Written by Brian McPeek

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It was kind of a weird fall weekend in CTown, with the Buckeyes playing a night game and the Browns on their bye week.  And in this Monday's Weekend Wrap, Peeks says it was actually sorta nice to go without the stress of a NFL Sunday, especially after getting a big win from the Bucks on Saturday night over the Badgers in Camp Randall.  Peeks also hits on Terrelle Pryor, the firing of Indians bullpen coach Luis Isaac, and the MLB Playoffs.  It's The Wrap!

If Less is Better, Is None Best? 

It’s not true that the Browns were 6 point underdogs in their bye week.  

It’s not quite that bad. 

But I’m not going to lie. This was easily the most enjoyable weekend of Browns football thus far in the 2008 season. There was no frustration and no disgust, no stupid field goal when down by 20 points, no mismanaging of the clock.  

It was nice to go a weekend without seeing angst in Derek Anderson’s expression. Hell, it was just really nice going through a weekend not seeing Derek Anderson and Stoneo Crennel at all. 

So enjoy this Monday as well as this Tuesday. 

I have a feeling that next week will be nowhere near as kind. 

We Have Seen The Future and He Is … 

Pretty damn good and needing to get better. 

The Ohio State Buckeyes went into their personal house of horrors Saturday night in Madison, Wisconsin and they did so after dark. When all was said and done it was one of the youngest Buckeyes who maintained his poise, showed the Buckeyes where the light switch was and led OSU out of Camp Randall Stadium with a 20-17 win over a staggering Badger football team. 

Let’s hit you with what impresses about Terrelle Pryor: 

Poise- He has it to burn. I think he might actually be a bot. He doesn’t look like he’s working hard when he’s running out there and he doesn’t look like he’s the least bit intimidated under any circumstances. Maybe it’s an ‘ignorance is bliss’ thing working, but whatever it is, it allows him to focus on the situation and the task at hand and it also infects a huddle. When the crap hits the fan someone needs to maintain their composure and get everyone else on the field to do the same. Pryor has the demeanor to do that while the knock on his predecessor, Todd Boeckman, was that he had a little bit too much Derek Anderson in him for many people’s taste. 

Make no mistake about it. Ohio State trailed 17-13 in a tough place to play Saturday night with 6 minutes left in the football game. You could argue that, for all intent and purpose, there were 6 minutes left in the Buckeyes season. A loss Saturday night buries OSU in the BCS and likely relegates them to a much less meaningful bowl game.  

Pryor led them on an 80 yard, 12 play drive for the go ahead touchdown. He threw for 59 yards on that drive alone, including a huge 3^rd and 6 throw from his own 24yd line to Brian Hartline for 19 crucial yards. 

Pryor took it the final 11 yards himself on a perfect option read and run. 

Playmaking Threat- This is Pryor’s greatest value to this team at this time. He is an extremely gifted athlete who has a solid football IQ. That’s critical in an offense where wide receiving talent is lacking. Right now Pryor is just good enough throwing the football to keep defenses honest. But he makes his bones when plays break down or his MAC-caliber wide receivers are blanketed. If a defense gives him just a sliver of light he is gone. If a defender cheats just a step to help somewhere else on the field Pryor is past him. This is clearly an element that Boeckman didn’t and couldn’t provide. 

Look, Boeckman did a terrific job last season in leading the OSU offense to the national championship game. But he was exposed as a one dimensional threat. And when the same stable of receivers that Pryor is saddled with ran routes with Boeckman under center against quality defenders the results were disastrous. The LSU and USC defenses often covered OSU’s receivers with a single defensive back and used the rest of the defense to key on the RBs or apply pressure on Boeckman that he couldn’t escape. 

Todd Boeckman is a capable QB in the right system. You can win a lot of games with that kid despite what his detractors will tell you. He’s somewhat a victim of the coaching staff’s inability to either recruit or utilize top wide receiving talent. Pryor is not anchored down by that weakness in the OSU approach. 

It’s not all sunshine and daisies though. The kid needs a lot of work. We watched him hold onto the football far too long far too many times Saturday night. That crap is just fine when you’re facing Upper Hillsboro High under the Friday night lights but it will cost you dearly against even mediocre Big 10 teams. Pryor hasn’t fully realized that yet. He still believes the longer he holds the football the more likely the defense is to break down. Not going to happen. He needs to recognize the situation and make the best of it. 

In that regard I see a lot of what once was underclassman Troy Smith in Pryor right now. Smith was also quick to abandon a play and look to move. As a running QB coming in he that was his MO and that was his comfort zone. It’s the same with Pryor right now. He destroyed high school teams with tucking the ball at the first sign of trouble and taking off.  He has got to learn, as Smith did, to keep his eyes up the field. On one play last night I watched a replay of Devier Posey running free with no one near him all the way across the field for 30 yards. Pryor never noticed him as he pinned himself against the sideline and lost yards when half the Wisconsin defense arrived to finish him off. 

That’s going to come with maturity and playing time though. Hopefully like it did with Smith, though Pryor is bigger, stronger and faster than Smith ever was so you don’t want him to abandon the run altogether. 

Pryor also needs to work on his delivery. The key to his and the Buckeyes running game is that defenses have to at least honor the pass. He’s done enough to get by thus far and may have been a bit dinged last night. But again, he’s 6 games into his true freshman year and expecting a finished product isn’t realistic.  

The bottom line is he’s the right kid for this position right now and you have to love how he’s started his OSU career. But to whom much is given, much is expected. And I expect and need to see Pryor get better each week he’s under center. 

Etcetera 

• Shake yourselves please. Numerous columns, articles and web-o-bytes all dedicated to the dismissal of a bullpen coach? Do me a favor. Stay away from all search engines and name me one other bullpen coach in all of baseball.

That’s pretty much what I thought.  

Spare me the outrage over Luis Isaac’s 44 years of service and being unceremoniously dumped. Any of you who work for anyone other than yourselves know this is the way of the world and it could just as easily be you one day. And no one is going to write a damn thing about it is. No matter how competent or incompetent the manager that lets you go may be. 

And as an aside, the bullpen coach position was the ceremonial tribute the organization gave Isaac 44 years ago. The guy was responsible for batting practice balls, making sure the bullpen door was shut and interpreting for Latin players.  

• I was rooting hard for the White Sox to complete the Chicago implosion on Sunday but the Sox stayed alive in their series against the ‘Rays. It would have been great to see that city plunged into a dark despair. Guess we’ll have to wait a couple days.

• How impressive are the Dodgers right now? That’s a team, despite their regular season record, that is built to play in October. Very good starting pitching, including a guy in Chad Billingsley who will be a star by the end of this postseason, as well as a deep bullpen that includes Jonathan Broxton who throws some of the hardest, nastiest stuff in either league. Offensively the Dodgers have a balanced lineup that got an upgrade when Manny Ramirez came to town at the July 31^st trading deadline. Ramirez has made the hitters ahead of him and behind him better and they can beat you deep or manufacture runs.  Fun team to watch and it would not surprise me in the least if they walk away with a World Series title.