Posts for Tag: Cleveland

Fire Eric Mangini? Browns Fans Upset With Horrific Performance in 2009

Is it too late to give the Browns’ name, its colors, and history back to Baltimore?

When Art Modell sold the city of Cleveland down the river and moved the Browns to Baltimore, Clevelanders clamoured to keep the Browns’ name and create a new Browns out of…well, what would become a bunch of misfits led by poor schlep Chris Palmer in 1999.

After Sunday’s 34-3 humiliating annihilation at the hands of the former Browns, it is time to consider the 2009 Browns the latest group of misfits, and call the total new Browns a failed experiment.

But where to go from here?

Another trenchant view. I particularly like the quote in the sidebar, “Until further notice, the Cleveland Browns have become the franchise where quarterbacks go to see their careers die.”

Cleveland Frowns: Monday Morning Brownie Blues

Monday Morning Brownie Blues

We're reasonably sure that we've given the Mangini regime and the 2009 Cleveland Browns as great a benefit of the doubt as anyone, anywhere.  And still, the biggest question on our mind today is whether the Cleveland Browns could ever be restored under the stewardship of an owner whose primary municipal affiliation is with a city other than Cleveland.  Isn't it fair to suppose that there are too many NFL owners who are so much more connected than Randy Lerner not just with the NFL franchise in the family name, but the city in which the franchise resides, as to make it impossible for Lerner-led Browns to ever compete?  So many NFL owners for whom stewardship of the franchise is a labor of love, rather than a challenging distraction from matters closer to the heart?  Hasn't it all been too much over this last decade for us to suppose anything else?

A site for Cleveland sports named Cleveland Frowns. Sigh. Here's an interesting quote later in this post: The only thing worse than going through the rest of this year with Tweedledee and Tweedledum at quarterback is going to be watching the Browns next year.

Another Stellar Performance from the Browns

Have to Score to Win, Cleveland

My overall exposure has been limited to the few teams I've seen, but I have would have to say with great bias and pure self-deprecation that if I had to pick one team in the NFL to deem "most likely to go winless in 2009," my own beloved Cleveland Browns would have to be my choice as having the most realistic chance. There's really only one reason, and it reared its ugly head again on Sunday: this team simply cannot score on offense. Forget scoring, they struggle to get first downs. They mustered only 11 against Baltimore (1 via penalty), and most came in the second half after the Ravens were comfortably ahead by 20+ points.

The Browns defense is mediocre at its best; they can stop the run early in games with fairly consistent success, and their secondary -- while largely suspect -- can usually keep teams out of the end zone. It's been classic bend-but-don't-break. However, since the offense can't run the ball with any kind of consistency and has little pass protection on the right side, it can make for some very short drives. Combine those two factors with the fact that Brady Quinn is attempting to cut his teeth running the sometimes-beguiling playcalls of rookie Offensive Coordinator Brian Doboll, and you have a recipe for offensive ineptitude the likes of which I haven't seen since the Browns were in their first and second years as an expansion team.

This guy is a Browns season ticket holder. Follow the link for the whole sad story.

What it's like to be a long-suffering Cleveland sports fan

From the Washington Post web site:

Torture on the Cuyahoga

I get it. You asked a Cleveland Browns fan because torture is funny in Washington D.C. Well, considering that I expected the Browns to stink, they're worse than that. But let me ask you, haven't I suffered enough?

The team's offense has scored one garbage time touchdown in their last eight NFL games. Isn't touchdown deprivation against the Geneva Convention?

Frankly, I'm not even sure the Cleveland Browns are in the NFL anymore. Brady Quinn appears to have the arm strength of Marcia Brady or maybe, at best, Sally Quinn. Eric Mangini stood on the sidelines yesterday with his hat turned askew as if he were a five-year-old boy who just got kicked off the swings by the mean bully in Denver.

The Browns defense is more generous than the Bill and Linda Gates Foundation and the overall strategy couldn't win a game of Chutes and Ladders. The owner is involved in some British soccer team and the team traded the rights to a quarterback who just beat the New England Patriots for the rights to draft a center who doesn't know how to snap in the shotgun.

The Browns play Quinn instead of the unpopular Pro Bowl quarterback who sits on the bench. Meanwhile the twin brother of the brash New York Jets coach and the son of an even brasher father is on staff but under the supervision of a guy who thinks the NFL is the CIA.

Here's what it's like to be a Cleveland fan: Lebron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers is probably going to New York. In the last year, the Cleveland Indians have traded away two Cy Young Award winners and the second best hitting catcher in baseball.

The Browns are more disappointing.