Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Cleveland Browns Post Draft Analysis


     This year in the 2014 NFL draft, it was a captivating event watched by many people at the event and in the comfort of their own home. Seen in this year's draft, there were three quarterbacks taken in the first round. Blake Bortles, Johnny Manziel, and Teddy Bridgewater. Blake Bortles was taken the highest of these three quarterbacks but the one that is questioned the most is Johnny Manziel despite being the first freshman to ever win the prestigious heisman award. Johnny Manziel was the 22nd pick and went to the Cleveland Browns, a team with a lot of young talent and room to grow. Manziel was a great college player and highly anticipated coming out of Texas A&M but it is often questioned with how good he will be as a pro. Manziel is a duel threat quarterback but yet a little undersized for the NFL as he only stands at six feet tall, possible by all means to make him be a great player but not something you value coming to the NFL. Also taken with the 8th pick in this year's draft, Justin Gilbert the speedy cornerback out of Oklahoma State will help the Browns this year as they look to improve their defense.
    Johnny Manziel represents a more diverse age of quarterbacks that can make plays both with their arms and on the ground running the ball. Included with this new age of quarterbacks is Colin Kaepernick, Andrew Luck and 2014 Super Bowl winner Russell Wilson. All of these quarterbacks have made great strides throughout their careers so far and are only going to get better. Point being, Johnny Manziel will fit with what the Browns need and what the NFL is shifting towards in terms of quarterbacks.
     The Cleveland Browns have a lot of new talent that can benefit Manziel on both sides of the ball. Josh Gordon, the 23 year old wide receiver had a phenomenal 2013 season with 87 receptions, 1,646 yards, and 9 touch downs. He will be a forced to be reckoned with as him and Manziel team up to be some of the leagues very best now and for years to come. Josh Gordon is very young talent and only has an upside to his game and will be a target for Johnny Manziel. On the defensive side of the ball, defensive back Justin Gilbert was taken as the 8th pick out of Oklahoma State University.    The scouting report on Justin Gilbert puts Coaches and General Managers in a gaze. Extreme athleticism, light on his feet, can cover the long ball as good as anybody, his patience and vision will make him a vital resource to the Browns. Justin Gilbert and the new highest paid cornerback in the league Joe Haden, are a deadly combo in Cleveland and not something that offensive coordinators should take lightly.
     Taken with the 96th pick in the third round was small school Running Back
 Terrance West out of Towson University. Although Terrance West was taken very late in the draft he is still highly regarded based upon his stats that were put up at Towson. It is said that West has an extremely strong work ethic and his college stats prove that. He led his team in rushing his last three seasons, and he will also be leaving Towson as the schools all time leading rusher with 4,854 yards and will also be leaving with two single season records as well; West rushed for 2,509 yards and had 41 touchdowns as a senior. This was an extremely well calculated and a great move by the Cleveland Browns. The Browns ground game was ranked 27th in all of the NFL nearing dead last as they tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Bringing in Terrance West is definitely a step in the right direction.
     I 100% think the Browns attacked and adressed what they needed to in this year's draft and did so in a swift and orderly fashion and did what was necessary to get things done. The Browns displayed what most teams should do and which is adress all positions that your team needs help with, make smart trades and first round picks aren't always necessarily the best players and they are not a judgment of who will have the best career by any means. To conclude, the browns are on the outside looking in and will surely only getter better as this team matures and players develop their skill sets further.

Friday, May 9, 2014

Radio City Music Hall Was Filled With Ha Ha's and Heismans

The first round of the NFL Draft last night was one I found better than past Drafts for a few reasons. Despite the amount of time it takes to get through 32 picks, I enjoyed hearing the commentators this year (Gruden, Ray Lewis, Chris Berman, and Mel Kiper) have some fun while the selections were being made. I think the Johnny Football "spiral" was getting to Kiper's head a little bit and Gruden wouldn't shut up about when Manziel was going to get picked. I digress. for all who missed last night's TV spectacle, here are the 1st round selections of the 2014 NFL Draft.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

Nets take game 7, series over Raptors

After the Nets lost game 7 in the 1st round to the Bulls last season, many changes were made. Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce were brought in for their experience and Jason Kidd was hired as the head coach. These moves were made because another 1st round exit was not acceptable for a team that had so much talent. Owner Mikhail Prokhorov wanted a championship, and these moves were made to get closer to that goal. The Nets were not going to accept another 1st round exit, and that was apparent in their resiliency against the Raptors, fighting back from down 3 games to 2 to win the series in 7.

First off what a series this was! In the 11 games these 2 teams played against each other this season, both teams scored 1074 points. It doesn't get any closer than that. The series went the distance with 7 games played, and all of them were close. The Nets took game 7, with a final score of 104-103, which ended with a dramatic stuff by Paul Pierce on Kyle Lowry's potential game winner. After a heartbreaking game 5 loss, which consisted of a 26 point comeback only to lose on Andray Blatche throwing the ball away, the Nets took games 6 and 7 and will now face the Heat in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

With the highest payroll in NBA history, a first round exit would have been considered a failure. They mortgaged the future to bring in Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to go along with a rookie head coach in Jason Kidd. After a miserable start at 10-21, 2014 brought the Nets good fortunes, going 34-17 in 2014. They did all of this without their best player, All-Star Center Brook Lopez, who the Nets lost to a broken foot during an OT loss to the 76ers on December 20th.

As a Nets fan, I was really fired up about this series, which started with the Raptors owner disrespecting not only a team, but a historic and prideful community, when he uttered "F*** Brooklyn" to his team's fans. A Toronto newspaper said that the series was Raptors vs. Dinosaurs, poking fun at the Nets roster consisting of older players like Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett. After the Nets took game 1, the New York Daily News' back page the next day said "Don't F*** With B'KLYN!" Then there was the fact that some Raptors fans vandalized the Brooklyn Bridge, writing the Raptors playoff motto "We The North" on it.

Rookie Mason Plumlee, who has been fantastic most of the season, played 21 minutes in the almost miraculous comeback in game 5. The Nets outscored the Raptors by 20 in the 4th quarter of that game with Andray Blatche playing the entire quarter. Plumlee played 39 seconds after the Nets had secured a win in game 6. The Nets also had a new 2-guard for game 6, inserting Alan Anderson and taking out Shaun Livingston. The Nets responded by winning games 6 and 7, with Anderson in the starting lineup and Blatche as the 1st Net off the bench, a spot usually reserved for Plumlee. I would expect to see Blatche off the bench first against the Heat in round 2. Marcus Thornton also started to get more minutes in game 5, and he had arguable the biggest impact on game 7, with 17 points and 6 rebounds off the bench.

Joe Johnson, Thornton, and KG all had phenomenal game 7s. Joe carried the Nets in the 4th quarter, scoring 13 in the quarter and 26 on the game. Thornton had a great game off the bench, hitting 4 3s and scoring 17 points and chipping in 6 boards. KG  had his best game of the series, with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Of course, Paul Pierce sealed the win, after Shaun Livingston, attempting to inbound the ball, threw it into the hands of Terrence Ross, who, as he was falling out of bounds, threw the ball of Paul Pierce's leg, giving the Raptors the ball down 1 with about 6 seconds left. The inbound went to Kyle Lowry, who had his potential game winner blocked by The Truth. The clock hit 0 with the Nets still clinging to that 1 point lead, thanks to Pierce's block.

Going into the 2nd round, the Nets are going to have their hands full with the Miami Heat, the 2-time defending champion Miami Heat. The Nets swept the season series from the Heat, winning all 4 games, but every team is different when it comes to the playoffs. I would expect to see the Nets starting 5 for game 1 to be Deron Williams, Alan Anderson, Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett. Game 1 is on Tuesday night.