Pettine’s Decision on Manziel Looks Worse by the Day

The Cleveland Browns are 2-9 for a reason, and that reason is they can’t do anything right.

Just like the New England Patriots, who seem to make all the right moves as they have a chance to win a Super Bowl every year, the Browns are the bizarro Patriots, making horrible decision after horrible decision.

The latest is Poppa Mike Pettine’s decision to go with Austin Davis as the starting quarterback this Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals.

We have had issues with Pettine’s moves over the last six weeks or so, and now more and more people in the media are seeing the same things we did.

Both local and national media feel the same way, despite second year QB Johnny Manziel’s issues off the field, the right football decision is to let name the former Heisman Trophy winner the starter for the remainder of the season.

We understand that if Manziel were a middle round pick, he likely would have a shorter leash, and may even be released (although we wouldn’t cut let’s say Pierre Desir because he showed up on a video partying), but he wasn’t.

He was chosen in the first round, and therefore, he must be given every opportunity to succeed.

Is that fair? No, but that’s reality, like it or not.

And the fans and media who don’t understand that are living in a fantasy world.

You simply cannot release a first round draft choice after two years because you don’t like the way he acts off the field. Besides, it’s not like it was a secret that Manziel had a wild streak when he was in college.

That’s even more incredible, he is being “punished” for being himself.

There are reports that several NFL teams are interested in getting Manziel if indeed there is no future for him in Cleveland. That should be reason enough not to cut him.

And even with Manziel’s serial nightlife escapades, put him out on the field.

If he can’t play or isn’t prepared to play, then you have a very good idea that you need to draft a passer early in next spring’s draft.

As several people pointed out during and after Monday’s loss to Baltimore, ultimately the organization is being punished most by sitting Manziel down. The player himself probably knows he will get another shot elsewhere.

We are sure that Johnny Football knows the head coach would prefer not to play him, which probably doesn’t help the player respect his boss.

Davis did a nice job coming in for Josh McCown against Baltimore, but he is under contract for next year, and will be a fine back up signal caller, so why the rush to get him more playing time.

Besides, in the playing time Davis had with the Rams last year, he played more than Manziel, meaning there is more tape on Davis for the coaches to peruse in judging what he can do.

Without a doubt, the best thing for the Cleveland Browns is to play Johnny Manziel on Sunday and for the rest of the season.

Either Pettine knows he’s getting fired and figures he is going to do what he wants regardless, but if he thinks he has a shot at returning, why wouldn’t he play the guy the owner wanted as part of the organization on draft day in 2014.

Pettine’s stubbornness, not a good trait for a losing coach, is getting in the way of making the right decision.

Two Weeks Off, But Not Many Adjustments For Browns

Seriously, you cannot make this stuff up.

The Cleveland Browns lined up for a 51 yard field goal by Travis Coons to win last night’s game against the Baltimore Ravens on the last play of the competition.

Instead, the kick was blocked and the Ravens’ Will Hill scooped up the loose ball and ran it into the end zone to give Baltimore a 33-27 victory and drop the Browns’ record to 2-9 for the year.

And that makes it 14 losses in the last 16 games for Mike Pettine and his team.

It was special teams that cost the Browns tonight as they allowed a punt return and a blocked field goal for touchdowns. You can’t give up 13 points on special teams.

Those numbers, and that Karlos Dansby returned an interception for a score, will masquerade another poor performance by the defense, who allowed four and a half yards per carry on the ground, and made former Cleveland running back, Terrence West, dealt for a seventh round pick, look good.

West had 37 yards in seven attempts.

Cleveland did have another interception, as Tramon Williams picked off Matt Schaub late to set up the possible game winning field goal, but the Browns’ defense did not record a sack during the game.

So, with all of the time off the players and the coaching staff have had recently, what adjustments did the team make?

It’s hard to tell.

Offensively, it seemed like there was a more concerted effort to get the football to the team’s playmakers as Travis Benjamin caught six passes for 90 yards and a TD, and ran the ball on a reverse once.

Duke Johnson touched the ball 12 times, and actually saw action in the second half.

And TE Gary Barnidge continued his fine season, grabbing seven throws for 91 yards.

The entire time off was filled with discussion on Johnny Manziel’s off-field activities, so Josh McCown got the start, but was injured again during the game, forcing Austin Davis into the contest.

Davis acquitted himself well, hitting 7 of 10 for 77 yards and the TD throw to Benjamin.

So, get ready for more quarterback talk this week.

That discussion will overshadow the terrible time management Pettine used at the end of the game.

After Williams’ pick, the Browns had the ball on the Ravens’ 48 with 55 seconds remaining in the game, with two timeouts in their possession. Remarkably, they ran three plays in that amount of time.

Davis failed to get out-of-bounds on a run that ended at the 30 yard line on the second last offensive play for Cleveland. With Coons’ longest field goal of the year being 44 yards, it did not occur to the head coach to try to get the ball closer for his kicker, who hadn’t missed a field goal all season.

Instead, he tried a running play that lost yardage, pushing Coons back even further.

And while the joke around town is the guy who blocked the kick wedged his way between the two 2015 first round draft picks, Cam Erving and Danny Shelton, the truth is the longer kick made Coons kick the ball lower. Had the Browns gained five more yards after Davis’ run and it would be a 42 yard kick, it likely wouldn’t have been blocked.

Pettine has something to learn about using timeouts. Apparently, he thinks they can be turned in at the end of the season for coupons.

This was the seventh game out of 11 that the Browns have allowed 30+ points in a game. Although the defense was only on the field for 20 of those, it is very difficult for this team to win when the offense has to score more than 30 to win.

All the quarterback talk, both on and off the field, deflect criticism from this unit, which is the real problem with this team.

And it’s not going to be easier with the Bengals visiting on Sunday.

It’s doubtful they will lose on another blocked field goal, but we can’t say it is impossible.

Browns Need To Learn Toughness

Over the past few weeks, we have accused Browns’ coach Mike Pettine of being a fake tough guy.

He certainly looks tough, the bald head, the goatee, and the scowl, but in reality, he’s a player’s coach just like Rob Chudzinski and Pat Shurmur before him.

That might work if the Browns were a veteran team, but the players they are supposedly building around are young guys, and they need someone demanding.

This is why we scoff at the whole situation with Johnny Manziel.

It’s the first time Pettine has been a tough guy, and quite frankly, it’s the toughness that would be displayed by a high school coach.

Regardless of what problems Manziel has with alcohol, and we don’t know for absolute certainty that he has one, his obligation to this football team is to be prepared for the next game.

No matter what happened over the bye week, if the former Heisman winner was prepared in practice and had the game plan down for Monday night’s game against the Ravens, he shouldn’t have lost his job.

That he didn’t know what the coaches asked, and then lied about it is secondary. It’s professional football, who cares.

It’s laughable that Pettine talked about accountability, because the Cleveland Browns haven’t held anyone accountable for a long time.

Look at our rivals to the east in Pittsburgh.

The Steelers have had injuries to several key players, including QB Ben Roethlisberger, and they sit at 6-4 and very much in the playoff race.

Why? Because they demand success and winning from the ownership on down to the front office and down to coach Mike Tomlin.

The Browns make excuses regarding their injuries, and keep telling their fans (more likely themselves) that they are close and they have a lot of talent on the roster.

This is where the Browns need to change the “culture”.

It will start with hiring a real tough guy as head coach when Pettine undoubtedly will lose his job at the end of this season.

Longtime radio personality floated the name of Mike Singletary recently, and quite frankly that would be a solid choice.

From what we have heard about former Patriots LB Mike Vrabel, now a Texans’ assistant, he would be a solid option too.

Those guys would demand performance and accountability for each and every player and each and every coach in this organization.

And until the Browns operate on this basis, nothing will change.

It doesn’t have to be one of those guys, it just has to be someone who will not accept mediocrity and excuses.

Instead of Pettine treating Manziel like his son, he should be demanding excellence ON THE FIELD from him.

He should not accept the poor performance of the defense from his friend, Jim O’Neil, and should tell his secondary coach to get Justin Gilbert ready to play on Sunday, and not be worried about techniques.

That why the accountability comment was a joke. He hasn’t demanded it all year from the players, his staff, or himself.

That’s why he hasn’t changed anything about the running game or the defense despite both being a problem from the FIRST GAME OF THE SEASON!

You would think a good football coach would have identified the problem and corrected it.

Real toughness is what is needed for the Cleveland Browns. They aren’t going to get it from “Papa” Mike Pettine.

Manziel’s Performance All That Matters

We cannot remember the Cleveland sports media having to cover an athlete like Johnny Manziel.

Sure, LeBron James is a national figure, a worldwide personality really, but James is someone who keeps to himself during the off-season. He is really only seen at charity functions and family vacations.

It seems the more veteran members of the sports media here have more of a problem with Manziel being at nightclubs during his free time than the younger writers do.

Personally, it doesn’t matter to us what the player does during his free time.

Here are a few things we do know–

Manziel was in rehab earlier this year. However, we do not know what he was getting treatment for.

Manziel did have an incident with his girlfriend in Avon in October. The NFL investigated the situation and determined no suspension was in order.

Unfortunately, this leads to wild speculation as to what the former Heisman Trophy winner is doing with his life and his commitment to the NFL and the Browns.

Manziel said he wouldn’t do anything to embarrass the franchise during the bye week, and quite frankly, being seen in a nightclub doesn’t seem like he did that.

He wasn’t riding an inflatable swan, he wasn’t talking on a “money phone”, he was just in a nightclub, probably the same as many of his teammates.

Those guys don’t have TMZ following them though.

Manziel should not have to live his life differently because of his past, his “Johnny Football” persona. That doesn’t matter to those who think he should be studying film 24 hours per day, seven days per week.

The QB could be spending his afternoons studying tape and working at his craft, and wants to take a few hours to unwind.

He hasn’t been spotted publicly drunk, or starting fights. He’s just out on the town.

And there is nothing wrong with that.

Let’s face it, if Manziel throws for 300 yards and leads the Browns to a victory over the Ravens on Monday night, no one will care what he did on his bye week.

And if he plays well for the rest of the season, he should be the starting QB going into training camp next summer.

If he doesn’t play well, the Browns will look for another guy to play the position probably in the 2016 draft.

What the media doesn’t understand is that Johnny Manziel doesn’t care what people think about what he does.

And if the front office and coaching staff judge him by anything other than how he performs in the locker room and on the field, then that says more about them than it says about Manziel.

If he wins and plays well, no one will care. Except the old farts in the media who will continue to bring it up.

We Have Some Questions For You, Coach Pettine.

Only the Cleveland Browns could have a situation where they knock the opposing quarterback out of a game, and have him replaced by a future Hall of Famer, who throws for 379 yards and three touchdowns.

In many ways, the key play of today’s 30-9 thumping by the Pittsburgh Steelers over the Browns was the one where Desmond Bryant forced the offensive tackle to step on Landry Jones’ foot early in the first quarter, because that brought Ben Roethlisberger into the contest.

Big Ben threw three touchdown passes and drew several pass interference penalties by the Browns’ secondary, as the Cleveland defense allowed 30 or more points for the sixth time in 10 games this season.

But, we are sure we will be again talking about who should start at quarterback two weeks from tomorrow when the Ravens visit First Energy Stadium.

Mike Pettine gave the media the “I have to review the film” spiel after the game, and bristled when someone (we think it was Tom Reed) asked if it looked bad that the defensive backfield was terrible and last year’s first round pick Justin Gilbert was inactive for the game.

The coach didn’t really answer the inquiry.

Here are some other questions we would like Pettine to answer.

…Who on the coaching staff thought it would be a good idea to have special teams standout Johnson Bademosi matched up with Steelers’ all pro wide receiver Antonio Brown?

Brown caught 10 pass for 139 yards and two touchdown and drew two interference calls.

Bademosi wasn’t on Brown all the time, but too often, it was either he or raw rookie (first NFL game) Charles Gaines. That’s a ridiculously bad match up.

…Why wasn’t Gilbert active?

He leads the Browns in kickoff return average, and made some nice special teams plays in punt coverage over the last few weeks. And he didn’t seem to be excessively targeted in the Thursday night loss to the Bengals when he did play cornerback.

He is in the same spot as Johnny Manziel. The organization needs to see if Gilbert can be a decent NFL corner.

…Why can’t this team run the football?

Cleveland had 15 rushing and the leader was Manziel, who gained 17 on three scrambles. The Browns have two Pro Bowl players on the line in Joe Thomas and Alex Mack, and John Greco and Mitchell Schwartz are solid. Joel Bitonio was out today, but last year was on the all-rookie team.

The Browns had a couple of decent runs early going straight ahead with Duke Johnson and Isaiah Crowell. They spent the rest of the game trying to run wide and losing yardage.

Why not stick with what was working, at least a little?

…What is the coaching staff doing about the penalties?

Cleveland had 12 flags thrown against them for a whopping 188 yards.

Late in the third quarter, the Browns had the ball with a first down inside the one. They had consecutive penalties (holding on Cameron Erving, illegal formation) to take them out of a scoring opportunity.

That kind of sloppy play points to the coaching staff.

Manziel played well (33 of 45 for 372 yards with a TD toss and a pick). After fumbling on the first play, he showed that he can play and deserves to start the rest of the season, especially with the Browns sitting at 2-8.

He certainly isn’t looking like the bust everyone says he is. And really, there isn’t much evidence that Gilbert is either because he doesn’t play.

Maybe, just maybe, there is some talent on this football team, but it isn’t used properly.

Hopefully, however is coaching next year, and we are confident someone else will be, can put those players in a position where they can contribute.

After all, that is kind of the definition of coaching, isn’t it?

Manziel Overshadows Real Problems With Browns

The big question among fans of the Cleveland Browns this week is who will start at quarterback against Pittsburgh this Sunday at Heinz Field.

Coach Mike Pettine continues to favor veteran Josh McCown, saying he gives the Browns the rest chance to win on Sunday, even though his record as a starter since the beginning of the 2014 season is 2-16.

That appears to say volumes about how the coaching staff (or maybe just the head coach) feels about Johnny Manziel, who has started two games this season and went 1-1.

And even the harshest critic of the former Heisman Trophy winner has to admit at halftime, you had to feel pretty good about how Johnny Football performed.

Unless that harshest critic is the head coach, who felt the need to tell a national television audience that the Browns needed to “calm down” the second year player.

Still, all of this talk about the quarterback is masking the real problems with this football team, so in a way, Pettine should be thankful for Johnny Manziel.

Last Thursday night, the Cleveland defense allowed 30 points for the fifth time this season. Keep in mind, the Browns have only played nine games, so in half of the contests, opponents have put 30 points on the board.

No matter who your quarterback is, it is tough to win football games when you are giving up that many points.

Another problem that has pretty much been swept under the rug has been the blueprint for winning games that Pettine’s team was supposed to use going into the year.

The Browns were to be a running team, pounding the ball behind an offensive line which featured All Pros, and a rock solid defensive unit, led by one of the league’s best secondaries.

With Joe Thomas and Alex Mack anchoring the line, and two other Pro Bowlers, Joe Haden and Donte Whitner in the secondary, it was easy to see why the coaches and fans alike would be excited about these units.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t gone according to plan either.

The Browns simply can’t run the football, ranking 31st (second to last) in rushing, and they continue to search for answers, trying to use such stalwarts as Shawn Draughn and Robert Turbin, instead of seeing what Isaiah Crowell can do with 15-20 carries per game.

Cleveland QB’s have also been sacked 30 times, against second to last in the NFL.

The offensive line has been terrible this season, a year after they were among the best in the league prior to Mack’s broken leg.

As for the defensive backfield, sure there have been injuries, but this group in slightly below the middle of the pack in terms of allowing passing yards. This is compounded by having just 15 sacks, a figure that ranks 23rd in the league.

Keep in mind that seven of those sacks came in one game, a week two victory over Tennessee.

So, to summarize, the defense can’t stop the run, can’t put pressure on the passer, and really doesn’t defend the pass when it is thrown.

Those are the real problems with this football team, not who plays quarterback.

But the head coach doesn’t acknowledge those issues, continuing to say his team is “close” to winning. Let us remind everyone that Pettine’s team is 2-12 in their last 14 games.

That doesn’t seem close.

But let’s talk about the quarterback.

Kosar Should Be Involved With Browns In Some Way

A stir was created over the weekend when Browns’ legend Bernie Kosar said he would like to be the guy to turn around the moribund franchise’s fortunes.

We are all aware of the trials and tribulations of the brown and orange since they re-entered the NFL in 1999 as an expansion franchise.

Two winning seasons, one post-season appearance, and for the most part, the leadership, under both owners, Randy Lerner and Jimmy Haslam, can’t seem to stop tripping over their collective feet.

Can Kosar help straighten out this franchise?

Well, the knee-jerk reaction is he couldn’t possibly do any worse than the guys who have tried and failed over the years.

We used to say back in the 80’s, that the best job in baseball was the GM of the Indians, because if you succeeded, you would be hailed as a genius, and if you failed? You were just another person who couldn’t turn it around.

The Browns are in the same boat right now.

That could be why Kosar decided to throw his hat in the ring. There is nowhere to go but up, and it’s an opportunity to be a savior in Cleveland once again.

However, this much is clear. The legend knows the game of football. Anyone who has watched him provide analysis on pre-season games over the years can see that.

He was a thinking man’s quarterback. He saw the game differently than many players who had superior athletic ability.

Why not use that asset to help the Cleveland Browns?

We don’t know that Kosar could be or even want to be the general manager of the Browns, or even the president of football operations, and quite frankly, we couldn’t say he would be qualified for either of those positions.

On the other hand, what would be wrong in making Bernie a consultant to Haslam, helping him guide who the owner hires going forward on the football side?

The one thing we can say about Haslam is he has had a problem hiring the right people. The league seemed to have forced Joe Banner on him, and Banner made the unfortunate hire of Mike Lombardi as GM.

Had Kosar been involved in that process, the guess here is he would have prevented the latter hire.

He might have been able to save Rob Chudzinski after his one season as head coach. Most people thought Chud got a raw deal, and we wonder if things would have been different had the Browns held the lead against New England in 2013.

You can go back further than that. Maybe Kosar would have prevented the numerous candidates who didn’t seem to want to work for Banner and Lombardi when Chudzinski got the gig.

People who succeed usually surround themselves with people who are smarter than they are. There is no question that Bernie Kosar is one of the smartest football people around.

Why shouldn’t Jimmy Haslam avail himself of this knowledge?

Besides, what can go wrong? It’s not as though the Browns are one of the NFL’s best organizations or dominant teams on the field.

Pettine’s Grasp On Job Loosened Last Night

Pat Shurmur’s tenure as the coach of the Cleveland Browns is characterized by some of his ridiculous quotes at press conference.

Mike Pettine may be characterized by his halftime interview during Thursday’s loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, 31-10 in the Queen City.

After Johnny Manziel directed the Browns on a 92 yard drive to get Cleveland within 14-10 at the half against the undefeated Bengals, Pettine told the sideline reporter that they needed to get the quarterback “calmed down” at halftime.

We now all know that Pettine doesn’t like Manziel, doesn’t want to play him, and will never give him a full shot at the position.

What the coach should be concentrating on is his defensive unit and coordinator Jim O’Neil, who continues to put a sieve on the field weekly.

With one game in the next 25 days, there is plenty of time to make the changes necessary, and we would start by canning O’Neil who has directed a unit that has allowed 30 or more points in five of the nine games played this year.

And what is becoming a weekly occurance, the Bengals ran for 152 yards, an average of 4.1 yards per carry. They also didn’t create a turnover.

Among the culprits defensively were a couple of the veterans Pettine seems to love, DE Randy Starks and CB Tramon Williams.

With this team sitting at 2-7 and going nowhere, it is counter productive to continue to play these guys.

Williams gave up a touchdown on a double move by the tight end!

The funny thing to us was that Justin Gilbert was on the field defensively tonight, and the Bengals didn’t score eight touchdowns by going right at him.

Seriously, this guy can’t play over special teams standout Johnson Bademosi?

On offense, the Browns called exactly one running play in the second half. It was the first play and Isaiah Crowell, who had 41 yards on 9 carries in the first half, was thrown for a three yard loss.

That was it.

Crowell, and Duke Johnson, who caught the 12-yard TD toss from Manziel at the end of the first half, did not touch the ball after that first play.

What in the heck is going on?

It was kind of fitting that the touchdown the Bengals used to salt the game away, was a 25-yard wide receiver reverse on which Mohamed Sanu was untouched by the Cleveland defense. A trick play.

This is something that offensive coordinator John Difilipo hasn’t used all year. And the total lack of even trying to run the ball in the second half leaves us shaking our heads.

Manziel played solid. He wasn’t great, but he was better than his stat line indicated.

After the Crowell loss of yardage on the first play of the second half, Manziel fired a downfield pass which should have been caught by WR Taylor Gabriel, who had a bad night, dropping three passes on the evening.

He certainly showed enough to start again, but our guess is Pettine will go back to Josh McCown for the Pittsburgh game, which is ludicrous.

Again, what is there to gain continuing with the status quo with a 2-7 record. There will be no playoffs. And perhaps Pettine can salvage his job if the young players show some promise over the last seven games.

Our guess is the coach’s quote will be played and mocked all around the city and probably the country.

That’s what happens when someone’s personal feelings get in the way of a talent evaluation.

At the very least, Manziel should finish the season at QB. He showed enough tonight that he doesn’t look like the total bust people were saying he was.

Pettine Isn’t Helping Himself By Not Fixing Problems

Former Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints coach Bum Phillips once said that Don Shula could take his team and beat your team, and then he could take your team and beat his team.

Of course, Phillips said it a little more colorfully than that, but his point was clear. Shula adapted to the talent he had. He looked at his roster and got the most out of it.

This was illustrated by Shula’s Miami teams in the 1970’s, which featured a crushing ground game using Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick, and Mercury Morris, winning two Super Bowls.

In the 80’s, the John Carroll grad had Dan Marino as his quarterback and threw the ball all over the yard.

Mike Pettine needs to be more like Shula if he wants to save his job, because right now he appears stuck in his own “scheme”, which clearly is not working.

We want to like Pettine, and we would also prefer to not start over with a new coach next year, who will want to change personnel and want to get players who fit the style of defense and offense that they play.

However, the way Pettine is handling things right now, it is getting hard to defend him.

Exhibit A is the run defense. This has been a problem since the coach’s first game as the head man with the Browns. Cleveland finished last in the league against the run a year ago, and they are in the same exact place this season.

So, we would have to assume either the issue has not been addressed or whatever measures have been taken to fix the problem haven’t worked.

That’s the coach’s job, to take care of the problems. Pettine and his staff have failed to take care of this issue.

The offensive line hasn’t done a solid job all season long, either in the running game and in protecting the passer. We understand the coach who handled this unit in the off-season and in training camp is no longer there, but it doesn’t appear to be any progress here either.

And there aren’t any injuries to this group that would explain a downgrade in this area.

After the Browns got hammered in the opener against the Jets, we wrote about the Steelers in 1989, who were smoked by both Cleveland (51-0) and Cincinnati in their first two games, but rallied to finish 9-7 to make the playoffs.

That team changed their style of play after those blowouts and put themselves in a position to start winning.

That’s coaching.

Unfortunately, we haven’t seen any evidence of that with Pettine and his staff.

That’s what makes it very difficult to defend him.

Look, we understand that coaches believe in certain things and they want to use those beliefs to create success. However, as Pettine reminds us all the time, the NFL is a pass/fail league.

Right now, he and his team are failing.

If the defensive players aren’t understanding the scheme, then it is incumbent on the coaching staff to make changes so it works. You can’t just make doing the same thing week after week and give up tons of points.

That’s the definition of both stubbornness and insanity.

If Pettine wants to keep his job past the end of this season, he simply has to change. It’s not a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of intelligence.

Does Pettine Still Think There Isn’t a Problem On Defense?

If we were Browns’ owner Jimmy Haslam and team president Alec Sheiner, we would take down the billboard with Mike Pettine saying he guarantees the Browns will be the toughest team on the field.

That statement is a complete joke.

Last week, Pettine said turning the ball over a bunch of times like his team did against the St. Louis Rams is a recipe for defeat. That is, of course, unless you are the Arizona Cardinals and you can turn the ball over four times and still defeat the Browns, 34-20 at First Energy Stadium today.

Despite forcing four turnovers, the Cleveland defense allowed 491 yards in the loss, which dropped their record to 2-6 and at least according to many media reports, there could be changes before the NFL trading deadline on Tuesday.

Without the Cardinals’ mistakes, the Browns defense may have given up 50 points this afternoon.

Cleveland allowed only 119 yards on the ground, but that was because Carson Palmer threw deep early and often and with tremendous success, burning both starting cornerbacks, Joe Haden and Tramon Williams repeatedly.

We have always held the belief that the only thing worse than being a bad team is being a bad, old team. And Cleveland has four starters on defense over 30 years old (Randy Starks, Williams, Karlos Dansby, and Donte Whitner). Only Dansby seems to be making positive impact plays consistently.

The other fallacy about being a tough team is the total inability of this football team to run the ball. The Browns gained just 39 yards rushing in the game. Their leading rusher was QB Josh McCown who had 18 yards on five scrambles.

Isaiah Crowell carried 10 times, half of the team’s attempts and gained only 14 yards, eight on one run. The newest running back, Robert Turbin, carried three times, and fumbled on two of those carries.

But we digress. Fans and media alike seem to focus on who plays quarterback, and whether or not Dwayne Bowe is active, but the fact remains that the defense is a sieve, constantly shredded on the ground, and now, through the air.

Early on, the defense did a solid job against the run, but the Pettine/O’Neil defense could not get any pressure on Palmer in obvious pass situations and Palmer attacked the Cleveland secondary with great results. He completed passes of 60, 39, 38, and 34 yards during the contest.

The sad thing is, none of those ball were thrown to likely Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald, who did catch nine passes for 84 yards.

Pettine should stop hanging around the offensive unit and get with O’Neil to get the defense fixed. And if that’s playing youngsters, then so be it.

One other comment on the secondary. It is hard to believe that last year’s first round pick, Justin Gilbert, cannot get on the field defensively. Is he worse than what we saw today? That is doubtful.

How do we know Gilbert can’t play? Because the coaching staff, which has lost 11 of their last 13 games, tells us so?

Play him, and for god’s sake, get Barkevious Mingo on the field too. Mingo may do a lot of things we don’t see on camera that drives the coaches crazy, but he made an open field tackle on Chris Johnson early in the game, that could have been a huge gain if not for the second year linebacker.

With a short week coming up, we are sure Pettine will use that as a reason not to make changes, but that’s a cop-out. What is the definition of insanity?

As for trades, we would deal any veterans we could for draft picks commensurate with their value, and that includes Joe Thomas and Alex Mack. It is not like the offensive line is an elite unit.

Meanwhile, Browns’ fans are treated to another crapfest of a season.