Week 2 2017/18 Browns AT Ravens Post Game Thread

I was not able to catch most of the first half so this is a going to be a rather brief assessment of what i liked.

The D seems to be legit having picked up where it left off last week. 5 TO's per game average and 5pts per game average with regards to points conceded.

Perhaps the best part of this game was seeing our O start to move the chains more consistently, against what i think he is a very good browns team whose only 2 losses are against PIT and US, and i think both games will prove to be tough games in hindsight.

Browns are definitely on the ascendancy- for real this time imo

I am very scared about the injuries to Yanda and Williams

2k

 

Back to reality for Browns fans..nice game today fellas!

 

Well, time to come down off the high. Yanda out for the year

 

Thanks, Irish. It wasn't all bad on the Browns side. Everyone knows its a rebuilding year (again) but with the youngest roster in the NFL it looks like you guys may be headed in the right direction.

 

In two years the browns will be contending for the division title. Unless your ownership has another brain fart, more like diarrhea of the brain, and fires everyone again.

 

He walked off without assistance with a broken ankle/lower leg. That's tough!

Bam Bradley out the rest of the year with a torn ACL.

Good thing they made those two trades just before the season started. Bergstrom is no Yanda (who is), but he's a 5 yr vet who has started quite a few games in his career. Better than having Jensen move to RG and Zuttah at center.

Shame about Bradley.

 

^^^^^I cant remember a team w so many injuries this early in the yr....were not talking a sprained ankle but out for the yr injuries....pretty crazy and being 2-0 in the division is a really good start

 

What did you hear? The replay made it look like if could possibly be an LCL, possibly and ACL, but he looked like he wasn't too bad walking off the field.

The effort today was very good. This defense is just sick! I hope it continues all the way through. There was some concern over speed receivers (Higgins, Ndjoku and Johnson Jr.) which was similar to the screens Cincy had some success with against us last week. Definitely a soft spot, if you will. However, their ability to create turnovers so far has been a big difference maker. The talent is great, but we have to finally give some credit to Pees for making this defense look historically good this early.

The offense seems like it has more explosive plays and some creative schemes to spread the field out. Joe's check downs usually turn up big plays - something I haven't seen since I can't remember. We don't have a Ray Rice, Willis McGahee or Jamal Lewis, but the combination of backs we have looks great. If Alex Collins can run like he did every week without the turnovers, then we'll forget about Dixon and Mizzell soon enough.

The Browns defense is without a doubt a top tier D. I'm not going to call them top 5, but they did to us what they did to Pittsburgh last week and we still managed to put up points. Joe is looking more comfortable throwing on the run. The receivers are getting open. There were some miscues like with Perriman and Wallace, but overall they were efficient and looked like their best play is to come, not that they're playing over their heads right now. We'll have to see what the line is like without Yanda.

I'm somewhat proud of my prediction of 27-13 as opposed to 24-10. As always I over-estimated the offense and underestimated the defense. Also one needs to shave a few points on predictions for nearly every AFCN match too. Jacksonville got handled at home by Tennessee too. Their defense didn;t seem as dominant as it did week 1, so I'm going to say that we stand a better than good chance to start the season 3-0.

 

Just saw in Yahoo Sports that Flacco has tied Rivers for an NFL record of 8 consecutive games with a pick. Not sure that I care all that much as long as they keep winning, but now you have a "stumper" for Ravens trivia.

 

Must be an active QB record, because 8 consecutive games isn't even a Ravens record. I think Anthony Wright had 10. They mentioned it after Joe's INT.

Sad thing is he has two INTs on the season and I don't truly blame him for either. First one bounced off West's hands. Yeah Joe threw it behind him, but if he led him or threw it perfect a LB picks it clean. The second one might be on him. Either Wallace ran a bad route or Joe forgot the route. Normally you blame the WR, but there was another play similar with no INT today that seemed to be on Joe

 

I can actually care less about such a trivial stat. The offense has 5 TDs to 1 INTs. If trend continued all the way through, that's 40 offensive TDs to 16 INTs and 16 TDs allowed. I can live with that even if it's unrealistic.

 

Fractured Ankle for Yanda, the undrafted LB Bradley tore his ACL and he is also done for the season. Both will be on the IR come Monday. I wonder who Ozzie will sign to replace Marshall....

 

Ok. Now that I've had time to deal with Yanda's injury. Let's discuss this game.

The Positive
- Alex Collins is going to be the 3rd head of a very nice 3 headed monster at RB.
- Greg Roman has worked wonders with this run game
- Flacco didn't look hindered by the back injury at all
- Terrell Suggs in a man.....sorry, a MAN among boys out there
- ***The D-line is so deep, you could have forgot B.Williams wasn't out there for awhile (a testament to Ozzie)
- Humphrey, Bower, and T.Williams all made plays out there today.
- Another 5 turnover game
- Ben freaking Watson
- Finally, the o-line didn't crumble completely without Yanda. They still opened running lanes.

The Negative
- Webb was abused over the middle.
- Hogan was tearing the defense up
- Drops by Perriman and Wallace. Neither has looked good this season
- 350+ yards of offense by Cleveland
- ***The D-line is so deep, you could have forgot B.Williams wasn't out there for awhile (so why did we pay him?)
- Most importantly, we lost Yanda for the year

Bonus Positive
- The defense recorded 5 turnovers and allowed only 10 points, but they are still angry at their performance. That's what I want from my defense

 

"***The D-line is so deep, you could have forgot B.Williams wasn't out there for awhile"

I do not agree with this statement. With Williams out the couldn't stop the run nor were they getting the same pass rush. Carl Davis is ok against the Browns, but if Williams is out for an extended period of time, the D will have a very different look.

 

I don't know how you guys can keep dropping good players on IR and still look so good. Harbaugh is a good coach. If the Steelers lost as many quality players as you guys have we would be getting ready for 2018.

 

I don't think the Ravens will be able to handle much more going forward. You can't have 15 guys on IR after week 2 (the number after Yanda and Bradley get added today) and continue to look good on the field.

 

On a positive note. We've had some surprise stars after two weeks of play.

Buck Allen - He's been a very big surprise out there. Honestly, I didn't think he'd make it past training camp until Dixon got hurt and suspended. I'm not sure if anybody else has made the most of an opportunity the way he has.

Brandon Carr - Let's be honest, most of us considered him nothing more than a solid option, but he's been downright great on the field. I can't think of a play he's allowed a catch where he wasn't at least right on his man, except for the super obvious offensive PI that Britt got away with yesterday on a curl route (I think it was Britt). This is not to say he's given up a lot of yards, because he truly has not.

Michael Pierce - Doesn't get as much highlight love, but he's been a monster on the d-line. Already known to be stout against the run but he's been adding to the interior pass rush a little. Collapsing the pocket will be critical for this defense.

Ryan Jensen - The improvement on the o-line starts with him imho. Yeah he had two penalties in week 1, but he's been solid to great outside of that. Long gone are the days of watching the center get walked back into the QB every snap.

Matt Judon - I won't say he's been as good as anybody above him, but he's certainly been solid. I think Bowser will take his position eventually. Bowser has played even better than I expected, and I've been high on him since he was drafted.

 

I'm not surprised by the first 3. These were all good players last season and they were going to be this season. I'm still concerned about Jensen being average at best, but maybe he rises to the occasion. Without Yanda next to him, he'll be put to the test. Pierce was a beast last year. However, I agree completely about Judon.

Carry it a step further, I agree on Webb from the previous post. As a nickel corner he's flirting with disaster. Had it not been for the the end zone pick (which we know he can do) he might've been the goat of the game (win or lose) if Cleveland had scored that drive. Can't rely on that each week. We are getting abused up the seem. he's not fast or strong enough for RB on screens, and too small for TEs or bigger receivers like Rashard Higgins on seam passes.

 

I had not seen anyone comment on the fact that we went for it instead of taking the FG right before the half with 5 seconds left and Flacco hit Maclin, I think, for the TD. I thought that was huge balls to go for it like that rather than take easy points but it was also a nice commentary on Harb's confidence in Flacco as well as a pretty nice play call on the roll out and quick hitter for the TD.

Not sure what you all thought of that decision. I thought it was a gutsy call and a good one knowing we were getting the ball back to start the second half and that we could put it away if we scored after half time as well as before the way the defense was playing.

 

As a Browns fan, it was a dagger to the heart...I felt up to that point the game was still in hand. The game plan changed in the second half because of that play, imho. Gutsy play call that paid off.