Peyton Hillis rushed for 94 yards and two touchdowns and the Cleveland Browns evened their record at 1-1 with a 27-19 win over the Indianapolis Colts in Indianapolis.Colt McCoy passed for over 200 yards and a touchdown in the win that saw McCoy complete passes to eight different Browns.
The Browns will be taking their talents to South Beach next week for a faceoff against the 0-2 Dolphins.
Brownie Bits
1) A four way tie for first place in the AFC North (although being old makes always think of the division as the Central) after two weeks at 1-1.
I wonder which is going to loom larger looking back at the loss to the Bengals,a loss that killed playoff hopes or a game that put the Browns closer to Andrew Luck?
2) 94 yards looks like it is OK,but Peyton Hillis set the tone for this game.
Hillis' bruising style wore down the Colts and made his clinching 4th quarter touchdown a foregone conclusion.
3) Colt McCoy spread the ball around,avoided the big mistakes (NO interceptions) and did exactly what the Browns are hoping to see from him.
Keep the ball in Cleveland control,pound Peyton Hillis and do not turn the ball over.
This sounds like basic football 102,but if McCoy can do that,he looks safe as the QB for a while...
4) Loved the play from the defensive line.
Ahtyba Rubin and Jabaal Sheard each collected sacks and Phil Taylor stuffed the run very well,especially on a third and one that forced a field goal.
The Colts offensive line was having issues,so keep that in mind,but for this game the potential was easy to see.
5) Sheard especially stood out with a forced fumble and another rush that almost turned into a Browns interception.
The Plain Dealer writes that Sheard played this game on his more comfortable left side of the line.
The team said no commitment to keeping him there,but this makes no sense to me.
If Sheard plays like this each week,he'll be on the side he wants to be on.
6) Greg Little and Mohammed Massaquoi each caught three balls and look to be the best two wideouts on the team.
Little as the yards after the catch receiver and Massaquoi as the deeper threat looks to be the tandem that could work best for the Browns.
7) That means less time for Brian Robiskie,who did not catch a pass in the win.
The Browns still need a better best deep threat than Massaquoi,but a number one guy with Little has the two and Massaquoi as the three would give the team a corps that moves above the average teams bunch.
8) Brad Maynard,the new punter after the placing of Richmond McGee on IR put three kicks inside the twenty.
Maynard might not be the Pro Bowler of past years,but he is an improvement over McGee....
9) I would have liked to see more of Montario Hardesty,who I did not see until the fourth quarter.
If the Browns truly want to see Peyton Hillis fresh for the late season games,Hardesty needs to see more time than that..
10) Joe Haden had two penalties,but quietly kept Reggie Wayne from a big day.
Wayne finished with four catches for 66 yards and a long of 20 yards.
Photo Credits
Hillis-AP
Rubin-Joshua Gunter-Cleveland Plain Dealer
No comments:
Post a Comment