Browns v. Lions: Fourth Quarter
Saturday, August 23rd, 2008You guys watched it; it wasn't pretty. I won't continue the pain here.
You guys watched it; it wasn't pretty. I won't continue the pain here.
Romeo Crennel proved true to his word. While the third preseason game is the one where first teamers see the most action, Crennel said in a recent practice that he wouldn't be telling them when they were coming out of the game - primarily because he thought it mad them in a hurry to get in and get out.
Quinn, starting for Anderson, opened the third quarter and began to march the team down the field until stalling no a fourth-and-two play that resulted in an incompletion to running back Jerome Harrison that almost saw him throwing from his backside.
Quinn's third possession doesn't bode any better. Again three and out with ineffective blocks courtesy of the right side of the line leads to Quinn getting splattered to the turf on his tookes.
The Browns just succeeded in making Dan Orlvosky look Favre-esque twice on the Lions first possession of the second quarter. And Kevin Smith brought back memories of Barry Sanders with a 35-yard touchdown run where no one really laid a finger on him.
Hmmm…Quinn begins to get into a rhythm, dinking and dunking the ball around when he finally throws an intermediate pass, it's dropped by Travis Wilson. Quinn and company finally break the scoring drought to go make the score 13-3. They blew a golden opportunity to score a TD by imploding near the goal line.
On the next drive he once again looked to get something going, but incompletions and near picks undo it. Phil Dawson salvages it with a 53-yard field goal. Overall Quinn is up and down on the drive, but at the same time he can't be completely blamed
First drive: All of a sudden Jon Kitna looks like a junior Fran Tarkenton (for those of you under 40, look him up). He completes two third and eights on the drive after scrambling away from pressure. The good news is the Browns are getting pressure; the bad is that Kitna is evading it. The run defense also looked good with Shaun Rodgers making a couple of stuffs. After it looks as if the Lions will march in for a score courtesy of those two scrambles, the Lions settle for a field goal.
It should be noted that the Browns are missing Brodney Pool and Sean Jones in the secondary.
This is for all of those 10-13 year old girls out there who couldn't wait to see Brady Quinn get a chance to play. Sorry, but given that two of his most potent weapons - Jamal Lewis and Braylon Edwards - aren't playing, I don't have great expectations.
Quinn's first drive: An inauspicous occasion. Offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski allows him to go deep to start and he overthrows the ball. He hits on a two-yarder to Kellen Winslow and misses Donte Stallworth on a short out route.
Lions take a 6-0 lead. Browns again bend but don't break, but there's something troubling about watching receivers get three yards beyond DBs on pass plays. They do only give up just one significant run. Shaun Rodgers already has four tackles and has plastered the Lions Kevin Smith on most of them.
Quinn goes three and out and misses Donte Stallworth on a short pass.
Jon Kitna's apparently got his work in for the day…he's pulled for Dan Orlovsky. You get time off in the preseason when you go 9-for-11 for 98 yards.
It's difficult to keep your eyes on a video camera screen and concentrate on play on the field when you're out at Cleveland Browns training camp, but one thing clear from Wednesday's practice is that Brady Quinn had another lackluster day.
The downside: two passes blocked at the line and a fumbled snap.
The upside: Well, hey he played fairly well against the New York Jets last Thursday night. Maybe Quinn's just one of those guys that has an average practice, but shows up when it matters most - game time. If that's true he'll be the type of guy who drives his coaches nuts. Still, it would help if Quinn showed some consistency. I know. I know. If and when he gets his shot, as long as he puts up "Ws" what does it matter.
With Steve Sanders getting some work with the first unit the other day, givng the young receiver a shot at proving himself, Travis Wilson received his turn and delivered as he has all season. Perhaps giving Sanders a shot with the first unit offered a way to push Wilson more, especially given the fact he's not fully lived up to his potential since arriving from Oklahoma. We shall see.
Kellen Winslow looks to be in mid-season form already. The Browns tight end looks perfectly content to bowl over opposing defensive backs - even if they're his own. Take the case of Travis Key, the newly signed safety who crashed into Winslow (literally) on one play. On the next, the Browns tight end proceeded to slap him away from him like a fly.
Of note: Rookie tight end Martin Rucker will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery Thursday morning. That's too bad because Rucker had just begun to find his groove. He had a decent showing against the Jets and had stepped it up in training camp…Fans planning to attend training camp before it closes Saturday should be aware that all remaining practices are from 2:30 to 4:30 p.m.
It's time that Cleveland's football fans deal with reality.
Heck, I'll confess that it's time I deal with reality because I'm still lukewarm on Derek Anderson. Listening to the fans at training camp chant: "Brady! Brady!" makes me wonder what they're thinking. Folks, Derek Anderson is your quarterback. PERIOD. STOP. IT. NOW.
There's no getting around it. And Anderson showed why he is on the field during Sunday's lone practice. While the guy's definitely got the arm and the confidence in that arm to be a gunslinger, he showed some patience Sunday and in Friday's practice at Cleveland Browns Stadium. In the matter of a couple of seconds, Anderson went through his progressions on more than a few plays. Look left. Look down the center of the field. Look right. BOOM! Ball.
At times, Quinn looks to stil be struggling with that and his accuracy. He continues to overthrow wide open receivers. In short: unless Anderson turns into the second coming of Paul McDonald, Quinn will be holding a clipboard this year.
Thanks to WKNR's Mark "Munch" Bishop for pointing something out this afternoon. During the scrum that is the war in the trenches, sometimes you can miss a trend. One noticeable one with the Browns' O-line: they're not just working their stronger left side that features Joe Thomas and Eric Steinbach. They're running to that right side as well and the holes have been there for Jamal Lewis to run through - as he did on several occasions today.
Tight end Darnell Dinkins is one of those who has been catching practically everything thrown his way. This presents the Browns with an interesing dilemma. They have four players at the position who could conceivably make the team - Kellen Winslow, Dinkins, Steve Heiden and draft pick Martin Rucker. They say competition makes you better, this one is going to get intense before pre-season is over.
More and more it looks like the Browns have the potential to put two dominating cornerbacks on the field in Eric Wright and Brandon McDonald. Wright made a couple of tremendous plays on balls thrown by Derek Anderson.
Some good things on both side of the ball for Family Night.
First up, the offense is starting to get into rhythm - that was at least the case Friday night. It may be me but Jamal Lewis looks faster and more powerful. He hit holes quickly, broke some arm tackles. Now granted this wasn't full contact, but nonetheless he impressed.
Braylon Edwards plays as if he wants to top last year's spectacular numbers. Granted it's just practice right now, but when you're diving for balls as he did Friday night that says a lot about your desire. He pulled in a 47-yard beauty from Derek Anderson. I doubt that the Edwards that initially showed up in Cleveland several seasons ago would have done that.
Anderson is also showing that he's developing chemistry with Donte Stallworth as the duo hooked up for a couple of nice receptions, one of them came with Anderson scrambling, lookign for an open man and finding Stallworth for a 13-yard gain on the sideline.
Defensively, Eric Wright stepped up with a nice performance that included a pick of a Brady Quinn pass that should have never been thrown. Rooking linebacker Alex Hall continues to impress as he had a sack in the controlled scrimmage.
As good as the Browns first-team offense looked in some cases Friday night, I was more in awe of the crowd that showed up; more than 26,000 screaming, jacked up fans attended the practice session. After rookie Beau Bell saw that he had the mone quote of the night: "They told me this was a football town, and they proved it right here. This was just a practice; I can't wait for the games."
Weather that caused an immediate sweat remained in Berea for the Cleveland Browns morning practice - only this time it brought a calvacade of clouds - the dark ones too. While some of the fans were disappointed that they got drenched for a brief spell, Browns Coach Romeio Crennel couldn't help but show his happiness over the soaking. "We learned how to play with our feet under us. It was good," he said.
Indeed that proved to be the case as the weather didn't seem to faze the players - with the exception of a minor slip here and there. Some of the rest of us are still drying out, however.
Crennel brought in game officials for the morning practice for the first time during camp.
"We had the officials here to put emphasis on what happens in games," he said. "The officials are looking at things evne though they're not dropping flags. If they see a guy do something they talk to them and say 'Look, that's going to be a penalty, we we were able to re-inforce the proper way to play the game."
Brady Quinn continues to draw a lot of attention, especially from fans. He looked good throwing a few balls on out patterns, but what is very obvious when you look at him and Derek Anderson is how differently they approach the game. On many of the passing plays Anderson looked down field first before checking down to a receiver. Quinn seemed to look shorter first. Crennel said that has worked to change that through the first week of camp.
One thing that you can see in the Browns defense, first and foremost is that they're active, secondly when given the chance, they like hitting. In the case of Jereme Perry, he apparently loves it. He laid wideout Efrem Hill out on a play that elicited "oohs" and "ahhs" from the fans that saw it.
Once again, running back, Travis Thomas looked good. In the two days I've been here he's yet to drop a ball and he looks to hit holes with some pop.
The Browns must address two perceived weaknesses on offense - lack of depth at the running back and wide receiver positions. If Travis Wilson can continue to have a consistent camp, he may fill the latter role.
How pumped are Browns fans? Pumped enough to cheer when kicker Phil Dawson, taking practice kicks, made several in a row, the longest being 48 yards.
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