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Photo: AP/Jim Prisching
Despite those sharp-looking brown pants to match the white jersey tops for the Browns, they were unable to put together much of anything on the offensive side of the ball which resulted in the Green Bay offense wearing down the Browns' defense as they dominated the clock. Here are my quick hit thoughts from what was quite a boring, basic preseason game, even by preseason standards.
-It's disheartening to see our biggest defensive offseason acquisition, safety Abe Elam, get burned on the first drive by Donald Driver for a touchdown on 3rd and 10. To compound things, there was no pressure by the defensive line on the play either so Aaron Rodgers had plenty of time to load up the deep ball.
-Mike Furrey impressed me with a couple of nice third down receptions on the opening drive. Perhaps he can fill the role that Joe Jurevicius was supposed to before he got injured and was subsequently released.
-Josh Cribbs's reverse for 29 yards on the first drive was impressive, and I believe the Browns will try to incorporate Cribbs into the offense as much as they can. He saw a lot of action at wide receiver in the first half, and he should as Cribbs is about the only player in the Browns' offense other than Braylon Edwards who has big play potential.
-Penalties haunted the Browns in the Grimace (aka Romeo Crennel) era, and in the first glimpse of the Mangini regime, things didn't appear to have changed all that much. Not only penalties, but penalties at extremely costly times were evident Saturday night. Phil Dawson's 31 yard field goal was wiped out by Hank Fraley's holding penalty. Dawson then missed from 41 yards. Corey Ivy picked up a defensive holding penalty on a Green Bay 4th and 6. Those two alone were about a 10 point swing in a 17 point game. Granted it's a preseason game and the score matters very little, but the mental miscues do matter and will have a carryover effect to game that do matter.
-Did anyone else notice the push in the Green Bay offensive line on running plays compared to the push from the Browns' O-line? The Browns are deep on the line, but they still have a long way to go.
-Players who impressed me on defense include Ahtyba Rubin, Coye Francies, C.J. Mosley, and David Veikune. Rubin got the start in relief of Shaun Rogers who sat this one out. Rubin had a very nice pancake of Packer RB Ryan Grant at the line of scrimmage on a screen. He seemed to be in on a couple of other plays as well. Francies had an interception as well as two tackles, including a nice play to tackle the Green Bay running back for no gain. Mosley had a sack as the Browns brought a kitchen sink blitz and he added three tackles. Veikune had an interception and three tackles.
-None of the quarterbacks were impressive, but I do think Brady Quinn came out looking better than Derek Anderson in this one. Anderson was 0-for-2 with an interception in two first half series. Quinn was 7-of-11 for 68 yards and an interception, but he led an impressive two-minute drill that was capped by that interception.. thanks to Braylon Edwards. Quinn completed passes of 8 yards to Cribbs, 6 yards to Furrey, 4 yards to Royal, and 28 yards to Cribbs to set up 1st and goal at the 9. After a Lewis run for a yard, Quinn threw to Edwards in the back of the endzone, and Edwards dropped an easy touchdown catch. On the next play, Brady tried to go to Butterfingers once more, but it resulted in an INT as Quinn underthrew him. If Braylon catches that previous passs, Quinn finishes 8-of-10 for 80+ yards with 1 touchdown and 0 interceptions, which is not too shabby.
-Time of possession in the first half was almost 21 minutes to 9 in favor of Green Bay. For the game, Green Bay had the ball two-third of the time.
-The Browns were doubled up in total yards, 392-191. That just won't cut it anyway you slice it.
The Browns look to improve and get on the scoreboard against the Detroit Lions this weekend at Cleveland Browns Stadium.
Kirk
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