blitz more in an attempt to make him uncomfortable.


Overall, that was the offense we all expected to see this season. I think that game will give them much needed confidence moving forward. We now have seen that we have a good system (when called correctly) and players capable of executing. I know it was the Bengals but it's still very positive as it was only the 2nd game ever in this system and we should show gradual improvement at the season goes on.

Defensively, the DL is the bright spot. Playing the run game very well and the front 4 has been able to generate pressure through 2 games; Garrett specifically. But the back 7 is a mash unit playing terrible football. It' just a mess right now. It's tough to have answer until we see a healthy unit out there. I do believe that guys like Kevin Johnson & Grant Delpit would be huge helps right now; and Ronnie Harrison will be as well when he is up to speed. But we are going to have win some shootouts like last night with the current back 7.
 
The Haymaker said:
I wouldn't miss mitchells performance either with tight coverage and 3+ passes defenced
they form a great tandem at CB,solid - just like 2018
#underrated IMO
Click to expand...

We did an awful job covering the TE last night. Cincy TE’s combine for 11 receptions on 15 targets for 87 yards and 1 TD.

Uzomah had 4 receptions on 6 targets for 42 yards and 1 TD. He averaged 10.5 yards per reception. Nobody did a good job on him. His injury was the only thing that stopped him.

Then came the back-up, Sample. He caught 7 balls on 9 targets for 45 yards. Again, terrible job by the defense.

I simply can’t give anybody credit for that terrible job.
 
I agree on all comments made on our back 7. Hopefully we'll have some starters back soon, because we cannot always be forced to score 56 points to be sure we win a game.
I would add to the negatives the very poor kick off coverage. The Bengals always had very good field position to start their drives (kicking the ball out of bounds after scoring the final touchdown was inexcusable!). A lot to work there too in these next 10 days.
But yesterday I have really been impressed by our O-Line. Bitonio and Tretter are great, we knew that, but I was very happy to see Chris Hubbard playing a solid game in replacement of Conklin and J. Wills showed for the second game in a row that he was a legitimate 1st round pick. So far, they are the best news of 2020.
 
T Mitch plays mostly on the outside and usually had a WR to cover, but I did see a lot of ST'er Thomas playing the slot CB. He's strictly a zone cover type CB cause he wasn't going to lock down anyone, but "A" for effort outta him. At least he could tackle a guy to the ground after a catch. The cincy offense was short easy passes with an occasional deep ball to keep us honest. Harrison was late coming over to help on the long TD by about a step. I hope he improves and am sure he will. Is Karl Joseph a bust?! Hard to believe he can't cover.

Missing Delpit, Johnson, Greedy Williams and Mack Wilson is just too much. We do not have the kind of depth to get over four starters on one side of the ball.

Just run the ball. It works and keeps our defense off the field. Usually.
 
in a change of pace from other browns teams we have a front 7 that can stop the run well but a back 7 that cant stop the pass. help is on the way. wilson will be back our best cover linebacker.

last night against the 5 wide look we couldnt stop. it will look better when we can have ward, greedy, kevin johnson Terence Michelle and Ronnie Harrison out there instead of what they were trotting out there last night.

good thing they are going against Washington next week they have a horrible passing attack. im guessing it will be better by the dallas game and we will need them by then.


for once the schedule is working out in our favor.
 
I do not feel fully qualified to make this comment, but my eyes saw a pretty good game plan, pretty good play calling, pretty good execution, and some risk taking that was justified. My main point is that all of this looked miles ahead of what I think we have seen for a number of years. The game flowed, had purpose and was fun to watch.

I also think they played the clock game and did not care about the score tightening up like it did at the end. They looked confident that they could make Cincy use up the clock themselves.
 
Great game... At least everyone looked engaged and focused... I like the rhythm they established on Offensive... Havent seen that in awhile..... MG finally impacted the game that affected the outcome toward a W.. Need to see more of that... while it was not perfect.. The play calling was much better..... OBJ looked like a WR last night.. Landry was consistent.. I think Parkey earned a place to stay for awhile.... Jojo Natson reminds me of the cube (Gerald McNeil).
 
nickers said:
Great game... At least everyone looked engaged and focused... I like the rhythm they established on Offensive... Havent seen that in awhile..... MG finally impacted the game that affected the outcome toward a W.. Need to see more of that... while it was not perfect.. The play calling was much better..... OBJ looked like a WR last night.. Landry was consistent.. I think Parkey earned a place to stay for awhile.... Jojo Natson reminds me of the cube (Gerald McNeil).
Click to expand...

For what concerns Garrett, we have to give credit to the LSU kid for not being slowed down by the pressure, that was extreme at times. I was really impressed by Burrow.
 
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