Zombo said:

For sure. Our coaching staff looked better in one preseason game then Shurmer did in 2 years

@diehardbrownsfan said:

always a naysayer in the group.

just use it to keep you awake so you can drink more.

@hoorta said:

No doubt about it.

Quantam leap.

Chiefs too.

Results will show in AFC Standings

Zombo

Zombo said:

Not only that Z- they've finally put Bottlegate to rest. I was shocked they are actually letting fans take cans of Bud- or whatever out to the seats, instead of pouring them into plastic cubs. LOL, get ready for "CanGate". Save the Planet- less plastic waste.

Oh, I was at the game too- and here's my .impressions (I haven't reviewed the tape yet.) Weeden looks much improved, way more comfortable in his pocket presence. He still needs to go through his reads, and get rid of the ball a tad faster though.

Dion Lewis was a nice pickup, he may well challenge for the #2 RB spot if he continues to impress.

Travis Benjamin? Wow, letting Cribbs walk was no loss- the guy may well be one of the fastest guys in the NFL.

The Coaching staff is on another dimension compared to last year.

Don't want to be a Debbie Downer, but the run defense isn't all that great, and after Haden and Skrine the DBs are a disaster area .It's obvious Jackson is way more suited to play MLB in a 4-3 scheme that an ILB in a 3-4.

@thenew23 said:

Except it will cause your heart to explode and you will die young.

Again... Weeden's release is really nice. Disagree. He throws a football like he was doing it in the womb, the anti-Quinn. He's "The Natural," honestly. He just has to process faster and hit those deep balls or he's wasting that cannon.

He's also a better athlete than some think. He moves around pretty decently.

Agree, cal, Robertson showed good technique covering Austin from underneath.

Spent the morning reviewing the win over the Rams... so after further review...

Staff: Really had the team ready to play. The cohesiveness of the 2nd and 3rd team units testified to this, as did the lack of penalties throughout.

Offense:

Screens - It was a joy to see a couple work well (after essentially going O-fer two seasons), especially the one-man variation with Greco leading the way.

Line - Nicely coordinated pass protection for the most part, but I did not see much firing out on run plays. Greco stood out on the plus side; on the downside Pinkston looked slowish and rusty to me. Butler looked good, like more than a journeyman at LT late in the game.

TE's - Piss poor blocking by the lot of them looks to be a team weakness; pass catching skills look adequate.

WR's - We look to be 6 or 7 deep here and our top 4 should stack up well against any corps in the league; my one concern (hopefully imagined) is the Gordon looked disgruntled... hopefully he just hates pre-season...

Benjamin is rounding into a nice WR and this staff has already figured out that for him to be the deep threat he can be, you have to throw to him short... something Shurmur snapped to around 10 games into last season.

RB's - Lewis led a surprisingly deep and talented (running and catching) group even without the name players, TR and Hardesty, on the field; I got a "RB by committee" feeling in place of the "we have no depth" pangs of 2011 and 2012.

QB's:

Wheezy - He did look calmer, but I'm concerned about his touch... The fade to Little was ridiculously bad; the flag to Little on the following play was better as was the square out to Lewis for the TD (which was a very good throw).

All his completion were to players either running horizontally or stopped. Not sure what to make of that, but if it persists I'm sure DC's will know.

Lastly... his looping path to a throwing position is still there; although it looks a tad shorter at times this year.

Campbell - but for bad coaching in WSH and OAK, I always thought Jason had star potential, but he looks a little "broken" now... at least between the ears; release is similar to Wheezy's, i.e. slow, but his feet are much quicker.

Hoyer - looked like a vet should against 3rd stringers.

DEFENSE:

Line: Generally developed good penetration and pressure vs the pass, but seemed content to string out the run rather than seeking to disrupt the blocking (which may be Horton's scheme, but fits neither the "aggressive" label being claimed or how I've seen 3-4's play in the past).

D. Bryant impressed me at DE against both the run and pass rushing. Hughes did not impress. Kitchen was a pleasant surprise at NT.

We played a lot more 2-man front than I was expecting.

LB's: Robertson looked good next to DQ in the middle. Nothing about Kruger or Sheard was noteworthy.

Here again our depth surprised me... especially the 40-somethings that played in the 2nd half (#44 Staples, #42 Smith, #41 Cole)... all of them looked worthy of making the team.

I can't wait for Mingo to add 20 - 30 lbs to that frame.

Only Fort disappointed.

DB's: Overall our least impressive group (no surprise there to most of you), and given the camera field coverage certainly this is certainly the hardest group to judge, but I liked a couple things...

- Bademosi looks ready to hit.

- Auguste tackled well and looks like he's man coverage capable.

Special Teams:

Lewis pulling KO duty and Benjamin returning punts are both great choices.

@poeticg said:

Cocaine is a hell of a drug...

Top 5 Defense and Top 10 Offense.

Top 3 Rushing Offense.

Probowlers: Joe T, Mack, Haden, Ward, Benjamin, Richardson, Rubin, DQ, Kruger, Cameron and Weeden.

@jrb12711 said:

YEP!!

Mike

Mingo was looking good even though he was double teamed a lot or chipped by a back or a te coming into the flat, love the speed off the edge. I noticed the d was also not giving up on plays and many players where always pursuing or in on tackles.

Would have liked to see TRich play a little but oh well. Lewis was looking like a nice little addition from the eagles. Travis Benjamin killed it on that punt return, I was hard on him for being too small for that position but if you go untouched he will be a game changer and only add W's for us on Sundays. Didn't see much of D.best but he made a nice play for a first down.

Loved the hit from kitchen in the 3rd quarter,that beast blew him off his feet which also sent the rams rb's helmet flying into the first row.

Could be an exciting year.

We gave up 4.0 yds/Rush on average (23 attempts), and only managed to generate 2.8 yds/Rush (29 attempts).

I don't care that Richardson was out, this is not encouraging and has me gearing to expect to see what we did last year Rushing.

Weeden looked better, but still has a tendency to star down Receivers.

Campbell looked decent.

Hoyer was okay, but seemed a little rushed and was firing a bit too soon.

@badnewsbrowns said:

Yeah,I thought the same thing...backers and safeties playing full out close that window in half a millisecond for sure...But untill the kid fucks up (not hoping he does)..We give him his due and hope its a positive sign of things to come until otherwise..I was happy with the overall effort...I realize it's early..but the kicking game is a tad worrisome...

***********************************

True, Robertson can't run with Austin straight line, but having the quickness, and the instincts

to be there, at that time he needed to be, that's smart football. Robertson showed serious quickness and agility

in practice, and that got him to be able to be in position.

@nickers said:

Yeah that deep in to Gordon? I think he was definitely waiting for the route I just don't see a lot of stuff like that working against the better D's.

@badnewsbrowns said:

I thought it was more a case of him being confined to lesser read options per Norv and letting the routes develope but yeah...a few times..he lingered a bit...

Lookin good so far but in fire gold is tested, not going to anoint him just yet.

I wish some reporter would ask Chud if he'd have gone for that 4th & 1 if it were a regular season game.

That said....

@canton-mike said:

We were at the game & what we saw was very encouraging.....That is a different style of football than we have seen in Cleveland in many years. Aggressive, attacking football & yes, we'll make mistakes, but at least they will be mistakes of aggression.

Loved Mingo's post game when he said the staff was encouraging them to make mistakes fast, if they were going to make mistakes...

Orange85 said:

Weeden looked sharp! I think he will be just fine in the Turner offense. The guy has stated that since he was in the 8th grade he has taken 90% of snaps from the shotgun. He was never under center in college. So what last years coaches were thinking is beyond me!

I will reserve final judgement on Weezy until further review, but he did look "calmer". However, apparently I am the only one that thinks Cameron's "muffed catch" that Little "rebounded" for a first down was intended for Little. I will bet a considerable amount that the pass was intended for Little. And had Cameron not batted the ball, it very likely would have been interecepted as an inside DB was breaking in front of Little on the throw.

If it was intended Cameron, it was an awful pass... way too hard and too high for a receiver that close and that wide open. Both the height and the speed were appropriate for where Little was, and required to have any chance of fitting in a tight window. It was the only "tough pass attempt" I saw all night.

@calfoxwc said:

This game was "only" a preseason game. But what I saw, was a highly disciplined, freakin aggressive football team.

For the first time out, I was concerned they'd have trouble with mistakes. Not much. You bring in smart, talented players

who love the game, and legit coaches to teach them a legit aggressive system that suits their strengths... and everybody gets

to watch some very fine football the first game that doesn't even count. And yes, Little showed that intensity again, fighting up in the air for that tipped pass by Cameron.

Everybody was having fun out there. They've been set free to play freakin aggressive, smart football !

Lb Craig Robertson being there with Austin was amazing. He shows serious speed, quickness, intincts and strength

even in practice. Lb Staples? He showed up hugely, I can't imagine he doesn't make the roster. Mingo is amazing.

His first short outing, and everybody heard his name, He's scary fast. Mingo "barked" in his first preseason game.

And, Bernie Kosar, my God I love listening to him comment these games. He instantly sees all sorts of stuff. He's

amazing. And last night, he was on top of his game.

Agree with Z... good post... gave me some things to watch for when I view the whole game.

Mingo's quicks on the negated sack were impressive. And he looked like he was having fun. The one exception to your "fun" hypothesis appeared to be Gordon. When he got up from the square in he caught, he did not look like a happy camper. May have been shot he took after the catch though... I hope that was the case; we really need his talent.

I'll only quibble with the Robertson exaggeration... I like Robertson and he's fast to be sure (for an LB), but no... he was not keeping pace with Austin. Austin was pulling away.

A good start to be sure... something to build upon... and no injuries...

@jrb12711 said:

I know it wasn't nice but it's hysterical that as he's saying this Clemons throws a pick. Absolutely comical.

@the-gipper said:

True that, it was honestly really unprofessional. I still love the guy but there's a way to say a guy isn't good without sounding like an ass. I don't mind him saying that in polite company but not when thousands of people are tuned in. The thing that's crazy is Clemens is an 8 year vet, I'm pretty sure you don't stick around that long by being God awful.

Edit: Here's a link to what we're talking about in case you didn't watch the game:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/yahoo-sports-minute/bernie-kosar-rips-kellen-clemens-073306587.html

@browns149 said:

Actually, no, apparently that is not true. He was pretty much berating Kellen Clemens, saying he cannot play NFL QB.