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The Defense, the Turnovers, and the Redzone Offense

I think Faalele had taken a lot of undeserved flack early in the season, but I definitely think he's earned the callouts over the last few weeks, and I think today was probably the worst performance of them all based on the live eye test. The number of straight up missed blocks is unacceptable. I know they don't believe the other options they have are any better but I also can't see how you can continually watch this tape and say that we're rolling with the same old, same old. At some point, you just have to try something and see what sticks. Our inability to do anything meaningful on critical downs is a continued knife in the back.
 
3 PDs today for Chidobe Awuzie, including the one at the end. I don't know that Brandon Stephens breaks that up. Awuzie has been such an underrated signing. So far, just 179 yards given up on the year on a burn rate of only 51.6%. And the 5 pass deflections ties the most Stephens had for us in any of his 4 years.
 
What really throttled down our OL was that our OTs also joined in on the action of moonlighting as turnstiles. Myles Garrett activated ragdoll physics today. The OGs were their usually porous selves, especially Daniel Faalele, but at the least the bookends normally level out the negatives somewhat. Glad we were able to overcome it today. That is usually the recipe for losing. Also, Lamar Jackson just does not feel like the has the same dynamic burst as a runner and I wonder if he's just not 100%.

He hasn't been 100% since the bills game
 
4 pass rushes today and 2 QB hits. Obviously some of that is facing Sanders, but I wouldn't mind Trenton Simpson being used a bit for inside stunts. He's had a penchant to beat the guards on those since the preseason.
 
I think Faalele has taken a lot of undeserved flack early in the season, but I definitely think he's earned the callouts over the last few weeks, and I think today was probably the worst performance of them all based on the live eye test. The number of straight up missed blocks is unacceptable. I know they don't believe the other options they have are any better but I also can't see how you can continually watch this tape and say that we're rolling with the same old, same old. At some point, you just have to try something and see what sticks. Our inability to do anything meaningful on critical downs is a continued knife in the back.

I go back to not being able to punch it from 2 yards out last year against the Bills.
 
it's even worse in the redzone, you're already limited for space to operate in and now you've cut that limited space in half

just a dumb play philosophically and i'd love to know why it's a staple of this offence in key moments
I don’t like it but Lamar, andrews, and Bateman all excel in dragging the defenders one way, getting behind them and just cutting back for a catch as the defender keeps running. Philosophically it’s fucking dumb, but it actually is something we do pretty well, Lamar just seems to have that connection where he knows when a guy is about to execute this late separation and he’s often on the money with it.

Would have to think the asshole OL against this Jim Schwartz pass rush has a lot to do with why we call it in key moments, we wanna move the pocket so we can at least say we tried to give Lamar time and space in the pocket
 
I think Faalele has taken a lot of undeserved flack early in the season, but I definitely think he's earned the callouts over the last few weeks, and I think today was probably the worst performance of them all based on the live eye test. The number of straight up missed blocks is unacceptable. I know they don't believe the other options they have are any better but I also can't see how you can continually watch this tape and say that we're rolling with the same old, same old. At some point, you just have to try something and see what sticks. Our inability to do anything meaningful on critical downs is a continued knife in the back.
Exactly. I know Harbaugh thinks that stubbornness for its own sake is a virtue but there's absolutely nothing to gain in sticking with a completely unplayable guard at this point. We've seen Cleveland play average games and Bullock looked good in preseason.

Even if they planned to stick with Faalele until Emory Jones was ready to go they can't carry on with this. They've already pissed off Lamar with this bullshit (by the looks of it) but they're going to get him hurt again at this rate.
 
I go back to not being able to punch it from 2 yards out last year against the Bills.
I think it's mostly frustrating with him because he truly did get better as the season went on last year, and you'd hoped that he'd build on that. But it seems like he's hit a wall in his development and there's not much hope of anything getting better.

He was probably hidden a bit last year too as the clear weakest link on the line, but now that we have multiple guys also not playing up to snuff, it seems his issues are being magnified and they're more impactful.

Never would have thought losing Mekari would arguably be our biggest loss. He was a penalty machine but he was also solid and steady. When both G spots are questionable at best on their best days, it's not a great sign.
 
Gon be a quick one and done in the playoffs if we make it
 
Feels like it, for sure. Didn't want to cut too much slack, but I'm glad it's not just me noticing.

He is still moving around well to escape but man this line is so bad he can't make up for it all the time. All things considered he's been throwing the ball well which is a good sign for what he can be without the wheels.

We really need to address the line. Now that I'm at it


I WANT MONKEN LASHED 10 TIMES WHEN THEY GET BACK TO THE CASTLE

RR? LASHED 15 TIMES
LINDY? 5 TIMES
DF? 37 LASHES
VOR? 25 TIMES
STANLEY? 1, OTHERWISE HE GETS AN INJURY
 
Exactly. I know Harbaugh thinks that stubbornness for its own sake is a virtue but there's absolutely nothing to gain in sticking with a completely unplayable guard at this point. We've seen Cleveland play average games and Bullock looked good in preseason.

Even if they planned to stick with Faalele until Emory Jones was ready to go they can't carry on with this. They've already pissed off Lamar with this bullshit (by the looks of it) but they're going to get him hurt again at this rate.
You can probably blame it on both Faalele and Vorhees having their best games before the bye. I know they were talking about switching it up during the bye week but seems that plan was abandoned after both of those guys doing what they needed to do. Unfortunately, neither has carried any momentum forward from there. Regression.
 
He is still moving around well to escape but man this line is so bad he can't make up for it all the time. All things considered he's been throwing the ball well which is a good sign for what he can be without the wheels.

We really need to address the line. Now that I'm at it


I WANT MONKEN LASHED 10 TIMES WHEN THEY GET BACK TO THE CASTLE

RR? LASHED 15 TIMES
LINDY? 5 TIMES
DF? 37 LASHES
VOR? 25 TIMES
STANLEY? 1, OTHERWISE HE GETS AN INJURY
Lamar and Henry will be fighting over who gets to whip them
 
When is the last time we can say defense truly won us a game? I know it's the Browns but welcome to the fraternity Orr. Still skeptical but they put yall in bad positions and you had the unit prepared.
 
Gon be a quick one and done in the playoffs if we make it
I promise I'm not trying to be Mr. Positivity here by any means, but I'm not sure I see any other team this year that feels like they're just going to walk all over us. This is definitely the weakest AFC I've seen in a long time.
 
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