Just a random observation...I love the way Isaiah Crowell runs with mad authority. He gets those feet going fast and he keeps his pad level low. Good running back IMO, but if he ever learns the subtle nuances, like patience, he could be great....Strange to say that about a RB, but sometimes you need to check-up just a tic, to let the block in front develope...I have high hopes for the Crow this year....Sometimes he just outruns the blocking scheme.
Not sure TD....mayb it's a habit...btw winng 4-6 games w McCown proves nothing 4 the future...I wuld start Kessler right after the bye and see what he can do...I don't think he's the answer but may as well find out
It wouldn't matter who is under center. The Center himself sucks,lol. Along with the RT. The difference in RG3 and McCown will be maybe 2 wins. I figured they would win 2 games anyway. Now maybe 3/4. They dont want to win more than 4 games. They are losing out, fellas. The cupboard is really bare here. RG3, McCown and Kessler are not the answer "long term" at QB. They may be 1 more year away from drafting that long term QB. They need to keep building around the QB position. Next on offense is the line. What to do with Thomas, replacing Erving and finding a RT. Erving can be a backup at center and guard but not a starter.
Please sweet baby Jesus. Please give this money ball front office the wisdom to draft BIG 10 lineman. Maybe Eiflin, center from OSU, please! Oh chit thats right! The Browns don't draft Buckeyes,lol I mean there was only 4 of them in the super bowl.
The RGIII experiment is over. Josh McCown to the rescue. Yeah us! No really, RGIII still isn't a QB IMO. Michael Vick II. Who needs it? Certainly not our Browns. No we don't have "the QB" on the roster, but we do have the power in the draft to get the top guy. I just hope our wise guys have the balls to make the call and take the guy, not shop for more draft picks. You can poke fun at McCown all you want, but when he was running things we looked like we knew what we were doing. Yeah he's going to miss some guys, and underthrow some deep balls, but we'll be in it more often than not, and we aren't going to miss the Super Bowl because of the QB. RGIII felt like Johnny Football all over again. Headlines and hope, but no real substance. Sorry RG, but playing QB isn't about arm strength or running capabilities. Those are assets, but shallow ones if you don't learn to play the game in your head first. So, Go Josh. I am such a strong proponent of his that I want him to stay here and be the best QB mentor the league could have. Not the best QB on the field but the "best" mentor QB. We are going to be QB shopping next year, and I for one would like him to have McCown in his corner.
Stopper, my apologies for being an ass about your writing style. It is what it is. We should all be used to it by now. I get cranky when things blow up in the Cleveland Browns plans. lol! Geezus, it sure didn't take long this year. smh....Plus I'm just plain bitter about how good Carson Wentz looked against us. And I can't get it out of my head now what the Eagles GM said after the draft. He said there are no QB's coming out over the next few drafts that will grade out anywhere near as high as Carson Wentz....Not that he is the ultimate in judging young QB's, but he is lookin pretty smart right now. At least he is in my book...Sadly, I tend to believe him about those future prospects...I'm not sold on Watson. I know that... The RG3 injury is disappointing because I really believed Hue Jackson could get him to play smarter. He's SO physically gifted. It just sucks that he can't avoid those crushing hits. There is an art to avoiding those. It's a skill that RG does not possess unfortunately, and I don't know if it can be learned. It's kind of an instinctive thing that the good QB's have... At the end of the day, McCown probably does give us the best chance to win games. I know there are those that want us to lose, but I can't get behind that. Let the chips fall where they may, but you gotta put your best foot forward in an effort to win games...
Monday leftovers (Eagles edition) Well, now we know why the Browns hung on to Josh McCown as the backup quarterback to Robert Griffin III. If you had one game in the pool to guess how long The Third would last this season, congratulations, you are the winner. So its understandable why the Browns resisted any and all efforts to pry McCown loose this offseason. Maybe they had the same feeling about The Thirds durability and saw this coming. Just not so soon. The Browns starting quarterback collided with actually more like plowed into Philadelphia cornerback Jalen Mills along the sideline after scrambling for 11 yards with about 3 minutes left in Sundays 29-10 season-opening loss and broke his left shoulder. Mills was being blocked by tight end Gary Barnidge along the sideline when The Third, declining to at least duck to absorb some of the contact, came roaring through at full steam. Mills took the major brunt of the collision. Thinking it was merely a sprain, The Third reentered the game on the Browns final possession and handed off to running back Isaiah Crowell on three straight plays. An MRI Monday delivered the grim news. The seemingly fragile quarterback was placed on injured reserve with a designation to return. McCown moves up as the starter and rookie Cody Kessler is the backup. If McCown goes down next Sunday against Baltimore in the home opener, Kessler is your quarterback. It thus behooves McCown, who also was injured in last seasons opening game and sat out one game before returning, to remain healthy and do nothing foolish for at least the next eight weeks, or however long The Third remains on IR. With McCown taking over, look for coach Hue Jackson to alter the offense to suit his talents, which are quite different than The Thirds. There will be fewer rollouts for the less mobile veteran. He is also a much better pocket passer and it wouldnt surprise to see Jackson change his offense at least against the Ravens Sunday and incorporate the running game more than he did against the Eagles. McCown had success against the Ravens last season, splitting the two games. He was 36-of-51 for a club-record 457 yards and two touchdowns in a 33-30 overtime victory in Baltimore. In so doing, he became the only quarterback in Browns history to record three straight 300-yard games. In the second Ravens game, he was 20-of-34 for 232 yards and two more touchdowns before leaving with a shoulder injury late in the 34-27 loss. The only constant now that he is in charge of the huddle is that McCown will throw to the same corps of receivers, most of whom had trouble getting open against the Eagles. It wasnt until midway through the second quarter that The Third invited a wide receiver into the game plan, throwing exclusively to running backs and Barnidge. Andrew Hawkins and Barnidge are the only receivers who have caught passes from him. We also might see a change in the blocking scheme up front with the less mobile McCown either under or in shotgun formation. That could involve two tight end sets or making fullback Malcolm Johnson a full-time partner with Crowell in the backfield to afford maximum pass protection. At this point, there is far less margin for error with Kessler as the only backup. * * * While hes at it, Jackson might as well shelve those gimmick plays. What in the world was that ridiculous maneuver on fourth down in Cleveland territory early in the second quarter Sunday against the Eagles? Not sure exactly what that was. It looked like a fake punt with punter Britton Colquitt and long snapper Charley Hughlett on the line of scrimmage. Duke Johnson Jr. was alone in the backfield about seven yards behind center Cameron Erving. It fooled no one and gave the Eagles a gift field goal. Gimmicky moves are made by desperate coaches looking for anything to shake things up. What the Browns need to do is concentrate on playing fundamentally solid football first before trying to get cute. There is not enough talent on this team to get exotic. Rip those plays out of the playbook and incinerate them. That includes the equally ridiculous play where Erving lines up over the ball flanked by guards Joel Bitonio and John Greco and everyone else splits about 12-15 yards wide on either side of the trio. Looked extremely unorthodox and equally stupid. I expected them to shift back into a more conventional set. But no. That play didnt work, either. Rip and incinerate. * * * One of the topics I scheduled Sunday right after the game to be discussed here was how long The Third would last this season. Since that has been answered, time to move on to another area of great concern. That being why was Eagles rookie quarterback Carson Wentz so easily able to torch the Browns secondary? And why were Philadelphia receivers able to get so wide open with apparent ease? With veterans like Joe Haden, Tramon Williams and Jamar Taylor back there, that shouldnt be happening. And when Wentz beats Haden and Williams with his first two touchdown throws as a professional, it kind of makes one wonder just what is going on. If as snot-nosed kid from a small college team can come in and do that, what in the world will the likes of Joe Flacco, Ben Roethlisberger and Andy Dalton going to do in the Browns six AFC North games this season? The mind boggles. * * * Another exhibition trend raise its ugly head in the Eagles loss. Its the first down-number of plays-time of possession trifecta. In the first two exhibitions, the Browns averaged 11 first downs, 42 plays and 20:07 in time of possession. That improved somewhat in games three and four to 14 first downs, 60 plays and 28:30 time of possession. Against the Eagles, it was 14 first downs, 50 plays and 20:40 in TOP. Those are the kinds of figures a team puts up when the offense does not cannot? generate anything resembling an attack and the defense cant get off the field. Put those together and youre asking for trouble. Bears watching in the next 15 games. * * * Time for the good, the bad, the ugly and this week the really, really ugly from the shellacking in Philadelphia: The good The play of rookies Carl Nassib and Emmanuel Ogbah, new inside linebacker Demario Davis and the punting of Colquitt. Nassib, the big defensive end, seemed to be near the ball fairly often and contributed a sack. Ogbah, who should be a down lineman, was very aggressive and made a few nice plays. Davis, due mainly to the failure of the defensive line to hold the line of scrimmage, did a good job of cleaning up the mistakes in front of him. Colquitt averaged 50.2 yards on five punts. The bad Barnidge and nose tackle Danny Shelton get the honors here. Barnidge was targeted just twice by the Third and dropped both passes that were extremely catchable. As they say, they hit him in a bad place . . . the hands. Shelton was supposed to be a force in the middle. The only thing hes good at is getting stood up at the line of scrimmage. The ugly Eagles defensive Connor Barwin embarrassed Browns offensive tackle Joe Thomas on a sack of The Third midway through the fourth quarter. It was a sack the Cleveland All-Pro would not have allowed in previous seasons. And the really, really ugly award goes to Erving for his shotgun snap that sailed so far over The Thirds futile leap in the third quarter and sailed into the end zone, Yao Ming could not have snagged it. It gave the Eagles a 15-10 lead at the time and, some believe, was the turning point of the game. Erving was credited with a fumble. * * * And finally: One more good from the game. The Browns committed only four penalties for 15 yards. There is something to be said for that. Im not sure what, though. . . . Jackson has to figure out a way to involve Duke Johnson Jr. more into the offense. The playmaker touched the ball only six times against Philadelphia and gained 50 yards. That number needs to be much closer to 15-20 touches. . . . Statistical oddity: safeties Jordan Poyer, Ibraheim Campbell and Derrick Kindred each had six solo tackles in the game. . . . Cleveland wide receivers made only five catches on 15 targets. Posted by Rich Passan
Griffin is done starting here in Cleveland. He was a Band-Aid until we drafted the future starting QB. I don't see that guy in this draft. They still have a lot of holes to fill before drafting a QB.
Yes yes the ND one could be it. I think they like Watson but who knows. Expect one of them or even the Miami one to be taken at #1 or 2.
It's hard to imagine, but things actually could be worse....Did anybody catch that late Rams game Monday night? I think it's safe to say that most people were fairly optimistic to extremely positive about the LA Rams this season. Watching Case Keenum try to run that offense made me want to light my eyes on fire. Fortunately, I didn't have to because they spontaneously combusted inside my skull anyway.....My gawd that was horrific. Good learning lesson for the #1 pick of the draft I guess...smh.
Really? Who cares? They blew it...Instead of Carson Wentz, we got "the Third" who's already on IR, and we drafted 11 receivers who clearly don't know what the hell they are doing.. They all made the team, but they become invisible on Sunday I guess...... Except for Corey Coleman. He looks like a talented guy that might get a handle on this offense sometime in 2018. Unfortunately by then we will be two complete regime changes away, and we will be trying to trade him for a 7th round pick, claiming that "he just doesn't fit our system". ...What a shame. Usually we at least make it to October before becoming the leagues best punchline, but we got the hammer down this year....
FUN FACT: The Cleveland Browns have won their last two home openers... Who knew? Josh McCown did light it up in Baltimore last year for over 450 yards, and was doing it again in the rematch until the inevitable 2nd half shoulder injury....So perhaps there is a glimmer of hope...These aren't unbeatable Ravens. Josh McCown is much more of a pocket passer than RG and that could benefit the Browns this week....Hue Jackson's offense might look better in the more traditional NFL style...I'm actually a big fan of the read option, but not if the QB gets himself crushed every week, and that is the problem with running it in this league. Unless ya got Cam Newton, it's a scary thing....
For some crazy reason, I still hold out hope for this team to be competitive, and do some winnning. Very young team, new coach (again), new system (again), but at least we still have the QB carousel in place. Second seat on the carousel is a familiar one: McCown and at least in the short run, we will have a QB who knows what to do, and will help the team master the system. Gotta go with the simple logic that the youngens will learn and improve as we go, which I for one believe will happen more readily with Josh. Erving is extremely suspect at center, and one can only hope he "gets it" or we will be shopping again next year. The biggest question mark for me if Coach. Not that I don't think Hue is a good to very good choice, but is he ready to take the beatings we will endure and to continue to believe and to get the team to believe they are working towards something worth their maximum efforts. It is the biggest challenge I see for this team: can they endure and keep the faith as the losses grow. Does Hue believe the Browns organization is in it to win this year at all, or does he let the thought creep in that mgt really targeted this season as a means of setting up the "money ball" draft for next year? Obviously this wasn't a SB year, but did they want the sweeping changes to not only change the culture, but to increase the chances of finishing first in the draft lottery? It's a tough job, coaching a team destined to lose. It gets tougher, if the team thinks the losing is part of the plan. Can Hue keep the faith, and can he get the team to stay focussed? I hope so, cause losing will take it's toll, and will make and "culture" changes disappear. On to week 2, with QB2. Go Browns
I respectfully disagree... I hope and pray that this team can get their stuff together and pull out a 8 win season...But, honestly, I don't expect the Eagles to look as good the rest of the year as they did against our Browns. IF we do not right the ship of youngsters we are putting on the field, then it is a relevant conversation we will end up having...So, in THAT regard, I personally care a GREAT deal. Now, as far as Wentz is concerned, I was (along with TD) a big supporter of his during draft talk. That ship has sailed. We need to move on from the past. As for the future, the only prospect that I currently know I am enamored with, is DeShone Kizer. Unlike Wentz, you can all see him perform on Saturdays on National TV, so do yourselves a favor and check him out, it's worth your time. They play Sparty this weekend, should be a nice test for the Senior. Whether or not we are in the market for a QB, he has more attributes than any of the past two draft's prospects, except possibly Winston. IF they do not win enough games to get outside the #1 overall pick, I will be pining for Kizer to be a Brown, plain and simple, barring injury between now and then.
I'm also hoping that they win a lot of games in 2016. I don't for a single second believe they were setting themselves up to tank in order to have a high draft pick. Otherwise, you keep McCown as your starter with cheap backups to go with your 3rd round rookie. I don't believe they signed RGIII to a 2 year $15M contract with $6.75M of it guaranteed in the hopes that he loses. The draft lottery is already set up to their advantage by having multiple extra picks in the early rounds, getting #1 overall isn't necessarily in their best interest, IF they found their future QB, which I believe they had hoped in RGIII. NOW...well, that is another conversation. I was on the RGIII bandwagon from day one and have quickly abandoned ship when he refused to slide/get out of bounds on that single play. He will obviously never learn, thus he is a liability. Time to move on, which means the draft...
I understand the Wentz ship has sailed, I just can't get into the Kizer/Watson talk in regards to next years draft just ONE DAY after Wentz kicked our ass in the season opener....smh. Wentz is the guy we should have taken. It's that simple. It's not dwelling in the past. This talk can't be avoided because it's SO glaringly obvious... It took Carson Wentz ONE game into his pro career to show Cleveland what a colossal mistake they made. And he did it without the benefit of playing in the preseason. Dude went straight from North Dakota to whipping the Cleveland Browns...To not discuss it, is total denial.... As far as these future prospects go, I'll be watching every Saturday....But I do have a rule that I will not discuss the next draft before Halloween....lol!
