Signing Garrett Now Absolutely The Correct Move For Browns

A few days ago, we wondered on social media what the reaction around Cleveland would be if the Browns announced they would be unable to re-sign DE Myles Garrett because they simply couldn’t afford it.

It was meant to compare the view of the Browns’ ownership vs. that of the Indians, meaning people just accept the baseball team here cannot afford top players, while we feel they would be outraged in the Haslam family made the same claim.

Later that day, the news hit that the Browns were indeed seeking a long term extension with Garrett, whose contract will end following the 2021 season.

First, the Browns are in a league with a salary cap, and they have plenty of room under said cap, so it would be wise to sign their best defensive player. Second, they understand that Garrett is a star in terms of production.

Garrett has played just three NFL seasons, and already should be considered one of the Browns’ top pass rushers of all time, and when you realize he missed considerable time last season after his suspension, it’s even more impressive.

The former first overall pick is currently seventh in Cleveland history in sacks, despite playing just 37 of a possible 48 games, with 30.5. He averages .82 sacks per game.

The least amount of games played by the six men in front of him is the 41 played by Anthony Pleasant, who has 33.5 in that span, the same average as Garrett.

Of course, Pleasant’s tenure here ended when Art Modell moved the franchise to Baltimore. He played eight more seasons in the league, ending his career with 58 sacks, which would put him second of the all-time franchise list.

If Garrett gets 10 sacks in the upcoming 2020 season, that would give him 40.5 for his career, making him tied for third on the Browns’ career list, behind only Clay Matthews and Michael Dean Perry.

And if he played all 16 games, he would be there in 53 games, compared to 144 for Matthews and 109 for Perry.

Now we understand the Cleveland franchise hasn’t been blessed with dominant pass rushers since Paul Brown was fired as head coach, and certainly not since sacks were designated as an official statistic.

Since Garrett came into the league in 2017, only ten players have sacked the passer more times than the former Texas A & M standout, and of those ten, only four (Chandler Jones, Aaron Donald, Cameron Jordan, and Danielle Hunter) have totals far ahead of the Cleveland player.

His 30.5 total compares favorably to that of prime pass rushers like Von Miller (32.5), Khalil Mack (31.5), and Chris Jones (31). You have to think if Garrett would have completed the season last year, he’d be ahead of that trio.

If you are the Browns, you want to do this sooner than later to help determine your salary structure for next off-season, and you have to think the price of an elite pass rusher may increase, even with the uncertainty of this upcoming season, and whether or not fans will be allowed to attend.

This is absolutely the correct move for the Browns’ front office. Myles Garrett is an elite player, and keeping him in the orange and brown makes perfect sense.

Retired Numbers Should Be For The Elite.

With Tristan Thompson perhaps (probably) playing his last game as a Cleveland Cavalier because the NBA season for the wine and gold is over, the subject of retired numbers came up regarding the franchise, and we wanted to weigh in with our thoughts.

First, let’s clarify a few rules. Much like Hall of Fame debates, you cannot use the fact that someone’s number has been retired and shouldn’t have as an argument to retire a number.

For example, Nate Thurmond’ s number was retired by Cleveland even though the big man played a shade of a season (114 games total) with the Cavs. That shouldn’t justify anyone else who played that short of time with the team having their number hanging from the rafters.

Second, a player should play the majority of his career with the team who is retiring his number. So, people who want the Indians to retire C.C. Sabathia’s number would be on the wrong side of this argument.

The lefty pitched here for eight seasons, but spent 11 seasons in pinstripes.

In our opinion, retiring a players’ number should be reserved for the elitist of players, the crème de la crème if you will.

So, Thompson will likely fit the longevity factor, but although he was a key piece of the squads that went to four straight NBA Finals, he’s never been an elite player. Heck, he’s never made an All Star team.

One of the reason’s the Cavs have so many uniform numbers retired was to draw people to games when they had bad records.

Austin Carr? He deserves the honor. He’s 6th all time in games played and still ranks 4th in points scored, and he was the franchise’s first marquee player. He’s called Mr. Cavalier, and with good reason.

Mark Price was the first Cleveland player to make first team All-NBA, and made four all star appearances, his teammate, Brad Daugherty, made five all star appearances.

We will agree to them, and of course, LeBron James’ #23 will be honored when his playing days end.

Larry Nance? Played more games with the Suns than with the Cavs (and we loved Nance as a player). And it pains us to say it, because his jersey retirement started bridging the gap between the team and James, but Zydrunas Ilgauskas’s number shouldn’t be retired either.

As for the future, the second clause would keep Kyrie Irving’s number in play, because he likely will play more games for another team than the Cavs.

The Indians got caught in the same attendance driven trap as well, so they started retiring too many numbers.

Obviously, Bob Feller’s #19 should get the honor. He’s the greatest player in the history of the franchise. And we would also agree with Lou Boudreau’s #5, Bob Lemon’s #21, and Jim Thome’s #25 never being worn again.

And Larry Doby’s historical significance, even though he’s ignored nationally, merit’s his #14 being taken out of circulation. The fact he was also a great player makes him even more worthy.

But Earl Averill? Most people outside of Cleveland don’t know who he is, even though he’s in Cooperstown. Mel Harder pitched here a long time, and was very good, but…

Frank Robinson deserves the statue commemorating him as the major league’s first African-American manager, but his number should not be retired in Cleveland. In Baltimore? Absolutely, but not here.

The Browns have retired five jerseys, although the number retirement is less prevalent in the NFL. Iconic players Otto Graham (#14), Lou Groza (#76), and the great Jim Brown (#32) will never have their numbers worn again, and we can understand retiring #45, commemorating the tragic story of Ernie Davis, who passed from leukemia before ever playing with the Browns.

The other retired number is another tragic story, that of Don Fleming (#46), who was a starting safety for Cleveland from 1960-62, and was electrocuted working construction during the off-season in June, 1963.

Our guess is the Browns will be retiring another number soon, when Joe Thomas is elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, his #73 will not be worn again.

To us, the jersey retirement should be a very special thing, reserved for the greats of the great for each franchise.

Adding players who aren’t worthy cheapens the honor for those special players.

Passing League? Browns Should Emphasize The Run.

It has been well documented over the past decade or so that the NFL is a passing league.

The game has been dominated by Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Aaron Rodgers, and more recently Patrick Mahomes, and their expertise in finding open receivers down the gridiron.

However, is the pendulum starting to swing back to the running game? And if so, is that another reason the Browns made the correct hire in Kevin Stefanski, and will he be able to maximize the talents of Nick Chubb (second in the NFL in rushing last season) and Kareem Hunt (former NFL rushing champion)?

Let’s look at the best running teams in the league last year–

Baltimore (14-2)
San Francisco (13-3, and Super Bowl participant)
Tennessee (9-7, played in AFC Championship Game)
Seattle (11-5)
Dallas (8-8)
Minnesota (10-6)
Indianapolis (7-9)
Buffalo (10-6)
Houston (10-6)
Arizona (5-10-1)

That’s seven of the 12 teams that advanced to the playoffs a year ago, and eight of the top ten had non-losing records.

Now, let’s look at the five worst running teams in the NFL:

1. Miami (5-11)
2. New York Jets (7-9)
3. Atlanta (7-9)
4. Pittsburgh (8-8)
5. Los Angeles Chargers (5-11)

No winning teams. Now, we understand some people will say those teams were behind a lot and so they were forced to throw the football, and that is true to some extent.

However, so is a statement made many, many years ago–If you can’t run the ball, and you can’t stop the run, it is difficult to win in the National Football League.

One of the things that didn’t make sense with the Browns’ offense a year ago, is they ranked fifth in the league in yards per rushing attempt, which makes sense since Chubb is on their roster.

Unfortunately, Cleveland ranked 22nd in the league in trying to run the ball. Remember, Hunt was active for the second half of the year, meaning coach Freddie Kitchens and offensive coordinator Todd Monken had two elite runners at their disposal.

So, the many fans who railed week in and week out about the ignorance of the running game were smarter than the people who were actually making decisions on a weekly basis.

Enter Stefanski. Notice the team he was the offensive coordinator for in 2019, the Vikings, ranked 6th in the NFL in rushing yardage, and also ranked fourth in rushing attempts.

Any questions on what will be the focus of the Browns’ offense this upcoming season?

The Browns ranked 19th in passing attempts last season, despite their 29th ranking in passing efficiency. Minnesota had the 6th best efficiency rating, but only two teams, Tennessee and Baltimore, threw the ball less often.

The only possible problem is Stefanski’s inexperience as a head coach, so you have to question will he give in to the constant carping from his wide receivers and outside the building to air it out and get the ball in the hands of Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry.

Our guess is Stefanski is already selling his receivers on the additional big plays they can make after establishing a run game. Would they rather catch seven passes for 85 yards or catch five for 120 yards, or something to that effect?

Baker Mayfield looked very good in the play-action game in his rookie year, and we bet Stefanski will put that skill to good use this fall.

As for stopping the run? That’s something new defensive coordinator Joe Woods has to work on. The Browns were third worst in the NFL a year ago, and if you can’t put opponents in unfavorable down and distance situations, your best players (Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward) can’t do what they do best.

Should Be Optimism Only For The Browns.

We understand what defense mechanisms are and how they work. Even if we hadn’t learned them in our school days, we would know by how football fans in Cleveland behave.

Listening to sports talk radio in town (and yes, we also know that’s a dicey proposition), we are surprised by the number of Browns’ fans who have talked themselves out of expecting the playoffs, or at least a playoff contender in 2020.

Cleveland won five of its last seven games in 2018 to finish 7-8-1 and had a small chance to make the playoffs had it won their last game against Baltimore. Baker Mayfield set an NFL record for most touchdown passes by a rookie.

At this time a year ago, fans were jacked up about the upcoming season, especially after the trade that brought All Pro wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. to Cleveland.

Nothing could stop the Browns.

Except they had tons of dysfunction behind the scenes. Their general manager hired an offensive coordinator that brought in a system that clashed with what worked the year prior.

The addition of Beckham seems to have made everyone in the organization, including Mayfield, think the ball should be thrown to him every play, including those where he was tightly covered.

Basically, John Dorsey seemed to do everything to make sure everyone was NOT on the same page as the team was when they had a very good second half of the season in 2018.

He also ignored the offensive line, in fact, he traded one of the best on the team, if not the league, when he moved Kevin Zeitler to New York for Beckham.

And in typical Browns fashion, everyone paid for it by losing their jobs after the ’19 season.

So, the Browns have a new head coach, a new GM, a new offensive coordinator, and yet people still think they will operate the same as they did a year ago?

To us, here is where Paul DePodesta comes in. He was here for the teardown of the franchise by Sashi Brown, and saw the conflict between Brown and Hue Jackson. Then Dorsey came in and he clashed with Jackson too, and then tried to accelerate the plan by bringing in “stars” instead of people who fit.

DePodesta saw the conflict between Dorsey, the head coach he picked in Freddie Kitchens, and the offensive coordinator who wasn’t a good fit with Kitchens, and the chaos that ensued.

That’s why he emphasized a singular direction for the Cleveland Browns. He liked Kevin Stefanski when he interviewed him the year prior, and saw Andrew Berry and Stefanski got along at that time.

He saw the Browns have success as a running team in the second half of ’18, and the new head coach likes to run the football too. He will emphasize the team’s best offensive player, Nick Chubb, and a former NFL rushing champ in Kareem Hunt.

Could it all go to hell? It’s the NFL and anything can happen. But it appears that none of the upheaval surrounding last year’s circus should occur in 2020.

The Browns had talent, particularly on the offensive side of the football a year ago, and they still have it. It looks like this year, the coaching staff will use it properly and efficiently.

We understand the recent history of the Browns and get why people are pessimistic. But if they feel Kitchens was the problem last season, then that obstacle has been removed.

A winning team should be expected, and with some luck, so should the playoffs. Fans need to stop inventing reasons why the Browns can’t win.

Mayfield’s Problems In ’19 Based In Browns’ Dysfunction?

It is amazing to us that so many people have soured on Browns’ QB Baker Mayfield. At this time last year, he was the toast of the town in Cleveland, setting the record for touchdown passes by a rookie.

He was brash, cocky, and he won games. Cleveland went 6-7 in his starts, and while that’s not even above .500, when the team won a single game in the previous two seasons, you appreciate it.

Many of the fans who now want to replace Mayfield at the position also are highly critical of Freddie Kitchens, which doesn’t make sense to us.

If you think Kitchens was a terrible head coach, then doesn’t it follow he adversely affected the quarterback as well?

We said early in the 2019 campaign that it did not appear the Browns were running the same offense that was so successful in 2018 after Kitchens became the offensive coordinator.

Cleveland ranked 15th in the NFL in rushing attempts during the 2018 season, they ranked 22nd last year. In ’18, the Browns ranked 11th in yards per attempt at 4.6, and last year, they were even better at 4.8, ranking fifth in the NFL.

When Gregg Williams took over for Hue Jackson, and Kitchens inherited the OC job from the dismissed Todd Haley, the Browns became a running team, and they were successful. Mayfield benefited from this and played off the success of the running game.

But when Kitchens took over, and GM John Dorsey hired Todd Monken as offensive coordinator, the Browns got away from what allowed them to win in the second half of the 2018 season.

It didn’t help that Dorsey traded for Odell Beckham Jr. which influenced both the head coach and the OC to emphasize the passing game even more.

When you talk about the dysfunction of the Browns’ franchise, this should be presented as Exhibit A. Stop doing something that worked because the GM wanted to make a big splash, and the head coach and offensive coordinator felt obligated to the GM.

As stated previously, you could see it early in the season last year. Receivers were running downfield patterns with no outlet for Mayfield, and the offensive line wasn’t strong enough to block for those longer routes.

Mayfield ranked 13th in the NFL last year in intended air yards per pass attempt, while Kirk Cousins, running Kevin Stefanski’s offense in Minnesota, ranked 25th.

Although Mayfield ranked 5th in this category in ’18, his completed pass yards per attempt dropped from the year before, and the number of times he was sacked increased from 25 in 2018 (in 14 games) to 40 last season.

To us, it’s because the offensive line couldn’t hold up for the longer routes without the play action. And the play action worked better because the Browns became a running team when Williams and Kitchens took over.

Last season, teams knew Cleveland was going to try to throw first, and run second.

Enter new head coach Kevin Stefanski, and a front office which right now seems like they want to maximize the things this team can do best.

Under Stefanski, Kirk Cousins had his highest passer rating of his career and the lowest interception rate of his career.

He also threw the least passes per game since he became a starter in 2019.

That’s because the Vikings were 4th in rushing attempts (behind Baltimore, San Francisco, and Seattle) and 6th in rushing yards (adding to those teams Dallas and Tennessee).

Coincidentally, the Browns have the second leading rusher in the league in Nick Chubb, and a former NFL rushing champion in Kareem Hunt.

Guess what the Browns are going to do this year?

If Mayfield can’t be at top efficiency this season, then the Browns may need to be on the lookout for a new QB come next year’s draft. It’s all set up for him to succeed.

Browns Draft For Talent And Need. The Way It Should Be.

Coming into the NFL Draft, we thought the Cleveland Browns were a good bet to trade down, out of the 10th overall pick. The only way they wouldn’t, we thought, was if someone like Chase Young or Isaiah Simmons dropped to ten, or the tackle they thought was the best was still there.

The latter came about, and the Browns didn’t hesitate to take Jedrick Wills Jr. from Alabama. Now, the naysayers pointed out right away that Wills played right tackle for Nick Saban, and the Browns are playing him on the left side.

Since we started looking at mock drafts back in January, pretty much everyone didn’t think it would be a big deal for Wills to make the switch and be Cleveland’s left tackle for a long time.

Plus, Wills was projected by most draft ratings as a top 15 pick, so it isn’t like GM Andrew Berry reached for him at #10.

We preface all draft analysis by saying no one knows until the players get on the field, so to analyze, you have to look at two things: 1). Was the player chosen ranked a lot lower by the people who put grades on the players? or 2). Was the player chosen not fill a need for the team? (i.e. Green Bay taking a quarterback).

In the second and third rounds, the Browns did the same thing, it doesn’t look like they reached and they filled more positions of need.

Their second round pick was S Grant Delpit from LSU, who was projected as a first rounder before the season started but had some injury problems. If those problems are behind him, he should receive a lot of playing time next season.

The formula was followed with the next two picks in DT Jordan Elliott from Missouri and run stopping LB Jacob Phillips from LSU.

Along with free agent signee Andrew Billings, Elliott could give new defensive coordinator Joe Woods a chance to give starters Larry Ogunjobi and Sheldon Richardson rest at the defensive tackle spot.

As for Phillips, if you didn’t like Joe Schobert being a pass defender first and foremost at middle linebacker, you will like Phillips, who is most definitely is a run stopper. He will need to work on covering backs out of the backfield.

The first curious selection was TE Harrison Bryant from Florida Atlantic, which makes you wonder about David Njoku’s future with the team. On the other hand, Kevin Stefanski loves tight ends.

And the scouting reports say Bryant likes to block too, and he did win the Mackey Award as the best tight end in college football.

The last two picks were a little curious considering the defense could still use another defensive end and some linebacking help.

Instead, they took an offensive lineman in center Nick Harris. While not an area of need, you can never have too many good players in the trenches.

The last choice was probably “this guy is too good to be here” in Michigan WR Donovan Peoples-Jones, who was projected to go in rounds 3-5, and Cleveland got him with a 6th rounder.

The Browns do need another wide out, so it’s hard to be too critical of the pick.

Actually, it’s hard to be angry about any of the picks. What we can say is the “analytics” people don’t appear to have botched the entire process, and they took players most draft analysts figured to go around where they went.

The next step is to see them in uniform and playing other teams in exhibition play. Hopefully, all of these players can be contributors to the 2020 Cleveland Browns.

The NFL Draft Is More Than Picking The Best Player

We feel that most Browns’ fans would rather not see the team trade down in the first round of Thursday night’s NFL Draft, and perhaps this is only because it makes for a shorter period of time before the team makes its first pick.

We see comments all the time from fans and media alike, akin to just take the guy you want when it’s your turn to pick and be done with it. There is some validity to that, but you also have to remember that the draft is the game within the game.

Meaning, you have to be aware and open to what other teams are doing and how it affects both the draft, and what players you like the best.

For example, let’s say the Browns really love Boise State OT Ezra Cleveland, they think he’s the best tackle available. Should they take him with the 10th overall pick?

Let’s also say they know most teams have a low first/high second round grade on this player. Would you take him 10th then?

In our opinion, that would be silly. In this scenario, why not trade down (if you can) to let’s say between 18-21 (we are avoiding the 22nd overall pick for bad karma reasons), and gain extra picks in either this year’s or next year’s selection process.

Or perhaps they don’t think there is much difference between the “big four” offensive tackles projected to be first rounders: Andrew Thomas from Georgia, Mekhi Becton of Louisville, Jedrick Wills of Alabama, and Tristan Wirfs of Iowa, and two of them are still sitting there at #10.

Meanwhile, another team, let’s say Las Vegas, wants to move up to get the best wide receiver available.

Why not trade down to the Raiders’ spot (#12) and pick up another high pick (third round or better) in either 2020 or 2021?

Fans would freak out about trading down, but if you can still get the player you want and get additional draft capital, you have to do it, no?

That’s what we mean when we say it’s a game. In every team’s war (this year virtual) room, there are discussions about not only what players the scouts love, but also what they believe other teams are going to do, and then try to make moves based on those thoughts.

If a player is projected to go high and doesn’t, assuming there are no red flags, the smart (read: winning) teams, try to jump up, seeing talent fall.

Bill Belichick has always said he loved to see teams reach for quarterbacks in drafts, because it pushes more talented players down to where the Patriots are normally picking.

We understand if you don’t have a quarterback you need one, but that should give you an idea of what happens if you draft one and miss. The good teams get better.

The NFL Draft isn’t just a matter of taking “the best player available” or taking the player at the biggest position of need. There definitely are other things at work.

It’s the game within the game.

And we apologize for all the cliches within this piece!

Fans Should Know It’s Silly Season In The NFL.

The NFL Draft is a little over a week away and therefore, we have entered the silly season.

It’s a period where people will hear a lot of rumors and comments from a team’s executives and those comments could be made just to create a smoke screen for other teams.

It’s probably more subterfuge than there needs to be.

Earlier this week, fans were up in arms when Cleveland GM Andrew Berry said there wasn’t much difference between playing right tackle and left tackle in today’s game.

Was Berry being serious? Was he underestimating the switch in positions? Or was he trying to let other teams know the Browns may not be drafting a left tackle with the 10th overall pick in next week’s draft?

The answer could be one of those choices or none of them. But the other teams in the NFL don’t know that.

Fans of the Browns and all other NFL teams should be ready for a bunch of unfounded information being put out there and much of it would make no sense for the teams involved.

Just yesterday, there was a report out of New York that the Browns are looking at a deal with Minnesota for Odell Beckham Jr. in which Cleveland would get a 2nd round and a 5th round pick in the 2021 draft.

Are the Browns shopping Beckham? Maybe, as we have noted before, his production has slipped over the past few years, but unless he’s a major pain in the rear end in the locker room, it would be odd to think Berry would take that little return for the former All Pro wideout.

There have also been reports that the Bengals are listening to offers for the first overall pick. Of course they are, why wouldn’t they listen. Let’s say Kansas City offers them Patrick Mahomes, do you think they would make that trade? Of course they would.

But KC isn’t making that offer. Still, the Bengals have nothing to lose by listening to the offers, right?

Our guess is the Bengals will indeed take Joe Burrow with the first overall pick, hoping they have their franchise quarterback.

There is probably a grain of truth in any of these rumors. And we are sure there is plenty of talk among the general managers in the NFL going on right now. Groundwork is being laid for possible moves during the draft.

But that doesn’t mean some of the crazy things you will hear in the next eight days are close to becoming reality. It’s posturing.

The personnel people with various teams want certain players they really like to fall to them, so they put out false information hoping to see someone to jump up ahead of them, so the player falls to them.

So what we are saying is just relax when you hear some of the crazy stuff being reported over the next week or so. On the other hand, you are football fans so you probably can’t help yourself.

The people on sports talk radio are happy, that’s for sure.

Overthinking May Be Taken Out Of This Year’s NFL Draft

As of right now, the NFL is going forward with their annual draft, later this month, starting on April 23rd.

There has been a lot of criticism toward the league, because of the current situation going on throughout the world with COVID-19, and normally we are a critic of the NFL’s business model, which basically is, we will do anything we want because we are the NFL, but in this case, we believe people need the draft.

If you are a sports fan, you need a diversion from the daily news featuring the number of cases being diagnosed, and the cancellations going on throughout sports.

Please, don’t take this as being careless about the virus. People should be doing whatever they can to slow the spread of it, and our thoughts and prayers go out to anyone who has been affected by the virus or has family affected as well.

But sports fans need something to look forward to, and next up on the agenda is the draft.

We did find the complaints from different teams about not having personal workout days for prospects quite laughable.

Those things are basically a media event anyway.

It wasn’t that long ago that the decisions made on a player were made based on what they did on the college playing field only. We know this may be shocking to some people, but prior to 1982, there wasn’t even an NFL Draft Combine.

How could those scouts tell who were good players without having linemen do a “cone drill” or a standing broad jump? And before you say, they made mistakes prior to this, look at the last four or five years of first round picks, there are still plenty of errors, which fans of the Browns are well aware of.

The college pro days might even be worse. We loved when a quarterback had his showcase and the reporters would note he completed 60 of 64 passes. Wow! Of course there is no defensive players on the field.

We think we could go in the backyard and complete that kind of percentage to our sons with no one guarding them. The point is a good college passer should be completing those throws, it most certainly isn’t news.

One story we always like to point out is that of Chris Spielman, Massillon product and an All American middle linebacker at Ohio State. If you watched the Buckeyes play that in 1987, you saw Spielman make tackle after tackle.

He was the best defensive player on the team, and in most games, on the field.

However, one of his defensive teammates, Eric Kumerow, was picked in the first round of the NFL Draft in 1988, while Spielman went to the Lions in the second round.

Why? Because Kumerow had the “measurables”, Spielman just made plays.

There are many other stories like that too. Guys who made an impact on the field, but didn’t workout well.

In 1985, the first two wide receivers picked were Al Toon (Jets) and Eddie Brown (Bengals). The next WR chosen was a player named Jerry Rice, probably the greatest wide receiver ever.

It was said that Rice’s 40 yard dash time was the reason the other two players were taken ahead of him, and he also played at a small school, Mississippi Valley State.

Maybe Rice didn’t time well, but not many people ever caught him from behind either.

The biggest thing to come from this year’s draft might be that overthinking will be minimized. And that might also be the best thing.

The Browns Used To Be Good. Real Good.

With no sports on the docket right now, we have become quite nostalgic about the state of Cleveland sports.

Today, we turn our attention to the Cleveland Browns.

Our first remembrances of the Browns was the 1965 season, a year in which, get this, Blanton Collier’s squad were the defending NFL Champions.

At that point in time, the Browns had been in existence for 20 years and had one losing season, a 5-7 mark in 1957. To that point, they had won four NFL and four more AAFC (All American Football Conference) championships.

They were arguably the crown jewel franchise of professional football, something my father said often and with pride.

We remember the ’65 title game, played in the mud at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, with the Browns coming up short, 23-12, in what proved to be Jim Brown’s last game in the NFL.

We watched at an aunt’s house, and she had a color TV, which was rare at the time. Talk about a great memory.

At that time, you won the Conference and you went to the championship game, they did have something called the Playoff Bowl, which matched the second place team in each conference.

Why? Who knows.

Even when the Browns didn’t win the Eastern Conference, they were still very competitive, finishing second three years, usually behind their hated rivals, the New York Giants, and finished third twice.

After dropping the title game to Lombardi’s Packers in ’65, the Browns finished second in ’66 to Dallas, and the following season, the NFL went to a four division set up, and the Browns won three straight Century Division (why? who knows) titles, advancing to the post-season.

They got lambasted 52-14 by Dallas in 1967 in the Eastern Conference playoff, but gained revenge, beating the Cowboys the next two seasons to advance to the NFL title game.

Jim Brown retired, but Leroy Kelly replaced him and became one of the top runners in pro football. Frank Ryan, the QB who led the Browns to their last title, was replaced by Bill Nelsen (acquired in a trade from Pittsburgh, of all teams), and he led Cleveland to within one game of the Super Bowl in ’68 and ’69.

Unfortunately, the Browns weren’t competitive in either contest, losing to the Baltimore Colts 34-0 in the first year, and then to Minnesota 27-7 the following year.

They still had one of the best receivers in the game in Paul Warfield, but the defense was mostly bend, but don’t break.

There was a reason the Browns played in the first Monday Night Football game in 1970. They were good, damn good, and for the most part, year in and year out.

Before that season, with Nelsen aging, the Browns traded Warfield to Miami so they could be in a position to take Purdue QB Mike Phipps, who finished 2nd in the Heisman Trophy voting, and followed NFL stars Len Dawson and Bob Griese in college.

Phipps never became what the Browns envisioned.

Cleveland finished 7-7 in 1970, the first year of the merger when they voted to the AFC to be in the same division as Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and Houston. For those younger readers, the Browns, Steelers, and Colts agreed to join the existing AFL teams.

Nick Skorich, the new coach, got the aging Browns into the playoffs in ’71 and ’72, the latter year with Phipps at the helm, but they lost to the Colts and the Miami Dolphins (with Warfield and on their way to an undefeated season).

Even then, they never collapsed. Yes, they finished 4-10 in 1975 and 3-11 in 1976, but by ’78, they were a .500 team at 8-8.

By the time the Kardiac Kids had their heyday in 1980, the Browns had played 30 seasons, and had just four losing seasons.

Hard to fathom that right now, isn’t it?