5 stats you NEED TO KNOW for the Cleveland Browns vs. Baltimore Ravens game | Week 2

5 stats you NEED TO KNOW for the Cleveland Browns vs. Baltimore Ravens game | Week 2

All right guys, let’s get to our next topic. It is brought to us by FanDuel. The NFL season is here. FanDuel is making sure you’re ready to kick off with a can’t miss offer. Right now, new customers can bet $5 and if that $5 bet wins, you get $300 in bonuses. Bets to use across the app. So if you’re ready to play right now is the right time to join FanDuel, just download the FanDuel app by visiting FanDuel.com/UCSS to get started. That is FanDuel.com/UCSS to place your 1st $5 bet. All right guys, I got a 5 pack of stats to get to for you guys today. Some of these, especially the kicker ones come via True Media. Shout out to Jason’s guy over at True Media for helping us. By the way, before you get into the, the kicker, Mikea, Dei said, texted me and said, the Browns should sign. Ben Sauls. Apparently he was the he’s from Ohio. Apparently he was the kicker at Pitt and he had the competition he was the competition for Chris Boswell. Obviously Chris Boswell wasn’t gonna lose his job, but she said he was awesome. I got cut. He’s free agent. Ben Sauls from, from, uh, I, I never heard of this town in Ohio, so I’m guessing it’s not anywhere near here, but maybe you guys have heard of it. Uh, let’s see, it’s, uh, sorry, Mike, I screwed up by, uh, not being prepared for this. He played for the Pit. He’s from Tip City, Ohio. — Oh
— Tip
— City. Where’s Tip City? That’s, uh, we have a US president from there, Andrew Garfield. Uh, no, Cleveland, maybe Harrison. There was Tipy Canoe. — And he went to Tippe Canoe
— High School. Yes, I think, I believe there’s more presidents from Ohio than any other state, — but
— they were all many, many moons ago. — Some people we haven’t had one in a long
— time. Some people call Atlanta tip City. If you know, you know. Yeah, I know. All right guys, 5 stats that you need to know for this game against the Ravens. The first is not kicker. The 2nd and 3rd are directly correlated to the kicker, the first stat has to do with some new wrinkles we saw in the offense in week one. Last year, in 2024, the Browns used motion on just 37.9% of their snaps. That ranked 31st in the NFL. Only one team used motion, fewer than the Browns last year. At the snap. However, in week one against Cincinnati that went from 37.9% all the way up to 70.5%. That was the third most motion at the snap of any team in the NFL in week one. How did that impact the Browns’ success? Well, the EPA on the plays they ran with motion at the Snap was a 0.08. Anything positive via EPA is good. Anything negative is bad. On the plays without motion. The EPA dropped from 0.08 to -0.22, a pretty significant drop off between the plays with motion and the plays without motion. The Browns. Like I said, second fewest motion at the snap in the entire league last year, week one small sample size, but ranked 3 in the NFL. A nice little wrinkle from Kevin Stevansky and his offensive staff. Yeah, I asked, uh, Zach Jackson about that cause, uh, Mike was trying to give credit to Tommy Reese for that, um. And he said he doesn’t, it, it really doesn’t have anything to do with Tommy Reese that it was just. That’s what he wants to do. I can’t. What were the, what were the motion numbers like from 2020 and 2021? Yeah, I’d like to do. You don’t need them back then. I, I think it was. I think it was higher higher and then it got to its lowest point with Dorsey. — Dorsey used no I mean
— Ken’s don’t even get me started. Just run as far as you can. I’m gonna throw it as far as I can and let’s see if this works. You know, the, the motion stuff, the motion stuff needs to be in the playbook, and the reason why you run motion like that is because you have to give the defense something to slow them down. If you just wanna line up, the Cleveland Browns aren’t good enough at running back or at the offensive line to just line up in regular stuff. — Isn’t
— it also a tell if you’re in manner zone? Yeah, there, there, there’s, there’s benefits. Do it if you’re on offense. You want, you want them to have to read some sort of keys. You wanna say, hey, well, at least you got to respect that. Like you gotta respect the jet motion. It may not seem like much, but you wanna put them in a position where they at least have to, to value some of these other things where you can get something off of that. So they have to do those things, um, to, to give themselves an opportunity if you’re deficient at certain positions. I, it’s the difference of being uh aggressive or passive on offense. Regardless of what the play ends up being called, I just think when, when you do things like that to garner information from what the defense is in, I think that, I think that’s just aggressive. That’s foot on the pedal, not on the brake, and I like stuff like that. It’s one game I wouldn’t get carried away with one game. At the same time I’d be curious to know what the numbers were during Joe’s 5 starts a couple of years ago because I think a lot of this has to do with the quarterback and the trust in the quarterback. Yeah, I think you’re right. — Is it
— also the defense? I mean, the Bengals, Bengals and they have a young defense, whereas the Ravens. More of veteran defense. I, you know, — we’ll
— see some defenses might be more susceptible. Yeah, the Bengals were in a lot of too high safety last week. — I don’t know if I think
— they didn’t want Joe to throw over the top. Yeah, so I don’t know if Baltimore will play that same way or not, but I think a lot of that was probably try and shake something loose from Cincinnati’s side to get a peek at what they were in. I think a lot of it has to do with. Just the trust between play caller and quarterback and the respect they have for Joe. If Joe says I really like that, then, then let’s let’s let’s give you plays that you feel comfortable. Well, we’ll see. It’ll be something to monitor as the year goes on. — It’s
— just something to watch. — Just a nice little sprinkle
— I think these things. Very week to week like you said, since he’s in two high safeties, OK, well let’s take what they’re going to give us and, — and that’s what good coaches do
— when Kevin was really cooking as a play caller, it was, I think it was a lot of pre-snap motion, a lot of misdirection, a lot of you think we’re going here, we’re going there. So, and I think they’re getting back to that this year, so we’ll see. Uh, yeah, I think it’ll dictate what the Ravens wanna do. I, last week I said Joe’s gonna have to hit a couple of deep shots. I think the Bengals thought that way too. They said, no, no, no, you’re not gonna do that. Now the Ravens are a little more aggressive. Um, I’d be willing to, I’m anxious to see what the game plan is from Sapansky as to what they think they’re gonna give Flacco. Uh, let’s get to the next one. Even though this next one is really two, it goes correlated together and it’s about the kicking conundrum in Cleveland. So True Media pulled these stats, so shout out to True Media. But since Kevin Stefansky took over in 2020, so we’re going back to 2020, the left side of your screen are the Browns’ averages on certain kicks. On the right side of your screen is the NFL average. As you can see, the Browns just 78% on extra points under Kevin Steansky and Andrew Berry during that tenure. The league average of that. That same time period is 85%. Field goals under 40, 88% for the Browns, 95% for the rest of the league. Between 40 and 49 yards, 69% for Cleveland, 79% for the rest of the league, and then the anomaly on 50 plus, the Browns at 71%, the rest league at 68. However, Dustin Hopkins went 8 for 8 in 2023 on 50+ after not being able to. You take Hopkins out, they’re below league average. Now you may ask. Sure they’re missing kicks, but is that impacting games? And yeah, it, it is costing Cleveland games. Kevin Steanski, since taking over as head coach of the Browns, is 15-6 in one score games where the Browns have not missed a kick. So no missed kicks. He is 15-6 in one score games. In one score games where his kicker has missed a kick via an extra point, a field goal, any kind of missed kick. They go from 15 and 6 to 8 and 15. I’m sure every team has similar numbers, but when you’re among the worst, yeah, that’s true, yeah, — that’s
— why, that’s that’s it. And then one score losses, missed kicks have cost the Browns 2.2 points per game. That’s an entire point above league average. A league average of missed kicks in those losses. 1.2, the Browns at 2.2. Shout out to True Media for those stats. — Just
— competent kicking. — If you are just the
— average 16th, 17th. Where would they be? What would the record be? — Sure
— you’d have, but you’d have more wins. I mean, that’s, it’s, it’s, it’s common sense. Uh, it goes to what I said Monday, um, about the, it’s just dereliction of duty. It’s, it’s, it’s not. Main you can’t maintain an organization when you are not just a, a blip below league average. — 10%
— that’s a lot below league average. Mike, — do you have there at at the most important position in the game in terms of
— scoring. They’re like 31st and 32, aren’t they in in the league in category? Oh yeah, give me one sec. I have exactly where those numbers rank. Like it’s not bad. — It’s it’s awful
— than the league. And because it is such, I know everybody poo poos kicking and I do too, and I, there’s nothing that drives me more crazy when you lose a game because of a kicker. This is a gladiator sport. This shouldn’t be soccer where it’s decided by kicks, but it is. I didn’t make up the rules. The Browns know what the rules are, so do. The other teams, you value a kicker. You get, and I know they’ve drafted guys and they’ve spent resources on trying to get this right. The fact of the matter is they have not, — and that’s a dereliction
— of these are the numbers you’re looking for, Jason. The extra percentage and take this graphic full here real quick. The extra percentage 78% that is dead last 302 out of 32 teams in the NFL. Field goals under 40, that 88% also ranks 32 out of 32. The 40 to 49 field goal range, 69%, that is 31st, so slight above the, the last place you could be. And then like I said, there’s 71%, 50 plus, technically ranks 10th, but you take out the Hopkins year and it drops down into the bottom third of the league. Also from True Media, the Browns under Kevin Steansky. Between missed field goals and extra points have cost the team 112 points. That’s the second most in the NFL just behind Minnesota at 115. And last thing, Jay, real quick, Sunday marked Cleveland’s eighth game under Stefanski with 4 more points, lost to missed kicks. That is tied for the most in the NFL with Jacksonville since 2020. I have a question for you, and I don’t know if you have it because these numbers were dug up to be specific to the Browns, but you are giving league averages. I’d love to see, going back to 2020, which teams rank 1234, and 5. I, I, I know, I figured you didn’t, but I’d like to see is there what Baltimore is. I imagine Kansas City would be high up that. So what I, what I’m saying is like I know we talk about quarterbacks. It’s clearly the most, I’m not gonna make a case that kicker is more important than quarterback. What I’m saying is there is a correlation. I believe between teams that have successful kickers and teams that have success, it’s, they lead the league in scoring every year. — It’s the most important games in the
— league, uh, 3 points your life. This is, this is totally damning. This is this is because what, what, what it shows is we, we have placed overemphasis in quarterback is important, but if, if, if any football player, any coach at any level will tell you. It’s gonna come down to penalties, turnovers, and a kicking game. If you’re last, if you’re dead last in kicking, you don’t have no chance. And then you’re still at the bottom third in terms of penalties. You, you, you, you can’t win. No, you can’t win. I don’t have this like Jason, my guy at True Media just sent us these numbers without all the rankings. Maybe it’s a 2% difference between 32 and 25, you know, 25. I don’t know. I don’t know what the. Because I do think that matters. Like if it’s a 1 or 2% difference in 30, but you know you win in the margins. Yeah, I know. But if we’re talking just a couple of kicks, I don’t know if it’s gonna make that drastic of a difference in the overall. But when you do look at those, well, just go last year. Can you call up last year’s kicking results? Like where did Philly finish and where did Kansas City finish? I know Kansas City had kicking issues with health. And but I don’t think was particularly great when he was even healthy, but like, and I know that’s a shorter term. I’d like to see a big sample size study done over, you know, comparing the teams that make the playoffs with their kickers to the teams that missed the playoffs, you know, well, here just last you you ask about last year? Yeah, like I’m I don’t know what the results are gonna be, — but I’m curious
— here this came from Jason too at True Media. I just lost it. Hang on. Sunday marked. — Cleveland’s 8th game under Stefanski with 4+
— points lost to that OK. 4 games last year since the start of last season. So that was the 3 last year, 3 games last year they lost 4+ points to missed kicks. Yeah, — I just don’t see how you
— I don’t know which — they
— were. I don’t know how you win. Unless you’re just number one offensively by leaps and bounds. I don’t know how you win, particularly in the playoffs where games are won in the margins. How are you winning a Super Bowl without a, you know, when New England went on their run of Super Bowl kicks, they had a reliable kicker, particularly in the playoffs. He didn’t miss. So Jay, — I got
— it. Last year, the top 5 teams in field goal percentage. This does not correlate to winning. Yeah, that’s why I said I’d like to see a bigger sample. I’d like to see like 10 years. Last year Tampa Bay was #1, made the playoffs, lost in the first round. Number 2, Chargers didn’t make the playoffs. Number 3, Pittsburgh didn’t make the playoffs. Number 4, Jacksonville, terrible. Number 5, Tennessee, terrible. Number 6, Miami — didn’t make
— the playoffs, or did they? Didn’t. No, they were terrible. Number 7, Detroit. Obviously they were good. Arizona 8 didn’t make the playoffs. — Denver
— not in the top. 8. That can’t be right. I’m looking at it. 2 — NFL team field goal
— conversion was 40 to 47 last year. — So he hit 7
— misses last year. — I was
— unaware of that. I was unaware. He was the second team all-pro kicker, but he did miss. Baltimore, by the way, Baltimore last year was 27th. Philadelphia, well, Baltimore last year Philadelphia, the Super Bowl champion last year was 25th. Yeah, I’d like to see, I, I would like to see a bigger sample size. The gap year to year 32 and 25 was big. The Philadelphia was 25 and they were 81%. The Browns were 32 at 67%. Oh my God, that is. Is that, wait, I got a question for you. Is that bigger? It has to be bigger than the gap from 25 to 10, for sure. It’s got to be. Yeah, there’s not enough room for it to be. So number one in 2024. 94%. OK. And, — and they were
— 85% the Eagles were 81%. OK, so 13%, — which is and
— then the Browns were 67%, — which
— is bigger. Hopkins was objectively terrible. So it’s the difference between 25 and 1 was bigger than the difference between 25 and 3. — Teams below 75
— what that really tells me is you can even be, you can be bad. Clearly Philly wasn’t great and still win. What you can’t be is last by a mile, and that’s what we’ve been. So, so yeah, yeah, alone, it don’t make that much of a difference. Like it does make a difference, but it, it’s when you accumulate. Lady, if you say the kicking game is last, and then you say you have the 31st or 32nd rated quarterback, and then you say, you know, our turnovers are penalties. All when you start to stack that against yourself and you don’t, and we just talk about, hey, our receivers are where, playmakers where it, it, it, it paints a picture of You can’t play this style of football and, and expect to win over a long haul or, or even the short term. You just can’t do it. It’s just not possible. All right, next two stats, final two stats here, more just interesting nuggetts I found on the Ravens that I thought were worth bringing up for you guys. I, I call this one Jekylln Harbaugh. He’s 26-8 in his career versus Cleveland. He’s 172-105 overall in his career. It’s tied with Bill Parcells for the 15th most wins ever. Despite that, His teams have blown 17 double digits second half leads since he’s taken over as the head coach of the Baltimore Ravens. That is the most since the NFL started tracking that stat in 1991. And Sunday’s week one loss to Buffalo was considered the 13th most improbable comeback for any team over the last decade, according to Amazon and ESPN’s NextGen Stats. And the other little nugget, boy, you mentioned this yesterday, but Derrick Henry had 169 yards on 18 carries versus Buffalo. It brings his career. Rushing total in the NFL to 11,592 yards. That’s still 5, 32 yards short of his four-year high school rushing goal. — The
— most prolific high school rusher, maybe the most prolific NFL rusher during his time, and he’s still short of his high school total, which is, can you imagine being like some kid in high school and you have to tackle Derrick Henry. It’s not like he wasn’t big when he came in, you know, it says it’s not that hard. I got to say, guys, that was tone deaf, and I know I’ll be in the minority opinion on this. I think in the last few years, Harbaugh is one of the worst coaches in the league and nobody, nobody pays attention to it. First of all, he has made some of the most egregious mistakes in the postseason in recent years. How many times have they had a terrible game plan in the playoffs? Terr. Lamar gets all the blame for it, — and Lamar deserves
— some plays. He’s also had clock management issues and terrible go for one or go for two issues. And well, and with that, it’s like sometimes he’s like insanely aggressive and then. Sometimes he’s extremely, extremely conservative and you can’t figure it out. Like punting last week. What were they doing? You’re giving the ball to Josh Allen. Like you have Lamar, go for it. I don’t understand. He does some wacky stuff sometimes. He’s unconventional, I think. I don’t know if I’d say he’s one of the worst, but I, I think the last few years among the coaches that we’ve given genius credentials to, I think his are probably most in need of, of reevaluation. Because I’m with you, there are some moments where I’m like, what is he doing right now? both ways overly aggressive and overly conservative. He’s, I think what he is is he’s an impulsive guy and I think whatever the moment, whatever hits him in the moment, he just goes with it. And I think probably sometimes it warrants a conversation with his OC or DC or whomever. Um, it’s a, uh, it, it’s a, it’s a make or miss league. They said it in basketball it’s risk reward league football. Would I take John Harbaugh? Yeah, you see what his record is against us. He, he cooks. At the end of the day, you’re gonna make some calls. — That’s kind of there’s a lot of
— coaches with good records. Very true. Only one. And and now Taylor might have a winning record against us. I don’t know. You, you, I remember, I’m old enough to remember when Hugh Jackson came in here as an offensive coordinator and put a masterful and he had Andy Dalton, he put 40 on his one. I’m like, Hugh Jackson. You know, yeah, needless to say, but you know, sometimes you go with it, sometimes you don’t. He makes some questionable decisions, but you know it, it’s, that’s, — I think that’s part of his
— fortune. I think ultimately I agree with your thesis. Your thesis statement was do would I take them? I don’t even have to think a half second about that or give them to me. I love that. I think more than anything, and I, I get it. The in. Endgame decisions ultimately put the cherry on top of your coaching resume, but I also think it has a lot to do with the culture you set and getting the most out of your players, and I think he is at the top of that heap. He’s in Andy Reid’s category when it comes to player buy in and just, just building the proper culture to win.

The Cleveland Browns seemed to gain some respect with their Week 1 effort against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Baltimore Ravens had their own version of a meltdown that cost them the game. This will be an interesting week, because if the Browns’ defense is for real, then there is no reason to think Baltimore is in for a cakewalk. With that said, the perception out there is that Baltimore is a top team in the NFL. So while the Browns are getting some respect, the feeling is, “Yeah, just not this week against the Ravens.”

Here is what the national media is saying about the Week 2 game between the Browns and Ravens | https://www.dawgsbynature.com/cleveland-browns-betting-odds-gambling/103847/browns-vs-ravens-week-2-predictions-experts-want-to-show-cleveland-respect-just-not-against-baltimore

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