While we are all readying for whatever should occur tonight versus the Ravens, I have some random football-y things that occurred to me this morning and over the weekend. Even with the Browns game not happening until Monday, it wasn’t like I was going to take advantage of unseasonably nice weather or anything. Why would I, when the NFL was playing games?
Memories of Mondays Past
See that picture? That was the pic I used for my Browns Bullet Points article following last year’s Monday Night Football game against the NY Giants. That game also had the Browns coming off a bye week for the record. That game was also the one that got Romeo Crennel the Motorola Coach of the Week award! Have you stopped laughing yet? I’ll wait. So, that game seems like a long time ago, right?
Giving Up the Team
That’s it. For the first half of the season, I blamed bad breaks, bad luck, bad timing. Now it’s clear: The Browns are just a bad team. I’m putting all my Browns hats and Browns shirts in a box, taping it up, and stowing it in the attic. I’ve [expletive deleted] away too many Sundays, hoping that this team would just play football instead of trying to pull the next big move. When they win a playoff game, I’ll watch again. And I don’t feel the least bit bad about saying that. They owe me. I don’t owe them. I’m all paid up. And they’ve got a lot of ground to make up. Waste of time.
The interesting thing about this quote is this. That isn’t a Browns comment. I changed the team name in the comment. That, my friends comes from a Jets fan as posted by The Legend of Cecilio Guante. This weekend the Jets were defeated by Maurice Jones-Drew and the resurgent Jaguars 24-22. The Jets started the season 3-0 including their big win over the Pats in week 3. Remember when they were all calling Rex Ryan a super genius? The Jets have lost 5-6 with a lone win against the Oakland Raiders. It is just crazy that in the league of parity that fanbases could be as distraught as we are, or as Jets, Lions and Raiders fans are. Not that any of us care about how misery loves company, but we Browns fans do have a lot of company.
Who Dey Think They Have it Bad?
The Bengals defeated the Steelers this weekend to lock up first place in the AFC North. I remember back when everything was wrong with the Bengals and I felt bad for the folks at the Who Dey Revolution. Now they just seem like a bunch of whiners. Of course, I say this in jest. Many of their complaints are still completely valid even if the team is winning in spite of the organizational misgivings. For all the complaining that we do about the Browns and their “organization,” wouldn’t it be nice if the Browns started to win in spite of the poor organizational structure? Sure, you may feel a little silly complaining about the organization responsible for a first place team, but I think I could deal with that. I am sure the Revolution are feeling pretty good today as Pittsburgh burns. In other news, maybe it is time for the Browns to welcome in the TV cameras for “Hard Knocks?”
The Bravery of Belichick
We hated Bill Belichick for cutting Bernie Kosar and not being “The Hoodie” when he was here in Cleveland. Still, you can’t question the fact that the man has guts for days. Today, a lot of New Englanders are complaining about the call that Belichick made last night in Indy to go for it on 4th and 2 from his own 30 yard line in an attempt to ice the game. The Pats had a 6 point lead at the time and were faced with punting the ball to Peyton Manning and the Colts with two minutes left to go. Faced with those odds, Belichick thought it wise to try to control his own destiny by keeping the offense on the field. After an out pass to Kevin Faulk that came up short in a controversial forward progress call, the Colts took over and scored the game winner with 13 seconds left.
Nobody in New England will say it today, but Belichick made a good call. Just because it failed doesn’t mean it was the wrong call. Punting was a safe decision and would have helped Belichick avoid scrutiny today, but there is no telling which option truly gave the Pats the best chance to win the game. When Tom Brady is your quarterback, how do you bet against him getting 2 yards? Also, the Pats were up by 6 meaning that the Colts still had to score a full touchdown. The Colts had plenty of time to work regardless of whether they had 70 yards or 30 yards. Far be it for me to defend Bill Belichick who I still dislike from his time here in Cleveland, but my neutral point of view is that he made a good decision to go for it on 4th down even though it didn’t work. Now, someone tell Dan Shaughnessy, who thinks this would be up with Bucky Dent, Aaron Boone, and yes, Bill Buckner had this occurred in a playoff game. Easy there Dan.
Josh Cribbs
Normally, I wouldn’t want to cover ground that was already covered on the site, but when it comes to the weekend’s news on Josh Cribbs, I don’t care if I am redundant. I don’t want to say too much about it because I get this sense that it would embarrass Josh Cribbs to put him on a pedestal. Plus, there is no reason that more people in Cribbs’ position shouldn’t act like this. Still, in my mind (and I am sure in yours) it is completely note-worthy how he attempts to inject positivity in the world around him. He isn’t just an example for his NFL co-workers.
With that, stay tuned for The Browns Will Win If… for 1:00 PM. (Try not to laugh.)
