Mulva;1028172 wrote:They aren't that much better. Smith was hampered by injury last year, but you act like he missed 10 games. He was on the field, he just wasn't 100%. The bigger issue was that he didn't have anyone to get him the ball.
My point is, Carolina had Clausen and Moore post QBRs of 55 and 58. Sometimes all it takes is a competent QB to make average weapons look a little better than average. Shockey (at this point in his career), Lafell, and Naanee aren't elite weapons. Smith is a beast, and the Williams/Stewart combo has always been good - but Steve Smith going from 80% to 100% healthy doesn't jump you from dead last in offense to top 5.
It's not crazy to think that a playmaking QB could make the Browns offense a lot better. They obviously don't have the pieces to be elite, but they have enough to not be a bottom 5 offense in the league with the right guy running the show.
If you watched any games last year and any games this year, there is a CLEAR night and day difference betwen 2010 Steve Smith and 2011 Steve Smith. The guy's going to be in Pro Bowl consideration this year, and he's a pro bowl caliber WR, just was hampered by injuries all last year.
Also, Deangelo Williams was hurt a lot of last year. He only had 87 carries, which was actually third on the team.
Then you add in Greg Olsen, Jeremy Shockey, and Legedu Naanee and you have 3 additional weapons to a healthy squad.
I mean I absolutely agree that a playmaking QB could amke the Browns offense a lot better, but to say the Panthers just added Newton and they were all of a sudden a top 5 offense is asinine. They added pieces and got a lot of pieces back from injury.