The Mc has control of the WC

In the three series he played last night Cleveland Browns Stadium, Colt McCoy steered his offense to two scores in a 27-17 win over defending Super Bowl Champions Green Bay Packers.

After one very poor decision, a backwards pass to rookie fullback Owen Marecic who never caught the ball, McCoy and the first team rattled off passing gains of 10, 12, 8, 15, and 27 yards. Touchdown Josh Cribbs.

McCoy was 9-10 for 135 yards and a touchdown for the game.

Thank you very much.

McCoy said it was the first time he and rookie head coach Pat Shurmur had communicated with each from field to sideline. "There were a lot of firsts tonight," McCoy told the Associated Press.

Shurmur told the AP, "It was good to see Colt go in there and move the ball. It looked like the game was moving slow for him, which is good. Colt's a little bit of a gamer, and that's right up his alley."

Meanwhile, Green Bay had some rust to shake off after not spending any time together during the lockout. 

"It felt good to finally be back out there," Rodgers told AP. "I missed being on the field. It was a long offseason. It was nice to get back out there and play another team."

It showed on their second series. After a 21-yard back shoulder touchdown strike to Greg Jennings at the front pylon Rodgers said, "I was talking to Greg on the sideline before that last drive and said, 'Hey, let's put this one in the end zone and take a break.'"

Sheldon Brown was covering on the play and was right there, but Rodgers and Jennings made a heck-of-a play and showed why Green bay's offense was so effective last year.

On their final series, Mccoy and tight end Ben Watson hooked up for the second time with a 27 yard strike down the seem. Peyton Hillis ran it in the endzone for a 14-7 lead.

After a field goal score and a 3-yard touchdown pass from Green Bay backup quarterback Matt Flynn to Spencer Havner, the Packers led 17-14 at the half.

McCoy told WKYC weekend sports anchor Dave Chudowski, "at halftime it was like, hey, we gotta do whatever it takes to win. (Pre-season or not) you know we want to win."

Dick Jauron's defense shut out the Packers in the second half, a strong comeback after early game jitters. 

Really early jitters.

A first play-of-the-game timeout for having 12 men on the field is an ominous sign, but it proved to be the exception rather the rule. Jauron was seen on the sideline saying, "it's on me, it's on me."

After that, the Browns defense had five sacks, one of them by linebacker Brian Smith on Flynn, who fumbled the ball at the Cleveland 49. Linebacker Titus Brown scooped up the ball and ran for a touchdown.

Backup kicker Jeff Wolfert hit two 40-plus yard field goals in his first game action, in the second half.

Training Days: Browns will look Packers in the eye and hope for reflection

While Colt McCoy went campin' with the boys' this off season, Aaron Rodgers talked to his teammates only via phone. With no new players to count on to produce and no new offense to install, practice seemed like, well, like telling Ron Turcotte how handle Secretariot around the first turn.

Not  needed.

The Pack has been running some form of the West Coast offense for, oh, twenty years or so. The Browns, notta one. Two weeks. 

The Packers won the Super Bowl last year. The Browns picked sixth in the draft in April. 

So, yeah. A lot to learn tonight.

The Browns bring a mixed-bag of firsts into the match: First game with with a first-year head coach; First game with the new offense, new defense. First game for first-year position coaches. 

The Packers bring ten returning starters on offense, ten on defense. An offense and defense that at last glance was clicking. Like Clicking. The New Gunlsinger, Rodgers, had 'em rolling up the points down the stretch last year on their run to reclaim the Lombardi - and bring it home. 

Galluping really.

Meanwhile, Colt McCoy got his feet wet with a 1-5 team against, in order now, the Steelers, the Patriots, the Saints, and the Jets. McCoy would probably admit that at some point in the middle there, the water rose well past his feet.

But he actually won a couple of 'em. Kudos to him. This is a new season, one with expectations. He won't win one tonight. He won't win one quarter tonight, actually.

The only measurable section of pre-season game number one in any season is the first quarter with the starters. So, he's got, at best, three series? I'll bet Colt scores on one of 'em. Maybe a toss-in Dawson field goal on another...just to see. 

Just to see how close they can get to where an NFL team that wants to win in the post season needs to be. And then they can get ready for the rest of the ponies in the league.

So, do the Browns have the horses to beat the Pack to the Wire? Doubt it. But it'll be a good first turn through to be sure.