The Morning Kickoff ? Happy anniversary: On this date one year ago, the Browns traded running back Trent Richardson to Indianapolis for the Colts? first-round draft pick in 2014. Boy, did that change the course of Browns history. At the time, the signature player move of Joe Banner as Browns CEO was audacious, arrogant, controversial. It rocked a locker room already deflated by a 0-2 start and the realization that quarterback Brandon Weeden wasn?t going to take the team anywhere but to Loserville. Privately, the coaches were outraged. Coordinator Norv Turner registered his own protest by defiantly calling more pass plays than any coach in Browns history. The Browns would lead the NFL with 681 pass attempts, shattering their franchise record by almost 10 percent. As a steady flow of backs paraded through the locker room, led by the ancient Willis McGahee, Turner dialed up pass, pass, pass despite repeated injuries to a quarterback trio of Weeden, Brian Hoyer and Jason Campbell. The trade severed relations between the coaches and Banner?s football operations department and set in motion an eventual coaching change. As a football transaction, it turned out to be a brilliant trade by Banner. Richardson stumbled to a 2.9-yard average on 458 rushing yards in 14 games with the Colts. (Bobby Rainey, a Banner waiver pickup in September whom Turner and coach Rob Chudzinski refused to play, out-produced Richardson with 532 yards and a 3.9 average in 10 games with Tampa Bay.) Banner never got the chance to take bows for the trade. He and GM Mike Lombardi were fired by owner Jimmy Haslam in February. Successor Ray Farmer was the beneficiary of Banner?s trade. He used the Colts? No. 1 pick to move up and select quarterback Johnny Manziel. Farmer corrected the running back problem by signing Ben Tate in free agency, drafting Terrance West and signing Isaiah Crowell after the draft. While Tate suffered a sprained knee in the first game, West and Crowell have established themselves as the best pair of rookie running backs in the young season. The Baby Backs: In Baltimore this week in preparation for Sunday?s game in FirstEnergy Stadium, Ravens coaches took special note of West and Crowell. ?They?ve found two guys that are going to be able to work for a long time and who are good fits in that offense,? said Ravens coach John Harbaugh. ?I?ll tell you what,? said defensive coordinator Dean Pees, ?these backs ? I know 44 (Tate) is out, but these other two guys, 34 (Crowell) and 28 (West) ? they?re good backs, and they?re doing what they?re supposed to do. They know the value of a yard. They?re not trying to take a 4-yard gain and make it into a 20-yard gain. If it?s there, it?s there, but if not ? A lot of guys do that, and they end up getting tackled for a loss. ?These guys are downhill runners (that can) break tackles. They ran the ball extremely, extremely well against those first two teams (Pittsburgh and New Orleans). They?re not real complicated, (and) they?re doing it well.? Through two games, West, a third-round pick from Towson University near Baltimore, is the leading rusher among rookies in the NFL with 168 yards (4.8 average) and one touchdown. Crowell, undrafted due to off-field issues, is third with 86 yards (5.4 average) and two TDs. For the time being, the Browns? rushing load ? and the blitz pickups for Hoyer, who is playing with a knee brace to protect a surgically repaired right ACL ? is in the hands of these two unheralded rookie phenoms. ?They improved (from Game 1 to Game 2),? said coach Mike Pettine, ?but ? add them to the list of a lot of work to do. It?s encouraging, and I think it?s good for both of them to have each other kind of going through the same thing ? rookie backs, having to prepare for it, life in the NFL ? that it?s not one guy kind of surrounded by all these vets. ?It?s two guys going through it. They?re close. I know they can rely on each other some. Wilbert (Montgomery, running backs coach) does an outstanding job with them, and I think Kyle (Shanahan, offensive coordinator) has been smart with, ?Hey, these are rookie backs. Let?s not put too much on their plate.? ?You have to sculpt your plan based on who you have out there, and sometimes you have to tailor it to what they know and what we know they can truly perform. I think that?s important, but those guys are ahead of schedule. They?re making progress, but they still have a long way to go.? Shanahan said, ?They haven?t seen everything. Even when you try to give it to them in practice and stuff, it really doesn?t count until the game. You never know what guys are going to do, how they?re going to respond.? In a good place: Just take stock of where things are for the Browns one year after the Richardson trade. Tate, West and Crowell each look like a better long-range back than Richardson, who continues to struggle in Indianapolis. (He fumbled twice in a loss to Philadelphia on Monday.) Manziel could be the franchise quarterback of the future. Hoyer, who rescued the front office last year when he came in for an injured Weeden on this week and proved to the locker room it could win without Richardson, is healthy and still winning. Chudzinski rejoined Richardson in Indianapolis as a special assistant to head coach Chuck Pagano. Turner moved on to the Minnesota Vikings as offensive coordinator under head coach Mike Zimmer. Lombardi latched on to the New England Patriots as a special assistant to head coach Bill Belichick. And Banner, the man who had the audacity and the foresight to trade Richardson for a No. 1 pick, is out of the NFL. On Thursday, Banner wrote on his Twitter account: ?a year ago today spent much of the night on the phone, trying to finalize the Richardson deal. One of the hardest trades to finalize I did? Sadly, for Banner, his best trade turned out to be his last.
Since about 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 7, the Cleveland Browns have been trending upward Let?s not focus on Johnny Football, Brian Hoyer or even the Baltimore Ravens for the moment. Let?s talk Mike Pettine. Did the Cleveland Browns finally find the right guy for this job? OK, OK, I know. One game. Slow your roll, as the kids say (I think.) A little more than a decade ago, Pettine was coaching high school football and now he?s leading the Browns. No way, you say. Pettine?s tenure, like the previous coaching disasters that have blown through this city since 1999, will surely end poorly for him and this team in the near future. Maybe not. Here?s why. First, let?s focus on that turnaround against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the season opening loss. Yes, it was ultimately another opening day loss by the Browns, but you can?t deny how different the team played that second half. Whatever was said at halftime lit a fire under this team that carried over into the home opening win over the New Orleans Saints last Sunday. Second, there was the first-quarter fourth down attempt by the Browns last Sunday. On the team?s second possession, the Browns faced a fourth and 1 at the Saints? 5-yard-line. There was no score. The game was early. How often, in this situation, did we see Eric Mangini, Pat Shurmur and/or Rob Chudzinski kick the field goal? Too damn often. Pettine asked his team to get him a single yard. The team responded. One play later the Browns were in the end zone with a 7-0, not 3-0, lead. Third, and final point, was when the Browns took possession with 2:46 left to play in the game at their own 4-yard-line and needed to go a LONG way just to attempt a field goal. The Browns had all three timeouts. Don?t let this fact escape you. This was very important to the Browns winning. With all three time outs more plays were available to this offense that allowed them to march down the field. Again, too often in past regimens we saw precious second-half timeouts getting burned left and right. Having those timeouts toward the end of the game is a big positive toward an organized coaching staff that has the right players in the right positions. Look, I?m not saying after two games Mike Pettine is the reincarnation of Paul Brown. The handling of Manziel vs. Hoyer left a lot to be desired. Yet for a coach who is not far removed from the Friday night lights and admittedly not the Browns? first choice, he is surpassing expectations early on. Most importantly, the Browns are 1-1 and enter a winnable game at home against the Baltimore Ravens. The types of things you saw last Sunday against the Saints will work against the Ravens. Run the football. Don?t turn the ball over (Brian Hoyer has zero interceptions despite a handful of questionable throws). Get after the quarterback. Since about 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 7, the Cleveland Browns have been trending upward. Momentum is a tired clich? that sportswriters like to lean on as a story-angle crutch. There is no denying we haven?t seen anything close to the performance of the team from the first half of the Steelers game. The Browns are playing good, entertaining football. Next week is already the team?s bye week. We?ve already heard the reports Josh Gordon is expected back in November. The Browns have a chance to go to 2-1 with games against the Jaguars (Oct. 19), Raiders (Oct. 26) and Buccaneers (Nov. 2) on the horizon following the bye week. Go ahead, Browns fans. Get excited and don?t worry, this coach won?t let it get to this team?s head. He?s too good of a football coach.
Irish, you have to remember that sometimes you're dealing with people who hate Johnny Manziel on such a visceral and personal level that there's no reasoning with them. Abject hate for the purpose of abject hate cannot be argued with or convinced otherwise. Best to save the energy.
I don't think it's hate at all.... I don't think Johnny had ANY impact on Sundays game, and for Irish and yourself to try and say he did or convince anyone else that he, is far fetched at best... he handed the ball off twice and threw one incomplete pass (not his fault as it was dropped) but still, no impact whatsoever!
Not trying to argue the matter SAS, but there are also a few people on here who just have an unadulterated idolatry of Manziel and can't see the flip side of this situation. But I digress. On a side note for you, I'm not so sure Manziel will get the start after the bye week unless Hoyer just absolutely goes belly up by playing like a blind man and tosses 4 or 5 picks this weekend with a horrible stat line to boot. I'm thinking it may take a good stretch of bad games to unseat Hoyer. And we all don't want to see that. Not as long as the team has a fire in their bellies to win and is getting the job done.
Bazinga!!!!! Nice one Ken. Speaking of which, read an article on Waiting For Next Year spoofing this very thing. Link: http://www.waitingfornextyear.com/2014/09/johnny-manziel-cleveland-browns-tv/
Again, you guys are speaking without even knowing the argument... NO ONE SAID MANZIEL HELPED WITH THIS GAME AT ALL~~~ The statement that was made that I was speaking against is that Manziel interrupted the flow of the game... It simply isn't a true statement. For the sake of proving the point, I simply stated they had not scored on two consecutive drives, then when Manziel came in and handed off once and threw the in-completion, they scored!! I never said they scored BECAUSE of Manziel...My argument was that he didn't interrupt the flow of the game....Sheesh..
A couple from Pittsburgh (Henry and Ivonia Dobachek) had 9 children. They went to the doctor to see about getting Henry "fixed". The doctor gladly started the required procedure and asked them what finally made them make the decision. Why, after 9 children, would they choose to do this? Henry replied that they had seen a recent news story on TV that 1 out of every 10 children being born in the United Sates was Mexican, and they didn't want to take a chance on having a Mexican baby because neither one of them spoke Spanish.
BEREA (92.3 The Fan) ? Time does not heal all wounds. For the city of Cleveland Nov. 6, 1995 still lives in infamy. That?s when Art Modell sat on a stage 10 days after signing a secret deal on an airplane and announced the Browns were leaving Cleveland for Baltimore. A bitter divorce ensued with Cleveland agreeing to tear down old Municipal Stadium and build a new one in its place at taxpayer expense. Modell begrudgingly left the name, colors and records behind and renamed his team the Ravens in 1996 while the Browns were rebooted in 1999. The Ravens went on to win the Super Bowl twice while the expansion-era Browns have been an absolute embarrassment and doormat of the NFL. A merry-go-round of executives, general managers, coaches and quarterbacks replaced a once storied and proud franchise. It?s resulted in the team being tied with Detroit for the worst record in the league since returning. Every head coach ? and there have now been 7 of them ? have come in and given their team a refresher course prior to the first game each year against the Ravens about what took place. This year Mike Pettine did the honors prior to Sunday?s game at FirstEnergy Stadium. ?Just to give them a bit of a background on if our fans seem a little bit more venomous than usual, this is why,? Pettine said. Pettine is now charged with trying to resurrect the Browns and make the team competitive again, but many of his players had no idea of the tragedy that took place 19 years ago until he sat them down on Wednesday. ?I get a lot of quizzical looks during team meetings anyway, but it was more so than usual,? Pettine said. History is personal for Pettine. He respects it. He wants his players to as well. In a leap of faith, he left his high school coaching job to join the Ravens as a video assistant 12 years ago and on Sunday he will coach against them in what has the opportunity to be a defining moment for him, and his football team. ?Baltimore will always be special to me because that?s where I got my start,? Pettine said. Rookie running back Terrance West grew up in Baltimore and will play for the first time against his hometown team, which he never realized, until this week, used to call Cleveland home. ?I didn?t know about it until I got here,? West said. ?I had heard one of the players say it before, but I really didn?t listen to him until coach said it. I?m like ?it?s really serious?? That?s crazy. He told us about how the fans were mad. Then a couple of years later they won the Super Bowl.? In West?s defense, he was 4 when the Ravens arrived in Baltimore. This week he made it clear where his allegiance lies now. ?Growing up, I was a Ravens fan,? West said. ?But right now, I gave my heart and soul to the Cleveland Browns, so I don?t like the Ravens right now.? Two players who understand all too well what happened and what this game means to Browns fans twice a year are quarterback Brian Hoyer and safety Donte Whitner. Both were born and raised in Cleveland. ?I remember the team leaving,? Whitner said. ?I remember my family members being upset and not understanding why they were upset. I remember a few years later, the Baltimore Ravens won the championship. I remember all of that. I think the entire city of Cleveland remembers that. Every die-hard fan remembers that. It?s just a bad memory.? Hoyer attended the last game at Municipal Stadium on on Dec. 17, 1995. He remembers the anger, grief and sadness fans felt just like it was yesterday ? because he was among them. ?I just remember being scared at the game because of the people ripping out the benches, the atmosphere,? Hoyer said. ?I remember they could only play in one end zone of the field because the Dawg Pound was so crazy. ?As a kid, it was the only thing I ever knew is going to the Browns game on Sundays and all of a sudden it was gone, so I think I was just like everyone else in this city. It was heartbreaking.? Unfortunately the naturally bitter rivalry on the field has been one-sided, something Pettine hopes to change starting Sunday afternoon. The Ravens, like the rest of the AFC North, have dominated the Browns. Quarterback Joe Flacco is 11-1 against them. The Ravens are 22-8 all-time against them. ?I?m aware of that and I?m aware that Big Ben has an incredible record against the Browns and we?re not really worried about the previous record,? Whitner said. ?We?re worried about now and what we?re going to do, and this football team and this coaching staff and the things that we do on the football field now. Right now, he?s 0-0 against the Cleveland Browns.? Pettine has owned the awful history and culture of losing from 1999-2013 that led to his hiring. He?s challenged his coaching staff, the front office and players to help him change it. The first step for him was to teach them what led to it all, but not allow it to consume them. ?None of that history counts going into this game,? Hoyer said. ?The only thing that counts is our week of preparation and how the game is played on Sunday. Obviously, me being from here, I know that?s the old Browns. I don?t know how many people know that here. But that doesn?t matter. ?Once you?re playing a game, you?re not thinking of the history between the two organizations.? While the players are now aware of what happened and how awful it was, their focus will be on trying to win a game and head into the bye week 2-1, carrying some positive momentum rarely seen in Cleveland when it comes to the Browns. Every loss to Baltimore is the equivalent of twisting the knife to reopen the gaping wound and then pouring salt into it. There?s been too much pain, misery and embarrassment for Browns fans since 1995 and their loyalty remains unrewarded. And the time for that wound to finally heal is long overdue.
Watching the Bama/Florida game and Armani Cooper is looking like a beast against the Gators. This guy is about 6'1 209lbs but has some real nice hands and good speed. Right now this is my early pick as of which WR I want coming out of the draft. Our line looks good so far. Hoyer has been doing a good job with Johnny behind him. We seem to have a wealth of RB options all of the sudden.TED position look good. With Gordon coming back sooner than we thought and Hawkins doing a hell of a job that #2 WR slot seems to be the only real weakness we have. Right now I'm thinking Gordon, Cooper, Hawkins with Cameron. (Wishful thinking)
I don't hate the kid at all, I just don't believe in him at the professional level. I don't believe in the concept of bringing in a scrambling back. It's as fundamentally wrong as buying a Ferrari and going mudding. It may be a lot of fun till it breaks and you're stuck driving whatever you could afford to park in the driveway whilst paying for said Ferrari. I liked RGIII, I still do, but I am glad he is not a Brown. JF is silly talented, he will be exciting to watch while he lasts, but I am willing to bet that he exits the NFL before Hoyer does. I'm not rooting against the kid, I hope to goodness that I am wrong (as I've said multiple times), but I just don't see it working out any other way.
HAPPY CLEVELAND BROWNS SUNDAY LOUNGERS!!!! Time to start the climb to the top of the AFC North! Take care of business at home and get what we can on the road. Time to pluck the feathers out of the Ratbirds!! HERE WE GO BROWNIES, HERE WE GO!! WOOF WOOF!!! *DRINK*
I am sorry...but this is pretty sad to me.. I don't think I even have the ability to see anything Browns and have that bleak of an outlook before a player ever plays meaningful football... I got pretty negative on Anderson during/after 2007, but that was watching him play a season of football. It wasn't just about the wins, it was how he played in real games after being in the league.. I mean, if anything, I have more feelings of trepidation against Hoyer watching him play than Manziel...but the guy just keeps winning, so I am certainly hoping for the best. It is in no way a situation where I can't see it turning out any way but one..
The Vikings announced Saturday that they have signed wide receiver Charles Johnson off the Browns' practice squad. Johnson, who caught six passes for 65 yards in four preseason games with the Browns, played under Vikings offensive coordinator Norv Turner in Cleveland last season.
I think we will win a tight hard fought ball game today . I hope the shores of Lake Erie are shaking from the noise coming from the stadium . Bark LOUD Bark PROUD ! We in today the AFC North gets very interesting . I am more worried about the team down I71 South . the Bengals are playing very good football . its not the Ravens / Steelers who control it this year . I think its the Bengals . win our games and see what happens . Hoyer is 4- 1 as a starter for his Hometown Browns . make it 5- 1 today ! Bark LOUD Bark PROUD ! *DRINK*
I used to like the old Baltimore Colts . not when they played the Browns of course .I loved Johnny U , Mike Curtis , Raymond Berry and of course Bubba Smith . I was stationed in Germany watching our lone TV Station {Armed Forces Network} when I saw the Mayflower moving vans .I was pissed thinking how the hell can they allow that ?. that was 1984 . flash forward to Nov 95 and disbelief and a pure hatred for anyone anything involved in the Browns move . we haven't been the same since . hell football hasn't been the same since .we came back to a very different league . maybe this season I get more of my old passion back . I like this team . I love our HC . I like the direction we are heading in . not since we had Mangini who say what you want ..I liked and respected have I felt this good . this team is far from a finished product . They have something stop watches and combines cant measure . they have HEART ! Win today fellas . make me proud !
