Week 4

The best part about the Browns playing on Thursday is that I don't have to wait until Sunday to get pissed off watching the Browns.  The prospects of writing a blog on an 0-16 team are strangely exciting, and it's looking more and more possible with each passing week.  I hate the Ravens.  I hate them so much.  I just feel like they're a representation of everything the Browns should be, from the fact that it was our team first, to the fact that we passed on three of their best players in the draft, namely Ed Reed, Haloti Ngata, and now Torrey Smith (for William Green, Kam Wimbley, and Greg Little).  Damn it all.  Anyways...

Here are the two problems with the Browns that I think make the biggest differences in these games (except for all the other problems with the Browns).  One, that we have a worse head coach than the other team EVERY SINGLE WEEK.  Seriously name a head coach worse than ours.  You can't.  Two, there is no accountability, with the players or the coaches.

I already wrote about the struggles our coach has game planning here.  This week, his team didn't go three and out on their first series.  They didn't turn the ball over.  They didn't look woefully unprepared to play.  These things are positives. 

However it was a 9-7 game at halftime.  Of course, Baltimore made adjustments at halftime, while Shurmur and the Browns celebrated the progress they'd made in the first half and how hard they battled.  So Baltimore marched down the field and scored, making it 16-7, in the rain.  After halftime, Trent Richardson, the Browns best and some would say only weapon, got 4 rushes.  FOUR.  They threw 27 passes.  This is not the 2001 Ravens.  They can be run on.  I'll say Brandon Weeden looked pretty good, but he'd better learn how to look off his primary receiver or he's going to throw a lot of pick sixes.  But really, 4 rushes to Richardson in the second half of a close road game in lousy weather?  5 rushes total in the half?  C'mon Shurmur.  Our coach lost the idiot battle to Cam Cameron (who also loves ignoring his best offensive player) nearly an impossible task.

Also, for the second week in a row, we get the ball with a minute left in the half (after calling timeout to save time) and run the ball on our first play.  IDIOTIC.  It's like our coach is scared to even think about being aggressive.  Shurmur.

Again, the recap of this game is short and simple.  We played well enough on offense to keep it close but we can't make a play when we need to.  We played well enough on defense but committed a stupid penalty with 4 minutes left (yeah you Buster) that cost us getting the ball back with more time for a chance to win.  We ignore our best offensive player for long stretches of the game.  Phil Dawson is the only chance we have to win games this year.

But sadly we played pretty well on offense, defense, and special teams and still lost by 7.  It's gonna be a long year.

But it's the lack of accountability that makes me the most angry about this team.  I'm not saying go out and fire everybody, or bench everybody for making a mistake now and again.  But I'm sick of seeing this team make the same damn mistakes every week.  Last year, we led the league in drops.  If we're not first this season we've got to be close.  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.  Why the hell do we expect Greg Little to start catching the ball now?  Or any of these guys?  Is it time to hold someone accountable?  These guys are lucky I'm not the GM, because I'd fire the receivers coach yesterday.  And Greg Little would be inactive for at least a month, if not longer.  He wouldn't see the field until I thought he was going to be able to get through a game without a drop.  He's killing this team.

Where the hell is Josh Gordon?  Was he this far behind from a development standpoint, or is it a coaching issue? 

Except for Phil Dawson, who is phenomenal, our special teams is below average.  Reggie Hodges has been horrible all season.  Our coverage units were adequate this week at least, but have been awful for most of the season.  Someone should go, probably Hodges first.  Accountability.

And Alex Mack just stinks.  I don't watch coaches tape but I can see he is awful in real time.  I honestly think there are 20-25 starting centers that are better than him in the NFL.  I can't frigging believe we took that guy in the first round over the son of a Browns legend.  Thanks Mangini you dummy.

We're staring 0-5 in the face next week, when we're at the Giants, and then maybe have a shot at a win or two when we're home against Cincinnati and at Indy.  Jimmy Haslam should take over as sometime around then, and we should see if the new owner believes in "progress" and "battling" or accountability fairly quickly. 


I hated this by the way.  Glad Cribbs is okay.