In the second preseason matchup for the Cleveland Browns and Buffalo Bills, weather reared its ugly head, delaying the game for an hour after a few plays by the visitors’ offense. Overall, a lot of backups all over the field for both teams as joint practice gave HCs Todd Monken and Joe Brady enough to feel good about the majority of the starters.
The story continues to be about the quarterback competition between Shedeur Sanders and Deshaun Watson, with the youngster getting the start. The game itself
was as ugly as the weather that started things off with the home team falling 31-7.
Browns takeaways from Saturday’s game:
Shedeur Sanders plays okay, hard to evaluate
“Context does matter.” – GM Andrew Berry
The stats say that Sanders completed nine of eleven passes with one touchdown and one interception for 74 yards. Like Watson last week, Sanders took what was there and made some good overall throws. His timing wasn’t great, including on the INT, but as Berry notes, with “context,” is that on the quarterback, the receiver, or just the lack of time together?
In the end, Sanders looked competent without many starters around him (similar talent level to the one he had during last year’s starts) against the Buffalo backups.
Kurt Warner helped provide some more context to the interception:
Todd Monken’s offense creates openings
It was fun to watch the new Cleveland offense creating easy options, especially in the screen game. Things seem to make sense a lot with route combinations, timing of routes, and quick route options.
Special teams mostly positive
While the unit had a couple of penalties, the return games have particularly looked better than what Browns fans have seen over the last few years. The coverage units have also looked competent as well.
Depth of Browns roster concerning, but is it just youth?
The drop off during Cleveland games is just obvious. From “we belong” to “we are hoping to make the practice squad.” For good teams, a couple of young players on the bottom of the roster tend to struggle some but are rarely needed during the regular season. It’s all about developing those players. For the Browns roster, those younger players might be needed to play on the 53-man roster, which then means even deeper on the roster is younger players without a lot of experience.
Buffalo, for example, saw Mecole Hardman, a seven year veteran with a lot of experience, making plays including a touchdown reception.
Mike Hall Jr. – Edge rusher!
“Believe he has the ability as one of our best rushers.” – GM Andrew Berry
Cleveland has been looking for defensive end help, even before Alex Wright went down this week with what could be a long-term injury. Hall, a defensive tackle throughout his career, saw some edge action verus the Bills. Berry noted that they hoped to see Hall at multiple spots going into training camp, not just because of the depth concerns. A quick rusher, Hall could really help offset the lack of edge pressure currently on the roster.
With depth at the defensive tackle position, the Browns could see three lined up in their front four quite often.
Coats, McMillon locking up DB roster spots
While Cleveland’s roster has some depth concerns, S Donovan McMillon and CB Michael Coats Jr. seems to have locked up roster spots through two preseason games. Both are often in the right position, make solid tackles, and contest passes very well.
Deshaun Watson with practice squad versus practice squad
Yikes.
Again, context matters, Watson was playing with the backups’ backups and against backups’ backups. On the other hand, Watson completed just five of 12 passes for 35 yards and an interception. He also rushed twice for 13 yards. The veteran quarterback did not look comfortable after his first read, the ball came out of his hand inconsistently, and this interception looks bad:
While Monken wants to make a decision on the quarterback spot this week, it is possible Watson’s bad performance and Sanders looking better than last week could make that more complicated. While fans prefer the younger quarterback and “not Watson,” overall, Monken and Berry have made it clear that winning and talent, including cadence use and huddle work, will make the decision.
The data seems to point in Sanders’ direction:
What were your takeaways from Browns vs Bills in Week 2 of the preseason?
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