Cribbs

Josh Cribbs will have an expanded role vs. the Rams. Everybody is guessing about the wildcat and stuff.

I believe that finally, at long last, Pat Shurmer has recognized him as a West Coast TAILBACK.

Cribbs doesn't have the "fast start" needed to hit the hole quickly, like most running backs do. This is probably why no coach has used him there. But this quick accelleration is all that he lacks to be a tailback in this offense. He can block, catch, break tackles, and score from anywhere, given a little space.

And he can throw. Given a dumpoff in the flats, when DB's and linebackers break out of coverage to stop him....

Now, I have to repeat this for my bro and nephew, who have declared that nothing will change for the Browns:

New Coach. New Personnel Director. New GM. New systems. Young players.

Randy Lerner doesn't interfere, so you're judging a bunch of new people unfairly, and that IS irrational.

Something else: Pro defenses are expert at decieving inexperienced recievers. You think "zone" and "man" coverage is it, but it's not. They show one thing pre-snap, then do another. The safety takes a step one way, then turns the other.

The quarterback can see this. It's hard for even him to read it correctly. For a wide reciever, it's harder to watch the whole secondary at once while running a pattern. It's a series of fleeting glimpses, through bodies running every which way. Based on that, there is only ONE of several patterns that is correct on any given play. The QB and reciever must read it the same, and the quarterback must trust the WR BEFORE he turns to look back to make the right move and get to the right spot.

The only way a QB can trust a reciever enough to throw that ball into empty space is after that reciver has made the correct move, without error, a whole bunch of times in a row.

Do you think the rookie Little is there yet? Really? Do you know that this is why MoMass and Cribbs are/were catching more passes--because they're more accustomed to Pro defenses dirty tricks?

Can you please try to wrap your head around the fact that Little five games from now will be better than he is now?

In the absence of Peyton Hillis, defenses are stacking the box and sending five and six rushers. They do this not just to give McCoy hell, but to keep the back and Ben Watson inside and blocking, depriving him of two recievers. To keep Evan Moore off the field. And it's working out great-especially since the raw guards are screwing up blocks.

I never realized how much they would miss Eric Steinbach. Wow, what a difference he made!

So now I must re-iterate:

1: BEFORE: Vertical passing, inside running. NOW: West Coast short passing, inc. to backs.

2: BEFORE: Mangini. NOW: Shurmer.

3: BEFORE: Rob Ryan 3-4. NOW: Dick Jauron 4-3.

4: BEFORE: Can't remember. NOW: Tom Heckert.

5: Heckert/Holmgren SECOND SEASON.

6: McCoy SECOND SEASON.

7: Basicly rookie guards, revolving RT's, rookie X-reciever, Cribbs, and guys off the practice squad I mean grow up! Come on now!

What, do you think it's a gypsy curse or something that the QB will "NEVER" have any time to throw? Because he never has before, therefore young guys will never improve with experience, Heckert will never acquire better blockers, that the new regime will suddenly start duplicating people they never met except in passing?

Do you think it's like the staph problem at the Cleveland clinic--that there's an incompetance virus in the walls of the training facility that somehow destroys everybody's brain cells?

No. Sorry. It's 1-7 above. those are empirical, irrefutable facts. To deny them is, indeed, irrational.

My faith in McCoy isn't blind. He's been screwing up himself. A lot. However, I HAVE seen him play damn near perfect against elite defenses under pressure, so I have to give him a chance to work through it. Quinn was NEVER accurate, by the way. McCoy was a damn SNIPER, so don't even say they're the same. That's just idiotic.

Nor is my faith in Shurmer. However, sans Shurmer look at the Rams and Bradford. And then he's suffering from a profound abundance of rookies, injuries, and a current lack of talent while trying to institute a new and yes, complex scheme.

It's possible they won't ultimately succeed, but at least equally possible that they will, once people are healthy and experienced, and more players are added.

That's reality. Deal with it.