Chmura Sports

This game was very boring and hard to watch. There isn’t much I really want to write about it because just thinking about how bad we played upsets me. Anyway here are some things that stood out.

The Bad

- It seemed our 1st team offense was never on the right page. Quinn was getting snaps when he wasn’t ready and it looked as if the receivers were running the wrong routes. Also, our offensive line seemed to have a hard time picking up the blitz from the Lions.

- Our defensive secondary did the “bend, but not break” strategy and gave up a huge amount of yards. Why can’t they try the strategy where you don’t bend or break?

- Brady Quinn seemed to try and aim the ball instead of doing what he normally does and just throw. My guess is he was nervous and was trying too hard to impress the coaches.

The Good:

- Shaun Rogers did a nice job of blocking off the middle of the line and made a vew nice tackles. Shaun is gonna be huge for the Browns to have a successful year.

- I liked to see our linebackers put pressure on the quarterback, but they never got to the quarterback. The one linebacker that stood out was Alex Hall. He always seemed to be around the ball on running plays. This guy looks like he will be a star one day.

- Phil Dawson had another nice game. It looks as if he is set to have his best season ever. I’ll admit I was never a huge fan of his, but with his play as of late he is really growing on me.

That is it for the review. There wasn’t much to be happy about other than we didn’t suffer any key injuries.

Going into tomorrow’s game the Browns are going to be missing quite a lot of starters. On offense they will be without starting quarterback Derek Anderson, starting running back Jamal Lewis, starting lineman Ryan Tucker, starting receiver Braylon Edwards, and playmaker Joshua Cribbs. On defense they will be without starting linebacker Willie McGinest, starting safety Brodney Pool, and backup lineman Louis Leonard.

With all the injuries the Browns will get the chance to see some borderline roster players get a lot of playing time. We should see Kevin Kasper get his 1st playing time of the preseason as well as tight end Brad Cieslak.

Here is what I will be watching for during the game…

Brady Quinn: He will get the start and this is sure to cause a quarterback controvery if he does good. There will always be people saying “well, it was only the Lions so before we call him a star in the making we need to see him against a better defense”, but the fact is if he does good there will be more Quinn supporters than there will be doubters.

Syndric Steptoe: He was the star of last weeks game. This week he will get a lot more playing time and start in place of Joshua Cribbs. If he does good than he is all but a lock to make the team.

Prediction:

Browns: 31

Lions: 17

My Preseason Prediction Record: 1-1

Well, that game was very disappointing. Not only did we embarass ourselves on National Television, but we also some very key injuries, and some are possibly serious. The main injuries came to safety Brodney Pool, returner Josh Cribbs, and to starting quarterback Derek Anderson. According to ESPN, Derek Anderson suffered a “mild” concussion. Brodney Pool’s injury is also a concussion and is his 3rd concussion since joining the Browns. Josh Cribbs hurt his ankle and is set to have an MRI on it today.

The other injuries were suffered by backup linebacker Leon Williams and tight end Brad Cieslak. The injury to Cieslak is not a huge deal as his chances of making the team are very slim, but the injury to Leon Williams is more interesting. Williams was suppose to push Andra Davis for a starting spot this year, but his Training Camp has not been too impressive.

As for the game, well, I am almost at a lost of words trying to explain it. I mean we played horrible. Our starting offense was not there yesterday. There were way too many penalties in the 1st half and most of them were just plain stupid. For example the penalty that Mike Adams had on a punt. COME ON, that was just horrible! Another stupid penalty was the “mis-hit” by Andra Davis early in the game.

A few other things that upset me are listed below…

- Kameron Wimbley has talked all offseason about how he has developed more moves to get to the quarterback, yet we have yet to see any of those moves. Maybe the moves he developed only work on video games because they surely don’t work so far this preseason.

- The special teams coverage has been horrible so far this year. We tend to give up the big play more often than ever!

- Travis Wilson did not impress in his 1st start. This was his chance to shine, but really disappointed.

Although the game went bad there were some few shining stars. They are listed below.

- Brady Quinn and Ken Dorsey did quite well. Quinn will probably get the start next game and if he does good enough he will likely cause another quarterback controversy in Cleveland.

- Jerome Harrison is impressing for the 3rd straight preseason. He will make the team, but hopefully this year he actually is active on game days.

- Syndric Steptoe has been the standout receiver the past few weeks and is likely to make the team. He has proven he can go for a ball and really was impressive when he stole the ball for a touchdown. He can also return kicks, which may be very valuable for us if Cribbs can’t stay healthy.

That is all for the 2nd preseason game. Hopefully the Browns can turn it around by the time the season starts.

It’s Monday Night and the Browns are playing. Wow never thought I’d say that, but when the Browns play tonight it will be their 1st of 4 Monday Night games for the 2008 season and their only one for the preseason.

The 2008 Browns came out and looked solid for the 1st half last week, but they proved that their defensive secondary needs a lot of work. The starters did ok. They didn’t give up big plays and went by the Browns “bend, but don’t break” idea of defense. The backups on the other hand did absolutely horrible. Steve Cargile got burned for a deep play and is now looking for a new team.

Since the last game the Browns have signed 2 new defensive backs. They signed former Buckeye Brandon Mitchell and former Mitchigan State Spartan Travis Key. Out of those two guys it seems as though Key has made the better impression.

Alright now here is what to watch for against the Giants…

Travis Wilson: He is getting the start in place of Braylon Edwards. Wilson ahs been great so far in the preseason and seems to be a lock on the team, but needs a solid game to prove that he can perform against the best the league offers.

Tight Ends: With Martin Rucker, Steve Heiden, and Kellen Winslow hurt this year it seems like Darnell Dinkins will get a lot of playing time this week and is pretty much a lock for the final roster. Up until this week he was fighting for a spot, but now he got a spot by default.

Prediction:

Browns: 21

Giants: 31

My Preseason Prediction Record: 0-1

Over the next few weeks I will be doing posts about who should go. Each post will be about a certain indivisual that works with the Indians, either a member of the front office, a player, or a person in management and I will write about why they should be fired/released by the offseason.

This is series of posts that will probably take fairly long to complete and will likely be an ongoing storyline throughout the rest of the Indians season and into the offseason.

The Cavs have gotten Mo Williams from the Bucks in a 3 team deal that also included the Oklahoma City ___________’s. The Cavs sent Damon Jones to the Bucks and Joe Smith to Oklahoma City.

This trade is great for the Cavs as it adds a great shooter for James to work with. Williams will take over as starting point guard and I would think Gibson, Williams, and West will rotate the most for PG and SG. Personally, I say we just move Gibson to SG and start him there. By moving Gibson he can now shoot freely and not worry about trying to handle the offense.

Overall though, I love this trade. Williams is exactly what the Cavs needed. They needed to shooter and they got one! Great move by Danny Ferry. Just when you think he isn’t going to do anything, he always seems to surprise us with a big move!

Paul Byrd is headed to Boston for a PTBNL. I love this move as we no longer have Byrd holding up a spot in the rotation that can be taken by either Aaron Laffey or Zach Jackson. The PTBNL may end up just being cash, but that is fine. The whole point of this trade was to get young players more experience and by trading Byrd we now have a spot for them.

I figured I should repost the Pregame Outlook on this version so here it is…

It is finally here! Football is back and for the 1st time since the return of the Browns are we predicted to do good!
In the 1st Browns game of the year we will likely see a lot of the 2nd team play and in that we will see how most of the battles will play out. The main battles to watch for are….

3rd Receiver: It looks like Travis Wilson will finally pull this one out, but not without a battle from Kevin Kasper and Josh Cribbs. Chris Pokorny of www,dawgsbynature.com predicts Wilson will win this battle and I would have to agree.

Nickel Back: It is mainly between Mike Adams and Terry Cousin. Cousin has the upper hand as he has been a Nickel Back for most of his career. Chris Pokorny has Adams winning this battle, but I have to disagree and think that Cousin’s experience will payoff this preseason.

Those are the 2 position battles I will really be keeping my eye on. There are other small battles that we will talk about in the postgame outlook, but the 2 battles above have the most significance for the Browns this year.

Prediction:

Browns: 27

Jets: 13

After almost half a year at the new format I never really go into it. It was really bland and hard to do stuff on and I have decided to switch back to the old format. Now that we are back to the old format posting will be made more often.

I am working on stuff with the site today so there will be no post.