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

But how is his voice?

With the current structure, Sam has a point. If they all report to the Owner than its more of a board. I don't think you're going to be able to get Defillipo as a coordinator. If he doesn't get a HC job, you would have to throw some money plus "associate head coach" or some similar title that is above Coordinator.

 

I think we all know (or should know) that the three coordinators all report directly to the head coach . . . not to Haslam.

 

If Andrew Bossard is worth anything he will go from assistant on the ground crew to team president by 2040. All he has to do is follow the Thomas Dimitroff model.

 

Week 12 @ Cincinnati

Whew... where to begin.

The Good

• Baker Mayfield. My goodness. My quarterback. Here's a good stat: only twice in NFL history has a QB recorded 20+ pass attempts, 140+ passer rating, and zero sacks in back-to-backs. Drew Brees (2018) and Baker Mayfield (2018). Likewise, Mayfield is the only rookie in NFL history with back-to-back 140+ passer rating in consecutive games. Mayfield's line since Ktichens took over: 73.9% comp., 771 yards (257 YPG), 9 TD, 1 INT, 2 sacks, and a 129.5 passer rating. The only QB in the NFL who's been better over the last four weeks this season is Drew Brees. Plus, there's this:
  
  
  
• Damarious Randall. All Pro safety. Randall has changed the entire dimension of the defense, much like Baker on offense, and his presence is vital to this team. He needs extended immediately. He's one of the best tackling safeties - despite playing the "free" spot, and he's been terrific at generating turnovers. Plus, I will personally build him a statue for this moment:
  
  
  
• Jabrill Peppers. Peppers is playing at a level we haven't seen from him before and he's been sneaky good for the past several weeks. More important than his play is his attitude, which is similar to that swagger that fellow safety Randall (and Mayfield) play with. If he keeps it up, it can be infectious (contagious, bruh?). Randall/Peppers (besides sounding like a 90's running back) could be a very, very good safety tandem moving forward.
  
  
• A hot streak? Browns have now won more games since the Jets than they did in the past 1,396 days (3.8 years). They've won at home, on the road (ending a 25-game streak), back-to-back (first time since 2014), and are 2-1-1 in the division. They get a chance to go to Houston (who faces a short week playing tonight at home) and put together - dare I suggest it - a three-game win streak? Browns came into 2018 hoping they could win. Now, it seems they are expecting to. (Thanks Mayfield, Williams, and Kitchens.)
  
  
• Greg Robinson. I didn't think I'd say this, but Greg Robinson may have found a way to rejuvenate his career here in Cleveland. Part of the offense, and specifically Mayfield, playing better has been vastly improved play at the left tackle position. Mayfield has gone two straight games without a sack, and only has two in the past three games since Robinson took over. If he keeps it up, not only do we have a replacement for Joe Thomas at left tackle, we don't have to spend an early draft pick in the offseason to acquire one.

The Bad

• Finding that killer instinct. Browns probably took their foot off the gas too early and the result was letting the Bengals claw back into the game (much like they did with Atlanta the game week before). The Browns, for the second game in a row, were the superior team on the field and need to play like it. They ought to keep dialing up the plays and let Mayfield throw it - very easy to see that Chubb was facing eight- and nine-man fronts while trying to run out the clock and the Browns predictably struggled running it late.
  
  
• Penalties. For the first time in Gregg Williams' short tenure as head coach of the team, the Browns played a pretty sloppy game. The huge roughing the passer penalty on Avery gave the Bengals life when it could have been a takeaway and game-over without having to sweat out the last four or five minutes. Fortunately, the Bengals played an even sloppier game - and could have been hit with no less than 24 holding penalties on Myles Garrett.

The Ugly

• Cincinnati Bengals. Low-key, their backup looked better than Andy Dalton. They've dropped five of their last six now and look to have one of the worst defenses in the NFL, despite some talent on that side of the ball. If this keeps up, they'll have to fire Marvin Lewis and promote...
  
  *checks notes*
  
  ... Hue Jackson to head coach.

 

Mayfield with Hue:
113/200 56.5% (att/comp)
254 yds/game
6.4 yds/att
8-6 TD-INT
1-4 record

Mayfield after Hue"
65/88 73.9%
257 yds/game
8.8 yds/att
9-1 TD-INT
2-1 record

 

Brian Baldinger is my Oprah.

 

I forget a few of the stats they were mentioning during the game (maybe you can help me out SAS)

• Mayfield has 2+ TD's in 5 consecutive games which I believe ties the NFL rookie record.
• The 2+ TD's in 5 games hasn't been done by a Browns QB since Kosar in '86-'87

Edit:

• Mayfield set a Browns rookie record with four touchdown passes vs. CIN

 

Couple more numbers to look at, based on this tweet/response:

As we've previously discussed, as the receivers get more time with Mayfield in practice, the drops were going to improve, but the Browns were (still are) leading by a wide margin (narrow now) in drops on the year. Here's how they look by week:

Week 4: 41 targets, 21 catches, 51.2% catch rate
Week 5: 42 targets, 25 catches, 59.5% catch rate
Week 6: 47 targets, 22 catches, 46.8% catch rate
Week 7: 33 targets, 23 catches, 69.7% catch rate
Week 8: 34 targets, 22 caches, 64.7% catch rate
TOTAL: 197 targets, 113 catches, 57.4% catch rate

*Hue and Todd fired*

Week 9: 43 targets, 30 catches, 69.8% catch rate
Week 10: 21 targets, 17 catches, 81.0% catch rate
Week 11: 25 targets, 19 catches, 76.0% catch rate
TOTAL: 89 targets, 66 catches, 74.2% catch rate

There hasn't been a game yet since Kitchens took over play-calling duties where the receivers have caught less than at any time during Haley's stretch with Mayfield as a starter.

Credit also goes to Williams for the zero tolerance policy surrounding drops.

 

DISCLAIMER: The following contains a pro-Cleveland tweet from PFF.com and their unbiased, empirical data analysis.

Since Desmond Harrison "got sick"...

 

I have to admit that I never thought That the Steelers would be number one in oline. The Steeler in the picture is starting to become one of the best left tackles in the league. Munchack is one hell of a oline coach. Before he became our oline coach our oline sucked ass. Now they can play third string tackles against one of the best pass rush teams in the league and still keep Ben’s jersey clean. We had most of the oline starting now on the team before Munchack and they kinda sucked until Munchack came on staff. Congratulations on your oline making the list. I know at the beginning of the season you guys weren’t even sure you had an oline let alone a top five one.

 

DISCLAIMER: The following contains a pro-Cleveland tweet from PFF.com and their unbiased, empirical data analysis.

This isn't rookies. This is the entire population of NFL running backs.

 

Gore just keeps plugging away. He has become the perfect compliment back to Kenyon Drake. I know he will never be the league dominant back he once was, but he does what is asked of him for the situation...kudos to him!

 

Here's a link to the sotry on NFL.com http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...ew-luck-drew-brees-among-players-of-the-month

Here's the Browns relevant info:

Baker is starting to string good outings together. Despite not starting the first 2.5 games, he could end up being one of the most prolific rookie QBs in history.

 

Here's a link to the sotry on NFL.com http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...ew-luck-drew-brees-among-players-of-the-month

Here's the Browns relevant info:

Baker is starting to string good outings together. Despite not starting the first 2.5 games, he could end up being one of the most prolific rookie QBs in history.

 

Here's a link to the sotry on NFL.com http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap30...ew-luck-drew-brees-among-players-of-the-month

Here's the Browns relevant info:

Baker is starting to string good outings together. Despite not starting the first 2.5 games, he could end up being one of the most prolific rookie QBs in history.

 

The problem with that article (and the "author" should have known this) is that Freddie Kitchens didn't replace Hue Jackson. He replaced Todd Haley.

 

Cool factoid about Chubb and Gore... Scot McCloughan was in the building for the drafting of both players.

 

DISCLAIMER: The following contains a pro-Cleveland tweet from PFF.com and their unbiased, empirical data analysis.

Oh my...

For those keeping track...

Mayfield: #14 QB
Chubb: #1 RB
Zeitler: #7 OG
Bitonio: #15 OG
Tretter: #9 OC
Ward: #11 CB
Schobert: #2 LB
Garrett: #11 EDGE

 

This should surprise nobody....

https://brownswire.usatoday.com/201...s-clueless-answer-on-baker-mayfield-question/