Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the month “October, 2011”

18 Oct 2011

Browns a hot mess in Oakland

The Autumn wind is a Raider
Pillaging just for fun
He’ll knock you ’round and upside down
And laugh when he’s conquered and won.

The Browns learned on Sunday that the Autumn wind truly is a Raider, falling to Oakland 24-17 in a game that featured one ugly performance from the offense.

Let’s start with the good stuff.

Phil Dawson kicked a 47-yard field goal and executed a perfect onside kick. Punter Brad Maynard had a nice day.

See where this is going?

Actually, the defense had another solid effort. After giving up a touchdown on the Raiders’ opening drive (and forcing Oakland to use two timeouts in the process), the defense held the Raiders to just three points the rest of the way.

The Browns held Darren McFadden – the NFL’s leading rusher – under 100 combined yards and did their best to keep the team in the game.

After ranking 22nd and 31st the past two years, the Browns currently sit 7th in the league in defense, so they have that going for them.

Unfortunately, the offense continues to be a considerable work in progress.

After another slow start, the Browns looked like they were ready to play, finishing a seven-play, 56-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown pass from Colt McCoy to Alex Smith, making the score 7-7.

But the special teams squad gave the momentum right back to the Raiders as Jacoby Ford took the ensuing kickoff 101 yards for a touchdown. Another special teams breakdown – this time in the third quarter when Oakland scored on a 35-yard fake field goal – put the Browns into a 24-7 hole that the offense was not able to dig out of.

The Browns were supposed to use the bye week to figure out what works and clean the playbook of what doesn’t. Instead the offense staggered through the game, never getting anything going until it was too late.

This team has no identity on offense, no consistency in the play calling – it seems at times as if the coaches are using a roulette wheel to call plays in the hopes that something works – and is struggling considerably to pick up the West Coast offense.

For the second game in a row McCoy threw to many passes – 45. On one level that is understandable as the Browns were trailing 24-7. But we can’t shake the feeling that the current offensive strategy is to abandon the run at the first sign of trouble.

McCoy also struggled when the Raiders blitzed, which they did on 22 of his pass attempts. On those plays, McCoy only completed 35 percent of his passes for 56 yards (according to ESPN Stats & Information). McCoy entered Sunday averaging 3.1 yards per attempt when the defense blitzes a defensive back, the fourth-lowest average in the NFL this season.

“There were a couple times where we had pressures that should have been picked up that weren’t,” coach Pat Shurmur said on Monday. “It may have appeared Colt didn’t see it coming. He saw it coming and thought it was picked up.”

All that does is ensure that McCoy will continue to see a steady diet of blitzers in the coming weeks.

The Browns couldn’t run the ball as Peyton Hillis gained only 14 yards before hurting his hamstring (what Madden Curse?) and Montario Hardesty only added 35 yards and two more dropped passes.

Things have gotten so bad that Josh Cribbs is volunteering to play more on special teams.

“I’m very insignificant on offense, so I need to be out there heavily on all special teams,” Cribbs said after the game. “I got the ball only twice, so that’s insignificant right there. Snaps, it’s insignificant. I want to help my team win. You get the ball to your athletes. I feel like where I’m an asset on this team is special teams and I want to re-focus on what got me into this league.”

So now what?

This year was never about the final won-loss record for the Browns. Rather, it’s about developing the young talent and finding out which players fit into the offensive and defensive system.

And it’s not as if the Browns were a well-oiled offensive machine under the previous regime, finishing last year 29th in overall offense and 31st in points scored.

But we expected the offense to show us something five games into the season – be competitive, be able to sustain more than one drive a game, be consistent at something.

Instead we have an offense that does nothing well, with an injured No. 1 running back, and the hoople heads calling for the coach to be sacked already.

“We fought till the end,” McCoy said in published reports. “Eventually, we thought, we’re going to catch a break. In the huddle, after we got the onside kick, we thought we had a chance. We had a minute, that’s a long time. We got it on the 50. We just didn’t capitalize.”

Yep, that about sums it up.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, hoople heads, NFL, slumping offense | Leave a comment
15 Oct 2011

Browns vs. Raiders – Week 6

The Cleveland Browns head to Oakland on Sunday for the first time in four years to take on the Raiders.

The Opposition

Oakland record: 3-2
Offensive rank: 9th overall/22nd passing/2nd rushing
Defensive rank: 31st overall/29th passing/22nd rushing
All-time record: Browns trail 8-12 (including playoffs), with a 6-7 mark away from home
Last meeting: Browns won 23-9 in 2009
The line: Browns (+5.5)

What to Watch For

With two weeks off since their last game, Browns coach Pat Shurmur and defensive coordinator Dick Jauron spent the bye week reviewing the first quarter of the season to find out what worked and what didn’t and claim to have adjusted the playbook and personnel accordingly.

With eight starters in their first or second year, and with a new offensive and defensive system being put into place, the Browns treated the first four games of the season as almost an extension of training camp, trying different personnel packages and plays to try and accelerate the learning process for not only the players but the coaches as well.

“We are still young together, but we know a lot more than we did when the preseason started about our guys,” Jauron said this week. “We’re still learning though week-to-week. We threw some stuff out that we didn’t care for and we didn’t add a whole lot. We really like the way our guys played, their enthusiasm and we felt the longer we can keep them together and do somewhat similar things, the better off we’ll be.”

This week on Sirius NFL Radio, the always excellent Pat Kirwin and Tim Ryan were talking about how teams missed about 1,000 snaps of practice this year because of the NFL lockout. There’s no question that the Browns could have used that practice time.

Now that they are through the initial part of the schedule it is time for this team to start showing what it is capable of. The Raiders present both an opportunity and a challenge.

Oakland is second in the league in rushing, led by Darren McFadden, the NFL’s top rusher wtih 519 yards and an average of 5.7 yards per rush. The Browns continue to struggle against the rush, ranking 25th, meaning the Browns should see a steady diet of McFadden left and McFadden right.

“I think the biggest thing we can do against him is set the edge and make him cut back and use the rest of our defense instead of putting (it all) on one guy,” linebacker Chris Gocong said in published reports. “But it’s a hard thing to do.”

If the defense can limit McFadden, however, the Browns could be in for a good day. The Raiders are a weak passing team (22nd) while the Browns have the fourth-best pass defense in the league. Stop McFadden on first and second down and the Browns could make it a long day for Oakland quarterback Jason Campbell.

On offense, this would be as good a time as any for the Browns to get the West Coast offense untracked as the Raiders are next-to-last in defense in the league.

Inserting Greg Little into the starting lineup at wide receiver over Brian Robiskie (three catches on the year) is a good start, as it puts another playmaker on the field against Oakland’s 29th-ranked pass defense. Also, if Tony Pashos can make it through the game without hurting himself, the Browns can give Evan Moore additional snaps as they don’t need Alex Smith to help with blocking on the right side.

The big worry on offense is Alex Mack. It sounds as if the Browns center will play after having his appendix removed, but if he has to come out the Browns are left with Steve Vallos at center, lining up next to rookie Jason Pinkston at left guard and second-year player Shawn Lauvao at right guard.

Not sure the thought of that will help quarterback Colt McCoy sleep any better tonight.

Oh, and it would be nice if the Browns could score some points in the first quarter for a change. This year they have been outscored 27-3 in the opening period.

“I’m very optimistic, the practices have been good, the guys have been focused, their energy level was good,” Shurmur said on Friday. “They practiced hard, I saw very few mistakes and again, as I tell them every week, good practices don’t guarantee good performances in the game. All it does is give you the best opportunity, but I feel very confident that we’ll go out and play well.”

The Most Painful Browns vs. Raiders game We’ve Ever Seen

If you don’t know by now, we don’t know what to tell you.

The Prediction

We expect the Browns to play a sharper game this week now that they have had two weeks of preparation.

But will that be enough against a Raider team that, while not great, is pretty good? And playing their first home game since owner Al Davis passed away?

Unfortunately, we don’t think so.

We’ll take the Raiders and the points.

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 2-2-0.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL, Oakland Raiders, Red Right 88 | Leave a comment
13 Oct 2011

Physics, Can-Am Spyders & 241 feet

It is unfortunate for Marcus Benard and the Cleveland Browns that Bernard will miss the rest of the season after injuring himself in a motorcycle crash earlier this week.

Benard was placed on the reserve non-football injury list two days after he lost control of his Can-Am Spyder while driving on I-71. According to published reports, Benard cut across three lanes of traffic before crashing into a guardrail in Brooklyn.

Fortunately for Benard he came out of the accident with a broken hand and, possibly, broken ribs. Things could have been far, far worse.

According to the police report, Benard said he was driving at 60 mph when he crashed. Benard was thrown 241 feet – that’s just over 80 yards – in the accident, which got us wondering just how fast a 256-pound man (Benard’s listed playing weight) would have to be traveling to be thrown nearly the length of a football field.

So we posed the question to a physics teacher we know and here is what we found out.

The formula to find the Range = (v(initial)^2/g) (sin 2 theta)

If you rearrange the formula you can solve for the initial speed (so we’re told, we didn’t do so well in high school physics).

However, to calculate Benard’s speed based on the distance he flew off the bike, you need to know the angle of departure, which is a variable we don’t have.

But the teacher made us a chart showing the different angles of departure with their corresponding speeds (the first number is the angle of departure, the second is the corresponding mph):

  • 5/143.9
  • 10/102.5
  • 15/84.8
  • 20/74.8
  • 25/68.5
  • 30/64.4
  • 35/61.8
  • 40/60.4
  • 45/59.9
  • 50/60.4
  • 55/61.8
  • 60/64.4
  • 65/68.5
  • 70/74.8
  • 75/84.8
  • 80/102.5
  • 85/143.9

Looking at the chart we can see that there are several angles that correspond (or are at least close enough) to Benard’s stated speed of 60 mph that it is certainly possible he was not speeding when he crashed.

And that ends today’s science lesson.

The Browns also announced on Thursday that they will pay Benard’s full salary for the rest of the season, even though they are not required to by league rules. So good for them on that.

***

And don’t forget to read part two of The Guardian‘s interview with Liverpool owner John W. Henry.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in Can-Am Spyder, Cleveland Browns, Liverpool, Marcus Benard | Leave a comment
12 Oct 2011

Simply put, U.S. needs better competition

Lots going on this week in non-Cleveland Browns style of football, starting with the U.S. Men’s National Team, which took on Ecuador Tuesday night in an international friendly.

The U.S. lost, 1-0, on a goal by Jaime Ayoví in the 79th minute. The Americans have now gone 23 games without scoring more than two goals, since beating Australia 3-1 in their last warmup before the 2010 World Cup.

“We created chances in the first half and really didn’t allow Ecuador anything,” coach Jurgen Klinsmann said in published reports. “They never really had a real threat until their goal.”

And the Titanic was a nice voyage until that whole iceberg thing.

Obviously that is a bit extreme, but the team is just 1-3-1 since Klinsmann took over for Bob Bradley. By comparison, Bradley was 10-0-1 to start his tenure with the team.

“Part of the attraction, obviously, is (Klinsmann’s) an innovative guy and wants to try things, not necessarily only things that have a 50-year track record of success, but some new things,” USSF president Sunil Gulati said in published reports. “So that always takes a little time for everyone — staff, coaching staff, players, leadership — and everyone’s adjusting.”

The good news is this is the time for the team to try some of these “innovative” things. The U.S. doesn’t play a match that matters until next summer when they resume qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. So things are not as dire as some would have you believe.

What the U.S. really needs is a higher level of competition. Not to bag too hard on CONCACAF, but Aruba, Turks and Caicos, and Belize don’t really offer the level of talent the U.S. needs to reach the next level internationally.

Certainly having Mexico be the only other viable team in the confederation makes it easier to qualify for the World Cup, but the soft schedule hurts once the World Cup starts.

What the United States needs is to play in a tournament like Euro 2012. Spain, Germany, Italy, France, the Netherlands and England are among the teams that have already qualified for next summer’s tournament in Ukraine and Poland.

Qualifying is so tough, that Portugal, Euro 2004 runners-up, find themselves having to earn a spot via a playoff.

Unfortunately, unless the U.S. is ready to become a British colony again, or they get the governing bodies to agree to some creative geography, it ain’t going to happen.

Which means Klinsmann better have some creative tricks up his sleeve come 2014 in Brazil.

***

Speaking of Euro 2012, The New York Times had a good article this week about the challenges England coach Fabio Capello faces in dealing with talented – and hot-headed – striker Wayne Rooney.

Rooney has been the talk of English soccer since age 9, eventually joining Everton’s academy. At age 16, he scored for Everton against Arsenal, which at the time was riding a 30-game unbeaten streak in league play.

Two years later, Manchester United paid Everton about $47 million to gain Rooney’s services, the highest transfer fee every for an 18-year-old.

And while Rooney is by far England’s best player, he can easily loose his cool on the field – he, along with David Beckham, are the only England players sent off twice during international play – and the fate of the Three Lions next summer rests on his stocky shoulders.

“I cannot enter the head of Wayne Rooney when he plays,” Capello said. “I can speak before, I can substitute him, I can find different solutions, but …

“Rooney is a really good player, a really important player. For a long time, he has been the best player of the national team. But the player is difficult to understand. He can do something fantastic, and he can make a silly mistake.”

***

Just a few days shy of the one-year anniversary of their purchase of Liverpool, The Guardian has a two-part behind-the-scenes look at the John Henry and Fenway Sports Group, who also own the Boston Red Sox.

Henry is part of a group of Americans who are now owners of five of the English game’s most prestigious clubs: Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Sunderland.

One of the more interesting parts of the article is Henry’s admission that he is worried about a backlash from fans at both clubs, who may accuse the owners of concentrating too much on the other (sound familiar, Browns fans?)

“There was a lot of criticism in Boston that we weren’t going to spend money on the Red Sox after we did the Liverpool transaction,” Henry said. “Then there was the fear we wouldn’t spend in Liverpool. Hopefully the fans of both clubs will eventually see what we see clearly – that there is nothing to fear from the existence of the other club.”

Hear that, Browns fans?

Part two runs on Thursday.

***

Finally, from the always strong EPL Talk, comes a take on why Liverpool’s plan to sell their own overseas TV rights will never happen.

Posted in Jurgen Klinsmann, Liverpool, US soccer, Wayne Rooney | Leave a comment
11 Oct 2011

The lucky & unlucky in the NFL

It was Seneca, the Roman philosopher (not Seneca Wallace, the Cleveland Browns backup quarterback), who reportedly said, Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.

And while that may be true, there is still an element of luck (both good and bad) involved in the NFL.

On Sunday, Eli Manning’s pass tips off the hands of Victor Cruz, bounces off Kam Chancellor and, 94 yards later, Brandon Browner hits the end zone to seal Seattle’s upset of the NY Giants.

Were the Seahawks more prepared than the Giants? Maybe. But luck certainly played a role.

If it weren’t for luck, how else to explain Buffalo being 4-1 despite having one of the worst defenses in the league? The Bills are 30th overall (26th against the pass, 29th against the rush) but have built their record on the fact that they have a turnover margin of +11, which is clearly not sustainable.

And what of the Steelers? Despite having a turnover margin of -10, Pittsburgh is 3-2 and only a half-game off the lead in the AFC North. Of course, that could be more a function of evil than luck, but nevertheless.

The Eagles have the third-best offense in the league, but their -10 turnover margin has resulted in a 1-4 record. No luck for them, obviously.

The Vikings obviously did something to offend Lady Luck over the summer, as in the first three weeks of the season they blew halftime leads of 10 points, 17 points and 20 points on their way to a 1-4 start to the season. You’d think that a team with the No. 3 rushing offense would be able to sustain a big second-half lead, wouldn’t you?

It was unlucky that Peyton Hillis missed the Miami game with an illness, as we’ve been subjected to a manufactured controversy that won’t go away.

But Marcus Benard was very lucky he walked away from a motorcycle crash with nothing worse than a broken hand.

Luckily for us, the Browns are done with their bye week and we’ll actually have something worth writing and talking about again.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Lady Luck | Leave a comment
11 Oct 2011

Likes, Dislikes, Hopes & Fears

Now that the bye week is out of the way, it’s time to take a look at the Cleveland Browns at the quarter mark of the 2011 NFL season.

Through four games there are things about the team that we like and dislike, plus some things we hope to see over the next 12 games and a few things we fear we’ll see.

Like: The Browns 2-2 record is their best since 2007.

Dislike: Both of the losses have come at home, although that is a little skewed by the fact the Browns have played three of their first four games at Cleveland Browns Stadium. But for a team that is 28-44 at home over the past nine seasons, that’s not a way to send the fans home happy.

Hope: That the Browns can stay competitive as they still have the NFC West and Jacksonville on the schedule; those five teams are a combined 8-16 on the season.

Fear: There are more games like the Tennessee one on the horizon.

Like: After giving up a ridiculous 11 penalties in the season opener, the Browns have settled down to the point where they have given up fewer penalties through four game (27 to 29) than they did through the same point last year. Turns out you can treat professional athletes as adults – rather than junior varsity high school players – and still see positive results.

Dislike: While the penalties are down, the timing and type of penalties that are being called are a bit troubling. The two penalties – even though one was highly suspect – at the end of the Miami game almost cost the Browns a win.

Hope: That whatever the coaching staff told the players after Week 1 continues to stick.

Fear: The Browns will commit a penalty at an inopportune time, costing the team a win.

Like: The Browns were able to get a sense of what Montario Hardesty can do at running back in the game against Miami. After missing his entire rookie year to a knee injury, Hardesty had a solid – if not spectacular – game against the Dolphins, showing that he can be a nice compliment to Peyton Hillis.

Dislike: The reason why Hardesty was on the field against Miami – Hillis missed the game because he was sick and, two weeks later, there are those who won’t let it go. Hillis didn’t play because he is soft. Hillis didn’t play because he wants a new contract. The nonsense has gotten out of control.

Hope: The Browns remember what they have in Hillis – a player who accounted for 71.5 percent of the Browns rushing yards and 84.6 percent of the team’s rushing touchdowns in 2010. If you factor in his 61 receptions for 477 yards and another two touchdowns, he was responsible for 34 percent of the team’s total offense and 50 percent of the offensive touchdowns last season.

Fear: The coaching staff can’t figure out the best way to use Hillis and Hardesty, meaning both players are ineffective and the offense suffers.

Like: The overall play of Dick Jauron’s think fast defense, especially the front four of Ahtyba Rubin, Phil Taylor, Jayme Mitchell and Jabaal Sheard who have been rather frisky through the first part of the season. Joe Haden is quickly turning into an All-Pro corner back in his second season. And D’Qwell Jackson has looked good after missing large parts of the past two seasons with injuries.

Dislike: 4-3, 3-4, 1-10, doesn’t matter, the Browns still can’t stop the run. They currently rank 26th in the NFL against the run. Because Haden is so good Sheldon Brown is seeing more activity on his side of the field and that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Hope: The young front four continues to mature during the season and the Browns figure out a way to at least slow down opposing running backs.

Fear: Injuries will take their toll on the defense – which is still lacking in depth – and the players will start to break down in the season’s last quarter. Haden may miss this week’s game against Oakland, and on Monday Marcus Bernard suffered a broken arm in a motorcycle crash. This team can’t afford to have that happened and hope to be at least competitive.

Like: Colt McCoy has mostly done more good than bad through four games. He had a good game against the Colts, led a game-winning drive against the Dolphins and was OK against the Bengals.

Dislike: On of McCoy’s strong suits is supposed to be his completion percent, but on the year he’s only at 58 percent – good for just 23rd in the league. His 5.7 yards per attempt leave him 30th out of 32 quarterbacks. Of course, not all of those numbers are totally on McCoy’s shoulders (more on that in a minute).

Hope: The McCoy we saw on the final drive against the Dolphins – when he led an 80-yard drive by completing 9-of-13 passes, including the game-winning touchdown to Mohamed Massaquoi – is the real McCoy and he will continue to grow during the season.

Fear: The McCoy who throws a preponderance of check-downs, holds onto the ball too long and seems unsure of himself is the real McCoy. Which would mean the Browns will be in the Andrew Luck sweepstakes next April.

Like: Jason Pinkston’s play at left guard. The fifth-round draft choice switched positions after Eric Steinbach was put on injured reserve for the year and hasn’t been all that bad. We’re sure playing between Joe Thomas and Alex Mack has made his transition easier, but we don’t go into a game worried that Pinkston is going to be the weak link on the offensive line.

Dislike: The play at right tackle. Artis Hicks and Oniel Cousins showed why they were available on the waiver wire as they filled in the first three weeks for starter Tony Pashos. They also needed help from a tight end, which meant that Alex Smith was on the field at the expense of Evan Moore, a stronger offensive threat that the Browns need.

Hope: Pashos can stay healthy the final 12 games of the season and the offensive line can work itself into a stable unit.

Fear: Pashos hasn’t played a full season since 2008, so we haven’t seen the last of Hicks and Cousins.

Like: The (albeit) slow development of rookie Greg Little at wide receiver. After not playing his final year at North Carolina, Little has been adjusting to the speed of the NFL. In a part-time role he is second among the wide receivers with 14 receptions and third with 131 yards. Those numbers should go up as the Browns have promoted Little to one of the starting spots.

Dislike: Brian Robiskie taking playing time from anyone on offense. It’s clear by now that Robiskie just is not an NFL wide receiver. Doesn’t mean he’s a bad person, or that he doesn’t try hard, but the Browns just can’t afford to keep giving him playing time.

Hope: Little can turn into a reliable playmaker, Josh Cribbs can stay healthy, Mohamed Massaquoi can be at least a decent third receiver, and Ben Watson and Moore can continue to make plays at tight end.

Fear: The wide receivers will continued to not be able to gain separation, meaning McCoy will have to hold onto the ball too long – opening him up to repeated hits – or he will continue to have to dump the ball off for four-yard gains.

Like: The approach the coaching staff is taking with the team. The lockout took away weeks of key preparation time that the Browns – who have eight starters in either their first or second year – desperately needed. The coaches have used the first four games of the season as a sort of extended training camp as they continue to learn about the players.

Dislike: The defensive breakdown against Cincinnati that lead to the game-changing touchdown by the Bengals, the way coach Pat Shurmur has used Hardesty at the expense of Hillis, the overall play against Tennessee in the last home game before the break. The slow starts by the offense – the Browns have been outscored 27-3 in the first quarter this year.

Hope: The team will show improvement as the year moves along, giving the coaches and front office a clear indication of where the team needs help.

Fear: More games like the one against the Titans, more nonsense over Hillis, that Shurmur is in over his head as a first-year head coach.

We’ll give Shurmur the final word.

“What you’ve noticed from the first four weeks is we’ve got some good young talent that’s out there getting better each week,” he said on Monday at his weekly press conference. “I feel like our schemes are in place. As I mentioned earlier, there are some things that we’ll do more and emphasize and then there are some things about our scheme that we’ll, both sides of the ball and our kicking game that we’ll set aside. I felt good about that.”

(Photo from Cleveland Browns.com)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, quarter mark, reason for hope | Leave a comment
06 Oct 2011
1 Comment

It’s the NFL’s world

We’ve known for a long time that Cleveland is the Browns’ town.

Heck, Terry Pluto even wrote a book titled When all the World was Browns Town.

And it’s also well accepted that, while baseball still clings to the outdated title of being the National Pastime, the NFL is the National Passion.

So it didn’t completely surprise us to learn that fans – by an almost 2-to-1 margin – chose to watch the Curtis Painter-led Colts take on Tampa Bay on Monday night rather than watch Detroit (with Justin Verlander) take on the Yankees (with CC Sabathia) in Game 3 of the American League Division Series.

The Monday Night Football game drew a 4.5 rating and 11 share in the coveted 18-49 demographic, and 10.84 million viewers. The baseball game got a 2.1 rating and 5 share in the demographic, and 6.05 million viewers.

Through the first weekend of the playoffs, the ratings for MLB playoff games were down 27 percent from the first three days of last year’s playoffs.

So much for the theory that everyone wants to watch the Yankees.

But we were surprised by this little nugget from USA Today: Fox’s NFL pregame show on Sunday received a bigger overnight rating than any of TBS’ baseball playoff games through the weekend.

Holy smokes!

What’s even more surprising is that people actually watch the pregame drivel that Fox, CBS and ESPN put out on Sundays before the NFL games.

That’s one of the beauties of following the Premiere League: the 11 a.m. game on Sunday finishes up about 5 minutes or so before the 1 p.m. NFL games kick off, so we don’t have to waste our time with pregame hoo-haa.

But still, it’s the NFL’s world, we just live in it.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL, TV ratings
05 Oct 2011
2 Comments

This is what we’re worried about?

So it turns out that Peyton Hillis’ agent told Hillis to sit out the Miami game after Hillis came down with a case of strep throat.

“I would give him the same advice to him or any of my clients as if he were my son,” Kennard McGuire told The Associated Press. “The game is physical enough, and the way Peyton plays the game, he needs all the elements of his physical game. Him being sick, and the level of his sickness, is the equivalent of being injured.

“Not only could he have hurt himself but he could have hurt his team. Nobody embodies Cleveland like Peyton Hillis. If anyone wants to point a finger, point it at me.”

And this has become some kind of referendum on Hillis’ toughness as a player.

The thing we don’t get is: why? Why is this an issue?

We love living in Cleveland and rooting for the local teams. But this is one of those things that gets on our tits.

Nothing can ever be as simple as someone was too sick to go to work. There has to be some hidden agenda.

Of course McGuire wants to avoid Hillis getting injured – he’s the meal ticket. McGuire doesn’t get paid until Hillis gets paid and the bigger the contract the bigger McGuire’s piece will be.

That’s why, when a player switches agents, the new guy always wants to renegotiate the player’s contract – the agent doesn’t get paid under the old deal, he only gets his money under new contract.

We thought everyone around here understood that after the whole Manny Ramirez to Boston fiasco – agents will steer their clients to the highest bidder every time. Doesn’t matter if it’s not a good fit, just give me the greenbacks.

Was it disappointing that Hillis – the one player that opposing defenses have to worry about – didn’t play against Miami? Of course.

Was it the end of the world? Of course not.

In fact, one good thing came out of the Miami game (well two, counting that the Browns won) – the team found out that, if he can stay healthy, Montario Hardesty has a chance to be a contributing member of this offense.

Hillis and Hardesty give the Browns a solid starting and back-up option at running back, something the team hasn’t had since … Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner maybe?

But apparently we can’t focus on that; we have to go looking in dark corners for the bogeyman.

Heaven help Alex Mack – who’s out of the hospital after having his appendix removed. Coach Pat Shurmur said on Tuesday that it was too early to know if Mack will play or not against Oakland on Oct. 16.

After the Hillis brouhaha, there’s no telling what kind of nonsense we will be in for in Mack doesn’t suit up for the Raiders.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL, Peyton Hillis, utter nonsense
05 Oct 2011

Things are tough all over

Pop quiz time.

All of the following quotes are from an NFL head coach, but only one is from Browns coach Pat Shurmur.

Can you guess which one?

  • “I don’t think a sense of urgency or lack of a sense of urgency is the issue. I think fundamental football is, better blocking, better tackling.”
  • “There are also a lot of things we need to work on, so that’s what we’re doing. But I’m telling you it’s not one person. It needs to be all of us pulling this thing together and doing our jobs a little bit better.”
  • “You’re always trying to learn from these situations that you’re in. I think he’s ended game situations, in relation to the football, are things he has to get better at. He knows that and he’ll be the first one to say that. So we have to find a way for him to get better at that.”
  • “In my opinion, this is a sport where you develop every day that you practice or every day that you meet and along the way as you’re developing, you need to win games so that’s the focus. We need to get better, we need to execute more efficiently and we need to put our guys in the right spots to do the right things and along the way we need to win.”

If you said the last quote is from Shurmur, take a bow.

But what about the rest?

The first quote is from Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin, who’s 2-2 Steelers have lost both games they’ve played this year against good teams. (Sound familiar?)

The second is from Philadelphia’s Andy Reid, who’s seen the Eagles, the alleged “Dream Team,” get off to a 1-3 start.

The third is from Dallas’ Jason Garrett, who watched his Cowboys blow a 24-point third-quarter lead on Sunday against Detroit.

And let’s not forget New England who, because they have Tom Brady, are 3-1 despite being last in the league in yards allowed after giving up 504 yards to a Jason Campbell-led offense on Sunday.

The point of all this? (We’re sure we have a point here somewhere). Teams with far more talent than the Browns are struggling this year, so maybe things aren’t as dire as they appear to some.

It’s easy to put the blinders on when it comes to the Browns, but fans need to look around at the rest of the league to help keep things in perspective.

The Browns just hit the quarter-mark of the season with a 2-2 record. If they repeat that each quarter of the season, they end up 8-8 on the year, which many fans would have signed off on at the start of the year.

But this season isn’t about the final record. It’s about evaluating the talent on the team, figuring out which players fit best in Shumur’s West Coast offense and Dick Jauron’s 4-3, play fast think less, defense. And it’s about learning whether or not Colt McCoy is the quarterback who can take this team to the next level.

It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be frustrating – very frustrating – at times, and it’s not going to be fun. But there are also no shortcuts or quick fixes. The Browns have been down that road before and it just does not work.

Patience is hard to come by in our instant gratification society, and it’s a commodity that is severely lacking in many Browns fans. It seems like the Browns have been on the rebuilding merry-go-round since the late ’80s.

But patience is exactly what we need with this Browns team because things are tough all over.

Just take a look around the league.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, frustration, NFL | Leave a comment
02 Oct 2011

Browns stagger into the bye week

If a team ever needed a bye week, it’s the Cleveland Browns.

Looking like an expansion team, the Browns bumbled their way through a 31-13 loss to Tennessee on Sunday in a game that really wasn’t that close.

“This was a team loss,” said coach Pat Shurmur. “There’s a lot of things we need to get better at, and it starts with me. We just didn’t play extremely well. That’s my responsibility.”

The offense and the defense both had their worst days of the season and, when you are a team that is still lacking in talent at several positions, when that happens, well, you’re going to be on the wrong side of a 31-13 game.

“You see what happens when you let big plays happen,” Shurmur said. “The game changes on any team that plays and we let the score get out of hand, which makes it difficult. Then you’re fighting, scratching and clawing and you can’t do that.”

And while we know the second-half play calling was dictated in large part by the score, if there is anything we are certain of, it is this: the Browns are going to loss any game where Colt McCoy has to throw 61 passes.

“We’re growing every week,” McCoy said. “We are four weeks into it. We understand that we’ve got a lot of room for improvement (and) a long ways to go. We’ll go back and look at some things that consistency-wise we can play better. We can get guys open. They can get some yards after the catch. It’s one of those things that week to week, you’re kind of building your team. We’ve got to do a better job.”

The Titans turned in two big plays – an 80-yard touchdown reception by tight end Jared Cook, where Cook ran away from Scott Fujita in coverage and ran through what can be charitably described as a weak tackle attempt by Usama Young (Usama must have been in class the day they taught tackling in practice at Kent State); and an 97-yard interception return by Jordan Babineaux, where Babineaux ran almost the entire length of the field without ever coming close to being touched by a Browns player.

And let’s not forget about the Titans scoring with 33 seconds left before halftime, thanks to a 57-yard completion to Nate Washington where Tennessee executed a perfect pick play to get Washington open.

Somehow the Browns never seem to have those plays in their playbook, do they?

The offense was an out-of-synch mess all day, with odd personnel packages and a series of dump-off passes over the middle.

After the Titans had taken a 14-6 lead on Cook’s long touchdown in the second quarter, the Browns got the ball with 14 minutes to go. From that point until there was 6:45 on the clock in the third quarter, Cleveland managed to run 22 plays for 87 and three total first downs.

The coaches must have fallen in love with Montario Hardesty after his game against the Dolphins last week, forgetting that he is basically a rookie with one good NFL game under his belt.

How else to explain them only handing Peyton Hillis the ball 10 times on the game (only twice in the second half)? Or giving the ball to Armond Smith on a fourth-and-1 at the Titans’ 41 in the second quarter? Need we say that Smith did not make the first down?

Or that Hardesty had almost as many drops (4) as receptions (5)?

What’s going on around here?

“That is something for the coaches to decide,” Hillis said after the game. “I have no control over that; it needs to be handled by the coaches. I’m fine, I feel healthy and my body feels great. I’m just going to try and make the most of the opportunities and get in when I can.

“I’ve always found myself to be a rhythm guy. The game plan and what the coaches have decided, that’s what they want to go with. Being a player you have to follow the coaches’ orders and do what they tell you to do. You have to respect them.”

The defense wasn’t any better as the front four, which had totaled 11 sacks in the first three games, got no pressure on Hasselbeck, who completed 10-of-20 passes for 220 yards. The Browns didn’t record a sack and Ahyta Rubin had the only quarterback pressure.

Once again, for what seems like forever, the Browns struggled to cover the tight end. In addition to Cook’s touchdown, a wide-open Craig Stevens also caught a touchdown pass.

“It was just us,” said T.J. Ward. “We were missing tackles and we were not on our men like we should have been. We take complete responsibility for that. That’s not the Browns that we’ve been. We know that we can play much better than that. I don’t think the effort was there completely, but it just looked like, including myself, I am not just putting it off on the rest of my teammates, but we didn’t play how we should have played.”

Taking the micro view, this loss was bad, real bad. Any positives the Browns had built up in starting 2-1, be they real or perceived, were pretty much flushed down the toilet against the Titans.

But if you take the macro view, this loss, heading into the bye week, may end up doing the team some good. This team still has a long road ahead of it. Sunday’s loss should give the players plenty to work on and provide the coaches with ample learning opportunities to fill up everyone’s time during the bye week.

“We still have a long way to go,” Fujita said. “We still have a lot of room to grow. You have to go back to the film and find out where you are falling short. Defensively we gave up too many big plays today. We have to look at that closely, look at where we fell short and move forward.”

“There is a lot to work on,” McCoy said. “A lot of things we can improve on, a lot of things as a team that we can improve on. The bye week is good. Obviously, you would like to win going into your bye week because the taste of losing is not that good. We’ve got a lot to work on and we’ll get better.”

Will the lessons be learned? We’ll find out Oct. 16 in Oakland.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL, stench | Leave a comment

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