MELT DOWN #1

I am running out of reasons to follow this team, and am questioning why I put so much time, passion and loyalty into Cleveland Browns football. I have never really questioned my loyalty, at any point in time before. When the Browns were taken away from Cleveland I boycotted football until they came back, and now this.

I almost want to turn my loyalty over to tOSU football and follow the Browns less intently. True the Buckeye’s blow every big game they play in, but at least they give us a winner most of the time. At least they give us the thought that they can win any game they play in. Truth be told I have always been a Browns fan first, but that could slowly be changing.

I have three huge problems with the Browns right now that need to be taken care of quickly.

First. Brady Quinn. I’m fine with him getting off to a slow start, I’m fine with him struggling a bit, but the kid needs to throw the damn ball. He’s not going to have a wide open receiver every play, especially when the teams second receiver is Josh Cribbs. Brady will never be a good quarterback if he’s afraid to throw the ball. Its one thing to be safe but its another thing to be gun shy. Being safe means don’t throw the ball up for grabs in double coverage, being safe means don’t try to throw a left handed pass when your being sacked, hold on to the ball. Brady is gun shy and its killing the offense.

Second. Jamal Lewis. I’ve wanted him replaced since last year and nothing has changed. He’s done. I’m tired of watching him shuffle his feet like he’s a wiener dog. Is James Davis or Harrison the answer? I don’t know, but they cant be much worse, at least they have the chance of breaking a long run from time to time.

Third. St. Clair. Get this scrub out of the game. If he’s not getting called for a false start or holding he’s letting the defense run right past him. He alone is the biggest weakness this team has and something needs to be done about it. How many times can one man get beat before he is pulled out of the game? If he starts next week I will throw a hissy fit like a 10 year old girl….again.

All in all I refuse to give up on Brady or Mangini before they get a fair chance. Two games is not enough for me to throw in the towel. Hell I would love to give them 3 or 4 years. What do we have to lose? Another losing season. It will happen regardless of the coach or QB here in Cleveland. The only way we can become a winner is to stick with what we have. Starting over every 3 or 4 years doesn’t work, this is obvious, we’ve been trying that method since 99’.

Coach Mangini, WTF?

I really hope the Browns players already know who the starting QB is.

The fans already know. That's for sure. We've seen enough to make an educated selection. Even a wanna-be sports blogger like myself who never played a down of football in high school but follows this team religiously knows that Brady Quinn will be the starter.

That's not the secret.

The secret is why in the hell hasn't Eric Mangini announced his starting QB? There are only 9 days left until the season opener, so his mind has to be already made up. You can't see these guys play everyday for this long without picking your guy. About a month ago when this thing was just starting to get annoying, I assumed that if both guys appear to be "neck and neck" than it could be a tactic to boost Quinn or Anderson's trade value (most likely Anderson's). Well, I'm over that.

I think the "all things will remain a secret" way of doing things that Mangini apparently learned while dog sniffing Mr. Hoodie in New England has manifested itself to a whole new level. It's one thing to not disclose information about injuries. I'd like to know why our best player has been on a stationary bike since early August but I'm not pulling my hair out over it.

Is it possible that Mangini is becoming obsessed with secrecy?

A quick look into the Cleveland Sports Flow Crystal Ball reveals the following...

Media: Coach, what color socks are you planning to
wear tomorrow?

Coach: We're going to continue to evaluate and analyze
the possibilities and make an internal decision and go with it.

Coach, seriously...WTF?

Mangini is Wasting Reps on Anderson

Like a 6 year old with a Sharpie, Eric Mangini has written his name all over the Cleveland Browns. He's "moved" murals, traded Pro Bowl talent and traded the #5 overall pick to the Jets for a group of former employees who he thought would help him preach the gospel in Cleveland. That was just in the first few months!

I'm not knocking any of those moves because I think they were all smart and cleared the way for a re-building effort that will (hopefully) see this team become more competitive and fundamentally sound in the new few years. I'm ok with that. I know the Browns aren't going to the playoffs this season and I won't be disappointed when that becomes a fact.

What I am disappointed in is the idea that Eric Mangini is giving Derek Anderson snaps in pre-season and training camp with the notion that he might actually win the starting job over Brady Quinn. Look, I'm not 100% sold on either guy as a "franchise QB" but even a casual fan knows that Brady Quinn should be the starter when the Browns open the regular season on September 13 at home against the Minnesota Favrekings. So why is Coach Mangini torturing us with his homemade Quarterback Derby 2009 Edition?

Seriously, is it really necessary?

Speaking of unnecessary, how about waiting until an hour before the first pre-season game to announce the starter? Was that a strategy to try to force Green Bay into having to be prepared for both QBs? I hope not because the Packers came out and looked like the best defense in the world while Coach Mangini was rotating Quinn and Anderson like they were trying out for his Yahoo! Fantasy Football Team. Great "sneaky" tactic to start the season of games that don't even count.

We won't even get into the specifics of the game. Check Ben's recap in the previous post for that info. All I'm going to say is the fact that Quinn didn't pull ahead in this battle was a bigger disappointment than our defense all of a sudden forgetting how to tackle.

So now it's Thursday and we still don't have a confirmation on who will be starting Saturday against Detroit in the (in)famous "Great Lakes Classic" (that almost got blacked out). Why is it taking so long to name a starter this week? Is this forcing the Lions, coming off the league's first ever 0-16 season, to prepare for both guys? Detroit's first team defense is going to see both guys anyway so why not just announce that D.A. will start the second game since apparently it's too early to tell who's leading the race for the starting job and Mangini is hell bent on getting them equal reps? Doesn't that make sense?

Apparently not.

Not a lot of what Mangini is doing with these quarterbacks makes sense to me right now and I have no reason to believe that anything will be cleared up anytime soon either. In my opinion, the logical thing to do would be to name Quinn the starter as soon as possible since he's the guy we gave up a #1 pick for to be our future quarterback and give him all of the reps with the first team in the 3rd pre-season game. Derek Anderson might want to be traded because he believes he can still start in the NFL for another team or he might want to take his chances here as the backup since we're in Cleveland and with our luck there's always the possibility Quinn's arm could fall right off . If I were George Kokinis, I would test the trade market to see what we could get for D.A., but unless somebody gets hurt and a team is desperate it's probably not going to be much especially after the forgettable season he had in 2008. If we can get something of moderate value then pull the trigger and go into the season with Quinn as the starter and Brett Ratliff as the backup. That seems logical, at least to me anyway. Do I expect Mangini to do the logical thing in this case? Hell no.

Here's what I expect Mangini to do....

Keep both quarterbacks and keep this open competition going as long as he possibly can without having to commit one way or the other. Then Go through the rest of the pre-season letting DA and Quinn share reps but without naming a starter or even hinting at who the favorite is. Once the regular season starts, he'll go with Quinn because that's what he was planning on doing all along. So many of us fans will ask "why didn't he just say that from the beginning?"

Because he's Eric Mangini and that's not how he rolls! Next question, please.

Browns vs Packers (what i saw)

Positives.

Brady Quinn – His pocket presence was excellent. He dropped back in the pocket and planted his feet, something he didn’t do last year. Last year he was bouncing around and had happy feet. If his first receiver was covered he moved on to the next receiver and so on. He made a good showing that he should be the starter, but it was only one game, I’m not going to hand him the keys yet.

Josh Cribbs – He is one of the best players on this team. To see him actually make a couple plays on the offensive side of the ball is very encouraging. If he can become a receiving threat, everything else that he brings to the table on offensive will fall into place.

Blitz – True, the Browns didn’t get to the QB very much against Green Bay but the fact that I saw them actually trying was something I haven’t seen from them in quite a few years. I could tell Kam Wimbley is benefiting from the new coaches, I saw him use a couple of new moves that he hasn’t perfected yet but he’s getting close.

Negatives.

Running Game – Terrible. What is the problem here, by the end of last season it was my number 1 goal to get a new running back. We didn’t, unless James Davis is truly a star and I doubt it. Jamal doesn’t have it anymore and until he does something to prove me wrong I’m standing by my Jamal Lewis is washed up attitude.

Rush Defense – What happened to Zeus? I keep hearing how he’s a tremendous run stopper. When your team gives up over 200 rushing yards rushing nobody on the defensive line should be dubbed “ZEUS”.

Derek Anderson – He didn’t do anything to help his chances of being the Browns starting QB. Zero completions and 1 interception. He locks onto one receiver and holds the ball until the receiver gets open or until he gets sacked. He better get his act together in the next pre-season game or else everybody is going to write him off completely.

F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L

Just two more days until a meaningful sporting event for Cleveland sports fans. Football season is finally here. This is what we Cleveland fans live for, football, win or lose, we love our football. And even though it is only a pre-season game, for those fans that aren’t die hard enough to follow training camp, this is a sign that football season is back.

I am excited to see the new additions to this team take the field. From the new starters like Abe Elam to the third string quarterbacks like Brett Ratliff. I for one enjoy every minute of Cleveland Browns pre-season football. I love trying to spot the “out of no where guy” like Alex Hall last year, a guy that exceeds every expectation you have of him or a guy you’ve never heard of that comes out and makes a name for himself. Who will it be this year? Wide receiver Lance Leggett? Or maybe running back James Davis? Time will tell.

Who will be the QB this year? It is my impression that Derek Anderson is having a slightly better training camp than Brady. He has really improved his short passing game, but we all know that can change on game day. As good as Derek may be throwing the ball, I really don’t think he has the leadership skills or attitude to run this team. I think he folds under pressure and can’t recoup from bad play. Derek seems to let his emotions get in the way of the sport, and it hurts him more than his great throwing arm helps him. Brady on the other hand seems to have those intangibles to run the team and keep not only his head in the game but the rest of his teams. Brady has great touch on his pass and despite what people say, he can throw the long ball just fine.

I have my own theory on why Derek was with the starters for the Brown and White scrimmage. Coach Mangini figured he would be able to start Brady in the first pre-season game and his reason for picking Quinn could be that Derek played with the first team in the scrimmage so its Quinn’s turn with the starters. I know it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but if he rotates the QB’s in the pre-season games, guess who will be starting in the all-important 3rd game. That’s right, Brady, and he won’t even have to explain why. He’s rotating them with the starters.

I think Brady will be the starter when the regular season starts but I won’t be surprised at all if Derek wins the job.

It was just announced that Donte Stallworth is suspended for the entire season.

Cavaliers Cashing in on LeBron's Questionable Future

Cavaliers beat writer Brian Windhorst of the Cleveland Plain Dealer is reporting that the Cavs have renewed approximately 95% of their season ticket plans from last year and are threatening to completely sellout every home game of the 2009-2010 campaign. Windy also reports that the Cavs are either first or near the top in every ticket-selling category in the NBA.

Not bad for a team from "small market" Cleveland. Not bad at all, actually.

News of the success the Cavs are experiencing with season tickets for this upcoming season got me thinking. Everybody knows that the 2009-2010 season could possibly be LeBron's last with the Cavaliers as it is highly speculated (by the NY media) that he will opt-out of his current contract next summer and become a free agent. LeBron has been pretty secretive when it comes to his future plans - with the exception of an alleged free agent recruitment here and there.

Here is my question:

Do the Cavaliers, as an organization, prefer LeBron to make it appear that the 2009-2010 season could be his last in Cleveland for the benefit of selling more season ticket plans?

GM Danny Ferry would never admit to it. Owner Dan Gilbert would chase me off his porch with his custom Cavaliers snow shovel if he heard this. But either way, the Cavs are benefiting from LeBron's "flirtation" with leaving Cleveland in 2010 in a big way and this report by Brian Windhorst proves it. Sure, the Big Shaquisition played a definitive role in the increase of season ticket sales, but not as much as LeBron's pending free agency has. People are starting to view 2009-2010 as Cleveland's last chance to win a championship and who can blame them? The team playing across the street at Progressive Field isn't even going to sniff .500 this season and the Browns are at least 4 or 5 years away from really competing with the top level teams in the NFL.

If I was in charge of marketing for the Cavs the possible sales slogans for prospective season ticket holders would have included:

Get your 2009-2010 season tickets: This Could Be LeBron's Last Season in Cleveland. Did You Hear We Got Shaq?

Get your 2009-2010 season tickets: "Do or Die" starring LeBron James and featuring Shaq. Win a Title and LeBron Stays. Lose and He's Gone.

Get your 2009-2010 season tickets: LeBron and Shaq combine forces to take on space aliens who are threatening to destroy Cleveland. Will you be there to cheer them on?

Ok, that last one was just for fun but you get the idea.

Regardless of whether the Cavs were planning on benefiting from LeBron's pending free agency or not, the fact is they are. At least this July, anyway. Hopefully next July won't be any different.

Cavaliers Running Out of Options

With signing day less than 12 hours away the Cavs don’t have many options left in free agency but that doesn’t mean they won’t get something done. The Cavs have already made a splash by picking up The Big Freeze, but they seem to be coming up short of getting another impact player. One that I think they must get to be able to contend for a championship.

I’m not going to count out Trevor Ariza yet. He told Houston that he’ll sign with them but there are still little rumors flying around. Apparently LeBron has reached out to Trevor in an attempt to bring him to Cleveland, telling Trevor that he (LeBron) will still be in Cleveland after 2010. Whether that’s true or not, I’m hearing that Trevor Ariza could be backing out of his agreement with Houston (aka pulling a "Boozer"). Could this be why Ferry and Coach Brown flew out to the Left Coast?

An off the wall option could be Josh Childress. After playing a year overseas he seems to be ready to come back to the NBA. He’s a lanky small forward who has a lot of hustle in him. Doesn’t really have an outside game but can crash the boards and play solid defense.

One way or another the Cavs are going to get an impact player before the trade deadline comes next February. Don't forget about the Mo Williams trade last summer that nobody saw coming. If the Cavs fail to pick up that impact free agent this summer there will still be teams trying to dump salary at the trade deadline or maybe even sooner. If a team finds itself struggling to stay in the playoff race around the trading deadline in February they may be looking to cash in on a 2010 free agent who they don't expect to re-sign: Chris Bosh, anyone?