Sunday, January 18, 2015

Browns Analysis Analysis

First, Jeff Schudel is pretty good, and this week wrote part of a series rating the extant Browns' units position-by-position.  I generally agree with his ratings of the units on a scale of one to five (five being the highest).

Quarterback was a one.  No choice there.  We can hope Johnny does better, but can't count on it.

Jeff sees Sean Hill as a good veteran to bring in, which I also agree with.  But I still say Sanchez would be better.  I'm kinda tired of the word "mentor", too.  I hope they get a good quarterback coach.

Jeff also dismissed Brett Hundley as a quarterback prospect, lumping him in with the "other guys", and that's patently wrong.  The consensus rates Mariota and Winston as the cream of the crop, Hundley as almost that good, and then the dropoff.

He rates running back as a three, and that's just wrong.  Because there's no scatback change-of-pace guy, I'd go with a four, but West and (especially) Crowell are elite talents.

Jeff also wonders if they will continue to develop with a new offensive coordinator.  Running backs can refine their blocking and pass-catching, and perhaps learn patience, but they don't need any time at all to develop as pure runners.  That's all instinct, and what we saw is what we'll get, period.

Wide reciever (he seemed to include Cameron here) was a two.  I can't really argue here too, since we can't count on either he or Gordon.

I really like the little guys--especially Gabriel, who I'll bet will become like Steve Smith, but two is about right.

Offensive line was a four.  I guess so.  Five being "fine as it is", this means right guard or right tackle could be upgraded, and so could depth, so that's about right.

That's all for that part of Jeff's series.  

In another article, Browns offensive lineman Micheal Bowie is mentioned.  The Browns swiped the young guy from the Seahawks IR.  Per Rotoworld, the guy had nine starts and payed quite well for that elite team!

This move zinged right over my head.  It means that the Browns already have a young stud who will be healthy and fighting for a starting gig even before free agency or the draft.

He can play guard or tackle.  Very powerful, not very fast, but the Seahawks ran a zone blocking scheme.

I hope the Browns don't target Cecil Shorts.  He's injured too much, and he's not better than Hawk, Gabriel, or even the much improved Benjamin.  

In this article on the Browns offensive coordinator gig by Tony Grossi, Tony includes a tweet from Peter King:  "Great job if you want an 11-month gig" (or something).

How utterly ignorant.  Kyle Shanahan wasn't hired by Ray Farmer, and Mike Pettine was not consulted.  Per reports I've been reading, including accounts by Washington Redskins players, Kyle was a blockhead and a "spoiled brat".

I can't confirm this, but somebody even said that he reamed Brian Hoyer for changing plays in the hurry-up!  IF that is true, this guy rates a clinical diagnosis: "Control freak".

As we should recall, Hoyer was just about unstoppable in the hurry-up early in the season.  We all wondered why they never used it.  Maybe now we know.  And I wonder if Hoyer was more obedient later on, after he'd been benched.

Some have said that Marc Trestman isn't a good fit because he likes to throw the ball.  That's pretty ignorant too, because Trestman is a brain, and can adapt his offense to his personel.  Tony seems to get that.

Running an offense is kinda like rocket science, but not that part of it.  Unreliable quarterback plus excellent running backs equal run more duh.

Others point to what happened in Chicago last season.  Well, that was Jay Cutler.  He's not a young kid, he wasn't coachable, many think he's in it for the money and doesn't love the game, and who else did Trestman have after they got rid of his "backup" who made Jay look bad?

It's quite possible that Johnny is another Jay, but he's much younger, so Trestman would have a chance to get something out of him.

Or Mariota.  Or Hundley.  Just sayin.


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