Sometimes, a loss is just a loss
The voices started shortly after the Browns loss to Tampa Bay:
“Same old Browns.”
“Here we go again.”
“Not Metcalf up the middle again!”
OK, maybe not that last one, but you get the point. And Bill Livingston fed into that paranoia with his column in the PD, writing that “the sunny outlook (after the loss) particularly jolts the system because it followed proof on Sunday that the leopard hasn’t changed its spots after all.”
After decades of disappointment, some fans default to a doom and gloom scenario any time the Browns lose. On some level you can’t really blame them, any Browns fan under the age of 45 has never seen a championship.
But the important thing to remember is the team doesn’t feel that way. Eric Mangini and Mike Holmgren are working hard to make sure the players don’t carry the burden of past failures.
“There’s nobody in there that I even have a sense feels that way and a lot of guys are new,” Mangini said in his Monday press conference. “A lot of guys don’t know what ‘here we go again’ means because they weren’t part of that in the past.
“As you look at the tape and even after the game, everybody understood what happened and what needs to be fixed in order to prevent it from happening again. We are talking about game-specific, not any bigger picture type thing.
“There are a lot of guys in there that are veteran guys, that are mature, that understand how to fix problems. I don’t think there’s anybody that feels that way, top to bottom.”
“I want them to start feeling like good things are going to happen instead of, you know,” Holmgren told the paper. “And they will, they will.”
That attitude is an important piece of the rebuilding plan, not just of the team but also of the fans’ mental state.
With so many new faces in town – 38 players weren’t on the roster two years ago, Mangini is in his second season and Holmgren and Tom Heckert in their first with the team – why would they feel any sense of “here we go again” after one loss?
None of them were here when the Browns lost heart breakers in the playoffs in ’85, ’86, ’87 & ’88. They weren’t here for Spurgen Wynn, Tim Counch, Ty Detmer, Trent Dilfer and Kelly Holcomb’s “teeny tiny fracture.” Likewise, this front office didn’t pass on drafting Richard Seymour and LaDanian Tomlinson, pick Chaun Thompson in the second round or sign Andre Rison to a big free-agent deal.
The “here we go again” crowd has to carry that water themselves. They have to realize that sometimes a loss is just a loss, that Jake Delhomme’s interceptions are just interceptions, not another example of how the Browns are getting ready to go “full circle on the same carousel to oblivion as before.” (Livington’s words).
Luckily, there is still a portion of the fanbase that can take a loss without crumbling. It’s certainly not easy being a Cleveland fan – if it were this site, along with ones such as Cleveland Frowns, Waiting for Next Year and ’64 & Counting, to name a few – would look and read differently. And it’s not as if downtown Cleveland is congested with victory parades.
Going into the season, you could realistically say the Browns had a chance to beat five teams: Tampa, Carolina, Buffalo, KC and Jacksonville. They were never going to beat all five, and most fans would take a 3-2 record out of this group. That’s still possible, even after losing to the Buccaneers.
And as much as some want to lay the blame for the loss at Delhomme’s feet, the receivers have to take their share of the blame as well for poor route running, particularly Mohamed Massaquoi and Chansi Stuckey.
Sometimes, a loss really is nothing more than a loss. All it will take is a win on Sunday against Kansas City to quiet the voices, even if it’s only for a while.
Red Right 88 