2012 Cleveland Browns thread: AKA Pat Shurmur Memorial thread

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Midstate01's avatar
Midstate01
Posts: 14,766
Jul 20, 2012 4:02pm
Browns schedule is absolutely brutal. 6-8 wins would be great. Next year is the year I think they break out.
hoops23's avatar
hoops23
Posts: 15,696
Jul 20, 2012 4:05pm
I honestly went through the schedule without keeping track of wins and losses... I had a few upsets, but when I was on the last game against Pitt, I had the Browns at 8-7. I had them finishing 8-8.

I had them going 1-5 in the division.
like_that's avatar
like_that
Posts: 26,625
Jul 20, 2012 4:07pm
Midstate01;1230021 wrote:Browns schedule is absolutely brutal. 6-8 wins would be great. Next year is the year I think they break out.
The schedule is going to be just as tough next year. They simply just have to get better instead of worrying about the schedule.
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BR1986FB
Posts: 24,104
Jul 20, 2012 5:23pm
like_that's avatar
like_that
Posts: 26,625
Jul 20, 2012 5:46pm
BR1986FB;1230094 wrote:
If God was a Browns fan, they would have won a SB by now.
Mr Miyagi's avatar
Mr Miyagi
Posts: 1,211
Jul 20, 2012 11:41pm
^^^^ God made Byner fumble the ball
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Footwedge
Posts: 9,265
Jul 21, 2012 12:27am
Mr Miyagi;1230344 wrote:^^^^ God made Byner fumble the ball
God will deal with Byner come judgement day. And Elway too for that matter.
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BR1986FB
Posts: 24,104
Jul 21, 2012 8:07am
Mr Miyagi;1230344 wrote:^^^^ God made Byner fumble the ball
No...that POS Slaughter with his "lookout" block was the reason for that fumble. Either way, if Byner gets in it only ties the game. With the way Elway was picking apart our defense he probably leads them to a game winning score anyhow.
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BR1986FB
Posts: 24,104
Jul 21, 2012 8:08am
Footwedge;1230362 wrote:God will deal with Byner come judgement day. And Elway too for that matter.
Slaughter's to blame, not Byner. Look back on that game and if not for Byner that's at least a 20 point blowout for Denver.
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BR1986FB
Posts: 24,104
Jul 21, 2012 8:27am
Mr Miyagi's avatar
Mr Miyagi
Posts: 1,211
Jul 21, 2012 12:02pm
God made Slaughter miss the block. Is that better?
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BR1986FB
Posts: 24,104
Jul 21, 2012 3:17pm
Mr Miyagi;1230496 wrote:God made Slaughter miss the block. Is that better?
Much
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Footwedge
Posts: 9,265
Jul 21, 2012 3:38pm
BR1986FB;1230402 wrote:Slaughter's to blame, not Byner. Look back on that game and if not for Byner that's at least a 20 point blowout for Denver.
Webster was awesome that day too...except for the missed block. St. Peter will whack Webbie with his cane at the Pearly gates no doubt.
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BR1986FB
Posts: 24,104
Jul 21, 2012 9:15pm
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BR1986FB
Posts: 24,104
Jul 22, 2012 7:29am
ABOUT THE LACK OF EXPECTATIONS FOR THE BROWNS . . .
1. At some point, Browns coaches will talk to the players about the team being picked as the worst in football, how they are only going to win one or two games. They are going to stress the "they don't respect us" theme. And they also plan to say that respect is earned, and they plan to go out and do that . . . one game at a time.

2. Let's think about some of those predictions. Pete Prisco of CBSSports.com has them winning one game. Pro Football Talk rated them at the bottom of the NFL. Other predictions have them between two and four victories. Remember what a mess they were last season, and how their offense was one of the worst in franchise history? They still were 4-12.

3. Publicly, the Browns will insist that they will be improved. OK, team President Mike Holmgren is saying more than that, but it's silly to pick a record. As one Browns operative told me, "It easy for people to knock us because we haven't done much." So true. The team is 18-46 over the past four seasons and there has been one playoff appearance since 1999.

4. But let's think about this for a moment. The Browns have added two first-rounders: Brandon Weeden (quarterback) and Trent Richardson (running back). Two second-rounders: Mitchell Schwartz (right tackle) and Josh Gordon (wide receiver -- supplemental draft). There are obviously others players in the lower rounds that they like and some may even start.

5. But the team added four players from the first two rounds, and all on offense. They lost no major free agents, Mike Adams is the only starter to leave (Denver). So all the key players are back, and they added youth along with veteran defensive ends Frostee Rucker and Juqua Parker.

6. The Browns believe their coaching staff is stronger, especially with the addition of new offensive coordinator Brad Childress and special assistant Norm Cromwell. Childress is a former Vikings head coach, Cromwell has extensive experience and he's working a lot with receivers.

7. The Browns know they play in a tough division, and the schedule looks rugged. They know the team is very young, and that leads to losing some games in the final minutes. But they are convinced they'll be better, because they have a significant infusion of talent.
ABOUT THE BROWNS' SPECIAL TEAMS . . .

1. The Browns are convinced their special teams will be better. A year ago, veteran punter Brad Maynard was solid as a directional kicker, but he ranked last in yards per punt (40.5). In terms of net yardage, he ranked 27th. He replaced Reggie Hodges, who tore an Achilles tendon in training camp.

2. Hodges is back healthy and impressed the coaches with his punting in minicamps. In 2010, he averaged 43.9 yards per punt. He was the ninth-ranked punter and an excellent holder. The Browns believe that with Phil Dawson, Hodges and long snapper Christian Yount, the overall kicking game will be in for a major upgrade.

3. The Browns lost two games because of poor snaps by long snapper Ryan Pontbriand. He was replaced by Yount, who brought immediate stability to the position. Pontbriand went to minicamps with the San Francisco 49ers, but he was cut by former Browns special teams coach Brad Seely. Given that Pontbriand thrived under Seely (2009-10), you know the guy is struggling.

4. The Browns also believe the coverage will be better because Joshua Cribbs will be on nearly every special team, offense (as a returner) and defense. He is superb on coverage. They also think some of the young linebackers and defensive backs will help, players such as Buster Skrine, Kaluka Maiava, Owen Marecic (a college linebacker), James Michael Johnson, Emmanuel Acho, Brad Smelley, Eric Hagg and Trevin Wade.

5. This is a huge year for Chris Tabor, in his second season as special teams coach. He had a rocky rookie year. Cribbs ranked sixth in punt returns, 12th in kickoff returns. One goal is to get Cribbs back to an elite level as a return man, not easy with the new kickoff rules that have led to more touchbacks and fewer return possibilities.

http://www.cleveland.com/pluto/blog/index.ssf/2012/07/terry_plutos_talkin_about_dion.html


Richardson...

http://www.ohio.com/news/top-stories/browns-rookie-trent-richardson-believes-everything-he-has-overcome-will-help-him-succeed-in-the-nfl-1.321907

Running back battle...

http://www.ohio.com/sports/browns/battles-of-berea-browns-running-backs-brandon-jackson-montario-hardesty-vie-to-back-up-trent-richardson-1.321847

Acho...

http://www.cantonrep.com/browns/x328564471/Emmanuel-Acho-on-a-mission-to-help-Browns

Ryan Miller....

http://www.cantonrep.com/browns/x328564497/Ryan-Miller-hopes-to-beef-up-Browns-offensive-line

JMJ...

http://www.cantonrep.com/browns/x1400282371/Can-Johnson-reverse-Browns-fortune-at-linebacker

No closer to deals with Richardson, Weeden...

http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2012/07/cleveland_browns_appear_no_clo.html

One of the things that I like about the "lack of expectations" is that besides being under the radar, these guys are too young & dumb to know that they are not "supposed to win." They just don't know any better.
KnightRyder's avatar
KnightRyder
Posts: 1,428
Jul 22, 2012 10:13am
BR1986FB;1230401 wrote:No...that POS Slaughter with his "lookout" block was the reason for that fumble. Either way, if Byner gets in it only ties the game. With the way Elway was picking apart our defense he probably leads them to a game winning score anyhow.
bingo! the browns offense put up over 30 points that day. if i some one would have told me the browns would score 30+ points i would have bet the house on the browns. marty's D always seemed to let the browns down in big games.
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sportchampps
Posts: 7,361
Jul 22, 2012 10:44am
As a benagls fan....

I think the browns really improved this offseason. Trent richardson is gonna be a beast. I really have no opinion of if weeden will make it or not. I think were gonna have to wait until the season starts to find out where he is but he can't do much worse the colt did last year. As long as the the coaching staff uses trich right the browns should put more points on the board.

The defense will get help from Rucker and Parker but the loss of Phil Taylor is going to hurt an already terrible run stoping d. IMO the browns are a better team then last year but the schedule that the arc north plays this year is difficult to say the least. After looking at the schedule I just can't see the browns winning more then 4-5 this year.
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sportchampps
Posts: 7,361
Jul 22, 2012 10:50am
Another question from a bengals fan....

Let's say the experts are correct the browns finish with the worst record in football. We will say Brandon weeden looks just ok and still hasn't answered enough questions for anyone to know if he's the real deal. Do the browns draft Barkley or pass on the promising qb to give weeden another year.
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BR1986FB
Posts: 24,104
Jul 22, 2012 11:06am
sportchampps;1230872 wrote:Another question from a bengals fan....

Let's say the experts are correct the browns finish with the worst record in football. We will say Brandon weeden looks just ok and still hasn't answered enough questions for anyone to know if he's the real deal. Do the browns draft Barkley or pass on the promising qb to give weeden another year.
If Weeden looks absolutely horrible I think they'd have to strongly consider looking at a QB. My reason for saying this is that if this team regresses from 4-12 to say 1-15, Holmgren & Heckert are gone and a new regime is likely going to want their own QB anyhow.
DeyDurkie5's avatar
DeyDurkie5
Posts: 11,324
Jul 22, 2012 11:11am
sportchampps;1230871 wrote: the schedule that the arc north plays this year is difficult to say the least. After looking at the schedule I just can't see the browns winning more then 4-5 this year.
Last year, everyone had the bengals winning 1 game and finishing dead last in the NFL. It's not hard to see the browns pulling some wins out of their ass. Hell, with an offense last year, they win probably 6-8 games.

As for your next question, I'm not going to address it because there is no way the browns finish dead last in the NFL.
SportsAndLady's avatar
SportsAndLady
Posts: 35,632
Jul 22, 2012 11:38am
Lol the Colts got rid of Peyton Manning for a franchise QB at #1 overall....so yes we would get rid of Brandon Fucking Weeden if we had the #1 overall
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Footwedge
Posts: 9,265
Jul 22, 2012 2:19pm
No excuse for this team not to compete THIS year for the division crown. This is pro football and now the team has players...and some additional proven coaches on the offensive side of the ball.

The time to start winning is now.
hoops23's avatar
hoops23
Posts: 15,696
Jul 22, 2012 2:26pm
Footwedge;1231020 wrote:No excuse for this team not to compete THIS year for the division crown. This is pro football and now the team has players...and some additional proven coaches on the offensive side of the ball.

The time to start winning is now.
It's possible. The Bengals were in a similar situation last year and improved drastically. Beat the teams that you should and beat the ones that are close in talent or a bit better on paper and you'll find yourself having a good season.

As I said, I went through the schedule and just quickly reeled off "win, loss, win," etc without keeping track of how many wins and losses the Browns had.

When I got to the last game, I looked at where I was at. I had them 8-7 going into Pitt for a winning record. I ultimately had them losing and finishing 8-8, but I'd be happy with that; especially given that our schedule is so tough on paper.
ohiobucks1's avatar
ohiobucks1
Posts: 4,915
Jul 22, 2012 2:37pm
I am saying 7-9

But that would be OK with me.

Playoffs in 13