Well they ARE MUCH BETTER..to the tune of 1-2 Games played: 7-29 (loss to the Jaguars) 13-9 (win against the 0-3 Bengals) 33-36 (loss to the Patriots) So, we have a loss to the Colts on our resumé, while they have a win to the Bengals on their resumé. That is after all what you are looking for, correct? So if the Browns beat the Bengals this week, then all will be forgiven?
Take all the drops that Kizer has had, and factor those in as clutch receptions (which is what they should have been), and see how the numbers look...You keep mentioning the 3 ints yesterday. Wasn't one of those on a hail mary at the end? Are we holding that against him? The red zone int that was intended for Kasen Williams was a backbreaker, but couldn't that have been on KW turning the wrong way on the route? I mean, he has only been with the team a week. I'm not positive, but it sure looked to me like a timing route where Kizer thought the receiver was going to turn out. Once he turned in, that's all she wrote... Anyway, it's absurd to bail on Kizer already...P. Manning threw 24 ints his rookie year, and lost a bunch....I know we hate to hear it, but we must be patient. Give Kiser some support. Run the football. Catch the football. Good things might happen.
Here's the problem - you're asking to have it both ways. If you want to play conservative football, start the incumbent (Kessler). Start the veteran (Osweiler). Start the long-shot (Hogan). That's not how Kizer was billed. He was able to create offense. He gave us the best chance to win. He had an amazing grasp of the playbook. He was so advanced when it came to reading the defense and knowing where to go with the ball. We were sold this narrative that this was the best choice - not just for the long term - but for the short term as well. That's proven to be false.
How the hell is it "proven"? lol! Have you run some tests that declare Kessler would be 3-0 right now? Your golden boy was 0-9 last year...I'll grant you that he is definitely the conservative one...So conservative it made me physically ill at times last year, and it got him benched... You can't put all this shit on Kiser SAS...ya just can't. I'm tellin ya, Tom Brady loses with 8 drops and 4 OPI's on the WR's.
For starters... you guys gotta get his name right. It's Kizer. And in no way am I putting it all on him, but he's thrown what... four red-zone interceptions in three games? We have a defense that went from worst in the NFL to allowing 3.1 YPC this year (good for 5th in the NFL). The pass defense is actually exactly where it was in 2016 (allowing 100.4 rating), despite shedding veteran Joe Haden. We had a bad defensive gameplan against the Colts. That's going to happen. You'd like to think it happens against better teams, not some of the worst, but it is what it is. Demonstrably, Kizer is playing worse than Bob Grififn, Josh McCown, or Cody Kessler did in 2016. He's playing worse than Brandon Weeden did in 2012. If you have a head coach who's going to force the pass with an extremely below-average QB, it's going to have a vicious waterfall effect. You're going to abandon the run game, you're going to exhaust your defense, and you're going to allow the opposing defense to tee off and be concerned about only one facet of the game. The two biggest disappointments right now are DeShone and Hue.
One thing that many football fans (including me) do, is over-react to a loss... As bad as our offense looked on Sunday, it still looked WAY better than the #1 ranked offense in the NFL, the Oakland Raiders....and much better than the Ravens, Dolphins and Chargers for that matter. It's not all gloom and doom...There was some good. I thought Kizer showed some grit in the 4th qtr. He had the tough int's in the 3rd, and a big deficit to overcome, and he almost pulled off the comeback. Considering the way his wideouts played, that shows he's not in over his head....The 75 yard drive for a TD right before the half was clutch. Without that, it's game over.... Was he perfect? No....Should he be starter for the Cleveland Browns? hell yes. You think Kizer was so awful. Did you see Derek Carr play last night? Talk about bad! I know Browns fans love him. Raiders were a road favorite too...It happens. Move on...Talk of going back to Cody K makes me laugh.
Yeah, I mess his name up all the time....KIZER! I think it's because it's so similar to Kosar. I always want to throw that S in there. lol!
No apologies needed...I get it, but drops happen to the best of them....Amari Cooper and OBJ near the league leaders in drops...Im sure you would take them
It's not just "a loss", this time. It's the 17th loss in the last 18 games. It's a loss to a team without their best player (Luck) or even top two starting corners. It's a loss to a team who's roster is so bad, the Browns (who haven't won a road game since 2015) and Hue Jackson (who hasn't won a road game since 2011) were favored to win. If the Browns can't find a way to win games against the worst teams on their schedule (and I think this is the second-worst team we'll play all year), how can we expect them to win games against the better ones? I'm not comparing our team to those teams. I'm comparing the 2017 Browns to the 2016 Browns. And compared to a team that went 1-15, this season we have: A worse-performing quarterback (74.4 rating in '16 versus 55.4 rating in '17) A worse-performing running game (107 YPG in '16 versus 87 YPG in '17) And yet, we have... An improved run defense (31st in '16, 5th in '17) A comparable/unchanged pass defense (100.4 opposing QB passer ratings both seasons) A comparable/unchanged receiving corp (204 YPG in '16 versus 236 YPG in '17) A greatly-improved pass protecting line So we have to point the finger at something. So here's the deal - I agree. Maybe not as emphatically, but mostly because it's too late to put the toothpaste back in the tube. Here's the broader concern: It's not a stretch to say if Kizer continues to play the way he's been playing - or even improves slightly - our cap on wins is two (2). If we go 2-14, we probably have the first overall pick in the 2018 draft. It also means we have a head coach who went 3-29 in two seasons - which is practically unsurvivable. Unless the rest of the squad goes south, we've seen improvements in a lot of areas. What we haven't seen improvement in is the running game and the quarterback. With that #1 overall pick, we're either taking the top QB prospect or forcing it on a running back.
Here's one of the only places I could find stats for drops: link. Now, the rest of the stats are through three games, so I'm assuming that drops are as well. Browns are credited with 3 total drops (Coleman, Britt, Njoku each with 1). Given the nature of this stat, it's tough to actually pin down what the true numbers are, but that isn't an egregious number. Once the dust settles and there's more data review done on this Colts game, I would expect that 8 figure to drop closer to 2-3 since a ball has to be deemed "catchable" to be considered a drop. Unfortunately, it's still not a publicly-listed or agreed upon stat, so you could have two sources giving you very different numbers.
Do the wide receivers need to step up? Absolutely. Does the quarterback need to do a better job getting them the football? Absolutely. For every 'drop' in that game by the receivers, there was probably a comparable clutch catch being made bailing out a bad decision/throw. Britt and Leslie both had tremendous effort catches that should/could have been incomplete passes or worse.
I don't think we lose to the Steelers if Myles Garrett doesn't suffer the fluke injury in practice...I don't think we lose yesterday if Jaime Collins is on the field....The difference between winning and losing in the NFL is very small...I'm not making excuses. We lost and that's that. Every team deals with injuries. I get it. But every team isn't the youngest in the NFL by far. And every team isn't sitting with a roster full of QB's that have NEVER won a single NFL game... We all knew there would be growing pains, but I think deep down, we all expected victory this week. So it's a loss that stings a little more... One thing I do know is that a QB needs to get in rhythm, and that's impossible when every other pass thrown is dropped. It's also impossible when we continually handcuff ourselves with untimely penalties...When we stop shooting ourselves in the foot, you will see rhythm and growth, and hopefully some W's... Deshone must improve, but he can't do it alone. This is the ultimate team sport...All are accountable.
That's because they make a LOT of spectacular catches in between...there is a big difference between 10 drops in 100 tries, vs. Britt's 6 drops in 15 targets, he had THREE in this game alone.
Wow... this was more surprising that I expected... Run/pass rates when it was a one-score game. Browns 52:48. So the minute it's an eight point game, Hue completely abandon's the run.
Yep, 3 weeks in a row...He's even stated in post game, the game plan was executed because of the game circumstances dictated a change in game plan...In other words, we were down by more than one score. The worst part so far, for me, is that teams that are good on offense usually are quite good on their first possession of each half, because they are scripted. We have had more penalties on those opening drives that have just set a terrible tone for the game. I really hope we can start a game on defense soon to see if that helps the game plan the rest of the game at all...punting on the first possession usually means you are setting yourself up for a good game, if you force the punt, or are behind the 8 ball if you are forced to punt.
