It All Adds Up to Hue Jackson

When the Cleveland Browns fired Mike Pettine following the end of the regular season, we hoped they would hire someone with experience and someone who would hold the players accountable.

When Hue Jackson was hired yesterday, the first part of that combination was fulfilled.

He was the head coach of the Raiders in 2011, the last season Oakland went 8-8. He was the offensive coordinator of the silver and black the year prior, when the Raiders had the same record.

As for the accountability part, we won’t know that for sure for awhile, although the 50-year-old Jackson comes highly respected throughout the league.

Which, of course, is another feather in Jimmy Haslam’s cap.

Jackson was also interviewed by San Francisco, and the Giants were to talk to him tomorrow regarding their head coaching position, but the Browns never let him get to the Big Apple.

This wasn’t hiring Pat Shurmur, Rob Chudzinski, or Mike Pettine, assistant coaches on no one’s radar to be promoted. They were the equivalent of coaching leftovers, with the brown and orange left to pick up table scraps.

He’s also an offensive coach, which we prefer to head coaches with a defensive background, because those guys tend to play not to lose. Offensive coaches are aggressive and play to win football games. We would be surprised if the Browns “manage” games when they have the lead with Jackson at the helm.

As a coordinator, Jackson’s offenses ranked in the top half of the league in yardage while at Oakland and Cincinnati, and also were in the upper tier in scoring.

And he likes to run the football, which is something the Browns have been inconsistent doing since 1999. His Raider attacks and last season in Cincinnati all produced top ten rushing offenses, before the Bengals dropped to 13th this past season.

In reading about the new coach, it has been reported that he likes physical play from his offense which is supported with these running numbers. The Browns absolutely need to have a mindset to run the ball down opponent’s throats, and we hope that whoever the defensive coordinator is, he has the same mindset. You have to win the line of scrimmage to be successful in the NFL.

Although we wouldn’t do this, we are resigned to Jackson and however the personnel man the Browns hire using the second pick in the draft to get the franchise quarterback, and our guess is that it will be Jared Goff from California.

One reason for our begrudged change of mind is that the Browns have a guy who can develop a quarterback. Between the head coach and Josh McCown, the rookie will have two mentors developing him as quickly as possible to play in the NFL.

Although Jackson wasn’t there at the time, remember that the Bengals started Andy Dalton right away, and Jackson was the Ravens’ QB coach in Joe Flacco’s rookie season.

The new coach didn’t come out and say it yesterday, but Johnny Manziel’s days with the Browns are numbered.

We also believe wide receiver will be a focal point in the draft. The days of the small, quick wide outs will be dwindling.

We don’t know what Jackson will be as a head coach until he actually starts the regular season, but we like the hire because of the reasons stated above. Cleveland still needs a personnel guru, which Jackson will have a hand in.

It will be interesting to see how much of a roster turnover and who the assistant coaches will be. However, the Browns have an experienced NFL head coach. That’s a great place to start.

Don’t Go Overboard on Browns Analytics

Since the Cleveland Browns made their moves last Sunday night, they have been the fodder for many jokes about their new “analytical” way of looking at football.

It didn’t help when they hired Paul DePodesta, a former baseball general manager with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

We aren’t saying that DePodesta is a bad hire, because by all accounts he is a very smart man, and certainly can be viewed upon as a man who knows something about being in good organizations.

No, the problem is that he was portrayed in the movie “Moneyball”, by Jonah Hill. That lead to a great number of jokes.

And while we would love to see a guy with success in the football business as the guy in charge of the organization, we don’t think the Browns will be run by people looking at minute statistical details.

Most of the numbers they will look at will just make sense, just as Bill James’ number crunching did when he came out with Baseball Abstract.

The analytics in drafting players may be used to show there is a better chance that a player coming out of a major conference is more apt to succeed in the NFL than a player out of a small college.

They could show what we have looked at earlier in this season, that team who can run the ball and can stop the run have better success in today’s professional football, even though it is dominated by the pass, than team who can do neither well.

It may also tell them you can’t try one running play in a half, like the Browns did in the first game against Cincinnati this year.

It will probably involve other more subtle things as well, but the numbers will be used to create a competitive advantage for the Browns’ coaching staff.

We can all agree they could use that.

The problem could be finding a coach and GM who is open to getting those numbers and understanding what they mean. That could cause the Browns to lose out on some coaches we would like to see here.

We have said before that we want someone with head coaching experience, and that person needs to be a tough-minded individual that will change the country club atmosphere that has permeated Berea.

Cleveland has hired several “player’s coaches” in a row. Mike Pettine, Rob Chudzinski, and Pat Shurmur would all be described that way, and that is too many to hold the job consecutively.

It’s time to bring in someone who will demand accountability, and who coaches like this is their last chance to handle the reins of an NFL team.

The other thing we think the analytics will show is the Browns need more draft choices, and as many high ones, as they can get to rebuild the roster quickly.

Our guess is that several of the veterans who have been here the last two seasons, will not be back.

If you are over 30 years old, we wouldn’t be too comfortable this off-season.

And we are fine with that. As we always say, the only thing worse than being bad is being bad and old.

You don’t need to be someone who studies numbers to know that is a bad combination.

Browns In No Position To Gamble

The big shake up in Berea is now two days old, and quite frankly, we are still shaking our heads.

There is no question at all that Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer needed to go. The rumors of discord between the two appear to be true, and owner Jimmy Haslam felt he needed his coach and GM to be on the same page.

However, we are still stunned at the direction that Haslam chose on Sunday.

When your franchise has floated in the abyss for 16 years, and 10 loss seasons becoming the norm, the smart and prudent thing would seem to be hiring a football guy, someone who has been involved in rebuilding projects.

Instead, Haslam chose a lawyer. Sashi Brown may be a brilliant man and has been around football for awhile, but that doesn’t make him the ideal choice to get resurrect the Cleveland Browns.

As we have said, the house staff for rich and famous people are around money all the time, but it doesn’t make them rich.

We have seen people out there, contrarians, saying there are several ways to accomplish building a winning football organization, and there is no question that is true.

But it would seem to be prudent that if you are trying to change the culture here and develop a winning team, you should hire someone who is a football man and has a history of evaluating talent.

The way it appears now is that Haslam is trying to be Jerry Jones, with the ultimate control over the franchise. He seems to want the head coach of the team reporting to him, not a general manager or a head of football operations.

Since Jimmy Johnson left Dallas after a disagreement with Jones, how many Super Bowls have the Cowboys won? Just one, a couple of years after Johnson left, with the talent that he accumulated.

It appears that the owner doesn’t know what he doesn’t know, and that is a major problem.

Again, no one is saying that it won’t work for sure. Heck, winning the lottery is a way to get rich. It just isn’t a high percentage way to do so.

And that is how we feel about the Cleveland Browns’ “plan”.

They hired Paul DePodesta, a former major league baseball executive as a vice president today.

This smacks of trying to show everyone how smart they are. They have a new, exciting way of building a football team. Maybe it will work, maybe it will fail miserably.

The reality is that Haslam is conducting a scientific experiment with our football team. It’s a risk that may payoff with a string of playoff appearances, or it could blow up in their face and extend our current misery by several years.

If the ownership had tried getting a solid, successful, football man in place and it failed, we could understand trying a different approach. But they never did that.

We will keep our fingers crossed, but right now, we don’t see how this power structure works.

The tried and true method is usually just that for a reason. We wish Jimmy Haslam had done that at least once.

Browns’ Upheaval Not Off To Promising Start.

The Cleveland Browns’ 28-12 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers was the least news making event of the day for the beleaguered franchise.

The rumors started over the weekend that GM Ray Farmer and coach Mike Pettine would both lose their jobs following today’s game, regardless of the result.

It turns out that Farmer was informed he was out prior to the game, while Pettine wasn’t officially told until his club finished the season with a 3-13 record and 18 losses in the last 21 games.

Farmer’s mistakes were well documented by the media, but as we have said many times, we believe there is some talent on the roster. The former GM’s weakness was not getting a playmaker on offense outside of RB Duke Johnson.

Pettine’s issue was stubbornness, an unwillingness to not change schemes and personnel that were obviously not working. The run defense has been poor since the day he was hired, and several stories have come out, including one quoting former Bills and Colts’ GM Bill Polian said the Browns’ defensive concepts were too complicated.

And while offensive coordinator John DiFilippo and quarterback coach Kevin O’Connell were given credit over the course of the season, they too seemed to abandon the run too often, including today where they threw twice as much as they ran even though they were getting close to four yards a pop on the ground.

The Johnny Manziel issue reared its ugly head last night when it was reported he was in Las Vegas, and then didn’t show at Berea this morning for a mandated examination as part of the concussion protocol.

We have supported giving Manziel a full shot at the starting quarterback spot going into next year, but no more. The young man obviously doesn’t take being a starting quarterback in the NFL seriously and we would dissolve ties with him as soon as possible.

His cloud can no longer linger over this franchise.

However, it is very concerning how the new hierarchy in Berea will play out.

Owner Jimmy Haslam once again has decided against putting a football man in charge and letting that man make the football decisions.

Haslam instead announced Sashi Brown, a lawyer and salary negotiator for the Browns as the vice president of football operations.

Brown will play a part in hiring the coach, along with the owner, his wife Dee, and a high powered recruiter who has helped NFL teams in the past.

Then Brown and the new coach will hire the general manager.

If that sounds different, it’s because it is.

As for a new coach, we will reiterate that the Browns do not need another first time head coach.

They need someone who will instill discipline and accountability throughout the entire organization and the forty man roster.

They must rid themselves of the excuse makers that permeate the roster. They need to find players who aren’t tolerant of losing, even if some of those players are headed Pro Bowl players.

The thing that disturbs us is that the Browns are in the football business, yet Haslam seems to be giving more power to lawyers and accountants, who are studying game films to learn about the game.

Why not hire people who already know about the sport? Wouldn’t they know what is needed to move this franchise in the right direction?

Haslam made the correct move in ejecting Pettine and Farmer from positions they weren’t capable of handling.

However, we don’t like the first step in solving the problem. If Haslam owned a law firm, or an investment group, Sashi Brown might be a great choice.

He owns a football team though, so we will keep a jaundiced eye on who they will hire to guide this team back into the winning column.

More Head Scratching Decisions For Browns

We decided to look at today’s 17-13 loss by the Cleveland Browns to the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium chronologically.

The first thing that made us shake our heads was the news that Justin Gilbert and Terrelle Pryor were inactive.

Gilbert wasn’t listed on the injury report although he did miss the last two games with a concussion, so maybe the coaching staff didn’t feel he was fully recovered.

What we thought at the time was we were going to see more of Johnson Bademosi at CB, which didn’t make us warm and fuzzy.

As for Pryor, why is he on the roster if you aren’t going to take a look at him at WR in these last couple of meaningless games.

Dumb, dumb, dumb decision.

Then we saw that Dwayne Bowe, he of the five catches and $9 million contract, was named a captain for the game, because the Browns were playing his old team.

It is not possible to send a more idiotic message to the rest of your players. Another example of the lack of accountability that surrounds this franchise.

Once again, Mike Pettine chose to defer after winning the coin toss.

If Cleveland had a strong defense, there would be no problem with this move, but Jim O’Neil’s troops have been a sieve most of the year.

Why would you want to put your weakest unit on the field first? Pettine chooses to do just that week after week after week.

And on the first possession of the game, Kansas City marches 65 yards in 11 plays, eating up half of the first quarter in taking a 7-0 lead before the Browns touched the football.

When the Browns did get the ball, Johnny Manziel was having trouble completing passes. He missed Gary Barnidge wide open, having to throw early because of pressure.

We figured the Johnny bashes would have a field day with that.

The Browns finally got on the board with a Travis Coons’ field goal from 45 yards after an innovative play by Manziel was called a penalty for an illegal forward pass.

On first sight, it looked like a lateral, and on instant replay, it didn’t look like enough evidence to overturn, which the officials did.

It took away a first down inside the KC 20.

It then appeared like the Browns’ defense didn’t realize that Alex Smith could run with the ball. He gashed the unit for over 50 yards in the first half, with 29 of them coming after Barkevious Mingo whiffed on a sack.

As for the secondary, Tramon Williams got flagged for pass interference on a deep throw and got beat on turn in pattern by a TE.

Really, Gilbert can’t play worse than this.

We counted at least six missed tackles in the first half, which ended with Cleveland trailing 17-3.

In the second half, it looked like Pettine realized he had a mobile quarterback too.

Manziel ran for 34 yards on the half’s first play and wound up with 108 yards rushing for the day.

We don’t approve of this every week, but on a day where the wind was gusting (how many times did the ball blow off the spot?), the QB and offensive coordinator did what they had to do to move the ball.

The Browns had 232 yards on the ground, with Isaiah Crowell getting 88 more on 16 attempts.

Cleveland had a 21 play drive in the half where Manziel ran or threw on 10 of the plays. He and Crowell were carrying the attack.

The downside was the Browns had two chances to win the game in the last six minutes, but couldn’t get the ball in the end zone.

The first drive ended at the Chiefs’ 30 with two long passes after a first down run. There was still three minutes left, abandon the running game.

Cleveland got the ball back with 1:52 left at their own 30, and picked up three first downs, but the game ended on a completion across the middle.

Things could have been handled better.

All that is left for the Browns is to knock the Steelers out of the playoffs with a win at First Energy Stadium next week.

The bigger news will be made the next day, the NFL’s Black Monday.

One Word NOT Into Action: Accountability

It is ludicrous that any member of the Cleveland Browns’ defense is parading around the locker room wearing a wrestling championship belt after the team allowed 182 yards rushing against Seattle.

It is not as crazy as knowing that the belt was awarded to rookie NT Danny Shelton by his own coaching staff.

And it was reported the several other players received trinkets for “playing like a Brown”, we guess, even though the Browns lost by more than 14 points for the sixth time in the last eight games.

By this point in the season, with a 3-11 record, and 16 losses in the last 19 games, wouldn’t the little internal “prizes” given out by the coaching staff have gone away?

It seems that even through all of the losing, it’s still fun and games in the Browns’ locker room.

This is yet another example of the fake tough guy persona that Mike Pettine has cultivated.

At least one Cleveland sports talker even points out after Pettine’s daily press conferences how well the head coach handles himself and how the points he makes are well thought out.

This host thinks Pettine should be brought back as coach because he seems to understand what is going on here.

We could not disagree more.

We have said this before, but what this football team really needs is accountability and toughness.

The next coach of the Browns needs to come in with a mindset to really change the losing culture that permeates the locker room.

He needs there will be consequences for dumb penalties, missing blocks, missing tackles, etc.

And that penalty will be a reduction in playing time, and that would start in training camp.

No more “veterans day off” for anyone wearing a Browns’ uniform, and that includes nine time Pro Bowler Joe Thomas.

If you want to limit him in practice a few times per year because of his age, that’s fine, but eliminate giving anyone the entire day off.

It is crazy that two players, young players at that, were given the day off yesterday for personal reasons. Outside of a death in the family or a medical emergency, they should have been there.

Does anybody think this stuff happens in New England?

And the new coach should demand that players report to training camp in July in shape. Most analysts who still think rookie Cam Erving is not a bust say he needs to get stronger (we agree with this).

The real question is why isn’t he stronger? After the Browns picked him in the first round, why wasn’t he told that he needed to get bigger and stronger to play offensive line in the NFL?

And last, but not least, stop the excuses with injuries. Every single team in the NFL has them and the good team overcome them.

If someone gets hurt, for example, Joe Haden, you can’t just keep everything the same and hope for the best.

The Browns don’t have the depth that other NFL teams have, and that is a problem with the personnel department, but the coaching staff has to look at the players remaining and put them in the best position to succeed.

That’s coaching after all.

You have to develop the mentality that we have to win football games, and there are NO excuses.

We don’t see that in Berea.

The Cleveland Browns are in need of a real tough, no nonsense coach and coaching staff. It’s too bad if the players don’t like it, but after all, they don’t win, their experience is losing.

That has to change before this organization starts to move forward.

Still Want to Support Pettine?

After the Cleveland Browns defeated an equally terrible San Francisco team a week ago at home, there were some, particularly in the media, who were giving coach Mike Pettine an endorsement to return in 2016.

Do you still think that today?

After today’s 30-13 loss to Seattle, you would have to say this looked like the same team we’ve seen over the last two months.

The defense allowed 30 or more points for the 9th time in 14 games, and there was poor tackling, poor defense against the run, and dropped passes galore.

But, quarterback is still the issue with this football team, right?

Perhaps the funniest thing was Pettine’s attitude this week, acting like he was doing a good job, making comments about the 49ers effort in the middle of the week, and making comments which could have been construed as negative about a QB who has appeared in the last two Super Bowls.

While the coach’s comments on Russell Wilson are true, the point is why make them at all? Nothing positive was going to be made by them.

Maybe Pettine has the same issues with self-control as he accused his own passer of having?

Maybe Johnny Manziel should bench the coach for two games.

Seattle gained 182 yards on the ground, above the usual 150 Jim O’Neil’s defense gives up. A man with the same first name as my wife’s friend, Christine Michael, gained 84 yards in 16 carries.

Also, the defense allowed the Seahawks to convert 9 of 12 third down situations, and the ‘Hawks’ punter, Jon Ryan, was only used once.

And again, all the media talks about is the QB.

This has been a problem since game one, and there hasn’t been an adequate solution found after 14 games.

In fact, outside of the quarterback position, what other unit has improved since 2014? The correct answer is none, and that’s why Pettine and his staff should be dismissed on January 4th.

There are plenty of other things that confound us too.

For example, why does Pettine and O’Neil continue to use Johnson Bademosi at cornerback? Pierre Desir was the staff’s darling during training camp, but now he is buried behind a special teams ace.

Bademosi made his bones in the NFL on special teams, and isn’t putting players in positions where they can’t succeed a sign of poor coaching?

As for Manziel, all week we heard how he was going to have an issue with turnovers and it will show he can’t play in the NFL.

He showed just the opposite.

He led the Browns to a touchdown (7 yard pass to Gary Barnidge) on the opening drive (by the way, that’s why you shouldn’t defer on the coin toss), and overall had a solid game, hitting 19 of 32 throws for 191 yards.

He did throw an interception on the Browns’ last possession, which we are sure will be held up as why he isn’t good enough.

He had four passes dropped, which to be fair was a problem for Josh McCown too.

And did you hear Fox analyst Charles Davis talk about draft options for Cleveland? He said it on local radio here earlier this week and said it again on the game broadcast.

He doesn’t think there is a college QB who should be picked high in next year’s draft. We believe the same thing.

With the defense being as pathetic as they have been this season, don’t the Browns have to take a defensive player?

Manziel has showed us enough to say he should be the starter going into the off-season based on the progress he has made during this season.

We aren’t saying he is the next Tom Brady or Brett Favre. We are simply saying he has shown he can be an NFL starter, and deserves the opportunity to have that job.

Meanwhile, the Pettine regime will have just two remaining games, both against teams in the playoff hunt.

3-13 looks like reality to us.

Can’t Make Much of Browns Win Today

We aren’t going to make too much out of today’s 24-10 win by the Cleveland Browns over the San Francisco 49ers.

Let’s face it, the 49ers are a terrible team, just like the Browns and since Cleveland was at home, we aren’t surprised by the victory and it doesn’t prove anything about Mike Pettine, his coaching staff, and even Johnny Manziel.

The Browns gained 481 yards against the Niners, even running for over 200 yards on the game, with Isaiah Crowell rushing for 145 yards on 20 carries, the first Browns’ RB to get over the century mark this season.

The defense showed a pulse too, recording nine sacks, meaning over half of their sacks on the season (26 total) have come against Tennessee (7) and today.

Armonty Bryant and rookie Nate Orchard each had two sacks and Desmond Bryant had 1-1/2 on the day.

They still didn’t turn the ball over so that trend continued this afternoon.

After five straight games of allowing 30 points or more, Jim O’Neil beleaguered unit held a terrible 49er offense to just 10 points, including a meaningless score in the final minutes.

As for the thing everybody focuses on in this city, the quarterback play, Johnny Manziel had one throw we are sure he would like back (the pass over the middle right before halftime), but otherwise played well.

He completed 21 of 31 throws for 270 yards and a touchdown in winning his second game of the season.

But you can’t make much of this because the other win was also against one of the NFL’s lesser lights in Tennessee.

He’s proven he can play well against bad teams.

He does have an opportunity now to play against the defending NFC champions next week against Seattle, and two playoff contenders in Kansas City and Pittsburgh.

That will tell us and the front office more about the former Heisman Trophy winner than today’s win.

Two things that cause us to scratch our heads…first, another field goal block, with the pressure coming over the two rookie first round draft picks, Danny Shelton and Cam Erving.

Why wouldn’t Chris Tabor make some adjustments in the protection scheme after the last two games? This is exactly what bothers us about this staff. The inability to make changes when something isn’t working.

The other thing was not using Terrelle Pryor in the passing game. Look, Brian Hartline had 100 yards receiving in his last game of the season (he suffered a broken collarbone in the victory), and Gary Barnidge continues to impress, but why not use Pryor a little.

Yes, he did play, but there didn’t seem to be a play call which intended for the ball to go to him. Why not use him since you are sitting at 2-10 coming in?

In our mind, this win changes nothing. The Browns beat a bad San Francisco team, which they should have done.

Yes, it’s better than losing to the Niners, but you can’t get excited about it.

As for falling back into a tie with Tennessee and San Diego for the worst record in the league? Who cares. That’s for losers and you have to understand the players aren’t out there worried about next year’s draft pick.

Next week will be a huge challenge. We believe the Browns will be the biggest underdog of the NFL season against the Seahawks, with our guess being Cleveland will be at least a 17 point dog.

Is it better than losing to a bad team? Of course. However, you can’t get excited by today’s performance.

The Browns simply did what they should have done.

Some Browns Myth Busting

It has been well documented the train wreck the 2015 football has become for the Cleveland Browns. After a 7-4 start to Mike Pettine’s head coaching career, the brown and orange have lost 15 of their last 17 games.

They are 2-10 this season, and over the last six contests have been blown out (losing by 14 or more points) in five of those games.

However, there have been some myths that have developed about the total collapse that has occurred over the past 12 months.

The Brian Hoyer saga. Contrary to what some people think, the Browns were not 7-4 when Pettine decided to bench Hoyer and play Johnny Manziel.

The reality is Cleveland was 7-6 when Manziel made his first start, after two horrible performances by Hoyer.

In a 26-10 road loss to Buffalo, Hoyer was 18 of 30 for 192 yards and two interceptions. He was NOT on the field for Cleveland’s only touchdown, which came on a drive orchestrated by Manziel in a backup role.

The following week was a 25-24 loss to the Colts in which the Browns outplayed Indianapolis except on the scoreboard. Hoyer was 13 for 30 for 136 yards and two more picks.

And the Browns’ defense was responsible for two touchdowns, a fumble recovery by Craig Robertson in the end zone, and a pick six by (ready for it!) Justin Gilbert.

So, the offense scored just 10 points.

Had the Browns won that game, they would have been 8-5 and very much in the playoff hunt.

Drafting. Ray Farmer gets a lot of criticism for his drafts, and in some cases, it is merited.

But, it is not as though he has been reaching for players and made horrible mistakes.

First, he did not draft Barkevious Mingo, who we think might be able to play if he was put in the spot he was drafted for.

According to Walterfootball.com (site picked at random), Gilbert was projected to be the 15^th pick in the draft. Cleveland traded down from #4, getting a 2015 first round pick in return, and took Gilbert at 8^th. Not exactly a reach.

On the same site, Manziel was projected as the 7^th overall pick, and dropped to #22. Several draft pundits had him as the best QB in that year’s selection process.

In 2015, they had the Browns taking Danny Shelton with the 12^th overall pick, which, of course, they did, and had Cameron Erving going 18^th overall to Kansas City, one pick ahead of Cleveland.

Most mock drafts had all four players with first round grades.

So, what happened?

Pettine is blameless. Many fans think the head coach has been dealt a bad hand because of Farmer’s ineptness, but is that true?

Name one position group that has improved since last season? Right, not a one.

He came here as a defensive coach and that unit, not the quarterback play, is the reason for being 2-10.

If the Browns had allowed 20 points a game in every game this season, there record would be 5-5-2. Assuming they split the overtime games, they would be 6-6 right now and in the thick of the playoff hunt.

And really, outside of Joe Haden, what solid player has missed a lot of time this season?

No, the head coach should get a lot of the blame, and probably will after the last game of the season, when he is given the pink slip.

Just think, only four more games until this nightmare is over.

Are We Still Getting Close, Mike?

The best thing you can say about today’s utter beatdown by the Cincinnati Bengals over the Cleveland Browns is that nobody died.

The road to 2-14 started today as the Browns looked like a team whose spirit was broken in the blocked field goal return for a touchdown Monday night against the Ravens, in a 37-3 loss.

While we have been questioning Mike Pettine’s coaching and decision making for the past two months, it is ridiculous to fire him after today, something many are clamoring for on social media.

Pettine should be made and watch and suffer like the rest of the fan base, that is punishment enough for the coach and the staff.

The lopsided loss had many of the same contributing factors we have come to love all season long.

Cincinnati ran for 141 yards, the eighth time an opponent has exceeded 140 yards in the 12 games Cleveland has played this season.

The defense allowed 30 or more points for the eighth time this season.

The Browns had more penalties on the afternoon and lost the turnover battle too.

It was the fourth time on the season that the defense did not force a turnover and the 7th time in 12 games they turned their opponent over once or less.

It was the largest margin of defeat for Cleveland this year and the fifth time in the last six games the Browns have lost by 14 or more points.

And when questioned about the distance right now between the division leading Bengals (10-2) and the Browns (2-10), Pettine talked about injuries, an excuse if we ever heard one.

Excuses are for losers. Pittsburgh has had several injuries to key players this season, and they are sitting at 6-5.

Let the media make the excuses for your team, Mike.

Yet, we will hear about “being close” and “progress being made” by Pettine in press conferences.

They are regressing as the season goes on.

About the only life shown by the Browns today was by LB Chris Kirksey, who drew a personal foul for stopping Jeremy Hill from jumping into the stands after a Cincinnati touchdown.

When asked about it after the game, Pettine said he was hoping it was going to be offsetting penalties, instead of commending the young linebacker for showing some caring.

This is what kills us about the coach. He talks about accountability concerning Johnny Manziel, but the defense has been a sieve from week one on, and yet Jim O’Neil continues to be the defensive coordinator.

This may the worst situation for this football team since the expansion days. The Browns are the worst team in the NFL and they don’t seem to be playing hard either.

There doesn’t seem to be veteran leadership either. Offensively, Joe Thomas and Alex Mack aren’t rah rah types.

Defensively, out of the vets, only Karlos Dansby is performing at a decent enough level that he can give out advice and be taken seriously.

CB Tramon Williams was abused by A.J. Green today, and was beaten deep once again, continuing a streak of that occurring.

One other comment. Why wasn’t Terrelle Pryor active for the game? It is typical of the Browns to bring in a player and find all kinds of reasons not to use him.

Unfortunately for all of us, there are still four games remaining. Is this as bad as it can get?