Lets be honest: Odell hasn't been healthy and that may in fact be part of why he didn't show up for camp. Higgins and Njoku bit the dust early, and with the exception of Landry, who is in fact a beast, he had to introduce himself to all of the other recievers. So, OK, I'll give you the fact that teams have a book on Baker now, but I suspect his lack of time with a steady set of guys is just as much to do with it. On top of that he was given one of the league's top WR, who as it turns out hasn't been 100% all season, but the pressure to make that work influenced the play calling (derailed it may be more accurate). A new HC who had to feel the pressure to do the same, which IMO has undermined his play calling with extraneous priorities, other than making the next play work. Last year Freddie was masterful at it, and this year for whatever reason his play calling seems arbitrary, and sometimes desperate. Lots of factors to consider, and Baker has to take all that and make it work. He'll get there IMO, but I doubt it'll be this year.
C'mon man. The guy has just played poorly. Yes there are always contributing factors but every QB deals with those. It doesn't excuse very questionable decision making and poor ball placement. He admitted already in the season that he bought into all the hype and that has bitten him in the ass. At this point you have to just hope he sees it as a learning experience and works his butt off to prepare for 2020. Cause the only guys who sustain success in this league are the guys who work for it.
That post ^^^^^ is more accurate than a lot of us want to admit. IMHO, the truth is we may have indeed found our franchise QB or maybe we haven't. We won't know until 2020 at the earliest.
After duck dynasty gets started you guys may be able to acquire Roethlisberger for 1st and 2nd. Then you're QB situation would at least be good for a couple of years. OBJ will love the way he force feeds him.
Yes he has played poorly. I merely point out the equally poor coaching he's gotten, along with weak play calling. Last year guys named Higgins, Njoku, Calloway, and Perriman made a lot of catches whereas this year we have balls being tipped, dropped, or simply not caught. Odell is one of those guys who's letting balls get away from him, and that's on him. The football gods that allowed some genuine circus catches for last year are, this year, paying us back with tipped balls that don't go incomplete, but are picked. Yes Baker bought the hype early in the season, but he's been putting in the work since about week 6, and while not meeting last year's level, he's stopped being the reason we lose games. It's not much, but it helps me sleep at night.
Same guy was an offensive "genius" last year. None of us are in a position to call out play-calling. We aren't privy to enough information.
I've touched on it a couple times, but another huge part is that all those names have changed. We have to remember Baker is in his second season, 26 games in. It's not mid-career Manning who could have one of us line up in the X and turn them into a 1,000 yard receiver. Njoku's been hurt, Higgins has been blackballed, Callaway's been cut, and Perriman's been lost to free agency. Odell was supposed to make all that better. For starters, they got zero work until training camp when Odell got hurt. Not sure how much I believe a 13-week hernia lingering and nothing being done about it, but if you believe Odell -- he's been hurt all year, too. Not sure what that has to do with his career-low catch rate or his league-leading drops (8), but he simply hasn't been the impact we all expected since showing up.
Analytics would prove this out... Baker is relatively-low in turnover-worthy plays but is second in the NFL in interceptions. Luck simply isn't on our side. I know you like the "film on him" reason, and I don't doubt that's got something to do with it, but plain and simple he's regressed as a passer -- both in technique and in decision-making. I can't knock the playcall when it's generating open receivers. I can only knock Baker, and his position coaches (Monken, Lindley) when he's forcing balls into coverage versus taking safer, easier, check-down like plays. You don't need to be an offensive savant to know if Baker's throwing to Odell who's tripled-covered that at least one other receiver has to be wide open.
As @kenibals said, Baker bought into the hype. He admitted to it in his sit down interview (I think it was with Eric Andrews). They clearly didn't commit as hard as they thought they needed to in the offseason and they're playing catch-up right now. 2-6 to start the season and 4-1 since points to that as a team-wide issue. Sure, Freddie deserves a lot of blame for that but the players also own accountability. As with 2018, it seems to be a tale of two seasons. Through the first half: 159 of 271 (58.7%), 1,963 yards (245.4 YPG, 7.4 YPA), 7 TD (0.9%), 12 INT (1.5%), 71.3 QB rating, 23 sacks (2.9 per game) and they went 2-6 Since that time: 96 of 160 (60.0%), 1,146 yards (229.2 YPG, 7.2 YPA), 8 TD (1.6%), 4 INT (0.8%), 88.2 QB rating, 10 sacks (2.0 per game) and they've gone 4-1... this includes an absolutely clunker against Cincinnati which featured an injured Baker and easily the worst offensive game-plan in the entire NFL so far this season. They've played the hardest offensive schedule in the NFL by a long-shot and those second-half numbers include games against Buffalo and Pittsburgh (twice) - two top five defenses.
Bringing this full-circle... The blame is also sitting with John Dorsey. Right now, the third-leading wide receiver in targets is Damion Ratley... that's not acceptable. The injury to Njoku clearly hurt this team a lot more than anyone anticipated. Njoku's last eight in 2018: 37 targets, 25 receptions (67.6%), 342 yards, 2 touchdowns. The rest of the Browns' tight-ends through Week 14: 46 targets, 29 receptions (63.0%), 383 yards, 5 touchdowns. We'll likely not figure out what went down truly with Higgins until he's signed elsewhere and opens up about it. Instead of Rashard (final eight in 2018: 31 targets, 23 receptions (74.2%), 328 yards, 2 touchdowns), we've got KhaDarel Hodge and Damion Ratley (combined through 13: 21 targets, 10 receptions (47.6%), 154 yards, 0 touchdowns)... and you can throw in Antonio Callaway's four games, too (combined: 36 targets, 18 receptions (50.0%), 243 yards, 0 touchdowns)... no wonder Bake's struggling! Even Hunt, a huge get, was known to be inactive for the first eight weeks from suspension. In his place, they traded away Duke Johnson and replaced that productivity with D'Ernest Johnson and Dontrell Hilliard. Whoops. Combined through 13: 17 rush attempts, 60 yards (3.5 YPC), and two touchdowns. 21 targets, 17 receptions (81.0%), 159 yards, 0 touchdowns. Baker, Kitchens, and I truly believe Dorsey, all thought Odell was going to be a magic bullet and so far, he's proven to be a highly-paid decoy for a majority of the year. Despite a 1-2 punch of Beckham/Landry, I truly believe the wide receiver position is going to need to be addressed *heavily* in the offseason. Baker needed to be more focused in the offsesason and wasn't. To his credit, he seems to be buckling down now -- better late than never. Kitchens needed to be calling/scheming better game plans. Having Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt on the roster and ever throwing more times than running it is simply unacceptable. Baltimore's lowest in the NFL with 27.7 pass attempts per game. They're first in the NFL with 36.6 rush attempts per game. It can be done. Dorsey needed to be more mindful of the roster make-up... there were glaring deficits (offensive line, receiver), and depth areas of concern. He added a lot of personality with a first time head coach and second-year, brash quarterback. The coaching staff was *completely* re-made in the offseason, further damaging any consistency outside of Freddie -- who went from running backs position coach to head coach in a span of nine months.
Lots of great points SAS, but, as you point out, Baker has regressed. Support and coaching is definitely having an impact but Baker just isn't seeing it. Too many open guys ignored, or maybe more accurately not seen. Gotta wonder if Lindley was the right choice, too.
