22
Jan
2011
The 25 biggest headaches for the Cleveland Browns since 1990 — #25: Gary Baxter
After Gary Baxter's 2005 campaign was cut short by injury, his 2006 season -- and his career -- ended abruptly on this play. (Source: Daylife.com)
The past two decades represent a drawn-out, frightful voyage into deep wilderness for the Cleveland Browns franchise and its faithful followers.
Fans of 31 NFL teams are left disappointed each season, but you’d be hard-pressed to name a more snake-bitten enclave than Cleveland’s. Their troubles are well-documented, from soul-crushing AFC title game defeats to John Elway and the Denver Broncos in the 1980s; to Art Modell‘s splintering of the franchise with the move to Baltimore in 1995; to the focused, passionate fight of Browns fans to keep the team’s colors and history tied to Cleveland forevermore.
All of this happening BEFORE the team returned in 1999.
Cleveland’s re-emergence on the NFL landscape was cited as a striking triumph for the city over the tentacles of greed tightening around pro sports.
But victory trumpets were quickly silenced.
2
Jan
2011
Eric Mangini deserves a third season in C-Town
Feel like starting over again? Me neither. (Source: gridironfans.com)
In a season where four NFL head coaches have been fired heading into Week 17, it doesn’t look good for Cleveland Browns coach Eric Mangini.
There was a sense midseason that the tenuous connection between president Mike Holmgren and Mangini could work — and should be forced to work — after the Browns consecutively dismantled the New Orleans Saints and New England Patriots, only to lose to the hyped-up New York Jets by a hair.
All the talk about Holmgren’s coaching roots not jiving with the Belichick/Parcells tree seemed half-baked, as the team was suddenly worth three hours of your Sunday. For a shimmering moment, the Browns were the team nobody wanted to face.
Problem is, down the stretch, the same Browns team that had played far beyond expectation during a brutal stretch in the schedule — led by galvanizing rookie quarterback Colt McCoy — dissembled against soft opponents when McCoy became the third starting passer this season to suffer a high ankle sprain. Jake Delhomme took over, the offensive line took some hits, and the attack never recovered.
Had the Browns stayed relatively healthy after the Patriots win, and polished off the few teams they were favored against, Holmgren would have nothing to point to in firing Mangini. This is a coaching staff that’s enthused large segments of the Browns’ faithful — downtrodden fans who’ve watched this team closely since its return in 1999, and finally see signs of progress.
Read the rest of this entry »
30
Oct
2009
Browns fans: Don’t protest
Dear Browns fans:
We are going through the fire… I believe that a great story is being told through the Cleveland Browns. We are a football organization unlike any other. It is alright to go through some suffering, some pain.
* * *
My first season as a Browns fan was 1986. I was in sixth grade. I lived in Connecticut–just outside of New York–and everybody I knew worshipped the Giants, the Jets, or the Dallas Cowboys. I genuinely disliked the New York teams, even though everyone around me was excited about them. I wanted to find my own team. One night, after a Pop Warner football banquet, some friends and I watched Bernie Kosar and the Browns utterly dismantle Dan Marino and a heavily favored Dolphins team on MNF. I was in love. There was something about the Browns that pulled me in–they seemed like a team that would die for the cause, and for each other. When I told friends that Cleveland was my team, I was immediately questioned–even my parents couldn’t quite figure it out.
Within weeks, I had memorized the roster. This was 23 years ago, and my family didn’t have cable TV. I only saw the Browns when they played on national TV, which was two, three times a year. I would wait weeks, sometimes months, to see them play. I videotaped every game available and watched the tapes hundreds of time, slowing down every play to analyze strategy and player trends. I would take statistics in a notebook. I spent hours in front of Jets and Giants games waiting for the 10-minute ticker, waiting for Bob Costas to give me a highlight, a glimpse, a second from Municipal Stadium.
By December, I was fully, comprehensively obsessed with the Cleveland Browns in only the way a middle school kid with no car, no woman–no clue–could be. Anybody who was a Browns fan, as a kid, in the 1980s, knows where I’m coming from.
* * *
I’m not sure what a younger person today could possibly see in the team–there’s no core, nothing to hold onto, not a single memory or hope to cling to. For those of us who followed Kosar’s Browns, we are haunted by a different “level of losing” (as Bill Simmons would say) than today’s fans. My heart was ripped to shreds in 1986, and totally burned in the furnace in 1987. Earnest Byner was my favorite player. I loved his absolute dedication, his underdog storyline, the way he’d outshine stars and household names–coming out of East Carolina to shred flashier teams for 144, 168, 178 yards in BIG games. I never blamed him for that fumble. Ever. I felt terrible for the guy. No player on the Browns has shown the same heart since. If we are cursed by anything, if such a thing exists, you don’t have to look much farther than the way we treated the heart and soul of those Browns teams: Bernie and Byner were shipped out of town. No disrespect to Mike Oliphant, but trading Byner was criminal.
* * *
I have sat–and suffered–through every single game since. My goal was to work for the Browns. I went to school and studied public relations, and planned to move to Cleveland at the end of my senior year and get into the organization any way I could. I’d sweep floors–I didn’t care. I loved the idea of moving to Cleveland. My heart was with the team. When I graduated in 1996–the Browns were gone.
I’ll never forget the anticipation of their return in 1999. And the immediate, recognizable, sinking dread when the Steelers began to shred them on national television.
* * *
A decade later, I catch myself watching YouTube clips of late-1980s Browns games. Many of these were games I only read about in the paper back then, and had to imagine by pieceing together the box score. For those of you who lived in Cleveland back then, and had the chance to GO TO games, every week–no big thing–I envied you greatly. I don’t envy the experience today. I picked up Sunday Ticket for the first time this season. Twenty minutes into the Vikings game, I knew it was a dreadful purchase. Sundays have especially annoyed my wife. From 10 a.m.-1 p.m. (I live in L.A.), I am sullen and non-conversational. She is incredibly patient, and wonderful, and roots for the San Francisco 49′ers. By the time her game comes on, I am taking my fourth walk around the block to vent. This season has been a special type of hell so far–worse than anything I recall, with no ray of hope. But sometimes you can’t see what’s around the corner.
* * *
Unless you win the Super Bowl, every fan has a moment during the season when you know it’s over. It might be in the AFC Championship. It might be when your star quarterback goes down in Week One. It ranges. For me, the breaking point this season was the 4th-and-1 call they gave to the Steelers. We weren’t going to beat that team, but to suffer such an overt injustice–it ended the season in my book. I still watch the games, but from an emotional distance. Admittedly, I can’t help but get excited by Friday, even when we’re 1-6 and days away from another shredding. I have come to the realization that what I’m excited about is ILLUSION. The IDEA of upsetting the Bears and ending up 7-9, and everyone saying what a “great story” we are heading into 2010. Why do I still fall for this? I guess I don’t entirely–I’m starting to catch myself.
* * *
We are going through an all-consuming fire today. Not one of us knows what will be left on the other side. I am saddened by the idea that Browns fans are protesting the MNF game–sitting out–staying away. Somebody on here wrote about a Cavs game in which the fans went nuts from end to end–and pushed that team to victory. I don’t suggest the same as a solution for our anger, but the whole protest thing reeks of entitlement and weakness to me. We all want a winning team. Our hearts are broken by a drifting Browns franchise. We long for a team that will DESTROY Smiley Hines Ward, Big Jen, the self-satisfied Steelers; the rest of the AFC; and the waiting NFC Super Bowl representative. What a great story it will be–and it will happen someday, I hope and pray–our Browns, who were proud, and then stolen away, returning humbly to win the crown.
* * *
Don’t protest. As someone who would have given everything in youth to be at that stadium on those Sunday afternoons–don’t represent us that way. Go out there–pack that stadium–and make the Baltimore Ravens wish they never got off their luxury jet.
We have the world against us. We have a national press that releases daily stories embarrassing us. This is a team that needs support. Even if you don’t like aspects of the ownership and coaching staff–support the players, support the legacy of this team we fought to bring back. I don’t know Dawg Pound Mike from Holly Hobby, but the idea that he now REPRESENTS us in the national media is troubling. He doesn’t represent me. And he probably doesn’t represent you.
* * *
We are going through the fire.
What will it reveal about us?
4
Sep
2009
Derek Anderson to the Patriots?
As mentioned earlier today, we’ve been hearing chatter regarding a series of potential trades in the National Football League–including one that may permanently end the QB debate in Cleveland.
In the wake of the Cutler debacle, there was talk about Josh McDaniels pursuing a trade with the Browns for QB Brady Quinn. It never went down. Meanwhile, speculation about a Derek Anderson trade dates back to January 2008.
Tonight, on the eve of the 2009 season, the New England Patriots are without a solid backup for Tom Brady. With only two quarterbacks on the roster, something has to change.
There’s chatter all over the grid that Mangini’s decision to sit both Quinn and Anderson last night had a purpose: resting Quinn for the starting role in Week One, and positioning Anderson for a trade that will happen over the next 48 hours. People speculate that the Browns and Pats couldn’t be talking–the Belichick/Mangini feud would prevent that, right? Nonsense. If the deal makes sense for both coaches and both teams, the trigger will be pulled.
While Derek Anderson is far from perfect, he’s young with a cannon arm, and may appeal to Belichick in the same way Vinny Testaverde did in 1993, when Belichick made the decision to release Bernie Kosar, much to the horror of the entire city. (People forget that Vinny wasn’t even healthy when Bernie was cut, but he figured into the coach’s plans for 1994, and he helped lead the Browns to an 11-5 season and their most recent playoff win–over Bill Parcells and the Patriots, of all teams.)
Derek Anderson recalls, in some ways, the imperfect--but dangerous--skillset of Vinny Testaverde.
People ripped on Vinny for his perceived lack of intelligence–and his knack for throwing costly interceptions. Belichick loved his arm, and fawned over his athleticism. Inherent to Anderson are some of those same strengths and weaknesses–when he thinks too much, and gets tight, he suffers. When he’s loose (we’ve said before that he should drink about three beers before every game), the guy just guns the ball all over the field. Anderson can be frustrating beyond comprehension–but he’s downright dangerous when he’s on. Besides, he’s toiled on a team that’s been in flux since the Reagan era. What would happen to Anderson under the guidance of Belichick and the Patriots? It’s a scary thought.
DEVELOPING…
16
Jul
2009
Hey, they still hold a Supplemental Draft!
The Washington Redskins selected DE Jeremy Jarmon in this year's supplemental draft
Yeah, it caught me by surprise too. But apparently the NFL held it’s annual Supplemental Draft today, giving teams a chance to select one of eight college players who didn’t declare for April’s draft, but then lost or gave up their eligibility for varying reasons.
In the past, the supplemental draft has resulted in a handful of impact players in the NFL – most notably QB Bernie Kosar and WR Cris Carter. Oh, and Brian Bosworth. But for the most part, few players end up making it this way, and most end up going the way of Giants QB Dave Brown.
Plus, the supplemental draft is held somewhat like a silent auction, which takes pretty much all of the fun out of the process. And clearly there’s no need to rent out Radio City and invite all 8 potential draftees down to sweat it out on national TV. But you’d think the NFL could spring for a deli on the lower east side, and have Kiper blather on for a couple hours. And there are literally NO photos of this event. It’s like they held it in a back alley … or more likely over the interweb.
Here’s how the process works, from NFL Fanhouse:
Prior to Thursday afternoon’s “draft,” each NFL team’s general manager submitted an e-mail to the league, listing which players they’d like to bid on. Those bids include what round the team would like to “select” a player in — if a team is awarded a player in the 2009 supplemental draft, it forfeits it corresponding pick in the 2010 NFL draft.
The only player selected in the 2009 Supplemental Draft was Kentucky DE Jeremy Jarmon, who went to the Washington Redskins in exchange for the 19th pick of the 3rd round in the 2010 draft. Jarmon tested positive for a banned substance, and was ruled ineligible by the NCAA for his senior season.
The other 7 hopefuls who went undrafted, and now become free agents are: Blake Boyd (Western Kentucky), Torris Magee (Southern Mississippi), Dixon McKinner (Texas Tech), Joe McMahon (Central Michigan), Demetrice Morley (Tennessee), Deon Murphy (Kansas State) and Corey Surrency (Florida State).
6
Apr
2009
Cleveland Rising
This week, READANDREACT spoke with web-journalist Barry McBride, the undisputed figurehead of THE ORANGE AND BROWN REPORT (www.theobr.com), a site dedicated to the Cleveland Browns and their diehard fans. His site, launched with sheer grit and determination in the 1990s as a way to galvanize the city and help engineer the return of the Browns to Cleveland, has transformed into today’s top-flight source of news, rumors, and coverage of the Browns… ANYWHERE. Barry, always humble, gives us his thoughts about Brady Quinn, Braylon Edwards, Eric Mangini, and the team’s glorious (and inglorious) past, as well as their chances of ever getting back to the playoffs (and maybe the Super Bowl?) before we leave this mortal coil.
Barry, thank you for being with us. These days, most people take a site like www.theobr.com for granted. But the site well-represents a shift in sports journalism. Your site’s stories have been lifted by the mainstream media. Did you ever think that might be the case when you started this whole thing?
It’s been an amazing journey, and proof that a website or any other media outlet will be just as good as the people writing for it. We’ve been particularly blessed there.
Back in the 90s, I certainly never thought we’d be at the point where we were battling toe-to-toe with some of the major players in this town for stories and opportunity. The website was started for fun, a sense of adventure, and the vague notion that appreciative readers would buy us beer. We didn’t have any big plan to replace any of Cleveland’s major media players.
In terms of how we’ve been treated by the mainstream media, it’s been a mixed bag. Like any group of people, you’ll have folks with great integrity and folks who lack any at all. You try to learn from the former and ignore the latter, although it can be frustrating or depressing at times.
The Browns have been through 20 years of turbulence. On bad days, the team feels like a franchise slowly rotting from the core out. Is Coach Mangini the one to turn things around? Does he get how much this could mean to the city and the league?
Mangini seems to understand how important this franchise is to Cleveland, and Randy Lerner certainly does. The team’s owner desperately wants the town to be proud of the team again.
The question with both isn’t whether or not they understand how important this is, but rather if they’re capable of making the right detailed decisions to get things back on track.
Mangini, for example, borrows his style from his mentors Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick. The OBR’s Steve King did a neat article not too long ago, which compared Mangini’s arrival in Cleveland to that of Bill Belichick in the early 90s. (The article can be found here: http://cle.scout.com/2/847469.html) The parallels are eerie. But under their surface similarities, will Mangini make the right personnel decisions like Bill Parcells? Is he capable of developing a game plan as effectively as Belichick? On both questions, the results in New York were mixed and the jury remains out. If Mangini builds a winner here, he’s redeemed in the eyes of the NFL. If he doesn’t, Browns fans will suffer through another re-boot in three or four years time.
Along those lines, we’ve seen Winslow shipped south for picks… we’ve heard whispers that Derek Anderson, Brady Quinn, and Braylon Edwards are all available for the right price. Is Mangini confident enough to start from scratch? And, if the team parts ways with its “stars,” would this roster reset be a surprise to Lerner?
We met and talked with Randy Lerner earlier this off-season, and the Browns owner is convinced that the most important decision he can make is to get the right coach. He believes that Bill Belichick was the key to the Patriots turnaround, and that Chuck Noll took the Steelers from perennial losers to one of the league’s top franchises. His instinct tells him he made the right choice in Mangini, and he’s going to let his coach do things how he feels they need to be done.
Mangenius has arrived.
31
Mar
2009
Playing against type…
If you’re old enough to remember former Browns quarterback Bernie Kosar, he was known primarily for his unorthodox, yet effective, playing style. Bernie was one of the only National Football League passers who regularly threw the ball sidearm. In addition, he was SLOW. While Kosar’s arch enemy, Broncos quarterback John Elway, rushed for 3,407 yards and 33 touchdowns over the span of his career, Bernie rushed for a mere 265 and 5 touchdowns, averaging only 1.4 yards a game. That said, watch him ROCKET through the Broncos defense in this clip! (Courtesy YouTube and NBC Sports)
