Start Me Up - Browns vs. Steelers

At long last, this Browns season will come to an end today around 7 o'clock. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it) I'll be there to see it.

There are a whole lot of aspects of the game that the Browns haven't done well—offense, special teams and running defense to just name a few—but we can get to all of that at a later date, as right now it's time to focus on this New Years Day matchup.

First off, I think it's pretty darn unfortunate that Colt McCoy won't get another shot at going up against the Steelers after James Harrison nearly killed him concussed him over three weeks ago. The fact that McCoy went back into that game without being checked and now still can't play certainly isn't a ringing endorsement of the Browns medical staff either. But as we've seen, Seneca Wallace has the ability to move the ball with the Browns offense. However, with the Steelers having so much to play for—the #1 seed in the AFC could fall to them if enough happens in their favor—I'd expect those guys in black and gold to come after Wallace with all they've got.

Fortunately, Peyton Hillis is healthy and could maybe be effective running the ball. The running back (who I think should definitely be re-signed) gained 112 yards on 24 carries last week against Baltimore, a team known for their staunch running D. The problem is that Hillis has had little to no success against Pittsburgh in his three games with the Browns. He gained just 41 yards on 12 carries in Colt McCoy's first  NFL start last year at Heinz Field, then 13 yards on six carries in the final game Eric Mangini coached for the Browns—a humiliating 41-9 loss at the Factory of Sadness—and finally 25 yards on 10 carries a few weeks ago.

So what does all that mean? Well, it sure doesn't spell "s-u-c-c-e-s-s" for the Browns on the surface—especially with Seneca "I think I'm better than I actually am" Wallace at the helm. (I still can't believe he changed a pass to a run at the end of the half against the Ravens. That's inexcusably ridiculous.)

Also not spelling success is the fact that Ben Roethlisberger practiced all week and should be healthy after the Browns almost broke his ankle in Pittsburgh. I'm almost positive the Steelers are going to want to score early and often to bury the Browns so that they can take Big Ben out and rest him—just in case  they have to play next week. I'd also look for the Steelers to run the ball like wild men, because the Browns have shown time and time again since '99 that they just can't stop it.

Do I think the Browns will win? Absolutely not. But then again, as I've mentioned in a Start Me Up or two before, there's usually one game that the Browns win out of nowhere. And as much as I've ripped head coach Pat Shurmur this season, he still has his players going out there and fighting each week. Nobody has scored more than 31 points against the Browns—something most teams can't say—and they've only allowed 30+ points twice. If the Browns had any kind of offense, we'd probably be at least 7-9.

But I digress, let's get to the bottom line.

The Prediction: PIT 31 - CLE 13

Phil Dawson will hit two field goals in some blustery conditions, but the Steelers will dominate. They just have way too much to play for so they won't be messing around at all today.

As I said in the intro, I'll actually be in attendance at the Factory of Sadness today, which menas that there won't be a halftime blurb. I know I didn't do one last week, but look for a Final Word to come either sometime tonight or in the near future. And then we'll do a season wrap-up shortly after that.

Happy New Year to you and yours!
~MAS

The Final Word - No Offense, No Win and Somebody Needs to be Fired

It's strange but also nice to not have a Browns game today. Nice in that I don't have to worry about feeling bad about the world when they lose, but strange in that I don't have three blog posts to write in succession. However, since I just haven't gotten to it yet, let's just get right to assessing the damage from Thursday's 14-3 loss to Pukesburgh.

And I know who you may be thinking about with the second part of that headline, but to whom I'm actually referring may surprise you.

First off, I think it's important to note just how hard the team played. The effort was definitely there, the hits were hard, and it felt like the Browns really wanted to win. Do they have the talent to beat Pittsburgh right now? Maybe when Roethlisberger is hurt, yes, but as long as the effort is there I find it a lot harder to complain.

Still, it has to be a huge concern when you've got your defense playing at such a high level, and your offense can't really get past midfield—with the exception of the first drive of the game. I also have a lot of concern over Pat Shurmur's ability to manage his personnel, as we had another game where Montario Hardesty runs (poorly) all the time, and Peyton Hillis and Chris Ogbonnaya stand on the sidelines. After the game, Shumur said that Hillis got "dinged up" or something like that, so that's why Hardesty was used so much. Hillis, on the other hand, seemed frustrated by his lack of carries and didn't say anything about being injured.

Stuff like that is going to have to stop if the Browns are going to be a successful football team.

But my biggest concern coming out of this game is everything surrounding quarterback Colt McCoy.

Okay, I've been as big of a McCoy supporter as anyone. People keep saying that McCoy looks like a young Drew Brees, and if that's true, I really don't want to give up on him this early (I'll probably write a more extensive post on this in the coming weeks, stay tuned for it). However, if you watched the kid this week, he made some fairly poor decisions.

Looking at the stat line, 18/35 for 209 yards and two interceptions is just not good enough. Granted, the second interception was thrown after he was clearly concussed (more on that later), but even so, the Browns offense just isn't really making any consistent tangible progress. I say consistent because we went right down the field and probably should've scored a touchdown on the first drive, but nothing happened after that. At all! And yes, we were in the game until the last five-ish minutes, but if you haven't scored a touchdown in the third quarter all year, something is seriously, seriously wrong. Not all of that hinges on the quarterback, obviously, but McCoy is the leader of the offense and he's got to do better. I'm sure he knows that.

But that brings me to this.

When James Harrison hit McCoy, I tweeted out "Oh man, is Colt alive?" because that is how vicious that hit was. I mean, I honestly thought Colt was out cold, much like his father, Brad McCoy, said to the Plain Dealer. But then the fact that Colt came back into the game literally three minutes and 50 seconds after that hit is insanely irresponsable.

Anyone who saw that hit knew that Colt had a concussion. It was a helmet-to-helmet blast. You can even see Alex Smith waving for someone to come over from the sidelines, because it was immediately apparent that Colt was not alright. And to think that the Browns actually checked Colt out in that time is ludicrous. As Brad McCoy said, a high school trainer takes longer than that to evaluate whether or not a player has a concussion. And now this article from the PD's Mary Kay Cabot confirms that the Browns did not "perform the SCAT2 concussion test (sport concussion assessment tool) on the sidelines before they sent him back into the game after two plays."


...Are you freaking kidding me?!


How on God's green earth can you not check the man for a concussion after that hit. How? No wonder they said he wasn't exhibiting signs of a concussion during the game—no one even checked! 


So this is what I was referring to in the headline—whoever didn't check Colt McCoy for a concussion on the sidelines after that hit should be fired. Today. Now. 


Not only could they have cost Colt his career if he had been hit in the head again, but whoever it was probably cost the Browns the game, as Seneca Wallace seemed on, and when Colt came back into the game, everything—including but not limited to the lights inside his head—was off. With the emphasis the NFL has put on player safety in the last couple of seasons, stuff like this cannot happen and someone needs to answer for it.


Look, no matter what happens with James Harrison (who actually said something to the effect of "I thought the hit was legal because he was out of the pocket and is a runner." Again are you freaking kidding me?! The quarterback?! Shut the hell up), or Colt McCoy, or Peyton Hillis, or Pat Shurmur, the Browns just need to get better. They probably can't do much more this season, but if they keep up the effort they displayed last week, they'll at least be watchable for the final three games of the season. 


I'll see you next week,
~MAS

Start Me Up - Browns @ Steelers

Show of hands, who thinks the Browns have a snowball's chance in hell of winning tonight?

No one?

Is that crickets I hear?

Yeah, okay, so it was. And You know what, I'm right there with you, Browns fans.

There's plenty on the record about how much I dislike Pat Shurmur, so I don't really have to go much into that. Other than the fact that earlier this week he said that "the most important thing is this is our next game."

Wrong, Shurmur. This is Pittsburgh week. It used to be a rivalry! But as Daryl Ruiter put it this week, all that has gone away.

If I were Shurmur, I would've shown the team this hit from Joe "Turkey" Jones on Terry Bradshaw all week long.

Look, I know that's illegal, but it's still one of the great moments in Browns history. You don't need to go out and kill the other team, but you have to be able to go out there with that kind of passion, that kind of high motor, that kind of fire in your eyes and heart. That's the only way we can beat the Steelers.

What would a W mean tonight? For starters, it would be the first win inside the division for quarterback Colt McCoy, who is so far 0-7 against the Steelers, Ravens and Bengals. That's no good, as obviously you have to beat the teams inside your division in order to make it to the next level in the NFL—it's one of the many strengths of the league. But I think Colt knows this and he's going to do everything he can tonight.

But on this team, with the (lack of) talent around him, in a primetime stage with the Steelers still battling the Ravens for the division lead—damn, is it going to be like climbing Mount Everest.

The good news is that Peyton Hillis is healthy enough to be "active" and if his hamstring doesn't tighten up on him (or get "sore" as Shurmur said it did last week), we could have a running game today. That is, if Mr. Shurmur decides to utilise it. Look, you're not going to beat people if you only give Peyton Hillis two carries in the second half, like he had last week. Yes, that's right, Hillis only had two carries in the second half last week! I know we were down, but there's still no excuse for that.

I know Hardesty is supposed to be playing more tonight as well, but I have absolutely no confidence in that guy. I'm sorry, but when it takes you 33 carries to get just 95 yards against the Seahawks, there's nothing you can hang your hat on. The dude has stone hands too, and with temperatures below freezing, let's just hope Shurmur calls throws his way.

On the other side of the ball, man the defense could have a really, really tough time containing the Steelers passing attack. If there's any matchup I'd like to see, it's Jabaal Sheard versus the Steelers o-line. This is a homecoming of sorts for Sheard, who played college ball at Pitt and is used to the home locker room at Heinz Field. Hopefully he can get some good penetration and strip/sack Ben Roethlisberger (I have the hardest time spelling that name...) like he did last week to Joe Flacco.

Turnovers are definitely going to be a big key to the game. If the Browns can force some and turn them into points, they have a chance at making the game interesting. If, however, the Browns are the ones fumbling and throwing interceptions they're going to dig themselves into a hole they won't even be able to see clearly out of.

Alright, so that was sort of a long intro to what is a pretty obvious prediction, so here goes.

The Prediction: PIT 33 - CLE 10.

As usual, we'll probably score a touchdown in garbage time, but you know what we might be lucky to even do that. If the offensive line doesn't step it up and protect Colt, they really could get him killed this week as we're facing one of the most feared defenders in James Harrison. Ask Mohamed Massaquoi, after a hit from this guy, your career might not be the same.

I'll see you at the half. Hopefully it'll still be a game by then...
~MAS