MORE Browns vs. Lions GAME REVIEW

[Dan in Florida]

Browns v. Lions: Quick Notes and Thoughts

Written by Daniel Wolf (the Twitter Guy)

 

Here are several notes and thoughts that I wrote down during the Browns game last night versus the Lions.

 

Special Teams

 

-Josh Cribbs is unstoppable. The guy runs with power like a 250-pound running back when he has the ball and defenders just can't bring him down.

 

-Great blocking by the punt team to spring Cribbs loose on a long return for a TD. Loved the leap into the crowd!

 

-Lawson has some spark in his step in his few returns, it just looks like he needs to be a little more patient. He appears to have the ability to be a solid backup returner for Cribbs.

 

-Kaluka Maiava has made his presence known on kick coverages and looks to be a valuable special teams player.

 

-Great punt yardage by Zastudil on the majority of his punts.

 

-Dawson is just Mr. Automatic when it comes to FGs.

 

-RB Chris Jennings nearly got to blocking 2 punts in a row.

 

-LB Leon Williams gets called for a holding penalty on a 63 yard punt by Zastudil. The following punt was shorter in distance, and Williams cost the Browns 36 yards of field position for his hold. With a crowded LB position, this does not help Williams' chances to make the final roster.

 

Defense

 

-Abram Elam what is the problem? First you let a Packers WR get behind you for a TD last week, then you start the game vs. the Lions with a holding penalty on a kickoff return that Cribbs took for a TD to open the game. Is Mangini wrong for bringing you to the Browns from the Jets? I haven't seen solid play from you yet. Make me a believer.

 

-Great INT by Eric Wright, but instead of run across the entire field, just fall to the ground and take the good field position. (I was waiting for someone to strip the ball from him or something and kept screaming for Wright to fall during the play.)

 

-Unsportsman-like conduct penalty on Wright for bowing to the crowd after his INT was unnecessarily thrown by the refs. There was no harm in Wright doing that. Why didn't the refs throw a flag for Cribbs' leap into the crowd after his punt return then? Stupid refs.

 

-LB Alex Hall showed had can be more than just a pass rusher by helping to stop the run and he had a great tackle behind the line of scrimmage for a loss.

 

-Elam made up a little ground is stripping the ball out of a receivers hands, even though it was ruled that the WR was already down. Good effort though!

 

-Still not seeing much pass rush. Maybe Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan is not showing all of his cards and holding back a little? I hope...

 

-Great tackling by the defense all night long. Even play-by-play announcer, Bernie Kosar said the tackling was "very crisp."

 

-The D-Line looked solid in stuffing the run and disguising their coverages, Stafford had no idea what the Browns defenders were about to do to him pre-snap of the ball.

 

-David Veikune had amazing penetration on a 4th and 1 play. He shot through a gap and stuffed the running back forcing a turnover on downs. Later in the game, he gets pressure on the QB and makes contact right when the ball is being thrown causing an incomplete pass.

 

-I love seeing an all out 9-man blitz. It was done once last week and now this week.

 

-Corey Ivy made a couple nice play included forcing a fumble which Mike Adams recovered.

 

-Coye Francies had great, tight coverage on his WR and batted the ball down. Francies plays really aggressive and he will probably be the Browns' dime cornerback if he keeps playing well.

 

-Maiava made solid contact on a RB to stop him at the line of scrimmage.

 

Offense

 

-Derek Anderson looked solid in his mid-to-long passes, but he was still rocketing the ball into short passes and on one particular short pass of 3 yards, he threw it so hard to Braylon Edwards, that it went through Edwards' hands like he didn't except the ball to come in that hard and fast.

 

-Great catch by Mohamed Massaquoi over the middle of the field for 24 yards and he took a hard hit by a defender and held onto the ball.

 

-The first team O-Line could not open up holes for Jamal Lewis to run though much of the night, they did however, get a huge hole open for Lewis on his 4 yard TD run. The O-Line still looks to be getting moved around and Mangini really needs to solidify the starters so that they can gel together before the season starts.

 

-Cribbs great catch in the middle of the field on a laser pass from DA for 20 yards. Cribbs continues to get open out of coverage and he is really pushing to get more playing time at WR this year.

 

-Bad play and awareness by Edwards on that pass he caught, but out of bounds. He should have known where he was and that should have been caught in bounds. No excuses for that.

 

-FB Lawrence Vickers made several big blocks to help the running game throughout the evening.

 

-Lewis was running with power and on the run before his TD, it took 3 Lions players to bring him down.

 

-Mike Furrey was solid again as a possession/3rd down WR getting a key first down on a third down play in the first quarter.

 

-DA needs to get the offense to score TDs in the redzone more than FGs.

 

-Quinn looked confused on his first snap in the second quarter when he got sacked. Maybe a miscommunication?

 

-Great deep pass from Quinn to Brian Robiskie for 24 yards. Quinn felt the pocket collapsing and stepped up to make the throw right before getting hit.

 

-Quinn had another deep pass attempt to Edwards, but it looked like Edwards was just casually running his route and he was not looking for the ball of trying to make any adjustments to the ball to help out Quinn. Looked like Edwards took that play off.

 

-Great sweep by James Davis, with Vickers sealing off the end, for a run of 14 yards.

 

-DA throws another short bullet-pass that ends up too high for Davis to catch and gets tipped and picked off by the Lions. DA really looks that he just can't throw a short pass with any touch period.

 

-Brett Ratliff just got beat up and could not move the offense in the second half.

 

-Davis' 81 yard TD run 'nuf said.

 

-Lance Leggett absolutely burned his man, but Richard Bartell overthrew Leggett by 10 yards. Leggett's got some speed!

 

Too many Browns penalties, turnovers turning into points for the other team and a lack of pass rush have got to be the main focus during Training Camp this week.

[OconRecon]

What?! No mention of Costanzo?! Pfffft.

 

(a good review)