Browns release Brian Hartline
May 23, 2016Joba shelved : Chamberlain to 15-day DL, Indians call up Ryan Merritt
May 23, 2016Writing a story like this is tempting fate for sure. If you believe in instant karma or any sort of jinxes, especially regarding the Cleveland Browns, you’ll want to just turn right back around and leave.
The story here is that there haven’t been any bad stories about the Browns lately. In a time period best known for players getting either hurt or into trouble, that’s a phenomenal thing. What am I using for evidence? A quick glance at Pro Football Talk is pretty revealing. They’re the consolidation point for all NFL team news—meaningful and mundane—so a scan of what they’ve associated with the Browns over the last month is very telling.
Here’s a sampling:
Report: Manziel booted from Vegas club after throwing a punch
This is barely even Browns news anymore, but PFT had to categorize it somewhere. The key here is that nobody in Berea will have to respond to questions about this incident in any way shape or form.
Pro Bowler Tom DeLeone dies at 65 after battle with cancer
Obviously very sad, but not an indictment of the Browns or their current roster.
Hue Jackson likes what he sees in his old QB, Terrelle Pryor
Might not be true, but fruitless hope isn’t negative this time of year.
Browns running backs getting confidence boost from Hue Jackson
Ibid.
Hue Jackson is striving for consistency in his team
Ibid.
Joe Haden says he’ll be ready to play Week 1 after ankle surgery
Now, obviously that last one has potential to be a downer with Joe Haden, but the former Pro Bowler is adamant he won’t miss games and has given huge votes of confidence to Hue Jackson saying his arrival is the best thing to happen to the Browns since being drafted.1 And just like no news is good news, good headlines are largely fanciful and full of hopeful nonsense. I’m not saying you can pencil in meaningful statistics for Browns running backs or Terrelle Pryor. I’m not telling you that Joe Haden’s praise of his coach is anymore meaningful than when Joe Thomas praises a coach. These guys say the right things all the time and it hasn’t led to on-field success. I know better than to celebrate these meaningless stories as precursors to playoff games.
I’m still free to draw an overall neutral or slightly positive conclusion, however. Anything that could be construed as negative has to do with former quarterback Johnny Manziel or new quarterback Robert Griffin III. But in the case of RG3’s headlines they’re all dealing with the dysfunctional wreckage left behind in Washington with Dan Snyder and the Shanahans.
Point being, we know how this time of year can be bad. We can be forgiven for forgetting what it’s like to have this time of year be relatively quiet and innocuous. When it comes to the Browns you have to take Ws where you can get them, so while it’s sad to see Brian Hartline go, I’m taking this one.
- One must consider the bar here, but still… [↩]
4 Comments
81 days until preseason.
Let’s not forget that old news-chestnut we all fear and never seems to change:
http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_assets/574006/ohno_medium.jpg
PLENTY of time to go.
Mike Sando (who dat?) from ESPN gave the Browns the worst draft grade of the league. To which I say “Mike, meowmeow-meowmeow. when you’re done scratching at your kitty litter, trolling for clicks, voting for Mavericks, and so forth, try agin.
BUT I came up with an inspired idea!!!!
Maybe it’s time for WFNY to start rating the draft raters!?
How about WFNY research how well different drafterniks predictions about the CLE drafts have actually panned out?