From: mocnik@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro
Subject: Browns News - Aug 17th (NYG Game Summary)
Date: 17 Aug 92 13:05:32 EST

Browns News - August 17th
--------------------------

1. The Browns played the Giants on Saturday night. What a snoozer...
   Belichick wanted to get a long look at the new players. He got a big 
   unimpressive look. Many starters didn't play or played only a series or 
   two. Bernie, Kevin Mack, James Brooks, Mike Baab, all fell into the
   above categories.
   Remember this in only pre-season. The next two games should show glimmers
   of what should happen in the regular season. Let's hope it is more
   entertaining. Cut day is next Tuesday (8/25), such that with the Browns
   playing Monday night against the Vikings, there will be very little time 
   for player evaluation. I expect to see some cuts and additions this week,
   before next Tuesday.

   Here are the stats from the game:

         1   2   3   4    FINAL
  CLE    0   0   0   7      7
  NYG    3   3  10   0     16

  scoring:
  1st QTR - NYG Matt Bahr field goal
  2nd QTR - NYG Matt Bahr field goal  
  3rd QTR - NYG Matt Bahr field goal  
  3rd QTR - NYG Kent Graham to Charles Swann 41 yd pass
  4th QTR - CLE Randy Baldwin 1 yd run

  stats:
		Cle		NYG
		---		---
First Downs 	10		18
Rushes		24-87		35-115
Passing		7-24-73yds	17-31-146yds
Punts		6-39 (ave)	3-40 (ave)
Penalties	8-68yds		5-40yds
Time of Poss.	24:21		35:39

  		Rushing - Individual

   Cleveland		    NY Giants
   ---------                ---------
   Vardell    6-36          Bunch    11-62
   Baldwin    9-39          Meggett   3-13
   Morris     2-2           Tillman  12-37
   Perkins    1-2           Anderson  3-9
   Philcox    3-(minus 6)   Lynn      1-3
                            Graham    1-0
                            Wright    1-(minus 3)
                            Carlson   3-(minus 6)

                Passing - Individual

            Att-Com-Int-Yds          Att-Com-Int-Yds
   Philcox   7 -24 -1  -85  Simms    14 -26 -0  -109
                            Graham    2 -3  -0  -43
                            Carlson   1 -2  -0  -6

                Receiving - Individual

   Smith     2-47yds        Ingram    3-25yds
   Holland   2-21           Meggett   3-19
   McCardell 1-11           D.Brown   2-13
   Bavaro    1-4            Tillman   2-4
   Baldwin   1-2            Swann     1-41 (TD)
                            Bunch     1-15
                            Baker     1-12
                            Calloway  1-11
                            Cross     1-10
                            J.Smith   1-6
                            Singleton 1-2

2. What a boring game!!!!!!!! It almost seemed like both teams were tired of
   playing each other. The Browns especially, looked lethargic at times. Very 
   little enthusiasm was shown. Granted the weather was poor, with a light rain
   falling throughout the game, and the two teams had scrimmaged for 3 days
   during the week, but I would have expected a better performance
   by some members of the Browns. 

   OFFENSE notes
   -------------
   .... The Browns on offense looked bad. 
   .... Kosar was given the night off by Belichick, no injury to Bernie 
   forced this situation. Philcox was just given the opportunity to show he 
   could lead the team if Bernie went down. Todd did NOT distinguish himself
   as a person the Browns could count on if Bernie goes down. Bernie is
   scheduled at this point to play 3 quarters against the Vikings next Monday. 
   Todd was very disappointed in his play. Will he get another chance?????
   .... Besides Bernie, Kevin Mack did not play due to his knee injury. It was
   reported that if this were a regular game, Kevin could have played, but I
   doubt he would have been effective.
   .... The Browns were bottled up deep in their territory for most of the
   game, such that they had to put together a decent drive to regain good
   field position or get into scoring range. This did not happen
   until the 4th quarter, when Rico Smith (WR) made 2 nice catches and 
   Randy Baldwin (RB) had some nice runs, including a leaping 1 yard TD.
   .... The offensive line showed why it is the KEY to the season. They did
   not play well. From reports, in the scrimmages, the Giants also manhandled 
   the offensive line, such that Benie was "touched down" quite a bit.
   A lot of improvement needs to be done here if the season is to have any 
   success. By-the-way both local papers printed critical analysis of the 
   Browns offensive line. They questioned why the Browns have addressed other
   areas of the team in Plan B and the draft, but nothing
   was done to improve the offensive line. After watching the first 2 games, I 
   would have to agree. The line does NOT look improved from last year. To make
   matters worse if any one of the starters go down, the backups are really 
   bad. This is not too encouraging, but to use an old phrase, 
   "it's only pre-season". We'll see....
   .... James Brooks for the second week did not take a handoff. He was used
   as a punt returner and as a wide receiver. Belichick knows what James can do.
   We should see more of James, I think, in the next game.
   .... *** How about some positives ***....
   ..... Tommy Vardell had a couple of very good runs. The line gave him some
   running room and he showed some good stuff. The run for 15 yards around
   end looked great. I especially liked the seven yard run up the middle.
   The Giants were hanging on Tommy's arm in hopes of stripping him of the 
   ball. Tommy held on and did not fumble. Tommy has learned his lesson.
   Tommy also caught a little swing pass and turned it into an 18 yard gain,
   but the play was nullified by a precedure penalty.
   .... Rico Smith had a couple of good catches. One was a diving, sliding catch
   over the middle. None of the other receivers showed much. Usually
   the ball was overthrown or was thrown behind them, making a catch very 
   difficult.
   .... Randy Baldwin continued to have some nice runs. Granted in both games he
   appeared late in the game, when many borderline players are playing, but
   he showed some nice moves. 

   DEFENSE notes
   -------------
   .... The Browns were lucky to be down by 6 at the half. It seemed the
   Giants would move down the field at will, passing and running until they
   reached the Browns 20 yard line. There the Browns stiffened. Granted the
   Giants do not seem to execute as well inside the 20, especially last year,
   but I would like to think the Browns caused some of this. On one play the 
   Browns stopped the Giants on a 4th and 1 at the 10 yard line. The Giants 
   runner was stopped for a loss on the play, that was one of the highlights 
   of the game.
   .... Once again the defense got a few breaks, when receivers dropped some
   passes. In the regular season, this won't happen.
   .... The Browns were able to bat atleast 3 balls away at the line of 
   scrimmage. This is good to see. 
   .... No pressure was on the QB for most of the game. There were a couple of
   hurries, but for the most part no pass rush existed. Also the Giants
   offensive line created huge holes for the running backs on many occasions.
   Jerrod Bunch needs a big hole, since he is so big, but he got a huge hole
   time and time again. 
   .... Meggett's quickness was too much for the defense. He would catch a
   swing pass or a short pass over the middle, then he'd outrun all linebackers
   for a first down. This problem has existed for years, in that we don't have
   speed at linebacker to cover the running backs when they go out for passes.
   Remember Thurman Thomas in the playoffs??????? 
   .... Stephen Braggs got toasted again, thus allowing an easy touchdown.
   Stephen went for the ball and missed. Somethings never change.
   .... Draft choices Bill Johnson, DE, and Gerald Dixon, LB, got their first
   game experience. Neither looked overly impressive, but Bill Johnson has 
   looked good in practice. His ankle is still bothering him, as his slight
   limp showed. Gerald was in on a a couple of tackles in the second half.
   .... Kent Wells, NT, had a couple of tackles behind the line of scrimmage
   in the 4th quarter on running plays.

   SPECIAL TEAMS notes
   -------------------
   Brian Hansen punted in the first half. He did not do a good job. Most of
   the punts did not have good hang time and were short. Meggett had a couple
   of decent returns that were scarry, because he seemed to be one block from
   going the distance. Tackling did not look good here either. In the second
   half Brian Greenfield got his chance to punt, but his kicks were worse than
   Hansen's. Low line drives will not help you win a roster spot. 

2. Holdouts:
   It is felt that Scott Galbraith will report this week. I don't know if he
   has a job, if the others (Bavaro, Holohan, and Kinchen) are healthy.
   No news on Metcalf and Slaughter.

3. Injuries:
   Mike Johnson, LB, injured his shoulder and will have it checked today.
   No other injuries were reported.

4. The starters were: 
   Offense: Dan Fike (LT), Rienstra (LG), Baab (C), Ed King (RG), Childress (RT)
            Patrick Rowe and Michael Jackson (WR)
            Mark Bavaro (TE)
            Ron Wolfley and Joe Morris (RB)
            Todd Philcox (QB)

   Defense: Pleasant (RE), Sagaopouletele (RT), James Jones (LT), Burnett (LE)
            Clay Matthews, Mike Johnson, David Brandon (LB)
            Barry Wilburn and Terry Taylor (CB)
            Vince Newsome and Eric Turner (S)

5. After the scrimmages, Belichick asked the Giants for their evaluation of
   the progress his team had made from last year. They responded with,
   "There's a world of difference. We couldn't push you guys around.
    Last summer when we worked out together we went right through them."
    The Browns did not seem intimidated this year at the scrimmages. Too bad
    this wasn't the case in the game.

6. I'm preparing my Browns season preview. It will have the roster, as it
   stands at that point, the schedule, some trivia, and of course, my 
   predictions for the coming year.
   I will post it on Sept. 3rd or 4th.

   I'm open to suggestions for any topics that you would like to see
   in this preview. E-mail me directly with any suggestions.


That's all for now. I'll post more later.


Don Mocnik

GOO-O-O-O-O-O-O BROWNS!!!!!!!