BUCKLE UP BROWNS FANS!!! This is the season we've been waiting for

I don't like the outcome, either way, tbh... some teams (Pittsburgh, maybe) will be fine with their backup QB. For most teams, if you lose the starter you can pack up the season (looking at you, Green Bay). If Baker goes down, I don't think - even with all the talent - that we win many games. Heck, we're 1-1 and have looked quite spotty on offense already with Mayfield and a ton of talent around him.

*Really* hoping they tighten that up this week.

 

Week 3: Los Angeles Rams

Alright... time to really test this team. In the preseason prediction (13-3), this was one I circled as a possible loss. From what I've seen in the first two games - one where they got boat raced by a .500 team with a JV quarterback who won't finish the season as a starter, and another who's starting QB went down before the game and who's back-up went down during the game - I don't feel great about their ability to win.

Jared Goff is legit - and he's got plenty of skill players around him. Meanwhile, we're marching out a team - and defense - riddled with injuries. Both starting cornerbacks are limited with hamstrings, the starting weak-side linebacker is out indefinitely with a chest injury, our starting free safety miss last week with a hand (?) and is limited. Browns are likely to start two rookies in the middle of the defense (Wilson, Takitaki) in addition to Greedy Williams outside. A seasoned team and veteran leader like McVay are going to attack those spots.

On offense, we haven't seen the Browns put it all together yet. Maybe this is the game where we see it happen? Freddie, to his credit, has admitted the short-comings in the first two games and has seemed - at least a little bit - to try and course correct. We've all settled on needing to get the ball out of Mayfield's hand faster - the QB admitted it, the head coach admitted, everyone sees it. I think I posted it earlier, but when Mayfield is throwing at 2.5 seconds or less, he's completing 72% of his passes, 2 TD, 1 INT, and near 100 QB rating. Over 2.5 sec, it drops to 55% with 0 TD and 3 INT. Browns offensive line is, by all measurements, holding up well. ESPN has them as the top performing unit in the NFL:

Including the best left-side of the line in football (Robinson - 3rd, Bitonio - 1st, and Tretter - 7th). PFF corroborates those rankings. The issue is Mayfield holding the ball waiting for either Odell to come open or on longer-developing route plays. That has to change.

Ultimately, I want to see the Browns play well and keep this close. Good news is, in order to keep it close, they'll have to play well.

Rams by 4.

 

I would agree that the O line has a Baker problem. Not to say they are world beaters, but last season, the crisp, quick play of the QB, the play calling, all helped them to rank well.

Freddie needs to take a close look at his play calling and/or Baker's propensity to audible out of the called play, dialing up his own number. There's something not working there.

Following a game where the Jet D clearly caused confusion for Baker, we can expect to see a lot more disguising from LA. Baker is getting the Sophomore treatment, "we know who you are kid". Now he has to counter that by learning how to deal with it.

Player attrition has begun, and that is a Coaching challenge. Are we up to it?

 

This is not ideal...

 

Njoku's on IR.

 

What are we ...... the Jets?

 

For the NFL uniform buffs (like me) out there....


The Browns have finalized their plans to wear their Primary Colors uniforms -- formerly known as Color Rush -- seven times in 2019, including once on the road.

Cleveland, which wore the uniforms in the season opener against the Titans, will sport the look five more times at home, including Sunday night's game against the Rams. The Browns recently received approval from the league to wear their Primary Colors for Week 9’s matchup in Denver against the Broncos. It will mark the first time Cleveland wears the uniforms on the road.

Here’s the full breakdown for the rest of the season.

Week 1: Sept. 8 vs. Titans - PRIMARY COLORS

Week 2: Sept. 16 at Jets - White tops, white pants

Week 3: Sept. 22 vs. Rams - PRIMARY COLORS

Week 4: Sept. 29 at Ravens - White tops, orange pants

Week 5: Oct. 7 at 49ers - White tops, white pants

Week 6: Oct. 13 vs. Seahawks - PRIMARY COLORS

Week 7: BYE

Week 8: Oct. 27 at Patriots - White tops, white pants

Week 9: Nov. 3 at Broncos - PRIMARY COLORS

Week 10: Nov. 10 vs. Bills - Brown tops, orange pants

Week 11: Nov. 14 vs. Steelers - PRIMARY COLORS

Week 12: Nov. 24 vs. Dolphins - Brown tops, orange pants

Week 13: Dec. 1 at Steelers - White tops, white pants

Week 14: Dec. 8 vs. Bengals - PRIMARY COLORS

Week 15: Dec. 15 at Cardinals - White tops, white pants

Week 16: Dec. 22 vs. Ravens - PRIMARY COLORS

Week 17: Dec. 29 at Bengals - White tops, white pants

 

Happy Game Day Lounge Houndz

We'll see how well this team responds to the adversity. Njoku and Kirksey to IR. The secondary is banged up and may have several starters out. Garrett needs to play smarter. He's been a force, but the untimely penalties are going to be more costly as the opponents get tougher.

Mayfield needs to start taking what the defense gives him. As the browns head into this next stretch of games, it's going to be critical for the offense to sustain drives and give the defense time to rest.

Hopefully the o-line is up to the task today.

You can bet that Wade Phillips is going to put darnold in position to harass Mayfield all day.

There needs to be a heavier dose of Chubb and the run game.

Tough task for the browns tonight.

Time to see what this team is made of.


Go Browns

 

Need a big game from Chubb.

 

I think Baker Mayfield needs to focus on his next commercial...

 

Maybe Bake can find some way to get an endorsement out of how shitty this offense is...

 

That was a rough game. Secondary did a good job, without their starters, the D generally
their jobs.

The O, not so much. The line is a problem! Baker was effective when he got rid of the ball, but too many plays he didn't or couldn't. How badly does the loss of Njoku hurt? And Where was Hollywood? Beckham was largely invisible too. It seemed like too many times we had all three wide outs doing long developing routes, but that could just be the few I noticed.

Gotta work on red zone O. Nice job by the Ram D.

Siebert was perfect. The Hammer was mostly OK, but shanked one.
I expected our D line to provide more pressure, seemed like they ran out of gas in the second half.

A closely contested game, nothing to be ashamed of, but the O still looks erratic, not polished.

 

Did anyone else notice the stadium "booing" at the end of the game?

2 home games, 2 losses. This fan base is not happy. On to Balitmore. Maybe we need to be out of First Energy Stadium to win.

 

Why wouldn't the fans boo?

better question: Why does this franchise even have fans?

 

Can't wait to see what happens in Baltimore next Sunday....

 

Nope, not just you. The playcalling was bad. As many plays as Baker threw the ball poorly or just overlooked an open read, there were just as many plays where the call itself set the team up for failure.

Fans should not be booing three games in. This looked like an offense run by a first year head coach / inexperienced playcaller and a sophomore QB. Fans' expectations, from what I can tell, have simply been set too high. The team went up against one of the better groups in the league (SB losers, last year) and lost by one score. Booing is uncalled for, and a little disgraceful, frankly. If the team is inept and looks the same in, say, Week 13, then boo away. But week 3 is not the time.

Here's to a division win, next week.

 

Here's a pretty fair point of view article on what ails the Browns so far..........kinda brings to mind what one of the announcers was saying last night that the Browns virtually have no passing offense if Baker is holding the ball more than 2.5 seconds.

https://bleacherreport.com/articles...om&utm_campaign=editorial&utm_medium=referral

 

On the play calling: Todd Monken has been "guarded" in his comments from day one, IMO. I beleive he is not in agreement with Freddie on play selection, and really wants to do that job himself.

Freddie is going to have to accept that his play calling has been part of the problem, and maybe that having an OC who isn't calling plays, isn't the best set up. Maybe the success he enjoyed last season came from having no direct responsibility and being able to observe from arms length and "notice" some tweaks that might help the OC's plan work better.

If he doesn't do something to change the dynamic, this is going to go south fast, and the finger pointing, and anonymous quotes will begin.

I like Freddie, but I think he's making a mistake in trying to be signal caller, while trying to learn the HC job. There is a lack of discipline, that is his job to fix, among others that I fear is getting less attention, while he's worrying about the O, and his role in it.

First year HC, sophomore QB. That's enough to deal with, but he has experienced guys who can handle the O, so if he truly doesn't have an ego, it's time to think about turning over the play calling so he can focus on being HC, and be more critical of the O.

 

Somewhere in the third quarter (I believe) they showed the +/- 2.5 seconds stats again for that game.

<2.5 seconds: 11 of 12 for 110+ yards and a touchdown
>2.5 seconds: 2 of 12 for something like 22 yards

I liked the offense a lot better when it was Freddie Kitchens calling plays out of Todd Haley's playbook than whatever awful version of the air raid he and Monken have put into place this year.

 

Much to my wife's chagrin, I sat and watched all three games televised in my market yesterday.

Ravens @ Chiefs Two reasons I wanted to watch this one.

The first is I wanted to see if Lamar Jackson had improved his throwing accuracy from last year. Answer: Not significantly. He is still a dynamic, athletic QB who can create problems for a defense, but . . . He is not going to break a game open with his arm - even with an improved receiving corp.

The second reason is I wanted to see how Emanual Ogbah did against a pretty good Ravens' O-line. Answer: He did well. Not a lot of "flash" plays but, he didn't fold against a really good Ravens' running game.

Make no mistake. I walked away from watching that game with the firm belief that KC has the best offense in the AFC (including the Patriots) and that the Ravens' D is going to suffer somewhat with the losses of Suggs and Mosely. Might be unfair on my part to come to that conclusion after just anointing the Chiefs' offense as best in the AFC, but that's what I saw.
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Steelers @ 49ers

The only thing I was curious about in this one was the play of Mason Rudolph after he acquitted himself pretty well last week when Ben went down. Answer: Not so well. He did okay considering his lack of experience, but the Steelers' D gave him four turnovers in the 1st half and he could only manage 6 points off of those turnovers.
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Rams @ Browns

Wasn't expecting a win but didn't think they would keep it as close as they did especially in light of the epidemic in the defensive secondary. We've known for years that the Browns lacked depth - but not now. Kudos to the guys who stepped in last night and held the potent Rams' offense to only 20 points.

Offensively, our a Achilles heel was on full display. Our offensive line is a Yugo amongst a fleet of Ferraris. Sorry, but the playcalling was atrocious. Its almost like Freddie doesn't realize how bad his O-line really is. Maybe it's time for Dorsey to "suggest" that Freddie concentrate on being a Head Coach and leave play calling to his Offensive Coordinator.​