Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

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
24 Aug 2010

Running on Empty?

You have to run the ball to win in the NFL, yes?

Well, maybe not, according to Tuesday Morning Quarterback’s AFC preview column on ESPN.com. According to the column:

“The National Football League is all about running the ball, right? That’s what you hear. Yet for two consecutive seasons, the last-ranked rushing team made the Super Bowl — Arizona in 2008 and Indianapolis in 2009 reached the ultimate game despite having the league’s worst rushing offense those seasons. True, both lost, but 30 of the 32 NFL franchises gladly would have traded places with the team that lost the Super Bowl. And last season, the AFC’s two best teams, winning the first-round byes — San Diego and Indianapolis — were 31st and 32nd overall, respectively, in rushing.

“Thus you don’t have to run the ball well to win at football. … In 2008, only seven NFL teams rushed more often than they passed. In 2009, the number fell to just four — Carolina, Cincinnati, Jersey/B and Tennessee. Maybe this is because, as the Football Outsiders website long has contended, establishing the pass has more tactical value (because of more yards gained per attempt) than establishing the run.

First off, we have to point out that last year the Browns ran the ball 498 times and passed it 443. So it was actually more than four teams in 2009.

Plus, in the Browns season-ending four game win streak, they ran the ball 181 times compared to just 65 pass attempts. That late-season surge helped the team finish eighth in the NFL in rushing – and only 19 yards behind Super Bowl champion New Orleans.

So while running the ball may not be a guaranteed path to victory, it doesn’t mean you can’t be successful with a solid ground attack. It seems likely that the positives of a top-notch running game – keeps the ball away from the other team, limits the possibility for mistakes by the QB, helps immensely in cold/bad weather – outweigh any perceived negatives.

But having NFL-caliber play at the quarterback position certainly can’t hurt. Mike Holmgren has gone on record as saying the Browns can’t consistenly win the way they did at the end of last season. Which is why the team worked hard in the off-season to fix last year’s mess – Derek Anderson and Brady Quinn – and upgrade to Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace.

TMQ’s preview column missed the point on those moves as well, writing:

“What is it that new Browns president Mike Holmgren saw on tape of Jake Delhomme that no one else sees? Holmgren traded away Brady Quinn, passed on Tim Tebow and Jimmy Clausen in the draft, and handed the Cleveland starting quarterback’s job — plus $7 million guaranteed in 2010 — to Delhomme, who has thrown 35 interceptions over the past two seasons. Carolina immediately got better when Delhomme was benched in 2009. And the $7 million guarantee, it’s nice that Holmgren is generous, but he wasn’t bidding against anyone: Delhomme might have signed for the veteran minimum.

“Cleveland has been the trade capital of the NFL in recent seasons. Eric Mangini conducted a series of trades with his old team, the Jets, netting Cleveland several decent players but surrendering Mark Sanchez, who would look mighty good in Tootsie Rolls colors along about now. Holmgren has continued the yard-sale ethos. The net is that Cleveland has surrendered two recent first-round choices (Quinn and defensive end Kamerion Wimbley), plus fourth-, fifth- and seventh-round draft choices, for Sheldon Brown, Peyton Hillis, Chris Gocong, Seneca Wallace, third- and sixth-round choices and a conditional pick from Denver in 2012. That’s an awful lot of roster turbulence.”

Yes, by all means, let’s not have any “roster turbulence” on a team that has only won more than six games once in the past seven years.

TMQ does make a valid point about the Browns possibly overpaying for Delhomme, but it’s really not that bad. Plus, Quinn hasn’t really shown much in Denver so far in the preseason, so lamenting his loss is a bit much.

Since 2002, the Browns have only run the ball more than they’ve passed in two seasons – last year and 2004 – and we haven’t been swamped with any victory parades through downtown.

Maybe bucking the trend and going with an old school philosophy is the way to go for what could be an up-and-coming team this season.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, ESPN, Jake Delhomme, running attack | Leave a comment
23 Aug 2010

Duo writes the book on bad owners

It’s clear following Monday’s 3-0 loss that Liverpool is a mess under the ownership of Tom Hicks and George Gillett.

As we pointed out a few weeks ago, the (soon to be) outgoing owners have turned one of England’s most-storied clubs into a struggling squad with an uncertain future.

We know bad owners in Cleveland, from Ted Stepien to Art Modell to just about everyone who owned the Indians prior to the Jacobs brothers. So watching these two ruin Liverpool has been painful.

Paul Bestall at EPL Talk has come out with a spot-on look at the current state of the squad under Hicks and Gillett. Some of the “highlights” include:

  • Hicks and Gillett want not just ridiculous, but utterly stupid amounts of money for a club they’ve effectively bankrupted.
  • A fan base determined to run the owners out of town.
  • A stadium that has never made it off the drawing board.
  • Manchester City pulled Liverpool to bits tonight at times without really playing that well. Couple this with some performances on the tail end of last season and it reminded me of the last time a Liverpool squad looked this thin on quality. Under Graeme Souness, Liverpool had become a shadow of a side within 3 years, struggling to qualify for the UEFA Cup as it was then, never mind the Champions League.
  • The arrival of Roy Hodgson cannot paper over the cracks in this Liverpool squad. Hopelessly weak in areas it used to excel in, players shuffled about to try and make do and an attack so lightweight it looked made of paper. This is the worst Liverpool squad in 15 years, no question about it.

And the blame rests solely in the owners’ box for this mess. It seemed like Kenny Huang was going to finally start cleaning-up this mess with his bid for the club, but Huang pulled out last week after reportedly growing impatient.

Now what? Hicks and Gillett are determined to hold onto the team until they can sell it for a payoff they clearly haven’t earned. When Hicks and Gillett bought Liverpool FC, the club reportedly had a debt of approximately £44 million. That debt has now grown to £237 million.

And if the team continues slipping down the table? Apparently Hicks and Gillett have taken the position that will be the next owner’s problem.

Just lovely.

Posted in bad owners, EPL, Liverpool, sinking ship | Leave a comment
22 Aug 2010

Thoughts on Browns-Rams

While not as affirming as their opening preseason game against Green Bay, the Browns walked out of Saturday night’s tilt with the Rams with some positives.

It was a strange game, with the rain, the offensive struggles in the first quarter and a general feeling while watching the game that the team wasn’t playing very well.

But looking at the stats, the Browns outgained the Rams 285 to 172 and held St. Louis is 1.7 yards per rush. So they have that going for them.

The Good:

  • It looks like the team has a starting quarterback in Jake Delhomme. The veteran QB delivered a solid performance for the home crowd, completing 12-of-16 for 127 yards, a TD and a QB rating of 118.5.
  • Peyton Hillis showed that he’s going to become a fan favorite with some tough inside running.
  • Ben Watson made a nice TD catch in the second quarter.
  • The team overcame some early mistakes that resulted in a 13-0 hole to eventually take a 17-13 lead at the end of the third quarter.
  • Even though it seemed like his name was hardly called, T.J. Ward had another solid game, as did Joe Haden. The rookie duo broke up back-to-back passes in the second quarter to stall a Rams’ drive and force a field goal.

The Bad:

  • No sacks on defense.
  • Five turnovers – three fumbles and two interceptions – on offense, plus another two fumbles that the team recovered.
  • Only 3.6 yards per carry on the ground, after only gaining 3.9 per rush against Green Bay. Not a good omen for a team that is banking on being able to run the ball this year.
  • Eric Wright dropped two interceptions.

It some ways this may actually have been the kind of game the Browns needed. By making some avoidable mistakes, the team opened up an opportunity for the coaches to work the team this week and provide some teachable moments.

“We’re gonna turn the sprinklers on (at practice) or dunk the ball in water. It shouldn’t be like that,” coach Eric Mangini said in published reports, talking about the team’s inability to hold onto the ball.

The team needs to work this week to get its mojo back and correct some of the mistakes in time for Saturday’s game vs. Detroit. The third preseason game is generally the game where the starters play most of the way as they make their final preparations for the season opener.

Hopefully the team can bring it’s A game for 60 minutes at Ford Field.

***

What everyone else is saying:

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

Spanning the Web on a Friday

Mike Florio at ProFootballTalk has joined the bandwagon in claiming Eric Mangini is on the hot seat, writing that:

“Throughout much of the 2009 season, the question regarding Mangini wasn’t if he’d be fired or when he’d be fired, but whether the Browns would try to do it with ’cause’ and thus cut off his ongoing payments.

“His first year in Cleveland had been a disaster, damaged by a string of reports that he was too hard on the players and destroyed by a horrendous win-loss record. But then the Browns caught fire late in the season, and new team president Mike Holmgren apparently decided that giving Mangini at least one more year represented a no-lose proposition.

“If Mangini loses, Holmgren will make the easy decision to move on. And then Holmgren likely will give Jon Gruden a call.”

Can’t we even wait until the season starts to see if the team can carry over any momentum from last year? Maybe see if the offense can be a bit more productive this year? If the defense – with all the new faces – can push some people around?

Is that too much to ask?

***

Via The Spoiler comes news that the England Department of Health released the findings of a survey into which soccer fans drank, smoke and ate the most. Turns out Sunderland fans are the most unhealthy, although you can’t tell from that photo of a Newcastle fan.

It would be interesting to see a similar study of NFL fans. You know Pittsburgh would be at the top.

***

This collection of artwork from the covers of AFL game programs is great. The cartoon illustrations are sweet and it’s an interesting reminder of how attitudes have changed over the past 40 years. The one image I found confusing was this one: since the Browns were 52-4-3 in league play and won all four league championships, shouldn’t they have been the ones driving the steamroller? Thanks to Uni Watch for the initial link.

***

EPL Talk checks in with its weekend viewing guide.

***

It didn’t take very long for the Miami media to become LeBron’s new apologists. Interesting to see how long that will last.

***

Finally, the Browns take the field Saturday night against St. Louis in their second preseason game. The struggles on defense were understandable with T.J. Ward and Joe Haden getting their first game experience and several new faces on defense, plus they were going against Green Bay’s talented offense.

This week they get Sam Bradford and the weak Rams offense. It’s not unreasonable to expect a better showing from the defense this week.

It will be interesting to see if the offense can show the same sense of purpose and success they had last week. It would be nice to see Jake Delhomme for a few additional series, as well, so the starters can start rounding in to shape.

Posted in AFL, Cleveland Browns, EPL, program art, unfit fans | Leave a comment
20 Aug 2010
3 Comments

Nothing But Static on the Dial

With three pro sports teams in town, along with what is probably the largest Ohio State following outside of Columbus, you would think that we would have top-notch sports talk on the radio in Cleveland.

Well, think again. From the soupy drek of local and syndicated shows on WKNR, to what passes as sports talk in the afternoon on WTAM, Cleveland sports fans can be excused for asking “haven’t we suffered enough?”

The sad part is that it wasn’t always this way. I’m old enough to remember listening to Pete Franklin, who hosted Cleveland’s Sportsline radio show from 1966 to 1987 (if you can find Terry Pluto’s book on Franklin, You Could Argue But You’d Be Wrong, grab it).

Franklin knew what he was talking about, he had the ear of the fan and the local teams knew it. He could get 40,000+ fans into the old stadium by promoting I Hate the Yankees Night. He helped get the Cavs out of the grasp of Ted Stepien and worked to bring back Joe Tait.

Who in town has that kind of power today?

Now, if you want to talk sports on WKNR, you have to wait for the syndicated Mike and Mike Show (oof) to finish before Tony Rizzo comes on at 9 a.m., followed by more syndication with Jim Rome (why?) before Michael Reghi and Kenny Roda (double why?) come on at 3 p.m.

Think about that for a minute: in the 12-hour period from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., we only get six hours of local talk? You don’t think there’s enough going on sportswise in this town to warrant more than that?

Rizzo and Reghi are good examples of the current state of Cleveland radio – they’re both nice guys that are miscast in their current roles. Reghi is a solid announcer – I enjoy his work on MAC basketball – but not much of a talk show host. Same with Rizzo – he’s entertaining doing 4-5 minutes on the nightly news, but put him in front of a mike for three hours (well, more like 75 minutes when you factor in commercials, sports tickers, commercials going into and coming out of sports tickers) and there’s not enough there.

It’s not even worth talking about the abomination that is WTAM.

The big question in all of this is why? Why do Cleveland fans put up with this? Why don’t we demand quality? I can see where this may have worked in the ’70s, when WTAM’s signal was the only thing you could pick up on the radio and there were only five channels on the TV.

But in the age of The Well-Educated Fan, where all the sports information we could ever dream of is at our fingertips, why is this acceptable?

The one thing that saved my sports sanity was becoming a Sirius subscriber in 2005. No longer was I tied to dinosaur radio, and having a choice in what I listen to is wonderful. If you’ve never had a chance to hear real sports talk, take a listen to this clip from the NFL Channel’s Training Camp stop in Cleveland.

Maybe that’s the answer. If fans turn away and refuse to listen to what’s on local radio just because it’s there, if they go somewhere else – be it satellite radio, the Internet or wherever – then maybe we’ll finally get the level of sports talk radio we deserve.

Because, seriously, haven’t we suffered enough?

Posted in bad radio, Cleveland sports, suffering fanbase
18 Aug 2010

These guys might finally be catching on

A few months ago, some were calling the Browns receivers the worst in the league. Athlon Sports gave the group a grade of D, NFL.com ranks leading receiver Mohamed Massaquoi as the 58th best receiver in the league, and even the Madden football game gives them poor marks.

Now, as the team prepares for its second preseason game on Saturday against St. Louis, the perception is starting to slowly turn in the Browns’ favor.

Earlier this week, an article in Bleacher Report highlighted the progress shown by Brian Robiskie in the preseason opener against Green Bay:

“Robiskie … showed tremendous progression in year two and looked night and day better than last season,” Daniel Wolf wrote. “He showed crisp route running and was able to break free of coverage to find open spots on the field.

“Great hands allowed Robiskie to nearly get half of his total receptions (seven) in 2009 in this one preseason game with three catches for 32 yards and a touchdown.

“The touchdown was the icing on the cake and really showed that Robiskie understands what he needs to do on the field after running his route and when a play breaks down.”

Bleacher Report followed that up by saying the receivers are beginning to prove the doubters wrong during the Green Bay game:

“Perhaps it was just a figment of preseason smoke and mirrors, but the Browns receivers sure looked better than a collective destined to relive the shop of horrors that was our passing attack last season,” J Gatskie wrote. “Whether it was second year receiver Brian Robiskie running the precise routes he was touted for at Ohio State and hauling in three passes—including a touchdown on a laser from new quarterback Seneca Wallace—or tight end Evan Moore picking up where he left off in 2009 with three catches and forcing his way on the field despite the free agent signings of two formidable tight ends, the receivers for the most part looked very good against Green Bay.

“Twelve separate Browns caught passes against the Packers. The Browns had multiple games where the team didn’t total even 12 completions last year.”

Sure it was only one game, and a preseason one at that, but contrast that game with the horror show of last season and things are slowly starting to look up in Brownstown.

If the Browns can just get a competent level of production out of their receiving group this season – we’re not talking Air Coryell, just consistency – think what that will do for their rushing game. They finished 8th in the league last year in rushing while featuring an historically pathetic passing attack.

With an improved passing game, mixed with an already quality running game, the team just might have a passing chance this year.

Posted in Brian Robiskie, Cleveland Browns, Mohamed Massaquoi, passing attack | Leave a comment
17 Aug 2010

Hey, they’re actually pretty good

The Cavs unveiled their new uniforms today and, after thinking about it, they’re not all that bad.

According to the team: “The uniforms feature a deep wine and bright gold that echo the hues from the early 1970s, with a simplistic, yet bold, design and introduce several new and unique design elements. The front of the home white jersey displays a new official team wordmark Cavaliers in wine across the chest, and the front of the road wine jersey the new wordmark reads Cleveland in white.

“On both uniforms, special details make them distinctive. The Cavaliers DNA statement: ‘All for One. One for All’ is printed along the back of the inner-collar of the crew neck jersey, and the Cavaliers secondary logo ‘C-sword’ appears on both sides of the shorts.”

OK, so they’re not really out there, design wise, but they are certainly better than what the team wore a few years ago when they strangely went with a black-and-blue uniform combo.

The uniforms are clean, with a traditional, old-school look that actually fits in nicely with the other pro teams in town. The Browns have one of the best and most iconic uniforms in the NFL, if not all of sports; while the Indians (as long as they stay away from the blue softball tops) also have a nice old-school look, especially when they wear their cream-colored uniforms.

The new uniforms also got the Uni Watch seal of approval. But then Paul Lukas contradicted his own site in a posting today on ESPN.

Now if the Cavs could only come up with their own version of this for their third jersey, they’d really be cooking. That may be the sweetest jersey ever created and it would be fun to see what a Cleveland version would look like. More info on that particular jersey can be found here.

***

We could have used some of that motivation in Game 5, yes? Or perhaps a bit more maturity.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, new uniforms | Leave a comment
17 Aug 2010
2 Comments

What Makes a Good Owner?

Here in Cleveland, we want to classify the owners of the local sports teams with neat little labels.

The Dolans are “cheap.”

Randy Lerner “doesn’t care.”

Dan Gilbert is “a winner.”

Those are easy tags for the hoople heads to latch on to, and there’s something to be said for that. But are the labels accurate?

If winning championships is the only criteria, then every Cleveland owner since 1964 has failed. But is that fair? George Steinbrenner was hailed as a great owner by Yankee apologists because he was willing to do “whatever it took” to win. That overlooks the fact that in 2009 the Yankees had $441 million in revenue – $173 million more than the second-place team! Having that much of an advantage makes it a lot easier to do “whatever it takes.”

If you look deeper into the numbers, however, you find something interesting: in 2009 the Yankees spent 54 percent of their revenue on player salaries ($240 million on $441 million in revenue), while the Indians spent 53.5 percent of their revenue on salaries ($91 million on $170 million in revenue).

It appears that the Dolans may not be unwilling to spend to make the Indians a winner, but rather they are unable to spend to compete under the current system.

So does that make them cheap or bad owners? I don’t think so. It’s more that they, like other mid-market owners in Major League Baseball, are caught in a cycle that makes it next to impossible to compete.

What about Randy Lerner?

The Browns have been a mess since they returned in 1999 and Lerner has been the one constant. That’s certainly a huge negative against Lerner. Many wrongly believe because Lerner is in England on Saturday watching Aston Villa play, rather than sitting behind a desk in Berea, he’s indifferent about the Browns.

If we were still in the 1930s, when a trans-Atlantic crossing took weeks on a ship, that may be true. But when you can make a flight from London to Cleveland in 7-8 hours, there’s no reason Lerner can’t have a presence at both team’s games.

Many fans want Lerner to be more “hands on” to prove he is “passionate” about the Browns. Because he lets people do the job that they are hired for, without constantly interfering, he’s labeled as being apathetic about the team. But if you look around the NFL, hands-on owners are not what you necessarily want.

Consider Dan Snyder of the Redskins, for example. Snyder has been overly involved with the team since buying them in 1999. Since then, the Redskins have been to the playoffs only three times. The team has had six different head coaches, has spent a disproportionate amount of money on expensive free agents and has traded away draft picks to acquire stars, many of whom have fizzled in Washington. He’s also sued season-ticket holders who’ve lost their jobs.

How about Al Davis? He’s as hands-on as they come. Or Jerry Jones, who’s led the Cowboys to one more playoff win than the Browns since 1999? Are those the type of owner Browns fans want Lerner to be?

It seems extremely unlikely that Lerner doesn’t care about the Browns. The problem is more that he’s made some mistakes in his hiring.

That brings us to Gilbert, an owner who’s benefited the most from a perfect storm of circumstances.

Gilbert has spent money and that was made easier by the presence of LeBron James, having the smallest roster size of the three major sports and the ability to pad the bottom line with all the extra playoff games the Cavs have been in since he bought the team.

But that has to be balanced with the fact that he let LeBron essentially run the team, which as we’re learning this summer, wasn’t the best idea. That “all-in” mentality cost the team a GM and a coach this off-season and it still wasn’t enough to keep James in town.

It would appear that Gilbert is as much an opportunistic owner as a winning owner.

So what does this all mean? Just as there’s no one way to define what a “good” coach is, there’s no one true blueprint for finding the best owner. As fans, all we can ask is for our owners to spend money to try and keep the team competitive, hire the best people they can find for the job and stay out of the way.

And remember that perception isn’t reality.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, Dan Gilbert, Dolans, hoople heads, Randy Lerner
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

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