An officially NBA licensed 2011 Cleveland Cavaliers wall calendar was released yesterday.
Words will not do it justice, just click here to see the cover.
Incredible.
At least it’s not in Comic Sans.
The Browns have reportedly traded disgruntled running back Jerome Harrison to the Eagles for running back Mike Bell.
The teams are swapping 27-year-old running backs who have almost identical career rushing numbers – 1,401 yards for Harrison, 1,404 yards for Bell – while Bell has more rushing touchdowns (14 to six) and Harrison has three touchdown receptions to none for Bell.
So, basically, the deal is a wash statistically but may help the Browns as something was obviously wrong with Harrison this season. Either he was hurt and we didn’t really know about it or, more likely, he was upset that:
Some are bemoaning that Harrison did not get “a chance” with the Browns, but in reality he didn’t grab the opportunity when it was there. After finishing strong at the end of last season, he could have taken hold of the starting spot in training camp but didn’t. And it’s the Cleveland way to always want the back-up or the other guy.
Of course, Eagles fans are talking themselves into the deal as well as they quickly grew tired of Bell after he signed with the team this summer.
Maybe this is a case of both players needing a fresh start. In any event, it was clear Harrison had no future here in Cleveland, so getting something for him is a good move and no real loss for the Browns.
With it becoming more and more likely that Colt McCoy will make his NFL debut Sunday in Pittsburgh, the hysteria is starting to ramp up.
There is a growing consensus that something unspeakable is going to happen – that the Steelers are going to go through the Browns like Caesar through Gaul and McCoy will be playing the role of Vercingetorix. In other words, it will be a “disaster:”
“If McCoy is viewed as the future of the Browns, they must be very careful about the long-term impact of this decision,” ESPN’s James Walker writes. “Throwing McCoy out there at Heinz Field against Dick LeBeau’s defense is a recipe for disaster. In fact, it’s the last defense I would pick a rookie quarterback to face in his first NFL start, especially against a hungry Steelers’ defense coming off a bye week.”
Thankfully, coach Eric Mangini offered some much-needed perspective to the situation, telling The Plain Dealer:
“If you didn’t have that guy, then you drafted the wrong guy,” Mangini told the paper. “If he’s sitting at home at night curled up in a blanket hoping he doesn’t get the start, you’ve got the wrong guy. You look for that competitiveness, you want the young guys to always be pushing the guy in front of them, saying, ‘come on, move out of the way, give me my chance to do it.'”
We believe McCoy can survive playing an NFL game against Pittsburgh, other quarterbacks have done it. Just look at this partial list of Browns quarterbacks who have beaten the Steelers over the years:
Not exactly a roster of Hall of Famers.
Seriously, what’s the worse thing that is going to happen? The Browns lose? All the “experts” would still pick them to lose if Jake Delhomme or Seneca Wallace were starting at quarterback. It’s not as if the Steelers are going to barbecue and eat McCoy on the 50-yard-line.
Is it really going to be worse than Charlie Frye in 2005 or 2007?
The worse part are the hoople heads who think that, if McCoy starts on Sunday and does poorly his career is over, or that by starting him the Browns are breaking some kind of oath that they took not to play him this year.
The plan – and it is a sound one – called for McCoy to sit the entire year as long as nothing happened to Delhomme or Wallace. Well, guess what? Delhomme and Wallace are hurt, so McCoy needs to play. This isn’t Chris Palmer pulling Ty Detmer at halftime of the season opener and putting in Tim Couch. McCoy can play two games and, win or lose, go back to being the team’s No. 3 quarterback after the bye week.
And that’s exactly what the Browns should do – let McCoy play the next two games before the bye to give Delhomme and Wallace as much time to heal as possible. It will be the right move for all three of them.
The thing is, the Browns don’t need the second-coming of Otto Graham to beat the Steelers. They already know what they have to do. The Steelers are bullies, and like all bullies they don’t like it when you hit back.
Last December the Browns finally hit back and beat Pittsburgh with Brady Quinn at quarterback completing six passes for 90 yards. The Browns did it by running the ball for 171 yards and hitting the Steelers until they quit.
That would be easier with a healthy Peyton Hillis running the ball, but the Browns got the job done last year with Chris Jennings at running back, so anything is possible.
There’s just no reason to give up the ship just yet,
Some final thoughts on the Browns tough loss to Atlanta on Sunday:
It’s unfortunate that injuries are hitting this team at spots where it is especially vulnerable, but we knew heading into the season that the Browns did not have a lot of depth. And while it has been frustrating and disappointing through the first five weeks of the season, it hasn’t be discouraging. With a couple of breaks, the Browns could easily be 3-2 and we’d be feeling differently.
But their record is what it is, but it’s hard to argue that the team hasn’t show some improvement over last year, especially compared to the first five games of 2009. While the Browns carry the same 1-4 record as last year, their four losses this season are by a combined 22 points; last year it was a combined 69 points. And their win against Cincinnati was a solid showing, not like last year’s ridiculous 6-3 win over Buffalo where Derek Anderson “led” the Browns with 23 passing yards.
So while it’s not all bees and honey, it’s not as bad as it seems. Keep the faith.
The Browns dropped another hard-fought, close game on Sunday to Atlanta – the fourth such loss of the season – and in the process Jake Delhomme came off the bench to deliver his best Derek Anderson impersonation.
Once again, the defense did everything it could to give the Browns a chance to win. They held the Falcons to just 13 points and – just like the Tampa game – gave up just one big play, a 45-yard TD catch by Roddy White where safety Abe Elam decided to double-cover Tony Gonzalez underneath rather than give cornerback Sheldon Brown help over the top on a deep pass.
Other than that, the defense held Matt Ryan to just 187 yards passing, sacked him twice and hit him hard on several occasions. They did give up 140 rushing yards to Michael Turner, including one 55-yard run, but when it mattered held Atlanta out of the end zone except for the White TD.
As for the offense .. oh boy.
After ripping the Ravens and Bengals for big rushing days, the Browns rushing attack struggled to get anything going, picking up just a single first down on the ground. Peyton Hillis repeatedly had to leave the game with some kind of injury; as a result he totaled only 28 yards on the ground but added 49 in the passing game, including a nice TD catch.
When Hillis was out Jerome Harrison continued to prove the end of last season – when he ran for 561 yards over the final three games – was a complete mirage. Harrison ran six times for a total of six yards, bringing his season total to 91 yards. It’s clear why the Browns were hesitant to give him a contract extension.
As bad as the rushing game was, the passing game was even worse after Seneca Wallace left with an injury. Starting in place of Jake Delhomme, Wallace kept the Browns in the game as he was 11-of-15 for 139 yards and a 124 QB rating before getting hurt right before the end of the first half.
Enter Delhomme, who proceeded to give everyone wearing Brown and Orange flashbacks to the days of Derek Anderson.
Simply put, Delhomme was horrible. Whether it was rust from not playing since Week 1 (probable), not being 100 percent healthy (also probable), the offense completely short-circuited under Delhomme, who was beyond ineffective.
Finishing 13-for-23 for 97 yards, a QB rating of 30.5 and two interceptions – one returned for a game-sealing touchdown in the fourth quarter – Delhomme gave the Browns no chance to win this game. He consistently threw into double coverage and once, on a pass to Josh Cribbs in the end zone, into quadruble coverage, in the process looking like a quarterback who’s better days are far, far behind him.
I’ve been watching the Browns, and by extension the NFL, since the mid-’70s and I can’t remember the last time a team had three TAINTs in a five-game stretch, let alone in one season. And yes, the Tampa interception wasn’t officially a TAINT, but for our purposes it was close enough.
The receiving corps didn’t help either, as Brian Robiskie checked in with his weekly one catch for five yards and Mohamed Massaquoi pulled in five catches, but for only 55 yards, furthering the believe that these two are Canadian Football League talent – on a good day – and taking all of us one step closer to making the second round of the 2009 draft a complete void.
Tack on another seven penalties from the Browns and it’s a surprise this game was as close as it was at the end.
Having said all that, it’s clear that Delhomme is still not 100 percent healthy and, even with his experience, not really practicing much over the past three weeks showed. If Wallace hadn’t been injured, Delhomme wouldn’t have even been in the game.
However, it’s a fair question to wonder if Wallace, while probably not a better quarterback than Delhomme, is a better quarterback for this Browns team. He certainly was better today and, while not performing at an Pro Bowl level, has played decently the past three weeks.
Look, as with most weeks the Browns needed to play a perfect game to beat Atlanta. It’s a testament to them that with the injuries and poor offensive performance they were able to still be in the game up until the interception return. We’re still in the disappointed and frustrated stage with this team, rather than the disgusted stage.
But depending on how bad Wallace is injured, the Browns face the prospect of heading to Pittsburgh next week with an immobile Delhomme at less than 100 percent. And if neither Delhomme or Wallace are healthy enough to play, Colt McCoy becomes the only healthy quarterback on the roster.
Not a happy thought to carry us through the week.
The Browns look to start a winning streak when they host the Falcons in Week 5. Jake Delhomme may be back under center; Peyton Hillis may have a bad wheel and who knows what the team will get from its wide receivers.
The Opposition
Atlanta’s record: 3-1
Offensive rank: 5th overall/10th passing/3rd rushing
Defensive rank: 11th overall/19th passing/11th rushing
All-time record: Cleveland leads 10-2 (5-1 at home)
The line: Browns (+3)
What to Watch For
The Browns continued their upward trend last week and finally walked away from a game with something to show for it – their first win of the season. This is Week 3 of what was believed, in preseason, to be the “killer” portion of their schedule.
But four weeks into the season its time to start adjusting expectations about both the Browns and the Falcons. While their records are flipped, the Browns have been playing better and showing improvement from week to week. The Falcons, on the other hand, are a very soft 3-1, with two of their wins coming from the other teams’ mistakes and the other one coming against the Derek Anderson-led Arizona Cardinals.
So while this is a more winnable game for the Browns that it originally appeared, it certainly won’t be easy, because the Falcons do have talent and doing things the easy way isn’t the Cleveland way.
It will be interesting to see how Rob Ryan handles the defense this week. The Browns have not been able to get any pass rush this year unless they blitz, and when they blitz they still can’t get to the quarterback consistently. Plus the blitzing puts the secondary in a tough spot and they have struggled at times this year.
They double-covered Chad Ochocinco last week and Terrell Owens had a monster day; the Browns won so it worked out, but we’re not sure how many weeks they can pull that one off. It seems likely they will try the same strategy today against Roddy White (32 catches on the season) since the Falcons don’t have a complimentary wide receiver like Owens.
However, with Tony Gonzalez still one of the top tight ends in the league, if the Browns bring a safety on a blitz and Atlanta picks it up, Gonzalez could have an Owens-like day.
Offensively, the Browns may get Jake Delhomme back at quarterback. That’s a plus – not that Seneca Wallace did all that poorly filling-in the past three weeks – but Delhomme’s the starter and he has experience against Atlanta.
The problem lies if the Browns alter the game plan too much if Delhomme comes back. The past three weeks have shown what we’ve known since last season, the Browns are a running team and need to run the ball to have a chance at winning. Hopefully the offense can resist the urge to work in too many chances for Delhomme to “make a play” and, instead, stick with what’s been working.
Coach Eric Mangini addressed that point during one of his press conferences by saying the team isn’t going to force the ball to under-performing wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi, and presumably Brian Robiskie; that’s sound thinking and the Browns need to stick to the plan.
If Delhomme returns, we should also see the return of the no-huddle offense that worked so well in the preseason. The Browns have been unable or unwilling to use the no-huddle with Wallace at quarterback, it will be a nice change of pace if they can reincorporate it into the offense.
The Best Browns vs. Falcons Game I’ve Seen
Easily the 2002 game that propelled the Browns into the playoffs. William Green’s 178 yards rushing and two touchdowns, the goal line stand, a win to shockingly put the team into the playoffs. Read The Plain Dealer‘s game story here. Here’s video of Green’s big run.
The Prediction
The improvement the Browns have shown through the first four weeks of the season tilts this game in their favor. Atlanta may be the more talented team on paper, but the Browns are playing better and that will result in their second win of the season.
Record on the year: 1-2-1
After a miserable 1-3 week (the picks were sound, the players just didn’t execute) dropped us a half-point off the lead in the 2010 Cheddar Bay Invitational over at Cleveland Frowns, it’s time to get the magic back.
This week we like:
Boise State (-39) vs. Toledo
Houston (-3) vs. NY Giants
Akron (+17) vs. Kent State
And the money pick: NY Jets (-4) vs. Minnesota.
An interesting note as we try not to look past Atlanta to the Pittsburgh game:
Scouts Inc. has two Pittsburgh defenders – linebackers James Harrison and LaMarr Woodley on its list of the 10 best pass rushers in the league.
But looking at last season’s games between the Browns and the Steelers, Harrison was shut out and Woodley only recorded one sack in the two games.
If these are two of the 10 best pass rushers in the league, what does that say about a Browns offensive line that shut them down?
With it looking more likely that Jake Delhomme will be back under center this Sunday against Atlanta, things are continuing to look good for the Browns.
But now comes news that Peyton Hillis has been added to the injury report with an undisclosed thigh injury. According to James Walker at ESPN:
“Hillis, who has rushed for more than 100 yards the past two weeks, had limited participation in Thursday’s practice. Hillis apparently got hurt following the 30 minutes of practice open to reporters. Hillis was not on the injury report Wednesday.”
Hopefully, Hillis will be OK to go on Sunday, because the Browns have finally found their identity on offense the past two weeks with a power running game led by Hillis.
“We are who we are,” Delhomme told The Plain Dealer. “We’re a football team that’s physical and runs the football well. When you are who you are, you need to be that.”
If Hillis can’t go, Jerome Harrison or James Davis will have to step up, something they haven’t really done yet this year. Perhaps this will mean more use of the Flash package with Josh Cribbs.
One thing we hope it doesn’t mean is the Browns abandoning the running game and, because Delhomme is Back, trying to force the ball to wideouts Mohamed Massaquoi and Brian Robiskie. Delhomme, for one, seems to understand how that would be a bad idea and embraces the notion that you are who you are as a team.
“We were working on many things in camp, be it the pass game, where guys fit, different things,” Delhomme told The Plain Dealer. “Certainly, I think you learn as you go. Let’s be honest. We split carries a ton in training camp between [Harrison] and Peyton. Then came the [thigh] injury to Jerome, and Peyton’s had a lot more carries now.
“That’s how things work out. Once you find it, you ride that horse.”
Thoughts on a October Wednesday:
Red Right 88 