Manziel Overshadows Real Problems With Browns

The big question among fans of the Cleveland Browns this week is who will start at quarterback against Pittsburgh this Sunday at Heinz Field.

Coach Mike Pettine continues to favor veteran Josh McCown, saying he gives the Browns the rest chance to win on Sunday, even though his record as a starter since the beginning of the 2014 season is 2-16.

That appears to say volumes about how the coaching staff (or maybe just the head coach) feels about Johnny Manziel, who has started two games this season and went 1-1.

And even the harshest critic of the former Heisman Trophy winner has to admit at halftime, you had to feel pretty good about how Johnny Football performed.

Unless that harshest critic is the head coach, who felt the need to tell a national television audience that the Browns needed to “calm down” the second year player.

Still, all of this talk about the quarterback is masking the real problems with this football team, so in a way, Pettine should be thankful for Johnny Manziel.

Last Thursday night, the Cleveland defense allowed 30 points for the fifth time this season. Keep in mind, the Browns have only played nine games, so in half of the contests, opponents have put 30 points on the board.

No matter who your quarterback is, it is tough to win football games when you are giving up that many points.

Another problem that has pretty much been swept under the rug has been the blueprint for winning games that Pettine’s team was supposed to use going into the year.

The Browns were to be a running team, pounding the ball behind an offensive line which featured All Pros, and a rock solid defensive unit, led by one of the league’s best secondaries.

With Joe Thomas and Alex Mack anchoring the line, and two other Pro Bowlers, Joe Haden and Donte Whitner in the secondary, it was easy to see why the coaches and fans alike would be excited about these units.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t gone according to plan either.

The Browns simply can’t run the football, ranking 31st (second to last) in rushing, and they continue to search for answers, trying to use such stalwarts as Shawn Draughn and Robert Turbin, instead of seeing what Isaiah Crowell can do with 15-20 carries per game.

Cleveland QB’s have also been sacked 30 times, against second to last in the NFL.

The offensive line has been terrible this season, a year after they were among the best in the league prior to Mack’s broken leg.

As for the defensive backfield, sure there have been injuries, but this group in slightly below the middle of the pack in terms of allowing passing yards. This is compounded by having just 15 sacks, a figure that ranks 23rd in the league.

Keep in mind that seven of those sacks came in one game, a week two victory over Tennessee.

So, to summarize, the defense can’t stop the run, can’t put pressure on the passer, and really doesn’t defend the pass when it is thrown.

Those are the real problems with this football team, not who plays quarterback.

But the head coach doesn’t acknowledge those issues, continuing to say his team is “close” to winning. Let us remind everyone that Pettine’s team is 2-12 in their last 14 games.

That doesn’t seem close.

But let’s talk about the quarterback.

Kosar Should Be Involved With Browns In Some Way

A stir was created over the weekend when Browns’ legend Bernie Kosar said he would like to be the guy to turn around the moribund franchise’s fortunes.

We are all aware of the trials and tribulations of the brown and orange since they re-entered the NFL in 1999 as an expansion franchise.

Two winning seasons, one post-season appearance, and for the most part, the leadership, under both owners, Randy Lerner and Jimmy Haslam, can’t seem to stop tripping over their collective feet.

Can Kosar help straighten out this franchise?

Well, the knee-jerk reaction is he couldn’t possibly do any worse than the guys who have tried and failed over the years.

We used to say back in the 80’s, that the best job in baseball was the GM of the Indians, because if you succeeded, you would be hailed as a genius, and if you failed? You were just another person who couldn’t turn it around.

The Browns are in the same boat right now.

That could be why Kosar decided to throw his hat in the ring. There is nowhere to go but up, and it’s an opportunity to be a savior in Cleveland once again.

However, this much is clear. The legend knows the game of football. Anyone who has watched him provide analysis on pre-season games over the years can see that.

He was a thinking man’s quarterback. He saw the game differently than many players who had superior athletic ability.

Why not use that asset to help the Cleveland Browns?

We don’t know that Kosar could be or even want to be the general manager of the Browns, or even the president of football operations, and quite frankly, we couldn’t say he would be qualified for either of those positions.

On the other hand, what would be wrong in making Bernie a consultant to Haslam, helping him guide who the owner hires going forward on the football side?

The one thing we can say about Haslam is he has had a problem hiring the right people. The league seemed to have forced Joe Banner on him, and Banner made the unfortunate hire of Mike Lombardi as GM.

Had Kosar been involved in that process, the guess here is he would have prevented the latter hire.

He might have been able to save Rob Chudzinski after his one season as head coach. Most people thought Chud got a raw deal, and we wonder if things would have been different had the Browns held the lead against New England in 2013.

You can go back further than that. Maybe Kosar would have prevented the numerous candidates who didn’t seem to want to work for Banner and Lombardi when Chudzinski got the gig.

People who succeed usually surround themselves with people who are smarter than they are. There is no question that Bernie Kosar is one of the smartest football people around.

Why shouldn’t Jimmy Haslam avail himself of this knowledge?

Besides, what can go wrong? It’s not as though the Browns are one of the NFL’s best organizations or dominant teams on the field.

Cavs Concerned Over Slow Starts, And That’s a Good Thing

After the Cleveland Cavaliers won their home opener against the Miami Heat, we made the bold statement (kidding) that this year’s wine and gold squad would not start off 19-20.

Today, the Cavs won their sixth straight with a 101-97 victory over the Indiana Pacers.

We feel pretty comfortable with that statement, although it would have been pretty safe to say that before the season started.

Yes, the Cavs do start slow on some nights, particularly against the lower echelon teams in the NBA, but LeBron James and James Jones are stressing to their teammates that this cannot continue to happen.

That shows how good this team is. They are concerned not only with winning, but the manner in which they triumph.

My guess is the Indians and Browns would love to have such worries.

While some people talked about the poor first quarter against the Knicks on Wednesday, you can look at it this way. Cleveland outscored New York by 27 points over the final three quarters.

Because the Cavs have seemed to turn it on whenever they want to, it has become easy to forget that David Blatt’s team is missing three key components.

Just think how the wine and gold will do when they get Kyrie Irving, Iman Shumpert, and J.R. Smith back on the floor.

Yikes!

Assuming Irving and Shumpert will reprise their roles as starters in the backcourt (the doubt is on Shumpert as Blatt may stay with Smith as the starter), this means the Cavaliers will have five solid guard at their disposal.

This is because Matthew Dellavedova has renewed confidence after his playoff performance and has improved his shooting and passing during the summer.

As for big guys, Anderson Varejao received a healthy DNP-CD today, as Blatt used Timofey Mozgov, Kevin Love, and Tristan Thompson at the four and five spots, used James at power forward at times as well.

Jefferson is everything that the Cavs wanted Shawn Marion to be last year and more.

He still has his legs as evidenced by his explosive dunks in the pre-season, and he’s a much better shooter than the recently retired Marion.

In fact, he’s kind of a combination of the two vets no longer here, Marion and Mike Miller.

This team is playing so well, the noted national critics of James and his team have nothing to conjure up.

The two biggest stories so far haven’t been stories at all. LeBron not helping up Kevin Love after he was knocked down against New York and that James was disappointed in Love being out of shape. Last season.

Correct, the media is dredging up stuff from last year to discredit this team.

Compare that to last year, when it was Irving, Love, and James couldn’t co-exist and that Blatt was in over his head as coach.

Blatt deserves some respect for using his bench. He clearly wasn’t confident in Marion and Miller as he has no problem using nine or ten players most nights, including giving minutes to free agent guard Jared Cunningham.

And James has not been used more than 36 minutes in any game this year.

We are sure that will come, particularly when Cleveland gets into a tougher part of the schedule, but it good to see the coach not giving into the competition involved with every game and needing to use his superstar too much.

So, if the slow starts are the biggest concern for fans of the Cavs, rest easy.

Just watch the fun as this NBA season unfolds.

Pettine’s Grasp On Job Loosened Last Night

Pat Shurmur’s tenure as the coach of the Cleveland Browns is characterized by some of his ridiculous quotes at press conference.

Mike Pettine may be characterized by his halftime interview during Thursday’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, 31-10 in the Queen City.

After Johnny Manziel directed the Browns on a 92 yard drive to get Cleveland within 14-10 at the half against the undefeated Bengals, Pettine told the sideline reporter that they needed to get the quarterback “calmed down” at halftime.

We now all know that Pettine doesn’t like Manziel, doesn’t want to play him, and will never give him a full shot at the position.

What the coach should be concentrating on is his defensive unit and coordinator Jim O’Neil, who continues to put a sieve on the field weekly.

With one game in the next 25 days, there is plenty of time to make the changes necessary, and we would start by canning O’Neil who has directed a unit that has allowed 30 or more points in five of the nine games played this year.

And what is becoming a weekly occurance, the Bengals ran for 152 yards, an average of 4.1 yards per carry. They also didn’t create a turnover.

Among the culprits defensively were a couple of the veterans Pettine seems to love, DE Randy Starks and CB Tramon Williams.

With this team sitting at 2-7 and going nowhere, it is counter productive to continue to play these guys.

Williams gave up a touchdown on a double move by the tight end!

The funny thing to us was that Justin Gilbert was on the field defensively tonight, and the Bengals didn’t score eight touchdowns by going right at him.

Seriously, this guy can’t play over special teams standout Johnson Bademosi?

On offense, the Browns called exactly one running play in the second half. It was the first play and Isaiah Crowell, who had 41 yards on 9 carries in the first half, was thrown for a three yard loss.

That was it.

Crowell, and Duke Johnson, who caught the 12-yard TD toss from Manziel at the end of the first half, did not touch the ball after that first play.

What in the heck is going on?

It was kind of fitting that the touchdown the Bengals used to salt the game away, was a 25-yard wide receiver reverse on which Mohamed Sanu was untouched by the Cleveland defense. A trick play.

This is something that offensive coordinator John Difilipo hasn’t used all year. And the total lack of even trying to run the ball in the second half leaves us shaking our heads.

Manziel played solid. He wasn’t great, but he was better than his stat line indicated.

After the Crowell loss of yardage on the first play of the second half, Manziel fired a downfield pass which should have been caught by WR Taylor Gabriel, who had a bad night, dropping three passes on the evening.

He certainly showed enough to start again, but our guess is Pettine will go back to Josh McCown for the Pittsburgh game, which is ludicrous.

Again, what is there to gain continuing with the status quo with a 2-7 record. There will be no playoffs. And perhaps Pettine can salvage his job if the young players show some promise over the last seven games.

Our guess is the coach’s quote will be played and mocked all around the city and probably the country.

That’s what happens when someone’s personal feelings get in the way of a talent evaluation.

At the very least, Manziel should finish the season at QB. He showed enough tonight that he doesn’t look like the total bust people were saying he was.

Pettine Isn’t Helping Himself By Not Fixing Problems

Former Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints coach Bum Phillips once said that Don Shula could take his team and beat your team, and then he could take your team and beat his team.

Of course, Phillips said it a little more colorfully than that, but his point was clear. Shula adapted to the talent he had. He looked at his roster and got the most out of it.

This was illustrated by Shula’s Miami teams in the 1970’s, which featured a crushing ground game using Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Mercury Morris, winning two Super Bowls.

In the 80’s, the John Carroll grad had Dan Marino as his quarterback and threw the ball all over the yard.

Mike Pettine needs to be more like Shula if he wants to save his job, because right now he appears stuck in his own “scheme”, which clearly is not working.

We want to like Pettine, and we would also prefer to not start over with a new coach next year, who will want to change personnel and want to get players who fit the style of defense and offense that they play.

However, the way Pettine is handling things right now, it is getting hard to defend him.

Exhibit A is the run defense. This has been a problem since the coach’s first game as the head man with the Browns. Cleveland finished last in the league against the run a year ago, and they are in the same exact place this season.

So, we would have to assume either the issue has not been addressed or whatever measures have been taken to fix the problem haven’t worked.

That’s the coach’s job, to take care of the problems. Pettine and his staff have failed to take care of this issue.

The offensive line hasn’t done a solid job all season long, either in the running game and in protecting the passer. We understand the coach who handled this unit in the off-season and in training camp is no longer there, but it doesn’t appear to be any progress here either.

And there aren’t any injuries to this group that would explain a downgrade in this area.

After the Browns got hammered in the opener against the Jets, we wrote about the Steelers in 1989, who were smoked by both Cleveland (51-0) and Cincinnati in their first two games, but rallied to finish 9-7 to make the playoffs.

That team changed their style of play after those blowouts and put themselves in a position to start winning.

That’s coaching.

Unfortunately, we haven’t seen any evidence of that with Pettine and his staff.

That’s what makes it very difficult to defend him.

Look, we understand that coaches believe in certain things and they want to use those beliefs to create success. However, as Pettine reminds us all the time, the NFL is a pass/fail league.

Right now, he and his team are failing.

If the defensive players aren’t understanding the scheme, then it is incumbent on the coaching staff to make changes so it works. You can’t just make doing the same thing week after week and give up tons of points.

That’s the definition of both stubbornness and insanity.

If Pettine wants to keep his job past the end of this season, he simply has to change. It’s not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of intelligence.

Does Pettine Still Think There Isn’t a Problem On Defense?

If we were Browns’ owner Jimmy Haslam and team president Alec Sheiner, we would take down the billboard with Mike Pettine saying he guarantees the Browns will be the toughest team on the field.

That statement is a complete joke.

Last week, Pettine said turning the ball over a bunch of times like his team did against the St. Louis Rams is a recipe for defeat. That is, of course, unless you are the Arizona Cardinals and you can turn the ball over four times and still defeat the Browns, 34-20 at First Energy Stadium today.

Despite forcing four turnovers, the Cleveland defense allowed 491 yards in the loss, which dropped their record to 2-6 and at least according to many media reports, there could be changes before the NFL trading deadline on Tuesday.

Without the Cardinals’ mistakes, the Browns defense may have given up 50 points this afternoon.

Cleveland allowed only 119 yards on the ground, but that was because Carson Palmer threw deep early and often and with tremendous success, burning both starting cornerbacks, Joe Haden and Tramon Williams repeatedly.

We have always held the belief that the only thing worse than being a bad team is being a bad, old team. And Cleveland has four starters on defense over 30 years old (Randy Starks, Williams, Karlos Dansby, and Donte Whitner). Only Dansby seems to be making positive impact plays consistently.

The other fallacy about being a tough team is the total inability of this football team to run the ball. The Browns gained just 39 yards rushing in the game. Their leading rusher was QB Josh McCown who had 18 yards on five scrambles.

Isaiah Crowell carried 10 times, half of the team’s attempts and gained only 14 yards, eight on one run. The newest running back, Robert Turbin, carried three times, and fumbled on two of those carries.

But we digress. Fans and media alike seem to focus on who plays quarterback, and whether or not Dwayne Bowe is active, but the fact remains that the defense is a sieve, constantly shredded on the ground, and now, through the air.

Early on, the defense did a solid job against the run, but the Pettine/O’Neil defense could not get any pressure on Palmer in obvious pass situations and Palmer attacked the Cleveland secondary with great results. He completed passes of 60, 39, 38, and 34 yards during the contest.

The sad thing is, none of those ball were thrown to likely Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald, who did catch nine passes for 84 yards.

Pettine should stop hanging around the offensive unit and get with O’Neil to get the defense fixed. And if that’s playing youngsters, then so be it.

One other comment on the secondary. It is hard to believe that last year’s first round pick, Justin Gilbert, cannot get on the field defensively. Is he worse than what we saw today? That is doubtful.

How do we know Gilbert can’t play? Because the coaching staff, which has lost 11 of their last 13 games, tells us so?

Play him, and for god’s sake, get Barkevious Mingo on the field too. Mingo may do a lot of things we don’t see on camera that drives the coaches crazy, but he made an open field tackle on Chris Johnson early in the game, that could have been a huge gain if not for the second year linebacker.

With a short week coming up, we are sure Pettine will use that as a reason not to make changes, but that’s a cop-out. What is the definition of insanity?

As for trades, we would deal any veterans we could for draft picks commensurate with their value, and that includes Joe Thomas and Alex Mack. It is not like the offensive line is an elite unit.

Meanwhile, Browns’ fans are treated to another crapfest of a season.

It’s Not Easy Being Blatt

It appears that as long as LeBron James is on the Cleveland Cavaliers, David Blatt will be a lightning rod.

In preseason discussions about the NBA, and when the question of what could derail the Cavs’ hopes of getting back to The Finals, the answer inevitably was either health or the head coach.

Apparently, getting a team with two injured all-stars to the brink of championship doesn’t gain you any respect from the NBA media intelligentsia.

Look, we understand that is life for a coach who has LeBron James on their team. James gets the credit if the team wins, and the coach and/or general manager take the heat if the squad falls short of a title.

We are also pretty sure that Blatt understands this as well.

Still, it’s incredible that the criticism of the Cavaliers’ coach has continued into the beginning of a new season.

We understand that Blatt’s only been in the NBA for a year, and whether you discount all of the international experience the man has, there should be no question that he has been around the game a long, long time, and he understands the game of basketball.

Is the NBA game different? Of course. Is the NBA a players’ league? Absolutely.

But if you know the game, you know the game.

And Blatt knows and understands the sport, and his team’s have been pretty successful over the years.

He doesn’t get any credit for transforming the Cavs into the best defensive team in the playoffs last year. And when J.R. Smith tells the media he would walk through a wall for Blatt, you can almost see people’s eyes roll.

Kyrie Irving has spoken glowingly about Blatt in the past, and men who played for him overseas have given him glowing reviews.

However, we guess none of that matters until LeBron James says it, and that’s probably never going to happen, because it’s never happened before at the professional level.

James did repeat many times during the post-season a year ago that the coaching staff gave them an excellent game plan, and it was up to the players to carry it out.

And when the Cavs had the ball with 10 seconds remaining in the season opener against the Bulls, it appeared that James and Blatt were discussing the final play and looked to be in agreement.

It won’t end until the wine and gold win the final game of the season, hoisted the Larry O’Brien Trophy, and have a parade down Euclid Avenue.

Even then, some media crackpot, probably from ESPN, will say that Blatt will be on the hot seat if the Cavs don’t get off to a good start.

Blatt is an outsider from the NBA circle, and he doesn’t have the best relationship with the press, mostly because he knows that he knows more about the game than they do, and isn’t shy about letting them know that.

We know people who are friendly with the media get a fairer shake (see Shapiro, Mark).

The criticism of David Blatt is getting out of hand. If the Cavs are 10-15 and aren’t playing hard, then he should be on the hot seat. But, the folks who cover the NBA had him out last year win or lose in The Finals, but here he is back strolling the sidelines.

And if LeBron wanted him out, the guess here is he would be out.

James may not think he’s the greatest coach, but he apparently doesn’t think Blatt is a hindrance to winning.

Until they start losing, or don’t win a title because of his coaching, let’s keep the narrative that David Blatt can’t coach out of the news.

Except that will never happen.

Pettine’s Problem: Stubbornness

In our humble opinion, the best attributes a coach can have are flexibility and being able to take a chance on greatness.

You have to be able to recognize what works and what doesn’t work, and you have to be able to project what a young, untested player can give you as opposed to an older player, who isn’t getting any better.

By contrast, that would mean the worst traits coaches can have is stubbornness and a propensity to cling to veteran players.

After watching Cleveland Browns’ coach Mike Pettine in his season and a half with the franchise, the latter would seem to describe him, and that’s not a good sign.

Last week, when questioned by the local media about his defensive scheme, which came under fire after an article on Sports Illustrated’s web site, Pettine defended the unit saying that the plan works.

Except that it doesn’t, at least against the running game.

As defensive coordinator with Buffalo in 2013, the Bills ranked 27th in the NFL in stopping the run. Last year, the Browns ranked last in this category. This year through seven games? Yes, that’s right, again last.

So, to recap, over the last two and a half seasons, the defense run by Pettine and his defensive coordinator Jim O’Neil have been trampled by the opposing team’s running game.

And it’s not like they have faced Jim Brown, Emmitt Smith, and Barry Sanders either.

Dexter McCluster gained 98 yards against the Browns, more than half his total for the season. Oakland’s Latavius Murray rushed for 139 yards, 54 more than in any other game thus far this year.

So, Coach Pettine. The scheme doesn’t work.

What is more disturbing is the coach’s insistence that nothing is wrong, and it doesn’t appear changes will be made.

Yes, the first half against the Rams wasn’t bad. Unfortunately, for the Browns’ defense, the NFL requires teams to play a second 30 minutes of football, and the old problems crept up again.

In terms of playing young guys, it seems Pettine only plays them if there are no other alternatives.

First round pick Danny Shelton is a starter, but what alternative was there at the start of camp? Phil Taylor was hurt. And now that Jamie Meder has shown that he has ability, Shelton’s snaps have decreased.

Cameron Irving can’t get on the field. Joel Bitonio did start from game one in 2014, but again, it’s not like the Browns had a lot of alternatives.

And in terms of Justin Gilbert, how do we really know he can’t play? Because he got torched in a scrimmage this past summer?

Look, we aren’t saying he’s Darrelle Revis, but he never gets on the field defensively. Could you sign an affidavit saying he can’t do the job based on your eyes?

Remember, the Browns used special teams player Johnson Bademosi against San Diego instead of Gilbert.

Why would you play TE Rob Housler in limited time instead of rookie E.J. Bibbs, who played well in the pre-season?

And you also have the curious case of Barkevious Mingo, a superior athlete that the coaching staff seemingly cannot find a way to use.

The people who say we need to see what we have in Johnny Manziel should feel the same way about Gilbert, Mingo, Irving, and several others.

The only thing worse than being a bad team is to be a bad, old team.

Hopefully, Pettine will change, but he may have to be fired to do so. Here’s hoping it doesn’t come to that. But that’s what it took for another defensive minded head coach here in the early 90’s. He went on to have a pretty good career.

Time To Hold Pettine “Accountable”

Three results jumped out to us among the early results from the NFL today.

Jacksonville 34 Buffalo 31
St. Louis 24, Cleveland 6Miami 44 Houston 20

This doesn’t have anything to do with former Browns’ QB Brian Hoyer, on the wrong end of the massacre by the Dolphins, but it does have to do with the coaching staffs of the Bills, Browns, and Dolphins.

Much has been made about new Miami coach Dan Campbell trying to make his team tougher, more physical, and his team has won two in a row.

How long will that last? Who knows. But it is interesting to see a coach who has a philosophy in his mind and at least for two weeks makes sure it is carried out.

Since the end of last week’s games, when Buffalo lost to Cincinnati, we have had the mindset that Rex Ryan is the epitome of a fake tough guy. He talks a good game, but really, his teams aren’t a success.

His first two seasons with the Jets, he was 20-12 and got his team to the AFC Championship game.

Since then, his coaching record is 29-42, with no seasons over .500.

The first fruit off the Rex Ryan coaching tree is Pettine, and he is appearing to be more and more like his former boss.

Despite slogans like “play like a Brown”, “control the controlables”, and the talk of accountability, the Cleveland Browns appear to be a team in search of a style of play, and continue to make mistake after mistake without any accountability.

And after a 7-5 start to his head coaching career, the Browns have lost 9 of their last 11 games.

Today’s loss to the Rams was nothing different. Turnovers, penalties, and another weak performance by the head coach’s specialty, the defense, led to the defeat.

Pettine came to town with the talk of making this team a physical one, one that played with toughness. That may be true of individual players, but this is a football squad that cannot run the ball efficiently, and they have been the worst team in the NFL in stopping the run since Pettine arrived here.

Offensively, the offensive line, despite a collection of Pro Bowlers and high draft picks, had a dubious distinction today, as every one of them except for Alex Mack was called for either a false start or a holding call.

And they fumbled four times, twice by Josh McCown, who is having a solid season, but you can’t turn the ball over that many times, particularly on the road, and win football games.

The first two errors put the Browns in a 10-0 hole four and a half minutes into the game that they never recovered from.

Pettine defended the defensive scheme earlier this week after a former Browns’ website writer said players told him it was too complicated, but whether it is or isn’t, it isn’t working. The coach’s stubbornness in making adjustment is a weakness of a first time head coach.

He’s rather lose his way than be flexible and win.

We have said it the last three weeks and will say it again…if you can’t run the ball and stop the run in the NFL, you can’t win football games consistently.

The run defense was solid early, but again, gave up big chunk plays, particularly in the second half, and usually right after the Browns score.

Yes, yes, the offense only scored six points today, and the defense really only allowed 17 today, but you can count on them giving up a big play after a score.

What can be done? Nothing unless the coaching staff decides to stop talking in clichés and starts adjusting playing time based on merit. It seems like veterans get to mess up without consequence and young guys lose playing time.

At 2-5 and with the Cardinals coming in next Sunday, it might be time to start thinking about next spring’s draft.

Oh, and as an aside, although it didn’t cost the Browns today or really any Sunday, the officiating in the NFL continues to be atrocious. Thanks for fixing that, Commissioner Goodell.

Key Words For Cavs’ Season: Rest and Depth

The Cleveland Cavaliers start the NBA season next Tuesday night and there is no question what the team’s goal is for this season: Win an NBA title.

GM David Griffin brought back all of the key pieces from the team that won the Eastern Conference championship a year ago, and lost The Finals in six games to Golden State.

He also added some depth by signing Mo Williams, Richard Jefferson, and Sasha Kaun as free agents, and of course, Anderson Varejao is back in action as well.

Besides championship, the other key words for the Cavs are “rest” and “depth”.

As they learned last season, it is very important to entire the playoffs well rested and healthy. It is David Blatt’s job to make sure the first part is taken care of.

That means playing LeBron James around 32-34 minutes per night and limiting him to around 70 games. It has been well-noted how many minutes James has played over the past five seasons, because his team has advanced to The Finals in each of those years.

And Griffin has given the coach enough depth, and enough talented players so LBJ can get the time off without the Cavs’ record suffering greatly.

Let’s face it. The wine and gold will be making the playoffs next spring, and for them having the top seed in the East isn’t as important as it would be for other teams.

Although Kyrie Irving and Iman Shumpert will be out to start the season, Blatt can still start Williams and J.R. Smith at guard, with Matthew Dellavedova and Richard Jefferson backing them up.

Based on how Jefferson played in the exhibition season, he still has plenty in the tank providing he plays around 20 minutes per contest.

As for big men, Timofey Mozgov has stated in the past few days that his knee is still not 100%. That’s concerning, but now that Tristan Thompson has signed, Blatt has five players he can rotate at power forward and the center spots.

So, if Mozgov needs some time off, it would likely mean Varejao or Thompson can start at center opposite Kevin Love, and you can still have Kaun in reserve.

That leaves James’ spot at small forward. Who takes his minutes if he is cut back to 32-34 minutes per night?

Once Irving and Shumpert return, that’s easy. Jefferson gets those minutes.

Until then, Blatt can use a combination of Jefferson, Smith, and James Jones to spell LeBron, while playing Williams and Dellavedova together in the backcourt.

If Jared Cunningham makes the team, which it looks like he may, he could also pick up some spot minutes at the off guard spot. The Cavs will need somebody to pick up some minutes there until the two players who started in the playoffs at guard return.

This is the area where we expect Blatt will improve the most this season. He soured on the veterans brought in last summer (Shawn Marion and Mike Miller) mostly because they didn’t do much once they took the court.

Jefferson and Williams are a step up from those players. As everyone has noted (including his uniform number), Williams had a 52 point game last season.

Blatt’s primary job this season is to keep the 2015-16 edition of the Cavs as fresh as possible and still win over 50 games. We don’t think that will be a problem.