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Browns vs Packers - What To Look For

SJ_Browns

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SJ_Browns

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http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news/articl...48-85d7a3649e60

 

By Matt Florjancic, ClevelandBrowns.com Staff Writer

 

Posted 20 hours ago

 

The Browns and Packers will open the preseason against each other for the second straight year in Green Bay Saturday night.

Just as they did a season ago, the Browns kick off their preseason schedule when they travel to Wisconsin for a match-up with the Packers at famed Lambeau Field on Saturday night.

 

The Browns are 11-10 all-time in the preseason against the Packers and 5-5 at Green Bay. They are 3-5 in home games and 3-0 at neutral sites with the teams having previously met in Milwaukee (1987), Akron (1955) and Toledo (1950).

 

The Browns dropped last year’s preseason opener at Green Bay 17-0. The Packers jumped out to a 14-point lead because of Aaron Rodgers’ 53-yard touchdown pass to Donald Driver and Ryan Grant’s 2-yard score in the first quarter. Mason Crosby added a 45-yard field goal in the fourth to close out all scoring.

 

As the game unfolds, here are several things to keep an eye on:

 

Wide receiver and two-time Pro Bowler Joshua Cribbs. The multi-talented Cribbs helped the Browns in all phases of the offense and on special teams in 2009. He scored six touchdowns in four different ways, punt return, kick return, rushing and receiving.

 

Cribbs earned his second Pro Bowl invitation after gaining 1,542 yards on 56 kickoff returns. He scored 3 touchdowns on kickoff returns, including a 98-yarder against the Steelers as well as 100 and 103-yard scores at the Chiefs.

 

Running back Jerome Harrison. He had a fine end to the 2009 season, breaking team records for yards (286 at the Chiefs) and carries (39 against the Raiders) in a game in back-to-back weeks. Harrison only started seven games, but finished with a team best 862 yards on 194 carries. For the second-straight season, he had a touchdown run of 71 or more yards.

 

Harrison was the first Browns running back with back-to-back 100-yard games since Jamal Lewis ran for 118 yards at the Jets on December 9, 2007 and 163 yards against the Bills in a blizzard one week later.

 

He was named the winner of the FedEx Ground Player of the Week after his performance in Kansas City and tied Mohamed Massaquoi for the team lead with 34 receptions.

 

Wide receivers Mohamed Massaquoi and Brian Robiskie. Massaquoi made 11 starts for the Browns in his rookie season and caught 34 passes for 624 yards with 3 touchdowns. He broke Paul Warfield’s rookie record for yards-per-catch, averaging 18.4 yards-per-reception. Warfield, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, set the original standard in 1964.

 

Robiskie started 1 game and played in 11, totaling 7 catches for 106 yards. He has had a solid Training Camp, making difficult catches in coverage and has progressed well since the end of his rookie year.

 

Linebacker Matt Roth. He is in the midst of his first Training Camp with Coach Eric Mangini, but was an impact player for the Browns at the end of the 2009 season. After being awarded to the Browns from waivers late last November, Roth totaled 4.0 quarterback sacks for 29 lost yards in 6 games. It was the second-best single-season sack total of his career.

 

Quarterback Jake Delhomme. In his first game as a member of a team from the AFC, Delhomme will see an NFC team in the Packers. He was a free agent signing of the Browns this off-season and came to Cleveland after spending his first 12 seasons with the Saints and Panthers.

 

Delhomme struggled in 2009 but brings a 54-38 record and 59.2 completion percentage to the Browns. He has 19,892 passing yards with 123 touchdowns and a Super Bowl start on his resume.

 

Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. The sixth-year quarterback completed 350-of-541 passes for 4,434 yards and 30 touchdowns against 7 interceptions. The only struggle Rodgers had was staying upright. He was sacked 50 times for a loss of 306 yards, but still managed a 103.2 quarterback rating and 5 rushing touchdowns in 2009.

 

He completed 9-of-14 passes for 127 yards and 1 touchdown in the Packers’ Family Night scrimmage last Saturday at Lambeau Field.

 

Packers running back Ryan Grant. He handled the bulk of the workload out of the backfield, carrying the ball 282 times for 1,253 yards and 11 touchdowns. Also in a threat in the passing game, Grant caught 25 passes for 197 yards.

 

Packers receivers Donald Driver and Greg Jennings. Driver led the way with 70 catches and 6 touchdowns in addition to gaining 1,061 yards, but lost the race for the receiver’s version of the Triple Crown as Jennings had the most yards, 1,113 on 68 catches.

 

Packers linebackers Nick Barnett and A.J. Hawk. The top two tacklers from 2009 are again slated to anchor the Packers’ 3-4 defense.

 

Barnett made 105 tackles with 4.0 sacks, while Hawk registered 89 stops. They will, however, be without Clay Matthews III and his 10.0 sacks for at least two weeks. Matthews hurt his hamstring in the team’s scrimmage last weekend.

 

Packers left cornerback Charles Woodson and free safety Nick Collins. The two combined for 15 interceptions which were returned for 289 yards. Woodson returned 3 of his team-leading 9 interceptions for touchdowns.

 

The Browns head into Saturday night’s contest after ending the 2009 season on a four-game winning streak, including wins over the Steelers, Chiefs, Raiders and Jaguars. The Packers won 7 of their last 9 games in the 2009 regular season before dropping a 51-45 Wildcard playoff game at the Cardinals.

 

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jrb12711 Community Regular

jrb12711

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for me, the biggest thing I'm looking for easily is how Jake Delhomme looks and has meshed so far with our WR core. Even though it'll be a couple of series at most, Green Bay's secondary will be an awesome test on how well they are doing up to this point.

 

 

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Gips Newbie

Gips

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Looking forward to some plain vanilla preseason browns football, all im going to be looking for is some hopefully developing chemistry with successful timing and good hands in the 3 to 7 passes each jake and seneca will throw in a preseason quarter under dumbo daboll, also will be watching to see if our ground game has gained more options or whether our 3 trick pony is still applicable..

 

Looking very forward to seeing what our defense is up to i hate it that DQJ isnt going to be in there because that kid has a big chip on his shoulder he needed to knock off but at least some other guy like viekune may get some extra experience reps in...

 

I dont generally feel good about mangini's inconsistent approach on starting one rookie like mack to learn on the job at much cost to our offense last year while leaving others benched claiming they arent ready yet,technically mack was not ready last year..if they dont get it while actually on the job their first year they never will get it because they never had it..luckily mack has it and got it and i still suspect viekune has it as well but some players cant get it from the bench they have to actually take to the field and learn under gametime pressure to excell..

 

The fact is like many coaches mangini would almost always prefer when possible to use an older experienced vet that has less talent or lost steps than to undergo the pain of starting and teaching a potentially talented rookie that may hurt the team early on..my thinking is the old FA vets may hurt the team more than coaches realize and may still force you to teach the rook on the job when they get hurt deeper in the season where it can really count..

 

I apply this logic to FA mercenaries much more than to traded vets like brown or gocong or even elam, these are guys that often are pretty good but dont fit in the package they played in..the FA guys are usually almost always washed up or have pressing issues and you rarely get a real gem out of this bunch...

 

TJ Ward will be this years starting rookie and he will get picked on and will inevitably learn some hard costly lessons but next year it will be well worth this years pain..

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SJ_Browns Newbie

SJ_Browns

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we all know it's just pre-season, but there are still things that you can see in games like these. what i'll be looking at is:

 

1. the passing game - i want to see how jake's accuracy and decision making are. I also want to see how he works under pressure. i basically will look for the same things with wallace and colt. i'll also be checking out how the right side of the line looks on passing plays.

 

2. the running game - i want to see how the right side of the line does on running plays. i want to see if james davis has improved his game. i also want to see what hillis can do.

 

3. special teams - i want to see if someone other than cribbs can impress during returns.

 

4. the secondary - i want to see how the rooks handle themselves. i'm sure qbs will pick on them so i would like to see how they deal with the big pressure for their first time under the big lights.

 

5. lb crew - i want to see how the lbs do together as a unit and individually.

 

6. the wrs - i want to see how these fellas run their routes, get open and catch the ball. C'MON MO MASS AND ROBO!!!!!!

 

no, nothing that we see during pre-season will be the whole story, but it will be somewhat of a glimpse into what this team is about.

 

GO BROWNS!!

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SJ_Browns Newbie

SJ_Browns

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i agree, packfan. no injuries and plenty of good football. i just want to see my brownies look improved and create a foundation to build upon.

 

btw, there should be more fans of other teams like you on here. the troll fighting forum stuff is just lame. <_<

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PackFanPerson Newbie

PackFanPerson

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Let's see, I think McCarthy said our 1's will only play a few series and then it's on to the 2's and 3's.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing our 2nd QB and will definitely be checking out our O-line. The rook who's filling in for Bigby will be fun to watch, and can't wait to take a gander at our other rooks, too!

 

Three hours, 36 minutes!

 

 

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SJ_Browns

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Let's see, I think McCarthy said our 1's will only play a few series and then it's on to the 2's and 3's.

 

I'm looking forward to seeing our 2nd QB and will definitely be checking out our O-line. The rook who's filling in for Bigby will be fun to watch, and can't wait to take a gander at our other rooks, too!

 

Three hours, 36 minutes!

 

i doubt gbs starters play much in their first pre-season game. the pack are more established as a unit than the browns are, so they don't need that much pt today. the browns have alot of new players in key positions, so they need to play in some real game situations together. our qbs are supposed to get a quarter each.

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PackFanPerson Newbie

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I hope we get to see a bit of Holmgren!

 

Oh yes, we moved Raji to NT, so I want to see if he can get a good push or two on the line.

 

McCarthy has really concentrated on special teams during training camp this year, so we'll see how that goes. They'd better improve or we'll be starting all of our drives on our own 2 yard line. :)

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The Gipper Newbie

The Gipper

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I hope we get to see a bit of Holmgren!

 

Oh yes, we moved Raji to NT, so I want to see if he can get a good push or two on the line.

 

McCarthy has really concentrated on special teams during training camp this year, so we'll see how that goes. They'd better improve or we'll be starting all of our drives on our own 2 yard line. :)

 

 

FYI, Holmgren stayed in Cleveland because he just had foot surgery and could not travel with the cast or whatever he had on. He stated he had wanted to go there but just couldn't get around well until he recovered.

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SJ_Browns Newbie

SJ_Browns

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Congrats, Browns!!

 

You know, that game wasn't half bad for a pre-season game!!

 

I hope McCoy's alright.

 

Grant's okay. Just got his bell rung.

 

:)

 

mangini said it was only a thumb strain, but colt's supposed to have an mri done today just to be sure.

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