Chicken Little, Joe Thomas, and the Cleveland Browns

It's so nice to get a glimpse of sunlight in this stifling, dark, suffocating dungeon of negativity.  I'm not talking about the win over the Chargers, but the environmental change it has briefly wrought.

I suppose I can't fairly say that fans and pundits were overreacting to 0-14, but actually...you were.

As I've said, the paper bags, worst team in the NFL, etc. can't be argued with.  But no talent?  

And now I'm reading Mary Kay Cabbot talking about drafting more wide receivers, and multiple offensive linemen.

Even for her, no rookie at any position who has not been starting or who hasn't made an impact has permanently relocated to Oblivia.

That's an overreaction, for sure.  When Big Ben has missed time, Antonio Brown disappeared.  Did that mean the Steelers needed to draft more wide receivers?  And these guys are rookies!  And the Browns don't have anything like Big Ben!

Slow your roll, Mary!  Give these guys a chance to at least get through their first off season and second training camp before you write them off!  

What about offensive line?  Well, PFF now rates everybody except Erving and Thomas as "average", including Drango, who is a rookie, and (read this, Mary):  Not as good as he will become.

Reiter, Bitonio, and Greco will return from injury, and we need to draft multiple offensive linemen again?  What are you smoking?

I was unable to watch or even listen to the San Diego game, but I know it was a Charger sack-fest.  No analyst or pundit has thus far seen fit to tell me how this happened, but here is the rule of thumb:

85% of all sacks which occur more than four seconds after the snap are the quarterback's fault.  In Cleveland, we started blaming the offensive line for every sack during the Kosar era, and never got over it.

I strongly suspect that Griffin and Kessler both held the ball too long, and that the hodgepodge offensive line was burned by inside stunts again.  I didn't see it.  You tell me.

In this article, Joe Thomas talks about why he still wants to stay here, and why he sees a brighter future for this team (in his career lifetime).

If you actually read Joe's actual words, they make sense. 

Do you think he knows what he's talking about?  I would, even if he didn't sound exactly like me.  Are you rolling your eyes and smirking at Big Joe, too?  

At least this is one guy I know isn't stealing my analyses without attribution.

The Browns need three offensive linemen.  They are on injured reserve, and not in the draft.  The Browns need wide receivers...to develop and mature at the normal rate.

The sky isn't falling.  Wait til next year actually means something this time.