Cleveland Browns: 4 offensive takeaways vs. the Atlanta Falcons
By Joel W. Cade
Every year the media and Browns fans fixate on a single player and nitpick their game to death. In years past it was Mitchell Schwartz and Johnny Manziel. This year the baton has passed to Cameron Erving.
There seems to be a misguided belief that this one individual is somehow a major cause of whatever is going wrong with the team. As a corollary, if this one individual could improve their game, things would go better for the Browns.
Erving is a good football player and he played well last night against the Falcons. There were no miscommunications, blocking schemes were set correctly, and he had good pad level while keeping his feet active.
However, he had a few bad snaps, including one that sailed over Griffin’s head resulting in a large loss, which was erased by a penalty. Unfortunately for all the positives, the bad snaps will be all people remember.
But they are also correctable.
“Yeah, and I don’t want to have to coach that, but it’s something we have to fix,” head coach Hue Jackson said. “That was disappointing to have the ball go over the quarterback’s head. I think he gets it. He’s young at the position and we’re going to keep working with him and get him better because I think he has the talent that we want. Obviously, the most important thing is he has got to snap the ball first, and he’ll get that.”
Wide receiver Terrelle Pryor is also a work in progress. He makes good plays, but he also makes a significant amount of bad plays. His positives are on display for all to see – his 50-yard touchdown reception, for example – while his negatives seem hidden from view. Fans give Pryor the benefit of the doubt because they know he is a work in progress.
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Erving is a work in progress, too. Except in his case, the negatives are on full display for the fans while the positives seem hidden from view. It is time for fans to give Erving the benefit of the doubt extended to Pryor. They may find that Erving is better than he gets credit for.