Cleveland Indians pitching rotation ranked tenth best
January 12, 2015Everything’s Coming Up Scarlet and Grey
January 12, 2015The Browns weren’t in the NFL playoffs this year as you all know, but I had some takeaways that I thought would interest this audience even though it doesn’t directly involve the Browns. First and foremost, can you even imagine if the Browns were in the playoffs at this point?
I was talking with a friend today about the great weekend of NFL football that we just watched and it occurred to us that the NFL playoffs don’t even feel like they’re related to the Browns at all. It’s such a foreign concept that the Browns could make the playoffs that it almost feels like a separate entity – the NFL Playoffs – at this point in time. This isn’t to dredge up every little negative thing or say “woe is me,” because that’s the nature of the NFL in so many ways. It’s the perfect mixture of die-hard local fans following a local team, but also watching a sport that’s popularity transcends the fortunes of the local team to a large extent.
I get the sense that not all Cavs fans are NBA fans. I also get the sense that not all Tribe fans are MLB fans who watch the playoffs and the World Series. I think nationalized NBA fans outnumber MLB fans, but I might be making that up in my own head based on my circle of friends or the Cleveland area in general. Regardless, the NFL is still the biggest because the Super Bowl is a one-off game as opposed to a series and it’s turned it’s championship into a virtual holiday.
The outgoing President or even whoever becomes the new one should go for that cheap popularity pop and declare the Monday after the Super Bowl a National holiday already.
Appreciating Peyton Manning and John Fox…
As soon as the Indianapolis Colts beat the Denver Broncos, Twitter had buried Peyton Manning’s career for good and put John Fox on the hot seat. I am not calling anyone out, but a prominent writer for Pro Football Talk, Michael David Smith was the one I saw who has the most credibility. And to a large extent I think he’s right. I think it’s absolutely crazy, but I don’t think he’s crazy to say it.
John Fox is officially on the hot seat. I think he's taken the Broncos as far as he's going to take them.
— Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) January 12, 2015
The NFL stinks in this way. John Fox has been with the Broncos since the 2011 season. The team has won 8, 13, 13, and 12 regular season games since he’s been there. In that time along with Peyton Manning, John Fox has been to the playoffs in four straight seasons. This is on the heels of five straight seasons prior to Fox’s arrival that the Broncos missed the playoffs completely. This comes just one season after the Broncos made it to the Super Bowl where they got crushed by Seattle. John Fox took the 8-8 Broncos to the playoffs with Saint Tim Tebow at the helm and won a game against the Steelers in the first round before succumbing to the Pats.
Take a seat, bro. Yeah. The hot seat right over there.
Peyton Manning might be done. He really might decide at the age of 39, which he will be at the start of the 2015 NFL season, that he’s just got too much pride to let his aging performance continue to fade from what he was for the large marjority of his 17 years in the league. I’ll also admit that Manning’s arm didn’t look anywhere close to deadly on Sunday as the Broncos gave way to the Colts 24-13. Still, maybe wait until we get into the off-season to see if Peyton Manning feels like his healthy and ability will allow him to continue. No matter how rough he looked in that playoff game, there’s no denying that he was still able to complete over 66% of his passes while throwing 39 touchdowns and 15 interceptions. Manning was fourth in the NFL in yards, sixth in completion percentage, second in touchdowns, etc, etc.
If one must address the potential end of Manning’s career on a Sunday where he looked a little bit old, maybe say something appreciative. I said that if that was the last time I saw Manning play that I was appreciative of his career. We should feel lucky to have been able to watch Peyton Manning play quarterback since 1998.
From a Browns perspective, just consider that the guy started a year before Tim Couch and is still playing. Couch was plastered into the grass so many times that he never played again after 2003.
I can’t believe I’m siding with the Ravens on anything…
While everyone is rightfully talking about Dez Bryant’s non-catch that should be a catch in most NFL fans’ viewpoints, I want to talk about the Ravens getting fooled by the Patriots’ eligible receiver trickery. Rather than try to explain it as well as those who’ve already done a great job, I’ll lean on the aforementioned Michael David Smith at Pro Football Talk, who called Belichick a genius.
We saw that on Saturday in New England, when the Patriots, trailing the Ravens by 14 points in the second half, did something that just isn’t done in professional football: He sent out an offense featuring only four offensive linemen and one running back lined up as an ineligible receiver, confusing and infuriating the Ravens. Baltimore’s John Harbaugh is a good coach, too, but he had just been out-coached and he was so angry about it that he ran onto the field to yell at the officials, drawing a flag for unsportsmanlike conduct.
I actually sympathize with Harbaugh in this case. The Pats were in a huddle, broke the huddle and made eligibility declarations just as they were coming to the line of scrimmage. What they did was technically legal, and Belichick defends it by saying that these eligibility rules are employed during punt formations all the time. He’s getting off on a technicality and I would expect the NFL to adjust because it’s garbage. He’s using the rules to unfairly game the system.
Why is it unfair? Well, we all know the difference between a punt play and a regular play. We all know that this is the same league that has worked to slow down the “hurry up offense” in order to properly officiate a game. The NFL specifically has rules against quick-snapping in certain substitution cases. This is a game of rules on top of rules, and whether you like it or not, this is to try and keep unfair trickery from working.
It’s one thing to split a QB out wide or to run a flea-flicker or some other kind of play that happens after the snap. It’s also another thing to make normally ineligible players eligible. But I don’t think it’s right to break a huddle, have a running back mention to an official that he’s ineligible, have the ref yell it to the other team and seconds later the ball is snapped. That’s not in the spirit of having eligible and ineligible receivers. It’s not in the spirit of the substitution rules that are already in place.
So while I’m elated that the Ravens are no longer a part of the NFL playoffs, I side with them on this issue of Belichick and his substitutions. I guess good on Belichick for getting away with it, but it’s cheap and the NFL should do something about it.
Get it together Browns…
This is an update to a previously discussed theme for me. I told the Browns back in 2010 that they had six years to get it together so that they would be relevant when my son started watching football for real. It’s now 2015 and the Browns aren’t all that much closer. Meanwhile the other team in my household, my wife’s Colts, are in another playoff run with Andrew Luck after bucking the odds and pushing Peyton Manning out the door.
It’s a fun little thing for me to talk about with my son, but this is a real world problem for the Cleveland Browns. There are generations of NFL fans who don’t want anything to do with the Browns because they’re virtually irrelevant. The clock is ticking for me as a father trying to raise a couple of Browns fans and the clock is ticking in Berea.
Tick tick tick…
33 Comments
Concerning your last point, I disagree, and I think you do too. I can only speak for myself I suppose, but at 25, I’ve never had a reason to root for the Browns. At least, I’ve never had a reason to root for the Browns that has involved winning. For 50 years now, people just like you and I have flown in the face of unending failure and supported these teams for worse or for worse. That’s because at the root of all this nonsense lies far more important things than winning, such as camaraderie, and loyalty, and fellowship, and perseverance. I think any father who teaches a child sports as a way to show them those roots shouldn’t have the slightest issue convincing a child how or why to root for a losing team. Maybe they’ll choose the Colts, but my father is a die-hard Packers fan and my mother couldn’t care less. I found my way to the root. So should they.
And John Fox is gone. I agree that it is crazy, but championship windows are only open just a crack, just for a moment (unless you’re the patriots, Ravens, or steelers…sigh).
Belichick didn’t “get away” with anything. By stating he got away with it, you are implying he broke a rule, which it seems he didn’t. He used the rules to his advantage and it helped the Pats win the game. He’s a great coach.
It’s not like NFL rules are laws and a moral person should follow the letter and spirit of them. His job as a coach is to find any way within the rules of the game to help his team win.
I really don’t get the Belichick hate that gets thrown around. I really respect the guy and enjoy watching his approach to coaching.
Disagree about Belichik’s trickery. It was legal, it was smart, it shows his still relentlessly restless mind after 30 years in the league. This guy, with his brave and original ideas about drafting, trades, tight end dominant offenses, whatever, is a lot closer to a Paul Brown than a stodgy Mike Holmgren still stuck to the same system he ran in the 80s. If the league thinks it isn’t nice to exploit the rules, tighten them. Like they did when his Giants defense would fake an injury to buy some time and substitute. But his pushing the envelope makes the game better, not worse. I doubt Joe Haden thinks AJ Green burning him on the fake huddle 3 years ago was wrong. It made him pay attention. It made him better. And it was fun.
This is an adrenalized game played best on edge at 120 mph. It’s not a priggish game of manners gentlemanly manners. It’s not golf. I can’t wait to see what he pulls next week, or whenever he thinks the Pats need a shot of adrenaline.
Steelers just kicked Dick LeBeau to the curb.
If it’s legal now, let’s see if it’s legal tomorrow. That’s why the NFL has a competition committee. It won’t be the first time Belichick has coached his team in such a way as to cause the NFL to change their rules or focus on enforcement of the rules. We’ll see.
My 8 year old wanted a Hoyer jersey for Christmas. (tried to talk him out of it) He got one. Him and his 12 year old brother both wanted hoodies. They got them. If they see you are really passionate, they will be Browns fans for life. (here again, not necessarily fair to them but you know). Don’t give up.
The Browns missed drafting Peyton Manning by 1 year…
For those “trick plays” you still look at the guys who are covered and who aren’t. If the WR is off the line, the lineman (TE usually) can be eligible. If the WR is on the line, the reciever is not eligible. Look at it from that perspective and it isn’t as hard. They should have switched to zone. NE took advantage because they were in man to man with specific matchups.
Winning is more fun though
for sure. But the league ultimately banning an envelope-pushing practice doesn’t mean it was wrong to attempt it. His exploiting everything he can think of is exciting and good for the league. That’s my point. It’s no less vaguely moral or fair than, say, a tricky hard snap count or an offense designed to prevent a defense from substituting for dead tired players.
Sometimes the TE is covered and an ineligible reciever. If a lineman is covered, he is ineligible. I think it was a good use of the rules. They are essentially blocking with 1 less guy too. The offense is playing with 10 guys since the RB was worthless as a blocker with no one to block.
I both agree and disagree with that statement. Both with law in general and especially in games, one of the reasons they get consistently more complex is because people take advantage of areas the rules don’t cover or weren’t intended to deal with. It’s not that the rules specifically allow him to do what he did; it’s that they don’t specifically disallow it. You can take the approach that that makes it OK, and technically you’re correct, but that’s simply taking advantage of not everything being explicitly covered simply because people didn’t yet think of someone trying to take advantage of that gap or because that’s just not what the rules were intended to cover in the first place. So effectively, yes, like with laws, it IS a moral code that he’s breaking, if perhaps a far less serious one than in law.
In fact, the rule book never actually discusses the rules related to a player with an eligible number being an ineligible (decoy) receiver, like Vereen was. It only discusses an ineligible receiver reporting as eligible so as not to confuse the defense. Belichik – wisely AND unfairly – took advantage of this lack of commentary to confuse the defense.
All Harbaugh had to do was call a timeout but he whines like his brother.
Yea they’ll come up with another rule to disallow something meanwhile noone will know what an actual catch is anymore.
Baltimore could have also called timeout.
Agreed. This arms race has been going on forever.
In 1907, Glenn Scobey (Pop) Warner had
returned to coach at the boarding school for Native Americans that he’d
built into a football powerhouse beginning in 1899, largely through
trick plays and deception. Over the years, he drew up end arounds,
reverses, flea flickers and even one play that required deceptive
jerseys. Warner had elasticized bands sewn into his players’ jerseys so
that after taking the kickoff, they would huddle, hide the ball under a
jersey and break in different directions, confounding the kicking team.
Warner argued there was no prohibition against the play in the rules.
The tricks were how the smaller, faster Native Americans could compete
against players 30 or 40 pounds heavier.
thank you. the TE being covered and inelibible is common practice in short yardage situations. just because other NFL coaches didn’t think to utilize this particular formation doesn’t make it wrong.
here’s what I find funny:
on one hand, some people think that coaches shouldn’t try to find and utilize every legal advantage that they can and employ them in the highest leverage situations.
on the other hand, John Fox, Jim Harbaugh, and Dick LeBeau were all pushed out of their jobs despite many seasons of success.
I hear Chris Palmer really liked that Leaf guy.
And that is why they lost. It has nothing to do with thier play on the field, just NE’s “cheap plays”
But then what would their excuse be for losing?
That would have been a CLE move
nice. In the ’70s the Browns fitted Greg Pruitt with a tear-a-way jersey to exploit his great elusiveness and it worked to sometimes hilarious effect. League banned it after opposing teams (Steelers?) threw fits but it was great while it lasted.
How bout athletes trying to start a play that may be reversed before a coach has time to challenge? These things seem little, but since Craig is mentioning children, I will be honest and let you know my children have been busted for cheating on games, and their excuse has been “The football players you watch on Sunday do it.” And, well, they are right. (Not saying belicheck cheated here, he did not). My point is, if the receiver knew he may have dropped the ball but it was ruled a catch, the players are not trying to be honest, nor are they interested in young kids across America to play the game honestly. I guess I am lamenting the fact our children are learning that winning is all the matters, not playing fairly or honestly, and well, I think the later is more important since the vast majority of children will not make the NFL one day…
seems you’re saying that in the spirit of good sportsmanship players should be coached: proceed with the next play as normal, give the other side a reasonable chance to review because we may have caught an undeserved break. Look, in golf honor is legislated and even an inadvertent mistake is severely penalized. But they created that specifically to create a certain atmosphere reflecting chivalrous, amateur era and I don’t think the tone and spirit of more gladiatorial sports played against a clock lends itself to legislated chivalry. The tempo and tone are way different. Sure, players will respect each other with a hug afterwards or kneeling in prayer for an injured opponent, or even skew personal stats like Favre letting Strahan sack him out of respect for a worthy adversary. But the spirit of these sports is seeking and pushing all available advantages. We get teary at the sprinter’s dad helping him cross the finish line, or the opposing team letting the special needs kid score a bucket, but we don’t expect the opponent to do something to jeopardize a win.
Agreed. However, to quote Charles Barkley “I am not a role model” is not longer true. My kids cheating in organized sports is a problem, when they learn it from professional athletes. I do agree though, that the famous NFL players get paid to win, not to be honest. And really, my rants are kind of off subject. I am just saying though, that children watch and learn the bad things. What I was hoping my kids would learn from sports was the following: Teamwork, individual goal setting and accomplishment, hard work ethic, among other things. Unfortunately, they are learning bad things, like cheating is great when you get away with it. I am all for helping the handicapped, etc. I just think children can learn teamwork, honesty, goal setting, etc far better in arts and music, as the attitude to win and kill your opponent doesn’t lead to learning all the necessary lessons to succeed in the real world. And what is worse, for high school football, we cut education programs (like art and music) for children (who often are not athletic or don’t have the desire to be) at the ultimate goal of putting sports above scholasticism and culture. (Though, I guess Football is a statement of American culture, kind of like the gladiators of rome, or slavery in America, etc…) I am just sad that my kids are learning if the play is in doubt, run to the line, or if you dropped the ball and the ref missed it, lie about it. These are children for heaven’s sake… And I think maybe my biggest problem is the parent who get arrested for punching a ref, and the parents who yell at me for telling my kids to be honest and play with morals at the age of 8… like oh my gosh, we can’t love our kids whether they make the NFL or not or whether they win or lose. I guess I am lamenting that parents are often more psychotic than the kids and winning has taken over even at the age of 8, when sports used to be for kids to help them have fun (especially at 8) and learning lessons in life. These same parents who yell at me would probably tell their kids to blow their arm out (or risk it) to win a bleeping game. It is different when Mack breaks a fibula, he gets paid, these kids don’t, they pay with being screwed up physically for a long time due to some of this craziness, and honestly, I think it is top down (NFL to little kids), winning is the culture, and “more fun” as a poster put it above. Honestly, I had fun just playing.
After one of my kids’ games the teams lined up for that high five line and the other team’s players, with each high five, said “you suck … you suck …”
Yeah. Well, I am sure NFL bickering is far worse. Thanks for the comments, and honestly, I agree with all you said. Kind of sucks that all of the NFL values seems to be creeping their way to younger kids. Part of the reason why I hate the ravens is often their players are thugs, and lets hope some kids doesn’t think “Cause Ray Lewis got away with it I can”. If Leveon Bell were a Cleveland Brown, he would have been suspended by the NFL, oooops, but that is another topic… I guess I just need to get used to “life ain’t fair”, a lesson also that can be learned in sports…
What a whiny article. “Waaah moooommm its unfair Billy Belly did something legal. Its not in the spirit of thinking inside the box. It scares me!”
Go find something else to analyze cause you sound like the grapes you ate were too sour to enjoy.
People can’t deal with living outside a box. I’d pity them but I just don’t care. I’ve never been a fan of Belichick, but I do respect the guy for constantly keeping his team competitive many more years than not.
“Its unfair” when the rules were clearly not broken is just drivel of the unthinking.
Its only cheap when you’re not thinking.
Is it even remotely possible Manning could be traded to the Browns? That, and a few reasonable offseason upgrades, would very likely put the Browns in the Playoffs….
I mean, it’s not like Elway doesn’t owe us one after the number of times he kept us out of the playoffs….