Joe Flacco honored with AP Comeback Player of the Year

Joe Flacco is your AP Comeback Player of the Year

From the couch to NFL Honors. That’s the odyssey that took Joe Flacco from home to AP Comeback Player of the Year.

Flacco didn’t have a job for much of the season until the Cleveland Browns called.

He answered hugely.

Flacco was 4-1 in five starts as Cleveland gained the playoffs.

He threw for 1.616 yards and 13 touchdowns in 2023.

Flacco’s four wins were more than he earned as a sporadic starter from 2019-23 for the Broncos and Jets.

Kevin Stefanski of Browns earns AP Coach of the Year honors

Kevin Stefanski of Browns wins AP Coach of the Year

The Cleveland Browns came away with three awards at NFL Honors on Thursday.

The AP Defensive Player of the Year went to Myles Garrett. The star defensive lineman’s head coach, Kevin Stefanski, earned AP Coach of the Year. Joe Flacco was named Comeback Player of the Year.

Stefanski led the Browns to an 11-6 record after a 7-10 campaign in 2023.

He did so despite having to go through a series of quarterbacks, finally winding up with Joe Flacco, who ignited the Cleveland offense.

Stefanski is 37-30 in four seasons with Cleveland.

Myles Garrett of Browns named AP Defensive Player of the Year

The Browns’ Myles Garrett gains his first AP Defensive Player of the Year

The AP Defensive Player of the Year Award was given to Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns on Thursday night in Las Vegas.

Garrett had 14 sacks in leading a dominant Browns defense. On his career. he now has 88.5 sacks.

He was an AP first-team player and made the Pro Bowl.

Garrett also forced four fumbles and had 30 quarterback hits.

Micah Parsons defends Myles Garrett winning AP Defensive Player of the Year

Micah Parsons wasn’t unhappy about Myles Garrett winning NFL Defensive Player of the Year… but Parsons may have undersold himself in the process.

Any time there are awards, there are people who will be Loud Mad about the winners of those awards. And on Thursday, when some of the Associated Press NFL awards came out in advance of the NFL Honors show, that certainly happened.

One instance happened when Cleveland Browns edge-rusher Myles Garrett took home the AP Defensive Player of the Year award, which had one fan comparing stats between Garrett, Pittsburgh Steelers edge-rusher T.J. Watt, and Dallas Cowboys edge-rusher Micah Parsons. This individual had a real problem with the Garrett selection… but Garrett himself didn’t take issue at all.

Here’s what’s interesting, though — per Pro Football Focus’ advanced metrics, Garrett was double-teamed on 90 of his pass-rush snaps, and he totaled four sacks and 15 total pressures when he was doubled.

Parsons, on the other hand, faced double-teams on 117 of his pass-rushing snaps, and he compiled three sacks and 27 total pressures when he was doubled.

So, it was quite generous of Parsons to stand up for Garrett (spoiler: I’m an AP voter, and I voted for Parsons), and as far as making an impact with double-teams, Parsons was still The Man in 2023.

Even presented with the numbers, Parsons was firm in his opinion, which you certainly have to respect.

4-Down Territory: Tua Tagovailoa, Mike McCarthy, Nick Sirianni, Worst of the Week

In this week’s “4-Down Territory,” the guys get into Tua Tagovailoa, Mike McCarthy, Nick Sirianni, and the Worst of the Week for the wild-card round.

Now that the wild-card round of the playoffs is over, it’s time once again for Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire, and Kyle Madson of Niners Wire, to come to the table with their own unique brand of analysis in “4-Down Territory.”

This week, the guys have some serious questions to answer:

  1. What should the Miami Dolphins do with Tua Tagovailoa?
  2. Should this be the end for Mike McCarthy in Dallas?
  3. Has Eagles head coach Nick Sirianni become more an liability than an asset?
  4. What was our Worst of the Week?

You can watch this week’s “4-Down Territory” right here:

[anyclip-media thumbnail=”https://cdn5.anyclip.com/dSUBFI0B_V2dnIgNnJ4B/1705438599013_248x140_thumbnail.jpg” playlistId=”undefined” content=”PHNjcmlwdCBzcmM9Imh0dHBzOi8vcGxheWVyLnBvcHRvay5jb20vYW55Y2xpcC13aWRnZXQvbHJlLXdpZGdldC9wcm9kL3YxL3NyYy9scmUuanMiIGRhdGEtYXI9IjE2OjkiIGRhdGEtcGxpZD0ibXJqdmtxc2dqZXllZXgyd2dqc2c0c2xoanp4ZXVuY2MiIHB1Ym5hbWU9IjE5OTgiIHdpZGdldG5hbWU9IjAwMTZNMDAwMDJVMEIxa1FBRl9NODMyNSI+Cjwvc2NyaXB0Pg==”][/anyclip-media]

You can also listen and subscribe to the “4-Down Territory” podcast on Spotify…

and on Apple Podcasts.

Browns’ refusal to adapt on defense cost them dearly against C.J. Stroud

The Browns lost their wild-card game against the Texans because Jim Schwartz, their usually brilliant DC, refused to adapt to C.J. Stroud.

If you were to point to one factor that ended the Cleveland Browns’ 2023 season with their 45-14 loss to the Houston Texans in the wild-card round, you might say that Joe Flacco’s pick-sixes on consecutive drives. That obviously wasn’t beneficial, but it’s important to note that the Texans already had a 24-14 lead before Flacco’s first pick-six with 6:05 left in the third quarter, and Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud had completed 11 of 16 passes for 236 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 151.0 in the first half alone.

As great as Stroud has been throughout his rookie season, this was a bit of a surprise. Jim Schwartz’s Browns defense came into this game ranked second in Defensive DVOA and second in Pass Defense DVOA, behind only the Baltimore Ravens in both instances. But Schwartz refused to bend to the one reality he had right in front of him — that Stroud was set up well to take advantage of the Browns’ primary coverage concept.

In the regular season, the Browns played single-high coverage — either Cover-1 or Cover-3 on 64% of their snaps, the NFL’s highest rate.

But C.J. Stroud against Cover-1 and Cover-3 in the regular season? Try 141 of 228 for 2,054 yards, 1,335 air yards, 11 touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 105.4. Only Dak Prescott and Lamar Jackson had higher passer ratings against middle-of-the-field closed coverage in the regular season.

How that played out in this game was in no way beneficial to Schwartz and his players. Stroud faced single-high coverage on 16 of his 21 passing attempts in the game, and at no time did Stroud have to deal with any kind of wrinkle pre-snap to post-snap to muddy the picture and delay his reads and throws.

The worst part may have been that this was the plan going in.

“I think playoffs come down to who can be themselves the best, if that makes sense,” Schwartz said last Wednesday. “Can we be the best version of ourselves versus the Texans being the best version of themselves? I think that’s when it’s all said and done. You’ve got 17 games under your belt. There’s not a whole lot you’re going to pull out that another team hasn’t seen. And really at this point of the year, people are going with what they do best. I think that has a lot to do with it. I really can’t worry about him and how he’ll treat the game.”

Sure, but assuming that a rookie quarterback (no matter how advanced) has already seen everything you might throw at him, so you’re just going to do your thing, no matter how good he might be against it? That’s a bit of a stretch, and in the end, that cost the Browns the game more than anything else.

Edge-rusher Myles Garrett confirmed this after the game.

“[Schwartz] said from the beginning he’s going to ride with what got us here, and he’s not going to change up. There’s not going to be any magic call that’s going to get us out of anything or get us through anything. I guess they were just doing things a little bit different that kept us off balance, and I think just the tempo which they were doing it, whether it was running the ball a little bit differently than we had expected, getting the ball out on time, trying to just delay us enough up front to get the ball to their skill players and make plays. We have to be able to make plays all across the field, not just up front or not just on the back end. It’s all together.”

And that’s the problem — you never want to be behind the schematic eight-ball when you don’t need to be. The play shown above is Stroud’s 27-yard completion to receiver John Metchie with 1:34 left in the first quarter; it was not the first or last time that Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik’s single-high beaters foiled Cleveland’s attempts to stop them.

This 21-yard pass to receiver Nico Collins with 11:51 left in the first quarter — the Texans’ second offensive play of the game — had Collins running the deep over out of 21 personnel — two backs, one tight end, and two receivers. Noah Brown’s vertical route from the left side cleared safety Juan Thornhill, who had to watch Brown and Collins at the same time, and afforded Stroud an easy read and throw underneath, with cornerback Denzel Ward a step behind Collins.

Stroud’s 76-yard touchdown pass to tight end Brevin Jordan with 12:13 left in the first half was a simple leak to the flat out of 22 personnel — two tight end and two backs — but as Greg Cosell and I detailed in our game preview, the Browns will tend to gear up for the run against heavy personnel (hat tip to Robert Mays and Nate Tice of The Athletic Football Show for the actual numbers) no matter the down and distance. Slowik had to know this, and he had to know that if Schwartz didn’t flip the script, his young quarterback could feast. That’s what happened here.

This is not to malign Jim Schwartz as a defensive coordinator — he’s as responsible as anybody for the Browns’ turnaround this season. But Schwartz may spend some time this offseason wondering why he didn’t tailor his game plan more to Houston’s extraordinary young quarterback — and the offensive genius behind that quarterback’s most meaningful plays.

Joe Flacco makes the wrong kind of history with back-to-back pick-sixes

Joe Flacco’s consecutive pick-sixes put a pin in the Flacco renaissance, made postseason history, and advanced the Texans to the divisional round.

Well, the Joe Flacco renaissance was nice while it lasted.

The Cleveland Browns are on their way to being forcibly eliminated from the playoffs by the Houston Texans, and if Houston quarterback C.J. Stroud’s brilliance wasn’t enough to make that happen, Flacco threw pick-sixes on back-to-back drives.

There was this Steven Nelson 82-yard return touchdown with 6:05 left in the third quarter, predicated by pressure from Derek Barnett:

And then, this 36-yarder from linebacker Christian Harris on a throw Flacco telegraphed like Samuel Morse.

Flacco is the fifth quarterback in the Super Bowl era to throw two pick-sixes in a postseason game…

…and he may be the only quarterback to do so on back-to-back plays.

C.J. Stroud has been killing single-high coverage all season, and the Browns didn’t get it

C.J. Stroud and the Texans chopped up the Browns’ usually stingy defense in the first half, and here’s how they did it.

Before Saturday’s wild-card game between the Houston Texans and the Cleveland Browns got started, it was clear that one key factor was going to be how often the Browns play single-high coverage vs. how Texans rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud demolishes one-deep stuff.

The Browns played single-high on 64% of their defensive snaps in the regular season, the NFL’s highest rate. But Stroud against Cover-1 and Cover-3 in the regular season? He completed 141 of 228 for 2,054 yards, 1,335 air yards, 11 touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 105.4 – only Dak Prescott and Lamar Jackson have higher passer ratings against Middle-of-the-field closed coverage this season.

It took little time for Stroud to show his mastery of single-high stuff in this game. With 11 seconds left in the first quarter, Stroud hit receiver Nico Collins on this fake-toss/Tunnel screen for a 15-yard touchdown.

The Browns had Juan Thornhill as their only deep safety.

Then, with 12:00 left in the first half, Stroud completed this 76-yard touchdown to tight end Brevin Jordan.

This time, Ronnie Hickman was the only deep safety on the bootleg pass.

Not that Schwartz moving to two-high helped much. Stroud’s third touchdown pass of the first half — a 37-yarder to tight end Dalton Schultz — saw the Browns with two deep safeties, and some miscommunication issues. Meanwhile, Stroud was once again showing outstanding deep touch when required.

At the half, Stroud was already setting rookie postseason records against one of the NFL’s stingiest defenses. And offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik is putting together quite a head coach resume.

How Texans QB C.J. Stroud can rock Jim Schwartz’s Browns defense

Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud vs. Jim Schwartz’s Browns defense is one of the best matchups of wild-card weekend. Here’s how it could play out.

Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik comes from the Kyle Shanahan tree, so you know that he wants to fool your defense with personnel. Slowik had been a defensive assistant and passing game coordinator under Shanahan both in Washington and San Francisco, so if there’s a 49ers-ish tint to what the Texans are doing, don’t be surprised.

One thing you’ll see from the Texans is explosive passing plays out of heavier personnel. It’s a Shanahan staple, Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniels (Shanahan’s former run game coordinator in San Francisco) draws on it as much as anybody, and Slowik continues that trend. Rookie sensation C.J. Stroud has 62 explosive passing plays in the 2023 season, and 22 of those plays have come out of 12, 13, 21, and 22 personnel — with multiple tight ends and/or running backs on the field.

Why is this effective? In preparation for his team’s wild-card matchup with the Cleveland Browns’ outstanding defense, Slowik got into why he likes to run things the way he runs them.

“That was very intentional coming into the season that we did that,” Slowik said when asked why ne needs his personnel looks to be interchangeable. “Obviously in San Francisco that’s kind of how that offense was built. I was lucky and fortunate enough to be there kind of when that evolution happened and we really started getting different pieces like that with guys that could play multiple positions. Really, you just see how freeing it is as someone who has to game plan, as a play caller, but also, it’s freeing for the quarterback. Just being able to know, ‘Wherever I distribute this ball, on my four reads on this play, I trust and I love all these dudes. I want to get all of them the ball.’ That’s really important.”

Dec 24, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; Houston Texans offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik smiles before the game against the Cleveland Browns at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports

Slowik also deploys different guys in different positions because it makes things easier for the quarterback, giving him more pure progression reads against match-style coverages.

“I feel like a lot of it now, more across the NFL, there’s more just zones and different versions of zones, in particular soft zones where you can’t always determine where the ball’s going when teams are doing that,” Slowik said. “So sometimes – I think that’s part of why a lot of NFL teams have gone to so much pure progressions where you just go from one to two to three because it just simplifies that whole process and at some point you know you have to get a completion, and you can’t always determine who that’s to. I know for us, that’s why we coach how you handle yards after the catch, how you handle transition, how you handle when the ball is thrown to you in eight yards or less, how we’re making the most of those opportunities and getting the most yards, getting vertical on that stuff.

“We coach that a lot, namely because those are the teams that it’s really hard to game plan against when you can’t pin-point where the ball is going and the quarterback has to go and distribute it all the way across the field. That would be the No. 1 thing to me.”

One thing Slowik knows he’s likely to see from Jim Schwartz’ Browns defense is single-high coverage. The Browns have played middle-of-the-field-closed coverage at a 64% clip, most in the NFL. Now, Schwartz loves to mix that up with different looks and inverted coverages, but you know what you’re going to get there. The task for Stroud, who missed Houston’s Week 16 loss to the Browns with a concussion, is to wade through all of that with the personnel he has. And that’s tough, because the Texans are missing a lot of their top receivers right now — Nathaniel “Tank” Dell is out, and Noah Brown and Robert Woods are questionable.

Fortunately, Stroud still has world-beater Nico Collins. And this is where the matchup could tilt in Houston’s favor.

Another bit of good news for the Texans is that Stroud has absolutely annihilated single-high coverage this season. Against Cover-1 and Cover-3, Stroud has completed 141 of 228 passes for 2,054 yards, 1,335 air yards, 11 touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 105.4 – only Dak Prescott and Lamar Jackson have higher passer ratings against MOFC coverage this season. Stroud is great at challenging single-high with crossers underneath, and quick-to-intermediate out routes to displace cornerbacks playing to the numbers.

And it’s not just Collins. Stroud can find openings against anybody with heavy personnel, as he showed on this 26-yard pass to fullback Andrew Beck against the New York Jets in Week 14. It was a hard crosser underneath the Jets’ Cover-3, and another example of a great defense a step behind what Slowik drew up, and what Stroud executed.

Remember that Mays/Tice statistic regarding how the Browns stack the box as a default reaction to heavy personnel? Schwartz is smart enough to know what his own tendencies are, and how it might be time to switch things up.

CLEVELAND, OHIO – SEPTEMBER 24: Defensive Coordinator Jim Schwartz of the Cleveland Browns looks on during the first half in the game against the Tennessee Titans at Cleveland Browns Stadium on September 24, 2023 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

“Obviously a rookie, but has command that goes beyond usually the scope of a rookie,” Schwartz said this week of Stroud. “Decisive with the ball, accurate passer, buy some time time, makes big plays down the field. I think when it’s all said and done, the fact that he’s passed for as many yards as he has without turning the ball over is really impressive for a young guy. Usually the cost of doing business if you’re going to throw a lot of yards is you also turn the ball over a lot. It’s been impressive what he’s been able to do. We’re going to have to play tight coverage. We’re going to have to stay after him in the pass rush. We’re going to have to limit run after the catch because he does a good job of giving his guys opportunities to run after the catch, including Nico Collins. That’s one of the things he does best.”

Pair that with Slowik’s quote about why he aligns his passing structures against match stuff that limits YAC, and you have fodder for an amazing matchup.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys go deep into this fascinating matchup.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” previewing every game in the wild-card slate, right here:

[anyclip-media thumbnail=”https://cdn5.anyclip.com/9R0C94wBpgpqa49UVV3S/1704953057546_248x140_thumbnail.jpg” playlistId=”undefined” content=”PHNjcmlwdCBzcmM9Imh0dHBzOi8vcGxheWVyLnBvcHRvay5jb20vYW55Y2xpcC13aWRnZXQvbHJlLXdpZGdldC9wcm9kL3YxL3NyYy9scmUuanMiIGRhdGEtYXI9IjE2OjkiIGRhdGEtcGxpZD0iaGZqZGFxenpncjN1ZTRkaG9ieXdjbmJ6a3ZsZm1tMnQiIHB1Ym5hbWU9IjE5OTgiIHdpZGdldG5hbWU9IjAwMTZNMDAwMDJVMEIxa1FBRl9NODMyNSI+Cjwvc2NyaXB0Pg==”][/anyclip-media]

You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

and on Apple Podcasts.

The Xs and Os with Greg Cosell: Previewing Super Wild-Card Weekend

In this week’s “Xs and Os,” Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar preview Super Wild-Card Weekend with tape study and advanced metrics.

It’s time for Super Wild-Card Weekend! Greg Cosell of NFL Films and ESPN’s NFL Matchup, and Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire and the USA Today Sports Media Group, are here to get you ready for the most interesting matchups that could decide who advances to the divisional round.

Browns at Texans: Will the Browns defense under Jim Schwartz have answers for C.J. Stroud’s excellence against single-high coverage? Nobody plays more of it than Schwartz’s guys.

Dolphins at Chiefs: It’ll be very cold at Arrowhead Stadium, which puts the focus on the run game. Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has all kinds of wrinkles in his rushing attack, and we discuss a new one with rookie De’Von Achane.

Steelers at Bills: Can the Steelers counter the Bills’ improving defense with shot plays from Mason Rudolph? And what does T.J. Watt’s injury mean for Josh Allen?

Packers at Cowboys: Everyone’s talking about Jordan Love and Dak Prescott here, but watch out for Green Bay’s run game with Aaron Jones as the lead dog.

Rams at Lions: Similarly, while everyone’s talking about the Matthew Stafford-Jared Goff “Revenge Game,” don’t sleep on these two great rushing attacks. Kyren Williams has changed Sean McVay’s run schemes to great effect.

Eagles at Buccaneers: Bucs head coach Todd Bowles is the Greg Maddux of blitzers — he’ll throw everything at you with a little spin at the end. How will Jalen Hurts react, when he’s struggled against pressure most of this season? Also, Baker Mayfield and his receivers could feast on Philly’s misbegotten pass defense.

In this week’s “Xs and Os with Greg Cosell and Doug Farrar,” the guys get into all of it.

You can watch this week’s “Xs and Os,” previewing every game in the wild-card slate, right here:

[anyclip-media thumbnail=”https://cdn5.anyclip.com/9R0C94wBpgpqa49UVV3S/1704953057546_248x140_thumbnail.jpg” playlistId=”undefined” content=”PHNjcmlwdCBzcmM9Imh0dHBzOi8vcGxheWVyLnBvcHRvay5jb20vYW55Y2xpcC13aWRnZXQvbHJlLXdpZGdldC9wcm9kL3YxL3NyYy9scmUuanMiIGRhdGEtYXI9IjE2OjkiIGRhdGEtcGxpZD0iaGZqZGFxenpncjN1ZTRkaG9ieXdjbmJ6a3ZsZm1tMnQiIHB1Ym5hbWU9IjE5OTgiIHdpZGdldG5hbWU9IjAwMTZNMDAwMDJVMEIxa1FBRl9NODMyNSI+Cjwvc2NyaXB0Pg==”][/anyclip-media]

You can also listen and subscribe to the “Xs and Os” podcast on Spotify…

and on Apple Podcasts.