Kessler isn't going to Suck as Bad as We Think

[flyingfooldoug]

For what its worth, if you take the first performances from our last 4 rookie QB's (Quinn, McCoy, Manziel, Weeden) and average them together, they pale in comparison to Kessler's first performance. And that's with Quinn's out-of-character, 2 TD and 240-yard opening performance factored in.

 

If we're in the business of looking at moral victories, Kessler is proof of a step in the right direction. All-world, franchise QB? Probably not. But not a steaming pile of garbage, either.

 

That with Pryor emerging as a playmaker, a Rb that can hit a hole or catch helps the Oline look better. If the owner resists his meddling ways, we may have a chance

[MasterDog]

Hue made a big mistake to deffer after winning the coin toss in OT.

Should had given the kid a chance. The benefit of him scoring and winning the game on the first OT possession would had lay the ground works for him the rest of the season. You can't teach confidence in this league but you can certainly earn it.

 

We'll see what he got against Washington coming off a solid victory on the road against the Giants.

[wargograw]

The kid is awesome.

[jiggins7919]

Cody Kessler did better than many of us expected, myself included, and he turned in a gutty performance. He throws an excellent "underthrow ball" where the receiver can come back for the pass, and that's pretty important when you consider the speed we have and how defenders will be reluctant to let anyone get by them. So what do you do? You run a bunch of comeback routes and deep dig combinations, and keep the DB's on their heels.

 

But still, Cody Kessler has obvious limitations. He's actually slower than I thought, and that REALLY hurts him. It hurts him evading the rush, it hurts his ability to pick up yards with his feet, and it really looked like he didn't have the athletic prowess needed to play the game at the NFL level. Kessler looks very much to me like a backup QB in this league. His arm is terribly weak, he's awfully slow, and I don't think our coaches will be able to "scheme" consistent ways for him to make completions. I just don't see it happening. The Dolphins secondary is hot garbage, and while Kessler is definitely accurate, I didn't see the physical tools possessed by so many other QB's.

 

That being said, I thought he hung in there and made some absolutely huge throws. That deep pass to Ricardo was gorgeous (took FOREVER to get there, LOL), and he made that toss on the run. Kessler also throws a terrific slant route, and leads the receiver well without throwing it high or low. And let's not forget that amazing fade throw to Barnidge for the 2 point conversion. That defined accuracy, and I don't see how you can throw it any better. And by the way, he came off the bench after Pryor had the TD, and made the throw. Impressive.

 

I just really think it kills you in today's NFL when you have a QB that literally CAN'T get ANY yards with his legs. You don't have to be Cam Newton or anything, but Cody is so slow that the threat of running even a LITTLE BIT just isn't there. I saw at least three times when Cody had some WIDE OPEN running lanes, but with his lack of speed, it's doubtful that he can outrun the NFL DT's.

 

What really scares me is whoever we play while McCown is hurt won't be caught off guard AT ALL by Terrell Pryor taking snaps at QB. I know I expected a FEW snaps with Pryor running the ball, but I certainly didn't expect to see him running, passing, and handing off for as many plays as he did. Hue Jackson showed his hand, and now everyone gets to see it. NFL defensive coordinators can overcome just about anything when they have tape on something (WildDawg anyone? read option?), so Hue Jackson will have to ONCE AGAIN scheme ways to move the ball.

 

As I said before the season started, and many other people did too, we would lose many games because we can't score TOUCHDOWNS. This is something that has plagued our team seemingly forever, and I don't know how to fix it. This game we were absolutely destroyed by Austin Pasztor, ESPECIALLY in the red zone. Seemed like every time we were threatening to score, he got a holding, or a false start, or whatever. Our team isn't good enough to overcome that, and that's really why we lost. We can talk about missed FG's all we want, but the reason we lost is because our offense STILL CAN'T SCORE TOUCHDOWNS. Throughout time and memorial, rookies have mostly struggled in the red zone (unless your name is Carson Wentz), and the reasons are obvious. The field is compressed, the windows are much tighter, and the margin for error is dramatically different. Our red zone TD percentage isn't going to change as long as we have a rookie playing...it's just how it is. I can't really blame Cody for this because Pasztor really got his ass handed to him by Wake, but it wasn't that long ago when Mitchell Schwartz got bested by him too.

[The Gipper]

Does anyone see little Brian Sipe in him? Or, dare I say it....a little Joe Montana?

[TexasAg1969]

Cody Kessler did better than many of us expected, myself included, and he turned in a gutty performance. He throws an excellent "underthrow ball" where the receiver can come back for the pass, and that's pretty important when you consider the speed we have and how defenders will be reluctant to let anyone get by them. So what do you do? You run a bunch of comeback routes and deep dig combinations, and keep the DB's on their heels.

 

But still, Cody Kessler has obvious limitations. He's actually slower than I thought, and that REALLY hurts him. It hurts him evading the rush, it hurts his ability to pick up yards with his feet, and it really looked like he didn't have the athletic prowess needed to play the game at the NFL level. Kessler looks very much to me like a backup QB in this league. His arm is terribly weak, he's awfully slow, and I don't think our coaches will be able to "scheme" consistent ways for him to make completions. I just don't see it happening. The Dolphins secondary is hot garbage, and while Kessler is definitely accurate, I didn't see the physical tools possessed by so many other QB's.

 

That being said, I thought he hung in there and made some absolutely huge throws. That deep pass to Ricardo was gorgeous (took FOREVER to get there, LOL), and he made that toss on the run. Kessler also throws a terrific slant route, and leads the receiver well without throwing it high or low. And let's not forget that amazing fade throw to Barnidge for the 2 point conversion. That defined accuracy, and I don't see how you can throw it any better. And by the way, he came off the bench after Pryor had the TD, and made the throw. Impressive.

 

I just really think it kills you in today's NFL when you have a QB that literally CAN'T get ANY yards with his legs. You don't have to be Cam Newton or anything, but Cody is so slow that the threat of running even a LITTLE BIT just isn't there. I saw at least three times when Cody had some WIDE OPEN running lanes, but with his lack of speed, it's doubtful that he can outrun the NFL DT's.

 

What really scares me is whoever we play while McCown is hurt won't be caught off guard AT ALL by Terrell Pryor taking snaps at QB. I know I expected a FEW snaps with Pryor running the ball, but I certainly didn't expect to see him running, passing, and handing off for as many plays as he did. Hue Jackson showed his hand, and now everyone gets to see it. NFL defensive coordinators can overcome just about anything when they have tape on something (WildDawg anyone? read option?), so Hue Jackson will have to ONCE AGAIN scheme ways to move the ball.

 

As I said before the season started, and many other people did too, we would lose many games because we can't score TOUCHDOWNS. This is something that has plagued our team seemingly forever, and I don't know how to fix it. This game we were absolutely destroyed by Austin Pasztor, ESPECIALLY in the red zone. Seemed like every time we were threatening to score, he got a holding, or a false start, or whatever. Our team isn't good enough to overcome that, and that's really why we lost. We can talk about missed FG's all we want, but the reason we lost is because our offense STILL CAN'T SCORE TOUCHDOWNS. Throughout time and memorial, rookies have mostly struggled in the red zone (unless your name is Carson Wentz), and the reasons are obvious. The field is compressed, the windows are much tighter, and the margin for error is dramatically different. Our red zone TD percentage isn't going to change as long as we have a rookie playing...it's just how it is. I can't really blame Cody for this because Pasztor really got his ass handed to him by Wake, but it wasn't that long ago when Mitchell Schwartz got bested by him too.

 

So it's settled. We have our franchise QB so now we can go for our dominant edge rusher.

 

[Tour2ma]

I liked what I saw out of Kessler. He calmed down as the game went on and didn't look completely lost. Made some nice throws and didn't make any glaring mistakes. Pretty accurate. Hue may have picked a good one.

 

True, but he was awfully late on throws throughout the game... even completions... even deep completions. If "the game" slowed down for him, it really did not show.

 

Hopefully his second start it will...

 

That's exactly my feeling as well. If our kicker would have made ONE of those three kicks, we'd be sitting here saying that Kessler is a legitimate QB. However, we lost and because of the loss, we're still tentative about his performance.

 

I never realized how sickening the ring was from a solidly hit upright by a Browns kicker. I can still hear it.

 

Hue made a big mistake to deffer after winning the coin toss in OT.

 

I honestly did not know we won the OT toss... PA system was not that good and there were "distractions" around me at the time.

 

What perplexed me was the direction we chose to defend. What little movement the streamers at the top of the posts we chose to drive to were showing was in our face. Plus it was the direction for Parkey's worst miss to that point.

[The Gipper]

So it's settled. We have our franchise QB so now we can go for our dominant edge rusher.

 

While we may not have our franchise QB.....the Browns still may have the same conundrum next year that they had this year: Assuming they are going to draft very high....there may not be a QB out there that they believe worthy of such a high pick (just like they were not convinced about the merits of Wentz and Goff). Then what?

Get that dominant edge rusher? Garrett of A&M?

 

It may be a way to go.

[jiggins7919]

Man, we definitely need another edge rusher. Throughout the ENTIRE game, the announcers continuously said over and over how Tannehill had ALL DAY to throw the ball. We had a few times where Ogbah simply got swallowed up and didn't provide a single thing. The one deep TD pass is a good example of this. Landry ran a route that literally took forever to develop, and Tannehill had the cleanest pocket I've ever seen. The coverage actually wasn't bad, but the throw was simply gorgeous. After the completion, the missed tackle was freaking terrible, but whatever. Tannehill never should've had THAT much time. I realize Nassib is injured, but geez man.

 

I realize Ogbah is a rookie, and I'm NOT saying he's a bust, so bare with me. In fact, he had another terrific play where he snuffed out a screen play. Problem is, he just disappears for long stretches. He doesn't get tackles. He doesn't force the QB out of the pocket, and he's actually not getting close. Again, he's YOUNG, but I wanted more from our rookie. Now, it's really early in the season, so I'm not panicking, but I wanted him to explode onto the scene like Nassib did.

[D Bone]

Does anyone see little Brian Sipe in him? Or, dare I say it....a little Joe Montana?

 

I'm a big Cody fan as most might know (local kid to me) and thought he did well, and it was about what I hoped for....... That being said, the lack of sheer velocity on some of his throws that required it, was pretty obvious and has me a bit concerned as we seek our franchise QB of the future.

[Browns1216]

 

I'm a big Cody fan as most might know (local kid to me) and thought he did well, and it was about what I hoped for....... That being said, the lack of sheer velocity on some of his throws that required it, was pretty obvious and has me a bit concerned as we seek our franchise QB of the future.

 

the lack of velocity is going to hurt once the weather turns, but maybe between Pryor, Gordon and Barnidge and feeding the Crow he'll be alright. As decent as Cody did, don't forget Kevin Hogan is on the practice squad. Things are looking up. Hue is supposed to be a QB guru, let's see what he can do with these guys. I can't remember the last time the Browns had this many offensive weapons at once. Defense looks good too, special teams needs to step up and stop blocking in the back/missing field goals but let's see if the Browns can go 13-3!

[Zombo]

 

True, but he was awfully late on throws throughout the game... even completions... even deep completions. If "the game" slowed down for him, it really did not show.

 

Hopefully his second start it will...

 

 

I never realized how sickening the ring was from a solidly hit upright by a Browns kicker. I can still hear it.

 

 

I honestly did not know we won the OT toss... PA system was not that good and there were "distractions" around me at the time.

 

What perplexed me was the direction we chose to defend. What little movement the streamers at the top of the posts we chose to drive to were showing was in our face. Plus it was the direction for Parkey's worst miss to that point.

Distractions, lol.

 

You got the full NBB experience.

 

Z

[stillmotion]

I think he did good for a rookie thrown into the wolves. he had positives, and a couple negatives. I wouldn't call him the second coming of joe montana yet, but it's good to be optimistic and his toss to barnidge was excellent.

[Orion]

Cody Kessler did better than many of us expected, myself included, and he turned in a gutty performance. He throws an excellent "underthrow ball" where the receiver can come back for the pass, and that's pretty important when you consider the speed we have and how defenders will be reluctant to let anyone get by them. So what do you do? You run a bunch of comeback routes and deep dig combinations, and keep the DB's on their heels.

 

But still, Cody Kessler has obvious limitations. He's actually slower than I thought, and that REALLY hurts him. It hurts him evading the rush, it hurts his ability to pick up yards with his feet, and it really looked like he didn't have the athletic prowess needed to play the game at the NFL level. Kessler looks very much to me like a backup QB in this league. His arm is terribly weak, he's awfully slow, and I don't think our coaches will be able to "scheme" consistent ways for him to make completions. I just don't see it happening. The Dolphins secondary is hot garbage, and while Kessler is definitely accurate, I didn't see the physical tools possessed by so many other QB's.

 

Good post.

I agree....and I'd like to see him given the reigns for the rest of the season for the chance that he can beat the odds.

[TexasAg1969]

As pointed out Kessler has zero NFL speed afoot and a "slow" ball coming out (at least so far). I did not see a real "zipper" of a pass like I saw from Wentz. I also saw a lot of flutter, even with balls that reached their targets well. As he puts more of his play of tape I am afraid they will figure out his game and adjust accordingly. He also took a lot of hits just like our other QBs, but I credit that to R side OL failures. We need a "fix" there in the worst way. If this keeps going this way we will go through him and then Hogan before finally turning the whole thing over to Pryor who has the skills to at least get away. Hate to say it but until we have a a quality NFL OL, we will need to shop for a true runner at QB, not just a pocket passer. We have no "pocket" worthy of tagging it with that nomenclature.

 

Edit: Worth going back to review this pre-draft assessment: http://www.nfl.com/draft/2016/profiles/cody-kessler?id=2555387

 

Pretty much confirms what I said above prior to finding that link. He was a round 5-6 projection so no, I did not trust Hue on this pick at that point in the draft. Hopefully I am proven dead wrong.

[jiggins7919]

Texas...nice post and the analysis from the link is dead on in my eyes. I wouldn't have a problem AT ALL if we took Kessler in the 5th or even 6th round. Hell, I would've felt better if he was a FOURTH round selection, but some reason, the 3rd round just seemed way too rich. I think it seemed rich because you still had other QB's like Connor Cook on the board, who was probably given a much higher grade by the pundits, and definitely from me (which means nothing, LOL). I'm not going to say we should've taken Dak Prescott because I don't think anyone else had him has a first year successful starter. But you know what...I take that back. It's our employees' JOB to KNOW who will do well in the league, and they missed Prescott, just like they missed Wentz. To be fair, if we draft Wentz we don't have Corey Coleman and I THINK Carl Nassib, so that is a large trade off (naturally BOTH of those guys somehow have broken hands. WTF man). Coleman has allstar potential in my eyes, and Nassib might as well.

 

I think what hurts us a LOT this weekend is there probably won't be any surprises. The Redskins will be ready for the Terrell Pryor show, and now that there is film on both Pryor and Kessler, I think it's safe to say that both players will suffer a significant drop off. Again, I hope I'm dead wrong and both players do well.

 

On offense, there are really only two areas that absolutely MUST be corrected if we hope to compete any time soon. The first one is penalties. To be fair to Pasztor, he won't be facing too many defensive fronts like he did against the Fins. Williams, Suh, and Wake were as advertised, and Pasztor had no answer for anything Wake was doing. Yeah it's Pasztor's job to play better, but Wake has made a living destroying OL, and much of the blame falls onto Hue Jackson. Why you ask? Well, Hue should've schemed some more help for Pasztor SOMEHOW. Whether it's bringing the TE over, chipping with a RB, executing screens to his side...whatever. Hue should've done more to help the guy, and I think he said as much this week. Other than penalties, the second aspect that needs improvement is our red zone execution. Not only did we have WAY TOO MANY penalties once we got into the red zone (or close to it), but we couldn't score touchdowns even when the penalties weren't there. I think we had like a 7 minute drive to open the second half that netted zero points? I could be wrong, but I want to say that we had a nice, long drive in the second half that really didn't provide any type of points. The ONE touchdown by Pryor was awesome, as was the subsequent 2 point conversion, but we had to have ONE MORE touchdown, and we just couldn't get it.

 

Struggling in the red zone is nothing new to our fans, and it's god awful frustrating. For me personally, whenever the Browns get to the 20 I automatically think "FG". If we have a long play and our guy gets tackled or runs out of bounds before scoring....I think "FG". And most of the time I'm correct. This needs to change, but I'm not sure it will any time soon. What we REALLY need is Crowell to break off a 15-20 yard TD run to take the pressure off our QB. That would be so huge.

[BobPOUND!]

I am glad to see this post is still on the main page. Thought I would check back in after digesting what happened last Sunday. First off.. Way not to die Cody, glad you made it out alive!

 

I am going to go out on a limb and say not only didn't he NOT suck as bad as we thought he might, he did a damn fine job Sunday. Were it not for out inept kicker, he would be celebrating his first NFL win. There is a lot to be happy about, and there is a LOT to be concerned about.. First the good.

 

He showed he has a good arm.. Several throws in the 2nd half really showed he can throw.. Especially the 10 yard play to Pryor where he almost dropped it.. It was an ill advised throw as he put it into double coverage. But he put so much speed on it, he almost took Pryor's head off. Lucky for us he was quick enough to snatch the double grab. First Down.

 

Another good throw, but ill advised was where he rolled right and was being chased by 2 Miami Defenders late in the game.. Let's it wing and under throws the receiver who came back for it and made a huge play.

 

Another play was a play from last year, the play action(made credible by our fledgling running game) roll out and pass to I believe Pryor and or Barnidge. Not sure which. Nice play, but only saw it once. That should be a staple if our running game holds up..

 

He showed poise in the 2nd half of the game. Standing in the pocket and making a few good throws even with the defender closing in..

 

He took a LOT of hits and only saw him come up limping a few times.. He seems durable...

 

Having Pryor to stand in is invaluable at this point in our development... I would like to see them use Pryor in a few cross pattern passes or even let one fly.. If Pryor can show he is something more than just an option runner when he is at QB, it will really put DC's on their heels....

 

 

BADS....

 

Holds the ball WAY TO LONG.

 

I thought he was a little more mobile than what he showed Sunday... He is going to get killed if he chooses to run.. On the play action roll out, he looked very comfortable though.. Roll outs in general he looked downright NFL QB level...

 

Makes BAD decisions that were unfortunately rewarded on Sunday.. He is going to think he can get away with that shit in the NFL. He is sorely mistaken.. He throws into double coverage like he did in the play I mentioned above and he is going to get picked off more times than not. Same goes for the long chuck down the right side. He left that up there way to long.. But it was a throw he made off of one foot and across his body.. He shouldn't have thrown that one!! But I am glad he did and we got to see his arm.

 

THROW THE DAMN BALL OUT OF BOUNDS FOR F***"s Sake! He held on for no reason on more than a few occasions... Nothing there, toss it!

 

 

 

I am excited to see him play again on Sunday.. Things only get harder from here on out for him. They have film on him now and they will pick up on these flaws.. Expect at least one pick six next week as he thinks he can throw these darts into double coverage. Someone is going to jump that route and get a gift going the other way.

 

BobPound!

[hoorta]

 

True, but he was awfully late on throws throughout the game... even completions... even deep completions. If "the game" slowed down for him, it really did not show.

 

Hopefully his second start it will...

 

I never realized how sickening the ring was from a solidly hit upright by a Browns kicker. I can still hear it.

 

I honestly did not know we won the OT toss... PA system was not that good and there were "distractions" around me at the time.

 

What perplexed me was the direction we chose to defend. What little movement the streamers at the top of the posts we chose to drive to were showing was in our face. Plus it was the direction for Parkey's worst miss to that point.

 

I've heard goal post boinks before, but not from way up in the rafters like we were.

 

Tour- with 20\20 hindsight (and a little prodding from an article) I think you and me were on the same page with 20 seconds left. Why not run another play? Toss it in the end zone, and if someone isn't wide open throw it in the seats- or at least run a draw play with Crow. Nope- sit on it and trot out a guy who's already missed a couple FGs already- and tell him to win you the game.

[Orion]

He threw one hell-of-a nice floating fade to Barnidge for the 2 point conversion though. DA coulda' never done that.

 

I think Kessler benefited from the fact that the QB injuries happened right at the start of the season. He only spent one week as the 3rd string QB during the regular season................those guys get virtually no reps during the season.

 

He looks to have some physical limitations. But so did Kosar. I'd like to continue to watch him play. (too bad the right side of the OL sucks)

[Tour2ma]

 

I've heard goal post boinks before, but not from way up in the rafters like we were.

 

Tour- with 20\20 hindsight (and a little prodding from an article) I think you and me were on the same page with 20 seconds left. Why not run another play? Toss it in the end zone, and if someone isn't wide open throw it in the seats- or at least run a draw play with Crow. Nope- sit on it and trot out a guy who's already missed a couple FGs already- and tell him to win you the game.

 

I wanted to go jumbo play action. I thought Kessler earned the right to take a shot at shortening the FG try.

[gumby73]

Kessler's, Tale of 2 half's on tape. Of course the 2nd half has the action. But today going back to early 1st half, Sure Cody was a bucket of nerves. But after fumbled snap, Hue had enough balls to go with TP at QB & pulled Cody..When Cody got to sideline, it was great to see JMc & Rg3 getting to the kid 1st.To just to get the kid to settle down. Hoping Cody takes the keys. Hues counting on this kids timing & accuracy. The rhythm & accuracy was there 2nd half..

[Tour2ma]

The rhythm & accuracy was there 2nd half..

 

So you did not see him late on throws in the 2nd half?

[gumby73]

 

So you did not see him late on throws in the 2nd half?

Saw some of that too. But, What i saw was, Our WR's mostly getting open on a poor Miami's back end. But Miami's solid front end was forcing Cody to work to find a window to get it there. Liked how Cody keeps his feet in balance into his throws. Think "late" may get faster with more game pace reps & Hue. We have all seen enough of what throwing off balance & throwing off back foot does in this league..Norman will give Kess, a true test. Pryor too.