My takeaways:
1. Hollywood should never complain about lack of targets ever again. He should be grateful Lamar even looked his way on that TD catch. I was actually hoping he wouldn't. I think Lamar would have ran for the first down, and we would have been able to drain the clock down to kick the game winning FG, instead of giving Cleveland the ball back.
2. There is no earthly reason on this planet for Mark Ingram to be active on gamedays. None.
3. The pass rush wasn't good, but I don't think it was as bad as people think it was. Lack of sacks makes it seem like there wasn't pressure. Browns have an elite offensive line, and I thought we did respectable getting pressure. It faltered late in the game when we needed it most, but that's a combination of other factors (see below).
4. Roster management seems to be odd at this point. I have no idea why you're only activating four corners. Like if the pregame argument is "we need big bodies up front to stop the run", then OK, but what's your plan to win the game?
If I drew up a plan to win the game, its stop the run early (which we largely did), run the ball ourselves (which we did) and get a lead that forces Baker to stand in shotgun and throw it all over the yard (which we did). We accomplished all of those things by early 3rd quarter.
If that's your strategy to win... how the hell does it work when you have 4 Corners healthy, one of which was questionable to begin with and is always banged up? We had 6 Dlineman active... how much rotation do you need on the Dline to be able to stop the run? Even with Campbell seemingly not healthy (though he played more than we expected), why have so many bodies there if the gameplan is to make them one dimensional? There's preparing for the worst, and then there's no protecting yourself.
By my count, we had FOURTEEN Dlineman and linebackers who dressed. We only had 8 Secondary players, two of which are essentially only special teams players on a weekly basis.
Basically, you're one DB injury away from essentially being unable to play Dime coverage, which is basically what happened. And you would probably want to be playing some Dime coverage when you have a 14 point lead in the 2nd half, or when the other team is trying to score in a short period of time late in the game. And you basically can't (or at least can't play it effectively), strictly because of personnel. You get 4-5 guys go down, so be it. Peters missed some snaps. Fine.
But losing just one player, Jimmy, who is your 3rd corner, completely altered your entire defense, and some of that is due to roster management.
5 RBs active on gameday, including Ricard. There's almost no justification for that anymore. And I don't know that I'd have 6 Dlineman and 8 linebackers out there either.
5. Saying all of that... defense, just make a play late. Like we can come up with all the excuses in the world, but in reality, it falls on deaf ears for me.
Hobbled or not, your top 4 secondary players are out there. Your front seven is essentially in tact, though maybe Campbell is a little gimpy. Make a play. By my count, offense went and hung 38 points on the Browns with basically no help from the defense. We forced one turnover that led to a score, and it was a big play. But that's not enough. Offense scores 38. Your QB is in the locker room. You had a 14 point lead.
FINISH. We spend all season bashing the offense for not doing their job week in and week out. They scored 38 last night. Defense, you step up this time. One drive. One stop. Pretty much anything, and the game is yours.
4, count them, 4 70+ yard TD drives in the second half for Cleveland. I'm not even buying the "tired" line. Ravens had an almost 5 minute drive to take the lead with under 2 minutes left. Plenty of time to rest and recover. Then all the Ravens defense did was give up 75 yards in 4 plays in under a minute.
