Week 18: Browns vs Steelers Wild Card Game

[Dawg in MD]

Not many are giving the Browns a chance on Sunday. I for one like being the under"DAWGS" ; puts ALOT of pressure on Pitt since they supposedly should handle us easily with all our injuries and COVID related players/coaches that are out for Sunday. Kind of like last week where we had to win to get in, all the pressure was on us. Nothing scarier than backing a injured DAWG in a corner, they fight like hell! Should be a good one Sunday! Playoffs, feels good! It won't be easy, but we CAN win! Any given Sunday!

[Canton Dawg]

3 hours ago, jiggins7919 said:

I would agree with you, but Ben has been here a zillion times and I've learned that the Steelers typically do well in the post season. Watt is going to murder us. Losing Bitonio means we can't run the ball (see results of games missing Teller). We still don't have a vertical threat, so they'll just crowd the field and plug up everything. Add in the fact that we're without our coaches and it's a recipe for making easy money on Fanduel. 

Buffalo laid the groundwork for beating the non running dink & dunk Steelers.

They got physical with the WR’s on the line, which also gave their pass rush a blink of a second longer to get to Ben.

In that game Ben was 21/37 for 187 yards with 2 TD’s & 2 picks, and had a team total of 47 yards running the ball.

That offense isn’t scaring anyone.

Pittsburgh got to the playoffs via their defense, but quite honestly if the Bills can score against them....Mahomes & Co will have a field day.

[jiggins7919]

11 minutes ago, Canton Dawg said:

Buffalo laid the groundwork for beating the non running dink & dunk Steelers.

They got physical with the WR’s on the line, which also gave their pass rush a blink of a second longer to get to Ben.

In that game Ben was 21/37 for 187 yards with 2 TD’s & 2 picks, and had a team total of 47 yards running the ball.

That offense isn’t scaring anyone.

Pittsburgh got to the playoffs via their defense, but quite honestly if the Bills can score against them....Mahomes & Co will have a field day.

I totally hear ya. Really, if we had Vernon and Bitonio, I could probably talk myself into a competitive game with us having a decent chance, but losing them is so painful. 

Ben is going to dink like you said, which means we'll have to tackle. Problem is, we have Mack Wilson. Now, Goodson is back which is nice, but we're REALLY going to have to tackle well if we're going to have a chance in hell here. Don't forget, Ben leads the league in how quickly he gets rid of the ball. That hurts, big time. And we can say the Steelers dink and dunk, but let's not forget that the two times we played them this year they KILLED us in the vertical passing game. Ben did and so did Mason. 

Let's not kid ourselves though. The game comes down to our offense. Last game Watt absolutely murdered us and kept timing the snap count at the end of the play clock because we couldn't snap the ball on time or get the plays in quickly. I can't imagine things will be better without our coach, but here's to hoping. If we score tds and keep them off the field, we got a chance. We get down early...forget about it. 

[SdBacker80]

57 minutes ago, jiggins7919 said:

I totally hear ya. Really, if we had Vernon and Bitonio, I could probably talk myself into a competitive game with us having a decent chance, but losing them is so painful. 

Ben is going to dink like you said, which means we'll have to tackle. Problem is, we have Mack Wilson. Now, Goodson is back which is nice, but we're REALLY going to have to tackle well if we're going to have a chance in hell here. Don't forget, Ben leads the league in how quickly he gets rid of the ball. That hurts, big time. And we can say the Steelers dink and dunk, but let's not forget that the two times we played them this year they KILLED us in the vertical passing game. Ben did and so did Mason. 

Let's not kid ourselves though. The game comes down to our offense. Last game Watt absolutely murdered us and kept timing the snap count at the end of the play clock because we couldn't snap the ball on time or get the plays in quickly. I can't imagine things will be better without our coach, but here's to hoping. If we score tds and keep them off the field, we got a chance. We get down early...forget about it. 

Bring the house!!! Try to disrupt his throws.  Not in Woods DNA but he needs to change for this one.

  You are right...we can’t tackle.  We have a set of backers and secondary that aren’t very good tackling collectively as a group. 

And then of course broken record again but ball control offense is a defensive strategy in this one too.

[BobPOUND!]

       There are lots of reasons for us to be optimistic. I had thrown the towel in when Stephanski was tested positive. But I've recovered from that once I realized that Van Pelt is perfectly capable of running this offense. Hell it might even be a bonus is some ways.. So many coaches rely on analytics to call plays, based on the data they get from opposing coaches and other players. I am sure they had a whole game plan based On Stephanski's tendencies.. that all gets somewhat tossed out the window. If Stephanski and Van Pelt are smart, they should let Van Pelt be the lead on creating the game plan this week.. Really toss a wrench in their analytics planning.

     But apart from that, I think last Sunday's game was a setup.. I can't remember who he is, but he is a news person that has a round table chat with Mary Kay Cabot. He suggested on Friday before the game last week that Stephanski and company MIGHT hold a lot of their best offensive plays back in the chance that we would be facing the Steelers in the Wild Card game.. I found the play calling last week to be puzzling at best and down right infuriating at times... With the 2 best running back in the league we are running 5 wide out sets with and empty back field!!???  

     But the more I watch the tape, I think he has been setting up whomever we would have faced in the first round for at least the last 3 weeks.. It's like we don't have two of the best RB's in the game if you watched those games.... I think we come out running and running and running and running.. And hope our defense can keep early scoring to a minimum from the Steelers.. Commit to the run and the long game.. Wear them down and control the clock and keep Ben off the field late in the game.

I fear if we put this on Baker's shoulders he is going to sadly disappoint us all. Their pass rush is to good and Bakers sucks under pressure.. Commit to the run.

   Lastly is the pressure factor... We DID IT.. We made it to the playoffs. I feel a certain amount of relief after our win last week.. We are in Gravy land... Pittsburgh has a lot of pressure on them to win out. With a 10-0 start(or was it 11-0?) they were the hands on favorite to face the Chiefs at the AFC championship....  now they are 12-4 and coming off of a stretch of 1 win in 5 games(almost losing all 5)...... That is a lot of pressure and frees our team up to play lose and say FUCK IT and play all out....

   I am going to go out on a limb and say we win 28-17...

Go BROWNS!! Either way I am so proud of this team and can't wait to see what happens next year.. Can't remember the last time I felt that way. Including 2003..

[jiggins7919]

1 hour ago, SdBacker80 said:

And then of course broken record again but ball control offense is a defensive strategy in this one too.

And that's what hurts. Losing Bitonio is absolutely crushing. I'm going to tell you a story. The story does not have a happy ending. A few years ago, we had to play a 1st round draft pick named Cam Irving. I believe he played center during this story, and he was tasked with going up against Cam Hayward. Now, this did not go well. In fact, it went poorly. I remember watching Cam Irving getting his ass BLOWN apart by Heyward. He didn't just struggle, he was ABYSMAL. There were gifs floating around the web of Irving FLYING backwards and just getting owned. 

Why is this important? Because not only is Bitonio out (who never played well against Steelers), but his backup is out. And then HIS backup is out. What's worse? We haven't even PRACTICED YET. Now, maybe we practiced today, I don't know, but we didn't yesterday. How can we get in a groove if we can't practice again? Ugh. 

[SdBacker80]

2 hours ago, BobPOUND! said:

       There are lots of reasons for us to be optimistic. I had thrown the towel in when Stephanski was tested positive. But I've recovered from that once I realized that Van Pelt is perfectly capable of running this offense. Hell it might even be a bonus is some ways.. So many coaches rely on analytics to call plays, based on the data they get from opposing coaches and other players. I am sure they had a whole game plan based On Stephanski's tendencies.. that all gets somewhat tossed out the window. If Stephanski and Van Pelt are smart, they should let Van Pelt be the lead on creating the game plan this week.. Really toss a wrench in their analytics planning.

     But apart from that, I think last Sunday's game was a setup.. I can't remember who he is, but he is a news person that has a round table chat with Mary Kay Cabot. He suggested on Friday before the game last week that Stephanski and company MIGHT hold a lot of their best offensive plays back in the chance that we would be facing the Steelers in the Wild Card game.. I found the play calling last week to be puzzling at best and down right infuriating at times... With the 2 best running back in the league we are running 5 wide out sets with and empty back field!!???  

     But the more I watch the tape, I think he has been setting up whomever we would have faced in the first round for at least the last 3 weeks.. It's like we don't have two of the best RB's in the game if you watched those games.... I think we come out running and running and running and running.. And hope our defense can keep early scoring to a minimum from the Steelers.. Commit to the run and the long game.. Wear them down and control the clock and keep Ben off the field late in the game.

I fear if we put this on Baker's shoulders he is going to sadly disappoint us all. Their pass rush is to good and Bakers sucks under pressure.. Commit to the run.

   Lastly is the pressure factor... We DID IT.. We made it to the playoffs. I feel a certain amount of relief after our win last week.. We are in Gravy land... Pittsburgh has a lot of pressure on them to win out. With a 10-0 start(or was it 11-0?) they were the hands on favorite to face the Chiefs at the AFC championship....  now they are 12-4 and coming off of a stretch of 1 win in 5 games(almost losing all 5)...... That is a lot of pressure and frees our team up to play lose and say FUCK IT and play all out....

   I am going to go out on a limb and say we win 28-17...

Go BROWNS!! Either way I am so proud of this team and can't wait to see what happens next year.. Can't remember the last time I felt that way. Including 2003..

I was fired up after the game- the gameplan was strange to say the least...but I think you are right. 
 

Baker playing against the odds with house money...no medium ground with this it’s either wildly successful or complete meltdown and I think we will take the 50/50 prospect of either. 
 

Think about all these AFC QBs lots of pressure cookers...Lamar (is he going to choke again?), Ben does he still have it and is this the last playoff run?, Rivers: same, Josh Allen 0-1 postseason great regular season run the heat is on to perform, Tannehill he’s got a running game pressure is on him to deliver.  

[SdBacker80]

1 hour ago, jiggins7919 said:

And that's what hurts. Losing Bitonio is absolutely crushing. I'm going to tell you a story. The story does not have a happy ending. A few years ago, we had to play a 1st round draft pick named Cam Irving. I believe he played center during this story, and he was tasked with going up against Cam Hayward. Now, this did not go well. In fact, it went poorly. I remember watching Cam Irving getting his ass BLOWN apart by Heyward. He didn't just struggle, he was ABYSMAL. There were gifs floating around the web of Irving FLYING backwards and just getting owned. 

Why is this important? Because not only is Bitonio out (who never played well against Steelers), but his backup is out. And then HIS backup is out. What's worse? We haven't even PRACTICED YET. Now, maybe we practiced today, I don't know, but we didn't yesterday. How can we get in a groove if we can't practice again? Ugh. 

Points taken.

This to me is a superstar game and it’s why you have them.   Myles who hasn’t been right lately shows up big against a guy he does well against.  He’s a game wrecker.  He needs to wreck the Steelers game plan....prevent scoring drives 

On the other side Chubb...that big run Sunday where he brought Minkah to his knees do it again and again this Sunday night.

Lastly and for the reasons I mentioned above ...Baker...loose, and free and playing against the odds Baker - showing out and showing up big.  

[calfoxwc]

8 hours ago, jiggins7919 said:

The other side of my brain has something to say too. The Steelers are not coming into this game on a high note. They've lost 4-5, and if not for a spectacular comeback vs Indy, would be stuck in a 5 game losing streak, with losses to Washington and Cincy minus Burrow. I will say that the Bengals loss was bizarre and Cincy was absolutely on fire. They were making crazy 3rd down passes in between 3 defenders, qb rushes, great catches, and whatever else. It was a magical Bengal game and the Steelers got caught. 

what's really amazing - the Bengals have a udfa and late round pick at cb, late round picks at lb, and not one first or second round pick on the dline, I think that's right. But their two safeties are both 2nd rounders. Cincy played one hell of a game. Gives me a better idea about the Browns chances at winning this big game coming up.

[Tour2ma]

19 hours ago, Vagitron said:

  I don't need to dream, i saw how they played in the second half of the colts game and that was enough for me. 

As long as the weather holds you can be right... but what are odds of that happening in January?

[Tour2ma]

6 hours ago, SdBacker80 said:

Try to disrupt his throws.

Forget the house... ^ this...

The DL can't get there if he's throwing short, so follow his eyes into the passing lanes and go tip drill on his ass.

[Tour2ma]

Bad news first...

Hadn't seen it posted yet, but Harrison is OUT.

PTG's report looks a little more normal, but I did not copy the strange remnants from Sunday's "rest starters" mode.

Ebron is OUT and JuJu is nicked.

 

[Tour2ma]

Meanwhile in practice-land...

Surprised to see a report for us as I thought we went virtual, but here it is...

Looks like Wed's was copy/pasted...

Mostly good news for our opponent. Lone exception as mentioned above is JuJu.

[browns52]

23 hours ago, Vagitron said:

I guess you are gonna find out, aren't ya? Ben isn't done. I was almost there before the Colts game and he was unstoppable in the second half. He is limited by our offensive coordinator. If they play like they did second half of the Colts they are making a deep run. The defense is elite and even with a flawed run game (a lot of it is our terrible oc) we have a ton of weapons. 

ben is on his way out......face it....tooo beat up over the yrs......ehhhhhhh.....no running game.....this just in...you have shjit for a running game....and you will get you ass kicked because of it....can't wait to call your ass out on this.....you may beat the browns and you may even have somewhat of a running game because our lb's suck... but after that...you gunna git you ass hammered...

[jiggins7919]

We haven't PRACTICED yet this week. Ugh. 

[jiggins7919]

3 hours ago, SdBacker80 said:

Points taken.

This to me is a superstar game and it’s why you have them.   Myles who hasn’t been right lately shows up big against a guy he does well against.  He’s a game wrecker.  He needs to wreck the Steelers game plan....prevent scoring drives 

On the other side Chubb...that big run Sunday where he brought Minkah to his knees do it again and again this Sunday night.

Lastly and for the reasons I mentioned above ...Baker...loose, and free and playing against the odds Baker - showing out and showing up big.  

Funny thing is, I REALLY want to play against the Chiefs. Isn't that who we'd get if we somehow pulled this out? We're beat to beat them. We can score, play keep away, and we get turnovers. I'm not saying we WOULD beat them, but we're not who they want to see. 

[The Gipper]

1 hour ago, Tour2ma said:

Bad news first...

Hadn't seen it posted yet, but Harrison is OUT.

PTG's report looks a little more normal, but I did not copy the strange remnants from Sunday's "rest starters" mode.

Ebron is OUT and JuJu is nicked.

 

Is this old?  You have BR and TJ Watt out. 

[Dutch Oven]

[Silver slayer]

32 minutes ago, jiggins7919 said:

Funny thing is, I REALLY want to play against the Chiefs. Isn't that who we'd get if we somehow pulled this out? We're beat to beat them. We can score, play keep away, and we get turnovers. I'm not saying we WOULD beat them, but we're not who they want to see. 

Unless the colts somehow win.

[Vagitron]

2 hours ago, browns52 said:

ben is on his way out......face it....tooo beat up over the yrs......ehhhhhhh.....no running game.....this just in...you have shjit for a running game....and you will get you ass kicked because of it....can't wait to call your ass out on this.....you may beat the browns and you may even have somewhat of a running game because our lb's suck... but after that...you gunna git you ass hammered...

Im not going anywhere, like i said with gipper earlier if I'm right i expect you in here eating some crow.  I have never ever hid on this board and i'm not about to start.  I stand behind what i say no matter what I say. If i'm wrong i'm wrong but i'm currently not worried about the steelers.  The virus and injuries are the biggest factors. 

[Vagitron]

2 hours ago, Tour2ma said:

Bad news first...

Hadn't seen it posted yet, but Harrison is OUT.

PTG's report looks a little more normal, but I did not copy the strange remnants from Sunday's "rest starters" mode.

Ebron is OUT and JuJu is nicked.

 

Juju is 100% playing and i'm 95% sure Ebron is back, with all the shit happening at the capitol and my own day to day dealings i've been out of the loop with who is back and who isn't.  Our biggest return might just be spillane excluding Haden who i believe is missing Sunday no matter what courtesy of covid. The Browns facility is a fucking mess, I'd frankly be completely fine with pushing the game but i doubt the league will. 

[SdBacker80]

3 hours ago, jiggins7919 said:

Funny thing is, I REALLY want to play against the Chiefs. Isn't that who we'd get if we somehow pulled this out? We're beat to beat them. We can score, play keep away, and we get turnovers. I'm not saying we WOULD beat them, but we're not who they want to see. 

If we go 1-0 after Sunday night- overcoming some of the obstacles- why not. Anything is possible.

i think we’d play them in that manner and it’s probably the way we should play everyone

[SdBacker80]

4 hours ago, Tour2ma said:

Forget the house... ^ this...

The DL can't get there if he's throwing short, so follow his eyes into the passing lanes and go tip drill on his ass.

Have the Coverage match the pressure...which we don’t do a lot.  We don’t really jam WRs a lot because we don’t have the 6’2’’ 210 corners 

How many WR screens are we going to see caught behind the LOS result in 10+ yard? 

[hx214]

1 hour ago, SdBacker80 said:

Have the Coverage match the pressure...which we don’t do a lot.  We don’t really jam WRs a lot because we don’t have the 6’2’’ 210 corners 

How many WR screens are we going to see caught behind the LOS result in 10+ yard? 

Well if Ward is out and Kevin Johnson is out and that Jackson kid plays again. Probably 30? 35?

[jiggins7919]

47 minutes ago, SdBacker80 said:

Have the Coverage match the pressure...which we don’t do a lot.  We don’t really jam WRs a lot because we don’t have the 6’2’’ 210 corners 

How many WR screens are we going to see caught behind the LOS result in 10+ yard? 

And now no Harrison. Throw us a bone! 

[The Gipper]

4 hours ago, Vagitron said:

Im not going anywhere, like i said with gipper earlier if I'm right i expect you in here eating some crow.  I have never ever hid on this board and i'm not about to start.  I stand behind what i say no matter what I say. If i'm wrong i'm wrong but i'm currently not worried about the steelers.  The virus and injuries are the biggest factors. 

Eat crow over what?  

The ONLY possible thing that I would have to eat crow over is if the Steelers go into  Buffalo and win.   And OK, I would have to in that case.    And the crow I will eat is this "Crow".  Andrea Crow:

[calfoxwc]

on a positive note:

"

Browns Activate B.J. Goodson, Sign Anthony Fabiano

"

 

[Silver slayer]

"I think they're still the same Browns teams I play every year," Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said, via the Associated Press' Tom Withers. "I think they're nameless gray faces. They have a couple good players on their team, but at the end of the day, I don't know. The Browns is the Browns."

[SdBacker80]

1 hour ago, Silver slayer said:

"I think they're still the same Browns teams I play every year," Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said, via the Associated Press' Tom Withers. "I think they're nameless gray faces. They have a couple good players on their team, but at the end of the day, I don't know. The Browns is the Browns."

Excellent- keep em coming 
 

Yeah I saw this...ESPN radio personalities were trying to spin it as confidence.  Yeah Okay...why give the defense another reason to hate you. 

[The Gipper]

2 hours ago, Silver slayer said:

"I think they're still the same Browns teams I play every year," Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said, via the Associated Press' Tom Withers. "I think they're nameless gray faces. They have a couple good players on their team, but at the end of the day, I don't know. The Browns is the Browns."

Quoting   Max Kellerman:   " But the Steelers are NOT the same old Steelers.   They can't run the ball.  They don't throw the ball  more than a few yards downfield.  They have no one in their defensive backfield that scares anyone"