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In Cleveland, hope dies last

Archive for the category “Cleveland Browns”

13 Jun 2012

When there’s nothing to write about …

write about the Cleveland Browns!

As the team closes out the final week of Organized Team Activities, the focus has turned to who will be the No. 2 and No. 3 quarterbacks on the roster this fall.

It’s been clear since draft night that, barring an injury, Brandon Weeden is going to be the starter. Which leads to speculation over which lesser of two evils – Colt McCoy or Seneca Wallace – will be holding the clipboard come game day.

As a decision doesn’t have to be made today, coach Pat Shurmur isn’t really worried about it.

“I don’t see the urgency right there, but in terms of the backup situation, I can see a scenario where all three of the players you’re talking about will be here,” Shurmur said earlier this week. “I think that’s fair.

“I favor that, keeping three. I like that model. I know we’re nearing half of the teams in the league that keep two, but I like having three.”

Wallace, a noted team player, isn’t really on board with the three quarterback scenario.

“No not really (I don’t want to be third),” Wallace told The Plain Dealer. “That’s something for no reason you go down to the third guy and we all know the third guy doesn’t dress on Sundays and if that comes down to that decision, obviously neither (he or McCoy) wants to be that third guy.”

While Shurmur may not be in a hurry to name his depth chart at the position, one of his comments may have offered a clue.

Read more…

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, Colt McCoy, Cristiano Ronaldo, Euro 2012, NBA draft, Seneca Wallace | Leave a comment
04 Jun 2012

The Randomness of the first Monday in June

Poor LeBron James.

Dude spends his entire career surrounded by inferior teammates like Dwyane Wade.

Sebastian Pruiti has a good breakdown of the final play of the Heat’s Game 4 loss to Boston on Sunday night.

Instead of running the play the right way and giving the Heat a chance to win the game and take a 3-1 series lead, Wade went through the motions and ended up taking a poor shot.

LeBron really could have used the help as he was on the bench after fouling out of a game for the first time in four years and the first time ever in a playoff game.

Too bad there’s not a way that James could pick which team he plays on so he could avoid these types of situations.

***

The Cleveland Indians recalled Quadruple A all star Matt LaPorta over the weekend after Johnny Damon went on maternity leave.

Damon expects to return to the team on Wednesday, after spending a couple of days at home with his wife, Michelle, and their newborn twin daughters. Of course with Damon hitting .180 on the year, the Tribe may want him to take his time returning from diaper duty.

As for LaPorta, we’ve all been here before. He hits minor league pitching (.307, 14 home runs, 32 RBI this year in Columbus), comes to Tribe and no so much (.238 career average, .700 career OPS). So he’ll be out of here once Damon returns, right?

Read more…

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Euro 2012, LeBron James, NBA | Leave a comment
25 May 2012

Mr. Holmgren? HBO is on line one for you

Turns out, HBO is having a problem finding a team for this season’s version of the popular series, Hard Knocks.

According to The New York Post, the cable channel expects to have a team in place by June 1. The Jets, Broncos, Falcons, Texans, 49ers and Redskins have all reportedly turned down a chance to appear on the show.

Well, how about the Cleveland Browns?

Read more…

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Hard Knocks, hoople heads | Leave a comment
25 May 2012
1 Comment

Time to take it easy, champ

Cleveland Browns legend Jim Brown, with the help of the local media, continued to grind his axe against Mike Holmgren on Thursday.

ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Grossi gave Brown the opportunity to continue to talk down the team’s top pick, running back Trent Richardson.

“I haven’t heard anyone say anything special about (Richardson). Have you?” Brown said. “I think Richardson is a fine young man. I think he’s a good all-around football player. But from my standpoint, that’s ordinary. You talk about someone that’s going to move or light up the franchise or create a certain kind of thing, that’s what I’m talking about. I’m not trying to be mean. There are certain people you look at and there’s something special about them. I don’t see it.

“When you think of greatness and the great backs, they all had some individual traits that you can identify – quickness, balance, power, speed,” Brown said. “I think the kid is a good working back, and if you’ve got everything else around him he can play his role. But when it comes to outstanding, I don’t see anything outstanding about him. It’s not said in a cruel manner. He’s very efficient, and that’s what you want.”

Like everyone else, Brown is entitled to his opinion. While it’s not clear what the end game is to his comments, we have a pretty good idea about his motivation.

Read more…

Posted in bad reporting, Cleveland Browns, Trent Richardson
22 May 2012
2 Comments

K2 a true Only in Cleveland story

We weren’t that surprised when we heard the news that Tampa Bay traded former Cleveland Browns tight end Kellen Winslow to Seattle

After all, the Bucs have a new coach and when you can get someone like Greg Schiano, who took Rutgers to the middle of the all-powerful Big East, well you just have to let him call the shots.

“(Schiano) said he was kind of upset that I wasn’t there working with the team in the offseason and for the first week of OTAs,” Winslow told the hosts of the The Opening Drive on Sirius NFL Radio.

“But look, I’ve been there the last three years and I’ve had a successful career so far. You don’t just get rid of one of your best players like that. I have nothing bad to say about Coach Schiano. It was just a disagreement on why I’m not there yet.”

Tampa likely shares the same concern the Browns did when they traded Winslow following the 2008 season – while he is talented and only 28, Winslow has the knee of an 80-year-old, and the thought of paying him base salaries of $3.3 million, $4.5 million, and $5.5 million over the next three years is more of a risk than Tampa probably wants to take.

Winslow is one of those Only in Cleveland stories that fans have come to know all too well over the years. Hugely talented when he was drafted out of Miami in the first round of the 2004 draft, Winslow broke his leg two games into his rookie season (during the Jeff Garcia 0.0 game, talk about an OIC moment) and missed the rest of the year.

Read more…

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Josh Cribbs, Kellen Winslow, uniforms
14 May 2012

Where do we pick up our playoff tickets?

What a weekend for the Cleveland Browns.

From Brandon Weeden’s cannon arm, to Trent Richardson’s muscles to Travis Benjamin’s speed, the Browns won the weekend at the rookie minicamp.

So get those playoff tickets ready, Uncle Mike, we’re gassing up the car and heading to Berea.

OK, jokes aside, it was nice to hear some good news coming out of Berea at the end of the three-day, five-practice minicamp.

“It was a good practice, a good minicamp,” Browns coach Pat Shurmur said. “I told the players it was a very good start, but we have a long way to go before we’re ready to play a game and do the things we’re ready to do.”

The Browns got their first look at Weeden as the rookie quarterback from Oklahoma State started the transition from the spread offense he ran in college to the Browns version of the West Coast Offense.

“Fortunately for me, the Senior Bowl was a nice little appetizer just because the terminology is the same,” Weeden said. “A lot of the formations were the same, so I could kind of recall going back to that. But, it’s different and for me I have to spit it out in the huddle and there are plays that are this long. You just have to get comfortable with it, understand how it all works, why we are doing certain things and once you get a feel for it, it plays itself out. I think everybody did really well with it. Overall, I am happy with the way everybody performed because everybody got better, competed and really everybody produced.”

Read more…

Posted in Brandon Weeden, Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, Trent Richardson | Leave a comment
11 May 2012

Patience is good … But we also need Hope

Patience is the companion of wisdom – St. Augustine

If you are going to be a fan of Cleveland’s sports teams, you need more than a fair share of patience.

But patience is great only if it comes with its twin – hope. We need hope that things will get better, that there is a plan in place for Cleveland’s sports teams, that the championship parade will one day roll through downtown Cleveland.

Head over to The Cleveland Fan for the rest of the story.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, reason for hope | Leave a comment
10 May 2012

Blame Homgrem or Shermen?

Welcome to Cleveland, John Hughes. Are you ready to start?

The Cleveland Browns better hope Hughes, the team’s third-round draft pick, is ready for his close-up because it looks like they will need him this fall after starting defensive tackle Phil Taylor injured a pectoral muscle while working out on Thursday.

Of course he did.

“We’re awaiting results of the MRI,” Peter Schaffer, Taylor’s agent, told The Plain Dealer. “He’s staying positive. He’s got a great attitude. He’ll either be 100 percent or come back 100 percent.

Obviously this is an indictment of the lax attitude installed in Berea by team president Mike Holmgren. Or the lack of preparation on coach Pat Shurmur’s part. Or a referendum on owner Randy Lerner’s lack of involvement. Or it could just be that injuries happen.

We’re pretty sure it’s one of those things.

Look, these things happen – just look at Baltimore’s Terrell Suggs and Tampa Bay’s Da’Quan Bowers, who both have suffered torn Achilles tendons.

As it turns out, it’s fortunate the Browns selected Hughes, even if the original plan was to have him provide depth as a rotational player. Now he’s going to need to step up and play big-boy minutes.

Let’s hope he’s up to the challenge.

***

While the Browns were once again bad against the rush last season, finishing 30th in the NFL giving up an average of 147.4 yards per game, turns out they were not historically bad.

Before the 2011 season, there were just 19 defenses in NFL history that gave up more than 5.0 yards per rush for an entire season. Last year, four teams gave up five yards or more each time the opposing team ran the ball – Oakland, Detroit, New Orleans and Tampa Bay.

As bad as the Browns were, they finished 19th in the league with an average of 4.4 yards per rush allowed.

Not sure what that means – after all, it’s not just how many yards you give up but when you give them up – but thought it was worth pointing out.

***

Major League Baseball is reportedly ready to make the ridiculous fake-to-third, throw-to-first pick off play that never works and is one of the things that makes baseball increasingly irritating.

According to The New York Times: The Playing Rules Committee has approved a proposal to make it a balk, with MLB executives and umpires in agreement. The players’ union vetoed the plan for this season to discuss it further. MLB is allowed to implement the change after a one-year wait — no telling whether that would happen if players strongly object. 

 Under the new wording, a pitcher could not fake to third unless he first stepped off the rubber. If he stayed on the rubber, it would be a balk.

Works for us.

***

Sunday is the end of the Premier League season and all 10 games will be shown live in some fashion on Fox’s family of networks and ESPN2.

FX’s live coverage of Sunderland’s match with Manchester United (who are tied for the top spot with Manchester City) will feature in-game highlights (shown in the corner of the screen) of all the goals scored in the other match’s of the day. (h/t EPL Talk)

(Photo by Getty Images)

Posted in baseball, Cleveland Browns, NFL, Phil Taylor, Premier League | Leave a comment
08 May 2012

More proof the Browns owned the draft

Cold Hard Football Facts has been taking a look at the recent NFL Draft and the news is good for Cleveland Browns fans.

Unless you are part of the anti-Holmgren, Heckert and Shurmur crowd – those people won’t like the news.

The site gives the Browns an A- for their draft because the front office succeeded in filling several important needs on the roster.

CHFF points out that what we all know, that the Browns needed to come out of the draft with help for the passing game, which the site ranked as No. 24 in Real QB Rating, No. 29 in Offensive Passer Rating, No. 30 in Real Passing YPA.

Read more…

Posted in Brandon Weeden, Cleveland Browns, NFL draft, Trent Richardson | Leave a comment
03 May 2012

Keep Colt, cut Brad

Lots of chatter today on the theory put out by ESPN Cleveland’s Tony Grossi that the Browns soured on Colt McCoy after Brad McCoy, Colt’s father, went off about the circumstances surrounding Colt’s concussion at the hands of Pittsburgh sociopath James Harrison.

Grossi wrote that: I was told at the time that Brad McCoy’s comments meant the end of McCoy in Cleveland, but I didn’t believe it then. The comments did not drive the pursuit of a new quarterback, but I believe they contributed to McCoy’s demise.

OK, this is all pretty simple.

First off, the Browns need to tell Brad McCoy to bugger off. This isn’t a high school game in Texas, it’s the NFL. The front office has enough problems trying to rebuild the Browns into a viable NFL franchise without worrying about what the back-up quarterback’s daddy thinks.

Second, because he is six years younger than fellow quarterback Seneca Wallace, the Browns needs to dump Wallace and keep McCoy as the backup to new starter Brandon Weeden.
 
There, problem solved and the non-story is put to rest.

Only in friggin’ Cleveland do we have to deal with this kind of nonsense.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Colt McCoy, utter nonsense | Leave a comment

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