Good Luck this week for the Browns Duff..........Lumen is a tough venue to play at. I thought about driving down to Seattle and see Watson play....but he has been ruled out for Sunday match. I'm thinking this is going to be a good game and back and forth.
Thanks @Vancouver Volcanos Be glad you aren't going to see Watson. With his injury, he had nothing on the ball during what little he was in for last week. His arm may be worse than they're letting on. Other than that, he hasn't shown much with only one stellar game and a ton of INT's, fumbles and sacks. Not sure if I'm frustrated with him, Stefanski's play calling or a mix of both. If you drive down, do it for seeing the defense play. It's been awhile since I've seen a team play this tough on defense......and Garrett is a huge reason they won last week. That was a monster game he had.
That post kinda took me by surprise. There's no question (or should be no question) that root cause of Cleveland's anemic offense starts and ends with whoever is under center. Add to that the loss of Chubb (and now, at least, temporarily Ford), the mediocre play of Jed Wills, the loss of All-Pro Bitonio for a game and you get an offense that is ineffective no matter what the play call is. If you want to lay blame somewhere, look towards Andrew Berry. To waltz into the season with a QB that hadn't yet demonstrated the skill set that prompted the trade in the first place and then depend on a rookie QB as the only backup on the roster borders on criminal. Then he doubles down by sliding P.J. Walker in to be the starting QB? This could be the weekend that the wheels fall off of Berry's handiwork.
Best summation of our offense. My frustration is from Game 1 on. We’ve got a QB who is supposed to be a top passer who makes things happen with his feet. That’s why they traded the farm for him. All I’ve seen (mostly) is 2 WR sets where only one splits out wide. The other stays in the slot or flat or ends up blocking for the RB. And Njoku is blocking most of the time unless the need yards on third down. If I recall correctly , they were going to open things up. We have Cooper, Moore and DPJ at WR and Njoku at TE and RBs who can catch. Why the hell do they do so little of 3,4, or 5 wide? Put Watson in the shotgun so he can scramble. Yes, things have changed due to OL injuries but I still they should have spread the offense. Now I also point out Watson couldn’t hit an open WR to save his life on more passes than I can count. He stares down his WRs and takes too many sacks by only scrambling way too late. Too many fumbles and too many INTs. They could eliminate this with more than 2 WRs and a quicker shorter passing game to open things up. And now we’re with our #3 QB who I think could benefit from a few shorter outlets in the passing game. As evidenced in his late game drives, they open the offense up more. Yes the refs have helped as well but Walker , in my opinion, has done a better job of getting the ball downfield. And he’s not forcing the ball like Watson and all his INTs. Whichever QB is in, most of the passing game plan is not to their strengths. And no matter the game plan, Watson should be better.
And I will counter with... The blame lies within the owner Jimmy Haslem. Based on everything Berry did up to last spring, there is only one explanation for the signing of Watson... Haslem made him do it. Everything else is a trickle down effect. When you have $230M wrapped up in a QB for 5 years, what exactly do you want them to put into the backup? Baker Mayfield would have been the perfect backup, yet everyone said that's impossible. So, he went on to be other teams backup QB until he won another starting role. I agree that a 5th round rookie shouldn't have been the backup, however, I don't see how you could argue there is really anyone much better than PJ Walker? For one, training camp and pre-season made Josh Dobbs expendable based on the coaches recommendations. Walker is a game manager, which is what you need in your backup. You never want to rely on your backup for more than a couple of games. Otherwise, you are rostering two starting QBs and it's a waste of resource. To blame Berry for what you seem to think will be the team's demise... Well, that took me by surprise. Even with the injuries, this roster is STILL the best one we have seen since the rebirth. We are on RB #3, with a Kareem Hunt sprinkled in, and the rushing game still got 150 yards against the Colts.. Mind you Ford was still in the game and got half those yards, but if Hunt can stay healthy.. There shouldn't be much of a let down in the run game. What I revel at is Berry was able to get a backup RT in Dawand Jones in the 4th round and that side of the ball had a couple hiccups game one and has improved to one of the best in the league a few games into his career. This line, without Conklin or Bitonio, is still performing at one of the highest levels in the league. I know I sound like a broken record with Watson, but he is the only real negative we have this season so far. Everyone has injuries, but to date, we have overcome those injuries. The one back breaker, losing your only starting caliber QB on the team, hasn't really hurt us as much as it should have. All the other injuries have been handled in a manner we should probably be praising Berry for. Right now you have the following to choose from, which one would you prefer over Walker? Carson Wentz Matt Ryan Colt McCoy Joe Flacco Nick Foles and a bunch of other guys there is no way we could argue to be an increase. RB is where I would be putting my resources if Ford's injury is significant. Leonard Fournette (step in starter) JD McKissic (bargain money) Ronald Jones (a bit of both) Even Kenyan Drake or Zonovan Knight could make some noise behind this O-Line. Anyway... Maybe we wait to start eating at each other too much with blame games, until they actually start losing. I'm not ready to submit that the seasons over after the past two weeks behind backups playing. Seattle is going to be a tough out, they would have been a tough out on the road with every starter mentioned playing.. After that we get a break with the Cardinals at home before getting ready to face the Ravens and Steelers back to back. Maybe your boy Watson will be back in time for the Ravens. Something tells me he has November 26th circled for his return.
On the PJ Walker decision... my personal opinion is that they found the palyer most likely able to keep some plays going with their feet. He isn't going to light the air on fire with his weak arm, but he can manage a game, find the players underneath that can keep drives alive. When you ask him to go 15+ yards down field, you are asking for WAY too much and you will get burned.
I agree with your points 100% @Lyman . They’re on my list as well just behind my frustration with the offense. I also agree on finding an RB and maybe an O-lineman. Overall, I hate to waste this year’s defensive performance. If Stefanski can playcall to Walker’s strengths (as well as to what our injured OL can do with the run), they could make a run like Baltimore did with Dilfer at the helm. The D was smothering and the offense was not special in the least, just efficient and didn’t turn the ball over. Im not trying to argue with you or bicker. Just having a conversation with what I hate the most though they may not be the real reasons or most glaring issues. I don’t really care who is in, but Stefanski has got to get better play out of the offense. I really haven’t seen him do it in his tenure so far and I’m not just blaming him. It’s gonna take an adjustment by the offense as a whole until Watson can play. And once Watson can play, he needs to get his shit together and play up to his abilities that they paid for. Except for one game, he has stunk and has been a turnover machine. Good reply by the way
Yeah, Irish, you're right . . . again. I'm wrong . . . again. Silly me. I was under the mistaken impression that Andrew Berry negotiated Watson's contract, integrated the contract into the Browns cap space and then forwarded that data to Haslam for sign off. Obviously, Haslam negotiated a trade that he would have no problem green lighting. Not unlike some homeless guy telling Haslam to draft Johnny Manziel. Given that - how do we fire Jimmy Haslam ??? Watson is not "my boy". My point (if you go back and look) was that, off field issues aside, Watson appeared to be head and shoulders better than any Browns QB since they returned to he NFL. Don't discount Arizona as an automatic win.
I was thinking to just spread out the offense and do the 5-10yd passing game. Just play nice and quick. Not sure Walker is capable of going thru his reads with 3,4, or 5 guys to throw to. He seems to get a decent read on coverage before the snap though.
It’s the NFL, I don’t discount anyone. My point is, this is the weakest team/roster they will face this season. They proved “any given Sunday” beating up on the Cowboys.
Im not even going to go into that first part.. other than, We can all have an opinion, right? These are the facts… Haslem led the charge to Watson, not only did he personally go to the meet with Watson, he took his wife to face the guy accused of sexual misconduct. By all accounts, she’s a tough lady, but that, in my personal opinion, goes beyond what a husband should ask of his partner. Berry made him an offer. The Browns were the first team eliminated from his list of 4. What had Berry ever done to make you think, I want to burn through team assets to sign one player? Berry went in the opposite direction of his past, Haslem was personally leading the charge. Can you honestly tell me you don’t think he told Berry, do what ever it takes to get this guy to Cleveland? We can argue about this all day…it isn’t going to get us anywhere.
