DawgTalkers.net Forums The Archives 2020 NFL Season Looking Back: Browns 6 Raiders 16 What I saw vs Raiders

I saw a defense that looked far worse than one would expect giving up only 16 points and an offense that played better than a team that only scores 6 points.

I thought Baker played pretty well considering the conditions and his pass catchers let him down in a big way. Landry, Njoku, Hunt all had crucial drops that killed drives.

We would have a drive stall because of an offensive mistake, penalty or drop... then go sit down for half an hour while the Raiders ran 8+ minutes off the clock.

The defense was like watching somebody get tortured to death by 2000 paper cuts. If the Raiders needed 3, they got 4. If they needed 7, they got 8.. on 3rd and 18 we gave up a stupid dump off screen for 17 so they could go for it on 4th down and later score..... all day long. And to make it worst, many times we had them stopped short but through the shear will of wanting it more, they got the yardage they need with just effort. It was disappointing.

I think we have some talent on the DL other than Myles but there is absolutely nobody behind the DL that the offense cares about. Ward is pretty good in coverage but other than that, there is NOTHING to fear back there in terms of playmaking or hard hitting or any of it.

I saw a few pretty bad calls (or no-calls) but they aren't the reason we lost. Like the facemask on the sack by Ogunjobi.. the facemask was legit but our right side edge rusher got held all the way around the QB. Should have been offsetting, not 15 yards an an automatic first down.

End of the day, we played old Browns football yesterday. Did some good things but way too many stupid mistakes, drops, penalties, missed tackles, blown assignments to overcome.

The next 3 games are winnable, the 4th game is the Titans who just lost to the Bengals. No reason we shouldn't be at least 8-4, maybe 9-3 next time we play the Ravens.

Get healthy this week and get back at it.

This was the game in a nutshell.

It was like watching soooo many Browns games since '99. That old familiar mix of ennui and annoyance. I always try to keep in mind that this team is capable of insipid, uninspiring games on any given Sunday, but this one hurt because of the timing. 6-2 at the halfway point gives the team 'wiggle room' down the stretch. 5-3 means they must play much better ball entirely down the stretch.

Raiders were a 50/50 jump ball in my opinion. I was ready to absorb a loss, but the killer for me:

-was the way they lost.

They played the kind of football that always makes me feel like I wasted 3 hours of my precious dwindling life.


Oh, well.
Time to rest up, healthy up...

Better days ahead.
(sigh)

One thing the offense absolutely HAS to do for the D is put up points early. The 'terrible but opportunistic' flavor of D that we have can be serviceable if you can get the early lead (the bigger, the better) and then just sit back on your run game to chew up clock and let your D pin their ears back when they start getting antsy.

As bad as they are, they look far far worse when we're playing from behind and the opposing O has the whole playbook at their disposal.

Yo what’s up with juice’s hands the last few games? Trying too hard? Lack of concentration?

Some genuine insights here; it's obvious you grok the game's flow.

I hate the defense that can't take the ball away or get off the field. Especially upset about how many things work flawlessly against them. Part of this post is a thought I had looking back at the game. They talk about wins and losses against your man as well as the unit on the field; did you win or lose your individual wars?

Besides MG, I didn't see many wins, not nearly as many as I felt we should have. Not many, or nearly enough, stops on defense. Blitz pressure? Run stopping? LBs stuffing runs?
Just not feeling & seeing our wins, and it didn't matter much what they dialed up and tried on offense. This fan needs a break fro "same ol' ball." We need more individual intensity.
This record is better, but I agree with Berry that it is not something to brag about.

We can't fix what's wrong with our D now. We may get some injured players back but we need more talent at LB, SS and FS. This all has to be done in the offseason.

I agree. The only "fix" is to have some of them play harder. I agree it is off-season priority, and ideally I maintain, that like baseball, defense has to be strong up the middle. If we had to pick, are we worse off with our LB play or our safeties? I would be torn trying to parse who is weakest link playing worst.

Play harder yes but play smarter too. This is where our coaches come in. Different schemes, disguise what we are doing on D etc. We have to try something different. What we are doing now isn't working.

We have too much LOFT in our game; scheme cannot cover for this much LOFT.

Lack
Of
Freaking
Talent

If we had the talent that is currently sitting on IR or has been on the bench, the current scheme as-is would cover for the other deficiencies. As it is, however, we just have too much loft in too many areas.

I agree , but Woods knew he didn't have the talent to run a 4/2 .. Now I have admitted several time's about my dislike for that scheme ; so there's that too ..lol I look at Woods as a Wilks part two.

We had enough talent in the summer. Not to run it perfectly, but to run it.... and if it is the direction we are going, you have to start with it at some point. There is a fine line between crafting a scheme to fit what you have and telling your players to fit the scheme. There's a little Chicken & Egg going on, because you can't simply flip scheme every year based on who you have, there has to be something underlying it all, then *that* is what you are hopefully able to tweak to fit who you have.

Well, when our scheme is half predicated on a strong secondary and then we lose two of our top talents and are forced to play backups out of the gate, you're behind the 8-ball. He has to get his scheme implemented, but then he also lost some of the most important guys in that scheme AND we didn't have much to replace them with.


I'm not defending the choice of specific scheme and I don't know enough about it to like it or dislike it, but I do have to defend him having to actually make a choice knowing that it may not be optimal in Year 1.
You have to start somewhere. Apparently, that is NOT with guys from LSU, however.

Looking for the 2 part of this. We need some som skull crushers who can flatten the run. We are lousy at stopping anything to get our D off the field.

We may have had a plan, and it fell through long ago. Not seen any way that the leftovers can manage to salvage that original. Some of these guys are unfit for the scheme and just about inept at succeeding in NFL defense and its requisite skills. And we are proving that on a weekly basis IMO.

I really feel our LBs are killing this defense. Do any of them have a sack? We need a free safety in the worst way. Also, I see a big drop off in our Dline this year.

Most of all I saw a team just putting in the time. No fire in their belly, going thru the motions. It is as if when they win, they think it will automatically happen the next game. I'm not sure who is the leader in the locker room, but some of the veterans better step it up in the second half of this season. We are a young team learning a bad habit. To be a consistent winner, you got to want it.

Thank you for the handy new acronym . That is accurate, Not to argue a lick, but I would give high marks to MG, Landry, Teller, and a couple more. Do you feel we have LOFT in that much of the roster? We are our record. Inescapable. But widespread underachievement in our losses can't be argued. Trying to figure it out why we seem to get outworked by other teams' ambitious players compared to ours. I am looking beyond and acknowledging injuries.

Defensively, yes.
We have talent on the roster, but some is injured, some is injured and unproven, and some is underperforming.

The number of players we are getting consistent, reliable performance from is pretty much limited to Myles, Richardson, Mitchell, Ward. I think that's about it, and that leave a LOT of the field open on any given play.

Obviously it's a combination of the FO providing the talent and Coaching using it.

As I have stated many times , I was not a fan of the Greedy or the Delpit selections .. The other DB's that were brought in ain't Blank. Up front , the guy we picked up from Cincy sitting didn't help either.

My problem has been with the middle of the field being totally exposed for two years straight. The DC has to realize that opposing OC's are gaming for our scheme.. No ?