Browns fans were in their seats for kick-off of last night's showdown with division-rival Baltimore, apparently electing not to follow through with the proposed plan to wait until after kick-off to find their seats.
It's a good thing, too; a gesture like that would have almost certainly caused the franchise much embarassment.
Though, in retrospect, it probably would not have been any more embarassing than the product the Browns put on the field last night.
Between the head coach and defensive coordinator yelling at one another, the glaring inability of a miserable offensive unit to forge any kind of rhythm and the team's best player leaving the field on a stretcher just after the game's final, inconsequential, play the scene inside Cleveland Browns Stadium last night more closely resembled an ass kicking than a football game.
The Browns are worse than bad, they are dysfunctional and that is a problem much deeper than who your starting quarterback is. Cleveland has zero continuity offensively, no methodology, scheme or identity and plays are called seemingly with no regard for down, distance or situation.
On multiple occassions last night quarterback Brady Quinn, starting for the first time since a week-three benching in Baltimore, threw to spots where no receiver could be found. The offensive line commits drive-killing penalties when it's not allowing drive-killing sacks. Running back Jamal Lewis has lost a step-and-a-half and now runs like a shell of his former self.
Despite all the offensive struggles the Browns defense actually isn't all that bad. Statistically, sure, they're terrible, but keep in mind that unit is playing against a stacked deck. The Browns offense is so bad, it sets the defense up for certain failure.
Cleveland's defense last night held an offense that averages 349 yards and 24 points per game to just 289 yards and 10 offensive points. Defensively, the Browns have some guys capable of doing good things.
David Bowens had a big game last night, recording seven tackles and a pair of sacks. Kaluka Maiava, the rookie from USC, notched six tackles last night and I was particularly impressed with the play of Brandon McDonald who recorded four tackles of his own, including a sack of Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco who was routinely confused by the defensive audibles made by McDonald. Of course, we cannot forget about Shaun Rogers who blocked another extra point and spent the bulk of his evening pressuring Flacco.
For all the struggles the offense has experienced as a unit, even it has a couple guys that seem to have some talent. Rookie Mohamed Massaquoi had a thirty-yard catch and run last night, Joshua Cribbs has proven, time and again, to be a dynamic player on offense and special teams and Chris Jennings looks like a guy that will compete for the starting job at running back next season after Lewis mercifully retires.
I haven't given up on Brady Quinn yet, either. Obviously, he did not play well last night. I won't even try and make the contrary argument, but in Quinn's defense he, too, has been placed in an extremely difficult situation.
Brady Quinn's childhood dream of being the starting quarterback of the Cleveland Browns is beginning to resemble a horrific calamity thanks largely to the Mangini Regime.
That coaching staff has jerked this guy around since August, never really giving him an honest opportunity to be the starting quarterback.
First, Mangini benched Quinn in week three in favor of Guy Who Wasn't Good Enough To Beat Out Charlie Frye, claiming the demotion was performance-based and in now way associated with Quinn's contract escalators that would've granted him another 11 million dollars had he taken 70% of the snaps this season, then Mangini flatly denied having any knowledge at all about said escalators.
Not before it became mathematically impossible for Quinn to take 70% of this season's snaps did Mangini finally give him back the starting job. Even then it took Derek Anderson posting a quarterback rating lower than my shi tzu's reading level and some of the team's most loyal fans organizing a boycott before the head coach made a change at quarterback.
Fortunately for Quinn, he got the gig back just in time to face Baltimore and its tenacious defense still seething after getting swept by Cincinnati the previous week.
Then, as a cherry on the sundae, Mangini went out there and made Brady Quinn throw hitch routes and bubble screens to Steve Heiden and Mike Furrey all night.
The front office in Cleveland is an absolute joke, bottom line. Mangini is a closer-than-Browns-fans-care-to-admit-second only to Tom Cable as the worst coach in the entire NFL.
Lest we forget, this is a team that only a few years removed from winning 10 games and competing seriously for a playoff spot; it may not be as far away as people think.
It's been rumored Browns owner Randy Lerner is interested in bringing in a football czar, similar to what the Miami Dolphins did when they brought in Bill Parcells to run the team's football operations. That person, according to recent reports, is Mike Holmren.
I don't claim to be well-enough connected to speak intelligently on whether or not that is a legitimate possiblity. However, I do think it'd be a fantastic fit if Holmgren was at all interested.
Holmgren is an offensive-minded guy that has made a career out of developing and working with quarterbacks and I really believe he's a guy that could get the Browns moving in the right direction.
The first order of business should be to fire Eric Mangini, though, he's systematically alienated players and coaches alike since day one; not a good dude and an even worse coach.
Clearly, some drastic, fundamental changes need to take place in order for this once-proud franchise to climb from the darkest depths of NFL obscurity. Browns fans deserve better than this.
They deserve better than Eric Mangini.
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