Kyrie Irving hints at release dates for Nike Basketball’s Kyrie 3
October 13, 2016Buckeyes release amazing trailer for primetime game at Wisconsin
October 14, 2016Fresh off a self-esteem crushing loss to the New England Patriots, the Cleveland Browns (0-5) take a drive down I-71 for a date with the Tennessee Titans (2-3) Sunday afternoon. Cleveland’s rusty quarterback carousel continues to twirl, wobbling on its axis and threatening to hurl its passengers into a nearby lake. Tennessee meanwhile, has a young stud behind center, but lacks the makings of a complete team. Here’s what to look for and what to know before the contest kicks off:
Are the Browns favored?
You’re funny. No, for the fifth straight week Las Vegas expects the Browns to lose; this week they enter as a seven-point underdog. It certainly does not help the Browns odds that they are on the road, but so far the Titans have not taken the league by storm either. Overall the line seems fair.
All-Time Series
The Browns are 35-28 against the Tennessee Titans/Houston Oilers in the club’s history. Since Cleveland’s return to the leagle in 1999, the Orange and Brown are 5-8 against the Music City Boys; for three seasons they both occupied the AFC Central Division. These teams met last season and Cleveland took home a 28-14 win. Travis Benjamin accounted for three touchdowns (two receiving and one housed punt) and Isaiah Crowell found the end zone as well. Coupled with 2014’s astounding Brian Hoyer-engineered comeback means the Browns have an honest to goodness winning streak against a real live NFL opponent. How about that?
Familiar Faces
Before becoming Titans, these young men played their college ball in Ohio.
• Brett Kern (P) – Toledo: A ninth-year player out of Toledo, Kern earned third-team All-American honors as a Rocket. His senior year he was also named Mid-American Conference special teams player of the year. After a two-year stint with Denver, Kern joined Tennessee and found a home. He is currently playing on a handsome five-year, $15 million contract.
• Josh Kline (G) – Kent State: A Mason, OH native, Kline played for New England from 2013 until early this season. He earned second-team all-MAC honors as a senior Golden Flash.
The Titans began the season by dropping a home game to Minnesota. They proceeded to win on the road in Detroit then dropped back-to-back games to the Raiders and Texans. Last week, the Titans managed a win at Miami and sit a game out of first place in a crowded AFC South. The 24th-ranked offense is led by second-year quarterback Marcus Mariota. The Oregon product appears to be mired in a sophomore slump with 100-of-165 completions, 1,088 yards passing, seven touchdowns, and five interceptions. His 54.47 QBR is a step backwards from his season-long 61.01 QBR of 2015. Despite some early struggles, Mariota looked sharp as a tack last week with three passing touchdowns and 163 passing yards. DeMarco Murray spearheads the ground game to the tune of 461 yards and three touchdowns in this first five games. The Titan defense is tenth in the league for both points allowed (101) and yards allowed (1,603). A creaky Browns offensive line will also have to grapple with defensive end Brian Orakpo, who already has six sacks in 2016.
A few weeks ago I introduced the holy and noble mission of #16in16. It was a humble plea asking Browns Coach Hue Jackson to employ sixteen quarterbacks during the 2016 season’s sixteen games. So far we are right on pace. In the first five losses, Robert Griffin III, Josh McCown, Cody Kessler, Terrelle Pryor, and Charlie Whitehurst have all stepped under center for Cleveland. After last week’s game, Jackson took the necessary steps to keep the streak alive, cutting Charlie Whitehurst (he did his job) and signing rookie Kevin Hogan from the practice squad. With both Kessler and McCown nursing injuries, Hogan is listed as second on the depth chart, but I think he deserves to see the field. After all, this is a man whose player page on the Browns official site lacks both a picture of him and any relevant data. We need to see what the Stanford product is made of. At the very least to see what he looks like.
So, with an eye on the 2017 NFL Draft, do the Browns actually want to win this game? This week actually may be a compelling case to try hard. As part of a series of swaps before this year’s draft, Tennessee promised Cleveland their 2017 second-round selection. Therefore, a Tennessee loss here, and by default a Browns win, would in fact net some positive long term results for Cleveland. So I would say a win would certainly not be discouraged on Sunday. Hell, I would settle for a tie.
34 Comments
That photo of Hogan is better than the one of him wearing a Chiefs uniform the team has been using in communications. Apparently, taking a Photo ID is incredibly difficult for the Browns.
This will be their first W. Mark it down! Kessler will be the talk of the game as his intelligence will be firmly on display and his physical tools more than adequate to complete the task at hand. The D will handle their run game forcing them to pass more than desired and we will finally put up a respectable showing against their TEs with no fear of any burners on the outside.
http://media1.giphy.com/media/12xvz9NssSkaS4/giphy.gif
Maybe he refuses to pose for a picture in a Browns uni. Who knows, he might be demanding that any game photos of him must have his face blurred out or a black bar over his eyes.
Ok, since we didn’t have a WWW yesterday, I’ll go ahead and throw this out, right here…
Who in the blue blazes thought bringing in Art Briles was a good idea?!?!
Really, Browns? REALLY!
Aside from the fact that his system is inherently collegiate AND his old college QB will most likely (hopefully…) never play a down for us again, his brand is toxic.
Karma is planning vile things for us, now. (watch your butt, Tribe…)
STUPID BROWNS!!
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Meanwhile, deep in the bowels of the Berea practice facility…
Hue: Hey, Cody, good news! Bitonio may be out, but Erving is back at center!
Cody:
https://media.giphy.com/media/l2YWA6DdmkcJplQwE/giphy.gif
Great idea to ask him questions about offensive football. But, on the phone without ever admitting such and give him a quiet recommendation if/when he goes for new jobs in the future.
Letting him walk around and be photo’d with everybody? Again (remember, they did this in Training Camp too). It’s bad. Dumb. No reason for it.
Don’t drag the Tribe into the Browns cesspool.
Along these lines, what in the Sam Hell is going on with SColeman?
Hue:
OK, Bitonio’s out, so here’s what we’re going to do. Move Greco from RG (where he’s good) to C (where he’s marginal), put in Bailey at RG (ugh) and insert Cam Erving at LG.
I know, sounds not good. But, when the Titans load up to stop the run; jokes on them. How are we going to run the ball with that interior OL? LOL.
Josh Gordon was there too … more bad Karma. a lady caller called into the “Red Zone” last night & was going off on the Browns for bringing him him.
sure , the guy has a brilliant offensive mind … but , it’s just not worth the aggravation.
uptick for mentioning Toledo / Toledo Rockets !!
I think they may be considering Greco back to his original LG spot w/Erving back to C and Bailey at RG. I wish they’d bite the rookie bullet and get Coleman in at RT so he could work through the same crap the other rookies are during this “throw away” season and put Pasztor back at his natural RG spot where he is much more capable than tackle. Greco and Thomas working side by side could actually produce results. Erving still has a crazy high ceiling and I would keep him starting at C for the rest of this season to see if any light bulbs come on and/or development ensues through the remainder of the schedule.
That lineup is a ringing endorsement for Care Bear…
Remove him from C, the one position they thought he would be good at, and hide him at LG, where hopefully JT can minimize his damage.
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i would imagine , for this week it would be LT thomas , LG bailey , C erving , RG greco , RT pasztor
i don’t think they’ll put Erving at either G position.
Hogan is more mobile than Kessler, which may come in handy after Cody is stretchered off the field…
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Agreed. It was really stupid. Maybe in a few years when this stuff fades out of the news cycle, but things are STILL going on. Briles is untouchable right now.
Agreed. It was really stupid. Maybe in a few years when this stuff fades out of the news cycle, but things are STILL going on. Briles is untouchable right now.
I will be sad if the Browns lose to THIS guy:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/2f562acd3b676e854f214778b2a518856d2cc34ff7cde5f893143ca060378238.jpg
he can do it … will they let him ?? https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a0f8e541e3cc32a27929cc1b1296dd7c48673e06cb33aded6512798166e40334.jpg
http://i1312.photobucket.com/albums/t525/shannon_mcnally1/thats-unpossible_zps2sw3n1fv.png
Am I the only one who got the feeling that both Florida and LSU were happy to to not play each other, because they were secretly trying to avoid taking a loss?
$EC.
damn , i had some video of Kessler throwing deep while he was at USC … he can do it , i swear.
These are the deepest I could find…
https://www.profootballfocus.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/kessler-smith-3-353.gif
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/wF9FyfCTPr8NQQZvhDmK8CBWrhm-X0q5lboiTDwcYVrl2OakVNLafGt1e6eDBZpBlUME6ls7IyK8mIQSknipPSBqwpUvcwVAG6umakgBFq5gEFXxBOsRn-HbZ3W3uj5Y
thank you very much !! … in the game against Notre Dame in 2014 when he threw 6 td’s , his first td to Farmer was a bomb down the right sideline … very nice & right on the money..
I mean, there wasn’t any velocity on it, but it’s not bad!
Hue likes his LG to pull, so unless he’s swapping assignments, I don’t think Bailey can be LG
Better than Sieman’s non-hail-mary
wasn’t LG Bailey’s normal spot before he came to the Browns ?
it is about the offense being played though — as noted, Hue likes his LG to pull, which isn’t Bailey’s strength. I trust Jackson to either adjust the offense or position for the OL though.
What’s the deal with Coleman anyway?
hi RGB … they rescheduled the game , didn’t they ??
Yes. Only after Sankey told them they had to do it.