Browns at Bills(-4.5)

[jlb1705]

Finally have a moment to say something about last night's game.

First, I know Romeo Crennel is the NFL's winningest ewok and all, but enough is enough. The total absence of pressure on the QB last night was embarrassing. For most of the game last night Trent Edwards was as fragile as Tim Couch. He was Captain Checkdown - hardly throwing the ball three yards beyond the line of scrimmage after his three first quarter picks. Kornheiser actually posited that he was doing poorly because he had TOO MUCH TIME. It was apparent that last night Edwards was a QB that did not want to make a decision because whenever he did it was a bad one. The Browns reacted to that by not forcing him to make any decisions. The only reason the Browns were able to win that game was because the Bills coaches were just as bad, and seemed to forget most of the time that they could win by simply jamming the ball right down the Browns' throats.

The tackling was just awful. I have no idea how you win a football game with an effort that wouldn't win you a tickle fight.

I was watching the game in the other room last night and my girlfriend came in and asked me, "What position does Jesus Christ play for the Browns, because you're yelling his name a lot." I said, "If he can tackle he can play whatever position he wants, because the rest of these clowns suck."

Phil Dawson's FG kicking has been nothing short of great this year. I didn't think he had the kind of range he has exhibited this year. The kickoffs and kickoff coverage leave something to be desired though. Even if you forget about the one that went for six points, think about all the other kickoffs. I think Buffalo started each of those possessions near or beyond the 40-yard line after kickoffs. That's not acceptable.

Braylon at least made a handful of important catches to go along with his doinks and drops last night. I think I'm still ready to trade him for an RC car with a laundry basked duct taped to the top. I think we'd get more catching and less talking that way.

Jerome Harrison is starting to look pretty good. He needs to get the ball more.

 

[Bernini]

What a shock that a kicker missed a field goal without even icing him. That technique has no proven efficacy and is not even based in logic. While some kicker's nerves may build the longer they have to wait, others are benefited by taking a deep breath and visualizing the kick going through the uprights instead of just hurriedly running up and kicking without thinking. And from following football ever since icing kickers became the rage, from my observations it makes absolutely no damn difference whether kickers are iced or not. I think that theory derived from coaches using a timeout before the potential game losing field goal in order to delay the inevitable. Two more minutes until they had to face the unfortunate consequence of losing. Then eventually their peers believed there must have been something more rational to the technique since others they respected were doing it.

Romeo Crennel gets my game manager of the week award for utilizing his timeouts properly to preserve as much time for his offense as possible. See, more time for the offense when trailing is proven to improve a team's chances of winning. It seems obvious, but don't take it for granted that the coach of your favorite team will realize it. Wisconsin HC Bret Bielema chose icing a kicker over 35 seconds and a TO for his offense in order to reach field goal range, in college football, where the clock stops after every first down. In 2002, Carolina was marching down the field against Green Bay and then Packer HC Mike Sherman was going to allow them to score the game winning TD, or at least tying TD (in an and goal situation), while leaving all three TO's in his pocket. Luckily for him choker Matt Kasay missed a chip shot field goal making the decision moot.

Even though in the end it didn't make any difference because Lindell missed the field goal, I think Crennel should be recognized for being a buffoon like so many other coaches. Crennel may draw a lot of flack for the team's overall performance, but he's not without his merits apparently. It's not like college where the coach has full control over a team's performance. He can't tackle and put pressure on the quarterback himself, that's the player's responsibility. Phil Savage is the guy who selects them.

 

[jlb1705]

You're right, Crennel did do a good job of clock/timeout management, and he also picked the right time to throw his challenge flag. He does deserve credit for that. I guess at this point I'm conditioned to not even look for those things out of a Browns coach because they're seldom there.

 

[LitlBuck]

Finally have a moment to say something about last night's game.

Agree with everything you said in your post. In addition to Romeo and I know this goes against what a lot of other people think but I believe that Savage:( must also be looked at closely at the end of this season. He spent quite a bit of money in free agency on defense to stop the run and our run defense looks like last year's with the exception of Shaun Rogers. Our LB's and DB's are terrible when it comes to tackling and getting from sideline to sideline.

As I stated above, Harrison is not an every down back but I do think that he is being underutilized as is Cribbs.

 

[3074326]

I disagree about the clock management. If they call some good plays on their field goal drive, you know, runs, they might not have had to worry about Buffalo making a field goal. Under the two minute warning, Buffalo had one timeout left, and they call three straight passes and didn't get any yardage to make it easier on Phil.

Oh well, it worked out.

 

[Jake]

I disagree about the clock management. If they call some good plays on their field goal drive, you know, runs, they might not have had to worry about Buffalo making a field goal. Under the two minute warning, Buffalo had one timeout left, and they call three straight passes and didn't get any yardage to make it easier on Phil.

I've never seen a coach call running plays from the 40 to burn clock and position himself for a 56 yard FG. If Romeo runs two handoffs, gains 1 yard and Phil misses a 55 yarder Browns fans are calling for his head today for settling on that position instead of trying to get closer.

Passing made sense because they needed to get closer in a short period of time. Your odds of doing that are better by throwing it, which is why teams get pass happy when they need points late. It would be nice to get closer and leave 1 second on the clock but the first priority is to try to get closer, because they were trailing. Hence, they tried to pass.

It just so happened they fell incomplete, so the second guessers are having fun with it. It was the right strategy. They simply failed to execute it. Dawson bailed them out by making a helluva kick.

 

[3074326]

Fair enough.

There's a reason I'm not a coach.

 

[Piney]

I've never seen a coach call running plays from the 40 to burn clock and position himself for a 56 yard FG. If Romeo runs two handoffs, gains 1 yard and Phil misses a 55 yarder Browns fans are calling for his head today for settling on that position instead of trying to get closer.

Passing made sense because they needed to get closer in a short period of time. Your odds of doing that are better by throwing it, which is why teams get pass happy when they need points late. It would be nice to get closer and leave 1 second on the clock but the first priority is to try to get closer, because they were trailing. Hence, they tried to pass.

It just so happened they fell incomplete, so the second guessers are having fun with it. It was the right strategy. They simply failed to execute it. Dawson bailed them out by making a helluva kick.

This is what made me floored by what Buffalo did. You have a 46-49 yard field goal into the wind on a cold night. If I was the coach I try for one more first down. Especially after Romeo used a TO after a 1st down run. They could have done a play action dump pass to the TE to gain 5+ yards and maybe get another first down. Or another safe passing play (screen).

 

[LitlBuck]

This is what made me floored by what Buffalo did. You have a 46-49 yard field goal into the wind on a cold night. If I was the coach I try for one more first down. Especially after Romeo used a TO after a 1st down run. They could have done a play action dump pass to the TE to gain 5+ yards and maybe get another first down. Or another safe passing play (screen).

With our defense, we would have snuffed out any play that they would have called and tackled them for a 10 yard loss. Actually, there wasn't a distance on the FG it was the drift to the right. I was almost hoping the kick would have been good. We have to start thinking about the draft because I don't think we are going to make it to the playoffs:! so what the hell.

 

[BayBuck]

With our defense, we would have snuffed out any play that they would have called and tackled them for a 10 yard loss. Actually, there wasn't a distance on the FG it was the drift to the right.

Cleveland was pretty much only defending the run at that point and was quite ripe for a quick pass first-down, but Buffalo and Edwards were so gun-shy about passing ever since that terrible 1st quarter. If they get inside 25 or so, Lindell nails the game-winner without thinking about it; just because he missed right on a long one into the wind doesn't mean every kick would have gone right at that point in the game. Running on 2nd and 3rd down just to get maybe 3 more yards was just a terrible couple of calls.

 

[LitlBuck]

Cleveland was pretty much only defending the run at that point and was quite ripe for a quick pass first-down, but Buffalo and Edwards were so gun-shy about passing ever since that terrible 1st quarter. If they get inside 25 or so, Lindell nails the game-winner without thinking about it; just because he missed right on a long one into the wind doesn't mean every kick would have gone right at that point in the game. Running on 2nd and 3rd down just to get maybe 3 more yards was just a terrible couple of calls.

you missed my wink the Browns defense couldn't snuff out anything last night or any time this season:!

 

[614]

The problem with Harrison is that he is sort of a one dimensional back. He cannot play as a starter because he is not big enough to pick up blitzes plus at his size he would wear down pretty fast if he was the starting RB. He is more of a change of pace guy and third-down back.

Yea i agree, But he has shown nothing but good. Only 3 carries in last nights game? You have to get the ball in his hands more than that.

 

[LitlBuck]

Yea i agree, But he has shown nothing but good. Only 3 carries in last nights game? You have to get the ball in his hands more than that.

It is possible that he would have seen more playing time against the Bills but he tweaked his hamstring and that is why he didn't see more playing time.