Browns move ball but defense dominated by Bengals

by Cleveland Frowns on September 17, 2012

“The Browns’ young secondary battled, but was strained by the loss of Haden to his suspension and Brown to a neck stinger.” — Mary Kay Cabot

“Last week [against the Ravens] was just bad. This week some of the [Browns' longer gains] were checkdowns that we missed.” — Bengals cornerback Leon Hall

“I wish I had a dollar for every hour I put in this week.” — Brandon Weeden

—————

Somebody please give Brandon Weeden $100.

Yesterday in Cincinnati the Browns looked much more like the team that folks expected them to be in 2012; one that could move the ball with an improved rushing attack, but would suffer mostly because of an inability to keep its opponents from scoring. Brandon Weeden looked OK yesterday, much improved from his Week 1 nightmare, and Trent Richardson showed why everyone called him the best running back to come into the NFL since Adrian Peterson. It was a sight for the sorest eyes.

But the Bengals still held the lead for the entire game after going up 7-0 when Adam Jones returned the Browns’ first punt for a touchdown.

You can’t get far in the Cleveland papers this morning without hearing about Joe Haden and how much the Browns missed him. But nobody’s asking how much better the Browns offense looked thanks to the Bengals having to adjust to the midweek loss of their best linebacker and leading tackler, Thomas Howard, for the season after he tore his ACL on Thursday. With their best pass rusher, Carlos Dunlap, still missing, as well as their top draft pick, corner Dre Kirkpatrick, Cincinnati was missing impact players at all three levels of the defense. They had a short week coming off a Monday night beatdown in Baltimore, and as noted above, Leon Hall attributed a significant part of the Browns offensive success to basic defensive breakdowns.

The Bengals didn’t get much pressure on Weeden, and the majority of his completions were made to open receivers, with the touchdown pass to Greg Little looking like especially bad blown coverage (hopefully we’ll hear more from Rod on this later in the week). But last week, these were the throws Weeden was missing badly, and the good thing about having a back like Trent Richardson on your team is that he’s hard to handle even on those checkdowns, which opens things up for everything else. And Weeden did complete a couple of throws while he was being hit.

On the other side of the ball, D’Qwell Jackson had another great game, with half of the Browns six sacks against a patchwork Bengals o-line that’s sent two starters to the IR since the preseason. Joe Reedy of the Cincinnati Enquirer notes that “most of the sacks were due to the Browns coverage,” suggesting that it was feast or famine for the young secondary. Despite the six sacks, Dalton still went for 318 yards, 3 touchdowns, and a 128.2 rating, and after the first quarter, every time the Browns closed within one score, the Bengals responded with a scoring drive of their own.

Along with the special teams breakdown, penalties were another Shurmurball hallmark that came back to haunt the Browns yesterday, and now they’re one eighth of the way to 0-16. As exciting as it is that folks this morning are regretting sitting Weeden and Richardson in their fantasy leagues, the Bengals won nine real games last season with their pair of rookie playmakers. Next week it’s back to Browns Stadium where the Browns need one badly against the Buffalo Bills and C.J. Spiller, who’s averaging 10 yards per carry.

We’re hosting a tailgate this Sunday in the Muni Lot with at least two aggressive participants already lined up for a chili cookoff, so stay tuned for details here on that and we’ll have more about yesterday’s game through the week.

  • manc

    Gotta ask, how can Weeden be so woefully unprepared one week and then vastly improved the next? Understand that the Bengals were shorthanded on D but still…

    • reggiebuckeye

      Derek Anderson Part Deux?

      More concerned with our lack of ability to scheme for the lack of Haden and Brown. NFL teams find ways to win with injuries. The Bengals third and fourth string WRs had no problem making our second string look juvenile. That is bad coaching or bad depth. Maybe even a mixture of both. The Cleveland excuse machine needs to stop. We got beat because we were not prepared for the team we faced. Shurmur is on the hook for this loss more than Haden.

      • BIKI024

        you have to give credit to the Bengals receivers as well, they made some big plays and made everyone look foolish with their quickness. who knows if we would’ve been able to defend better with Joe and Sheldon anyhow.

        but we made some big plays as well, but in the end, the Bengals made just a couple more and that was the difference in the game.

        but there were some positives from the defense:
        Bengals were 4-12 on 3rd downs
        6 sacks and 6 QB hits

    • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

      A couple things here:

      1) Asomugha and Rogers-Cromartie are worlds better than anything Cincinnati would trot out in their secondary.

      2) Andy Dalton is a flat out better passing quarterback than Mike Vick ever was or will be. They did a good job of pressuring Vick and making him throw on the run, which he’s terrible at.

    • ClevelandFrowns

      Yeah, Weeden has a long way to go still before we can forget about Week 1, but the Eagles gave Flacco a hard time yesterday as well.

      • BIKI024

        the same Joe Flacco that the media seemed to anoint as an MVP candidate after one week.

  • BIKI024

    OOGEY BOOGEY! that was a brutal fumble

    • actovegin1armstrong

      You’re Jokin’. You’re Jokin’.
      I can’t believe my ears
      Would someone shut this fella up
      I’m drowning in my tears

      • BIKI024

        ha, i take it you googled Oogey Boogey? (my nickname for Ogbonnaya)

        • actovegin1armstrong

          No Biki,
          I did not have to google it.
          If you heard my voice you would understand.
          I played Oogie Boogie in a stage adaptation of Nightmare.
          I sang that song 4 times a week for a long time.
          I really did appreciate it when you celebrated Mr Ogbonnaya by giving him a terrific nickname last year.
          I do not know why Frownie got upset about it.

          • actovegin1armstrong

            I wish the Browns would move him back to WR.
            He may have the best pass catching hands on the team.

          • ClevelandFrowns

            PICS OR IT DIDNT HAPPEN.

          • dubbythe1

            my son recently turned 20, and Nightmare was and still is his favorite movie.

          • acto

            My best friend recently turned 51 and Nightmare is still her favorite movie. She dressed up last year as for Halloween and Christmas as an amazingly, attractive and alluring Sally.
            Your son has good taste.
            I saw the exhibit at The McNay in San Antonio, it was terrific. Check it out if you can.

  • BIKI024

    as Frownie mentioned above, the Bengals defense was depleted of most of their top-tier talent, whereas the Eagles are stacked and did a decent job against the Ravens offense who everyone was annointing as SB champs after one big week of offense against the same Bengals

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Craig Lyndall

    This game was the ultimate mixed bag. Bad special teams and penalties crush a fan’s soul. Trent Richardson was fun to watch. Interesting notes about the Bengals and their injuries, but also this…

    Your points about the Browns being especially bad last year because they didn’t play any good teams and especially no good quarterbacks stands for the nine-win Bengals too, BTW.

    The Bengals are a superior team to the Browns right now, but they’re far from good based on last year’s record.

    They beat the Browns twice, Bills, Gabbert-Jags, Painter-Colts, Tarvaris Jackson-Seahawks (with Marshawn Lynch so they at least accomplished that,) Rams by 7, Skelton-Arizona by 7. The only real quality win the Bengals had in 2011 was against a Tennessee team that crushed the Browns.

    That just goes to show how much or how little Browns fans should be enjoying themselves after yesterday’s game. When the bar is as low as it has been in CLE for the past decade, watchable football feels victorious. That’s sad, but at least it’s watchable right?

    It isn’t like we actually have a choice to not watch it. :-)

    • ClevelandFrowns

      Agreed that last season’s 9 wins doesn’t mean the Bengals are a great team and agreed that the bar is too low here, but the Browns were plenty watchable in 2010.

      • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Craig Lyndall

        Who said anything about 2010?

        • ClevelandFrowns

          You said, “when the bar is as low as it has been in CLE for the past decade, watchable football feels victorious.”

      • maxfnmloans

        too many field goals in 2010. We’d like to score touchdowns

        /Daquiri’d

      • Henry Brown

        For 2 games

  • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

    I think people talk about missing Haden because his absence was due to self inflicted drug abuse, not a random injury that every team goes through.

  • Bryan

    I think Weeden deserves a little more credit. Both sides can lament their various injuries and various “breakdowns,” but when an NFL QB completes over 70% of his passes for over 300 yards with no turnovers, he played very well. The fact that such a performance comes after such a bad performance, and in only his 2nd NFL game, makes it more impressive.

    I am not saying Weeden has proven himself for good, but he did show a lot yesterday. He made some tight throws and some good reads, showed great arm strength and accuracy, and even took a few hits on the chin.

    I was impressed…

    The Defense: not so much. That was frustrating to watch. Interestingly, Shurmur said Shelden Brown was ready to play but he CHOSE to play Skrine. I am not sure if this is true (maybe Shurmur was just trying to support Skrine to the media), but if it is, then the PD’s excuses about DB injuries really falls on deaf ears – we were missing one guy and we fell apart. That is the sign of a weak Defense. To Shurmur’s credit, he said as much in his Presser.

    • ClevelandFrowns

      I guess Brown was hurt but they kept him active and put him in for one play to keep his consecutive games streak alive.

    • actovegin1armstrong

      I wonder if Coach Pat was looking on that 31 yard pass interference penalty? Maybe he did not see it like the Harrison on McChips play last year.
      Skrine looked like a kindergarten kid hanging on to his mom while she tries to drop him off for the first day of school.
      Skrine was still wrapped around the receiver until he took off his pads after the game.

  • Beeej

    I am reminded of the 2010 Cleveland Browns. There I said it. At least we’re battling.

    • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

      One glaring issue I have with this statement is that the 2010 Browns didn’t sniff a game with 100 yards in penalties all year. The 2012 Browns have already done it twice.

      They won’t win a game all season if they continue down this path. They aren’t good enough to win games when they give up an entire football field’s worth of penalties every week.

      • ClevelandFrowns

        Technically the Browns only gave up 35 penalty yards in week 1 but I see your point.

        • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

          Yeah I read the box wrong for Philly. Oops.

      • Beeej

        What Frowns said.

  • GrandRapidsRustlers

    At least we know we do not have a Gabbert on our hands…

    That’s a victory right? Is there a way we can schedule Jacksonville this year. I really want to see that guy again.

    Richardson is a man and will steal a game for us this year. The question is which one.

  • http://twitter.com/clevezirm Jordan Zirm

    I like Tom Heckert and think he is a pretty competent guy, which is a strong statement when you count all the buffoons walking through Berea who have called themselves talent evaluators. But his work with the secondary has been far from stellar. Watching guys like Eric Hagg, Trevor Wade, Buster Skrine and others run around the field like a chicken with its head cut off yesterday was incredibly alarming. Joe Haden is one man. Sheldon Brown has about ten games left in him until his legs turn into dust. Heckert has swung and missed with the secondary depth.

    Having said that, real encouraging to see Weeden bounce back and play like that after having the worst game in the history of games last week. I’d also let Trent Richardson take my girlfriend out on a date. Mohammed Massaquoi is quietly turning into a decent receiver, he and Weeden hooked up on some nice connections yesterday.

    I wonder what the outcome of the game would have been had Ogbonnaya not fumbled that ball after that big catch and run he had. He was out over the 50. I don’t believe the Bengals turned it into points, but that was a huge play for the Browns and it all went for naught.

    • actovegin1armstrong

      Right Jordan and I have two rather poignant words, Mo Claiborne!

  • rodofdisaster

    The first step is to compete. They did that.

    Once you can compete, you aren’t losing the game on EVERY play. You simply have to compete well enough so that the outcome of the handful of plays that determines the outcome fall in your favor.

    The Browns simply aren’t good enough to overcome a special teams TD. For that matter, they aren’t good enough to overcome 10 penalties for 103 yards or the 24 yard net punt average or the 27.5 yard kickoff return average that they gave up.

    You can point to Joe Haden all you want and he certainly could have meant the difference between winning and losing but the 22 guys out there yesterday still had a chance to win and didn’t. The defense wasn’t good enough. The STs weren’t good enough. For once, the offense was.

    I mentioned yesterday that I saw some things in the Eagles game that made me think Weeden could do well against Cincy, especially if Richardson could get going. It was progress even if our coach still can’t figure out challenge or time management.

    When was the last time you saw a box score where the leading passer, rusher and receiver in the game were all Cleveland guys?

    • actovegin1armstrong

      “When was the last time you saw a box score where the leading passer, rusher and receiver in the game were all Cleveland guys?”

      Come on Rod’o, it happens every year, you should know better than that, it is called an inter-squad scrimmage.

    • vespo09

      I don’t have an answer to your question (yet), but I do know that the last time the Browns had a QB throw for over 300 yards and a RB run for 100 in the same game was that 51-45 win over the Bengals in week 2 of 2007.

      • wiseoldredbeard

        That is ridiculously depressing.

    • http://twitter.com/cpmack Chris M

      Nice point about the penalty yards. I should have read this before I duplicated the effort.

  • architectartvandelay

    Watch out Phil Dawson as your 13 year run as Browns offensive MVP may finally come to an end.

    • ClevelandFrowns

      HA.

    • reggiebuckeye

      Let’s give it some time before we go that far. It was one week against the Bengals. Shurmur is still around to scheme Phil back into business as well.

  • Chris P.

    Anyone else imagine Joe Haden has a giant oil painting of Joe Haden hanging in his living room, a la Burt Reynolds?

    • Beeej

      I imagine that Joe Haden has a giant oil painting of Burt Reynolds in his living room. My mind is a scary place.

  • Chris P.

    As if anyone actually gives a crap what I think, I think it’s important that we do things like correctly acknowledge that last week’s shitbag was a shitbag, and not put a giant sticky bow on it because it was a 1 point loss we could have won.

    Because doing so devalues a game in which we show actual progress in some facet of the game, as we did yesterday dis-ir-mis-mal-regardless of the final score. It doesn’t mean we’re not below average everywhere still, but this was a loss you can correctly put a Biki-face on.

    It should also be noted that everything that looked “okay” last week on defense but you knew deep down wasn’t okay… well all that stuff really wasn’t okay, and the Eagles just played offense like crap.

    • Beeej

      Liked for “put a Biki-face on.”

    • BIKI024

      the bottom line is that you play to win the game, doesn’t matter if it was a shitbag or not. no one cares how you win, just win, and as bad as we played in Week 1, we were in the lead for nearly 13 minutes of the 4th quarter and had our chances to seal it but blew it with just over 1 minute to go. frankly, this week wasn’t as painful as a loss for me, even though it seemed like we made “progress” with the offense. but a loss is a loss and it still sucked. but sure, it’s encouraging to see the offense be productive. #Biki-face!

      • Chris P.

        For a playoff team, it’s win or don’t win.

        And during any game it’s win or don’t win, I agree, shitbag or not.

        But after the game, after it’s all over.. or for a breakdown of how what you saw translates to future games it’s way more nuanced than win or lose.

        • BIKI024

          sure it’s an indicator, but hardly a predictor, just look at the teams who laid shitbags this week after looking like they were SB bound last week and vice versa. (“Baltimore is going to CRUSH Philly!!”)

          every week is a different situation: different matchups, different schemes, different output levels from the players, different health of players, and this year especially, different calls from the referees.

  • BIKI024

    Hillis Update #2: pretty good statistically, but 1 HUGE goalline lost fumble, but still put up 11 carries for 66 and 2 catches for 25 yards.

    • reggiebuckeye

      You do know he’s no longer on the team. He wasn’t last year either, but at least he was on our roster.

      • BIKI024

        Wait, he’s no longer on our team??? DERP

        • reggiebuckeye

          I’m well aware you know that. I’m not as new here as you think. Why waste the time to post it. Plenty of relevant stuff to talk about.

          • BIKI024

            after Trent’s performance yesterday, as well as another Hillis fumble (on the goalline no less), in addition to all the folks who were pining for the Browns to re-sign Hillis, I think it’s plenty relevant.

          • reggiebuckeye

            So, now we’re omparing stat lines of every free agent we let go to the current player on the roster week by week? That could get nasty and depressing.

          • Alexb

            a backfield of Hillis and Richardson would make us playoff contenders. If he would be apt to come back and him and Richardson would be cool with splitting carry’s….omg. Both those guys run so hard that neither of em is gonna be all that healthy at the end of seasons if they’re doing all the lifting

          • ClevelandFrowns

            Would rather see a backfield of Richardson and Vickers.

          • BIKI024

            nope just Hillis.

          • reggiebuckeye

            Ok. That shouldn’t be too depressing on the Browns fan depression scale. Might be the only way we win anything this season.

  • Brian Sipe

    Yes, this is tricky. I loved the fact that Richardson looks so good and that the O moved the ball. On the other hand I cannot beleive year 3 of the famed Holmgren regime. The very one that was to have us at least making a playoff run by now, that we are celebrating moral victories. No less against a team with tons of injuries on D and a short week to prepare.

    • BIKI024

      now Now NOW!!!! Baby steps Uncle Mikey.. while it was only one game and against a depleted defense, it was encouraging to see the Browns offense perform as it did. been quite a long time since we put up those type of numbers, and we’ve played against plenty of injury riddled teams in the past and put up dogshit numbers. Now let’s see if they can perform this way consistently, which will result in celebrating more actual victories than moral ones..

      • Steve

        What baby steps have been made? We’re still a 4 win team. This is year three, and we are not going to be one inch closer to the playoffs than we were under Mangini. One week where you don’t embarrass yourself (against a team that is only mediocre when healthy) is not evidence that the ship has been righted.

        • BIKI024

          well, for one it would be nice to go into a season knowing we have a legit NFL QB and RB, that would be a first in nearly 25 years. so yes, baby steps in that we may have that in Brandon and Trent, but time will tell if we can progress from baby steps to stomping in big black boots.

          i don’t care who the coach is, you’re not going to consistently win without a QB that performs in the top 15 in the league, just doesn’t happen, so hopefully we have our guy, but obviously a long way to go, hence baby steps..

        • actovegin1armstrong

          “We’re still a 4 win team”
          Steve, I assume you mean over the next three years.

  • wiseoldredbeard

    Is there anyone that can explain the Jordan Cameron situation? I find the whole things shocking, and aweing. And, why was Jackson inactive and Hardesty active? I mean, was the guy even on the field for special teams?

    • wiseoldredbeard

      PS – I know this is likely more a reflection of my suffering over the last decade than of the real likelihood for hope, but I found yesterday encouraging.

      • bupalos

        I think it’s nuts not to find yesterday encouraging. Weeden looked like a maybe and TRich looked like a yes. I’m looking at this year as how many roster spots can I check off as “occupied by playoff-level talent.” For a Weeden skeptic, which I am in spades, yesterday was actually VERY encouraging.

        • ClevelandFrowns

          COOL IT.

  • CleveLandThatILove

    The morning guys were saying the key to Trent is letting him decide where to run, that’s why the delay was working.

    Somebody (Chilly?) recognized that and went with it, and voila – greater success on the ground yesterday. Cause you know last year, when something worked we rarely saw it again.

    • Chris P.

      Oh, I think we know who.

      • CleveLandThatILove

        BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

        • Chris P.

          LOVE BUTTON

          • bupalos

            COOL IT!

  • BigDigg

    Yesterday was watchable football, so that was a huge unexpected bonus on such a gorgeous fall day.

    I’ll preface the following with this: Cincy has a way of making our putrid QB’s look downright amazing (see Holcumb, Kelly or Anderson, Derek). That said you have to tip your cap to Weeden. Dude picked himself up from last week and played a good game overall. I can see the potential there.

  • mo_by_dick

    Remember how focused Haden looked at the Indians opener? FOCUSED, MAN.

  • Alexb

    i’m ok with the game yesterday, without the punt return we probably win the game. Defensively i think they chose right in stopping the run and hoping the secondary could handle their business. I hope they do the same next week in BUffalo cause Spiller can beat us all by himself if he goes off.

    And we need to start this now….bring back Hillis to back up T-Rich. Those two guys would be the mos epic backfield in NFL history. We would punish the steelers and Ravens, even if we lost…..it would be worth seeing them snotbubbled by those two guys.

    • reggiebuckeye

      Why bring back the emotional, fumble-prone Hillis? He didn’t want to be here and he’s not worth what KC is paying him. Time to move forward in our depressing thinking, not back.

      • Alexb

        was he fumble prone when he was with us? I don’t remember that…..and after this season we’d likely be able to get him at a substantially reduced price. He’s not going anywhere in KC….it’s true, he might not want to come back to play for Shurm. But the offer should still be made, what’s in it for him is to run with Trent. What’s in it for Trent is to have another beast do alot of the heavy lifting throughout the season. Especially against pgh and balt. Of course i’m not so sure Shurm is committed to running. If Hillis is willing to do it though, and I hope someone can figure out a way to ask him…..an offer should be made no question. But if he’s lookin for his old deal again, well…..that’s that.

        But make no mistake Richardson will wear down by the end of the season….why? Cause as soon as Weeden starts sucking Shurm is gonna run Trich into the ground to try to hide his draft pick.

        • reggiebuckeye

          Eight fumbles his first season with us makes him fumble-prone in my eyes. His second season was pretty much a wash. It was like he wasn’t even there.

  • Art_Brosef

    Re: Leon Halls comments, color me shocked an opposing DB who’s secondary just got beat up pretty handily didnt want to give praise to the opposing team, much less a rookie QB. Good grief.

    The bottom line with Weeden is that he played exceptionally well, much better than expected, especially considering his prior weeks performance. I, for one, am also inclined to give a rookie QB making his first NFL start a little more leeway in terms of their performance. In terms of a rebound game, you couldnt have asked for anything more dissirregardless of their opponent. Obviously, the jury is still way out and he still needs to prove himself. But as for yesterday, he met the challenge.

  • nj0

    During the opener, I was telling some non-Browns football fans how my expectations (and, I’m guessing, those of most Browns fans) have been diminished so much that even the most basic of football occurrences please me greatly. My brain is now conditioned to respond to the regular — first downs, non-fumbled snaps, a tackle — with increases in dopamine, serotonin, and other monoamine nuerotransmitters known to cause what humans describe as “happiness”.

    I kept coming back to that conversation as I watched he Browns get beat by an injured team that is (imo) in the bottom half of the league.

    Despite yet another loss to a division rival, watching the Browns not be completely terrible in one of the three phases of the game was an ecstasy-inducing experience. If I wasn’t saddled with self-awareness, I might be okay with this. Instead, reflecting on the state of things just depressed me greatly.

    And not normal “my team sucks” depression, but more like that kind of depression where you call in sick from work even though you’ve got a really important report to work and then you just stay in bed all day while eating spaghettios and watching old Fall Guy episodes on those DVDs you checked out from the library.

    • BIKI024

      i know the feeling, it blows. but I’ve found that as of late (since last November), the anecdote for the Brownie Blues is to wager on them.. 5-0-1 in ATS in last 6, 7-1-1 in last 8. Weeden would’ve been my hero if he hit Josh Gordon there on that slant on 2nd last pass to keep the winning streak going!

    • Beeej

      Despite yet another loss to a division rival, watching the Browns not be completely terrible in one of the three phases of the game was an ecstasy-inducing experience. If I wasn’t saddled with self-awareness, I might be okay with this. Instead, reflecting on the state of things just depressed me greatly.

      Agreed. Although I prefer, “The Six Million Dollar Man.”

  • Petefranklin

    changing my cheddar bay all play to hotlanta!

  • Kamov

    Well, this article is just a goldmine of uh, bath salts? #amidoingitright
    http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2012/09/cleveland_browns_desperate_to.html

    Some gems:
    -Pat Shurmur is a business major who doesn’t like statistics and doesn’t get it.

    -Browns have issues comprehending reality (aka they are thinking playoffs).

    -D’Qwell is indicating there’s already a feeling that the season is over in the locker room.

    -Buster Skrine challenges, not battles.

    Anyway, desperation or not, I think Buffalo is a team the Browns can beat.

    • BIKI024

      i suggest listening to the actual pressers than trying to “read between the lines” of anything put out by MKC or the anyone from the PD for that matter. D’Qwell’s body language is must more positive than it comes off in the article.

  • Dinger63

    I’d throw the doucher a hunge if he could win a game. Seriously. Both sides of the ball and the forgotten step-sister (special teams) need to join arms and launch their potential in one unified effort. Then we’d been pulling in the same direction and escape the top ten 2013 draft. The Holmgren machine is starting to whir and patience is the watchword now more than before when it was just a platitude for the masses and believers.

  • Warburton MacKinnon

    I really want to know why everyone thinks DQ is a good player, I watched the game yesterday…he took himself out of position at least 3 times, and probably more that I missed. One time he would have stopped a play,but because of him moving he didn’t even warrent a block. DQ is not,has not been,and never will be a good middle LB…he is better in a 4-3 than a 3-4 but so fucking what. He is not a good linebacker..I don’t get why everyone thinks he is good or great, he is at best seviceable…he has improved but is not good.

    • Alexb

      You did see they stopped the Bengals from running right? And they were doing it with mainly their front 7. That’s on DQ mate. He’s the boss. He looked pretty good to me, as did all the LB’ers, in both games. We got torched by a “very” good passing attack and still only lost by a TD cause special teams couldn’t stop an over the hill ex con.

  • Warburton MacKinnon

    Maybe porn will cheer me up!

  • http://profile.yahoo.com/BQTEGZW3BCTX4ZDEN4PVU4GBBM Ed

    Glad to see the majority of the cleveland media is ‘encouraged’ by these two losses. Total change in tone and tenor from the prior HC, but of course I expected nothing less. This team will be 0-5 about the time the Haslam Hammer can ‘legally’ start its flushing of these turds. In the famous words of Bart Scott, CAN’T WAIT!
    Mike, Dover

Previous post:

Next post: