Dwayne Rudd's Helmet

286 yards and a cloud of dust

2009-12-21T07:20:00.002-05:00

I'm seeing alot of irony in Jerome Harrison's monster 286 yard performance against the Chiefs. I present for your consideration:

>> Jamal Lewis' 295 yards against the Browns back in 2003 was a similar effort as Harrison's yesterday. Both were equal parts luck, good offensive line play, and poor tackling.

>> Although Lewis has had a solid career, I think the consensus is he's no Hall of Fame material. His 295 yard game and 2000 yard season were outliers, with the rest of his career being pretty pedestrian.

>> Despite the fact that those performances were outliers, Lewis continued to benefit from them for the remainder of his career. The way I see it, without those two high marks on his resume, he would've been no higher regarded than Thomas Jones or Fred Taylor. I doubt he would've gotten paid as much as he was by the Browns if that 295 yard day wasn't so prominent in the Browns' collective memory.

>> It seems like its been years that I've been calling for Harrison to get more touches, rather than making Lewis the feature back. Albeit, Lewis is a bit of a different style from Harrison, but I'm sure working as much in his favor was his history of accomplishments, as well as his pay grade.

>>I doubt yesterday was Harrison's coming out party. It will probably get him some more looks, maybe give him a marginally better payday once he hits free agency. Either way, I doubt the current management is going to try to make him into a feature back.

>> I started off with a point, but seemed to have lost it some where along the way. So it goes.

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Re: Holmgren and Mangini-

Holmgren sounds like a great possibility, one should never underestimate a fat man with a mustache. That being said, you're putting a HECK of alot of faith in the man by letting him decide if he's going to be GM or coach. I think thats been one of the Brown's management's biggest problems: putting too much pressure on one guy, making him carry the whole weight on his back.

I won't defend Mangini, I just hate coaching changes. Its a guarantee for a wasted season and a wasted draft. If Holmgren does come in, I hope he considers the situation very closely before making a decision. I won't blame him if he can't make it work with Mangini, but change for change's sake doesn't do anyone any good.

Pay no attention . . .

2009-09-22T20:07:00.002-04:00

Just for the official record, this is a dead blog. If you happen to see any new postings, its just a rare lapse by a frustrated and/or drunk Browns fan. . .

A few weeks back I shelled out $30 to get access to the NFL Game Rewind, that lets me watch any game from the current season or past season. Being here in DC (for the time being, Hello Cleveland!) I don't get to watch many games live, so I at least like to be able to review them after the fact.

That being said, Dude, WTF?!

Last week's game isn't even worth watching. I'm paying the $30, but tonight when there is flowing beer and pizza at hand, I don't even care to see the travesty that is the Cleveland Browns. I'm watching the Ravens/Chargers game, just because I want to watch an actual football game.

My blood will always be orange and brown, but I'm reaching the end of my patience. Just my luck, by the time I actually am back in the land of the Cleve, Browns games will be blacked out locally, as well.

Is it drafty in here?

2009-04-27T13:55:00.002-04:00

This Mangini guy is starting to grow on me. Count me in the camp that likes the draft.

Its seems like the biggest not against the Browns draft is that it was boring, with no potential superstars, and I agree, I don't think that this draft is going to produce any superstars. But I think it went a LOOONG way towards filling in any remaining holes and improving the general level of the supporting cast. Now the superstar-wannabe's we already have on hand (Shaun Rogers, Kam Wimbley, DQwell Jackson, Braylon Edwards, Brady Quinn and/or Derek Anderson) can hopefully live up to their potential, instead of being held back because there's no help around to take the pressure off.

I'm usually in favor of trading down. Drafting in the top 10, especially in a draft as weak as this one, is a curse, not a blessing. Not only do you overpay for a player, but you're practically forced to swing for the fences, even if what is really needed is a nice single to the gap to drive in a run. Out of the top 10 picks this year, at least 5 will end up being busts, but they'll all be paid like superstars. Why hijack your salary cap for those kinds of odds?

Frankly, once Aaron Curry was gone, I was happy to ditch the pick and not take a QB, regardless of what we got from the Jets. Sanchez has only started 16 games! None of the other "options" for that slot sounded too great, either. So I would've been fine if the trade had just been for the Jets 1st and 2nd picks. Getting the three players is just a bonus. The three Jets we're getting all help fill holes with some known quantities, even if its unlikely that any will be superstars. The other trades in the first with Tampa Bay and Philly were great moves, too, sliding down a few spots, still drafting a solid player, and picking up a couple more draft picks in the process.

I think a huge reason our offensive production fell off last year is our loss of Joe Jurevicis, which left us with no one who could move the chains consistently on third and long and take the pressure off the vertical threats. So I'm thrilled that we picked up two guys with alot of potential to fill that #2 role. Don't look at it as wasting a pick on a #2 receiver, look at it as using a pick to resurrect your #1 receiver, since he needs a good #2 across from him.

Overall, we have 11 new players from this weekend, not counting the undrafted free agents who have been signed. Chances are at least 3 will be starting on opening day (Alex Mack, Brian Robiskie, Kenyon Coleman), while others will fill holes even if they aren't starting right now (Abram Elam, Brett Ratliff, David Veikune, Mohamad Massaquoi).

Wow

2009-03-14T23:27:00.002-04:00

I don't want to get into the Donte Stollworth situation. Its too serious for a football blog. I just want to say that he should be cut.

That is appropriate

2009-03-13T20:26:00.001-04:00

I approve of signing a player nicknamed "Pork Chop". That his Christian name is Floyd is simply a bonus.

And your mama, too

2009-03-12T08:39:00.002-04:00

Why is Eric Mangini so dead set on alienating the Browns fanbase?

So far he has:

>> Alienated Shaun Rogers

>> Signed a number of no-name Jets, including signing Hank Poteat when Leigh Bodden could still have been had.

>> Traded Kellen Winslow Jr. (although this was already coming)

>> Declared that Browns history is meaningless

>> Cut Joe Jurevicis, despite his desire to stay with the team and to take a pay cut.

Its enough to make me wish we still had the Crennel/Savage duo. Yeah, they were incompetent, but at least they didn't actively try to piss off the fans.

Assuming that Mangini is intentionally trying to tick us off, here are a couple more ideas for him:

>> Cut Phil Dawson. Sign a kicker with a European name and a big leg, whose every kickoff is a touchback, but whose field goal percentage is the same from 30 yards as it is from 50.

>> Sign or trade for a marginal veteran QB (Kyle Boller, Jeff Garcia?). After an inconclusive and unbalanced QB competition, declare him the winner based on a "gut" feeling, while DA and Brady Quinn sit on the bench. Despite his performance (or lack there-of), stick with him.

>> Use our 4th round pick to draft a long-snapper who can compete with Ryan Pontbriand

>> Compare Browns fans unfavorably to Ravens fans or steelers fans

>> Flatly refuse to let Josh Cribbs do anything

>> Sign a marginal Jets backup running back and cut/don't use Jerome Harrison

>> Ignore special teams

>> For the legacy/team advisor position, replace Jim Brown with John Elway

>> Trade up in the draft to take a new QB

>> Lose to pittsburgh

Experience counts, does anything else?

2009-01-07T22:56:00.002-05:00

I won't pretend that this is still a functional blog. Work is busy, and I've lost a bit of the passion (for reading every scrap of Browns news and posting, not for the Browns themselves). I'd like to keep it up, but we'll see.

But the coach search has gotten me riled up enough to figure out what my password is.

I don't have much faith. Lerner came into this search process with one thing in mind: hire a guy who has coached before. Shanahan, Cowher, and Schottenheimer were all out of the running, so our only choices were Detroit's guy, Crennel, or Mangini.

I'm OK with putting a premium on experience, but that shouldn't be your sole criteria. Here, I think it was.

This will not end well.

Nah, calling it your job don't make it right, boss

2008-10-20T22:40:00.004-04:00

A few things have surfaced about the Browns in the last 36 hours, but I'll leave the sloppy performance against the Redskins to another post.

Most interesting to me are the emerging details around Kellen Winslow's recent visit to the Cleveland Clinic, which was not just to cheer up sick kids as one might have expected. Pardon me if I sound a bit conspiratorial, but I just finished watching JFK.

So Winslow goes into the hospital for three days. The only word emerging from the Browns, via coach Crennel, state simply that its a minor issue that he can't discuss. Meanwhile, rumors run rampant around the internet that Winslow is there because of "swollen testicles", with some rumor mills suggesting its a case of the clap (no doubt from an overzealous WAC?).

After returning to the field and taking part in an ugly Browns' loss, Winslow breaks the silence to say he was in the hospital because of an all-too-frequent staph infection. Now Winslow is being portrayed as the villain for going public, with Crennel threatening to fine or suspend Winslow, and Terry Pluto writing the Browns' front office's cover story.

Winslow has seen his share of adversity over the years, and he has brought alot of it on himself. And I'm aware that he has been vocal that he wants a new contract (which, I have pointed out before, is not entirely undeserved). But to suggest that his disclosure (which the Browns have confirmed) is nothing but a money-grabbing scheme (as Pluto has suggested) is just downright wrong.

As briefly noted opposite of Pluto's take, staph infections are no laughing matter with the Browns. Over the past few years multiple Browns have had already serious injuries turned into life-threatening illnesses by staph infections. The Browns have become the butt of jokes throughout the league because of the frequency of these infections, and there is little doubt that it must enter into any free agent's mind when entertaining offers to join the squad.

Given this history, it's understandable that the Browns' front office wants to keep quiet another outbreak of the dreaded staph infection. Understandable, but unconscionable.

The fact is that, in a time where formerly simple diseases are emerging as uncontrollable plagues (OK, hyperbole, but not much so) the last thing we need as a society is to be sweeping this kind of thing under the rug. Drug-resistant bacterial infections are becoming a fact of life in the sports world and the larger world in general, and its just one more issue that confronts us as a country.

But beyond that, Winslow was being raked over the coals by the free (but unscrupulous) press. Not only was his masculinity being denigrated, but his fidelity to his wife. I, for one, cannot blame the man for setting the record straight, regardless of its effects on the Browns' efforts to control information.

Kellen Winslow has his flaws. But he deserves respect for his commitment to the game, if not to the Browns. On a surgically repaired (but not healed) knee he has dragged himself out there to lay his well-being on the line for the Browns, in both losing efforts as well as winning. In the process he has not only bourn incredible pain (the man has little cartilage left in his knee, dealing with bone scraping upon bone), but actually risking his future ability to walk about freely and unhindered. Yes, he is better compensated than I or most human beings. But what is money, compared to the ability to walk? What is money, compared to the respect of your peers, and the respect of the public?

Winslow had every right to go public with his story, and he will have every right to take the Browns' retaliatory response into consideration when deciding his future with the team. And we may eventually hear the Browns' side of the story. I just hope we can believe it.

Whoa baby, whats this football-like substance found in my jar of Browns?

2008-10-13T23:44:00.003-04:00

Quick disclaimer: I DID call for benching Derek Anderson. My sudden birth of enthusiasm IS an example of fairweather fandom. And I don't give a $%@$!

But to try to remain some semblance of face, I read and was impressed by this article before the Browns' surprise win over the Giants. The main gist? Through Football Outsiders game charting program, they have been able to show that Derek Anderson's passing has been improving markedly since last year, and its really been an increase of poor receiver play and good defensive play that has held our passing attack back.

But what does any of that matter now? The good guys just won a MAJOR upset, and they did in pretty impressive fashion.

GO BROWNS!!

Coin flips and bad coaching

2008-09-25T07:05:00.002-04:00

Back when Crennel flipped a coin to decide between Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson, it was ridiculous, but decisive. His current "decision" is still pretty ridiculous, but even lacks the decisiveness of his coin flip.

I assume he feels he's showing his players loyalty and even handedness. It might work if the players were children, but most of them are not, and they must see through this ruse pretty easily.

Regardless of where you come down in the Anderson/Quinn debate, I think few fans can look at this "decision" as a good approach. Crennel should have either given Anderson a vote of confidence, or he should have pulled the trigger on Quinn.

The head coach's primary responsibility is not to draw up playbooks, scout players, or call plays. His primary job is to decide, given the players on the roster, who will be playing on Sunday, and getting those players motivated. Crennel is failing miserably in this regard.

I predict that we will not see Quinn on Sunday, no matter how poorly the offense performs.

Disappointment Materialized

2008-09-16T00:20:00.002-04:00

My apathy from the offseason has been replace by disgust with the actual season. It looks like we're heading for a losing record at this early point in the season, and even if we miraculously end up in the playoffs, its looking pretty unlikely that we could hang with the big boys once we're there. My only hope for redemption is if the team manages to get healthy fast enough to offset the usual injuries that pop up as the season slogs on.

Its impossible to place blame, since pretty much both sides of the ball have been sucking things up, and special teams have looked pretty pedestrian. But I'm here to try.

The offense has been totally ineffective, scoring one TD over the first two games, and even that TD was aided by some key defensive penalties. Derek Anderson has continued with his mediocre play from the end of last season. Even when he manages a decent pass, the receivers are dropping balls left and right.

The receiving corp has looked like a real sham, and I think a big part of that comes from the missing Joe Jurevicis. Last year saw too many series that consisted of a short run (or a short Kellen Winslow completion) and a dropped Braylon Edwards pass that were redeemed by Jurevicis getting the job done on 3rd and medium-to-long. With no Jurevicis this year, we're seeing too many three and outs. Beyond that, the occasional Braylon Edwards big play flashes are even less likely as opposing defenses can concentrate on Edwards since the rest of our receiving corp consists mostly of no-names.

The missing dynamic that we were all hoping for was Donte Stallworth lined up across from Edwards, giving us the twin deep threats. But where is Stallworth? Looks like he's another case of the Cleveland curse. But even when/if Stallworth gets back, we can't forget that he is a very different receiver than Jurevicis. Stallworth isn't going to give us the reliable first downs that Jurevicis does, so even when he's back we probably won't see the three-and-outs disappear, we'll just see a few more big plays that give us a five-and-out with a punt from the 50 yard line instead of the 20 yard line.

The offense could get back on track quickly, but until it does the Brady Quinn watch will only intesify, and deservedly so.

I don't care much about the defense. Sure, they suck, but not any worse than last year, and we've only seen them against offenses (Dallas and pittsburgh) that so far look pretty explosive.

The biggest area of disappointment is the TERRIBLE job done by Romeo Crennel's coaching staff. Between the poor clock management, crappy situational tactics, and complete inability to change the team's approach to match the situation on the field the Crennel regime has probably cost us one winnable game, and will continue making this team worse. Crennel continues to coach as if we're a dominating team (ala the Patriots) whether or not the team can pull it off. His style may pay off once the team gets healthy and starts clicking, but until then he's going to be costing us games that will eliminate any chance of a playoff push late once the team heals up.

I retain the right to get excited by this season, but I am not yet at the point where I'm willing to exercise that option.

The Cruise

2008-09-07T10:35:00.002-04:00

Hola, Amigos. I know its been a long time since I rapped at ya, but things have been getting plenty hairy around here. But what's all that, when today is the beginning of Browns season?

I don't have much to say about the Browns, and haven't for the last few months. There are some reasons for hope, there are some reasons for worry. I can see 6-10 as easily as easily as I can see 12-4. I can see us ending the season looking to trade a superfluous quarterback as easily as I can see us cutting one QB and questioning another.

But who cares? Just bring on the football!

World Ends

2008-05-23T07:30:00.002-04:00

The biggest news right now is that Daven Holly is done for the season. Its a shame, he had some talent, and he was reliable. But to read Tony Grossi's article, you'd think that we just lost the second coming of Hanford Dixon.

I'll admit, on the surface this is starting to look like the 2006 Center situation. But in that case, we were reduced from having arguably the best center in the league to having nothing. Here, we still have the two guys who represent our brightest future at the position in Eric Wright and Brandon MacDonald. Also, that happened a month before the season started. This is still May. And lets not forget how the 2006 center fiasco ended: We gave up a 6th round pick for team captain Hank Fraley, who anchors the center of our line to this day.

Phil Savage has alot of work to do to get warm bodies in to take over for Holly, Kenny Wright, and Leigh Bodden. And the coaches will have alot of work to do to get them up to speed and figure out how to use them. And the secondary will probably be a little worse than they could have been. But this is hardly the end of the season. That won't be until the rest of the corners get hurt.

A well deserved extension

2008-05-03T07:47:00.002-04:00

We have a few more years to trust in Phil.

And thats a good thing. Despite my recent concerns of Phil's love of the trade, the man has undoubtedly upgraded the Browns organization in a very meaningful way. The upgrades run much deeper than our current 10-6 roster. The processes he has brought to the team's player evaluation and acquisition strategies is already proving its superiority to the Butch Davis method of familiarity and gut feelings. Ace Davis has a good review of one of Phil's strategies that will be paying off for the Browns for a while.

I think I've already said it, but just bringing us a quality offensive line is reason enough for me to say "In Phil we trust!"

AFC North headed South

2008-04-30T22:17:00.002-04:00

Part of the worry of going into the draft with few picks was that the other teams may catch up to the Browns. Fortunately, the Ravens, Bengals, and steelers GMs did their best to set our minds at ease:

Baltimore Ravens:
Trading down to stockpile picks was worrisome at first. But then they went and traded up for Derek Anderson wannabe Joe Flacco. I still haven't seen anything that sets this guy apart from our own 6th-round-pick-turned-free-agent-pick-up. Other than the fact that he cost the Ratbirds a first round pick (and first round money). He can throw the ball 50 yards from his knees? Frisman Jackson could throw 70 yards. Thats not going to help much with a bad corp of receivers and an o-line thats ready to apply for Social Security. The Ravens QB carousel is going to spin faster than our old Holcomb/Couch problem with de-facto Head Coach Ray Lewis calling the shots. I'm sure the Wizard of Oz got a few choices right when he was allowed to make the later picks, but its not going to be enough to help that train-wreck waiting to happen.

Cincinnati Bengals:
They were stuck in a tough position in the first round, with the best available players being cornerbacks and offensive tackles. So they picked a linebacker based on need. Then they picked up a few wide receivers who will have fun trying to replace hold-out Chad Johnson and released multiple felon Chris Henry. And just as we all thought they were ready to turn the corner on their collection of criminals, they go and draft defensive tackle Jason Shirley, who comes with outstanding charges before he's even been in the Bengals' locker-room. He might have a chance to learn a bit from newly-reinstated linebacker Odell Thurman, if he can get into camp before Thurman gets busted again.

pittsburgh steelers:
They got high marks from draftniks for picking value running backs and wide receivers. It'll be fun to see what those guys can do behind an offensive line that makes the Ravens' line look like. . . . . . well look like the Browns' line. Out: Alan Faneca. In: Tony Hills. Their line had a tough time keeping Roethlisberger upright against the Browns' pitiable defensive line last year. Our defensive line has improved ten fold. Their line has gotten worse. If Roethlisberger survives the season, I'll be surprised.

Browns, Usury, and the Credit Crunch

2008-04-27T22:26:00.003-04:00

I logged on to check the draft progress around the 18th pick in round 4. Little did I expect that by then we had already made two picks.

Some of the picks sound kind of interesting. But thats not my thing. I don't know squat about college players. But I do know a little bit about finance. So I think I am somewhat qualified to point out that Phil Savage is addicted to credit, and he needs an intervention.

Savage is addicted to borrowing from the future to meet the needs of today. How fitting that its going on while our country is going through a credit crunch because of overuse and abuse of credit in the recent past.

The thing is, taking out loans and borrowing isn't necessarily bad. Borrowing is a good thing when you expect the payoff to exceed your finance charges. So taking out a loan to buy a truck for your job that will make you more than the cost of the truck is a good idea. But financing isn't always good. Taking out a home equity loan to buy a big screen tv is probably always a bad idea.

Applying this comparison to football is a bit tricky because the difference isn't whether you're using your picks for a truck or a tv. At the end of the day, draft picks are only worth anything to the extent that they get you players. There is no clear line between a trade to get great value and gambling away the future for immediate needs.

Think of it this way: We trade next year's 3rd rounder to get a 4th rounder this year to use on a guy who should've gone in the 2nd round. So next year, what do we do when a 1st rounder falls into the 3rd round and we don't have a pick left?

The fact is, EVERY year good players drop to later rounds. So using a pick from next year to get value this year just means you won't be able to get (or will have to overpay for) value next year.

Its possible that Phil felt better about getting late-round value this year compared to next year because we've focused more attention on the later rounds (without having to be distracted by scouting 1st rounders). But how good can a sixth round wide receiver really be (Marques Colston excepted)?

The only thing that really matters is the quality of the players Phil brings in. If his picks this year result in starters at linebacker, tight end, and wide receiver, then his trades may be worth it. But lets hope that Phil gets over his addiction to using future picks.

The Browns win the first round

2008-04-26T18:30:00.002-04:00

How do you win the first round without having a pick? By the fact that 8 teams selected offensive linemen. That surely has a more than a little to do with the huge impact Joe Thomas has had on the Browns offensive line, and the huge impact the improved line has had on the entire offense.

Too bad none of them are going to be as good as quickly as Joe was/is.

Go Browns!!

I think I hold up well to even intense scrutiny

2008-04-16T07:03:00.003-04:00

Yadda-yadda-yadda. . . . . .schedule is out . . . . . . tough opponents. . . . . . 5 primetime games. . . . . .increased exposure brings increased scrutiny. . .

I don't see why having prime time games is necessarily a good thing. I know the players like the national spotlight, and as a dislocated fan I like that I can find any old neighborhood bar to see the game at, instead of having to squeeze into a Backers' location or struggle with SOPcast. But it also means alot of annoying hype and annoying announcers who know half as much as the local guys but talk as if they know twice as much.

I don't think its necessarily a sign that the NFL expects big things out of the Browns, which appears to be the conventional wisdom. Rather, I think its a sign that, even when the Browns play a bad game, they do so pretty excitingly.

As we've known for a while, on paper our line-up of opponents looks pretty tough. But every year a handful of teams crash and burn, while another handful come out of nowhere. Hopefully we have a couple of the former on our schedule.

The first four games are a pretty tough test. At home against Dallas and pittsburgh, then at Baltimore and Cincinnati, then the bye. I'm not going to say we should be happy if we're 2-2, because we should be able to beat any of our division rivals. But division games tend to put "should" on its head.

This is going to be a long off-season. . .

NFL: Yup, they got screwed

2008-04-02T13:31:00.002-04:00

The NFL has announced rule changes for next year. Two of the changes are direct responses to plays that screwed, or almost screwed, the Browns:
>> Allow replay to review fieldgoals. Against Baltimore, the Phil Dawson game winning field goal was called no good until some discussion, and perhaps some refs unofficially seeing the replay.
>> Eliminate the force-out rule. Against the Cardinals, a game tying Kellen Winslow touchdown catch ended with his getting forced out of bounds. The refs didn't call the force out, an inherent judgement call, and the replays for the rest of the week led many viewers to believe that the Browns got robbed of a win.

There was another rule change that was proposed and not adopted that would have changed the seeding order in the playoffs, supposedly to keep teams from intentionally tanking late season games. This also was in direct response to the Browns getting screwed out the playoffs.

I've always held that the Browns get the short end of the stick over and over again. The fact that rule changes are happening because of it just confirms my suspicions. I don't think these rule changes represent that the Browns' shafting this season was any worse than past years. Its more just the fact that when we got screwed in the past, we were still terrible, so the common wisdom is "they would've lost anyways". Now that we're a good team, it makes a bigger impact on the powers that be.

Once you get locked into a serious lineman collection, the tendency is to push it as far as you can

2008-03-30T13:05:00.003-04:00

The Browns have added Rex Hadnot and re-signed Seth McKinney.

Assuming the starting line that finished out last season -- Joe Thomas, Eric Steinbach, Hank Fraley, Ryan Tucker, and Kevin Shaffer -- hold on to their starting jobs, that gives us a backup line of Nat Dorsey, Lennie Friedman, Rex Hadnot, Seth McKinney, Isaac Sowells, and LeCharles Bentley. That backup line is better than most of our pre-2007 starting lines. Of course, Pete Prisco at CBS thinks that O-line depth is one of our "needs".

So what's the deal? Is Phil Savage overly concerned about injuries? Its not a terrible thing, given the age of Tucker and Fraley and Bentley's situation over the past two years.

But I also wouldn't be surprised if we saw a Kevin Shaffer trade on draft day. I'm sure Savage would be comfortable shifting Ryan Tucker back to right tackle and letting McKinney or Hadnot start at guard. That wouldn't be an improvement, but if it could get us back into the third round I could see it happen.

Making Peace

2008-03-02T07:53:00.002-05:00

It took me a while to come to terms with the flurry of trades that Savage has embarked on.

Gone are our 2nd and 3rd round picks, Leigh Bodden, and the potential for 1st and 3rd round picks for Derek Anderson. Instead we've picked up 700 pounds on the defensive line, a QB who won ten games for us, and a speedy receiver who should help stretch the field.

My initial thoughts were similar to sentiments I read on pft: Trading picks is a good way to trade away the future for immediate gains. The Dolphins' repeated use of trades is part of why they are in their current state. A one year bender such as this probably isn't enough to put a nail in the coffin, but it should not become a habit.

However, I think that I have come to understand the method to Phil's madness.

Some positions can be built through free agency, and some cannot. Running back, guard, receiver, safety, linebacker, while the superstars of these positions rarely become available through free agency, second tier replacements can be had most any season. However at key positions such as Left Offensive Tackle, Quarterback, and Defensive Tackle there is both a wide gulf between second tier and first tier, and a short supply of the first tier. As such, the first tier players at those positions almost never are allowed to become free agents. So to acquire a quality left tackle or defensive tackle, one must either draft them, or trade for them.

So our #1 pick this year, as well as the "potential" 1st and 3rd round picks for Anderson, have gone toward shoring up a quarterback position that has been a keystone cop routine up until now. And really, anyone who remembers the change in offense from the switch from Charlie Frye to Derek Anderson should be only too aware that the best offensive line, wide receiver, running back, and tight end cannot compensate for an incompetent quarterback.

Last year's number one pick shored up the left tackle position in a way that few of us hoped.

And our #2 and #3 picks this year (plus Leigh Bodden) have gone toward defensive linemen. Just think back to Rothlisberger's 30 yard run in our last meeting to understand the prudence of this move.

So our use of picks was at least worthwhile.

Free Agency Day 1

2008-02-29T12:46:00.002-05:00

Its been an eventful 12.5 hours. We trade our second round pick for a defensive tackle, and then sign Derek Anderson to a three year extension.

I've posted about Derek Anderson enough. Its a good move to hold onto a potentially-elite quarterback for not alot of cash. Sure, the 1st and 3rd round picks were tantalizing, but A) there was no guarantee anyone was going to give up the picks to sign him, and B) Brady Quinn is no sure thing, and the last thing we want to go through is another long search for a QB.

The Corey Williams trade is still something I'm trying to decide on. He sounds like he'll be a great addition. A 6-4, 313 pound guy with 14 sacks over the past two seasons should be able to plug holes and create pressure in ways that we've been pretty desparate for. That being said, he's not a spring chicken (turns 28 before the season starts), he's not elite, and he's not cheap. Could we have found someone better with our second round pick? Probably not, at least as far as having an immediate impact. But pretty soon Phil's going to have to settle down his wheeling and dealing and return to fundamentals of building through the draft.

I'm not saying that any of Savage's recent moves were bad. As he showed in rebuilding the offensive line last year, the free agents can be valuable when they let your previous high draft picks show their talents. If a rebuilt Defensive Line can freeup our linebackers, cornerbacks, and safeties to show what they're made of, then its a great investment.

This is just day one. We still need more warm bodies on the defensive line, and I wouldn't be surprised to see us bring in a wide receiver or line backer. So its good for a start.

Restocking the D-line?

2008-02-28T22:44:00.002-05:00

PFT is reporting that we have worked out a trade with Green Bay for Corey Williams, their franchised Defensive Tackle. No word yet on what we are giving up.

So expectations were right on, Phil Savage is still making his bold moves. I fear we have yet to see how bold.

Another New Bronco?

2008-02-27T18:25:00.001-05:00

With word that the Browns have cut Orpheus Roye, the question on everyone's lips is "How long until Denver signs him?"

Tony Grossi makes a good observation: With this cut, along with the decision not to use Simon Fraser's restricted status to make him an offer, the D-line is set to go from just plain bad to short-staffed and bad. Unless Savage has some free agency/trade shenanigans up his sleeve. . .

Its hard to see what he might have planned, though. There aren't many top-flight d-linemen out there, so unless he's intending to overpay for an at-best mediocre line, he must be planning on making a splash elsewhere. Where could it be? Wide Receiver? Cornerback? Linebacker? Or maybe he's just planning on giving Ryan Pontbriand a $30M bonus if he completes more than 20 touchdown passes this season.

Paying Kellen

2008-02-25T13:11:00.004-05:00

Peter King had this note this morning:

I think, speaking of the Browns, that there's something not quite right about Kellen Winslow sniffing around for a new deal with three years left on his contract. Didn't the Browns pay him every dime when he was down with serious leg injuries after a 2005 motorcycle accident? I'm not saying he ought to be bowing to the organization forever, but he's been a Brown for four years. For the first two, he gave the Browns five catches, total. For the last two, he's been outstanding -- 171 catches and high impact. See the new set of problems you have when you actually win a few games?I think King has a few things mistaken (I'm just going off memory here, so don't quote me):
>> After Winslow's injury, most of his outstanding bonus payments were shifted to the end of his deal. However, he did lose out on $1M as a penalty for his stupidness .
>> However, that is just working off what he could have been otherwise owed. And while Winslow's original deal was termed a "blockbuster", he ended up missing out on millions of escalators due to his missing his first two seasons. That money that he missed is just gone.

If Kellen had gotten the full value of his rookie deal, he would have been overpaid. Given his missing those first two seasons, he's now probably a bit underpaid. Does he "deserve" to get a new contract to make him whole? No. But then again, does the Browns' current contract "deserve" that Winslow sacrifice his body and future ability to walk for the teams' success like he does?

I'd have no problem seeing us give him a bit of a bump. The Postens are gone and he's not only very humbled, but he's proven a dedication to the game and his team that is pretty amazing. Its better to do it now, in a position where you're holding all the cards, than when he's a few days away from being a free agent.

He's back, but is he still hungry?

2008-02-22T12:55:00.003-05:00

The Browns resigned Jamal Lewis, with a deal for three years that is reported to be worth $17M (just over the 1 year $5M contract he played under for '07).

It might be less than he could have gotten elsewhere, but its no bargain. If he can give us three years close to what we got in '07, it will be worth it. The only concerns are injuries, or if he decides to start his retirement while he's still on the clock. He's no longer playing for the next contract, so it really comes down to how much of professional is he. Most reports are that he is a good team player, so lets hope they're right.

I'm glad we got him signed. I'm not in the Jamal Lewis fan club, but I'm also not in the Football Outsiders/MBTL Jamal haterz association, either. He's a veteran back who is reliable if not explosive, and has the ability to make teams pay for their mistakes. He is no Jim Brown, but he is a definite improvement on anyone else the new Browns have had.

We should still draft a running back if we can get good value, but with Jerome Harrison, Jason Wright, and Lawrence Vickers on the roster, that is not a high priority.

Hopefully I can recycle this post next week and fill in Derek Anderson's name.

Ahead of the curve

2008-01-31T13:59:00.000-05:00

Normally talk about free agents, the draft, and everything else, holds off for the most part until after the super bowl. Fortunately for those of us who don't care what Plaxico Burris thinks, not everyone is ignoring everything else.

PFT has a post about the Browns offer to Derek Anderson, and his reluctance to accept something shorter term than a 5-year deal.

Its a tricky situation, but before the hype (and probably numerous posts from me) starts in full force, I don't think its a bad situation or anything to be worried about. After all, he's a restricted free agent and he either plays for cheap for one year or we get draft picks. So the real key is how to turn make it the most advantageous.

Anderson is still a bit of an unknown commodity. He played great in one game in 06, and in most of the beginning of 07. But he also played average to bad in the rest of 06 and to close out 07. He has a strong arm, and with protection he can get the ball to (or in the general vicinity of) the hands of his playmakers. He also has been guilty of trying to force the ball, and he only appears to know one way to throw a ball: as a laserbeam. So some of the outstanding questions are:
>> Can he succeed without great protection?
>> Can he succeed without above-average receivers snagging his passes?
>> Will he ever learn to avoid bad throws, or will he still be making them when he's pushing 40 playing in the NFC championship game?

So there are questions. But the facts don't lie, with Anderson in there we won 10 games. I like how Peter King put it:

The basic goal of Anderson's deal should be:
>> Something we can live with for the next few (3-5?) years if he confirms himself as an elite quarterback. If he does that, getting rid of Quinn (or letting him ride the bench. Don't forget, his contract is full of escalators that he may never hit) should not be a concern.
>> Something that he can live with if he proves to be an elite QB.
>> Something that doesn't kill our cap if his does flame out and we have to cut him.
>> Something gives us a good bargaining position a year or so down the road if we decide to go with Quinn and trade Anderson

I'm thinking the deal should probably include a decent payday for 2008, including a modest signing bonus. Then a big roster bonus due before the 2009 season that will force the Browns management to $h!^ or get off the pot. And then the remainder would be an above average salary that includes a number of incentives that could make it into a very rich contract.

It could be tricky, and Anderson may opt to go the restricted free agent route if he can't get his big guarantees this year. But both he and the Browns have to be realistic about not only his huge potential, but also the huge risks.

Signs that we are descending into the offseason

2008-01-26T15:02:00.001-05:00

Ah, the mediocrity of non-news news.

Browns make offers to Anderson, Lewis

It draws to mind the middle-school taunt: "No sh**, Sherlock".

One of these days, maybe we'll find out WHAT the offers were.

My guess is that Lewis' deal is two years, probably more pay than the $5M he got for 2007. Not purely because he's worth it, but partially out of respect for him (all reports are that he's been a great addition to the locker room), and anticipation that in free agency some talentless team (Dolphins, Falcons, steelers) would offer him enough money so that he would agree to play for a crappy team.

Anderson's is probably a bit longer term, but a bit less money. Since they still have the fall-back of the restricted free agent thing, and since he's still more of an unknown commodity, that would seem prudent.

Just a punt returner

2008-01-14T07:43:00.000-05:00

I missed the Jacksonville/Patriots game. I was thankful to the Jaguars for knocking off pittsburgh, but I got a bit of amusement out of this Peter King nugget:

Goat of the Week

Jacksonville WR Dennis Northcutt. New England led 21-14 early in the fourth quarter on Saturday night, but the Jags were driving relentlessly behind better-than-expected quarterback David Garrard. Northcutt ran a post between two New England defenders, and Garrard hit him perfectly at the Patriots 2-yard line. You couldn't throw the ball any better -- right on Northcutt's hands. One problem. Northcutt clearly had alligator arms on the play, fearing the big hit from the New England safety, and the ball bounced off his hands, incomplete. Instead of tying the game at 21 and giving the Patriots something too think about down the stretch, the Jags had to settle for a field goal to close within 21-17. They never caught up.

He he, some things never change. . .

Post first, read later

2008-01-11T15:54:00.001-05:00

Trying to find more details about the Grantham story, I found this piece on the OBR, laying it very clear the rumored background to Grantham's departure. Too bad I haven't been keeping up with my OBR news.

This just highlights what a great resource the OBR is for Browns fans. If only I wasn't too cheap to pony up the cash to be a subscriber. . .

Speak of the devil

2008-01-11T15:39:00.000-05:00

This morning I posted about how having stability at the head coach makes it easier to swallow an inevitable coordinator change. I didn't realize that such a change would be only a few hours away. But per PFT, Todd Grantham has been shown the door.

I'm not disappointed, but I am a bit surprised. I'll be curious to find out if this came from Savage or Crennel or both. I guess the writing was on the wall with everyone getting a contract extension but Todd.

Maybe we can get that old steelers coach to be our new defensive coordinator. What was his name? Coward? Something like that?

Or maybe Savage has his eye on former Ravens defensive coordinator Rex Ryan. I don't know if Ryan does the 3-4 or not, but I'm sure any former Raven would be on Savage's list.

Controversial and loving it

2008-01-11T07:28:00.000-05:00

Going into the season I expected the end of the season to bring us a coaching controversy. But it looks like the PD is doing everything they can to foist a QB controversy on us.

I guess there isn't too much controversy about keeping Crennel, although I was surprised to see we're ready to give him an extension. One winning season does not a successful coach make. Remember Butch Davis in 2002? I don't expect Crennel to flame out like Davis, but he could come up with his own unique way to flame out.

Keeping Crennel around does have its upsides:
>> Veterans like playing for us.
>> He, along with his veterans, have really helped bring in an air of professionalism.
>> What's not to love about a fat guy with a mustache?
>> Through some trial and error, he and Savage seemed to have defined their roles pretty well.
>> I'll throw out the "s" word: he gives us stability. That is especially important given the wide latitude he gives his coordinators. No matter which team it is, replacing coordinators seems to be necessary every few years because the good ones get promoted and the bad one get fired. I'm sure the players like to know that even though there will likely be upheaval every few years, its not going to be a complete slash and burn.

Of course, its got its downsides too:
>> Every few games we get a really boneheaded move that may or may not be his fault. Bad challenges to calls, bad clock management.
>> A resistance to change. This means veterans play even when there are rookies who could take their spot. This is the flip side of the positive that veterans like playing for us.
>> He's smart enough to know when to keep his cards close to his chest, and not throw his players and staff under the bus. But lots of times he comes off sounding like an idiot in his press conferences, especially when its explaining a bad performance. I trust that he is not an idiot, and taking the heat for your players can be admirable. But it makes losses just a little bit worse.

All in all, I think the positives outweigh the negatives. This franchise is looking like it has finally turned the corner, and it being run like a professional team should be. That doesn't guarantee success on the field, but it sure makes it alot easier to attain.

---------------------------------------------------

As far as the QB "controversy": What's so controversial? Sign Anderson, listen to trade offers, give Quinn a chance to beat him out.

At times like this, its a good thing Phil Savage is a humble man

2008-01-09T06:57:00.000-05:00

Since the signing of Rob Chudzinski, the conventional wisdom has been that he was Phil Savage's pick, with Crennel essentially being told "this is your guy, hope you like him". Not that I've ever heard that Crennel protested to Chud's hiring. But it will be hard to forget that Crennel's original pick was fullback-focused (and, as well documented by Ace Davis, none-too truthful) Mo Carthon. If Crennel had had the coordinator pick to make on his own, he well could have ended up going with Jeff Davidson, whose Carolina offense was ranked 27th by Football Outsiders.

If Savage is to be given credit for getting Chud to Berea, then his selection has recently been validated by the Ravens who wanted Chud to come in to interview for their head coaching job. Fortunately for all of us, Chud turned them down, and signed an extension to stay in Cleveland. It works for Cleveland since Chud deserves alot of credit for the offense's resurgence; and it works for Chud since the Raven's coaching job has to be one of the worst positions in the NFL. Who would want to be the Raven's ostensible coach when Ray Lewis is the one calling the shots?

While Chud may be Savage's most important addition last season, his biggest addition is Joe Thomas, who has just won a back-door ticket to the Pro Bowl. Thomas has also been earning "Best Left Tackle" nods from national writers like Peter King and Len Pasquarelli. Its really hard for me to overstate how great it is to finally have an offensive line, and the whole package is really upgraded with a premier (and young!) left tackle. Now when we debate who should be at quarterback or running back, we can discuss them on their own merits rather than constantly saying "if they had protection, they could be. . .".

In one season, Phil Savage has turned around the Browns' offense. There are still pieces that will need tweaking, but even if an off-season of being planned against knocks them down a couple rungs next season, at least it won't be a bad offense. And that is all I ask for. Now about that defense. . .

Winning to lose

2007-12-31T08:44:00.000-05:00

After a great season that was more successful than anybody's wildest dreams, I guess I shouldn't revert to the all too familiar "woe-is-me" post, but I'm a Browns fan so it is what comes naturally to me.

We won 10 games (and at least our 10 wins all came against teams that were trying to win . . .) and yet are sitting at home this January. Here is a list of the number of teams who finished either 10-6 or 9-7 and did not make the playoffs. This goes back to the 1990 season, when the 12 team playoffs were put into place.

Season	10-6	9-7
2007	1	-
2006	-	1
2005	1	4
2004	-	3
2003	1	1
2002	-	4
2001	-	1
2000	-	4
1999	-	1
1998	-	-
1997	-	1
1996	-	2
1995	-	1
1994	-	2
1993	-	1
1992	-	2
1991	2	-
1990	-	2

Offended by silliness

2007-12-18T17:59:00.000-05:00

The 2007/8 ProBowl roster is out.

The good news: The Browns have ended their streak of shut-outs.
The bad news: There was some serious shafting going on.

I'll be the first to admit that ProBowl rosters tend to be popularity contests, and reflect past achievements and not current achievements. And furthermore, we all know how much of a team sport is, and how much of a disservice it is to pay homage to a couple guys and not the other guys who are allowing them to excel. But, it is what it is.

Braylon Edwards and Josh Cribbs will be representing the Browns. Thats fair. Cribbs by all means should be there, and its a rare example of the better player getting in over the higher-profile player (Wes Welker).

But how about Browns omissions? Kellen Winslow could beat out Gates or Gonzalez any day of the week. I would have liked to see Derek Anderson in over ben rothlisberger, not because I think he deserves it, just because it would have pissed off steelers fans so much. I also think that Lawrence Vickers probably deserves consideration, although I'll admit to not being the connoisseur of fullback play. Ditto on guard and tackle: I love what Joe Thomas and Eric Steinbach have been doing for us, but I can't speak to their comparative value.

We can complain all we want, but at least we've got guys who are there, unlike the Jacksonville Jaguars. . .

Best. Game. Ever.

2007-12-16T16:03:00.000-05:00

Wow, what a game! This was probably the best I've ever watched. It makes me wish I was a purist.

This must be what fans who reminisce about the old days are talking about. From the first snow covered shot, I knew it was going to have the setting of an old school Browns game. I just didn't expect for it to BE an old school Browns game, but thats exactly what it was. That was power football, a game of field position and execution. I wasn't too surprised to see Jamal Lewis and the Browns Offensive Line do such a good job. But how about that defense? We looked pretty decent against the run.

So now we're tied with Pittsburgh, and the only way we miss the playoffs is if we lose out and Tennessee wins out.

And Baltimore descends to a new low in losing to Miami. What a day!

Lake Effect

2007-12-16T13:11:00.000-05:00

The game has just started. Here in DC we've been spared any snow, but turning on the Browns game I see that not everyone has been so lucky.

THIS is a Browns - Bills game. Hellloo Cleveland!

It probably hurts our chances of winning, but its going to be a game to talk about for a long time.

Stop holding down the shift key

2007-12-13T07:36:00.000-05:00

I present for your consideration Jerome Harrison.

In three games this year, he has 16 carries for 109 yards, yielding a 6.8 average. 11 of his runs have been successful*, giving him a 69% success rate. He also has one reception for 15 yards. 11 of his runs have come on first down, and he hasn't had any third-and-short runs, but thats more a result of his success (he keeps running for 10-15 yards on first down).

Beyond his successful stats, the kid's running has just been exciting to watch. His cutting and spinning have helped account for at least a chunk of those 109 yards.

Now, I'm not saying he's ready to be the feature back, but based on his production, I'd like to see him get more touches.

* Gaining 40% of the yards needed for a first, or 100% on third down

Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder

2007-12-10T07:12:00.000-05:00

Others call the Browns win over the Jets ugly. It was closer than I would have liked, but I always had faith that we would pull it out.

I think some are denigrating the Browns' performance based on the assumptions that the Jets are a terrible team, and we should have won by alot more. While the Jets certainly don't look like a good team, they probably aren't as bad as their 3-10 record suggests. And considering the number of talking heads who were falling all over themselves to praise Eric Mangini last year, I have a hard time writing them off entirely. They beat the Steelers, after all, and having to face the AFC East, AFC North, and NFC East in one season is a tough call for a young team with injury problems.

The defense was terrible as usual, particularly in the two minute drill. Clearly the Jets were getting desperate, which can help explain alot of their success. We were playing with fire by kicking to Leon Washington, but the Jets recovery of that first onside kick was a matter of luck.

It will be good to go home again next week. And if there is any justice in the world, the Browns Bills game should be on TV here.

My Name is Kellen

2007-12-03T12:20:00.000-05:00

Yeah, we got a little bit robbed. But we won on a similar call against the Jets last year. The refs almost never call a force out.

I guess the ref's standard is, it has to be indisputable that he would have come down inbounds if not for the force out. Would Kellen have come down inbounds? Probably, he had the room. But its not like its that hard to picture him coming down with a foot out of bounds. We've seen him make the amazing catches, but I don't remember seeing him pull off any of the receiver-specialty tip-toeing the line catches like I've seen from Braylon.

Oh well, what are you gonna do? The answer is, you don't turn the ball over like that. Especially against a hurting Cardinals defense. As heartening as it is to see that our talent look like its genuinely better than the competition, it doesn't mean anything towards getting to the playoffs if it doesn't come together.

-------------------------------------------------------

I didn't get to see the whole game, and I seemed to miss most of the big plays. So I was just purusing NFL.com's offering.
http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d804ba0a9

A couple thoughts:
>> I haven't seen any frame-by-frame replays, but I can see how Bralyon wasn't down during his 62 yard catch-and-roll-and run. He was touched, then his foot hit the ground, and then he did his roll, and he may have been touched again after he bounced up, but I didn't see it clearly where he was touched while down.
>> In response to Josh Cribbs's punt fumble, the announcers proclaim you never run more than 10 yards for a fair catch. If the punt is headed straight into the back of one of your unwitting teammates, you do whatever you have to to try to get to that ball. If Josh hadn't muffed the punt, it would've been 50-50 whether it would have hit a Brown or Cardinal first. Course, it still would've been better if he had caught it.
>> The announcers during a part of the game that I saw yesterday were going crazy over a third down Warner completion to a diving receiver for an 18 yard pick-up. They seemed to miss the fact that it was actually 3rd and 22, so that reception meant absolutely NOTHING, unless you've got Warner for fantasy football.

Silver linings are cheap

2007-11-12T16:51:00.000-05:00

I'm nothing if not irrationally optimistic. Thats why I keep this blog, and follow this team.

This loss was certainly better than the first loss of the season because we can at least point to things that they need to fix. Albeit, they're big fix jobs, but after that first loss, all I could do was throw my hands up and swear.

steelers suck

2007-11-12T13:24:00.000-05:00

Watching the game without being able to hear it at the strip club I was at*, I had no idea that we burned two timeouts on the challenge of the Miller catch. Yeah, that was idiotic. Crennel has some 'splainin' to do. I'm not going to be defending him against the calls for his head.

But I can't get too hung up on our lack of time to tie it up at the end. I can't even get too hung up on our crappy defense letting rothlisberger look like a good quarterback. Because none of that would have mattered if our offense didn't totally roll over in the second half.

Watching all those three and outs (or the particularly demoralizing one-Jamal-Lewis-fumble and out) looked like the Browns we came to know and hate over the past few seasons. Even when they took a break from the poorly advised run plays, the passing game was full of miscommunications. Anderson's protection was adequate, but less than solid. So many passes went incomplete, and while some were due to poor throws, others were due to bad route running (and liberal interpretation of the five yard rule by the steeler secondary and their reliably-friendly officiating crew). It seemed like even when a third and long pass was clanging to the ground incomplete, even if the receiver had caught the ball he probably couldn't have made it to the first down marker.

So I lay this blame on the offense. Got a little too conservative, and a little sloppy, before the game was anywhere near done. If they would have shown some life in the second half, then the defense and poor clock management wouldn't have mattered. But they rolled over, and based on our play over that second half, we didn't deserve to win this game.

Hopefully this loss will make the players hungry. Their play during the first half, and even during the very last drives on offense and defense, should be enough to show these guys that this team can beat the steelers. If they play up to their talent, maybe they'll get their shot in the playoffs. If not, they won't get their shot until next year.

*Don't ask. Let me just say that a strip club with the lights on and no girls around looks like any other restaurant/sports bar.

Flight 80 into Midway

2007-11-08T21:27:00.000-05:00

We are officially half-way through the regular season. In past year that "regular" qualifier would be unnecessary, but this year its still a very real possibility that we could have more than 8 games before closing down for the offseason.

So what is there to talk about? Normally, now would be a good time to start talking about which coaches should be scapegoated, which untested rookies should be given playing time in what is already a lost cause, and which positions will be most important for the draft next year.

Instead, I'm going to figure out how we got here, sitting at 5-3:

>> No major injuries. Have the football gods decided we've be retributed against enough? I don't know, and I'm knocking on wood while writing this, but so far we haven't had any major injuries, other than the carry-overs from last year, and the guys who are old enough for the injuries to be expected.
>> A stable offensive line. Hallelujah, Phil Savage!! After all the years talking about "what if", this is an amazing turn of events.
>> A competent, smart QB
>> A receiving corp that runs good routes, and makes things happen after the catch, allowing the QB to look competent and smart
>> A kick returning team that provides regular good field positions
>> A punting team that (rarely) gives up good field position.
>> An offensive coordinator who isn't afraid to play to the team's strength and throw the ball alot.
>> A defense that, while bad, still comes through with a game-saving stop or an opportunistic turnover just enough to let us win.

My biggest concern is how much talk the Browns are getting from the national pin-heads. Its a sure sign that we have some disappointment ahead of us. But hopefully we can still pull out enough games to make the end of the season exciting.

A nice Bad Situation

2007-11-01T11:44:00.001-04:00

Pft is speculating about what will happen with Derek Anderson after the season, saying either someone will give up their first and third round draft picks for him, or we'll have to pay him alot. It ignores the third option of trading Quinn. But at this point, its too early to start talking about it. Closer to the end of the season, we should know alot more about Derek Anderson, and if he's the real deal. Then we can worry about the choices. But so far, I fail to see how any of these are bad situations. Starting Charlie Frye, now THAT'S a bad situation.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Colts/Pats game is already getting too much hype, and I hate to add to it. But I gotta say, I'm pretty excited. Its like a good Super Bowl, but without all the annoying fanfare, bad musical acts, and twittering about "the commercials". Its just football (and 1.5 hours of car commercials). And instead of pitting the best AFC team against the NFC's least-bad team, its really the two best teams in the league.

Being in Virginia, I'll be able to see that game. Hopefully I can get a streaming video of the Browns game on the 'puter, and I'll be set.

FYI, I have found a way to get a free video stream of Browns games online. Its not a 100% sure thing, the quality stinks, and its a couple minutes delayed, but its a million times better than nothing, and you can't beat the price. To avoid it being too widely publicized, I don't want to post the link, but if anyone wants it, just leave me a comment with your email address, or email DwayneRudd@gmail.com.

Insider Trading

2007-11-01T07:38:00.001-04:00

20 days ago, we were a 2-3 team with an inconsistent quarterback, and a list of opponents that (at that point) ranked as the strongest schedule in the league (as ranked by Football Outsiders).

We have since beaten two winless teams and had a bye week. Our strength of schedule has dropped to 14th toughest. Derek Anderson and Braylon Edwards are the talk of the league, and playoffs are a very real possibility.

Its a fun team to watch, certainly head and shoulders above past years, and thats one of the big things I want to get out of games. But I'm still not ready to call this a 180 degree turnaround just yet. We still have alot of football to play.

One of my own goals coming into the season wasn't necessarily wins or playoffs. It was draft picks. I didn't want to see the Cowboys end up with a really high draft pick from the Brady Quinn trade. Not because I have anything against the Cowboys, Its just I get annoyed just thinking about all the talking heads constantly pointing out how expensive the trade was, and how great the Cowboys did, and how much the Browns would need it, etc. So my hopes were pretty meager: At the least, end out of the top 10 in draft picks. We should be able to check that box off with two more wins. Preferably, our draft pick will be in the second half of the round. That might take another four wins, so it is certainly within reach.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

I've read a few articles talking about how Charlie Frye will be providing the Seahawks with insider information about the Browns offense. Here is a sample of what he's telling them:

Double cover Kellen Winslow. Since the QB won't have his open target, your 4 men rushing will have at least ten seconds to break through, chase the QB around, and get a sack. If you rush 5 men, you'll be able to make him dance and fumble the ball. No, don't worry about covering Edwards or Jurevicius, the QB isn't supposed to look at those guys. Just worry about KWII, and maybe any backs that have broken off for a dump off. Anybody thats out more than 6 yards is just a decoy, he's not a real target, so don't worry about covering him.

Why I love Cleveland

2007-10-15T20:52:00.001-04:00

Yeah great, Browns are 3-3, good offense, bad defense. With the Indians providing all the excitement I'm capable of taking in, I'm going to break my self-imposed rule that all my posts be about the Browns.

Lets face it, Cleveland is not usually the destination of choice for the rich and the famous. When Cleveland is hosting a nationally televised series against the Yankees or the Red Sox, they could probably get any number of celebrities to come into town to toss an opening pitch. But for game one against the Yankees, the playoffs were opened by none other than tribe drummer and regular guy John Adams.

Its not just that the tribe would give the nod to Adams to toss the pitch. Its everything about Adams. Yeah, he gets a little press about his drum, but he could barely even qualify as a local celebrity. He just pays for his tickets, shows up at games, and bangs his drum.

Lest ye forget

2007-10-01T16:44:00.000-04:00

If we haven't already, most of us have probably gotten into talking about the failings of the Browns recently (especially on Defense). While its something to look at, I just want to take a step back and double emphasize an important point:

We SPANKED the RatBirds, Baby!

Hello Cleveland!

2007-09-30T19:14:00.000-04:00

Boy did the Browns and Ravens prove me wrong today. I've never been so glad to be so wrong.

Going into the season, conventional wisdom was that, given our schedule, the Browns' best-case scenario going into the bye-week was two wins. Well, we will meet that goal even if we don't beat Miami in two weeks. Part of that is because Cincinnati and Baltimore are playing worse than most expected ,but I'll take it. After that opening bust against the Steelers, I couldn't in a million years predict that we'd be at 2-2.

That offense looked downright competent. They hit some big plays. They did a good job of grinding out some drives and converting third downs. The play calling might have got a little conservative towards the end, but I have no room to complain, it did the job.

Derek Anderson might have settled in. If he could learn to avoid more of the dumb mistakes, and to put more touch on the shorter passes, he could prove to be a respectable starting quarterback. At the very least, he's looking like a great long term back-up (if not trade bait if someone wants to start him).

Jamal Lewis was his normal boom-or-bust self. He is doing an OK job so far this season, but I still look forward to someday having a more steady running back.

But how about that offensive line? No sacks against the Ravens, can that happen?

The defense looked only a little better this week, but I have a feeling this is the best we can hope for this season. Its enough to slow down the other team and prevent the big plays. The turnovers were HUGE. So was keeping the Ravens out of the endzone on a couple of redzone opportunities. But until the young secondary and linebackers show some improvement, giving up 400 yards is more likely than not par for the course.

After we were up 14-0, I popped a video in the VCR and started taping for review. Hopefully I will be able to make some insightful comments (or something) after reviewing. But for now, I'm just going to bask in a defeat of the Ravens. And the steelers lost too!!

Oooh Nelly

2007-09-26T15:47:00.000-04:00

I haven't been posting because I don't know what to say about this team. I did not get to see last Sunday's game, but from the sounds of it we should be ashamed we didn't find a way to beat Oakland. Coaches and players deserve blame. When Ace Davis starts taking (spot on) shots at the coach, you know his tenure is tenuous.

This week I will get to see the game since its on in my area. Let me provide a preview of what I expect to see:

>> Savvy quarterback and receivers finding holes in the coverage and mistakes by inexperienced players.
>> Power running plowing through as bad a run defense as we've seen since the rebirth
>> A disciplined run defense keeping our boom-or-bust running back from breaking anything big, leading to 50 - 60 yards on 20 attempts.
>> An aggressive pass rush that hurries a young QB and keeps him from establishing a rhythm, leading to sacks and interceptions.

Needless to say, I'm not optimistic.

Two weeks of offense for the price of one

2007-09-17T07:13:00.000-04:00

I have nothing to say. That offensive performance was as awesome as it was surprising. I'll let the video do the talking:

http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d80266687

So how about them Indians?

2007-09-12T07:04:00.000-04:00

I should have expected that Sunday would end up like it did when I was in the Emergency Room by 9AM*. Little did I know at the time, but the day would hold much bigger injuries.

I don't have much to say that other people haven't already said. The Browns stunk, the Steelers looked good. Terry Pluto sums it up pretty well: The truth of the matter is, we were bad everywhere, and it was just particularly pronounced at quarterback.

Since the negative aspects of this team are all too apparent, I thought I would grasp at straws for one reason to have hope:

In the 2007 Profootball Prospectus chapter on the Browns is an article titled "How Important is Offensive Line Continuity?" Looking at seven seasons worth of data, they came up with a metric to determine how much continuity each team has in their line from week-to-week.

Of course, the Browns had the worst continuity in the league over that seven year period. Not only have we had alot of bad guys on our line, but they've been getting hurt pretty regularly.

They then took this continuity statistic and compared it to various measures of offensive line success (eg wins, sack rates, false starts, etc). The unsurprising answer was that there was a very measurable correlation between continuity and success. That doesn't mean its enough to field 5 hacks on the line as long as its the same 5 hacks all season, because continuity doesn't cause success. Its probably much more the case that lack of continuity prevents success.

I bring this all up, because in that travesty that we call "Week 1", Eric Steinbach and Kevin Schaffer were both playing for the first time in weeks. Not only would you expect them to be a little rusty, but this is also the first time in a while that the line has played together.

As the season goes on, if we can avoid injuries, the line should improve, even if none of the individual players get any better.

*Not to fear, they saved the finger and I'll be good as new in a couple weeks.

OMGWTFBBQ?!

2007-09-11T14:02:00.000-04:00

Charlie Frye's gone? I haven't even gotten to finish my post about Sunday's game yet!

Not that I'm upset with Frye being gone, after what I saw last Sunday. But management has some SERIOUS 'splainin' to do. A guy going from erstwhile starting QB to cast-off afterthought after less than a half of play, no matter how horrible that less than a half was, suggests total incompetence is pulling the strings.

Go Browns!

2007-09-06T23:06:00.000-04:00

I'm out for the weekend. Headed to West Virginia (defacto steelers country, but what are you gonna do?) for some camping and watching some football. As in real, actual football.

I've been working for something like a month on a sweeping review of Cleveland Browns blogs, and I think I'm almost done. I've collected my data, I'm just working on figuring out HTML coding. Unfortunately, all my coding experience from my TI-81 in high school doesn't translate, but I think I have it just about there.

So no posts from me until after we pound the steelers. Until then, go Browns!

Doh!

2007-09-06T06:18:00.000-04:00

Just as you think we should have a healthy, intact defense (sans McGinest and Baxter) for at least the first game of the season, reports are that Leigh Bodden goes and gets himself arrested at the airport.

When I first saw the headline I was expecting something bad. But it was for disorderly conduct. He was trying to pick up his girlfriend who was travelling alone with their 2 year old and their baby during rush hour. He probably thought he was being chivalrous by doing whatever he needed to find her as soon as possible. So he parked his car against the cop's orders and mouthed off when the cop stopped him. Not exactly in the same league as running an underage child prostitution ring. . .

Too bad nobody ever told Leigh that airport cops are by rule Nazis (admittedly for good reasons).

Will this result in a suspension? It very well could, although I think any more than a slap on the wrist is pretty out of proportion. If he is suspended, would it start this week? Only if Crennel decides to impose it in lieu of the league, which I wouldn't expect.

So hopefully we'll see Leigh out there.

I like the idea of the bruce arians-directed spread offense against the Browns defense. Remember bruce arians, the O-coordinator who thought the best chance for a team playing in Cleveland was to implement a pass-based spread offense utilizing the talents of such Hall-of-Famers as Kevin Johnson, Quincy Morgan, Dennis Northcutt, and Andre Davis? Seems like the same guy is trying to do the same thing in pittsburgh.

The steelers spreading the ball actually worked against us pretty well last year. Albeit most of (and I literally mean MOST of) our secondary was hurt. But we should expect Bodden to shut down hines ward, and Eric Wright probably has what it takes to shut down santonio holmes. That means roethlisberger will be stuck trying to find his alternate receivers and tight ends. So expect a fun day for ball-hawks Sean Jones and Daven Holly.

I think we even have a decent shot at slowing down fast willie on his outside sweeps. Lets just hope no one tells arians that running strait up the center of our defense should provide all the offense that they need.

Roster cuts

2007-09-01T23:19:00.001-04:00

The list of roster cuts has a couple surprises. The biggest surprise for me is that we cut three of this year's draft picks (Syndric Steptoe, Chase Pittman, and Melila Purcell) and three of last year's picks (Babatunde Oshinowo, DeMario Minter, Justin Hamilton). In their place we kept such players as Jereme Perry and Mike Adams.

This isn't necessarily a bad thing. It would be great if we could keep guys around, but on a 53 man roster we don't have room for a bunch of risky long term projects any more than we have room for mentors.

>> Mason Unck is on the injury reserve. Kris Griffin should be a good fill in on special teams. But it will be strange not seeing that name on the Special Teams plays.

>> They kept Charles Ali around as a back-up fullback. Thats not much of a vote of confidence in Lawrence Vickers.

>> David McMillan is still around. Once McGinest is back, I won't be surprised to see him cut for an extra D-lineman.

>> Nat Dorsey has stuck. With Tucker suspended for the first four games and Shaffer still recovering from his concussion, I guess its necessary.

>> Once Tucker, Baxter, and McGinest stop eating up roster spots, I won't be surprised to eventually see Chase Pittman, Babatunde Oshinowo, or Chris Barclay resigned.

>> I was sorry to see Justin Hamilton cut. He has a lot of character. I am sure he will land on his feet.

Did Alexander keep Aristotle on his 53 man roster?

2007-08-27T08:26:00.000-04:00

Over numerous articles, the Plain Dealer has decided that, unless the Browns carry four quarterbacks on the final roster, the loser of the Derek Anderson / Charlie Frye QB competition will be cut or traded and Ken Dorsey will be retained. This all stems from the PD writers' weird fetish for the Browns to have "an experienced veteran" who can "mentor the young quarterback".

If the Browns do want to keep Dorsey around, here is my suggestion:
1) Cut Dorsey
2) Offer him the value of his current contract to stay around as a "special QB" coach

Heck, they can even let him play dress up and wear the uniform on the sidelines, and work out in practice. But it makes absolutely no sense to me to keep him around as a Big Brother for the little orphan Brady Quinn. If he does stay around he will be taking up a roster spot. And if he is taking up a roster spot, who is getting cut in his place? Chris Barclay? Steve Sanders? Chase Pittman? Willie McGinest?

The 53-man roster is a challenge for the teams to strike the balance between developing young guys and fielding a decent team. Unless Dorsey provides us a better back-up QB option than Derek Anderson, he should not take up one of those valuable spots.

Ye Gods!

2007-08-25T09:50:00.000-04:00

I've been getting into the stuff they post over at FootballOutsiders.com, as well as reading the 2007 Pro Football Prospectus.

In the 2007 Pro Football Prospectus, the Patriots' section has an article about how the Patriots secondary is always hurt, and last year was particularly bad, and how we should feel bad for them. So they analyzed the number of injuries (looking at how much time players missed). The results confirmed their suspicion that the Patriots far and away have had the most injuries to their secondary over the past five years. However, the Browns were number two on that list.

And when they broke the list down to most secondary injuries in a single season? The 2006 Browns had the single worst secondary injury situation in the NFL over the past 5 years. In fact, 2006 accounted for nearly half of our total secondary injuries out of the past 5 years.

The authors throw out some hypothesis to explain why both Crennel's former and current team have lead the league in secondary injuries. They think that Crennel views defensive backs as eminently replaceable so he does not mind taking a gamble on an injury prone back. I find that one kind of hard to believe. Last year's Browns secondary had injuries to Bodden and McCutcheon who both predate Crennel, and Gary Baxter whose freak injury is just rotten luck. Injury-prone guys get turf-toe and high ankle sprains and knee problems. They do not tear their patellar tendons.

Then just yesterday I was reading this over/under on the Football Outsiders website, and I caught this interesting note:

The other somewhat hidden factor that should bounce back for the Browns this season? Injuries, particularly on the defensive side. The Browns, as a whole, were more hurt in 2006 than any team has been in the six years we’ve tracked injuries. A likely regression to the mean on those injuries would result in a healthy, deep team. There’s a serious success story brewing here, and a real chance to make money.

As much as I bitch-and-moan about injuries, I am glad to finally see some statistical backing that the Browns truly are getting the short end of the stick. Although, I do not buy into their point that we will regress to the mean. Sure, in theory the injuries should let up, but this is the Browns. We don't regress to the mean, we skew the entire distribution.

Oh no, he's playing well

2007-08-19T08:07:00.001-04:00

Even when a Brown has a great performance, it is bad news.

Quinn's 13 for 17 performance against the Lions' soon-to-be-cut defense probably does not tell us anything we did not already know about him. But it does make him look more NFL-ready than either of the erstwhile starters.

It is going to be a long season if Frye and Anderson can't keep the "Brady" chants to a minimum.

Under Maintainence

2007-08-18T17:33:00.000-04:00

I'm trying to figure out this Blogger thing. So over the next few days the format might change a few times.

Scratch yesterday's post

2007-08-07T07:04:00.001-04:00

I am recalling yesterday's post:

After posting yesterday, I emailed Profootballtalk.com to call him out for claiming credit for an idea I had already emailed to him. Pft responded to my email to say that he had never read my original email explaining the holdout theory. He even included a screen shot of his inbox listing it as unread. I'll take his word at it. So he didn't intentionally rip off anyone's idea.

Also, Ryan Tucker sat down with Patrick McManamon to explain his steroid issue. He says the steroids were part of his mental health regimen, and had nothing to do with gaining an advantage. I'll take his word at it. Sounds like he was in a tough position.

Then we changed our name to "The New Originals"

2007-08-06T09:46:00.000-04:00

Profootballtalk.com has a blurb with this headline:
ARE RAIDERS, BROWNS SECRETLY HAPPY ABOUT HOLDOUTS

It goes on to talk about how a holdout is a good tool to guarantee the guy won't play too early. The only problem? The editor goes out of the way to point out that it is his "original" idea. Dude, WTF??

Both Bitterfans and I have both pushed such an idea, and I have seen it referenced other places, too. And what's worse, last week when pft asked Browns fans to write in their thoughts about the Quinn holdout, I emailed him and spelled it out for him, in case he's not a regular of the Browns blogosphere. His report was that all Browns fans were ticked off by the holdout, which seems in direct contradiction to most of what I've read.

I still frequent pft just because it is free and to the point, unlike most other NFL "news" sources. But man, my opinion of this guy keeps getting worse and worse. He's a Pittsburgh fan, and the worst kind of Browns-hater: the kind who pretends he doesn't hate the Browns, like a political idealogue who claimes that they're really just a moderate independent. He has had numerous offenses against the Browns that I usually don't bother commenting on because his opinion isn't worth wasting my time on. But this one got to me because it's personal.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

So Ryan Tucker is all juiced up with no place to go? I don't care too much because we have alot of depth, but, man, this is how catastrophes start: A strong position has one or two guys go out, and all of a sudden its a position with problems. Don't get me wrong, I still think that even with one or two backups playing this year, our line could be better than last year's line. But it is almost surely weaker without Tucker.

The thing that annoys me is that Tucker doesn't seem sorry about it. He says that he did what he needed to do to come back. Well I hope for his sake that the 'roids gave him more than four week's training would do, because now he is just going to be using his bigger bulk for holding the bench down. Idiot.

Some depth?

2007-08-02T08:29:00.000-04:00

Profootballtalk.com reports that the Colts are going to cut Corey Simon. He would fit right in with the Browns over-the-hill, injury-waiting-to-happen defensive line.

He would be a risk, and an expensive risk, but after three years of drafting d-linemen no higher than the 6th round, we need to start making such moves just to stop the bleeding.

Sounds about right

2007-08-01T15:59:00.000-04:00

You know you're a Browns fan when an injury announcement comes as a relief:

OBR reports that Orpheus Roye is going to have knee surgery. The surgery is to clean out some cartilage, and the hope is that he will be back in time for the season opener.

Of course, if I remember correctly, that was the EXACT same story that was used for Daylon McCutcheon last August, and not only did he not come back for the opener, but he never came back at all, and was cut this spring.

Not that we should expect the same thing for Roye. Clearly management had been preparing to cut Cutch, so maybe the surgery/injury was just a cover to free up the roster spot without creating a PR issue. Assuming that management isn't ready to cut Roye, this should be a different situation.

I say that this comes as a relief, because I'm expecting the injuries to mount, especially at some of our older positions without alot of depth. The fact that its finally here and not a season ending injury is kind of a relief. Although, maybe this is just a preview of what the football gods have cooked up for us.

Another new blog?

2007-07-31T16:42:00.000-04:00

I just found this link for Dawgbeat on OBR. I don't know if this site has been around, but its new to me. Seems to have some formatting issues, but man, do I like that 2007 Game-by-game projection.

I've also added a few more links (on the right) to more blogs that I've come accross. I always think I've seen all the Browns blogs, and I always seem to find new ones that I've been missing.

One of these days I mean to do full review of the Browns Blogosphere, as a sort of directory, but also to take a snapshot of who is currently out there. See, I figure once the Browns start winning big and consistently alot of Fair weather fans will roll out new blogs, and at that time it may be useful to know who was there during the lean years.

You haven't got a bit of rope?

2007-07-31T12:05:00.000-04:00

As much as I was looking forward to this time of year, it really sucks now that its here. So much waiting, so many open-ended questions. I am used to brushing off the training camp stars like Frisman Jackson, but with all our unsettled positions this year (QB, cornerback, D-Line. . .) its like ANY player review is nothing more than August fluff (and its still July!).

Eric Wright looks like a solid coverage guy? Oh, thats nice.

Jamal Lewis looks like he's back to his Browns-busting form? Great, hope it holds up.

Charlie Frye is making quicker throws, and learning the scrambling basics from Donovan McNabb? Super, can't wait to see it in action.

Chud is opening up the offense with end-arounds and Josh Cribb passes? Neat, I hope it works against somebody other than our reserve defenders.

I can come up with scenarios where we will see huge improvements:
>>A healthy Leigh Bodden, Eric Wright living up to the hype, and Sean Jones and Brodney Pool playing a pair of deadly snipers in the secondary could propel us to a top ten pass defense.
>>All the new guys on O-line means it could be one of the best in the league.
>>I was just reading a Football Outsiders reminiscence about Jerry Rice's rookie year when he was known for his drops. Maybe Braylon will turn it around like Jerry did.

But then I rememer all the reasons for doubt:
>> Bodden has never stayed healthy, so Holly will probably start a couple games. Wright is a complete unknown. Our CBs could be as bad as last year.
>> Weren't Cosey Coleman and Joe Andruzzi supposed patch up our line's last holes? Why should we expect Steinbach to keep performing now that he has gotten paid?
>> Are reports of the running backs/o-line doing a good power-rush impression for real, or is it just a sign of how bad our run defense is going to be this year?

I think the answer is, no matter how many reviews and training camp reports I read, nothing is going to settle anything. None of this is going to be settled until we see them on the field against the Steelers. Until then, its just a waiting game. So I'll probably just keep looking for rays of hope and reading Doerschuck's great training camp reports, and posting random thoughts, because at least that will help pass the time.

VLADIMIR: That passed the time.
ESTRAGON: It would have passed in any case.
VLADIMIR: Yes, but not so rapidly.
ESTRAGON: What do we do now?
VLADIMIR: I don't know.
ESTRAGON: Let's go.
VLADIMIR: We can't.
ESTRAGON: Why not?
VLADIMIR: We're waiting for the season to start.

King High on Lewis

2007-07-30T07:00:00.000-04:00

Peter King had a report from Browns training camp. I don't give a whole lot of weight to King's opinion, but he was very high on Jamal Lewis. He also added some background to the Quinn contract talks. King goes out of his way to be nice to everyone, so if he's calling Quinn's holdout silly, then it must have a measure of truth to it.

It looks like alot of the national beat writers are starting off at Cleveland. I guess they want to save the better teams for later in the preseason. With the Browns, they don't need to see how anything shapes up to figure out what the Browns' issues are.

And then there was one

2007-07-27T07:48:00.000-04:00

So much for holdouts. The Browns got Joe Thomas and Eric Wright signed in time for camp. I'm happy, since I hope to see those guys playing early this season.

They can take their good-ol' time signing Brady Quinn. Maybe right around the second preseason game would be a good time for him to come in. That way he'll still be able to get some practice time, but he will definitely be out of the running for the first half of the season.

Although I'll also be happy if Quinn signs early, so that all those Quinn haters can eat their words.

Accurate, but accurately what?

2007-07-26T06:59:00.000-04:00

Football Outsiders has had some statistical analysis recently of the best and worst quarterback completion percentages from 2006, controlling for some variables.

What they found was that Charlie Frye was one of the ten most accurate passers in the league. That held when they controlled for dropped passes, and when they adjusted completion percentages based on how many short (and typically more accurate) passes a QB threw.

The end conclusion was that Frye was extremely accurate with his short passes (nearly 90%), so they decided to remove short passes from the analysis all together, at which point Frye dropped out of the top ten.

What does this all mean? Not a lot. We all saw how well Frye was doing at hooking up with Winslow on the 2-4 yard pickups.

What does make me optimistic is that reports are that new Offensive Coordinator Chud is implementing an offense with alot more shorter, timed passes. Combined with Frye's skills on the short passes, this could be a good thing.

Look, waaaay down there. Is there a light down there?

2007-07-23T15:54:00.000-04:00

I didn't get my hopes up about any of the previous LeCharles Bentley reports, because prior to today his most recent doctor's visit never said he would be able to play football again.

But today, that doctor has cleared Bentley for practise. This IS a big step forward. While he still needs to go through team doctors, the fact is that Bentley has just gotten a go-ahead from the same doctor who told him to give up because he would never play again.

This Friday marks the one year anniversary of Bentley's injury. That was back when this blog was less than two weeks old. My, how I have grown in my bitterness since then.

I still stick to my statement that I'm not declaring victory until I see Bentley playing for real. But this is a piece of concrete good news that I'm going to take a little solace in.
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This past week or so alot of people have been pointing to National columnists ranking the Browns last in pre-season Power Rankings. It means nothing to me. I haven't read a single intelligent quote from those rankings about why the Browns will be bad. I'll admit the Browns sure have a hell of alot of unanswered questions, and the answers could turn out so that this will be a bad season. But I can still make a case that we could be vastly improved this year. Until I see good reasons as to why the Browns will be bad, I'm going to assume that these rankings are nothing but knee-jerk hogwash.

The ball is rolling

2007-07-18T21:19:00.000-04:00

We might not have our quarterback or left tackle of the future under contract, but we've got Chase Pittman signed and ready for training camp. This kid is a d-lineman project who seems like he might have some character issues. But with our d-line situation, we can't really be ignoring guys. Maybe he'll be another Simon Fraser. . .

The only guy I'm really antsy about seeing signed is Eric Wright, 2nd round cornerback. From the sound of things, he might be on track to start for opening day, and he will definitely be needed.

I know those words, but the sentence doesn't make any sense to me.

2007-07-13T14:18:00.000-04:00

From CBS Sportsline:

The offensive line, one of the worst in the NFL for years, has the potential to be one of the best in the league this season if LeCharles Bentley can accomplish his goal of making a comeback from a severe patellar tendon injury.

Never thought I'd read that about the Browns. Hope it comes to fruition.

Asleep at the switch?

2007-07-12T15:27:00.000-04:00

OBR has a useful listing of which draft picks have been signed, and which haven't. You will note that the Browns are one of just five teams that doesn't have anyone signed yet.

T-minus 16 days and counting until training camp opens. Whats the hold-up?

Since every other Browns preview will be realistic. . .

2007-07-11T18:07:00.000-04:00

Its time to expose myself as the blindly loyal, kool-aid drinking homer that I am. I decided to come up with a list of reasons of why we could be hopeful for the upcoming season* :

1) The Offensive Line: Explaining away poor play by quarterbacks and running backs because of sub-par offensive lines has become a tradition in Cleveland Browns football. This looks like the year to kill that tradition. The signings of Eric Steinbach and Seth McKinney to play guards, and Ryan Tucker returning to his spot at right tackle should be enough to show noticeable improvement. The drafting of Joe Thomas could improve the dynamics just as much as those signings both because of the skills he brings to the left tackle position, as well as the flexibility and competition he brings to the rest of the line. With Thomas in there, now Eric Steinbach is probably the only lineman who can feel sure of his starting position. To add some icing to the cake, LeCharles Bentley could be back this season.

Its hard to stress how big of a turn around this is compared to last season. Our backups this season may end up being equal to or better than our starters last season. We may get to see the power rushing attack that we always talk about, as well as an upright quarterback. And, even if we suck this year, we can feel comfortable throwing the skill players under the truck next year, because there won't be that eternal fall back, "Well, if the line had blocked for them. . ."

2) The injury bug: I hate to pull out this excuse, but with the Browns' recent history it cannot be avoided. We have been plagued by obscene injuries the past couple years. Even if we get a little relief, it should go a long ways towards fielding a better team this year than last. Just to remind you, here is what we dealt with last season:

>> Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow were coming off knee injuries. While Winslow probably won't be in much better shape this season due to off-season surgery, Edwards should be back to top form (or what passes for top form for him).

>> LeCharles Bentley, the highest ranked free agent during the 2006 offseason, doesn't even survive one practice with the Browns. Our best offensive lineman (behind Bentley), Ryan Tucker, was out for half the season, and even when he did play probably was seeing effects from his undisclosed mental illness

>> Gary Baxter played in 3 games before going down with a horrific injury. Daylon McCutcheon missed the entire season. Leigh Bodden missed 7 games with injuries.

>> Our best Defensive lineman, Orpheus Roye, was out 4 games and was limited for even more.

>> Other guys who missed noticeable chunks of time: Joe Jurevicius, Brian Russell, Joe Andruzzi, Andra Davis, Willie McGinest, Dennis Northcutt, Charlie Frye.

3) Defensive Secondary: What I called a strength going into last season ended up being a huge liability, with the aforementioned injuries keeping us from fielding a consistent, competent secondary core. Those injuries hurt alot, and not only kept us from shutting down passing games but also hurt ability to generate a pass rush. Bodden is a sure thing if he can stay healthy. Eric Wright sounds like he can be starting material. Kenny Wright is even an upgrade over Ralph Brown. This unit should be stronger, and have a little more depth than last year. And if Gary Baxter can return from his injury, and if he can return to his previous caliber of play (two big Ifs) he could turn this unit into a genuine team strength.

On top of that, Brodney Pool replacing Brian Russell could be a noticeable improvement at safety. Pool's spot duty at safety, as well as his starts at corner (covering Keyshawn Johnson, no less) showed that he has alot of potential. If he proves Phil Savage's projections correct, he will be a monster. Pairing him up next to Sean Jones could be dynamite.

4) Maturity: Its easy to forget, but Phil Savage and Romeo Crennel started this rebuilding project just two years ago. We are going into year three of the 3-4 defense. Our roster has been almost totally made-over, including alot of rookies playing big roles. Another year of maturity should show some dividends for Kamerion Wimbley, D'Qwell Jackson, Leon Williams, Sean Jones, Brodney Pool, Charle Frye or Derek Anderson, Lawrence Vickers, Braylon Edwards, Kellen Winslow, and all our other low draft/undrafted guys who have shown some potential.

5) Offensive Co-ordinator: Given the reports coming out of practices of the offense being totally out of kilter, some may think I am crazy to call Chud's new offense a sign of hope. But compare it to last year: Mo Carthon and his fullback-based offense looked so pathetic through the beginning of the season that he was tossed mid-season and Jeff Davidson was given a chance to use Carthon's playbook, to similarly poor results. Not that Chud has proven himself as a coordinator, but he has the pedigree to succeed. Even if he's only mediocre, he will be a step up from Carthon. If he can successfully bring in the Norv Turner/Cam Cameron offensive success that San Diego has had for the past few years, well thats probably too much to hope for.

6) Jamal Lewis at 80% strength is at least no worse than Reuben Droughns at full strength. Jamal Lewis at full strength could be a sight to behold.

* Hopeful for WHAT is another post

Some answers

2007-07-01T21:22:00.000-04:00

Today's PD had an interesting catch-up on LeCharles Bentley. Its good news. No, not that I really believe that he's going to make it back. But at least he should be able to answers some questions this season, instead of stringing this thing out another year or two.

Ideally he'll come back and play even close to the level he did before his freak injury. But if he can't make it, at least we'll know next season whether or not we need a long term solution.

What, Lumberjacks don't count?

2007-06-12T19:13:00.000-04:00

My baby-mama put me onto this:

Some New York Times blog is claiming that Philadelphia is the most unlucky city for sports. I guess by their criteria (must have teams in each of MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL) Cleveland isn't in the running. But Cleveland is hands down unluckiest, no questions, end of debate, and any ranking that doesn't end with that conclusion is flawed.

He does follow up with a post trying to justify his pick of Philly over Cleveland, but its pretty weak if you ask me. Maybe if Lebron James brings home the championship (pretty big if) I will reconsider. MAYBE. But until that point, this is ridiculous to even discuss.

Sophmore preview

2007-05-21T00:34:00.000-04:00

On a weekend when the Akron Beacon Journal has NO Browns news, and the PD had essentially no Browns news (even if Grossi did manage to fill multiple pages not answering questions), Steve Doerschuk comes through again. In a nutshell: Savage says that he's looking for Isaac Sowells, Travis Wilson, and Jerome Harrison to step it up and win important roles for this season.

While that isn't anything new (although it is iteresting that he picked out those three, more on that below), I did find this blurb interesting:

"Jason Wright really is a backup who can play special teams. He's a great locker room guy, an A-plus in a lot of ways, but probably an average football player, which as a backup is OK.

Nothing too surprising, other than that the GM will be so blunt. I guess that means that Jason Wright's spot on the roster could be lost if Harrison comes on.

So why did Savage pick out those three? I doubt that he's going to cut too many of his 06 draft picks. He gaves his 05 picks two seasons, and the 06 crop in general was better, so they will probably get at least two. But these are proabably the guys closest to competing for a spot (as opposed to Leon Williams, D'Qwell Jackson, and Lawrence Vickers who already have spots), so that a little fire under them might get them putting forth that extra effort.

They're probably both made in sweatshops, but. . .

2007-05-17T08:10:00.000-04:00

If you buy a Steelers jersey, your money will go towards supporting child prostitution.

If you buy a Browns jersey, it will go towards giving kids college scholarships.

The choice is yours.

Does a spaghetti sauce stain show on an orange jersey?

2007-05-11T13:01:00.000-04:00

Browns draft review, in Italian.

In case you are curious, Joe Thomas is:

La caratteristica migliore di Thomas è sicuramente la pass protection. Dotato di un hand punch micidiale, è capace di terrorizzare i Defensive Linemen sin dallo snap. Velocissimo nel prendere posizione nei giochi di passaggio. Buon bloccatore sui giochi di corsa. Futuro Probowler.

Huh. Go figure. Guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I prefer their take on Brady Quinn:

Muscolato, dotato di un braccio bionico, riesce a mettere la palla in spazi strettissimi con estrema accuratezza, anche sul profondo. Ottimo gioco di piedi, che gli permette di prendere tempo e di eludere i blitz. Estremamente competitivo e capace di attuare rimonte insperate anche in situazioni difficili (vedi quest’anno contro Michigan State, sotto la pioggia...). Ha bisogno di buona protezione della linea per realizzare il suo potenziale, ma ha questo ha già provveduto Phil Savage con gli acquisti di Steinbach e Thomas. Ha tutte le caratteristiche per ripercorrere le gesta di Bernie Kosar o Brian Sipe.

If only we could get Zampano to play on the Offensive line. Then we could have Quinn lining up behind Quinn.

Do you think the ladies would believe that I'm Ted Washington?

2007-05-08T19:22:00.000-04:00

Hehe. . . Steelers fans are smrt. I mean, smart.

I a nutshell: This guy has convinced Pittsburgh women that he's Ben Roethlisberger, Brian St. Pierre, and Jermane Tuman, and then got them to buy him things.

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2860426&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos2

I'm with the Steelers
By Justin Heckert
ESPN The Magazine

She could tell. But she couldn't bring herself to believe it, even though the pictures she examined led to very simple observations: that the man in the photo had a head that wasn't as square, for instance, and a nose that was longer and not bowed slightly to the right. And that his neck was stout but his jaw too strong. And she noticed that the face wasn't framed by an almost horizontal hairline, like the one on the man she knew, the hair thinning and brown instead of a black flattop, thick and gelled back.

This is what she thought, at first, that something was off, until he explained that pictures lie. Until he said the photographs of Steelers tight end Jerame Tuman that she found online were taken several years ago, when he arrived at training camp as a rookie with the features of a young man.

Weathering those seasons had changed him, he said, and he was insulted, even a bit embarrassed, that she doubted him.

Kristin* didn't have much to go on but the pictures. The Jerame Tuman she knew had a rounded stomach that fell below his waist, and arms and legs that weren't trim. But he was tall, so she slowly convinced herself that if he said he was an NFL tight end, then this is what an NFL tight end must look like. He had shown her a cell phone full of numbers, after all -- Jerome Bettis, Hines Ward, Ike Taylor -- and bragged about "his boys."

In the beginning, Kristin actually got a thrill from hanging out with him in the leather passenger seat of his white Denali, looking out the tinted windows as he navigated the nighttime traffic on the south side of the city, feeling the rap thrum from his extravagant speakers as he bounced in the driver's seat while speeding through red lights, saying, "Nobody in Pittsburgh is gonna arrest me, I'm a Steeler" -- because, well, she was with a Steeler.

And when he began to phone her twice a day to wish her good morning or to talk about the upcoming divorce from his wife, Molly, or the custody battle over his son, or to recount the sad story about his mother and his sickly uncle who raised him, she believed. And when he explained that he was changing his cell number every couple of weeks because he was "tired of dating this other girl on the side who only likes me for what I am, not who I am," she believed then, too.

Because she thought he was confiding in her, because he was one of her best friends, and because he was sweet. He once called a seven-year-old family friend to wish him a happy birthday; "How's my little buddy doing?" he asked. He couldn't wait to show her his Super Bowl ring, and promised her season tickets, neither of which he followed through on. And she trusted him because while he was at times vapid, he wasn't above revealing weakness. He once rang her at 4 a.m. to say, "I'm not married anymore. I'm 30. What am I doing with myself?"

Kristin was a good and interested friend; she often bought him lunch and made him dinner, though he always canceled and gave her excuses about being held up by appointments. She overlooked it when he invited her and her girlfriends out on the town, saying he and Hines would take care of the bill, but never showed. She gave him keys to her apartment, though he didn't let her see his.

When he told her he didn't have time to go to the mall to buy a new pair of shoes, she went for him and picked out a pair with a metallic silver swoosh on the side. And when he told her he lost his wallet, she lent him money. In fact, when he needed help paying rent for his "place on the waterfront," she obliged, believing him when he said his bank accounts had been frozen in the divorce.

When he needed quick cash to go on a trip with some teammates, she asked no questions. And when he told her he wanted rims for his SUV but couldn't use his credit card because he was about to start paying alimony, she covered him then, too. Over four months in 2006, she loaned him $3,200. And with each loan, he told her not to ask if he was good for the money, reminding her that he could get anyone else to help him if he wanted.

It is because of her generosity that Kristin has been blamed for being gullible, stupid, an outright imbecile even, in a very public way, in a town where you're not part of the conversation if you don't love the Steelers.

And though it is easy to stare at the same photos and wonder what she was thinking, it's also impossible to blame her -- he was that good. It wasn't until after he had, in Kristin's words, "fallen off the face of the earth" for a month and a half that she got pissed and sent a Hallmark card to the Steelers' training facility, addressed to Tuman, asking for her money back as soon as possible; she'd given him her savings and was living paycheck to paycheck.

Then, one day last August, Kristin, a tall, pretty woman with long, blond hair who majored in communications and anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh, was riding the bus home from work when she got a call from Steelers security director Jack Kearney. "I hate to break it to you," Kearney told her flatly. "But you've never met Jerame Tuman in your life."

Consider her surprise. Or humiliation. Consider her anger, if nothing else. If you don't live in Pittsburgh, the city at the confluence of steel-black rivers, a town that embodies its football team, you might empathize with Kristin. If you don't live where flags fly black and gold and the awnings of half the buildings bear the same industrial colors, where gift shops are stocked with candy and soda and Steelers commemorative hats, banners, shirts, baby clothes and not much else, you can probably understand, even as you find it hard to fathom.

But if you're from Pittsburgh, there's a good chance you're aware that Kristin was one of three women over two years who were fooled by a man named Brian Jackson, a 32-year-old former car salesman who moonlighted as Steelers tight end Jerame Tuman, third-string quarterback Brian St. Pierre, and most curiously, Ben Roethlisberger. And you might deride Kristin, and have a good laugh over a cold Iron City at her expense.

Even if you didn't know what Tuman looked like, you'd at least have been able to see that Jackson looked nothing like a football player. Pretty much, you'd have been smarter than she was.

"The Steelers are next to God here, so I don't see how someone impersonating one of them got away with it," says Anne Madarasz, director of the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum.

"Oh god, the women were that gullible?" says a woman browsing Steelers towels at Mike Feinberg Co. store, "The Official Home of Steeler Nation."

"Everyone thinks it's funny," says Mike Katic, a bartender at the Buckhead Saloon at Station Square. "I guess as long as the guy had the build of a football player ..."

It wasn't so funny for Tara*, a 24-year-old part-time model who thought she'd met Ben Roethlisberger at a local pizza shop. Two years ago, a big guy wearing a backward Steelers hat and khaki shorts had strolled up to the table where she and a friend were sitting and announced confidently that he thought she "was hot," before explaining how famous he was and which famous friends he wanted her to meet.

Tara and her friend ogled him over their slices, considering whether he was big or athletic enough to be a quarterback.

Though she didn't know it that day in July 2005, the guy she was staring at was really a middle-class man born and raised in Pittsburgh; a man who, Allegheny County courthouse records reveal, has a litany of traffic incidents, including one involving vehicular homicide, and who now has a July court date to face felony charges of identity theft and theft by deception for impersonating Tuman, and for stealing money from Kristin in the process.

Two days after Tara met him, she spent a few very awkward, if memorable, hours on a date with "Big Ben"; hours she'd like to undo. Their activities included traveling to the Steelers' training facility, where the security guard who never stops anyone waved at the faux quarterback, letting him through to attend to "some business" while Tara sat in the car; signing a Steelers jersey for Tara's giddy neighbor and posing for a photo; telling her about his dog, Zeus, over a dinner she ended up paying for because he left his wallet somewhere; and an uncomfortable encounter in which he tried to touch her hand and lean in for a kiss, which freaked her out, because she wasn't attracted to him anyway.

Brian Jackson's incredible story finally caught up with him.

Whispering recently from her bedroom because she's afraid her fiancé might hear, Tara says Jackson talked so much about himself as Roethlisberger that she barely got a word in. "He said he just got back from Miami, talked about his cars, about other players," she says. "He should be in prison, or in a mental hospital. I was leery, but hell, I didn't know. I didn't think he was telling the truth, but my friend thought I should give him a chance."

The day after the date, Tara's neighbor showed her a newspaper photo of Roethlisberger, and she quickly alerted the police and told Jackson never to call her again. But he persisted, demanding she return his calls and insisting on more dates. He had his friends call her, pretending to be Roethlisberger's friend or sister, to say Tara was breaking his heart. He sent her a signed football, which she has since destroyed.

Soon the story was out and she was the laughingstock of talk radio. "It was one of the worst parts of my life, and it wasn't even a full day," she says.

"Being portrayed as an idiot, it was awful." Her neighbor asked the team for a replacement Roethlisberger jersey. He never got it.

"When I heard about it, I laughed," says the real Big Ben. "It was kind of flattering. Then again, feelings were hurt and that isn't funny. But I hear all the time that 'someone at a bar is trying to be you.' It's because all people talk about in Pittsburgh is the Steelers. Me, I don't really care. But it made Jerame uneasy. He's happily married with a family."

It is fair to say Brian Jackson thrived on the attention; that his escapades were born not only of malicious conjuring, but of his fantasy. He was Jerame Tuman when he wore his black-and-gold hat askew, sometimes pulled down to mask his eyes, and he was Ben Roethlisberger in his T-shirts and thick-legged sweats, and the official pair of football gloves he wore, sometimes while he drove, as though he'd just come from a long and successful practice.

It is not supposition to say he felt comfortable when he dressed and acted the way he did, because his clothes and actions weren't part of a costume. His dreams had become his waking life. He was part of the team. It's what made him so convincing. He believed it was all real.

"He put almost incomprehensible thought into what he was doing," says prosecuting attorney Debra Barnisin-Lange. "He had an answer for any question that may have come up from the women. This type of scam is very embarrassing for the victims; several other women he did this to haven't come forward. It's the way all cons run. He said he was a Steeler, but in another instance someone might say, 'I won the lottery,' but they don't have a bank account to cash their check. Once you're in for a penny, you're in for a pound."

According to courthouse officials, he knew more than enough about the Steelers to work a room with tales of the team. Those familiar with the case say he had an encyclopedic, nearly obsessive knowledge of the men he said he was: he knew where they were born, where they went to school, what they drove, the names of parents and wives and children and pets. And he could recall a player's TV highlights as if living inside the moments of another man's life.

He regarded a woman he was trying to impress the same way an athlete might regard a trophy. According to the women, he was funny, at times charming and caring. He trolled the Strip downtown near the practice facility on weekends in his Denali or black Impala or blue Mustang, and ate lunch at Nakama, the sushi place frequented by Steelers during the season.

Jackson put himself amid the passing drunks in Steelers jerseys and among the women who packed the sidewalks by Primanti Bros. and Cottage Jewelry and Sunny's Fashions, with the clothing racks out front and the black-and-gold Pittsburgh City Paper boxes at their waists.

There were always more than enough fans around eager to celebrate in his presence. In the murk of a rowdy night, his sort-of-familiar face and confident stories -- Yeah, I'm waiting for Hines, he should be here any minute -- were truth enough.

"This city lives, eats, breathes Steelers," says detective Frances LaQuatra, a season ticket-holder. "They are always the news. The radio people get sick of talking about them all day, 12 months of the year. Working this case, I realized that when people hear something about the Steelers, they think, Why would someone lie about them?"

He was Brian St. Pierre. And he wooed Annie* with stories about teammates and autographed footballs for kids in her neighborhood. When he suggested she look for him on the sideline, during a game, on TV, she took him up on the offer. But when the camera showed the real St. Pierre, their relationship took a sudden turn.

After the game, she called him out as a liar and he called her "crazy" and, according to court documents, said she'd "be sorry" if she pressed charges. He even impersonated Roethlisberger in a phone call not long after, in which he vouched for himself as St. Pierre.

Then he followed her home in different cars and materialized wherever she went, which, frankly, scared her to death. That was at the end of 2004, and she still won't speak of him.

"She's moved on. I don't want her to relive it," says Annie's boyfriend. "She doesn't want to either."

Jackson didn't harass Kristin the way he did Annie or bother her the way he did Tara. No, one day he just went away. He stopped calling Kristin to say good morning or to ask for advice. He stopped picking her up at work so she could buy him fish sandwiches. When he changed cell phones, his old number was the last trace of a man who never existed.

She saved that number, and now it reminds her of that night in March 2006 when she was partying like everyone else on the south side and, after a few cocktails, had picked up her girlfriend's cell. She was interested and curious and -- football fan's curse -- attracted even though she'd never seen him.

Like it would be with a lot of people, she says, her desire to talk to him took control. She wanted to find out what he might say, because, "Who doesn't want to talk to a Steeler?" She left him a message that went something like, "So, what's up? My girl tells me you're a Steeler, so ..."

But Kristin isn't stupid. Maybe just a little naive.

Is it him? Well, yes, of course it's him, in a baggy gray hoodie and jeans that fall off his behind. He's been watching out the window of his redbrick house, the one with the unattached trailer in the front yard. He grudgingly opens the glass screen of his front door to greet the unwelcome company, and nearly slips when he steps on the porch.

He doesn't look so threatening as he clings awkwardly to the door frame. He looks like he hasn't slept, though, just as he looked when he turned himself in to Detective LaQuatra last year after Kristin came forward and his gig was up.

He groveled to LaQuatra that day: "I can't help myself, I really can't." And he doesn't sound so cocksure now, as he didn't when he called Kristin right before she pressed charges, to offer this rambling admission: "I just idolize these guys and what they do, and the attention they get from women, and I just want that for myself, and I don't think I can do it on my own and I just want to be them."

On this February morning, Brian Jackson just looks angry or nervous or both, like a man about to face felony charges who doesn't want to be bothered. As the sun hits his face, he stares off to the side, eyes bloodshot-red like kindling.

Are you Brian Jackson?

"No. I'm his brother," he says.

Well, is your brother home, then?

"No."

Do you think he'd want to talk about ...

"No, he wouldn't."

He's tall, all right, his head is square, his body sturdy. His voice is as heavy as lead, and standing in front of him, it is not only conceivable he could pass for a Steeler, but understandable, especially in a town that sanctifies the men who wear that uniform but are often unrecognizable without it.

This morning, the Denali with tinted windows is docked in the drive, without the rims. Taking a step back, Jackson shuts the screen door. He's not wearing his Steelers hat. But he does have on a nice pair of sneakers, with a metallic swoosh on the side.

* The victims names have been changed to protect their identities.

Now where do we put them?

2007-05-06T11:30:00.000-04:00

I am a big fan of Ace Davis' blog. A couple times a year he throws together a comprehensive roster listing to project who will be around and who will be cut. I don't mean to rip him off, but I am a little anxious to be able to look at who we could expect to see suiting up come September, so I have gone through the exercise on my own:

QB
Starter: Charlie Frye
Backups: Brady Quinn, Derek Anderson
Practice squad: None
Cut: Ken Dorsey

RB/FB
Starters: Jamal Lewis, Lawrence Vickers
Backups: Jerome Harrison, Jason Wright, Alan Ricard
Practice squad: Tyrone Moss
Cut: Charles Ali, Chris Barclay

TE
Starter: Kellen Winslow
Backups: Steve Heiden, Darnell Dinkens
Cut: Ryan Krause, Buck Ortega

OL
Starters: Joe Thomas, Eric Steinbach, Hank Fraley, Seth McKinney, Kevin Shaffer
Backups: Ryan Tucker, Isaac Sowells, Kelly Butler, Rob Smith
Practice squad: Rick Drushal
Injured Reserve: LeCharles Bentley
Cut: Andrew Hoffman, Pete Lougheed, Fred Matua, Brent Pousson, Scott Stephenson,Nat Dorsey, Lennie Friedman

WR
Starters: Braylon Edwards, Joe Jurevicius
Backups: Travis Wilson, Josh Cribbs, Tim Carter
Practice squad:Syndric Steptoe
Cut: Kendrick Mosley, Steve Sanders, Mike Mason

DL
Starters: Orpheus Roye, Ted Washington, Robaire Smith
Backups: Simon Fraser, Ethan Kelley, Babatunde Oshinowo, Shaun Smith
Practice squad:Melila Purcell
Cut: Orien Harris, J'vonne Parker, Alvin Smith, Chase Pittman

OLB
Starters: Willie McGinest, Kamerion Wimbley
Backups: Matt Stewart, Antwaan Peek
Practice squad: Mike Alston
Cut: Jason Short, David McMillan

ILB
Starters: Andra Davis, D'Qwell Jackson
Backups: Chaun Thompson, Leon Williams, Mason Unck
Cut: Clifton Smith, Funtaine Hunter

CB
Starters: Daven Holly, Leigh Bodden
Backups: Eric Wright, DeMario Minter, Kenny Wright, Jereme Perry
IR: Gary Baxter
Practice squad: Brandon McDonald
Cut: Antonio Perkins, Therrian Fontenot

S
Starters: Brodney Pool, Sean Jones
Backups: Mike Adams
Practice squad: Justin Hamilton
Cut: Ben Emanuel, Jeremy Lesueur, Justin Sandy

Specialists
K Phil Dawson
P Dave Zastudil
LSE Ryan Pontbriand
Cut: Kyle Basler, Jesse Ainsworth

The game is: Tell me where I'm wrong. But remember, we can only have 53 guys on the roster, plus 7 on the practice squad, plus whoever ends up on injured reserve/physically unable to perform.

I know that this list has holes. For instance, punt returner is one of the outstanding open spots. If Eric Wright or Sean Jones can handle that, then the roster can stand as is. But if instead it is won by Brandon McDonald or Syndric Steptoe, then who gets bumped for their spot? DeMario Minter, or Jereme Perry? Could also be Tim Carter, but I'd be worried about our 4th and 5th receivers both being guys who won spots because of their special teams skills

The Draft

2007-05-02T17:22:00.000-04:00

I have had a chance to think over what happened last weekend. Here are my thoughts

Trades
I don't like trading up. You give up multiple picks to get a guy who the brain trust expects to be worth it. But we Clevelanders are only too aware that no GM or scout is omniscient. Guys who we expect to be good often end up as dogs. Since the GM or scout can't pick a guaranteed winner, the only way to improve your chances of getting lucky with a pick is by having alot of picks, so that even if half of them turn out to be duds, you are still left with some good players.

Savage's trades have the chance of paying off very well. If both Quinn and Wright end up as good as expected, the trades will prove to be worth it. Trading up for them was a risk, though, and if either do end up as failures, it will hurt alot because they both represent multiple picks. I am pretty risk-averse so I don't love the trades. But hopefully the "fortune favors the bold" mantra will hold up in this case.

The Picks
The first three picks were great examples of picking guys who are best available players who ALSO match a particular area of need (although our 2nd rounder Wright needs an asterisk*).

There isn't much more to say about Quinn and Thomas as picks. They are great picks that fill holes without reaching for talent.

The same can be said about cornerback Eric Wright, but not without going into more details. This is the kid who was listed by many as the top cornerback in the draft, which fits well with our huge need at CB. However, he fell through the second round because of character issues. I've searched through news stories, and I can't find anything to suggest that Wright was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. But alot of people are vouching for his character, saying he's a choir boy who made one very bad choice that was out of character. I hope they are right, for the sake of the Browns and for the sake of Wright's future.

The last 4 picks were definite need picks, unless Savage got UNBELIEVABLY lucky the entire way down the draft board with best available player also being at our areas of need (cornerback, defensive line, and punt returner). Drafting based on need is particularly risky in the later rounds, since the talent is pretty marginal anyways. In 2006 Savage had gotten away from the lower round need picks, taking a running back, a full back, a safety, a linebacker, and a cornerback as the best available guys on his board, and not necessarily the most important position.

If we are lucky, Melila Purcell and Chase Pittman might end up being solid defensive linemen. But odds are, they are going to be warm bodies filling obvious holes until those holes can be addressed more convincingly with future draft picks and free agent signings. Similarly, Syndric Steptoe and Brandon McDonald might replace Northcutt at punt returner, and McDonald could be a cornerback project who would be nice to see on the field if the secondary is ravaged by injuries again. But it seems like all four were drafted just to add names to a hurting roster, and not because they were the best available players.

As many have pointed out, this draft COULD be a franchise defining moment. But it could also be a serious drain on our ability fill future holes, since we have put all our eggs in the Quinn and Wright baskets.

Signing
We are still a few months off from any of these guys getting signed, but I am starting to hope that the Brady Quinn contract does lead to a bit of a hold out. I want Quinn to sit for a while behind Frye. If he holds out, it would provide a great excuse for Crennel to avoid calls to throw him in before he is ready. And it can also help us save a few bucks since we won't be paying more than we should just to avoid the PR issue.

Linemen on the loose

2007-05-02T13:11:00.000-04:00

I still haven't gotten to finish my draft post, and already the aftershocks are coming out:

>> Kevin Shaffer asks for a trade

>> Joe Andruzzi to be released

I'm not too surprised by the Andruzzi move. His play has been pretty unspectacular. Browns management (OK, Crennel) has been championing him as one of the cornerstones of the franchise, I assume for personal reasons and because they like his work ethic and professional attitude (which are nothing to sneer at, but also don't outweigh bad play). In theory we would keep him around a while longer into preseason since it costs us nothing, but I guess Crennel wants to do a favor for his buddy and speed up the inevitable. So it goes. We still have some depth at guard, although this loss kind of eliminates our margin for error.

But whats this about Shaffer wanting out? Whats with these big linemen like Shaffer and Ross Verba turning into whiny primadonnas the moment they don't feel fully appreciated?

Shaffer was payed VERY well to come in and play an important role. Alot of others have called him a failure after his first year, but I wouldn't be upset to see him get another year with a better guard lining up next to him. But in any case, we found a better option than him going forward, and now he may need to adapt to a new role. He should shut up and do his job. If he wanted the freedom to play where and when he desired, he should've worked that into his contract instead of signing a binding contract and collecting a huge signing bonus.

=======================================================
Anybody see the PFT article discussing the Kevin Shaffer "mistake"?

They assume that Savage didn't realize that Shaffer was playing in a different blocking system in Atlanta, and that is why Shaffer didn't perform to expectations. Apparently they think Phil Savage's entire experience with football is as an occasional viewer of ESPN.

This is ridiculous. Of COURSE Savage knew that Shaffer was being pulled into a new position in a new scheme, and that his experience would not directly translate. Not realizing that it would be pretty incompetent for a football writer, let alone for a GM. But part of being GM is projecting how guys will fit in different schemes.

I would also like to make sure we remember the context surrounding the Shaffer signing:
1) Summer of 2005, Ross Verba turns into a headcase and buys out of his contract.

2) New GM and headcoach Phil Savage and Romeo Crennel, already in the midst of dramatic lineup changes on offense and defense, sign LJ Shelton to a one year contract as a stop-gap, since Verba did his crazy-routine well after free agency and the draft had come and gone.

3) Come spring 2006 Shelton is gone, and we need a new LT with no expected chance of drafting one.

4) Shaffer was probably the best available option short of doing another one-year stop-gap measure. He wasn't a franchise left tackle, but those guys are never available in free agency, and he was expensive, but he filled a need. In hindsight a one year stop-gap could have been a better option, but with 20-20 hindsight we could have taken Marcus McNeill in the second round. Might as well have grabbed Marquis Colston in the 6th round, if you're going to start the second guessing.

Shaffer might not be our long-term left tackle, but I would hardly call his signing a mistake.

Ummmm. . . .

2007-04-28T16:32:00.000-04:00

I'm speechless.

This morning the talk was that we were chosing between Quinn and Thomas. Now we have BOTH?!

Not only do we get Quinn, but we also prevent Baltimore from getting him (rumors were it was Cleveland, Baltimore, and KC trying to get him).

It pains me a bit that we gave up next year's first round pick plus our second. I think I read that draft value chart says that we should have only needed to give up this year's 2nd and 3rd to get to that spot. I guess the real question is: Would we have used next year's first round pick on somebody better than Brady Quinn? Probably not.

So does this mean that all the mock drafts who predicted the Browns would take Brady Quinn can claim they were right?

Let the line reshuffling begin

2007-04-28T13:11:00.000-04:00

Needless to say, I'm happy with the pick of Joe Thomas. Its not a sexy pick, but its a good move to improve things incrementally.

The question is where is he going to fit in on the line? While we drafted him to be a left tackle, it seems like more often than not the elite left tackles take a year or two before they slide over to the pivotal blind side spot.

I'm guessing that Schaeffer holds down LT for this upcoming season. Steinbach at left guard, Fraley at center, Joe Thomas at right guard, and Ryan Tucker at right tackle. And when Tucker goes down hurt, Thomas slides over to right tackle with Seth McKinney, Joe Andruzzi, and Isaac Sowells fighting out for right guard. I also wouldn't be surprised to see one of those three fighting for Fraley's spot at center.

Longer term, Thomas at LT, Schaeffer at RT, Steinbach at LG, Tucker, McKinney, or Sowells at RG, and, dare we hope, LeCharles Bentley at Center? Its a long shot, but DAMN, that would be a line. The beautiful thing about this line: Other than Tucker, Andruzzi, and Fraley, we have alot of years ahead of us for these guys. So not only will they be an immediate upgrade, but they have the potential to be together for a while, and get better each year as a unit, even as each guy individually gets better.

I don't think there are going to be any excuses for the offensive skill positions this year.

High Character Players

2007-04-26T11:47:00.000-04:00

I'm really surprised that none of the Cleveland area papers have this story. I had to get it from a link at profootballtalk.com:

Justin Hamilton, Browns 7th round pick in 2006 and Virginia Tech alum, is working with other players to set up memorial scholarships in the names of each of the shooting victims from last week, and has pledged $50,000 of his own money to get it started.

Now THAT is impressive. The kid was a 7th rounder, and earned $275,000 last year. He probably only saw $185,000 of that after taxes. And although it sounds like he's being counted on as a backup safety and special teamer for next season, he is by no means assured of staying around in the league for long. He is making a very real sacrifice of financial security, if not necessarily the money needed to maintain his lifestyle.

Phil Savage has made the point that he looks for high character players. I just figured that meant we wouldn't see their names in pft's Turd Watch. I never guessed that it would mean he'd be bringing in some real humanitarians. I hope that Hamilton sticks around for a while. The cap space that he takes up will probably continue going to good causes.

Maybe his largesse will convince Michael Vick to pony up more than the $10,000 that he got a press release for.

Peterson injured before Browns even draft him

2007-04-26T08:03:00.000-04:00

In an interesting twist, its being reported that Adrian Peterson reinjured his collarbone in January, and that the lingering injury COULD require another surgery. Sounds like best case is that he misses offseason workouts and makes it back in time for preseason, and in a less rosy scenario he misses some of preseason too.

In my eyes, this should take him off the table. Beyond the fact that this is one more blow against his health report, the fact that he would miss so much of training camp would automatically mean that he's missing out. I don't understand why rookies missing one or two weeks of training camp is a big deal, but Crennel insists that it puts a damper on their entire rookie season.

Russian Roulette

2007-04-23T09:20:00.000-04:00

In my draft board, and in Dawghouse Blog's draft board, we advocated drafting Calvin Johnson (if he's still there) and then trading him.

While it sounds nice and easy, it has some pratfalls. Which would explain why its not a standard practice.

Every year, teams "threaten" to take players who are not their number one choices so that they can induce a trade with a lower team, and it rarely works. Which makes sense: If the team one spot ahead of you is threatening to take your player, you can call their bluff. If they really do take that player, there is no reason that you can't work out the trade while you are on the clock (ala Chargers/Giants swap of Eli Manning for Phillip Rivers).*

So the next logical step for the team that wants to trade down is to draft that player to force the lower team to do the trade. But there are a couple things that can now happen:
>> The lower team DOESN'T really want that player, at any price. You would only get into this situation if the lower team was doing an incredible bluffing job. I don't believe that Tampa or Washington would really pass on Calvin Johnson no matter what.
>> The lower team DOES want the player, but is only willing to pay below-market price. This is a likely scenario. But it still doesn't seem to be that much of an issue. So we take Johnson and can only get a 5th rounder out of Tampa. I could live with that.
>> The lower team DOES want the player, and will pay through the nose for him. That is the ideal scenario.

So, it is a bit of Russian Roulette, but the downside risks seem to be pretty minimal. Worst comes to worst, you still end up with a great player, just the wrong great player.

*Unfortunately, no one ever explained this manuever to Butch Davis, who gave Detroit a 2nd round pick so that we could take Kellen Winslow Jr.
=============================================

Clark Judge on CBS Sportsline has an article saying why the Browns "have" to take Peterson. But he fails to rebut one of the most important knocks against Peterson: his explosiveness and dynamicism means nothing when he's on the bench:
>> His injury history is troubling. Both the number of injuries and the types of injuries. Sure, they may all be "fluke" injuries, but so were most of Courtney Brown's injuries. It doesn't mean anything in the end. Some guys are just injury prone.
>> Even if he stays healthy, he's still only going to be helping us on first and second downs.
>> Time after time teams have proven that you can win with a less than stellar back, or with a tandem of backs. Quarterback by committee, NO! Running Back by committe, SI!
Peterson sounds exciting, and I wouldn't mind being proven wrong if we take him and he stays healthy and productive. But I'm not going to hold back from saying "I told you so" when he gets hurt.

=============================================
Dawg Pound South has a great post making the argument for drafting an offensive tackle.

Since he layed out alot of the numbers, I would like to add to that my own qualitative opinion:
The roles of quarterback, running back, and wide receiver can change drastically from scheme to scheme within the NFL, and espescially from college to the NFL:
>> Running backs need to follow more defined blocking patterns, since they can no longer rely on outrunning and overpowering NFL caliber linebackers and safeties. They also need to be able to pick up more complicated blizting schemes.
>> Quarterbacks have to contend with more frequent blitzing, and also have guys checking their reads to pick off passes to their primary targets
>> Wide Receivers have bigger, more physical CBs who keep them from running their routes and showing off their speed

Obviously tackles have new schemes to contend with and bigger, faster blitzers to worry about. But their job doesn't change neary as much: Keep your quarterback safe, and knock opposing defenders away from the run.

I think thats why its easier for personel guys to project college linemen than other positions. It makes the tackle a much safer pick. You may be losing the "upside" of getting a game-changing skill player, but you eliminate alot of the downside too.

Gone fishin

2007-04-18T17:47:00.000-04:00

My estimation of Joe Thomas (Tackle, Wisconsin, potential Browns draft pick) went up after reading this on Profootball Talk:

Adam Schefter of NFL Network reports that the NFL can't persuade tackle Joe Thomas, a presumed top-five draft pick, to travel to New York for the NFL Draft.

Instead, Thomas will be salmon fishing on Lake Michigan with his father.

The draft seems to be full of fanfare, fancy parties, and "bling". Instead of going for that, this guy will be fishing with his dad. Kind of like the anti-Bralyon Edwards. That sounds like the kind of guy who belongs in Cleveland.

My Draft Board

2007-04-16T11:03:00.000-04:00

The official Dwayne Rudd's Helmet Draft Board

We are down to two weeks until the draft. We are still waiting to see which way Oakland will go, but I think I've seen/read enough to have a picture of how I think Phil Savage's draft board should read:

1) Trade Down: I feel that trading down should be a given, in almost any circumstance, since no matter how good a player appears it will almost never make up for the fact that multiple picks gives you a better chance of getting one right.

2) Joe Thomas: I personally do not know ANYTHING about the players in the draft, all I know is what the talking heads tell me, since I by and large ignore college football. But they are saying that Joe Thomas is a "sure thing" left tackle. Given our historical problems on the o-line, as well as the decent track record of tackles taken high in the draft, and this one seems like a no-brainer to me.

Taking Joe Thomas out of the mix, our remaining options (per Phil Savage) are:
>> Jemarcus Russell
>> Adrian Peterson
>> Calvin Johnson
>> Brady Quinn

3) Calvin Johnson: Let me 'splain. I do not want to add another wide receiver to this team, with all our other pressing needs. BUT, our other options are not exactly "pressing needs" either, in my opinion. I would rather we take the best player available. But:

3a) After drafting Calvin Johnson, we should continue trying to trade him for a first round pick plus later picks in the draft. We might not be able to get many trade offers while on the clock if other teams don't believe that we will take Johnson. But if we do take Johnson, and then Tampa is confronted with the choice of a drafting a QB or RB, or giving us their 1st and 3rd (or even 4th) round picks for Johnson, I think they may pull the trigger and make the trade. And if Tampa doesn't make the trade, there is a good chance another team will.

4) Jemarcus Russell or Brady Quinn. I am pretty ambivalent amongst these guys. Both guys have alot of superlatives in their biographies. A QB is not my top choice, but if either of these guys could be another Phillip Rivers or Carson Palmer, it may be worth the risk (at least compared to our other options).

5) Adrian Peterson. I have made my case against him in previous posts. Suffice it to say, he is too injury prone, and decent-to-good running backs are just too easy to find beyond first round picks.

I guess my best case scenario would be us trading down to get two picks later in the first round, at which point we would have more wiggle room to draft need guys, at defensive line, offensive line, or cornerback. But what are the chances?

Peter King comes around?

2007-04-11T14:22:00.000-04:00

My last post was complaining about Peter King and his seemingly oblivious view on the draft. Then he comes out with an article that not only validates alot of the things I've been saying about the draft, but he also seems to be blatantly contradicting his earlier article.

Here's the new article:

KANSAS CITY -- Myth of the Month: If a team near the top of the first round of the NFL Draft wants to trade down, it can get a ransom for the pick.

Reality of the Month: In the last two NFL Drafts, no team with a top-10 pick in the first round has traded down for said ransom. In fact, the last two drafts have yielded only one trade with a team in the top 10, but it wasn't a trade-down. It was the Raiders trading the seventh overall pick plus linebacker Napoleon Harris for Randy Moss in 2005; Minnesota chose wideout Troy Williamson with that pick. (Talk about a trade that hurt both teams.)

Is it just me, or does everyone at this time of year have the same knee-jerk thought: If you're Detroit sitting on the No. 2 pick, no matter what happens, you're going to be able to either pick a great prospect, or trade it for a bunch of high picks. But if form holds, we're not going to see many, or any, deals made in the first couple hours of the April 28 draft.

"It's too difficult,'' Chiefs president Carl Peterson said in his office the other day. "You've got a lot of teams that want to get rich by trading down, but nobody wants to trade up.''

Here's why teams are reluctant to make a trade at the top of the draft this year:

1. Making an error by trading up can hurt a team's salary-cap situation and future drafts more than ever. Say a team trades up to the third pick in the draft this year, nabs Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn and guarantees him $20 million -- which is about the amount of guaranteed money the No. 3 overall pick will get. And imagine if Quinn is awful. Contracts can be written with different cap impacts, but suffice it to say, the big guarantee is going to be a Ryan Leaf-type weight on your franchise if Quinn has to be cut after three years at the cost of a $10 million cap hit. Never mind losing the picks it took to get Quinn in the first place. It used to be, when the guarantees were one-third of what they are now, that teams wouldn't fear the cap hit so much. "The cash mistake is bad enough when you blow a high pick,'' Peterson said. "But the cap mistake is worse. And then missing out on the future picks just compounds it.'' Which brings us to ...

2. The fear of the mega-mistake. The last one -- unless Eli ManningPhilip Rivers was chosen fourth by the Giants, and then New York traded Rivers for Manning and threw in future first-, third- and fifth-round picks. The first- and third-rounders became Pro Bowlers Shawne Merriman and Nate Kaeding, while the fifth-rounder was dealt to Tampa Bay for temporary starting left tackle Roman Oben. shows significantly more than he's shown in three shaky seasons, and fast -- came in 2004. Manning was picked by San Diego at No. 1 overall and

The trade looks bad now, and all it does is scare off teams thinking of trading future high picks to move up a few spots. You don't think Cleveland GM Phil Savage (I think the odds are tall that he'd trade up anyway, from what he tells me) will be very hesitant to trade a second-rounder, or next year's first to move up for JaMarcus Russell? All that's at stake is his job.

3. Too many teams are slaves to the Draft Trade Chart. You may have heard of this chart. It was invented as a way to equalize the value for both sides of a trade in the NFL. I'll use the Giants' silliness as an example of the silliness of the chart. (And I'm not even saying the draft chart was used by Ernie Accorsi when he made this deal; he did not live his life by the chart.) The draft chart assigns a value to each pick in the seven-round draft. Some teams have different values for picks, but the value board does not vary widely.

On the chart I have, the first overall pick is worth 3,000 points; the fourth is worth 1,800. So by the chart, the Giants would have to make up 1,200 points to make the trade. They dealt the 65th pick in the 2004 draft (worth 265 points) and first- and fifth-rounders in 2005. How do you assign value to these picks? For most teams, it's simple. You assume they'll come smack dab in the middle of the round. In this case, the first-round pick in 2005 was worth 1,000, while the fifth-rounder was worth just 34 points. Add those points together, and the Giants actually traded 3,099 points of value for the 3,000 points the top pick was worth.

The only time a team should follow the chart, I think, is when there's such a no-doubt player that you think your team has but one choice, and that's to select Player X. Georgia Tech receiver Calvin Johnson, for instance, in this draft.

On the other side, a team trading down shouldn't think it has to get perfect value in a trade to justify the deal. Case in point: In 1995, when Bill Polian was the Carolina GM, the Panthers had the first pick in the draft. Polian knew he wanted Penn State quarterback Kerry Collins, but he also knew Collins wasn't worth the No. 1 pick. By trading down, even if he didn't get fair "Draft Trade Chart'' value for the pick, he'd be making a smart decision. So he dealt the first pick to Cincinnati for the fifth and 36th overall picks and selected Collins at No. 5. First-pick value: 3,000 points. Combined value of numbers five and 36: 2,240 points.

But Polian knew he couldn't do better, and he also knew if he could get the same player with the fifth pick -- and get a high second-rounder in return, and pay them less, combined, then he would have had to pay the first overall pick -- why not do the deal? Turned out to be just OK for Carolina. Collins did lead the Panthers to the playoffs in his second year, but he and defensive end Shawn King, the second-rounder picked with the other pick from Cincinnati, didn't become the franchise players Polian had hoped for. The Bengals took running back Ki-Jana Carter with the No. 1 overall pick. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but you have to judge value based on what you see in front of you at the time -- not as a fixed system of unbending value based on the Draft Trade Chart.

"What's so interesting about the draft,'' said Peterson, "is that the risk-reward ratio is so much different between the top 10 and the picks you make as you go lower in the draft. You find out how hard it is to say good-bye to players in the top 10 of a draft. That's why you don't see the trades you used to see.''

I hate to say it, but I don't have anything to add. King pretty much says it all.

------------------------------------------------------------------

So the schedule is out:

Date	Opponent	Time/Result
Date	Opponent	Time/Result
Sep 9	Pittsburgh	1:00pm
Sep 16	Cincinnati	1:00pm
Sep 23	@Oakland	4:05pm
Sep 30	Baltimore	1:00pm
Oct 7	@New England	1:00pm
Oct 14	Miami	1:00pm
Week 7	BYE
Oct 28	@St. Louis	1:00pm
Nov 4	Seattle	4:05pm
Nov 11	@Pittsburgh	1:00pm
Nov 18	@Baltimore	1:00pm
Nov 25	Houston	1:00pm
Dec 2	@Arizona	4:05pm
Dec 9	@N.Y. Jets	4:15pm
Dec 16	Buffalo	1:00pm
Dec 23	@Cincinnati	1:00pm
Dec 30	San Francisco	1:00pm

Some observations:
>> Thats a bear of a beginning, Pittsburgh, Cincinnatti, and Baltimore at home only broken up by a trip to Oakland. Our standing in the AFC North should shape up VERY quickly. Crennel better be sure he gets the team up to speed quickly, because this season could be over before it begins if we go to 0-4 or 1-3.
>> Week 7 bye. Sounds good. It gives you time to look at what needs fixing from games 1-6, and still leaves 10 games in which to fix things.
>> We've had some pretty tough schedules the last few years, but at this point our 07 schedule looks like it might provide a little relief. Oakland, St. Louis, Miami, Houston, Arizona, NY Jets, Buffalo, and San Francisco can't become good in one year.
>> No primetime games on the schedule, although with flexible scheduling, that could change. I can't blame the league for not scheduling Browns games in primetime. Their games are exciting about half the time, and the rest of the time they are just pathetic. Even games we win can end up being bad games to watch (like at Oakland last year).

Thank God Tevye is Poor

2007-04-01T22:38:00.000-04:00

From Peter King last week:

If I Were the (Draft) King

Here's what I'd do if I were picking for the teams with the first five choices this year:

1. Raiders
Trade down to No. 6 for the Redskins' first- and second-round picks in 2008 plus WR Antwaan Randle El, and choose QB Brady Quinn. (Washington takes WR Calvin Johnson.)

2. Lions
Trade down a spot for Cleveland's pick and the Browns' 2008 first-rounder and select LT Joe Thomas.

3. Browns
Move up to No. 2, choose QB JaMarcus Russell.

Mr. King may be an idiot, and Phil Savage certainly would be an idiot if he were to do this. Give up a first round pick to move up one spot?!

I don't think Mr. King is really as dumb as this article suggests. I assume his logic was something like this:
> What should Detroit do?
> They should trade down.
> Who will they trade with?
> They should trade with Cleveland, so Detroit can get Joe Thomas at 3.
> What would Cleveland have to give up to trade up to 2?
> Next year's 1st rounder
So I don't think King ever gave any thought to whether or not it would be "worth it" for Cleveland to move up.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
I think this is how these guys put together their mock drafts: First they put together list of the best players (from a generic, non-team specific point of view). Then they go down the draft order, and match their best players against the teams drafting. If the team drafting in a position is unlikely to take that player, then they will either rearrange the their board of players (and complain that the team will be "reaching") or they rearrange the team order by proposing a "trade".

Hidden Messages

2007-03-29T20:33:00.000-04:00

PFT says that the Browns may be trading for Trent Green.

I don't give this much creedence:
A) The "report" comes from the Chiefs, who are trying to get more out of Miami for Green (last I heard, Miami was only offering a 7th round pick, and KC wants something alot higher). Miami can play the waiting game, since it is assumed the Cheifs will cut Green this summer, so obviously the Chiefs would love to drum up a bidding war by claiming another team is interested.
B) Phil Savage said the other day that they wouldn't be signing a veteran QB. While this could be pre-draft posturing, obviously any posturing would be totally destroyed by going and getting a QB before the draft.

I have said all along that I don't buy the whole "veteran QB" thing. Sure, it works occassionally, but more often it seems to lead to failure:
- Drew Bledsoe to Buffalo (and Dallas)
- Jeff Garcia to Cleveland and Detroit
- Daunte Culpepper to Miami
- Trent Dilfer to Cleveland
- Kurt Warner to New York and Arizona

Do we really want to add Trent Green to that list at the cost of $7M per year? If anything, sign some more linemen and see how Frye and Anderson do with a little pass protection.

Even a rotten apple has a core

2007-03-25T17:27:00.000-04:00

Pat McManamon had a discussion with Randy Lerner. Again Pat is harping on the spending issue. Are there really fans who care how much we spend? Please leave a comment (if blogger lets you) and let me know if you are concerned with how much of Randy's money is becoming Eric Steinbach's money.

Randy is trying to make the (valid) point that we're still trying to build the personel on the team. He had this list of "core" players who are on the team now:

``I have (Joe) Jurevicius, (Orpheus) Roye, Kellen Winslow, Braylon Edwards, Kamerion Wimbley, Sean Jones, Brodney Pool, Eric Jamal Lewis, Andra Davis, Charlie Frye, D'Qwell Jackson, Leigh Bodden, Josh Cribbs for special teams certainly if not other, Steve Heiden, and emerging players like Leon Williams, Lawrence Vickers, Jerome Harrison, Travis Wilson,'' he said. ``So... that's 18. Now are they the 18 of the 35? No. Do we still have holes to fill?''

He then answered his question with another question.

``Do we want to make sure that we have the right wideout, quarterback, running back, pass rusher, cover corner and defensive lineman to really fill out the critical positions?'' he said. ``We got holes to fill, there's no doubt.

``Hopefully we get one or two of those filled this year in the draft. (But) the picture that I'm working off of is not so much to be alarmed by the turnover.''

Charlie Frye? Jerome Harrison? Travis Wilson? Leon Williams? Even if they are "emerging" players (which is certainly debatable), they are not "core", at least as I understand the word.

Meanwhile, there is a conspicuous absence of Offensive Linemen, and I don't know that this is entirely justified. Before 2006, Ryan Tucker would certainly be a core player, and there is hope that he may return to that status. I would call Hank Fraley core. Kevin Schaffer is good to have, although I would prefer to be able to upgrade left tackle and move him to a less demanding position.

Reversals of fortune

2007-03-25T01:00:00.000-04:00

Rumors swirling last week were that:
> Winslow could miss '07 because of longer-than-expected recovery from knee surgery
> Bentley could make it back by October

Leave it to Steve Doerschuk (via WTAM) and ONLY Steve Doerschuk to share Phil Savage's rebuttal of these rumors:
> Winslow is on pace to be back for '07
> Bentley is expected to have another knee surgery in May, making an '07 comeback impossible
> Baxter is making progress, but no word on what that means. The fact that he is even WALKING is progress, but it doesn't necessarily help the Browns

I guess the PD and ABJ don't report this stuff because WTAM got the scoop, and they are "above" reporting other organizations' exclusives. I guess that is their business, but I prefer Doerschuk who is more about reporting Browns news, not getting the exclusive.

Avoiding minced words

2007-03-22T12:30:00.000-04:00

Any draft analysis I've thrown out there so far should have the following disclaimer attached: Any daydreams involving us drafting a QB, WR, or RB are based purely on whether or not we CAN get the player, not whether we SHOULD get the player.

I still maintain that we need to invest a majority of draft picks in our offensive and defensive lines.

Bitterfans had a good post that reminded me that, despite my musing about whether or not Quinn or Russell will fall to us, the #1 priority should be: if Joe Thomas falls to us and we can't finegle a trade down, we MUST take him, end of story. By all reports, he's too good of a player, and tackle is too big of a need.

I'm still not ready to put together my list of who we should go after, but I can guarantee that the number one option is "trade down" and the number two option is "Joe Thomas".

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had missed the word, as posted at http://www.dawg-pound.net/, that the Broncos signed Alvin McKinley. So now he's reunited with Gerard Warren, Kenard Lang, Ebenezer Ekuban, et al. Although Courtney Brown won't be able to round out the club, since he was cut. Guess the Broncos got just as frustrated as the Browns waiting for him to heal.

Money to burn

2007-03-18T21:06:00.000-04:00

We got a fourth round pick for Rueben Droughns? I didn't know that, but thats what this Patrick McManamon piece says. Or, maybe he's mistaking the 7th rounder that we got for Dilfer for a 4th rounder.

I don't know that I get much from the rest of the article. So we're throwing alot of money at free agents. Its not like we are short of cash to pay the superstars on our roster. Fact is, the NFL limits the number of guys you can keep on the roster, so quantity over quality isn't an option (although I agree that having as many draft picks as possible is the way to go). Also, there is a salary floor as well as a salary cap, so the Browns HAVE to burn money on players. Yeah, it'd be great if we had some pro-bowlers on the roster whose deals we could extend, instead of picking up guys who may or may not be new pieces. But we don't, so what is management supposed to do, sign Simon Fraser through 2050? Once quality guys start leaving because they can get more money somewhere else, I'll complain, but for now I'm content with the mere hope that the signings might make us a little better.

CBS noted that the Browns only have nine players left from the Butch Davis era. I believe those nine are:

- Leigh Bodden
- Sean Jones
- Andra Davis
- Mason Unck
- Orpheus Roye
- Phil Dawson
- Kellen Winslow
- Ryan Tucker
- Steve Heiden
- Ryan Pontbriand, LSE

Maybe my counting skills are rusty, but I count 10. Of course, there was plenty of Butch Davis trash to get rid of. But those guys make up a majority of our decent players.

Money for nothing

2007-03-16T18:23:00.000-04:00

This article, as linked by PFT, has a blurb saying the Packers and three other teams were trying to trade for FB Terrelle Smith before the Browns cut him.

My first thought: Why the heck would we cut him, if we could have gotten something for him?

We'll probably never know why, considering this franchise won't even admit the extent of player injuries. But I assume that the other teams were planning on playing the waiting game until after Smith got the roster bonus the Browns owed him in the upcoming weeks. So, we either had to put our money where our mouth is, by paying the roster bonus in the HOPES of getting a trade, or we had to cut him to avoid using cap space on a guy who won't be around next year.

I guess it makes sense if the trade value was pretty small (like a 7th round pick). Hopefully that was the case. I'd hate to think Randy Lerner was just trying to save cash at the expense of possibly improving the team through extra draft picks.

In any case, at least the potential trade explains why we held onto a veteran to his detriment rather than cutting him at the beginning of free agency, which I believe is SOP if you don't want to be known as a team that screws their players.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Speaking of Lerner and trading for draft picks, this NFL.com story, if true, gives some very interesting details. It claims that Lerner is directing Savage to draft a QB, and that Detroit is pushing a hard sell to force us to give them the farm so we can swap picks.

Now, before getting too worked up, lets keep in mind that the "NFL sources" that gave the writer this info are probably just Lions management that want to drum up a trade market for their draft pick. Its just like politicians anonymously leaking skewed classified information that supports their agenda (if that ever happened, which I'm sure it hasn't). So the Lions hope is that, even if Cleveland doesn't go for broke to trade up for a QB, another team like Houston or Minnesota will believe that we will, so they will go for broke to win the derby.

Lets consider the facts:
> Its still not a forgone conclusion that Oakland is going to take a QB. Rumors are running rampant that Oakland might trade Randy Moss for Packers backup QB Aaron Rodgers. If this comes about, this would have a huge impact on the draft, because Oakland would have MUCH less need to draft a QB (which they have proven to be loath to do by passing on Matt Leinart last year) and much more in need of a WR, like top-rated prospect Calvin Johnson. And if Oakland takes Johnson, both Russell and Quinn will be there at two, meaning the Browns would be assured of getting one of the two no matter what.
> A big deciding factor in whether or not someone will trade up to 2 is whether or not they believe Detroit will take a QB. After all, if Detroit isn't going to take a QB, then no one will want to trade up to 2 when they can trade up to 3 for alot less and still get the guy they want (unless they're convinced that the Browns WILL take a QB, no matter what is offered in a trade, but I can't believe that Phil Savage would mortgage our future like that). Now, Detroit also passed on Matt Leinart last year, and with the Joey Harrington debacle still hanging over Matt Millen's head, and also taking into account their rumored man-crush on Joe Thomas, they are going to have to do ALOT of selling to convince other teams that they really will pull the trigger on a QB.
> Even if Detroit makes a convincing sell that they will take a QB, lets not count out Phil Savage's self-restraint. As Exhibit A, I point you to the days and seconds leading up to the 2005 draft: In '05, Miami put out an enormously hard sell trying to get us to trade up for Braylon Edwards, to the point that Braylon was expecting to have a Lions hat on his head at any moment. And Savage really wanted Edwards, not only because he was the best player (by what was known then, not now), but because we didn't have too many better options if we didn't get Edwards. After all, the next guys off the board were Cedric Benson, Cadillac Williams, Adam "Pacman" "Multiple Felon" Jones, and Troy "Blind & Butterfingers" Williamson, all of whom would probably have been worse picks than Edwards. But even under those pressing circumstances, Phil kept a calm head and didn't bite, saving valuable draft picks and STILL getting the guy he wanted. And this year, he'll have some pretty good fall-back options in Joe Thomas (if no QBs are left) or Adrian Peterson.
> If Phil has to take a QB this year, he could still wait until round two or three and get Troy Smith (although that might be going overboard on the Smiths). Not that Troy Smith is being thrown around as a sure-fire franchise QB, but bringing him to Cleveland would drum up more fan-base excitement than either of the other top two QBs.

So don't get worked up about any rumors that come out over the next month and a half. There's still alot of hands to play. For now, keep your eye on the Moss for Rodgers deal. If that goes down, we're pretty much guaranteed to have a QB fall to us at 3, whether we decide to draft him or trade down.

Extra help

2007-03-15T07:19:00.000-04:00

Sounds like good news to me. The Browns signed Robaire Smith, DT, and Seth McKinney, OL. McKinney sounds like an injury risk who could pay off as a solid backup, but Smith sounds like a pretty decent veteran hole plugger. Probably a step up from Alvin McKinley.

In another move, Terrelle Smith, FB, was cut. I assume that this was just a cost saving measure, as now they can just give Terrelle's old jersey's to Robaire. I assume that this is more a vote of confidence in Lawrence Vickers than a dig at Smith.

Robaire seems to be coming at a decent price: $12M over 4 years. I'm glad that we've finally started to address one of the most glaring holes. At the risk of sounding like Tony Grossi, I just worry that these signings means that Savage is covering his lines with free agents so that he can go and draft non-linemen. Plugging the holes is good and all, but its no substitute for drafting guys. I still say that we should get at least 3 or 4 o- or d- linemen out of this draft.

Pro Bowlers and Kingpins

2007-03-12T22:52:00.000-04:00

I've read a number of news items that have tried to disparage the Browns' signing of Eric Steinbach by pointing out that he hasn't been to any Pro Bowls. This comes from the same guys who (correctly) complain that Pro Bowl rosters are popularity contests that ignore the young quality players who deserve to be honor and focus on over-hyped has-beens.

Its even more inconsistent, since pretty much everyone agreed that Eric Steinbach was the best Offensive Linemen available, and that he was one of the best free agents overall.

So which is it? Is the Pro Bowl a joke? Or is Steinbach a bum because he hasn't been to a Pro Bowl?

Secondary Concern

2007-03-11T13:19:00.000-04:00

According to Profootballtalk, Brian Russell has signed with the Seahawks, making it official that he won't be coming back to the Browns.

Russell has been decent. Not great, but he was one of those "veterans" that everyone is always talking about. Seemed like a good teammate, and he had some memorable hits. He wouldn't have been expensive to bring back, even as a backup, so the fact that we didn't resign him must mean that Savage and Crennel think that Brodney Pool is ready for the other safety spot. He did a good job as a spot CB last season, so I look forward to seeing what he does full time.

Pool and Sean Jones give us a set of quality, quick, young safeties. If our CBs can prove reliable in single coverage and don't need the safeties to back them up, we should expect to see some exciting defensive play, like we saw at the beginning of last season.

But will the CBs be able to hold their own? Leigh Bodden is plenty good when healthy, but he hasn't proven to be an iron man. Right now it looks like Daven Holly will start accross from Bodden. Holly has looked pretty decent at times, but he doesn't shut down opposing receivers, and he can get beat on big plays, too. But he is still maturing, so we could see an even better player next year.

But who's behind Bodden and Holly? Gary Baxter, even if he does manage to walk again this season, most likely won't be able to run fast enough to fill in as nicklel or dime. New free agent Kenny Wright sounds like he might be a Ray Mickens. Better than Ralph Brown, hopefully, but still a career backup. We also might see 06 draft pick Demario Minter, or an 07 draftee.

So we are nowhere near set at CB. If we had one more solid starter (like Gary Baxter, if healthy) we would be looking pretty set. But now, we might have enough to survive, but if we see any injury problems like last year, it could term ugly quickly enough.