Happy With Baker, But Let’s Ease Up A Bit

There is no question that fans of the Cleveland Browns are looking for things to be optimistic about.

After one win in the last two seasons, having a 2-2-1 record through five games certainly provides a glimmer of hope. There is even talk about playoff contention, and heck, if the Browns can get to Thanksgiving still in the hunt, that would be outstanding.

The rookie class is exceeding everyone’s expectations, with Denzel Ward showing signs he can be a shutdown cornerback, Nick Chubb showing flashes of being a top flight running back, and Genard Avery doing very well as a pass rusher.

And then you have the first overall pick, QB Baker Mayfield, who has been pressed into service quicker than most figured after the acquisition of Tyrod Taylor, brought in so the team could ease the rookie into the job.

Mayfield has completed 58.9% of his passes and has a passer rating of just 81.4, but he is providing football fans in northeast Ohio a reason to tune in the Browns every Sunday.

He put up 42 points in a loss to the Raiders, even though he turned the ball over four times.

He ranks 10th in the NFL in yards per passing attempt, meaning he’s not a dink and dunk type of passer, he’s picking up yardage in chunks

We have heard people in the local media and also fans saying the Browns have found their “franchise” quarterback, the franchise’s first since Bernie Kosar.

We say let’s slow down a bit.

We believe you have to string a couple of very good seasons together to achieve the franchise moniker. And while he like Mayfield a lot, let’s wait until NFL defense have seen the rookie and compiled a dossier on how to combat him.

Let’s look at the two quarterbacks taken with the first two picks of the 2015 NFL Draft, Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota.

Winston started all 16 games his rookie year, and after 12 games, the Buccaneers were 6-6. In those first dozen contests, he threw 17 TD passes vs. 12 interceptions as Tampa looked much improved from a 2-14 season the year before.

He threw for at least 177 yards in every game, topping out with a 363 yard effort in a 31-23 loss to the Rams in the 14th game of the year.

Three years later, does anyone consider Winston one of the top 10 QBs in the NFL?

Mariota started 12 games his rookie year, with the Titans going 3-9 in his starts. He completed 62% of his passes with 19 touchdowns, 10 picks, and a 91.5 passer rating.

His second year was even better–26 TDs, 9 interceptions and a 95.6 rating as Tennessee went 9-7 for the season.

They made the playoffs last season, but the quarterback’s performance declined. He threw 13 scoring passes with 15 interceptions, and this year they are 1-2 in his starts and he has a TD to interception ratio of 2:4.

Again, he wouldn’t make anyone’s Top 10 either.

And that’s our definition of a franchise quarterback, a guy who is among the top players at the most important position in sports.

Don’t forget Dak Prescott in Dallas, who was hailed as a future All Pro after his rookie year, when the Cowboys went 13-3. Now? He’s showing he may just be average.

So, while we are very excited about the former Heisman Trophy winner from Oklahoma, we aren’t ready to ordain him quite yet. He is playing very well right now, but let’s evaluate him in late November or early December.

By then, we will make more of a sample size to evaluate him. We do like what we’ve seen so far.

A Tribe Post Mortem

The Cleveland Indians season came to a disappointing end in the American League Division Series for the second straight year, and this time they can’t even complain about blowing the series.

Giving up 21 runs in a three game series, while scoring only 6 doesn’t make anyone wistful about what might have been.

We were worried about the Tribe’s offense throughout the season, and our worst fears came true, as the Indians got just three hits in each of the first two games, and had only four yesterday until the Astros blew the game open off the Cleveland bullpen, which by the way, was another concern.

The offense was top heavy all year long, buoyed by excellent seasons by Francisco Lindor, Jose Ramirez, and Michael Brantley. When Ramirez’ bat went AWOL around the middle of August, the offense really sputtered.

One thing that is needed during the winter is the addition of some solid, consistent bats to pick up the slack with that trio, and Brantley may not be back, isn’t hot.

While we all look at statistics, particularly the new ones, the analytics people need to realize that going 4 for 5 on a given night, and following it up with a couple of 0 for 4s, makes you 4 for 13 (.308 batting average), but you didn’t do anything offensively on two of those nights.

This year’s Tribe had too many players (Yonder Alonso, Jason Kipnis, anyone playing centerfield and rightfield) who did nothing at the plate on a nightly basis.

Chris Antonetti and GM Mike Chernoff have a lot of spots in the lineup that need an upgrade.

And while the starting rotation is the cornerstone of the team, the bullpen will need a massive overhaul. Brad Hand and Adam Cimber will return, but beyond that duo, who knows?

Cody Allen and Andrew Miller are free agents, and it is doubtful they will be back.

Terry Francona tried to force Trevor Bauer into the Miller 2016 role in the series, but Bauer is a starter, and being moved out of his normal role didn’t work.

He did it because he no longer trusted Allen and Miller to get big outs when needed.

And speaking of the skipper, he needs to do some internal auditing as well.

The patience vs. stubbornness fine line continues to be an issue. He wanted Miller to be the ’16 edition when he brought him out of the bullpen in Game 2, and probably pulled Carlos Carrasco too early as a result.

But that Miller disappeared midway through last season. Hoping he would come back didn’t help against Houston.

Perhaps there should be a dissenting voice on the staff. The current staff has been with Tito for awhile, and they probably think a lot alike. Sometimes, it’s good to look at things with a different slant.

The first order of business will be the free agents. If Brantley wants to stay on a one or two year deal, we would welcome him back. Let’s face it though, he’s declined defensively, and ideally should spend much of his time at DH.

However, the Tribe has Edwin Encarnacion for another season.

The contention window is not closing. The Indians still have a strong rotation, and still have two of the top ten players in the sport in Lindor and Ramirez. However, you can’t have below average players everywhere else and get to where you want to go.

That and rebuilding the bullpen are the biggest jobs the front office has this winter.

For Tribe fans, this loss with sting until spring training begins in mid-February.

Browns Tough One Out To Get Back to .500.

It wasn’t artistic, but when you’ve won two games since the beginning of the 2016 season, beggars can’t be choosers.

When Greg Joseph’s line drive kick went through the uprights with under ten seconds remaining in overtime, it elevated the Cleveland Browns to a .500 record after five weeks of the NFL season, with a 12-9 win over Baltimore in overtime.

It was the third game (out of five) for the Browns that four quarters wasn’t enough to decide the game.

The Browns scored the game’s only touchdown in this defensive battle, a 19 yard touchdown pass from Baker Mayfield to Rashard Higgins late in the second quarter, which gave Cleveland a 6-3 lead after Joseph missed the extra point.

Baltimore took the lead after intercepting a Mayfield throw in Browns’ territory, besides that the Browns’ defense, rapidly becoming the strength of this team, allowed just two other field goals, and forced two more turnovers, to give them 15 on the season, topping last year’s squad’s total for the entire season of 13.

Denzel Ward’s interception at the goal line stopped a certain Baltimore score, and is there anyone out there who still thinks GM John Dorsey made a mistake by taking the former Buckeye standout at that spot?

Ward is quickly becoming a player that other quarterbacks avoid.

The other first round pick, the first overall pick, is also acquitting himself nicely too.

Baker Mayfield completed 25 of 43 passes for 342 yards, and directed the game winning drive that began with a reverse to WR Rod Streater, which lost 11 yards and put the team at 2nd and 21 from their own five.

From there, the rookie scrambled for 13 yards to get out of the shadow of their own goal line, and then on 3rd and 8, avoided a sack, and hit rookie Derrick Willies for 43 yards to move into Baltimore territory.

Then, a player who seems to get lost in the shuffle, Duke Johnson, took over, carrying three times for 24 yards to put the ball in position for Joseph.

Joe Flacco threw for 298 yards, but it took him 56 attempts to accumulate those yards, and he was also sacked twice, once by Jamie Collins, and the other on a combination of Myles Garrett and Trevon Coley.

But they didn’t allow the Ravens any big plays, keeping WR John Brown in control, with only 4 catches for 58 yards.

It seems last week’s secondary issues may have been due to Terrance Mitchell leaving the game with an injury, because today, with E.J. Gaines starting, the defensive backfield provided the same type of play as they have all year, save for the Oakland game.

The linebackers all had big days, with Collins getting 12 tackles, Christian Kirksey also had 12, and Joe Schobert forced a fumble.

The officiating was a factor again, as Baltimore didn’t pick up their first penalty until late in the fourth quarter. In a sport where many of the penalties can be considered arbitrary, for one team to have 10 penalties (the Browns) and the other to have none is very, very strange.

It appears the zebra missed a pass interference call against Jarvis Landry by ruling the pass uncatchable (of course it is, Landry was tackled) and they should have call intentional grounding later in OT on Flacco.

To be fair, the roughing the passer call against Mayfield in the extra session, shouldn’t have been called either.

With the Chargers coming in next week, the Browns have survived a tough early schedule (Steelers, Saints, Ravens) with a 2-2-1 record.

And they seem to keep getting better each and every week.

A Tough Series Ahead For Tribe

Tomorrow afternoon, the Cleveland Indians start their quest to end a 70 year drought without a World Series title.

To make matters tougher, they embark on the journey having to take on the defending World Series titlists, the Houston Astros, in the best of five Division Series.

We could be completely wrong on this, because well, baseball, but we feel it will be a very difficult series for the Tribe to emerge victorious.

The Astros lead the American League in run differential, meaning them, not the 108 win Boston Red Sox are the best team in the AL.

The Indians’ hallmark is their pitching, particularly their starters. Their staff ERA is 3.77, ranking 4th in the American League. However, Houston led the league in that category, more than a half run per game less at 3.11.

Cleveland has scored more runs, but only 21 more than the Astros on the season.

The teams are very similar offensively. The Indians scored three runs or less 58 times, which is over 1/3rd of their games. That seems like a lot, right?

Except the Astros did the same thing more often, having 64 games with three runs or less.

Using the 350/450/800 standard for being a very good offensive player, the Indians have three such players (Francisco Lindor, Michael Brantley, and Jose Ramirez), while the Astros have two in Jose Altuve and Alex Bregman.

Houston comes in as the hotter team, going 21-6 after September 1st, while the Indians went 14-14. But as we found out last year, being hot coming into the playoffs makes absolutely no difference.

As we said, both teams have exceptional starting pitching, and in our opinion, that’s what the series will come down to. Corey Kluber won 20 games this year, but at times has appeared mortal this season. His game one mound opponent, Justin Verlander, quite frankly had a better season.

The two teams met seven times in the regular season, with Houston having a 4-3 advantage.

In Houston, all three games were close. The Indians were either tied or ahead through 6-1/2 innings in each contest, and a tired starter gave up runs late. Remember, at that time, the Cleveland bullpen was having major issues.

At Progressive Field, Houston won in blowout fashion in the first two games, the latter with the Astros scoring 11 runs in the last two innings.

Even in the extra inning win the day before Memorial Day, the Tribe led 3-2 after seven, before Houston scored six in the 8th, matched by a five run rally in the bottom of the ninth by the Indians.

In that game, Trevor Bauer was left in to throw a season high 127 pitches.

So, this series could hinge on how well Allen, Miller, and Hand do. Only Allen was fully healthy at the time. Miller was about to go on the DL, and Hand was in San Diego.

If Ramirez doesn’t start hitting in this series, the offense could depend on whether or not Josh Donaldson can contribute.

The record says the Astros are better than the Tribe, but last year it said the Indians were the better team than New York.

We say it will be a great series, and these two teams are more evenly matched than it appears record wise.

If we have to make a prediction, we would go with the Astros in four. We also can’t tell you how wrong we would like to be.

Browns Giving Themselves A Chance To Win, Need To Cash In.

The Cleveland Browns have played 25% of their schedule and hit the quarter pole with a 1-2-1 record.

That doesn’t seem much different from past seasons, but this year has a very different feel to it.

Last year, the Browns were 0-4 (obviously, they went 0-16), and outside of the first game of the season against the Steelers, Hue Jackson’s squad fell behind early and tried to climb back into the game (with the exception of Week 4 vs. Cincinnati).

In 2016, it was better. The Browns were in all four games to open that season, and should have defeated Miami if not for kicking woes (sound familiar?).

However, last season, the quarterback was DeShone Kizer and his traveling turnover show, and in ’16 Robert Griffin III was injured in the opener and was replaced by the local media’s favorite, Josh McCown.

Now, Jackson has turned over the keys to Baker Mayfield, and suddenly there is hope on the horizon.

We have heard the criticism of Mayfield’s four turnovers last Sunday, but there is no question the good he did outweighed the bad.

How about the throw to Darren Fells for a 49-yard touchdown, or the fade to Jarvis Landry for another score. For that matter, when was the last time the Browns used a fade pattern and it worked?

And the strike over the middle to Antonio Callaway was beautiful too. Yes, he was wide open, but Mayfield hit him in stride and he took it to the 1 yard line.

This year’s team has had a legitimate chance to win every game. Two games have went to overtime, one ended in a tie, the other in a loss. Cleveland had the lead against New Orleans with two minutes to go.

We fully support the Bill Parcells theory of your record is what it says it is, but after two seasons with very few good shots at winning, forgive us if we can’t help but be encouraged.

The defense has created turnovers, 13 of them to be exact. By the way, last year’s Browns created that many for the entire season.

Myles Garrett is becoming one of the NFL’s best pass rushers, and another first round pick, Denzel Ward is becoming a shutdown cornerback. You didn’t hear Ward’s name too often last Sunday because Derek Carr was trying to avoid him.

We get that people want to see more of rookie Nick Chubb at running back, but it isn’t as though Carlos Hyde has been bad. He ranks 5th in the NFL in rushing to date.

Still, Chubb should get more opportunities because as he showed Sunday, he can be explosive. Also, his carries will keep Hyde fresh for the end of the season.

Landry is a Pro Bowl wide receiver, Joe Schobert is a Pro Bowl linebacker.

The point is there is talent on this roster, and it’s not just people that Browns’ fans think highly of. People around the NFL respect the young players on the roster here.

Now they have to win. And winning is something you learn. Make no mistake though, it is no longer a talent issue.

If the Browns can’t start converting some of these efforts into wins, we doubt Hue Jackson will be here in 2019. That’s not a threatening thing, it’s just that the NFL is a result business.

Browns Get Robbed In Oakland.

If you read this site regularly, you know we are not nor ever have been a fan of the way the NFL is officiated.

We have claimed for years that the NFL officials are the worst in professional sports, and today’s Browns-Raiders games demonstrated exactly why we think that.

Did they Browns play great today? No. Did the defense give up a boatload of big plays in the second half and overtime? Yes.

However, late in the game the Browns did enough to salt this game away and denied a victory on the road because of the officiating.

First, a play in the fourth quarter when Myles Garrett and Genard Avery sacked Raiders’ QB Derek Carr, and it was clear that the ball popped out immediately after the Cleveland defenders hit him.

Larry Ogunjobi was picking up the ball to start running toward the end zone as the whistle blew. The call was Carr was in the grasp and the play was blown dead. Blown dead without the ball being in anyone’s control.

Later, with less than two minutes to go, the Browns stopped the Raiders on downs and took control of the ball on the Oakland nine yard line.

Three running plays to force the Raiders to use their timeouts were used, and the third one appeared to give Cleveland a first down, which would have allowed the Browns to run out the clock.

We thought it was a bad spot in the Raiders’ favor to begin with, but the measurement gave Cleveland the first down anyway.

But a review of the play moved the spot back further and forced the Browns to punt.

Our understanding of the rule, is there has to be irrefutable evidence to change the call on the field. We were not shown any evidence on the broadcast.

Even former the former NFL officiating supervisor, Dean Blandino, was on the FOX telecast, couldn’t believe the call was overturned.

Given another chance, the Raiders tied the game and forced overtime.

Just so we don’t come across as sour grapes, there was other calls in favor of the Browns which were terrible.

The crew blew a whistle early on a run by Marshawn Lynch, costing the Raiders a long gain in the first half. And a terrible roughing the passer call gave the Browns a first down, also in the first half.

The problem is the consistency and a need by many crews to affect the game. Check the box scores every week and see how many games have more than 10 penalties called on each team.

One of the things that made the Browns-Jets game so fun to watch (besides the Browns finally winning) was there were only 11 penalties in the entire game.

Were there other things? Of course. The Browns’ receivers dropped a lot of passes, particularly in the first half.

They had a 28-14 lead, and had two critical turnovers which led to 20 unanswered points by Oakland, which gave them a 34-28 advantage.

Still, the Browns fought back and overcame this and should have won the game after turning back the Raiders at the goal line.

They lost the turnover battle for the first time this season, committing four, including a pick six in the first quarter, while forcing just two interceptions. Of course, they forced a fumble late too, but it was taken away.

All in all, the Browns have made football exciting again for fans in northeast Ohio. They are a competitive team.

The next test is at home against the Ravens next Sunday. For the first time in a while, it’s something to look forward to.

Watch Love’s Numbers Go Up in ’18-’19

After Kevin Love signed his contract extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers this summer, there is no question who the leader this edition of the wine and gold is.

Love is a former champion, a five time all star, and a second team All NBA selection twice.

When Love arrived in Cleveland, he was regarded as kind of the third wheel after LeBron James and Kyrie Irving, and he quickly became the whipping boy for fans because he no longer averaged the 26 points he scored in Minnesota.

As Chris Bosh predicted when Love joined James with the Cavs, it’s not easy to be a guy who doesn’t have the ball in his hands all the time, when playing with LeBron.

The former UCLA All American looked and played tentative at times, seemingly unsure of what he was supposed to do on the court.

He played inside and outside with the Timberwolves, and with the Cavaliers, it seemed he was more of a three point shooter.

Now that James has departed the squad, Love will be the primary scoring threat, and people have questioned whether or not he will be able to handle the role.

If you look at the numbers, there is no question Kevin Love can get back to averaging 20 points per game.

Yes, Love’s scoring has dipped since coming to the Cavs, 17.1 per contest in four years here vs. 19.2 in six seasons with the Wolves. But that drop comes from getting less opportunities.

In Love’s best scoring seasons in Minnesota, he averaged 19.3, 16.6, and 18.5 shots per game. With the wine and gold, that number has dropped to 12.7, 12.7, 14.5, and 12.4 in the four years here.

For the most part, that’s between 6.5 to 7 shots per game difference. Which by the way, is a lot.

Since Love is a career 45% shooter, you can figure three more baskets a game, that’s six points, which added to the 17 points he’s scored with Cleveland, puts him at 23 PPG.

His free throws also dropped from around eight a game in his best three seasons in Minnesota, to under five each year with the Cavs.

A lot of that is a result of playing on the perimeter, something we believe will decrease now that the middle doesn’t need to be free for James to operate.

An 80% free thrower, getting three more charity tosses per game should result in another 2.5 points. That puts him around 25 points per game.

Will his rebounding totals also increase? Not as much as the scoring, we say. With the Wolves, the second best rebounder was Nikola Pekovic, and there wasn’t much beyond that.

Even with James gone, Tristan Thompson and Larry Nance Jr. provide better rebounding than the players Love had as teammates in Minnesota.

Although, we definitely see him getting back into double digits off the glass, after grabbing 9.3 boards a year ago.

The fans who wondered where the Kevin Love who played in Minnesota was will see him this season.

Why?

Because as we have said before, no player with the Cavs the past four seasons sacrificed more than Kevin Love.

As for the rap that a team can’t win with Love as the best player, look at the rosters for those teams.

When Ricky Rubio joined the team, they went 26-40 in the strike year, and were 40-42 in the second year Love was healthy. They were getting better, and Love is definitely a better player now.

Kevin Love will show everyone this year what kind of player he is and can be. It’s a shame he hasn’t been appreciated by many during his time here.

Looking At Tribe Roster Options For ALDS

One week from now, baseball’s post-season will be upon us, although the Cleveland Indians will not start the Division Series against the defending champion Houston Astros until Friday, October 5th.

The roster for that series is unknown, as is how many pitchers the Tribe will carry for the best-of-five set against the Astros.

We believe Terry Francona, Chris Antonetti, and Mike Chernoff will go with 11 pitchers in that series, and will use four starters, with Corey Kluber going in Game 1.

And four starters is the way to go too. We have heard people talk about using Carlos Carrasco and even Trevor Bauer as relief weapons in the first round, but really, wouldn’t you want those two giving you 15-21 outs instead of let’s say, 7-9 outs?

You have heard national media talk about how dangerous the Indians are because of their starting pitching, so why use guys on short rest, or use rookie Shane Bieber as a starter so you can use a pitcher who has started all year out of the bullpen?

Seems like you are weakening a strength.

As for the bullpen, which we project will have seven pitchers, the obvious choices are Cody Allen, Andrew Miller, and Brad Hand. Oliver Perez deserves a spot too, but with Houston being right-handed hitter dominant, do you keep the veteran southpaw?

Yes, because right handed hitters are 3 for 42 vs. the southpaw who comes at hitters with a variety of angles and deception.

Who fills the other three spots?

Right handed batters have a 599 OPS on the season vs. Adam Cimber, and his sidearming style should be good for use as a ROOGY. He will probably make the squad.

That leaves Dan Otero, Neil Ramirez, Josh Tomlin, and Jon Edwards vying for two spots.

All four give up a lot of home runs, the lowest home run rate per nine innings belongs to Otero, who although it seems like he gives up a lot of long balls, he’s actually done it at a lower rate than the others.

Remember though, Edwards’ work is based on just 7-2/3 innings since he was just called up on September 1st.

If you want punch outs, then Ramirez (11.2 strikeouts per nine) and Edwards (11.0) are the guys you want.

Otero has the lowest OPS vs. right handed hitters (280/424/704), with Ramirez next best at 294/450/744.

Based on the numbers, Tomlin seems to fit only if loyalty is an overwhelming factor. The veteran has allowed 3.3 homers per nine, has the lowest strikeout rate (5.6) and righty hitters have an 811 OPS against him.

That would leave five bench players (assuming Josh Donaldson at 3B, Jason Kipnis in CF, and Melky Cabrera in RF). Roberto Perez will be the backup catcher, and no doubt Brandon Guyer will make the roster to face Dallas Keuchel.

We also believe Greg Allen will be there for defense in the outfield and Rajai Davis (not that we agree with this) will be there as a pinch running option.

This would seem to leave the last spot between Yandy Diaz and Erik Gonzalez. Diaz has been platooning at first base with Yonder Alonso, but he has tailed off since a hot start.

If you don’t keep Gonzalez, you have no backup shortstop except for Jose Ramirez, which based on Francisco Lindor’s durability, may not be a factor.

Our guess is Diaz makes the roster.

The official announcement date will be a week from today, and a lot can still happen, particularly in the bullpen.

Then we will see how accurate our thinking was…

If We Were Ty Lue This Season…

The Cleveland Cavaliers start training camp this week, and this season could not be any more different than a year ago.

First, the best player in the sport, LeBron James, is no longer wearing the wine and gold. Second, because of that, the Cavs are no longer a contender for the NBA Championship.

Coach Tyronn Lue should be coaching a different style with a younger roster, and we think he will do just that. In fact, for the first time since he took over for David Blatt in 2016, we might see the real Ty Lue.

While the roster no longer has James, it does have a perennial top NBA player in Kevin Love, who should be the focal point for the 2018-19 edition of the Cavs. He should get the most shots, and score more than 20 points per game for the first time in a Cleveland uniform.

The rest of the roster is filled with young, athletic types, many of them interchangeable. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

From the most Lue took over here, he has talked about playing an up tempo style, and now he has better personnel to do that, and it might just start with the second unit.

With the current roster, the starters figure to be a veteran group, with George Hill at the point, JR Smith at the #2, Cedi Osman at small forward, with Love and Tristan Thompson playing the big man roles.

The second unit could be filled with young guys who want to play fast. First round pick Collin Sexton, Rodney Hood, Jordan Clarkson, Larry Nance Jr., David Nwaba, and Sam Dekker.

Let’s not forget veteran sharpshooters Channing Frye and Kyle Korver, and young big man Ante Zizic, who did some good things when Thompson was hurt a year ago.

The point here is while there is no superstar (and quite frankly, James ranks even above that level), there are plenty of solid NBA players who should get playing time, and how better to do that than play very fast and come at opposing teams in waves.

We should also add here that it would not a surprise to see Smith and Korver, and perhaps even Thompson moved before the season starts, or be dealt early in the season.

We are sure Lue would like to start Hood, as he could be the secondary scoring option, but putting Smith on the bench could cause a myriad of issues.

Back to style of play, Lue should be telling his young team to push the ball at all opportunities and defensively pressure opponents as much as possible. Defense takes energy, and playing it with effort causes players to tire easier.

With the depth on the roster, that shouldn’t be an issue.

All this said, it is doubtful the Cavs are going to win 50 games or more this season, but they can finish above .500 and make a playoff appearance.

On the other hand, they could also win 30 games and be back in the draft lottery.

That’s why they are still interested to us. We are anxious to see how Osman plays with increased time and responsibility, we think the kid can play.

We want to see Sexton, a rookie who plays with energy and confidence. We also think Nance can blossom, and we will bet his outside shot is much better than a year ago.

This group will be interesting to say the least. Although the expectations will be different, it should still be fun to watch the wine and gold this winter.

Victory, Sweet Victory!

Finally!

After 19 weeks of regular season NFL play, the Cleveland Browns finally picked up a victory with a 21-17 victory over the New York Jets at First Energy Stadium.

In typical Browns’ fashion, it wasn’t easy.

A combination of another special teams’ gaffe (allowing a blocked punt), terrible offensive line play (Tyrod Taylor was sacked four times by halftime), and terrible play by Taylor (he completed 4 of 14 passes for 19 yards), gave the Jets a 14-0 lead early in the second quarter.

We felt if the visitors got the next score of the game, the Browns would still be winless after three games in 2018.

But, Taylor was injured and had to be checked for a concussion, so in came the first overall pick in last year’s draft, QB Baker Mayfield.

The offense immediately got a shot in the arm, both in the air and on the ground. The offensive line got better, probably because Mayfield got the ball out quicker.

Mayfield wound up completing 17 of 23 passes for 201 yards and no turnovers. It appeared the rookie attacked the defense, throwing into tight windows, and moving the ball vertically.

His worst throw came when he fired one off a defender’s shoulder pads in the end zone when he didn’t see a safety over the middle.

He even caught a pass, the tying two point conversion play from Jarvis Landry on a flea-flicker, reminiscent of the play he scored on in the Rose Bowl.

The running game also got going, getting 133 yards on the ground on a four yards per carry average, as Carlos Hyde led the way with 98 yards on 23 carries.

Landry caught 8 balls for 103 yards, including an incredible catch to set up the Browns first touchdown. The guy’s hands are just incredible.

On the winning touchdown drive, the rookie was tremendous.

He hit Duke Johnson for a first down on a third and five for 15 yards. He hit fellow rookie Antonio Callaway for 10 yards on a 3rd and 10.

Those were big time throws, put exactly where they had to be.

Defensively, after the Jets scored their second TD with 7:59 remaining in the second quarter, they scored three points the rest of the contest.

Sam Darnold was held under 50%, completing 15 of 31 passes for only 169 yards, and after some big plays allowed in the running game early, New York had just 107 yards rushing, a 3.6 average per carry.

They forced three more turnovers, a forced fumble by rookie Denzel Ward, and picks by Joe Schobert and Terrance Mitchell, the latter which clinched the victory.

That’s 11 forced turnovers in the first three games. Last year, the Cleveland defense forced 13…for the entire season.

And Myles Garrett had two more sacks.

There is no question the Browns have some emerging stars on that side of the ball. Garrett and Ward will be the obvious names, but Schobert, Mitchell, and Larry Ogunjobi can’t be overlooked either.

Unfortunately, the special teams still continue to be unimpressive.

The penalties were down too, the Browns had just five last night, but that could be a product of the officiating crew. Some throw a lot of flags, some don’t.

With the win being on the Thursday night game, the Browns get a little extra time to celebrate. They will have a victory weekend.

They go to Oakland a week from Sunday, and have a chance to start, wait for it…a winning streak!

We all thought the Browns were an improved football team, and last night, they proved it.

The Mayfield era started earlier than expected, but you can’t turn back after his performance and the result of the game.