Friday, September 22, 2017

Jordan Leslie, Gregg Williams Sharing, and the Browns

Gregg Williams is da man!  He explained why he plays Jabrill Peppers so deep.  It should sound really familiar to you, including the "but I must not be as smart as you" face-slap.

Clearly, Gregg reads what people write, and is a tad more direct than Hue in expressing his opinion of those opinions.  I love this guy!

He's right about the late Antonio Brown deep reception vs the Steelers.  They had THREE GUYS on Brown, literally surrounding him.  Gregg calls it a "punt", because it was a high-arcing bucket pass.

If Brown was 6'4", that's a high-percentage pass, but this dude is 5'10", and I guarantee you, Williams chewed all three of those defenders out.  At least one of them should have reacted to the ball in the air and got his hands in the way.

Of course, with that crew of referees, getting into the same camera shot with Antonio Brown equals pass interference so....

Anyway I was also pleased to hear Gregg talk about that, and share his feelings on the subject.  Gregg shares a lot!  See how evolved he is?

I'll keep this general for now, but some weekly fantasy experts are naming some Browns as sleepers vs the Colts this week shhh!

Good sign: The guy the Browns released to make room for Rodney Lesliefield was a wide receiver.  This indicates that they may have stopped taking whatever they were taking and admitted to themselves that Jordan Leslie is really, really good.

Part of this could be concern over Dwayne B Kenny Britt's ongoing mediocrity.

We can't forget Ricardo Louis here, of course.  He might ultimately emerge as something special, but Hue Jackson and company are 0-2 right now.

Their raw rookie quarterback just got punked, and one part of that was his inability to trust his receivers.

Kizer worked with Jordan Leslie quite a bit in the offseason and, like Osweiler, Hogan, and Kessler........came to trust him ok?

I know that Hue Jackson could "school" me on a white board (me vs Brown or DePodesta would be more entertaining), but he'd have to answer these questions from me:

1: What makes a quarterback trust a receiver (enough to throw to a spot, before he makes his move)?  (Correct answer: He will BE there, and will fight for the ball).

2: Who was the most productive receiver throughout preseason?

3: Have you asked Kizer, Hogan, and Kessler what they think of Jordan Leslie?

On that last question:  Every Head Coach AND general manager should consult with their quarterbacks about every wide receiver, and rely heavily on their opinions before they start monkeying around with the depth chart and roster.

Makes too much sense, right?  The quarterback is the real expert on this subject, even if he's a raw rookie.  It's like asking him who he wants to be in a foxhole with when his perimeter is overrun, ya know?  Who do you trust with your freaking career and future?

Every quarterback's answer will discount combine numbers and even history, and zero in on personal experience with the receiver.  It will discount big plays, as well.  The quarterback will care first and foremost about:

Will he be where he's supposed to be?  Will he win contested catches?  Can I TRUST him?

I'm sorry, but I can't stop bashing the Browns over their trreatment of Jordan Leslie, because it's irrational.  I don't give a damn that nobody else signed him--they're all stupid too!

Maybe it's the modern NFL.  Everybody wants big plays, all the time.  While Leslie's measurables are pretty damn good, he didn't make any huge splash-plays in the offseason.

No, he just got open and caught everything that was thrown to him.

Question 4 for Hue Jackson is which is more important:  Yards per-catch or completions per-target?  You want a guy to catch 2 of 4 and get 40 yards, or is 5 of 6 for 50 yards better?

Hue himself was a quarterback, so WE know how he'd answer!

I won't get near LaCanfora Place here, but I suspect that the geeks made these bad calls on Leslie--not Hue Jackson.  However, Hue didn't put his foot down over it.  I predict that he will get a lot more assertive really fast...and it won't be a problem.

I can't imagine that Hue Jackson was cool with letting Terrelle Pryor go in exchange for Kenny Britt, for example.  (Well that's a tough call:  You know Britt was an eggzbeeryunzed vedderrunn right?  Can't put that kind of blockheadedness past any Head Coach).

This should be the topic for my next entry, now that I'm interested in it:

Figuring out what's going on behind closed doors in Berea.  Who made what decisions?  Is there friction?  Is Hue Jackson, as I've suggested, getting more assertive in re personnel?

Oh yeah.  Stay tuned: whenever I write that post, I guarantee you Pokorney will copy it and then so will everybody else!


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