Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

27 Dec 2011

At quarterback for the 2012 Browns …

With the season finale against Pittsburgh just days away, the Browns are moving closer to one of the most important decisions the franchise has faced since coming back in 1999:

What to do about the quarterback position?

Head over to The Cleveland Fan, where we will now be writing from time to time, for the rest of the story.

The Cleveland Fan was founded on February 1, 2006, by Rich Swerbinsky. Since then, it has grown into the most trafficked fan run Cleveland sports website in cyberspace, boasting a community of 50,000 monthly visitors strong (and growing) with over 2,000,000 page hits each month.

In bringing The Cleveland Fan to life, Rich’s mission statement was simple: Create an alternative to the traditional media sources and a place for Cleveland sports fans to congregate to read opinion on the teams we live and die for, and also a place for fans to have intelligent discussions about those teams.

We’re excited to work with them – even if they have a “no soccer” policy (we’ll work on that); head on over and check the site out.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL | Leave a comment
27 Dec 2011

Year in Review – First Quarter

As we enter the last few days of 2011, it’s time to take a look back at the past year in sports.

While it was another year without a title from any of Cleveland’s teams, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t interesting.

January started off with Browns team president Mike Holmgren telling “super coach” Eric Mangini that he and his 10-22 record (2-10 within the division) were no longer needed in Berea.

Thankfully, Holmgren fought off the urge to hire the over-rated Jon Gruden before finally selecting Rams’ offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur for the job, with the biggest selling point being that Shurmur, Holmgren and general manager Tom Heckert are all on the same page when it comes to football philosophy.

One thing that concerned us at the time was Shurmur’s desire to be his own offensive coordinator, which may have hurt the team as it looked to fill out the coaching staff. But the team looks to have gotten it right with the hiring of Dick Jauron to run the 4-3 defense.

The month also found the Cavs deep into a slump that would eventually reach 26 games as the team went from Dec. 18 until Feb. 11 without a win.

February brought spring training and the hope that the Indians would go with a youth movement.

The Cavs pushed their losing streak to the historic brink before finally beating the Clippers in overtime.

Cavs general manager Chris Grant scored the biggest win of the season, trading Mo Williams and Jamario Moon to the Clippers for Baron Davis and an unprotected lottery pick that turned out to be the No. 1 overall selection in the draft.

The team also helped its draft position when leading scorer Antawn Jamison was lost for the year with a finger injury. While we don’t like to see anyone get hurt, Jamison being out of the lineup helped the Cavs pile up the losses.

As the month moved on, we learned more about why the Browns parted with Mangini, first when they released several “Mangini guys” from an aging roster, and later when general manager Tom Heckert explained the team’s new direction.

Finally, March opened with the unraveling of the tapestry of lies that Jim Tressel wove at Ohio State. As the month continued, the spin coming out of Columbus was dizzying. Apparently they never taught anyone at OSU that a lie ain’t a side of the story, it’s just a lie.

Luckily we had the Kent State men’s basketball team, which showed everyone you can be successful the right way.

Sadly, the NCAA didn’t agree, as they gave Cinderella a shocker on Selection Sunday: of the 37 at-large bids for the NCAA basketball tournament, only seven went to teams not in major conferences, one fewer than the previous year. The mid-majors got their revenge, however, during the tournament’s opening weekend.

As the Cavs continued through the month and the losses continued to tally, we started to worry that the team had quit on coach Byron Scott. But the Wine & Gold closed out the month with a victory over the Miami Heat.

And even though they hadn’t played a game in almost two months, the Browns were still in the news.

First, the team resigned back-up quarterback Seneca Wallace as insurance for Colt McCoy, Mike Holmgren told fans to keep calm & carry on and we started thinking about every Browns fan’s favorite time of the year: the NFL Draft.

Coming Tuesday: The Indians find early success, the Browns continue rebuilding the foundation of an aging defense, the U.S. Men’s National Team looks for a Gold Cup and the Cavs grab a point guard.

(Photo by Getty Images)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Cavaliers, Cleveland Indians, Kent State | Leave a comment
25 Dec 2011

Miscommunication, missteps & mistakes

The Cleveland Browns gave fans their annual lump of coal in losing to the Baltimore Ravens on Christmas Eve.

The loss was the Browns 11th this year, giving the team four consecutive 11-loss seasons for the first time in franchise history. We’re sure their are fans who will blame the previous 11 loss seasons on current coach Pat Shurmur.

But we are getting ahead of ourselves.

For the third week in a row, the Browns were competitive against a better team but came up short. Unlike last week, when the Browns came from ahead to lose against Arizona, this week the Browns fell behind 20-0 before putting a scare into the first-place Ravens.

“We knew this would be quite a challenge for us,” quarterback Seneca Wallace said in published reports. “We’re playing the Ravens at home, and they’re playing for everything. I should have played better, and I should have made better decisions.”

Two plays stand out in particular, starting with one involving Wallace’s decision making.

The Browns lost a chance at the end of the first half to put some points on the board when Wallace, a nine-year veteran who fancies himself a starting quarterback, thought it was a good idea to run the ball from the five-yard line with the Browns holding no timeouts and just 11 seconds remaining in the half.

“I knew we had no timeouts left,” Wallace said of the run call. “It was very loud in that end. It was bad communication on my behalf. I heard Pat (Shurmur) yelling, ‘Clock, clock, clock,’ but I wasn’t sure everyone was on the same page, and that’s my job. It’s not the head coach’s fault. I called 66T, a running play, and it didn’t work. It was a tough situation, but I should have handled it better.”

On the preceding play, Evan Moore caught a short pass but could not get out of bounds, which kept the clock running. The Browns ended up losing 23 seconds before the hand off to Hillis.

That sequence of plays shows why Wallace is still a back-up and why Moore doesn’t get on the field more during the game. The players have to do a better job understanding the game situation.

“We called two plays — one to get us the first down and one to either throw it into the end zone or to the sideline and get out of bounds; that was the design,” Shurmur said. “From there, we wanted to make sure we got the clock stopped on the second down play. Evan caught the ball on the sideline, did not get out of bounds, so the clock was still running. Then, what we wanted to do was get the clock stopped. Get the clock stopped and then, be able to regroup in the huddle, maybe have one play at the end zone. If we don’t, kick the field goal. That’s what we wanted to get done.”

Thanks to a Josh Cribbs 84-yard punt return for a touchdown – about time Shurmur called that particular play, don’t you think? – and a Wallace to Moore touchdown pass, the Browns climbed back into the game and inexplicably trailed just 20-14 with 8:22 left in the game.

The defense forced a three-and-0ut and the Browns moved to their own 45 before facing fourth-and-five. Shurmur went for it (right decision) but Wallace’s pass to Peyton Hillis in the flat was stopped for no gain (bad play call).

The Browns had one last chance to get the ball back as they forced the Ravens into a fourth-and-2 at the Cleveland 37-yard-line. Coming out of a timeout, the Ravens went to a hard count, hoping to force someone on the Browns to jump off sides.

Need we say that defensive tackle Phil Taylor took the bait?

“It was the first hard count and we stayed onside,” Taylor said. “The second time, I just jumped. Of course you feel bad, but you just got to move on.”

It happens, but still …

“In the timeout, we talked about the potential of that happening,” Shurmur said. “I’ve seen it, and we had a nice huddle to discuss that might happen. And then, you’re out there playing and you can’t do that.”

“I told (Phil) that if you play in this league a long time, things like that are going to happen,” linebacker D’Qwell Jackson said. “You’ve just got to learn from it. We’ve never been in that situation all year. We’ll talk about it. It’s one of those things where you wish you could get it back. He’s young and he had a lot of learning experiences this year. He’s done a tremendous job.”

As usual, there were a few bright spots. Hillis ran for 112 yards, showing how a healthy running game can help the offense. Cribbs found the end zone on his punt return and, after allowing Ray Rice to run for 204 yards in the first meeting of the season, the Browns held him to 87 yards and no touchdowns.

And the Browns could have quit after falling behind 20-0 on the road against a team that is battling for the No. 1 seed in the AFC. But they hung in there and played themselves back into a position where they could have won the game.

But it wasn’t enough to avoid another loss in another lost season. It just never is.

And it wasn’t enough to quiet the bleating of the anti-Shurmur crowd, who want to find fault with everything the team does.

Losing to the Ravens is nothing new for the Browns – they’ve done it twice a year for four consecutive years now. And the past two years, the Browns lost by an average of 17 points to the Ravens – not even the revisionists can spin that.

The Browns flat out stink when they play within the division and until they get that problem fixed, nothing is going to change.

For now, though, the Browns gave everyone a reason to watch until the end yesterday and didn’t do anything to hurt their draft position.

At this point in the season, that’s probably the best Christmas present fans could ask for from the team.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, disappointment, NFL | Leave a comment
23 Dec 2011

Browns vs. Ravens – Week 16

The Seneca Wallace era continues, as the Browns head to Baltimore for a Christmas Eve match-up with the Ravens.

Probably not the best Christmas present the NFL could give to Browns fans.

The Opposition

Baltimore’s record: 10-4 (tied for first in the AFC North)
Offensive rank: 15th overall/16th passing/16th rushing
Defensive rank: 3rd overall/4th passing/2nd rushing
All-time record: Ravens lead 18-7′ the Browns are 3-9 on the road against the Ravens
Last meeting: Baltimore won, 24-10, in Week 13
The line: Browns (+13)

What to Watch For

How the Browns respond to playing the Ravens for the second time this season.

In the first meeting, the Ravens had their way with the Browns, rushing for 290 yards behind Ray Rice’s 204 yards and Ricky Williams’ 76 yards.

“Obviously it wasn’t what we wanted the first time,” defensive coordinator Dick Jauron said in his weekly press conference. “(Rice) is an exceptional player. I don’t know that we can make sure things happen, but we’ll certainly try not to have that happen again. They’re very good at what they do. We’ve made some adjustments. We’ll just have to see if they work out the way we would like them to work out. Obviously, they’ll make adjustments too. They do an outstanding job. He’s an exceptional player.”

In the past two games, the Browns have done better with their run defense, holding Pittsburgh’s Rashard Mendenhall to 76 yards (although the Steelers did run for 5.3 yards per carry) and Arizona’s Beanie Wells to 51 yards (and limited the Cardinals to just 3.1 yards per carry).

The Browns may be catching a break as wide receiver Anquan Boldin will miss the game with a knee injury, which means the defense may be able to focus even more on the running game. Of course, that could open up tight ends Dennis Pitta and Ed Dickson as options for quarterback Joe Flacco, and we all know how much the Browns struggle in covering tight ends.

On offense, Wallace makes his second consecutive start at quarterback.

“I think any player, and you see it quite frequently early in the year, there’s a huge improvement from game one and game two and I think I’m looking for that (with Wallace),” Browns coach Pat Shurmur said. “He’s going to be, as I mentioned earlier in the week, more comfortable with the speed of the game. He’ll be more familiar with the receivers he’s throwing to and just generally more comfortable and I’m hoping that will mean he’ll play even better.”

Last year in his second start – also against Baltimore – Wallace’s passing yardage went down, but his completion percentage (75 percent vs. 51.6) and quarterback rating (103 vs. 73.2) were both considerably higher than his first start. So there may be something there.

Oh, and the Browns have still never beaten Flacco, who is now 7-0 vs. Cleveland.

The Prediction

The Browns have looked better the past two weeks, even though they lost both games.

And for first time in a while, the team had a relatively normal week, without dealing with any manufactured controversies.

But the Ravens are still playing for a first-round bye and home playoff game and, after their poor performance last Sunday night against San Diego, they should be up to the task of facing the Browns.

We’ll take the Ravens with a later cover.

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 8-5-1.

(Photo by Cleveland Browns.com)

***

Take a moment to check out this feature story from NFL.com about how the Browns helped deliver a special holiday gift for Felix Poteate II of the U.S. Navy and his veteran father.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL | Leave a comment
22 Dec 2011

NFL gets it right with Browns

The Cleveland Browns will not be disciplined by the NFL for their handling of quarterback Colt McCoy’s concussion.So after all the hand wringing, the cries from some Browns fans using McCoy’s injury as a call for coach Pat Shurmur’s job, the proclamations that the Browns will pay for what they did, the NFL told us what we knew from the start:

While the team obviously mismanaged the situation, the Browns did not intentionally ignore an injured player and put him back in the game.

Rather than punish the Browns for no reason, or simply for a public relations move, the NFL decided to further strengthen its efforts to help teams and players deal with head injuries by deciding that certified athletic trainers will be stationed at games starting this weekend to monitor players for possible concussions.

“We believe these are positive steps in enhancing overall player safety, and the Browns fully support any measures that can help the medical staffs at games,” Browns vice president of media relations Neal Gulkis told The Beacon Journal.

No surprise that there is one person in all of this who still doesn’t get it – Pittsburgh’s James Harrison.

“Something should be done to them, I would think,” Harrison told NFL.com. “I don’t know. I got a game, what should they get? I guess he’s a little shorter, who knows? I don’t know. When it came down to it, my helmet hit his. Oh well.”

Oh well, indeed.

***

Two interesting notes, one good, one bad, at Pro Football Focus, first on defensive end Jayme Mitchell:

You may not have realized this, but Jayme Mitchell (-4.7) actually played 53 snaps against the Cardinals. A Cardinals team that features Levi Brown, the lowest rated left tackle in our Pass Blocking Efficiency ranking heading into the week. So Mitchell, who had two sacks against Jake Long earlier in the year (just how injured was Long?) may have expected to turn around his slumping season. He didn’t. In fact he didn’t even make a contribution on the stat sheet as Brown swallowed him up in the pass game, and Jeff King had fun moving him about in the run game. I hate to say such definitively negative things but Mitchell is hands down the worst starting defensive end in the league. It’s frankly ridiculous the Browns thought that Mitchell, who managed ten snaps last year as a Viking, could hold up to the heavy workload they’ve expected of him.

The Browns only gave up a seventh-round pick for Mitchell. This year is all about finding out who can play and who can’t; if Mitchell can’t cut it the Browns didn’t really lose anything.

Then there is this on Shawn Lauvao:

I didn’t expect to be writing such positive things about Shawn Lauvao (+4.5) given he had a match up with Darnell Dockett. However Lauvao, who did have some help dealing with him in the passing game, more than held his own and comprehensively won their battle in the run game, using Docketts’ desire to get up field against him. The Browns right guard will look back at his best performance as being one where he started exceptionally well, managing to take out two Cardinals defenders with a cut block on Clevelands’ second offensive play.

If Lauvao and Jason Pinkston can continue to improve, the Browns offensive line starts to look a little bit better for next season and, while they still need to draft lineman to build depth, this could allow them to focus on other areas of need come April.

***

It’s not all bad news for the defensive line, as Cold Hard Football Facts points out:

The defense at least continued to show some promise for the future. The rookie defensive end Sheard added two sacks to his team-high total, which is now at 7.5 sacks. With both him and defensive tackle Phil Taylor playing every game and combining for 68 solo tackles and 11.5 sacks, the defensive line continues to show signs that it can become a force for years to come with a few more improvements.

With Sheard, Taylor and Ahtyba Rubin all under the age of 25, the Browns are finally building a defensive line that can keep opposing quarterbacks up at night.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Colt McCoy, concussions | Leave a comment
21 Dec 2011

Here’s a playmaker, Browns fans

We came across an interesting article this morning about Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy in the Philadelphia Sports Daily.

The article makes a case for McCoy as the best back in the NFL, citing his 1,273 yards rushing, 17 touchdowns and 4.9 yards per carry this season. He’s also rushed for 82 first downs; no other back in the league has run for more than 63.

In a year where the Browns have lacked playmakers on offense, it’s hard not to think back to the 2009 draft, when the Browns passed not once, not twice, but three times on selecting McCoy, who went to the Eagles in the second round with the 53rd pick.

The Browns decided that, rather than McCoy, they’d rather have a wide receiver who will probably be out of the league next year (Brian Robiskie), a No. 4 wide receiver (Mohamed Massaquoi) and a linebacker who is no longer in the NFL (David Veikune).

And there are people who still wonder why the Browns are in their current situation.

***

Big news on the sanction front today as Liverpool’s Luis Suárez received an eight match ban and was fined £40,000 after being found guilty of misconduct for “using insulting words towards” Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.

What, you thought we were talking about the slap on the wrist the NCAA game Ohio State?

Suárez allegedly racially abused Evra “at least 10 times” during a match in October at Anfield.

Oddly enough, Suárez was found guilty even though no one – other than Evra – heard the comments. According to the club’s statement on the decision:

“We find it extraordinary that Luis can be found guilty on the word of Patrice Evra alone when no-one else on the field of play – including Evra’s own Manchester United teammates and all the match officials – heard the alleged conversation between the two players in a crowded Kop goalmouth while a corner kick was about to be taken.

It appears to us that the FA were determined to bring charges against Luis Suárez, even before interviewing him at the beginning of November. Nothing we have heard in the course of the hearing has changed our view that Luis Suárez is innocent of the charges brought against him and we will provide Luis with whatever support he now needs to clear his name.”

And somehow the FA missed – or chose to ignore – that Evra admitted that he insulted Suárez in Spanish in the “most objectionable of terms.”

Just another case of their being one set of rules for Manchester United and one for everybody else.

***

Not a huge surprise as it appears likely that Seneca Wallace will start again this week at quarterback for the Browns.

“Seneca (Wallace) right now will take the reps and Colt McCoy is making progress,” Browns coach Pat Shurmur said Tuesday. “It’s too early to tell whether he’ll be available this week. There are a lot of steps he has to go through before he’s ready to play.”

That’s most likely for the best, as there is really no need to put McCoy back on the field unless he’s 100 percent recovered from his concussion. The Browns have plenty of film on him to help them make a decision in the off-season.

In related news, the NFL announced today that trainers will be stationed at games effective immediately to monitor players for possible concussions. The trainer likely will be stationed somewhere in the press box of each stadium to monitor the game and assist the medical staff of both teams.

Good to see the league put some action behind its words when it comes to dealing with concussions. After all, if they can have someone at each game worrying about the players’ socks, they can certainly have someone on hand to deal with something this important.

***

Finally, here’s a cool graphic from Midwest Sports Fans representing how on any given Sunday any NFL team can win – yes, even the Browns. (h/t Brian McCarthy, NFL PR)

(Photo by Getty Images)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Liverpool, Luis Suarez, NFL | Leave a comment
20 Dec 2011

Browns learn some valuable lessons

Even though the Cleveland Browns walked out of Arizona with an overtime loss to the Cardinals, they still learned three important lessons on the way to falling to 4-10 on the season.

1. If you are trying to punt the ball out of bounds, make sure you get it done.

Brad Maynard’s punt in overtime stayed in bounds, that gave an opening to Arizona’s Patrick Peterson to return the kick 32 yards and set the Cardinals up for the game-winning score.

“Believe it or not, I was trying to kick it out,” Maynard told The Plain Dealer. It’s hard, easier said than done. You just can’t let him touch the ball in that situation.”

You play for the Browns, Brad, trust us we believe it.

2. It’s probably a good idea to cover Larry Fitzgerald in a big spot.

Facing a third-and-six on the drive following Peterson’s return, Arizona quarterback John Skelton hit a wide-open Fitzgerald for a 32-yard gain to set up Jay Feely’s game-winning field goal.

“He’s supposed to make catches, but when we were on him, when we were covering him, we were doing our thing,” Joe Haden said after the game. “He didn’t catch any passes over anybody. We feel that if we played that technique better, we would’ve done the same thing we’d been doing the whole game. It always happens. We’ve just got to find a way to get that fixed.”

3. The Browns learned that Seneca Wallace is a capable back-up quarterback, one who won’t embarrass the team (think Spergon Wynn), but there’s a reason why he is 6-13 in his career as a starter.

Wallace got the start in place of the injured McCoy, and while he was efficient early on, nothing went right for the Browns once they took a 17-7 lead with 3:21 left in the third quarter.

From that point on, the Browns had five drives – four ended in punts, the fifth ended with a Wallace fumble on the second of consecutive sacks – as the team faded down the stretch.

During that stretch the Browns gained 52 total yards of offense as Wallace was 5-of-11 for 47 yards. And for the game the Browns were just 5-of-14 on third down.

“We had them on their heels and when it gets to that point, it is about not making mistakes,” Wallace said in published reports, “not turning the ball over and giving them some easy points, and making plays. They played well on defense and made some plays. I need to help us out a lot more and make some more plays for our team.”

So at least the Browns got something out of the trip.

“It’s important that you stay on the field and execute on third down; that keeps drives alive,” Browns coach Pat Shurmur said. “It’s really good when you’re getting first downs on second down. We need to continue to do the things we did on the first drive and I think the third drive. We’ve just got to do what we have to do as a team. It was a team thing to get ahead — offense, defense and the kicking game — and it was a team thing to fall behind. That’s the deal, so we’ve got to find a way to finish games.”

Two more games to go.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, lessons learned, NFL | Leave a comment
17 Dec 2011

Browns vs. Cardinals – Week 15

The Browns head west to take on the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, just the third time the Browns have been to the desert to face the Cardinals.

The Opposition

Arizona’s record: 6-7 (tied for second in the NFC West)
Offensive rank: 22nd overall/20th passing/23rd rushing
Defensive rank: 21st overall/23rd passing/19th rushing
All-time record: Browns lead 33-12-3, with a 17-6-1 mark on the road (0-2 in Arizona, 8-3-1 in St. Louis, 9-1 in Chicago)
Last meeting: Arizona won, 27-21, in 2007
The line: Browns (+6.5)

What to Watch For

If the Browns offense looks any different or is more efficient under Seneca Wallace, who gets the start at quarterback in place of Colt McCoy.

Wallace spent seven years with Seattle learning the West Coast offense under Mike Holmgren and his knowledge of the offense is one of the values (the value?) he brings as a back-up quarterback.

“I’m anticipating that Seneca’s going to go out and execute efficiently and I think we saw Colt do that at times this year,” Browns coach Pat Shurmur said on Friday. As a quarterback, you’re trying to go out and do everything right all the time. Every once in awhile you’ll make a bad throw or a poor decision and then you get right back on the horse and try to correct it. I would anticipate, based on what I saw in practice, he had a good practice, Seneca will do a good job.”

It would only be one game against a defense in the lower third of the NFL, but if Wallace can move the ball that would provide another valuable piece of the puzzle as the team decides what to do about the quarterback position in the off season.

“To see another quarterback execute and operate with the players on the field may help us learn something about everybody involved,” Shurmur said. “It’ll help us learn something about Seneca at his stage in his career. It’s part of what you put together and that’s why it’s so important to wait and evaluate everything at the end. We have three games to play, three games that we’re going to fight our tails off to win and there’s going to be, what I hope to be, a lot of very fine performances. Hopefully, one from Seneca this week.”

Even though the Cardinals are ranked just 21st in defense, they have been playing better as they’ve won three consecutive games and five-of-six. Arizona has only given up an average of 214.4 passing yards since Nov. 14 – which puts them at No. 10 over that span.

The Browns obviously will need to keep an eye on Larry Fitzgerald when the Cardinals have the ball.

According to Pro Football Focus:

Life after Kurt Warner wasn’t that good to Larry Fitzgerald (+14.7), but this year has been better. While his catch rate is similar to last year at 54.4, his yards per catch is at 17.6 which is significantly higher than last year’s 12.6, and better than the Cardinals’ Super Bowl season as well. He’s had nine players miss tackles on him and seven touchdowns–both better numbers than last year–and he hasn’t dropped a pass in the last five games.

On 78.3% of his pass routes, Fitzgerald lines up out wide, which would put him against Joe Haden (+7.2 coverage) or Sheldon Brown (-5.8 coverage). In most cases Haden stays on the left side of the field and Brown on the right, but on the rare occurrence, Haden will track one receiver; that could happen in this game. Haden has had a rough time in recent weeks, allowing 13 catches for 292 yards and a touchdown in the past four. Brown has allowed 14 catches for 178 yards and a touchdown over that same time. Both of these cornerbacks have shown they can play great football in the past, but they’ll need to bring that “A” game to limit the Cardinals’ big plays.

If the Browns can keep the Arizona passing game under control, the run defense may actually have a shot at having a decent game.

People want to get excited about Beanie Wells, but outside of the game three weeks ago against the Rams, Wells has been mediocre. Take out the 228 yard game against St. Louis, and Wells is averaging just 3.8 yards per carry and has just 94 yards on 35 carries his last two games (2.7 yards per carry).

The Prediction

In some ways this is a tough one.

We can see the Browns hanging around enough that the Cardinals don’t cover.

Plus the Browns have a way of pulling out wins at the end of the season that hurt their draft position for the following year. And with Baltimore and Pittsburgh the only games left on the schedule, this looks like it could be that game.

But the Cardinals are playing better than the Browns right now – not saying much, we know – so we’ll go with the Cardinals but not the cover.

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 7-5-1.

(Photo by Life magazine archives)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Seneca Wallace | Leave a comment
16 Dec 2011

Wait, so Tony Pashos is actually … good?

Watching the Browns each week on offense it seems as if right tackle Tony Pashos is a false start or a holding penalty waiting to happen.

But what if we told you the Browns have two of the five best blocking tackles in the entire National Football League?

Turns out that, when it comes to pass blocking, Pashos is pretty good, at least according to Pro Football Focus, which looked at how many times a lineman set up in pass protection, figured in how many sacks, hits and hurries they’ve allowed, and came up with a Pass Blocking Efficiency Rating that puts Browns left tackle Joe Thomas at No. 1 in the league (no surprise) and Pashos at No. 4 (huge surprise).

According to the site’s rankings:

When a team picks a tackle in the first round they’re thinking that guy is going to keep his quarterback clean. We’ve mentioned countless times the impact pressure can have on a passer, so just imagine how much worse Colt McCoy could be if he didn’t have the most efficient tackle in the league blocking for him. I am, of course, referring to Joe Thomas, who in allowing just three sacks, a hit and 15 hurries on 527 pass blocking snaps, is flying high with a 97.2 PBE rating. He narrowly beats out Andrew Whitworth of the Bengals and David Stewart of the Titans (97.1 ratings), though it should be noted he has given up eight penalties.

Interestingly, Thomas isn’t the only Brown to do well in the tackle rankings. Tony Pashos has struggled to impose himself in the run game, but with just 17 total pressures given up on 398 pass blocking snaps, he ranks fourth out of all right tackles. With the rest of the Top 10, you kind of understand them being there, and it’s only really Pashos whose name sticks out. He finds him behind the aforementioned Stewart, Tyson Clabo and rookie sensation, Tyron Smith.

Looks like general manager Tom Heckert knows what he’s doing after all.

***

Uni Watch had a couple of Cleveland-related items today.

First, the Lake Erie Monsters will wear Cleveland Crusader jerseys for their game Friday night.

We actually remember going to a couple of Crusader games at the Coliseum when we were young, and always liked those uniforms.

Then there’s the story of how one of Jim Brown’s practice helmets ended up in the hands of an 11-year-old on his birthday in 1971.

***

Finally, Landon Donovan is returning to England to get some much-needed playing time against the top competition in the Premier League.

Donovan will return to Everton for eight weeks, most likely making his debut on Jan. 4 against Bolton and ending with the Merseyside derby with Liverpool in late February.

“The opportunity to return to Everton and play for such a well-respected club and a manager that I hold in such high regard was something that was simply too good to pass up,” Donovan said on the club’s website.

(Photo by Getty Images)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Cleveland Crusaders, Everton, Landon Donovan | Leave a comment
15 Dec 2011
1 Comment

Holmgren speaks, but is anyone listening?

Cleveland Browns team president Mike Holmgren spoke to the media on Wednesday about the manufactured controversy surrounding Colt McCoy’s concussion and showed more piss and vinegar with the media than the Browns have shown on the field this year.

While the headlines will scream “Browns did not test McCoy for concussion” the reality is far different.

According to Holmgren, team doctors did not administer the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool 2 test because McCoy “was talking, answering, knew how much time was left. So, following our normal protocol, (his responses) did not dictate they administer the test.”

Just as important, when McCoy started feeling strange after the game, he was seen by trainer Joe Sheehan who sent him to a doctor. That doctor administered a concussion test, which McCoy passed.

After returning home, McCoy’s conditioned worsened and he was diagnosed with a concussion on Friday.

Holmgren explained the team’s decision to not talk until Wednesday because they were meeting with NFL and NFLPA officials about the situation.

“There’s a lot of speculation, there’s a lot of things that have been written and said and the reason that we’ve waited as an organization to have this meeting is that we had to have those other meetings before so I wouldn’t say something and then I’d have to come back and change it,” Holmgren said. “Now, we’ve had those meetings so now here it is. I also want to comment that on the schedule and how we have these, it’s going to be our decision. It’s not going to be your decision.”

Holmgren’s going to get roasted by the local media for that last part, but he’s right. He doesn’t have to put on an act like a dancing monkey just because the media starts whining.

He also made a very important point that – the current regime simply can’t be held responsible for what went on before they arrived in Berea.

“The problem is and the tough thing for you guys and our fans is it seems it’s business as usual, which is very easy to write and say, but I’m telling you that it’s not,” Holmgren said. “You can choose to believe me or you can say, ‘I’ve heard it before.’ That’s your choice, but when it does happen, don’t come to me for extra tickets to a playoff game or something. Don’t do that. You’re either with us or you’re not. I’m telling you it’s different now.”

In hindsight the Browns obviously should not have let McCoy return to the game. And they certainly didn’t do a good job earlier in the week explaining the situation – they should have gotten out in front of the story by explaining the upcoming meeting with league and union officials.

And if you are one of the fans who is predisposed to thinking everything the Browns do is wrong, then it really doesn’t matter what Holmgren says because your mind is already made up.

But to think the team intentionally ignored an injured player and put him back in the game is preposterous and not supported with any kind of facts.

One final thought: Why are the Steelers getting a pass on all this? Why isn’t someone in the media demanding that Art Rooney II come forward and explain why they continue to let James Harrison act the way he does on the field? Somehow they get a pass because the Rooneys are an “old football family that does things the right way.”

Just another reason to hate the Steelers.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Colt McCoy, concussions, Mike Holmgren, NFL

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