CLEVELAND TEAMS

New head coach Pat Shurmer is starting to clean house, releases a group of veterans over the age the 30 in an effort to make the team younger. GM Tom Heckert had indicated that the Browns needed to get younger, particularly on defense, even if they stuck with the 3-4 defense. With the move to the 4-3, it probable made it easier to part ways with many in this group.

The Browns’ housecleaning under new coach Pat Shurmur began Wednesday when the team cut six players, including three-time Pro Bowl nose tackle Shaun Rogers and three of Eric Mangini’s former Jets.

In addition to Rogers, the contracts of linebackers Eric Barton and David Bowens, defensive end Kenyon Coleman, right tackle John St. Clair and tight end Robert Royal were terminated. All six were over 30 and Barton, Bowens, and Coleman all played for Mangini in New York.

These guys were mostly good players in their time, but they’re all getting old. Royal was a disaster as a receiver, but he was a good blocker. It wasn’t his fault that Mangini and Daboll kept using him in the passing game.

With this decision, I’m thinking the Browns might be planning on taking advantage of all the quality defensive linemen in the draft this year.

Mary Kay Cabot is reporting that Shaun Rogers is done for the season. It’s a big blow for a Browns team that has only managed one ugly win all season.

Rogers has been having a great year, and the defense played fairly well against Cincinnati giving up just 16 points. But injuries are now piling up.

Yesterday’s loss was naturally disappointing, but hearing guys like Tony Grossi say that these are the “same old Browns” is just ridiculous.

First, it’s one game against a team that has Super Bowl talent. They got beat by the best running back in the NFL, and they held him in check in the first half. The Vikings made good adjustments and with the Browns offense folding in the second half the defense was put in a tough spot.

Next, the defense is completely new. The Browns got great pressure and they got four sacks. The vanilla defense from the Crennel years is gone. Kamerion Wimbley looks like a real player again, and Shaun Rogers was also a stud again. Also, we saw the cornerbacks playing the receivers very tightly. I thought I was looking at Dixon and Minnifield from the 1980’s. That was very refreshing.

The offense was a problem, and Brady Quinn looked terrible. We can’t draw too many conclusions after just one game, particularly against a tough Vikings defense. That said, he needs to bounce back and start looking like a pro quarterback very quickly. Hopefully he’ll get better with time, but if he doesn’t make real progress by week 4, they need to take a look at Anderson.

It was, however, refreshing to see them run the no-huddle offense. They also introduced a Wildcat formation with Josh Cribbs, though they made a mistake running it twice in the red zone, particularly on the one yard line. Why couldn’t they run a QB sneak with Quinn?

Things change dramatically from week to week on the NFL. The Browns have a new regime and a new starting quarterback, so drawing the Vikings in week one was a tough one. Next week they have the Broncos, we were lucky to beat the lowly Bengals yesterday, so the Browns have a chance to show what they can do next week.