Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

05 Oct 2010
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Some Final Thoughts on the Browns Win

Looking back (and ahead) at a few leftover items as the Browns hit the quarter mark of the season following their win against Cincinnati.

  • Defensive coordinator Rob Ryan has got quite a conundrum on his hands. Through the first four games, the Browns have shown they can’t put serious pressure on the opposing quarterback unless they blitz – and even then they aren’t always successful. But that heavy blitzing has left the secondary in some tough spots, especially the last two games as the quality of the receivers has gone up considerably. So what to do? If the Browns don’t blitz, the quarterback will have too much time and someone will eventually get open. With four games in the books, hopefully the team has enough data to figure out what’s working and what to shy away from.
  • Speaking of the secondary, the cornerback trio of Sheldon Brown, Joe Haden and Eric Wright have made their presence know each week, both good and bad. And safety T.J. Ward has been a big hit (ha!) so far. But you never seem to hear Abe Elam’s name called during the game. We had to look up his stats to see if he’s even been in the game on a weekly basis. Turns out he’s somehow accumulated 18 tackles on the season.
  • Ward will surely be fined for his hit on Bengals’ receiver Jordan Shipley, and former NFL official Mike Pereira seems to be taking it personally, judging from his comments to The Plain Dealer. “Nobody in the league likes to say that somebody took a cheap shot at somebody. But I’m not in the league,” Pereira said in an interview. “And I think it was a cheap shot and I think he deserves to be hit and he needs to be hit hard. To me, I’d look at the severity of the hit and even the fact that it led to the concussion and this is just my opinion — but I’d start at the $25,000 mark. To me, I’d make it stiff. He needs to learn his lesson. If people say you’re making an example of T.J. Ward, I’d say ‘so be it.’ There’s no place in the game for that stuff.” Of course, he had no problem with the hit on Ben Watson. Look, we don’t want to see anyone injured, and Ward’s hit look in the flow of the game to us. As long as it doesn’t hurt the Browns, if Ward gets a reputation as a hard hitter than can only pay dividends. And if he can put a hit like that on Hines Ward in two weeks, we’ll make the first donation to help pay his fine.
  • With Peyton Hillis emerging as a threat at running back – he’s 8th in the league in rushing and tied for first with four rushing touchdowns – the Browns seem to have embraced their offensive destiny as a running game. And while the playcalling has gotten better, there are still a few times each game where we have to call shenanigans on offensive coordinator Brian Daboll. After Cincy scored to cut the lead to 23-20, the Browns came out throwing rather than trying to run the ball and use the clock. After a three-and-out that took all of 1:10 off the clock, the Bengals had the ball right back. The defense held and, given a second chance to ice the game, Daboll again called for a pass play. After the incomplete pass, he finally fed Hillis the ball to close out the game.
  • It was great to see Chansi Stuckey contribute in the passing game on Sunday, but the Browns are in real trouble with Mohamed Massaquoi, who pulled in his one catch and that was it. It’s clear he’s overmatched right now at the NFL level but there’s not much the Browns can do if they want to sit him. Moving Stuckey to the outside isn’t necessarily a good option and his skills as a slot receiver don’t translate to playing one of the outside positions. And Brian Robiskie can’t even get on the field because of injuries, not that he’s produced when healthy. With each passing week it’s looking more and more like the team has two more second-round busts from last year’s draft.
  • The so-called “brutal schedule” is starting to look a little different as the second quarter of the season gets under way. Atlanta is a soft 3-1 and the same can be said for Jacksonville (2-2). Miami isn’t playing very well right now, Carolina and Buffalo both stink, and the Browns get a (potentially) rusty Ben Roethlisberger in two weeks.

The Browns have been trending upward all season; let’s just hope they didn’t peak with Sunday’s win against the Bengals.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, conundrum, NFL, upward mobility
04 Oct 2010

A Win Changes (almost) Everything

While Sunday’s win doesn’t change everything for the Browns, it does change a lot.

The team is no longer part of the winless group of Detroit, Carolina, San Francisco and Buffalo. The win also validated that the Browns have been trending upward through the first quarter of the season, despite their 1-3 record.

The win should also help start the process of changing the perception about the team; just look at what wins have done for some of the other teams in the league:

  • The Redskins were pathetic Week 1 against Dallas, only gaining 250 yards of offense and putting up two field goals. But a defensive touchdown plus a meltdown by the Cowboys put Washington over the top and launched a multitude of stories about how Donovan McNabb and Mike Shanahan were “winners.”
  • The Falcons are sitting at 3-1, but if Garrett Hartley doesn’t shank a kick, and if Nate Clements wasn’t a me-first player, they would be 1-3 and fielding questions about what’s wrong.
  • Last week, Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio was supposedly on the “hot seat;” yesterday, Indianapolis drops an interception at the end of the game, Josh Scobee hits a 59-yard field goal, and suddenly the Jaguars are a game out of first place.

One win can change so many perceptions about the team, not just externally but internally as well. The players and coaches keep working every week and, after becoming the first team since the 1954 Packers to lose three games in a row when having a lead in the fourth quarter, finally holding one to a lead and winning a game rewards them for that work and hopefully will give the team confidence going forward.

And good for the coaches for resisting the urge to put Jake Delhomme back under center; giving him another week to heal his ankle was the right call and it would have been the right call even if the Browns had lost. Rushing him back and running the risk of losing him long-term wasn’t worth it.

Even though the Browns were only able to gain 3.3 yards per carry for the game, they were able to run the ball when it counted. After the Bengals scored to cut the lead to 23-20, the Browns went three and out following the usual strange play calling, but after the defense came up big and handed the ball back to the offense, the Browns – after the obligatory odd pass call – were able to run the ball and close out the game.

The biggest run of that final drive was a 24-yard rush around the right side by Peyton Hillis. That play showed what a huge upgrade Tony Pashos is over John St. Clair at right tackle.

So now the Browns – a team that is better than its record indicates – gets ready to face Atlanta – a team that may be worse than its record.

Dare we dream of a winning streak?

Posted in Cleveland Browns, perceptions, winning | Leave a comment
03 Oct 2010

Browns Win! Browns Win!

After three weeks of fighting, working and struggling, the Browns finally broke through on Sunday and pulled out a win against the Bengals – the Browns first win of the season, only their second win at home vs. Cincinnati since 2004 and the Bengals first division loss in nine games.

Even though they were outgained 413 yards to 295, the Browns avoided the mistakes that plagued them in the first three games. The defense was able to put enough pressure on Carson Palmer – four sacks – to overcome two touchdown passes and another rough day from the secondary (the defensive coaches need to fix Eric Wright in a hurry). Peyton Hillis had another 100-yard day and a touchdown, and even Chansi Stuckey got in on the action, catching five passes for 56 yards, doubling his season output.

The Browns earned their first fourth-quarter first down of the season, Mohamed Massaquoi had his weekly reception – for five yards -the team overcame the weekly bizarre play calling on offense, Seneca Wallace managed the game well in his third start of the year and, after the Bengals cut the lead of 23-20, the Browns were able to use up the final five minutes of the game and never allow the Bengals another chance with the ball.

And did we mention the Browns won? We don’t want to over emphasize one win, but this was an important win for the Browns. Not only was it a division win, but it was a win at home and finally rewarded the team for working hard, giving them something tangible to show that they are really making progress.

And it helped them from breaking some kind of ridiculous record. Heading into the game, the Browns were the first team since the 1954 Packers to hold a lead in the fourth quarter of their first three games and end up losing. Those are the kinds of records the team doesn’t need.

And even though they committed another seven penalties, they really didn’t seems to hurt the team. We’ll take the personal foul penalty from T.J. Ward anytime, as that kind of aggressive play will pay dividends down the road as it had the Bengals crying after the game. And if he can deliver a hit like that on Hines Ward in a couple of weeks he’ll get a free pass for the rest of the season.

This team is by no means a finished product, something we are sure to cover this week, and there are still several areas that worry us, but for one week we can bask in a well-deserved win.

Well played lads, well played.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, first win, NFL | Leave a comment
03 Oct 2010

Browns vs. Bengals – Week 4

The Browns reach the quarter mark of the season today at home against the Bengals. The team is looking for its first win of the season and only its second win at home against Cincinnati since 2004.

The Opposition

Cincinnati record: 2-1
Offensive rank: 15th overall/15th passing/18th rushing
Defensive rank: 9th overall/11th passing/13th rushing
All-time record: Browns trail 35-38-0, but lead the series at home with a 21-15 mark
Last meeting in Cleveland: Browns lost, 23-20 in overtime
The line: Browns (+3)

What to Watch For

Cue the broken record: for the Browns to have a chance to win they have to stop with the silly penalties – Ben Watson/Alex Mack personal fouls; Matt Roth’s ridiculous off sides – and stop making that one mistake – Jake Delhomme’s interception at the end of the first half vs. Tampa, Seneca Wallace’s TAINT vs. KC, Wallace’s pitch to no where against Baltimore – that has hurt them through the first three weeks of the season.

The Bengals rank in the middle of the league on offense and defense, but the one area that Browns should be able to exploit is the Bengals run defense. While they rank 13th overall against the rush, they are giving up 4.5 yards per rush, which puts them 23rd in the league.

If the Browns could run the ball last week against Baltimore, they should be able to run on the Bengals. If they can get a lead in the second half again this week, they should be able to control the game with their running attack, which may be even more important today as it is expected to be cold and rainy.

The Browns need to find a way to get pressure on a recently ineffective Carson Palmer. It’s reasonable to expect the secondary – especially Eric Wright – to play better after last week’s debacle in Baltimore. With a week to work on things the secondary should bounce back; if not it could be another long day against Chad Ochocinco (11 career TDs against the Browns) and Terell Owens.

As for who the Browns should/will start at quarterback, unless Jake Delhomme’s ankle is 100 percent, they should sit him out another week. I rather he be fully healthy for the final 12 games than put him back on the field early and have him miss more time – especially since he hasn’t practiced much or at all over the past few weeks.

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

The 1988 game, which the Browns won 23-16, to move within one game of the Bengals. Mainly because at one point the crowd was so loud that Cincinnati quarterback was crying to the refs that he couldn’t snap the ball. The Browns also blocked a punt for a touchdown (when was the last time they did that?) and the defense came up big on the goal line multiple times.

Here’s The Plain Dealer’s game story; you can see Tony Grossi’s love affair with the Bengals goes back pretty far. Here’s video of the punt block; this clip of Clarence Weathers highlights what the current crop of Browns receivers lacks: the ability to separate from the defender; and here’s another TD drive just for fun.

The Prediction

The Browns have been hanging tough through the first three weeks of the season but have done just enough to lose. They’ve showed progress – or at least consistency over the first three weeks – while the Bengals have not.

This is the week the work finally pays off and the Browns pick up their first victory of the season.

Posted in Cincinnati Bengals, Cleveland Browns, Week 4 | Leave a comment
03 Oct 2010

Hey ABC – enough with the Big Ten!

Dear ABC/ESPN Family of Networks:

I may live in Ohio, but I don’t care about the Big Ten, other than Ohio State. It’s bad enough that you don’t understand that and force the Big Ten on us week after week. Today it was Wisconsin-Michigan State, rather than Texas-Oklahoma on ABC.

I can sort of deal with that, but why was ESPN blacked out at the same time? Why wasn’t the Texas-Oklahoma game on ESPN? Why did I have to find it on an alternate channel in standard – not Hi-Def?

Then Saturday night, rather than No. 4 Oregon vs. No. 9 Stanford, you gave us Notre Dame-Boston College. I don’t live in Indiana, I don’t live in Boston – I don’t care about these teams. Why are you showing this game in NE Ohio? And, again, instead of putting a much more important game like Stanford-Oregon on ESPN you give us Penn State-Iowa? Seriously? And you put one of the better games of the day on an alternate channel in standard?

What decade are we living in? There’s no excuse for any major sporting event to ever be shown in anything other than hi-definition. And unless Ohio State is involved, I’ll die a happy man if I never have to see another Big Ten game again.

Red Right 88

Posted in Big Ten overload, clueless programming choices | Leave a comment
02 Oct 2010

Week 4 Picks

After a perfect Week 3 pushed into the lead of the 2010 Cheddar Bay Invitational over at Cleveland Frowns, it’s time to keep the magic going.

This week we like:

Pittsburgh (-1) vs. Baltimore

San Diego (-8) vs. Arizona

Atlanta (-7) vs. San Francisco

And the money pick: Army (+5) vs. Temple.

Here’s why:

Saturday along the banks of the Hudson River, the Black Knights of Army host Temple. The game marks Homecoming at West Point, and the first 5,000 fans will receive a bobblehead doll of Heisman trophy winning running back Glenn Davis, Mr. Outside to Doc Blanchard’s Mr. Inside. Army has had this game circled since the start of the season, as it offers an opportunity at payback against the Owls. Last year’s defeat against Temple left Army one game short of its first bowl appearance since 1996. Bobblehead of a legendary player … Homecoming game … marching cadets … payback … and they’re getting points? The lock of the week.

Plus, if you bet against Army then the terrorists win.

Posted in Cheddar Bay, NFL, point spreads | Leave a comment
30 Sep 2010
1 Comment

That’s nice, but … catch the ball

It’s nice that Mohamed Massaquoi doesn’t want to be a distraction or a stereotypical wide receiver diva.

“You want to stay within the game plan,” he told The Plain Dealer this week. “Last game we didn’t have any turnovers. We were moving the ball effectively. You don’t want to take away from the game plan, don’t want to become a distraction.”

And it’s even better that coach Eric Mangini is talking Massaquoi up, trying to keep his confidence high.

“The numbers aren’t there, but he’s made strides in a lot of areas,” Mangini said in the same article. “I don’t think it’s just purely numbers based. Would he love to have a lot more catches? Yeah. Would we like those numbers to be different? You want all your guys to have a lot of catches. It’s a function of getting the opportunity and when it comes taking advantage of it.”

And it is heartening that Massaquoi doesn’t see any reason to panic.

“It’s early. It’s very early,” Massaquoi said. “If this was week 11, 12, 13, 14, it might be a different conversation, but it’s still early. My time will come.”

The thing is, it’s not early. The Browns hit the quarter mark of the season Sunday against Cincinnati and it will be Massaquoi’s 20th game – it’s time to start catching the ball.

According to The Football Outsiders Almanac (Terry Pluto referenced them in his Sunday column), the average wide receiver catches about 57 percent of the passes thrown to him. Last season, Massaquoi was at 36 percent and, with only three catches this year after three games, the number can’t be much higher. Fellow receivers Chansi Stuckey (48 percent) and Brian Robiskie (35 percent) were just as bad.

If you look at his first 19 games, 35 percent of Massaquoi’s career catches and 39 percent of his career yards came in two games last season – the home game vs. Cincinnati and the Detroit game. For the other 17 games he’s played, he’s averaging 1.5 catches and 24 yards per game.

Some of that can be attributed to the quarterback play last year, but not all of it. It’s time for some on-field production.

Much like how the team needs a win to show real evidence of its improvement, it’s time for Massaquoi to start putting up some tangible numbers to reflect the progress that he is supposedly making. Being a good practice player is nice, but more players need to start producing on game day if the Browns are going to start winning.

In short, it’s time to start catching the ball.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, continued lack of production, Mohamed Massaquoi
29 Sep 2010

All’s quiet on the brown-and-white front

For a team that is 0-3 on the season and 5-14 over its last 19 games, all is refreshingly quiet in Berea.

After three close losses, the Browns are focusing on Sunday’s game vs. Cincinnati, trying to figure how to get not only their first win of the season, but how to beat the Bengals in Cleveland for the first time since 2007 (aka when we didn’t know how horrible Derek Anderson is at quarterback).

For a change other teams are dealing with quarterback issues: Buffalo, Arizona (ha!), and Carolina to name a few. And, for the most part, those media members who are interested in the temperature of the office furniture have moved on to Miami, Jacksonville and San Francisco.

This must be what it’s like to follow a real NFL team, looking ahead to the next game and wondering:

  • How Eric Wright will bounce back?
  • How the Browns will game plan for Terrell Owens and Chad Ochocinco, a particular thorn in the Browns’ side over the years?
  • Can Peyton Hillis have another day like the one he had in Baltimore?
  • Will the wide receiving trio of Mohamed Massaquoi, Brian Robiskie and Chansi Stuckey have more than three catches combined?
  • Can the defense bring some pressure on a declining Carson Palmer?
  • Can the Browns finally hold on to a second-half lead and close out a game?

After more than a decade of distractions, hoo-haa, motorcycle crashes, “teeny, tiny fractures,” debates over which lousy quarterback gives the team the best chance of not being embarrassed and everything else, it’s nice to be able to focus on football for a change.

This is something we could get used to around here.

Now about that 0-3 record …

Posted in Cleveland Browns, hot seats, NFL, quarterback debates | Leave a comment
28 Sep 2010

Why Can’t We Have Nice Things?

Came across this on The Spoiler site: it’s a video presentation of Qatar’s proposed stadiums as part of its bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

Why can’t we take a water taxi to a Browns game at Cleveland Browns Stadium?

Why can’t we have cooling and/or heating technology in the stands?

Why can’t our stadiums have a 420,000-square-foot media facade?

Why can’t our stadiums reflect the landscape and uniqueness of Northeast Ohio?

Why can’t we ever have anything nice?

***

Disappointing news if true: Brian Windhorst may be leaving the Plain Dealer to join ESPN and cover the Miami Heat. Sad news for Cavs fans as we would be losing one of the best NBA beat writers around, and to cover the Heat no less.

***

As if following the Cleveland teams hasn’t been tough lately, we are still dealing with the mess in Liverpool created by owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett. Red Right 88’s English cousin, Red Right 26.82 meters, pointed us to this story preaching patience.

Posted in bad owners, coveting nice things, Liverpool, Unique stadiums | Leave a comment

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