Kevin Love billboard unveiled downtown
August 25, 2014Browns make roster cuts down to 76, WR Anthony Armstrong most notable
August 25, 2014
So are we concerned yet? For the third week in a row, the Cleveland Browns were bettered by their preseason opponents. For the third week in a row, the offense left plenty to be desired. And for the third week in a row, the quarterback situationâdespite a starter having been namedâremains as a point of scrutiny. Let’s dig in to the winners and loser of the Browns’ Week 3 dress rehearsal.
LOSER: Brian Hoyer. If you just looked at the box score, you may be impressed by a 10-of-16 showing. But if you watched the game, especially from within the confines of FirstEnergy Stadium, you’re well aware that much of the 84 yards that were credited to Hoyer came on passes into the flat. The interception he threw into the middle of the field, with Miles Austin as the intended receiver, was ugly. Had Alec Ogletree not picked it off, one of the other blue jerseys in the area would have. Fans better hope that this is just a vanilla offense that isn’t showing much before the Week 1 contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers. If this is a sign of things to come, look out.
WINNER: Johnny Manziel. The team’s backup quarterback didn’t have to do much to impress when compared to Hoyer, but his seven-yard touchdown run blew the proverbial roof off of FirstEnergy Stadium. Sure, it was set up by an interception, but Manziel showed exactly what he can bring during his first year in the leagueâa guy who can extend plays with his legs when the reads aren’t there.
I’m hearing some grumbling about Manziel doing the TOPSZN money gesture after scoring a touchdown because the team was losing. I counter this with the fact that it was his first touchdown and that Manziel’s score was technically 0-0 as the second units did not step on to the field until the third quarter. Credit to Michael Sam for bringing the Texas A&M product down and giving the gesture right back. It’s the nature of the beast when you have a polarizing player on your roster.
LOSER: Justin Gilbert. Wow. By no means am I ready to use one preseason game as an indication of the future, but Gilbert’s Welcome to the NFL moment came not long after the first snap. Starting for Joe Haden (who was nursing a bit of a foot injuryâthe team said he could have played if it were the regular season), Gilbert was targeted early and often. He played 54 of a possible 85 snaps and was targeted on eight passes, surrendering five catches for a game high 141 yards and two touchdowns. He showed his length and flashed some potential with two big pass break-ups, but at least one or two of the passes that were not caught should have been. Coming out of college, Gilbert was noted for his physicality yet it was his half-assed tackle that led to a 75-yard touchdown to Chris Givens. We’ll chalk this up to being a rookie, but the kid has two weeks to figure it out.
WINNER: Christian Kirksey. Are we just calling him “Chris” now? When did this happen? While fellow rookie Justin Gilbert captained the Struggle Bus, Kirksey continued his strong preseason against the Rams, excelling largely against the pass. The rookie had an interception and yielded just 13 yards on his three other targets for the day. From ProFootballFocus: “His +3.8 coverage grade is the highest of any inside linebacker this preseason and is a welcome sight for Browns fans that had to watch Craig Robertson earn PFFâs lowest coverage grade last season.”
LOSER: FirstEnergy Stadium in-game operations. It wasn’t just the team’s dress rehearsal on Saturday night, but the stadium ops folks as well. We’ll have more on this later, but while the new scoreboards are incredible, and the sound system is vastly improved, the only place one could find the down and distance information was on the ribbon boards that sit below the club level, illustrated in incredibly small font. If you sat in the end zone, they were impossible to see. If you sat across from them, you could only see them with the best of eyesight. I assume this will be updated in time, but man…you don’t know what you got ’til it’s gone. Somebody should make that a song.
WINNER: Armonty Bryant. Could the seventh-round pick in 2013 end up with a more impactful career than the sixth-overall pick in the same draft? Bryant put on an absolute clinic when it came to rushing the passer, getting into the St. Louis backfield with ease. It’s unfortunate that one of his rushes ended the season of St. Louis quarterback Sam Bradford, but with two hurries and a hit on just 20 snaps, the highly scrutinized kid out of East Central looks like the real deal. Armonty Bryant appears to have the starting spot in the absence of Desmond Bryant, but the fall-off doesn’t look to be recognizable, if there is even one at all. Bryantâs 9.5 Pass Rushing Productivity is the fourth highest among 3-4 ends this preseason.
Who did we miss? Sound off in the comments.
36 Comments
LOSERS: Season ticket holders, whose resale value for games they can’t/don’t want to attend has plummeted yet again.
Loser: NFL Network. On two occassions I DVR’d what should have been the Browns game and got what wasn’t the Browns game. I still haven’t seen it. Ergo, I’m a loser, too. Wait . . . that didn’t come out the way I wanted it to.
Loser: Using “length” and “physicality” in the same paragraph. Mike Mayock called, and he’s looking for royalties. I put him on hold, so I bought some time, but he’ll likely only stay on the line until the combine.
Loser: my fantasy football team b/c it will be another season where I could care less about the NFL by week 6.
agree on Kirksey, he is forcing me to come around on him. he is very fluid in coverage and I hope that we can cover him up well enough when the other team runs right at him (which I suspect is coming).
Gilbert struggled and so did Bitonio. only fair that I mention that he had issues since I have been touting him. the Rams do have the NFL’s best DL, but I was hoping that wouldn’t bother him (it did). our whole OL looked much more disjointed in the run game in this one too.
another loser has to be our TEs. i was optimistic that we had a legitimate weapon (Cameron) and some other guys who could catch (Barnidge, Dray), but have seen very little of them this preseason.
WINNER: Offensive linemen on other teams’ upcoming roster cuts. The Browns will be holding a Second-Chance Dance in the next week, and plenty of good slots are still available.
LOSER: Browns receiving “corpse.” Not seeing a lot of “want to” out there.
WINNER: 2015 draft speculation. It’s starting to look like we’re going to have at least one really primo pick again next year.
LOSER: Quarterback controversy. This might be the first time in memory when no one really believes that the back-up is any better than the starter.
WINNER: Parking lot attendants. Making the Money Sign all over downtown.
LOSER: Gourmet food at the Factory. When I’m at a football game, I don’t want anything green in my sandwich.
WINNER: Gladiators’ fans. They saw a better game.
PERENNIAL LOSER: Whoever it is who thinks the turd pants are a good look. Will you please burn those things already?
WINNER: Gladiators’ fans. They saw a better game.
Losing by 40 points on their home field, are you sure?
Did you watch the Browns game? I did, and I’m sure.
Same here. I was on the couch Sunday morning with coffee only to find out the midnight taping was actually Ravens/Washington. Then last night same problem, different teams.
It’s only the preseason…
It’s only the preseason…
It’s only the preseason…
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_r8pvZUPNybc/S_PxWpJBxBI/AAAAAAAAAAU/Ty6WNPNG39A/s400/BartRocking.jpg
I saw both and they sucked equally.
15 years keep tradition alive!
LOSER: Sham. Takes my stupid little joke and analyzes the life out of it.
Pump da brakes old man you don’t want any of this believe that! đ
Losers: the fans and it’s only pre-season!
Yep. They’ve had this problem several years running. I don’t know why they even bother putting the teams in the description. Just put, “Preseason Football” and that way you stop f’ing everyone who wants to watch their crappy team perform crappily.
WINNER: I will kill the ball.
I think Justin Gilbert will be fine, given the technique and skills he’s flashing periodically. Some really good CBs start off looking iffy – Hanford Dixon in his first preseason comes to mind. Maybe one of his biggest problems is that practicing against this sorry offense and these sorrier receivers is not preparing him for games. And it’s going to get worse when he first experiences regular season intensity.
Armonty is showing that see? Sometimes you want to draft the small school Einstein who thinks it a good idea to sell drugs at the practice field. Lombardi giveth, Lombardi goeth away.
Winner – Gabriel? Could he make the team as a KR? Seems pretty small, but could be next man up if Benjamin gets hurt?
To top that off, I did the same thing, but durring the game, there were 3 games on for me… the ravens, redskins, and indy game. (I live in MD and I guess they wanted to air both home and away announcers for ravens/skins)
Same. It’s supposed to be on at 8 pm tonight. Anyone know the chances they actually show the game?
I heard they cancelled that showing already.
DVR’ed the exact two games and had the same issue. Brutal. Here’s hoping that third time is the charm for 8pm tonight.
just want to say, I know it’s an unpopular opinion, but I love the brown pants/white jerseys!
Well, I got one of my guys…Kirksey!
Spielman loves to say “See ball, get ball”. Kirksey makes it as simple as that.
He can be taught to tackle better.
yeah, I worry more about how easy he is to block and doesn’t separate or shuck the blocker, but these are things that a few magic beans that add 30lbs of muscle w/o losing speed can fix for 2015.
The game was so bad, they replaced the replay with the Colts/Saints game.
you are correct.
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it is an unpopular opinion
“Nutrition” đ
it’s the worst…what’s wrong with orange pants???
Which is weird, because you’d think the NFL would be showing the universe imploding wonderfulness of MICHAEL SAM SACKING JOHNNY FOOTBALL on a 24-hour loop.
Apparently this all comes from the Browns violating some NFL advertising rule in place for the preseason. NFL network was supposedly trying to get the rights to the Rams feed to air a replay. There’s an article on profootballtalk about it.
So thats the Clowns problem. Magic beans when they should be roided out of their minds.
Thats a really good point about practicing against that sorry offense.
steroids are so 1970s. i’ll bet HGH isn’t even the main one these days (other than for injury recovery). there’s probably 50 cocktails of things that even the NFL may not have heard of yet that the players are getting their hands on.
Let’s just say that I don’t think Lance Armstrong’s old team of chemists are desperate for work.
Winner: The Cavaliers, who will now draw all the sports-watching audience in the area, even on Sunday afternoons.
Burlesque is old school too but that doesn’t mean that it’s not making a strong comeback.