All Eyes on TJ Ward as the Browns Head to San Francisco
October 27, 2011Cleveland Browns Film Room: Week 6 Field Goal Protection
October 27, 2011In yesterday’s Browns post I got into the receivers a little bit, and wanted to expand on it a bit more. Early on this year we (along with many other writers and fans who witnessed training camp) predicted that Brian Robiskie wasn’t going to be playing for long. Watching Sheldon Brown brutalize him at the line of scrimmage and his passive effort in the face of that physicality, it became painfully obvious that Robo just doesn’t have “it” for the NFL game. Even still it took a few weeks for the Browns to arrive at that conclusion for themselves as they went through the process of getting game tape on these guys in this new system. This methodical approach continues and let’s you know why I said the Browns were trying to win this year, but only with the guys they have.
I am starting to side with those who think the Browns should have brought in a veteran receiver in order to have an experienced voice in meetings and also to aid in the development of Colt McCoy. At this point though, I think it is too late unless some really improbable perfect candidate shows up. I don’t know who it would be either, by the way. I just assume that there is a guy, however improbable, that the Browns would bring in if he became available. Anyway…
The methodical approach will hopefully continue this weekend in San Francisco. Mohamed Massaquoi scored a concussion last weekend with the help of a poorly timed knockout pass from Colt McCoy. Assuming that MoMass is questionable at best due to his inability to practice this week, I fully expect the Browns to get some tape on guys other than Brian Robiskie. Carlton Mitchell will be active this week and the giant speedster will hopefully see the field.
In addition to Mitchell, I would hope as the passing game continues to struggle that we would eventually also get a look at Jordan Norwood. As I said in the comments yesterday, I know Jordan Norwood is just a little guy, but he is probably also the fastest and quickest of the receivers. In training camp, he was getting open while people were touting him as a faster version of Chansi Stuckey. Of course, being who I am, I was dreaming about him becoming a Wes Welker for the Browns, which obviously hasn’t happened up to this point.
It just seems to me as this passing game continues to struggle that the Browns would want to continue through the process of seeing what everyone on the roster can (and can’t) do. Also, as McCoy struggles against gameplans that always (ALWAYS!) include blitzing early and often, it seems to me that someone like Jordan Norwood would be a good candidate to steal reps from Josh Cribbs even. If the Browns can’t get open and the defense is blitzing like crazy, wouldn’t you want your fastest, quickest cutting guy to be on the field so he could get open right away on slants and crosses?
Of course, crosses are what put the Browns in this position this week already. Just ask MoMass.
(Photo Thomas Ondrey/The Plain Dealer)
18 Comments
Agree we atleast need to see what we have in Mitchell & Norwood. They can’t do worse than what we’ve been putting out there.
But since that would make sense, I’m sure we’ll see more of Robo
Why not play the Norwoods/Mitchells, there’s no existing chemistry with receivers to screw up. Besides, you never know if one of those two turns out legit. Recalling a Browns receiver that kept barely making the roster in the early ’90s,rarely playing because Belichik didn’t initially love his speed and stuff. But once he played a little he blossomed, first here and then with the Redskins.
Keenan McCardell. Confess I’m partial to him because, with no fanfare, he was also quite a decent and generous person to the needy in Cleveland, even after he left to play elsewhere.
I would just have Moore lineup in the slot every time we go with a 3 WR set. he is one of the few playmakers on this team, and his size and speed create mismatches for defenses
“Mohamed Massaquoi scored a concussion last weekend with the help of a poorly timed knockout pass from Colt McCoy.”
UGH! Whether it was intended or not, I think you bring up a topic that we’re only beginning to scratch the surface of and that is the play of Colt McCoy. I know we have 10 games to go and 3 months of off-season before the draft to dissect this ad nauseum but Good God…. A franchise QB is expected to elevate the play of his receivers and make the average ones looks better. Yet Colt’s play, as you’ve stated above, has become a more of a detriment to his receivers than anything else. People always talk about it not being fair to evaluate Colt because of the average talent around him. What if we flip the script and say its not fair to evaluate the Wide Receivers because of who is throwing them the ball? Not trying to hate on Colt or turn this into a QB discussion, but really… Can we really say for sure what we have at WR while we’re beginning to find out what we have at QB?
ABR – Anyone But Robo
@4: if we’re only beginning to scratch the surface here of analyzing Colt’s play what was the 100+ comments to a post two days ago? Or … or … I. Have. No. Words.
RyInCBus, I disagree with you completely: good receivers will make plays no matter the qb. Look at how many receivers without a top qb succeed in the league and how many qbs succeed consistently without a good receiver…
Let’s not forget McCoy doesn’t have a lot of experience, and isn’t in the best situation to blossom. The combination of so-so O-line and average (at best) receiving corps is not a good equation for a young QB. I still believe that McCoy is not at his best because he fears the blitzand doesn’t focus on his throw. If you look at the packers or New england, Rodgers and Brady have a billion years to make a throw. McCoy has 2 seconds at best…
Sorry Harv21. Missed that one. I guess I don’t live on the WFNY board like you. But thanks for the tip. I’ll make sure I go back and read what was said. I guess I was speaking to the fact that it’s only Week 7 and we have 10 weeks plus an offseason to go. So yeah, to me, that’s merely scratching the surface of what will be discussed re: Colt McCoy. I did mention that in my post above but you probably stopped reading when you found something I wrote you felt the need to attack. Cool.
@kev… Okay, I’m looking at good receivers who can succeed without a good QB and the list is VERY VERY short. Have you heard of Larry Fitzgerald lately? No, where’s he been? Catching passes from Kevin Kolb. How bout when he had Kurt Warner? What about Reggie Wayne? Did he tranfer to the Arena League? No, he’s still a Colt with Curtis Painter throwing the ball. Brandon Marshall? Chad Henne. Sidney Rice? T-Jax/Charlie Whitehurst. Now, flip the script. Look at Houston… No Andre Johnson. Blasted Tennessee. New England… Did you hear of Wes Welker BEFORE he was catching passes from Tom Brady? Me neither. I could go on and on but I think you see my point. There are FAR more cases where the QB makes the Receiver, not the other way around. So again, is it really fair to judge our WRs when the play of our QBs has been sketchy at best? I don’t think so.
I’m sure I’ll get read the riot act for this, but I’m all for signing TO for the remainder of the year, putting him on the edge and telling him run deep, we’ll throw it up to every 3 or 4 times. Anything to get 10 guys out of the box. I’m so sick of watching 2 and 3 yard completions I could puke.
For the record I had wes welker on my fantasy team when he played for the dolphins. There was a reason the Pats traded for him.
@Tron, I’m hoping Carlton Mitchell can be the guy who stretches the field, provided Colt has the time to get him the ball. Granted, defenses won’t automatically respect him like they would T.O. but he has that kind of speed. Colt needs to be able to take those kinds of shots, even if he doesn’t complete all of them, to get the defense to respect the deep ball and open up some stuff underneath.
@RyInCBus I’m a bit of a stats geek so I looked up the O-line numbers of the teams you mentioned.
Arizona has the 26th ranked Pass Protection in the NFL.
Miami has the 30th ranked Pass Protection in the NFL.
Seattle has the 32nd ranked Pass Protection in the NFL.
The only two middle of the road teams you mentioned were Indy and Cleveland who were 12th and 13th respectively.
The bottom line is that if you don’t give the QB enough time to make a decision and throw the ball it won’t matter which guy you have behind center let alone what receiver you want to throw the ball to. You can’t expect Colt McCoy to absorb a brand new offense in 8 weeks and look like Joe Montana.
The fact they don’t know how to use Moore still is crazy. It’ll take Watson being out for Moore to get some chances.
RyInCBus- I agree with you on everything here. thanks for making my arguments. I actually liked what I saw out of Mitchell early on this camp so Im excited to see him on the field (if he actually sees the field). Hope Moore is more involved also.
@Tron: I was all for signing T.O. two years ago AND this last off-season. We definitely NEED an experienced WR that is more than half-decent. T.O. fits the bill and he could have assisted inj developing MoMass, Little, and even Mitchell. I agree that we need to use Moore than we are already, I see him as the starting TE next year and Watson not re-signed.
I think Watson might be the most underappreciated Browns player. He is really, really good (both catching and blocking).
FWIW, I remember watching Wes Welker in (I believe) a Monday night game his rookie year with the Dolphins and was blown away by the little guy. Couldn’t help but think of Brian Brennan watching him play.
T.O. could be a guy to change the dynamic for defenses covering us, but I don’t think he’s going to add much to the locker room and the development of the greener WRs on the team. Two reasons: 1)TO has always been a me-first kind of guy and 2)He has a freakish, god-given talent. When it comes naturally to you, it’s hard to understand what you do well enough to teach someone else. Just my theory…