Sadly,new kicker Cody Parkey missed three field goals,including one that could have won the game at the end of regulation and the Miami Dolphins earned a 30-24 win..
Cody Kessler threw for 241 yards in his first career start,but the true star was Terrelle Pryor,who caught eight passes for 144 yards.passed for 35 and rushed for 21.
The now 0-3 Browns will travel to Washington next Sunday.
Brownie Bits
1) Before we get started on this game,I wanted to address a concern.
Carson Wentz lit up his first real team (Browns and Bears previous) in a 34-3 win over the Steelers.
After the Paul DePodesta comments that Wentz wasn't a "top 20" quarterback in their evaluating of talent-I worry about the front office picking the right QB if next year comes down to DeShone Kizer of Notre Dame or Clemson's DeShone Watson.
The Batphone has officially turned red...
2) More Wentz-Three different Browns front office tenures have traded players that could have resulted in impact talents-Julio Jones,Sammy Watkins (among others) and now Carson Wentz over the last six years.
The trades featured a number one pick the following season-none of which were in the top ten and with the Eagles starting 3-0,that one does not look to be a high pick either....
3) Now to the Browns in this game.
Terrelle Pryor didn't only play great or even to use the cliche' "left it all out on the field",he seems to be maturing as a person.
Pryor seems to be well past the guy that needed to be the center of attention at Ohio State and has really bought in.
Perhaps that is Pryor's background with Hue Jackson,but its been something to see,
4) Hue Jackson wasn't perfect in this game,but his game plan was inspired and put the ball in the hands of his most explosive player as much as he possibly could.
One would think that makes sense,but you would be amazed how many times that does not happen.
5) I was surprised that Jackson chose to kick off in overtime.
I won't beat up too much for that,but will for the decision to not try to get a little closer for Cody Parkey at the end of regulation.
I would have tried a play or two to try to get a little closer for a guy that had already missed two field goals at that time.
6) I didn't even have time to write about Cody Parkey being signed to replace Patrick Murray after Murray injured himself in practice and being placed on injured reserve.
I cannot imagine Parkey not being at least challenged by someone (or more) this week and I wouldn't be surprised if we might have seen the last of Cody Parkey in those ugly uniforms.
7) The name that immediately entered my name was the former Bear Robbie Gould and wondered if he was with someone else already.
I did a quick Google search of Gould and came up with this.
Read the link and come back,but this makes me think of a scenario that I discussed with Ramon Malpica months ago.
What happens when the old school "football guy" Hue Jackson starts butting heads with new wave "analytics" guys Sashi Brown/Paul DePodesta over talent?
Could Hue Jackson build popularity in his innovative game plans keeping an overmatched team somewhat competitive and be able leverage that with Jimmy Haslem with "These non-football people aren't giving me what I need to win"?
Long way to go,but if that rumor is true-we could look back in a year or even months and say this all started with Robbie Gould vs Cody Parkey.
File that one away.
8) I haven't always been a fan of the front office,but assuming they get the blame for Parkey over Gould,it's time to give them credit for the assumption that they run the waiver wire as three recent pickups had nice days.
Tyrone Holmes pass rush forced the hurried throw by Ryan Tannehill that fellow pickup Briean Boddy-Calhoun turned into a pick six. Boddy-Calhoun had a decent enough performance with Joe Haden out (despite being beaten for a score) and Corey Lemonier sacked and forced a fumble that set up Parkey's miss at the end of regulation....
9) Cody Kessler was OK when you consider everything.
Kessler didn't get intercepted (although he did lose a fumble) and managed to keep the game within reach by avoiding the big mistake.
Kessler brought the type of short game accuracy that Hue Jackson talked about after drafting him in the third round,but also showed the lack of a big arm that had followed him from USC as well.
10) The offensive line continued to allow their passer to get pounded as Kessler was sacked three times and took numerous hits.
Combine that with a bad day for right tackle Austin Pasztor with three holding penalties and two false starts and you have a recipe for seeing Charlie Whitehurst before this year is finished.
11) Glass half full-two games that could have been won and the team played reasonably well.
With continued strong effort,this team will win a few games (1-4) before the finale...
12) Glass half empty-Two opportunities missed,three of the next four on the road,the only home game is against the Patriots in Tom Brady's return (Thanks schedule maker) and this could see the Browns at 0-7 (I can see the Browns having a chance to win in Nashville against the Titans) entering a October 30th home game vs the Jets.
Can this team continue to scrap as hard then as now?
Interesting question...
13) Final note:I wonder what Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer thought as they watched Terrelle Pryor today and wonder how Robert Turbin did in Indianaplolis (4 carries for 9 yards)...
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