They keep running the same tired plays that get them nowhere. Too many Metcalf-up -the-middle plays that get one yard and too many slow developing plays that result in a sack. None of it works and they keep calling the same phuqing plays. The three and outs on offense are letting the other teams stick to their game plans against us cause we can't score. And the defense ain't helping out much either.
I don't think anyone on this roster wants Watson as the quarterback. There may be statements contrary to that, but this looks like a team that has no leader and is playing like a Cleveland squad that is trying to find the exit at the END of the season. This is bad football.
Once again Watson throws for less than 200 yards and takes 7 sacks. Time for trying something or someone else.
Forgive me for missing personnel changes that were already made. Everyone needs to go and I don't just mean coaches and management. The team's culture is worse than dead. Watson was a mistake for a variety of reasons and management just tried to bail themselves out with that stupid trade and now they are rolling with him, have no inspiration anywhere and all the talent they thought they had in house has left or became stagnant. The window was short and instead of properly working on the team they felt they finally made it after 2020 and were complacent and then forced themselves to Watson when they panicked. At this point they need to trade anyone significant that is aging with any value and only keep the younger guys going. The good news is that most of the home grown talent is on their rookie contract. Cooper needs to be moved while he has value. Myles Garrett would be an absolute shame to lose but at this point if you can get 3 1st round picks for him you almost have to do it.
Hey, I have an idea. Ole Jimmy H isn’t going to let them sit Watson cause he’ll have to admit that he completely whiffed on the Watson trade and contract. Let the phuquer pay for his own damn new stadium. Tax payer funding my ass! You can’t put a better level of play on the field, then you can just pay that $1.5 Billion or whatever it costs by yourself.
Vrabel might be too smart to take this dumpster fire.. The only way to move forward is to bench Watson, fake an injury, what ever it takes to show the team you aren’t going to play a guy just because you paid him. This is supposed to be a league of merit and when players see it isn’t, you lose their best effort. RIGHT NOW, everyone but JOK on defense is thinking to themselves, why bust my ass to get the offense back on the field?
I wonder if there was ever a coach of the year winner that had to deal with an over paid QB, that was "hurt" during his coach of the year year, then was forced to play him the following year? Stefanksi, has been there for 4+ years 2024 His offense is currently 26th in passing offense, despite being 7th in pass attempts. They are dead last in yards per attempt. Pass 61.5% of the time (due to falling behind most likely) 2023 PLAYOFFS His offense was 27th in pass attempts, but ranked 14th in passing offense. They were a much more evenly distributed offense in 2023. A) They had Nick Chubb, B) Their supposed top QB was hurt 65% of the season. Only passed 55% of the time. 2022 He passed and ran 50/50.. Passing ranked 10th with Brissett at the helm, rushing ranked 6th. 2021 with a hurt Mayfield, they managed to rank 26th while passing just 52% of the time. That's an injured Mayfield.. 2020 PLAYOFFS with a healthy Mayfield, they ranked 26th in passing while throwing the ball 50% of the time. The bottom line is this, the Browns in Stefanski's offense needs to be passing the ball less than 52% of the time. Because of their lack of controlling the game clock and the lead, they have been passing way too much and their $230M arm is not making up the difference. I think there are two things going here... 1) They need Nick Chubb back more than anything else in order to run Kevin Stefanki's offense effectively! 2) They don't need, even the good version of, Deshaun Watson to run his offense. Now, if Chubb can look like his old self, which at this point of his rehab would be an absolute miracle, maybe something could be salvaged of this season. Chubb doesn't need 4' wide holes to run through, he makes his own holes and leads the league in yards after contact year after year. Chubb, if healthy, is the player they need to be signing to a huge contract, they made the wrong choice in spring of 2022. They are getting closer to halfway through that mistake. Stefanski's offense can salvage a little of the issue, but they would need another healthy RB in the same stature and level of Chubb, that's a tall task. Then, they need to overcome the lack of leadership that Watson has. I fear the next 2.75 seasons are going to be very hard to deal with.
, All good points, Irish. But I fear that, even if Chubb returns in 2023 shape, the fact is that only 1 of 5 offensive linemen is earning their money. Jed Wills is either a turnstile or the poster boy for false starts or holding. Bitonio is solid (but getting a little long in the tooth). Pocic is in and out of the lineup due to injuries. Teller is injured and is being replaced by a rookie. Jack Conklin is a phantom. Add in that the best O-line coach in the NFL took his talents to the Titans to coach with his son. If it were me, I would do what Houston did and just send Watson home. Get him out of the building and eat the contract because you'll never find someone as dumb as the Browns were.
I know it's only week 5... But the Browns need to consider letting this season die a horrific death, cut Watson to end the season and draft a passer at the top of the first. I wouldn't bother trying to find a trade partner. Just cut him at the first opportunity to designate him as a post-June release and when the media starts asking questions just say you are preparing for the future and Deshaun is not part of that vision.
I agree with you both, there isn't going to be a trade partner.. This is a Browns mess and nothing will come of Watson's career imho. That's why I would rather they send him home like @Lyman mentioned and spread the cap hit over the course of the contract. I don't think it is fiscally possible to even make him a 2025 post-June designation and be able to operate under the standards of the CBA and NFL. I mean, they could, but it would be like 10 normal contracts and the rest under the league minimum for a full season. How do you ask any professional player to show up under those conditions? Maybe they could try the Mets moneyball to see if they were capable of winning 1 game. If they cut him right now, it would escalate the cap to over $200M from the current $27.9M.. not possible in any scenario. We don't have enough players to cut and replace with street vendors to convert the acceleration. If they cut him with a post-June in 2025, they still would be covering roughly $109M in 2025 and $63.3M in 2026... so, yeah, this is a bed they are just going to lie in, which is why I believe Stefanski sounded so frustrated when he said absolutely not, they are not thinking about a QB change. They NEED an injury to get him out of the lineup... which might make some sense as to why the offensive line isn't performing the same as they have in the past. Here's the thing on the line though. In pass protection, Watson is doing a lot wrong in and out of the pocket that makes them look like shit in many cases. The run game is where I am disappointed, however, like I mentioned earlier, Chubb will make a line look better than they are due to his ability to get yards after first contact. Wills has struggled with pass protection from day 1. He never has shown a real ability and again, like Lym said, with Callahan moving to work with his son, Wills isn't going to get much better at this point. He is what he is. With Watson's contract though, that isn't going to improve with additions either. I know everyone wants Haslem to sell the team, this is a guy willing to sign a $230M guaranteed contract to win games, I don't want him gone, I want him to let football people make those decisions with his money. @Campbell I don't think the Browns need to consider anything, it's dying a painful death all on it's own...
