The Flying Five is back : While We’re Waiting
October 31, 2016Pictures from LeBron James’ Halloween Party
October 31, 2016For the first time since 1975, the Cleveland Browns are 0-8. As poor of a product as the city of Cleveland has been forced to endure since 1999, even those horrible teams were able to win a game within the first two months of their respective seasons. That dreadful expansion team that was waxed, 43-0, during their Opening Day game? They beat the New Orleans Saints during Week 8. The 3-13 team from 2000 won back-to-back games against divisional opponents during Weeks 2 and 3. The 4-12 squad from 2004 won in Weeks 1, 4 and 6. Romeo Crennel’s 4-12 team of 2006 won twice in the first eight weeks and this even includes an early-season bye that occurred during Week 6.
It’s really, really hard to lose every game in an eight-week stretch. The Houston Texans are 32nd in the NFL in offensive DVOA yet sit atop the AFC South with a 5-3 record. The New York Jets are 27th in defense and 28th in offense yet have already limped their way to three wins. Whether or not the Browns are trying to win football games can be debated, but to not win any in an eight-week stretch is an entire new level of despair.
It takes a special kind of team to lose an NFL game where the margin at any point is two scores. The world witnessed the Indianapolis Colts drop a game where they were up 14 points with roughly three minutes to go. The Falcons collapsed against the San Diego Chargers just last week. The Browns, however, seem to find a way to do it every week, which is bordering on showing off at this point. The New York Jets aren’t good. The Browns are just that much worse.
LOSER: Josh McCown
Things started out well for McCown on his return to the active roster, finding Gary Barnidge for a nice gain on the first play from scrimmage, following this play up with many others to Terrelle Pryor and others for a quick 20-7 lead. They would soon unravel, however, as the Browns defense gave up a ton of rushing yards as well as yards after the catch to receivers, forcing McCown to try and make plays. McCown would only complete five of eighteen passes under pressure (a 42.4 QB rating) and appeared to be the exact opposite of Cody Kessler wherein he was just 12-of-25 on passes targeted between 0-9 yards downfield.1
The offensive line actually did a solid job protecting McCown. John Greco and Austin Paztor were both on the field for 57 pass-blocking snaps with neither surrendering a single QB pressure. Joe Thomas only surrendered two QB hurries. The issue would come in the way of the quarterback who, on one of his two interceptions, was not pressured whatsoever.
“It starts with me,” said McCown following the game. “I take this one squarely on me. I don’t feel like I played to the level that I’m capable of playing at, and that I played to in the first half. I feel like it cost us the ball game.
“When you have opportunities, you have to take advantage of them. We had a couple there in the second half where we could have distanced ourselves. I just feel like I didn’t take advantage of it.”
LOSER: Hue Jackson
I’m not sure what he says at halftime to these guys, but it’s certainly not working. I’d have to go back through the Winners and Losers to this point, but marking Hue as a loser is very rare. We’ve given him the benefit of the doubt for much of this season, knowing full well what he’s gone to battle with on a weekly basis. But given how poor the Jets are (the stats don’t write themselves), to allow New York to battle back with a quarterback who was benched two week earlier and is only playing because the other guy blew out his knee—well, that’s not a good look. Even worse: Those ill-fated attempts to get Kevin Hogan to run the read option.
The bye week can’t get here soon enough.
LOSER: Ray Horton
Every Monday morning, I’m on Canton’s 106.9 FM where we discuss the week that was in Cleveland sports. One of the topics earlier today was the Browns’ inability to execute on things one would consider to be fundamental building blocks that got certain players to the level at which they get to play today. For so many members of the Browns defense to be unable to tackle in the open field is simply amazing. We’re talking veterans like Joe Haden all the way down to guys who wouldn’t be on the field had they been playing for any other NFL team like Brien Boddy-Calhoun.
I’m unsure if it’s all a product of the lack of preseason tackling that has permeated today’s NFL, but I don’t see other teams struggling as mightily as this Cleveland Browns unit. The issue becomes: There is no answer. NFL players will not suddenly learn how to tackle between Weeks 8 and 9 of a regular season. It’s an epidemic.
WINNER: First Half Terrelle Pryor
Six receptions for 101 yards in the first half, almost exclusively with New York’s Darrelle Revis covering him. A variety of routes were run smoothly, with more than 30 yards added after catches were made.
LOSER: Second Half Terrelle Pryor
Whether it is in the way of defensive adjustments or something to do with fatigue, this marks at least the second game in the last few weeks where Pryor has followed up a monster first half with a second half that leaves little to be desired. Sure, he hauled in the two-point conversion late in the fourth quarter, but he was invisible for much of the final 30 game minutes. Yes, New York controlled the ball. And yes, Josh McCown threw two interceptions. He was credited with just one dropped pass, but man it felt like a lot more.
“He had the chance to make some plays,” said Hue Jackson of Pryor’s second half. “He had an opportunity, and we over threw him, dropped a ball, whatever it was. Everybody thinks he disappears, but they will do everything they can to make sure he does not get it, and we have to make sure he does.”
WINNERS: Danny Shelton and Jamie Meder
If there was a way to combine these two into one, giant run-stopper who never fatigues, the Browns could be on to something. Shelton’s sophomore ascent continued on Sunday as he had two run stops in addition to one sack and one hurry on just 25 pass-rushing snaps. Ashland Eagle Jamie Meder followed that up with four run stops and two hurries on 22 pass-rushing snaps, many of which were in relief of the former first-round pick in Shelton.
WINNER: Andrew Hawkins
Two touchdowns for the not-so-tall receiver? Who knew that a guy under 6-feet tall could be such a red zone threat?
WINNER: Jamar Taylor
After being abused nearly all of Week 7, Taylor was thrown at seven times on Sunday, surrendering just three receptions for 79 yards while breaking up the other four passes. Given where the Browns defense is, this is a huge win.
- Via PFF. [↩]
17 Comments
Winner: The entire Browns organization. Rarely have I been more proud of the Browns. The way they rallied to overcome a 13-point lead and nail down the loss to keep their perfect season alive shows that they’re not a team to be reckoned with. Game balls for everybody.
WINNER: Browns 1st-round pick. We are still #1.
WINNER: Browns second 1st-round pick. Thank you Cowboys.
I think TP was drawing mostly double coverage in the second half. That’s probably something he hasn’t experienced yet.
The first half was fun. But can we talk about the defense for a second. I recognized about 4 names out there. that’s pretty miserable. Looking them up, some of them were added within the last few weeks.
I know that the Sahsi Browns let go of guys like Gipson, Dansby, and Kreuger…but the cupboard should not be THIS bare.
http://cs9.pikabu.ru/images/big_size_comm_an/2016-09_6/147511308614259412.gif
The thing is, it was almost as bare with all those guys on the roster. Now Ray Horton…
Oh I totally agree with that.
LOSER: Browns second 2nd-round pick. Cmon Jacksonville, I expect better from you.
(Repost)
**** 2016 WFNY PREDICTION GAME ****
Another close one. Good!! Good!!
Updated.
No changes.WAIT!! It looks like not one, but two names have joined RGB… ON. THE. VERGE… But who???????????????????? (dun dun duuuuuunnnnnnnn)See who’s safe, ON THE VERGE…, and who lost here:
http://numutango.blogspot.com/
See all of the entries here:
https://waitingfornextyear.com/2016/09/10-bold-predictions-for-the-2016-browns-season/
I think we can also witness the decrease in fandom as it relates to this page. This was probably the most commented on series over the last two years. Now it’s just a few of us.
WINNERS : mccown , d.johnson , pryor , O-line (1 sack) , kirksey , parkey & HBT (eagles loss).
LOSERS : the fans … hopefully , most of them are realistic about the purge. i saw a lot of empty seats yesterday. this SHOULD be as low as it gets … nowhere to go but up.
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Love ya TB2, but why in the world should any “fans” be expected to spend money on this travesty of a team? Haslam should write a check to every single Cleveland fan that sat in the cold rain for that 2nd half.
hi JPF … i don’t blame any Browns fans for being disgruntled … i would rather see some empty seats & put up with the futility now , to be able to enjoy some sustained success in the future.
i’m sure they counted on empty seats & probably being the laughing stock of the league , when they blew this thing up … most of us can see that this needed to be done & that it will take some time. many Browns fans don’t see it that way … and that’s okay.
That’s just it. This did not “need to be done”. Setting the NFL franchise record in losses while leading the league in cap space is a monumental screw up. This FO deserves zero slack until they put a competitive product on the field.
This is a year when 8-8 could have won the division and instead we are bagging it for 2018 draft picks. It takes a lot of Ivy league degrees to find success in that.
i will respectfully disagree … because of the continuous bad drafting (except this year) , this team WAS littered with marginal to bad draft picks & overpaid & unproductive veterans (bowe , whitner , dansby , starks , kruger etc.) … i will agree with you they could’ve possibly went 8-8 had they kept some of the veterans & maybe some of the FA’s that got away (gipson , schwartz etc.) … but then what ?
the new FO has had only 1 FA period & 1 draft … they completely gutted the team except for a few guys like thomas , haden & mccown … they were modest in FA , but excelled in the draft … 14 picks this , 13 picks next year (TWO 1st rounders) & we currently have TWO 2nd rounds picks in 2018 … as long as they continue to draft well , they will be fine … it will take some time.
the 2 winning seasons we did have since 1999 were followed-up with 3 & 4 win seasons … no sustainability. so , would you rather go 8-8 & enjoy a little success , but not be able to sustain it , or do what we should’ve done long ago ?
i believe the cowboys went 1-15 aikman’s first year … looked horrible … but jimmy johnson stockpiled some picks & used a little know-how to put together some real nice sustained success.
Paying overpriced free agents to be 4-12 just so you can feel good about spending money is poor management. The desire for instant gratification in the NFL is monumental, but it’s also destructive. If the Browns go 0-16, develop some quality rookies like Coleman, Ohgba, and Nassib, and then sign players like Pryor, Bitonio, and Collins – there really is nothing to talk about. If they follow that up with a good draft in 2017, this will be the smartest front office in 20+ years. Conversely, how would you feel if the Browns committed 30mm to free agents and were 2-6? Would you be talking about the great progress the team was making?
When you spend $6M on Bowe, you go 4-12.
They shoulda signed Schwartz. Wisniewski signed a 1 year deal for $1.5M. Trevathan was signed by the Bears for $6M a year. Sanu signed for $6M. There are no less than 15 safeties resigned to 1 year deals around $1M.
I can go on and on at each position. Even if they pay the “Browns suck premium” there were a ton of moves they could have made to improve this team, this year, without sacrificing an iota of the future, unless you are Haslam’s banker.