Browns lose to Cardinals, 34-20, in a tale of two halves
November 1, 2015LeBron James, as Prince, hosts Cavs teammates for Halloween Party (Pics & Video)
November 2, 2015Everybody just calm down. That’s all I can think to say at this point in another lost Cleveland Browns season. The further this season goes, the more it just feels like nobody knows much of anything about anything. That’s obviously a bad thing, but all the anger, flagellation, and panicking I see is not going to help anyone figure it out. That’s all anyone can point to as a goal for the rest of this season, is to figure some things out. But you’re too mad and you’re going to scream and be heard! For what? You scream when there’s something worth panicking over. This went from being an NFL season to being a scientific experiment to see what elements are present. It’s a violent chemical reaction, but all you can do is let it burn itself out. The Cleveland Browns are not a good football team right now. We all get that. Now what? They have massive issues because of a confluence of many factors, but this is not the time to let your anger take over and cause you to double down on the deeply disturbing history that’s been fueled by desperate measures for never-ending desperate times.
I’ve got all the same questions that you do with regard to Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer. I know that Farmer’s draft and free agency record are an unfunny joke from Vincent Mayle to Dwayne Bowe and many places in between. I know some of you like to refer to Pettine as high school Mike and I know that he’s responsible for the Jim O’Neil drowning, where he appears to have his head firmly below the surface of the water and gasping for air as a coordinator. Someone needs to take the long view of this whole show, however, so I guess I’ll do it.
It’s not the fans’ fault, it’s Jimmy Haslam’s. This is the bed that Jimmy Haslam made. I was all in favor of firing Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi, but that in concert with the previous excising of Rob Chudzinski, Norv Turner, and Ray Horton after a single season is a crime with at least a three-year probationary period. That means that almost no matter what Ray Farmer and Mike Pettine do — short of being caught up in Andy Moeller levels of off-the-field issues — they have to be able to continue to try and improve at their jobs. The only thing worse than what the Browns are doing on the field right now would be making it worse by firing everyone and then trying to conduct some sort of candidate search to come work for the world’s most impatient and impetuous NFL owner.
That’s not to say the Browns can’t do anything and there’s no circumstance in which they can fire everyone. If Peyton Manning retires and wants to be president of football operations, you can hit the reset button. That’s enough of an instantaneous culture shock that the Browns might be able to attract new candidates that fans would be proud to have on the sidelines. Or if Jimmy Haslam throws enough millions at one of the top college coaches in the universe, then he can go ahead and replace Mike Pettine. Short of those types of home runs, the Browns should absolutely stick it out and see if these guys can improve with experience. Go into the offseason and see what changes they’re looking to make and try and guide them down the road of improvement into a year that probably won’t have as tough a schedule.
While we are on the topic of wholesale changes, I don’t want to hear anything about Joe Thomas getting traded. We kind of know how this one works out. You can trade a Paul Kruger or even Alex Mack because of his contract situation — assuming he waives his no-trade clause —1 but you don’t get better by trading Hall of Fame players. You can potentially improve your team, or find better fitting players when you trade a guy who has made a Pro Bowl before, but a Hall of Famer is an all-timer that you don’t trade for a draft pick. Let me put it this way in Cleveland Indians terms. You can trade a guy or two who have won Cy Young awards. You can’t trade the heart and soul of your team, even if that team’s been bad. Joe Thomas is Victor Martinez. You aren’t going to make yourself better by trading Joe Thomas, so just stop with that stuff. I know you’re angry, but just stop it. Count to ten. Take a deep breath.
The Browns got into this situation because Haslam was pissed off after Chud’s first year. Remember all the spitting mad GIFs2 that we had in Haslam’s first year in the owner’s box? That anger-driven decision-making is the absolute opposite of good business and we all know it, but somehow we find it acceptable in Berea. None of this is to say that Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer will go down in history as great Browns. It’s simply to say that short of complete and utter dysfunction — not losing, but real live dysfunction — they need to keep their jobs to try and improve everything themselves.
This Browns team is playing bad football in a year with a very difficult schedule. Mike Pettine won’t make excuses like that, and he shouldn’t, but it’s true and we all know it. They’re getting beat up physically and their journeyman quarterback is half dead, both figuratively and literally, as they fail to win football games. We knew this was going to be a tough schedule well before the season started, and now that we’re in it and the Browns are having an even worse year than we hoped, we seem to be taking 15 years’ worth of frustration out on everyone.
The Browns need the full support of their owner right now and they need to do the best they can to salvage some kind of point to this football season. Maybe it’s finding out Johnny Manziel can or can’t play. Maybe it’s the steady improvement of Danny Shelton, Nate Orchard, Duke Johnson, and Armonty Bryant. Maybe it’s treating two forthcoming games against the Steelers like Cleveland Browns Super Bowls, bringing out all the stops and beating up Ben Roethlisberger. All the Browns have left to play for are artificial goals like that because the real goals like playoffs are dead now.
But start by calming down. Getting mad about it — while understandable — isn’t going to help. These are players that are still trying (for the most part). These are coaches that want to win and likely will have the best idea of how to fix this thing after a really tough year. Sometimes teams just have bad years and this was a team that showed signs of improvement last year with a much easier schedule. This is a year that’s been fraught with adversity. Next year tells the end of the story and the final scene will be a whole lot of firing or a whole lot of hope for the future. It’s a three-act play and this is just act two. Maybe take an intermission, have a drink or a smoke — who am I kidding, you’re Browns fans so maybe both — and we’ll see you when the lights go down again at the start of act three.
I’ll just go ahead and give Joe Thomas the last word with his earned wisdom after so much time playing with the Cleveland Browns.
“Worrying doesn’t really help you, it just wastes energy. Obviously, we are not where we want to be – 2-6 is not a good record. We have to find a way to find some answers and win some of these games. It’s important to control the things that are in your control. I heard a while ago something about ‘People who are mentally weak are ones that worry about things that are out of their control.’ It’s a battle when you’re on a team that’s not winning to worry about things that are out of your control, but that’s a fight that you deal with in the NFL when you’re on a team that’s not winning.”
There might not be anyone in the league who can speak with such authority on this topic.
135 Comments
Add on that seemingly no NFL trade ever nets a “value” per say because what you are sending out is aged and overpaid in almost all cases.
Perfect
Need a photo of the people playing music as the Titanic was sinking.
Please tell me you didn’t just suggest the Browns needed to build a team around their left tackle.
It may just be how you were wording it but seriously, we’re talking about the left freaking tackle not the franchise QB.
Whether it was Haslam’s idea or Farmer’s, it was Farmer’s responsibility to insist on the best football player.
Frankly, I’ve never found bad the evidence that it was Haslam’s idea convincing, but even if it came from there the GM has a responsibility in such a situation — in fact, an owner should expect the GM to stand up to him in those circumstances. As Ozzie Newsom did to Art Modell when Modell wanted to draft Lawrence Phillips over Jonathan Ogden.
“Lets not waste Joe Thomas in Cleveland”
uh… they kinda already did.
You’re not alone…. I topped out this season at putting about 95% of the blame on Farmer instead of Pettine. Now it’s more like 50/50.
As the season goes on, the coaching starts to look worse. And the more I have to question whether some of the assumed draft busts really are busts. I mean, look at how Kruger has been misused. And he’s a guy whose skill set is pretty well known. If they can screw that up, how can I trust that they’re coaching up and using Orchard, Shelton, or even Gilbert properly? And that’s not even getting into the offensive side of that ball.
and yet the irony sting so bad that if they HAD drafted either Bridgewater or Carr and actually won football games….people would buy those jerseys too.
To be fair, Turbin was quite literally the 53rd man on the roster I don’t think he looks bad in that light.
It’s OIC that you go from a default owner in Randy Lerner to Jimmy Haslam. If I was a conspiracy nut I’d say the NFL was getting back at the “great fans of Cleveland” by getting Haslam as the next owner. It wasn’t enough that the NFL made a ton of $$ and ran the whole “rebirth” of this franchise. Just look at how well everything else associated with this league has gone. Go TB12 Patriots want that stooge Goodell to have to hand them a Lombardi!!!
I’ve been over Thomas for a few years in fact I wanted to draft Adrian Peterson. Oh well.
Dude, this notion that a former QB one year removed from the field is capable of running an organization…. I just don’t know.
For the 53rd players he’s sure getting a lot of time even when Duke Johnson does well and despite multiple fumbles.
Which is on Pettine. Like I said, I’m finding it harder to bash Farmer when I see all these questionable on-field personnel decisions.
hi TRS … while it looks very hard to do , i still say stay the course with farmer.
agree, it’s an annual Craig thing. And while I agree about panic in principle, I’m very calm. I just know what I see. A team that’s getting physically dominated in virtually every area virtually every week. Can’t stop the run, can’t run. Can’t stop the pass, can pass a little until opponent figures out they can’t run, at which time the QB becomes a brave, doomed pinata.
It’s like a teenager assuring his parents they shouldn’t panic. The couple of years of failing grades and attendance suspensions? Harder to be a teenager now, Mom. And they hire idiots. Ask anybody.
Of course you do
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_1oKdpaFhVaA/TP65smeiBoI/AAAAAAAABl0/nppEAcCnmQY/s400/TITANIC-FAIL.jpg
Farmer and Pettine both have to go.
x1000
hi HOP … i’m just for giving somebody / anybody the time they deserve to execute a plan … not blowing-it-up every 2 years & starting over.
i may go down with the ship , but i’d so knowing i gave somebody a fair shake & not doing like we’ve done since 1999.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0x-fkSYDtUY
hey , wait a minute !! … what the hell are you doing on the freakin’ life boat when it’s supposed to be women & children first !!
Someone has to row the poor children to safety.
And be the shoulder for all of those widows too!
good call …
well , at least i’d go down with the ship knowing i gave somebody a fair shake … *GLUG GLUG*
It’s the desperate “magic man” plea. He was magic on the field, everything he touches will be magic, he will touch us and heal all wounds. Because he knows the game/understands us/knows how to win. It’s like the fan version of the impoverished people who give their credit card numbers to televangelists.
That’s the best summary of this organization that I have ever read; and I read A LOT about this so-called team. I live in Los Angeles now, and have followed the Browns since childhood. But when LA gets its own team, I’m done, period.
This is why you never, ever, ever, ever ask if things can get worse. It can, and the universe is all too happy to demonstrate
As one of the preeminent writers on a Cleveland sports blog, I’m not exactly sure if you’re in the best position to tell everyone to calm down. I agree that busting blood vessels gets no one anywhere, but I’m just not sure you should be the one to say it. People react because they care. When you tell people not to react, it can seem like you’re telling them not to care. Maybe I’m off base with this, but through my readership I’ve definitely noticed that you in particular can flirt with the void between apathy and spinelessness. People are going to be mad. Let them be mad. I’m in no rush to stoke or douse the grease fire that is the Cleveland Browns fan base. You shouldn’t be either.
It’s not. You guys have been here too long. 🙂 I celebrated the Banner / Lombardi. I just know two years for a coach, especially a first timer isn’t enough. I also think one year for Chud was ridiculous. I begged anyone who would listen to fire Pat Shurmur, however. Loved Heckert though. Let’s not be selective in our memories. I take them on a case by case basis and when you’re Jimmy Haslam you can’t do it this time. Maybe one of them, but not both.
I’ve long subscribed to this belief.
or maybe we can chalk-it-up as a rookie mistake & ask that it doesn’t happen again.
Wasn’t suggesting you advocate against all terminations, but you do regularly take the “calm down” position. On the other hand, I remember well that you knew Weeden was not the answer long before I gave up hope. He could just look so good in preseason …
“It’s absurd, pure fantasy.”
Isn’t this what being a Browns fan is all about? The hope that one day our day will come and we will be a respectable organization that competes year-in, year-out?
Absurd. Pure fantasy.