Written by Brian McPeek

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Should I be happy?  Sad?  I guess I'm not sure what to think after watching the Browns defeat Ryan Fitzpatrick and the Bengals by a 20-12 count on Sunday in a game that may have set the NFL back 40 years.  Yes, a win feels nice.  But even in victory, I feel even less enthused about our head coach and starting QB.  Peeks agrees with me, and talks about the win, the conclusion of Indians season, and the Bucks win over the Gophers in this Monday's edition of The Weekend Wrap.

There’s Hope!!! 

Before you get too excited, there is no hope. None. Zero. I lied. Stop deluding yourself. 

If you actually believe there is hope for this Browns team after what transpired in Cincinnati Sunday afternoon then you’re as crazy as an outhouse rat. 

I don’t even know what game those players were playing for most of the 60 minutes that they did Ohio so proud. That game is what would have happened if the Washington Generals played intra-squad scrimmages in front of a live television audience.  

Some semblance of the Washington Generals would win. Humanity would lose. 

Clearly the best battle of the day was in seeing which head coach would win the race to utilize all of their timeouts the earliest.  It was a contest set to the backdrop of a medley of “Real Men of Genius” music running in the background. Congratulations Marv Lewis. You had to knock out the champion and you did it in convincing fashion. The flavor you added to that fight by using a timeout after a replay challenge was an especially crisp and convincing blow. 

Hey, a win is a win on Sundays in the NFL. Problem is, that is literally true in this case because nothing of any other value came out of it. Romeo Crennel is still in an Art Shell-like trance, Derek Anderson is still one interception away from the psychiatric ward and Braylon Edwards is still playing dumber than a day old doughnut.  

At least the club learned they can win a game without receiver Donte Stallworth which, apparently, you better be able to do if Donte Stallworth is actually on your payroll. 

For Crennel’s part, he failed to make a move at the QB position despite numerous opportunities and reasons to do so. That’s his call based on his judgment and it’s his right. The problem being that Crennel’s judgment is piss-poor and the failure to make a move stinks of pride. Saying as much is our right. 

Anderson responded by throwing his one typically horrible interception when he decided to ignore a wide open back in the flat and forced a throw into coverage again. He was bailed out of another terrible throw and interception when Cincinnati was called for an offside penalty.  

As for Edwards? I’m not sure really. Whenever it appears the ball is going his way I now close my eyes and pray it just drops straight to the ground after bouncing off his hands or body rather than up in the air. I did see, however, that after one play was long over and I had opened my eyes, that Edwards got called for a very stupid personal foul push-in-the-back about 30 seconds after the play had been blown dead. It was after that boneheaded play when Anderson approached him on the sidelines and Edwards and Anderson needed Jamal Lewis to play mediator to keep them apart. They must be spending too much time together after practice, at home, etc., in order to find their lost timing. 

They did hook up for a TD later in the game which Edwards also made all about him. I’d recommend celebrating like a moron only after the drops-to-TD ratio on the season dips below 9:1. But that’s just me. 

As stated before here, winning is the perfect deodorant. But if the Browns brass thinks this win over a crappy team that was playing with a QB that hadn’t thrown an NFL pass in three years covers up the stink that’s still all over this team, well, they are going to be in for a rude awakening two weeks from Monday night when the Giants come to town.  

The win is better than a loss. But pardon us if we’re not yet convinced that anything has changed. And I’ve got to believe you’re going to hear that displeasure voiced loudly and clearly in two weeks if the song remains the same. 

I’d Be Remiss 

There’s been a lot to complain about through 4 weeks of the NFL season here in Cleveland. But it isn’t all negativity. Huge hats off to Jamal Lewis and Eric Steinbach for their efforts in Sunday’s win. Both guys are playing hurt and both guys played with a boat load of heart against the Bengals. 

Steinbach helped spring Lewis for about 80 yards and a TD despite reports circulating that he was looking at missing 3-5 weeks with a shoulder injury. 

Lewis is the heart and ballast of the Browns offense. The first 9 plays the Browns opened with Sunday were running plays (probably to give Derek Anderson’s rumbling tummy and fragile nerves a chance to settle down). Lewis got the bulk of them. Not only was he effective running the ball but he also provided about the only leadership on the sidelines as well. Lewis got between Anderson and Edwards and made sure those two clowns didn’t further embarrass themselves or the city with a televised meltdown. 

And isn’t it nice when those leaders actually do contribute on the field?  

Speaking of Willie McGinest…. wait ….we said leading and playing effectively, right? Never mind then. 

Show of Heart 

It’s hard to say, but I would have been happier had the Indians completed their sweep of the White Sox Sunday and single-handedly knocked the Sox out of the playoffs than with a Browns win.  

It just wasn’t to be. 

I had visions of Indians players giving Ozzie Guillen a little choke gesture en masse. Still, the Indians played out the schedule with some passion and with some positive results over the past two months. They ended up at .500 for the season, a mark many never thought possible at various points in July. 

Way to go. Fans appreciate you took some pride in your profession and your colors and didn’t mail it in like those over-priced under achievers in Detroit. 

Now go get better.  

Get the couple of bats you need, a middle of the rotation starter and straighten out that pen. If this year in the AL Central tells us anything, it’s that you’re never too far from either the top or the bottom of the division. Get better, get healthy and there’s nothing to say that next September can’t be more than just playing spoiler. 

Look Out Below 

That crashing sound you hear is the sound of top ranked teams falling down the polls. USC, Georgia, Wisconsin, Wake Forest, Illinois, et al all lost this weekend.  

The Buckeyes avoided such a fate but they’re still outside the top 10 in most polls. It’s going to take an unprecedented year of upsets before coaches and media put the Buckeyes anywhere near the top of the polls where they’d be able to maneuver their way back into title contention. 

And that’s understandable. OSU isn’t national title-caliber at this point.  

The Buckeyes did enough to comfortably beat Minnesota this past Saturday. What’s uplifting is they did it for the most part with Terrell Pryor running the show and with Chris Wells back in the lineup.  

Pryor threw for 70 yards and a score and rushed for 97 yards and two more TDs against the Golden Gophers. The kid is just not fazed to this point with his new found playing time or the college game in general.  

That bodes well. Let Pryor get is reps, make his mistakes and improve in each aspect of his game. If the Buckeyes continue shifting toward spreading the field and getting the personnel in Columbus to defend it then they’ll put themselves back in position in the next few years to get back to that elite status.   

But they’ll certainly have to earn back those votes and that respect.