Michael Brantley Breaks Out – WFNY’s Top 10 Cleveland Sports Stories of 2014: No. 9
December 16, 2014Nike LeBron 12 “Data” to release this Friday
December 16, 2014The start of the Johnny Football era was a disaster as the Cincinnati Bengals dismantled the Cleveland Browns 30-0, proving to be a harsh welcome of Johnny Manziel to the AFC North. The Browns offense reverted back to the “same old Browns” never giving the team a chance to win the game. The run defense was non-existent. WFNY takes a look past the scoreline of Manziel and the Browns’ dreadful day and goes behind the box score.
1.0 – Johnny Manziel was bad on Sunday, very, very bad. Manziel produced a QBR of 1.0 against the Bengals, the lowest QBR of any quarterback this season. Manziel’s Animal House 1.0 rating matches Brandon Weeden for the worst QBR in a quarterback’s first start in the last five years. The only thing that could have gone worse for Manziel against Cincinnati were if he had been trapped under a giant piece of Americana during pre-game warm ups.
6 – In the last twenty years, only six quarterbacks have been shutout during their first career start. The last quarterback to be shut out during his debut was Rusty Smith of the Tennessee Titans back in 2010. And yes, Rusty Smith was a real NFL quarterback. Joining Rusty and John Football as the other quarterbacks to be shutout in their first career start is the murderer’s row of Dave Ragone (St. Ignatius grad), Henry Burris (Two time CFL Grey Cup champion), Spergon Wynn (Johnny and Spergon, one in the same?), Danny Wuerfell (Like Johnny, a fellow Heisman winner). While it’s entirely too early to write off Manziel, the peers he’s being compared to are not the least bit comforting.
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The only thing that could have gone worse for Manziel against Cincinnati were if he had been trapped under a giant piece of Americana during pre-game warm ups.
5 – You can’t win games if you can’t keep your offense on the field which is why the Browns’ five first downs on the day gave them no chance of winning the football games. To add insult to injury, two of the five first downs were from penalties. The average distance needed to gain on third down for the Browns was a staggering 8.1 yards. Four of the Browns’ ten third down attempts needed more than 10 yards for a first down. When you fail on first and second downs, it’s hard to bail yourself out on third. The Bengals’ defense had Johnny in third-and-long’s all day long, pinned their ears back, got pressure, and made life miserable for the Heisman Trophy winner.
38 – Mike Pettine said that ideally Johnny Manziel would throw the ball less than twenty times for the team to be successful, but Sunday’s lack of offensive plays couldn’t be what he had in mind. The Browns only ran 38 plays the entire game. Ideally, you’d like that number somewhere up in the 60-70 range which is why 38 is such a mindboggling number. The Eagles ran 53 plays in a half earlier this season against Washington. While Philly’s offense and the Browns’ offense may be from different planets, Philly managed to run 40% more plays in a half of that Washington game than the Browns’ could muster over the course of sixty minutes against Cincinnati.
4.98 – Not be lost in the circus that has come along with Manziel’s awful outing is how well the Browns’ defense continues to play. Despite being on the field the entire game, Jim O’Neil’s defense managed to hold the Bengals to just 4.89 yards per play on the afternoon. The Broncos lead the NFL at 4.7 yards per play allowed, while the Browns rank 8th, allowing 5.2 yards per play. With injuries to Karlos Dansby, Tashaun Gipson, K’Waun Williams, and Justin Gilbert the defense didn’t miss much of a beat thanks to the key contributions of rookies Pierre Desir and Chris Kirksey, along with Sione Fua and Jordan Poyer playing expanded roles. Big credit to Mike Pettine, Jim O’Neil and the defensive staff for implementing a system, developing players, and being able to plug different players in to have continued success.
9 – The Browns were penalized a brutal nine times for 68 yards. When you’re offense is struggling, penalties can be crippling. The Browns’ offense had penalties on first down on three separate occasions, digging a hole for an already stagnant offense. False starts from Joe Thomas and Mitchell Schwartz, and an illegal man down field penalty by Ryan Seymour turned first-and-ten’s and first-and-long. Penalties are part of the game, but mental errors like those are inexcusable. Blame obviously falls on the player who committed the infraction, but there’s still some blame to go around for Manziel. As the quarterback of the offense, it’s on him to be sure the team is on the same page and silly, mental errors do not happen.
12 – The Browns managed just twelve runs between Isaiah Crowell and Terrance West in Sunday’s loss. Back in the Thursday Night win in Cincinnati, Browns’ running backs toated the rock 48 times in the victory. On Sunday, the Browns fell behind from the start, forcing Kyle Shanahan away from his desire to lean on the run game. Shanahan called runs on just 7 of 18 first down plays.
5 – Targets for Josh Gordon and Jordan Cameron combined. It doesn’t take someone with the last name Lombardi to figure out that if you want to be successful as an offense then you have to get the ball in the hands of your best players. Gordon was targeted just four times on the day while Cameron only received a sole pass his way. Gordon and Cameron are the two biggest match-up problems on the field for Kyle Shanahan and his offense and therefore need to be heavily involved in the offense. Part of what made Manziel successful at Texas A&M was his ability to catch a snap in shotgun and get it out wide to his playmakers as quick as possible. Look for Shanahan to incorporate some quick throws out wide to get Johnny in rhythm next week.
15 Comments
I think you meant “Back in the Thursday Night win in Cincinnati, Browns’ running backs TOTED the rock 48 times in the victory.” As in https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/63/25/1b/63251be08eeb7f476d657071a7c72b9d.jpg
Also, how many times did the Bengals get original and flash the money sign?
Or if you prefer: http://d2ws0xxnnorfdo.cloudfront.net/meme/153474
Well, when you put it THAT way . . .
How many? Well, there were 38 offensive plays . . . so, 38? At least.
While Philly’s offense and the Browns’ offense may be from different planets
I think we should fire coach Pettine and hire whoever that brilliant OC is as our next HC. And, he looks so familiar.
http://cdn.fansided.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/190/files/2014/11/6a01348829760c970c01bb079d8698970d.jpg
Jim O’Neil’s defense managed to hold the Bengals to just 4.89 yards per play on the afternoon.
Ryan, I love you, man, but this cannot stand. The rush defense was absolutely horrible. This is supposed to be a behind the box score column, so giving the total yards per play is disingenuous when the Bengals ran the ball 45 times for a 5.4YPC average. They did whatever they wanted on the ground.
Now, major kudos and credit for the pass defense especially on a day when they lost 2 more guys including Haden. 4.0YPA is the only reason that they were able to get that number for yds/play under 5, which is ridiculous (both good for the pass-D and terrible for the run-D).
Ah ha, so you finally admit that stats can be misleading! I win!
[drops mic]
Ugh, I can’t even think about that game…
http://www.thepowderblues.com/forum/images/smilies/my-brain-hurts-o.gif
😉
http://izquotes.com/quotes-pictures/quote-there-are-three-kinds-of-lies-lies-damned-lies-and-statistics-mark-twain-321226.jpg
Statistics are a dangerous weapon that you need to learn how to handle before using.
Indeed. The best way to combat a guy armed with statistics is another guy armed with statistics:)
oh great, now you started an arms/brains race
Agreed. Use your brain in conjunction with the numbers if you are going “behind the box score”.
Christ, its so easy to understand I cant believe that paragraph was written by a guy that watched the game. When you are ripping the defense for 5+ per carry it doesn’t effing matter if you cant pass a lick against this team, hence deflating your YPP.
I can assure you that he’s usually quite good. I assume this paragraph was him desperately grasping for something positive out of the dreadful game.
I believe you. I usually like these but that paragraph actually incited some anger, lol.