Browns Starters Win The Battle, Team Loses War

The Cleveland Browns lose their second straight preseason game as they fall to the Detroit Lions 35-27. The Browns had a 24-14 lead going into the half on the shoulders of Jake Delhomme. Delhomme was very impressive completing twenty of his twenty-five passes for 152 yards and a 5 yard touchdown pass to Full Back Lawrence Vickers. The presence of Delhomme under center is something the Browns have been lacking for years. Jake continuously points out blitzes, calls out coverage schemes, and directs the Browns as a true leader and Quarterback should. The offense played a very good game and showed growth again in week 3 of the preseason.

While the offense continues to impress, the defense still has me scratching my head. The defense isn’t playing poorly, but they are getting lit up in the middle of the field. Time after time there were receivers, running backs and tight ends wide open across the middle. If the Browns want to be a contender in a stacked AFC North division, they are going to have to clog the middle of the field. Rob Ryan will need to fix the leak between the hash marks in the six to twelve yard range. Although the defense gave up a huge run on 51 yards to Jahvid Best on the first play for the Lions, I’m not too concerned with the run defense right now. Of course, the Browns are not going to show all of their defensive schemes in the preseason; the same way we have not see the dual Quarterback/Double Wildcat formations.

Overall, the Cleveland Browns starters were impressive and showed great effort in the Great Lakes Classic. We are not going to see much out of the starters against the Chicago Bears on Thursday as this will be a glorified full contact practice for the bench players. We will finally see the finished product Mike Holmgren has for the fans on September 9^th when the Browns travel to Tampa to take on the Buccaneers.

Game Ball goes to:

Jake Delhomme for his 105.3 Quarterback rating.

Hero of the game:

Could have been Colt McCoy if he had kept his final pass in bounds and gave the receivers a chance at a jump ball as time expired. But since he threw the ball out of bounds, this award goes to nobody.

Biggest Surprise:

How about the way Eric Mangini chewed Colt McCoy’s head off after the game for tossing the ball out of bounds. I didn’t expect to see that on the field but I liked it.

Biggest Disappointment:

Usually I add Colt McCoy’s name here, but he completed 10 of 14 passes for 76 yards, so I’ll say Jerome Harrison who still hasn’t impressed me in the preseason.

Best Play:

Eric Wright’s Fumble recovery for six.

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