On
Friday night the Browns edged out the Detroit Lions 19-17 in a low
scoring affair. As time ticked away late in the fourth quarter Jeff
Wolfert kicked the game winning field goal, but as we all know the W
isn’t what matters in preseason. In fact what matters is who performed
and who didn’t? What does the team need to work on and what did they do
well? So here are my list of positives, negatives, and “OMG you have got
to be joking!” thoughts from the Cleveland Browns first preseason game.
Positives:
Brandon Weeden:
The
first place you have to start is at the Browns new starting quarterback
Brandon Weeden who statistically ended his night with a whopping 19.0
QB rating. But part of the reason for the low rating was due to his
demonstration as a mature (but still rookie) QB. Weeden who went 3-9
with a pick only really made one mistake throwing into double coverage
and giving up an interception. It was a play in which he attempted to
jam the ball where it did not belong. Other than that he was careful
with the ball and demonstrated his strong arm connecting with rookie WR
Travis Benjamin for a 30+ yard pass.
Travis Benjamin:
Speaking
of Travis Benjamin I found him to be one of the real bright spots of
the game. He demonstrated not only his speed, but ran crisp routes and
only appeared to make one error the whole night failing to look over the
wrong shoulder on a fade route due to his error in reading the
coverage. Other than that, Benjamin went a long way to making a
statement that he belongs on this team.
Jordan Cameron:
Another
bright spot was tight end Jordan Cameron. He has had a great camp and
had an outstanding preseason game snagging 2 balls for 58 yards. He has
grown a great deal over the past year and will challenge Evan Moore for
the 2nd tight end slot.
Chris Ogbonnaya:
Chris
Ogbonnaya made a statement Friday, and that statement was not to leave
him out of the discussion regarding Trent Richardson’s backup. He put up
27 yards on 7 carries for a 3.9 yard average. Don’t count him out of
the discussion for the 2nd string running back just yet.
Trevin Wade:
Former
University of Arizona Cornerback Trevin Wade was impressive Friday
night. He was not caught out of position at all and played the run well.
He was also one of the few dependable tacklers of the night. If Haden
does receive a four game suspension, then Wade has put his name in the
running to be the Browns 4th CB.
John Hughes and Billy Winn:
With
Phil Taylor out for a good part of the season, the Job as one of the
starting defensive tackles will come down to John Hughes or Billy Winn.
Both did well in their NFL debuts. If I had to give an edge to one or
the other I would say that Hughes may be slightly ahead of Winn. But
this was just the first preseason game and that race is too close to
call. I want to see both of them play alongside Ahtyba Rubin who was
inactive for Friday night’s game.
Brad Smelley:
Brad
Smelley demonstrated Friday why he was a big part of Alabama’s success.
He did it all both blocking well and receiving snagging a 12-yard TD
pass from Seneca Wallace. Smelley will be with the first team offense in
no time at all.
Overall
it felt good to win. There were many other players on both sides of the
ball that were impressive or at least deserve recognition. But if I
were to continue this section of the article, it would be way to long
and I would lose your interest by now. So let’s take a look at what
Cleveland fan always focuses on, the negative performances.
Negatives:
Oddly
the three players I would focus on most as having what I would call a
bad performance all have last names starting with an “S”. I’m not sure
what that means, but I thought I would point that out.
Mitchell Schwartz;
Mitchell
Schwartz was drafted as the Browns answer at right tackle, but if he
is, he needs a lot of work. He had a rough night getting beat several
times and he also looked somewhat lost in open space. His run blocking
was fine, but with a rookie QB with less than average ability the the
Browns need a solid line. He did not look good during his first game
action, but he should improve over time.
Emanuel Stephens:
Defensive End Emanuel Stevens had a great deal of difficulty during the Browns 1st
preseason game. It appeared that he was unable to contain the run to
any extent. It was similar to watching last year’s DE Jaime Mitchell who
was cut during this past offseason for the same type of performance.
Stephens is trying to prove he can make this team, but he unfortunately
took a step back in that goal on Friday.
Owen Spencer:
It
is tough in the NFL. It is even tougher when you are trying to make a
team’s roster and Owen Spencer may find his name on the team’s first cut
list. Spencer had numerous opportunities to shine and failed. It just
wasn’t his night and when you are struggling to make a team you cannot
have a bad night, sometimes you only get one shot and he may have had
his shot Friday night.
There
were plenty of mistakes made on Friday. Josh Gordon demonstrated he is
rusty having not played a snap in probably over 16 months. There were
also some missed assignments on both sides of the ball, but let’s cover
that in the “OMG you have got to be joking!” category.
“OMG YOU HAVE GOT TO BE JOKING!!!!”
Referees:
First
let us reflect on past seasons and the thought of being screwed by an
official due to a bad call. Apparently, the job is more difficult than
it appears because the referees in Friday’s night game missed a lot and
made some bad calls. Hopefully this 1st week in the preseason will motivate the NFL to come to an agreement quickly with their referees.
Penalties:
Typically
you see a lot of penalties in a team’s first preseason game. But it was
pretty bad on Friday as the Browns piled up a lot of penalty yardage
opposed to the Lions who had few. This has got to get cleaned up. Shurmur
himself said so at halftime (Who by the way was very active and
life-like on Friday). It is hard enough to produce offensively in the
NFL but tougher still when you put yourself in a hole. The Browns need
to work on their discipline which brings me to my next point, tackling.
Tackling:
Anyone
who has ever played football knows that from Pop Warner forward you are
taught the basics in tacking and basic form tackling was rare to see in
the Browns defense against the Lions. To make matters worse they were
constantly over-pursuing run plays leaving themselves vulnerable to
cut-back lanes. One of these issues is bad enough but when you combine
one with the other it normally spells disaster. I do believe once more
starters get into the rotation like D’Qwell Jackson, Ahtyba Rubin,
Frostee Rucker, and Jabaal Sheard I believe these problems will go away,
but this was, and will be valuable experience and game film for those
who are rookies and are green in the NFL.
Mohammad Massaquoi:
This
one is unfortunate. Mo Massaquoi left the game after one reception
after a “head injury” which is unfortunate for the young man. The Browns
brass has high hopes for him this year, but it appears that he may not
be able to overcome his concussion issue. If it is later confirmed that
he has suffered yet another concussion, he may not be cleared to play by
the Browns or the NFL for a long time which spells disaster for
Massaquoi’s future.
Once
again, it is the first preseason game so it is important to not take a
lot of stock in Weeden or Hardesty, or Gordon’s performances or even the
others I have mentioned. The only real concern that anyone should have
are those like Spencer who are already on the bubble. On Thursday the
Browns will match up against the juggernaut Green Bay Packers and we
will get a longer look at most of our starters. Let’s hope there are
more positives than negatives as we progress through the preseason.
Michael W. Youngman--Lead Analyst C.B.R.Michael is the Lead Analyst for the Cleveland Browns Report and the AFC North Report. He has written many articles that have been featured by playerpress.com, cantonrep.com, FoxSports.com, and of course this site. Michael has also written a book titled “The Dayton Project” published in 2008 by PublishAmerica. He makes his home in the Hall of Fame City of Canton Ohio with his wife Lisa and his two children Joseph and Jennifer. To learn more, visit his Website
