I'm going to the Kansas City game! I'm hoping for a good game with good weather, and of course a victory!

Damn we are thin at WR.

 

This isn't a passing team right now. Even so, I'm liking Ben Watson and Evan Moore at TE, and don't forget that Massaquoi averaged 18 yards per catch on 34 receptions in his rookie season. We don't yet know what Robiskie can do for us as this really will be his rookie season, and at the other extreme is 14-year veteran Bobby Engram who has more than 600 catches. What does he have left? And let's not overlook Chansi Stuckey who had 62 receptions over the last two years with Cleveland and the Jets, plus there's 2010 draft pick Carlton Mitchell.

 

While we don't have an established, rock-solid receiving corps, there's enough there to inspire optimism and certainly enough to pique this fan's interest.

Just watching this gets me excited for this season even more.

 

Jerome Harrison - 2009 Highlights (HD)

Montario who?

 

Seriously, did Jerome's agent commission that video?

So I'm looking at the poll and wondering where people are getting 8, 9, 10 or more wins from this Cleveland Browns team.  So I pull up the schedule to go through it game by game to see how many wins I think we can realistically expect. 

 

Feel free to play along.

 

1 Sep 12 CLE @ TB - WIN!

2 Sep 19 KC @ CLE - WIN!  If we don't win our first two it could be a long year.

3 Sep 26 CLE @ BAL - LOSS... they're stacked.  No chance in Baltimore.

4 Oct 03 CIN @ CLE - LOSS... also stacked.  Only chance to win is if Harrison and Hardesty have 300 yards combined rushing.

5 Oct 10 ATL @ CLE - WIN!

6 Oct 17 CLE @ PIT - LOSS... they're down, but they're still Pittsburgh.  Could be Ben's first game back.

7 Oct 24 CLE @ NO - LOSS... no explanation needed.

8 Bye 

9 Nov 07 NE @ CLE - LOSS... this game will be close, but we don't have the poise to win it.

10 Nov 14 NYJ @ CLE - LOSS... This Jets team is even better then last years.  Only hope is for Braylon to fumble about 4 times.

11 Nov 21 CLE @ JAC - WIN!  Two not very good teams battle it out.  We should win this one.

12 Nov 28 CAR @ CLE - WIN!  See above.

13 Dec 05 CLE @ MIA - LOSS... Miami's just better than Cleveland.  Especially at home.

14 Dec 12 CLE @ BUF - WIN!  They should stink.

15 Dec 19 CLE @ CIN - LOSS... Cincinnati could be playing to clinch the division this week.

16 Dec 26 BAL @ CLE - LOSS... maybe they will rest all their starters if they've already clinched?  Probably not.

17 Jan 02 PIT @ CLE - WIN!  They'll steal an emotional victory to "save the season" from an emotionally drained and dying Steelers team.

 

So there you have it.  I predict 7-9.  HOWEVER, I think we might be able to steal one at home from the Patriots and split the series with Cincinnati or Baltimore.  I won't call you crazy for predicting 8 or 9 wins... just very optimistic.  I will call you crazy if you say 10 or more wins.

 

Fair assessment. I would predict the same.

4 Oct 03 CIN @ CLE - LOSS... also stacked.  Only chance to win is if Harrison and Hardesty have 300 yards combined rushing.

 

Only chance?  Doubt it.  What if T.O. has an accident with a sharpie during pre-game rituals and can't play?  What if the Ohio Adult Parole Authority throws some monkey wrench in the plans and the Bengals have to play iron-man football that day?  What if Ocho Cinco scores on the first drive, leaps into the Dawg Pound and is never heard from again?  Or maybe we sign Brian Russell again for that game and O.C. goes into the fetile position at the start of every play?  There are lots of scenarios where I could see us winning that game.

Awesome, Hts121. Love the Chad Johnson scenario.

Can't wait for football.  My wife asked if I wanted to see a Browns vs Steelers game this year.... heck yeah.  Then she told me it would be IN Pittsburgh... yuck.  I would rather get the 3 ticket deal at Browns stadium, that is less expensive than 1 game in Pittsburgh.

 

I'll ask her if she can deal with stuff being thrown at us in Heinz Field, that ought to do the trick.

5 in a row!

 

Pass coverage looked suspect, but then again... GB does have one of the best passing games in the league with plenty of options for Rogers to utilize.  Every other asset looked pretty good.  Run defense was impressive.  I love how the 1's marched right down the field on offense and scored.  Evan Moore is going to really come on this year, I feel.  TJ Ward is a player.  We haven't had a safety like that in a while.  Alex Mack continues to get better and is destined to be one of the best centers in the league IMHO.  Vickers is still doing his thing.  We're fine with either Delhomme or Wallace.  Both can play much better than anyone we had back there last season.

 

The negatives were the corner play and Colt McCoy's passes beyond 10 yards.  The running game didn't blow me away either but GB is tough on D in their front 7.

 

I'm ready.  Football every weekend from now until the week before the Super Bowl!

Look alot better than I had hoped for. Browns had the 3rd team QB on the series after GB took out thier 1st team QB. Looked great against GB starting D.  TJ Ward is a Beast!  Bring on the next game. 

Is it to early to predict superbowl?  :drunk:

I wouldn't say five in a row.  Since this is the pre season and nothing matters or counts.

 

Waaaaaaaay to early to buy your superbowl tickets.

I wouldn't say five in a row. Since this is the pre season and nothing matters or counts.

 

Waaaaaaaay to early to buy your superbowl tickets.

 

Why is the milk in my wheaties all yellow after reading that?

 

Phil Dawson!

I wouldn't say five in a row.  Since this is the pre season and nothing matters or counts.

 

Waaaaaaaay to early to buy your superbowl tickets.

 

Why is the milk in my wheaties all yellow after reading that?

 

 

LMAO

This is my first chance to chime in on Saturday's game......

 

Actually, this is what I was expecting from our offense -- after the regular season got started and against some of the chump teams! I was not expecting such a crisply run offense in our first preseason game -- against the first team defense of the Packers. But I was expecting good play from Seneca Wallace. I keep telling ya that he can be the quarterback of the present and future for the Browns. I think he's perfect for our offense that relies on tight-ends, play action, trick plays and passes to guys coming out of the backfield.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by our wide receivers. While I've been confident about Mohamed Massaquoi since his decent rookie season, I've been only hopeful about Brian Robiskie. My hope is stronger after his performance Saturday. But let's see some more from him. Chansi Stuckey still hasn't gotten into the offense much. I think all of you who wondered who the Browns QBs will throw to has been answered. There's no shortage of targets. But it shouldn't have taken a preseason game to realize that Ben Watson is a quality receiver at TE and that Evan Moore has really come around. Moore was showing some of that at the end of last year.

 

I think our backs catching passes out of the backfield on screens and play action has a lot of potential, especially this enigma Peyton Hillis. I think they should consider converting him to TE. He's certainly big enough, and he probably won't get much action at RB with Harrison and Hardesty around.

 

As for the defense, this may be one of those rare instances where it takes longer for the defense to gel than it does the offense. There seem to be a lot more rookies starting on defense, although they do seem to be quality players. But it was apparent they just didn't have the experience to match up with Green Bay's finely tuned offensive machine. Still, it took some near-perfect execution to beat our guys, and more experience will help them stay with potent offenses like Green Bay's in the future. But it could be mid-season before they really gel and can avoid getting steamrolled like what the Packers did to them.

 

We may have to outscore some teams early on in the season -- and we may be in a position now to do that.

Eric Mangini: Cleveland Browns will abandon the brown-pants look

09:48 AMYahoo! BuzzShare

 

 

Browns returned to their white shirt-on-white pants look for last weekend's road game in Green Bay. Last season they wore brown pants with the white shirt as their primary road uniform, a look that drew scorn from some fans.

 

Coach Eric Mangini told The Cleveland Plain-Dealer the Browns won't use the brown pants anymore.

 

"It wasn't very well-received," Mangini said. "I hope we can get to the point where we can wear fruit on our heads and people wouldn't notice."

 

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2010/08/eric-mangini-cleveland-browns-will-abandon-the-brown-pants-look/1

I never liked the Brown Pants.  We were bad enough, pants that look like crap stains just added to the mess.

 

Can I change my vote to 16 wins?

Woooooo Browns-Rams game this weekend!  At least I know for sure there won't be anyone screaming "overrated" at any of the Rams players causing them to get touchdowns since they suck so badly unlike when Pujols and the Cardinals were in town and he hit three homers in one game......

Woooooo Browns-Rams game this weekend!  At least I know for sure there won't be anyone screaming "overrated" at any of the Rams players causing them to get touchdowns since they suck so badly unlike when Pujols and the Cardinals were in town and he hit three homers in one game......

 

the Cleveland Rams vs. the Cleveland Browns.  How cute!

I'm interested to see what QB Sam Bradford will do and if the Browns will try to blitz him on every place. Maybe Joe Haden will be able to better disguise a CB blitz than he did last week?!?!?

 

My hopes for this weekend: continued consistent play from our young WRs, a more prolific running game, better coverage by our DBs and more good hits by TJ Ward. Oh, and I want to see some bombs by Seneca Wallace!

 

Is Peyton Hillis expected to play? I heard he was dinged up in practice this week but I can't get the injury report to load at clevelandbrowns.com. I'd like to see more of this guy, especially running screens.

Make no mistake about it, the Rams woke up this morning and knew they played the Browns.  We hurt at least 5 of their players and rattled a few more.  It might not be the best team, but this is undoubtedly the most physical team we have had since the late 1980's

The first quarter was pretty hard to watch, hardly even got to see the offense at all.  I was surprised to see that Jake Delhomme had a QB rating of 118, but I guess a lot of the ugliness was not his doing.

 

There were some nice hits like Hts121 pointed out.  Peyton Hillis really got the crowd going with some nice hard fought runs, Vickers looked good to.  I checked and Hillis averaged 4.5 yards per carry while Harrison averaged over 7 yards with only 6 carries.  You kind of forget the high points of Harrison's day because of his loosing the ball twice.

 

It doesn't count, but they would have "won" if they kicked the field goal on fourth down instead of going for it on 4th and 3.  I'm glad they went for it, we know Dawson can kick so going for it was more productive.

I still agree they probably won't win a lot this year.  If the preseason is any real indication they should be a lot more fun to watch.  Lovable losers maybe?

So we traded BQ for Hillis? That was a pretty sweet trade. He would kill himself the way he runs if he was the featured back carrying most of the work load but give him around 5-10 touches a game and watch him go!

 

So my only question is who put the car wax on the ball in the first quarter?

I know. I guess they were new footballs and you are supposed to break them in before you use them or they are too slippery. Added with rain it's almost impossible to hold on to. In a regular season game that would never happen so it's nothing to worry about. Delhomme won't bobble snaps and Harrison won't have a fumbling problem.

So we traded BQ for Hillis? That was a pretty sweet trade. He would kill himself the way he runs if he was the featured back carrying most of the work load but give him around 5-10 touches a game and watch him go!

 

So my only question is who put the car wax on the ball in the first quarter?

Don't forget the Browns also got two draft picks (in addition to Hillis) for BQ, one was used this year to move up and get Hardesty.  Fleeced!

I thought BQ may have had some potential, but for where he was at the time we traded him we got a good deal.

 

 

I still like Hillis on screen passes. He got a lot of yards on a screen or two in the Green Bay game but then they went away from it. I hope they did that so they could see what else he could do.

 

And Saturday night's game didn't bother me. I think at the end of the third quarter after both teams' first- and second-stringers had played, the Browns had outgained the Rams nearly 300 yards to just 100 for the Rams.

thoughts on our young DB's so far? I know its early but I think Haden will be solid and Ward looks to be one helluva player.  I watched the Oregon vs Ohio State Rose bowl over the wknd and Ward was by far the best player on the field.  Dude's a baller. 

I just read an article that brought up the possibility of Cribbs, Wallace and Delhomme all lined up together.  Who would take the snap?  That sounds entertaining at the very least, even if it is just a gimmick.

 

The Hillis deal does seem pretty good at this point.  When it happened I thought "who?".... 2 practice games answered that question.  Hopefully we can feel the same way in the next few years.

Even Tony Grossi is starting to come around, or at least he stopped whining . Nobody expects this team to play for the AFC title but at least they are going to be competative this year.

 

Still waiting for Hardesty to play.

Heritage -- I like:

 

 

Sixteen inaugural members of Cleveland Browns Ring of Honor unveiled

 

 

As the Cleveland Browns and their fans hopefully look ahead to better days, the franchise is looking back to pay homage to its glory years.

 

A Cleveland Browns Ring of Honor will be added to the stadium's upper deck facade and a ceremony celebrating the inaugural members will occur during halftime of the team's home opener vs. the Kansas City Chiefs on Sept. 19.

 

"Our heritage and alumni are vital parts of our organization," said Browns President Mike Holmgren in a team release Thursday.

 

 

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2010/08/sixteen-inaugural-members-of-cleveland-browns-ring-of-honor-unveiled/1

 

Whoa... what happened to the trash talking thread?

Another impressive showing from a physicality standpoint.  Lawrence Vickers may have surpassed Josh Cribbs as my favorite Brown.  Anyone know where to get a #47 jersey?

First team did well, with a little bit of second team mixing in by the second part of the third quarter. We outscored them 27-14 by the end of the third quarter. And aside from the first drive by Detroit, I thought the Browns defense did a decent job until the second- and third-stringers came in. Jake Delhomme looked very solid and in control of the offense, with some good audibles and reads. My guy Seneca wasn't as awesome as before, but still sound.

 

The fumbling is maddening. I think Mangini needs to punish those who fumble by having them carry a football around everywhere they go and treat it like a baby. There weren't too many penalties though.

 

This was probably the dress rehearsal for the regular season. My take is that the offense will be above average, which is reflective of our offensive line. As long as the offense doesn't shoot itself in the foot with turnovers and penalties, it appears to have enough talent to perform well against most teams.

 

Special teams is fine. Cribbs is great, Dawson is awesome and Hodges is decent in Zastudil's absence. The coverage is average and unspectacular.

 

The defense is the biggest question. Unless we can pick up a defensive lineman during the cut to the 53-man roster, this defense isn't going to stop many teams. I realize Robaire Smith hasn't played, but our defense can't rely on one man. We may also have to convert some of our decent linebackers to defensive lineman, such as David Bowens, if only in how they are deployed. Perhaps some of our young DBs will play better as they get more experience. Those are the only ways I can see this team stopping people.

 

But like I said a month or so ago, we may have to outscore some teams early in the season.

I think our defense has 'settled in' quite nicely the first three games.  Sure, the first drives in each game were ugly... but take those away and they haven't looked that bad.  They could use some depth at DE.  Bowens is probably too small to play DE in a 3-4.  The most glaring weaknesses on D are that the front 7 is slow and Abe Elam should not be a starting safety in the NFL.  But Elam and the front 7 are very physical, big and strong.  We should be above average in the red zone and in goalline defenses.  I think we have three legit starting cornerbacks and that is huge in today's game.  Rogers and Rubin are as good a 1-2 punch at NT as you will find.  The LBs are huge, albeit not the fastest.  I think Jackson will replace Barton when he gets healthy.  Overall, the defense has a physical presence to it.  They may get beat, but they are going to dole out some pain also. 

You have more trust in this defense than I do. But I do think they will stablize as the season goes along. Problem is the middle of the season's schedule is brutal. I hope Browns fans don't jump off bridges if we have a seven-game losing streak in weeks 3-10. I'm hopeful we can beat the Bengals or the Falcons at home in weeks 4 and 5, but if we can't win one or both of those games then that's going to be reallllly tough stretch.

If Tony Grossi owned the team they could be the Cleveland Bronzers! TG I kid because I love. I went to listen to his podcast and I just had to share the picture. I feel for the guy a little because Mangini comes from the Belechik school of secrecy the guy won't give you the time a day even if he has a watch on his wrist....Romeo probably gave him a copy of the play sheets each week. It was a big change and he has a lot of column to fill each week.

 

I actually think that his regime, with the addition of Holmgrem, has become much, much more responsive to media questions.  Crennel was AWFUL... he always gave the company line which they could have put the towel boy at the podium to deliver.  Mangini was slightly better last year.  But Holmgrem has brought a new style and his responses are almost never boilerplate.  Mangini seems to be following suit.

I would like to personally like to thank Jim Brown for getting Cleveland back in the national spotlight again, just after the Lebron-a-drama died down.

Is that really a 'national spotlight' story?  I know it is a big deal here in Cleveland...

No doubt. How could such a big man like Jim Brown be such a crybaby? He was a consultant to the Browns in era when the only team that performed worse was the Detroit Lions. Jim Brown was part of a team that didn't perform and Mike Holmgren was brought in to clean house.

 

Dear Jim:  just because you were one of the best football players ever, doesn't make you a good front-office man. You had the ear of Al Lerner and then Randy, and they listened to you. What did it get us? You should know from being around the game that if you don't perform, you don't get to play.

Eh you got me, it's one of the headlines of both ESPN and SI NFL pages.  I was just annoyed to see it there when I wrote that.

 

Apparently Brady Quinn is now the 3rd string behind Tebow out in Denver. That trade keeps getting better.

This was bush-league of Suh...

 

NFL to review Detroit rookie Ndamukong Suh's

face mask of Browns quarterback Jake Delhomme

08-30-2010 06:40 PM EDT |By TOM WITHERS, AP Sports Writer

 

BEREA, Ohio (Associated Press) -- Lions rookie defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh grabbed Jake Delhomme's face mask, twisted it, wrapped his arms around the Browns quarterback's head and slammed him to the ground.

 

It was hard to watch _ in real time or instant replay.

 

The Browns hope the NFL looks at it again.

 

Cleveland coach Eric Mangini expects the league to review Suh's rough treatment of Delhomme in Saturday's exhibition game in Detroit.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://ww2.cox.com/myconnection/cleveland/today/news/local-sports/article.cox?articleId=D9HU36IO0&moduleType=apNews

^Agreed.  The initial facemask is understandable... that happens, but the ensuing headlock and body slam was just uncalled for.  Some kind of punishment is probably warranted for his actions be it a suspension or fine.

I have some sympathy for defensive lineman (or defensive players generally) in these types of situations.  It is a violent sport played on quick bursts or energy and adreline.  You can do something on the field that looks totally intentional on instant replay when, in fact, it was not.  The penalty was definitely warranted.  I'm not sure about the fine and suspension, but I understand that the NFL has got to give it for purposes of consistent and even application of the rules.

he put him in a headlock and twisted his head. thats the reason i think it is worth some sort of penalty.

^Have you ever played defensive line?  I never said it wasn't worth a penalty.  It surely was - personal foul, unnecessary roughness, 15 yards.  And, for purposes of consistency, he has to be fined.  I just think that the NFL is putting defensive players in a tougher and tougher position.  The speed and physical nature of the game make it very hard to comply with the ever-growing rules intended to protect the QB.

^I see where you're going with the ridiculous protection of the QB in todays NFL and I agree with you, but this wasn't some guy tapping a QB on the helmet while trying to block a pass.  This was a guy that torqued the QB's head by grabbing his mask from behind then basically put him in a choke hold, twisted, and threw him to the ground all AFTER he threw the ball!  I understand that he probably didn't know that in the heat of the moment, but it doesn't matter.  You are simply not allowed to take down any player like that in any situation.  Especially an NFL quarterback that doesn't have the ball.

 

He deserves a 1 game suspension.