I wasn't so sure as I had doubts on covering the Giants pass catchers.Not only did that prove to be correct as Eli Manning hit Victor Cruz three times for touchdowns,but the ground game could not be stopped either as Ahmad Bradshaw rushed for over 200 yards in a 41-27 win for the Giants.
The Browns drop to 0-5 with the defeat and will host the Bengals next Sunday in Cleveland.
Brownie Bits
1) Good news for Brandon Weeden as he threw for just short of 300 yards and two touchdowns,but the best snippet of the day was the long touchdown pass to a streaking Josh Gordon in the first quarter.
Weeden showed the one edge that he has over backup Colt McCoy as he almost effortlessly tossed the ball to Gordon.
Weeden has his share of questions,but arm strength isn't one of them.
I hope the Browns continue to allow him to toss the deep ball and even do more of it.
2) Bad news for Brandon Weeden as he tossed two interceptions and neither were "good" picks.
The first was a ball that he should have thrown away and instead threw off his back foot and prayed.
Inexperience came to the front on that one and he hopefully will learn from that as the Giants easily ended a scoring drive.
3) The second pick might have worse as Cleveland had gotten to the Giants ten yard line and a touchdown would have trimmed the Giants lead to just one score,but Weeden never took his eyes off Ben Watson and Chase Blackburn made the easy interception.
4) More Weeden,I know everyone makes mistakes but the pass off a deflected pass by Weeden (illegal to make two forward passes) looks bad when you consider some of his other decisions.
Some of that is part of the process,but starting to occasionally wonder about where Weeden's head is at all times...
5) I know the Cleveland media is ripping Pat Shurmur for not even having Trent Richardson on the field on a third and one that saw Weeden's first pick result and maybe so,but maybe I am numb to this stuff but I have seen that call SO many times by the West Coast posse coaches that I just understand how they think.
That situation screamed that call from the Holmgren,Reid etc family tree that I saw the call coming and the Giants had to see it as well...
6) Two receivers had nice games with Jordan Norwood catching nine passes and Josh Gordon catching two TD's.
Gordon showed what he is capable of by just blowing back the Giant defender and outrunning him on the 62 yard TD pass.
I like Gordon's strength and speed,but the downside was that he had eight passes thrown his way and only grabbed the two touchdowns on the day.
Not all of that is on Gordon,but there is still work to do.
7) I figured the Browns would have trouble covering and they did so.
Dmitri Patterson was beat once by Victor Cruz and wound up missing the second half with an ankle injury that will see him miss a few games.
Typical Browns luck as Patterson leaves just as Joe Haden returns.
This team is just so weak in the back seven that any injury just kills this team...
8) More injuries as the Browns lost the aforementioned Patterson,D'Qwell Jackson and Ahtyba Rubin during the game.
Take those three guys out of the lineup along with Haden and the Browns defense is not just bad,it's barely pro level...
9) Trent Richardson continues to impress despite defenses being geared to stop him.
Richardson does not take plays off and I think that he is going to be the best back Cleveland has seen since Leroy Kelly.
High praise,I know,but Richardson has proven himself to me.
10) I expected the Browns to be 0-5,after the loss to Buffalo and these losses have shown some signs of progress even in defeat.
The next two weeks will tell just how far they have come.
The Browns "battled" the Bengals tough in Cincinnati and now they get them at home and the Colts in Indianapolis will go some distance is seeing forward movement as the two teams are so similar.
2-5 buys the team some time.0-7 not so much even if more progress is made.
Photo Credit:John Kuntz:Cleveland Plain Dealer
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