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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
28 Sep 2011

Feeling a bit nervous about Sunday

Now that we are a few days away from the Browns last-minute win over Miami, our thoughts have turned to Sunday’s game against Tennessee.

And we admit we’re starting to get a little bit worried.

In the Titans, the Browns will be facing the No. 1 defense in the NFL. Tennessee is second against the pass, eighth against the run and the AFC’s best in the red zone, giving up just two touchdowns on six trips by the opposition inside the 20.

The Browns are catching a break, however, as starting wide receiver Kenny Britt is out for the year after injuring his knee. After Nate Washington (21 receptions on the year) who Joe Haden can shut down in his sleep, the Titans will trot out Damian Williams (2 receptions), Marc Mariani (3 receptions) and Lavelle Hawkins (5 receptions) – apparently wide receiver is even a bigger trouble spot in Nashville than in Cleveland.

Hopefully that means the Browns won’t have to focus on stopping Tennessee’s passing game because what worries us the most is Chris Johnson.

Johnson is off to a ridiculously slow start after holding out during training camp, gaining just 98 yards through three games, a big part of the reason why the Titans rank last in the NFL in rushing offense.

“Of course it’s frustrating,” Johnson told Fox Sports Tennessee after last week’s game. “In the first two games not having big ones, and then starting out this game with a couple of nice runs in the beginning, but all of them were getting called back. It’s always tough, but we have to hold our head up.”

You know Johnson is not going to go an entire season averaging 32.6 rushing yards per game; eventually he’s going to break out.

“It’s one of those things it just probably takes one nice run,” Johnson told ESPN. “It probably takes one or two breaks out of there to kind of get that feeling back again that we can do certain things… It’s got to improve if we’re going to win these next two weeks.”

We just hope it’s not Sunday against the Browns 29th-ranked rush defense.

***

Turns out we were right when we said the excessive celebration penalty on Mohamed Massaquoi and Ben Watson was highly suspect.

Former vice president of NFL officiating Mike Pereira told The Plain Dealer that “It strikes me as technically being a foul but also one you could have gone without making, frankly.

“I personally like the rule about not going to the ground to demonstrate because you were having guys lay down on the ground and act like they were putting a pillow under their heads and all that kind of stuff. Clearly, you really had over-the-top things that happened. The problem is that when you do something like that, then you get into this area where, geez, all of a sudden you get into where you take it literally and it becomes a little picky.”

Thankfully the penalty didn’t end up costing the Browns the game, but it sure was close.

***

Speaking of being excessive, apparently there are now limits on how much standing you can do at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Head over to Cleveland Frowns to read about the ridiculousness that is the “excessive standing” policy at home games.

Just makes us that much more thankful that we can stand all we want at home while enjoying NFL Sunday Ticket.

***

We can’t began to explain how much it gets on our tits that the Steelers can put up a winning record every year while having a crap offensive line.

***

Finally, linebacker Chris Gocong is the latest player to hit the Browns ATM in the form of a contract extension.

The Browns reached a three-year, $16.8 million contract with Gocong, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter. Gocong becomes the fourth player to get a new deal from the Browns this year, joining left tackle Joe Thomas, defensive tackle Ahtyba Rubin and tight end Evan Moore.

Posted in Chris Gocong, Chris Johnson, Cleveland Browns, NFL | Leave a comment
27 Sep 2011

The defense never rests

Fresh off their second consecutive game where they limited the opposition to a lone touchdown, the Cleveland Browns are starting to build something on defense and the league is beginning to take notice.

In less than two years on the job general manager Tom Heckert has jumpstarted the process of rebuilding the defense. Out are the aging veterans and ex-Jets, like Abe Elam, Kenyon Coleman, Jason Trusnik, David Bowens, Eric Barton, C.J. Mosley and Hank Poteat, and in their place are draftees Phil Taylor, Jabaal Sheard, T.J. Ward and Joe Haden.

And it’s starting to pay off.

The Browns are ninth overall in the league on defense, third against the pass and tied for 8th in third-down efficiency.

“You have to get off the field on third down and then there are a lot of ways looking at it,” coach Pat Shurmur said in his weekly presser. “Better percentage on first down makes a longer third, all of that. Most teams on offense find a way to move the ball. Now, when you get in the red zone and teams find a way to get in the red zone anywhere from two to three and sometimes five times a game. That’s when you have to make them kick field goals.

“Turnovers, efficiency on third down, that’s getting off the field and then execution in the red zone. That’s pretty much offensively and defensively the areas that if you are going to be consistently good you have to be good in those areas.”

Through three games corner back Joe Haden is playing like an All-Pro. He shut down A.J. Green in Week 1 (one reception), kept Reggie Wayne in check Week 2 (four receptions) and did the same on Sunday against Brandon Marshall (four receptions).

Defensive tackle Ahtyba Rubin earned Defensive Player of the Week honors in Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback column.

King writes: Taken out of Iowa State in the sixth round of the 2008 draft, in what would be one of Phil Savage’s last acts as Cleveland GM, Rubin is turning into one of the best defensive tackles in the league. He was one of the keys to a resilient if ugly 17-16 win over Miami Sunday. He had 1.5 sacks, nine tackles and another tackle for loss as the Browns stifled much of what Miami tried to do on offense.

The young and mostly inexperienced defensive line has been a nice surprise so far this season, and should only get better as the season moves along.

“We are another game better of knowing what those guys can do,” Shurmur said. “I thought (defensive line coach) Dwaine (Board) had a good rotation getting guys in there. Every play is a critical play but you need your guys all the way to the end. So we had a good rotation in there and they played a lot of snaps.

“I think getting sacks is a team thing just as well as giving up sacks is a team thing. There is coverage involved. There is pressure sometimes and then there is just flat out guys beating guys. I think there was a little bit of all three elements yesterday, but I think that unit is really improving.”

King also made note of Shurmur’s decision to bring the players in to work on Monday, a sign that the coaching staff knows there is still a lot of work to be done.

There was something I liked about the Browns post-game Sunday, after escaping with a 17-16 win over the Dolphins. With the players screaming for a “Victory Monday,” a day off that normally follows a win, which then is followed by the normal day off on Tuesday, coach Pat Shurmur told the players he’d get them in and out as quick as he could on Monday, but it wasn’t going to be a full day off because next week is the bye, and a game with Tennessee awaited this week, and he wanted to do everything he could to make sure they prepared fully for this game against a non-division foe. And not a peep was heard from the players.

“Multiple reasons why that’s an important game,” said receiver Muhammad Massaquoi. “You don’t want to go into a bye with a loss, and you want to be sure you keep a good thing going. We still have work to do here.” Of the three Rust Belters not accustomed to feeling so good on a Sunday, Shurmur’s idea was not only the right one, but one his players embraced. And that’s the kind of team that can grow into something.

We’ll give defensive tackle Phil Taylor the last word.

“If we keep playing like we’re playing, people are gonna know about us,” Taylor said in published reports. “People already know about us from watching film, but if we keep playing like we’re playing, we’re gonna be one of those dominant forces.”

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, defense, NFL | Leave a comment
25 Sep 2011

Browns vs. Dolphins – Week 3

Fresh off their first win in the Pat Shurmur era, the Cleveland Browns return home to take on the Miami Dolphins and try to turn up the temperature on Dolphins coach Tony Sparano’s chair.

The Opposition

Miami record: 0-2
Offensive rank: 10th overall/9th passing/8th rushing
Defensive rank: 32nd overall/30th passing/22nd rushing
All-time record: Dolphins lead 9-7 (including playoffs), but Browns are 5-4 in Cleveland
Last meeting: Browns won 13-10 in 2010
The line: Browns (-2.5)

What to Watch For

How the Browns respond to being back at home following the mistake-filled season opener against the Bengals.

The Dolphins come into the game as the worst defense in the NFL, but that has a qualifier to it. They have given up the third-most passing yards and the second-most passing touchdowns in the league so far, but those numbers came against New England’s Tom Brady and Houston’s Matt Schaub, quarterbacks who can make any defense look silly when they are on their game.

Is the Miami defense really that bad, or are the numbers skewed because of the level of the opposition?

This will be a good game to see what kind of progress the Browns have made as they transition to the West Coast offense. The offense should be getting better each week as they make up for the repetitions they lost during the shortened workout.

If Colt McCoy and the receivers are on, they should be able to take advantage of the Dolphins, especially since Miami will be without starting cornerback Vontae Davis and possibly back-up corner Will Allen. Miami is giving up 30.5 points per game and allowing opponents to convert on 46.4 percent of their third downs.

Sounds like a potential good day for the offense.

Of course, the Browns may be without starting running back Peyton Hillis (strep throat), as well as starting wide receivers Josh Cribbs (groin) and Mohamed Massaquoi (ankle), who are all questionable for the game.

If all three are out, then the Dolphins can key on back-up running back Montario Hardesty, pay a little attention to rookie wide receiver Greg Little and ignore Brian “Blutarski” Robiskie, which would make for a long day for McCoy and the offense.

Much as the Dolphins defensive ranking may be artificially low because of the opposition, the Browns No. 6 ranked defense (No. 2 against the pass) may be a bit high because of playing Cincinnati and Indianapolis.

The Dolphins can still run the ball and, even under Dick Jauron’s “play fast” defense, the Browns are struggling to stop the run.

But the Browns have been tough in the red zone as they are tied for third in red-zone defense and didn’t give up a touchdown to the Colts until there were 24 seconds left in the game. The Dolphins may play right into that strength as they are weak in the red zone under offensive coordinator Brian Daboll (think field goals on Sunday, not touchdowns) and have made the eighth-most negative plays in the red zone in the league.

The Most Frustrating Browns vs. Dolphins Game We’ve Ever Seen

The 1986 playoff game where the Browns blew a 21-3 lead in the third quarter as Miami rallied back to win 24-21.

We can still see Miami’s Ron Davenport running over Don Rogers on his way to the end zone.

The Prediction

If we knew the Browns were going to be healthy on offense we would feel a lot better about this game. There’s no such thing as an “easy win” for the Browns, even if the other team is 0-2 and falling apart under a lame duck coach.

We’re worried that the Dolphins are not as bad as they’ve looked over the first two weeks, but that the Browns are what they’ve looked like: a young team adjusting to a new offense and new defense that can play well in spurts, but possibly not yet for an entire game.

And the Dolphins do have the third-best road record in the NFL since 2008.

But the Browns did look noticeably better at times last week against the Colts, which gives us hope.

The Browns should think touchdowns, not field goals, just enough on Sunday to pull out the win and stay on pace with Pittsburgh and Baltimore at the top of the AFC North division.

Take the Browns and the points.

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 1-1-0.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Miami Dolphins, NFL | Leave a comment
22 Sep 2011

Browns being cautious with Hillis contract

When it comes to extending the contract of third-year running back Peyton Hillis, the Browns are approaching it like a fine BBQ chef.

Low and slow.

Browns general manager Tom Heckert said on Thursday that, “Until we get a contract done with somebody, we’re not gonna talk about it.

Read more…

Posted in Cleveland Browns, EPL, hot seats, Peyton Hillis | Leave a comment
22 Sep 2011

The Browns are grown-ass men!

Alex Mack is the latest Cleveland Brown to go on the record about how things are different in Berea under new coach Pat Shurmur.

“It’s not acceptable to make mistakes (under Shurmur), but it’s — tolerable is the wrong word — a learning experience more than a lynching experience,” Mack told The News-Herald. “We had a lot of team corrections (the last two years). The theory behind it was as a team you’d see where people made mistakes and hold everyone accountable.

“On the same hand, other guys don’t know what you’re coached. If you keep it in your own meeting group and get it aired out, that’s better. Everyone knows you. But to have a DB get beat and have the coach yell at him — I don’t know how to cover anyone, and I don’t need to know. It’s hard for him to get embarrassed in front of the whole team. If it’s just your group of core guys, and they know how good the receiver is. It’s easier to bear.”

Mack joins a growing list of players who are embracing the changes in Berea from former coach Eric Mangini:

  • Joe Thomas: “I’ve been so impressed with coach (Pat) Shurmur and the staff that he brought in and the way he teaches the players. He won the respect of some of the leaders on the team right away with the way he treated them.”
  • D’Qwell Jackson: “(Coach Shurmur’s) created a great environment for us to want to come to work. You can tell the players are more involved. We have a lot more opinion about things.”
  • Scott Fujita: “Coach Shurmur is going to turn over the keys to us and say, ‘You need to run this thing the right way. I don’t need to be the guy policing the locker room. That’s on you guys.’ I think we embraced that. This is good for this group of guys.”
  • Sheldon Brown: “You have guys who go home to their families, to their kids. You’ll tell me I can raise a family, but I can’t behave and act like a pro? Give me the locker room. He understands that and I think that’s why the guys love and respect him.”

“The atmosphere is really nice,” Mack told The Plain Dealer. “To come to work and not be dreading it from what’s going to happen and how you’re going to get yelled at or what’s going to show up on the screen and just knowing that like, ‘Here, guys, we made mistakes, and let’s get better,’ and have a kind of lighter atmosphere is going to help guys stay upbeat. It’s easier to learn.

“It’s not acceptable to make mistakes, but it’s a learning experience more than a (chastising) experience.”

It’s not uncommon for players to have a positive reaction to a change in the coaching staff. But when you look at the names behind the quotes, you realize these are not just company men trying to get in good with the new coach. Fujita and Brown have been part of winning organizations, and Thomas and Mack are among the best in the league at their positions. When they say things like this, there is some credibility behind their words.

There are three things keys coaches have to do in order to maximize their chances of being successful:

  • Put the players in situations where they can succeed. If you are coaching the Patriots you can run a highly complex offense because you have Tom Brady at quarterback and he has built up a knowledge base over the course of his career. Try to be complex with a career back-up and an over-the-hill veteran and you are out of work.
  • Not everyone learns the same way and you have to figure out who on your team is an auditory learner, a visual learner and a tactile learner. Trying to teach everyone the same way doesn’t work. That’s why Shurmur’s approach of having the position coaches, who work with the players the most and should know how to teach them, work with the players to correct mistakes is a good approach.
  • Just like how not everyone learns the same way, everyone doesn’t respond to the same types of motivation. Some players need a pat on the back, some a kick in the ass. As a coach, you need to know the right approach to take; again you can’t treat everyone the same.

We seriously doubt players need to be humiliated in front of the entire team to understand they made a mistake. Sheldon Brown knows if he blew a coverage. Joe Thomas knows if he blows an assignment, all he has to do is look at the quarterback lying face down on the field. They don’t need to be treated like children.

But while the players can talk all they want about being treated differently, they have to show they have earned that right with their performance on the field each Sunday. That means no stupid penalties, no putting themselves before the team, etc. You want to be treated like adults? Then you better come through for the coach when it counts.

Look, there’s no universal way to coach an NFL team. Offensive coaches can win, defensive coaches can win, player’s coaches, hard-ass coaches, there’s room for everyone if they have the right approach.

We just hope that Shurmur’s approach is the right one for this Browns team.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Posted in Alex Mack, Cleveland Browns, coaching philosphy, Pat Shurmur | Leave a comment
21 Sep 2011
1 Comment

Shurmur riding high after first win

Fresh off his first win as an NFL head coach, Pat Shurmur is moving up the coach rankings at ESPN.

Shurmur has an 80 percent approval rating following the Browns 27-19 win over Indianapolis, fifth highest in the NFL and tops in the AFC North. Cincinnati’s Marvin Lewis (39 percent) and Baltimore’s John Harbaugh (45 percent) are in the bottom 10.

Not bad for a coach who only met most of his players a little less than two months ago.

***

To commemorate New York’s Mariano Rivera recording his 602nd career save, it’s worth looking back at one big game he couldn’t close out: Game 4 of the 1997 American League Division Series.

Never gets old.

***

Finally, we’re all aware that Fox News is anything but “fair and balanced,” so we guess it shouldn’t come as a surprise that attitude extends to Fox Sports.

According to Jim Romenesko at The Poynter Institute, during the Week 1 broadcast of the game between the Bears and the Falcons, Fox Sports showed the following newspaper “headlines”:

Cutler Leaves With Injury
Cutler Lacks Courage
Cutler’s No Leader

Daryl Johnston was working the game as an announcer and told viewers that “these are the actual headlines from the local papers in Chicago.”

Turns out, that was a blatant lie. The headlines sounded fishy so the Chicago Tribune checked around and found out that Fox Sports fabricated the headlines to sell an angle they decided the game needed.

Not sure why Fox just couldn’t televise the game and let the stories come naturally, but there you go.

(h/t to UniWatch)

(Photo by the Associated Press)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Indians, jounalistic integrity, NFL, Pat Shurmur
19 Sep 2011

Browns think TDs, come home with win

Now that’s more like it.

The Browns cut down on the penalties (only three this week), kept their wits about them (coming back after falling behind 6-0 in the second quarter) and finally wore down the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday to hand coach Pat Shurmur his first NFL win, a 27-19 victory over Indianapolis.

And while things may have turned out differently if Peyton Manning had been at quarterback for the Colts, he doesn’t play defense and its not like the Browns haven’t had to deal with their share of injuries through the years.

“I don’t know if we adjusted. We probably would have seen some different things (against Manning),” Shurmur said in published reports. “Don’t underestimate this (Colts) team. For us to get our first victory against them is good.”

Defensive coordinator Dick Jauron’s “play fast” defense carried the water until the offense got its act together, limiting the Colts to 4-of-14 on third down, 109 yards rushing, four field goals and no first downs from halfway through the third quarter until garbage time, when the Colts scored a meaningless touchdown.

Defensive linemen Ahtyba Rubin (a sack, four tackles), Jabaal Sheard (a strip sack, five tackles) and Phil Taylor (five tackles) all had solid games. Rubin absolutely destroyed Colts center Jeff Saturday on his sack.

“We’re just playing blocks better, getting off blocks versus the run,” Taylor told The Plain Dealer. “We knew (Collins is) not going to run their offense like Peyton (Manning) does. So we knew we could rattle him after we hit him a couple times.”

The defense’s effort kept the game in check until the Browns could get their offense untracked.

Peyton Hillis rushed for 94 yards and two touchdowns, the second a 24-yard run that pretty much put the game away with 3:55 left in the fourth quarter.

Colt McCoy spread the ball round to eight receivers, completing 22-of-32 for 211 yards and a touchdown, hooking up for the second week in a row with tight end Evan Moore.

We’d like to see McCoy throw a little bit less, but today’s game was a good look at what this Browns offense is going to look like. McCoy is going to share the wealth with his passes and the offense is going to try to use the combination of time and pressure to wear down opposing defenses.

Hillis’ second TD run was a perfect example, as the offensive line kept working and working until they finally broke down the Colts.

“That’s Peyton,” McCoy said. “He’s going to run and run and run. Eventually, he’s going to run over someone and go.”

Josh Cribbs also showed that not only is he healthy again, but that the new kickoff rules have made him a weapon again. Cribbs had two kickoff returns for 80 yards – with a long of 52 yards – and two punts for 52 yards – with a long of 43 yards. His ability to continue to give the Browns a short field is going to make it that much easier on the offense.

“I love being the spark on the team,” Cribbs told The Plain Dealer. “That’s my role. I’m embracing that role.”

After two games, despite the problems on offense, the Browns have scored 17 and 27 points. In two years under Eric Mangini, the Browns only scored more than 27 points four times. And as Terry Pluto pointed out in his column today, the 17 points was more than the Browns scored in seven games last year and nine games in 2009.

So now, a week after some believed the season was over after one loss, the Browns have embraced Shurmur’s “think touchdowns, not field goals” philosophy and find themselves in a tie for first place in the AFC North.

Not a bad way to start off the week.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL | Leave a comment
17 Sep 2011

Browns vs. Colts – Week 2

The Browns head deep into the heartland on Sunday to take on the Peyton Manning-less Colts as the Browns look for not only their first win of the season but also Pat Shurmur’s first win as an NFL head coach.

The Opposition

Indianapolis record: 0-1
Offensive rank: 28th overall/24th passing/26th rushing
Defensive rank: 20th overall/14th passing/29th rushing
All-time record: Browns lead 16-14, with a 3-4 mark in Indianapolis (although the Browns were 6-1 against the Colts when they still played in Baltimore)
Last meeting: Colts won 10-6 in 2008
The line: Browns (-2.5)

What to Watch For

How the Browns respond after last week’s loss to the Bengals.

Far too much importance was placed on last week’s loss – it was Opening Day, it was Shurmur’s first game as coach, the Bengals scored a touchdown on a ridiculous play – that people have forgotten that it still only counts as one loss.

The Browns need to forget about last week, settle down, and just play football. If they do that then everything else will take care of itself.

What they can’t afford is a repeat of Week 2 from last season. After losing the opener because of self-inflicted mistakes, the Browns dialed up a sequel the following week against Kansas City.

They can’t do that again this week – if the offense stumbles around in the first quarter like they’ve never played together and rack up penalties, then this game could look a lot like last week’s game.

Much like last year’s squad, the Browns are still not talented enough to overcome too many mistakes and hope to win. They have to play as close as they can to a perfect game to have a chance to win.

This would be a great week to get the running game back on track. The Texans ran for 167 yards against the Colts in Week 1 – without Arian Foster – so there’s little reason to think that Peyton Hillis and Montario Hardesty can’t have success on the ground.

A strong running game will help take some of the pressure off the offensive line, which will counter the pass rush of Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis with a right tackle rotation of Oriel Cousins and Artis Hicks. Pound the ball between the tackles and Freeney and Mathis can speed rush off the edge all they want and it won’t matter.

On defense the Browns catch a huge break as they will face Kerry Collins rather than Manning at quarterback.

In the opener against Houston, Collins fumbled on consecutive snaps in the first quarter to set up Houston touchdowns, was sacked three times and the offense mustered only 236 yards and 15 first downs.

Sounds like a great day for the Browns front four to show what they can do in defensive coordinator Dick Jauron’s “play fast” defense.

One key to the Browns success on defense will be how well safety T.J. Ward plays against tight end Dallas Clark. Cincinnati’s Jermaine Gresham had six catches last week as the Browns continue to struggle when it comes to covering tight ends, no matter who is running the defense.

One player we’re confident we don’t have to worry about is corner back Joe Haden, who had a monster game in the opener. Haden completely locked down A.J. Green, who’s only catch on the day came when the Browns blew the coverage. Haden’s match-up with Reggie Wayne should be a fun one to watch.

The Best Browns vs. Colts game ever

This is an easy one: the Browns 27-0 win over the Colts in the 1964 NFL championship game – the Browns fourth NFL title and the defining moment for every Cleveland fan born after Dec. 27, 1964.

Honorable mention should go to the 1987 playoff game, however, a 38-21 win by the Browns. As this game was sandwiched by the two AFC Championship games against Denver, it often gets overlooked by Browns fans.

The Prediction

We were sure the Browns were going to get the Pat Shurmur era off on the right foot last week, but that obviously didn’t work out.

We’re a little worried that if the Browns can’t beat the Colts without Manning, who will they beat this year?

And we would feel better if the Browns were getting points, rather than being a road favorite.

But what the heck. Last week was one of those days and, despite everything that happened, the Browns still probably should have won the game. There’s no way they mirror last season and bring out a sequel this week against the Colts.

We’ll take the Browns to win on a Phil Dawson field goal, not only evening their record at 1-1 but also covering the spread.

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 0-1-0.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, NFL, Week 2 | Leave a comment

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