AP / Tony Tribble
So often when I am writing things about the Browns it is heavily influenced by conversations with my brother. This morning, his statement was especially telling as a season ticket holder. He just can’t wait for this all to be over. That, my friends is the Lerners worst nightmare. When those who love to head down and tailgate and make a day of Browns football are ready for the season to be over after 11 games, it is very telling. Can you blame any of them when the Browns are 1-10, the opposing teams won’t give Josh Cribbs the ball, and now Shaun Rogers is hurt? OK. Let’s talk about the game.
First, on Brady Quinn. Don’t confuse this as the text you got from your buddy during the game yesterday that simply said “BQ sux!” I am not going to say that just yet. Then again, I think it is impossible to not notice that the Browns don’t have a bona fide, guaranteed quarterback of the future on their roster right now. I am happy that BQ is playing right now and getting an opportunity to develop. But, it would be wrong to say that I feel comfortable right now based on what I have seen with Brady Quinn running this team’s offense. Yesterday, Brady was 15-34 for 100 yards. He scored a rushing touchdown on a QB draw. He also caught a pass from Josh Cribbs on a gimmick play. Too often, even when he had sufficient time and guys were somewhat open, Quinn struggled mightily with his accuracy. His deep balls were inaccurate, and the intermediate passes were inaccurate. If he consistently throws behind his receivers, the rhythm will never get going with this offense.
I am starting to sound like a broken record, but why is Jamal Lewis still carrying the ball at all? His long rush for the season is an 18 yard scamper against the Bills from week 5. Out of 143 carries so far this season, Jamal Lewis hasn’t been able to break through a defense and carry the ball for more than 18 yards. I know it isn’t all his fault, I am not that stupid. Still, give all those reps to the two younger guys who might occasionally make someone miss and go for a 40-yard run? Who knows, one of them might even (GASP) score a long touchdown if the defense over-pursues. Jamal Lewis had 11 carries yesterday and Jennings and Harrison each had two a piece. It is counterproductive for the future and probably counterproductive for the present to give Lewis the bulk of the load. I will copy and paste this paragraph into next week’s recap too, I am sure.
I think we can say that the Browns picking up Matt Roth on waivers from the Dolphins was a decent score. Roth seemed to be all over the field as he had seven tackles and a QB sack yesterday. But, I don’t want to get too high on the defense. They allowed the Bengals to rush all over them to the tune of 210 yards rushing, including 107 yards to the steaming corpse of Larry Johnson. A look at the box score makes you think the Browns’ pass defense was great. The truth is, because the Bengals could run so easily and successfully, it just didn’t matter. One other thing I noticed was Mike Adams “tackling.” I hate to single one guy out, but Adams was constantly arm fighting with ball carriers in an attempt to create a turnover (I think.) While he was doing this, the ball carriers were making their way for extra yardage. There is a time to try to strip the ball, and there is a time to drag someone down by any means necessary.
I heard some negativity aimed at Shaun Rogers over his horse-collar tackle yesterday that gave the Bengals their field goal at the end of the first half. It wasn’t a smart play. It will cost Rogers some money, I am sure, because he clearly horse-collared an opposing quarterback. I don’t disagree with the rule, but consider how much more difficult tackling the quarterback has become since I started watching football in the 80’s. Horse collars, hits to the legs, hits to the helmet, grounding the QB after he lets the ball go, etc. Again, I don’t disagree with the rule, but how many of Ben Roethlisberger’s scrambles out of opposing teams’ tackles have occurred because defenses didn’t want to get penalized for sacking him the wrong way? And Ben is so giant and strong that he wiggles out, extends the play and kills you. All because the playing field has been leveled against the 300-pound monsters that the NFL dared to create as their prototype defensive lineman.
Have you ever seen as much celebration from a guy who had three catches for a mere 38 yards and 0 (zero) touchdowns as we saw from Chad Ochocinco? I love the dude’s talent, but I don’t think we need to see motivated celebrations after every single catch. Save those for touchdowns, bombs, and occasional first downs if you must. I just don’t think any receiver should be working on a 100% conversion rate between catching the ball and celebrating.
Finally, the Mangini paragraph. I don’t get it at all. Hold that thought. First, congratulations are in order. Mangini challenged a play and actually won the challenge. A hearty congratulations from me to you! Now, on your “strategy” for going for it on 4th downs.
It was the first play of the 4th quarter with the Browns down 16-7. Brady Quinn sneaked on 4th and 1 for the first down from the Cleveland 49 yard line. Nice call by Mangini and company. After two unsuccessful runs and an incomplete pass on third down, the Browns had 4th and 3 from the Cincinnati 43 yard line and Mangini sent in Reggie Hodges to punt. Wait, what? Why? The Browns were at the Cincy 43 yard line. The Browns never got closer than their own 46 for the rest of the game. I really (honestly) don’t like to do a lot of Monday morning quarterbacking and questioning of coaching decisions, but this one is a glaring error in philosophy, I think. If you really truly believe in your defense, you have to go for it right there. Even if you punt the Bengals down inside their own five yard line, they were running the ball well. Even assuming the Browns defense could have forced them to a three and out, they would have punted and Josh Cribbs probably would have fair caught the ball around the 50 anyway, right?
Don’t get me wrong. There is no one thing that you can blame all the losing on. The inability of the offense to move the ball is a group effort. The right side of the offensive line. The receiving corps. Jamal Lewis. Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson. Brian Daboll and Eric Mangini. None of them are helping themselves right now. The defense is schizophrenic too. While he didn’t make any glaring errors, we had another week with a Hank Poteat sighting while Coye Francies remained inactive. Does Poteat really fit into the future plans of this team? Is he the key to turning the fortunes of this 1-10 team? Jason Michaels doesn’t think Hank Poteat should be getting reps on game day for the Browns at this point.
Don’t worry folks. It is almost over. The last five weeks should just fly by.
Author: CraigLyndall
Craig Lyndall has been writing about all the Cleveland sports teams at WaitingForNextYear since September 2008. When he isn't, you can find him selling insurance or playing music. Follow WFNYCraig on Twitter.Craig Lyndall has written 338 articles for Waiting for Next Year.
My Sunday routine now involves me doing anything and everything besides watching the Browns game live (yesterday was yard work). I find it much easier to watch the game off of the DVR so I can skip commercials and the time in between plays. It makes everything so much easier.
Good analysis, Craig. I’m also worried about Quinn’s accuracy. He should be given time to develop all aspects of his game, but accuracy is something he should have by now regardless of how little he’s played. There’s no excuse for consistently throwing behind receivers or at their feet.
On a related note, it’s looks like Massaquoi continues to screw up his option routes because he can’t read defensive rotations. I don’t see how Quinn can trust him on a third-down play if Massaquoi isn’t going to break off his route when he should. Where’s the coaching?
I was listening to the game on my way back to Columbus, and I had to switch over to the Columbus station, which had the Bengals announcers, once 1100 was out of range. They’re about the only thing that could have made taking in a Browns game any worse. It was hard to tell what happened most of the time because their neanderthal color commentator was always yelling things rooting for the Bengals (even when it ended up being an incomplete pass in the endzone), and the play-by-play guy gave very few details about what was happening until way after the play was over. The worst part was that they praised the Bengals defense for shutting down the Browns as though they were the first team to do so.
They ripped Quinn after every incompletion, and they made it sound like every throw was not within 5 yards of anyone or was way behind the receiver. Was it really that bad? And they called the QB draw a gimmick play and made it seem like the Bengals earned the field goal at the end of the first half. I appreciate Jim Donovan and Doug Dieken so much more now.
Thank the lord for fantasy football
Amen, Brad in ATL.
Coming out of ND, my beef w/ BQ was his accuracy. He does throw behind receivers more than one would like. That being said, I was watching a lot of other games (instead of the Browns) and noticed the number of throws that were behind receivers that were still caught. (Particularly, I noticed Aaron Rodgers throwing a # of balls to Driver that were behind him but still caught.)
I’m not “excusing” Quinn’s poor passing, but w/ a legitimate group of wide outs, those passes are caught more often than not, and we aren’t talking about his accuracy.
Four home games out of the last five? Oh boy, it’s not going to be easy. But on the bright side, we may not have the “pleasure” of seeing three of those games!
Maybe if BQ wasn’t worried about getting whacked on every play, he might concentrate on the throws to get them to the guys…Just a thought that it might not necessarily be his fault, but rather the whole offense.
[italic]“It was the first play of the 4th quarter with the Browns down 16-7. Brady Quinn sneaked on 4th and 1 for the first down from the Cleveland 49 yard line. Nice call by Mangini and company. After two unsuccessful runs and an incomplete pass on third down, the Browns had 4th and 3 from the Cincinnati 43 yard line and Mangini sent in Reggie Hodges to punt. Wait, what? Why?”[/italic]
I am watching the game yesterday and thinking the exact same thing. I don’t see any reason to NOT go for it right there; what do you have to lose? It certainly wasn’t the best drive of the day for us but we seemed to have a chance to get that first down and MAYBE get a FG out of it to make it a one-score game.
This “whose fault is it?” talk is a little funny to me, as pointing the blame in only one direction would be worthless. In a history class I had in college a professor once told me the main cause for the fall of the Roman Empire was the Roman Empire itself. It couldn’t sustain itself.
Same thing goes for our offense; they are aenemic excuses for offensive players, especially aging RBs, unproven QBs/Offensive Coordinators/Head Coaches, and unimaginative playcalling. Are throws being poorly made? Yes. Of course. Is this public enemy No. 1, in terms of what needs to be fixed to make the Browns a winning team? Absolutely not.
I say let’s lose out for the rest of the year and get Mark Ingram.
And hmm… why in the world are there “italic” tags in my post? Stupid fingers/typing!
I blame Mangini.
one important thing that was left out – reggie hodges sucks. now on most teams this might not matter AS much. but on a team where your only potential strength lies in your special teams…i cant believe i miss dave zastudil so much
At least the roman empire had a pretty good run there for a while. :/
@ #10 Mark Ingram is only a sophmore, he won’t be in the draft next year. However we could lose all our games next year too and draft him then. Actually with how bad this team is that’s not a far fetched idea.
We need to get Berry or Suh in the draft
I guess the fact that our receivers had 7 recorded drops shouldn’t necessitate a bullet point now, but I think it’s still relevant.
Also, Mike Adams was having a slap fight with opposing runner’s backs all day instead of tackling. Great fundamentals.
@Omega… exactly! It was driving me insane watching Mike Adams hand check all day!
This pic sums up ‘Slap Hands’ Adams day.
[Cleveland.com]
@ Tron — my bad. But sure, let’s go for it! I know with our combined efforts we can go 1-15 for another year!
I like Ingram too, he’s a good power runner. Since we’re talking about RBs, does anyone have an opinion on Stanford’s Gerhart? I haven’t seen enough of him to figure out if he’s the real deal or what. We talk about uncertain future at QB but I think the same applies to our RBs. I don’t know if James Davis really is the future, and I don’t think Harrison can have the burden of being a #1 back.
Gerhart is great at running over 190 pound linebackers. He is another TD Tommy Vardell, not an NFL running back. Think Mike Alstot with less speed and power.
For those of you talking about the various college running backs, I hope you mean taking them in the second round or at least with a pick outside the top 10.
Nothing good can happen by taking a running back inside the top 5 unless you are talking about AP or LT.
Lineman, lineman, lineman, lineman.
“Don’t worry folks. It is almost over. The last five weeks should just fly by.”
I’m pretty sure these very same words were uttered last year.
Anyone catch Dixon’s debut for PIT last night? Nice.
Tim: The Bengals announcers are brutal, almost hilariously so. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything like it in listening to an NFL broadcast (they were on 1100 for the Ravens game during the bye week). I can’t imagine having to listen to them call a game against the Browns.
Craig: The punt on 4th and 3 doesn’t bother me as much given that the defense was holding up decently. Down only nine points with a whole quarter left, I think playing field position there was OK, especially given Quinn’s inability to complete the short pass yesterday. The Browns D did end up holding up there as well, forcing a punt on the Bengals’ next possession.
Brendon: Agree with half of that. We have to get Berry in the draft. He’ll be an instant game changer, and is known to be an excellent guy off the field as well.
Gerhart is a good power running back. The best Pac-10 defenses to match up against him are USC, ASU, UCLA, and OSU, and he averaged 133 yds/game against those four. Of course he also piled up stats against other defenses that match up worse. If you’re writing articles hoping that Chris Jennings gets more carries, then you’ll be happy with Gerhart. And you won’t see any backfield toe-tapping from him. He’ll hit the hole and pile through.
And on the subject of Chris Jennings, I wouldn’t give him more carries on the hopes of breaking one for 40 yds or a TD. He never did that against college defenses; I don’t see him doing it in the NFL. He was a good receiving back in college, though.
They were recording drops when the recievers reached their hand around there @$$ and hit the ball. Many passes were behind receivers. Also, I dont know if its MoMass or Brady, but they both were off. The one play MoMass cuts it off and is wide open and Brady chucks it 20 yards past him (that was preceded by MoMass going deep and Brady throwing the comeback).
I would argue that Hank Poteat DID have an error: he was “covering” the tight end on the TD play (or, if you watched the replays, “getting toasted”).
I agree whole-heartedly about most everything else, except for Rogers. I wrote in the open thread that he has to have the situational awareness there to know that all he has to do is not let Palmer–who was most decidedly not really looking to throw–run 50 yards for a touchdown. Just force him out of bounds. There was, what, 1 second on the clock when he tackled him? Force him out of bounds. Half over. I know you can’t look and say it would have gone the same had it been 10-0 instead of 13-0 at the half, but that field goal made the difference between a one-score and a two-score game… a huge difference.
haha, Mike Adams is “Slap Chop”.
oh, and i agree with the assessment of the 4th and 3 play – you GOTTA go for it. In fact, I think 4th and less than 2 at that point on the field is a time you should ALWAYS go for it. too often punters give up a touchback and net 20 yards. I’d gamble 20 yards for a first down.
I always go for it on 4th and 2.
/Belichick’d
I am surprised by the frustration with yesterday’s loss. We have very little talent, and lost 16-7 on the road to an 8-3 team. Deep into the 4th quarter, we were one big play from making it a one-score game.
Yes, Quinn has chemistry issues with his receivers, and, yes, he has general accuracy issues. But he didn’t turn the ball over, and he didn’t take bad sacks. He made quick reads, and delivered the ball to a specific spot. As he develops chemistry with the WR’s, improves his accuracy, and as we add more talent, his 15-33 from yesterday could easily turn into a 23-33. Which is a strong day against a GOOD defense.
I know its frustrating to watch, but, given our talent, I thought yesterday was a solid performance, and should be viewed as progress. I think the coaching staff, despite its flaws, did a good job making an over-matched team competitive with a very good team.
DP- AGREED on Poteat. He got roasted by that tight end, and was losing ground. Francies has to be better then that… right?
Bryan, you talk as though the Browns and their coaches are members of a small high school program that never wins and the closest to winning is nothing but a bunch of “What Ifs and Only Buts.” These are “Professionals”. My apologies to the rest of the NFL. What is displayed each week is simply described as a disgrace. There isn’t a broom big enough to sweep that mess away, but’s that’s exactly what’s needed from top to bottom. From ownership to management to coaches and players: Who in these groups look like the have a prayer?
Oh well, maybe next year. Or is the year after ? Or maybe the year after that?
The Browns were Professional Football at one time. But that was a long time ago.
Where’s that Peter King article from the beginning of the year? I take my comments back.
I’m with Bryan.