Animated: James Harrison personal foul headshot on Thaddeus Lewis
December 30, 2012NFL Draft: Browns currently picking 6th
December 30, 2012The Browns and Steelers is usually a much-anticipated matchup, but this time it seemed as if the end of the game was the most intriguing part. With the end of the game comes the end of the charade that Pat Shurmur and GM Tom Heckert will keep their jobs. Gone is the last bit of the Mike Holmgren era, but more importantly the Randy Lerner era for all practical purposes.1 In the end, the Browns had a chance to tie it up in the fourth quarter but turnovers caught up with them as they dropped their final game 24-10. The Browns finish the season at 5-11.
Despite my looking ahead to the end, there were still decent enough reasons to watch. Thad Lewis was getting his first start and honestly, even if the team is bad, you only get 16 chances to watch them play meaningful football a year so most people like to try and make the most of it. It’s not exactly fighting for a playoff spot, but most Browns fans barely remember that feeling if they’ve even been alive long enough. So the Browns and Steelers went at it, neither having anything real to play for.
What resulted was a relatively entertaining football game. The Browns and Steelers actually seemed to hate each other. Phil Taylor and Billy Winn received personal fouls for fighting the bad guys. Craig Robertson lost his mind when Legursky threw a cheap shot block at his legs away from meaningful action. The hate seemed almost palpable and that was more than enough to beat my expectations.
Everyone was concentrating on “lasts.” Phil Dawson’s last game with the Browns? Josh Cribbs’ last one too? Pat Shurmur’s? But we ended up with a lot of firsts. Thad Lewis’ first start and first TD pass, a nice job extending it with his feet before finding Greg Little in the back of the end zone. Brandon Jackson’s first real action of the year revealed a fresh and quick including a 25 yard scamper.
And so we go off into the new completely post-Lerner world of Jimmy Haslam and Joe Banner. There’ll be news like crazy as the Browns start to make changes and as we start to figure out the new organizational M.O. Will there be free agents? Will there be a new defensive style with the 3-4 coming back?2 Will there be a dome?
We’ll find out soon enough. I’ve said a number of times that I like this roster as much as I’ve loved any roster since 1999. It’s young. It’s got potential. It doesn’t need to be blown up as much as supplemented. Whoever the next coach is has a real opportunity to be the one to turn this long exhaustive project into an “overnight” success next year.
Talk about opportunities. The real opportunity is the fans’.
6 Comments
Jimmy Haslam, Joe Banner, your true test begins….
I can only hope we’ll get some good FAs. For whatever else their flaws, the Holmgren/Heckert era have done a good job of solidifying our lines, and getting some decent talent in the defensive secondary. We also appear to have some good wideouts.
Get a couple marquee players and leaders in the locker room to help that talent develop, and next year could be a really good year.
And yeah, let’s just stick with the 4-3. We don’t have the talent to make the transition easily. Our line is one of our strengths, and our linebackers are one of our weaknesses. Why would we want to increase the number of linebackers we need?
Can’t say I agree about the lines, especially on offense.
Joe Thomas was a Savage pick and Alex Mack was a Mangini/Kokinis pick. Heckert brought in Lauvao and Pinkston, both of whom are weak links and will likely be upgraded by the next regime. Heckert did better on the D-line, but he also paid a hefty price for Hughes, who is solid but not spectacular, and Sheard, who, again, is solid and occasionally impressive, but not a pro-bowl caliber player. Winn was a good find in the late rounds.
I think Heckert’s job is often overrated because our recent points of reference are so abyssmal (i.e. Dwight Clark, Savage, Kokinis, Pete Garcia, etc).
He traded down in the third and picked up a fourth rounder for Hughes. What’s this hefty price?
“What’s this hefty price?”
Spending a third round pick on a rotational D-lineman.
Yes, it was one meaningless game, but I came to like Thad Lewis as a player much, MUCH more than Colt McCoy.