I think I had a Browns insight last week while watching the Ravens game. In the 1st Quarter the Browns had a 4th and 1 on their own 39 and they went for it. On the play, Cedric Tillman, a third year veteran, lines up on the wrong side of the field and the result? Illegal formation, 4th and 6 now, punt......
The insights are two actually:
- The Browns playbook is apparently so complicated that Cedric Tillman, a third year player who graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in Communications struggles to keep up with all the details. I don't blame Tillman, he's clearly a bright young man trying his best. I blame the Ivy League approach to football that the Browns utilize.
- The second insight is that the reason the Browns fell in love with Dillon Gabriel is that they convinced themselves that by installing a QB who has complete command of the Browns playbook, they could bridge the gap between their Ivy League playbook to the error free execution of that playbook. Ironically, it was Gabriel at the commands when Tillman lined up on the wrong side, and our GPU Processor QB somehow missed that tiny detail.
Is having a playbook so deep that you can counter every possibility the path to a Super Bowl?
Nah......................
Football is not only a chess match, it's an emotional and physical battle of some of the world's greatest athletes. Intelligence certainly helps, but the history of the NFL is filled with examples of winning teams that ran simple schemes executed by well coached athletes. Often times, it's actually getting so good at running a play that the athlete DOESN'T have to think that is the key to playing fast and winning.
So who is going to win this week in Las Vegas? Fascinating question because this week, the Browns won't have their GPU Dillon Gabriel on the field to assure that Kevin Stefanski's playbook is executed with exacting skill. Instead they will have Jimmy Haslam's greatest draft pick - Shedeur Sanders making his first start. I love Shedeur but he is the "antithesis" of an Ivy League QB. Shedeur is a combo of heart and skill. At this stage of his career I would say keep it simple and let him do what he does, which is win plays.
What should happen is this:
- The Browns use Shedeur like the Steelers used Ben Roethlisberger his rookie season. Run the ball over 50% of the time and let Shedeur pass no more than 20 times focusing his drop backs on obvious running plays to give him some time to think back there.
What I think probably will happen is:
- The Browns will pass at least 40 times.
There are two factors however that makes me want to choose the Browns Sunday
- First it would be the most Browns thing ever if Shedeur has success Sunday after watching the last month and a half of Dillon Gabriel struggling to get the ball deeper than 5 yards downfield. As bad as he played last week, Shedeur on several occasions lofted the ball 20+ yards downfield which is a must in the NFL. Had Greg Lavradain caught a ball that was in his hands, Shedeur would have had a shot at leading a comeback win.
- Second, the Raiders are as bad as the Browns.
Since Stefanski is "not" calling plays Sunday and Tommy Rees is, I am going to go ahead and predict the improbable. Shedeur plays just well enough to guide the Browns to a win in his first start. Why? Because he's a winner even if the Browns usually are not.
The Brown BLog Predicts
Browns 30
Raiders 20
The Brown BLog are 7-3 year to date predicting Browns games.
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