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October 28, 2016Tribe takes precedence: WFNY Roundtable
October 28, 2016In anticipation of this weekend’s huge showdown between the Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets, we found ourselves riddled with questions. Why are both of our teams so terrible all of the time? Why can’t our teams find a decent quarterback? Why were we cursed to root for these steaming piles of garbage?
To answer these questions1, we went straight to the brain of a notable Jets writer and long-time fan. Brian Bassett is the editor of SNY’s theJetsBlog, and a stand up guy to boot. Brian has followed the Jets since his youth and has even been to the NFL Draft multiple times to see Jets fans boo the commissioner in person.
We asked Brian five questions about the Jets, and I then had him ask five questions of his own about the Browns to satisfy my own narcissism.
Pat’s Questions about the Jets:
Q: The Jets’ run defense is currently sitting at second best in the league. Why have they been so successful in stopping the run and is there any way to run the football on the Jets?
A: I think it comes down to talent. While the team badly misses Damon Harrison this year, Muhammad Wilkerson, Sheldon Richardson and Leonard Williams are an incredibly talented unit and they drag the rest of the defense along with them. My advice would be to run the ball at Steve McLendon or the young linebackers Mauldin and Jenkins when they are in the game as that has been the weak link. The other factor is that the Jets have been so bad at defending the pass that their success against the run hasn’t helped all that much. Short passes to your receivers, Gary Barnidge and Duke Johnson might be enough to carry the day against this group.
Q: Last year Ryan Fitzpatrick had his best season as a pro. He passed for 3,905 yards and 31 touchdowns.This season has been a different story. What’s the deal with Fitzpatrick?
A: He got paid? Most Jets fans do believe that is part of the problem. I think it was more of a “lightning in a bottle” situation for Fitz. He got extremely lucky with dropped interceptions. Brandon Marshall had an incredible season and both he and Eric Decker, who were the workhorses in this offense, were both healthy most of the season and I think it was some great luck.
I do think that the Jets schedule has been brutal through their first six weeks. I think that has had something to play part of the story and now with Geno injured Fitzpatrick might be able to resume some part of the success he saw last season.
Q: The Jets have the third lowest average points scored per game in the league. Their offense just hasn’t been able to get going. Is that all related to the quarterback position? Are there any bright spots?
A: Ever seen this old YouTube clip?
The Jets offense so far has been kind of like that. Last year it looked like this well-oiled machine but in reality it was just a cinder block away from total annihilation. Fitzpatrick has regressed to the mean, Brandon Marshall hasn’t been able to be as efficient in his use, Eric Decker’s absence has hurt the team and they don’t have the inside zone runner (Chris Ivory) that seemed to make everything else work last year.
Now they also have some talented younger receivers (Quincy Enunwa, Robby Anderson, Charone Peake) that are inserting themselves into the offense but are by no means workhorses yet.
Q: Where do the Jets go from here and what areas do they need to address in the offseason?
A: The Jets absolutely have to improve at cornerback and outside linebacker, but the most notable area has to be quarterback. Fitzpatrick was never a long-term answer and I think Christian Hackenberg is going to be a disaster. The Jets need to find their future quarterback and next year’s draft is the time to do it.
Q: Todd Bowles is now in his second season as the head coach of the Jets after replacing the incomparable Rex Ryan. How are Jets fans feeling about Bowles’ tenure compared to Ryan’s?
A: I think we felt pretty good after the first season, but some less-than-aggressive play calling and no noticeable improvement there hasn’t gone over well when paired with a defense that is not playing anywhere near as well as it did last season. There are already calls for the coach’s head, but I believe it is far too soon. Continually bringing in new coaches does nothing to address the real problems the team might have or build the right consistency and continuity a team and/or regime needs. An improvement of talent in 2017 cures what is currently ailing Jets fans.
Brian’s Questions about the Browns:
Q: The Browns have had a tumultuous decade in terms of coaches and general managers, but somehow to an outsider this reboot feels different and maybe more stabilizing. Do you and other Browns fans agree with that assessment? Why or why not?
A: I do agree with that, and I think there are quite a few Browns fans who agree. It can be tough to see the forest for the trees when you have zero wins and you’re terrified of rivaling the 2008 Detroit Lions as the worst team in the history of the NFL, but I do think most Browns fans realize that this team is not built to win right now. There’s a lot of young talent on the team and they need to be allowed to make mistakes in their youth in order to be great players in their prime. We have seen flashes of the talent, but there are also still several places where this team needs an upgrade over the current starter.
Q: Hue Jackson comes to the Browns as a renowned optimizer of offensive talent. While it is still only half a season so far, what have you noticed about how he runs his offense that you like or dislike?
A: Hue Jackson has come just as advertised. The Browns’ running game hasn’t been this successful since they came back as an expansion team in 1999. Isaiah Crowell is averaging 5.2 yards per rush and Duke Johnson is right behind him with 4.8 yards per rush. The Browns’ receiving corps is highlighted by a converted quarterback, Terrelle Pryor, who looks like a natural at wide receiver. Even Cody Kessler, a third round pick from this year’s draft, has looked like a quality option to lead this team. If it weren’t for the offensive line getting all of our quarterbacks killed, we’d probably have a couple wins by now thanks to the genius of Hue Jackson.
Q: The offensive line has been a source of pride for Browns fans dating back for about 10 years. Do you approve of the way the team has handled this group in the last two years?
A: If we’re going back two years, then the answer is no. Ray Farmer blew it. He had a chance to sign Alex Mack for several years, but decided to pass on giving him a high-dollar, long-term deal in favor of the transition tag. He also failed to lock up Mitchell Schwartz early, giving him incentive to test free agency.
Through the first several weeks of this season, the Browns’ offensive line has been brutalized resulting in numerous injuries to the starting quarterbacks. You can put almost all of that blame on the center and right tackle positions. Cameron Erving, a first round draft selection of Ray Farmer, has been an absolute disaster. Journeyman right tackle Austin Pasztor has done well as a run blocker, but has allowed a continuous onslaught of pressure on pass plays.
I don’t give much blame to the new front office for Mack and Schwartz leaving to find new teams. Their bodies were halfway out the door when the new regime was hired.
Q: Just like the 2016 Jets, the Cleveland defense has also struggled. What’s the biggest flaw with the Browns unit? How should the HBT address it in the off-season?
A: The defense currently looks like a tire fire. The veteran of the defense, Joe Haden, can’t stay healthy and might not be a realistic component of future teams. There is some obvious young talent that has performed well in stuffing the run this season, with the exception of last week’s game against the Bengals. I think Browns fans are excited about rookies Carl Nassib and Emmanuel Ogbah, who have been able to pressure the quarterback a little bit in their first seasons. Danny Shelton is emerging to become the run-stuffing, disruptive nose tackle that the team has been missing for years. However, the team still needs a lot of help at cornerback and linebacker, particularly on the inside. There just aren’t many playmakers on the defense at this point, and just about any team can find success passing against the Browns.
Q: Mets fans were gut-punched when Paul DePodesta left this past spring for the Browns. Do Browns fans yet appreciate what they have in the other Pauly D?
A: Honestly no, I don’t think Browns fans know what they have yet. The team had an interesting approach to draft night, taking four wide receivers in the draft to address an obvious team deficiency. They also accumulated 14 draft picks and acquired starting CB Jamar Taylor during the draft, showing a willingness to throw everything they have at solving weaknesses.
I think it’s obvious that DePodesta’s fingerprints are on the team’s strategy, but at the same time I think there is a lot more that he is going to learn in the coming years that he doesn’t yet understand. This is a new role for him and his proficiency at creating processes is well known, but there are still a lot of details about the NFL game that he will need to learn.
- Well, not really these questions, but other questions that are just as good. [↩]
11 Comments
I loved Chris Ivory in New Orleans; I loved him in New York and he’s presently one of the few bright spots in Jacksonville. Every team that’s let him go has made a huge mistake. Speaking as a Redskins fan, he’s like Matt Jones without the tap dancing, the poor vision and the fumbling. OK he’s not like Matt Jones at all, apart from the size and hairdo. Still, can we please trade Matt Jones and a fifth to the Jaguars for Chris Ivory? No? You’re mean!
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Brian,
As a mod, Pat was being diplomatic and modest in his answers. Alas, we’re much greater than a mere “tire fire.”
Our commentariat maintains our current overall situation is akin to sitting in a frozen port-a-potty during the Battle of Stalingrad.
Good luck in figuring out your QB cluster eff as well…and godspeed comrade.
So I finally located the actual discussion wherein we arrived at this conclusion. (Very entertaining, somewhat enlightening, still indelibly disgusting.) The best part is the subject of the article itself. Talk about “things could be worse”!
https://waitingfornextyear.com/2016/03/browns-talking-with-49ers-about-kaepernick/
Good find! And now the NY bloggers will know how the sausage is made. We put in fine work that day.
To put a fine point on it (if that’s even possible)…even if it’s frozen, I like the analogy better imagining the port a potty is tipped over.
To lighten the mood, let me regale you with an anecdote from my time in the army: In 1996 I was taking part in a NATO exercise in Norway in the middle of winter. As a rule I would try to avoid using bathrooms until I could find a real toilet. And particularly for number two. Paper toilets in the middle of nowhere just aren’t my thing. But because this was a three week exercise I eventually had to cave and go in search of the portapotty one night.
It had been snowing all night and the wind was blowing. but it was weirdly mild, and the snow had made one side of the potty wet. So when I sat on it the entire thing collapsed towards the wet side, spilling me and the contents of the potty down into a snowy ditch. Because I was upside down, waste of various descriptions flowed up all one side of my thigh and around my back before I managed to get back up.
For two weeks following this event I would smell of feces every time the weather turned mild and go smell-free when it froze. The Browns may just be this evil, half frozen portapotty made of paper. I will never forget it.
Brian has probably already heard too much beer-induced, sailor-level swearing out of my mouth thanks to this season.
Ironically, in 1996, while you were in Norway crawling through the snow and uh, waste, like a military Andy Dufresne in world of misery, our beloved Browns had not lost a game that entire season!*
*The Cleveland Browns 1996 record was spotless
PS. Thank you for your service.
Spent most of the winter of ’96-’97 avoiding frozen plastic latrines near the DMZ in Korea. Knowing what was in those things, I have great sympathy for your plight.
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That’s a good point. Maybe I inadvertently activated the Browns curse that night.
Can we get to the important issue here? That washing machine vid literally made me laugh out loud. Way more entertaining than the Browns.
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