A few thoughts on a Browns game that produced very little for thought …

The first-team offense provided enough positives to let everyone breathe a little easier heading into the season. Brady Quinn led the starters to a field goal and touchdown, and the unit was sharp.

Quinn should have hit Kellen Winslow for a touchdown, though. Poor throw.

The offensive line, too, finally played like it’s been expected to play.

Derek Anderson was on the sidelines. He left the locker room without addressing the media, but did give a thumbs-up signal on his way out. Expect him to return to practice next week.

Braylon Edwards got a pretty nasty cut on his foot – nobody has said how many stitches he needed, to my knowledge – but the team expects him back as well. Same with Jamal Lewis, who strained a hamstring.

It was not good to see starting guard Rex Hadnot leave with a strained knee. But if the Browns are to lose anyone up front, at least they have experienced backups in Seth McKinney and Ryan Tucker on the team.

Travis Wilson might have done enough to save his job, especially if Syndric Steptoe’s shoulder injury keeps him out any length of time.

Observers said Steptoe did not seem seriously injured as he left the locker room. The Browns will need either he or Josh Cribbs to be healthy for the opener.

It’s hard to gauge these injuries during games. The team says what is hurt, and gives the chances of return (probable, questionable, doubtful, will not return). Other than that, the media pretty much knows what everyone watching on TV knows. Details on the guys hurt in the finale will be available probably on Saturday when GM Phil Savage discusses the final roster.

The Browns finished preseason 0-4, the second time in team history they went winless in preseason. But as Romeo Crennel said: “We could've been 4-0 and if we lose to Dallas you're going to ask what went wrong."

Someday we will all look back on this date and remember it as the day that Martin Luther King gave the “I Have a Dream” speech, the night that Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination and the night when the Browns concluded the preseason that seemed to drag on forever.

Where is Adriana Lima when you need her?

That sure didn't look like much of an improvement to me. Same silly penalties. Same silly mistakes. Same nonexistent pass defense. One team played on Saturday, and it wasn't Cleveland. This preseason has not gone well, and it's hard not to conclude that too many with the team have put expected success ahead of the work needed to achieve that success.

Some random thoughts:

• Crennel was asked if there any bright spots. He said: "Uh, no."
• Since when does Jon Kitna have the ability to elude the rush. The Browns let him outside the pocket twice, and he found receivers both times.
• Check out the penalties, including an illegal formation on a kneel down at the end of the half. That's one I've never seen. How does a team get illegal formation on a stinking kneel down?
• I think the Browns spent too much time in pads during the week.
• Brady Quinn did not look very good. He had some moments, but he also had some not-to-good moments. He wasn't helped by the poor pass protection up front. Quinn's first non-penalty first down came early in the second quarter. The next play Lawrence Vickers was flagged for holding. Figures.
• The protection was not good. That's because the Browns have a large line that was out-quicked by the Lions defensive linemen. Detroit jettisoned Shaun Rogers in part because they wanted quicker guys. He's a massive guy. He also was inconsistent, among other things, in Detroit. "This is a speed team that we were playing," coach Romeo Crennel said. "It's the Tampa philosophy where they have excellent team speed. That showed up. I think with more work hopefully we'll be able to settle some things down." Hopefully.
• Lions fans booed heartily every time Rogers' name was announced. "They're Detroit fans and if they're not rooting for the home team, what are they doing here?" Rogers said. "It's expected."

• Rogers had five tackles, which was impressive. Crennel said Rogers did what he was supposed to do in the game. "I'm never one to throw bouquets at guys when we lose the game," Crennel said.
• There was a Chase Pittman sighting.
• In the first quarter, Quinn was two-for-four for eight yards.
• Dan Orlovsky looked like Tom Brady against the Browns defense. First-team, second-team, no matter. Orlovsky shredded the Browns.
• This was in the Dallas Morning News story about the Cowboys game Friday night: "The Cowboys ripped off four first downs in their first five plays before Tony Romo connected with a crossing Patrick Crayton on a 6-yard score."

You always wonder if you make too much out of preseason. The games don't count, after all, and if the Browns beat Dallas and Pittsburgh it will be forgotten. Too, the Browns were plain awful last year in preseason. That being said, the last two games the Browns haven't exactly given any reason for folks not to be concerned. This is a team that has not looked good.

Some more quotes:

• Crennel on the pressure Quinn faced: "I think you saw the classic NFL approach to a young quarterback. Bring pressure to see if he can handle it, and if he can't handle it keep pressuring."
• Crennel on getting back several injured players who missed the game: "They're going to be a little rusty, so it's going to take some time for those guys to knock the rust off. So it's not just going to automatically happen that we're going to be back to where we want to be."

Quinn on his game:

• "I didn't execute the way I wanted to."
• "They brought a decent amount of pressure, which is to be expected when you're a young quarterback in this league."
• "I definitely was disappointed in my performance."

Welcome to a new weekly feature on this blog. It’s called First and 10, and truth be told it’s not new at all. It’s really old. For some years now I’ve e-mailed this First and 10 newsletter on the Browns to those who asked. Free! How cool is that. You want it, it arrives once a week in the e-mailbox (Is that not an annoying word?) Well the folks at “corporate” have decided that blogs are now the greatest thing since sliced bread. So the folks at “corporate” have deemed it wise to put First and 10 on the blog and not send it out via e-mail. In truth, we don’t have a “corporate,” just a bunch of folks running around with titles. Apparently I have a title now, but it doesn’t carry more weight than the guys who wear ties. At times, I’d like to ask them: “Why so serious?” But I digress. Beginning today, First and 10 will be part of the blog every Tuesday, unless circumstances or technology force it to Wednesday.

On to First and 10…

1) Football coaches must be geniuses of the highest order. They can look at preseason film and break it down and actually come up with some insight into what they saw. Take the debacle that was the Browns preseason opener (which cost some of you up to $70 to attend, thank you very much). That game was the lead argument for the abolishment of preseason football, or the marketing gurus in the NFL office who decided you have to pay full price for those fiascos of games, whichever you want to wipe out first. The offensive starters were in the game for nine plays. The defensive starters for nine plays. Yet the coaches actually can learn something! These guys must be the most brilliant of the brilliant, because they can actually watch these few plays and dissect each individual’s play and draw some conclusions.

2) I just don’t get preseason NFL football.

3) Let’s consider Shaun Rogers, the team’s new defensive lineman. Rogers started and was the object of many cheers when he was credited with a tackle. In his time on the field, he looked good. But the fact is he should look good. Everyone I’ve ever talked to about him said that when he plays and he cares, he’s nearly unblockable. The problem is that his weight takes a toll, and eventually he wears down. So to find out if the Browns really have something in Rogers, we need to see him in the third or fourth quarter, after he’s played a half and the temperature is in the low 70s. To see if he wears down. If he tires. Then we need to see him in the second half of the season, after he’s been playing into the fourth quarter for eight out of nine weeks. To see if he’s in good enough shape to last a season. I would submit that though one would rather Rogers look good instead of bad, judging him on these handful of plays and coming to any sort of conclusion is folly. Poppycock, in fact.

4) The column I wrote from the game (How’s that for self-righteous self-importance, pointing to “my column”? Not bad, eh?) centered on Braylon Edwards and his marvelous touchdown catch. In the column, I pointed out how good he was last year and that he might be the most indispensable Brown this year. Several folks commented on line to the effect of “Well, duh, there’s an insight.” They’re right of course, but Edwards’ cutting himself on the heel while running in socks (huh?) after practice on Saturday kind of highlights the point. Let’s take Edwards out of the offense for two, three weeks, and let’s see exactly what the Browns have in receivers. Think about it. You’ll share my concern.

5) Had to enjoy Romeo Crennel’s response to Edwards’ injury. It was Crennel at his straightforward, bottom-line best, who said: “What can you do about it, other than try to educate them?” Suggestions to avoid silly injuries like the one Edwards got might include following them 24-7, assigning a security guard to be with him every minute of every day or installing a special shoelace with a combination lock. The team can advise a guy not to do something like that, but if he goes ahead and does it … well what can you do. Reminds me of the night Gus Frerotte decided to celebrate a touchdown in Washington by smashing his head into a wall. He sprained his neck. Then-coach Norv Turner said after the game: “Guess I’ll have to put that one in a manual.”

6) Nice of John Edwards to stand up big, eh? Lovely role model there. Almost as funny as Bill Clinton making that strong stand for monogamy in one of his speeches. Clinton made the plea in the context of stopping the spread of AIDS, but the notion of him talking monogamy almost brings giggles. Maybe he and Edwards can have lunch some time.

7) The Browns first-team offense looked very good the other night. Jamal Lewis did indeed look quicker. The offensive line blocked well. Derek Anderson threw the ball well. Donte Stallworth made a couple catches. And Edwards had that marvelous one-hand snag for the touchdown. They did all this without Kellen Winslow too. If one can draw a conclusion from nine plays, it would be that it was good to see the offense took their time seriously. But they simply cannot afford to lose Edwards for any extended period of time and hope to be close to the same unit.

Eight) The secondary depth is a real concern. The backups were pretty much torched in their time, and their time was significant because they were in for a significant amount of time. If Brandon McDonald or Eric Wright is injured, the Browns might be calling Houston. Because they’ll have a problem. Friend of mine once referred to that line as: “Houston, we’re breaking up.” Like they were using cell phones or something. This happens sometimes. People get confused. People break up. “Houston, we’re breaking up.”

9) Maybe it’s just the way they’re perceived now, or maybe it’s playing experience, but Derek Anderson seemed much more like the starter and Brady Quinn much more like the backup in the first practice game. Anderson was confident, and Quinn continued something he’s been doing in practice and throwing a lot of underneath passes. Not sure what this means, but that’s the way it seemed.

10) Here’s another reason preseason football is ridiculous. I actually heard someone phone in to one of the talk radio shows after the game proposing that Syndric Steptoe return more kicks so Joshua Cribbs can take more snaps with the offense. This brings to mind two questions: Are you nuts? And, are you nuts? It also brings to mind the time when, in a previous life, I covered the Miami Dolphins. O.J. McDuffie was one of the better punt returners in the league, and he was about to take over as a starting wideout. I ran across Mike Westhoff, the special teams coach (one of the better ones in the league), and asked him if the team planned to give McDuffie a break on returns because he was going to start. He looked at me like Japanese beetles were crawling out of my eyes. “A break?!?!?” he said. “A break?” I mumbled something totally incoherent. “Do the Steelers give Rod Woodson a break?” he asked. That pretty much ended the conversation, and Westhoff was kind enough to lift the tiles off the floor so I could crawl back in my hole. Point, and I learned it: In the NFL, you put the best guys on the field, and Cribbs is one of the two best return men in the league. Any time he fields a punt or kickoff he can score. He won games last year with his returns. The guy is great, and taking him away from what he does best is just silly. As for Steptoe .. please. He may develop into a nice player, but at this point he’s one of the guys who thrive in preseason. Because he gets to play because the coaches decide to put the starters on the bench after one series even though all the poor fans in the seats paid full price for their tickets. If it were not for preseason, exhibition football, Steptoe would be a name on the roster who is inactive every week. Cribbs might not deserve a new contract at this point in time – he did sign his own deal, as I do recall – but he is one of the most dynamic returners in the game. And barring injury, blowout or exhaustion, he should return every kick the other team makes.

Three and Out

This is the spot where I answer three letters. But I don’t have three letters. So this is the spot where I tell you if you have a comment or question you’d like addressed in the newsletter to post it here or e-mail me at pmcmanamon@thebeaconjournal.com. Then I pick three letters or comments I like and answer them and call them Three and Out. Thus ends the newsletter-that-has-become-a-blog-post. Clever eh? Three and “Out”? In lieu of three letters in Three and Out, I present three quick points:

1) Shame that Gary Baxter and LeCharles Bentley were cut; they did all they could to come back from some pretty serious and dangerous injuries.
2) They – and others – occasionally got angry when their comebacks were described as longshots and potential miracles. Fact is they were.
3) Count me as officially “surprised” if either play in the NFL again.

Pat