Last minute fantasy football suggestions
November 12, 2017Spinning a Yan with Perez and Haase if Gomes is a goner: While We’re Waiting
November 13, 2017The Cleveland Browns came off the bye looking better, but end up with the same result, a loss. The Browns lost to the Detroit Lions, 38-24, on the road, giving Cleveland their ninth loss of the season. The Browns actually outgained the Lions, 413 yards to 345 yards, but some big mistakes and an injury to quarterback DeShone Kizer doomed the team.
The game started almost perfectly for the Browns. The Lions offense went backwards and was forced to go three-and-out on the opening drive. Then on the Browns first offensive snap, quarterback DeShone Kizer completed a beautiful 38-yard pass to Sammie Coates. However, the Browns struggles in the redzone continued forcing the offense to settle for a field goal. The great start continued when Browns linebacker Jamie Collins picked off a Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford pass, setting up the Browns with more great field position. This time the Browns took advantage, scoring a touchdown on a 19-yard catch and run by receiver Kenny Britt from Kizer – yes, that Kenny Britt. The Lions were finally able to put a drive together following the touchdown, but the Browns defense bent but did not break, allowing just a field goal to cut the Browns lead. A penalty-filled Browns drive ended the first quarter, with the Browns leading the Lions 10-3.
The start of the second quarter for the Browns was not as good as the first quarter’s start was for the team. The Lions ran and threw down the throats of the Browns defense, compiling a quick eight-play, 90-yard touchdown drive that tied the game up at 10. After both teams punted on their ensuing drives, the Browns made the biggest mistake of the game at that point. After catching a pass from Kizer, tight end Seth DeValve tried to gain extra yards, but was stripped by Lions defensive back Nevin Lawson. Lawson was able to pick up the fumble and return it for a touchdown, giving the Lions their first lead at 17-10.
The Browns looked like they were going to rebound from that mistake, but Hue Jackson’s clock management and play calling derailed the Browns from cutting the deficit before the half. After wasting all three timeouts, the Browns were faced with a 2nd-and-goal on the two-yard line with 15 seconds left. Rather than call a pass, Jackson called a run play, and Kizer, for reasons still unclear, decided to make a quick audible for a sneak. Kizer was stuffed and the horrible play call caused the clock to run out before the Browns could get another snap off. Even with Kizer’s audible out of the play call, the clock management before that play was horrendous. The whole situation is yet another example of Jackson’s poor resume. The Browns ended the half trailing 17-10 to the Lions.
The second half began with a bang as the Browns put together a masterful drive. In eight plays, the Browns drove 85 yards down the field, tying the game up with a six-yard run by running back Isaiah Crowell. The drive consisted of a healthy dose of the run game. After another stop by the Browns defense, Kizer and company continued their hot third quarter with second straight touchdown drive. This time in ten plays, the Browns drove 80 yards in just over six minutes, capped off by a Kizer quarterback sneak into the endzone. The Browns regained the lead at 24-17. However the lead would not last long as Stafford put an aerial assault on the Browns defense, tying the game up in one minute and 31 seconds on four pass plays. The end of quarter was made worse when Kizer was drilled by an untouched Lions edge blitz, which caused him to come out with an injury to his ribs. This injury would end up impacting the game in a huge way, because the offense fell off the tracks while Kizer was being treated for the injury. The game was all tied up at the end of three, 24-24.
The fourth quarter started with a second straight touchdown drive by the Lions. In nine plays, Detroit drove 61 yards for the 31-24 lead, finished off by a 29-yard touchdown pass from Stafford to tight end Eric Ebron. With Cody Kessler under center now, the Browns went back-to-back three-and-outs with a stop by the Browns defense sprinkled between those two drives. However, after the second straight three-and-out by the Browns offense, the Lions put the likely final nail in the coffin for the Browns. Lions receiver Golden Tate took a short pass from Stafford 40 yards to the endzone to make the score 38-24. The Browns were unable to respond on the next drive, as Kizer threw an interception that cemented the game. The Browns lost to the Detroit Lions, 38-24.
Without a win this season, the Browns are in the category of receiving moral victories. There were a few moral victories for the Browns. Kizer had probably his best game as a professional. He completed 21 of 37 passes for 232 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Besides the last pass that was intercepted, he showed some quality throws and decision-making. He also used his legs well, rushing for 57 yards and a touchdown. Kizer’s injury that forced him to miss parts of the fourth quarter really derailed his performance and the entire offense’s momentum. Without Kizer, the offense looked lost with Kessler under center, allowing the Lions to separate in the game. Along with Kizer on the offense, the run game looked really good. Jackson stuck pretty well to the run game, allowing the team to rush 33 times for 201 yards. Both Crowell and Duke Johnson ran well against the Lions. And finally, the Browns two young edge rushers, Emmanuel Ogbah and Myles Garrett, combined for four tackles, three tackles for loss, three quarterback hits and two sacks. Ogbah, especially, had a big day.
But in the end, the Browns lose their ninth game of the season, moving their record to 0-9. The Browns will look to get their first win next week as the team comes home to face the Jacksonville Jaguars.
62 Comments
That was AWESOME!
We produced another 60 minutes of performance data to analyze, and 60 more minutes of decisions to evaluate!
All the Lions produced was a win.
Process! Process! Process!
At least the performance data will show that Deshone Kizer stepped his game up today. PROGRESS!!
Dumb Lions. They won’t even get a parade out of it!
I’m not trying to be a jerk. I was just really amused by this sentence.
“Without Kizer, the offense looked lost with Kessler under center, allowing the Lions to separate in the game.”
0-16.
Man oh man, are the Giants bad now. The Browns look like world beaters next to them.
Good thing they are not on the schedule.
A win is not part of the process.
As puzzling (not surprising) as the game management was, Kizer frustrated me when he never gives recievers in the end zone a chance. He always throws it over their heads. I don’t understand it. Is he worried about picks? I also feel like the team has a very low football IQ. Play calling is so predictable. Bring in Bernie and Payton.
He is terrible. He had flashes of looking serviceable but other times when WRs were way overthrown not even giving them a chance. Take a qb #1.
It’s the coach that’s terrible if you ask me. I’ve lost all confidence in Jackson.
I agree. What a disaster a win would be right now…
They have arms, don’t they? Not saying he’s great, but he’s not exactly throwing passes to Jerry Rice here.
Man if we were 1-8 instead of 0-9, the world would be our oyster. We could kick back and relax and sip lemonade all week.
He seems like one of those guys who people like to work with but is terrible at his job.
Only 10 more years of the process, and maybe we’ll be a .500 team.
Or was it 5 years?
How long was it you said this should take?
Oh, that’s right, it doesn’t matter how long it takes as long we keep evaluating. Right?
I’m sorry that you, and most fans, don’t like that things aren’t as simple as ginning up some random finish line and claiming total success or total failure whether you reach that line.
Past results don’t matter for this team. I understand that makes things a little more complicated than some people want. That doesn’t mean that their oversimplifying goal of sneaking out a fifth win in year X or a 10th in year Y suddenly takes things from awful to fantastic.
Or, you could have actually responded the points I made last time.
I can’t wait for next week, and the week after, and on and on, where people get cranky over the exact same thing because it isn’t what they want it to be, but they’ll tune in anyway, hoping for something different. No matter how hard you wish otherwise, this is the year we do things like try to teach Peppers how to cover and play free safety to help in the long term, and not put him close to the line of scrimmage where he is more likely to help win games in the short term.
You never answered the question I asked.
So, I’ll ask again.
What is a reasonable, acceptable timetable?
What is tangible progress?
If you can’t answer those questions, you don’t don’t have a plan, you have a research project.
All your “points” were various versions of the it’ll work when it works dance.
What sort of industry do you work in where your boss doesn’t expect actual results within an actual timeframe?
I agree… This is the second year I am scared the team will not even win one game. It is not really bearable. And where I live, all everyone does is rip on the Browns, and it is an NFC town, Chicago, whom Chicago has not played the Browns yet…
everyone laughed and made fun of me for cheering for a team that would run the ball at the 2 yard line with a QB sneak with zero time outs… They literally at the bar told me Cheerleaders would make better decisions. It is embarrassing… The only come back I had was “The Browns don’t have cheerleaders…” I mean, there is no defense of this stupid team.
One guy keeps here (whom I do respect much) keeps saying “Stick to the plan.” But I watched the Cubs get sold from an incompetent owner (the Chicago Tribune) to a new owner who got rid of dysfunction and won a title. The problem is the plan was written by folk who are all completely incompetent…
If only the fans could control the Browns wins and losses…
God you don’t understand how brilliant they are! They just need a few hundred more samples of how Kizer does against Slay and we might beat them next time.
The QB sneak at the end of the half was a rotten decision. The Browns had a shot here, and it was Kizer’s best game so far I thought. But you have to capitalize and get the points that are there to be got.
i thought Kizer would’ve had a really good day had he not thrown that last INT in the end zone. for those that blasted Hue for benching Kizer , Kizer has been playing much smarter since his benching. so maybe , just maybe , the benching hit home for Kizer & he’s better for it in the long run.
i’m looking forward to the last 5 games when Kizer has Gordon & C.Coleman on the field.
I’ve seen a lot of awful playcalls over the years, but that one was the worst.
QB sneak from the 2, with no timeouts.
There was enough time for 2 quick pass attempts, and a FG try.
And somebody please hypnotize the fade route play out of Hue’s brain.
Exactly. Give the guy a chance. Pick a play that if you miss still gives you time to get another play off. Or at least a field goal.
It’s about progress year to year whether you like it or not. Personally I thought this was a proper step in the right direction. For a change the Browns were not entirely embarrassing to watch. But the problem has been that Hue Jackson’s team takes one step forward on occasion only to take about twelve steps back the following week. Win or lose, this was an acceptable performance. But it was also possibly the first acceptable performance of the year, which is the actual problem people are having with “the Process” right now.
I don’t think so. I think it entirely possible though that Kizer needed a break when he was benched. Mental exhaustion is to be expected considering the job.
A 14-point loss represents “an acceptable performance”? At this rate, Jimmy won’t be alive to see The Process come to fruition.
hi SKULB … i thought the first game against the Steelers was an “acceptable ” performance … they should’ve beat the Colts , Jets & Titans … so even if we win 2 of those , it is already improvement over last year.
so , the question is , how do we gauge progress ? strictly by wins & losses ?
Yes and no basically, and up to a point. Regardless of performance, you just can’t keep flirting with 0-16. It has to be possible to find a way to at least eek out three or four wins from somewhere, to if nothing else prove to yourself that you’re an NFL team and not some misplaced special needs high school team. I would say win 4, play competitive football in 8 and get blown out in 4 games. That’s a respectable pace for a growing team that doesn’t grind the entire organization into the mud weekly and gives fans something to cheer for. Sort of.
I don’t think you can just look at the spread like that. They were up by seven at one point, and they had already left a possible seven more on the field at the end of the first half. A little more intelligence to get those points and they could have been up 31-17 with a legitimate shot at a big win. Of course the Lions ran up the score on a couple of defensive breakdowns, but take those two p-lays away and this is a close affair. It’s certainly not the offense’s fault. Or Hue Jackson’s. And that is progress in itself.
The Process has no timetable for success.
Didn’t you know that?
Duh.
Which benching? By my count, he’s been benched about six different times.
(My current wager is that the bye week did him some good, but that’s just me.)
i’m pretty sure he hasn’t been benched 6 times … i’m talking about he was benched the entire week 6 game against the Texans & then benched early in the 3rd quarter after he threw his 2nd INT in the week 7 game against the Titans … since that time , the only turnover he has had was their last offensive play yesterday … and he had ZERO turnovers in the game against the Vikings before the bye … I will chalk-it-up to the benching.
This is the worry. Stick to the plan is fine if it’s a good one written by competent people. But what if it’s General Hague’s plan from the trenches in 1915? Oh don’t worry, we’ll only get a few million guys killed. Stick with the plan!
Devalve’s fumble & letting the clock run out at the end of the first half tipped the scales yesterday … and even as demoralizing as the end of the 1st half was , the Browns scored on their first 2 possessions of the 2nd half to take a 24-17 lead … just to lure you back in.
as much as the run defense has improved , i see the opposition will get 1 yard , – 3 yards , 2 yards , – 1 yard & then they’ll give up a 25 yard run … this happened a few times yesterday.
Don’t ask him. He’ll just respond with “BLAH BLAH BASEBALL”
He does that, but don’t you think that whatever rookie we draft next year will do the exact same thing?
That play is on Kizer apparently.
Was it really? Well, that’s a major knock on him then after an otherwise solid game. But that was being offered a choice of three points or seven points and deciding creatively instead to go for no points. Whatever you do, don’t do that basically. Other than a red zone pick six I suppose.
Yeah. It was still (as far as I’m aware) a run play, and Kizer audibled to a sneak. A run play there is still the wrong call though.
As I said the very first time, reasonable, acceptable progress would be evaluated in the behind-the-sceness going-ons. How are they progressing in evaluating, training, and educating players towards down the road success.
Simply pulling a win total out of you know where and firing guys if they don’t make it is a foolish strategy that creates perverse incentives. You can not like that answer all you want, but its an answer to you question. I’ve explained why many times, and the only one not responding to the other’s points is you.
Good to see you have been paying attention to the convos I’ve had here over the weeks. Brilliant addition, thanks.
Well, I have suggested a democratization of the team with online voting for plays, transmitted directly into the QB’s helmet. And like I have also said: how could it possibly get any worse? And on the plus side, Browns fans would get a real sense of ownership of their team for the first time. I can think of worse ideas. Such as relying on somehow, miraculously beating the Chargers for the second straight year simply to avoid 0-16 again, and to avoid 0-32 in this two-season span! That is what the Browns would now be looking at if not for the benevolence of the Chargers.
I don’t think he actually watches sports. He just reads box scores and metrics websites.
Are you willing to give Sashi a finite, or infinite period of time to work his process?
I have never suggested there was an infinite period of time, and your interpretation that I have is fundamentally poor reading comprehension. If it looks like they aren’t making the necessary improvements to the processes now, fire them now. My point has always been to evaluate the processes not the win totals. The Browns winning four games instead of zero this year means diddly in the long run.
So far, your analysis does nothing more than touch one line of the box score, and his, zero. If you two want to add analysis that goes beyond that, I’m all ears. A good breakdown of what skills and schemes the Browns need to work on is exactly the type of evaluation the process needs. Complaining that they lost isn’t.