It's been hard to find stuff on the Browns vs the Colts (aka "The Battle of Titans")
But I did find this article by Zak Keefer of the Indy Star.
Zak doesn't do much research, but that's okay. I live in a glass house here, and say dumb stuff about opponents a lot because I'm too lazy to do the grunt work, and rely too much on other blabbermouths.
But he really shouldn't have said "can't lose", or "the lowly Browns", or cited any matchup histories prior to 2017. I'm so weary of this fuzzy thinking! Both these teams have changed radically in every way since even their most recent meeting.
That stuff is "filler" material (read: irrelevant garbage). Nevermind--pet peeve.
Anyway Zak mentioned our old friend Rob Chudzinski, who is the Colts offensive coordinator...which I hadn't even bothered to notice myself.
That's not good, because Rob is the guy who got a raw rookie Cam Newton kicking the NFL's collective asses with read-options and stuff. And his newest toy is Jacoby Brisset.
Further, Rob was a former tight end, and really likes using tight ends as offensive weapons...like the Ravens just did vs the Browns last week...and he has Jack Doyle, who is no joke.
All this zinged over Zak's head, of course, but this was overall a pretty good article, sort of...well anyway it was quite useful for me, anyway.
Zak is optimistic about Jacoby Brissett. Brissett came in late, and had to learn a whole new language. He is very inexperienced himself; drafted in 2015 out of an offense even farther away from the NFL than Kizer's Notre Dame.
The Sith Lord traded him out of New England because he favors Garopollo and draft picks. Indeed, Lord Insideous drafted this freak athlete in the first place with a potential trade in mind.
Brissett really is talented as hell, and has demonstrated that in real NFL games. He is dangerous, especially in Chud's hands, and has looked good this season.
Zak expects him to be more comfortable with his (really good) receivers, and to have a few more pages of the playbook available to him this week. All of this is logical.
Where Zak screws up is most of what he said about the Browns.
He cited Kizer's overall stats, but doesn't seem to realize how much better the Steelers' and Ravens' defenses are to that of his Colts, and appears oblivious to the fact that the majority of Kizer's sacks were his own fault, and the second and third guiltiest parties were tight ends and running backs.
Zak seems to think that if you can avoid Joe Thomas, you can perforate this offensive line at will. If he were aware that Kizer leads the NFL in holding the ball, he'd ignore the possibility that this week might be different.
At least he acknowleged Hue Jackson's sneakiness and Kizer's ability to run...
But here we go again with this "no playmakers" stuff again! More fuzzy thinking crap! Julio, Antonio, Laveon etc are not "standard" freaking "equipment" in the NFL. Ted Ginn Jr is a "playmaker", but in the real world Golden Tate is much more valuable (and so is Rashard Higgins, if he keeps this up).
Jack Doyle is a really good tight end, but not the sort of weapon DeValve or Njoku are (and for that matter, Telfer might be as good as he is overall). The Colts wish they had a Duke Johnson (or any Browns running back).
Dammit I'm confiscating the word "playmakers". It will be returned to you when you prove that you can use it responsibly.
Buzzwords are verbal cliches. Lazy or dumb people latch onto them.
"Playmaker" is a word somebody invented, and none of us knows what the hell it means, or where you're supposed to draw the line between a Hall of Fame "playmaker" and a Hall of Fame "grunt"...but who cares?
A guy who catches 100 passes for 1200 yards isn't a "playmaker", I guess, unless he accidentally gets into the end zone 11 or so times.
But I digress:
Chud will try to do with Doyle to Gregg's defense what the Ravens did with Watson, especially now with Collins out of commission.
But Jacoby Brissett isn't Joe Flacco, and Doyle is needed to chip before he--nevermind but Brissett will NEED those legs of his, and won't be allowed to see more than half the field, because he WILL be fleeing pressure.
Here's some more fuzzy thinking:
Why do you assume that Jamie Collins has to be replaced with a linebacker? Burgess looks like another Kirksey, but Collins is a much different type of player, and Williams will use the best player he can to match up to this specific offense, and that might be a defensive back. He's fresh out of 6'4", 260 lb linebackers here okay?
No knock on Burgess--he's a real find! ...actually, he might use him like a strong safety...ok but anyway Gregg won't run an identical defense; Collins going down has changed everything.
The Colts defensive backfield wasn't great in the first place, and has now been decimated by injury. Zak looked at all those sacks, and presumes says that Joe Thomas can only stop one of the Colts' two passrushers.
That's just sad. I guess Shon Coleman is in for a long day, since he sucks so bad.
The Colts defense has been really good vs the run so far, but Hue Jackson said he would run so he has to right?
No. Not this time. The Colts defense will be stacked to stuff the run. They cannot sell out attacking because they know Kizer can run and hurt them.
They'll be vulnerable deep. It's okay! The Browns can run later, when the Colts defense is chasing all the Browns non-playmakers around downfield!
Yeah I forgot: DeShone Kizer has not forgotten how to throw the ball deep. It is not time for him to curl up in a fetal position because he had a bad game vs a great defense.
The Colts are expecting the run and will be focussed on stopping Crowell. So you toss it over their heads duh. Then they back off. Then you run. Then they stack up again...rinse and repeat that's how it works.
Running Crow into a wall over and over again won't do him or the team any favors.
Now that I've said that, I can just about guarantee that Crow will take a handoff on the first snap and never look back.
THEM.
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