Written by Brian McPeek

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Well, let's hope that wasn't foreshadowing of how the rest of this football season is going to be.  The Buckeyes got a scare from Ohio Freaking University.  And the Browns?  Dominated in all facets of the game by the Cowboys, who came into Cleveland and embarrased them on national television on their home field.  In The Weekend Wrap, Peeker talks about the disappointments from the Bucks and the Browns, hits on Cliff Lee winning #21, and looks ahead to OSU/USC and Browns/Steelers this coming weekend.

Preface 

You know, you wait all week, wading through the minefield that is living the corporate life, to get to the weekend so you can lose yourself in the OSU and Browns. 

I consider myself sufficiently lost. And a wee bit pissed.

It’s Still Early 

Clearly the Browns are still going with the vanilla offense and defense and clearly Romeo Crennel has yet to hit the switch that formally signals for this team to go on out there and hit somebody. At least that’s what the fan base wearing orange-colored glasses told me all preseason. Well, that’s what I’m hoping too. Because if Sunday was any indication of the type of team that will be roaming CBS this year then the rest of the NFL season is going to be a colossal disappointment here in Cleveland. 

Yeah, I know. It was the Dallas Cowboys. And they are a very good football team. They appear to be a legitimate Super Bowl contender. I mean, I clearly could see what they were not. And that is a team that won 10 games last season against a pathetic schedule and had illusions that they were as good as their record indicated. The Cowboys definitely are not that team.  

Dallas beat that team 28-10 on Sunday in a game that wasn’t as close as the lopsided final score would indicate. 

In watching Sunday’s game it became clear that there is hope for the Browns. It would unfortunately require them to score a TD on every single possession and hope and pray they win the coin toss in OT. 

What’s to say that won’t or hasn’t already been said? The defense is pathetic. Next to no pass rush when the game was winnable, horrific run defense that made a between the tackles moose out of Felix Jones and a secondary that ran around most of Sunday like sugared up kids who were spun in circles and trying to hit a piñata. 

Sometimes you just have to face it and say it: defensively they suck severely. 

Onward. 

I’d also like to take a minute to personally address #17 on the offense: 

Dear 17, 

Three quick things I’d like to say. 

1. Wear some damn shoes on the practice field when you’re goofing around and not running vanilla routes.
2. Shut up and focus on football instead of self-promotion and getting yourself on ‘Entourage’ ; and
3. Catch the damn football when it’s thrown your way.

Thank you. That is all. 

You can call it rust, lack of timing or whatever else you want to kid yourself about but Braylon Edwards was pathetic on Sunday afternoon. A couple ridiculous penalties and 4 drops tend to hang a label like that on your back. 

So the offense sputtered, the defense blew and what else is there? Umm…, how about a coach who, trailing 28-7 with 10 minutes left in the 4^th quarter and facing a 4^th and 3 from the Cowboy 18-yard line calls for the field goal team? 

Are you kidding me you sackless hump?  

Look, Romeo, I know you’ve got guts. I can see them spilling all down the sides of your pants and heading for your shoes from my seat in row 27 in section 119. How about showing some on the actual field and going for the three yards and maybe getting in the freakin’ end zone? There are people and fans in this town that, if they have to endure this suck all fall, will climb a clock tower or a light standard and search out the biggest human target they can find. And Ted Washington ain’t around no more. Capisci? Save yourself man. 

Let the BS about ‘finding a rhythm’ and injuries and ‘having to get into a better flow’ from Berea starting in 3..2..1

What the Hell Was That? 

Well, if the Browns game was a crap sandwich then the Buckeyes game on Saturday was at least a crap sandwich w/cheese and lettuce. They did win you know. 

But I’m not going to lie: I haven’t seen that display before from a Jim Tressel-coached team.   

“That” being a team that was completely flat and not ready to play football in front of 100k+ in Columbus on a Saturday afternoon. That was an Ohio State team that, regardless of what the players and coaches argue otherwise, was disinterested in playing football this past weekend. 

The Buckeyes got lucky Saturday against an Ohio University team that kicked their ass in the intensity department. Fortunately for OSU they only count points at the end of the day. But make no mistake, the team that played at a higher level and the team that played a brand of football that Ohio football fans would be proud of was The OU Bobcats. 

The Buckeyes better wake the hell up before next weekend arrives. That means everyone heading out to LA to face the Trojans of USC. Saturday I watched Todd Boeckman look like a freshman making his first start. I watched Butkus-winner James Laurinaitis get knocked off of plays and beaten by MAC linemen and backs. 

I also watched one of the country’s top programs send receivers onto the field who might not start in many MAC programs. Brian Robiskie is regressing each week. Brian Hartline dropped more balls than a blind, drunken juggler. And Buckeye fans better pray Beanie Wells is good to go Saturday night in Tinsel Town because Maurice Wells reminds me of one of those NASCAR cars that veer off the track and crash at the slightest touch from another competitor. Except that Wells doesn’t move very fast at all. 

Spare no criticisms of the coaching staff either. Their game plan and their inability to reach their players with any type of message helped make the Bobcat defense look like the ’85 Bears.  

No sir, not at all acceptable from a so-called premier college football team. Again, let’s hope that was a wake-up call that OSU answers as opposed of a harbinger of things to come against USC. I’m thinking USC is likely to take advantage of a bored and disinterested team from Columbus Saturday night at 8pm. 

Jesus. How am I supposed to enjoy Michigan playing like crap and barely surviving a third rate MAC team when the Buckeyes are in a similar predicament 300 miles south of Ann Arbor?  

And Breathe 

It’s a sad damn Indians season and weekend for the Browns and Buckeyes when the combustible Cliff Lee is the salve on the festering sore. 

Lee won his 21^st ballgame of the season as the Indians took two of three from Kansas City this weekend. And not only did Lee win his 21^st Sunday but he also lowered his ridiculously low and league-leading ERA to 2.28 on the season. 

We talked about Lee’s dominance and virtuoso performance over the course of the 2008 season a week or two back so I won’t belabor the point.  He’s simply been magical. 

Lastly 

OSU- USC Saturday night at 8pm on ABC. 

Browns- Steelers next Sunday night at 830pm on NBC. 

Time to get the train back on the rails boys. Otherwise it’s going to start getting venomous and nasty in this piece.