With a couple of losses to the lower class in the NFL, Buffalo and Cincinnati both had two wins when they played Cleveland, there is plenty of speculation on the job security of coach Eric Mangini.

Add in a narrow victory against a Carolina team that had just one win at the time, and you can see why the buzzards are circling over Berea.

If the Browns lose their last two games, both at home against divisional rivals Baltimore and Pittsburgh, they will end up with an identical record as last season, 5-11.  Given the infusion of talent from new GM Tom Heckert, having the same record doesn’t reflect well on the job the head coach has done.

This is not to say that Eric Mangini is not a good coach.  He changed this football team from kind of a finesse type team to a physical, punishing group.  This style is needed in the AFC North because there are four games every year against the Ravens and Steelers. 

Those teams no longer intimidate the Browns, and the head coach brought that mindset to the organization.

However, one gets the idea that Mangini’s style and conservative nature do not fit with team president Mike Holmgren and Heckert.  And those two have the right to want to work with someone who shares the same ideas on style of football as they do.

And that’s why the Browns will probably be looking for a new head coach in a couple of weeks.

The current state of the NFL shows that you need to be able to score points to win football games.  This seems to be a problem for the brown and orange.  Their defense has been solid for most of the year; they haven’t allowed 30 points in any game this season.  That’s why they are in virtually every game. 

However, the offensive game plan has come out of the Stone Age in recent weeks.  Some of that is talent based.  The Browns have glaring needs at wide receiver, they need a change of pace running back, and the right side of the offensive line could be beefed up.

The cynics would say Mangini drafted the wide outs, traded a scatback in Jerome Harrison, and is the guy who keeps putting John St. Clair at right tackle.  Thus, he’s creating his own problems.

It’s the lack of aggressiveness on offense that has to rankle Holmgren.  When the Browns were playing upper echelon teams, where it was thought the team would surely lose, the coaching staff opened up the attack. 

When they play teams they are on the same level as, they play with a “don’t lose” mentality.

It started with the Jacksonville game, when the defense created six turnovers, but Mangini and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll ran the ball continuously after getting the ball.  They didn’t take the opportunity to go for the throat at any time.

Think about the last two losses when the offense had the ball inside the 5-yard line and not one play action pass was used. 

Also, the time management at the end of halves is highly questionable as well.  And remember that Mangini isn’t a first time head coach; he’s been in charge of an NFL team for five years.

All of the reason listed here are why Eric Mangini isn’t a good fit for the Browns, the Browns run by Mike Holmgren.  After evaluating the situation for a year, the president is going to find someone who fits better with his philosophy, a man that can take this team to the Super Bowl.  That man might be the one he sees everyday in the mirror.

JD

It’s getting old, real old.

If you are around 50 years old, you likely do not remember 1964 when the Cleveland Browns brought this city its last professional championship.  So, you have gone your entire life without seeing a Cleveland team celebrating.

No parades down Euclid Avenue, no title banners hoisted to the rafters.

Sure, there have been some good times in all those years.  The Cavaliers brought excitement during the 1975-76 season with “The Miracle at Richfield”.

The Browns were the city’s best hope in the eighties, going to three AFC title games, but not to the Super Bowl. 

It was the Indians’ turn in the nineties, going to two World Series, but not cashing in on either of them.

And the Cavs were the team in the first decade of this century, getting to the NBA Finals in 2007, and having the NBA’s best record in 2008-09 and 2009-10, before losing early in the playoffs.

The Indians seem to make all of their decisions on a low risk – high reward mentality.  The only players they go after are people coming off injuries, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle, so they can trade them for prospects. 

Why not take interest in the recently traded Zack Greinke, who is just 27 years old, and is signing through the 2012 campaign.  The Royals traded him for four prospects, including two of the Milwaukee Brewers top prospects.  However, the players received by the Royals have proven nothing in the major leagues. 

Greinke, on the other hand, is a very good major league pitcher.  The Brewers are getting at least two years of a proven commodity, a legitimate #1 starter with a Cy Young Award on his resume.

The Indians’ front office will give you the usual mumbo-jumbo about building the farm system and player development being the way to go for a small market team.  However, Greinke didn’t get dealt to New York, Boston, or Los Angeles, he went to Milwaukee.

There is no question that prospects have to be the lifeblood of a team that cannot afford premium free agents.  However, Greinke is a proven ace, all of the minor leaguers the Tribe talk about might be good one day, but then again, they might not.

There were thoughts that perhaps the Indians would go after one of their former players this winter, possibly Manny Ramirez, since the team needed a right-handed bat. 

Well, they have signed one former Tribesman in OF Austin Kearns, who returns to the team after spending the last two months of the year with the Yankees.  Kearns had a great April and May with Cleveland, but in June and July, he hit just .253 with 5 HR and 20 RBI.  He did have a 746 OPS last season, but that was due to a .351 on base percentage. 

His slugging percentage was under .400, not exactly what you want from a corner outfielder.  In fact, Shelley Duncan, who may be designated for assignment as a result of this signing, hits southpaws better than Kearns.

The team is also interested in 37-year-old Bartolo Colon, another former Indian.  He fits the “low risk, high reward” player; the front office is famous for.  Colon, if signed, will take starts away from the Josh Tomlins, Jeanmar Gomez’s, and Alex White’s of the world, unless he is getting battered in spring training.

Cleveland has struggled early in the season lately because they are giving playing time to mediocre veterans, and then play better when young guys are brought up. 

It doesn’t appear they are learning from their mistakes.

Instead, why don’t they go after a young player who is a proven player and has cost certainty for at least two years?  That’s the kind of move that would get fans excited about the ballclub. 

It’s a kind of move that an organization that is interested in winning makes.

MW

If you can’t run the ball and can’t stop the run in the NFL, you have little chance to win. 

That’s why the Cleveland Browns now sit at 5-9 on the season following a 19-17 defeat at the hands of the Cincinnati Bengals, which broke the Bengals 10 game losing streak. 

Cincinnati ran for 189 yards, Cedric Benson accounting for 150 in 31 carries as they remembered the style of football they played last season when they made the playoffs:  Run the ball and play solid defense.  The Browns had no answer all day for this formula as the defense was dominated by the Bengals’ offensive line.

The Cincinnati offense dominated so thoroughly that their punter, Kevin Huber, was needed just once on the day, and that was in the fourth quarter. 

The defense takes the brunt of the blame for this defeat. 

Because of the success of the running game, mistake prone QB Carson Palmer wasn’t needed to make plays.  The Bengals longest pass play was a wide receiver screen pass to Andre Caldwell, which went for 53 yards.  Cincy didn’t turn the ball over and didn’t allow a sack, and that usually leads to taking the victory formation at the end of the game.

Cincinnati had the ball for 38 minutes compared to just 22 for the Browns, and ran 68 play for the contest compared to just 43 for Cleveland.  In an odd statistic, the Browns actually gained more yards per play than the Bengals.  They just didn’t run enough of them.

You know there is a defensive issue when the top two tacklers on your unit play in the secondary on a day where your opponent is running the ball.  Rookies T.J. Ward and Joe Haden each had six stops to top the team.

On offense, another rookie QB Colt McCoy returned and played well, hitting 19 of 25 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns, both to unlikely targets.  On the first drive of the game, McCoy hit TE Robert Royal with a 20 yard strike, and on the last drive, he hit WR Brian Robiskie with a 46 yard throw to put the Browns within two points.

The other impressive drive for Cleveland came at the end of the third quarter, but stalled because of the stubbornness of coach Eric Mangini and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll, who kept running Peyton Hillis up the middle inside the 10 yard line instead of trying something out on the perimeter.  The Browns settled for three instead of seven, and they lost by two.  You do the math.

Hillis carried for just 59 yards on only 14 attempts, but the Bengals were playing the run, and Cleveland didn’t run enough offensive plays anyway to establish the ground game more.

TE Ben Watson had another good game, catching 7 aerials for 92 yards.

Besides the aforementioned drive at the end of the third quarter, a couple of other coaching decisions bear review. 

The end of the first half was a mess.  The Browns were going to go for a first down on 4th and 7 from the Bengals’ 34 yard line in an effort to get into field goal range before intermission.  After a false start penalty on OT John St. Clair, who had a terrible game, Mangini decided to punt.  There were only 16 seconds remaining.  Why not try again for the first down, and it you turn it over on downs, the Bengals probably only have ten second left anyway.

The other occurence was after the Bengals recovered the onside kick with slightly more than two minutes left.  Benson was tackled with 2:06 remaining and Mangini elected to let the clock tick down to the two-minute warning.  Why not use a timeout there, with another one to come at the 2:00 mark?

Had the defense stopped the Bengals, the Browns could have had six to ten more seconds to work with.

Anyway, the buzzard will be circling above Berea this week.  Team president Mike Holmgren cannot be happy his team lost to two 2-win teams on back to back weeks.  Despite winning games against New England and New Orleans earlier this season, you make gain in this league by beating the teams you should beat consistently.  Mangini hasn’t done that this season.

JD

There is a fine line between patience and stubbornness. 

We have seen that over the years with the coaches and managers who have passed through Cleveland over the past few years.  When it works out, it’s patience.  When it doesn’t, it’s stubbornness.  More often than not, it does not work, and the person in charge loses their job.

Being stubborn is not the trait of successful coaches.  Eric Wedge was like this when he was managing the Indians, particularly with the use of his bullpen.  In the end, it cost him his job.

Eric Mangini is doing the same thing with his quarterback, and it may come back to bite him in the behind.

Since Colt McCoy was injured in the Jacksonville game, Mangini has gone with Jake Delhomme at quarterback.  This is understandable because the veteran had a good pre-season and he lost his job because of a high ankle sprain in the season opener.

However, since the first half of his first start back against his former team, the Carolina Panthers, Delhomme has played poorly.  Perhaps it was the QB fumbling and throwing two interceptions in a span of four plays that has caused the coaching staff to severely button up the play calling, but whatever the reason, his play has been subpar.

Yet, earlier this week the head coach said he would continue to start Delhomme if McCoy is not healthy enough to go this Sunday against Cincinnati.  Based on the last 2-1/2 games, this would mean the coach would rather go with an ultra-conservative attack than play Seneca Wallace, who started for the Browns in their first victory of the season, which came against the Bengals.

What is the reason for doing this?  It is decisions like this that have conspiracy theorists going crazy. 

Is Mangini playing Delhomme because Wallace said he expected to start when he came back from his ankle injury?  Is Mangini playing Delhomme because the team is paying him $7 million?  Is Mangini playing Delhomme because he has provocative pictures of the head coach with a farm animal?

It appears that the coach trusts the rookie most in terms of running the offense.  The offense seems to have more flexibility with the rookie because he makes good decisions with the football.  Delhomme has thrown seven interceptions in 149 passes this season and 25 in 470 attempts over the past two seasons.  By contrast, Seneca Wallace has thrown 16 INTs in his career covering 656 passes.

McCoy has tossed three picks in 129 passes this season.

If Mangini values being careful with the pigskin, why wouldn’t the choice be Wallace if McCoy can’t start?

With all of these factors and statistics staring him in the face, the Browns’ head coach says Jake Delhomme would be the second option as the starter ahead of Wallace?  It just doesn’t make sense. 

You have to assume that Wallace is in the coaches’ doghouse.  When this happens, thoughts go to former Tribe skipper Pat Corrales when asked if he was going to bench Julio Franco when Franco missed a game in New York, apparently because he was out too late the night before.

Corrales said something about his team not being good enough for him to have a doghouse. 

Eric Mangini should be thinking along those lines. 

And if Wallace isn’t in good graces with the coaching staff, then Mangini’s stubbornness is getting the best of him. 

He would be another in a long line of coaches to lose their job because of it.

JD

Nobody thought it would be this bad. 

We are not talking about the play calling by the Cleveland Browns, rather this discussion is centered on the play of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who have now lost eight straight contests, and their record has plummeted to 7-17 on the season. 

Good luck in the 2011 Draft Lottery. 

The wine and gold have the 7^th worst record in the league currently, and teams like New Jersey, Washington, and Detroit are closing fast.  The team has the worst point differential in the NBA at –9.7 points per night, which means you could make the point that Cleveland is the worst team in the association.

It’s not pretty, and it seems to be getting worse.

Coach Byron Scott changed the starting lineup to get more production there, and it worked.  Unfortunately, the bench, which had been one of the highest scoring units in the NBA, is now doing nothing. 

Still, the biggest problem with this team is defense, and the lack of it.  The Cavs rank 9^th from the bottom in terms of points allowed per game, but that doesn’t tell the whole story.  The only team allowing more points than the wine and gold that scores less than 100 points per game is the Washington Wizards.

The other seven teams that allow more points are all running type teams, squads like Phoenix, Golden State, Toronto, and New York.  Although Scott would like the offense to be more up-tempo, right now it isn’t and Cleveland is scoring only 93 points per night while giving up 103. 

They are fourth from the bottom in field goal percentage against, behind the Suns, Raptors, and Wizards.  However, from behind the three-point line, they are allowing more than 41% of shots worth three points. 

The only other team over 40% is the Los Angeles Clippers.

Fox Sports’ Sam Amico said the Cavaliers’ perimeter defense is the worst he has seen in the 25 years he has covered the NBA.  And yes, it is that bad.

It starts with Scott not having anyone who can stop the opponents’ point guard from getting into the paint on a consistent basis.  The failure of Mo Williams, Ramon Sessions, and Daniel Gibson to stop dribble penetration puts the rest of the defense in a position to have to help prevent a lay up parade.

Couple that with the lack of a shot blocker in the middle, and you have a situation where too many players are concentrating on stopping points in the paint, as they should be.  However, that leaves the perimeter wide open.  Ryan Hollins is a decent shot blocker, but he’s only on the floor for about 12-15 minutes per night.

In previous years, the team had guys like Zydrunas Ilgauskas and Shaquille O’Neal blocking the way to the hoop.  Although they weren’t mobile, they were big enough to alter shots.

J.J. Hickson could be a deterrent in time, but right now, he doesn’t know how or is unwilling to play solid defense inside.

And currently, the Cavs don’t have enough guys with the quickness and size needed to recover on outside shots.  Anthony Parker and Manny Harris are the only guards with size on the roster, and Parker is now playing small forward and has appeared to lose a step.

The other players who have the height to challenge shots from outside aren’t athletic enough to recover from stopping drives, outside of perhaps Jawad Williams and the recently banished Jamario Moon.  However, if the guards were doing their job, everyone else could concentrate on stopping their man.

Last year, LeBron James and Delonte West could recover much quicker than the current group.  And West could also guard the point and limit drives to the basket.

In this losing streak, nothing has worked for this basketball team, but the defense is the main problem.  Better defense would not only mean the Cavaliers would need less points to win, but they would also be able to utilize the running game their coach wants.

The Cavs need a lot to make this team better, but the first piece should be a defensive minded point guard, who makes good decisions with the basketball.  Until that happens, it will be tough to watch the Cavaliers.

JK

It seems like Browns’ coach Eric Mangini and offensive coordinator Brian Daboll found a safe with a bunch of game plans from the 1940’s and decided to do an experiment to see if they could work in today’s NFL. 

That’s the only way to explain what the Browns are doing on offense that past few weeks.  Either that or the coaches trust rookie QB Colt McCoy much more than the veteran Jake Delhomme and that’s why Cleveland is afraid to do much more than hand the ball off to Peyton Hillis. 

A combination of archaic play calling, turnovers, and a poor day by the offensive line produced just six points for the Browns in a 13-6 loss to the Buffalo Bills, who are now 3-10 on the season.  Cleveland drops to 5-8 and is officially eliminated from playoff contention.

The Browns attack netted just 187 total yards for the game, and just 82 came through the air as it appeared the team was afraid to put the ball in the air at the outset.  However, the brown and orange had five fumbles, four in the running game (losing one), and Delhomme was picked off once, he lost a fumble as well, in a ultraconservative game plan.

This game really changed in the first quarter.  Cleveland marched right down the field behind Hillis and had a third and inches from inside the one yard line.  Instead of a quarterback sneak, Delhomme handed to Hills one more time and he was dropped for a yard loss.  Phil Dawson then kicked a field goal to put the Browns out in front, 3-0.

On the Bills first drive, LB Chris Gocong hit QB Ryan Fitzpatrick causing a fumble that was recovered by Eric Wright, giving Cleveland possession on the Buffalo 25 yard line.  However, Hillis fumbled trying to hurdle a Bills defender, and Buffalo recovered.  The Browns lost momentum right then and there.

Delhomme threw downfield once in the first half and completed it to WR Mohammed Massaquoi for a 34 yard gain.  There only other passing gain of over 10 came on a pass to Brian Robiskie on the team’s second field goal drive. 

It is difficult to believe the offense couldn’t get a receiver open more than five yards past the line of scrimmage for the rest of the game.

To be fair, Delhomme was rushed by Buffalo blitzes. The offensive line had problems with the pressure put on by the Bills, particular speed rushes coming from the outside linebackers.  The Browns’ QB was sacked just once, but had to settle for short completions due to pressure many times.

The most galling conservative play calling came near the end of the first half after Buffalo’s Rian Lindell kicked a field goal to give them a 10-6 advantage. 

A penalty on the kickoff return gave Cleveland possession on the Bills’ 45 yard line with ten seconds left.  It was as if Buffalo was trying to give the Browns a field goal to end the first half. 

However, Delhomme checked down and threw a two yard pass to Hillis which took up six seconds.  A Hail Mary pass on the last play was incomplete and ended the half. 

Why not throw a 10-15 yard pass (with timeouts remaining) to give Phil Dawson a chance to add three points before the intermission?  It’s these kinds of things that make the fans cringe, and probably team president Mike Holmgren as well.

McCoy was able to practice a little at the end of the week, so perhaps he can return to the starting lineup next week.  The offense’s performance today made it much easier to make that change.

JD

If it wasn’t bad enough during the summer, baseball’s winter meetings is just one more time that it is difficult to be a fan of the Cleveland Indians. 

While other teams are dreaming of deals for players like former Cy Young Award winner Zack Greinke or 1B Adrian Gonzalez, the Tribe is signing veteran minor leaguer Jack Hannahan, and showing interest in utility infielder Nick Punto.

It makes you want to run down to Progressive Field or your local team shop and buy a bunch of tickets for next season.

It also makes you wonder if the Indians’ front office is interested in improving the team for the 2011 season.

Their approach regarding third base makes fans want to shake their collective heads.

At the end of last season, the incumbent at the hot corner was Jayson Nix, who batted .234 with 13 HR and 29 RBI’s in 306 at bats, with an OPS of 705.  Add to those sterling numbers his defensive deficiencies and you have someone you need to replace. 

However, the Tribe seems to want to replace him with someone who can field the position.  Unfortunately, almost everyone agrees that the position is one you need some offense from.

First, they talked about signing Kevin Kouzmanoff, if he were non-tendered by Oakland.  Kouzmanoff is the equal of Nix offensively, but has a better glove.  The A’s decided to keep the former Indian, so that idea is out the window.

Now, it is said that new GM Chris Antonetti is looking at Nick Punto, who has played shortstop and therefore will provide better defense at 3B.

The problem with Punto is he makes Nix and Kouzmanoff look like Shin-Soo Choo offensively. 

Punto, 33, has a lifetime OPS of 644.  He has a lifetime on base percentage of .321.  He’s a .247 hitter for his career with 13 homers and 198 RBI.  The 13 dingers is a good month for some hitters, and the RBI total is a season and a half worth for Manny Ramirez in his prime.

Another alternative would be former Blue Jay Edwin Encarnacion, who was just non-tendered by Oakland, but the Indians don’t like him because he made 18 errors last season.  They lived through Casey Blake making 20 errors a season, though.

However, he did hit 21 home runs with an 787 OPS.  He’ll be 28 years old in January and has a lifetime OPS of 790.  He also is not a whiff machine, with a career high of 102 strikeouts in 2006 with Cincinnati.

The Indians are spooked because Nix was so horrible defensively at the end of the year.  That’s no reason to go with a guy who is all field, no hit.

It looks like that’s the Indian way these days.

Why not give rookie Cord Phelps the job at third and use whatever money you may have to sign a pitcher.  Or sign Encarnacion, let Phelps compete for a job at second base and deal a couple of the middle infielders currently on the roster for pitching.

Instead, the Cleveland Indians seemed satisfied with mediocrity.  We know Lonnie Chisenhall should be ready to assume the job in 2012, but that’s no reason to play a below average major leaguer at the spot next season. 

And they keep alienating their fans.  That is, how many of them that remains.

MW

Before this season started, it seemed that projections for the Cleveland Cavaliers were awfully low. Once writer even thought the Cavs would win just 12 games this season.

You knew that losing LeBron James would make a big difference and the wine and gold were not a title contender anymore, but there was still enough talent to be over the .500 mark and be a playoff contender.

However, now the Cavaliers have lost four in a row, and 10 of their last 13 contests. The biggest problem in that span has been the defense, as the Cavs have allowed over 100 points in each of their last eight defeats, giving up an average of 111.3 points per night in those games.

It goes beyond points as well. Actually, the team ranks 18th in points against at 102.4 per game, but the wine and gold’s defensive field goal percentage shows a much bigger problem. Opponents are making 47.6% of their shots, a mark that ranks fourth worst in the NBA. From beyond the three-point line, the Cavs are allowing a 41.7% rate, second from the bottom in the league.

The current Cavaliers are a small team, and their defensive rotations are slow, which explains the success opponents have in putting up points.

This team has two centers in Anderson Varajao, who is really a power forward, and Ryan Hollins, who has potential but would still have to be classified as a project. And those two are the only guys listed at bigger than 6’9” on the roster. That’s not enough to be a good defensive team, and it also hurts in giving up second shots.

Just last week, the Celtics scored 60, 60! points in the paint against the Cleveland front line.

The backcourt is another area where size is needed. It’s not necessary to go overboard with guard height like former coach Mike Brown, but at this moment the guard rotation is 6’1” Mo Williams, 6’2” Daniel Gibson, 6’3” Ramon Sessions, and 6’6” Anthony Parker, who looks like he has lost a step at 35 years old.

And Parker is probably the best defender of that group.

The other problem for Cleveland is shot selection. They still hoist three point shots at inopportune times, and force other shots not in the flow of the offense.

Also, they haven’t grasped the Princeton offense Byron Scott wants to play. You rarely see a back cut from a player wearing a Cavalier uniform.

So what we have with this edition of the Cavaliers is a team who has poor shot selection and can’t defend in the paint. That’s a recipe for a poor season.

The team has played 20 games now, a quarter of the season. Based on has been seen thus far, this current group isn’t going to win consistently, so it’s time to make changes, primarily ones based on getting younger.

It will be very difficult to trade Antawn Jamison and his hefty contract, but Parker should be moved if only to get a longer look at rookie Manny Harris and perhaps Christian Eyenga.

The next move is a tough one to make, but it’s one that needs to be made if only because of the market value of the player. The team needs to move Varajao, whose talents are better served on a good team, which the Cavs aren’t.

The Brazilian could bring someone who could play in the rotation right away and also a solid prospect. For example, if Memphis would be willing to move guard O. J. Mayo, you could deal Varajao and Parker for Mayo and second year big man Hasheem Thabeet.

It is obvious after the past week that the current Cavs do not have what it takes to win without James. Knowing that means the rebuild should start now. The quicker you start, the quicker you will see results.

JK

For much of the first half, it appeared that CBS was replaying last year’s Browns-Bills game which ended in a 6-3 Cleveland victory, their only one until the last four games of the season. 

At the pace the contest was being played at, the network was going to have to show the entire second half of another game, because it might have been over by 2:30 PM eastern time.

However, it was really a different game and the Browns turned a late turnover by Miami into a 13-10 triumph, running their record to 5-7 on the season and matching last year’s win total for the entire season. 

Offensive coordinator Brian Daboll was using the caveman offense, seemingly refusing to throw on first down.  In the second half, the offense took more chances and put a touchdown on the board after a 3-3 halftime tie.  It was only a tie because Dolphins’ kicker Dan Carpenter made a 60 yard field goal to end the half.

Somewhere, Woody Hayes was smiling at the offensive strategy of the two teams.  He also had to be happy because Miami QB Chad Henne, who went to Michigan, threw three interceptions, including one off a deflection which led to Phil Dawson’s game winning 24 yard kick.

The Cleveland defense played well for the most part, holding the Dolphins to under 300 yards total offense.  But when the Browns took the lead on a 3 yard TD pass from Jake Delhomme to Benjamin Watson, the defense countered by letting Miami march right down the field to tie the game on an 11 play, 80 yard drive.

Rookie CB Joe Haden was all over the field, making tackles, breaking up a pass in the end zone, and intercepting a pass for the fourth straight game.  The last Brown to do that was Ernie Kellerman in 1968.  It makes you wonder why he didn’t start until Eric Wright was hurt in game 10. 

S Abe Elam has turned into a big play guy over the past several games picking off another pass today.  Elam started this trend with his strip of Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski a few weeks ago, and continued it with a strip and touchdown against Jacksonville.  This kind a big play ability had been missing from the Cleveland secondary for a long time.

And S Mike Adams made the play of the game, intercepting a Henne pass after a deflection by LB David Bowens and returning it to the Miami 2 yard line with a minute left in the game. 

As for the offense, well, if Peyton Hillis ever got hurt and had to miss a game, the Browns might consider a forfeit.  The big running back from Arkansas touched the ball on 16 of the team’s first 28 plays.  If they weren’t handing him the ball, they were throwing it to him.

To be fair, Watson had an excellent game, catching 10 passes for 100 yards and a TD.  And WR Mohammed Massaquoi had a good game as well, grabbing four balls for 81 yards including 37 yard catch on a long pass (yes, a pass downfield!) from Delhomme and a nice catch and run which set up the score.

Delhomme did a solid job, connecting on 24 of 34 passes for 217 yards, but Browns fans had to swallow hard when the QB threw a pass late in the fourth quarter that was nearly another pick six for Miami.  As a veteran, he should know better on throws like that.  He also took a sack prior to Dawson’s miss of a 47 yard attempt in the third quarter. 

The loss to Jacksonville continues to loom large as a win there would have the Browns sitting at 6-6 right now.  This was another game that could have been made easier by a decent offensive game plan.  Maybe the coaching staff is most comfortable with Colt McCoy after all.

JD

It is probably tough to be a Cleveland Cavalier player today at practice because coach Byron Scott will likely work them like dogs after last night’s embarrassing performance against the Miami Heat in LeBron James’ homecoming.

Yes, the Heat are a more talented team than the Cavs with three all stars on the roster, but what is disappointing is the wine and gold players did not match the intensity of their opponents, let alone the fans.

It was an unacceptable performance and it makes you, and probably owner Dan Gilbert wonder about the make up of the players on his roster.

It’s one thing to lose, it’s another to joke around with the opponent as he is beating you. 

There are many Cavs players who need to look in a mirror today.

There is no question that this game meant more to the fans than it did the players, but maybe it shouldn’t have.  After all, James basically told them they weren’t good enough when he decided to leave the franchise to go play for the Heat.

When James was hanging around the Cleveland bench near the end of the second quarter and was engaged in banter with Daniel Gibson and some other Cavalier players, it was not cool. 

One of the Cavs’ veterans, such as an Antawn Jamison or a Leon Powe, should have stood up and sternly told the opposing player to get away from his bench. 

That would have sent a message to James and also his teammates.

Both Charles Barkley and Reggie Miller on TNT were critical of how the Cavs bench behaved.

Yes, it’s a new generation and it is tough for old school people to identify with how the younger generation handles things. 

Sometimes, change isn’t for the good. 

Fans need to know that their team wants to win.  Last night, supporters of the wine and gold have to think their team was more interested in seeing their friend again. 

One of the criticism of the wine and gold over the past few seasons was the lack of a killer instinct, and that was when LeBron James was on the team.  That showed once again last night.

That’s why the Lakers win.  Kobe Bryant is a stone cold killer.  He wants to beat you, not be your buddy.  His teammates say the same thing about him.  However, that’s why he’s a winner of five NBA championships.

Unfortunately for the NBA, there aren’t a lot of players with that personality any more, everybody wants to be everyone else’s buddy. 

It the same trait that Michael Jordan had, Magic Johnson had, Larry Bird had, and Isiah Thomas had. 

Recently, Thomas was interviewed in The Sporting News and he said the reason he doesn’t get along with ex-players like Bird and Johnson is because he beat them.

He still has the fire and he’s been retired for 15 years. 

Check out Jordan’s Hall of Fame induction speech.  He still wants to win.  He wasn’t out to make friends.

The Cleveland Cavaliers have to look at themselves today to see if they have that quality.  They certainly didn’t show it last night and it was an unacceptable performance.

JK