I used to think that My Browns were dissed a lot simply because they've sucked so bad for so long. How could I blame any outsiders for having a glass half-empty view of them?
A quarterback guru like Greg Cosell pointing out a littany of Weeden's faults--somehow I manage to nod and shake my head at the same time.
But now it's getting rediculous. Greg was being interviewed by Ross Tucker on NFL Radio. This was prior to Hoyer's maddening but predictable injury, in the wake of Hoyer's second straight victory.
Cosell asserts that Norv Turner cut down the defense for Hoyer so that Hoyer could be a game manager.
After a hesitation, the diplomatic Tucker said "One thing I was impressed with about Hoyer--he seems to spot single man coverage on Cameron or Gordon every time, and hits them for big plays."
Here's the translation for those of you who can't read subtext: "Greg I can't believe you just said that. 53 passes in one game, going deep all the time, including on first down, taking over the game on the comeback touchdown drive in Minnesota. If anything, Turner expanded the playbook for Hoyer. Here's your chance to get the egg off your face, because about two thirds of my fans are laughing at you right now."
ZING! Right over Greg Cosell's oversized head! Instead of backing off his utterly mindless "game manager" comment, Greg singles out one of the touchdowns passes to Gordon, and eagerly points out how Gordon had to slow down a little for it.
The problem here is ego. Five years ago, Greg scouted Hoyer in college and decided he sucked. He doesn't want to go back and re-evaluate.
He's got Hoyer in his box with the label on it, and that's where he stays. The label says "carreer backup at best".
Besides, he's a Cleveland Brown!
Pat Kirwan is a little more objective on Hoyer, but before the thursday night game pointed out that after that, defensive coordinators would have three games worth of film on him, and then we would find out how Hoyer would do against defenses which had prepared specifically for him.
That's true, of course. But the reason Pat brought this up was that he fully expected Hoyer to fall on his face, because Pat, too, has him in a labelled box and doesn't want to let him out.
Rookie quarterbacks hit that game four wall and either adapt or sputter; but that's rookies. Hoyer has been in the NFL for four years, including three under Tom Brady. He's not only watched his friend from the sidelines, but in the film room. And he doesn't see Brady: He sees himself.
When the defenses start trying to screw him up, he will adapt. Pat undrestimates him. But then, Hoyer is a Cleveland Brown.
Kirwan gives all the credit in the world to Josh Gordon. He's big and strong and long. He never says "fast", and Gordon has as much long speed as any player in the NFL. He might beat AJ Green in the 100. Why does Kirwan not see this?
Because Gordon is a Cleveland Brown.
But unlike Cosell, Pat isn't full of himself, and tries to be objective. He's probably not even aware that his opinions are corrupted by prejudice. But come on--why does he sniff, and say "I smell something brown"?
I just die laughing evey time I hear that. You know, brown? Smell hahahaha I can't stand it! Pat should do stand-up comedy or something! Put him on Raw Dawg--then he can say all the dirty words too!
See, Pat thinks that's funny the 300th time around...which is disturbing.
In re Gordon, I've read local articles saying that he could eventually someday become a scary deep threat. Are you trying to seem wise, or something? He already is a premier deep threat up there with Green and Jones. He would have been as a rookie, if Shurmer had allowed it. Just how many more long bombs does he have to haul in before you call him what he is?
Pat and the other guys have a lot of love for the new and improved Heckert draft pick Buster Skrine, though. He's becoming Minnifield to Haden's Hanford. (By the way, I told you he had that potential).
They also noticed what many of you locals didn't: Weeden was a lot better in the second half, and for the third time did enough to win. The difference is that the recievers didn't drop passes this time. Another difference was that he had Josh Gordon.
It was interesting to hear that it was Gordon himself who came back to the huddle after another one of those maddening ball-patting hesitant sacks and told Weeden to stop thinking so much and just throw the damn ball.
It's nice to know that now that these guys have played with a real quarterback, they can help coach up the one they're stuck with.
Dumb people tend to be extreme in everything. Hoyer is great. Weeden is the worst quarterback in history. The truth is that while I think Hoyer is better and could be great, and that Weeden won't be great, he doesn't suck, either.
The Browns probably will draft a quarterback they think can be a franchise guy no matter what, and most likely will seek to trade Weeden and retain Hoyer, but listen:
The quarterback is indeed the most critical component of a team, but isn't as important during the regular season as he is in the playoffs. Even there, there are exceptions: Big Ben's first Superbowl, for example. He wasn't ready for primetime. He screwed up a lot. He was carried there by defense and Jerome Bettis.
Mathematicly, the QB is about 30%. He handles the ball on every snap and is half the offense, 25% of the team, with 5% thrown in for changing plays at the line and leadership.
We saw Hoyer use his arm to take over late in the Vikings game and put the stake in their heart. Then we saw him (with some help from McGahee this time) put the Bengals away for good. That's franchise stuff: When all else fails, a quarterback who can do it by himself.
But a franchise quarterback without at least a couple of recievers, a mediocre offensive line, and a running back still won't win. A Josh Gordon can make an average quarterback look great.
This season, Big Ben and Flacco don't have that lid-lifter. Dalton and Weeden have Green and Gordon. The franchise guys are losing. Get it?
So come back down here: Weeden is good enough to win with, at least until Gordon gets hurt or something. This is a very talented team, starting to get healthy again so the offensive line won't be so bad. Skrine's emergence changes the whole secondary, and I told you we had a free safety in Gipson.
The Steelers suck. The Ravens are beatable (Weeden would have beaten them last time if not for the drops). The Bengals are the badasses and will want revenge now, but (to my own surprise) I give the Browns an even chance to beat them again.
Too bad about how low they'll draft, but if Weeden kicks some butts they might get something for him.
And finally, Tim Tebow? Some people will believe anything.
No comments:
Post a Comment