What I'm Looking At During Camp
My key training camp issues that will most affect the outcome of the 2004 season:
- Punter. As many others, I'm skeptical that Scott Frost is ready to be the full-time punter and holder on kicks. I'd go so far to say that subpar performances from Frost could completely undermine a team that should be able to fair well when it comes to field position battles. Unless Frost surprises everyone or the team brings in a proven veteran, this will be an undeniable weakness for this team.
- Offensive line health. I could care less if the Browns fail to run the ball effectively throughout the entire preseason. Just stay healthy. Please. 4/5 positions should be pretty solid if everyone is healthy, and that IF is more important that just about anything else because there just isn't good depth beyond that. Even though it's unclear who will start at left guard, I think the team will be fine there with Demar or one of the other young undrafted guys. As long as Verba, Faine, Tucker and Garmon can play the bulk of the season. The team would be very well served by investing in a veteran, and I'm holding out hope somebody decent gets cut.
- Who plays safety. I'm really concerned with Griffth, cause he has played so poorly and is now pretty old, and Little, cause of his offseason blustering. We can hope Griffth is the Browns' Matt Lawton but that is probably a stretch. We can hope Little plays with as big a ship on his shoulder as he has had this offseason, and that is more likely. Still, unless someone among Crocker, Jameson, David Gibson, or Kentrell Curry makes a push to start there could be trouble in the secondary. Especially because the Browns don't have the kind of shut-down corner(s) that enable them to "hide" a poor performer.
- How will Morgan/Davis/Northcutt get along with Garcia. I think the key here is what types of patterns these three guys are asked to run. Morgan has been rightfully abused for his constant inability to hang on to the ball, but it seems the majority of his drops are on shorter and crosssing-type routes. While any starting WR has to run these, Morgans best skill is in catching balls downfield. Can Garcia get him the ball this way? Will Robiskie's offense put Morgan in this type of situation often enough? Andre Davis, on the other hand, is probably the team's most promising and versatile performer because he can do everything well, including making tough catches on post and crossing routes. Northcutt, on the other hand, really cleans up underneath and is good going deep when the right opportunity presents itself. With a new QB and offensive coordinator it will be very interesting to see what types of sets the team runs in the preseason and what types of throws Garcia can make. We need to see some promise and have confidence the good-but-not-great skills of these WRs can be used in an efective way.
- Winslow. Of course, all eyes will be upon the first round pick the Browns gave up so much to select. I am banking on a reasonably quick signing; if a holdout ensues it will obviously stunt Winslows growth in his fiest season. Personally, I'm hoping for a relatively quiet training camp with a few flashes of promise. While I'm excited about his downfield receiving ability, it's probably most important that Winslow spends camp becoming an efficient short yardage receiver and effective blocker. Being proficient at these fundamentals will really allow Winslow to be an excellent all-around player instead of merely a "receiving tight end" (which would still be a welcome asset).
- Punter. As many others, I'm skeptical that Scott Frost is ready to be the full-time punter and holder on kicks. I'd go so far to say that subpar performances from Frost could completely undermine a team that should be able to fair well when it comes to field position battles. Unless Frost surprises everyone or the team brings in a proven veteran, this will be an undeniable weakness for this team.
- Offensive line health. I could care less if the Browns fail to run the ball effectively throughout the entire preseason. Just stay healthy. Please. 4/5 positions should be pretty solid if everyone is healthy, and that IF is more important that just about anything else because there just isn't good depth beyond that. Even though it's unclear who will start at left guard, I think the team will be fine there with Demar or one of the other young undrafted guys. As long as Verba, Faine, Tucker and Garmon can play the bulk of the season. The team would be very well served by investing in a veteran, and I'm holding out hope somebody decent gets cut.
- Who plays safety. I'm really concerned with Griffth, cause he has played so poorly and is now pretty old, and Little, cause of his offseason blustering. We can hope Griffth is the Browns' Matt Lawton but that is probably a stretch. We can hope Little plays with as big a ship on his shoulder as he has had this offseason, and that is more likely. Still, unless someone among Crocker, Jameson, David Gibson, or Kentrell Curry makes a push to start there could be trouble in the secondary. Especially because the Browns don't have the kind of shut-down corner(s) that enable them to "hide" a poor performer.
- How will Morgan/Davis/Northcutt get along with Garcia. I think the key here is what types of patterns these three guys are asked to run. Morgan has been rightfully abused for his constant inability to hang on to the ball, but it seems the majority of his drops are on shorter and crosssing-type routes. While any starting WR has to run these, Morgans best skill is in catching balls downfield. Can Garcia get him the ball this way? Will Robiskie's offense put Morgan in this type of situation often enough? Andre Davis, on the other hand, is probably the team's most promising and versatile performer because he can do everything well, including making tough catches on post and crossing routes. Northcutt, on the other hand, really cleans up underneath and is good going deep when the right opportunity presents itself. With a new QB and offensive coordinator it will be very interesting to see what types of sets the team runs in the preseason and what types of throws Garcia can make. We need to see some promise and have confidence the good-but-not-great skills of these WRs can be used in an efective way.
- Winslow. Of course, all eyes will be upon the first round pick the Browns gave up so much to select. I am banking on a reasonably quick signing; if a holdout ensues it will obviously stunt Winslows growth in his fiest season. Personally, I'm hoping for a relatively quiet training camp with a few flashes of promise. While I'm excited about his downfield receiving ability, it's probably most important that Winslow spends camp becoming an efficient short yardage receiver and effective blocker. Being proficient at these fundamentals will really allow Winslow to be an excellent all-around player instead of merely a "receiving tight end" (which would still be a welcome asset).
posted by Michael @ 12:32 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home