Written by Brian McPeek

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Week after week I look for something positive to say about a weekend worth of sports activity here in Cleveland. But week after week it’s the same, tired crap. This weekend proved no different as the Indians continued to struggle and the Browns looked abysmal to all but the most "optimistic" of fans.

Well, at least the Cavs aren’t playing.

It’s The Weekend Wrap.

Looking Good

I thought the Browns looked terrific Friday night. I thought they were really solid. The entire night.

There’s nothing to be concerned about at all, really.

I’m not concerned at all that the biggest knock on Brandon Weeden by anyone who cared to actually acknowledge it was that he could get skittish in the pocket and have problems. I didn’t see any of that Friday night. Not on either of his fumbles or on the occasions when he hurried throws or didn’t hurry them enough and held onto the ball too long.

I was really happy to see the first team offense completely dominate the Eagles 2^nd and 3^rd team defenses and not get totally blown off the ball. That was good to see and instilled a lot of confidence in me, as I’m sure as it did for Mitchell Schwartz and Jason Pinkston, who played really well. It was also good to see Pinkston play a penalty-free game. Must be the dominance he’s shown has given him the confidence to not have to hold or move early to gain an advantage against his man.

That’s good, because it would suck if your offensive line was a sieve playing in front of a quarterback who struggled handling pocket pressure (which our rookie DOES NOT).

I loved that Montario Hardesty hasn’t developed a bad fumbling habit and I loved the fact that the Browns didn’t turn the ball over against an Eagles team that didn’t stunt or game much at all and instead just came right at the Browns.

That all bodes well for when the real bullets fly in a couple weeks.

I also thought the run defense was brilliant and that it was great to see a raw rookie QB in Nick Foles get completely confused and overwhelmed against the Browns first team defense. He looked like a deer in the headlights all night against the swarming, violent Browns defense. You could definitely see how the 6’6”, 245lb Foles was drafted three rounds behind the poised and accurate Weeden.

I was also impressed that the special teams unit made it a clean sweep over the Eagles by not getting a punt blocked. When you have a team led by Pat Shurmur you can expect preparation and execution to rule the day (or night, as the case may be) and it sure did on Friday night.

The other thing that was great to see what just how engaged and enthusiastic Seneca Wallace was again in leading the third team offense. That guy is a Pro’s Pro and an inspiration to his teammates, especially the younger guys who often look up to veterans with the experience that Wallace has.

I really hope Wallace is blessed with a few more years here in Cleveland because his positive attitude is infectious and after that I hope he lives out his life experiencing only the reciprocal amount of joy that he has provided during his tenure in Cleveland. You just can’t help but root for a quality individual and teammate like him.

All in all Friday night was as good as you could hope. The Browns looked like a talented, motivated, aggressive team led by a poised and precocious rookie QB. It was a terrific job by Shurmur and his staff to prepare the team and terrific job by the guys up front especially. Going out there and completely dominating the one-on-one match ups in a game that was all about showing the other side too much has to have the team itself feeling as good the fans about the 2012 season.

In Memoriam

There’s no better way to get the fan base pumped up at this time of year than to talk some Tribe, right?

Ha!!! Just kidding. While I don’t many of you, there’s a solid chance I wouldn’t like you if I did, but I still wouldn’t force you to endure Indians talk. No, let us not speak ill of the dead. The poor (and I realize this is an incendiary term when we’re discussing Larry and Paul Dolan’s team) died of Severe Suckitis on Friday, July 27^th in Minnesota.

They had suffered from the disease for much of the year (and, really, had shown signs of being afflicted for nearly a decade) but had rallied only a day before their death before finally succumbing. That rally on July 26^th did nothing other than get our hopes up that they might shrug off the disease and battle on, but it wasn’t to be. The 2012 Tribe was preceded in death by The Career of Johnny Damon, Derek Lowe’s Velocity, Asdrubal Cabrera’s Give-a-Damn, Shelley Duncan’s Plate Coverage, Carlos Santana’s Prized Prospect Status, Chris Perez’s Right to Remain Silent and Casey Kotchman’s Ability to Drive a Baseball.

Rest in Peace, all of you.

Well, There’s Always the Buckeyes

Casual fans of the Ohio State program aren’t going to recognize what they’re watching starting September 1^st when the Buckeyes take on Miami of Ohio.

Suffice it to say, these will not be your father’s Buckeyes.

Gone is the “Three yards and a cloud of dust” philosophy of offense employed by the Buckeyes for decades and adhered to as recently as last season under interim Head Coach Luke Fickell. In its place will be the up-tempo, high octane, fast paced offense perfected by new Buckeyes Head Coach Urban Meyer when he was at Bowling Green, Utah and Florida.

I, for one, cannot wait to see it.

The college game has changed immensely over the past 20 years but the trend of spreading teams out and gashing defenses with athletes seemingly passed Jim Tressel and Ohio State by. Sure, when Tressel had Heisman Trophy winner Troy Smith under center and athletes like Ted Ginn Jr. and Anthony Gonzalez running routes he was far more prone to opening things up. But he did so almost reluctantly and without that style being in his comfort zone.

Meyer will have no such reluctance.

Having brought in a Top 5 recruiting class despite the NCAA sanctions that will keep OSU out of a bowl game this season, Meyer is ready to unleash his monster on the rest of the Big 10 after home warm-up games against Miami, UCF, Cal and UAB.

The best advice I can offer if you’re not ready for the pace and speed that Meyer likes to play is to make sure you have your sandwiches and soft drinks ready before kickoff. You’re not going to want or be able to take series off as the Buckeyes grind out clock and sit on a big lead. Meyer will likely score, then score and score some more when he builds a lead and you’re going to really enjoy watching a talented kid like Braxton Miller run the offense this season.

I thought Miller regressed in terms of throwing the football last season and that his confidence was shaken when he experienced some adversity. But having Meyer at the controls would indicate that Miller’s kinks have been worked out and he’s poised to have a breakout season.

Miller threw the ball with accuracy and velocity when I saw him play in high school at Huber Heights and I’d expect to see that Miller as opposed to the QB who looked to tuck and run first last season with Ohio State. That’s not to say Miller won’t be a dual threat and likely amass 700+ yards rushing, because I think he will. In fact, I’d go so far as to say Miller’s season might position him as a Heisman favorite when the 2013 season is played.

I also love the move of moving 2011 TE Jake Stoneburner to WR. Stoneburner will continue to work inside and in the seams and he’ll continue to seek mismatches against LBs and nickel DBs that he can  out run and out-muscle for the football. His position changes but I don’t think his role does.

The Buckeyes may have some growing pains this season in getting accustomed to a drastic departure in philosophies offensively. But with Meyer pulling the strings, and a favorable early season schedule, I wouldn’t be surprised if Ohio State is back in the Top 10 nationally when their season ends against Michigan in November.

They may play in Columbus, but I’ve been watching Buckeye games since I can remember; beginning back in the 70’s when their games were on tape-delay on WVIZ. I’m counting them as ours. Given the state of the Indians and Browns, I’d suggest you do so as well.

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