A very sloppy and penalty filled game broke out, aka a typical preseason game. At least the Browns won. Lets start with the bad news, the offensive line. Right Guard is a hot mess. Eric Kush was decent, but you can tell run blocking is not his strength so the revolving door at RG continues. RT Chris Hubbard had a false start and I only mention this because it appeared to me during the Washington game on the opening drive he could of been called for the same penalty a couple of times but the referees missed it. Well at least the the refs are ready for the season to start. Austin Corbett again logged a ton of minutes at the center position and was good on blocking assignments, but some of his snaps were way to high. One was so high it threw off the QB’s timing and resulted in the ball being thrown out of bounds on a key down. It looked like a volleyball game was starting. Drew Forbes played well again, but against the guys who’ll be selling insurance in about two weeks.
The kicking game is still a problem. After two scrimmages where both kickers hit every kick they attempted, both missed 50+ yarders in a domed climate controlled stadium. Both kicks had the distance, but one missed wide right and the other wide left. Did either of these guys uncles kick for Florida State? I wish we could get one more year out of Phil Dawson. The best kick of the night came from “the Scottish Hammer.” A 74 yard punt. I still prefer Britton Colquitt over Gillan, two of his three punts were inside the 20 and he still averaged 42.3 yards a kick.
Now the good news, this offense works no matter which quarterback is playing. As a Browns fan, I can’t believe I’m saying that. When I heard most of the offensive starters weren’t playing I was very disappointed, but then very pleased with our third string QB Garrett Gilbert and fourth stringer David Blough. After a slow start by both, you could see the timing start to come together. WR Jaelen Strong is peaking at the right time, as is WR D.J. Montgomery. I had heard of Montgomery in college because he played at Austin Peay University up the road from Nashville in Clarksville, TN. Another good performance from RB D’Ernest Johnson who ran well and caught the ball well. I’m very comfortable going into the season with Chubb, Hilliard and Johnson at RB.
On defense, the Browns need to learn to cover the opposing tight end. Don’t get me wrong, the Colts have a nice group at this position, but you can’t let them all run wild. This isn’t the National Geographic channel. The defensive line, without Myles Garrett was very impressive. LB’s Wilson and Avery were very active as was DB’s Morgan Burnett, Justin Burris, Phillip Gaines, Eric Murray and Sheldrick Redwine. Hopefully in game three, the starters will play more, because I can’t wait to see the secondary mesh.
Johnson also did well at returning kicks. He had three kickoff returns for 62 yards, his longest was 28 yards and one punt return for 10 yards. Sheehy had two punt returns for 8 yards but hurt his ribs. We’ll see what Hilliard can do in game three if he plays. All in all, the Colts game and scrimmages showed me that the Browns will be ready to go when the season starts against the titans. Next week I’ll attempt to give my predictions on the 53 man roster, but now it’s time to watch “Building the Browns” on YouTube. Next stop Tampa, Go Browns.