Browns Trying To Right The Wrongs They Inflicted On Themselves

The NFL playoffs started this past weekend, a grim reminder that it was only one year ago the Cleveland Browns were participating. Yes, it might seem like eons ago, but it was only 12 months.

While others want to sound the woe is us card when it comes to the Browns (as usual), we can’t get past the point that the organization did this to themselves. They replaced several offensive coaches, in essence tearing apart something that needed building upon.

The Charles Barkley quote keeps ringing in our ears, “if it ain’t broke, don’t break it”.

We questioned a few times why when offensive line guru Bill Callahan went to Tennessee to coach with his son, the front office simply didn’t hire his assistant, Scott Peters, to succeed him. This would have been perfect sense, continuing the blocking scheme Callahan brought to Cleveland.

In an interview after the season ending loss to Baltimore, after hearing the news that Andy Dickerson was fired as the O-line coach, Joel Bitonio and Jack Conklin wondered out loud why the Browns made the change in scheme. They said they would like to go back to that.

It’s something else we always say. The players know when the coaches or the front office does something dumb. And nothing erodes the relationship between a coach and the players like doing something that doesn’t work and keep sticking with it.

And all these moves were made to justify the biggest mistake the Browns made in the last 10 years (perhaps in franchise history), the trade for Deshaun Watson. And compounding a mistake is always worse than just moving on from it.

Remember, Watson ruled out the Browns before the deal was made and only agreed to come to Cleveland when they fully guaranteed the contract. That should have sent a message that he really didn’t want to be here. And let’s face it, he still doesn’t want to be here.

It’s akin to being unemployed and taking the first job offer you get even though you know it’s not a good fit for you. Watson felt he could make it work, but his heart really wasn’t in it.

And the organization did not show Watson any tough love. Instead of telling him to conform to Kevin Stefanski’s offense, which has been proven, they instead decided to breakdown what was working, and try to make it more “Watson friendly”.

We guess the best news out of this is the organization decided to try to reverse the course after one season, a 3-14 disaster true, but they didn’t stick their heads in the sand and pretend everything was okay.

They hired a new offensive line coach, Mike Bloomgren, who lost his job as head coach at Rice University. Who did Bloomgren coach with earlier in his career with the Jets? That’s right, Bill Callahan.

The candidates for offensive coordinator also seem to have Stefanski’s offense, which means running the football in mind. It will be interesting to see who gets the gig, but it won’t be a pass first coach like Ken Dorsey.

As for Watson, his re-tear of the Achilles’ tendon virtually assures what was always thought to be true. His career in Cleveland is over.

The worst thing about it? The loss of draft picks and wasting three years of the careers of so many players.

Mercifully Football Is Over, Now The Changes Begin For Browns

The NFL seemed to be merciful in ending the Cleveland Browns’ season before any other team’s this season.

A year after a playoff year, finishing 11-6, the Browns went 3-14 following a 35-10 defeat at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens.

The ownership has said time and again GM Andrew Berry and head coach Kevin Stefanski will be back next season, but we would guess we would see news about any changes to the coaching staff or in the front office this week.

We are going to go against the norm and say this should not be the start of a long rebuilding process. There is talent on the roster, particularly probably the best defensive player in the game in DE Myles Garrett and a Pro Bowl shutdown corner in Denzel Ward.

And sorry everyone, Garrett should not be traded for a bunch of draft choices who will never be as good as he is. He is only 29 years old and has plenty of great seasons to come. Give him a new contract and 3-4 years from now, if things still look bleak and the future Hall of Famer wants to go to a winner, the Browns can do right by him and trade or release him.

There is an entire cottage industry of chronicling the misfortunes of the Browns over the last decade. (Did you know Bailey Zappe was the 40th starting QB since 1999?).

Some of it is deserved. If we were in the front office, we would put a muzzle on certain members of the coaching staff and some executives. Why would people leak word of Deshaun Watson competing for the starting QB job next summer or have Ken Dorsey say Dorian Thompson-Robinson has potential?

Dorsey was let go by the organization pretty much immediately after the season ending loss, along with offensive line coach Andy Dickerson.

What’s the comment about being silent and having people think you are stupid?

Cleveland must get better quarterback play. That is first and foremost. And any talk of bringing Watson back is dumb. He has played 19 games with the Browns and has played probably less than 10 decent quarters. At this point, thinking a change in offensive strategy or coordinator will make him regain the skills he had prior to the trade is lunacy.

If they like one of the passers coming into the league via the draft, they should draft one, but they should not feel the need to force-feed that player onto the field.

They also need to get better at running back. We would love to see Nick Chubb back, but they need to find a younger version of the back who wears #24.

And they need an offensive coordinator who understands the importance of running the ball and is willing to make a commitment to doing it.

The defense isn’t bad. True, they played much better a year ago, but they allowed the least first downs in the league. Even yesterday, until the fourth quarter, they kept Cleveland in the game. Remember, the first Baltimore TD was an interception return, a too common sight in 2024.

On that side of the ball, some younger players stood out. DT Mike Hall, injured in the finale, looks like he can play. Second year DE Isaiah McGuire looks like a player, so does LB Mohamoud Diabate, CB Cam Mitchell, and don’t forget DE Alex Wright, who was injured after week four.

Offensively, we would be remiss in not mentioning WR Jerry Jeudy, who also made the Pro Bowl catching 90 passes this season, amazing since he played with one professional passer.

The worrisome part of this is the first thing that needs to be done is recognizing who can play and who can’t. The talent evaluators thought DTR was better than Tyler Huntley. They started DTR in two games when based on yesterday, Bailey Zappe is better.

And we have our weekly mention of trading a second-round pick for WR Elijah Moore.

They have to correctly evaluate what changes need to be made. If they are honest with themselves, we think they can win. Next season.

Three People To Watch For Browns Not Named Deshaun Watson

With the Cleveland Browns’ season starting today, it is clear that the player with the most pressure on him coming into the season is QB Deshaun Watson. The Browns paid a hefty price for the quarterback, giving up three first round draft picks and paying him a ton of guaranteed cash, and have received little return on their investment.

However, there are others under the microscope for us as the 2024 season kicks off today.

Offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey. Let’s face it, the Browns’ offense hasn’t exactly been broken over the last four seasons with Kevin Stefanski and Alex Van Pelt running it. Since Stefanski became head coach, Cleveland has ranked between 14th and 18th in yards gained, right in the middle of the pack.

Dorsey’s offense in Buffalo, where he was offensive coordinator in 2022 ranked 2nd in yardage, but he was let go during the season last year.

He did have Josh Allen, one of the better QBs in the NFL guiding his attack. He comes to town with a reputation for getting the most out of “dual threat” quarterbacks, having worked with Allen and Cam Newton during his time in Carolina.

His job here is to get the most out of Watson, get him back to the player he was in Houston. However, let’s not forget the Browns’ offense hummed under Joe Flacco late last season and Stefanski has gotten the best out of pretty much every quarterback he has worked with. Except one.

Offensive line coach Andy Dickerson. He’s replacing a legend in Bill Callahan, recognized as one of the best line coaches in the business. Callahan left to coach with his son Brian in Tennessee, and the Browns made the right decision in allowing that to happen.

If the offensive line has issues this year, no doubt Dickerson will be under scrutiny because he’s not Callahan. The interior of this unit is solid with guards Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller, and center Ethan Pocic.

Right now, the tackle spots are up in the air, but that’s due to injury and not the coaching. As we write this, we don’t know who will start at left tackle.

Much of the Browns’ success under Stefanski has been the ability to run the football, much of that due to Nick Chubb of course, but also Bill Callahan. Can Dickerson maintain that level of excellence, especially has injuries occur?

And that brings us to…

Running back Jerome Ford. The third-year back got his first extended action last season when Chubb went down and averaged a little less than four yards per carry. Chubb, of course, is one of the best in league history, averaging 5.3 yards per carry for his career.

However, remember D’Ernest Johnson? He got 100 carries in 2021 for Cleveland and averaged 5.3 yards per carry. Last year, Pierre Strong picked up 4.6 yards per attempt.

If the Browns are going to run the ball effectively, and yes, they will need to, Ford has to do better than four yards per attempt.

For us, he seems to hesitate when he approaches the line at times instead of putting his head down and getting two yards, he looks for the big gain and loses yardage.

Perhaps that comes with experience, and we will see that in ’24. But no doubt, the Browns need the running game, especially if they have leads going into the fourth quarter.