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