Thursday Night Football: Browns vs. Bengals NFLN 8:20 EST

[dtgold88]

Reading the breakdown from PFF and they aren't as glowing in burrows game

Seems a little rough for a dudes second game. The Bengals need to establish the run more to keep him from having to skate around in the pocket

Didn't see what PFF said but as for "seeming rough" keep in mind PFF doesn't care about the name of the player in their analysis.

 

[dtgold88]

Can't really put much stock into PFF, imo. The majority of posters on the hoop are as knowledgeable.

Hope that was sarcasm. PFF has no agenda and watches every player on every play and grades accordingly. Most fans have an agenda.

 

[dtgold88]

Baker's role on the Browns is to be a game manager. Browns fans talk about his decision making and thats what will decide if he stays as the starter long-term. 3 of his first 4 passes were play action rollouts including his big TD to OBJ. I hate to be like this but thats not really an indicator of teams respecting the pass. In the 2nd quarter Baker showed great vision, mobility, and decision making but he was also passing to wide open guys.

I think Baker is in the same category as Tannehill and Jimmy G. Which I guess isn't a bad place to be because they both got pretty far in the playoffs last year. The Browns can win like that. I just hesitate to think that he is a franchise QB and wonder if the Browns would be a scary team with a better QB.

Burrow, on the other hand, has little to no play action threat. He is going to get eaten alive this year.

don't entirely disagree...in the sense we certainly cannot be sure yet what Baker will be now that he has adults coaching him again. But refreshing to see a staff designing a system around the strengths of their QB as opposed to knowing his strengths and going away from them because you want to pooh pooh the data.

The O put up 35 points, punted only once and drove down the field at will. Yes, against a bad D but other than one pass hard to find fault with anything he did. Think we'll know more after week 3. Not a SB contender nor a dreg (at least on D).

 

[Stakesarehigh]

which we could handle if Claybourn comes back as he's played well. I might even trust Gustin/Claybourn combo over Vernon.

I don't see any reality where they re-sign Vernon. That trade was a huge bust.

 

[dtgold88]

Was disappointed in the D last night. Thought Mayfield for the most part looked good. But that int was terrible.

agree, though considering all the injuries there were some bright spots on the D (yes, some of which had to do with Cinci line). D-line played very well. Held their RBs in check. Gave up a TD but Ward had a very good game.

Not sure any are world beaters, but will be nice to get Greedy, Mack and Phillips back (thought he looked good in his limited time before the injury). The Vernon injury? Meh. It's expected. Hope Claybourn OK, though.

 

[dtgold88]

I don't see any reality where they re-sign Vernon. That trade was a huge bust.

almost zero chance. Huge disaster by Dorsey. He was all about name and not fit. If he really didn't think enough about Ogbah how about use some of that $100 mil cap room to find a DE and not give up a stud guard?

 

[Stakesarehigh]

agree, though considering all the injuries there were some bright spots on the D (yes, some of which had to do with Cinci line). D-line played very well. Held their RBs in check. Gave up a TD but Ward had a very good game.

Not sure any are world beaters, but will be nice to get Greedy, Mack and Phillips back (thought he looked good in his limited time before the injury). The Vernon injury? Meh. It's expected. Hope Claybourn OK, though.

Those three still have to be better than what is playing instead of them

 

[dtgold88]

Damning him with faint praise? But yes, I agree with your point. The Browns appear to have a great 1-2 rushing attack with Chubb and Hunt. They just need Mayfield to game manage and avoid stupid turnovers.

The problem I see is that, unlike Tannehill and Garoppolo, Mayfield has to deal with OBJ and his enormous ego, and the expectations that come with having to feed a receiver like that. They force the ball to the guy a lot, and it isn't working.

I mean, they didn't last night with only 6 targets, but no one seems to be making an issue about it as they won. and OBJ still had a solid game.

 

[Stakesarehigh]

I mean, they didn't last night with only 6 targets, but no one seems to be making an issue about it as they won. and OBJ still had a solid game.

They didn't force it and the passes that went his way were good decisions. Saw them on the bench together in the final moments hopefully it means chemistry is building.

 

[Wamu]

agree, though considering all the injuries there were some bright spots on the D (yes, some of which had to do with Cinci line). D-line played very well. Held their RBs in check. Gave up a TD but Ward had a very good game.

Not sure any are world beaters, but will be nice to get Greedy, Mack and Phillips back (thought he looked good in his limited time before the injury). The Vernon injury? Meh. It's expected. Hope Claybourn OK, though.

If they can go 8-8 I'd consider that a step in the right direction. Gotta take baby steps. Hoping for a double digit win season is probably too much. As far as that last drive. Was is me or did the Browns not really care knowing the game was won and just wanted to get off the field? Was disappointed in the effort.

 

[dtgold88]

He's in an ideal situation with this offense. If he can't succeed with this one (minus a bunch of injuries) they will need to form plan b

No question....but I really don't get negative comments toward him like "he doesn't need to do too much because of Chubb/Hunt"

well no shit....no matter who is the QB an offense needs to take advantage of having both of them.

 

[Shanemansj13]

agree, though considering all the injuries there were some bright spots on the D (yes, some of which had to do with Cinci line). D-line played very well. Held their RBs in check. Gave up a TD but Ward had a very good game.

Not sure any are world beaters, but will be nice to get Greedy, Mack and Phillips back (thought he looked good in his limited time before the injury). The Vernon injury? Meh. It's expected. Hope Claybourn OK, though.

Yeah I mean there was a lot of pressure on the depleted secondary last night and it's not like the Bengals have shitty weapons. They were also on the field a lot, 33 mins to the Bengals defense only 26 mins....Burrow threw 62 times, that's a lot of time to figure out a below average secondary minus Ward (who played a great game on AJ Green).

 

[dtgold88]

Burrow is going to have a lot of issues this year. He isn't connecting with AJ Green and he had 61 pass attempts and 7 rush attempts. He is taking on too much and just not ready yet. I like his talent but it might take him 4 or 5 games to put it all together.

Baker....eh....its hard to get excited about him when Lamar Jackson is in the same division. And I kinda do expect Burrow to be better than Baker by next year though I could be wrong about that. Bengals are still the Bengals.

No real disagreement, but I wouldn't downplay baker because he is not as exciting as the MVP.