Time For Browns To Clean Up This Mess

When Paul DePodesta was with the Browns, it could be said that no one knew what the chain of command within the organization was. The team itself talked about the famous “collaborative effort”, which we guess was put in place so no one would have to take the blame directly.

With DePodesta now running a baseball team, a job he is certainly more suited for, this is as good as time as any to make changes in Berea. Get rid of the collaborative process, get rid of GM Andrew Berry, and get rid of the head coach and push a gigantic reset button for the franchise.

Yes, under this regime the Browns made the playoffs twice, but overall, since Stefanski has been the head coach and Berry the GM, the Browns have gone 43-53, which isn’t great, but the past two years have seen a 6-23 mark.

We joke about analytics being best used as a way to justify a bad decision, and the Haslam family can point to the two playoff seasons as the reason to keep Stefanski, and Berry’s 2025 draft as the reason to keep him as GM.

Except, outside of Hue Jackson, who gets to keep an NFL head coaching position winning six games over two seasons, or better yet losing 10 or more contests in half of the seasons they coach?

And as for Berry, yes,this draft has yielded some building blocks for the future, but what about the five previous drafts, which brought the Browns just one Pro Bowl player in Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah.

We know the team didn’t have first round picks in three of those seasons, but what was the reason for that? Since it was a team decision, the GM was part of it no?

As for the coach, he’s came here as an offensive mind and his team struggles to score 20 points on weekly basis, something NFL teams, even bad ones, do all the time.

We don’t want the ownership involved in football operations; that’s for sure. One of our favorite sayings is “the wise man knows what he doesn’t know”. So, the Haslams need to hire a football professional and let him run football operations.

Let that guy hire a coach and a GM that can work together and develop a clear vision for what the franchise is going to be. Since the Browns play in the AFC North, we would like to see a physical team that can run the football.

Right now, the franchise has that on one side of the ball. The defense built over the years (you can’t really credit Berry since the two best players, Myles Garrett and Denzel Ward, were here when he arrived) and run by Jim Schwartz is championship quality.

We get the whole “passing league” stuff but look at teams that run the ball well this season. The top five in rushing yards are the Lions, Cowboys, Colts, Patriots, and Seahawks. All of those teams, except maybe Dallas, will be in the post-season.

When the Browns had Nick Chubb and an offensive line coach by Bill Callahan, they were one of those teams. But the Watson trade was made and the front office ignored helping the line and we presume they thought Chubb was never going to get old.

In other words, they lost their identity on offense.

The Browns need to clean house this off-season and come up with a new direction and make one person responsible for keeping the franchise on course.

Standing pat after six seasons with only one playoff win shouldn’t even be a thought

It’s Early, But We Have Some Fears Regarding The Cavs

We believe the Cleveland Cavaliers are experimenting for sure. They’ve had all kinds of key players missing to start the season, with the only real constants being Donovan Mitchell, Evan Mobley, and De’Andre Hunter.

They have provided several young players like Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Jaylon Tyson, Craig Porter Jr., and rookie Tyrese Proctor good opportunities to show they can contribute as the season moves forward.

And with all of this happening, they are still 13-10 and at least in terms of the ratings, a top ten offensive and defensive team.

But we do have a nagging lingering fear for this group. Perhaps the window to win a title was open widest the past two seasons.

The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder are sitting at 21-1. Two young, long teams in the East are off to great starts. The Pistons are 17-5 and the Raptors are 15-7. And long teams seem to bother the Cavs.

We have written about the lack of size on the Cavaliers’ roster over the past few seasons, and the move toward more size was never more evident than it this past NBA Draft.

Of the top ten picks in the draft, six of them were guards who were over 6’5″. This means the current duo of Mitchell and Darius Garland ranks even lower in terms of size among NBA backcourts.

We understand Garland is coming back from off-season surgery and he has missed time since re-aggravating the injury. He helps the offense greatly with his skill to penetrate and also shoot from distance.

On the other hand, one problem we have seen is his ability to take care of the basketball. It was an issue in his first playoff series against the Knicks, and it really hasn’t changed. He had two big turnovers down the stretch against Atlanta last week that cost the team a chance at a win.

Then we have the Mobley issue. The thought was always that the Cavs would be title contenders when he was the best player on the team. Can that happen? He’s a very good player, the Defensive Player of the Year last season. But does he have the temperament of an alpha?

We do think Kenny Atkinson is putting him in different situation to see where he fits best offensively. He’s bringing the ball up trying to initiate the offense, but his ball handling doesn’t seem to be strong enough.

Last year, he seemed to thrive with the ball at the foul line extended and set up his teammates from that spot on the floor or be able to take the ball to the basket. Again, our guess is Atkinson is trying some things out and may settle on what worked last season.

We know the Celtics won a title just a couple of years ago with heavy reliance on the three-point shot. However, they fell short a couple of years ago when they lost in the conference finals to Miami because of their shot selection.

Last year, 45.7% of Cleveland’s shots were from beyond the arc and they converted on 38% of them. This season, the number of long-range shots has increased to 48.8%, and even worse, they are making less at 34.8%. That 3% difference is huge.

Football people talk about “complimentary football”, but it can be used in basketball as well. The Cavs have two solid defenders inside in Mobley and Jarrett Allen, but when you miss threes, it generally results in a long rebound and a fast break by your opponent.

Fast breaks tend to make having interior defenders moot.

We know everyone loves to play with pace, but maybe it would be better to play a little slower, take better shots, and make better use of the two bigs you do have.

It is better to be playing their best basketball in March, April, and May (and hopefully June) than now. When the New Year hits, the Cavs need to tighten some things up.

Special Teams Just One Problem For The Browns

A few weeks ago, after another loss, there was a discussion about accountability and as an organization, do the Cleveland Browns have it? We are sure that talk will be raised again after a 26-8 loss to the San Francisco 49ers last Sunday.

The Browns are now 3-9 this season and since they made the playoffs in 2023, they have lost 23 of their last 29 contests.

The special teams have been a problem all season and have cost the Browns football games. There was a missed field goal in the opener. A blocked punt in week two against Baltimore. Two kick returns for touchdowns in a loss to the Jets. And then more problems against the Niners.

A 66-yard punt return set up the first San Francisco touchdown. There were two fumbled punts by Gage Larvadain, the latter, which was recovered by the 49ers, setting up a short field for the last TD for the winners.

And perhaps the worst gaffe was Malachi Corley fielding a kickoff that was clearly headed out of bounds on the 6-yard-line right on the sideline. Instead of getting the ball on the 40, it was a self-imposed 34-yard penalty in reality.

So, it’s not just one bad game by the special teams, it’s been an issue all season, and even last year as well. Bubba Ventrone might be a solid football coach, and clearly what he is teaching his players isn’t getting through or he is unwilling to change personnel on his units. Either way, he shouldn’t be coaching for the Browns this weekend.

It’s easy to talk about firing coaches, but it’s difficult, after all, these are people. That’s why we don’t generally make knee-jerk reactions to take that action. But a change needs to be made.

Shedeur Sanders played okay, completing 16 of 25 passes for 149 yards and did not have a turnover on a challenging day to throw. The 49ers QB, Brock Purdy threw for only 168 yards, so guessing the wind was a factor.

On the other hand, the Browns only scored eight points. The fact is simply this. The Browns have only scored more than 17 points, a very reasonable number for any NFL team to put on the scoreboard, just three times this season. They only accomplished this four times last year, meaning in the last 29 contests, they’ve put up more than 17 just seven times.

Just this past week of games, 20 teams accomplished this. It’s just not that difficult.

The New York Jets aren’t a good team, right? They put up more than 17 points in seven games this year! Tennessee is 1-11 and they’ve scored more than 17 five times. The 2-11 Giants? Nine times.

We get the offense has weaknesses. The tackle situation is just a mess. They have one solid running back. The best pass catchers are tight ends. But you should be able to put together something to score 20 points.

We think Stefanski has overcorrected. Last year, the Browns turned the ball over way too much, so this year, he’s coaching to not turn it over. And that in turn means not taking any risks. And as Bruce Arians used to say, “no risk it, no biscuit”.

The reason the Browns don’t score more than 17 points is they are coached not to score more than 17 points. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.

And Andrew Berry shares the blame because while he has stacked the defense, he’s ignored the offense. You can’t be strong on just one side of the football and expect to win consistently.

Will there be a coaching change after the season? With this organization, who can be sure. But running it back with this staff and front office next season seems to be a poor choice.

And wasting two years of an elite defense just adds salt to the wound.