The Browns were forced to use both of their young quarterbacks in the defeat as both starter DeShone Kizer and backup Kevin Hogan saw action.
Rashard Higgins was promoted from the practice squad before the game and led the Browns with his career high seven catches for 95 yards.
The only Cleveland touchdown came in the second quarter when Kevin Hogan hit David Njoku with a 23 yard touchdown pass.
Cleveland drops to 0-2 with the defeat and will travel to Indianapolis next Sunday to play the 0-2 Colts...
Brownie Bits
1) DeShone Kizer left the game in the second quarter with a migraine headache.
I get that, I've known people that suffer from them and I have no doubt about their pain, legitimacy and that they can come out of nowhere.
What I am wondering about are these two issues- How did the Browns not know that this was an issue (They may have, but I was searching online during the game and came up empty) and now this raises an interesting issue for the Browns.
If DeShone Kizer is the quarterback of the future, how comfortable can you be with a quarterback that could be forced to leave the game at any time?
This may mean the Browns may be forced to invest more money than a usual team in a backup quarterback, should Kizer become what the Browns hope for him to be.
2) Kizer threw three interceptions and fumbled once, but I'm inclined to give him a pass, which are words that you will occasionally see this season.
Young quarterbacks will make mistakes and they will do things that they shouldn't-particularly when encountering things for the first time.
The key will be seeing how Kizer deals with the growing process and how does he progress??
3) Kizer was only sacked twice after his being dumped seven times by the Steelers but was under pressure all day.
It's only two games,but part of the developmental process will be seeing if Kizer will be able to get the ball out faster and if he does- can he avoid the interceptions that come with getting the ball away under duress at times?
4) Kevin Hogan was impressive on his scoring drive with several nice throws, but his interception late in the first half that resulted in the Baltimore touchdown that essentially finished the game there was a bad one.
Hogan, like Kizer, is inexperienced so mistakes will happen, but something about Hogan makes me think he's going to be a popular second stringer wherever he goes and that might be many places.
He reminds me a little of Doug Flutie and that would be enough to keep him collecting checks for quite a while.
5) And welcome back Rashard "Hollywood" Higgins.
Longtime readers know that it was Higgins of the WR draftees last year that I liked most (after the first round) and Higgins rarely saw time on the field with just six catches in 2016.
Then when Higgins was waived, I figured that he was just another player that I liked, but was wrong on when the Browns decided to claim Kasen Williams instead.
Suddenly, the Browns signed Higgins to the practice squad, promoted him to the main roster and then played him over Williams (Inactive vs Baltimore) all in the span of about eight days.
Higgins (for one week at least) repaid my faith with a team-leading seven catches for 95 yards and was the only Browns receiver that the Ravens seemed to have trouble covering.
I had always thought Higgins would work better in the slot than outside and the Browns might have found a slot receiver to make the tough catches...
6) Corey Coleman was the first rounder last season and even with some flashes of brilliance, Coleman has been a mild disappointment.
Coleman finished the day with one catch for nine yards on seven targets and is suspected to have suffered a broken hand.which would be his second in two years as a Brown...
7) Dwayne Bowe, I mean Kenny Britt had another wonderful day on the field as he caught one pass for two yards, got called for a pass interference call on the other target and was tweeted about (from a non-Browns fan) for literally walking around DURING play!
I see it coming-Kenny Britt could be a poison on this team as the featured free agent among the wideouts.
What I don't know is this- was Kenny Britt a Hue Jackson guy or was he hoisted on him by Sashi Brown?
Could this be the beginning of a rift between "football" guys and "stat" guys?
and the other question is how long can the Browns tolerate a lack of effort like this from Britt?
Can you 'change the culture' without cutting loose and admitting mistakes?
Time will tell...
8) The receivers other than Higgins had trouble getting any type of separation from the Ravens defensive back and that had a small role in the four interceptions thrown by the Browns.
They did make a few big plays, but those were by the tight ends-Seth DeValve, David Njoku and even one from the blocking tight end Randall Telfer.
This is one of my major concerns as things don't seem to have improved from last season for the receivers.
9) Again, so much for the vaunted commitment to the running game as Isaiah Crowell, who was supposed to carry the load for this ground friendly offense carried just ten times.
Crowell finished with 37 yards,17 coming on one rush.
10) All of this and nothing about the defense yet?
Well, here goes-this defense for all the preseason buzz about impact playmakers in re-signing Jamie Collins and drafting Jabrill Peppers just doesn't make plays.
Christian Kirksey did have a sack,but all often this defense looks like the Browns past-tackling downfield, giving up chunks of yardage and not making the big stop when needed.
11) It's tough to blame Jabrill Peppers too much, considering that Gregg Williams continues to play him 30 yards off the ball.
I'm assuming that this is to take away the deep ball and I guess that's worked, but instead of that, the Browns give up chunks of yardage underneath and the guy that they drafted to make plays just rushes up to take tackles (five in this game).
12) It's easy to read this and feel discouraged, but I'll brush this one off as a road trip against a decent team as one of those "process" games.
I do like the Browns chances in Indianapolis next week against the 0-2 Colts and not against Andrew Luck.
I'm not sure that I'll pick them to win, but this is a winnable game for the Browns.
13) The commentators in this game seem to think the Ravens have this killer defense in allowing ten points in the second game.
Keep in mind that their opponents were the Bengals and Browns -let's not get too excited yet...
More to come this week as we have our trip to the nostalgia convention to look back on, inbox cleaning, boxing ratings and the death of Bobby "the Brain" Heenan..
No comments:
Post a Comment