The Rational, Snark, or Conspiracy Game: While We’re Waiting
September 17, 2018Need a Little Win Here: Cleveland Browns Week 2 Winners and Losers
September 17, 2018Losses never come easy and this one certainly did not after the Cleveland Browns lost a heartbreaker to the New Orleans Saints, 21-18. The pain will not be eased with all the Baker Mayfield talk that will be streaming this week. Zane Gonzalez is the most hated man in Cleveland, but not for long. He will most likely no longer be a Brown by week’s end. What went wrong this time for the Browns?
25 Quick Hits from the Browns 21-18 loss against the Saints in Week 2
- Zane Gonzalez lines up from the 52-yard line. Eight seconds left on the clock, Browns down by three. Gonzalez’s career-long field goal in the NFL is 54-yards, so he has been there before. Snap is good, the hold is good, the kick is up annnd no good. For the fourth time of the afternoon, Gonzalez misses a place kick. Two extra points, two field goals… missed. Eight points left on the board, Browns lose a heartbreaker.
- Fourth-and-five from the New Orleans 47-yard line, Saints 18, Browns 12. Tyrod Taylor sacked two plays before by Cameron Jordan, drops back and steps up into a clean pocket. In the biggest surprise, all-day Taylor loads up and fires a pass in-stride to rookie wide receiver Antonio Callaway for a touchdown.
- Taylor’s unbelievable play on fourth down erases the poor performance by the veteran quarterback earlier in the day. In the second half before the touchdown pass to Callaway, Taylor was 7-for-17 for 87 yards, an interception, and two fumbles (which were recovered). 46 of Taylor’s 87 yards were after the catch, so he only created 41 passing yards himself.
- The Baker Mayfield vs. Sam Darnold Thursday Night Football talk was tampering with the lackluster Browns offense.
- 18 seconds left, Cleveland down three points. Taylor found Landry for 25 yards and then Callaway for 16 yards to position the Browns into field goal range. Taylor created 33 of the 41 passing yards on the final drive himself. Impressive poise from Taylor when it mattered most. But it was not enough.
- The Browns defense was incredible through three quarters, only allowing three points. In the fourth quarter, the Saints came marching.
- Drew Brees commanded a Saints offense that strung together 18 points, matching the Browns total through four quarters. During the fourth quarter, Brees was 8-for-11 for 48 yards and two touchdowns.
- Saints wide receiver Michael Thomas continues to cement himself as a top-five receiver in the NFL. Thomas caught four passes for 26 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The Brees and Thomas connection were on-point, essentially winning the game for the Saints.
- Through two games this season, Thomas has 28 receptions for 269 yards and three touchdowns. Thomas has the most receptions in NFL history through two games with his 28 catches.
- Denzel Ward seemed to play well against Thomas for the majority of the game, facing a top-five receiver in the NFL for consecutive weeks. Ward was caught looking the other direction when Thomas caught a ball for 14-yards on the sideline, putting the Saints offense within five yards of the end-zone. Later in the game, Thomas mossed Ward in the corner of the end zone which tied the game for the Saints.
- Two other Browns cornerbacks had impressive days for the Browns, and the safeties did as well.
- Terrance Mitchell was a game changer for the Browns, forcing two fumbles and collecting five tackles. T.J. Carrie led the team for eight tackles and a big-time sack on third down.
- Damarious Randall came up big for the Browns, recovering both of Mitchell’s forced fumbles handing the ball back into the hands of the Browns offense. The Gregg Williams led defense now has eight turnovers on the season, after today’s performance.
- For what seemed like the first time in Jabrill Peppers career, he made a noteworthy play. Peppers broke through the line and textbook tackled Saints running back Alvin Kamara, but Kamara reached the first down. Peppers finished with two other tackles on the day.
- The biggest performance of the day came from Larry Ogunjobi. The second-year defensive tackle finished with two sacks, both of which came on third down. Ogunjobi also almost had a third sack, literally crawling to Brees but the play was waived off as Kindred was flagged for illegal contact.
- Myles Garrett, the other second-year defensive lineman was absent all day. Garrett finished with only one tackle, as the Saints offensive line did a superb job of eliminating Garrett as a threat.
- The Browns were more discipline, only tallying four penalties.
- The most encouraging performance of the day came from rookie receiver Antonio Callaway. The Browns have installed lots of trust in the troubled rookie receiver from Florida, and he just now started paying them back. Callaway, of course, had the huge touchdown catch in the end-zone, in which he blew by the Saints secondary. He also caught two additional passes, finishing with three receptions on four targets for 81 yards and a score. Callaway also received two carries, working in the run game as well.
- Another young player from a Florida college on the Browns had an underwhelming performance. David Njoku a former Miami Hurricane was targeted seven times but only hauled in four passes for 20 yards. Njoku has had a disappointing two games in what was thought to be a promising second year.
- Landry will fulfill all the promise that is left by Josh Gordon as the Browns prepare to move on from him today. Landry now has five receptions in each of his last 19 games, with his five catch performance against the Saints.
- The kicking game cost the Browns a victory and a tie cost the team a victory last week. The Browns should be 2-0 as crazy as that sounds.
- Next week against the Jets will be a short week and a great opportunity to grab their first victory at home with facing a rookie quarterback on Thursday night.
- As long as Jackson is coaching this team, there are no guaranteed victories. Jimmy Haslam spoke with Jackson pregame, and one can only wonder what Haslam had to say.
- Obviously, the Browns will be looking for a new kicker following Gonzalez’s performance against the Saints.
- The Saints beat the Browns in New Orleans for the first time since 1999.
On Josh Gordon:
General manager John Dorsey finally had the guts to do what no other Browns general manager could do or would do — Dorsey parted ways with Gordon after a six-year marriage with the star receiver. “Unfortunately we have reached a point where we feel it’s best to part ways and moves forward,” per the Browns official press release.
The Browns will wait until Monday to officially release Gordon but are exploring trade options to move Gordon for an asset in return for the former Pro Bowl pass catcher, according to multiple reports. Cleveland is getting greedy however with their choice of where Gordon continues his career in the NFL. The Browns prefer to trade Gordon to the NFC and Gordon prefers to play for either the Dallas Cowboys or San Francisco 49ers — No, Gordon has no say in where he ends up.
Supposedly the final straw for the Browns and Gordon was when the star receiver used the Browns facility for a non-team related promotional shoot and re-injured his hamstring in what was called a ‘freak accident”. In addition, Gordon showed up late to the team facility on Saturday morning and “was not himself”, which raised speculation that he could have had a relapse, according to Cleveland.com. Gordon did not fail another drug test according to multiple reports but violated a trust agreement between him and the Browns which led to a breaking point.
Moving on from Gordon is for the better. Year-in and year-out, it gets exhausting hoping Gordon will return to his 2013 All-Pro receiver from which seems like a fluke. From an outside perspective, it seems that Gordon cannot figure it out.
Let’s end on this. Gordon played 41 games for the Browns — he missed 56. The best ability is availability.
Tweets of the Day:
For Gordon, it is bigger than football.
Browns really rubbing it in their fan(s) faces now pic.twitter.com/jjp0kbQgkE
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 16, 2018
Self-awareness?
This is new: #Bills CB Vontae Davis pulled himself out of the game today and told HC Sean McDermott “I’m done.” LB Lorenzo Alexanzer says "he retired."
Wooow.
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) September 16, 2018
Bills may be in for the NFL’s third 0-16 season. Buffalo has been outscored 78-23 in their first two games.
Send Gordon to Arizona for Phil Dawson
— Dawg Check Mode (@Jedi_Mode) September 16, 2018
Could this really be the worst of trades after Browns kicking woes since he left?
John Lynch just said he’s made calls about Josh Gordon and that team is doing its due diligence on the receiver.
— Matt Barrows (@mattbarrows) September 16, 2018
Gordon said he wanted to go to San Francisco…
Taysom Hill is the 3rd string QB for the #Saints….. and he’s doing this out there. pic.twitter.com/oGTgr2sq2f
— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) September 16, 2018
Do not see this every day.
Alvin Kamara continues to be a cephalopod… you just can’t get a clean hit on the dude
— trey wingo (@wingoz) September 16, 2018
It was amazing seeing how many yards he receives after contact.
Stock Up:
- PLAYER OF THE GAME: Terrance Mitchell. Mitchell forced two fumbles, increasing Browns’ turnover total to eight on the season.
- Antonio Callaway. After hardly any action last week, his 81 yard game against the Saints was a huge confidence builder.
- Larry Ogunjobi. He is not Aaron Donald but he sure makes some plays that make him look like Darnold.
- Darren Fells. With inconsistent play from Njoku, Taylor showed comfort throwing to the veteran.
- Damarious Randall. Randall proving to be a great addition to a Browns secondary that needed stability at safety.
Stock down:
- Myles Garrett. After a feasting last week against the Steelers, Garrett only gathered one tackle against New Orleans.
- Derrick Kindred. Kindred had a costly illegal contact penalty on third down, erasing an Ogunjobi sack.
- Carlos Hyde. 16 carries but only 43 rushing yards. He looks slow when carrying the ball.
- Duke Johnson. Maybe because Browns have more talent on offense this year but Johnson has bee quiet.
- David Njoku. It would be good to see more out of the former first-round pick.
10 Concluding Hits from Around the NFL:
- Kickers in the NFL are apparently hard to come by this day in age. Will Lutz, Dustin Hopkins, Ka’imi Fairbairn, Jake Elliott, Chris Boswell, Zane Gonzalez (2), Daniel Carlson (3), Mason Crosby, and Stephen Gostkowski all missed field goals on Sunday. Boswell, Chandler Catanzaro, Gonzalez (2), Jason Myers, and Jason Sanders all missed extra points. These guys are major factors on game day, so finding a good one is vital. Good luck!
- Patrick Mahomes is my early pick at MVP. Yes, it may be an overreaction this early in the season but the dude is insane. The second-year quarterback had six touchdowns and only four incompletions against the Steelers. Mahomes now has 10 touchdown passes in the first two games of the season, which is the best start in NFL history. Oh, and he has zero interceptions. Not a bad pick, Dorsey.
- Kirk Cousins had a huge game for the Vikings against the Packers, and an important one too. Bringing Cousins to Minnesota was to beat Aaron Rodgers, and he would have if it was not for the kicking woes. Cousins threw for 425-yards and four touchdowns against Green Bay. Not too shabby!
- Laquon Treadwell scored his first career touchdown against the Packers. The 2016 receiving class was brutal. Corey Coleman, Josh Doctson, Laquon Treadwell, and Will Fuller all went in the first round. Fuller may be the only one to have a productive career if he can stay healthy.
- 2017 first round receiver Mike Williams scored his first touchdown against the Bills today, I was high on Williams coming out of Clemson. It is great to see him bouncing back after an injury-plagued rookie season.
- I will never, ever figure out Ryan Fitzpatrick. He has thrown for 400-yards and 4 touchdowns in consecutive performances. One year he is garbage, the next year he is a game changer. It simply does not make sense.
- Jets quarterback Sam Darnold had some woes against the Dolphins with two interceptions but he had some highlights too. Darnold threw for 334-yards and a touchdown on 60.97% passing. There will be hiccups but the positives are promising,
- Tom Coughlin apparently has the key to beating the Patriots, or at least his organization’s do. The Jaguars shut down Tom Brady to only 234 passing yards and two touchdowns which is impressive. Even more impressive, Blake Bortles without Lee or Fournette passed for 377 yards and four touchdowns.
- Derek Carr was incredibly impressive today against the Broncos, only throwing three incompletions on 32 attempts. That is pretty incredible in an NFL game. The Raiders still lost… go figure.
- The Rams have only played the Raiders and Cardinals this season but they look for real. Their next two games against the Chargers and Vikings will be big tests.