Week 8 - 2014 - Oakland

Well, honestly, that was a little bit boring.  A four o'clock game against the Raiders in Cleveland, on a gorgeous day, turned into a bit of a snoozer.  Maybe it seemed worse because we had to wait for it, but generally it was a workmanlike 23-13 victory over Oakland, the worst team in the NFL (except maybe Jacksonville but we know how that went last week).  The Browns were able to avoid being the first team to lose to two 0-6 teams in consecutive weeks in NFL history, so that's good.  What's better is them being 4-3, and what's best is that they sent the home crowd home happy.  They're now 3-1 at the Factory of Gladness.

Last week against Jacksonville was abysmal for the offense, and the blueprint for defending the Browns was drafted by Gus Bradley.  And Oakland tried to follow suit, by loading the box against the run and daring Brian Hoyer to beat them.  And last week, against a marginally talented Jacksonville defense, he couldn't do it.  And this week, against a marginally talented Oakland defense he could.  And the question last week was "Was this the real Brian Hoyer?"  And I think this week he definitively answered the question.  No, that wasn't the real Brian Hoyer.  What you saw against Oakland is.

We now have a body of work on Hoyer, and he's 7-3 as the Browns starter.  He is an above average quarterback.  He can win and manage football games.  With a good running game and a good defense, Brian Hoyer can win you games.  He's not very accurate.  His ball placement is below average.  He's got a quick release.  He's more brains than balls, which makes defensive coaches like Mike Pettine happy.  He has an average group of receivers, and it will be certainly interesting to see what he looks like with Josh Gordon in the lineup.  But that's who he is.  And 100% disclosure I'm as excited as anybody to see what Johnny Manziel can do as a starter.  But I'm willing to wait, because Brian Hoyer is winning football games.  It's not always pretty, and in this case it was harder than it had to be.  But the guy wins.

I've said from the beginning that the divide between Browns fans on Brian Hoyer is totally crazy.  Brian Hoyer is either the second coming of Otto Graham or he is garbage.  There is no in between.  And I go back and forth a little with how I feel about him as the starter, and I'm probably as hard on Hoyer as anybody, but frankly I care only about the Browns winning.  And Brian Hoyer gives the Browns the best chance to win right now.  Down the road, next season, all that can wait.  For now, Brian Hoyer is the best option for the Browns, and he is what he is.  He's not Joe Montana.  He's not Bernie Kosar.  He's not Charlie Frye.  He's Brian Hoyer, he's all the things listed above.  There are far worse options that are starting in the NFL than Brian Hoyer, and there are far worse things than a 21 year old rookie quarterback learning on the sidelines.

So having said that, Hoyer had a pretty Brian Hoyer like game against the Raiders.  He made some good throws, and there are some throws that I'm sure he'd like to have back.  And he made a couple of awful throws that could have been interceptions.  But the final score had the Browns in the lead, and comfortably.  And that my friends is what it's all about.

I legitimately am super sorry for anything mean I've ever said about Alex Mack.  Because it seems to be really hard to run the ball without him.  I actually thought Nick McDonald played respectably considering the circumstances, and they should get better as they go, but man the offensive line has had better days.  And I'm not a football coach, but it's hard for me to understand why the most talented running back on the roster only played a handful of snaps and got one carry.  We should be feeding the Crow more.  Losing Jordan Cameron in the first half definitely hurt.  But the offense needs to score touchdowns, not kick field goals, and it took until the 4th quarter to finally punch through.  And against possibly any team except the Raiders that might be too late.

But these were the Raiders, and they are just awful.  From their first drive, when they were gutting us with the run but decided to have Darren McFadden throw to Derek Carr, to faking a field goal with Matt freaking pick 6 Schaub, you knew that it was going to take a lot to lose to Tony Sparano and the pardon my french shitty shitty Raiders.  I liked Derek Carr for a few weeks last year before the draft, but then I decided that I hated him for the Browns because he's not that good in my opinion.  And for all the praise that has been thrown that guys way this season they are now 0-7.  Oakland's offense is terrible.  But they were just the tonic that the Browns defense needed to get well.

And the Browns defense played their best game of the season.  All the Browns defenders.  I can't think of a single player I thought that had a bad game on the defensive side.  And a bunch had their best games, including Joe Haden (who was AWESOME), rookie Justin Gilbert, and Donte Whitner, who made the play that really turned the game the Browns way when he stuck Darren McFadden and forced a fumble that bounced into Haden's arms and led to the Browns first touchdown.  The second biggest play of the game was in the third quarter when Paul Kruger smashed Carr on a sack, because that guy does not like getting hit.  After that shot by Kruger, Carr was not the same.  The defense forced 3 turnovers, and Kruger had 3 sacks against a team that had only allowed 5 in their previous six games.  My man Tashaun Gipson also had an interception giving him 5 on the season and 8 in his last 10 games.  The guy is a ballhawk.  The porous run defense also only gave up 71 yards on the ground.  That is encouraging.  Oakland added a garbage time touchdown, but the game was over by then.  The defense seems to be finding it's footing, and with some of the offensive struggles that is a really good thing.

Even the special teams didn't do anything too stupid, although Travis Benjamin probably owes Eric Martin dinner for pouncing on yet another fumble on a punt return.  Just put Leonhard back there and let him fair catch for crying out loud.

The Browns struggled to run the ball, their quarterback didn't play his best game, and they played probably the worst team they'll face all year.  But the fact is they won comfortably 23-13.  It wasn't pretty.  I'd call it boring.  But every week, we hear about how this is a results business, and the Browns won.  And they are 4-3 for the first time since 2007, with Tampa Bay coming to town next Sunday giving them a pretty decent chance to be 5-3 halfway through the season.  And whatever side of the Brian Hoyer debate you are on, I think if you are really honest with yourself you'd be thrilled with that.  So boring, game manager, and aesthetics aside, lets just enjoy the wins, they've been too few and far between around here to complain about them.  I'll take W's, boring or not.


Random gifs

Bosa.

Honestly not sure I've ever seen a facemask ripped off during a play

Can't stop watching this.