I posted a pic of Ro+Queen with the caption “Death Ro” as the name of the defense, cuz it’s a fire name and very fitting. Despite our elite defense all year, I get a bunch of dumbasses in the comments being like “not elite after the browns loss” and “they gotta earn that name”. So here’s some facts y’all need to remember if you seriously blame the defense for the Browns loss:
• Defense held the Browns to 17 points by the end of the 3rd, and held them to just 9 at the half.
• Amari, Ford & Njoku never scored
• Watson only had 1 TD and Hamilton picked him off within the first minute.
• Tucker’s kick got blocked, that would’ve made it a 1 point game
• OL penalty on Linderbaum reversed a TD
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We sacked Watson 4 times, 8 QB hits & 4 TFLs
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Marlon got hurt halfway through the 3rd
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Clowney missed some time after getting hurt right before the half
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Stanley missed nearly the entire 4th Q
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Travis got hurt halfway through the 4th Q
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Mekari was already in for Moses, and Faalele replaced Stanley for nearly the entire 4th Q.
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Our offense only had 2 TDs in the last 3 quarters combined.
”We gave up 33 points and Watson lit us up!!”- Y’all forgot how the Browns actually got to 33 points: half of those were from FGs. HALF. Browns had to settle for 4 FGs. The TD that won the game was off a tipped pass by Lamar (Okonkworo beat Mekari and got his hands up) that Newsome returned.
Defense has been balling and elite, it’s the inconsistent offense you need to be criticizing. Blame the offense for being just 2/8 on 3rd downs this game, that was a big reason for the L. Blame Monken for not using Keaton. Defense has done its job all year. They should’ve done better, but let’s stop acting like this defense is now complete trash, it’s still an elite defense. Most of why the Browns won is from an inconsistent offense that struggled vs an equally good if not better defense. Watson didn’t light it up, half their points were from field goals and they won cuz we didn’t score enough points. We were also without both our starting OTs for the 4thQ vs an elite DL so that explains a lot of the 4thQ choke.
Yes it sucks we lost the Browns game, but do not blame a consistently great and clearly elite defense for that loss. Recency bias is far too strong and a lot of you need to stop being overly reactionary.
I don’t disagree with that.
The point is more that we can’t constantly hope the defense saves this team, cuz that’s often how it’s been. We paid Lamar, overhauled the WR room, have a top 3 TE, got a new OC. This offense needs to be able to score for 4 quarters, and regardless of how elite the Browns defense is, the offense has been inconsistent all year. They’ve had games where they light it up and others where things aren’t clicking and we’re not scoring. I don’t expect the offense to dominate and blow out 1 of the NFL’s best defenses, but I do expect them to put up more than 2 TDs in 3 quarters combined and I expect Monken to be able to adjust when DCs adjust to him. Our strategy’s been getting a lead early on and hoping the defense can seal the win, and we need a consistent 4 quarters from the offense.
Defense should’ve been better, Browns offense isn’t that great. At the same time, fans gotta be realistic, elite defenses are human and will get tired if the offense is just 2 of 8 on 3rd downs. We have too many fans being dumb and saying “defense gave up 33” when half those points weren’t even from their offense. This is how playoff games are now, you need to be able to win shootouts. Our defense can give us a chance but it the offense stalls out after the first half that defense is gonna get tired and let them catch up.