Written by Brian McPeek

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Not a real busy weekend in Cleveland sports which worked out really well given the weather and the outdoor possibilities it presented. But there's more than enough going on to squeeze out a Weekend Wrap. You have the on-going Peyton Hillis saga that needs to be discussed and you had a coming out party for Braxton Miller developing in Lincoln Saturday night until Miller hurt his ankle. That's when Joe Bauserman showed up drunk and belligerently bad at the party and ruined the whole night (with some help from the defense and coaches).

You also have to really start wondering who will be the Head Coach in Columbus next season and I have a name that's been bounced around Columbus that intrigued me a great deal when I thought about it. 

So let's do it:

 

Peyton Place

This whole Peyton Hillis situation fascinates me for some odd reason. I think it has as much to do with the psychology of fans as it does with football and how Hillis fits (or doesn’t fit) into this new and developing Browns’ west coast offense.

From a football angle there are two sides to the coin. On one side you have those who believe that Hillis is a really good football player whose skills at both running and catching the football should make him a valuable commodity.

Hillis runs hard, plays hard, has enough size to punish defenses and has enough speed to chew up large chunks of yardage if he gets to the second level of a defense. He’s also always been highly regarded as a very good receiver coming out of the backfield as well as a capable guy in terms of picking up blitzes when asked to do so.

I have a difficult time believing that a guy with those skills and attributes doesn’t have a place in this offense or any other. The other side of that coin is that some folks do. No, Hillis isn’t a guy with wiggle and shake and he’s not a guy whose first step and quickness is going to remind anyone of Lesean McCoy, but his 1,100+ yards rushing last season, on a team where he was the only true weapon, should serve as the only indication anyone needs that he’s more than just a functional back but, more importantly, he's one who isn’t miscast as a feature back.

Hillis isn’t the only big back playing and being featured in the WCO. The Falcons prominently feature Michael Turner and Steven Jackson is still going strong in St. Louis (where Browns Head Coach Pat Shurmur ran the offense last season). Big, talented backs can and do have a place in the system.

In looking at the Peyton Hillis situation I’m not inclined to buy into the theory that Shurmur inherited a guy he didn’t want. I’m far more inclined to believe that the lockout, injuries to key guys, player personnel decisions, the lack of familiarity with each other and the system, and Shurmur’s own inexperience as a head coach have combined to affect Hillis.

I don’t buy the ‘Pay the Man’ syndrome and the whole strep throat saga as affecting Hillis's production. Hillis has never once demonstrated selfishness. Nor has he ever shown the inclination to dog it on the field. Even back at Arkansas where Hillis went to college, he moved from tailback to fullback and H-back for the Razorbacks when they recruited Felix Jones and Darren McFadden to play the tailback position. He did so willingly and without public complaints and he proved himself to be an effective enough all around player to still be drafted coming out of college.

Even in Denver Hillis was the consummate team guy. He made the team as a fullback and was pressed into the starting halfback spot when the Broncos sustained injuries to every other tailback they had. Hillis ran like crazy out of that spot until he himself was injured.

Hillis was sick. I have no doubt about that. And had Shurmur come out after the Dolphins game and said, “He was sick, he wanted to play but I sent him home and that’s it” then it likely would have been over right there. But that’s part of Shurmur’s inexperience in dealing with these situations as 'The Man' that will likely improve with time.

The bottom line is not only is Hillis playing in a new system (albeit one he’s somewhat familiar with in Denver) that had no time to get together during the course of a full offseason but he’s also doing it while everyone else is trying to figure out their assignments. More importantly, he’s going about it without two guys who were extremely valuable to Hillis and the Browns last season in LG Eric Steinbach and fullback Lawrence Vickers.

Hillis relied on both those guys heavily. Steinbach was not only a talented player but he was a smart one. and he would let Hillis know certain lanes or cutbacks were available if he wanted one. Vickers was a heat seeking missile that cleared the way for Hillis and he often went off script to blow open a hole that wasn’t the intended hole on the play call.

That’s a boat load to consider when looking at Hillis in 2011. Add in the fact that he’s still likely the only potential impact player the Browns have offensively and teams know that they need to commit 8 or 9 guys to the line of scrimmage to stop #40. And they know they often get away with it because Colt McCoy and his receivers haven’t shown any desire or ability to beat defenses deep.

It’s true we never really know these guys in terms of what they’re actually like or how they behave behind the locker room doors. It’s possible Hillis is complaining and letting this contract situation affect him. But it would go against everything we’ve seen from him in the last 6 years we’ve seen him play football.

This isn’t about a guy crying or dogging it though. Not in my opinion. I really believe this is a situation where Hillis and his agent see him more as Roger Craig than Tom Rathman and the Browns, while recognizing what they have, see him as a running back unlikely to last too terribly long with his style. The Browns want Hillis here and Shurmur will eventually learn how to utilize him, so this sure sounds to me like a simple difference in value. Hillis is not Chris Johnson. Hillis is also not Mike Sellers. There are plenty of dollars and years somewhere in between the contracts of Sellers and Johnson. And somewhere in that range lays the value of Peyton Hillis. The Browns and Hillis will find the number.

Until then I really wish Hillis would lay off Twitter, his agent would shut up and talk only to the Browns and that fans would understand there’s no reason to take sides or to assume a guy who’s been nothing but hard-nosed and productive here would be trying to be anything else.

Under a Really Black Cloud

Anyone remember “The Flintstones”? If you remember “The Flintstones” do you remember Schleprock? He was the guy who was always down on his luck, never caught a break and who always walked under a swirling, black cloud that threatened to rain on him at any time.

That’s the 2011 Ohio State football team.

We all know the back drop so let’s not bother. But on Saturday night in Lincoln, NE against the 15^th ranked Cornhuskers, the Buckeyes flipped the script and got off to a great start. They led 20-6 at the half and 27-6 moments after half.

Then they were Schleprocked.

Braxton Miller fumbled deep in Buckeye territory and gave Nebraska a gift TD and then he left the field minutes later with an ankle injury that required OSU to turn to Joe Bauserman. That’s like setting up a bar in a pharmacy and asking Lindsay Lohan to watch your kids there. It’s just not going to end well.

It didn’t end well.

Nebraska came all the way back, Bauserman threw balls into the bench area, the seats and pretty much all across the Great Plains and OSU fell 34-27.

It’s shocking to see Ohio State in this position and it was a depressing loss but I can’t really say it surprised me how it went down. Miller looked much more comfortable and much more effective, but what he didn’t look for was ways to avoid huge hits. He took more than his share and he paid the price when he left the game.

Miller will learn. Hell, he learned a lot this week. The coaching staff finally gave him some simpler reads and got him to the edges, his offensive line was effective (in the first half) and the Buckeyes were easily the better team in Lincoln for the first 30 minutes of play. Miller will be a dynamic, play-making force in seasons to come.

But he really needs to learn that he’s not playing freaking Beavercreek any more.

Rumors

Urban Meyer is everyone’s first choice when it comes to replacing the fired Luke Fickell at Ohio State. Not that Fickell has been fired yet. Not officially anyway. That will come after the Buckeyes scrape and fight to earn a bid to the Ticket City Bowl as the Big 10’s 7^th best team. There they will have an epic match-up with the 2^nd place team from Conference USA. Maybe Devier Posey’s suspension will end in time for him to get on the field. It’ll be really exciting…

Anyway, Buckeye fans want Urban Meyer. If not Meyer, an Ashtabula guy with deep Ohio roots and multiple NCAA titles with Florida, then maybe Boise State’s Chris Peterson. But they want a proven winner. And the name I heard brought up as a whisper on the radio last week is truly a winner, just not at the college level.

I heard Tony Dungy’s name mentioned as a guy Ohio State has considered for the gig. I had never even thought about it, but what an intriguing potential choice. It actually makes sense. Hell, if people want Jon Gruden down there, with his zero-point-zero years of head coaching experience at the college level and a worse record in Tampa Bay than Dungy had, why not?

From a football standpoint Dungy built the Tampa Bay Buccaneer team that Gruden led to a Super Bowl a year after Dungy was let go. He won 56% of his games in Tampa (Gruden won just over 50%) and he won almost 70% of all the NFL games he coached (again, far better than Gruden although Chucky does talk about QBs on television). Then Dungy won a Super Bowl of his own when he teamed up his defensive philosophy with Peyton Manning’s genius in Indianapolis.

Why Dungy? Well, there’s the above. He can coach. But as some of you may be aware, the Buckeyes have what is perceived (at the very least) to be a reputation for lying, cheating and pretty much SEC-ing it with their program. Dungy has integrity coming out his ears.

Dungy has mentored dozens of at-risk kids, prisoners and troubled athletes and also is the national spokesman for All Pro Dad, a fatherhood program that Dungy has expanded to also reach college men. Dungy’s soft spoken, teacher first, methodology would appeal to an institution of higher learning and you’d have to believe parents would feel extremely comfortable leaving their kids in Dungy’s hands. Dungy experienced tragedy of his own a few years back when his 18 year old son Jamie committed suicide but Dungy is well respected both on and off the field because of what people perceive to be unbending moral and ethical foundations.

That sounds like tonic for what ails the Buckeyes.

I doubt it will happen. Mostly because unless Dungy sees coaching 100+ kids each year as being more effective guidance than attending to his own mentoring and charitable programs I’m not sure what the draw would be for him. He doesn’t need the Buckeyes and he’s still engaged in NFL circles due to his years in the game and his gig on NBC’s “Football Night in America”.

Interested to hear what your thoughts are on Dungy and Hillis. Follow and drop a line beloe or via email.

Have a great week.

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