Stillers vs. Browns Pregame Analysis (Game #5, vs. Balt.)
The Stillers, still smarting from their beating at the hands
of the Titans last Sunday, take on the longtime enemy Clev Browns in a Sunday
nite showdown at Heinz Field.� Clev is
coming off a poor loss to the Cinci Bungals, which leaves them at 1-3 and
fading fast.� �
* When the Browns have the ball, Tim Couch will
assume the QB role.� He started last
week in place of Kelly Holcombe, who sat out with a leg fracture.� Although possessing many flaws, Slouch isn't
a slouch of a QB, and he's had his share of success against the Stillers.� In fact, for whatever reason, he's had far
more success against the Stillers than almost any other opponent during his
spotty 4-year tenure in the NFL.� Slouch
has a weak arm, but given the Stillers' penchant for the Softee Defense, Slouch
is usually able to play a lot of pitch n' catch on curls, slants, and short
outs.�
The Clev ground game has been shabby all season.� William Green started off slowly last
season, and he's managed to repeat that feat this campaign.� The Browns have a solid stable of backs,
with James Jackson and Jamel White backing up Green.� Jackson and White are both faster and quicker than Green, and
both are quite capable -- and dangerous -- snaring passes out of the
backfield.�
Of course, like the Stillers, the Browns' primary problem
with the ground game is the horrible play of their O-line.� In the offseason, the Brownies thought that Quasim
Mitchell would be a starting-caliber guard; it turned out he wasn't even
close.� Then starting left tackle Ross
Verba was lost for the season.� The line
has been in shambles since.� Barry Stokes
had to move from guard to LT, and now even he is hobbled a bit with an ankle
sprain.� Mel Fowler started the season
as the starting RG, but poor play led to his benching, and former 7th rounder
Paul Zukauskas mans the LG, with Shaun O'Hara then moved from RG to LG.� Rookie first rounder Jeff Faine is the
starting center.� Mediocre journeyman Ryan
Tucker works the RT spot.� After going
the first 4 games against 3 very strong O-lines (Balt, KC, and Tenn) and 1
decent one (Cinci), the Stillers finally get a breather by facing one of the
weakest lines in all of football.� Cleveland
can only blame themselves for that, of course.�
After all, until they drafted Faine in the 1st round of this past draft,
the Brownies had never spent a pick higher than a #5 (if I recall correctly) on
an O-lineman, and damn does it show.� Although
the Browns don't play much power football, Aaron Shea works as a FB/TE.�
As weak as their O-line is, their WR corps is the deepest in
the entire NFL.� The Browns have spent 4
consecutive 2nd-round draft picks on WRs, and they've hit near-gold each
time.� Quincy Morgan and Kevin Johnson
are the starters.� Morgan is the
speedster; KJ is more of a possession receiver.� KJ ranks 3rd in the conference with 25 grabs.� Denny Northcutt and Andre Davis are the
backups, but with the Browns knowing that they can spread out the Stillers and
throw the ball, both of these backups should see a lot of work on Sunday
evening.�
The key matchup will be the Browns WR fleet
against the Stiller secondary.�
Cleveland won't waste much effort trying to run the ball, aside from a
few token carries here and there.� The
Browns know they have the matchup at receiver; they've had prior air success
against the Stillers, and with such little change in Stiller defensive
personnel, the Browns know they can succeed thru the air again.� The Browns would be absolute fools if they
don't put the ball in the air at least 50 times in this tilt.� And you can better believe that the Browns
WR quartet -- which got blisters on their hands and feet from all the pass-catching
and RAC-running they did against the Stillers last season -- has been cajoling
their coaching staff to air it out as often as possible.�
* When the Stillers have the ball, they'll
be looking to minimize the mistakes that killed them in the Titan loss, while
trying to avoid becoming too conservative and stodgy.� Tommy Maddox has been scolded to avoid the hideous INTs that
killed the team last Sunday.� The
Stillers are looking to get sustained production from an oft-struggling ground
game, and the Clev defense might be just the recipe.�
The Browns defense became the league's 2003 laughingstock
when they allowed Jamal Lewis to break the NFL single-game rushing mark a
couple weeks ago.� The Browns D-line is
highly regarded, but at times too involved with press clippings and taking vast
sums of money to the bank.� With Courtney
Brown and Gerard Warren working on this line, one would think that they'd
dominate with just a couple of pluggers at the other 2 spots, but both of these
former #1 picks have not fully reached their potential.� Kenard Lang and former-Stiller Orpheus Roye
round out the front 4, and neither is chopped liver.�
The bigger problem on this defense is at LB.� A cap purge cleared out the entire starting
LB corps, so the Browns have to make do with 2nd-year men Kevin Bentley, Andra
Davis, and Ben Taylor.� The results have
been predictably quite poor.�
The Brownie secondary isn't great, but they're not a band of
bumblers, either.� Anthony Henry and
lil' Daylon McCutheon man the corners, with loudmouth Earl Little and ex-Viking
Robert Griffith working the safety spots.�
The key matchup will be the Stiller O-line against
the Cleve front 7.� The Browns front 7
is ripe for the mauling.� It's high time
this underachieving, stumbling O-line starts to dominate a game.� Against this front 7, they should.�
* Special Teams: �Chris Gardocki does the punting chores, while Phil Dawson
placekicks.� With Morgan, Northcutt, and
Andre Davis, the Browns have a fleet of dangerous returners to spur their
special teams.� In fact, given the soft,
porous nature of the Stiller special teams, this Cleveland trio has probably been
involved in fist-fights at the Cleveland practice complex to see who will get
the fun of returning kicks and punts against the league's softest special teams
unit.�
Key Individual Matchups:
* DE Courtney Brown against RT Todd Fordham.� If Brown shows up with a mean-on, this is
mismatch city.� Fordham might finish the
game�on the bench.�
* OLB Joey Porter against LT Barry Stokes or Chad Beasley.� Porter is now fully healthy and in top
condition.� He's had to face some good LTs.� Now he gets to feast on a below-average
one.�
* Plex Burress against Daylon McCutcheon or Anthony Henry.� Sure, the Browns would prefer to use the
bigger Henry on Plex.� That's where
COACHING comes into play.� Alignment, motion,
and formation allow the Stillers the chance, at times, to place Plex on
Daylon.� Even with Henry covering Plex,
this is a matchup the Stillers need to exploit, and exploit downfield.� �����
* Any of Cleveland's "big 4" receivers, against
Burnt Alexander.� The season is 1/4 of
the way complete, and Burnt has yet to defend a pass.� When Cleveland goes 4-wide -- and they will on at least 60% of
the snaps -- Burnt is going to have to do something more than standing around 15
yards off the LOS in the middle of the field.�
* Synopsis: With a rivalry as heated as this
one is, you can throw all the stats and numbers out the window.� Emotion, intensity, and momentum often
determine who wins and who loses.� The
Stillers should be plenty angry and intense.�
Playing at home on a nighttime national TV game, the Stillers will take
out their frustrations with a 29-16 whipping of the BrownStains.�