Hard To Tell If Changes Made A Difference Vs. Chiefs

It is difficult to evaluate the Cleveland Browns in their loss on Sunday to the Kansas City Chiefs because quite frankly, the visitors were too damn good.

And once CB Denzel Ward went out of the game, it was going to be difficult to get the Chiefs to punt the football, which they didn’t do until the fourth quarter when the game was all but decided.

Despite the injuries on defense, S Demarious Randall was already out before the game started and Ward, CB E.J. Gaines, and LB Christian Kirksey all left during the game, the Browns were in the game at the half, trailing just 21-16.

This was partially due to Kansas City not having a real good defense, and partially due to new offensive Freddie Kitchens using some of the weapons that Hue Jackson and Todd Haley never utilized.

Duke Johnson caught nine passes for 78 yards and two touchdowns, his most catches since week four of 2017. It was the most he was used out of the backfield all season.

David Njoku grabbed four passes for 53 yards after not catching a pass against the Steelers the previous week.

And recently signed WR Breshad Perriman was also involved, catching two balls for 36 and running two end arounds for nine more. One of his receptions was on, get this, a crossing pattern!

It also may have helped the offense that rookie LT Desmond Harrison sat out and was replaced by former second overall pick, Greg Robinson. Granted, quicker, shorter throws were called for Baker Mayfield, but pass rushers weren’t sitting in his lap either, at least from his blind side.

We would keep Robinson in the starting lineup going forward, and it sounds like interim coach Gregg Williams may keep him there.

The defense should get a boost after the bye week with the return of CB Terrance Mitchell, and hopefully Joe Schobert as well. There is no question at all the defense misses Schobert, a Pro Bowler last season, who calls the signals on that side of the ball.

And although John Dorsey has done a great job building the roster, heck in the first round, he drafted a possible franchise quarterback, and a cornerback who could make the Pro Bowl in his rookie year.

However, we do have point out that drafting Chad Thomas in the 3rd round is not looking good, nor was the signing of Chris Hubbard to play right tackle. Those are blips on the radar though.

The truth is, the Browns may have faced the most brutal schedule in the league this season. They have played five games against arguably the top ten teams in the NFL: Steelers twice, as well as the Chiefs, Saints, and Chargers.

And it ain’t getting any easier with Atlanta (4-4) coming in, and games remaining with Carolina (6-2), Houston (6-3), and Cincinnati (5-3) twice.

It could be very difficult for the Browns to get more than four wins this season, but that will mean a probable top ten pick next spring.

This time though, Dorsey can look for best player available. This team needs depth, with the primary areas being offensive line, linebacker, and cornerback.

Our guess is the Browns coaching change will be a positive thing going forward, but it may be tough to see because of the schedule.

Cavs Real Problem? Lack Of Communication Internally.

It was a week ago that the Cleveland Cavaliers decided to fire head coach Tyronn Lue, and the reaction nationally wasn’t favorable, particularly in regards to owner Dan Gilbert.

Gilbert is viewed by the media as the NBA’s version of Dallas Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones, a man who makes moves like he knows the sport, but if really just a bit more than a fan. And a fan who acts impetuously, someone who is looking for a change after a couple of losses.

The movement away from Lue wasn’t a problem for us, but the lack of a plan from the top of the organization down to GM Koby Altman is.

Firing a coach six games into a season shows a lack of communication throughout the organization.

It is pretty apparent that the Cavs wanted to get younger after LeBron James announced he was signing with the Lakers.

Didn’t Lue and Altman (and we guess, Gilbert) sit down at that point and talk about the direction for the future? Maybe they did, and then Lue decided that winning games immediately was the way to go, so that’s when the wheels were put into motion to make a change on the bench.

If Lue wasn’t going to make a commitment to playing guys like David Nwaba, Ante Zizic, and Sam Dekker, then couldn’t a joint decision have been made at that time for Lue to walk away?

Put out a statement thanking the coach for guiding a championship team, taking the franchise to two other Finals, and saying there is a change in direction for the squad.

That’s how it should have been handled.

Then, you have the whole Larry Drew as the new head coach, or interim head coach, or “new voice”, or whatever the heck he is right now.

When Altman and Gilbert decided Lue was out, didn’t they reach out to Drew to see if he wanted the full time gig, and negotiate a contract at that time?

It seems like there was no communication at all. It seems like they fired Lue, and called Drew and said, by the way, you are the new head coach.

And Drew said not so fast.

Look, we get why Drew wants security. He is 60 years old and was basically screwed out of his last two jobs because a new management team came in.

And we get why the Cavaliers wouldn’t want to be tied in with Drew through the 2019-20 season. They want the opportunity to go out and find their version of Brad Stevens in the off-season.

To fans and media alike, the whole thing looks like it was not very well thought out. A well run organization would have thought these things out ahead of time and saved themselves the embarrassment.

A new coach could’ve came in during the summer, put together their plan, especially from a defensive standpoint, and started the season developing rookie Collin Sexton, and getting the most out of the younger players on the roster.

Instead, we have one of the worst teams in the NBA playing a style to which it is poorly suited.

All because it doesn’t look like the front office (including the owner) and the head coach didn’t communicate very well over the summer.

Hot Stove Season Opens For Tribe

Now that the World Series has ended, the Hot Stove season has started for major league baseball teams, and initially there are a lot of procedural things that must be done.

The first is making decisions on the contract options for many players. The Indians historically don’t offer many (if any) player options, they like to be the one making the decisions on an extra year for a player in question.

Both decisions made yesterday by the front office were no brainers, in our opinion.

The Tribe picked up the option on Carlos Carrasco, one of the best starting pitchers in the sport. Carrasco has won 35 games over the past two seasons, striking out at least 200 hitters in each year.

They passed on outfielder Brandon Guyer, saving $2.75 million. Guyer is a platoon player who feasted on left-handed pitching when he came over from Tampa in 2016, but in the subsequent years, he’s had injury issues and his production, while still good, isn’t at an elite level versus southpaws anymore.

Next on the agenda are making qualifying offers to the prospective free agents. We are sure such a deal will be offered to Michael Brantley, but the real questions would be Andrew Miller and Cody Allen.

If you make the offer, you have to be prepared the player will accept, and that’s why we would extend the deal to Miller only. If he’s healthy, which he hasn’t been since the middle of last season, he’s still a dominant reliever.

Allen has declined in performance in 2018, perhaps due to the wear and tear of making a lot of appearance over his seven years in Cleveland. It’s a tough decision and a tough business because Cody Allen has been a loyal player, willing to do whatever Terry Francona wanted him to do.

To improve the roster for the 2019 season, the Indians will need to gain some financial relief, meaning it would behoove the front office to look at highly paid players, who aren’t producing to the level of their contracts.

The chief players to look at here are Edwin Encarnacion, Jason Kipnis, and Yonder Alonso. It is doubtful Encarnacion can be moved, because being a DH limits him to American League teams.

The other two would be in play, but there is no question in our mind that Cleveland would have to eat some money to make any deal happen.

Moving both would lop about $22 million off the team’s projected salaries, minus whatever the team would have to pay to make it work.

Although they will be the favorites to win the AL Central for the 4th consecutive season, it would be hard to take them seriously as a World Series contender with an outfield of Kipnis in LF, Tyler Naquin in RF, and a platoon of Leonys Martin and Greg Allen in CF.

There is also the matter of rebuilding the bullpen, which with Miller and Allen’s likely departure has just Brad Hand as a proven, reliable option.

It appears the organization has high hopes for Jon Edwards, but it would be nice to have another proven arm in the ‘pen going into spring training. The cost for relief help would seem to be less than that of a solid big league hitter.

In a few days, we will know who is available in the free agent market and can examine some possible low cost options who could help.

The Indians have the stars, now they need to surround them with better secondary players.