Browns: 3 positive takeaways from preseason game No. 3

The Cleveland Browns still have work to do, but here are three positive takeaways from Saturday night’s win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Cleveland Browns remained a perfect three-for-three in preseason games following Saturday night’s win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The Browns pulled out the win as quarterback Kevin Hogan drove the Browns 87 yards and hit wide receiver Jordan Leslie with a five-yard touchdown pass just after the two-minute warning.

Hogan finished the night seven-of-13 for 82 yards and the touchdown, as well as a passer rating of 98.9 – the highest of the three quarterbacks that Cleveland played on the night.

That kind of showing would normally get fans excited that Hogan is the long sought-after savior of the quarterback position, but the night belong to rookie DeShone Kizer, who made his first start at quarterback.

All kidding aside, the Browns made it through what is generally considered the most important preseason game in good shape. The team did not suffer any major injuries and Kizer’s play with the first-team offense did nothing to slow down his inevitable selection as the team’s starting quarterback for the regular season.

In fact, head coach Hue Jackson has reportedly made up his mind and will, perhaps as early as today, name Kizer the full-time starter for the regular season.

The Browns are 3-0, the reality of the regular season and the horrors of the AFC North are still two weeks away, so let’s quickly look at three positives from Saturday night’s game.

DeShone Kizer looks competent

If you only looked at the box score, then Kizer’s stat line – six-of-18, 93 yards, no touchdowns, an interception and a rating of 28.2 – would leave you scratching your head as to what all the fuss is about.

Kizer may have won the starter’s role by default, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t look the part at times against the Buccaneers. He hooked up with wide receiver Corey Coleman three times on third down to keep the drive going, and didn’t take any big (or unnecessary) hits during the game.

Kizer still has a long way to go, and even the most optimistic Browns fan has to concede that there will be some rough days in the weeks to come, but Kizer did enough against Tampa Bay to give fans hope that everything may turn out differently this time.

Corey Coleman looks good

The team’s top draft pick in 2016, wide receiver Corey Coleman flashed his talent a couple of times as a rookie, but injuries and being saddled with Robert Griffin III as his quarterback stalled his first season.

Coleman continued to be plagued by hamstring issues during training camp, but he flashed his talent during the first half against Tampa Bay. Kizer and Coleman hooked up three times for a first down and Coleman finished the night with four receptions for a game-high 66 yards.

Coleman, along with a few other second-year players that we will get to in a moment, continue to make those who called the 2016 draft class a bust look foolish.

As this is all about the positives, we’ll ignore the rest of the wide receivers behind Coleman for the moment.

The defense looks very good

The Browns offense is going to have more than a few rough patches this fall, but fans will be comforted by a defense that is going to be so much fun to watch.

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Teams continue to run away from defensive end Myles Garrett, and Garrett continues to be disruptive as a pass rusher. Emmanuel Ogbah keeps making plays – like his sack of Tampa Bay quarterback Jameis Winston – as does linebacker Joe Schobert, who had six more tackles on Saturday night. Both are members of that “failed” 2016 draft class, don’t you know.

Throw in linebackers Christian Kirksey and Jamie Collins, and a rotation of young players on the defensive line, Cleveland’s front seven is going to be a handful for opposing offensive lines.

The secondary may still have some question marks, but safety Jabrill Peppers continues to be a bright spot as he picked off a Winston pass on Saturday night.

It is only the preseason, and the winning record will quickly be forgotten once the Browns take the field against the Steelers in the season’s first game, but Cleveland is getting things down in the preseason.

The quarterback situation, while still very much a work in progress, is at least settled with Kizer the unquestioned starter. And the defense is showing that it will give as good as it gets this fall.

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The biggest takeaway, however, is that the Browns are finally delivering true hope to their fans that a better day is on the way.