"The Cleveland Browns have one of the least talented rosters in the NFL".
I don't bother noticing who says this stuff any more. I think my man Ross Tucker might still say it. Smart people say it. But it makes absolutely no sense.
First, the definition of talent is ability. It's separate from experience. Maybe some of these guys are confusing talent with performance.
Still, guys like Coleman, Hassan, Ogbah etc. come with what we call "scouting reports"...nah, that cant be it...
Let's use the training camp depth chart (for what it's worth) to rate the talent on this roster. We'll go from one to five, with five being Joe Thomas, and one the next guy the Browns waive.
Remember now: we're talking about talent. That is, ability.
...oh wow...well we can simplify this! Going along the line of scrimmage, everybody is a five except...Drango? Ok he might be a three. Except it's hard to say that when he's ahead of Pazstor.
Why are you laughing? Who isn't above the eightieth percentile? Erving? Not according to his scouting report!
Greco? Not according to PFF! Pryor? Get real: ability, remember? Aside from the right tackle, these guys are all fives. That's reality.
Griffin is a five (abilityabilityability is it sinking in yet?)
I'll throw you a bone and call Crowell a four. Happy now? Oh ok three, but that's my final offer (and is dumb.) I'll demote Duke to a four (dumb also) there now shut up.
So the least talented team in the NFL must all be on defense, right?
Well, Haden is a five, and---skip it lets just look for a player who is less than a three. I cant find any. There aren't any.
In fact, I submit to you that Shelton, Ogbah, and Gilbert are also fives.
So what are these guys talking about here? I guess the long snapper, punter, and kicker must REALLY suck! No? Ok then 29 or so other teams must be Superbowl contenders right?
Sometimes we just get so used to hearing and repeating something that we can't stop. No rational being could say this roster lacks talent. Stop the inanity!
The two recent intrasquad scrimmages have to be taken with a grain of salt, of course. Not only were they not in full pads, but they know their opposite numbers by heart.
The offense's inability to run was probably exaggerated, as was their domination by air.
One commentator declared that the defense would have to "scheme" a pass rush. That's extremely premature.
When you're not allowed to hit the quarterback, you can't sell out to go after him. Too often, you can't divert or pull up in time, or are even off-balance and fall into his legs.
This is especially true for the guys like Ogbah, Nassib, Orchard, and Kruger who aren't "benders", and scrape by blockers rather than run around them.
The offense also had a lot to do with the lack of pressure. RG3 was sometimes on the move, and the quarterbacks got rid of it quickly.
The great and horrible part of the scrimmages was the devastating air attack. It shows a lot of promise for the offense, but is alarming for the defense.
Contact was allowed, and this meant that the defenders were trying to impede and reroute the receivers, exactly the same as they would in a real game.
Coleman, and then Pryor, were unstoppable. Not only that, but they were wide open.
A lot of Browns fans assume this means that the cornerbacks all suck, rather than that the Browns have a couple of lethal weapons at wide receiver. That's sad. You're emoting, not thinking.
Well, one of the starters never played, and I'm not sure, but if the other one played at all, it was limited and brief.
Without intelligent reporting or films, I need to guess at this, but I think I saw single coverage, as Horton had the defense focus on the backs and tight ends. Just a guess, though.
Pryor matching Coleman in scrimmage two may have told me a lot. I suspect that when Coleman was held out, Pryor moved to his X spot on the left side.
Amazingly, the ex-quarterback can already do that! Wow, he must be the smartest person ever born!
But I digress: If I'm right, it means Griffin was hitting his first read a lot. That, in turn, would mean that he hasn't proven that he's improved yet.
Everybody knew that he had great arm talent (although it's hard to imagine he was as accurate as he is now), but he hasn't been forced to check down under fire yet.
Green Bay should expose that. They'll probably double the X to force that, and they run a 3-4 too, so random blitzes are built in; they should get heat on him, at least on a few plays. I look forward to that.
Of course, double covering Pryor might not matter with his size and strength. That guy will never really be covered, because there will always be an area where he can catch it. And Griffin can deliver into that small window.
Pre-season is only for serious fans, because they want to see the rookie sixth round pick, and if the guy from the 2015 practice squad has turned into a player yet.
Case in point is Justin Gilbert. The fact that he's been embarrassed by Pryor and Coleman doesn't alarm me as much as it does normal fans. Joe Haden will probably do better, but I don't know how much better.
He's managed to muffle AJ Green, and held Megatron to merely respectable stats.
Gilbert might not be that good in the final analysis, but he might not suck either. It's still too early to flush him.
His first big test will be Green Bay.
Pre-season is fascinating for a legitimate analyst. It's easy to talk about future truck drivers and grocery clerks, but Ross Tucker begs to differ.
Tucker was undrafted. He wasn't even invited to his combine. He was big, and super-smart, but not much of an athlete.
None of us would have noticed him, let alone given him a chance. But he made it, and started, and backed up, and was a good NFL offensive lineman.
There are a bunch of Ross Tuckers fighting tooth and nail for NFL futures in the third and fourth quarters of pre-season games.
To us, they're nobody. We change the channel.
Well, not me. I want to see if Ricardo Lewis keeps dropping passes. I want to see if Payton can pass Higgins. If Kessler can be all Hue thinks he can be.
Injuries (and suspensions) happen, and some of these low round picks and undrafteds end up playing in real games. I want to know them.
Ross will tell you, those second halves vs "future grocery clerks" are a crucible; a war. The few who stand out survive, and it means something.
I won't be able to watch Browns vs Packers, but I'll be listening to Jim and Doug tell me about it, right through the final gun.
The big questions: Will the Browns be able to run the ball? Will the defense get heat on the quarterback? Will Griffin come back down to Earth? Will Gilbert keep getting toasted?
In reality, Green Bay has less overall talent than the Browns do. At this point, they'd probably kill to have Coleman or Rodney Pryorfield.
Sure, I'd love to have Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews, but I don't subscribe to hype. Football is a team sport, and Rodgers doesn't have the weapons RG3 has. That's reality. Deal with it.
I'm hoping that Gilbert will find his job easier here, because Green Bay doesn't have a Coleman or a Pryor.
More importantly, I want to see RG3 under pressure. In a pocket. Checking down. He needs to prove it.
Hue thinks he will, and in Hue I trust.
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