Cook looked indecisive on his blocking assignments and did not do very well. This is not totally unexpected given he's a new player that has missed some practice. Didn't see him get a chance to open it up; but in the short area receiving work he did, it looked like his foot was feeling good. Cook showed his good hands and a good catch radius; his past drops are 100% about focus. Given the new playbook and lack of practice his catch focus was superb. There was no hint of juggle, his catches were fluid looking and definitive.
Rodgers blocked well, he dominated Orchard a few times.
One starting ILB is established [if this game makes the determination-which it does not]: Joe Thomas. He showed downhill thump that we have not seen since Bishop. He was solid in coverage [though was pulled in dime, leaving Martinez on field]. He did one blitz at 9:22 2Q around right end and popped the RB back and had a path to QB, but QB got rid of ball too fast for pressure.
It was interesting that Lowry started at 5 tech and Guion at NT; instead of Guion at 5 tech and Clark at NT. Lowry got a little push on the Browns starters not a bad start.
Martinez looked good. One play his roll was to blitz if RB blocked; the RB blocked and Martinez rushed, then the RB released and Martinez read, reacted and covered beautifully. The play before he covered the RB lined up in slot like a glove. On the missed tackle play, he crashed his gap and then read and reacted beautifully when RB bounced outside. McCrary did not hold his gap; but Martinez shed a block efficiently and ran over to McCrary's gap to make the stop at about 2 yards; this was an excellent play, except he missed the tackle.
One play Martinez blitzed and got a pressure and of course the announcer were all over singing his praises. But Irving let him through, it was a screen. The guy who also was let through but recognized the screen was Clark, he stopped and covered the RB so RG3 grounded the ball. Clark did not do much; but considering this play was in 1st Q of his 1st game and about his 3rd or 4th snap I cant believe Clark's eyes didn't light up when he beat Bitanio and had a clear path to RG3. Clark showed INCREDIBLE poise and discipline on this play. If Clark excels on the physical side of the game, he could become a special player, a Daniels plus player.
Thomas on this play was on the cross dog with Martinez; and like Clark, he recognized that Lowry and Martinez had all the pressure necessary and he stopped his blitz and moved to cover the screen like Clark.
On Clark's only tackle, he held his ground and shed a double team against 2 good back-ups [C Gerhardt in league 4 years, played 2 years on GB PS and was active for 2 reg seasons games and RG Pasztor is a 4 yr player who started 27 games! He started this game for Clev at RT] dove and made a solid tackle.
Brice had 3 special teams tackles and looked like Burnett holding the edge and making a TFL. At 1:58, 1 Q he was in halves coverage and did a nice job getting to sideline covering a deep out on WR that got behind Gunter and at 3Q 5:52 he got to he sideline quick again playing in halves. At 9:23 in 2nd he tracked Mostart in flat nicely when he saw the pass coming to him he exploded toward Mostart, who dropped the ball prior to any contact. Brice did a nice job pulling up and putting his arms out like a cross and bumping Mostart to ground with his chest. I think Brice could have avoided the collision and certainly good have hit him with less force; but this was very physical and the perfect amount of controlled aggressiveness.. On the TD pass called back because McCown was over LOS, Brice started coverage in halves and I cant see this development on TV but it looks as if after the snap they rolled into Brice playing a single high. If so, Brice failed badly by letting the TE get behind him. But Whitehead at other safety spot looked in no man's land, so it may have been Whitehead side of field to cover deep and he blew his assignment. If so, Brice did a real nice job seeing the missed assignment and did his best to mitigate the damage by trying to cover a guy on Whitehead's side of the field. So I think i was a bad play; but it might have been a heads-up play.
Bachman's blocking was tentative and ineffective. On the Crockett TD when Bachman ran his route he collided with his guy and Crock's guy, it looked accidental, but if it looked intentional it'd be a penalty. So gotta call it a perfect rub play for Backman.
Perillo's blocking was a bit better than Bachman and Cook; 2-3-4 times he stuck one arm out and put it on the guy he was blocking; he better stop this or he'll get a serious shoulder, or arm injury.
Spriggs looked great pass blocking against 2 decent scrubs, Mingo and Nassib. One play Mingo threw him down like Spriggs weighed 50 lbs.
Patrick played well at both RG and LG especially with a club on hand.
Burks looks quick and has "it" on setting up guys for his cuts, also he delivered a punch when being tackled usually falling forward for that extra yard. He also caught the ball effortlessly. 1:54 2Q he picked up a blitz on Cam Johnson [4 yr player that played a handful of defensive snaps in 15 games playing mostly on STs]. Burks could not anchor and Johnson drove him right into Callahan who still got enough on throw to complete it to Abby. Burks heart was willing but he must do better to make the 53.
Of the young UDFA CBs I thought Daniel tracked the best.