adam81king
All-Star
- Joined
- May 20, 2010
- Messages
- 5,806
- Reaction score
- 9,354
- Points
- 113
I thought the issues with Watson and Houston started with ownership and was just solidified by how Caserio handled biz?
Baker Mayfield Needs an Upgraded Receiving Corps
The Cleveland Browns can make the playoffs next season if Baker Mayfield has an upgraded receiving corps. Their passing game must improve.lastwordonsports.com
"Must find star receiver"This article named, literally, EVERYONE else on offense as an issue...
Don't think Berry says this if there was no chance Baker would be brought back for 2022 because of a rift/broken relationship.
Likely due to the fact it was.This article named, literally, EVERYONE else on offense as an issue...
Likely due to the fact it was.
QB #6 stunk. However, those around him did not do much at all to help him besides the run game being ever effective.
Fans were so ready to run OBJ outta town despite that bumping DPJ to the top option at wideout. A guy who is a 3rd WR on a good team, then we act like we cannot fathom how recievers do not get separation... And when they did, the read was frequently missed or the throw was not accurate or batted down at the line.
After taking a couple of days to reflect on the season, i think this team is closer than we all think. Though it still needs to be able to stay healthy, upgrade the receiver talent, and cut down on penalties. I think this gets lost in the chaos of the season but 6 of the Browns 9 losses were by 6 points or less. So it wasnt as if they werent competitive and getting blown out of the water. This team was damn close to winning a bunch more games.You're still not getting it.
When the QB stinks, none of that other stuff matters. A team can't consistently win and certainly can't win at the highest levels with bad QB play. The game is just too slanted in favor of passing offense at this point to be able to win with a terrible QB barring something flukish like the best defense in the league by a mile.
So answer these two questions for me... assuming everything else is the same, same injuries, same everything...
If you replaced DPJ with Chase - do the Browns make the playoffs?
If you replaced Baker with Burrow - do the Browns make the playoffs?
You may disagree, but to me the answer is clearly no on the DPJ/Chase swap and clearly yes on the Baker/Burrow swap.
Of course it would benefit the Browns to get better WR play. But it would benefit them tremendously more to get better QB play.
The Browns would have made the playoffs this year had they had better QB play with this exact group of weak WRs. There were that many plays to be made that weren't.
...nah"Must find star receiver"
We did and what happened with OBJ?
Are they really any better than Cam?Not what I had in mind. I was thinking more along the lines of Trubisky or Mariota.
After taking a couple of days to reflect on the season, i think this team is closer than we all think. Though it still needs to be able to stay healthy, upgrade the receiver talent, and cut down on penalties. I think this gets lost in the chaos of the season but 6 of the Browns 9 losses were by 6 points or less. So it wasnt as if they werent competitive and getting blown out of the water. This team was damn close to winning a bunch more games.
To answer your questions the answer is yes and yes. A down field threat that can catch anythign and blow through coverage drastically changes this team and offense. A healthy Baker, a star WR, a healthy Hunt, a non injured OBJ, and offensive line that wasnt playing musical chairs. All of these things probably make the difference between playoffs and not. In fact if the browns dont get screwed by the refs against the chargers this team is probably in the playoffs. So to say you dont think a massive upgrade at the receiver position makes the difference I think is being a bit blinded.
If Wilson or Rodgers drop in the Browns lap I absolutely see them taking a chance, but the more i look back the more i very much understand why the FO is taking the stance its taking. Get some receiver help, get the team healthy, hopefully add some bodies to the DL and run it back. Its been said before but the difference between last year's team making the playoffs and this year's team not making the playoffs was basically just a series of good luck versus bad luck
I completely agree that the Browns are closer to success than not. But the primary issue is QB. By a lot. More than everything else combined.
All the other stuff you're talking about - health at positions that aren't QB, poor receivers, heavy penalties, inconsistent kicking - the Browns would have been a playoff team even with all of that had they simply gotten better QB play.