Browns Game Thoughts

[tapeANaspirin2it]

The good news is the Steelers should be well rested for the Thursday game vs Baltimore since they only played a half vs the browns.

This is a very disturbing pattern under Tomlin. I don't mean for this to be a bash Tomlin thread but how many times have we seen this over the last few years where they play great for a quarter or 2 and then turn to garbage for long stretches?

It's rare to play a perfect game. Every team has a drive here or there where there are bad play calls or mistakes, but this goes beyond that. This is quarter long stretches of just lazy, mistake prone football. And it now happens regularly.

Any team, no matter how bad, has a chance to beat the Steelers so long as they play hard for 60 minutes because the Steelers sure as hell won't.


Offensive Line - still subpar. They've graduated from terrible to subpar. The pass block OK but still can't run block for ****. Somebody give DeCastro a map to the weight room. Bell had a good day rushing but that was all on him. He had no holes. All his productive runs came with him making people miss in the backfield.

Defensive Line - shockingly bad. Heyward was OK but the rest of them look awful. You have to give Tuitt a pass for being a rookie, and Keisel a bit of a pass because he basically showed up yesterday, but the rest have no excuse for being that bad.

At this point, i don't know why teams would do anything but run at the steelers soft underbelly.

Jarvis - he got a coverage sack when Hoyer held the ball forever. Jarvis plays hard, he's just not good at anything. Unless, he picks it up, i can't see giving him the playing time.

Missed Tackles - way too many but i do give a bit of a pass for that because it's common in week one, especially now that you can't live tackle in practice. This better improve quickly.

Dri Archer - this guy better have more impact because they could have drafted a DB or a pass rusher with that pick and the steelers can obviously use both.


Now for the Good

Big Ben is underrated around the league. That scrambling TD to AB was amazing. Ben is playing better than i've ever seen.

Antonio - clearly now one of the best WRs in the game. Maybe Calvin Johnson belongs in a category by himself but AB belong in the next group with Dez Bryant and AJ Green.

Wheaton - looked very good and that is huge because this team would be screwed without him being a solid #2 option.

Bell - let's put that Lacy vs Bell argument away forever. Bell showed today why he was the better pick. He is a weapon as both a runner and a receiver and can create plays on his own, not just run through a hole.

Shazier - yeah, he missed a few plays but he's already showing how he can be a playmaker. He will be dangerous once he knows what he's doing and if the DL can keep blockers off him.


Let's hope this was just week 1 rust


It's Raven week. Let's get to the rat killin.

 

[steeltruckin]

On the offensive line i dont understand why they gave the RT a big raise, he is a dime a dozen player.

 

[SteelerSask2]

I was pretty disappointed when they let them back in. I think it is ok to criticize the players and coaches. However, there are 16 other teams who would take that win in a heartbeat. Learn, get better move on.

 

[xjx]

There are probably 20 other teams that would have beat the steelers yesterday. Letting the Browns come back to tie the game is inexcusable. Tomlins team is soft.

 

[Sarge]

Both halves tell a tale of what this team has the potential to be. The first half was beautiful. Been a long time since the offense looked that good. I mean, they were scary good. Then something changed. I don't know what the hell happened at halftime, what was said in the locker room, but the second half was maybe the worst 30 minutes of football I remember a team playing.

At this point, I am not sure whether I should be excited by what we all saw in the first half, or concerned about what we saw in the second half. My thought is that it is impossible to know exactly what this team is since it played two drastically contrasting halves of football. Guess we'll find out Thursday. Maybe.

 

[Black Reign]

The good news is the Steelers should be well rested for the Thursday game vs Baltimore since they only played a half vs the browns.

This is a very disturbing pattern under Tomlin. I don't mean for this to be a bash Tomlin thread but how many times have we seen this over the last few years where they play great for a quarter or 2 and then turn to garbage for long stretches?

It's rare to play a perfect game. Every team has a drive here or there where there are bad play calls or mistakes, but this goes beyond that. This is quarter long stretches of just lazy, mistake prone football. And it now happens regularly.

Any team, no matter how bad, has a chance to beat the Steelers so long as they play hard for 60 minutes because the Steelers sure as hell won't.


Offensive Line - still subpar. They've graduated from terrible to subpar. The pass block OK but still can't run block for ****. Somebody give DeCastro a map to the weight room. Bell had a good day rushing but that was all on him. He had no holes. All his productive runs came with him making people miss in the backfield.

Defensive Line - shockingly bad. Heyward was OK but the rest of them look awful. You have to give Tuitt a pass for being a rookie, and Keisel a bit of a pass because he basically showed up yesterday, but the rest have no excuse for being that bad.

At this point, i don't know why teams would do anything but run at the steelers soft underbelly.

Jarvis - he got a coverage sack when Hoyer held the ball forever. Jarvis plays hard, he's just not good at anything. Unless, he picks it up, i can't see giving him the playing time.

Missed Tackles - way too many but i do give a bit of a pass for that because it's common in week one, especially now that you can't live tackle in practice. This better improve quickly.

Dri Archer - this guy better have more impact because they could have drafted a DB or a pass rusher with that pick and the steelers can obviously use both.


Now for the Good

Big Ben is underrated around the league. That scrambling TD to AB was amazing. Ben is playing better than i've ever seen.

Antonio - clearly now one of the best WRs in the game. Maybe Calvin Johnson belongs in a category by himself but AB belong in the next group with Dez Bryant and AJ Green.

Wheaton - looked very good and that is huge because this team would be screwed without him being a solid #2 option.

Bell - let's put that Lacy vs Bell argument away forever. Bell showed today why he was the better pick. He is a weapon as both a runner and a receiver and can create plays on his own, not just run through a hole.

Shazier - yeah, he missed a few plays but he's already showing how he can be a playmaker. He will be dangerous once he knows what he's doing and if the DL can keep blockers off him.


Let's hope this was just week 1 rust


It's Raven week. Let's get to the rat killin.

All good points. The Dri Archer pick stick still puzzles me. Could have been a 5th rd pick.

 

[madinsomniac]

Yesterday was what I expected. The D needs work, but should be better by seasons end. The O still tries to slow it down with the big lead. those days are dead. one can never take your foot off the gas in this NFL. Defense is dead unless you are a team like the Seahawks that can still hit and mug receivers and get a free pass all day long. We are not even close to that. On D we have serious Dline issues that should dissipate as younger guys come into their own. We cant keep blockers off the LBs and cant generate a pass rush without getting gashed in the run game. The secondary isn't good enough to shut down passing games without a pass rush...

there were a lot of positives to go with the negatives and hopefully they learned from the second half. which is nice when you had the kind of game that gets peoples attention early and still get the win in the end.

 

[Hollywood Bags]

Same ****, different year. That's all that needs to be said.

 

[TazManianDevil]

I think the defense will improve throughout the season (they have no where to go but up). Once Tuitt and the rest of the Dline come into their own things will improve. With that being said, there's no hope for Ike Taylor. He is done....

I'll give Mitchell a free pass because he's new to the defense but he's gotta pick up his play as well.

 

[Rod Farva]

McClendon had a pretty nice game but I think having the big guy active to sub him might have helped slow down some of the run game. Not sure who they'd have to deactivate but the D looked gassed in the 2nd half.

 

[cphill]

This team will be lucky to go 8-8......Tomlin isn't a good coach and we can't draft like we once did........

 

[Black & Gold Bleeder]

This team will be lucky to go 8-8......Tomlin isn't a good coach and we can't draft like we once did........

well that about wraps it up.. oh you forgot ,, Jarvis is a bust...

 

[Superman]

if Jarvis hadn't gotten that "coverage sack", Worilds would have gotten it from manhandling his man with reckless abandon and crashing down the line to kill the play.

i guess.

 

[ark steel]

The awesome part was watching two rookie running backs from perennial NFL player providers Towson and Alabama State average 6+ yards per rush. I could understand if one turns out to be a gem find like Alfred Morris, but TWO of them?

Saw several plays, as usual, where the defensive player assaults the ball carrier with shoulder hits and without arms even outstretched. At least put your arms out like you intend to wrap up.

 

[Idioteque]

The awesome part was watching two rookie running backs from perennial NFL player providers Towson and Alabama State average 6+ yards per rush. I could understand if one turns out to be a gem find like Alfred Morris, but TWO of them?

Saw several plays, as usual, where the defensive player assaults the ball carrier with shoulder hits and without arms even outstretched. At least put your arms out like you intend to wrap up.

Good points, but in fairness, Crowell was SEC FOY at Georgia. He's a legit player, maybe the best raw talent in this draft class.

 

[SteelChip]

I just started looking at the news from the game and saw this GIF of AB's foot plant and in the background, there is DHB "leading the blocking"?
http://www.Invalid Link - Check SN Home Page/2014/09/steelers-animated-gifs-week-1-win-browns/

I'm with the guys that think fundamentals are lacking on this team.

 

[antdrewjosh]

The awesome part was watching two rookie running backs from perennial NFL player providers Towson and Alabama State average 6+ yards per rush. I could understand if one turns out to be a gem find like Alfred Morris, but TWO of them?

Saw several plays, as usual, where the defensive player assaults the ball carrier with shoulder hits and without arms even outstretched. At least put your arms out like you intend to wrap up.

Thats because the line they were running behind. If the holes are there anybody can run through them. Rookie or not.

 

[Bigappleyinzer]

Thats because the line they were running behind. If the holes are there anybody can run through them. Rookie or not.

As bad as our DLine looked during the 2nd half- People forget that CLE's OLine is one of the best in the league.

 

[LeXX75]

Thats because the line they were running behind. If the holes are there anybody can run through them. Rookie or not.

Crowell is a top talent...but has a head like his teammate in Cleveland...it would not surprise me to see him starting by the end of the season unless he melts down again

 

[TDX27]

I said this team was capable of putting up 30+ points a game each week. They pretty much did that in one half against a good D. They then went back under center and to a normal O. They cannot do that. Hopefully, they learned. If they put up 30 in a game, they should win almost every one of them. The O needs to carry the D this year. Let's just hope the D finds some guys that can step up so they are much better by the mid-point of the season. Letting any team, let alone the Clowns. score 3 touchdowns in 10 minutes is not a good thing. The O needs to go full throttle for 60 minutes. Hell, if they can put 40 or 50 points up, do it. This game proves that no lead is safe with this D.

 

[antdrewjosh]

We are young on defense. New faces. Its going to take time. As the season continues they will improve.. Also that was one of the Best Olines in football. When they absolutely had to they stepped up which is an improvement over last year. Rather get it wrong and still win then the opposite. Bring on the Ravens.

 

[ark steel]

It was nice to see Bell put up almost 200 yards of offense! He must have good anticipation of who would **** up their blocking assignment, although it may be easy when you assume all of them will.

 

[steelgumby]

I said this team was capable of putting up 30+ points a game each week. They pretty much did that in one half against a good D. They then went back under center and to a normal O. They cannot do that. Hopefully, they learned. If they put up 30 in a game, they should win almost every one of them. The O needs to carry the D this year. Let's just hope the D finds some guys that can step up so they are much better by the mid-point of the season. Letting any team, let alone the Clowns. score 3 touchdowns in 10 minutes is not a good thing. The O needs to go full throttle for 60 minutes. Hell, if they can put 40 or 50 points up, do it. This game proves that no lead is safe with this D.

Not sure if anyone heard this during the broadcast, but during the first half rout the sideline report said the steelers were confident, seemed cocky on the sidelines. I think the major issue was they went into the half, very cocky, felt they had this wrapped up and could shut it down for the second half. I will almost bet the coaches were planning the get some of the 2nd string some playing time. I am certain there were no adjustments, what could they adjust? They were crushing the brownies. I'm sure it was a happy fest with jokes and laughter during the half, then an ole crap when the 2nd half started.

 

[antdrewjosh]

It was nice to see Bell put up almost 200 yards of offense! He must have good anticipation of who would **** up their blocking assignment, although it may be easy when you assume all of them will.

His patience and vision is amazing. That TD run was extraordinary.

 

[hook]

It was nice to see Wheaton step it up to take pressure off of Antonio.

Special teams played well. Some good returns and decent coverage. Wing punted well enough.