Thursday, November 6, 2008

New Day Rising

Well the Brady Quinn era began tonight. The Browns did indeed lose to the Denver Broncos 34-30. There were some good things and some real bad things in this game. Lets go over them:

Brady Quinn looked good
With only 2 full practices, and a notice only 3 days before the game, Brady Quinn did pretty well. He finished the game 23 for 35, 239 yards and 2 TDs with a 104.3 passer rating. He did not get sacked at all, and he used his mobility to avoid pressure. His first touchdown pass came with pressure in his face as Elvis Dumervill almost sacked him, but Brady avoided the sack and threw the touchdown. Brady made good, crisp passes, something that DA was unable to do. On the short routes to Jerome Harrison and Jamal Lewis, Brady got the passes to them very well. The final drive was a tough one for Quinn, in that 2 of the passes he threw were dropped by our receivers. We should also note that Quinn played a defense that did not feature cornerback Champ Bailey, and Denver's defense is ranked 29th in the league. Also, Denver really did not have any tape on Quinn, he only played one drive last year, and that was the last game of the year. But given the fact that he had only 2 practices for his first NFL start, Quinn did very well. He seems to have a bright future ahead of him.

The defense has taken 2 steps back
After a good performance versus the Jaguars, this defense has been rather porous. Against the Ravens, the Browns have allowed 429 and 564 yards. As Rick James once said "That is absurd" The problem that I see with the defense is blown coverages, missed tackles, and our linebackers inability to cover the pass. The blown coverages were seen in both the Baltimore game and the Denver game. In the Baltimore game, Sean Jones was supposed to help Brandon McDonald when he was covering Mark Clayton, but he bit inside and left McDonald by himself. This caused the 47 yard touchdown pass in the first half. Later in that game, the Browns had a lot of trouble tackling Ray Rice when he was running. He busted out for 154 yards on 21 carries. Also, in the fourth quarter when the Ravens were mounting their comeback, Eric Wright had a missed tackle on Derek Mason, which led to the 2nd of 3 touchdowns in that half. Also, in that game, did you notice how many times the receivers caught passes across the middle. These linebackers cannot cover these receivers. Mark Clayton and Derrick Mason do not strike fear in opposing defensive coordinators, and they played very well. This was also evident in the Denver game. TE Tony Scheffler had 4 catches for 94 yards, and he repeatedly caught passes over the middle and over the linebackers. Brandon McDonald was again abused when Eddie Royal caught a 93 yard pass from Jay Cutler. McDonald missed the tackle (notice the problem?), and there was no one to help him on that side of the field (blown coverage, problem?). Daniel Graham's touchdown in the 4th quarter was inexcusable as well. The Browns had 2 missed tackles, and he went in the last 5 yards untouched. The defense didn't generate that much pressure either, getting only one sack. If we have any chance of winning, we need consistent pressure. You can't blame the offense for keeping the defense on the field in this game, the offense was on the field longer than the Broncos were (32:09 compared to 27:51). The Browns allowed 447 yards in the air, which is ridiculous. We can't seem to make the 3rd down stop, we know these teams are going to pass, and we just get into these zone coverages without pressure, and the offenses complete the passes with ease. Denver converted 6 of its 11 3rd downs. Another concern I have is that this defense has blown leads of over 13 points in the last two games. We allowed 24 points in the second half of each of these games. The defense needs to play with fire, intensity, and discipline all 60 minutes of the football game. They cannot afford to take plays off, and let teams get back into games. The coaches should be disturbed by this because they are the main external factors that can motivate the players, and it has not happened in the second half of the past two game. The defense really needs to improve its play, they need to instill themselves with more discipline, smarts, and a better tackling technique.

Jerome, Jerome, where are thou Jerome?
Memo to the Browns: Give Jerome Harrison the ball. This game, the Browns got that memo and gave him the ball for 5 carries and 48 yards. After that 5th carry, the Browns threw the memo away, and he was not seen again. 5 carries? 5 carries? He was almost averaging 10 yards a carry and after 5 carries you stop! This guy is explosive, he lead the NCAA in rushing his last year in college. You don't lead the NCAA in rushing for no reason. This guy is explosive, and he has some moves. He can be the lighting to Jamal Lewis' thunder. This worked well with Jerome Bettis and Willie Parker. You can pound defenses with Lewis' strength, then let them try to chase the quick and elusive Harrison. The Browns should give him the ball more, it will help their offense.

Well this just about wraps it up. Sorry that I have no written in awhile, I have been busy with school. My next blog will probably be about the Cavaliers, unless the Indians make a move. About Brady being put in at QB, I agree with the move. I have said before that we should bench DA, and it finally happened. The problems DA has showed again in the Ravens game (bad throws, not clutch, no mobility, can't handle defensive pressure). Quinn solves a lot of these problems because he is accurate and he is mobile. Josh Cribbs played another great game with special teams tackles, and some good returns on kicks. Kellen Winslow had a great game aside from his fumble and dropped pass. The offensive line played great, as the Browns ran for over 100 yards and they did not give up a sack. Well thank you for reading, and I hope to write more in the future. Cleveland St. Vikings Basketball starts Monday, and I will be attending the game. I will write some of my observations in a future blog. I wish you all the best, and have a great week. Thanks and go Cleveland!

-Raz