From: mocnik@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com
Newsgroups: rec.sport.football.pro
Subject: Browns News - Aug 31st (Tampa game review)
Date: 31 Aug 92 11:14:42 EST

Browns News - August 31st
--------------------------

The Browns played the Bucs on Friday night in the last pre-season game.
The Browns showed a lot of improvement from the Viking game, but their
opponent (Tampa Bay) looked like an expansion team. Many penalties and
turnovers plauged the Bucs. The Bucs looked like a disorganized team.
The Browns did some good things, but still need a lot of improvement.
A lot of improvement. Not to make any excuses, but looking at the roster,
the Browns are a very young and inexperienced team. There are some veterans,
(Kosar, Brooks, Hilgenberg, Perry, Matthews, Newsome, Mike Johnson, Bavaro,
and Holohan), but the remainder are very young. Most have less than 3 years
experience. This team will take time. 


stats: 
======

Cleveland	10   0   14   0   -24
Tampa Bay        0   3    0   0   - 3

First quarter
-------------
Cle - FG by Matt Stover 40 yards (@ 3:21 of Qtr.) 
      Drive: 3 plays for 7 yards
      Big Play: Terry Taylor intercepts Testaverde.

Cle - M. Jackson 35 yard pass from Kosar (9:52)
      Drive: 1 play for 35 yards
      Big Play: Terry Taylor intercepts Testaverde again, sets up Bernie's pass.

Second quarter
--------------
TB - FG by Willis 28 yards (12:12)
     Drive: 11 plays for 70 yards

Third quarter
------------
Cle - Randy Baldwin returns the second half kickoff 95yds (:09)
 
Cle - Jamie Holland 36 yard pass from Todd Philcox (15:00)
      Drive: 5 plays for 63 yards
      Big Play: 15 yards unsportmanlike penalty against Sam Wyche

Fourth quarter
--------------
No scoring

Team Stats:
===========
			Cle	TB
			---	---
First Downs		12	18
Third down eff.		1-10	4-16
Fourth down eff.	1-1	0-1
Total NET yds.		200	374
NET PASS yds		112	203
NET RUSH yds		88	171
Total Plays		44	75
Punts - Ave		7-45    5-42
Sacks - yds lost	1-11	2-18
Penalties - yds		8-64	15-130
Fumbles - lost 		1-1	4-2
Time of possession	26:02	33:58


Individual stats:
=================
				Passing
        att-com-yds-td-int	-------        att-com-yds-td-int
Kosar    5 -11  -76 -1 -0	Testaverde	11-20 -124-0 -2
Philcox  1 - 3  -36 -1 -0	Pawlawski	 5- 8 -47 -0 -0
Goebel   1 - 3  -11 -0 -0       Erickson	 4- 6 -37 -0 -0
				DeBerg		 1- 3 -13 -0 -0

				Rushing
	     Att- yds  - long	-------		Att- yds  - long  
Vardell	      6 -  27  - 10	G. Anderson	12 - 79   - 16
Baldwin       8 -  22  -  8	Cobb		10 - 36   - 12
Brooks        4 -  14  -  7	Wilson		 6 - 16   -  5
Morris        4 -  13  - 14	Testaverde	 3 - 13   - 12
Wolfley       4 -  12  -  4	Pawlawski	 2 - 14   - 13
				Royster		 1 - 10   - 10
				McDowell	 1 -  3   -  3
				Jennings	 1 -  0   -  0

				Receiving
	     Att- yds  - long	---------	Att- yds  - long  
Jackson       2 -  48  -  35	G. Anderson	 4 -  34  -  31
Vardell	      2 -   5  -   6	Carrier		 3 -  52  -  26
Holland       1 -  36  -  36	Dawsey		 2 -  34  -  18
Brooks        1 -  23  -  23	Wilson		 2 -  20  -  16
Wolfley       1 -  11  -  11	Cobb		 2 -  19  -  13
				R. Hall		 2 -  16  -   9
				McDowell	 2 -  14  -   8
				Drewery		 1 -  14  -  14
				Royster		 1 -   8  -   8
				Hawkins		 1 -   6  -   6
				Armstrong	 1 -   4  -   4


Notes:
1. Friday, about 5 hours before the game was to start, the stadium was struck 
   by lightning, (around 2:15pm). Power was finally restored to the
   stadium around 4:00pm. The scoreboards, including the clocks did not work
   the entire game. If the power had not been restored, the game would have
   been postponed until Saturday. A technician from WHK radio was in the
   radio booth when the lightning struck. He said, "It knocked me back about
   3 feet on my rear. There was smoke and a little fire on the roof. It was
   louder than standing on the roof of the stadium for the fireworks." He was
   able to walk to the paramedics and was found to be okay. 

2. The game was very sloppy. The Bucs had many penalties and turnovers. The 
   Bucs were able to move the ball at times, then a penalty or a turnover would
   kill the drive. Also the Bucs had a lot of dropped passes. The Browns did
   not look overly impressive. The Browns looked more agressive on both offense 
   and defense though. This was nice to see. On offense, they finally showed
   that they can move the ball. Granted the defense gave them great field 
   position most of the night, but they were able to come up with some big
   plays at times. This had been missing throughout the pre-season. The
   defense was playing a very basic-zone most of the night, such that the Buc
   receivers were open. Dropped passes and bad passes made the Browns defense
   look better than it actually played. Check the stats, the Bucs outgained
   the Browns by almost 2-to-1. The game was marred by a terrible officiating
   crew. Granted there is a need to throw the flags, but they showed no
   consistency. It was terrible. The NFL needs to get better in this area.
   Instant replay can't be used as an excuse this year.

   The Browns did have a couple of nice plays, which I will detail:
   - Terry Taylor had 2 interceptions. On the first one, Vinnie threw the ball
     directly to him. No Buc receiver was close to the ball. It was a bad throw.
     Tommy Vardell for 3 straight running plays for a total of 7 yards. There 
     wasn't any running room, thanks to the offensive line. Stover kicked the 
     40 yard field goal on 4th down.
     On the second interception, Terry stepped in front of the Buc receiver.
     This was a good play on his part. Bernie on the next play rolled out to
     the right and hit Michael Jackson at the 5 yard line with a pass. Jackson
     backed into the end zone for the touchdown. This was good to see. The 
     rollout, I feel, will be used more often this year, and Jackson ran a 
     good route such that he was wide open.

   - Tommy Vardell missed a blitzing linebacker, that resulted in a sack. 
     Later, Tommy made up for the mistake, he took the blitzing Buc and lifted
     him up and pushed him into another rushing Buc lineman. This was a sight 
     to see. Two players were taken out on this play. Wow. As Tommy walked off
     the field , Belichick gave him congratulations for the block. Belichick 
     would say later that they have been working on Vardell's picking up the 
     blitz in practice and it was nice to see Tommy execute it perfectly.

   - James Brooks caught a swing pass over the middle and showed some great 
     moves. The play went for 23 yards. Expect to see this pass a lot this year.
     James in the open field is dangerous. 

   - Frank Stams, former Ram, played a lot. He showed his experience as an
     outside linebacker. He definitely made the team on his performance. He
     recovered one fumble and almost recovered another in the end zone.

   - Randy Baldwin, also guaranteed himself a spot on the roster with the
     kickoff return for a touchdown. There was a huge hole for him to run, and
     he dodged the kicker at the 50. He was untouched and showed some speed.
     On a negative side, Randy fumbled the ball later in the quarter. 

   - Dan Fike started at left guard for John Rienstra. Supposedly, John did
     not grade out very good in the Viking game. The Browns explanation
     said John had a sore neck. I think Dan may be the starter against Indy.
     Dan played good filling in for Tony Jones at left tackle, while Tony
     was holding out, so Dan may be rewarded with the left guard spot.

   - The defensive line put some pressure on the Buc quarterbacks, but it 
     seemed to me they had a long time to pick out their receivers. Vinnie
     had especially nervous feet, which helped. The Browns need to improve here.

   - Also the achilles heal of the defense, no speed at linebacker was 
     evident again. Running backs out of the backfield are too fast and too 
     quick for our guys to keep up. Expect the oposition to throw these little
     swing passes often this year.

   - Bruce Hill, WR, who was signed earlier in the day, dressed and played.
     He did not catch a pass.

   - Brad Goebel played for 2 series, but did not show anything. Todd Philcox
     threw a nice pass to Jamie Holland for a TD, but did not show much 
     otherwise. We still need a better backup QB.

   - Freddie Childress played a good game, but still has problems with
     blitzing linebackers. Chris Thome looked much better. He couldn't get
     any worse.

  - Jay Hilgenberg was on the sidelines for the Tampa game, but was in his
    street clothes. He sat next to Bernie in the second half. Jay in practice 
    yesterday, showed he still has the quick feet. He is hoping to learn enough
    so he can start Sunday in Indianaplois. He will be a valuable addition for
    this team. As a sidenote: It seems the Bears granted the Browns 4 hours
    in which to get a contract agreed upon. If Jay's agent and the Browns
    couldn't get a contract, then there would be no deal. It took only 20 
    minutes for the 2 sides to agree. The contract is for $1.05 M this year
    and $1.15 M next year. He is now the highest paid center in the NFL.
    I think this shows how desparate the Browns were and how unhappy Jay was
    with the Bears.

3. Player signings:
  - Eric Metcalf, SURPRISE!!!!, signed a contract and was at practice
    yesterday. Eric said the main stumbling block was NOT Money, it was how
    he was going to be used. Eric was going to meet with Belichick later
    yesterday. Eric looked to be in good shape. 
    
    I'm somewhat surprised that he was not traded. 
    Even though the Browns need his quickness, I felt he had alienated 
    Belichick. It could also be that Eric would not have gotten much in a trade 
    anyway, so he is more valuable to the Browns.
    {I heard that Atlanta offered a 4th round pick for Eric on draft day.}

  - Scott Galbraith also signed. He is in a dog-fight for his tight end job.
    I feel if Scott shows that he is NOT in shape, he is a goner. With Bavaro's
    health concerns and Holohan's ankle injury, Scott may stick around as
    insurance for a while. 

  - No news on Webster.

  - A side note: Eric and Scott as well as Jay Hilgenberg have 2 week exemptions
    from being counted on the roster, if the Browns so elect. When they are
    activated to play, someone must be dropped off the roster.

4. Cut day is today:
  - By noon today, the Browns must get to 47 players. They have already
    released:
    Alonzo Hampton, CB, did not see him much in the pre-season. He was a Plan
           B pickup.
    Lynn James, WR, who had many dropped passes in the pre-season. He was picked
           up last year from Cincinnati. He was also knocked out in the Atlanta
           pre-season game.
    John Thornton broke his left leg and is lost for the year, he is on IR.

    That leaves 9 more. I expect to see atleast 3 or 4 players placed on the
    Injured Reserve List after the roster is trimmed to 47, so that they will
    only miss 4 games. If they are placed on the List BEFORE the 47 limit,
    they are lost for the year.

    I feel the following may start the year on the IR, (Out for 4 weeks):
     - Frank Minnifield, CB, that urinary problem still exists.
     - Gerald Dixon, LB, nagging hamstring
     - Kevin Mack, RB, multitude of injuries
     - Bill Johnson, DT, ankle injuries

    The following player are on the bubble:
      - Wayne Haddix, CB
      - Stephen Braggs, DB
      - Odie harris, CB
      - John Brown, WR      
      - Lance Zeno, C
      - Chris Thome, C
      - Bob Dahl, G
      - Rod Milstead, G
      - George Williams, DT
      - Joe Morris, RB
      - Cedric Figero, LB

5. Injuries in the Tampa game:
    - John Thornton, DT, broke his left leg. He is out for the year.
    - Bill Johnson, DT, was helped off the field with a sprained ankle.
    - Terry Taylor, CB, was limping after one play, but stayed in the game.
    - Mike Johnson, LB, looked dazed on one play, but returned on the next.

My season preview will be posted later this week, See you then.

Don Mocnik