1: James Davis was not on the bubble. Hillis doubles as a fullback, and a run-oriented team using two-back formations keeps three running backs. For all the Hardesty hype, Davis is a very good player, and the Coaches know it.
2: Davis was not a "speedster", nor a "big back". Who said he was probably the fastest of the bunch? Faster than Harrison and Hardesty? Do some home-work, for cryin out loud! The only reason he slid in the draft was because he hadn't made any really splashy plays! He was a super-dependable chain-mover. He was almost as light as Harrison!
I said before last season that Davis is Earnest Byner. Is it sinking in yet?
3: I'm less surprised than most others by McCoy's performance vs. Chicago...but am still surprised. Yeah, he was working against third-stringers...WITH third-stringers (so stop repeating that cliche!) These guys were all fighting for their very lives. He settled down and demonstrated his pinoint accuracy.
4: Dink-and dunk? Only somewhat. He averaged over ten yards per completion (which is pretty good). Not all of it was YAC yards, but the substantial portion that were came partly from that accuracy as well.
A guy who doesn't have to slow down, dive, stop, or leap for the ball is much, much harder to nail before he can do more damage. This is what separated Joe Montana from everybody else, and it's what McCoy does best.
5: Benard went apeshit. I believe he is making a case to be a starter. I haven't seen/can't judge him in coverage, but he certainly can sift through traffic and track down ballcarriers. (The pass-rush part is a given).
The Browns need a pass-rush, first and foremost. I really like Scott Fujita, but if Benard can help more than he can...so be it. Fortunately, Mangini isn't Marty. Benard has a fair chance. I think.
6: The biggest single reason every enemy passer has OWNED this defense was the lack of pressure. NO secondary can cover for more than a few seconds. A running quarterback is less accurate than a stationary one. A quarterback not at his preassigned launch-point can't see as well, and has to improvise. A timing quarterback can't execute if he can't make it to his throw-count. A quarterback who takes his eyes off the secondary has a hard time finding the recievers again.
These quarterbacks have had all day.
Not that the young guys haven't misread things, been fooled, or simply screwed up. This, however, will improve as they get more reps.
Duh.
7: Great to see Mitchell make some catches. I don't believe he'd survive waivers, and I think he'll be an active player...learning from the bench, mostly.
8: McDonald has earned the right to stick around. Great depth there. He does seem to be the fourth-best pure cornerback. (Adams is a safety/cornerback hybrid. Each guy has weaknesses, but between these two, those weaknesses offset.)
9: Ventrone showed something. Was it enough?
10: Costanzo is a given for special teams play alone, but did show some real ability as a linebacker. He might move up the depth-chart there.
11: The offense McCoy ran was not specificly designed to protect him. It IS similar to what this offense will be with Delhomme, who is likewise a quick and accurate thrower.
It's an Infante-like ball-control offense with no big stars. A defense can't focus on one player. I was stunned to read that eighteen different players had caught passes as of the Chicago game, and that Delhomme has completed passes to ten different players in one game.
This is why I'm frustrated when Pat Kirwin asks a Browns caller "who's your playmaker?"
He means the one guy who commands double-coverage and still makes catches. Pat considers this manditory. He can back it up.
Okay, Pat: Is a wide reciever who caught 36 passes and averaged almost 20 YPC, with a crappy quarterback, and as a rookie, adequate? Who was the secondary target, Pat? Think defenses paid any attention to him? What does Massequoi have to do as a sophomore to qualify, Pat? 120 catches for a 25 yards per catch average? Does the bar go up for the Browns, Pat?
But I digress. How 'bout Harrison, the leading reciever? Can Evan Moore ever aspire to be adequate in your eyes? Or Ben Watson: Can he ever become a playmaker?
Ah, but none of these guys are Randy Moss or Jerry Rice, or even twice as good as everybody else. So to Pat, rather than four pretty good players, the Browns don't have anybody.
How can you stop an offense that targets every part of the field, Pat? I mean, in which it doesn't matter who lines up where, or who you cover? When a quarterback hits ten recievers in one game, and when throughout preseason a whole bunch of guys have several receptions each, and almost every single one of them averages over ten yards per catch?
Where's my playmaker? Have Delhomme throw to Massequoi more often, and there's one. But since he doesn't HAVE TO, I guess you'll never percieve any of these guys as a playmaker.
Pat's partner, Tim Ryan, said of Robiskie: "I don't see the explosion; the separation. He's just not a sudden player." (all true, by the way)..."he'll catch the ball in traffic and run slants on you all day, but---"
BUT? Tim doesn't get it: That's what he's here for! He's not here to be a deep threat!
The reason Tim spoke this way of Robiskie is because for him, as for Pat, Massequoi (and Harrison the reciever) don't even exist. But either of those two, or Josh Cribbs, can score from anywhere on the field.
That's not a playmaker? That's not sudden or explosive? Why IS the bar so much higher for a Cleveland Brown, that Pat Ryan thinks Robiskie was drafted in the second round to be the playmaker?
After this preseason, the defense has me nervous. I have faith in the young talent and in Ryan, however. I know it will be rocky early, but by mid-season I'll be we got a formidable and opportunistic defense to go with a deliberate, diverse, ball-control offense.
This team is already better than the team that split the last half of last season without a quarterback.
You stand corrected.
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