I wonder what it was like in Berea this week. I mean, besides the sports bars being packed by the throngs of people watching the Baldwin-Wallace Yellow Jackets take down the Muskingum Muskies. (Keagan Armitage tore apart the Muskies to the tune of 42-28, throwing for 282 yards and 4 TD's. That's great and all, but clearly the class of the OHA are the Purple Raiders of Mount Union. They've won their past three games by a combined total of 187-6.) Besides that, I imagine the tension was palpable in the hallways at Cleveland Browns headquarters, and all of the conversation at the The Lazy Beehive was centered around the questions we are all mulling over these days. Is Kitchens the problem? What's wrong with Baker? Why can't OBJ just wear a regular uniform? Are there people that really believe Sky-Way burgers are better than Swenson's?
It's an NFL tradition for the general manager to hold a full-on press conference during the bye week. John Dorsey did just that, and here is a great piece from Mary Kay Cabot with some highlights. To nobody’s surprise, he didn't mince words in expressing his support and belief in Kitchens and Mayfield. Terry Pluto hit it right on the head, “They are all together in Cleveland. Dorsey is the glue. Mayfield was his idea. Kitchens was his idea." Dorsey can't afford to waver on either of those guys, his success as a GM depends directly upon their success. I read a lot about the Browns, and lots of comments on stories and there seems to be two distinct camps of Browns fans. One group wants to fire Freddie immediately, and the other preaches patience and claims 8-8 would be an incredibly successful year. I don't subscribe to either viewpoint. Firing Kitchens would not all of the sudden vault this team to 8-2 the rest of the way. I actually think it's pretty rare that firing a head coach has immediate benefit in terms of wins and losses. (Yes, I realize the 2018 Browns did just that) However, I feel like the team is precarious right now, and that would upset the apple cart too much. I also don't think that 8-8 is successful enough, and would only be so if there were some signature wins along the way like beating New England next week, beating Pittsburgh twice, that sort of thing. Anyway you cut it, it's nonsense to talk about firing Freddie no matter what happens the rest of the way.
Speaking of upcoming games, loads of Browns fans are making the (false) claim that the schedule is softer after the New England game next week. I totally, 100% disagree. When your team is towards the bottom in most major statistical categories on both sides of the ball, and one of your two wins is against the Jets, and you are 0-3 at home, you're pretty clearly not better than many teams in the NFL. I'm sure it's true that the remaining teams we play have fewer wins than who we have played so far, but I don't think that matters. And actually, I wonder if other teams are put off by all the hype surrounding the Browns this season. To be fair, they haven't really hyped themselves, it's mostly ESPN that has created this buzz around the team, and the NFL as well by scheduling them in so many primetime games. I wonder if opposing teams are rankled by all the hype and buzz that has surrounded this team, particularly Baker Mayfield, and perhaps there's a little more intensity that we have to play against each week. Regardless, it's all uphill sledding now, and maybe it's a good thing that the Browns can really only afford to focus on one opponent at a time, and they'll have to play desperate, relentless football to claw their way back to .500 at some point. It is true that we play the Bengals twice, the Dolphins, Cardinals, Broncos, and a diminished Steeler team twice, so I can see how fans fall into the trap of the "softer" schedule after the Patriots.
It's tough to say what difference the bye week will make for the Browns, and what questions might get answered. Will they have made modifications the playbook? Has the offensive line been reshuffled a bit? Will OBJ go one week without some ridiculousness about what he wears? Will Lebron and Bill Hader get to the bottom of the Swensons-SkyWay debate? These are the burning issues that hopefully be resolved on Sunday.
Go Browns.
It's an NFL tradition for the general manager to hold a full-on press conference during the bye week. John Dorsey did just that, and here is a great piece from Mary Kay Cabot with some highlights. To nobody’s surprise, he didn't mince words in expressing his support and belief in Kitchens and Mayfield. Terry Pluto hit it right on the head, “They are all together in Cleveland. Dorsey is the glue. Mayfield was his idea. Kitchens was his idea." Dorsey can't afford to waver on either of those guys, his success as a GM depends directly upon their success. I read a lot about the Browns, and lots of comments on stories and there seems to be two distinct camps of Browns fans. One group wants to fire Freddie immediately, and the other preaches patience and claims 8-8 would be an incredibly successful year. I don't subscribe to either viewpoint. Firing Kitchens would not all of the sudden vault this team to 8-2 the rest of the way. I actually think it's pretty rare that firing a head coach has immediate benefit in terms of wins and losses. (Yes, I realize the 2018 Browns did just that) However, I feel like the team is precarious right now, and that would upset the apple cart too much. I also don't think that 8-8 is successful enough, and would only be so if there were some signature wins along the way like beating New England next week, beating Pittsburgh twice, that sort of thing. Anyway you cut it, it's nonsense to talk about firing Freddie no matter what happens the rest of the way.
Speaking of upcoming games, loads of Browns fans are making the (false) claim that the schedule is softer after the New England game next week. I totally, 100% disagree. When your team is towards the bottom in most major statistical categories on both sides of the ball, and one of your two wins is against the Jets, and you are 0-3 at home, you're pretty clearly not better than many teams in the NFL. I'm sure it's true that the remaining teams we play have fewer wins than who we have played so far, but I don't think that matters. And actually, I wonder if other teams are put off by all the hype surrounding the Browns this season. To be fair, they haven't really hyped themselves, it's mostly ESPN that has created this buzz around the team, and the NFL as well by scheduling them in so many primetime games. I wonder if opposing teams are rankled by all the hype and buzz that has surrounded this team, particularly Baker Mayfield, and perhaps there's a little more intensity that we have to play against each week. Regardless, it's all uphill sledding now, and maybe it's a good thing that the Browns can really only afford to focus on one opponent at a time, and they'll have to play desperate, relentless football to claw their way back to .500 at some point. It is true that we play the Bengals twice, the Dolphins, Cardinals, Broncos, and a diminished Steeler team twice, so I can see how fans fall into the trap of the "softer" schedule after the Patriots.
It's tough to say what difference the bye week will make for the Browns, and what questions might get answered. Will they have made modifications the playbook? Has the offensive line been reshuffled a bit? Will OBJ go one week without some ridiculousness about what he wears? Will Lebron and Bill Hader get to the bottom of the Swensons-SkyWay debate? These are the burning issues that hopefully be resolved on Sunday.
Go Browns.
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