C-Cap Recap: Can’t Get There From Here
September 28, 2015Built for Greatness: Nike’s unveiling of the LeBron 13 was all about Akron (Video)
September 28, 2015When your team is to allegedly be built on defense and running the football, it would appear to be a poor business model when two of the three teams you’ve faced thus far are superior to you at both, and neither are in your division. When Chris Ivory and Latavius Murray—an undrafted free agent and a sixth-round draft selection, respectively—look like Gale Sayers and Adrian Peterson when they face your unit, it would appear your strengths are not as strong as you may think. When your defensive unit is full of well-paid, highly sought after free agents and high draft selections, hand-picked to fit inside of the scheme of your choice yet still fail to execute, it’s a top-down embarrassment that falls squarely on the shoulders of the general manager and head coach. When you lose to a franchise that previously had just two road wins in their last three seasons, one that was at one point said to be more dysfunctional than your own, well—you may have more issues than a last-second interception would lead one to believe.
LOSER: Josh McCown
If the Cleveland Browns coaching staff truly thinks that Josh McCown gives them the best chance to win, what does this say about the rest of the team? While the veteran delivered some timely passes down the stretch—save for, you know, that one—he was absolutely abysmal through the duration of the contest. According to Pro Football Focus, McCown’s completion percentage dropped from 69.2 to 43.5 when being blitzed while his passer rating dropped from 90.9 to 64.3 when he was pressured. In addition, he managed to complete only two of six passes that traveled more than 20 yards. If this is the bar for which we’re judging potential for success, it would seem that the front office could find a passer more capable of putting the team in the best position to win.
WINNER: Gary Barnidge
I hate that Gary Barnidge continues to be Josh McCown’s No. 1 target on offense, but as long as the guy continues to get open and make plays, I can’t get too bogged down in the minutiae of a journeyman tight end being a team’s biggest offensive threat. Six catches for 105 yards is damn good. I don’t care what the name on the back of the uniform is.
LOSER: Mike Pettine
Little can be added to this:
The Browns had a real opportunity to cash in on an easier early portion of the schedule and failed to capitalize on a winnable game at home. They did so by not doing the things they’re built to do well even to an average level. They didn’t show up for nearly the whole first half and by the time they started to gain some ground it was too late. This wasn’t about one thing. This was everything. The Browns committed turnovers, gave the Raiders one of their scores by roughing the punter, and gave up big plays on defense. That’s all phases of the game, and while Mike Pettine can’t execute on the field, when the team fails so miserably in all phases in a winnable game at home, he’s got to stand responsible for it.
WINNER: Travis Benjamin
Maybe this kid isn’t just a deep threat after all. Watch as he corrals this hitch route and then uses his gigantic 5-foot-11-inch, 140-pound frame to carry defenders to the goal line. Plenty of smaller slot receivers would have simply taken that ball to the ground and set up a goal line play.
Honorable mention to Brian Hartline for his five snags for 96 yards. Also, this catch was sweet.
LOSER: The entire Browns defense
Credited with 14 missed tackles on the afternoon, it seemed so much worse. Jordan Poyer and Donte Whitner were embarrassingly bad. Tashaun Gipson started out strong, but quickly faded. The front seven was getting pushed wherever Oakland wanted them to be (see below), and this is the unit that is supposed to be the anchor for the entire team? They made Latavius Murray look like Adrian Peterson and couldn’t get off of the field regardless of how long the third downs were. The Browns are lucky they were within a touchdown at the end of the game.
Especially…
LOSER: Joe Haden
I had assumed that Haden would be able to replicate what he did through much of Week 2, but the Oakland Raiders came out and picked on Haden right out of the gate. Before Browns fans could blink, Amari Cooper had three catches for 50-plus yards, all with Haden in his face, and in some instances, sliding off of him.
Haden was banged up midway through the game and fought through a rib injury to make a huge fumble recovery. That said, these plays happened when he was fully healthy, and is a sign that no team will fear a player who is to be one of the best cornerbacks in the game. Very troubling.
WINNER: Andy Lee
Love this kid. Four more punts for an average of 52.8 yards per kick. He’s currently second in the NFL (by a tenth of a yard) in average distance, but leads the league in net yards. Bad. Ass.
Your leader in net punt yards through Week 3?
Andy Muthaf— Lee. pic.twitter.com/LnTWjoxNRh
— Scott @ WFNY (@WFNYScott) September 28, 2015
LOSER: Ray Farmer
Not only was Farmer’s prized wide receiver addition a $9 million healthy scratch, the Oakland Raiders—of all teams—have proven to be better drafters than the Browns. Cleveland tried blocking Khalil Mack with offensive linemen and tight ends and fullbacks and the second-year pass rusher punished them all. Mack recorded five total pressures on 47 pass rush snaps, including two sacks and two hits. Meanwhile, the Browns—built on defense and running the ball, mind you—could barely touch Derek Carr. If Farmer is calling up the NFL right this second and asking to be suspended for a few additional games, I wouldn’t blame him. He’s been an absolute disaster.
WINNERS: Joe Thomas and Alex Mack
While the other side of the line was getting destroyed by Khalil Mack, it was good to see the pair of Pro Bowl linemen show up and do their job. Unfortunately, it will all be overshadowed by how incompetent the rest of the team was.
LOSERS: Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson
Seriously? Less than three yards a carry, totaling 39 yards over the entire game? Latavius Murray topped 39 yards with one of his runs. This side of the playbook needs to be incinerated immediately.
And the fans speak out:
http://twitter.com/aralsto/status/648478500656168960
http://twitter.com/cardiacshook/status/648479728370909184
@WFNYArticles @WFNYScott No doubt, Pettine = loser. How do you put McCown in cuz hes the "best chance to win" and lay an egg like that!?!?!
— FRS1930 (@frank_smalley) September 28, 2015
Live by the retread journeyman, die by the retread journeyman.
— Scott @ WFNY (@WFNYScott) September 27, 2015
174 Comments
meh. He’s only double-teamed because nobody else is rushing the QB.
If you expected Joe Haden to handle Cooper, you were dealing from a serious position of misinformation or lack of information. That was NEVER going to happen.
Sure, throw Cheech in there.
I saw Mingo make some bad plays. Is that what you’re asking for?
hahahahaha!!!
But Cleveland supposedly has the best OL in the league. so what’s going on?
Winner–Dwight Clark. He’s arguably no longer the worst general manger in Browns, I mean league, history.
Slight hyperbole, of course, because Joel Bitonio alone probably removes Ray Farmer’s name from Dwight Clark territory, but you see what I’m getting at.
I really liked Ray Farmer as an up-and-coming front office executive. He had the rep for working really, really hard and was getting interviews around the league. I was delighted Haslam stepped in and fired Banbardi when he did so we could promote Ray to the big chair. But his last two Drafts have been disasters, even by Dwight Clark/Pete Garcia/George Kokinis expansion-era Browns standards. And don’t say it takes three years to evaluate a draft–this Browns team is the exception to that rule. Maybe, maybe Johnny Manziel turns into a shorter version of Tony Romo and takes us to the Wild Card Weekend once every four years. Maybe. Other than that, names like Justin Gilbert, Dwayne Bowe, and Vince Mayle are just not mistakes a GM can make and survive.
All that said, I’m mostly letting off some steam. This team needs continuity. I don’t want a brand new front office put in place in late January/early February and have less than 3 months to decide what to do with what will undoubtedly be a top 5 (top 3?) pick. I think Farmer is smart enough to succeed as a GM, but he’s going to have to make some major major changes to how he scouts, drafts, and evaluates talent. Unfortunately, though, I see a lot of Phil Savage in him–a guy a little too cocky to trust his scouts and curb his ego.
Good point. It was almost like being an expansion team in terms of the “extra picks.” Of course, we all know how 99-00 worked in terms of Drafts, sigh.
12:59 pm on Sunday: Losers – Browns fans in Columbus, OH realizing that only the Bengals were on TV and not the Browns.
4:00 pm on Sunday: Winners – Browns fans in Columbus, OH
Well of course you’re kidding. Because we all know Jake Locker is the answer.
With the lack of anything resembling “doing their damn job” from the offensive line, I think the chances they’d have been scraping bits of Manziel off the field like that burnt turf in St. Louis were pretty high.
https://youtu.be/uId3b59G0QU
Fool! We need Mettenberger.
Carr looked pretty solid yesterday, and I hear he has a brother
I maintain that everyone will feel better when Erving is holding down the center position once Mack skips town. And I don’t see Agholor setting the world ablaze this far in Philly. But point taken. And Shelton really has underwhelmed.
http://www.quickmeme.com/img/94/94bc93054916e2de6d1e67b25df14c6944b7d38dc9e855e4150189468568503b.jpg
Well, supposed to have top5 in the NFL (hard to beat Dallas OL). But, they certainly have not been top5 thus far. I don’t know.
I do know that I am not happy the coaching staff had a plan to make Greco a backup this season and handed Greco a starting job.
With 2nd round pick Bitonio, they put him at LG, made him learn LG-only and worked with him for months.
1st round pick Erving, they throw all positions at him, put him at LT in the preseason (when he’s an inside guy) and do not put him in a position to succeed at all. It’s infuriating.
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I’m not kidding: they may be doing that to Erving because they want him to fill in for whoever leaves first, be it Mack or someone else.
expecting Mack to leave and replacing him with Erving is possible, sure. but, even then, why not let Erving learn RG this year and prove himself against NFL players and learn?
Ok, coming off the muff…but, Benjamin isn’t disappointing for a 4th round guy. He’s the only WR out there that has done anything this year (not his fault McCown cannot or will not throw deep).
i agree. It’s the same reasoning i give to let Johnny and Bustin Gilbert play. At some point you have to give the guys a chance to get tested in battle.
Agreed. But it’s been a process to get to useful for him, and the bugaboo of punt return mistakes continues to haunt him. Better than Robieskie and MoMass? Sure. But still work to be done to be a reliable guy in my book.