Game Thread: WEEK 8... @CLE

[thedddd]

Current injury report:

Week 8 Injury Report (Browns)

A look at player injuries and practice participation for Week 8

www.steelers.com

There is a god. Eric Ebron is OUT.

 

[thedddd]

Over/Under #of Baker Mayfield commercials.

I am going with at least 5.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Lol Melvin Ingram… I’m guessing he doesn’t have a groin injury. More like an ego injury.

I can’t believe the Browns are going to play Baker with a fucked up left shoulder. If he gets hit & he will, and he further injures it then I guarantee there is going to be a huge uproar from the Browns fans claiming a dirty hit of some sort. I’m glad he’s playing though, kids got grit. But it seems like a very foolish move by the Browns FO on the eve of a possible contract extension.

Or maybe they realize he is expendable?

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Over/Under #of Baker Mayfield commercials.

I am going with at least 5.

That is par for the course. I’ll go with the over

 

[Pure Steel]

Over/Under #of Baker Mayfield commercials.

I am going with at least 5.

More importantly, O/U on drinks during the game.......I'm probably at 8.5, which easily could go way over if we have a horrendous first Q.....

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[thedddd]

Was going to say it looks like one hit and he is out.

 

[thedddd]

More importantly, O/U on drinks during the game.......I'm probably at 8.5, which easily could go way over if we have a horrendous first Q.....

If it is 14-0 after the first quarter then yep the drinks will be flowing.

 

[Pure Steel]

Was going to say it looks like one hit and he is out.

It looks like Rodney's arm dangling in Caddy Shack when he thinks it's broken......

 

[thedddd]

Lol Melvin Ingram… I’m guessing he doesn’t have a groin injury. More like an ego injury.

I can’t believe the Browns are going to play Baker with a fucked up left shoulder. If he gets hit & he will, and he further injures it then I guarantee there is going to be a huge uproar from the Browns fans claiming a dirty hit of some sort. I’m glad he’s playing though, kids got grit. But it seems like a very foolish move by the Browns FO on the eve of a possible contract extension.

Or maybe they realize he is expendable?

On Ingram. I truly believe he thought he could come to Pittsburgh and play opposite Watt and put up Dupree numbers. Then some other team would pay him. There is no way in hell he thought of coming to Pittsburgh with full intent on winning.
Now he realizes there is no chance of him put up those numbers he is all butt hurt.

Mayfield -> I think the FO thinks that after realizing they can win with Keenum. They have a Great o-line, great running game, very good receivers and a talented defense. If they have a QB that can move the ball w/o stupid throws they could easily win this division. Sadly they bank too much on Mayfield and his questionable decisions.
Trust me not saying Keenum is the answer but wouldn't be surprised, IF, Mayfield gets hurt again. Then is out all season this will make it easier to try and sell a QB change to the Browns fans. They have suffered through shitty QB's for way too long since Mayfield is the best they had since Kosar.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

On Ingram. I truly believe he thought he could come to Pittsburgh and play opposite Watt and put up Dupree numbers. Then some other team would pay him. There is no way in hell he thought of coming to Pittsburgh with full intent on winning.
Now he realizes there is no chance of him put up those numbers he is all butt hurt.

Mayfield -> I think the FO thinks that after realizing they can win with Keenum. They have a Great o-line, great running game, very good receivers and a talented defense. If they have a QB that can move the ball w/o stupid throws they could easily win this division. Sadly they bank too much on Mayfield and his questionable decisions.
Trust me not saying Keenum is the answer but wouldn't be surprised, IF, Mayfield gets hurt again. Then is out all season this will make it easier to try and sell a QB change to the Browns fans. They have suffered through shitty QB's for way too long since Mayfield is the best they had since Kosar.

On point!

Ingram gambled on himself. He had a real chance at those numbers until the coaches strangely decided to decrease his snap count for no good reason. Highsmith is a great player and is continuously getting better, but its a disservice not to deploy the rotation at OLB, even subbing Watt out. Keeping all 3 fresh should be a priority.

Great points. I figured the same when Keenum proved to be able to operate the offense without any visible dropoff in play. If Mayfield injures himself then he stands to lose a lot of money, while the team stands to gain bargaining chip or, as you stated, make it easier to sell a change at QB. Mayfield has been a decent QB, but he's not worth the $40m per year that he may be trying to bank on. He's more of a journeyman type QB. Helluva competitor & great guy (aside from the Cheesecake habits), but his ceiling is pretty evident and I don't see him breaking through that on a different team given the amount of talent that he has been surrounded with in Cleveland. Even with that stout of an offense to play in he's still only a fringe top-10 QB. So that will always be his ceiling.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

Coaching... Tomlin should get some flack/heat for calling the fake FG and getting his kicker hurt. Luckily it didn't end up being an Achilles heel, but it was a huge factor in this game. Forcing the Muth TD on 4th down was stressful, but proved to be huge late in the game. Having 2 timeouts and letting the clock roll just before the half was hard to stomach. They could have called 2 of those TO's during the Browns' last drive, and had over 1 minute of clock & 1 TO to try and get some points. Instead, Tomlin's piss-poor clock management rears its ugly ass head. Being that content to hit the locker room with a tied ballgame at 3-3 is hard to stomach. They need to have those guys that are helping him with challenges from the booth also start chirping his ear off under 5mins in 2nd & 4th quarters. FFS! Offensive play-calling was the best that it has been thus far. Balanced offense of run-pass ratio was damn near even. Glad to see Ben getting operating some boots & PA with efficiency. Play design was good and the players were executing. Butler's gameplan to control Chubb and the run game was solid. They were bleeding yards early to Baker's flat game to his TEs, but they didn't get fazed. Stacking boxes & daring Baker to beat them with his arm and he failed to do it. Same blueprint they've had with him every year. B+

Offense... OL held up ok in pass-pro. Ben was getting harassed a lot, but the Browns front 7 is their strength of their D so its admirable that Ben only got sacked twice. And once was clearly Ben's fault for holding the ball too long. For a rookie to hold Garrett to 1 sack & 3-4 pressures is pretty damn good. This unit continues to show signs of improvement every week so that is somewhat comforting. Ben had debatably his best game this year. Outside of a few bad throws & 1 misread on an easy walk-in TD for DJ, he was making great decisions with the ball and his mechanics were clearly improved. I think he only took 1 shot longer than 20yds which was odd. But the offense was working pretty well and efficiency was high so I'm not bothered by that. The rookies obviously took center stage yesterday. Najee & Muth are here to stay. B+

Defense... Defense looked like it had its hands full, but they stood tall when it mattered most. Forcing the Browns to go 3/10 on 3rd downs was huge. Granted the Browns dropped some balls, but the Steelers still put the pressure on and kept the Browns off-kilter. Shutting them down on 2 separate 4th down tries was huge. Obviously the final Browns' play when they were inside the RZ, but the biggest stop was in the 1st half when the Browns needed 2yds and the Steelers shut them down. That set a tone that the Browns just couldn't overcome. 4 sacks & a FF (didn't prove pivotal). Devin Bush continues to struggle, but he looks to be playing with more confidence and is constantly around the ball. Hoping that things start clicking once again for him. Watt & Heyward are still terrorizing opposing offenses and I'm loving watching these 2. Had to feel good for Schobert to have a FF against his former team that let him walk in FA 2-3 years ago. And hats off to Joe Haden. He rolled back the clock & was a force outside. He loves playing the Browns & reminding them what they lost. A-

ST... Boz getting hurt makes this hard to grade. But the punt coverage team was stout. Killebrew has proven to be a valuable commodity in this area. And even Derek Watt, one of the most expensive STers in the league, is playing well on punt coverage. Harvin had a pretty solid day. Only 1 punt sailed OOB for sub-40yd, but was otherwise booming the pigskin down the field. B-

Overall... It wasn't the most spectacular performance as a whole, but this was a tough tough win against a divisional opponent that threw everything it had at them. The Browns were looking to turn their season around and their backs were against the wall. There was a lot to like from every phase of the Steelers' game yesterday and it was obviously the most satisfying win thus far. Putting the Browns on the brink and asserting themselves in the playoff picture. B+

Outlook... Steelers are back home this week for a MNF showdown against the 3-5 Bears. I sense another trap game brewing. Justin Fields played very well last week but still hasn't shown much consistency. Keeping him contained will be a high priority, but they play Lamar Jackson twice a year and have a pretty damn solid blueprint for those runner QBs. I don't suspect Fields will light up the field against the Steelers. And the Bears defense has been struggling. The 49ers just slaughtered them by scoring on 7-straight drives. If the 'Niners can do that to them then the Steelers shouldn't have any issues moving the chains. I pray that Boz clears protocol though. Wouldn't be surprised to see a kicker tryout early this week.

 

[FaCe-LeE-uS]

 

[Pure Steel]

Bang, bang play, my only issue was the helmet was down and appeared to make contact first…..

 

[Pure Steel]

Also, pretty amazing that they didn’t have a backup plan if their kicker ever got hurt….Harvin couldn’t kick an extra point? Center Ray Mansfield kicked an extra point in a playoff game in 1976…..

 

[thedddd]

Bang, bang play, my only issue was the helmet was down and appeared to make contact first…..

Live action that looked like a normal hit. You know there was ref bias in the sense the large d-lineman hit a smaller kicker. So in their sense it "looked worse than it really was".

Honestly I never thought a penalty was to be called on that play.

 

[thedddd]

Coaching... Tomlin should get some flack/heat for calling the fake FG and getting his kicker hurt. Luckily it didn't end up being an Achilles heel, but it was a huge factor in this game. Forcing the Muth TD on 4th down was stressful, but proved to be huge late in the game. Having 2 timeouts and letting the clock roll just before the half was hard to stomach. They could have called 2 of those TO's during the Browns' last drive, and had over 1 minute of clock & 1 TO to try and get some points. Instead, Tomlin's piss-poor clock management rears its ugly ass head. Being that content to hit the locker room with a tied ballgame at 3-3 is hard to stomach. They need to have those guys that are helping him with challenges from the booth also start chirping his ear off under 5mins in 2nd & 4th quarters. FFS! Offensive play-calling was the best that it has been thus far. Balanced offense of run-pass ratio was damn near even. Glad to see Ben getting operating some boots & PA with efficiency. Play design was good and the players were executing. Butler's gameplan to control Chubb and the run game was solid. They were bleeding yards early to Baker's flat game to his TEs, but they didn't get fazed. Stacking boxes & daring Baker to beat them with his arm and he failed to do it. Same blueprint they've had with him every year. B+

Offense... OL held up ok in pass-pro. Ben was getting harassed a lot, but the Browns front 7 is their strength of their D so its admirable that Ben only got sacked twice. And once was clearly Ben's fault for holding the ball too long. For a rookie to hold Garrett to 1 sack & 3-4 pressures is pretty damn good. This unit continues to show signs of improvement every week so that is somewhat comforting. Ben had debatably his best game this year. Outside of a few bad throws & 1 misread on an easy walk-in TD for DJ, he was making great decisions with the ball and his mechanics were clearly improved. I think he only took 1 shot longer than 20yds which was odd. But the offense was working pretty well and efficiency was high so I'm not bothered by that. The rookies obviously took center stage yesterday. Najee & Muth are here to stay. B+

Defense... Defense looked like it had its hands full, but they stood tall when it mattered most. Forcing the Browns to go 3/10 on 3rd downs was huge. Granted the Browns dropped some balls, but the Steelers still put the pressure on and kept the Browns off-kilter. Shutting them down on 2 separate 4th down tries was huge. Obviously the final Browns' play when they were inside the RZ, but the biggest stop was in the 1st half when the Browns needed 2yds and the Steelers shut them down. That set a tone that the Browns just couldn't overcome. 4 sacks & a FF (didn't prove pivotal). Devin Bush continues to struggle, but he looks to be playing with more confidence and is constantly around the ball. Hoping that things start clicking once again for him. Watt & Heyward are still terrorizing opposing offenses and I'm loving watching these 2. Had to feel good for Schobert to have a FF against his former team that let him walk in FA 2-3 years ago. And hats off to Joe Haden. He rolled back the clock & was a force outside. He loves playing the Browns & reminding them what they lost. A-

ST... Boz getting hurt makes this hard to grade. But the punt coverage team was stout. Killebrew has proven to be a valuable commodity in this area. And even Derek Watt, one of the most expensive STers in the league, is playing well on punt coverage. Harvin had a pretty solid day. Only 1 punt sailed OOB for sub-40yd, but was otherwise booming the pigskin down the field. B-

Overall... It wasn't the most spectacular performance as a whole, but this was a tough tough win against a divisional opponent that threw everything it had at them. The Browns were looking to turn their season around and their backs were against the wall. There was a lot to like from every phase of the Steelers' game yesterday and it was obviously the most satisfying win thus far. Putting the Browns on the brink and asserting themselves in the playoff picture. B+

Outlook... Steelers are back home this week for a MNF showdown against the 3-5 Bears. I sense another trap game brewing. Justin Fields played very well last week but still hasn't shown much consistency. Keeping him contained will be a high priority, but they play Lamar Jackson twice a year and have a pretty damn solid blueprint for those runner QBs. I don't suspect Fields will light up the field against the Steelers. And the Bears defense has been struggling. The 49ers just slaughtered them by scoring on 7-straight drives. If the 'Niners can do that to them then the Steelers shouldn't have any issues moving the chains. I pray that Boz clears protocol though. Wouldn't be surprised to see a kicker tryout early this week.

Little generous on the coaching grade.
All those items that Tomlin did so poorly he just happened to get lucky. Since, at the end of the game, Landry decided he wanted to play for the Steelers and drop every pass thrown to him.

For a coach that head scratches every week with play calls and time mgmt. If he had taken his normal posture they would have been up 20-10 late vs 15-10.

I think he got a huge break with Ebron being out. We all know some of those play calls to Freiermuth, Ebron would have been on the field for. None would have resulted in the positive outcomes that happened. I totally would have blamed that on coaching for putting Ebron out there in the first place.

 

[thedddd]

On the hit if you look at this angle it literally looks like he just pushes him.
Not defending one way or another, but I can see how this would have never been called a penalty.

 

[thedddd]

Speaking of silly calls in that game. I still don't understand how Buggs was called for defensive holding on a running play?



As for the top tweet, complaining about Garrett being held. Hate to break it to that person but all top pass rushers get held on almost every play. I say almost because the plays they go untouched, well they aren't held.