Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the month “December, 2010”

07 Dec 2010

Final Thoughts on the Browns & Week 13

Still relishing the Browns road victory against the Dolphins on Monday and so, so glad Nolan Carroll dropped that ball.

***

Joe Haden continues to show why he was the seventh pick in the draft in April. He had another interception on Sunday – his fourth consecutive game with a pick – five tackles and broke up four passes, the biggest when he knocked the ball away from Miami’s Brian Hartline in the end zone.

“They kept throwing it. I have no idea (why),” Haden told The Chronicle-Telegram. “I thought after I broke up the first two that they weren’t going to throw two more. But I just feel like every play I go out there, I have to be ready for them to come at me, so I have to be on top of my game every play.

“One of my strengths is the deep ball, just staying on top and being able to make a play on the ball. So they just kept trying and I just kept knocking it down.”

Coach Eric Mangini talked about Haden’s tackling ability in his Monday press conference:

“What I really liked about Joe’s game last week is probably different than what I’m sure you’d think, the way he tackled,” Mangini said. “That was a real strength of his in college and I he did an excellent job of that I thought last game. There were plays there where a missed tackle, the ball would have gone for a long way. Ronnie Brown on the screen, if Joe doesn’t make that play, he’s going for a long way. It was an open field tackle, one-on-one against Ronnie Brown, that’s hard to do.

“Those yards he saved aren’t a measurable stat, but it’s significant. I think that he’s playing with a lot of confidence, which is good. He has a much, much higher understanding of what we are trying to do, defensively, in terms of scheme.”

“The last quarter of the season he’s playing lights out,” David Bowens told The Plain Dealer. “They tested him a few times and Joe held his own. Not only that, but in the tackling game, he supported well.”

Good thing Browns GM Tom Heckert and the coaching staff didn’t fall for the nonsense about Haden being “too slow.”

***

While any Browns win is a good win, the lads at Waiting For Next Year came up with some disturbing numbers from the game yesterday:

The Browns ran 11 first down plays in the (first) half, one of which was a kneel down at the end of the quarter. So of those 10 plays, exactly 1 went for more than 3 yards. (That was a 13 yard rumble by Hillis on the first play of the second possession.) Here are the results from first down in that half- 0, 13, 2, 1, 0, 1, 2, 0, 3, 0 for an average of 2.2 yards on first down.

Those numbers go a long way toward explaining why the Browns were just 2-of-14 on third downs against Miami. The Browns can’t win too many games with that kind of non-production on first down. It will be interesting to see what kind of adjustments offensive coordinator Brian Daboll can make over the last quarter of the season.

***

It wouldn’t be another week in Brownstown without a nonsensical story about the future of coach Eric Mangini – and this one is better than most.

Jon Gruden’s son, Deuce Gruden II, says the old man will leave the ESPN broadcast booth in another year to take over the as coach of the Browns.

Or maybe he’ll wind up in San Francisco. Little Deuce wasn’t really sure.

We’ll forget for a moment how absurd all this is; we’re just glad to read a story that attributes the comments to someone other than “unnamed sources.”

***

It seems more likely that the Grudens would be looking at Denver, where Josh McDaniels is out as Broncos coach.

A year after being all the rage following an 6-0 start, McDaniels went 5-17 in a shocking flameout.

At least he hung around long enough to send Peyton Hillis to the Browns.

***

I know they aren’t getting much love, but we liked the Packers throwback uniforms from yesterday. And we absolutely loved the Buccaneers throwbacks.

***

And while we’re on the subject of things we love, we can’t say enough about the NFL Sunday Ticket on DirecTV. While watching the Browns yesterday we were able to keep tabs on the Chicago-Detroit game that we had action on; watch the Bengals bungle their way into another loss against New Orleans; and see our money pick come through when Atlanta beat Tampa.

Life is good sometimes.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Joe Haden, Jon Gruden, NFL, Sunday Ticket | Leave a comment
05 Dec 2010
2 Comments

Browns get a second date with Lady Luck

Lady Luck enjoyed the company of the Browns so much she went on the road with them to Miami and watched as the Browns pulled out a last-minute win over the Dolphins – the first win in Miami for the Browns since 1970.

Offensively this wasn’t Miami-San Diego in the 1981 playoffs, but the Browns defense came up with several big plays at the right time to keep the team in the game and the Browns finally won on a Phil Dawson field goal as time expired.

A week after poor tackling almost doomed the Browns against Carolina, and on the heels of defensive coordinator Rob Ryan saying that defense was “looking forward to this challenge,” the defensive highlights included:

  • Three interceptions, including another one by Joe Haden, who also added five solo tackles and four passes defended. Despite the ramblings of some, Haden has quickly shown that he is the real deal and one of the best draft picks in recent Browns history.
  • A blocked field goal and a key fourth-quarter sack by Shaun Rogers on third down.
  • Holding the Dolphins to 4-of-14 on third down, making sure the defense didn’t wear down as the game went on.
  • Holding Chad Henne to a Derek Anderson-like 37.8 passer rating. Of course, that may be a bit unfair to Henne, as Anderson was pulled from the Cardinals game today after going 7-0f-20 for 93 yards and a 29.8 QB rating. He did have time to get in his weekly interception, however.
  • Limiting the Dolphins to just 3.6 yards per rush.

The biggest defensive play came with 1:05 left when David Bowens deflected a Henne pass into the arms of Mike Adams, who returned the ball to the Miami two-yard line and set up Dawson’s game winning kick.

“It’s about time for us to win a game like that,” Adams told The Plain Dealer. “I got an early Christmas gift.”

Yes, yes it is.

Offensively the Browns … well … they did enough to win.

The Dolphins keyed their defense to stopping Peyton Hillis – the Browns only running threat with Josh Cribbs still slowed by his foot injury – and held Hillis to 57 yards on 18 carries and kept him out of the end zone.

With Hillis shut down, the Browns had to rely on Jake Delhomme. And while the Browns were horrible on third down – converting just two of 14 – Delhomme led the Browns on a 94-yard touchdown drive in the third quarter.

Ben Watson had a big day with 10 catches for 100 yards and a touchdown. Mohamed Massaquoi added four catches for 81 yards and Brian Robiskie even contributed two catches, albeit for only 10 yards.

And it was clear that Delhomme tried really hard to not make the killer mistake that would cost the Browns the game. He threw the ball away on a couple of occasions and ate the ball on a sack.

Honestly, he really did try, but it almost all came apart with 1:49 left in the game. Delhomme targeted Watson but the pass went directly to Miami cornerback Nolan Carroll.

There’s little doubt the play had TAINT written all over it, but miraculously Carroll dropped the ball.

“I should have made it,” Carroll told The Plain Dealer. “I saw the route. I knew it was coming before the play even happened because they ran the same thing earlier in the game. I just got to make the play. I score. I know for a fact I score.”

For the second week in a row the Browns caught a break and when Adams picked off the pass a minute later they won their second in a row.

Some may scoff that this was an ugly win, but there really is no such thing. For a team that never stops fighting, these kinds of wins reward that attitude and help the team stay positive and focused for the next game. Plus its about time the Browns had some luck come their way.

The win means the Browns are now:

  • 4-2 after starting the season 1-5
  • 9-7 in their last 16 games after their 1-12 start to last season.
  • Just as importantly, they are now 4-1 in December under coach Eric Mangini, a sure sign that this team keeps improving and won’t give up.

And with Buffalo and Cincinnati coming up the next two weeks, it’s not to hard to see this team finding itself at 7-7 when it comes how for the final two games of the season.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Jake Delhomme, Joe Haden, NFL
05 Dec 2010
1 Comment

Browns vs. Dolphins – Week 13

The Browns head to Miami today looking for their first win on the road against the Dolphins since 1970.

The Opposition

Miami: 6-5
Offensive rank: 16th overall/15th passing/19th rushing
Defensive rank: 6th overall/4th passing/12th rushing
Strength of schedule: 5th
All-time record: Miami leads 9-6, including playoffs. The Browns haven’t beaten the Dolphins in Miami since 1970, their first meeting.
The line: Browns +4.5

What to Watch For

The Browns actually have a better chance to win this game than they are getting credit for as, in a lot of ways, these teams mirror each other.

The Dolphins are only 1-4 at home and their only quality win this season was an OT victory over Green Bay in Week 6.

After leading the league in rushing last year, the Dolphins haven’t had a 100-yard rusher this season and currently sit 19th in the league. But they did run for a season-high 186 yards while controlling the ball for more than 41 minutes in last week’s victory at Oakland. The Browns defense will have to get over its tackling problems for the Browns to have a chance to win this game.

The Dolphins are 0-5 when they have less than 25 rushing attempts this season, so the Browns need to be solid against the run and get the Dolphins into more passing situations.

The Browns should be able to run the ball with Peyton Hillis, as the Dolphins are giving up over 100 yards a game on the ground. Getting the running game going is the biggest key for the Browns, as in their last eight wins, dating back to last season, they have averaged 190 yards rushing. In the seven losses during that same time they have averaged only 95 yards.

So both teams will be looking to run the ball, hoping that they will not have to rely on their erratic quarterback play.

For the Dolphins, Chad Henne returned last week from a knee injury. He’ll make the start again today, the first time the Dolphins have started the same quarterback two weeks in a row in several weeks.

On the Browns side, Jake Delhomme will once again be back under center, which means we will:

  • See more activity from the wide receivers. We won’t use the word production because five-yard completions to the wide receivers are not really all that exciting or different than the eight-yard completions to the tight ends the Browns were getting with Seneca Wallace and Colt McCoy at quarterback.
  • A thrown-off-the-back-foot interception, a horrible throw while scrambling or being pulled down by a Miami defender, and an interception that is the result of locking onto one receiver.

At this point of the season and his career, there is no reason to expect anything else from Delhomme. He did it his last year in Carolina and he’s still doing it now. You want Delhomme as your starting quarterback you get the good – the use of the no-huddle offense for example – but you also have to live with the interceptions and just hope they don’t come at a bad time or that the defense can overcome them.

We would like to think that, facing the fourth-best passing defense in the league, the Browns will do their best to limit Delhomme’s passing attempts.

The Best Browns vs. Dolphins Game I’ve Ever Seen

The 1979 game the Browns won in overtime, 30-24. The Plain Dealer‘s game story is available here. Video highlights are available here and here.

The Prediction

Cue the record: the Browns can win if they don’t hurt themselves with turnovers or costly mistakes. While the Browns are improved (and improving) their margin for victory is so small they simply can’t afford mistakes.

Unfortunately, until he shows us otherwise, there’s no reason to think Delhomme can avoid those mistakes.

We’ll take the Dolphins minus the points in another entertaining, but close loss for the good guys.

Record picking the Browns this year: 2-8-1

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins, NFL
02 Dec 2010

What Should We Do?

Much has been written and spoken over the past few days, weeks and months about LeBron James returning to Cleveland tonight. The key question in all the discussions has been how will/should Cleveland fans react?

Some are expecting a scene reminiscent of 10-cent beer night at the old Stadium, which would play into the hands of the national media who have portrayed Cleveland as a wasteland filled with roving mobs of angry fans.

Others have called for chants, songs and other forms of disapproval vented at LeBron. There’s little doubt that will occur tonight at the Q.

What should we do?

The best way for the fans in attendance to treat LeBron is to show him what he gave up when he left town: a passionate fan base that supports their teams through (infrequent) good times and bad times.

Cheer for the Cavs, reward them for the past few years when they turned the Q into a nightly showcase for exciting NBA basketball and made Cleveland relevant again in the NBA. Remind LeBron what the cheering sounds like when it is authentic and from the heart, rather than the result of a team’s marketing plan.

Cleveland fans, for the most part, are a solid bunch. You still have your hoople heads who are easily influenced by what passes for sports talk radio in this town, but overall we know what we’re talking about.

And most importantly we care about our teams. And for those of us born after 1964, we all carry the same fear that we will never see a championship in Cleveland in our lifetimes.

But we are still there, game after game, season after season. Boston fans cried over the Red Sox while watching the Celtics and Patriots win titles. Chicago fans whine about the Cubs, forgetting the titles the Bulls and Bears won.

Cleveland fans have no such reprieve, but we persevere. Tonight offers a perfect opportunity to show ESPN, TNT, CNN and the rest of the national media watching just what a Cleveland fan really is: dedicated, passionate and educated.

Ultimately tonight’s game will have little bearing on how the Cavs and Heat finish the season. Win or lose, the Cavs will probably finish the season out of the playoffs; while the Heat will be trying to fight its way through Boston and Orlando.

But for one night we can show the world that, as Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Our greatest glory is not in never failing, but in rising up every time we fail.”

Let’s rise up one more time Cleveland.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers, hoople heads, NBA | Leave a comment
01 Dec 2010

So … there’s some big game on Thursday?

Did you know the Cavs have some kind of big game on Thursday?

We kid. Obviously LeBron James returning home for the first time since stabbing Cleveland in the back on national TV is a big deal. The game offers fans the opportunity to:

  • Vent their anger
  • Finally have some closure
  • Embarrass themselves and Cleveland on national TV
  • All of the above

In some ways, we’ve been through this before as fans, especially with the exodus of players from the Indians following the late ’90s.

But in reality this is more akin to when the Browns left in 1995. LeBron was more than just a player on one of the local sports teams, we all bought into the notion that he was one of us. And when it turned out he was just like every other athlete it cut deeper than when Albert Belle or Jim Thome, for example, walked away from the Indians in free agency.

LeBron’s leaving tore a hole in the soul of Cleveland sports and everyone is recovering from that in their own way. Thursday night’s game should help with that recovery as LeBron only comes back to Cleveland for the first time once.

After tomorrow, home games against the Heat become just another game.

And, hopefully, Cleveland fans still looking for closure can find it.

***

No surprise that there are multiple stories coming out as we draw closer to the actual game:

Well, you get the picture.

No matter what happens Thursday night, it should be another night to remember in Cleveland sports.

Posted in Cleveland Cavaliers, LeBron James, NBA | Leave a comment

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