Browns Stuff...

[boozeman]

Big Picture: 5 Storylines for Cowboys & Browns
Sep 29, 2020 at 04:00 PM


Through the first three weeks of the 2020 NFL season, the Cowboys have faced three straight quarterbacks that have either won or been to a Super Bowl. Even though that streak ends this week as the Cleveland Browns come to town, they're tasked with facing a pair of first overall draft picks (both from Texas), along with a high-powered set of skill positions.

This week's matchup could easily get both teams on track to control their own destiny or place them further into an early season hole. Here are some of the key storylines for each team.
Browns

• Things are finally looking up in Cleveland is above .500 for the first time since Dec. 7, 2014. To get an idea of how long ago that was, a loss dropped the Browns to 7-6 and led to the debut start of Texas A&M Heisman Trophy winter Johnny Manziel a week later. Defensive end Myles Garrett had just finished his first season at Texas A&M and Baker Mayfield his first with Oklahoma. Though they opened the season with a blowout loss to Baltimore, the Browns strung together back-to-back wins against both Cincinnati and Washington to climb to 2-1.
• First year head coach Kevin Stefanski has changed the thought process when it comes to dual backfield of Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt. Chubb, who has already tallied over 300 yards from scrimmage this season has found a home behind an improved offensive line to the tune of 5.7 yards per carry. Hunt, who arrived in Cleveland last season, is not too far behind as he has close to 250 total yards and three touchdowns. Both pose a receiving threat out of the backfield and a matchup nightmare for opposing defenses.
• Sunday serves as a homecoming for both Arlington native Myles Garrett and Austin product Baker Mayfield. Garrett was a star at nearby Arlington Martin that sat just 14 miles from AT&T Stadium where he earned a consensus five-star rating. He ranked as one of the top players in the country with 39 sacks his senior year. On the other side of the ball, while Mayfield is not from the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, he did win a state championship there. During his junior season with Lake Travis High School, Mayfield led a 16-0 campaign that capped off with a 22-7 over Waco Midway under the lights at AT&T Stadium.
• Former Cowboys edge rusher Joe Jackson has been playing well during his short stint in Cleveland. Jackson was claimed off waivers at the beginning of the month and has been a successful fill-in for Olivier Vernon who has been dealing with an abdominal injury. He saw his first playing time with a key fumble recovery in the Week Two win over the Bengals. He then saw more playing time with 19 snaps last week against Washington where he forced a tackle in his backup duties.
• While the Browns defense struggled on multiple occasions through the first two weeks of the season, they bounced back on Sunday as they forced five turnovers against Washington. Following 68 combined points through weeks one and two, Karl Joseph, Malcolm Smith, and B.J. Goodson each picked off Dwayne Haskins while both Garrett and Tavierre Thomas recovered fumbles in the win.

Cowboys

• With both Tyron Smith and La'el Collins sidelined at the offensive tackle position Sunday, the line saw some shifting in personnel during the loss to Seattle. The musical chairs started when Terrence Steele left the game in the second half and forced Zack Martin to slide out to the right tackle slot while Joe Looney played right guard and Tyler Biadasz took over at center. Entering Week Four, there still is optimism surrounding the potential return of Smith after he missed the last two weeks with stingers in his neck. However, the line appears they will have to account for the absence of Collins for at least another week, according to the words of both Mike McCarthy and Stephen Jones.
• The NFL currently has the most unlikely of sack leaders, Cowboys edge rusher Aldon Smith holds the top spot with four. If it were still 2014, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Smith's name at the top of the list. But in only his third football game in five years, he brought Russell Wilson to the turf three times throughout Sunday's matchup with Seattle. He became just the third Cowboys player to record a three-sack performance since 1996 with DeMarcus Ware (eight-times) and DeMarcus Lawrence (twice).
• For the second straight week, Dak Prescott has had to lead a massive come-from-behind charge of 15-points or more. In the process of evaporating the deficit on Sunday, he finished with a career-high 57 passing attempts and 472 yards. It was also just the fourth time in his career where he has accounted for three or more turnovers in a single game.
• Over the last two weeks, the Cowboys defense has allowed a franchise-worst 77 points in a two-game span. However, when you look closer at the make-up of the massive number, the odds were not very high for the Cowboys to have success defensively. In those games, there were six defensive drives that started in their own territory due to either turnovers or a turnover on downs. All six of the drives resulted in points and accounted for 30 of the 77 total points that were scored by Dallas opponents. While there are plenty of issues entering the week on the Cowboys defensive side of the football, the offense has certainly not done them any favors at times over the last two games.
• The Cowboys continue to boast one of the best receiving corps in the country as they've posted four different 100-yard receivers in the last two weeks. In the win over Atlanta, Amari Cooper and CeeDee Lamb each reached the century mark while last week it was the duo of Michael Gallup and Cedrick Wilson, who was impressive throughout the shortened training camp, finished with a career-high 107 yards and the first two touchdowns of his NFL career.

 

[1bigfan13]

Stop the run, you stop the Browns.

Baker's not beating any halfway decent team if he's forced to win it with his arm.

 

[Simpleton]

Maybe we should try not coming out and playing like an amateur hour HS team in the first half, getting a lead, and forcing the Browns out of their preferred game plan of running it 60% of the time with simplified play-action/easy throws off it.

We've had the lead for a grand total of about 8 minutes through 3 games.

 

[Cotton]

This should be an easy win, so that means most likely it won't be.

 

[1bigfan13]

We've had the lead for a grand total of about 8 minutes through 3 games.

Pathetic.

 

[ravidubey]

This should be an easy win, so that means most likely it won't be.

You know jackasses like OBJ look at this as an opportunity to get noticed. Our patchwork defense is vulnerable to balanced offenses and Cleveland can run the football.

But the season really is in jeopardy and probably should be written off if we can't beat Cleveland at home.

 

[Cotton]

One good thing about this game is a running game is about all they have and our run defense has been pretty decent the last two games.

 

[1bigfan13]

I want to assume the Cowboys can win this comfortably but after watching the clown show of a secondary, it wouldn't surprise me if they made OBJ look like the 2014-2015 version of himself.

 

[Texas Ace]

This should be an easy win, so that means most likely it won't be.

Another opportunity to show people that this staff is not like the last one.

This to me is last year's Jets game.

Even with 2 disappointing losses in 3 weeks and a number of flaws showing, they are still way better than the Browns and should win fairly comfortably, just as this was true last year against the Jets.

Instead, Garrett and his staff didn't have them prepared at all and their body language showed that.

If this staff is better, they come out in this game and they play their best football of this young season and get a convincing win against a team that they should be able to do just that with.

Let's see.

 

[Cotton]

Agreed, keep Martin at RT and Badass at C.

 

[Simpleton]

Agreed, keep Martin at RT and Badass at C.

Look at Connor Williams getting blown up like a bitch. This guy is an average starter at best long-term and I'd have absolutely no problem with drafting an OG in the 1st next year if they're the BPA, particularly if they have some flexibility to kick out to LT or RT down the line.

 

[ravidubey]

Look at Connor Williams getting blown up like a bitch. This guy is an average starter at best long-term and I'd have absolutely no problem with drafting an OG in the 1st next year if they're the BPA, particularly if they have some flexibility to kick out to LT or RT down the line.

To be fair on this play he does his job which is mainly to get in the way. He ends up on the ground, but he takes his guy with him.

 

[yimyammer]

I propose the title of this thread be changed to "Brown stuff" as it more accurately represents both teams and where this season is headed for the pokies

plus its sufficiently vague that it opens the door for other topics like bidets, etc

 

[Rev]

I propose the title of this thread be changed to "Brown stuff" as it more accurately represents both teams and where this season is headed for the pokies

plus its sufficiently vague that it opens the door for other topics like bidets, etc

Not sure you should use the word pokie when talking about brown stuff

 

[yimyammer]

Not sure you should use the word pokie when talking about brown stuff

I thought it was nice choice of word and could possibly be passed (I did it again) as a double entendre

 

[Cotton]

Tyron Smith, who has missed the last two games, will go through a limited portion of practice for the first time since Sept. 16 because of a neck injury. He has not been cleared for full contact yet, but Mike McCarthy said Smith will work through the individual periods and see how he feels. Brandon Knight has started the last two games at left tackle.

Todd Archer, ESPN Staff Writer

 

[boozeman]

 

[Cotton]

This is good news.

 

[Chocolate Lab]

Yeah, I'm not buying that. You don't leave one of your best players on the bench in crunchtime of a huge close game like that because of load management.

That said, glad he's not hurt too badly and seems to be okay going forward.

 

[1bigfan13]

Another opportunity to show people that this staff is not like the last one.

This to me is last year's Jets game.

Even with 2 disappointing losses in 3 weeks and a number of flaws showing, they are still way better than the Browns and should win fairly comfortably, just as this was true last year against the Jets.

Instead, Garrett and his staff didn't have them prepared at all and their body language showed that.

If this staff is better, they come out in this game and they play their best football of this young season and get a convincing win against a team that they should be able to do just that with.

Let's see.

This is one of those games where the players should come out pissed off, motivated, and with a point to prove.

They've lost a couple of close games to two good football teams and the fans and media have been critical of their play. Given those conditions I think this is one of those games where you assume effort won't be an issue.

The real question is will effort be enough to make up for the lack of skill at several key positions.