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Week 2 Game Recap: Cleveland Browns 6, Denver Broncos 27
Cleveland Browns
| QB Brady Quinn, Pass: 18 - 31 - 161 - 0 TD / 1 INT, Rush: 3 - 4 - 0 |
Quinn approaches the game with an ultra-conservative manner, and that was reflected by his play on the field. He refused to challenge the defense consistently down the field until the game was out of hand. Quinn spent most of his time trying to work in passes over the middle of the field, with limited success. In the first half, he had plenty of time to throw. So much in fact, he would work through all of his progressions, only to robotically check down time after time. The Browns are trying to set up their receivers to pick up yardage after the catch, but when a defense is tackling soundly those short passes remain short gains. In the second half as the Browns offense continued to flounder, the Broncos turned up the heat on defense. Quinn did force feed the ball to Braylon Edwards (sometimes deep), and even got in a 24-yard pass to his big receiver while Champ Bailey was covering him. It was a fade stop, and Edwards was able to outjump Bailey for the ball on the sidelines. If they had tried more plays like that, perhaps they would've been more competitive on Sunday. The Browns originally wanted to get Jamal Lewis involved, but had to scrap that plan as the game went on. Quinn finally started taking more shots downfield in the fourth quarter, but by then it was too late.
| RB Jamal Lewis, Rush: 14 - 38 - 0, Rec: 1 - 8 - 0 (1 targets) |
The Browns wanted Jamal Lewis to pound the Broncos defense like Cedric Benson did last week, but the big back never got into a rhythm. He finished the game with 14 carries, but only toted the rock 2 times in the second half. Turnover, quarterback pressure, and playing from behind prevented the Browns from getting Lewis the ball more as the game went on. When he did get carries Lewis was finding creases to run through. He had good footwork when bouncing off tackle, and would lower his head and drive for yardage if there was no hole opening up in front of him. As we've seen before, when the Browns get behind in a game Lewis becomes a non-factor. Since 2007, the Browns are 5-0 when Lewis get 25 or more carries. With the limitations in the passing game, and a poor defensive performance, it looks like Lewis may not get many 25 carry games this year.
| RB Jerome Harrison, Rush: 3 - 8 - 0, Rec: 4 - 24 - 0 (4 targets) |
Harrison returned from his injured knee that kept him out of last week's game and had an increased role because rookie James Davis was declared inactive before the contest. The Browns got Harrison involved fairly early, and his first target of the day came on a short pass in the first quarter. He carried the ball one time in the second quarter, but really got going in the second half as the Browns were in "catch-up" mode. He was bottled up for the most part running the football, but was able to break away for 15 yards on one of his pass receptions in the fourth quarter. Harrison was able to take advantage of a defense basically playing "prevent", so there wasn't too much about this play to get excited over.
| RB Lawrence Vickers (1 targets) |
Vickers was targeted with one short pass on the left side of the field, but it fell incomplete.
| RB James Davis |
Davis was declared inactive for this game with a shoulder injury.
| WR Braylon Edwards, Rec: 6 - 92 - 0 (7 targets) |
If Edwards was in your starting lineup, then you're not too disappointed by his performance on Sunday. He was able to sky over Champ Bailey on a deep sideline route, that gained 24 yards. Before that he was moved to the opposite side of Champ, and caught a 20 yard pass deep over the middle. Quinn seemed to be forcing the ball to him, as the Browns wanted to get him involved early and often. However, outside of those two instances, Edwards was blanketed for most of the day and Quinn was forced to look elsewhere. After being targeted with a couple of passes against Renaldo Hill at the end of the third quarter, Quinn was unable to even complete one pass to Edwards in the fourth quarter.
| WR Josh Cribbs, Rush: 1 - 4 - 0, Rec: 5 - 22 - 0 (7 targets) |
The Broncos did a good job of containing Josh Cribbs returning the football, and he didn't do much as a receiver either. They initially tried to get Cribbs the ball on the outside with short passes, but the Denver cornerbacks (including Champ Bailey) did a good job of wrapping him up before he could use his dangerous open field moves. The Browns also tried to get Cribbs involved on end-arounds, but the Broncos did a good job of sniffing that out. When the plays to the outside clearly weren't working, the Browns looked to Cribbs on short passes over the middle. This time the Broncos linebackers did a nice job of covering Cribbs, and would promptly tackle him after the catch. Cribbs even got crushed by Elvis Dumervil in the third quarter, where his fumble set up a Broncos field goal. Brady Quinn's lone interception of the game was a pass intended for Cribbs in the fourth quarter with less than one minute left.
| WR Mike Furrey, Rec: 1 - 2 - 0 (4 targets) |
Furrey was not used much in this game, but Brady Quinn did target him on short passes in the middle of the field. He was targeted only twice in the second half, but both passes fell incomplete as the pressure was getting to Brady Quinn.
| WR Mohamed Massaquoi (2 targets) |
Massaquoi was targeted twice, once was broken up by DJ Williams (hit him in the back) other was at the end of the game, deep and incomplete (bad throw).
| TE Robert Royal, Rec: 1 - 13 - 0 (3 targets) |
With Quinn trying to work so many passes underneath Robert Royal could have had a much bigger day than he did. Royal's first and only reception came with less than two minutes to go in the fourth quarter as the Broncos defense was in "prevent" mode. He was targeted two more times in that same drive, but both passes fell incomplete.
| TE Steve Heiden (1 targets) |
Heiden was targeted once on a play in the second quarter where the defense had good pressure up the middle, and Quinn was forced to basically throw it in the ground near Heiden.
Denver Broncos
| QB Kyle Orton, Pass: 19 - 37 - 263 - 1 TD / 0 INT, Rush: 2 - 0 - 0 |
This is perhaps Orton's last week of wearing a glove on his throwing hand because of his injured finger. The glove didn't bother him last week, and it didn't bother him this week either. His passes still came off of his hand with good velocity, and he did a good job of placing the ball in the perfect spot for his receivers to make a play after the catch. The only time Orton's passes didn't look good, was when he was forced to throw on the run. He was able to get into a rhythm early, and overall looked very comfortable in the pocket. The Broncos came out firing and went play action on the first play, where Orton was able to find Jabar Gaffney deep for 25 yards. Orton even stood strong and was hit hard as he tried to deliver a pass to Brandon Marshall in the first quarter. The pass fell incomplete because Marshall didn't recognize the blitz and cut off his route. Orton threw short, while Marshall continued to run deep. Coach Josh McDaniels had a gameplan to pick on cornerback Brandon McDonald, and the Broncos were consistently throwing in his direction. Orton didn't get his receivers killed this week on crossing routes, and overall did a good job of leading them in the right direction. He even got out in front of Eddie Royal as Royal tried to reverse his field after the reception. Orton blocked his man like a quarterback, but we give him an "A" for effort. Orton was still safe with the football, but he had plenty of time to throw, didn't get sacked all day, and challenged the defense deep when he could.
| RB Knowshon Moreno, Rush: 17 - 75 - 0, Rec: 2 - 22 - 0 (2 targets) |
Moreno did not look tentative running the football, and played like the running back we saw at the University of Georgia. His footwork was very good between the tackles, and it seemed like he was not thinking about the knee that was injured in the preseason. Moreno was able to see cutback lanes, and get to them in a hurry. The Broncos made a concerted effort to get him the ball consistently so he could get into a rhythm. He was able to get skinny when running between the tackles, and looked good using his arms to push defenders aside. Moreno looked more explosive, and timed his burst very well. He would wait patiently for a seam to open up, and then he would accelerate through it quickly. Moreno was also much more decisive than he was in week one. This helped him pick up positive yardage after contact and consistently chew up yardage. The rookie was very fired up to be playing his first game at Invesco Field, and even when teammate Tony Scheffler scored on a short pass, Moreno was celebrating like he scored the touchdown. Moreno was a little dinged up in the second half, but returned shortly thereafter and showed no ill effects. What was perhaps most impressive was the way that Moreno fought for each and every yard on Sunday. "Never die easy" must be his motto because he didn't go down easy, would try and fight and spin after contact.
| RB Correll Buckhalter, Rush: 9 - 76 - 1, Rec: 1 - 30 - 0 (3 targets) |
It looked like Buckhalter wasn't running with the same burst he had last week, but he was still very effective when he carried the ball. Buckhalter had two of the biggest offensive plays of the day for the Broncos. One was a 30 yard reception at the beginning of the fourth quarter, where Cbuck used his blockers effectively on a screen pass to the right. Later in the fourth quarter he had a 45-yard carry for a touchdown. The play started off to the left, but Buckhalter saw a big cutback lane open up to the right. He changed direction without losing much speed, and found his way to the open field. Once there he cutback again to the inside, and then juked further to the other sideline as he fought off cornerback Eric Wright for the last 7 yards. Buckhalter ran with good patience on Sunday, and used his blockers well on nearly every carry he had
| RB LaMont Jordan, Rush: 7 - 19 - 0 (2 targets) |
Jordan was again a factor in the fourth quarter as the Broncos were trying to eat up time on the gameclock and put the game away. Jordan is a punishing runner, but his longest carry of the day was only 5 yards and he finished the day averaging less than 3 yards a carry. Jordan was targeted in the passing game twice, one short pass and one deep pass. The deep pass was an ill advised throw by Kyle Orton. Jordan ran a wheel route, but Brandon McDonald came over and swatted the ball away. The short pass was just a throw away by Orton as he felt pressure from the right side, and threw it behind Jordan on the left.
| RB Peyton Hillis, Rush: 1 - 2 - 1 |
Hillis fumbled the opening kickoff, and didn't see much action in the game overall. His only carry resulted in a touchdown, so fantasy owners who started him were okay with the final stat line. However, Hillis was not used in the passing game whatsoever, and saw LaMont Jordan receive some of the looks that could have gone to him.
| WR Brandon Stokley, Rec: 5 - 70 - 0 (7 targets) |
Stokley was very involved on Sunday, and seemed to have much better chemistry with Kyle Orton this week. Orton targeted the veteran on several passes over the middle, and when the Broncos needed a first down Stokley had the awareness to reach for the first down marker as he went out of bounds -- twice! It's that type of veteran play that made him a trusted target for Orton this week. The Broncos are looking to exploit matchups, and not force the ball to just one receiver. This week they must have felt that Stokley gave them a good target. We'll see if that trend continues over the season.
| WR Brandon Marshall, Rush: 1 - 14 - 0, Rec: 3 - 34 - 0 (6 targets) |
The Broncos again tried to get Brandon Marshall the football often, but mistakes once again plagued his performance. His first two targets fell incomplete, and Marshall seemed to be out of sync with Orton to start the game. Marshall failed to identify the blitz and cut off his route, which led to an incomplete pass behind him as he continued with his deep route. His effort seemed to be better today, and he didn't appear to be dogging it on the field. The big receiver was also blocking well on runs downfield, as he wanted the same when he got to carry the ball. Marshall ran an end around, and faked like he was going to throw the ball which froze the defense in their tracks and allowed Marshall to pick up extra yardage. Marshall's biggest play of the day came on a 3rd and 6 in the 3rd quarter. As the play broke down, Orton scrambled to his right and found Marshall deep down the sideline. Marshall found a soft spot in the zone, and squared his shoulders to the line of scrimmage to give Orton the biggest possible target. After the catch Marshall made sure to fight for extra yardage by driving his legs.
| WR Eddie Royal, Rec: 3 - 20 - 0 (9 targets) |
Once again Eddie Royal was not involved in the gameplan early. He didn't have a good game, and it seemed like he was trying to do too much when he did get targeted. He took a short pass to the left, where he could have picked up 7 or 8 yards, but instead reversed his field which gained him all of 2 yards. To make matters worse, that play used a bunch of time off the clock when the Broncos were trying to drive for a score before the half with no timeouts left. He did have a cramping issue after halftime, and had to get an IV of fluids before returning to the field. Royal received no targets in the second half.
| WR Jabar Gaffney, Rec: 3 - 82 - 0 (5 targets) |
Gaffney did a good job with his targets on Sunday. The very first offensive play for the Broncos was a play action pass to Gaffney, and he hauled it in against good coverage on the sideline. However, that wasn't his biggest play of the game. In the fourth quarter, with the Broncos driving to put the game away Orton targeted Gaffney on a comeback route against Brandon McDonald. It was against a cover zero, with no safety in the middle of the field. Gaffney saw McDonald play inside coverage so he broke it outside and hauled in the pass. Once the pass was secure he spun inside and took off for the endzone. He almost scored on the play, but was brought down at the 2-yard line.
| TE Tony Scheffler, Rec: 1 - 2 - 1 (2 targets) |
Tony Scheffler was only targeted twice, but once was in the endzone and he converted. The Broncos lined him up tight at the goalline, then sent him in motion. When linebacker Kamerion Wimbley followed him, the Broncos knew they had the matchup they wanted. Once the ball was snapped Scheffler cut it back inside on a slant and easily shielded Wimbley away from the ball with his body.
| TE Daniel Graham, Rec: 1 - 3 - 0 (1 targets) |
Graham wasn't a big part of the gameplan today, but did work hard as a run blocker.