Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

28 Dec 2010

Final Thoughts on the Browns-Ravens

After a day of reflection, we feel a bit better about the Browns even after their latest loss to the Ravens.

Disappointed? Of course. Discouraged? Not really.

In some ways, beating New Orleans and New England earlier in the year hurt the Browns. Those wins made it hard for some fans to understand the team is still in a rebuilding process; those fans struggled with the idea that the Browns could beat two of the best teams in the NFL, but also lose to the Bills and the Bengals.

While we would certainly like it if the record was reversed, the reality is this team doesn’t yet have the talent to win consistently, especially when they turn the ball over four times against a team that will probably end the season at 12-4. But what they can do is compete, which they have done every week.

”I’ve seen [teams] get beat by 20 and 30 points, and that’s losing bad,” fullback Lawrence Vickers told The Beacon-Journal. ”A loss is a loss, but the way you lose sometimes plays a part in it. . . .The way we lost this year, not saying it was good, but three points here, a touchdown there. . . .That tells you something: that we’re on the verge of doing something great. I can feel it even with whatever’s going on. We [went through] three quarterbacks and kept ticking and kept fighting. That just tells you what kind of group we are.”

What the Browns are building toward, and what is hard for some fans to see, is a team that enters each season with a realistic chance to win 10+ games each season, not rollercoaster up and down depending on the yearly schedule (think 2007 Browns).

“I think what you have to do, philosophically, when you’re discussing it, it’s how do you want to build the winner? You can look at it from a short-term perspective where you are going to do everything that you can to just win that year, or you’re going to look to build a team and an organization that can compete year in and year out, and that’s what I believe in,” coach Eric Mangini said in his Monday press conference. “I’ve been a part of that and there are a lot of things that go into that. Ideally what you have is you create something that each year is at a high level, like a lot of teams in our division are.”

Specifically Pittsburgh and Baltimore. The biggest hurdle the Browns have to get over is being in the same division as the Steelers and the Ravens because that means there are no easy games on the schedule.

Look at Kansas City for example. The Chiefs are getting a lot of love this year from the media, but what happens next year when they play a tougher schedule? They won’t have teams like Arizona, Seattle and San Francisco on the schedule next year; instead they will get Indy, New England and Pittsburgh, among others, thanks to their first-place finish. You don’t think that will impact on their record?

Thankfully the players understand what’s going on.

“I think we’ve had a big improvement from this year to last,” center Alex Mack told The Plain Dealer. “I think we’ve been a lot closer in a lot of games and I think we’ve played a lot better. We have a lot of great guys on this team. It’s sad to see the season go.”

“To me, there’s a sense of community in this team and there’s a sense of purpose in this team,” Mangini said. “That doesn’t happen by accident. We all want to win every single week and there’s tremendous respect for each other from the players and the coaches and you can’t share this long period of time of working together and having the positives and negatives throughout the course of the season and the emotional highs and lows throughout the course of the season without forming that bond. That’s going to continue to be here and it’s going to continue to propel us forward. It’s meaningful when players say that because I think it’s indicative of the mutual respect and feelings that we have for each other.”

We’re confident that team president Mike Holmgren will weigh what the players say, and what he has seen this year, more heavily than what the media manufactures as they busy themselves with the temperature of the office furniture in Berea. And there is certainly a lot of hoo-haa flying around.

”People are digging, trying to find a reason for us not having success this year,” cornerback Sheldon Brown told The Beacon-Journal. “And at the end of the day, it’s us as players not making enough plays. That’s what the story is.”

The latest anti-Mangini argument centers on the premise that Holmgren absolutely must have the Browns run a West Coast offense. Of course, Holmgren has never said this; but why let that get in the way?

First off is The PD‘s Bill Livingston, who writes that because Colt McCoy may actually be an NFL-caliber quarterback, then Mangini must go:

“A clash seemed inevitable over time between the defensive-minded philosophy of Mangini and the offense-oriented approach of Browns president Mike Holmgren. McCoy’s rise accelerates it.”

And Bud Shaw:

“How could Mike Holmgren think this head coach and this manage-the-game-and-keep-it-close offensive philosophy is the best available custodian for McCoy’s development, let alone offer fertile ground for McCoy’s West Coast skills to blossom?”

And Peter King:

“Eric Mangini had to be great this year to survive the shotgun marriage with Mike Holmgren, but a three-game losing streak puts him on the firing line — if Holmgren can get one of his type of guys (Jon Gruden, maybe Marty Mornhinweg) to coach.”

And ESPN’s James Walker:

“What was Holmgren thinking as he watched rookie Colt McCoy — Holmgren’s personal choice at quarterback — run a porous offense with questionable play calling? … Mangini had to demonstrate progress after last season’s 5-11 record. But despite wins against the defending Super Bowl champion New Orleans Saints on the road and the heavily favored New England Patriots at home, the Browns have not shown enough improvement in 2010.”

So with everyone speculating about what Mike Holmgren is thinking and plans to do, let’s review what he has actually said this year about the team and the coaching staff:

  • Does he want to coach again?: “No, I’m doing okay. Does it sound like I want to coach? No, I’m doing okay. The challenge of this is really something for me and I’m enjoying the challenge. I’d be less than honest if I didn’t say I get fired up watching the games, I mean I did that for too long not to react sometimes the way I do, but I also recognize what I was hired to do and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
  • How will he evaluate the coaching staff?: “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, it 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.”
  • Will he force the Browns to run the West Coast offense?: “Any coach that thinks he has the only way to do something is nuts. I feel very strongly on how I did things. I believed for me and my staff and my personality, that was the exact way to do it. But heck, there are a lot of ways to do it. I watch and I give that speech to myself on occasion. I think it’s the right thing to do though. I kind of knew that, whether it was Eric or anyone else. They are going to do things differently than the way I did it. I had better be prepared to handle that or I shouldn’t have taken the job.”

If we can see things clearly, why can’t everyone else?

***

Also check out:

Mangini, Truth Death and Taxes at Waiting for Next Year

Monday Morning Browns Derpfest at Two One Six Sports

Too Careful, Not Careful Enough at Cleveland Frowns

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Eric Mangini, Mike Holmgren, NFL | Leave a comment
28 Dec 2010

In Cervesio Felicitas*

Let’s drink the liquid of amber so bright;
Let’s drink the liquid with foam snowy white;
Let’s drink the liquid that brings all good cheer;
Oh, where is the drink like old-fashioned beer? – A toast to beer

We’ve always known and appreciated that Cleveland is a shot-and-a-beer kind of town.

But what we didn’t realize until recently is that the beer portion is apparently increasingly becoming a craft beer.

We haven’t seen a bottle of Great Lakes’ Christmas Ale in the stores since before Thanksgiving. Goose Island Christmas Ale? Nope. When we were in the grocery store over the weekend just about every type of holiday-themed beer was sold out.

It’s good to know the hometown is branching out from the days of Miller, Budweiser and Rolling Rock.

Of course, this new found thirst for beer that actually tastes like beer – and not sour water – sometimes makes it harder to fill our tankard, but that’s the price you pay for progress, we suppose.

We’ll leave you with an Irish toast in case you are lucky enough to be enjoying your favorite beverage right now:

Here’s to a long life and a merry one.
A quick death and an easy one.
A pretty girl and an honest one.
A cold beer and another one!

*In beer there is joy.

Posted in Cleveland, craft beer | Leave a comment
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
25 Dec 2010

Week 16 Picks

We’re coming down to the end of the 2010 Cheddar Bay Invitational at Cleveland Frowns and we’re holding a 1.5-point lead.

After some much needed r-and-r in Cancun, we’re refreshed and ready to go. This week we like:

Dallas (-7) vs. Arizona

Philly (-14.5) vs. Minnesota

New England (-9) vs. Buffalo

Money pick: Indianapolis (-3) vs. Oakland

Posted in Cheddar Bay, NFL, point spreads | Leave a comment
19 Dec 2010

Holiday Hiatus

Red Right 88 is going on hiatus for a few days to take care of some last-minute holiday obligations.

We’ll be back in time for the Browns Week 16 tilt with Baltimore ready to go.

Hopefully nothing hits the fan in the meantime.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Posted in holiday | Leave a comment
18 Dec 2010

Week 15 Picks

Back on top and loving it in the 2010 Cheddar Bay Invitational at Cleveland Frowns.

This week, we like:

Dallas (-6) vs. Washington

New Orleans (+1) vs. Baltimore

Arizona (+2.5) vs. Carolina

Money: Oakland (-6.5) vs. Denver

Posted in Cheddar Bay, NFL, point spreads | 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

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