It’s not the real thing, but hey, preseason football is better than nothing.
Returning to the gridiron in Cleveland, the Browns took on the Redskins. Though it was a 20-17 loss, remember that we shouldn’t care about the outcome of any preseason game.
For this series of preseason note taking on Lake Erie Sports, I’ve chosen 5 highlight players who I’ve taken notes/studied on, as listed below.
Josh McCown (QB): McCown was quite the surprise on Thursday (see what the preseason does to people?), looking sharp on all 5 of his passes/completions. Most of it wasn’t spectacular, except for his touchdown pass, where he avoided a tackler and scrambled to the right, throwing a perfect pass to Travis Benjamin in the right corner of the end zone. He looked less like a statue on that play and more like Tony Romo, Aaron Rodgers, or Ben Roethlisberger, mobile and able to extend the play.
Lord knows if we can actually continue to see this from McCown at all, but his play was very encouraging for a QB starved city.
Johnny Manziel (QB): The flashier sophomore, Manziel certainly looked better on Thursday than he did last season, though that shouldn’t say much. Much like McCown, Manziel played decently enough, but was nothing special. His touchdown run seems overhyped, as he got great blocking, leading to a wide open running lane, so it’s not as special as everyone makes it out to be. Still, he looks to have improved in extending the play, and cleaning up accuracy issues will lead to more positive play.
Justin Gilbert (CB): While Gilbert described his play Thursday as “flawless”, anyone with 2 eyes could see that joke coming a mile away. Gilbert severely disappointed against the Redskins, allowing multiple chances for receivers to get outside and playing poorly on secondary coverage. Most notably is the Pierre Garcon drop, in which Gilbert allowed the 8-year veteran to gain easy separation. In addition, Gilbert (shortly later) allowed what should’ve been an uncatchable deep throw from a scrambling RGIII, who got nailed by Paul Kruger on the play. All in all, there’s question marks Gilbert has to address, and address sooner than later.
Danny Shelton (NT): Could the Browns have that defender with a JJ Watt-esque level of impact at long last? Let’s not get crazy here, but Danny Shelton filled the Browns’ defensive line needs on Thursday. Despite getting credited with just one tackle, looking beyond the stat sheet reveals Shelton played a command in play stoppage, and forcing pressures on the Redskins QBs. The soon-to-be 22-year-old rookie out of Washington received First-Team All Pac-12 and First Team All-American in 2014, and so far he’s been everything Cleveland has wanted.
E.J. Bibbs (TE): Speaking of filling in needs, the Browns offseason has been laughably bad when it came to acquiring tight ends, but perhaps the wait is over. The undrafted rookie out of Iowa State provided pleasantly surprising elusiveness as a receiver, also becoming the only Browns tight end to catch any pass last night (that should say a lot about how bad the Browns’ tight end depth currently is, that or the amount of attempts TE’s got). He’s another player to watch as the next 3 weeks of preseason play come along.
John Kinsley, Browns Beat Writer, Lake Erie Sports
Lake Erie Sports 