I certainly won't miss the ol' Rex 3rd and 15 Jailhouse blitz that turns into a 25 yd gain for the opposing team.
I'm expecting a great environment, the fans should be amped up with all the offseason acquisitions. I've only ever been to mid-late season games where the team is out of it and the stadium was always 25% jets fans (booing/silent), 25% opposing fans and 50% empty seats. It's like a library. Hopefully I get a better experience on Sunday.
The first game of the season is like going to a prime time game. It gets loud..people stand on defense. I remember the opening series against Tampa 2 seasons ago. The announcer called it the worst 1st series he ever saw ... Time out, false start, false start, time out, sack.
I had this as a lock when when i thought manziel would start. but with mccown back there im leaning 60-40 browns. while our corners are much better then their wideouts, i think the real mismatch will be their backs and TE's against our linebackers in the passing game. i view this as a 10-6 type game, so all it takes is 1 big play or 1 blown coverage by one of our safties/linebackers and it could cost us. i felt alot better with johnny football at chances to force turnovers and shift momentum i think to win we need to find a pass rush via the blitz, i dont think our dline is going to cause havoc all day, their oline is stout. maybe a sack or two but i dont see constant pressure. i think the key isnt running the ball, but getting pressure on mccown so he cant nickle and dime our interior pass defense. i think this is going to by similar to the pats game last year were we control TOP, ivory puts up like 180 yards but we lose cause we cant score or force turnovers and our special teams screws us a couple times.
do they need talent at TE? all it takes is one play. remeber vs atlanta when their slow white noname fullback caught one on a turned around coples and took it like 50 yards?
Using an example pulled from the second preseason game as to why we should be worried about our defense is just as crazy as stating I am optimistic that fitz will toss a couple td's because he did so against the gints. The reality is week 1 is a total cluster fuck. I believe we will win because luckily we have drawn the home card but anything can happen. We have the horses to stomp the browns into the ground. Its any given sunday and this is especially true on week 1.
I'm NOT using that as an example of why we should be worried about our defense.... im using that as an example of how you dont need to be a super talented TE/Back to be able to expose our linebackers. I'm taking the much larger sample fo the last 1-2 full seasons as to why we should be worried about our coverage in the middle of the field and the flats. our backers and safties struggle to cover. im also not "worried about our defense" so much as im worried about the coverage of our linebackers and safties allowing 1 or 2 big plays, which could be the difference between winning and losing in what i view as probably being a 3-4 point game with an under 24 total point outcome. home field is huge. to me this comes down to the mistakes and big plays. and between our special teams, weak coverage inside, and our own offensive line im leaning towards more of those few big plays in their favor. as i said im split 60-40, and if manziel was in id feel a whole lot better about our chances. i can certainly see us winning though. fitz needs to have 0 turnovers and we cant fuck up on special teams
the green pants are terrible. they need to drop them altogether. lol, and contrast that against the orange and brown of cleveland.....definitely not a pleasing matchup of colors.
Holy hell I remember that game. It was so loud.! And then on that last drive when David got the 15yard penalty and folk drilled the FG. It was raucous as can be!!!
Kacy Rogers said Mo will line up across RT and Williams across Joe Thomas. Interesting strategy, instead of putting our best against their best. Good first test for Leonard, though it might limit his impact.
Now Rogers says that the Jets aren't worried about putting Skrine on tight ends. That's the biggest hole in the defense, so I'd be intrigued to see if Buster can slow them down. The strength and conditioning coach says that he's "pound for pound the strongest player on the team".
FWIW, Browns will be in Brown jerseys and Orange pants. Will be a pretty harsh field to see I think, lol.
