If the third pre-season game is indeed a dress rehearsal of sorts, then the main event could be better than advertised for the Cleveland Browns. However, it’s only a dress rehearsal if both teams treat it that way. Depending on how you look at these things, the fact that Titans’ coach Jeff Fisher got tired of watching QB Kerry Collins shred the Browns secondary was a good thing or a bad thing.
It’s was a good thing if you put a lot of stock in exhibition victories, because certainly the path to a win was made easier by Collins being replaced by Vince Young early in the second quarter on Saturday night. It’s a bad thing because the brown and orange defense had problems against a veteran quarterback like Collins, who put the ball where he wanted most of the evening.
After a good first series, the Cleveland defense had problems against the Titans’ offense until Young came in the game. Keep in mind, the Browns’ best defender was still not in uniform, as Shaun Rogers did not play. But still, it was not a performance that will have defensive coordinator Rob Ryan beeming with pride.
Young turned the ball over twice in critical situations, once while going in for a touchdown to end the first half, and his poor choice early in the third quarter led to an 11 yard interception return by OLB Alex Hall which gave the Browns control of the game.
Kamerion Wimbley continued to show improvement, and Ahtyba Rubin showed some positive things as well in relief of Rogers. Corey Williams and Robaire Smith had several good moments too, especially Smith, whose pressure on Young led to Hall’s TD, and he blocked a field goal as well.
On offense, the running game still sputtered, except for when rookie James Davis carried the ball. The first year back from Clemson continues to impress, while veteran Jamal Lewis looks like he lacks that extra gear so far.
Now, for the quarterback derby. Brady Quinn looked good on his first two drives, putting the ball where it needed to be, and converting one drive into a field goal. Derek Anderson completed some short passes as well as throwing the deep ball. However, he still had receivers turning around, and avoided an interception when his throw was too hot for the Tennessee defender, who had it pop off his pads into the hands of Mike Furrey.
Quinn came back in after a turnover in the third quarter and converted a touchdown pass to Braylon Edwards, who played a solid game. Both signal callers threw a lot of screen passes which proved highly successful.
Hopefully, Eric Mangini will put this nonsense behind his team by naming a starter early this week, and it should be Quinn, who has been slightly better in the first three pre-season contests. The team deserves to know who the offensive leader will be. This is a short week with the last exhibition game against the Bears being played on Thursday night, and that game will not see a lot of playing time for the starters.
It also appears that first round draft pick Alex Mack will start, since he began the game with the first unit on Saturday. Hopefully, that will give a little more power to the running game.
Delaying the decision until after Thursday does nothing, because both Quinn and Anderson will probably cede the rest of the snaps against the Bears to Brett Ratliff, who didn’t play against the Titans and Richard Bartel. People need to talk about something else besides the quarterback situation. Other teams have named starters, only the super secretive Browns are keeping the mystery going.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 