Well, kids, what did we learn today?
1. I learned that defensive lineman can be called for holding!
2. I learned that playing against Brandon McDonald is like a slap in the face!
3. I learned that even if you try really, reallllly hard, three points isn't equal to seven!
Of course, week 1 leaves us with some questions. But it also answered some. Here's what we can really learn from 48 minutes of sometimes sloppy, sometimes sleek play against the Dallas Cowboys.
America's Team has the best offense in the National Football League, maybe even before karma got back at Tom Brady for all the times his name SHOULDN'T have been on the Injury report. While the Browns defense certainly isn't anything to be envious of, the Cowboys pretty much had their way with them. The only thing the offensive line didn't do right was a couple of holding penalties. Felix Jones is certainly valuable, and Tony Romo has one of the best arms in the league. At the very least, Cleveland's D can take heart in the fact that only gave up 28 points to them despite not having some of our better players. And we made Romo's chin bleed. He's a big boy, he can (obviously) handle it.
Cleveland's passing attack, when healthy, should be back to the level it was last year (maybe even better). By this, I mean Derek Anderson looks to be the real deal. We saw the performance of a kid who wasn't afraid of going back to the bench. Concussion or not, he played fearlessly, and his arm looked absolutely golden. Make no mistake about it, if Braylon Edwards brought anything above his 'D' game yesterday and/or anyone above Syndric Steptoe played WR No. 2 (Stallworth, Cribbs, Terrelle Pryor, I don't care... LeBron) the point total would have reached the 20's.
Our D-line looked weak. Partially because of the aforementioned Dallas O-line and partially because our linebackers looked even worse. Except for two plays, the one where we bloodied Mr. Simpson's chin and the one where Willie McGinest bulldozed an extremely smaller Felix Jones leading to a hurried, and later intercepted pass by Romo, they got pushed around like first graders on an elementary school playground.
Coming out of the opening weekend, the biggest question I have is, what's up with our coach? I can only imagine how many people were calling for Romeo Crennel's head yesterday, and until there were about 13 minutes left in the fourth quarter, they were exceptionally unwarranted. Let's face it, I don't think any coach is going to get fired this year because he loses to the Dallas Cowboys. But in my first full weekend of watching football, I saw two aggregious strategic calls by coaches.
The one came in the Buckeyes game, when they missed the Extra Point when they should have gone for two. The other came when the Browns were at the Cowboys 25-yard line and the clock was still in double digits in the fourth quarter. On a fourth and three of a drive that the Browns had made go 66 yards, Crennel elected to go for a field goal, despite the limited game time, the recent play of his O and the score being 28-7.
All I'm saying is, you just gotta wonder...
But take heart, because as always, week one showed us some things.
Like for some fans, it's never too early to give up.
