Tribe Weekend Recap: Consistently Inconsistent play, King Kluber and the rebirth of Carrasco
August 11, 2014The precipitous drop: An ode to Vinnie Pestano
August 11, 2014Everyone’s talking about what Donte Whitner was quoted as saying to Peter King’s MMQB this morning. The quote was this.
“It’s been fierce,” Whitner said. “Two guys fighting for their lives. It’s close. I’d say [the locker room] is split about 50-50. We know they both can play.”
While I think a lot of the focus has been on the split within the team and the report cards comparing the two quarterbacks, what Whitner said last is most important to me. If Whitner’s accounting of team sentiment is accurate, then there’s legitimate belief in the locker room that the Browns have not one, but two quarterbacks who can actually play the position.
As I said on Sunday, I’m intrigued by Manziel’s performance and I can’t wait to see more. Maybe I’ll even get to see him with the first team this week on Monday Night Football. I welcome the opportunity to see it. In the end, with the way the Browns have set up their team this year, the quarterback looks to be helped by the running game and not vice versa.
That being the case, all I need is a guy who can perform somewhere close to the middle of the pack of NFL quarterbacks. I don’t need Aaron Rodgers, Peyton Manning or Tom Brady. I need something approximating Alex Smith, Carson Palmer or even Andy Dalton plus a great defense and running game.
It seems like Donte Whitner is saying the Browns’ locker room thinks they might have two guys capable of that.
[Related: Johnny Manziel ahead in QB race? I want to see more, but I’m patient]
97 Comments
is there a rule for ex-QB’s that the worse they were in their own careers, the more critical they have to be of Qb’s playing now? Listening to Dilfer (and Tim Hasselbeck) criticize guys would give an uneducated observer the impression that they were once great QB’s.
Greatest college QB in history? Paul Blake
Don’t forget Jaworski.
In all honesty, though, and as much as I like to joke about Dilfer, he’s the one guy whose opinion I actually trust. He’s that guy that knows his trade much better than he performed it. I have no time for the other guys, but actually (and strangely – shamefully?) enjoy Dilfer’s analysis.
perhaps my views towards Dilfer are skewed by the fact that he won a SB in Baltimore and then blew chunks here. I will freely admit I may be biased against him.
My perception of him changed after watching a couple seasons of his Elite 11 camp. While I know that these shows are designed and edited (in part) to make him and his staff look good, he actually comes off as a really knowledgable, capable QB coach that really cares about those kids. Seems like a really decent guy who loves football and wants to see the best for young players. I’m sure the loss of his son plays a large part in his character make-up and personality in that regard.
no. ESPN said last week that he was overrated because he had zero catches in about 4 minutes of game time. ESPN never trolls people and their journalistic ethos areso far beyond reproach that we plebes aren’t capable of understanding their glory, so I have to believe he is a bust
Some random ones:
(1) Greco locked up an OG spot. He was really, really good.
(2) Kirksey didn’t look terrible, which means he probably locked up a starting LBer spot because, my god, we are terrible in depth there.
(3) Desir was terrible and played a ton.
(4) Armonty Bryant might be my favorite under-rated Brown.
(5) Snead was bad, Charles Johnson was good, Taylor Gabriel kept having his # called, and the rest of the WRs were just out there.
(6) Marquis Gray looked good, but apparently suffered a concussion.
(7) Thigpen looked about as bad as a QB can look.
(8) I don’t see many noting Ben Tate fumbled. It was an issue in Houston as much as his injuries.
(9) West didn’t look great and Dion looked like he just lost his job (Baker looked better).
Re: STs – I feel like that’s because they put a whole bunch of randoms on special teams this early as opposed to a group that’s specifically practicing it intensely, and nobody’s really worked together yet. Once the roster takes more shape and the Bandemosis of the world are out there, it’ll look different.
Bademosi was a good ST player last year and it’s his one shot at making the team this year.
Totally. That’s why it’s a coaching thing. I can’t imagine that STs have had much emphasis thus far in camp. I’m not worried.
We should be able to trade Snead for that bust, straight up.
I used to hate the way that he delivered…that dickish blend of smugness (or smuggish blend of dickish). But then after seeing how knowledgeable and on point he consistently was, I 180’d. It’s OK to be cocky when you’re good at something.
Re the WRs: JFF’s hands-down best pass of the game was the one that he lasered 20 yards down the field, nailing the WR – who was not even looking – in the hip. Simply beautiful. I forget which WR it was, because I mentally cut him from the Browns, the NFL, and all future footballing – too include picnics, Turkey Bowls, and beach outings – at that moment.
I did. Bernie’s pre-snap analysis is great. Solomon Wilcots continually makes me wonder how Donovan doesn’t punch him in the face.
Completely agree.
http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/1347235/johnnyfootball.gif
That may have been one of Snead’s moments, but while I remember the play, I cannot place the WR. I had high hopes for Snead from what I had read, but man he was bad.
too late.
Really bad. He’s the one that let JFF’s other pass go through his fingers. The other guy, the guy that is permanently cut from ever touching a football again, was someone else. I’ll see if I can dig up his name (though his name will no longer matter in the football realm).
Apparently (though I’ve never been on live TV before), the former football WR goes by “Jonathan Krause.”
He was a Desir in the headlights.
I thought Kirksey showed some real potential. I’ll reserve a rating on him until i see more. First pro game, and all that.
thank you on behalf of some future historian for your efforts.
“Desir in the headlights”
I feel morally obligated uptick every comment that you post from this point on for that phrase.
they aren’t giving us a 2nd too?
It would be a 1st . . . but we already have it!
December 7, 1941, and the guy that let a JFF pass drill his hip without even looking at it: Things that should be remembered, if only for infamy.
i must say that I am particularly proud of that one.
I believe it will be filed right next to Ruud’s helmet and a few ticks away from August 6, 1945.
it’s pretty simple, really: Wilcotts would beat the crap out of him if he tried.
It’s perfect, and works perfectly on every level.
sounds more like a billiards player. or snooker.
Fair point…
2016 1st is rated the same as a 2015 2nd. Perhaps we can just set up a compensation system where they give us their 1st rounder each year from now on.
http://a.espncdn.com/photo/2014/0428/mag_desir01_ap_600x600.jpg
Hey, at least the bomb ended the war. That guy just ended a bomb. (See what I did there?)
Sounds about right.
Wonder if Thigpen is still “in the driver seat” for the #3 QB position. I could see why we’d want a vet QB on the roster to go with Hoyer and Manziel.
if that is what you think, then you need to watch his snaps. I was starting to think that Shaw was destined to be on the PS and the staff might hide him by not playing him much in preseason. then, Thigpen did what Thigpen does.
I say if Shaw is on the PS, then we should just ride it out with 2 QBs on the 53man.
Staples was flying around like a crazyman.
it was krause. (oh i see you got it. nevermind.)
“Slinging” Sammy Baugh. Undisputedly the best passer in college history. He was passing with a rugby ball and changed the game of american football forever.
Touch my QB and I’LL KILL YOU!
He was there in SF for the same type of thing so give him the benefit of the doubt.
Looks like that ST tackle may have saved Obbonayya’s roster spot
Watkins may be where amazing happens but everyone in Cleveland knows that “Johnny Saves”
What happens if he get’s taken then? Two QB’s one of whom is undersized for how he plays, and the other coming off of a season ending injury, and a Pigpen recall to the P.S.
I think by the stats it was actually COLT MCCOY.
http://www.xclusivetouch.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Threw-Up-In-Mouth-Toilet-Hygine-Work.gif