While We’re Waiting – James Davis Hurt, Akron’s New Stadium, and things that make me sad.
September 13, 2009While We’re Waiting… Pryor’s Wasted Talent, Quinn’s Performance, and Flo’s First Pitch
September 14, 2009
Here it is boys and girls. The beginning of Cleveland’s 2009 season with Brady Quinn as the official starting quarterback comes against Brett Farve, Adrian Peterson and the rest of the visiting Minnesota Vikings. Stick around the site this afternoon as all of us will be joining in on the season opening fun in the comments.
By the looks of it, rookie running back James Davis remains questionable while the Browns enter the game on Vegas as four point underdogs and on ESPN Insider as seven points behind the Vikings. Would anyone take Cleveland on those lines today? Will we actually start a season 1-0 on not fall behind in the division already? The tension is building and football season is officially here!
Denny Edit 1:30 – some sights from the tailgate crowd, from Scott:
122 Comments
bobby……get off your Brady hating stuff, it’s getting old. We know you love DA. Brady is effectively a rookie, give him some games under his belt before you shoot the crap out of him. Is all you can comment on after all this time is the QB thing? I’ll be willing to listen after half the season…….just get off of it and give BQ his opportunity to play and get the kinks out. Every new QB goes through the ropes…..
Why don’t you comment on Mangini’s reputation for coming in with a game plan and NOT making any second half adjustments? Did Brady Quinn give up 225 yards rushing? In the meantime, you can fold your arms, chew gum, and stand in cement.
How come the THREE #2 draft picks don’t even get on the field?
Brady is not a rookie. When Carson Palmer first started in Cincy, he came in knowing the game and the offense. I gave brady his due. In preseason, against vanilla Defenses, he out played DA. I said that. But this game comes down to the offense, and its ineffectiveness. What ‘in-game’ adjustments would you do? The offense came out in the 3rd quarter and crapped the bed, and leading that O was none other then Quinn. He didnt play like he did at all in preseason. I also stated above how horrible the stupid shotgun play was on the 1/2 yard line. Give the ball to Lewis or sneak with Quinn there and get in the endzone. This offense as a whole was horrendous. Put any D in the NFL out there today and I bet the end result is the same. We get 3 sacks, a few good plays from the DBs, and they were meeting Peterson at the point of attack all day. The problem tho, they kept going right back out there every minute.
This Offense is supposed to be a ‘ball control’ offense. that in other words means a control-the-clock type O. Well, that did not happen today. It was horrendous, and it all goes back to BQ. Lewis had a good day running, Braylon didnt really drop any crucial passes. What else is there? Womack got roasted on a few plays, but this O has a lot more talent then what it showed. If you really want to, you can see how Davis didn’t live up to his preseason hype either… but he is actually a rookie. Don’t try to say this game was the Ds fault, cause any team is gonna end up breaking when they are out there for 3/4 or the game on D.
And honestly, it doesnt matter who was playing WR, because Quinn wasnt throwing to them. He kept throwing at stone-hand Royal.
and it was actually, 4 sacks, 6 QB hits/ pressures, and 9 tackles for a loss… thats the best D Ive seen in Cleveland for a while.
It was like a replay of last night’s OSU game–solid D (for the first half at leats), terrible offense. Thank the football gods for Joshua Cribbs.
*least
Well, there’s no telling how bad it might have been if Minigenius hadn’t made the Vikes prepare for two QBs.
Here is the biggest problem with Quinn (other than he sucks) — having him at QB effectively eliminates our two BEST offensive weapons – Bray and Cribbs. They run. They run fast. They are big: much bigger than 5’10 Ced Griffins that are checking them. They jump high. The only time Brady sees a jersey with the words ‘Edwards’ or ‘Cribbs’ on it is the walk to his car as depressed and disillusioned fans roam the streets of Cleveland. Brady Quinn means that our two best offensive threats do nothing but get pissed off running 15 yard wind sprints all day. This team won’t rally behind Brady. Do you remember how excited Bray was when DA completed that first rocket pass against the Lions in the preseason? I do. Why? Because he knows DA is his only hope of making a difference for this team (and for putting up numbers in a contract year). If Brady managed the game and moved the offense slowly but effectively, I’ll take that. But if he is going to throw laterals (and backwards passes) all day, and miss slant routes that DA would have missed, I’d rather have DA’s play-making ability.
29 TD passes in one season is no fluke. Last year DA had a running back that averaged 2.4 yds per carry and his No. 1 receiver just didn’t have an off year BUT LED THE LEAGUE IN DROPS!!! It wasn’t his fault.
Today – No dropped passes while the game mattered. Jam ran his rear off. He got help from the special teams. And the Defense gutted it out for 2.5-3 quarters until the failed drives and terrible throws finally killed them. It’s not just physical fatigue, but mental fatigue. Being demoralized.
The INT from Brady was the single worst throw I have ever seen a QB make. It wobbled. It wavered. It was thrown in the only place our receiver couldn’t make the play (needless to say, we hope for the direct opposite).
This team will never win this kid.
Prediction: DA at the helm by week 4 when we return home a dismal 0-3. If Carson Palmer can’t have any luck against the Broncos, what makes you think Brady will.
unreal – relax, it’s 1 game. the vikes are a good team that will make the playoffs. quinn has played 3 games – and you hate him because he had 1 bad interception that was obviously a mis-communication…probably would not have happened if given ALL of the first team reps that he needs. as well as the timing on the slants – those are timing plays that take time to improve on.
DA is not a good quarterback, there is a reason no one else in the nfl wanted him when the browns tried shopping him. he had 8 good games that padded his stats during his pro bowl year (which he got in because of injury, not on merit alone).
things will get better, the d played well and the running game looked good against a good front 7 from the vikes. be patient.
i live in denver and my brother and i are going to the game next weekend. we’ll bring home a win for everyone.
Anyone who thinks DA should play doesn’t understand anything about anything. Brady wasn’t good today, but DA is horrible.
I’ll let people more verbose than I pick up on this point. But it ends w/ “Y’all be crazy.”
@ ben: wish it were that simple. brady looked really overwhelmed
DA isnt horrible. in his last 4… maybe 5 starts last season he had 7 TDs vs. 2 INTs. In 07 he had a pro bowl year. I realize it was because of injury he got in. But with the exception of the Cincy game he had a really good year.
I also realize Quinn won the job this preseason. I dont want to here its reps or w/e that is why he looked bad, because he was hitting WRs in preseason. But Quinn also needs to be the accurate short passer everyone was proclaiming him to be. Like I said, i want to see him take adv. of 1-on-1 match-ups with WRs. you cant win passing 9 times to Royal. Hes not K2.
If Quinn plays overwhelmed and keeps checking down all the time in the next 1 or 2 games, then DA needs to get in there.
Am I the only one that saw Brady throw off his backfoot, being hit, while half jumping and complete a frozen rope to Royal? And you question his arm strength?.. I hate how we lose to a team that a lot of pundits pick to go to the super bowl and everybody is talking about a shattered season and a horrible team… The O looked flat, but I don’t think it was because of Brady’s noodle arm, or Braylon’s swiss cheese hands, or porckchop’s chunky behind, or Royal’s stone hands, or Jamals tap dancing… No we lost because of one man and one man only…. Brian Daboll… I think the shotgun was overused. 2 cribbs rushes on the goalline?; back to back. Shovel pass on 3rd and 8. Draw play on 3rd and 18…. I think horrid playcalling was more detrimental to the win than Brady Quinn sliding.
Im not trying to say Quinn has a noodle arm. Im trying to say he didnt try to throw to receivers unless there was no one in the vicinity. I am trying to say that he needs to take a chance on single coverage for a WR to make a big play.
lewis and cribbs did look good today though.
For the BQ bashers: how was the INT Brady’s fault? He read Braylon’s route which was to the outside, Quinnn starts to throw, while in his throwing motion, Braylon cuts his route inside but the ball is already out of Quinn’s hand. So please knock it off that it was the “single worst INT” you have ever seen. The fault on that play lies with Braylon (who if he had continued to the outside would have had a great shot an catching a ball).
As for the fumble, what he;s scrambling and is trying to make a play – actually he had the ability to scrambled to even get to that point. Had it been DA it would have been a sack. I’ld rather have the QB who can get out of trouble and bide some time – so it did not work out this time, so what?
I do agree with those about the play calling. Did Daboll go to the Jim Tressel school of play calling? 1 yard that is all you need. QB freaking sneak – a mescle bound Quinn (and a 6′ 7″ Pryor) should be able to get a stink yard. At least call a straight dive not a “Wildkitten” (or in the case of OSU two frickin counter plays).
Loved the D play calling from Ryan. They got gassed though. Offense couldn’t keep them off the field (familiar?). Offense still looks like crap. But that critisizm is mostly of the skill posiions. with the exception of Jamal. Line did a GREAT job. any one who says different is itcin for a fight. All in all, same old crummy Browns.
By the way the Bengals and Denver game went. We should be able to handle both of them.
@119,
Exactly. The Broncos are a mess this year and Cinci only barely beat them. We at least showed some good things against one of the best teams in the NFL.
That’s at least something to build from.
@120 actually Cincy lost on a miracle tipped pass intended for Brandon Marshall that deflected off a Cincy defender and into Brandon Stokley’s hands for a 70 yard TD. I think next week will be a much better barometer for what to expect this season.
AMC, I know this but prior to that they only put up 7 points. The Broncos defense just switched to a 3-4 this year. They have no one close to a Sean Rogers at the NT, poorly rated defensive ends and a weak secondary.
Again, Cinci put up 7 points, on a terrible defense. We scored 13 + 7 in garbage against the top rated run defense in the league, three years in a row.
Our next game is at Denver. So from what I saw in week 1, I am optimistic.