What a Monday night for local sports fans. We all excitedly tuned in to watch one of the most highly anticipated NFL preseason games in recent memory. And what happened? It turn into a typical expansion Browns’ game. As in watching an offense that is more likely to put a viewer to sleep than a three-plate Thanksgiving meal. A just to put the cherry on top, viewers were treated to a BREAKING NEWS ticker on the bottom of the ESPN TV screen stating that Ohio State QB Braxton Miller has been injured and is likely out for the year.
Before you start thinking about jumping off a cliff or eating a quart of ice cream to drown your sorrows, remember this guy…
Feel a little better now? Good enough to do an autopsy of the Monday Night Massacre?
Let’s examine the Buckeyes first. Short term, this is pretty close to being a season killer. Last season, OSU could have weathered this storm. They had a great back-up in Kenny Guiton. More importantly, though, they had an All-American running back in Carlos Hyde with a senior-laden offensive line in front of him. All of those pieces are gone now, putting a much greater burden on heir-apparent red-shirt QB J.T. Barrett.
But sports fans always look at things rationally (wink-wink), and if you put on these goggles, you will see that this injury actually could be a blessing in disguise. Braxton Miller has practiced very little since his initial shoulder injury in the Orange Bowl. In spite of the accolades of being the two-time Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year, his quarterback skill set had great deficiencies. He is a great runner, but is very limited as a passer both in accuracy and in reading defenses. He has had no chance to improve his deficiencies, and would have likely been an even more limited passer due to his initial lingering injury. Opposing defenses would have surely loaded up the line of scrimmage to limit his runs.
If all goes well, and he heals completely, he will have the time to develop to the next level as a signal caller to help the Bucks in 2015 and his draft stock in 2016. And maybe one of his back-ups will catch lightning in a bottle this fall and the Scarlet and Gray can ride an awesome defensive line and a mediocre Big Ten to a National Championship play-off berth.
And now, ladies and gentleman, let’s hear it for your Cleveland Browns!!!!!! At quarterback, #6, hometown hero, Brian Hoyer!!! Or, if you prefer a little more sizzle and spice on your plate….
Well, so far, it hasn’t quite played out like we had hoped. For Hoyer, the knee injury he suffered last fall was both an enormous curse and blessing. A curse, of course, because it took away an opportunity a full season to develop as an NFL starting QB. For him, though, it may have been a blessing, since it limited the sample size to study him. Remember that even though he was 2-0 as a starter, in the one game, he threw 3 interceptions vs. the lowly Vikings. More games may have exposed his limitations. I liked how Hoyer played last year, but I believe that he is, at best, another Kelly Holcomb. Hot in spurts, but not a long-term solution.
And Manziel is the mumillion dollar question…can he live up to his enormous ESPN media hype and become a franchise quarterback? I admit that I have always been addicted to chasing the hope of a franchise QB like this guy chases archeaological treasures…
Tim Couch… Charlie Frye… Brady Quinn… Colt McCoy… I proud to admit I never bought into this guy…
Johnny is our latest prophecy, and feel pretty hopeful in spite of his mediocrity so far. He took some more bullets last night for his flipping the bird to a national audience. Not a smart move, but I think it’s being overblown. I don’t think it shows he was rattled. I think Manziel is definitely a guy that loves to play with swagger and ‘dialogue’ with his opponent. Any of you that are athletes know guys that thrive on that. If the Browns want him to succeed, they need to tailor their game plan to fit his swashbuckling ways. That’s a tough choice for an NFL coach to make though.
After two very disappointing pre-season games where neither QB has staked a claim, Browns coach Mike Pettine is lucky he has no hair to pull out of his bald head. But I won’t lay the blame solely on the QBs. Neither have had the opportunity to make many easy throws where they had good protection and clearly open receivers. QBs need a few of those to get some rhythm going. The Browns’ O right now has about as much rhythm as that country boy in Footloose. Or maybe me at my 7th grade dance. And having a bunch of week-old stale bananas for wide receivers along with a west-coast offensive game plan as bland as a rice cake has not helped the cause.
The media is calling for Pettine to declare a starter so the offense can get solid repetitions to develop consistency. Does the rookie coach cave to conventional wisdom? He has preached competitiveness and mental toughness throughout camp, though, so I think his gut is telling him to wait one more game for someone to earn the crown.
Coach Mike, I say follow your gut another week. Though another week of this could have fans puking their guts out!