Color rushed? Browns to wear all white on Thursday night
November 10, 2016
Cavaliers visit the White House: While We’re Waiting…
November 11, 2016Same old Browns, right? The Cleveland Browns once again forked over a first half lead, succumbing to the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday night, 28-7. The Browns led 7-6 at half, but a second half collapse gave the victory to the Ravens and yet another loss to Cleveland, their 10th in as many weeks this season. Through the air, they were led by quarterback Cody Kessler, who threw for 91 yards and a touchdown in just over a half of football. The leading receiver for the Browns was receiver Terrelle Pryor, who caught five passes for 48 yards. On the ground, running back Isaiah Crowell rushed nine times for 23 yards. The Browns once again faltered in the second half, like they seemed to have done all season.
I place a lot of this loss on Browns head coach Hue Jackson. I have been a fan and backer of Jackson for most of the season, but his decision to take out quarterback Cody Kessler in the third quarter and replace him with Josh McCown was befuddling at best. Kessler was 11-of-18 for 91 yards and a touchdown before he was taken out of the game. He was playing solidly. There was no reason to take him out. First of all, he was playing OK and had led the team to a first half lead. But secondly, the front office, coaches, and fans need to see him play. What’s the point of putting in McCown on a 0-9 (now 0-10) team? No reason. The move backfired, with McCown completing just 6-of-13 for 59 yards, two interceptions, and two fumbles, one of which was lost. In my opinion, it was the wrong decision.
The first quarter started off shaky for the Browns, but it ended up being a truce with the Browns and Ravens remaining scoreless. After the opening kickoff and before the Browns first play on defense, they had to call a timeout, showcasing early to the national audience what it is like to be a Browns fan. But, Cleveland’s defense played pretty well in the first quarter, holding the Ravens scoreless. A Briean Boddy-Calhoun interception was a huge play in the quarter, halting a positive drive for Baltimore. The Browns offense was unable to sustain a drive in the quarter.
Both teams got off the schneid in the second quarter. The Ravens kicked off the quarter with a field goal. But, the Browns put their best drive of the game together, driving 75 yards in seven plays to get the go-ahead touchdown. Kessler threw a beautiful 25-yard touchdown pass to his fellow rookie, tight end Seth DeValve. The Browns allowed another Ravens field goal to end the half, but still led, 7-6, over Baltimore heading into the locker room.
The third quarter was a disaster. The Browns went three-and-out on the opening series. On the ensuing drive by the Ravens, the Browns defense allowed a nine-play, 64-yard drive, capped off by a touchdown pass by Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco. Then, the complete perplexing decision by Jackson was made, replacing Kessler with McCown at the quarterback spot. McCown subsequently threw an interception and led a three-and-out in his first two drives. Baltimore scored another touchdown on their final drive of the quarter, giving the Ravens a 21-7 lead heading into the final quarter.
The fourth quarter was just like most of the other fourth quarters this season: a slow walk to an inevitable loss. The fourth quarters – over the past few weeks especially – have felt like the walk many Browns fans have made over the past decade after a loss at FirstEnergy Stadium. A slow, subdued shuffle with not much hope to look forward to going forward. The Browns finished the quarter, allowing another touchdown to make the final score, 28-7. They were outscored 22-0 in the second half.
The Browns fell to 0-10, continuing their search for the team’s first win of the season. Next week, they face the Pittsburgh Steelers at FirstEnergy Stadium in another AFC North matchup. At least we get a Browns-free Sunday this coming weekend!
79 Comments
**** 2016 WFNY PREDICTION GAME ****
Another no shutout game. Nice!!
Jpftribe, I’m afraid we have to say goodbye. Thanks for playing. Try again next year.
Two new names join RGB ON THE VERGE… Who are they?? clicky clicky…
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/
Taking Cody out was a ridiculous move and does not show a coach with a sound mind for game time decision making. Hue is a great OC but he largely seems to be learning on the job still even though its his second stint as a HC.
Any Browns fan could have told Hue that his decision to put Josh in was going to backfire. Cody wasnt playing bad and had a TD, he wasnt doing great but didnt do bad enough to be benched. Game was likely a loss either way but i guess Hue seen a lot of possible plays that Cody was leaving on the field that he hoped Josh would make….nope.And thats no knock on McCown..McCown is a good QB but throwing him in cold like that turned out to be a disservice to Josh, Cody and the team.
And so it continues unabated:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/99cfe10b32765991504826df2fa0502861e277c2178e423b086b08196e44cb0e.jpg
Browns gonna Browns.
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Post your RGIII comes off IR gifs here…….
The national stage made this more painful but apathy has engulfed me after this. My Sundays were pretty open already as I’ve lost interest in most things NFL. Now my Sundays are just another day of the week. #JustDontCare
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It looked to me that Cody got pulled because he wasn’t going downfield as much as Hue wanted him to. Basically a “look, if you want this job long term, you better do what you’re told.”
But yeah, McCown was pretty bad yesterday…he just doesn’t have the mobility or pocket presence to handle a center that doesn’t understand that blocking is necessary.
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hi SAM … and to make matters worse , they had to call a timeout before Baltimore even snapped the ball on their first play for having 12 men on the field … then you have 2 guys back trying to field a punt & they run into each other … they’re lucky that wasn’t a fumble.
these kinda things shouldn’t be happening this late in the season … really disappointing. real bad night for Hue & the gang.
good point EXIT , but Cody didn’t exactly have a lot of time in the pocket to wait for deep patterns to develope … the kid has been playing his ass off & not making mistakes … he’ll be starting next game.
ROTFLMMFAO !!!!!!! …. oh , man … good one !
How do you go downfield when Care Bear misses Every Single Blitz?
I didn’t say it was logical. That’s just what I saw.
… i’m still freakin’ laughing !!
you know , IF he was pulled because he missed some plays down the field , it might be a good thing. Kessler has done a super nice job of not turning the ball over … but at the same time , he might have to learn how to be a little more aggressive & take some more chances.
i watched the strong-armed QB’s turn the ball over 5 times last & the noodle-armed QB zero times … you might say “yeah , but Flacco threw 3 TD passes” … okay , but remember , that was against the Browns.
i think Kessler just needs to be a little more aggressive & take a few chances … especially when you have a guy like Pryor to throw to … just chuck-it down the field & let him make a play.
he threw a nice deep ball on the TD to DeValve … i think he can do it … he just needs the O-line to give him a little time & he needs to take some chances.
… he’s a rookie.
Who doesn’t love a parade!
https://twitter.com/Reflog_18/status/797080342704377856
Hey, all 12 guys were onsides, progress!
as much abuse as our defense takes , i thought they actually played good for about 3 quarters , until McCown kept turned the ball over & put them in a tough spot.
J.Collins was all over the field , Kirksey had 13 tackles & Shelton played okay as well … i predicted they would re-sign both Collins & Pryor … they had better do this , or it will set us back just that much more … these guys are studs. pay whatever it takes … moneyball or no moneyball … get it done.
Not just downfield, but to be more aggressive in general. Take some chances when you’re 0-9 and have nothing to lose. He’s not going to learn to do it unless he tries, and he’s playing it soooo safe right now. Toward the end of his time in the game he made a couple of immediate checkdowns to guys that got blasted right away for no gain or a loss, which is as bad as taking a sack and kind of a lazy read in general. I think that’s what was the last straw for Hue. You’ll never develop your ability to make reads if you start making your safety valve the first option on every play.
I assumed because in pregame he had told people he was trying to get Kessler to be a little more aggressive and throw it downfield more that this was why he pulled him. Just a little tough love. He didn’t maybe expect McCown to fail so spectacularly, though…
I interpreted pulling Kessler as Hue losing his equilibrium in mid-game and mid-season. His frustrations are understandable: a roster intentionally stripped to bare framework, 6 QBs this season with the current one refusing to turn his gaze upfield, non-stop losing while he carries the scars of being canned when things were going far better. And who can blame him for dreaming of going into a mini-bye week with an uplifting win.
But the bottom line is this: even if he did not know all the details, he knew the deal. If you give Ogbah and Nassib and Erving and Crowell all these snaps to figure it out, your rookie QB needs at least the same number to figure out the relative quantum mechanics of his position. McCown we know after 14 years: he’ll often heat up, but he’ll always break apart with a bonehead decision, brain lock or uncontrolled adrenaline. Kessler’s best chance to acclimate to the NFL was to first learn from the sideline, but after guiding him on the fly, with him doing better than anyone expected, Hue has now taught him the worst thing for a tentative QB: that a screw up ends your game. The supposed QB Whisperer panicked last night. He acted as much the newbie as any of his players.
I think that’s the hope that Hue has with that move.
So sad…Pat, you’re next. I’m not far behind.
He already did above
Yep. You know 100% what you’re getting with McCown.
If you’re going to yank Kessler due to lack of aggression, or whatnot, put in Hogan.
Inserting McCown achieves zilch.
I don’t have the time nor energy to put all my thoughts about the game into an article, so here it is in short form:
Kessler wasn’t winning us the game, so Hue made a QB move. McCown proceeded to lose us the game.
ah, the Tiger-tinted glasses. The defense stopped playing hard in the second half. And they got punked because of it. Blame the coach, blame the players. But that is the reality.
hi HARV … you are right.
short & sweet … it works for me.
… i’m on-the-verge of elimination as well.
wanna try ’em on for size ??? … welcome to my world. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/b688deac2281036188b4e8ec1a98877b8af8619cf1ff2d21d709e38bd34aeb5f.jpg
Hue, you want Kessler to get more aggressive
How about you tell your 3 WRs…you run a fly, you run a post, you run a fly.
Your move Cody.
Truthfully, it feels as if we all are other than RGB
Duke on a swing
Ugh! No!
Duke…stay in for blitz protection or you’re cut.
I can kind of see why they put in McCown. McCown is the old veteran, not going to compete with Kessler long term. You put in Hogan and now there is a QB controversy.
It is also good that they did not pull McCown, as it shows Kessler if you are aggressive and fail, Hue will stick with him, but playing afraid is not acceptable.
We have seen this from rookie QB’s before. They hit a wall in their development, and everything becomes short passes and throw aways. McCoy did it, Quinn did it, Frye did it.
If Hue is trying to push Kessler beyond that wall, I can understand why he pulled him. Kessler was not playing like a long term starter, he was playing not to screw up or get killed. We don’t need another guy like that.
#73 is eligible on this play.
So gross. Yet, dude is so calm about it.
Max Protect, dammit!
The one thing I will give the defense, without those two end zone interceptions this game would have be an epic disaster up there with that 41-9 beat down the Steelers gave the Browns in 2010.
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Oh, and tip of the cap to special teams. Colquitt doubled up the Browns offense 300-144. Not too often you see the punter do that.
Also it was a short week for a team comprised mainly of first year players. Of course they are going to have miscues. Lets stop being surprised when a bad team plays badly.
The refs also did them no favors.
Rec for tiger-tinted.
TBH, wish the world had a pair that fit me. At least in sports, I am condemned to relentless objectivity. Blame the Cleveland Indians and their amoral apologists, circa 1965-1987.
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So, throw it into his back. Got it.
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