Mind Character

I've made the point multiple times on where coaching searches have to go to get head coaches with previous success.... Why Stefanski?? I mean really. He was my favorite out of the last coaching search but what qualities does he have to be an elite Head Coach? Can Stefanski effectively lead an organization, can he inspire next level commitment from players of various backgrounds and personalities, lead and coach coaches, is he detailed and organized, is he a constant learner, is he a master teacher, can he design/lead a program that effectively trains habits of thought and behavior? If so, cool then I'm down to consider hiring him; however, I don't give a damn about his "Offense" ... we have to stop thinking that a coordinator is a good Head Coach candidate because of the offensive success when success at the Head Coaching position requires different skillset.

I'd rather not witness us hire the new shiny coordinator with no Head Coaching prowess just to make the same mistake again.. and again..and again... it's insanity... when does it end.. I've had enough of the groundhog day...

If we're not going to hire a previously successful Head Coach that is adept at building a winning culture, I'd rather just stick with Freddie. This franchise can't escape the rinse and repeat of just hiring coordinators. It made some sense before because no one wanted to take the job except for maybe HC retreads or a person that just wanted to get a shot at the HC job. We now have the talent to attract an experienced winning coach. I want nothing to do with firing just to hire another coordinator as HC. Until we're ready to learn from past mistakes we deserve to live with our poor decisions.

We're going against a bottom 3 QB across all meaningful metrics (not boxscore stats). Bottom 4 Offense. As bad as the metrics are, he's even worse when it comes to an abundance of turnover worthy throws and the inability to throw the ball beyond 5 yards. So, even if Watt and Heyward give us fits we only need 12-14 points to beat the Steelers decisively as long as we don't let their defense score. If we can't do that, this "uber talented" team is truly one of the worst, under-performing teams in history.

On 2020 OT Prospects, My Guys, & Mock Off-Season: Hurtful/Harsh Reality Check: This IS NOT a great or even good Tackle Class. I repeat: This IS NOT a great or even good Offensive Tackle Class. ---- Really really bad news for us and our OLine needs. I've been really digging in and watching snaps multiple times over for about 24 Offensive Tackles. I've also bounced what I've seen off the minds of family that have been in the football scouting business. There's a widespread belief (and I was a part of such groups of people at one time) that says this year is a "special Offensive Tackle class and that such players will be available throughout the 3rd round." That is a myth; it does not match reality. I've looked at 24 OT prospects and thus far have only seen 1 elite prospect; 3 really good prospects with elite upside; 2 other nice developmental prospects that could be good in time; and a bunch of mostly JAGs with a few that flash every now and then. Thus far, there's only 4 viable OT prospects really worth getting excited about that could come in make an impact and develop into a longterm highly successful player. I still have more OT prospects to get to but after 20 prospects it's clear: We have to turn to free-agency to fix our OLine problems, especially if we keep winning causing our draft position to take us out of range of the good OT prospects. Offensive Tackle Rankings: The 4: All-Pro Upside, Immediate High Quality Starter, Pro-Bowl Impact by Year 2: 1.) Andrew Thomas, LT Georgia (Top 10 Pick) Immediate Quality Starter, Pro-Bowl Impact by Year 3: 2a.) Jedrick Wills Jr., OT Alabama (Top 15) 2b.) Isaiah Wilson, RT Georgia (Top 18) 3) Alex Leatherwood, LT/OG Alabama (Top 20) ------ HUGE Drop-Off in Quality The 2 Maybes: Immediate Quality Contributor, Quality Starter by Year 3, Major Deficiencies, Developmental Pro-Bowl Impact Upside 5a.) Sam Cosmi, LT Texas (Top 90) 5b.) Tristan Wirfs, RT Iowa (Top 90); However, I have Wirfs as a Top 25 Prospect as a Guard. He can be a special Guard but his angle/squareness instincts on the island of Tackle play lead to him often being a swinging door. In tight quarters on the inside, his power can be dominant. ----- Another Drop-Off in Quality Likely JAGS, Likely Overhyped: Major JAG Deficiencies, Developmental Quality Contributor, Starter Upside by Year 3: 6.) Austin Jackson, LT USC 7.) Landon Young, LT Kentucky 8.) Walker Little, OT Stanford 9.) Alaric Jackson, LT Iowa 10.) Josh Jones, LT Houston 11.) Trey Adams, OT Washington ----- JAGs: Mekhi Becton, OT Louisville Prince Tega Wanogho, OT Auburn Hakeem Adeniji, OT Kansas Yasir Durant, LT Missouri Terrance Steele, OT Texas Tech Jack Driscoll, RT Auburn ------------ Beyond the OTs, I really really like this draft class from top to bottom: My Guys (Browns-Centric Big Board): 1.) Michael Pittman Jr, WR USC 2.) Andrew Thomas, LT Georgia 3.) Jedrick Wills Jr., OT Alabama 4.) Isaiah Wilson, RT Georgia 5.) Shaquille Quarterman, LB Miami 6.) CeeDee Lamb, WR Oklahoma 7.) Laviska Shenault, WR Colorado 8.) Alex Leatherwood, LT/OG Alabama 9.) Jerry Jeudy, WR Alabama 10.) Jeff Okudah, CB Ohio State 11.) AJ Epenesa, DE Iowa 12.) Bryce Hall, DB Virginia 13.) Tristan Wirfs, As a Guard Prospect (Much much lower as a Tackle; Top 90 as a Tackle) 14.) C.J. Henderson, CB/NCB/FS Florida 15a.) Henry Ruggs III, WR Alabama 15b.) DeVonta Smith, WR Alabama 16a.) Calvin Throckmorton, RG/RT Oregon 16b.) Trajan Bandy, NCB/CB Miami 17.) Adam Trautman, TE Dayton 18a.) Kristian Fulton, CB LSU 18b.) Darnay Homes, CB UCLA 19.) Shane Lemieux, OG Oregon 20.) Darrell Taylor, DE Tennessee 21.) Solomon Kindley, OG Georgia ------------ Mock Off-Season: Free Agency 1.) Brandon Scherff, OG 2.) Jimmie Ward, Hybrid-SS 3.) Damarious Randall, FS on a Bargain Deal 4.) Halapoulivaati Vaitai, LT 5.) Jack Doyle, TE 6.) Vernon Butler, DT 7.) Justin McCray, OG/OT 8.) Let Joe Schobert Walk - A truly underrated player, special coordinator of the defense; great culture guy; however, we don't have any juice/speed and the price for a LB would be better spent elsewhere and letting our young LB develop and/or draft another LB with more juice with intangibles. 9.) Let Christian Kirksey's contract go - Before injury this year, he was playing his best football of his career. Love the guy and the work he's done keeping the locker room together in dark times. 10.) Let Higgins test the market and hope we can bring him back on a team-favorable deal ----------- Draft: * We finish 7-9 and pick 14th. * 1.) Jedrick Wills Jr., OT Alabama // Isaiah Wilson, RT Georgia // Alex Leatherwood, LT/OG Alabama 2.) Michael Pittman Jr, WR USC // Laviska Shenault, WR Colorado 3.) Shaquille Quarterman, WLB Miami 3.) Calvin Throckmorton, RG/RT Oregon // Shane Lemieux, OG Oregon 4.) Adam Trautman, TE Dayton 6.) BPA 7.) BPA -- Sometimes in Free Agency and the Draft the value just isn't there for positions of need. That'll be the case with addressing DE or an additional pass rusher. We likely could target cut-down day via a trade to supplement that positions or maybe we find a late round gem (like Genard Avery). -------------------- Dream Scenario: Via Trades or Something (A guy slips due to misinfo) We come up with: 1 of Jedrick Wills Jr., OT Alabama // Isaiah Wilson, RT Georgia // Alex Leatherwood, LT/OG Alabama + AJ Epenesa, DE Iowa + 1 of Michael Pittman Jr, WR USC // Laviska Shenault, WR Colorado + Shaquille Quarterman, WLB Miami -------------------- Post-Draft Improved Positional Groups Depth Chart: Wide Receivers (?): WR1: Odell Beckham Jr. // Rashard Higgins WR2: Michael Pittman Jr // Antonio Callaway // Taywon Taylor Slot-WR: Jarvis Landry // (Taywon Taylor) ----------- Tight Ends (?): TE: David Njoku // Jack Doyle // Adam Trautman // Ricky Seals-Jones ------------ Offensive Linemen (?): LT: Jedrick Wills Jr. // (Halapoulivaati Vaitai) LG: Joel Bitonio // Justin McCray // (Drew Forbes) C: JC Tretter // Willie Wright // Eric Kush RG: Brandon Scherff // Calvin Throckmorton RT: Halapoulivaati Vaitai // Drew Forbes ---------- Linebackers (?): SLB: Mack Wilson // New Young Vet MLB: Sione Takitaki // New Vet WLB: Shaquille Quarterman -------- Safeties (?): FS: Damarious Randall // Eric Murray SS: Jimmie Ward // Sheldrick Redwine ------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------

The times we did run it up the middle we did so on the right side where Teller was absolute buttcheeks.

I never said he isn't bad nor did I mean to do nothing to upgrade Hubbard or Robinson. However, if I had to prioritize I'd choose the RG first then RT then LT. To me, it's been a wide margin regarding how much more troublesome for Baker interior pressure has been relative to outside pressure. The flushing right, turtle up sacks, double/triple clutches to reset because a DLineman is getting pushed in his lap, and/or deep balls having to be check down because Eric Kush or Wyatt Teller can't hold up. Baker needs a RG more than he needs a RT right now but we definitely need to upgrade all 3 spots.

The sad thing about it is we've been beaten to a pulp and abused by a recent 20 years of utter insane incompetence to the point where it seems crazy to even think about firing a 8-8 coach even if we are consciously witnessing and acknowledging various troubling signs that get in the way of sustained success. It's unclear for sure but interesting to ask questions like: 1.) Given the same schedule and circumstances, how many Head Coaches in the league currently would at least get 8-8 out of this team, or how many would get many more? 2.) To what extent is the talent on the team masking coaching failures and/or potential long-term coaching issues? It's just hard because now at the outset of building a new house with a ton of shiny top of the line tools none of us want to look back in 3 years and say "damn we all kind of knew we hired the wrong builder.. this house is messed up .. man I wish we just would've fired that guy and hired a new one." Freddie can get better and let's hope he does..

Lol. I don't trust Dorsey to draft OLineman. They're his blind spot as a scout. Dorsey thought giving two 5ths for Wyatt Teller was a good idea, and I sh*t you not in 2 starts here he's been a sad substantial magnitude worse than Eric Kush and is truly our worst OLineman. We defintely need to hit on draft picks but honestly I'd rather spend what money we have left on the OLine and leave the draft picks to fill in Safety, WR2, DE, and TE as those positions can be drafted and Dorsey and co. have some success with those. We definitely won't be willing to pay both Sherff and Castonzo what they'll get, but we can definitely pay 1. Bulaga tears his knee every few years or so and is a shell of his former self after 3 knee tears and hip surgeries. He might get some good money but it'll only be a true 2-year deal and won't have any cap ramifications after year 2. Conklin coming off a torn ACL and regression in his play is in the same boat. Sherff and Castonzo on the other hand are going to have huge cap consequences on their deals for year 3. 1 of Sherff or Castonzo. If Sherff, then Vaitai and Conklin. We can afford that. If Castonzo, then Glasgow and Conklin. We can afford that. Depending on Drew Forbes is meh. Baker's protection is all that matters at this point.

I don't know man. You're the only person that has me still believing what you're saying is true. Split with the Steelers, win vs Cards, win vs Dolphins, win vs Bengalsx2, loss vs Ravens.. 8-8 record... I'd be willing to bet the farm that there's no way Dorsey would be willing to acknowledge a coaching hire mistake, the Haslams would be willing to move on, and the public at large including the masses of Browns fans will be willing to support the firing of an first year coach going 8-8. - There's simply just no way. I mean we're talking about 5 more wins from now. People might hold that belief after losing to Rudolph for maybe the 1st or 2nd win after that, but by the 3rd or 4th win none of that will matter one bit. Even those that think so now will still do the whole "Well.. he was 8-8 and I don't trust we'll get someone better.. 8-8 is the best record we've had in forever and we could do a lot worse let's give Freddie another chance" type thoughts. Freddie gets to 8-8, 95% of Browns fans will be all aboard the "He Gets Us" Express. That's a guarantee.

If you told me that I probably would've been happy... .... until you then said, "Oh hold on I forgot a few other things ... we'll get blown out by 30 points 43 to 13 in the home owner against Marcus Mariota, you then stink up the joint most of the game against an undermanned Jets team with Darnold out, after that you lose to a declining Rams by self-inflicted wounds, then you'll get your panties pulled off by the 49ers in utter oblivion in front of millions, then you lose to Brandon Allen first start QB led Broncos, and generally the team will lead the league in penalties and look unprepared most games" I think none of us would've been happy hearing that though. Buffalo's 6-3 was never real substance anyway and we barely pulled out a win in the last few minutes. Indeed, I never understood the tribalist hate for Tomlin. He's a heck of a coach and it's okay to acknowledge he's a really good coach and at the same time hope nothing good happens for the Steelers at any point in time.

At this point in the season, who knows who's going to actually make it to UFA (many will likely sign contracts in the next few weeks or at the end of the season), but this Free Agent periods is shaping up nicely thus far for some of our biggest positions of need. All of our Key needs might be able to be addressed (RG, LT, RT, Blocking-Receiving TE, Hybrid Safety) except for the need for a Speed Threat Reliable Hands Boundary WR2 with Slot Versatility. IMO, the need at Guard is more important based on how Baker starts to press when he feels like interior pressure is coming through. That's what forces him out the door right. Also, because of his height a guard being pushed back in his lap restricts his vision more so than other much taller QBs. UFA 2020 players: Guard Brandon Scherff Justin McCray Graham Glasgow RT Bryan Bulaga Jack Conklin LT Anthony Castonzo Halapoulivaati Vaitai TE Jack Doyle Austin Hooper DT Vernon Butler FS Justin SImmons SS Jimmie Ward Nickel Safety Vonn Bell ---- A perfect Free Agency to me would start with signing Guard Brandon Sherff and include singing Hybrid Safety Jimme Ward, All Around TE Jack Doyle, either signing FS Justin SImmons or resigning Damarious Randall on a bargain contract at FS, us signing 1 RT out of Bryan Bulaga and Jack Conklinin (both injury prone and likely can be had for a somewhat more reasonable RT contract), and us signing 1 of LT Anthony Castonzo and Halapoulivaati Vaitai. Castonzo will be the highest paid LT in the league so I don't know if we'd go that far as he's good but not elite enough to necessarily warrant that contract. Vaitai has upside but could be a bust as he's either stellar on snaps or let's DEs turn the corner on him with no resistance. I doubt we'd be able to get or pay both Sherff and Castonzo so maybe it's one or the other so the backup Guard option would be Graham Glasgow. I like Randall for what he provides but his injuries are taking some of his juice away. We have a sound defense but we don't have the requisite speed or explosiveness at either safety position to have range-playmaking forces and elevate our defense. Justin Simmons would be an upgrade in that regard. ---- Having an OLine of: LT Vaitai/Castonzo --- LG Bitonio ---- C Tretter --- RG Scherff/Glasgow ----- RT Bulaga/Conklin A Safety pairing of: FS Justin Simmons/Darmarious Randall --- Hybrid SS Jimme Ward A TE positional Group of: TE Jack Doyle --- TE David Njoku This would allow us to focus our draft capital on BPA instead of drafting for need. We could then spend our top 2 picks on a pass rusher to pair with Myles and use our 2nd rounder on an impact Boundary speed threat WR2 that could change the complexion of our offense. There might be worthy OLine prospect avaialbe there as well.

Stephen Carlson closed his eyes blocking and looked like he wanted no part sticking his nose in there playing patty cake on blocks. He's the worst TE blocker on the team. I wouldn't be shocked if what he put on tape gets him cut. On numerous occasions he literally goes in to block standing up all the way and on contact he turns around and seriously looks scared to punch. Adarius Taylor is also washed. I don't know what happened to him lower body-wise but on Tampa Bay he still had some juice, but now he's one of the slowest LBs I've ever seen get snaps. He's lumbering on Special Teams snaps and it makes no sense why he should get snaps over Takitaki anmore.

Outside of the Dolphins game Conner has only cracked over 44 yards total in a game 1 time and that was for 55 yards. Apparently, according to Steelers beat reporters he has been playing bang up all season with a knee and his teammates have commended him for it. Returning from shoulder injury, it will be interesting to see how much he changes their offense for the better; however, they were struggling even with him present. I agree; the team that gets to 20 points wins. Rudolph fumbles at least 2 times and throws 2 interceptions. Baker problem throws 2 and takes some bad sacks because he hasn't be able to read the blitz pre-snap. Part of me is disappointed that Ben isn't healthy because then I think this would be a true barometer game where our performance on both sides of the ball really would tell us where we are overall as a team. Without Ben, it's still a good test because of their defense. I'm excited to see how we perform. Mason Rudolph will keep us in the game until the very end no matter how poorly our offense plays.

RG over LT and RT though

He missed 3 times ... terrible misses. They stay in memory as glaring. Outside of that he was solid. The player on the OLine that got beat like a drum over and over and over again from beginning to the end was Wyatt Teller. He was awful. 2nd straight week he was bad. No push in the run game and pushed back and displaced into the backfied repeatedly. He was bad in the redzone and goaline and was even worse elsewhere in picking up assignments and blitzes. 2, 5th round picks down the drain. We should bring Eric Kush back in seriously. Teller is not it or instead we should put McCray in at RG and let him do his thing the rest of the season.

Weighted DVOA Offensive Efficiency (the one that matters) we're 24th and the Steelers are 28th; however, keep a few things in mind. If you and I were in a race and I finished 4th with a time of 1 hours and 10 minutes and you finished 5th with a time of 2 hours and 10 minutes, the fact that you finished one spot behind me doesn't tell the qualitative difference story of how much better my performance was relative to you. One would have to understand beyond the pure ranking; that is, what the numbers mean. The difference in Weighted value between 24th to 28th is a substantial amount of efficiency falloff; two qualitatively different offenses with the Steelers offense being substantially worse and less efficent.. Also, as is the case in football the opponents an offense goes against matter. Here's the link: https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamoff/2019

Obviously, winning a playoff game or getting to the playoffs saves Freddie, but beating the Steelers twice isn't the same as beating the Ravens twice for the reasons I cited (bottom 4 offense in the league in every analytic and metrics; terrible QB).

I finally got a chance to watch the full game and one thing that is beyond evident is that Wyatt Teller was another OL investment miss. He's really bad unfortunately. Two 5th round picks down the drain. He's not strong at the point and is even worse than Eric Kush as Teller doesn't have the lower body and backside to anchor so he just gets ran over every other play or displaced into the backfield consistently. RG for an undersized QB like Baker is actually more important than a Tackle.when it comes to seeing the middle of the field actions. RG might actually be our biggest need of the offseason now. ------- We need a lot of things but to me there are certain positions that have the chance to completely change the complexion of our offense and defense. They might not be the "biggest needs" per se but they have the "biggest impact" potential based on upgrading those positions. Biggest Impact Positions for Upgrade: 1.) RG 2.) Hybrid Safety that can range playmake 3.) All Around Impact TE with blocking and pass catching prowess 4.) Impact Pass Rushing Specialist with Juice 5.) Speed Threat Reliable Hands Boundary WR with Slot Versatility It might sound crazy but I'd easily prioritize the upgrading of those positions even over LT/RT or interior DT because such upgrades have the chance at impacting our team the most.

Beating Baltimore twice is in an entirely different stratosphere relative to beating the Steelers twice as the Steelers have a truly terrible offense (28th in DVOA Offensive Efficiency, a panicky QB, and no RB). They have a good defense that has to score 10 points a game to supplement it's offenses 6-7 points a game in order for their team to win. 20 points beats the Steelers much like it beats Buffalo; however, as long as the Steelers defense doesn't score 12 points beat Pittsburgh. They are not a team that we should celebrate as if we have arrived or as if Freddie has arrived because we beat them. Losing to them would be another sign of issues. Our offense has to be able to outscore them.

You're right about the Steelers.Their defense is putting out some special efforts and is real but you're right it cannot be emphasized enough regarding how absolutely terrible their offense and QB are/have been. Their Offense ranks between the dreadful Bengals and Bears in Drive Success Rate and they are 28th in DVOA Offensive Efficiency between Buffalo and Chicago, with only the Bengals, Washington, Miami, Jets after them. https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/teamoff/2019 However, the stats don't tell it all. Qualitatively, watching Rudolph reveals how truly awful he is. Browns fans who haven't watched the Steelers will be shocked probably with how bad he is when they finally see his strange backpedal backpedal backpedal throw he does every time pressure is on. He does this 5 to 6 times a game and it usually ends in disaster. I've never seen it before outside of Cade McNown back in his rookie year with the Bears and David Carr when he was running for his life. The difference with Rudolph being that although the Steelers Offensive Line isn't good it's not historically terrible like those other guys. The Steelers also have no running game at all. Jaylen Samuels was a really nice Hybrid Full-Back/H-Back/Gadget-TE coming out of South Carolina; a more talented version of Lawrence Vickers. He's now their primary RB. He's productive in the passing game but in the running game he doesn't see it at all. Even with Connor back he's been hobbled and ineffective. Their Defense scoring points consistently makes their overall scoring seem like the offense does okay, but honestly 10 points outscores the Steelers Offense. Their defense is real, but honestly there is just no excuse at all to lose to a team with an offense like theirs.

Rebuked... Get thee below devil... you are not welcome in this place..