Eagles @ Browns

[Dutch 874]

Browns vs. Eagles -- Week 1

 

Where: Cleveland Browns Stadium, Cleveland, Ohio (grass, outdoors)

 

When: Sunday, 1 p.m. ET. (Fox)

 

Spread: Eagles by 8 1/2

 

Forecast: 10 percent chance of rain, mild breeze; projected kickoff temperature: 67 degrees.

 

2011 records: Browns (4-12); Eagles (8-8)

 

Past results: Two most recent meetings -- December 15, 2008: Eagles 30, Browns 10; Oct. 24, 2004 -- Eagles 34, Browns 31 (OT). Series record: Browns hold a 31-15-1 edge.

 

What matters: The Browns ranked 30th in the NFL against the run last season and the defense has been devastated by injuries. Most ominous is that they are facing an offense featuring the dangerous legs of Michael Vick and LeSean McCoy. The Browns are playing without top run-stoppers in DT Phillip Taylor (pectoral surgery) and weakside LB Chris Gocong (season-ending Achilles surgery). LB Scott Fujita,however, is expected to be back after an appeals panel Friday overturned his three-game suspension. The other side of the ball doesn't look particularly promising, either. The offensive line struggled to keep up with the aggressive, athletic pass rush of the Eagles in the third preseason game. Rookie QB Brandon Weeden had a serious case of the yips throughout the exhibition season, fumbling three times. Rookie RB Trent Richardson has yet to play a snap in a game after arthroscopic knee surgery. Perhaps emotion will rule the day for the young Browns, but logic calls for pessimism.

 

Who matters: Rookie DTs Billy Winn and John Hughes will be greatly responsible for keeping McCoy from finding big holes up the middle, but the Browns really struggled stopping the run around the ends last season. DE Jabaal Sheard must improve in that area. Aging CB Sheldon Brown remains a concern. He has struggled mightily to keep up with faster wide receivers over the last two seasons. One must wonder if he will be torched by either DeSean Jackson or Jeremy Maclin. Heck, Brown was burned by Eagles third-string WR Damaris Johnson in the preseason.

 

MATCHUP TO WATCH: Browns Offensive Line vs. Eagles Defensive Line -- In my mind, the battle of the trenches will most likely determine the outcome of the contest. In what was supposed to be a watered-down, "vanilla" preseason game two weeks ago, the Eagles defensive front, employing their 'Wide Nine" formation, absolutely manhandled the Browns starting offensive line and forced two strip sacks on Browns rookie quarterback Brandon Weeden. If the Browns are going to have any chance of winning the game on Sunday, the offensive line has to somehow neutralize the Eagles' speedy pass rush and give Brandon Weeden time to step into the pocket and make a decision with the football. Even if that decision is throwing it out-of-bounds, the Browns can ill-afford to have the turnovers they had back when the games didn't count yet.

 

Injuries of note: LB James-Michael Johnson (oblique) was going to start on the outside due to the loss of Chris Gocong (season-ending Achilles surgery) and before's Friday's court decision allowing Scott Fujita to play. But with Fujita back, the Browns' linebacker situation has signficantly improved, and they won't have to rely as much on inexperienced players.

 

Inside stuff: The Browns' special teams have suffered since they lost coach Brad Seely to the 49ers after the 2010 season. They ranked at the top of the league in special teams efficiency during his tenure in Cleveland, but their coverage units performed poorly last year and have shown no improvement. The Browns had two punts blocked in four preseason games.

 

Connections: Most folks are aware that Browns' coach Pat Shurmur and GM Tom Heckert worked with Eagles' coach Andy Reid in Philadelphia and that Reid worked under Browns' president Mike Holmgren in Green Bay. But much of the talk in Cleveland these days is about rookie DB Davis Sims, whom the Browns traded to the Eagles last week. The Browns scoffed at the notion that a team should not trade a player to its Week 1 opponent.

 

Stat you should know: The Eagles and Browns both yielded an average of 4.4 yards per rush in 2011. Chances are strong that both McCoy and Browns' rookie Trent Richardson will enjoy some success. The reps for Richardson, who returned from arthroscopic knee surgery this week, could be limited.

 

Looking ahead: Aren't teams with 4-12 records supposed to have easy schedules the next year? The Browns' schedule is brutal -- and it doesn't get any easier. A victory over the Eagles would provide badly needed momentum and confidence when they play Cincinnati, Buffalo, Baltimore and the Super Bowl champion New York Giants in the following weeks.

 

Prediction: Eagles 27, Browns 16

 

Stay dialed in on the Cleveland Browns on Twitter at @CBSSportsNFLCLE throughout the season with on-site updates from CBSSports.com RapidReports correspondent Marty Gitlin.

 

Since Vin forgot about us (), I decided to post our game matchup. Trent Richardson is set to play atm and hopefully he does. "Joe Haden's appeal for his four-game suspension has not been ruled on as of Thursday, and he might get to play in the opener against the Philadelphia Eagles."http://cleveland.sbnation.com/cleveland-browns/2012/9/6/3297946/joe-haden-suspension-browns-vs-eagles I'm curious to see Trent Richardson in Nfl action and we already know what Joe Haden can do; one of the emerging top corners in the league. As for my Eagles, I can't wait to see our defense in action (Mychal Kendricks) and how many sacks our D-line gets against a good browns O-line in the regular season. Hopefully Vick stays upright so we can see some offensive rhythm.

 

With that being said, GL to both teams (not really) and good health.

 

Go E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!

 

31

13

[Bay 2,003]

Don't think this game is going to be a big blowout. Eagles should still win in a semi-close one.

 

24

 

14

 

Eagles will pull away late.

[SteVo+ 3,702]

Assuming Joe Haden is not suspended, I'll bet on him handling DeSean Jackson pretty well, so where the Eagles need to win offensively is with Jeremy Maclin vs. Sheldon Brown. If Maclin is truly going to "breakout" this season, he needs to start with a strong performance against an aging cornerback.

 

I would mention the benefits of Shady but Andy will probably forget about him in the 2nd half.

[AllYouNeedIsLovie 377]

Like the Eagles in this one. They are the better team and Richardson will be playing banged up and if Haden is suspended, that will hurt the Browns D and make it a lot easier for Desean to stretch the field.

[Barracuda 629]

Haden will most likely play tomorrow. Holmgren on 92.3 the fan when asked about Haden said "He’s had his appeal hearing and now it’s up to someone else. And we don’t know." He kinda let the cat out of the bag. This means his punishment has already been stated but the NFL will not acknowledge it until his appeal is either accepted or denied. Since there has been no decision yet, he'll probably play unless they come to something by the end of the day.

 

If the Eagles are going to win they have to do it with McCoy. According to the past, the Browns weren't very good against the run and we have a few injuries in that front 7. The day I pick against the Browns is the day I die.

Edited September 8, 2012 by Barracuda

[Dutch 874]

Haden will most likely play tomorrow. Holmgren on 92.3 the fan when asked about Haden said "He’s had his appeal hearing and now it’s up to someone else. And we don’t know." He kinda let the cat out of the bag. This means his punishment has already been stated but the NFL will not acknowledge it until his appeal is either accepted or denied. Since there has been no decision yet, he'll probably play unless they come to something by the end of the day.

 

If the Eagles are going to win they have to do it with McCoy. According to the past, the Browns weren't very good against the run and we have a few injuries in that front 7. The day I pick against the Browns is the day I die.

 

 

I like the Jeremy Maclin vs Sheldon Brown matchup and think we can produce some good plays there. DeSean vs Haden, I'm not so sure. DeSean's speed alone has to be respected though and is always a constant threat.

[Barracuda 629]

Sheldon Brown has been pretty reliable for us, but his age is beginning to show. He'll have plenty of safety help and I think it should be enough to contain him.

 

If the Eagles mix it up with McCoy get some play action going they shouldn't really have a problem. Hopefully we can get some pressure on Vick even with a banged up line and hold our own when it comes to the run.

[Dutch 874]

Sheldon Brown has been pretty reliable for us, but his age is beginning to show. He'll have plenty of safety help and I think it should be enough to contain him.

 

If the Eagles mix it up with McCoy get some play action going they shouldn't really have a problem. Hopefully we can get some pressure on Vick even with a banged up line and hold our own when it comes to the run.

 

Yeah, Sheldon Brown has always been a solid corner and very underrated.

[TealFTW 1]

Eagles should take this imo, hope the Browns play well though. Would be good to see TR and Weeden play well.

[HadenIsland23 42]

Not sure how much PT TRich will get with a healthy Jackson and Hardesty back there no need to rush him in, look for the Browns to make a run in the second half, but I don't think we can pull it out.

[HadenIsland23 42]

Browns inactives vs. Eagles-Lewis, Norwood, Ogbonnaya, Wade, Young, J. Johnson & Cousins. RB Trent Richardson is active and L.J. Fort to start at LB.

[Vin+ 3,121]

Eagles declared RB Dion Lewis (hamstring) inactive for Sunday's game against the Browns.

 

Bryce Brown will back up LeSean McCoy and Chris Polk is active as the No. 3 running back. There are no signs that Lewis' injury is a long-term situation, so handcuffers can hold tight for now.

 

The other Eagles' inactives are S Colt Anderson, WR Riley Cooper, G Nate Menkin, DE Vinny Curry, S David Sims and T Demetrius Bell.

[Omerta+ 1,206]

Wow the Eagles looked awful. They barely squeaked it out, they are going to need to step up to contend for that division.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

I would be mighty worried if I were an Eagles fan. It's just week 1, so there is a ton of time for improvement.. But the Browns looked TERRIBLE. Weeden looked bad. Trent Richardson was ineffective. They couldn't move the ball at all and still held the lead until the end of the 4th.

 

Good news for the Eagles is that it can't get much uglier than that.

[DonovanMcnabb for H.O.F 2,241]

The Browns would come out in a prevent...

[housemd 338]

I predicted the Eagles to finish 10-6..I'm not sure I'll be right if they keep playing like this..Jeremy Maclin pretty much won the game for them..

[SteVo+ 3,702]

I'll elaborate on my thoughts later, but this looks like the 2011 Michael Vick, making bad decisions, throwing interceptions...the Eagles aren't going anywhere if this continues.

[Dutch 874]

 

 

The play calling was FUCKING HORRIBLE!! So many PLAY ACTION PASSES when CLEVELAND was getting PENETRATION ALL GAME. Our O-line wasn't playing good at all so IDK WHY MARTY DIALED up so many FUCKING passing plays! Vick did get hit 10 times but HE THREW some FUCKING rookie ass PASSES; 4 INTERCEPTIONS throwing into DOUBLE + COVERAGE MULTIPLE times and throwing ACROSS HIS BODY on his BACK FOOT!!!!

 

Our defense played great but it's not like the Browns offense is great. Bottom line though our defense put our offense in GREAT POSITION to put that ball game away. We were fucking HORRIBLe on 3rd down and TURNOVER AFTER TURNOVER. We had NO RHYTHM on offense. The only person that was BALLINg was McCOy. Maclin made plays two but had an OFF pass interf, a 2 drops and one led to a pick!

 

Don't even get me started on the FUCKING penalties!! 12 FUCKING penalties...

 

Bottom line is that we can't compete competitively turning the ball over, shooting ourselves in the foot with penalties and not being able to convert on 3rd down !!!!

 

Edited September 9, 2012 by dutchff7

[seanbrock 1,684]

First of all, the Browns have a very solid defense so I don't want anything away from them. They played hard all game and came up big forcing 5 turnovers and cashing one in for a TD, but I think it's pretty clear the Eagles left about 6 or 7 points on the board by not making an adjustment and running the football with the youth and depth we have at RB and it's not like McCoy isn't the best player we have on offense. Not to mention our offensive line was clearly more comfortable run blocking.

 

For a team that keeps preaching they want to protect their QB they're doing a lousy job of doing it. He was getting killed and our coaching staff stilled elected to pass the ball 56 times. Most of which were either 5 step drops or play action.

 

Another thing is, I'm not going to buy into the hype of this defense until we play a legitimate offense. If Joe Flacco comes to town and lights us up I'll be seriously worried. Our secondary is exactly the same as it was last year accept we have a new starting CB on the left side. If anything it's possible we could be worth. Like him or not Samuel is a proven player. DRC isn't and we don't have Hanson anymore who has been a very solid NCB for us for years. I will say though that we're clearly better at LB. We haven't had a LBer corps this good since Emmons and Trotter.I love our front seven but I'm still skeptical of our secondary and our DC.

[Omerta+ 1,206]

First of all, the Browns have a very solid defense so I don't want anything away from them. They played hard all game and came up big forcing 5 turnovers and cashing one in for a TD, but I think it's pretty clear the Eagles left about 6 or 7 points on the board by not making an adjustment and running the football with the youth and depth we have at RB and it's not like McCoy isn't the best player we have on offense. Not to mention our offensive line was clearly more comfortable run blocking.

 

For a team that keeps preaching they want to protect their QB they're doing a lousy job of doing it. He was getting killed and our coaching staff stilled elected to pass the ball 56 times. Most of which were either 5 step drops or play action.

 

Another thing is, I'm not going to buy into the hype of this defense until we play a legitimate offense. If Joe Flacco comes to town and lights us up I'll be seriously worried. Our secondary is exactly the same as it was last year accept we have a new starting CB on the left side. If anything it's possible we could be worth. Like him or not Samuel is a proven player. DRC isn't and we don't have Hanson anymore who has been a very solid NCB for us for years. I will say though that we're clearly better at LB. We haven't had a LBer corps this good since Emmons and Trotter.I love our front seven but I'm still skeptical of our secondary and our DC.

 

Or it could be vick is not as great as some think. and the browns OVERALL D sucks.

[AllYouNeedIsLovie 377]

Not too promising of a game for either team.

 

Both QB's looked like garbage and it was just a sloppy game overall. Eagles better play better if they want a shot at the playoffs this year.

[SteVo+ 3,702]

Alright, time to put all this shit into words...

 

-Michael Vick sucks. Far too many inexcuable throws today, including a dropped interception in the end that would have won the game for the Browns. We all went into this season knowing that the turnovers had to go away or it was going to be 2011 all over again. Vick's 4 interceptions were not an inspiring way to start the year. Speaking of 2011...

 

-What's up with the penalties? Twelve penalties for over 100 yards. This was another problem last season, and it appears that it hasn't gone away. Usually I blame the coaches in these situations but honestly I don't know anymore.

 

-Joe Haden got beat three times for good gains by DeSean Jackson in the first half, but adjusted and ultimately won the battle, allowing no other catches, downfield or otherwise. Gotta give credit to one of the best young corners in the league.

 

-The Browns may not have the most talented defense, but give credit to Dick Jauron for drawing up the perfect scheme for them today. They dialed up a lot of blitzes to keep pressure on Vick, and Andy Reid/Marty Mortenweig (shockingly) didn't adjust to quick routes or screens to counter that.

 

-This team needs more LeSean McCoy. The playcalling was unbalanced all game until the 4th quarter, and I think that's one of the reasons we won. The offensive line was creating holes and Shady was getting 5-8 yards per run. I think the Eagles should try to run the ball 30 times per game. And Shady doesn't need to get more than 20 of those carries with Bryce Brown in the mold.

 

-Overall, this was about as bad a win as you can get, but it's a win. And it's week one. The Ravens come to Philly next week, so we better get our shit together.

[Favre4Ever+ 4,476]

Not too promising of a game for either team.

 

Both QB's looked like garbage and it was just a sloppy game overall. Eagles better play better if they want a shot at the playoffs this year.

 

Or if Andy wants to avoid the unemployment line.