Cleveland Browns 2023 Season Thread

posted by Heretic

I was surprised that neither Cleveland nor the Jets played Saturday last week. Seems like going Sunday-Saturday-Thursday would be a bit preferable as far as giving players rest time for those rare late-season weeks where that is an option. Especially since it is late in the season and everyone's banged up to some degree.

NFL doesn't care.

And it's not even just about sufficient rest time - the short week affects prep and gameplanning, which is counterproductive to rounding your team into form heading into the playoffs.

Not to mention playoff and seeding implications when you don't have a full week to prep for the game.

I think the whole Thursday games are garbage, and it's often on full display with the product.  If the NFL insists on having these games, it should only be teams coming off a bye, and off a Saturday late in the year when there are no more byes.

Imagine if this were BAL vs. MIA with the #1 seed potentially on the line.  Thursday games are always tough on a team, and it's just not an even playing field late in the year.

NFL needs to tweak schedules to accommodate the Thursday games (bye week prior). But Amazon has a 10 year contract, for 17 weeks (the weeks could change). So, it’s not going anywhere

posted by Laley23

NFL needs to tweak schedules to accommodate the Thursday games (bye week prior). But Amazon has a 10 year contract, for 17 weeks (the weeks could change). So, it’s not going anywhere

I agree, I'm just saying it's unfair to playoff teams late in the year.  Maybe not a huge disadvantage, but it's less than a level playing field.

The NFL said that there wouldn’t be any games when Christmas is on a Tuesday or Wednesday. But then today it was announced the Raiders - Chiefs game alone had twice as many viewers as all five NBA games combined. So you know when they announce the schedules for next year they’ll figure out how to have Bills - Chiefs at 4pm Christmas Day which happens to be a Wednesday in 2024.

posted by friendfromlowry

The NFL said that there wouldn’t be any games when Christmas is on a Tuesday or Wednesday. But then today it was announced the Raiders - Chiefs game alone had twice as many viewers as all five NBA games combined. So you know when they announce the schedules for next year they’ll figure out how to have Bills - Chiefs at 4pm Christmas Day which happens to be a Wednesday in 2024.

I’m here for it. I was shocked there were football games on Christmas but was happy not kinda watching NBA games

posted by Ironman92

I’m here for it. I was shocked there were football games on Christmas but was happy not kinda watching NBA games

Same. Nothing against the NBA or its diehards, but when you have an 82 game season and 20 of your 30 teams advance to the playoffs, it's really hard for me to get overly interested in any one particular day of it until the playoffs, regardless of how it is marketed. That being the big sports thing of the day just never has interested me.

That’s me ^^^^^^  I’m ready for the game now. 

Heard that Nick Chubb will be doing the pre-game guitar smashing but not sure if 100% true.

Uggh...this just got A LOT harder. Amari Cooper is out but Thornhill is active. I'm expecting Njoku to get a ton of targets.

lol, that was easy.

Jets first opening drive TD in like 20 games. Of course I took the under.

posted by Heretic

Same. Nothing against the NBA or its diehards, but when you have an 82 game season and 20 of your 30 teams advance to the playoffs, it's really hard for me to get overly interested in any one particular day of it until the playoffs, regardless of how it is marketed. That being the big sports thing of the day just never has interested me.

I hate it. I hate the nfl is on Christmas. I grew up knowing and loving nba Christmas games. I still do, so I didn’t watch any nfl. It’s one of the days that as a kid and teenager, got me really into the sport of basketball. I hate that the nfl has taken over that day. 

Just don’t turn the ball over man.

This one is close with his left calf.

Strange game.

posted by Ironman92

Strange game.

No kidding. The stat at the end about two teams scoring 50+ combined in the first half and neither scoring a TD in the 2nd half was pretty wild.

Just glad they're in and we won't have to bite our fingernails next week praying for a win versus Cincy.

This team will be dangerous in the playoffs if the offense keeps churning along. The fact the running game revived a little was great. They definitely need Cooper back though. Second half, Flacco got shut down. The pass to Tillman that was a comebacker (he dropped) was a classic Cooper catch.

Breece Hall is a weapon.

GO DOLPHINS !!!

Joe Flacco is the first player in NFL history to record at least 250 passing yards and two touchdown passes in each of his first five games with a team.

— Dan Murphy (@DMurph_BrownsPR) December 29, 2023

TD passes this season:

---> Joe Flacco: 13
New York Giants: 13
Carolina Panthers: 13
Pittsburgh Steelers: 12
Tennessee Titans: 12
New York Jets: 11 pic.twitter.com/jZNZIR2Lel

— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 29, 2023

Oh, and Stefanski should be COTY and Flacco has a solid shot for CPOY. Mayfield will likely be his main competition. Hamlin shouldn't be in the conversation.

Flacco throws a stunning ball…but the handful of times he was pressured a bit…pick 6, dropped int and another Moore stole from the CB

With Cooper and Moore (both should be full go for playoffs and likely next weekend….I don’t think Cleveland loses until their opponent can consistently get near Flacco.

Gotta give the pass rush blocking great credit and also the offensive plays fitting nicely in places to get those guys wide open.

posted by Ironman92

Flacco throws a stunning ball…but the handful of times he was pressured a bit…pick 6, dropped int and another Moore stole from the CB

With Cooper and Moore (both should be full go for playoffs and likely next weekend….I don’t think Cleveland loses until their opponent can consistently get near Flacco.

Gotta give the pass rush blocking great credit and also the offensive plays fitting nicely in places to get those guys wide open.

Yeah, I was very concerned coming into this about Williams (up the middle) and the edge rushers getting to Flacco.

Not sure if anyone else noticed but on that wild scramble and TD pass to Jerome Ford there should've been a flag thrown as Williams cracked Flacco in the head pretty good, actually turning his head, before he spun out and scrambled left.

If they can get those two back, along with the emergence of Njoku, and hopefully a resurrection of the running game, the playoffs could be fun for Browns fans.