How to measure progress?
The Browns are 0-3 following their loss Sunday to Baltimore; the fourth time in the past five years the team has started 0-3.
But is the team improving? Is this 0-3 start somehow different than the previous ones? Let’s take a look.
The Browns have lost these three games by a total of 12 points. Last year, they lost the first three games by a total of 66 points.
In two games against Baltimore last season, the Browns rushed for a total of 157 yards; Peyton Hillis almost topped that by himself with 144 rushing yards on Sunday.
Hillis is on pace for almost 1,200 rushing yards. It would only be the third time a Browns back has gained that many yards since 1999.
The Browns have held a second-half lead in all three games this season. That didn’t happen very often last season.
The offense is ranked 17th in the league while the defense is 16th. Last year they almost pulled off a rare double, as the offense was dead last and the defense was 31st.
Even with Jake Delhomme having a bad game against Tampa, the quarterback situation is light years ahead of last season. It’s not a stretch to say Seneca Wallace and an injured Delhomme are still better than Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn.
There are still plenty of areas where the team hasn’t improved, which helps explain the 0-3 start.
We’ve covered it, we’ve tried to explain it, but there’s no getting around it: the wide receivers, other than Josh Cribbs, are just horrible. It needs repeating: in Sunday’s game, Anquan Boldin had more yards (142) than Mohamed Massaquoi, Chansi Stuckey and Brian Robiskie have combined for the season (114) and almost as many catches (eight to 10).
Penalties are killing the team. Five in Week 1 vs. Tampa Bay, nine vs. Kansas City and eight vs. Baltimore. When Romeo Crennel was coach, we were told the team committed too many penalties because was too soft a coach. When Eric Mangini was hired as coach, we were sold a storyline that he was going to clean that up because he was a tough coach. So what’s the problem?
No matter how hard they try, the Browns just can’t get any pressure on opposing quarterbacks. They only have four sacks through three games, 2.5 coming from Marcus Benard.
So while there are signs of progress, there are also several areas where the team is struggling and that balances out the ledger. And helps explain why the Browns sit at 0-3 today.
Who knows? Maybe someday soon we’ll be able to measure the progress in terms on wins and losses, just like a real NFL team.
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One final thought on Eric Wright’s day: Mangini told the PD’s Terry Pluto that Wright was assigned the star role in the Browns defense against Baltimore, meaning he was responsible for covering the other team’s top receiver, with help from double teams. Asked why they didn’t switch after it became apparent Wright was not up to the challenge, Mangini said, “The integrity of the defense gets harder when you switch those guys around.”
OK, but look at the numbers again. Would putting Sheldon Brown on Boldin after his second touchdown catch really been that much worse? I’d be interested in hearing from defensive coordinator Rob Ryan on the particulars of this defense and why it is so hard to make in-game adjustments.
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It’s interesting that after seeing the Browns run the no-huddle offense in the preseason and the first game in Tampa, we haven’t seen it with Seneca Wallace at quarterback. Not a criticism, but I’m curious to hear why.
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For all the criticism offensive coordinator Brian Daboll has taken, and this is hard to believe, it could actually be worse. Jimmy Raye, fired by San Francisco today, could have been calling the plays. Read up on him if you aren’t familiar with the story, it’s quite entertaining.
Red Right 88 