The headline here is no reference to Colt McCoy. Sure McCoy struggled in the opener last night, but he’s a rookie. That’s what is supposed to happen for rookie QB’s when they take an NFL field for the first time. No worries for Colt, he’ll learn from it and get better.
What it is a reference to is the play of Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace. I couldn’t help but watch their first couple drives and just see two guys who were playing a totally different position than the guys who lined up under center around here over the last few seasons.
I mean the whole part about when Jake Delhomme takes a minute to read the defense, identify the blitz, audible, make the correct decision, and execute a play seemed revolutionary to me last night watching through the eyes of a Browns fan.
He only played one series, but I imagine that series couldn’t have been scripted any better for Jake. Battling back from some well chronicled interception issues over the last couple seasons, to start 6 of 7 for 66 yards en-route to a touchdown has to be a huge momentum builder for him as camp continues.
The same can be said about Seneca as far as momentum goes. Wallace connected on 4 of 8 for 72 yards and two touchdown passes along with showing flashes of his mobility behind center. 
He found Robiskie for a 13-yard score on a play that looked like nothing was open, and followed that up later by finding Ben Watson on a TD from 20 yards out.
To be sure, Delhomme is the starter and there’s no controversy, but both guys appeared to be NFL-caliber quarterbacks last night. We haven’t had that in a while. I know it’s only a preseason game, and I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, but after watching last night it does look like “quarterback” is actually a position of strength for this team right now.
More than that though, it also looks like these quarterbacks are capable of making the receivers around them better than maybe we thought they could be this season. I mean, raise your hand if you had Brian Robiskie catching a touchdown pass in the first quarter last night?
As far as the other QB’s go, I touched on McCoy earlier and his final numbers were 5 of 10 for 25 yards and 2 picks.
Brett Ratliff then came in to close things out and went 7 of 15 for 51 yards. He didn’t throw for any TD’s or Int’s but he did get the Browns in position to kick the game tying, and winning field goals. That is of course if you consider setting your team up for a 58-yard FG “getting your team in position to kick the game tying FG.” Whatever the case, Dawson nailed them both and the Browns win. (5 -game winning streak?)
As far as how the Browns QB’s compared to the Packers side? Well Rodgers looked like the QB I want to draft first for my fantasy team this season as he went 12 of 13 for 159 and a TD. He was in mid-season form to be sure, and obviously he outplayed Delhomme and Wallace individually for all intents and purposes.
But he also played longer than either of those two guys. Grouped together, in close to the same amount of snaps, the Delhomme/Wallace combo went 10 of 15 for 138 yards and 2 TD’s as compared to Rodgers aformentioned numbers.
I’ll take it for game one of the preseason.
