Skoling the Vikings
Image courtesy of Fox 8, link at the bottom of the article
Well, if you consider yourself to be a fan of defense football game, then Sunday’s game against the Minnesota Vikings was the game for you. Ending in a 14-7 road win, the Browns defense put on a clinic against the Vikings, who came in averaging 29 points per game and seemed to be clicking on all cylinders. What I am most impressed with is our scheme. We were getting pressure on Kirk Cousins regularly while only rushing 4 linemen. When you can get pressure on the QB without sacrificing a member of the back 7, that really can plug up passing lanes. We also had the pleasure of causing Cousins to throw his first interception of the year, and in a crucial spot at that (also, the first of Greedy Williams’ career). In a young season Joe Woods has gone from having his job called for by some fans after 2 weeks, to being revered by the broadcast booth for his scheme, and I definitely think he deserves it. He has had to essentially mold a defense with 7 new starters, and I believe he’s found a way to do that. I think our defense is actually playing better than our offense, which brings me to the other side of the ball.
Image courtesy of Cleveland.com, full link at the bottom of the article
I think I speak for everyone when I say that I expect more our offense than 14 points and 1 touchdown. I believe our woes come down 2 major factors: Jarvis Landry being out, and Baker’s shoulder. I’ve believed that since we signed Jarvis, he’s been the heart and soul of our offense. He’s an incredible leader with a lot of fire, and his play style of catching short throws over the middle or off a screen fits extremely well with our pass scheme of going through play action. Not having him out there for his leadership and ability to find soft spots in a zone defense has hindered Baker to some extent, which in turn hinders our whole offense. The other major issue I see is: baker doesn’t seem right. I know that many people believe that he just simply played bad, and maybe he did. However, I believe that hit he took last week that cause him to come to the sideline with a limp shoulder is a lot more noteworthy. We know Baker is someone who has played through injuries in the past and I feel that this shoulder injury is being downplayed. As someone, like many of you, who has watched almost every Browns game since Baker has been our quarterback, he just didn’t look right. We’ve seen him have bad games, but this game his throws looked off the second he released the ball sometimes. This is something that I feel we haven’t seen much of from him, which is the reason I bring this shoulder injury up. I just hope that it can get healed up before our big game against the Los Angeles Chargers, which I’ll get into later this week.
Image courtesy of Fox 8, full link at the bottom of the article
Looking at the bigger picture, this game made me excited for this team anymore, because for the first time in a long time I don’t feel like everything needs to go our way to win a football game. Our team can win a road game against a competent team with a loud crowd even with countless mistakes. This is a sign of an elite football team with a strong mental, and it makes me really excited as we get into the meat of the schedule.
Links:
https://fox8.com/sports/not-many-people-who-can-beat-us-former-browns-player-breaks-down-clevelands-win-in-minnesota/
https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2021/10/our-favorite-photos-from-cleveland-browns-win-over-minnesota-vikings-joshua-gunter-and-john-kuntz.html
https://fox8.com/sports/stefanski-returns-to-minnesota-as-browns-face-vikings/