If Jimmy Haslam, Joe Banner and Rob Chudzinski were not already fully aware of the task before them, Sunday night’s Super Bowl drove the point home for the new Cleveland Browns regime.
It wasn’t so much that the Baltimore Ravens won (although that is pretty big) but that the Ravens’ appearance in the Super Bowl illustrated how much of a presence the AFC North has had in the NFL postseason over the past 10-plus years.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame selection committee made its choices on Saturday and the 2013 class includes three players who made it on their first try, a wide receiver who waited a number of years and one head coach.
And no Art Modell.
Elected this year were offensive linemen Larry Allen and Jonathan Ogden, wide receiver Cris Carter, defensive tackle Warren Sapp and head coach Bill Parcells.
And no Art Modell.
There were also two senior nominees elected, defensive tackle Curly Culp and linebacker Dave Robinson.
We admit to being a bit apprehensive when the news first broke that the Cleveland Browns intended to hire Ray Horton and his 3-4 defensive principles to be the team’s defensive coordinator.
But Horton’s introductory press conference, combined with some time to consider what he wants to do, has us starting to buy into what Horton is selling on defense.
“We are going to be a defense that gives offenses problems,” Horton said (and when was the last time anyone could say that about a Browns defense?). “Our guys can play a multitude of things. I don’t like to get pigeonholed into, ‘Well, he is this.’ Here’s what we’re going to be. We’re going to be a team that looks at the offense and tries to take away what they do best. Now, that may mean one snap being a 5-2. The next snap it may be a 4-4. It will be predicated by what the offense does and we have athletes that can stand up, that can put their hand in the ground and that can run. That’s why I go back to the multi-front defense.
“I can’t tell you what we’re going to be right now, it depends on who we line up game one against. What do they do? What do we need to take away? The thing I’m most excited about is I have a group of athletes that can run and hit and they’re not limited to just saying, ‘Coach, line me up in a specific front, number system and play.’ Just run and hit.”
As a new regime and a new coaching staff in Berea face the same old questions during yet another off-season of change for the Cleveland Browns, there is one eternal question that stands above all the rest:
What should the Browns do about the quarterback position?
But unlike years past, where fans were forced to debate the merits of Tim Couch vs. Kelly Holcomb, Trent Dilfer vs. Charlie Frye or Derek Anderson vs. Brady Quinn, this time the answer is as simple as it is obvious.
Brandon Weeden should be the Browns starting quarterback in 2013.
To find out why, visit The Cleveland Fan.
… it doesn’t pay off in the standings.
One of the long-held beliefs in the NFL is the need to build a team “from within” – meaning you should focus on having a strong offensive and defensive line.
The Browns have been doing just that the past few years and it is starting to pay off in one respect, as Pro Football Focus ranked the offensive line as the fifth best in the NFL.
On Feb. 2, the 46-member selection committee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame will meet to vote on this year’s class of inductees.
And there is a chance that the unthinkable may happen when the group gets together in New Orleans – they may actually vote Art Modell into the Hall of Fame.
According to the hall’s website, the selection committee is “charged with the vital task of continuing to be sure that new enshrinees are the finest the game has produced.”
In no way does that describe Modell and, if the selection committee ignores how he stole the Browns from Cleveland and votes him in, the Hall of Fame would be better off shutting its doors forever.
To learn more about Modell’s sham candidacy for the hall, head over to The Cleveland Fan.
Talking isn’t doing. It is a kind of good deed to say well; and yet words are not deeds. – William Shakespeare
Three days later and we’re still trying to wrap our brains around the fact that Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam signed off on a deal to bring Mike Lombardi back to Cleveland.
Plenty of people are talking about the decision – not surprising since Lombardi has not actually worked in the NFL since 2007 – and we have to wonder just what it is that 99 percent of the NFL missed on Lombardi all these years. So many openings, so few job offers.
So let’s take a look at what Lombardi’s biggest supporters have been saying.
A new regime and a new era in Cleveland Browns football.
That’s what fans were promised when Jimmy Haslam bought the team from Randy Lerner, cleaned out team president Mike Holmgren, general manager Tom Heckert and coach Pat Shurmur and installed Joe Banner as CEO.
But in so many ways, it’s still business as usual in Berea with Friday’s announcement that the Browns had hired Mike Lombardi to serve as vice president of player personnel.
The Philadelphia Eagles hired Oregon coach Chip Kelly on Wednesday, surprising, well, pretty much everyone.
The hiring’s impact rippled all the way to Cleveland, where Browns fans were as bipolar as always with reactions ranging from betrayal that Kelly chose the Eagles over the hometown Browns, to anger at Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner for not being able to “seal the deal” with the skittish Kelly.
The reality, however, is that the Kelly hiring should have absolutely no impact on the Browns – just because the Eagles sneezed doesn’t mean the Browns have to catch the flu.
To find out what this all means, visit The Cleveland Fan.
(Photo by Getty Images)
… the renaming of Cleveland Browns Stadium to FirstEnergy Stadium, Home of the Cleveland Browns, is currently near the bottom of the list.
The Browns made it official on Tuesday, selling the naming rights to their home field to the Akron-based energy company.
Red Right 88 