Being right versus being a fan: While We’re Waiting…
December 15, 2014Scorching Hot Takes Episode 2: This May or May Not Be Better
December 15, 2014The hype was palpable. There were gifs and references and tweets from national folks of all shapes and sizes. Yahoo! was in the house. The New York Times were on hand. ESPN had a litany of individuals inside of the FirstEnergy Stadium press box. FOX had the graphics all fired up and ready to go. It got to the point where even an average appearance would be a bit of a let down. And yet the Cleveland Browns, led by one Jonathan Manziel, laid an egg for much of the world to see.
They were absolutely boat raced. If you did anything at the start of the game—showered, made lunch, whatever—you likely came back to a 10-0 deficit and a look of befuddlement. How you coped may vary, but the end result was up there with some of the worst losses in recent Browns history. Few redeeming qualities, plenty of pain.
WINNER: Johnny Manziel It may be ephemeral. It may all, at the end of the story, be completely empty. But I cannot, in my entire 33 years of fandom, recall any one Sunday morning that had the entire nation buzzing the way that we saw prior to kickoff. Late Saturday night, after taking part in the annual Heisman ceremony, Manziel recorded a video that was essentially several minutes of nostalgia and butterflies mixed together into a concoction aptly named Get Ready. No one quite new what to expect. Plenty of people may try to tell you they “told you so,” but if you’re going to give Manziel credit for anything, it’s spending much of the last four years building up a gargantuan level of intrigue. Who knows what the future holds, but Manziel had the nation locked on Cleveland for much of a Sunday afternoon. It’s just too bad that it ended up being a three-hour train wreck.
LOSER: Johnny Manziel Where to begin.. The mechanics? The decision-making? The late throws? While I will never, ever judge a player based on one game, Manziel did himself no favors in what is looking to be a three-game audition heading into the offseason. Browns head coach Mike Pettine did not look pleased, and rightfully so. He was the guy I skewered in this very spot a week ago for not bringing Manziel in sooner, and this is what he’s provided when he finally does make the move? Man…
Johnny Manziel completed just one pass under pressure. He threw two interceptions. I’m not mathmagician, but that’s not a great ratio.
LOSER: Kyle Shanahan If anyone wants to pin Johnny for being too cute, they should take one look at the game plan. To be fair, the Browns were in a 20-0 hole before one could even blink, forcing a huge deviation from one that likely involved plenty of play-action and zone read. The issue: Once the Browns were forced to go more through the air, the creativity went out the window. The first third-down play when the game was still in reach? It was a designed run, but—for some reason—placed Manziel under center.
WINNER: This fan.
Not long after that happened, I tweeted out that it was the highlight of the first half. Little did I know it would be the same over the entire game.
LOSER: Entire Clevealand Browns Front Seven Craig Robertson led the Browns with nine tackles, which included five stops, in addition to hauling in an interception. But when the only other highlight is Barkevious Mingo destroying Andy Dalton (resulting in a 15-yard penalty), it was a rough, rough day for a unit which not only shut down one of the best offenses in the league week early, but was highlighted on these very pages. A hundred and 48 yards (in addition to two touchdowns) to the guy who called you out a month ago? C’mon now.
Desmond Bryant, who has had moments of top-flight play, was manhandled inside. Chris Kirksey had a handful of tackles, but none of them (outside of that one screen pass) were worthy of any accolades. Ahtyba Rubin is effectively playing his final two games as a member of the Cleveland Browns this month. Sell those jerseys while you can.
LOSER: Cleveland Police Department Patrolmen’s Association Apparently, the dumb and hollow “stick to sports” declaration exists beyond assholes on Twitter. If you missed it, Browns wide receiver Andrew Hawkins showed his support for slain 12-year-old Tamir Rice during the team’s introductions and the CPD got super pouty about it, stopping just short of dropping a “dumb jocks” line, but going so far as demanding an apology. Yeah, I’m sure that’s coming right up.
WINNER: Staff Sergeant Anthony Wagner and Family Because this was easily the highlight of the afternoon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPP_8apfYFE
WINNER: Left side of the offensive line. Sure, Joe Thomas had another false start, but he was largely successful in protecting Manziel from being blindsided. Joel Bitonio, once again, was Pro Bowl caliber when it came to run blocking. If we are going to take anything good away from this game, at least from an offensive standpoint, it’s this.
LOSER: The injury bug As if losing Tashaun Gipson and K’Waun Williams wasn’t enough, both Joe Haden and Justin Gilbert left the game with injuries. Haden is having an MRI and is optimistic that his shoulder is ship shape, but I don’t want to live in a world where Buster Skrine and Pierre Desir are my starting cornerbacks. Wasn’t Alex Mack enough?
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Winner: I think this is the latest I have posted a draft breakdown during a Brown’s season in W/L column since 2007.
Baby steps!
3rd time. Let’s not forget the mid-September Detroit series where we entered 3.5 games out of the division (and closer in the WC), but with a cakewalk finish to the year.
Of course, we left swept and needing a miraculous finish to the season that wouldn’t come.
true. true. I am hopeful that he can be coached up to contribute next season. I wonder what round the Browns will draft a DB in….
Most of the great ones stunk early.
yeah, no reason to panic. but, man, was that a bad start to an era 🙂
Here are how the rookie QBs have done in their first significant action this season:
Derek Carr 20/32 152yds 2-TD 0-INT -1yds rush
Teddy Bridgewater 12/20 150yds 0-TD 0-INT 27yds rush
Blake Bortles 14/24 223yds 2-TD 2-INT 30yds rush
Zach Mettenberger 27/41 299yds 2-TD 1-INT -1yds rush
Tom Savage 10/19 127yds 0-TD 1-INT -4yds rush
Johnny Manziel 10/18 80yds 0-TD 2-INT 13yds rush
Of course, those are just first game snapshots. More telling is that Teddy Bridgewater is the only QB in that list who appears to be getting better as the season goes along. Or, that the records of those QBs is not pretty.
Hope to see a bounceback performance by Manziel and the entire team this Sunday though. Especially with DA being the opposing QB.
Yeah, that was a big series, but I don’t know if it had the hype that the Cavs and Browns games had, especially on a national level where all eyes were on them.
But I guess the point remains that 3 very large eggs were laid buy our sports teams this year. Ugh, how miserable.
At least the Cavs are improving and still have hope of finishing in a non-embarassing manner.
For the first time in his tenure, though, we have a feasible replacement for him in Bitonio when Thomas retires.
Boo
as one of the biggest Bitonio supporters from before we drafted him, I am not sure that is a wise statement. there’s a reason that he is at OG despite playing OT in college. he has shorter arms and would likely struggle on the edge against the premier pass rushers in the NFL. He’s been a dominant OG, but would likely be a below average LT. Let’s leave him where he’s best.
= “We make and enforce rules, but we are, of course, above them.”
or
Journalistic integrity = optional.
Why you guys have such a hard time just admitting when you botch something up is beyond me.
In the scheme of things, this particular instance is fairly minor — but was this comment about moronic Twitter users so exceptionally important to warrant straying from an ethos that you guys claim to find very important (so important that you devote a “Before you comment” section to it)? Doubtful.