Browns Preseason Game 2: Winners and Losers
August 19, 2014Making the cases for Johnny Manziel or Brian Hoyer as starter
August 19, 2014
Happy Tuesday WFNY!
Why did the Browns even have a QB competition? I found myself thinking about that question this morning. Perhaps a good deal of it is hindsight, in having seen a couple of preseason games now, but Johnny Manziel doesn’t look like a QB who is ready for the NFL right now.
Which of course doesn’t mean he won’t eventually be ready. Or that he won’t eventually be a star for his on-field performance and not just his off-field antics. But when the Cleveland Browns selected Manziel in the draft, why did that entitle him to compete for the starting job day one?
It’s not even that Brian Hoyer is an established starting NFL quarterback. He is anything but that, with only three career starts to his name. But Hoyer has been around the NFL for a few years. He’s at least used to the speed of the game, the routine of weekly preparation, and understanding what needs to go into pre-snap reads at this level.
I think above anything else this morning, I find myself mostly disappointed in how poorly Hoyer has looked this preseason. I’m disheartened in general with the offense. But last season, in his limited sample size, Hoyer at least made good, decisive reads and got the ball out of the pocket in a timely manner and showed pretty decent accuracy. So far this preseason, he has looked so much more unsure of himself. It seems, from the outside looking in, like the competition with Manziel has really affected Hoyer. I know a lot of people wanted Manziel to be the starter, but I wanted Hoyer to grab ahold of the starting job and hang onto it for most, if not all, of this season. Unfortunately for both Hoyer and the Browns, that hasn’t happened at all.
The problem the Browns face is that neither guy looks like they’re ready for Week One. I’ve felt all along that a tie between the two QBs would go to Hoyer. Some of the things I’ve seen and heard over the last few weeks had me questioning that. I’ve felt recently like the Browns were giving Manziel every chance to just take the job. But he’s fallen short, too. So now, who’s the starter? Now I’m leaning toward Hoyer getting the nod. Hopefully that would clear his head and allow him to get back to playing at least at an average level like he was last season. If he doesn’t break out of this funk, though, I think his tenure as starting QB will be a short one and we’ll be seeing Johnny Football before we know it. For better or worse.
*****
A bad night for Ohio QBs
As though sitting through a penalty-riddled preseason game in which your team’s two best hopes at QB completely falter isn’t bad enough, during the game we also got word that Ohio State QB Braxton Miller hurt his already ailing shoulder in practice last evening. Braxton initially hurt his shoulder in the Orange Bowl against Clemson last year, requiring him to have off season surgery. Unfortunately, the repaired shoulder was still bothering Braxton all summer and after throwing a downfield pass in a 7-on-7 drill, the shoulder finally gave out.
This is the ultimate gut punch for the Buckeyes who, with an incredibly weak schedule, were eyeing a run at the new NCAA playoff. Barring a Friday Night Lights-esque miracle run, those hopes are now shattered. JT Barrett will now have to do his best to channel his inner Matt Saracen and lead a team shaken to their core over the loss of the two-time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year (an award only Braxton and Purdue’s Drew Brees have won multiple times).
Speaking purely as a fan, this is one of toughest things to happen to Ohio State in my lifetime. It really feels like the season is over before it even started. If something like this had to happen, you wish it could have happened last season when Kenny Guiton was still around to take over. This is nothing against JT Barrett (or Cardale Jones, should he wind up the starter at some point this season), but Guiton was incredibly experienced and had a phenomenal grasp on the offense. I don’t know what happens now, but with Carlos Hyde in the NFL and Braxton sidelined, the Buckeyes have to replace like 99% of their offense from last season (that percentage is not the real one, just an exaggeration). There will be growing pains with a Freshman QB. We saw it with Terrelle Pryor and Braxton Miller, and I fully expect we’ll see it with JT Barrett.
The good thing for OSU fans is that thanks to parity-less Big Ten conference, the Buckeyes will still be favored in most of their games and they should have enough talent from top to bottom to win a bunch of games and to go to a bowl game. It’s just a bitter pill when this season had higher hopes. Unless Barrett is better than anyone could imagine, the dream of an undefeated season sure feels like it’s now over.
*****
The most overrated Cavalier?
As always, I feel the need to preface this by saying that I’m glad the Cavaliers signed Shawn Marion. I think he can possibly help this season. However, after reading a few reaction pieces, some of which were particularly inaccurate (Marion a career 49% shooter from three? I think not. Try 33%), I feel like we need to slow down a little bit with Marion.
We saw a similar thing happen last year with Jarrett Jack. Now, Marion is a much better player than Jack, so it’s not apples to apples, but last year the Jack signing was so overhyped by Cavs fans, including yours truly (although I did at least recognize before the season that we were over-hyping him). I hope fans can keep expectations with Marion somewhat tempered.
Marion fits an obvious need for the Cavaliers with his ability to defend wings and to fit in small lineups for the Cavs. He’s been a fairly durable, steady, reliable player for a long time. But that last part is the kicker. For a long time. He’s been around the block a few times and has logged a lot of career minutes.
Marion wasn’t brought here to be a shooter, although he has actually improved his three-point shooting in each of the last three seasons. Instead, he’s always been a guy capable of scoring without being the focal point of an offense, which is ideal in Cleveland. He brings playoff experience and veteran leadership. It’s a good signing for the Cavaliers. But at 35 years old, I just want Cavs fans to be aware that this is not the same Shawn Marion you remember from his days with the “Seven Seconds or Less” Phoenix Suns.
*****
New music Tuesday
Finally, we end this WWW as we do every Tuesday with my selection for best new album of the week.
My choice this week is a no-brainer and one of my more anticipated albums of the month: Benjamin Booker’s self-titled debut album. Booker is a New Orleans-based blues/soul/rock musician.
Modern blues music is a funny thing. For a while, it felt like blues music was a dying art form. When I was in high school, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Johnny Lang were a couple younger musicians playing some decent blues music, but it’s just been hard for me to find blue artists that I can connect with.
Enter Benjamin Booker. His intensity and fire on stage, in his vocal delivery, and in his frantic guitar playing is everything I’ve been looking for in this kind of music. He brings almost a punk rock edge to his New Orleans-style blues.
The whole album is really, really good for people who enjoy an eclectic brand of music that brings in a multitude of styles and genres and blends them seamlessly.
*****
That’s all I have this week. Hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week!
30 Comments
I would probably feel a little more optimistic if Hoyer and Manziel looked awful against the Seattle Seahawks or Houston Texans defense, but they looked completely inept against what is likely a bottom 5 defense. The first-team offensive line didn’t do Hoyer any favors with an early snap and false start on their first two plays, but when given a clean pocket, neither Hoyer nor Manziel could make an accurate throw. Johnny got going a bit in the second half, but that was against 2nd/3rd string players. The Redskins also seemed to know what the key is to defeating Manziel: bring pressure up the gaps so he has nowhere to run. When forced to make a hot throw, Manziel stunk up the joint. I know that he’s a rookie and that he will undoubtedly get better, but it was just a bit disappointing knowing that completing passes under pressure was something that he actually did well in college.
I really have no clue how Pettine can name a starter after that game. Neither QB showed that they were up to the challenge. I guess I would go with Hoyer for the first three games and reevaluate at the bye week… I think the Steelers, Saints, and Ravens defenses would eat Manziel alive right now.
Any support for the notion that the Buckeyes team is “shaken to their core”? Seems a little extreme, particularly for a “next man up” program like OSU.
I don’t share the gloom. It’s always bad when your best player goes down, but this is still the college game, and the OSU QBs were all recruited (or at least trained) to fit this system. A frosh QB actually can succeed on a really good team. As you mentioned, both Pryor and Miller did it, despite growing pains. The fact that Barrett passed Jones on the depth chart is a good thing. It means he’s got a grasp for the system – and he was a 4-star recruit. It may not be the year we were hoping for, but it may still be. I honestly think we’ll be fine, and Braxton might be back when it matters.
I feel worse for Braxton than I do for the Buckeyes (or the fans). I really think he had a shot at the Heisman.
Hoyer looks like he knows what he’s doing but doesn’t have the skill set to really do it. Manziel looks like he has the skill set to do it but has no clue what he’s doing.
On that basis, I’d rather sit Manziel and hope Hoyer can regain some timing with full reps with the starters and hope it’s just half decent until Johnny gets a clue out there sometime down the road.
Ugh. Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh.
The Browns had a QB competition because competition lets the cream rise to the top assuming there is cream to rise. Both fight for their spots and you need someone so sure they are the correct guy that it won’t matter someone is gunning for their job too. The issue with our QB competitions in the past is that neither QB was good enough. I hope that isn’t the issue this time around.
Example: Seattle had a QB competition between Russell Wilson and Matt Flynn his rookie year. That guy was a 3rd round QB and he took the job from the $10mil/year FA signed QB. He won the job and never looked back (though guys like Lombardi were calling him to be benched after his first few starts). That’s what we need one of these guys to do.
I go back and forth between that and that we might need JFF’s legs just to pick up a few 1st downs. Man, we really, really need to be able to run the ball.
Oh, and how about that Shaw pass. No, not the fluttery Hail Mary pass that we got a nice volleyball set/tip and catch on. The 15yd in-route that he stepped into and fired a laser to Krause for the 1st down a couple plays earlier. Best throw of the night IMO.
and, if Miller proved he was making reliable reads this season, he was a likely 1st round pick. now, he has no proof (one way or the other). sad day for Miller.
I agree with you on the program though. We out-recruit the entire conference, so, other than Sparty, we should be favored in every single game and we should have a chance to win. Maybe we only win 10 games or *gasp* 9 games, but that’s why I can never get too worked up over college football. 9-3 being a terrible year.
Shaw looked good…so did McCoy hahaha. I would like to see Shaw make it as the 3rd QB over Rex
Barrett is the first Meyer recruited QB as well…
I know, and thankfully that has been something that has looked really good through the first two preseason games. Tate and West should be a formidable 1-2 punch (h/t to Bitonio for shoring up left guard). Given Shanahan’s track record for running the ball, I think this part of our offense should be reliable. However you still need your QB to pick up 3rd downs with his arm, and that’s where I’m nervous. It seemed like no matter who was throwing the ball, Hoyer or Manziel, they both looked like they were falling back on their heels every time. My guess is you won’t complete many passes that way.
McCoy looked good… except for his interception throw 🙂 He had no clue that Leonhard was charging hard. Tunnel-vision Colt, per the norm.
I guess that’s true. I just feel like in this case the cream has fallen to the bottom. The competition seems to have really gotten in Hoyer’s head and made him worse, and I don’t feel like the pressure is helping Manziel either. In this case, I think it would have been better for all parties if the Browns had just said Hoyer is the guy and he’s going to be the starting QB this season.
If you later have to go back on that because Manziel so overwhelmingly outplayed Hoyer in practice, camp, and preseason, then so be it.
Beat the scrubs and win The Game, and I’m content given the circumstances. Maybe Sparty gets us again, and PSU pushes us further than they might have otherwise. But 9 or 10 wins is still possible. It’s just quite disappointing to have a greatly reduced shot at the playoffs, and missing out on what could have been from Braxton.
I’m excited for Barrett to get acquainted with a Bud Foster defense in only his second game 🙂 Unfortunately, the Buckeye defense will absolutely dominate VT’s offense. We don’t really have a valid option at QB this season. Looking forward to a baseball game score in this one.
If Barrett can beat the VT defense, I’ll certaily have far fewer concerns going forward. I just hope our defense is good enough to ensure that baseball score you foretell. I’m not convinced.
PSU’s offense could be really good this year (best QB in the conference, now), which is not good for the OSU defense – unless they fixed it. Please tell me they fixed it.
the cream has curdled.
I believe Fickell is a part-DC in name only as a nod to him taking it on the chin for 1 year for the program. That alone should improve the D.
Hoping that Beamerball does not return on STs this year.
That side of the ball *should* be solid for VT, but you never know until they play the games. The Fuller Tree bares fruit for the last time with Kendall Fuller as a solid candidate for the Jim Thorpe award, and Facyson on the other side isn’t much of an easier draw. I’m not sure what the linebacking corps will offer though.
Don’t worry, Beamerball (as it applies to special teams) has been dead for years. I don’t anticipate a return.
Really hope you’re right. That way, he can get the credit if the D performs well, and then find his way to a HC position – thus giving us an easy out for separating from him.
just need a desperate MAC team that wants a big-name Buckeye coach to help recruiting.
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I can’t believe you used that gif. I’ve been holding on to the same one for weeks, looking for an opportunity to use it.
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I know, but you’d think after years of not having an offense he would push for it again.
Agree. Gruden kept saying that Shanahan’s offense was very complicated. If true, then why was our coaching staff splitting reps between 2 guys instead of getting Hoyer prepared? I attribute Hoyer’s poor showings to the fact that he has not gotten the work in that he needs. From this point forward, he needs to get all the first team snaps. Let Johnny sit and learn. There is absolutely no reason to rush him. If Hoyer fails part way through the season, then Johnny gets his chance.
Yeah, unfortunately (for me) I don’t think think that is due to a lack of trying. I think Beamer would very much like to get back to his old ways of blocking punts/kicks and scoring on special teams, but whatever advantage he once had seems to be gone.
I, too, have had it marked for use for some time. To be honest, this wasn’t the perfect context for it, but 1) it was similar to my actual physical reaction to your question about defensive improvement, and 2) after the various soul stomps the game of football provided yesterday, I needed the laugh this gif provides me. Personally, I’m all for it making repeated appearances.
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