Slim Pickins

It's been a slow week, and I haven't been able to find many shallow, irrational, extreme or simply stupid posts or articles about the Browns.

Well...there's "Ask Mary Kay": Actually MKC has always been pretty good-I refer to how a lot of "commentors" respond to everything she writes.

MKC is objective.  But, like me, she doesn't say "we suck" or "this guy sucks".  She just projects the starters and role-players, tries to explain why moves are made, and doesn't presume to think she knows more about football than people who have spent their lives at it.

Most of her sentences begin with "Mike Holmgren says", or "according to--", and she gets hammered merely for the unendorsed quotes!

Therefore, here comes the permabasher calling her a "puppet" on his way to restating that the organization is inept.  I'm not sure, but I think this might be the same guy who calls every quarterback who can't throw like Derrick Anderson "noodle-armed".

I think this guy is mentally ill.  A seething cauldron of hate.  I mean Phil Savage has been gone for awhile, the front office enters it's third season, and the coaching staff and offensive/defensive systems their second.

There was no off-season to introduce these new systems, they lost their bellcow running back and a key wide reciever for much of the season, and right tackle was a disaster.  Little was a raw rookie, both guards were first-time starters, and it was one of the youngest teams in the NFL-in the AFC North!

It's like when Bain Capital, or a company like it, takes over a business.  The reason they take it over is because it's failing and about to go under--so they can pick it up cheap and try to save it.

They rarely turn things around overnight, but they start by cutting costs and replacing most of the management team.

In this case, Bain took over the Browns the season before last, and isn't turning a profit yet.  And now Mister Permabasher is telling us it's the same old crappy company.  (He's probably the Union Boss too, refusing to take a smaller cost-of living raise).  With all the old managers gone, and a whole new set of policies and procedures--same old?

If we define breaking even as eight wins, and a profit as nine, this is very comparable to a business turnaround.  The business has to undergo some upheaval; the previous business model was faulty, so another has to be implemented.  The company has to borrow to stay afloat for up to three years until they get any traction.

Permabasher must believe in the Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus.  It's obvious he believes in magic wands.

Now there's the Cosell analysis of Weeden: He collapsed under pressure.  I can't argue with that.  I can't deny it's scary.  But these scouts have covered the half-empty part, and I will cover the optimisticly hopeful half-full part.

They did have a small sample, the teams that gave him the most trouble also gave up around 400 passing yards to him.  This is a West Coast, intended to get the ball out of his hands quickly, and which will include a bunch of shotgun and roll-outs.  Richardson is here to discourage the blitze (in several ways), and--finally--Weeden can improve in this area.

One of the first things a boxer learns is not to flinch.  Our natural tendancy is to lean away from a punch.  Managers drill them out of that.  I'm not saying that Weeden will be more willing to stand in there and take a shot to deliver one, only that he can.

Who Weeden Will Throw to

Weeden will throw to Little, who was a rookie last season.  Little hadn't played football for his senior season.  Prior to this, he had played wide reciever for a little over one season.  He was a converted running back.

The Browns wide recievers led the NFL in drops last season...and this one player dropped the majority of those passes.  More than all the other recievers combined.

Due to Massequoi's I N J U R I E S, Little neccessarily became number one wide reciever way, way, way ahead of schedule.  He got open.  In fact, they all got open. Do you understand that they got open?  Are we clear on that: These wide recievers got open.  Read that again if you don't yet comprehend it.

They got open.  So they can get open.  That's half of what a wide reciever does.  The other half is catching the damn ball.

Now, this raw rookie dropped most of those balls. Do you think he will keep dropping them after he knows what he is doing?  Well, we only have about one season of college films to look at, but he caught pretty well in college.  This means what?  .........-sigh- it means he can catch (jeez).

None of the other guys had a history of drops...but then, they didn't drop that many in '11 anyway.  You hallucinated that.  This is rationalization, and not paying attention.  You drink too much beer and get distracted, and before you know it you don't know Little from Massequoi or Cribbs.  It's simpler to just say they all suck.  So you do.  Everybody says it so it must be true.  Sometimes I wish I could be as blissful as you.

Weeden will throw to the guys that were here before, plus Benjamin, and hopefully Rodney Mitchellfield too.  It will be their first full offseason in the West Coast offense, so that Weeden should be able to TRUST THEM TO RUN CORRECT ROUTES, and they can play more and think less.  They should again get open, and this time CATCH.

Now, some of the comments I've read are just brain-dead.

Benjamin has great straight-line speed AND runs good routes and gets open.  The guy you are talking about is eight inches taller and is the one you wanted the Browns to draft instead of Weeden.  This is Benjamin, not Hill.

The PD excerpted a Blog in which the guy says that Benjamin and Richardson will help a lot.  Like an attorney, he laid out a logical, insightful case: Defenses last season didn't bother trying to double cover anybody, flooded the short zones, and threw the kitchen sink at Colt.

Benjamin is too dangerous for that.  Ask Hanford Dixon.  It's harder to press smurfs than it is to press big recievers.  You have to guess which way they'll try to get by you, and go that way.  If you don't, they're already there before you can move your feet.

They'll get in everybody else's face, but might well cover Benjamin soft to keep a lid on him.  That's pulling a cornerback away from the box.  If they try to bump him, they'll have to keep a safety back, because no cornerback can recover if he's beat by this guy.

I'm rambling--getting into more detail than the Blogger went into.  But it was well thought out and well-written, and these commentors lynched him!  That's where I read the one clown saying Benjamin couldn't get open.  Another guy said move Schwartze to guard, among other things.  At least the idiot who hates Richardson because he's pigeon-toed didn't chime in.

None of them made any sense, and it was all ad-hominum.  They hated what he wrote, but not one of them coherently managed to say why.  Just loud, venemous noise.

Ah, nevermind.

An alleged pro wrote about the linebackers and was terrible.  James Micheal Johnson excelled in coverage, and isn't slow.  He was a little over 4.6 at the combine, which is good tight end speed.  Linebackers who clock faster than that are uncommon, and many are specialists who can't get off blocks and stop the run.

Moreover, sure he'll back up Jackson, but he's here to play OUTSIDE, and to START, because for anybody with eyes, Fujita has become a liability on passing downs. I like him too, but that's how age works!  Johnson was drafted partly because he can cover!

Yeah yeah yeah we're all doomed the sky is falling everybody sucks you know better than Tom yeah yeah ok...

Critical Thoughts

1:  I've watched some more tapes of McCoy and Weeden, and...
Ok-ok Colt's ball wobbles and floats.  I don't care about the spiral cutting through the wind and all that stuff.  Montana, Young, Garcia played in Candlestick Park.  Nelson, Ryan, Sipe, and the post-injury Kosar played in Cleveland.

What is valid is that the tight spiral is easier to catch!  I feel pretty dumb for not realizing it before.  If you're a reciever trying to grab a ball, it's got to help a lot when you know exactly how to do it.  If the nose is wobbling, then you have to try to adjust to that.

You don't catch a football around it's middle.  You place your hands in front of it's nose, so that it goes through them and the fat middle goes where it belongs.  If the nose hits one of your palms, or the ball is tilted up or down...well?

This doesn't excuse all those drops last season.  A pro reciever needs to catch anything he touches, period.  However, I now agree that Weeden's ball will be more catchable.  I was wrong.

2: I wish they'd quit talking about getting Taylor back this season.  He's libel to re-injure it, or tear the other one like Jackson did.  Don't rush a guy back in the instant he appears okay, especially when it's very unlikely the Browns will contend this season.  Give him EXTRA time, and make sure.


3: Why on Earth would you dump a young guy with a cheap salary and keep an old guy with a starter's salary?  I know, Rich Gannaon talked about how Wallace wouldn't need any practice reps, as Colt would, to be ready to step into a game.  But that's the only reason you'd do that.

Keep McCoy, and when he fills in and proves he can kick butt, you can trade him for something GOOD.  Or, just be glad he was there.  Wobbly ball or no, he will be a very good West Coast quarterback.

Weeden looks real good right now, but we really can't know about him yet.  If they dump McCoy and I get to see Seneca Wallace replacing Weeden instead, I'll be calling for somebody's head my own self.

Self-Corrections

1: The coaches do not agree with me that Travis Benjamin is strictly a slot reciever. In the rookie mini-camp, he's spent the bulk of his time on the outside, where he's run several deep-outs.  Also, earlier the recievers' coach specificly said that he could be tried outside.

This is exciting, and could possibly signal the next offensive trend in the NFL--meaning Shurmer and co. are innovationalizing.  (Yes there is such a word.  I just made it up.)

What we have today is big recievers and almost a 3-wide base offense, as often as possible with a TE/WR hybrid.  Defenses are answering with big nickles and big dimes; using three safeties.  Everybody also wants tall cornerbacks.

As I pointed out in earlier blogs, trends are just that.  Each defense has weak spots. Conventional nickles and dimes have been exploited by big recievers and extra-nifty tight ends, and are now reacting with taller corners and more free safety types.

Enter a new weapon: The SMURF!  Little guys with shorter legs and a lower center of balance have a real advantage over taller cornerbacks when it comes to cutting.

Much of this is supposition, of course.  As the masters of the obvious will sagely point out, this is helmets and shorts.  Benjamin will have to beat jams.  The Coaches seem to think he can.

We have yet to see Rodney Mitchellfield 3.0, and there is a good chance that he will be ready to compete for a starting role.  It would be great if he emerges, as he has all the physical tools of the elite big recievers.

However, if the Benjamin experiment holds up, the offense will have a truly deadly home-run hitter to go with Griffin.

I have also finally seen the Weeden trap-shoot video, and wow.  I mean...wow.  He nails five out of six 44 mph clay pigeons with a football (from the side, at about five yards).  (Missed one by three inches).

It fires out too fast for him to track or lead the pigeon--he strictly waits for the signal and fires the ball at a spot, which is precisely what a West Coast quarterback does with recievers-throwing before they make their cuts).

I can't believe some of the comments of "fans" who watched the video!  One clown points out how big a football is!  A master of the obvious wants to point out that nobody is chasing him.  I mean, you really have to dig deep in the garbage at the bottom of your mind to come up with ways to say "big deal" about this impressive demonstration GIVE IT A REST WILL YOU?

Another thing about Weeden: What a great smile!  And he smiles a lot!  I LIKE this guy!  (I like you too, Colt).

2: 6th round steal DT Billy Winn doesn't have a great first step, but does have unusual overall speed and quickness.

3: Ryan Miller might indeed be a project, but possibly not.  He started a ton of games, and was well-regarded except for his height, which could put him at a leverage disadvantage at guard.
I don't know: If a DT or even linebacker does get "into" him, it's hard to imagine he wouldn't get straightened up and pushed around, BUT to do that, the guy would have to get past those long arms, ya know?

3a: (This is correcting somebody else): He's probably not here to play LEFT guard.  This is a big nasty mauler.  Both Miller and Schwartze LIKE beating people up.  Seems to be a theme.  A good theme.

I can't leave out Taylor's pec tear.  I didn't know pectoral tears were contageous, but it just figures that it had to happen here, doesn't it?

Already, some are scrambling for the parachutes, talking about the veteran free agent DT's the Browns will now be desperate to sign to cover the huge, massive, gaping, glaring hole in their defensive line.

They still have Schaefering and at least one other young guy, they just drafted two, and it's a little early to flush them all down the toilet.  Take a pill.

I STAND CORRECTED

A Decade? Really?

I never clicked on "Browns Rebuilding Efforts Set Back a Decade" on the Bleacher Report.  I mean, I just couldn't.

When you don't think with your brain, you are extreme in everything.  The flight-or-fight response...really panic...is nearer the surface.  These days, it manifests as lumping in a Massequoi with a Little, indicting an entire offensive line based on one weak spot, and generally exaggerating.

Basicly, it's non-thinking.

There is a draft and free agency period each year, and the poorest teams draft the highest.  The average NFL carreer is something like 4 or 5 years.  A decade, he says!  I can't read anything this guy writes!  I can't endure it!

How would you like to fly through turbulance with this guy sitting next to you?  What if the elevator gets stuck with him in there with you?  He's trying to call his wife to tell her he loves her and that he's plunging to his death.

I can safely assume that the guy thinks Weeden shouldn't have been drafted and that they should have drafted four or five wide recievers.  The one legit point I can think of is the QB transition.  So, Weeden will NEVER be any good now?  Or at least not for ten years?

Of the recievers, the number one culprit, Little, hadn't even played football the season before, had one season at wide reciever prior to that, and (like the rest of them) had to learn the West Coast offense without an off season!

None of them had an issue with drops prior to that, in college or in the pros.  It's irrational to write them off based on one crappy season!  And not even that--Little in the second half was much better than Little in the first half.  Little in the last four games had very few drops.

This guy ignores that.  He sees the stats for the season and that's it.  He ass umes zero progress or growth.  He doesn't even bother looking at jersey numbers when somebody drops a pass--ergo Massequoi and the rest are equally as bad.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I do believe that Little accounted for over HALF the drops for the entire team.  More than MoMass, Norwood, Hillis, the other backs and tight ends, and Cribbs combined.

But they got OPEN!!!  The system worked!

Are you telling me that a wide reciever can't remember how to catch, when for his whole life until one nightmarish, confused season, he never had a problem before?  Especially when Brad Childress is now here to make sure you get BENCHED when you drop passes?

What else could this guy be talking about?  Richardson is a running back, therefore shouldn't be drafted high no matter what?  Schwartze sucks?  Weeden made mistakes under inside pressure, therefore is a bum?  Weeden will make mistakes early, and because they don't go 10-6 right away all is lost...since he will never ever improve?

I don't know.  I don't want to find out.

A decade!  A DECADE!  STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT!

We're All Gonna Die

1: Per Mike Holmgren, Heckert wasn't going to pick Weeden at #22.  Mike told him to.
It's extremely unlikely that the best remaining quarterback could have lasted til the 37th pick.  Those who say that the Browns could have taken him in the second round should have somebody slap them awake.

2: I didn't like the Hughes pick, either.  However, I now know that sacks, tackles-for-loss, level of competition, versatility, and the fact that this is a 4-3 and not a 3-4 defense were all factors in this decision.  along with the fact that he had a hamstring issue at the combine.
While he's not expected to be a big passrusher at this level, he does have some nice range and is very strong against the run.
No, I wouldn't have taken him that high, but I don't know what Heckert knows, and the commercial scouting/rating services often have very different grades than MOST General Managers.

3: I doubt that the Browns decided to replace Colt McCoy because of something his father said.  Here we go with the Soap Operas again.  Clevelanders really seem to love their drama!   They just plain thought Weeden was better.  Good grief.

4: Last season the Browns (notably Little, who was a R O O K I E DO YOU U N D E R S T A N D led the NFL in drops.
Listen carefully:  They got OPEN.  The passes were THERE.  If those same recievers just stop dropping the damn ball, this would have been a pretty decent offense.
I believe that, along with having a better grasp of their reads and routes in the second West Coast season, these recievers will stop dropping the damn ball.

Weeden WILL have "somebody to throw to", like Colt did last season.

Somebody will just have to CATCH it, is all.