Breaking down Dorian Thompson-Robinson’s performance against the Bengals

“DTR” undoubtedly had trouble on Sunday, but he made some nice plays as well standing in for Deshaun Watson

26The Cleveland Browns experienced another frustrating defeat on Sunday, this time to the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals by a score of 21 to 14.

Unfortunately for the team, Deshaun Watson appears to have suffered a season-ending injury with a torn Achilles. Though there was a cloud looming over Cleveland’s offense already, losing the starting quarterback is still a big loss for the passing game.

Whether that means Jameis Winston or Dorian Thompson-Robinson becomes the full-time starter is unknown, but it was DTR that got the first opportunity on Sunday.

Let’s look at a few of his better plays on the day:

One thing that was immediately noticeable about DTR’s performance in comparison to Watson’s was his “quick trigger”. Whether it’s with RPOs or standard route concepts, he can get the ball out faster than Watson on a fairly consistent basis.

DTR does a better overall job of sticking to the script than other quarterbacks on the team as well and will constantly take what the defense gives him rather than trying to extend plays when he doesn’t need to.

He’s excellent on any sort of zone/power-read designs both because of his speed and athleticism with the ball in his hands, as well as his technique at the mesh point.

He does a great job of keeping a wide base while opening his hips during the read in order to make it easier for himself to take off when he pulls it. A majority of his 44 rushing yards on the day came from these two big runs.

Kevin Stefanski feels more comfortable calling these types of plays with DTR at the helm so it’s going to be interesting to see how often he utilizes Thompson-Robinson’s legs going forward.

One of the main issues that he still has to solve at the NFL level is his accuracy past 10 yards downfield. He’s excellent when it comes to both timing and accuracy on quick slants, hitches, digs, etc. but has a habit of throwing behind receivers when he needs to be leading them in deeper levels of the field.

He also needs to do a better job of throwing to center mass on receivers when under pressure. When he’s forced out of the pocket or slightly off-balance, he starts to get really sloppy when it comes to ball placement.

He squandered two crucial, wide-open 3rd down throws yesterday to Nick Chubb and Pierre Strong because he threw the ball at Chubb’s feet and above Strong’s head.

Who do you think should be Cleveland’s starter going forward, DTR or Jameis Winston? Join fellow Browns fans in the comment section below.