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In Cleveland, hope dies last

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09 Sep 2010

Breaking Down the Browns Season

Sunday in Tampa, the Browns open up what is sure to be an interesting 2010 NFL season.

The team has improved in some key areas, but unfortunately some holes remain unfilled. After all, there is only so much you can do in one off-season.

In addition to the usual divisional games, this year’s schedule features a potentially brutal stretch starting in Week 3 with Baltimore and ending Week 10 vs. the Jets. It also has some interesting subplots:

  • Jake Delhomme taking on his former team, Carolina, plus facing former division opponents New Orleans, Tampa Bay and Atlanta.
  • Coach Eric Mangini facing two of his former teams in the Jets and New England.
  • Familiar faces in new places, including Braylon Edwards (Jets), Kellen Winslow and Sean Jones (Tampa Bay) and Romeo Crennel (Kansas City).
  • The Browns getting the Steelers in Pittsburgh for Ben Roethlisberger’s first game back from suspension.

The over/under for the Browns victory total this season is 5.5, which shows why the Las Vegas oddsmakers are the dogs bollocks. That’s the perfect number for this team, and you can easily talk yourself into both sides of the over/under.

So how will the team do? Let’s take a look by breaking the schedule down into three parts.

Teams the Browns are as good as:

  • Tampa Bay
  • Carolina
  • Buffalo
  • Kansas City
  • Jacksonville

The Browns should be able to run the ball against all five, as they were all in the bottom half of the league in run defense last season, with Tampa Bay ranking last, KC (31st), Buffalo (30th), Carolina (22nd) and Jacksonville (19th). That’s a good sign for a Browns team that needs to run the ball effectively this year to have a chance to win.

Can the Browns go 5-0 against this group if they play smart, mistake-free football? Of course. Is that at all probable? No. But let’s say they go 3-2 against this group.

Teams that are better than the Browns:

  • New Orleans
  • Atlanta
  • New England
  • NY Jets
  • Miami

It’s hard to see the Browns having much success against this group. New Orleans and New England are clearly better, Atlanta’s offense may be too strong, and the Jets (first) and Miami (fourth) were two of the best rushing teams last season. Not a good sign when you were the 28th ranked rushing defense last year.

But teams can always win one game that they are not expected to win, so let’s give the Browns a 1-4 record against this group.

Teams in the AFC North:

This is where the Browns will make or break their season. Since the NFL split into four-team divisions in 2002, the Browns have gone 13-35 in the division. That includes matching 1-5 records each of the past two seasons.

The Bengals showed last year that you can be a mediocre team (4-6 outside the division) but if you take care of business inside the division (6-0) you can have a winning season. The Browns simply have to play better in the division if they are going to become a team to be taken seriously.

This year may be the perfect opportunity to do just that:

  • Many are picking the Ravens to be some kind of powerhouse this year and we’ll know early on if that’s true, as they face the Jets, Bengals, Pittsburgh and New England in the first six weeks of the season.
  • The Bengals haven’t had consecutive winning seasons in 28 years, and after last year’s fluke division title, there’s not much reason to believe they will break that streak this year.
  • Pittsburgh has an aging defense and will have Dennis Dixon or Charlie Batch at starting quarterback for the first four weeks while Roethlisberger serves his suspension. We’re constantly told that quarterback is the most important position on the field, so why wouldn’t losing your starting quarterback be a problem for the Steelers? And it’s not too hard to imagine Roethlisberger being rusty for his return against the Browns.

The opportunity is there for the Browns to at least split with two of their division opponents this year, giving them a 2-4 record – at worst – in the division.

Add it all up, and the Browns finish with a minimum of six wins, covering the over bet on their season total.

The first step in the journey starts Sunday in Tampa. The Brown and Orange are almost back. Whatever happens this year, you can be sure it won’t be dull.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, dogs bollocks, intrique, NFL, over/under | Leave a comment
05 Sep 2010
2 Comments

The Browns (mostly) final roster

The Browns made their final cuts on Saturday to get their roster down to 53 players with no major surprises.

The biggest name cut was Brandon McDonald; a minor surprise as that leaves the team with just three cornerbacks on the roster – for now. The consensus is the Browns will make some additional moves this week after they have a chance to see what players are available from other teams.

For now we know who is on the roster. Looking at this year’s roster vs. last year’s opening day roster, it’s pretty clear where the team has improved – primarily on offense – and where it still needs help:

Quarterback: Jake Delhomme, Seneca Wallace and Colt McCoy – even if he never plays a single down – are better than last year’s trio of Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn and Brett Ratliff. Clearly better than last year.

Running back: Essentially trading Peyton Hillis for an on-his-last legs Jamal Lewis makes this a better unit. Better than last year.

Offensive line: With Alex Mack entering his second year, Eric Steinbach and Joe Thomas anchoring the left side, and the quick growth of rookie Shawn Lauvao, plus no more Rex Hadnot, takes what was already a team strength and makes it that much better. Now if they could only do something about John St. Clair. Better than last year.

Wide receiver: Still a weak spot, but we’ll go along with Braylon Edwards no longer being around as addition by subtraction. The team is just relying too much on second-year players Mohamed Massaquoi and Brian Robiskie for this to be a strength. Not better than last year, but not worse.

Tight end: Ben Watson has to be an improvement over Martin Rucker, but the stone-handed Robert Royal is still on the team. Certainly not a glamor position on the squad. Not better than last year, but not worse.

Defensive line: Another unremarkable group, at least until we find out if Shaun Rogers is actually ready to play. Ahytba Rubin looked solid last year filling in for Rogers; let’s see how he does over a full season. Not better than last year, but not worse.

Linebackers: The team appears to be going for quantity over quality with 12 linebackers on the squad. Relatively young – only three of the group are over 30 – but lacking any legitimate playmakers, this looks to be a group project. But you have to love that the team kept Titus Brown, just for his name alone. Not better than last year, but not worse.

Defensive backs: After quarterback, the most improved group on the team, although very thin at cornerback. Sheldon Brown, T.J. Ward and Joe Haden are all huge upgrades over Brodney Pool, Hank Poteat and Coye Francies. Clearly better than last year.

Special teams: Reggie Hodges isn’t as good as Dave Zastudil, but he’s not bad. As long as the Browns have Josh Cribbs returning kicks, Phil Dawson and Ryan Pontbriand, they don’t have anything to worry about with this unit. Just as good as last year.

As for what the Browns will do this week, it seems likely they will make some additional rosters moves. It would make sense for them to talk with Justin Hartwig, who was cut by the Steelers, to see if they could add an experienced player to the offensive line.

Other than that, I don’t really see them going after any of the name players who were cut, for example T.J. Houshmandzadeh. For one, his production has gone down three years in a row (from 112 catches in 2007 to 79 last year) and I’m not sure adding a 32-year-old receiver is really going to make a difference in the won-loss record this year. Plus, if having him around takes time away from one of the younger receivers, is that helpful?

And whatever the Browns do, I truly believe they are smart enough to stay far, far away from Troy Smith.

So the offense improved in one vital area, while not getting weaker anywhere else. The defensive secondary should be better; hopefully that will make the linebackers and defensive line at least somewhat better.

We’ll know for sure in less than a week when the team takes the field against Tampa Bay.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL, roster cuts
27 Aug 2010

Someone Else’s Problem

You have to hand it to Derek Anderson – he (or his agent) sure know how to pick his teams.

Anderson has gone from competing in Cleveland with a former high-profile college QB (Brady Quinn) who may not have the goods to play in the NFL to competing in Arizona against a former high-profile college QB (Matt Leinart) who may not have the goods to play in the NFL.

And now the Cardinals are making the mistake of thinking Anderson is the answer at QB as they are reportedly going to start him Saturday night against Chicago in their third preseason game – generally the game that teams use as a final tune-up to get their starters ready for the regular season.

At least some Cardinal fans seem to know what they are getting themselves into. Cardinals Gab describes the QB situation by writing:

“you’ve destroyed Leinart’s barely there confidence to get a look at a quarterback that probably isn’t a better option anyway. Anderson’s still learning the Cards’ system and the INTs will mount, most likely at a rate that will outstrip his TDs. I think it’s tough to say that Anderson is per se a better quarterback than Leinart right now. As a result, a single successful performance won’t tell us much about whether Anderson should start over Leinart.

“I’ve always felt that Leinart doesn’t need to be a stud for the Cardinals to win. I would take a safe, albeit vanilla offense under Leinart over a high risk-high reward offense under Anderson. Derek’s style of play will most likely lead to an increased number of turnovers. This will put a tremendous strain on a defense that has new players everywhere on the field. I’ve yet to see a team consistently lose the turnover battle and win games.”

But just like in Cleveland some Cards fans are inexplicably defending Anerson, like Rabel16 who commented on an Arizona Republic article on the switch by saying:

“Have we forgotten that DA HAS proven himself in the league? He was a Pro Bowl QB a couple years back and remember he was playing in Cleveland for crying out loud, which is comparbale (sic) to playing in AZ in the 90’s. There is plenty of upside and it is very obvious that he has much more command of the offense. Leinart is lackadaisical and there is no spunk in his step, which carries over to the rest of the team. DA is a prototype whiz qb. Effectively run the ball and go up top to Fitz. Start DA, cut Leinart, end of story… ”

Sound familiar?

And media personality Mike Lombardi has weighed in, claiming the Cards may just cut ties with Leinart if they decide to go with Anderson. Of course, we all know first hand about Lombardi’s “analysis” in these parts.

I don’t wish Cards fans any ill will, but I’m sure glad Anderson is their problem now.

Posted in Derek Anderson, Matt Leinart, NFL, scatter-armed quarterbacks | Leave a comment
26 Aug 2010

Is Colt Leaving the Corral?

It was more than surprising to read that rookie QB Colt McCoy, according to the Plain Dealer’s Tony Grossi, was one of the players who needed good showings in the final preseason games to make the Browns final roster.

Seriously? After trading around and eventually drafting McCoy in the third round, the team would be ready to cut him loose after one training camp and four preseason games?

Bleacher Report jumped on the news, listing 10 Reasons Why Colt McCoy May Never Play a Down for the Browns.

It certainly is possible the Browns could cut McCoy, stranger things have happened. But it just seems so unlikely that they would have reversed course so quickly. Especially since team president Mike Holmgren said after the draft that “… I don’t expect him to play this year. We did not draft him necessarily to come in and play this year.”

So if the team went into the preseason with the expectation that McCoy was going to spend this year learning, why would they cut him?

They could always place him on the practice squad if they are not comfortable letting him be the No. 3 QB or don’t want to lose a roster spot to someone they don’t plan to use this year. But that’s no guarantee that he’ll remain with the team.

Arrowhead Pride has a nice summary of the NFL’s practice squad rules, and while McCoy would be eligible, here’s the kicker:

Practice squad players are always free agents, meaning any NFL team could sign McCoy away from the Browns.

In a league where teams are always desperate for quarterback depth, I can’t imagine McCoy making it through the entire season without someone being willing to take a chance on him.

Now the PD is reporting that, according to a source (oh boy), McCoy will make the team barring an “unforseen” circumstance.

And here we thought we were going to make it through an entire Browns preseason without any nonsense.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Colt McCoy, Mike Holmgren, NFL | Leave a comment
15 Aug 2010

Thoughts on the Browns Exhibition Opener

Some thoughts on the Browns preseason opening win over Green Bay:

The Good:

  • Jake Delhomme looked sharp on the team’s opening drive; hitting 6-of-7 passes and keeping the team moving – and no penalties.
  • The offense looked like it actually had a plan, something that was not always the case last season.
  • The defense forced two turnovers.
  • The offense only gave up one sack.
  • Phil Dawson appeared to be in regular-season form, hitting two field goals – including a 58-yarder.
  • Seneca Wallace made nice plays on his two TD passes.
  • Rookie defensive backs Joe Haden and T.J. Ward got their first taste of game action and Ward showed off his tackling skills, especially when he stopped Donald Driver short of a first down.

The Bad:

  • With several new players seeing their first game action on defense, the Browns were beat up pretty good by Green Bay’s offense as the Packers had 22 first downs and 340 yards of total offense.
  • Ward was beaten by Greg Jennings on a 25-yard TD catch and couldn’t bring down John Kuhn on a short TD run.
  • The defense only recorded one sack.
  • Colt McCoy hurt his passing hand when he hit a lineman’s helmet.
  • Mohamed Massaquoi spent time on the bench with his knee being iced.

While the Browns struggled on defense, it’s really not all that bad or surprising. Green Bay has one of the better offenses in the league, they were ranked seventh in passing last year, and with all the new pieces on defense you’d expect some problems.

Conversely, Delhomme and Wallace combined to complete 10-of-15 passes for 138 yards and two TDs in less than one half of action against a defense that was ranked fifth against the pass last year.

It’s really hard to judge a team during the exhibition season, especially during the first game. You never know how much of their offensive or defensive packages the other team is running, or how much/how hard the team’s top players are working during a game.

Based on what the Browns showed on the field last night, the team definitely has something to build on as it heads toward the second exhibition game on Saturday.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Jake Delhomme, NFL, positive signs | Leave a comment
11 Aug 2010

Recalibrating on Eric Mangini

As we slowly move through the month of August*, the Browns are winding their way through training camp, the first exhibition game sits on the horizon and the opening of the season is a month away.

Things are quite a bit different in Browns training camp. At this time last year, we were dealing with controversial bus rides, a ridiculous quarterback “competition” and contract promises from the “previous regime.” Most importantly, we were all wondering what we had in coach Eric Mangini.

Contrast that to this year: no contract issues, a clear pecking order for the quarterbacks and overall peace and quiet. In fact, it’s Randy Lerner’s other team that finds itself dealing with coaching issues just days before the start of the season.

As we move toward the start of Year 2 of the Mangini Era, I’ve been re-evaluating my opinion of Mangini as a coach.

One of the biggest frustrations from last year was the way he handled the quarterback duties between Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn. Clearly, neither quarterback was going to be a Pro Bowler, but Mangini made the situation worse by not naming a starter at the outset of training camp and letting that person get as much work as possible as the team installed a new offensive system.

Instead, the QBs were bounced in and out during the preseason, with neither playing the final game. What followed during the regular season was historically bad play at the position.

Mangini deserved a large part of the blame because he was unable to create a situation where either quarterback could succeed. And that’s one of the key responsibilities of a coach: you have to be able to put your players in position to succeed. For example, if you want to run an offensive based on a short passing game, you don’t turn the team over to Derek Anderson.

Which brings us to this year. To be fair, if the coaches are responsible for helping the players to succeed, then management (Lerner and Mike Holmgren) are responsible for putting together the framework for the coaches to succeed.

That framework wasn’t in place last year, as Mangini had free reign to do what he wanted, especially after running GM George Kokinis out of town, and it proved too much for him to handle. Now, with Holmgren and GM Tom Heckert firmly in place, Mangini, offensive coordinator Brian Daboll and the rest of the coaching staff can do the jobs they were hired for – nothing else.

With the national media continuing to beat the drum that Mangini is on the coaching “hot seat,” creating an atmosphere for the coaching staff to succeed is vitally important. Having Holmgren as another set of eyes is only going to help as well. While he’s not going to walk out at practice and contradict Mangini, if Holmgren spots a flaw in the way a player is performing – especially at quarterback – and corrects it, then everyone wins.

Holmgren also brought in Gil Haskell, his former offensive coordinator, to observe and offer suggestions to Daboll. The ability for Haskell to sit down with Daboll and talk to him about his game plans, why he called a certain play in a certain situation, and offer suggestions and support, can only make Daboll – and by extension the offense – better this year.

I’m still not 100 percent sold on Mangini as head coach. He has a losing record in his career, made one playoff appearance as Jets coach with Herm Edwards players, and his only success in the NFL came in a supporting role to Bill Belichick.

But with the way the team is progressing and being rebuilt from top to bottom, I feel a whole lot better than I did at this time last year. The picture is starting to fill in around the edges and Browns fans once again have something to be optimistic about.

*Isn’t August really one of the worst months of the year? If you’re a kid, the start of school is just around the corner, it’s ridiculously hot, the Indians are generally out of the playoff race, the big family vacation is over, even the pool doesn’t hold the same appeal as it did in June and July. Thankfully the Premier League starts this weekend.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Eric Mangini, Mike Holmgren, NFL | Leave a comment
06 Jul 2010

Who Needs Two?

Terry Pluto had an interesting item in his Sunday PD column: the Browns are having trouble selling tickets:

Once upon a time, the Browns had a waiting list for season tickets. No more. … When the Browns returned in 1999, it was a civic movement to sell tickets and luxury suites to support the expansion franchise. Many of those deals were for 10 years. They have expired. In the meantime, the Browns have the NFL’s second-worst record (after Detroit) since 1999. … At their peak following the return, the Browns sold more than 61,000 season tickets. That was a few years ago. They dropped below 55,000 last year. While the Browns are confident they will sell enough tickets for every home game to avoid a TV blackout, it’s obvious they are working hard for new customers.

That’s not good, but it’s also not surprising. For much of the past decade, it seemed like all the team had to do was hang a sign that read “Game Today” outside Cleveland Browns Stadium and the game would sell out. But fans of a certain generation can easily remember a time when the only home game that sold out was the annual tilt with Pittsburgh.

Now, after a decade of despair on the field, the team is feeling the bite at the box office. Certainly, last year’s dismal effort, which included coach Eric Mangini’s inability to pick a quarterback, offensive coordinator Brian Daboll’s amateur playcalling, a 1-11 start and the most over-rated victory in franchise history, have taken its toll on the paying public. The economy and the success of the Cavs have also been a major drain on ticket-buying customers.

The off-season hiring of Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert has helped the team regain some credibility with its fanbase, and the team is now reaching out to fans for help:

The Browns want to hear from fans about what they can do better on game days, with tickets, etc. Please, don’t write, “Win more games.” Don’t send suggestions about coaching, quarterbacks, etc. This is an attempt to connect with fans about how the Browns can improve on the business side. E-mail: suggestions@clevelandbrowns.com

It will be interesting to see what steps the team takes to improve the gameday experience. It seems likely they will follow the model of the Cavs, filling every stoppage in play with non-stop noise, which is something we’ve never understood. As a fan, you are there to see the game, that’s the most important thing. And the more successful the team plays, the less you need all the extra nonsense.

Even as the Browns continue their slow march back to respectability, they will face a problem all teams are facing: how to combat the experience of watching the game at home, which is better than it has ever been?

With the growth of large flatscreen TVs, games in HD, the NFL Sunday Ticket and NFL RedZone Channel, it’s really difficult to actually attend a game in person. At home, you don’t have to sit through endless TV timeouts, you just switch to another game. Big play? You get multiple replays. Bad weather? Not a problem. You don’t have to miss the late afternoon game while driving home. And over-priced, low-quality food and beer are not a problem at home.

Sidebar: How is it, with a growing number of microbreweries in NE Ohio and the esteemed Great Lakes Brewery right in town, the stadium concessions offer Bud, Bud Light and Coors Light? We wouldn’t drink that if we were paid.

You do lose the communal aspect and atmosphere that is an important part of many fans’ lives by watching the games at home, but if you have a big enough group over to watch the game you can replicate the experience.

It definitely makes it a tougher ticket to sell, even if you can put a winning team on the field. It’s good to know the Browns are taking the extra step to try and keep the fans engaged.

Now about that quarterback situation …

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Great Lakes Brewery, NFL, Sunday Ticket | Leave a comment
25 Jun 2010
1 Comment

The Strange Tale of "Slow" Joe Haden

Media personality* Mike Lombardi had an interesting notebook item in his latest column on NFL.com:

“According to coaches around the league, Browns first-round pick Joe Haden has not been very impressive in camps and might not have enough speed to play corner. Maybe all that talk about some in the organization wanted to take Kyle Wilson over Haden was true.”

So Lombardi has talked to other coaches in the league, who somehow have witnessed or seen film from Browns practices, which are private, and have determined that Haden is too slow to play cornerback in the league. And they were able to do this without seeing him perform in pads at full speed.

Very impressive.

This shouldn’t be surprising coming from media personality* Mike Lombardi, as he was critical of Haden prior to the draft, writing that:

“Florida corner Joe Haden has had some top-10 visits, but I keep hearing he’s not a top-10 pick. Hard to pick a speed-deficit corner in the top 10 and pay all that money. Remember, the rookie pay scale overpays the players from the first to the 12th pick in the first round; the rest of the salary structure is effective.”

Apparently the talk the Lombardi is hearing doesn’t take into account what Haden did at Florida, where he played well enough to be a starter on a national championship team that played in the toughest conference in the nation.

Or that Haden improved his 40-yard dash time from the 4.6 he ran at the NFL Combine to the high 4.3 to low 4.4 range he ran at his Pro Day at Florida.

We don’t know, Haden looks like he knows what he’s doing here.

None of that matters because media personality* Mike Lombardi is hearing things. Very bad things.

This is where he loses us. As a media personality, rather than a reporter, Lombardi is in the business of stating his opinion, which is fine. We all watch these guys play football in college and think that this player or that player would be a good fit for a particular team.

If he thinks Kyle Wilson is/will be a better player than Haden, that’s OK. But once the pick is made, why do you have to continually try to discredit someone just for the glorification of your own ego? Why not just say, “if I had been making the pick, I would have picked this player and here’s why”?

But to continually manufacture items with no sourcing to stand behind it, that just comes off as childish.

For all his faults, we think Eric Mangini knows something about defense. We’re sure Rob Ryan knows defense. And Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert know the type of players a team needs to succeed in the NFL.

If they say Haden’s the man, that’s good enough for us.

*We refuse to refer to Lombardi and his ilk as journalists. As someone with a journalism degree who worked in the newspaper business for more than a decade, we still believe in proper sourcing, having people go on the record and standing behind their comments. WI don’t put much faith in stories that are attributed to “league officials,” “people close to the situation” or any of that nonsense. That’s not reporting, it’s just throwing crap against the wall and hoping something sticks.

Posted in bad reporting, Cleveland Browns, Joe Haden, NFL
13 Jun 2010

A Break for Some Good News

With the Indians still flounderigng around with one of the worst records in Major League Baseball, and the Cavs on the brink of the abyss as they consider turning the franchise over to a college coach, good news is in short supply in Cleveland sports.

That’s why Browns minicamp was a nice diversion this weekend. And what a difference a year makes. This time last summer Eric Mangini was busy plotting his “strategy” for the upcoming training camp quarterback debacle and working behind the scenes on the demise of then-General Manager George Kokinis.
This year things are much better, as Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert have taken Mangini’s place at the table where men conduct business. In today’s Plain Dealer, Terry Pluto talked about the ways that Holmgren has righted the ship as training camp looms, with the main point being that Holmgren would make the decision on the quarterback going forward, after he and his team evaluated the current situation.
Now, instead of heading into training camp wondering which quarterback will be taking the snaps on a game-by-game basis in the preseason – a time when teams can evaluate talent in games that don’t count, something the staff didn’t seem to comprehend last year – the team is in solid hands with Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace. And Holmgren has said the decision “is all on me.” And Delhomme and Wallace “are quarterbacks who can help you win the game, if you need it. You don’t just hope they don’t make a mistake. They can make some plays.”
Browns fans are all too familiar with watching a QB – Derek Anderson anyone? – and not only hoping but praying they don’t make a mistake. Now, thanks to Holmgren, we won’t have to worry about that.
In addition, Gil Haskell has been working with Brian Daboll, teaching the offensive coordinator who was routinely over matched in his play calling last year, how to build an offense. Browns fans can be confident that the mistakes of last year, when if a play didn’t work in the first quarter it was redacted from the playbook for the rest of the game, are a thing of the past.
And the Browns have a structure in place where the coaches coach and nothing else. Which can only be a good thing.
All in all, not a bad way to start the week.
Posted in Cleveland Browns, Jake Delhomme, Mike Holmgren, NFL | Leave a comment

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