Remember When?
It wasn’t all too long ago when many fans of the Cleveland Browns were starting to worry about the egos of some specific players. Tight end Kellen Winslow Jr. started his career off by losing a mid-air battle to a shrub, resulting in a handful of knee surgeries. Wide receiver Braylon Edwards came into the league as one of the more-hyped pass-catchers in quite a while, and had a season ended by … wait for it… a knee injury. But aside from the epic levels of talent that each of these players had in tow, they were also known as problems in the clubhouse, as well as the sidelines.
Whether Winslow was racking up taunting penalties or Edwards was chewing out his quarterback, the news was rarely positive when it didn’t come to the statistics. Not all too far in the future, we are currently in a day where both players seemed to have matured right before our eyes. Yes, contract talks may come across negatively, but if you don’t think that both of these players turned into leaders before this past season, you may need to gear up the TiVo and re-watch all 16 games.
Fast forward to today, and I’m willing to bet that a few other teams – specifically within our division – are wishing that they could say the same thing.
A recent post in Matt Mosley’s Hashmarks blog discusses the recent turn of events for the Pittsburgh Steelers. While we can go all the way back to late last season when Najeh Davenport allegedly attacked his (ex?) girlfriend in the streets of Cleveland, we don’t have to. The ‘Curtain’ has cut ties with wide receiver Cedrick Wilson, after he reportedly assaulted his (ex?) girlfriend in a Mexican restaurant.
Only a few days earlier, James Harrison went all Hulk on his girlfriend – breaking down her door only to blast her in the face as well. Both players were arrested, only Wilson was given the axe.
And while it isn’t exactly the same turn of events in Cincinnati, both Chad Johnson and TJ Houshmandzadeh have started to make headlines for not-so-team-oriented moves. Johnson has been in the news almost the entire off-season, claiming that he does not want to play for the Bengals next year, using words like “disrespect” and terms of the like. The Dayton Daily News reports that Johnson cannot be fined by the NFL for saying that he would specifically like to play for either the Miami Dolphins or the Dallas Cowboys, but for one of your marquee players to act this way – for a solid few months – it cannot be good for the locker room as well as the up-and-coming talent.
We learned today that Both Johnson and Houshmandzadeh have decided to skip out on the squad’s off-season program, citing different reasons. Not surprisingly, Housh has his quarterback’s hall-pass.
“We’ve been together five years now,” Palmer said. “Our timing and rhythm is pretty good. He does pilates and yoga and doesn’t party. He’ll show up for every OTA and work out and be good to go.”
But when asked about Johnson, Palmer gave the illustrious “no comment” reply. But hey, at least Chris Henry has gone almost a year without getting arrested. Right?
I can’t recall the last time that I’ve felt this good about our Cleveland Browns, and to think that it isn’t even baseball season (quite yet). No off-field problems, feel-good stories about Gary Baxter and LeCharles Bentley possibly making a comeback, veteran leaders taking pay-cuts so that they can stay with the team… It doesn’t get much better than this in terms of an off-season.
Of course, we can be hit just as hard with a dose of reality come the regular season, so I cannot let the hopes get too, too high. But you can’t really blame me, can you?
Print This
March 24th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
you’re not alone…you have no idea how excited i am for browns season. hell, football season in general…TP BABY!!!!!!!!!!
i love how lt. winslow and braylon are professionals and conduct themselves as such and how the whole organization seems to be on the same page in terms of scheme, personnel and building towards the future. there isn’t any inter-office bickering or media backstabbing, no arrests, nothing crazy.
aside from lt. winslow’s contract demands, which hasn’t scared any of the fans (come on, like Kellen Winslow, the most competitve guy we have, is going to hold out and miss time?), there hasn’t been a whisper of negative stuff coming out of Berea…thank god.
March 24th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
This is why it wasn’t so bad when we didn’t make the playoffs. Not only did our Cleveland instincts tell us to not get our hopes up, I think the progression from Preseason 07 to now was tremendous. Look, I’m not saying that loosing out on the playoffs sucked (it did), but really, did people think that we would go 10-6 and a Colts game away from the playoffs? I sure didn’t. We really have (and I can’t believe that I’m saying this) a shot at winning it all. We have two QB’s, one NFL tested, crazy recieving corps, one of the best offensive lines in the NFL, a needle from a haystack in Josh Cribbs, and a defense that really improved over the offseason. And no only is our team doing good, we are watching the Bumbling Bungles and *****burgh waste away. At this time last year, I was wondering how Chuckie Frye could get it done behind Eric Steinbaugh and four practice squaders. Now I’m looking at the best team in the AFC North. Unbelievable
March 24th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
now lets chill out for a second. yea, i damn near shat myself in glee last season, but we still lost to the steelers twice and we still got smoked by cincy late in the season. im also happy as hell cincy is a ticking bomb, baltimore is in transition and pittsburgh’s o-line is one of the worst in the NFL, but i just cant get my hopes too high.
we have a brutal schedule, the NFC East and the Colts among others, that’s not really that easy. im excited about the new D-line, but still, the secondary is a little iffy, but pass rush should help. who knows what DA is gonna do or what the QB situation is going to look like (can you imagine how batshit crazy this city would be if DA blows all preseason and Brady lights it up…madness). god forbid an LB get hurt.
all that said, expectations are reasonably set at 10-6, that should be good enough to grab a wildcard birth at the very least, and i dont really see that many tough teams in the AFC North…but, who knows what these teams will look like after the Draft? hell, who knows what the browns will look like? personally, i cant get overexcited thinking about our pretty tough schedule and now that teams know what’s coming…
damn i cant wait until football starts…offseason is brutal.
March 25th, 2008 at 5:35 am
Thanks, Spencer. I wasn’t getting really ahead of myself in terms of wins and losses – the obvious more important issues – but just breathing a sigh of relief that this team doesn’t have the off-season baggage that our main competitors are dragging behind them this year…
March 25th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Enjoy taking that giant step BACKWARD this season. The BEST record you could hope for in ‘08 is 8-8. Jamal got his $$ — now no incentive. 2 OL are paid, but rest will start bickering for more $$. Look for one of your QBs to be traded on draft day.
March 25th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
What, is that supposed to be a bad thing, Jim? I absolutely PRAY that one of our QBs are traded on draft day.
I have no clue what you’re talking about with respect to the OL.
March 25th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Jim, I do believe you are talking out of your…ignorance. Which lineman are going to be bickering for more money? Schaffer? He’s already overpaid. Tucker? I don’t think so… Hadnot and Fraley just signed deals…Bentley restructured his deal too, so you’re nuts on that one. As for Lewis, I don’t think incentive is the issue with Jamal, injury is what most Browns fans are concerned about.
And while I wouldn’t mind going into the season with both QB’s, if Savage traded one away I’m quite positive it would be for an impact defensive player and a draft pick, so I really wouldn’t have issue with that either.
March 25th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I love how a post regarding off-field problems of other teams somehow translates into an alleged disincented-to-win team on the other end…
October 7th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
[...] March 24, 2008 – “I can’t remember feeling this good about the Browns” [...]