Week one was a major disappointment for our Browns however it is time to put things in perspective. The lock out gave the Browns a mere 4 weeks to put new systems in place on both offense and defense. Furthermore they had to do so with an array of new talent. There was a lot of bad points but also many good ones.
On defense, among the very positive points were the All Pro performance of Joe Haden, who together with rookie DT Phil Taylor give the Browns defense a major boost. On D the major points of concern were the disappointing step backwards taken by TJ Ward last Sunday and Chris Gocong's shaky week 1 performance.
On offense there were fewer signs of life. First off, it is clear that our receiving corps are still not NFL caliber, second the offensive line has too many new players, learning a new system. Rookie Jason Pinkston is playing guard for the first time in his life. I made a point to watch Pinkston on Sunday. What I saw is an athlete clearly up the challenge physically, Pinkston is going to be in the NFL a long time. However, Pinkston is playing a new position and in particular on passing downs, he had trouble recognizing stunts and blitzes. Finally, Colt McCoy, whom Pat Shurmur refused to annoint as team captain, showed Shurmur that perhaps his doubts are well placed. McCoy looked less than razor sharp both as a leader and a passer. I still believe in Colt and I always remind folks that Brian Sipe had some pretty bad games early on in his career, but I too was left shaking my head on the play towards the end of the game where Colt let a wet football slip out of his hands, resulting in a three stooges like interception. Colt, if you cannot handle a little rain son, then December in Cleveland is not going to be much fun for you.
Special teams were fine, thanks to always prepared Josh Cribbs.
So what is next against Indianapolis? Probably another tough loss. Road games are always difficult in the NFL and even without Peyton Manning, the Colts are going to be a handful for our Browns. It's going to be a tough start to the season though I keep reminding people that the Kardiac Kids started their magical season out 0-2 in 1980, and I think we will be off to an 0-2 start in 2011.
BL Predicts:
Colts 27
Browns 17
