2023-2024 Cleveland Browns Playoff Thread

[bushwick_bill]

What's the consensus on the defense? Just a bad day at the office? Did Schwartz simply get cooked? Too much reliance on Myles alone being a disrupter?

I think a good case could be made that they got fat on some shitty back up QBs and banged ups starters. Run defense was mediocre all year. Many of the vets QBs they played found ways to pick them apart. Other than Lamar in game 2, they didn't show well against better QB competition.

I'm not really worried about the offense moving forward. The number of injuries were absurd and they still functioned at pretty high level. But the way this defense seemed to be a non-100% Myles away from falling off a cliff is massively concerning to me. Seems imperative that they add to the DLine moving forward.

Was Purdy banged up, I forget... Burrow week 1 too...

 

[Chris]

Who cares how much you lose by?

We could have lost by less by not going for it on 4th down more. Would that make it less embarrassing?

The team was a shell. Fans were believing and riding a high despite the whole Cinderella story being illogical. Defense didn’t show up, washed 38 year old QB finally looked washed.

That loss wasn’t even close to cracking the embarrassing loss list.

The team wasn’t competitive. Yes, to me, that matters.

 

[chrisrich91]

The team wasn’t competitive. Yes, to me, that matters.

Last couple quarters I was looking at the field and…

LT Geron Christian
QB Joe Flacco
RT Leroy Watson IV

Idk man, I was far more devastated by the injuries this season than embarrassed by tonight’s game.

At a certain point it’s just too much. Despite the worst defensive performance of the season, we were on our way to cutting the deficit to 3 when Flacco imploded and gave them 14 points in a minute. What are you gonna do?

I’m not going to keep fighting you on this. The same reason Kevin should win COTY going away is why I wasn’t going to be up in arms about however this ride finally ended.

 

[Chris]

Last couple quarters I was looking at our backfield.

LT Geron Christian
QB Joe Flacco
RT Leroy Watson IV

Idk man, I was far more devastated by the injuries this season than embarrassed by tonight’s game.

At a certain point it’s just too much. Despite the worst defensive performance of the season, we were on our way to cutting the deficit to 3 when Flacco imploded and gave them 14 points in a minute. What are you gonna do?

I’m not going to keep fighting you on this. The same reason Kevin should win COTY going away is why I wasn’t going to be up in arms about however this ride finally ended.

Frankly, I’m not even going in on the offense. Don’t think the defense ever gave them a chance today. Was very disappointing considering they were reasonably healthy.

 

[CBBI]

What's the consensus on the defense? Just a bad day at the office? Did Schwartz simply get cooked? Too much reliance on Myles alone being a disrupter?

I think a good case could be made that they got fat on some shitty back up QBs and banged ups starters. Run defense was mediocre all year. Many of the vets QBs they played found ways to pick them apart. Other than Lamar in game 2, they didn't show well against better QB competition.

I'm not really worried about the offense moving forward. The number of injuries were absurd and they still functioned at pretty high level. But the way this defense seemed to be a non-100% Myles away from falling off a cliff is massively concerning to me. Seems imperative that they add to the DLine moving forward.

Somebody made the analogy, I think it was @Amherstcavsfan, that the Browns defense was like a pitcher with a great fastball, but nothing else.

The offenses they faced that had the schematic chops to “sit on the fastball” so to speak, could really make this defense look foolish because Schwartz really didn’t have a second pitch/adjustment to get guys out that could hit a fastball.



You see postgame quotes like these from Garrett and it’s hard to be super optimistic about Schwartz and this defense moving forward because you’re going to face the best quarterbacks and best playcallers once you get to the playoffs.

If the best player is outright saying the defense only plays one way and ultimately they’re gonna live or die with that, I dunno man…

 

[CBBI]

Was Purdy banged up, I forget... Burrow week 1 too...

Burrow definitely was. He could barely move in week 1 on that bad calf.

The 49ers game was a good performance, but it’s worth noting that Trent Williams, Deebo Samuel and Christian McCaffery all got injured during the game too.

 

[Jscc]

If the best player is outright saying the defense only plays one way and ultimately they’re gonna live or die with that, I dunno man…

I'm going to assume there's context or something to this?

If that means how it reads.. that makes me speechless in a bad way.

 

[CBBI]

I'm going to assume there's context or something to this?

If that means how it reads.. that makes me speechless in a bad way.

I don’t really like reading too much into postgame words from players.

And probably the context was Garrett trying to put the onus on the players to execute better, I’m not sure.

But the way he phrased things was very much was not confidence inspiring.

 

[The Oi]

The question from the reporter was, “ @CBBI from the RCF Browns forum says Jim Schwartz is a big dumb oaf. Agree or disagree?”

 

[Damage]

Somebody made the analogy, I think it was @Amherstcavsfan, that the Browns defense was like a pitcher with a great fastball, but nothing else.

The offenses they faced that had the schematic chops to “sit on the fastball” so to speak, could really make this defense look foolish because Schwartz really didn’t have a second pitch/adjustment to get guys out that could hit a fastball.



You see postgame quotes like these from Garrett and it’s hard to be super optimistic about Schwartz and this defense moving forward because you’re going to face the best quarterbacks and best playcallers once you get to the playoffs.

If the best player is outright saying the defense only plays one way and ultimately they’re gonna live or die with that, I dunno man…

Broncos showed the recipe on how to beat Schwartz, Rams (Jets to a lesser degree) and Texans followed suit.

The one pitch defense is a lazy analogy but if Schwartz can't get them to defend against counters, miss-directs, anything to negate their speed and aggressiveness, this defense will be a carbon copy.

Also worth noting, James Hudson, Jarren Christian, Ronnie Hickman, Kareem Hunt were vital parts to this team and they're fringe roster guys.

 

[Surge]

All that makes sense, except home games the Browns defended all that shit at a nearly historic rate. Away from home they looked lost. How is that fixed? What was the problem?

 

[SanduskyCav]

#1 in NFL turning the ball over. Miracle we made the playoffs and won 11 games doing that. We must clean that up next season because a repeat performance makes it more likely we’d lose 11 than win 11.

Flacco fit right in with those 10 picks.

 

[Phills14]

I have a god damn wedding to go to at 6pm on Saturday.

Who gets married in January?!?!?!

Who had money on me having a better time at the wedding than watching the Browns game?

 

[godfather]

Here's to hoping Watson will live up to his contract. If not, there's no much to look forward to...

It's a QB or bust league. Just look what happen to the Cowboys today. They don't have an elite QB. They are going home. GB does, they move on.

Texans have their guy. Flacco overachieved, but honestly, he's not a franchise QB at this point in his career. He did more than we could have hoped for.

I think the defense overachieved all year. They're good, definitely not great. I don't expect them to be as good next year.

Our hopes rely on Watson being the guy we hoped he'd be. If he's not, we aren't going anywhere. That simple.

 

[David.]

Was Purdy banged up, I forget... Burrow week 1 too...

Purdy was fine but he was ass against us, he just missed throws