It was nice to see the Browns sneak out of Indy with a win. I can't even imagine the reaction if we had lost. It would not have been fun. But hey, now it is fun. Now we're getting ready for the tailgate Sunday morning. Now we're looking to beat the Fins at home to go 2-1.
I don't think Colt McCoy has been very good in these first 2 games. He's hung in there and made some great plays for his team. But from a fundamental stand point, he hasn't been great. He's locked on to guys too much instead of just taking what is in his progression. He hasn't been patient in the pocket and kept his eye level down the field. He reacts to pressure too quickly and ducks his head to get out of the pocket. That's not ideal, but what makes him a special player is his knack to make great plays when he's improvising. So you can live with it because once he gets out of there and has some space he makes great plays. I would like to see him keep being aggressive on the run, and hopefully the offensive line can make strides as well, so Colt can hang in there and make good throws from the pocket as much as possible.
Sheard and Taylor and Rubin really earned their game checks yesterday. They played great, hightlighted by Sheard's sack, strip, scoop play. He was winning his matchup all day. And Taylor brought his lunch pail too. He made some great stops. Both those guys really picked up Rubin, who had a unbelievable first quarter and stayed solid throughout the game.
AS ALWAYS, you just can't say enough about Josh Cribbs. He's just an insanely good player. We can't force it to him, but we have to continue to find opportunistic spots for him to touch the ball. And just continue to work our ass off to give him lanes when they don't kick the ball out of the endzone. The game changed on that 50 yard kickoff return.
Evan Moore is really the only guy who can win for us at receiver. You got that big play from Mo Mass, but really didn't have much else other than Greg Little on a couple option routes. For those wondering, I think Brian Robiskie played, and the only reason I know that is he made a great block on the Peyton Hillis long touchdown run. I know these guys aren't the most talented bunch, but they need to keep working and just being better and smarter.
Lastly, the play calling has been very uninspired. The two run calls the Hardesty on the goal line when the game was still in serious doubt was unbelievable. They were a fire-able offense if we had lost. I think it's just a combination of things: 1. young nervous coach grinding to get his first win, not thinking totally clearly due to the immensity of job 2. he's not totally in love with what Colt has been doing 3. Line play has been bad/injuries/musical chairs trying to settle on a lineup/trying to hide pinkston 4. no receivers can win on the outside Add all that up and it's not as easy as it used to be.
I expect it to keep getting better.
