us vs "The Cleveland Browns"

Is it just me or did Cleveland look like a really good team? They didn't look like a 3-10 team to me. I thought their defensive line was really physical and I thought Manzel played pretty well. They have a decent nucleus and look to have a brighter future with or without their head coach. I watched this game and I thought our team played at a really high ceiling, not so much the Browns suck. I don't think it was a fluke they beat down the Niners the week before. I don't care if the Browns are 3-11, they are not playing like their record. This was a really solid win to feel good about going forward. I hope Manziel can keep his nose clean because this kid can play after watching the tape. This also lets me know that the Hawks are on another level right now.

I think the game was a bit of a mirage. They gave up 30 points and only scored 13.
They were slightly better than I thought they'd be but not by much.

Imagine for a second you are a Browns fan (just for a second). Its Monday and you are looking back on your teams performance. Are you actually saying, "Yeah we're not that bad?"

Seattle had 7 drives (not counting kneel downs)
69 yds TD
57 yds TD
57 yds FG
64 yds FG
9 yds punt
96 yds TD
68 yds FG

Hawks were 9 for 12 on 3rd down

The Browns offense had 230 total yds from scrimmage; 80 coming in a Gimmicky first drive.

If I was a Browns fan I would be seriously questioning every aspect of the team especially those making personnel decisions

I thought they played pretty well also. The thing that most killed them were drops by WRs and TEs. Several times Johnny Manzeil threw great passes that were just dropped. Not much you can do about that.
They remain the least talented team in football on defense, but I can see Johnny Football being a starting QB. He's better than about half of NFL QBs and he should keep the job.

The final score would have been a lot different if the Browns had not had so many dropped passes. A few of their drives would have chewed up more clock (meaning the Seahawks would have had less time and would likely score less) and would have gotten them into scoring range.

They played pretty good yesterday. Their mistakes killed them. Reminds me of the Seahawks teams in the early 2000s who just could not get out of their own way.

HawkFan72":1jpq8g78 said:

The final score would have been a lot different if the Browns had not had so many dropped passes. A few of their drives would have chewed up more clock (meaning the Seahawks would have had less time and would likely score less) and would have gotten them into scoring range.

They played pretty good yesterday. Their mistakes killed them. Reminds me of the Seahawks teams in the early 2000s who just could not get out of their own way.

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those can easily be offset by our stupid offsides penalties that extended drives for them. yeah they dropped a few, we also gave them a few.

aawolf":24nzrdqs said:

I thought they played pretty well also. The thing that most killed them were drops by WRs and TEs. Several times Johnny Manzeil threw great passes that were just dropped. Not much you can do about that.
They remain the least talented team in football on defense, but I can see Johnny Football being a starting QB. He's better than about half of NFL QBs and he should keep the job.

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add to this the dropped int in the endzone

I think the point is, and I agree with this, that the Browns do look like a team that might be on the upswing. Their division is traditionally one that it is tough to grow into, but I could see them be pretty good in a couple of years.

To me they were an exact replica defensively of the Steelers. Strong through the front, pathetic in the secondary. Medium pass rush with no game changing presence in the interior.

Unfortunately for Cleveland, they don't exactly have the Steelers offense.

I was at this game and the one thing that really stood out for me was that Cleveland was getting away with murder against our WR's. The pass rush contained Johnny, but he took advantage of Kam being out.

sutz":3hj2l550 said:

I think the point is, and I agree with this, that the Browns do look like a team that might be on the upswing. Their division is traditionally one that it is tough to grow into, but I could see them be pretty good in a couple of years.

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The Browns have been on the upswing for 15 years. They're 3-11. There is no sports fate worse than being a Browns fan.

some of those drops would've been tough catches.

Johnny Football made a few nice throws. He also made some real head scratchers, where it left me wondering what it was that anyone saw in him. That Pick that Burley got was a ball thrown into tight triple coverage downfield where they had no shot of a completion, dumb.

Every time they showed a shot of their coach it looked like he had no idea where he was, just a blank, vague stare.

They do remind me of the Seahawk teams of the past where there was not really any hope. A team like that will do just enough to sucker the faithful into thinking there is hope.

aawolf":3pc63hg6 said:

I can see Johnny Football being a starting QB. He's better than about half of NFL QBs and he should keep the job.

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....provided he can abstain from previous off field "stunts". :roll:

I thought their Oline looked pretty tough.

Browns problem is no stability in the front office, coaching staff, or QB.

bmorepunk":11gn1z4g said:

sutz":11gn1z4g said:

I think the point is, and I agree with this, that the Browns do look like a team that might be on the upswing. Their division is traditionally one that it is tough to grow into, but I could see them be pretty good in a couple of years.

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The Browns have been on the upswing for 15 years. They're 3-11. There is no sports fate worse than being a Browns fan.

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Mariners

bmorepunk":y7strisf said:

sutz":y7strisf said:

I think the point is, and I agree with this, that the Browns do look like a team that might be on the upswing. Their division is traditionally one that it is tough to grow into, but I could see them be pretty good in a couple of years.

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The Browns have been on the upswing for 15 years. They're 3-11. There is no sports fate worse than being a Browns fan.

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I'll second this. Did a recruiting tour in akron for three years awhile back. Every year is The Year in Cleveland, and you got to live around there to truly know that it's not said from masochism, sarcasm, or self deprecation. They. Seriously. Believe. It.

With the steelers and bengals hanging around, i just can't see them competing for the division until big Ben retires or gets injured for more than just a few games. Even then it will take them hitting on a qb somewhere ( FA, draft?) to even begin a rebuild. I just don't see Manziel stacking up to flacco, ben, dalton. Not even close.

I'm also curious as to why they let tj ward get away. With haden and ward i would think they could start building a core, but without ward the secondary looks lost. Those were two good picks they made in 2010. Not often a team homers the first AND second round. Amazing when compared to 2012, when they went Trent Richardson and Brandon weeden, for example.

Hmmm. Feel like I'm in NFL Nation about now...

Other than their 1st drive the Hawks dominated Cleveland in every phase.

To me that 1st drive was, as another has said here, pretty gimmicky and the D adjusted quickly after it. That the D gave up a TD to them was disappointing but they didn't get a lot of yardage after then. Cleveland is clearly a bottom tier team but they have some good players and came to play and get paid like our guys do.

I really don't think the Hawks played down to them or they did more against our D than they regularly do.

sutz":szq495f2 said:

I think the point is, and I agree with this, that the Browns do look like a team that might be on the upswing. Their division is traditionally one that it is tough to grow into, but I could see them be pretty good in a couple of years.

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Johnny Football looked pretty good...they'll trade him in the offseason and start over next year.