The Browns Unleash The Storm
That result felt predictable.
This is precisely why you don’t trash talk and act too arrogant before you accomplish anything. I know Browns fans haven’t had a chance to be arrogant for a long time and really deserved a chance to look down on people, but you gotta do more than win on paper. You gotta win games. That was a gross, undisciplined smackdown that highlighted a lot of the flaws that the more arrogant fans seemed very willing to overlook because OH SHIT WE GOT OBJ AND A QUARTERBACK NOW.
First off, let’s be fair. This is one game. There is a lot of football left, and this might honestly be the precise gut-punch the team needed to put them into a better mindset than “we already great”. This team is still full of potential. It might even be a blessing to get this smackdown to earth game so early in the season instead of say, week 8. You get too uppity, the gut-punch always comes for you. Best take it and learn from it, and there is plenty to learn from the beat-down by the Titans.
For one drive, this team made me believe. Their first offensive drive was stupendous and watching it made me briefly go “oh shit, what if I was wrong to be skeptical and this team is going to be awesome?” Then they shanked the extra point and I realized I broke my own rule: The Browns are the Browns until they prove otherwise. The Titans didn’t look incredible or anything during this game and the final score is a bit lopsided. The game was fairly close for the most part and the Browns even briefly got back into it before immediately getting spanked again by an answering touchdown, at which point the wheels came off.
The Titans weren’t very good, but they controlled the line of scrimmage and Baker’s lack of O-line became extremely apparent. Baker himself put in a remarkably bad performance in the final quarter as he started forcing throws big time to make stuff happen. This sucked for the game, but I wouldn’t be too worried about it if I was a Browns fan. Baker will learn how to better control his late-game panic attempts with time. He’s a gunslinger and sometimes this just happens to gunslingers. I’d rather have a QB with a fearless attitude that keeps throwing picks than a super-safe Alex Smith-type who is too cautious to really ever take those important and necessary risks. For one thing they are more fun to watch.
The most damning thing about the game though was the penalties. The Titans, despite not playing well for a while, kept getting extra chances because the Browns were woefully undisciplined. The sloppy arrogance carried over in the worst way possible, and anyone who may have been skeptical that Freddie Kitchens might be in over his head on controlling a locker room of big personalities was proven fairly correct. Discipline is earned by controlling and coaching the little things, and Freddie needs to focus on that really hard this week. Without the 18 penalties for 182 yards, there is an extremely good chance the Browns come away with a win. Some penalties will always be kinda bullshit and undeserved, but if you get flagged 18 times, you can’t really say it was mostly the refs.
All in all, it was one game. Over-reactions to single games are par for the course in week 1. Outside O-line I didn’t really see the lack of talent that was present on most previous iterations of the Browns. This team really does have the talent required to take the next step and reach the playoffs and if they can calm down, focus, and use this loss as a learning experience, I don’t see why the hype can’t be at least partially realized.
The Factory of Sadness never truly shuts down. It just temporarily closes for renovations.
Blah blah blah, logic, rationale… BOOOHHHH-RING. But I wanna watch Baker and OBJ burn in the fiery Kitchens of Mount Doom NOOOOOOW!!!!!
If the Browns don’t beat the Jets, their schedule going forward is pretty tough.
Same could be said for the Jets, amazing how week 2 for some teams, already feels like a must-win. Chicago at Denver is another week 2 game that has that feel to it.
Week 2 for any 0-1 team, essentially.
yeah.. Steelers are in a tough spot out of the gate as well with Seattle coming into Town.
I was following the entire game while I was doing my homework. I swear every time I looked up to see what happened there was penalty against the Browns.
You missed the chance to draw OBJ’s 200K watch on the fist raising
That O-Line was bad. But hey, at least they traded that one guy to your Giants right? Also, karma to Patriots over the AB thing with the new accusations coming out? That happening right after they traded Thomas because he was “expendable with Brown on the roster”. lulz
the yellow flags are appropriate, because that standard of play was piss-poor
Without the 18 penalties for 182 yards, there is an extremely good chance the Browns come away with a win.
Yeah, I don’t think all those penalties make for a 30 point difference. Sounds like you’re still on the Browns hype train, Dave.
The Browns extended multiple Titans drives with those penalties, leading to points. The point deficit is what made Baker try to play hero ball at the end, which worked out badly. I don’t think it is unreasonable to conclude the Browns have a much better shot at winning if they didn’t keep giving the Titans chances.
I wager 182 yards + free downs I bet is something like a 3 touchdown point differential.
It was close until late in the third quarter
It’s not just the number of penalties or number of yards, but when and where they take place. A 10 yard holding call on 1st down (on the offensive side of the ball) won’t have as much of an effect on the score as a 15 yard PI on 3rd down. The former might stall drives, the later definitely extends them.
I disagree with the notion that the browns shouldn’t trash talk because they actually don’t look any worse than they have been. This kind of embarrassing loss is just the status quo, so they have nothing to lose but games. Dignity is a fantasy for the browns and they can’t lose what they don’t have.
They now face their spiritual ancestors, the Jets. Remember:
When you’re a Jet, you’re a Jet all the way.
Even old butt fumbles make your kicks go astray….
Say what you will about penalties extending drives, but that Derrick Henry 75 yard TD sure made that Browns defense look beatable. I feel like the Ravens are going to eat the brownies alive.
That was bad. Penalties sunk the defense, but injuries sunk the offense. Robinson getting ejected weakened the line, and then losing their two best short field possession guys to injuries in the third quarter forced the offense to slow down, which is a lethal combination for any QB.
I bet Baker really wishes he had Joe Thomas
so glad you’re NOT going into Antonio Brown’s Wild Ride
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
Greatest troll signing of all time, Dolphins are Tanking:
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001053855/article/dolphins-resign-de-tank-carradine
Does God have money on the Browns Monday night? How the hell does an NFL QB end up with mono? How does one team lose their best players from four different units all on the same day?
There’s also an epic joke about the Browns banning the wrong fan, who did not even attend the game, for pouring beer on a titan’s player? A joke along the lines of punishing a random person by requiring them to attend every game or something?