Big Week

What a big week...

Ohio State rolls over Iowa, the Browns get their first win, the Tribe ends the season with a four game winning streak and the Cavaliers open training camp.

After a brief hiatus we hope to be back posting on a more regular basis. We'll return with our thoughts on some of the aforementioned a little later on this week.

We'll also be publishing our comprehensive Indians off-season report within the next two weeks.

In the meantime, check out Les Levine's television program, More Sports and Les Levine, on Wednesday night. We'll be guest hosting for Les with our good friend Neil Bender.

The show is aired live exclusively on Time Warner cable systems from 6-7 pm on channel 15.

Thoughts on Loss # 2

Here are some of our thoughts on the Browns 34-17 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday and the state of the team as it stands today.

On Sunday there was plenty of negative, and not much positive. Since we prefer to end on a good note, we'll start with the problems we saw.

Concerns:

- The defensive front seven continues to struggle, despite the personnel changes made in the offseason that were expected to shore up the run defense and pass rush. We've had our doubts concerning the signing of Ted Washington all along. While there is no debate regarding Washington's massive size, his ability to "shut down" the opponent's running game is questionable. We've wondered all along why if Washington was such a valuable asset in stopping the run (one of the unquestionable keys to winning football games) his career has taken him from team to team year in year out. Don't such valuable assets in one of the most crucial facets of winning football games normally find a more permanent home???

- Outside of Leigh Bodden, the cornerback play has been suspect. Gary Baxter is not 100% physically and his production on the field has suffered. Daylon McCutcheon has been one of the most reliable players the Browns have had since their rebirth in 1999 and losing him for the season is a significant blow to the depth in the defensive backfield. We still are trying to figure out what type of incriminating photos Ralph Brown possesses of Romeo Crennel and Phil Savage - there can't possibly be any other reason for his continued presence on the 53-man roster.

- The offensive line continues to struggle to open any holes for the Browns' running backs. While a lack of chemistry caused by a dearth of time together on the practice field can be cause for miscommunication on pass protection, the run blocking should be second nature by now. Effective run blocking is a byproduct of determination, attitude and physicality. Unfortunately, the early returns we've gotten show the Browns offensive line lacking in these three key areas.

- Not capitalizing on opportunities. We certainly don't like to overanalyze things, but with the Browns lack of experience and average level of talent they absolutely must capitalize on every opportunity they have to make a play. Failure to capitalize on these opportunities has been, and will continue to be the nail-in-the-coffin for this football team as long as it continues. On Sunday alone we witnessed Andra Davis drop an easy interception, Braylon Edwards drop passes and Charlie Frye miss a wide open Steve Heiden on a critical third down. This team must start to take advantage of the opportunities it is given.

The Good:

- While the cornerbacks have struggled in coverage, the play of the Browns' safeties has been noticeably improved since last year. Sean Jones has begun to show his potential as a playmaker in the secondary, while Brian Russell has been adequate in coverage and a physical presence when closing in on opposing players. Russell's hit on Chad Johnson in the fourth quarter is something that should be lingering in opposing wide receivers' minds for quite a while.

- Leigh Bodden has emerged as one of the better cornerbacks in the league. Bodden did a solid job covering Chad Johnson on Sunday. The few times Johnson made plays in the Bengals' passing game the Browns were playing a zone defense. Bodden has impressed us to the point that we have more confidence in his one-on-one coverage ability than any other Browns' cornerback since the team returned in 1999.

- Charlie Frye doesn't look intimidated. While the offense has yet to find any sort of rhythm or flow, Frye has stood in tough and maintained control. When plays have broken down Frye has continued to do what made him so successful at the University of Akron in improvising and trying to make big plays out of broken plays.

Overall Observations:

- In traditional Browns-fan fashion, many of the Orange and Brown faithful have begun to over-react to the disappointing 0-2 start with calls for Maurice Carthon's job and complaints about the quarterback position. Fans need to keep certain things in mind. First, this team is extremely young. Nobody doubts the playmaking abilities possessed by Frye, Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow, yet we all need to keep in mind the relative youth and inexperience of the team's "Big Three." Frye will be starting just his eighth NFL game this Sunday, while Edwards will be participating in just his 15th and Winslow only his fifth. Although it is painful to be forced to wait through the developmental phases of these three players' careers, everyone needs to be patient. While all three may show flashes of their potential stardom at times, it will take time for them to develop and become comfortable not only in the Browns' offense, but in the professional game. That is what this season is for: trials, tribulations and the team growing as a whole.

- Maurice Carthon needs to go back to what he did in week one. Sure, the Browns' running game suffered in the loss to the Saints, but Carthon did a masterful job of exercising creativity in the playcalling and utilizing the element of surprise. While fans and media complained about the failing running game after-the-fact, Carthon showed the guts to throw last year's playbook out the window and attempted to win with THIS year's strengths in week one. In Cincinnati, Carthon gave in to outside pressures to force the running game, despite the fact that running the football is no longer this team's strength.

Sure, Reuben Droughns ran for over 1,200 yards last season. However, that was last year's team. Braylon Edwards wasn't starting, Kellen Winslow was injured and Charlie Frye didn't have a complete grasp of the offense. The Browns were forced to focus on running the football by default. Now this team boasts a more confident Frye to go with a healthy Winslow and Edwards. THIS is where they find their mismatches with opposing defenses. Conversely, when was the last time anyone thought the Browns offensive line proposed a mismatch for opposing defensive lines?

The running game can't be abandoned, but it shouldn't be the bread and butter of this offense. Droughns is a talented back, but he isn't a game-breaker. Edwards and Winslow are the gamebreakers. Lets not fool ourselves - this offense should be built upon the playmaking abilities of Frye, Winslow and Edwards and supplemented with a solid running game - not the other way around.

We'll have more before Sunday's contest with the 2-0 Baltimore Ravens...

Digging deeper into the Browns' Struggles on Sunday

After the Browns' abysmal 19-14 loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, fans of the Orange and Brown are once again on suicide watch.

To make matters worse, even certain individuals covering the team seem to have given up all hope just one week into the season.

Don't get us wrong. Sunday's game was not pretty by any means, and if the team continues to make the mental mistakes (wasted timeouts and holding penalties) and physical mistakes (running the wrong routes and dropping catchable passes) that we saw Sunday, then this season will be no better than those that have preceded it for the last seven years. However, we aren't seeing things in such a negative light. Here are some of our observations.

- The play-calling wasn't as bad as people think. When things go awry for a team offensively, the first individual fans look to is the offensive coordinator. Following Sunday's loss, fans and media alike have been calling out Browns OC Maurice Carthon for what has been dubbed "unimaginative play-calling."

Specific examples of Carthon's "failures" in calling the plays are the two 3rd-and-1 running plays that went to Lawrence Vickers, as well as Reuben Droughns finishing the game with only 11 carries.

Yet when we look deeper at Carthon's decisions, we can understand his thinking. Going into the game, the Browns anticipated New Orleans packing their defense up front in order to stop Droughns. Seeing as how Droughns was the one offensive weapon the Browns had to offer last season, the Saints entered Sunday's contest trying to stop him.

As a result, we believe Carthon and the Browns went into Sunday's contest wanting to surprise the New Orleans defense. In anticipating the Saints packing the box, Carthon called for the play-action pass to Braylon Edwards on the first play from scrimmage.

While people clamored for Droughns to get more touches after-the-fact, the bottom line is that if Kevin Schaffer isn't flagged for holding, Carthon is being praised for his guts and creativity in calling for the bomb to Edwards on the first play from scrimmage.

Instead, he is being inundated with criticism.

With the third down plays, we once again believe Carthon was going for the element of surprise. The Browns seldom utilized Vickers in the preseason, and it is fair to presume that New Orleans had done a great deal of game-planning defensively for short yardage situations with Droughns in the Browns backfield.

What we can derive from the play-calling is this: Carthon actually illustrated a good deal of ingenuity during Sunday's game. What was lacking was the execution.

With that being said, the Browns need to find a happy medium between the element of surprise and simply out-executing the other team. If they plan on being a tough, hard-nosed team that runs the football then they need to take it to the opposition regardless of the situation and what the defense may expect.

- The Browns showed an ability to make big plays. Between the 70-yard bomb to Edwards on the first play (which was called back due to Schaffer's holding penalty), a series of plays to Kellen Winslow, the fourth down conversion to Joe Jurevicious (also called back due to penalty) and many plays improvised by Charlie Frye, we're confident that the Browns have more playmaking ability on offense than has been seen in Cleveland in a while. If they can simply cut back the penalties and improve the pass protection, things should get much better in a hurry.

- The offensive line was horrendous. Yet, after looking at game tape we can find a couple reasons why. First off, the line hasn't played together as a unit at all with the addition of Hank Fraley. As a result, it appeared to us that there were some communication breakdowns where lineman were not missing blocks, but simply blocking the wrong players. With some more time together in practice the kinks in the communication department should be worked out.

- The Browns aren't the only ones. While Browns fans all over are furious after the teams' lackluster performance on Sunday, we've taken notice of what took place all across the National Football League on it's first weekend. What did we see? A great deal of bad football. With the exception of the Colts-Giants game on Sunday evening, most games displayed a lack of execution and all-around poor football. The Browns looked no worse than the Panthers, Buccaneers, Redskins or Broncos - and those teams made the playoffs last season.

There is still a great deal of work to be done, but remember - things are never quite as good or quite as bad as they seem.

Artie Lange Interview Part 4

Artie talks more about the cast in the new movie.

Artie Lange Interview Part 3

Artie talks about why Beer League was renamed Artie Lange's Beer League. He also talks about his five years on The Howard Stern Show as well as the cast in the new movie.

Artie Lange Interview Part 2

More with Artie Lange, including his philosophy on being funny in "an honest way," losing a life insurance policy and a blown opportunity to endorse hot dogs for 7-Eleven.

Artie Lange Interview Part 1

On Friday evening we had the opportunity to sit down with Artie Lange, the comedian/actor/sidekick on the Howard Stern Show. Along with two other reporters, we spent about an hour talking with Artie at the Mariott Downtown about his new movie, Beer League, as well as his role on the Stern show and days as a comic on the road. Here is part one of our sitdown with Artie.

Quick Hits...

Here are some quick hits from the weekend...

- The Browns looked horrible Sunday. No doubt about it.

- The bandwagon for the Baltimore Ravens is just getting rolling. While the Ratbirds looked tremendous in Tampa on Sunday, we're still skeptical about their chances of surviving 16 games without significant injury difficulties.

- We feel pretty good about our 2-14 prognostication for the Tennessee Titans after their performance on Sunday.

- We don't feel quite so good about our 9-7 prognostication for the Browns after their performance on Sunday.

- The Buckeye's showing Saturday evening in Austin was nothing short of spectacular. Troy Smith seemed to have 100% control over the flow of the game and made difficult plays look easy. Although the Bucks certainly look like a serious contender for the national championship, the instability at the kicker position still scares us.

- NBC's "Football Night in America" gets a B for week one. While Bob Costas and Cris Collinsworth both had stellar performances, Jerome Bettis looked like a rookie analyst and even mentioned his nerves at one point. Sterling Sharpe brings absolutely nothing to the broadcast. Sharpe's misguided attempt to provide a combination of Michael Irvin attitude with Tom Jackson expertise just didn't work. There's a reason he didn't last with ESPN and it was apparent with his NBC performance Sunday evening - he just isn't good.

- Due to covering Sunday's Browns game, we didn't get to check out James Brown's return to CBS's NFL Today show or Joe Buck's debut on the Fox NFL Pregame Show. We're anxious to see how both programs are coming together, although we already have our doubts as to how well the Fox show will work on the road for 17 weeks.

- There will be some significant changes to the sports radio landscape in Cleveland in the coming weeks. While we have our finger on the pulse of what is about to transpire, we don't anticipate anything changing for us in the near future. What we do plan on doing is sitting back and enjoying some increased competition in the marketplace and hopefully some new opportunites for some of our friends in the business.

- Our sit down with Artie Lange Friday evening was both interesting and enjoyable. We've got almost an hour of audio which should be available within the next couple days. Artie's movie, Beer League, premiers in Cleveland on Friday.

- We'll be back with a lot of stuff this week as we've got an Indians homestand coming up on Tuesday. Any Indians homestand, especially one that includes two games with Kansas City, provides a good amount of time for written pontification.

Upcoming...

We've got some good stuff upcoming this weekend...

Anticipate some notes on the Tribe, OSU-Texas, and thoughts on the Browns season opener and upcoming season.

ALSO - we're looking to post audio from an interview with actor/comedian/Howard Stern Show sidekick Artie Lange at some point during weekend.

We'll have the opportunity to sit down and speak with Lange on Friday evening. He is in Cleveland promoting his new movie, Beer League, which premiers on Friday.

What we think - NFL 2006

With the month of September here and the NFL season opener just days away, sports journalists from Foxborough to San Diego suddenly feel the need to make their 2006 NFL season predictions known to the masses.

We tend to question the validity of some of these so-called expert predictions. After all, if these sports journalists were so intelligent and accurate with their calculations, why are they working in the press instead of making a living off their prognosticatory prowess at the sports books in Las Vegas?

Nevertheless, the peer pressure from fellow sports journalists to join the fraternity of fearless prognosticators is great.

Alas, we’ll fulfill our journalistic responsibility and clutter your mind with useless facts and speculatory figures in this edition of Lull on Sports.

We’ll call this our “2006 NFL We Thinks.”

Perhaps by changing our “predictions” to “we thinks” we may strip some of the accompanying arrogance off of our thoughts. Then when the style editor from Teen Magazine obliterates us with her regular season predictions, we can simply chalk it up to thinking wrong – not being wrong.

After all, nobody knows what will happen this season.

They simply think they know.

Here’s what we think…

The Browns will finish 9-7. Optimistic? Maybe a little. But we feel pretty good about this one. In the NFL, a team's level of success hinges on many variables – one of the major ones being strength of schedule. We don’t find the Browns schedule to be overly difficult. We think the Browns can split with all three division foes (Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Cincinnati) and then register wins against the New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home. We’ve got them beating Oakland and Houston on the road. When it comes to losses, we can’t see the Browns beating Carolina, Denver, San Diego or Atlanta. That is a final record of 9-7 folks.

The New England Patriots will once again win the AFC East. Although the Miami Dolphins are a trendy pick, we think the Patriots have one more year in the tank. We like Miami to win 10 games and squeak into the playoffs as the second AFC Wild Card. Meanwhile, we’d be shocked if the Buffalo Bills and New York Jets won more than five games apiece.

Despite a horrific schedule, the Cincinnati Bengals will win the AFC North for the second consecutive year. In what may be shocking to some, due to a difficult schedule and the pressure that comes with being the defending Super Bowl Champion, we see the Pittsburgh Steelers missing the playoffs by one game, as will the Browns (both finishing at 9-7). The Baltimore Ravens, one of the most over hyped teams entering the 2006 season, should win eight games.

The Indianapolis Colts should win the AFC South again, with the Jacksonville Jaguars winning 10 games and clinching the AFC’s first Wild Card. Although the Colts lost Edgerrin James via free agency (to Arizona) we think they have a capable replacement in Joseph Addai (we always thought James was overrated anyways). The Houston Texans could surprise some by more than doubling their win total from last year by walking away victorious five times. Meanwhile, we think another trendy pick, the Tennessee Titans, could lose 14 games and be looking at the first pick in the draft next April.

The AFC West will produce three teams with winning records, although only one will make the playoffs. Surprisingly, the San Diego Chargers gain admittance into the postseason via a better conference record after winning 10 games. The Kansas City Chiefs (10-6) and Denver Broncos (9-7) are rewarded for their successful seasons by getting to watch San Diego lose to Miami on television in the first round of the playoffs. The Oakland Raiders are one of the worst teams in football and should count their blessings after winning five games.

The NFC East will be the most interesting race to watch in football. While many have picked the Dallas Cowboys to win the division, we can’t ignore the difficult schedule America’s Team is facing or the potential powder keg that exists with Bill Parcells and Terrell Owens sharing a locker room. We think Dallas will finish 8-8. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia Eagles, although not significantly improved, should benefit from A) an easier schedule B) a healthy Donovan McNabb and C) the subtraction of Terrell Owens and finish 9-7 with a Wild Card spot. No team in league history has ever gone winless in the preseason and made the postseason, which bodes well for our call of the Washington Redskins finishing 7-9. Finally, after an anticipated 2-4 start, we like Tom Coughlin’s New York Giants to rally to win 8 of their last 10 games and finish the season with a 10-6 record and NFC East division crown.

The NFC North sucks (outside of Chicago). The Chicago Bears should cruise to their second consecutive division crown by winning 11 games. At the same time, we think the Minnesota Vikings are in a similar transitional situation as the Browns were last season. Like the Browns of 2005, we have the Vikings finishing 6-10. The Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers should both finish 5-11, although one team (Detroit) is poised to turn things around next season while the other (Green Bay) could be looking at a couple losing seasons in a row.

The Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will once again both make the postseason out of the NFC South. We like Carolina to win 12 games and the division, while Tampa Bay should register nine victories and lock up the NFC’s other Wild Card. The Atlanta Falcons, although improved, will fall victim to a difficult schedule and finish 8-8. The New Orleans Saints will be energized by the emergence of Reggie Bush and steady leadership of Drew Brees, but will still only win four games.

The Seattle Seahawks (11-5) will once again win the NFC West while the Arizona Cardinals begin to turn the corner by finishing 8-8. The St. Louis Rams are in a transitional phase and should feel lucky to win six games, while the San Francisco 49ers are looking at one more tough season (5-11) before beginning to turn the corner.

In the postseason, Miami shocks San Diego on the road but then falls to the Colts in Indianapolis.

The Cincinnati Bengals advance one round further than last season by beating Jacksonville at home, only to lose to New England in Foxborough.

The Seattle Seahawks defeat the Philadelphia Eagles at home in the first round, only to fall to the Chicago Bears in Chicago.

The New York Giants drop Tampa Bay at the Meadowlands, and then shock the Carolina Panthers in Charlotte.

In the AFC Championship Game, Peyton Manning finally gets his revenge. At last, the Colts drop the Patriots in the AFC Championship.

In the NFC Championship, the New York Giants make executives at CBS Sports (the television home of Super Bowl XLI) do cartwheels in the hallways. By defeating the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field, the G-men advance to Super Bowl XLI, or shall we say, the Manning Bowl.

Peyton and Eli. Eli and Peyton. By the time the game rolls around, just about every one of the 130 million Americans who plan on watching the Super Bowl will want the Manning family to just go away.

Colts 35 – Giants 27

We think.

OTHER BITS:

While Ohio State is certainly a popular pick to win the National Championship this season, we’re not so sure. Although many of the Buckeyes’ offensive stars are now one year older and one year more mature, we’re not sure if an increase in age and maturity on offense can make up for the losses endured on defense and special teams. After losing 9 of 11 starters on defense, the Bucks are surely going to experience some growing pains on the defensive side of the ball. More importantly, the ever-so-consistent kicking game that Jim Tressel has enjoyed since arriving in Columbus could become a troublesome area this season…

The Indians may make a run at signing perennial All-Star second baseman/outfielder Alfonso Soriano in free agency this off-season. We’ll tell you why and how in the coming weeks…

While the Indians front office continues to defend Andy Marte, Kevin Kouzmanoff continues to simply play better. Kouzmanoff put up superior numbers to Marte all season long in the minor leagues while Marte received all the hype. Now after two games in the big leagues, Kouzmanoff already has two home runs (including a grand slam on the first pitch he saw in the big leagues). Meanwhile, Marte has been in Cleveland for a month and is hitting .215 and stuck on one home run…

Popular former Cleveland Cavaliers’ television play-by-play man Michael Reghi is keeping busy. Since being removed from Cavaliers telecasts by owner Dan Gilbert, Reghi has been doing work for FSN Ohio on Browns programming and did some play-by-play of the Cal Ripken World Series in August. Reghi will still be seen and heard into the winter months, as he will continue working MAC basketball games for FSN as well as various college basketball assignments with ESPN…

We'll be back...

Due to some personal matters that have popped up in the past 10 days we haven't been able to keep up on the blog. We'll be down for the count throughout the weekend but plan to be back by the middle of next week...