That's right everybody, football is back and so is the regularly scheduled Start Me Up!
But before that, I'd just like to take a moment to commemorate this day, the 10th anniversary of 9/11. Too many good men and women lost their lives that day, and the impact of this was felt from friends and families across this great country and across the world. On a day like today, thinking back to the attitude of Americans in the aftermath of that fateful day 10 years ago, I am so incredibly proud to be an American. This country never quits. We fight back until justice has been served. And I am so thankful that many of the families and friends of victims of 9/11 have seen Osama Bin Laden pay for what he did to this country.
To our men and women in uniform serving our country, I pray that you come home safely, and I thank you for your service.
I know we will always remember 9/11 as a tragic day, but we have not and will never let the terrorists win.
God Bless the USA.
Alright, back to the regularly scheduled football post, already in progress... So, because this is the first post of the season, there's going to be a bit of a season preview element in here.
As an aside, for those of you who still want some baseball coverage, you're going to have to look elsewhere. I'm sorry, the Indians are done, it's time to focus on something positive here, and what's more positive than Colt McCoy and the new Browns O?
That's really what I'm looking forward to the most out of today's game—watching this new West Coast offense at work. Granted it was a pretty small sample size, but everything from the first team's execution in the pre-season left me encouraged.
Of course, the problem with the offense is depth. 'Injuries have already hit the offensive line hard, as left guard Eric Steinbach is out for the season with a back injury, and right tackle Tony Pashos could be out for today's game with an ankle injury. Add that to the fact that we have a fairly inexperienced player at right guard in Shawn Lauvao, and The Real McCoy could be in some trouble. I've got to say, the new starter at left guard, Jason Pinkston, was not at all impressive when I saw him in the pre-season. That's probably a consequence of the lockout which wiped out the OTAs, so Pinkston wasn't able to study the playbook until August. That being said, with Pro Bowlers Joe Thomas and Alex Mack anchoring the line at left tackle and center, I still like our chances.
Another big question mark lies with the wide receivers. ClevelandBrowns.com lists Brian Robiskie as the #1 receiver and Mohammed Massaquoi as the #2, but I'd bet we're going to see a lot of Josh Cribbs and Greg Little on the field too. I have plenty of confidence in Cribbs, and Massaquoi showed flashes last year, but Robiskie is the one that really has something to prove this year, his third in the league. The reason I've got such a big question mark with them is that honestly, none of those guys are proven, reliable targets. The closest would be Massaquoi, but even he only has 70 receptions for 1,107 yards in two seasons. That's one productive season for many wideouts in the NFL. Just sayin'.
But besides the wideouts, keep an eye on tight end Evan Moore. He's a huge target that causes match-up problems for the defense, and can really catch passes. He seemed to have developed a really nice connection with McCoy in the preseason, and if he stays healthy, he could have a huge season.
Other than that, the offense should be great. McCoy has a football mind, has all the intangibles, and all from all indications is a great leader. With someone who actually understands offense calling the plays now in Pat Shurmur, the balance between pass and run should help both McCoy and our Madden cover-boy, Peyton Hillis. (And yes, that was a dig my favorite whipping boy, Brian Daboll)
Defensively...I'm really nervous. Switching from a 3-4 to a 4-3 is not going to be a process completed overnight, but with Dick Jaruron as the defensive coordinator, I feel pretty good about our coaching. You know Pat Shurmur knows little to nothing about defense, so it's great that he has someone with head coaching experience heading that unit.
We should be better against the run, with the bigs Athyba Rubin and Phil Taylor in the middle, but aside from Rubin, the D-line is seriously inexperienced. The secondary has standout second year players T.J. Ward and Joe Haden, but Sheldon Brown and Mike Adams seemed to be a bit inconsistent in the preseason.
But the biggest question mark on defense has got to be the linebackers. D'Qwell Jackson seems to be healthy again, and if he stays that way could have a great year in the new 4-3 defense. Scott Fujita played in the 4-3 defense in New Orleans, and has a Super Bowl ring from that experience. But he also battled health problems last year, and ended the season on the IR. Finally, Chris Gocong has a great chance to have a breakout year, but he might not even be able to play the first game. Now, the question mark comes from the fact that behind these guys—who have pretty serious injury issues—there really isn't much talent.
Basically, the whole season will ride on whether or not the Browns can stay healthy—much like the Indians. Think about it, if Joe Haden, Peyton Hillis or Colt McCoy goes down? You can forget about the Browns looking that great. What is working for us is that we have a fairly soft schedule, after playing one of the toughest last year. And even though we have that soft schedule, I'm going to go pessimist with my prediction for wins this season.
The Season Prediction: 6-10, 3rd Place AFC North.
We're going to be better than the Bengals, and we'll probably beat either Baltimore or Pittsburgh at home, but I just don't see us winning more than 7 games. I'd love to be wrong with this, but with the division we play in, combined with the facts that we lost a lot of time to the lockout and Shurmur is a rookie head coach, I just don't see the Browns making too many improvements for Ws this season. But I do think we've got the right building blocks in place for years to come.
Now for today...
The Prediction: CLE 28 - CIN 10
Cincinnati looked absolutely awful in the preseason, and if the Browns look anything like the first team we saw in the preseason, we should get a very nice W. Honestly, the Bengals could very well be the worst team in the league this year, so I'm thinking the Shurmur era of Browns football gets off to a great start. I really hope I'm right.
I'll see you at the half!
~MAS
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