By PFF. Back to having one of the more talented OLs in the NFL... along with one of the top skill groups and, as we know, a future HOFer at QB. I know it sounds like I'm kidding but I'm not (!). Oh, and last season's #4 playcaller. So if your feeling optimistic about our offense in 2020, it's not idle musing. Did I mention Bill Callahan, considering the topic?
Interesting: Both new tackles are good pass protectors but great run blockers. Bitonio and Tretter's calling card is pass-blocking. I mean, they're good all the way around but elite pass blockers, like top 3 at their positions over the past several years.
Odd, feels inside out, but likely just the stuff of COVID noodling. I do like that Teller is a Callahan favorite and gorilla strong with a nasty streak. Feels like the right final piece.
Thoughts?
We had a good OL last year, metrically speaking did we not? The real problem was Baker's very repetitive way of playing once he stopped 'sticking to the script' if you will. But to dip from 23rd to 6th is something we can look to as a net positive regardless of that. https://www.dawgsbynature.com/2020/1/2/21046532/cleveland-browns-offensive-line-takes-big-drop-in-pff-rankings
A couple of turnstiles at the tackle positions last year didn't help the right guard position AT ALL. With the tackles upgraded AND the addition of one of the best OL coaches in the business, I can predict of top 5 OL unit.
Book it, Dano.
23rd is really rough for a team with playoff aspirations and a young QB, especially in the clusterfuck sitch of 2019. Did anyone know that OBJ was like 89th in average separation?! I mean, you're #1 WR never gets open because he's dinged, that's a horrible place to start.
Then add in one of the worst offensive designs I've ever seen, and jawdroppingly bad playcalling... I MIB'd it, just waved the wand in front of my own face as far as Baker goes.
I had defended the tackles the season before, especially Greg. But I got the full deep dish watching Jake Burns videos. It was so bad.
Bullseye.
Baker's forte is not the seven step drop and count the house type passes. It's the 3 to 5 step and ball's out quick.
How did Freddie get so stupid in one offseason?
Classic example of asking a guy to do way too much, but we've seen it before with new coaches putting too much on their plate and being overwhelmed. Surrounding yourself with sycophants instead of people who might hold you to task too, not saying that was the case here but the staff under Coach Kitchens seemed really buddy buddy. The OL/scheme issues, as noted you two dudes said it best. What blows my mind is in spite of the troubles, we still had Nick Chubb up in this mah setting records and shit.
One of the assertions to come out of recent football data analysis out there is this: the relationship between PFF pass rush grade to effectiveness at stopping the pass is pretty weak. The explanation they gave is this: if you're playing an experienced QB who has a decent sense of when to get the football out and a proactive scheme that gets the ball out quick. looks out for that, you can pretty well compensate for an overwhelmed offensive line. So 23rd is below average, but can be compensated for.
And in the face of our below-average offensive line, did we compensate for it? They did! As Shep says, the whole rest of the offense decided they would try to make the O-line look better by making sure *everything* looked terrible, Baker included and foremost. That's leadership, making sure no one picks on the line by ensuring the blame could be distributed elsewhere.
To be clear, I'm going to ask Shep to hook me up with that amnesia beam, because I agree that everything was abnormal about last year, and I still have confidence in Baker, and I'm pinning everything on the coaching staff, Baker's disastrous play included. Jake Burns' ongoing excellent breakdowns of 'what the hell is this anti-scheme' last year provided more concrete examples than I want to dive into or think about the disaster that was gameday specifics (as I said, my memory is being wiped).
But even the attitude of the team was weird. Even those of us bullish on Freddie thought we were getting something different from most NFL coaches. We were right! You would never see the following quotation from any other NFL team (This is Nick Chubb on the 2019 season).
“I said it before, I think we thought we were a lot better than we were. We thought it was going to just happen for us, we didn’t actually put the work in. We got this guy, and this guy, you know we’re straight, so we don’t need to actually work, it’s going to happen for us.”
https://dawnofthedawg.com/2020/05/04/nick-chubb-browns-2019/
Normally, I would say quotations about Team Attitude don't matter, because they're usually the same quotations about 'we focused and had a good gameplan, just couldn't execute' or whatever. 'We didn't execute' or 'they were ready for our scheme' or 'they covered our guys' or 'we ran the ball up 7 in the 4th with 5 minutes left and thought it'd be fine' is - sure, that's fine.
The reason I fixated on this one is because it's one you just *never* see from an NFL team. 'We didn't put in the work' or isn't that uncommon from a lower level of football - but the NFL? From a group of players that fought their entire lives to get to this point? That only happens if you have a coaching staff that completely failed to set the basic framework of culture and expectations that we take for granted from (all other) NFL coaches.
'You can't pin it all on Freddie' - can and will! Beam me up.
Also, we need more people! Not a ton but more. I'll be thinking on it, some people who'd slipped away from boards that went bad, I'd love to find them.
Everyone I'd think to recruit is already here but I'll keep an eye out.
Baker was great at climbing the pocket in his rookie year, but he had an elite interior 3 with Bitonio, Tretter, and Zeitler. The RG carousel (which reportedly) started causing him to bail out backwards during preseason last year, which then played into G-Robs weakness ... being end-around-ed.
When the interior 3 was stout, then G-Bob's strength mattered, in that he rarely was bullrushed, which gave Baker the confidence to stick-&-fire it.
That's my 2 cents anyway.
BTW, I'd love to see (and might get together) a PFF ranking for all of our groups.
OL
DL
RB's (duh, numero uno)
QB
WR's
TE's
LB's (duh, bottom quarter)
CB's
S's
Specials
Although, this highs are easy to see, and so are the lows, and the inbetweens are whatevs.
Ocon. you beat me to it. Baker NEEDS a solid middle of the OL. If pass rushers can come up the middle, he can't see over them and tends to either chuck it, or role out a bit too fast. With the WZB scheme, the T's don't have to be as good in 'traditional' pass blocking because the passes look like runs. So if we can steam roll a team for a series or two...the pass pro becomes that much more effective.
Okay, this is the good stuff. Great points on the interior and how it made Robinson look competent. Didn't Bitonio have a pretty rough year, too?
Bitonio was covering for Robinson all year...which is why he looked rough....and made Robinson look competent. Bitonio was getting beat by inside moves because he was leaning outside. Watch the tape close, you can see him hedge.
It does greatly excite me to think of what Chubb might look like behind a competent OL...
Chubb giving you a chub???
Ask me again around week 4 lol
Somewhat related: Ranking the skill groups around the league as the prime five, Bucky Brooks ranked the Browns #1.
I mean, Chubb/Hunt/Jarvis/OBJ/Hooper? Has to be #1.
Add a record setting QB from season 1, and now a smart HC.
There is really only one reason this season shouldn’t be a success, and that’s if CoVid picks us apart all year.
Depth, which we have pretty much everywhere on offense, is super important for 2020, as we all know.
Its one of the reasons AB was smart to hang on to vets like Lamm & Hubbard.
But that has us haning on the hope Baker hasn't regressed, or entrenched in bad habits during last year, and can be coached back to something resembling the QB we all gushed over his rookie year. A better OL should help and like I said re: Chubb, there's a lot to be excited about. I need football. I just did a madden roster edit lmao
Just don't have the slightest concern over Baker. I think he's a legit top 10 NFL passer, almost certainly top 5, and last year was the anomaly. We have more than enough explanations... including Baker showing up with his hair still blowing back from his last photo shoot. But he walked into a chipper.
I'm 100% with Orlavsky, who's taking bets on more than 25 and less than 10. That last one is aggressive, but shows that Orlavsky knows the offense well. Baker is a more talented thrower than either Cousins or Garoppolo, and I think that's a pair of damn good QBs.
I fully expect at or near 70%, over 7.5, over 30, and under 15.
The 12 man O-line room is, since Forbes and Drobeck have opted out ...
LT: Wills, Lamm, Taylor
LG: Bitonio, Gossett
C: Tretter, Harris, Brown
RG: Teller, Pridgeon
RT: Conklin, Hubbard
(pre-Forbes opt-out, some projections had us keeping 9)
Hmmm, maybe ...
OT's: Conklin, Wills, Lamm, Taylor
G's: Bitonio, Teller, Hubbard
C's: Tretter and Harris
With Hubbard able to play every position, and Harris likely able to do all IOL's. Might be 1 OT too heavy.
I think Harris is going to be groomed for G/C. I think Hubbard is going to be our swing T. Likely winner in this is Gossett, as he has 2yrs experience and plays IOL.
It's nice, including depth. Just like the interior of the DL.