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September 30, 2010Tribe Sweeps Double Dip To Close Out Home Season
September 30, 2010Two weeks ago, Browns receiver Joshua Cribbs gave a politically correct answer when asked about not getting the ball as often as he would like. The next game, he received several touches, leading all wide receivers with five catches for 58 yards.
Cribbs’ five receptions were, in fact, the only receptions made by a wide receiver in the 24-17 loss to Baltimore. Naturally, the media turned to second-year receiver Mohamed Massaquoi to see how he felt about not recording a single statistic in the Week 3 game.
“It’s still my job to go out there every play,” said Massaquoi. “Every play, youve got to go out there and be focused, locked in, knowing that it’s going to come with time.”
On the season, Massaquoi has three receptions for 55 yards and a touchdown. However, the bulk of these numbers were attained in the opening week loss to Tampa Bay with Jake Delhomme under center. Since Delhomme’s injury, Seneca Wallace has managed to find Massaquoi once, gaining nine yards on the play.
The Browns receivers have come under fire over recent weeks, considered to be among the least skilled group in the National Football League. Former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar has been among the most vocal, stating that the receivers (Massaquoi as well as teammate Brian Robiskie) are not providing enough space for the quarterbacks to make plays. Specifically, Kosar has pointed out the fly routes that have resulted in the ball either being thrown out of bounds or the receiver in question not being able to keep both feet in, pegging this on poor route running.
But in the same, much of the Browns passing attack has been focused on the tight ends as well as the running backs out of the backfield. Should Massaquoi be campaigning to get more targets? After all, it is pretty rare to have a guy who is considered to be your top receiver only getting one look through the course of an entire game.
“No, you want to stay within the game plan,” said Massaquoi. “You don’t want to force anything out there. Last game, we didn’t have any turnovers and we moved the ball effectively. You don’t want to take away from the game plan and become a distraction.”
Despite the lack of counting statistics to show for it, Browns head coach Eric Mangini feels that Massaquoi has improved over last season where the then rookie receiver caught 34 balls for 624 yards and three touchdowns. Mangini feels that Massaquoi has improved his route running (despite Kosar’s thoughts), and feels that on plays where he has been able to get open, he simply was not the primary read.
As a second-round draft pick, it is expected that Massaquoi becomes an integral part of the Browns offense. Thankfully, for Massaquoi, this week brings an opponent which provided him with his best game as a rookie – eight catches for 148 yards.
“You always want your guys to have a lot of catches,” said Mangini. “He had a pretty good game last year against Cincinnati – one of his biggest early games there. I think he’ll continue to improve.”
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(John Kuntz / The Plain Dealer)
22 Comments
Glad he’s not being a primadona right now. He definitely should get more looks, but only on routes that make sense, not 50 yd bombs on 3rd down.
If anyone should get more touches, I still say it should be Cribbs. Last week he looked like a legit WR and the more he touches the ball, the better we’ll be. Plus, if Cribbs starts catching 5-10 passes a game, MoMass will have to get some better looks by way of the D keying on Cribbs.
I think every WR we have are all solid No. 3 slot receivers for about 80% of the teams out there.
next week I hope they ask Carlton Mitchell.
Maybe they should ask Brian Robiskie, you know, the guy we drafted when we should have drafted Rey Maualuga.
Receivers look better this year but still not great. What I really miss is Derek Anderson’s mega-cyber cannon arm, and how it opened up the run.
SENECA WALLACE IS CAPTAIN CHECKDOWN!!! OMG GET HIM OFF THE TEAM! RBs AND TEs ALL DAY!
This is the one downside to trading Braylon who took a lot of attention away from the other receivers. Gotta get that #1 receiver again somehow.
And #4, really still pining for Rey Rey. I agree there may have been better picks than Robiskie but remember baltimore, Pittsburgh and New England also passed on that guy. He over pursues and also look like he already has alcohol issues that rarely go away. I’m still glad we passed.
@6 – exactly – trade away your big threat #1 WR and now the D doesn’t have to compensate for that. While Braylon had his issues, he forced the D to be ready for his big play ability. I think Mangini is hoping Cribbs is that deep threat.
If we are going to go back and wish what we had drafted two years ago…. I wish we would’ve drafted Clay Mathews Jr. and then got Mack in the 2nd round.
“I wish we would’ve drafted Clay Mathews Jr. and then got Mack in the 2nd round.”
While I too would’ve rather had Clay, Mack wouldn’t have made it to the second round. Pittsburgh was all over him had he made it to them.
Agreed w/ 9 – Mack was 100% going to Pittsburgh if we didn’t draft him.
I’m more ticked about passing up LaSean McCoy than I am Malaluguaulugla
Sorry, there was no down side to trading Braylon. It’s not like we were winning with him here. Outside of his one big season, he didn’t produce at all. In theory its nice to think he was opening up everything for the other wideouts but that just didn’t happen. He was a clubhouse cancer and I am glad he is gone.
The problem is we didn’t replace what Braylon in theory could do – open up the field and stretch the defense. I really blame Holmgren and Heckert for that. It was a big mistake to stay put with the WR corp. We should have been more agressive in getting some WR help.
Lets face it the Browns do have that home run hitter at receiver.Maybe in the next draft they will get one. If you keep losing eventually you get better picks.
So Mark,
You disagree with my point in your first paragraph but then completely agree with it in your second. Got it.
@5KMD – No, read it again. Braylon NEVER did that for us. But we do need someone who CAN do that for us. Its pretty simple.
But Braylon did get that respect from the defense. He got their best corner and had safety help to his side of the field all the time. Nevermind for a second that he could catch, they still defended him as if he could. So MM had less attention on him from the defense.
So in that one specific way he did produce for the Browns.
I find it difficult to believe that MM was not able to get open at all against the Ravens. It almost seems like our offense is ignoring our receivers. I know they aren’t the most talented group in the league, but it is not like they consistently drop the ball when it is thrown to them. It is just never thrown to them.
If we had a true number one receiver, would we even use him?
@12: Braylon did affect coverages. Otherwise, MoMass wouldn’t have had his big day vs. The Bengals last year.
@7: Cribbs IS that dep threat, if he continues to be on time on his deep routes and make catches. He has the ability to burn people – he torched his coverage for a big TD vs. Kansas City on play action. If he continues to apply that Cribbs work ethic, you can expect big things. Now if only Seneca could put the ball in bounds he may have a chance.
@4: yeah, I’m upset Maualuga didn’t slam into a parked car in his own while drunk in MY city instead of Cinci – with girls not of drinking age in the vehicle. I’m torn up.
the only big miss from the 2nd round last year is Veikune. If we had drafted Sean Smith, a solid 6’3″ cover cornerback with safety-like tackling skils, our defensive backfield would be dangerous now. Scary. And you would NEVER see Brandon McDonald torched deep here.
finally, Carlton Mitchell should be put in as a deep threat. His speed is supposed to be electric – let him run deep, simple, straight-line routes.
Until a friend mentioned something halfway through the 3rd quarter, I literally forgot Massaquoi was on the team while watching the Ravens game last Sunday. That’s gotta change.
Guys, we can all wish that Braylon did that for us but its just not so. Look at the numbers. Outside of 2007 when everything was fantastic, Edwards and every other #2 reciever was piss poor. In 2006 Braylon had 61 rec, 884 yds, 6 tds. In 2008 he had 55 rec, 873 yds, 3 tds. Are those the numbers of a #1 reciever who put fear in the hearts of defensive coordinators? Antonio Bryant put up better numbers here. No one would confuse him with being an upper tier #1 either. Oh yeah, we went 4-12 both years.
The #2 reciever didn’t fare much better. In 2006, Winslow had 89 rec, 875 yds, 3 tds. Not bad for a TE but certainly not what MM put up in the Cincy game (clearly an anomaly). In 2008 Winslow had 43 rec, 428 yds, 3 tds. Yikes!
Look, I think a lot of us got all fired up about Braylon because of the 2007 season. But it was an anomaly. He never produced before or after that year. Now that he’s gone and our WR corp is anemic, we can’t go back and pretend Braylon got it done. He didn’t. And the idea that he opened up the field for others just is born out by the numbers. We, along with the Jets, got seduced by his million dollar physical gifts but his 10 cent head and lack of hands were killing us.
The bottom line is I dont think his departure hurt us one bit.
Mark,
Thanks for the back and forth on this. I disagree, but that’s cool.
@5KMD – Yeah, all in good fun. Go Browns!