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August 15, 2016Indians prospect Francisco Mejia’s hitting streak ends at 50
August 15, 2016Are you ready for some football? If you watched the Cleveland Browns take to the field for the first time in the 2016 preseason, you may have been wondering if some of the guys in uniform were in fact ready.
The good news is it’s preseason, and while the tickets are overpriced and the quality of play is sub-par at best, this incarnation of the Browns is super young, super inexperienced and super raw—every snap they can get between now and the second week of September when the games start to count is worthwhile.
WINNER: Robert Griffin III
Playing his first snap of live football in over a year, Griffin stood in the pocket, took a hit and delivered a beautiful pass to a streaking Terrelle Pryor.
https://vine.co/v/5hddthuBunQ
Sure, he would go on to fumble a snap and make a few questionable decisions, but it was good to see this kid not just back on the field, but not looking pensive in doing so. When he wasn’t running the Browns offense, Griffin was on the sidelines working with Josh McCown. I know Twitter wants to release Griffin yesterday, but there were some solid takeaways from what was a very short outing.
LOSER: Robert Griffin III
This is a Cleveland Browns team that will need every point it can muster, which makes turnovers all the more painful. Factor in that Griffin’s first interception as a member of the Cleveland Browns came at the 1-yard line in the midst of what was shaping up to be one hell of a feel-good opening drive and, well—yeah.
https://vine.co/v/5hdpPlPudxY
WINNER: Hue Jackson
The Browns lost and there were moments when whomever was under center looked equally so, but Jackson pulled no punches when holding his players accountable for their mistakes. He was quick to point out that the first-quarter interception was Griffin’s fault and would say that Kessler’s (first) safety was no laughing matter.
LOSER: Cody Kessler
I guess when you thrown just two passes, one of which is a touchdown, you get to escape your first game with a quarterback rating of 137.5. I also presume Kessler would gladly trade a few points off this mark if it meant scrubbing the internet of the footage from the two safeties he took, the first of which was one of the more embarrassing moments this side of Brandon Weeden’s left-handed Frisbee toss.
https://vine.co/v/5hdj5hptjJb
Not to be outdone, here’s the other safety at the hands of Kessler. Make sure to pay special attention to the commentary that quickly goes from “high expectations” to “OHHHHH.”
https://vine.co/v/5hdjtDYbQxa
Kessler would say the double lines in the end zone threw him off a bit (which makes some sense), but the kid has to throw the ball away there. The second safety was just outright shock at how fast NFL players are compared to, say, Arkansas State or Idaho.
WINNERS: Carl Nassib, Emmanuel Ogbah and Joe Schobert
While we need to establish that it was only one game and not exactly against the creme de la creme of the Green Bay Packers, the duo of rookie defenders listed above looked fantastic. Both Nassib and Ogbah were tracking down ball carriers, and Nassib had back-to-back plays where he found himself in the Packers’ backfield. It’s crazy to think that this kid is still a lean 245 pounds. Schobert will get dinged for running into the kicker (more on this later), but his four tackles are also worth mentioning.
“They got after it the way you like to see young guys perform in the first preseason game,” said Jackson of his rookie defenders. “The fun part about watching [Ogbah] is he got tired at one time. I could tell he was very tired, and the next thing he is chasing the quarterback towards the sideline and getting him down. That’s impressive to me. That’s the way you have to play. That’s going to be Cleveland Browns football here in the near future. We all have to play that way. It’s going to be rough, tough, tired, hot, whatever all that is. He has got a find a way to go make a play and that’s what he did.”
LOSERS: Mike Patrick and Solomon Wilcots
Woefully underprepared and woefully overpaid, Browns fans deserve much more than what they received from the combination of Patrick and Wilcots. How many times did Mike Patrick need to fill time by reminding us that Cody Kessler was a third-round pick out of USC? And not seconds after Kessler entered that game and threw a touchdown pass to Rashard Higgins (more on him later), Wilcots went through his entire color commentary of the touchdown by assuming it was Josh McCown who threw the football. Add in that these two knuckleheads blamed Gary Barnidge for Griffin’s interception (only to have them be corrected by Hue Jackson), and it was a rough day for a duo that the team couldn’t *wait* to have celebrated in a press release.
WINNER: Jamie Meder
I have no way to prove this, but I feel like Meder makes an impact every time he’s on the field, even if it’s for limited snap totals. His sack/safety early in the contest was easily one of the bright spots for the Browns defense.
https://vine.co/v/5hdIrHVlWlQ
Add in that he’s from the Cleveland area and attended Ashland University and he and I are pretty much the same person, and I’m a winner, so…
LOSER: Chris Tabor
The Teflon Don strikes again. While the bone-headed moves of his special teams unit were not necessarily his fault (I mean, he didn’t draw up a fumble by Raheem Mostert), this Browns team can ill-afford to have momentum-shifting plays go against them on special teams. Had Schobert’s roughing the kicker been a play that occurred during a regular season game, it would’ve been brutal, but we can chalk it up to first-game jitters. If it were not for Andy Lee being a bad ass, the entire night of special teams play could’ve been gladly forgotten.
WINNER: Terrelle Pryor
Two points worth mentioning here:
1) The first-play snag by the former quarterback was textbook. In the NFL, you have to throw players open, and Pryor made all the necessary adjustments for what was a sensational catch.
2) He made a few mistakes as well and owned every single one of them, saying that he didn’t play well despite the play depicted above.
“It was a play,” said Pryor on Sunday. “It was a decent play. I’m more upset by the way I played on the other plays. I didn’t play too well and I just want to try to be better for my team, for the teammates that I have.”
That he also wants to improve his blocking speaks even more to the kid’s determination. Whether or not it will manifest into something productive remains to be seen, but the mindset is there.
WINNER: Rashard Higgins
Hollywood! Man, is it nice to have a 6-foot-2-inch wide receiver who can do this:
https://vine.co/v/5hdQndWpraZ
Kudos to Higgins for making the adjustment on the ball as it wasn’t thrown exactly where it was intended. The kid continues to look like the real deal, but will need to keep on making plays if he’s going to shine once Corey Coleman and Josh Gordon return to the field.
55 Comments
Well, those guys do great work, but I would be hard-pressed to state too emphatically where someone is supposed to be. From the rare glimpses into NFL offenses (such as Palmer’s last year for MMQB), there are reads upon reads that both QB & WR need to make on-the-fly. So, seeing as two defenders camped to that spot and a third in the area…Barnidge might have made the proper route adjustment.
Podcasts. He wanted more Podcasts and Sashi drew the line.
i agree. QB always takes the blame.
This could go on forever.
Yeah I agree, that is certainly the bigger issue here. Taking a risk when a risk isn’t needed. And yet, Brett Farrrrrvrrrrrrre!