It may be an inside joke with some of my high school football buddies, but I seriously enjoy putting the "˜" over the "n" in Cardinals.
But that's not what you're here for, regardless of however I decide to write it, the Browns are in sunny Arizona to play their game today. Who's optimistic?
Well...I am. Sort of. Let's call it cautious optimism.
Seneca Wallace will get the start today as Colt McCoy was still showing signs of a concussion late in the week and hadn't practiced. Colt is hopeful that he'll be able to play next week at Baltimore, but we'll see.
So we've got Seneca, the backup quarterback who made four starts last season. Granted, under Mangini and Daboll, Wallace wasn't running the offense he had become so comfortable with in his seven seasons in Seattle—with most of those being under current Browns President Mike Holmgren. So now that he's back in a comfortable spot with the West Coast offense, what can we expect to see this week?
Well, probably some improvement. Wallace has always been a pretty accurate passer, as his lifetime completion percentage is 60.5 percent. He's also stayed away from interceptions, as he's only thrown 16 compared to 29 career touchdowns. All of that is good news for the Browns, who are playing their very capable backup today.
We've already seen that Wallace can be effective in a pinch. He did it last week against the Steelers—throwing one of the best passes we've seen all year come from a Browns quarterback by leading Evan Moore perfectly on a deep out route to the five yard line. When he made spot starts last year after Jake Delhomme went down with an ankle sprain, we saw how Seneca is very capable of leading a team down the field to score.
My concern is that Wallace is going to do well for a while—say the first half—and then the Cardiñals are going to figure out what Wallace is doing and stop it. We also saw last year that Wallace can make some pretty poor throws or just plain stupid decisions. I believe it was against the Bengals that Wallace tried to throw a screen pass and the cornerback was right there to jump the throw and returned it for a touchdown. The Browns can't afford for Wallace to do that today if they want to win today.
If—but probably when—Seneca does well today, it might have a lot more to do with the fact that Arizona's defense is ranked 21st in the league, and the last three Browns opponents have been ranked in the top 10. It's interesting to note that the Browns are 7th in the league in giving up just 19.5 poins per game, while the Cardinals are 18th at 22.2. Let's hope the law of averages plays out today.
Defensively, the Browns are really going to have their hands full. Yes, we're ranked #2 in passing defense, but when you're 31st in the league in rushing defense by giving up 150 yards per game on the ground who needs to pass? With Larry Fitzgerald's height and all around #beatstmode ability, Joe Haden could have a tough day. And I don't even want to think about the damage former OSU running back Beanie Wells could inflict on the Browns D. If I were Arizona's head coach, Ken Whisenhunt, I'd ground 'n pound with Wells all day long until the Browns prove they can stop it.
Another concern is special teams. It's a darn shame that one of the strongest aspects of this team in years past has boken down so much this year, but especially given rookie Patrick Peterson's ability, I really think the Browns could be in trouble. In his rookie season, Peterson has tied the single season for punt returns for touchdowns with four. And based on this game winner against the Rams a few weeks ago, I could see him breaking the record today against the Browns lousy group.
I believe it was Colt McCoy (or perhaps Joe Thomas) that said once this season that if the Browns play "perfectly" on every play, then they can compete with anybody. But absolutely no team can be perfect on every play. And it's ludicrous to expect that. So based on everything I've said above, here's the bottom line.
The Prediction: ARI 24 - CLE 20.
Seneca Wallace will probably get us in a position to win, but then another special teams breakdown will lose it. It's just the sad reality of this football team right now, but I just don't think good things are in the Cards (ha...ha...) today.
I'll see you at the half,
~MAS
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