Good News…Browns Have Improved Each Week

To say the Cleveland Browns have disappointed their fan base would be an understatement.

Of course, after two seasons with a combined 1-31 record, last year’s 7-8-1 finish would compare to another franchise going 14-2 during the regular season.

And after GM John Dorsey traded for Odell Beckham Jr., the supporters of the Browns around northeast Ohio and all across the country had visions of a 12-4 or better record for the 2019 season.

So, the start after three games, with a 1-2 record, has greeted them like a bucket of ice water dumped over their collective heads.

No doubt, it has been a shock.

On the other hand, if you are a fan who didn’t allow visions of a Super Bowl dance in your head, then the performance of Freddie Kitchens and his football team is, although not satisfying, understandable.

In looking at the first three games of the season, the Browns are guilty of playing one horrible quarter, the fourth in the season lidlifter against the Titans.

Other than that, they’ve played okay. Not the above average brand of football many expected (including us), so there is certainly a lot of room for improvement.

Baker Mayfield hasn’t played to the level he showed in the second half of the 2018 season, and he appears to be indecisive, which could be an indication of running a different offense from a year ago.

This was illustrated to us in the fourth quarter of Sunday night’s game vs. the Rams when on a third and long inside the Browns’ own five, Mayfield was sacked by Clay Matthews III.

There was no outlet receiver for the quarterback. All of the targets streaked down the field, 20 yards from the line of scrimmage. There was no option to avoid the sack, outside of heaving the ball downfield and risking an interception.

This leads us to think there is more of the offense Todd Monken used last year in Tampa and less of what was successful for Cleveland when Kitchens was the offensive coordinator.

There is no question Mayfield plays better when he throws quickly, and also Beckham’s strength seems to be getting the ball on the move and his ability to run after the catch. So, why not do more of that?

We hope there was more than a discussion between Kitchens and Monken to do more of what Mayfield does well. After all, isn’t that the definition of coaching? Putting your players in positions where they have the best chance to succeed?

One thing that we think is for real is the Browns’ defense. Yes, the 43 points in the opener doesn’t look great, but 21 of them came in the last quarter with the Titans having a short field due to three interceptions.

Even with a totally new secondary against the Rams, they held the LA offense to just 20 points. And the Browns have a player offenses must account for in Myles Garrett, who has had a sack in all three games, and overall has six for the year.

John Dorsey added experienced depth in the secondary and it has paid off thus far. If that unit keeps improving and gets healthy, by the end of the year, it may very well be the strength of the team.

Because NFL teams play once a week, there is too much emotion involved in each game. If the Browns win this week at Baltimore, they will be tied for first in the division, and the optimism will no doubt be heightened.

Let’s all just take a deep breath.

Too Early For Judgments On Browns, Any NFL Team

We understand there are only 17 weeks to a professional football season and just 16 games for each team, so you can’t wait too long to start making judgments.

We do know, however, that in many cases, two weeks isn’t enough time to start making evaluating teams. You have to keep in mind what happened a year ago.

For example, we are hearing a lot of chatter about the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys being Super Bowl contenders. Both teams made the playoffs a year ago, so the optimism has some merit, but we feel people need to dig a bit deeper.

The Ravens are 2-0 and that’s great, it’s better than being 1-1 or 0-2, for sure. But to date, Baltimore has defeated the Arizona Cardinals, a team that qualified to have the first pick in the 2019 draft, and the Miami Dolphins, who will probably have the honor of making the first selection next spring.

Dallas, who the networks want to be good very badly, have beaten the New York Giants, who went 5-11 last season and are 0-2 in ’19, and Washington, 7-9 a year ago, and waiting for rookie Dwayne Haskins to take over at QB.

That’s why it’s difficult to evaluate the Cleveland Browns and Los Angeles Rams, who made the Super Bowl last season.

The Rams are 2-0, but their wins are versus the Carolina Panthers, off to an 0-2 start, and New Orleans, who lost superstar quarterback Drew Brees early in that contest.

Meanwhile, despite the fear and apprehension around northeast Ohio about the Browns, the defense has been pretty solid, despite the 43 points put on them by Tennessee.

Remember, with two minutes to go in the third quarter of the season opener, the score was 15-13. The Titans scored 21 of the 43 in the fourth quarter when Tennessee had short fields due to three Baker Mayfield interceptions.

And backup QB’s or no backup QB’s, holding an NFL team to three points for an entire game is an accomplishment. After all, the Rams gave up nine points to New Orleans without Brees.

The offense could be more consistent, and it starts with the play of Mayfield, who looks a bit different through two games. The second year signal caller feels like he is holding the ball longer, maybe looking to see if new weapon Odell Beckham Jr. is open.

Having a great receiver is a good thing, but you don’t have to throw to him on every play. Get back to last year’s quick passing game, where Mayfield was getting rid of the ball very quickly, and spreading it around.

If they get back to that and they still struggle, then everyone can be concerned. And if QB is still getting sacked in that attack, then the offensive line is a bigger worry than first thought.

Tonight’s game will go a long way toward determining what kind of team the Cleveland Browns are, but no matter what the result, don’t jump to any conclusions about Freddie Kitchens’ team.

Cleveland has a tough early schedule, we knew that coming in to the season. In the next few weeks, they play playoff teams in Baltimore, Seattle, and New England.

After the Patriots, they play the Broncos, Dolphins, two games against the Ben Roethlisburger-less Steelers, and two more vs. Cincinnati. If the Browns are healthy, and have developed some confidence early in the season, this late schedule could be very important for a playoff push.

Until then, look at the records of teams, and then look at who they played before making an evaluation.

It just makes a lot of sense.

Play Poorly And Win By 20? That’s A Good Thing.

It says something that the Cleveland Browns can win a game in which they played poorly.

They certainly didn’t play their “A” game while beating the New York Jets 23-3 last night in New Jersey.

In past years, the Browns needed to play very well, and have their opponents play bad to have a chance to win. The expectations nationally show how things have changed football wise here, but getting a win when you play subpar might be better.

We heard former Browns’ QB Trent Dilfer say recently that with teams not playing veterans much in the preseason, it takes about four weeks for teams to get in a rhythm.

Freddie Kitchens’ team can vouch for that.

We felt the penalties in the opener were an aberration, and that turned out to be true. Outside of Myles Garrett’s two roughing the passer fouls, the Browns played a fairly disciplined game.

Speaking of Garrett, much was made about this being Baker Mayfield’s coming out party, his debut on a nationally televised NFL game, but it was the 2017 first overall pick who impressed.

Yes, the penalties were bad, and he needs to play more under control, however, he dominated the Jets’ offensive line with three sacks, giving him five now on the young season.

The offense is still sputtering, and it seems like Kitchens is still a tad too pass happy, trying to use his new toys.

The second year passer threw 35 times, compared to just 18 rushing attempts for Nick Chubb.

It also hasn’t helped that Mayfield’s accuracy has been off through the first two games, he seems to be high on his throws. It may be because he doesn’t have the confidence in the offensive line just yet or it could be because defensive coordinators are disguising things a bit better for the second year quarterback.

We also think the QB is looking for big plays that aren’t there, and needs to take what the defense gives him more often.

We are confident that Mayfield will learn and adjust, and his play will improve as the season goes on.

Until then, we’d like to see the running game a bit more.

We also are feeling a little confident in the special teams. John Dorsey raised some eyebrows by going with a pair of rookie kickers, but through two games (again, small sample) Austin Siebert and Jamie Gillan have been just fine.

The former made three field goals last night and Gillan has had just one punt that has been attempted to be returned. And he made sure the Browns kept the field position advantage last night repeatedly making the Jets, with an inexperienced QB, start inside their own 20.

And the coverage has been very good too. After years and years of the special teams putting Cleveland in tough spots, this is refreshing.

It shows how far the Browns have come that they can still win a game on the road by 20 points, even if a backup quarterback plays for the opposition.

On the other hand, the NFC Champion Rams come to town this Sunday night, and a better effort will be needed.

As we always say, you don’t want to be playing your best football in week two. There is still plenty of time for improvement.

Relax, Browns Fans. It’s One Game

To be sure, no one in northeast Ohio thought the Cleveland Browns would lose by 30 points in week one of the 2019 NFL schedule.

After all kinds of optimism, including here, over the weekend, the Tennessee Titans pounded the Browns 43-13 at First Energy Stadium.

We are hearing the squeals of panic from both fans and media alike after the performance, with many focusing on the 20 penalties (two were declined) called on the brown and orange, saying it is a sign of the undisciplined ways of Freddie Kitchens.

We heard Kitchens say pretty much at every halftime during the pre-season complaining about the amount of penalties on his team, so we are pretty sure he doesn’t condone them.

Our thought at the time was that it was reserves committing the fouls, because let’s face it, the Browns didn’t play a lot of starters in the games that don’t count.

And we also doubt Kitchens told Greg Robinson to kick someone or Myles Garrett to slap someone in the face.

On the other hand, if the Browns are penalized 10 or more times next Monday night against the Jets, then an eyebrow should be raised. Until that happens, let’s consider that the flags in the opener were a blip on the radar, or perhaps the result of one of the NFL’s terrible officiating crews.

We are frequent critics of the league’s officials, mostly because they are terribly inconsistent and selective. Perhaps the crew on Sunday interpreted the way the Browns did some things (not the kicking or slapping) as penalties and another crew won’t.

Remember, the same crew ignored a play clock violation for two or three seconds on Titans’ punt. Who knows what they were watching then?

That said, there were definitely some issues with the opening game.

It seemed that Kitchens got caught up in playing with his new toys, and ignored one of the biggest reasons for the Browns’ success in the second half of last season.

Nick Chubb carried the ball just 17 times for 75 yards, but just six times in the first half. Only one of those carries was for negative yards, and two of the totes went for 10 and 9 yards.

The offensive line was a problem too. Cameron Wake ran around RT Chris Hubbard several times, and when Robinson was ejected, it put the offensive line in shambles.

If your offensive line is an issue, doesn’t running the ball successfully take some pressure off the unit?

But let’s not forget this was a 15-13 game with two minutes to go in the third quarter. It’s not like they were blown out from the get go. The screen pass to Derrick Henry for 75 yards after Cleveland made it a two point game was the back breaker.

The Browns got impatient after that. Baker Mayfield forced a couple of throws, both were picked off, and the rout was on. Mayfield could’ve used some patience. There was still a quarter to play and it was just a two score game.

Plenty of time to come back.

We get that there was a lot of anticipation going into the season, and it was a kick in the head (no pun intended, Greg Robinson) for not only the fans, but also for the Browns.

Remember this, when the Browns beat the Steelers 51-0 in the season opener in 1989, the Steelers went 9-7 and made the playoffs.

It’s just one game. Again, if we see the same thing next Monday night against the Jets, then it could be a problem.

A Trip To The Playoffs Starts Today.

Today, the Cleveland Browns kickoff the 2019 season, and for the first time in four years there are expectations to live up to.

Fans expect this football team to make the playoffs, something the team hasn’t done since 2004. Cleveland went 5-2 to end the season a year ago, and the last loss, in the final game of the season, ended with Baker Mayfield through an interception with the Browns driving for a go ahead score.

That was the last time we saw this team in a game that counts.

While the Browns didn’t beat any winning teams in that seven game stretch, they did give several a battle early in the season when Hue Jackson was at the helm.

They tied the Steelers in the season opener last year.

The tied the Saints with a little over a minute to go in New Orleans in week two, and a missed extra point could’ve given them a 19-18 lead. The Saints kicked the winning field goal with 21 seconds left.

They played four overtime games in 2018, going 1-2-1, beating the Ravens, their only win over a winning team.

This is a very young football team. As we said a week ago, there are only five players on this roster over 29 years of age, and two of them are backup quarterback Drew Stanton and long snapper Charlie Hughlett.

The thing about a young football team is it will get better with experience. Baker Mayfield should be better, Nick Chubb should be better, Denzel Ward should be better, and Myles Garrett should be better.

But that wasn’t good enough for GM John Dorsey. He wanted more help for his two franchise cornerstones, first overall picks Garrett and Mayfield.

He accelerated the progress by trading for Odell Beckham Jr. and Olivier Vernon, an elite wide receiver to help Mayfield and another pass rusher to aid Garrett. He also signed DT Sheldon Richardson as a free agent.

Remember what former Browns GM Ernie Accorsi said were the two most important positions in football. The quarterback and people who can get to the quarterback.

Mayfield and Garrett. Mayfield and Garrett. Mayfield and Garrett.

Dorsey also understands this is a passing league now, and so in addition to the pass rushers, he loves secondary people.

Ward was his first defensive draft pick, and if he can stay healthy (he had two concussions a year ago), he looks like he can be the shutdown cover corner good teams need.

That’s why he took CB Greedy Williams as his first pick (second round) in the 2019 draft. Williams was heralded for his ability to pick off passes in college, and the brass hopes eventually he will team with Ward to have a pair of corners to rival the 80’s duo of Hanford Dixon and Frank Minniefield.

Yes, the Browns have a new coach, and yes, that coach was only a coordinator for seven games last season.

We don’t know how Freddie Kitchens will do in terms of clock management, etc. (the things media and fans focus on), but we do think the players respect him and like playing for him.

He seems like to right guy to lead this football team.

Everyone may be singing a different tune in about a month, but optimism reigns as the Browns take the field this afternoon, and it should.

Barring injuries, the talent is there. Now it’s time to put the talent into use.

Browns Fans On The Edge Of Their Seats Waiting For Sunday

On Sunday, the Cleveland Browns will open perhaps their most anticipated season opener since they returned to the NFL in 1999 when they take on the Tennessee Titans.

Normally, we would analyze the strengths and weaknesses of each team, but that goes out the window because of the new way teams view the pre-season.

Baker Mayfield played two quarters in the third game vs. Tampa and one series in the first game against Washington. That’s it.

Odell Beckham Jr. and Jarvis Landry haven’t even taken the field yet, and to our recollection Nick Chubb played in only the first game too.

If the offensive line can hold up, and without question it is a weaker unit without Kevin Zeitler, because Austin Corbett couldn’t grab a hold of the job, the offense should be dynamic with playmakers all over the place.

You can tell coach Freddie Kitchens and GM John Dorsey are concerned about the line because Dorsey swung two trades since Friday, getting Wyatt Teller from Buffalo and Justin McCray from Green Bay. Both play guard, the same spot Zeitler played.

Probably the biggest question will be how much Kitchens wants to run the football. We feel he will continue to use Chubb and try to balance the run and the pass, despite the presence of Beckham, Landry, Hollywood Higgins, and David Njoku.

The running game will help the offensive line, and if successful, will keep teams from pressuring the guy who orchestrates the offense, second year quarterback Baker Mayfield.

If it is true the biggest jump for a player comes in his second year, Cleveland football fans will be in for a treat. Mayfield will be the best passer the Browns have had since Bernie Kosar was at the helm in the mid 80’s.

The defensive front could be dominated, and if the Browns can get leads and teams will be forced to play catch up, the sack totals could be astronomical.

We have watched the Browns since the mid 1960’s, and never have they had a dominating pass rush. Myles Garrett has a chance to be the franchise’s all time sack leader within five years.

That tells you something about Garrett’s ability, and also the lack of an elite pass rusher for the Browns since sacks were kept as a statistic.

The most controversial cut by Kitchens and Dorsey turned out to be the punter. Britton Colquitt was let go in favor of the “Scottish Hammer”, Jamie Gillen.

We weren’t surprised by the move, because it will save the Browns dollars on the salary cap next season, when they will probably need the space.

Think about it, how many times have you ever heard of a punt costing a team a game? You might hear how punt coverage was a factor, but not the kick itself.

The Browns hired a very successful special teams coach in Mike Prieffer, and if he thinks Gillen can handle the job, we will side with him.

This is still a very young football team. The only players over 30 years old are S Morgan Burnett and back up QB Drew Stanton.

The only guys at 29 are G Eric Kush, CB T. J. Carrie, and long snapper Charlie Hughlett. That’s it.

It has the potential to be a very interesting fall for football fans in Cleveland. And since it has been a long time waiting, the anticipation is real.

Only Preseason, But Still Overreaction.

The pre-season in the NFL has become an out and out joke, but that hasn’t stopped fans from overreacting to the Cleveland Browns’ first loss in games that don’t count, last Friday at Tampa Bay.

One of the reasons it shouldn’t be taken too seriously is the intentions of the head coach’s toward these games.

For example, and we have no inside information here, let’s say Freddie Kitchens prepared his team one way and told his friend, Bruce Arians, now the head coach of the Buccaneers, to run some stuff the Browns haven’t seen in order to see how the players would react.

Maybe they agreed to do this to each other’s teams to gauge how the two teams would respond to some adversity.

We just don’t know.

Remember, there were some who were upset in the first game against the Redskins, when the Browns opened the game in the no huddle, hurry up offense.

We speculated then that Kitchens told Washington coach Jay Gruden he was going to do this, and offensive coordinator Todd Monken confirmed it a couple of days later.

This doesn’t mean the Browns don’t have issues on the offensive line or in the kicking game. It does mean the issues aren’t greater than they were before kickoff last Friday night.

It isn’t like it was 10 years ago, when the third pre-season game was the dress rehearsal game. Back then, the starters played pretty much the whole first quarter of the first game, about a half of the second, and three quarters of the third.

That’s not the case anymore.

Baker Mayfield played one series in the opener against Washington. He didn’t play at all in the second contest at Indianapolis. Most of the starters did the same.

Heck, Odell Beckham Jr. nor Jarvis Landry has stepped foot on the field of play through three exhibition (yes, we know the NFL doesn’t like them called that) games.

The preseason has become a series of glorified scrimmages, and many teams, including the Browns, have gone to organized practices against other teams where the action and hitting can be controlled.

Remember 2017 when the Browns went 0-16? They were 4-0 in the preseason. Hue Jackson was trying to win those games.

We heard Kitchens say if they are keeping score then he wants to win, but our guess is he’d be a lot more upset about a loss on September 8th than he is about the Tampa game.

Someone is going to win Thursday night in the game against Detroit, but it is likely no one of any importance to the 2019 Cleveland Browns will play in that game, and the same can be said of most NFL teams.

It’s time for the NFL to cut back to two games, and start playing them off-site, so season ticket holders don’t have to pay full price for them. Or, if you want to play a home game, give season ticket holders an option to buy them at a reduced price, and if they don’t sell them to the public at a lower price.

Maybe someone who can’t afford to go normally can get to see an NFL game in person.

As for the results, don’t get to concerned, because again, we don’t know what the opposing teams are trying to accomplish.

There will be plenty of time for concern when the regular season starts next week.

Does Kitchens Have The Right Experience? Let’s Wait And See

Without a doubt, there is a lot of buzz surrounding the Cleveland Browns this season, for the first time in a long time.

While some point to the last seven games of the 2018 season, where the brown and orange went 5-2, others point out those wins didn’t come against anyone with a winning record.

And although some people like the hire of Freddie Kitchens as head coach, citing what he did with the offense last year when he took over as offensive coordinator, other feel having a half season under his belt in that job make him ill-equipped to handle his new gig.

The truth is no one knows what kind of head coach Kitchens will be, although he impressed GM John Dorsey enough to give him the job, which should count for something.

We also feel having a structure where the head coach reports to the general manager, so that makes them work together, and there is no sniping to the owner about the other person, is a breath of fresh air in Berea, and that also bodes well for the franchise.

But unlike some in the media, who hold Kitchens’ lack of experience against him and therefore are waiting for him to make mistakes to prove their point, we take an opposite tact.

We always take an optimistic view of new coaches, preferring to wait for them to show us they can’t handle the job before being critical.

Let’s face it, the great coaches in the NFL come from all different backgrounds, so there is really no way to judge any of them until the games start for real.

Heck, Hue Jackson was considered a “hot” coordinator when Jimmy Haslam hired him prior to the 2016 season, and no one can debate he was an abject failure in his tenure in Cleveland.

The coach everyone is trying to duplicate, Sean McVay, was in charge of the offense in Washington, and in his last season, the team had the third ranked offense in the NFL.

The other two years he was in charge? They ranked 13th and 17th.

John Harbaugh, who does a magnificent job getting the most out of his talent with the Baltimore Ravens (it pains us to say it), was a special teams coordinator for nine years with the Eagles and spent another year as a defensive backs coach before landing the job in Baltimore.

On the other hand, the coordinators for winning teams, squads that have made deep runs in the playoffs have failed as much, if not more, than they have succeeded.

Gus Bradley is a recent example. He was the defensive coordinator of the “Legion of Boom” in Seattle, but went 14-48 with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He’s back in the coordinator pool with the Chargers.

Being a lead assistant is a lot different than having all of the responsibility on your head. Some guys are cut out for the job as head coach, others are better suited to be assistants. There’s nothing wrong with that.

As for Freddie Kitchens? We won’t know until the games kick off for real on September 8th. We understand every Browns’ fan is excited about this season, but reserve judgment on the head coach until a few games have been actually played.

Pressure To Win Should Be Welcoming To Browns

Losing isn’t any fun, but it also doesn’t bring any pressure. That’s what the Cleveland Browns have dealt with for much of the last 25 years.

This year is different. This year the Browns are expected to contend for a playoff spot if not win the AFC North.

It all starts next week when training camp commences in Berea.

GM John Dorsey has put together a solid roster, and winning five of the last seven games the prior season puts expectations at a higher level than they’ve been since Cleveland came off a 10-6 season in 2007.

The 2008 squad, coached by Romeo Crennel, started the season losing their first three games, but rebounded to 4-6 after a Monday night win over Buffalo.

They lost their last six games as the offense fell apart, scoring no more than 10 points in any of those games, and were actually shutout in the final two games, losing 14-0 to Cincinnati with Ken Dorsey at quarterback, and dropping a 31-0 decision to Pittsburgh with Bruce Gradkowski at the controls.

From there, the Browns have been largely irrelevant as a franchise.

After the 2016 and 2017 seasons produced just one win combined, things could only go up, right?

Following those two disastrous campaigns, the organization drafted what should be franchise cornerstones in Myles Garrett and Baker Mayfield, a pass rusher and a quarterback, arguably the two most important positions on the field.

Add in the acquisition of All Pro wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. and suddenly the Browns have a national buzz around them. But can they live up to the hype?

New coach Freddie Kitchens, never a head coach before, understands the expectations and repeatedly says the players have to know they haven’t accomplished anything to this point, and he is there to remind them if they start believing it.

Yes, the Browns went 5-2 to end the season, but they didn’t beat any teams with an above .500 record in that stretch. In fact, there only win over a playoff team last season came over the Ravens, and Hue Jackson was the head coach!

Fans shouldn’t expect the division to be a cakewalk either. After all, the Browns didn’t beat the Steelers last year, and the Ravens still have one of the game’s best coaches in John Harbaugh, even if they have a QB who can’t pass.

The reasons for optimism are real though. Mayfield showed signs he can be one of the sport’s premier signal callers, and as everyone should know by now, if you have that quarterback, you have a chance in every game you play.

On Thursday, the pressure to succeed starts for the first time in over ten years. The Browns are supposed to be good. A playoff berth is expected by the fan base, although playoff contention should be a more realistic goal.

Kitchens knows it, Dorsey knows it, and Mayfield and the rest of the roster knows it.

They know, barring injuries, that a 6-10 record will be viewed as failure. There can be no excuses.

That’s the new challenge for the Cleveland Browns. Gutting the roster is easy, the first chore is to acquire talent, and next thing on the checklist is to convert the talent to victories on the field.

Finally, the Browns have the pressure to be an NFL playoff team.

The Disconnect Between Dolans, Fans

Cleveland sports fans have different relationships with the owners of their sports teams.

Since the early 1960’s, the Browns have been owned by out of towners. Sure, Art Modell moved to northeast Ohio, but he was a New Yorker. After he moved the team to Baltimore and the Browns rejoined the NFL in 1999, Al Lerner, another ex-New Yorker owned the team.

His son, Randy, sold the team to Jimmy Haslam, from Tennessee. None of these guys really had the trust of the fans of the team, for various reasons, although right now, Haslam gets a break because of the hiring of GM John Dorsey.

The Cavaliers were brought into the NBA by Nick Mileti, born in Cleveland.

At one point, Mileti owned (through partnerships) the Cavs, the World Hockey Association Cleveland Crusaders, and the Indians, as well as building the Coliseum in Richfield, Ohio, a world class sports arena.

Because he was from here, the fans warmed to Mileti. After all, he brought professional basketball to the area, and at the time, many thought the Indians were headed out of town before he bought them.

Mileti didn’t have a lot of money, but he had vision and passion for Cleveland sports.

Unfortunately, the baseball fans in the area have never bought into the current ownership, the Dolan family.

Dick Jacobs is looked fondly on by Tribe fans because he built a solid organization, which hadn’t been seen for years, and his teams won, for the first time in 40 years, the Cleveland Indians were among the best teams in the sport.

And with the revenue pouring in from the new ballpark combined with a contending team (and no football team), Jacobs signed off on adding players. The payoff was five straight post-season appearances and two American League pennants.

Those Indians were brash and cocky, and the fans loved it. Our baseball team was competing with the Yankees and Red Sox, and beat them in the playoffs.

Jacobs got out of the game before any rebuild had to be done. And that’s where the Dolans came in.

We believe that Cleveland sports fans want to see in their teams the same attitude they have, that of an underdog. The attitude that we can be as good as the bigger cities, a “we’ll show you” feeling.

The Dolans simply don’t exude that type of feeling.

Think about some of the things the fans and the media alike bring up in discussing their stewardship of the professional baseball team.

They talk about “windows of opportunity” and consistently remind the ticket buying public that Cleveland is a small market.

You never hear words like that coming out of Dan Gilbert’s mouth. Gilbert’s attitude seems to be screw you, we’ll win anyway.

And in our opinion, that’s why fans gravitate to the Cavaliers’ owner more, even though the Indians have been the more consistent franchise over the last 15 years.

Even though Gilbert is from Detroit, he displays more of the Cleveland spirit than Larry and Paul Dolan. They seem resigned to their situation, instead of fighting the big boys.

This year might be the ultimate test case. The Indians have a slim chance in the division race, but they have virtually the same record as the Boston Red Sox. And you know the Red Sox aren’t selling.

This might be the reason ticket sales suffer too. As we know, there is plenty of interest in the team, the local ratings are among the best in baseball, but Progressive Field isn’t the “place to be” for a variety of reasons.