On Wednesday and Thursday, I like to watch a few games in full. You always get a better understanding of teams when you watch their entire games. Stats and highlights have value, but you really need to see the whole product. Up this time: Browns at San Diego.
Both teams used lots of spread formations in this game. That’s kind of what football is nowadays, mostly. Spread the field and run draws. Rarely do you see a team try to roll up its sleeves and simply run against an opponent.
Chargers were badly wounded in this game. They were playing without three starting offensive linemen. In the first quarter, they lost Malcom Floyd to a concussion. In the first two minutes of the second half, they lost Stevie Johnson to a strained hamstring. Antonio Gates was suspended. So it was really just Philip Rivers and a hodge-podge group on that side.
Duke Johnson. He’s definitely splitting time with Isaiah Crowell. Johnson caught 6 passes last week and 9 passes in this game. He was hampered by a mild ankle sprain in the second half, costing him some plays and limiting him to just 1 reception in the third quarter and 1 in the fourth. Note that at the end of the game, they had the ball first-and-goal and had Johnson in the game. He got stuffed on that play for no gain. Second play they faked to him and threw a touchdown. On the two-point conversion he was still in there. Not that Johnson is going to score all of the 1-yard touchdowns for this team, but he’s right there with Crowell. Including catches, I would guess Johnson will have as many touches as Crowell in the final 12 games of the season.
Josh McCown. Anybody who thinks Johnny Manziel should be starting ahead of McCown doesn’t know what they’re talking about. Manziel can run around a little. Maybe he scrambles for a touchdown when they’re inside the 10 or buys time to set up a long completion. But McCown in every other facet of the game is way ahead of Manziel. Not even close. He’s passed for over 340 yards in back-to-back games. With him in there, this is a viable passing offense. But to stay in the lineup, McCown must win some games; he’s lost his last 9 starts.
Travis Benjamin. Cleveland has the league’s smallest receiving corps. Benjamin, Andrew Hawkins and Taylor Gabriel are their three main guys, and none of them weigh more than 180 pounds or is taller than 5-foot-10. But these are their best guys. Of the three, Benjamin is definitely No. 1. He had the three long touchdowns with Johnny Manziel at quarterback, but that wasn’t a case of him just happening to get lucky on a few deep balls. Benjamin has been out there long enough now that he’s had a chance to get comfortable. He’s adjusting routes when quarterbacks are running around, and he’s making catches in traffic. He had 6 catches for 79 yards in this game, on more targets (10) than the other two guys combined. He’s also probably one of the top 5 punt returners in the league. He had a touchdown against Tennessee back in Week 2, and he nearly had another one in this game and a nice 31-yard effort. Looked good on his other return (10 yards) as well. As long as McCown keeps putting up these 250-plus yard efforts, Benjamin is very much in play to maybe finish the year as the league’s most surprising top-15 receiver.
Brian Hartline. Hartline had a catch in the first quarter and left. With his size and experience, I think he has a role in this offense. But even prior to the injury, he was playing a lot less than the three small guys. The only other receiver on this team is Dwayne Bowe, and I wonder if he’s now played his last down as a Brown. I saw Bowe out there for a few plays. In the second quarter, they tried to get him the ball on a comeback route and it looks like Bowe could have done a better job boxing out the defender with his big body. That was his only target, and I don’t think he got back on the field.
Gary Barnidge. I don’t know if I should admit this, but I picked up Barnidge in a league. I’ve got Olsen and Rudolph, and they’re both on byes. Barnidge is a big, slow, blocking-type tight end, but they’re using him. He had 6 catches and a touchdown against the Raiders, and he had another 6 catches and a touchdown in this one. He had a really nice juggling 19-yard reception to set up the tying touchdown with 2 minutes left. He seems to catch the ball reasonably well, and they split him out often as essentially a big wide receiver. When he’s out there, he can set picks and block for the little wide receivers. The Browns use a couple of other tight ends – Jim Dray, Rob Housler. Housler is way faster than Barnidge. But they haven’t used Dray or Housler much at all in the passing game.
Travis Coons. Solid effort in this game, hitting all 4 of his field goals. Browns passed on a 50-yard attempt in the first quarter. Not sure if they doubted his range or just felt they could get it on fourth-and-two.
Melvin Gordon. The Chargers used a first-round pick on Gordon, but the offense seems to be better when Danny Woodhead is playing. Woodhead is a lot quicker and more elusive. Gordon would beat Woodhead in a 50-yard race, but he needs time to build up to top speed – he’s more of a long-strider. Think of Darren McFadden. Gordon would be best suited to running those kind of plays – toss sweeps where you’re building up a head of steam. Woodhead starts and stops better, so he’s better at running the draws. Not that Gordon is necessarily a bust; he had a few good runs at Cincinnati. They definitely want him to be their guy and aren’t giving up on him. But Gordon was highly ineffective in this one, with three linemen out. He had a 23-yard run but other picked up 15 yards on 11 attempts. Woodhead carried 8 times for 54 yards and also picked up 84 yards on 4 receptions. Woodhead isn’t going away. He’ll finish with more total yards in many of the team’s remaining games. The Chargers got a first-and-goal in the fourth quarter and Gordon was stuffed on the first play. Looked like a lot of backs would have gone over and scored on that play (he had a chance). They went play-action for a TD on the next play.
Dontrelle Inman. Malcom Floyd got hurt, so Inman worked as a starter for three quarters of this game. He didn’t make much of an impact. He converted a big fourth down in the third quarter, and he caught a crossing ball that turned into a 66-yard reception in the fourth. But not a player (I think) anybody should be thinking about as a one-week fill-in for Week 5. I would slot him well behind, for example, Kamar Aiken, who’s probably available in a lot of leagues.
Stevie Johnson. He injured his hamstring in this game on one of the first few plays of the second half. He had been busy in the first, with 4 receptions. I’m not assuming he’ll be out this week. The injury was mild enough that Johnson still had his helmet on late in the third quarter.
Philip RIvers. He is an ugly thrower of the football. If you had to evaluate quarterbacks simply by how they throw the ball (that is, with no teammates around catching it and no defenders working against him) you would never think this guy would be an NFL starter. Below-average arm strength, and it comes out low and awkwardly. But he knows how to move the chess pieces on the board, taking advantage of matchups. Won here against a lesser opponent, but did so with six offensive starters out of the game. The Week 5 grade I have for Rivers will be adjusted tomorrow. He’s capable of slicing up Pittsburgh’s defense, but we have to see how many of those regulars will be playing – he’s been getting hit too often.
Keenan Allen. He caught 4 passes for 72 yards and a touchdown in this game. Given the injuries to Floyd and Johnson, I would have thought he would have caught a lot more balls. He had a 31-yard reception that never would have happened if Joe Haden had been playing. The guy filling in for Haden had every opportunity to knock the ball away but simply missed it.
Josh Lambo. He missed a 39-yard kick to win the game at the end. Pushed it wide. But the Browns were offsides, giving him another opportunity, from 34 yards. He’s like these other young kickers in the league right now, trying to knock down enough kicks and games to get comfortable at this level.
Ladarius Green. Didn’t make a huge impact in this game but had a couple of good catches, including a 19-yard touchdown on a lofted ball into the end zone. If Floyd and Johnson are out, they’ll probably need to use him as a wide receiver in the Monday night game.
—Ian Allan