Quote:
Originally Posted by theogt
They're #23 in the league in points differential.
They're bad.
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They really aren't.
I watched their 1st game against Baltimore (pretty sure it was the thursday night game) and I was pretty impressed. This was actually the game where I started to notice how horrid the play caller in Baltimore is. I think it was the game where Rice was rolling heavy and the Ravens just wouldn't give him the ball. But the Browns played them very.
You mentioned they aren't a team where a play here or there has made the difference and I would disagree.
Pacman's punt return for a TD in a 34-27 ending is pretty crucial.
They were in the Redzone with a shot to tie at the end of the Baltimore game up above. They had a few plays just outside the redzone prior to that.
Their week 1 matchup against the Eagles came down to a final drive by the Eagles being the difference. They had the lead with 5 minutes left in the game and IIRC they were literally gifted one, possibly two horrid passes from Vick inside the Redzone but couldn't hold either of them. I mean, catch it and the game is over.
Against the Colts they missed a PAT early and when trailing by 4 halfway through the 4th quarter at the Indy 41, they opted to punt on 4th and 1. Does that play out the same if they are down by 3? Do they go for it knowing that if they get a 1st down they're in a position to tie with a couple more yards?
Baltimore second game they were leading with 9:00 left in the 4th quarter and if they had any sort of success in the Redzone on that day they probably win. 5 trips to the redzone and they kicked 5 FGs. Still had the lead with just under 9:00 in the 4th quarter.
And then today. You go into OT, a play that wasn't made or stopping a play that was made at any point in the game can be the difference.
I'm really not sure they'd be in my bottom 5 after having seen how they've played over the last 4 weeks. They lost by a total of 18 points in their last 4 games and 10 of those came from the Baltimore game that they likely would have won had had even their horrid Redzone success rate play out on that day.
KC is awful. They've been outscored by like 53 in their last 4 games.
Jacksonville had their best game of the year today. They're worse than Cleveland.
Philly might be the worst team in the NFL at this specific point in time right now. If Cleveland played them again, I think Cleveland would win right now.
I think Carolina is similar to Cleveland in that they are tougher than than record says.
I'd probably take the Browns over the Rams
And I'd probably take the Browns over the Raiders
Cleveland is a bad team but they're nowhere near KC, JAX and Philly and the other 3 teams are probably in the a jumbled mix with Cleveland.
In any event, I think Cleveland is better than advertised. That still doesn't make beating them some sort of grand accomplishment. Dallas should have won the game because Dallas has a better QB, better WRs/TE and better CBs that were in play. I never really thought it would be a blow out. I said it was going to be a dog fight yesterday and I was calling it a tough game weeks back. I typically don't let outcomes overshadow how those outcomes came about. I said if Dallas won a dog fight but limited mistakes, converted opportunities and cut out the penalties that I would be good.
Happened to some extent but not an encouraging one. The first half on offense was as bad as it has been all season. Literally one of the worst 2 quarter stretches of offensive football I've seen this season. Opening the game with 5 straight punts and less than 70 total yards? Not impressed.
I didn't think they'd escape a 3rd straight week without a turnover but they had fewer than I expected them to. I thought it was going to be a 2-3 turnover week.
Penalties, pretty much par for the course and even some missed ones that would have increased the number.
Ratliff's penalty was ridiculous. I don't think it's something so much as what he did but I have a feeling it was something he said. The other night in the KC/PITT game a player was flagged for saying something to the official after a play where he was flagged for holding. I was watching with a friend and just about at the same time we both said pretty much the same thing. Whatever he said, it must have been pretty bad. I'm sure officials take a lot of heat on a weekly basis so if you actually get flagged for it, you probably went above and beyond. I think Ratliff like said something in addition to posturing up over the guy and what he said must have been pretty bad because on any given play you can hear tons of back and forth going on and they let it slide.
Pretty much just another day in the season for Dallas. Sloppy play, tons of penalties and then to top it off, the worst OL performance of the year.
Wins are good in the moment. How a team actually performs and how you can project that performance is where actually feeling good or feeling bad about the season takes shape.