Smacking the Bengals

There were the usualy mistakes on offense -- 4 turnovers in the first half -- but the Browns have proved that, given enough chances, they'll do some damage. Today they did more than usual. I give most of the credit to the defense, who could have dealt a shutout had the Bengals not been set up with sweet field position a few times. But the offensive line deserves a lot of credit too. They kept the heat off Garcia and opened enough holes for William Green to be effective on the ground. Finally Garcia -- he had a mixed game I thought, and ultimately deserved to be the offensive MVP. Two very ugly interception and another fumbled snap may have derailed the Browns against a better opponent, but Garcia kept being aggressive and it paid off on huge plays to Andre Davis, Northcutt, and Suggs. It was a fun game to watch for Browns fans.

Some notes:
- It was a bit surprising to see William Green outrun Suggs. Suggs, in fact, looked a little slower than usual today and his fumble may have had him second guessing.
- What a nice game for Aaron Shea. Left for dead this offseason by a lot of fans (me included), Shea was a big weapon catching a huge TD and having another great catch and run called back by penalty.
- Robert Griffth got beat in coverage again for a TD. I don't know what the exact coverage was but from my seat it looked like Schobel was Griffith's guy, and Griffith was very late getting to him.
- Terrell Smith was a monster.
- I don't know if the Bengals o-line is really bad or if our d-line is really good. But one of those things, or a combination of them, is defintely true.
- It's hard not to have questions still about this offense. Garcia is not going to succeed as a pocket passer but can obviously make things happen in the right situation. That will work against lesser teams, but probably not against the better ones. Next week vs. Philadelphia will be a huge test.
- The Browns won because I didn't predict a victory.