Went to training camp yesterday. Really made me miss playing in a way a Browns training camp has never done before.

 

A couple observations:

 

1. We are DEEP at WR even without Josh Gordon. Higgins is having a terrific camp and is a very solid route runner and quicker than I expected out of breaks.

 

2. We will run the ball - with Devalve coming back and the addition of Darren Fells to the team, don't be surprised to see a lot of 12, 22, and 13 personnel on the field at times. Fells is a terrific blocker at the second level, which can be such a luxury.

 

3. We have an EXCEPTIONAL linebacking core. I'd argue one of the 5 best in the NFL. Collins, Schobert, Kirksey, Kendricks are ANIMALS, and Genard Avery, our fifth round pick out of Memphis is an absolute dude. He is a natural talent in the field/zone/dog and boundary/zone/dog packages.

 

4. Bitonio is a monster. He's doing an exceptional job replacing a first-ballot hall of famer.

 

5. Todd Haley is a difference maker. I know we're all skeptical of Hue, but he was Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator, and de facto Quarterbacks coach last season - he may look entirely different wearing just one hat.

 

6. Denzel Ward is going to be a standout.

 

7. We were still penalized too much, but we improved drastically from Game 1, and that's the type of disciplinary progress we didn't see last year.

 

However, I think our secondary will still be a bit of a question mark. I don't think we'll be able to play a lot of Cover 1 or Cover 0 against 11 personnel, and against Flacco and Big Ben, playing a lot of zone isn't ideal.

 

Nonetheless, I think as Clevelanders, we're going to have to reluctantly accept the fact that we're going to have a competent and competitive football team this year.

^I think this is mainly correct. Not sure WR is DEEP at this point. If Dez signs, then yes.

  This probably is a playoff team if Dez signs. Haley mainly calls quick outs and bubble screens for pass plays.  This will be hard to defend with the dominant receivers the Browns have.

    The biggest question for me is the tight end since Haley tries to use the tight end the most in the red zone.  So the first team tight end might be a good fantasy pick this year.

Agreed on most counts. I am concerned about the DTs and I hope we see Ogbah rotate inside and put Avery at the edge opposite T-Rex. I'm loving the Avery pick. We might see Collins on the trade block but his contract is a killer. I'm a big fan of our LBing corps.

 

The secondary is certainly less of a concern vs. last year with the additions of Denzel, Mitchell and Randall. But it just took a big hit with EJ Gaines going down for the season (only a sprained knee not an MCL) and TJ Carrie and Peppers have yet to play to their promise. Look for the Browns to make a more serious run at Breeland after the injury to Gaines. Gregg Williams' angel safety formation drives me nuts. Tells me he still doesn't trust his secondary. Love what BBC and Kindred are doing.

 

It's a big relief that Bitonio is settling down the LT position. It seems that Greg Robinson more suited to playing guard at this level. And keep your eyes on Desmond Harrison. This troubled UDFA is a physical specimen who, if he can keep his sh!t together and learn more advanced techniques of the position, he could be an amazing LT. That could push Bitonio back to guard and Corbett to center. Tretter is decent but injury prone and could be upgraded. Browns are not deep on the OL but then again, most NFL teams aren't either.

 

Yes, we are deep at WR -- as long as everyone stays out of trouble. Gordon and Callaway are ticking time bombs. Neither has played a full season in college or the pros without a blemish on their record. That leaves Landry and Higgins. Landry is all-pro but Higgins is still unproven. After that there's even more unproven players. But I do like Ratley. Could be a good pick.

 

Hue still calls timeouts (uh oh), decides whether to accept/deny penalties (uh oh), go for it on fourth down/kick it (uh oh) and decides the training regiment which is Camp Cupcake.... Thirty reps on a Jugs machine for punishment? LOL. Antonio Brown does 100 reps as a routine. Forcing a 4th round WR to play the whole game? LOL. Thank you! You just did him a favor. WRs practicing without speed/energy? Hue didn't know what to do about it until Tyrod Taylor suggested recording their practice habits and then shame them in front of their peers in the film room. Hue has no idea what he's doing.

 

 

 

 

 

But I do like Ratley. Could be a good pick.

 

FEED THE RAT.

Agreed on most counts. I am concerned about the DTs and I hope we see Ogbah rotate inside and put Avery at the edge opposite T-Rex. I'm loving the Avery pick. We might see Collins on the trade block but his contract is a killer. I'm a big fan of our LBing corps.

 

The secondary is certainly less of a concern vs. last year with the additions of Denzel, Mitchell and Randall. But it just took a big hit with EJ Gaines going down for the season (only a sprained knee not an MCL) and TJ Carrie and Peppers have yet to play to their promise. Look for the Browns to make a more serious run at Breeland after the injury to Gaines. Gregg Williams' angel safety formation drives me nuts. Tells me he still doesn't trust his secondary. Love what BBC and Kindred are doing.

 

It's a big relief that Bitonio is settling down the LT position. It seems that Greg Robinson more suited to playing guard at this level. And keep your eyes on Desmond Harrison. This troubled UDFA is a physical specimen who, if he can keep his sh!t together and learn more advanced techniques of the position, he could be an amazing LT. That could push Bitonio back to guard and Corbett to center. Tretter is decent but injury prone and could be upgraded. Browns are not deep on the OL but then again, most NFL teams aren't either.

 

Yes, we are deep at WR -- as long as everyone stays out of trouble. Gordon and Callaway are ticking time bombs. Neither has played a full season in college or the pros without a blemish on their record. That leaves Landry and Higgins. Landry is all-pro but Higgins is still unproven. After that there's even more unproven players. But I do like Ratley. Could be a good pick.

 

Hue still calls timeouts (uh oh), decides whether to accept/deny penalties (uh oh), go for it on fourth down/kick it (uh oh) and decides the training regiment which is Camp Cupcake.... Thirty reps on a Jugs machine for punishment? LOL. Antonio Brown does 100 reps as a routine. Forcing a 4th round WR to play the whole game? LOL. Thank you! You just did him a favor. WRs practicing without speed/energy? Hue didn't know what to do about it until Tyrod Taylor suggested recording their practice habits and then shame them in front of their peers in the film room. Hue has no idea what he's doing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The penalty to Callaway was Todd Haley's idea.

^I think this is mainly correct. Not sure WR is DEEP at this point. If Dez signs, then yes.

  This probably is a playoff team if Dez signs. Haley mainly calls quick outs and bubble screens for pass plays.  This will be hard to defend with the dominant receivers the Browns have.

    The biggest question for me is the tight end since Haley tries to use the tight end the most in the red zone.  So the first team tight end might be a good fantasy pick this year.

 

We'll see A LOT of 22 and 13 personnel in the red zone this year.

 

The penalty to Callaway was Todd Haley's idea.

 

Where did you hear that?

 

The penalty to Callaway was Todd Haley's idea.

 

Where did you hear that?

 

From the horse's mouth.

 

Yesterday at camp a fan asked him if he was going to make him play the whole game again (because he dropped 3 balls in a row in individual drills) and Haley went: "No, no, definitely not. You like that though? *Mouths and whispers while pointing to chest* 'My idea'"

Well then he's not as smart as I thought he was.

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-browns-suckiness-defies-math-and-reason/

 

The Browns’ Suckiness Defies Math And Reason

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-browns-suckiness-defies-math-and-reason/

 

The Browns’ Suckiness Defies Math And Reason

 

If we're 1-2 after week 3, go ahead and repost.

 

Until then, I respectfully request for you to take this poo poo outta here.

 

GOOD VIBES ONLY! NO COLLUSION, EXCEPT BY BEN AND THE CROOKED STEELERS

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-browns-suckiness-defies-math-and-reason/

 

The Browns’ Suckiness Defies Math And Reason

 

Pretty remarkable level of incompetence. Has any team in any sport ever squandered so much draft capital?

If we're 1-2 after week 3, go ahead and repost.

 

Until then, I respectfully request for you to take this poo poo outta here.

 

GOOD VIBES ONLY! NO COLLUSION, EXCEPT BY BEN AND THE CROOKED STEELERS

 

The first three games are against the Steelers, Saints and Jets. A 1-2 record after three weeks would be a dramatic change for this organization.

 

If the Browns go 2-1 instead, I would be over-freakin-joyed.

Browns are back, baby! Steeler fans don't come back.

Tyrod knows sports’ Golden Rule:

 

Don’t let ‘em see your backup

I posted this on another site. I'll share it here....

 

Watching the game again. The Browns defense was terrific against one of the best OLs in the NFL. It may have been at its best against the Eagles' possession at the end of the first quarter. It went like this....

 

First down: Browns rushed only four (Nassib, Orchard, Ogunjobi, Brantley) against an Eagles screen. Brantley gets interior penetration and tips Foles' pass, incomplete.

 

Second down: Eagles line up with two receivers to the right but run a counter draw to the left. Browns have seven men on the line and easily break down the blocking scheme. Seven defenders (Kendricks, Avery, Nassib, Ogunjobi, Orchard, Schobert, Kirksey) surround Smallwood. Nassib wraps up Smallwood for a loss of a half-yard.

 

Third down: Eagles line up in a 3WR 1TE 1RB formation. Browns respond with a nickel. The four rushers are Avery, Ogunjobi, Ogbah and Garrett. Kirksey fakes a blitz but backs out. At the snap, the TE and RB go in pass patterns but the TE Goedert tries to chip Avery first. Goedert is destroyed by Avery. Garrett gets behind Foles in a flash who can't step up because Ogunjobi and Ogbah are collapsing the interior while Avery has pushed the RT backwards into Foles. Avery knocks the ball out of Foles' hand and Ogbah falls on it.

 

Defense doesn't get much more dominating than that. I hope Avery gets healthy again soon. That dude is a straight up beast.

^ Defense is going to have to be huge coming out of the gate. It looks like it may take a while for this Offense to find its groove.

^ Defense is going to have to be huge coming out of the gate. It looks like it may take a while for this Offense to find its groove.

 

I actually think we'll be surprised.

 

Things we have not seen which WILL happen - but can't be put on film yet.

 

1. Duke Johnson playing in 12 and 22 personnel as a second back or slot receiver.

 

2. Njoku - against Cover 0 and Cover 1 - flexing to the boundary side of the field isolated with a linebacker.

 

3. G,T pulling combos. Right now, I noticed our offense is working on a lot of pin blocks (guard down blocking on 0, 1, or 2 technique and the center pulling around, or T blocking down on 3, 4, or 5 technique and guard pulling [in the season we will see this inversely with tackles and guards pulling through holes]) but for the time being our man blocking schemes have been vanilla.

 

4. Josh Gordon.

Its clear they were trying alot of stuff last night.  There was no flow or rhythm to the offense.  four passes on the 1 yard line...they wanted to test their goal line passing O.  Imagine they were able to diagnose alot of went wrong and will correct for regular season.  I see that as a positive

Its clear they were trying alot of stuff last night.  There was no flow or rhythm to the offense.  four passes on the 1 yard line...they wanted to test their goal line passing O.  Imagine they were able to diagnose alot of went wrong and will correct for regular season.  I see that as a positive

 

Four passes and two different plays. Yep, they ran two plays twice. Neither of them were run successfully, although Jarvis complained he was held on the two corner route plays. The slant they ran twice were run with the same mistake -- running parallel routes like \\ rather an X route to pick a defender. The receivers ended up getting in each other's way.

 

Definitely expect to see Duke, Chief and Flash in productive roles once the real bullets fly.

 

The defenses are vanilla in the preseason too.

Its clear they were trying alot of stuff last night.  There was no flow or rhythm to the offense.  four passes on the 1 yard line...they wanted to test their goal line passing O.  Imagine they were able to diagnose alot of went wrong and will correct for regular season.  I see that as a positive

 

The defenses are vanilla in the preseason too.

 

Right, but offense are reactive. An offense has a lot more to hide than a defense.

 

Everyone knows 3rd and medium will likely draw a boundary/zone/dog blitz combo from the boundary or a field/man/over type scheme from the field. You can disguise cover 2 and roll safeties, but the assignments don't change after the snap. On offense, you often don't know what route you're running or who you're blocking until after the ball is snapped.

 

Everyone knows 3rd and medium will likely draw a boundary/zone/dog blitz combo from the boundary or a field/man/over type scheme from the field.

 

No, they don't. But they do know when someone is trying to show off their football knowledge. ;)

 

Everyone knows 3rd and medium will likely draw a boundary/zone/dog blitz combo from the boundary or a field/man/over type scheme from the field.

 

No, they don't. But they do know when someone is trying to show off their football knowledge. ;)

 

Lol, everyone on the field*****

 

 

I just love football. Honestly thinking of doing a high school game tour tonight.

This is the most excited I've been with Browns since they came back. Hope Dez Bryant takes Browns 5 Mil. offer.

Just awesome. Get 'em, T-Rex....

 

Did Hue really waste time on Williams calling Ward's tackling form "stupid?"  Why did they keep Hue around? LOL.

Mychal Kendricks is charged with insider trading.

NFL rumors: Giants? Browns? Jaguars? Full odds on where Dez Bryant will sign

Posted August 29, 2018 at 09:00 AM | Updated August 29, 2018 at 09:05 AM

 

Cleveland Browns

odds: 3/1

 

Why it makes sense: This has always felt like the right fit. The Browns are trying to find relevance, have brought in some big names (Jarvis Landry, Tyrod Taylor) on the offensive side and are relishing the spotlight. Bryant would be going from the ocean (Dallas) to a lake (Cleveland), but could revive his career in a needy spot....

 

 

read more at:

https://www.nj.com/sports/index.ssf/2018/08/nfl_rumors_giants_browns_jaguars_full_odds_on_wher.html

There's an ocean near Dallas?

There's an ocean near Dallas?

 

Haha, yeah that was a weak metaphor.

If anyone says the Browns are an 0-16 team, they obviously haven't looked at how much (er, little) of that team's roster is still around for the 2018 season that starts tomorrow vs. the Steelers. No one knows how good or bad this team is going to be until they play a few games. The Browns are almost completely new....

 

(Note: This is the final game roster from 2017. So it leaves off anyone who was hurt and on IR such as Joe Thomas, Emmanuel Ogbah, Jamie Collins, Derrick Kindred, etc.)

Browns gonna Browns. Still the most boring dumpster fire in the league!

Yep

Steelers own the Browns, and semi own the Bengals. Come on Browns get the ball back.

TD, 21 all.

10 yards from Browns trying a winning FG with 23 seconds left and Tyrod Taylor throws an INT. The end of losing streak was right there....

Bad play calling on that last drive and first in OT. It was 3rd and 1 and they throw a deep seam route for incompletion. They lost the momentum

A tie is better than a loss- first tie on opening day for a team since 1971. Go Browns!

The Browns are +5 in takeaways today. Since the Browns returned to the NFL, teams with a turnover margin of +5 or better in a game are 132-4-1. The Browns are responsible for two of those losses and the tie.

The Browns are +5 in takeaways today. Since the Browns returned to the NFL, teams with a turnover margin of +5 or better in a game are 132-4-1. The Browns are responsible for two of those losses and the tie.

 

Hahahahaha sounds about right

They do ties in football??

^ Ties are rare in the NFL. Somehow the other Ohio team - the Bengals - have had 3 ties in the last ten years. The last, fittingly, was in London in 2016. In 2008, the Bengals and Eagles tied and Donovan McNabb made headlines when he was all suited up and ready to keep playing at the end of OT because he had no idea teams could actually tie in the NFL.

The thing is they say a tie is like kissing your sister so a lot of Stoolers fans aren't too upset.

My streak ends!

 

I attended the awful 10-10 tie against the Chiefs at Muni back in '89. That Browns team was much better but this game was more entertaining by far.

https://brownswire.usatoday.com/2018/09/09/hue-jackson-not-happy-with-josh-gordon-starting-for-browns/

 

After Hue Jackson made a point of saying Josh Gordon would not start at wide receiver during the week, there was No. 12 on the field with the starters when the Browns offense. When asked about this oddity in his postgame press conference following Cleveland’s Week 1 tie with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Browns head coach bemusedly tried to explain what happened.

 

“The personnel group got him out there,” Jackson responded, clearly not happy. “The personnel group got him out there in the first play. I saw it just like you did. Not what I wanted, but we will get through that, too.”

 

Why is Hue Jackson employed?

I'm going to be upset if they finish 0-15-1 because they ruined another chance for a perfect season parade.

So, a couple of my takeaways from yesterday (in order of significance):

 

1. As someone who has played my fair share of games in that weather - it is very hard to provide an accurate diagnostic of what the team looks like when the ball weighs 3 lbs and is slippery. Having said that, both teams played under the same conditions so it went both ways.

 

2. There is certainly a culture shift happening - though we're not all the way there yet. Down 14 with 10 mins to play to the Steelers would have seen just about every Browns team in the last 10 years call it quits. But the defense stayed relentless, a mirror of their coach - and the offense punched it in enough in atrocious conditions to get us tied. As someone who's been on a terrible team and seeking to turn a program around, I CANNOT STRESS HOW MUCH OF A POSITIVE THIS IS. My next point illuminates why the culture shift isn't complete yet, though.

 

3. Our discipline, or lack thereof, is directly a reflection on Hue. Myles Garrett is dominant - period. But, the roughing the passer cost us a TD instead of a FG, and the block in the back moved us to the limits of Zane's range, which likely changed the trajectory of his kick and TJ Watt's path to the ball.

 

4. Buffalo lost by 40+ with a very similar roster to last year to an average Ravens team - so chill with the WE WANT BAKER mouth-breathing nonsense. Tyrod didn't have a great game, but the first ballot NFL HOF'er on the other side of the field had a substantially worse game - its hard for anyone to be accurate in that weather. The dome next week should be a fair assessment.

 

5. My god our defense is good. Joe Schobert, Jamie Collins, Terrance Mitchell, and of course Myles Garrett are going to be 4 of the best 10 players on the field in every game we play this year. Collins was catching a ton of flack from our mouth-breathing fan base (I love going to games, but I cannot stand listening to Johnny "I played JV football once" chirp incoherent opinions). Our ILB's are dominant from A to B gap. Would have liked to see Kirksey be more active around the C gap to the perimeter, when they ran to the strength Chris found himself flushed out a few too many times - but he's a great OLB, and he'll bounce back - it happens.

 

6. Hyde x Chubb x Johnson x Landry x Gordon will be downright scary in "12" personnel packages in good weather.

 

7. Hue Jackson will not make it past week 4 - and I'm okay with that at this point. If you're the HC and don't know the personnel package for the first play (the first 4 plays are typically scripted in practice on Friday) then you're  either incoherent or your OC doesn't respect you enough to let you know he changed it - either way its a problem.

 

8. Our o-line struggled recognizing basic zone blitz packages, especially when they came from the field, not the boundary. I would anticipate Tyrod gets more discretion in calling pass pro in the coming weeks.

 

9. Ties suck

 

 

I will add....

 

+ Even though Pittsburgh game-planned for Garrett, they still couldn't stop him. They also couldn't stop Avery either. When that kid learns more of what to expect from NFL offensive formations, he's going to be awesome.

+ Ward is exciting. In his first NFL game, not only did he have two INTs and three passes defensed, but he held AB under 100 yards. His coverage on AB's TD was very good, so STFU Hue. Ward's future is bright.

+ Our special teams suck. Horrible coverage. No blocking on returns. And not changing the snap counts at all made it easy for Watt to time his get-off on the blocked kick.

+ Haley clearly doesn't respect Hue. That's going to come to a head at some point. I suspect Haley agreed to come to Cleveland because he wanted to get in line for a head-coaching job.

+ TT looked panicked in the first half and NEVER stepped up in the pocket. For some reason, Haley called maybe three running plays in the first half. Why? Only when they committed to the run did the Steelers DL slow down and TT began to play better.

+ Folks, if you're +5 in turnovers, you win the game. The Browns are one of the few who can't: https://www.urbanohio.com/forum/index.php/topic,6443.msg936322.html#msg936322

+ I don't expect the Browns to win the next game in New Orleans, but we have a decent shot at winning the two after that. If the Browns are 2-1-1 after four games, I hope the frustration from missing at least two great chances of winning this game will fade.

+ It's early in the season. The Browns have a roster that's 60 percent new. It takes time for rebuilt teams to gel. Considering how much rebuilding this team has gone through, it's going to take a lot more time -- especially on the OL.

AFC Central is wide open this year. Could be a surprise that sneaks in there. Pittsburgh looks old and without Bell for the first 10 weeks, they lose a major offensive weapon. If Pitt can get off to a 4-5-1 start, they will not make the playoffs. Batimore looked good against a bad Buffalo team. Does not say anything there. Best two teams in the division at the end may be Cleveland and Cincinnati.

AFC Central is wide open this year. Could be a surprise that sneaks in there. Pittsburgh looks old and without Bell for the first 10 weeks, they lose a major offensive weapon. If Pitt can get off to a 4-5-1 start, they will not make the playoffs. Batimore looked good against a bad Buffalo team. Does not say anything there. Best two teams in the division at the end may be Cleveland and Cincinnati.

 

AFC Central? You're in the wrong century.  8)