Browns Preseason Game 1: Manziel, Hoyer and the Offense

As everyone that watched the Browns first preseason game knows, it had a familiar feel to 2013 and many years since the Browns came back to Cleveland. They couldn’t get the ball in the endzone. I am not ready to pass judgement on the team yet and say the same trend will carry over to the regular season. Here are some observations on the quarterback battle and other parts of the offense.

  • Playcalling: I was a bit concerned with the heavy weight towards the number of pass plays called compared to run plays. Although I can’t get an exact number due to certain things like pre-snap penalties, these are the numbers I counted. For 3 drives with Hoyer in the game, there were 17 pass plays and 8 run plays. For Manziel’s 4 drives, we had 14 pass plays and 9 run plays. I am hoping this is due to the QB competition and not what we can expect during the regular season. With our defense, we need to run the ball more.
  • Brian Hoyer: Overall I thought Hoyer played very well for his first game back from ACL surgery. Yes he made a few mistakes early, but he didn’t seem to do anything to lose his starting job. He moved the offense and if he can cleanup his mistakes he should be ready. Some things of note:
    1. On his first drive, it started to look like Hoyer hadn’t missed a step. He made some good throws, but the drive stalled after an overthrow to Josh Gordon with his weight on his back foot and a failed rollout pass on the very next play. On this play, he had a relatively clean pocket, albeit collapsing, to step up and to his left to either run with the ball or pass it for the first. Instead, he rolled out to his right where the play had next to no chance of succeeding.
    2. The rest of his game was solid. He made a perfect play action pass to Josh Gordon for 22 yards, and the rollout pass to Miles Austin that was unfortunately dropped on the 5 yard line could be watched over and over again due to how beautiful it looked. I think if Austin comes down with that, the Browns punch it in the endzone.
  • Johnny Manziel: Let me start by saying that our 2nd string offensive line is not very good. Manziel had to deal with backups at the skilled positions as well the entire game. Despite these things, Manziel’s pro debut was mostly positive and it gives me hope moving forward. Some things of note:
    1. On 3rd and 1 on his first drive, a read option play was called. Just like he did in college time and time again, Manziel keeps the ball. The average observer (and I guess our color guy on NBC) might say that the DE crashed, which means you keep the ball so Johnny did the right thing. WRONG. On that play, the read is on the weak side linebacker who slow-played his blitz until he knew Manziel was keeping the ball. Either way though, Johnny was likely expecting Barnidge to not whiff on the defender and if he didn’t block air, the play would have been successful. In this case though, a handoff to West would have been a better decision as he could have ran just outside the left tackle for a first down. The next 2 read option plays were executed perfectly and resulted in big plays.
    2. I am not putting this all on Manziel because he might not be completely comfortable with audibles at this point, but on 2nd and 2 with Detroit showing 8 in the box looking to stop the run, the play wasn’t changed and West ran up the middle for a loss of 3.
    3. Manziel looked smooth off play action. His first attempt was a bullet in a perfect spot to Gabriel. Almost all other plays off of play action were positive resulting in either a completed pass or a QB scramble.
    4. Manziel’s 16 yard run was very impressive, but not because of the run itself. What was impressive to me were his progressions. He looked left to option 1, right to options 2 and 3, and then came back to option 1 for a brief second before taking off up the middle. Although there appeared to be a guy open about 16 yards down field, it was likely a dangerous pass. The run was the safe play with the blitzer closing in. Speaking of Manziel’s runs, he did a nice job sliding or getting out of bounds to avoid contact.
    5. Manziel’s only other notable mistake minus a couple errant throws was his scramble and run on 4th and 1. The fullback was wide open about 10 yards down field for a touch pass. Instead, he barely got past the 1st down marker.
  • Terrence West and Ben Tate: The jump cuts, the quick decisions and physical play of our running backs seems obvious. We have a legit 1-2 punch there. Neither guy dances around and they get up the field as soon as the hole presents itself. West’s numbers (ypc) didn’t end up great, but he had the joy of running behind the backup O-line and the lack of a couple audibles/blocking adjustments from Manziel.
  • MarQueis Gray: I can’t prove this on this blog, but before the game started, I told a friend of mine that Gray is going to be a big weapon on this offense as long as he blocks well. This will keep him on the field. The real gem comes in the passing game. So often do you see teams blow coverage on the FB because the majority of them can’t make big plays (or sometimes any play at all) in the passing game. Gray can. If Gordon doesn’t get suspended for the season, look out. Cameron, Gordon and Gray are matchup nightmares for any defense.
  • Starting Offensive Line: The line now looks like a completed product. Last year our pass blocking was solid and our run blocking was terrible. This year they have everything probably in large part due to the zone blocking scheme. It seems to fit our personnel well. If they aren’t one of the best groups if not the best in the NFL I will be shocked.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Browns Preseason Game 1: The Defense

There has been a lot of talk in the media that our defense played poorly on Saturday night. After watching the game for the second time yesterday, I still don’t see it. Here are my observations from the game.

  • Injuries: The Browns have a few injuries but nothing major. The result however is the absence of 3 defensive starters (Gibson, Gilbert, Winn) for the game.  Regardless of where Buster Skrine is on the depth chart right now, I think we all know Gilbert will be the starter. Gibson has also looked good on defense in camp and he and Whitner seem to be a good fit. Most people would probably consider Phil Taylor replacing Winn is a wash, so it comes down to missing 2 key players in the secondary, which should be the Browns biggest asset this year on defense.
  • First team defense: I thought they played very well with the exception of a few plays. Poyer completely missed the gap on the first drive by Detroit allowing Bell to make a run of 11 yards. I also thought Hayden was playing a bit loose at the corner spot, most notably the slant route on drive 1 to Golden Tate and the ball Ogletree took off his face that should have been a 10+ yard completion. The defensive line and the linebackers looked very good in all aspects of the game and made very few mistakes. I love Whitner as a player, a person and a Buckeye. It is tough to truly evaluate them when they are missing some key players and didn’t have to deal with Megatron at all and Stafford only on the first series.
  • Pierre Desir: He might be a ball hawk type of defensive back, but bad bad tackling in this game and made some other fundamental and mental mistakes. He is still a work in progress.
  • Armonty Bryant: Looked just as good in this game as he has in training camp. I don’t think he registered a tackle, but he was really putting pressure on the offense. We are DEEP at the defensive line position. We have the ability to cycle players in and out so much that nobody should get tired.
  • The inside linebacker battle between Robertson and Kirksey is still extremely murky. Both guys played very well in the game and I suspect they will each see substantial playing time once the regular season starts.
  • Challenges: Pettine is 1-0 on challenges despite the result. Officials totally botched the kickoff fumble by Detroit. Clearly, the Browns recovered it. Let’s hope this is just them working out mistakes much like the players are.

These are just some quick thoughts defensively. I will post on the Browns offense, including Manziel and Hoyer’s performances tomorrow.

A Conversation About The Tribe …. #Indians

If one wonders why the Tribe can’t garner extensive interest from the average fan, listen in to this casual text conversation with my editorial board. These are hardcore Indian and Cleveland sports fans. As you will see I did enter into the conversation minimally, but the other two carried the discussion. MY is a gal and BA a guy. That might make the read more interesting.

MY: Well, we need a starter bad. Do we dare use Carmona again?

BA: No on Carmona … don’t know if bad is word I would use .. either way … nothing we can do about it until off-season

MY: Tomlin has settled down but UGH

BA: Well he has let up 4 runs or more in each of his last 5 starts or something (about Tomlin pitching in game tonight)

MY: I meant tonight

BA: Yeah I know … doesn’t mean anything

CWinsJim: We do need another starter for sure. But NO to “Hernandez”

MY: WAIT….. I meant Carrasco LOL OMG not “Hernandez” lol. Is he still pitching?

MY: That was what I meant. In my defense same beginning letter LOL

BA: There is 0 reason to try Carrasco as a starter

CWinsJim: Not at this point that’s for sure. I do agree.

MY: Yeah, I think that too but Tito doesn’t use him enough anyways.

CWinsJim: Carrasco is actually very good in the bullpen

MY: For example, Tomlin struggles anymore and he should be in there. When was the last time Carrasco pitched?

BA: Zero … season is over and you two are way too hard on McAllister … Your best bet is to hope he finds it … before injury last year he easily looked like #3 starter

MY: Season isn’t over. 2 1/2 out of Wild Card

BA: Yeah ok … Kidding yourself if you think we making playoffs

CWinsJim: I do have confidence in McAllister and I do hope that he finds it. We just don’t know right now.

BA: No other option but to hope he finds it … unless you know some stud in minors.. I don’t know about that.

MY: I mean honestly, they probably won’t but they have a chance. Kluber, Bauer and Salazar could be a great 1 2 3 punch down the stretch. They have a great bullpen. If Swisher doesn’t play again we have a chance lol.

CWinsJim: Look, rather than predicting the future, let’s just let this play out. There’s no need to make any major move at this point I don’t think.

MY: Our competition is NY, Toronto, Seattle, and KC. I like House too… just hate putting an L down every 5th day

BA: So what happens …. u pitch Kluber in wild card game … say we win … likely … then he doesn’t pitch until game 2 or 3 in the next series .. same as last year .. Stars would have to all align to have a shot. .. Just unlikely

MY: Unlikely I agree but it could happen. Well, with defense like tonight they won’t make it.

BA: Unless we win the division, making the playoffs is pointless false hope. Be good from financial perspective so hope it happens.

MY: Lol, I don’t think they beat the Tigers but Price has already let in 2 runs tonight.

BA: Guess that is my point … We don’t have a valid shot at doing anything until we beat the Tigers

MY: Probably right but making it again would be nice for the young guys

BA: What young guys? Basically same ones as last year? Ramirez unlikely to be on the team when playoffs happen … if it more than 1 game, good for starters I suppose. Is pitching in the playoffs and getting rocked better than not getting there? Not sure. .. Interesting discussion anyway 🙂

BA: I think last time Carrasco pitched was tonight (after Carrasco enters game)

MY: I mean winning that Wild Card game would mean a lot since they lost it last year. Good to get that experience again.

BA: I more so think playing in an actual playoff series is valuable … anyone can win a 1 game playoff … why I think it is stupid … All about money.

BA: Was already hard enough for a Wild Card team to beat the best team in the AL … now they have to do so without their best starter beginning the series .. or at least likely not having best starter.

MY: True, I see your point.

So there you have it. The conversation starts with the Indians needing a starter. That fizzles out when we realize that there are no real options except retreads of what we have already seen. Moves to the Indian’s chances for making the playoffs and that maybe as long as Swisher doesn’t come back we have a chance. Then to a discussion of the futility of the Wild Card game and Wild Card team in the current system. Quickly transitions to a realization that if the Indians can’t beat the Tigers there isn’t much point to all of this and MAYBE it could be valuable for the Indians to just be in the playoffs as long as it is a real playoff series.

Aside from some of the humor in the early part of this post, my main reason for presenting this conversation was to try and paint a picture of the current mental state of the Cleveland Indian fan. We want to believe. We want the team to succeed. But, in the final analysis, there is no real confidence from even the most avid Indian fan that the team can compete. If that is how the avid fan feels, you can imagine what the casual fan is thinking.

So, no matter how the Indians brain trust tries to spin it and the Indians ownership claims a desire to compete, the fans have no confidence that the Indians can compete with the big boys except for a random unexpected year every now and then. The fans were totally ready to believe after two off seasons ago when ownership spent money on Swisher and Bourn. However, ownership needed to follow that up this off season. When that didn’t happen, the fans were in a “show me what you got” mode. If they had played better early, the fans would have responded. When they didn’t, you can see the result.

Most fans do commend the ownership’s commitment to signing our young players to longer term contracts a la the early and mid 90s. However, there will be a need to significantly deficit spend to get this team over the hump. Without a potent, powerful and skilled middle of the order right handed bat, the Indians will continue to beat themselves up trying to score. Without at least one more solid starter, the team will always be reaching for that ring but missing. This can be done relatively cheaply if you get really lucky. What would the Indians look like now if they had signed Nelson Cruz and Scott Kazmir in the winter? Those players could have been had with shorter term commitments so that the dollars would not be leaking out for multiple years. In my opinion you could sub Baltimore’s success with our season.

So, while all is not lost, more needs to be done to make the Indians legitimately competitive. Drafting better combined with strategic signings would certainly help.