Officially a Laughing Stock

[Nancy]

Not in Cincinnati. The world ended early.

Indeed. Now all of my teams are laughingstocks. Again.

[mikesteelnation1]

The ravens endured huge defensive losses this weekend, and like vance said they aren't as good as their record. The afcn will still end up being a physical dogfight. Especially after the steelers beat the bengals Sunday, and the ravens get drop kicked by the texans.

[Pruitt]

Not to flog a dead horse - but that's all we Browns fans can do anymore:

Recent runs against AFC North Rivals:

Versus Cincinnati 4-14
Versus Baltimore 0-10
Versus Pittsburgh 2-18

[mkocs6]

I was upset, particularly at the draw on 3rd & 11 after the Gordon touchdown got called back (conceding that a field goal was fine) and then at going for it on 4th & 2 inside their own 30 with 4 minutes to play and with two timeouts, only trailing by one score. It was terrible. Five red zone trips, five field goals. Weeden looked hesitant, but we got so predictable. I agree that we should give Trent Richardson the ball a lot--especially against a run defense as bad as Baltimore's--but I don't think we should just give him the ball on 1st down every time. That's...kind of predictable. And even the 30th-ranked run defense in the NFL can slow you down when they know it's coming in a particular situation. I don't know why we didn't even go for the end zone in the red zone on Sunday.

Defense played very poorly in the first quarter--as did the whole team--but they played admirably from then on. Obviously, it's not good enough to bad in the first and great for the next two and a half because you simply can't spot teams 14 points. At the same time, though, the offense had plenty of opportunities to score touchdowns and they never did. I really want to know what the hell Brad Childress does. We wasted three timeouts yesterday because we did not have plays in on time. I know Shurmur is the playcaller (duties he clearly should have given up by now), and I know Childress organizes the offense during the week, but what the hell is the process by which plays are called like? Why are substitution patterns so erratic and confused? Why do we commit so many procedural penalties (like the one that cost us a potential game-winning touchdown on Sunday)? Some of these things are entirely about coaching, and others at least as much about coaching as they are about players.

I honestly like what I see out of a lot of our players. I really hope I get to see them working with someone who is competent next season.

[edave]

I really want to know what the hell Brad Childress does.

Packers fans were sad to see Chilly leave Minnesota, you have our sympathy. He's probably the voice in Shurmur's ear when he's doing inexplicable things on fourth down.

[darvon]

How about we get a plan for the Browns.

1) Get a good GM.

Do we steal one, or hire an assistant?

Who is out there that is a LOCK?

[Rich Gapinski]

It honestly seems like Pat Shurmur is tanking it for some reason. Is he so clueless that he doesn't know that it means he will lose his job?

Browns should have two wins against Baltimore and one against Philly and were a drop away from beating the playoff-bound Colts. That close to being 6-3.

The play-calling has been horrid in a way that the calls never seem to understand the situation at hand (like throwing with a rookie 50+ times when a Heisman caliber running back is standing on the sideline). Take the great stat by Bill Barnwell today about nine chances at a 3rd or 4th down with two yards or less and throwing ALL NINE times. Meanwhile, the Ravens have recently allowed the most rushing yards over two weeks in their history and the running back I mentioned (who had 100+ yds and 4+ YPC in the game) sat idly by. That's the kind of stuff I mean.

[Rich Gapinski]

How about we get a plan for the Browns.

1) Get a good GM.

Do we steal one, or hire an assistant?

Who is out there that is a LOCK?

The drafts have been good enough in the last two years that many believe Tom Heckert should keep his job. Amazingly, I agree. The fingers are being pointed at the HC.

[Trumpetbdw]

If they do go the new GM route, could Haslam use his Steeler ties to try and lure Omar Khan to Cleveland?

[Trumpetbdw]

Also, a bit lost in the Chuck Pagano story is that Bruce Arians is showing himself to be a rather decent HC.

I've been one of the two loudest critics of Arians on this site. However, that criticism was borne in the notion that the Steelers stagnated on offense and needed to make a change. That doesn't mean I think Arians is a terrible coach. Plus, I'm not one who believes being a good or bad coordinator has any correlation with being a good HC. A Head Coach requires a different skill set altogether than being a coordinator. Arians seems to have done a fine job leading that team through a pretty significant crisis, has shown the character and leadership of a good HC, and may be putting himself in line for a big opportunity on the NFL level. Plus, he does have some experience as a HC from his time at Temple (1983-1988).

I think Arians could be a really interesting name to follow, especially if Indy finds themselves in the playoffs.