Green Bay Packers vs. Cleveland Browns - Official Game Thread
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 25, 2009 11:11 AM EDT
in General News
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PrintGreen Bay Packers at Cleveland Browns, Oct 25, 2009 1:00 PM EDT
A little over two months ago, the Cleveland Browns kicked off their preseason with a game against the Green Bay Packers. When QB Aaron Rodgers tore the Browns' defense apart, we could attribute it at the time to an "off day", and our offensive struggles could be blamed on "not wanting to show too much." At 1-5, I don't think either of those statements were true as we head into this week's contest against the Packers.
| GREEN BAY PACKERS (3-2) | WEEK 7 | CLEVELAND BROWNS (1-5) | |||
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VS. |  |
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| Date: | October 25, 2009 | Location: | Cleveland, OH |
| Time: | 1:00 p.m. ET |
Stadium: | Browns Stadium |
| TV: | FOX |
Favorite: | Packers by 6½ |
| Radio: | WTAM, 1100 AM | Over/Under: | 43½ |
| SBN Coverage: | Acme Packing Company |
Announcers |
Ron Pitts, John Lynch |
Considering the Browns were facing a more popular team in the Green Bay Packers, I expected FOX to provide our game with a better announcing crew. I guess I shouldn't have expected that when we're up against the Vikings/Steelers game at the same time on FOX, so for the second week in a row, we get a "Z" crew for the announcing duties.
Let's start off this week's preview with the overall team statistics heading into Week 7...
OFFENSE
| Category | Packers |
Browns |
| Points Scored | 26.0 (8th) | 11.5 (30th) = Push |
| Passing | 258.4 (10th) | 136.2 (31st) = Push |
| Rushing | 101.2 (19th) | 103.7 (18th) = -2 |
| Total Offense (yards) | 359.6 (10th) | 239.8 (31st) = Push |
DEFENSE
| Category | Packers |
Browns |
| Points Scored | 18.6 (9th) | 24.7 (26th) = -3 |
| Passing | 192.6 (10th) | 242.0 (23rd) = -13 |
| Rushing | 105.4 (16th) | 165.3 (30th) = +2 |
| Total Defense (yards) | 298.0 (8th) | 407.3 (32nd) = -3 |
| GREEN BAY PACKERS | Position | CLEVELAND BROWNS | ||
| Rodgers will pick us apart, perhaps more than Roethlisberger did last week, if we cannot get pressure on him early and often. |
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QB | As an outsider, it must seem absurd that Anderson's starting job seems "safe" when you look at his stats from the past two weeks. |
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| I've been surprised at the lack of carries for the backup running backs. After Ryan Grant, the next highest RB rusher has six carries. |
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RB | |
With the Browns' season-long struggles in the passing game, Jamal Lewis will likely get quite a bit of carries with better production than last week. |
| Is it somewhat of a surprise that Greg Jennings has not had a more productive season than Donald Driver at this point? |
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WR | It's Brian Robiskie's time, hopefully. When everyone else drops the ball, what excuse is there for not playing him? |
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| Left tackle Chad Clifton won't play this week, meaning rookie fourth-rounder T.J. Lang will get his first start. Starting center Jason Spitz will also miss his second straight game. |
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OL | |
Rex Hadnot returned in limited action last week, which provides the Browns with the ability to rotate more on the offensive line. |
| The Packers aren't a serious threat at getting pressure; it's hard to believe that Cullen Jenkins will beat Joe Thomas. |
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DL | Corey Williams returns to face his former team. Has he been saving his finest performance for his former team? (Doubt it) |
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| LB Clay Matthews hasn't been starting, but he had a big game last week: 5 tackles, 2 sacks, and a pass deflected. |
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LB | I'm disappointed that D'Qwell Jackson is the player we have to lose at this unit. Hopefully Kaluka Maiava or David Veikune see playing time instead of Jason Trusnik. |
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| Al Harris and Charles Woodsen might not be in their prime any more, but they are still a solid combination and will pick off Anderson often if he continues to make errant throws. | |
DB | Assuming Mangini still won't play Coye Francies, we really can't afford to bench Brandon McDonald with nobody else worthy on the roster to replace him. (Again, why'd we cut Hood?) |
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| The team's longest kick return of the season is 46 yards. Mason Crosby is 11-of-13 on kicks this season. |
ST |  |
Kicker Phil Dawson probably won't play again. *sigh* At least Joshua Cribbs is always there for a highlight. |
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The Packers, statistically, are much better than the Browns are. Their defense has been suspect at times though, giving up 31 points to the Bengals and 30 points to the Vikings, both of which were losses. Green Bay was prepared for the Lions after their bye week though, destroying them 26-0 a week ago. Anderson and the offense will play one of the team's most exciting games of the season this week at home, but fall on the losing end of a shootout. Don't make fun of me for the amount of points I'm giving the Browns; it merely falls in line with the shootout prediction!
The weather today is supposed to be very pleasant though at about 59 degrees!
FINAL PREDICTION: Green Bay Packers 34, Cleveland Browns 28.
CHRIS' RECORD IN PICKING BROWNS GAMES: 5-1
CHRIS' OVERALL NFL PREDICTIONS RECORD: 67-23
This is the official gameday thread for the Cleveland Browns in Week 7 as they take on the Green Bay Packers. All comments regarding the game should be posted in this topic. Enjoy the game, and GO BROWNS!!!
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Phil Dawson and Steve Heiden are ruled out, so they will be two of our inactives.
Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.
The Cleveland Browns taking on The Cleveland Browns?
Epic.
by SpecialBrownie on Oct 25, 2009 11:24 AM EDT reply actions
I pretty much ignored all of the grumbling early in the off season about Mangini bringing in so many Jets players, but if we see more of Stuckey and Trusnick than Robiski and Maiava/Veikune I’m going to scream. There is no reason with the season so squarely in the toilet already to withhold playing time for our rookies. And on those grounds I would say get Francies on the field as well.
I’ve been thinking for a while that there’s a certain schizophrenia on Magini’s part over whether to field the best team available and look for wins or at least competitiveness, or to give the whole season over to player development. Even at 1-5 I think this dissonance is there. The BQ benching might be one case of this, but there are many more examples around….
by RelapsingDawgCatcher on Oct 25, 2009 11:53 AM EDT up reply actions
Browns declared TE Steve Heiden, K Phil Dawson, TE Robert Royal, CB Coye Francies, RB Chris Jennings, third QB Brett Ratliff, OL Billy Yates, and CB Gerard Lawson inactive for Week 7
Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 25, 2009 12:01 PM EDT up reply actions
I usually check out KFFL for the latest:
Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 25, 2009 12:04 PM EDT up reply actions
Or that. KFFL usually searches all the team websites and then aggregates them together on their page.
Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 25, 2009 12:05 PM EDT up reply actions
Francies
What’s Francies’ story? Why can’t he even get activated?
by Monsters of the Midway on Oct 25, 2009 12:09 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m glad to see that Corey Williams is good to go. He’s been pretty good this year.
by golanbatrac on Oct 25, 2009 12:23 PM EDT up reply actions
Francies again?!
Great, more Brandon McDonald…
by Bernie19Kosar on Oct 25, 2009 12:32 PM EDT up reply actions
The Green Bay Packers have declared RB Ahman Green, OT Chad Clifton, OG Evan Dietrich-Smith, DL Jarius Wynn, WR Jordy Nelson, FB Korey Hall, OT Mark Tauscher, SS Matt Giordano inactive for Week 7.
Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 25, 2009 12:05 PM EDT up reply actions
game coverage
I am in Indiana and stupid Fox is showing the Vikings game instead to the Browns game, is there anyway I can watch the game online somewhere?
I’m hoping to listen on www.wtam.com . You might try that.
Many thanks for this link, NMD. Worked for me right to the (bitter) end. Hoping to hear the postagame next, to lick some wounds.
by RelapsingDawgCatcher on Oct 25, 2009 4:12 PM EDT up reply actions
if he falls, cj spiller in the early 2nd round. he’s about 60% of clemson’s offense. can run and catch.
“Robaire Smith…a free agent brought in from Tennessee this year.”
Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.
That’s pretty awful. But I’m listening to the radio feed, and one of the WTAM announcers seems drunk. Reminds me of the guys in “Major League”
Did anyone catch who is starting at ILB for DQ?
Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.
/sarc
Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 25, 2009 1:18 PM EDT up reply actions
is there a lot of wind? crosby’s pretty reliable from 40+ yards. i’m surprised they didn’t try a FG.
They had moved the ball with ease on every play. That was there first negative play, so I wasn’t surprised they went for it.
Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.
by Chris Pokorny on Oct 25, 2009 1:21 PM EDT up reply actions
Estandia
Where did this guy come from????
Looks like he has nice size- 6’8" on a TE can only be a good thing.
Find a good livestream, but it’s about 2-3 minutes behind the live game. So my comments will be sparse. Don’t want to ruin it for myself.
by DisplacedBuckeye on Oct 25, 2009 1:23 PM EDT reply actions
I don’t know what that means. But I use TVU or Sopcast for UFC fights. So that might be an option if you can find the channel.
Derek Anderson has taken a little bit off his throws and its paying off thus far.
Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.
When the home team QB needs to cover his ears to hear the playcall, the fans should learn to shut up.
I think I just bought access to all of the Browns’ game film from 08 and 09 at NFL.com. Maybe now I can help figure out what we aren’t doing right.
You show it a lot less than BQIB. No offense, BQIB.
by rufio on Oct 25, 2009 1:41 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Anybody got a radio link? JustinTV says the max for “my country” has been reached…
www.lowbrowsophisticate.com
“WTAM is unable to broadcast Cleveland Browns football online due to NFL restrictions.”
www.lowbrowsophisticate.com
Only thing I can figure is that if you have the livestream going before 1:00 pm, they haven’t learned how to turn it off for those people?
by DisplacedBuckeye on Oct 25, 2009 1:40 PM EDT up reply actions
I left GB’s defense on the bench this week in fantasy. Hoping the Browns prove it to be a good decision.
Last drive he drove the length of the field… cut him some slack. He doesn’t need to score every drive.
Alright, that’s it. Lewis needs to retire immediately. Just come off the field and quit. There was a huge running lane off tackle, great lead block and Lewis took about 20 minutes to get to the line of scrimmage. Seroiusly, I saw that and thought 5-10 yard gain at least… 1 yard loss?!?!
He has a shoulder injury. Some people think he got hurt during a drill where a padded linebacker was told to tackle him at full speed. There was some controversy about it.
He hurt the same shoulder in the game against Minnesota, I believe.
Those idiot draw are driving me insane!
by RelapsingDawgCatcher on Oct 25, 2009 2:03 PM EDT up reply actions
The radio announcers said we sent a blitz that time and we obviously didn’t get to the QB. That would do it.
2 questions. why does jamal lewis continue to get carries? why is derek anderson playing qb and not playin craps behind a motel 6 for a living?
Def should let them score right away so we get the ball back, and then all we have to do is score two TD’s and a FG and we’ll have the lead. < -Mangini Game Plan from Baltimore game, no joke….
I sort of agree. Doesn’t make sense to just sit him there.
by gentryholdem on Oct 25, 2009 2:17 PM EDT up reply actions
Quinn can’t throw any better to receivers that can’t catch, he can’t help OL block, he can’t run the ball for the RBs, unfortunately the team is not good right now…
I don’t have video of game, but given GB defense and Capers, I can’t see our OL getting that much better in a week. The team in general is bad
“No matter if it’s Brady or DA, and the fans are chanting ‘Brady,Brady’…2 young wide receivers getting baptized by older defensive guys…” Radio…
I’m two possesions away from chanting for Spurgeon Wynn.
by golanbatrac on Oct 25, 2009 2:23 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
If they stick with DA, within a few weeks, I think we’ll see a big difference in the offense. Kozar has been hinting at this…
Bernie Kosar has been officially hired by the Cleveland Browns as a consultant. He’s worried about offense cause he says how they practice and prepare, but theyre getting no results.
DA’s thrown 2 TDs and 7 INTs now. what’s his passer rating now? we all know quinn wasn’t that good but this is just starting to irritate me.
I can’t imagine why you would think this. He made the QB switch before, he will do it again. He has played young guys consistently.
i feel if quinn was playing like DA has been ever since he took over, he’d be benched. why does DA continue to get the chances?
Quinn is a ND QB. ND qb’s are notarious for not being big throwers, and Quinn is just not where he should be. I hate hearing these games as much as anyone, but I couldn’t see Quinn doing anything positive. He can’t move the offense. DA isn’t doing much better, but it’s moving. All Quinn is doing is wearing the defense out when he goes 3 and out all day…
A college the QB has very little to do with how they play in the NFL. We’ve discussed this at length either. It is especially irrelevant now that Quinn is 3 years out of school.
nobody thinks he’s good.
The only thing anyone can say about him is that we haven’t seen enough of him to be sure.
But from what we have seen, would you seriously consider starting him on an NFL football team? What about 2nd half when your down by 18? Remember Baltimore? DA came out down by 20, had to try some things to at least have a chance, threw some INT, and everyone grilled him. Now, imagine Quinn trying to throw a deep ball, or over the middle, in fact the only ones he ever threw deep or over the middle I believe were all picked off. The team in general is not good. And I wouldn’t even attempt to try and bring Quinn back into the field in a game like this…
If I had my choice neither DA or Quinn would come close to starting for the Browns this season. Unfortunately, that’s all we have. And since this year is shot, we need to use the games for evaluation and development.
Quinn has sucked real bad and doesn’t look ready.
DA is absolutely a terrible QB. He will NEVER be a good QB in this league.
I’d be interested if Quinn gets some PT this week or next week, but I really don’t care.
The only thing anyone can say about him is that we haven’t seen enough of him to be sure.
We’ll have to agree to disagree.
I’m not saying that. I’m saying that is what his supporters can logically argue. Nobody is arguing that he is good.
I’m simply saying, that in my honest opinion, I think we’ve seen enough to determine that he’s not a very good NFL quarterback.
I’ll also add that the same is true for Anderson, he’s not very good either. He’s just more capable of moving the ball than Quinn.
Both still suck.
I agree. I think there is a small chance he improves to be viable as a starter with good weapons around him. But right now (or at least the last time we saw him), he is really far from that.
But to those who think we need to see more to evaluate him fairly—- I think that’s a valid position.
A small chance is better than none. Sadly I think DA is officially hopeless at this point. Even though they got it back, that fumble at the goal line early today just was the last straw for me.
by RelapsingDawgCatcher on Oct 25, 2009 4:25 PM EDT up reply actions
Pit exposed a big secret last week to our offense and that is we are seriously prone to blitzing, and that’s what GB saw and they’re continuing to do. Blitz, pressure DA to throw, and put the money on a young receiver who continually drops the ball.
I don’t think it was a secret that we can’t pass protect on the right side. Dumervil got 4 sacks against St Clair.
I guess that was all I was trying to say.
How is St. Clair so inconsistent as to have given up that many sacks and opportunities in the first couple of weeks and yet played solid today?
This is not how we’re losing this week. They’ve put next to no pressure on DA. No one has dropped the ball. Not once.
DA couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, let alone hit a receiver in stride.
Yeah, you might be getting wrong information about today’s game. Drops aren’t a problem today. At all. AND the receivers have got open, the blitzes are picked up. It is 100% on DA.
Yeah, he has 8 incompletions, I’d say at least 4 were not within 5 yards of any WR. Another 3 were broken up by coverage/INT’d. Maybe 1 drop.
Can’t tell.
Though maybe it is effecting throws more when the team is going right to left on TV. GB didn’t throw much in the 1st quarter and DA didn’t look horrific until the 2nd quarter.
You’re definitely right. There’s a wicked cross wind at that end of the stadium. That missed FG hooked thirty yards left of the upright.
Red zone
I’m fed up with the inability to capitalise on red zone possessions. We take a TD instead of 3 in this game and the momentum is different. Same at Pittsburgh, an early red zone opportunity that went the other way. Man up and score already.
by Terrible Terry Tate on Oct 25, 2009 2:38 PM EDT reply actions
Try this:
What if we get off the QB fight, and we consider a new OFF Coordinator? We’ve had good luck with this same core group of OFF players, minus some here and there, and adding a few but there mostly veterans….Or maybe shift the playcalling to Mangini possibly? I’ve not really been impressed at all with Daboll. Rob Ryan however is worth keeping…
Daboll is terrible.
Our success game largely because of K2, Braylon, Joe J, and a younger Jamal Lewis, all of whom are gone, though.
Yeah, and when you think about it, K2, Edwards, and Joe J all got screwed by a team that they bought into…
I think they all figured there would be changes when the new regime came in. Joe J is really the only one I feel bad about.
We can’t afford to have penalties. We’ll have no chance at winning any game unless we play clean football.
i started brent celek over owen daniels again. i’m starting to think it wasn’t a good idea. daniels has 16 points.
idk, but i shouldn’t be. a lot of the times celek is projected to get more points. it’s always a close call.
Oh, then yeah. Like dmbsnhn said, we get some really bad broadcasters. Though these fox ones are worse than the CBS ones, I think.
Oh, then yeah. Like dmbsnhn said, we get some really bad broadcasters. Though these fox ones are worse than the CBS ones, I think.
I hate CBS's football broadcasts, especially Simms
but this has just been unprofessional
by Donald Driver on Oct 25, 2009 3:45 PM EDT up reply actions
Wildcat was great when Miami ran it, now that everyone is doing it, not as effective. If we did it, everyone would play us like Pit, then the whole league would do it.
Indians just hired Manny Acta. I thought it would be him ever since I read an interview where he said he reads BP and picks his roster by VORP.
I can get behind this decision. I wanted Bobby V., but it didn’t seem likely after the interview.
I’m just happy it is someone from outside the organization. And I like that he will be able to relate to Latin players.
Now if we can get the safety….. we just need another 9 more…. and we’re right in it.
This could be a new dawn in offensive tactics.