Chidi29
10-20-2010, 07:32 PM
Cleveland played us tough considering the circumstances. McCoy played very well and handled the pressure that made him looking nothing like a rookie. Hillis is a tough runner, and up until late in the 3rd quarter, this was a 7-3 ballgame. These are wins we need to have though. Teams that we "should" beat. As the schedule gets tougher (Cincy, Miami, New England, New Orleans in the next four weeks), these wins will provide a nice safety net.
First Half
- Reed's times: Not much to note. Only one true kickoff. The rest were low liners designed to keep the ball away from Cribbs although he had one low liner even with him out of the game. Their blocking unit must be pretty good too which seems logical. Data on the true kick, the last one of the day for Reed. 3.73 (3).
- I read Kiesel orginally hurt himself on the first play of the game. Only way that could have been done was from him planting his leg when he tried to change directions and it stuck into the ground.
- Woodley was blocked by Hillis on his sack. Matchup nightmare even with Hillis being a pretty good pass blocker. Play had to be a designed quick throw. But with our pre-snap inside blitz look backing off and good coverage by Gay, there wasn't an option for McCoy.
- 1st throw by Ben. A simple screen to Mendenhall. It also gave him an easy read. Ward also was ready for a screen to the opposite side. Assuming that was Ben's first option and if he didn't like it, he could motion Mendenhall out and throw it that way, which he did.
- I thought Ben did a lot better in regards to checking down against the blitz and hitting his hot read. Big area of struggle for him last year, and one aspect that has really been holding him back from being an elite QB. Couple examples of this:
- 2nd and 8, 7:17 left in the first: It's supposed to be a block and release by Spaeth. He can't get off clean and ends up falling down. Ben has two defenders coming at him, but knowing where his checkdown is, throws a swing pass to Mendenall who fights his way for a couple of yards.
- His TD to Ward. Heavy blitz, no way we pick it up with only six guys. Ben throws it to Ward on an in route, who was actually running the wrong route. Probably a product of him and Ben being able to read the same thing, heavy blitz by the defense, and making the needed adjustments. Especially great to see in the red zone. We left so many points on the board with turnovers/failed opportunites there last year. Look at nearly any of our "bad" losses, and you'll see multiple mistakes in the red zone.
- INT by Haden. High and behind Moore. There's a window there. Throw was just off the mark. It happens. What's more interesting is to watch what guys did and didn't try to chase down Haden. Flozell (who made the tackle, should have been a penalty by the way) Pouncey (Who got knocked down at their 40 and ended up being at our 20 by the time Haden went down) and Moore (Alwayv hustles) all did. A bit surprisingly, Ward didn't make much effort. Just jogged down the field.
- Farrior did a great job timing snaps early in the game. Blew up two plays in the first quarter because of his jumps. Even if his speed is slipping, and really, has anyone even noticed, his brains make up for it.
- Play where you really see Kiesel's injury: 3rd and 12 (?) 2:35 left in the 1st. McCoy runs. Kiesel hobbles off with a left leg injury. Been ruled out for Sunday and considering how unusual it is for Tomlin to rule someone out this early, he's likely to miss a couple of weeks.
- We have to stop trying toss plays. They never work.
- Flozell briefly came out early in the 2nd quarter but returned. Jonathan Scott replaced him.
- Don't think Wallace was the intended target on his TD. Chris looks to double the tackle with Pouncey, leading me to believe that it was supposed to be something across the middle (Heath was running an in). Ben saw the matchup and even knowing he was going to take a shot with a couple defenders running free because of the down block, made the throw.
- Yup, it looked like Wallace bobbled that catch. Luckilly it wasn't reviewed.
- One thing that got overshadowed on the Harrison/Cribbs hit. Woodley did a great job of containing Cribbs and forcing him to the inside.
- Mangini said Cribbs wasn't knocked out. It sure looked like it to me. Just hope he's ok.
- Loved Mendy's running. He was seeking contact instead of going out of bounds, lowered his shoulder, and kept his feet churning. All that good stuff.
- Madison and Gay were gunners. No changes there, just haven't looked at it in awhile.
- Ike played a lot closer to the line. No press coverage but he was playing tight. Mostly on Cribbs.
Second Half
- On Ramon Foster's first play, he gets called for a hold that negated a long first down run.
- Hoke saw time at DE with injuries to Kiesel and Eason. If McClendon isn't brought up, and it doesn't sound like he will, expect to see Hoke get some snaps when spelling Smith.
- Nice job by the defense stalling out the Browns opening drive of the third quarter. Still a very close game at that point and we kept momentum.
- Ben took a shot on his deep throw to Wallace. The CB blitz did help uncover him (TJ Ward also got caught looking in the backfield, something that happened to a DB on Ben's miss to a wide open Wallace later in the game). But it also hurt in the senve that Kemoeatu, pulling to the right, tried to pick him up instead of a blitzing LB. Caused confusion. Mendenhall wasn't able to block the corner but did enough to reroute him slightly to the outside to give Ben a chance to get the throw off.
- Mendenhall's pass blocking was as good as I've seen it. He's come a long way. Remember in the preseason against Washington when he caught all that flack for shying away from contact?
- Sylvester had a big hit on kick coverage. I didn't like it though. It wasn't fundamental; more "hitting" than "tackling" as has been talked about the past couple days. He doesn't try to wrap and drive, just lowers his shoulder. He did that in the preseason too. I noted it then.
- Fox showed how you really make a tackle on the last kickoff of the game. Textbook.
- Legursky returned after a series.
- We've done a nice job dropping Woodley back at the right times to counter the hitch routes teams use against us. Second time it's nearly resulted in a pick. Happened against Tampa too. (incidential puns!)
- Thinking out loud here, but anyone else think Watson didn't attempt to dive for a pass on 3rd down in the 4th quarter after seeing the hits on Cribbs and MM?
- On the second of the three punts before the fumble, Stuckey catches it in a very similar way as he tried on the fumble. Arms up and out. It shows bad positioning and is a high-risk catch, as evident by the drop on the next go around.
- According to the announcer: 5th dropped punt Sepulevda has caused this season. Wow!
- Timmons got caught in no-man's land on the Watson TD> Either he stays back and McCoy runs or he comes forward and McCoy throws it to the TE. Probably would have been wiser to lay back in coverage. Make McCoy run.
- Yup, no Troy on the last two series. Replaced by Mundy. Don't know what the situation was. Wasn't mentioned on the injury report.
- Liked the aggression by the offense on the TD to Heath. Make it a three possession game and close the door on them.
- Legursky played well once again. Really showed impressive awareness in being able to pick up inside 'backer blitzes, not letting them being able to blow up the backfield.
- No poor snaps between Pouncey and Ben. Good to see.
- Hampton showed a strong first step. Looked very quick off the ball all game. Mack had his hands full.
Sacks
None. Celebrate good times, come on!
Injuries
Kiesel's is the worst. Left hamstring injury. Assuming it's pretty serious.
Kemoeatu came out briefly after having a couple guys fall on him. He returned.
Legursky has a minor MCL sprain. Tomlin doesn't think it's serious.
Eason went down with some leg injury but he looks to be ok.
Mendenhall has a left shoulder contusion. Again, nothing to worry about.
First Half
- Reed's times: Not much to note. Only one true kickoff. The rest were low liners designed to keep the ball away from Cribbs although he had one low liner even with him out of the game. Their blocking unit must be pretty good too which seems logical. Data on the true kick, the last one of the day for Reed. 3.73 (3).
- I read Kiesel orginally hurt himself on the first play of the game. Only way that could have been done was from him planting his leg when he tried to change directions and it stuck into the ground.
- Woodley was blocked by Hillis on his sack. Matchup nightmare even with Hillis being a pretty good pass blocker. Play had to be a designed quick throw. But with our pre-snap inside blitz look backing off and good coverage by Gay, there wasn't an option for McCoy.
- 1st throw by Ben. A simple screen to Mendenhall. It also gave him an easy read. Ward also was ready for a screen to the opposite side. Assuming that was Ben's first option and if he didn't like it, he could motion Mendenhall out and throw it that way, which he did.
- I thought Ben did a lot better in regards to checking down against the blitz and hitting his hot read. Big area of struggle for him last year, and one aspect that has really been holding him back from being an elite QB. Couple examples of this:
- 2nd and 8, 7:17 left in the first: It's supposed to be a block and release by Spaeth. He can't get off clean and ends up falling down. Ben has two defenders coming at him, but knowing where his checkdown is, throws a swing pass to Mendenall who fights his way for a couple of yards.
- His TD to Ward. Heavy blitz, no way we pick it up with only six guys. Ben throws it to Ward on an in route, who was actually running the wrong route. Probably a product of him and Ben being able to read the same thing, heavy blitz by the defense, and making the needed adjustments. Especially great to see in the red zone. We left so many points on the board with turnovers/failed opportunites there last year. Look at nearly any of our "bad" losses, and you'll see multiple mistakes in the red zone.
- INT by Haden. High and behind Moore. There's a window there. Throw was just off the mark. It happens. What's more interesting is to watch what guys did and didn't try to chase down Haden. Flozell (who made the tackle, should have been a penalty by the way) Pouncey (Who got knocked down at their 40 and ended up being at our 20 by the time Haden went down) and Moore (Alwayv hustles) all did. A bit surprisingly, Ward didn't make much effort. Just jogged down the field.
- Farrior did a great job timing snaps early in the game. Blew up two plays in the first quarter because of his jumps. Even if his speed is slipping, and really, has anyone even noticed, his brains make up for it.
- Play where you really see Kiesel's injury: 3rd and 12 (?) 2:35 left in the 1st. McCoy runs. Kiesel hobbles off with a left leg injury. Been ruled out for Sunday and considering how unusual it is for Tomlin to rule someone out this early, he's likely to miss a couple of weeks.
- We have to stop trying toss plays. They never work.
- Flozell briefly came out early in the 2nd quarter but returned. Jonathan Scott replaced him.
- Don't think Wallace was the intended target on his TD. Chris looks to double the tackle with Pouncey, leading me to believe that it was supposed to be something across the middle (Heath was running an in). Ben saw the matchup and even knowing he was going to take a shot with a couple defenders running free because of the down block, made the throw.
- Yup, it looked like Wallace bobbled that catch. Luckilly it wasn't reviewed.
- One thing that got overshadowed on the Harrison/Cribbs hit. Woodley did a great job of containing Cribbs and forcing him to the inside.
- Mangini said Cribbs wasn't knocked out. It sure looked like it to me. Just hope he's ok.
- Loved Mendy's running. He was seeking contact instead of going out of bounds, lowered his shoulder, and kept his feet churning. All that good stuff.
- Madison and Gay were gunners. No changes there, just haven't looked at it in awhile.
- Ike played a lot closer to the line. No press coverage but he was playing tight. Mostly on Cribbs.
Second Half
- On Ramon Foster's first play, he gets called for a hold that negated a long first down run.
- Hoke saw time at DE with injuries to Kiesel and Eason. If McClendon isn't brought up, and it doesn't sound like he will, expect to see Hoke get some snaps when spelling Smith.
- Nice job by the defense stalling out the Browns opening drive of the third quarter. Still a very close game at that point and we kept momentum.
- Ben took a shot on his deep throw to Wallace. The CB blitz did help uncover him (TJ Ward also got caught looking in the backfield, something that happened to a DB on Ben's miss to a wide open Wallace later in the game). But it also hurt in the senve that Kemoeatu, pulling to the right, tried to pick him up instead of a blitzing LB. Caused confusion. Mendenhall wasn't able to block the corner but did enough to reroute him slightly to the outside to give Ben a chance to get the throw off.
- Mendenhall's pass blocking was as good as I've seen it. He's come a long way. Remember in the preseason against Washington when he caught all that flack for shying away from contact?
- Sylvester had a big hit on kick coverage. I didn't like it though. It wasn't fundamental; more "hitting" than "tackling" as has been talked about the past couple days. He doesn't try to wrap and drive, just lowers his shoulder. He did that in the preseason too. I noted it then.
- Fox showed how you really make a tackle on the last kickoff of the game. Textbook.
- Legursky returned after a series.
- We've done a nice job dropping Woodley back at the right times to counter the hitch routes teams use against us. Second time it's nearly resulted in a pick. Happened against Tampa too. (incidential puns!)
- Thinking out loud here, but anyone else think Watson didn't attempt to dive for a pass on 3rd down in the 4th quarter after seeing the hits on Cribbs and MM?
- On the second of the three punts before the fumble, Stuckey catches it in a very similar way as he tried on the fumble. Arms up and out. It shows bad positioning and is a high-risk catch, as evident by the drop on the next go around.
- According to the announcer: 5th dropped punt Sepulevda has caused this season. Wow!
- Timmons got caught in no-man's land on the Watson TD> Either he stays back and McCoy runs or he comes forward and McCoy throws it to the TE. Probably would have been wiser to lay back in coverage. Make McCoy run.
- Yup, no Troy on the last two series. Replaced by Mundy. Don't know what the situation was. Wasn't mentioned on the injury report.
- Liked the aggression by the offense on the TD to Heath. Make it a three possession game and close the door on them.
- Legursky played well once again. Really showed impressive awareness in being able to pick up inside 'backer blitzes, not letting them being able to blow up the backfield.
- No poor snaps between Pouncey and Ben. Good to see.
- Hampton showed a strong first step. Looked very quick off the ball all game. Mack had his hands full.
Sacks
None. Celebrate good times, come on!
Injuries
Kiesel's is the worst. Left hamstring injury. Assuming it's pretty serious.
Kemoeatu came out briefly after having a couple guys fall on him. He returned.
Legursky has a minor MCL sprain. Tomlin doesn't think it's serious.
Eason went down with some leg injury but he looks to be ok.
Mendenhall has a left shoulder contusion. Again, nothing to worry about.