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Archive for the category “Seneca Wallace”

13 Jun 2012

When there’s nothing to write about …

write about the Cleveland Browns!

As the team closes out the final week of Organized Team Activities, the focus has turned to who will be the No. 2 and No. 3 quarterbacks on the roster this fall.

It’s been clear since draft night that, barring an injury, Brandon Weeden is going to be the starter. Which leads to speculation over which lesser of two evils – Colt McCoy or Seneca Wallace – will be holding the clipboard come game day.

As a decision doesn’t have to be made today, coach Pat Shurmur isn’t really worried about it.

“I don’t see the urgency right there, but in terms of the backup situation, I can see a scenario where all three of the players you’re talking about will be here,” Shurmur said earlier this week. “I think that’s fair.

“I favor that, keeping three. I like that model. I know we’re nearing half of the teams in the league that keep two, but I like having three.”

Wallace, a noted team player, isn’t really on board with the three quarterback scenario.

“No not really (I don’t want to be third),” Wallace told The Plain Dealer. “That’s something for no reason you go down to the third guy and we all know the third guy doesn’t dress on Sundays and if that comes down to that decision, obviously neither (he or McCoy) wants to be that third guy.”

While Shurmur may not be in a hurry to name his depth chart at the position, one of his comments may have offered a clue.

Read more…

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, Colt McCoy, Cristiano Ronaldo, Euro 2012, NBA draft, Seneca Wallace | Leave a comment
04 Jan 2012

It’s a passing man’s game

In 1994, the NFL celebrated its 75th anniversary and, as part of the festivities, released a documentary on the history of the league.

One of the people interviewed was Sammy Baugh, a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 1963. Baugh played for the Redskins from 1937 to 1952, and help bring the forward pass to prominence in what was then a run-oriented league.

We still remember the look on Baugh’s face when he talked about the modern game and how much he would have loved playing in the modern era. “It’s a passing man’s game,” he said with obvious joy in his voice.

Fast forward 17 years and we can only imagine what Baugh would say about the passing game of today’s NFL.

The rest of the story continues at The Cleveland Fan.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Colt McCoy, Pat Shurmur, Seneca Wallace | Leave a comment
31 Dec 2011
3 Comments

Browns vs. Steelers – Week 17

Sixteen weeks after the Cleveland Browns opened the 2011 NFL season on a warm, September afternoon, the season comes to a close on Sunday when they host the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Opposition

Pittsburgh’s record: 11-4 (tied for first in the AFC North)
Offensive rank: 11th overall/9th passing/16th rushing
Defensive rank: 1st overall/1st passing/9th rushing
All-time record: Steelers lead, 63-56 (counting postseason). The Browns are 35-23 at home against the Steelers
Last meeting: Pittsburgh won, 14-3, in Week 14
The line: Browns (+7)

What to Watch For

With last week’s loss to the Ravens, the Browns earned their fourth consecutive 11 loss season. They are the only NFL team to pull off that dubious accomplishment.

So what better way to close out the season than to host a Pittsburgh team that is No. 1 in defense and playing for a No. 2 seed and first-round bye in the playoffs?

The fact that the Steelers have something to play for works in Cleveland’s favor, as the Browns still have an opportunity to maximize their draft position. And really, this time of year in Cleveland, what else is there to talk about?

While we will never root for the Browns to lose, a loss on Sunday will at least be more palatable knowing it will give the Browns the No. 4 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Plus, while a win on Sunday would be nice, there is always the fear that, by beating the Steelers, fans will lose sight of how much work still lies ahead for the team, much like what happened in 2009, when the Browns beat the Steelers late in the year in the most over-rated win in franchise history.

“I think you remember what happened most recently and I think anytime you can win your last game I think it makes you feel good as you move forward,” coach Pat Shurmur said in his Friday press conference. “Then regardless of what happens, there are ways that we have to improve so that’s not lost on me either. What’s at task now is playing the Pittsburgh Steelers and doing what we have to do to get a victory.”

Seneca Wallace will get the start again at quarterback, which, according to him, is all that matters. Apparently helping Colt McCoy learn the offense and, you know, making the team better isn’t a priority in Seneca’s world.

“That was Jake (Delhomme’s) deal,” Wallace told The Plain Dealer when asked if he mentored McCoy this season. “He did a lot of some stuff with him last year. But that’s not my thing. It’s just one thing I don’t do. I came in with the mind-set I wanted to compete, whatever case that was.”

Way to be a team player.

On the defensive side, it will be interesting to see how cornerbacks Joe Haden and Sheldon Brown match up with receivers Mike Wallace and Antonio Brown.

According to Pro Football Focus, Haden and Brown did not allow a single reception last week against Baltimore. Brown has had two solid games in a row since giving up four catches and a touchdown against the Steelers, and Haden has allowed just two catches for 18 yards in the past two games.

The Prediction

The Browns are just too limited on offense to put up much of a fight against a Pittsburgh team with something to play for.

We’ll take the Steelers minus the points.

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 8-6-1.

(Photo courtesy of Cleveland.com)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL, Pittsburgh Steelers, Seneca Wallace
17 Dec 2011

Browns vs. Cardinals – Week 15

The Browns head west to take on the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, just the third time the Browns have been to the desert to face the Cardinals.

The Opposition

Arizona’s record: 6-7 (tied for second in the NFC West)
Offensive rank: 22nd overall/20th passing/23rd rushing
Defensive rank: 21st overall/23rd passing/19th rushing
All-time record: Browns lead 33-12-3, with a 17-6-1 mark on the road (0-2 in Arizona, 8-3-1 in St. Louis, 9-1 in Chicago)
Last meeting: Arizona won, 27-21, in 2007
The line: Browns (+6.5)

What to Watch For

If the Browns offense looks any different or is more efficient under Seneca Wallace, who gets the start at quarterback in place of Colt McCoy.

Wallace spent seven years with Seattle learning the West Coast offense under Mike Holmgren and his knowledge of the offense is one of the values (the value?) he brings as a back-up quarterback.

“I’m anticipating that Seneca’s going to go out and execute efficiently and I think we saw Colt do that at times this year,” Browns coach Pat Shurmur said on Friday. As a quarterback, you’re trying to go out and do everything right all the time. Every once in awhile you’ll make a bad throw or a poor decision and then you get right back on the horse and try to correct it. I would anticipate, based on what I saw in practice, he had a good practice, Seneca will do a good job.”

It would only be one game against a defense in the lower third of the NFL, but if Wallace can move the ball that would provide another valuable piece of the puzzle as the team decides what to do about the quarterback position in the off season.

“To see another quarterback execute and operate with the players on the field may help us learn something about everybody involved,” Shurmur said. “It’ll help us learn something about Seneca at his stage in his career. It’s part of what you put together and that’s why it’s so important to wait and evaluate everything at the end. We have three games to play, three games that we’re going to fight our tails off to win and there’s going to be, what I hope to be, a lot of very fine performances. Hopefully, one from Seneca this week.”

Even though the Cardinals are ranked just 21st in defense, they have been playing better as they’ve won three consecutive games and five-of-six. Arizona has only given up an average of 214.4 passing yards since Nov. 14 – which puts them at No. 10 over that span.

The Browns obviously will need to keep an eye on Larry Fitzgerald when the Cardinals have the ball.

According to Pro Football Focus:

Life after Kurt Warner wasn’t that good to Larry Fitzgerald (+14.7), but this year has been better. While his catch rate is similar to last year at 54.4, his yards per catch is at 17.6 which is significantly higher than last year’s 12.6, and better than the Cardinals’ Super Bowl season as well. He’s had nine players miss tackles on him and seven touchdowns–both better numbers than last year–and he hasn’t dropped a pass in the last five games.

On 78.3% of his pass routes, Fitzgerald lines up out wide, which would put him against Joe Haden (+7.2 coverage) or Sheldon Brown (-5.8 coverage). In most cases Haden stays on the left side of the field and Brown on the right, but on the rare occurrence, Haden will track one receiver; that could happen in this game. Haden has had a rough time in recent weeks, allowing 13 catches for 292 yards and a touchdown in the past four. Brown has allowed 14 catches for 178 yards and a touchdown over that same time. Both of these cornerbacks have shown they can play great football in the past, but they’ll need to bring that “A” game to limit the Cardinals’ big plays.

If the Browns can keep the Arizona passing game under control, the run defense may actually have a shot at having a decent game.

People want to get excited about Beanie Wells, but outside of the game three weeks ago against the Rams, Wells has been mediocre. Take out the 228 yard game against St. Louis, and Wells is averaging just 3.8 yards per carry and has just 94 yards on 35 carries his last two games (2.7 yards per carry).

The Prediction

In some ways this is a tough one.

We can see the Browns hanging around enough that the Cardinals don’t cover.

Plus the Browns have a way of pulling out wins at the end of the season that hurt their draft position for the following year. And with Baltimore and Pittsburgh the only games left on the schedule, this looks like it could be that game.

But the Cardinals are playing better than the Browns right now – not saying much, we know – so we’ll go with the Cardinals but not the cover.

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 7-5-1.

(Photo by Life magazine archives)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Seneca Wallace | Leave a comment
04 Mar 2011

Browns investing wisely in McCoy’s future

The Browns took another step toward ensuring Colt McCoy’s future when they signed quarterback Seneca Wallace to a three-year deal worth $9 million plus incentives.

While Wallace talked about wanting to be a starter next season, it’s clear that the Browns (i.e. team president Mike Holmgren) convinced Wallace that staying in Cleveland is the best place for the eight-year pro.

The key here is the Browns aren’t looking for Wallace to be a starter, but someone who can accelerate McCoy’s learning curve so the Browns can find out sooner, rather than later, if McCoy has what it takes to be a starting quarterback in the NFL.

Since Wallace doesn’t have the talent to be a starting quarterback in the league, he’s had to work harder and study more to try and find an edge, and obviously something is working as he’s made it this far. Having him around gives the Browns another voice experienced in the West Coast offense who can work with McCoy every day – and nothing bad can come from that.

While we wouldn’t want Wallace to be the Browns starting quarterback, as we learned last year having a capable backup is a good thing. If McCoy goes down early in a game, or misses a game with an injury, Wallace can hold his own for a game or a half – it’s not like the team has to rely on Todd Philcox or Spurgeon Wynn here.

More than anything else, the Browns have to find out what they have at quarterback with McCoy. And resigning Wallace moves them one step closer to putting the puzzle together.

Oh, the Browns also resigned linebacker D’Qwell Jackson to a one-year deal.

Jackson has missed 26 games over the past two seasons with injuries.

***

Indians pitcher Mitch Talbot doesn’t want to hear about the team being too young or too poor to compete in the American League.

“Same thing we heard in Tampa,” Talbot told The Plain Dealer after making his first start of spring training against the Texas Rangers. “Enough of this. Young? I don’t care. Let’s go win.”

If nothing else, we like the kid’s moxie.

***

While watching the Kent State-Akron game, we saw a commercial for ESPN Film’s upcoming documentary on The Fab 5 from Michigan.

We can’t believe its been 20 years since Chris Webber, Jimmy King, Jalen Rose, Juwan Howard and Ray Jackson were college freshmen.

While that makes us feel old, there’s no way we’re missing this one when it airs on March 13.

***

Finally, Brian Phillips at Slate has a great read on Parity vs. Greatness: The Most Important Debate in Sports.

Phillips writes that:

We don’t usually think about sports in these terms, but a league is a design problem—an aesthetic problem, really. A professional sports league has to balance distinct and often contradictory priorities, and how it does so helps to determine, before a player sends a single ball moving through space, the sort of experience it will offer fans.

One reason people like to watch team sports is to witness intensely competitive games—contests between evenly matched opponents in which the outcome hangs in doubt. Another is to watch extraordinarily gifted players play the game at the highest level. If you engineer a league to have an even distribution of talent—tightly regulating player movement, enforcing spending limits, funneling cash and talent to the weakest teams—then you encourage close games. But because the best players are spread out across more teams, you discourage fantastic displays of skill.

Phillips makes some interesting points. And as Cleveland fans, we face that question more now than ever.

When the Indians had an All-Star at every position (or so it seemed) in the mid- to late-’90s, we wanted greatness. But the economics of baseball changed and now the Indians can’t compete.

When the Cavs had LeBron, we wanted greatness; now we long for the team to be relevant again.

As for the Browns, all we really have is enduring hope. There really isn’t anything else.

Greatness or parity?

Which would you choose?

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Colt McCoy, Seneca Wallace | Leave a comment
22 Feb 2011

Browns decide to do right by Phil Dawson

The Browns reportedly placed the franchise tag on kicker Phil Dawson on Tuesday, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

The move to bring back Dawson, who’s been on the team since the Browns returned in 1999, always seemed like a no brainer to us, but media reports at the end of the season made us worried.

Dawson passed Hall of Fame kicker Lou Groza last season as the Browns all-time leader in field goals. He’s the ninth-most accurate kicker in NFL history at 83.1 percent, which is even more impressive when you consider the conditions he has to kick in at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

The fact that the Browns may have entertained the thought of parting ways with a kicker who can produce in conditions like this gave us pause. But the fact that team president Mike Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert understand Dawson’s value makes us feel better.

But we do have to wonder: is the move to retain Dawson a sign that the new coaching regime is thinking field goals rather than touchdowns? Because we all know how well that worked out for the last coach.

***

Seneca Wallace is reportedly looking for a starting role next season as he ponders his future as a free agent.

“If I do go back (to Cleveland), hopefully it’s a chance to compete for the starting position,” he told Pro Football Weekly.

We like the thought of Wallace being on the Browns next year in a mentor role to Colt McCoy as he learns the West Coast offense. And Wallace is fine as a fill-in in case of injury. But as a starter? Not so much.

We understand that Wallace would want to be a starter, but after eight years of not being a starter in the league, we really don’t see the need for the Browns to be the test case.

***

Maybe there is something to the “Dolans are cheap” talk.

According to UniWatch, the Indians have scaled back the Bob Feller memorial patch they will wear this season from this to this.

Why? Because the photo the original patch is based on is owned by Photo File and the Indians won’t reach a deal on the licensing fees to use the image.

Unbelievable, and sad, that a team as cash-strapped as the Indians may in fact be, can’t find the dough to honor the greatest picture in baseball history.

Posted in bad ideas, Bob Feller, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Phil Dawson, Seneca Wallace | Leave a comment
05 Jan 2011

Grading the Browns Quarterbacks

Now that the Browns’ 2010 season is in the books, we thought we’d jump on the grading bandwagon and hand out grades to selected positions on the team.

Today we’ll start with the quarterbacks. Rather than just assign an arbitrary letter grade to Colt McCoy, Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace, we’re going to try and see how they match up against what was statistically an average NFL quarterback this season.

Thirty-two quarterbacks played enough this year to qualify for the NFL rankings – from Tom Brady at the top to Jimmy Clausen, who narrowly beat out old friend Derek Anderson as the worst quarterback in the league.

For the 2010 season, the average NFL quarterback completed 61.5 percent of his passes (282-for-458) for 3,265 yards, 7.13 yards per attempt, 21 touchdowns and 12.5 interceptions.

If we project McCoy’s statistics over a full season, he would have completed 60.8 of his passes (270-for-444), with 3,152 yards, 7.1 yards per attempt, 12 touchdowns and 18 interceptions.

Those numbers would have put him right in the middle of the pack, although his touchdowns were a bit low and his interceptions a bit high. McCoy’s yardage would have put him ahead of Matt Cassell and Michael Vick, and just right behind Jay Cutler and Mark Sanchez. And his yards per attempt were more than a yard better than highly-touted rookie Sam Bradford.

Not bad for a rookie quarterback who was not expected to play this season. A grade of C+ with promise for next year seems right.

Seneca Wallace showed us what he is this year – a capable backup who can fill in on a short-term basis without really harming the team.

Statistically he’s below average when it comes to yards (1,388) and touchdowns (8), but he doesn’t turn the ball over (a projected 4 interceptions) and completes an above-average percentage of his passes (63.4 percent).

We feel OK with giving Wallace a C and are comfortable having him return next year in a back-up role.

That brings us to Delhomme. Again, he came as advertised, completing an above average percentage of his passes (62.4) but was below average in yards (2,790), touchdowns (6) and interceptions (22).

We’ll give Delhomme some extra credit for the work he did helping McCoy this season which brings his grade to a C.

We’re not sure how valid our “analysis” is as they are just numbers; they don’t take into account any intangibles, the support of the running game, play calling or the talent void at the wide receiver position.

But they do confirm what we saw this year on the field: McCoy has shown enough that we want to see more; Wallace is capable as a back-up who won’t kill the team if he has to play in short stretches; and Delhomme is a veteran who is more valuable on the practice field during the week than on the field on Sundays.

The Browns quarterbacks pretty much were what we thought they would be back in July: certainly not Pro Bowlers by any stretch, but far from being the worse collection of quarterbacks in the league (that would be the Arizona Cardinals in case you were wondering).

***

It has apparently been a good NFL season for Las Vegas.

***

No matter how bad it gets in Brownstown, we can always be thankful we’re not in Cincinnati.

***

And speaking of things to be thankful for, the Browns were never in consideration for Jim Harbaugh.

***

Finally, ex-Indians Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven were elected to baseball’s Hall of Fame today.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Colt McCoy, Jake Delhomme, Las Vegas, NFL, Seneca Wallace | Leave a comment
27 Oct 2010

Well … Yeah, that’s the Idea

Browns quarterback Seneca Wallace offered his opinion Wednesday regarding who should be the Browns starting quarterback coming out of the bye and for the rest of the season:

“At the end of the day, it comes down to the coaches,” Wallace told The Plain Dealer. “Whoever’s doing the job the best, moving the team, scoring points, making the right decisions, then that should be the guy.”

“This isn’t college,” Wallace also said. “We don’t switch quarterbacks in and out. I think when it comes down to rhythm and gelling together, when you have a quarterback in for one week and then the next week it’s somebody else, that’s not a good situation. You want a guy that’s gonna be in there, be able to move the team and continue to do that week to week.”

Well, obviously you want the player who gives you the best chance to win playing at each position. No argument there. Not really sure why this is becoming an issue, especially during the bye week, but there you go.

The thing is, the person who fits the criteria that Wallace laid out is Wallace himself. Consider that in seven games so far this season:

  • The offense has only scored more than 17 points once – when the Browns put up 23 on Cincinnati with Wallace at quarterback.
  • Wallace has led seven touchdown drives this year; Jake Delhomme and Colt McCoy have led two each; albeit in fewer games.
  • Of Wallace’s seven touchdown drives, five have been longer than 70 yards, a sign that he can keep drives going; Delhomme has no drives longer than 70 yards and McCoy has one.
  • Finally, for what it is worth, Wallace has a quarterback rating of 88.5, McCoy is at 76.5 and Delhomme is at 48.2.

So while it’s been established that the best course of action for the Browns is to return McCoy to the bench once Wallace and/or Delhomme are healthy, it may not be in the team’s best interests to automatically return Delhomme to the starter’s role.

Delhomme looked nice in the preseason, but that was a long time ago and against defenses that more often than not may have not been playing at 100 percent. Plus he’s a 35-year-old player coming off two injuries to his ankle.

But you have to weigh that against the fact that Wallace is a career backup for a reason.

Luckily the Browns have some time as they don’t have a game this week. And, for the most part, the coaching staff has done a much better job this year dealing with personnel decisions.

So, for now, we’re confident that the team will make the right choice when they start preparing next week to face New England.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Colt McCoy, NFL, Seneca Wallace | Leave a comment
11 Oct 2010
2 Comments

Wrapping up Browns vs. Falcons

Some final thoughts on the Browns tough loss to Atlanta on Sunday:

  • Despite their 1-4 record, the Browns defense has actually played pretty well. Take away the TAINTs that Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace have thrown and the Browns are only giving up 15 points a game. They may give up a lot of yards and have trouble getting off the field on third down – they are 24th in the league allowing the other team to convert 41 percent of the time on third down – but they don’t give up points. They have yet to give up a rushing touchdown and held Atlanta to 0-for-3 in the red zone.
  • After putting together big games against Baltimore and Cincinnati, everyone in Brownstown was wondering how the team was able to acquire Peyton Hillis from Denver for Brady Quinn. It’s likely the team just fleeced an incompetent Denver front office, but something Terry Pluto mentioned in his story Sunday in The Plain Dealer gave us pause: “It’s not widely reported, but Hillis missed four games in 2006 with ‘calcification of the bone in the right thigh’ when he was at Arkansas.” Now Hillis’ thigh is bothering him again. No way to know if this is tied to his problem at Arkansas, but that sure sounds serious. And may explain why the Broncos were willing to basically give him away.
  • Brian Robiskie: 14 career games, 10 career catches.
  • Finally, we have to talk about the quarterbacks. Apparently high ankle sprains are the new staph infections, as now Seneca Wallace has one and Jake Delhomme reinjured his against Atlanta. The Browns signed old favorite Brett Ratliff off New England’s practice squad and signs currently point to rookie Colt McCoy making his NFL debut Sunday in Pittsburgh. Now things could certainly be worse than going on the road to face the No. 2-ranked defense (No. 1 against the rush) in the league with a rookie quarterback and a third-year quarterback who has never taken a snap in a regular-season game. We just can’t really think of too many of them right now.

It’s unfortunate that injuries are hitting this team at spots where it is especially vulnerable, but we knew heading into the season that the Browns did not have a lot of depth. And while it has been frustrating and disappointing through the first five weeks of the season, it hasn’t be discouraging. With a couple of breaks, the Browns could easily be 3-2 and we’d be feeling differently.

But their record is what it is, but it’s hard to argue that the team hasn’t show some improvement over last year, especially compared to the first five games of 2009. While the Browns carry the same 1-4 record as last year, their four losses this season are by a combined 22 points; last year it was a combined 69 points. And their win against Cincinnati was a solid showing, not like last year’s ridiculous 6-3 win over Buffalo where Derek Anderson “led” the Browns with 23 passing yards.

So while it’s not all bees and honey, it’s not as bad as it seems. Keep the faith.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Colt McCoy, high ankle sprains, Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace
26 Sep 2010

Same as it ever was? Same as it ever was

The Browns finally read the rule book and realized they are allowed to play offense for a full 60 minutes – even scoring a touchdown in the second half – but despite putting up a good fight against the Ravens, the Browns lost, 24-17, to drop to 0-3 on the season, the fourth time in the past five years they have started 0-3.

It was more of the same for the Browns as too many mistakes made at the worst possible time cut short any chance they had to pull out a win. For your consideration:

  • On the Browns first drive, Seneca Wallace was called for a delay-of-game penalty on Baltimore’s 19-yard-line. A tough 3rd-and-8 became a 3rd-and-13 and the Browns settled for a field goal.
  • In the second quarter, after falling behind 7-3, the Browns had a drive going but right tackle Tony Pashos was called for holding on a Peyton Hillis run. So instead of 2nd and 6 at the Ravens’ 43 yard line, the Browns faced 1st and 20 at their own 43. Three plays later they punted.
  • In the third quarter, Ben Watson was called for unnecessary roughness on a drive into Baltimore territory. Two plays later the Browns punted.
  • After cutting Baltimore’s lead to 17-14, the Browns pinned the Ravens on their own 15 on the kickoff. But Blake Constanzo, who is only on the team for special teams play, was offside. On the re-kick, the Ravens returned to the 31 yard line, starting a drive that resulted in a touchdown.
  • Matt Roth – who we are completely tired of – was offside on the Ravens final drive, killing any chance the Browns had of making a final comeback. That was his second offside of the day.

Well, you get the picture. We thought that having a disciplinarian for a coach, rather than a “softie” like Romeo Crennel was supposed to fix the problem of excessive penalties?

Offensively, the Browns moved the ball pretty well, and you really couldn’t ask any more out of Wallace, who finished 18-of-24 with a touchdown, no turnovers and a QB rating of 103; not bad against the second-ranked pass defense.

The Browns also rushed for 173 yards, with Hillis ripping the Ravens for 144 yards on the ground and another 36 through the air. How the Browns got this guy for Brady Quinn remains one of the biggest mysteries of the year.

The defense, overall, didn’t play all that bad, although they were not able to put any pressure on Joe Flacco, who passed for 262 yards and three touchdowns – all to Anquan Boldin. Which brings us to the biggest pile of ugly from the game.

We have absolutely no idea how to describe Eric Wright’s game against the Ravens. He was burned by Boldin on all three touchdowns and seemed completely lost/overmatched/out of his league on Sunday.

Boldin had 8 catches for 142 yards. Consider that in one game Boldin had:

  • More yards than Chansi Stuckey has had in his last eight games for the Browns.
  • More yards than Brian Robiskie has had in his entire career.
  • More yards than Mohamed Massaquoi has had in his last five games for the Browns.

Somehow Massaquoi and Stuckey played an entire game without catching a single pass. For the season, Massaquoi has five total receptions for 55 yards; Stuckey has five for 41 yards.

Let’s review: in one game, Boldin had more yards than Massaquoi, Stuckey and Robiskie have combined for the season (114) and almost as many catches (10).

We’ve tried very, very hard to give these receivers the benefit of the doubt and accept that they will have growing pains. But with each passing week the evidence is slowly mounting that these guys probably just are not that good.

Excuses were made for them last year with the abysmal quarterback play, but that hasn’t been the case this year. If Josh Cribbs, Ben Watson, Peyton Hillis and everyone else can catch passes from Jake Delhomme and Wallace, why can’t these guys?

Think about it: if the Browns released Massaquoi, Robiskie and Stuckey on Monday, would any of them get picked up by another NFL team? It seems highly doubtful. Thank (insert your deity here) that Eric Mangini is no longer in charge of the draft or trades.

The Browns are back home next week against Cincinnati. We wonder what fun awaits as we near the quarter mark of the season.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, mistakes, more of the same, penalties, Seneca Wallace | Leave a comment

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