Week 12 - 2014 - Falcons

In a season of odd games for the 2014 Browns, this one may have been the oddest.  They won on the road against the first place Falcons, 26-24.  The game was odd before it even started, as the first place Falcons were 4-6 in the NFC South and the Browns came in at 6-4 and in last place in the AFC North.  The big news was the return of Josh Gordon, fresh off a 10 game suspension.  The Browns, battling for their playoff lives, did all they could to win, then give the game away, then snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.  It was just a weird game, but the Browns won and the bottom line is that they are 7-4 and still in the thick of the playoff hunt. 

The defense and the running game carried the day.  It should have been much easier than it ended up being for the Browns.  Between turnovers, missed opportunities, and shoddy clock management (by both teams), they certainly made it hard on themselves.  But winning is hard as we've all seen around here for a long time, and the Browns keep winning, and that's what matters.  They won consecutive road games for the first time since 2008, and are 7-4 for the first time since 2007.  They also guarantee that they will not end the season with double digit losses for the first time in 6 years.  That is ridiculous. 

The defense played one of the best games they've played all season.  They held the Falcons to 63 yards rushing and a 2.7 ypc average.  That is outstanding.  They generated consistent pressure on Matt Ryan, led by Paul Kruger who has been awesome this season.  Kruger has 8 sacks on the season and 6 in the past 5 games.  He's been playing phenomenally.  Craig Robertson filled in admirably for the injured Karlos Dansby.  The defense looked faster than Atlanta's offense.  Joe Haden had another great game, and had his second consecutive game with an interception.  Donte Whitner dropped a pick 6, and Buster Skrine dropped an interception.  Those two plays could have made it easier, but the defense did their part, forcing two first half turnovers.  Hell even Justin Gilbert made what may have been the play of the game when he batted down the ball on the 3rd and 2 at the end of the game before Atlanta's field goal attempt.  That's how weird this game was.  The loss of Tashaun Gipson will be a big one as he suffered what looked like a pretty bad knee injury.  But the defense played well and that's encouraging after last week.

Offensively, welcome back Josh Gordon!  Gordon had a big game in his return, and man it would have been nice to have him all season.  He is big and fast and dominant when he wants to be.  It was clear that Brian Hoyer forced some passes to him, and clear that there are some chemistry issues with all that time apart, but there are worse players to force the ball to.  However two of Hoyer's interceptions came on passes to Gordon, the one in the end zone was clearly on Hoyer, and the second looked like a miscommunication but Gordon was wide open.  Isaiah Crowell and Terrance West both ran hard, and ran effectively.  This is the best situation for the Browns running game, having those two splitting carries.  Two's a company and three's a crowd.  The Browns probably should have run the ball more, they averaged 5.6 ypc on their 29 rushes.  Brian Hoyer made some uncharacteristic, careless mistakes and again struggled with accuracy at times, but he got the job done when he needed to.  That's 4 fourth quarter comebacks on the season for Hoyer.  He's 10-4 as a starter.  He's not going anywhere until the Browns are out of the playoff chase, the team is not going to dive into the unknown while still in the hunt.  He had back to back 300 yard games, the first Browns player to do that since Brian Sipe.  And after he tried to give the game away, he moved the Browns into field goal range in four passes, and the Browns won, and that's what matters.  And I'm as tough on him as anybody, but the Browns are 7-4, and 6-2 in their last 8 games, and it's a bottom line business.

The follies before the half in the Jacksonville game appear to have broken Mike Pettine.  Another game, another head scratching clock management issue at the end of a half.  The Browns were sitting on timeouts and didn't use them.  They cost themselves 20 seconds, and that forced them to attempt a 60 yard field goal.  The problem with that is that Devin Hester was waiting in the endzone to return the kick if it was short.  Cundiff kicked one and it was well short, but wait, Mike Smith called a timeout.  Instead of doing the logical thing, and either kneeling or throwing a hail mary, Pettine and that idiot Chris Tabor send Cundiff out again.  The kick was even shorter, and it took a hellava play by Joel Bitonio to save a touchdown after Hester returned the ball 60 yards.  That was pure stupidity.  Other than that Pettine was the better head coach on Sunday, as Mike Smith is in way over his head.  Smith helped the Browns by calling a timeout and saving the Browns from having to use theirs in the final minute.  He also was kind enough to sit back in a soft zone defense on the final Browns drive, allowing Hoyer to move down the field.  Mike Smith had a rough game.  Kyle Shanahan should have run the ball more.

This Browns team has found a way to win games that previous Browns teams would have lost.  Brian Hoyer led the comeback.  They should have won the game much more easily, but they won.  They have Josh Gordon for the rest of the season.  They have two rookie running backs who appear to be more than capable.  They are in the thick of the playoff chase.  It's going to be a fun ride the rest of the season.  There has been too much losing around here to be mad about how they win.  Yes it was an odd game, there have been many of them this season.  But victory Monday always feels good, so let's enjoy it.  Eat drink and be merry, the best holiday of the year is Thursday.  There is plenty to be thankful for with these Browns.


Random gifs

They finally fed the Crow.  Crowell runs farther on this one play than Ben Tate did in his last three games.

Lots going on here at Tennessee for a touchdown against Missouri.  They haven't had anything to celebrate there since Alabama's last national championship though. #sec

OBJ.  This is just amazing.

Bonus pic.  Amazing.

Week 11 - 2014 - Texans

Well that was a fun 10 days.  10 days of joy and bliss in first place for the Browns.  10 days to get ready for the 4-5 Texans, at home, with their best offensive player out and Ryan Mallett making his first start.  10 days to get ready.  And it only took a little over three hours to erase all those good feelings with a vomitous effort in front of the Dawg Pound.  The Browns were out coached, out classed, out-physicaled, and outscored 23-7 by the visiting Texans.  They were thoroughly beaten in all phases, it was as bad this week as it was good last.  It was a short stay in the penthouse for the Browns.

Everyone was awful.  I can't think of a single player that played well, possibly with the exception of Joe Thomas and Joe Haden.  Brian Hoyer stunk the place up.  But this game was lost by the coaches.

There was no reason not to come out with an aggressive defensive gameplan.  Ryan Mallett, strong armed statue, was making his first career start.  And while Ryan Mallett has all the arm talent on the planet, decision making has never been his strong suit.  So frankly, it seems easy to see that the way to beat him is by getting pressure in his face, moving him around in the pocket, and letting him make bad choices.  So what did defensive minded Mike Pettine and his hand picked defense coordinator Jim O'Neil do?  They sat back in coverage and let Mallett get comfortable.  They rarely brought pressure, instead playing passive.  This game was lost in the first quarter, when they didn't rattle Mallett.  He settled in, and the Texans offense starting dominating.  It makes no sense.  I have no idea what the Browns were trying to do.

I'll even blast Kyle Shanahan, who I really really like, because he didn't call his best game either.  Even if you are a team that likes to run to the right like the Browns are, you don't run at JJ Watt.  Maybe once or twice.  But your gameplan should not be to run wide zone toss plays at the best defensive lineman in football.  But it seems like the Browns were stubbornly going to attempt to do just that.  Again, it makes no sense.  It will be interesting to see what this run game looks like with Josh Gordon and Jordan Cameron, but I'm not sure it would have made a difference in this one. 

And Chris Tabor, the worst special teams coach in the league, had his unit performing at the level we've all come to expect.  Missed field goal.  Check.  Kickoff return for touchdown called back by a penalty.  Check.  Snap over the punters head.  Check.  Classic Tabor.  Absolute garbage coach.

So yeah, the coaches were a big part of the problem.  The players were the other part.  Brian Hoyer, scatter passer, was terrible.  He's inaccurate as it is but was even more off against the Texans, owners of the 26th ranked pass defense in the league.  He looked uncomfortable from the beginning.  The run game was somewhat effective before it was abandoned in the 4th quarter.  Isaiah Crowell got the start and looked good until he fumbled the ball on the Texans 20 yard line going in.  It is unacceptable and that play really turned the game around, as the Texans took advantage of the turnover and scored before the half.  You cannot turn the ball over as a running back and he's now fumbled 4 times in the past 5 games.  Ben Tate had 2 carries for negative 9 yards, and then whined some more in the locker room after the game.  He can get on the first bus out of town and I don't think too many people would miss him.  Miles Austin had some brutal dropped passes.  The whole offense looked out of sync from the beginning.  It was extremely disappointing.  And yeah JJ Watt is good, I get that.  But this was an abysmal performance.

The defense was bad as well.  And I blame the coaches for most of those problems, but there are bigger issues starting to bubble up to the surface, starting with the toll that injuries are starting to take.  The defensive line has been ravaged by injury and with Phil Taylor now on the IR it isn't going to get any better.  They were worn down by the Texan offensive line, and depth is a big time concern.  Jabaal Sheard went down with an injury as well, and that is really bad news.  Additionally Karlos Dansby sustained a knee injury.  If those two are out for an extended amount of time the Browns are in big big trouble.  The run defense was pathetic, letting Alfred Blue carve them up.  If Foster plays I have to think the Texans win by 30.  They let Mallett and the Texan offense get comfortable, and played on their heels the entire game.  The soft coverage and passive play was incredibly frustrating to watch.  It was extremely disappointing, I can't use that word enough.  Disappointing is the best adjective to describe almost every aspect of that game by the Browns.

So for 10 days the Browns were on top.  They were 6-3 and in first place in the AFC North.  The P word was starting to seem more and more realistic.  And then they had an incredible failure from the top down.  This was a bad loss, at home, to a team that they should have beat.  If they have any realistic expectations of making the playoffs they need to win on the road next week in Atlanta and then again the following week in Buffalo.  Another performance like this against the Falcons and it should be Johnny Football time.  So the pressure is on Brian Hoyer and this team.  How they handle that will dictate the direction of the season.  Will it be like the last 10 days?  Or the previous 15 years?

Random gifs


Don't EVER make Gronk Mad

 

Ouch.

WARNING Close your eyes if you don't want to see an ear explode in a women's MMA fight.  Cleveland's own Jessica Eye doin work

More Gronk the guy is just the best

Bonus pic if Gronk is the best Beast Mode is a close second I just love the guy

Coworkers buddy ran into beastmode last night. Seems friendly. #Chiefs pic.twitter.com/K8Jpr2d9yh
— DRMiller (@DRscrilla8) November 15, 2014

Week 10 - 2014 - Bengals

VICTORY FRIDAY FOR YOUR FIRST PLACE CLEVELAND BROWNS

What a game.  A dominant road performance in Cincinnati by the Brownies on national television has your Cleveland Browns in first place in the AFC North, the toughest division in the NFL.  It's November 7th, and the Browns are in first place.  The offense was dominant.  The defense was DOMINANT.  It was a brilliant performance by Brian Hoyer, by Kyle Shanahan, by Mike Pettine, Jim O'Neil, pretty much by everyone involved.  Hell they even overcame the worst official in the league Jeff Triplette.  They did it without Josh Gordon, without Andrew Hawkins, without Jordan Cameron.  The Browns won and are in first place in the AFC North.  The Browns are back.

The Browns had lost an NFL record 17 straight division road games.  They hadn't won in Cincinnati in 7 years.  The Bengals were riding a streak of 14 home games without a loss (13-0-1).  Greg Little (what an ass) was going to make the Browns pay.  The odds were certainly not on the Browns side.  However it was clear from the start that the Browns had the better quarterback and in my opinion the better coaching staff.  They were ready to go out of the gate, dominating in the trenches on both sides of the ball early and throughout the game.  And on a windy night in an AFC North tilt, that's where the game needed to be won.

Terrance West, Isaiah Crowell, and Ben Tate had lanes all night, and none of the three backs tip toed around as has been the case the past few weeks.  All three scored touchdowns.  The Browns now have 12 rushing touchdowns in 9 games.  Except for a couple of blown assignments by John Greco the offensive line was great.  There looked to be even more yards on the field than the backs gained.  Brian Hoyer played great as well, directing the offense and making timely third down completions.  He was in total control again, a welcome site after the previous 3 games.  Miles Austin has been tremendous, it seems like every catch he makes is for a first down.  It wasn't an offensive clinic but it was a winning recipe for a game like this.  Kyle Shanahan continues to be tremendous.  This was classic AFC North football.

And it wouldn't be classic AFC North football without hard hitting, dominating defense.  The defense continued to do what it has been doing for the past couple of weeks, forcing turnovers and stiffening up as the game went on.  Joe Haden was a lockdown cornerback again, his third straight outstanding performance.  Frankly he looked like the best player on the field.  Buster Skrine had 2 interceptions and only one penalty.  Tashaun Gipson forced another fumble and almost had another interception.  That guy is a player.  The defensive front, possibly bolstered by the return of Phil Taylor, was able to shut down the Bengal run game and keep consistent pressure on Andy Dalton.  Andy Dalton, by the way, was not very good.  Desmond Bryant has been playing lights out the past couple of weeks, and he had two sacks.  Kruger and Sheard were in the backfield most of the night, abusing RT Marshall Newhouse.  It was just beautiful to see.  They were organized, disciplined, and aggressive.  They were everything we expected them to be when Pettine was hired.  It has taken some time but this defense has really come together.  And they are still getting healthy on the defensive line.

And how great were Browns fans?  Not that Bengal fans are anything to write home about (they are terrible), but the Browns fans showed up and showed out for their team, leading audible chants and barking wildly in the second half.  It was awesome.  This is a sleeping giant of a fanbase that is starting to rise up, the largest fan backers group in the world belongs the the Browns.  The beast is waking.

Not even dirtbag Jeff Triplette could spoil the party, hopefully we are done with that crew for the year.  I just can't stand the guy, he is awful.

Proud.  That's how Browns fans can feel about their team today.  Proud.  Proud to wear their orange and brown.  It's been far too long since we've been able to feel this way.  The Browns are in first place on November 7th.  They have outscored the last two division opponents they've played 55-10.  They are a team on the rise that is purging the demons of the past on a weekly basis.  They are doing it with an old school toughness.  And they are a team we can be proud of.  Finally.  Victory Friday.  For your first place Cleveland Browns.


Random gifs

Hardest hit by a Bengal all night

Here's a truck driving into a pool

Bonus Pic nice work Matt Dalakas.  Greg Little can take your order now.

Week 9 - 2014 - Tampa Bay

 

At the halfway point of the 2014 football season, the Cleveland Browns are 5-3.  That is their best record at this point since 2007, and they are about 2 plays away from being 7-1, which is amazing.  Their first year head coach has handled himself well, the starting quarterback has a 2.5 to 1 touchdown to interception ratio, and they've weathered losing 3 Pro Bowl players for portions of the season.  The worst case scenario is that they are 5-5 and in the playoff hunt when they get Josh Gordon back from suspension.  Be happy my friends.

The Browns beat Tampa Bay at home on another beautiful fall afternoon, 22-17.  The schedule stiffens up soon, and so will the wind, so the Browns need to find their footing on offense, suffering again from the inability to grind the ball on the ground against the Bucs.  However they pillow fought their way through 3 games against the bottom feeders of the NFL in the Jaguars, Raiders, and Buccaneers, going 2-1 and seemingly playing down to their competition in each.  Now the real challenges come, starting with the Bengals on Thursday in a huge game. 

Tampa Bay is not very good, but neither is Oakland and neither is Jacksonville.  Winning is winning and the Browns won.  The offense didn't have it's best day.  The defense was pretty good all things considered.  And the special teams was really good.

This offense is built on the running game.  It's hard to look pretty when you're offense is based on running the ball but you can't effectively run the ball.  It is easy to point to the loss of Alex Mack as the reason the Browns can't run, but it is more than that.  Yes, Mack's injury hurts, especially since replacement Nick McDonald had a ROUGH game.  Gerald McCoy was dominant, and is an awesome player.  But there are other problems, starting with the fact that Ben Tate isn't very good.  He has no explosiveness.  In the past three games, he has 41 carries for 65 yards.  That is AWFUL.  Isaiah Crowell has 8 carries over those three games, including NONE against Tampa Bay.  There has been no explanation given for Crowell's lack of action, but it makes little sense.  It's possible that the fumbles against the Steelers have something to do with it but I'm not sure.  Terrance West had a solid game.  The best the running game looked this season was with West in the lead with Crowell coming off the bench.  The worst it has looked has been in the past 3 games, with Tate as the lead back.  The other problem is that teams are stacking the box against the run and making Brian Hoyer beat them.  Hoyer is best operating off play action, and in order to run play action you have to run the ball.  To Shanahan's credit despite the ineffectiveness of the running game he has not gone away from it, but the best way to defense the Browns is to load up the box on first and second down and make Hoyer beat you on 3rd and long.  And teams are trying to do just that.

To Hoyer's credit, in spite of some spells of inaccuracy, he has been able to do that in the past two games.  Geez the guy doesn't look pretty doing it all the time but he's 6-1 at home as a starter.  He was missing a Pro Bowl tight end in Jordan Cameron and an All Pro wideout in Josh Gordon.  And I admittedly get frustrated watching at times but again it's a results business and Hoyer has gotten it done.  Taylor Gabriel is developing into a really nice player.  Hawkins is tough, and Miles Austin has been a pretty good free agent signing.  Hoyer is the first Browns quarterback to have over 200 yards passing in the first eight games since Brian Sipe. 

The defense has not faced a murder's row of offenses in the past 3 weeks, but they have been much improved since the start of the season.  Joe Haden has looked the part of shutdown cornerback the past few games.  Des Bryant had a really nice game against Tampa, and Paul Kruger has been outstanding really the whole season.  Whitner and Gipson seem to be the perfect safeties for Pettine's defense.  It seems like it takes a series or two for the defense to settle in, but they are starting to force turnovers and turnovers win football games.  They are still missing an interior pass rusher, and maybe when Phil Taylor gets healthy he can help.  I really thought the Browns defensive line would dominate this game, especially with that bum Oniel Cousins starting for the Buccaneers, but they turned it on when they needed to.  Tampa only managed 17 rushing yards in the second half, and when the defense needed to make a stop with the game on the line they did.  One thing you can say for Coach Pettine is that these are games that previous versions of the Browns would have lost.  Pettine has them not making the critical mistake, and that is important especially against lesser teams.

Even the special teams got in on the party, with an amazing blocked field goal by Billy Winn and a critical punt block by Craig Robertson.  Both those plays were huge, it really is amazing the impact good special teams has on a game.  That's why I'm so critical of Tabor.  Bad special teams play loses games, and good special teams play wins them.  Tabor had his guys going on Sunday, and the Browns won. 

So halfway through the season the Browns are right in the middle of it.  They are 5-3.  Mind you that they've won 5 or less games in the previous five seasons.  They'll be getting their stud wide receiver back.  The coach is clearly still learning on the job but has done a pretty good job all and all.  And say what you will about Hoyer, but he wins games.  So enjoy this victory Monday, Cleveland.  Be happy.  There have been way too many lost games and lost seasons not to be.


Random gifs

GRONK LEGEND

Backup Buckeye quarterback huge hit dot gif

This funny lady tho

Bonus pic everyone at IU should run out and get that Fuchs jersey