Cleveland Browns Midseason Review: Wide Receiver

by Chris Pokorny on Nov 12, 2011 10:18 PM EST

HOUSTON, TX - NOVEMBER 06: Wide receiver Greg Little #15 of the Cleveland Browns makes the catch over cornerback Kareem Jackson #25 of the Houston Texans on November 6, 2011 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Thomas B. Shea/Getty Images)

With the exception of adding wide receiver Greg Little in the second round of the draft, the front office decided not to upgrade the receiver position this year. The switch to the West Coast Offense was supposed to fit our receivers, particularly Brian Robiskie, better than the previous system.

Mid-way through the season, our leading receiver is Joshua Cribbs with 298 yards receiving and 3 touchdowns. Those low figures should tell you right away that the wide receiver position has not really improved this year. The thing to consider when looking at this position though is how high our expectations were heading into the season. Sure, there was optimism that Robiskie would do better in this system or that a guy like Jordan Norwood would emerge as a slot machine this year, but I'd say the expectations were very low to begin with. In that case, I would say the wide receiver unit has lived up to expectations.

Little has been regarded as the receiver with the most potential on the roster. I was not high on him during training camp because of the number of dropped passes he had. We knew he was a bit of a risk after having a year off from football, but he looked really good during the preseason games. He has made some nice grabs during the regular season, but has still had difficulty adjusting to deep passes and averages under 10 yards per reception.

Massaquoi has seen most of his action late in games and has shown the type of consistency to be a decent depth player in the future. His concussion issues have hindered him though. Cribbs remains my favorite receiver, and with a legitimate number one receiver on the field, I think he could be an acceptable second- or third- receiver.

Given your expectations heading into the season, has the wide receiver unit met, fallen short of, or exceeded your expectations.

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Comments

lol

“The STL o-line sucks, so finally Sheard and Taylor can play like there were before the good teams came along.”

Our O-line may look bad, but STL is horrible from the LT to the RT. But I’d give them the Dline battle

by The Licensed Pessimist on Nov 12, 2011 10:23 PM EST reply actions

how the hell did this get on this post. This belong in the position battle thread!

by The Licensed Pessimist on Nov 12, 2011 10:26 PM EST up reply actions

Our O-line may look bad, but STL is horrible from the LT to the RT.

Maybe you got a bit to tipsy off the Optimism Kool-Aid and took a wrong turn at Albuquerque?

Mangini apologist by default.

I’m speaking about his innate accuracy, not how well that innate accuracy is translating on the field.

by Villeslgr on Nov 13, 2011 10:06 AM EST up reply actions

As Fujita said, Cribbs is a baller.

With or Without the H

by johnf34 on Nov 12, 2011 10:37 PM EST reply actions

I think that Little has the most upside of any of this wide receiver corps. I love the way he battles for yards after the catch. Having said that, I really feel that the F0’s failure to draft a wr with their first round draft choice was a disservice to McCoy.

Cry havoc and let slip the dogs of war

by Kaner on Nov 12, 2011 10:45 PM EST reply actions

agree 100%

If I hear "wait til next year!" one more time... "&*&^$%#@()*%*&()%#$^*()%$"

by elee62652 on Nov 13, 2011 8:13 AM EST up reply actions

I agree in principle, but considering the receivers available in the first round last year, I’m happy with Little.

by Legoman0721 on Nov 13, 2011 11:36 PM EST up reply actions

RE: WRs

Greg Little has all the tools and his attitude appears good. He should develop into a fine WR late this year or early next. Cribbs and Norwood are underneath, YAC guys and will probably remain so. Given Massaquoi’s inability to stay on the field, I think it’s time the Browns drafted a genuine deep threat WR with one of their first round picks next year. Malcomb Lloyd from Notre Dame comes to mind, or the kid from Oklahoma State. Although this isn’t a thread about the O line, you can’t talk about WRs stretching the field and going deep without the QB having TIME in the pocket to find them. Even if Steinbach comes back healthy next year and Pinkston and Lauvao get better with experience, Cleveland still will be in desperate need of a quality starting RT. One should still be around early in round 3 next year and the Browns will be drafting high enough in each round to find one.

by Wyoming Chas on Nov 12, 2011 11:07 PM EST reply actions

exactly… wouldn’t it be great if the front office would actually read these posts??? sometimes they can be too close to the problem to actually see it. or maybe they should take off the shades and squint real close. sumptin’s gotta change… lol

If I hear "wait til next year!" one more time... "&*&^$%#@()*%*&()%#$^*()%$"

by elee62652 on Nov 13, 2011 8:18 AM EST up reply actions

wouldn’t it be great if the front office would actually read these posts???

no. no, it wouldn’t be great at all. not even a little bit.

by DontCallMeJoey on Nov 14, 2011 12:58 PM EST up reply actions

Your wrong on the Robiskie thing. Robo was always made for a mid-range vertical game. The “WCO” of the Colt McCoy variety was the death sentence to Robo in Cleveland.

Mass was supposed to get the biggest boost because the plays were supposed to give his slashing style a boost, but that hasn’t materialized either. But lets face it, the whole offense has been a disaster since the beginning to the OL-QB and WR.

Funny thing is, if Matt Barkley dropped in the Browns pocket, we would be back to the modified WCO Holmgren ran in Seattle with Hass. I would have to chuckle.

by Johnnypronto on Nov 12, 2011 11:17 PM EST reply actions

Your wrong

Shocking that this is coming from you. Funny how you blame Robo going down because of McCoy, yet he’s had three seasons to prove himself and has done absolute crap. He wasn’t even good enough to keep his spot over Little. But somehow it’s McCoy’s fault, even though he’s been throwing to him for his 1 1/2 out of 3 years in the league? Right.

In Golan we trust.

by SpecialBrownie on Nov 12, 2011 11:28 PM EST up reply actions

Dude, there’s no need for that. Disagree with him and point out the flaws in his logic, but that “from you” stuff is not necessary.

"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital." - Aaron Levenstein

by rufio on Nov 13, 2011 4:30 AM EST up reply actions

I haven’t seen a single comment from Johnnypronto since he joined DBN that wasn’t a slam on McCoy. He really doesn’t seem to have anything else to contribute.

Go, I say go away boy, you bother me.

by burntorangeandbrown on Nov 13, 2011 9:46 AM EST up reply actions

True. He’s been pretty “cleveland.com”-ish

Even Doug Dieken admits Joe Thomas is the real #73

by Doc's Kid on Nov 13, 2011 11:07 AM EST up reply actions

I believe we do have the worst WRs in the league, with a possible challenge from STL. Although we do lead in drops. Josh gives it his best effort, but not quite a natural receiver. Still think MoMass is our best when healthy, but is better suited as a 3rd WR. Little has been a pleasant surprise, but he has 1 year as a WR, and that was before sitting out for a year. Right now he is not ready for the NFL – but Pat has been smart in getting him a lot of reps.

Change isn't good or bad it just "is". Don Draper of Madmen

by realmccoy on Nov 12, 2011 11:26 PM EST reply actions

Your forgetting the Jags. Bad QB play creates bad WR play. WR is actually a easy position to learn once learned. If the QB sucks, it sucks. Colt killing Mass’s head on several occassions is good evidence of that.

by Johnnypronto on Nov 13, 2011 3:29 AM EST up reply actions

WR is actually a easy position to learn once learned.

Can you rephrase this to something understandable please?

Bad QB play creates bad WR play.

You aren’t making excuses for Colt playing bad, you can’t make excuses for the WRs either. Sorry, you don’t get to have it both ways. Our receivers stink no matter who is throwing to them.

The key to better sleep: Doing what's right. Of course a Browns win never hurts either.

by Browns town on Nov 13, 2011 5:57 AM EST up reply actions 3 recs

Obviously, it is all interrelated with the entire offense letting us down. We do lead the league in drops, but that is shared with RBs as well. But the thing that leads me to think that the WRs are bad on their own merit is just the way the other defenses play us. They have no respect for us to get deep, and really sit on our short routes, basically shutting us down every week.

Change isn't good or bad it just "is". Don Draper of Madmen

by realmccoy on Nov 13, 2011 8:25 AM EST up reply actions 1 recs

You are right. As a whole, our WR corps is bad. Period. No further explanation necessary.

Go, I say go away boy, you bother me.

by burntorangeandbrown on Nov 13, 2011 9:53 AM EST up reply actions 4 recs

WR is actually a easy position to learn once learned.

duh

Mangini apologist by default.

I’m speaking about his innate accuracy, not how well that innate accuracy is translating on the field.

by Villeslgr on Nov 13, 2011 10:09 AM EST up reply actions 2 recs

Disappointed that Heckert and Holmgren felt our WR’s were going to be better than anything they could find in free agency.

That being said, this is a MUST win today…if they lose to the Rams…oh my….but I feel we are going to blow them out 31-3.

"There's a gleam men, there's a gleam!" Marty

by Red-Right-88 on Nov 13, 2011 4:06 AM EST reply actions

I can give them a little slack – as they wanted to see how they would do in the WCO (I hear that is what we are trying to do) and thought the system would highlight their abilities. They did not want to take snaps from them to see if they could develop.

Change isn't good or bad it just "is". Don Draper of Madmen

by realmccoy on Nov 13, 2011 8:27 AM EST up reply actions

Are there any FA WRs doing squat anywhere in the NFL right now? I can’t think of anyone that would have helped us.

by HenryDawg on Nov 13, 2011 11:52 AM EST up reply actions

Massaquoi needs to retire. Still suffering concussion symptoms two full weeks later, when this is definitely not your first concussion? The writing’s on the wall.

"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital." - Aaron Levenstein

by rufio on Nov 13, 2011 4:28 AM EST reply actions

agreed. something isnt right here. you can only take so many concussions before you’re being spoon-fed the rest of your life.

If I hear "wait til next year!" one more time... "&*&^$%#@()*%*&()%#$^*()%$"

by elee62652 on Nov 13, 2011 8:23 AM EST up reply actions

he also seems to be playing scared too. Like the next time he catches the ball he is going to get cracked and have another concussion. In some respects, I don’t blame him, but that is a tough way to play the position.

by SBP on Nov 13, 2011 9:06 AM EST up reply actions

TCS?

Mangini apologist by default.

I’m speaking about his innate accuracy, not how well that innate accuracy is translating on the field.

by Villeslgr on Nov 13, 2011 10:11 AM EST up reply actions

As much as I feel for players who suffer head injuries, having concussion symptoms two weeks later isn’t abnormal.

I got t-boned a few years ago by an old lady who ran a stop sign… Right after it happened I felt fine. But almost a month later I started getting concussion symptoms. I felt like my head was in a fish bowl for the next two months (woozy, blurred vision, headaches, poor balance).

I thought I was gonna be stuck like that. They called it a “Delayed Concussion”. But I’m OK now. Everyone recovers differently.

He could recover this season, but the number of concussions is the thing to watch. This is his third, I think. You can only take so many of those.

"That’s the reality of it and I live in that reality." Shurmur

by LocalMan on Nov 13, 2011 10:27 AM EST up reply actions

It’s not just numbers though. It’s severity too. My brother has had around 8-10 concussions (not all from football) and 2 in particular were serious. The first one he forgot everything that happened that day and the other one they had to cut off his helmet and pads. I also knew a kid in college who had a serious concussion, his first if I’m not mistaken. He was told if he got another concussion, he was done because of how bad that first one was.

Even Doug Dieken admits Joe Thomas is the real #73

by Doc's Kid on Nov 13, 2011 11:13 AM EST up reply actions

I could very well be wrong, but from what I’ve read it seems that the number of blows to the head is more important than the severity of any one hit. That being said, if Mo Mass is placed on IR or even retires I won’t have any hard feelings towards him or the FO. It’s not worth ruining your brain for the rest of your life just to play a couple more years in the NFL.

by Legoman0721 on Nov 13, 2011 11:45 PM EST up reply actions

I always though Brodney Pool’s career was going to be over when he left Cleveland after all those concussions. Surprisingly he’s still playing for the Jets though.

by bbstirrd on Nov 13, 2011 11:50 AM EST up reply actions

This is a great photo… I think he makes that catch, too.

"That’s the reality of it and I live in that reality." Shurmur

by LocalMan on Nov 13, 2011 10:28 AM EST reply actions

the wide receivers on this team are historically awful … but i am forced to agree with chris that they have played up to expectations. i think the prevailing wisdom was that they would not be good, and they have not been.

by DontCallMeJoey on Nov 14, 2011 1:02 PM EST reply actions