Tristan Thompson Thrives Coming Off the Bench for Cavaliers
January 2, 2012Talking Myself in Circles over Quarterbacks
January 3, 2012While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.
“How do we evaluate the job Shurmur did in his first year? I like to ask myself if there are any redeeming qualities when it comes to keeping a head coach. In other words, “is there something I can look back at on this season and say, ‘Shurmur did [this] well.’?” The Browns played well defensively, but I don’t see how you can directly attribute that to the “offensive-minded” Shurmur. Shurmur was brought here to install the West Coast Offense. After 16 games, I don’t see how anyone can say they were encouraged by the offense this year. The Browns scored 218 points all season. The only two teams who scored less were the Chiefs and the Rams, and they are both undergoing coaching changes.” [Pokorny/Dawgs by Nature]
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“The Indians’ front office often gets slammed for some poor decisions they make, and rightfully so, though I think considering the climate they work in they have had done a solid job. The unfortunate reality is in the last few years they have had to make the tough decision to trade their best players because of a ridiculous financial climate where there is no way a team like the Indians can go toe-to-toe with the big boys in free agency to try and retain their players. They learned this lesson the hard way in the past with the likes of Albert Belle, Manny Ramirez and Jim Thome.
Because of the way the game works today teams like the Indians will continue to be a developmental team for the bigger market teams. Boras was spot on about that. The Indians will have the true stars for five to seven years before they either leave via free agency or are traded before they become free agents. I hate to say it, but that is likely what will happen down the road with any of the current players such as Carlos Santana, Jason Kipnis, Asdrubal Cabrera, Justin Masterson, and so on. This flies in the face of what I wrote in a column recently of how I think the Indians need to dig deep and find a way to retain their players. I still stand by that belief in that it is the only way to improve attendance because it would help restore faith in a fan base that distrusts the organization immensely. But having said that, I also understand that the Indians are limited in what they can do until this broken system gets fixed somewhere down the line.” [Tony/Indians Prospect Insider]
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I will have more on the Buckeyes later, but this just kind of boggles the mind- “Shugarts’ streak continues. With a false start penalty in the first quarter of the Gator Bowl, Ohio State offensive lineman J.B. Shugarts finishes his college career with at least one offsides penalty in four consecutive bowl games, and in 24 total games over the course of his career. Hey man, you gotta leave as you lived.” [Hinton/Dr. Saturday]
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“Daniel Gibson has been quietly very good for the Cavs all season. He poured in 19 points in 27 minutes off the bench. In a night when Anthony Parker struggled mightily (2 of 7 shooting, 0-4 from deep), Gibson was a much bigger threat at shooting guard. Boobie shot 5 of 7 from downtown and was instrumental in closing out the Nets. Gibson drained several threes in the fourth quarter to help open up the big lead and cruise to victory. Don’t be surprised if Boobie starts to get many more minutes at SG instead of Anthony Parker. ” [Kaczmarek/Fear the Sword]
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How in the world can he be ‘confident’ this will happen? “RB Montario Hardesty is confident he can return in 2012 healthy and productive. “I’m very confident that’s what I’m going to do,” he said. “It will help to have an offseason and I want to be as normal as I can be.” Hardesty was slowed coming off an ACL injury and then strained his calf that held him out of several games. Hardesty finished with 266 yards and no touchdowns and just a 3.0 average. He caught just 14 passes for 122 yards.” [Greetham/FSO]
16 Comments
I like MoHard (mostly because I like saying “MoHard”) but the guy is made of glass. Strike that, it appears he is made of something more fragile than glass (eggshell?).
counting on Hardesty for anything at all is foolish. If we go into next season in a situation where we, as fans, are saying “so long as Hardesty and Jackson can stay healthy, I think our backfield will be solid” then we might as well give up now.
And if the Browns exit the top 5 of the draft without either Andrew Luck or Justin Blackmon, then I will officially remove the Browns from my conciousness.
(I love me some RG3, I just worry about never playing under center, and Big 12 defenses that suck in general)
@ ben: I see him and I instantly think of Glass Joe from Mike Tyson’s Knockout.
I don’t think you could be upset with the Browns if Luck and Blackmon are gone before they pick. I mean I want Blackmon as much as the next guy, but if you are sitting at 4 and the Rams pick him at 2 then what can the Browns do. I don’t think it is a smart move for the Browns to move up in the draft just to get one of those guys. There is nothing wrong with a Trent Richardson at 4 and gettting a guy like Michael Floyd from ND with Atlanta’s pick. Then best available O lineman with our pick in the second round. I hear it is a deep O line draft this year.
Maybe it’s just wishful thinking because I was a fan of Hardesty in college, but I still have hope for Montario. He hasn’t shown his explosiveness he had at Tennessee. I think the knee and calf injuries have sapped him of that. Can he get that back? I hope so. But I agree, we can’t count on that. We need to have another back in addition to Hardesty and Jackson.
I would LOVE to shore up our O-Line somewhere in the first 3 rounds. Among all the flaws on this team, I think that’s the biggest and also the easiest to fix.
Speaking of Indians and Big Contracts, can we get some sort of year long celebration for the end of Hafner’s deal?
My four year old daughter has never lived in a world where phrases like “Another stint on the DL for Hafner.” or, “Hafner hits a slow grounder to second and a double play will end the inning.” weren’t a regular part of summertime.
Also I’ve heard that when glass wants to insult other glass it calls it Hardesty! heeeyyyyoooooo!!! (rimshot)
And to round it out, I’m skeptical about Boobie turning it on in a year that happens to be the final year of his deal. Never trust a player who only gets up in contract years (see; Hafner, Travis)
ben, i would also love to shore the O line up. I’d go so far as to draft a T and a G. the more depth the better, as we’ve seen just about every year. Hopefully the T could replace Pashos and the G could be further depth for Pinkston and Luvao once Steinbach returns (hopefully)
porkchop… in most NBA cases, yes contract year “stars” are scary. But Boobie is different. He hasn’t really added anything to his game, he’s just taking and making 3s. Same as he’s always done. Except this year we seem to have a lot more ball movement so he’s getting more open attempts than in the past.
@Ben – 100% agree. The OL HAS to be fixed. It’s my biggest disappointment in Heckert this year. There were options out there for him to acquire and he didn’t do it. It seems to me that the fans are expecting a playmaker (some combo of QB/WR/RB) with both first rounders and an OLmen with the 2nd rounder. If the Browns don’t do this I think the fans might riot.
There’d be nothing wrong with adding Trent Richardson at #4. By all accounts he’s a top RB talent, and one worthy of a rare Top 10 pick much like Adrian Peterson.
Identify a playmaker and draft him.
“Daniel Gibson has been quietly very good for the Cavs all season.”
That line just seemed a bit silly to me. Aren’t the Cavs 2-2 right now? All season??
At this point, I think there are so many glaring weaknesses on the Browns, you draft the best available skill player (WR, LB, CB, S, RB, QB maybe) then worry about the O-Line. I know there have been more “OLE’s” on the right side then a bull fight in Spain, But we need some playmakers.
Does anyone think moving Pinkston to RT might be a worthwhile move? T is his more natural position, Steinbach should be back at LG, and from what I’ve read in Pro Football Focus, Pinkston has been rated well all year (considering he was a rookie).
I think Pinkston getting as much experience as he did this year (even if he was forced to via injury) could really pay off next year, especially with a full offseason to prepare.
Just a thought…
I have a fair evaluation of Pat Shurmur – worst job of coaching / coordinating / playcalling I’ve ever seen. If nearly any other person in the world did their job that poorly for an entire year, I hope they would be fired without a second thought.
@5K – if we learned anything from last year, then it is to enjoy a .500 start while it lasts and to use phrases like that to make it sound like we have a decent team.
and I have no idea why Gibson isn’t starting over Parker. does Byron think Parker gives more on defense because that is not the case (and Gibson ain’t nothing special on defense).