The weekly blown assignments in our secondary are inexcusable. Yesterday it was Hopkins and last week it was Mike Williams. How can we keep leaving our opponents #1 WR wide open? It's ridiculous. Virtually any halfway decent QB can shred the Browns, especially on 3rd down. SMH... I don't know who else to point too other than Joe Woods....Yeah we confused a couple rookie QB's making their first NFL starts, but other than that this defense has been absolutely atrocious. There is no way in hell to win in this league with that garbage. Maybe Joe must go. If this system is so confusing that we consistently lose sight of the opposing team's best receiving option, I'd say it's time for change.... We don't have much time to get this together. Courtland Sutton has been on fire, and I believe the Broncos are also getting Jerry Jeudy back this week. If we play anything like we did yesterday, Teddy Bridgewater will have a field day....
Denzel Ward has been one of the league's worst cornerbacks. He hasn't always been, however, and his decline can be very closely tracked back to Joe Woods' arrival. I'm willing to give Ward a pass as he has shown flashes. Joe Woods only looks decent coaching against rookie quarterbacks. Looking at the last 11 games, we only have one more of them coming up (Mac Jones, New England).
D'Ermest Johnson & Demetric Felton . . . Plus someone off the street to be named later. (Now is not the time to be shopping for a RB)
This one feels like a prime "breakout" performance opportunity. Felton has shown versatility and burst when used. Would be nice to see what he brings to the table with extended looks.
I agree, though I'd keep expectations in check if we have to go again without Conklin and Wills up front.
The only reason I say that is Stefanski has REPEATEDLY stated that they can't win the division without beating the teams in the division and they were spending the off season setting them up to do that. Did they spend too much time on the Ravens, Steelers and possibly Bengals that they are failing to be able to take care of a Chargers and/or Cardinals team? Here is the thing, if they go .500 outside the division, but go 6-0 inside the division, that would land them at 11-6 or 12-5, which gives you a pretty good chance of winning the division based on tie breakers, or at the very least gives you a pretty high wild card birth. I don't know how you gear a team to beat 3 teams and that doesn't translate somehow to the out of division teams, but.. I need to at least give them an opportunity to do what they said they were setting themselves up to do before I judge too harshly. As for out of division foes, they currently sit at 3-3 Arizona (6-0), San Diego (4-2) and Kansas City (3-3) are losses Houston (1-5), Chicago (3-3) and Minnesota (3-3) are wins Which leaves the following 5 opponents: Denver (3-3) New England (2-4) W Detroit (0-6) W Las Vegas (4-2) L Green Bay (5-1) L So, if we go by that standard, the Denver game should determine if we go 11-6 or 12-5 ...By the way, this is tongue in cheek... I don't expect us to go 6-0 in the division the way we are playing... So don't reply how ignorant I am, thank you and good night
I think that's a question of expectations, honestly. For his touchdowns, sitting at 6 is significantly outside of the Top 10 guys (in fact, he ranks 25th on the year). His completion percentage dropped off after his shoulder injury (as one would expect), but currently ranks 13th and his QB rating ranks 16th. Personally, I believe Baker to be capable of Top 5 numbers and he's not there outside of yards per attempt and yards per completion. So for me, he's underperforming, yes. If you think he's a mid-level QB in this league, then he's right on cue.
Stafanski has named Keenum the starter for TNF. Mayfield thought he could go, but they are going to roll with Case. Good luck... this is a big game for both teams, but especially the banged-up Browns.
They have made absolutely the right decision. Its not without an element of risk of course, they're already injury depleted and this is a game they have to have. But its the right move. As someone able to bring an awful lot of personal experience to severe shoulder injuries this isn't going to get better for Baker this season, its almost certainly only going to get worse. The question is are you able to manage that "worse" enough to keep moving forward. Its almost less about an extra week of rest for Mayfield, because that isn't going to alter his landscape much at all, its about are you able to buy enough time to get that A+ O-Line & RBs back together(don't know the injury situations there). Everything going forward will have to be about keeping Baker clean as possible. Run-pass ratio, increased max protects, zero dancing around when the play breaks down, the works. If its not enough in terms of wins then its not enough. Mayfield is by far their best shot at QB, even hurt. While Keenum is a better backup than most, they aint winning the division with him and they aint winning a playoff game either.
Mayfield announced he’s got a tuberosity fracture in his left shoulder along with the labrum tear. I hope Keenum gets a bit more comfortable cause he looked like a statue in the pocket at times against the Broncos.
There's a reason why NFL teams should not try to save money in regards to back-up QB, and Keenum was a prime example last night... Gritty performance by the banged up Browns. Get healthy on the mini-bye because Pittsburgh is next. My son will be in attendance. Yes, I'm jealous dad.
well our MASH unit came through. Color me proud. Can't pretend they are ready to take on Baltimore, but progress is progress. IMO Baker should not be starting vs Pitt. A broken bone on top of torn ligaments is a pretty strong reason to take a knee, and another week to aclimate to what will clearly be a year long problem, and let the inflamation subside. I believe we could survive a Pitt team, but after that Baker being out just thins our ability to call / make plays. I've argued for OBJ, but this was another weak game and he needs a good one, if he's got it in him. We need him to help keep the playbook open, at the very least. great to see Jarvis back, and it showed. Same for Wills being back. Case did a nice job, and a spectacular 4th down effort that saved our skin. Gonna be a weird season, Baker in Baker out, the infirmary doing a torrid pace, and the divisional games ahead. We are right there, but have to bury some divisional opponents to have a shot at glory. Baltimore is the Big Dog, so far, and I think it'll be up to the Browns to show their vulnerability, if they can find it.
