While We’re Waiting… Who will save Cleveland?
December 17, 2012NFL Rumor: Not landing Robert Griffin III could cost Heckert job
December 17, 2012Who caught your eye? Did someone stand out? Who blew it? That’s what were interested in this morning. Winners and losers.
There won’t be many winners from this week unfortunately for Browns players and fans alike. Let’s get to it….
LOSER: Cleveland. Despite flashes of possible good things to come, the city’s flagship sports team will once again have a losing season. The Browns have played sub-500 ball for nine of the last 10 seasons, and 13 of the last 15. One more loss and they will have five straight years of double-digit losses.
LOSER: Cribbs and Dawson. In what was possibly probably the pair’s last game in Cleveland as members of the Browns, there was no moment in which the fans were able to really express appreciation. The defense was introduced pregame, even though the special teams has been introduced several times this season. And certainly there was no play on the field that allowed them to be hailed.
Loser: Brandon Weeden. That was an ugly, ugly performance. If not for that stink-fest at the beginning of the season against the Eagles, this would have been Weeden’s worst performance. And I’m not talking about incompletions or yards or even interceptions. Batted passes, staring receivers down and missing open ones. These are mistakes you would hope your rookie starter would be making less of in Week 14.
That’s enough for me. I’m sure you have several. Anyone got a winner from yesterday?
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LOSER: Shurmur, obviously. Look, I know Weeden is only a rookie, and I’m not saying McCoy should be the starter, but when your QB is stinking up the stadium like that, you gotta get him outta there. The goal should be to win the game, not to protect your QB’s precious little fragile psyche. Shurmur should have put McCoy in.
WINNER: Josh Cribbs. Another solid performance.
LOSER: Dick Jauron. He’s gotten plenty of love on this site, so he has to take the bad with the good. However, I just feel that our defense was deflated by Weeden’s poor play. I think the D just knew that this was hopeless.
LOSER: The running game. Everybody says we have a great O Line and a great RB. So why does our running game stink?
Love Winners/Losers but can’t, this Browns season has become exhausting for me. Two games left but I’ve about had enough. From crazy draft to the ownership change to the losing streak to the winning streak to the Heckert future uncertainty to yesterday’s critical implosion, too much drama.
Won’t be shocked if the last two games are blowout losses as everyone waits for the guillotine to drop. If I’ve about had it the players have got to be feeling it way more. Just too much craziness and instability for one season. Hey, Banner, please just drop the rope as soon as the season ends. It’s going to hurt but you can at least make it quick.
LOSERS: The coaches. The Browns got outcoached, period. The defense was playing well in the first quarter, but after that the Redskins made the necessary adjustments. We didn’t. And on offense there changes that needed to be made to a) get Weeden more comfortable (high percentage passes) and b) open up the run game.
It was an abysmal effort by Shurmur and Co. and while I wanted the win streak to continue, I’m glad that it ended so there’s less a chance of Shurmur keeping his job beyond this season. There is talent on this team but it is clear we need better a better coach on the sidelines.
Loser: Cot McCoy, Brandon Weeden and Trent Richardson. All three have been pulled from their glorious Big 12 “hootin’ and hollerin'”, all go, all show shotgun offense and crammed into this horrificly predictable antiquated West Coast Offense. Sucks to be them.
Loser: Pat Shurmur, in the game that was going to decide his fate as the head coach of the Browns for 2013 he showed his always true colors.
Loser: Tom Heckert, yesterday’s game will also be his undoing even though the McCoy and Weeden picks were the sins of Uncle Mike. I would also argue that the failure to secure the pick to land RG3 was on Mikey as well.
Winner: Phil Dawson, finally free of having to tarnish his golden foot in the dregs of Cleveland Browns Stadium and set to live out his “salad days” in Texas….maybe he can get Colt a job to. Seems like a guy named Colt would fit well in Texas.
great pass blocking OL. let’s remove any label that says they run-block well too.
we can’t lose you Harv. we need all we can get to throw the water out of the sinking ship. all I want is to beat the Steelers. 3-3 in the AFCN w/ a 2-0 record against Pitt. Haslam/Banner can do what they like this offseason, but let’s band together to make sure Pitt doesn’t make the playoffs first.
Loser: Shurmur. I’ve been pulling for you, buddy, I really have been. You seem like a good guy, and I wanted you to succeed – granted, more for me than for you, but this was it. You’re officially done. Somebody get Payton on the line, please.
Winner: NFL Sunday ticket. Too many times this year they have taken my hard-earned (well, earned, anyway) money just so I can fast forward through the other team’s possessions and the 4th quarter. As it is, I only pay for the thing so that I can watch the Browns – and I barely even watch the Browns on days like yesterday.
Winner: Reality. We’ve been wondering, and now we know. We got to see where the Browns sit. We’re a mediocre team, at best, and probably not even that good. We’re not the worst in the league – we can beat the teams that we should beat, but we’re clearly not capable of hanging with true NFL-caliber talent yet, even when the superstars on those other teams are hurt.
Loser: Weeden, then Heckert by proxy, and then us by the proxy’s proxy. Whatever impetus there might have been for Haslam and Banner to keep Heckert, this performance gave them enough ammunition to get rid of him (assuming that’s what they have always been inclined to do) – whether fairly or not. Even if the rumor is true that Heckert opposed the drafting of Weeden, this is just too easy to pin on him. Weeden *might* have what it takes to succeed in the NFL, but the draft pick is looking like a waste. He really needed to come out this year and blow people away with his talent, given his age. He didn’t do it. Heckert is going to pay the price for it, and we’re going to eventually pay the price for losing Heckert.
I’d quantify as “loser” the last few remaining neurons functioning in Cribbs’s nervous system. The hits he takes . . .
Somebody get the AED. We’re going to lose him.
Stay with us, Harv! You’re going to be alright!
Winner: Coaches gameplan. We controlled the first half and things seemed to be going our way. It wasn’t a dominating performance (far from it), but we were trading punches and that rookie QB in Washington looked like the lower draft pick.
Loser: Halftime adjustments. Again, it’s not that we didn’t adjust. We sure did. We stopped running the ball (though ineffective, you still need balance). We went into a soft-zone on defense (and Cousin’s shredded it). Just because you make adjustments doesn’t guarantee they are good ones. Why didn’t we flip back to the 1st half script when the adjustments were going up in smoke?
Winner: Phil Dawson and Josh Cribbs. I hope they are both back at reasonable salaries, but if this was their last game, then they deserve a hat tip and a hearty hug from all fans. Here’s a cyber hug for suffering with the rest of us all these years guys. Hope everyone remembered to vote for Phil!
Loser: Weeden. I don’t think it’s unfair to say that the 2nd half made this his worst game since the Eagle game. Just terrible despite halfway decent statistics they were gotten all at the wrong times and he never did anything to help us think we might be getting back in the game. I am not sure if we decided to not attack the Redskins deep was a gameplan decision or a Weeden read decision, but it was terrible (as shown by the fact that in desperation time Benjamin beat the safety deep like he wasn’t there because the Skins safeties stink and we didn’t test them).
Loser: McCoy. As bad as Weeden was, we are still better off with him than Colt. I hate to say it because I do like Colt, but he just doesn’t have that deep field arm and the short throws took longer as well. We don’t have a good offense with Weeden, but I can see the makings of one in there.
Loser: Our secondary especially if TJ Ward is out. We are woefully thin in the secondary. This game exemplified why we need a CB2, FS, and a terror pass rushing DE.
Winners: JMJ, Winn, Robertson, and Hughes. All those young guys showed up at times during the game and looked like players we need to hang onto.
Loser: Steelers. Hey, we couldn’t hold up our end of the bargain to setup wk17, but the Cowboys still made Ben look like an O’Donnell flashback to end that game, which gave me a smile.
Get me cardiac needle and 500 milligrams of Kool-Aid STAT!
Loser: me – I’m the idiot that couldn’t watch the game live yesterday, and, despite knowing the outcome, woke up at 5am to watch the game online before work. Why do I do this to myself?
and a Pluto article that goes in depth of reasons why we should have hope for the future.
Loser: Weeden for looking mediocre yet again.
Loser: Pat. You sealed your fate buddy, but I’m sure the condescending remarks will be interesting in your press conference.
drank it … read an old one … you guys … best … remember dance-offs? .. quality con – ….
Winner: Travis Benjamin. Get this kid into the game more! Cribbs, thank you for your time here but you’ve lost a step or two and we have other people to develop.
i agree Benjamin should be our PR but let’s keep him away from KR.
Weeden was garbage. I think its time to face the facts. He is inaccurate, doesnt look off defenders (hence the picks and batted balls), and just plain makes poor decisions. Its getting sickening how many rookie QBs we could have drafted instead of taking Weeden.
The coaching was terrible on both sides of the ball. No adjustments to their play action roll outs. Offensively, our running game and play action were non-existent. Argh, that was just bad.
OHHHHHHHHH YEAAAAAAAA!
Loser: SHERMER
Richardson was from the SEC.
The OL may not be great at keeping D-linemen’s hands down. I attribute it to weeden staring down receivers but that does reflect poorly on the OL. I would be interested to know who’s man has been swatting all those balls and what the defensive plays were. Is it guard play or is it everyone.
WINNER: Weeden. 2014 QB class isn’t very strong.
Someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe both of the passes to the flat were batted down by the man Schwartz was blocking. It seems like he drops into pass pro on those plays when what he should be doing is going low on the defender to get him to drop his hands.
Preferably a column in the “talking to myself” format with at least a dozen numbered paragraphs
I believe you are referring to the “alter-ego combat thoughts popularized in the Spider-Man series” format. Pluto is our Brown and Orange Goblin.
Losers: Dreamers. Playoffs!?!?!? Yes I was one of them, but now it seems silly we were even thinking it 24 hours ago. Also, it seems doubtful that Rivhardson and Gordon will break 1000 yards each.
Loser: me
Loser: Dimitri Patterson, no longer employed.
Loser: Weeden, worst game since opening day.
Loser: Pass D, Run D, Run O, Pass O, Punting.
Winner: Is there really a Winner?
Loser: Me as well. I listened to the sports station during the day and read recaps.
NO HE WUZNT.
My apologies on the typo.
Loser: Us. Ugh. Waiting for next year, as always… the worst part about yesterday was how deflating it was. I think a lot of us really thought things were on the rise. Yesterday took that away.
Loser/Winner: Shurmur (bye-bye), so yay! I just hope Haslam and Co. find a true great.
Loser: Browns’ D on play-fakes. Cousins did a fantastic job, but the Browns really bought a ton of fakes badly.
Loser: Weeden. Wow was that ugly. He’s looked steadily worse the last few games after really having started to look better each week prior to that. Not a good way to go out.
Loser: Trent. He has simply not looked good. Not bad – just not good.
Losers: Season ticket holders. What a waste of money every freaking year. You know what would be awesome? Haslam saying “OK, season ticket holders who’ve had their tickets the last 5 years – we’re giving you one ticket for free this year for putting up with this crap for so long and as thanks for being the greatest fans there are.”
Ej Manuel is looking like someone to take a chance on if he doesnt rise to far up the boards.