Should the Browns be involving Austin Hooper MORE ?

[calfoxwc]

I thought the Browns would come out of the gate throwing to their TE's, which is a strong group. Njoku can...play, and Byant is

an impressive rookie.

I read this, and maybe Hooper and Bryant won't get too much action vs Dallas either.

but the next two games, per this article, - things will be different.

https://www.brownsnation.com/should-the-browns-be-involving-austin-hooper-more-in-the-offense/

[jiggins7919]

10 minutes ago, calfoxwc said:

I thought the Browns would come out of the gate throwing to their TE's, which is a strong group. Njoku can...play, and Byant is

an impressive rookie.

I read this, and maybe Hooper and Bryant won't get too much action vs Dallas either.

but the next two games, per this article, - things will be different.

https://www.brownsnation.com/should-the-browns-be-involving-austin-hooper-more-in-the-offense/

It's a fair question, but here's the thing:  Hooper is a rare complete TE, meaning he can beat you with his hands and he can block very well. Hooper has been INTEGRAL in our running game and while he's been a fantasy bust, he's been an excellent acquisition. That being said, you could tell last game that we had a few short passes to him on purpose, but our offense as a whole hasn't attacked much down the seam. To be fair, we've had the lead late in games and relied on running it, and we've also missed our TEs at least three times deep down the seam for huge gains and possible TDs. 

Don't forget that Hooper had a gigantic 4th and 7 conversion last week. That was so huge and really provided us with serious momentum. To be honest, the TEs going down the field are often Bryant and Carlson. We missed Carlson for a wide open seam pass against the Bengals that would have been a monster play, and we've also missed Hooper on several occasions. Right now we're playing extremely smart and safe football as Baker gets comfortable in the offense. Remember, this is new to him and he doesn't fully trust his eyes yet. As Baker starts to get more familiar with his reads, the strikes down the field and to our TEs will increase. This is why it's SO IMPORTANT to maintain the same coaches and offense from year to year. 

[Neo]

Based on today's performance, I think they should involve OBJ more. I mean he did it all today. I have been on Bakers side for a long time, but when you look at the weapons the offense has, two superstar WR's , Hooper, a whole stable of RB's headlined by Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, Baker is looking more and more of the weak link in the offense. He missed plenty of throws today, broke out of the pocket at times when he should have just slid up in the pocket. Sooner or later it's going to come down to Baker having to make all the throws, make all the right reads, and I just don't think he is there yet or capable of being that guy. He does just enough to get a W but he's going to have to up his game if the Browns are going to take the next step. Imagine if we had an elite QB running this offense, we would have score 70 points today.

[Nero]

I think the TEs were getting a lot of use as blockers today. The rushing yardage was thanks for the blocks in all the levels and the TEs helped on that big time, IMO. 

[The Gipper]

1 hour ago, Neo said:

Based on today's performance, I think they should involve OBJ more. I mean he did it all today. I have been on Bakers side for a long time, but when you look at the weapons the offense has, two superstar WR's , Hooper, a whole stable of RB's headlined by Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt, Baker is looking more and more of the weak link in the offense. He missed plenty of throws today, broke out of the pocket at times when he should have just slid up in the pocket. Sooner or later it's going to come down to Baker having to make all the throws, make all the right reads, and I just don't think he is there yet or capable of being that guy. He does just enough to get a W but he's going to have to up his game if the Browns are going to take the next step. Imagine if we had an elite QB running this offense, we would have score 70 points today.

I would say that Baker missed a couple of throws....but he made many many more than he missed. 

Mayfield 19 of 30 for 165 yards and two TDs.

[Flugel]

12 hours ago, The Gipper said:

I would say that Baker missed a couple of throws....but he made many many more than he missed. 

Mayfield 19 of 30 for 165 yards and two TDs.

Never thought I would say this - but I liked some of the ones Baker threw out of bounds intentionally (not to be confused with the one he missed OBJ on when he had a step or 2 on the defender).  As the game got close in the 4th quarter, all I could think of was how important the turnovers were.

 

[Tour2ma]

On Hooper... A/K/A meanwhile back at the thread...

 

5 catches on 7 targets Sunday... 2nd most on the team behind OBJ. I don't know how much more you "feature" him with OBJ, Juice, Hunt and Bryant as targets as well.

Plus considering what Hoop does after the catch compared with our other options I say, "No."

Now if he had Kittle's kind of post catch ability... or Gronk in his day... then my answer would be different.

 

That said, there will likely come a match up someday down the line where he'll get double digit targets.

 

As an aside... the one thing I can't recall seeing yet this season is a pure, deep, seam route completion to a TE. Crosses and Outs seem to be it... especially the latter on PAP-boots.

Has there been a seam route deep or otherwise?

Can any of our All-22 aficionados confirm that we've even run one?

[The Gipper]

22 minutes ago, Tour2ma said:

On Hooper... A/K/A meanwhile back at the thread...

 

5 catches on 7 targets Sunday... 2nd most on the team behind OBJ. I don't know how much more you "feature" him with OBJ, Juice, Hunt and Bryant as targets as well.

Plus considering what Hoop does after the catch compared with our other options I say, "No."

Now if he had Kittle's kind of post catch ability... or Gronk in his day... then my answer would be different.

 

That said, there will likely come a match up someday down the line where he'll get double digit targets.

 

As an aside... the one thing I can't recall seeing yet this season is a pure, deep, seam route completion to a TE. Crosses and Outs seem to be it... especially the latter on PAP-boots.

Has there been a seam route deep or otherwise?

Can any of our All-22 aficionados confirm that we've even run one?

That was always more  a specialty of Njoku if I am not mistaken.   Maybe when he gets back in the fold we may see some of those.