It looked like exactly what it was – that is, the opening preseason game of a young, inexperienced team in a complete rebuild.
Sure, there were some positive plays by the Browns in the first half against the New Orleans Saints on Thursday night at FirstEnergy Stadium. Most of them in the first quarter were turned in by the defense, which, as advertised, was aggressive, going after the quarterback – or whomever else had the ball in the backfield – with a lot of vim and vigor.
It was an impressive performance at times. This group is going to be more and more fun to watch as the season goes on. You can plainly see that.
The Cleveland offense? Now, that was a different story.
The Browns did not have a first down in the opening quarter, and until late in the quarter, had just 16 yards of total offense.
Quarterback Brock Osweiler, named the starter on Monday, looked rusty and unsure of himself as he tried to familiarize himself with his teammates. He tried several times to throw long – his ability to do so was one of the reasons he took the job away from Cody Kessler – but did not complete any.
Finally, after two bad drives to start the game, Osweiler marched the Browns to a first down at the New Orleans 3 in the second quarter, but they couldn’t score as a fourth-down pass into the end zone was incomplete.
That was Osweiler’s last pass of the night as he finished just 6-of-4 passing for 42 yards. Not surprisingly, he – and that offense – have a lot of work to do before the Browns play a nationally televised Monday Night Football game against the Giants in New York on Aug. 21.
The offense the ball right back when defensive end Carl Nassib recovered a Saints fumble at the New Orleans 21. Again, keep your eye on this defense. I can’t say that enough.
The Browns, with Kessler at quarterback, and with the help of a pass interference call in the end zone, got the touchdown on a one-yard run by rookie Matthew Dayes to go ahead 7-3. Kessler completed all three of his passing attempts.
After that, many of the regulars – on both sides — gave way to the reserves.
The Cleveland lead was trimmed to 7-6 at halftime.
