Written by Brian McPeek

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Brandon Weeden was Gawd-awful, Trent Richardson had no daylight to run to and Pat Shurmur was…well… he was Pat Shurmur in not going for the two-point conversion when all circumstances and all common sense dictated that he go for two, and the Browns lost their opener to the Eagles 17-16 on Sunday in a game they could have won.

Oh yes, Chris Perez’s stupidity from earlier in the week has not been forgotten.

It’s the Weekend Wrap.

The Browns

Brandon Weeden throws a really nice slant. If the Browns can just do that 40 times each game they might not be too bad. If they are forced to run the ball or have Weeden make any other throw it promises to be a long season.

On Sunday Weeden was 12/35 for 118 yards, no TDs and four interceptions for a QB rating of 5.1.

And the numbers don’t lie. Weeden earned all of them. Even if you want to blame Greg Little for the first interception (and you’d be right to do so), no one who watched Sunday’s game, in which the Browns failed to score an offensive touchdown and failed to take advantage of four Michael Vick interceptions and a LeSean McCoy fumble, could walk out of Cleveland Browns Stadium feeling good about the future of the quarterback position in Cleveland.

I’m not going to kill Weeden any more than that today. It was his first game, it did come against a really good defense and there is always the hope that he improves. But he was brutally awful Sunday. When he wasn’t throwing into coverage or throwing DA-like fastballs at receivers 8 yards away he was missing wide open receivers and leaving points on the field. He did it with Mohamed Massaquoi and he also missed Alex Smith by five yards in the end zone on throws backup NFL QBs would make 90% of the time.

With Weeden being a raw rookie you can probably find arguments on his behalf that resulted in his miserable day. I’m not looking for those. I’m looking for a guy who was chosen in the 1^st round to actually resemble a 1^st round talent and to not miss wide open NFL receivers when he has the rare occasion to see one.

But not even the most optimistic Browns fan can explain Shurmur’s decision NOT to go for two points after D’Qwell Jackson returned a Vick interception for a TD that gave the Browns a lead. Even with 14 minutes left in a game that the Browns now led 15-10 the situation screams for a 2-point conversion and Shurmur stupidly sent out Phil Dawson to tack on a meaningless point. That’s not a case of second-guessing. Rather, my own 11-year old daughter wondered if Shurmur had been dropped on his head at birth as well as about the purity of his breeding.

It’s that kind of ridiculous game management that has most Browns fans convinced that Shurmur is the wrong guy for the job as Browns Head Coach. And when the Eagles finally remembered they had McCoy and the Browns had one of the very worst rush defenses in the game, it was just a matter of time before the Eagles were in the end zone and the Browns were looking at a one point deficit with just over a minute to play.

The Browns needed the same field goal to win the game then that they would have needed had they gone for two and failed to get it (a very reasonable outcome, by the way) but if they are successful on the two-point try then they may still be playing at CBS.

Shurmur never gave the team the chance.

So now Browns fans prepare for another week after a loss like they’ve grown accustomed to. Maybe we’ll see a light turn on for Weeden (for however briefly it actually stayed on) against Cincinnati like it did fir DA back in ’07 against the Bengals.

I’m not counting on it though. I’ll settle for progress. Like our soon-to-be 29-year old rookie NOT trying to drop balls in to covered 5’9” receivers. Like that QB not missing wide open receivers by yards. Like the offensive line giving the running back the Browns moved up to take (who had more knee surgeries than preseason carries since completing his collegiate career) the slightest bit if a daylight to run to. And for the Head Coach of an NFL team to actually look and act like he’s seen an NFL game before.

That’s all I want to see in Cincinnati next weekend. You wouldn’t think that was too much to ask. Of course, if that’s the case, you’re probably not a Cleveland Browns fan.  

I’ve Pretty Much Had It

Die-hard Indians fans are still watching the last 20 games or so of the season play out. They’re also the ones still following the club on-line and in the papers and they’re the ones still going down to Progressive Field to watch ‘Prospects on Parade’ as September plays out. They already know the situation with ownership and the front office. The GM’s hands are tied by budgetary constraints and ownership hasn’t shown the willingness to open up the checkbook and pour more money into the team, not even after mortgaging a good chunk of the future on Ubaldo Jimenez last July.

We know this. It is Gospel.

Anyone else other than those hard-core fans has already (and likely long ago) lost interest in the team and its players and doesn’t give a damn about them or what they have to say.

So which group does Chris Perez believe he’s enlightening by calling out Indians ownership and the front office for being unwilling to spend or unable to identify and acquire talent in an interview earlier this week?

He’s either being a complete tool and preaching to the choir or being a complete tool and screaming at people who can’t and don’t hear him.

Either way he’s an idiot.

I have no issue with Chris Perez. He’s a solid closer for a team that isn’t going anywhere. But those guys are a dime a dozen. To be more specific, Perez is a $4.5million per year (ask him, he’ll tell you) dime-a-dozen guy who can’t keep his foot out of his mouth and who needs to learn humility and common sense.

Any issue I would have with Perez would probably center around the stupidity of calling out the organization that pays you to be decent when no one is listening or those who are listening already know the score and know it far better than you do. Or maybe I could have an issue regarding the hypocrisy of Perez calling out us fans two months ago about not supporting a first place baseball team and 8 weeks later bitching at ownership because the team is now 22 games under .500 after a walk-off HR by Justin Morneau beat Vinnie Pestano and the Indians Sunday.

Was the front office working wonders and performing competently two months ago when they had assembled a first place club? Are the fans justified now for forgetting this terrible baseball team? Do Perez and the players assembled have any responsibility for having taken a giant, collective dump on the 2012 season starting in late July? Is there any accountability in that clubhouse at all?

I personally would just love for Perez to shut up and go away. I’m torn between that and him shutting up and staying but shutting up would be a terrific start to either scenario. And I can’t help but question the guy’s intelligence. Is he simply stone cold stupid or is he a calculating, selfish loudmouth looking to grease the skids for his exit from Cleveland?

I’m going with ‘not too bright’ for the time being. You can work the system for a trade out of town. You can do things the right way and not come off as an abrasive a-hole with self-control issues. But to completely go off the rails every time a microphone is put in front of your face is unprofessional. It shows a lack of self-control and a willingness to throw others under a bus that has to be noticed by every other team, owner and GM in the league.

Things going well? Perez will alienate the fans and cry if they don’t pack the house in May. Things going terribly? Perez will cry and whine about the moves (or lack thereof) made by management and make a spectacle of himself.

That was another dumb move by Perez this past week. Just STFU, do your job, collect your ridiculous salary and go where you want to go when you have the right and ability to do so. Or keep talking and keep making a bigger ass out of yourself every time you do.

Meh… Sunday brought us a ridiculous Browns loss featuring disgusting QB play and the Indians losing in walk-off fashion. Kind of like Lou Gehrig dying of Lou Gehrig disease, we really probably should have seen it coming.

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