Reality

I was just listening to Greg Brinda on the radio for the first time in a long time.  He never seems to learn a damn thing.

Brandon Weeden and Joe Flacco made a few bad throws.  They also made some good throws at critical times.  The difference was that Joe Flacco wasn't throwing to Greg Little.

Don't blame Weeden for this.  Quit lumping everybody in when you throw your tantrums.  Weeden did enough to win.  By a LOT.

Quit bashing the game-plan.  Turner kept hammering with Richardson until the Browns were ten points down and time was running out.

It was disappointing when the Browns lost to the 'fins, yes.  But if you think the Browns suck because they lost to the Baltimore Ravens, there's something wrong with you.  The Ravens aren't a young, unproven team.  Brinda and everybody else had this one pencilled in as a loss a minute after the schedule came out.

So why now is everybody having a kniption fit?

Tony Grossi and Terry Pluto are looking smarter with their 7-9 predictions now, and that was deemed acceptable by most rational beings.  Remember when Banner came out and said that the Browns can't realistically plan on winning the division this season?

I do.  And I remember a lot of people saying that this would be okay as long as they show progress.

Weeden is better now than he was last season.  That goes for the Dolphins game, too.  Quit blaming him for getting sacked and having no time.  Quit blaming him for drops and deflections.  Look at the game again.  Try seeing where the ball actually went.  Think about what would have happened if the reciever had caught the damn thing.

The Browns would have won both games!

Little.  Here I've been defending the guy for all this time.  I mean, he really DID drop fewer than one out of ten passes for over two thirds of last season.  

Like Edwards!  That one season he caught everything thrown to him, and we thought that finally, he was who he was supposed to be.  And then?

How can Little spend all that time on the jugs machine and work so hard, and regress like that?

No, I don't hate the guy.  Do you think he drops them on purpose?

It's just sad.  Gordon comes back next week, and that will help a lot.  But there's really nobody to replace Little.  He'll be number two--we can hope that shorter passes will help him out.

Brinda as usual has a very shallow opinion devoid of real insight.  He talked about how defenses would just put an extra guy on Gordon and Weeden would have to throw to Little anyway.

I take you back to Weeden's first interception vs. Miami.  He threw that pass partly because he threw it to Gordon in practice and it worked.  Gordon would have caught that ball, right between two defenders.  Weeden will sometimes throw to Gordon, and he will catch it, despite double coverage.

Also that coverage pulls a tackler off the line and helps the running game: A fact which eludes premature expostulator Brinda and his ilk.

Little knows what happened.  Nothing we say can make him feel worse.

So I'll be different: Greg, I know how hard you've worked, and how bad you want it.  Maybe you're trying too hard or something!  Maybe when the ball is in the air, on it's way to you, you should pretend it's the playground, and just be a kid again.

And I won't hate you, Greg.  I know you're not Braylon Edwards.  Braylon was a flake-you're a man.  Good luck, man!