Josh Gordon turning out to be a very nice supplement to the Cleveland Browns: Bill Livingston
... Gordon has always had the flash of exceptional physical ability. He is now delivering substance.
Gordon's 71-yard touchdown reception from Brandon Weeden Sunday in the Browns' first victory of the season against Cincinnati gave him three touchdown catches in his last two games. One of the others was a 62-yarder. He has only 12 catches overall.
The reception total is limited because he missed training camp. Once Gordon arrived, the terminology was different; the routes and reads are far more complex than those at Baylor, where he last played in 2010; and every defender in the NFL is at least as big, fast and aggressive as almost anyone he faced in college.
So here is Gordon now, averaging an eye-popping 22.8 yards per catch with a ripple effect that influences the rest of the game plan. "It has effect when you can complete deep balls of 62 and 71 yards," said coach Pat Shurmur. "It has an effect on the defense for sure."
Then Shurmur described the dink-and-dunk passing game of last year with Colt McCoy and a host of receivers who did not resemble Gordon. "If [opponents] know they only have to defend a 10-yard area, the game is real small for the offense," he said. "When they know they have to defend the deep part of the field on the middle and outside, there's no question it helps the rest of your offense be more efficient."
Shurmur said Gordon should be compared to 2011's rookies, whose learning opportunities were severely curtailed due to the lockout. Given that Gordon also came from Baylor's improvisational offense -- in which he ran only fly patterns and short hitches or screens -- he is a surprise not only in getting on the field, but in becoming a growing part of the offense.
... "He was at two different colleges, hadn't really played a lot of football on a consistent basis. Guys who come from more advanced college offenses have a chance to get up to speed quicker," said Shurmur.
... Gordon is showing that a high-risk draft pick, involving the character issues often found in the supplemental draft, a pick dictated by the impoverishment of play-makers on the team, might pay off in a big way.
"He's a guy with the ability to run past a [defender]. He's a long guy who's a huge mismatch for safeties. He's come a long way and is more comfortable now," said Weeden.
Weeden's long touchdown pass against the Bengals to Gordon traveled almost 50 yards into a swirling wind that made every throw an adventure. A good amateur golfer, Weeden said, "I just wanted to put one in the fairway."
You are exactly right Denarius is a terrible comparison.. Gordon is 6-3 225 more like a TO, Andre Johnson Demaryius thomas comparison there buddy and obviously is as fast as all three of them guys and physically could be actually more of a physical presence then them three guys which I know sounds crazy but this Gordon is a stud in the making esp if he can get all the routes down, become more consistent and see more targets. I have been picking him up months ago. I figured this would happen and if Cle has any brains they will throw this man the ball.
Started him over Blackmon/Roberts-level guys last couple weeks, but this week I'm probably benching a banged up Brandon Lloyd for him. I'm a pretty big dog in the matchup, so figured I may as well totally swing for the fence.
