GIF: Why Tristan Thompson could be Dan Gilbert’s worst nightmare
September 1, 2015Ball Played: Is it October yet?
September 1, 2015Happy Tuesday, WFNY!
Welcome to September, my favorite month of the year. We are six days away from Ohio State’s season opener against Virginia Tech. We are twelve days away from the Cleveland Browns’ season opener against the Jets in New York. That’s right, football is officially here. This is game week for the Buckeyes, but I’ve been thinking about the Browns more than the Buckeyes recently.
I feel like I have a good grasp on what kind of team Ohio State will be. But when it comes to the Browns, I have no feel for this team whatsoever. Will they be good? Mediocre? A trainwreck? I just have no clue.
So I decided to do a speedrun of the Browns season. This is pure gut instinct, no thinking involved whatsoever.
@ Jets – W
vs Titans – W
vs Raiders – W
@ Chargers – L
@ Ravens – L
vs Broncos – L
@ Rams – L
vs Cardinals – W
@ Bengals – W
@ Steelers – L
vs Ravens – W
vs Bengals – W
vs 49ers – L
@ Seahawks – L
@ Chiefs – L
vs Steelers – W
That would leave them at 8-8. Hmm. I guess it makes sense that I would predict 8-8 mediocrity for a team I have no feeling for one way or the other.
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Ohio State doesn’t have a QB?
There’s a saying in football that states “if you have two quarterbacks, then you have none”. It’s a long held belief inside the sport that trying to juggle QBs is a really great way to completely derail a team and actually make each quarterback worse. The position is the most important one in the sport, and it requires timing, rhythm, repetition, experience, and patience. All of these attributes are difficult to achieve when you keep switching back and forth between quarterbacks.
We are getting ever closer to this being a real possibility for Ohio State this season. I don’t envy the decision Buckeye head coach Urban Meyer is wrestling with. JT Barrett and Cardale Jones are very different quarterbacks. The differences in their playstyles shrinks the margin when trying to figure out the separation between each. How do you compare the very different intangibles that each guy brings to the team?
Urban Meyer has been hinting recently that he is open to the concept of playing both quarterbacks. He seems to be just about the only person open to this idea. Barrett and Jones have both said they don’t want to split time. Ohio State fans still have nightmares of the Stanley Jackson and Joe Germaine experiment. That old saying quoted above exists for a reason.
Some would counter that Urban has experience with this stuff. They will correctly point out that Urban Meyer beat Ohio State in the National Championship game when he had Chris Leak and Tim Tebow at Florida. That’s true.
Here’s the thing, though. Tebow only threw 33 passes that season, 12 of which came in one game against Western Carolina. Another nine of those attempts came against Central Florida. For most of the season, Tebow was hardly ever throwing the football, if at all. He played in five games in which he threw zero passes. In Florida’s three final games against rival Florida State, Arkansas in the SEC Championship, and Ohio State in the BCS Championship, Tebow threw a combined two passes.
My point is, it really wasn’t a true two-quarterback system. It was just that Tebow was used as a runner in certain situations. But Chris Leak was the team’s QB that season. Barrett and Jones are different in that they are both true QBs. Sure, they still do have different skill sets, but both are skill sets as passing QBs. Playing one or the other situationally doesn’t make as much sense to me here.
This could all be for nothing of course. Perhaps Urban already made up his mind. But if the speculation and rumor is true, it makes me a little uneasy. I know how tough this choice has to be, but I wish a decision could have been made two weeks ago. I wish one guy was given the nod by now and taking the majority of the reps in practice.
Obviously Barrett being named a captain as a sophomore by his teammates is telling. It doesn’t mean he will start necessarily1, but if a QB competition is as close as everyone says this one is, that sort of thing could be the tie breaker.
Either way, no matter who starts, I feel pretty confident we’ll see both guys play on Monday night. Starting this first game might not be the best prize, either. Playing the toughest out of conference game in a night game on the road with a whole mess of impact players suspended for the game (along with a brutal injury to starting WR Noah Brown) stacks the odds slightly more against the eventual starter. Ohio State should win the game handily. If they struggle, though, the pressure of the QB competition will sneak its ugly head in already in Game 1. So yeah, unless Ohio State plays perfect football this season, the QB competition will never really go away. Not in the eyes of the media and the fans, anyway.
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Take that, Mark Shapiro!
The Cleveland Indians beat Mark Shapiro’s new team, the Toronto Blue Jays, on Monday night to sneak within four games of the last Wild Card spot. Of course, that outcome really has no bearing on Shapiro or his past and future.
It’s never fun to see someone choose to leave your team, but I mostly feel perfectly fine with Shapiro leaving. I have always liked Shapiro a lot as a person, and I genuinely wish him nothing but the best. But I have never felt he was particularly good at his job. I know the odds were stacked against him, as he so loved to remind the media. But the odds are stacked against plenty of teams who routinely find ways to overcome them.
In such a disappointing season as this one, it’s just hard for me to feel too bad about Shapiro leaving. And I know his role in building this team was limited. But I just feel like a fresh start and a shake up in the front office will be a good thing. Time will tell. But truly, good luck in Toronto, Mr Shapiro, and thank you for so many years of loyal service to the Indians.
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New Music of the Week
The story of LA punks FIDLAR is an interesting one. Brothers Max and Elvis Kuehn (sons of legendary punk band TSOL keyboardist Greg Kuehn) started playing in bands together at ages 11 and 10. Eventually, the met up with vocalist Zac Carpenter and FIDLAR was born.
For a few years, FIDLAR built a reputation as one of the most rowdy and party heavy bands around. Songs were built around themes of drugs and alcohol and basically not giving a shit about much of anything. Somewhere between hedonism and nihilism, FIDLAR found a following.
But Carpenter’s drug and alcohol abuse eventually began to turn ugly and it started to become a serious problem. Then it became tragic. As FIDLAR set out to tour with WAVVES in 2013, Carpenter’s pregnant girlfriend died of a heroin overdose. It’s hard to imagine the devastation that one feels, but when that kind of moment is contextualized through addiction and drugs, the outcome isn’t necessarily the kind of rational change one might expect.
As Carpenter spiraled toward rock bottom, he fortunately was able to pull himself out of it and get clean and sober. He’s now been sober for over a year, and this Friday, his band FIDLAR is releasing their highly anticipated sophomore album, the cleverly titled “Too”.
The songs still deal with drugs and alcohol, but the discussion is framed quite differently. The material is darker and more desperate as it deals with loss and addiction and cries for help.
If you want to read more about FIDLAR’s story, I highly recommend checking out this phenomenal cover story in Consequence of Sound by Danielle Bacher. It’s a really, really great profile of a pretty interesting band.
*****
That’s it for me. Have a great rest of your week and I look forward to talking about the Ohio State game next Tuesday. Go Bucks!
- For reference, Kenny Guiton was also voted as a captain in his senior season despite the fact that Braxton Miller was clearly going to be the starter [↩]
60 Comments
See Browns fans don’t realize that opponents get better too. They also don’t realize that the hole with which the Browns must dig themselves repeatedly out of year after year has back filled so while they think they are getting better they are in effect remaining neutral at best.
I believe he’s already there isn’t he?
Oh and let’s make sure it is the opponents end-zone. No safeties.
I think we’ve got the 4 corners of this agreement hammered out.
Hey just so you know Fred Jackson is in Seattle for a physical so looks like you won’t have to worry. He’s good enough for Seahawks as a backup apparently.
He can replace Marshawn Lynch again!
I’m calling a promotion from DC to interim coach. Either near the end of a disastrous 2015 seasons or near the middle of an equally bad 2016.
If so that will be 2x a released Bills RB could have helped this team.
Phil Taylor was terminated by the Browns today. Oh wait. I mean his employment was terminated.
Phil Taylor’s contract terminated today by Browns. One more great first round pick to add to the list.