2015 Cleveland Browns Training Camp Thread

[Soda]

Fans are always going to want to hand Manziel a role that he didn't earn, that's just the nature of his first round pick status.

Would be tough for Pettine to look his team in the eye and say "I know Johnny probably hasn't earned this, but we've got to see what we have in Manziel so I can appease the masses."

I could not agree more.

Don't see it being discussed but there were rumblings that McCown went to the X-Ray room for his hand, was anything confirmed about this?

Think he'll be ok.

 

[spydy13]

I could not agree more.

I also don't think it would be the end of the world though if he played with the starters in the third quarter next game. I don't think anyone on here at least is saying start him week 1 (or even next week). People just want to see what he looks like with and against starters. Pettine himself said earlier in camp that you don't want you backup seeing his first time with the starters mid-way through the year.

 

[spydy13]

The err of desperation for Manziel to look somewhat like an NFL QB is palpable.

I know you and many others think that he can never be good, but the simple fact is we took him and so you should hope by the grace of God that he becomes decent. I don't think fans rooting for the guy to improve is in any way bad.

 

[Randolphkeys]

I also don't think it would be the end of the world though if he played with the starters in the third quarter next game.

You don't play starters a lot of plays in preseason because they are at risk of injury in meaningless games. You definitely don't do it in the third quarter so your struggling draft pick looks good against the other team's third string.

 

[AZ_]

I know you and many others think that he can never be good, but the simple fact is we took him and so you should hope by the grace of God that he becomes decent. I don't think fans rooting for the guy to improve is in any way bad.

I'm not one for blind hope.

I don't think rooting for him to improve is in any way bad, either. Though, of course, that wasn't the point I was making.

Would like to see the team get good enough to support a QB like McCown or Manziel, but the better solution would be to find someone who can come in and establish themselves without the incredibly blatant question marks surrounding their play.

 

[Randolphkeys]

I think most of us still think the QB of the future is coming in April. My biggest worry is that we are in limbo becuase Manzeil only played 4 games, and we (Front office) think"he might be able to do it" and then Pass on a first round QB. The good thing about Manziel possibly playing more then 8 games is the decison should be clear of wether we need to comit our 1st pick as a QB.

Your position presupposes this whole year is a wash, the Browns are going through the motions without a QB, drafting another QB in the top 10. And you have every reason to believe that with a 36 year old starter who has never had the talent to start, but goddamn is he a great teacher in the quarterback room. And hey, that Manziel guy just might work out! We have a short passing dink-and-dunk offense to make everything easier for him.

And I've been saying that this was a doomed plan from the start, both short and long-term. And it didn't have to be this way.

 

[spydy13]

You don't play starters a lot of plays in preseason because they are at risk of injury in meaningless games. You definitely don't do it in the third quarter so your struggling draft pick looks good against the other team's third string.

Isn't it a pretty common strategy that in the third preseason game the starters stay in through the third quarter? I thought that is supposed to be your dress rehearsal game?

Then in the fourth game they play a series if anything, which leaves you the rest of the game to make final decisions on your end of the roster guys.

Either way, I really could give a shit what quarter Johnny gets in with the starters, but I don't think it's going to hurt the locker room if he gets a series or two with that group. I really don't think they are that fragile.

 

[spydy13]

I'm not one for blind hope.

I don't think rooting for him to improve is in any way bad, either. Though, of course, that wasn't the point I was making.

Would like to see the team get good enough to support a QB like McCown or Manziel, but the better solution would be to find someone who can come in and establish themselves without the incredibly blatant question marks surrounding their play.

Edit: Nevermind, I see what you're saying. I agree that it would be nice to not have a QB controversy for once.

 

[Randolphkeys]

http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/news...-Buffalo/e6c19f0a-78ca-40a3-85e9-2a94cec8c373

The Browns were one bounce away from a victory Thursday.

E.J. Manuel’s fumble in the final minutes bounced into the arms of Chris Gragg to extend what would be the Bills’ game-winning drive. The end result: Buffalo 11, Cleveland 10.

Here’s what we saw on a night for defense at FirstEnergy Stadium.

1) Running game gets off the ground

It wasn’t anywhere near what the Browns want this season, but it was a start.

After mustering just 26 yards on 17 carries in last week’s preseason opener, the Browns running backs found more success against a Buffalo defense that is expected to be one of the NFL’s best.Terrance West, who missed a week of training camp because of an injured calf, got the start and finished as the team’s leading rusher with 42 yards on 11 carries. He had one of three Browns’ runs that cleared double-digits, which was also a significant upgrade from last week.

“I thought he did good,” Browns coach Mike Pettine said. “A couple of times, I think he started to see stuff that wasn’t there and come out of the read too soon, but I thought he did some really good things.”

Cleveland, which had its full first-team offensive line back thanks to the return of Joe Thomas, still finished with just 89 rushing yards on an average of 3.6 yards per carry. Tack on another 57 yards, and that’s what the Browns averaged last season before Alex Mack went down with a season-ending injury.

“It’s the preseason so you always take it with a grain of salt,” Thomas said. “I thought (West) had a couple of good runs out there. We had a couple nice mid-distance type runs out there in the 10-15 range. It was good. We kind of just threw one of everything out of the playbook from the run-game perspective. We’re just trying to feel out what we’re good at right now.”



Cleveland Browns running back Isaiah Crowell throws a mean stiff arm on Buffalo Bills linebacker Preston Brown


2) 3rd down a trouble spot for 1st-team defense

After the second time Pettine used the word “disappointing” in his post-game press conference, he started discussing the defense’s first third-down breakdown of the night.

The Browns had the Bills in third-and-long on their third play of the game, but the chains kept moving thanks to a 13-yard pass from Tyrod Taylor to Deonte Thompson. Johnson Bademosi, playing in a first-team role with the nickel defense because of the large amount of injuries to the secondary, was in coverage.

The Bills followed with two more third-down conversions on a drive that would ultimately stall inside the red zone. The drive ran for 9:36.

“We should have been three-and-out on defense and had a major technique error on the first third down that extended that drive,” Pettine said. “Just a lot of near misses. This is a game of little details, and I don’t know if in the first half we were detail-oriented enough.”

It was the second such week of struggles on these sorts of plays for the first-team defense, which also surrendered a third-down conversion on Washington’s first series and gave up a long run on fourth-and-short.

“That’s stuff we can clean up for sure,” linebacker Paul Kruger said.

3) Andy Lee showing why Browns traded for him

Josh McCown mentioned Andy Lee’s name multiple times during his post-game press conference. It was the ultimate compliment to the veteran punter, as McCown expressed extra frustration about his two third-down interceptions because of how Lee is able to flip field position with precisely placed punts.

“It’s third-and-long, check the ball down and move on,” McCown said. “If we punt it, we have a really good punter. Lesson learned, move on.”

One week after placing three punts inside the 13-yard line and setting up another that led to a fumble, Lee dropped his first punt at the 1-yard line and booted his other two for 51 and 60 yards, respectively.

4) Walking wounded

The Browns were down 20 players Thursday because of various injuries, including a whopping eight in the defensive backfield. Sixth-round rookie Charles Gaines started in place of Joe Haden(hamstring), and players such as Landon Feichter, Kendall James and Joe Rankin were on the field for most of the second half.

Safety Jordan Poyer made it nine defensive backs sidelined when he went out with a concussion after the game’s first series. Tight end Gary Barnidge was examined for a concussion but was cleared to return.

“Obviously we want everybody we can have to help us, so it’s unfortunate, but it’s a part of this game,” McCown said. “We feel good with the guys that were in there and when those guys get back we’ll get them right in and get rolling. It is what it is.”

Pettine hopes to have some of the group back for next Saturday’s trip to Tampa Bay for a game in which the starters are expected to log significant snaps.

5) Other observations

- First-round pick Cameron Erving, who started last week at left tackle, played all of his snaps at right guard with the second- and third-team offense.

- After seeing the Bills three times over a four-day period, the Browns came away impressed, particularly with the defense. “You have to give a lot of credit to that D-line,” quarterbackJohnny Manziel said. “I think that it’s a special group they have there, and it is a lot of talent for sure.”

- One stat that likely bugged Pettine the most? The Browns had seven penalties for 54 yards one week after having just three.

 

[godfather]

I think the Manziel's biggest skeptics, like myself, are actually rooting for him the hardest to do well. Just because some of us don't think he'll ever be a good QB in this league (and I still don't), doesn't mean we wouldn't be the first ones to love it if we're wrong.

 

[Deezus]

Your position presupposes this whole year is a wash, the Browns are going through the motions without a QB, drafting another QB in the top 10.

The last QB we drafted in the top 10 was Tim Couch.

And I've been saying that this was a doomed plan from the start, both short and long-term. And it didn't have to be this way.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[Randolphkeys]

He have talked a lot about the quarterback situation in this thread, I'd like to save it for the Manziel thread and switch gears...

Running backs - Terrence West seems to be dancing when he should be driving the pile. He has bounced outside and opted to take a short gain, running out of bounds barely touched a few times. Is he preserving his body for the regular season or is this just who he is? Is he still bouncing back from injury or is he less aggressive.

 

[Soda]

@Randolphkeys I think it's just who he is at this point. You hope that he allows himself to learn to hit holes decisively and realizes that not every run can go for a TD.

 

[The Oi]

Remember when Eric Mangini was a coach? Remember how the big thing going into every season how the biggest strength of the team was going to be that they'd be one of the least penalized teams in the league?

The Pettine Browns are really exciting me with their punt game.

 

[AZ_]

@Randolphkeys I think it's just who he is at this point. You hope that he allows himself to learn to hit holes decisively and realizes that not every run can go for a TD.

Who he is will be former NFL running back Terrence West.