NEO High School Football Week 7: Top Teams Dominate
October 12, 2015Urban Meyer happy with two-quarterback offense
October 12, 2015Cleveland Browns fans, at least as represented by the vocal minority, would make for an intriguing case study. Many times, when one brings up any sort of fan base cross section and attempts to classify it in certain ways, said individual is met with standard rhetoric that things, when distilled, are not that much different in other cities. Every town boos. Every stadium thins out when the home team is a few minutes from the inevitable. Every city has a few scumbags who tweet abhorrent things at athletes of their choosing.
And while this may be the case to some level, it would be tough to find another city that doesn’t quite know how to enjoy a win, at least in the communication sense. Each Monday, whether on radio air waves or the very pages of WFNY, there is exponentially more activity following a loss. Seriously: Wins result in a fraction of the engagement. Perhaps this is simply a majority of fans letting the win—you know, just the second win over the Baltimore Ravens in the last 15 contests—soak in a bit. Perhaps they’re all still out there celebrating and will turn to the WFNY comment section in droves once they arrive home. Or, most likely, we’ve become so programmed to rant and rave and spew harsh criticisms that it’s increasingly tough to do so when the team you root for pulls out a victory in overtime, on the road, after failing to do much outside of kick field goals for much of the game.
It’s OK, Browns fans. No need to try and say that every city doesn’t know how to handle winning, because lord knows that folks in Boston can’t stop reminding us of all the Ws their teams have racked up. However you’re enjoying Sunday’s big win—and it was big, regardless of selective struggles of various players and units—know that when the day rolls around where this becomes commonplace (it has to eventually, right?), that we’ll be waiting for you. Feel free to queue up your celebratory GIFs. We’ll all admire as we scroll.
WINNER: Josh McCown
Look, the Cleveland Browns shouldn’t need superhuman performances from Josh McCown in order for them to win football games, but kudos to the veteran for delivering. With yet another marvelous performance—one that made him the top fantasy football quarterback for the entire week; suck it, Brady!—McCown made all of the plays necessary in order for the Browns to be victorious.
I continue to question the sustainability of such an offense given a team bereft of play-making skill players, but hell—any quarterback who can keep the field wide open with bootleg throws that go for 60 yards is OK in my eyes. Another huge day from McCown, one that will assuredly direct any sort of “competition” talks elsewhere on the roster (or front office).
LOSER: Johnny Manziel
By default, but thems the breaks, kid. As little faith as I have in Josh McCown to keep throwing 300-plus games, I have even less in Manziel given the current makeup of this team. Manziel made plays against the Tennessee Titans, but he only had to throw the ball a handful of times. If you think Johnny can play in the same style with same volume as McCown has over the last two weeks, well—you’re a more optimistic man than I. I don’t even recall seeing the obligatory shot of Manziel on the sidelines yesterday. Progress!
WINNER: Gary Barnidge
I was a doubter. I doubted a player in his 30s can break out. I doubted a tight end could flourish against a defense that has stopped the position with ferocity through the first four weeks. But man, if Gary Barnidge doesn’t continue to surprise, and at the biggest of times.
Anyone who was impressed by last week’s insane catch near the pylon will be one-upped this week as the tight end literally used his ankles to haul in a touchdown pass late in the game. Another eight catches, 139 more yards and another touchdown. Just another day in the office for Big Gary Barnidge.
LOSER: Danny Shelton
Multiple 15-yard personal foul penalties is no way to get your name in the books, son. Be smarter.
WINNER: Isaiah Crowell and Duke Johnson
Sure, Josh McCown threw the ball 51 times, but it wasn’t like the team completely gave up on the run, doing so 25 times. Even more, the backs—both Crow and Duke—continue to get plenty of touches, each of them getting 15 total. It’s the perfect balance, honestly, given the skill set each man possesses. Bonus points to Crowell for doing his Duke Johnson impression with three minutes left in the game. A play that was just supposed to get a first down ended up being arguably the biggest of the afternoon.
LOSER: The rest of the front seven
Danny Shelton gets his own recognition above for being a bonehead, but the Browns front seven was abysmal once again. Not only were they abused on the first-quarter bootleg by Joe Flacco, they were abused on the ground by both Justin Forsett and “Buck” Allen. Karlos Dansby had 10 tackles, but the next two leading tacklers on the list were defensive backs. Not good.
WINNER: Travis Coons
Coons has been in the special teams shadows of Andy Lee through much of the season, but the kid has done everything asked of him when given the opportunity. Fans have a reason to be the most confident in their kicker since Phil Dawson went west. For a team that needs every point they can get in order to stay in games, this is a huge deal.
LOSER: Sportstalk Radio
As I said in the intro, there appears to be a lot less fans want to discuss following a win. Mike Pettine’s clock management? Dwayne Bowe? Joe Haden? I guess—if you want. But following a win, there’s a lot less to complain about and Cleveland doesn’t quite know how to swim in such a pool. It’s not a bad thing, however, as radio will be much less insufferable for it. I guess that makes us all winners.
And now, the fans:
@WFNYScott Josh McCown! Played like a boss. And Travis Coons #PhilDawsonJr
— TMac (@TheTMac3) October 11, 2015
@WFNYScott winner: Josh McCown well… just like we expected, Josh McCown is the best QB we've had since Bernie Kosar. Loser: The Ravens!
— Jamin Dunn (@jamin_dunn) October 11, 2015
@WFNYScott Losers – Modell, Shelton, Schwartz and BAL secondary. Winners – McCown, Barnidge (and his balls), Benjamin, Coons and Browns fans
— chris wilson (@chrswlsn) October 11, 2015
@WFNYScott Cleveland is a winner. All of NE Ohio
— Adam Rossi (@AR1519) October 11, 2015
@WFNYCraig @WFNYScott winner – us for being at the game! pic.twitter.com/KoPCfr2cIE
— Butcher (@butcher98) October 11, 2015
@WFNYScott winners: Pettine. McCown. Barnidge. Benjamin. Cleveland. Loser: Flacco. Ray Lewis. The NFL referee committee. Baltimore.
— The Keymaster (@Sarkastik_Pupil) October 11, 2015
@WFNYScott winners mccown, barney losers all 82.1 million worth of the defense and mike pettine for being touted as a def coach
— Dan Murphy (@darkcvc) October 11, 2015
@WFNYScott Johnny and Hoyer supporters crawl back into their holes after a win
— Brian Dickey (@BLDickey) October 11, 2015
@WFNYScott winners McCown and the city of CLE. Loser: Manziel Mafia
— Eric Brooks (@OffSummers) October 12, 2015
81 Comments
WFNY new weekly column : comments from Ray!
In the spirit of the dog bones and collars that the team was giving out to defensive players, I propose that someone rub Coach O’Neil’s nose in the game film today. At the same time they should smack him on the nose with a rolled up newspaper and yell, “No! Baaaaaad Coach. Bad coach!” That should send a message.
Rizzo talked about his Twitter followers instead of a win. Kevin Kiley continues to bring down Ken Carman. Talk radio is rough around here.
Oh Kruger is visible alright
…. 20 yards down field in coverage
………..cause… ya know
……………we didn’t spend any money or draft picks on the backfield.
Ohhhhkay… so I am farthest from the “failing for anyone in the draft” crowd; but how then do you plan on addressing the quarterback situation?
please oh please oh please oh please don’t say McCown.
There is no spoon?
I wasn’t going to say anything, but I suppose I will. I actually like Kevin Harlan and Rich Gannon. I think they’re both competent and have fun announcing the game together.
He only played something like 27 snaps. Maybe they’re appropriately responding to what sure looks like a mid-bloated contract crisis. Haven’t seen him nudge the give-a-crap meter much this year regardless of where he’s lined up.
Sorry I’d talk trash but was at a watch party where the last thing anyone did was actually watch the game (is that how most Browns “fans” get through games?). I only saw the fourth quarter and OT starting around the 12:00 mark and other than our defense being as stout as a Rolling Rock I can’t really say anything about the game.
LOL
I sure hope we can use another first round pick on both lines… again.
Good thing I don’t listen to radio. 😉
hi CHRIS … i think you just let it play itself out. you win as many games as you can this year … 1) pettine’s ass is on the line , so you know he’s trying to win as many games as he can. 2) we should want to see improvement … and in my mind , 8-8 or better , would be decent improvement , especially since the schedule gets tougher & we will probably only be favored against the 49ers.
and i think we would all agree that the defense needs to be addressed . if we can get a top-10 defensive unit , mccown or manziel will suffice until we can get that franchise QB … and who knows , maybe manziel is that guy.
But can someone please give Gannon a voice coach for pronouncing the word “offense?” OW-fense is owfensive to my ears.
boo !! … i wouldn’t bet the farm that we’re going to beat the broncos , but i think we’ll play well enough to win … just find a way , baby !
Nah. It’s just become the fashionable thing around these parts (like acid washed pegged jeans) to bang on Farmer for what 3 or 4 guys don’t do, I figured it would be fun to be the counter voice. A number of Farmer’s guys made significant contributions on Sunday. He should get the credit for that if we’re going to hammer him for the rest. Maybe not as much credit as I gave him, but you get the point.
hi HOP … then i can tell you that defillippo , mcown & the offense performed well the entire game. the ravens blitzed often & mccown stood in there & made a lot of good decisions.
hi GARRY … good post.
What I saw of the offense looked good and the stats showed us spreading the ball around, I heard some people moaning about the first half but if we ultimately win, does it really matter?
I’ve been saying this for years!
There was also a play early in the game where Duke Johnson runs out of bounds and is then hit/thrown down well after. At least, that’s how it appeared to me… Not sure how that wasn’t a late hit.
This x 1,000. When it’s a problem of attitude, it’s a problem of leadership. I just don’t think O’Neill has what it takes.
How does someone get to be a voice coach? Is that market pretty saturated? It sounds like a fantastic job.
hi GREG … just to show you how it breaks down : okay , we all know there 11 players on defense … dansby & whitner lead the team in tackles with 39 , then the next 3 are DB’s , then a.bryant , kirksey & robertson. kruger is 12th !! and both shelton & meder have more tackles than kruger.
so , the DB’s are making most of the tackles because the LB’s can’t fight-off blockers. i’m sorry , for a 3-4 scheme , the LB play by the browns is unacceptable.
I don’t think the refereeing was too bad, but them announcing the wrong down after a penalty was getting annoying. The announcers also said several times wrong down and when you are popping back and forth with snacks from the kitchen, and for instance the dot is on Baltimore (possession dot next to BAL) and CLE has the ball, things like that are annoying. Or when Lee is punting and the stats for the Ravens punter are on the screen. I could also deal with less of the blatently obvious comments. What he was trying to do there is run the ball to the X yard line to get a first down…duh
Better an English coach. At one point he wanted to say “errors,” but his mind seemed to drift toward a fancier olde pronunciation of the verb err (“urr”). And so it came out “they have to avoid all the urr-ers.” Wish these ex-players with high football IQs would just stay in their lanes. Better to be football articulate and mangle sentences than to try to wax poetic and end up sounding like the character on “In Living Color” who invents jailhouse polysyllabic nonsense.
I just want you to know that reading “wax poetic,” stated correctly, lowered my resting heart rate. Seriously. You know that feeling when you’ve had a good cry, and then suddenly a deep calm washes over you? No? Oh, I don’t, either. But I’ve heard that this happens, and I think that I just experienced something similar.
dang, if that’s all it took for me I’d probably while away my days at poetry slams. And in the evenings mosey over to the artisanal coffee house and be the guy you avoid eye contact with to preempt any possibility of conversation.
Pettine is a winner because he is the first Head Coach since Butch Davis to lead Browns to victory over all 3 Division rivals
The one we lost or the one they lost? Stupid Chargers.
Browns undefeated with Farmer back from suspension.