Just figured the DogHouse is a very dark lonely place on Pettines sideline.....what else could it be?

@mudfly said:

That would be nice for Gilbert and us. I posted throughout the offseason we needed to see this guy in our return game when he was praised as the best return guy in his draft class. It's an instinctive art guy's either have or they don't - so I never understood how it was going to interfere with his weekly preparations at corner.

Based upon the three I watched last week, it's only a matter of time before he goes all the way.....today would be ideal

Opening KO would be awesome!!!.....(if we get it)

@clevfan4life said:

Does the coaching staff feel that way? I haven't seen one single indication of that. I've seen O'Neil and Pettine say that the defense has to execute better, but never anywhere that this personnel is not right. Stocking up on draft picks is going to put us where we were last year...and then two years from now do we just hold another firesale when those guys have a problem adapting in their second year of a scheme (some first).

Further, college kids are rarely bigger and stronger.

This is panic for no reason other than panic. There's no actual reasonable plan of attack. It's reactionary off the cuff ideas.

@tim-couch-pulls-out said:

not necessarily. I don't want to hit the redo button just for the sake of hitting the redo button. But if the coaching staff feels that these guys cannot execute their scheme, which has proven to be better than avg in other places....well? If we could firesale guys off now and load up on picks it's something you would have to think about. Get younger but bigger, stronger faster etc, etc. But then of course there's the problem that we can't pick for shit anyway so fuck me i'm back to square 1. Meh

@jiggins7919 said:

Do I want to blow up everything? Absolutely not...I HATE doing that. But...I literally don't know what to do. Here's the thing, if we were losing close games because our QB wasn't making plays, or because we had a litany of injuries, and our defense was keeping it close, I'd say we're very close. But that's NOT the case. We in most of our games because of our offense, and we're losing because of our defense. We have a defensive coach and a great deal of our team resources spent on on that side of the ball, yet we aren't seeing any results. We don't force turnovers, we commit way too many costly penalties, and we're extremely predictable. I mean, if the blitz wasn't working the entire second half, why keep it up? I need to review the game a bit more, but it seemed to me like Rivers was waiting on the blitz, and identifying how to exploit it before the snap. Our own defenders said as much. So where are the adjustments? Where are the guys on defense that are going to make the key play when we need it the most? Where is the batted down pass, or the strip sack, or bone crushing hit?

Nobody in their right mind WANTS to blow the team up, but finding a solution without doing that is difficult. Is Pettine too close to our DC? Does the owner need to step in and tell him if he wants to keep his job, than he needs to find another guy? Right now our offense is really making some strides, and other than some terrible execution int he redzone, we'd actually be "good". The two screen passes called should've gone for touchdowns, yet our "all pro" offensive line whiffed both times, and we settle for fgs. Is that coaching? Or is it our players simply not executing? Blowing up the team completely sucks, and it sets your team back a couple of years (usually). I'm hopeful there is a way to vastly improve our team WITHOUT doing that, but I'm not sure that possibility exists. I just know that me, and many Browns fans, are so tired of watching a team get beat because we can't stop a team when we NEED TO. We simply cannot make the play when we need it the most, and we cannot draft top level talent in the first round. Our fans are yearning for people to root for, for a dominant defense, and AFC North style football....yet we are the furthest thing from it. I don't want to sound like a Negative Nancy, I really don't, but I'm disappointed. I live and die every Sunday with this team, and maybe it's pathetic, but I love them. I want a product I can be proud of.

Our defense isn't bad. They are inconsistent as hell, but not bad.

To date, we've allowed 670 passing yards on 24 plays. In all, we've allowed 79 total pass completions on us this year, for 1108 yards. Even worse, there have been 117 runs against us, for a total of 566 yards. 13 of those runs have yielded 263 yards.

That means that 60% of the yardage through the air has come on 30% of the passing plays, while nearly 50% of the rushing yards we've given up have come on only 11% of the rushing plays.

Look at it further -

- on 70% of our passing plays, we're holding our opponents to 7.9 yards per completion, or 4.1 yards per attempt.

- on 89% of our rushing plays, we're holding our opponents to 2.9 yards per carry.

Granted this is an example of confining data strains then applying them to the whole...but it's still relevant to this discussion. Or defense isn't bad, they just aren't good yet. There's a difference.

If they were going out there and letting opponents rip off 8-10 yards per carry and throw seemingly at will...then I'd say they are bad. But they actually play average to above average defense for a stretch...and then they give up a huge play. That's not a lack of talent, that's not a bad system - that's growing pains. That's missed assignments, that's not being comfortable, that's not knowing the complete playbook.

Advocating a complete overhaul is Cleveland fandom at it's finest. We don't look like [so and so], so let's blow shit up and start over.

@canton-mike said:

lol

I know it will never happen, but wouldnt it be funny if he ended up as a better WR then Watkins?

Zombo said:

Off topic of the thread, but on topic of the quote, I think the same thing happened to Crow last year. Remember how explosive he hit the hole last year in the early part of the season? He saw a crack, put his outside foot in the ground and exploded to/through it, then he fought for the extra tough yard........

......... Then came the fumble(s).

The coaches overreacted, punished him with lack of playtime/starts and I'm sure harped like old women on ball security, and the result was the neutered Crow that we have today.

Zombo said:

Ive felt this way all along.....esp in the kicking game....

Nobody in their right mind WANTS to blow the team up, but finding a solution without doing that is difficult. Is Pettine too close to our DC? Does the owner need to step in and tell him if he wants to keep his job, than he needs to find another guy? Right now our offense is really making some strides, and other than some terrible execution int he redzone, we'd actually be "good". The two screen passes called should've gone for touchdowns, yet our "all pro" offensive line whiffed both times, and we settle for fgs. Is that coaching? Or is it our players simply not executing? Blowing up the team completely sucks, and it sets your team back a couple of years (usually). I'm hopeful there is a way to vastly improve our team WITHOUT doing that, but I'm not sure that possibility exists. I just know that me, and many Browns fans, are so tired of watching a team get beat because we can't stop a team when we NEED TO. We simply cannot make the play when we need it the most, and we cannot draft top level talent in the first round. Our fans are yearning for people to root for, for a dominant defense, and AFC North style football....yet we are the furthest thing from it. I don't want to sound like a Negative Nancy, I really don't, but I'm disappointed. I live and die every Sunday with this team, and maybe it's pathetic, but I love them. I want a product I can be proud of.

Not sure why Marlon Moore and Shaun Draughn were in his way.

I think the coaching staff punishes him, sometimes to the detriment of the team.

There, I said it.

Zombo

@hx214 said:

Dont think anyone has said he's "switching" to Wr......just that he's getting reps and the Browns have said(DeFlip) that they're taking a look at it......still primarily a CB though....

@jrb12711 said:

agreed......he looked great running em back......35 yds per.....

guess everyone only wants to see what they want to see.

like don't give up on manziel? well why doesn't the same hold true for gilbert you miserable fucks?

@tiamat63 said:

It's good that Gilbert has the mentality to want to contribute in any way shape and form.

Humbling one's self is a great first step to success.

Succeeding is a great second step.

@diehardbrownsfan said:

It's good that Gilbert has the mentality to want to contribute in any way shape and form.

Humbling one's self is a great first step to success.

@diehardbrownsfan said:

I have to laugh at all the fools who act like its good that Gilbert is trying out as a WR.