I can't 100% disagree with this. However, as a rookie coach, he did look much better than this season. I don't know what changed, but we all saw it happen last year, he couldn't have forgotten how to coach all of a sudden. He needs to step up and realize as the head coach tough decisions need to be made.. one of them needs to be taking pay calling duties away from himself. For those calling for his firing though.. get the F out of here. We are definitely not at that point. Not even close. This is a national thing, not necessarily on these boards.
Expectations last year there were none this year they were certified playoff team with dreams of a superbowl. Its easier when nothing is expected vs teams putting a target on you.
Don't take this wrong, because I agree that it was silly to have that poor kid on an island against TJ all night...I mean, it's like TJ had paid Stefanski to help him set the sack record!! haha...but it's not like they could spare the blockers! There were 9 total sacks on the night and Baker was under duress many, many other times from seemingly every angle. It's a pick your poison situation. Sure, you may have kept TJ from getting one or two of those 4, but do they then give up an extra 2 or more to the other rushers? If it had been TJ with 4 and a total of 6, I could understand the teeth gnashing over it, but the RT wasn't the only problem. I would say the bigger coaching mistake was putting the game in Baker's hands. I understood that the Steelers were playing their base defense even against 3 WR sets, daring the Browns to throw the ball, but actually taking that dare was EXACTLY what the Steelers wanted! This Steelers defense, without Alualu and Tuitt, cannot consistently stop the run. Chubb should have had 15+ carries by halftime, not 6. That was the silliest part of the gameplan to me.
My ass... Josh > Baker....can't be denied. I understand variables could stand in the way of perfection, but...
I wasn't suggesting he isn't better. I've known that for awhile. I just don't think he'd be playing at the level he is now. Brian Daboll deserves a lot of credit.
He must not be counting chips. I saw a RB chip Watt more than once and I saw an attempt at a double team by a guard. That's three right there. I think this tweet is a bit misleading. Not to mention he probably should have only had one sack. One was simply tapping him when he was down. Two others were Baker holding the football - which by the way happens a lot. Ben was responsible for a large portion of his sacks earlier in his career. For the record, PFF only assigned 5 of the 9 sacks to the offensive line.
I think if Baker were on the 49ers and you watched him play it would be far easier for you to see him for what he is - Jimmy Garroppolo East. Does some good things, has some very good games when the running game is working and they can utilized play action - especially when they can get him on the move. But he's just not going to consistently beat teams as a drop back passer. He doesn't see the field well from the pocket, some of that is probably related to his height. He doesn't throw the ball as well from deep in the pocket. He doesn't show a lot of touch and his windup can get kind of long when throwing fastballs. And he doesn't handle pressure well - never has. Stop the run, you stop the Browns. That's not a guy you hand 40M dollars a year to. p.s. That shoulder looked fine when he ran for 12 years and lowered it into a defender instead of just going out of bounds.
BINGO! His usage in that game was beyond idiotic. Was he hurt? Well he was still getting the ball in the 4th Q so if he was healthy enough for that why not get the ball the previous 3 Q's. It was just mismanagement imo. In trying to find a reason the only thing i can say is would Chubb have been used that way if the Browns were still in playoff contention? The answer would surely be no. So they were resting him/lessening wear and tear? Thats hardly a fullsome explanation, if you're gonna do that for one of your best players like Chubb then why not Garrett who legit was banged up with the groin? Very little of it makes sense.
Sorry, am I the only one that thinks you can win with Garoppolo? Is the shoulder going to hinder you from running? I haven’t heard any experts speak on that specifically. What I have heard is QB after QB.. not just some talking head, but some of the best to ever play the position come out and say it is impossible to have the injury and not have it effect the way you play, then to add the harness, that makes it impossible to follow through with the right motion to be accurate.
I think that's fair. Pretty good comparison... No Browns fan wants to acknowledge it, but just look how well OBJ has played since getting away from this mess. He was never the problem here. Two years ago I'd have bet my left nut that Baker was going to be a superstar in this league. Somewhere along the line he has derailed. I don't know if it's injury or coaching or the system or confidence or too many commercials or what, but there's no doubt Mayfield has regressed. Glad we didn't rush to sign him long term. We have another year to evaluate our QB and we'll go from there. Safe to say that expectations have been tempered dramatically, at least in my mind they have.
I'm not going to get into an argument over who was worse for who between the Browns and OBJ, what I will say, OBJ always looks good until he stops caring. Then he stops running the right routes, he stops in the middle of plays, he stops doing the little things that help teams win. He stopped doing things on the Browns for sure...maybe out of frustration that the Browns didn't do enough to help him win? I don't know, but when it no longer benefits OBJ, he will no longer benefit what ever team he is on at the time.
I didn't just say he ran with it. I said he lowered it into a defender instead of simply running out of bounds. But no since in beating the injury point to death. I'm sure it had some impact. I agree you CAN win with Jimmy when the running game is clicking and you can utilize play action, get him out of the pocket. When you ask Jimmy to be the reason you win, turn him into a pocket passer the results are different. They are similar in their limitations.
One thing that I thought was revealing was when TJ didn't even try to rush on one play, stood about 10 yards away from Baker and timed his jump to knock down the pass. That told me (1) TJ did some filmwork and knew where the Browns wanted to go with the football based on the formation and (2) Baker's throwing motion, arm angle and release are susceptible to batted passes, teams know it and it's become part of their game plan.
CLE: 38.7 yards per game, 13.6 yards per reception, 6.8 yards per target, 0.0 TD per game LAR: 41.0 yards per game, 11.5 yards per reception 6.7 yards per target, 0.7 TD per game The only difference is his touchdowns, which might have more to do with Matthew Stafford throwing 38 so far compared to Baker's 17. Odell is JAG. The problem in Cleveland is he didn't fit into what Stefanski's offense asks of the wide receivers and, as a result, never developed that chemistry with Baker.
One, they're counting double teams and not chips. Two, I'm not sure how that's possible because coach Stefanski wasn't using running backs in that game.
Coach was asked that during the game - confirmed no injury. Coach was again asked after the game - said he was dealing with a rib injury. Which is it, Stef?
I agree... I am just saying we can win with Baker, just as I believe we could win with Jimmy. Unfortunately, this is the case in about 75% of all NFL starting QBs. Right now you have: Tom Brady Aaron Rodgers Patrick Mahomes Josh Allen Joe Burrow That's it for QBs I "trust" to be the reason you win.. The next tier is, "when healthy" they are capable: Dak Prescott Matthew Stafford Kirk Cousins Kyler Murray Matt Ryan Russell Wilson Ryan Tannehill Lamar Jackson Baker Mayfield Carson Wentz Jimmy Garoppolo That's it again... The rest are too young for evaluation or have proven over time they cannot be counted on. These will be looked at closely the next couple of years: Jalen Hurts Mac Jones Trevor Lawrence Justin Fields So there you go, imho there aren't enough studs to go around. Discarding someone like Baker Mayfield is much more likely to make you Degress rather than Progress. Are any of the top 5 QBs going to be available this spring? No? Then at this point, Baker is just as likely to bounce back as any of the others on the list are to become part of the top 5. The only three close to being wtih that top 5 right now are Lamar, Dak and Russell, all of which are wildly inconsistent.
Baker is a competitor. I'm certain that was more to do with adrenaline and wanting to give his team a spark than anything else. After the game, Baker was completely defeated, morale gone, spirit broken. He indicated he didn't want to suit up against Cincinnati after laying it on the line in Pittsburgh, getting no help from his coaches and teammates, and being in a world of pain. Hindsight is 20-20, as they say, but Baker should have been shut down after the Arizona game. End of story. We wouldn't be calling him ridiculous things like Garappolo East and half the Browns fanbase wouldn't be burying Baker as a Brown and pining for sexual miscreant Deshaun Watson. Baker, through serious second injury: 116 of 173 (67.1%), 1,474 yards (245.7 YPG), 6 TD (3.5%), 3 INT (1.7%), 97.8 QB rating Baker, 2020: 305 of 486 (62.8%), 3,563 yards (222.7 YPG), 26 TD (5.3%), 8 INT (1.6%), 95.9 QB rating Baker, after serious second injury: 137 of 245 (55.9%), 1,536 yards (192.0 YPG), 11 TD (4.5%), 10 INT (4.1%), 72.8 QB rating Baker, 2019: 317 of 534 (59.4%), 3,827 yards (239.2 YPG), 22 TD (4.1%), 21 INT (3.9%), 78.8 QB rating He went from Top 10 QB, as he was in 2020, to Freddie Kitchens-era Bottom 5 QB as a result of that injury.
I think what everyone in the "enough Baker camp" fails to acknowledge is how much gameplan and scheme plays into these things. Josh Allen (admittedly, I was wrong on) owes a ton of his success to Brian Daboll and the scheme they run, in addition ot the fact they refuse to invest in the running game. Josh Allen is to Buffalo what a young Cam Newton was to Carolina. Joe Burrow looks like a stud in the making, but he's in a QB-friendly, pass-happy McVey offense with a ton of quality wide receivers, including the OROY Ja'Marr Chase who's insane. I genuinely think it's down to just those first three and only Brady has done it outside of one organization (now, Mahomes and Rodgers phyiscal talents at the position would seem to indicate they're capable of that as well). Stefanski's offense is the same Minnesota offense that features the run and had Kirk Cousins averaging 4,000 yards and 28 touchdowns per season. It was never going to be a McVey/Reid type offense where QB's are pushing 5,000 yards and 40+ touchdowns. In 2020, Baker and Stefanski seemed to be on the same page and the play-calling was generally very spot-on. And unsurprisingly, Baker finished with 3,600 yards and 26 touchdowns. In 2021, a year marred with injury and extremely suspect play-calling/game-planning, Baker has regressed to 2019 and who knows what the injuries and poor play have done to his psyche.
