Meaningless, but pleasing

The scoreboard at the end of Thursday night's Hall of Fame game in Canton read Cleveland 21, New York Jets 16. An encouraging beginning to the 2023 exhibition season for the Browns.

Yes, every Cleveland starter and/or major contributor on both sides of the football watched from the Cleveland sidelines in street clothes as the second and third units overcame an early 13-0 deficit as head coach Kevin Stefanski provided a sneak peek at what the immediate future looks like.

Of course it was meaningless, as are all exhibition games. But it was difficult not to at least get a little excited about the performances of running backs John Kelly Jr., Hassan Hall and Demetric Felton Jr., who compiled 122 yards of the Browns' 172 rushing yards against the Jets scrubs.

Kelly and Felton, in particular, were strong at the point of attack and relentlessly picked up extra yards when holes appeared to be closed. It will be interesting to watch their battle with Jerome Ford for the backup spot to Nick Chubb.

But the most impressive reveal of the evening answered the question of who will back up Deshaun Watson and Joshua Dobbs at quarterback this season. Rookie Dorian Thompson-Robinson, who will be known from now on as DTR, was clearly the star against the Jets.

The fifth-round pick out of UCLA was 8-of-11 for 82 yards and a beautifully-thrown 22-yard scoring slant to Austin Watkins Jr. that gave the Browns their first lead at 21-16 in the fourth quarter. It culminated a nine-play, 78-yard five-minute journey. 

In his very first series to open the second half, DTR guided the offense 93 yards in 11 plays in 6:47, Felton streaking the final 16 yards with the quarterback surprisingly delivering the key block for his ex-college teammate.

Along the way, Browns fans were also entertained by his quick feet, displaying at times the pocket escapability and elusiveness reminiscent of Baltimore's Lamar Jackson. He seemed, at least from the game, to know when to leave the pocket, and prolong drives. 

He all but sealed up the backup job in relief of Kellen Mond, who played the first half and led the offense to the first of three clock-chewing scoring drives, but was victimized by an Anthony Schwartz fumble on an end around deep in Cleveland territory in the opening quarter and by a poorly thrown pick.

That led to 10 gift points on the second of Greg Zuerlein's three field goals and the lone Jets touchdown by Israel Abanikanda.  After that, the defense took over. and dominated.

Outside of minimizing the damage caused by the two first-half turnovers, Jim Schwartz's aggressive backup crew was steady, holding the New York offense to just nine first downs, a meager 53 yards on the ground and only 188 yards overall.  

In five second-half possessions, the Jets punted thrice, turned the ball over on downs, were picked off by young safety Bubba Bolden on a desperate last-minute heave, and never got closer than the Browns' 29-yard line.

The defensive staff had to be pleased by Bolden, linebackers Charlie Thomas III and veteran Tony Fields II and cornerback Thomas Graham Jr., who were either in on or in the vicinity of numerous plays.

The only major concern on the evening -- and this is a bit of a stretch -- were the 90 yards the special teams surrendered on kicks; a 45-yard return of a kickoff by Xavier Gipson and the 45 yards on two punt returns by Alex Erickson, 

The pleasing result of this one aside, the evening provided more than a glimmer of hope and promise that the bench strength this season behind one of the league's strongest cores is a distinct improvement from last season.

Trimming the roster to the final 53 men next month, at least based on what we saw Thursday night, almost certainly will be challenging and rewarding at the same time for General Manager Andrew Berry.  Challenging because of its difficulty; rewarding knowing how much stronger the roster will be.