Browns Should Make Note. Running The Ball Is Getting Back In Vogue

Today’s NFL is a quarterback driven league. The stars of football are the guys who throw the football…Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, Josh Allen, C.J. Stroud, Brock Purdy, etc.

They are in commercials and are recognized on a first name basis.

However, we saw over the weekend in the playoff’s divisional round that the running game is still important too. The Eagles beat the Rams behind 285 yards on the ground, led by Saquon Barkley, who gained 205 yards, while the Bills and Ravens played another “old school” game.

Buffalo ran for 147 yards (Josh Allen had just 127 yards through the air), while the Ravens ground it out for 176 running the ball.

As we all know, the Cleveland Browns need a quarterback, but perhaps they can lessen the reliance for getting their guy if they can develop an elite running game.

It is interesting to note of the top ten teams in running the football this past season, many made the playoffs: Baltimore was 1st, the Eagles and Commanders, who play in the NFC Championship game this Sunday, rank 2nd and 3rd.

Out of the balance of the top ten, all but three teams (Cardinals, Colts, and Falcons) made the post season, and even those teams all finished at 8-9. Running the ball keeps you competitive.

The year before, the Ravens (13-4) led the NFL in rushing, and five of the top ten teams in running the ball made the playoffs.

Makes it even more curious the Browns got away from running the football in 2024.

We still agree the Browns should use the second overall pick in this spring’s draft on a quarterback. Why? Primarily because the rest of the Cleveland roster is talented enough that the likelihood of the franchise picking this high again isn’t probably great. You have a chance to take one of the two best QBs coming into the league, so do it.

But there is no question Kevin Stefanski and the front office can lessen the burden on the rookie or preferably the veteran they will bring in as a stop gap until the rookie is ready but getting back to his offensive roots and running the football.

Besides, and we have said this before, running the ball is in the franchise’s DNA, the legacy of the franchise starts with Marion Motley, Jim Brown, Leroy Kelly and leads all the way to Nick Chubb.

Use the Eagles as the model. They ranked 29th in passing yards this season and are playing Sunday with a chance to go to the Super Bowl. Is that model sustainable? Probably not, but it does buy time for whoever Cleveland drafts to get used to the NFL game and become a productive NFL QB.

While the Browns’ defense may not be at the level of the 2023 season, that side of the football is still pretty good. Rebuilding the offensive line and drafting a solid running back so you move the football and protect the quarterback isn’t the worst idea.

And it might just speed up the clock to getting back to being a playoff team. We would all love to have Mahomes, Joe Burrow, Jackson, etc. at the helm for the Browns. That doesn’t mean the organization should just give up if they don’t have one of those guys.

This QB Looked A Lot Like The One Who Started The Year For Browns

The ugly season authored by the Cleveland Browns continued on Sunday with another abysmal offensive performance in a 24-6 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals in the Queen City dropping their record to 3-12.

It was the 10th time this season the Browns failed to gain 300 yards of total offense. Of the five games they exceeded that total, Jameis Winston was at the controls in four of them.

Dorian Thompson-Robinson was the starting quarterback and frankly, the offense looked a lot like it did in the first seven games with Deshaun Watson at the helm. He was skittish in the pocket, looked to escape very early, not giving receivers a chance, and of course, running himself into sacks.

The game started promising for the Browns as Jerome Ford ripped off a 66-yard run on the game’s very first play. But true to the Ken Dorsey offense, Ford carried just nine more times on the day, gaining 92 yards on the ground as Cleveland felt the need to have a very inexperienced QB throw 34 passes.

The Browns rank 28th in rushing attempts and 27th in yardage this season, which is by far the worst ranking for any offense coordinated or guided as a head coach by Kevin Stefanski.

Until last year, his teams were always in the top ten in rushing, and last season finished 12th and that was with Nick Chubb being injured in the second game of the year.

And when you think about it, the identity of the Cleveland Browns is the running game, tough, physical football. The greatest running back in the history of the game, Jim Brown, played here.

So did Marion Motley, Leroy Kelly, Greg Pruitt, Mike Pruitt, Kevin Mack and Earnest Byner both gained 1000 yards in the same season, and of course, Chubb has been one of the best runners of the last 10-15 years of NFL football.

It’s in the DNA to run the ball in Cleveland, and currently the Browns have an offensive coordinator who doesn’t like to run the ball.

Apparently, Stefanski’s success of running the football and using the play action pass didn’t figure into the decision in choosing the offensive coordinator because their ideas on offense seem to be at odds with each other.

To us, the first step to making this football team respectable when it has the football is to go back to the identity of the franchise and what the head coach clearly likes to do, and that is establish a solid running attack.

Back to Sunday’s loss. After that opening run by Ford, the Browns got no points because D’Onta Foreman fumbled on the one-yard line, presumably his last carry as a member of the brown and orange.

Cleveland’s biggest weapon of late, WR Jerry Jeudy was made useless by the switch in quarterbacks from Winston to Thompson-Robinson, who mostly dinked and dunked with short passes to Ford and David Njoku.

The turnover issues didn’t end with Winston’s benching as DTR threw two, and his career ratio now stands at one touchdown and nine picks in 180 attempts. We think we can all see he is not a legitimate starter in the NFL.

Congratulations to Myles Garrett on getting his 100th sack of his illustrious career. The front office has work to do in rebuilding this roster quick so Garrett will want to remain a Brown.

And of course, Dustin Hopkins missed an extra point, his only kick of the day. His confidence is clearly shaken, and he should not be kicking any more this year.

Not that these last two games really matter. It will be interesting to see at what point Stefanski pulls the plug on the DTR experience and goes to Bailey Zappe.

Merry Christmas! The Browns don’t play until Sunday!

No Conversations About Baseball Doesn’t Help It Grow.

It used to be said that baseball was the one sport that had no off season. It was talked about all year long. That’s why the term “hot stove league” was started, to describe the part of the year where the game wasn’t being played, but trades were being discussed and free agents were being signed.

That’s not true now. Other sports have gotten wise to this and have extended the relevance of their games during the periods where the action isn’t on the field.

Heck, in Cleveland, the sports talk shows discuss the Browns 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If your team isn’t playoff caliber, the draft talk starts during the season, as soon as it is evident the playoffs aren’t the goal.

You also have mini-camps and the beginning of training camp. Really, the only dead time for football is the period after the draft until the end of July.

In the NBA, as soon as the playoffs end, usually in the middle of June, you have the draft right after, and then in early July comes the free agency period, and there is a flurry of trades that go along with that as well. Once that ends, basketball kind of hibernates until training camp starts in September.

However, right now, baseball has gone silent because the owners have decided on a lockout to apparently try and break the strongest union in professional sports. So, instead of trade rumors and speculation on where free agents will sign and for what kind of money, we get nothing.

Baseball has disappeared from the sports consciousness, and if the parties can’t come to an agreement, apathy will set in. And for a sport waning in popularity over the last couple of decades, that’s suicidal.

It is easy for writers and broadcasters to side with the owners, because the players job is “playing”, something every kid who likes sports grew up wanting to do.

We side with the players though. Why? Because they are the product. No one goes to Progressive Field to see Paul Dolan own the Guardians. Fans buy tickets to watch baseball, and baseball is played by players.

Unfortunately, it appears the two sides don’t seem to want to get to the bargaining table to work out the differences any time soon.

We are sure the owners figure as long the new CBA is in place by spring training, then everything is fine, but in the meantime, there is no talk about baseball. The game is out of the sports point of view.

Meanwhile, the NBA has its slate of Christmas games, the league will be on TV all day. The NFL is coming down the stretch of its regular season, and there are plenty of games that affect the playoff landscape.

It seems odd that a tactic in trying to grow your sport is taking it out of the public’s eye. As Pepper Brook in Dodgeball said “it seems like a bold strategy”.

Rob Manfred and his owner friends will tell you they are trying to save baseball, but really, they are trying to kill it. Odd, because it makes all of them a boatload of cash. And yes, more cash than any player makes.

Living Without Sports Isn’t Easy

There is no question the world is in a crisis mode right now as the number of people being tested positive for the Coronavirus rises every day.

What makes it more difficult is dealing with this situation without sports.

There is no question most of us use sports as a distraction, a way to escape from the problems of everyday life. And we could use something to take our minds off the real world problems now more than ever.

We understand the reason that professional and college sports has shutdown. Everything needs to be done and should be done to slow and stop the spread of this virus.

There is no question sports is a big part of many of our lives, both men and women. And what’s weird is even though our team aggravate us to no end (most of the time), it’s relaxing.

But that doesn’t mean it isn’t tough missing it.

At first, we thought the NFL was using their usual “money before everything else” mentality in going on with their legal tampering and free agent period this week, but it certainly served as a distraction from dealing with a rapidly spreading illness.

With the other professional sports, we are reduced to viewing old games on their networks. That’ll be cool for awhile. We were watching the famous “Pine Tar Game” on MLB Network yesterday. It brought back memories, seeing former Indian Bud Black on the mound for Kansas City, and Hall of Famers George Brett, Dave Winfield, and Rich Gossage playing.

NBA TV is doing the same thing, there aren’t too many Cavaliers highlights from their 50 year history, but we figure eventually they will have their Cavs’ Day, where they will show some big victories, including Game 7 of the 1975-76 Eastern Conference semi-finals vs. Washington and culminate in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, when the wine and gold won their only title.

When baseball and basketball have had work stoppages over the past 40 some years, there were other forms of the sports. For the former, minor leaguers received more focus, and fans of the Indians could keep an eye on prospects to get their fix.

As for roundball, there was always the college game, and at this time of year, the NCAA Tournament. That’s not the case right now.

There are only so many movies, shows on Netflix, and crossword puzzles a person can do to fill the free time of our lives.

Let’s hope when things are back to normal that we appreciate our sports teams more, especially the Indians and Cavaliers, who get ignored in favor of the Browns by many of the media outlets in town.

The Tribe will likely be the first team to get back in action, and we would bet whenever Opening Day occurs, it will now be sold out, because we will get to see sports again.

We know not everyone is a sports fan, but if you are, it’s going to be a rough few weeks. Let’s hope that’s all it is.

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.

Browns Get Criticized For Doing What We Wish Tribe Would Do

Yesterday, Browns’ owner Jimmy Haslam took some members of the media to task for some of the reports regarding the “dysfunction” of the team.

We believe that the sports journalists, both print and broadcast, criticize GM Ray Farmer because the Browns aren’t being built the conventional way.

That way would be to find a “franchise” quarterback and then construct the rest of the team around said QB. Because the Browns do not have that guy, and they weren’t willing to overdraft in last April’s draft, it means Cleveland once again doesn’t have a clue, at least in terms of the Cleveland sports media.

By the way, doesn’t it say something that Farmer didn’t repeat the mistake, if he indeed made one, of picking another quarterback in the first round after the struggles of Johnny Manziel in his rookie season?

Farmer has said this publicly and apparently the people reporting on the Browns do not listen. He said the reality of the situation is that very few NFL teams has an elite passer, so those teams have to figure out another way to win.

The Browns’ front office recognizes this, and one of the things you always hear about the Indians situation when they complain about their small market status, is that other teams in the same situation figure out how to win, so why can’t the Tribe?

Haslam, Farmer, and head coach Mike Pettine have decided to try a different way to win, and that is building through a strong defense and a solid running game. It may not be the sexy way to compile victories, but they know that Josh McCown and/or Manziel aren’t top-notch quarterbacks, but they don’t use it as an excuse for not winning.

Pettine says it all the time, it’s a pass/fail league. And they don’t use not having an Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning or Ben Roethlisberger as a reason to just punt the season.

Instead, they have decided to build the rest of their football team, and make each game about playing in the teens or low twenties, and putting up just enough points to claim a win.

And early last season, it worked. They dominated the Steelers at home, and the Bengals in Cincinnati. They lost to Pittsburgh on the road and the Ravens at home on last second field goals.

Yes, yes, we know those were losses, but losing on the last play is a bit different that leading going into the fourth quarter and getting hammered then.

Part of the problem the media has with Farmer is his attitude toward them. He’s not warm and fuzzy, and comes off at times like he’s smarter than the people who cover the team, which he is. If he wasn’t, their situations would be reversed.

The Indians front office acts like that all the time, yet no one challenges them, and if fact, because they are nice people, they seem to escape the criticism for their poor results.

If Farmer and Pettine turn this thing around, guess what. They will be even more detached from the media because they will have been correct.

Haslam set himself up yesterday by saying he like the direction of the team and there aren’t plans to make changes if the Browns have a bad season last year. However, at this point, he should be taken at his word, even though his track record says otherwise.

The reality is no matter what kind of schedule the Browns played a year ago, they did get better by three wins. The five straight losses is what makes everyone so down on the team.

Just think what the perception of the team would be is the season had been reversed, and the Browns lost their first five, and then rallied to a 7-9 season.

We both know that Farmer and Pettine would be hailed for putting the team in the right direction.

This is a key season because the slate is tougher in 2015. But give the Browns credit for not saying woe is us, we don’t have Tom Brady, so we are just going to finish 3-13. They have a plan, it’s just now one the media agrees with.

Here’s Our Rating of NFL’s Top QBs

Recently, Browns’ GM Ray Farmer made the comment that most teams in the NFL play without elite quarterbacks, so they have to figure out a way to win.

We agree with that statement because we don’t think there are that many elite passers in the game today, although many fans and media alike would disagree.

During the playoffs, we’ve seen the following players described as being in that class: Tony Romo and Cam Newton. Guess what? They aren’t “elite”.

This is different from the term “franchise quarterbacks”, because which Romo and Newton are a part of because their teams aren’t looking for a new passer. Those teams have put their future in the hands of players like Romo, Newton, Joe Flacco, etc.

And another thing, winning a Super Bowl doesn’t make you an elite quarterback either. Yes, we are well aware Flacco did just that with the Ravens, but Eli Manning has won two championship rings, and of course, we can point to Brad Johnson and Trent Dilfer doing the same thing.

And at this point with just three seasons under his belt, one winning a title, we can’t put Russell Wilson there just yet.

In order to be at the top of the heap at this position, the most important position in team sports, you have to be a player who can win a game, basically by yourself, and demonstrate it on a regular basis.

For our money, the top five quarterbacks in the NFL are as follows, in no particular order–

Tom Brady
Peyton Manning
Andrew Luck
Ben Roethlisberger
Aaron Rodgers

Yes, we understand Manning is fading and it’s been since the 2008 season since Big Ben won his second, but those are the elite guys in the NFL.

Brady and Rodgers are playing today to get another chance at a Super Bowl ring, and Luck is trying to make it for the first time.

The next five based on the totality of their careers would be, once again in no particular order–

Drew Brees
Russell Wilson
Philip Rivers
Eli Manning
Matt Ryan

First of all, see what we mean about not being that many “elite” QBs. Two of the players on this list (Rivers and Ryan) have never been to a Super Bowl, and have only been to the conference championship game once each.

Now, we are sure one of the questions will be about the omission of Flacco, who is a solid NFL quarterback.

First, we’ve witnessed too many “blah” games against the Browns over the years.

Second, in the seven years Flacco has been the starter, the Ravens have never ranked in the top ten in yardage, and has only been in the top ten in points scored twice.

Romo? His history shows he makes too many key mistakes at the wrong time. Newton? Not enough of a track record, and the Panthers’ offense has regressed since his rookie season.

So, that’s why we agree with Farmer. Many people around Cleveland just think if we don’t have the quarterback, the Browns should either tank the season to get one, or our perpetually doomed.

The coaching staff and front office can’t think that way. They need to figure out another way to get it done. Guys like Manning and Luck don’t come around too often, and as we are all aware, Brady was a 6th round pick.

Roethlisberger and Rodgers feel into their team respective laps.

The Browns made progress in the win column in 2014, the organization has to keep moving in the right direction, elite quarterback or not.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Hoyer vs. Manziel

With everyone quick to judge how a first round draft pick’s career will go after six quarters of action, the debate has resumed about who the Browns’ quarterback should be going into the off-season.

Many fans are back on the Brian Hoyer bandwagon, and of course, they cite his 9-6 record as a starting quarterback, which gives no indication of how he played in those games. Heck, Tim Tebow and Christian Ponder have led teams to the playoffs, and no one is thinking about either being an NFL starting signal caller anytime soon.

We believe that if Hoyer was from Lenexa, Kansas, there wouldn’t be a big clamor for him to be the starting quarterback. Why? Because he was one of the least efficient passers in the NFL this season, ranking 31st in the league, just ahead of Josh McCown and Blake Bortles.

Hoyer also had the second lowest completion percentage among qualifiers in 2014 ahead of only Drew Stanton, completing only 55.3% of his throws.

The point here is that Hoyer only looks good in comparison to the job Manziel did in his two starts, and quite frankly, you have to assume, the former Heisman Trophy winner will get better with his first NFL experience under his belt.

It is doubtful that at Hoyer’s age, he is currently 29 years old, he is going to get much better.

So, why settle for mediocrity at the most important position on the field.

There isn’t a glut of passers who can be free agents this off-season, so if Hoyer leaves via free agency, where do the Browns turn for competition for Manziel, who thus far hasn’t shown anything to suggest he can be a solid NFL quarterback?

However, there are four who caught our eye as guys who could come here and compete for the starting job with the Browns.

Jake Locker is a former first round draft pick who has battled injuries throughout his three years in the league. He is 27 years old with a lifetime 57.5% completion rate and 27 touchdown throws against 22 interceptions. He is mobile, which accounts for some of his injuries, and gave Cleveland fits earlier this season when they faced the Titans.

He would be our first choice.

Mark Sanchez will be mentioned as well, but he is very similar to Hoyer in that he has accuracy issues (56.3%) and is prone to critical turnovers, having thrown 80 interceptions lifetime vs. 82 TD throws.

Here are a couple of longshots.

Matt Moore has started a game since 2011 with the Dolphins, but he could be worth a look. He’s 30 years old, has a lifetime 58.9% completion percentage and has thrown 33 TD passes against 28 picks in his career. You would think he’d be interested in coming to Cleveland for a chance to start.

Case Keenum was signed by Houston off the Rams’ practice squad at the end of the season, and might be worth a look. His accuracy isn’t great (55.2%), but he did win two games down the stretch for the Texans and could develop into a serviceable type of player.

The point is the Browns’ front office shouldn’t be married to the notion that Hoyer is the only alternative to Manziel, and we don’t think they are. Perhaps Cleveland can catch lightning in a bottle with a guy like Locker, and if healthy can be an upgrade over Hoyer.

No matter where one guy is from or the other guy is immature, the Browns need to get better at quarterback. The veteran they have now doesn’t allow for much improvement.

No Matter What People Say, The Browns Have Made Progress.

The Cleveland Browns just cannot avoid drama.

They are most definitely an improved football team this season. After years and years, six in total, of four and five win seasons, the Browns will NOT lose 10 games this season for the first time since 2007.

The defense has shown tremendous improvement as the season as gone along, and the offense has some promising rookie running backs as a foundation for the future.

However, even though the brown and orange still have an opportunity for nine victories, there has been criticism of the current front office by a franchise icon, and others speculating that coach Mike Pettine may not be safe if his team loses the last two games, which would be six of the last seven overall.

Want to talk about dysfunction? Firing Pettine after the progress made this season would be the exhibit A for the prosecution.

That can be remedied by owner Jimmy Haslam taking the time to talk to the media and allay everyone’s fears by saying Pettine and GM Ray Farmer will absolutely be back next season and he looks forward to another step forward in 2015.

In a normal world, he wouldn’t have to do that because both are under contract, but after the firing of Rob Chudzinski after one year last season, and the cleaning out of the front office as well, you can understand why supporters of the coach are worried.

Haslam needs to do it and do it before this Sunday’s game at Carolina. It’s the decent and smart thing to do. Most of the fans feel Pettine has done a good job and that he and Farmer have indeed started a culture change in Berea.

The head coach switched quarterbacks last week because the guy who started the first 12 games wasn’t getting it done anymore. If there were any other circumstances, like a meddling owner, those were superseded by Hoyer’s declining play.

So, the rookie first round draft choice played poorly in his first NFL start, and now everyone is looking at needing another signal caller in the ’15 draft. To quote Aaron Rodgers and LeBron James, “relax!”

Look, we weren’t on the Manziel bandwagon as the draft approached last May, especially with the fourth overall pick. However, judging him on one game, especially against a team that reached the playoffs the past three seasons, is ridiculous.

Manziel is a competitor and that performance last Sunday probably eats at him every minute until he can get back on the field this week. If he doesn’t learn from his first start, then he’s not as smart as we think.

He has seen the speed of the game first hand and should be making adjustments. Hopefully, he has learned that it is important to play mostly from the pocket and not follow his instinct to run around if the first read isn’t open.

Those are the things we should see against the Panthers on Sunday.

The best thing about Manziel’s day last week was that we will never have to go through his first NFL start again. Let’s allow him to play a few games before condemning him to the island of misfit passers, which includes several Cleveland quarterbacks who have played here since 1999.

We understand the NFL is a week to week sport and each game gets analyzed way too much. However, this organization has made progress overall in 2014, even if they lose the last two games.

Let’s remember that before we press any panic buttons.

Manziel Not Good, But Several People Let Him Down

It turns out that Johnny Manziel is just like any other rookie quarterback who has entered the NFL in the recent future and is not named Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck.

That is to say there is a learning curve and struggles early for most QBs in the NFL coming right out of college.

However, coach Mike Pettine gave the right answer after the game when asked who would be his starter at the position next week at Carolina when he gave Manziel’s name as the answer.

After all, there can’t be another first start for the former Heisman Trophy winner. It should be only up hill from here if he has the talent to be successful in the National Football League.

Still, even in his dismal performance, and being 10 of 18 for 80 yards with two interceptions in a 30-0 defeat is indeed dismal, there are several people who let the rookie down. And in saying that, we realize both picks were plays that worked in college for Johnny Football, but don’t work for John Professional.

Kyle Shanahan. We wanted to see Manziel run the offense that worked for Cleveland the first eight weeks of the season, meaning the attack Brian Hoyer ran, but with a quarterback with a stronger arm and more mobility.

Instead we got some elements of the read-option, an offense that really hasn’t work since Robert Griffin III’s rookie season.

On the Browns’ first possession, they faced a third and 2, and it looked like the play call was for Manziel to fake a throw and then run up the middle. He was stopped short, and after the Bengals ate up seven minutes on their initial possession, they got the ball back after three plays.

Why not have Manziel rollout with the option of a short, safe throw?

Then, there was no attempt by Shanahan to establish the running game which was so effective against Cincinnati the first time the two teams met either.

After that initial series, eight of the next 11 plays run by Cleveland were passing plays. So much for easing your rookie signal caller in.

It looks like the offensive coordinator got caught looking at Texas A & M game films from the last two seasons instead of what the Browns did well in their first 13 contests.

Receivers. It wasn’t the finest performance by the Cleveland receiving corps either, particularly Andrew Hawkins, who dropped a throw that could’ve kept the Browns on the field on their second possession.

After moving out of the pocket, Manziel threw a strike to Hawkins for a first down that was dropped after the wide out was hit by Reggie Nelson. Yes, it was a big hit, but we’ve seen Hawkins take bigger hits and hold on. The drop forced another punt, forcing the defense back on the field.

Walt Anderson. Yes, today’s referee was a culprit as well. Apparently, Mr. Anderson likes being on television, calling nine penalties on Cleveland. While some were deserved, two on the Bengals first drive aided them to a 7-0 lead.

The first was Barkevious Mingo’s roughing the passer call on a third down throw. Yes, technically, Mingo’s helmet hit Andy Dalton’s, but the outside linebacker didn’t lead with his headgear. Instead of forcing an early punt, Cincinnati kept possession.

The second call, a horse collar tackle on Justin Gilbert against Giovani Bernard didn’t give the Bengals a first down, but it was still terrible because Bernard didn’t go down as a result of the so-called illegal move.

Also, the illegal man downfield against Ryan Seymour on a screen pass to Jordan Cameron was also a reach.

In a 30-0 loss, pointing to the officials seems a little tacky, but could the game have been different if Cleveland forces a punt early? We’ll never know.

The Defense. The Cleveland problem stopping the run reared its ugly head again today, as they allowed 244 rushing yards. We don’t know the success rate of teams that allow over 200 yards on the ground in an NFL game, but it probably isn’t high.

Manziel didn’t play well in his debut, and the shutout loss today put the Browns out of the playoffs again barring some sort of miracle. However, we should see progress next week.

That’s a reason to stay interested in this football team.