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.