Browns Performance Workmanlike, Dominant

Anybody else doubt that things are different for the Cleveland Browns under Mike Pettine?

The Browns broke their losing streak against divisional foes on the road with a dominating performance at Paul Brown Stadium, winning 24-3 over the Bengals to move into a first place tie with the Steelers at 6-3.

It’s the most wins for Cleveland since 2007 when they went 10-6.

Pettine likes to use the expression “play like a Brown”, and tonight his entire team did just that. They played tough defense, ran the ball effectively, and avoided mistakes.

First, the running game returned for Kyle Shanahan’s offense as the three-headed monster of Terrance West, Isaiah Crowell, and Ben Tate combined for 170 yards on the ground with each scoring a touchdown. West was the feature back, getting 94 yards on 26 carries. And Crowell reemerged to give the offense a boost in the second quarter.

Brian Hoyer was incredibly efficient, completing 15 of his 23 throws for 198 yards, with Miles Austin being the primary target. Austin caught five throws for 48 yards.

On a windy night, Shanahan obviously wanted to keep the ball on the ground, and his offensive line and backs didn’t let him down.

The offense played efficiently. The defense was dominant.

In fact, it was the kind of defense fans thought they were going to see from the opening game, as they held Cincinnati to just a measly 165 yards in total offense, and QB Andy Dalton was particularly dreadful, completing only 10 of 33 passes for just 86 yards. He compounded that by throwing three interceptions, including one on the Bengals’ first drive, which was picked off by Craig Robertson.

Joe Haden was criticized early in the season when he struggled a little bit, but tonight, he took All Pro wide receiver A.J. Green completely out of the game, as Green caught only three passes for 23 yards.

Another player who gets called out when beaten on big plays, Buster Skrine, picked off two passes. Truth be told, Skrine is a solid NFL cornerback and is excellent in the slot.

Besides the interceptions, Dalton was also sacked twice on successive plays by DE Desmond Bryant in the third quarter.

And the Cincinnati running game wasn’t a factor either, getting just 86 yards on 22 carries, an average of less than four yards per carry. It was by far the Browns best performance against the running game all season.

Cleveland dominated the time of possession, holding the ball for 36 minutes, partially because of the success of the running game, but also because Jim O’Neil’s defense held Cincy to just three of 17 on third down conversions.

In short, the Browns has an answer for everything that Cincinnati threw at them.

Punter Kevin Huber was perhaps the busiest Bengal, having to kick the ball away to Cleveland eight times.

The win ensures that Cleveland will be playing meaningful football in November and should be in the mix for an extended period. That, of course, should end any thought of playing Johnny Manziel unless Hoyer is injured.

The Browns have won two divisional games in dominating fashion and the two games they lost were on field goals on the last play of the game. In order to be a playoff team, you have to be competitive within the AFC North.

Right now, the Cleveland Browns have shown the rest of the teams in the division they can no longer be taken lightly. And they showed the nation they are no longer the doormats of the NFL.

Will Tito Staying Lead to Bigger Emphasis on Winning?

During this past baseball season, we speculated that we wouldn’t be surprised if Tribe skipper Terry Francona decided to resign this off-season because of the inactivity of the front office at the trading deadline.

Yes, we knew that Tito took the gig because of his relationship with team president Mark Shapiro and GM Chris Antonetti, but we felt experiencing what we perceived as a lack of interest in going for it would show Francona that this wasn’t the job for him.

How wrong were we?

This morning, it was revealed that Francona signed a two-year contract extension to remain the manager of the Indians, meaning he is signed through the 2018 season.

Perhaps the only bad thing this means is the ownership will not be making any changes to the front office group through that same time period.

Antonetti’s comments today trumpeted the “stability” mantra, claiming it is a positive thing. And it would be if this was one of the most successful organizations in the sport over the last 15 years. However, it isn’t.

If keeping Francona means more of the last two seasons, both of which finished with an above .500 record and in 2013 ended with a spot hosting the wild card game, then we are all for that. There is no question that although people have had questions with the manager’s in-game strategy (including us), he gets the most out of the talent on the roster.

And maybe Shapiro and Antonetti understand their best chance at remaining the contender the Indians have been the last two seasons is to have Francona at the helm. Because before Tito arrived, this was a franchise that couldn’t put two consecutive good seasons together.

After two World Series titles with Boston, it is doubtful that Francona wants to wallow in mediocrity here over the next four to six seasons. So, does this contract extension mean the front office is going to make another push to bring in more talent this off-season?

Remember that before his first season as manager, the Indians brought in Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn as free agents and also traded for Trevor Bauer. Now, the club has a solid, younger nucleus in Michael Brantley, Jason Kipnis, and Yan Gomes among the position players, and a young starting rotation led by Cy Young Award candidate Corey Kluber that will be in place for the next few seasons.

So, it is incumbent on the general manager to add some pieces, some productive veteran pieces, to this young core to push them over the top. Did Francona get assurances that this would happen going forward?

Probably not, but his friends have to know how he feels.

We have maintained that this roster doesn’t need an overhaul, it just has to add one or two pieces, and those will likely come via the trade route. Both MLB Trade Rumors and Baseball Prospectus listed the top 50 free agents this winter and neither site had the Tribe signing anyone on the list.

The good news is the best manager the Indians have had in a long time is going to be here for at least the next four years. The bad news is the tie in with Shapiro and Antonetti, and Tito’s link to them probably insures they will be here for that period as well, which is fine if the Indians are regular participants in the playoffs.

If they aren’t, it will be almost 20 years since Shapiro took control of the organization without the success of his predecessor, John Hart. How long will fans accept it if Francona can’t continue to work the magic of the last two seasons.

It Isn’t Easy to Dominate NFL Teams, Even the Bad Ones.

Cleveland Browns’ fans overestimated this team after they routed the Pittsburgh Steelers in week six. With Jacksonville, Oakland, and Tampa Bay coming up on the slate, most supporters figured three blowout wins would follow and the Browns would go to Cincinnati with a 6-2 mark.

However, that’s not how the NFL works.

Instead the Browns lost to the Jaguars, and then won two home games, both in workmanlike fashion, and head to the Queen City at 5-3, still very much in the playoff race as the calendar turned to November.

The truth is that the Browns are not an elite NFL team, they aren’t even a very good team. They are in the middle of the pack, and that is good enough to play meaningful football at this point in the season.

After years of hopelessness regarding this football team, we should all be excited about that.

Cleveland’s offense couldn’t get into the end zone in the first half, getting only three Billy Cundiff field goals (49, 29, and 43 yards) and trailed going into the locker room 10-9.

After a touchdown a little less than six minutes into the second half, Mike Pettine’s team took a 16-10 lead.

The lead was short-lived, as the Bucs’ went deep to Johnny Manziel’s former teammate at Texas A & M, Mike Evans, caught a 24-yard throw from Mike Glennon to give Tampa a one point lead.

But Brian Hoyer led the Browns back, hitting rookie WR Taylor Gabriel (with the aid of a crushing block by Terrance West) to give the home team a lead it would never surrender.

As we said before, it isn’t easy in the NFL.

Look at today’s results. Cincinnati didn’t blow up Jacksonville either, although they did beat them, and San Diego, thought to be one of the AFC’s best teams, were dominated by Miami, losing 37-0.

Earlier this year, this same Tampa Bay team went into Pittsburgh and beat the Steelers.

Style points do not matter, but wins do, and right now the Browns have collected five of them, one more than they had all of last season. In fact, the last time Cleveland won more than five games in a season was 2007, when they went 10-6.

That’s not to say the Browns are a team without problems.

The running game continues to sputter without Alex Mack, averaging less than two yards per carry again (50 yards in 28 attempts), and Mack’s replacement, Nick McDonald was dominated by Tampa Bay DT Gerald McCoy, who sacked Hoyer twice.

Another problem is the run defense, which to be fair, did improve in the second half, but still allowed 113 yards in total. Former Brown, Bobby Rainey, deemed unusable by Joe Banner and Mike Lombardi, picked up 87 yards on 19 carries.

Defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil did make an adjustment in the second half, as Rainey gained just 17 yards on his last nine carries.

The special teams were also a huge factor in today’s win. Billy Winn blocked a field goal in the first quarter, and Craig Robertson blocked a punt that set up the winning touchdown. It was the second blocked punt of the season, and both were major factors in victories. We can’t remember the last time a Cleveland special teams unit blocked two punts in a season.

Donte Whitner had his best game as a Brown too, getting an interception off a pass batted away by Joe Haden, and he forced a fumble on a play that was called back because of a penalty. The former Glenville product is starting to make his presence felt.

And we have to mention Hoyer, who threw for 300 yards despite two interceptions, one a horrible throw, and the other off a deflection. He evened up the two picks by throwing two touchdown passes.

It’s a short week for both the Browns and Bengals as they play Thursday night. Because the AFC North is so good and so bunched up in the standings, any divisional game is huge.

Cleveland is 5-3, but they need to start playing better if they want to stay in the race for a playoff spot.