Knee Jerk Reactions to Week 8: Patriots vs. Browns
Things to consider while celebrating the most impressive 300 the world has seen since Thermopylae:
–Most weeks I’ve been starting the KJR with the defense. Understandably so, given that the last time the league saw this kind of dominance, the rules were such that a defensive back could basically treat a receiver the way a dominatrix treats a client, minus a safety word. More on them later. This week I need to vent about this offense and the general public reaction to it in the first half of the season.
–Are you experiencing moderate to severe frustration with the way the Patriots offense is going? Does it feel like there’s a lack of cohesion at times? Too many drives to nowhere? More 3 & outs than you’re used to seeing? And games like yesterday when it seems like the third best offense on the field after the opposition’s and the Pats own defense? I’m not going to argue the point or throw a bunch of numbers at you like ninja stars to convince you you’re wrong. Instead I’m just going to ask a simple question: What did you expect?
–Given the roster turnover on this unit over the past two months, what Josh McDaniels and Tom Brady are getting out it is nothing short of a miracle. As of the Browns game, a scheme that was evolving into a run-heavy attack with primarily two back sets and two tight ends was missing 60% of its O-line, was fresh out of fullbacks and its tight ends were both out of football a couple of weeks ago. The passing game was debuting its fourth No. 1 receiver of the season, a guy who’s been here all of about three unpadded practices in a short week. If this was training camp, this current roster of players would be on about July 30th in terms of their progress. Not to mention they were facing a Cleveland front that we’d heard – correctly – all about this offseason, with ends like Myles Garrett and Olivier Vernon and Sheldon Richardson in the middle. One that had two weeks to prepare. On a slick field in a driving rainstorm. Saints have been canonized for doing a lot less with a lot more than McDaniels and Brady are pulling off every week.
–I’m not making excuses, just dealing in truths. Imagine being Brady, getting into a huddle week after week with brand new faces who have barely had time to start learning the names of the route combos, never mind the sight reads, audibles, keys, adjustments, check-with-mes. He’s perpetually in that “So where did you grow up?”/ “Where do you work?” stage of the relationship. And by the time he maybe finds himself really getting to know that person, he finds himself on yet another first date, making forced small talk with another stranger. Quite simply, there is not another quarterback in the league who could get this much production out of this much roster uncertainty. More on that side of the ball later. I’ve got a defense to talk about, and it won’t wait.
–Going into this game, Belichick’s defense had allowed a Passer Rating of 35.6 through seven games. (Baker Mayfield finished with 79.2 for the game, but I don’t have the updated figure yet.) The all time record for a season is 33.1 by Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain Defense in 1973. The key point there is, those were the days before they made it illegal to touch a receiver after 5 yards, a rule they invented specifically to stop Steelers CB Mel Blount, who did more damage to opposing wideouts than the Mayhem Guy. The league wide average Passer Rating was 64.9. The 2019 Patriots have been pulling these numbers in a league with an overall PR of 91.5. It’s inconceivable. (Stats via my guy Kerry @FootballFacts.)
–A huge part of the reason is that this Boogeyman defense has been the polar opposite of the offense in terms of continuity. Guys have missed a game or two at all three levels of the unit, but for the most part it’s been the same collection of guys. Devin McCourty talked after the game about communication and how Belichick tells his players he has full confidence to let them make their own calls. So when you see, say, Dont’a Hightower call out an adjustment, the other 10 all understand and check to the same call. Even on those rare ocassions it’s not the correct call, at least all 11 are on the same page. I mean, try to remember the last time they had one of those total breakdowns where a receiver is left unguarded? A couple of years ago those were fairly regular. Almost common, especially early in the 2017. Now it never happens. Even the touchdown to Demetrius Harris was a mismatch for sure, him being defended by Hightower and Harris made a nice play on the ball. But you can live with that. And this whole game was another example of almost no instances where the Pats defense makes mental mistakes or beats itself.
–The play of the game was unquestionably Jonathan Jones punching the ball out from Nick Chubb. It was an obvious game changer and you just knew at that point the Browns were too demoralized to ever bounce back from it if the game went eight quarters. That team has hasn’t been through enough yet to know how to rally after a soul-crushing turn of events like that. And to me the most remarkable part of it wasn’t necessarily Jones taking the full, awesome power of Stormbreaker to Chubb. It was that when the ball hit the ground, both McCourtys were there to fall on it. I say that because Chubb slipped tackles from both of them (almost tying Washington’s Steven Sims’ record for Most McCourty Twins Tackles Broken in a TD Run, with 2), Jason at the line of scrimmage and Devin at the linebacker level. And yet both of them stayed with it, hustled back into the play, and were there to recover the fumble. That was 55 yards upfield from the spot where they originally got beat. But by not quitting on the play they stopped a 1st & goal situation and probably seven points. And that hustle left the Browns shook:
–It must have. Because that interception that Mayfield threw to Lawrence Guy might have been the single worst pass ever thrown. And I say that as someone who lived through the Tim Tebow era that left me questioning if he was really lefthanded. This one just defies description. It was like one of those feel good news stories you see where there’s a sick or disabled kid and the local youth team hands him the ball and let’s him score a touchdown so he’ll know what it’s like hear the crowd cheer for him and it renews your faith in mankind for five minutes. That’s my analogy and even I’m disturbed by how grim it is. So instead I’ll just compare it to this. Because it was just this goofy.
–I guess we don’t know who exactly is calling the defense right now. Based on that triple shot CBS showed of the sidelines, it might just be a 3-headed Cerebus of Belichick, Jerod Mayo and Steve Belichick. Or any one of them. Or Ernie Adams. Or the collective hive mind of the entire staff, because lousy teams can’t hire them all away during the playoff bye week. Whoever it was came out a little less in Attack Mode than they did against Sam Darnold last week. My guess is the priority was to load up against Chubb and trust the secondary to limit the damage from Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry. But I think the Browns’ line did a good job early on breaking down the Pats gap discipline, getting the D-tackles to different levels and opening up lanes for Chubb to run through. From there because of the conditions and his own general untackleableness, he started ripping off big gains. But once it became a two-score game, we saw a lot of two down linemen sets and the pass rushers were let off the leash by Coach BillSteveJerod.
–This was one of the rare times when Stephon Gilmore wasn’t left completely to his own devices on another team’s WR1. For the most part he had Duron Harmon as the Single High Safety shading to his side of the field over the top of Beckham. And it’s a testament to Beckham that he got the 5 catches for 52 yards he did.
–The thing about OBJ is that everyone remembers the couple of hundred ridiculous catches he’s made, but I think we miss the larger point that is his route running. Nobody in his generation of wideouts is as good at setting up corners and using his body control and explosiveness out of his breaks to get separation. His 31 yarder late in the game was a prime example. He had Gilmore giving him a cushion, but used rocker steps to fake a post, then a corner, then broke it off into a deep middle curl after shaking both defenders just enough to fake himself open. I don’t know how long he’ll be able to keep his stockpot of craziness from boiling over and making a mess of things. But damn that man can play tackle football.
–For the most part it was the usual rotation of Jones, Jason McCourty and JC Jackson on Jarvis Landry and the slot receivers, with Pat Chung used in run force and on the tight ends. And the fact that Landry only caught half of his 10 targets and Joejuan Williams – a highly regarded 2nd rounder from a big football factory program – can’t crack this lineup says everything about the depth at the cornerback position.
–When the Patriots did get up by a couple of scores and released the hounds, we saw some great examples of their Blitz the Formation calls. Basically taking what the offense is giving you. So, for instance, when the back stays home to block, the linebacker assigned to him fires into engage him and free up a rush lane for someone else. Or when the offense goes with an unbalanced line, send three rushers against the two blockers on the weakside, etc. Lately the most effective duo in the blitz game has been Adam Butler and Jamie Collins. Butler has been a huge disruptor the last month or so from the tackle spot when they go with their one- or two-lineman sets. And Collins has benefited, like that late drive killer when he was stacked up on Butler and then stunted in behind his penetration for the sack. Which might be one of the most vaguely filthy-sounding sentences I’ve ever written, but it’s purely unintentional, I promise you.
–People come and people go. Governments fall. Regimes change. Empires crumble. Nations rise up and are swept away. Lines on maps are redrawn. But the one thing you can always count on, the one and only constant of life on this planet that never fails, is that whoever is running the Cleveland Browns will do it badly. Meet Freddie Kitchens. The new boss, same as the old boss. They Browns had six false start penalties. SIX. And it’s not like the crowd noise was a huge factor with everyone sheltering from the weather under ponchos like “Survivor” castaways at camp during monsoon season. And it wouldn’t matter if you were in Lucas Oil Stadium with the Colts pumping in fake crowd noise. Six false starts is unforgivable.
–But Kitchens’ greatest triumph was electing to punt on 4th & 11, taking a false start penalty, and then deciding to go for it on 4th & 16. He later said something about not wanting to burn a time out and he intended to go for it all along, which would be a terrible excuse even if it was true.But maybe he just realized the futility of punting while down by 17 and changed his mind. Or he suddenly discovered a play that only works if you need more than 15 yards. But the most logical explanation is that he coaches the Cleveland Browns and is therefore cosmically compelled to make stupid decisions.
–Does Cleveland have any tabloid newpapers? If not, they need one, just for the ready-made back page punny headlines that write themselves. “Freddie Kitchen Nightmares.” “Hell’s Kitchen.” And so on. Or better yet, just wait til he ends up coaching the Jets. The Post and Daily News should pay his salary to make it happen.
–But then it’s not just the coaching. When you give up an own goal because your guard kicks the ball out of your back’s hands for the scoop and score, that’s something supernaturally wrong with your franchise.
Of all the Cleveland Browns in the world, you’re the Cleveland Browniest.
–I drives me insane when defenders try to pick a fumble up and run with it instead of just falling on it and letting their offense take care of the whole points-scoring thing. But since Hightower picked this one up perfectly on a one-hopper and finished it off with a Boogeyman dance, I’ll let it go just this once.
–Back to the offense. I think McDaniels anticipated Cleveland would be overly aggressive, and drew up some scheme-beaters specifically to exploit them for it. Power runs by Sony Michel. Inside zones with cutback lanes for Rex Burkhead. And most of all that 59-yard screen pass to James White, which was a great call. It was 3rd & 10 and the Browns were coming. They lined up in a 3X1 with White as the lone back against a Browns front with two down linemen. Julian Edelman was the single receiver on the right of the formation, and he ran a dig route to draw Denzel Ward away from the play side. James Ferentz pulled to get out in front and screened off Morgan Burnett while Joe Thuney was on the backside blowing up Joe Schobert. Those were pretty much the only blocks White needed as he cut inside to the vacant half acre lot in the middle of the field. Brilliantly designed play, perfectly executed.
–I could almost do half this recap every week just about what Edelman does. Yesterday it was eight catches. All of them huge. Most when the McOffense was in danger of grinding to a stop. Two of them for touchdowns. In a season of non-stop changes at his position, as different chemicals are being mixed to find just the right formula, he’s been the most stable element. For one touchdown, he got shoved back a good two full steps by Schobert, kept his balance to cross the formation, show Brady his numbers and haul in the catch-and-run score. On the other, the Browns rushed three while playing a middle zone with man on the outside against Patriots vertical routes. Marcus Cannon fought off at least a half dozen Garrett moves and counter moves as Brady rolled out. As soon as he escaped the pocket, Edelman ran a pivot route away from an inside double team, mirroring Brady for the reception and the TD. It’s plays like these, when Edelman is there when Brady needs him most, you know he’s at his happiest. When he comes running upfield for the hug and the congrats from his QB, he might as well have just caught a Frisbee in his teeth.
–Speaking of dependability, while we’ve been bellyaching about the state of the receiver depth chart, Phillip Dorsett has quietly entered that realm of guys who all they do is make big plays at crucial moments. Like a wideout version of Kevin Faulk/James White. Or what Danny Amendola was in the post season.
–This Week’s Applicable Movie Quote: “You’re pretty sick, Chubbs.” – Happy Gilmore, “Happy Gilmore”
–As far as Mohamed Sanu, that’s a pretty solid first impression. With a severely limited amount of prep time, he played just over half the snaps. Had two stellar catches. One, a 22-yard shallow cross to beat man coverage from Eric Murray. And the other that 4th & 4 “gotta have it” catch right at the sticks where he got trashed like a rock star’s hotel room but held onto the ball for the conversion. When he wasn’t doing that, he was blocking hard upfield on runs and screens and showed enough that we have every reasonable expectation he’ll be a good, solid pickup.
–Also, Brady called that 4th down catch, apparently:
–Here’s the thing about Marshall Newhouse; I don’t want to rip him hard because he’s a guy they picked up at the 11th hour and having to protect against Vernon and Garrett for three dozen pass plays is no joke. But one thing you never see with him has been common around here for 10 years or more. You never see him get his arms extended and shove a pass rusher deep to the back of the pocket. To use the rusher’s own momentum and Ju-Jitsu him 10 yards upfield and away from being any threat to Brady. We see that all the time from Cannon, and did see it with Nate Solder and Trent Brown. Every time Newhouse is pass blocking it’s either Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots to the whistle or he’s simply getting beat. Vernon got him to the outside for one sack, Garrett ripped him inside for another. If Isaiah Wynn gets back soon I imagine the problem will solve itself. But there’s no denying that until then, it IS a problem.
–The worst part about the weather, aside from the fact that people had to sit outside enduring that misery for 10 hours or so, is we got no cheerleader cosplay. I feel like that used to be a thing. It was celebrated. The TV cameras ate it up. Coming out of every commercial break was a steady stream of Cinderella Cheerleader, Dorothy Cheerleader, Police Woman Cheerleader. I’m not talking about Sexy Cinderella, Naughty Dorothy or Slutty Police Woman. But good, wholesome, All American family entertainment cheerleaders in costumes. Now they either don’t do it or the networks have stopped showing them because they’re uncomfortable with it.. Thanks, Harvey Weinstein.
–Never, ever forget that when the Brown’s announced that they were moving to Baltimore, the people of Cleveland burned Bill Belichick in effigy, like it was his fault. Which is like going to the mall, finding out the Cinnabon is closing, and taking out your frustration by screaming at the girl working the register. No franchise deserves their misery more. Though I do respect Mr. Kraft clapping at the Jets. As always.
–Patriots at Baltimore. Right now this is shaping up as the Game of the Year. It’s going to be a long week waiting for kickoff.