Looking Ahead to Browns-Packers 8/15

I’m looking forward to this preseason game more than any other preseason game in the history of pro football.

I can’t hammer this point hard enough: Romeo Crennell teams were grossly unprepared to play football. There was no difference in how they looked during the first preseason game to the first regular season game.

It was that bad.

That’s why I’ll be interested to see how the team looks on Saturday. Head coach Eric Mangini will be trying a lot of different things and looking to attain certain goals during this contest.

Winning isn’t the real goal of a preseason game, it’s the hopeful outcome of your pre-planning strategy and your fourth and fifth-stringers performing as they are expected to perform.

The game should remain interesting from a Browns’ fan POV into the third quarter since we’ll be looking to see what Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson do under the new system.

One factor to take into consideration in this battle is the offensive line. I’m not sure at this point who actually is going to be coming out for the first series, so it’s unknown who will have Hank Fraley as their center, and who will have Alex Mack.

Speaking of our centers, Mack will get his first look at a pro nose tackle not named Shaun Rogers on Saturday. Rogers has been lighting Mack up during training camp, which makes me feel both good and bad.

Mack is a rookie, and probably shouldn’t be expected to be able to contend with a pro bowler like Rogers on Day One. However, Mack is a first round draft pick and that brings with it some expectations, especially from me since we kept trading down and lost out on new Green Bay Packer Clay Matthews (I wanted Matthews).

I’m looking for Anderson to not force the ball this year and play with more intelligence. When he’s pressured, he makes bad decisions and usually tries to force the ball into areas it shouldn’t be going.

I’m looking for Quinn to trust his receivers a little more (I know that’s hard, but this is pretty much a whole new batch of guys) and air the ball out like he did in the scrimmage.

Another thing I will be looking at on Saturday are the running backs. I’m interested to see how Jamal Lewis and Jerome Harrison look in the new offense, and if Lewis can break the line like he used to.

I also am hoping to see rookie James Davis break one open in a game situation. If he can do it, that’ll give Browns fans something to latch onto for the future.

On the defensive side of the ball, it’s all about demonstrating the proper execution of a 3-4 defense, no matter the personnel on the field. Crennell’s 3-4 was a joke, so just seeing some consistency and a little bit of pressure on the quarterback would be nice.

One last thing, score a touchdown. It would make all the Browns fans take one collective step back from the ledge.