Posts
First, let's put the Browns 41-9 thumping by the Steelers in the final game of the season to one side. It was an ugly loss that was unrepresentative of the season and is inconvenient for my purposes. Thank you.
Second, despite having the same 5-11 record as in 2009, the 2010 Browns were much improved. They beat last year's Super Bowl winners (the Saints) and this year's Super Bowl favorites (the Patriots). They lost a hell of a lot of close games: by 3 to the Bucs, by 2 to the Chiefs, by 7 to the Ravens, by 6 to the Jets, by 4 to the Jaguars, by 7 to the Bills, and by 2 to the Bengals. The Browns had a lot of trouble closing out games that they were leading in during the second half, but they played hard, kept games within reach, and surprised some people. A far cry from 2009's Derek Anderson/Brady Quinn debacle!
Third, I predict the Browns will be at least 8-8 in 2011. In Peyton Hillis, they found a running back that puts fear into the hearts of opposing defenses (even if he did seem to wear down near the end of the season). In Colt McCoy, they found a surprisingly good quarterback who shows a lot of potential to keep drives alive. In other words, they finally found an identity on offense. Their draft picks from last season were solid and they'll get high draft picks again this year. And perhaps most importantly, their schedule is much kinder to them: they play each team in the weak NFC West and each team in the up-and-down AFC South.
Fourth, the Browns aren't tough enough to play a conservative, run-heavy, strong-defense style, nor do they have enough talent at the skill positions to play a pass-happy run and gun style. Mangini seemed to want to match the Steelers and Ravens physicality and the team made some strides in that direction, but still ended up far short. Then again, with Holmgren or his hand-picked favorite at head coach, I have no idea what sort of offense will be installed.
Fifth, I'm putting this sentence introducing my miscellaneous points in bold in order to be consistent with the rest of this post.
* Josh Cribbs is a great player, and was injured for much of 2010. However, special teams super-stars are not a reliable source of points and the frequently heard "get your best players the ball however you can" has never produced a lot as far as Cribbs is concerned. He's a nice asset, but the Browns need a lot more than Cribbs if they want to be successful.
* Points-wise, despite Hillis and McCoy, the Browns offense really sucked in 2010. They scored 14 points or less in eight games. Only twice did they score 24 points or more. Conservative, ball-control offenses are good if you have a great defense and can avoid making mistakes, but the Browns just aren't there yet.
* My favorite play of the season was Browns punter Reggie Hodges' fake, which led to a 68-yard scamper in the big victory over the Saints. It was like Moses parting the Red Sea of the Saints' defensive line. You should've heard me jumping up and down shouting, in complete disbelief and joy. Here it is on YouTube.
* Finally, the picture is of the massive, pizza-sized cookie The Wife got me for my birthday. Isn't she brilliant?
4 comments:
Only way that fake punt could have been any better is if he would have managed those last 10 yards or so.
Btw, I have had more interest in Lions games beginning this year than '9ers games (yeah, still a fan but with Suh in Detroit they are more "my team" now). They had a similar number of close games, in fact only getting blown out in 2, and should be a good team next season.
At the beginning of the year I had told a few co-workers that I fully believed both the Lions and the Browns would have better records than the Broncos and that is one prediction I've loved seeing come true with all the Donkey fans around here. :)
Good luck to your Browns next year ... and for the Lions I'm hoping that if they go defense in the draft they can grab the Prince from Nebraska to play corner for them next year...
(Btw, we're going to have to go back and look at our predictions for how the regular season would turn out sometime.)
So I went back to find the predictions we had made and in those predictions you had made a statement that perhaps was a bit of unintentional foreshadowing. You stated something along the lines of "with 4 teams in each division you statistically have a 25% chance of getting it right" ... and low and behold you got 25% right. :-P
You got New England and Pittsburgh right but that was it ... so 2/8 or 25%. I didn't do much better but had Indy as well so 3/8.
Those aren't very good numbers...
You're stealing my thunder! I'm just about to post on my (extremely poor) predictions. Keep in mind, however, the point is not whether or not I'm any good at predicting, but whether or not I'm any worse than the glossy full-colorl magazines ;)
Woops! Didn't mean to take away from your next post. It was better done than my "oh by the way..." anyway. Looks like I could have a job predicting outcomes if any of the big name magazines want to improve a few percentage points... :-P
Post a Comment