Shurmur’s Low Scoring Offense Makes Fans’ Shake Their Heads

The Cleveland Browns certainly are a creative bunch, aren’t they? They keep finding new and better ways to lose every week.

Today, they brought field goals to a touchdown fight, which is never a good idea.

They scored five times to the Baltimore Ravens four, but because they couldn’t get into the end zone, they lost once again, 25-15 heading into their bye week.

After a first quarter where the Ravens totally dominated the game and led 14-0, the Browns returned the favor in the next two and a half quarters, totally shutting down Baltimore and taking a 15-14 lead with 8:48 to go in the contest.

From there, Baltimore took over the game, aided by a questionable roughing the passer penalty on S T.J. Ward and marching 81 yards in nine plays to take back the lead at 22-15.

Then, Browns coach Pat Shurmur topped off a curious play calling game by going for it on 4th and 2 on their own 28 with almost four minutes to go. They called a slant pass which wasn’t close, giving Baltimore the ball back in point-blank range.

A worse play/pattern occured on third down and 4 when WR Greg Little for some reason ran a two yard out pattern which left Cleveland still short on fourth down. Little simply has to get past the sticks on that play.

Shurmur did do a good job in not going pass happy down 14-0 heading into the second quarter. He stayed with the ground game as was rewarded with another 100 yard game by Trent Richardson, his third of the season and second straight.

However, the play calling had a very conservative nature to it, with very few downfield throws. It was back to the dink and dunk attack showed by the Browns a year ago, particularly when Cleveland got inside the Raven 30-yard line.

New owner Jimmy Haslam had to be sitting there shaking his head like the fans of his new football team.

The question for Shurmur has to be why get timid? First of all, you are 2-6 and a win over the Ravens could have been the turnaround your football team needed.

Secondly, you have some decent skill players now. Why not give them the ball in space.

Lastly, on the biggest play of the game, the aforementioned 4th and 2, why did you go empty backfield and have Richardon split out as a wide receiver?

Those are things that make us all confused, including the new boss.

Cleveland outgained Baltimore 272 to 146 after the first quarter, yet only outscored the Ravens 15-11 in that time frame. How does anyone answer that?

Brandon Weeden was 20 for 37 on the game for only 176 yards and threw two interceptions, one of which after the game was already decided.

The problem is Shurmur’s offense which doesn’t product points.

Yes, they have scored 21 or more points three times this season, but that only means in 2/3 of the team’s contests this year they have been under that total. And now in 25 games coached by Shurmur, they have scored more than 21 points just four times.

In today’s NFL, you have to put points on the board. In today’s early games, every victorious squad scored at least that many points.

The Browns had five scoring opportunities on the game and did not penetrate the end zone once.

And it is not as though Phil Dawson, and once again, how great is he?, was banging out 50 yard kicks. His longest make was 41 yards.

Outside of the penalty on Little for illegal formation which nullified a TD throw to Josh Gordon, Cleveland never threw the ball into the end zone despite being in the red zone before every one of Dawson’s kicks.

It was almost as though the coaching staff was screaming “don’t turn it over” into Weeden’s helmet during the play.

One other bone to pick today. The officiating crew was awful today, with the worst call being a personal foul called on Gordon on a block on Ed Reed in the third quarter. If the NFL would like to explain how that was a penalty, let alone why a guy 30 yards away from the play called it, we are all ears.

It sounds odd to say, but there is no question that watching this football team play, they are better. However, their record says they are 2-7, and that’s all that matters.

This Week, The Dropped Pass Helps Browns

For the Cleveland Browns, it was die by the dropped pass last week, and live by the dropped pass today.

When you play a lot of close games, things like that can decide a football game.

Today, the Browns were the beneficiaries of San Diego WR Robert Meachem dropping a wide open throw from QB Philip Rivers early in the third quarter that would have given the Chargers a 10-7 lead. Since the Browns punted on every possession except their first, it likely would have put another one in the loss column for Cleveland.

Last week, of course, WR Josh Gordon dropped a perfect strike from Brandon Weeden that would have put Pat Shurmur’s crew up 20-17 in the fourth quarter. So, guess karma evened out today.

Besides the defense, which held San Diego to just two field goals on a truly miserable weather day, the star of the game was rookie RB Trent Richardson.

Many in the media implored the Browns to let the third overall pick in the draft sit out today and next week so he could heal his ribs through the bye week, and the coach kept telling everyone that T-Rich was getting better and better.

Score one in Shurmur’s column.

Richardson ran for a career high 122 yards in 24 carries, one of which resulted in the game’s only touchdown, a 26-yard jaunt in the first quarter. He also caught one pass for 12 more yards.

Besides the score, his fifth of the year, Richardson was featured in the key drive of the second half for the Browns, the one that changed the field position in the fourth quarter.

On a 3rd and 6 from the Cleveland 7, the rookie caught a pass in the flat for 12 yards allowing the Browns to have some breathing room and keep the football. After a pass to TE Benjamin Watson gained 14, three more carries for the former Alabama RB picked up 21 more yards.

That put the brown and orange at midfield, and when the Chargers finally stopped the Browns, it was Cleveland that was able to pin San Diego back to their own 15, making them go quite a way for a game winning field goal.

The Bolts’ moved to the Browns’ 44, but four straight incomplete passes later, Cleveland celebrated their second win of the year.

The game was very even statistically, with San Diego out gaining the Browns by 15 yards for the game. The Chargers committed the only turnover of the contest, but it didn’t figure in the scoring.

Again, the conditions on the field, steady rain and wind, made it difficult to generate a lot of offense, at least that’s what Shurmur said after the game, and we have no reason not to believe him.

A couple of other thought on the game…

One, why not throw the flat pass to Richardson more often? It seems to gain 10-12 yards every time is it used, and it gets T-Rich in the open field a little bit. That said, it was called at the perfect time today.

Second, Montario Hardesty showed why he can’t be counted on as he fumbled late in the fourth quarter after Richardson carried on three straight plays. You simply cannot lose the ball in that situation, and the coaching staff had to lose a little confidence in him going forward. This was the same problem he had during the pre-season.

And third, Josh Gordon looks like a #1 wide receiver in the making. He was held out of the end zone for the first time in four weeks, but caught three passes for 46 yards, including a big 26 yard catch and run in the second half.

Next week, another divisional game is on the docket with the Ravens visiting. They are coming off a bye week, a badly needed one after a hammering by the Texans and injuries to several key defenders.

The Browns continue to show improvement. Even at 2-6, they are getting better each and every week. That bodes well for rest of this season.

Browns Have More Talent, Not More Wins

After last week’s loss to the Indianapolis Colts, Browns’ coach Pat Shurmur seems to be under more fire from the media and the fans of the team.

The Browns are now 1-6 for the year and after starting out 2-1 last season, Cleveland has won just three of their last 20 games.

However, should the head coach be under siege, or is there other reasons for a wretched stretch in the win column?

Most everyone would agree that the Browns roster has more talent than last year’s did. They appear to have a good quarterback that can make all the throws.

They have a better running game with Trent Richardson and a revitalized Montario Hardesty.

They’ve upgraded at RT with Mitchell Schwartz rather than Tony Pashos and O’Neil Cousins.

The wide receiver corps is better with rookies Josh Gordon, Travis Benjamin, and Josh Cooper.

Defensively, GM Tom Heckert picked up four solid defensive linemen, two in free agency (Frostee Rucker and Juqua Parker) and two in the draft (John Hughes and Billy Winn).

The linebackers are young, but have speed, something that has been lacking the past few years.

The secondary still needs some work, but Cleveland has some young players from the draft that continue to get better.

So, if the talent is better from last year’s 4-12 record, then why are the Browns 1-6 heading into this week’s game against San Diego.

Doesn’t the arrow point squarely at the head coach?

For whatever the reason, Shurmur comes up short in terms of winning games.

Sometimes it’s because of play calling, other times it is dumb penalties, still other times it’s turnovers.

The point is that it is always something and there isn’t anything changing to put a halt to the seemingly endless losing.

Shurmur has done a very good job of teaching and getting a roster full of young, inexperienced players ready to compete at the NFL level. Rarely are the Browns completely overmatched in games, which makes the losses even more frustrating.

However, his in-game management leaves something to be desired and he hasn’t shown a great deal of growth even after 23 games as the head man.

Mike Tyson once said that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. The Browns’ coaching staff seems to panic once that happens.

That’s how we view Shurmur’s tendency to throw the ball time after time, ignoring the run.

He also isn’t decisive enough at times when he needs to be. Such as when he decided to punt on fourth down after throwing a deep pass in the fourth quarter.

He seems to second guess himself.

He seems stubborn, unwilling to change when what he wants to do isn’t working.

These weaknesses don’t bode well for Shurmur to be the head coach of the Browns for a third year, especially if they finish 4-12 or worse this season.

If he wants a chance to stay, he needs to start acting like he’s in charge, and he needs to be aggressive in his strategy. After all, with their current record, what is there to lose.

He should take the attitude of Cavs’ coach Byron Scott, who feels he has to do things his way, because if he gets fired, he will have no regrets.

The Browns’ new owner, Jimmy Haslam seems to be aggressive guy. His coach should adopt that same attitude.

Colts’ Game is Key to Improved Record

Now that they finally have a win under their belt, the Cleveland Browns have a critical game coming up this Sunday against the Indianapolis Colts.

It’s not important in terms of playoffs or anything like that, that’s really far-fetched, but if Pat Shurmur wants to show improvement record wise over last year, then they could really use a win this weekend.

A victory would constitute a winning streak and raise the team’s record to 2-5, and there is no question this game can be won.

The Colts have perhaps the best quarterback to enter the league since Peyton Manning in Andrew Luck, and of course, we all know of his ties to Cleveland, with his father playing at St. Ignatius, but remember they got Luck because they had the worst record in the NFL last season.

They also have trouble stopping the run, which should mean a steady dose of Trent Richardson and now, we have to include Montario Hardesty based on Sunday’s win.

Being 2-5 and winning the last two would bode much better for the future than 1-6 with a loss to the Colts.

That’s because the rest of the schedule doesn’t seem as daunting as it once did.

We hate to play the schedule game before the season starts, but now that we have a gauge on teams are strong and which ones aren’t, we have a better perspective on what games can be one and which ones will be difficult to walk away with a victory.

Cleveland has games remaining with both the Raiders and Chiefs, two teams who have the same victory total as the Browns. When the various power rankings come out this week, don’t be surprised if Kansas City ranks 32nd.

The Browns also have already played the better teams in the NFC East, the Giants and Eagles, so they have Dallas and Washington remaining, with the Redskins at home.

The ‘Skins have the electrifying Robert Griffin III at quarterback, but remember they are another team that picked in the top ten in last spring’s draft.

The Cowboys are a mess, getting destroyed by the Bears two weeks ago, and then using horrible clock management to blow a potential win against Baltimore on Sunday.

Within the division, the Browns have three games left, two of them at home. The Steelers are struggling a bit right now, and the Ravens, who are 5-1, have all kinds of problems with injuries, particularly on defense.

And it’s not as though Baltimore dominated the Browns in their first meeting in the Charm City.

However, any positive momentum will develop with a victory this coming weekend at Indianapolis, which would put the Browns at 2-5.

Let’s say Cleveland can beat the Raiders and Chiefs, and pick up one more victory against Washington or Dallas. Mix in one more divisional win, and you wind up the season 6-10.

That’s a two game improvement from last season, a good step forward for Shurmur and GM Tom Heckert.

Another thing that bothers us is criticism of Heckert. Apparently, some fans think every draft pick should be an impact player, and hammer the GM for any pick that doesn’t work out, such as Greg Little and Hardesty.

However, look at guys like Billy Winn, Jason Pinkston, and even Buster Skrine and Trevin Wade. Those are all guys picked in the later round who can play in this league.

They may not be stars, but if they weren’t good enough to make the roster, then people would be all over Heckert for that. They are contributing, so you have to give him props for that.

It may be overly optimistic to project an improved record for the Browns after one win, but they games they have lost are all to teams .500 or better at this point, and they really haven’t been overmatched in any of them.

Still, a win on the road this weekend would go a long way in showing everyone that this isn’t the same old Browns.

Browns Need Offense? Give it to Richardson

After most Browns’ losses, we bemoan the inability of the team to run the ball and defense the opponents’ running game.

That is usually a recipe for defeats, even in today’s pass happy NFL.

That’s why it is time for coach Pat Shurmur and offensive coordinator Brad Childress to get more touches for RB Trent Richardson.

The third overall draft pick last spring, the rookie from Alabama gives the teams playing the Browns someone to account for when Cleveland has the ball.

Finally!

After Richardson’s game against Cincinnati, in which he ran for 109 yards in 19 carries, the defensive coordinators in the Browns’ last two games (vs. Buffalo and Baltimore) have put eight men in the box, daring Brandon Weeden to throw the football.

That has led to the rookie quarterback throwing the football an average of 40 times per game, a total far too high for a player getting his first NFL experience.

It is time to give Richardson more of a load for several reasons. Right now, he’s averaging a little less than 20 touches per game. That number needs to get closer to 30.

And it doesn’t have to be 30 runs, it can be 24 carries and catching six passes out of the backfield, getting T-Rich in space.

First, he’s the best skill player the Browns have. With the receivers dropping Weeden’s throws at an alarming rate (a continuation of last season’s problems for Colt McCoy), getting the ball to your biggest weapon needs to be a priority.

Second, the life of an NFL running back is around four seasons.

True, some guys last longer than that, and can remain effective for up to seven or eight seasons, but for the most part, Richardson will have about five years of playing at a very high level, and the Browns should take advantage of using him before the rigors of the NFL take a toll on him.

Naysayers might say it is dumb to run into eight and nine man fronts, and by and large that is true.

However, it is still a matter of execution. If every team thought like that, then running backs like Arien Foster, Ray Rice, and Frank Gore, just to name a few, would be obsolete.

Shurmur and Childress shouldn’t bang their collective heads against a brick wall, but they can’t forget about getting the ball in the biggest weapon’s hands.

If an opponent stacks that line of scrimmage to stop the run, that doesn’t mean your quarterback should be throwing 45-50 passes per game.

And even if you aren’t handing off to the rookie, you can still get him the ball in space by throwing it to him out of the backfield.

This much is clear, the offense shouldn’t ignore him.

In fact, after four games, it’s time for Shurmur and Childress to know who can make plays (and who can’t) and try to get the ball in those players hands as much as possible.

That requires creativity on the coach’s part and that may just be the rub.

Let’s face it, the Cleveland offense may not be vanilla, but it certainly isn’t rocky road either. It tends to be a bit predictable.

This is an area that needs improvement, and it starts by getting the ball in the hands of Trent Richardson more often.

The Losing Keeps Continuing for the Browns

The Cleveland Browns were not ready for what the Buffalo Bills had in store for them this afternoon, and Pat Shurmur’s crew was quickly down 14-0 before the first quarter ended.

It was a hole they couldn’t dig all of the way out of, and the Browns fell to 0-3 with a 24-14 loss at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Cleveland did have chances, but they fell back into their old habits, their usual way of defeat. That is they couldn’t run the ball, and the couldn’t stop the run.

The Browns caught a break when the NFL’s leading rusher, C. J. Spiller had to leave the game in the first quarter with a possible separated shoulder. Spiller had already taken a screen pass 32 yards for a touchdown to give Buffalo a 14-0 lead with the contest not quite 10 minutes old.

But Tashard Choice, the Bills third string running back, ran for 91 yards on 20 carries, as the visitors ran for more than 100 more than the home team’s total.

Trent Richardson gained just 27 yards for the game on 12 carries.

However, Buffalo came into the game with the intention of taking the rookie from Alabama away from Shurmur and offensive coordinator Brad Childress. At least the Browns can now say they have someone the defense has to respect.

That opened up the passing game for Brandon Weeden, and until the last two possessions of the game, he took advantage of it.

After his 22-yard touchdown pass to yet another rookie, WR Travis Benjamin late in the third quarter, Cleveland was very much in this game, trailing by only three at 17-14.

That was as close as they would come.

The Browns forced a three and out on the next Bills’ possession, but the offense couldn’t capitalize after picking up one first down, and gave Buffalo the ball back, and on the first play Choice slashed through the defense for 22 yards.

The defense had one more opportunity to hold the visitors to a field goal, but gave up an 11 yard gain on a bubble screen on third and nine. The Bills scored two plays later and the game was basically over.

After that, Cleveland made mistake after mistake with Weeden throwing two interceptions and a key holding penalty on C Alex Mack ending drives.

Another problem was wide receivers dropping passes. Greg Little dropped one near the end of the first half with at least 15 yards of real estate in front of him. It could have put Cleveland in a position to get a field goal heading into the locker room, closing the gap to 14-10.

And Benjamin dropped one on a 3rd and 19 with a lot of room in front of him in the third quarter.

Weeden finished hitting on 27 of 43 throws for 237 yards, with the TD toss and two interceptions. His longest completion was a bubble screen to Josh Cribbs for 24 yards, a play that wasn’t used again.

Say what you will about Cribbs, and his shortcomings at wide receiver, but when he’s on the field, he makes plays offensively.

Weeden’s only other completion over 20 yards was the touchdown pass. Other than that, he became a dink and dunk passer, taking what the Bills gave him. This is typical of the Shurmur offense.

Remember that Shurmur’s attack doesn’t score many points.

In his two years as St. Louis’ offensive coordinator, the Rams scored more than 20 points just four times. Last year, running the Browns’ attack, Cleveland scored over that mark just once.

After last week, that means the Shurmur offense has scored more than 20 points just six times in 51 games. That won’t win you too many contests in today’s NFL.

Until his young team can put up at least 21 points on a weekly basis, the Browns aren’t going to be successful.

The Browns have a short week with a divisional game against the Ravens on Thursday night, staring 0-4 right in the face.

When teams don’t win occasionally they forget how to win. That’s something the Browns have to overcome. They don’t do the little things that translate into wins. New owner to be, Jimmy Haslam can’t be impressed by what he sees.

Browns Look Better in Most Areas, But Still Lose.

For those Browns’ fans who were panicked that GM Tom Heckert horribly screwed up last April’s draft, you can rest easier today. If you are coach Pat Shurmur, and your team is 0-2, you have to be concerned especially since you have a new boss.

And if you are Joe Haden, you have to feel like you let your team down because a porous secondary and a bad special teams play were the biggest deciding factors in a 34-27 loss to Cincinnati Sunday afternoon.

Usually, the formula that leads to a Cleveland defeat is that they can’t run the ball and can’t stop the run. That wasn’t the case today.

Rookie Trent Richardson showed why Heckert traded up to get him with his first 100 yard rushing game, getting 109 yards on 19 attempts and catching four passes for 36 more yards, scoring two touchdowns.

His fellow rook, QB Brandon Weeden put aside all the jokes about a 5.1 passer rating with a club rookie record 322 passing yards and two TD tosses, one to Richardson and the other to WR Greg Little. He had no turnovers after throwing four picks in his debut.

Meanwhile, the Bengals ran for just 80 yards on 25 carries, a 3.2 average per carry.

However, they didn’t need to run because they had so much success through the air.

The Cleveland secondary, minus their best player in Haden, allowed touchdown plays of 44 and 50 yards through the air, allowing Andy Dalton 318 yards passing.

The Browns leading tacklers for the game were CB Buster Skrine, CB Dimitri Patterson, and S T. J. Ward. What does that tell you? That Dick Jauron’s defense was making a lot of stop after Cincinnati receivers caught passes.

The defense did have six sacks and an interception (three of the former and the pick by MLB D’Qwell Jackson, who was excellent), but allowing the opponent’s QB to complete 24 of 31 throws equals a bad day in the aerial defense department.

Although Cleveland put pressure on Dalton most of the day, hence six sacks, they played very passively in coverage, allowing Bengal receivers an eight to ten yard cushion at the line of scrimmage. That allowed Dalton to hit short passes at will.

The key play of the game was probably the first one in which a Bengal player touched the ball. After one first down on the Browns first possession, Adam (Pacman) Jones took Reggie Hodges’ punt 81 yards for a touchdown. During the run, at least five Cleveland players’ had shots at Jones, but all missed.

It put the Browns in a hole they couldn’t get out off the rest of the day.

A couple of curious things should be questioned and both have to do with who was active for the game. Defensively, Sheldon Brown was active, but didn’t play. With the secondary struggling, couldn’t he and his experience helped a bit? And if not, should he remain on the roster.

Offensively, Brandon Jackson was not active in favor of Chris Ogbonnaya, who caught six passes for 73 yards in a third down back role, but fumbled ending a promising drive in the first half.

It was an odd game in that no statistic really stands out as to why Cleveland lost, but they did.

They outgained Cincinnati. The ran the ball better and stopped the run as well. The Bengals converted only 4 of 12 third downs, while the Browns did better, picking up 7 in 15 opportunities. The turnovers were even.

It really comes down to poor tackling defensively and on special teams.

The Browns showed improvement in a lot of areas in-game two, but now they need to convert that improvement into a victory. A home game next Sunday is a perfect chance for that.

Defense Will Be Key for Browns

The highest profile additions to the 2012 Cleveland Browns were on the offensive side of the football. And after watching the team’s play last season, that definitely is where the management should have focused on.

Most of the talk in the off-season has been about rookies RB Trent Richardson, QB Brandon Weeden, T Mitchell Schwartz, and WRs Travis Benjamin and Josh Gordon. That’ s a lot a new faces in the skill positions for Pat Shurmur’s crew.

However, fans have forgotten about the other side of the football, and if the Browns have any success this season will depend on how a very, very young defense performs this season.

A look at the defensive line shows that two rookies (DT John Hughes and Billy Winn) will get a lot of playing time, and one of them will start next to veteran Ahtyba Rubin. Another 2nd year player, Jabaal Sheard, starts at DE, and after a good rookie year, he will have to deal with how offensive coordinators around the league game plan for him.

He wouldn’t be the first defensive end to have a good rookie season, and fizzle the following year because he doesn’t have a secondary move to get to the quarterback.

Behind the defensive line is a very young corps of linebackers around vet D”Qwell Jackson. Rookie James Michael Johnson is injured and will likely miss the first one or two regular season contests, so that means a lot of playing time for Kaluka Maiava, who’s suited more for special teams, and undrafted free agents L. J. Fort and Craig Robertson, and rookie Tank Carder, who was just picked up yesterday.

That’s an awful lot of young players to be depending on.

It doesn’t mean the Browns defense is doomed to failure. The young players who made the roster have shown a lot of athleticism and speed, something last year’s defense lacked, particularly at linebacker. So, it’s very possible the defense will show improvement. They definitely will get better as the season goes on.

Remember, one of the biggest problems for the Browns since 1999 has been the failure to stop the run. So, if the defensive line doesn’t play well early in the season, the potential “stars” added by GM Tom Heckert will have a difficult time getting on the field.

That’s why the key players early in the season will be Hughes and Winn. If they can team with Rubin to stop opponents from going through the Cleveland line like a hot knife through butter, the Browns can compete early in the campaign.

Really, it’s another reason that Richardson is the key rookie from an offensive standpoint, besides the fact that he was the third overall pick in the draft.

If he’s as good as advertised (we haven’t seen him play yet), then he takes a lot of pressure of fellow rookie Weeden, and a strong running game controls the tempo and clock, and doesn’t leave a young defense on the field too long.

What we are most anxious about as the regular season starts a week from today is whether or not the Browns have corrected the two areas that have plagued them for many years, the ability to run and the ability to stop the run.

In both cases, Shurmur and Heckert are depending on very young players. If they are right, the foundation could be set for extended success for this franchise.

A Day of Decision for Browns

The fourth preseason game in the NFL is the least meaningful of all the meaningless games that predate the regular season.

Unless, of course you are one of the players who is trying to make the final 53 man roster on a particular NFL team, then it is anything but meaningless.

There will be more talk today as to who will make the final roster for the Cleveland Browns than last night’s 28-20 loss to the Chicago Bears. The Browns finish exhibition play at 2-2, narrowly missing out on the preseason playoffs.

The most high level roster battle is the position of back up quarterback between Colt McCoy and Seneca Wallace, but other spots are probably far more important, because if Brandon Weeden stays healthy, neither McCoy or Wallace, or third stringer Thaddeus Lewis may never see the field.

If coach Pat Shurmur picks his reverse QB based on last night, Wallace is going to get the gig.

Last night, McCoy showed off all the weaknesses people point out when saying he’s not a starting quarterback in the NFL. His first pass hung out WR Greg Little to dry, allowing him to take a vicious hit, then on a 3rd and 7 play, he threw a check down pass to Travis Benjamin for four yards.

Perhaps that was the play call from upstairs, but it didn’t look good.

On his second series, he threw an interception which led to Chicago’s first touchdown. He wound up hitting just 2 of 5 throws for 16 yards.

By contrast, Wallace looked decisive in moving the Browns to their only first half touchdown, a toss to WR Rod Windsor.

To be fair, Wallace had the benefit of being on the field with RB Brandon Jackson, who showed why he should be the starter in week one if Trent Richardson is not ready to play. The former Packer gained 48 yards in seven carries, and hit the hole hard once he got the ball.

Which is why he should get the nod over Montario Hardesty, who could have a problem making the final roster. Hardesty was tentative early, but finally attacking on a couple of decent runs, the longest being 14 yards. He wound up with 24 yards on six attempts.

Josh Cribbs did a nice job of hooking up with Wallace on the touchdown drive, grabbing two passes for 34 yards. The talk of Cribbs possibly getting cut is flat-out ridiculous. He’s still dangerous with the ball in his hands, and even though he doesn’t run great routes as a wide receiver, if the passer gets him the ball, something good will usually happen.

The other negatives, in addition to McCoy’s poor game, was an injury to LB James Michael Johnson, who is counted on to be a contributor right away this season. Hopefully, a reported injury to his oblique isn’t serious and he can play on September 9th against the Eagles.

There was concern about the special teams having two punts blocked in the last two games, but the guess here is the players out on the field for those blocks will not be here when the games start to count.

The big news will come tonight at 9 PM when the rosters have to get down to 53 players. Will there be surprise cuts? It wouldn’t be shocking to see players like Hardesty, Mohammed Massaquoi, and even Ben Watson being let go.

It’s no secret the Cleveland Browns are getting young, and if the plan is to get this team in a position to make some noise in 2013 and beyond, you may just see some veterans looking for a new team come tomorrow.

Young Browns Need More Time on Field

Traditionally, the third preseason game in the NFL is the dress rehearsal, the game which most simulates a regular season contest. However, because the Cleveland Browns opponent last night is the same one they will open the season with in two weeks, it was a little different atmosphere.

At least, that’s what they are telling themselves on Saturday. The Browns were manhandled by the Philadelphia Eagles 27-10 on the lakefront.

Rookie QB Brandon Weeden looked good early, hitting on his first four throws, but with the Browns in the red zone, the Eagles turned up the heat defensively and the starting unit couldn’t handle it.

Weeden fumbled the ball away there, and later did it again deep in Cleveland territory, making it the third time he’s done that in three games. This isn’t to say he will do this throughout the regular season, but the coaching staff needs to work with him on ball protection.

A more troubling matter is the lack of ground game when Montario Hardesty is in the game. The third year man from Tennessee carried eight times for 12 yards and fumbled again, his second game in a row where he put the ball on the ground.

He seems to wait and dance before hitting holes which gives the defense time to react and close them up. It was a contrast to Brandon Jackson, who hits the hole quickly.

Hardesty may need a good performance against the Bears to make the final roster. In the meantime, hurry back Trent Richardson.

And the lack of a quality ground game doesn’t help a rookie quarterback.

On the plus side, rookie WR Josh Gordon looked good, catching three passes for 50 yards including a beautiful grab to beat Nnamdi Asomugha.

Defensively, CB Joe Haden played well after being tossed out of practice earlier in the week for too much aggressiveness, getting an interception and making a nice play on a wide receiver screen.

However, Sheldon Brown had a tough time with a fast receiver, which is becoming a norm as he gets older. He may be better suited to being a nickel back in favor of Buster Skrine and/or Trevin Wade, but with a suspension looming for Haden and an injury to Dmitri Patterson, coach Pat Shurmur and defensive coordinator Dick Jauron may not have that luxury.

The tackling was also poor for the Cleveland defense, which a great deal of Eagles yardage coming after contact. This too, must be corrected before the September 9th game against Philadelphia.

Still, keep in mind that this is what happens with a young football team, and the Browns are certainly that, with perhaps as many as six rookie starters come opening day.

There will be ups and downs, the young players will look great at times, and on other plays look like they are right out of high school. The hope for Shurmur and Tom Heckert, is that they will grow up quickly, and the learning curve won’t last very long.

Even with all the mistakes, the young Browns show enough flashes to give the front office and fan base hope.

That’s why, even though many NFL teams won’t put starters on the field in the last preseason game next week, Shurmur should give his young guys a little time on the field, perhaps a quarter. It will help them get more acclimated to the speed of NFL football, and could pay dividends in the season opener.

That’s when the rookies real first test will take place.