OK Now We Really ARE All Gonna Die

but it doesn't bother us earthlings...err...people who live on this planet and not in some unreal utopian paradise...much.

We never expected more than 6-8 wins out of this team, and firthermore expected the first 3-4 games to be pretty rough. Rookie center making all the line-calls, semi-rookie quarterback, all new people (and butterfingers) at reciever, Lewis aging, new systems, etc.

I admit I did expect the Browns to whup Denver, and for Quinn to look a lot better than he did. But then, I never expected them to go toe-to-toe with Minnesota for their inaugural first half.

Sure, the bad misses by Quinn are alarming. Especially since he never was all that accurate. However, I cna say the same of him as I've said of Edwards: He HAS looked a lot better, and this proves his capacity.

Good for Mangini for having a long leash. Quinn knows that DA is waiting in the wings, but he's being given a good long test-drive.

And then, the offense is probably extra-conservative in an effort to protect the inexperienced quarterback. It sould open up a little now, since it has to, or else enemy defenses will throw out picnic blankets in his backfield.

Still, accuracy aside, some criticisms of Quinn are presumptuous and ignorant. When he has no time, NATURALLY he will get rid of it early, and usually to a short reciever. When a guy is IN FRONT OF your only viable reciever, running step-for-step with him, you put the ball where your guy can get it if he dives, but the bad guy can't pick it off DUHDUHDUH...

And a certain writer needs to be reminded that words are his business, and that pass was actually catchable. "No where near" does not mean six inches off the fingertips, ok?

Don't get me wrong. I was very disappointed in Quinn and am very nervous about him. But it's just way way way too early to bring gavels down. You've got to remember that Roethsenberger, Flacco, et al had very strong defenses and solid running offenses. This offense is new, and evidently has a distinct weakness at right tackle, among other things.

I don't think that DA would be much better, since he too would be sacked right and left and have no time. He too would spend much of his time in third-and-longs. If you think he'd go deep more--maybe. If he's willing to throw it high, and a split second before getting decked.

But yeah...HE might be the QB of the future.

MAYBE.

I'll keep watching them stumble around, waiting patiently for them to take their first steps and make it across the room to me. That's what you do with infants...here on this planet, anyway.

Aw, Dammit!

I said: "Aw, dammit!".

QB Can't Throw Deep

Throughout the last game, this quarterback never attempted a pass deeper than about thirty yards. Obviously, he either lacks the arm strength or confidence to throw deep.

Brett Favre needs to be replaced.

Harrison Will Play

First of all, I wish people would think more. Like, I wish these NFL Radio guys wouls quit saying "New York football Giants". The baseball team left new York before you were born. There is no longer any possibility of confusion. It's mindless.

Anyway, no respect. I quite understand a lot of guys this week picking Denver to win based on Denver having it more together right now. I can't fathom how they could be predicting two wins for the season, etc....

Adam Scheinn perennially predicts horrible seasons for the Browns, regardless of talent or coaching.

Anyway, the Browns have a much better chance since the guys who are more objective than this guy are still ignoring them, and basing their decisions on raw stats and ass umptions.

Gil Brandt, for example, just last week pointed out that the Browns had no recievers (aside from Edwards). That was spectacularly wrong--and Brandt is a very, very smart guy!!! Scheinn--now he could look right AT Josh Cribbs, Mike Furrey, and even the two other guys and still say nobody can get open or catch. They'll still keep saying Royal is just a blocker no matter how many passes he catches. Adam always decides that the Browns suck and then spends five to seven minutes filtering out the good stuff in order to prove it scientificly. Gil just doesn't have time for a weak team.

Anyway, all they see from last week is the stats. The first half doesn't register. The newness of the offense and the players within it are ignored. The Browns stuff Peterson for most of three quarters and then cave in, and this means they can't stop the run...right? One TD is disqualified on replay, and it never happened.

Well, Denver beat a good team last week. The Bungles are getting all sorts of credit for being improved, and objective analysts admit it. I guess they just don't have any room left to acknowlege the fact that the 09 Browns are at least as talented as the 07 version.

Except for guys like Kaplan and Scheinn, I can't pick on any of the national guys who think the Browns are worse than they are. Jim Miller, for example, thinks the Broncos will win because Orton hit eight different recievers last week, they contained a very potent and underrated offense, and Quinn had a mediocre game. At least he did SOME home-work and is trying to think with his brain.

And he might be right. Dammit.

But Harrison is the X-factor. As I read it, he was ok last week, but given an extra week as a precaution. Finally, at long last, he will have a real opportunity under an intelligent coach. He might catch or run with the ball fifteen or more times in this game, since Davis will be protected. Quinn has the touch to hit him short, and the new Broncos sport a NEW 3-4 where mistakes could be made.

The Browns offensive line has practiced against a 3-4 and won't screw up blocking as much...especially Mack.

The Broncos, I think, still run a zone-blocking scheme. The Browns have the big/quick goons up front to blow that up through penetration and power, and can bull-rush from every area. The Browns OLB's and defensive line can win individual matchups.

Last week, Quinn looked better later in the game.

Now, I like the fact that Mangini, once the decision was made, stuck with Quinn, and seems determined to do so through predictable and inevittable rough spots. After a few games, we'll have a good idea of who Quinn is. After a full season we can be more certain.

I predict that the Browns will beat the Broncos unless the Broncos score more points than they do.

WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!

Some Browns fans need to comprehend some...actually really simple and obvious facts about the Browns vs. the Vikings:

1: The Vikings are a veteran, largely intact team with well-established systems and personnel. With about the best run defense in the NFL, Peterson, Favre, and talent from top-to-bottom, many pundits have them going to the Superbowl this season.

The Browns have all new coaches, new systems, a starting quarterback with five games experience, a huge roster turnover;
rookie center, new right guard/tackle, all new recievers except for Cribbs, Edwards, and Heiden, etc...

So you really need to come back down here to this planet. No rational being could have expected the Browns to beat the Vikings taking their first steps out of the crib!

The bad stuff will get hammered to death by writers and mindlessly repeated by clones and zombies on message boards, so I'll skip much of that. However, since much of that crap won't be legitimate, I will say:

1: I don't know about right guard, but evidently Saint Clair sucks at right tackle. I do miss Tucker. I seriously don't know about Womack--I just do know that pissed off fans throw hand grenades and blow up whole neighborhoods, so until I can see it no comment.

2: Mack is a rookie and was making the line-calls. He's been practicing against a 3-4 and even worked against a 3-4 in college. No matter how brainy he is, there is no doubt in the rational, objective mind, that he screwed up. Rookies screw up. It happens on this planet.

3: Quinn zigged and Edwards zagged on the interception. When that stuff happens, it looks atrocious, since the reciever is more-or-less sprinting in the opposite direction to the one the QB thought he would, and isn't in the same zip-code when the ball gets there.
60% of the time, this is on the reciever; who read coverage wrong.

4: The defense wore down. It had contained Peterson well into the third quarter. NO DEFENSE can stop this guy for a whole game.

IF you are an adult and live on this planet, there was a lot more good than bad news in this game, starting with their containment of none other than Adrian Peterson for most of three quarters. that's 1.

2: Jamal Lewis ran all over maybe the best run defense in the NFL.
3: The offensive playcalling was creative. Much is made of the two Wildcat calls inside the three, as if these wiped out the rest of the playcalls.
And the horizontal passing--here a lot of people need to get real too. As it was, Quinn got sacked five times. Without even blitzing much, the Vikings were in the Browns backfield most of the day. You can't go deep under that kind of pressure. You have to get rid of the damn ball.
And why didn't they run more? Because the Vikings can shut it down, and would have. The biggest reason Lewis had the success he did was because the Vikings were on the recievers.
4: The defense got great pressure on Favre (and Peterson) from many sources. Each safety got a sack, then an OLB and (naturally) Rogers. Ryan's defense is as advertized.
At long last, somebody has the brains to put Rogers at DE sometimes! Especially with Rubin emerging as a solid nose tackle--match Rogers up against the weakest point! DUH!
Moving Wimbley around, too--that seems to be working. As is beginning to dawn on others finally, Wimbey is a good all-around total package linebacker. And wow--HALL is turning onto one of those too already!
5: Quinn did WELL when you factor in his inexperience, the fact that he hasn't had the first-team reps a normal starter gets, and the pressure on him. The fumble was idiotic, and he wasn't as accurate as he should be...I heard he held the ball too long...I only mention it here because Pluto said it, so it's probably right.
but ALL of this is fixable, or will disappear on it's own as he gets more reps with the recievers and more game experience.
6: Lewis is not washed-up yet.
7: JOSH CRIBBS.
8: They ran the no-huddle offense in an effort to wear the Vikings defense down. Crennel never allowed a no-huddle other than at the obvious times. Plus, he would have kneeled on the ball with 40 seconds left to the half.
That was smart against this defense, but the trade-off was that the Browns defense had to be on the field more, and fatigue opened things up for Peterson.
9: As Pluto said, the first half of this game shows you what this team is capable of.
It was kind of like a talented young boxer up against a much more experienced guy. He comes out scoring points, and maybe even hurts the old guy, but the vet covers and clinches and sticks around, figuring out how he can nail the punk.
After a few rounds, he knows. He sets the kid up and nails him.
It doesn't mean the kid sucks. The early rounds are what they are--the kid outboxing the other guy because he was better. But experience tells, and the kid gets outsmarted in the end.
Won't happen next time.

THE TALENT IS HERE.

The experience isn't.

Say it with me....YET.

Final Cuts

This Chris Jennings guy sounded impressive in the last preseason game. He was released, but I'm sure they'll try to get him onto the practice squad.

I now suspect that Jerome Harrison may not actually be hurt much! I think it very possible that Mangini might have seen enough of him, and decided to protect him, like he did Rogers, Lewis, et al!

Think I'm nuts? Well, can I point out that Mangini is NOT Romeo Crennel? All Harrison allegedly, we ass ume had to prove was his ability to pass-protect. The rushing was never an issue, and the pass-recieving has improved a lot.

I wish to point out that I was correct about Vickers being the only fullback retained. The fact is that last season, Crennel should have done this, since he, too, has no fewer than two tight ends who could line up at fullback. Mangini had the common sense to save a roster spot, which is refreshing.

Vickers helps running back depth somewhat, since he is one of the few NFL fullbacks who can run with the ball in a pinch.

I gotta be honest here and say that I was thinking that Jamal Lewis could be on his way out. Terry Pluto in today's column brilliantly broke the numbers down, indicating that his decline last season wasn't all about Edwards' drops or poor blocking.

However, I can't criticize their keeping him, especially since he's already been paid.

...but he aint the man anymore, or won't be. I'm weary of sportswriters talking about veteran experience at running back, as if it's the same as quarterback, or a DE switching to linebacker. Running backs come out of college often prepared for the NFL. It's the most instinctive position on the field. Once you know who to block, and you can run good patterns and catch---there you go.

Mangini would never have retained Jamal Lewis if he felt the guy was washed up. James Davis will probably be the number one running back, and Jerome Harrison will get into the mix. I believe that the two-back will show up a good thirty percent of the time, with various combinations of the three running backs and Vickers.

All of them can catch passes, and three can lead-block. If there is a residual concern about Harrison's pass-blocking, as one of two backs he can flare out as a reciever instead. With these four guys, you can mix speed and power well, and mitigate against what I percieve is a comparative weakness at tight end.

Lewis may have lost his explosiveness, but will not have lost his brute power or leverage. His value in short-yardage, both as a blocker and as a runner, are obvious. But also, as one of two running backs, defenses could no longer key on him, so long as the other running back was a serious threat. Also in some cases, you don't need to make the first guy miss if he's being blocked for you.

And then, he does have things to teach the other running backs.

I'm thrilled that Furrey and Cribbs have proven to be so effective as recievers. Furrey is like Brennan/Welker. Last season, after Jurevicious went down, defenses threw a blanket over Edwards (sometimes...I mean often none was needed--it was 50/50 he'd drop it dammit) and that was it.

This season, the corps looks even better than 2007's, as now there are TWO short-intermediate scalpels to use. Massequoi is way ahead of schedule, and (so far) has shown good concentration and hands. Robiskie is money in the bank. There is quality depth here, and the playbook can and will include some four-wide sets.

Then there's this...which I seem to be the only one to have noticed so far: Look at how many passes are going to the running backs, how well all the backs are catching them, and how effective that has been.

Daboll is doing a great job of making at least this passing offense as unpredictable as possible by making use of every possible weapon in every possible way.

Before knee-jerking into doom-and-gloom in re this offense, first put yourself in an opponent's place and figure out how you would stop it (assuming QUINN at QB). First, you determine what an offense does best, and focus on depriving them of it, right?

Ok we're done here. You can't. If you bring the house Furrey, Cribbs, and the running back can chew you up--(plus the Browns are now doing this new thing called a screen-pass, ya know? With Steinbach and Thomas--hey did you know they could run around pretty good for big guys? Who woulda thunk it?)

If you try the soft zone, they'll happily take the five or six yards underneath all day--at least until Cribbs takes one fifty yards or so.

OK so you give them that and just try to stuff the run, making them one-dimensional. Even a 65% passer misses 35% of the time. Deflections, blown patterns, big hits, etc. can all lead to turnovers, and third/longs make it much safer to send six guys.

In truth, that could work. But it's far from a perfect strategy. Basicly, many of the passes are long handoffs, like the Infante offense, and you have several guys who can turn little gains into big gains. You can never forget about Edwards--you must always keep one safety back off the line.

Lateral passes are about mismatches, as suddenly big guys are running into little guys. It beats the hell out of the cornerbacks.

Anyway more later okbye