By: Adamo Marinelli
August 26th, 2018
To open up week four of the 2018 NFL preseason, on August 23rd, 2018, the 1-1 Cleveland Browns hosted the defending Super Bowl champions, the Philadelphia Eagles who are 0-2 thus far in the preseason.
This game resembled a hockey or baseball game more than a football game due to its low score. Cleveland started the scoring by sacking Nick Foles in the end zone for two points in the first quarter and then preceded to kick a field goal in the second quarter. Those were the only points of the game.
However, this game made a few factors evident. That the Cleveland Browns’ defence is excellent and their offence is great now with Taylor and Mayfield at QB. Also, the Eagles defence is great even without a few of their starters and the Eagles offence has been terrible all preseason long. Their quarterbacks and offensive line particularly. Of course, WRs Alshon Jeffery and Nelson Agholor are injured but, the fact remains: the Eagles will not be as good as last year if this offensive struggle persists. Their first-string offence hasn’t scored a single point all preseason long (on 14 drives over three games). Not even a field goal. That’s not like them.
First, let’s talk about Cleveland’s defence: They played amazing all game long. They looked like an elite defence that’s been talented for over a decade. They looked like Denver’s defence in 2015, Seattle’s defence in 2013, the Steel Curtain, even Philadelphia’s 2017 defence. Their secondary didn’t surrender any points and only gave up 199 yards of total offence. Their pass rush was excellent, collecting seven sacks. They also only gave up 101 rushing yards. One of those sacks resulted in a safety for two points. No wonder the Eagles scored no points. Everything worked well for the Brown’s defence, even playcalling. Their defensive coordinator must be proud. This season should be a good one for pass rushers Myles Garrett, Mychal Kendricks and all of their secondary.
Next, Cleveland’s offence: Despite only registering three points on a 54-yard field goal from Zane Gonzalez to lead 5-0 in the second quarter, in general, their offence looked much better than last season, where they ranked dead last in production last season. Taylor completed 4-8 of his passes for 19 yards before being sidelined with a left hand injury after he fell awkwardly, wrist first, onto the turf (replays showed his left wrist bent backward) after an incomplete pass on a fourth and goal from the Eagles’ one-yard line on the Brown’s second offensive series of the game. He only missed a few drives before he returned later in the second quarter. He finished the second quarter completing 11-16 passes with 65 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. Taylor was re-evaluated by medical staff on Friday, August 24th, and X-rays came back negative, which means it’s not a serious injury but head coach Hue Jackson said: "We will continue to look at it and see where we are as we head into next week. X-rays were negative but I think it is important that we do everything that we need to do to make sure exactly where that hand is.” In other words, to make sure the hand is okay for the start of the regular season. However, Mayfield, as well as filling in for Taylor when he was temporarily injured, also started and played most of the second half until he collided head first into one of his teammates in the fourth quarter. Baker Mayfield went 8-12 of his passes for 76 yards and one interception in the game. QB Drew Stanton finished the game completing 1-3 passes for seven yards. Mayfield was evaluated for a concussion and appears not to have one. Not an astounding night but it will improve as the season progresses, especially if the QBs stay healthy. And with two young and talented QBs in Tyrod Taylor, traded from the Bills and Baker Mayfield, the first overall pick in 2018; with Nick Chubb, Carlos Hyde and Duke Johnson as RBs, and with receivers in Jarvis Landry, Antonio Callaway, Josh Gordon and new TE David Njoku, their offence should be a very good unit in 2018. The Browns’ intend to start Taylor with Mayfield as the backup in the season opener on September 9th against Pittsburgh.
Now, Philadelphia’s defence: They had a great year last season in 2017, both in the pass rush department with DEs Derek Barnett, Chris Long, Brandon Graham and Michael Bennett, LB Nigel Bradham, DT Fletcher Cox and an amazing secondary with players in Jalen Mills, Rodney Mcleod, Ronald Darby, Malcolm Jenkins. They played pretty well limiting the Browns’ offence to only a field goal, 141 passing yards and 138 rushing yards while adding four sacks. The Eagles defence’s most notable accomplishment in this game was stopping the Browns’ offence on four plays from their own one-yard line. The Eagles’ defence did play very well making big plays when it counted, especially on the goal-line stand, but, the Brown’s defence had a better game, making more plays and limiting the Eagles to no points with three more sacks than the Eagles, even though some of both team’s defensive starters didn’t play in tonight’s game. Although, their defence looks to have another incredible year this season which will give them a chance to win their division and make the playoffs.
Finally, Philadelphia’s offence: The Eagles’ offence was very quiet and lackluster in their performance against the Browns. Their first and second string offence didn’t score a single point the entire game (although they had a touchdown called back as the receiver’s foot was out of bounds when he got control of the ball in the end zone and Jake Elliott missed a 33 yard field goal in the second half) and their main struggles were the quarterbacks and the offensive line. The offensive line surrendered seven sacks and 16 pressures, which is not good whatsoever and they had five linemen start at one point in the game which will be worrisome for this coming season. Also, Nick Foles completed 13-17 passes for 127 yards and two interceptions and Nate Sudfeld completed 11-21 passes for 72 yards. That is not a very good performance at QB for either of them. However, you can’t put all the blame on them due to the weak offensive line and the main WRs in Jeffrey and Agholor not playing due to injury. They also had a weak running game, only rushing for 101 yards, however, none of the starters in Jay Ajayi, Darren Sproles and Corey Clement played. With them, the rushing game will improve, but tonight without them, the lack of a ground game didn’t help the QBs especially under pressure. As well as all that, the Eagles’ offence fumbled and lost the ball once, and gave up a safety for a total of four turnovers including the two aforementioned interceptions by Nick Foles.
Eagles coach Doug Pederson was upset with his team's offensive performance, not just Foles. “I don't want to single out one player, so don't put this all on Nick,” Pederson said. “I'm disappointed in the offense. It's not what you want obviously in the third preseason week. We still want to evaluate and make sure we got the right guys in the right spots.” Finally, at this point of the preseason, with Wentz just recently starting to get reps in 11-11 drills, waiting to be cleared to play again following knee surgery after suffering an ACL injury last December, it appears the Super Bowl 52 MVP Nick Foles will be the starting QB for the first few games of the 2018 season at least. If Foles plays like he did against the Browns, the Eagles will not have a great start to the season. But if he plays like he did in last year’s playoffs everything should be fine in terms of QB. It is also undetermined if WR Alshon Jeffery will be ready to play in week one after playing all of last season with a torn rotator cuff. Furthermore, all the starting RBs and the majority of the first-string defence are ready for their week one game against the Falcons too. Other notable injuries include Eagles’ center Jason Kelce, who limped to the sideline after making a block on the first drive. The location of the injury is unknown but is expected to be lower body due to him limping off the field. However, he did agility and stretching drills under the guidance of the training staff and returned for Philadelphia's next possession, so the injury isn’t serious and he should be fine for week one. Also, the fourth overall pick and Browns’ CB Denzel Ward will undergo an MRI after suffering a back injury in the first quarter. He appeared to be twisted while tackling 250 pound Eagles’ TE Zach Ertz. He was down several minutes before leaving the field on his own. Furthermore, Browns' starting safety Damarious Randall did not dress because of a knee injury. He was not on the team's original "not expected to play" list. Also, rookie WR Antonio Callaway did not dress after missing three practices with a groin injury.
In the final week of preseason, week five, the Browns visit the Lions in what will be an important game for both of their QBs and entire offence to show they can put up points and the Eagles will host the Jets in hopes of winning their first preseason game.
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