The Cleveland Browns may have a mess at quarterback, and that’s not even factoring in Deshaun Watson's off-field issues. NFL veteran Jacoby Brissett is set to be the Browns’ starter this season but he didn’t exactly instill a lot of confidence in the preseason finale on Saturday night.
Andy Baskin and Daryl Ruiter discussed Brissett and the team’s offensive performance on Audacy’s “It’s Always Gameday in Cleveland” podcast.
“I hope to God that’s not what we’re in store for for the next 11 games with him at quarterback, ‘cause that was ugly. It was. It was terrible,” Ruiter said (1:19 in player above) “Did not get a lot of help from the supporting cast … top two running backs were not on the field, so maybe that impacts some things. Amari Cooper, the one guy who can actually catch a football on this team, was not on the field. So hopefully they’ll get better results next time out.
Brissett ran the offense for six series on Saturday night. Two of those series ended with long field-goal attempts – a make from 57 yards and a miss from 58 – and the rest of it could only be described as “hot garbage.”
“Hopefully that’s not indicative of what we’re gonna have to suffer through because we suffered through that Saturday night,” Ruiter continued. “That was pain and suffering.”
“It just wasn’t fun, especially the beginning of it,” Baskin said. “It was just like you gotta be kidding me. Is this really what we’re gonna see?”
Kevin Stefanski said during the pregame show that the biggest thing for that game was just getting Brissett settled and relaxed with him in his headset. They may have been able to do the bare minimum despite the lack of results.
“That seemed to me like his primary goal (Saturday) night was to have Jacoby be able to understand what it’s like to have Kevin in his head during a game, and the execution didn’t look good. But then again, I kept going back and forth going ‘Alright, is it gonna be this bad when the season starts?’ And it didn’t instill a lot of confidence,” Baskin continued.
“A guy had said going into (Saturday’s) game was Jacoby just needed to be adequate, right? And I think fans walk away from the game saying ‘I don’t know that he was adequate’ and Josh Dobbs goes out there and looks like a superstar against third- and fourth-teamers and guys just trying to make it. And I know what my phones are gonna sound like tomorrow: Why isn’t Josh Dobbs starting? Why aren’t they going out and getting Jimmy Garoppolo? … When I just don’t think you can put as much weight on that game as I think fans want to.”
“No you can’t,” Ruiter replied. “Kevin Stefanski wanted do the basics and they barely did the basics, and that is get the play call, get everyone lined up, snap the football.”
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