Posted on Monday 23 October 2006 by Kenny Roda @ 10:59 am
Kenny Roda from WKNR SportsTalk 850 will be writing a weekly blog on Cleveland Scores covering the sports world both locally and nationally. Check back often for his updates!
Q: The Browns are 1 of only 6 teams in the NFL with just 1 win. Who else is in this distinctive fraternity? Oakland, Tennessee, Miami, Detroit and Arizona. So of these 6 teams, who do you think will end up with the worst record and the first overall pick in the draft?
A: Oakland, because the Browns beat them this year and thus lose the tie breaker.
Q: Who or what is worse when you think of the Browns? The offensive line or offensive coordinator Maurice Carthon? I know that one really makes you think doesn’t it!?
A: As much as I want to fire Carthon, I have to admit the O-line is worse.
Q: Right now, do you think Randy Lerner cares more about his football team or his soccer team?
A: His soccer team, they’re scoring more than the Browns!
Q: Is Charlie Frye the quarterback of the future for the Browns?
A: The more I see of him, the more I doubt it.
Q: How would you rate the job that Browns GM Phil Savage has done so far?
A: Overall - “C-”…drafts - “C+”….free agents - “D”
Q: How would you rate the job that Browns head coach Romeo Crennel has done so far?
A: “C”…6 wins last year, not bad. But he better turn it around quickly this year or that grade becomes a solid “D”.
Q: Who is the Browns best player?
A: That’s an easy one. Punter Dave Zastudil
Q: Why do fans continue to pay big dollars to go down to the stadium and watch the Browns lose week after week?
A: This one I can honestly say I have no answer for. Please help me out and tell me why you all keep wasting your hard earned dollars on a team that has gone 18-41 at home since returning to the NFL in 1999. And their overall record now, counting this year’s 1-5 start, is 37-81. Why do you continue to pay for such punishment?
Also listed under: Kenny Roda
Roadman,
I picked up a paper from last week and the Brown’s player of the week was Dave Zastudil. Now you confirm that the best player by performance for the Brown’s is the punter. The last time I checked a punter doesn’t score points for the team, unless Carthon is going to let him throw in a trick play like a fullback.
What does it say about a team, when the receivers drop passes, run bad routes, and no one knows how to protect the football? I my opinion, Crennel, Carthon and none of the coaches are not earning the money that we the fans pay them, and the season doesn’t look any brighter, no matter what you hear from the Locker Room. I thought that with a core of young players and solid coaching that we could win 8 games, but now I am hoping for 2.
I remember the Cowboys went 1-15, with Troy Aikman in Jimmy Johnson’s first year. Next year was a different story. So will Crennel and Frye be able to do that next year. Here we go again sayiing next year OIC.
People pay good money to go to the stadium because Browns football is a huge part of this community. The fans love football and they love this team. Unfortunately, that means Lerner won’t feel much financial pain of he doesn’t get this thing going in the right direction.
the stadium never really filled up yesterday, and was emptying quickly, long before the 3rd quarter ended.
i have a feeling each week the stadium is going to have more and more orange seats glaring out at the team.
maybe once the bottom line is effected there will be some changes.
i’m still not ready to fire savage or crennel, but we need to see some changes, time to replace the offensive line coach, and the offensive coordinator at the very least.
People pay to see it because we’ve had the unfortunate situation of having our favorite team ripped from our city. We would never wish that on another city, and we go to make sure it will never happen again.
The reason we pay? Because we are all a bunch of suckers! What else can be said that hasn’t already been said? I guess the thing that gets me is there are Crennel and Carthoon apolgists out there, and even on this blog site! That is why things will never change cause too many ignorarmus’s out there who think it is not C and C’s fault for how patheitc this team is. And i am also quickly losing faith in Savage! Where the hell is he? Scouting Poodunk Univerisity while his team goes to 1-6? Why didn’t they just make Savage in charge of draft and hire someone with cahonies who is going to tell the coach, it ain’t working??
The Browns are only home for 8 Home Games, unlike the cavs(41gms) and indians(81gms) there arent many chances to see them. If the season was longer by the end of the year it would be empty just like The Jake has been towards Aug and Sept. In the NFL every week u have a reason for optimism, especially as a browns fan. The browns hang close with the Ravens one week, which brings fans a false sense of hope and make them come out the following week and fill the seats. Then you have a bye week, which allows coaches and players to convince fans that maybe after the bye it will be a different team, but again nothing changes. Then next week you play the Jets which fans prolly believe could be their best chance to win a home game, so guess what, the fans will be there once again hoping for a Browns WIn. Then sooner or later they will only have a couple games left at home and the fans will say “well this is our last chance to see them this yr” and the stadium will be filled again. Its not just in Cleveland, bad NFL teams everywhere fill stadiums because 8 games a year at home isnt alot and Football is without much doubt many Americans favorite sport.
One more thing that I find funny about browns fans. Why does Charlie frye get a pass with all the fans simply because hes a local kid, who cares where he is from and who cares what rd he was drafted in. If hes going to be the starting Qb for the browns he needs to play like a starting QB. being a local boy has to be the reason for the love for him because his play hasnt earned him anything. He leads the NFL in INTs and is awful in 4th quarters but everyone stands and chants “Charlie” everytime he makes a play, like throwing the ball as high as he can and being bailed out by K2 or Braylon. We rode Tim Couch outta here when he didnt have an offensive line but now we stand and applaud every play Frye makes no matter how many mistakes he makes. Trust me Fryes line now is way better than the one Couch had. Please dont go thinking that i like T. Couch more, but people who always have a false sense of hope need to realize that Charlie isnt a franchise QB, hes a number 2 QB, no matter how you look at it. Speaking of franchise QB’s, if i was in the Browns Front Office, as soon as i saw Matt Leinart fall in the draft I would have packaged a number of picks and traded up a few spots to grab Leinart right before Arizona took him. We havent had a franchise Qb in years and that was our chance to get one to play for many years to come,who cares how many picks we gave up, u build around a QB. Nope we didnt do anything though because we already have “Charlie”.
Lately, their hasn’t been much to proud of as a Browns fan. However, as a die hard living outside the state of Ohio, the only thing these days that makes me proud, is that even though we’re losing, our fans show up every week. No matter what. There is nothing fair-weather about Browns fans. The same perhaps can’t be said about the Indians or Cavs, but as long as this city fields a Football team, the Brown and Orange faithful will show up. I go out every Sunday and watch as much as I can swallow of this team (which isn’t much), but its great to see that we still pack the place even though the product on the field doesn’t deserve it. That’s why we’re the best!
As for the coaching staff. I’m not entirely happy with Crennel. But what are our options:
A) Fire Crennel and hire some other first time coach (which is all we do) and go through his growing pains of head-coaching a professional football team (that doesn’t really resemble ad Professional Football team). And when he can’t turn things around in 2 years, send him packing…or
B) Fire Crennel and hire an experienced coach (which is laughable to consider that we would do this - when’s the last time any Cleveland team did that)…or
C) Keep Crennel and hope that he gets over the hump soon.
None are good options. We’ll have yet another top 5 draft pick. Joe Thomas from Wisconsin will be available. He’s the Top Left Tackle in the draft so that’s a start. A top-level O-Coordinator is also needed. Slowly but surely, we’ll get this thing turned around. But what Coach will want to come to town if he has a 2 year window to succeed?
reason people go to the stadium now is the same reason we listen to knr, we have no choice for local professional football, like we have to listen to subpar sports talk in the morning, and in pm drive because we have no choice…
really, pro football in general is entertaining, granted if you really get into the games and root for one team and get really emotionally involved, it can hurt. but sports are like movies, entertainment, thats all—— plain and simple
this in not life or death, it is far from important, so it should not be able to affect your life for the good or bad.
I never leave games early, however the reason we still go, is that we keep hearing about the waiting list, and wonder if we cancel them, if we’ll not be able to get them again IF we start to win.
My solution, is to still show up at least and support our team, tailgate etc. Bail like we did just after halftime yesterday (although, I saw many leaving at the half, going out the gates and head up W 3rd) However, the Browns make their money not on tickets, but on our game day expenditures. DON’T SPEND A DIME IN THE STADIUM! No beer , no sweatshirts, no hot dogs, nada. See if that helps to send the message!
guys,
well now we’ll get to see if it was carthon or if it’s the offensive line.
it’s a move that had to be made and romeo should have fired maurice during the bye week, but as they say, better late than never. will this solve some of their problems on offense? lets hope so, if not then the pressure starts to shift to roemeo, or maybe more so to phil savage. he’s the guy bringing in the talent ,or lack there of.
Roadman:
I went through your list and most of it i agreed with. But there were a couple of exceptions.
1. C. Frye - He is still considered a rookie in my book with a terrible O-line. Lets face it, if the Browns don’t address the o-line we may never know how good or bad C. frye will be becuase he will have suffered a multiple number of career setback injuries. AKA Tim Couch, Bernie Kosar)
2 The Browns have a few players who I think have outstanding potential. Wimbley, Winslow, Edwards, Bodden, and S. Jones. I know they need more…but i can remember years in the past when I could not give you on e good player except Gardocki.
I also question the motivation factor of Romeo. I look at myself and can’t really imagine getting fired up from Romeo…while these are professionals and they should not need much motivation, there are times it is needed and i don’t see it in Grandpa Romeo……We need a mix of Jim Tressels control, confidence, and intellegence and I really hate to say it, But Bill Cowher’s passion.
speaking o f cower, he still has not signed just imagine if cower doesn’t sign with the steelers…what is the possibillity of …….? i won’t even dare speak it….
Roadman,
I agree with most of what you said. However, I think it is too early to question Savage at this point. The past two off-seasons everyone had high expectations because of the free agents being brought in (McGinest, Bentley, Baxter, Droughns) and the draft picks. Whether they are the right choices now is irrelevant. At the time he made them, he was a genious yet every single on of the free agents this year (aside from Washington and Shaeffer) has missed at least one game due to injury.
They always say you need to give rookies 2-3 years before juding a draft, so let’s give Savage at least one more year to keep it going in the right direction. Having the testicular fortirude to tell Crennel to fire Carthon is a huge step for him in my book. Maybe Crennel will start looking over his shoulder and get this team playing like they are supposed to.
Kenny, here are my answers:
Worst Team: I will go with Tennessee.
Worst Brown: The O-line, by a long shot.
Randy’s Baby: His Bank
Frye: I hate to say it NO. The pass that he threw for the long interception was pitiful especially when the guy was 8 yards WIDE OPEN. He threw it to the wrong side of the receiver and didn’t allow for the wind. The more I see of Smith the more I like him. His accuracy is uncanny and his running ability elusive. He is a little short, but he has really developed into a thinking QB and would be the best the Browns have seen since Bernie.
Savage grade: D, how many offensive linemen that he has drafted are even playing pro football?
Crenne gradel: C- soon to be D, his players can’t block, catch, or throw. The only thing they can do is kick.
Best Player: Can I answer the cheerleaders or the beer vendors? If not I pick Winslow if he can just CATCH THE FRICKIN’ BALL!!!
Fans: Will allways stay true to this team. We are die hard football teams who have some of the best high school talent in the country. We should be spending on our money on high school games instead of the crap the browns put out there.
Let’s assume for the moment that the Browns go 2-14 or 3-13 at best. They’ll probably win one they shouldn’t and then beat either TB or Houston. Let’s say they are sitting at the #2 overall pick in 2007. I will be so pissed if they take a QB or WR. They may be forced to take a RB, but any other position except offensive lineman should be off the table for the next 3 years during the first 3 rounds. I don’t want that hack QB from Notre Dame and I don’t want Troy Smith. Even Braylon Edwards is looking to be a bust with all of his drops and this team cannot afford any more first day draft busts.
Lineman on both sides of the ball are not glamour picks, but they are the right way to go. Hopefully Savage is coming to realize that. If he doesn’t know, then maybe John Collins had the right idea last December and the rest of us are just plain dumb about Savage. I certainly hope that’s not the case.
If Chuck isn’t the answer at QB, do we pass on Troy Smith, who would probably be the best player on the board. Sure they could entertain some trade offers, but that’s a position of need, just like linemen, and defensive backs. This team is in really bad shape, and I think it would probably take 3 or 4 years before this team is competitive. By then Bodden, and Davis would probably be gone, and Wimbley and Jackson will be so fed up with the losing, they might want to leave also. Browns football is looking very bleek to me. Thank God we have the Buckeyes
I don’t disagree that Troy Smith would help the Browns. But even if Joe Montana or Johnny Unitas were back behind center, they would be doomed behind our atrocious line. This team has tried twice in 8 years to blossom a young QB while working behind a shoddy, patchwork offensive line. They did it in the 80s with Kosar. The QB is only as good as his men protecting him. Any NFL QB can make the throws when given enough time - even the inaccurate Charlie Frye.
I would love for Troy Smith to come to Cleveland, but we need help in so many other areas first.
Being the stupid Steelers fan that you are, you wouldn’t understand the term loyalty. Just because we are losing doesn’t mean we can’t still back the team. It’s frustrating for sure, but , as G says, it’s a huge part of this community and we have loyal fans here. You showed your true Steelers colors, Kenny - only go to the games when you win. What a loser you are!
Roda,
The Browns are the only thing that makes winter time bearable for me. It is very sad that they are still a losing team. But I do believe in Phil and Romeo. I also believe that Randy has hired football people to tun the team and he is letting them do it. If he was sticking his head in we would say he was medling. Im willing to give these guys a chance until the middle of next season, we cant keep changing and were not dealing with a Butch Davis situation, there not running this franchise into the ground like he was. As far as I know they actually have many people who know what there doing not just two guys running the show. If we fix our O-line and figure out what Charlie can do then we will be on our way. That fix might have to wait until next year so maybe we bring in a QB with potential next season in case Charlie is not our guy.