With two beyond terrible losses in a row and two more road games before coming home, the Browns are at a point where the soul must be searched. 0-2 at home, have not scored 20 points in a game, and looking just awful has many bewildered. While local and national media have been raving about this roster, I have not. It’s starting to look like what I have suspected. This is not a GREAT NFL roster, it’s a great BROWNS roster, and they are not the same thing.
Yes we have injuries and that sucks, but so does everyone. And when we get our guys back, things could get better. But be mindful, many of these guys have not played ANY football in over a year. But what’s really concerning are the underlying problems this team has. There’s something really wrong here. Yes, the owner is far too involved. Yes, they are cow-towing to a QB they are hugely invested in. They’ve lost or fired some really good football staff and have put their faith in a troubled QB and a new offense – that’s terrible.
Last week fans were screaming about a marginal holding call that took a TD off our board. That’s NFL officiating – bad every week. The problems here are far deeper than that. The refs didn’t drop passes all day, miss dozens of tackles, or whiff on blocks and pass protection. The refs didn’t give up 151 yards on the ground to the worst rushing team in the league. The refs weren’t shutout over the last 3 and half quarters, and they didn’t shank an extra point – indoors – after making a game changing play. And the refs didn’t sit all meaningful players in all the preseason games. We did all that.
The refs also didn’t laugh it up with the opposition on the field after a devastating drop and interception, but our QB did. And the refs didn’t perform a well choreographed dance routine on the field after breaking up a 10 yard pass in the fourth quarter, down 10 in a game we needed to win. Our defensive backfield did, and does routinely every week. Looked like they’d been working on that one all week. Good to see that we’re taking this season seriously as we get gashed by the leagues worst teams.
You just can’t show up and win in the NFL. Everyone gets paid on both sides of field and if you don’t want it badly, they’ll take it from you. How did we lose to the Giants? Seriously, how did we lose at home to a team expected to go nowhere. The Raiders, where nothing is expected, minus their two very best players, how does that happen? And again on the West Coast, can’t win. Sure am glad we have the 2-time Coach of the Year, the Assistant Coach of the Year, and the Defensive Player of the Year, or things would be really bad. Glad we discarded the Comeback Player of the Year – Whew! Thank goodness, who needs that guy? Glad the Colts took him off our hands – and they are too.
It’s also starting to catch up with us, the 3 first round draft picks we don’t have contributing. The Watson trade sent 6 high draft picks out of town for Watson. We would have at least 4 really good young players in various position groups contributing under rookie contracts. And this is more than fair – what have we gotten in return? Zero, literally Zero. And that’s not any exaggeration.
Do you still believe this team can make a Superbowl run? They seem to. I’d just like to see them win a game. The team they beat by 5 points this season is still winless, and the record of the teams they’ve played so far is 5-11, and 3 of those wins are US! Yes, we need some guys back from injuries, but far more than that, we need to do what good teams do. They find a way to win games they should, we don’t have that in us – not yet. Let’s hope after two weeks of absolutely embarrassing losses, the task is taken a bit more seriously that what we’ve seen.
GO BROWNS!
