In the Film Room (Week 5-@Titans)

[wargograw]

On the very first play, not sure what Whitner was doing. He has both arms on the receiver but lets the guy go 8 yards before he (Whitner) brings him down.

 

Good first series for the defense generally.

 

The return of Ben Tate. *sigh*

 

Titans safety Michael Griffin gets a sack on 3rd down of our first drive (about 9:20). I believe it was just a blitz as Schwartz was locked into a guy as was Tate so unless Greco (who I couldn't see on the replay) whiffed, then it's on Hoyer for not recognizing it.

 

Bad tackling again. At about 8:00 in the first Locker runs for some 12 or 15 yards, dodging about 3 of our defenders in the process. Very unacceptable, although Locker really didn't have to take off yet as we didn't have a ton of pass rush on the play. Got some great pass rush later in the series though (this is the Titans second series).

 

Tate's about as slow as July before football season.

 

If you're looking for fantasy sleepers this year take a look at Justin Hunter. I like him to develop big time and under a legit QB who knows what's possible (not that I concede Mariota is as much).

 

SECOND HALF:

 

Taylor Gabriel is my boy. Caught that ball for a 49 yard gain in the first play of the second half and not only that, but he was able to do it in traffic.

 

Hoyer seems to be either throwing it too quickly and completely missing, or not quickly enough and getting pressure. Really hot start to the second half only to settle for three after a busted run play (Greco's fault, as far is I could tell) then a wild missed throw to an open Hawkins. Seems like this was somewhat contributed to by the fact that we were trying to go hurry up so we couldn't get our blocks lined up properly and then the hurry up just caused a general sense of panic in Hoyer. If it means 4 points, then we need to slow it down there.

 

Pretty good kick coverage so far throughout the season.

 

At 2:25, great hussle by A. Bryant running down the receiver after he had caught the ball.

 

I absolutely loathe muffed punts. So frustrating. We did get lucky on the penalty call where the Titans receiver stepped out of bounds and didn't make an effort to get back onto the field.

 

I know this is blasphemy, but I honestly don't remember whether or not we won this game. I know we had a huge comeback. I'm pretty sure we won, but not positive. And that's adding at least a little excitement to my viewing. For it being such a huge comeback, it's crazy that we only scored 3 points in the 3rd quarter.

 

So starting with about 14:00 left in the 4th quarter, we have 2nd and 3 at the Titans 4 yard line. We can get a first down without having to score (rather than a 2nd and goal situation). But we throw the ball twice in a row! Both for incompletions. Gotta give at least one of those balls to your runningbacks there when it's only 3 yards that you need. We end up going for it on 4th which is probably smart, but then we have to burn a timeout because we spent all our time deciding whether or not to go for it, then once we had decided to do so, we didn't have any time left to actually pick a play. We definitely appear to have taken some lumps not just with our players and scheme (as one would expect in year 1), but also with our coaches. The inexperience of our staff just caused alot of little mistakes. You fix that in year two and that could be another 3-12 points per game. It's the little things.

 

K'Waun Williams is fabulous. I've posted this before, but I had a friend that just finished his career as a two-year starter on Pitt's defense, and they played together in 2013. He said K'Waun is the definition of a no-nonsense guy that doesn't make mental mistakes and limits the impact of his limitations (if you follow that).

 

3rd and 1 we let Hoyer run a keeper for a couple yards. Our OL absolutely mashed them. Good stuff. Making short conversions is huge for any team.

 

Roll out plays where Hoyer throws to a TE have been really productive. Should have run this more when Johnny started.

 

Obviously a week 4 bye is never really good but I think it particularly hurt us with so many close games. That takes a lot of emotional energy every week and it would have been more productive for us later in the season.

 

Now Hoyer throws a pick (a real one, as opposed to the one that was called back for illegal touching on the defense). He made some really impressive moves in the pocket. Looked a couple different times like he was going to be sacked and he managed to avoid it. Really good stuff. The pick served as a punt (it was 3rd and 10 on the play) so it was no big deal. However, you've gotta take what the momentum gives you. Our defense forces a 3 and out after we score to make it 28-22 then we don't capitalize and go 3 and out ourselves. Part of what Pettine means by "play like a Brown" is breaking them mentally. You do that by capitalizing on their poor performance immediately.

 

Hell of a game. Unbelievable job of being resilient by our guys. The biggest blown lead in Tennessee history. The games following bye weeks are a tricky thing. When I was in high school we started 3-0 my senior year. Looked absolutely dominant. We had a bye week following that and then to boot, we had homecoming for week 5 (game 4). We were playing a team that hadn't won a district game (hell, maybe hadn't even won a game) in several years and we ended up losing. So I don't totally fault us for starting the game so sloppily. It happens. The great coaches know how to mitigate the effects of byes (and at the lower levels, distractions like Homecoming), and Pettine will learn that in time.

 

Great PFF grades from our offense in this one. Only Agnew, Barnidge, and Crowell in the red, and all of them were pretty minimally so. Defensively, -.3 as a unit on the day. Bad games from Kirksey, Skrine, Kruger, and Taylor. Mingo, Rubin, Haden just slightly below 0.

[wargograw]

Updated with the second half. This was a fun one.

[JAFBF]

In the past week just re-watched the Saints @ Browns game . . . htf did we win that ?

 

We sucked BIGTIME on D, and the O misfired quite a bit.

 

Just a couple of key plays gave us the victory - primarily the Dansby Sack on the last N.O. drive.

 

 

Will be watching the Titans game here in the next few days . . . have to wonder how things will look with a little time behind things.

[Flugel]

In the past week just re-watched the Saints @ Browns game . . . htf did we win that ?

 

We sucked BIGTIME on D, and the O misfired quite a bit.

 

Just a couple of key plays gave us the victory - primarily the Dansby Sack on the last N.O. drive.

 

 

The Kruger hit on Brees during the throw caused a pick 6 from Gipson. Last week, the NFL channel replayed the Titans game at warped speed and I put up a quick thread about it.

 

Big stars that day were the online, Travis Benjamin and Tank Carder. Taylor Gabriel's ability to get downfield and CATCH the ball at the beginning of the second half proved to be a huge game changer. Outside of the oline, most of those guys prolly didn't come to mind as guys that will have a strong impact on the outcome. Ben Tate also ran the ball pretty effectively that day.

 

The thing I liked most about the Titans game besides being there with kickass seats, when our margin of error increased 1 more mistake = game over - this team rallied and won. Pretty freakin refreshing coming off our 2013 trainwreck.

[Tour2ma]

For reference...

 

http://thebrownsboard.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30511&hl=o-line

 

http://thebrownsboard.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30536&hl=o-line

[Flugel]

On the very first play, not sure what Whitner was doing. He has both arms on the receiver but lets the guy go 8 yards before he (Whitner) brings him down.

 

Good first series for the defense generally.

 

The return of Ben Tate. *sigh*

 

Titans safety Michael Griffin gets a sack on 3rd down of our first drive (about 9:20). I believe it was just a blitz as Schwartz was locked into a guy as was Tate so unless Greco (who I couldn't see on the replay) whiffed, then it's on Hoyer for not recognizing it.

 

Bad tackling again. At about 8:00 in the first Locker runs for some 12 or 15 yards, dodging about 3 of our defenders in the process. Very unacceptable, although Locker really didn't have to take off yet as we didn't have a ton of pass rush on the play. Got some great pass rush later in the series though (this is the Titans second series).

 

Tate's about as slow as July before football season.

 

If you're looking for fantasy sleepers this year take a look at Justin Hunter. I like him to develop big time and under a legit QB who knows what's possible (not that I concede Mariota is as much).

 

SECOND HALF:

 

Taylor Gabriel is my boy. Caught that ball for a 49 yard gain in the first play of the second half and not only that, but he was able to do it in traffic.

 

Hoyer seems to be either throwing it too quickly and completely missing, or not quickly enough and getting pressure. Really hot start to the second half only to settle for three after a busted run play (Greco's fault, as far is I could tell) then a wild missed throw to an open Hawkins. Seems like this was somewhat contributed to by the fact that we were trying to go hurry up so we couldn't get our blocks lined up properly and then the hurry up just caused a general sense of panic in Hoyer. If it means 4 points, then we need to slow it down there.

 

Pretty good kick coverage so far throughout the season.

 

At 2:25, great hussle by A. Bryant running down the receiver after he had caught the ball.

 

I absolutely loathe muffed punts. So frustrating. We did get lucky on the penalty call where the Titans receiver stepped out of bounds and didn't make an effort to get back onto the field.

 

I know this is blasphemy, but I honestly don't remember whether or not we won this game. I know we had a huge comeback. I'm pretty sure we won, but not positive. And that's adding at least a little excitement to my viewing. For it being such a huge comeback, it's crazy that we only scored 3 points in the 3rd quarter.

 

So starting with about 14:00 left in the 4th quarter, we have 2nd and 3 at the Titans 4 yard line. We can get a first down without having to score (rather than a 2nd and goal situation). But we throw the ball twice in a row! Both for incompletions. Gotta give at least one of those balls to your runningbacks there when it's only 3 yards that you need. We end up going for it on 4th which is probably smart, but then we have to burn a timeout because we spent all our time deciding whether or not to go for it, then once we had decided to do so, we didn't have any time left to actually pick a play. We definitely appear to have taken some lumps not just with our players and scheme (as one would expect in year 1), but also with our coaches. The inexperience of our staff just caused alot of little mistakes. You fix that in year two and that could be another 3-12 points per game. It's the little things.

 

K'Waun Williams is fabulous. I've posted this before, but I had a friend that just finished his career as a two-year starter on Pitt's defense, and they played together in 2013. He said K'Waun is the definition of a no-nonsense guy that doesn't make mental mistakes and limits the impact of his limitations (if you follow that).

 

3rd and 1 we let Hoyer run a keeper for a couple yards. Our OL absolutely mashed them. Good stuff. Making short conversions is huge for any team.

 

Roll out plays where Hoyer throws to a TE have been really productive. Should have run this more when Johnny started.

 

Obviously a week 4 bye is never really good but I think it particularly hurt us with so many close games. That takes a lot of emotional energy every week and it would have been more productive for us later in the season.

 

Now Hoyer throws a pick (a real one, as opposed to the one that was called back for illegal touching on the defense). He made some really impressive moves in the pocket. Looked a couple different times like he was going to be sacked and he managed to avoid it. Really good stuff. The pick served as a punt (it was 3rd and 10 on the play) so it was no big deal. However, you've gotta take what the momentum gives you. Our defense forces a 3 and out after we score to make it 28-22 then we don't capitalize and go 3 and out ourselves. Part of what Pettine means by "play like a Brown" is breaking them mentally. You do that by capitalizing on their poor performance immediately.

 

Hell of a game. Unbelievable job of being resilient by our guys. The biggest blown lead in Tennessee history. The games following bye weeks are a tricky thing. When I was in high school we started 3-0 my senior year. Looked absolutely dominant. We had a bye week following that and then to boot, we had homecoming for week 5 (game 4). We were playing a team that hadn't won a district game (hell, maybe hadn't even won a game) in several years and we ended up losing. So I don't totally fault us for starting the game so sloppily. It happens. The great coaches know how to mitigate the effects of byes (and at the lower levels, distractions like Homecoming), and Pettine will learn that in time.

 

Great PFF grades from our offense in this one. Only Agnew, Barnidge, and Crowell in the red, and all of them were pretty minimally so. Defensively, -.3 as a unit on the day. Bad games from Kirksey, Skrine, Kruger, and Taylor. Mingo, Rubin, Haden just slightly below 0.

 

Very nice write up!

 

The only slight nit-pick I have is Tate was a patient runner that day who allowed the blocking to set up in front of him. Having said that, before he limped off the field (can't remember what game it was) - he was averaging about 4.2-4.4 yards per carry. After that, he spiraled down significantly while Crow would give us an average of about 5.2 yards per carry in his first stretch of 6 games or so. Crow also offered us an acceleration gear that none of our other backs had so it didn't take long for him to pass the eye ball here at all.