Long Season Ahead For Cleveland Browns

There is a pressure being felt on Lou Groza Boulvard at Cleveland Browns headquarters in Berea, Ohio. The team is on notice by fans that it better put its nose to the grindstone after its first preseason loss.

While the Green Bay Packers are a strong and favored team, Cleveland did not expect to take the 17-0 beating. The question is whether the team is getting ready to "call in" its plays like it had last season, or really working to turn things around in the season ahead.

The Cleveland Browns had a woeful 4-12 season in its last year of Romeo Crennel as head coach. Crennel’s career with the Browns never took off. Perhaps the biggest headache for Crennel had been attempting to find winning quarterbacks. Then too, defense and offence lacked the energy in making plays work.

So Crennel and the front office turned to Derek Anderson from Oregon State, along with Charlie Frye from The University of Akron and Trent Dilfer from Fresno State. Eventually Crennel and the Browns turned to Anderson, Brady Quinn from The University of Notre Dame and Ken Dorsey from the University of Miami in his last dismal season as head coach.

All three quarterbacks eventually went on the injury list making the Browns front office scurry in getting the services of Bruce Gradkowski from Toledo University as a mid-season replacement quarterback.

However, its now 2009 and the fans are restless for a good team. With a mostly dismal record since the Cleveland Browns came back as an ‘expansion’ team, Browns fans are not buying as many tickets as in seasons past. Part of that can be chalked up to the down economy, however fans are tired of paying for expensive tickets to watch the team lose.

With an inability to sell tickets, the Cleveland Browns have been slashing ticket prices, in some cases, up to 50% in attempting to draw more fans for its home games. The next preseason game will be up against the Detroit Lions at Cleveland Browns Stadium. As it stands, the team has too many seats available and under NFL rules, the game may be blacked-out to the Cleveland audience if it cannot move enough seats to make up the shortfall.

There has been talk on the Internet that many fans not going to the game will attempt to tune into WWJ TV in Detroit to catch the action if possible. Unless the Browns organization can pull it together in regular season play, there is the potential that ticket sales will continue to lag and Browns merchandise may be sitting on the shelves through the 2009-10 season.

To be fair, fans should not sweat losses during the preseason, since those games don’t count on the way to an attempted Super Bowl. Most fans already do not see the Browns coming close to winning the fabled ring in the season ahead, however what fans want to see is a stark improvement in games won.

In the race to become starting quarterback for the 2009 season, its Anderson up against Quinn. Quinn would easily win the competition had it not been for the zero stat in his two series plays in Green Bay. However, Quinn continues to look strong and Anderson will need to make some powerhouse plays in the upcoming preseason game with Detroit if he is to stay in the competition as lead quarterback.

Meanwhile, even with the 17-0 loss to Green Bay, Coach Eric Mangini has not announced who would be the starting quarterback in the upcoming season, saying “I’m going to wait and see where we are.” Some pundits are saying that Quinn’s 17 snaps over Anderson’s six snaps earned Quinn the job. Furthermore, waiting for a final decision between the two allows less time for teammates to gel behind the final choice.

It's rumored that Anderson will be the starter for the Detroit game as a final assessment of who starts first in regular play. Keep in mind, its not just the quarterbacks that win games, but the team as a whole. Once the ball goes airborne, the rest of the team comes into play, hence everyone is important as to the outcome of the game.

The biggest question is what the Browns need to do in turning the franchise around. And The answer is research—lots of it.

With a down economy, the Cleveland Browns do not have as big a wallet as in times past. It stands to reason the Browns need to make more careful decisions as to both rookies and free agents. Primarily, it is who the team picks in the draft that may outweigh their choices of seasoned free agents. The biggest wallet gets top choice, the smallest gets whatever is left. Cleveland will not make it out of the cellar until it learns to do some serious homework before making its picks.

When compared to top rank organizations like the New England Patriots, Cleveland does not seem to do too well in researching teammates for the coach and quarterbacks. It’s a big job in making the right decisions in filling out the roster. Cleveland’s best bet is to assemble data on potential drafts at least two years before players become eligible for the NFL draft.

That means developing a stable dossier on each promising candidate for the various positions on the team. What needs to be looked at is consistency over the long run, rather than a great season in the final year of college play. Remember, football is a team sport and not of a singular position. Therefore there are some considerations that need to be addressed.

In a potential draftee, the Browns need to look for a player making the greatest consistent contribution for his team in his particular specialization. Another is the true scholastic intellect of the individual over the long run. Playbooks may provide a general road map, but once the ball is snapped, playbooks fall along the wayside in the moment of action. Thus being able to read one’s teammates along with those in the opposing team is critical in helping the team make it to the goal line. Therefore, the Browns should look at those who excel in academics of the individual beyond the field.

Another is a good criminal background check, including records of DUI and illegal drug use. If someone has an alcohol or drug problem, they are not going to be very effective in practice or game play on the field, especially if the individual parties the day before the big game. This activity takes away from other players efforts in attempting to win.

What might be an interesting experiment is for the Cleveland Browns to seek volunteers in the off season to put together stats on each of the players in terms of game stats working backward from college play to junior high stats—again, looking at the long range consistency of each potential draft pick. Another is academics from college scores all the way back to kindergarten—remember, consistency is the primary objective in picking the most intelligent draft pick.

Obvious brute strength is a primary consideration, however, the smarter player of the lot may make the difference on the scoreboard—the ability to think on one’s feet in the moment. Another is professionalism in behavior on the field and off to be an effective team player. Good research volunteers would be high school and college coaches in the Northern Ohio region working together in assembling accurate background stats. The software used to make tabulations should be interactive and smart enough to avoid duplication in bringing the cream of rookies to the top of the heap.

There are no easy shortcuts to a winning team. It take a lot of research, finding team members willing to show up to the practice field on time and sober, from the first day at camp, to the last game of the season. It takes plays that are well thought out and run on a computer in simulation mode. For that matter, if the software allows inputting information on players in individual upcoming games as to their strength and weaknesses when it concerns particular plays to share with the team, so much the better. Being able to go into the opposing team’s head before the game may bring better results. As to free agents, again it is important to look into the individual in-depth as to consistency of play as well the players’ background.

The Cleveland Browns are the underdogs in the season ahead. It stands to reason that there will be changes in the roster between now and when the season ends. Its not a matter of making quick decisions, but of making the right choices when a change is required. Having player data and knowing how to use it to a team’s advantage can go a long way in winning games. And in the season ahead, the Cleveland Browns need all the advantages they can get.