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05-25-2010
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 On Paper We're a Good Football Team
Dan in Florida did up a depth chart not too long ago and I loved seeing it. I'm just doing a little thinking so I thought I'd share the football stuff flying around inside my dome. Running Back Jerome Harrison Montario Hardesty James Davis Chris Jennings Thomas Brown - Seems like the deepest we've seen this position. Fullback Lawrence Vickers Peyton Hillis - Solid. Quarterback Jake Delhomme Seneca Wallace Colt McCoy Brett Ratliff - Mixed reviews within our fanbase. Mel Kiper said McCoy in round 3 might be one of the best picks the Cleveland Browns have made when we look back on this draft. That wouldn't suck. Wide Receiver Mohamed Massaquoi Brian Robiskie Chansi Stuckey Carlton Mitchell Josh Cribbs Syndric Steptoe Jake Allen Jonathan Haggerty - This group CAN get better & we should see at least 2 playmakers emerge. Tight End Ben Watson Evan Moore Alex Smith Greg Estandia Robert Royal Ryan Moya Jed Collins - Last year we could have called this position Rear End. This looks like a promising competiton with some intriguing specimens. Ummm, stay tuned... Center Alex Mack Eric Ghiaciuc Ryan Pontbriand - Mack came on strong at the end of last year so the expectation is he picks up where he left off. Offensive Guard Eric Steinbach Shawn Lauvao Floyd Womack Billy Yates Pat Murray Casey Bender - Steinbach showed he wasn't ready to be mistaken for Joe Andruzzi just yet when December rolled around. We're looking for a right guard - literally. Offensive Tackle Joe Thomas - Repeat Pro Bowl performer Tony Pashos John St. Clair Jason Capizzi Joel Reinders Scott Kooistra - 1 All Pro and looking for another solid performer on the other side. Nose Tackle Ahtyba Rubin Brian Schaefering Titus Adams Kwaku Danso Swanson Miller Jonathan Lewis - The top 2 guys on this list proved to alot of people they could remain stout against the point of attack. I was very pleasantly surprised with Rubin's progress in his second season. Bryan Cox is teaching the entire dline how to play with good leverage in our 2 gap schemes. Defensive End Shaun Rogers - Repeat Pro Bowl performer Robaire Smith Kenyon Coleman CJ Mosely Clifton Geathers Keith Grennan Derreck Robinson Brian Sanford Martin Tavaseu - We might be better off at this position than I originally thought. Linebacker Matt Roth D'Qwell Jackson Scott Fujita Chris Gocong David Bowens Marcus Benard Jason Trusnik David Veikune Blake Costanzo Kaluka Maiava Eric Barton Titus Brown Austin English - Quite a bit of competition for 4 starting spots. Cornerback Sheldon Brown Eric Wright Joe Haden Brandon McDonald Coye Francies DeAngelo Smith Chris Roberson Gerard Lawson Chris Chancellor Ben Burney John Bowie Ramzee Robinson - 3 impressive corners give us impressive options on defense. Safety TJ Ward Abram Elam Larry Asante Mike Adams Nick Sorensen Matt Harris Ray Ventrone - If this group stays healthy - it could be solid. Ward's highlights intrigued. Mike Adams continues to improve whether we use him at corner or Safety. Asante looked to be a nice or us. Kicker Phil Dawson Shaun Suisham Punter Dave Zastudil Reggie Hodges - Hodges was an admirable fillin last year. He pinned alot of opponents inside their 15 yard line last year. Return Man Josh Cribbs - Repeat Pro Bowl performer - Special thanks to WVBrownsfan for reminding me to edit this important part of our team onto this page. Long Snapper Ryan Pontbriand - Repeat Pro Bowl performer - Tom F. (Let me know if I missed anyone)
__________________  Last edited by Flugel; 05-26-2010 at 07:30 AM.  |
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05-25-2010
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Don't forget the best return man in the NFL.
__________________  "In my office I've got some pictures of Joe Montana, Brett Favre and (Steve) Young, and McCoy goes, 'I'm going to be on that wall,' " Holmgren said on Sirius NFL Radio. "And I said, 'Well, that's good. I hope you are someday.' (He said), 'No, I'm going to do it right now.' |
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05-25-2010
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WOW.. on paper we still look like the least talented team in the division to me.. can I borrow your glasses? .. When I look at us and the other 3 teams in our division.... We appear to lag behind at QB, RB, and WR.. we are on par at TE, perhaps as good or better on the OL, Defensive Line..we are only on par with the crappy Bengals, LB's we are near the bottom.. Secondary is about the same with the division.(with potential to be better due to the draft) which is not saying much. Most of the division has good punters and kickers, we have the best KO returner.. So... I'm not drinking that coolaide quite yet.
__________________ *************************** Individuals win trophies. TEAMS win Championships! |
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05-26-2010
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Wow Sez, I think you deserve this...  It's May, let us have our fantasies......
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05-26-2010
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I can assure you we've been alot worse than this on paper heading into June in previous seasons. I guess we could have always flushed over 100 million $ down the toilet on Albert Haynesworth to hear him complain he hates 2 gap schemes. That dude should be thankful he has a boss willing to waste that kind of cake instead of crying "poor me." FWIW, we finished 8th in the NFL at rushing the football in 2009 so I disagree about the RB position. Hardesty is a nice addition and Davis comes back healthy. On top of that, Harrison finished strong 09. Dline: Shaun Rogers has made the Pro Bowl for us in recent past and he'll anchor down a third of our dline. Rubin looks like he'll start on the Nose. And then we have alot of guys like Robaire, Geathers, Coleman to compete for reps at either DE spot. This seems like an upgrade to me. I didn't have the time to list body weights and heights across the dline; BUT there's a lot of guys looking like they possess 2 gap genetics from what I saw. This might be the MOST blue collar non-glamour job on the team. ALL they are supposed to do is keep their base and stand their ground vrs the point of attack and keep blockers from getting to the 4 guys standing behind them. If you compare their tackle frequencies to dlines playing in 1 gap schemes - then you'll always be disappointed and shortsighted. More on this in a second. LBer: The position the 3-4 predicates all it's success from has been addressed quite a bit in the last 15 months. This is especially so if the 2 gappers up front are keepigng blockers off the backers. Well, we improved to 40 sacks in 2009 and I think you'd be pleasantly surprised at our dline's role in completely freeing up blitzers for such an improvement. That doesn't happen if the dline sucks as often convicted. Secondary: We gave this area the most attention on defense and rightfully so. TE: VERY critical to struggling QBs and we've added a first round draft pick that cleared the no fly zones over the middle for Wes Welker in NE. We also added Alex Smith while many liked how Moore ended the 09 season. Kind of makes you forget about Robert Stonehands, not to be confused with Stonewall, Royal. And when I read up on Estandia last year - the Mexicutioner was well thought of in Jax. This better competition should help our WRs every bit as much as our QBs. WRs: I'm always told love takes time and my only repl,y to that is "But I'm a Browns' fan so you're preaching to the choir." Point is - more experience for them + more experience from the QB position should equate to a positive sum. QB: Helen Keller would have been an upgrade. STs: Aren't we already REALLY good with our return game and gving our defense alot of field to defend from our punt coverage unit? At the end of 09, we repeatedly saw how important our return game and setting up the D with good field position was toward winning close ballgames. - Tom F.
__________________ Last edited by Flugel; 05-26-2010 at 07:40 AM. |
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05-26-2010
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Overall Flug, great stuff! I like to see some more positive talk emerging at this time of the year. Sez, your comments are warranted. I was having a thought along those lines the other day I just chose to keep it to myself for the sake of the board. I think the key will be improved play at Quarterback, Tight End and Cornerback. I don't think we will have an amazing season but I do have hope this team could pull off some upsets against good teams and open some eyes in the rest of the NFL. We NEED Robiskie and Suckey to step it up big time! For even one of them to post above average production for our team would be a big offensive help and take a lot of pressure off of our running backs and take much needed pressure off of Jake Delhomme, the last thing we need is him forcing throws and throwing interceptions. Massaquoi is poised to continue into his second year with a positive outlook and a desire to be productive, and I think he could even grow to be a leader in our locker room. Fingers crossed he doesn't experience any kind of sophmore slump or it will be another long year for Browns fans. Hopefully with Ruben emerging, our D-Line will be able to keep fresh and hopefully Shaun Rogers will be working hard this off-season so he comes in great shape to camp. It felt like he spent more time hooked up to the oxygen machine last year than he did playing football. For a guy with that much 'star power' on our D, that's unacceptable. Sheldon Brown will bring some much needed stability to our secondary. Our Safety is still a wide open question mark and I'm pissed we did not bring in a free agent to start opposite of Elam. If Ward is put in a position to start immediately, where we need production, and he gets hurt I will be furious. So I don't think our secondary is 'fixed' but it is improved. Overall, where we stand. I'm still hopeful for around a 6-10 record. Given how tough our division is going to be this year, I think I would be pretty happy with that. Anything more than 10 losses and this season will be a disappointment to me.
__________________ BROWNS 2012: Its Weeden's job to lose, it was the second we took him #22 overall. We had a pretty good draft, and I'd like to start seeing some results. Fans already looking to next year and I don't blame them. I think we will have things to be excited about that we lacked last year and we have some real facepalm moments just like last year. It's going to be tough. We aren't Barking Hard for nothing. WOOF WOOF WOOF!  |
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05-26-2010
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There's been some talk that Ryan Moya could be tried out at FB. That's where he played at the East-West Shrine Game. |
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05-26-2010
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One more thing: I'm pretty sure Brian Schaefering will play end for us, not nose tackle. It was hard to tell last year because a big chunk of Schaefering's playing time came as a DT in four man fronts. But when he did play in a 3-4, it primarily was at end. The guys at ProFootballFocus have him splitting time between LE and RE. |
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05-26-2010
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my expectattions are no where near what i had "fantasized" about last year. this year my expectations are that we see a minimum of 3 of our draft picks turn into legitamite starters, and we aquire some draft picks for next year. the wr position really needs to shake its self out this year also. as far as being a good team on paper, well i think we have good potential on paper. |
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05-26-2010
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Starting on the RB/FB positions...we have added Hardesty and Hillis to the main guys of Davis/Harrison/Vickers. I see this as giving us not only a hard runner and a big back, but several different packages. The Browns can pair up Hardesty with Vickers for power, Harrison with Hillis for pass catching ability, Hillis and Vickers for max protection, etc. This is a quantum leap in versatility over last year...and versatility leads to uncertainty in the defenses. At QB, we have jettisoned what amounted to 2 QB's that were either terrible, or so lacking in confidence that they amounted to terrible. We have brought in 3 guys that have confidence, poise, and a history of winning. To me, even if they are only average...it is a MASSIVE improvement. At WR/TE...we had MoMass/Stuckey/Robo/Cribbs at WR last year....NONE of which had ever been a starting WR in the NFL. As most have noted, WR's are known for improving greatly in their 2nd and 3rd years...so this should at least see a natural progression. Add in the QB improvement and this could be the surprise position of the year for the Browns. Looking at the TE position, we had NOBODY until Moore showed up late in the season. Now we not only have him, but former 1st rounder Watson, and then Smith. This is a solid blocking/receiving group and should take pressure off of the WR's/RB's and QB's. At OL, we already have a solid C-LG-LT...but the addition of Pashos and Lauvao could give us a solid line across the board. If we can just solidify the RT position between them, we have a chance of being one of the better OL's in the league. The DL is still a spot I am not sold on..but it has improved just because of Rubin stepping up. I still don't buy Rogers going DE as he will tire too quickly trying to cover more space...but the rotation of 2 legit NT's is essential, and we now have it. I like the improvement from Schaefering, bur R.Smith is getting old and we need more young guys to step up here. This may be the biggest weakness on our team IMHO....the total lack of depth at DE. The LB position is interesting. We know Bowens played great at ILB, and Gocong and Fujita should bring some solid presence. The addition of those two will allow the Browns to continue to bring along guys like Veikune/Maiava/Benard without throwing them into the fire. DQ is messing around, but has promised to be a Brown this year. Hopefully Roth will see the light and come in play to the level he played last year. Overall, the depth and versatility of the LB's means we will have fresh legs and multiple packages...not to mention tons of stunts....which should give defenses fits. They will also benefit from the added protection BEHIND them...giving them more time to get the QB for sacks. The DB position is my biggest area of improvement, as it should be considering what we brought in. Having 3 legit CB's may become the norm in the coming years, considering the amount and emphasis of passing in the NFL. The Browns are pretty much ahead of the curve. Add in the fact we brought in 2 hard hitting S's that can deter WR/TE's coming over the middle a bit more...and I think the Browns passing defense is going to be stellar. They are also all known for tackling and will likely be used quite frequently on blitz schemes. So, it is not the NAMES that have me excited, it is the DYNAMICS of the skill sets. The Browns may be the next NO NAME DEFENSE...and on offense, they have the foundation of something special, ready for some new pieces next year.
__________________ A bad player makes the players around him worse. A great player makes the players around him better. Replace a bad player with a great player and watch 3 or more players improve.  |
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