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27 Dec 2010

What is there left to say?

We’ve pretty much run out of things to write about the Browns following Sunday’s 20-10 loss to the Ravens.

The team just doesn’t have enough talent yet to overcome four turnovers against a team headed to the playoffs.

“What killed us were the turnovers and the mistakes,” coach Eric Mangini said. “The Ravens are very difficult to beat when you play flawless football. When you turn the ball over as many times as we did, it makes it really, really difficult.”

Colt McCoy threw three interceptions, all on passes intended for Mohamed Massaquoi. It was nice to see McCoy throwing deep but he picked a bad day to have his worst game of the year.

“Turnovers killed us today and most of it is on me,” McCoy told The Plain Dealer. “I’ve got to fix that. I’ve got to take care of the ball and I’ve got to know where Ed Reed is. He read my eyes the whole game and made plays. As a quarterback, you have to go back and watch it. I’m going to play these guys for a long time.”

Even with the turnovers the Browns had chances in the game, but questionable play calling at the end of the first half and some bad luck at the start of the second half derailed them.

Trailing 13-7 the Browns had a first down at the Baltimore 13-yard line and holding two timeouts. But the coaches decided to play it safe, at one point letting 45 seconds run off the clock between plays, and eventually settled for a field goal. The Browns were hoping to score but not leave any time on the clock for the Ravens.

“Get the points that are available from our perspective and not give their offense, which is a really good offense, a chance to go down and score,” Mangini said in explaining the decision.

That seems pretty questionable. The Browns have trouble scoring points, any time they are in the red zone they should only be worrying about getting into the end zone; they can focus on the other team’s offense after they pull that off.

The Browns opened the second half by trying an onside kick, but the ball rolled out of bounds after about eight yards and the Ravens took over at the Cleveland 38-yard line. The coaches are being criticized for calling the play, but it was a good call as Joe Haden was in position to recover the kick, but unluckily the ball rolled out of bounds.

“It was a great call,” Dawson said. “When you’re playing to win, that’s the kind of call you make. The ball just didn’t bounce the way I wanted it to, that’s bad execution on my part.”

Sometimes even when you make the right call the ball just doesn’t bounce your way. It happens. Just because it didn’t work out doesn’t mean it wasn’t a good call at the right time.

After failing behind 20-10 the Browns kept fighting. McCoy had the team moving with about nine minutes left in the third quarter but the drive stalled when the Browns were called for the two penalties the Ravens accepted on the game.

First, McCoy hit Brian Robiskie with a 42-yard pass down to the Ravens’ 19-yard line, but Robiskie was called for a pass interference penalty that was dubious at best. John St. Clair followed with a holding call on the next play and suddenly the Browns faced 3rd-and-17 on their own 29.

And that was pretty much it for the game.

There were a few bright spots. Joe Haden grabbed his sixth interception, made five tackles, and recorded his first career sack and forced fumble. He also limited Anquan Boldin to two catches for 15 yards.

“My mission is every time I go out to try to lock down receivers no matter who it is or what they did to us before,” Haden said. “I just want to go out and don’t let people catch passes on me. When I’m in man-to-man coverage, don’t let them catch it. I knew he had a good game on us last game, so I came out with the whole mindset to lock him down or lock down whoever was in front of me.”

The Browns also were 7-of-11 on third down, after going 6-of-32 in their last three games.

And has happened all season, the winning team had praise for the Browns effort.

“This team over the last two years just keeps getting better and better,” said Ravens’ coach John Harbaugh. “This is a legitimate football team. How many close games have they played in? You just go down and look at the scores and you’re like, ‘oh my goodness.’ Then they dominate two of the best teams in the league — the Patriots and the Saints. We haven’t been able to do that this year against that kind of competition. This football team is really, really good. They may have their quarterback. I think they’re really well-coached on both sides of the ball and special teams. We knew what we were in for coming in.”

That has to count for something, yes?

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Joe Haden, more of the same, NFL | Leave a comment
26 Dec 2010

Browns vs. Ravens – Week 16

After three weeks on the road – and coming off back-to-back losses that have sucked some of the positive energy out of an otherwise encouraging season – the Browns finally have come back to Cleveland.

The Browns close out the 2010 season with consecutive home games, starting today against Baltimore.

The Opposition

Baltimore: 10-4
Offensive rank: 19th overall/16th passing/16th rushing
Defensive rank: 10th overall/14th passing/5th rushing
All-time record: Browns trail 7-16, with a 3-9 mark at home. The Browns have lost three of the last four at home against Baltimore.
The line: Browns +4

What to Watch For

How the Browns defense handles the Ravens passing game. In the first meeting Anquan Bolden torched the secondary, pulling in eight catches for 142 yards and three touchdowns. This match-up will be a good opportunity to see the progress rookies Joe Haden and T.J. Ward have made in the passing game.

While the Baltimore defense gets all the national hype, if you look closer at some key numbers the Browns aren’t that much behind the Ravens:

  • The teams are tied for 14th against the pass
  • The Ravens are giving up 4.0 yards per rush; the Browns 4.1
  • The Ravens have given up 20 touchdown passes; the Browns 21
  • The Ravens are giving up 18 points per game; the Browns 19
  • The teams are tied, with Pittsburgh, for fewest rushing touchdowns allowed, with five.

So while the new penny shine has reportedly come off defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, he still has the defense playing pretty well.

But that last stat shows just how hard it is going to be for the Browns to compete as they are in a division with Baltimore and Pittsburgh. They don’t get the cupcakes in the AFC West and NFC West every year.

Offensively, we know what the Browns are going to try and do: run the ball with Peyton Hillis and let Colt McCoy make a few plays to keep drives going and hope for the best.

After ripping the Ravens for 144 yards in the first meeting, Hillis will be a marked man today. And we have to wonder just how much he has left after 14 games, considering he has accounted for:

  • 68 percent of the Browns rushing attempts
  • 75 percent of the Browns rushing yards
  • 22 percent of the Browns receptions
  • 17 percent of the Browns receiving yards
  • 37 percent of the Browns total offensive output

If you look at his last four games, Hillis may be ready for a solid day today. He’s been up-and-down the last few weeks, alternating good games (131 vs. Carolina, 108 vs. Buffalo) with weaker games (57 vs. Miami, 59 vs. Cincinnati) so if that trend continues he should break the 100-yard mark today. Which would certainly help the Browns efforts to pull out a win.

The Browns will have little chance if they can’t get their problems on third down fixed. Over the past three games the offense is only 6-of-32 on third down, a shockingly bad 18 percent conversion rate. Clearly that’s not going to get it done today against Baltimore.

The Best Browns vs. Ravens Game I’ve Seen

Nothing really stands out from the 11 times the Browns have played the Ravens at home. Forced to choose, we’ll go with the season-opening win in 2004. It was the first time the Browns won a season-opening game since returning in 1999 and was probably the high point of Jeff Garcia’s time as quarterback. The PD‘s game story is here.

The Prediction

It’s hard to see a way for the Browns to win this week.

We’re not buying into the national story that the team is playing for coach Eric Mangini’s job. As frustrating as the past two weeks have been, it doesn’t outweigh all the good that has gone on this season.

Baltimore is a better team and has more to play for today. But we don’t expect the Browns to just roll over; this team isn’t built or coached that way.

So we’re expecting more of the same, a tough, close game, but one where the Ravens grind out a close win, covering the spread in the meantime.

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 2-11-1.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Joe Haden, NFL, Peyton Hillis, Week 16 | Leave a comment
18 Dec 2010
2 Comments

Browns vs. Bengals – Week 15

The Browns look to continue their quest for a .500 record as they head to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals, who are currently riding an 11-game losing streak and who have not had consecutive winning seasons in 28 years.

The Opposition

Cincinnati: 2-10
Offensive rank: 24th overall/15th passing/30th rushing
Defensive rank: 20th overall/15th passing/24th rushing
Strength of schedule: 3rd
All-time record: Cincinnati leads 38-36, with a 23-14 edge at home. The Browns have lost five of the last six they’ve played in Cincy.
The line: Browns +1 (no respect)

What to Watch For

How will the Browns bounce back from last week’s disappointing loss in Buffalo?

How will Colt McCoy look after missing three games due to injury?

Can Peyton Hillis hold onto the ball and find his second wind as the season winds down?

How will the Browns defend the Bengals passing attack this time around?

In the first meeting the Browns double covered Chad Ochocinco and Terrell Owens had a huge day with 10 catches for 222 yards and a touchdown. But the Browns secondary has improved since then as Joe Haden is turning into a shutdown corner as the season progresses. His growth should mean the Browns can throw some different looks at the Bengals and not be burned so badly in the passing game.

The Best Browns vs. Bengals game I’ve Seen

The 1980 game the Browns won 27-24 to clinch the division title. The Browns won on a 22-yard field goal by Don Cockroft with 1:25 left in the game to end an eight-year playoff drought. The PD’s game story is here. Video is here, here and here.

The Prediction

The Browns offense finds its stride now that McCoy is back under center, Hillis hangs onto the ball, Haden single covers Owens, keeping him under control, and the Bengals losing streak, which started with a loss to the Browns in October, hits 12 games.

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 2-10-1

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL
16 Dec 2010
3 Comments

It’s Stupid Time in Cleveland Sports

We don’t know if it is the cold weather or the piles of snow that have driven some people to the edge, but it is apparently stupid time in Cleveland sports.

First off was the report from WKNR* “contributor” Sabrina Parr (she’s not listed on the station’s website so we’re not sure what she does) that Browns coach Eric Mangini is done after the season regardless of how the team performs in its final three games. The station’s Chris Fedor, who is listed on the WKNR website as a producer, also claimed that the Browns can’t find a new offensive coordinator because no one is willing to work with Mangini.

Wait a minute, if there are coaches out there who don’t want to work with Mangini, why would it matter since the Browns are going to fire him anyway? Doesn’t the presumed removal of Mangini make the alleged reluctance of someone to work with him a moot point?

More importantly, if any of this were actually true, doesn’t it seem likely that one of the beat writers or columnists who cover this team on a daily basis would have come up with this news?

And doesn’t all this speculation actually run counter to what team president Mike Holmgren, the only person (other than owner Randy Lerner) who actually has a say in all this, said all along, that “The important point there I think is any coach, any staff where I am in the position I’m in, will be judged at the end of the season.”

Moving on.

The Plain Dealer‘s Tony Grossi and Bill Livingston must be dizzy from riding the quarterback carousel if their recent stories are any indication.

First off Grossi tries to sell us that the evolving Browns quarterback situation is somehow a case of the same old Browns:

“It’s Week 14 for the Browns and we’re still asking who’s the quarterback. Isn’t that the perfect metaphor for another Browns’ playoff-less season?”

In a follow-up article Grossi then painted the necessary quarterback switches as some kind of flaw on Mangini’s part:

“Naming Colt McCoy the Browns’ starting quarterback for the remainder of the season might not be a bombshell announcement. But it truly was out of character for Eric Mangini to commit to anybody at the position for longer than one game.”

Livingston tries to hang it on Mangini as if the coach has been switching players at the position just for fun:

“All that aside, the Browns, now out of playoff consideration, have had an unstable quarterback situation this year, which has been coach Eric Mangini’s norm.”

So let’s review: Jake Delhomme was the starter coming out of training camp, Seneca Wallace was the backup and Colt McCoy was No. 3. No mystery, no questions.

When Delhomme was injured Wallace took over as starter. When Wallace was injured McCoy took over as starter. There’s little reason to doubt that McCoy would still be the starter if hadn’t been injured. Just as there was little reason to rush him back before he was fully healed.

This hasn’t been a case of switching quarterbacks because they are not playing well; the Browns have a clear picture of the depth chart and acted accordingly when injuries hit.

Is that so hard to see?

***

We were going to include this gem from The PD’s Greg Kozarik, but it would be hard to top what the good folks at Two One Six Sports put together. Give it a read, you won’t be disappointed.

***

More on the silliness that is currently blowing through Cleveland sports can be found at Cleveland Frowns, and Waiting for Next Year.

***

*Full disclosure: Sirius is Red Right 88’s preferred official radio source. We haven’t listened to local sports talk in six years. Hearing that these are the types of “breaking news” stories the local stations put out just solidifies our position.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Eric Mangini, stupid time
14 Dec 2010

Final Thoughts on the Browns & Week 14

We were planning to put together something coherent about the aftermath of the Browns loss to Buffalo, but spending a combined 90 minutes getting the car unstuck from the street that that city can’t be bothered to plow and then cleaning the driveway took the fight out of us.

And really, what is there to say that we didn’t already know? The Browns are not yet at a point where they can make mistakes and hope to win a game. That was true Week 1 in Tampa and it was true on Sunday in Buffalo.

We’re with coach Eric Mangini on the disappointment.

“In watching the tape and talking to the players, I think the best way I can say it is disappointing,” Mangini said in his Monday press conference. “It was disappointing to me because it’s really not the way that we play football and we’ve made a lot of strides in doing that in terms of eliminating the self-inflicted wounds, putting the ball on the ground five times and interception. That’s taking points off the board and defensively, not doing a good enough job on some game-plan specific things.”

One of the areas that was extremely disappointing was on third down as the Browns only converted two-of-10 third downs against a Bills defense that came into the game allowing opponents to convert more than 44 percent of third downs. Since Jake Delhomme returned as a starter, the Browns are only eight-of-35 on third downs.

“We weren’t very good on third down to extend drives, which doesn’t help; putting the ball on the ground doesn’t help,” Mangini said. “The time of possession was skewed heavy in their favor and that’s a collective deal where, defensively, we need to get them off the field so they can’t eat up the clock and offensively, we’ve got to be able to extend drives so we have more chances to continue to the full complement of plays.”

We’re glad to see that Mangini and the team have embraced our philosophy of win as a team, lose as a team.

“There are things from a scheme perspective that we could’ve done better as well. I’m not saying it’s all playing,” Mangini said. “There’s some things that I feel we could’ve done better from a coaching perspective too and that’s the way it always is. It’s never just the players or just the coaches. It’s all of us. We’re all in it together. When it’s up and down, we all need to pull a little bit harder.”

***

Our biggest concern here is that the Browns lack of talent, depth and growing injuries are starting to catch up with them and that will be exacerbated and exploited over the next three weeks with division games against Cincinnati, Baltimore and Pittsburgh.

If the Browns were to stumble as the season comes to a close, that would be back-to-back 5-11 seasons, only this time the season would end with a four-game losing streak, rather than last year’s four-game winning streak.

Under that worse-case scenario the jackals who worry about the temperature of the office furniture in Berea will be out calling for Mangini’s job. And that’s not funny or fun.

The positive part is we get the impression that team president Mike Holmgren doesn’t care what the media wants. It’s not that he’s egotistical, it’s that he comes across as someone confident in his football knowledge and trusting of his instincts. He knows that starting over after one year of the rebuilt Browns management is a no-win situation.

***

As sure as we are that Jake Delhomme’s time as a starting NFL quarterback has passed – he has seven interceptions to two touchdowns on the season – it looks like we’re with him for at least another week as Mangini said Monday that Delhomme’s the quarterback if Colt McCoy isn’t healthy.

Even if McCoy is healthy – or as close as he can be – the Browns should sit him for another week just to be sure. There’s no reason to rush him back.

***

As always, lots of good stuff on the Browns at Cleveland Frowns and Waiting for Next Year.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL, snow | Leave a comment
13 Dec 2010
4 Comments

A Bad Day in Buffalo

Oh boy.

The Browns lost their last chance to finish the season with a winning record in an ugly loss on Sunday to the Bills. And along the way they showed that, while they have come a long way this season, they still have a long way to go to be a consistent winner in the NFL.

We subscribe to the theory of win as a team, lose as a team, so we hate to point fingers at one particular unit, but this loss hangs squarely on the offense.

The Browns took the opening kick off and moved smartly down the field with the running game, reaching the Buffalo six-yard line in just five plays, all rushes. But once they hit first and goal the drive stalled, as Peyton Hillis ran three straight times for five yards, leaving the Browns facing a fourth-and-goal at the 1.

Perhaps a play-action call would have been beneficial on first down in that situation, but the Browns were moving the ball and Buffalo does have the worst rushing defense in the league.

The Browns chose a Phil Dawson field goal rather than go for the score on fourth down. We would have been OK with the Browns going for the touchdown, what with the Bills weak run defense and all, but it was the first drive of the day and you want to get points early.

“I did think about [going for it], but I felt like the game was going to be close, like a one-score game,” coach Eric Mangini told The Plain Dealer. “I figured we would have more drives later on.”

We did too, coach. Unfortunately that first drive was the highlight of the day for the Browns offense.

After gaining 49 yards on the opening drive, Hillis would only gain another 59 yards the rest of the day. And once again he had no support in the running game, as Mike Bell ran three times for eight yards and Josh Cribbs added minus 11 yards on a botched end around.

This is a problem we’ve all seen coming for weeks now: Hillis is the Browns only running option so teams can key on him; there is simply no one else they need to worry about at all. Unfortunately there is nothing the team can do about it until the off season.

Same with the passing game as tight end Ben Watson had only one catch on the day. The Bills knew that Watson was the only person in the passing game they needed to worry about and it showed.

The Browns put up 54 yards on that opening drive, they would only gain another 133 yards the rest of the game.

Which brings us to Jake Delhomme.

Delhomme just wasn’t very good, going 12-for-20 for 86 yards. He had two fourth-quarter turnovers – a fumble and an interception where he was hit on the throw – that killed the Browns last chances to tie the game. He couldn’t move the Browns past midfield at all on their five second-half possessions.

Look, Delhomme was supposed to be a stop gap this year at the quarterback position. From all reports he’s been great mentoring Colt McCoy and that’s wonderful. But he is clearly past his expiration date as a starting quarterback in this league.

Since returning to the starter’s role three weeks ago, the Browns have gone 8-for-35 on third downs under Delhomme. He’s just not moving the team and there really is no good reason to keep him in the starting role now that Seneca Wallace is healthy. The Browns have options, they need to use them.

Speaking of things we don’t need to see anymore, it’s time the coaches sat down with Hillis and put the kibosh on his hurdling obsession. It’s unnecessary and it led directly to a fumble on Sunday when the Browns had a chance to take control of the game.

After the defense forced a turnover and gave the offense the ball on the Buffalo 25-yard-line, Hillis ran the ball on first down and tried to hurdle Bills safety Jairus Byrd, who knocked the ball loose and the Bills recovered.

“You knew from watching film that he has been [hurdling] for a while,” Byrd told The Plain Dealer. “If you get him in the open field, he’s going to try to stiff-arm you or jump you. It was something I knew was coming. I prepared for it.”

That was one of three fumbles by Hillis, to go with the one by Delhomme and one by Cribbs. In one absurd sequence in the third quarter the Browns fumbled three times on one drive and were lucky to recover all of them.

Bottom line it was a frustrating loss. But it doesn’t undo the good the Browns have done this year with moving the team forward. The loss does highlight the holes the team has and all the work still left to do. The front office and coaching staff don’t appear blind to that, so we can stay confident that things are turning around, despite how we feel after today’s game.

The Browns now need to refocus and get ready to travel to Cincinnati next week. Because if they lose to the 2-11 Bengals and come home at 5-9 to face the Ravens and Steelers, it may not be a pretty sight.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, frustration, Jake Delhomme, NFL, Peyton Hillis
12 Dec 2010

Browns vs. Bills – Week 14

The Browns head to Buffalo today as they continue their march toward a .500 record in the rain of snow of western New York.

The Opposition

Buffalo: 2-10
Offensive rank: 27th overall/23rd passing/17th rushing
Defensive rank: 25th overall/9th passing/32nd rushing
Strength of schedule: 1st (barely edging out the Browns)
All-time record: Cleveland leads 15-5-2, including playoffs and AAFC games. The Browns are 6-2-1 in Buffalo, winning four of the last five.
The line: Browns opened as a one-point underdog, but the game is now a Pick ’em

What to Watch For

Today’s expected bad weather should favor the Browns, as their offense is better equipped to play in poor conditions.

The Browns should turn the offense over to Peyton Hillis, Lawrence Vickers and the offensive line to control the ball and keep the ball out of Jake Delhomme’s hands as much as possible. Especially as we’re not really sure how Delhomme will react to playing in cold weather.

Hillis is only 38 yards away from a 1,000-yard season and he should have no problem hitting the mark today against the NFL’s 32nd-ranked defense. The Bills are giving up 170.9 yards a game, a full 25 yards a game more than the 31st-ranked Denver defense, and have given up 14 rushing touchdowns on the season (compared to four for the Browns defense).

The bad weather and a ball-control offense will help the Browns defense against Buffalo quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick. Since taking over as the starter, Fitzpatrick has thrown 20 touchdowns, is completing 58 percent of his passes and has an 84.5 quarterback rating.

The Bills have been competitive against the league’s toughest schedule – suffering three overtime losses, a five-point loss to Miami and a three-point loss to Chicago. After an 0-8 start, the Bills are 2-2 in their past four games and would be 3-1 if Stevie Johnson hadn’t dropped a sure touchdown pass against the Steelers two weeks ago.

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

An easy one this week: the Browns 34-30 win in the 1989 playoffs that wasn’t over until Clay Matthews intercepted Jim Kelly at the 1-yard line with three seconds left. You can watch Matthews’ interception here, NBC’s game intro is here, Eric Metcalf’s kick-off return for a TD and a Bernie Kosar-led touchdown drive.

The Plain Dealer‘s story is here. No surprise that the article portrays the game as one the Bills lost rather than the Browns won. Some things never change.

The Prediction

After starting the season 1-5, the Browns are continuing their slow march back to .500 as they are now 4-2 over the past six games. Today’s game against Buffalo presents a great opportunity to continue the journey.

As is the case every week, the Browns can win today if they don’t turn the ball over and don’t hurt themselves with silly penalties or mistakes. At this point of the season, the coaches and players know what they need to do, it’s just a question of if they can do it.

This week the answer should be yes, as the Browns control the ball and win a relatively comfortable game.

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 2-9-1

Posted in Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, NFL | Leave a comment
09 Dec 2010

Browns May Be Ready to Flex

We were looking at the NFL schedule today and noticed that the league had decided to not flex out of Sunday night’s Philadelphia vs. Dallas game.

Looking at Week 15 there’s no way NBC would give up the Green Bay at New England game.

But things get interesting in Week 16, when San Diego is scheduled to play Cincinnati in the Sunday night slot. There’s no way the NFL and NBC want to show the Bengals in primetime in front of a half-empty stadium. So that opens up the possibility for another game to move into the slot.

But which one?

The game of the weekend, New Orleans at Atlanta, is already set for Monday Night Football. It’s doubtful that Fox would give up the Giants at Green Bay game as that will have major playoff implications.

That’s where the Browns come in.

It’s quite possible the Browns will have climbed back to .500 by Week 16 as they have the Bills and the Bengals the next two weeks. That means they would be returning home on a 6-2 streak to face Baltimore.

It will take a little bit of a leap of faith on NBC and the NFL’s part as they have to flex the game at least 12 days in advance. But if the Browns have a strong showing on Sunday in Buffalo they certainly should be under consideration.

With the way the season has been going so far, a primetime game against a hated division rival the day after Christmas feels just about right.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL, primtime | Leave a comment
08 Dec 2010

Seven is just a random number

As kids, Schoolhouse Rock taught us that “three is a magic number.”

But there are some in Brownstown who would have us believe that seven is the real magic number – as in “Eric Mangini needs seven wins to keep his job.”

We’ve been through this before. Cleveland Frowns has covered this. Pretty much anyone who has watched the Browns play this year got the memo that the team has improved and there’s little reason to believe a different coach would have produced more wins. Consider that:

  • The Browns have started three different quarterbacks this season – one that probably shouldn’t be a starter in the NFL anymore, one a career backup and one a rookie.
  • They have no NFL-caliber wide receivers on the team.
  • They have only one viable option at running back, Peyton Hillis.
  • They continue to start John St. Clair at right tackle.
  • They start two rookies in the secondary.
  • And, oh yeah, they’ve played one of the toughest schedules in the NFL.

Apparently that doesn’t matter to some. We get that, before the season, writers covering the team and the league have to come up with projections and predictions about how the Browns will do.

But once the season starts, shouldn’t people adjust their expectations to fit the reality that is happening on the field? Maybe grasp that a team that beat New England and New Orleans, and was competitive in a stretch of tough mid-season games is improving?

Herm Edwards taught us that “you play to win the game,” and wins and losses are an important measuring tool, but you have to take into account everything that goes on with a team during a season.

Luckily the one person who’s opinion counts in this situation, team president Mike Holmgren, understands what is going on. Let’s remember what he said in a press conference following the Browns bye week in November (the important stuff is in bold):

“The important point there I think is any coach, any staff where I am in the position I’m in, will be judged at the end of the season. It will take thoughtful thinking and I’ve said this before and I said it when I first came here, I think it’s important that you take some of the emotion out of it if you can. At the end of the year, everyone catches their breath a little bit, think about it and hopefully make an intelligent decision. I also said this, wins and losses are not the only criteria. The crummy part of our business is that most of the time, it is the main one. I thought my least year in Seattle, 4-12 on the surface they should have fired me. Based on record, 4-12 is my worst record of all time. It may have been my best coaching job because we were playing with young people that gave me everything they had, but they just weren’t good enough, we got so injured. If that taught me anything, it taught me that now in my position, there’s more to look at.”

Holmgren’s thought process couldn’t be any more transparent: “wins and losses are not the only criteria.” “There’s more to look at.”

Is that not clear? Holmgren will look at the big picture, weigh everything that went on this season and make a determination.

And when Holmgren holds his season-ending press conference and the question “Will Eric Mangini be coaching the Browns in 2011” is asked, we’re willing to bet the answer will be:

“Of course, why would we make a change?”

***

As this is the 30th anniversary of the death of John Lennon, it’s worth the time to check out ESPN’s Outside the Lines piece on how the news of Lennon’s death broke on Monday Night Football.

We were familiar with the story, but never knew the behind-the-scenes story of how ABC came up with the scoop.

And it’s interesting to look back at how news was spread just 30 years ago. Cable TV and ESPN were in their infancy, no Twitter or Internet, no cell phones, no 24-hour news channel. How different things would be if something like this happened today.

Rest in peace, John.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Eric Mangini, magic numbers, NFL | Leave a comment
07 Dec 2010

Final Thoughts on the Browns & Week 13

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

***

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

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

***

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

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

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

***

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

***

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

Life is good sometimes.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Joe Haden, Jon Gruden, NFL, Sunday Ticket | Leave a comment

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