Posted on Monday 11 September 2006 by Bob @ 9:28 pm
The Cleveland Browns started the football season looking worse than you could even imagine. They had missed blocks, threw interceptions, committed penalties and still had the ball in New Orleans territory with 2 minutes left and a chance to win.
I’ve watched hundreds of football games in my life and have never seen a game where the play calling was so terrible that you couldn’t even evaluate the players. I witnessed four quarters of Browns football yesterday and couldn’t tell if Charlie Frye played well, the offensive line could block or even if New Orleans is that good.
I’ve always believed in giving a guy a fair chance before taking him out, but Maurice Carthon is clueless when it comes to calling plays and evaluating talent. We ran fullback sweeps on third and one, we ran a draw on second and twenty and last but not least, we put Terrelle Smith split out wide in a five receiver set.
Romeo Crennel needs to recognize quickly that Carthon doesn’t get it. We have two star receivers in Kellen Winslow and Braylon Edwards and Carthon isn’t running plays to get them the ball. We have a 1200 yard back in Rueben Droughns, and he’s on the bench more than in the game. I hope Phil Savage steps in and puts an end to this misery.
Lastly, the Bob who continues to share opinons on these blogs, please put the initial of your last name so that people can tell us apart. It will help avoid a lot of confusion. I have been getting grief or compliments for things I didn’t even write. You have good insight, take credit for it.
Except for a couple of questionable toss backs to Vickers, if _anyone_ on the o-line would have performed his play calling would have been brilliant and correct. Droughns can’t run through holes that aren’t there.
WTF was he thinking with the FB sweeps? This dude sucks!!!! When they put 8 in the box, maybe you do a shot gun formation, you know, to give the QB a little more time. Damn, damn, damn!!!!!! I can do this dudes job, for half of his salary, and call better plays that that. His ass has gotta go.
Dear vim,
I guess my only polite answer is I disagree. I agree with Iceberg. Do you think we have the only average line in the NFL? Come on…How about Terrelle Smith split out wide in a 5 man set? Or a “delayed” draw at New Orleans 20 to Harrison? Let’s be honest, he is just BAD.
I agree wiyh Bob 100%–The play-calling was so amaturish in this game you couldn’t get a read on what the players could–or could not do. Apparently our off co-ordinator has never heard of such a thing as a screen pass. When the Def is just pinning back their ears and rushing the QB like W Smith and B Young were doing, that’s how you stop it–and J Harrison is the perfect back to use in that situation. W Smith was rushing up the field hell-bent for leather all day giving K Shaffer all kinds of fits. Why didn’t we try running R Droughns on a little counter play into the area Smith just vacated???Teach him a lesson…that’s what good off co-ordinators do. He was doing us a favor–we never once took advantage of it. Whoever drew up the play that has L Vickers taking a pitchout and running a sweep on 3rd and 1should have been fired by the end of the game!!! AND…we didn’t run it once–we ran it twice!!! Man we really fooled them, didn’t we.:)
I totally agree with Bob.
Carthon is a former fullack, and he seems obsessed with using those players. Splitting them out and running them on sweeps is idiotic.
The offense should focus on getting the ball to Drougns, Winslow and Edwards. It’s good to have more options, but you have to ride your horses.
Pathetic.
I think you should just blame Bush. It was his fault Droughns didn’t play much.
G is right your offense should be built around droughns, winslow, edwards and a little bit of harrison. i’d include jurevicious in there but…
i heard romeo defending the vickers sweeps. he said he looked foolish because it didn’t work but if it did he would look like a genius.
which is totally wrong. he would look extremely lucky had it worked becuase it is foolish. not just foolish but just plain WRONG to do. additionally they tried it 3 times. i guess maybe it would hve worked the fourth time!
I do not believe Carthon should get this much heat. We had a 1000 rusher and 1000 yard receiver with Frye, Dilfer, no Edwrads, no Winslow and a new RB last year and he gets 0 credit for that. We have millionaires not catching or blocking. Do what you supposed to do on the field and you win. It’s that simple. Blaming the coaches is a chick way out.
Chris makes a good point. I actually like the structure of the offense. It’s the NewEngland/NY Giants/Cowboys style offense. Yet despite some of those stats, the Browns were near the bottom in points - and that’s the most important stat. They have to score to win!
That said, you have to have coherent gameplans within that offense. It took them way too long last year to work Drougns and then Edwards into the offense, yet this year a rokie fullback like Vickers gets touches in week one.
The offense and the playmakers are there. They have issues on the line, but they can work those out as the line gells.
They have to use the weapons they have and they are not good enough to squander opportunities.
Even NFL.com’s Vic Carucci thinks handing the ball off to Vickers twice on 3rd and 1 was a bad idea.
“For some reason, the Browns chose to go with two-fullback sets in those situations and leave Droughns, who emerged last season as the most productive rusher they have had in years, on the sideline. Vickers got the call to go around end on a sweep on one of the carries, and both times went nowhere. Giving the ball to Droughns would not have guaranteed success, but it would seem to be the higher-percentage decision.”
http://www.nfl.com/news/story/9653073
Chick way? We’re not just talking about the fullback sweeps, we’re talking about the inability to read and adjust to the Saints defense. Every play the defense was putting pressure on Frye, and stopping the run in its tracks. True, the players have to perform, and they made some dumb ass penalties, but the play calling was varsity at best. It looked like the 85′ Bears playing Rhodes. This dude is way over his head, and he should swallow his pride, and admit he’s not a good coordinator. So Droughns had 1000 yards last season, how many TD’s? How many times did Bryant score last season? Stats are great, but the ones that count the most are wins and losses.
blaming the coaches is the chick way? that’s as ridiculous as calling for the rookie vickers toss sweep repeatedly on 3rd down.
it’s true the players have to perform, but it is also true that the coaches have to put the players in position to perform. and carthon’s play calling is not doing that.
Yes. It is a chick way out. You can have Vince Lombardi and Bill Walsh draw up a play for Elway in his prime and the offense would stink behind this offensive line. No offense can execute itself succesfully behind a line that cannot pass or run block. Ask Trent Green’s dome, ask Aaron Brooks backside, ask Brett Favre’s legs. Anyone not named Vick cannot execute an offense like that and that’s why you have Frye doing his bizarro Vick imitation last Sunday. Ask the Colts last year in the playoffs what happens with no protection. Bottomline; If we had just mediocre protection we win the game and this is not an issue. I knew anytime I lost a game to even think the coaches had anything to do with it or to say such in the locker room was to look and sound like a “chick”.
you also cannot ask players to do something that they CANNOT do. thats the idiot way.
vickers is a fullback not a tailback, he does not, and never will have the speed to run a toss sweep. regardless of how the line is blocking.
it is like asking peyton manning to run an option offense. just because he has a grewat offensive line doesn’t mean he can do it.
now, don’t get me wrong about players who drop passes and missed blocks. there is NO EXCUSE for that. which, on earlier posts regarding this game, i have blamed them heavily for piss-poor play. the way the game ended on edwards dropped pass/interception is COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY INEXCUSABLE.
but guess what everyone involved with the browns is part of the tean, including the coaches. and if for some reason the line isn’t blocking the way they are supposed to for plays the coaches call, well coaches are part of the problem.
i find it odd because most of our o-line has now been signed from other teams and they are all players that seemed to have a decent level of success as blockers on the team they came from. yet they get here and cannot block anything. that points to coaching.
it is also like the defensive players who left cleveland for denver (brown, warren, echuban, lang, etc) and our doing very well there. again, that points to coaching here hacing been the problem.
additionally there are many examples in history where a team is performing poorly, the coaching staff is replaced and the team immediately begins to perform better. yet again showing how important coaching is.
Lombardi, I think would’ve beat the sh!t outta Edwards for dropping that pass. But The coaches can’t get away scot free. Bottom line, Carthon is over his head, and couldn’t coach his way outta wet paper bag. He sucks, and if you think he is a good coordinator, you must’ve thought B!tch Davis was better coach than Parcells,huh?
No -where do I state that Carthon is a “good” coordinator. I do think he’s good enough and his resume states as such. Lombardi may have hit Edward’s for dropping the pass but the pass still would’ve been DROPPED. By the way-Vickers turned the play into a sweep-His blocking was to the inside and he decided not to follow it. I cannot believe as Browns fans we are blaming coaches. Is he the best-no. Is he the worst-no. Nobody completely agrees with every offensive play called by any coordinator or coach. The truth is this-we have an inexperienced QB who we don’t know what he hast, maybe the worst o-line in football, receivers dropping balls, and a 1000 other new parts. Carthon is waaay at the bottom of the totem pole of problems this team has. The Steelers are the Chanps, the Bengals may actually be better than them and the Ratbirds spanked Tampa at Tampa! This stupidity reminds me of running Paul Silas out of town in the middle of a playoff run because the worst bench in the NBA wasn’t getting any playing time. Someone mentioned on the radio about replacing Carthon with Bernie-I love him but seriously-is he even “clean or sober?”
It wouldn’t matter if we had Joe Montana at quarterback, Carthon still sucks. We could have the Electric Company blocking up front, Carthon still sucks, We could have Jerry Rice, or Steve Largent at receiver, Carthon still sucks. The Browns could do alot better at coordinator, because to me Carthon is the worst. You have to admit, talent wise, this is the best O-line the Browns have had, since forming in ‘97. Frye was good enough to beat out Trent Dilfer last year. A Clydesdale at runningback, 2 potential all-pros catching the ball. Carthon should be taking advantage of that. Hey, all I’m asking for is a shotgun formation, especially when the other teams defense is constantly in the backfield. Try a draw up the middle, Frye got all his yards running up the middle, Droughns would’ve got some too. Why didn’t we throw the deep ball again? Varsity play calling at best, and as long as Carthon is the coordinator, we’d better be looking forward to the Buckeyes this year.
A coach is supposed to call plays to put the players in the right situation to be successful!!! I hope Maurice can start to understand that!! Also you call the plays to utilize the strength of your offense which is running the ball and Charlie rollin out!! Especially against a good pass rushing team, you need to run the ball.
iceberg is right, look at the line since ‘99 - these players are have the best resume of any o-line we’ve had, and suddenly these players look like a joke when they get here? why is that? perhaps coaching has something to do with it, not all of it but definitely something.