Injuries trip up Browns vs Jets

Great game played by the Browns today against the Jets but injuries to Fujita, Cribbs and Brown in the end cost us the game. It's that time of the season where depth is going to begin to play a factor. The Browns have a bit less talent than most NFL teams but the coaching has been great of late, and the team was coming together. That all starts to come apart when the inevitable injuries start to pile up. Here is hoping that Cribbs in particular won't be out long.

The NFL Politburo

With the Browns in an off week, the BL will start a new feature we've been thinking about from some time: The NFL Politburo, a regular feature that will explore the labor issues pending in 2011 between owners and players.

NFL owners are men who in private industry made fortunes for themselves in the free market system. However when they arrive to the NFL they morph into communists, in favor of imposing central controls and limits on the free market.

Most fans feel more anger towards the players, whom are very well paid. The Brown Log with this regular feature will dig into this issue point by point, trying to help fans understand the real villians in the pending labor issue. The problem rests firmly with the owners of today's NFL teams who wish to more deeply impose communist principles onto NFL players. Apparently NFL owners simply do not trust themselves to operate in a free market. They need rookie salary limits, salary caps and exemption from free markets. Pro football can be a brutal game in which the average player's career lasts 3 years. So please don't blame the players for fighting for the free market.

The real solution to the NFL's labor issues would be to remove anti-trust protection from the NFL and let the free market rule.

This Yahoo article does a great job of summing it up.

Here is an exerpt:

Which side is better positioned to withstand a work stoppage?

The owners, based on simple economics. In theory, they could reduce their operating expenses by 50 percent (an estimated $4.4 billion) via the elimination of player salaries and benefits and the temporary layoffs or salary reductions of various other employees. Meanwhile, thanks to the terms of the extensions to the lucrative TV deals the league has with DirecTV and several broadcast networks, the owners would continue to receive payments during a lockout – though the money would eventually have to be repaid via credits for future games. Still, that’s a serious cash-flow advantage that would, again in theory, allow the owners to realize more than 50 percent of their revenues (nearly $4 billion) and, therefore, to cover their operating expenses for an entire season if necessary. Players, meanwhile, would theoretically be much more financially stressed in the short term, and the relatively short career span of NFL players would make the prospect of missing games even more unpalatable.

Bottom line: The owners are going flaunt the free market, take advantage of their monopoly position that they have thanks to their anti trust exemption and crush the players, period. In a nation built on free market principals, it's astonishing that there is not outrage over the socialist behavior of NFL owners.

Finally, here is some insight from Browns linebacker Scott Fujita, who shared his dismay after meeting NFL commish Roger Goodell. Goodell has been brilliant as the leader of the league but in the labor issue he is stuck in the unenviable position of having to cowtow to the communists he answers to, aka the NFL Politburo....

Mike Holmgren's Report Card: March 2010

I personally am quite impressed to date with the Browns off season moves. It's apparent that Mike Holmgren has been working very hard. Most Browns fans would agree that Derek Anderson is not a Super Bowl quarterback and now he is gone. It also appears that Brady Quinn is not viewed favorably by Holmgren, and while I have a lot of sympathy for Quinn, I don't get the same sensation watching Quinn that I had years ago watching Sipe or Kosar at the beginning of their careers. Granted Sipe had two years on the taxi squad in which he could learn and mature but from the first instant Brian Sipe stepped on the field in 1974 at 25 years old, you could tell he was a winner. Quinn often looks lost.

QB Seneca Wallace is unproven, but in his 5 NFL years as a backup he has made an impact. More big plays than mistakes and his career numbers would indicate this guy just needs a chance to play full time. Clearly Holmgren himself believes in Wallace but Holmgren also thinks Wallace needs some time under his guidance. This as witnessed by the visit of 35 year old Jake Delhomme to Browns town this week. But if Holmgren signs an older quarterback, it appears his role will be to buy time.

The signings of TE Ben Watson, LB Scott Fujita, and offensive lineman Tony Pashos all bring skilled veteran players to the Browns, two of whom, Watson and Fujita, wear Super Bowl Championship rings.

If you have to give a report card for the month of March so far to Mike Holmgren, the result is A+