Although we are encouraged about what the Cleveland Browns are doing, we would have been pleasantly surprised had Hue Jackson’s squad won the season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Our expectations were reinforced with today’s 21-18 loss to Pittsburgh at First Energy Stadium.
The young Browns (and yes, that will be a theme for this season) acquitted themselves quite nicely for the most part, and it appears that there will be plenty for the coaching staff to build on throughout the 2017 season.
Offensively, rookie QB DeShone Kizer played well, completing 20 of 30 throws for 222 yards and his first NFL touchdown and his first NFL TD pass, a three yarder to second year wide out Corey Coleman.
The Browns didn’t force Kizer to throw 40 times, although he was sacked seven times, many of those as a result of the rook not knowing to throw the ball away.
Isaiah Crowell ran 17 times for only 33 yards and another rookie, Matthew Dayes carried three times, so Jackson did try to stay with the run.
Coleman, last year’s first round pick, caught five balls for 53 yards and another second year guy, TE Seth DeValve caught four passes.
Our criticism on the offense was too many empty backfield sets for Kizer, thus the Steelers knowing he was going to pass. And those sets didn’t have much success either.
Also, it appeared Cleveland had success running the ball up the middle with Crowell, but they didn’t seem to stick with that.
Veteran free agent Kenny Britt also dropped a wide open throw for Cleveland.
Defensively, stopping the run wasn’t a problem for Gregg Williams in his debut as defensive coordinator here, Pittsburgh got just 35 yards on the ground.
The problem was stopping WR Antonio Brown, who caught 11 passes for 182 yards, and was the recipient of a pass interference call which set up the Steelers last touchdown.
Carl Nassib (2nd year pro) had a sack, and another player picked in the ’16 Draft, Derrick Kindred had an interception.
And another second year player, LB Joe Schobert, had four tackles, five assists, and deflected a pass.
It did seem Williams decided that without first overall pick, Myles Garrett, he decided to play coverage against Ben Roethlisberger, instead of trying to put pressure on him.
We are anxious to see if he changes next week.
The thing that stuck with us was the swarming nature of the Cleveland defense. It seemed that whenever a Steeler was tackled, there were five or six other Browns around the play.
Now, about special teams. We have wondered why coach Chris Tabor has survived several regimes, and we continue today. The first punt of the year was blocked for a touchdown.
There have been many special teams breakdowns over the past few seasons, and the first one in 2017 was costly.
On the positive side, Jabrill Peppers had a 25 yard punt return, and P Britton Colquitt pinned Pittsburgh inside the 20 for most of the first half.
The officiating was bad today as well. There were several questionable calls against the Steelers today (notably a pass interference called on David Njoku) and the league needs to change the penalty for that violation.
On the PI call which benefited Pittsburgh, Brown was grabbing Jamar Taylor as much as Taylor was grabbing him. To give a team 30+ yards due to something like this is ridiculous.
Next week, Cleveland travels to Baltimore, who shutout the Bengals today. We will see if the progress shown today is something to be very encouraged about.
JD
Cleveland Sports Perspective 