Browns acquire Roethlisberger from Pittsburgh

The Cleveland Browns today traded for troubled Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger. In a move sure to provoke endless controversy, the Browns in any case have added a young QB who has two Super Bowl Rings. When asked to comment, new President Mike Holmgren stated, "we like Ben's aggresiveness, and think he can lead us to score much more frequently".

Brown's coach Eric Mangini then added.... "he said "score",huh huh huh huh....."

2010 NFL Draft

The 2010 NFL draft is little more than 3 weeks away. To follow the draft, I recommend visiting this excellent ESPN site. The Browns have several extra draft picks and we all know that the NFL draft will make or break a team's future. We need only site past draft disasters such as Fair Hooker, Steve Holden, Mack Mitchell, Mike Phipps and Tim Couch for proof of that fact. The question here is will Mike Holmgren's first Browns draft rank up there with ex Cleveland Brown and Paul Brown protege Chuck Noll's incredible 1974 selections that set the table for a long run of Steeler's Super Bown dominance by taking 4 future professional football Hall of Famers in Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth and Mike Webster, or will we be picking the next Willis Adams?

To date, it's clear that Holmgren is dedicating himself very diligently to the draft and he has a good track record. The rumor mill would indicate that unless Holmgren is able to move up in the first round in order to grab QB Sam Bradford, that he will select a DB in round one, such as Florida's Joe Haden (Eric Berry, who is pictured on this blog and is in my opinion the most dominant db in this draft will likely be long gone by the 7 pick that the Browns possess). If the Browns are not able to move up and get a top rated QB, it's likely that Holmgren will look to grab a QB in round 2 or 3 that he can develop, such as Tim Tebow who has the potential to be a great quarterback, albeit many believe his career will be nothing more than an abortion.

Brown's History: Don Rogers

Don Rogers was the best damned free safety I ever saw. He was a dominant and intimidating player and its hard for me to imagine John Elway's "drive" being successful had Rogers been present....

Holmgren interview

click on this link to read an excellent interview with Mike Holmgren.

Vintage Browns: The Kardiac Kids Chess game

Here is yet another example of how the Kardiac Kids dominated the airways in 1980. This two play sequence against the Bengals shows a classic one two punch of the 1980 Browns. On the first play, Sipe passes to Greg Pruitt out of the backfield. Pruitt burns a linebacker on the play and gains 25 yards. On the second play, Sipe finds Ricky Feacher for 55 yards and a touchdown. In this sequence you can clearly see how Sipe used his depth of receivers to set the defense up.

What is interesting to note on the first play are the two Bengals DB's number 44, former Ohio State great Ray Griffin and number 27 Bryan Hicks, have to come over to support the play because Bengals linebacker number 50 Glenn Cameron was 5 years behind Pruitt.

When a defense gets burned deep on a pass play, it almost always affects them on the next play as they try to adjust themselves to the quarterback's chess game and knowing this, the clever Brian Sipe orchestrates his next move beautifully. Sipe goes deep to Feacher and the same number 27, Free Safety Bryan Hicks, who had to come over to help with Greg Pruitt on the previous play, is late and well out of position. A Free Safety's first duty is to support the cornerback on a long pass. Was Bryan Hicks late getting over to help Bengals CB Ken Riley because he was still thinking about Greg Pruitt?? You can bet he was!!

Net result: Touchdown Kardiac Kids!

Brown's history: Hanford Dixon

Was there ever a cornerback in Brown's history who covered receivers man to man better than Hanford Dixon? Probably not. Dixon and Frank Minnifield gave the Browns of the 80s era a major advantage on defense. They could shut down almost anyone in man to man coverage.

Dixon also made a permanent contribution to Brown's history by naming "The Dawg Pound".

Goodbye Brady

Off to Denver, we wish you the best

Ben Roethlisberger: Helpless victim

Against all odds, once again, Ben Roethlisberger asks us to believe he is the helpless victim of a ruthless woman. To further outline his innocence, Big Ben has hired the same Georgia attorney who cleared Ray Lewis of murder charges and Ben's team have also hired a top notch private investigator to "assist" him in his efforts to be cleared of these charges.


While the NFL's crime problem is well known, if you visit the blog in this link you will find that no other NFL player has been accused in the past year of crimes related to sexual assault. There are several players who were accused of domestic violence, but none were accused of crimes of a sexual nature.

So you have to ask, if we are supposed to believe that NFL players are such easy targets for ruthless predator women, why aren't false accusations of sexual violence against professional sports figures more commonplace?!? Why is it that Ben Roethlisberger is the only player so unlucky to get himself accused not once, but twice, of sexual assault???

For more details on Big Ben's night of consensual fun times, read the article in this link. As another wise man once said, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

The signing spree continues

The Browns continued their March signing spree by picking up veteran QB Jake Delhomme. Interesting to note that 3 of the 4 free agent players the Browns have signed this month have Super Bowl experience. Could it be that Randy Lerner has decided that the non salary cap year of 2010, pending the 2011 work stoppage, might be his best chance to win a Super Bowl for Cleveland? Consider that most NFL teams right now are sitting tight and not spending, while Mike Holmgren has been extraordinarily active. It's a very good sign.

It's probably a bit early but I'm starting to get excited about 2010. The signings made to date at a minimum are going to make the Browns very competitive in 2010, furthermore they will free Holmgren to draft players in the upcoming draft, who can contribute immediately. We all know that a QB drafted in round 1 almost always needs a year or two to develop but a linebacker, DB, WR or RB can almost always hit the ground running from day one.

Ben Roethlisberger, Roger Goodell, Michael Vick and the NFL Personal Conduct Policy

A wise man once stated that if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck..... it's probably a duck.

Is Ben Roethlisberger a sexual predator? I don't know but he sure is quacking right now.

If Big Ben ends up sitting in a prison cell and or suspended part of the season by Roger Goodell, it will certainly assist our Cleveland Browns chances in 2010 so let's hope he keeps on quacking all the way to the big house.

Unlike the dogs that Michael Vick victimized, Roethlisberger's latest alleged victim is a human being, hence Ben's vast financial resources might allow him, ironically, to escape justice as it will be his word against her word and Roethlisberger's advisors are already lining up the best support money can buy to assure that their wealthy young client avoids any consequences for his acts. You know what they say, if the glove don't fit............

One has to wonder however what the position of NFL commissioner Roger Goodell might be. Goodell's NFL Personal Conduct Policy (click here to read the policy) to date has correctly held NFL players to a much higher standard than any commissioner in the past and Goodell is not bound by legal judgements. Practically speaking, he can do as he wishes when it comes to enforcing standards of player ethics.

From Roethlisberger's point of view, even in the best case scenario, his behavior that evening is still well outside the standards that Goodell's Personal Conduct Policy seeks to enforce.

If Goodell doesn't punish Roethlisberger at least as severly as he punished Vick, what would that mean? White quarterbacks are more important to the NFL than black quarterbacks? Or perhaps Goodell is simply a dog lover.

We will follow this issue closely in the coming weeks...

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+

Derek, Allow me to retort....

As The Brown Log accurately predicated over two weeks ago, Derek Anderson has been cut. Mike Holmgren correctly decided that Anderson's potential does not justify the $2,000,000 roster bonus due Anderson on March 19.

Upon learning of being cut, Anderson had this to say about Browns fans:

"The fans are ruthless and don't deserve a winner," Anderson wrote. "I will never forget getting cheered when I was injured. I know at times I wasn't great. I hope and pray I'm playing when my team comes to town and (we) roll them."

As Jules Winfield says in Pulp Fiction....."allow me to retort"....

"Way to go Derek. Nothing like making a sweeping generalization about several million people based on the actions of a handful of drunken assholes or to put it more politely, excuse me Derek but..........Fuck you too!"

Cribbs deal is done

Hats off to Mike Holgren for getting the Cribbs deal done. It's an important step in the right direction.