The Sports Mixer - After further review

Each week the Sports Mixer takes a look back at the previous Browns game, this time a look at the Browns 30-7 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs, and discusses what was learned.  This intro is never the same, is it?

Jamaal Charles came to play, unfortunately, the rest of the Chiefs took Sunday off.  He ripped off an 80-yard touchdown run on the first place from scrimmage, ultimately compiling 165 yards on 18 carries.  That 9.1 average is gaudy, and averaging 5 ypc on his other 17 runs is still high, but considering what happened on that first play, the defense did a nice job clamping down on Charles and hitting him hard every time.

Trent Richardson appears to be hurt, but continues to soldier on and has picked up 9 touchdowns for his pain.  Montario Hardesty has done a nice job filling in for Richardson from series to series, picking up 52 yards on 10 carries in this game.  He could've had a touchdown, but he fumbled at the goal line, which prompted Pat Shurmer to reinsert Richardson to pick up the touchdown.  Hardesty was upset, but he had only himself to blame.  His fumbling problems in the preseason landed him third on the depth chart early on.  That said, he doesn't waste any time in the backfield.  He gets the ball, finds the hole, and runs through it quickly.

Josh Gordon continues to impress, not just with his hands, but with how much better his routes have gotten and how much better he sheds defensive backs at the line of scrimmage.  Simply put, he's developing into a top-tier wide receiver at an alarming rate and it's not out of the question that he could reach 1,000 yards receiving.  The other thing is he had a drop early in a drive that essentially helped stall it out on a slant.  It was a good pass, he just dropped it.  He made amends by making the grab on the exact same type of route later on to pick up a quick first down.  Is he immune from drops?  No, but he makes up for it and doesn't seem to become infected with the dropsies that his counterpart has struggled with.

Speaking of Greg Little, he's really come on strong of late.  Since the bye week, he's had maybe on drop, made several tough grabs, and has been superb blocking downfield for other receivers and running backs when he's not getting the ball.  Toss in a toss play where he lined up as the running back, and it seems like the Browns and Little are finally figuring out how to put it all together.  He's been a different player with the emergence of Gordon, and that's a very good thing.

The defensive line has been impressive, this despite getting gashed at times by Charles.  Fact is, Charles has gashed a lot of teams but the Browns made the proper adjustment and limited the damage after the first possession.  Then they went after Brady Quinn after the Browns took command of the game in the second half, leading to five sacks.

The secondary looks so much better with Joe Haden out there, but it helps having better play from the defensive line and linebackers.  It's allowed Sheldon Brown, Buster Skrine, and Dmitri Patterson to play in more comfortable roles.  Quinn isn't a very good quarterback, but they didn't allow him to gain much confidence with his passes.

Travis Benjamin may have played his way into lead returner with his 93 yard return on what was supposed to be a punt block play.  In the open field, you can see how challenging it is to bring him down.  He blew past the first wave of defenders, then essentially ran past everyone, including his escort of blockers that was initially ahead of him.  The punter saw Josh Cribbs coming and said no thanks.  From there, Benjamin ran the Browns into the lead and possibly showed Cribbs the door after this season.

The offensive line doesn't do a great job of run blocking, but the improvement in the pass game is clear.  Sure, Brandon Weeden gets a number of passes knocked down, but some of that is just because the defense isn't getting to Weeden and is jumping up to block passes.  Steve Tasker mentioned on the TV broadcast that Weeden could benefit from a pump fake, a move he tried later in the game.  It would have been successful if the defender hadn't managed to grab a hold of Weeden's jersey on the way by, preventing Weeden from putting enough on the pass to score an easy touchdown.  Overall though, the line has played well.

Weeden has taken his lumps this season, but he's passed for over 3,000 in his rookie season, won five games, hasn't sustained any major injuries, and has managed to lead sustained drives at critical points the last couple of weeks.  You'd like to see the batted passes drop and a little better accuracy, but overall, he's done well enough to earn the starting nod next season in this corner.

Pat Shurmer has taken lumps for his decisions, but he's drastically improved over the last few weeks.  Some will question his challenge on the Cribbs run, but this observer couldn't tell if the knee was down and Cribbs deserved at least a chance at that score.  The timeout wasn't wasted in the long run as the Browns time management was the best it's been all season long.  At one point, this corner had realized that it was late in the game and not once had the Browns used a timeout due to the playclock running down.  The imagination on offense was a welcome sight as well as the Browns used the wildcat twice, a double-reverse with Benjamin, and Little out of the backfield for nice gains.

It isn't entirely out of the question for the Browns to run the table and finish 8-8, although it's highly unlikely given the level of competition they have coming up.  That said, they're in the playoff hunt still and that's something we haven't been able to say in a few years now.  The Redskins game may be the most winnable game on the schedule though, seeing as trips to Denver and Pittsburgh follow this final home game.  We'll see how far this team has grown over the next three weeks, or if they falter, how far they still have to go.

Finally, the NFL is such an unpredictable league in that few probably saw the Falcons losing to the Panthers, the Steelers getting rolled by the previously lethargic Chargers, the Texans failing to show up against the Patriots, or the Bears getting run over by the Vikings.  It was a tough week for picks but that's what makes football great; any team can win any day.

The Sports Mixer - After further review

A quick look back at the previous Browns game, this time a 20-14 win over the Steelers.  Yes, I know I skipped a week.

I didn't get to watch the last game.  I know, for shame.  Given the spat I'm having with Time Warner and the lack of options at my current apartment (a story for another time), it may be a while before I can catch a game at home at this point.  Such is life, right?  That said, I followed enough of it during the game online and watched several highlight clips, therefore I'm qualifying myself educated enough to look back at the game.

Brandon Weeden wasn't awful, but he needs to get better fast if he wants to state his case to the new management team that he's the quarterback of the future.  Right now, he's on shaky ground.  He made a good throw to Jordan Cameron on the touchdown pass, but too often he's off the mark, reminding many of Derek Anderson, another strong-armed quarterback that flamed out quickly.

The receivers are getting better, so you can't pin Weeden's performance on them so much.  Greg Little has gotten better with the drops, Josh Gordon has become a viable option, Josh Cooper (when active) has shown the ability to catch the ball, and Cameron has shown he could be an option as well.  A good offseason could be the difference between taking a big step forward next year or middling along where they're at.

Trent Richardson gets a lot of flack for dancing in the backfield, but it just seems to me that it's more of an issue with the line not opening up holes for Richardson and the coaching staff not using him correctly (I get running between the tackles, I really do, but where are the pitchouts?).  He also didn't have a preseason due to his knee injury and has missed time due to a rib injury as well.  Despite that, he's on pace for over 1100 total yards, which isn't too shabby, especially with how inconsistent the offense has been.

The line gave up some sacks, but it has played substantially better since the Philadelphia game when they looked lost as a unit and Weeden had the stuffing beaten out of him.  Pittsburgh's defense will cause sacks.  They're that good.  But for the most part, the protection was there.

The defensive line is starting to look like the strength of the team.  Now that Phil Taylor and Ahtyba Rubin are both healthy and part of the rotation, we were able to see the depth the Browns touted at the beginning of the year.  Billy Winn and John Hughes have shown tremendous ability and now form a formidable tackle group.  In the last two games, the run defense has been tremendous, bringing the Browns to 19th overall against the run, which seems amazing given how bad the run defense has been over the years.

The linebackers, as a result of the defensive line, were able to play free and easy and it showed.  D'Qwell Jackson was named defensive player of the week and I have no doubt the play of the defensive line helped him earn that.  Yes, he forced a fumble and recovered another, but the line made it possible.

The line also helped the defensive backs, who aside from a bad pass interference penalty on Sheldon Brown at the end of the first half (turn around already; you're a veteran and can't get turned around?), played a pretty solid game.  It's remarkable though how much of a difference Joe Haden makes when he's out there though.  Brown made up for his gaffe by picking off Charlie Batch, as did Haden later in the game.

The defense forced 8 turnovers overall.  There were 5 fumbles, including one by each of the four running backs and three interceptions.  If the offense could've taken advantage of the turnovers more, it could've been a blowout, but they still were able to get 17 points off those turnovers.  Last week it was a sack-fest, this week it was attack of the turnovers.

Sure, it was Charlie Batch throwing the ball, but a win over the Steelers still counts for something for most Browns fans.  It meant something to the players as well, especially veterans who have often been on the wrong end of a beatdown at the hands of the Steelers.  Sure, Ben Roethlisberger may have made a difference, but the Browns finally found a way to win and fans will take it.

Finally, the white blow-up towel debate was way overblown by fans and media alike.  Look, I get it.  It comes across as waving the white flag at your rival, but after seeing the picture of the flag, I can't understand why fans get so riled up.  I know we are Cleveland fans and often need to be riled up about something, but this seemed to be a real stretch.  I wait for the day when this team is a winner and people are complaining because we only won by 10 and should've won by 20.

No, I'm not talking about coaching this week.  I don't think I can add anything that hasn't been said by anyone else.