Written by Chris Hutchison

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How early is too early to give up on a season?

July?

That’s when the news broke that Jimmy Haslam would be buying the team.  That’s when Mike Holmgren got the rude notice that his time was short.  That’s when Pat Shurmur was put on Win-Now-Or-Die watch.  That’s when Tom Heckert had to start explaining his decisions.

With a team so rife with rookies and 2^nd year players, there was almost no way that this team had a chance of Winning Now.  Growing pains would keep the franchise up nights, but IF it all worked out, MAYBE the team would be ready to compete in 2013.

But after Haslam bought the team, it was clear that that 2013 would be witness to another Reboot.

Not that a Reboot is necessarily bad.  Like I’ve said many times, you don’t change for change’s sake, but nor do you stay pat for the sake of continuity.  If you’re driving down a road that leads straight off a cliff, continuity isn’t your friend.

Regardless if you want it or not, after this start (which was hardly unforeseen), the Reboot is coming.  And it’s coming hard.

Which means at least 2 of the Big 3 (Holmgren and Shurmur) are dead men walking, and the third (Heckert) had better do a helluva sell job on Joe Banner when he walks through the Berea doors in mid-October.

Any team with a dead coach walking and a destiny with a new talent evaluation that will likely trim 1/4 to 1/3 of the existing roster is a team that can accomplish very little in the present.  They're running a system that will likely be gone.  They're memorizing a playbook that almost assuredly will be trash.  They're learning the theories and fundamentals of the pro game from gents that will be far from the state of Ohio this time next year.  It's like trying to master the Atlantis language 3 months before it sinks.

Can individual players progress and make this season worthwhile in that vein?  Of course.  I hope some do.  But as a team, this season means almost nothing at this point. 

It’s just a period of house arrest that must be endured to get to the next step.

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Stats

Time of Possession:  BUF - 32:56, CLE - 27:04

Total Yards:  BUF - 344, CLE - 240

Net Yards Passing:  BUF - 138, CLE - 33

Net Yards Rushing:  CLE - 207, BUF - 206

First Downs:  BUF - 19, CLE - 17

Turnovers Forced:  BUF – 2, CLE - 1

Sacks:  BUF - 4, CLE - 0

Final Score:  Buffalo 24, Cleveland 17

Until they reach some kind of Offensive consistency (which may not come until the second half of the season), this team will not be good enough to stay in games unless the Defense gets sacks and forces turnovers.  They did not do that this week.  The lone turnover was a ball that slipped out of Fitzpatrick’s hand – hardly a “forced” turnover.

240 total yards… 33 yards rushing… if you’re going to lose, at least try to be interesting.

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Game Balls

Usama Young – For knocking CJ Spiller out of the game.  This demonstrates why bounties exist – if you injure a player that is killing you then you have a better chance to win.  Doesn’t matter if it’s “dirty” or not.  During “The Drive”, I prayed for a sniper on top of Municipal Stadium to take Elway out.  Not dead, of course (no, no, never), just done for the game.  As tragic as that happening would’ve been for the Elway family, it certainly would’ve helped Cleveland get to its first Super Bowl.

Billy Winn – Made a lot of plays again, including a nice volleyball spike of a Ryan Fitzpatrick pass.

Frostee Rucker’s Facemask – Sweet.

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Honorable Mention

Travis Benjamin – Seems like the only WR that can consistently get open using his speed and shiftiness.

Trent Richardson – Did about as much as he could do against that front and with that blocking.

Jordan Cameron – They finally remembered he was on the roster.  Huzzah!

TJ Ward – It seemed like he did something, maybe.  Hard to find much good.

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Hall of Shame

Pat Shurmur – That’d be 9 losses in row, there, Paddy.  You’re coaching the Prairie View of the NFL.  Maybe there’ll be a job for you AT Prairie View once you get canned.

Buster Skrine – Can’t get caught up in the scrum if you’re trying to prevent that first TD pass.

Greg Little – Couldn’t catch Chlamydia in a whorehouse.

Josh Gordon – Dropped the pass on the first 3rd down of the game (thus setting the tone for the rest of the Quarter), made a poor effort that led to the 1^st INT, another poor effort on an INT that was overturned.  MAYBE he’ll start showing his potential by the end of this year, but looks as raw as steak tartar right now.

Meh Mass – He didn't do anything really to deserve this, I just wanted to give him his new name.

Brandon Weeden – Not a terrible game, but not good either.  Shows some potential, but easily could be a career-meh as well.  Missed Benjamin deep a couple times, still a little lacking in pocket presence, awful decision on 2^nd INT.

D’Qwell Jackson – It didn’t end up hurting too bad, but that Personal Foul right before Half to keep the drive alive… dude.  If you’d done anything else the rest of the game I would’ve taken you off this list, but you didn’t.

Rich Gannon – If the ball has fallen out of the QB’s hand, it doesn’t matter if his arm came forward.  Learn the rules.  Also said that the Browns should be doing better since they had a lot of high draft choices in the Front 7.  Who?  DQ?  Sheard?

Dimitri Patterson – Didn’t love you dropping what could’ve been a game-changing INT (and probably TD), but hated how bad you got toasted on the third TD.

Run Defense – 91 yards to the Bills’ 3^rd string RB.  Seemingly useless as a unit.

Drops – Too many of them by everyone.

Shawn Lauvao – Clearly not starting quality.  They’ll have to address this position in the offseason.

Offensive Line – Untimely holding penalties, allowedBuffalo to penetrate all day with minimal resistance.

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Just Shoot Yourself

The Rest of the Season – Self-explanatory.

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Regarding The Replacement

Since we can pronounce the Shurminator DOA, it is natural to start speculating who his replacement would be.

No, not for the rest of the season.  I have my doubts about Shurmur losing his job in-season, especially since there's very little likelihood that Brad Childress or Dick Jauron stay next year either.  A Jauron/Childress running out the string probably wouldn't look incredibly different than a Shurmur, and probably about as effective.  The only reason to fire Shurmur in-season is to send a message, a message that will likely be forgotten by the time the season actually does come to a merciful close.

My speculation more centers on who it would be on a 2013-forward basis.  Here are some candidates which are the most thrown-around names online:

Cam Cameron - Seems like a decent guy, and his players love him.  But strikes me more as a guy that should just be a Coordinator.

Marty Morninwheg - My first reaction to that name being suggested is always Blech.  He was utterly awful in Detroit in his only HC shot, and just comes across as having a Napoleonic complex.  That being said, with Joe Banner (former President of the Eagles) likely making this selection, he probably is a legit candidate due to familiarity.  Can't get enough ex-Eagles coaches in here.

Perry Fewell - The 4-3 Defensive Coordinator from the Giants might be appetizing since he wouldn't require a complete defensive overhaul and is one of the few names that hasn't failed elsewhere as Head Coach (since he's never been one).

Andy Reid - Obviously, this one is only if the Eagles underachieve and Jeffrey Lurie breaks ties with his long-time coach.  To me, it seems Reid's been running on fumes for years, and the project that is the Cleveland Browns is not what he needs to be taking on right away.  Maybe after a year or two to re-charge his batteries, but I get the sense he would be a disaster in Cleveland in 2013.

Jon Gruden - Yuck.  Been gone a long time, left a mess when he did leave.  The only reason anyone wants this guy is because he makes funny faces and is from Ohio.  Let him keep making stupid comments on MNF.

Jay Gruden - Now, this one's much more interesting, since he has glommed together some decent yet not great talent (outside of AJ Green) in Cincy and turned them into a pretty damn potent Offense.  Runs a variation of the WCO (apparently a much more effective one than Shurmy), so the transition for the players might be less than a complete system overhaul.  Plus, hiring him weakens a Division opponent.

Joe Vitt - Uh, no.

Rob Ryan - Hell no.

Bill Cowher - He'll be dead and gone for 5 years and people will still be suggesting he come coach the Browns.  When you've been out of football as long as he has, you become accustomed to the comfy life, and if you did come back man-oh-man-oh-man the catching up you'd have to do.  Fuggetaboutit.

See that list of names?  95% chance that the actual 2013 coach doesn't come from that.  Probably someone that most of you have never heard of, maybe he's the next Mike Tomlin.  Or maybe he's the next Pat Shurmur.

There's no doubt that the decision will define the Banner/Haslam Era right from the get.  Screw that one up, and you will lose what little faith the fans have left in less than 2 years.

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Regarding The Roof

Jimmy Haslam sent Cleveland all a-twitter this week when he mentioned that he was having architects look at Cleveland Browns Stadium to determine the feasibility of putting a dome or retractable roof over it.

Let’s put aside my personal feeling about domes, which is that they are sterile, awful places that kill the essence of football and destroy my enjoyment of the game.

Would the city get more use out of a capped stadium than it is now? Yes.

But the flaw in the thought pattern is thatClevelandwould instantly start competing with Indy andDetroitfor those Midwest Final Fours and even the Super Bowl.

To think that CBS would be in the running to displace Lucas Oil Stadium (Indianapolis) or Ford Field (Detroit) simply because it now has a roof is naive. Those facilities were designed to be glorified convention centers. CBS was designed to be a football stadium.

If you want to compete with the Lucas Oil Stadiums, you'd have to tear CBS down and build a new facility there that was designed to accommodate a multitude of events.

And I still contend that almost all of those events that Lucas Oil hosts could be taken care of by building a state-of-the-art convention center, which would probably cost as much to build as putting a retractable roof on the stadium.

This is not to mention that Clevelanditself simply doesn’t have the hotel infrastructure to accommodate an even the size of a Final Four or Super Bowl.  The NCAA cancelled a Division II Swimming Championship here because of lack of hotel space, for Tom Cruise’s sake.  And developers aren’t going to magically start building hotels in theCleveland area that will be full for that Super Bowl we get once every 20 years and half empty the rest of the time.

This argument is useless anyway - those architecture firms are going to look at it and tell Jimmy "Here's how much it'll cost you to put lipstick on this pig" and he'll say "Thanks, I think I'll build some more suites instead."

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Regarding Whatever

***At the beginning of the 4^th Quarter, there was hope.  Browns only down 3, ball in good field position to tie or take a lead.  11 minutes later, the stadium was empty.

***The stadium seemed somewhat empty the whole day.  I know it was a sellout, but there seemed to be a number of fans dressed as seats.

***Down 10 with 6 minutes in the 4^th, 4^th and 9 on their own 36.  With their Run Defense, the Browns not going for it felt like more of the same textbook conservatism that has lost Shurmur so many games up to now.

***The way that Buffalo uses CJ Spiller in the screen game should underlie in huge neon letters how Adonis Thomas would be more useful to this team than an active but otherwise non-existent Montario Hardesty.

***Jimmy Haslam, in the announcing booth with Rich Gannon and Spiro Didas, certainly didn’t seem pleased with the Joe Haden suspension.  “His suspension hurts us immensely.”

***Why is it that none of these receivers seems capable of getting any separation?

***With the wins by the Jaguars, Chiefs, Titans, and Raiders, the Browns and the Saints are now the only winless teams in the NFL.  Fans might not even need to advise “tanking” this season for the top pick – the Browns may get there all on their own.

***If you weren’t fettered with watching the Browns game live (like I wasn’t), the 1 o’clock games were excellent this week.  2 games ended on Hail Mary’s (WAS-CIN, JAX-IND) and 3 others went to OT, one of which (DET-TEN) got there via a completed Hail Mary.

***Of the rookie QB’s that played so far, none played very well.  RG3 was sacked numerous times and had under 100 yard passing into the 4^th against Cincy.  Luck made some key mistakes against the Jags.  Tannehill doesn’t look very good at all, but the surprisingMiami running game is keeping him afloat, and Weeden… well, you know what he looked like.

***That 44-41 OT Tennessee win overDetroitgame was damn entertaining.  The punt return throwback by the Titans was a beautiful thing (a tribute to the Music City Miracle), and there must’ve been 30 plays over 40 yards.  The Lions were a nice preseason darling, but their Defense is way too porous, even with all those high picks on the D Line.  I doubt they even make the playoffs, not out of that division.

***MIN beats SF 24-13… Any Given Sunday.  Christian Ponder might join Cam Newton and Andy Dalton as the only QB’s drafted in 2011 to be worth a damn.

***Jets beat Fins 23-20 in OT. These might be the 2 most boring teams in the NFL.  Good enough to be in it, bad enough to make you want to down 3 Xanax with a bottle of scotch.

***Hell hath no fury like a Saints’ fan’s whining.

***Not surprised that Cincy beat the Skins, since I thinkWashingtonjust isn’t very good, especially since they lost Orakpo.  That doesn’t mean I buy that the Bengals are for real either.

***But the Cardinals are.  That Defense is awesome, and they’re gonna just keep getting better now that they’re on a roll.  One of only 3 teams to be 3-0 (HoustonandAtlantabeing the others).

***Chargers = Pretenders.  Steelers too.  If the Browns are gonna suck (which they normally do), it’s always nice to havePittsburghsuck alongside us.

***What will it take to get Cris Collinsworth off of Sunday Night Football?

***These are the most well-rounded, best teams in the NFL right now, pre-MNF: Houston,Baltimore,San Francisco,Atlanta,Green Bay.

***You can go ahead and skip The Five Year Engagement.  It’s not that it’s bad – it’s just not overly interesting.

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Next Up

Baltimore Ravens   (2-1). 

After a huge Sunday night comeback win against the Patriots and only a 4 day layoff, one might surmise that the Ravens are ripe for a letdown.  And if the Browns were somehow to get 5 sacks, 4 turnovers, and have the offense perform like it did in Cincy, I wouldn’t be shocked to see an upset.  But 9 times out of 10 the Browns lose this game, probably before they even enter the stadium since they are a losing franchise and losing franchises get intimidated easily.

The Baltimore D isn’t as badass as it has been in the past, but the O is much better and will likely rip the weak Cleveland D apart both on the ground and through the air.  I assume the line on this one will start out somewhere around 14, and I’d go ahead and take the over on that, since nothing would add to the enjoyment of this season thus far like a nice nationally televised ass-whooping.

Ravens 34, Browns 17.