Who Wooda Thunk it? Pryor Looks Better! Shocking!

So far, my super-easy and obvious guesstimates about Terrell Pryor are bearing out, according to Mary Kay Cabbot.

This was easy because it was just too obvious.  One article mentions "in shorts" as a backhanded way of minimizing this, but whoever wrote that doesn't get it.

He is running good patterns and not dropping balls.  That is what matters.

When the pads go on and there's more contact, Terrell won't become slower, shorter, or weaker.  He will still be able to swat and bump little cornerbacks aside, outrun them, out-reach them, and wall them off.  

Al Saunders is the perfect guy to be all over this guy, but you can't coach big or fast.  When the pads go on, his physical advantages will show up more.

PRYOR has benefited from Hue Jackson splitting practices in two to get twice as many players reps.  He can do that, at least on offense, because he has not only Saunders, but Pep Hamilton helping out.  And it says something that Saunders is working with Pryor.

These coaches don't seem to have read what everybody else has written about Terrell Pryor the receiver.  I haven't yet heard Hue Jackson telling us about how far away he is from mastering the abstract complexities of running and catching.

I'll tell you right now: When the pads go on, he'll shine brighter.  He isn't just a gimmicky trick play guy.  He's competing to start outside, and he and Corey Coleman are tied for the lead there.

Still rolling your eyes and laughing?  Just don't say you knew it all along when he starts in game one.

Joe Haden will help.  Joe will actually coach him from a cornerback's perspective.  Haden is like that.  He'll go out of his way to help anybody.

Speaking of Haden, he says Gilbert's attitude is better.  Haden says he has a clean slate and a third chance here, and knows it.

Per Joe, Gilbert is busting his butt.

I can't make any optimistic predictions about this guy like I have with Pryor, but this is encouraging.

In an "Ask Mary Kay", one guy asked if using zone coverage would help him, and Mary Kay said it might.

Wrong.  Zone is more complex than man.  Man is about physicality, reflexes, and raw athleticism.  This is what gives Gilbert his best chance.

Zone would help Desir, though!

Back to receiver: I'm not dissing Payton or Higgins in projecting Pryor as a starter.  These two are no doubt more experienced and advanced than Pryor.  It's just that he's a deep threat with a bigger catch radius.

It's beginning to dawn on Mary Kay and others that McCown might be more valuable as a mentor and actual quarterback than as another seventh round draft pick.

I never understood why everybody expects the Browns to get rid of this guy (for less than a fourth round pick).

Having him around is like having an extra quarterback coach.

Based on what I read about RG3's taking the Shanahans to school (white board and all), I can tell you, he was extremely arrogant.

I have a lot of stuff in my own life I wish I could take back.  In his place (having accomplished what he had at that point, and at that age), I might even have pulled something like that (and regretted it ever since).

I hope that's the case.  I hope he learned humility.  Because, with Dan Snyder backing him up, he got his way.  Shanahan went from an RG3 offense to a Kirk Cousins offense.  And Kirk Cousins is better than he is in that scheme.

I believe part of this was racial, not on the Shanahan's part, but on RG3's part:

He may well have felt that all he was getting credit for was running around.  That was the old excuse for no black quarterbacks: They're not smart enough.

Warren Moon came and went, and people still whispered that bullshit.

RG3 took flak early on for saying he didn't accept that label ("black quarterback"), so you know he got pressure from that side of it.

I know what people were saying to him.  I know, for sure, that this is part of what drove him to demand that Shanahan install a pro style offense and put him in the pocket.

Hue Jackson (you might notice this: He's black too) is the perfect guy to salvage RG3.  With the Shanahans, RG3 might have felt that they were prejudiced.  He can't feel that way with Hue.  

I just hope he's willing to listen to Josh McCown, as well.  Humility can be hard.

After reading up some more on that whole thing, including what a couple of his defensive teammates said, he did fail in the pocket overall.

But Hue Jackson will mix scheme with coaching, and produce the best overall offense he can.