They Call Him Coach, Pat Shurmur

Well I guess this would count as late, somewhat irrelevant information, but now that I've finally got a calm moment in my first week back at school, I'll pass along what I'm thinking about the Browns recent hire of Pat Shurmur as their 13th full time head coach.

First off, was it a good hire?

I'm going to have to say yes. I know he's not the big name coach we all were hoping for (ahem, Jon Gruden), and that I wrote this pretty critical post about him in my "A Look At" series, but I think he's going to get the job done well. Shurmur comes highly recommended from Eagles head coach (and Mike Holmgren favorite) Andy Reid, he runs the West Coast offense, and he did a very nice job with Sam Bradford down in St. Louis this past year.

Did the Rams offensive stats set the world on fire this year? No. Did they make the playoffs? No, they actually kind of choked on offene the last game of the season to take them out of that equation.  Did they even have a winning record? Well, no again. But I think coordinating the offense that made Bradford have the best rookie quarterback stats since Peyton Manning is something for which Shurmur should be given a lot of credit.

All that aside, the next thing the Browns need to do is hire a great defensive coordinator, because defense is something Shurmur knows little to nothing about. I actually have no problem with that, as the last two Browns head coaches were former defensive coordinators of Bill Bellichick in New England, and neither of them paned out that well. In a sort of after the fact criticism of Crenel and Mangini, I think that if you have a specialty as a head coach, then your team should reflect that specialty, right? Well, the only successful Browns team in the past six years was the '07 version where we were 10-6, and that team was known for Derek Anderson throwing 28 touchdowns, many of which were to Braylon Edwards and Kellen Winslow Jr. Let's hope Shurmur can bring a good offensive identity to the team, since we really haven't had an identity at all since we got back into the league in '99.

But to get back to defensive coordinators, the Browns have interviewed former Bills and Bears head coach, and the current secondary coach of the Philidelphia Eagles, Dick Jauron. According to ESPN and the Plain Dealer, they're also looking at former Dolphins head coach Dave Wannstedt and former Arizona Cardinals defensive coordinator Bill Davis. Now, I'm not really sold on Wannstedt and Davis, the former because he's been out of the NFL since 2005 while serving as coach at Pitt, and the latter because he just got fired from the Arizona Cardinals - if he's not good enough for them, he's not good enough for us.

That brings us to Jauron, who has a pretty good resumé, and is also a candidate to replace the recently fired Sean McDermott in Philadelphia as defensive coordinator. Now that's a team we should be competing with for a coordinator. I'm not sure if he'll come here, but he would also be great to have around the building just as another resource for Shurmur to bounce his head coaching ideas off of - especially when it comes to defense.

Also, we're going to have to change from the 3-4 to the 4-3 defensive scheme. This actually could be a problem that sets the Browns back a couple years because right now we are just not built for that at all with the players that are currently on the roster. We're going to need an overhaul at the defensive line position, and that's a shame because Ahtyba Rubin has been doing a great job stuffing the run for the past couple of seasons at nose tackle. In a perfect world, we'll acquire a couple of great defensive ends who will be able to rush the passer and we'll build around Scott Fujita at the linebacker position. When I think of a great 4-3 defense, I think of the New York Giants because of the way the rush the passer, yet still defend the run quite well year after year. With any luck, we'll be like them in...maybe 2, 3...or 5 years.

That's a lot of information to diget, Browns fans, so make sure you don't go swimming for a little while (not that you would if you're in Cleveland, or anywhere in the world where it's winter this time of year - unless you have an indoor pool, of course). I'll probably be back this weekend to assess what I think are the two best games of the year in the NFL - the conference championship games. The games this week promise to be great, with division rivals Chicago and Green Bay squaring off in the NFC, and two teams with top defenses battling in the AFC, the Steelers and Jets.

Enjoy the games on Sunday - I know I will.

~MAS

Start Me Up - Browns vs. Bills

So clearly I didn't get around to posting some mid-week filler in the last few days (but with two papers to do and finals to study for, can you blame me?) but the Browns take on the Bills today up in snowy Buffalo, New York in what I think should be called the Battle of I-90.

In the last three years, these two teams have met and the Browns have won all three match-ups. In 2007, there was the memorable Snow Bowl game where Phil Dawson hit two clutch field goals in crazy swirling wind, and the Bills snapped a punt over the head of their punter and out of the end zone for a safety. Then there was Romeo Crenel's last victory as coach of the Cleveland Browns in 2008, when Jerome Harrison had a 72 yard run for the Browns last offensive touchdown that year, and Phil Dawson hit a 56 yard field goal with 1:39 left in the game to win. And last year, there was Eric Mangini's first win as the coach of the Browns where the Browns got by on two Billy Cundiff (yeah, bet you forgot about that one, huh? I know I did...) field goals, and Derek Anderson had one of the worst games a Browns QB has ever had going 2/17 for 23 yards and an interception. So what's going to happen today?

Well I think any way you look at it, we'll have a great game. Sure, the Bills petered out last week against the Vikings after playing very well in their previous three games. They first had wins against Detroit and Cincinnati, two teams who are just not doing so well right now, and then took the Pittsburgh into overtime, eventually losing 16-19. They bring a lot of competitive fire to the table, but, in my opinion at least, not too much else.

First off, their run defense is terrible giving up 170.9 yards a game. With the weather conditions predicted to be as Buffalo as ever (meaning really snowy), I think that's a recipe for Peyton Hillis to have a terrific - if not career - kind of game, as long as he can stay away from the fumbles. He will also, in all likelihood, go over the 1000 yard rushing mark for the season as he's sitting on 962 right now.

Jake Delhomme will be the starting QB this afternoon, and I really think Brian Daboll knows that this is going to be a game managing situation for the veteran. The strength of the Bills defense is clearly in the way they defend the pass as they're only allowing 207.2 yards per game - it isn't the best, but it's definitely better than than what they do against the run. Yikes. The offense may or may not have Josh Cribbs back as a wide receiver and in the wildcat, but I'd say chances are more likely that he'll stay just on the kick coverage. At least that's what I think I'd prefer for him until he's closer to 100%. Last week it was clear to me that he was still hurting, as he just looked slow when running with the ball. Hopefully he'll be healthy sooner rather than later, as we could really use his talents for our last three weeks of the season.

But enough about the future, a big key for the Browns winning today will be if their defense can contain Ryan Fitzpatrick, who has really come on to be a productive quarterback this year. Fitzpatrick has thrown for 2384 yards with 20 touchdowns and 11 interceptions - pretty solid numbers for a guy who has been a back-up for most of his short career. Fred Jackson (yeah, who?) is their running back, and he's had an alright season with 663 yards on the ground and five rushing touchdowns. As a team, I was surprised to find out that they're averaging more offensive yards per game than the Browns, 312 over 305. Still, I think the Browns will continue to show defensive improvement, and Joe Haden will go for his fifth straight game with an interception. I honestly doubt that he'll get it - if not because of the weather, than because Fitzpatrick studied film this week.

So what's the bottom line today? I think the Browns are going to show that they're over the hump because they're clearly the better team. I don't think we're going to see any of the slop we saw a few weeks ago with the Jaguars and then Panthers, and we'll see a team that's more like the one who took on the Jets, Patriots and Saints and came out 2-1 in that stretch. The Browns have been practicing outside in the cold elements of Cleveland this week and should be well prepared for the conditions at Ralph Wilson Stadium today. So I'm going with the Browns for a great, low scoring December win today.

The Prediction: CLE 17 - BUF 6

See you at the half,
~MAS

(p.s. I'd just like to say that I was very close to being right on my prediction last week, and I was quite right with my "Dawson hits a field goal to win it" call. Go me!)

The Break is Over

The blog has been on a hiatus for the last two weeks as I've been seeing Broadway shows, studying, traveling and home, but now I'm back to blog about a few mid-week topics before the game on Sunday between the Browns and Patriots.

Browns Big Win
First off, the Browns game I missed before the bye week was obviously a huge win for not just the team, but specifically for Eric Mangini who I believe is coaching for his job. I'm not going to make this too long, since the game is really no longer news, but it was great to see the highlights of the Browns dominating the defending Super Bowl Champions - again!

The Browns have a knack for beating Super Bowl champions, as they've done it the last three seasons. First it was the last great win Romeo Crenel coached for the Browns, a 35-14 Monday Night Football win on October 13, 2008 in which then QB of the Browns Derek Anderson threw for 310 yards and 2 touchdowns, and prima donna Braylon Edwards had 154 receiving yards and a touchdown reception. Wow. Last year, I'm sure you remember the great game the Browns put together against the Steelers to win 13-6 on a frozen night, Thursday, December 10, at Cleveland Browns Stadium. Now that game saw Josh Cribbs rush out of the wildcat for 87 yards, and Brady Quinn didn't lose the game, going 6/19 on throws for 90 yards. Chris Jennings was actually the feature running back for that game, with 20 rushes for 73 yards.

In any case, I just find it really interesting that the Browns have found a way to beat the defending Super Bowl champs the last three seasons. It must be because the Browns prepare well, and the opponent underestimates them, making it a textbook example of a trap game.

San Fran Wins World Series
I know I don't really blog about baseball on here very much anymore, but I figured I'd at least give the San Francisco Giants a shout out on winning their first World Series since 1954, when they were still playing in New York and beat the highly favored Cleveland Indians. Yes, highly favored and Cleveland Indians was something that actually existed at that time, since the Indians had just set a record for the regular season by winning 111 games. Wish I could have seen that...

The first game of that World Series was when Willie Mays made that spectacular over-the-shoulder catch that he became so well known for. So, that's the Cleveland spin on something that has pretty much absolutely nothing to do with Cleveland. Unless you want to say that Cleveland allowed San Fran to win the Series by Trading Cliff Lee to the Phillies...who traded him to the Mariners...who traded him to the Rangers where he served up a masterful choke job to Edgar Renteria. And there's another Cleveland connection , because he got the hit off of Charlie Nagy to win the '97 World Series for the Marlins! (Sure, it's a stretch, but go with it.) In any case, congratulations Giants; you're World Champions.

Randy Moss Cut from the Vikings, Claimed off of Waivers by Titans
Now this came as a pretty big surprise to me. I know Brett Favre is hurting right now, yet is still in line to start Sunday's game in Minnesota against the Arizona Cardinals - a game the Vikings will win if they have any shred left of self-respect. But I just can't see what in the wide wide world of sports was going on with Randy Moss to make that team release him. Of course, everybody is saying that he wasn't getting along well with Head Coach Brad Childress, and then there was the infamous expletive laden rant about the food in the  Vikings locker room, but was that really enough to release a hall of fame receiver? Apparently, yes it was. I don't really know enough about the situation to say whether or not it's a good decision at face value. It is common knowledge that Brett Favre was ecstatic about acquiring Moss, but in four games Moss only had 13 receptions for 174 yards and 2 touchdowns. Still, the Vikings gave up a 3rd round pick to get this guy. That's a pretty steep price to pay for someone who was only with you for 4 games...

On the flip side, the Tennessee Titans now have picked up Moss which I think is a great move - especially if you're Chris Johnson. Right now last years NFL leading rusher has 721 rushing yards in 8 games, well below the 2000 yard pace he reached last year. However, just having Moss on the team and the threat of him going deep should allow plenty of underneath space where Johnson can run wild. It's debatable, but I'm not sure that there is anyone else that can turn the corner and get up the field as fast as Johnson can. The only question about Moss with the Titans will be if anyone can deliver him the deep ball. This is not to say that Vince Young is a bad quarterback, he's not. But he has not displayed the type of arm strength like that of Tom Brady. Kerry Collins, Tennessee's serviceable backup quarterback, also may not have the arm strength to get the ball down the field. We're just going to have to get these questions answered on game day, it's nearly pointless to over-analyze in speculation.

To Top it Off...
It's been a big two weeks not only in the NFL but all around the sports universe. The NBA is back as well, and the Cavaliers are looking to replace begin a new era of basketball without You-Know-Who on the right foot. So far they're only 1-3, but they play the 1-4 Philadelphia 76ers tomorrow night in the city of Brotherly Love. Here's hoping Bryon Scott can coach them up to their second win. Until next time, Go Cavs and Go Browns!

~MAS