I live in Chicago and usually see just a few Browns games per year, so this year has been nice since the first two games have been nationally televised.
However, it seems that in every game I do watch that the team is unprepared, undisciplined and basically out coached. The announcers are always discussing a critical game situation where the Team handled it like the keystone cops (e.g. last night's clock management at the end of the first half). I think that this Team is too good to lose games in this fashion. Romeo Crennel appears to be a nice fellow, but I always get the feeling that he is in over his head and that I am watching a rookie coach in his first game.

I read the online Cleveland/Akron papers regularly, but I never see anything questioning the Coach. Am I the only person that feels this way?

You obviously do not think very highly of Cleveland. Would it have been better if I would have said "make Northeast Ohio proud"?

More to the point, isn't it kinda dumb to be pushing the panic button? There are 15 regular-season games remaining, aren't there? At this time last year, people were moaning and moaning and moaning about beginning the campaign with a starting NFL quarterback being traded to Seattle in exchange for a grande caffe' vanilla Frappuccino. But it's not like they finished 0-16.

I don't think Anderson is bad at all, but Savage certainly didn't barter for Pretty Boy for yucks. Anderson started the season, Quinn will finish it. They won't have a bad record, they will have a mediocre record. Just like old times. It will feel as if Modell still has Lerner's father under his thumb.

But it's all a moot point. Unlike those Terminator movies and the TV series, this future can't be changed. I said it years ago, and I'll say it again. When the Cavaliers are a bumbling LeBronless lottery team on the court, Coach Cowher will be screaming at whoever is screwing up on the field. With apologies to Kruk, no crystal ball necessary.

No one wanted to see the Brown's play like that. Last year they won games as a team and this year they definitely lost this one as a team. Blame cannot go to any individual or unit. It is the first game of the year! I hate excuses more than anyone else but this preseason has not been exactly conducive to creating a team atmosphere. Players have been hurt, guys have taken longer to knock of the rust, and some ego's had to be deflated.

You know the O-line walked into N.Y. with a chip on their shoulder and walked out with their tales between their legs. You know Braylon Edwards walked into the stadium Sunday and thought he would walk out with some type of monstrous numbers. Somewhere along the line I think that some of the players lost a certain respect for the game and their opponent. They forgot what it feels like to go out there as the underdog and fight for every inch.

This season is not a loss. Yes next year we will have more personnel in place and be even more of a contender but this year still has purpose. This is the year that will forge us into the contender that we will become. There is so much talent on this team that even with the schedule they have there is the possibility to go 10-6. And if we go 7-9 we did it against some of the best teams in the league. You don't think that will light a fire under their butts and have them come out shooting next year?

And as for Crennel. Leave the man alone. I cannot explain why he kicked a field goal when he did but he will get enough crap about it from Lerner that it will not happen again. He was not the only one to make a mistake on Sunday. The man has had to deal with a lot since coming to Cleveland. Inheriting a roster that had less talent than a middle school team, a city of high expectations regardless of the previous season, and the egos of potential superstars. Look at the turn around Braylon Edwards had under the guidance of Crennel. Under some other coach Edwards may have been the next T.O. in terms of player conduct but he is far from that. Not to mention that they have K2 in check.

All I am saying is that we are not going to win every game. Mistakes will be made. But those Sundays (and Mondays and Thursdays) will come when the team rises up together and make the city of Cleveland proud.