It was 1992, sometime in the month of January. In the city of Syracuse, the time passes in a strange manner during the winter months. At most, the continuously oppressive grey is sometimes a bit lighter during midday, but more often than not, enormous amounts of snow fall from the skies in an angry, vindictive manner.* The camera cuts to a shot of 9 college freshmen huddled around a TV in the common area on the 12th floor of Lawrinson Hall. Superbowl XXVI between Buffalo and Washington was moments from kicking off, and Harry Connick Jr. was just finishing the national anthem. (Great performance, not quite Whitney Houston or Marvin Gaye, but certainly better than Carl Lewis) Back onn the 12th floor of the dorm, Albert from Maryland was a bundle of nerves, Herbie was shouting about the New York Giants for some reason, and I was deeply concerned about when the wings would arrive from Sal’s Birdland. The evening turned out to be magical for Mark Rypien and the Washington Football Team and they went on to win 37-24, sending the hapless Bills to their second of 4 consecutive Super Bowl losses. True to form, I think we got 12-14 inches of snow that night.
So why highlight a Super Bowl from 30 years ago to open this week’s post? Because that was literally the last time that the football fans in the D.C. area had anything to really be excited about. Coaching legend Joe Gibbs retired a year later, and the team began to sink into a morass of mediocrity. Then in 1999 the dumpster fire was kindled when Daniel Snyder bought the team. Misstep after misstep ensued, and Daniel Snyder continued to wreak havoc on the organization (and their fans). Ineptitude and terrible decision making is something we are familiar with in Cleveland, but Daniel Snyder fostered a culture of toxic masculinity in the organization to a criminal extent, all while refusing to acknowledge the racist nature of their name and branding. Surely the NFL will push him out much like the NBA did with Donald Sterling, and what baseball did with Marge Schott. Perhaps then the Washington Football Team can force quit themselves and begin anew.
The Browns enter tonight’s contest as a 7 point favorite, which strikes me as odd because they’ve given up 38 and 30 points the first two weeks of the season. And yes, Washington has a terrible offense, but they are also leading the league in sacks. (11) And we know that Baker historically hasn’t handled it well when playing against a team with an active pass rush. (See San Francisco last year) Former Buckeye Chase Young is playing with reckless abandon, and tonight will be a real gut-check for the offensive line. If the Browns can establish the run early, it ought to create some opportunities for the passing game as well, Washington’s secondary is average at best (although they do have 3 interceptions) and I anticipate that OBJ and Landry ought to be able to literally run away from the Washington defensive backs.
Try as I might, I cannot find anything of interest to say about the Washington offense. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins Jr. has played a total of 11 games in the NFL, thrown 9 touchdowns and 7 picks. Pedestrian at best is how I would characterize those numbers. He’s a far cry from the guy we saw at Ohio State in 2018 when he threw for 4800 yards and 50 touchdowns. (Who can forget the 6 TD’s against Michigan?) But he just hasn’t looked like the same guy on Sundays as he did on Saturdays. I thought he was going to be an excellent pro, and maybe he still will be, but so far it’s very “meh”, as the kids say these days. (To be fair, he hasn’t had great coaching or a good offensive line in front of him.) Looking over the rest of the Washington depth chart, there aren’t any other recognizable names for me. My 45 seconds of research indicates that they had one pro-bowl player last season, and that was their punter Tress Way. First off, that sounds like a fake name. Secondly, there are approximately 30 players that make the pro bowl somehow, so it’s quite an indictment of your roster if you don’t have a few guys make it. Point being, there’s no way this offense ought to be able to score touchdowns, and the Browns should be able to harass Haskins into a few mistakes and make it a really long night for that offensive unit.
My prediction is that the Browns will get a win tonight by way of their running game. Chubb will get a ton of work, and go for 100+ yards and at least one score, maybe two. I have a crazy feeling the Browns get a pick 6 in the game as well, or maybe a special teams score. The thing I might be looking for the most is the use of the tight ends. Stefanski is known for that throughout his career, and the Browns are paying Austin Hooper 18 million dollars this year, and so far he has four catches. This is the same guy who had 75 catches and 6 touchdowns in 13 games last season. I think Cleveland wins this game something like 27-10.
Go Browns.
*This photo really represents my impression of the 4 years I spent in Central New York. The few scant memories I have retained involve snow measured by the foot, gravy fries at Cosmo’s, and some kind of math thing called a Laplace Transform. And those wings... I have spent 25 years searching in vain for wings as good as Sal’s, especially with the sassy sauce.
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