Tale of the Tape - Browns 2022

[Orion]

 

Final stats from NFL.com.   We were 21st in sacks allowed and 28th in sacking opposing QB's.  The OL seemed to play worse as the season went on and that had a direct affect on our offense.  I know that we got down to our 3rd or 4th string center...but it was more than just that.  Certainly Wills didn't have his best year.

The stats on our pass D are a little skewed as we had that frozen wind game where passing numbers were way down, and we played the Steelers & Saints whom both didn't put up big passing numbers because they both couldn't pass well.  We were however, plagued with big pass plays against us because of breakdowns.  Hopefully the more 'simplified' defense that we're supposedly looking for will reduce the mental lapses on pass D.

Of course our run D has a different problem...which is talent on the DL.  And healthy starting LB'ers...of which there is room there too for upgrade.

It was the wasted year that I feared back when it was warm outside.  But not exactly in the way I feared.  I expected Brissett to stink.  But he was the least of our problems (well, close to the least).  Jacoby actually played fairly well for us.  He wasn't the problem at all.  It was our D.  Teams were running the ball right up the gut on us.  And when they threw the ball, every so often somebody had a mental laps and a receiver would be running all alone.  Woods had to be let go after what happened to our D...even though he didn't have the beef up front to stop the run.

So, we don't have a first round pick (I guess I'll go to band rehearsal on that Thursday night in April).  And according to a Dutch Oven post, we pick 43rd.  

We need a legit deep threat receiver (someone other than Schwartz please) and we'll probably draft a TE somewhere in the draft.  And the OL....what do we need there.

On D, we need to improve the interior of the DL.  Being able to manhandle our DT's puts extra pressure on our DE's since there's more help available to neutralize them.  Oh, and we probably need a DE that can pressure the QB as Myles didn't get much help in that area.

It's gonna be a loong offseason.  And no 1st round pick to speculate about.  I know, let's talk politics, or abortion, or gun control, or religion...yeah, that's the ticket!  Better yet, we can talk about parallel universes.      Go Browns!  Win the offseason!   

[Dutch Oven]

7 hours ago, Orion said:

It was the wasted year that I feared back when it was warm outside.  But not exactly in the way I feared.  I expected Brissett to stink.  But he was the least of our problems (well, close to the least).  Jacoby actually played fairly well for us.  He wasn't the problem at all.  It was our D.  Teams were running the ball right up the gut on us.  And when they threw the ball, every so often somebody had a mental laps and a receiver would be running all alone.  Woods had to be let go after what happened to our D...even though he didn't have the beef up front to stop the run.

I thought the same thing. I actually nailed how the season would go down - 4-7 with Brissett, 3-3 with Watson. 

But I thought the 4-7 under JB would be the result of a lot of 20-17 losses because the offense would struggle, when in reality the Browns averaged just a click under 24 points in their first eleven games. The defense and special teams let the team down during this stretch. (How much the defense let the team down is really illustrated when you read through the list of opposing QBs the Browns faced. Not exactly a Murderer's Row)

[Orion]

10 hours ago, Dutch Oven said:

(How much the defense let the team down is really illustrated when you read through the list of opposing QBs the Browns faced. Not exactly a Murderer's Row)

Right.  These are things that raw numbers don't convey.  We finished with the record that we feared...but in pretty much a complete flip-flop of how we expected it to happen.

[Dutch Oven]

22 minutes ago, Orion said:

Right.  These are things that raw numbers don't convey.  We finished with the record that we feared...but in pretty much a complete flip-flop of how we expected it to happen.

Exactly.

How we ended up where I thought we would actually made me more concerned about the future of this team.

I do not see this being a team that plays with pride or passion. I don't see this being a team that is held accountable. 

[Browns149]

They should’ve played Dobbs. LOL

That was for Dutch

As for the team this year, they did underperform, for the talent on the team. Well at least that’s what people think of the talent. I’m not one who believes that. I think the talent was overrated by this franchise 

the planning of the defense, having no priority for interior d-line, and having small lbs, led to teams just pounding us. It was a completely stupid plan. Even before all the lbs got hurt, they we’re getting blown off the ball. And then all the blown coverages was beyond baffling. It was still happening in week 17. Wood’s definitely needed to go. At least they got that right

As for the offense, Brissett was what he has been his entire career. Win 1 lose 2. And then the last 6 games were passing game practice for Watson. They were MORE interested in passing practice then winning the games. 

The coaching was terrible all year in all areas. As was pointed out in earlier posts, we got out coached on a consistent basis all year. Stefanski can’t handle calling plays and head coaching. 

Glad it’s over and we can all enjoy our time until July and then we will start over with high hopes. And no first round draft pick. 
 

GO BROWNS!!!!

[Dutch Oven]

25 minutes ago, Browns149 said:

They should’ve played Dobbs. LOL

That was for Dutch

😁 That actually made me chuckle

As for the team this year, they did underperform, for the talent on the team. Well at least that’s what people think of the talent. I’m not one who believes that. I think the talent was overrated by this franchise 

the planning of the defense, having no priority for interior d-line, and having small lbs, led to teams just pounding us. It was a completely stupid plan. Even before all the lbs got hurt, they we’re getting blown off the ball. And then all the blown coverages was beyond baffling. It was still happening in week 17. Wood’s definitely needed to go. At least they got that right

What honestly terrifies me is that I could see this front office double down on the idiotic thought-process that lead them to think what they trotted out this year was sufficient and fail to improve the DLine. A good amount of us were scared shitless about the DTackle group heading into the season. I'll admit, I found myself hoping that I was just being dramatic about how bad it was. Unfortunately, I wasn't. (But I still predicted the defense to perform better than it did)

 

[Browns149]

1 minute ago, Dutch Oven said:

 

It was a 2 pronged attack of stupidity. No interior DL and undersized LB. 

A RECIPE FOR DISASTER 

[syd]

2 minutes ago, Dutch Oven said:

 

hey dobbs threw a t.d last saturday  that was one of my prop bets 

[Dutch Oven]

4 minutes ago, Browns149 said:

It was a 2 pronged attack of stupidity. No interior DL and undersized LB. 

A RECIPE FOR DISASTER 

It reminds me of a famous quote:

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

[Browns149]

18 minutes ago, Dutch Oven said:

It reminds me of a famous quote:

"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

One of the best. 

[Dutch Oven]

[Orion]

4 hours ago, Dutch Oven said:

I do not see this being a team that plays with pride or passion.

Might be too sweeping of a statement because we do have guys like Chubb, Hunt, Bitonio, JOK, Myles, etc.   The problem is we have guys like Wills who blocks for a few seconds and then watches the rest of the guys run around.  And I've seen times when a healthy percentage of the LOS puts forth zero effort during an opponent's extra point attempt.  But then, I've seen that lots of times from lots of teams.

I thought the team played hard.  But the D could not get itself off the field.  And that's frustrating not just for the defensive players but for the team as a whole.  

Accountability?  Perhaps.  Our coaches certainly aren't the type to be screaming and yelling at players during games.  We don't know what goes on when they're not of the field.

Not for nothin' though, I watched the end of the Lions Packers game and after a player got hurt a Packer DB (#7) pushed a Lions trainer...and #95 came up and purposely bumped that trainer.  #7 got kicked out of the game, but #95 should've been penalized also.   Talk about undisciplined.    -  Was happy to see Goff get that win.  

[Orion]

3 hours ago, Browns149 said:

the planning of the defense, having no priority for interior d-line, and having small lbs, led to teams just pounding us. It was a completely stupid plan.

Apparently Berry thought our previous draft pick IDLinemen would be able to anchor the DL.  I'd be interested to know whether Stef and Woods felt that way before TC.

As we've gone over, the fast and agile LB'ers were a plan.  They were going for speed on D.  Problem, the lighter LB'ers were not kept clean on run downs.  Let's see what they've learned and what type of guy they bring in as DC.

[Unsympathetic]

EPA/Play is sort of the Godfather of D stats.. Browns 2022 was 25th which seems about right.  Too many quality players for that to be the result, but thanks Joe

[mjp28]

On 1/10/2023 at 11:23 PM, Orion said:

 

Final stats from NFL.com.   We were 21st in sacks allowed and 28th in sacking opposing QB's.  The OL seemed to play worse as the season went on and that had a direct affect on our offense.  I know that we got down to our 3rd or 4th string center...but it was more than just that.  Certainly Wills didn't have his best year.

The stats on our pass D are a little skewed as we had that frozen wind game where passing numbers were way down, and we played the Steelers & Saints whom both didn't put up big passing numbers because they both couldn't pass well.  We were however, plagued with big pass plays against us because of breakdowns.  Hopefully the more 'simplified' defense that we're supposedly looking for will reduce the mental lapses on pass D.

Of course our run D has a different problem...which is talent on the DL.  And healthy starting LB'ers...of which there is room there too for upgrade.

It was the wasted year that I feared back when it was warm outside.  But not exactly in the way I feared.  I expected Brissett to stink.  But he was the least of our problems (well, close to the least).  Jacoby actually played fairly well for us.  He wasn't the problem at all.  It was our D.  Teams were running the ball right up the gut on us.  And when they threw the ball, every so often somebody had a mental laps and a receiver would be running all alone.  Woods had to be let go after what happened to our D...even though he didn't have the beef up front to stop the run.

So, we don't have a first round pick (I guess I'll go to band rehearsal on that Thursday night in April).  And according to a Dutch Oven post, we pick 43rd.  

We need a legit deep threat receiver (someone other than Schwartz please) and we'll probably draft a TE somewhere in the draft.  And the OL....what do we need there.

On D, we need to improve the interior of the DL.  Being able to manhandle our DT's puts extra pressure on our DE's since there's more help available to neutralize them.  Oh, and we probably need a DE that can pressure the QB as Myles didn't get much help in that area.

It's gonna be a loong offseason.  And no 1st round pick to speculate about.  I know, let's talk politics, or abortion, or gun control, or religion...yeah, that's the ticket!  Better yet, we can talk about parallel universes.      Go Browns!  Win the offseason!   

Yes let's look at the obvious first what ever happened to the   best run game  in the NFL ?  First guess would be the OL that also was considered the best in the NFL.    I would also throw in the play calling  which was very poor at times.   That falls upon the HC and FO to improve ..... whatever that means.

Then the obvious quarterback situation,  Jacoby Brisset did a satisfactory job but we'll see what the BROWNS got in return for mortgaging the near future for Deshaun Watson when he is at the controls in 2023.

On defense it's pretty apparent that they must get some good help for #95 who could be even better with a bookend DE to help out.  And the mentioned IDL to stop the runs    -and-   greatly help the LB and DB corps.

All of that without a RD1 pick in the Draft.   Pick and trade well to the BROWNS FO,  it's on you now.   

GO BROWNS 2023,  we love ya' !     

[Orion]

4 hours ago, mjp28 said:

On defense it's pretty apparent that they must get some good help for #95 who could be even better with a bookend DE to help out.

As @tiamat63 pointed out, they're probably looking at Alex Wright as Myles' help.  They drafted him last April and kept Clowney on board so Wright wasn't just thrown to the wolves.  And they also drafted Isaiah Thomas.  And as we've seen, they like to give their draft picks quite a long leash to 'turn the corner'.  

As for the play calling.....for the last 23 years people have complained about the play calling.  The fans, and then the media jumping on the fans bandwagon, have run some pretty decent play callers out of town.  Bruce Ariens jumps to mind.  Just watch any football game and you'll see plays called that you don't agree with.  So, let me know when Stef calls a bubble screen on first and goal from the Steeler 1 in OT.