What LeBron Can Teach Us About Eric Mangini
August 16, 2010Cleveland Awaits Return of Montario Hardesty
August 16, 2010Well, as we pointed out on Friday, this game doesn’t carry a ton of meaning going forward, but after sitting and watching the whole game Saturday night, a few things became clear to me that I can actually apply to the rest of the Browns’ pre-season and beyond.
So, without beating around the bush, here we go…
What Did I Learn Saturday Night?
The Good
The Browns have improved at the QB position.
Jake Delhomme—and even Seneca Wallace—looked far more comfortable that any combination of Brady Quinn or Derek Anderson looked last year. Delhomme looked like a quarterback that knew his offense, knew what he was supposed to be doing, and made plenty of smart decisions. There were no two-yard check-downs! I liked that he audibled some protections, and that there was really only one pass he three that made me cringe even a little. Delhomme may not ever be as good again as he once was in Carolina, but he didn’t look nearly as bad as he was last year. More importantly, he looked much better than DA or BQ looked at any time last year. There wasn’t a huge drop-off when Seneca Wallace made his way into the game, and though he had a bit of a rougher go at times than did Delhomme, the third down touchdown pass to Robiskie was a frickin’ laser beam, and the play he set up with Ben Watson for his second TD pass was perfectly executed. And we haven’t even seen the Wildcat/Flash/Cyclone (whatever it’s called) package yet. 🙂
The O-line looks solid.
The Browns gave up one sack the entire night, and it was early in the second quarter when the starters were not in the game anymore. I don’t remember Delhomme ever really being rushed or pressured. The Browns didn’t rush as much as I would have liked (22 carries for 85 yards; 3.9 ypc), and perhaps didn’t do as well as we would have liked there, but it’s also important to remember that Green Bay’s rushing defense was the best in the league last season at 83.3 yards-allowed per game. The Browns came out with a gameplan that looked to attack the less-successful defensive unit of the Packers (relatively speaking, as the Packers were fifth in the league in passing yards allowed as well), and for its part the starting offensive line executed that plan to perfection. Also, how about this: on the night, NO HOLDING OR FALSE START PENALTIES on the Browns’ offensive linemen.
Evan Moore is going to surprise a lot of people this year.
I know two catches for 24 yards does not a season/career make, but I described him to a co-worker this morning as the “homeless man’s Kellen Winslow”. Sure, Moore’s not much of a blocker, but he catches EVERYTHING. He split out wide a couple of times Saturday night. He was open. Unlike Robert Royal And His Stone Hands, Moore can be counted on to make the tough catch, and he’s a big enough target to go to in important situations. With Ben Watson playing the more “prototypical” tight end spot at the end of the o-line, a guy like Moore gives them flexibility to spread out, or to move him into the back field, or put him in motion, and to ultimately give the linebackers one more thing to think about. And more importantly, it gives Delhomme confidence that there’s one more guy to throw to who will almost always catch the ball.
Ahtyba Rubin is ready to be the every-day NT.
After seeing the way Rubin played down the stretch following the injury to Shaun Rogers, and then seeing him hold his block while knocking the ball away from Ryan Grant on Green Bay’s first offensive play from scrimmage last night, I’m convinced that Rubin can be the fundamentally solid every-day nose tackle for this team. I know that it’s more likely that Shaun Rogers (pending any suspensions and/or injury issues) will be penciled in as the starter, but I think Rubin plays the position much more “by the book” which would free Rogers up to be a hybrid NT/DE kind of guy for this team, creating havoc wherever he lines up. I personally believe it would benefit the Browns’ defensive line to have Rubin anchoring the middle and then being able to have Rogers line up any and everywhere to do what he does: blow up the lineman/men in front of him. Rogers is someone the o-line has to account for on every play, and Rubin at the nose would allow Rob Ryan to make them have to account for Rogers in multiple places, making the d-line unit that much more dynamic and dangerous.
TJ Ward looks like he could be a difference maker…
…with a little polish. He was all around the ball for most of the time he was there. He flies around. He’s not afraid to get in there and make a play. I didn’t think he was *horrible* in coverage. Ward led the team in tackles (nine), and showed a nose for the ball. My only gripes with Ward were his lack of ability/desire to wrap up when tackling, and his rawness in coverage. I’ll give him credit for staying with Greg Jennings for the most part on the TD pass, but Ward face guarded him the whole way into the endzone and never even turned to look for the ball. Also of note was Ward’s hit on Green Bay fullback John Kuhn where Kuhn basically absorbed the attempt to hit him to the ground, spun off of it, and dove into the end zone. Again, I like Ward’s instincts; I just want less kill-shot attempts and more sound tackling. More on Ward in a minute…
Marcus Benard is going to make this team.
Not only did Benard have a sack, but he made eight tackles as well (second on the team for the night). When he was in there, he was everywhere. I know he’s further down the depth chart, so his competition wasn’t quite as stiff. But still, he left an impression on me, and I remember seeing him making plays all over the place. There are so many linebackers on this team, some of them are probably going to have to get cut. I don’t think Benard will be one of them getting the axe.
Phil Dawson looks healthy.
I don’t need to go into too much detail if you watched the game. Suffice it to say: hooray for no more Billy Cundiff!
The Bad
This secondary is still a HUGE work in progress.
A few things here. First and foremost is that Eric Wright didn’t play in this game. Second and secondmost, sending your secondary out there with two rookies starting against a passing attack like the Packers’—all while your defensive coordinator elects to blitz roughly 36 plays in a row—is a big-time trial by fire. Joe Haden looked overmatched, but honestly did we expect him to go out and shut down Donald Driver and/or Greg Jennings? I know I didn’t. It’s hard to evaluate Sheldon Brown, because Aaron Rodgers picked on Haden early and often. TJ Ward looked good, as we noted above, but he struggled at times in coverage. Don’t get me wrong, this was also not unexpected. I would like to see Ward learn to read receivers to know when to look for the ball (and Haden was victimized there a couple of times, as well). I think Ward could have made a play on the TD pass to Jennings if he’d known to turn and look for the ball. It will be interesting to see how things go against more middle-of-the-road passing attacks WITH Eric Wright in the lineup.
There is still not a ton of pressure on the QB despite all the blitzing.
In fairness, Green Bay’s offensive line is pretty solid, and their offense is/was clicking on all cylinders. It will be interesting to see how this continues to develop against a team like the Rams this weekend, considering Sam Bradford’s debut including him getting sacked early and often. The Browns were routinely sending blitz packages from all over the field, and Cleveland had just one sack on the night by Marcus Benard, who clearly was not playing with the first team. The secondary is going to continue to struggle if the defense can’t get pressure the QB, especially when blitzing and leaving the DBs on an island.
Chris Jennings is the odd man out at RB.
I think most of us could have predicted this, but his three carries for two yards certainly don’t help his cause. His first carry went for negative-five yards and included a lot of dancing in the backfield. You could see it on his face as he went to the sideline after that first carry. It was almost like he knew that he was already on the outside looking in, had tried to do too much to impress, and it backfired. He could tell. I think he’ll end up on the practice squad this year, and with injuries being what they are for RBs… who knows?
Colt McCoy needs to sit for at least this whole season, if not for two.
The improved QB play from both Jake Delohomme and Seneca Wallace should give every Browns fans a chance to breathe a sigh of relief that there’s no real rush on Colt McCoy, hand injury notwithstanding. McCoy looked flustered, rushed, and made some questionable throws. The INT toward the end of the first half was a killer, and was about as poorly a thrown ball as we saw all night from either team (I give him a tiny pass on the second INT, since his hand got smashed by his right tackle’s helmet). I like his athleticism in scrambling for a couple of first downs, but as Bernie aptly pointed out, that’s not something I want him doing all the time. It’s early for McCoy still, but nothing I saw Saturday night gave me any confidence in his ability to play this year. And in the end, that may not be a bad thing, since the last thing this team needs is more QB drama.
In the end, what did I really learn? Probably not much. One game—and, really, one quarter with the starters playing—does not a pre- or regular-season make. But, there were definitely some encouraging signs as well as some tell-tale ones. It will also be quite interesting to see the Browns go up against the Rams this weekend, considering the theoretical drop-off in talent in the opposition.
————————————
Photo Credits:
Harrison TD – Tom Dahlin/Getty Images
Jake Delhomme – AP Photo/Jim Prisching
Ahtyba Rubin, Phil Dawson, Colt McCoy – AP Photo/Mike Roemer
24 Comments
Re: only one sack on Rodgers it should also be noted that he was getting rid of the ball REAL quick. There were a couple of plays in the first quarter where he was a couple of steps from taking a sack but found open receivers slicing through the middle.
Agree on Rubin, I liked him all last year at nose. Rogers would be a beast at end.
Lavao looks pretty good at RG, so hopefully if Womack is ready to go against the Rams he can take the RT spot. It’d be even better if we could see Pashos there for a few reps.
You didn’t mention Haden’s almost-interception. He had a catchable ball and just whiffed.
I have a full-on mancrush for Ward and Bernard.
“(I give him a tiny pass on the second INT, since his hand got smashed by his right tackle’s helmet)”
That was after the ball left his hand. That INT was just as bad as the first one. The corner absolutly baited him into making that awful throw.
That’s why it’s a “tiny” pass, JK. In fairness, though, go out and throw a football twice. On the first one, follow through all the way. On the second, stop short as if your hand is hitting something. I’m guessing they won’t both go the same distance with the same velocity.
Im in just about total agreement here. Ive been sayin Rubin should start since the end of last season. The D overall just played better with him in there. and you made a great point for Rogers playing elsewhere.
The D definitely needs to work on the blitzing and disguising them or sending it from different places or something. Good thing is they have plenty of time to work on it and have it become more second nature. I think the DBs will be fine once the pass rush/blitz scheme gets worked out, though Haden showed he’s the 3rd guy right now.
DP – Umm.. No. You’re wrong. If you don’t know your hand is going to stop and the ball is already out of your hand, it wouldn’t matter at all. If you don’t follow through intentionally then, yes, it would make a difference. But not in this case.
thread jack, sorry DP./
the wfny guys are not running a traditional fantasy league this year. so if anyone wants to hop in a league with other posters from around here… here is one option.
http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com/f1/register/tos?league_id=207322&password=wfny
20 teams
2 divisions
live auction draft Sun Aug 29 7:00pm EDT
head-to-head
/end thread jack
Just curious–I think Mangini said in his post-game press conference that Ward wasn’t supposed to look for the ball on the Jennings TD. In other words, he played it correctly and was just beaten by an excellent throw. Is there some difference of opinion out there on the proper way to cover in that situation, or was Mangini just covering for Ward?
I hope I learned that the brown pants are history!
In looking at it again, you’re probably right that it was more that he couldn’t really step all the way into it because of the lineman than it was him hitting his hand. So, my bad on that one.
Either way, it was a bad, bad throw.
great to see Rubin making a difference. Remember he was the 6th rounder we got in the trade that allowed the Ratbirds to move ahead of us and get Halota Ngata while we took Wimbley. At the time, Savage made himself sound like a genius for getting a top flight OLB and a diamond in the rough NT while all Bmore got was the NT. Looks like he may prove himself half-right
I wouldn’t worry too much about the bland blitzes on Saturday. We all know from the last few games last year that Ryan has more in his playbook than that. He’s probably working them in slowly and/or seeing what Gocong, Fujita, Haden and Ward can do in a vanilla scheme before taking it up a notch.
“Green Bay’s offensive line is pretty solid”
I totally disagree, they tied for the most sacks on their QB last year and haven’t improved their line in the off season… we should’ve been getting more pressure, no excuses against a lack luster line. Rodgers was slinging it early and quickly for the most part, but when he wasn’t we still didn’t get the necessary pressure for this defense to have a chance.
The part about Robert Royal’s stone hands gave me a nice chuckle. It’s about time someone else other than me said that.
when robert royal is cut, is that it for the kokinos legacy? or was st. clair one of his too?
Nice summary of an encouraging night…need much of it after our July, right?
The only thing I would say is regarding TJ Ward. I agree that he is going after the ‘big hit’ and needs to make sure he tackles more soundly. With that being said though, you have to admit he did a great job wrapping up Donald Driver on that short dumpoff pass.
I doubt Royal’s going to get cut, since he’s literally the only TE on the roster with any kind of blocking chops at all. And, without Quinn here to throw him the ball 36 times a game, perhaps his drops will, err, drop, simply because of opportunities-lost.
“Is there some difference of opinion out there on the proper way to cover in that situation, or was Mangini just covering for Ward?”
I’m not sure. I do know that Haden was on the CB blitz, so Mangini should’ve known that a QB of Rogers’ skillset would know to attack the safety. Ward, though he didn’t exactly play the ball, did a decent job of keeping up with Jennings – it was just a great throw/catch. Not many strong safeties in the NFL would’ve stopped that play.
EXCEPT TAYLOR MAYS!!!
Come on, Scott. Earl Little would have stopped it. And then showed you his grade sheets to prove it.
Jake looked poised but GB wasn’t blitzing and I want to see what he does under pressure (when he was forcing the ball last year)
Harrison up the middle doesn’t make me very happy, but he was doing a better job getting some push on those runs rather than going down on first contact.
Hillis is a beast. My goodness he seems like a Mangini-player allright.
Ward was running around like a chicken with it’s head cut off, but in a good way. We’re going to need him to do that with a little more discipline, but I like rookies that are willing to make aggressive mistakes rather than passive ones.
don’t run at Rubin. don’t even try. ask Grant or Jackson what happens if you do that anyways.
our LBs are slow. we really need D’Qwell to come back healthy to get some speed in there.
Haden looked fine, kept everything in front of him and made a couple nice stops.
AJ Hawk is terrible. I thought maybe the transition to 3-4 hurt him last year, but we were just picking on him.
Have you been reading anything on the Browns this summer? Rubin has been running #1 NT since OTA’s, even on occasions Rogers has shown up, Rogers has played DE. I thought everyone knew that…
The good part is, your analysis on Rubin is right, he appears to be the real deal, next Jason Ferguson, Casey Hampton, Jamaal Williams style 3-4 NT. Should allow our LB’s to fly to the ball, and with him and rogers lining up next to each other, QB’s are going to get some heat too.
Hybrid and Shaun Rogers in the same sentence…. Yeah, that sounds about right.
1) mangini also made a point of saying that haden’s telegraphing the blitz allowed rodgers & jennings to make an adjustment knowing that jennings was going to be single covered by a safety. i think mangini has a man crush on ward as well. and ward now knows that he needs to wrap up, not just “thud” the ball carrier.
2) rubin was NOT the player we drafted in the 6th round the year we took wimbley – we took some blob out of stanford named bla-bla-bla osh-kosh b’gosh, or something like that.
3) if rogers can get upfield, why not line him upon the outside occasionally in a 4-3 look by bringing roth up as a down lineman on the other side? we know roth can bring it. but otherwise, otherwise, his getting upfield without occupying blockers makes his gaps susceptible to traps and draw plays.