Browns’ Defense Needs Fixing…And Now Would Be Good

Probably the most disheartening defeat the Cleveland Browns had since their return to the NFL in 1999 was the Dwayne Rudd helmet game, when he was penalized for taking his helmet off on what would have been the last play of the game, and instead the Kansas City Chiefs were able to kick a game-winning field goal.

Mr. Rudd is now off the hook.

Today, Tramon Williams, a nine-year NFL veteran, jumped offside as San Diego kicker Josh Lambo missed a 39-yard field goal, which would have sent the game into overtime.

Instead, Lambo made a 34-yarder and the Browns dropped to 1-3 after a 30-27 loss to the Chargers.

Play like a Brown, indeed.

And while we are sure the sports talk in Cleveland will continue the “who should start at quarterback” debate that rages annually in this town, the real question should be “why does this defense stink?”

The Chargers came into this game with a battered offensive line, and had wide receivers leaving the game, and yet, Mike Pettine and defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil’s defense couldn’t slow, let alone stop, the San Diego offense.

Philip Rivers led the Lightning Bolt attack to 438 total yards, and only sacked Rivers twice, while allowing big play after big play, particularly in the second half.

The Cleveland defense allowed five plays of over 20 yards, three of them in the second half, and two of those immediately after the Browns scored, one to take the lead, and the other to close within one point.

Right now, the defense is akin to having a bad bullpen in baseball. You fight to score and take a lead or to get close, and the defense gives up a huge play to give it away.

Pettine came into the game saying San Diego RB Danny Woodhead was a match up nightmare, but apparently he didn’t do anything about that, as Woodhead took a short pass over the middle and ran 61 yards to the CLE 19 after the Browns took a 16-13 lead.

Then, he ran for 19 yards on the last drive to put the Chargers into field goal range, which after Williams’ gaffe, they converted to win the game.

Pettine needs to get this fixed now. And we don’t want to hear excuses (from fans, Pettine won’t make them) that Joe Haden was hurt, and Tashaun Gipson was nicked up too.

The front office and coaching staff has spent many high draft choices and money on free agency on the defense, and to continue to get this kind of result is a disgrace.

It is time to either change personnel and/or scheme, because it isn’t working for Pettine and O’Neil.

It is ironic that one of the sack the Browns had today was from a rookie, DE Xavier Cooper. Maybe more youngsters should be on the field.

Donte Whitner had seven tackles to lead the team, but how many do you remember as being a big play?

The offense gained 432 yards, controlled the ball for 34 minutes, and put 27 points on the board, so you cannot blame them, no matter how many big play guys they are supposed to be lacking.

A couple other thoughts…

People have been asking about using last year’s first round pick, Justin Gilbert, on kick returns, something he excelled at in college. He returned three kickoffs for an average of 36.7 yards per return. Why wasn’t he used there sooner?

Cleveland threw on the first three plays of the game, and 10 of the first 16 plays. Again, running the ball is a mindset, and the Browns seem confused as to how they should play with the ball. Maybe Pettine can communicate this to offensive coordinator John DiFillippo.

The receiving corps is productive without any contribution from Dwayne Bowe. Cut him, and bring in a player who can impact the performance within a game.

Now it’s on to Baltimore with the Ravens coming off a win that salvaged their season, at least for now.

If the coaching staff cannot fix the defense, the Browns season may be beyond that point.

The Tristan Dilemma

Training camp started for the Cleveland Cavaliers this week, and while they are a welcome respite from the mediocrity of the Browns or Indians, there is still an issue hanging over the team.

Tristan Thompson isn’t in camp yet and is still seeking a maximum contract, an estimated $94 million over six years. Reportedly, the Cavaliers have countered with $80 million over five seasons.

The problem is that although Thompson is a very good player, providing he is on a very good team, which the Cavaliers are, he isn’t a starter, and would another team pay him that kind of cash.

Remember, before LeBron James returned to the Cavs, Thompson was looked at as a disappointment because his offensive game is basically non-existent.

In 2013-14, Thompson averaged 11.7 points and 9.2 rebounds per night playing in all 82 games, which is a regular occurrence for the former 4th overall pick.

However, if you are counting on him to be a big contributor on the offensive end, forget it. Thompson can score by grabbing offensive rebounds and putting the ball in the basket or by getting a layup or dunk off another player’s penetration.

He can’t create his own shot, and even if he could, you don’t want him taking it.

You see Thompson has made just 36.7% of his shots from more than three feet away in his career. Yes, you read that right, THREE FEET AWAY.

The people who think the Cavs should pay Thompson have usually two agendas. The first is the worry that it would upset LeBron James, and those people have the constant worry than James will leave for free agency again if he isn’t coddled all the time.

The second concern is that this team is poised to win a championship and therefore, any distractions would be counterproductive, so it would be prudent to just give Thompson the cash.

We would counter that by saying that originally James said he would not sign until everyone else came back, but he didn’t wait until Tristan inked his deal. This may mean that although LBJ sides with his fellow players at least publicly, behind the scenes, he thinks Thompson isn’t reasonable with his demand.

The distraction point is kind of insulting to James’ leadership. He is simply not going to let something like this get in the way of a run toward a title.

Is Thompson worth a maximum deal? Of course not. And the Cavs have to look at the fact that if they pay Thompson the money he is looking for, he will be making roughly the same amount of money as Kyrie Irving, a two-time All Star.

And they have to pay Timofey Mozgov next year too, and he is probably more important to the wine and gold because he’s a rim protector (Thompson averages less than a block per game) and a better offensive player.

Thompson is taking a risk if he signs a qualifying offer, not only because he would leave something like $73 million on the table, but also because there are only a limited amount of teams where his style of play makes a difference.

Can you imagine, let’s say Brooklyn giving him a max deal? They will expect something like 16 points and 12 rebounds per night. Thompson isn’t capable of those numbers, so he will get a lot of grief from a new fan base when he plays like Tristan Thompson.

A compromise is needed and we believe it will occur with Thompson getting less than maximum dollars, but getting the long-term deal because he is important to this franchise.

And then he can go out and be appreciated like he should being the player he is for a championship contending team.

Tribe Starters Fine, But Bullpen Needs Overhaul in ’16

A week ago, we talked about how the past few weeks for the Cleveland Indians should eliminate any notion in the front office’s collective minds that minor tinkering is all the Tribe needs heading into next season.

The offense ranks in the bottom third of the American League and there is no question that should be the primary area of concern this winter.

On the other hand, the pitching staff currently ranks 2nd in the AL in staff ERA, and ranks in the top three in the league in most of the major categories (hits allowed, strikeouts, least walks) and leads the AL in complete games.

The preference would be the leave the pitching staff alone, particularly the starters, because if you are statistically one of the best staffs in your league, why would you make any moves.

However, pitching staffs can be volatile from year to year, and in order to get the bat the Indians so desperately needs, you may have to give up a starting pitcher.

And the Tribe, despite the adage that when you think you have too much pitching, you go out and get more, has some depth in the rotation.

Without question, the big four of Corey Kluber, Carlos Carrasco, Danny Salazar, and Trevor Bauer, are pretty durable, and in spite of Bauer’s inconsistent second half, are pretty darn good.

You also have Cody Anderson and Josh Tomlin, both of whom were great after they got healthy after the All Star Game.

Add in T.J. House, who was solid last year, but injured for most of this year, and prospects Mike Clevenger (acquired from the Angels a year ago for Vinnie Pestano) and Adam Plutko, and you can see there is hope for the future.

And perhaps Gavin Floyd will be back as well.

If you have to trade one of the starters, which one should go?

Bauer would be a popular choice, but he’s also the youngest of the quartet, and based on his second half, probably has the least market value.

Kluber would bring the most in return, but he figures to have a bounce back season in 2016 and we would still say in an elite starter.

We would dangle Salazar because we think he is the most mentally fragile. He may improve this with experience, but he doesn’t seem to battle his way out of trouble when things start to go bad.

The bullpen should be rebuilt because outside of closer Cody Allen, the relief corps was inconsistent down the stretch. Zack McAllister has a dominant fastball, but needs to be able to throw a breaking pitch for a strike.

Bryan Shaw seems to be suffering from the huge workload he has had over the past two years, and would seem to have decent trade value.

The rest of the ‘pen is filled with guys that Terry Francona doesn’t have a great deal of faith in, although we would keep Kyle Crockett because he’s demonstrated in the past that he can be effective vs. left-handed hitters.

There are some options in the minor leagues too that haven’t received a decent shot at the major league level. Shawn Armstrong deserves a shot, and the club could take a good look at Jeff Johnson and Josh Martin as well, and there be plenty of veterans available as well in free agency.

The pitching staff is the strength of this team. Unfortunately, the offense wasted a great job by the staff in 2015.

Browns Continue to Search For Identity

If you ask Browns’ coach Mike Pettine and GM Ray Farmer to tell you how they envisioned their team winning games this season, we are sure they would tell you victory could be accomplished with a strong defense and an offense that can run the ball effectively.

Three games into the season, they better improve that plan or come up with a new one because both were virtually non-existent in today’s 27-20 loss to the Oakland Raiders, which dropped the Browns to 1-2 on the season.

The Raiders gashed the Cleveland defense all day long, and as you can well imagine, if the Browns’ supposed best defender, CB Joe Haden, is having a bad day, the rest of the defense is struggling too.

Haden was assigned to rookie WR Amari Cooper to start the game, and the first year player out of Alabama had a huge first drive, catching three passes for 54 yards, and Jim O’Neil’s unit was off to a very long day.

And once again, Oakland’s running game, which had struggled for the first two contests, flourished today, as Latavius Murray ran for 139 yards on 26 attempts, and overall the Raiders hammered the Browns for 155 yards and a 5.2 average per carry.

This has now been a problem for two years under the Pettine/O’Neil coaching staff (really, it has been a problem since 1999), and our question is, when will it be fixed? It’s a complete and utter joke right now, and it is time for the staff to come up with an answer.

The Browns’ defense allowed 469 yards of total offense, and created only one turnover.

We said it after the opening day loss to the Jets, and we will repeat it today. If the Browns don’t play very good defense, it will be a long, long season for the team.

Their success is predicated on stopping the opposing offense. It is where they have expended a great deal of money through free agency, and high draft picks.

As for the offense, once again, the inability to run the ball or even to commit to the run was left lacking.

Cleveland ran for just 39 yards against a team allowing 118 yards per games against the rush.

On the first drive for the Browns, they tried two runs and threw four passes. The second drive? The same, two running plays and four pass plays (one a sack). The next possession was a three and out, consisting of two passes and a run.

If you are going to commit to the run, you have to stay with it. Does Pettine and offensive coordinator John DiFillipo think they are going to open every game gaining five yards per carry?

Isaiah Crowell had just 10 carries for 36 yards, one a 17-yard jaunt just short of the end zone. The Browns tried him twice from the one, but he could not get it in.

The turning point of the game came late in the second quarter after the Browns’ Travis Coons kicked a 24-yard field goal with 1:44 left in the first half.

The Raiders quickly went 65 yards in five plays to tack on a TD before halftime and give Oakland a confidence boost, and a 17-3 advantage.

Josh McCown was okay, completing 28 of 49 throws for 341 yards with two touchdowns and a pick.

However, three times by our count, he had Travis Benjamin behind the defense and couldn’t make a connection. We guess the “luck” Johnny Manziel had a week ago in completing those throws wasn’t with the veteran today.

So, the supposed soft part of the Cleveland schedule is over, and it is off to San Diego next week to take on a Chargers team that was embarrassed by Minnesota today. It won’t be any easier.

If Pettine and his staff cannot get this defense and running game to be any better. Any hopes of building an identity this season could be out the window.

That’s very disconcerting for the football fans of northeast Ohio.

Last Two Weeks Shows Tribe Need Off-Season Help

After GM Chris Antonetti made the deal with Atlanta sending Nick Swisher and Michael Bourn south, the Cleveland Indians started to play better and worked their way back to the outside fringe of the wild card race.

However, once in that position, the Tribe went back to a win one, lose one stretch, and dropping the first two games of a key series against another contender, the Minnesota Twins, virtually eliminates Terry Francona’s team from post-season consideration.

In a way, that’s good, because it won’t give anyone on the corner of Carnegie and Ontario a notion that the Cleveland Indians are a solid baseball team heading into the winter.

We see four position players who should have starting jobs when the 2016 season opens at Progressive Field on April 4th:

2B Jason Kipnis
SS Francisco Lindor
C Yan Gomes
?? Michael Brantley

Every other position should have competition.

The question mark around Brantley is because we think a move to 1B could be in the cards for him. He’s played the position in the minor leagues, and if the front office finds it easier to find a LF, then perhaps Brantley can be the new first baseman.

We say that because we do not think Carlos Santana will be back in ’16, because he will be dealt.

Santana, a polarizing figure because the sabermetric people love him because he walks, However, he is just slightly above average offensively in the AL, hitting just .234 with 17 HR and 79 RBI with a 749 OPS. The league average is 729.

The switch-hitter will be 30 years old next year, meaning he should be entering the decline phase of his career. It would be best for Antonetti to move Santana to a stat based organization while he still has value. Remember, the Tribe owes him $8 million next year with a club option of $12 million for 2017.

We would also like to see Jose Ramirez back with the team, although he might have the best trade value among the everyday players whom the Indians would be willing to deal.

3B? Giovanny Urshela is excellent defensively, but can he hit enough to play everyday?

CF? Abraham Almonte is a nice fourth outfielder, but the Indians need someone better to hold down the fort until Bradley Zimmer is ready to take over, and hopefully that will be late next season.

RF? Lonnie Chisenhall has been great defensively, but we have seen his up and downs with the bat over the years. Out of all the other positions, Chisenhall may be the guy we would give a shot to, at least in a platoon role.

LF/1B/DH? As we said, Brantley will hold down one of these spots, and he is developing into one of the league’s premier hitters. But the other two spots need people who can hit, and with the game changing, guys who hit for a good average, that don’t strike out excessively, and have a little pop would be fine.

Chris Johnson does whiff a lot, but we’d be willing to give him a share of one of these spots to start next year.

We understand that we are talking about a lot of changes, but we believe going with the status quo is not prudent if the Tribe wants to make the post-season.

Antonetti needs to be looking to upgrade at more than half of the positions in the lineup for next year. And we understand they may not be blockbuster moves, just incremental improvement at those spots would be acceptable.

We will discuss the pitching staff next week.

The Pro and Cons on Tito’s Managing

Ever since Terry Francona became the manager of the Cleveland Indians after the 2012 season, he has more or less been the face of the franchise, which is kind of unusual for the manager of the team.

He came to the team with the cache of winning two World Series titles in Boston, breaking the infamous “Curse of the Bambino”, the first world title in Beantown since 1918.

And in his first season with the Tribe, he took a team that finished with 68 wins in ’12, and led them to a spot in the Wild Card game, leading the Indians to 92 victories, a whopping 24 win turnaround.

Last season, Francona had his squad in contention until the final weekend of the regular season, finishing with 88 wins, the first consecutive winning seasons for Cleveland since 2000-01.

There is no question Tito is a player’s manager. He keeps everything in the clubhouse for the most part, and his players love that. And from reading the book about his years in Boston, he likes to have veterans around to police the locker room, feeling constructive criticism means more coming from one’s peers than always from the skipper.

So, there is no question here, that the atmosphere Francona has created in Cleveland has a great deal to do with changing the culture, and contributes to the team’s success.

Even this year, it would have been understandable if the Tribe would have folded its tent, especially when they fell 10 games below .500 in early August.

However, they have roared back into the fringe of contention and as we enter play tonight they are 4-1/2 games out of the second wild card, and only three games back in the loss column.

The point that this team never gives up is the strongest recommendation we can make for Francona’s managing style.

In terms of in-game tactics and lineup construction, well, that’s another story.

Last week, in a key game against Kansas City, trailing 2-0 in the ninth inning, the Indians got the first two runners on base. Francona then pinch hit Mike Aviles for Jerry Sands, and anyone watching the game knew a bunt was coming.

We could see the strategy if it were a tie game (a fly ball would win it), or even down one run (can score tying run with an out). However, down two runs, it is a horrible mistake.

You had three outs remaining, and you gave one up on purpose.

Aviles did bunt, and didn’t advance the runners. Soon, the game ended in a 2-0 defeat.

The Indians lead the American League in sacrifice bunts with 44, a statistic that drives sabermetric people crazy. We kind of agree. Giving up outs is crazy.

Francona no doubt has his favorites, and it usually a veteran player. He has somehow given Aviles almost 300 at bats, despite a 623 OPS, a mediocre figure by any standard.

And his lack of usage for newly acquired Chris Johnson, a career .300 hitter vs. left handers, seems odd too. If we were in charge, Johnson’s name would be in the lineup everyday right now, with Giovanny Urshela struggling.

We have addressed Francona’s stubbornness in the past, his patience has developed into that at times.

His recent bullpen strategy has developed into that lately, as set up men Zack McAllister and Bryan Shaw have struggled since the beginning of August, yet the skipper hasn’t tried any alternatives.

He’s also been tentative in bringing along young players save for Francisco Lindor and Urshela, but that’s because he had no alternatives.

If he does, the young guy, whether it be Tyler Holt, Jesus Aguilar, or even Zack Walters (not a fan) gets sporadic at bats, which usually results in no production.

We would agree that the clubhouse presence is more important to this team than the lack of strategic performance, at least for this organization.

That doesn’t mean it doesn’t drive us up the wall.

Panic Can Be Eased, Browns Now 1-1

It was doom and gloom all week in Cleveland regarding the Browns, after they played a horrible game in the season opener and got hammered by the New York Jets.

The reality is most teams that turn the ball over five times will probably lose, and a 21 point loss might just be the average margin of victory.

Today, they didn’t turn the ball over once (more on that later), and surprise, surprise, the wound up winning their home opener, defeating the Tennessee Titans, 28-14 at First Energy Stadium.

The turnovers were the difference as the Browns’ defense forced three of them, and harassed rookie QB Marcus Mariota all day long, sacking him seven times as Cleveland evened its record to 1-1.

The Browns were aggressive early, as Johnny Manziel found WR Travis Benjamin for a 60-yard touchdown pass on the second offensive play to give Cleveland an early 7-0 advantage.

After a Terrance West fumble (Ray Farmer and Mike Pettine had to be smiling to themselves after that), the offense took advantage of the short field to move 50 yards in seven plays into the end zone as Isaiah Crowell ran it in from 11 yards to make it 14-0.

It seemed that Pettine and offensive coordinator John DiFillippo went a little conservative in the play calling after that, probably to take pressure off of Manziel, making just his third professional start.

They got a bonus at the end of the half when Benjamin struck again, taking a punt 78 yards to another TD. However, “The Rabbit” wasn’t done.

After the Titans climbed back into the game with two touchdowns to make it 21-14 with a little over six minutes to go, on a 3rd and 6 from midfield, Manziel scrambled away from pressure and found Benjamin again for a score on a play that looked like Johnny Football’s days at Texas A & M.

Manziel threw just 15 times, completing eight for 172 yards and the two touchdown tosses.

Now, for the negatives in the victory.

Once again, the Browns had problems against the run, particularly in setting the edge, forcing runners inside. The Titans ran for 166 yards, with Dexter McCluster getting 98 of them on just 10 carries.

The defense did a little better on third down, allowing 7 of 16 conversions, but did not get off the field well in the first half.

To be fair, because Cleveland scored on big plays, Jim O’Neil’s unit was on the field for 35 minutes today, so fatigue could have been a factor.

Manziel fumbled two more times, but was fortunate that his teammates recovered both miscues. He must be more diligent with ball security, particularly when his team has the lead. If either ball had been recovered by Tennessee, we might be talking about a different outcome today.

Who did well? Besides Benjamin, Crowell gained 72 yards on 15 carries and gashed the Titans in the second half.

Duke Johnson showed improvement as well, getting 43 yards on 12 totes of the pigskin.

Armonty Bryant had 2-1/2 sacks and John Hughes had 1-1/2 as well, as there was much more pressure on the QB than last week.

It didn’t show in the stats, but Tramon Williams was solid too, making nice open field tackles to stop Titan ball carriers short of first down yardage.

And Andy Lee is showing he was worth the 7th round draft pick the Browns used to get him, as he is proving to be a great weapon. He averaged 53.2 yards on six punts.

So, the Raiders come to FES next week in another winnable game. Still, the Browns have to play well, and improve on this week’s performance if they want to get over .500.

However, the panic about an awful season should be abated for a week. The Browns showed that when they play like they want to (run the ball, play solid defense), they are capable of winning games.

It’s Still Just One Game For Browns

There isn’t much more that could have gone wrong for the Cleveland Browns last Sunday against the New York Jets in the 31-10 loss in the season opener.

Five turnovers, 12 penalties, a defense that couldn’t stop the run or put pressure on Ryan Fitzpatrick, and an offensive line that struggled all day were the main culprits in a resounding defeat.

However, the beatdown doesn’t relegate the team to a 2-14 or 3-13 season.

Last year, four teams were thumped on the opening weekend for pro football.

Green Bay was hammered by Seattle 36-16, yet finished the year at 12-4.

New England was beaten by Miami 33-20, yet ended the season at 12-4 and hoisted the Lombardi Trophy.

The Rams lost to Minnesota 34-6, but they wound up at 6-10 at season’s end, and the Giants were beaten by the Lions, 35-14 and also finished 2014 at 6-10.

To be sure, the Browns are probably closer the last season’s Rams or Giants than they are to the Packers or Patriots, but it serves to remind us that it is just one game, and this Sunday’s contest vs. Tennessee is a chance for redemption.

The ultimate example that you cannot examine an entire season based on the first game of the year comes from 1989 and our rivals to the east, the Pittsburgh Steelers.

As you may remember, the Steelers opened the campaign at home against the Browns in Bud Carson’s first game as a head coach and received a 51-0 shellacking.

Pittsburgh turned the ball over eight times and had just 53 total yards of offense in the blowout. By the way, that Pittsburgh team featured noted Johnny Manziel fan Merril Hoge.

The next week, the Steelers were hammered once again, this time on the road in Cincinnati, 41-10. This time, they didn’t turn the ball over at all, but their defense was gouged by 520 total yards by the Bengals.

Did that Pittsburgh team finish with the overall number one pick in the draft?

No, they righted their season, won the last four games of the year, and made the playoffs with a 9-7 record.

To be fair, the Steelers were guided by a Hall of Fame coach in Chuck Noll, who by that time had won four Super Bowls, but it shows what can happen by judging a team on such a small sample size.

We don’t know what will happen the rest of the year for the Cleveland Browns, and we agree that if the defense doesn’t play significantly better than they did last weekend, it could be a long, long season.

The Browns may have played their worst game of the season in week one. We understand that right now, we don’t have any other performances to compare it to, and with all of the hype that goes into the opener, the disappointment of a horrible game hits fans hard.

On the other hand, the Browns could come out and confuse rookie QB Marcus Mariota like Ohio State did in the national championship game, and have success running the ball that they need. Those things would likely add up to a victory and a 1-1 record to start the year.

We would be more concerned if the Browns played well and still had their heads handed to them. They played horrible and lost.

That could have happened in week seven, and it wouldn’t have been a huge deal.

Bullpen May Be What Kills Tribe’s Chances

This would have been unbelievable to fathom about six weeks ago, but somehow, the Cleveland Indians still have a shot, albeit slim, at a playoff spot.

In fact, if they win tonight, they will gain on someone because since the Rangers and Astros are playing each other, one of them has to lose, so Terry Francona’s squad would be either 3-1/2 or 4 out with a victory this evening.

The hitting has picked up and the starting pitching continues to be solid even with injuries to Corey Kluber and Carlos Carrasco, mostly because Josh Tomlin and Cody Anderson have picked up the slack.

Because the Indians aren’t a great team, another leak has sprung up and right now, Francona is showing stubbornness in not trying something different.

And that would be the bullpen, more specifically, the two guys the skipper has used in the 7th and 8th innings for most of the season, namely Zack McAllister and Bryan Shaw.

Neither pitcher has been particularly effective since the beginning of August.

McAllister has a world-class fastball, clocked in the upper 90s MPH, but doesn’t have a reliable off-speed pitch, which is exactly the reason he is no longer a starter. When he has good fastball command, he can be a solid bullpen option, but lately? Not so much.

Since August 1st, here are his statistics–

13-1/3 IP, 15 hits, 5 walks, 14 strikeouts, 3 home runs allowed, and a 4.05 ERA.

That’s not exactly locking down the opposition hitters.

Shaw has been in his role longer, dating back to the second half of the 2014 season, and perhaps the wear and tear of working as much as he has is taking a toll.

And although he has a plus heater, and can have a biting slider, as of late, that pitch has been hanging, and a slider that doesn’t slide gets hit a long way.

Here is what Shaw has done since the end of July–

20-1/3 IP, 27 hits, 5 walks, 16 strikeouts, 3 homers allowed, and a 4.43 ERA.

The troubles these two have gone through are taking a toll on closer Cody Allen, who has often been used for more than one inning lately, and that could cause another problem over the last three weeks of the season.

As we all know, Tito is extremely loyal to his guys, and seems willing to go down with the ship with McAllister and Shaw.

It would have been nice had GM Chris Antonetti would have gone out and got another bullpen arm before the end of August when he saw his team creeping back into contention.

What can Francona do?

He has started giving some high leverage work to veteran Jeff Manship, who came into the year with a career ERA of over 5.00. He’s been doing the job, as he has a 1.11 ERA for the Tribe covering 32-1/3 innings.

Guys like Ryan Webb and Austin Adams haven’t been lights out in their limited chances, so a bold choice would be to see what rookie Shawn Armstrong can give the team.

Armstrong has pitched 5-2/3 innings with the big club and hasn’t allowed a run, striking out seven. He had 16 saves at Columbus, fanning 80 hitters in 49-2/3 frames.

There is a precedent for such a move. In 2002, the Angels won their only World Series title using Francisco Rodriguez throughout the stretch and the playoffs.

It has been done.

Francona just has to stop being stubborn and try someone else. The Indians aren’t in a situation where they can lose a game in the late innings. It’s a gamble for sure, but it’s not like McAllister and Shaw have been dominant either.

Defense Must Be Very Good For Browns to Win. It Wasn’t Vs. Jets.

If the Cleveland Browns want to succeed, they must be a very good defensive team.

Unfortunately, today they weren’t and they lost yet another season opener, getting pounded by the New York Jets, 31-10 at Met Life Stadium.

To be sure, people will point to the five turnovers by the Browns as the reason they lost, and they certainly didn’t help the cause, but we will point to several things that didn’t put Jim O’Neil’s defense in a good light.

In the first half, the Browns dominated play yet trailed going into the locker room 14-10.

In baseball, announcers and managers talk about response runs. After you score, the pitcher has to shut down the opposition.

The Cleveland defense failed to do this in the first half.

After the Browns took the lead in the second quarter on a touchdown pass from Johnny Manziel to Travis Benjamin. It only took the Jets six plays and 80 seconds to tie the game.

Of course, it didn’t help that the defense forced a turnover (it turned out to be the only one for Cleveland) when Tashaun Gipson picked off QB Ryan Fitzpatrick, but was stripped of the ball by WR Brandon Marshall (more on him later).

Two plays later, the Jets tied the game. The interception and resulting fumble was probably the turning point of the game.

After trading punts, the Browns took the lead on a Travis Coons’ field goal, but once again the Jets marched right down the field in nine plays, moving 72 yards in 2:20 to take the lead going into the half.

It doesn’t help your defensive play when the unit’s best player, All-Pro cornerback Joe Haden gets abused by the player he is assigned to shut down. Marshall caught six throws for 62 yards and a TD, but he also extended several drives with third down conversions.

The defense allowed seven third down conversions out of 13 opportunities.

Haden will play better because he’s been excellent in the past, but today simply wasn’t his day.

As we mentioned before, the turnovers didn’t help and was a big reason the Browns didn’t have the lead going into halftime.

Starting QB Josh McCown led a masterful opening drive, moving the Browns 82 yards from their own 9, to the Jets 9, before a penalty on John Greco put Cleveland in first and goal from the NY 14.

On third down, McCown escaped pressure and ran up the middle. Instead of sliding and putting his team in position for a short field goal, he tried to hurdle a defender and fumbled the ball away. He also suffered a concussion putting the ball in the hands of Manziel.

Then came the Gipson fumble later in the half.

So, instead of being up 10-0 with the ball and momentum, because everything was running according to game plan, it was tied at seven.

Two other problems for Mike Pettine to address. First, the running game, save for the quarterbacks, was non-existent. The Browns ran for 104 yards, with Manziel and McCown accounting for 58 of those yards. The longest run by any running back was eight yards.

The other issue was NO sacks of Ryan Fitzpatrick by the Browns’ defense. The Jets also ran for 154 yards, and not being able to stop the run doesn’t allow a defense to get after the passer.

This was the biggest weakness of the team last season, and to be fair, the Browns did a solid job in the first half vs. the run. But they couldn’t get pressure on Fitzpatrick and that has to change.

Regardless, the Browns come home next Sunday for Marcus Mariota and the Tennessee Titans, who won big against Tampa Bay.

They need to eliminate mistakes, and the defense has to play better, much better.

If they don’t show a very good defense, those 3-13 predictions may just come true.