Passin’ Pat Ignores the Run, Which Was Working.

Cookie Monster loves cookies.

Wilt Chamberlain loved the ladies.

Pat Shurmur loves the forward pass.

Earlier during the high school football season, St. Ignatius coach Chuck Kyle said his best defense against Mentor QB Mitch Trubisky was the running game because if his team had the ball, it would be difficult for Trubisky to operate.

Perhaps Shurmur should have heeded Kyle’s advice today against the great Peyton Manning, because Manning put on a passing clinic, going 20 of 43 for 339 yards, starting from the opening drive of the game until he was mercifully taken out of the game with the Broncos well in command 34-12, which was the final score.

Judging by the score of the game, you would think the Browns needed to play catch up all day long, and although they did trail from the first drive of the game on, it was still a two score game at 21-6 heading into the fourth quarter.

Cleveland’s best chance would have been to control the clock with the running game, mixing in the pass, and the Browns did run the ball effectively when they put it into the hands of Trent Richardson and Montario Hardesty. They averaged five yards per carry as a team and even if you take away Colt McCoy’s 15 yard scramble at the end of the game, Richardson still picked up almost six yards a pop (9 carries for 53 yards), and Hardesty toted the pigskin three times for 14 yards (4.7 per rush).

Unfortunately, they only ran the ball 18 times for the game and only 14 of those were by design.

We get that it’s a passing league, and the most successful teams have explosive passing attacks, but think about this–the Broncos have a guy going to the Hall of Fame in Manning, and their running back, Knowshon Moreno carried the football 22 times.

Passin’ Pat and his aerial circus. That’s what the Browns should be nicknamed.

Instead, the coach decided to let Manning run 75 plays from scrimmage and have the ball seven more minutes than his team, exposing a secondary depleted by injuries to T. J. Ward, Tashaun Gipson and Sheldon Brown, and the odd release of Dimitri Patterson during the week, to his sophisticated passing attack.

After watching this game, does anyone still want to address the quarterback situation in the 2013 draft?

It is obvious that the Browns need help in the secondary because Manning pretty much stayed away from Joe Haden most of the time and instead looked where Brown was lined up before the veteran was injured in the second quarter.

The defense also needs another pass rusher because they couldn’t get near Manning hitting him only a couple of times on the afternoon.

Besides forgetting about the run, the defense couldn’t help the offense get the ball back, allowing 9 of 15 third down conversions, and two of those stops came with back up QB Brock Osweiler in the game.

And for those who predicted the Denver pass rushing duo of Von Miller and Elvis Dumervil would dominate, the Broncos only recorded two sacks while the game was in doubt, before they were able to tee off on McCoy, who replaced starter Brandon Weeden, who left with an injured shoulder after the second of those sacks with the score 21-6.

Weeden played well for the most part, particularly on the first two drives of the game, in which the Browns mixed in the run, hitting on 12 0f 19 throws for 104 yards. The Browns used a bootleg pass in which he completed a pass to TE Benjamin Watson, but that play (unlike the Redskins last week) was never seen again.

This ignorance of the run didn’t start last week. If the Browns did an internal audit, they would see their best games were the ones where they had a balanced offense. But too many times, Passin’ Pat goes back to what he loves, throwing the short pass.

It was funny that one of Weeden’s long completions to Greg Little, a 21 yard strike in the second quarter came off play action. However, if you stop running the ball, using play action has no effect.

Next week, the Browns will likely end the season without Weeden and Richardson, who injured an ankle late in the game (why was he in?), so critics of the two rookies will get what they want, a lot of McCoy and Hardesty.

After a three game winning streak, the Cleveland Browns have laid two gigantic eggs. It makes the decision that Jimmy Haslam and Joe Banner will make after next Sunday’s game a little bit easier.

TIme for Cavs and Irving to Show Progress

It most certainly has been a disappointing year in sports in Cleveland. All three of our professional sports teams have pretty much stunk in 2012.

One bright spot fans on the north coast thought they had been watching the progress of the Cleveland Cavaliers. They had the NBA’s Rookie of the Year in Kyrie Irving and two other top four picks in second year forward Tristan Thompson and rookie Dion Waiters.

So far, the wine and gold have been a huge disappointment, starting the season at 5-22 and on pace for another season of less than 20 victories.

The biggest problem is not the physical ability to play the game, the Cavs have some talent. Look at the teams they have defeated this year.

The Lakers are struggling, but they have talent. The Clippers have one of the NBA’s best records at 19-6. Philadelphia made the playoffs last season. Atlanta currently has the third best record in the Eastern Conference.

All have lost to the Cavaliers, whose lone win over a bad team was an Opening Night win over the Wizards.

They also have close losses to Miami (16 -6), New York (18-6), and Memphis (16-6).

On the other hand, they’ve lost at home to teams like Toronto (8-19), Detroit (7-21), and Phoenix (10-15).

They seem to play to the level of their competition, which has to frustrate their coach, Byron Scott, to no end.

It is true that the Cavaliers are a young team, but it has to drive Scott crazy to see them play with teams like the Heat and Knicks on the road, and then get whipped at The Q by a team like Toronto.

They need to have that same drive and determination in games they can win, particularly at home, as they do against the big boys in the NBA.

Too often, it looks like they play with the attitude of we’re at home and since he can hang with the Heat, we’ll win tonight. They don’t have a professional attitude on a night-to-night basis.

They’ve lost 16 straight games within the Central Division!

Right now, the Cavaliers don’t have anything they can hang their collective hats on. They should, and it should be on the defensive end.

Cleveland has the worst defensive field goal percentage in the league, allowing opponents to make over 47% of their shots. Much of that problem stems from their best player, Irving, struggling at the defensive end.

There is no question that Irving is the team’s best player, now he needs to become a leader, even if he is just 20 years old. He needs to be the guy who takes Scott’s defensive mantra to the floor and show everyone else on the team that he buys in.

That’s the responsibility of being a great player instead of a very good player.

The young Cavaliers have to learn this is a business rather than a game and they need to win games at home against mediocre teams, which you can read as squads of their ilk.

When we see them beating the likes of the Bobcats, Hornets, Pistons, Bucks, etc. with regularity, then they will be turning the corner toward improvement.

The first step toward respectability and then the playoffs is winning the games you are supposed to win. The Cavs need to do just that and do it soon.

Weeden Deserves Chance in Real Offense

After a poor performance in Sunday’s loss to the Washington Redskins, the fickle football fans of Cleveland now want the head of quarterback Brandon Weeden. They are ready to write him off after just 14 games.

Some people even went as far to say that the rookie from Oklahoma State should have been benched in favor of Colt McCoy in the last home game of the season.

Think about that for a second. If the Browns coaching staff thought McCoy was better, he would start. They, after all, watch both of them everyday in practice.

Still, Weeden deserves the chance to be the starter next season for many reasons. One, he was a first round draft pick, and although he hasn’t lit it up like fellow rookies Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, and even third round selection Russell Wilson, he hasn’t been god awful either.

He should get a chance to put what he learned during his first year into practice.

However, the biggest reason he should get another opportunity to start is to play in a better and more creative offensive scheme than the one run by his current head coach, Pat Shurmur.

While it is true that Weeden hasn’t set the world on fire with his play this season, it looks to us that he is similar to another passer who played in Cleveland recently.

No, not Derek Anderson, who most fans compare Weeden to because both have “big arms”, but his play and demeanor remind us of McCoy.

The major complaint about McCoy last season was that he checked down a lot and didn’t take shots down the field. Weeden can throw deep, but doesn’t, mostly because the coaching staff seems reticent to do so.

Both quarterbacks looked like they were afraid to make mistakes, something that obviously has been drilled into them repeatedly by Shurmur. There is a time and place to take chances in the passing game. Protecting the football is certainly important, but being ultra conservative on offense doesn’t score points, and not scoring points leads to losses.

Statistically, Shurmur’s offense has always been a dink and dunk attack.

In his two years as the Rams’ offensive coordinator, St. Louis ranked in the bottom three in the NFL in average yards per attempt. Last year, with Shurmur serving as both head coach and coordinator, the Browns ranked 30th in the league.

This year, Cleveland ranks 23rd, mostly because of the long passes Weeden has hit on with WR Josh Gordon, as well as Sunday’s bomb to Travis Benjamin.

In addition to the quarterback, the offense doesn’t help the running backs either. Most of the formations are so tight in design that the defense doesn’t have to cover the entire field. Do you think that helps Trent Richardson and Montario Hardesty?

Both high draft picks deserve the chance to play in an attack that spreads the field a little bit before making judgments as to whether or not they can be All Pro caliber players in the NFL.

It was remarkable to watch Washington on offense because they seemed to play to reserve QB Kirk Cousins’ strengths. That’s what coaching is. Looking at the talent of your team and developing a plan which gets the most out of them.

It’s tough to say Pat Shurmur’s offense gets the best out of anyone. Seriously, what player thrives in this scheme?

No matter who the Browns’ next head coach is, and we assume the current coach will not be back in 2013, he should see what Brandon Weeden can do in a real professional offense before making a change.

There is no problem with bringing in a veteran for competition, in case the 29-year-old passer can’t thrive in any offense. Weeden still deserves a chance to play in a system that successful teams run, not as offense that doesn’t spread the field, doesn’t spread the defense, and for the most part, doesn’t score points.

Browns Pass, Pass, Pass Offense Returns in Loss to Redskins

The Cleveland Browns seemed to have everything going for themselves as today’s game against the Washington Redskins unfolded.

The contest was at home, where the Browns had won three straight games. The weather was a balmy 60 degrees, incredibly warm for this time of year in Cleveland. And Redskins’ QB Robert Griffin III was inactive for the game because of a knee injury.

However, Pat Shurmur’s squad looked at all their good fortune and smashed them with a sledgehammer.

Washington hammered the Browns 38-21 and ended whatever slim playoff hopes this football team had.

One can’t help but think coaching had everything to do with today’s debacle, starting with a total ignorance of the running game.

When the Browns scored the first touchdown of the game following a T. J. Ward interception on a 6-yard run by Trent Richardson, it gave the rookie 24 yards on four carries, with a long run of 14 yards.

After getting a three and out, the next time Cleveland had the football, they ran just once, with Montario Hardesty getting the carry. It was just a three play series for the Browns.

The next possession by Cleveland featured a one yard run on first down, followed by two passes, one a six yard loss to Richardson, the other incomplete.

The Redskins scored after 34 yard punt out-of-bounds by Reggie Hodges to tie the score.

The subsequent possession featured six plays, five passes and a one yard run by Richardson, who now had 6 carries for 26 yards, a 4.3 average per carry.

The Cleveland defense held, but the offense gave it right back on three straight passes, one of which was a nine yard completion to Mohammad Massaquoi.

Meanwhile, Dick Jauron stacked the defense to take away the Washington ground game, which leads the NFL in yardage. Alfred Morris didn’t have a lot of success, but still the Redskins kept giving him the ball to keep the Browns’ defense honest.

Washington took the lead on the next drive to put themselves in the lead at 10-7.

The Browns scored the next time they got the ball using nine plays to go 75 yards. Five of the nine plays were passes, with Josh Cribbs carrying once out of the “wildcat” formation. The last two plays were Richardson runs totally four yards. He now had 9 attempts for 29 yards. He carried just twice more for the rest of the game, and one of those was the first play of the second half.

Weeden threw a terrible interception to open the third quarter which wound up giving the ‘Skins a lead they would never relinquish, but the Browns were still only losing by 3 points.

Richardson’s last carry came with 13:08 left in the third quarter, and the Browns only attempted one other run the rest of the game, that by Hardesty.

Even after another short punt led to another Redskin touchdown, the Browns trailed 24-14, but there were still 22 minutes left in the contest!

After the game, Weeden talked about the problems that occur when the offense becomes one-dimensional, but it wasn’t the Redskin defense that forced that, it was the play calling of the Browns.

Washington averaged less yards per carry than Cleveland for the game (3.5 compared to 3.9), but they didn’t stop giving the ball to Morris. They kept mixing up the play calls.

Meanwhile, Shurmur allowed the Redskin defense to play pass exclusively. It was a weakness going into the game for Mike Shanahan’s team, but when you don’t have to play the run, it makes the job a little bit easier.

It was the same trap the Browns fell into in past games. In the three game winning streak, the attack was much more balanced.

For those begging for the current coaching staff to stay in 2013, today’s game was a cold slap back to reality. The Browns need more imagination on offense. For inspiration, they need only to look at their opponents today.

Tribe Takes a Good Risk in Choo Trade

When the rumors of Shin-Soo Choo being traded to Cincinnati for OF Drew Stubbs and minor league SS Didi Gregorius started yesterday, our immediate reaction was a sickening feeling.

Trading one of the team’s best hitters, even though he would be a free agent at the end of the year, for a minor leaguer (when your farm system is loaded with prospects at that position) and another strikeout machine with a low batting average, isn’t very attractive.

However, dealing Choo for a potential big time starting pitcher is a good move.

Getting Trevor Bauer, Arizona’s top pitching prospect, a guy who is among the top ten prospects in all of baseball, for a player who wasn’t going to be with the Indians after 2013 has to be considered a win for GM Chris Antonetti.

In order to get back to the top of the AL Central, the Tribe needs to improve their starting pitching, and getting one of the best prospects in the game has to be viewed favorably.

And it was done without trading SS Asdrubal Cabrera, which had been rumored over the last month.

Bauer will be 22 next season and last year went 12-2 between AA and AAA with a 2.42 ERA and 157 strikeouts in 130 innings. He did make four big league starts, going 1-2 with a 6.06 ERA.

That’s what you call a small sample though.

Antonetti also received a couple of hard throwing bullpen guys in Mitch Albers and Bryan Shaw to increase depth in the relief corps. Perhaps one of those two or a guy like Joe Smith can be used in another trade.

The other players the Tribe gave up were superfluous. Jason Donald never looked to be more than a platoon player and his best defensive position was 2B. He was stuck behind newcomer Mike Aviles anyway.

Tony Sipp was a key part of the Indians bullpen the past few years, but with Nick Hagadone and Scott Barnes on the roster, he was a candidate to be moved.

And Lars Anderson was a throw in.

Do the Indians still have work to do? Of course. The loss of Choo leaves a huge void in an offense that already struggled to score runs last season. Stubbs and his low batting average (he hit .214 last year) and ton of strikeouts, doesn’t come near to replacing him.

They also still could use a proven starting pitcher to go along with Justin Masterson. That would put Carlos Carrasco, Ubaldo Jimenez and Bauer in the mix to be the fourth and fifth guys in the rotation to start the year.

Meaning Jimenez could be expendable.

As for Cabrera, the trade rumors that swirled around him at the winter meetings may have been the Indians sending him a message.

The past two seasons, he has either came to spring training heavy or gained weight during the season. The organization may have been telling him to get his act together, and Terry Francona may be saying it is time to realize his talent.

It is doubtful the Tribe will deal him now, because that would mean having to find two good offensive players to replace him and Choo.

Forget about Stubbs, if can figure out how to make contact, he will be an asset. He is an excellent defensive outfielder and can steal a base if he can get to first.

His lack of contact, as well as that of Mark Reynolds, who figures to be the Indians’ first baseman will not help the offense. Although the Tribe did need a guy who can score a run with one swing of the bat.

If Reynolds can hit 30 HRs, he will help. But make no mistake, he’s an all or nothing hitter. If he’s hitting in the 7-8-9 spot, that’s okay.

The reason to be excited about this deal is getting a potential ace like Bauer. The Indians haven’t been able to draft a top of the rotation pitcher since C.C. Sabathia.

They may have got one yesterday for a player who was going to leave after next season.

Cavs Tough to Evaluate

The Cleveland Cavaliers have hit the quarter mark of the NBA season, and to be sure, everyone in the organization thought they would be better than 4-17 at this point.

Still, it is difficult to see exactly where the wine and gold are in their second rebuilding season following the departure of LeBron James.

It is only their second year because the franchise had no back up plan for James’ departure, which if you want to criticize the organization for that, it is understandable.

But the injuries to two key players, Rookie of the Year Kyrie Irving and this year’s first round pick, Dion Waiters, make it difficult to judge whether or not any progress has been made.

They were supposed to be the centerpieces, along with Anderson Varejao, to any success and growth the Cavs would experience in 2012-13.

However, Irving has missed 11 games thus far and Waiters has missed the last four. Without two of their top scorers, it has been tough for Byron Scott’s team to score enough points to win.

In the off-season, we commented that the Cavalier roster was made up of a lot of good bench players, but unfortunately, for Cleveland these players have to start.

Players like Alonzo Gee and Tristan Thompson will carve out a long career in the NBA because they can be contributors, but they are miscast as starters, although it may be too early to say that about the latter.

With Irving and Waiters out, that means Scott is forced to start four players who should be playing 15-18 minutes per night off the bench.

That usually doesn’t translate into victories.

With both Irving and Waiters perhaps playing tomorrow night, the time to really start the evaluation process will start. If the Cavs hit the halfway point at the season at 8-33, then the questions about the direction of the team can start.

The injuries aren’t an excuse or reason for some evaluation though.

The biggest bright spot for the wine and gold has been the unbelievable play of Varejao, who leads the league in rebounding and is scoring almost 15 points per night.

It is time to stop saying the Brazilian big man is simply a hustle player and give him his due as a true basketball talent.

It’s not hustle that puts him in position for rebounds and easy lay ups off of the guard’s penetration, Varejao understands the game and has an instinct for it as well.

He’s a great player and deserves an all-star berth this year.

The disappointments have to be Thompson and his lack of progress and free agent swingman C. J. Miles.

Thompson will be haunted for a long time because he was the fourth selection in the 2011 draft, and he did average 8.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per night. However, he hasn’t taken a quantum leap forward in his second year, improving to just 8.9 points and 7.5 boards thus far.

GM Chris Grant hasn’t said it, but he has to be disappointed that whatever work the second year big from Texas put in this off-season hasn’t translated to more production.

Miles has done a little better as of late, but still missed six games due to Scott’s decision. He’s shooting just 34% from the floor and has taken just 11 free throws, least of any player who has logged 100 or more minutes with Cleveland this season. He was thought to be able to provide some points, but so far hasn’t been able to fill that need.

So, after the first quarter of the season, you would have to grade the Cavaliers with an incomplete. The injuries to its starting backcourt has made it tough to judge progress, and given them a built-in excuse after 20 games.

No Moves Mean No Tickets Sold

The Cleveland Indians’ front office has been so inert in recent years; they are starting to get credit for doing anything.

So, the fact they are talking about trades and/or signing free agents at the winter meeting is making some fans happy.

That’s setting the bar very, very low.

First of all, they should be making moves to help the team win, that is their job. However, that’s not good enough either. They should be making good moves to improve the ballclub. Making the wrong move is worse than no move at all.

You hear this from some fans and even some in the media about the Ubaldo Jimenez trade. They say you have to give the front office credit for taking a risk.

We didn’t like the trade at the time because GM Chris Antonetti gave up his top two pitching prospects (and three in the top ten organizationally) and didn’t get a true ace in return. You have to get a #1 starter if you are doing that, and to this point, Jimenez has been a bust.

Here’s hoping new pitching coach Mickey Calloway can straighten him out because he doesn’t have sound mechanics.

We read similar comments about the Indians’ offer to free agent OF Shane Victorino, which was reportedly four years totaling $44 million.

This would have been a bad contract, so why give the front office credit? Victorino is 32 years old coming off a poor season, and over the past two years has been a poor hitter against right-handed pitchers.

Unless of course, the front office was saving face because they knew there was no way the outfielder was going to take their offer.

Since the Indians claim they can’t spend a lot on payroll, a contract like the one they offered to Victorino would come back to bite them.

There was excitement regarding a possible megadeal involved Cleveland, Arizona, Texas and one other team in which the Indians would be dealing SS Asdrubal Cabrera and received three or four (depending on the report) major league ready prospects.

That deal or a form of it may occur down the line, but at this point Cabrera is still an Indians.

Cleveland is also believed to be in on free agent OF Nick Swisher, but so are other teams.

So basically, the Indians haven’t done anything thus far to improve their team. And then they wonder why they have a problem selling tickets and generating interest.

Any buzz created around a professional franchise has to be created in the off-season, and right now, less than three weeks before Christmas; the Indians have done nothing except hiring Terry Francona as manager to make anyone think anything has changed.

And managers do not sell tickets.

Again, this is not to say that Antonetti should make a move just to say he did something. That’s not enough. But he hasn’t done a darn thing to show fans, which buy the tickets, that this is a team to come down and watch.

Is it too much to ask the Indians’ management to make moves that will help the franchise in 2013 and not hamstring it for the future?

No. That’s their job. They are supposed to be experts in evaluating talent and deciding what fair market value is.

Now there is still time to make some moves to improve the 2013 edition of the Cleveland Indians. It’s just a little disappointing that nothing has happened as of yet. If the team wants some ticket buying momentum in the gift giving season, they need to do something sooner rather than later.

Dreaming of Stanton in Tribe Uniform

As baseball enters their annual winter meetings this week, the Cleveland Indians are said to be shopping most of their best players.

Shin-Soo Choo is on the market because he will be a free agent at the end of the 2013 season and his agent is Scott Boras, who almost always takes his clients to the free market.

Chris Perez is on the block because he’s due a big raise in arbitration, and is arguably the team’s biggest trading chip. If there is any strength in the organization it is in the relief pitching department, and the front office may just feel they can fill a few holes by dealing Perez, and they have options to replace him.

And Asdrubal Cabrera is said to be likely to be moved because he plays a premium position and there is a shortage of shortstop available. GM Chris Antonetti may want to maximize Cabrera’s value right now.

All of these players have one thing in common, they are due to make a lot of cash.

Even though the Dolan family is reportedly set to sell SportsTime Ohio to Fox for a reported $200 million, it doesn’t look like any of that money is going into the baseball operation.

If the Indians want to add payroll, they certainly have plenty of options. The free agent market has spiraled out of control once again with players like B. J. Upton getting $15 million per year and .211 hitting Russell Martin getting $8.5 million a season.

So the smart play would be to take on some cash in a trade or wait for the initial wave of free agency to pass and see what kind of value is out there.

If they want to make a big splash, there is one player out there that the Indians should make a bona-fide offer on, and that is Marlins’ OF Giancarlo Stanton.

At last year’s trading deadline, there was some discussion in the media about dealing the Tribe’s top prospect SS Francisco Lindor. We were against this because if you are going to deal a talent like him, you have to get a player who is still on the way up and has plenty of time under Cleveland’s control.

Stanton is that guy. For one, he just turned 23 years old last month, meaning he will play the entire ’13 campaign at that age.

He also will not be a free agent until after the 2017 season, meaning the Indians would control him for five more seasons. Add to both of those bits of information the fact that he is an out-and-out stud, with already 93 big league home runs.

He led the National League in slugging percentage last season at .608. He’s not a product of his ball park either. His home and road splits are virtually the same.

As good as Lindor can be, if he has to be the centerpiece of a deal to get Giancarlo Stanton, then so be it.

Following the 2007 season, the Marlins were shopping a young right-handed hitter named Miguel Cabrera. We thought he was the closest thing to Manny Ramirez that would come around in a long time, and said the Tribe should go out and get him. They didn’t and look how it has worked out for the Tigers.

He has won two home run titles, two RBI crowns, and two batting titles since going to the Motor City. And Detroit has been to the playoffs two straight years.

Because it’s the Indians, it is likely a dream, but if the front office wanted to get people excited about baseball in this city once again, they would start a conversation with Miami. It may be a long time until another hitter like Giancarlo Stanton could be available.

Winning Streak, but Offense Still Leaves Points On Field

The dates were September 26-29 of this year. That’s more than two months ago.

What is significant about those dates? It was the last time a Cleveland major league sports team won consecutive games, and it was the Indians.

However, right now, the Cleveland Browns have a two game winning streak, as they defeated the Oakland Raiders 20-17 on the road to raise their record to 4-8 for the season.

That doesn’t mean there weren’t any anxious moments along the way.

After taking a 13-3 lead with 9:51 remaining in the third quarter, and dominating the game, things took a turn when Phil Dawson had his attempt at a 30th straight made field goal blocked. Instead of taking a 16-3 advantage, the Browns had just a field goal lead after Carson Palmer hit Rod Streater for 64 yards a little over a minute later.

When the next Cleveland drive stalled, the Raiders were on the attack. Going without a huddle, Palmer started peppering the Browns’ secondary moving the ball down the field with ease.

Then the game turned back toward Pat Shurmur’s team when CB Sheldon Brown picked off a deep throw. It was the veteran second straight game with a pick.

Given new life, the offense moved in for the kill. QB Brandon Weeden hit his tight end often in moving the Browns 94 yards in 14 plays, chewing up over six minutes, climaxing with a Trent Richardson three yard run to put the game away.

Weeden hit Benjamin Watson with passes of 22 and 7 yards, and hit Jordan Cameron for 23 more yards on the drive.

And the Browns came home with their first road win since September of last season against the Peyton Manning-less Indianapolis Colts.

Until that last drive though, it looked like the offense was going to have another week where their seeming affection for the field goal was going to do them in. And once again, even in victory, the Browns did not score 21 points.

This was the 60th game that Shurmur has been the offensive coordinator or head coach and his teams have scored over 2o points just seven times. His offense doesn’t score enough in today’s NFL.

The offense gained 475 yards and punted the ball away only twice. The Raiders came into the game giving up points by the bushel full, but Cleveland only scored 20 today.

The Browns averaged 9.5 yards per pass play and a little over four yards per run. They could have scored almost 30 points the way they moved the football, but they didn’t.

To be fair, if Dawson hadn’t had his field goal partially blocked, Cleveland would have scored 23 points today. And Weeden threw two interceptions, both deep in Oakland territory, which stopped drive which should have resulted in points.

Still, how many times have you seen the attack go ultra conservative when they get close. Even on the last touchdown, the last four plays were all runs.

Weeden did throw for 364 yards, his third game of the season over the 300 yard mark, and had a touchdown throw of 44 yards to fellow rookie Josh Gordon, who caught six tosses for 116 yards. He’s looking more and more like a #1 receiver.

Watson also had a productive day, catching six throws for 80 yards, and Greg Little had four receptions for 48 yards and had a crushing block on a 54 yard catch and run by Mohammad Massaquoi.

Richardson (20 carries for 72 yards) and Montario Hardesty (5 rushes for 39 yards) ran the ball well.

It was mistakes by the quarterback and the conservative nature of the coaching staff that allowed this game to be close at all.

Take the second drive by the Browns which resulted in a Dawson field goal. Cleveland had a third and four from the OAK 21, and called a flat pass to Richardson, on which he was tackled for a loss.

It’s no problem getting the ball to Richardson, but why not throw a five yard pattern to get the first down. It’s clear Shurmur doesn’t have confidence in Weeden’s ball security, especially after he throws an interception.

Now the Browns come home to take on the 2-10 Chiefs, who won an emotional game against Carolina today after the tragedy of yesterday. It will be another game where Cleveland will be favored.

It’s a chance to win three in a row, and also to surpass last year’s victory total. For once, progress could be shown in the win column.

Upton Signing Shows Why Tribe Not Active in Free Agency

The Cleveland Indians have a reputation of being a tad frugal in terms of payroll.

The Tribe was in the lower third of all major league teams in terms of spending on the ballclub, which infuriates its fan base to no end. When they do spend money, they usually don’t spend wisely.

Take, for example, the $5 million given to Grady Sizemore, and another reported $3 million to Casey Kotchman, named in an article on Baseball Prospectus at the least valuable player in baseball.

Going back a few years, the front office made a colossal mistake when faced with the specter of having three front line players, C.C. Sabathia, Travis Hafner, and Jake Westbrook coming up on free agency, they decided to sign the lesser two players and traded Sabathia away.

We still believe if they would have offered the current Yankees’ ace less than what they paid the other two combined per year (an estimated $22 million), perhaps C.C. would still be wearing a Cleveland uniform.

You see, the best investment in baseball is signing your star young players to big cash, and staying away from older star free agents, and other free agents in general.

Do you think the Yankees would love to get rid of Alex Rodriguez’ bloated contract now, based on his production over the past couple of years? The bet here is that the Angels will regret the Albert Pujols deal as he heads into his late 30’s.

Yesterday, the Braves decided to give OF B. J. Upton $15 million per year for five years. Atlanta may regret this one before the last two years on the contract.

Why? Because Upton is nothing more than an average player. If an 800 OPS makes you a very good offensive player, then Upton certainly is lacking. He’s reached that figure just once in his career, and that was in 2007. His lifetime mark of 758 is just slightly higher than the American League average in 2012 (731).

If the going rate for a player like Upton is $15 mil a year, then by all means the Indians should wait for the bargains in free agency if they participate at all. If Upton is worth that amount, then what is Nick Swisher worth?

Not that the latter is a great player, but he has a OPS of 828. He’s a much more productive hitter than B.J. Upton.

It is ridiculous what the going rate is for average players on the open market. As they say, it only takes one crazy team.

That’s why the ability to draft well and develop your own talent is so important. It gives you the chance to have good talent at an affordable price.

Shin-Soo Choo is a better player than Upton, and Michael Brantley’s OPS is roughly the same (750). Both players combined will make far less than the new Braves’ outfielder.

So, do the Indians have a chance to get better right away?

Sure.

They can make trades for players who have abilities from teams trying to shed some payroll and have maybe a year or two left on their contracts. That strategy buys you time until some young players develop.

You can also wait out the market a little bit and get good players for less money than Upton received. You just have to sign the right players.

For example, both Josh Willingham and Cody Ross were signed for relatively little money, but both had very productive seasons.

That’s the right way to play the free agency game.

Signing a player like Upton would hamstring the Indians for several years, just like Hafner’s hefty deal.

That’s the way the money game in baseball is played today.