In an organization that is buttoned up to the top, Browns’ defensive coordinator Rob Ryan is a breath of fresh air.  He is candid and wears his passion for football on his sleeve.  What did you expect coming from the famous Ryan coaching family?

 

His defense usually plays hard, and he is aggressive by nature, blitzing and putting pressure on the opponents’ offense for the most part, even though he is undermanned.  I wish more of the team’s coached were like him.

 

However, his claims that he and Eric Mangini are the best men for their respective jobs seems a little absurd. 

 

The San Diego Chargers came into Cleveland Browns Stadium yesterday as one of the worst rushing teams in the NFL, ranking 30th in this category.  You would think that Ryan would take advantage of his opponent being one dimensional and clamp down on Philip Rivers and the Charger passing game. 

 

Well, Rivers threw for almost 400 yards in the 30-23 defeat. 

 

Yes, the secondary was short starting safety Brodney Pool, and were forced to use WR Mike Furrey in his spot, but Rivers fired the ball all over the place, particularly in the second half, as the Browns’ defensive backfield was left in tatters, and TE Antonio Gates knew where all the holes were.

 

Gates caught two long passes from Rivers, including one where S Mike Adams and who else, Hank Poteat, watched him catch the ball while they were bracketing him, and Rivers basically threw it up for grabs.  Why is it that every defensive play that makes you shake your head involves Poteat?

 

In all, the Browns’ defense gave up four plays of 30 yards or more in the game, way too many.  The worst of these plays was allowing a screen pass to backup FB Mike Tolbert to go for 66 yards and a touchdown.  No disrespect to Tolbert, but he’s built more like an offensive lineman than a running back.  Plays like that cannot happen to a good defense.

 

Again, the defense has been plagued by injuries.  However, a good defensive coach, which Ryan is, should be able to scheme better against a one dimensional offense.  It speaks to the lack of talent in the Cleveland secondary.

 

Offensively, while everyone will want to talk about the quarterback play, let’s instead focus on two players who emerged from Mangini’s doghouse to play meaningful roles.  Brian Robiskie, buried all year because he doesn’t contribute on special teams (sure!), caught four passes for 69 yards, including a 43 yard pass play.  Also, Jerome Harrison, inactive just two weeks ago, gained 35 yards rushing, and caught seven balls for 62 yards and two touchdowns. 

 

Apparently, both guys can play.  (NOTE:  Former Tribe manager Pat Corrales once said his team wasn’t good enough to have a doghouse, something Mangini should think about).

 

Another Brown that came out of nowhere was TE Evan Moore, who caught (a key word) six passes for 80 yards.  He’s worth watching in the last four games. 

 

So is Brady Quinn, who had his second good game in the last three, throwing for 271 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions, although his fumble near the end of the first half was costly.  However, his accuracy at times is questionable.  You wonder if the adjustments made to his grip on the ball when throwing before his rookie year has affected this aspect of his game.  He certainly didn’t appear to have this problem at Notre Dame.

 

It’s funny how the national announcers talk about how hard the Browns play for Mangini, and how he is laying a foundation for the future.  The perception in this city is Mangini walked in and threw a bomb at the structure set up by Phil Savage.  The decision on the head coach will come down to who is hired as the head of football operations.  If that guy wants Mangini, then he will stay.

 

Did anyone think that when the Browns and Steelers played on December 10th, neither team will have won in their last four games?  I didn’t think so.  Pittsburgh has to be thinking there is no one they’d rather play with their season on the brink than the 1-11 Cleveland Browns.  It just keeps getting better and better, eh, Browns fans.

 

JD 

 

 

 

Next week, baseball is conducting their annual winter meetings in Indianapolis.  It’s the highlight of the hot stove season, and gets every baseball fan anxious for the start of the following season. 

 

Back in the day, the interleague trading deadline came at the end of the meetings, meaning there normally were a flurry of trades as the meetings came to a close.  Now, the activity is more groundwork being done on possible free agent signings.

 

It doesn’t appear the Cleveland Indians will be active at the meetings, so maybe they could save money by not sending a contingent.  That seems to be what all moves made by the club seem to be geared to.

 

What is odd to fans is the seemingly defeatist attitude by the organization toward 2010, even though they are in the AL Central, a division where a team can easily move from the bottom to the top with a few key moves. 

 

Instead the ownership and front office seem resigned to a “rebuilding” campaign.

 

If they would make an effort to get some reliable starting pitching (sorry, Jake Westbrook, you don’t fit in that category), they might just be able to contend next year. 

 

No, I’m not kidding.

 

Why?  First of all, the Indians had a decent offense last season, ranking 8^th in the AL in runs scored.  That was without a healthy Grady Sizemore for most of the season.  You have to believe that a healthy Sizemore would have greatly helped the Tribe attack in 2009. 

 

The reason for the team’s 65-97 record last season was the pitching, which ranked second to last in the league in ERA.  Both the starting (except for Cliff Lee) and the relief pitching were not up to par.  By improving the pitching staff, the Indians have a chance to contend next season.

 

Instead, the ballclub seems intent on the wish and hope method of building a team.  They are hoping guys like David Huff and Justin Masterson continue to make strides, hope Fausto Carmona gets back to 2007 form, or close to it, and hope Westbrook recovers from Tommy John surgery. 

 

That’s a lot of finger crossing.

 

Maybe GM Mark Shapiro will surprise us and come up with a reliable, proven starter for the rotation.  They aren’t going to be a player for the best starter on the market in John Lackey, but there are guys out there how can provide steady work and eat up innings.  Guys who are average major league pitchers. 

 

Right now, I think the Cleveland Indians are satisfied to sit out the 2010 pennant race.  That’s why their fans should be unhappy. 

 

KM

 

In the past two days, mini-controversies had popped up in Cleveland.  LeBron James expressed his displeasure with Mike Brown’s decision not to play Zydrunas Ilgauskas, and Grady Sizemore was “showing off” for his girlfriend.

 

The Sizemore thing is no big deal.  If it were not for all the publicity about it, very few people would have seen the Tribe’s centerfielder in various states of undress.  Does it hurt Sizemore?  No way, it’s publicity he would never have received by playing baseball. 

 

Outside of last year’s injury plagued season, Sizemore is a perennial all-star player, but he’s known more both locally and nationally for being a good-looking guy.  If people are learning more about him (no pun intended) because of these photos, and they see he’s a very good ballplayer (again, no pun intended), then good for him.

 

The only negative to the whole situation, beside the invasion of privacy, will be the taunts he will get when playing in places like New York, where they will probably make posters of the pictures and hold them up while he’s at the plate or out in the field.  Otherwise, it’s a non-issue, except for the embarrassment to Sizemore.

 

The Tribe also avoided non-tendering Kelly Shoppach by dealing him to Tampa for…a player to be named later. 

 

This move is one year too late.  After Shoppach’s very good 2008 season, GM Mark Shapiro should have looked to move the catcher because that season was likely as good as it was going to get for Shoppach.  His value never will be higher.  The amount of times he strikes out, and the fact he isn’t an extremely young player (he’ll be 30 in April) played against him.

 

This is a salary dump, plain and simple.  The Tribe didn’t want Shoppach to go to arbitration and possibly make $3 million dollars for 2010.  If they didn’t make this deal, they likely would have non-tendered him, thus making him a free agent. 

 

Based on his production, or lack of it last season, and add in that The Tribe best prospect is also a catcher in Carlos Santana, and it’s a decision the Indians had to make.

 

As for the Cavs, basically, the coach made a mistake.  If this were just another game, it would have been no big deal.  However, Brown decided to make Ilgauskas a DNP-CD on the night he was to break the franchise record for games played.  Since Z has been a class act since his rookie season in Cleveland, 13 years ago, it lacked class.

 

Which is out of character for the coach, so he gets the benefit of the doubt on this one.  

 

Ilgauskas’ difficulties with injuries to his feet over the years are well documented, but it should be said that he could have taken the money and ran.  Instead he worked hard rehabilitating, and has become a durable player, as he got older.  He deserved better from his coach. 

 

It speaks to Z’s character than James felt the need to come out and say Brown made a mistake.  Remember, the first person LBJ ran to on the night the Cavs advanced to The Finals in 2007 was Ilgauskas.  The big man has seen the darkest days of this franchise and deserved to take the floor Saturday night.

 

Besides, he’s still an effective player.  The wine and gold went 5-1 while Ilgauskas was back in the starting lineup while Shaquille O’Neal was nursing an injured shoulder.

 

Brown will make amends when Phoenix comes to town tonight.  Even though the Suns up and down style makes Ilgauskas a poor fit in the lineup, he will get in the game and get the standing ovation he richly deserves.  In fact, it might be louder because of what happened on Saturday. 

 

The surprising thing is that Brown didn’t understand how important an occasion this was for the big man. 

 

MW