If you look at who's considered the best "young QBs" it's Lamar, Josh Allen, Justen Herbert, and Kyler Murray. Baker doesn't come up because he's rarely, lead his team to a game ending score, when all the chips were on the table. Now, I don't think that's arguable, from a national media perspective, but IMO Stephanski is coaching and scheming Baker out of it. I think it's very hard to ask a QB who you've held down all game to suddenly strap the game on his back and win it. If you don't allow him to use the whole field in the passing game until you need it, then you are making that a lot harder for him and for his recievers to deliver. The same can be said of an RB or WR. If you scheme them out of the game, then suddenly turn to them in times of desperation, they are not in rythym so when you need them they are synced up with the QB. I don't see that with the Browns. I just see that as a weakness and maybe a product of over analytics, over feel for players. They are not chess pieces, they are real live breathing emotional beings, and there has to be some allowances to get your key guys "into" the game. It's not just a science, it's people business too. I like Stephanski, but I believe this is an area of opportunity for him to grow, and thereby help his QB and his team grow.
If you look at who's considered the best "young QBs" it's Lamar, Josh Allen, Justen Herbert, and Kyler Murray. Baker doesn't come up because he's rarely, lead his team to a game ending score, when all the chips were on the table. Now, I don't think that's arguable, from a national media perspective, but IMO Stephanski is coaching and scheming Baker out of it. I think it's very hard to ask a QB who you've held down all game to suddenly strap the game on his back and win it. If you don't allow him to use the whole field in the passing game until you need it, then you are making that a lot harder for him and for his recievers to deliver. The same can be said of an RB or WR. If you scheme them out of the game, then suddenly turn to them in times of desperation, they are not in rythym so when you need them they are synced up with the QB. I don't see that with the Browns. I just see that as a weakness and maybe a product of over analytics, over feel for players. They are not chess pieces, they are real live breathing emotional beings, and there has to be some allowances to get your key guys "into" the game. It's not just a science, it's people business too. I like Stephanski, but I believe this is an area of opportunity for him to grow, and thereby help his QB and his team grow.
Baker did himself no favors by complaining about the refs. It just sounds like an excuse. It's not as though you never got a chance to win the game. You did get a chance and you failed. Not knocking him for not winning, but he did get the ball with 1:31 left and they did squat with it. And Mrs M needs to stay out of her husband's business. Has anyone ever gotten a call from the wife of a workmate about how they don't appreciate him enough? Baker wants to have laurels thrown at his feet for what he did last year, and seems to want his failures (KC, LAC) to be forgotten. Welcome to the NFL. We appreciate what you've accomplished but don't expect us to be singing your praises after a game where you and the Browns made nothing of your last possession, and the D gave up 47 points. That is not the time to seek approval. That's the time to figure out what you might have done differently to create a different outcome. If Baker had driven them down to a score, would anyone be taliking about how Herbert is the second coming of Mahomes today? Just do it Baker. The accolades you seek will come with the results. Accept responsibility and do better. You could have been the hero we all hope you are. You failed last night, but we're still believers.
Interesting. So it appears Lamar didn't qualify? Or am I blind? Ravens have sucked on 3rd down so I'm guessing the former Herbert and Murray are killing it
Grant Delpit >>> Jabrill Peppers Wyatt Teller >>> Kevin Zeitler The first round pick was used on Dexter Lawrence (62 tackles, 6.5 sacks in 37 career games), the third round pick was used on Oshane Ximines (18 tackles, 4.0 sacks in 25 career games) and they threw us Olivier Vernon (44 tackles, 12.5 sacks in 24 games with CLV). Nah, not really.
From SI It can be easy to forget about Baker Mayfield. For instance, this one time I was watching a commercial and he wasn’t even in it. But four weeks into the season, few seem to have noticed that Mayfield has taken a small step back since his strong finish to 2020. That’s because Cleveland’s front four is taking over in a way that few position groups do, and this team is very much capable of winning games 2019 49ers-style There are some weird statistical anomalies—or what seem like anomalies at the moment. For the second straight season (so, since Kevin Stefanski arrived) Cleveland is better on third-and-long (7-plus yards to go) than third-and-medium (4 to 6 yards). Last year, they converted 31.7% of their third-and-longs including 35.5% when throwing, against 29.2%/27.8% on third-and-medium. This year, it’s 41.2%/34.1% on third-and-long, and just 22.2%/14.3% on third-and-medium. I don’t know why that’s a thing—Mayfield, like other short-ish quarterbacks—seems more comfortable working late into the down and attacking larger throwing windows downfield than tight windows at the short-intermediate levels where he also has to navigate throwing lanes at the line of scrimmage. But the numbers wouldn’t be that skewed without some fluke baked in. It was also a bummer that he couldn’t put points on the board late in the opener at Kansas City, and that he was a bit rocky in the second half of a tight game in Minnesota last week, but those are awfully small sample sizes. The most likely scenario: Mayfield gradually returns to late-2020 levels and the Browns look like world-beaters going into January. Mayfield will find himself in a scenario where he needs to put together a late drive, and like most quarterbacks he’ll have less than a 50/50 shot at succeeding. But regardless, we’ll all take that infinitesimal sample size and launch 100,000 takes based on the outcome.
oVER rEACT Much? Everyone is entitled to their own opinion... All I see from re-watching the games, this team is still in it's infancy compared to the Chiefs and Ravens. Yes, after 4 games I think we are the 5th best team in the AFC. From everything I see it's Bills, Chargers, Ravens, Chiefs, then our Browns. I still see this team needing more and more film to be able to grow. What works, what doesn't work.. Bills current coaching staff/scheme - 4th year Chiefs current coaching staff/scheme - 9th year Ravens current coaching staff/scheme - 13th year Browns current coaching staff/scheme - 2nd year The Chargers are an anomaly for sure, they have now beat the Chiefs and us, so I have to give props. Whether it is a fluke first year thing or not, they are proving themselves worthy of being a top team right now. Back to our Browns. We have watched 5 games and every one of those games we have seen different aspects of the offense. What we know for fact is that we have one of the most dominant run games in the entire league. Even with backup offensive linemen, coach Callahan has the next man up ready to play competitive football. That is our back bone. What I have also seen is 5 games with 5 different groups of receiving starters in there. Yet, 4 of those games, the passing offense did what it needed to do to win games. This blow up over Baker Mayfield being the down fall of this team and they can never win if they don't replace him is nonsense. Do I think he gives the Browns the best chance if given any choice to win.. Obviously not.. But, here is the thing, there are only a hand full of QBs that are asked to do things Baker is not asked to do and succeed week after week. 1. Josh Allen 2. Patrick Mahomes 3. Tom Brady 4. Aaron Rodgers 5. Russell Wilson 6. Lamar Jackson That is it... The next tier of QBs, everyone can argue their point as to why someone is better than Baker to lead this team, but it is all smoke and mirrors. All have flaws, all are inconsistent and all have jobs elsewhere anyway. That's the point, isn't it? What QB in the first group are the Browns going to get to take them to the next level? Possibly on a very outside chance, an aging Aaron Rodgers who is showing signs weekly of hitting his wall... Let's face it, the QB wall is real. Yes, Tom Brady has re-defined the wall, but he is the most absolute anomaly ever to enter the NFL. Roethlisberger definitely hit his, Brady will eventually, could be next year, could be 5 years, we won't know from that super freak, all we know is that it will eventually happen. Is Russell Wilson already on the edge of that? The Seahawks are 3rd in their division, not unlike the Browns.. Is he really a miracle worker? The other 3, What would you have to give up to their teams to entice them to trade one of the top QBs in the NFL? 7 first rounders, 9? PLUS Baker and a slew of other players like Myles. These teams aren't giving these players up, so why make comparisons on how if the Browns had this guy or that guy, they would be Super Bowl contenders? I see the National pundits doing it and it is ridiculous to even discuss. They aren't here and I won't complain about something that isn't even part of a reality we can think about. What do we have? We have top tier players at every position. Baker, whether everyone wants to talk about it or not, is well above the median line. He isn't asked to throw the ball 40 times a game, so he is NEVER going to have stats to push him any further up that scale. Get used to it. Running back.. THE BEST tandem in the NFL. Two starters on the same team.. not just starters, but top talents in the league WR, we have Landry and Beckham, two pro bowlers along with a laundry list of young guys who have already proven they can play at a high level. TE, While we don't have a stud, there are many teams that would trade right now for either Hooper or Njoku. We are in a better spot than many at the position. Offensive line, we have one of the, if not THE best offensive lines in the NFL. We have THE best offensive line coach in the NFL This offense isn't going to be the weak link that you point to if something goes wrong. They can have a bad game here or there, but they are about as solid as they come. The defense... well, let's admit they are still gelling. They have shown what they can be... Consistency isn't one of those things. This team needs to learn weekly from film, so that by week 11-12 they are hitting their stride. This team is going to the playoffs, what they learn right now will determine how far into the playoffs they go. They have played two of the top teams in this league, let alone conference, both games there were mistakes that cost them victory, but for the majority of both games they looked like the better team on the field. W's are all that matters, they need to improve to win in the playoffs. None of these teams are going to strive to get worse, they will be improving also.. At the end of the day, it sickens me how much bitching I am seeing and negativity from the national media based on two games that were losses to two of the top teams in the league. If they looked like they didn't belong, that's one thing.. They definitely belong, it is without question. I didn't see anyone (well maybe @SAS ) predict an undefeated season, where we are right now is pretty much EXACTLY where most saw the team before the season ever began. Loss to KC and possible road losses to either Vikings or Chargers or both. This was about as tough a first 6 game schedule as they come. If they can pull out the win against the Cards at home Sunday, they will be in a very good position with favorable games in weeks 7, 8, 10 and 11. Bengals and back to back Ravens will be challenging, but this team should be able to win those 4 weeks and hopefully win at least 2 of 3 against our division foes.
It took me some time.. But I finally figured out what @SAS stands for.. S - Stephen A - A. S - Smith You must be a HUGE fan Sam for using that as your name on here... (LOL, full disclaimer: I was on a Browns thread last night and the Stephen A statement about Baker came on for discussion..Someone responded to it by calling him SAS, I thought to myself, wow Sam gets around to a lot of sights, lmao.. Then I realized it was Stephen A Smith).
I think the impending contract is part of the reason Baker is talked about so much. Big difference between 10M per and 40M per. The Browns running game is no joke. There aren't many teams that are going to be able to neutralize it.
All strong points Irish, that I can easily agree on. The inexperience of our staff together is pertinent when it comes to both Baker and OBJ. The fact that OBJ has so few targets / catches is not because OBJ has lost it. It's largely be design, and that is where I see the opportunity for the team to grow. I know we are a run first team, and I like it, but I feel like we play afraid offensively when it comes to the passing game. I loved it last year when we spread the ball around and were aggressive in making plays over 15 yards down the field. With the run game such a threat, it seems impossible we can't find open space for mid to deep level opportunities. I watch games and see guys running in space down field regularly, but we just aren't seeing them used. At the same time I see Baker not seeing guys open short, and taking a sack. ????? If I had one thing I'd point to as an oppty for Baker it is better reading of defenses. He capable of all the throws, but he's becoming timid, and it feels like he's hearing Stephanski in his ear saying "don't risk it". In my opinion, that is exactly what is happeining, whether Stephanski is doing it consciously, or it's just the staff's overall focus on eliminating turn overs, Baker isn't trusting himself, and it may also be impacting his "seeing" the whole field. I'm all about the Chunt train, but I think we're failing to take advantage of what that does to a defense, when we don't look for big passing opportunities behind that. I hope the mindset opens up, because we will become predictable and defendable if we don't IMO. I hope we can blame this on the O line not being 100%, Baker having a non throwing shoulder injury, or the fact that we've never had our top 2 recievers on the field together, but all that said, we've got to have that threat added to the arsenal, or it's going to get very rough. We're going to be seeing Baker, Burrow and Jackson face off twice a year for many years, and we won't be dominating in the win column simply by running, so Bake and Steph need to evolve. I guessing they will.
I have to admit I'm on the brink of conceding the 2021 AFC North to the Baltimore Ravens. Yeh, we're currently banged up. But the players that are (or were) on the Ravens' IR list would probably field a better team than half of both the AFC East (NYJ & MIA) and the AFC South (HOU & JAX). Yet, there they are sitting at 5 -1.
I understand it's a faux pas to not slander Baker for the current woes of the team, but let's recall that in the past two games (against playoff-caliber teams), the Browns' defense has surrendered 84 points (42 PPG) and 850 yards (425 YPG). That ranks dead last (32nd is 31 PPG) and next-to dead last (32nd is 433 YPG), in case anyone wondered. Andrew Berry bought the incredibly inept Joe Woods a $50 mill backfield and spent heavily on the defense in free agency at other spots. Gone are Karl Joseph, Andrew Sendejo, Tavierre Thomas, Terrance Mitchell, and B.J. Goodson. We added guys like Jadeveon Clowney, Anthony Walker, Troy Hill (#1 ranked slot corner), and John Johnson (#3 ranked safety) and returned guys from inury like Greed Williams and Grant Delpit. Drafted a stud in Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah. And outside of absuing a rookie QB making his first NFL start for an inept head coach / play-caller in Chicago, the Browns' defense is tracking right alongside their 2020 counterparts in yards surrendered, points surrendered, yards-per-play, etc. This, despite the massive injection of talent and ability to actually practice in the offseason. Yes... Baker has underperformed this season. Outside of Nick Chubb, the entire team has. But it isn't hard to point out the glaring deficiency that has one constant from this year to last - Joe Woods. #FireJoeWoods
