Basically, the Browns are just better than we are .... team and coaches and QB. Our intensity went South after the 1st quarter. Is this a sign of the team's lack of confidence in themselves and their coaches? WR - Grade = C+. They weren't bad but, they weren't as good as they should be. Our WR's have shown the ability to be an elite group and they need to bring it every game. AJ didn't bring it today. Was part of that scheming and the coaches (and AJ's) inability to adjust during the game? TE - Grade= B. Yes, OD fumbled the ball but, that didn't cost us the game. They did a better job of getting him involved today. Oline - Grade= C. Running game was okay, pass protection a little shaky. Our oline is what it is ... mediocre on its better days. QB - Grade = C-. Last week Matt looked pretty good .... today he looked pretty mediocre. Today, as in most games, he under threw passes, stepped right into a sack, missed open receivers, etc. I am beginning to think that he cannot put the team on his shoulders and win games. He has to be a manager surrounded by very good playmakers on the line, WR, and RB .... and a good scheme and coaches able to adjust during the game. Looks to me like the only one he has are the WR's. Matt Schaub, 9 TD's & 9 INT's ....... Derek Anderson, 22 TD's & 11 INT's ........ no Matt Schaub is not our savior and never will be. RB - Grade= C+. Running game was okay but, for PETE's sake, please never pitch the ball to Dayne again like ANYBODY in the whole world believes he can run outside!! This is not good coaching ... period. I told you that EchoDude would be forever banned to the bench didn't I? We are now forever stuck with Ron Dayne until he dies or Kubes moves on. FB - Grade= C. Good blocking but, I feel we are under utilizing our talent here. DLine - Grade= C-. Yes, MW got a sack ... only because he was totally not blocked ... the 1st Brown to touch him was the QB. Last week I talked about consistency and the only thing consistent about our dline is inconsistency. Basically, our dline from end to end is mediocre, and that's a fact. If you noticed, when the Browns put pressure on Schaub they were hitting him. When we put pressure on Anderson, it was because we were getting close ...... a HUGE difference. MLB - Grade= C+. Demeco made some plays but, was tackling down field too often. OLB - Grade= D. Did they play today? CB - Grade= C-. Too much space between them and the WR's. The Brown's DB's were generally all over our receivers, our DB's were just somewhere in the immediate vicinity. S - Grade= C-. See CB above. ST - Grade= D-. The only positive ... we didn't allow a big return. Coaching - Grade= C-. Offensive scheme improving overall but, inability to adjust to the game on both sides of the ball is apparent. Pitching to Dayne to run outside... are you kidding me? Did the Bears ever pitch to the Frig to run outside? Just plain ole bad coaching. You know, back in the old days, when teams ran the ball 2/3 of the time and threw only when they had to a defense could be a "bend don't break" style and be effective. But, with today's high powered offenses they just pick defenses like that apart and march up and down the field and slowly kill you. Get my point? I can now see the team between 7-9 and 8-8 and, despite my complaining, we are better than the past few years. Okay that's my take on it, what's yours?
To put it simply Team - F Somebody really needs to take over the duty of throwing the challenge flag, or at least hide it from Kubiak. For some positive, Bennett had a great game. He always seems to get injured though.
(1) Turnovers - they really looked flat after the OD fumble. Without the turnovers, we would still have a chance to win this game despite the poor play. (2) No Running Game - Face it. Dayne is not going to put any fear in a defense. They basically ignored any play action and just kept putting pressure on Schaub. Kub must not have any confidence in Joe or Darius (did he suit up today?) because Ron got all the carries. Not even sure if Green is the answer because he hasn't played enough. We need a stud running back for this offense to work. (3) No Stoppa da Run - Lewis looked like an All-Pro again. LB's and CB's were playing way off of anybody. Nobody in the box to stop the run and playing way to far off the receivers. Winslow killed us. (4) Schaub looked tentative on his throws. Instead of getting the ball out, he was always waiting for someone to come open. On network TV you can't see what the receivers are doing but it really seemed like they were being well covered. Since he an AJ didn't hook up much, I'm assuming that was the case. (5) WTF with Turk? Has Stanley been reincarnated? A phantom injury we haven't been informed of? He just looks awful. We're still a much better team than last year and I still believe we're on the right track. Ain't gonna win them all but we'd have a much better chance if we could correct number (1).
