Kellen Winslow Had Staph, Wanted Trade
October 20, 2008Is Maxiell Worth the Mid-Level?
October 20, 2008Well, so much for putting two decent games in a row. Yes, I know the Browns were going for their third straight win yesterday, but I am still not going to count that performance in Cincinatti as a positive. Don’t look now, but the Browns’ ineffective offense is back and the co-stars were none other than Derek Anderson with a best supporting actor nominee in Braylon Edwards.
On with the bullet points, not necessarily in any kind of order…
- The Cleveland defense must have been awful. They gave up 175 yards to Clinton Portis yesterday. Except, they weren’t awful. The Browns defense, despite getting gashed, only gave up 14 points. That is respectable and gave the sputtering offense a chance to win even if they didn’t deserve it.
- Play calling seemed pretty decent yesterday. They tried a decent amount of gadget plays. Jerome Harrison and Josh Cribbs were given an opportunity to excel.
- Execution on the part of Derek Anderson was not good. Between balls being tipped at the line and inaccuracies on shorter throws, I am left wondering whether or not DA knows how to use a pump fake. When I played basketball growing up the mantra was “fake the pass to make a pass.” It holds true in football too.
- Speaking of DA, he just looked listless yesterday. He was getting happy feet in the pocket. He looked comfortable and happy last week against the Giants, but he had that 1000 yard stare going yesterday. It must be really hard for him to lead the huddle when he is like this. I am guessing everyone feels it. I could be making it up because I was watching it on TV, but I think I saw it.
- How much does this Browns team miss Ryan Tucker? He shows up one week and basically shuts out Justin Tuck. He misses the next week and you have to think that the Browns missed him more than a few times, including those trips inside the Washington 10 yard line.
- Where was Kellen Winslow? He had two catches for 17 yards. Oh yeah, we know exactly where he was because he would jump up and down and wave his arms every time he thought he was open. This is totally unacceptable. I laughed off the idea that the Browns were better without K2 last week when I heard Tony Grossi seemingly joke about it on TV after the game. Now, I might be starting to agree with him. K2 has more talent than most of his teammates. That is inarguable. Still, with all the negative energy he brings to the team, maybe he truly isn’t worth it. Combine that with the fact that maybe the Browns are leaving big gains in other phases of the game on the field because they don’t have Heiden blocking in front of them and it starts to sway against K2. If I see him wave his hands and scream at the sidelines when he doesn’t get the ball one more time I might just scream.
- How many drops did Braylon Edwards have yesterday? I haven’t seen the number for sure yet, but the comments section on this site seemed to think it was five. He still had 4 catches for 58 yards, but consider he could have had at least 4 more catches. That possibly extends another two drives conservatively. When you are going as badly as Derek Anderson is sometimes, repetitions are the necessity. Braylon caused the Browns to lose chances yesterday with his drops.
- I am not going to blame Terry Cousin. He is doing the best he can. That being said, the Browns need to do a better job with routes across the middle. I don’t know if that means committing a safety, putting a linebacker in the middle to chip someone or what. I do know that the Browns can’t afford to give up gashing plays with Terry Cousin trailing players across the middle all day. He isn’t going to close from behind on a good wide receiver. This is on the Browns defensive braintrust and the front office.
- Great play again this week from Eric Wright. The way he chased down a sprinting Clinton Portis for the strip yesterday to give the Browns another chance was really impressive.
- Speaking of good play, I don’t want it to go unnoticed that Jamal Lewis did basically everything in his power to keep the Browns in it. 19 carries for 80 yards was a good effort in the loss. He also had an 18 yard reception and could have had two more if not for inexplicably overthrown screen passes.
- In the fourth the Browns went for it on 4th down from the Skins 3 yard line. There was almost no debate on whether this was the right thing to do in our running comments with WFNY readers. After thinking about it some more I can’t say that I agree. I know the argument that the Browns were there and needed to try to take advantage. I don’t buy into that. Despite horrible decisions by Crennel earlier in the season, “Field Goal” should not be a dirty word. The three points that the Browns didn’t get were meaningful because it would have put them down by one score (8 points.) To take those points off the board is never a good idea. Even though Eric Wright chased down Portis and the Browns had a shot, it wasn’t the right play. The Browns should have kicked the field goal to be down only one score.
- As for the goal line play selection, can anyone tell me why the Browns chose not to run over the left side? Seemed kind of strange to me that they would run Cribbs in motion to the exact point of attack at the RG. Position of strength should be over there on the left with Joe Thomas and Steinbach, right? Also, why lineup in the run on the goal line all the time? Why not the gun to clear out the middle? You could either pass on some crossing routes or run the draw when the matchup at the line of scrimmage is less muddled.
- Everything said, the Browns still had a chance to win. I am guessing that Braylon didn’t break off that last route crisply enough and that is why he had to dive for the ball at the end. That completion certainly would have given Phil Dawson an improved chance at tying the game. Keep in mind Browns fans that the Browns would have still had to keep Washington from getting into field goal range on the next drive, only to hopefully win the coin toss in overtime.
Well, that is all that came to mind, but certainly not all there is to be said about yesterday’s game. I am sure you will all tell me what I missed in the comments. As for the Browns, it will be more than interesting to hear what comes out this week. DA got into it with Lawrence Vickers at one point during the game. Kellen Winslow apparently went off after the game. Derek Anderson didn’t keep the QB controversy quiet for a second week in a row. Braylon Edwards dropping passes will certainly be a loud cry this week amongst Browns fans too. And seriously, what do you do about that? DA detractors have BQ to pimp, but what do Braylon bashers have as a solution? I don’t think there is one.
Well, here’s to next week when we can potentially talk about Maurice Jones-Drew and company running all over the Browns. Also, I don’t think we are going to see Brady Quinn any time soon. At this point with the season basically dying quickly, at what point do you want to see the Browns give up on Derek Anderson? To this point he has only played 5 good quarters out of 24.
64 Comments
Craig is right. Winslow is an extremely PASSIONATE player. That doesn’t make you a team leader. It makes you venerable to making emotional mistakes and saying some pretty damn stupid things that undermine the team as a whole. The Browns could have dumped his butt after that whole ordeal, and I doubt he would have been picked up for near the amount of money he is making here. It’s starting to feel awfully drafty in your glass house K2.
LOLOL I just heard Romeo say…”Well I don’t know why our offense struggles. If I knew that maybe I would be a better football coach.”
I’m speechless. And I ALWAYS have something to say.
I bet it’s K2 “undermining the team” that is causing our offense to struggle. 😉
No, Rock, it isn’t. But he’s my scapegoat for today. Just give me that ok. I need something to direct my anger toward. haha
fwiw I think something that no one is talking about is that, despite EVERYTHING that’s gone on this season(esp with the “Kellen blow up”)….who’s kept thier mouth shut and stayed behind the curtains? Yeah, you know who I’m talking about.
Quinn, despite everything, has been waiting for his shot…how many other big profile guys would have just kept thier mouths shut?
Haha, fair enough Bambino. We all need our outlets. 🙂
For the record, K2 DID call out the offensive coaches (read: Carthon) after the Bengals loss a few years ago when he wondered aloud why he was on the sidelines on third down so much. FWIW…
As usual, Chudzinski gets off scott free
Good call DP, I had forgotten about that one. Although, I actually did agree with K2 then as well.
kemitcush: Don’t worry, Chud gets his in the post I’m working on right now.
Does anyone else here wonder how our 6’6 QB keeps getting so many tipped passes at the LOS? I never saw Zeier even have that many tipped balls when he took snaps for us!
As where I think Chud is obvious in playcalling at times ( pass,run,pass in that order) I also saw alot plays called yesterday that gave the Browns opportunities that they didn’t take because of poor offensive play. Something else that made me want to kick my T.V. was this. If I’m an owner or part owner of this team & my QB has a whopping 17 passing yards at half; I’m calling the locker & telling the coach to make the switch or find other employment! I mean seriously how the hell can you justify starting DA in the 2nd half?
This may not be baseball but even players like the Rocket get yanked when it isn’t their day & yesterday wasn’t DA’s day either. Why can’t Crennel just say ” Derek it aint your day today we’re gonna go with Brady in the 2nd half to see if we can get something going.” It doesn’t have to mean a loss of job but if Quinn delivers givie him the job. We’re here to win not to showcase players for possible suitors next year.
Gotta disagree with the K2 comment. Winslow was waving his arms because he usually IS open. But, of course, with DA’s happy feet in the pocket, he’s trying to get rid of the ball as quickly and inaccurately as possible and doesn’t even see Winslow. I counted at least 3-4 plays where Anderson could’ve hit Winslow and just didn’t see him or just misthrew. The commentators were calling Anderson out for missed receivers all day. I realize it doesn’t help when Braylon’s doing his best impression of catching the ball with no hands but Anderson still missed at least a dozen throws Sunday.
And I’ll agree that Jamal Lewis is a beast. The guy’s good for 3 yards a carry in 1st quarter, 4 in the 2nd and 5-6 yards in the 3rd and 4th quarters. Like fine wine, he gets better as time goes. In my opinion, he’s probably and understandably the most frustrated person on that offense.
how about lost confidence in your qb?
i cant count how many times during the TV broadcast they cut to skill players hangin out with BQ…
and i can count arguments skill players have had with a certain anonymous starting QB for the browns.
also, last night, they said matt cassel was taking flack for essentially being a “high school quarterback”… i then proceeded to see him make almost every screen/pass-to-the-flat toss in a patriot ROMP over the broncos…
if cassel is a “hs qb”, what on earth is DA?
Pop Warner? CYO?