Obviously that’s a joke; it’s just not as funny of a joke as the Browns last night and to be honest, they might have trouble with Temple. Last night, I dreaded watching Monday Night Football for the first time in a long time. I live in Las Vegas and don’t have to watch the Browns get their shit kicked in, week in and week out. Although, like all Browns fans, I held out hope of maybe seeing an upset like last year during Monday Night Football when they upended the then defending World Champion New York Football Giants. With each game I watch or read about, it seems like games like that fade even faster in my memory. Last night was no exception.
The game started out well, but then evened out after the first play. Jamal Lewis had a nice 12 yard run and that was about all I saw of our offense. Brady Quinn had a passer rating lower than most of Thunder Treats authors ACT scores yet it was still somehow better than Derek Anderson’s. Yahoo.com had their box score for the game and on the right hand column had each teams “top performers”. As you can see from the photo above, Cribbs had a less than stellar outing, yet they thought he was the top performer. Personally I would have said Furrey with his 6 receptions for 30 yards, but that really isn’t all that impressive either. The Ravens defense smothered the Browns and, to their credit, the Browns defense did well again Joe Flacco and Company. Now, if we could only get them to do it for the entire game, we might actually get a W. That is assuming we can move the ball offensively. The first half ended in a 0-0 tie. For those of you who aren’t Browns fans, that’s actually like winning, so naturally I was pumped to be “up” at the half.
In the second half we saw the Ravens score twice in 17 seconds. Only in Cleveland. I have seen so much shit in my days as a Cleveland fan (all things Cleveland, not just the Browns) that I did not even flinch at the pick 6. How terrible is that? I feel bad, but it is the truth. I read somewhere today that people think last years 0-16 Lions would mop the floor with this years Cleveland squad and ya know what, I’m not sure they are wrong. I would watch next weeks game against Detroit except I am almost positive they won’t even send a camera crew. Again though, I will probably get my hopes up of another miraculous victory only to get stomped on. And yes, a win over Detroit would be miraculous.
The biggest problem I have right now is not with Randy Lerner (shocking) but with Eric Mangini or whoever decided it was a swell idea to run a hook and ladder on the last play of the game. When you are down 16-0 with 4 ticks left on the clock, do yourself a favor and kneel the ball or just run it up the gut. If you are down by 8 or less, then maybe you think about running a trick play to try to win it. The reason you do not run a trick play when it is irrelevant is to avoid injury because most of the trick plays are free for alls and there are people flying everywhere. Case in point last night when Joshua Cribbs had to be immobilized, put on a stretcher and carted off the field after receiving a bone crushing hit during Cleveland’s unbelievably bad play call. The “good” news is that it’s “just” a concussion. Cribbs was taken to the hospital for evaluation and had movement in all parts of his body, thank goodness. Now, our best player and one of the most dangerous return men in football is laid up because we were trying to get our 6th touchdown in 15 games. Unfortunately, that is a fact and not a joke.
I will continue to watch, no matter how painful it is, but I have to say that I think someone needs to remind Randy Lerner that he owns a football team. Also, I think we need to remind Eric Mangini that he is not, nor was he ever, the GM of this football team. Lastly, if you wait to hire a GM until seasons end, how about hiring him before the new head coach? Maybe you can get really wild and get his input on the matter and maybe even let him have a suggestion? Just a thought…
