Cleveland Browns: Hope Springs Infernal

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow...

It's justified to be disgusted and furious about the Cleveland Browns.  They just plain suck.  You are what your record says you are.

The exact, scientific reasons for this suckdom are hard for us fans to put their finger on, which is why many of us want to fire or cut everybody.

But there are good players here (who have actually played well):

Duke Johnson, Travis Benjamin, Gary Barnidge, Josh McCown, and Johnny Manziel have all played well.  None of the losses can be laid at their feet.  Austin Davis could be listed, technically, too.

On defense, we can list Dansby, Whitner, Gipson...a few others.  Joe Haden is too young to give up on.  A few others haven't quite sucked.

So you want to fire Ray Farmer?  Well, for all the recent headaches, Manziel is his, and he has turned into a good quarterback.  He extended Benjamin and Barnidge.  Drafted Duke Johnson.  Signed Dansby and Whitner.

Joel Bitonio has played poorly this season, but dominated as a rookie in Shanahan's inside zone blocking system, and has a bright future.

Gilbert has disappointed, but every cornerback who has passed him up is a Farmer low round pick or undrafted free agent.  Austin Davis, we'll have to wait and see about, but so far, so good.

Don't bash the secondary when quarterbacks have all day to throw.  Don't bash the offense when the defense ranks 30th in points allowed.  Don't bash the quarterbacks when all of them throw for gobs of yards and convert third downs and throw touchdowns.

It took the Ravens two return touchdowns to win a game they otherwise lost badly.

It's premature to talk about Davis vs Manziel, so I'll either be among the first, or look dumb by next Monday.  It could happen.  The Browns could have too many young star quarterbacks.

I remember Kelly Holcomb.  His stats were atrocious compared to Austin's, with zero starts.  Nobody thought he would be any good, either.

I'm almost glad the Browns lost.  The most meaningful thing to come out of all this now is higher draft picks.  Sorry, I can't help it.

I'm angry about the run-left-only running game, the blocking changes Flip brought in, the too-complicated pass rush, the penalties, etc.

But if Haslam fires Pettine, who would be willing to come in here and start over, and what good would it do?

I'm irked by Gilbert, but he seemed to be playing well until he got hurt.

No, I don't believe that Farmer would just squander a higher pick.  It's too soon to judge any of his four first rounders yet, and he's found some good players later.

Josh Gordon will return next season, and hopefully a more polished Terrelle Pryor too.  Davis could be Kelly Holcomb, and between him and Manziel they might not need a quarterback for once (not that you shouldn't consider trading one of yours and drafting one anyway).

I'll never walk away.  I'll want to see how the young guys develop.  How Davis and Manziel perform in this pressure cooker.  

Can they find a pass rush?  Will they run to the strong side?  Will Pettine make helpful changes?

I watch the Browns even when they suck.  Traffic accidents are interesting too. 

Tony Grossi makes some telling points about the real issues with the team, and he's right: They have nothing to do with the quarterbacks.

He shouldn't have tainted it by saying that Ray Farmer doesn't think quarterbacks are any more important than other players (gross distortion borne of bias), but this is otherwise a great article.