Browns vs. Eagles: Offense Does Few Favors for Brandon Weeden in Week 3 Loss

The Cleveland Browns were hoping to play things close to the vest in their Week 3 preseason contest against the Philadelphia Eagles, considering the two meet in the regular-season opener, just two weeks away.

Let's hope that the Browns we saw on Friday—especially the first-team offense—was designed to throw the Eagles off their scent and was not a true reflection of how the squad will look come the regular season.

It was a disappointing regression for the Browns and rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden after the team brought home two wins in the previous weeks' games. Under siege from the Eagles' defense throughout his first-half appearance on the field, it's clear this offense has a lot to do to get ready for the regular season.

The onus isn't just on Weeden to improve. If everything he attempted to execute actually worked on Friday, we'd be here feeling far differently about the Browns' offensive situation. But it wasn't simply Weeden's inherent rookie-ness that caused so much trouble—it was a concerted effort by the entire offense to consistently underwhelm.

Weeden faced incredible pressure from a hard-hitting Philadelphia defensive front, thanks in large part to the failings of what is usually one of the better NFL offensive lines. Rookie right tackle Mitchell Schwartz looked ill-prepared to handle the Eagles' wide-nine attack and even veterans like Joe Thomas struggled.

The result for Weeden was just nine completions on 20 pass attempts and he was sacked three times, two of them ending with a fumble. He engineered drives to nowhere—one of those fumbles was recovered by the Eagles while Cleveland's offense was knocking on the door of the end zone. Though both the Eagles and Browns ran 62 plays apiece, Philadelphia put up 328 yards of offense—the Browns, just 249.

Weeden, despite being pressured heavily and committing those two fumbles, continued to show improvement. There was a greater variety to the passing calls he was given, and he attempted—and often, executed or nearly executed—difficult throws. He also was tasked with throwing deep, showing off his strong arm.

Unfortunately, not all of his receivers complied with the many well-thrown balls tossed in their direction. A completion, of course, takes two parties to be in sync, and it looked as though Weeden still has issues to work through with the so-called drop-prone receiver, Greg Little. Little had four passes thrown his way but pulled down just one, worth only three yards.

At least 10 of Weeden's well-thrown balls were either missed or dropped by Browns receivers. Though, of course, not every pass can be perfect—especially considering the kind of pressure Weeden was under—the receivers failed to make plays that would have extended the Browns' drive or even resulted in a touchdown.

Weeden's reaction to that pressure was far better than many fans had feared upon him being drafted. The knock against him is that he wilts when confronting a pass rush, but on Friday he stood tall in the pocket, made throws that resulted in him getting hit after the release and rolled away from would-be sacks much more than we saw in his first two times on the preseason field. Showing quick development is necessary for a starting rookie quarterback, and again Weeden has delivered in that area.

But all of the development in the world cannot help Weeden without his receivers being on the same page as him and without the offensive line giving him time to complete his throws.

A few inches off, here and there, from a receiver's hands is normal—and a lot of times, receivers put forth that extra effort to pull down passes. But when slight issues in releasing a pass are caused by the breakdown of line protection, then Weeden's going to have few chances and little time to get things right.

If the Eagles looked like they were out for blood on Friday, then you can certainly assume things are only going to be more vicious come Week 1. The Browns need to get prepared for the kind of pressure that not only Philadelphia is going to bring in the regular season but all of their opponents, especially if their offensive line keeps looking like that.

Weeden is but one man. He needs the five players in front of him as well as his receivers and running backs to all work together, successfully, if he's going to have much hope of moving the ball down the field. Clearly, that didn't pan out so well for the Browns last night. Protect Weeden, protect the football and touchdowns will follow; unfortunately, that wasn't the case on Friday.

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