I wanted to wait until I saw President Mike Holmgren and GM Tom Heckert's press conference to give my assessment of the Browns season, and now that it's over I think I'm ready to have my say.
Obviously, a 4-12 record is not good enough by anyone's standards—and that's something Holmgren said today. The "Big Show" also talked about how he saw progress in many aspects of the team, including the fact that he thinks we started closing the gap between us and the rest of the AFC North teams. In his defense, Holmgren knew that he would be criticized for saying that, but in my humble opinion he should be. The NFL is all about results and "what have you done for me lately." No wins in the division and records of 4-12, 5-11, 5-11 and finally 4-12 in the last four seasons really isn't good enough either.
So that brings me to today's topics, the report card and some awards. I don't think there needs to be much more introduction to a report card than to say I'll be giving different groups of the Browns grades. ...Duh.
Let's just get to it, huh?
Offense
Well, this was a group that had atough bad awful downright pathetic year. If you haven't heard, this team scored just 218 points the entire season. How bad is that? Well, the 1999 Cleveland Browns—yes, the expansion team!—scored 217, and the 2000 Browns scored 161. I'm glad I don't really remember those teams, but honestly there is no reason whatsoever for this team to be on par with the first two years of the "modern era." That's inexcusable. Not that there is some kind of comparison between the Browns and a team that actually plays offense in the NFL, but the Packers scored 560 points this season. The Saints scored 547. Even the 3-13 Vikings scored 340!
Like I said, downright pathetic.
Some other things to think about—the Browns scored 20+ points just twice this year. The first time was against Indy when they won 27-19, the second was when they played at the half-empty Paul Brown Stadium and lost 23-20 to the Bengals.
In five games, the Browns didn't even score a touchdown. That helps to explain the 218 points...
It took the Browns 12 games to finally score a touchdown in the first quarter.
It took until game 14(!!!) for the Browns to score a touchdown in the third quarter. Talk about inexcusable—that means Shurmur just couldn't make good halftime adjustments.
Yes, injuries ravaged the running backs and offensive line (please be healthy next year, Eric Steinbach), but there's no reason the Browns only had four rushing touchdowns and averaged just 3.7 yards per carry. Those ranked dead last and next to last, respectively. Boo!
All told, the Browns ranked 30th in points, and 29th in total offensive yards. Can you guess what grade I'm going to give this unit?
Grade: F
Defense
Okay, obviously the defense had a much better year than O, and I think that's in no small part thanks to coordinator Dick Jauron. I wrote in this post about a year ago when the Browns hired Pat Shurmur that it could take three to five years for the defense to fully convert from the 3-4 back to the 4-3. I will gladly eat some crow on that one—even though we don't exactly have what I would consider an All-Star caliber pass-rush, and our run defense is still awful, the defense was definitely the best unit on this team.
Looking at the numbers, you could really make an argument that despite ranking 30th running defense, the Browns actually had a top 10 all around D.
Stop laughing, I'm serious.
The Browns ranked 2nd in passing D—which could be explained by people running all over us, but hey, ranking 2nd is ranking 2nd. I'll take it.
In terms of yards, the Browns were also in the top 10 as they ranked 10th total defense. Also good.
But what I put the most stock in is the fact that the Browns ranked 5th in points allowed on the season. Yes, just fifth! They gave up just 19.2 points per game, which I think is excellent. (As an aside, two of the top four defenses were Baltimore and Pittsburgh...That's bad news bears.)
Did the Browns get all kinds of turnovers? Well not really interceptions as they only had nine, but they did get 11 fumbles.
But you know what, getting the fundamentals down is a lot of the time the hardest part. If we can make this kind of progress in just one year, I'd expect the defense to get that much better with a couple more pieces. And imagine if they actually had a mediocre offense so that they could get off the field sometimes?
Even though I think the defense did very well, that 30th ranking against the run leaves a bad taste in my mouth. So that's the justification for this...
Grade: B
Special Teams
Honestly, I don't know how in the wide, wide world of sports special teams coach Chris Tabor has not been fired already. Two long snappers, three punters (albeit because of injuries), at least two blocked field goals (one against St. Louis wasn't actually considered a block), and a punt returned for a touchdown. All that, and Josh Cribbs went from one of the best return men to one of the worst, as he ranked 25th in return yards this season.
All that after the Browns routinely ranked in the top five of special teams categories int he past couple of years.
If not for Phil Dawson—who hit seven field goals of 50+ yards, and with all the stupid blocks really only missed one field goal this season—and Brad Maynard—who was excellent punting and had just one touchback on the year, which came in the final game against the Steelers—the special teams unit would surely be getting an F. Instead they get...
Grade: C+
Coaching
By 'coaching' I mean head coach, offensive coordinator (which we don't have...), defensive coordinator and special teams coach. I've said it plenty of times, but I think Shurmur was completely overmatched this season by being both the offensive coordinator and the head coach. There's a reason why 31/32 NFL teams had offensive coordinators this season, even if they didn't call the plays... Just sayin'.
Based on the previous comments on the defense, I honestly don't think we could've had a better defensive coordinator this year. Despite the fact that the run defense was no good, Dick Jauron took a defense in shambles and made it respectable.
You already know how I feel about special teams coach, Tabor, so let's just say that along with Shurmur, he's bringing down the grade here.
Grade: C
Front Office
Now this grade is sort of interesting to me, because it's all about Holmgren and Heckert. Did those two do enough in the offseason to put the Browns in a position to win? Well, on defense the argument can definitely be made for a yes. They drafted Phil Taylor and Jabaal Sheard—two players who will be part of the core of the Browns defensive line for hopefully the next decade. They also locked up key players like Chris Gocong, Athyba Rubin and Joe Thomas with longterm deals. Those things are good.
But they definitely failed to give Colt McCoy any kind of help at the wide receiver position, as I'm still not sure why in the world the Browns refused to sign a veteran wide receiver. The whole PR debacle of Concussion-Gate was also something that really left a bad taste in my mouth for Holmgren—especially the ludicrous, "Don't come to me asking for extra playoff tickets," line.
I'll let Jim Mora handle this one.
Grade: B-
Overall
Well, to be honest, a 4-12 record pretty much speaks for itself, doesn't it? Honestly, 0-6 in the division to boot? I know we're not supposed to be holding the sins of former regimes against Holmgren, Heckert and Shurmur, but you know what? We were supposed to see real, tangible progress in the form of Ws this year—that was the whole idea behind firing Mangini in the first place! But the thing is, I sincerely believe that if Mangini had been the coach of the 2011 Browns, there's no way in the world we would've been 4-12. But that's what we are, and that seriously has to change if Holmgren and Heckert want to justify keeping Shurmur as the head coach of this team for 2013. (...that is, if the world doesn't end before then!)
Grade: D-
So there you have it. I thought about doing some awards for this post, but I thought that might make things run a little too long (thanks for sticking it out this far!), so I'll just give you a little bit more from me to read in the next few days.
That's right guys and gals, keep an eye out for the first ever Myley Awards.
See you then!
~MAS
Obviously, a 4-12 record is not good enough by anyone's standards—and that's something Holmgren said today. The "Big Show" also talked about how he saw progress in many aspects of the team, including the fact that he thinks we started closing the gap between us and the rest of the AFC North teams. In his defense, Holmgren knew that he would be criticized for saying that, but in my humble opinion he should be. The NFL is all about results and "what have you done for me lately." No wins in the division and records of 4-12, 5-11, 5-11 and finally 4-12 in the last four seasons really isn't good enough either.
So that brings me to today's topics, the report card and some awards. I don't think there needs to be much more introduction to a report card than to say I'll be giving different groups of the Browns grades. ...Duh.
Let's just get to it, huh?
Offense
Well, this was a group that had a
Like I said, downright pathetic.
Some other things to think about—the Browns scored 20+ points just twice this year. The first time was against Indy when they won 27-19, the second was when they played at the half-empty Paul Brown Stadium and lost 23-20 to the Bengals.
In five games, the Browns didn't even score a touchdown. That helps to explain the 218 points...
It took the Browns 12 games to finally score a touchdown in the first quarter.
It took until game 14(!!!) for the Browns to score a touchdown in the third quarter. Talk about inexcusable—that means Shurmur just couldn't make good halftime adjustments.
Yes, injuries ravaged the running backs and offensive line (please be healthy next year, Eric Steinbach), but there's no reason the Browns only had four rushing touchdowns and averaged just 3.7 yards per carry. Those ranked dead last and next to last, respectively. Boo!
All told, the Browns ranked 30th in points, and 29th in total offensive yards. Can you guess what grade I'm going to give this unit?
Grade: F
Defense
Okay, obviously the defense had a much better year than O, and I think that's in no small part thanks to coordinator Dick Jauron. I wrote in this post about a year ago when the Browns hired Pat Shurmur that it could take three to five years for the defense to fully convert from the 3-4 back to the 4-3. I will gladly eat some crow on that one—even though we don't exactly have what I would consider an All-Star caliber pass-rush, and our run defense is still awful, the defense was definitely the best unit on this team.
Looking at the numbers, you could really make an argument that despite ranking 30th running defense, the Browns actually had a top 10 all around D.
Stop laughing, I'm serious.
The Browns ranked 2nd in passing D—which could be explained by people running all over us, but hey, ranking 2nd is ranking 2nd. I'll take it.
In terms of yards, the Browns were also in the top 10 as they ranked 10th total defense. Also good.
But what I put the most stock in is the fact that the Browns ranked 5th in points allowed on the season. Yes, just fifth! They gave up just 19.2 points per game, which I think is excellent. (As an aside, two of the top four defenses were Baltimore and Pittsburgh...That's bad news bears.)
Did the Browns get all kinds of turnovers? Well not really interceptions as they only had nine, but they did get 11 fumbles.
But you know what, getting the fundamentals down is a lot of the time the hardest part. If we can make this kind of progress in just one year, I'd expect the defense to get that much better with a couple more pieces. And imagine if they actually had a mediocre offense so that they could get off the field sometimes?
Even though I think the defense did very well, that 30th ranking against the run leaves a bad taste in my mouth. So that's the justification for this...
Grade: B
Special Teams
Honestly, I don't know how in the wide, wide world of sports special teams coach Chris Tabor has not been fired already. Two long snappers, three punters (albeit because of injuries), at least two blocked field goals (one against St. Louis wasn't actually considered a block), and a punt returned for a touchdown. All that, and Josh Cribbs went from one of the best return men to one of the worst, as he ranked 25th in return yards this season.
All that after the Browns routinely ranked in the top five of special teams categories int he past couple of years.
If not for Phil Dawson—who hit seven field goals of 50+ yards, and with all the stupid blocks really only missed one field goal this season—and Brad Maynard—who was excellent punting and had just one touchback on the year, which came in the final game against the Steelers—the special teams unit would surely be getting an F. Instead they get...
Grade: C+
Coaching
By 'coaching' I mean head coach, offensive coordinator (which we don't have...), defensive coordinator and special teams coach. I've said it plenty of times, but I think Shurmur was completely overmatched this season by being both the offensive coordinator and the head coach. There's a reason why 31/32 NFL teams had offensive coordinators this season, even if they didn't call the plays... Just sayin'.
Based on the previous comments on the defense, I honestly don't think we could've had a better defensive coordinator this year. Despite the fact that the run defense was no good, Dick Jauron took a defense in shambles and made it respectable.
You already know how I feel about special teams coach, Tabor, so let's just say that along with Shurmur, he's bringing down the grade here.
Grade: C
Front Office
Now this grade is sort of interesting to me, because it's all about Holmgren and Heckert. Did those two do enough in the offseason to put the Browns in a position to win? Well, on defense the argument can definitely be made for a yes. They drafted Phil Taylor and Jabaal Sheard—two players who will be part of the core of the Browns defensive line for hopefully the next decade. They also locked up key players like Chris Gocong, Athyba Rubin and Joe Thomas with longterm deals. Those things are good.
But they definitely failed to give Colt McCoy any kind of help at the wide receiver position, as I'm still not sure why in the world the Browns refused to sign a veteran wide receiver. The whole PR debacle of Concussion-Gate was also something that really left a bad taste in my mouth for Holmgren—especially the ludicrous, "Don't come to me asking for extra playoff tickets," line.
I'll let Jim Mora handle this one.
Grade: B-
Overall
Well, to be honest, a 4-12 record pretty much speaks for itself, doesn't it? Honestly, 0-6 in the division to boot? I know we're not supposed to be holding the sins of former regimes against Holmgren, Heckert and Shurmur, but you know what? We were supposed to see real, tangible progress in the form of Ws this year—that was the whole idea behind firing Mangini in the first place! But the thing is, I sincerely believe that if Mangini had been the coach of the 2011 Browns, there's no way in the world we would've been 4-12. But that's what we are, and that seriously has to change if Holmgren and Heckert want to justify keeping Shurmur as the head coach of this team for 2013. (...that is, if the world doesn't end before then!)
Grade: D-
So there you have it. I thought about doing some awards for this post, but I thought that might make things run a little too long (thanks for sticking it out this far!), so I'll just give you a little bit more from me to read in the next few days.
That's right guys and gals, keep an eye out for the first ever Myley Awards.
See you then!
~MAS
Great article roomie! I know next to nothing about football, but your articles are always a pleasurable read. I've also learned the history of the notorious "factory of sadness," for which I am forever thankful. :3 ... It's equally unfortunate that there's no college football success to compensate for shoddy NFL hometown play. Ah well, here's to a new year of football! See you in a week :D
ReplyDelete