Open Thread: Browns vs Giants
October 13, 2008No Time for Losers…
October 14, 2008
Hey, does anybody else feel that? Do you know what it is? It is a complete and utter lack of a Browns hangover. You know that salty, disgusted feeling the morning after a Browns loss or a win like they had against the Bengals? Yeah, this is the direct opposite of that. The Browns actually put together a complete game against the New York Giants on national television. They made Tony Kornheiser turn 180 degrees over the course of the game. Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards played with an energy that defied the criticism of the first four games. Without further ado, the bullet points.
- OK, so apparently Steve Heiden can still play football. A few weeks ago when other players were down, I (and many others,) were desperate to have the Browns use weapons that were healthy including Jerome Harrison and, yes, Steve Heiden. Forced into duty yesterday, Heiden proved once again that he is a solid tight end in the NFL. 5 catches for 59 yards is one heck of a game.
- Speaking of depth and using weapons, Jerome Harrison was used to perfection last night. He had 2 rushes for 41 yards, one of which being a double-reverse with Josh Cribbs. Harrison also had two catches for 26 yards.
- Jamal Lewis is a closer. He doesn’t get enough opportunities to close out games, but when he does he is a closer. On more than one occasion, Lewis will run the ball at the end of games when the opposition knows he is going to be running the ball, and still get positive yardage and seemingly impossible first downs.
- On the negative side, 10 penalties for 55 yards is pretty bad. The Browns overcame their mistakes, but you just can’t count on that all the time. The false start penalties were getting so bad at one point, I thought for sure that the Giants were simulating a snap count or something. Is it possible to just be so undisciplined? People wonder why I sometimes said the Browns win games in spite of their head coach. This is one of those reasons.
- The MNF crew mentioned it, but if the Browns had managed the clock as badly as the Giants in the fourth quarter, the world would have imploded from ubiquitous and unanimous lambasting of Romeo Crennel. For once it was the other team screwing it up.
- Donte Stallworth helps the team immensely and in ways that I might not have thought of before. The idea that Stallworth is out there is amazing for everyone below him on the depth chart. You have to wonder how much his experience with route running enabled the Browns to open up the middle for guys like Steptoe, Heiden, and the running game. While Stallworth might not be Gayle Sayers, he might be when compared to the Browns’ other receivers not named Braylon.
- Eric Wright isn’t a pro bowler, but he made a pro bowl caliber play to seal the game last night. The jump he put on that Eli Manning pass, combined with his ability to run through Eli’s tackle was seriously noteworthy. If he was an Ohio State Buckeye, he would get at least three stickers on his helmet for that play alone.
- That illegal contact penalty that kept the Giants’ drive alive was bang bang between the contact and the Browns getting to Eli. If it had been a more experienced secondary, I am guessing that call wouldn’t have been made. That being said, it was, technically, a penalty and tough to complain about. Those are the types of plays that we would normally have to argue about in a losing effort. It is nice to be able to just brush it aside today.
- Speaking of brushing things aside, that two point conversion was a bit questionable. The Browns were up more than two scores and it was still early-ish with just over eight minutes left in the game. It worked out because the Browns converted, but I am not sure it was the best idea. The bottom line is that it worked yesterday and it put the Browns up 21 instead of 20, I guess.
- Just so you don’t think we get a break from the QB controversy, I came up with a plan yesterday. I (half) jokingly texted my friend and suggested that the Browns should trade Derek Anderson DURING halftime. I still just don’t know if this is a wildly inconsistent flash-in-the-pan type of guy or a franchise QB. I am convinced that there is no right or wrong answer because nobody actually knows anything for sure.
- To prove my previous bullet point, I will tell all those of you who missed it that Steve Young referred to DA as a “Tom Brady-like” QB yesterday during the post-game rundown. I was sitting there thinking of the definition of the word hyperbole.
So, that’s the bullet point rundown. One more final note from the category of wet blankets because this site is called Waiting For Next Year… Do we really know if this team is good or whether the Giants just didn’t show up yesterday? It looks like a win, and it feels like a win, so I am going to treat it like a win. But, don’t think I am not a bit suspicious of what I saw yesterday. This team isn’t back in the mix. They need to run a few weeks of this type of play together before I am going to buy it.
Let’s see what the Browns put together for the Washington Redskins next weekend.
26 Comments
That was the team I was expecting to see at the beginning of the year. Great game last night
About the 2-pt. conversion: I was surprised, too, but when I realized that if they got it, they’d be up by 21, it meant that if something calamitous happened (giving up three unanswered touchdowns before the quarter expired), the game would be tied barring the Giants’ getting a 2-pt. conversion. Plus, once they got it, it had to boost their confidence all that much more and deflate the Giants so much that the odds of such a comeback were made awfully slim.
You could tell the crowd showed up with two goals: 1) Make sure DA got benched, and 2) Make sure Crennel got fired. It’s almost like it took them a full quarter of competent competitive play before they were reoriented enough to root for something positive.
Agree with all points except the “2 pt” conversion issue—they should’ve been going for 2 when they went up 26-14—being up 12 or 13 was meaningless; the NYG were going to have to go for 2 TD’s in the 4th either way…The fact they went for it when up 19 just shows that RC and the rest of his staff were asleep at the wheel—if Wright didn’t have his pick-6 and it was 27-21 with 10 minutes to go, wouldn’t you have felt better being up 28-21 instead of 26 or 27 to 21??
So apparently, Derek Anderson had his contract renewed with Satan and Eli Manning’s contract has officially run out.
Totally agree with not trusting the team just yet. I want to believe, but am too afraid to jump in balls deep just yet. One more week like this and I’ll start thinking we should win games again.
I agree about not getting too far ahead of ourselves. Eli Manning lost this game as much as the Browns won it, in my opinion. Not to take anything away from our offense, but all three of those INTs by Manning were b-a-d BAD throws. The first play of the third quarter from my seats: that ball was at least 10 yards away from Burress, who was actually wide open on the play.
Again, not to take anything away from our offense finally looking like the offense we thought we’d be getting most of the year, but Manning killed his team tonight with costly, costly interceptions… almost DA-style!
@Gskal- I don’t have a problem with them going for 2 there either, but calling a time out to do it? I maintain that if we would have lined up our offense to go for two they would have been forced to call time out. In the end it doesn’t matter, but it could have…
@ DP- agree with you on the first 2 picks, but that last one was a fantastic play by E.W.
*I was at the game monday, it was as loud as I remember it ever being. I think it rattled Eli, or at least kept audibles off the table.
* Great offensive play calling kept the giants D off balance and kept them from being aggressive.
* Kellen Winslow’s Injury is . . . . a herniated testicle. not sure what that means, but I guess his buckeyes are so swollen he can hardly walk, rumor is it might be STD related.
* Was Braylons cartwheels on TV when they were introduced out of the tunnel? What the heck is that nonsense? Still don’t like braylon. See him trying to strip the ball away from a giants receiver on the sideline after a catch? Making a WWF type championship belt gesture to the stands after he wasn’t involved in a play? Not being in the huddle half the time? Taking a knee way away from the team and browns bench during a giants time out on the final possession to make the water boy run all the way across the field? Tossing his helmet on the field after DA took the final knee?
I knew the browns was gonna win. They not even my favorite team but i knew the bye week would give them a boost. I didn’t think the would whack them like that tho. The bye week gave em time to get back on track. Browns fans are terrible btw. They wanted derek benched cuz he started slow. Its only his 2nd year starting. Brady has no cannon arm like derek. Stallworth gives them a 2nd deep option. I told all the browns fans they’d return to form and i was right. Thank me lol
DA put up good numbers, but he still made a lot of bad decisions and bad throws.
Big ups for the return of Tucker. O-line finally had a good game – except all those stupid penalties, that’s all on Romeo.
The Browns continue to play up or down to the competition. It worked for last night, but how bout the bungles game? It’s a weak coach that can’t get consistent performance out of his team.
If you were at the game last night you would be feeling that hangover. A well worth it hangover.
I just have to say that that game last night was the best game I have seen in a long time and we needed every bit of it.
Why are we Browns fans so quick to boo when DA makes a mistake? Damn Browns fans have some confidence in the starting QB. I don’t care who it is.
@Rick… thanks for pointing out EW’s int again. That throw really wasn’t that bad. Wright just made a perfect athletic play to get there. He must have run 5 or 6 of the quickest steps I have ever seen to cover that ground. He made that play with pure instinct and reaction.
I hope we don’t see Kevin Shaffer on the field at all the rest of the season. Tucker made a huge difference on the line.
@ Boom- great point about Tucker…he held his own against Justin Tuck. Eric Steinbach played much better last night as well.
I didn’t mean to take anything away from Wright’s play, but even he himself said after the game that someone forced Eli to wait a split second longer than he should have to throw the ball, which gave EW a chance. Definitely not as bad as the first two throws…
“combined with (Eazy-E’s) ability to run through Eli’s tackle was seriously noteworthy”
i think youre being generous calling that slap to the back a tackle.
still smiling.
Would you have ever thought we’d be capable of a 117 yard drive vs the Giant’s?
@ Jewpants – He was good-naturedly messing with Plax when he tried to strip the ball, nothing more. The play was already over and Plax was laughing about it.
That was just a reverse, not a double-reverse. Ball only changed direction once.
Wow. No mention of the awful defense. Here’s an idea – quit blitzing on third down. Didn’t work the entire game. Left the middle of the field open for Steve Smith.
Also, it’s amazing how great QB’s become when they have an O-line that will block.
Somebody said this on the radio but that’s now 8 INTs in the last 3 games for the Browns.
For all the bashing this secondary has taken, they’re rounding into form at the right time.
This was a great win but I want to see Sunday’s game against the Redskins before claiming that this team is back. We now know the Browns can play at a high level. Now we’ll find out if they can do it consistently.
Great Bullet points. And right on point.
As BUU mentioned in his post, can we agree to call the man by his dang nickname.
EASY E.
Honestly we should be calling him the “honorable Mr. Easy E” for the next few days, but whatever.
Also, the two point. The crowd was actually chanting “go for two” on the previous touchdown. And I agreed. Making it a 7 point game at the end was smart, but maybe just Romeo making up for mistakes of past.
Gale Sayers was a RB
[…] that picture? That was the pic I used for my Browns Bullet Points article following last year’s Monday Night Football game against the NY Giants. That game also had […]