So, do I think the Browns are suddenly going to be awesome, now? Hardly. But, the trade was a necessary move that I think they'd been planning/hoping to make, whether it was sooner or later. It's now Brady Quinn's team. The players know it, and the front office just confirmed it with this move.
I watched the Berea Report last night, and it's fun watching all of our players trying not to say the wrong thing when the reporters try to bait them into picking allegiance to one of the QBs. Braylon Edwards looked like his head was going to explode Scanners-style when they asked him about it. He must have said, "I support whoever goes out there. I just want to play football," at least 7 times. Winslow was similar. Anderson's good, yea, we're fine. If you employ the fine art of listening to what they're not saying, it's pretty obvious they're all ready for Quinn.
I never thought I'd agree with Mary Kay Rotten-Crotch (Cabot), but she was like, You get the sense that they all want Quinn on the field, that it's time. You could tell in the Denver game in pre-season that Brady coming in kind of charged them up, and that they like the way he plays and the way he gets them the ball. The only one to come close to openly saying it was Steve Heiden, who (when asked if Quinn was “ready” before the start of the season, even) said: "You'll have to ask Brady that. But from what I've seen, I think he is."
Now, I don't think the Browns are going to the playoffs, or even going .500, with Quinn. But I think Quinn would give the offense a chance to be a lot better the rest of the year... Quinn's about as ready as he'll ever get at this point, and if the other players on offense want him in there (whether or not they'll come out and say it), it's clear that he probably gives them the best chance to win.
Wow. So, if I told you that a Browns QB went: 20-of-33, 328 yards, and five TDs, one INT, 121.0 rating... you'd probably think that Quinn had started, right? And that I looked like an idiot, right?
Well, you'd be right on one count.
Hey, Derek Anderson... my bad. Anderson played the whole game, and after starting 0-for-5 and hearing the boo birds, he simply went off. Jon and I sat there in astonishment. Edwards and Winslow both had 100-yard receiving days, Edwards had 2 TD catches (including one of the more amazing catches I've ever seen), Winslow had 1, and Jurevicius had two himself.
I can only imagine the "Charlie Frye Suicide Watch" in the Seattle locker room was at Defcon 1.
Add to that the 216 yards Jamal Lewis put up. Jon turned to me after Lewis had broken off the second of his insanely long runs and said something to the effect of, "Man, it sure is nice to see him doing that for us, and not to us."
It was just an offensive outburst... it was like the whole team had been offensively constipated for about 18 months, and finally got a chance to let it all out. The biggest thing that all of these stats say without actually spelling it out: The offensive line looked good yesterday. A 216-yard rusher, NO SACKS. It has to be the best "offensive-line-game" this team has played since they came back in 1999. This was the o-line we thought we were getting in training camp before Steinbach got hurt. Now he's back and looking more comfortable, and he and Joe Thomas simply owned the Bengals d-line on that left side. All of Lewis's big runs came behind Thomas and Steinbach. Also, Tucker comes back after two more games, which will only add more depth to the right side, a side that definitely improved from last week to this. And who knows... Bentley might be able to play some time in the second half of the season, which is even more depth... something the Browns have not had up front in a long time.
This is not to say there weren't things to be concerned with as a Browns fan... like the defense giving up 45 points themselves, including 6 TD passes by Palmer. But, the Bengals' offense is a well-oiled machine. The Browns defense is banged up, but there are some holes that need to be fixed, pronto. While it sucks not having a #1 pick next year, the Browns had better spend early and often in the draft on defensive linemen that can stop the run. The defense still plays this bend-but-don't-break game, but a good offense like the Bengals exploits the cushions they give. Until the Browns can get some push up front with their three down linemen, that's going to continue to be the case.
But, I gotta admit... I don't always like some of what he does (I thought bragging about jumping into the Dawg Pound was disrespectful, but then doing it and bitching about getting showered with beer is cry-baby/punk), but Chad Johnson is a fucking player. He was unstoppable, and some of the catches he made, I would just turn to Jon and say, "He caught that?? How in the fuck did he catch that?"
The whole game was just surreal. It was like watching Louisville and West Virginia play... no defense to be found anywhere!
So, where does this leave the Browns? Certainly not the 0-16 disaster that some were predicting. .500? I doubt it... the schedule is still really tough. But, there's some hope on offense, now, and hopefully there's no longer the distraction/rush of the Brady Quinn soap opera. I'd still be surprised if he's not starting shortly after the bye week, but at this point you ride the hot hand as long as he stays hot, and Anderson earned another start or two yesterday, without a doubt.
They *should* be able to go to Oakland and have a good chance to win, if they play offense like they did yesterday. Ditto with Miami in week 6. Baltimore at home will be tough, and New England on the road is basically a loss. But, if they could somehow sneak into the bye-week at 3-3, it would be cause for serious optimism for the Browns, especially since their schedule lets up just a bit after the bye week. Again, this was just one game. But, if they can build on what they did offensively yesterday going forward, 7 wins isn't entirely out of the question anymore. We'll just have to wait and see.
Most importantly, though... I also said:
As I said to a friend Tuesday: there are so many holes in the dam, but if they could patch one, it would give them the opportunity to bail water from the other problem areas. And, while trading Frye and paving the way for Quinn may look frantic and disorganized to the collective NFL media as a whole, Savage may have just stuck his finger into that hole in the dam.
At least for one week, the offense didn't leak any water. Now, if they can keep it that way and figure out how to bail some water out of the defensive boat, they might just have something here.
No comments:
Post a Comment