The good on defense
- Trey looked like Trey.
- Demetrius Knight was flying around in the first half and, I believe, set a team record for tackles in a debut (10)
- DJ Turner and Dax Hill seemed to have strong games as far as I could tell
- The run defense was a boulder all game. Cleveland did nothing on the ground. Logan Wilson looked like his old self.
- Timely takeaways -- might have been luck, but the defenses in the deep playoff runs did this regularly.
The bad on defense
- Cam Taylor-Britt lost his matchups with Cedric Tillman. That's not ideal and reminds too much of 2024.
- The pass rush outside Trey and BJ Hill was pretty dead.
- They allowed the Browns to nickle and dime them for long, sustained drives that kept Burrow off the field.
- Left two players wide open that dropped passes you'd expect good teams to catch.
The good on offense
- Well, the first drive was nice.
The bad on offense
- *gestures broadly to all of the game footage*
- 7 total yards in the second half -- putrid and unacceptable. I am still going to be firing Zac Taylor on this message board this week. Gameplan sucked. Adjustments sucked.
It was basically the 2024 Patriots game if Tanner Hudson hadn't fumbled it away on the goal line. I don't think it tells us much about either side of the ball moving forward. We'll see.