Cavs Won’t Be Sellers, Should They Be Buyers At Trade Deadline?

We are sure when the NBA season began, the plan was for Kevin Love to play well enough that contending teams would be interested in adding his hefty contract to help push them toward a lengthy run in the playoffs.

Sometimes, plans go awry and it is for a good reason.

Currently, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a playoff contender, and Love is helping them win basketball games.

Does this mean Love won’t be traded? No, he could still be moved, after all, anything is possible, but it would seem doubtful that GM Koby Altman is going to get an offer that both makes this year’s edition of the wine and gold better, and frees up salary cap space by taking the veteran’s contract.

Cleveland should now be in the “buyer” category now. They sit with the third best record in the Eastern Conference at 19-12, and are one of the better defensive teams in the league. And defense plays once the post-season begins.

One thing the Cavs have going for them is chemistry, they play together and enjoy playing with each other. Even with Collin Sexton sidelined, Cleveland has eight players averaging at least 9.3 points per night, ranging from Darius Garland’s 19.1 to Isaac Okoro at the lower figure listed.

So, Altman should be looking for a player who fits with the current roster and can shoot from outside. And J.B. Bickerstaff likes to play big men, and if you can find another useful big, then why not get one of those too.

The problem is what could Altman give up to make such a move without disrupting the current formula for success?

The easy answer would be Sexton, who is out for the season, and did not sign a contract extension before the campaign started, so he will be a restricted free agent at the end of the season.

Our guess is that the front office has reached out to Sexton and his representatives to see if he is interested in staying with the Cavaliers long term at a smaller than the max deal number. Many basketball people have speculated he would be perfect in a sixth man role, providing instant offense off the bench for a contending team.

The question is would he accept that role?

Other than Sexton, and if you move him it would basically be for less than his value, but on the other hand, you get something that helps you this season.

And although the Cavaliers have a very young core, there is no guarantee about any other season except this one. It would seem the future is very bright, but in the NBA you never know about injuries, contract issues, etc., and how is affects a team.

Still, unless another team is interested in a player like Dylan Windler, Lamar Stevens, Dean Wade, and/or Denzel Valentine, the best course of action for Altman would seem to stand pat and see how far this group can go.

That’s not a bad plan either. You would see how these Cavaliers do in a playoff situation, and that would give the front office a good idea of what needs to be done going forward.

What will Altman do? All we can do is wait and see. There will be wings available at the trade deadline, but do the Cavs want to disrupt what is currently working? Normally, we would say yes, but that might not be the wise thing with this group wearing the wine and gold.

No Conversations About Baseball Doesn’t Help It Grow.

It used to be said that baseball was the one sport that had no off season. It was talked about all year long. That’s why the term “hot stove league” was started, to describe the part of the year where the game wasn’t being played, but trades were being discussed and free agents were being signed.

That’s not true now. Other sports have gotten wise to this and have extended the relevance of their games during the periods where the action isn’t on the field.

Heck, in Cleveland, the sports talk shows discuss the Browns 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If your team isn’t playoff caliber, the draft talk starts during the season, as soon as it is evident the playoffs aren’t the goal.

You also have mini-camps and the beginning of training camp. Really, the only dead time for football is the period after the draft until the end of July.

In the NBA, as soon as the playoffs end, usually in the middle of June, you have the draft right after, and then in early July comes the free agency period, and there is a flurry of trades that go along with that as well. Once that ends, basketball kind of hibernates until training camp starts in September.

However, right now, baseball has gone silent because the owners have decided on a lockout to apparently try and break the strongest union in professional sports. So, instead of trade rumors and speculation on where free agents will sign and for what kind of money, we get nothing.

Baseball has disappeared from the sports consciousness, and if the parties can’t come to an agreement, apathy will set in. And for a sport waning in popularity over the last couple of decades, that’s suicidal.

It is easy for writers and broadcasters to side with the owners, because the players job is “playing”, something every kid who likes sports grew up wanting to do.

We side with the players though. Why? Because they are the product. No one goes to Progressive Field to see Paul Dolan own the Guardians. Fans buy tickets to watch baseball, and baseball is played by players.

Unfortunately, it appears the two sides don’t seem to want to get to the bargaining table to work out the differences any time soon.

We are sure the owners figure as long the new CBA is in place by spring training, then everything is fine, but in the meantime, there is no talk about baseball. The game is out of the sports point of view.

Meanwhile, the NBA has its slate of Christmas games, the league will be on TV all day. The NFL is coming down the stretch of its regular season, and there are plenty of games that affect the playoff landscape.

It seems odd that a tactic in trying to grow your sport is taking it out of the public’s eye. As Pepper Brook in Dodgeball said “it seems like a bold strategy”.

Rob Manfred and his owner friends will tell you they are trying to save baseball, but really, they are trying to kill it. Odd, because it makes all of them a boatload of cash. And yes, more cash than any player makes.

Love Is Back And Helping Cavs Win.

When LeBron James decided to leave the Cavaliers and sign with the Los Angeles Lakers following the 2018-19 season, Kevin Love became remaining member of the franchise’s “Big Three”.

We know Kyrie Irving, the other player in the trio that led the Cavs to their only NBA title was dealt prior to that season, but the wine and gold made it back to The Finals for a 4th consecutive year anyway.

After the departure of both James and Irving, Dan Gilbert offered Love a boatload of money on a contract extension, and our guess would be the promise of continuing to compete here in Cleveland. After all, Tyronn Lue was still at the helm, and the franchise still had Tristan Thompson, Larry Nance Jr., Jordan Clarkson, etc.

Our comment about continuing to compete is speculation, because he don’t know for sure, and we have never met Kevin Love.

We are sure the organization thought rookie Collin Sexton, the 8th overall pick in the NBA Draft would be able to help the veterans as well.

But Love injured his big toe and missed most of the season, playing in just 21 games, scoring 17 points and grabbing almost 11 rebounds per night.

By the time training camp started in 2019-20, the Cavaliers had a new coach, longtime college headman John Beilein, and added another smaller young guard in Darius Garland, and the rebuilding phase of the team was in full bloom.

For an all star player who played six years in various rebuilding programs in Minnesota before being traded to Cleveland, coinciding with James returning to the franchise, we are sure it was a bitter pill.

It wasn’t what he signed (or re-signed in his case) up for.

We aren’t saying Love handled the frustration well. He had temper tantrums. He called out his coach, who had never coached at the NBA level before, and he was frustrated with his teammates, particularly the younger guys.

He still averaged 17.6 points and almost 10 rebounds per night, and many times was playing center, a position he was no longer big enough to play on a night in, night out basis.

We also believe Love was frustrated by the lack of accountability the younger players were held to. It was as if they were allowed to not pay attention to detail without consequences.

Last year was another injury riddled year, as the veteran missed all but 25 games with a calf issue, and only averaged 24 minutes a night when he did take the floor.

The drop in availability, temperament, and production made his contract an albatross on the franchise. No team wanted to make a move for Kevin Love.

This season, the Cavs are winning for the first time since James departed and Love is rejuvenated. Embracing a bench role, averaging just 20 minutes per contest, Love is scoring 12 points and grabbing 7 boards per game.

He can still rebound with the best and he’s back to looking for that long outlet pass that was his trademark. He’s more of a sniper offensively, looking for the three point shot, and knocking down 40% in the young season.

And his defensive effort is better with the reduced playing time. J.B. Bickerstaff has made playing the right way a mandate and Love no longer has to compete with bigger centers because of the presence of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

The man can still play. We aren’t condoning the attitude issues he showed the past few seasons, just saying we understand. Once you experience winning, it’s tough to not have it.

It’s funny how things look better to everyone when winning is in the equation.

To Continue Surviving, Browns Need To Run Better

The late basketball coach Jim Valvano said it while his North Carolina State basketball team was in route to winning the 1983 NCAA Basketball title.

The term is “survive and advance”, and although the Cleveland Browns haven’t advanced anywhere yet, they did survive and have another meaningful game this Saturday afternoon against the Raiders.

And in the crazy AFC, the 24-22 win over the Baltimore Ravens, moved Kevin Stefanski’s crew into second place in the division, moving past both the Steelers and Bengals, who both lost this week.

A win is a win, so we aren’t going to complain about it. Look at some of the other early season favorites in the conference. Buffalo has the same record as Cleveland at 7-6, and next week’s opponent was sitting at 5-3 a few weeks ago, but losing four out of five has them at 6-7.

Even though the Raiders are struggling, if the NFL has taught us nothing this season, it is that things can change in the snap of your fingers. So, the Browns need to improve on Sunday’s performance is they want a victory against the visitors from Las Vegas.

The offense continues to struggle, scoring only 17 points (the other points were the result of Myles Garrett, literally), and although most of the blame is heaped upon Stefanski’s play calling and on Mayfield, it might be another area that is failing.

Last season, Cleveland had one of the league’s best running games, ranking 3rd behind just the Ravens and Titans. And while they still rank 4th in 2021, lately the yards in the ground game have been tough to come by.

In the first five games of the season, the Browns averaged 188 yards per game on the ground. Coincidentally, they also scored 28.4 points in those five contests.

The following eight games shows Cleveland gaining just 116 yards per game rushing, and the points per game has also dropped to 14, half of the total in the first five games.

We understand Nick Chubb missed three of those games, but he has also played in five of the games, and in three of the ones he played in, he rushed for less than 61 yards.

Now, we agree Chubb is one of the best running backs in the game, and we don’t think he has suddenly lost a step, so clearly something is wrong with the run blocking right now, and that needs to be addressed in the last four games of the season.

In the first Baltimore game, Chubb carried just 8 times for 16 yards, as the coaching staff gave up on the running game.

But against the Steelers, Chubb carried 16 times for 61 yards, and then on Sunday, he toted the ball 17 times for 59 yards. In those three games, he totaled 41 carries for 136 yards, just a 3.3 average per carry.

Keep in mind, Chubb averages 5.5 yards per carry for his career.

We have said many times that Baker Mayfield is not the most important offensive player on the Browns, and that it was Chubb.

However, right now, the coaching staff cannot get him untracked, and the entire offense is suffering.

The offensive line, praised by many pundits at the beginning of the season, hasn’t performed up to expectations. This could be because of injuries. Jedrick Wills hurt his ankle in the season opener and hasn’t been right since, and Jack Conklin has had problems with his elbow and then his knee.

And maybe opponents adjusted to what the Browns did a year ago.

Whatever the reason, the Cleveland Browns need to run the football to succeed, and the coaching staff has to figure out a way to unlock that part of the game.

Young Cavs Using Old Philosophies.

There is no doubt the Cleveland Cavaliers are approaching things differently in this NBA season. While there has been a trend toward “small ball”, mostly because of the success of the Golden State Warriors, the Cavs have decided to go big, playing three guys 6’11” and taller in their starting lineup.

One thing about the Warriors, while they used the small lineup mostly because of the defense of Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, they always had a cadre of big men on the roster, players like Andrew Bogut, Zaza Pachulia, and Javale McGee.

And of course, let’s not forget that Kevin Durant is a seven-footer as well.

J.B. Bickerstaff can play the trio of big men, and we can extend the group to include Kevin Love, because they can all move very well, so they can defend on the perimeter as well as near the basket.

It also works because Lauri Markkanen is very good three-point shooter, knocking them down at a 36% clip, and lately, that number has been even better.

If the starting lineup had the mobility of say, Tacko Fall, it wouldn’t work. They would have a tremendous defense disadvantage. But Jarrett Allen helped win a game because he harassed Portland’s Damian Lillard on the perimeter.

But Evan Mobley’s ability to guard anyone anywhere has changed the dynamic. Mobley is not only emerging as the leading candidate for Rookie of the Year (with Toronto’s Scottie Barnes), but should make an all-defensive team, and we think he should get some MVP votes as well.

Bickerstaff also uses only nine men regularly, and some nights go with just eight players. That would seem to be a problem as the season progresses, but the Cavs currently do not have anyone averaging over 34 minutes per night and have eight players playing more than 20 minutes per game.

That would put no one in the top 20 in the league in minutes per game. The highest ranking Cavalier would be Darius Garland at 34.4 minutes. There are 19 teams whose leader in being on the court plays more than that.

For example, the Bulls have three players who play more than 35 minutes on an average night, and Toronto has the league leader in Fred Van Vleet and Barnes is also on the court for 36 minutes.

There haven’t been a lot of instances where anyone wearing the wine and gold have played 40 minutes in a given game.

As noted, Garland leads the team in minutes, but has played 40 minutes just once, and that was just 40:04 in the loss to the Nets in Brooklyn. Allen has played the next most, but hasn’t been above the 40 minutes threshold.

Mobley has logged one game over 40 minutes, and similar to Garland, it was just three seconds over the level.

From what we can tell, the most minutes in a game that a Cleveland player has is the 43 minutes Isaac Okoro played in the loss at home to Golden State. Dean Wade also played 40 minutes that night, and that is the extent of games where a Cavalier was on the court that much.

Of course, having seven wins by 15 points or more helps get rotational players out of games early, and that has been mode for Cleveland lately.

And we wouldn’t be surprised if Cedi Osman’s (22.8) and Love’s (19.9) time on the court increases slightly as both are playing very well off the bench.

What Bickerstaff and the Cavaliers are doing is turning back the clock in NBA basketball. Back to the days where height mattered, a shorter bench, and defense. As for the latter, as long as no player is being overused it shouldn’t be a problem, although we do have concerns about Mobley since he is a rookie.

It just goes to show there aren’t many new concepts in basketball, or sports in general. Just history repeating.

Getting Another Shooter Would Be Huge For Tall Cavs

Last Sunday afternoon, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost a very entertaining game to the Utah Jazz at Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse by one point.

While we were watching the game, it struck us that the wine and gold were kind of playing an older, more experienced version of what they are. Both teams are from small markets, and neither is a destination location for free agents.

The young Cavaliers are taller than the Jazz, but Utah is the second highest scoring team in the NBA, and lead the Association in three point shots made per game, making even more than the poster boys for long range shooting, the Golden State Warriors.

The Jazz are also 4th in the league in percentage from beyond the arc.

Cleveland scores 10 points per night less than the Jazz, making 3.6 less threes than the league leaders (they rank 18th), and are 15th in the league in percentage.

Utah has four players making more than 40% of their long distance shots, and another making 39%.

By contrast, the Cavs have two over 40%, and one of them, Dylan Windler, doesn’t play much mainly because, in our opinion, he is hesitant to shoot the ball. The other is Cedi Osman.

Darius Garland is also making 39% of his threes.

Kevin Love is hitting 36% and Ricky Rubio is at 35%. The player who leads the team in attempts from three point land is Lauri Markkanen, making 33%, although he has made 38.2% of these shots since returning to the lineup from COVID protocols.

The latter’s outside is very important for the starting lineup, although he can do more than be a spot up shooter.

Watching the game, we had the realization that Cleveland needs more guys who can knock down open jumpers from deep, especially with the presence of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley inside.

One problem right now for J.B. Bickerstaff’s squad is lack of “pure” shooters. Collin Sexton made three pointers, but he was really more of a scorer than a shooter. And the man replacing him in the starting lineup, Isaac Okoro, is currently being left alone because teams don’t think he can make a shot from outside.

The second year player, the fifth overall pick a year ago, is making just 22% of his three point attempts, and our guess is until he can make them, he will get plenty more opportunities.

In Monday night’s loss to Milwaukee, Okoro played just 18 minutes, in part because he couldn’t make a shot, missing six shots, including three from distance.

He is a solid defender, make no mistake about that. But much like a good glove man in baseball, unless you can hit at an acceptable level, you don’t get on the field. In hoops, if you are an offensive liability, you can’t be on the floor that long.

Thank goodness for Osman’s development as a long range shooter, because the Cavs would have no one beyond Garland, Love, and Markkanen.

Windler was drafted for this purpose, but he and another reserve, Dean Wade, seem hesitant at times to pull the trigger when they are open.

And neither give you enough in other areas to be on the floor unless they are making shots.

The organization sent Windler to the G-League for a couple of games to see if getting some game time would unlock something. He would seem to be the guy to get more time, but he has to take and make shots when he is in there.

The Cavaliers have made a vast improvement this season and it is mostly on the defensive end. The next step is to get some shooters. Perhaps that will be something GM Koby Altman targets in the trade market if the current success continues.

Otherwise, teams will continue to leave Okoro and the others open and that will provide less room for Garland, Allen, and Mobley to operate inside.

This Week Is A Good Time To Play At Their Best For Browns

With all the doom and gloom about the Cleveland Browns season in 2021, it is hard to remember they are still very much in a playoff race in the jumbled AFC standings.

Yes, they are a .500 football team, the currently the three wild cards in the conference belong to Buffalo (7-5), Cincinnati (7-5) and the Los Angeles Chargers (7-5).

The Browns lost to the Chargers, but beat the Bengals with another contest against them the last game of the season.

All in all, there are 13 teams in the AFC with six or more wins and only New England has nine, and they haven’t had their bye as of yet.

What this means, is despite all of the disappointments from Kevin Stefanski’s squad this season, if they can put together a good stretch of football to close out the season, they can definitely snag one of the seven playoffs spots in the AFC.

An 11-6 mark would certainly make it, but there will be teams with 10-7 records that will be playing on Wild Card Weekend.

Stefanski talks weekly about “one game seasons” and that is exactly how his team has to look at the balance of the schedule because getting tripped up, particularly this Sunday at home against Baltimore will put a huge dent into any post-season plans.

The coaching staff and players can’t talk about more than one game, but we can, and if the Browns can win Sunday and then beat a Las Vegas Raiders’ team that will be (hopefully) braving the cold elements along the lake the following Saturday, then Cleveland will be 8-6 and in much better shape, no?

That would give them three games remaining, at Green Bay on Christmas Day (good luck scheduling dinner around this one), at Pittsburgh on Monday night, January 3rd, and the finale at home vs. Cincinnati, which good have huge implications.

Actually, all five games feature two teams who have the playoffs on their mind, so it won’t be easy. And we never said it would be.

All of this is possible if the Browns solved the issues that have hampered their offense over the last nine games, in which they have scored 40 or more points twice, and less than 17 points in every other contest.

We have referred to the old football adage, “you can’t win unless you can run the ball and stop the run”, many times.

Since the loss to the Chargers, in which the Browns scored 42 points and ran for 230 yards, they have only run for 100 yards or more three times in the past seven contests, and have allowed opponents to exceed that figure in five of the last seven.

Not a good recipe for success.

Granted, Nick Chubb missed two of those games, but the signature of this football team is success on the ground. And although we think Stefanski has the makings of a fine coach, we are sure the analytics people are telling him he abandoned the run prematurely in a few of those games.

Still, if you remember the second half of last season, a number of those games started with success in the passing game, and then were salted away by ramming Chubb and Kareem Hunt down the throat of opponents.

Perhaps that is one thing that will be tweaked after the bye.

The defense against the run must be shored up though, and right away. The Browns’ defense has allowed 500 yards in the last three games in total. That simply cannot happen in the AFC North, and when the weather gets a little rougher.

We know this team has not played its best football to this point in the season. That has to start coming up this Sunday and continue as long as they are playing.

It sound simple and it really is.

When Baseball Is Back, Cleveland Fans Could Use Good News

Major League Baseball locked out the players when the Collective Bargaining Agreement ended at midnight on December 2nd.

Many fans of the Cleveland Guardians thought the organization might have been under the impression the lockout started a couple of weeks ago.

While the days leading up to the end of baseball operations were filled with free agent signings and huge financial commitments to players, as well as some trades (yes, try to reconcile that when the owners say the sport needs to be “fixed”), the offices on Carnegie and Ontario stayed quiet.

Hopefully, the people who run the National Pastime come to their senses and resolve their differences soon, and when that happens, the Guardians have plenty of time and opportunity to improve the roster, but from a fan’s viewpoint, the inactivity at Progressive Field while everyone else is making moves is maddening.

We asked on social media, when was the last time this organization did anything for its fan base, you know, their customers? The most common response was trading for Andrew Miller in the pennant winning season of 2016. That’s five and a half years ago.

A couple mentioned the trade for Brad Hand, which occurred in 2018. Again, that’s 3-1/2 years in the past.

And the owner wonders why fans don’t come to the ballpark.

Imagine if your favorite retail establishment didn’t have a sale for 40 months or your significant other hadn’t done anything extra special for you for five years. You’d be kind of ticked off, right?

That’s how the major league team in Cleveland treats its fan base. With utter disdain.

The name change has been handled less than ideally. They released merchandise with the Guardians’ moniker and the new logo (called with disdain anything from “the flying G” to 92.3 The Fan’s Ken Carman calling it “the Paulie Walnuts logo”), but no “on field” merchandise (uniforms and caps) are available yet.

The new team shop sign at Progressive Field fell off the building the day of the name change. And the sign at the entrance to the ballpark has the word “Guardians” slightly off center.

A wise man once told me if you have time enough to do something twice, you have the time to do it once correctly.

Meanwhile, back to the personnel, the Guardians offered arbitration to all the players eligible on the 40 man roster. So, Bradley Zimmer is still part of the organization and will likely get a decent pay raise despite how he has performed over the past few seasons.

The Guards did sign two minor league free agents in catcher Sandy Leon, who was here in 2020, but hasn’t hit over .200 since 2017, and pitcher Enyel De Los Santos, who had a 6.37 ERA with the Pirates and the Phillies in 35 innings last season.

Oops, goosebumps just shot up the back of my arms.

We are sure the franchise will be mentioned, along with Pittsburgh, Miami, and others as revenue sharing is discussed during the labor contract. One of the owners’ problems with this is the money given to small market franchises isn’t used to help the big league rosters.

Both the owners and players agree this isn’t good for the sport.

There is an old saying that any publicity is good publicity, but it would be nice if some good news emanated out of the Guardians’ offices downtown.

Heck, it might result in selling a ticket or two. Then the organization would have to find something else to complain about.

Not Just Mobley, Other Cavs Are Stepping Up

So, Evan Mobley returns to the lineup last Saturday, and the Cleveland Cavaliers end their five game losing streak with a win and then go to Dallas Monday night, and blow out the Mavericks.

Seems simplistic to say the rookie is pretty important to the fortunes of the wine and gold, no?

While J.B. Bickerstaff’s team is 12-6 with Mobley in the lineup, it should be pointed out that during the those five contests without a win, the Cavs were at various points, missing Jarrett Allen and Lauri Markkanen as well.

Cleveland is 12-7 when Allen plays, and 7-6 when Markkanen is on the court. And to be fair, they are 7-4 when Collin Sexton plays.

Through the first 25% of the season, it is clear, when healthy, the Cleveland Cavaliers are a solid basketball team.

And they haven’t exactly played an easy schedule. They already have made one west coast trip and they’ve only played three teams (Toronto, Detroit, and Orlando) with losing records.

(That’s a little misleading because only 9 teams in the NBA right now have losing records. Out of 30 teams, that’s kind of weird).

Obviously, the contributions of Rookie of the Year candidate (dare we say favorite?) Mobley are a big factor in the success of the team. The third overall pick in last summer’s draft is scoring 14.5 points, grabbing 8 rebounds, dishing out 2.6 assists, and blocking 2 shots per night.

And the big lineup favored by Bickerstaff, using Mobley with Markkanen and Allen together and having Kevin Love as a backup, has been a big success so far.

We have said it for awhile, despite the emphasis on three point shooting and point guards, quality big people are still very important in professional basketball.

There are other factors for the early success as well. Darius Garland continues to improve in all areas. His points per game and assists per game, as well as his overall shooting percentage are all increased from a year ago.

Getting Ricky Rubio has been big too. Although his scoring and shooting have tapered off from the hot streak he had in early November, having a veteran that understands how to play in significant. That he moves the ball, averaging 6.3 dimes per night, helps as well.

And Cedi Osman has turned into a viable three point threat. In the past, we always felt Osman was misused as a shooter, when his real strength was as a slasher and creator. This was because he made just 30.6% of his long range shots a year ago, and more than half his shot came from behind the arc.

This year, Osman has made 43% from three point land, and with the loss of Sexton to injury, it has been needed. He has become what the organization thought Dylan Windler would be, someone who could stretch the defense.

Is the 43% figure sustainable? Maybe it isn’t, but it’s much, much better than 30%.

It’s not all rosy. The injuries were a problem because beyond the top eight players Bickerstaff uses, there isn’t much. Dean Wade is getting minutes and really doesn’t produce much, but he does gobble up minutes. He did have one real good outing against Golden State, but that’s really about it.

Windler has had injuries, but came to the league purported as someone who could do more than shoot, but he hasn’t been good in that department.

Lamar Stevens gives good effort and can defend, but that’s about it, and Denzel Valentine got some minutes when the injuries hit, and showed he needs to develop a better basketball IQ, taking ill-advised shots and some forced passes.

Perhaps if the Cavs stay in the thick of the playoff hunt, GM Koby Altman can make a move to bolster the end of the bench.

It’s fun to watch the Cleveland Cavaliers again. Of course, winning is part of having fun.

Browns Need Solutions During Week Off

We have decided there is something involved with NFL telecasts that cause people to lose their collective minds. There is no other explanation for what we hear from people, both personally and on social media after the Cleveland Browns lose a football game.

Rather than blame the coaching staff and the quarterback, knee-jerk reactions for many, we prefer to look at other areas as to why a team that had Super Bowl aspirations coming into the season is instead sitting at 6-6.

This isn’t to say Kevin Stefanski hasn’t made mistakes and/or Baker Mayfield is playing at an All-Pro level. That isn’t true. However, it is far from the only or even main reason this football team is in a funk.

Offensively, the play of the wide receiving corps leaves a lot to be desired, and quite frankly, the Patriots and Ravens have given the rest of the NFL the blueprint to defend the Cleveland running game.

Simply put, it is load the box and dare one of the Browns’ receivers to get open. Outside of the occasional Jarvis Landry play, they can’t do it.

Think about the first drive on Sunday night. Mayfield had a completion to the Baltimore 10, but Donovan Peoples-Jones dropped it. Could the Browns punched it into the end zone from there? Maybe, and if they did, how different is that game.

The Browns are said to have a great offensive line, and certainly the middle of that unit, C J.C. Tretter and guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller are excellent players. However, the tackles are not at that same level, and we say that understanding Jack Conklin has missed a lot of the year with injuries.

To be frank, last year’s first round pick, Jedrick Wills, has had a disappointing sophomore season. He missed some time with an ankle injury earlier, but he is not providing the blind side protection Mayfield (or any quarterback needs).

And Blake Hance is a reserve on the other side.

This leaves the Browns vulnerable to outside speed rushers and is one reason Stefanski favors quick throws as part of the attack, to ease the pressure on his tackles.

We aren’t giving up on Wills, but it will be interesting to see if his spot is addressed in the draft.

We also keep coming back to the defense. Yes, yes, we know they forced four turnovers against the Ravens. Want to know what they didn’t do?

Stop the run. Again. Baltimore rushed for 148 yards, and when it counted in the fourth quarter, shoved it down the defenses throat, eating five minutes off the clock.

Isn’t that the same as Mayfield having big stats, but then failing to lead a fourth quarter comeback?

It is the sixth time in the last eight games, the defense has allowed more than 100 yards on the ground, and that’s a killer.

And the 148 yards by Baltimore is the LEAST gained running the ball in the last three weeks.

If you cannot stop the run in the NFL, you have a big problem. If you look at the teams allowing the most rushing yards, it’s a lot of losing teams, the Lions, Texans, Jets, and Giants among them.

The Chargers, Vikings, and Steelers are also in this group. LA has the best record on the group at 6-5.

Yes, it’s a passing league, but you must stop the run.

The remaining schedule isn’t easy, but a win after the bye in the rematch against Baltimore puts the Browns back on the periphery of contention. As the head coach said, it’s a week to week battle right now.

Hopefully, some solutions will be found in the week off.