Twitter Fight: Pat McAfee calls out Trent Dilfer
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September 8, 2014The Cleveland Browns looked like a team that was even worse than the Browns we traded in the last time they were in Pittsburgh and lost 20-7. At the end of the first half, I thought for sure the Browns had made a massive mistake when they started over again and fired Rob Chudzinski, Norv Turner and Ray Horton. The Browns were down 27-3 and it was about as embarrassing a moment for Browns fans that I can remember. In the end, the Browns worked their butts off, tried to exorcise the first half demons and nearly completed the miraculous comeback. In the end, they just didn’t have enough as Pittsburgh was in position for a game-winning field goal to save face 30-27 at home to start the NFL season.
Whatever Mike Pettine said to the Cleveland Browns in the locker room at halftime must have been incredible. I wasn’t there and frankly I didn’t need to be. After watching the Browns storm back in the second half after trailing 27-3, I learned an awful lot about who Mike Pettine isn’t. I know for a fact that Pat Shurmur couldn’t give that speech. Rob Chudzinski couldn’t have given that speech either. The Cleveland Browns came back tough in the second half. They got physical on the line of scrimmage and slammed a 14-0 third quarter down the throats of the Pittsburgh Steelers. They added an early fourth quarter field goal to bring it within a touchdown 27-20. They completed the comeback with a nine yard connection to Travis Benjamin.
In the end though, that’s the best they could do. They got within 54-yard field goal range and chose to punt. Then after a few series of field position losses the Browns gave the Steelers one last chance. Unsurprisingly, Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers took advantage. Steelers kicker Sean Suisham needed just a 41-yarder to give the Steelers the win by the skin of their teeth.
The real bad news, other than the loss, is that both Ben Tate and Jordan Cameron were unable to finish the game. Cameron had a banged up shoulder and Ben Tate had a reported knee strain. The good news is that Isaiah Crowell and Terrance West picked up the slack for Ben Tate while Jim Dray and Gary Barnidge filled in for Jordan Cameron. Crowell finished the day with 32 yards on five carries and two of the Browns’ TDs. Terrance West hit 100 yards on 16 carries including a long of 29. Jim Dray caught two balls for 30 yards and Barnidge added one for 13 yards.
All things considered, the real miracle of this game is that I’m not totally down on the Browns. They were absolutely miserable in the first half and instead of counting the minutes until they could go home, they responded. The Steelers aren’t a great team and there was no excuse for the Browns to go as badly as they went in the first half. Still, they showed what kind of team they can be in the second half. It was too late, of course, but just for this first game.
It showed a viability in the face of adversity. It showed a viability with Brian Hoyer at the helm. It showed a viability in the face of injuries to key personnel. It showed viability. That’s a low bar, of course, and it won’t be good enough if that horrendous start becomes a trend. Much like the second half showed me something, it’s up to them whether they feel like showing it against an even better team next week when the Browns face the New Orleans Saints who are coming off an opening week loss to the Atlanta Falcons in overtime.
72 Comments
Evaluating the team’s performance and how that makes you feel about their prospects for the rest of the season is different from claiming a moral victory. It’s not about how close to winning they came. (that’s happened a dozen times in the last few years) It’s about having hope for future wins.
From the naked eye, the biggest difference in the offense from the first half to the second half was quicker decision-making. Hoyer started going to his first read more often and West stopped dancing behind the line of scrimmage before finding a hole to run through. It felt to me like the players on the field starting playing in a manner that fits the offensive scheme. I saw so many more one-cut-and-go moves from the running backs in the second half that just weren’t there in the first half.
I think the lack of blocking – not just good blocking, but blocking AT ALL – by Cameron is more indicative of his injured shoulder than anything else in his overall performance. Blocking means hitting. If your shoulder hurts you certainly want to avoid contact.
I think the solution is to split Cameron out wide as much as possible. I don’t really see a reason to keep him in-line when he’s one of our best pass catchers, he’s a mismatch against small cornerbacks, and our wide receiving corps severely lacks height.
So smart. Thanks for sharing this. I’ve had the same problem you guy were.
I noted to someone in the morning that, if they wanted a chance to win, they had to run for 150 yards. I never thought they actually would be able to do that, let alone go for 183 and 6 ypc.
good stats. I was going to use some anecdotal evidence to talk about Haden’s first year, but stats are better.
That was my biggest problem with the game. The screen pass was dumb, but the delay of game/punt from the 35 was unforgivable. They should have been thinking 4-downs as soon as they crossed the 40. Hopefully it won’t define Pettine’s tenure here like the Bruce Gradkowski’s quicksnap defined Shurmur’s.
And am I the only one who thought our WRs actually did OK? A lot of it has to do with the effective running game, but they got open and caught the balls the were supposed to. Other than Gordon, I think our WRs are better than last year. I really remembered just how bad Little and Bess were.
I agree with you, I can’t remember a single drop in the game. The wide receivers weren’t burning for deep TDs, but they were “chunking” in the second half… picking up nice gains of 8-15 yards at a time. It didn’t seem like the receivers were getting much separation at the end of the game when the Browns needed it most, but I’m not sure how much of that was on the receivers and how much of that was on Hoyer or a lack of time to throw the ball.
on the last touchdown drive to Benjamin, Hoyer seemed to audible every play call. It was nice to see us making adjustments with a leader on the field.
How is it that in this day and age RAIN mf’ing gd RAIN is enough to foul up TV reception? HOW?
I missed everything from the Browns last score until the very end of the 4th. And why? RAIN. WTF?
should we call our passing offense Moto-Moto?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1iQnt83e58
NOOOO THEN WE HAVE TO PAY HIM WR MONEY!!!!!!
you obviously weren’t watching closely. he did well in the no-huddle and with the bootlegs, but he was lucky as hell to not be picked off about 3 times at least on steelers’ drops. he made several throws he shouldn’t have. maybe he’ll clean it up as he settles in, but as we all know, browns’ quarterbacks tend to regress as they continue to play.
Haha, as long as the Browns are winning games, I don’t care if we have to pay him quarterback money.
Haha, I might’ve caught a play here or there. Maybe to clarify what I wrote above, I should say that in the second half Hoyer showed playoff-caliber command of his offense, nearly always getting his team into the correct play. He made a few ill-advised throws (the dropped interception at goal line comes to mind) but nothing more than we might see from decent quarterbacks all over the league. If you try to name the last time a Browns quarterback handled the offense that well, I think you’ll need to span back for awhile. I’m not ready to anoint Hoyer as much of anything until the sample size expands, but the Steelers game led me to believe that 24-27 points per game is a legit possibility for this offense under Hoyer.
Yeah, he said it himself–he’s a pass catcher, not a tight end. 🙂 I know it was all because of the Jimmy Graham franchise tag issue with the CBA, but it’s a hell of an accurate statement in its own right.
I was as surprised as anyone that both Barnidge and Dray made the team, especially because Barnidge was a Chud/Norv guy. But if you’re gonna run the ball, run the ball…and the Browns seem to be putting their personnel money where their mouth is. These two blocking TE’s and a real FB may not be flashy but hey, the NFL is a fad league and we may actually be moving beyond throw-throw-throw.
I’ll second this. He had a bad day all around, in a pretty short time. He stumbled away the touchdown, he cost 3 allowing a hoyer sack after the dansby int because he dithered around, and he failed to redeem himself on a ball that looked pretty catchable and would have put us back on the 30 right after that.
That said, he flat SMOKED Timmons on the fly route he stumbled away. He’s a receiving tight end. There are plusses and minuses to that, but I kind of agree that in this offense he might not be all that valuable.
People are so hung up on this and we are literally talking about a single timeout. That they only really needed in the end because they chose to try an inside screen Dansby the Great sniffed out.
It’s not at all what decided things.
mmmmm….no. I can’t agree here. Bad WR play was a huge part of that first half, specifically Gabriel just not having NFL timing down and not holding the ball through the whole catch. Killed at least 2 drives, you could say 3.
I’m using on a computer and am still confused about where to find stories.