What a joke of a team. We actually played better than I thought we would, but hell, it's just a joke.
Good:
1) Johnny actually had a decent game. Right now he looks like he could develop into a Josh McCown-type player (high-end backup, spot starter) in the NFL. I like that we ran more bootlegs this week, as he is very good at it. The other thing I've noticed this season is that he has improved picking apart man coverage. Here is the big issue, though, and Cincy and Pitt both exploited this. Johnny sucks against zone defense. He can't read it. It's why we are so piss-poor at scoring in the end-zone with Johnny. The defenses stack the middle of the field and dare him to find a hole in the zone. If our running game was league-average this would be a problem we could deal with, alas, it's not.
2) Barnidge and Benjamin looked good, again. Barnidge is a very good NFL tight-end and I'm starting to believe Benjamin is a #2 receiver. Not much else to say, here.
3) Run defense finally looked alive. This was the run D I think all of us expected to see this year. Hope it can continue.
Bad:
1) The secondary is absolute shit. I know Haden, Whitner, and Gilbert were all out, and had this been an outlier game, I'd buy that excuse. But they have been shit all year. With all the talent in the secondary they have either gotten complacent, gameplan is terrible, or, most likely, both.
2) Playcalling on both sides of the ball is atrocious. But, for this point, let's talk about offensive playcalling. I can't think of four times Johnny dropped-back in the pocket and threw a pass. I get it, he can't see over the line. This is the issue I and others had with him coming out. Nonetheless, it seems like those plays weren't called. The dilemma, though, is when Johnny was under center, Pitt knew it would be a run, bootleg,or quick screen. So, as I said previously, Pitt just stacked the middle of the field. Then, on top of that, we decided to stop giving Duke plays that will allow him to have the ball in open field. It's literally like we are trying to make it more difficult to be successful on offense. As terrible as O'Neil has been, and he has been, I think Flip is by far the worst offensive coordinator we've ever had.
3) With that said, O'Neil may be the worst defensive coordinator we've ever had. Early on in the game I was pleased with how well the D-line was prepared entering the game. Then I realized it came at total expense of the secondary being prepared whatsoever. Big Ben literally could not move outside of the pocket, so why in God's fucking name did we not blitz?!?!?! Most members on here could call a better defensive gameplan than O'Neil.
4) Cameron Erving, and the very expensive offensive line, sucked. Story of the season.
5) DJjr. looks like an NFL player, but overall, our running game is piss-poor. Add a power-running back to the list of positions we need to fill.
6) Penalties. 'Nuff said.
As others have mentioned, the worst thing that could happen is we pass on a QB of the future. Our team has a lot of fucking holes. And QB is not the biggest one. But neither of our two QBs are good enough to win at a high, NFL level. Assuming we pick third, if Goff and Lynch go #1 and #2, I don't want us to reach on Cook. There are enough talented players in the draft that we should take BPA at a needed position (running back, receiver, and most importantly pass-rusher). But, if we are picking third, and the first and second picks look to be QB, I really hope we try as hard as possible to trade up. This is the Browns, though, so we'll probably use the third overall pick to take Keenan Reynolds to be our QB of the future.
