Cleveland Browns: Absent Shaun Rogers Primary Concern for Secondary

Coming out of the pivotal third week of preseason, it’s plain to me that our quarterback situation in Cleveland is only as important as you want it to be.

If you think having the starting quarterback named yesterday, then this team is in huge trouble.  If you’re like me and believe the quarterback actually was chosen back in the spring and that this whole “competition” has been one long Passion Play, then all is well.

I’m worried that our starting running back options have come down to a guy who clearly has lost a step, despite any spin you might have heard coming out of Berea, and an untested rookie.

Granted, James Davis has looked great in his preseason showings, but let’s not go and crown him the next Adrian Peterson just yet.  We need a few weeks of knockout performances in the regular season under our belts before it can be stated Davis was a late round steal.

What every Cleveland fan should be worried about is the defense, specifically the absence of Shaun Rogers and the fact that our best safety appears to be Brodney Poole.

Rogers's absence is disturbing because we don’t know if it’s an injury, or if Eric Mangini just decided to take it easy on Rogers and, by default, found another way of messing with the rest of league.

This is where silence on a possible injury comes in handy because, if Rogers was injured at some point, nobody saw it, so Mangini has plausible deniability.  It doesn’t work if, say, your starting quarterback is driven into the ground and is seen visibly nursing a shoulder injury.

I’m talking to you, Bill Belichek.  Not commenting on his shoulder will not make the injury go away, and you have not gained a competitive advantage because every opposing head coach saw the same thing everyone else did.

I’m hoping Mangini is just messing with everyone, because this defense needs Rogers.  He is probably the only player on this team an opposing head coach would lose sleep over.

Joshua Cribbs might cause an opposing coach some worries, but Cribbs is easily contained as long as our starting quarterback is busy running for his life and not throwing the ball.

Rogers aside, the secondary versus Tennessee was atrocious.  Kerry Collins and Vince Young looked like they were playing a high school team when it came to the passing game.  The Browns defense wasn’t even playing good enough to be called mediocre.

Brandon McDonald had a good game, but McDonald always has managed to squeeze out a good game or two since he’s been with the Browns.  McDonald is what he is, but he’ll never be more than Brandon McDonald.

I don’t know what to do about our safeties and corners because other than McDonald and Poole, I couldn’t pick any of other guys out of a lineup.  They’re that invisible on the field.

When the camera pans down, following the ball across the field, all I saw the last few weeks was the opposing team’s receiver being wide open and running for miles...except versus Green Bay when Donald Driver somehow got into the edge of the camera frame.  I’m sure it was a mistake and we’ll never see him again.

Abram Elam?  What have you done for me lately?

Rod Hood?  Welcome to Chicago.

Alex Hall?  Don't let one interception go to your head.

As for stats, the defense didn’t produce anything stat-worthy, which only proves the offense better put up a lot of points this year.  Individual tackling stats don’t mean very much if you don’t have sacks, and the total yards given up approaches mileage length.

Mangini has shown during the preseason that he tackles obvious flaws head-on and tries to make sure that flaw is corrected next week.  In the case of the defense, I’m not sure there are enough weeks in the season to correct all the flaws.

Coming up on Thursday is the final preseason game versus the Chicago Bears.  I’m not doing any kind of traditional preview/review as there isn’t much to be said on either count.

The fourth preseason game determines who makes the team, who makes the practice squad, and who joins me next week in the unemployment line.

I’ll watch it with detached amusement and hope I see some glimmers of hope out of the first series or two when the starters are in.

Other than that, it’s time to look forward to Week One and the Minnesota Vikings.