Browns vs. Bills: What Little We Learned

Neither of these teams used much of their playbooks, and both were missing a bunch of key players.

But the trenches were substantially intact, so we can definitely figure some things out there.  This is where it gets physical, and the better players tend to win, period.

Joe Thomas was out again, and Cam Erving learned some more left tackle the hard way.  Buffalo's defensive front is as scary as any in the NFL, and as aggressive as Pettine's.

The Browns were able to run the ball, sort of...but if you've read my earlier blogs you should know that that's not all that telling vs. a Ryan defense.  The encouraging part of this was that not many runs were blown up in the backfield.

McCown was under a lot of pressure, and you'd have to give the first-team Bills the nod vs. the pass.

We can point out the Joe Thomas thing, but the rest of the first-team line was intact, and they couldn't keep the Bills off their quarterback.

Fair enough, but this defensive front will do that te every team they face.

The Browns defensive line vs. the Bills offensive line did fine, but the Bills were using running backs from off the street.

On the other hand, Tyrod Taylor might be a whole lot better than many realize.  Aaron Rodgers and Kelly Holcomb languished on benches for years too.

As Jim Miller said, a quarterback running scout teams in practice learns and develops a great deal.  He's imitating the opponent's starting quarterback, running a cut-down version of the opposing offense, with second-stringers, against his team's starting defense.

Taylor backed up Joe Flacco, and no doubt learned a lot in the Ravens' system.  I doubt that what we saw him do to our defense in Buffalo was a fluke or a mirage, and I'll bet you right now that Cassel will be the backup come game one.

After this game, the Browns wide receiver and defensive line situations are muddier than ever.

Bold prediction: Kitchen is on my GMF list.  He's a good player, but the Browns now have two real nose tackles, and Wynn and Meder (not to mention X Cooper) just keep making plays.

Further, Kitchen is a much better fit in a conventional 2-gap 3-4.  He's powerful and uses leverage well, but isn't very athletic.

Draft pick or no, Mayle is in big trouble.  The thumb isn't going to work any more.  He could yet come on strong in the last two preseason games, but for right now he's on my practice squad (or poached off waivers) list.

I don't believe it's at all true that Pryor is running out of time because of his hamstring.  They could stash him on IR, I suppose.  Teams are quietly waiting under the tree, hoping the biggest, fastest wide receiver in the NFL will fall out of it.

No way they cut him.  No freaking way.  Nice try, Mike.

I simply can't guess which receivers they'll release.  I know that Bowe, Hartline, and Hawkins are locks (unless they trade Hawk).  Travis Benjamin has made a fool of me, and looks like he's made himself uncuttable too.  

What a mess.  Gabriel, Wynn, Lenz, Moore, Pryor wow.  Moore is a core special teamer, and Pryor could excel in special teams, plus H-back, plus wildcat/emergency quarterback, so the strict roster-count on this position is mitigated somewhat.

But no matter how you cut it (pun intended), even with the practice squad, at least one, and more likely two, of this last group are GMFs.

Never thought you'd see it, did you?  The Browns throwing away perfectly good wide receivers (I mean since Charles Johnson RAY).

If I were Dwayne Bowe, I wouldn't have predicted a high-powered offense, but it's not a bad thing that he did.  I think he might have overshot the mark a little, but it's not as laughable a notion as some think it is.

With the smurfs and Duke Johnson, there is a lot of speed on this team.  Even Brian Hartline can be expected to average around 13 yards per catch.  Bowe seems to think that Pryor will be a factor this season.  He's an old wide receiver, and we should listen to him on that.

Of course, he also believes that he himself can do what Josh Gordon did, and I doubt that.  Still, he can do a lot--if he hangs onto the ball.  I choose the half-full glass: Braylon Edwards caught everything thrown to him for one season, after all.  Maybe Bowe can too.

The biggest doubts about Bowe's prediction are about the quarterback.  People doubt that Josh McCown can hold up his end of that deal.

Here, I have logical reasons to think he can.  Chicago had a good offensive line, and Tampa did not.  I forsee the Chicago version of McCown here.  Clearly, so does Bowe.

If not, then Johnny.  That works too.