I'll start: First, we're SO banged up. We're missing no fewer than six "starters," including most of the SEC: Delpit, Mack, Phillips, Greedy (that's 4!), Vernon, and KJ. That's SIX GUYS, five of them tasked with covering people, something we're struggling with (except avoiding big plays).
BTW, we're avoiding big plays partially because teams are scheming against Garrett, who wins fast, by getting the ball out. It was clear the Bengals knew they couldn't wait for stuff to develop, something Aikman pointed out. If you can take a lead, it's so hard for teams to come back with sustained drives. So many chances for a holding penalty or turnover.
Orlovsky pointed out that you're seeing how the Browns want to win, which is to be much like last year's Titans, especially after they figured it out with Tannehill: Take play-action shots to take the lead, turn MG loose, and run the fuck out of the ball. They, along with SF/Minn, are our precedents for this O.
But back to the defense: Two guys outside of the stars who looked really good to me last night were Gustin and Malcolm Smith. I doubt they'll fall out of the rotation. I saw a lot of Tweets about Clayborn being as good or better than Vernon but that misses the point: Having both of them on the field at the same time causes serious trouble.
We have that to start with, an outstanding DL that's shutting down the run and scaring teams into playing the short game with the pass. Now we need to cover, especially TEs.
I know Sendejo piled up tackles but unless I missed it, I don't think our safeties defended a pass (corners had 3 each, that's a lot). I could be wrong, but it feels like Joseph and Harrison will be the starters sooner than later.
Getting Greedy and KJ back is the biggest issue of all, though. We need to get our deep depth off the field, like Thomas. He's not good. Not sure what that says about MJ or AJ but holy crap. Seeing Ward, Greedy, and KJ out there is gonna be a breath of fresh air. All three are likely to be out there a ton, and we'll settle into the 2-LB plan. Mack Wilson was thought to be LB1 by a lot of insiders, so when he's right, thinking he and Malcolm are the guys you want out there on passing downs. BJ is still a 2-down guy to my eye.
The Delpit loss was ginormous. Keep reading he had Joe Woods rubbing his hands together, wanted to move him all over the place. I have no idea what's going on with Redwine, but we should still be functional and maybe even good at safety once Harrison settles in.
Bottom line: The Browns offense is gonna keep getting better and the defense has been playing with about half its starters. If you have them on your schedule moving forward, you already missed your best chance to beat them.
PS: Just read Sobo saying Tavierre Thomas has been just horrible and the Bengals were targeting him all night. So if we're looking for one definitive improvement, that's up there with getting Sendejo out (for me).
He says they need to try MJ but I'm hoping it's Denzel, Greedy, KJ, and Mitch playing corner for the rest of the season.
Talking to myself: Stef just said Greedy, KJ, and Mack are all "on track" to play a week from Sunday. That would be amazing. Get those three back and work Harrison into the starting lineup, it's looking much better.
Our Special Teams need to improve at lot! We need a top 'gunner' who dominates. Pfiefer I'm sure is doing his best as he has been mentioned in the past as one of the top ST coach in the league. Bengals had what two 42 yard returns last night and that's not too good unless your receiving team's QB and Burrow took good advantage of not having to start drives from his 15 yard line for example. jmho
Stabber, my man!
Glad to see you adding your thoughts. And they are spot on.
You absolutely hit the 🎯. Prefer has been regarded as one of the best in the business. We saw an instant improvement in that unit when he took over last year.
But week one this they were a direct and indirect reason of why we got annihilated in Charm City. Everyone is feeling good we just scored to draw closer to the Rats - then Siebert gakks the XP! Good feeling officially gone. Then the missed FG, and we didn't cover worth a dime....
It continued last night. In addition to the two returns you mentioned, Parkey, after we went up 35-23, immediately boots the kickoff out of bounds. Gave the Bengals the ball at the 40. Which let them back into the game, and darn near cost us the game.
That simply, CANNOT, happen at the NFL level. My prediction? A different kicker finishes the year with the Browns.
The Browns are an EXTREMELY YOUNG team...and that means the ST unit is full of guys with little to no experience. It will take time, but it will improve. Let's just hope it doesn't cost us games before then.
As for the D...we need our starters back. Period. The only part of our D that is close to healthy is the line, so when we get Mack, Greedy and KJ back the D should make a quantum leap in ability.
Until all of our defensive starters began quietly disappearing from practice, I figured we'd have a good to "damn good" defense. It always starts with the DL and I had us top 5 there... and thought our top 4 CBs wouldn't be far off that.
And then I guessed that we'd find a couple safeties and a couple LBs who could play with the other 7 dudes. Redwine came on, I like Joseph, Delpit was a great pick, I saw us getting much better at safety before the rook got hurt.
When our wounded return, I'm right back to thinking this is a 12 to 16 defense, plenty good to support what I see as a top 5 offense. You can't hold the ball long and we have great cover guys.
With Mack back, I think our LBs can be more than good enough.
I disagree. Our LB's won't be 'more than good enough', but they won't be a glaring mess either. By end of the year they MAY be good enough.
Having seen Phillips sideline to sideline speed, I still think there's a good chance that he and Wilson will be the long-term starters and everything around them can revolve. Like bringing in Malcolm Smith and BJ Goodson.
I'm not dissing Takitaki, I've read that he's playing well (I noticed Smith more last night). But I still see Wilson-Phillips happening, probably next season.
I guess we will have to "Hold on for just one more day" to see the Wilson-Phillips pairing.
Sorry, Shep - I had to. You teed that up perfectly for me.
I'd said it too many times myself, went past my quota (!!!).
BJ Goodson has a 42 PFF in coverage, 12 catches in 16 targets. It's new to him, so there's that... but this is also why the Packers took him off the field on pass downs.
Mack returning and Harrison getting up to speed might do the same here. He's really struggling.
It's like you said, a large part of this is injuries. I'm not saying we'll be the best D in the league when we start getting players back, but it should overall help alleviate a lot of the problems we're facing because it is largely the depth which is being targeted.
On the bright side, I think we're going to be alright with Wilson, Takitaki and Smith when Mack comes back. Takitaki is learning but flashing, in my opinion, while Smith took a stride from week one to week two
With safety, I am not sure what is happening. In my opinion, Sheldrick Redwine played well last year and was apparently turning in nice performances this camp. Now we're watching Sendejo suck really hard, and they won't even give Redwine an opportunity? That's frustrating me. The only think I can think of is it appears Sendejo is the main communicator on our D and perhaps they're unwilling to trust anyone else with it. With a long week, we might also see some more from Ronnie Harrison moving forward - although it appeared he gave up a TD against Cinci.
I'll forgive them the final TD because we were up 23-35 and Cinci dink-and-dunked their way down the field to put make-up on a pig with 35 seconds left. That end result was not as close as it suggests.
Overall, it was a nice job by the D. They had 316 yards on 61 passes and rushed for less than three yards per carry. That's dominant. The bigger issue; 44% on third down.
Only one turnover.
Poor red-zone efficiency.
Couldn't stack good plays enough to consistent get them in 3rd and long.
Just read Jake Burns saying the Bengals picked on Takitaki in coverage over and over and over. He and BJ aren't good at that aspect of the game and I know it was a point of emphasis in camp. Might be a matter of they are what they are.
Mack Wilson is promising for coverage even though he took some lumps last year. Read several times that he was close and then showed it off in camp. Malcolm Smith was targeted because he's healthy now and can cover. Tae and Meander are "those guys," smaller coverage LBs.
Also read that Joe's been really vanilla as they ease in on the defense, just like we have to do on offense with no preseason. We have edge rushers (including Sione), and he's known to dial up some aggressive blitz packages. It'll get nastier.
Gut says we'll see Mack and Malcolm in pass packages along with 5 DBs. In fact, one of those two might end up being a third safety along with three CBs. 2020, man... whole new ballgame.