2017 Season The Good, Bad and Ugly

We tried to throw away a couple high picks on McCarron, and couldn't even do that right....blessing in disguise if you ask me.

 

I have a feeling that one person in the equation wanted this deal and two people didn't.

 

I was thinking this could be "the sign".

 

Hue Jackson is profoundly selfish and knows he's fired after this season. He's likely going back to Cincinnati with his tail between his legs, much like after his time in Oakland. Like in Oakland, he just tried to throw major draft capital at a former/current employer for a QB with an incredibly low ceiling - wrecking the team he's already destroying/destroyed while buoying his future employer.

They gave the break-down of the break down last night. Hue Jackson wanted McCarron (bye-bye, Kizer). Sashi and the F/O said no. Hue used his direct line to Jimmy to have the owner intervene. Apparently, Jimmy stepped in and told the F/O to make the move. They either sabotaged it or got it in too late and the deal never went through.

 

This remains the largest break-down overall. Not Hue's complete ineptitude as a coach or the front office's seemingly allergic reaction to first round picks being used on quarterbacks.

Hue Jackson does not report to anyone but Jimmy Haslam.
Sashi Brown does not report to anyone but Jimmy Haslam.
Paul DePodesta does not report to anyone but Jimmy Haslam.

At what point has Haslam displayed the craftiness to know how to manage an NFL franchise? He inherited his father's franchise (Pilot Flying J) and is best-known for either being completely obvious while top men in his company orchestrated elaborate financial fraud, complicit in said fraud, or directly involved.

I disagree with people who say we need to turn over front office operations to a "qualified football guy", but I do agree there needs to be a CEO or President of Operations who isn't surnamed Haslam to run the team and communicate between the coaches and F/O guys.

 

The first part of this is rampant speculation and hater bias. I'm not necessarily holding it against you - hate on Jackson all you want. But that's some conspiracy stuff you're concocting, there.

Do you have a source for the second paragraph? I'd be interested to see who is claiming they know how it all went down, and how. Not necessarily doubting, just wanting to see.

Ah, who am I kidding - he won't read this, anyway. Someone else help facilitate good discussion, if you will - SAS has refrained. I would appreciate it.

 

*clicks Show Ignored Content against better judgement*

From Jason Whitlock:

Sure sounds like doubting.

From Landry Football.

So either an NFL-executive with years of experience, a degree from an Ivy League school, and successful negotiator of over 20 trades since taking over as de-facto GM had an off day, or they knew exactly what they were doing the whole time - saving the franchise from the ruin of Hue.

 

Tim, I am so with you on that. It just doesn't fix anything.

 

Way to go. Now I had to hit Show Ignored Content just to follow along.

 

It's like when you bad-mouth the drivers who're slowing down to look at the accident but then you catch yourself doing the same thing.

 

Half a season gone, so ......

The Good: Defense is absolutely a positive. Starting next week, at least for a game, we will have the team on the field we expected to field. I am excited about what that could mean.

The Bad: QB play, of course. WR play. Offensive strategy and/or adjustments (we walk away from the run game way too early)

The Ugly: Organizational ineptitude / structure. Bye week misses were hugely magnified by our HC pointing fingers at FO. He could have said "we were told Garaplo wasn't being offered", and we're anxious to see what our young guys will do this second half. No drama, no finger pointing. What is the net result of making it obvious there is a schism in the organization. Now we have exposed the disconnect, signaled our QB / QBs we have no faith in them, and made news without a purpose.

Sigh

Second Half: I am hoping to see more game plans like the Minn game (more emphasis on runs, and short passing to minimize the pressure on Kizer), Kizer to continue to improve, the D to truly become a force, maybe even win a game for the team, Coleman back on the field, Gordon making headllines, a new kicker, Garrett leading the league in sacks, and a sense we have turned the corner.

 

BYE Week Edition

Good

The snarky response would be to say the Browns didn't have a game, so they didn't lose this week.

There's no but there. I'm just pointing out that it's snarky.

Bad

Trade gate! Did they? Didn't they? He said-he said. Terry Pluto recently wrote that the Browns were left out of the dealings with New England for Garoppolo. The reports that the coaches were irate when the Browns didn't make a move for him really don't serve as anything other than CYA for them since New England and Cleveland had been in touch, Cleveland asked to be notified if anything changed with Garoppolo's status, and New England decided to proceed with only San Francisco. It was also insinuated in Pluto's article that New England reached out to San Fran about the deal. Can't put that on the front office.

Then, there's a franchise-crippling decision to trade #33 and #65 overall for a back-up quarterback who no one around the league regarded as highly as Garoppolo (or many other QB options). The move is asinine for a number of reasons, the least of which is you're trading that for a restricted free agent, so you're going to have to put up with a potential bidding war or still sign him to a significant contract. It was a desperate reach by a floundering head coach and the fact that it nearly happened should worry the hell out of everyone who roots for this team because it clearly shows a complete lack of ability to assess QB talent from the "football people" as well as a knee-jerk reaction to their situation.

Ultimately, it may not matter as both the coaches and front office is probably going to get canned in the offseason but it's another ugly footnote in the long and depressing legacy of dysfunction with this franchise.

Ugly

While it may not get any uglier than that in the professional sphere, taking a look over at the college game with an eye towards the 2018 Draft....

• Josh Rosen, the best QB in the upcoming class, has been on a cool streak the last three games, going 1-2 while throwing 3 TD and 3 INT and completing 58.2 percent of his passes
  
  
• Sam Darnold, still a media favorite, publicly shunning the chance to be the No. 1 overall pick if it also means he has to be a Cleveland Brown (now, he's a huge bust-in-waiting, but that doesn't change the perception of the team nationally)
  
  
• Saquon Barkley's tear through college has cooled and there's still questions about the proposition of drafting a running back at No. 1 overall
  
  
• Ohio State lost

Ultimately, we come out of the BYE week feeling like 0-9 with all the bad press. The Browns get to face the Lions in their house this Sunday after they play on a short week (tonight). Thinking about that, if Team A gets only two days of practice and has to face Team B after only six days while Team B has had two whole weeks to prepare for them... what would the line be? How many points should Team B win by?

The Browns will go into Detroit and possibly lose by 20+.

 

Sashi speaks at 1:15 pm. Has to address the trade, right? Stepping down?

No one to blame but Haslam. Sashi Brown has final say over the 53-man roster. He was doing his part, sticking to the plan and not making a crippling franchise decision with the trade. The owner stepping in and demanding a personnel move be made is a very, very bad look no matter who it's for (homeless guys and Manziel and all that).

 

In the end I would agree that Haslam butting into the personnel decisions was totally inappropriate, but also that Hue would go that route, instead of working with Sashi. Poor orgaizational structure. At the same time, while it certainly appears that NE rather purposefully avoided involving Cleveland in the Jimmy G sweepstakes, our FO should have been in the building and calling NE right up til the deadline. I mean how many deadline periods are there. Everyone knows the deadline.

Lots of bad press on a week where the only thing going was the trade deadline, and we come out looking like the Browns. Again.

M Cabot, for what it's worth, and it's not much, makes the observation that "Haslam taking Hue's side bodes well for his position in the war of finger pointing". Wow! So rather than pointing out the destructive nature of that move, she takes it as one side gaining ground on the other. How about they are on the same side?

 

She's been a big advocate of Hue's since the beginning, though. Most folks in the media are reporting that the coaching staff is the one on notice. Haslam may have been saddled with Sashi Brown since he was already in the building, but it was his grand idea to go out and recruit Paul DePodesta and take the Moneyball approach to the team.

 

Good

 

From SAS, through Jason Whitlock:
Hue-bris’ arrogance is matched by his subversiveness and selfishness. Hue-bris is Rex Ryan (cocky), Richard Nixon (sneaky) and Marlo Stanfield (greedy) rolled into one loud-talking silver and black package.

The Carson Palmer trade — orchestrated by Hue-bris — could quite possibly be remembered as the dumbest, most-selfish act in the history of professional sports.

Not sure how that addresses what I asked. The assertion was that Jackson was going back to Cincinnati, and trying to bolster their future assets with an eye on taking advantage of them once he got there, all to the detriment of his current employer.

I called it hater-bias and rampant speculation. You then cited someone who was doing more of the same. Again, I'm not against the hate on Jackson, I'm just saying that we should call a spade "a spade". And hell, rampant speculation is fine, as long as you're willing to admit it as such. I was just hoping you'd be straightforward and own up to it.

From SAS, through Landry Football:
I am told from a member of the Browns Personnel department that the Front office did not want to trade for McCarron while head coach Hue Jackson did. I was also told by members of the Browns Personnel and Coaching staffs that Browns owner Jim Haslam stepped in and wanted to complete the deal for Jackson.

Again, I asked for a source on a matter on which you spoke rather definitively, as if the information was well-established. The Browns have denied that it went down this way, and while I can appreciate that that doesn't necessarily indicate truth, neither does a tweet from some sports reporter. Guys make assertions like this all the time - it's the bulk of their job. When they're right, they look amazing, and usually break a step forward in their career. The numerous times that they're wrong, everyone forgets. It's how so many have made careers on it.

I'm not contesting the matter, nor was I ever. But again, I was hoping blatant speculation would be owned up to, as such. Rather, you get uppity despite little ground to stand on.

I sincerely appreciate that you took the time to read and reply. First and foremost, this is a place where discussion happens - those who employ the "ignore" button prove themselves to be awfully little. I hope there can be more real conversation, in the future. Further, and I think this reflects in my post, there was no aggressive intent - I was hoping to find out more about what seemed to just be speculation on pretty important/impactful matters. I don't see the need for that to give rise to aggression. I will do my best to maintain civil discourse, for my part, while calling into question that which needs it, accordingly.

 

This was the best game of his career (ultra-concerning it was also his first) and half of these throws are terrible, tbh...

 

3rd and Goal... one of the worst throws I think I’ve ever seen. Didn’t even attempt to give his receiver a chance to catch that pass.

 

Garrett held badly. Still disrupts timing.

Collins makes spectacular INT.

Collins down with apparent knee injury.