May 23, 2013

Glass Half Full View of Browns Offense

September 14, 2010 by 23 Comments

I know we are all still stinging from the loss the Browns handed themselves in week one.  That’s why I decided to abandon the doom and gloom for a moment by bringing back the doom and gloom of a year ago to make us all feel better.  Nothing like the theory of relativity to make you think your dungeon is a bit brighter than the dungeon you used to inhabit.  The Browns squandered opportunities on Sunday and shot themselves in the foot with turnovers and a lack of offensive execution.  Still, they scored two offensive touchdowns which, believe it or not, is worth celebrating to some extent.

Last year in the first game against Minnesota the Browns carried a 13-10 lead into halftime against Minnesota.  The Browns got two Phil Dawson field goals and a Josh Cribbs return TD to make up the scoring.  If you remember correctly, that game was 34-13 and the Browns scored a gimme touchdown with 0:28 seconds to go in the game to lose by two touchdowns.  So, if you don’t count that one, the Browns only really had a special teams touchdown in the first week.***

Over the next two weeks against Denver and Baltimore the Browns scored 9 points in total thanks to Phil Dawson.  Peyton Hillis did score a touchdown in the Denver game… for the Broncos on a two yard run.

The Browns finally scored two offensive touchdowns in a single game in the 4th week overtime loss to the Bengals.  Derek Anderson threw a 1-yard passing touchdown to Steve Heiden and ran a ball in from one yard out.  To even get close, The browns relied on a Josh Cribbs return to the Cincy 38 yard line for the short field.  The TD that Derek Anderson ran in from the one was a legit drive.  The Browns drove the field from their own 23 yard line for 10 plays and the eventual score.

And that was in the fourth week of the season a year ago after Brady Quinn was yanked in favor of Derek Anderson.  The Browns offense is obviously still a work in progress, but it could be argued that at least a little bit of progress has already been made.  The Browns had two scoring drives over 60 yards against the Buccaneers.  They should have had another one if Peyton Hillis hadn’t fumbled after 68 yards.

Gone are Braylon Edwards, Jamal Lewis, Brady Quinn, and Derek Anderson.  Gone is the need to experiment endlessly to figure out how to get anything going.  The Browns have, in one week, shown they can get it going on occasion.  Granted it was against one of the lesser teams in the NFL, but based on a season ago, it could be argued that the Browns are already ahead of schedule.  Now if they could just come up with a win before week 5 like they had a year ago in an ugly-fest against Buffalo…

*** I don’t mean to undervalue special teams scores, but they are a bit of a double-edged sword sometimes.  They keep you in games and sometimes help you win them, but sometimes they feel like a wash.  Unless it is at the beginning of the game or the beginning of a half, your defense presumably just gave up a score.  Now, after converting on a special teams play by Josh Cribbs, the Browns defense has to trot back out with very little rest or chance to regroup.

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  • http://www.theclevelandview.wordpress.com theclevelandview

    As for offense the Browns were 13th in the league in yardage this week with 340. They were also 11th in yards per play on offense at 5.6. Honestly considering how bad the 2nd half was this just shows how decent this teams offense can be if they stay consistent. The running game made its 104 yards look unsuccessful for some reason. In the past this team has been limited to like 40 rushing a game before so I’ll take that 100 any day especially when the team only ran 23 times for 4.5 a carry which was 11th in the league.

    On the defensive side of the ball I think it should be said that they performed quite well also. The Browns defense literally gave up 3 points outside the one TD pass behind Haden. On that play Elam was sent on a blitz and failed to get anywhere near the QB leaving Haden on an island who had good coverage but just never saw the ball coming to make a play. Also, the Delhomme to Barber to the 3 can’t really count as the D giving up a TD. So minus those two things the D gave up 3 points… thats damn good! It’s hard to play that well for 4 quarters when your offense is struggling so bad and no home crowd to pump you up.

    In yards allowed the Browns were 12th in the league for week 1 at 288 with 4.7 yards per play. Yes I realize its the Bucs, but still thats important. The defense also was the victim to a few deflected passes off good DB plays that ended up being completed.

    Overall this team played well enough to win on both sides of the ball, but they shot themselves in the collective foot. Jake’s gift wrapped TD and the inability of the team to rally for a measly field goal in the 2nd half spoke more to their mental state than their offensive ability. The heat(90f) and humidity(85%) obviously took a toll on the entire team as the game wore on and the Bucs were simply more conditioned for it.

    Please Browns fans don’t signal the alarm quite yet… sure it sucks to lose a game we could have and should have won, but this team will most likely win a game we shouldn’t win at some point anyways to return the favor… keep hope! WOOF WOOF!

  • jimkanicki

    if you want happiness, do remember that cincy lost their opener on that brutal TD with the broncos last year and then won the division. that’s working for me.

    for this post, i will stay half full with you craig. the biggest difference and the biggest strength i saw in the pre-season with these browns was the command delhomme had in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage. i felt (and feel) good sending him to the line with three options and letting him pick it at the line. so… we seemed to get away from that sunday… (being nice here)… but if we let the new #17 be like the old #17 we can go places.

    i don’t know about the rest of you old-timers, but i had this romanticized image of brian sipe in my mind. and then i came across this youtube clip. (below.) wow. yes, we won. but sipe threw a dropped interception, a duck to nowhere, lucked out on a crazy logan catch, and drew a roughing penalty (gastineau, haha!).

    and so it is with jake. sipe never lost his confidence. jake reminds me of sipe a lot. we need him with the same swag.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lzb2UqaDD1s&p=71B2F3FA76A9C07C&index=5

  • stin4u

    I was just thinking this morning that the Bucs actually did beat the Saints last year….not that that is any consolation but def shows they are capable of playing in spurts at high levels.

    In other news….watching the Chefz walk all over the Bolts (for the most part) last night is scaring me a bit for this weekend. Anyone else?

  • ben

    turn overs, turn overs, turn overs.
    That was the story of the game.

    Like I said after the game, before I bail on this season, I’m going to give them a chance to correct the INTs and Fumbles.

    Yes, Delhorrible (haha see what I did there!) is INT prone of late, but he wasn’t always. Hopefully, we’ll see more of pre-season jake than last season’s this year.

  • Chris

    Thank you, Craig, for this. You said it far better than I ever could: After just one game, it’s become very clear the the Brownies have made some serious strides. Are we as good as we’d all like? No, I don’t think so. We’d all like a playoff berth. But that doesn’t change the fact that we are progressing as a team.

  • stin4u

    I know we made strides, the overwhelming concern for me is this: This team has certain strengths, and glaring weaknesses. The offensive execution in the second half was indeed poor, BUT, the play calling was not geared toward our offensive strengths.

    This team is learning to crawl all over again on offense. Just because Hillis put it on the ground (which I agree was aggravating) you can’t abandon your team strengths and start chucking the ball around like your the Saints. We have to establish an offensive identity and roll with it. With our offensive line and a serviceable defense I think this team should be striving for 10-7 wins instead of trying to be tricky and have Jake start chucking the rock all over. IMHO.

  • Daredent

    15 other teams lost in week 1 as well, including the Colts, Cowboys, Jets, Chargers and Cinci and San Fran.

    Relax, its week 1. There is plenty of time to jump off the 480 bridge in the coming weeks and months.

  • REEPJP

    Just think…..it was only a few seasons ago that we got thrashed by the Steelers in the first game and the team traded our starting quarterback to be 3rd string in Seattle before week two (WEEK 2!) only for the team to finish 10-6 when no one saw it coming. I like to keep my glass half full at the beginning of the season, so later in the year I can chug it down and drown my sorrows…

  • TurkeyJ

    i guess the browns will have to settle for 15-1 this year

  • bobby

    Can I make a bold prediction on the season? (BTW- not very bold)

    If Delholmme, or any QB/combo of, throws more then 30 times, the browns will lose the game.

    I really think this will turn out true for the season. Its not a knock on any of the QBs, but as many people said preseason, the browns need to control the ball, and control the clock. Running effectively does that. They do not have the talent of many teams, so limiting the chances that other teams get will only increase their chances to win, or pull off “upsets.”

  • ben

    @10: Honestly, I think the same can be said for a number of teams in the NFL. If your QB does not have the name Manning, Rodgers, Brees, Schaub, or Brady on the back of his jersey, STOP GOING AWAY FROM THE RUN GAME!!!!*

    *I likely missed a few QBs.

  • mgbode

    to all who thought we were just throwing the ball and not running:

    play dispertion before the last 2 minutes of desperation play:

    27 pass
    23 run

    that was followed by 10 straight passes as we were trying to get into position without killing clock.

  • Kevin

    I’ll wait until we play the divison games because if the Browns can’t start beating the ravens, bengals, and that other team consistently (at least at home) none of this really matters anyway.

  • B-bo

    I just don’t buy the “Well, we knew this wasn’t going to be a playoff season, so we should be content with any improvement we might see” nonsense, not against such a poor opponent. “Improving” from the train wreck that was last year should be a given, and not at all diffcult to do. So just because we did some things better does not mean I’m going to sit back with a Coke and a smile and pretend that losing to what I firmly believe to be the second-worst team in the NFL (save for Buffalo)–a team that is less talented than us overall–is acceptable in any way. “Progress” is important, but as Herm Edwards reminded us, “YOU PLAY. TO WIN. THE GAME.” Failing to overcome the joke of a team that is Tampa Bay brings with it no silver lining in my mind. It’s one thing to play a top-shelf team close to the bitter end; for example, if the Browns manage to hang with the Saints 17-14 on the road this season, I’ll find it easier to see positives. But when winning is the ultimate goal, and you fail to beat lesser teams, there’s just nothing to be proud of there.

    And we should cross off KC as one of those “given” games this year: this Sunday should be a battle throughout.

  • Hamfist

    The Browns looked ok, barring the turnovers, and the paralysis of analysis in the second half O-scheme.

    Not good, but OK.

  • ben

    @12: That’s encouraging.

  • http://www.redright88.com Titus Pullo

    Definitely taking the glass is half full view. It’s only Week 1, things are probably going to go bad at some point this year, we have plenty of time for despair later in the year.

    Going into the season the Browns had a chance at beating 5 teams: Tampa, Carolina, Buffalo, Jacksonville & KC. They weren’t going to beat all 5, so this is just one loss.

  • http://serandez.blogspot.com Ezzie

    While I don’t think the offense as a whole was as horrendous as people are sounding, certainly running only 9 times with Harrison against the 31st-ranked rush defense seems silly.

    That said – take away the two picks, and the Browns run away with this game. The defense played well (even that first TD was very good coverage by Brown, just an unlucky tip), and the offense did average a nice amount of yards per play. That’s a huge step up from the 3-yard averages of last year.

  • http://www.waitingfornextyear.com Craig Lyndall

    @B-bo… Easy there, buddy… I agree with you whole-heartedly. Take this in context of the last few days where I called the Browns “chickens” for running Jerome Harrison three straight times out of the jumbo package when they were backed up. I have provided criticism, and now I want to provide some perspective so I can hopefully gain the sense that they are building something.

    There is no singular worldview of this team that is acceptable until they start winning games consistently year-in and year-out. We all agree with that.

  • Scotty

    This might be a more appropriate picture to use for a story about the Browns offense…

    http://cdn1.ioffer.com/img/item/126/881/445/g_P7Km.jpg

  • B-bo

    I can understand that, Craig, and I appreciate it from that perspective. I thought your criticisms following the game were spot-on. I suppose my reaction here is more a product of hearing many people, including several at the game that day, seem perfectly content with losing to anyone so long as they are able to perceive some sort of bright side to it. I had one guy tell me “teams don’t gradually improve, they just take quantum leaps out of the blue”, and therefore my disappointment with this particular loss was “kind of ridiculous”. I assume he also believes that wasting $5 on a lottery ticket each week is a sound investment because, after all, some people DO win. Nevermind all those who play their entire lives with no big winner to show for it–those people don’t get tv interviews or touching profiles with Oprah. More often than not, regardless of sport, it is about building gradually, and part of that is becoming the kind of team who makes a habit of beating the opponents they are supposed to: we failed to do that on Sunday. Again, I can play the “look on the sunny side” game if it’s an opponent who’s clearly better and more established, but not when we give one away to such poor competition as we did. Instead of giving the team and the fans the feeling that yes, we can handle our business when we should and, yes, there is hope, we are left with seemingly endless questions and increasing despair. I can be patient and content to build, but that building needs to show some results in a situation such as the one we had on Sunday.

  • Jackson

    I find it hard to see positives with losing to Tampa Bay, who may be the worst team in the league (at least after us apparently). The offense in the second half was no better than anything we saw during last years Quinn/Anderson suck-a-thon. I believe they had 4 straight three and outs at one point, pathetic. The defense was okay, but Tampa’s QB was playing w/ a broken thumb and is not great to begin with. They did just enough to lose which they always seem to do.

    Watching KC last night made me realize how far we are. KC may not be great, but they have exciting, young playmakers. The Lions have some nice young playmakers as well. Besides our secondary and o-line, we have nothing but average and in most cases older players. This team is still light years away from being competitive…

  • sealedhuman

    While I was certainly discouraged after the loss to Tampa Bay, I’m not ready to flip out or say that this team is destined to be horrible for the entire year. It is one bad game. That’s it. Does anyone think that the Redskins and Chiefs will make deep playoff runs just because they managed to beat the purported Super Bowl contending Cowboys and Chargers, respectively? I certainly don’t. The fact that the Bucs beat the Saints last year further illustrates the point. You can’t take a sample of one and make some dramatic conclusion about it.

    Once we have a bigger sample of games, we will have a better idea of just how much we have or have not improved. Until then, all we have is the fact that we played well enough to give ourselves the opportunity to lose the game. And I’m only partially joking because I remember feeling totally hopeless at various points during last season.