WHoa, Where are My Posts

I don't kow what's ben happening, but I'm not liking Blogger at the moment.

Anyway, Browns have their last-ditch chance vs. the Seahawks today. I think they will play okay, maybe win it, precisely because they should not. Then again, they don't have that last second roller coaster thing going on so much this season.

It will be a big game for Holcomb who just sucked vs. the Steelers. Also for James Jackson who is a fumble today away from getting a very bad reputation. The Seahawks defense is formidable at times so it should be a good measuring stick for how good/bad the Browns offense now is. The fat that Faine is gone for the year is, I think, devastating as the poor goaline situations vs. Pittsburgh attest. Melvin Fowler just can't beat his man one-on-one. Seahawks offense is, most of the time, very dangerous. Shaun Alexander could have a big day. At this point in the season it's not worth worrying about the little things cause the die has been cast -- the Browns are way behind the 8-ball and the injuries have mounted; in other words, no playoffs this year.

lat point -- Chaun Thompson is likely to start today. He's been a major dissappointment to me just due to the fact that he has almost never played except on special teams. Well, maybe he can change some minds today. Let the auditions for next season begin.

Green in Trouble

Wow, this is not good. Same story here. I hope it's an accident. If not, say a prayer for the young man. He's got more to worry about than playing for the Browns.

KJ Replay -- Benched in Tampa

The other KJ -- Keyshawn -- has been benched in Tampa and will be traded after the season. Pretty crazy, and similar to the Browns situation in many ways. Butch Davis -- NFL trendsetter??? Of course, there is one very big difference -- the Bucs are going to get something in return for the player. Keyshawn will stay home for the rest of the season, and the team will try and trade him after that. I can't tell if the Bucs will gain a roster spot by sitting Keyshawn, but my guess is they will.

Quebert Spouting Off

Check out Mary Kay Cabot's article in the PD today -- it reads like the Browns PR staff is her editor. I mean, Sunday was a great performance but it's a bit over the top.... my favorite quotes:

• Cabot writing "For starters, Kevin Johnson is gone and the receiving corps has been upgraded as a result." This could very well be the truth, but the jury is still very much out, isn't it? Heck, I tend to agree with the crux of the statement but one game does not a season make. And what's up with, "For starters..."???
  
• The unbelievably annoying quots from "Quebert" Morgan continue --

  Why did the blocking look so good against Arizona? "[Johnson] wasn't here, so it looked extra good," Morgan said.

  Give me a break! Maybe the blocking was good cause the offensive line was healthy! Maybe cause Quincy wasn't getting called for holding! Maybe cause they hardly ran the ball to the outside!!! This dude is one heck of a comedian (which is entertaining), but he's sure not sounding like a close buddy to KJ (as he stated last week). Also, a fellow die-hard Browns fans emails me to say, "I specifically tried to watch him on run plays, and twice (that I could see on TV) he just stood there as the corner that was on him went down and had a part in the tackle."
  
• Morgan again:

  What's more, when the Browns do beat the zone and hit a slant, there will be more of a chance it will go beyond the first-down marker.
  
  "You saw [Johnson] run that [slant] route for five years," Morgan said. "He'd catch it and fall."

  Again, this may be true to an extent. But I'd like to suggest that, had it been Quincy Morgan who had been unceromoniously cut from the team, we might have seen a teammate say something like:

  "You saw [Moragn] run that [slant] route for three years," Northcutt/King/Jackson/Holcomb said. "He'd drop or fumble it half the time."

Ah well, what are you gonna do? Maybe Quincy wants to be a loudmouth. Maybe he wants to be in that beer commercial where the guy fumbles for times but still refuses to accept responsibility for a loss. Heck, maybe Butch Davis decided that what this Browns team really needs is a guy like Terrell Owens and now we have one. For some games anyway.

James + Rudi

Well I couldn't have been much more wrong than I was in the preseason, speculating that the Bengals lacked any depth behind Dillon and perhaps they'd be interested in acquiring James Jackson. The Browns are leaning heavily on Jackson now, and Rudi Johnson is completely tearing it up for the Bengals. Apparently the Browns aren't the only team who don't need one of their "star players" quite as much as everyone thinks they do.

In Butch We Trust....

Wow, the Browns made a big statement in crushing the Cardinals 44-6. But it was much more than a game.... it was a bold-faced, underlined refutation of two weeks of heavy criticism, and perhaps a taste of what lay ahead. We sure didn't miss KJ.

This game was flawless. The only complaint one can muster is a taunting penalty after a touchdown! Maybe we could have gotten more rushing yards? Perhaps, but on this team the pass is going to set up the offense and it met little resistance. I think the key to everything was the return to health of the offensive line which afforded Holcomb plenty of time in the pocket. Kelly was rarely hit hard after a pass and never sacked. That, combined with another nice defensive effort made for an unbeatable combination. Few teams in the NFL could have beaten the Browns on Sunday.

The fact that Andre Davis and Quincy Morgan (imagine!) had big days was icing on the cake. Davis in particular was very impressive, and it was nice to see Morgan hang on to everything thrown his way. Northcutt too was tearing it up. The talent is clearly there and it's very nice to see it in full bloom. The only issue now is getting enough repeat performances to make a run this year and, more importantly, to go deep into the playoffs in 2004. There are enough pieces in place to put it together, but the roller coaster ride of ths franchise means we shouldn't count on anything for certain. One week at a time...

Must Win

Today's matchup is a must-win game for the Browns and for Butch Davis in particular. It's been a tumultuous two weeks (Davis' head-in-the-sand comments aside) and this game will show us whether all this off-the-field activity has positively or negatively affected the team. Heck, I suppose it could have not affected the team at all but, at 3-6, that would be considered a negative development in my book.

For Davis, his ass is on the line. He's exercised his power and presumably brought the troops into line and showed 'em who's boss. But the questions are surfacing, both in and outside of Cleveland. You just get the feeling something is on the horizon...

Anyway, a loss today effectively ends the season and the preseason can begin. A win and the games are stil meaningful and the hoped-for growth towards a great 2004 will have begun, maybe, at least according to coach. I'll be at the game, judging the results instantly along with another 77K people. How I long for Holcomb to tear it up... but it's just as likely this site gets a lot more traffic next week.

Sunday vs. Cardinals

Hey, guess what, there is a football game on Sunday. I can't wait!!! Seriously, this should be among the most enjoyable games of the season and is personally my most eagerly anticipated home game so far. The Browns get to show in front of the home fans that the antics of the past week stil allow for a positive outcome. Heck, if Butch has the troops fired up and they dominate the Cardinals, things might even brighten up a bit. OR the Browns will struggle, boos/bottles will rain down, and the "Butch Must Go" chants will be deafening. Either way, one hopes that, in honor of William Green, Big Dawg will show up with no shirt, dreds, one sock and a blunt big enough to set off smoke alarms on the concourse.

Jeff Blake, Marcel Shipp and Anquan Boldin lead an Card offensive attack that I think will offer a good challenge. Shipp in particular is developing into a very good back and a good game from him could mean a long afternoon. Defensively, there really should be no reason the Browns can't have at least moderate success. No reason, that is, except the air in Berea after Green and Johnson went the way of the dodo bird.

The Browns are either making their last bit of transformation into a contender (in 2004) or they're adding to the tinder which will engulf half of NE Ohio at a date in the not too distant future. Watch closely! The only thing I'd like to see more than Butch Davis holding up a Vince Lombardi trophy is Butch Davis failing on a collossal scale. Or, at least, it seems like that's the mood in Cleveland these days...

What They're Saying on Thursday, Nov 13, 2003...

"You've got to wonder what's going on up there [in Cleveland]," Titans coach Jeff Fisher said. "That's a talented football player."

"Obviously, we've had two very, very good days of practice," Browns coach Butch Davis said. "It's been a very, very positive week and I think our guys are ready to play."

Green Gone for Smoking the Gagnga

After our draft bust was busted last week, we now know that Green was ALREADY in the league's substance abuse program. We know he's been caught before. Heck, it should be obvious that the Browns knew something to this effect before last week. Here's a player who was busted multiple times in college for dope who the Browns eagerly invested millions of bucks and who, predictably, has failed them. This sucks. But you can bank on the fact that this should not be surprising had we known what the Browns did. Count it as another gamble lost by Butch. Like sands in an hour glass....

No Compensation

A whopping 16 teams claimed Kevin Johnson off waivers. Correct me if I am wrong, but that means half the NFL would have been happy to have KJ and his contract on their roster. That is 16 teams who, you'd think, might have been interested in parting with a draft pick for the guy had the browns shopped him a few weeks ago. Seems like a waste to me.... a 5th or 6th round pick is sounding pretty good right now.

Quincy Mouths Off
Call me cynical, but seeing Quincy Morgan quoted in every paper spouting off about doing the little things right besides just catching the ball.... PLEASE. Morgan is a good talent, but he's not currently a good receiver. So far his career has been marked by almost complete dissappointment, mistakes, and mental lapses. Is he blocking more/better than KJ? I have no idea. But I can say this -- if Quincy is running his routes exactly as they are drawn up and he is still unable to get open and catch the ball, then he's not so good a football player. Then again, I guess Morgan has figured out what really matters: show support for the big guy, and everything else will be overlooked. Same goes for Holcomb to a much lesser extent.

KJ to Jacksonville
Well, fair enough to Mr. Johnson, who sounded like a guy who had just finished up his last day at work. Or like a guy who just got out of jail. Or a guy who got dumped by a psycho girlfriend only to score at the Funky Buddha the next night. Jacksonville will get a pretty good player and, when he produces, you can bet no one will be complaining about his blocking. you can also bank on Leftwich finishing the year pretty well now that he's got an outlet receiver.

But the Verdict is Not In
Now that the big trauma has passed, it's interesting to note that the Browns minus KJ are still breathing. Football-wise the team will be fine, as the future of the team rests with many other players on the roster before KJ. The hit to next year's salary cap, while money grossly wasted, can be overcome as well. And even if Butch's BS sounds like, well, BS, it's more important that his words ring true in Berea. Most of the reports I've read suggest it's playing okay with the team. Guys respect the decision, lament letting go of a decent guy, and back to work. That's great news, and means what is left of the season could be salvaged somewhat. It may not sound so good to prospective free agents; not good but if the team is signing a lot of free agents we're in trouble anyway.

The ultimate judgment on Butch Davis will come from the 2004 season. It's hard to say the team is _trending_ towards success, but that doesn't mean that success is not in the cards come next year. Could happen. I still think Butch will win eventually. I just wish Davis wasn't behaving more and more like Bellichek '90. The question we should ask ourselves is will Butch win before we run out of patience? No one will blame you for your honest answer.

Are We a Better Team Today?

Less our leading receiver and with a 2+ mil charge against the cap next year, is this team better now than it was, say, last week? I'm having a hard time thinking it is. Let's get this straight -- KJ was a good possession receiver. He had lots of flaws, but he had the one thing you have to covet in a wide out -- great hands. And because of that, you can really only presume one thing: his release was personal. No matter how much snow the front office attempts to pile onto the situation, remember that. It was personal.

I won't say that personality conflicts are minor things, or that these types of clashes arern't reason for getting rid of someone. But we can confidently state that such clashes should be few and far between. And if one guy has clashes with several otherwise decent people over the course of a short period of time, then that guy is most likely the source of the problem. In other words, Butch has used up all his mulligans and should be taking some hits for this one. If it happens again with another player, you can bet his "gotta be one of my guys" reputation will be taken as fact around the NFL. Seriosuly, if one more players leaves the Browns under dubious circumstances (except perhaps Couch, since that situation is already simmering) then Davis himself will be next in line. You don't stay in charge of people when you have lots of personality clashes.

So how will we know if it works? Pretty simple, really -- 1) finish 2003 well. That means winning some games, but even more it means seeing the team solidify what it does well. If Butch wants "his type" of players, then let's see this team develop its identity. Right now, doesn't anyone know? We know it includes size and speed, but it does not appear to include discipline or blocking. Especially on offense, this team needs to turns its promise into genuine threats to the opposition. 2) win 10 or more games in 2004. That is the bottom line. We are either a contender in 2004 or we are not. Odds are the Browns will not be anyone's Super Bowl pick. But if we're not making the playoffs and battling it out for a division crown, then Butch Davis will have failed. Pretty simple.

[I wanted to add 3) no more players arrested for drugs or guns, but perhaps that is asking way, WAY too much. Is it? I don't know, after watching the finale of Playmakers it's hard to tell.]

To pile on... one more wouldn't be a bad idea -- 4) the team must have a reliable QB, not controversies, etc. If there is any doubt who is the leader of the offense, then we might as well fire Davis after Game 1 in 2004.

Tight Ends and Offensive Line Next?

Word out of Berea is Butch is not happy with their blocking...

Butch Boots KJ

Well, wow. I can't say I am surprised about this, especially since KJ fired back regarding his benchng. You know that wasn't going to go over well with the front office. It's obvious there has been some less than flattering things going on by all parties involved. That said, I break this thing down two ways...

1) The move itself, the idea of cutting Johnson. On purely football terms, the move is questionable but makes some sense. Kj is a good receiver with fantastic hands. Other attributes, like blocking, are difficult for us fans to judge bet's assume he was a horrible blocker and a bad teammate -- there is evidence of both. Davis probably told Johnson he expected him to be a supportive teammate when not in the game and KJ didn't seem to do that. In fact, he appeared to be quite the opposite by standing alone on the sidelines and spouting off over the radio. If that's the way it went down, so be it the guy has to go. Add in the fact that the team has a decent core of receivers and the move becomes understandable. What hurts is the fact that KJ has won some games for this team, and was the lone bright spot for several dark years after 1999. And you have to consider that a good coach finds ways to motivate different types of personalities and to accent the strengths of his players. Butch obviously failed miserably in this regard with KJ. So the move is an admission of misjudgement by Davis, be perhaps a necessary one.

2) Business and management, the way the situation came together and was handled. On this count, the blame is entirely on Butch Davis and the Browns, and their spinning is incredibly lame. No matter how you slice it, this is Butch Davis' f*uck up. Any business management self-help book will tell you that a good organization get's the "right people on the bus" then decides where to drive it. While KJ was not a "Butch guy," it was indeed Davis who resigned KJ to a long-term deal before last season. So in effect, KJ had the Butch Davis seal of approval. When this happened last year Davis and Browns should have known everything they needed to about KJ as a player and a person. They can't now claim major deficiencies. If KJ wasn't the right fit for this team in 2002, he should have played out his contract last year as the Browns made the playoffs then walked. Or he should have been traded for a 3rd-5th round pick. Anything but this. While KJ's actions this season haven't been ideal, this is a situation of Davis' creating and he's got no one to blame but himself. Add to this the lame flow of hints and allegations coming out of Berea regarding KJ which, even if they are all true, are not the sign of a well-run organization. Believe me, the current "employees" care about how colleagues are shown the door. In this case, the proper thing to do is quietly say the team wanted to go a different direction, that injuries/circumstances forced their hand, and a very tough call had to be made... then let the player tie his own noose with negative comments, if he so wishes. Instead, we are left wondering whether Davis or Johnson is more guilty of "conduct detrimental to the team."

Oh yeah, it's also worth noting that KJ has not been arrested, hasn't been driving drunk with his shirt off, hasn't been rolling fatties in his SUV, and hasn't been anything other than a popular player. I mean, maybe this rubs people the wrong way but there could be far worse things. An incomplete, self-serving player? Yeah. But last I checked a guy like Hanford Dixon would have fit that description.

A Complete Beating

The Browns got their ass handed to them yesterday by the Kansas City Chiefs. There were a variety of reasons, the chief among them that the Browns just aren;t very good and the Chiefs are. There is much to complain about. Such as...

The defense got worked repeatedly. After a 3 and out on their first possession, the Chiefs tore into the Browns for 380+ passing yards and scored on every possesion of the first half. It came down to the KC OL completely shutting down the Browns defensive line. Warren + Roye would try and bull rush into a brick wall, Lang/Brown/Word would rush way too wide and Trent Green would either dump off or step up and throw downfield. Too easy.

The offense sucks. There was a sporatic running game, but it wasn't a threat. Holcomb got pressured and rarely threw downfield. Passes were completed short of the marker on 3rd down FIVE times. Jamel White looked horrible again.

A few iffy calls made things worse. Gerard Warren flagged for unneccessary roughness for... tackling the guy with the ball before a whistle blew. Lame! Warren again flagged for bumping into the ref whil the Chiefs ran a hurry up. Whatever. Twice the Chiefs benefiting from illegally throwing passes to offensive lineman -- what a crock. These calls all sucked, but they were not deciding factors. In fact, giving up a TD pass on 4th and 3 late in the game struck home the obvious -- the Chiefs battered these Browns.

Last thing to say: our offensive formations suck. Please, my god, no more Trips packages. Maybe our receivers are really not as fast as they say? Cause we do not beat anyone. It's like painful to watch.

After this game it mist also be same to say that the Chiefs are rolling -- just about everything is working.

Well Said

This commentary on Bernies Insiders does a good job of summing things up right now. Lots of questionable things going down this season. It's not often where I agree with every damn thing someone else wrote, but this may just be one of those times.

Oh yeah, I think the Browns wil give the Chiefs a good game Sunday. And I'd LOVE to see a big win, just to shake things up and hear Dr. Z talk about how all those Browns fans can stop writing him telling him how much he sucks... like that will happen. I think Priest will have a big day, but if our defensive line can engage in a fierce battle for control of the line of scrimmage, well then we got a shot. Of course, it will be very interesting to see how our offense plays -- I love Andre Davis, and Jackson has been good, so there won't be a drop-off. We might even be pleasantly surprised. But if Morgan drops a couple balls, I the first question in Butch's postgame press conference to be about it....

I've been sparring with some dudes on a KC mesage board this week and let me tell you what you already know -- they don't think we stand a chance. Football minutae aside, the recurring theme seems to be "ARROWHEAD." It's as if the Browns are going to play on the cursed land of fallen indigenous tribe leaders, where quarterbacks making their first start are doomed to interceptions, sacks and disembowelment. As if the roar of the crowd from Overland Park suburbanites is so shrill, so foul, and so deafening that the trip to Missouri is not even worth the trouble. As if network TV may not even carry the game since they stopped broadcasting the slaughters in the Collesseum centuries ago. And as if the losing of our starting HB, benching of our leading WR, and hobbling of our starting QB will have any adverse effect on the play of our Browns. These people are idiots!!! Don't they know that our team makes no sense? That we win only when we should not, and almost always on the road? That we don't care that 65K two-state barbecue-loving Show Me Staters will be hooting and hollering in their mock suede red-and-yellow bird feather indian caps? That Holcomb only plays good after he has at least one broken bones? That, damn it, we are at least a 5-11 team, the kind of 5-11 team who might lose to the lowly, the victory-deprived, and the talent-starved franchises but my god we will win the unwinnable and confound the pundits and turn the talking heads into shaking heads after we show up on Sunday and return as the best losing team in pro football. Amen.

Ongoing Items: Lerner Speaks, Policy Sells Out

You have to love Randy Lerner. The other day the PD had an article about him and the state of the Browns (Read the article). How does Randy feel? "I think it's going very, very well and clearly, clearly very frustrating." Sounds like a lot of the bosses I've worked for! But don't worry, Randy is working on it -- he spends 1-1 1/2 days a week in Berea "sitting in, listening, being involved, discussing things on the league side." Keep up the good work!

Meanwhile, Policy has sold his 10% stake in the team. Carmen himself has stated that this is not a big deal; I don't buy it. When Policy came to Cleveland he stated publicly that he hoped to be a team owner someday. His 10% stake in the Browns seemed like a big first step in that direction. Now that is no more and Policy is just another employee... whose contract is up soon. Reports have stated he will likely sign another 5-year deal. He might, but I'm still in doubt that Policy will be in Cleveland for the long haul. Al Lerner's death seemed to strike deeply -- you could see it in Policy's on-air comments in the days and weeks after. Policy was always in Lerner's ear, seemingly sucking up to the big guy. I suspect Policy thought he'd be able to parlay his relationship with Lerner into a large ownership stake in another NFL franchise. Say what you want about Randy Lerner, but Policy clearly does not have the same rapport with him. I think Policy is exploring Plan B.

One Sock William

Well, Green is asking for a nickname as more details come in regarding his arrest. Let's see.... 2-3 hours after leaving practice, Green is driving drunk.... he's swerving and speeding.... one front tire is flat..... he's behind the wheel with no shirt on, on a day that was pretty freaking chilly outside... officers arrest him and he's wearing only one sock... presumably he did have pants or shorts on, but no one is saying for sure. COME ON!!! YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!! THE GUY CAN'T EVEN GET WASTED PROPERLY!!! HE'S MAKING MILLIONS OF DOLLARS AND HE CAN'T MANAGE TO PUT HIS SOCKS AND SHIRT ON LET ALONE DRIVE A F&*ING CAR!!!

I really, really want to know what he was doing for those couple hours. There has to be a very entertaining story behind it all. I am now 100% sure he was not at the bar at the Pufferbelly.

KJ BENCHED; BUTCH GETTING HIGH WITH GREEN?

WOW!!! Lots of crazy stuff going on today. In order, let's go...

William Green suspended one game. My feeling -- that's it? I think more should happen, or at least Green should take some accountability and explain why he was hammered only a few hours after practice. I guess this is standard operating procedure for Butch Davis though. The club's inevitable position will be that this is punishment is "consistent" with Gerard Warren's 2001 arrest. Not so -- Green was actually DRIVING THE CAR. In fact, if you listen to the scuttlebutt around town he was bouncing off curbs and speeding. And he not only had weed on his person, he was drunk. And this wasn't on a day off or at some fancy night club with his posse -- he was alone, on a weekday afternoon, right after practice. C'mon, this is a problem and a little one-week slap on the wrist is a huge disservice to Green and to the public in general, who do not need to witness another sweeping-under-the-rug of a rather serious screw-up.

Speaking of consistency.... Browns leading receiver for the past 4 years, BENCHED!!! That's right, Kevin Johnson will be riding the pine in favor of Andre Davis. WTF??? KJ is not a world-beater, and I'm not opposed to mixing up the roster but.... what kind of message does it send when you bench KJ and leave in Quincy Morgan, who has flat-out been horrible and dropped half the balls thrown to him? I like the idea of starting the excellent Andre Davis, but bench the right freaking guy!!! This whole thing merely suggests that rumors about "Butch's guys" are true. Apparently you can suck and smoke week and still start for the Browns. And you can give up an NFL record amount of rushing yardage and still earn the coach's praise. What a freaking joke.

Lee Suggs will likely be activated. Fair enough, let's see if he can contribute.

Holcomb will start @KC. This is the right decision, obviously.

Tune into sports radio on thw way home tonight, cause it should be entertaining.... KJ benched, not too dissimilar to William Green getting the week off. Unfrickinbelievable.