Written by Mansfield Lucas

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Romeo and Phil ... should they stay or should they go? In his latest, Mansfield Lucas gives our readers a break from the Phil Savage e-mail watch to ask that question, look ahead to the remaining games, and presents a scenario where it would be almost tough to give the duo their walking papers. He cuts to the chase. He tells it like it is. He's Mansfield. We interrupt the Brady Quinn obsession, verifying Phil's outgoing emails, Romeo's alleged coaching death watch, the bitching over Jerome Harrison's lack of playing time, the Souljah's outbursts, Edwards' scissor hands, and the general malaise over a season of disappointment to actually look ahead at the rest of the season. Have you taken stock in a while once you gave up on the playoffs? Or have you just been stuck in the moment, thunderstruck at the team's ability to seize defeat from the jaws of victory by playing the worst defense since World B. Free's days as a Sixer.
 
The Browns are now 4 - 6 thanks to the ghost of Scott Norwood bailing out the no tackling, no pass coverage, farce of a defense, and Trent Edwards playing like he was on the take. Looking ahead at the schedule, the Browns face Houston, Indianapolis, Tennessee, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and wrap up the most disappointing season since Butch panicked against the greater West Virginian hill-jacks. If logic holds up, the Browns win against the Texans, probably lose to Indy, although a win is possible, and get destroyed by the Titan's defense. The pivotal game then becomes Philly, a decent team in a meat grinder division that just tied the hapless Bengals. Should the Browns beat the Eagles and knock off the Bengals, a truly horrific team, that would hypothetically place the Browns at 7 - 8  heading into the Pittsburgh game.
 
Now just contemplate what this all could mean, and it is entirely plausible. You have Pittsburgh's starters probably resting and the team locked into the division crown. Think Jim Sorgi last year. The Browns have Romeo on the ledge by most people's estimates, playing Pittsburgh, on the road, with a chance to beat them to finish 8 - 8 after being 3 - 6 at one point in the season breaking in a new, young quarterback.
 
What if RAC and the Browns actually beat the Inbred on the road to finish 8 - 8? Can you really fire him? Is Phil on the rocks at all? Does 8 - 8 drop the hammer on Phil, or does he survive and get the go-ahead to bring in his coach, or even team up Brian Billick once again with Marvin Lewis assuming Marvin bites it?
 
I admit it. I am so sick of the poor tackling, the crappy fundamentals, the soft team that makes the same mistakes over and over and over, the blown leads, the spoiled players who seem to have no accountability imposed on them, the inexplicable playing time decisions, that for weeks I've just assumed that I merely had to wait out the season and change would come. I was also laying odds that the overrated and egotistical Phil Savage would soon return to what he does best, scouting elsewhere, and we'd get a real GM and team president. That and watching BQ develop was pretty much all that was getting me through this losing season.
 
Then I looked ahead.
 
It is entirely possible, even probable given a positive outcome of the Philly game, that events could conspire to make it impossible to fire one or either of these guys. And we face 2009 with more of the same and more middle-round draft slots for Phil to waste. Crap. It is either accept that, or root against the Browns, and no matter what, I can never hope they lose. I will never cheer against the Browns.
 
So pop quiz, hot shot. Were this bunch to go 8 - 8 and end the season beating Pittsburgh at The Confluence, how can the organization make any changes? Can you handle more Phil and Romeo next season?
 
Get me a Christmas Ale. Stat.