RUN the ball !! We have 2 great running backs!

[jrb12711]

I don't disagree that we should have been toting the rock more in the 1st half, BUT to play devils advocate we do have the leading rusher in the NFL. Our schemes running the ball with Hunt are honestly impressive.

Here's the thing I'm going to say to anyone in the "running is dead" conversation. The top rushing per game by team? Ravens, 49ers, Seahawks, Vikings, Bills. Arguably the best two teams in the AFC and NFC and playoff teams down from there. Not a coincidence.

[Orion]

@jrb12711 said:

Not a coincidence.

Well, actually Baltimore's running attack is their QB.  They're kind of an exception for right now.

[jiggins7919]

I was as frustrated as anyone regarding the lack of rushing attack in the first half, but the truth of the matter is our defense is MOSTLY to blame. Why? Because they couldn't hardly EVER force a punt! We didn't have the freaking ball in the first half, and I know many people want to pan the offense, but truth be told, we moved the ball. The one really good drive we had to start the game was going very well until Njoku failed to secure the rock and the refs effed up and called it a fumble/interception. That should have been first and ten from the 13. 

The biggest problem I had in terms of running the ball came at an INTEGRAL time of the game. We forced our only 3 and out of the game and got EXCELLENT field position around the 50. We had ALL the momentum. So we run the ball, right? Nope. We dial up a freaking deep shot to OBJ and our TE ends up being 1 on 1 with their best pass rusher and Baker can't do anything but take a sack. Drive over. 

Now, on that same drive, I think OBJ almost makes a circus catch, but honestly it wasn't that close. Then on 3rd down, OBJ did what he's done all year and couldn't come down with the contested catch for 1st down. A catch very similar to the one Jarvis made on 3rd and 15. Was it a VERY difficult catch? Oh yeah. Did OBJ take a shot to the nuts? Yep. But you'd like for your $15 million WR to make that grab. That sets us up 1st and 10 at the 30 and gives us a chance to end the game. 

There were other positives about the game that I want to write about later. It wasn't great by any means, but Jesus, we won and game and I'm tired of people blaming the offense. The Bengals possessed the ball for so many lengthy drives, and they had just no pressure. Our offense can't score without the ball. 

[mjp28]

@orion said:

Well, actually Baltimore's running attack is their QB.  They're kind of an exception for right now.

And the hazard of having a running quarterback as your main man, they're not like interchangeable RBs.

Lamar Jackson

QB

Dec 9

Questionable

Coach John Harbaugh said Jackson hurt his quadriceps on a low hit Sunday at Buffalo, and the Ravens will take a "wait-and-see" approach with his situation, Jeff Zrebiec of The Athletic reports.

[jrb12711]

@orion said:

Well, actually Baltimore's running attack is their QB.  They're kind of an exception for right now.

I'm really not sure how that alters my point in any way. IDC if the center is running the ball, rush yards are rush yards.

[The Gipper]

How's this for a lineup?

Landry........OL OL OL OL OL...Njoku.........OBJ

.............................Baker....................................

.............Hunt......................Chubb....................

(does it remind Old Timers of the Old Days?) ---------------------------if only our OL could block consistently.

So, yea....as someone said elsewhere, our OL is Tretter/Bitonio...and who knows who else from week to week.

So, yes, our offensive on field weak link is our OL.....but, of course, our bigger offensive weak link appears to be the Kitchens/Monken combination which at times appears clueless or worse. 

[mjp28]

If you notice that the great Cleveland Browns teams (in the running era) all featured great RBs with a good line and more than adequate QBs and WRs.

They also had good defenses for point control and good field position.

A balanced attack.....as old as football itself.

[jrb12711]

@the-gipper said:

How's this for a lineup?

Landry........OL OL OL OL OL...Njoku.........OBJ

.............................Baker....................................

.............Hunt......................Chubb....................

(does it remind Old Timers of the Old Days?) ---------------------------if only our OL could block consistently.

So, yea....as someone said elsewhere, our OL is Tretter/Bitonio...and who knows who else from week to week.

So, yes, our offensive on field weak link is our OL.....but, of course, our bigger offensive weak link appears to be the Kitchens/Monken combination which at times appears clueless or worse. 

I won't at all be against taking a LT in the draft, to be clear. But in this regard, I'm 110% with you. Our line is consistently ranking "middle of pack" in week to week rankings. I'd argue their overall ranking via NFL (14th) is even skewed downward a bit as we were down 3? starters for two weeks early in the season. Your latter point has been the much, much more important problem.

[Orion]

@the-gipper said:

So, yea....as someone said elsewhere, our OL is Tretter/Bitonio...and who knows who else from week to week.

That was me.   And it's a part of why we can't do too much of either, run or pass.  We've got to set the defensive up for either.

[Icecube]

@mjp28 said:

Pos	Player	Age	Yrs	GS	Summary of Player Stats	Drafted (tm/rnd/yr)
	Offensive Starters				1987 Cleveland Browns
QB	Bernie Kosar*	24	2	12	241 for 389, 3,033 yards, 22 td, 9 int, & 15 rushes for 22 yards and 1 td	Cleveland Browns / 1st / 1st pick / 1985 Supp
RB	Earnest Byner	25	3	12	105 rushes for 432 yards, 8 td, & 52 catches for 552 yards and 2 td	Cleveland Browns / 10th / 280th pick / 1984
FB	Kevin Mack*	25	2	12	201 rushes for 735 yards, 5 td, & 32 catches for 223 yards and 1 td	Cleveland Browns / 1st / 11th pick / 1984 Supp
WR	Reggie Langhorne	24	2	12	20 catches for 288 yards, 1 td	Cleveland Browns / 7th / 175th pick / 1985
WR	Webster Slaughter	23	1	12	47 catches for 806 yards, 7 td	Cleveland Browns / 2nd / 43rd pick / 1986
TE	Ozzie Newsome	31	9	13	34 catches for 375 yards, 0 td	Cleveland Browns / 1st / 23rd pick / 1978
LT	Paul Farren	27	4	12	1 fumble recovered	Cleveland Browns / 12th / 316th pick / 1983
LG	Larry Williams	24	1	8		Cleveland Browns / 10th / 259th pick / 1985
C	Mike Baab	28	5	12		Cleveland Browns / 5th / 115th pick / 1982
RG	Dan Fike	26	2	12		New York Jets / 10th / 274th pick / 1983
RT	Cody Risien*	30	8	13		Cleveland Browns / 7th / 183rd pick / 197

THAT was a good team. And I'd take Marty right NOW over what we have at HC. Marty was a much better coach than his general legacy has him. And he did a great job in KC too, and even made the Skins and Bolts better than others have since. 

[Dutch Oven]

@icecube said:

THAT was a good team. And I'd take Marty right NOW over what we have at HC. Marty was a much better coach than his general legacy has him. And he did a great job in KC too, and even made the Skins and Bolts better than others have since. 

Marty was a very good regular season head coach. 

[Tacosman]

People who want to 'establish the run' and run more don't understand efficiency and such.

The reality is we, and most teams, should be running even less.

Baltimore is a horrible example.  Subtract all of Jackson's runs for starters as they are not traditional runs(the scrambles or the designed runs).  

[Gorka]

https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/3916387/lamar-jackson

This was Jackson breakout year. I have faith that defenses will have learned how to play this guy when next season rolls along. Just like they did Baker.

The Browns shut him down tho, the only team able to do so it seems. We'll see if that holds up when they play again.

Most shocking stat is his TD completion improvement over last year.

[hx214]

@gorka said:

https://www.espn.com/nfl/player/stats/_/id/3916387/lamar-jackson

This was Jackson breakout year. I have faith that defenses will have learned how to play this guy when next season rolls along. Just like they did Baker.

The Browns shut him down tho, the only team able to do so it seams. We'll see if that holds up when they play again.

Most shocking stat is his TD completion improvement over last year.

It won't. They are missing to many guys on defense and at that point the Browns won't even have their 4% playoff chance so half the team will give up.  The Ravens will win and we will have to hear how awesome they are for the rest of the off season. 

[Orion]

@gorka said:

The Browns shut him down tho, the only team able to do so

Early in the season the Ravens tried to make him more of a traditional QB with running more of a last resort type of thing.   After we shut him down they said, Fuck That!    We're gonna get our assess handed to us.  He's gonna make our lousy tackling secondary look like a lousy tackling secondary.   (of course, I HOPE not)

[Gorka]

@orion said:

Early in the season the Ravens tried to make him more of a traditional QB with running more of a last resort type of thing.   After we shut him down they said, Fuck That!    We're gonna get our assess handed to us.  He's gonna make our lousy tackling secondary look like a lousy tackling secondary.   (of course, I HOPE not)

Good point.

Unfortunately.

[blitzz2]

If opposing teams don't respect the pass, then Defenses' overload the box. We all know this. I'm perfectly fine with how were handling this as of now. Just not enough rocks to go around.

[Gorka]

@orion said:

Early in the season the Ravens tried to make him more of a traditional QB with running more of a last resort type of thing.   After we shut him down they said, Fuck That!    We're gonna get our assess handed to us.  He's gonna make our lousy tackling secondary look like a lousy tackling secondary.   (of course, I HOPE not)

What I should have said to this post was Thanks.

Thanks a lot.

[Nero]

Chubb has been the best player of the team the entire season. Silent worker, speaks with his actions, and doesn't brag. 

I think we're running just fine,maybe Hunt isn't getting the ball a lot, but I can take that. 

The thing that I liked the most against the Bengals was using both of them in some formations. Both are good receivers and can block, so using both at the same time makes a lot of mismatch opportunities.

I especially loved a play they ran at least twice: first time Chubb faked a run to the right with the line blocking to that side, while Hunt received a screen pass on the left side with all the defense moving to the opposite side. Later in the game, defense went for Hunt and Chubb had a big rush to the right. 

Let's keep them guessing. 

[mjp28]

@orion said:

Early in the season the Ravens tried to make him more of a traditional QB with running more of a last resort type of thing.   After we shut him down they said, Fuck That!    We're gonna get our assess handed to us.  He's gonna make our lousy tackling secondary look like a lousy tackling secondary.   (of course, I HOPE not)

And yet the early lines only show CLE +7 so should we jump on BAL at that line?