Sunday, August 11, 2019

Browns vs Colts Scrimmage Great for Both Teams: Browns Tight Ends, Fullbacks, Offensive Line, Zone-Blocking

John Dorsey could not have picked a better team to scrimmage against in week 2.  The 2019 Colts are at least almost as stacked as the Browns are on offense (with maybe a better offensive line).

On defense, find old freinds Jabaal Sheard and Pierre Desir.

T Y Hilton, Devin Funchess, Chester Rogers, Parris Campbell what are you kiddin me?  These guys are really going to challenge the secondary!  

Colts GM Chris Ballard has done a brilliant job with his roster; notably his nearly instantaneous upgrade of his Offensive Line.

Ballard and Dorsey are good freinds, which has a lot to do with why these two teams will be practicing against eachother.  It will be great for both of them.

I should mention here that old veterans (like Easy Ed McCaffery of NFL Radio) tend to despise these intrasquad scrimmages;

The young guys fighting for roster spots are kind of desperate to make a big impression, so they take these opportunities to try to lay out non-teammates, and people can get hurt.

But I presume that Ballard and Dorsey will be right there, and the Coaches all over that stuff.  I have a hunch they'll be paying extra attention to Sione Takitaki, who is kinda bloodthirsty.

New guy Steve Gessic Jr. might be one of my secret admirers, as he is the first non-me to have it dawn on him that Wilson and Takitaki could make Kirksey and Schobert expendable this season.

You can't blame me for being suspicious.  Who else has been suggesting this?

(To review: Schobert's Brinks truck is due to back up after 2019, and Kirksey...well he's just not earning his big salary).

Steve says that Takitaki looked decent and Wilson was obviously amazing in coverage (again).

You people should understand that off-the-ball linebacker is not a big rocket science project type position, ok?

Certainly it's not like running back or anything, but an experienced rookie can often step right in.  

Damarius Randall is a thorny issue, but Kirksey and Schobert vs Takitaki and Wilson...not so much.  Deal with it.

John Keatly wrote a decent article on newly signed TE Rico Gathers, but that "clearly, they're not satisfied with depth behind Njoku" etc stuff is ignorant.

I told you LAST YEAR that Orson Charles was overrated (even as a fullback).  DeValve is hurt (yet again--which is a problem in and of itself), but "clearly not satisfied" is hyperbole.

Anyway Gathers is a big skyscraper who I assume is expected to block like Demetrius Harris.

It starts to look like I was right about the 2019 Browns carrying 4 Tight Ends with 2 blockers and 2 move guys, and zero fullbacks.

(Ok well if DeValve could stay healthy for over 72 hours at a time he could line up back there...)

Look no further than the 2018 Browns offense under Freddie Kitchens, Sherlock:

Freddie used 2 Tight Ends a lot.  That inverted Wishbone stuff was a knuckleball (and effective) but even here the 3 running backs were actual running backs.

And when you have questionable offensive tackles, the best way to help them (in pass pro) is with chipping Tight Ends...is any of this sinking in yet?

And then, if you're going to zone-block (for...oh I don't know...Nick Chubb?) those Tight Ends make a huge difference.

I didn't listen to Jake Burns' podcast about how the Browns need to be "proactive" about "fixing" the kicker situation.

I have to assume that Jake thinks the Browns need to get somebody else from somewhere else.

I really don't get this anti-Greg Joseph sentiment.  Joseph has actually been pretty good for the Browns.

...is this because he missed an extra point last week?  That's kinda like let's kick Dontrell Hilliard to the curb for his fumble, no?

Don't get me wrong now: If you can nail down a truly elite kicker, you should--but while Rodney Josephfield isn't elite, he is pretty good.

Maybe Jake had some specific stud kickers in mind, but if not...he is wrong.

But maybe I am wrong too, as Nick Dudukovich (and Tony Grossi) point out:

Nick asks which player lilipution WR Damon Sheehy-Guiseppi (pant-pant/relieved sigh) would push off the roster.

Grossi points out that the 2019 Browns have NOT been using 2 Tight Ends much, and might only carry 3 on the roster.

I hadn't realized the Tight End situation...

This is probably about OBJ and Monken...

I just gotta stipulate here: If the Offensive Tackles look weak vs Edge guys in pass pro, and/or they look useful as run-blockers in zone schemes, the Browns will keep 4 Tight Ends anyway.

Zero fullbacks, 3 running backs...what's the big deal?

Okbye.


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