You might be thinking to yourself, “Didn’t he say last time that the next article would be about the offense?” or “Why would someone write a report card on the special teams?” or even “Hey, that guy’s handsome, let’s cut him some slack.”

First of all, thank you. Second of all, you’re right to wonder, and the answer is that I can’t bring myself to get sad and write about the ineptitude of the Browns’ offense, so I’ll instead write about something more fun: the Browns’ special teams unit.

The good news is that kicker Phil Dawson is still around. Phil Dawson, in my book, has been team MVP roughly ten times since 1999. Kickers are generally the highest-scoring players on the team because they get a point after every touchdown, regardless of who is scoring it, and then, of course, make their field goals.

Well, Phil Dawson scored 90 of the Browns’ 218 points this season (One touchdown was scored on a punt return. Go special teams!). Last year, he accounted for 97 of the team’s 271 points, although only 253 of those were offensive points. As a point of reference, the Baltimore Ravens, who are NOT known for their offense, have been averaging about 110 points from their kickers, but scoring about 370 total points over the last few seasons.

Note: At times this season, Phil Dawson looked as though he was pretty visibly upset about the team’s ineptitude. How many teams have a kicker as an emotional leader? I like seeing that kind of fire in a player, but I also want it to be from guys who play more than one play per series. Furthermore, did he turn back the clock or what? I didn’t know he could hit from 50+ yards with regularity. That was kind of fun. Anyway, back to the point.

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The Remote Report: Cleveland Browns Special Teams (A Report Card) - Dawg Pound Daily - Dawg Pound Daily - A Cleveland Browns Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

Do Cleveland Browns Fans Still Resent Bill Belichick? - Dawg Pound Daily - Dawg Pound Daily - A Cleveland Browns Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

If there’s one thing a Cleveland Browns fan knows, it’s spite. We fans carry spite in all kinds of ways towards all kinds of groups, people, and locations. As such, watching the Baltimore Ravens in the playoffs tends to bring up some unpleasant emotions from Browns fans.

But not from me.

On the one hand, it does sting my pride a little bit to know that the team Cleveland used to have has become a perennial contender less than a decade after skipping town on Art Modell’s tab. But the fact of the matter is that the Ravens aren’t the Browns. They just aren’t.

Even when they won the Super Bowl in 2000, the only holdover was Matt Stover, but everyone still acted like the Ravens were our stolen football team, winning a championship that Browns fans “deserved.” Now we get to watch them make the playoffs every year as we prepare ourselves for who the Browns will choose/mentally destroy in the upcoming draft.

So where do we draw the line? Do we get mad at the Cincinnati Bengals for picking Rey Maualuga after the Browns let him slip by in favor of Brian Robiskie? The Bengals had a pretty good defense this season, so there’s obviously a connection there, right? Do we get mad at the Pittsburgh Steelers for miraculously being the Rust Belt city to maintain a good professional football team? I mean, that clearly should have been the Browns.

These are stupid arguments. We’re not stupid people. We’re emotionally charged fans, we’re people who love football, and we’re people who do our best to maintain loyalty to a program that doesn’t do a lot for us in return.

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The Remote Report: Let Go of Your Feelings Toward the Ravens - Dawg Pound Daily - Dawg Pound Daily - A Cleveland Browns Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.