What is such a bummer is that at the start of the season running back was one of the only positions on this team that could be considered a legitimate "strength", and now that Hardesty has proven to be not reliable and Hillis has been run out of town, it is now a major position of need.
Typical Browns though, I guess we were just so strong everywhere else Shurmur decided to marginalize Hillis in his offense so as to make sure he wouldn't be back.
Also, has anyone seen the PFT story about how the Browns are now known as the most predictable team in the league offensively.
The story goes that Michael Lombardi of NFL.com has a former head coach he calls each week and over the phone gives the Browns personnel group, the formation, where the ball is located on the field and what hash mark and describe the motion — if there is any — and ask him to tell me the exact play that will be run. "
He is correct about 95 percent of the time. No lie." “The Browns are so integrated into the West Coast system that their predictability is becoming legendary around the league,” Lombardi writes. "
If a coach on the phone knows what play is coming from the Browns, you can be sure opposing defensive coordinators know what’s coming too."
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/05/browns-offense-getting-reputation-for-predictability/Good thing Holmgren brought in Pat "my offense is always in the bottom 20% of the league when I'm in charge" Shurmur to take us from the caveman offense Mangini days all the way back to the prehistoric dinosaur period because he is proving to be a disaster as a head coach. He can't run the offense, and from what we have seen has absolutely no respect from or control over his locker-room. Just pathetic.
