Week 7 - 2013

2 weeks, or what feels like a lifetime ago, the Browns were tied for first place in the AFC North.  Seriously how far away does that feel?  Brandon Weeden, the worst quarterback in the NFL, played one of his worst games.  Jeff Triplette, the worst referee in the NFL, did what he does.  Rob Chudzinski, rookie head coach, doing his Pat Shurmur impression.  31-17 Packers.  This game was basically my worst nightmare.

I defended Brandon Weeden until I watched him vomit away the Miami game.  I was wrong to ever have defended him.  Once the blinders were off, the warts on his game are impossible to overlook.  He is actually getting worse with every start.  Logically this makes no sense.  Quarterbacks don't generally get worse with experience.  But Weeden has.  Every game it seems is worse than the last.  His un-watchability is moving somewhere between Doug Pederson and Charlie Frye.  He sprayed the ball all over historic Lambeau Field, completing a mere 17 of his 42 passes.  The Browns never had a chance, they knew it, and the Packers knew it.

The Browns receivers didn't exactly have a banner day.  Does playing with an inaccurate quarterback who has no confidence have an effect on them?  Possibly.  Josh Gordon looked disinterested, Devone Bess was supposed to be sure-handed but drops a pass every game, Greg Little is not very good, and Jordon Cameron is generally ignored until the game is out of hand.  Kansas City's defense is going to tear this offense apart next week.  Expect press man across the board and between 7-10 sacks.  I'm dead serious. 

As far as changing quarterbacks, I personally don't see it happening, for multiple reasons.  One, Jason Campbell must be terrible or they would have gone to him by now.  Whether they're mad at him for skipping out on the fourth preseason game or there is something else, they obviously don't think he's the answer.  Two, the Browns are done trying to win this season.  They aren't tanking, that's not what I'm saying.  But they aren't trying that hard to be mediocre this season, when they can be bad and get their quarterback in the draft.  The answer isn't outside the building either, in my opinion.  I just don't think that there are any better options than Weeden right now.  I'm not saying I agree, but it is what it is.  So get ready for 9 more horrible games.  Looking at the schedule they may not win again until December, when they take on Jacksonville.  And sadly, as bad as Chad Henne is, if he starts he won't be the worst quarterback on the field that day.  Blaine Gabbert, that's another story.

The coaches were pretty terrible against the Packers as well.  Early in the game Weeden was shooting high and outside pretty regularly.  The Browns had a penalty aided drive going and were facing a 3rd and 1.  And they called a pass.  The guy couldn't hit the broadside of a barn and that's the playcall.  Somewhere Pat Shurmur is smiling.  Shockingly the pass was incomplete.  Third and one should be a quarterback sneak every single time, especially considering they went for it on fourth down.  Well on fourth down they passed it again, and Weeden lobbed an interception.  Brilliant.  Run the ball.  If Marquis Gray is going to come in and run the read option, then teach him how to read the defender.  They ran it twice and he made the wrong read both times.  Late in the game they opted to go for a fourth and fifteen rather than kick a field goal.  Hard to argue if they felt it was out of Cundiff's range.  They actually recovered two onside kicks and were penalized on both.  That's impressive.  But all and all it was a pretty lousy performance from Chud and staff.

I wasn't overly impressed by the defense either, but Rodgers is really good.  They actually plugged the dyke and stopped the flooding in the third quarter.  If the offense had gotten anything going they may have had a chance, but in the end it was too little, too late, too much time on the field.  They have to get more pressure on the quarterback or they have no chance, especially with Robertson now being targeted systematically.  They have a good defense, they are only a few pieces away.

Jeff Triplette is the worst referee in the NFL.  There is no reason he should be allowed to work NFL games.  There were 22 combined accepted penalties, and two egregious misses that I can remember off the top of my head.  The call on Gipson for hitting Finley in the helmet, and the pass interference on Skrine.  Players will be wearing flags soon, because real football is dead.  Gipson had no chance on that play, Finley came in with his head down and Gipson turned away from his helmet.  He has no other option on that play.

Brandon Weeden has now lost every game he's started this season, and there's no reason to think that's going to change anytime soon.  The case can be made that Chud risks losing the team by continuing to roll him out in spite of his obvious and glaring deficiencies.  I won't argue against that, but I also think there is no better option at this point.  The next ten games are going to be long and painful, but so have the past 12 seasons.  3-13 started last week.

Random gifs

Another Brandon Weeden gem, he's throwing the ball to Willis McGahee, who was getting up from blocking on the play.  Another Weeden in a nutshell gif.  Thanks Matt Brocone for sending this over.

Michigan still churning out the hotties

Jameis destroyed Clemson.

This makes me feel slightly better about just about everything