Overreaction Monday The Browns find themselves sitting at 1-0, despite the scoreboard showing otherwise. They weren't just the best team on the field yesterday, they beat themselves. On this technicality, I'm giving them the W. Browns led 22-10 at halftime and pissed away the opportunity to close the game in the second half when a lot of home cooking and literally three single-play breakdowns were the difference in the game. For starters, Browns found themselves without strong safety Grant Delpit to start the game and lost Ronnie Harrison Jr. in the first quarter on a complete bush-league call. Yes, Ronnie cannot push that coach... but shouldn't that work both ways? The FB shouldn't bump into him while he's trying to get off Clyde-Helaire, the lineman cannot come in and shove him back into the Chiefs' bench, and then the bench and assistance coach cannot push him back onto the field. No? Harrison served his punishment by being kicked out, but they're reporting no action expected against Chiefs or Lewis. Fines should be there at least... otherwise, what's to stop Mike Tomlin from trying to trip another player? Gameplan was pretty straight-foward: offense was going to try to run it up early and sit on a lead while a patchwork defense boasting eight new starters tried to hold a generational arm talent and Top 3 offensive team to underneath stuff -- long, methodical drives with limited-to-no big plays. This was evident in the first drive where they went for it on 4th-and-3 and then again going for the 2-pt. conversion. Yes, Travis Kelce (NFL record holder, Travis Kelce, that is) feasted underneath, but with the exception a single blown coverage and defensive breakdown, no other Chief had large chunks of yardage in the game. Time to have a serious conversation about Gillan who choked on that punt (and ultimately, who's most to blame) and the special teams in general. Gillan was 29th out of 32 punters last season... not ideal. He's got a rugby background and easily could have "pooch" punted that one out of there. Absolutely cannot take that huge loss in a close game when momentum is already shifting. Add to that our kickoffs are pretty mundane and our return game is non-existent. For as much as the defense was carved up, primiarly playing deep Cover 2 and "bend-not-break" approach, the special teams stood out as the weakest area and largest concern moving forward. Hope Jedrick Wills Jr. is going to be okay.
I've been AWOL for a while due to some other commitments, but, here's my takeaway from the Chiefs game. Granted, KC's passing game is the best in the NFL. But, they absolutely owned the the intermediate center of the field all game long. Don't expect any improvement coming from the likes of Grant Delpit or Greedy Williams in the near future. Rather, history tells us they'll both be on I/R by week 5. Somewhat related . . . Ronnie Harrison is a fucking idiot. The talking heads kept blabbering about how Clowney's presence would improve Garrett's sack numbers. They had it backwards. I'm not a big fan of Clowney, but he outplayed Garrett all afternoon. I think I heard Garrett's name called three times and two of those were off-sides penalties. And this was against a KC O-line with 4 out of 5 new starters including two rookies. A punter has only one job. Catch the snap --> kick the ball.
Myles generated eight quarterback pressures on 32 pass rush snaps and snagged a snap, clocking in at 3.4 seconds for that sack. No defender in the NFL sees more double-teams and fewer holding calls in their favor. On his first offsides of the game, that was an early flag by the ref. He was clearly not across the LOS when they tossed that one, so he's working against those, too.
Goody, Goody. He was the tallest midget in the circus on eight plays. "QB Pressures" is a subjective stat. Some stat geek, sitting in his mama's basement, thought he applied pressure. I'm just guessing, but I suspect the actual result of those eight plays were, at least, seven pass completions.
I kind of want to have a discussion about this. For ANYONE THAT SAW THIS, not just regurgitating what they have heard from the talking heads... I never saw them actually go back and look at the tape. The only explanation was, after discussing, Harrison is penalized and disqualified from the game, with offsetting penalties. This was despite the fact that the side judge, who threw the flag to begin with, ruled the unsportsmanlike conduct on the Chiefs bench. What I want to discuss is, why didn't they review the play completely, rather than simply reversing the official who threw the flag to begin with? The video clearly shows that Harrison was clearing Edwards-Helaire, before two Chiefs players that were in no way part of the play came in late impeding Harrison and pushing him back into the player. At this point, the coach, who also should have had NO contact with the player jumps in to shove Harrison the opposite direction once again.. This obviously triggered Harrison's reaction that got hi ejected. I get that Harrison needed to be penalized as you cannot touch a coach, but I absolutely feel the automatic ejection was uncalled for. Also, are there rules anywhere for coached being ejected for similar acts? As @SAS points out, what is there to stop coaches from doing what ever they want without repercussion?
Are you suggesting Myles should record a sack on every QB drop-back? What are we looking for here? With the game on the line after the Chiefs took the lead and had a possession to try and end it, Myles records the sack on third down forcing them to punt it back to the offense and give them a chance to win the game. Again... what are we looking for here?
Seriously Lym? Do you really give no credence to QB pressure? Anytime a play is disrupted, that is a good thing for the defense. You need to take into consideration the caliber of QB they faced and understand he does it MUCH better than any of the other 14 QBs we will be facing in 2021. I will also disagree in the percentage you have earmarked, I know at least 4 of his 9 incomplete passes were due to pressure which forced him to throw before he was ready. Now, when Mahomes gets his feet moving and can get outside the pocket, then yes, the pressure doesn't effect him as much, and yes, he does it better than any other QB in the NFL. What you need to take into consideration is, the other 95% of the QBs in the NFL WILL BE EFFECTED more. If Baker ran into a similar situation, he is going to have a bad day. Mahomes is the only one that will still show a normal stat line when faced with that type of pressure. It does matter...
According to what? Normally the referee comes back and says "After further review" which is a direct quote meant to show that the review booth was used to determine the outcome. The referee on Sunday stated "after further discussion" which clearly indicates they did NOT use any video evidence or the review booth to determine or change the original call on the field. I think you are mistaken on this one Lym. At no point does it show the referee receiving information from his headset that goes directly to the review booth in New York.
We controlled most of the game and then completely self destructed. Three key plays did us in. Nick Chubb is my favorite player, but that fumble hurt bad. I know he's not a "fumbler" and otherwise had a nice game, but a mistake like that against KC is tough to overcome. No excuse at all for Jaime Gillan. Just pick up the ball and kick it. Even if it only goes 20 yards it's a much better result than what actually happened. Did he think he was suddenly going to become Marshawn Lynch or something?? WTH? Just ridiculous.... And I know Baker played a solid game, but ya can't throw an interception with a minute left in the game when we are at midfield trailing by 4 points. If ya wanna be in the category of "elite NFL QB's", ya have to be clutch in the clutch moments. That careless flip to the sidelines was stupid and Baker knows better. He's going to have to start coming through when the game is on the line and he has the ball in his hands. Last two tries against KC, no dice. Hopefully he learned from it. The defense is obviously a work in progress. The same two guys that destroyed the Cleveland defense last January, did it again yesterday. So far, we do not have an answer for Hill or Kelce. Those guys feasted.
Don't be asinine here, @SAS. Of course I don't expect a sack on every pass attempt. However, as @IrishDawg42 alluded, Mahomes is, without question, thee best QB in the NFL. He's extremely talented and smart enough to know that, with a lead late in the 4th quarter -and- your opponent's offence struggling for basically the entire 2nd half, it's better to take a sack and keep the clock running than to throw the ball away (or worse) and stop clock.
I agree 100% with the rest of your post. The only thing I am going to say about this one is that was that low percentage situation where he was already in his throwing motion, when the defender got into his legs and Baker lost a lot of what should have been on that throw. Kudos to the defender moreso than shame on Baker. I will say this, Baker held the ball too long on that play. That is my huge criticism for the errant throw. In that situation, you need to make faster reads and when the play is blown up, get rid of it to stop the clock and move on. That is what I hope he learns from the play. Baker didn't cost the Browns the game on the play though, the two defenders won the game for KC on that play. In my opinion. I have never felt good after a loss... I didn't feel good after yesterdays loss... But, I actually have a great outlook for the rest of the season based on what I saw for the full 60 minutes of play from this team. There isn't a team in the NFL the Browns aren't capable of beating... Including the Chiefs.
I've seen/heard mixed signals since the game and don't recall specifically on the broadcast what was said as to where the review was initiated. @IrishDawg42 is 100% correct that the said "after further discussion" and not review. Yahoo Sports has it as a review performed by the replay officals at the stadium. A less-official fan-driven site had it as a call from New York. Anyone have a good source for this?
So we're somewhere still between 1% and 100% of the time... you haven't clarified exactly what you're looking for out of Myles. Also noted that you've cornered the market on snark. I'll write that down.
Punters don't grow on trees, unfortunately, and I'm not here asking for heads to roll... but Gillan has to be better or the Browns will certainly be in the market to upgrade the position next offseason. Not in the mood for "Moral Victory Mondays" but I'm with Irish on this one... Mayfield was in the process of throwing it away and it was just a freak play in Kansas City's favor. Really goes to underscore how little the window is for error against top teams is that 2-3 plays were the difference in that game. 1 - Chubb Fumble: Nick Chubb boasts one of the best fumble percentages in the NFL and it was entirely out-of-character. Again... heckuva play by Thornhill rather than short-coming or failure by Chubb 2 - Gillan Panic: biggest reason for the loss, IMO 3 - Johnson v. Hill: even on this one, defensive line did their jobs - Mahomes was flushed. Threw a ball that only Matt Stafford (presently) and Brett Favre (formerly) could have gotten away with and still threw it behind the receiver. Johnson, trying to keep Hill towards the perimeter over-pursued one of the fastest players in the league who was able to stop on a dime and come back to the pass. Sure, perfect fundamentals probably would have stopped this play, but it had such a low percentage chance of success you got to talk it up to "freak" play To beat the Chiefs when we see them again in January, Browns will need to play a perfect game and the refs will need to keep their noses out of Cleveland's business.
Since we are on the subject... I want to say, I am very impressed with Kevin Stefanski in every aspect of being a NFL head coach. Two very distinctive approaches to post game press conferences, which one would you all prefer? I don't believe for a second that Reid had access, or the opportunity, to watch the video replay either before he opened his big mouth, but he offered a sound bite that can further muddy the actual call that was made. While Stefanski did what any professional should do, offer up the obvious fact that he didn't have all the information, so he declined to comment.
Remember a few years ago when a televised game always had a guy on the sidelines with huge orange mittens? His job was to signal the Referee when a TV Timeout needed to occur. That guy is no longer there because the referee wears an earbud. The NFL office in New York is in constant contact with every game's referee. Thus the announcement, "After further discussion".
