Not long after I decided to stop watching yesterday's Browns/Texans game (the first half hadn't concluded yet), a very cold, hard truth had settled into my stomach. The Cleveland Browns just aren't good enough to compete each week in the National Football League. Talent, Coaching, Leadership, Preparation, and Execution are all things Pat Shurmur's group just can't seem to get a grasp on. For Browns fans, hope quickly dissipates into anger and frustration after kickoff, as our team often is out of each game by the end of the first quarter. Through 8 games, the team has mustered just 6 points in the first quarter. The organization should be, and it's tough to tell if they are, concerned with turning their fan base off completely with the effort this team is putting on the field each week. I've decided to share a few things that I scribbled down on paper this past Sunday.
Colt McCoy is taking a beating. A lot was made about the work that McCoy had put in this past offseason to learn the West Coast offense. Camp Colt seemed to give the Browns faithful some hope that their quarterback was not only proactive, but was trying desperately to form some type of cohesiveness with his group on offense. The first few preseason games gave the impression that Josh Cribbs was much improved at the receiver position, and Evan Moore would be a solid target for McCoy. It appears that was a great mirage as both receivers have had minimal targets, and have struggled to find a role in Shurmur's new offense. No one could have imagined Colt taking the pounding that he has to this point. Yes, the loss of Eric Steinbach hurts, and yes this is a new group, but the offensive line hasn't done Colt any favors. What's worse is that the coaching staff seems to be clueless as to how to stop these protection woes.
The Peyton Hillis drama is majorly affecting the team. Whether you want to believe it or not, this is a major problem. Hillis was arguably the most popular player on the team, and the face of the franchise nationally. Featured on the cover of Madden, and in high demand everywhere, it seems that Hillis is finding out first hand just how the "business" of the NFL works. He hasn't played it cool, either. A controversial strep throat sit out, a missed charity event appearance, a temper tantrum in practice after re-injuring his hamstring last week, a questionable decision to get married on the team's off day during a game week (while he was injured), and a shaky work ethic this year (including getting treatment while injured), resulting in a players meeting with him, have all forced Hillis into the doghouse with just about everyone. On a team devoid of playmakers, Hillis was someone the Browns had to have in the fold. Instead, he's going down on a long list of distractions that have plagued the team since it's return in 1999.
The team doesn't look prepared. This one falls directly in the lap of the coaching staff. Slow starts have buried the Browns since week 1. Penalties, turnovers, and lack of creativity on offense have stopped the team from establishing any sort of rhythm, something that is crucial in the WCO. Receivers have run incorrect routes more than their fair share of times, and blitz protections have been horrible. Even a member of the Texans defensive line was miffed that the Browns continued to not block him, even after he had recorded 3 sacks on Sunday. There haven't been any in game adjustments until it's too late. We haven't really attacked opposing defenses from the outset yet. Game planning is head scratching as well. No real effort to exploit mismatches, and definitely no extra effort to get the ball into the hands of our best players. Teams are taking our top players out, but they are getting help from our coaching staff! Looks like the blind leading the blind here. Pat Shurmur is a first time head coach, and it definitely appears that he's in for more than he bargained for.
The injuries just keep piling up. Year in and year out, the Browns get derailed before they even play a meaningful game due to a mounting list of injuries. Some are freak injuries, like when Braylon Edwards decided to race Donte Stallworth after practice, wearing no cleats. We all know what happened next, Stallworth stepped on Edwards' foot, cutting it open. There also was Kellen Winslow's "star boyz" moment on a motorcycle. This year, the Browns have been without the services of Hillis, Massoquoi, Watson, Moore, Fujita, Steinbach, Pinkston, Pashos, Hardesty, Brandon Jackson, Cribbs, Gocong, Joe Haden, T.J. Ward, Usama Young, and more due to injuries. All teams deal with injuries, but the Browns just seem to get hit with a ton each year. With the team depth chart as shallow as the local baby pool, they can ill afford injuries to key players.
The offense can't be this bad, can it? While a good chunk of this can be chalked up to injuries at key positions, protection issues, and lack of talent at skill positions, the offense has been just awful at times. Early on, the offense was definitely pass first. In a home loss to Tennessee this year, McCoy put the ball in the air 61 times. Yes, the Browns were behind, forcing them to throw the ball more than they would have liked to admit, but that's a ton of attempts. In a 6-3 win against Seattle, the Browns held the ball for over 40 minutes, and yet they barely won the game. The Browns have just 2 touchdowns in their last 13 quarters. They've scored just 6 points in the first quarter all year (outscored 58-6 overall), and just 3 points in the third quarter. There is zero quick strike ability, and the play calling has been described as "vanilla". What's worse is that there seems to be no logic or flow to the play calls.
The defense is overrated. Ranked as high as #4 in the league this year, the defense has been mostly smoke and mirrors. Joe Haden has been awesome, and D'Qwell Jackson has been playing with confidence, but the rest of the defense has been overhyped and overblown. On Sunday, they allowed a season high 261 yards on the ground. In week 1, Cedric Benson ran for over 130 yards, and Chris Johnson had his only 100 yard game of the year against the Browns. What's even more glaring is that the Browns 3 wins have come against teams with a combined record of 3-21, and of those 3 games, 2 were unimpressive (1 point win over Miami, and the 6-3 flameout vs. Seattle). You could even make the case that the week 2 win vs. Indianapolis wasn't locked up until the final minutes. In my opinion, the Browns are lucky to have 3 wins. The quarterback list the Browns have faced so far this year is even more unimpressive- Andy Dalton, Kerry Collins, Chad Henne, Kyle Boller, and Charlie Whitehurst. Not exactly gunslingers by any stretch of the imagination. Truth be told, the Browns have a young D line (which has shown some signs of life, but has delivered little pressure overall), some age in the secondary, and some of the slowest linebackers in the league. Even more unsettling- 5 games left in the division against teams with a combined record of 18-7.
So where do the Browns go from here? It appears they are headed towards another top 10 draft pick, and the blueprint has been for Tom Heckert to stock pile as many picks as possible and build through the draft, but this team has so many needs that the draft can't be solely relied upon to fill out the roster. The Browns will have roughly 23 million to spend in free agency this upcoming offseason, a time that seems to be the most exciting (sadly) for the Browns, and their fans.
TR
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