Written by Brian McPeek

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The Browns went to Denver and predictably got pasted by Peyton Manning and the Broncos while the Tribe was forced to bid against themselves to land Nick Swisher in an Indians uniform. Neither of those things are surprising and only one of them is bad.

That’s as positive as one can be if they’re wrapping up the sports week in Cleveland.

It’s The Weekend Wrap.

Letting It Fly

Brandon Weeden said earlier in the week it was time to throw caution to the wind and start firing footballs around Denver against the Broncos. Maybe “letting it fly” and “taking shots” means something different from where Weeden comes from. Or maybe throwing a one yard pass to Josh Cooper on a crossing route on 3^rd and goal from the Denver 8-yard line is exactly the kind of daring quarterbacking Weeden was talking about.

Either way, Denver 34-Cleveland 12 was the end result.

Not that Weeden was around for the end of it. He became the meat in an Elvis Dumervil and Von Miller sandwich and left the game early in the fourth quarter with some type of shoulder injury. At last report he was back in the training room watching SpongeBob and eating a PB&J.

He was in long enough to go 12/19 for 104 yards in his wild and crazy game where he took the training wheels off. And his injury allowed backup QB Colt McCoy to really experience the “I got to play” feeling once more as a Brown. McCoy may appreciate that on Wednesday when he’s able to get out of bed after being brutalized by the Broncos who were lying in wait every time he took a snap.

Cuddles McCoy did throw a TD pass to Greg Little to get the Browns to double digits on the day but he likely won’t remember that play unless doctors can restore his short term memory after he got his brains bashed in.

Screw it. It’s Christmas time and it’s the holidays. Let’s keep this brief and get to a few assorted thoughts:

~ Ian Eagle and Dan Fouts, doing the play-by-play and commentary on the game, brought up the fact that Weeden’s wife Melanie helps him game plan throughout the week. Am I the only one who found that to be uproariously funny? Are there big words Brandon has difficulties with or does Melanie alert him to the fact the defense is bringing a zero-blitz or is in a soft cover-2?

~ I’ve always been a Josh Cribbs fan and I still love the way the guy approaches the game. He’s fearless and he’s strong and, aside from the occasional stupid comments about how he’s used, he’s just a very good football player. But he’s as done as the Christmas goose.

Cribbs has always been a guy who would sacrifice some common sense to try and make a big play, and that was fine when he was explosive and capable of taking any punt or kick far past its point of origin. But those days are long gone. Cribbs now forces the issue and his muffed punt that resulted in yet another Denver TD just a couple plays after his fumble is illustrative of that issue. His risk-reward meter his tilted demonstrably to the risk side of things and there's not much promise of reward any more.

On Sunday Cribbs had a Bronco in his face, close enough to tell what the Browns had served at their team lunch, and Cribbs still insisted on trying to make a play. He fumbled, the Broncos recovered and scored.  Hell,  the kickoff after the Broncos converted his muff into a TD went out of the end zone and into the stands and I was still expecting to see Josh scale the wall, take the ball away from the fan who grabbed it, and bring the kick out from 20 yards deep to his own 6-yard line.

I thought before the rosters were cut down to their final number back in September that Cribbs had a chance to be let go. Nothing he’s done this season tells me that shouldn’t have happened other than there’s not much else on the roster that would have any more success returning kicks.

Cribbs was a solid player on a bad team for pretty much his entire career here. I’ll miss his special teams contributions as much as anyone when he’s not here next season.

~ I’ll leave you with a cheerful thought befitting this holiday season: you have entered the final week of the Pat Shurmur Experience. You’ll have to wait a week to open the gift that is his dismissal, but it’s wrapped with a bright, big bow and just sitting there for you to enjoy.

Better vs. Good

Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer must really have “it”, whatever “it” is. Their imploring Nick Swisher to “come home” obviously went a long way in getting Swisher to ink a deal with the Indians Sunday morning. That and the clever and original full court press the Tribe put on by having Swisher visit Progressive Field and seeing his face and fictitious stats on that huge scoreboard.

Clever.

That had to be pretty convincing. Either that or it was the additional $2million per year the Indians offered in a market that had left Swisher behind. And the vested fifth year for $14million more that no team on earth would touch probably didn’t hurt either.

But he’s here and the Indians are better now than they were at the end of the 2012 season in terms of talented players on the roster. I say that because I have long felt Shin-Soo Choo was overrated both offensively and defensively. Choo is a good player, don’t get me wrong. But his numbers are just ‘alright’, the routes he took to balls was adventurous and he jumped like a frightened girl who sees a spider on her wall whenever he saw a pitch on the inner half of the plate.

Swisher is a better offensive player. He may be slightly worse than Choo defensively (Choo’s arm alone likely wins that battle) but the Indians are still better defensively in the outfield because Drew Stubbs is superior to Michael Brantley in CF and Michael Brantley is superior to Shelley Duncan, Aaron Cunningham, Johnny Damon and Zeke Carrera in LF.

That’s the good news.

Even further good news is the Indians are also better offensively on the infield given they still have Asdrubal Cabrera at SS, Jason Kipnis at 2b and they get a more developed Lonnie Chisenhall at 3B. They also upgraded offensively at 1B with Mark Reynolds over Casey Kotchman. They’re shakier defensively on the corners but you sacrifice some things to add others.

Because it’s Christmas time, we have even more good news for you: the Indians, even after signing Reynolds and Swisher, are actually still a bit below their 2012-ending payroll. So they still have a few bucks to spend if they use last year’s payroll as a baseline and guide.

May I suggest they spend anything further on pitching? Because that’s where the bad news begins. And it’s not just a case where you’re wondering who’s going to fill in the 4^th and 5^th spots in the rotation. No, that would be fine. There are always ways to cobble together 12-15 wins out of those spots. The big problem is that spots 1-3 are in shambles. Way too many “ifs” at the top of the rotation to feel good about this team contending or winning more games than they lose. “If Ubaldo isn’t a train wreck…, if Masterson isn’t the 2012 basket case…, if Zach McAllister is legit…, if Carlos Carrasco can come back…, if Trevor Bauer is ready to break out…”

That’s a boat load of issues. That’s way too many question marks for me to have any kind of faith in the Indians being appreciably better in the win-loss column much less able to play with Detroit in the AL Central.

I have no problem with the Swisher signing because I like collecting quality major league players on my team’s roster and Swisher is a quality major league player. He’s a good dude by all accounts, he plays his ass off every night and he has tangible skills to go along with those characteristics. And the money isn’t mine. I don’t care about the money in the least until I have to hear in two years how the Swisher deal has hamstrung any other moves the Indians can potentially make and we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.

I’m fine with better and the Indians are better today than they were yesterday. That’s a good thing.

But they’re by no means good. And that won’t change until the guys who take the hill every night are consistent winners in the major leagues. When we have a couple of those guys I’ll feel good about this team again. Until then, the Indians are better and they’re more entertaining. That’ll have to do for now.

Lastly

Regardless of the scores and the issues plaguing our sports teams and everything else, enjoy Christmas and this holiday season and appreciate the time you do get to spend with your friends and loved ones. I hope you have a great holiday season and I hope 2013 is a healthy and prosperous year for each and every one of you.

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