First and 10
1) Shame Tennessee ended that streak of Pittsburgh not allowing an opponent to gain 300 yards in a game last Sunday, eh? Had the Titans not topped 300, I'm sure the Browns would have gone well past that figure.
2) The Cincinnati game did not help anyone's cause. For the Browns to go pointless against a defense that had given up 25.6 points per game was just not helpful to anyone's job security. Yes, the third quarterback was playing. Yes, conditions were lousy. Yes, it was cold. But the Bengals ran the ball and threw wisely and the Browns … well … it was a sad sight for those fans in attendance.
3) It's really been very little but sad sights for the last 10 years.
4) Randy Lerner is staying quiet, but I fully expect Sunday's game in Pittsburgh to be the final one in the Romeo Crennel era. Things are not going well, and though that's not all Crennel's fault the coach does bear ultimate responsibility for what happens on the field. And it seems if Lerner were going to bring Crennel back, he'd have said so by this point.
5) That will make some happy. Me, I'm not big on crying for someone to be fired while they're doing a job. Especially when it's not all them. I think clearly the responsibility for this season goes from Phil Savage through Romeo Crennel to some very unprofessional and immature players, that if anyone thinks the Browns are loaded with talent they are fooling themselves and that no coach could win with Ken Dorsey at quarterback. But just as clearly things are not going well and sometimes change is needed, and it appears that's the direction Lerner is headed.
6) Clearly the first choice for everyone is Bill Cowher as coach and guru of personnel with a GM he brings in whom he handpicks. Who knows if Cowher wants to coach again, and who knows if he wants to coach in Cleveland, but if he does and Lerner hires him there can be no questions or criticism. If it's not Cowher, then it's anyone's guess. I don't know why Brian Billick's name has not come up more, nor do I know why anyone would balk if Mike Holmgren could be hired. Both are experienced coaches who have won as many Super Bowls as Cowher. Both would be excellent hires.
7) If Cowher or another experienced coach like Holmgren does not come to Cleveland then I would expect the Browns to look to hire Scott Pioli to run the football side of the front office. Pioli then hires his coach. That seems to make Josh McDaniels, the New England Patriots offensive coordinator, a leading candidate as coach. The Browns would then hope that McDaniels would be the John Harbaugh of 2008. Harbaugh, of course, has two very experienced coordinators in Cam Cameron and Rob Ryan and he also has a defense full of standouts. I'm not sure McDaniels would be inheriting anything like that. The big question with Pioli is what happens with Savage. Just a guess, but I would not think Savage would stay with reduced responsibilities. He fought too hard to get them to just give them up.
8) It's a little ooky (yes, I wrote that word … ooky) to me to be talking about someone's job when they are in that job. But the nature of pro sports is that when someone does not win another person replace him. That being said, I wrote about my personal feelings on this matter in tomorrow's Beacon Journal. Check it out there, he wrote in a shameless and absurd promo.
9) Oh … those reports that Shaun Smith punched Brady Quinn? At this point, I don't know if it's true. I heard it might not be, but there sure seems to be a lot of smoke out there, which indicates it did indeed happen. (That's the definitive journalism you all hope for from this flog.) Too, Jim Donovan has great sources and does not report something carelessly. You heard a lot of stuff about people getting tired of Smith's chatter, and perhaps Quinn had enough. I do wonder how Quinn's face is in one piece if Smith did indeed punch him, but perhaps Quinn was able to bob and weave or rope-a-dope. At this point, though, the only people being roped are the dopes who believed this team could do something this season. Have we nailed down yet who picked the 53 and brought in a guy who would punch a teammate?
10) If the Browns lose to the Steelers they'll be 0-and-8 against them in the Savage/Crennel era. After Savage made a point of saying that every one of his draft picks had to be guys who would stand up to Pittsburgh. Perhaps that says all that needs to be said about the state of the team and the direction of its future.
Three and Out
We beg your indulgence this week. This season is just too long and too everything to continue. Instead of Three and Out, let me simply offer the hope that the holidays are bright, peaceful and happy ones for all. I am grateful to all – even the guy who coined the nickname "McManamoron" and who does nothing but say how stupid I am. Mom just can't stay out of things, ya know. To everyone: Thanks for reading. Thanks for writing. Thanks for the insults. Thanks for the witty jokes that make me laugh. And thanks for allowing me into your life in a small way. Best to all … and have a great holiday season!
Pat
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Pat:
There should be a complete turnover in coaches and general manager. The fans have no support for anyone in the organization, so to keep someone would be saying that fans' feelings do not mean anything to the owner.
They need someone who coaches with passion. I can't even count the times I watched bad plays on the field and the coach stands there with a blank look on his face. Never seems to get after the people who make the mistakes/dumb plays.
Bring in someone new, not a NFL retread (although I don't consider Cowher a retread).
If I were to go about my job as Savage and Crennel have, I would have been fired years ago. I always find it funny that the players (depending on pedigree) have such a small margin for error, you can almost see the guy offstage with the cane. The coaches and general manager's? Well that is a different matter completely, they both have floundered for years and unbelievably still have had a paycheck. Just as in real life with the guy on the production floor, if you can't do your job, your fired. Upper management have a longer time frame, but ultimately they should be as accountable. After all, ultimate responsibility, ultimate culpability. Fire them both, results matter. I would write more on the players but we all only have a limited time on this planet and we should spend it wisely.
Happy Holidays to you and yours Pat. Keep up the great work. Your blog and articles are one of my daily stops and I'm not alone in saying that your insight, candor, and wit are appreciated.
P-Mc is far from a moron. Happy Holidays, and I wish you and the Cavaliers well.
There is a reason that Brian Billicks name has not come up. Nobody wants him as coach, particularily not here in Cleveland. Anybody but Billick. Thank you.
Pat, I just hope the Browns get a hard nosed coach. We certainly do not need to try out another coach with no head coaching experience. We need someone man enough to get in these guys faces when they are not doing their job. Someone man enough to set down the superstars and least the superstars in their own minds, who do not perform. The Browns players need to grow up and be professionals week in and week out, in spite of the record. Losing to Cincinnati the way they did is unacceptable to everyone associated with the Browns and should be an embarrassment to the coaches and players, period.
Unlike an unemployed guy like me who's collecting $365 a week for 26 weeks, or for 39 weeks if this emergency fed thing pans out, I really don't feel sorry for folks like Crennel. Unlike NFL players, his contract is guaranteed. Indeed, he's in the vast minority of Americans, as he has a written contract with a term of years. Other Americans are just employees-at-will, here today, gone tomorrow, see ya, loser, and enjoy your life with no health insurance. So theoretically, this guy can sit around the house for the next few years staring at his wife muttering to herself while she vacuums the floor while he munches on bags of Cheetos, and he'll get paid far more with one lousy check than I'll ever get paid during my entire unemployment nightmare combined.
Nah, I'm not the least bit jealous. Now excuse me while I go light my ass hair on fire and jump off my roof.
Was that correct English? I think I meant Crennel is in the small minority of Americans who have a written contract with a term of years, not in the vast minority of Americans. Oh, who cares. All I know is that people shouldn't try to light their ass hair on fire when it's below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, and somebody should have had the courtesy to warn me.
No offense but how can you say that Brian Billick would be an excellent choice? One of the reasons that Billick was fired in Baltimore was because the inmates were running the asylum? So you want to replace a coach that has given his players a free run on this team, with a coach that got fired because he couldn't rein in the players on the team that fired him?
Please say you're not serious…
RAC should have been fired the day before Frye was sent packing after the Steeler opener in '07, (if you can't get your team up for your home opener against a team that's supposed to be your #1 rival? Then, you're in way over your head).
But having said that, as much as I dread the possibility or even the thought of it, I'd keep RAC, before I'd EVER take Billick, because the only difference between the two of them is that Brian as a much bigger ego and line of BS on him than RAC ever had.
I don't know about Josh McDaniels. The guy is almost young enough to be my son, and he's never been a head coach anywhere, pros, college, nowhere. I suppose he could be a good pro head coach, but when any organization is in disarray, it seems to be wiser to play the odds and get somebody with experience and success in putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.
I'm down with alan t. I don't think we will see Romeo et al stocking shelves at WalMart after the season ends. 0-8 against Pittsburgh is good enough for me. Imagine 0-8 against Michigan for an OSU coach. You'd end up at Iowa State or something. At least you still have a job.
No time to gamble on young coaches. Get the real deal.
When are we going to get the inside dope on the time Windhorst slugged Betty the Ohio Travel Lady near Sheldon Ocker's cubicle. I heard she had slandered Pluto somehow but haven't got the full story yet.
man, it was pretty hard reading pat's article today after the one alan posted the other day about how much money the browns avoid paying in taxes. it seems that the browns aren't even close to squaring up on the good/bad chart. a city crumbling around a terrible football team hardly seems like a charitable act.
Good point, terje. You can see Pat really took alan's post to heart.
I guess Cleveland's school kids don't get cancer. Not for another 30 to 40 years, anyways.
I always have a philosophically difficult time with the wealthy who give with one hand, and yet take with the other. On one hand what they do is noble, on the other hand what they do is disgraceful. It's also always tough for me to reconcile the hand that gives, but makes it a point or a condition that others know the name that was attached to the hand. A donation is every bit as tax-deductible if it is made anonymously. Those are the purest philanthropists.