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Cleveland Browns Training Camp Report: Day 10 (Evening) - Where's James Davis?

After this morning's sloppy practice full of penalties, the Browns took the field for their evening session of camp. Did things fare any better?

TRAINING CAMP REPORT - DAY 10 [EVENING] (8/11/09)

  1. James Davis Missing in Action: If this is the lead story, it's a sign that there really isn't a lot to mention tonight. RB James Davis did not practice, but he wasn't with the rest of the injured players on stationary bikes either. He was just sort of...missing in action. No word was given on the reason Davis did not practice.
  2. Pick City: It wasn't a great evening session for QB Brady Quinn, who was picked off twice -- once by CB Coye Francies (his name is coming up left and right now, eh?), and once by CB Eric Wright. On Wright's pick, Quinn was trying to throw a quick slant pattern to WR Braylon Edwards but the defensive back did a good job jumping the route, although it was reportedly also a god-awful pass from Quinn. The interception made up for a pass that Wright had in his breadbasket from Derek Anderson earlier, but he dropped. Francies' pick came after S Nick Sorensen had tipped Quinn's pass.
  3. Under Pressure Again: Whether it's a result of him holding onto the ball too long or just not catching lucky breaks, QB Derek Anderson was facing pressure from the defense most of the night. One of the players involved in the pressure was LB Kamerion Wimbley, capping off a good day overall for him.
  4. Out on the Bikes: After practicing this morning, FB Charles Ali was back on the stationary bike for the evening practice. Also on the bikes were receivers Lance Leggett and David Patten.
  5. Cribbs Continues to Thrive: When he keeps catching the ball while flashing the ability to break almost every catch for a touchdown, you have to be getting more and more exciting about Joshua Cribbs as a receiver. He caught a pass from Anderson in heavy traffic during the evening session. WR Mike Furrey also had a nice grab, as he also shows why he's definitely in line to be the No. 2 or No. 3 receiver this year.
  6. Bubble Watch: Rapid Reports says that TE Aaron Walker is not helping his roster odds by dropping several passes in the evening practice.
  7. Morning Note: Former Browns TE Aaron Shea attended the morning practice. He was there to escort former University of Michigan coach Lloyd Carr was visiting camp today. It was noted that Shea is now helping the Browns sell loges.

The Browns have an afternoon practice on Wednesday. The weather look to be pleasant, at around 82 degrees and partly cloudy.

Tuesday Evening's Links/Camp Sources

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and steptoe has been waived

Thank you Mesa for blowing the one chance Cleveland had of being happy during the 90's.

by Indians95 on Aug 12, 2009 3:24 AM EDT reply actions  

I woulda put ‘Pick City’ as the headline. Because that doesn’t bode well for Quinn or us. Just for once I’d like to see a headline such as : Quinn/Ando impresses, has fantastic practice.

We all know that Cribbs can do that: break tackles and make huge runs. Hope he’s given the chance to do it more often.

by skipkirk on Aug 12, 2009 4:00 AM EDT reply actions  

What is wrong with Quinn? Our defense can’t be that impressive…

All these poor practices are consistently leaving the door open for an Anderson return, which is terrible. Bleh…

by danvail on Aug 12, 2009 8:45 AM EDT reply actions  

I actually think our defense should be pretty good, the offense worries me more. Quinn played decently in the scrimmage, let’s see how the preseason games go. My biggest concern with Anderson if he wins the job is how poorly I expect him to play when the weather isn’t nice

by Roger Dorn on Aug 12, 2009 9:01 AM EDT up reply actions  

Totally agreed, however I feel that the key to the offense is the running game: will Jamal be a tad quicker to the hole this year (doubtful), will Magini utilize James Davis/Jerome Harrison effectively, will our line get back to its 07 form?

by Les Fleurs Du Mal on Aug 12, 2009 9:11 AM EDT up reply actions  

There’s way too much mediocrity on this defense, talent-wise, to be good. They could be decent. But really, we haven’t added more than spare parts and some raw rookies to the defense. I’m also thoroughly unimpressed by Mangini’s defensive track record.

The room for improvement really has to come from the offense if we expect to be any better. The OL needs to play better, which should be possible. The WR need to be more productive. That’s almost a guarantee, but they need to be a MUCH better if this offense is going to be good. That’s significantly less likely. Also, the running game looks remarkably unimpressive. I think, short of an absolute breakout by Harrison (which we’ve all been dreaming of for years now), the running game peaks at average.

Of course, undoubtedly the most important aspect of an effective offense is the QB. This is where my concern over Quinn’s poor performance stems from. If he is going to suck, so are the Browns. If he plays decently, the Browns will suck a lot less painfully (but they still won’t be any good). If he plays very well, and breaks out, then we could actually be good. It’s our only hope. Anderson has proven his flaws, and only works well under ideal conditions (warm weather, superstars catching his errant missles, a decent running game, and an OL giving him some of the best protection in the game). The best we can get out of Anderson is 2007. Quinn is our only chance of beating that right now, and if he’s going to play like he has thus far we’re in a s**t ton of trouble.

by danvail on Aug 12, 2009 10:14 AM EDT up reply actions  

really well said … and you just made me sh*t my pants.

by DontCallMeJoey on Aug 12, 2009 11:04 AM EDT up reply actions  

I still think the defense is above average. The only glaring weakness I see is pass rush, as usual. If we upgrade that at all, we can be a really good defense. In my eyes we have 3 star type players on D in Rogers, Jackson, and Wright. The rest of the D is at least average, except for pass rush.

by Roger Dorn on Aug 12, 2009 11:28 AM EDT up reply actions  

I think you know at least somewhat what you are looking at, I just think you are being pessimistic, especially on the “peaks” of our units.

The running game shouldn’t look good right now with the touch tackles. Do you think Jamal Lewis is going to fall backwards on gameday? He was still falling forward last year. He should also definitely be faster this year. He had surgery and if it wasn’t in all probability going to heal well and allow him to move better, he wouldn’t have gone under the knife. If it didn’t slow him down last year, he wouldn’t have gone under the knife. The holes will be bigger this year, especially if Mack can start and isn’t on the ground every 5 running plays like Fraley was. The games I have on tape of Fraley last year are borderline embarrassing. He was slow, he was slow to react, he was overpowered, he was playing with poor technique. Just about every way you can get beat, I’ve seen him get beat that way.

St. Clair should be better than Schaffer was last year (although I believe it was a bad year for Schaffer), Ryan Tucker healthy is better than Ryan Tucker not, and Womack and Foster are better than any two backups we had last year (if Womack is not better than Hadnot right now). Hadnot should be back during the season at least for depth.

We put at least 4 CBs ahead of the guy who would have been our 3rd last year (Hood, Francies, Poteat, and Ivy in front of Cousin) so teams won’t be able to just play a 3WR set and throw to the one open guy. This should also help us keep Sorensen off the field unless it’s special teams, even if one of Elam/Pool go down. If both are healthy, they will be better than Pool/half-healthy Jones or Pool/Adams or Pool/Sorensen, which is what we saw last year.

Bowens will be better than McGinest. Barton will be better than Andra Davis. Veikune will be better than Orr. Hall in year 2 will be better than Hall in year 1. I believe this scheme will utilize Wimbley better and already is allowing DQ to play well. LB is still a weak spot, but it isn’t as weak as it was last year.

Robaire Smith is healthy, Corey Williams is healthy, Shaun Rogers is back. Rubin in year 2 should be better than Rubin in year 1. Coleman and Mosley should be better than our top 2 backups at DE last year. I think the DEs got more sacks in the scrimmage than they did all of last year.

James Davis is much better than Jason Wright. Jerome Harrison will probably play. Braylon cannot get worse. We added 4ish guys who should be better than Steptoe, who finished as the #2 last year. Cribbs sounds like he will get a legit opportunity at WR. Leggett sounds like he is doing quite well for himself right now.

Tight end is really the only position where we take a big hit.

Yes, poor QB play can kill all of that, but I doubt Quinn has all of a sudden morphed into an inept QB. It is concerning that he hasn’t taken the job and never looked back, but we have been watching/hearing about practices here—and the most game-like of those he would have performed like we expected last year. He should have had 1 TD, 0 INT in 1 half of game time (you can’t blame a QB for an INT if it hits the WR in the hands), with a fairly good completion %, taking deep shots if they are there and dinking and dunking most of the time while completely missing the strike zone once or twice. How is that not like healthy Quinn last year? And he was working without the help of a real running game.

Lets wait till we start playing other teams before we freak out.

by rufio on Aug 12, 2009 1:23 PM EDT up reply actions   2 recs

And I thought I posted long replies…

In the interests of keeping this relatively readable I’ll keep my response brief. One general comment that applies to most of what you’re saying: you’re applying a lot of prediction based on what this team CAN do versus what it did do last year. That sounds fine until you realize A) the team is as healthy as its going to get all season and B) the team last year was awful. So comparing what our now-healthy starters can do versus what the injured backups did last year is not apples to apples.

Running game / Jamal Lewis: I’ve never been very fond of Browns-Lewis: he’s slow, and lacks big play ability. His 2007 is about as much as we can reasonably hope to expect from him. Of course, that’s pretty good, and I’d love to have that back, but he’s also old, high mileage, and high impact – and thus more prone to injury than a younger, more elusive back would tend to be.
Running Game / OL: I’m hopeful that despite Mack’s struggles with the admittedly impossible task of blocking Rogers he’ll be a steady improvement. He’s still a rookie that has to face Ngata and Hampton four times this year, though. I also hope the holes will be bigger this year, but I’m skeptical that St Clair is going to be better than Schaffer. I’m also concerned about the play of Tucker – is he really in this? Are the retirement rumors and mental health issues a coincidence? I hope so…
Secondary: I’m concerned about our #2CB. I don’t think that either McDonald or Hood are quality #2 CBs. They’re more like 2.5’s to coin a terrible term. Wright is the second best player on the defense. The loss of Jones, however, is a concern to me. I don’t think Elam is up to his level. Pool has never materialized. I think we have one above average corner, a below average CB2, and below average safeties. We have some depth at CB, yes, but not really at safety. The secondary outside Wright scares the heck out of me.
LBs: Will Bowens be better than McG? I hope so, but I’m not certain. Barton over Davis, yes. Hall better in year two… wouldn’t you have said that about Wimbley? There’s certainly no guarantee there, though I do like Hall a lot. Anyway, in the end, this unit was terrible, and is probably slightly less terrible now. Not good. Not even close.
DL: I don’t understand why this unit was so bad last year. But, it was, and we added different depth and a borderline starting candidate. I just don’t see the front seven being all that much better than last year, especially with a new defense.

WR: I tend to group Winslow into the WR group just because of his utilization. That said, I don’t think this group is going to match 2007 production. I think Braylon will land somewhere between 07 and 08, honestly I think closer to 07 this year if all goes reasonably well. The rest of the receiving corp, though, is just pieces. The rookies are rookie receivers, very rarely hugely productive. Without even knowing who the QB will be, I don’t expect this unit to perform above league average. A bit the opposite, actually.

TE: We don’t have good TEs. We have an adequate unit, though.

Quinn: My point on Quinn is that if we have any hope of being a good team this year, it rests on his shoulders more than anyone outside perhaps Mangini. He’ll need to be much better than he was last year if we’re going to win more than we lose. Right now, he just doesn’t seem to have it together. He’s missing more than I expect. He’s making more questionable throws than I’d hope, or so it seems. Of course, the results so far aren’t even remotely conclusive – early practices are rarely predictive. Hopefully he comes alive, but right now it’s just worrisome.

That wasn’t remotely short… wow.

by danvail on Aug 12, 2009 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions  

brevity fail, for sure.

ultimately, i expect this team to be meaningfully better than they were last year, primarily as a function of the change in leadership, and augmented by what i expect will be out-performance from several players. that doesn’t not presume we will be “good”, though.

by DontCallMeJoey on Aug 12, 2009 4:21 PM EDT up reply actions  

This is effectively my take as well.

by danvail on Aug 12, 2009 8:58 PM EDT up reply actions  

I don’t get the attacks on McDonald, in combination with praise for Wright. I think it’s very plausible that he had a better year than Wright in 08.

www.lowbrowsophisticate.com

by kwoog on Aug 12, 2009 5:36 PM EDT up reply actions  

In what capacity? Being noticed more?

by danvail on Aug 12, 2009 8:58 PM EDT up reply actions  

Covering Wide Receivers.

www.lowbrowsophisticate.com

by kwoog on Aug 12, 2009 9:02 PM EDT up reply actions  

I supposed I’ll counter your absence of evidence with my own, even though stats in football are tough to grasp. He had more tackles and picks, and as such I would say he was more of a playmaker. I don’t know what their YPC against was, but I really enjoyed rufio’s breakdown of McDonald. I thought that confirmed what I suspect, that he’s an average Corner at worst, with exceptional ball skills and with some mental improvement (not out of the question for a 3rd year player) could be an above average starting corner for a long time.

www.lowbrowsophisticate.com

by kwoog on Aug 12, 2009 9:35 PM EDT up reply actions  

Picks are fairly random and tackles could be an indication he’s getting targeted more than Wright. Stats are hard to come by here, and I’m not judging McD solely on his worst games – I just think that looking across the league he’s a below average CB2. He could certainly get better this year, but I’m not hinging my expectations on development. His speed is a bit worrisome, but other than that I actually like him as a player. I’ll try to dig out some stats – football outsiders posted some great stats on CBs one time but never brought them back.

by danvail on Aug 12, 2009 11:22 PM EDT up reply actions  

McDonald has good ball skills. All picks are somewhat random, but McDonald definitely plays the ball better than a lot of NFL CBs. He is fluid and can run with 4.40 guys.

He needs to learn to tackle. The way he shied away from contact was borderline embarrassing for the team. In terms of coverage, he’s at least an average #2.

I’d put McDonald above the 2nd CBs of the following teams:
NYG
NYJ
Washington
St. Louis
KC
Denver
Oakland
Detroit
Atlanta
Houston
Tennessee
New Orleans

That’s average in my book.

by rufio on Aug 13, 2009 12:43 AM EDT up reply actions  

Disagree on Webster, Sheppard, Rogers, and Johnson. Agree on just the rest.

I’ll rank McDonald right around 25th best CB2 in the league. Below average.

by danvail on Aug 13, 2009 7:28 AM EDT up reply actions  

He … can run with 4.40 guys.

i think this is not true. e. royal flew by mcd a few times (granted, e. royal may be one of the fastest guys in football), and if you’ll remember the pick mcd had in the endzone against the eagles (where he demonstrated tremendous ball skills, as you point out) he looked really really slow.

He needs to learn to tackle.

this is aggressively true. i realize it’s only one play, but the daniel graham td in the broncos game, and mcd’s role in it, will replay in my mind for a long time to come.

i think that mostly b/c of his speed (or lack thereof), mcd’s upside is quite limited. i agree w/ danvail that he’s a 2.5 today, likely moving toward 2.

by DontCallMeJoey on Aug 13, 2009 10:15 AM EDT up reply actions  

Ouch, condemning link on the Graham td.

www.lowbrowsophisticate.com

by kwoog on Aug 13, 2009 11:03 AM EDT up reply actions  

the good news about the new regime in berea is that mcd would have gotten himself annihilated by the coaching staff after this play. regardless of your thoughts on the new coaches, i think we can agree on that.

i’d imagine romeo, on the other hand, gave him a hug, a non-brief shoulder rub, and a handful of the reese’s pieces that were never far from romeo’s belt pouch.

by DontCallMeJoey on Aug 13, 2009 11:21 AM EDT up reply actions  

Geez… I tried to forget. Mike Adams is also what I like to refer to as “terrible”.

by danvail on Aug 13, 2009 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions  

He turned and ran with Royal a few times in that Denver game. I am not saying he is going to catch up to guys like that, but he can turn and run with them in coverage. He might need to play “off” against those kinds of guys, but it’s not like we are lining up Terry Cousin on anyone. If we are lining them up and having them run 40s, then yes, McDonald will lose.

Still, if he is beating Rod Hood head to head, and Hood was good enough to start for a SB team last year, the secondary should be good enough.

He has covered Wayne, Andre Johnson, and other bigtime WRs well in the past, and he is good enough for the team to be good. Would I take Nnamdi over him? No doubt.

by rufio on Aug 13, 2009 3:31 PM EDT up reply actions  

Hood was good enough to start for a SB team last year

Just because the team won the SB doesn’t make a given starter average, above average, or super-mega-awesome. That was an offensive powerhouse with a defense that managed to string together enough solid games to get through the playoffs. Fortunate timing.

by danvail on Aug 13, 2009 4:04 PM EDT up reply actions  

It is apples to apples: the product on the field was terrible last year. If they are better at every position vs. last year, the product on the field should look at lot better. Even if the same amount of players get hurt, we have better depth at positions where terrible players played last year (CB, WR, DL, QB, RB) The worst we should

reasonably expect
to do in 2009 is still significantly better than we did in 2008. If I wanted to go with unreasonable predictions based on potential, I would be talking about the playoffs. I am not.

I am not sure Elam is as good as a healthy Jones (the one we saw in 2006). I am sure he is as good or better than the Sean Jones we saw last year. Jones had a terrible year. Elam is also better than Mike Adams who saw too much PT last year. Hood started for the Cards, who were one Santonio Holmes tippy toe away from winning everything, so he’s at least a “2.5” CB on a Super Bowl contender-level.

I would not mind taking a safety high in the draft next year, but the secondary will be at least average and has a chance to be very good. Average is still an improvement from last year.

How about this: Bowens will be better against the pass than McGinest. Willie could still stop the run last year, but he was very very slow.

If you want to go pessimistic on your predictions, that’s fine, but it is logical to think we will be significantly better than last year and that we will have a better record, too.

by rufio on Aug 12, 2009 7:10 PM EDT up reply actions  

It’s not apples to apples: you’re comparing the preseason projection for 2009 to the end results of 2008. You’re guessing how good the 09 team can be if healthy to how the 2008 team turned out after injuries. Not a fair comparison.

by danvail on Aug 12, 2009 9:00 PM EDT up reply actions  

That isn’t what I am doing. I am comparing our depth as well. If we face the same amount of injuries, we’ll be in better position to win. I am claiming that we are better equipped to deal with injuries now than we were last season.

The degree of randomness in injuries is large, and of course the top 30 players on our roster going on IR could kill us—or any team.

Guesses are all anyone has at this point, so I am making educated, rational guesses.

by rufio on Aug 13, 2009 12:47 AM EDT up reply actions  

Examples of where you compare the results of 2008 to the projection for 2009:

I am not sure Elam is as good as a healthy Jones (the one we saw in 2006). I am sure he is as good or better than the Sean Jones we saw last year.
Elam is also better than Mike Adams who saw too much PT last year.
We added 4ish guys who should be better than Steptoe, who finished as the #2 last year.
We put at least 4 CBs ahead of the guy who would have been our 3rd last year (Hood, Francies, Poteat, and Ivy in front of Cousin)

(Daven Holly was going to be our nickelback at this point last year)

by danvail on Aug 13, 2009 4:13 PM EDT up reply actions  

I agree that the worst we should reasonably expect to be is better than 2009. The team quit in 2008 and had four different QBs start. My whole point was that I don’t expect this team to be good, but that if we’re to have any prayer at being a good team (8-10 wins) is if Quinn leads the charge. Regardless, I do expect them to be better than 2008.

by danvail on Aug 12, 2009 9:04 PM EDT up reply actions  

The 2008 team was 4-8 with an NFL caliber QB. So better than that would be what, 6-6? 5-7? Let’s say 5-7. The difference in strength of schedule alone could easily make that 7-5 (with 4 games left, but we only have 12 games in 2008 to go on)…

7 wins should be the expected floor for this team.

www.lowbrowsophisticate.com

by kwoog on Aug 12, 2009 9:08 PM EDT up reply actions  

Wins and losses aren’t that easy to stack up against each other. There’s a lot of variation in the quality of team within a certain record. That is, some 8-8 teams are a lot better than other 8-8 teams. So, I’d be careful about giving a floor. We could make steady improvement and still end up with only 5 wins.

Also, SoS is impossible to predict in the offseason. It just never works out the way you can expect.

by danvail on Aug 12, 2009 9:12 PM EDT up reply actions  

I don’t think a 7 win floor is that ambitious for a team as talented as ours. Terrible teams win 3-4 games, it’s an “any given sunday” league. And this team is more skilled on paper than the 2007 one.

I understand SoS is a bit capricious, but I think last year’s strength of schedule worked out pretty true to form… it was absolutely brutal.

www.lowbrowsophisticate.com

by kwoog on Aug 12, 2009 9:46 PM EDT up reply actions  

Without getting into too much repetition or detail, I’ll just say I don’t think our team is all that talented, especially on defense and at QB. We all know “talented on paper” means very little… have you watched the Indians the last few years? I also don’t think very highly of Mangini’s track record, so between that, the talent, and the transition I don’t expect much from this team. Six wins is my prediction.

I may make up a post that breaks down the starting talent quality, and we can all wiki-it-up and see if there’s any consensus on our overall talent level.

by danvail on Aug 12, 2009 11:17 PM EDT up reply actions  

Above average at LT, LG, WR1, FB1, DT1, MLB1, CB1, Returner, K

Average at QB, C, RG, RT, RB2, WR3, TE2, DE1, MLB2, OLB1, CB2, S1, S2 (perhaps the safeties could be on the cusp of below), P

Below average at WR2 (huge upside), TE1, RB1, DE2 (upside), OLB2

Coaching: 1,000 percent improvement over Crennel/Tucker (and even Chud)

That’s my quick breakdown. I don’t think many 6 win teams are above average at 1/3 of the starting spots.

www.lowbrowsophisticate.com

by kwoog on Aug 13, 2009 12:14 AM EDT up reply actions  

I would also put the upside tag at QB. If Quinn threw for 3,000 yards 30 TDs, and 62.5% completion %, would anyone be really flabbergasted? That’s under 2 TDs and 190 yards/game.

by rufio on Aug 13, 2009 12:55 AM EDT up reply actions  

Well, I know I’d take it in a heartbeat. Playing the Raven’s and Steeler’s D 4 times is bound to affect any seasonal offensive projections… But you’re right, I think he can hang 190 and a TD or two on them.

Players make a team, but I think coaching is almost just as important at this level. I’m convinced this season hinges on Mangini, Ryan and Dabol much more than any one (or three?) individual players.

www.lowbrowsophisticate.com

by kwoog on Aug 13, 2009 1:19 AM EDT up reply actions  

Mangini and Ryan will be solid coaches. Daboll is the one I am worried about.

by rufio on Aug 13, 2009 3:20 PM EDT up reply actions  

I was going to ask who Quinn was better than, but there are a lot of terrible QB situations…

Questionably equal to: Cassel, Garcia, Garrard, Bulger. We’ll count 2 of 4.
Probably better than: Flacco, Delhomme, Edwards. Rounding up, we’ll give him 3 of 3.
Definitely better than: Orton, Russel, Jackson, Sanchez, Culpepper, McCown, Hill. Let’s count all 7.
That puts him ahead of 12, so 20th overall. That’s a bit below average, but in the middle third of starting QBs.

Are we really average at RB2? What has Harrison proven? There are a lot of good tandems in the league.
Above average at MLB1? Can you really name 22 starting MLBs that Jackson is better than?
I like Wright, but he is not above average as a CB1. Better than Wright: Bailey, Asomugha, Samuel, Trufant, Mathis, Tillman Cromartie, Newman, Woodson, Revis, Taylor, Springs, Clements, Robinson, Winfield. THen there are others that are more or less in his league. He’s average. He’s getting better, could be very good, but he’s not above average yet.
Coaching: so we went from having one of the worst coaches around to a slightly better coach. Great. Until he proves something, and he hasn’t yet, I’m skeptical.

by danvail on Aug 13, 2009 7:05 PM EDT up reply actions  

SoS is not impossible predict. I find it very easy to find a sleeper team ahead of time based on who they will play

by Roger Dorn on Aug 13, 2009 11:56 AM EDT up reply actions  

We won 10 in 2007 with DA—and no one thought we had “a prayer” then either. I didn’t think the Dolphins or the Falcons had a prayer at having a winning season last year, but both teams did. In the NFL, crazy things happen.

I agree that the probability of us winning is better with Quinn and that in order to win someone will have to do at least a competent job at QB. I think we have more than “a prayer” to win 8 with either QB. I’ll put those odds at DA’s career completion percentage ;)

by rufio on Aug 13, 2009 12:51 AM EDT up reply actions  

Right. If you’ve been watching the NFL the past decade you know that preseason predictions mean almost nothing.

by Buckeye Brad on Aug 13, 2009 1:51 AM EDT up reply actions  

I’m just curious as to why you think Bowens will be better with the pass attack than McGinest? MiGinest has 5 sacks over 2 years and Bowens has 6 over 2 years.

We aren’t better at many positions when I look at it….but hey I’m not looking at it through brown colored glasses…silly me.

At CB, we added a bunch of old non-factors and a CB in Hood who started for a secondary which gave up amongst the most touchdowns and yards through the air last year.

So why are you giving him props for “almost winning a superbowl” for a team which got that far only because they scored 30 points a game and their defense that, except for against Carolina, gave up 25 points a game?

They also gave up 8 TD passes in the playoffs and gave up over 35 points 5 times last year, including allowing 57 point game and 2 45+ point games. lol thats pretty laughable logic now that I think of it. And Hood is supposed to save our secondary when we have a pass rush worst than Arizonas?

Elam is as unproven as anyone can be and I refuse to call him an improvement over Jones just because Mangini is on his jock. He’s healthy and thats important…but Jones would have been healthy also. But whats fundamental is that the key to a top secondary is a good pass rush. The addition of some low priority Jets and vanilla rookies aren’t going to help our defense at all. So I hope the 2 WR’s we reached for in the draft can get to the QB!

The only position that I can say he really improved at is WR, and that because he have some depth and injury protection now. Our line was okay last year, definitely not as bad as the rest of our positions, but I can’t say it got “better” by adding in some players. Once again its gotten deeper.

by The Licensed Pessimist on Aug 13, 2009 12:22 PM EDT up reply actions  

Speaking of completion percentages, how did the QBs stack up in that regard during the scrimmage? Has anyone gone back through Chris’ post to tally that? (Because I’m just too lazy to do it myself.)

by JustBob on Aug 12, 2009 5:24 PM EDT up reply actions  

Ando 12/21 114 yards
Quinn 12/20 119 yards

by skipkirk on Aug 12, 2009 7:34 PM EDT up reply actions  

Yeah. Definitely a coin toss. Thanks for the numbers.

by JustBob on Aug 13, 2009 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions  

That is the best explanation of why we will be better this year

" Of course Steroids should be allowed! I wanna see 700 foot home runs and 90 yard field goals! I litterally want to see someone's d**k get shoved in the dirt!"

by BradyQuinnisBeast on Aug 13, 2009 7:45 PM EDT up reply actions  

I’d bet on the offensive schemes being worse than the defensive ones, which would be the opposite of last year.

I also expect the D to play at a decent, average NFL level (which is better than the last two years). The offense is anyone’s guess. I think the defense definitely benefited from the rules in the scrimmage and if practice is anything like that, we should expect the defense to be winning in practice.

by rufio on Aug 12, 2009 12:56 PM EDT up reply actions  

Quinn

Quinn start? If he doesn’t step it up, and out preform Anderson, by opening day he will be third string. That Ratliff i like a lot, the one thing that interesting about him is he seams to be a lucky QB, that’s the kind of QB we need to start

by dohior on Aug 12, 2009 1:02 PM EDT up reply actions  

Then let’s have him play quarterback.

by SpecialBrownie on Aug 12, 2009 1:18 PM EDT up reply actions  

That’s not Ratliff. That’s the ND mascot!

by JustBob on Aug 12, 2009 5:25 PM EDT up reply actions  

fail

" Of course Steroids should be allowed! I wanna see 700 foot home runs and 90 yard field goals! I litterally want to see someone's d**k get shoved in the dirt!"

by BradyQuinnisBeast on Aug 13, 2009 7:50 PM EDT up reply actions  

Kid, most people on this blog, in fact most sports fans in the country, hate Notre Dame. You’re going to have to get used to it. They’re like the Yankees of college football (even though they’ve sucked recently).

by Buckeye Brad on Aug 13, 2009 9:02 PM EDT up reply actions  

I know that, and I can take ND and Yankee jokes(the yankees are my favorite baseball team) , but I just didnt think that one was funny. Like when Roger dorn made the joke about ND playing the Browns close because they returned 10 offensive starters, I thought THAT was funny

" Of course Steroids should be allowed! I wanna see 700 foot home runs and 90 yard field goals! I litterally want to see someone's d**k get shoved in the dirt!"

by BradyQuinnisBeast on Aug 13, 2009 10:38 PM EDT up reply actions  

Wait a minute . . . . you’re a ND fan AND a Yankees fan?!? What the heck is wrong with you?

by Buckeye Brad on Aug 13, 2009 10:47 PM EDT up reply actions  

My aunt lives in New York and I have got to go to see a few Yankee games before.

" Of course Steroids should be allowed! I wanna see 700 foot home runs and 90 yard field goals! I litterally want to see someone's d**k get shoved in the dirt!"

by BradyQuinnisBeast on Aug 14, 2009 9:26 PM EDT up reply actions  

What sick consortium of circumstance twisted you into a ND fan, a Yankees fan, and a Browns fan? Or are you just a huge fan of Quinn?

by danvail on Aug 14, 2009 8:50 AM EDT up reply actions  

Some of my family members are alumni from ND, and me and my dad usually go up to South Bend to watch a game every year.

My aunt lives in New York and I have got to go to see a few Yankee games before.

Quinn was what made me a Browns fan.

Yea I know those are 3 different states but considering Im from KY, who am i supposed to root for

Red sox suck

" Of course Steroids should be allowed! I wanna see 700 foot home runs and 90 yard field goals! I litterally want to see someone's d**k get shoved in the dirt!"

by BradyQuinnisBeast on Aug 14, 2009 9:29 PM EDT up reply actions  

the one thing that interesting about him is he seams to be a lucky QB

great point…which you must have gleaned from his 0 career pass attempts

by DontCallMeJoey on Aug 12, 2009 4:44 PM EDT up reply actions  

no no no, Ratliff will be a star. After all he has set the career record for TD’s (35), completions (239) and total offensive yards (3,651) while at the legendary Butte College

by kjc on Aug 12, 2009 5:14 PM EDT up reply actions  

Yes, teams should really consider luck more often when analyzing quarterbacks. Tim Couch was obviously a bad pick because he was unlucky — if only the Browns had known back then.

by Buckeye Brad on Aug 12, 2009 6:18 PM EDT up reply actions  

But he wasn’t unlucky then, Brad. The Browns scouts did a poor job seeing that he played on a team with a high luck level in college. Duh!

by gahnki on Aug 12, 2009 6:32 PM EDT up reply actions   1 recs

They drafted a QB that ran the spread offense. that was the mistake

by Roger Dorn on Aug 13, 2009 11:58 AM EDT up reply actions  

Quinn

What’s wrong? He is playing like just like he did last year. Quinn is with the wrong ball club,if he was a Viking he would become a great QB. He will never be more then second with the browns…

by dohior on Aug 12, 2009 1:09 PM EDT up reply actions  

Please enlighten us as to why Quinn would be a great QB with the Vikings yet only a backup with the Browns. What is the difference?

by Buckeye Brad on Aug 12, 2009 6:11 PM EDT up reply actions  

Blocking and a great running attack ! When he would have to tuck the ball and run, he wouldn’t have to get every yard on his own. He would like Vick ,with all them horses in front of him. When he would go back to pass, Quinn could take a coffee break .Almost any QB is going to do a good job for the Vikings, But Quinn would be a perfect fit

by dohior on Aug 12, 2009 6:49 PM EDT up reply actions  

Quinn is not really a running quarterback, so that part doesn’t matter. Obviously the Vikings have a great running attack because of Peterson, and their O-line is good, but are they really that much better at pass protection than the Browns O-line? I don’t see why Quinn is a “perfect fit”, more than any other NFL quarterback.

by Buckeye Brad on Aug 12, 2009 7:03 PM EDT up reply actions  

I do think Quinn would do well with Minnesota, but your reasoning is ridiculous. I still think he will do well for Cleveland.

by rufio on Aug 12, 2009 7:11 PM EDT up reply actions  

if any QB will succeed in Minnesota than why have they been inconsistent with a solid starter since Culpepper left.

by kjc on Aug 12, 2009 9:09 PM EDT up reply actions  

Who said any QB will succeed in Minnesota?

by Buckeye Brad on Aug 12, 2009 10:13 PM EDT up reply actions  

In other words: not me.

by rufio on Aug 13, 2009 12:56 AM EDT up reply actions  

Yeah, that’s why I didn’t understand why he replied to you.

by Buckeye Brad on Aug 13, 2009 1:52 AM EDT up reply actions  

Having better support doesn’t make a QB great. It can help a young QB develop, yes. It can make a QB’s numbers look better, absolutely.

by danvail on Aug 12, 2009 9:16 PM EDT up reply actions  

When he would go back to pass, Quinn could take a coffee break

2008: Vikings 43 Sacks allowed
2008: Browns 24 Sacks allowed

2007: Vikings 38 Sacks allowed
2007: Browns 19 Sacks allowed

Nope.

by Bernie19Kosar on Aug 13, 2009 1:34 AM EDT up reply actions  

Bernie you just floored him right there.

by skipkirk on Aug 13, 2009 2:43 AM EDT up reply actions  

I am anxious to see Cribbs improvement at the WR position in the upcoming preseason games. If he can develop into a more solid reciever then it would alleviate of the concerns on offense we have right now.

by Overlord1976 on Aug 12, 2009 9:04 AM EDT reply actions  

FWIW, Aaron Shea also helps to host the Browns Report on STO.

by Buckeye Brad on Aug 12, 2009 11:44 AM EDT reply actions  

Cool. I don’t have cable, so I wouldn’t have known.

Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.

by Chris Pokorny on Aug 12, 2009 12:10 PM EDT up reply actions  

I met Aaron Shea at a bar a month or two ago. I only asked him one Browns question: Couch or Holcomb. He was emphatic: Couch all the way. The rest of the conversation focused on OSU/Mich bashing.

by danvail on Aug 12, 2009 3:58 PM EDT up reply actions  

God I hated Holcomb, go Aaron Shea for agreeing that Couch was better.

by North Coast Flea on Aug 12, 2009 7:58 PM EDT up reply actions  

Awesome.

Dawgs By Nature - Covering the Cleveland Browns on SB Nation.

by Chris Pokorny on Aug 12, 2009 8:53 PM EDT up reply actions  

So, you made sure he knew that michigan sucks, right?

by rufio on Aug 13, 2009 12:57 AM EDT up reply actions  

you mean scUM

" Of course Steroids should be allowed! I wanna see 700 foot home runs and 90 yard field goals! I litterally want to see someone's d**k get shoved in the dirt!"

by BradyQuinnisBeast on Aug 13, 2009 8:19 PM EDT up reply actions  

Oh absolutely. Most of my end focused on how he felt about whatever legacy of mediocrity he left behind being uttery disgraced by the awfulness of the last few seasons.

by danvail on Aug 14, 2009 8:51 AM EDT up reply actions  

I want to see how we play in the preseason before making any bold statents about how good we’ll be this year. I think we have many of the pieces to be good but feel like we have so far to go to put it all together and too little time to do it in. Again, the preseason will tell us alot.

by Onyx Lightning on Aug 12, 2009 11:51 AM EDT reply actions  

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