Buckeyes Roundball Roundup: Two more (cupcake) wins to start 4-0
November 20, 2017The people versus Hue: gross negligence against Duke Johnson
November 20, 2017“Don’t kick some senseless field goal,” I said to the television midway through my Sunday. The Browns, 8.5-point underdogs, had been covering throughout the entire game. The Jaguars were sitting comfortably with a six-point lead against a team that simply could not move the football. With two minutes remaining, my fear was that they would simply ride Leonard Fournette down into Browns territory and let Josh Lambo move their lead to nine—an absolute killer from a betting standpoint. The Browns, instead forced a three-and-out. The worst thing that could happen at this point would be another stalled drive that would wind down the clock and the team’s chances of winning a football game.
Wrong.
The worst thing that would happen, as is wont to do in Cleveland, happened. Kizer dropped back deep in Browns territory. Spencer Drango was obliterated off the edge. The ball ends up in the end zone for another touchdown, destroying the spread in the interim. The Browns, once again, found a way to Browns Cleveland and Las Vegas all in one six-second sequence.
It’s incredible. It really is.
LOSER: DeShone Kizer
If you thought DeShone Kizer would somehow use last week’s impressive performance as a building block, or that fans could take it as a sign of things to come, well do I have news for you. Kizer was dreadful on Sunday, being only outdone by Jay Cuter in Miami and Buffalo’s Nathan Peterman. While his offensive line and a handful of dropped passes did him little in the way of favors throughout, Kizer was a mess from beginning to end, failing to amass much in the way of NFL-caliber drives. Compounding his issues was the penchant to throw the football to players in Jacksonville uniforms rather than his own. The Jaguars’ lone offensive touchdown was set up by a horrible interception, and the team’s final four drives (four!) ended in turnovers. The Jags have a great defense, but DeShone Kizer was an embarrassment under center.
LOSER: Hue Jackson
Jackson is now 1-25 as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. Again: The Jaguars’ defense is good, but there was a eight play stretch where the Browns had amassed -3 yards. Duke Johnson Jr. hauled in a beautiful 27-yard touchdown reception early in the contest and reeled in another 20-yard reception late in the fourth quarter. Somehow, Johnson, the team’s brightest play maker throughout the entire season carried the ball just twice for 10 yards and had just two other receptions. Six touches. Six. Jackson wants to sit there following games saying his team needs to play “near perfect” to contend week to week? How about designing a scheme that gets the ball in the hands of your best players rather than watching it bounce off the hands of Ricardo Freaking Louis?
WINNER: Duke Johnson
Get this kid more touches.
LOSER: Spencer Drango
Yeesh. While Drango did well during his first game in replacing Joe Thomas at left tackle, he was abused throughout Sunday afternoon. In the event his man didn’t get to DeShone Kizer, it was his man who would force Kizer back into the pocket where he would get crushed by another ready-and-waiting Jaguar. No play was more “Drango” than the one with a little less than two minutes remaining in the game where his man went untouched and produced a strip sack that would eventually turn into the touchdown described above. This is a game for Drango to forget.
WINNER: Jason McCourty
McCourty’s coverage was once again on point, drawing just three targets throughout the day, and breaking up a huge play from Blake Bortles to Marquise Lee late in the game. According to Pro Football Focus, since he returned to the field, McCourty has been targeted just six times allowing 15 yards and breaking up two passes. It’s tough to not deem him the defensive MVP thus far.
LOSER: Gregg Williams
Cover. The. Tight. End.
And now, for your takes.
Winners: People that want to be right about Kizer being awful.
Losers: People that want to be right about Kizer being awful.But Lordy… He was awful.
— Pabst Benatar (@pabst_benatar) November 19, 2017
It was snowing with 30 mph winds so losers were anyone in the stands
— Marc McKenna (@MarcMcKenna3) November 19, 2017
Winner: #teamapathy Loser: meh
— SomeJerk (@SomeJerkInCali) November 19, 2017
https://twitter.com/AlexRJones/status/932358462792720384
Winner: DeShone Kizer because Nathan Peterman took the goat of the week award away from him.
Winner: Chip Kelly, if he really wants a NFL home, then pick up the phone and dial Haslam, please.
Winner: Myles Garrett. No jokes. Basically, he is the reason to watch the Browns now.
— michael bode (@mgbode_WFNY) November 19, 2017
Winner: Gambling God Justice.
— T.J. Basalla (@tjbasalla) November 19, 2017
43 Comments
I have to say, since 5-1 probably isn’t going to happen (hey maybe!), I’m rooting for 1-15 because it would mean that EVERYONE was wrong and there would be nothing more Browns than that.
Question. Is there a way to be notified on my iPad when a WFNY article is posted?
I am unsure, so I asked.
I use the comment RSS and visit the main page for the most part. I used to use Google Reader (sorry, yeah I’m an Android guy) that notified me on a few different sites, but I don’t use it anymore.
Comment RSS:
https://wfny.disqus.com/comments.rss
Josh suggested tweet notifications turned on for https://twitter.com/WFNYCLE as one potential solution.
WINNER: Coleman. He didn’t break any bones.
WINNER: Browns. First time with no penalties since sometime in1962.
Winner (of the universe and First Energy stadium): Gpodawund https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/72b9bbf8bec91d5292e6bc3311668002ba197a59232b79a0b4c3108d64f8b037.png
WINNER: THE DEFENSE
They played with a lot of heart.
LOSER: PASS-HAPPY HUE
For approximately 40 minutes of game time – from the middle of the first quarter to late in the fourth quarter — the Browns trailed by only 3 points. And the Crow and the Duke had a grand total of 13 carries all day.
That cement-head Jackson insisted on throwing the ball with a shaky, turnover-prone rookie QB who was having a lousy game on a bad-weather day against the No. 1-ranked pass defense — and, by the way, the 23rd-ranked rush defense. This defies all
rational explanation. The excuse that “We weren’t running the ball that well” doesn’t cut it when you hardly run the ball at all.
Would it have mattered in the end? Probably not. But you’ve got to at least try. Jackson’s not a football coach, he’s a system robot. System . . . say . . . throw. . . . Must . . . throw . . . ball.
I’ve given Hue the benefit of the doubt all season, but this is coaching malpractice. It’s time for him to go.
WINNER: AT LEAST A LITTLE DIGNITY
A dumb offsides penalty spared the Browns the ignomy of being onside-kicked in the first quarter.
think Tyrod Taylor is pissed ?? Peterman threw 5 INT’s in the first half !!
I wanted Kizer to work. I really did. I just no longer think he’s going to. Give him the rest of the season, sure. But the Browns need to find another QB this off season.
He gives you moments where you think “wow, that guy can really play!” But pretty much every back up QB in the NFL gives you those moments occasionally. And Kizer only gives us those moments occasionally.
Coleman is the best receiver on the browns right now by a wide margin, and that is a pretty sad sentence to have to write.
The Crow is playing so badly. He is just another running back. Duke is special. Hue is an idiot for not giving him more touches.
The defense has some high points. Injuries make me sad, though.
The Browns need to move on from Kindred. They’ll probably need to move on from Peppers the year following. The Browns also need a younger good CB. Taylor is not that player.
hi BEN … Kindred has been very good on run defense as I’ve seen him make many tackles behind the LOS … so , it has to be pass defense that has you soured on him (?).
That just might work. Here goes…
I hate it when Kizer throws the ball away when we are down and the game is on the line. Give someone a chance. What is the worst that could happen. It seems as though the offense is not even trying at times. You think Brady would have packed it in on that last drive, or tried to score a TD and attempt an onside kick.
WINNER : James Burgess 16 tackles , 1 sack & 3.5 TFL … this kid was already making plays when he was playing behind J.Collins … i really like this guy.
LOSERS : Kizer & Peppers
Winner: Coleman looked good and I continue to think he’ll be a reliable piece as I tend not to penalize him for his injuries. Obviously passing on the other players for him was dumb but I can’t hold that against him.
Losers: Kizer’s arm strength
The first eight words of your comment sum up my thoughts on the matter.
Yeah. He doesn’t look interested in trying to stop anyone in coverage.
I think the Jaguars run defense is in the top 5 since they added Marcellus Dareus to their line, however their pass rush is elite and Hue didn’t game plan against it. More slants and screens should have been called and Duke should’ve been featured much more heavily as he’s the only playmaker on the team.
Winner: Entire D who kept them in the game till the last minute, Coleman and Duke Johnson (made his few touches count).
Winner and Loser: Ogbah for his great plays but unfortunately injuring his foot which will rule him out for the rest of the season.
Loser: Hue, it’s hard not to foresee him being fired unless he agrees to hire an OC.
Did it work for the Duke Johnson article?
We do have a RSS for the articles if you have a reader (like Feedly) that will push the notifications:
https://waitingfornextyear.com/feed/
some might need the actual RSS, which is the same but a slightly different link:
https://waitingfornextyear.com/?feed=rss2
Agree with your choices, Scott. I’d add:
Loser: Crowell. No yards after contact all day. Sorry, that’s what bad weather games in the AFC are about.
Loser: Jamar Taylor. Bad tackling, bad reads.They paid this guy, right? But nobody mentions him as a building block.
Loser: Expensive o-line. yes Jax has a powerful d-line. But Zeitler, et al. rarely let Kiddie QB set his feet, even without blitzes.
Loser: supposed wintry home field advantage. There’s no advantage when the team’s stocked with young guys from warm weather climates. It was our receivers who looked more affected.
Loser: Peppers as dynamic return man. Confidence status = gone. Not only completely indecisive with ball in the air, anxiety now causing fumbles when ball is slick. Might be prudent to let him catch his breath and watch for a week.
Winner: tackling in general. Marvelous job on Fournette, who’s a load with excellent vision and breakaway speed. When he’s motivated like yesterday he’s going to get his, but they repeatedly hemmed him in when it counted.
Winner: Kirksey’s blitzes. Exploited the Jax patchwork line, found seams and harassed effectively.
Winner: Corey Coleman. The 80 yards were exaggerated by uncovered passes in garbage time but … he ran ok patterns and held onto the ball. He is NOT as advertised in ’16: dude who when matched with a single defender can take a short pass, deke him and scoot. He had that chance yesterday, and similar chances since exhibition season ’16. He hasn’t done that even once. But he can be an acceptable second receiver on a mediocre team, he can be Mohamed Massaquoi, who he plays like. I’ll take it because if he catches 5 short to medium passes a game, and a deep throw every blue moon, it may not what you expect from the 15th overall pick but you still need that guy on a team.
… good observations on Zeitler & Kirksey .
I’ve been calling him MoMass forever. So frustrating.
Also, when you’re. 3rd down and a mile from the 50 you THROW IT LONG!! what were they thinking yesterday? Worst that happens is an INT, which would be more effective than a punt.
These are things you learn in grade school playground football.
Good MoMass call
Loser- Hue Jackson. Seriously it was freezing cold and you still refuse to run the ball.
Winner- us. Only 6 more!
And here I was thinking McDermott was the next wunderkind. PFT had an interesting article on NFL organizations being incapable of properly assessing QB and this is an excellent example of that.
I wouldn’t judge Kizer too harshly based on yesterday’s game. The O line couldn’t handle the Jags pass rush and Hue should have called a quick pass game plan to help out the rookie in addition to more runs. I think 37 pass plays vs 15 run were called which is crazy.
hi MD … and Peterman might be fine & have a nice NFL career. But when these things happen , you start questioning yourself & your processes.
i have been questioning the Browns QB choices since 1999 … you’d think they would simply get lucky ONE TIME. i see an excellent QB class coming up & you know we will be taking one of them … but , don’t you that sinking feeling that whoever we take will be a bust & whoever we pass on will go on to greatness ??
offer Cousins whatever he wants … draft 2 QB’s if you have to , but they have got to get it right in this next off-season.
… now , the Browns have brought in some decent FA’s since 1999 … Garcia , D.Anderson , Delhomme & Dilfer … these guys were all decent , but past their prime.
To be honest, the teams with the best QBs also have the most stable organizations eg NE, GB, NO. Minnesota has lucked in to three QBs but their offensive system has improved (gasp) since Shurmur took over. I’m not too sure about Cousins but he’s better than what we presently have.
The thing is, I’m judging him after 10 games. He’s 2/3 through his rookie season.
If you squint hard enough, he’s played 2 okay games (Steelers, Lions).
Played 7 unquestionable stinkers.
And got benched for 1.
yes , but NE got lucky with Brady & they went a long time fumbling around for QB … as soon as Rodgers went down , the Packers have gone 1-4 & failed to score at home yesterday & what would the Saints be without Brees ?
However , the end of the road is coming for Brady , Brees & Roethlisberger … let’s see if these teams are good enough , or even lucky enough , to correctly hit on their next QB’s … ’cause if any of these 3 guys goes down , so do their playoff or championship hopes.
No way that was a game-time pic
Winner add-on: No penalties for the boys!
Loser add-on: We can’t win even with the refs’ help!
EDIT: Should have read other comments first
The fact that such a premise can even be debated is very much confirmation of a deep problem
I usually just type in waitingfornextyear.com.
I can’t help but think if Peppers had been drafted by the yinzers, he’d be smooshing people at SS…
Winner: Me. I spent my Sunday afternoon doing something completely unrelated to football.
Loser: The city of Cleveland, who continues to shell out all kinds of dough for a stadium just so we can all be subjected to these kinds of spectacular failures.
Losers: anything with the word Cleveland in front of it or after it.
Losers: the future of football in general.
Losers: quarterbacks coaches across America
Winners: anybody with athletic talent and a fast brain interested in playing NFL quarterback. Way too many job openings, not nearly enough strong candidates
I don’t care about Vegas. In fact, if I had know about anything like this I would have cheered against whoever was happy at the moment, Anyway, I just got done watching the game after my inevitable flagellation session with the Washington team yesterday, and I have to say that I really like Kizer. Obviously not perfect, but he has something that appeals to me. I think that going forward it might be a good idea for Hue Jackson to not hang over his shoulder with “coaching” very similar to pushing Kizer into traffic to teach him that cars move rather fast, before yelling sarcastically at him for not avoiding all the cars. Surely this can be explained in relative safety with a Power Point presentation.
And the defense is pretty darn good. They might even win some games if the offense can figure out how to move the ball a little better. Obviously Blake Bortles isn’t exactly the biggest test a defense might face in the NFL. But you can only play the schedule and they did a pretty great job here.
Other than that though it was pretty poor. I mean, I am used to shouting things at my TV while watching sportsball. But usually I shout things that I think might conceivably happen, such as the Skins getting a first down instead of getting sacked. But when I know that they almost certainly won’t happen it is easy to slide into apathy so the game becomes more like an aquarium than a competitive sporting event. Ooh, look at the colorful little men running round and round against the pretty green background. They look so peaceful in there. I wonder if they will start fighting if I shake my screen? OK, I’m done. I did my duty and you’re lucky I don’t ask for a medal.
Go Browns!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/960a1e2a213651974b205aefa1e728563d1eb1c79da697c820d1ad809c9b2eb5.jpg
yeah