Cleveland Browns failures mount in all areas

The Cleveland Browns find themselves in familiar territory as they again struggle through an NFL season with very few wins and fewer answers.

Questions regarding players, coaches, the general manager and virtually every other aspect of Browns football is up for debate. There is a cornucopia of mystery injuries, evasive answers from Mike Pettine and Ray Farmer, controversy at quarterback, a $9 million wide receiver who can hardly get on the field, and several other issues facing the Browns and their fans.

The vaunted offensive line could not keep my 83-year-old mother from sacking (or at least flushing out) the quarterback. This is particularly troublesome because an inability to keep the backfield relatively clean is the reason Josh McCown is battered from head to toe and not playing. The running game suffers from a lack of effective blocking on a consistent basis. The play of the line is also the reason that the second half of the loss to the Cincinnati Bengals featured Johnny Manziel repeatedly being sacked and the offense earning only one first down, and that came with three minutes left in the game.

Pettine stated at halftime that he “wanted Johnny to calm down and stay in the pocket.” To this one wonders why? By asking Manziel to stay in the pocket, you effectively take away his skill set of spreading the defense by rolling out and throwing on the run. Which, by the way, is exactly what garnered him the Heisman Trophy while at Texas A&M. Did Pettine not know this when the Browns drafted Manziel with the 22nd pick?

(By the way, if you want anyone to stay in the pocket, the line better learn to pass block, which they can’t, or won’t do, effectively.)

Look around the NFL, every team that drafts their premier quarterback tailors their offense to the quarterback’s abilities. Why do the Browns seek to put a round peg in a square hole? If you didn’t want a scrambling quarterback, why did you draft Manziel to start with? If you want a quarterback to be a pocket passer, why does your line fold in less than two seconds on every snap?

This very question raises the issue that perhaps the open communication between Farmer and Pettine isn’t so open. The left hand doesn’t seem to know what the right hand is doing or wants. When the two have their pressers, they say they are in sync, but one senses tension in their ranks.

On the surface, the thought that Pettine does not want Manziel at quarterback is the reason he sticks with the more-traditional McCown, even though he is battered and is 2-15 in two seasons (so far). McCown, to his credit, he has been a gamer even though he is getting nearly killed every game and he keeps trotting (limping?) out there.

Once again, there seems to be an inordinate number of injuries on this team, by comparison to other NFL teams. It seems that the newest convenience injury is the concussion. No less than five Browns are involved in the league’s concussion protocol as of this weekend. Based on the losing and embarrassment, one suspects that these players feign this mysterious injury to avoid being seen losers on national TV. “Hey it’s not my fault, I was injured!”

Anyone who thinks that the possible trade of Joe Thomas last week would have somehow made the Browns better is an unqualified moron – and that includes Farmer. Thomas is one of the few players who actually wants to be here and plays like it.

Recently, Jerod Cherry, a morning host on Cleveland radio station WKNR, stated that the Browns can only attract free agents that are on their last legs, or are just looking for a paycheck. He said that “the word around the league, is that if you want to get paid, you go to Cleveland” Notice, he didn’t say that you come here to win, you come here to get paid. Certainly, Dwayne Bowe fits this bill.

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Yes, Bowe actually got on the field Thursday night and caught three passes (be still my beating heart), but fell down as soon as he caught the ball. Bowe is symptomatic of the free agents the Browns sign: big talk, big contract, no production, retire to Florida.

Clearly every defense in the league has figured out that if you want to gain 10 to 15 yards just run at the Browns’ outside linebackers. They constantly get pinched inside, get trap blocked and or take horrible angles to a ball carrier. Also, if you are in a third down and long, no worries that the Browns will stop you, no matter if you need one yard or 20. Just go ahead and have the guys move the sticks.

In his press conference last week, Farmer stated that the Browns are right there, that “we just need to finish, we just need to play better.” This has been the mantra of this team since 1999. Talk is cheap and it’s not getting this team anywhere. On a weekly basis, we hear this same statement from the players after a predictable loss. McCown, Joe Haden, Karlos Dansby, Donte Whitner, virtually every player interviewed says the same thing. Trouble is, none of them do it.

Farmer also said he is “going to keep doing things the way he’s been doing it” Why? You’re 2-7, it’s clearly not working! Insanity is defined as doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

It was telling that during the press conference, Farmer had to mop his brow several times.

Is your seat getting a little warm, Ray?

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