The scariest part of the Raiders are a good quarterback plus Cooper and Crabtree. Both are big YAC guys who can do a lot with short passes.
Oakland will no doubt take note of last week's sackfest by this defense and use a lot of those to get the ball out of Carr's hand asap.
In general, deep passes aren't the way to go against the Browns. The book so far in 2015 says quick passes and outside runs.
By the way: Not inside runs. You need to understand the difference ok?
The Brown's are built to run press/man coverage on the two outside receivers, and that's what they have to do here. No corner can stay on a receiver long, but this is the best way to screw up quick-hitting passes.
If Carr can't count on Crabtree or Cooper getting to their spots on time, he has to find them, confirm they're open, and check down or throw quickly.
Carr was NFL-ready when drafted, and has a bunch of starts under his belt, so he can do ok with this. But he's still not a seasoned veteran, and should catch a lot of heat, so he could make a couple mistakes.
As my crickets and Bub know, prior to his draft, I cited a distinct drop off in his stats in pressure situations as a reason to draft Bridgewater instead.
I wrote at the time, this can't always be fixed. It's flight-or-flight and more hardware than software.
I'm not bashing Carr, and haven't kept close track of him. He's done exceptionally well, given his circumstances so far. But it was a flaw he at least had in the past.
The Browns' front will attack as usual, of course. The cornerbacks are good enough to stay with receivers well enough to prevent big YAC yards, and there's enough general speed to converge. One safety can play a little deeper, but not so deep as not to be a factor against the run.
Cooper, at least, will do some damage. You should also recall that I really liked him a lot, because he does everything almost perfectly and would be an instant stud.
But I believe Crabtree can be limited, provided the pass rush gets to Carr on time.
Offense-wise, I have some stats and otherwise don't know as much as I should about the Raiders. Khalil Mack duh. I loved him too. He's not just a passrusher, but a total-package block-shedding tackling machine that any offense needs to find before every snap.
Fortunately, there's only one of him, and he can play on only one side of the field at a time.
I know from Marty that statistics are for losers, and game three is way early in a season to rely on them, but so far the Raiders have been weak against the run.
Here's the thing: The Browns so far have been a mediocre running team.
The knee-jerk reaction is that this means the Browns will trample the Raiders.
Experience has taught me that anything so obvious to pundits rarely happens.
However, I believe it will this time, for this reason: The Brown's have the blockers and the runners, period. They should be able to steamroll anybody.
I mean announce that they will run the ball, dare the defense to stop them, and still succeed...dammit.
The Raiders will be geared up to stop the run. Big deal.
With the running game inexplicably still lurching and sputtering, Josh McCown marched the Browns to the New York Jets' goal line in his first and only possession.
The Jets didn't fear Josh or his receivers, and tried to stop the run first. Dink-dunk. It works.
The Raiders have the game film. They'll believe that the more McCown has to throw, the better chance they have of his making a mistake, taking a sack, or at least finding himself in a bad spot. So they'll focus on the run too, and hope they have the same luck the Jets had.
I don't believe it will work this time. It's not just the smashmouth thing, but also the Benjamin thing.
I believe they'll have to try soft man or zone to cover him, and keep him short. If they don't, they'll have to keep a safety deep.
These coverages are more effective against the run, as at the snap the cornerback isn't backpedaling and is watching the backfield, but he's still backed off.
Benjamin underneath remains a threat. See his punt returns. Quit reciting the "precise patterns" mantra too by the way. His patterns are fine now.
Defenses now fear Benjamin. They don't fear Hartline or Crowell (except in the red zone), and he will open things up for other guys (lets not leave Duke and Malcolm Johnson out).
The Raiders are also thus far vulnerable to tight ends. We could see some surprises there too.
The Browns should win decisively. They are better than the Ravens. Yeah I said it.
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