|
February 9, 2010 - By Gary Benz
The NFL Players Association and the NFL Management Council are on a collision course at the moment, a semi-high stakes game of chicken as they both run toward the edge of a cliff that is still just a spec in the distance. But each day the representatives of each, DeMaurice Smith for the union and Roger Goodell for the owners, posture and preen draws them one step closer to mutual self-destruction. In Gary Benz's latest, he takes a look at the behind the scenes saber-rattling, and how it could affect the NFL in 2010 and beyond.
|
February 9, 2010 - By Dave Kolonich
Although the ultimate narrative of Sunday's Super Bowl will surely focus on the figurative rebirth of an American city, the actual game should be remembered for Sean Payton's gutsy playcalling. Showing the kind of true grit wrapped in cryptic common sense, the Saints delivered a stunning message by recovering an onside kick to open the second half. As for how all this relates to the Browns, let's consider Eric Mangini. In a similar situation, would Mangini have made this call? Dave Kolonich gives us his thoughts.
| ||
|
|
February 8, 2010 - By Chris Hutchison
The offseason is upon us. Time for months of speculating about potential free agents and draft picks. One might argue that the Browns could do little better than they already have this offseason, what with the acquisition of both Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert (not to mention the plethora of new Heckgren underlings and hirelings). On paper, it's really hard to argue that the Cleveland professional football organization hasn't made leaps in the right direction. In Chris Hutchison's latest edition of The Browns Outsider, he primes our readers for the off-season, touching on all the winter developments with the organization ... and by taking a position by position look at where the Browns stand in terms of personnel and talent.
|
|
February 7, 2010 - By Dave Kolonich
The list of Super Bowl virgins has been reduced by one, as perhaps the hardest of hard luck franchises, the Saints, have emerged as a worthy contender. Now, the Browns stand alone with the woeful Lions and two franchise start-ups in Jacksonville and Houston as the only teams to never reach the league's big dance. Because our Super Bowl slate is wide open, we're resigned to the nether regions of the Super Bowl basement, holding onto archaic facts from the 1950's and a littany of soul-crushing what-if's. So, until our beloved franchise can finally reach the pinnacle of NFL credibility, Dave Kolonich can only offer the following top Super Bowl memories for Browns fans - and believe me, it's petty. You've been warned.
|
|
February 1, 2010 - By Erik Cassano
The NFC Championship Game sent the Saints to the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history. It also had the type of ending that only the NFL can provide: One team, one drive, one possession, one field goal. The Vikings offense never took the field. From the moment Minnesota lost the overtime coin toss, they were fighting a steep uphill battle. Do the overtime rules in the NFL need changed? In Erik Cassano's latest piece, he takes on the topic, giving our readers his thoughts on five other possible proposals have been bandied about as replacements for the current sudden death system.
|
January 31, 2010 - By Dave Kolonich
Beyond the validating experience of seeing Cleveland's Joe Thomas and Josh Cribbs celebrated as two of the league's best, the rosters for today's "All-Star" game feature perhaps the conferences' seventh and eighth best players at a variety of positions. Or, in other words - for most NFL players who decided to stay home this week - the game really doesn't have much meaning. Dave Kolonich has some ideas on how to make the game more relevant.
| |
|
January 31, 2010 - By Dave Kolonich
After a decade of complete front office instability, intiated by an ill-conceived rush back to the league in 1999, followed by the maverick tenure of Butch Davis and ill-fated Phil Savage project - the latter of which was encapsulated within a laissez-faire Randy Lerner approach to ownership, the Browns may finally be emerging from year one of Eric Mangini's "process" with some actual momentum. And in Dave Kolonich's "The Blueprint" series, he has been laying out his vision of what the team needs to do this off-season to make the quantum leap forward that would make the team a playoff and eventually a Super Bowl contender. In Part Four, Dave focuses on the 2010 free agent class.
|
January 30, 2010 - By Gary Benz
The NFC Championship game is over and Brett Favre and his latest potentially former employer, the Minnesota Vikings, have been left on the side of the road to the Super Bowl. That must mean it's time for Favre to begin his yearly kabuki dance to the tune of the Clash's "Should I Stay or Should I Go?" Favre's inability to know when to say when isn't unusual when it comes to professional athletes. And in Gary Benz's latest, he talks about how both fans and athletes continue to struggle with the question of when enough is enough, using some Cleveland examples to illustrate his points.
| |
|
January 29, 2010 - By Dave Kolonich
In the past few days, Dave Kolonich - along with legions of other Browns faithful - have begun to chart an offseason course of action for our beloved franchise. Using both the team's recent history, including its current limitations and holding up our flawed model to those with championship pedigree, one thing has become abundantly clear. Although the organization has finally gained some solid footing with the arrival of some competent front-office personnel, there is still a lot of work to do. Dave talks about it in Part III of "The Blueprint".
|
January 28, 2010 - By Dave Kolonich
For the second installment of the Blueprint series - or, as it's also known as...The Reactionary Path to Rebuilding the Browns Based on the Last Few Weeks of the NFL Playoffs...let's take a look at another area that needs critically upgraded before the Browns can emerge as legitimate playoff contenders. Since most of us have already accepted the idea - albeit some more grudgingly than others - that the NFL has become nothing more than a glorified game of flag football, the next logical progression in the Browns latest reboot is to add some playmakers on defense.
| |
|
January 27, 2010 - By Jesse Lamovsky
Here's a What-If you might not remember. It was the year Bernie was a rookie, when Byner and Mack exploded on the scene, and when a .500 record was all it took to buy a ticket to the Playoffs. It was 1985, the table-setting year for the legendary Browns of the late ‘80s, and it ended in a way that would become all-to-familiar to Cleveland fans. But let's just suppose it didn't. What if... the Browns hadn't blown a 21-3 lead over the Dolphins in the 1985 AFC Divisional Playoff? Jesse Lamovsky takes a look back.
|
January 27, 2010 - By Dave Kolonich
Football fans were treated to two excellent games this past Sunday when the Colts/Jets and Saints/Vikings squared off in the AFC and NFC Championship games. Dave Kolonich was watching keenly, and says that the games were more evidence that the NFL has become a passing league, and that the style of play that led the Browns to an undefeated December is not the stuff of champions. Although this style of offense took the Jets farther than they should have been allowed to go, in the end - the lack of an effective passing threat cost Mangini's former team a shot at the Super Bowl. Which is why the Holmgren hire in Cleveland now makes more sense than ever.
|
Successful poker players may lose many small pots and still be totally happy, for their goal is to win the occasional big ones. The same thinking comes naturally in football. When the "Browns are in a fourth down, "moving all in", in the meaning of going for it, is worthwhile only if the odds for success are good enough. In most other cases, it’s probably wiser to just "fold" the hand, as in punting the ball away. In the same way, winning or losing a single yard means nothing as long as they manage to get a first down.
January 25, 2010 - By Gary Benz
The Cleveland Browns may have finished playing earlier this month, but the season officially ended on Sunday in the form of the Indianapolis Colts' 30-17 victory over the New York Jets. As long as the Jets remained in the playoffs, Browns fans were never going to get peace of mind, given the seemingly endless series of stories about, take your pick, Eric Mangini and how he feels about it all and Braylon Edwards and how he feels about it all. With Mangini's former team now eliminated, Gary talks about Browns fans being able to move forward, and also what may be in store for Mangini and his current team.
January 25, 2010 - By Nick Allburn
If you had told me two years ago that Braylon Edwards would soon ascend the Mount Rushmore of Cleveland sports villains, I would not have believed you. In fact, I probably would've used some choice words to accuse you of blasphemy. But after two years of questionable effort, mind-numbing drops, and constantly running his yap, Edwards "punched" his ticket to New York. Now, bad puns and all, Braylon Edwards just won't go away. BE17 took a not-so-thinly-veiled jab at Eric Mangini early last week, then his father chimed in with some head scratching comments a few days later. Nick Allburn talks about it in his latest column for us.
January 23, 2010 - By Jesse Lamovsky
On Thursday Jesse took a look back at what coulda been with the 1976 "Miracle of Richfield" Cavaliers. And today, in the newest installment of the "What If?" series, Jesse takes a look back at the Kardiac Kids, the 1980 season of the Cleveland Browns, and a poor throw on a cold day that ended it all. What if... Brian Sipe hadn't been intercepted at the end of the 1980 AFC Divisional Playoff against Oakland? Would it have mattered? Would the Browns gone on to break The Great Cleveland Sports Drought? Jesse gives us his thoughts on the matter.
January 23, 2010 - By Dave Kolonich
Much as this Sunday will likely serve as yet another validation of Eric Mangini's nation-building prowess - as his former team is just one step away from a Super Bowl - the familiar threads that intertwine the Browns and Jets will once again be demonstrated through the delicate hands of Braylon Edwards. And naturally, our former starcrossed wideout is having no trouble savoring the spotlight of an AFC Championship game. As for catching passes - that's quite another story. Dave Kolonich gets us caught up on everyone's favorite ex-Brown in his latest piece.
January 20, 2010 - By Gary Benz
Along about the time that the Cleveland Browns were at their nadir this past season, many openly speculated whether anything or anyone could fix the mess. The theory was that the Browns were so off track in so many ways that no one with a lick of sense would even bother. Yet, as was proven this offseason with the hiring of future Hall of Famer Mike Holmgren, the Browns organization continues to be one that can attract powerful personalities. Gary says that the situation in Buffalo, evidence by yesterday's hiring of Chan Gailey, is much different.
January 19, 2010 - By Dave Kolonich
In a sign of overall franchise progress, at least compared to the previous three regimes of Cleveland football management, the 2009 Browns under Eric Mangini finally featured an effective offensive line. However, much like everything else related to the past season, the process of acheiving such a historically elusive goal was a painful one to endure. Using his Jets history as a pedigree to build the Browns line, Mangini added a multitude of veteran bodies to fill in around his first draft choice, Alex Mack. And while the line was indeed patchwork in the opening month of the season, progress soon followed. Dave Kolonich looks back at the Browns offensive line this season.
January 19, 2010 - By Gary Benz
The Cleveland Browns 2009 season was one for the ages. It could be summed up in as little as one word "oy" or 100 million. Gary Benz has opted for somewhere between the two, and today, wraps up an expansive retrospective on the '09 Browns season that we've been running over the course of this past week. In today's final installment, Gary focuses on the improbable second half of the season, where the team went from a league doormat to a squad that won their final four games and saved the job of coach Eric Mangini.
January 18, 2010 - By Gary Benz
The first two installments of Gary Benz's excellent retrospective on the 2009 season of the Cleveland Browns dealt with all the drama that unfolded before the season, and lord knows there was plenty of it in the wake of Romeo Crennel's firing and the hiring of Eric Mangini. Today, in Part III, Gary starts to delve into when the games started being played on the field as opposed to off of it. And from the first preseason game on, it was not a pretty picture for the Browns and their fans. The team got off to a historically anemic start, putting a significant amount of pressure on Mangini and his staff.
January 16, 2010 - By Gary Benz
The Cleveland Browns 2009 season was one for the ages. It could be summed up in as little as one word "oy" or 100 million. Gary Benz has opted for somewhere between the two, penning a super restrospective on the '09 Browns season. In the second installment of this four part series, Gary takes a look at the offseason moves orchestrated by Eric Mangini and then "General Manager" George Kokinis, and also the wheeling and dealing we saw from the team on draft dat before they made Alex Mack their first round selection.
January 16, 2010 - By Nick Allburn
Mike Holmgren's decision to retain Eric Mangini seems to have surprised just about everyone in the Cleveland Browns fraternity to some degree. Nick Allburn admits to being in the "fire Mangini" camp leading into Holmgren's decision last week. While Nick believed (and still believes) that Mangini is a competent coach, he thought it would be too difficult for him to coexist with Mike Holmgren over the long haul. But Holmgren saw things differently. After several lengthy meetings discussing philosophy and teamwork, Holmgren elected to keep Mangini. Apparently coaching schemes aren't as important to Holmgren as some of us believed, and he's more concerned with adding good people around him, regardless of X's and O's.
January 15, 2010 - By Andrew Clayman
Back in the days when European monarchies wielded legitimate power, arranged marriages were among the most common means of strengthening a country's status on the world stage. By bringing together key figures from two previously warring factions, the resulting "unholy alliance" would essentially put every other scepter-toting bastard on notice. Making the metaphorical leap then to today's NFL, Mike Holmgren may have had a similar strategy in mind when he made the surprise move of keeping coach Eric Mangini in the Browns fold for 2010. It might not be striking fear into the hearts of their enemies just yet, but all should consider themselves warned. The long-feuding schools of Bill (Walsh) and Bill (Parcells) have joined forces at last... and they've set up shop in Cleveland.
January 14, 2010 - By Gary Benz
There are probably a million or more ways to look at the Cleveland Browns' 2009 season and probably even more conclusions that could be drawn. But one thing that is undeniable. It's been a long, strange trip indeed. Now that the season is over, Gary Benz thought the best thing to do first was to try and make some sense of what we all just experienced. To follow the journey, really, that new club president Mike Holmgren had to take to get himself up to speed before deciding whether or not to keep head coach Eric Mangini. So he hammered out a superb four part retrospective on the 2009 season. And we bring you Part I today. Enjoy!
January 13, 2010 - By Gary Benz
Time heals all wounds as much as it wounds all heals. Case in point is Cleveland Browns head coach Eric Mangini. A year ago he was the full-of-himself new sheriff in town quickly and nosily putting his imprint on the Browns. It mattered little that there was a general manager, hand picked by Mangini at that, in his path. And he had a direct line to owner Randy Lerner. Mangini now enters 2011 in a far different way than he did 2010. Sure, he's still head coach, but no one inside or outside of Berea sees him as the final word on anything anymore. Which Gary Benz says may be just what the doctor ordered for Mangini.
January 13, 2010 - By Dave Kolonich
It must be the offseason - at least in Berea - since Josh Cribbs and the Browns are engaged in what has become their annual contract standoff. And while the issues are largely the same as last year, the names have changed...at least on the Browns' end. Gone is Eric Mangini as the czar-ish one-man command center of the Browns. Randy Lerner has vanished. And Mike Holmgren and Tom Heckert are now in town. So, here's the question - has anything really changed since this time last year? Or, how about last May? Dave Kolonich gives us his thoughts on the contract impasse.
January 10, 2010 - By Dave Kolonich
Dave Kolonich continues his position by position look at the 2009 Browns, this morning focusing on the wide receiver position ... clearly not one of the strong points of this year's team. It was pretty evident at the beginning of the year that this unit would go as far as Braylon Edwards took them, and well, we know how that all turned out. There was one bright spot at the position, and that was second round pick Mohammed Massaquoi, who became a viable threat as a rookie, and looks like a fixture at the position going forward. Dave takes a look at the Browns receivers in his latest column for us.
January 10, 2010 - By Gary Benz
Let's put aside for the moment Cleveland Browns' president Mike Holgrem's decision to retain head coach Eric Mangini or even Holmgren's pursuit of his general manager to focus on Josh Cribbs. Despite all the major goings on in Berea this week, it's Cribbs and his contract dispute that has garnered most of the attention. In Gary's opinion, Cribbs has a pork chop agent in J.R. Rickert, whose amateurish antics are tarnishing the reputation of his earnest and gullible client. Gary gives us his thoughts on Rickert, Cribbs, and the contract impasse in his latest piece for us.
January 9, 2010 - By Erik Cassano
It would be so easy for Josh Cribbs to look like the good guy in his contract dispute with the Browns. He has been told to play the role of the good soldier on numerous occasions. The ongoing message from Browns management -- in all its changing forms -- to Cribbs has been "Do what is asked of you, and we'll take care of you when the time is right." Ane he has. Then Mike Holmgren officially began his job as the new team president, and Cribbs knew the man he needed to talk to was in town. One of the first acts of the Holmgren regime was indeed to offer Cribbs a new contract. But it wasn't anything close to what Cribbs and his agents had in mind.
January 9, 2010 - By Dave Kolonich
Lost in the pre-December abyss of the 2009 season is the job that Mangini and special teams coach Brad Seely performed with largely a group of roster castoffs and undrafted free agents. And while any mention of the Browns' special teams begins and ends with the all-world Josh Cribbs, the likes of unknowns such as Blake Costanzo, Jason Trusnik, Nick Sorensen and Ray Ventrone are also worth noting as key contributors to the Browns few successes of 2009. In Part II of his look back at the 2009 Browns, Dave Kolonich takes a look at the special teams units.