No quarterback controversy at the moment for the Cleveland Browns. Brian Hoyer is their guy. However, the way the offense plays is up for debate, as the opening week loss against a division rival suggests that maybe taking the hurry-up approach works well for this team.
Johnny Manziel is sitting and learning for now. Hoyer had a solid performance with 19-of-31 for 230 yards and a touchdown pass. The problem for the Browns that all this started happening way too late, after already falling 27-3 behind just before heading into the locker rooms for the half-time break.
The second half was a completely different story. The Browns scored 24 consecutive points before losing (of course) with the Steelers hitting a field goal as time expired to come away with the 30-27 victory. But the Browns made a game of it thanks to the change from their slow offensive drills to almost going with a no-huddle in the second half.
This wasn’t something the Browns showed during preseason, but often teams don’t show their entire playbook to opponents during the preseason. What is rather interesting is that Hoyer himself doesn’t sound like a big fan of the hurry-up offense, or at least isn’t trying to sound too enthusiastic about it.
No one can sustain that type of energy for 60 minutes 16 games a year. We aren’t equipped to run the no-huddle, hurry-up offense as their base system.
Next game for the Browns happens to be the New Orleans Saints, who scored 34 points on the road against the Atlanta Falcons. That’s the kind of offense that usually requires hurrying things up just in order to keep up. Maybe if Hoyer gets Josh Gordon back from his suspension, rumored to be terminated very soon, he’ll have different thoughts about going more quickly with the snaps. This also might be just a diversion for the media, and the Browns have every intention of speeding thing up.