Browns Sign Joe Flacco to Practice Squad

[hoorta]

2 hours ago, syd said:

Denver has the worst rush D in the league. Minn put up 5 ypc on em yesterday . play Tressel ball, But this time maybe let DTR take a few shots downfield

In related Donkey news...  Starting (cheap shot artist)SS Kareem Jackson is suspended again for cheap shotting Josh Dobbs Sunday.  

[bbedward]

17 minutes ago, hoorta said:

In related Donkey news...  Starting (cheap shot artist)SS Kareem Jackson is suspended again for cheap shotting Josh Dobbs Sunday.  

And the refs didn’t call a flag on that play 🤡

[Orion]

It's amazing that you can have a super bowl mvp on your practice squad now-a-days.    And, in theory, the Bengals could sign him off our PS.  And you know that if Paul Brown were still around he would do it.    

[ballpeen]

18 hours ago, Orion said:

Nice post.  Stef did what was best for the team.  He tried hard to keep DTR from losing the game for us.  He finally had him throwing downfield in the last minute of the game...but that's what the situation called for.  And lo and behold, the kid delivered with the game winning drive.  

I saw the DTR on-field interview after the game.  He spoke of how he felt that his performance was hurting the team and you could tell that he felt horribly about it.  I'm happy for him that the final drive played out like it did.  He earned the win in that final drive.  He beat the Steelers...in Cleveland...there is no regular season victory bigger than that.  

All that said, the only way to win games with 5th round rookie DTR at QB is to win ugly.  Keep the score low.  Lean on the defense.  Be conservative in the passing game.  Try to run the ball.  You're not going to win a boat race.  

I think Stefanski coached one of his better games.  He knew it was going to be a close game and coached accordingly.

 

Somewhere I read, or maybe it was in a PC that earlier in the week AVP handed DTR a play sheet and told him to memorize those plays.  DTR did.  I think those plays were the plays we ran at games end.  Pitt was afraid of a pass interference call late and played zone, something they didn't do much of prior to that last drive.

 

When you talk about scripting plays, it is usually the opening drive.  I think we scripted that final drive feeling it would be a close game and they would probably go to a zone, and might need as FG to win or tie the game with time running out.  We used the script when we needed it most.

 

Pretty brilliant.

[Korsou Dawg]

Not taking away anything from what was a solid game-winning drive, but also I remember at some point in the 4th, they showed that we had only 23 yards total offense in the 2nd half. And that came against a banged up secondary. If that doesn't demonstrate that DTR isn't ready to be starting QB, then what will? 

It seems it is going to take a crushing defeat, or injury to get Flacco under center. I wouldn't like to see either. 

[Jax]

3 hours ago, Korsou Dawg said:

Not taking away anything from what was a solid game-winning drive, but also I remember at some point in the 4th, they showed that we had only 23 yards total offense in the 2nd half. And that came against a banged up secondary. If that doesn't demonstrate that DTR isn't ready to be starting QB, then what will? 

It seems it is going to take a crushing defeat, or injury to get Flacco under center. I wouldn't like to see either. 

DTR is without a doubt not ready as they prepared the other QBs not him, but they also had him under a tight leash so it's not accurate stating what he didn't do down field against a banged up secondary. Steelers D is always tough regardless, and if you want to take Watt out of the game(which we had to as he owns us), you have to get rid of the ball quicker. Plus they had Heywood back that was missing from our first meeting.

I don't know about anyone else, but going into this game I was thinking we just have to contain the turnovers and allow our defense to dictate the game. I think there were a couple throws that looked like pick 6s and we got lucky. This is why I don't fault Stef for appearing not to take chances and in the end we got the W. However, 1 mistake and we could easily lose, luckily we recovered from the one interception.

After this, hopefully DTR can look at film, learn and improve. What concerns me is our run game, we seemed to be shut down and I don't really remember too many games all season where we couldn't be a threat running.

I hate the Ravens, especially now that they are ahead of us in our division. I really hate bringing the ex Raven in here at QB position, but at the same time I like the move.

[Orion]

4 hours ago, ballpeen said:

Pitt was afraid of a pass interference call late and played zone, something they didn't do much of prior to that last drive.

That's a strategy right out of our own playbook.  Prevent yourself from winning.  Why teams do that I've no idea.  We couldn't do squat against them all 2nd half long.  Luckily for us, they changed what they were doing...or we'd have been doomed.  

[Korsou Dawg]

1 hour ago, Jax said:

After this, hopefully DTR can look at film, learn and improve.

Didn't suggest to cut him, did I? I hope he learns and improves, over the years. 

Just making a point from the perspective of a team that is on the verge of making the play-offs, which is something not all that common for the Browns. DTR showed Sunday that he is not going to take us there. Too raw; too inexperienced; too nervous; too inaccurate.

He did not produce any offense for most of the second half, but did turn the ball over. That's just a matter of fact. 

Quote

What concerns me is our run game, we seemed to be shut down and I don't really remember too many games all season where we couldn't be a threat running.

This has been explained by others. They were playing 9 up front for most of the second half, and even their corners were constantly trying to get in between the ball and the receiver. Only on 3rd and long did they get away from the LOS a bit. The only way to beat that is over the top. In the absence of that, other teams will kill our run game the same way. 

We need a QB that can throw 50 yard passes with accuracy, when needed. The only QB under contract with the Browns who can do that is Flacco. Plain and simple.

[gumby73]

26 minutes ago, Korsou Dawg said:

 This has been explained by others. They were playing 9 up front for most of the second half, and even their corners were constantly trying to get in between the ball and the receiver. Only on 3rd and long did they get away from the LOS a bit. 

If i had a complaint of the RB personal package's used on Sunday?

RB Pierre Strong Jr. vision/hands are the better choice than Ford's when it comes to safe check down/screen passes.. Strong only saw 3-4 offensive snaps Sunday. that was Strong's strongest feature in the Patriots offense besides kick returner.. not that 9 man fronts, wouldn't have figured this out though.. but we didn't try it either with those low snap counts   

[TexasAg1969]

1 hour ago, Korsou Dawg said:

This has been explained by others. They were playing 9 up front for most of the second half, and even their corners were constantly trying to get in between the ball and the receiver. Only on 3rd and long did they get away from the LOS a bit. The only way to beat that is over the top. In the absence of that, other teams will kill our run game the same way. 

We need a QB that can throw 50 yard passes with accuracy, when needed. The only QB under contract with the Browns who can do that is Flacco. Plain and simple.

And we can count on Denver to do exactly what Pitt did, dare them to throw by stacking the box and max pressuring the rookie QB. Flacco better be well prepared by coaching staff to take over on short notice.

[bbedward]

1 minute ago, TexasAg1969 said:

And we can count on Denver to do exactly what Pitt did, dare them to throw by stacking the box and max pressuring the rookie QB. Flacco better be well prepared by coaching staff to take over on short notice.

The rumor is the browns were extremely impressed with Flacco’s workout. My guess is the rookie will be on an extremely short leash, throwing it 30 times behind the line of scrimmage ain’t gonna cut it going forward. Gonna have to see him test the broncos second level 

[TexasAg1969]

1 hour ago, bbedward said:

The rumor is the browns were extremely impressed with Flacco’s workout. My guess is the rookie will be on an extremely short leash, throwing it 30 times behind the line of scrimmage ain’t gonna cut it going forward. Gonna have to see him test the broncos second level 

Don't you know Flacco is just drooling to get in there with a defense like this backing him up.

[Orion]

3 hours ago, Korsou Dawg said:

Quote

What concerns me is our run game, we seemed to be shut down and I don't really remember too many games all season where we couldn't be a threat running.

This has been explained by others. They were playing 9 up front for most of the second half, and even their corners were constantly trying to get in between the ball and the receiver. Only on 3rd and long did they get away from the LOS a bit. The only way to beat that is over the top. In the absence of that, other teams will kill our run game the same way. 

Actually it was explained on the days leading up to the game.  Tomlin was going to try and take away our running game.  That's how we should be defended.  

[hoorta]

4 hours ago, Jax said:

 

After this, hopefully DTR can look at film, learn and improve. What concerns me is our run game, we seemed to be shut down and I don't really remember too many games all season where we couldn't be a threat running.

I hate the Ravens, especially now that they are ahead of us in our division. I really hate bringing the ex Raven in here at QB position, but at the same time I like the move.

To beat a dead horse, or Bronco many have pointed out the Steelers were stacking the box with 9 men all day...  and they continued to do it all game. You beat that throwing over the top. As was pointed out Kev didn't let DTR throw a pass more than 15 yards all game.  🙄 I 1\2 buy the excuse that Stef was petrified Watt or Highsmith were going to cause a game changing strip sack.  

2 hours ago, TexasAg1969 said:

And we can count on Denver to do exactly what Pitt did, dare them to throw by stacking the box and max pressuring the rookie QB. Flacco better be well prepared by coaching staff to take over on short notice.

Of course Denver will try to copy the Steelers game plan.  The huge difference there Tex is the Broncos defense is DEAD LAST in the NFL in yards allowed, and 5.5 yards per carry.  Stay tuned to see if that trend continues Sunday.   

& PS I'm of the opinion that DTR's leash is a lot longer than some others here are giving him. The way this crazy season is playing out, there's no gimme games anymore, but as I've said elsewhere- 3-4 the rest of the way out should punch the Browns ticket to the playoffs.  

[bbedward]

8 minutes ago, hoorta said:

To beat a dead horse, or Bronco many have pointed out the Steelers were stacking the box with 9 men all day...  and they continued to do it all game. You beat that throwing over the top. As was pointed out Kev didn't let DTR throw a pass more than 15 yards all game.  🙄 I 1\2 buy the excuse that Stef was petrified Watt or Highsmith were going to cause a game changing strip sack.  

Of course Denver will try to copy the Steelers game plan.  The huge difference there Tex is the Broncos defense is DEAD LAST in the NFL in yards allowed, and 5.5 yards per carry.  Stay tuned to see if that trend continues Sunday.   

& PS I'm of the opinion that DTR's leash is a lot longer than some others here are giving him. The way this crazy season is playing out, there's no gimme games anymore, but as I've said elsewhere- 3-4 the rest of the way out should punch the Browns ticket to the playoffs.  

To be fair, if you take away the Miami game the Denver numbers are much better. That one was such a giant anomaly that it ruined their stats for the season.

[TexasAg1969]

8 minutes ago, bbedward said:

To be fair, if you take away the Miami game the Denver numbers are much better. That one was such a giant anomaly that it ruined their stats for the season.

More importantly if you just look at their last 4 games, they are playing far differently than the 1st 6. The coaching change is paying off.

[hoorta]

1 hour ago, bbedward said:

To be fair, if you take away the Miami game the Denver numbers are much better. That one was such a giant anomaly that it ruined their stats for the season.

Yes, true.... See below...  

1 hour ago, TexasAg1969 said:

More importantly if you just look at their last 4 games, they are playing far differently than the 1st 6. The coaching change is paying off.

Can't forget that they beat the Chiefs in that stretch either...  But for the sake of argument you're both right. Tossing out the anomaly where they got boat raced by the Dolphins to the tune of 350 rushing yards, they're averaging a much more respectable 138 ypg rushing.  It's what you can on do on a rainy day when you're retired with nothing much going on.  😉

[Jax]

6 hours ago, Korsou Dawg said:

Didn't suggest to cut him, did I? I hope he learns and improves, over the years. 

Just making a point from the perspective of a team that is on the verge of making the play-offs, which is something not all that common for the Browns. DTR showed Sunday that he is not going to take us there. Too raw; too inexperienced; too nervous; too inaccurate.

He did not produce any offense for most of the second half, but did turn the ball over. That's just a matter of fact. 

 

Didn't respond to you as if you wanted to cut him either. You couldn't understand not going deep or making throws down field on a banged up secondary. I'm not saying he could if he wanted to but neither can we judge his performance as that clearly wasn't in their plans. A lot of good teams with their starters in full force even get in a rut and produce no offense at times. That's expected from someone just stepping in to face a division rival with the quality the Steelers D brings. You simply can't judge his performance because he didn't put up 400 yards of offense each half.

All that other crap is to be seen. Of course ideally we could give him years to improve but we don't have that option so we need him to do just what he did and hopefully a little better next time.

You think Steelers are the first team to stack the box?

[Dutch Oven]

2 hours ago, TexasAg1969 said:

More importantly if you just look at their last 4 games, they are playing far differently than the 1st 6. The coaching change is paying off.

I think Denver right now - especially on the road - is every bit a tough game for the Browns than Pittsburgh was Sunday. 

[bbedward]

8 minutes ago, Dutch Oven said:

I think Denver right now - especially on the road - is every bit a tough game for the Browns than Pittsburgh was Sunday. 

Think every game left will be just as tough as the Pittsburgh one, unless DTR suddenly reaches enlightenment or something. This offense is going to have to figure out how to score points, even with a top defense, they won’t be holding the non Kenny Pickett teams to 10 points often.

[Neo]

 

[Korsou Dawg]

13 hours ago, Jax said:

Didn't respond to you as if you wanted to cut him either. You couldn't understand not going deep or making throws down field on a banged up secondary. I'm not saying he could if he wanted to but neither can we judge his performance as that clearly wasn't in their plans. A lot of good teams with their starters in full force even get in a rut and produce no offense at times. That's expected from someone just stepping in to face a division rival with the quality the Steelers D brings. You simply can't judge his performance because he didn't put up 400 yards of offense each half.

All that other crap is to be seen. Of course ideally we could give him years to improve but we don't have that option so we need him to do just what he did and hopefully a little better next time.

You think Steelers are the first team to stack the box?

Look man, you said your major concern was the Steelers completely shutting down our run game in the 2nd. As stated, the reason is twofold: their defensive adjustments, and DTR's inability/ refusal to throw anything over the top, the latter you inexplicably disputed. Those two reasons resulted in no offense and an INT for most of that half. You can't win football games like that, and it is a miracle we did. 

Not only am I not surprised the Steelers stacked the box, I am convinced others will follow their lead. That will have similar results as long as DTR is under center. If Flacco shakes off any rust quickly, he is the answer. Look at those YouTube highlights. 

Basically, we are a serviceable QB shy of a team that can not only reach the play-offs, but win games when we do. I have a deep seeded desire to see that, but have no faith that DTR is that QB (for the foreseeable future), and some hope Flacco is!

[Dutch Oven]

So out of curiousity, I looked up Flacco's stats for 2022 with the J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets. 

In almost 200 attempts (a pretty good sample size) he was neither accurate (57% completion) or someone who was throwing the ball downfield (a meager 5.5 yards/attempt). 

[Jax]

Lets see how DTR does this weekend, we don't have a choice anyways.

At least we have real back up if things go south.

[hoorta]

8 hours ago, Korsou Dawg said:

Look man, you said your major concern was the Steelers completely shutting down our run game in the 2nd. As stated, the reason is twofold: their defensive adjustments, and DTR's inability/ refusal to throw anything over the top, the latter you inexplicably disputed. Those two reasons resulted in no offense and an INT for most of that half. You can't win football games like that, and it is a miracle we did. 

Not only am I not surprised the Steelers stacked the box, I am convinced others will follow their lead. That will have similar results as long as DTR is under center. If Flacco shakes off any rust quickly, he is the answer. Look at those YouTube highlights. 

Basically, we are a serviceable QB shy of a team that can not only reach the play-offs, but win games when we do. I have a deep seeded desire to see that, but have no faith that DTR is that QB (for the foreseeable future), and some hope Flacco is!

1) It's been suggested DTR didn't throw deep because Stefanski wouldn't let him throw deep. Having his receivers drop seven passes that hit them in the hands didn't help either.  I've been screaming about Kev's turtle ball game plan. Not only were the Steelers playing nine in the box, they were sitting on the short routes too.  FWIW, DTR SHOULD have plenty of arm.  The combine jugs gun said his release speed was up in the Josh Allen range.  So let's see how DTR does in Denver before we call him a lost cause. 

2) Flacco shake off rust? More like finds the fountain of youth. There's a reason the Jets didn't give him a call when Rodgers went down. They had seen enough of Joe, and were of the opinion he's not very good. Even career wise, that's pretty much true. 

[bbedward]

49 minutes ago, hoorta said:

1) It's been suggested DTR didn't throw deep because Stefanski wouldn't let him throw deep. Having his receivers drop seven passes that hit them in the hands didn't help either.  I've been screaming about Kev's turtle ball game plan. Not only were the Steelers playing nine in the box, they were sitting on the short routes too.  FWIW, DTR SHOULD have plenty of arm.  The combine jugs gun said his release speed was up in the Josh Allen range.  So let's see how DTR does in Denver before we call him a lost cause. 

2) Flacco shake off rust? More like finds the fountain of youth. There's a reason the Jets didn't give him a call when Rodgers went down. They had seen enough of Joe, and were of the opinion he's not very good. Even career wise, that's pretty much true. 

1) I think @tiamat63's assessment that his high throws put the fear of god into the coaching staff is probably pretty accurate. They had him on a leash, because they were terrified of giving the steelers a big play. They know Pitt's top-tier edge rushers, they saw what DTR deep balls looked like against baltimore, saw some higher throws and they went full conservative. The rookie did make a few nice throws on the game winning drive though, when unleashed. By then PITT wasn't stacking the box as much anymore, too.

DTR has an NFL arm, his deep accuracy and decision making are question marks though.

Can't call DTR a lost cause even if Denver is bad, he's a 5th round project guy - pretty rarely you see those guys step into the NFL and succeed in their rookie year. Need time in the oven and good coaching to develop the rawness. Part of why he dropped so much is he was in college for 5 years, guess teams lose some hope on developing 24-year old prospects.

2) Tbh, I think the Jets would absolutely love Flacco over the options they have now - besides Rodgers. I think based on seeing Flacco last year he still has enough in the tank, but I'd rather see the rookie go on a miracle run.

I'm just not optimistic about DTR, love his personality and attitude - just don't think he's ready to compete at a high level in the NFL, yet. The word on the street is the Browns love Flacco, they will call his name sooner rather than later if needed.

[nickers]

43 minutes ago, bbedward said:

1) I think @tiamat63's assessment that his high throws put the fear of god into the coaching staff is probably pretty accurate. They had him on a leash, because they were terrified of giving the steelers a big play. They know Pitt's top-tier edge rushers, they saw what DTR deep balls looked like against baltimore, saw some higher throws and they went full conservative. The rookie did make a few nice throws on the game winning drive though, when unleashed. By then PITT wasn't stacking the box as much anymore, too.

DTR has an NFL arm, his deep accuracy and decision making are question marks though.

Can't call DTR a lost cause even if Denver is bad, he's a 5th round project guy - pretty rarely you see those guys step into the NFL and succeed in their rookie year. Need time in the oven and good coaching to develop the rawness. Part of why he dropped so much is he was in college for 5 years, guess teams lose some hope on developing 24-year old prospects.

2) Tbh, I think the Jets would absolutely love Flacco over the options they have now - besides Rodgers. I think based on seeing Flacco last year he still has enough in the tank, but I'd rather see the rookie go on a miracle run.

I'm just not optimistic about DTR, love his personality and attitude - just don't think he's ready to compete at a high level in the NFL, yet. The word on the street is the Browns love Flacco, they will call his name sooner rather than later if needed.

DTR needs a season or 2 under his belt before you can make an honest eval on the kid.. I like his attitude and willingness to work hard... Dare I say it... I think he has more potench than Jenny Pickett!

[Neo]

10 hours ago, Korsou Dawg said:

Not only am I not surprised the Steelers stacked the box, I am convinced others will follow their lead. That will have similar results as long as DTR is under center. If Flacco shakes off any rust quickly, he is the answer. Look at those YouTube highlights. 

This. The video I posted was only a year ago. He was carving up the Browns secondary with ease, and he has a couple passes to Elijah Moore, which is also a plus. Because we already have a receiver that he's familiar with. I don't think Joe lost it yet, just needs to be brought up to speed on the offense.

[Korsou Dawg]

2 hours ago, hoorta said:

1) It's been suggested DTR didn't throw deep because Stefanski wouldn't let him throw deep. Having his receivers drop seven passes that hit them in the hands didn't help either.  I've been screaming about Kev's turtle ball game plan. Not only were the Steelers playing nine in the box, they were sitting on the short routes too.  FWIW, DTR SHOULD have plenty of arm.  The combine jugs gun said his release speed was up in the Josh Allen range.  So let's see how DTR does in Denver before we call him a lost cause. 

2) Flacco shake off rust? More like finds the fountain of youth. There's a reason the Jets didn't give him a call when Rodgers went down. They had seen enough of Joe, and were of the opinion he's not very good. Even career wise, that's pretty much true. 

Him having plenty of arm is not in question. I remember a pre-season metric that showed his passes travelled at the fastest speed of all QBs. In order to successfully throw deep, you need power + accuracy though. While DTR might develop that at some point, he has showed nothing of the sorts at this point. Conversely, on his short throws against the Stoolers in the 2nd half, he put way too much on the ball, which resulted in drops. He needs to learn how to control his arm, and the pace he puts on the ball. That will take time.

I am no where near calling DTR a "lost cause" for the future, but when it comes to this season? That's an affermative!

2) Couldn't disagree more. The YouTube clip @Neo posted is only from one year ago like he said, and Joe accurately carved up our secondary like a friggin Thanksgiving turkey!

[Dutch Oven]

27 minutes ago, Korsou Dawg said:

The YouTube clip @Neo posted is only from one year ago like he said, and Joe accurately carved up our secondary like a friggin Thanksgiving turkey!

Once again, in almost 200 attempts last season, Flacco completed passes at a paltry 57% rate for a miniscule 5.5 yards per attempt. 

Basing your enthusiasm over one game vs a Joe Woods lead Browns defense that at the beginning of the season was blowing one pass defense assignment after another is possibly a little optimistic. 

That being said, there has to be definite progress in DTR in the coming weeks, or a move to Flacco has to be made. We can't depend on the defense to be great every week.