Post#505 » by CrimsonCrew » Mon Oct 16, 2023 6:20 pm
So, drive-by-drive review of the offense and Purdy, as best I can remember it:
We scored on the first drive without Brock doing much of anything. I don't really count shovel passes as TD passes (though I would count his backward pass to McCaffrey a couple weeks ago to be a TD pass, so they probably shake out in the wash).
Next drive, poor playcall and execution (Garrett just tossed big Trent, McCaffrey ran into him, and there were two LBs on top of him as soon as he caught it) led to an immediate eight-yard loss. Then Kittle had a false start. Suddenly it was 2nd and 23. I thought Samuel dropped the second-down pass, but it was not a great ball and would have resulted in 3rd and 17 or so even if caught. We ran on 3rd and 23 and then missed the FG (and Deebo was hurt).
Next drive, Purdy converted a pass to Kittle on 3rd and 3, but penalty on Burford led to a 3rd and 13. Under quick pressure, Purdy uncorked what I thought was a nice ball to Aiyuk, but Aiyuk couldn't bring it in. Was it a "drop"? I don't know. It wasn't an easy ball. But it hit his hands and he usually catches those. He needed to here for what could have been a big play, likely a TD. We punted.
Next drive, Purdy had a couple nice connections including a longer ball to Aiyuk. He scrambled for the first on 3rd and 2 (or maybe this was the long sneak?). After running it twice in the red zone, Purdy got it to CMC for four. No great looks, though I think McCloud could have picked up the first down if Purdy hit him in the middle (probably would have been close). I think he was the third read at best. We were about to go up 10-0 at worst and our D looked in control, so I wouldn't be surprised if Shanahan played it safe.
Next drive we did a lot of running. Solid pass to Juice for nine on first down. This is the drive where he missed CMC on a likely TD if he hit him. Should have thrown the ball inside, threw it outside instead. He was under quite a bit of pressure as memory serves. Hit Jennings on a decent ball, though Jennings made a nice grab at full extension. That's when the weather started in and Purdy seemed affected. The ball wasn't coming out cleanly. We had the delay of game penalty (looked like McCloud was uncertain of his motion covering for Deebo). Then Purdy lost the ball and got sacked.
Next drive to start the second half was the INT. Just an inaccurate ball. Looked like it slipped and didn't come out cleanly, but so it goes. Got to play through weather sometimes.
Next drive they blitzed on the first play and it wasn't picked up. Possibly Purdy should have seen it, or Mitchell should have picked it up, but it was play action, so hard for me to say. Immediately lost 10. We basically phoned the drive in with a short pass and a run.
Next drive we gained six on first down, but a hold wiped it out. Then a false start. It became first and 25. Purdy was sacked (can't really remember this one), and we just ran it twice and punted.
Next drive he almost hit Aiyuk on the out route on 3rd and 10, but it was too far ahead of him. Got the TD on the next drive after the Demo INT.
Then the drive where we could have salted it away. Browns were getting consistent pressure by this point. Had the intentional grounding on immediate pressure and then a throwaway on third and 11.
Then the final drive. Got bailed out with a PI on third down, but it was a legit penalty. He hit Aiyuk, and admittedly Aiyuk did most of that after the catch. Then he hit Aiyuk again, converted to Jennings. We ran it once and that was it. I thought that was a mistake. The offense was actually starting to click, had the D on their heels a bit. I would have run another play or two.
Anyway, no major revelations here. Purdy didn't look like himself. But circumstances out of his control also repeatedly backed us up and put us in tough situations. The pass rush was unrelenting, and the Browns were able to disrupt timing with man coverage. To me, that was arguably the story for our offense. Purdy has been so good because of his ability to anticipate where his receivers and defenders will be. But if a defense can disrupt that timing, it can be a problem. A couple misses to Aiyuk could probably be chalked up to man coverage and some contact at the line. Greg Olsen was probably right that we should have gotten Kittle more involved as he's a great weapon against man. And of course, losing CMC hurts a lot against man D.
Got to chalk it up and move on, learn from it, and get that passion back for next week. We absolutely have to beat the Vikings.
