Covering the Bengals is like writing about a marriage that never reaches Lance Mason territory– but doesn’t offer any joy to anyone involved, and will never get better. Since I’ve never covered all the bases, and I’m tried of discussing Marvin Lewis, let me go into that in detail. The personalities in this reality show:
This is, I think, the last thing I’ll say about Hue Jackson‘s firing. I’ve squeezed as much blood out of the stones as I can get. The problem is that: Continue reading “What’s wrong with this picture?”
Some off-season, if I ever get a chance, I will go season by season and determine the number of coaches who were either made or broken by the NFL scheduling formula. I believe it to be a lot.
The 2016 San Diego Chargers played (depending on which formula you use) either the fifth, seventh or eighth-toughest schedule in the NFL. They finished 9th in points scored, 29th in points allowed and went 1-8 in close games. Since one of those eight losses was a 20-17 loss to the Browns, coach Mike McCoy ended up getting fired. Continue reading “Browns Preview: Game 6 (Chargers)”
I did a postgame Facebook post, so this will be a little shorter. If you haven’t already seen it, go there first– I didn’t repeat anything.
Bottom line is that they won. I’m not going to give a win back– especially not one that gets Cleveland to .500 after five games.
But it also isn’t an impressive win. When you get 12 points– and need overtime to get the last three– it’s never a good game. A number of things stand out: Continue reading “Browns Review: Game 5 (Baltimore)”
2018 will be GM Ozzie Newsome’s final season as Baltimore’s GM. It’s hard to disagree with the decision. The Ravens haven’t made the playoffs since 2014. It was also the last time they were two games over .500. The 5-11 season in 2015, you could attribute to injuries; a lot of people got hurt that year. The 8-8 and 9-7 seasons after it were indicative of a mediocre team.
The culprit is the front office. It hasn’t drafted exceptionally well since Phil Savage left after 2004. 2007 was the last draft with more than one Pro Bowler. The 2011 and 2013 drafts each produced two or more players who spent at least five seasons (more than the average) as a starter. Continue reading “Browns Preview: Game 5 (Baltimore)”
A week ago, I led with the following chart: Sam Darnold’s gamelog for his first three starts.
I pointed out that Darnold had looked like a world-beater is his first game, but the league had caught up with him very quickly– and that the same thing might happen to Baker Mayfield. It appears that my word of caution was well-grounded: Continue reading “Browns Review: Game 4 (@Oakland)”
When the Raiders panicked and decided to rehire Jon Gruden (he said, tipping his conclusion), I read a number of columns saying “Does Chucky still have it?” Most of them answered “I doubt it”, but they’re still kinda missing the point:
I don’t think Gruden “had it” the first time around. Let’s review his career: Continue reading “Browns Preview: Game 4 (@Oakland)”
Let me cut right to the chase. No, I’m not as excited as you are. No, I’m not happy about what happened. No, I don’t think this is a great moment for the history of the Browns– or even the John Dorsey era. Continue reading “Browns Review: Game 3 (NY Jets)”
Short, single-purpose pieces I can bash out– especially when I know I have to post them ASAP or lose them. Long analyses tend to get delayed by a quest for perfection. I’m down to the free safeties and the return unit. So far, my won-loss prediction for the season is half a game too low.
Last week I suggested that Saints’ head coach Sean Payton was overrated. This week I get to say the opposite about Jets’ coach Todd Bowles.
I like Bowles. I judge a coach by a number of things:
Bowles scores very well. He’s worked Bill Parcells, Mike Holmgren, Andy Reid, Wade Phillips and Bruce Arians– all of whom can coach.
He wants to control the line of scrimmage on both offense and defense. He wants to run the ball (6th, 10th, 13th, 17th and 10th in run attempts) and stop the run (3rd, 3rd, 4th, 14th and 12th in rushing average). He tries to get a lot of takeaways (interceptions more than fumbles) and commit as few as possible.
Bowles reminds me of Marty Schottenheimer– a No-BS, old-fashioned guy. He has two problems, neither of which he can fix:
1. GM Mike McCagnan sucks. Marty had Ernie Accorsi, then Carl Peterson and then John Butler. McCagnan has been a disaster. Both GM and Coach arrived after the 2014 season, so their records (21-29) are identical.
But Bowles has gone 10-14 in close games (margin of 7 points or less). When 24 of your 50 games could have gone either way, it’s proof that the coach is keeping his team in the game. Maybe he’s doing stupid things to cost his team game. But he’s not doing a terrible job.
McCagnan has made 28 draft picks. Only 10 of them have been starters for even one year. Most of them are off the team.
His inability to get skill positions players is legendary. In 2015, he blew a #4 on QB Bryce Pettey; in 2015 he picked QB Christian Hackenburg in round two. The Jets ended up playing retread Josh McCown— and then had to give up #1 and three #2s to move from slot 6 to slot 3 in order to get Sam Darnold.
McCagnan drafted wideouts Devin Smith (#2 in 2015), ArDarious Stewart (#3 in 2016) and Chad Hansen (#4 in 2016) and tight ends Jordan Leggett (#5 in 2017) and Christopher Herndon (#5 in 2018).
Their top receiving threats are WRs Quincy Enumwa (inherited) and Terrelle Pryor (signed as free agent) and RB Bilal Powell (inherited).
The thing that gets me: Bowles is one of the top defensive backfield coaches in the NFL. His starting corners are retreads Morris Claiborne and Trumaine Johnson— with former Brown Buster Skrine as his nickel guy. McCagnan did draft safeties in the first two rounds of the 2017 draft– but Jamal Adams isn’t playing great and Marcus Maye is hurt.
Last but not least: In an effort to boost the offense, McCagnan signed Pryor and RB Isaiah Crowell— meaning that he had the #1 quarterback, running back and receiver from the 2016 Browns– who went 1-15.
2. He coaches in New York. The fans and media want colorful; Bowles is drab. In his first season (201), he went 10-6, which sort of mollified them. But when he started 2016 1-5, they claimed he’d lost the team and wanted him canned.
He hadn’t lost the team– he just had a bunch of losing players. GM John Idzik and Coach Rex Ryan left virtually no talent (the players who could play were malcontents)– and McCagnan hasn’t brought any in.
Bowles is on his fourth offensive coordination: Chan Gailed for 2015 and 2016, then John Morton in 2017 and now Jeremy Bates– who was out of football (not just the NFL– college too) between the end of 2012 and beginning of 2017.
Bowles is on the final season of his contract. I think he can coach– that he just picked the wrong opportunity– but if he doesn’t win, he won’t be back
After two games, the knives are out for Hue Jackson. On one level, I think this is ridiculous. The fans and media have wildly overestimated the talent on the team. They’re not good enough to make the playoffs– if they did, they’d get destroyed. People imagined they were going to improve by 6-8 wins. They didn’t get enough talent to do that.
ON another, it’s entirely justified. They could be 2-0, and if Jackson were a better coach, they would be. Zane Gonzalez had a weak year in 2017. He missed two field goals between 30-39 yards and two more between 40-49. Worse than that, the Browns often chose to go for it on fourth– or punt.
They didn’t hold a competition in training camp– they just assumed he’d be fine. He goes 2-5 on kicks– and misses two extra points. Maybe we can blame bad line play for his blocked field goal in game one. But he was just terrible in game 2.
And now we hear that Gonzalez might have been injured… but if he was, the coach claims he wasn’t told.
That’s a firing offense right there. The head coach is supposed to be in charge of the damned team. He’s the Chief Operating Officer of a billion-dollar corporation. But apparently nobody listens to him or talks to him.
In game #1, Jackson wanted to play Puff Gordon a lot– but didn’t want him to start. Offensive coordinator Todd Haley ignored his wishes. My guess is that Haley (a veteran, outspoken assistant) decided to ignore Jackson’s wish. It’s a dumb idea– Jackson was going to permit Puff to play a bunch of snaps– even though he skipped camp and doesn;t deserve to start. But on the first play– where maybe a well-designed trick play could catch the Steelers off-guard– Jackson doesn’t want him to play, so it hurts his stats. That’s just stupid.
I have no idea if Gonzalez was hurt. Mary Kay Greenhouse doesn’t report– she just says what people tell her. The claim could very well be CYA, cooked up by Gonzalez’s agent.
But the inability to rule that possibility out– our needing to wonder if the medical staff told the kicking teams coach or the head guy that the player was hurt, and he or they ignored it– is disturbing.
I have a friend who believes that Jackson was told that Gonzalez was hurt– that Jackson ignored the medical staff because he remembered what happened in Miami in 2016. In the week between games two and three, kicker Patrick Murray jacked up his leg. The Browns brought in Cody Parkey on Friday; he missed three field goals in a 30-24 overtime loss.
“Hue thought bringing a new guy late in the week would make it happen again,” my buddy speculates. It’s pure guesswork– but it also sounds like a losing coach in a panic. Bad coaches often freeze when they need to make changes. They’re more afraid of the change than the results of maintaining the status quo.
All I know is that stories like this would never surface on a well-coached team. LT Desmond Harrison (15 bad plays in week one) followed it with five more. Bu the Browns are going to pretend that they don’t have a problem there– or in the running game.
The Jets have scored 60 points and allowed 37– a superb ratio. But since they beat the comatose Lions 48-17 in week one, you can throw almost all of that out. Just as you can ignore Crowell’s 137 yards on 22 carries (6.2 per carry) because it is based on a 62-yard gain, runs of 10, 12 and 14– and then 18 carries for 39 yards.
The Jets lost 20-12 to Miami Sunday. That’s a much better barometer of their ability. Darnold fell from a 116.8 rating (2-1 TD-INT ratio) to a 74.6 rating with one hit and two misses. Crowell had 12 carries for 35 yards; Powell had 5 carries for 6 yards.
Enumwa has played well in both games; Pryor (3-3 for 49 yards in games one; 4-8 for 84 in game 2) hasn’t.
New York isn’t running the ball well (3.8 per carry) and isn’t really stopping it (3.8). They have only four sacks and are -2 (5-7) in turnovers.
The Dolphins jumped out to a 20-0 lead and just sat on it.
If the Browns can get a lead, their defense ought to be able to hold it. Coordinator Gregg Williams loves to use sets that bumfuzzle rookies. The Browns have 7 sacks and 8 turnovers. CB Denzel Ward (2 picks, 3 knockdowns) looks impressive; LB Joe Schobert has been all over the field. DE Myles Garrett has been amazing– and last week, DT Larry Ogunjobi (three sacks) demonstrated why Cleveland cut bait on Danny Shelton. The interior line of the Saints was theur strongest area; he cut through it.
If Ward and Terrance Mitchell handle the receivers, this could be close to a shutout.Of course the Browns have to score. It’s not clear how they’ll do that. For the zillionth consecutive year, the quarterback is their best rushing threat. QB Tyrod Taylor has only two yards less (at 103) than RB Carlos Hyde (105); Taylor’s rushing average (6.8) is higher than Hyde (2.8) and Duke Johnson (2.5) combined. Nick Chubb has 35 yards on 5 carries, but 17 came on one play.
Cleveland is getting squat from TE David Njoku (14 targets, 7 catches and 33 yards); opponents are sitting on Jarvis Landry (12-22 for 175 yards) and daring the Browns to beat them with anyone else. The game hinges on whether Rashard Higgins or Puff Callaway can do a Tim Misny (i.e., “Make them pay”).
Usually the home team wins on non-Sunday evening games Since the Browns have played well enough to win the first to– against better teams than the Jets have played– I’m gonna do something I haven’t done since 2015– pick Cleveland to win. They can blow it with bad kicking or mistakes… but New York is weak enough to let me believe in the Browns. At least for one week.
The good news is that my father-in-law is recovering well from his stroke. My wife is being weaned off the medications prescribed for the episodes of dizziness, hearing loss, blurred vision and nausea (no idea what the cause is). My mother-in law’s spinal surgery went successfully–she has both a fever and infection, but we believe they will be brough tunder control. in a few days.
The bad news is that I haven’t finished my season preview and didn’t do a Game 1 review. But when crunch time hits, we do what we can. And, since it’s Saturday, our priority become our Game Preview.
I call Saints’ head coach Sean Payton. “The Little Tuna.” This is not entirely a complement; I’ve always felt Bill Parcells was as much myth as legend Continue reading “Browns Preview: Game 2 (@New Orleans)”
Delay of Game 