(by Ross Jacobs)
I’ve watched a lot of boring football already this preseason, but this one takes the cake. Easily the slowest, most dull, uninteresting game I’ve seen so far. That’s what happens when you get all backups for the entire game.
Cleveland started off moving the ball well enough and grabbed an early lead. A Philly pick 6 got the Eagles back into it and eventually they scored to take the lead, but then a Browns pick 6 recaptured the lead for Cleveland and they were able to run the clock out. A whole lot of nothing, just a glorified scrimmage.
I wouldn’t say both teams felt lifeless here exactly, but of the two the Browns seemed to have a little more energy. The Eagles seemed like they were coasting, probably a result of just winning the Superbowl and feeling super confident. My concern is…the starters are very good obviously, but they lost a lot of depth this offseason and if the injuries start to stack up they’ll be forced to play a lot of their backups, and based on what we saw here, those backups aren’t any better than Cleveland’s backups…a sobering thought.
Player Notes…
-- Rookie Dillon Gabriel got the start for Cleveland, and he was exactly as advertised…small, weak arm, no mobility, but can process quickly and throw with accuracy. He’s every decent backup QB in the league. He’s Case Keenum, which is fine, but I don’t see an NFL starting QB here. He simply does not have the raw physical tools necessary. Now give Gabriel the arm and feet of Caleb Williams or vice versa give Caleb Gabriel’s brain and we’d be talking.
He ran all short passing game stuff and was fine with it. Quick decisions, quick passes, zip, zip, zip. Not sure he threw a pass farther than 10 yards down the field all day. It looked a lot like rookie Tua’s offense, what RC dubbed the “Baby Throw Offense” except Tua can actually throw a nice deep ball here and there when he gets time and protection.
-- Philly countered with an ex-Brown, Dorian Thompson-Robinson and boy was it ugly. That guy belongs in the XFL or UFL or CFL or whichever semi-pro league is still in business. Remember when the mainstream media was howling that DTR was Cleveland’s future starter? All the same people that also tried to tell you Jalen Hurts was going to be replaced every single year.
After DTR we got a second look at Kyle McCord and despite the ugly stat line I thought he played ok-ish, definitely better than his first showing. He looked a little more comfortable and the ball was mostly going to the right place and with accuracy. His trouble was the receivers were just not getting any separation at all, and it was the same thing Gabriel did, all baby throws, slants and screens.
-- Probably the best player I saw all game was a name I had never even heard of until a week ago and a name that I first discovered through Chalk Talk Database…Browns UDFA WR Gage Larvadain. He’s been getting a lot of praise from the coaches throughout camp, and he showed up here on the handful of touches he got. Larvadain isn’t much to look at physically, 5’8”/175 but with a 4.48 40-time and a 38.5” vert. I think he looks and plays faster than that time. Not sure he’ll make the team, but if he does it will be as a kick returner and 6th WR or something. He’s got a little spark to him.
-- On the Eagles side I really wanted to see more of Darius Cooper, but the QBs barely looked his way.
-- Pierre Strong was mostly bottled up all game but sprung a big run late through a wide open hole for a nice-looking final stat line. Nothing to see here.
-- AJ Dillon looks like he’s got nothing left. He’s become nothing but a straight-ahead plodder that’s good for picking up 3rd and 1s.
And we finally got to see Montrell Johnson, and I have to admit there’s something there. He barely had any room to run but had a couple nifty moves to pick up positive yardage anyways. He was easily the best of the Philly backs here.
-- Defensive Player Notes…
-- The Philly home announcers were all about Andrew Mukuba because he happened to have an interception thrown literally into his chest with two Browns on either side of him and later had a fumble bounce right to him. Apparently that’s a skill and he needs to be starting right now if the ball is just going to magically find its way to him…
He was fine.
Of the two young Eagles linebackers, I thought Jeremiah Trotter had better instincts and was finding the ball better than 2025 first rounder Jihaad Campbell. Before the draft we worried that he was all athlete, no head for the game, and I fear that’s going to play out. If he has to start with Nakobe Dean not ready from his injury, that’s a big potential weakness in the middle of the defense.
