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The offense only seems to really work in the 2 minute drill or scramble drill... which is precisely when McAdoo is most out the equation.

Thus far, I think you're right. In rewatching, it didn't seem like anyone on offense was particularly confident in what they were doing. It looks like preseason, still - except it's against first unit defenses now...

That's probably true. Don't look for conspiracy when idiocy more easily explains it. It's just weird watching them run an injury prone, light-weight back between the tackles before kneeling at half-time or to kill the clock and hold on to a victory -- when you have a giant half-back sitting on the bench who is known for punishing LBs.

I mean, that can't be on the players, like how does an entire receiving corp run the wrong route - multiple times, across multiple games. There were a few plays I noted also, watching, where DJ was wide open running his route, right into the DB or safety brought over from another route runner. If the progression timing is not set to hit DJ in the 1/4 second he's open there, it's not gonna work as a designed play. And you can see the QB's head is not looking at that spot, so...

While doing laundry yesterday, I rewatched the past three games on All22 and condensed, and there is a lot going on that is poor about the offense and DJ is most certainly one of the factors. No aspect of the offense is playing even "good" each down, every drive, each game. The unit is not working together well, yet. Any comment about Mayfield being unwilling to throw to DJ for contested catches is just not simply supported by the tape. Pretty much every throw to DJ that Mayfield has thrown this season was contested (except his TD, when his DB tripped). Whether this is on DJ for not getting separation, Mayfield throwing late or choosing the wrong read, a combination, or good secondary play, I can't say, as I don't know the specific plays and assignments, but holistically, across three games, it looks like scheme/route issues. Regardless, DJ is just not winning contested catches, for whatever reason that's causing him to be blanketed. All told, for my part, having watched way too much film of this offense now, the scheme is the number one issue - routes are doing no one any favors (there is a literally a third down in the Giants game where McAdoo schemed 3-4 routes to between the numbers - who is gonna be open there?) The number of times that receivers are looking away from the QB, as the QB works through his progressions is somewhat hilarious. One might put that on players, or even coaching, but it looks like scheme to me, if you're seeing it on the regular. How is a QB supposed to do a dump off when a blitz gets past, and his receivers are facing away (watch the first sack in the Saints game for this). Beyond scheme, it seems to be execution. If this team executes this poor scheme well, it maybe produces. But if the players drag, or Mayfield and his WR timing is off, this offense will continue to produce poorly. Personally, something is off between Mayfield and DJ on the routes and timing. They seem to have the worst connection of all the receivers. Shi Smith quiting on routes or dropping passes has underplayed the connection between him and Mayfield, who seem to find each other. DJ and Mayfield though, it seems Mayfield is expecting DJ to be somewhere else, and when Mayfield does target DJ, it's a contested catch or a short gain, or Mayfield overthrows because the line is collapsed and in his face, with arms up. It's reminding me of Mayfield and OBJ - and not in the way most people think. OBJ was lazy and played outside Stefanski's scheme, but Mayfield seemed to feel pressured to target and look for him, and it hurt the offense as the open receiver was deprioritized to try and feed Obj. When OBJ went down with injury in 2020, Mayfield's splits drastically improved. Ironically, OBJ got the same usage/splits with the LARams, only more redzone targets, which in CLE went to Hunt or the TEs, usually. I hope that's not the case for DJ and Mayfield, but rewatching the tape, it was starting to look a little familiar.

Having rewatched all three games yesterday (on All22 when available or condense), and how often they ran CMC into loaded boxes and between the tackles, I'm starting to wonder (not all that seriously, but also not entirely not) if Rhule is trying to injure CMC to buy himself another excuse to extend his tenure... His usage, when watching on ALL22, really makes the playcalling plain and his usage stand out.

Watt's the man that turned Mayfield's torn shoulder into a fracture in Game 6, 2021, that really broke his ability to throw, and that's when his numbers and play really took a dive for the abysmal.

Laviska is also in a red jersey, apparently.

Compare the health of both Brisset this season to Mayfield last season and then also compare the health of the CLE oline, specifically the tackles. Also look at Mayfield's pressure rate last year, it was around third highest last season.

No apologies needed! Still looking forward to your perspectives. I've given the last game 3 reviews on Condensed so curious what you'd see that I missed or viewed differently. NFL+ is a challenge. I was surprised, honestly, that any of the condensed games have been available after my experiences with GamePass last season. As for the last game, weren't there technical issues at the stadium and with Fox? No first down overlay, etc. Is it possible they lost the ALL-22? Or, maybe you're right - it's a conspiracy to suppress your reviews!

I doubt it'll occur to McAdoo but Shenault and CMC in a split backfield gives so many possibilities. I'd think an OC would kill for that.

On my third watch thru on NFL+, focusing on o-line play. I don't really know what ESPN is looking at, unless they're grading run blocking only (which I know they're not), focusing on individual assignments, and ignoring unit play. Pass protection on obvious passing plays is not really good, or consistent. Blitz pick-ups are poor. Free rushers on 3rd downs. There are also some nice clean pockets too, and on those we don't see the QB bailing early, Mayfield steps up into the pocket on many. Mayfield stayed in the pocket much better in the third game than I gave him credit for while watching live or on earlier viewings. I am watching for happy feet. Coverage likely contributed to some sacks, but on at least 2 of the sacks the pocket collapses on strong and weak sides. Run blocking is solid, especially on non-obvious rushing downs. McCaffrey is blown up on several plays at or behind the line, where his shiftiness turns it into something. (On a totally unrelated note: Brown's interception is amazing athleticism for so big a body).

The new WR metrics system looks interesting, and it certainly "feels" pretty accurate. Mark Andrews on top and Deebo almost breaking the YAC metric certainly jives with all the games I watched of them last season.

Does this metric account for time added through scrambling, roll-outs, and extending the play? Seems that the clean pocket time referenced against timing in vacating the pocket would be more telling where that time is coming from - good or bad protection, Mayfield's necessary scrambling vs premature bailing, and so on.

Don't agree. Amari is a better receiver than the current or Cleveland version of OBJ. As well, Cooper is an elite route runner, and perfectly suited to Stefanski's offense. Landry was good, but hurt all last year. The WR room in CLE in '21 was amongst the worst in the league. Amari immediately improved it. It's still not great, but improved.

If Mayfield continues to play badly for a few more games he probably should be benched. Either Darnold comes in a plays well, or the time on the bench (and the realization he got benched for Sam Darnold) forces Mayfield to snap out of whatever malaise he's in and comes back off the bench with some urgency and attitude, which he seems to have lost. If Mayfield is in his head and feeling the weight of the franchise, the season, and his career as a starter on his shoulders, and he can't figure it out and continues to play worse than he did in Cleveland, it may be the only way to salvage his play, and have him ready for Darnold's eventual meltdown.

49ers are a vulnerable team on the offensive side of the ball now with OL issues, no Trent Williams and Jimmy G being Jimmy G (and he didn't have the playbook this off season either). The defense is top 3, I'd suspect. Maybe top top. If Panthers can contain the run game and stop being soft in the middle of the field where JG is best, and he makes some of his customary bad decisions, with some INTs, the game could be a low scoring slugfest. Likely the first player, Deebo, or CMC, to rip off a big run wins the game -- if Rhule McAdoo don't abandon the run.

What's crazy is that the CLE fanbase has been saying for years they are a SuperBowl caliber team that is a QB away (hence moving on from Mayfield). If anything they've gotten better at WR, with Amari Cooper, and haven't lost anyone else really. Brisset is playing his best ball of his career through three games (though 2 near INTs in game 1 vs Panthers certainly have helped perceptions). But still, Browns probably should be sitting at 1-2 with losses to Panthers and Jets.

For those wanting to dig more into last week's offensive problems on 3rd down.

His best run of the game was called back on a holding penalty. In general, in rewatching, the Saints tackling kept him from breaking off anything really special.

Just did a rewatch on NFL+ condensed and created some some observations I'd love your breakdown to confirm or refute. The rewatch left me feeling: -worse about the run game and play calling specific to run; so many CMC runs up the gut fr too many short gains that seem like eventually will lead to an injury. -better about the QB + passing game (but not good about the QB and the passing game, just better than the shitshow it seemed live -worse about the general offense flow like the first two games, the offense seems to kill drives just as they're getting going -that it wasn't all dysfunction: the saints coverage had some timely plays that turned scoring drives into field goals - in rewatching, i think two of Mayfield's passes (one to CMC one to DJ that looked high were tipped slightly driving them higher -the line seems to be solid at time, but gives up untimely pressures -I feel worse about predicatability in play calling general -I feel generally good about the run defense (how it felt after Kamara's first big run) -much more worried about the pass defense. Zone seemed soft, gave up several sets of big plays, leaving... -Jameis looking much better in the second viewing, except... - there were three dropped interceptions by the Panthers (but he's Jameis, so...) - in general defense did a lot of bending, only really broke twice. Big plays by the D made up for the drives.. -Shenault just seemed to explode when he touched the ball. His two plays stood out again. I feel like I could be wrong about any of the above, but that's just how it looked on the second viewing. Felt (slightly) better about offensive execution, worse about playcalling and pass defense, and want to see Shenault enough that maybe it forces opposing defenses to alter schemes and free up CMC and DJ more. Another thing, and maybe this is a general question. Has Mayfield thrown a single pump-fake this game or season? He was infamous for double-clutching all the time in CLE, but I don't recall seeing him doing that much this season thus far (but maybe I've just not noticed).

Was the third down defense better this week? Are the routes part of the problem? Is the line playing better as a unit?

Effort? Poor routes? Does he have a cold or fever?

Cleveland was 0-16 when I was introduced to this obnoxious QB from Oklahoma. 1-15 the year prior. They won 7 games or more every year since, including 11, and a playoff win. It's the most success CLE has had since the new era. This also does mention the records/ranking he holds on the all-time CLE lists. He didn't regress in 2021. He was injured, with up to 6 injury designations at one point. He had one of the best rookie seasons by a QB ever, had a poor sophomore season, a strong third, and an injured fourth. He is playing his worst football NOW. He looks worse in Carolina than he ever did in CLE, including the latter half of 2021, when those injuries destroyed his mechanics and further pushed his decision making to poo. He's very possible a ruined QB now. But he was a success in the least successful sports franchise. As an ex-CLE fan it's crazy making to me how people rewrite the history of that franchise.

Mayfield was the most successful QB for the Browns since Bernie Kosar - in spite or historically bad coaching and coaching turnover. He just wasn't successful enough, in the eyes of Andrew Berry, to compete with Mahomes and Allen. Right or wrong. This is the worst he's ever played, under Rhule and McAdoo, who have never produced successful quarterback play. It's the system. It might also be Mayfield is broken now, but he's been successful.