While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
An expensive mistake- “According to a source with knowledge of Haden’s contract, up to $7.85 million in additional base salary escalators were available over the last two years of the deal. In 2013, Haden could add up to $3.65 million to his $6,936,429 base salary and up to $4.2 million to a $6,678,193 base salary in 2014. Smaller escalators were tied to both Haden’s playing time (85 percent) and interception totals (five or more in a season) plus the number of Browns wins (10). Larger increases were available if Haden has multiple seasons with playing time above 85 percent and the team’s defense ranks in the Top 5 in NFL or Top 3 in AFC in certain categories in those same seasons.
Haden is on track to earn very little, if any, of that $7.85 million in available escalation.” [McIntyre/Shutdown Corner]
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“Strip away the excuses. There’s no time for excuses. The running game was bad. Guys dropped balls. The line was bad. Lord … haven’t we heard these before … recently? At some point a guy has to pick up his play, and a quarterback has to pick up his team. Didn’t happen. What’s especially bothersome is that in the last preseason game he played, Weeden started well. Then he got worse as the game went on. Same with Sunday. The start wasn’t bad, but he got progressively worse. This is concerning for two reasons: Start of games are scripted, and practiced. As the game goes on, the defense has adjusted and it’s up to the quarterback and the team to do the same. To recognize what they’re seeing, adjust, make good throws. Legends, after all, are made on how guys finish games, not how they start. Second, the common theme about the way Robert Griffin III played in his spectacular opener was that he had “poise.” Weeden? Well, on a play with one second left in the first half, he lined up for a Hail Mary. He stepped up in front of the rush, and had a clear throw to the end zone. And he ran. He RAN. Heck, a 65-yard field goal try from Phil Dawson was better than a run. Earlier Weeden threw to the wrong guy on the third-down that Owen Marecic dropped, and later he had Ben Watson running to the flag on the left side of the field with nobody within 20 yards of him. Weeden rolled right, then threw out of bounds. Pat Shurmur said Weeden’s mistakes will be “easily correctable.” He best hope so.” [McManamon/FSO]
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Today the defensive snaps breakdown- “I’m not surprised that Jackson played every snap, since he’s the leader of the defense. That had to take a toll on him, though, playing all 95 snaps. Tank Carder didn’t see any work on defense, so the two outside linebacker positions consisted of a three-way rotation between Robertson, Maiava, and Fort. The outside linebackers’ numbers are so low because the defense doesn’t always use three linebackers; sometimes, there are only one or two guys in there at a time.” [Pokorny/Dawgs By Nature]
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“However, as Meyer also noted, one player that has clearly emerged is Corey Brown. Playing in the infamously named “Percy Harvin” slot role, Brown has shown an ability to get open and make plays after getting the football both in the passing games and on reverses. OSU threw the full panoply of wide receiver screens to Brown—jailbreak, flash (as seen below), and bubble—and as the game progressed, increasingly tried to utilize him. ” [Eleven Warriors]
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“Browns rookie running back Trent Richardson did not have much of a game, but he thumped Eagles safety Kurt Coleman so hard at the end of a nine-yard run that Coleman’s helmet flew into the air like a champagne cork. It was the only thing that happened in the Browns-Eagles game that can honestly be classified as a “highlight.” When Brandon Weeden got trapped beneath the giant national anthem flag during warmups, it appeared to be the lowlight of the game, but both teams were just warming up.” [Tanier/Sports on Earth]
