2018 Season | The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

To follow up on the O line posts: How is it that NE continues to get adeqate to above average performance from JAGs on the O line. Coaching. Wiley's expiration date is in his past, but he's the Browns O line coach. Sigh.

These are guys with a little history and talent, who for whatever reason don't seem to perform as a unit very well. I gotta believe it's the coaching, much like I gotta believe some of the 2 dozen QBs who've suffered through a season in Cleveland had ability, but alas it was never given a chance to show, as we continued the coaching carousel. So here we go again, and why would anyone believe it will be different?

This year's answer is: John Dorsey/Baker Mayfield. How we feeling about that?

 

The older fanbase.

 

Is there some other fan base?

 

An UGLY in the making. With a D geared to rob not stop Offenses, I am fearful that our coaching staff needs to be more concerned about "spelling" some of our best thieves. It feels like Garret never gets a play off, and I think it is having a cumulative impact on his psyche, and his physical ability. I'd like that guy to be fresh when he game is on the line, when a strip or a sack can mean the difference.

Admittedly, I haven't tracked it, but if anyone has, am I just blowing smoke or do our D linemen get more live play than the league average by a pretty good margin? I'd absolutley hate to see Garret or Ogbah or Ogunjobi, injured due to fatigue, with a team who's next game simply isn't life or death.

 

I definitely believe this is a factor for the offensive line. Less-so with the receivers. Desmond Harrison was setup to fail by the scheme and by allowing so many isolation blocks where he was solely responsible for - many times - the defenses' best pass rusher. Chip, double-team, stack the line... anything to help him out on occasion but I never saw much of that happening (unless it was with Njoku [see above]).

The receivers, on the other hand, are more of a talent and experience issue. There's little to no separation because we don't have a go-to guy. Landry had his best game Sunday from a catch-rate standpoint (85.7% versus 52.1% in all other games) any only averaged 8.3 YPC on 50 yards total. A lot is being asked of Callaway (raw), Ratley (raw), and Higgins (injured).

 

You're spot-on. Garrett has taken a full games' worth of snaps more than the next-highest volume edge defender (J.J. Watt):

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Those also don't account for his snaps on special teams (add another 50 snaps - and by contrast, J.J. Watt has logged 37).

Likewise for Ogunjobi who outpaces the next-closest DT (Aaron Donald) by an astounding 110 snaps:

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That kind of speaks volumes to our lack of depth just about everywhere. (Except Tight End. We have five of those guys)

 

No. Hue said one of those guys was really a FB. So that makes only 4 TE's......



(Snark off)

This is probably the biggest problem with this roster and the injury bug is exposing this quite glaringly. Unless the wounded get healthy soon, I foresee grim results from here on out.

 

And "Refrigerator" Perry was a D-lineman that Ditka used as a running back. So your point is ?

 

Just being facetious. I think you missed the (Snark off) portion of that....

 

Don't hold your breath... Kirksey and Gaines are done for the year.

 

Ugly: "You-Know-Hue" is still making the rounds on the sports talk circuit. Only coach in NFL history to be the worst in NFL history and then get any air time.

 

Talent and experience are contributing factors across the roster. In some cases, experience moreso than talent. There's no doubt we have isolated pockets of talent, but even those pockets lack NFL experience. Such is not the case on the O-line. Four out of five of them have been around long enough to have the necessary experience so are they really as talented as we believe them to be?

IMHO, Bitonio and Zeitler have both talent and experience. I have to question the talent in Tretter and Hubbard. Harrison had neither so I agree with your take on helping him out with scheme. Let's see what Robinson can do over a period of time with (alledgedly) an improved scheme.

 

Just let it go, Sam. You got what you wanted and he was fired.

 

I'm not the one airing my laundry and taking every chance I can get to talk about the situation. Just an FYI...

 

If that's the position you want to take, fine by me.

 

The GOOD:

YOUR CLEVELAND BROWNS!!!
Seriously, I believe every aspect of the team played well yesterday. The special teams were 4-4 on PATs, I don't recall any special teams penalties and 3 of 4 punts were downed inside the 20...the 4th was a 45 yard net punt that had Atlanta starting on their own 26. Finally 3 of 5 kickoffs were touchbacks, the other two ended at the 22 (+3 gain) and 33 (-8 loss). So nothing was won or lost on special teams play, no effect is a win for this special teams play this year.

The defense had pressure all day. I can only count a few plays where Ryan had a lot of time to throw. They created 2 more turnovers, adding to their league lead.

The offense SCORED TDs after the first turnover and ended the game after the second in victory formation. What else is there to say about the offense? They were clicking on all cylinders yesterday. The only thing holding back Baker Mayfield yesterday was the effective run game we were also enjoying.

The Bad:

Calling for a half back pass from Dontrell Hilliard who is averaging 3 snaps per game this year...

The Ugly:

It had to end and now we have to wait two weeks to see them again!

 

Week 10 Atlanta

(Same rules apply after a really good win - I'm stealing a B+U and adding them to the G column.)

The Good

• Freddie Kitchens. Here's Mayfield's stat line in Haley's offense and Kitchens':
  
  Haley: 130 of 223 (58.3%), 1,471 yards (245.2 YPG), 8 TD (3.6%), 6 INT (2.7%), 78.9 QB rating
  Kitchens: 46 of 62 (74.2%), 513 yards (256.5 YPG), 5 TD (8.1%), 1 INT (1.6%), 118.5 QB rating
  
  Beyond that, he's doing those innovative things successful NFL coaches and coordinators do. Involving their best play-maker (Duke Johnson) again - seven touches, 46 yards, and a score. Just calling a better game and it's paying off. They didn't have time to implement a whole new offense, so it's literally as simple as playing to the strengths of the team and players.
  
  
• Greggggg Williams. Williams' record as head coach is 1-1 (.500). By that barometer, he's a 568% improvement over Hue Jackson (0.088 in his CLE career). In his two game debut, the Browns are averaging 29 yards per game in penalties (down from 63.9 under Hue this year). Down 5.5 penalties per game (down from 8.1). All units under his leadership (offensive line, offense, special teams) are improving. This isn't a fluke. This isn't also a pitch for him to earn the head coaching job long-term. This team is moving in the right direction under his stewardship and he deserves commendation for that.
  
  
• Baker Mayfield. QB1.
  
  If you can watch that and not love the guy, check your heart checked. In this game specifically, he posted the highest QB rating of a Browns quarterback since Brian Sipe in 1978. Yes... 40 years ago.
  
  
• Nick Chubb. Offensive rookie of the week, at least. Chubb's making a case for rookie of the year, too. To wit: "generational" running back, Saquon Barkley, has 519 yards on 111 carries (4.7 YPC), with 5 touchdowns. Second-round pick Nick Chubb has 579 yards on 94 carries (6.2 YPC), with 5 touchdowns. Chubb has only started three games (four, one was formation semantics) versus Barkley's eight (one to go tonight).
  
  
• Joe Schobert. Team MVP, in my opinion. On a game day where we just saw E.J. Gaines and Chris Kirksey head to IR for the rest of the year and facing a tough offense, we could have folded like a lawn chair. Instead, the leader of the defense stepped up and his return was welcome. He had some huge stops on the goal line stand for defense.

The Bad

• Really, the only bad thing I can think of has nothing to do with this game... it was waiting too long to pull the trigger on Haley and Hue. This was about as complete a win as we've seen from a Browns team in a looooong time. They won in convincing fashion, too. It wasn't an overtime field goal kick squeaker or anything like that... this was decided half-way through the third quarter.

The Ugly

• Matt Ryan.
  
  

 

DISCLAIMER: This post contains pro-Browns content and the unbiased analytics of PFF.com.

 

THREE rookies on offense... Now, that's a pretty darn good draft, even excusing the fact, THIS WEEK, Ward wasn't on the defensive list.