Week 8 - 2013

Detmer.  Couch.  Pederson.  Wynn.  Holcomb.  Garcia.  McCown.  Dilfer.  Frye.  Anderson.  Quinn.  Dorsey.  Gradkowski.  Delhomme.  Wallace.  McCoy.  Weeden.  Lewis.  Hoyer.  Campbell.

There are your twenty starting quarterbacks of the Cleveland Browns since they returned in 1999.  I've seen the jersey with all the names, but actually typing it out is stunning.  What a world class collection of never were's and never should have beens.  Jason Campbell started against the Chiefs at Arrowhead on Sunday, losing 23-17.  Jason Campbell makes 20 starting quarterbacks in the past 14 seasons.  Jason Campbell wasn't terrible, Jason Campbell was better than some names on that list, and Jason Campbell may end up starting every game for the rest of the season.  When the clock runs out on the 2013 season, the main priority will be to find quarterback 21, and have him be the long term solution that this franchise has been lacking.

It's a difficult thing, watching your team and knowing that despite being only halfway through the season the best thing for them would be to lose.  Even with the knowledge and understanding that it is not in the Browns best interest to win anymore games, I cannot help but root for them, to get excited, to want to see them victorious.  I am a Browns fan, one who has seen a tremendous amount of losing in my lifetime.  So yeah, I wanted the Browns to win on Sunday, when they had an opportunity to do so.  But ultimately it's another loss, and another step closer to a franchise quarterback.  This is going to be the way I soothe myself after these games, by continually telling myself that this is true.  It is the truth.  But DAMMIT the Chiefs aren't as good as their record, Alex Smith is terrible, and the Browns should have won.  What the hell Devone Bess???  *Exhales*.

Jason Campbell played okay.  He did not do anything to lose the game.  I think it's fair to say he played better than Brandon Weeden would have.  He found Josh Gordon and Jordan Cameron, his two best playmakers.  He got rid of the ball.  He played a decent game, but that's what he is - a decent quarterback.  He is not the quarterback of the future, he's the next in line until that franchise quarterback is found.  The performances by Hoyer and now Campbell prove two things.  One, that Brandon Weeden is pretty awful.  And two, that if this team had a good quarterback, it would make some noise. 

The game itself started miserably, both for the offense and the defense.  It was an admirable job by the coaching staff to both slow down the Chiefs and get the offense going after falling behind 13-0 and then 20-7.  Ray Horton's defense played a great second half and the Browns were in a position to win the game.  Norv and Chud pulled out the flea flicker to revitalize a stagnant offense.  They were able to get back in the game.  However it wasn't enough.  Devone Bess (more like Devone Worse AMIRITE) was absolutely awful.  Not only did he fumble away a punt that would have put the Browns near midfield down only three points, he also dropped 3 passes, none more important than the fourth down play in the 4th quarter with the game on the line.  What a horrible game from a player that was supposed to stabilize the wide receiver position.  But ultimately the Browns lost, which is the best thing for the Browns.  And that sucks but it is the truth. 

It is going to be a rough final 8 games I have a feeling, but in the end it is what is best for the future of the franchise.  I'm going to be writing that a lot I have a feeling.

A final takeaway from this game is that Josh Gordon is the best player on the Browns offense, and trading him for a second round pick is lunacy.  Here's another list - Kevin Johnson, Quincy Morgan, Dennis Northcutt, Brian Robiskie, Mohammed Massaquoi, Greg Little.  Those are the second round receivers that have been drafted by this team since '99.  AWFUL.  All of Gordon's 8 career touchdowns have come from 20 yards or more.  He is one of the most talented wide receivers I've ever seen in a Browns uniform, and he's only 22 years old.  But because he's one strike away from a one year ban, they are going to trade him for pennies on the dollar?  Instead of putting a program in place and throwing all the resources they have to work with him?  I just don't get it.  Maybe it will happen, maybe it won't.  Either way it will be a relief when the trade deadline has passed.  I'd still trade Greg Little for a bag of footballs.


Random gifs

I love Dez and I hate Romo so I get it

 

TBDBITL

 

 

Sus girl shaking

 

 





Week 7 - 2013

2 weeks, or what feels like a lifetime ago, the Browns were tied for first place in the AFC North.  Seriously how far away does that feel?  Brandon Weeden, the worst quarterback in the NFL, played one of his worst games.  Jeff Triplette, the worst referee in the NFL, did what he does.  Rob Chudzinski, rookie head coach, doing his Pat Shurmur impression.  31-17 Packers.  This game was basically my worst nightmare.

I defended Brandon Weeden until I watched him vomit away the Miami game.  I was wrong to ever have defended him.  Once the blinders were off, the warts on his game are impossible to overlook.  He is actually getting worse with every start.  Logically this makes no sense.  Quarterbacks don't generally get worse with experience.  But Weeden has.  Every game it seems is worse than the last.  His un-watchability is moving somewhere between Doug Pederson and Charlie Frye.  He sprayed the ball all over historic Lambeau Field, completing a mere 17 of his 42 passes.  The Browns never had a chance, they knew it, and the Packers knew it.

The Browns receivers didn't exactly have a banner day.  Does playing with an inaccurate quarterback who has no confidence have an effect on them?  Possibly.  Josh Gordon looked disinterested, Devone Bess was supposed to be sure-handed but drops a pass every game, Greg Little is not very good, and Jordon Cameron is generally ignored until the game is out of hand.  Kansas City's defense is going to tear this offense apart next week.  Expect press man across the board and between 7-10 sacks.  I'm dead serious. 

As far as changing quarterbacks, I personally don't see it happening, for multiple reasons.  One, Jason Campbell must be terrible or they would have gone to him by now.  Whether they're mad at him for skipping out on the fourth preseason game or there is something else, they obviously don't think he's the answer.  Two, the Browns are done trying to win this season.  They aren't tanking, that's not what I'm saying.  But they aren't trying that hard to be mediocre this season, when they can be bad and get their quarterback in the draft.  The answer isn't outside the building either, in my opinion.  I just don't think that there are any better options than Weeden right now.  I'm not saying I agree, but it is what it is.  So get ready for 9 more horrible games.  Looking at the schedule they may not win again until December, when they take on Jacksonville.  And sadly, as bad as Chad Henne is, if he starts he won't be the worst quarterback on the field that day.  Blaine Gabbert, that's another story.

The coaches were pretty terrible against the Packers as well.  Early in the game Weeden was shooting high and outside pretty regularly.  The Browns had a penalty aided drive going and were facing a 3rd and 1.  And they called a pass.  The guy couldn't hit the broadside of a barn and that's the playcall.  Somewhere Pat Shurmur is smiling.  Shockingly the pass was incomplete.  Third and one should be a quarterback sneak every single time, especially considering they went for it on fourth down.  Well on fourth down they passed it again, and Weeden lobbed an interception.  Brilliant.  Run the ball.  If Marquis Gray is going to come in and run the read option, then teach him how to read the defender.  They ran it twice and he made the wrong read both times.  Late in the game they opted to go for a fourth and fifteen rather than kick a field goal.  Hard to argue if they felt it was out of Cundiff's range.  They actually recovered two onside kicks and were penalized on both.  That's impressive.  But all and all it was a pretty lousy performance from Chud and staff.

I wasn't overly impressed by the defense either, but Rodgers is really good.  They actually plugged the dyke and stopped the flooding in the third quarter.  If the offense had gotten anything going they may have had a chance, but in the end it was too little, too late, too much time on the field.  They have to get more pressure on the quarterback or they have no chance, especially with Robertson now being targeted systematically.  They have a good defense, they are only a few pieces away.

Jeff Triplette is the worst referee in the NFL.  There is no reason he should be allowed to work NFL games.  There were 22 combined accepted penalties, and two egregious misses that I can remember off the top of my head.  The call on Gipson for hitting Finley in the helmet, and the pass interference on Skrine.  Players will be wearing flags soon, because real football is dead.  Gipson had no chance on that play, Finley came in with his head down and Gipson turned away from his helmet.  He has no other option on that play.

Brandon Weeden has now lost every game he's started this season, and there's no reason to think that's going to change anytime soon.  The case can be made that Chud risks losing the team by continuing to roll him out in spite of his obvious and glaring deficiencies.  I won't argue against that, but I also think there is no better option at this point.  The next ten games are going to be long and painful, but so have the past 12 seasons.  3-13 started last week.

Random gifs

Another Brandon Weeden gem, he's throwing the ball to Willis McGahee, who was getting up from blocking on the play.  Another Weeden in a nutshell gif.  Thanks Matt Brocone for sending this over.

Michigan still churning out the hotties

Jameis destroyed Clemson.

This makes me feel slightly better about just about everything

Week 6 - 2013

"Hope is a waking dream", according to Aristotle.  Well the dream of the first place Browns, the dream of a division championship, and probably the dream of the playoffs turned into a nightmare against the Lions on a warm Sunday afternoon in Cleveland.  Yes, there are still ten games left, and yes, the Browns are only one game behind Cincinnati, and yes, it seems early to despair.  But after watching Brandon Weeden's second chance at being the starting quarterback, I'll be stunned if the Browns win more than three more games the rest of the season.  If that sounds overly pessimistic, watch this play over and over.  One play, one bad decision, but no one play has ever summed up a quarterback quite like this one does.

I don't want to blast just Brandon Weeden.  There is plenty of blame to go around after that disastrous second half which saw the Browns give up 24 straight points.  Craig Robertson was systematically targeted and exploited by Detroit.  An average Lions offensive line kept moon faced Matt Stafford clean and upright for a majority of the game.  The coaching was questionable at best, both offensively and defensively.  And the officiating was downright awful.  But the game was in the hands of the quarterback and he failed.


First off, the Browns have had the lead at halftime in every game this season.  And they've managed to lose 3 of those games.  In the first half, they were able to mix in creative running plays with effective passing.  They didn't put it on Weeden.  And it worked as they went into halftime with a 10 point lead.  It was like an entirely different team came out of the locker room.  In this, and every one of those losses, they have been awful in the third quarter.  I'm not sure if they're being out coached in the locker room at halftime or what the issue is, but the fact is they do not execute well after halftime especially with Weeden at the helm.  They have pulled the plug on the running game in each of the three losses, putting the game entirely on Weeden's shoulders.  And quite simply they are not going to win that way.  Against the Lions, they ran nine plays in the third quarter.  NINE.  Three series, three and out on all of them.  They called three running plays.  They were awful, horrible, lousy.  The coaches have to do a better job.

Defensively, this was probably the worst game the Browns have played this season.  The defense is going to keep them in a lot of games, but they weren't that good on Sunday.  In the second half Detroit exploited matchup problems and Ray Horton had no answer.  They got no pressure on Stafford, allowing him to dink and dunk down the field.  They let the Lions convert 8-15 third downs.  Tashaun Gipson, who is really becoming a solid player, had an interception, the only turnover the Browns forced.  And they only sacked Stafford once.  Craig Robertson had a really really tough day.  Joe Haden was called for two horrible pass interference penalties but shut down a hobbled Calvin Johnson.  But it was the inability to get pressure and to stop the Lions on third down that hurt the Browns on Sunday.  This defense will have better days.

But the problem for the Browns, the real problem, is the quarterback.  I stuck up for Brandon Weeden.  I convinced myself that the things that were wrong with him were fixable, that he would get better with a new coaching staff.  But they aren't and they haven't.  The same issues he had in college, and last year, still exist.  He locks on to his primary target and holds the ball too long.  He has trouble throwing receivers open.  He truly is a baseball player who is playing football.  He has no football instincts.  The second the Lions went up by 4 points early in the fourth quarter the game was essentially over.  He proved it when he stupidly took a penalty for intentional grounding, and proved it with that stupid flip pass that was intercepted.  He even proved it on the last series of the game when he didn't throw the ball near the endzone when the Browns needed touchdowns, although more than likely the game was decided.  He missed a wide open Travis Benjamin and a wide open Greg Little for big plays in the second half, although the Little play would've come back on a penalty.  He limits what the offense can do.  It is clear that when he is the quarterback the Browns will not run screen passes.  It is unclear what other limitations the offense works under with Weeden, but after seeing this team with Hoyer and then again with Weeden, there are definite limitations.

And I don't like to blame the officials but Walt Coleman and his crew were criminally bad.  Rarely are games as horribly officiated as this one, and the Browns were on the short end of every bad call.  The pass interference on Joe Haden on 3rd and 2 in the first quarter was awful.  The catch by Greg Little on 2nd and 25 in the fourth quarter sure looked good from the limited angles that were shown by Fox, but was called a no catch.  And the roughing the passer call on Quinton Groves was an abomination.  I still feel the NFL should grade every officiating crew and publish those grades, but this crew was downright awful.  Walt Coleman has now secured his place with Jeff Triplette in the awful referee hall of fame.  So congrats Walt and crew, you are absolutely dreadful.

So this is where we're at.  The Browns are 3-3 and trending down.  Whereas just last week we were celebrating being in first place, this week it seems we're destined for a top ten draft pick.  Such is life as a Browns fan.  Snapped out of this waking dream, back the reality of life in the NFL with Brandon Weeden as the starting quarterback.  He has ten games left to prove himself, otherwise that hope, that waking dream, will be of Bridgewater or Mariota or Boyd or Manziel in orange and brown.


Random gifs

Careful on those sidelines ladies

 

Holla at your boy Tom Brady

Case McCoy crash test dummy

And bonus picture because it's awesome.

Week 5 - 2013

 

 

Let's start with this.  The Cleveland Browns are in first place in the AFC North.  Process that if you can.  First Place.  Sure, they are only 5 games in.  But they are 3-2 for the first time since 2001.  Think about that.  It's been 12 years since the Browns were 3-2 after 5 games.  They haven't even been over .500 since the clock ticked off on the final game of the 2007 season.  This was a big time win last night, on national television, at home, in front of the best fans in football.  Here's some more food for thought - in the NFL, 50% of teams that start 3-2 make the playoffs.  Yup.  Playoffs. 

It was a big win for many reasons.  First of all, in a town with a psyche as fragile as Cleveland's, following the egg the Indians layed in the Wild Card game, there was a feeling of trepidation (for me anyway) going into the game.  Because just when things appear to be going right for Cleveland, the universe has a way of balancing itself out.  It started on Tuesday with the Indians, and seemed to be continuing from the opening kickoff, when Greg Little caught the kickoff deep in the endzone and jogged out to the eight before he was buried.  Despite the raucous crowd, the Browns seemed intent on finishing the let down the Indians started, on a week where Cleveland was going to be the center of the sports world.  Josh Gordon let a potential 80 yard touchdown slip through his fingers, and the Bills used good field position and a horrible pass interference call to jump out to a 7-0 lead.

Then the unthinkable.  The pin that popped the collective balloon.  Brian Hoyer laying on the field, legs crumpled under him, in obvious pain.  Injured.  Out of the game.  Local boy turned hero turned tragic figure.  In stepped Brandon Weeden, who promptly looked like Brandon Weeden while the boos rained down and the frustration boiled over.  The Bills kicked another field goal and led 10-0. Hope was lost, it appeared.  It felt like another Cleveland sports story.  You could feel it. 

Only this time, something different happened.  Maybe it's having a coach that understands the region.  And understands basic football principles, unlike his predecessor.  Maybe the players are mentally tougher.  Maybe it's just different this season.  But there was a spark, a flash, wearing a brown #80 jersey that turned the game around.  Travis Benjamin, on the strength of two long punt returns, one for a touchdown and one that led to a field goal, almost single handedly tied the game at 10.  The defense clamped down, led by a ferocious front 7.  And somehow, in spite of his shortcomings, (and his long holdings) and the rough start to the game, Brandon Weeden calmed down, made some decent throws, and staked his team out to a halftime lead.

Things appeared to be going right.  The Browns took the lead.  The crowd was wild.  The greatest player to ever wear a Browns jersey was honored at halftime.  Everything was going to be okay it seemed.  Then CJ Spiller blew past Barkevious Mingo for a 54 yard touchdown and the air left the stadium again.  And then the Bills scored again, although the drive cost them their quarterback, as EJ Manuel was cut down by Tashuan Gipson and injured his knee.  24-17.  Bills. 

 

Hope had left, for good this time it seemed.  Surely Brandon Weeden couldn't get the job done.  But then he did.  In the face of adversity he did.  A deep pass, thrown perfectly, (and caught!!) to Greg Little for 47 yards.  Then another, following a penalty, to Josh Gordon for a juggling 37 yard touchdown.  Pandemonium.  Tie ball game.  And then Ray Horton did his thing, and the defense did their thing.  They are fun to watch, this Browns defense.  And Weeden was sharp when he needed to be, making some clutch throws down the stretch.  And Jeff Tuel, Buffalo's backup, was not.  And TJ Ward finished the job with a pick 6 to end the game and start the party.  It would not be the same old story in Cleveland.  Not on this Thursday night anyway.  It was a badly needed win for the Browns, but it was a badly needed win for the area.  They had a chance to fold.  They had every excuse to be like every other Cleveland team that has faced adversity and let us down.  But not this team, not this team.  Not this first place Cleveland Browns team.

 

Random gifs

For some reason I can't stop watching this

This is what Texas football has become

LOL Jimmy Haslam LOL