Red Right 88

In Cleveland, hope dies last

20 Nov 2011

Browns vs. Jaguars – Week 11

The Cleveland Browns are home again on Sunday to take on the Jacksonville Jaguars it what is probably one of only two games left on the schedule that the Browns have a realistic chance of winning.

The Opposition

Jacksonville record: 3-6 (3rd in the AFC South)
Offensive rank: 32rd overall/32nd passing/11th rushing
Defensive rank: 4th overall/5th passing/14th rushing
All-time record: Browns trail 4-9; the Browns are 1-5 at home against the Jaguars, but they did win the most recent home game, part of the mirage that was the four-game winning streak to close the 2009 season
Last meeting: Jacksonville won 24-20 in 2010
The line: Browns (+1)

What to Watch For

Can the Browns score a touchdown in the first quarter? They haven’t done it this season.

Can the Browns score a touchdown in the third quarter? They haven’t done it this season.

Can the Browns score a touchdown at home? They have gone 123 minutes without one at home – the last touchdown coming with 11:36 remaining in the fourth quarter of the Oct. 2 game vs. Tennessee.

Can the Browns stop the run? The defense has given up 568 rushing yards – the most in the NFL since Oct. 30 – during its season-worst three-game skid. Jacksonville is averaging 121.4 yards per game on the ground. Maurice Jones-Drew has rushed for 854 yards, 4.5 yards per carry, this season. The Browns are giving up 142.8 yards per game on the ground.

Can the Browns move the ball against the Jaguars? Jacksonville is fourth overall in defense, but near the middle of the pack against the run, giving up 107.1 yards per game. Of course, the Browns can’t run the ball, they are averaging 87 yards per game (30th in the NFL) as they struggle with giving playing time to their 4th-string running back.

Montario Hardesty “leads” the Browns in rushing with 244 yards, but he probably won’t play on Sunday. Peyton Hillis is second with 211 yards and he definitely won’t play Sunday. Chris Ogbonnaya is third with 170 yards and Colt McCoy is fourth at 120. Unless you are Denver or Philadelphia, having your quarterback be one of your leading rushers is not a good thing.

Does the Browns offense and McCoy have the proper amount of “lust for the end zone?” If the Browns can’t run the ball they are going to have to find a way to pass it. Mohamed Massaquoi should be back for the Browns, and Jacksonville’s top cornerback, Rashean Mathis, is out for the season with an injury. Will that be enough to help a Browns team that has scored touchdowns on just 44.4 percent of its trips into the red zone? That’s the 23rd in the league, if you are scoring at home.

The Craziest Browns vs. Jaguars Game We’ve Seen

The 2001 “Bottlegate” game, although last year’s game, when the Browns forced six turnovers and still managed to lose, is a close second. And let’s not forget the 2002 game when Tim Couch hit Quincy Morgan – there’s a tandem – with a Hail Mary pass for the win.

The Prediction

This may sound like a bit of a cop-out, but who knows with this team anymore?

Injuries have robbed the Browns of the kind of running game they needed to help McCoy and the receivers, but somehow the Browns keep fighting and, against teams at their level, find themselves in the game at the end.

But the Browns also make mistakes at the worst times and just are not talented enough to overcome those mistakes.

Maybe today’s the day, however, and the Browns can send fans into the holiday week with something to be thankful for – a win (and even a touchdown!).

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 5-3-1.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, NFL | Leave a comment
18 Nov 2011

MLB starts to finally grow up

We like the news coming out of Major League Baseball today, with the Houston Astros shifting to the AL West and the addition of another wild card team in each league.

If the second wild card had been in place in 2000 and 2005, the Indians would have grabbed a playoff spot, so anything that opens another avenue for the Tribe to make the postseason is always going to be welcomed in these parts.

Plus a one-game playoff between the wild card teams will give the game the feeling of an NFL playoff game.

Jayson Stark at ESPN.com has a good rundown of the some of the questions that baseball officials still have to work out, but all but one are really not problems at all.

Having 15 teams in each league means that interleague play will have to be adjusted in some way, but as long as the schedule is fair for each team within a particular division whatever format is decided on is OK. And we can do without seeing the Royals, Twins, etc. 19 times a year.

Stark seems to think that travel will be an issue, writing that “Imagine this: The Giants are locked in a dramatic September race in the NL West – and then have to jump on a plane and travel to conveniently located Tampa Bay for a late-September interleague series. Isn’t everybody sure they’d be totally delighted by that idea?”

Oh, the horror! Teams in other leagues have to travel late in the season all the time. Think the 49ers are excited that they will spend Thanksgiving night in Baltimore? Or that New England wants to go to Denver on Dec. 18? But somehow we all get through it.

The one point that Stark makes that is valid is American League teams playing at National League parks late in the season without the DH.

But that’s a mess that baseball made when it somehow decided that it made sense to have two leagues play by different rules. Just think how ridiculous it would be if the AFC only let teams have 3 downs to make a first down and the NFC said you get 5 downs.

Stark does say that this is only the beginning, however. Supposedly there are changes on the way that impact payroll disparity, revenue sharing, the draft, free agency and the broad scope of the business of baseball.

That all sounds pretty positive for the Tribe, so it’s all good.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Posted in Cleveland Indians | Leave a comment
17 Nov 2011

USA working through the process

With the Browns being, well, the Browns, and a mountain to move at work, we’ve been a bit behind in talking about the other football in our life.

So let’s get caught up on the beautiful game, shall we?

The U.S. Men’s National Team finally found its scoring touch, putting in three goals in the first half against Slovenia in an international friendly win on Tuesday. It was their first win in Europe since beating Poland in March 2008, going 0-5 since then.

Edson Buddle got the Americans on the board early, while favorite Clint Dempsey and Jozy Altidore scored within two-minutes of each other late in the half. Dempsey’s goal was his 24th for the national team, tying him with Joe-Max Moore for fourth place on the all-time scoring list.

The U.S. had been outscored 5-2 in going 1-4-1 since Jurgen Klinsmann took over for Bob Bradley this past summer.

“It looked much better,” Klinsmann said in published reports. “It’s a process, and that process, besides results, is going really well.”

A process, huh? Maybe Browns fans should take notes.

It wasn’t all good times, however, as Sports Illustrated‘s Grant Wahl says the defense still needs work:

For a 10-minute period in the second half the U.S.’ defense was a complete shambles, failing to clear the ball out of danger and allowing Slovenia back into the game. The blame was evenly distributed, but Kyle Beckerman did look particularly slow-footed as the U.S. gave up Slovenia’s second goal. Does he have the speed necessary to play at this level? Aside from that, the U.S. is playing a much higher back line under Klinsmann, and while that caused Slovenia to be offside numerous times, it also put serious pressure on the U.S. defenders to keep that line. Timmy Chandler didn’t do that on the passing sequence that led to Slovenia’s first goal and kept scorer Tim Matavz onside

The U.S. finished the year 6-8-3, their worst showing since 1994, when they were 7-9-11. They have also dropped to 34th in FIFA’s world rankings.

But the U.S. has plenty of time to get this worked out.

They don’t start qualifying for the 2014 World Cup until next June and they were drawn into what should be an easy group.

On June 8, they take on Antigua and Barbuda, followed by a June 12 game at Guatemala. They have a home-and-home with Jamaica Sept. 7 and Sept. 11, are at Antigua on Oct. 12 and close group play against Guatemala on Oct. 16

The top two teams from each of three groups advance to the 2013 regional finals in North and Central America and the Caribbean. The first three teams will qualify for the 2014 tournament in Brazil, and the fourth-place team goes to a home-and-home playoff against the Oceania champion – expected to be New Zealand – for another berth.

***

With the MLS Cup on Sunday, Los Angeles Times columnist T.J. Simers rolled out the cliched old white guy argument that “no one cares about soccer” (somewhere Greg Brinda is shaking his head in agreement) and took some cheap shots at Galaxy star David Beckham.

We’ve talked about this before. If you don’t like soccer, fine. But why do you feel the need to showcase your ignorance for the world to see?

(h/t to MLS Talk)

***

Finally, Portugal, Croatia, Ireland and the Czech Republic closed out victories in their two-leg playoffs Tuesday to claim the final four places in next summer’s European Championship.

The tournament will run June 8 to July 1 in Poland and Ukraine. The teams were seeded on Wednesday with the draw into group play scheduled for Dec. 2.

The pots are:

Pot 1: Spain, Holland, Poland, Ukraine

Pot 2: Germany, Italy, England, Russia.

Pot 3: Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Sweden.

Pot 4: Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Republic of Ireland

Posted in Jurgen Klinsmann, US soccer | Leave a comment
16 Nov 2011

Next time, just call a timeout

While we’re obviously not happy with the outcome of the Browns game on Sunday against St. Louis, we still understand – for the most part – Pat Shurmur’s decision to play for the go-ahead field goal in Sunday’s loss to the Rams.

What gets on our tits, however, is everything surrounding the handoff to Alex Smith on 2nd-and-goal from the 9.

On Monday, during his weekly press conference, Shurmur said he knew what was going on.

“In the course of the game, I was calling a play based on the fact that it was a fullback play and Owen not being in there happened in that time frame,” Shurmur said. “We were handing the ball to the fullback. Alex knew he was getting the ball, Colt (McCoy) knew he was giving it to him and they’re football players. Had I known now, I would have tried to call a timeout, but the clock was already off on the communicator to Colt and they were ready to play. So that’s what happened.”

We understand things can get a little crazy on the sidelines and things can get mixed up. Players are shuffling in and out, the coaches are thinking a couple of plays ahead. But should the coach be so wedded to the play sheet that he doesn’t let the personnel on the field dictate the play?

And when the play comes in and it is a handoff to someone who has never taken a handoff at any level of organized football, shouldn’t McCoy just take the initiative and call timeout?

“No, because Alex knew he was getting the ball,” Shurmur said. “They did it all right except for the exchange.”

Well sure, everything was great until it wasn’t. But if something doesn’t look right, especially at that late stage of the game, then McCoy needs to call a timeout, and if the coach’s ego can’t take it, that’s too bad.

Plus, didn’t we cover all this in Week 1 when the Bengals snapped the ball while the Browns were still in the huddle?

Next time, and this being the Browns there is always a next time, just call the timeout, OK?

***

According to ESPN Stats & Information, Rams running back Steven Jackson rushed for a game-high 128 yards Sunday including 104 yards between the tackles. It is the most yards Jackson has rushed for up the middle in a single game since Week 4 of 2008 (105).

Yikes.

***

According to Pro Football Focus, Browns left guard Jason Pinkston had a decent game against the Rams. The website notes that:

It’s rare a team has so few “bad” performances and loses. No one on the Cleveland team did much wrong but neither did many truly excel. Worthy of some note though was rookie Jason Pinkston’s first positively-graded game of the year (+3.0). Prior to this he’d been doing his best to accomplish the impossible; provide a downgrade on the criminally-overrated Eric Steinbach at LG. However, despite his best efforts, even he managed to get some movement against the two ends who come inside in nickel. Both C.J. Ah You and James Hall usually play on the outside of the line in base but come inside to rush the passer in nickel. When the Browns decided to run against this Pinkston had consistent success against them. His pass-blocking, which on the season has been a little below average, continued that trend as he gave up a hit and a sack to Hall but nothing else in 35 pass blocks.

Not sure we agree with that, but if Pinkston is making progress that will make McCoy’s life a little bit easier.

***

Finally, nice start to the basketball season for the Kent State Golden Flashes, who handed West Virginia a 70-60 defeat on Tuesday, breaking the Mountaineers’ 36-game non-conference winning streak.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Posted in Cleveland Browns | Leave a comment
14 Nov 2011

Seeing things we wish we could unsee

We can understand the thought process of Cleveland Browns coach Pat Shurmur near the end of Sunday’s game with St. Louis.

The Browns were holding a first-and-goal at the 8, trailing 13-12. For the most part the team had battled all day. The Browns hadn’t found the end zone, of course, but they had mixed in some plays that brought the offense alive at times. The defense had forced two turnovers and kept the Rams out of the end zone since the 14:53 mark of the second quarter.

Rewarding the players and fans with a win would be a good start to the second half of the season. And Shurmur knew he had Phil Dawson – four-of-four on the day – in his back pocket.

Still, it seemed like a perfect time to take a shot in the end zone.

1st-and-goal from the 8: Chris Ogbonnaya over right guard for minus 1 yard.

OK, the Browns are setting the Rams up; St. Louis obviously knows about the awesomeness of Dawson.

2nd-and-goal from the 9: Alex Smith fumbles the hand off; Josh Cribbs recovers at the St. Louis 7.

Wait, what? Isn’t Smith a tight end? Why is he taking a hand off out of the backfield? Now the Browns are surely going to take a shot. Let’s see what they have coming out of a St. Louis timeout.

3rd-and-goal from the 7: Chris Ogbonnaya over right guard for 3.

Seriously? Another run to the right side? Oh well, at least the Browns have Dawson and long-snapper Ryan Pontbriand, one of the best in the business.

4th-and-goal from the 4: Pontbriand’s snap hits Alex Mack in the leg, rolls to holder Brad Maynard and Dawson shanks the 22-yard attempt.

Welcome to another Sunday of Browns football. (Pounding head on the keyboard).

“I told the team they played hard from the first snap until the last and you have to play hard, you have to be productive and you’ve got to take care of the basics'” Shurmur said after the game. “We didn’t take care of the basics at the end. You fumble, give them points and then you’re set up to get points, you don’t get points and this is the result. That’s the reality of it.

“We were in a position to score points. Our defense was playing extremely well and I wanted to make sure that we were going to get an opportunity to kick a field and go ahead, so that’s what I chose to do.”

Bah!

“It’s on me,” Pontbriand said after the game in published reports. “My fault. It’s my job to get the ball back there and it didn’t get there. On those plays, I’m always upside down and never see a thing. From my point of view, everything was normal. But as soon as it came out, I knew something was wrong. It looked like a snap I had never snapped before.”

The pretty much sums up what it is like to watch the Browns year in and year out: seeing things you’ve never seen before.

“You leave with a helpless feeling. It’s tough,” quarterback Colt McCoy said in published reports. “We should have won — more than once. You kind of scratch your head and wonder, `Where is all this bad luck coming from? Why?'”

The two biggest mistakes of the day came from the most unlikely of players. The Rams go-ahead field goal was set up by Cribbs fumble on a punt return in the fourth quarter. Then there was the field goal miscue involving Dawson, Mack and Pontbriand. All four are among the team’s best players.

The Browns have now gone 123 minutes at home without scoring a touchdown and have yet to score a touchdown in the first or third quarters the entire season.

Talk about seeing things you’ve never seen before.

As usual, there were some bright spots for the Browns, but they weren’t enough to carry the team to a win:

  • Ogbonnaya ran for 90 yards and a 4.7 yard per carry average, with a long run of 32 yards, making us wonder what a healthy Peyton Hillis would have done against the Rams 32nd-ranked run defense.
  • Cribbs had a 15-yard run
  • Greg Little had a 10-yard run and caught six passes with a long of 52 yards
  • Seneca Wallace had a 21-yard reception, officially making him more productive for the Browns this year than former wide receiver Brian Robiskie.
  • Phil Taylor notched his team-high fourth sack of the year

“I thought we did a good job but we just didn’t win the game,” cornerback Joe Haden said. “My boy (Josh) Cribbs is a beast and that (fumble) doesn’t happen but once in a lifetime. Then you have Phil (Dawson), who is automatic from 55 yards, but the kick didn’t work out for us. They still won the game but stuff happened that usually doesn’t.”

If nothing else, the Browns at least now have a title for the 2011 highlight film: Stuff Happened That Usually Doesn’t: The 2011 Cleveland Browns.

(Photo by The Plain Dealer)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, more of the same, NFL | Leave a comment
12 Nov 2011

Browns vs. Rams – Week 10

The Cleveland Browns welcome the St. Louis Rams back to their ancestral home on Sunday.

The Browns come into the game having lost four out of their last five, while the Rams are riding a streak that has seen them drop nine out of their last 11 games dating back to last season.

Should be one heck of a day.

The Opposition

St. Louis record: 1-7 (4th in the NFC West)
Offensive rank: 23rd overall/26th passing/17th rushing
Defensive rank: 24th overall/12th passing/32nd rushing
All-time record: Browns lead 12-10 (including playoffs); the Browns are 6-5 at home against the Rams
Last meeting: Rams won 27-20 in 2007
The line: Browns (-2.5)

What to Watch For

Rams running back Steven Jackson is the key to the game.

Jackson has rushed for 289 of his 579 yards over the past two games and his 5.1 yards per carry is the highest since his rookie year.

At that pace, if Jackson hadn’t missed most of three games he would be among the league leaders in rushing yardage.

The Browns, of course, have the 31st-ranked rush defense in the NFL, giving up 144 yards per game on the ground. And they will be without safety T.J. Ward this weekend (and perhaps longer), which means more Usama Young at the position.

Oh boy.

“They have a tremendous running back and they’ve had success running the ball,” defensive coordinator Dick Jauron said. “We’re going to have to step up. He’s a very powerful back. He’s probably bigger and stronger than anybody we’ve seen to this point or as big and as strong as anybody we’ve seen to this point. He’s got good breakaway speed. When he gets to the secondary, he can go and give you issues.”

If the Browns – who have given up 151 yards rushing to Oakland, 174 to San Francisco and 261 to Houston – can keep Jackson under control, they have a real chance to win the game.

If – and that is currently a big if – the Browns were ever going to get anything going on offense this would be the week. The Rams are 32nd against the run and have put eight cornerbacks – including three of their top four – on injured reserve since the start of training camp.

Of course, St. Louis allowed a season-low 262 yards last week, the second consecutive game they’ve held their opponent under 300 yards.

But, still, we don’t think it’s asking too much for the Browns to outscore a team that is only averaging 12.5 points per game.

The Browns vs. Rams Game That Will Be Hard to Top

The 1950 NFL Championship Game, won by Cleveland, 30-28, on Lou Groza’s 16-yard field goal.

The Browns also beat the Rams for the 1955 title, and lost to them in 1951 – breaking a six-year run of titles in Cleveland.

The Prediction

This game has Phil Dawson written all over it.

The Browns just need to keep Jackson under control, keep the game close and let Dawson win it with his leg – would it really be that hard for anyone to imagine a 3-0 Browns win?

We’ll take the Browns minus the points.

Record picking the Browns (using the point spread) this year: 5-2-1.

Posted in Cleveland Browns, NFL, St. Louis Rams | Leave a comment
11 Nov 2011

Browns at the halfway mark

The Cleveland Browns hit the halfway mark of the season after last week’s loss to Houston with a 3-5 record.

It would be folly for anyone to say the Browns should have a better record; after all, this is a franchise coming off of consecutive 5-11 seasons and with only 14 total wins over the past three seasons, but the team has certainly left some opportunities on the field.

As we are somehow already halfway through the 2011 NFL season, let’s take a look at the Browns with a glass half-full/half-empty take. (in case you missed it, here’s our look at the team at the quarter mark).

Half-full: The Browns have the No. 1 pass defense in the league, allowing only 165.2 yards per game through the air. They are fifth in the league in completion percentage (55.1) and in passing touchdowns allowed (9).

Half-empty: Why pass when you can run? The team is 30th in the league against the rush, giving up 144 yards per game, 24th in the number of plays of 20 yards or more (9) and 19th in yards per carry allowed (4.4). In three of their last four games, the Browns gave up 151 yards on the ground to Oakland, 174 to San Francisco and 261 to Houston. That’s not trending in a good direction.

Half-full: Quarterback Colt McCoy has thrown for 1,764 yards and 10 touchdowns. Those numbers are better – or almost as good – as what Brady Quinn and Derek Anderson combined for in 2009 (2,227 yards, 11 touchdowns). Plus, somehow, McCoy is still in one piece.

Half-empty: McCoy is currently a mess. He’s already taken 20 sacks and is only completing 57.5% of his passes. No running game, no reliable receivers and weak line play have made life miserable for McCoy.

Half-full: Kicker Phil Dawson is perfect on extra point (11-for-11) and on field goals that have not been blocked (12-for-12). He has also been a ridiculous 6-for-6 on field goals of more than 50 yards – all at the age of 36.

Half-empty: Wasn’t this supposed to be the year the Browns thought touchdowns, not field goals?

Half-full: The defense is ranked No. 6 overall in the league; Joe Haden has looked good at cornerback (although it seems as if the refs haven’t received the memo yet), D’Qwell Jackson has made a comeback from injuries the past two seasons, and the front four of rookies Phil Taylor and Jabaal Sheard, Ahtyba Rubin and Jayme Mitchell have looked feisty at times. Plus, after only getting 29 sacks all of last year, the Browns have recorded 18 already this season.

Half-empty: See those rushing numbers again. Plus, the younger guys on the defense – especially Taylor and Sheard, may be hitting a bit of the rookie wall.

Half-full: For the brief time they were healthy, Peyton Hillis and Montario Hardesty looked like they would give the team a running game to take pressure off McCoy.

Half-empty: The running game is even worse shape than the passing game, ranking 31st with 82.1 yards per game. The Browns are only averaging 3.1 yards per carry and have just eight runs of more than 10 yards all season. And things aren’t going to get any better any time soon as Hillis and Hardesty are both out this season.

Half-full: The Browns have gotten younger, with rookies Taylor, Sheard, Jason Pinkston, Owen Marecic, Greg Little and Buster Skrine; along with second-year players Haden, T.J. Ward and Shawn Lauvao seeing playing time this season.

Half-empty: Injuries have forced the Browns to put players on the field perhaps a bit before they are ready – like Pinkston and Lauvao – hopefully that will pay off in the long run.

Half-full: The Browns actually doubled their season output for points scored in the first quarter last week against Houston.

Half-empty: The Browns have not scored a touchdown in the first or third quarter all season.

Half-full: The Browns haven’t actually be losing to patsies. Four of their losses have come against first-place Cincinnati, first-place Oakland, first-place San Francisco and first-place Houston. And it’s not as if the team has been a first-half powerhouse the past two years (1-7 in 2009, 3-5 last year).

Half-empty: While this season isn’t about the final record, winning is nice. The Browns should have beat the Bengals in Week 1 and, despite special-teams breakdowns, had a chance late against Oakland. But, as the saying goes, you are what your record says you are.

We’ll give coach Pat Shurmur the final word.

“As we move forward though in terms of system, in terms of the players that are playing, you’re looking for general efficiency, guys doing more things right all the time whether it’s being their alignment, their assignment, their ability to make a play, you’re looking for guys that are giving great effort on every play and you’re looking for overall team production. That to me is what I will evaluate on whether we’re making improvements.

“We’re at the halfway point so that’s typically when you sit and take a little inventory as to where you’re at, but you can’t do too much of that at this point because you’re team constantly changes as to who’s in the game, the team you’re playing and you try to keep your focus on the next opponent.

“I think we’re looking to get better every day and I think that’s how you build a foundation. But, I don’t think you say, ‘Okay, were getting ready for…’ The future’s now and I think that locker room understands that. We’re trying to compete and win as many games as we can and add them up at the end. I think if you start thinking beyond that, at least in my way of thinking, you start thinking beyond that then that locker room mentally changes. I don’t want that.”

(Photo by Cleveland Browns.com)

Posted in Cleveland Browns | Leave a comment
10 Nov 2011

Perception, reality and the Browns

“Everything you see or hear or experience in any way at all is specific to you. You create a universe by perceiving it, so everything in the universe you perceive is specific to you.” – Douglas Adams

With the St. Louis Rams coming to town on Sunday to take on the Browns, we got to thinking about how people perceive the current Browns season and head coach Pat Shurmur.

Shurmur spent the past two seasons as offensive coordinator of the Rams and, after just eight games in charge of the Browns, some are ready to run him out of town.

If Shurmur is so incompetent, you’d think that Rams fans would be glad that he no longer is in town. But that appears not to be the case, according to Jim Thomas, who covers the Rams for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“I think if you would have taken a poll to see if Shurmur should be rehired, maybe the vast majority of the fans would have said the Rams probably should fire him,” Thomas told the Beacon Journal. “Then he ended up as head coach of the Browns. So that was the image and part of it was because of a lot of short passes and an offense that didn’t score a lot of points. But when you consider that he had a rookie quarterback (Sam Bradford), a rookie left tackle (Rodger Saffold), a right tackle in Jason Smith who’s basically a rookie and next to no wide receivers to work with, he did a pretty good job in St. Louis.

“They had averaged only 10.9 points a game (in 2009), and they scored a touchdown more a game (in Shurmur’s second season as offensive coordinator). … One of the biggest criticisms from not just fans but some media and columnists was that they needed to take more downfield shots. But the West Coast offense is more of a timing thing, the Rams really didn’t have deep threats at receiver and I think he did it partly to protect Bradford.

“He did a good job in developing Bradford, and I think he got a lot out of the offense.”

Hmm, a young quarterback still learning the league, inexperience offensive linemen, no wide receivers to work with … where have we seen that? (And don’t forget the fourth- and fifth-string running backs).

But that reality clashes with the perceptions among some fans. The way they see it, Shurmur should have been able to turn this team into the ’87 Browns while installing a completely new offensive system without the benefit of a full off-season. That hasn’t happened so they need to create an alternate reality filled with doom and gloom.

Perceptions can work both ways, of course. The Browns have the “No. 1 pass defense” in the NFL, if you go by yards allowed. But is that because they have a defense that terrorizes opposing quarterbacks? Or is it more likely that it is so easy to run on the Browns that opposing teams have no reason to pass the ball?

This isn’t unique to Cleveland; take the case of the Carolina Panthers, who are ranked No. 5 in the league in offense.

Because they have been able to move the ball on offense, the Panthers are treated as a “team to watch.” But that masks the reality that they are 2-6 and all those yards are not translating to wins.

If it turns out the Panthers are for real, however, maybe the Browns can hire a dynamic offensive coordinator like Carolina’s Rob Chudzinski. Oh wait, they did that and, in the great Phil Savage/Romeo Crennel purge of 2008, Chudzinski had to go so we could get offensive mastermind Brian Daboll here.

The Browns are clearly not showing the kind of offensive progress we had hoped to see eight games into the season, but we can still hold out hope that a better day is coming.

Now whether than hope is just us creating our own reality or not, only time will tell.

***

Things certainly aren’t getting any easier for the Browns, as strong safety T.J. Ward, running backs Peyton Hillis and Montario Hardesty), wide receiver Mohamed Massaquoi, free safety Usama Young, cornerback Dimitri Patterson and defensive end Auston English all missed practice on Wednesday.

Just lovely.

***

Finally, now that word has come out that Joe Paterno will “retire” at the end of the season* – much like how Jim Tressel “resigned” earlier this year – this gives everyone another good lesson in how to judge someone’s character.

People don’t have good character just because they wear a sweater vest or thick glasses, or because they talk a good game – a person’s character is revealed by the choices they make.

We recently had the opportunity to hear Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Daniel Christman, former superintendent at West Point, talk about the meaning of honor.

“‘Honor’ and ‘integrity’ are closely associated, but they are not synonyms,” Christman said. “Integrity means living a principled life, always free from hypocrisy, being true to your values. Honor defines what those values and principles are. Simply put, it means ‘doing the right thing.’”

Judging from the way Paterno and Tressel acted – looking out for No. 1 above all else – they would have learned a valuable lesson from Christman’s talk.

*Turns out Penn State’s Trustees did what Ohio State’s Trustees were unwilling to do – they fired Paterno Wednesday night.

(Photo by Cleveland Browns.com)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, over reaction, perceptions, right vs. wrong | Leave a comment
08 Nov 2011

Less Talk, More Football

As the Cleveland Browns stagger to the halfway point of the season at 3-5, they seem to have a good idea of what is wrong with the team.

“I think we got behind early for a couple of reasons,” coach Pat Shurmur said in his Monday press conference. “They drove the ball on us and then we fumbled the ball on the first snap. On a run that’s going to gain yards, can’t do that. So we spot them 10 points there and then we throw an interception right before half and give them another three. Those are the types of things that upset me and that’s how that game went. We’ll work on correcting those.”

OK, fumbles are bad; got it.

“We just need to get better,” Shurmur said of the run defense. “They’re a good running team, we practiced against the run and they executed just like they wanted to. We’ve just got to get better. When you stop the run it’s a team thing and when you don’t stop the run it’s a team thing. When teams have success running the football most of the time they attempt to.”

Don’t let the other team run for 261 yards and 6.5 yards per rush; check.

“I think we’re disappointed we lost,” Shurmur said. “You’ll report it and write it the way you want. This team wants to win and works hard to win and that’s what we want to do.”

Losing is disappointing; we can confirm that.

“There was only one snap yesterday where we didn’t have a hat for everybody that was rushing, however that works,” Shurmur said of the poor blocking. “We had new guys in there playing at running back and a new guy at tackle and there was only one play where didn’t have a hat for a hat where it should have been picked up. We need to get better at making sure that gets done.”

Blocking the other team is important; good to know.

“Other than one play, where he did get the ball off, Colt was under the impression that it should’ve been blocked,” Shurmur said. “Then of course, you have to get rid of the football. I think that’s important.”

Quarterback needs to actually throw the ball; affirmative.

“We’re going to look at it, correct what we can and move on,” linebacker D’Qwell Jackson said. “I’m glad this game is over with. It was a rough day for us. They outplayed us; they took it to us. We’ve got to show how we are as a team and as a defense to come back, how we work throughout the week.”

Making corrections is always helpful.

“I guess what you take from having worked through tough situations is you keep battling, and that’s the message,” Shurmur said. “I’m sure you’re all getting tired of hearing me saying that, but that’s the reality of it. It’s like the diet that doesn’t sell: Eat less and exercise more. Football, you keep working.”

Hard work; Cleveland can embrace that.

“We just had a good talk in our meeting, watching the film, breaking it down, looking at yourselves very, very critically and understanding what you have to do,” linebacker Scott Fujita said. “For us defensively now, we just have to worry about stopping the run. That’s two weeks in a row now. They’re good running attacks. Don’t get me wrong, but we’ve got to be better than that. I mean 260 yards or whatever it was yesterday — that’s embarrassing.”

Film study, we’re getting closer.

“Oh yeah and the way you do that is by winning the game,” Shurmur said. “That’s how you stop any negative momentum in this business. I’m a very impatient guy in a lot of ways. But I do know this, win. That’s how you stop any negative momentum in this league.”

Winning! Now we’re on to something!

Now that the Browns have all that cleared up, could they maybe go out and win a game?

Is that really asking too much?

Posted in Cleveland Browns | Leave a comment
07 Nov 2011

Browns lose themselves deep in Texas

Every time we think the Browns can’t sink any lower, they drain a little more water out of the pool.

Case in point: Sunday’s 30-12 loss to the Houston Texans.

The Browns went in to the game as 11 point underdogs and certainly played that way.

The Browns totaled 10 first downs and 172 yards of offense.

Houston’s Arian Foster rushed for 124 yards, Ben Tate ran for 115 and both scored touchdowns.

Cleveland’s Chris Ogbonnaya finished with 28 yards rushing, Thomas Clayton had 10; the Browns finished with just 44 yards on the ground.

The Browns have now gone eight consecutive games without scoring a touchdown in the first or third quarter.

“They came from the first snap to the last and it’s frustrating,” quarterback Colt McCoy said in published reports. “They were able to create a lot of pressure up front. At times, it was hard to overcome.”

The Texans got the ball to open the game and went 82 yards in nine plays for a touchdown. Ogbonnaya fumbled on the Browns first offensive play, the Texans scored six plays later and the game was essentially over.

“We spend the whole week working on the run game, play-action, things that you’re going to do,” McCoy said, “and then both times you have to completely abandon that and get into something else because you’re down two touchdowns. We’re not good enough to overcome that.”

The Browns are broken – especially on offense – right now and there seems little anyone can do to fix the problem.

The team can’t do anything on offense – it can run, it can throw long, it can’t throw short, it can’t protect the quarterback (it will be a miracle in McCoy makes it 16 games in one piece).

“I don’t think we did very good overall protecting the quarterback,” tackle Joe Thomas said in the understatement of the season. “We’ve got to play better if we want to win in the future. It wasn’t anything we didn’t expect. They open the playbook up when you’re down, 14-0, right away. There’s nothing that they can’t do. You can’t spot them 14. That’s just the bottom line.”

Josh Cribbs continue to be the lone bright spot on offense – and the one player that really seems to bring it every week. Cribbs, playing in his 100th career game, had a 64-yard kickoff return, five receptions and a touchdown. He’s already set career bests with 22 catches for 298 yards. He also had three tackles on special teams.

Everyone else? Not much.

“I don’t want to say we’re at a crossroads, but this is a point where you can go one of two ways — pack it in and fold or keep trying to get better,” linebacker Scott Fujita said in published reports. “And defensively we can’t afford to take a step back.”

We knew coming into the season that things could get rough. With only two drafts under his belt and a reduced off-season, there has only been so much that general manager Tom Heckert could do to clean up the mess left for him by Phil Savage and Eric Mangini. There are only four players left on the team from Savage’s last draft in 2008 and Mangini’s one-and-only draft in 2009.

Maybe if they didn’t have so many holes to fill across the team Heckert would have realized what a bad idea it was to go into the season relying on Tony Pashos at right tackle, who’s been a turnstile and is now injured again.

Unfortunately there is nothing the Browns can do about those problems now. They have to face the last half of the season with the team they have, not they one we wish for.

And the team is left to come home, lick its wounds, and get ready for the 1-7 Rams next weekend at home. The Rams have somehow managed to score fewer points than the Browns this season, so we should all be in for some kind of offensive treat next weekend.

For now, we’ll leave it to Cribbs to sum up the loss to the Texans.

“They beat us up,” he said in published reports. “They beat us up front, all across the board. Give them credit, they were whooping us up front. They whipped us all over.”

That they did.

(Photo by The Associated Press)

Posted in Cleveland Browns, Colt McCoy, horror show, Josh Cribbs, NFL | Leave a comment

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