As the Stomach Turns

I normally wait before writing about a game, but this time I was able to actually watch it live...

Ok thanks to Denver Browns Backers Pres. Schott and the Retreat Bar...and a bunch of REAL fans such as I haven't met in a Cleveland bar for a long time...I mean and they knew their stuff...

Anyway this time I'm listening to the post-game on the internet and can't help jumping on stupidity when I hear it.

Don't be saying that a quarterback with 13 NFL starts, with an obviously porous offensive line, in a new system, who is a walking bruise--can be judged one way or the other, period. You can say "so far" he doesn't seem to be the quarterback we need and be technicly correct, but you are still an asshole to say it.

The ex-quarterbacks on NFL Radio sort of explain some of it: No matter how much you're coached, or what orders you have, as a quarterback, you won't throw blind to a spot until you have learned to RELY ON a given reciever. McCoy right now doesn't trust his outside guys.

He knows that on paper they should be physical/tall enough to guarantee an incompletion at worst, but until he has seen it proven conclusively, he can't stake drives and games on faith.

At this point, he trusts only his eyes. He has to SEE his open target before he'll throw, and that's why he so often checks down to the last resort.

I need the reader to comprehend that these guys were NOT bashing McCoy. They are DEFENDING him. They've BEEN there.

All the same, I was encouraged to see that Evan Moore wasn't locked in the basement again. McCoy DOES trust HIM (and Watson). Watson must have been hurt today.

Massequoi was moved back to the X-reciever slot, but Little was the Z-man. It seemed to work out okay, although the wide-outs in general did little. But again, this was more about McCoy, and the time he generally lacked, than with them.

I was massively relieved to see Hardesty not bobble or drop even one pass. He is a very good all-around running back--possibly in the top 13-15 in the NFL when healthy and not doing his Braylon Edwards imitation.

One point: He is elusive and shifty only compared to Peyton Hillis, okay? He is a BIG, tackle-breaking running back. Those who describe him as a stark contrast to Hillis are dumbasses. Defensive coordinators will all plan to defend Hillis and Hardesty about the same way, and Shurmer will use them each the same way.

The Seahawks with Whitehurst for the first time is not a formidable offense. All the same, the Browns defense did a great job on them.

McCoy did come through in the clutch, as did Little and Massequoi. Little moreso: McCoy threw one deep to him when he was double-covered. It wasn't completed, but Little made sure it wasn't picked off either. After he's seen the tape, Colt will note and file it. It was inches away from being a game-changing completion, and McCoy will do it again.

Little will become a stud. You'll see.

After further analysis, I'll let my win/loss prediction stand at 13-3.