While We’re Waiting… Small Market/Big Influence, Manning and LeBron, and Dirty Players
October 26, 2011Jim Thome: Slugger Gets Closure in Cleveland
October 26, 2011This week the Browns won a really ugly game that left us with plenty to complain about. Special teams – once a bragging point for this team under Eric Mangini and Brad Seely – has become an unfunny joke. The inability to get in the end zone under Eric Mangini and Brian Daboll seems to be back for an encore after we hoped to bid it farewell forever with the hiring of Pat Shurmur. Peyton Hillis missed another game and Colt McCoy seems to be regressing if not choking on an expanded list of duties and priorities. All of it is a wonderfully welcome relief after the last few weeks of Browns scandals.
I applaud those of you who drove the Colt McCoy discussion yesterday to 104 comments and counting. You know why it was so awesome? Browns fans were talking mid-week at a frenzied pace about… FOOTBALL. We weren’t talking about strep throat, contracts, agents, out-of-market radio stations, 5-year contracts, retirements, or absentee owners. Football. You know the thing we actually love that gets played to varying degrees of quality on Sundays? (FOOTBALL!)
It honestly makes my week. The Browns are heading to San Francisco this weekend as a 9.5 point underdog as of this writing, yet I’m still excited. Even as the “Madden Curse” nonsense has hit the mainstream media with regard to Peyton Hillis’ season, it doesn’t matter to me. Hillis could be back this week in San Francisco, or it might take another week until the Browns play in Houston.
We’ll see, but at this point I would go cautious. I truly think Hillis is still capable of putting up weeks like he had in Indianapolis more frequently than not. Remember he had 94 yards on 24 carries including a game-winning 24-yard TD scamper while adding four catches including one for 19 yards. This Browns team was pretty effective with their screen-passing game this weekend in Seattle. Maybe adding that to the scouting video archive will pay dividends in some other area going forward.
In other news, ProFootballFocus says that Tony Pashos had a day for the ages against Seattle last weekend. Like in a really really bad way. In their words, “It didn’t matter who was lined up in front of Pashos, everyone had the pleasure of beating him off the ball and making him look silly. When the Browns ran behind him they averaged 2.4 yards per carry, almost a full yard below the team average.” Go ahead and put this one on Tom Heckert. It was one thing for Heckert to miss on Pashos as an injury risk, but for him to be such a weak link even when he plays is pretty discouraging. I am still happy to not be dealing with John St. Clair, but add it to the list for draft day this year. It doesn’t matter who your running backs are if the offensive isn’t playing capable football. Just ask Chris Johnson. He’ll tell you only too willingly.
Which brings me back to the top. It is wonderful to be talking actual football this week even if there are a lot of negatives to talk about. It beats having to talk about fake reality show “drama” thrust on us since the bye week.
(Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
37 Comments
I’m absolutely shocked the flocks of dissatisfied fans that occupy this city don’t have their torches and pitch forks out demanding the FO sign Bernard Berrian and or T.O.
+1 and a hearty pat on the back fans.
for such an easy name, we all mess it up too often. I usually put an extra ‘e’ before the ‘y’ for whatever reason. above, it’s ‘ea’ instead of ‘ee’ anyways:
http://www.49ers.com/team/coaches/brad-seely/e0af6fea-dfee-476a-b1f0-9ec495ba2feb
and I fully agree that it’s great to be talking football. yesterday was quarterbacks, so today is RBs and OL, right?
Special Teams coordinator needs to go. THere is no reason for the blocking assignments to be blown repeatedly on FG’s. The regression is staggering.
Also, it seems Dawson is gone at the end of the year right? The Hillis situation sets up perfectly for him. They’ll have to tag Hillis (maybe?) and then Dawson signs a big deal elsewhere.
Thx mgbode… I fixed it… I even looked it up and still didn’t correct it…
I would love for the team to address RT high in the draft. Maybe not 1st round as that is normally reserved for LTs, but 2nd or 3rd round. We need to stop bringing in bad players for 1 or 2 years and just get the cornerstone guy we can throw out there for the next 10.
And you’re right Craig, it’s nice not having to deal with the drama and be able to just complain about the team itself 🙂
I would love to grab a left tackle that drops to the second round and move him to right tackle.
@Lyon, amen… I’d love for us to draft a competent RT with either the Falcons’ pick (if they do well this year) or the Browns’ 2nd round pick. For now, hopefully it’s just Pashos continuing to shake the rust off (but probably not).
We should really be thanking Colt McCoy for all of those comments yesterday. Apparently he’s quite the lightning rod these days.
@ bridgecrosser: Ha, maybe we should go the source of his hire and ask some questions, too. That would be Pat Shurmur.
But don’t worry, one and all, Pat identified the “left guard area” as the concern for our Special Teams, going forward.
@ Vengeful Pat: Was Pashos this bad last year? I don’t remember, but I think that not remembering him means he wasn’t terrible, because if a lineman makes it in any press article, its not usually for doing a good job.
I will also endorse a 2nd round RT. either a LT to move over to RT or a pure RT from college.
2nd round would be Zebrie Sanders (FSU), Nate Potter (Boise) or Mike Adams (Buckeyes) territory.
we also might be able to grab one in the 3rd round of sound quality. if Marcel Jones (Nebraska) or Ricky Wagner (Wisconsin) drop there, then I would be glad to scoop them up.
I think alot of the problems on the OL this year have been starting what is essentially 2 rookies (due to Lauvao missing most of last year with injury). Pinkston has held up rather well (helps having Mack and Thomas around you of course). Lauvao has not looked good (Greco did a better job after Lauvao got hurt vs. Sea). There’s some hope that he’s going through some growing pains though and will learn from it. I would still pick another middle OL in the 4-6 range to challenge him (but also for depth).
@Oribiasi (8) – to Shurmur’s credit, he did try to address it during the game. he yanked Cousins off the squad and put Mack in there. Mack ended up whiffing on the last FG attempt, but I will bet once he gets the assignments down better, he won’t moving forward (personally, I would put Pinkston there as he’s the bigger body and put Mack outside. in STs, it’s helpful to have the bigger bodies inside and the quicker bodies outside)
Like Hillis a lot, including his fit here, but with reports that he might be out again this week my thinking about his future is morphing. If Hardesty continues with decent games and shows his stone-hands were a temporary blip, I’d hope they’d only offer Hillis 3 years. Missing this game would be 2.5 games and counting because of his hammy. He just looks like one of the RBs, like Beanie Wells, destined to spend lots of his career in a quasi-effective dinged state. And guys take longer to heal after their mid-20s, so it probably won’t get better. And it’s reasonable to think Hardesty will regain some of his old explosion one year after surgery.
Hope Heckert saves precious cap space for some surer bets.
wait, sorry if above was too non-football.
Instead: San Fran runs down your throat. Taylor and Rubin regurgitate Gore to the outside where Jackson is waiting and Ward is cheating. Force their QB to air it. We win.
There.
I don’t know why but I have a good feeling about the game Sunday.
Alex Smith does not scare me. We just need to stop Gore and find some way to get in the end zone.
@TSR – we need to stop Gore while also limiting Vernon Davis (and Delanie Walker – they do alot of 2TE sets). Alex Smith shouldn’t scare you, but those TEs can get open and I still have bad flashbacks to the Tenn game.
Also, Ginn is still an elite returner. And our STs have been terrible. And Seely would likely want to show his former employer just how good of a coach he is.
@oribiasi, I think mgbode actually called that out first. I just got in on the action to make myself look cool. Pashos didn’t really play much last year. He played in the first 6 games and started in the last 3 before his injury… I don’t have any memories of him doing poorly unlike John St. Turnstile, so that’s probably a good thing. He’s 31 though, so his best days are already behind him. That’s a scary thing to say since I’m also 31… yeesh.
@mgbode: sit down, get back into lotus position with the group. Jauron is writing his algorithms on the chalkboard right now. Hmmmmmmmmm.
@Harv – can I sit at my computer desk and run the algorithms through a random-based validation scheme to make sure we account for all the possible corner cases?
because there is no way my knees, ankles or groin will allow me to get into the lotus position:
http://www.yogajournal.com/poses/488
No no, trust your Jauron. He has al lthe algs you need.
We’ll give you temporary dispensation on the lotus if you agree to start with this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqRqLD05veM
Calm and loose, my friend.
@ Vengeful Pat: I hear ya. I turned 30 in July and I don’t think of myself as old (at least not very often) but sometimes I’ll go to the mall or a high-school football game and what passes for “teenagers” makes me dizzy.
I actually have a strangely optimistic feeling about this game. Nine point underdogs, no expectations, no pressure. I’m not looking forward to our offense against the SF defense, but I am interested to see what the defense can do. I think if we can get a defensive TD or special teams TD and and not let them do the same, we have a decent chance. I’m not sold on SF being as good as their record says they are.
@Harv – ok, i might be able to handle those. and Jauron has certainly earned the trust (outside a pesky big play here and there)
@Craig – You can DEFINITELY lump the receivers into the offensive dung pile. Yes, Little has upside, but really, Chris Ogbonnaya was our leading receiver last week. That says SO MUCH about the talent level of our receivers. Obviously, Robiskie, Norwood, Mitchell and those guys are gone, I definitely wouldn’t be surprised if MoMass wasn’t playing here next year either.
When the team scores more than 6 points I will be excited again.
I know you guys aren’t especially big fans of the PD for their coverage of the Browns but there was an interesting article (I think yesterday) about how the emphasis has been on defense and not offense.
Indeed the main point of the article and that hasn’t been discussed much, is that Heckert used his first two draft picks in ’09 and ’10 on defensive players…. As a result it’s not surprising to see the defense being the bright spot in this team. And it shouldn’t surprise people that the offense is poor (at best) as no 1st or 2nd round talent hasn’t been added on offense in the last 2 years (except Hardesty who still has to prove himself or hillis but he was a late pick)
Anyway point being, I think (and yeah I know it’s painful) that we should be patient and if Heckert provides 3 quality offensive player in the draft (2 in the first and one in the second round), Next year could be the giant leap.
As I read here and there the bad output from the offense can’t only be attributed to McCoy, even though he has to do a better job (field vision, accuracy etc.) but a better offensive line and a top receiver (like Calvin Johnson) could help.
I believe that his poor accuracy is also a lack of confidence, because he doesn’t trust his o-line and doesn’t focus on his throw but on the sack and/or hit that might be coming.
I rewatched the Seattle game and what has been lost in the 6-3 outcome is the fact that we kept the ball for 42 minutes and drove up and down the field pretty effectively. What we didn’t do effectively was score any points. Dawson’s 2 blocked FGs and Colt’s ill-timed INT (as if there’s ever a good time) completely killed legitimate clock-chewing drives on offense.
As for the SF game, I would like to feel optimistic but my mind won’t let myself. I know that they are superior on almost all 3 phases of the game, especially on Special Teams. If we have another ST gaffe this week, I think it’s time to fire Mr. Tabor and get someone in there who knows what they’re doing. Surely, with all the ex-Head Coaches we have on our staff, we cna find someone competent enough to straighten out our Special Teams.
Let’s talk receivers for a second. We’ve seen the Browns make the adjustment from Robo to Little. MoMass got knocked out and Robo was back in there. As this unit continues to struggle, I will start to get on the coaching staff if they don’t at least give a serious look to Jordan Norwood and Carlton Mitchell.
Daryl Ruiter is reporting that Mitchell will be active this week with questions surrounding the concussions of Watson and MoMass. At some point, I expect Mitchell to get a look.
Additionally, I know Jordan Norwood is just a little guy, but he is probably also the fastest and quickest of the receivers. In training camp, he was getting open while people were touting him as a faster version of Chasi Stuckey. I blame myself for imagining him as the next Wes Welker, but I still can’t believe with all the passing woes that we’ve barely seen his jersey on the field all season.
If the Browns can’t get open and the defense is blitzing like crazy, wouldn’t you want your fastest, quickest cutting guy to be on the field so he could get open right away on slants and crosses?
I hate to say it because I love the guy and he has been the only deep threat all year, but at some point Josh Cribbs’ reps will probably have to suffer if this passing offense doesn’t improve.
So, was Seely fired or did he choose to leave the team? If he chose not to come back, I don’t get the “vengence” angle that some have mentioned.
As a side note, it would be so nice to be 30 again and all-knowing.
Mike,
I believe Seely chose to leave for SF after Shurmur offered him to stay on as ST coordinator. Under Mangini, Seely also served as Assistant Head Coach.
If you don’t take Mitchell and Norwood out for a test drive this season, this week, not sure when you do. Not like there’s any timing and chemistry to mess up.
One of the differences with Colt this year is pocket awareness. Last year it was surprising how he felt the rush and got rid of the ball against some pretty fierce defenses. At least twice the past few weeks he’s been completely unaware of safety blindside blitzes. My theory he’s still needing to concentrate so hard on where the receivers are/should be that his internal clock and peripheral feel is on the fritz. Maybe the same reason he keeps throwing late, which didn’t seem to happen last year. The unforced inaccuracy I don’t get, other than he’s pressing.
According to that Grossi guy Mitchell will be active for the game.
Has he not been active?
@Chris – that is correct. Mitchell has been on the 53man roster, but has not made the 45 ‘gameday’ roster.
not sure if it will help, but might as well get all the guys a look (and obviously we are forced to with MoMass hurt)
@Craig – I blame you for the title of this thread for the song stuck in my head:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZGWQauQOAQ
LOL I guess i didnt read the one sentence that Craig said he was a active. Jesus I need to wake up today.
I motion to retroactively include Simon & Garfunkle on last week’s “Guilty Displeasure” list
@humboldt – motion seconded.
(i mean the songs were fine the first time i heard them. sort of annoying since then)
Great call on Pashos, looks like Tarzan and plays like Jane
You guys complain all you want; under the current circumstances, I’ll take 3-3 for this team all day, any day