Josh Dobbs' 36-yard scramble run was the longest offensive play for the Browns in their 21-20 loss to the Eagles. (Cleveland Browns)
Second thoughts: Josh Dobbs as the next Frank Ryan? Don’t laugh, eerie similarities exist
You must have an active subscription to read this story.
Click Here to subscribe Now!
Editor's note: Tony Grossi is a Cleveland Browns analyst for TheLandOnDemand.com and 850 ESPN Cleveland. He has covered the Browns since 1984.
Second thoughts on the Browns’ 21-20 loss to Philadelphia Eagles …
1. What’s interesting about the emergence of Joshua Dobbs as a credible quarterback option is that he hasn’t received a lot of reps at practice. From the outset of OTAs in May and through the beginning of training camp, Dobbs’ reps came third after those for Deshaun Watson and Jacoby Brissett. When retired judge Sue L. Robinson initially set Watson’s NFL suspension at six games, Brissett started getting more reps with the first team, but Watson received all the reps with the second team. Even last week – when the NFL Players Association settled for an 11-game suspension of Watson to open the season – Watson received second-team reps in the pivotal two practices against the Philadelphia Eagles at the expense of Dobbs. And yet Dobbs went out in both preseason games and performed admirably, leading seven scoring drives in his eight series at the helm. This week, coach Kevin Stefanski intends to shift out of training camp mode and into regular-season mode. Watson, Stefanski claims, will do work on the side as the coaches prepare Brissett and Dobbs in earnest for the real season. You have to believe Dobbs will benefit from added reps with the second team.
2. The two qualities that attracted Dobbs to the Browns were his intellect and his mobility. Dobbs’ intellectual accomplishments are legendary. The phrase “it ain’t rocket science” doesn’t apply to Dobbs. He majored in aerospace engineering at Tennessee. When NFL teams asked at the 2017 Combine about learning an NFL playbook, Dobbs reportedly answered, “My senior year I was taking astronautics, propulsion and an aerodynamics class … all on the same day. At the same time as football season when I was leading an SEC team. I think I can handle it.” Dobbs can recite 23 numbers into pi. With Pittsburgh, Ben Roethlisberger frequently would consult with Dobbs on the sideline between offensive series because nobody knew the playbook better than him. Dobbs had few game opportunities with the Steelers. Coach Mike Tomlin inserted him a few times as a running quarterback. He ran two times for 20 yards against the Browns in the 16th game in 2020 when the Steelers had locked up the AFC North title. He was with the Steelers four seasons and appeared in games in only two of them, completing 10 of 17 passes for 45 yards and running six times for 31 yards. What’s been surprising has been Dobbs’ accuracy, his ability to sell the play fake, and his ability to process the defense on a play relatively quickly. Stefanski said the Browns aren’t swayed by his NFL resume prior to joining the Browns. “For me, it is a body of work so it goes back to the reps he gets in practice, how he does in the meeting room and what he does on the game field, obviously,” the coach said. “In terms of career, career attempts and those type of things, [we’re] really just focused on what he has done with us.”
3. At the start of the 2019 season, the Steelers traded Dobbs to the Jacksonville Jaguars. They received a fifth-round pick – same as what the Browns got from the Carolina Panthers for Baker Mayfield in July. The pick can improve to a fourth if Mayfield plays 70 percent of the team's offensive snaps in 2022.
4. Dobbs’ academic credentials conjure memories of Browns quarterback great Frank Ryan. Ryan was a mathematician who earned a Ph. D. from Rice University during his playing career. Ryan was a fifth-round pick of the Rams in 1958. In four years with the Rams, Ryan started 11 games. On his 26th birthday, Ryan was granted his wish for a trade and was a throw-in in a deal with the Browns. Paul Brown, in his final season as Browns founding coach, viewed Ryan as a backup. The following season, Blanton Collier took over for the fired Brown and an injury to starter Jim Ninowski gave Ryan his career break. At the age of 27, Ryan began the season as the Browns’ unquestioned starter. He led the Browns to a 10-4 record. In 1964, Ryan took the Browns to their last NFL championship. Dobbs is 27.
5. Tuesday at 4 p.m. is the deadline for NFL teams to cut rosters to 80 players. The Browns reduced their roster on Monday by waiving punter Joseph Charlton, safety Luther Kirk, offensive tackle Wyatt Miller, cornerback Parnell Motley, and tight end Marcus Santos-Silva. As you can tell, there won’t be many experienced receivers set free by this cut. A week later is the cut to 53. That’s when the Browns will be looking to add to the weakest position group on the team. It’s inevitable – unless GM Andrew Berry can pull off a trade for a reputable receiver. The only sure thing of the Browns’ receivers is Amari Cooper. Donovan Peoples-Jones is a keeper, of course, but he has had a quiet camp and there’s no evidence, yet, that he can adequately fill the No. 2 role. Rookie David Bell is trying to make up for losing the first 10 days of camp to a foot injury. Sure-handed in the non-competitive OTA and minicamp practices, Bell had a Dobbs pass zip through his hands in the Eagles game when he admitted his eyes turned to a defender aiming to hit him. Anthony Schwartz dropped his third pass in two games on Sunday. He rebounded with two catches but even the ones he grabs don’t come natural to him. Undrafted free agent Mike Harley has had his moments. The best catch against the Eagles was turned in by Javon Wims, a seventh-round draft pick of the Chicago Bears in 2018, who made an acrobatic grab over cornerback Kary Vincent on an underthrown ball by Dobbs, good for 34 yards. Berry has some work to do at this position group.
6. If game balls were given for preseason games, deserving recipients would be Michael Dunn and Alex Taylor. Dunn made his first-ever NFL appearance at center and emerged as the front-runner to fill the swing-interior line role vacated when Ethan Pocic was promoted to replace injured starting center Nick Harris. Dunn had a solid 41 snaps, including a great block pulling to his right on a John Kelly run of six yards in the fourth quarter. With Jedrick Wills, Jack Conklin and Chris Hubbard given the day off, Taylor logged all 74 plays on offense at left tackle (plus five on special teams) and kept Dobbs and Josh Rosen clean. Those performances are a testament to the genius of line coach Bill Callahan and assistant Scott Peters – the secret sauce of the Browns’ top-notch offensive line and running game scheme.
7. The best drive for the Browns’ offense was the 16-play, 95-yard march coolly engineered by Dobbs in the final 1:57 of the first half. Calling the plays for that drive was offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt. Unfortunately, Stefanski elected to kick a 19-yard field goal with :01 left rather than go for the touchdown. That wasn’t even Stefanski’s worst decision. He eschewed a 65-yard field goal attempt by Cade York with 3:14 to go in favor of letting Rosen try to convert a fourth-and-9. York had made a field goal from 60-plus yards in pre-game warm-ups. Rosen threw the ball into the grass on fourth down. The Browns are going to have at least one chance to win a game this year with an extra-long field goal. Not giving York the chance to simulate a long game-winner in a preseason game was indefensibly stupid.
