At the beginning of this season, the one prediction I made that was accurate was that the Browns would not contend this season.
Regardless of what Mike Holmgren said, he had to know that this would be a season for growth. After the draft, there remained issues at safety, defensive line DEPTH, WR, and QB (Jake is a "hold-the-fort" guy who they massively overpaid--and don't blame that on Mangini). Other areas could use improvement, like right tackle and right guard...(I repeat they had solid journeymen, but we want a pro bowler everywhere).
Additionally, MoMass, Robiskie, and Mack were entering only their second seasons. Ward is a rookie. Jackson and Rogers were injured. It's the second season of a new system, and several new players were brought in.
Finally, this is the AFC North, and they got the schedule they did.
Now, a lot of you can point at the Rams, KC, etc. (while I counterpoint at Dallas, Arizona, Cinci, etc.), and use this opportunity to bash a perfectly good offensive coordinator and head coach. I don't care. The offense lacks a deep threat, and the defense has been unable to generate a consistant pass rush, mainly due to injuries.
There has been too much heat on the quarterbacks, due to the lack of the deep threat and injuries/disruption on the right side of the line.
But I digress. I'm personally stunned that the Browns lost to KC and the Rams, but never expected a contender in the first place anyway. And if you measure competitiveness and improvement simply in terms of wins and losses, you're being lazy. This team almost beat the Ravens, hung with Pitt in Pitt despite multiple disasters, and led in most of their games until the fourth quarter.
Those in the Mangini/Daboll lynch-mob hate to hear it, but that's improvement.
Now we got McCoy at the helm, and after his debut, rational fans will acknowlege that it's not too soon for him to continue. If the level of performance is similar, then in a growth season you go with the young guy and get him his experience.
I really have to mention this: One comment-poster was not impressed by McCoy because he didn't win. The fact that he was a rookie vs. Dick LaBeau with few practice reps who lost his top two wide recievers didn't matter to this person. Only the win. Black-and-white thinking is childish, if not insane. You don't judge a first-game rookie the same as a veteran, and you don't just ignore everything but the final score.
But enough on Corky-Dawg: So, down goes Pashos, and St. Clair seems perpetually injured. Okay, maybe it's time to unveil another rookie named Lauvao. Move Womack to tackle and start him at guard.
The orginal plan might well have been to make this move during the bi, so that Lauvao could heal more completely, and have two weeks to settle in, but injuries might well have forced the Browns' hand again.
Lauvao has great talent, and is not as raw as many rookies. Right guard is easier to learn than center, and Lauvao has at least had the first several games to learn the mental part. Alex Mack, on the other hand, had to start from the beginning last season.
If Colt could do it, maybe Lauvao can. Let's try.
Mitchell I wouldn't try it with, but they may well have to. If he hasn't got his short and intermediate patterns and reads down, they could always just send him deep every time he's deployed.
This is a guy who can be covered like a blanket, step-for-step, but still outreach/dive/leap or overpower the defender(s) for the ball, and we now have a pinpoint-accurate quarterback who can really elevate those percentages.
Even if he's only targetted once or twice in a whole game, it only takes one big play, and defenses know it.
And don't start with this "arm" stuff again! No, McCoy doesn't have a howitzer, but he reads and quickly and has adequate range to burn a defense deep, especially when a high trajectory floater is the best way to go anyway. Jeez is that all you think about? How many "long bombs" did Popgun Sipe complete? Stop it you're killing me!
Until Mitchell catches (or almost catches) a deep pass, defenses will continue squeezing down on short and intermediate routes and attacking the run aggressively out of stacked fronts.
After he does, even if the defense's game-plan doesn't change, the thinking of the safeties will. He'll make them nervous. They might set up a yard or two further back off the line, with one a little closer to the perimeter on his side of the field. They'd be more hesitant in diagnosing play-action. If they take that first step and it's NOT a run, they'll never catch up to Mitchell.
What have you got to lose, Brian? Who cares even if Mitchell only does the one thing: Goes vertical? Who cares if the defense knows it? Even if he's 95% decoy and catches just one pass in a game, that pass completion nails down a field goal if it doesn't score a TD.
Mitchell, if neccessary, can still learn the rest of his role here--but for now, he can already just run in a straight line and holler "hit me!", and catch the ball in his big mitts.
What else have you got? Robiskie, if he does get open, is short and intermediate. You've also got Moore for that, and the three of them for the middle. You've got plenty of big possession guys and middle guys and Hillis for all the dink-and dunk stuff...put Mitchell in to pry the lid off these stacked fronts!
Next season, when these young guys have that experience to build on, it could well mean that this team is ready.
The season is DOA. Go nuts.
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