Flugel

Classic Hochuli! Father & son can tell you every rule in the book. The problem is they aren't always in position to MAKE the correct call - or in this case overrule the call of the official that was in much better position than the Wundumsonnabitch.

And don't forget the former official joining the commentators said if anyone on our staff knew enough to challenge the call/no call on one of the previous plays - it would have only been 3rd and 9 instead of 4th and 9. I felt like I was watching a lost episode of Hee Haw or something...

Is he worthy of such optimism? NE used to play Mike Vrabel as an extra TE in the red zone and short yardage situations when their TE inventory was low. Is Bill Belichick the only coach on the planet that doesn't think it's rocket science to give someone on his defense a very doable role at TE? We don't have anyone with a TE frame on our defense that could fill this role or H-Back/FB? It isn't like we're overworking Chad Thomas, Genard Avery, or Ricky Ticky Takitaki. Daniel Ekuale has a decent frame with the athleticism of a DE. We could even put Drew Forbes out there as a 2nd TE and use him primarily as an extra blocker. I'm sure he could learn a very short route or 2 in the process. Again, the alternative is Pharaoh Brown...

Interesting. Bad habits are unfolding and being repeated. And when you shrink the field to a 3rd where there's more DBs than Receivers in the area - you get easier to stop or intercept. Baker has 3 TD passes to 5 INTs today. All young QBs need coaching IMO. Maybe Zampese did a better job with Baker as his QB Coach than those that let him go were willing to admit. Continuity is also important in this thing. I've seen it typed Zampese sucked as an OC in Cincy which is prolly true. That said, Cincy was 12-4 with Hue as their OC which didn't prevent him from being a horrible HC and OC here. I think Zampese also helped Freddie design some new plays/wrinkles that Freddie got all the credit for like our former offensive line coach mentioned after the door hit him in the asss on the way out. Every time I hear someone say Baker reminds them of Brett Favre - I'd much rather have Baker reminding them more of Drew Brees. Mostly from the mastery of mechanics. If we remember Brees' humbled beginnings - SD finished with the worst record in football during Brees' 3rd NFL season. That led to them drafting Eli 1st who already told SD he wouldn't play there. Consequently they had to end up trading Eli to the NY Giants to draft Philip Rivers at #4 overall. Rivers held out the length of training camp and Drew Brees got to swing at 4th pitch/season ending in Pro Bowl and 12-4 record. Brees was not immediate but the length of his career and excellence speaks for itself. Now I'm starting to see Baker throw off a backward hop into traffic after locking onto the target. It didn't get the same Favre-like no risk no reward result. Then again, Favre didn't always get away with that as his volume of INTs throughout his career remind me. The first 2-3 years of Favre's career in GB they called him wild thing because he took risks and threw a lot of TD passes in spite of outrageous mechanics and decisions (that also prevented a great TD:INT ratio). There's still 13 weeks left so lets see what happens...

It IS data Tour. When I lived in Nashville, former Pro Bowl DB Blaine Bishop read the summary of a killer good passing performance Aaron Rodgers had. Then he read the piss poor score PFF gave Rodgers for the performance when he cautioned the caller about using them over the eye ball test and stat sheets as the tell all. Frank Wychek also chimed in that they weren't very good at understanding reach and hinge pass protections when he pointed out they were crediting the wrong OL for the sack surrendered. He wasn't sold on PFF either until the people grading OL had the background and understanding of what scheme they were grading. And when you were giving some mediocre at best PFF scores for KC linemen you specified - I felt compelled to remind you their offense scored the most points out of 32 teams, and had the #1 offense and where they ranked at throwing the ball. Truth of the matter is those individual PFF scores reported weren't even close to reflecting what that oline in KC accomplished as a group within Andy Reid's schemes. 1 of the biggest things I admire about you aside from your knowledge of the game/league - is the time you commit to breaking down film and sharing the results of that passion with us. I'm sure the data does agree with your eye ball test a lot of the time. But I hope you got what I was getting at here. Line is a schematic and chemistry thing. One of the debates and concerns people had pre-season was how do we replace Zeitler and his elite PFF scores. Well, we went 0-16 in 2017 in spite of how good he can be while NY is off to an 0-2 start with him right now (w/one of the most talented RBs in the league). Not for nothing, Cincy's offense sucked the last year he was there (not saying it's his fault per say) - but lines need to be graded as a group. We kept 4 starters from our 2018 line so I felt like if we could improve despite losing Joe Thomas to retirement last year - we should be able to do the same without Zeitler if we go with an experienced replacement. In 2 years, this team is trying to overcome the losses of Joe Thomas and Kevin Zeitler (2 of Wisconsin's finest); but having a continuity of 4 guys should be able to have the group grade out well overall. Here we were coming off 0-16 football sentencing ourselves to the worst of 2 evils at LT. And when we discovered we got that wrong at first, we ended up with Robinson and the line steadily improved as a group as did our rookie QB while Chubb had a great rookie year as well. I really wanted us to keep what looked like a good combination of TEs last year. I don't care what Fells is doing in another offense this year. He was reliable help for our Tackles, rookie RB that averaged 5.2 ypc and pretty good when thrown to. This year we've almost completely eclipsed the TE value right out of our offense (albeit Njoku's injury wasn't something we can control). I don't have any confidence in the TEs were left counting on. This won't help Baker IMO. I hope I'm wrong.

So, we shouldn't consider what KC's offense accomplished in 2018 because PFF says it isn't so upfront? They were ranked #1 in total offense, scoring, and #3 in passing with a first time starter at QB. The only reason their running game was #16 was because their passing game was an on-going gimme. Has Irving been better or worse in KC than in Cleveland with the talent Dorsey surrounded him with there? He's got a QB that gets rid of the ball quick. He's also blocked for AFC Offensive Rookie of the Year Kareem Hunt. It also looks like Center Austin Reiter is good enough to start for KC in 2019 while he wasn't able to start for a much lesser offense in Cleveland. Again, is there something to be said for having a better QB behind you and better talent around you? Whoever brought Reiter to KC gave them an investment that now starts on one of the most potent offenses in football. And didn't Schwartz start making Pro Bowls in KC? If PFF is the tell-all - why did Andy Reid get rid of the guy (Kush) with the highest score above? Did he wake up stupid? And has anyone told Bill Belicheck how much time he and his staff wastes watching film when PFF has all the answers?

A 2 week extract from PFF over the first 2 games of a season isn't exactly a tell all. And if you break it down, the 1st game Watson didn't hit him the only time he looked for Fells. Watson raised his batting avg to .333 the 2nd week connecting 1 of the 3 times he went to him. Why do you suppose some of our fans miss the guy if there is zero reason to do so? Is PFF telling you Cleveland is all set at TE this year? And what superstar RB is Fells blocking for in Houston now that Lamar Miller is on IR? The same guy that was pissed Cleveland was going to reduce his role? And why was Houston so desperate to add Tunsil? Could it be they were pretty freakin sorry on the edge? Actions speaking louder than words pretty much said they were... Not only were they somewhat in trouble up front; but another reason Watson gets sacked a lot is because he holds onto the ball too long too frequently. That often reflects a passer not good at getting through his progressions which gets concealed somewhat when he takes off for a big gain. As for the targets, Fells wasn't signed to be the #1 TE target anywhere he's been. We had a 1st round draft pick (Njoku) that was supposed to have more of a KWII volume in the pass fetch dept while Fells was supposed to be more of a Steve Heiden dual purpose. Now Fells plays for a HC that came from a program that still valued playing a 2nd TE with Gronk in the formation. The difference is Bill O'Brien doesn't have Tom Brady reading the progressions. Also, NE tended only to use the extra TE in certain areas of the field such as red zone and/or short yardage. Those are often situations Watson likes to keep the ball when his primary target is taken away.

I hear ya but we're used to missing DeValve. I thought Darren Fells gave us a reliable dual purpose role nobody else at our TE position gives us. Even though he's 32 - his NFL wear and tear didn't begin until after he turned 28. I don't see what the intrigue was with Incompletrius Harris.

Yahtzee!

Well said Dutch. I'm more concerned about their trend league-wide to call more penalties. Forget the Titans game for a second. Some of these games are getting hard to watch like the last game the Titans played on Thursday Night. It was a flag fest and Aikman wasn't shy about stating his displeasure about it.

Did you bring this up Nero's Overreaction Monday thread? In fairness, you might have since after I was in it. It felt like I had 2 collapsed lungs watching that effort from a team I had hoped was eager to prove they a contender. I didn't like that getting the Overreaction Monday cologne over the stench it left us with and I posted that. Here's the cut and paste: On kickoffs, more and more teams are putting air under the football and kicking it shy of the goal line so the opponent doesn't start at the 25. When we did this, we stopped TN inside their 20 and TN even had some penalties in their return game which further played in our favor. Also, the Scottish Hammer did a job of flipping field position and causing them to start inside their 20 a few times (once at their own 6 yard line). All that said, losing 43-13 at home deserves some reaction and concern IMO. When adversity appeared our team disappeared. In this sport, teams are defined by what they do when adversity strikes. As a fan, I've always wanted our problems to be just 1 guy because you can correct that. This team was SOFT yesterday. They were NOT prepared at all despite hearing they had been preparing for TN the last few weeks. Really? They didn't play the Volunteers. They played the Titans for at least a few minutes... The offense looked like a lost episode of HeeHaw while the defense was a huge disappointment. 18 penalties isn't going to beat anybody but us. I'd be concerned if they didn't react. There's a lot to clean up - but there is enough talent here to make it possible. We'll see how they respond. 

I appreciate you doing this. Well done! I agree with all but 1 of your points. There's no getting around it - the lack of discipline was discouraging. The 1 disagree with was the offensive pass interference. That defensive back had his hands all over OBJ for most of the route to the extent it was altering the route enough to warrant the push-off. What do the rules say about where a DB can jam/press a WR? 1st 5 yards right? Rule was broken and the wrong guy got flagged. I saw the replay 3 times. Again, the officials blew off that rule to flag the victim of them of it all. If the crew is going to be flag happy - they need to be that way to both teams. For example, how many times did did the OT across from Garrett get away with hands to the face? They were very consistent at not seeing that. That said, Robinson had a very similar block to that of Jake Matthews that made the highlight reels on Julio Jones' game winning TD reception. Robinson got flagged while Matthews did not. Both were outside the 3 by 5 free blocking zone which meant the blocker couldn't hit the defender from behind. And neither guy did so. Mathews was painted as a hero while the Cleveland Brown got flagged. And here's another tidbit on this game of angles for teams that like to get their linemen out on the perimeter. If a defender turns his back at the last second while on offensive lineman is attempting to engage him, it's not a clip or block in the back. In other words, the defender sees the lineman is going to block him and then turns his back at the last second - he's not being dangerously blindsided any more. The spirit of the rule was completely disregarded on the Robinson penalty which certainly invited people to question the proportion of flags in terms of were the officials looking to flag 1 team more than the other. I don't know if anyone else saw this but before the game Vrable was showing a couple officials something that looked like it had to do with blocking techniques. Keep in mind he played for BB in a program that always emphasized what the officiating crew likes to call and what they sweep under the rug. It looked like he was telling them to keep an eye on something in the trenches. And 1 team was penalized more than the other. On the other hand, the last officiating crew that watched TN (Thursday Night) didn't seem nearly as reluctant to flag them. IMO, the over-officiating around the league is ruining the entertainment factor. Apparently, Tom Brady tried to watch the game and the officiating crew made that a complete waste of time according to the commentators summarizing his Twitter comments. Going back to the NFC Championship in Roger Goodell's Kingdom, 1 of the TWO playoffs teams from the LA Market Roger so desperately wanted and needed - got rewarded by an officiating crew that had not 1, not 2, but 3 officials that resided in.... LA. Who knew? Roger. No matter how many NFL teams good or bad they want to put in Roger's favorite TV market - USC has always been the favorite PRO Football team out there. This whole we're going to let teams challenge pass interference calls moving is nothing but a farce to distract people from the epic disaster of the Officials determining the outcome instead of the players. And in the process, Roger is very excited to see that 90% of the pass interference penalties challenged have favored the officials judgement. That's fine but has this changed what happened in a Conference Championship Game? That brings me to this year, how many times has an official blown a play dead that shouldn't have been? Didn't Cam Jordan return a fumble for a TD that the officiating crew was able to early whistle dead in favor of? LA. Folks, if we want a break or 2 from an officiating crew - were playing Roger Goodell's favorite TV market this Sunday so don't count on it. Markets like Cleveland tend to get the plastic apology from the league about how sorry they are for mistakes that impacted the game... We got one of those against another West Coast market last year when we looked like we returned a fumble from David Carr for a TD that would have ended a close game after they reversed a game clinching 1st down on the official's spot that is not supposed to be challenged. We also had a fumble return for a TD vrs Baltimore that got quick whistled dead. If anyone is wondering why Jimmy Haslam doesn't ever speak up - it would have to be against the hand feeding him via the shared revenue from the TV contracts (largely from the Direct TV/ATT monopoly) was driven by Roger Goodfella. So, Jimmy is going to remain church mouse quiet on it all... With fantasy football participation growing all around us and countries like England, Canada and even Mexico showing interest in hosting games - TV markets can only expand and increase in Roger Goodell's kingdom. This definitely isn't the NFL our parents got us interested in once upon a time. All this bs about caring for the safety of players in a game promoting bigger faster, stronger with rule changes over the years promoting passing games putting people in space for more violent collisions - now Roger Goodell wants 2 more regular season games of wear and tear. There's less concussions in rugby because a lot of their contact is in scrums where collisions are initiated from guys that aren't very far apart. And get this - no head gear leads to guys not initiating contact with their helmets. Makes sense while the NFL makes billions. Sometimes I wonder if the guys that played in leather helmets didn't have as many concussions because it forced guys to tackle more with their shoulder pads than leading with their helmets. They also didn't have rules that impacted the game in the direction of leaning on the pass (putting people in space). Anyway, I love the game and the Cleveland Browns are a big part of my family tradition so I'm just venting about the direction Roger is taking this league. One of the biggest things I love about the game at all levels is the sense of community football can create at all levels. When I see a good sports town like St Louis get another NFL team ripped right out of their area to reward a TV market out in LA that hasn't sold out past season Dodgers game and LA Rams games in the past - it's the same black eye we all saw in the NFC Championship Game orchestrated by Roger Goodell. 3 Officials from LA on a crew that became the only 3 people in world watching that didn't see the blatant pass interference penalty. BUT, the LA market got 1 of their 2 playoff teams to the SB. I'll bet Roger is aware of the things I just spoke about which probably explains the same Chargers being the only team Hue could beat - suddenly being good enough for playoffs just 1-2 years later... The revenues have never been higher but the integrity behind it all leave a lot to be desired in this knucklehead's opinion....

I hear ya! Feels good to exhale during football games doesn't it Larry?

I'm at the mercy of cable TV so I stopped watching the Dolphins act as BINGO Free Space for NE to check out a better matchup of Cowboys and Indians. The next game on here is the Saints and Rams, which is a great match-up. If I still had DirecTV - I'd probably be flipping back and forth to the Raiders and Chiefs game.

GREAT BOUNCING ICEBERGS!!!! Was Santa really looking at Rudolph's nose when he said that? Great write-up and thanks for the eye candy Zombo!

A team of very good players on PAPER. Yes. That said, a football coach once told us in film review - when you have 11 guys on the field on every play - you're only as good as your last guy. For example, 18 penalties! Ever watch a replay of a TD called back? Sometimes 10 guys are doing everything they're supposed to be doing while 1 offensive lineman has a brain fart and he's down field on a pass play which removes the TD. Starting out a drive with a 1st and 25 or 1st and 20 sure changes a game plan to predictably lean on the pass. That enabled TN's defense to pin their ears back an tee off. On defense, just when it appears you stopped the opponent from converting on 3rd down - all it takes is 1 guy to grab or hold or hit someone late to gift wrap a 1st and 10. The Freddie theory as rookie HC seems like an easy scapegoat to cling to especially if we forget he's been an Assistant Head Coach to Bruce Arians. However, when Freddie became the OC last year - many of the dumb/avoidable penalties stopped. He also got our rookie QB in the habit of getting rid of the ball sooner, which sure made our pass pro look much improved. What's changed beside his title? Players hearing how great this team is by the same media now attacking how soft they looked. As much as I hate typing this - this team looked very distracted like Baker in particular. Right after he throws a pick 6 - I'm watching a commercial of Baker starting a lawn mower. Just a few weeks ago, I'm reading about the efforts he's tried to make to reach out to the back-up Rookie QB for the Giants about a month or 2 after getting married and honey-mooning. I didn't really see the SAME hungry Baker I saw last year. I saw a guy that expected things to be easier (via talent added) than a guy who "WOKE UP FEELING DANGEROUS!" Last year, he always looked extremely well prepared for our opponents. That's what led to his pre-snap intellect that promoted all the accurate quick passes that jumper cabled excitement about the offense with him in the driver seat. After the opening drive, it looked like Baker didn't know anything about TN (who was 9-7 in 2018). Leading up to last week's matchup - Freddie said they had been preparing for TN for the last 3 weeks. It looked like some guys did. This team got punched in the mouth last week. Their reaction to it? "We'll kick our own asss for you TN." And this defense that was supposed to swarm and smother people turned into a limp-wristed careless whisper. Right now, this team is defined as 43-13. If that didn't light their fannies, I can only care as much or as little as they do. All that said, TN's lead was reduced to 15-13 midway through the 3rd quarter to remind us it remained competitive as long as we allowed it to. The last time we got rathoused that bad on opening day Pittsburgh beat us something like 35-7 during a season we finished 10-6 (2007). The fan in me doesn't think we've wasted our time getting excited about this year's team.

On kickoffs, more and more teams are putting air under the football and kicking it shy of the goal line so the opponent doesn't start at the 25. When we did this, we stopped TN inside their 20 and TN even had some penalties in their return game which further played in our favor. Also, the Scottish Hammer did a job of flipping field position and causing them to start inside their 20 a few times (once at their own 6 yard line). All that said, losing 43-13 at home deserves some reaction and concern IMO. When adversity appeared our team disappeared. In this sport, teams are defined by what they do when adversity strikes. As a fan, I've always wanted our problems to be just 1 guy because you can correct that. This team was SOFT yesterday. They were NOT prepared at all despite hearing they had been preparing for TN the last few weeks. Really? They didn't play the Volunteers. They played the Titans for at least a few minutes... The offense looked like a lost episode of HeeHaw while the defense was a huge disappointment. 18 penalties isn't going to beat anybody but us. I'd be concerned if they didn't react. There's a lot to clean up - but there is enough talent here to make it possible. We'll see how they respond.

Good points and great catch about Ernie so thanks. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins with the 1st pick of the draft in December of 1961 where he was traded immediately thereafter to Cleveland. I never knew that. He was diagnosed with leukemia in the summer of 1962; and died in 1963 without ever playing in an NFL game.

My heart put me on food stamps and overtime...

Where the F--- did Antonio go? He just knocked over the Gatorade Tom; and now he's on Twitter. Antonio you just missed a very important meeting about this week's game plan. I wouldn't say "I MISSED IT" Tom. Why? Who we playing? AB we come to practice here in Camelot! Who's we? Did you hear my audible AB? Yeah Tom, didn't you see how much I disagreed with it? No, AB I was a little busy wearing Myles Garrett and Larry Ogunjobi while you were taking selfies. Why did you stop in the middle of your route AB? My helmet was annoying me. Can I borrow your helmet Tom and Giselle while we're at it here? Perhaps you've heard Bill Belichick doesn't allow "I before team." That might be in your contract Tom; but he did sign "me before team." If you'll excuse me, Josh Gordon and I have a picnic to attend while you guys are practicing. Let me get this straight you 2 knuckleheads are blowing off practice? Tom, didn't you hear Bill say he didn't want any distractions? We're honoring that. You seem to forget the only guy that can cover me is Adam Schefter. We'll be ite... Antonio, why are you taking off your pads? It's overtime. If I charged the Patriots overtime Tom - we'd be way over the cap Tom. Now you got me using the word we and putting team first. You really are F---ing magic!

You can only play in the Era you live in. They didn't baby QBs with extra protective rules also designed to promote more scoring when he played. They also didn't begin the rule that DBs can't bump Receivers after 5 yards back when Otto played, which didn't help the passers in his era. Furthermore, the NFL only played 12 game seasons when Otto played. Forget all that. Can you name me 1 other Pro Football QB that took his team to the Championship Game EVERY single season he played over the first 10 years of his career/the entire career? After winning all 4 AAFC Championship Games - Otto and the Browns were told they didn't stand a chance against real pro football in the NFL. That led to 6 straight NFL Championship appearances and winning 3 of them (inclusive of the very 1st appearance) despite the decline in his TD: INT ratio during that span. Then again, check out Terry Bradshaw's numbers during his 1st 5 years in the NFL... Otto also played Professional Basketball for the Rochester Royals back when they won the Championship. After football, he became a golf pro at a country club in Sarasota where my dad got to meet his childhood idol. Jim Brown played college football in Upstate NY (Syracuse). SU's Heisman Trophy Winner Ernie Davis was also drafted by Cleveland before his terminal illness unfolded. That sheds some light on why so many people in Western and Upstate NY took a peculiar interest in the Browns. That and Rochester is just 4 hour car ride to Cleveland while it takes anywhere from 5-6 hours to drive to NY City. Even though many hail Jim Brown as the best football player that ever lived (and rightfully so) - when you really think about it, Otto Graham was more influential to this franchise winning than Jim Brown ever was (albeit different eras). Regardless of era, an intelligent GM still drafts QB Baker Mayfield in lieu of RB Saquon Barkley with the #1pick. That's why Dorsey's team improved by 7 wins...

For the 2nd consecutive year - Great job with this Dutch!

Don't be surprised if Simon Cowell has a new show this week called "Which NE Receiver has the clean urine?" Door #1 - Longtime Cannibis Connoisseur - Potsy Gordon Door #2 - PEDs B4 Disney Sunset Rides - Julian Edleman Door #3 - My Eyes Adored Me and my gluten-free mushrooms - Antonio Brown-Untilfurthernotice Spoiler alert: Guest judge Sharon Osborne sees a lot of similarities between AB and her husband Ozzie. Stay tuned? Why not?!

Any thoughts on this Bill? Yeah, preparing for Pittsburgh. Yeah, Charlie Babbit - 7th rounder. Yeah!!! Anything else Bill? 10 minutes til Mayock Presser. Yeah, I'm a great driver.

Wrong! Don't bother Zombo or Kathy with anything about that freakin political board. That was supposed to be enter at your own risk with the understanding the baby sitter is getting volunteer pay. If there's too much crying and tattling coming out of that board - give the whole thing the mercy flush it deserves.