coffee

Great work, TC. I have only seen a small portion of the Giants game but I was encouraged to see that they only scored 13 points for the first 59 minutes of the game. And that was despite being a beneficiary of a muffed punt on the 10 yard line (approx). I think Jones will move the ball better than the Browns but it looks inevitable that he'll turn it over as well.

Forgive me if this is posted elsewhere. I accidentally missed about 19 of these 21 pages. Bill Polian on NFL Radio last night was clear that the intentional grounding call unfairly cost us the game. He said the most agonizing part was that they got it right, then converted to the wrong call. I respect his views and thought I'd share. As I said elsewhere, I don't believe it was a conspiracy. Just two bad calls made by refs in preseason form that happened to be at the worst time for us.

What says the Huddle? Huddle says "Great googly moogly!" https://youtu.be/4bgnBduAd4s

I look at it a bit different than that. There are two different mindsets as you say, but I think they are Coach vs. Player. We don't have the skills to be either one but we like to think we do. The fan who takes the "Coach" mentality likes to think "I found the problem and here's what needs to be done to solve it." The fan with the "Player" viewpoint feels we need to support our team and trust the system. Although the two viewpoints rarely get along, it doesn't change that both are correct and both are true fans.

We were terrible for 90% of the game but this is one we should've stolen if the refs didn't screw up so much. I don't think conspiracy but, man, we didn't need all the calls to go the wrong way. I think this will be one the games I always remember as lost due to officials. (The other was years ago against Dallas when Pep blocked a FG and we won... only to have the refs call a penalty for running into the kicker. The penalty should've been nullified by the fact that the ball was touched and, even though the replay obviously showed the ball changing trajectory when it hit Pep's hand, they claimed it wasn't clear and let it stand costing us the game.) Refs are still in preseason form but they also called delay of game on us, but let the Browns go on at least two snaps that went just as long. I think they'll end up acknowledging that the call against Burns and the intentional grounding no-call were mistakes. A lot of good it will do, though.

Close first half leaves us within a couple points of each other. We have two good drives that end badly because of sloppy penalties, a sack and a turnover. They move the ball but stall in the redzone. Second half has us starting to click. CMC scares the heck out of us by leaving injured for a couple plays but then returns to score the winning TD on a Baker pass.

A touchdown and 11 safeties would do it.

John Fox, is that you? BTW, great info to start this thread! Thank you!

OK. When I croak, you're hired to give my funeral discourse.

I actually should've said more than a few years ago. It was 2006.

Welcome. Forgive a long post but, ncsdawg, I think you'll enjoy it. A few years ago, I surprised my father with a trip to Charlotte for the Panthers/Browns game. Through odd circumstances, we got front row seats right behind the Panthers' bench. As always, the Browns had a huge following and an avid Browns fan couple sat right beside us. This day could not have been more perfect. We had the most enjoyable friendly "trash talk" with them. They were an absolute blast. Panthers got well ahead but the couple were as cordial as ever while still keeping up the fun trash talk. All the Browns fans seemed this nice. The Browns were not good at the time but that didn't dampen their spirit. They were there to have fun and watch football. I had a two-day perfect trip with my father including a Panthers win that was made even more enjoyable by this couple. My father died a couple years later. So, looking back, I actually did the thing you typically say "I wish I'd done this or that before I lost my dad." I'm not a Browns fan. I am a fan of Browns' fans. I doubt you were there but, by extension, I thank you for a day that I will treasure for the rest of my life.

Good idea, but it would be a hard sell. "Yeah, thanks for all your pop did. Sorry he kicked the bucket. Oh, by the way, his number's unretired."

And undefeated PJ'll win two games in garbage time while throwing 5 INTs.

Are you sure? "Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, shall win my love." "Though she be but little, she is fierce." "For which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?" "Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows."

Me and my TV with fargin PANTHERS FOOTBALL on it! But the "matchup" I'll be anxious to see is not the normal "them vs. us." I want to see how Baker matches up with a healthy CMC who matches up with a revamped O-line. So, I guess it's our healthy/revamped O against their D.

Yeah, I was thinking that he's either got a really cool job or no job. And Blackpanther, nice spin job yourself!

I have said some nasty things about Gettleman so, in fairness, I need to acknowledge that you are correct about him having one of our best drafts. It's quite painful to me to have to accept that two of our best drafts were by Seifert and Gettleman.

Yeah, I really wish we had a bruiser as well. I wish we'd kept Mike Davis or CJ Anderson. I know they want CMC in there to keep the D off balance but it just seems there'd be a way to have both CMC and the bruiser in on goal line situations. Then they'd really have no clue what to defend.

I didn't see this posted here. I found it interesting about Shenault's route running.

I'll say this about Week 1. It is always such a fluky week. There's no film for either team to study. No one's in midseason form yet. The bad teams don't realize they are bad yet. I certainly hope for a W. But other than a good start, Week 1 means next to nothing about how the season will go. Reference: After handily beating the mighty Vikings in Game 1 of 2001, it felt like we were Super Bowl bound.

Yes, I think it could happen. But it will require two challenging things: 1. The Bucs will have to have a bit of a meltdown. Maybe age finally shows with Brady. Maybe O-line injuries catch up with them. 2.All of our "ifs" have to work. If Baker is the QB we hope. If CMC is healthy most of the year. If we can stop the run and pressure the QB. That's a lot to ask. I think it's more realistic to expect a few of those to happen and hope it's enough to get to 9 wins and a wildcard.

Oooh, that was good!

I don't have any kids but I'm now thinking of having one just so I can see this happen.

Awesome! Love the Karate Kid pose. And is it still a horse collar penalty if it's by the pants?